Caught an excellent show last night at the North Star Bar with Soulsavers, the British DJ-production duo of Rich Machin and Ian Glover, who team up with grunge-survivor Mark Lanegan on the ruggedly mysterious new It's Not How Far You Fall, It's The Way You Land, which is one of the strongest CDs of the year.
I was expecting Machin and Glover to be a pair of knob twiddling geeks. But instead Soulsavers, on the second date of a five city U.S. tour with Lanegan - the serious looking dude pictured above - combined a live rhythm section with looped samples, plus two back up gospel singers, who tored down Leadbelly's "Midnight Special" as an encore.
Much to my chagrin, Lanegan didn't sing Bob Dylan's "Man In the Long Black Coat," one of the high points of the I'm Not There soundtrack. And for a guy who has collaborated with everyone from Greg Dulli to Isobel Campbell, he wasn't much for human interaction, never locking eyes with anyone in the room.
But his basso profundo is as deep as Sleepy LaBeef's, and his spiritual seeking songs like "Revival" packed plenty of powerful conviction. And he and his Soulsaving cohorts really kicked it up a notch with a take on Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Effigy" that did John Fogerty proud.
Here's a video for "Revival," which also happens to be the name of the new album by Fogerty, who, these days, is writing for Newsweek.
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