glasgow concert review

the herald

by john williamson
july 7, 2001

Heirloom are arguably the best unknown band in Scotland - and while their set of downbeat beauty seems to drift over the audience chatter, it is still possible to hear songs that the likes of Starsailor would die for.

The crowd volume changes to yells of approval for the Trash Can Sinatras, and they launch into their return with the kind of verve, tightness and urgency that was rarely a feature of their live shows in the past. The first two songs Welcome Back and The Main Attraction are played so quickly it feels like they are over in seconds. It is an impressive statement of intent.

How Can I Apply restores some order and is more typical of the rest of a set that mixes old favourites which are greeted like long-lost friends, and new songs that are studied attentively. From the former category, Hayfever and Obscurity Knocks are the biggest crowd pleasers, but Orange Fell and The Safecracker seem to have turned from not exactly standout album tracks into lost classics - a measure of the quality of the catalogue they are revisiting.

There are also thrills among the more recent songs. Leave Me Alone is the song Morrissey could have made if he had chosen to make solo records with Nashville session men instead of Cockney rockabillies, a tune which, to quote Paul Westerberg, is indeed "sadly beautiful." Both Free Time and It's A Miracle adhere to a more pop (as in Jimmy Webb rather than Westlife) tradition and, in a more just universe, would be top 10 hits.

Of course, the show leaves some questions: will they release another album? Are there more songs where these came from? What happened to the likes of Twisted and Bent and The Pop Place? - but after five years off the scale of all known surveillance equipment, it is safe to ask again.

Originally appeared in the Herald.