‘Dry January’ is a fashionable concept beloved of health professionals and those who may have overindulged over the festive season, but it might equally apply to the gig calendar. Sandwiched between the Christmas rush and spring tours, there are noticeably fewer concerts to start the year.

Full credit then to the venerable Paul Raymond, best known for his multiple tenures as UFO keyboardist up to the present day, and his eponymous project for going out on the road at this time of year and lifting any post-holiday blues of the hardy faithful at the Borderline.

Two years ago they had played the same venue and the opening song was even the same in ‘Just Another Suicide’, a wonderful if lesser known UFO oldie that perfectly demonstrates the light and shade of their best work and Paul’s subtle contributions.

This time there were changes to the line up and despite the majesty of the song, initial comparisons were not so favourable- the band looking a tad amateurish on the crowded stage and singer Andy Dodds having a rather dry, harsh feel to his vocals not unlike Phil Lewis or even MSG’s Gary Barden. However he had excellent presence as a rock frontman and progressively I warmed to him.

This was much more than a night for UFO covers as Paul was promoting his new Rewind 50 album, revisiting a selection of songs from his long career, and it is surprising how many albums he has released with his own bands.

The likes of ‘Born and Raised’ and ‘Man on a Mission’ were enjoyable pieces of classic bluesy hard rock, the tongue in cheek ‘Michael Caine’ had a fine guitar solo from Dave Burn while Paul came in from his stage right position to play his trademark left handed guitar and sing on the slightly psychedelic sounding ‘Scream Blue Murder’.

If ‘Suicide’ had been the unexpected treat two years ago, there were further songs this time to delight those of us who in the eighties used to religiously follow all bands so memorably captured by Pete Frame’s rock family tree for UFO.

The song Paul penned when in MSG, ‘Never Trust a Stranger’, him singing the opening verse before Andy kicked in, saw some superlative musicianship and later in the set he even exhumed ‘All Belongs to You’ from his brief tenure in Waysted, with a Stones/Quireboys raunch to it that suggested perhaps Waysted caught the wave five years too early.

The elegant sounding ‘Take it or Leave It’ was another neglected UFO classic which suggested how underused he was a songwriter with the band, but there was also a smattering of other UFO numbers. principally those with prominent keyboard intros in ‘Out in the Street’ and the magnificent ‘Love to Love’.

Guitarist Dave Burn not only had a Schenker esque flying V but proved he could walk the talk (bassist Mark Coles adding to the UFO feel with his Way-esque Thunderbird) with a superlative solo and indeed I enjoyed this version more than the way it is currently performed by UFO.

The main set ended with a couple of pieces of wry social commentary from his recent Terms and Conditions Apply album in ‘C List Celebrity’ and the title track, and ‘Still the Same’. Its chorus ‘everybody’s changed, I’ve stayed the same’ could be the mantra of the Dorian Gray-like 69 year old, still sporting the feather cut and floral shirt and waistcoat that give him the air of a seventies children’s TV presenter.

He gently teased that he was playing the ubiquitous classic ‘Doctor Doctor’ with a sense of reluctance but it was enough to spark a minor outbreak of air guitaring, and the second encore was even better, a storming ‘Letting Go’ from ‘No Place to Run’, whose memorable riff makes it a perfect live track, only that UFO have barely played it in 30 plus years. Only a rendition of ‘Natural Thing’ which appeared on the printed setlist would have made life any better at that stage.

While UFO’s commitments are sure to restrict live opportunities for PRP, this was a reminder that one of rock’s most respected sidemen has plenty to offer in his own right. It may have been the first gig of the year but come year end I suspect there will not have been many more enjoyable ones.

Review by Andy Nathan
Photos by Dave Craig

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.
In 2023 he signed a recording deal with Sony in Canada and released a new single on 15 September.

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Power Plays w/c 15 April 2024

ENMY The Ledge (FiXT)
KAROBELA Get Hard (indie)
KATH & THE KICKS Neptune (indie)
THE BEE TELLERS River Poem (Black Sand Records)
LAUREN FREEBIRD Like A Bomb (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 15 April 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023
14:00-16:00 KATARINA PEJAK – Pearls On A String (Ruf Records)

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