This was my second visit to Nell's Jazz & Blues over in West Kensington and another great night out like the first visit was.
I got in in good time to see The Rebelles who I had heard good things about but not really heard before so I was a bit surprised to find that the bands line up to night would feature Gary Lammin on Guitar and Chris Musto on a very stripped down drum kit both of whom I normally see these days in The Bermondsey Joyriders, The Rebelles other backing musician was Neil Gabbitas on acoustic Guitar. But of course the Rebelles are all about the three women who are The Rebelles, Tracie Hunter, Phoebe White and Elizabeth Westwood and the classic songs they choose to cover.
The set opened with a slow bluesy version of Get It On that had some lovely harmonies to bewitch us with as it broke down near the end into a few bars of It's Only Rock & Roll and yes we like it very much indeed.
They sang Walk On the Wild Side as if it was a gospel tune with Chris Musto doing some great brushwork on the drums it was like they had taken a late 70's live version back when Angela Howard and Chrissy Faith were in Lou's touring band and stripped it back a little bit more which was very cool indeed Even as they slipped a little bit of Sympathy For the Devil in at the end of it.
Stray Cat Strut opened as if they were going to play Blank Generation before the vocals came in and made it sound like they were strutting down the catwalk for Manolo Blahnik this version had plenty of sashay to it and some cool slide guitar too. For Communication Breakdown Chris Musto played maracas and used mallets on his drums it was soulful and had a deep southern edge to it.
Lust For Life seemed to be closer to the Bad Livers version than Iggy's and it could almost have been loungecore. Should I Stay Or Should I go somehow managed to sound like it was a bit oompah country which as there was no brass or keyboards on stage was interesting, how was Gary Lammin getting those sounds from his guitar.
It was no surprise that Tracie Hunter would sing a song that her father made famous and they did a great version of Bowies All The Young Dudes that had plenty of sass to it but none of the tension of the original Mott version. They closed by romping through Stay With Me of course the Faces classic and not Shakespeares Sister.
Apparently they will finally have their album out sometime before the end of the decade sooner if they can, either way they are well worth seeing live.
After the break it was my second chance to see Chris Spedding play this year as he continues to promote his latest album Joyland and while I had seen one of the guest vocalists Ian McShane wandering around the west end earlier sadly he wasn't here as a special guest. Instead the show opens with a classic power trio line up with Chris Page on Drums and Dave Barnard on bass.
They opened with a really nice version of Wild In The Streets and Chris playing his normal guitar that went pretty much straight into Wild Wild Women that had a very cool solo in it. Chris really started bending the strings on Catch That Train that really had the feel of a train pulling out of the station.
Shaking All Over was played with aplomb and a dazzling solo that didn't waste a note. They got properly bluesy on Down In Louisiana that had a proper down home feel to it. Silver Bullet was the next classic they breezed through at quite a pace before they did an instrumental in a western soundtrack style.
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Then it was time for a trio of songs that seem to be obligatory in any Chris Spedding set Summertime Blues sounded pretty sultry like we should all be drinking sundowners to it. Motorbikin opened with a furious solo and seemed to be played quicker than I remember him playing it normally before we got Chris' legendary calling card Guitar Jamboree where he imitates everyone from Albert King to Jimi Hendrix in fine style.
After that they brought out Nick Judd on keyboards for the rest of the show as they transitioned into The Sharks mk2 with a very cool version of the old Andy Fraser classic be Good to Yourself after which Snips took over on vocals to sing the old Sharks songs they were blasting through that started with a good tooting version of Cocaine blues that had Chris really letting rip over Nick's rolling piano playing.
Snips then strapped on a guitar for what I guess might have been called These Perfect Days but I'm no expert of Sharks material either way the interplay between him and Chris and Nick really sounded great it was mesmeric. They then did a brilliant version of Sophistication that was just blinding and they sounded like they had been playing it regularly for months I really want to see the video of this when it pops up as it should from the guy that was recording everything.
We then got a great long blues work out on was it Preacher Blues of Jimmy Bell it certainly wasn't Jimmy Bell's Still In Town either way a monster of a song with some great angry blues guitar from both Snips and Chris. After which Snips put his guitar down for what I have down as If the Snakes Don't Get You a good dark rocking paranoid song.
They closed with a song Snips introduced as being called Music Break Out from the lost and unreleased 3rd Sharks album and damn I want to hear that album if it all sounds as good as this did.
They of course came back for an encore and did a song from another band that both Snips and Spedding were in King Mob and Selene Selene sounded mighty fine like a good woman should it was a great way to end a pretty damn great show.
Sharks are apparently now booking shows for 2016 so if you know any promoters who would want to put them on get in touch via https://www.facebook.com/Sharks-band-406592916218286/ or www.chrisspedding.com
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