[kj] OT: Hugh Cornwell

Paul Wady paulwady at hotmail.com
Wed May 4 11:00:43 EDT 2011



Last year I think it was I set foot in the pathetically commercial British Music Experience, here in the O2 dome in London. For Hugh was giving a free songwriting workshops. They would stock roadies-turds in the shop if anyone was likely to buy them.
I spent 2 hours in the company of an army of Stranglers fans, mainly our age, and a tall, think, very erudite Hugh Cornwell. Real gent he was, intelligent and interesting. Funny too. He answered questions and came over as a man of substance. At the end someone asked if he'd made a fortune from the airtime Golden Brown got. He laughed his head off and replied...I spent it all on drugs! I felt so good to be in his presence like that, just sitting and appreciating the man without his performing.

P.






Date: Tue, 3 May 2011 19:35:04 -0700
From: BMeissner at encorehollywood.com
To: gathering at misera.net
Subject: Re: [kj] OT: Hugh Cornwell



I saw that same show here in Hollywood CA. at La Cita a while ago except we had the great Clem Burke on drums here. The show was excellent as you said and Fish (bass player) was incredible – he totally nailed “Goodbye Toulouse”. Billy From: gathering-bounces at misera.net [mailto:gathering-bounces at misera.net] On Behalf Of Geoffrey ODonoghue
Sent: Tuesday, May 03, 2011 7:15 PM
To: gathering at misera.net
Subject: [kj] OT: Hugh Cornwell I saw ex-Strangler Hugh Cornwell here in Brisbane last Friday night. His Australian shows have been in two parts with the first being a mix of solo and Stranglers songs (probably more of the latter) and the second part being the Rattus Norvegicus album in its entirety. I'm a big Stranglers fan (in all their incarnations) but I don't have any of Cornwell's solo material apart from his latest, Hooverdam, which is a free download at his website.
Despite a low audience turn-out (making for a bit of a subdued atmosphere) I really enjoyed the show. The band consists of just Cornwell, bass player Steve (Fish) Fishman and drummer Chris Bell. No keyboard player (and no backing tapes or sequencers)! Despite this they pull off the Stranglers songs very well with clever arrangements that allow the guitar, bass and even drums (I'm thinking Golden Brown here) to cover for the integral parts normally handled by the keyboards. There wasn't a dud song in the whole gig and it was quite amazing to hear some keyboard-heavy Stranglers songs like Duchess and Down In The Sewer played by the trio.
Cornwell (turning 62 in August and looking very fit and healthy) still seems to have his dry sense of humour and, again despite the smallish audience, he gave a strong, professional performance. He came over to the merch stand after the show so I bought a 2009 2CD live show (the whole of Hooverdam and Rattus) which he signed.
I think he's been doing similar shows (all of Rattus and other Stranglers plus solo) over the last few years so if you're interested I urge you to have a look on Youtube (search for Hugh Cornwell Brisbane for example) and if you like what you see/hear then go and see him.
I don't know if this claiming of his Stranglers legacy is a recent development but I think it's great and only right that he should perform those songs. I notice that he's even using the classic Stranglers font for his name on recent releases. Good on him. Geoff
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