Modern Rock Live radio studios, New York, NY, 31 January 1994

Set List

  1. Locked Out
  2. Private Universe
  3. I Misunderstood (backing Richard Thompson)

Reports by Carol Williams, and by Marck Bailey (marck@nwu.edu)

Carol Williams

I went to great lengths to tape the show only to be enormously disappointed at the outcome. The sound was pathetic, the interviewer didn't seem to know what to even say to them. And what was up with that one bizarre caller? Is that show always such a rip off? 15 minutes of commercials and 15 minutes of the guests? Neil did sing Locked Out and Private Universe. Mark actually spoke 3 words - "the worried man" I believe! Poor Richard Thompson didn't say a word but did a nice job on his song with Neil and the rest providing harmonies, bass and guitars.

Does anyone know why Richard Thompson was with them? Will he be touring with them? Hope so, he was great in '91 opening for them. I will provide a copy of the the tape if anyone still wants to hear it, just send me a blank 30 minute cassette and a couple of stamps, you'll be sorry! All in all a real let down. Let's hope Letterman cheers us up.

Marck Bailey

Carol Williams wrote:
>I went to great lengths to tape the show only to be enormously
>disappointed at the outcome. The sound was pathetic, the
>interviewer didn't seem to know what to even say to them.

i think there were a number of mitigating factors in this. one of them is that the interviewer is NOT supposed to interview them ... he is supposed to let the phone callers interview the guests. and he was clearly thrown with all the technical problems they were having.

it was an odd show -- Capitol had originally been told that the hour would be half CH and half Thompson. Tori Amos was not only added to the show, but she was also given a whole half-hour -- and the FIRST half-hour. yet another of hundreds of examples of how the US has let these two great artists (Thompson and CH) slip away from them. it's infuriating.

what's more, Tori gives GREAT phone ... her half-hour was *spectacular*; she was personable, intimate, and funny. she ran rings around the band (and the interviewer). you could have sworn she personally knew each of those phone callers (and you could have sworn they knew her). ladies and gentlemen, THIS is the way one builds up a following. she just about transcended the show's sloppy and impersonal format. (Fiona, you're welcome to pass this along to the Tori list, if you'd like.)

that said, i think Modern Rock Live made a terrible mistake when they chose to put Tori first, mainly because Tori had one instrument -- an electric piano, which didn't need to be tuned -- and following her were four musicians with temperamental guitars and lots of plugs and everything needing to be arranged in the studio -- AND the Thompson and the band had not laid eyes on each other in over a year, so they had nothing musical prepared for the interview. it was a bunch of guys getting together to hack around, at best.

for those who didn't hear it, here is my blow-by-blow account of the CH/RT half-hour:

  • commercial break (after Tori)

  • back to the show, but no one's ready ... so they go to ...

  • another commercial break ...

  • back to the show. still, no one is ready. Neil suggests to the interview that they talk. the interviewer's first startlingly brilliant question: "How's it going?" Neil talks briefly about their "lightning-fast" trip through North America promoting TA before they head back to begin the Antipodean tour. (Paul was never mentioned once in the whole broadcast, btw.) after that little bit of repartee, the show cuts to ...

  • "I Can't Wake Up (to Save My Life)" on CD from Thompson

  • back to the show and they're finally lined up, so they play "Locked Out," the current CH single, but definitely NOT an acoustic song. it was a shoddy rendition, that was out of tune. (the interviewer introduced them as "Crowded House with Richard Thompson.")

  • phone calls -- the first girl was clearly waiting to talk to Tori (she knew nothing about the band), and so she asked something like "why are you called Crowded House?" they hung upon her. the second woman was, i suspect, a set-up by Capitol. "i hear you recorded the album on an island," she says. "how did that influence your music?" sorry, but to me this sounded like a Capitol employee set up one of his/her friends who was a major CH fan to lob this softball at CH. and yeah, right, New Zealand is an ISLAND, not a COUNTRY ... Kiwis everywhere were offended.

  • another commercial break. (*18* minutes of this half-hour was commercials, btw.)

  • CH/Thompson playing "Private Universe." not as bad as "Locked Out," but Thompson was playing great solo licks which were almost entirely submerged in the mix.

  • Thompson's "I Misunderstood." this is the *first* time we've heard Thompson speak in the whole half-hour. he says, "okay lads ..." and they start playing. the members of CH are clearly completely unprepared for this song. only Neil finds a harmony line on the song. the guitars sound terribly out of tune.

    and then they were quickly out. god, the whole thing was painfully embarrassing and made the band look like fools. (am i pissed?)

    this radio show, combined with such gaffes as their "Good Morning America" appearance last May and their "Letterman" appearance 2-1/2 years ago, show that when it comes to American audiences, this band has really bad karma.

    they get another chance at redemption tonight, on Letterman. (without Paul, though).

    ch-adm@listproc.wsu.edu (Crowded House List administrators)
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