NORTHUMBRIAN MUSIC
NIGHTS
What we said
about Little Mo & Rod
Sinclair
Little Mo with Rod Sinclair
You could write a review based on the song titles and first lines, but accurate as it it might be, it still couldn't provide a sense of the atmosphere at the King's Head last Friday night. To get that you'd have had to be there!
"I told you pretty baby, if you want me to love you .. . you'll have to give it up - or let me go." "When I get home baby . . . that'll be consolation for my worried mind." "Diddy-wah-diddy . . . tell me what it means." "No peace I find, just an old sweet song . . . keeps Georgia on my mind."
"Well I'm tryin' so hard you know I can't do more . . . when I go home I cry myself to sleep." "How can a poor man stand such times and win?" "Standin' at the crossroads, i'm just tryin' to get a ride." "I've got to leave my happy home . . . you caused me to cry." "I ain't goin' down that long lonesome road by myself - but if I can't have you baby, I'll find somebody else."
"Big Bad Ben is Sweet William now." "God bless the child that's got his own." "I've got the key so I'm gonna walk this highway 'till the break of day." "At the dark end of the street . . . I've got those walkin' blues."
Sixteen bar blues have a pace, cadence and intimate story all their own, and if you don't 'get' it, well then maybe you've never quite had the blues. Or experienced the catharsis of the song. Funny thing though, blues never quite work for me for very long out of a box - they have to be live before they, well, before they live. Words and canned music are such a pale imitation of the real thing.
Nostalgia for lost times, the pain of separation, of lost love, betrayal, however you cut it, the blues came out live as Little Mo's voice swelled, swayed, blossomed and growled, and Rod Sinclair's brilliant acoustic guitar and slide work provided just the right sort of balance to keep our feet on the ground.
"Sweet Home Chicago"; "From 4 'till 8 I was wringin' my hands and cryin'"; "I've got stones in my pathway, and the pain in my heart has taken my appetite"; "Vigilante Man"; "In the mood with/for/over love"; "I got trouble, I got a worried mind"' "Get your kicks, on Route 66"; "I live the life I love and I love the life I live" "I need somebody - darlin' I know you can - oh believe me when I tell you - you gotta love me like a man". "I woke up this morning . . . I believe I'm gonna dust my broom"; "Shake, Rattle & Roll"; "Baby what you want me to do?" "Put on your red dress baby - child we're goin' out tonight" "From the dark end of the street to the big lights of the road".
There's no compromise with the blues, it just all rolls out, and envelops, and lives. Everybody was so pleased to welcome Little Mo and red Rod back to the intimate stage, and on the strength of this evening, it'll have to be a only a short time before they return to the 'Dale. Soon!
