Review of concert from 2003-09-15: London; Café de Paris, Sold on Song recording - with Steve Nieve
- Andrew Moorhouse

 

Sold On Song – Café De Paris – London – 15th September 2003

The Café de Paris is just off London’s Leicester Square. The British premier of ‘The Italian Job’ was taking place and our time in the queue to enter the café was accompanied by the squeals of Mini Coopers. Entering through the innocuous front door we were greeted with flutes of champagne. Then down into an underworld of blue velour, gold tassels, chandeliers and candles flickering on brilliant white tablecloths in front of a low stage set up to accommodate a pianist and string quartet. The ‘Very Special Guests’ advertised on the ticket were going to be the usual, but always welcome, suspects – Steve and the Brodskys.

We managed to find a place at a front row table and spent the next hour celebrity spotting as the staff visited us to offer lager, wine and a selection of finger foods. This all seemed a long way from the Oldham Civic Hall in 1979 when the pre-concert aperitif was a pint or two of John Willies bitter and the post-gig supper was chips with fish bits before the last bus home.

The show was introduced by a chap from the BBC who said a bit about the ‘Sold on Song’ concept. He then welcomed TV presenter Mariella Frostrup onto the stage. Mariella told us that she’d be visiting the stage intermittently throughout the show to ask Elvis about the songs. She then introduced Elvis who lead off with ‘Accidents’ and then into ‘45’ both sounding good despite our position directly under the speakers. Mariella then came back to ask the questions. This format continued through the evening and was mildly diverting but didn’t offer anything particularly new to the seasoned Elvis watcher. For instance he illustrated his musical grounding with the story of his first spoken word being ‘skin’. To me the only particularly interesting things he said all night were his effusive praise of Joni Mitchell who, he said, through her openness in her lyrics allowed other songwriters to be more directly autobiographical. This was related to the lyrical and emotive content of ‘North’. He also said that his favourite lyricists were Lorenz Hart and Ira Gershwin which, I guess, aren’t bad choices although personally I’d have Johnny Mercer up there with them.

For the next four songs Elvis ditched the guitar and was just accompanied by Steve’s piano. I’m no expert but I’d say his singing was wonderful. We all know that he’s not blessed with the most naturally euphonious voice, he’s not Merle Haggard, Al Green or, a current favourite of mine, Stacey Kent but he uses what he has to great effect. The flow of the show was interrupted again by Ms Frostrup and the version of ‘Indoor Fireworks’, to my mind one of his very best songs in a canon stacked with excellent ones, was somewhat disappointing. It, in turn, was followed by ‘Shipbuilding’, a beautiful song fabulously sung but finished with Elvis doing that ‘singing under the piano lid’ bit again which, I hope, sounds better to him than it always does to me.

There was then a fifteen minute interval during which I was first dumbstruck and subsequently somewhat overexcited by the vision of actress and ex-Altered Image singer Clare Grogan in the crowd. For some British men of a certain age and sensibility, (curiously close to my own) Clare is an almost mythical beauty.

Elvis returned and was joined by the Brodsky’s for 5 songs all of which were fabulous. ‘Pills and Soap’ had some changed and updated lyrics but I couldn’t tell you what they are. ‘My Mood Swings’ swung well. Randy Newman’s ‘Real Emotional Girl’ was an interesting choice, perhaps this is one of the two tracks on the Brodsky’s new recording. ‘Still’ was lovely – apparently this was recorded with EC in the States and the quartet in the UK using some gizmo – all a bit lost on me I’m afraid. They finished with ‘The Birds Will Still Be Singing’ which was as wonderful as you know it will be.

Next up came a really soulful version of ‘Either Side of the Same Town’ which sounds like a classic, followed by ‘Man Out of Time’ which, to these ears, was a bit miscued, a great song which, I think, Elvis often struggles with and then into the fabulous ‘Truthful Mirror/You Really Got a Hold On Me’ combination.

The encore started with, I felt, a rather insipid ‘Peace, Love and Understanding’ which needs the drums in my opinion but this was followed by a beautiful ‘Almost Blue’ with EC taking over the piano for Steve to finish the song on that strange instrument I don’t know the name of (Ed - melodica). Steve then left the stage to leave Elvis at the ivories for an understated, tender version of ‘I Still Miss Someone’ dedicated, of course, to ‘The Man in Black’ and to round off the evening with ‘I’m In the Mood Again’. It was an excellent evening seemingly enjoyed by everyone there be they record company execs, eighties starlets, BBC employees or, like me, lucky competition winners.