(This post contains lots of links to Youtube videos. They are purely for my own enjoyment - and yours, if you wish - and not clips from the concert in question.)
It should come as little surprise to anyone who regularly reads this blog that the New Pornographers are one of my favourite bands ever. So when I come across anything of theirs, I'm going to listen to it. It's in this spirit that I ended up downloading a concert the group did for NPR radio in the US back in March 2006.
Now, one of the things that makes the New Pornographers so good in my books is that they have four different lead singers, with four noticeably different voices. Two guys (Dan Bejar and Carl Newman) and two girls (Neko Case and Kathryn Carter). This helps keep the songs diverse - much like The Beatles (or, um, Linkin Park? Faith No More? Help me out here!), different singers make for different-sounding songs.
Neko and Dan don't always tour with the rest of the group - but they soldier on, as they did on the tour from which this show was recorded, with Carl, Kathryn, Kurt Dahle (drums) and Blaine Thurier (keyboards) pitching in with backing vocals, and guitarist Todd Fancey never setting foot anywhere near a microphone.
Unfortunately, the day of this performance, Kathryn came down with laryngitis. This left the group without any female vocals whatsoever, and set the stage for what might be the oddest concert they've ever given.
Worse yet, this was 2006 - their latest CD, Challengers, had yet to be released, so the group only had 75% of their current catalogue to choose from (although to be fair, I'm not sure what they could have really used from that without girls...maybe Mutiny, I Promise You or All The Things That Go To Make Heaven And Earth).
So what did they play? Well, there were standard Carl-fronted songs that don't really sound that different without women, such as Twin Cinema and From Blown Speakers. There were Carl-fronted songs that are played at almost every concert but do sound slightly off without girls, including Slow Descent Into Alcoholism and Use It. There was a quartet of Carl songs that rarely (or never) get played in concert, comprised of July Jones, The End of Medicine, The Body Says No, and Breakin' The Law. There were the two most well-known and well-loved songs the New Pornographers have, where Carl was forced to sing parts meant for girls so fans would get their favourites (Sing Me Spanish Techno and a rendition of The Bleeding Heart Show that wasn't nearly as bad as one might have expected). There was one song I'd never heard before and thus can't comment on (Graceland), there was Carl singing a Den Bejar Song (Testament To Youth In Verse), and finally we got Todd, the guy who I didn't think ever sang, singing a Dan Bejar song (Jackie).
And how was it? All things considered, pretty good. If you knew nothing of the New Pornographers other than their name, you might wonder why they deserved any sort of reputation after hearing this as a first exposure. It wasn't horrible, but it was somewhat below average (for music, not for the New Pornographers). If you're already a fan of the band, it's neat to hear what they sound like under unusual circumstances, but you'll be quick to admit that they're not at their best. Doesn't stop them from trying (and the between-song banter is good too!).
I give it a C+...probably a D if this was what they sounded like normally, but it's graded much easier because of the situation they were in.
--Ryan
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