Rick Pearce, writing the
for New Roxette and the Friars Aylesbury website in 2009:
A
special evening. Arrived late but still in time to catch the end of the
Nightingales set. They were playing difficult music with their backs to
the audience. There was some heckling going on and the big question was
what did the complainers expect? Surely not more punk clichés?
Creation Rebel unleashed huge dub sounds and rhythms on us with some
occasional, barely audible percussion from Ari Up. Downstairs grooving
to the music I looked round and saw a smiling David Stopps doing the
same. They were colossal, magnificent and personally only exceeded by a
Tackhead show years later at the Town & Country, featuring Adrian
Sherwood’s looped chanting monks and guest contributions by Wobble and
Keith Levene.
To continue on the
theme of magnificence, The Slits had all bases covered. The vertiginous
roar of their early days was long gone, as were Palmolive and Budgie.
Their replacement was Bruce Smith from The Pop Group who was superb and
could play melody lines on his drumkit. Tessa was rock solid on bass and
between them they created a massive foundation allowing everything else
to flow freely. Viv Albertine pushed things forward with her insistent,
sharp, scratchy guitar rhythms which had proved so effective on Cut
the previous year whileAri’s whoops and warbles completed
the huge primitive/sophisticated other worldly sound, redolent of some
tropical jungle paradise. Could this be how pop music sounds in the
Garden of Eden? For an encore the rest of The Pop Group trooped on stage
and the whole ensemble crashed through a gloriously shambolic
In The Beginning There Was Rhythm.
This
really was an amazing night, a personal musical highlight and an object
lesson in the vital importance of the rhythm section. There were
probably people there who will disagree, but who said music had to be an
objective thing? Coincidentally there are features on both The Slits and
The Nightingales in the current Mojo. They are both recording again…
The Slits made no more records after 1981
until recently. Ari Up and Teresa Pollitt are now touring with a new version of The Slits
who also feature Sex Pistol Paul Cook's daughter. The Nightingales are now
back together too.
