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Review: Take Me To The River, Lantern – ‘A great evening’
Back in the day (that day being the mid-60s) the sound of Black soul music swept around the world, powered by in-house bands that defined the sound of their labels.
North Detroit had Motown and the famous Funk Brothers while down south Memphis had Stax and the ultra-tight Booker T and the MGs.
Memphis also had the lesser-known but highly influential Hi Records whose Hi Rhythm Section formed around the three Hodges brothers Charles, Leroy and Mabon (aka Teenie) and also included keyboard player Archie Turner.
is needed now More than ever
The band created a distinctive loping groove with Charles Hodges’ surging Hammond organ a key ingredient on hits for the likes of Ann Peebles, Otis Clay and, especially, Al Green.
Sadly Teenie died a decade ago but it was amazing to see Leroy, Charles and Archie still onstage at the core of the band some 60 years on.
It was great to see Archie Turner and Charles Hodges back together again, this time joined by Lina Beach and Jerome Chism
We all knew it would be a game of two halves and, while an unused mic stand and chair promised something special to come, the band warmed up with a couple of soft-rock influenced songs from young guitarist Lina Beach.
That was followed by the ebullient arrival of energetic frontman Jerome Chism, long associated with the B.B.King All-stars Band, and a swift gear change into tight R’n’B grooves that immediately got the largely veteran audience jiggling and Big Jeff swaying, arms aloft.
Charles Hodges and Jerome Chism performed in synch
Jerome threw in a couple of B.B. numbers, including the inevitable The Thrill Is Gone with its hallmark call-and-response between vocal and guitar, before, weirdly, the house lights came on.
It was as though that marked the end of the first half of what would be an uninterrupted set, because as the lights went down again the band struck up the instantly recognisable intro to Let’s Stay Together and a mass singalong began.
The classic arrangement was carved out in surging Hammond over absolutely solid drums and bass punctuated by stabs of brass and it led on to another Al Green hit, the more up-tempo Love and Happiness.
Carla Thomas and Jerome Chism were electric together
By this time there was a real energy in the room – this was what the audience wanted – and then, yes!, in a shimmer of sparkling lurex the star of the show finally appeared on stage: Carla Thomas, now in her 80s but still with an mischievous twinkle in her eye.
From that point on it was, rightly, all about her, whether in singing her 60s hit B-A-B-Y or re-creating Tramp, the duet she recorded with Otis Redding, rendered through affectionately burlesque theatrics with Jerome.
Clearly enjoying herself immensely, she recalled that the last time she played Bristol was in 1967 with The Temptations (“They couldn’t afford Diana (Ross) so they got me!”) and then, while the band coasted on the groove she threw in a sitting down dance routine, presumably remembering the stagecraft from those classic 60s soul tours.
Carla Thomas was the star of the show
There were the obligatory solos, starting with choppy Hammond from ‘Reverend Charles’ Hodges, then some flamboyance from drummer Steve Potts before Leroy Hodges gave a beautifully crafted deep-down bass solo that lifted the groove.
And that was what set us up for The Big One, the enigmatic and timeless Al Green classic that gave this tour its title: Take Me To The River.
Played out as a duo between Carla and Jerome it was a faultless climax, every element in place from the super tight drum rhythm to the huge swirls of Hammond and swaggering brass of the chorus.
It pushed everyone’s buttons, not least Big Jeff, and left us with an instant earworm we could happily take home.
Carla Thomas is living proof that, whatever their age, girls will just always wanna have fun
It had been a great evening and to judge by her enormous smile as they finished it was arguable that Carla Thomas had had the best time of anyone there.
Her generosity of spirit had definitely added a dimension of warmth to what was already a hot night inside and out. Soul legend she might be, and now entering her ninth decade, but behind all that she was living proof that, whatever their age, girls will always just wanna have fun.
All photos: Tony Benjamin
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