Crack

Going to see a band whose best material was released 30 years ago is always a bit of a risk. They will definitely look old. They will probably look haggard. But will they still sound like the virile young icons forever preserved in the photos and videos of the glory days?

Tom Tom Club are the hubbie ‘n’ wife duo of Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth, the rhythm section from post-punk/art rock pioneers Talking Heads. Established as a side project to Talking Heads in the early 80s, Tom Tom Club’s first album contained a raft of stone cold killer cuts, including the heroically bonkers Wordy Rappinghood and the funk-monster, Genius of Love. They’ve been making music on and off since then – but are now back on the road. They did look old. They did look haggard. But they still sounded amazing.

Inevitably, it was the hits that got the biggest response (mostly in the form of deranged dance moves). And fair enough – Wordy Rappinghood is an all time classic, and the superfly low slung punk-funk of On, On, On, On has spawned a thousand imitators. Like Blondie’s Rapture, released at about the same time, it signalled a meshing of styles that has proven to be endlessly appealing.

In some ways, the longer, more freewheeling jams were even better than the sing-alongs. The Man With the Four Way Hips managed to sound ultra-tight and messy at the same time – that Talking Heads rhythmic trademark. And when they whipped out two Talking Heads tunes as an encore – Take Me to the River, and Psycho Killer – it was only the giant-suited David Byrne that was missing. For some bands on their twilight tour, leaning back on their other, more famous band’s material might seem like a bit of a cop out. But the Cardiff crowd had given each and every Tom Tom Club song nothing but love all night – and so the Talking Heads titbits at the end didn’t feel like a treacherous move.

Other than a slightly ill-advised cover of Hot Chocolate’s You Sexy Thing (not even their leftfield cool could overcome the inherent hoariness of that little number), the show was perfect. Tom Tom Club: still got it.



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Words: Adam Corner

http://www.myspace.com/tomtomclubbystrutnfret

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