[…continued from last post]

I must admit that “Mind Of A Toy” has never been my go-to Visage jam, but the live version here was more direct and impactful, with a crispness that the effete album version just didn’t get across. Steve’s adding “mommy/daddy/you told me that you love me” in the breakdown at the climax was better than the watery dub of children’s voices on the record.

Then Steve introduced “The Dancer” and told the audience that “we’ll leave you in these gentlemen’s capable hands and we’ll see you in a couple of minutes.” But he didn’t reveal that those “couple of minutes” were nearly ten as the band stretched what was a brief instrumental interlude on LP into an epic slice of bravura performance. At about the time that the mild original was ready to fade out, Robin Simon bit down deep into the neck of the song for his solo where he was on fire as his sharp tone slalomed between the rhythm section for a dynamic injection of energy. Next Logan Sky got to solo with shimmering sheets of string patches building up layers of countermelodies. Then Steve Barnacle dove deep in to the Jazz bucket fearlessly without regard to whether this was a part of the Visage sonic toolkit or not…thank goodness!

I’ll admit that the longest of the solos here was where they let Johnny Marter go nuts for maybe a minute too long as it tended to devolve the song into a place where I simply lost the plot before it finally resolved with all five players in unison once more; guns blazing away. But I still had to admire how n instrumental track had been turned into a showpiece here. I’m thrilled that this has finally reached Visage fans because had I known about this otherwise for the last eleven years, I would have been pining away sorely for a copy of this!

Then they snapped back to the present with a tight rip through “Shameless Fashion.” Reminding me of how much that Simon brought to the project with his contributions to “Hearts + Knives.” The middle eight solo with Logan dropping in motor drive samples as Mr. Simon was shredding away was pretty breathtaking.

Next came the band’s calling card, “Fade To Grey.” Where Strange throughout, was singing either out front, alone, or with Lauren Duvall offering strategic support, here Strange was clearly using Autotune live to gloss over any perceived vocal shortcomings. I’ve heard this on other performances of “Fade To Grey” whether it’s on the “Orchestral” album or otherwise. And I can only surmise that he was insecure about his vocal prowess when this song was the issue.

It’s weird, because we all know that Steve was Steve. He was never a top flight vocalist but the man given the job for practical reasons. I always find Autotune I can pick out easily to be a distancing artifact that’s worse than flat or off key singing, which frankly, I find sort of charming, depending on the circumstance. I personally, would never hold Strange up to, let’s say, Midge Ure in comparison. Though I enjoy hearing Midge sing Visage tunes live these days, at the end of the day Visage was Steve Strange. You either love him or you move on. I wish that someone could have talked [I’m guessing] Steve out of using Autotune here and would have the vocal chips fall where they may. That said, the band render the supple pulse of the song admirably. It’s a classic for a reason.

Then the always exciting namesake track closed out the album as the elegant piano chords of the intro were laid down over the relentless beat that just won’t be stopped. Robin Simon joining in with the galloping sequencer as he added finely chopped rhythm guitar to the sound. Marter was adding the right drum fills at crucial points to keep the tune effortlessly motoring forward. I enjoyed the stereo panning on synth riff the middle eight with Simon and Marter digging their heels in for as much Rock grit as they can imbue the ferocious song with. When Steve Barnacle joins in with them on bass, it’s the furthest thing from effete.

If anyone had gotten a time machine and ventured back to 1981 to tell me that one day Visage will issue a live album, I would have pegged them as deluded. This was, after all, a studio supergroup where the commitments of the players virtually guaranteed an inability to tour. But that all changed 30+ years later. But thankfully, when having completed the “Hearts + Minds” album, the notion of a Visage tour, however modest was bandied about and int he post-label era, it probably made good economic sense to have one.

Certainly with players of this caliber, it would have been a tragedy to have toured without making any recordings. Whatever notion at the offices of the August Day label what was the home to modern Visage, led them to issue this live album [and it’s companion album – more on that later] eleven years after the fact, I have to appreciate the effort. It manages to recast the DanceRock band as much more of a Rock band and gives me a new lens with which to view them with. This is perhaps made explicit at the album’s end where Strange says that now “I can get to look like Alice —-in’ Cooper!” Presumably a reference to his sweaty eye makeup running down his face.

Reviewing this finally reminds me that it’s past time to update the Visage Rock G.P.A.; written in the heady days when “Hearts + Minds” was new in the world with only five releases to make up the curve. I must have lost the plot when I was unable to get the “Orchestral” album on release due to saving up for travel, and I had to play catch up a year or two later. With a fat row of Visage CDs currently in the Record Cell, we’ve got the potential to get what may be the whole Visage story down for posterity now. So watch this space.

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