Barry Adamson is a dude. Just how far this purveyor of imaginary soundtracks has shifted from his original role as left-field bassist of choice with Magazine and Nick Cave's Bad Seeds is demonstrated by the appearance of a range of Barry Adamson knickers on the merchandise stall. Adamson's new album, Back to the Cat, is served up with similar bravado on this, his first solo tour.
These days looking not unlike Isaac Hayes, Adamson has clearly studied genre inside out, if not the off-the-cuff banter that would make him the showman he so longs to be. The impeccable old-time arrangements of his six-piece band, however, more than compensate. Whether swinging through the dirty burlesque of new single Spend a Little Time, acknowledging Shadow of Death Hotel's instrumental nod to Primal Scream's Loaded or letting rip with the Country Soul of Civilisation, Adamson throws shapes like all his Vegas idols rolled into one. The end result of such musical pick 'n' mix is to come out like the grooviest party band in town.
When he returns for an encore of Back to the Cat's opening track, The Beaten Side of Town, someone shouts out for Adamson to play some bass. The band-leader prefers a scat vocal, before segueing into a cover of Bernstein's The Man with the Golden Arm. To finish is a staccato version of Sly Stone's Thank You (Falletinme Be Mice Elf again), originally covered somewhat anomalously by Adamson's old band, Magazine. It's a tellingly authentic retread through his back pages, though in terms of the fantasy-wish-fulfilment after-hours persona Adamson has adopted, the title is more than telling.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article