Live & Lovely: Velvet Stream ~ Selfish Mind (Drop Out UK Live Session)

Remember Velvet Stream? Of course you do. They did a rather brilliant cover version of Stooshe's Black Heart (read all about it here), as well as doing rather dandy thank you very much and please with their own material - the effervescent Selfish Mind (read about it here), which went down a storm with listeners of Larry Flick's OUTQ radio show when I was on it last month.

Anyhoo. Velvet Stream recently returned to their alma mata (as Americans would say, us Brits would just say "me old school", because we like to keep it real) and they sat on steps. Not the pop group you understand (although a Steps comeback single written by the Velvet Stream bunch would be very good indeed, like a Kish Mauve-Kylie single), but the actual steps to their school science block. How literal. But I digress, as I so often do. What you need to pay attention to here is how marvelous the song sounds as a breezy acoustic ditty. Mati goes from having a little soft spoken chat about school to belting out this powerful vocal that just instantly grabs your attention and pulls you into the song. The boys provide some really sumptuous, tight & absolutely spot on backing vocals that are so harmonious & textured, you'd think you were listening to a 50s barber shop quartet. Their use of tambourines and percussions to complement the strumming guitars is really effective too - take the moment at 1m25 when Mati starts singing "I am running out of gasoline"... There are some resonant deep vocal "ooo my pretty baby" as a backing vocal trade off, harmonised "ooos" and joyous tambourines - it makes you want to grab the one you love and shimmy. Hard. Its all as well constructed as any studio track and all the more delightful for feeling so spontaneous. What amps up the enjoyment factor is how much the group seem to be loving performing it. Marvelous. More please. Much much more...

(PS do check out DropOutUK's youtube channel for a whole variety of amazing pop performances)