Two Different Bands With Two Different Sides: Marah and Amsterdam in London, October 2004—and On Record
What is it that gives a great live act success on record? Is it sonic originality—or the reverse, the ability to spot the right moment to jump on the right bandwagon? Is it the ability to write really good songs—or can you avoid that necessity with good production and arrangement?
This was the question on my mind after seeing Marah and Amsterdam play on consecutives days at the same venue—the beautifully proportioned Borderline in Soho. Both bands are young but not that young—they're not into their thirties but nor are they a bunch of 21 year olds—and both have an original sound. Most importantly each band has a superb collection of songs.
There is something very odd about seeing Marah live—they produce a sound which is quite distinct from their sound on record. For me, 2000's Kids in Philly is one of the best albums of the last decade. The songwriting and performing style recall Bruce Springsteen when he was the age of Marah's songwriters, Dave and Serge Bielanko. From just the title of "My Heart is the Bums on the Street" you known you're going to get something which at least attempts to ape Springsteen's early street-stories—"Incident on 57th Street," "New York City Serenade," and so on. What might surprise you more is that they pull it off. And the sound is refreshingly urban in the way that probably only a US band could pull off—street sounds from British guitar bands tend to sound like they represent one particular class or social group (if any), but Marah's Philadelphia sound is somehow more inclusive and all-encompassing. They even use a banjo in a way which doesn't seem at all incongruous and is even—it sounds weird but I can't avoid saying it—rock and roll.
After Kids in Philly came Float Away With the Friday Night Gods, and, despite some good songs (and a cameo guitar solo from Springsteen), this album seemed to have transposed its street from Philadelphia to Woking, or some other middle-class British suburbia—because it sounds for all the world like Oasis after they got famous. But this year came a welcome return to form with 20,000 Streets Under the Sky—a combination of pretty decent songs and that sort of light-touch rock which comes of intelligent use of acoustic and electric instruments in harness.
But this is where the conundrum presents itself—because Marah's live sound is rather different from their studio sound. The first time I saw them, they were disappointing—they were having problems with record labels and seemed to want to blame the Vines and the Hives. Fair enough, both bands seem an easy target when you need a convenient punchbag, but we can all take the piss out of their music ourselves, we don't need to pay money to see others doing it. But since then, Marah just seem to have got better every time they play, culminating—for the moment—with their October show in London. Don't go to see Marah expecting to make out what the singer is saying—but don't let the fact that it is this way get you down. The aural assault is both verging on the frightening and extremely enjoyable. The lightest of songs, the ones which on record have that rock and roll drive but with a subtle touch, are transformed into thundering electric rock, with the acidic and richly atmospheric voice of Dave Bielanko taking centre-stage—he doesn't dominate the show, it is more like the twin electric guitars are funnelled through his mouth—from the singer pours the whole band, as if the words are meaningless without this attack. And that is when it makes sense—because while Kids in Philly works as a great album on its own, I don't think 20,000 Streets does. The passion is there, but it's not quite enough on the album—the live version completes the song, fills in the missing link.
What about Amsterdam? Do they follow a similar pattern? It is a bit early to tell—they have been late developers, and while they have produced two very good 'internet only' CDs, their first official album will be released early in 2005. But I have been attending Amsterdam gigs for about as long as I've been seeing Marah, and from what I can tell, they too have two quite different sounds.
Amsterdam's two releases to date feature a lovely blend of vocal and instrumental styles. They embrace the right punk influences—following the lead less of Oasis, who name check the Sex Pistols but sound nothing like them, and more of the newer British guitar bands, like Franz Ferdinand, which have the Clash and Elvis Costello as influences. Amsterdam's frontman, Ian Prowse, writes the most beautiful melodies and heartfelt, personal lyrics—sometimes so personal that it is painful to listen to—"Hatred is Wasted" makes me want to cry and shout "Yes! That's right!" at the same time. Add to this some decent experimental keyboards, and the basis of a good—and original—band is in place. But what really sets Amsterdam apart on the first two albums is Genevieve Mort, then the band's other singer (and occasional flautist). Taking lead vocals on some songs and adding her gorgeous high tones to Prowse's on others, Mort makes the first two CDs sound like something new and—here comes the Marah comparison—fresh. Just as Marah's sound is a peculiarly American one, Amsterdam's is a particular British sound. For many bands, throw the combination of male and female singers, vaguely trippy keyboards, and lots of "love one another" lyrics into the cocktail mixer and the resulting drink would be late-sixties long-haired hippy music—I am thinking Jefferson Airplane here. But Amsterdam retain their punk sensibilities and the result is unique.
Unfortunately, Genevieve Mort has now left the band, and the recent gig at the Borderline was performed by the all-male incarnation of Amsterdam which has recorded the debut album. And they sound so different! Prowse, a lively and combative musician already, seems to have put two fingers up at the subtleties of the band's former approach—certainly that was what came across during the gig. The songs were familiar but the two-guitar attack—on paper nothing new for the band—was more vigorous, and the harmonies from Johnny Barlow, the bassist turned guitarist, gave the band a real rock drive which previously came solely just from Prowse.
So to our original questions, which clearly cannot be answered definitively, if at all. Marah's records do not sell as well as their live performances warrant, even though they do have the songwriting qualities to back up their live abilities. Amsterdam have changed their sound and perhaps lost some of their uniqueness—but they too have genuinely good songs to lay down onto record. In their case the jury is out. Amsterdam may have the advantage, in that by the time they recorded their official debut, they had been playing most of its songs live for some time. Perhaps Marah should have done the same before recording 20,000 Streets. Or maybe what we want from these bands is a properly mixed, intimately recorded live album?
