Out of the ashes of
Annsorn (Pop) Joralie's old band 'Satin
Soul' came the brand-new and improved
‘Pop's Pattaya All Stars’;
aptly named as they really are the stars
of Pattaya's rock music scene.
They are Somjet (A) Sol'gsree on lead
vocals. A, over the last twelve months,
has gotten stronger not only in his vocal
ability, but also in his stage presence.
He roams the front stage at the band’s
live concerts, using his natural good
looks to wow all the ladies in the crowd.
On keyboards we have Tumnid (Nok) Parkpitcharoen,
the professor of the band. Nok is a classical
seventies type keyboard player in the
realms of Jon Lord of Deep Purple and
Ken Hensley of Uriah Heep. He plays with
great dexterity, gives out a wall of sound
to keep the band’s groove going,
all the while not afraid to give his keyboard
rack a good thumpin'. During his solos
he makes sure there is plenty of good
old seventies gurning from the wizard
of the keyboards, too.
Bangin' the bins at the back of the stage
is the definite character of the band,
Munsood (Sood) Slam, great name for a
drummer. Sood is not only a great drummer,
but also one of the most cheerful people
you are ever likely to meet. Sood is the
only man alive who can do a great impression
of David Lee Roth, while playing the drums
as he does here on this recording, where
he takes over lead vocals for the band's
rendition of 'Jump'. This usually results
in an outbreak of stage diving led by
Lisa Lurve.
On bass guitar - and latest addition
to the band - is the dreadlocked rockin'
dervish Winai (Marn) Pattana, who has
brought a whole new energy to the band
since his arrival. Marn's bass nails each
song down in very similar style to the
way the great John Entwistle always did
with the Who, except that Marn is just
a blur of dreadlocked activity on stage,
giving the band a great visual asset.
Then, of course, center stage is the
main man himself Annsorn (Pop) Joralie.
Every time Pop goes into his first solo
of the set there is a tremendous thud
as the jaws of the newcomers to the band
hit the ground. Such is Pop's mastery
of an electric guitar it is hard to imagine
what he cannot do with it. Pop's soloing
is legendary, playing in a variety of
styles. Sometimes he plays with great
gentleness just the right notes to fill
out a song, just as in his wonderful solo
during Free's 'All Right Now'; at other
times it is "if you got it flaunt
it" and Pop wrenches a hundred notes
a second from his axe to a devastating
effect while shredding Jimi Hendrix' 'Purple
Haze'. Pop also has more stage presence
than most of the big international name
guitar slingers.
To add even more excitement to the evening,
Pop called on a couple of very special
guest stars to join the band on stage.
First we were treated to the delights
of Shenanigans director of music Rick
Bryant's lovely wife Harpic. Her duet
with A on a crunching version of AC/DC's
'You Shook me All Night Long' nearly brought
the walls of Shenanigans tumbling down.
After Pop had guitar talked his way through
a rollicking version of Bon Jovi's 'Livin'
On A Prayer', this set of live songs was
brought to a romantic conclusion with
Phill Dunn making his recording debut
with a stirring version of Ronan Keating's
‘When You Say Nothing At All’.
That very nicely raped things up.
For an example of high quality live rock
'n' roll, this recording takes some beating,
an album that will stay on Ella Crew's
turntable for many a year. As an added
bonus the artwork for the album is simply
stunning. It is the result of the combined
artistry of Ron Keeley and Jason Payne
with more than a little help from the
photos of Wayne Ogonoski and Pattaya Mail’s
very own Brendan Richards. If you were
at Shenanigans on the night of 21st May
2004 when this great concert recording
took place, look on the inside cover.
You might well pick out your name or even
your photograph.
Pop's Pattaya All Stars will be holding
a launch party for 'Dangerously Live'
at Shenanigans on Friday 2nd July, band
on stage at midnight after the Bastards
with their act starting at 10 pm. A night
not to be missed.
The CD's are very reasonably priced at
300 Baht each, or if you want to buy the
set and get the Bastards live album 'Live
and Dangerous', too, the 2 CD’s
are 500 Baht.
Dangerously by Mott the
Dog
Live by Ella Crew
E-mail: review@mott-the-dog.com
