On the surface, their debut single – and second-best-known tune sums it up – ‘One Chord Wonders’. For anyone who’s delved that little bit deeper however, it’s clear that The Adverts were much more than just a tabloid-baiting Top 20 act via ‘Gary Gilmore’s Eyes’ and the bandwagon-jumping guitar thrash of many of the acts who exploded upon the UK’s consciousness in 1977.
The Adverts however had a few aces up their sleeves including a solid rhythm section in Laurie Driver and Gaye Advert (whose status as punk pinup didn’t hurt either) and a skilled guitarist in Howard Pickup. However, it was mainman TV Smith who made the Adverts stand out from the pack, and who has been producing sporadic moments of brilliance among consistently solid output ever since going solo just around the time that punk entered its dying throes.
With Howard sadly deceased in 1997 and Gaye and Laurie long since retired from gigging, the 30th anniversary of the album – well worth celebrating – was down to Smith aided by the Bored Teenagers (named after their second b-side), an Italian tribute act who, as we find during the show, have got the tunes and the youthful exuberance captured neatly .The band – themselves no whippersnappers – do a fine job.
Smith, centre stage, is however a revelation as any expectations that he will be an old man retreading former glories are dispelled from the first chord(s).
With the current fashion for revisiting entire albums, this is a visual document of the gig which occurred last year, where the band’s debut album – and perhaps the most underrated album of that period, Crossing The Red Sea With The Adverts – was performed, in its entirety.
The fact that Smith has never actually retired and reformed in that time-honoured cash-in move makes this release a bit more credible that some. With TV’s growl a little lower but still fully recognisable, that is largely the only difference between now and what was experienced by anyone lucky enough to catch the band live all those years ago. Well, if you close your eyes. Open them and it’s TV and some pals celebrating the anniversary rather than a reformation of a long departed band..
Visually, TV’s a bit greyer but lacking none of the energy that a performance of this classic album requires – including some trademark high kicks.
As for the camerawork, capturing the live essence of the show is done as well as can be expected – while a video is no substitute for actually being there, the impression of a packed 100 Club – perhaps better decorated than in its heyday – is documented well by the camera crew.
More than anything else it’s great to hear the album done live; for anyone not familiar with it, the chance to hear it; for the old school fans, a reason to dig out the original and compare.
What’s obvious is how well it works as a set – all 100 percent energy with the odd breather in ‘Up On The Roof’ or On Wheels. It also demonstrates what a well-balanced album ‘Crossing…’ was and is – ‘One Chord Wonders’ an electrifying start, the 2 minor hits (‘Safety in Numbers’ and ‘No Time to be 21’ mid-set (i.e. at the end of side 1 and start of side 2) and the magnificent ’Great British Mistake’ a climactic “should’ve been a single” closer.
Encores act as extras, and here it’s the 3 b-sides to the chart singles – though sadly no ‘Quickstep’! – and act as a sort of bridge to TV Smith now, with ‘Adverts’ from second album Cast of Thousands and Smith’s recent solo tune ‘Good Times are Back’ which is an apt choice showing that 30 years on TV can still write a song as good as then.
There’s further evidence of his songwriting ability with some extras which include some solo semi-acoustic numbers and all in all, even for those not born at the time or unsure who The Adverts were, this is a DVD that will answer all those questions and provide for a good hour’s entertainment – to say nothing of an exhibition of songwriting craft to boot.