I never thought it would happen, having learned about Cabaret Voltaire from a 1985 interview in the Los Angeles Times as the duo of Richard H. Kirk and Stephen Mallinder were in town to play a show at the Palace. Shortly afterward came the purchase of the Drinking Gasoline EP and, having become a devotee, I assumed CV would be back to perform in the Angel City at some point in the not-too-distant future. Well, it turned out to be a fleeting hope . . . at least until last night.
It was a surprise to most everyone who's a fan to hear a year ago today that Mallinder and original member Chris Watson announced that they were reuniting as the Cabs for a festival in their hometown of Sheffield, England named after their best-known song, 1984's "Sensoria" from the Micro-Phonies album. This comeback also marked the 50th anniversary of the group's first and notoriously riotous performance, just a year or two after the trio launched their highly unconventional, DIY project in the attic of Watson's house.
Initially, it looked as if the reunification was to be brief and confined to the United Kingdom, though some of us unable to attend shows there at least hoped for a live album. Then came the announcement of a series of North American gigs including last night's show at The Bellwether in DTLA. Finally, after four decades and with it clear that this would be it for CV's existence, the opportunity to hear the band live arrived.
Watson was unable to make the trip, so Mallinder was joined by opening act Tara Busch, a.k.a. I Speak Machine, who gave an intense electronic/industrial performance, and his British compatriots Ben (Benge) Edwards, a frequent collaborator in recent years, on electronic drums and another long-time compatriot, guitarist and keyboardist Eric Random, who made vital contributions to CV in the Eighties.
It has been said that Kirk, who died in September 2021 at 65 and who was a favorite of this blogger, would have been displeased by the idea of reconstituting the Cabs for a career retrospective, but Mallinder and Watson have embarked on the project in memory of and out of "massive respect" for their former bandmate, who revived the CV name in 2009 for remix project, some live shows and a quartet of recordings just before he died that represented his uncompromising and highly creative approaches.
What was great about last night's show was that the core components of the original versions of the tracks, spanning from the earliest recordings through the end of the Eighties, are retained, but the arrangements reworked to sound fresh and updated. Mallinder's voice, often processed, keeps many of its attributes from days of yore, while he also played bass on much of the pieces. Benge's simple drum set-up provided the right level of punch with pre-recorded percussion and Busch greatly helped to layer the digital and electronic sound palette. Especially welcome was Random's guitar, which evoked Kirk's work on that instrument, but he added his contributions on keyboards, as well. The effect was an excellent concert, well-played, smoothly paced and highly appreciated by the crowd which looked to have filled the room.
As for But What Time Is It Really? (a comment, perhaps, on the way the music was presented in seamlessly blending old and new?) Benge's considerable engineering, mixing and production skills, the latter done by Mallinder, result in developing a beautiful sound, with separation of the elements (live instruments, pre-recorded material, vocals) expertly handled. The album is not only a valued souvenir of this last tour, but reflects the fact that Cabaret Voltaire's music, going back a half-century, remains timely and timeless, and forty years after this blogger discovered the group, it was really fulfilling to have the opportunity to hear this great music from this amazing band and project live and live.
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