Altered Images have played locally live twice in the past week, in Bristol on Sunday 20th and Stroud on Friday 26th.
I missed both, but thankfully Mike is here to give us the low down on last weekend's show. Take it away, Mike!
Firstly an admission – Clare Grogan is great.
Her career is great.
Her films are great.
So what I’m about to write may include negatives but they aren’t aimed at her –
it’s more of the state of gigs we go to at the moment and
the choices us as punters have to make now we are ‘a certain age’.
Many of you will know the back story here. Altered Images split up in the mid 1980’s shortly after the album ‘Bite’ and had a long hiatus until Clare was offered gigs on the ‘80’s circuit which developed in the early 2000’s. She has been plying her trade with a younger band and this has even resulted in new music – ‘Mascara Streakz’ an album released in 2022. This month Altered Images (or as I call them AI) are touring ‘Bite’ at ten venues- Bristol being the second after an opening night at Brighton.
When we get to the venue the crowd is sparse. Bristol O2 Academy capacity is about 1700 and I would say there are about 450 people there? You know attendance is low when they cordon off the upstairs and it still feels...erm...draughty. My mate Jon had been to the previous night in Brighton and as it was a smaller venue it looked reasonably busy and a tight intimate atmosphere.
My
heart always goes out to the band when this happens – who did the
booking? Did AI’s management really think that they were going to
anywhere near sell out this venue? Has an AI song been used in a film
that the TikTok generation has seen hence the expectation of masses of
teenagers descending on O2 Academy in anticipation of ‘Insects’?
Anyway the show is a game of two halves – the first half ‘Bite’ – played in order. Bite is a short album only consisting of 8 songs and TBF it is pretty consistent all the way through. Clare comes on and her voice is strong and we are transported back to 1983, legwarmers, deeley boppers and Les Dawson on prime time television. AI perform 'bite' go off and come back again to do a 'greatest hits' set. The band is a young band – I have seen AI 3 times in recent years and I would imagine none of them have seen a deeley bopper in their life, let alone a Rubik’s Cube.
Thanks, Mike! It sounded - and looked - like a great night, all round.
So with half a set comprising the entirety of the Bite album played in sequential order, how to approach today's Dubhed selection? Not as tough as it first seemed.
Several tracks from Bite appeared on my previous A.I. selection I Could Be Happy (Last Goodbye) back in July 2021, so I started by removing any 'duplicates'. There were three singles from the album, so I plumped for the 12" versions for all.
Note for purists: the 'extended version' of Don't Talk To Me About Love is from the 12"/80s compilation and the expanded edition of Bite, both released in the early 2000s and about a minute and a half shorter than the version on the 12" single in my collection.
The half-dozen 'greatest hits' got largely the same treatment. The 12" mix of I Could Be Happy appeared on the previous A.I. selection, so I've opted here for the rather wonderful version from 2022's Clara Libre EP.
Assuming that a few of you may have the spectacular comeback album Mascara Streakz, I've included radio edits of the three singles featured in the set; I bought the digital format of Mascara Streakz which came with these as bonus tracks.
See Those Eyes is the Razormaid edit by Joseph Watt, not massively different from the original Dance Mix by Martin Rushent but reintroducing Clare's vocals which are mostly absent from the dubby latter. However, the US version is missing the fun studio dialogue intro of the original 12" so I've tacked it on.
And how else could the set end, but with Happy Birthday? Again, I've gone for the full-blown 12" Dance Mix. Over familiar yes, but no less joyous than when I first heard it forty-odd years ago.
This one's dedicated to Mike, with thanks again for the review, but also for Brian, who I know will be very happy to hear Clare's dulcet tones this fine October day.
1) Bring Me Closer (Extended Version) (1983)
2) Another Lost Look (Album Version) (1983)
3) Love To Stay (Extended Version) (1983)
4) Now That You're Here (Album Version) (1983)
5) Don't Talk To Me About Love (Extended Version) (Edit) (1983)
6) I Could Be Happy (Cuban Version) (2022)
7) Mascara Streakz (Radio Edit) (2022)
8) Dead Pop Stars (Single Version) (1981)
9) Double Reflection (Radio Edit) (2022)
10) See Those Eyes (Dance Mix Intro / Razormaid Remix) (1982)
11) Glitter Ball (Radio Edit) (2022)
12) Happy Birthday (Dance Mix) (1981)
1981: Dead Pop Stars EP: 8
1981: Happy Birthday EP: 12
1982: See Those Eyes EP: 10
1983: Bite: 2, 5
1983: Bring Me Closer EP: 1
1983: Love To Stay EP: 3
2002: Class X Volume Nineteen: 10
2005: 12"/80s/2: 5
2022: Clara Libre EP: 6
2022: Mascara Streakz (bonus tracks): 7, 9, 11
You can find my previous Altered Images selection, I Could Be Happy (Last Goodbye) right here.
Photos of Clare by Mike at O2 Academy, except for the 'shoes' pic headlining this post and my Dubhed selection. Both are snippets of a photo of Clare on stage at The Sub Rooms in Stroud on 26th October, taken and tweeted by FromTheMoshPit aka @DazKamera.
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