Them’n’Us

Rip It Up, Issue 11, 1 May 1978, Page 18

Them’n’Us

By W. Dart

Let’s make up sides. We’re the left-wing and they’re the right-wing. You know all those people who go to Symphony concerts and squat on hard chairs in the Art Gallery every Thursday lunchtime to hear some pianist or other. Fair makes ya sick to see 'musicians’ who haven’t even heard of Joni Mitchell and Randy Newman. Anyway, we know that it takes the magic name of Tchaikovsky to pull them out of their padded cells, part money from wallets and plop plump posteriors in town hall seats for two hours. And one day they will all be lucky enough to hear the 1812 Overture with real cannons. It is certainly pretty vomitous to see the dreck that they seem to enjoy when they let their hair down good old Ron Goodwin or Leroy Anderson. It's a bit sad the way their music seems to stop just before Christmas and gather up to a creaking start in March sometime. And all that decadent ritual that the right-wing seems to go in for! Like all those Messiahs every Christmas. Just imagine Johnny Rotten writing a Christmas album which could be regurgitated every Yuletide by amateur punk groups around the country. They all have sealed ears the safety pins in our ears are purely for deco, darling. Watch them trying to lay the heavy .word on our music doesn’t work, does it? But then are we doing the same thing? How many of us know this right-wing stuff only via Emerson Lake and Palmer. This would be the equivalent of a right-wing reactionary knowing Joni Mitchell’s new album through a cover version by James Last. Well the Auckland Festival has come and gone, and there certainly wasn’t much of our music being offered, apart from the regular at the Island of Real. But what an opportunity, Siouxsie, for some of us to unglue the old headphones from our ears, and drag into town to pick up some opera or something. And there were three on in town. At the

Maidment we had a double of Mozart’s Impressario in thirties deco and Tristan and Iseult by our own Gillian Whitehead, which was brilliantly staged and performed but perhaps a little lacking in blood and guts for some tastes. But Purcell's Fairy Queen now that there Purcell, he's a pretty approachable guy and with that line-up of overseas soloists it was almost like a minor supersession in rock terms. But Purcell as a punk rocker? Well, when the two fairies were pinching the Poet black and blue (a concert version, so cheeks weren’t bruised) who would expect the poor man to scream out "Hold, you damned tormenting punk!" Certain Purcell is able to compete with Johnny R for sensationalistic lyrics, take this little catch for instance and it is not the only example by any means: As Roger last night to Jenny lay close, He pulled out his budget and gave her a dose. The tickling no sooner kind Jenny did find, But with laughing she purged both before and behind. “Pox take it!" quoth Roger; he must himself be beside that gives Pulls, against wind and 'gainst tide. Anyway, it was rather sad to see so few bods at this Purcell opera, and an average audience age of about 40 to 45. It is just tremendously vital and "alive" music. There is high camp (with even a drag scene), low comedy (a drunk song), astonishingly beautiful moments of pure romanticism and above all, a sheer revelry in the pure and unadulterated sound which is what I thought a lot of rock was all about. So let's stop getting our classics in minimal doses at fourth hand, get out and wrap your ears round something new P.S. I took my safety pins off first.