Review:
'SULLIVAN, JUSTIN & WHITE, DEAN'
'Cork, Crane Lane Theatre, 3rd May 2011'
- Genre: 'Rock'
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Our Rating:
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With the possible exception of Crass, I can’t think of many bands that have polarised opinion so dramatically than veteran Yorkshire rockers New Model Army over the past three decades. Fiercely opinionated, famously anti-drugs and repeatedly critical of the Thatcher years and American foreign policy, their reactionary stance has provoked fervent devotion from their faithful fan base, but vilification from the wider public. A long-term acquaintance of mine, for example, still detests them for their “crusty” following even though I doubt he knows more than a couple of their songs.
Not that I imagine such illogical prejudice would provoke more than a sarcastic snigger from NMA frontman JUSTIN SULLIVAN and his musical lieutenant DEAN WHITE. Away from their full band duties, they have turned the ‘New Model Army acoustic’ concept into a successful touring proposition and this show – one of the highlights of Crane Lane’s impressively eclectic ‘Southern Gothic’ week of gigs – has been highly anticipated in recent times.
As the set list proves, the NMA catalogue remains a progressive, forward-looking project. Unlike many of their ‘80s contemporaries, they never let the creative fire die (even after tragically losing drummer Rob Heaton to Cancer in 2004) and the generous 90 minutes or so we get tonight has no intention of pandering to the drunken heckling for the likes of ‘51st State’ and ‘Vengeance.’
With the exception of an impassioned ‘Green and Grey’, the bulk of the set is drawn from the last three NMA albums and Sullivan’s 2003 solo set ‘Navigating by the Stars.’ Yes, the polemic of yore has been toned down somewhat in favour of elemental “story songs”, but the steely glint in Justin’s eyes is enough to warn off anyone foolish enough to believe he’s gone soft with the passing of time and the acceptance of something akin to maturity. Indeed, hard-bitten songs of love, loss and betrayal like ‘Dawn’, ‘Sky in your Eyes’ and ‘LS43’ benefit from the sparser approach, driven along by Sullivan’s battered acoustic guitar and soul-shaking vocals.
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The stripped-down format also ensures the inherent subtlety in songs like ‘Marry the Sea’ can breathe, while both ‘Ocean Rising’ and ‘Sun on Water’ – from Sullivan’s ‘Navigating by the Stars’ – have a dream-like quality greatly assisted by White’s textural keyboards and expressive lead guitar. However, if the idea of the man who wrote the seething ‘Spirit of the Falklands’ putting his name to songs about surfing in Cornwall seems hard to swallow, then cop a listen to the chilling likes of ‘States Radio ‘ and the stunningly eerie acapella reading of ‘Another Imperial Day.’
This latter – a frighteningly accurate description of illegal people trafficking (“there’s whole families with the wrong bits of paper waiting to be sent back to where they came from/ escorted by officials out across the tarmac with their wrists bound tight with cable-ties behind their backs”) is enough to make the hairs on any sane-thinking person’s neck stand on end.
Forever viewed as hammer-wielding luddites with an image that makes The Levellers look fashionable, New Model Army remain the eternal outsiders thirty years on. The contemporary taste-makers would probably prefer a laudanum enema over having to admit to the band's continued relevance, but to these ears Justin Sullivan’s heartfelt dirges and anthems continue to make absolute sense. Thank fuck some people still have the guts to stick to their guns and write about the stuff that really matters.
New Model Army online
Crane Lane website
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author: Tim Peacock/ Photos: Kate Fox
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Justin Sullivan
Messrs White and Sullivan
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