SOLO RECORDS, TRURO (2ND DECEMBER)



THE NOEL PRIOR BAND

The first Saturday of December saw a now elevated and condensed Solo Records in Truro play host to a three band instore acoustic gig headlined by the magnificent Noel Prior Band. Although as Noel himself pointed out this appeared to be a return to where the year started for them doing an instore gig at Solo, many things have indeed changed. Apart from Solo itself, the band has seen line up changes, startling success across the country and a fanbase rabid for new material. Which is lucky really, because along with the official opening of `Upstairs @ Solo`, all the artists performing today were showcasing new material.

By the time Noel and the lads had set up, the shop was nearly at capacity with fans, friends and the odd bemused senior shopper. Noel`s new songs are equal to the previous batch if not better, because of the additional vocals available with the new line up. He is able to harmonise with Harry and Toby and this brings a different lighter feel to the new material. Still catchy, but with Toby`s keyboards more to the fore now. Personally I liked the song `Fragile` which showed a more romantic edge to Noel`s songwriting. Clearly the successes of the year have given Mr.Prior a greater level of confidence to express himself in his songs and his ability to perform them. The Noel Prior Band were great in January, but twelve months later they`re even better.

SEED

In keeping with the reduced size of the venue, Seed were performing as a duo with Liam Jolly, (from The NPB), on stand up drums and Trev Kemp on guitar and vocals. The shop was starting to fill up throughout Seed`s performance as Trev introduced us, (and the drummer at times!), to his new songs. The audience were won over quickly with the quality and ease with which Trev performed and although clearly learning on the hoof at times, Liam put in a sterling performance by the end of the set.

Its been a while since the band has recorded any new material, but the wait has been worth the while with the eight track cd `Chemical Prison` finally out and a string of live dates on the winter horizon.

ANDREW BATE

Andrew Bate has performed better than this and afterwards he admitted that he felt he could`ve planned his set with more thought, but everybody is entitled to screw up sometimes. I know he`s hankering after forming a band and going electric, so perhaps his frustrations showed themselves today in his performance.

The shop was practically empty for most of his set, but the new material was strong and the performance, although erratic at times, was entertaining. Unfortunately, as a perfectionist, he`ll be picking holes in this one for days to come, trying to locate the reasons that he feels it was so bad, (which it wasn`t), but as a witness I`d say that the new material was good, catchy and his voice is still one of the most unique and beautiful in the county.

(Photos by Lord Itchfield)