Hard or Slack

Pat O'Dea

Unhappily the "Hard Concerts" on Tuesday and Thursday nighls, both of which promised so much, did not rise to the occasion. At least the lighting did. The most worthwhile acts were Hillary-bug, the folksinger, who was consistently good on both nights as were Sam Hunt, poet, and The Acme Sausage Company, though the latter had trouble in obtaining a proper balance. The Windy City Strugglers gave competent performances on both Tuesday and Thursday, though the same cannot be said for the other jug band on Thursday, who were something less than mediocre.

The electric bands on both nights, with one exception, were consistently bad. The first of these, an unnamed R & B outfit, butchered "Hootchie Cootchie Man" with great gusto and their other numbers were rather undistinguished "Glass" were only remarkable because the bass player forgot his part and the audience was reminded of this fact by their singer. The varsity rave group "The Original Sin" performed competently enough on Tuesday night, but on Thursday, their bassist and Glasses' singer came the closest I have every heard to making a bass sound like a greasy fart. Personally, the biggest disappointment was another unnamed group, comprising the Capel Hopkins pianist, the Gutbucket drummer, the Original Sin lead and an ex-Steam-packet gutarist. They massacred Blood, Sweat and Tears and Sly and the Family Stone, and, as if to atone, did a passable version of Traffic's 30,000 Headmen.

Why is it so much more pleasurable being introduced to the songe of Jacques Bred by Scott Walker than Alan Galbraith?

In contrast to these the professionalism of the Capel Hopkins Blues Dredge was a welcome relief, with some constructive guitar work for a change. The only thing that marred their performance was the gesticulating of the vocalist, but this is a minor part. Very light and very competent, perhaps it was practice!

And Needham—[unclear: well]

However, at the risk of being called cynical, I think that the organisers should be congratulated for trying something new and because they made a change from the Music Department fare. If the quality can be improved they would be a worthwhile addition to the varsity routine—and if they were not always musically good—they were always amusing entertainment.