CW Stoneking / 24 June 2016 / CCA Glasgow
CW Stoneking is part comic-throwback, part-Tom Waits carnival barking tribute, part moving crooning troubadour. His show was wry, entertaining and had moments of mellifluous, enveloping beauty.
He dresses as if on a plantation and both he and the band play what look like 1930s period instruments. At times the concerted efforts to create an old-timey feel bring the show dangerously close to novelty act territory but there were enough moments of rhythmic swagger and harmonic invention to prove that Stoneking has more to offer musically than pastiche.
For a show dedicated to the music of times of intense political struggles, particularly on issues of race, there was a bit too much talk of 'the jungle' and too many tracks that relied on a tom-tom parody of African music from old Hollywood films for my liking. Maybe I was being over-sensitive.
There was beautiful music here - Handyman, On A Desert Isle and Jungle Paradise shone. But there were too many unresolved questions rattling around my head about Stoneking's careless use of imagery, stories and sounds of a troubled recent history seemingly without appreciating the resonance of them, for me to comfortably enjoy the music in isolation.
He dresses as if on a plantation and both he and the band play what look like 1930s period instruments. At times the concerted efforts to create an old-timey feel bring the show dangerously close to novelty act territory but there were enough moments of rhythmic swagger and harmonic invention to prove that Stoneking has more to offer musically than pastiche.
For a show dedicated to the music of times of intense political struggles, particularly on issues of race, there was a bit too much talk of 'the jungle' and too many tracks that relied on a tom-tom parody of African music from old Hollywood films for my liking. Maybe I was being over-sensitive.
There was beautiful music here - Handyman, On A Desert Isle and Jungle Paradise shone. But there were too many unresolved questions rattling around my head about Stoneking's careless use of imagery, stories and sounds of a troubled recent history seemingly without appreciating the resonance of them, for me to comfortably enjoy the music in isolation.
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