Once baggy stalwarts and continued UK indie faves Charlatans UK got their groove on at Bimbo’s
365 Club in San Francisco over the weekend. The quintet from Manchester and sole revivers of the
Hammond organ sound popularized by acts such as Deep Purple are in the midst of a US promo
tour setting up their new album, Wonderland, out this fall on MCA. Although frontman and head
pair of lips Tim Burgess is now a resident of LA, his band is still English through and through and
know to bring the rock when it’s needed the most.
The Charlies, as they are affectionately called, played a raucous 90 minute set, primarily focusing on more
recent material, including many tracks from their pending album. Newbies such as “Judas,” “Love Is The
Key,” “You’re So Pretty, We’re So Pretty” made their live debuts to a widely receptive audience. Past hits were
sprinkled in liberally, as later era Charlatans jams “North Country Boy,” “How High,” “Impossible,” and
“One To Another” were met with rapturous applause. The two highlights of the show were 1992’s
“Weirdo” and final encore number “Sproston Green” from the band’s 1990 debut Some
Friendly. The live version, however, is fleshed out and the groove is expanded, the track lasting about
10 minutes, without ever sounding repetitive or tired. While all the new tracks, in their Beck’s
Midnite Vultures meets “Emotional Rescue”-era Rolling Stones glory, may not have been
met with as much noisy approval as the familiar hits, it is just a matter of time, as their fans eventually end
up accepting all songs by The Charlatans as part of the same happy sonic melange.
Source: Jeremy P. Goldstein
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