Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Hugh Cornwell is a name that so many have grown up with. No matter the age of the listener, it seems his own solo career and his lengthy time with The Stranglers has touched people’s music conscious and keeps on doing so. No small wonder that the man seems to get more and more enjoyment from coming out on stage, even if he doesn’t say so, his body language speaks volumes as he trades notes and the odd smile with the audience.
Hugh Cornwell is one of those musicians that people will seemingly travel thousands of miles to see, such is the sense of history that surrounds him and the music that he has created in a rich and varied career.
Never dismissive of his time at the helm of one of the finest British bands ever, Hugh and his fellow musicians thrilled the Citadel crowd in St. Helens with selected tracks from that era of his life and interspersed them with songs from his latest solo album Totem and Taboo. With tracks such as Nice ‘N’ Sleazy, Duchess, Hanging Around, the iconic Golden Brown and Always The Sun sharing the audience’s affection with great tunes such as I Want One Of Those, Stuck In Daily Mail Land, the beautiful God Is A Woman, Gods Guns And Gays, Love Me Slender and A Street Called Carroll, this was Hugh at his natural best, the best of both worlds and performed with great care and attention on both sides.
In a surprise for some in the audience who hadn’t been able to make the previous night’s gig in Preston at 53 Degrees, the figure of Caroline Campbell on stage, Hugh’s incredible female bass player was a welcome sight. Without ever wishing to put too much pressure on her, Caroline’s demeanour and on stage presence coupled alongside her cool and tantalising ability surely has this young woman being in the top five female bass players in the country. A surprise maybe but nonetheless fully appreciated by all who watched her dominate the bass as if it were a child’s toy.
Hugh has been rightly lauded as one of the finest music minds over the last 40 years and his legacy that he left with The Stranglers continues to grow day by day and album by album, no small wonder that Hugh Cornwell, even after so long a solo star, remains a legend of the highest order.
Ian D. Hall