Put your Finger on the Map, Who Cares Where it Lands - Doves @ The Bowery Ballroom, March 15, 2005
Last night, the usual suspects (Peephole, both halves of One Louder, Frauds, and a few others) and I went to see Doves at the Bowery Ballroom. This was a major show; I am usually happy to be at a concert, but Doves being near the top of the proverbial list and with a very good new album in tow, plus having not seen them since Benicassim in 2002, and not at a small venue since 2001, created substantial anticipation. I have rambled about my first Doves concert in the past, so I will take off my rosy-framed glasses and not talk about it.
The openers were a "hotly tipped" group called The Magic Numbers. They sing on the new Chems album on a track called "Close Your Eyes" - my feelings about this song have improved from antipathy to indifference as I have become more enamored with Push the Button (one of these days I'll share my .02). I enjoyed them well enough live but am probably not running out to buy the album; decent melodies and intricate song structures, with a throwback to 60's California pop aesthetic.
Doves took the stage a few minutes after 10 cut right into "Pounding" off The Last Broadcast - as tight as ever but opening the show with a song from an old album should have been a sign of things to come. Next came an excellent version of "Words" - this was the norm for the night, as they played everything on The Last Broadcast except for "M62 Song," "Friday's Dust," and "The Sulphur Man." While they played a good 100 minutes or so, playing almost all of TLB only allowed for 6 tracks on their new album, Some Cities, and a paltry 3 cuts off the debut, Lost Souls ("Sea Song" - thank God, "The Cedar Room" and "Here it Comes" - but unfortunately no footage from northern soul club nights accompanying as it had in the past).
Even though it might have gotten too much attention, TLB sounded great. They played "Where We're Calling From" (which sounded quite like The Verve - I don't remember them playing this on the TLB tour) and segued into "N.Y." like on the album, which was a brilliant one-two. I even enjoyed "Satellites," which I have always thought of as being a bit schmaltzy.
The new album sounded energetic and dynamic; as blown away as I was by the absolutely swinging "Black and White Town" (Frauds' accurate description), it rocked even harder live. "Snowden" and "One of These Days" also were great. I was very much hoping to see "The Storm" with Andy singing, but all we got with him on the mic was "Here it Comes." It should be said that Andy might be the secret weapon in the band. He is a razor sharp drummer who is also a very entertaining performer to watch live (his facial expressions reveal that his inner 6 year old loves playing drums in Doves), plus when he steps out from behind the kit to sing, his voice isn't professional, but it completely works for its emotional content.
The coolest couple on earth, Dennis and Lois, was at the show last night, and Jimi (who was battling a cold but still managed to find his wonderfully brusque yet emotive voice) dedicated "The Cedar Room" to them.
The show ended with the "There Goes the Fear" and while I wanted to hear them pull out the song "Spaceface" (which is from when they were an electronic act called Sub Sub), this was an ideal ending for the show. "There Goes the Fear" is a perfect song; big whooshing strokes of melodies with a freaky dancin' Stone Roses' rhythm. One thing that stuck out about the track last night was the live ending they do where Jimi pounds on the timbales for the last minute while guitarist Jez (Andy's twin brother) is working a double headed cowbell. Alongside the South American flavor, did it ever sound like a polyrhythmic disco punk flourish (the double headed cowbell is very DFA) - who knew somber boys from Salford had predicted the impact of the cowbell on the hipster circuit?
A great rock band, tight execution, good sound - what was not to love about Doves @ The Bowery Ballroom? There could have been a bit more love shown to albums other than TLB, and hopefully the setlist will change when they play 2 shows on May 18 and 19 at Webster Hall with Mercury Rev.
I am sure the usual suspects will have write-ups later on, so look for them. Peephole's review is already up.
posted by Phil @ 11:09 AM
15 comments
15 Comments:
at the risk of being scandalous - i actually think andy might be the weakest link in doves. he certainly plays with enthusiasm, but what i noticed last night (and i didn't pick up on it as much in past shows) is that he plays the same basic beat on a ton of the songs. i.e. snare/cymbal on every beat, simple fills. i feel like he could be a lot more creative behind the kit.
i dont disagree that his ritmos are similar at times. they certainly are.
Where i think he is good is in a couple of things: a) he has sharp
mechanics and keeps a very good beat (the most essential drummer skill of course) and b) while the rhythms are similar often, there are little technical things in there (fills and tweaks on the rhythms) that are a lot harder to do than they appear...
fair enough. i think, though, that more variation on his part could really open up their sound. the new album is good, and the new songs were my favorites last night, but i can see them playing themselves into a corner with future albums.
And you think that the reason they will end up in the corner is because Andy's snare drum pounding rhythms (excuse the pun) are going to be the cause of their ending up in the corner?
To play devil's advocate: What about Jimi's singing - it seems that it's even more one dimensional than the drums (again, purely for the sake of argument - I love Jimi's voice)?
agreed on jimi, but i think they can better withstand a lack of innovation with the vocals. and also, all three of them can sing. andy's drumming is more singularly important to their sound.
also, i think vocals in general are relatively one-dimensional. there are obviously exceptions, but i think most bands start with the music if/when their sound grows.
Not to throw off the gloves and really go toe to toe, but...
All three do sing, but Jimi is the main singer, the Paul and John in one (he does play a left-handed bass...), and the Williams' brothers are thrown an occasional vocal bone as if they are George and Ringo.
The opening line of the Pitchfork review of Some Cities said "Jimi Goodwin can't sing" - while the review is very positive overall (and I am also not implying that P-fork is the be all and end all), opening the review by focusing on this particular quality of the Doves' sound suggests that his voice has more impact on people's perception of the band than one-diminensional drumming.
I told an ex-girlfriend of mine to check out Lost Souls when it came out, she did and said she didn't get into it because she didn't love his voice.
well now that the gloves are off...
vocals do impact people's views more than drumming, but vocals are inherently more one-dimensional than drumming. we're talking about innovation in a band's sound, and i think it's unrealistic to put that burden on the vocals.
this is especially the case from the perspective of doves fans that already like jimi's vocals.
For two people with the gloves off, you are both way too polite to each other. Can we have some name calling please?
Thanks,
Jason
man, to think i missed this entire back and forth today...stupid law job.
It's actually Jez who sings on The Storm, not Andy.
Thank you for the correction Jen.
They really are brothers - their voices sound very alike.
I have nothing to add to the gloves-off argument since I'm a week late on this post, but I think Doves are an incredible live band. I'm a bigger fan of the Lost Souls era stuff, and had hoped they would play Firesuite or Rise, or even Blue Water. How were they at Benicassim? There's so much open air there, I wonder how their music would fill the space like it does in an indoor venue.
By the time I had seen them at Benicassim, it was the second time seeing them on the Last Broadcast tour (plus 3 others on Lost Souls - and I am with you on it being my favorite era of theirs), and they wern't changing their show up much from night to night (or at all), so I wasn't as blown away as on other occassions, but it was still great. Ironically, one of the biggest problems with a festival like Benicassim is that it has so many good bands (and so many great performances) that the whole experience blends together into one great event and it's hard for individual performances to become the thing you walk away with. That said, I have seen several sets at festivals that have absolutely left me floored, which I will remember for a good long while.
I see you went to Benicassim too - it is an incredible festival.
I just looked at your blog and I think we met at the final Step On party a while back in Brooklyn - I was the guy that bought the Happy Monday poster off the person that won it in the auction.
No shit. That's right - I talked to a crew of people at the bar who liked the Mondays and the Stone Roses. Good call on that poster. It's a shame that Step On is no longer (although Tony dj's around town here and there).
Benicassim was a bizarre experience. Strange Euro hippies dj'ing out of their vans. You really have to make a judgment call on what band to watch at what time. And it was insanely hot during the day, but had a great atmosphere at night. Cool souveneirs too.
And back to Doves, I did notice that Andy's drumming was basically the same on every song - but I think that's what those songs called for, your basic 4/4 rhythm. When I saw them on the Lost Souls tour, he was able to open up more because those songs allowed it. And Jimi played the drums a lot in that show, when Andy sang - one of the things I thought was very impressive.
Also, Black and White Town sounded incredible at the Bowery show - I think it's a good song, but I was really impressed with it live.
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