Autumn Playlist - Tabernacle Hillside Dreamer

Despite developing an obsession with Gene Clark's early 1970's output, I've had time to knock this little collection together. One for a Sunday hangover.

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Tabernacle Hillside Dreamer by Davespowart on Mixcloud

NoLIta Cantina

81a Bold Street, L1 4HF
website

After a trip to see the small but perfectly formed Weegee exhibition at the Bluecoat, it was in a New York state of mind that lunch was taken at the newly opened NoLIta Cantina, located inconspicuously toward the top end of Bold Street. With the Strokes playing in the background on arrival, the decor was minimal and wooden with an open kitchen, always a pleasing sight.

The Manhattan influence ran through the menu, emphasising the owners' desire to create a Katz's style diner with big sandwiches the order of the day. We ordered the deep fried dill pickles (frickles) and chilli pops - breaded jalapeno peppers stuffed with cheese to start. Both were excellent; the former crisp and sharp and the latter creamy with a nice warm kick. If there was a negative it was that while the house cheese dip provided a nice accompaniment to both starters, neither benefited from the alternative blue cheese option, which overpowered the frickles and clashed with the chilli pops.

There then followed a delay with our main courses due to the late arrival of the restaurant's meat order. Happily, after a nervous wait of twenty minutes, they arrived. We had both elected to go down the pastrami route; Catherine opting for the £6 sandwich (a Tuesday special price) which came with bottomless potato and sweet potato fries while I chose the pastrami burger, served with the same aforementioned fries and coleslaw.

 
The pastrami was utterly sublime, proving the absolute joy of a well sourced ingredient, and was complimented in both the sandwich and the burger by a well judged chipotle mayonnaise. The two 4oz burgers were excellently cooked, with the portion size pleasing this value-conscious consumer. The fries were also superb, if ever so slightly on the salty side even for my tastes. Not that it stopped me finishing them.

While the imminent arrival of Byron to Liverpool One is seen in some quarters as a cause for celebration, the arrival of high quality independent bars and restaurants like NoLIta Cantina is ultimately of far greater value to the city as it hopefully moves towards a future far less homogenised than the identikit feel of many of the country's large urban areas.

Neon Jamon

12 Smithdown Place, L15 9EH
website

Despite the efforts of Southbank and the longstanding but underwhelming Pod, Allerton Road’s extensive collection of eateries has lacked a top quality tapas bar/restaurant. The arrival of Neon Jamon therefore was cause for cautious optimism with its clean, minimalist décor and hanging hams. Arriving before 7pm on Saturday the tables were all occupied and the bar was full, but a pint of Estrella (there is also a diverse selection of different Spanish bottled beers, including Estrella’s excellent Inedit Damm) and a quick look at the menu ensured the half an hour we waited was no hardship.

Although warned by our friendly waitress that the portions were a decent size, our party was hungry and we ordered four dishes each, accompanied by a couple of bottles of very drinkable Bodegas Muerza Rioja Blanco. The food quality was consistently high across our selection; there were some tender pork ribs, creamy croquettes and a generous portion of patatas bravas with alioli. My particular highlights were:

Hamburguesa – two veal burgers with a peppercorn sauce. Could have happily eaten another couple.

Chorizo & Morcilla plate – the soft and flavoursome onion black pudding was superb and outshone the more than acceptable chorizo.

Straw Fries & Eggs – I took the well-upholstered man’s option of adding some chorizo. A delicate seasoning of paprika gave the whole dish a substantial lift.

Little Chilli and Garlic Squids – lightly battered and with lemon alioli. Incredibly moreish.

 

 

 

There were one or two small negatives; there was a plate of fairly unexciting king prawns and similarly the churros we finished with were nice without lingering in the memory. There was no ice bucket provided for the wine. There were also several items added to our bill that belonged to another table – a mistake that was immediately acknowledged and rectified. Nonetheless the staff were friendly and keen to please and a complimentary brandy, which to this novice was unlike any I had tried before (I think it was the Liqour 43), following dessert was a nice touch.

Ultimately this was an impressive performance from a recently-opened restaurant still finding its feet, and if it continues to progress will provide a serious alternative - for this South Liverpool resident - to its most obvious city centre competitor, Lunya.

Ni Neu, San Sebastian

Avenida de Zurriola, 1, 20002 Donostia-San Sebastián
website

It had not been our original intention to spend our Saturday afternoon at Ni Neu. Having been disappointed by the highly rated Bodegon Alejandro being shut during our visit, we were grateful for a bit of divine intervention as we crossed the bridge from the Old Town into the district of Gros. Blown back by the strong winds and horizontal rain, we took cover within the Kursaal auditorium and convention centre where Ni Neu is housed. Waiting for the weather to subside slightly, the xortak taster menu caught the eye and we entered the sleek, modern dining room, which was quiet when we arrived at the very British time of 1pm, but which was full fairly soon after.

If there was a relative disappointment, it came with the opening course. There was nothing intrinsically wrong with the salmon, salad and croutons (and my suspicion over the bacon cream was unfounded, as it was the best part of the dish), rather as well as the ingredients combined, there was just little exciting or memorable about it.

The tomato was superb, soft and juicy with a generous helping of squid within. It was however Andrew Ridgeley when compared to the George Michael - spot an analogy I wish I'd not started - squid ink rice; deep, rich and garlicky. Sublime.

The hake that followed was delicate and well seasoned and, when combined with the gentle fish flavour of the jus and potato (more pureed than crushed), provided a welcome milder note after the strength of the preceding course.

 The lamb was the second main highlight of the meal, capable of withstanding no more than a butter knife before melting and given depth by the garlic paste and texture by the quinoa.

Beginning to fill slightly, it was with mixed emotions that I viewed the mini brick-sized slab of french toast as it arrived before me. My fears were unfounded though and there was nothing stodgy about the surprisingly light and airy toast, that had a pleasing crunchy finish.

 As light as the previous plate had been, the palate-cleansing final ice cream was pleasingly minimalist and retained the nice crunch of the toast with a combination of different nuts within the crumble. The coffee leaf was an unwelcome accompaniment but I have never liked coffee and never will, and that is no-one's fault but my own.

Much of San Sebastian's well deserved gastronomic reputation comes with a bill to match but at roughly €42 a head, including a very decent bottle of white wine, this provided firm evidence that accessing some of the areas' most inventive cookery needn't necessarily lead to Arzak or Akelarre prices.

November Playlist - A Jeff Winter's Tale

An hour's worth of stuff put together on the train home from London following Everton's 2-2 demolition of Fulham. Should be served with a bottle of Carmenere

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5 underrated Monkees records

As I suggested in my review of Eric Lefcowitz's biography, much of the Monkees' more interesting output emerged once creative control had been seized from Don Kirshner. While quality levels varied across the albums of the late 1960's and there was no consistent sound due to the variety of influences, they did produce a number of excellent records that did not receive the recognition of their earlier efforts. Here are five that deserve further examination:

While I Cry

A Mike Nesmith song from 1969's 'Instant Replay', 'While I Cry' gave an indication of the country direction its author would head in once he had left the band. Simple lyric, lovely harmonies, gentle melody. Ace, and maybe my favourite Monkees record.

 
As We Go Along
To suggest seizing the power over their music meant that there was no outside creativity employed by the band would be misleading, it was merely done on their terms. Carole King and Toni Stern's 'As We Go Along' was used as a B side to 'Porpoise Song (also co written by King), both songs forming part of the soundtrack to 'Head', the Jack Nicholson and Bob Rafelson movie that interests and confuses in equal measure. Featuring Ry Cooder, Neil Young and King herself on guitar, it is one of Micky Dolenz's best vocals.

 

You and I

A rare Davy Jones writing credit again featuring Neil Young on guitar, hence a heavier sound not too dissimilar from Buffalo Springfield. The reflective lyrics give an indication of Jones' acknowledgement that perhaps the band's time had begun to pass:

"In a year or maybe two,
We'll be gone and someone new will take our place,
There'll be another song,
Another voice, another pretty face"

 

Daily Nightly

A Nesmith composition that was one of the first records to employ the Moog Synthesizer. From the 'Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones' album (1967), the psychedelic sound is a clear nod to the music being made by both the Beatles and the Stones around this time.

Circle Sky
Another from the Head soundtrack complete with driving bassline and a more aggressive than normal Nesmith vocal. The footage is taken from the movie and the naked anti-war element of this section no doubt provides further evidence as to why the film sank without trace at the time. $165616

Monkee Business: The Revolutionary Made for TV Band – Eric Lefcowitz

The concept of pop acts landing their own TV shows, cartoons and films is a well-worn tradition, much of the inspiration for which can be traced back to one place. Eric Lefcowitz’s accessible read details the formation of the Monkees, the brainchild of producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider, and their somewhat about-face transformation (in comparison to many of those who followed them) from a manufactured, made for TV band with limited control over its own output to a ‘proper’ group destroyed by ego and a changing cultural climate.

Of particular interest is the description of the techniques used in the stringent and gruelling selection process (auditionees including Harry Nilsson, Stephen Stills and Beach Boys collaborator Van Dyke Parks) by which messrs Jones, Dolenz, Tork and Nesmith were chosen, the legacy of which can be seen in programmes such as the X Factor. Rafelson and Schneider receive much credit for channelling the feel of the Beatles film ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ into the TV series and realising that as the Beatles attempted to leave behind the innocence of their early releases, and the fans that attracted, towards a more psychedelic sound, a gap had emerged in the market. The groundbreaking combination of aggressive marketing and artificially assigned ‘personalities’ to each of the four also laid the foundations for the blueprint used on many manufactured acts, The Spice Girls being an obvious example.

Where the Monkees differed from these acts however was the speed at which Tork and Nesmith in particular, as professional musicians before the band, resisted the efforts of larger than life music publisher Don Kirshner – brought in to oversee the music side of the operation – to maintain a vice-like grip of creative production. A central theme running through the book, right up to its conclusion, is that all four to a greater or lesser extent felt disrespected by their peers and hamstrung through their career by the genesis of the Monkees and the inference that they were essentially puppets due to the use of session musicians and much of their music being written by others (as the book points out, an unfair stigma to bear when scrutinising the working practices of The Beach Boys, various Motown acts and others). Greater freedom in all areas, following Kirshner’s sacking, ultimately exposed the various musical differences and gave the impression of the group being four individuals pulling in separate directions. As much as this led to output of varying quality, culminating in the film Head – now considered a cult classic, then a vaguely offensive mess that represented the final nail in the coffin – a sense of artistic integrity at least prevailed.

The four complicated personalities and their contribution to the initial success, downfall, brief resurrection in 1986 and ultimate fracture are examined in length, Jones particularly coming across poorly as a money-fixated, jealous and petty individual, possibly explaining the other three’s slightly lukewarm reaction to his death earlier this year. Possibly just to this slightly cynical mind Nesmith emerges as the most likeable character; the least happy to accept mediocrity and, post Monkees, someone who quickly realised the potential of music as a visual medium – ironically his production company was prominent at the birth of MTV, whose later decision to re-screen the band’s TV show in some ways acted as a curse in his efforts to be known as something other than just an ex-Monkee.

Ultimately this is a decent read, although I would have welcomed greater musical scrutiny of the late 60’s albums, which contain some of the more interesting records the Monkees made. The use of multiple chapters with just a few paragraphs in each was also a random irritation. Nonetheless, as a case study of the way a non-organically formed band could be selected, marketed and achieve almost instant success (and an almost as rapid descent back again), sowing the seeds for many imitators across the world, it is a worthy musical biography.