100 Club – Steve Peacock – Sounds

KOKOMO ANSWER TO A PRAYER

YOU GET those weeks when it’s almost Christmas and the printers are going on holiday and you have to do two issues in one week and you’re a bit knackered and it’s nice to go and have some drinks and listen to a band. Any band would do.
Kokomo are the perfect remedy.
I’ve had a vague suspicion since I first saw them, but now I’ve decided. Kokomo are the British band. Wednesday at the 100 Club confirmed that.
Not only are they the band to soothe a workers breast. which many can do as long as the Guinness flows like double brandies, but they’ve managed to bring together the cream of British musicians, singers and writers into a band that sounds like it plays for love. And Mel Collins was back with them for the night – they’re also the sort of band you spend your holidays playing with when you’ve just come back from a European tour.
Their set runs the gamut from intense soul music (hear Paddy McHugh sing “Angel” or Frank Collins do “Are You Sure”) through funky choogle through Alan Spenner doing things with Dylan’s ”New Morning” that you wouldn’t believe, through Herbie Hancock’s “Chameleon”, through Mel Collins’ adaptation of ‘Freedom For The Stallion’ to the finale “Yes We Can Can”. And that’s without mentioning their own tunes: Neil Hubbard’s “Anytime” and Frank’s “Kitty Sitting Pretty” are particular favourites.
Kokomo are everything you ever wanted from a band. Didn’t go over the top did I?
STEVE PEACOCK