Jazmine Mary tells us they is not here to entertain, but they wants to communicate the deeper waters of the psyche. And call it Rock’n’roll.
Jazmine Rose Philips was raised in the Gippsland in Southern Victoria, Australia. A spectacular and special place itself which appears to co-exist with prehistoric times.
In recent shows with musical compadre Arahi Whaanga, they call themselves Pony Baby and pursue an Alternative Country Americana style.
Arahi is on the drums tonight. Also, Louisa Nicklin bass and saxophone, and Babe Martin on keyboards.
Jazmine is wearing a stunning bolero-style scarlet costume, and with their signature blue Gretsch guitar, they looks like a Latino mariachi Rock’n’roll mama like Wanda Jackson or Janis Martin.
Kicks off with the title track to new album I Want to Rock and Roll. Hit after hit/ I just wanna rock’n’roll. A world of difference in the two ways of writing the subject at hand.
On the last monumental Velvet Underground album Loaded, Lou Reed titles the song as Rock & Roll and sings about Jenny who is complaining about nothing happening at all until, you know, her life was saved by rock’n’roll.
The tone of this album is subdued and melancholy. Far more kin to another Loaded song New Age. An over-the-hill aging starlet otherwise referred to as the fat blonde actress.
You’re over the hill right now/ And you’re looking for love. Rock and Roll is a moment to burn brightly. Before all that’s left is the charred end and the thin smoke.
The Jazmine Mary version of Walk on the Wild Side takes melancholy into a state of fated transcendence, thereby making it a Blues. Overlaid with their Folkie Noir.
The signature bass line is mostly preserved, the one Herbie Flowers played, as Holly came from Miami FLA / Hitch-hiked her way across the USA.
Jazmine (and Mary) Chain is taking a wander in the psyche. Maybe it’s a Bardo walk.
Julia Deans is opening tonight, and we learn that she is coming off the bench for a side-lined Dianne Swann. Deans does come from the clan that produced legendary rugby coach Robbie Deans.
She is onstage with an acoustic guitar, and a lion’s mane of ginger coiffure.
Fur Patrol mama so she starts with some drone Rock.
Pulls one out of her Modern Fables album, a ballad with high vocal accents. From then on, the voice is unleashed.
From Then On, a superb Folk Pop ballad with some piercing spectral tones. Talk to me like a lover/ You’ll wear me out with your subtle defences my dear.
The Panic. Power Pop vocals with a Folkie edge. Not too far from classic mid-seventies Fleetwood Mac.
Her concluding song is a new one, co-written with Delaney Davidson. In the shadow of the mountain goes the refrain. Carter Family style Roots Americana.
Jazmine Mary has named Narcotics Anonymous as a personal favourite. Slow lugubrious drum tempo which lumbers along, lifted at times with single note guitar picking. Smoky and Jazz- inflected saxophone.
Felt Fantastic. Ominous tones and a little dread like a David Lynch soundtrack. This type of Rock and Roll is best described as the anti-Nebraska. That Springsteen masterpiece is generally uplifting, even when he sings about the electric chair. He wants his baby on his lap.
The American hero-antihero movie is unreeling in his head.
Jumps back to the first album, and Dancer is more melancholia, and they phrases like Lou Reed on a few others as well.
Back of the Bar. And nothing is real here. The bass leads and the drums add colour to a song which casts a hypnotic spell. And it’s all fucking lies breaks the hold.
In A Field, another slow burn but we get hear some glassy slide guitar.
Jazmine Mary closes with My Brilliance, and the band conjure up the ambience of Walk on the Wild Side. A curiously lagged tempo.
It’s Only Rock’n’Roll… But I Like it.
Rev. Orange Peel
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