Last night I watched two contrasting videos of Dr Feelgood in concert. The one show was at the Southend Kursaal venue, with the original quartet including Wilko Johnson, and the other show was at an unnamed venue in Berlin in 1980 for the WDR television station’s Rockpalast series, and features Gypie Mayo, the guitarist who replaced Wilko Johnson when the latter left the band in 1977.
The immediate impression is that the first show is powerful and showcases a band at the peak of its powers, and the lighting is intimate and almost “arty,” and that the second show is of a band, coasting on previous reputation, that has already become a pedestrian, journeyman like shell of its original incarnation. The Berlin show is well lit, where the Kursaal show seems a tad dim at times, but this only exposes the professional, yet soulless performance even more.
The sound of the Kursaal show is also more organic and, dare one say, in unifying mono and positively roars out of the PA system, where the Berlin show has much better, cleaner and somehow more sterile sound quality and one can clearly differentiate between John B Sparks’ powerful bass lines and Mayo’s scratchy, trebly and funky guitar playing, and the conclusion is that the rhythm section of Sparks and The Big Figure is what drives the band at that point. At the 1975 show, Wilko’s choppy guitar style is an integral element of the sound and the combination of the three instruments empowers the music to a visceral high, audible even on the video, whereas the Berlin show is not nearly as engaging or exciting.
Obviously, the earlier gig features that Feelgoods classics of the time, with the original songs written by Wilko Johnson, of the first two albums. At the later gig, the band can draw on material from four albums without Johnson (Be Seeing You to A Case of the Shakes) and perform only two songs from the Johnson period, “Back in the Night” (which he wrote), a Lee Brilleaux slide guitar showcase, and “Riot in Cellblock Number 9,” a riotous showstopper. Johnson’s songs, some of the best modern R & B tunes around, are far superior to the later material, worthy as those songs might be, mostly because of his wittier style of writing and the relentless choppy riffing accompanying them. Between Brilleaux and Mayo, and the others too, perhaps, they could write serviceable songs and lyrics that are okay, but tunes are lacking and somehow it seems as if Brilleaux’s vocal abilities deteriorated as he got older and he relied on barking out the lyrics more than singing them. The live setting exposes the limitations of songs that seemed better than this in their studio versions, and the band, which pretty much plays the songs as written can’t elevate the tunes on stage. Gypie Mayo may be a good guitarist but there is nothing about his playing that makes him stand out for thousands of other guitarists in the same genre. With Wilko Johnson, the band not only had excellent songs but also a unique, highly recognisable sound one could identify after the first few notes. Once Wilko left, Dr Feelgood never sounded anything other than ordinary.
The Berlin show is by a band of competent, professional musicians who know their craft and their style inside out but lack the spark of genius and intrigue that Wilko Johnson provided. Because they’re a name band, and had a hit with “Milk & Alcohol,” Dr Feelgood could fill large halls like the one in Berlin in 1980 when they were just on the cusp of losing whatever glamour they’d ever had and finally reverting to just another jumped up pub rock band. The Wilko Johnson era provided the reputation and set the band up for life and they never equalled or improved on that period.
I’d much rather have been at the Kursaal than at the Berlin gig.
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