The second Normanello gig – at the Dalriada in Portobello – was enjoyable for the players, and the manager seemed to like us. What the audience made of it was hard to construe, as there wasn’t much response, but we’re all used to playing in pubs and cafes where you’re just background to a social event, and there’s no harm in that when you know what it’s going to be. So we just enjoyed playing and seeing how a third element – call it Normanello – is gradually being born between the current two elements of Norman and Nelson. It takes time, but it’s coming. Next stops for Normanello are a showcase spot at next week’s Out of the Bedroom – selecting six songs from our two-hour repetoire – and a CD, which will probably be an EP so that it gets out in the early part of the 21st century.
At the same time, plans for the next Norman Lamont CD are becoming clearer. The other week I listened to the Wolf album in its entirety and noted:
- some of the production and arrangement could be better but ..
- it’s bloody good – it deserved a wider audience than it got
- I haven’t done anything as good since. I don’t know quite what it is but there’s something of a different quality there that doesn’t seem to be there in the two Fiction CDs. It may be ‘first album syndrome’ where you have the ideas of decades to draw on and you’re overspilling with ideas. I can’t quite put my finger on it. But I want the next package to be as good.
Tentative title is now Roadblock and about six songs are definites for it. All quite dark – not the best thing for someone whose popularity rests a lot on humour, but I don’t have a career to worry about!
So between Roadblock, Normanello and the imminent resuscitation of Gravy Spiders or whatever we’re called now (we’ve been on hold due to my Festival gigs and Sean’s finger injury), there will be a lot of music to work on over the next six months.