Blue Angel Orchestra Clarendon Hotel Dec 2007 Pt2

Blue Angel Orchestra
Clarendon Hotel, Deal 16th Dec 2007

Review by Pete Bradley

We booked a table for Sunday Lunch at the Clarendon, thinking that this would guarantee us a table for the Blue Angel Orchestra afterwards. Hadn't realised, though, that food is served in the restaurant, and the music was played in the bar. Consequently, by the time we'd finished eating, the bar was packed. This wasn't a problem, for two reasons. Firstly, Sue and Mike had very kindly reserved us seats in the bar. (I felt very guilty as I ended up sitting in front of them, which must have obscured their view somewhat.) Secondly, when we arrived in the restaurant, Chris Hunt, Chas and his wife were there, just finishing off their meal. They had to go round to DC's house afterwards to rehearse, but we still had plenty of time to chat with the world's greatest bassist.

Chas and his wife were celebrating their wedding anniversary. Thirty-four years! Just goes to show what a strange decade the nineteen-seventies was. Nowadays they wouldn't allow a pair of six year olds to get married.

The Clarendon is situated on Deal seafront, overlooking the pier, so we had a really pleasant time, looking out at the seagulls, and eating excellent food in front of a roaring fire, served by very friendly staff. A real treat. The soup was recommended to us by Chas, and I have to agree, it was delicious.

Before the concert, they were showing football on a large overhead flat-screen telly, and we were half expecting that when the football finished the bar would become less crowded. By the time BAO came on though, the place was heaving even more. Whether the reputation of the BAO had attracted the crowds, or whether the Clarendon is always that full, I can't say.

I would have thought that the Clarendon is not an easy venue to play. The playing area isn't large, and the guys were fairly cramped for space. Miller spent most of the time hidden behind a tall speaker stack, and Chas spent most of the time hidden behind Ian. Being a bar, there is the general, distracting background noise as people chat, and drinks are served. In addition, just behind the band's playing area to the left is the back door, and throughout the performance, people were constantly coming and going. The sudden gusts of cold air must not only have been distracting, they must have played havoc with keeping instruments in tune. The lighting was very dim, (the main lights being wall mounted behind the band), so we photographers were constantly letting off flashes from our cameras, which must also have been distracting (sorry guys). Coupled with the fact that there was a woman in the audience just behind us with more cleavage exposed than a
plumber's jeans, you would have understood if the band had been less than perfect.

Which off course, they weren't. As usual they exceeded perfection. There was no obvious signs that they noticed any of the distractions, and they all seemed to really enjoy themselves.

Dave intended to introduce the band by saying that they were a loose group of musicians, but got his words muddled up and he nearly described them as a loose group of magicians. Now, I can see what he meant. The band are a "loose group" in that they have twice played with DL rather than DC, have once have played without Chris and Miller, and they all have other projects for which they are known. Still, the performance was hardly "loose". Musicians, yes. Magicians, very much so. Loose, no.

They played two sets, (both magic) with Miller taking the lead twice. Once for "Borderline", and once for "House of the Rising Sun". Possibly Miller has been taking lessons from Roy Hill. After a few bars of Rising Sun, he stopped for a brief chat about the Scottish pronunciation of "Curly Wurly", before continuing where he left off.

Have to report on a certain obsession of mine. In "Wish You Were Here", DC once again sang about the "Girls" that he had laid, rather than the "Ghosts". That is now twice I've heard him do that, and strangely both occurrences were at Deal. I'm sure he is trying to prevent the Deal residents from finding out about the link with their town and "Down By The Sea".

The second set began with a return of the Cousins, Cronk and Cutler trio. They played Shepherd's Song, with Chas switching to 12-string. When we saw them at Chatham, I was so gob-smacked at how beautiful the sound was, I didn't really have time to appreciate the individual songs, so it was lovely to hear this one in isolation. The violin really enhances this Strawbs classic, so much so that this is now The Definitive Version.

Dick has already mentioned that they played two tracks from Boy in the Sailor Suit that had never been played live before: Mother Luck, and Lonely Days, Lonely Nights. Have to say that they were both excellent, but Mother Luck really rocked the house down.

Enjoyed watching the audience during Skip to My Lou. Several people were dancing, fairly vigourously considering how packed the place was.

As usual with the BAO, Ian Cutler demonstrated his abilities with an epic. Everyone around me was certain that the tune that they played was Orange Blossom Special, and when I looked at the set list stuck to Chas's guitar case, this confirmed that it was indeed Orange Blossom Special, but at the time I was fairly convinced that it was a different track. Normally the Orange Blossom Special conjures up an image in my mind of the Santa Fe express racing through the Wild West Prairie. This track conjured up an image of cowboys on horseback rounding up cattle through the Wild West Prairie. Like Orange Blossom Special, though it started slow and got faster and faster, with some manic fiddling from Ian. Oh, alright, I admit it. It was Orange Blossom Special.

For their last track, (Part of the Union), Dave switched to a twelve string. He introduced the guitar by saying that it was the first time the instrument had been played live. The guitar looked like the twelve string that DC had at Cropredy, but I believe that this was wrecked by American customs soon afterwards. I presume that the guitar was beyond economic repair, and has now been replaced. Sadly, when Dave picked it up, the constant blasts of cold air from the back door had de-tuned it, and so Dave switched back to his Gretsch.

Just before launching into POTU, Dave recited a comic verse. Strangely, for him, the theme of the poem was about a shipwreck. Not a subject that I've ever heard DC use for humour before. Must say, Deal definitely does seem to have laid to rest many of Dave's ghosts.

Photo Gallery 2

Click on each thumbnail image to view a larger version.
Click on the arrows to scroll through all the images.
An outlined arrow v shows there are no more photos to scroll through in that direction.
A solid arrow u shows that you can continue scrolling in that direction to view more photos.

Click here to go back to Part 1

Click here to go back to top of page