Not enough for Rock and Roll
Manny Charlton Band – Classic Grand, Glasgow, 11th March 2017
Manny Charlton Band – Classic Grand, Glasgow, 11th March 2017
If ever a gig was a classic (grand) case of "wrong place, wrong time" with the added insult of promotional failure, it was this one.
Ex Nazareth guitarist and the band's co-founder Manny Charlton is one of Scotland’s most famous sons in the annals of classic hard rock (Spain has a legitimate claim on him too), but a relocation to Texas at the end of the nineties meant his prolific post-Nazareth output (twelve releases in the last twenty years) has never seen the recognition or sales numbers it deserves in the UK.
And with his time being spent mostly in Spain nowadays the rock guitar great continues to play under the radar in the Auld Country.
That all said there was a well received appearance at Backstage at the Green in Kinross in 2015 and the chance to see Manny Charlton on this "Homecoming" mini-tour (Aberdeen, Glasgow and Dunfermline, the town where it all started for him fifty years ago) should have seen a healthy return on tickets sold.
Sadly, the only ticket sales record in danger of being broken in Glasgow city centre (on a Saturday night at that) was for the lowest ever turn out at a name-act rock gig.
But, on a night where all the cards were stacked against them (six gigs within fairly close proximity of each other, including The Stranglers just 500 yards away) The Manny Charlton band still turned it on, cranked it up and blasted it out in homage to Razamatastic days gone by, plus an airing for a couple of solo numbers. (Given the lack of exposure in the UK and latest album SOLO (Manny Charlton’s most eclectic release to date) having no CD distribution deal on British shores, it was never going to be a half solo, half Nazareth set list).
From the drum heavy arrangement of 'This Month’s Messiah' through the riffin’ rock and roll of 'Razamanaz' and on to choice cuts including classic Nazareth covers 'Gone Dead Train' and 'This Flight Tonight,' the Manny Charlton Band – Charlton, front man Linton Osborne (who had a short stint in Nazareth), Kevin Wilson (second guitar), Kenny McCabe (drums) and Pete Nicol (bass) – put on a great show for the small number of fans that turned up (or knew the gig was on, to be more accurate).
It was also a show that proved the 75 years young guitar slinger still has the chops, the gritty and thick sounding riffs (as much a part of that classic Nazareth sound as Dan McCafferty’s gravel 'n' acetylene vocals) mixing with the bluesy undertone that forms part of Manny Charlton's six-string repertoire.
The band as a unit were solid throughout but special mention must go to Linton Osborne, a singer with a voice that can sit in rock tenor mode or flip to a throat and upper chest vocality for the classic Nazareth back catalogue (including an excellent delivery on Manny Charlton’s favoured "rock ballad" arrangement of 'Heart's Grown Cold').
Linton Osborne also kept the crowd amused with his quips and one liners, including, during introductions, "It took us ages to find a bass player called Pete!" (a tongue-in-barbed-cheek nod to Nazareth’s sole remaining founder member Pete Agnew, who continues to proudly fly the flag or hang the band name from the lighting rig, depending on your "band or brand?" point of view).
Ex Nazareth guitarist and the band's co-founder Manny Charlton is one of Scotland’s most famous sons in the annals of classic hard rock (Spain has a legitimate claim on him too), but a relocation to Texas at the end of the nineties meant his prolific post-Nazareth output (twelve releases in the last twenty years) has never seen the recognition or sales numbers it deserves in the UK.
And with his time being spent mostly in Spain nowadays the rock guitar great continues to play under the radar in the Auld Country.
That all said there was a well received appearance at Backstage at the Green in Kinross in 2015 and the chance to see Manny Charlton on this "Homecoming" mini-tour (Aberdeen, Glasgow and Dunfermline, the town where it all started for him fifty years ago) should have seen a healthy return on tickets sold.
Sadly, the only ticket sales record in danger of being broken in Glasgow city centre (on a Saturday night at that) was for the lowest ever turn out at a name-act rock gig.
But, on a night where all the cards were stacked against them (six gigs within fairly close proximity of each other, including The Stranglers just 500 yards away) The Manny Charlton band still turned it on, cranked it up and blasted it out in homage to Razamatastic days gone by, plus an airing for a couple of solo numbers. (Given the lack of exposure in the UK and latest album SOLO (Manny Charlton’s most eclectic release to date) having no CD distribution deal on British shores, it was never going to be a half solo, half Nazareth set list).
From the drum heavy arrangement of 'This Month’s Messiah' through the riffin’ rock and roll of 'Razamanaz' and on to choice cuts including classic Nazareth covers 'Gone Dead Train' and 'This Flight Tonight,' the Manny Charlton Band – Charlton, front man Linton Osborne (who had a short stint in Nazareth), Kevin Wilson (second guitar), Kenny McCabe (drums) and Pete Nicol (bass) – put on a great show for the small number of fans that turned up (or knew the gig was on, to be more accurate).
It was also a show that proved the 75 years young guitar slinger still has the chops, the gritty and thick sounding riffs (as much a part of that classic Nazareth sound as Dan McCafferty’s gravel 'n' acetylene vocals) mixing with the bluesy undertone that forms part of Manny Charlton's six-string repertoire.
The band as a unit were solid throughout but special mention must go to Linton Osborne, a singer with a voice that can sit in rock tenor mode or flip to a throat and upper chest vocality for the classic Nazareth back catalogue (including an excellent delivery on Manny Charlton’s favoured "rock ballad" arrangement of 'Heart's Grown Cold').
Linton Osborne also kept the crowd amused with his quips and one liners, including, during introductions, "It took us ages to find a bass player called Pete!" (a tongue-in-barbed-cheek nod to Nazareth’s sole remaining founder member Pete Agnew, who continues to proudly fly the flag or hang the band name from the lighting rig, depending on your "band or brand?" point of view).
As regards the wee man with the big sound, Manny Charlton positively shone on the closing section of the power-down, metal-tinged 'Changing Times,' his solo on the instrumental outro blending Celtic metal with Celtic melody.
Other highlights included 'Family' (the Soundgarden styled number has taken many forms since appearing on Manny Charlton’s debut solo album Drool), the riff heavy pop of 'Sleep' (also from Drool) and a rollicking version of 'Expect No Mercy,' Charlton’s piercing melody-line riff as sharp and clean as it was 40 years ago.
A sing-a-long finale of 'Hair of The Dog' and encore number 'Bad, Bad Boy' sent the small in number but big in smiles crowd home happy – who would have got a two song encore, but 'Woke Up This Morning' (which started with some mighty fine slide playing), had to be aborted due to Many Charlton’s guitar being in no recognisable key or state to continue ("in my defence it was in tune when I bought it!").
Prior to the Manny Charlton Band taking the stage four young Scottish lads who go by the collective name of Anchor Lane (how young? none of them were even born when Manny Charlton left Nazareth in 1990) put on a solid half hour set that showcased numbers from their New Beginning EP.
While each song featured heavyweight, metal-edged riffs as supplied by the guitars of Jack Nicol and vocalist Conor Gaffney (the reflective 'Twenty Sixteen' being a case in point), many of their numbers are built around heavy melody ('Annie') or interesting change-ups, underpinned by the bass lines of Matthew Quigley and driven by the powerful foot through the floor beats of drummer Scott Hanlon.
If more people had known, more people would have seen a fantastic set from the Manny Charlton Band at a show that might yet turn out to be his last ever Glasgow gig; unfortunately lacklustre promotion (gig poster images on FaceBook pages do not a promotion make) guaranteed an embarrassingly low turnout.
As it was, through help from the likes of Alistair Hipkin of Red Skull Promotions (brought in to run the show on behalf of the promoter who booked it) there was at least an audience for one of the greatest wee classic rock gigs no-one actually knew about.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Click here for FabricationsHQ's conversation (including audio tracks) with Manny Charlton, from 2015
Photo Credits: Graham Milne
Other highlights included 'Family' (the Soundgarden styled number has taken many forms since appearing on Manny Charlton’s debut solo album Drool), the riff heavy pop of 'Sleep' (also from Drool) and a rollicking version of 'Expect No Mercy,' Charlton’s piercing melody-line riff as sharp and clean as it was 40 years ago.
A sing-a-long finale of 'Hair of The Dog' and encore number 'Bad, Bad Boy' sent the small in number but big in smiles crowd home happy – who would have got a two song encore, but 'Woke Up This Morning' (which started with some mighty fine slide playing), had to be aborted due to Many Charlton’s guitar being in no recognisable key or state to continue ("in my defence it was in tune when I bought it!").
Prior to the Manny Charlton Band taking the stage four young Scottish lads who go by the collective name of Anchor Lane (how young? none of them were even born when Manny Charlton left Nazareth in 1990) put on a solid half hour set that showcased numbers from their New Beginning EP.
While each song featured heavyweight, metal-edged riffs as supplied by the guitars of Jack Nicol and vocalist Conor Gaffney (the reflective 'Twenty Sixteen' being a case in point), many of their numbers are built around heavy melody ('Annie') or interesting change-ups, underpinned by the bass lines of Matthew Quigley and driven by the powerful foot through the floor beats of drummer Scott Hanlon.
If more people had known, more people would have seen a fantastic set from the Manny Charlton Band at a show that might yet turn out to be his last ever Glasgow gig; unfortunately lacklustre promotion (gig poster images on FaceBook pages do not a promotion make) guaranteed an embarrassingly low turnout.
As it was, through help from the likes of Alistair Hipkin of Red Skull Promotions (brought in to run the show on behalf of the promoter who booked it) there was at least an audience for one of the greatest wee classic rock gigs no-one actually knew about.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Click here for FabricationsHQ's conversation (including audio tracks) with Manny Charlton, from 2015
Photo Credits: Graham Milne