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Live Review
by SashaS
24-6-2003
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More on: Martina Topley Bird
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| Martina Topley Bird: stunner of a show |
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Live: Martina Topley Bird
Bush Hall, London
Monday, June 23, 2003
Martina Topley Bird’s voice is forged West of Eden
Towards the end of the show Martina Topley Bird informs us that this is their first ever show, which is surely hard to believe because it has caused near nirvana-like emotional state. The fact is that this might be her band’s debut show but she’d been onstage few times before with her former partner Tricky. In those days she performed draped in darkness, illuminated from behind to make her appear like a singing-silhouette; this time the spotlight is firmly on her and the backing musicians.
There is a full compliment of players and three backing singers that lay the basis for a vocal of the kind you’ll be hard pressed to hear otherwise. It is a vintage, an ancient instrument in the best tradition of blues ladies from the last century whereas it is not bogged down in nostalgia. The twist is that MTB’s set it against such modern musical accompaniments that border on sci-fi. This woman obviously doesn’t like to trade in cliché but valiantly explores where even Tricky didn’t dare.
MTB was the main voice of Tricky’s early days, from ‘Maxinquaye’ (1994) to ‘Angels With Dirty Faces’ (’98) before disappearing into a five-year inactivity but it hasn’t lost her any standing and admiration by other musicians. Thus, ‘Quixotic’ features production credits by Tricky (‘Ragga’), David Holmes (‘Too Tough To Die’), string arrangement by David Arnold (of ‘007’ and Björk fame) and Queens Of The Stone Age’s Josh Homme and Mark Lanegan providing backing vocals on the debut single, ‘Need One’.
Launching the show with ‘Intro’, that opens the ‘Quixotic’ disc, it is a mini-blues epic that is so minimal, it is almost acappella. She keeps the early part of the set slow and torchy/bluesy and so fragile, you can smell the pain. The rest of the material ranges from atmo-ballads (emo-boys could learn a lot by writing a dissertation!), industro-funk, voodoo-boogie, rocking workouts, vicious electronica as well as a glimpse of trip-hop. Standing there, in the middle of stage, she delivers songs with passion, devotion and demeanour that are equally as easy as a nail through a banana as well as brazenly killing. The Voice of the UK, in a number of years.
‘Anything’ takes you by the hand for a pillow talk, ‘Soul Food’ funks it up with such laidback fashion to match her bedroom eyes… ‘Too Tough’ moves everybody and the perspiration flows with such force to realize you can abandon dieting at once, with ‘I Still Feel’ adding more crowd heaving to produce a sauna-like ambient. It was almost better than sex with a stranger, as Marianne Faithfull once observed.
Returning for two sets of encores, this small but dedicated lot would have had her perform till the morn. It is not only the music but her looks, she is a babe in her prime (and not like those nubile-popsters that make one feel like a perv.) Person, she looks just gorgeous, simply dressed in a vest, her right shoulder adorned with a glittering garland, and a pair of jeans.
MTB, the star is re-born, this time as a solo artiste. Majestic, magical, noble, charged with particles of effortless charm and brilliance, all round. Her maiden single ‘Need One’ should have been ToTP and not that annoying Evanescence songette…
MTB’s album is the only choice for the summer-long heat!
SashaS
24-6-2003
Martina Topley Bird’s album ‘Quixotic’ is released on 14 July 2003 by Independiente/SINE
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