Monday, December 17, 2007, 05:48 PM -
Euro Tour VideosPosted by Administrator
Thursday, December 02, 2004
The Bonniwell Music Machine Turn on Europe Tour was a smash! This is attributable to two things. One is Sean's sense of showmanship, which took the set of songs we had rehearsed and turned it into a real show. And two--as I said before, we were diligent about learning the songs correctly and we had a great sound going, too (Vox Continental, semi-hollow body bass, good vintage tube amps, etc.). Here's a rundown of the show:
Pre-show: Band onstage in darkness while a clip from an old '60s Armed Services radio show is played. The Armed Services DJ calls up a DJ in Florida and asks him what the "in sound" in his home town is and the DJ says, "'The People in Me' by the Music Machine." The DJ says, "We'll hear from the Music Machine..." And then...
1. Instrumental medley-the medley begins with the bass notes that open "Black Snow." The medley consists of instrumental passages from "Black Snow," "Everything Is Everything," "Absolutely Positively," "Soul Love," and "Unka Tinka Ty." One the last note, the band freezes...
2. Some Other Drum-Sean's voice and guitar are heard from offstage. I become unfrozen to sing the harmonies on the bridge with him. The band comes in softly for the chorus. Then, the band comes in full force for the guitar solo and SEAN BONNIWELL WALKS ONSTAGE!
3. Trouble-And the last beat of the song is the first beat of...
4. The People in Me-After this song, Sean addresses the crowd. He asks them, "Does anyone notice anything missing?" His glove! Sean is not wearing a glove. He takes his glove out of his back pocket and says, "I knew there was something WRONG." Band immediately breaks into...
5. Wrong
6. Mother Nature Father Earth
7. Talk Me Down-Sean with amusing commentary about the "neurotic" characters in this song and "Wrong."
8. Bottom of the Soul
9. Drum solo-Part of the greatness of the original Music Machine was the drumming of Ron Edgar. Really--check it out sometime when you listen to the old recordings. Current BMM drummer Jason Pienkowski is an amazing drummer who learned all of Ron's old parts! Solo ends with two cracks and into...
10. Double Yellow Line
11. Advise and Consent
12. Masculine Intuition
13. Eagle Never Hunts the Fly-The original group never performed this live! The recording is actually an edit from a longer performance. With two guitars and Robert Ampersand on "duck call," we pulled it off!
14. You'll Love Me Again
15. Come On In
16. Talk Talk
Encore:
17. No Girl Gonna Cry
18. Affirmative No-Ends with "special treat."
Sid on the Yahoo Double Yellow Line group says, "The band were incredibly tight and authentic sounding. They had the complex tempo changes necessary for some of the tunes down pat as well as each being individually brilliant on their instruments. I would have to say it came as close to the recordings as you could probably get at a live event."
----------------
Tabacid says, "I have just got in from seeing Sean and The Bonniwell Music Machine, and I gotta say it was a absolutely positively amazing evening. An entire set of all your favourite MM tunes played note perfect and Sean in great voice. I have seen The Seeds, Love and The Electric Prunes all in the last year and The Bonniwell Music Machine was much more impressive than any of those groups. I know I am preaching to the converted here, but get out to see them if they are playing near you, you will not be dissapointed!"
Righteous!
Turnouts at the shows were really good, though the London one should have been better. Would the BMM draw good crowds in the U.S.? Sean should be seen as having been as significant a songwriter as Arthur Lee. Maybe someday that will be clearer. I realized in the course of the tour that the only reason he is not widely seen as such is that Arthur has the benefit of having a canonized album (Forever Changes) in his ouvre, whereas Sean does not. I don't know if the two Sundazed reissues clear the matter up, but at least the music is out there. One thing that can be said about the Music Machine is that they were surely one of the very greatest U.S. singles bands of the late sixties. Check out this series of records from '66 through '69:
1. Talk Talk / Come On In
2. The People In Me / Masculine Intuition
3. Double Yellow Line/Absolutely Positively
4. The Eagle Never Hunts The Fly / I've Loved You
5. Bottom Of the Soul / Astrologically Incompatible
6. Me, Myself And I / Soul Love
7. You'll Love Me Again / In My Neighbourhood
8. Tin Can Beach / Time Out For A Daydream
9. Advise And Consent / Mother Nature Father Earth
Really, who was better over a similar course of time, the Doors? CCR? if you like them..
posted by tim ellison # 7:53 PM Comments | Trackback