801: Live @ Hull CD Review (Expression Records) ~ BrooklynRocks: NYC Music Blog

Sunday, November 01, 2009

801: Live @ Hull CD Review (Expression Records)

801 - Live @ Hull CD ReviewIn 1977, Phil Manzanera took a new version of 801 on the road to support the band's then current release Listen Now. While there are a number of songs that overlap with 801 Live, without Brian Eno's art rock eccentricities, the new members give the band almost a pub-rock feel.

Aside from Manzanera, the only hold-over from 801 Live is bassist/vocalist Bill MacCormick. This new lineup includes a number of Roxy Music sidemen - Eddie Jobson, Paul Thompson and Dave Skinner -- along with newcomer vocalist/guitarist Simon Ainley. The material is a mixture of songs from the two 801 albums, Manzanera's solo work, cover versions of The Beatles ("Tomorrow Never Knows") and Kinks ("You Really Got Me") songs and a 8 minute run-through of Roxy Music's "Out of the Blue".

This is a spirited ragged-but-right performance that has some great guitar work by Manzanera and Eddie Jobson's violin adds to the reinterpretations of these songs. There is no high-gloss production work here; the show is complete with bum notes and the band doesn't seem to take themselves too seriously. The downside of this release is that it seems to be sourced from an audience bootleg. The sound is ok as bootlegs go but it will likely leave audio purists holding their ears. Give a listen to the sound samples on Amazon so that you know what you are getting into with this.

Links:
Phil Manzanera's Website