The Ghosts of Electricity
Once part of that 30-year long good time party Lindisfarne, bass player Rod Clements was always the quiet one among the gregarious Geordies and while he wasn't the main song-writer, his contributions were always melodic and distinctive.
With the untimely passing of chief songsmith Alan Hull, more fell on Clements's shoulders and he began to collaborate to a great degree with Sandbach guitarist Nigel Stonier.
Lindisfarne amicably imploded last year and Clements and two others - guitarists Dave Denholm and Ian Thomson - went acoustic and headed out to play under the new name.
Live Ghosts is really a holding action until they've got enough fresh material together for an album proper, so meanwhile this gig, recorded at Market Bosworth (not quite Wembley or the Budokan,) at least gives us a taster.
Gruff voiced, now permanently attached to a battered old trilby, chiefly playing blues licks on a dobro, Clements has an easy going style that's hard to fault and appreciable to all. His pedigree as a writer is proved by the evergreen Meet me on the corner, one of those songs that it's no chore to hear again and again with its dreamy lyric and foot stomping melody.
Equally impressive are the reminiscences of When Jones gets back to town or the philosophical Why can't I be satisfied?
Balance those with the resigned Can't do right for doing wrong, and a host of other catchy originals and it's easy to see why lots of people in the know nod sagely and agree that Clements is something of a cult artist in the making.
He crops up in our area frequently thanks to his links with "Stonier" and if you have the chance catch one of his gigs, it's an evening well spent. Meanwhile this is available at www.rodclements.com and probably on specialist order from A. & A.
Simon Jones
'Live ghosts'
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