I attended the Blue Onyx gig last night in Basingstoke.The gig was held on a College campus and Central Studio is a modern purpose bilut concert venue built for students and alike.;here is my review.
When we arrived on an untypically hot english spring evening,the strains of LTSY were heard drifting across the campus.My first impression?A very good facsimilie of the Moodies core 7 sound -an impression that was justified during the evening.
Steve Hutchinson is the driving force of the Band and handles most of the lead vocals and ryhtmn guitars.Tim Lake on keyboards does an outstanding job on reproducing those Pindertron sounds we all know and love.Susie(Flute),Mike((lead guitar),Paul backing vocals and a bassist whose name I missed complete the line up.
Overall Id say most folks on this Board would be very impressed with BOs attempt to recreate that Core 7 sound.The first thing to say is that the Moodies
sound of that era isnt easy for anyone to capture-not even the Band themselves!A lot of the songs have quite complex arrangements and the mix of
mellotron,flute,guitar and harmonies is an intricate cocktail at the best of times.I know from my own attempts with a local band that reproducing "that
sound" aint easy!
Set list:
Lovely to see you
Gypsy
Isnt Life Strange
The Actor
Legend of a Mind
Melanchooly Man
Story in your eyes
Are you sitting comfortably
The Dream
Have you heard
The Voyage
Have you heard(2)
Nights
Question
Im just a singer
Without doubt the greatest strenghts of the Band lie,in my opinion,in Steves vocals(he very nearly hits all those top notes of Justin and does a very good
job);Tims superb keyboards(outstanding on LOAM and complete with analogue synth on MM);Susies lovely flute and Pauls excellent backing vocals.Mike gets very
close to the Hayward sound on a replica Gibson but was perhaps missing some attack and sustain-I was crying out for him to turn it up on SIYE and IJAS-but
these are minor gripes in an otherwise excellent show.
Melancholy Man and Legend were the highlights for me-the former be an outstanding reproduction of that swirling multi layered sound created on the original,and
the latter complete with flute solo and the "bending" notes of the mellotron.The multi layered harmonies on ILS were also outstanding as were Steves
pristine vocals on The Actor and,of course,Nights.
So I take my hat off to these guys.A very brave setlist(The Voyage is no 3 chord trick!) and clearly an awful lot of hard work go to make up a super show the
Band would be proud of.BO are very keen to meet the Band this autumn and I hope get some success via Ivy.If their plans for a gig around the time of the RAH
concerts come off Im sure those over from the USA will attend and ,I hope,share my enthusiasm for this band.A tribute to the Moodies in every sense of the word
Best Wishes
K
