This article appeared in the Rythem
& Musique July -August 1974. I had it sitting around the house for a few
years, but seeing it is written in French, all I knew about it was it had been a review of
a 1974 Bamboozle concert. I finally received the chance to find out what was
written up about the concerts. Two different women wrote in and said they could translate
French for me. Seeing this was a smaller article, I sent it to both ladies to see if they
could translate it for me. Fortunately they could, unfortunately it is a terrible review.
But I guess we have to take the bad with the good. In fact, this review is sooo bad you
have to laugh. Where in the world did they find these people in the first place to write
these review and articles? I would like to personally thank both Mary Askew
and Anamarija Suskovic for translating this article for Majicat.
THE 1974 BAMBOOZLE TOUR
By "Honest Jo"
The concert is supposed to
start at 8:00. Even though it is 8:20, the crowd is waiting patiently, watching the stage-
which looks like a huge white tent cut in two –and the technicians who are busy right
up until the last minute. Then, at 8:20, the lights go down. Oh! What a surprise,
here’s CAT STEVENS already, with no supporting act, and the concert starts with
"Wild World". The crowd, different from the usual crowd at the Forum’s
concerts, is made up of people of all ages, some bald, some with very long hair, some
wearing jeans and some wearing (almost long) dresses, they very much appreciate this
beginning even if they had to strain to recognize the song, then the second, another old
song, but at this concert, CAT STEVENS is accompanied by a band. The quality of the sound
is painful, the volume is faint and starts to become even softer, so that all that can be
heard is a low hum of music and fortunately the voice of CAT STEVENS, so that we can at
least recognize the songs. Then, a third element is added, two women singers, Suzanne
Lynch and Anna Peacock, who are wailing their parts of the song in such a depressing way,
with voices that are too high and not always singing in the right place, but luckily the
quality of the sound is bad. We had to put up with that for twenty minutes. Oh, I’m
forgetting the string that broke on STEVENS’ guitar; the only guitar that we can
hear, or almost; it took a good five minutes to repair the thing; and so, including
applause, the first half lasted a good twelve minutes. And, wham!, the supporting act,
Linda Lewis, a name to remember, looking like the singers’ little sister. She yelled-
in tune -but with a voice so high that it was painful, competition for the JACKSON FIVE.
It was a long twenty minutes to have to endure, then the intermission. The technicians who
have been on the stage all through the first half continue with their crazy running
around. They (the public) take a break reassuring each other that the sound will be better
in the second half. After 20 minutes intermission, the concert starts again.
What a disappointment: you can’t even
hear CAT STEVENS’ voice any more, just a general hum. They try to make the lighting
system work inside the tent, nothing, nothing seems to be working and yet the concert goes
on as if nothing were wrong. The musicians are introduced, at least we’ll find out
what instruments they’re playing: Alun Davies on guitar and vocals; Gerry Conway on
drums; Jean Roussel, keyboard; Bruce Lynch, bass guitar; Larry Steele, percussion,
electric guitar and vocals; for his part, CAT STEVENS played acoustic guitar and piano.
Such great musicians, more’s the pity we couldn’t hear them. What a shame,
because the choice of songs was excellent! We thought we heard songs from "Tea for
the Tillerman, Teaser and the Firecat, Mona Bone Jakon and Foreigner", the first
three being the best albums of CAT STEVENS. It seems impossible but the show started at
8:20 and at 10:00, we were already outside. It was over. Everything in the show was cheap,
except the ticket ($6.50).
