Archived Reviews

Terry started the night with a couple of songs and was then told he was volunteered for the review and given the back of fag packet and cheap pen to write it with and told to make this short so here goes Ken X was next singing Raglan Road and This Land Is Your Land in his own inimitable way accompanied by Jimmy Powells on bass and Alan on the devils harp then it was Stuart - Stuart where have you been? didn't recognise you with hair - anyway he sang two of his own songs the first title I've forgotten the next Tell Me Where The Time has gone and both went down very well then it was Mr Grumpy aka John Redpath who did two instumentals by Michael Chapman - Naked Ladies Electric Ragtime and Kodak Ghosts - and finally got his guitar in tune right at the end - which was nice - then up popped Dave and John briefly abandoning the sound system to give us as song I think was called Ree a Row but might not have been and the fantastic Standing In Line by Lester Simpson and a more passionate condemnation of war you could not hope to hear but the mood was soon lightened in his usual style by mad Jim Wigfield who sang two of his own songs one the almost surreal Hotel Anonymous (what was all that about Jim?) and an appeal for us all to eat our berries in Wild Fruit finishing the first half was none other than Dave Anderson who sang something about some trouble in somebody's fields and one of his own fine songs called The Story Teller after that it was the usual fixed raffle which once again left me wondering if my ticket was even in the bag (can you believe it everyone seemed to have yellow tickets and a salmon coloured one won not that I'm bitter) but moving on we had two songs from Cheddy a three piece for the night who sang what I think was called Beautiful Day (I was stlll upset about the raffle OK I am bitter) and the lovely Waters Of Tyne they got off and were replaced by Geoff who had again travelled all the way from Alnwick (he must really like us) and he sang a song whose name escapes me (the raffle really bothered me) but it was about a girl who was fond of dancing and spurned someone for a calico printers clerk or something and he also sang I Give You The Morning by Tom Paxton ( by now I'd calmed down a bit) and then we had that old blues meister from the Ashington delta John Campbell who confounded us all by singing two Beatles songs (Hooray!) - From Me To You and Step Inside Love (Yes that song was originally sang by Cilla-D-Y-Know-OO-I-Am-Black) great! then it was Daniel sans backpack to give us two songs in his own earthy style Ryan Adams' Oh My Sweet Carolina and the Boatman and he was followed by his Dad Steve whose first song I missed 'cos by then I was REALLY desperate for the loo (sorry Steve) but I was back for the D-Day Dodgers in which he sang about nipples and stuff then it was club stalwart and plumber (if you need a plumber he's yer man) Alan Savage and he sang - the Jute Mill Song and a rousing version of The Irish Rover accompanied by Jimmy Powells on Ivy Benson's double bass (yes THAT Ivy Benson) and then it was the big finish with the Waltons (Jimmy, Carole, Alan, John) who sang a song about Matthew and Lord I Hope This Day Is... but then I ran out of fagpacket.

Terry Fletcher