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EVENING STANDARD REVIEW : GUILTY PLEASURES AT HACKNEY EMPIRE
Not much guilt seemed to be felt at this evening celebrating the songs you’re notsupposed to like. There were no dark glasses, upturned collars or wigs, just a cheerful crowd cheering on the little club night that keeps getting bigger. What began as a one-song slot on DJ Sean Rowley’s impeccably tasteful BBC London radio show has now acquired its own two-hour Sunday lunchtime programme and become a favourite night out for Londoners at KOKO.
Here, for one night only, it came to life with the help of the BBC Concert Orchestra, who have probably never arrived on stage to the strains of Rhinestone Cowboy before.
The concept is a hairs breadth away from being School Disco, but thanks to the involvement of the same crowd who created revered Nineties club night the Heavenly Social, Guilty Pleasures actually retains some hip cachet.
Almost all the singers this evening were cult rather than A- list names, strengthening the conviction that if these people say a song is cool, it is.
Guy Harvey from Elbow prompted a blissful mass sigh of recognition at the first chords of Chicago’s If You Leave Me Now, and a white suited Ed Harcourt really threw himself into ELO’S Sweet Talkin’ Woman. The music of Californian star Andrew Gold seemed to be the guiltiest pleasure of all, with two songs represented. The Magic Numbers grinned even more than usual while singing his bouncy 1978 hit Never Let Her Slip Away. Chas and Dave were given the warmest welcome by compere Rowley, and given special dispensation to perform a song of their own, Ain’t No Pleasing You. They seemed delighted to be appreciated, with a tinge of irony or otherwise.
Former Special’s singer Terry Hall, whom Rowley introduced as “The patron saint of Guilty Pleasuresâ€, has claimed that he buys the majority of his music in service stations. He was trumped for enthusiasm, however, by Cerys Matthews, his partner for the Dolly Parton/Kenny Rogers duet Islands In The Stream. She looked as if she could have carried on all night, staying on stage to belt out her compatriot Bonnie Tyler’s Total Eclipse of the Heart. Suggs provided a suitably cheesy climax with a stirring Love is in the Air, and then it was over disappointingly suddenly.
Guilty Pleasures 3 - the new album out on 13 November 2006 - see blog for more details
The Guilty Pleasures Gospel
From humble beginnings, living on rain water and mildew in the 150 capacity Hammersmith Working Mens’ Club, in the space of nearly 2 years Guilty Pleasures fast-tracked its way through London clubland, bringing an ever-growing band of disciples with it. In the second half of 2005 this latter day “churchâ€, celebrating those songs that you love but shouldn’t, received its confirmation at the Islington Academy and moved to the new parish of KOKO in London (which the holy lady Madonna insisted on playing first to ensure the ambience and decor in the church hall was good enough for Guilty Pleasures.)
Steering well clear of low-rent cheese and decks-on-trestle-tables, Guilty Pleasures has a playlist for the discerning reveller. Eyebrows remain un-arched. Tongues never dart cheek-ward. Absolutely nothing comes wrapped in the weak quote marks of irony. Music lovers playing music they love in the full knowledge that those diving into the Guilty Pleasures phenomenon fully-clothed will love it too.
2005 saw Guilty Pleasures break free of the shackles of cultdom and charge wide-eyed and headfirst as a genuine phenomenon. At each stage, it added jewel after jewel to its crown: Charlotte Church digging her stirrups into a karaoke version of ‘Love Is In The Air’; mopping up the tears at Glastonbury; unsettling the polite tearooms of Bestival and the Big Chill; spinning the Cannes Film Festival on its head; stopping the Osbornes swearing and bickering for the duration of their set at Kelly’s birthday party; and who can forget the night Terry Hall had a Stars In Their Eyes transformation into David Essex?
No empty promises here. The 2006 extravaganza at KOKO has already proved to be bigger, bolder and better as Guilty Pleasures’ made headline news on the front page of the Guardian with them claiming that ‘the superclub rulebook has been torn up’ and that ‘Guilty Pleasures is a putative global phenomenon’. With guests including Jarvis Cocker & Steve Mackay, Barry Peters Halifax Hospital Radio with Triple Threat, Nouvelle Vague, St. Etienne and of course the inclusion last month of the Pernod French Club, Guilty Pleasures at KOKO is well and truly on the clubland map.
Guilty Pleasures can also be heard as a radio show on BBC London 94.9fm on Sundays 12.00 - 14.00 or click here to 'Listen Again'
