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Christine Collister at The Ravenswood - pic 2 Christine Collister at The Ravenswood - pic 3
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The
evening got off to a good start with Rob Nichols doing a short
set as support. His songs,
accompanied by guitar and the occasional burst of harmonica a la Bob
Dylan style on a frame round his neck, were interesting with bold vocals
and it’s certainly nice to hear someone doing original material. His
guitar style demonstrating his good picking abilities and his original
songs certainly warmed up the audience for the main event. Songs
performed were; Trying To Keep Warm, Have You Seen All The Pretty Girls?
If You Want Me, Love Is and Words And Numbers. Christine is another of Acoustic Sussex’s favourites and it’s not surprising. She is a very talented lady, who regularly delivers to audiences a package of pleasant delights, complete with extremely competent guitar work, a powerful voice like an angel and a wicked sense of humour. On this occasion, she brought along a fan who, while doing his best 'Brian Blessed' impersonation, would shame a joke shop full of laughing bags. It was not long before he started guffawing and he continued throughout the performance bringing many a smile to the lips of the audience and as the gig progressed, it seemed to become so infectious and even I could not resist a chuckle. She delivered old songs and some new songs in her inimitable way, sometimes accompanied by guitar and sometimes acappella, which was performed faultlessly with Christine’s exquisite timing and perfect sense of pitch. She told us that she had been writing a lot of new material that will go on a new, eagerly awaited, album and that she had been contacted by the canon of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London for an un-amplified forthcoming performance, perhaps called, “Christine Collister Unplugged”? Imagine that wonderful voice reverberating around in that ancient acoustic environment. In
addition to Christine’s new songs, we were treated to
songs by Jackson Browne through Kate Bush, Sandy Denny, Emmylou Harris,
Tom Waits, Patti Griffin, Randy Newman, U2, Cole Porter and Christine
McVie.. Quite a variation of styles ranging from country to blues and
good old solid singer/songwriter material. Oh how I hate pigeon-holing
musical style because some music just doesn’t fit into any category.
It’s just plain good. Songs performed were Motherless Child, Act Of
Kindness, For A Dancer, Kinder
Heart, Man With The Child In His Eyes, Sad And Beautiful World, Lighter
Than Air, Who Knows Where The Time Goes, Gear Jin Ayre, Boulder to
Birmingham, Never Seems To Be Enough Time, Joy Within My Tears, Mary,
Dirt In The Ground (Featuring the
Famous Ravenswood Singers) I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking
For, I've Got You Under My Skin and Songbird. Due
to popular demand, laughing bags featuring Christine’s guffawing fan
are in production as I speak and can be ordered through Martin at a very
reasonable price. Hurrah!
By
the way, Christine, I don’t know about you meeting with the Canon of
St. Paul’s Cathedral because I’ve heard from a reliable source that
he’s been fired... Review courtesy of Bob Preece |
