Reflections Concert for James 1995

The other night I came across, for the first time, a video on YouTube that’s a record of the 1995 Concert for James, actually two shows, in which some South African rock acts (and Vusi Mahlasela) pay homage to the late James Phillips who died on 31 July that year.

My first thought was: South African rock has come a long way since then. My second thought was:  the terribly dated clothes! The video is a great snapshot of the period when South African rock was moving out of the alternative bunker towards the SA Music Explosion” mainstream. Acts like the Springbok Nude Radio became rock royalty. Others, like The Pressure Cookies deservedly disappeared without trace.

The shows, and the interviews with some of the musicians, feel like the last big gathering of the alternative generation, those who were on the frontline of the local rock struggle for recognition beyond a cult following, and for this generation James Phillips is seems to have been an icon and inspiration as a pioneer.  

Phillips died on 31 July 1995 from injuries suffered in a motor vehicle accident on his way home after the Grahamstown Arts Festival. He was 36 and already a well-known figure in South African alternative rock circles, as musician and mover and shaker but after his death he was elevated to god-like status and is probably still revered as such.

I don’t get this adulation, other than as the typical uncritical reverence afforded an artist who “dies too soon,” for I take a dim view of his recording career. Perhaps he was a great guy to know and an enthusiastic promoter and booster of local talent, as people claim him to have been, but as an artist he was quite mediocre, at least as creative spirit.

Phillips was not a great songwriter by any means, and certainly not if the measure of talent is catchy, memorable tunes.  In Corporal Punishment, from whence “Hou my Vas, Korporaal” comes, he wasn’t the best songwriter and this popular ditty isn’t his sole composition. The Cherry Faced Lurchers’ Live at Jameson’s album is an ugly mess of a record that’s barely listenable. Their reputation must come from being first to market, so to speak, playing to their drunk mates. The music is not the stuff of legend.

Wie is Bernoldus Niemand? is the best record by Phillips, the only one worth owing and the only bearing repeated listening. It’s not unflawed but it has tunes, memorable tracks and enough witty, insightful lyrics to make it a classic mirror to the South Africa of its time.

With Sunny Skies, Phillips sought a mature, progressive jazz rock style with “meaningful” lyrics and over fussy arrangements, yet forgot to write tunes or hooks. It’s hands down one of the most irritating and quickly forgettable albums I’ve ever listened to, and it was only a duty listen, not one for pleasure.

I suppose I’ll be in the minority when I express the view that James Phillips was no genius and not even a very good musician, as the official hagiography seems set in stone, and perhaps I have tin ears too, but if one actually listens to his music with some critical attention, one hears a striver and a worker whose main claim to fame is that he  put himself out there, perhaps against minimal competition, and received brownie points for chutzpah, amplified by his untimely death.

The features some of the leading lights of the then nascent post-1994 “South African Music Explosion” and some remnants of the earlier “alternative” scene, such as The Radio Rats, who broke through in the late ‘70s.. Interestingly, Koos Kombuis is absent, and given his connections with Shifty Records, and Phillips personally, given that the latter played on Niemandsland … and Beyond and led the band that backed Kombuis on the tour in support of the album, this is like a glaring omission.  Valiant Swart represents the new Afrikaans rock and this also emphasises how strange the omission of Kombuis is, seeing as how he and Swart, at this time, were the new Afrikaans rock.

Some of the acts were or are Shifty Records artists, and if some deserve an elevated status in the South African rock pantheon of the time, and all time, such as Squeal, there are also the likes of The Pressure Cookies and The Kêrels that deserve no more than being listed as contemporary bands of the time (though The Kêrels  were part of the Shifty Records roster in the late ‘80s and were resuscitated for the “South African Music Explosion.”  Tanya Selley, who fronts The Pressure Cookies, was a fellow traveller, mostly as backing vocalist, of the Shifty crowd. Both bands recorded mediocre, imminently forgettable albums that probably sold only to die hard fans who attended their gigs, and soon imploded and are now forgotten except by those fans.

For a tribute to James Phillips, it’s significant that only a few bands performed Phillips songs, or at least in the video record.  The Blues Broers, somewhat incongruously, do “Snor City,” Mathew van der Want does “My Broken Heart” (both from Wie is Bernoldus Niemand?)  Urban Creep does “Shot Down” (from Live at Jameson’s) and a collective billed as The Cherry Faced Lurchers (originally a trio; perhaps the stage announcer meant simply The Lurchers), fronted by Wendy Oldfield (ex-Sweatband and a solo artist) perform “War Song” from Sunny Skies. 

No act manages to elevate their respective versions of the Phillips songs and the covers emphasise the general weakness of the material, with the White funk of “Snor City” standing out mostly because of the mordantly funny lyrics.

Possibly, as counterpoint to the satire and put downs of  “Snor City,” Kalahari Surfers perform the far more serious social commentary of  “Johannesburg.”

Of course, all the musicians are experienced, efficient and technically proficient and committed to what they’re doing and the various interview snippets of praise to Phillips probably  express genuine views, but the overall sense of the shows, from the video, is a parade of “stars” going through the motions in a venue and in front of a crowd that are still very reminiscent of the old. “alternative” days, where the scene is insular, small and confined to an in crowd rahter than being a genuinely popular movement.

Looking back at the event, 25 years later, it’s comically dated in the post grunge, ‘90s clothing and hair styles on view, in the interregnum between full blown grunge and more mainstream modern rock.

Squeal’s rendition of “Killing the Light” is the highlight of the video, showcasing what I think of as the archetypical Durban rock sound of the time, fusing melody and power chords, and the nadir is Johannes Kerkorrel (or it could have been Die Gereformeerde Blues Band)  performing a perfunctory, barely going through the motions,  rendition of “Sit Dit Af” in the irritating cabaret rock style of the Voëlvry tour of some 6 years before. Perhaps the contrast lies in the career arcs of the two acts. Squeal was on an upward curve whereas Kerkorrel was a solo act, doing actual cabaret and with a more arty,  intellectual approach to his music, long past the populist, alternative period of Die Gereformeerde Blues Band and on a slow, downward curve to his eventual suicide.  Squeal was performing a new, still fresh tune and Kerkorrel was just rehashing a tune he was probably sick of by then.

Not the Midnight Mass, an acapella, theatrical group and Johnny Clegg are also oddities in this group of new rock acts. The first just doesn’t quite fit and the latter, a genuine musical legend and alternative music royalty in South Africa, seems to have been invited simply because of his status and the vague similarity in his struggle years and those of Phillips, in their own spheres, though plenty of Clegg’s music is far more memorable than most of Phillips’ stuff. Also, Johnny Clegg is a household name in South African and James Phillips isn’t, and will never be.

However, Not the Midnight Mass, Clegg and Vusi Mahlasela seem like add-ons to make up the numbers, as does, really, Bright Blue who is shown performing their struggle anthem, “Weeping,” possibly the best and most powerful song to come out of South African in the ‘80s though the band was an anachronism by 1995, never destined to lead the local rock revolution.

The video is an illuminating snapshot of the times and a nostalgic reminder of how young the musicians were then, and how many of the band careers were so very fleeting. Vusi Mahlasela, Johnny Clegg, Valiant Swart, the Springbok Nude Girls and even the Blues Broers are examples of acts that had legs and were far more successful than the rest and while most if not all the others still pursue music as career, perhaps on a part time basis,  they are still prime examples of how difficult it was, and probably still is, for local rock acts to make a living from their music. Even the leading lights of the “SA Music Explosion” ran their course quite quickly.

The typical question in the case of early death always is what would James Phillips be doing now? My guess is that he’d be doing solo gigs, perhaps producing other acts, as an elder member of the rock establishment, a kind of national treasure but not necessarily a household name anymore except for the fanbase. Judging by Sunny Skies, the musical direction he wanted to pursue would have been less direct rock and roll and more intellectually elevated music with loss of clever arrangements and zero visceral pleasure.  

The only worse option would have been to reform The Cherry Faced Lurchers and to revisit their unsatisfactory songbook.

I think of James Phillips as a mediocre musical talent but as a person with lots of drive, ambition and opinions he wasn’t afraid to articulate and communicate. He was better as a guitarist in a band rather than as the singer or songwriter. He was probably an excellent frontman in the sense of vibing up and entertaining an audience but his talents were not in his musical ability.

Having said that, James Phillips name and reputation as pioneer of South African rock has been engraved in stone and it’s not likely that any official, mainstream history will ever deviate from this view, so my opinion is simply going to be iconoclastic. So be it. I have listened to the music and i believe my ears are as good as anyone else’s. Technical proficiency or a pioneering spirit do not equate to good, enjoyable music and I do not hear anything pleasurable in Phillips’ music. It’s hard work to listen to, does not provide a happy experience and is not memorable other than as being a tough time to work through.