Blyth Power emerged in 1983 in the shadow of the anarcho-punk scene. Porter previously played with Zounds and The Mob and released records on both Rough Trade and Crass Records. Despite these early associations, Blyth Power soon cut a path of their own, flirting with the indie press of the early 90s and establishing themselves as a singular presence on the UK music scene.
Supported by Surgery Without Research.
Blyth Power has been celebrating forty years of recording and touring by presenting its best incarnation yet, and with a critically acclaimed new CD in their portfolio, remains one of the most original and innovative acts around. They have a strikingly identifiable and personalised sound built basically around Joseph’s songs, with their colourful personnel, exotic story-lines and crashing, impassioned choruses. Variety is the spice of life. With a back catalogue of over 150 songs to choose from, acoustic and electric, Blyth Power can settle comfortably into the tidy seated arena of an art centre and discuss matters on intimate terms, with precision and definition. Just as easily they can select a programme of up-tempo numbers to get the dancers tumbling over each other in a smelly rock-club basement, or reeling in a wet Marquee after a long day at the cider tent. Each audience is presented with a tailor made selection that can vary from the gentle acoustic arpeggios of Burning Joan to the full-on punk rock assault of songs like Katherine and Mosley or Slump. But overriding everything is the breadth and content of the lyrics, which Mr Porter claims are his most cherished care. Irony and subtext mingle with plain-speaking and historical metaphor in a brilliant tapestry of colour and irreverent speculation. Will Charles succeed to the throne? Will politicians ever keep their pants on, and was the legacy of sweat and boredom left in the desert by the Templar Knights rekindled in the Kevlar helmets and SA80s of the modern armies bound for Baghdad? Anyone can make music, but not everyone can find the time to make every word count for a dozen, or to unravel the intricacies of human fallibility with a perception that rarely falls short of sympathetic.
