ELBOW JANE at Standish Folk Club - 28/1/2006

Mark Dowding, webmaster for the North West Confederation opened the evening to good sized audience, starting with Bernie Parry's Man of the Earth, a lovely tale of an old bloke who takes to growing when the iron mill has finished with his services, the tale coming full circle when the singer reveals in the last verse that he too is off to the iron mill each day while he is still needed. Mark continued with a good selection of songs: "The Heights of Alma", regards the Crimea War, "Joseph Cross", by Eric Taylor and Harry Robertson's "Little Pot Stove". Changing gear, Mark treated us to a poem by Harvey Kershaw "Drawing Rent" - truly a cautionary tale. It was back to singing then with Bert Lee and Bob Weston's "Rawtenstall Annual Fair", comedy in the form of "With 'er 'ead Tucked Underneath 'er Arm" and concluding with Jake Thakery's "On and On". Mark is a more than competent singer and guitarist and his set was nicely traditional, mixing the comedy with the drama, and it was nice to hear an old dialect voiced poem too.

ELBOW JANE were stepping out for the first time with new recruit Joe Topping in guitar, vocals, harmonicas and mandolin, and it was interesting seeing how the band reacted to performing with this much feted newcomer on board, especially with local Folk godfather Tom Topping sat watching his boy in the audience. Mike Silver's "Reaching out for love" was the chosen opener, a duo featuring the 2 guitars of Richard and Kevin, followed by The Beatles' "Long and Winding Road" and their own "Soul Survivor." Richard and Kevin have known each other since they were 7 and the harmonies and understanding between the two of them shows it, and it was good to hear that when Joe joined in the vocal harmonies, things still sounded good. "Silent Angers" showed how keyboards can be used to good effect, and during Richard's solo I looked over to see his proud parents watching from the side of the audience. Sting's "Shape of my Heart" featured Joe Topping on harmonica. The song always sends shivers down my spine, and it was well done, but it also served to point out that Elbow Jane do not yet have that special something that would move them on a notch, while another of their own songs "Ecclesiastes" featured 2 guitars and 3 part vocal harmonies was really good and it may be their writing that provides that very thing. Similarly, on another own penned song, "The River", Joe played mandolin, Richard on Bouzouki and Kevin on guitar and they produced a good driving sound.

In part 2 the band chose another of Mike Silver's songs to get going: "Pretoria", then called on Joe Topping to play no less than 3 harmonicas on Simon Garfunkel's "Still Crazy After all Those Years", followed by "Higher" (their own song) and Gary Christian's "Ideal World". Then there was a change to the planned set - there had obviously been some pressure put on the band to give Joe Topping a solo spot and Joe as the remainder of the band fled to the bar, Joe put down all his instruments, took a deep breath and launched into "Last of the Great Whales" - sung unaccompanied and with immense passion and power, which left the audience holding its breath and led to a heavy pause at the end of the song, followed by huge, well deserved applause. It was as if Joe had laid down his marker to the rest of the band - "Look at me - I can do this!" There was a happy exchange when Richard led the band back on - I'm sure that moment put Joe firmly "in" the band and they seemed more integrated after that.

They continued with their own "It's Your Day" and then Richard's favourite James Taylor's "Shower the People", Joe then led vocals on "Lean on me" - the Bill Withers classic, the band finishing with Norma McGuiness's "When I'm Dead and Gone", and encored with their own "Be Home Soon" - which isn't quite true because they have so much equipment to pack up it must take them hours!

All in all it was a very enjoyable night, and look forward to seeing and hearing how things change as Joe slots into his new role. I managed to speak to him later in the week and he admitted to being reserved during the performance, not wanting to make too many mistakes on his first day, and that he hoped to play on more songs as he gets to know them. I hope it works for all of them, and the fusion of Joe's blues and powerful voice with Richard & Kevin's writing and musicianship could lead to something even greater than the sum of the two parts!