Sweet Dreams

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On Friday I was at a birthday party for Andy Scott, who is the guitarist for English glam rock band, Sweet. Andy has reached that milestone of his 60th birthday. There was a time when it would have seemed impossible that you’d still be treading the boards and recording as a rock musician at that age but Andy made it and 60 of us were invited to help him celebrate. The actual birth day isn’t for a couple of weeks but this was a good date for everyone to get together and a great time was had by all.

It got me thinking…….. Sweet are another one of those bands that I’ve been listening to all my life. It takes me back to when I was a kid growing up in a coal mining town in the north of England. Hard times…. didn’t fit in ….. and music became my escape. Now when did I first hear the music of Sweet?

It would have been about 1972, or even 1971. I would have been at infant school then! My dad took me to visit with my Uncle Colin and Auntie Brenda who lived in a place called Kingstone, near Barnsley. I had a cousin (guess I still have) who seemed to find Barnsley an even harder place than I did. He’d heard a song on the radio called "Co Co" which he went round the house singing. It was by a band called The Sweet. I was 6, he was 5. Long time ago.

Then there was "Top of the Pops". Sweet in Indian get-up for "Wig Wam Bam". Sweet in make-up for "Blockbuster". Sweet sounding vaguely rude on "Little Willy" but I wasn’t sure why. I was 7. I was 8.

My Dad had an old reel-to-reel tape recorder that he used to record the songs from the Top 20. 6 o’clock Sunday night. Number 1 at 7. The Sweet’s songs were always my favourites. Ballroom Blitz. For some reason, he didn’t record "Hell Raiser". I didn’t really understand why. Maybe he didn’t like that one. I was 8.

Holidays in Blackpool. Got my parents to buy me a album on cassette each time we went. 1974. The Sweet’s Biggest Hits. Had all the hits up to and including "Wig Wam Bam". I preferred their newer stuff. I was 9.

By the time I started to follow the charts myself, Sweet had moved on. First there was Teenage Rampage. Then there was The Sixteens which didn’t go as high on the "hit parade", as my Mum insisted on calling it, but I thought it was the best single I’d heard them do. I remember seeing an album in the shops and not buying it because there wasn’t any of the singles on it. It was called "Sweet Fanny Adams". Then I remember them being on a Jimmy Saville-hosted edition of TOTP. He stood in front of the staging and said "Sweet are back with a difference…. And what a difference!". The guys, all dressed in denim, no make-up, glitter all gone, launched into "Fox on the Run". Now that was cool. I was 10.

Sometime around then there was a technician’s strike which stopped Top of the Pops being broadcast. The very visual bands like Sweet began to fade. My new favourite band was the Eagles. It was getting difficult at school to be a fan of Alvin Stardust and Sweet. And nobody else of my age had ever heard of the Eagles. I was beyond criticism. Sweet carried on and there were two more hits…… Action and The Lies in Your Eyes. Great, great stuff. The Lies in Your Eyes only got to number 30 but I saw it on Supersonic on TV and it sounded wonderful to me. Supersonic was to be the glam bands’ last stand. Cue Marc Bolan…… riding on a white swan. I was 11.

Kind of lost sight of the Sweet for a little while after that. I’d checked into the "Hotel California" and everything was so grown up. I was the kid at school who was disparaging of the whole punk thing which seemed to lack seriousness …… and song lyrics needed to be serious. Hey, I was 12.

1978. The local record shop had an album called "Sweet’s Golden Greats" which picked up where "Biggest Hits" had left off. Everything from Blockbuster through to…. through to….. some songs I’d never heard before. It included songs like "Lost Angels", "Fever of Love" and "Stairway to the Stars" which sounded like they’d been great singles but no-one had bought them. I couldn’t understand why no-one had bought them. They should have been hits. Maybe if they’d been hits then the Sweet would still be going I thought……. One morning, it was a Saturday, I was laid in bed, late and my Mum had the radio on. There was a song that caught my attention. Great melody and sad lyrics. Something about Oxygen. The DJ said that’s the new one form Sweet. It was a great song……. but no band should be allowed to hijack another band’s name just because they hadn’t had a hit for a couple of years. I was quite put out. Next time I heard it, close up, and I realised that the voice was the same. Brian Connolly. I went down the record store. A place on the corner of Peel Street in Barnsley. Can’t remember it’s name. They had the album. It was called "Level Headed". Andy Scott had a beard. They looked very mature. Just grown up enough for me. Kind of like the Eagles but from England. "Love is Like Oxygen", indeed. I was 13.

Nothing else from the Sweet the rest of the year and when you’re young six months is an awful long time. I’d moved on. Tubeway Army, David Bowie. If punk was a little too raw for me, then this was articulate, alienated and thoughtful. Just like me. The Eagles also brought out an album called "The Long Run". My English teacher seeing the badges on my jacket told me that you couldn’t like both Gary Numan and the Eagles. I thought he was wrong. I was 14.

I was shopping in Casa Disco in Barnsley. Local record shop. Sometimes I still have dreams about Casa Disco where I fret that it is closing down. When I wake up, it has been closed for years. When I go back to Barnsley, which I seldom do, its not there anymore. This day, they had an album by the Sweet that I hadn’t seen before. Just called "The Sweet", it had a live photo on the cover on which they looked like they did on that Level Headed record. Took it home, the songs were recorded prior to "Wig Wam Bam" and were really not me. Strike one on the Sweet. Another day, shopping in Neales Music in the Arcade. They had a section where you could buy singles that had failed to chart for 60p. The new ones were £1-10. I looked through. Found something called "Call Me" by Sweet. Took it home. Sounded okay. It was like being 11 again. Guilty secret. Found out the "Level Headed" album and tried to persuade myself that the last track sounded like Kraftwerk. In reality it probably sounds more like Pink Floyd. I was 15.

Now life was an endless trawl around the record stores. There was one place on Barnsley Market which had loads of singles and a few albums. It was called "Mary’s". Run by a little woman who always looked dirty which matched the condition of the singles she tried to sell. The albums were always in pretty good condition. Found one called "Cut Above The Rest" by Sweet. The inner sleeve had only three guys on the photo. I’d heard the singles off the album – "Call Me", Big Apple Waltz" – and hadn’t noticed the difference but the album confirmed that Brian, the lead vocalist, was no longer in the band. At least, the other guys had always sung on the other records. Found the next album when I went on holiday (Blackpool, again!). Water’s Edge. A little poppy for my tastes. I was 16.

Sometime around then the three-piece Sweet recorded another album, "Identity Crisis". Good record. I got it on a German import from a shop in Manchester. Sweet went out on tour. I was used to being embarrassed about my musical tastes when my mates who liked the latest hits chided me about them. Even for me, defending something as outmoded as Sweet was a bit of a stretch. Music was moving on, the new Genesis and David Bowie albums sounded poor, Steely Dan and the Eagles had called it a day and I needed to find something that was a little less mainstream. I was 17.

By this time, I’d begun to freelance for NME, Sounds and Melody Maker and was combining that with anything I could write about to keep a decent level of income. I don’t know how you can write a whole magazine about double-glazing but I did it – and on a regular basis. Maybe writing about music wasn’t going to be the only thing I would do. Time to think again and a long time since I’d thought about Sweet. I was 20.

Married man (at least for a while). An article in Sounds. "Sweet getting ready to Blockbuster again". Three guys on the photo. Andy Scott, Mick Tucker and a guy called Paul Mario Day. The article said that Stevie Priest would join them in time for the shows. Got a bootleg from a record fair. Turned out that Steve Priest never made that journey. Sweet were a five-piece and the lead vocalist shouted when he couldn’t make the top notes. Seemed like nostalgia. I was 21.

Something must have kept me checking the "S" rack in the cd stores. 1992. Found an album and a video. Didn’t really recognise anybody on the cover but the sleeve said it was by "Andy Scott’s Sweet". Turned out Mick Tucker had gone the way of Connolly and Priest. But the cd made a good sound and I decided to go to some shows. Sweet still made for a good night out. I was somewhere in my late 20s.

Discovered a messageboard on this new thing called the world wide web. A place called "Home Sweet Home". My name is Darren and I am a Sweet fan. Twelve steps group for those who wished rock music was still a little more glam.

Gig in Shepherd’s Bush. Two venues. Not sure which one the Sweet is playing at. Not the coolest question to ask just anyone. Spotted a guy with long hair and a blue denim jacket. Decided to ask him. He turned around and he happened to be Andy Scott.

Some guy from Peterborough organises a Sweet concert and I get to write a couple of articles for the programme. Hey after all it is one of the things I do.

Invited to attend the filming of the band’s new DVD at a studio in London. Interviews and things. Somewhere along the line it all goes pear-shaped and the band and the studio end up fighting each other in court. I end up on the cutting room floor. I’m not surprised.

After all you learn a lot before you get into your late 30s.

Invited to go to Andy’s birthday party and the band will play live too. All in one weekend.

Not a bad time for a Sweet fan who’ll never see 40 again.

                 Darren Hirst and Andy Scott

May in the Bronx – Part 2, the Pitchers

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Well, the Yankees game last night was rained out. As Boston lost, the Yankees were elevated to first place again – making today a good day to reflect on the pitching that got them there and that which didn’t live up to expectations…..

New York Yankees – Pitching – Month – May
 
Name GP GS GF IP H RA ER BB SO W L Sv ERA OBA
Bruney, Brian 1 0 0 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0.00 .000
Robertson, David 7 0 5 5.0 2 2 1 4 6 0 0 0 1.80 .118
Wang, Chien-Ming 3 0 2 8.0 9 2 2 2 7 0 0 0 2.25 .300
Rivera, Mariano 10 0 5 11.0 9 3 3 1 13 0 1 5 2.45 .214
Sabathia, CC 6 6 0 45.2 34 14 13 10 37 4 1 0 2.56 .204
Aceves, Alfredo 9 0 3 19.2 16 6 6 3 18 3 1 0 2.75 .219
Albaladejo, Jonathan 9 0 2 10.0 11 6 4 6 7 1 0 0 3.60 .282
Ramirez, Edwar 8 0 0 9.0 7 4 4 7 8 0 0 0 4.00 .212
Tomko, Brett 5 0 3 4.1 5 2 2 2 0 0 1 0 4.15 .313
Burnett, AJ 5 5 0 32.1 30 15 15 18 32 1 2 0 4.18 .248
Chamberlain, Joba 5 5 0 22.1 24 12 12 12 29 1 1 0 4.84 .286
Pettitte, Andy 6 6 0 36.1 46 21 20 17 18 3 0 0 4.95 .309
Coke, Phil 11 0 3 11.0 9 7 7 5 4 0 2 1 5.73 .237
Hughes, Phil 6 6 0 28.2 35 22 21 13 25 2 2 0 6.59 .307
Veras, Jose 13 0 4 9.2 13 9 9 8 6 2 0 0 8.38 .325
Melancon, Mark 2 0 0 0.1 1 2 2 4 0 0 0 0 54.00 .500
  106 28 27 254.1 251 127 121 112 211 17 11 6 4.28 .259
 

Positives

C.C. Sabathia. As CC Sabathia heads into today’s start against Tampa Bay, it is that .204 OBA that shows that it is not only his top-rank wages which makes him stand out amongst the other starters. Sabathia typically makes a slow start to the season and bearing this in mind it seems that he’s ahead of schedule for another examplary season.

Alfredo Aceves. When a Yankees starter goes down early in the game – and it does happen, Hughes and Wang take a bow, then Aceves is the guy that they can depend upon. He has given us two or three solid innings in every relief performance. This is a team that went without a long reliever on their opening day roster. This was obviously a major mistake and not having someone like Aceves to turn to in those early weeks lost us several games.

David Robertson. Robertson is another who didn’t make the opening day roster but who is making a sizeable difference now he is part of the bullpen. He still needs to gain a little in the consistency stakes but when he is good, he will do very nicely.

Joba Chamberlain. Chamberlain still isn’t the complete package as a starter but he is ahead of where I expected him to be at this stage and the voices (including mine) asking for him to be returned to the bullpen are dying down. He is ahead of Pettitte and Wang in his recent starts and May was a good month for him.

Negatives

Edwar Ramirez remains part of the 40-man roster so the Yankees aren’t finished with him but his form has been a big disappointment so far this year and he is learning to make his home at Scranton / Wilkes-Barre (AAA). During May, he averaged nearly a walk and a hit in every innings pitched and whilst the Yankees might have been a little premature in demoting him, it looked as though it was always heading that way.

Phil Hughes. The Yankees seem quite pleased with him and said he was unlucky to lose his starting job but the reality is that he is averaging less than five innings per start and that is ERA for the month was 6.59. We have to put this in context. This is one of the two guys who were going to be a mainstay of the rotation in 2008 and really messed up. Now Hughes is the best of the two (even when Kennedy is fit) but he looks like he will make-do as a number five starter. This is no longer a surprise to me but I’m not expecting a noticeable improvement and this isn’t good enough.

Jose Veras. Last year, Veras was a very important part of the bullpen. This year it is probably only his level of experience which is keeping him in New York. His ERA for May exceeded 8 and this is even considering that he occasionally does give us a good performance.

Jonathan Albaladejo. Another early-in-the-season reassignment. Last year, he started the season well and then got injured. This season he started well and then the hitters figured him out. Like Ramirez, I think he perhaps deserved another week at the top level to see if he could gather himself but really he can have no complaints.

Suprises

Chien-Ming Wang. The guys on the team who still have to communicate through an interpreter are in a difficult place when their form falls apart. Given all the psychological pressure the fact that Wang has taken some major steps towards comeback at all is quite an achievement. He has some distance to go and I thought it was too early to restore him to the rotation but this is so far-so good.

Brett Tomko. I was not alone in shaking my head when I heard that Tomko had been promoted to the Bronx, I’m sure. Another journeyman pitcher, who is likeable but struggles to maintain a high enough level of performance in the top flight. So I’m not expecting this to last but he has put in some creditable innings so far and deserves a nod for that alone.

Phil Coke. Coke is the guy we must go to when we need a left-hander out of the bullpen but whilst his performances have been adequate, he has looked a shadow of the pitcher he was in his appearances at the end of last year. He is simply giving up too many runs – too often in tight situations that can cost us a game.

Mark Melancon started his major league assignment well but then he stopped throwing strikes. He was a surprising call-up who took advantage of his chance but ultimately couldn’t maintain it. His ERA at AAA is less than half of what he produced at the major level and he needs some months at that level under his belt before he is giving another chance in the Bronx.

May in the Bronx – Part 1, the Batters

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The New York Yankees had a poor start to May but by the halfway point of the month they had really hit their stride. During the second half of the month they began the move towards setting a new record for games without  a fielding error and began the long haul towards first place in the American League East after occupying third for most of the season to that point. Since May turned to June, an error by Jorge Posada on a throw to second base and a loss to the American League West-leading Texas Rangers has seen the errorless run come to an end and the Boston Red Sox tie the Yankees for first place in the East but May sure was a month in which the Yankees got hot. Who was repsonsible?

New York Yankees – Batting – Month – May
 
Name G AB R H RBI 2B 3B HR BB SO SH SF SB BA SLG OBP
Posada, Jorge 6 18 4 8 7 1 0 3 3 3 0 0 0 .444 1.000 .524
Teixeira, Mark 28 115 25 38 35 9 0 13 10 24 0 1 0 .330 .748 .391
Gardner, Brett 22 52 13 17 4 1 2 2 7 6 2 0 4 .327 .538 .417
Jeter, Derek 26 112 17 36 13 8 0 3 12 15 1 0 6 .321 .473 .397
Cabrera, Melky 24 84 9 27 10 6 0 1 4 11 2 1 2 .321 .429 .348
Damon, Johnny 27 115 25 35 21 10 1 6 9 22 1 0 2 .304 .565 .355
Cervelli, Francisco 15 42 4 12 4 1 0 0 1 6 3 0 0 .286 .310 .302
Cano, Robinson 28 114 17 31 15 8 1 4 4 6 0 0 1 .272 .465 .297
Molina, Jose 5 15 3 4 1 2 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 .267 .400 .313
Rodriguez, Alex 22 77 11 20 17 4 0 7 18 12 0 0 0 .260 .584 .412
Matsui, Hideki 25 87 8 21 10 6 0 5 5 18 0 1 0 .241 .483 .295
Pena, Ramiro 19 39 7 9 2 1 1 0 1 8 0 0 2 .231 .308 .250
Cash, Kevin 10 26 1 6 3 2 0 0 0 5 0 1 0 .231 .308 .250
Swisher, Nick 27 80 9 12 10 1 0 3 19 29 2 3 0 .150 .275 .311
Berroa, Angel 9 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
    980 155 276 152 60 5 47 94 170 11 7 17 .282 .497 .349
 

Positives

Mark Teixeira. In April, Teixeira batted .200 with 3 homers. His average was so outstripped by the hot-hitting Nick Swisher, it began to look like we could have saved an awful lot of money in filling the first-base hole left by the not overly missed Jason Giambi. In May, whilst Swisher cooled right down, Teixeira found his swing and looked like the best first baseman since Tino Martinez. In May, he hit .330 with (count ’em) 13 home runs and a mammoth .748 slugging percentage. This raised him to .279 on the season which shows not only how much he has improved but just how bad that first month in pinstripes was.

Derek Jeter put together a good long hitting streak in May. He didn’t match Ichiro but there was no-one else to match him for second place in hitting safely in consecutive games. His .321 in May is solid form and he deserves his first place ranking in the American League All-Star voting for shortstop. 

Melky Cabrera missed the last few months of the month after slamming into the outfield wall as he attempted a catch but those absent days aside he matched his April performance, hit-for-hit. He has proved an amazingly successful clutch hitter and he has put his 2008 form well behind him.

Johnny Damon. Damon is not great in the field and his throw from the outfield leaves a lot to be desired. However, his hitting in April returned to a level of form that he hasn’t been able to consistently produce since he joined the Yankees.

Negatives

Angel Berroa. Berroa is really just making up the numbers on the roster. Since A-Rod’s return, he has no hope of being an everyday player. In the field, he is adequate. With the bat he is simply horrible. He didn’t manage to get to base safely once in May and it becomes more and more apparent that Pena is a much better option as infield backup.

Kevin Cash. It’s never easy being an ex-Red Sox in pinstripes but Cash really didn’t take best advantage of his opportunity. With Posada and Molina injured and Cervelli having so little Major League experience, Cash should have been the obvious choice to be the team’s first choice catcher during May. Instead, he showed himself to be no more than adequate behind the plate whilst Cervelli excelled beyond expectation. By the time that Cash began to hit, towards the end of the month, the battle was already lost and with Posada fit again, he was the obvious demotee.

Hideki Matsui. Matsui is the everyday DH but he is doing his best to lose that position. He is really not achieving the kind of batting average we expect from him. He strikes out too much and doesn’t gain enough walks. He needs to improve.

Nick Swisher. Last year when I saw Swisher playing for the White Sox, he looked extremely poor. When the Yankees signed him in the close season I couldn’t understand it. I wondered why they hadn’t waited for Teixeira and made an effort to re-sign Abreu. Then when they also signed Teixeira, it made even less sense. However, in April, I became a believer. Swisher was magic and his hitting in the clutch was examplary. And then in May, the guy I saw for the White Sox last year showed up. At this moment, he may be a great clubhouse presence but he is streakiest hitter anywhere and when his head goes down, he really, really struggles.

Surprises

Brett Gardner. The speedy Gardner is another conundrum. Last season whilst the Yankees brass sounded optimistic, the fanbase wondered when he was going to hitting safely often enough to make that speed a real threat on the bases. In April, chosen over Melky Cabrera, he quickly lost the ascendancy with a very ordinary month. But like Teixeira he bounced back to the kind of form he showed in Spring Training during May. The difference is that for Teixeira that is a return to usual form. For Gardner, this month may prove to be a fluke.

Francisco Cervelli. There was a day or two in May when Cervelli led the team in batting average. He was always going to do reasonably well with the "tools of ignorance" but he also showed he can bat at this level which was far from a given. He ended the month on .286. He needs to work on his patience at the plate and he’s not going to be a power hitter but this guy has a future.

Alex Rodriguez. I’m not sure whether this is a positive or negative surprise. For most of May, A-Rod either swung for the fences or got out. His ability as a singles hitter seemed to have deserted him. But he kept going and the home runs kept coming and then on the 25th against Texas, he went 5 for 5 with 3 singles and 2 doubles. Go figure!

Jorge Posada. Posada’s injury seemed to come from nowhere but his damaged hamstring put him out for most of the month. However, either side of his time on the DL, he has still managed to produce with the bat and for that he earns my commendation.

Digitally Remastered by……….

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Some months ago I had a long conversation with a guy called Des Tong. Now Des is an accomplished bass player and he was in the band Sad Cafe who had a number of UK hit albums and singles in the early 1980s. We were remarking, that evening, how it was a shame that some of the finest Sad Cafe albums came out prior to the cd era and had never been re-released. I decided that evening to use my influence with the music industry to see if I could rectify that situation.

I contacted a label in the States called Renaissance who had already licensed some of the Cafe’s back catalogue and suggested that they should also release the remaining titles. They said that the albums would need some sound-work doing and that they didn’t have the original artwork. They could get the appropriate licences but they’d need a producer to re-master and……….

I’ll do it, I said. Okay, they said.

The first of three Sad Cafe album that I have remastered made its way into U.S. stores a couple of weeks ago. The old saying about "if want something doing right…….." comes to mind. I’m pleased with this one. I’ve nurtured it through from the point it was just a germ of an idea to the finished product. I tried to capture what I thought Eric Stewart (10cc) wanted on his original production. I provided all the artwork except the original front cover and the tray liner (for the record, I don’t particularly like that back section), the rest is mine.

Another interesting string to my bow…….

One of the good ones gone………

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A friend of mine died last week.

He’d been round my house on Thursday night. Wednesday night for that matter as well. He talked more on Thursday evening than I’d ever heard him talk. He was animated and what he said was vivid.

He work up Friday morning vomiting. An ambulance was called. He lost consciousness and never regained it.

He was a quiet man. He was a gifted saxophonist. Solid, never showy. He had a deep and real faith in God. He liked people but he was smart enough about human nature that he didn’t take everyone at face value. And he was a friend to many.

I shall miss Reuben

Carry on Camping!

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A Camp
6th of May 2009
King’s College, London

I always thought that the weak strand in Nina Persson’s previous attempt for world domination by music was the band’s name. The Cardigans. I mean the Cardigans! It’s not a name to set the world alight. Their first couple of albums had an unusual pop pastiche going on which made them huge in Japan but meant some corners of the rock world viewed them with suspicion.  This part of their career came to climax and crescendo with the worldwide hit "Lovefool" but Persson and her fellow Cardigans wanted more than a reputation for perfect pop. Ironically, the album (Gran Turismo) which gave them their best known rock anthem "My Favourite Game" was mainly dominated by synthesiser sounds. Acoustic guitars were more to the fore on the best of their later albums, "Long Gone Before Daylight" (2003) but by this time their commercial, if not their creative peak had passed and the album was largely bypassed in the U.S. and the U.K..

In 2001, having decided that she perhaps need an outlet other than the Cardigans, Nina had finished off an album which she had begun with a loose collaboration of her musical friends. Because it was going to be a one-off and because it was intended to be a ragged gathering of musicians who by chance found themselves under the same roof, she called it "A Camp". It wasn’t meant to be a serious longterm commitment, more a holiday from The Cardigans. So a camp it was and "A Camp" would do.

Persson’s musical mainstay on the album was Nathan Larson, bass player and multi-instrumentalist. Another guy who played on some of the tracks was Niclas Frisk. After that it was back to the Cardigans for two more studio albums including the aforementioned "Long Gone Before Daylight" and a "Best of" which seems to have finally drawn the curtain down on the band. At least for now.

When she decided to work again with Larson and Frisk, this time in a proper band with a long term future, the name "A Camp" was resurrected. Perhaps, band names just aren’t Nina’s strong suit. It must be a nightmare to market.

On Wednesday, A Camp brought their first fullscale European tour to its conclusion before heading out to the States. The second album "Colonia" has been well-received by the press but has perhaps not created the same underground frisson as the first. But how do they fare live?

Well, tonight is a triple-bill with Leona Naess performing an off-beat and charming acoustic set to open. Second up is Kristofer Astrom who doesn’t really have the voice to match his obvious guitar skills.

The main content though is definitely "A Camp". They eschew any Cardigans material opting for a set which is 8-parts new album, 6-parts first album and two covers. The opener "The Crowning" is ideal territory for Persson’s vocals and her dramatic Hollywood-style poses. There is something about the way that the Scandinavian voices the English language on lines like "Let’s raise our glasses to murderous asses like you" which is totally charming and so chic.

Both Larson and Frisk cut dramatic figures in perpetual motion, their guitars pointed skyward. There is indeed a point in the evening when the stage movements and shape-striking does become a little repetitive but this is no major problem. The show continues cutting its way through ballads that emphasise Nina’s vocal qualities and striking lyrical sarcasm to more upbeat songs with great hooks like "Frequent Flyer" and "My America".

Low point? As on the new album, the male vocal on "Golden Teeth and Silver Medals" doesn’t quite cut it. Tonight, Astrom, the support act, handles the duties and he is no better than Nicolai Dunger on the record. The song is perhaps, anyway, a little too Eurovision.

The two covers were well-chosen. First, Grace Jones’ "Done it Again" led by the bass and tightly performed. As an encore, we were given David Bowie’s "Boys Keep Swinging". By this time it was a moment for the band to rock out and the sound became a little bit of a mush, something that Persson’s guidance for the sound guys had carefully avoided the rest of night. But this was fun and the audience sang a long and a great time was had by all.

A great time was had by all. That might just sum up the night. But that name……. A Camp. A Camp! Now that might just halt the next attempt at world domination.

April in the Bronx (part two) – the Pitchers

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Last season, the Yankees had one of the most consistent bullpens in baseball. This year, essentially the same bullpen staff has reported but with a stronger (on paper) starting rotation than last year. Having added CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett, and with a fit-again Chien-Ming Wang and with Andy Pettitte without last year’s off-field distractions, what could possibly go wrong:

 

New York Yankees – Pitching – Month – April
 
Name GP GS GF IP H RA ER BB SO W L Sv ERA OBA
Hughes, Phil 1 1 0 6.0 2 0 0 2 6 1 0 0 0.00 .100
Swisher, Nick 1 0 1 1.0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0.00 .250
Melancon, Mark 2 0 1 3.0 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0.00 .100
Rivera, Mariano 10 0 8 9.2 12 3 3 0 13 0 0 5 2.79 .293
Pettitte, Andy 4 4 0 27.1 24 10 9 6 16 2 1 0 2.96 .240
Chamberlain, Joba 4 4 0 23.0 22 11 8 13 17 1 0 0 3.13 .265
Bruney, Brian 9 0 1 8.0 3 3 3 2 12 2 0 0 3.38 .111
Coke, Phil 11 0 1 9.2 7 7 4 4 8 1 1 0 3.72 .206
Robertson, David 2 0 2 2.1 3 1 1 1 4 0 0 0 3.86 .300
Sabathia, CC 5 5 0 32.1 31 18 17 14 19 1 2 0 4.73 .256
Burnett, AJ 5 5 0 31.2 29 19 19 13 25 2 0 0 5.40 .257
Veras, Jose 9 0 4 11.0 6 7 7 6 10 1 1 0 5.73 .154
Ramirez, Edwar 7 0 0 8.1 11 7 6 8 8 0 0 0 6.48 .306
Albaladejo, Jonathan 9 0 0 11.0 13 10 10 4 5 1 0 0 8.18 .317
Marte, Damaso 7 0 3 5.1 9 9 9 3 6 0 1 0 15.19 .360
Wang, Chien-Ming 3 3 0 6.0 23 23 23 6 2 0 3 0 34.50 .622
Claggett, Anthony 1 0 0 1.2 9 8 8 2 2 0 0 0 43.20 .643
  90 22 21 197.1 206 136 127 86 156 12 9 5 5.79 .273
 

Positives

Mariano Rivera. No surprise to see Mo at the top of my list but it hasn’t been without a wobble or two. But for most of the month there looked to be no chance of him giving up a run. And then came a tight game against Boston. One of Mariano’s strong suits has always been his mental toughness. After last season’s tendency to come up short in a tied game and having blown this particular save, there will be those who claim to have spotted a chink in his armour. Don’t know but at the moment he still looks the best closer in MLB.

Andy Pettitte. I expected Pettitte to be stronger this year and so far that is the story. Two wins and a 2.96 ERA in amongst a staff that hasn’t yet found its direction. It’s good to have this veteran around.

Brian Bruney. So I know that Bruney is on the DL (again) at the moment but this is based on his form prior to that. He had a dreadful first appearance but after that he looked basically unhittable. That .111 OBA speaks volumes. Time will tell whether his "rest" is a temporary glitch or something more substantial but fit, he looked one of our best options.

Joba Chamberlain. Just. Of the remaining starters Joba just comes out on top. In his last start, he finally looked dominating. Prior to that he had looked just enough – at least to keep us in the game. At the moment, the great experiment seems to be working. I’d rather see him in the bullpen and, boy, does the bullpen need him. But for now it seems to be working out. Just.

Negatives

Damaso Marte. What do you do with a left-handed specialist who can’t get left-handers out? Marte didn’t look the real deal last season. This year he hasn’t shown up at all. 15.19 ERA and more than a third of the batters he pitches to are getting on base. Horrible.

Edwar Ramirez. Last year, Ramirez looked dependable. This year, his ERA is 6 and a half. ‘Nuff said.

Jose Veras. Last year, Veras looked dependable. It is hard to track the cause of all these sudden down turns. More peculiar, that most of these guys looked good in Spring Training. Girardi needs to lift some heads that have fallen. His ability  / inability to instill confidence in the roster members may be the defining issue of his tenure as manager.

Jonathan Albaladejo. There’s not much to say that you couldn’t also say about Veras and Ramirez. There are simply too many members of the bullpen who are ragged and under-performing. These guys need to find some consistency.

Surprises

Chien-Ming Wang. Nobody knew quite what to expect from Wang in April. He was coming off a serious injury and his innings in the Spring had been few and their quality indecisive. Nobody expected him to be as bad as he has been. 34.50 ERA and an OBA over .6. Now he is on the disabled list again. This is quite a nosedive. Hope he can pull out of it.

Mark Melancon. Melancon didn’t even make it in to the 2009 Yankees media guide but here he is in the Majors and so far he is holding his own. Whether this can continue is debatable but as out of bullpen options as they have been (can you say "Swisher?"), it has been a pleasure to see him.

AJ Burnett. Burnett looked strong in his first two starts and it was encouraging to see a big money signing so strong straight out of the blocks. He hasn’t maintained that and he has a reputation for injuries. I don’t want any more nasty surprises.

Anthony Claggett. Claggett was a bright hope for the future. Claggett was called up when the pitching staff was particularly horrible in mid-April. Claggett was brought into a game that was already lost. Claggett only had to make some outs and get us through a few innings without further humiliation. Claggett looked worse than Chien-Ming Wang that had preceded him. That’s a lot of baggage for a bright hope to carry as he headed back to the Minors.

The pitching has not been good in April – in the Bronx and on the road!

April in the Bronx (part one)

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A new baseball season wouldn’t be quite the same without some interesting stories surrounding the Yankees. And 2009 has provided a plethora! We went into the season with the cloud of misdemeanours hanging over Alex Rodriguez, a drunk-driving charge for Joba Chamberlain, a new Stadium and an even more expensive roster than usual waiting to persuade the fans that they really had the goods. The month has been mostly successful but when the Yankees lost, they really lost. The lowlight was a 14 run innings given up for the first time in their history. Here’s how the batter’s shaped up in that first month:

New York Yankees – Batting – Month – April
 
Name G AB R H RBI 2B 3B HR BB SO SH SF SB BA SLG OBP
Cano, Robinson 22 93 18 34 16 5 0 5 6 9 0 1 1 .366 .581 .400
Cabrera, Melky 20 49 11 16 9 0 0 4 6 8 0 0 2 .327 .571 .400
Swisher, Nick 22 77 21 24 19 8 1 7 15 19 0 0 0 .312 .714 .430
Damon, Johnny 20 78 15 23 10 2 1 4 11 11 0 1 3 .295 .500 .385
Matsui, Hideki 19 65 8 19 9 5 1 2 12 9 0 0 0 .292 .492 .410
Jeter, Derek 22 94 14 27 12 4 0 4 9 13 0 0 4 .287 .457 .350
Nady, Xavier 7 28 4 8 2 4 0 0 1 6 0 0 0 .286 .429 .310
Molina, Jose 11 29 2 8 5 0 0 1 3 4 1 0 0 .276 .379 .344
Posada, Jorge 20 69 7 19 14 6 0 3 10 18 0 2 1 .275 .493 .366
Pena, Ramiro 16 26 2 7 2 1 0 0 3 4 0 0 1 .269 .308 .345
Berroa, Angel 4 8 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .250 .250 .250
Gardner, Brett 21 59 9 13 4 3 0 0 3 11 2 1 5 .220 .271 .254
Teixeira, Mark 19 70 11 14 10 3 0 3 17 12 0 1 0 .200 .371 .367
Ransom, Cody 15 50 4 9 6 5 1 0 3 15 1 0 0 .180 .320 .226
    795 128 223 118 46 4 33 99 139 5 6 17 .281 .473 .362
 

Positives

Robinson Cano is not the indifferent player he was a year ago. Then his mind seemed to be elsewhere and his stroke had disappeared. Now he leads the team in batting average, he has 5 doubles and 5 homers. He has looked strong in the field.

Hideki Matsui has overcome some early days of discomfort and water on the knee following on from surgery to see his batting average climbing the list and with some work on his stance he is starting to see some power too.

Derek Jeter has answered some of his critics with some solid performances at shortstop. He’s never going to be the best shortstop in the league but he’s way better than some voices were suggesting. His performance with the bat has been solid and he’s settling into that role at the top of the line-up.

Jorge Posada. Mostly solid behind the plate and producing numbers that are a step-up on last year. The Posada – Molina tandem will serve us well for another year.

Negatives

Mark Teixeira. We need much more from Teixeira. At the moment, he is not giving us more from the position than Giambi did last year. Giambi was supposed to be at the end of his usefulness (he was). Teixeira is supposed to be the future (at the moment he isn’t). .200 with 3 home runs simply isn’t good enough.

Cody Ransom. Ransom was never going to fill A-Rod’s shoes but he was meant to be an adequate replacement without the baggage. Prior to his stint on the DL, he simply didn’t deliver. This wasn’t the young man who delivered two home runs in his first two at bats as a Yankee. Hey, he didn’t manage one in fifty! Can anybody say "Shane Spencer", "Shelley Duncan"?

Brett Gardner. I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so. Gardner’s substandard April doesn’t qualify as a surprise. He’s a little down on what I expected but he was always going to be a .240 hitter with speed, a useful arm in the field but no power. He doesn’t walk much so once his singles production had dropped with his confidence, he was never going to survive as the everyday centrefielder.

Xavier Nady. This injury to Nady and the very non-specific way in which the Yankees detailed it in press reports is worrying. Behind the scenes issues aside, Bobby Abreu was the obvious player for the Yankees to re-sign for 2009. Damon is not the player he once was and is legs are always going to cause him problems. Nady has one bout of serious arm trouble behind him. When we didn’t chase Abreu, there was always the caution that trouble could come back. The team just has to hope it hasn’t

Surprises

Melky Cabrera. The hope was that Cabrera would bounce back strong enough to challenge Gardner and maybe platoon if Brett didn’t work out. So far, Cabrera is the guy from 2007 that we thought we’d never see again. 4 home runs, .327 batting average, good in the field, some speed. Hey, what’s not to like!

Nick Swisher. During the torrid first weeks of the season, Swisher was our best hope. Things have settled down a little now – for him and for the team but, for someone I would have traded away before the season began, he has been simply great. He looks twice the player I saw playing for the White Sox last year. He has energy, power and enthusiasm.

Jose Molina. Last year when Posada was injured and Molina was bearing the whole weight (let’s not talk about Ivan Rodriguez), he was pretty horrible at the plate and had some substandard games behind the plate. As much as I am sure that he would like to be the everyday player, I think it all got on top of him. This year, he has been his usual self behind the plate but his ability to hit for average has returned.

Ramiro Pena. Pena was going to be the scrappy, little, throwback of a player, who would provide back-up for Ransom until A-Rod was fit and then return to the minors to continue to learn the game. For three weeks that is exactly what he was and then he began to hit and look confident at the plate. Well, I’m surprised.

It will be some months before I get to New York but those horrible glitch days aside I can feel reasonably comfortable that the Yankees can remain in contention until I get there. Looks like another fascinating season ahead. I’m enjoying it. Next, we look at the pitchers in April.

The cards are no good which you’re holding, unless they’re from another world.

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Date: 25 & 26 April 2009
Artist: Bob Dylan
Venue(s): The O2, Greenwich, London & The Roundhouse, Camden, London

Immediately following Bob Dylan’s shows in London this weekend I read droves of reviews complaining. Now I would have expected them to complain about some things – the engineering works that meant there was no tube service heading in or out of North Greenwich on Saturday, the hours of queuing outside of the Roundhouse on Sunday and the insensitivity of the door staff in closing off the toilets, hours before the concert, to those who were having to wait outside, perhaps. But whilst these matters got their own fair share of deserved criticism, it was the artist’s performance which took the lion’s share of negativity – a verdict which left me rather bemused.
One member of the public posted on a messageboard that it was a good thing that Dylan insisted on not using the large screens at the o2 and that he couldn’t work out which one of the distant figures on the stage was Mr Dylan – because if he couldn’t have figured that out, he would have marched down the front and punched poor Bob on the nose.
Now I’ve been a Dylan fan for over thirty years and I know all about the variable quality of his live shows and his periodic apparent disinterest in what the show amounts to and all the rest – but these shows were Dylan at his idiosyncratic best. Sunday night the O2 was the host to that other giant of popular music "Girls Aloud" and if you want to hear crystal clear versions of all the hits just as they were originally recorded, bright colours and dance routines then perhaps that was the show you should have been at. But if you’re going to see Bob Dylan at least judge him on his ability to reach his apparent goals. He will trawl through all his catalogue of songwriting and redesign the melodies on a whim. He won’t talk to the audience much if at all (let’s be fair when he has done this – for example, at his gospel shows in the early 80s, nobody wanted to listen). He won’t pick up his guitar and pretend this is 1962 just because you want him to. But if you want to hear an artist recreating songs from his best known to his most obscure, then perhaps this is the place for you.
The fans are apparently quite happy with his current tour. The band isn’t the most adventurous. He changes the bulk of his setlist most every night – although some of those who watch closest tell me that they can guess what he is going to play according to what night of the week it is. The opener changes each night – The Wicked Messenger, Rainy Day Women, Maggie’s Farm, Gotta Serve Somebody but often according to which day the calendar shows. For example, Sunday night seems most likely to be gospel night. One audience was recently treated to Gotta Serve Somebody, I Believe in You, Every Grain of Sand and Tryin’ to Get to Heaven. Monday night had none of these. There is a kind of perverse logic to all this.

The two nights, then, were very different affairs with the Roundhouse proving the better show partially because of the increased intimacy and better atmosphere of the smaller venue.

Highlights? Saturday had an excellent version of "Things Have Changed" with Donnie Herron echoing the riff on violin. "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" was all bent out of shape but still has power to make you think about humanity’s inability to treat all of society like human beings. There was a powerful and echo-ey version of "The Ballad of Hollis Brown" which was driven by Tony Garnier on double bass. "Po’ Boy" and "When the Deal Goes Down" were full of all that is best about Dylan’s current work and were drawn close to the versions that you would be familiar with from the albums. For me, the best was "Workingman’s Blues #2" with Dylan cherishing each line and obviously enjoying himself. Saturday also produced indistinct, poor versions of "Rollin’ and Tumblin’" and "Honest with Me" so this was far from a flawless show – but it was good.

Sunday was better. Nothing here was fumbled just different degrees of high quality. The older songs "Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right", "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat", "Tangled Up in Blue", "Like A Rolling Stone" were straightforward enough renditions and kept the crowd on board when perhaps the attention of the casual visitor might be tempted to drift. "Million Miles" and "High water (for Charley Patton)" were rumbling, threatening and apocalyptic. The peaks were "Ain’t Talkin’" and "Tryin’ to get to Heaven" where the lyrics were biting and heartfelt.

So Dylan in London wasn’t quite a triumph but this was a very good weekend indeed for music . He will always divide opinion (for what it counts for, I think it’s probably part of his intention) but for those who get it, these were shows we should be talking about for years to come.

As We Like It!

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Royal Shakespeare Company
The Courtyard Theatre, Stratford Upon Avon

As You Like It
23rd of April 2009

In 2007, Neil Bartlett directed a version of “Twelfth Night” for the RSC which held tightly together in the first half of the performance but tended to be more unwieldy after the interval as the drama led us out into countryside celebrations and a hippy-chic interpretation of some of the songs in the second half. It was bright, colourful but a little too flamboyant for its own good. Watching Michael Boyd’s take on “As You Like It” at the Courtyard in Stratford-Upon-Avon, I began to wonder if this production was going to fall into the same problems. Tight and precisely directed in the city action of the first scenes, a little too wild in places as the action transferred to the forest in later scenes.

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