Music review: Roddy Frame, Glasgow

AFTER almost two decades of sporadic solo albums and one man shows, Roddy Frame has rediscovered the joys of being a social player and now that glorious opening acoustic riff on Oblivious can be accompanied once again by mellow female backing vocals.
Roddy Frame performs on stage. Picture: GettyRoddy Frame performs on stage. Picture: Getty
Roddy Frame performs on stage. Picture: Getty

Roddy Frame

Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow

Star Rating: ****

With his new band intuitively in tow, Frame has been inspired to revisit parts of the Aztec Camera catalogue which he had parked during his solo acoustic years as well as material from new album Seven Dials, such as White Pony with everything chiming in its right place. Forty Days of Rain held a spring in its step despite its heartache mood, Deep & Wide & Tall was, in fact, light and smooth and the yearning, slick soul of Working In A Goldmine was tasty indeed.

But for all the extra leverage his troupe of musicians gave him, the audience engaged just as warmly with the stripped-down arrangements of lovely piano ballad On The Avenue and the solo renditions of Killermont Street, named after the street on which the Concert Hall stands, and Down the Dip, still fresh in its youthful frustrations and aspirations.

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Frame bounced around the stage with nervous energy, trying to judge the feast-or-famine mood of the room. Most of the crowd were on best, if muted, behaviour, allowing a handful of vocal fans to fill the gaps with gruff heckles before a late run of beloved tracks from debut album High Land Hard Rain broke the remainder of the ice.

FIONA SHEPHERD

Seen on 02.12.14

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