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Charlemagne


mikemz

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Charlemagne - due to play Dr Drakes on Weds. 2nd June if I remeber right - if you can check out the review Carl 'Charlemagne" Johns got in the Guardian newspaper on Friday - sounds like we are on for a treat............ Chillli are you receiving me...........

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here is the review

Carl John, he of the versatile voice and upturned moustache, is the frontman of alt-country band Noahjohn, who specialise in frenzied hoe-downs and psychedelia. His colleagues, having just made an album berating George Bush, are currently taking a break from putting the world to rights with a pedal steel guitar - so to keep himself busy, John has created Charlemagne, a ared-down alter ego with a personality disorder. Throughout Charlemagne's self-titled debut album, John assumes various personalities and their emotional traumas. It's like an episode of Quantum Leap with a morally bankrupt ending. He finds frustration in a love affair with a junkie and becomes a murderer with a troubled conscience, the soft, authentic rhythms smothering the misery. Although Charlemagne is a one-man creation, John is accompanied on stage by an all female band who appear to have been recruited from a religious cult high in the Appalachian mountains. The drummer, A12, has a tattoo snaking between her cleavage - but she looks like a librarian next to the two backing vocalists. Wearing long polyester

dresses of a kind last seen on satellite re-runs of 1970s sitcom Bless This House,

Katie Did and Lady Bird add off-kilter harmonies to John's low, gentle voice, while sporadically knitting. Katie Did finishes off the bottom half of a pink bikini; Lady Bird makes a blue scarf. John is no cowboy himself. Dressed in a light brown suit, he

looks as if he has wandered out of an old management training video. However, as he wades through the damaged psyches of his creations, he overcomes this superficial strangeness. He melts over the summery, west coast-meets-Nashville sound

of Holland Daisy, whistling as the retro keyboard hums. Take the slow-dripping country waltz out of In Absentia and you're left with a pop song. Whether he is turning Angel of the Morning from a shrill MOR classic into a desperate plea, or tearing into the Noahjohn-influenced 1960s beat of Pink and Silver, John's new guises never fail to flatter him.

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Originally posted by ragudave:

Quantum Leap with a tattoed cleavage down the harbour. Sounds interesting Chilli...

Charlmagne got a good review in the Observer yesterday as well,

Dave

We aim to please,

Charlemagne's getting great press for his LP & his live shows

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Yes knitting and why not? But the real issue is that last year Noah John gave a fantastic gig along with Puerto Muerto at the LT. So any who enjoyed PM will surely like Charlemagne too. It is too late for night swimming but not tooo late for Drake's giigiging........

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