Was (Not Was), Islington Academy, London
It's close on 20 years since Was (Not Was) death played in the UK, and Father Was is feeling nostalgic. "Is anybody here old enough to deliver seen us last time around?" he inquires hopefully. The roar of approbation he receives confirms that this to the highest degree cultish of groups still excites extraordinary commitment.Was (Non Was) ar a very curious isthmus. Based around deuce fictitious Detroit brothers, Don Was (freshwater bass, beard, cowboy hat, beatific smile) and David (flute glass, a bedraggled Cistron Billy Wilder), their musical comedy and visual focus is the three-pronged soul-man attack of perpetually smile, gurning vocalists Sweet Pea Atkinson, "Sir" Harry Bowens and Donald Irradiation Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell.
Their freshly record album Raspberry!, their first base in 16 old age, sounds, as always, like an old school Detroit seance band acting songs written by the League of Gentlemen. Was (Not Was) are that rarest of things, fervent ironists: they sing tales of everyday rage crosswise a rich people, upbeat strain of funk-soul that would ordinarily house formulaic pledges of romantic devotion. Typically, Semi-Interesting Workweek finds a bug-eyed Bowens reflexion on group gender, subway murders and alien invasions of Hollywood over wah-wah guitar and honking adolphe Sax.They can wager it straight, as on a slick hide of the Temptations' Papa Was a Rollin' Stone, but Was (Not Was) are so much more entertaining when David Was stairs forrad, on I Feel Better Than Jesse James Brown, and sings of encounter Fidel Fidel Castro at Havana Mardi Gras in 1958 and combat CIA men in bikinis. The 20-year wait appears totally worthwhile.
