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NOTEBOOK CARRYING PLAGIARISTS!
{ALL MUSIC PLAYED BY THE HIDEOUS REPLICAS IS COPYRIGHT MARK E SMITH AND THE FALL}
Last Updated- April MAY 16th 2005
The Next Hideous Replicas Performance- Has regretfully been cancelled. We do this for fun, and sometimes the harsh cut and thrust of the professional music business is a little too much for us. We'll be back playing with friendly and enthusiastic music fans soon. |
So what do they sound like-? In a nutshell- The Fall between 1977 and 1981. I dont know any of this band and may have made some incorrect assumptions but this is my review...
I went to this wondering what’s their point, if you get the fall you dont do a Bjorn Again on them unless its some too-clever po-mo joke. Thankfully it was neither cabaret nor ironic but more simply good musicians getting off on good music, live. Obviously a lot of work has gone into working all this early catalogue out, the compositions forged between Smith, bramah,Baines Riley,Scanlon,Hanley (etc)are deceptively complex stuff. Hard work but so what, if they hadnt got songs like Stepping out, Printhead, Container Drivers and a fucking excellent Industrial Estate to really storm it would be all for nothing. This was really underlined by the odd failure to get it going, like on Pay my Rates which had all the right chords but really struggled and the slow ‘vendetta retreat estate’ bit really clunked.
I dont really want to give away any more of their set as the surprise was a good part of the pleasure. There were also a few in-jokes I shouldnt give away( eg.a certain tank top, an intro tape) but these were incidentals really.
The big question I suppose is how did the singer/front man work, how good was his MES? Surely this is where the whole venture hinges? In my opinion they solved this by simply keeping to some simple ground rules: No impressions, no –ahs at the end of words or “last orders half past ten”, and get on with singing these songs as best you can, keeping Marks phrasing and general approach. He had a likeable just-plucked-off-the-street air about him. Notching down his frontman role and pushing attention back to the real talent of the musicians and composers, this probably was the only way to make the Fall tribute thing work.
After the set I tried to complement one of the guitarists on the gig but he just said ”Are you Martin? Im looking for Martin.” Im just someone in the Audience, It was a good gig. “No. it wasnt good enough” he replied.
I was really unsure that this could be done with integrity but I came away thinking that this is as valid as, say,Bang on a Can doing Eno’s Music For Airports. Of course if the Replica’s released a CD I’d have to question their motives again.
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The Hideous Replicas
are
Stuart Newman- Vocals (formerly of "The Mystery Bruises")
Doug Keeley- Guitar (of "Fibre Liquor")
Richard Sanderson- Guitar/Keyboard ("Richard of Hume")
Dan Whaley- Bass (of "The Charles Napiers")
Dave Stanford- Drums (of "Joes Comforters") many thanks to the original Hideous Replicas' rhythm section- Mark Braby and "Rollin'" Danny O'Brien. |
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