Barry Adamson is the original funk soul brother! The un-mistakable Mancunian was in Oxford on Monday on tour to support his latest, and 7th, album "Back to the Cat" (out April 7th).
Originally a punk rock bassist (Magazine) and then founder member, with Nick Cave, of The Bad Seeds he broke this mould (and almost any mould) with his 1989 debut LP "Moss Side Story" which blended funk, soul and jazz into a cinematic soundscape - what ex-label Mute described as "themes for a film that never existed".
If you've never come across Adamson, his voice sounds like treacle being poured down a rollercoaster and his lyrics are charmingly both naïve and eccentric. The night I see him, at Oxford's newly refurbished Academy, he sings a song called "My Friend The Fly" about an (I assume) imaginary showdown with aforementioned fly and subsequent trip to the hospital!
Needless to say this combination won't be to everyone's tastes - there's certainly only one Barry Adamson - thank god, some might add!
He is however a consummate performer and when I see him in a half-filled and somewhat impersonal Carling Academy he still manages to pull off a professional, even self-satisfied, performance.
Unfortunately in the flesh some of his lounge-style songs such as "Straight 'Til Sunrise" and "I Could Love You" come across as a little too saccharine. At points he brings to mind what would have happened if Prince had actually accomplished puberty and started taking singing lessons from Tom Jones!
His best live numbers are the edgier 'The Beaten Side of Town' and the free-form 'Shadow of Death Hotel'. But my personal favourite was the big beat/big band mash-up 'Civilisation' showing yet again that there seems to be no genre that Barry can't bastardize!
I leave feeling that Adamson is perhaps a man born into the wrong time, or perhaps the wrong skin: I can imagine a 'diva' of Adamson's quality being the darling of the soundtrack / festival scene. However you get the feeling that he is particularly and peculiarly happy in his own skin and as a result, in this messed-up world, it's a pleasure to spend time in his company.
Charlie Morris-Marsham, 31/03/08
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