HUGH CORNWELL – CONCORDE 2, BRIGHTON 12.11.22
Former Stranglers frontman and poet laureate of the punk era, Hugh Cornwell, made a welcome return to Brighton this evening in support of his tenth solo album ‘Moments Of Madness’ which dropped on Friday 7th October 2022. ‘Moments Of Madness’ is multi-layered with serious messages, acute analysis, and witty observations in fun-filled lyrical and musical eccentricity.
The 21-date nationwide UK tour began on 4th November and runs to 3rd December 2022. Tonight he played the Concorde 2 in Brighton with his chums, barefooted Windsor McGilvray on Zildjian drums, Roland drum pads, mini Novation keys, a laptop and backing vocals; and Pat Hughes on black Fender Precision bass and backing vocals. As you would expect, the “Meninblack” were all clad in black clothing without any brand logos and Hugh’s Fender Telecaster guitar was also black.
Born in Tufnell Park, North London, Hugh attended school with another celebrated musician Richard Thompson before achieving a degree in biochemistry. He performed his first solo gigs at restaurants owned by celebrated TV chef Keith Floyd who used The Stranglers ‘Peaches’ and ‘Waltzinblack’ music on his food programmes.
The pioneering musician, songwriter, and performer’s evening was divided into two sets of thirteen songs followed by twelve tunes, with the first being his solo material from 1988 to the present day, and the second being tunes from 1977 to 1984 of his time with The Stranglers, where he was the main songwriter of the band’s many memorable songs. This set included some Stranglers classics, plus a few that have never performed live before.
Although he was supporting his new ‘Moments Of Madness’ album, the trio only performed a handful of the ten new compositions for us this evening. The remainder of solo material was culled from the 1988 ‘Wolf’, 2004 ‘Beyond Elysian Fields’, 2012 ‘Totem And Taboo’, and 2018 ‘Monster’ albums, plus a composition from Hugh Cornwell and Robert Williams (Captain. Beefheart’s drummer) 1979 ‘Nosferatu’ album. The Stranglers material was lifted from 1977 ‘Rattus Norvegicus’, 1977 ‘No More Heroes’, 1979 ‘The Raven’, 1981 ‘The Gospel According To The Meninblack’, 1981 ‘La Folie’, and 1984 ‘Aural Sculpture’ albums, plus a 1982 single.
Cornwell’s 1979 collaboration wasn’t to be his last, as back in 2016 he released an album with punk poet John Cooper Clarke titled ‘This Time It’s Personal’, which consisted of their inimitable takes on songs that shaped their youth. Critics declared it a musical masterpiece. As much was said when Cornwell released his ninth solo record ‘Monster’ in 2018, on which he wrote about the idols that shaped and influenced his life, including ‘La Grande Dame’, a song dedicated to his mother.
‘Moments Of Madness’ which Cornwell self-produced, and played all of the instruments himself, finds him flexing his musical muscles across the ten tracks, with a stripped down, offbeat, reverberating sixties vibe ringing from the seductive melodies and lyrically distinctive perceptions that are indelibly stamped with his trademark imagination. Thus this brings up bang up-to-date and the reason some of the punters are gathered here tonight in the Concorde 2, as well as others obviously wishing to hear the Stranglers material.
They first take to the stage in total darkness at 7:46pm and stand there tuning up whilst tunes are still blasting out of the soundsystem. They wait and the tunes still go on and so they start playing and the soundsystem immediately switches to them, which takes the chap next to me by surprise as he had his head buried in his phone and hadn’t realised they were on stage, just as the sound guy hadn’t, or several others in the crowd. Thus it was a muted start. Something that hadn’t gone a miss with Cornwell who after a couple of tunes (‘Coming Out Of The Wilderness’ and ‘Stuck In Daily Mail Land’) queried over the mic “Are you out there!”
Tonight hadn’t sold out, as a guess I would estimate around 375 out of the possible 650 tickets were sold. Many of those present were content to stand and watch as the trio worked their way through the two separate sets. There’s little in the way of any banter from Cornwell, only introducing the tunes and off they would go. He has done this on the three occasions I have seen him live this year, and so that’s the way he operates. There’s none of this “We love Brighton, and thanks for coming and supporting us, and we love to play for you crap”, it’s rather a case of the music doing the talking.
The title track of the new album ‘Moments Of Madness’ came and went and was followed by his tribute to Lou Reed, in the form of ‘Mr. Leather’, which can be found on his 2018 ‘Monster’ album. ‘Under Her Spell’ from the ‘Beyond Elysian Fields’ album was given an outing next and was a decent tightly played tune. ‘Beauty On The Beach’ from the same album followed. Then shock horror, Hugh trades in his black Fender Telecaster for a white Fender for just one tune, that being ‘Beware Of The Doll’ which is found on the new ‘Moments Of Madness’ album. Hugh informs us this swap is because he can see to play the notes! The white Fender did have a different sound as opposed to the black one; it was more like The Shadows sound. Half a dozen numbers followed, and the 57 minute set one concluded at 8:43pm.
‘Stuck In Daily Mail Land’ had been a highlight of set one as its chorus strangely reminded me of the style used in 1960’s kids tv shows. ‘Another Kind Of Love’ (from 1988 ‘Wolf’ album, swung along nicely and final set one number ‘Lasagna’ sounded like the 1978 version of ‘I Want Candy’ by The Bishops, which I used to own on 6” vinyl from Chiswick Records, yep folks 6”!
After a 17 minute sabbatical, Hugh, Pat and Windsor were back on stage in order to perform a dozen numbers from Hugh’s days in The Stranglers, which no doubt virtually all present were more keen to hear. This set lasted 48 minutes, from 9pm to 9:48pm.
First up was a real live version of ‘Waltzinblack’, you know that (“another slurp of this” and “down here Clive!”) Keith Floyd theme. I have heard this tune several times down the years, but its always been the intro music as the band come on stage, as opposed to being played live. I found this the most fascinating track to watch of the whole night, especially as Windsor at the rear of the stage busied himself between the mini Novation keyboard and the drum pads. I’d even say that it was worth coming out this evening just to watch this!
Next up was the 1982 standalone ‘Strange Little Girl’ single. After which we had ‘Tramp’ from The Stranglers 1981 ‘La Folie’ album, which I don’t recall hearing live before, unlike 1977’s ‘Hanging Around’ which followed. Another live rarity was offered in the form of 1984’s ‘Souls’ from the ‘Aural Sculpture’ album. Another set highlight arrived in the form of ‘Duchess’, with the lyrics “And the Rodneys are queuing up God forbid”, where “”Rodney” symbolises the kind of nouveau-riche chancers with no “breeding”.
Another rarity arrived with 1981’s ‘Thrown Away’, which I also don’t recall hearing live before. The sole tune lifted from 1977’s ‘No More Heroes’ was up next in the form of outdated subject matter ‘Bring On The Nubiles’. It was a different world back then and The Stranglers had a few questionable tunes in their locker, not to mention the live on stage strippers during ’Nice ‘n’ Sleazy’ for their daytime set at Battersea Park on 16th September 1978 which got the cops hot under the collar! ‘Peaches’ being another instance.
We were given a trio of other Stranglers tunes; ‘Goodbye Toulouse’, ‘London Lady’ and the rare ‘Turn The Centuries, Turn’ before the one song encore of ‘Skin Deep’ which rounded off the evening’s entertainment.
It had been another interesting experience to be in the company of a legend, but sadly it did all feel rather staid and had an strong air of going through the motions about it, which no doubt had been amplified by the standoffish crowd, bar a few that were competing with the “I love you Hugh” shouts. A positive though, was that the merch stall was doing brisk business as Hugh was there to sign albums. So the punters were showing their appreciation in another way. For me, it was nice to also catch up with old friends.
Set 1 – Hugh Cornwell material:
‘Coming Out Of The Wilderness’ (from 2022 ‘Moments Of Madness’ album)
‘Stuck In Daily Mail Land’ (from 2012 ‘Totem And Taboo’ album)
‘Moments Of Madness’ (from 2022 ‘Moments Of Madness’ album)
‘Mr. Leather’ (from 2018 ‘Monster’ album)
‘Under Her Spell’ (from 2004 ‘Beyond Elysian Fields’ album)
‘Beauty On The Beach’ (from 2004 ‘Beyond Elysian Fields’ album)
‘Beware Of The Doll’ (from 2022 ‘Moments Of Madness’ album)
‘I Want One Of Those’ (from 2012 ‘Totem And Taboo’ album)
‘The Most Beautiful Girl In Hollywood’ (from 2018 ‘Monster’ album)
‘Another Kind Of Love’ (from 1988 ‘Wolf’ album)
‘Big Bug’ (Hugh Cornwell and Robert Williams song from 1979 ‘Nosferatu’ album)
‘When I Was A Young Man’ (from 2022 ‘Moments Of Madness’ album)
‘Lasagna’ (from 2022 ‘Moments Of Madness’ album)
Set 2 – The Stranglers material:
‘Waltzinblack’ (from The Stranglers 1981 ‘The Gospel According To The Meninblack’ album)
‘Strange Little Girl’ (from The Stranglers 1982 ‘Strange Little Girl’ single)
‘Tramp’ (from The Stranglers 1981 ‘La Folie’ album)
‘Hanging Around’ (from The Stranglers 1977 ‘Rattus Norvegicus’ album)
‘Souls’ (from The Stranglers 1984 ‘Aural Sculpture’ album)
‘Duchess’ (from The Stranglers 1979 ‘The Raven’ album)
‘Thrown Away’ (from The Stranglers 1981 ‘The Gospel According To The Meninblack’ album)
‘Bring On The Nubiles’ (from The Stranglers 1977 ‘No More Heroes’ album)
‘Goodbye Toulouse’ (from The Stranglers 1977 ‘Rattus Norvegicus’ album)
‘London Lady’ (from The Stranglers 1977 ‘Rattus Norvegicus’ album)
‘Turn The Centuries, Turn’ (from The Stranglers 1981 ‘The Gospel According To The Meninblack’ album)
(encore)
‘Skin Deep’ (from The Stranglers 1984 ‘Aural Sculpture’ album)
