Last night I attended the Little Axe - Chess Moves show in Vienna, highly anticipating another musically great evening. (I had already seen them before and they were excellent then).
Well, Doug Wimbish (the best bass player I've ever heard and seen) played incredibly stunning and deeply moving solos and created sounds that I didn't even know you could create with a bass, Keith Leblanc was wonderful on drums and Skip McDonald was alright. They did two sets and the first one was terrible, there was far too much playback and computer backup involved for my taste. Then they had a break and I'm glad to be able to say that the second set was amazing, just as I had reminded the whole TackHead show was like that I saw last year.
Last night's concert was very different. All in all it wasn't bad and of course each of these musicians is excellent, but I simply liked last years' concert better.
And I think that's because it was clear, even all the way through the awesome second set, that the frontman was missing last night.
Bernard wasn't there to sing. I could have been disappointed about it, because I had been looking forward to this show for some 2 months and of course I wanted to see Mr. Fowler again.
But considering this announcement at the entrance I realised I should be happy and excited (Provided it isn't just an uncreative excuse for him not to be there for other reasons which, If the latter should indeed be the case, I've decided to ignore and simply take for real what was written on this sheet of paper).



It says: Unfortunately, Bernard Fowler is indispensable at studio recording sessions of the Stones and therefore isn't present this time.


Well, just thought I'd share this with you. Definitely sounds very good to me and I want to believe it!

>>Definitely sounds very good to me and I want to believe it!<<

Yeah! Me too!

As Sam once said .......... Now ain't that good news...ain't that good news



ROCKMAN

Real translation: 'Bernard Fowler didn't feel like coming, or we never actually booked him to come, so we're claiming he's busy recording with the Stones.'

Not trying to be cynical, just (probably) realistic. I'll happily eat these words if I'm wrong!

Yes very intriguing. Except that Bernard rarely sings on Stones studio albums. At least he didn't on ABB...And there has been no other confirmed reports of the Stones being in the studio.

"It's just some friends of mine and they're busting down the door"

Like I just said: It's probably just a lame excuse and he wasn't there for whatever other reason, but it's interesting - even though it's strange nobody of any of the 3 Stones messageboards I'm on shouldn't have heard of the Stones being in the studio again - and pretending it is damn true is a though that cheers you up like nothing else can - except for a confirmation. *gg*

Intriguing indeed - but its a bit of a stretch to say Bernard is indispensable at Stones recording sessions, considering the fact he hasnt been in a studio with them since, what, 1997?

Even if he was on the next Stones album, its pretty unlikely he'd be recording with them early on in the process. There's no indication that the Stones have been together of late, let alone recording. A bit unlikely they'd be recording over an Easter holiday weekend too, dont you think?

I'd have thought maybe a more likely excuse would be his involvement on Ronnie Wood's album



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009-04-13 02:05 by Gazza.

Quote
Gazza
Intriguing indeed - but its a bit of a stretch to say Bernard is indispensable at Stones recording sessions, considering the fact he hasnt been in a studio with them since, what, 1997?

Even if he was on the next Stones album, its pretty unlikely he'd be recording with them early on in the process. There's no indication that the Stones have been together of late, let alone recording. A bit unlikely they'd be recording over an Easter holiday weekend too, dont you think?

I'd have thought maybe a more likely excuse would be his involvement on Ronnie Wood's album

Yeah, now that you mention it me thinks that probably the manager of the event got it wrong and Bernard wasn't there because of recordings for Woody's project. This actually sounds like a possible explanation.

I could see the Stones not wanting to record for what is considered a major holiday, at least in the US, like Thanksgiving and X-mas. All the others are silly, especially Easter.

Bernard Fowler cancelled yesterday and tonight both gigs in Berlin (Quasimodo).The club-owner told me that Bernard was not available cause of a studio-production in general. So it can be everything. But go and see the rest of the band. They are worth the money (17 Euro) and you won`t miss Bernard that much.

Anyway, this cool cat started practicing the bass, just in case ...



-------------------
Keep On Rolling

Actually, Bernard's recording with Ronnie. For his solo album.
BUT there will be Stones-sessions. Probably not until June at the earliest. KR's in Turks.
(I know someone's gonna ask "What's Turks?" - small group of islands, Turks & Caicos, under British rule, a litle more than a hour's flight from Miami. They have an island home there.)

Are there any palm trees in Turks?

Agreed it's unlikely, but like Charlimoon I'm hoping that the unlikely is true. Not sure that the Easter weekend makes much odds though Gazza. Wait though, you've given me a lovely image of the Stones on an Easter egg hunt.

Mick could dress up as the Easter Bunny and he could leave clues all over the garden, hopefully with better rhymes than yellow and Jello. The others would have to hunt for as many eggs as they could and the one with the most eggs wins... what would they win?

Quote
Gazza
Intriguing indeed - but its a bit of a stretch to say Bernard is indispensable at Stones recording sessions, considering the fact he hasnt been in a studio with them since, what, 1997?.... A bit unlikely they'd be recording over an Easter holiday weekend too, dont you think?

I reckon this is yet another example of the famous Austrian sense of humour!

Quote
Addicted
Actually, Bernard's recording with Ronnie. For his solo album.
BUT there will be Stones-sessions. Probably not until June at the earliest. KR's in Turks.
(I know someone's gonna ask "What's Turks?" - small group of islands, Turks & Caicos, under British rule, a litle more than a hour's flight from Miami. They have an island home there.)

Actually, the islands were in the news lately.
Apparently, the"government" haven't been doing their job too well (sounds familiar)...so as its a British colony, they have I believe got someone/people over from the UK to help get things more sorted.
Perhaps they should they have asked The Glimmer Twins...they seem to mange Stones Inc reasonably efficiently ( well,most of the time).

I guess they - the authorities - had a lot in their hands after the horrible hurricane that wiped out 80 % of the houses on the islands.
I hear things are not exactly going well with the re-building of New Orleans either...At lest certain areas still look like a disaster area in the third world.

You know, not wanting to offend anyone here, but just because you people haven't heard about the Stones recording doesn't mean the the Stones aren't recording. I mean, you people act like you know them. You don't. You are all as clueless as the rest of us.

I know Keith's in Turks until early summer.
Not everyone on this board are totally clueless about their whereabouts and recording sessions.
Suppose a number of people can confirm that.

I didn't know the Stones needed Bernard to make a record...
Sounds like a "my dog ate my homework, Sir" kind of excuse.

Well, it's true that he's recording with a Rolling Stone - solo. So tehcnically, is't just about an "s" - pluralis.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009-04-13 19:58 by Addicted.

Quote
GNAT
You know, not wanting to offend anyone here, but just because you people haven't heard about the Stones recording doesn't mean the the Stones aren't recording. I mean, you people act like you know them. You don't. You are all as clueless as the rest of us.

Good point well presented!

Quote
GNAT
you people act like you know them

Hey, I resemble that remarque ... I am not you people

-------------------
Keep On Rolling

The Turks & Caicos and the Bahamas are semi-tropical, which has nothing to do, technically, with palm trees but yes, there are palm trees there, lots of them. In fact, some are native.

Quote
electricmud
Bernard Fowler cancelled yesterday and tonight both gigs in Berlin (Quasimodo).The club-owner told me that Bernard was not available cause of a studio-production in general. So it can be everything. But go and see the rest of the band. They are worth the money (17 Euro) and you won`t miss Bernard that much.

Actually he was missed a lot at the Vienna show on Saturday. It was so obvious that their frontman's essential. They used SO many computer playbacks and sounds throughout the first set that they were basically just backing up their playback, which was a bit of a shame considering they all are such brilliant individualist musicians and masters of their instruments. I have to say I don't know their new record they're touring - Chess Moves - so maybe it's part of the album and there are these computer beats etc in the background all the time, but I really can't imagine this more or less computer-show was planned to be in their everynight setlist. They're so much better than that and I'm sure they know they are. To me personally it sounded like they used so much playback that night simply because their singer was missing and they thought it was the only way to fill the gap. Luckily, they then had a break in which they obviously decided to leave out on a great share of computer sounds in the second set so when they came back on-stage and played it was much better and I liked it a lot, really. Nice one and ''m glad to say that it was really worth the 20 € entrance, despite Bernard wasn't there and the therefore weak first set.

Well, these are my own sentiments now, maybe others won't miss Bernard fronting the band as much as I did. So, go se them even If you know he won't be there at your place and maybe you'll be lucky and the rest of the band won't use as many computer effects as they did here. And If they do, they will still be worth it cause in this case Doug Wimbish, as always, will be the one who'll make it a fantastic evening with his wonderful solos.

Charlimoon, don`t misunderstand me, I love Bernhard with Tackhead/Little Axe or with Tim Ries. He is such a great personality on stage. But these guys - Skip McDonald, Doug Wimbish and Keith Leblanc stand for their own music. The music was already there when Bernhard joined them as a singer. It`s their history and style to work with these industrial/Dub/Ambient elements. And Skip McDonald worked with these sequenced Hownlin Wolf vocals in the studio. So here in Berlin they rocked the house. There were some Stones-Fans , but they stayed. So don`t expect traditional Blues/Stones-playing. And when they played "Trance" from Bernhards last Solo -CD the vocals were done by Doug Wimbish, and this version was so brutally hot, forget the studio-version. Many people wanted to see Bernhard but they appreciated these guys.

Quote
electricmud
Charlimoon, don`t misunderstand me, I love Bernhard with Tackhead/Little Axe or with Tim Ries. He is such a great personality on stage. But these guys - Skip McDonald, Doug Wimbish and Keith Leblanc stand for their own music. The music was already there when Bernhard joined them as a singer. It`s their history and style to work with these industrial/Dub/Ambient elements. And Skip McDonald worked with these sequenced Hownlin Wolf vocals in the studio. So here in Berlin they rocked the house. There were some Stones-Fans , but they stayed. So don`t expect traditional Blues/Stones-playing. And when they played "Trance" from Bernhards last Solo -CD the vocals were done by Doug Wimbish, and this version was so brutally hot, forget the studio-version. Many people wanted to see Bernhard but they appreciated these guys.

Oh don't worry, I didn't misunderstand you.
I know about LittleAxe and TackHead and that Doug, Keith and Skip had already played together and made music long before Bernard became their singer. All I was saying in my post, or trying to say, is that it was simply too much computer backup for my taste in the first set of the latest Vienna show and that I had the feeling they used these playbacks more intensely because the frontman wasn't there.
Didn't like the first set, but it still was a good show, because their performance and stage presence was great (not to mention those heavenly solos!) and from the break on they absolutely rocked, sure, and I know they have used lots of computer effects on their previous records as well and no, I'm not expecting to see Stones-playing (how would that ever be possible, anyway? *g*), but in the first part of this concert it was too much for me personally. I'm not questioning their music and musical style, I just think they overdid the computer thing that night a bit (and obviously they thought they better turn it down a bit, too, cause after the break they came back and used hardly any pc at all - they played the music themselves again and were not just backing up the computer beats anymore). If I look back at last year's show I don't remember them using any computer at all then.

Quote
Sir Craven of Cottage
I reckon this is yet another example of the famous Austrian sense of humour!

>< LOL

GNAT
I like what you said. I read this board daily for many years and I also have the impression that a lot of people here act as if they know the Stones. Not only on this board. "Addicted" seems to have some insight and also a few others. But, hey, sometimes it really makes me laugh and I wonder if some fans mistake their deep admiration and think they are personal friends or relatives to the Stones and know exactely what´s going on. And I also think some would be very frustrated about the Stones reality.

Oh - I do not post very often and therefore my statement is most likely being ignored and treated as not so important.

Anyway: concerning Little Axe - I´ve seen them with and without Bernard Fowler. I also appreciate his great personality onstage, but this band itself is a great experience and pleasure to see live - with or without him.

well if it is true it looks like yet another vegas tour coming