Music
Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats
Stereo, Glasgow
Keith Bruce
five stars
The analogy with the military industrial complex may not be entirely appropriate, but listening to Nate Rateliff's pocket-sized big soul band in a favourite rammed and sweaty basement space, I was reminded of the Edinburgh Tattoo and specifically the well-drilled band of US Marines, compared with whom Her Majesty's musical squaddies tend to look a little, well, sloppy.
The Night Sweats - Hammond organ, sax and trumpet, guitar, bass and drums - play soul music with a precision that is truly awe-inspiring, and in another league altogether from many commercially-successful British attempts at the genre. You could cheerfully set them alongside Springsteen's E Street Band and Van Morrison's Celtic Soul Orchestra, they are that good.
It is all a very long way from Rateliff's first appearance in Glasgow, as a singer of fine mournful songs at The Captain's Rest, although the same promoter has kept faith with his talent. A Celtic Connections appearance was droll, but still more in that style, while it is now clear that his rich baritone voice has found its real home in what began as a side-project to his solo career. You don't have to be a psycho-analyst to see that the small town Missouri religious upbringing he had rejected has came in musically very useful in time.
What was more surprising, really, was how fast the good news has travelled. Not only did a capacity know all the words to songs like opener I Need Never Get Old, they have developed the show-stopping closer S.O.B into a never-ending backing vocals anthem. When they next visit, Nate and Night Sweats will be needing a much larger venue.
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