THE infuriating journey of Roddy Frame around the margins of genius continues. Much as his entire recorded output has teetered on greatness before taking one of its innumerable diversions, cul-de-sacs or hiatuses, it is hard to tell from Aztec Camera's current live show quite where Frame's head or music is at in 1995.
There are contradictions everywhere: Frame's last three albums have seen him veer from r&b to punk to more laid-back soundscapes, and before that Dylan and Knopfler seemed to be his major influences. Now, with a new album, Frestonia, which contains some of his best songs in 10 years, he has the chance to shine. He merely glitters round the edges.
The main complaint is the show's apparent complacency. The band, for all their ability, do little to augment or accentuate either the tenderness in Frame's lyrics or his wistfully soulful vocals.
After they have bludgeoned their way through Black Lucile, it comes as some relief to see Frame don his acoustic for Boy Wonders but it fares little better: another leaden version of a timeless song.
Admittedly Spanish Horses and Pillar to Post fare better, and the wholly acoustic interlude does much to redress the balance in favour of Frame's songwriting talent.
Method of Love, Sun, and Rainy Season are all fine adverts for his recent work, where the songs are given ample breathing space, but his reliance and in some cases destruction of his back catalogue will do little to entice his audience into buying the new album.
Much as the set still contains more than its fair share of brilliant songs, Frame's muse seems to have become steadily more erratic with age. The hope remains that one day Frame will do something wholly rather than partially (like this show) great.
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