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Culture Box presents:
30th CENTURY MEN
Marc Almond + David Bowie + Nick Cave + Jarvis Cocker + Cathal Coughlan + Brian Eno + Gavin Friday + Paul Haig + Neil Hannon + Richard Hawley + Billy Mackenzie + Scott Walker + Thom Yorke.

You might be intersted in reading this

Billy MacKenzie Tribute Concert
Shepherd's Bush Empire, London +
Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly, Academy, Bristol
By Simon Price The Indepandent
Published: 01 April 2007

Billy MacKenzie is the great "what-if?" of the New Pop era. For a moment in 1982, the golden gates were left ajar, and a pair of freaks called The Associates crashed through. MacKenzie and bandmate Alan Rankine's chart tally is not lengthy: one immortal smash hit, another two half-hits and a handful of ghosts. But the impression they made was immense. No one of a certain age will ever forget their debut Top of the Pops appearance with "Party Fears Two".

All we knew was what we saw: a ravishingly handsome man shimmying through the dry ice in a trenchcoat and black beret, meeting the camera with eyes which spoke of secret knowledge, and howling in a deliriously operatic voice. And those lyrics - abstract yet eloquent: "Even a slight remark makes no sense, it turns to shark", or "Refrigeration keeps you young, I'm told...". (The latter from "Club Country", during the TOTP performance of which Rankine strummed a guitar made of chocolate by Harrods for £600, then broke it up and fed it to the crowd. MacKenzie was the early Eighties star in excelsis.)

The only thing that stopped Billy MacKenzie becoming a world-conquering star was Billy MacKenzie.With the same impetuosity that had seen him elope to Las Vegas at the age of 17 and marry a fake heiress, MacKenzie split the original band on the eve of a major American tour because he didn't fancy it. He left it too long between albums, lost the momentum, and The Associates floundered. In 1997, he was found dead by his father after overdosing on prescription drugs, and not yet 40.

His legacy is a precious handful of records which are still out there, still defying you to listen to them. Which is why, on what would have been his 50th birthday, friends and fans are gathered somewhere in W12 for a Billy MacKenzie Tribute. It isn't, to be kind, a star-studded line-up. An overture from Associates pianist Howard Hughes is followed by a band called Mower, then MacKenzie's old Dundee friend Christine Beveridge does a bit of Nico, and Paul Haig (early champion and sometime collaborator) sets older indie heads nodding with a couple of Josef K songs.

The whole thing lifts when the unmistakable, could-smoke-a-cigarette-in-a-rainstorm nose of Claudia Brucken swings into view. The former Propaganda singer, accompanied by Paul Humphreys of OMD (with whom she performs as OneTwo), croons deliciously through Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill", Roy Orbison's "In Dreams", Propaganda's "Duel" and The Associates' "Breakfast".

The presence of Brighton nu-gazers Electric Soft Parade is baffling, but salvation is at hand with British Electric Foundation (Heaven 17's alter ego), who perform Deniece Williams' "Free" (which they recorded with Billy), Bowie's "Drive In Saturday" (another MacKenzie favourite), their own "Let Me Go" and "Temptation", and a version of "Party Fears Two", slowed down to waltz time, which prompts a standing ovation. Apollo 440, whose "Pain In Any Language" was MacKenzie's final recording, wrap things up.

It's a well-intended night, with money raised for deaf charity Sound Seekers, but oh to hear a Brett Anderson singing "Even Dogs in the Wild", or a Bjork singing "Those First Impressions", or a Mika singing "18 Carat Love Affair", or a Siouxsie singing "White Car in Germany".

Somewhere in the middle of Bristol stands Sam Duckworth. A gold star, then, for calling himself Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. Of all the wordy-mouthful names doing the rounds, his is easily the best. But does the tousle-haired Southender have anything else going for him?

The Essex troubadour's debut album Chronicles of a Bohemian Teenager has caught the imagination of a subset of a generation, and tonight his every word is mouthed by the lips of his indie-kid devotees. And in a time of retarded busker rock, it's refreshing to hear songs which are at least about something - even if couplets such as "There will always be extremists acting in the name of God/But the god they worship will never hear" lack lightness of touch.

He's all right, is Duckworth. He deserves to not be working in Halfords any more. In the singer-songwriter stakes he's infinitely preferable to Damien Rice. He's got a touch of Roddy Frame about him. But I'm going to resist the "British Bright Eyes" tag that's on the tip of my tongue, because he isn't really worthy. Anyway, enough of that. Time is tight, and Billy MacKenzie is still dead.

Somewhere in W12, it occurs to me that the greatest tribute today's generation could pay to MacKenzie would be to dare to dream of expanding the possibilities of pop. Just like Billy.

s.price@ independent.co.uk

He deserved a star-studded affair... as the reviewer mentions.... but I love the Claudia Brucken/Paul Humphries project onetwo, so I imagine they were worth the entry price alone.

He deserved a star-studded affair... as the reviewer mentions.... but I love the Claudia Brucken/Paul Humphries project onetwo, so I imagine they were worth the entry price alone.

 

I want to hear more of that project as i like Claudia's voice. Also early OMD might also be worth checking out (before Pretty In Pink and the Atomic Kitten years :lol: :lol:) as they are a Factory Records act and are on a bit indie and alt music festival in Spain (i think) with peple like !!!

 

so maybe another alt.sell out like human league