Face Of Cheam

Acoustix is a regular Wednesday event upstairs at Balham's Bedford Arms. I was drawn here as one of the acts was The Alarms founder member and guitarist Dave Sharp. Dave exiled himself to New Orleans when the Alarm disbanded in 1991 only to return to these shores ten years later. His solo music is very folky (or drunk bloke rambling according to one of my mates) and certainly an acquired taste. The format of the night is each of the four acts do two songs each in both the first and second half. Dave opened up his set with 'Willin'' a very slow folksy number before going into the hard blues driven 'Lonesome Road' which was played with pasion and pace. Very good. In the second half he played 'Looking This World Over' an autobiographical piece which is a heartfelt bit of work before ending with the title track of his first solo album 'Hard Travelling'. All four were fair reflections on his two acoustic LPs 'Summer Of Love' which include the majority of Dave Sharps solo stuff as well as a couple of covers. An enjoyable evening. Unfortuantely the other acts were a bit bland and therefore unmemorable.