The Stands: Cream Tangerine: Five Leaves Left

Redi Nights @ Central Station: Tuesday 12th August 2003

‘Stand in the place that you live, now face north, think about direction, then wonder why you haven’t’

Much talk, too much has been talked about the renaissance of the Liverpool scene and it’s affect on the whole UK music scene, but there have been great bands from that city forever; it’s just like Seattle, NYC, London etc. Every now and then a whole bunch come through at once, including tonight’s main contenders, The Stands. More about them in a while, because first we have two ‘local’ North Wales acts to get through…

Five Leaves Left, born from the ashes of ‘almost were’ Wrexham act Pleasurefield, and for around 12 months known as Junior, are starting to become the band they always wanted to be. The core members of drummer Ben and guitarist Steve are the remnants of the previous incarnations, and the one thing that they now posses in abundance is soul. It’s one thing to aspire, another to achieve, and with opener I Need You the tribal-glam drumming really pricks up my ears! The band run through eight songs in total of which Listen and All In My Mind stood out for me. The structure and delivery is much better than I expected, and they now gel as one unit moving forward, as opposed to each doing their own thing. More work is needed on the harmonies, but with a front man who has a very distinctive voice and style, expectation is certainly rising (and incidentally, 5 Leaves are now called Crosbi).

If anything, tonight is also all about The Redi Nights that has recently celebrated it’s first year here in Wrexham, and main act, Cream Tangerine are using the show to push The Redi forward while launching a brand new seven track mini-album called THE SEVEN DEADLY SKINS.

They have always showed both sides of the coin; when they were good they showed potential, when they were bad, well you just don’t want to know. Tonight they are superb, enthusiastic and, for the first time, seem very comfortable together as a band.

That early potential has now materialised in 30 minutes of pure rock joy. Lead singer Gini may not posses a voice to floor you, but he utilising it to the maximum, with the songs wrapping themselves around his vocal. The band is more focused as they play seven songs, of which Sold is my favourite (which can be found on the new release).

The vibe in the room is quite special; like the crowd are just waiting to be amazed. This spoils the gig, for The Stands who are good, but not yet great; not quite ready. A ten-date support tour with Shack should sort them out.

Debut single When The River Rolls Over You with its Dylan-esque undertones does not really represent what they are about. Tonight they are very safe, very Gram Parsons, very much just in the background. One punter points out how many people are talking while the band play - they become a bar band within ten minutes of starting. I feel the expectation of greatness placed upon acts like this by the media often does more harm than good; you often expect the new R.E.M. or U2, but more often than not just get a band trying to become that…maybe in two albums time?

There are highlights in The Way She Does when the band steam off on a tangent of Filmore East proportions; it’s how you would have imagined Buffalo Springfield would have been had you stumbled into them in San Francisco in the late 60’s. But it’s not enough. Another punter commented that he was surprised how young Cast looked and he did not know they had reformed - a little harsh - but in these days of Kings Of Leon, The Thrills, Bell X1 etc., the bar has once again been raised, so the jury is out on The Stands. I would like to see them again in six months time, when the album is out and they have done those support tours. Good but not great.

As for The Redi, it moves from strength to strength, and tonight’s venue is becoming it’s home. With the venue draped, the sound was much better and the lighting was put to good use. We hope that The Redi can now move out of town and grow in new areas, and that Central Station can continue to draw acts of the highest calibre - this was after all a Tuesday night in Wrexham and the Bandwagon really starts here!

Jj.