Dave Stewart & The Spiritual Cowboys: Live At Rockpalast – Köln 1990

Continuing with the Rockpalast series is Dave Stewart & The Spiritual Cowboys Live At Rockpalast – Köln 1990. This is another professional production as we have come to expect from the Rockpalast concerts. The three disc set is housed in a fourfold digipack and includes an informative booklet (in German and English) setting the history of the band.

After the demise of The Eurythmics Stewart formed the band in 1990 and released two discs; their self-titled debut in 1990 and Honest the following year. This performance has the band playing at The Live Music Hall in Cologne, Germany.

Stewart's band is extensive and includes Nan Vernon (guitars, backing vocals), Jonathan Perkins (keyboards, backing vocals), Chris Bostock (bass, backing vocals), Olle Romo (drums, programming), Martin Chambers (drumwarp, backing vocals) and John Turnbull (e-bow, semi acoustic, guitars).

That night the band put on a highly enjoyable show. The concert starts with a trippy effects laden introduction immediately breaking into the hard rocking "Hey Johnny". "Victim To Fame" keeps up the pace adding a heavy drum and bass groove slightly reminiscent of the Talking Heads' "Psycho Killer" at the beginning. Traces of glam rock can be heard in the catchy riffs to follow. "Fashion Bomb" is another catchy pop rock track followed by "Soul Years", one of my favourite tunes on the album. Stewart's voice, as has been pointed out by many, has a Bowie-esque tone and his guitar work takes on a hazy psychedelic vibe. Two more highlights include the atmospheric glam rock of "The Devil's Just Been Using You" and "Jack Talking", the former having gorgeous background harmonies and a furious ending courtesy of Stewart's Fender Stratocaster while the latter is punctuated with a bass heavy groove and soulful feel. Again the vocals take on hints of Bowie which, in my opinion, is never a bad thing. The catchiest song is probably the sublime "Heaven and Earth" where the slow building guitar, fantastic backing vocals and Bowie underpinnings both musically and lyrically makes this a true six and a half minute epic.

A backstage interview is also included that has a completely relaxed Stewart on his acoustic guitar and having a little fun with his band.

As usual MIG-Music has put together a fine concert package. It's really too bad The Spiritual Cowboys didn't last longer than they did as they were an excellent band but understandably Stewart didn't want to be tied down to a band at the time. This performance attests to just how good they were.

Track Listing:
DVD
1. Intro/Hey Johnny (6:16)
2. Victim To Fame (5:23)
3. Fashion Bomb (3:56)
4. Soul Years (6:14)
5. The Devil's Just Been Using You (7:30)
6. Jack Talking (5:40)
7. This Little Town (5:21)
8. Love Shines (7:22)
9. Party Town I (4:47)
10. On Fire (4:36)
11. Spiritual Love (7:05)
12. Heaven and Earth (6:27)
13. Party Town II (5:34)
14. King Of The Hypocrites (8:35)
Bonus: Backstage Interview

CDs 1 and 2 contain the same track listing as the DVD

Added: January 28th 2017
Reviewer: Jon Neudorf
Score:
Related Link: label's Official Site
Hits: 1670
Language: english

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