CK and I, avec femmes, went to the Music Hall last night to see the legendary Joe Brown. He's fractionally older than Dylan - he'll be 70 in a couple of weeks' time - but he's still the same cheeky chappie personality he always was. His hair is a wonder of nature and should be preserved as a National Monument - although I suspect his teeth are more a product of the dental lab.
For the first half of the show, he and the band (including his son, Pete) were seated and played acoustically, creating a magical atmosphere, playing a huge variety of old and modern music. For the second half, they got up, plugged in and went for it - but that's when you notice how poor the acoustics are in the Music Hall. Nonetheless, he was good and entertained us well, playing, as he put it, a medley of his hit!
He was a bit self deprecating, because, when you check his full discography in Wikipedia, he had a few more strings to his bow (yes, he even played violin last night!) than he gave himself credit for. My first memory of his music is probably The Darktown Strutter's Ball from 1960, and he opened his second set with this:
OK - name the other hits. We all remember A Picture of You, of course, but don't forget That's What Love Will Do. There's then I'm Henry the Eighth (a real crowd pleaser), and What a Crazy World We're Living In (which he didn't play) and, slightly more seriously, It Only Took a Minute, Sea of Heartbreak and All Things Bright and Beautiful. Not to mention his famous pals and all the sessions he played on.
Lastly, another little reminder that the summer headbang is on Friday 24th June.
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