It’s been two years since Sarah Nixey corrupted a generation of young boys with her school mistress like tones and now Black Box Recorder - the band fronted by the girl with the poshest vocals this side of Sophie Ellis-Bextor - are back.
The gig is to promote the criminally ignored new album ‘Passionoia’ and so a large chunk of the set is given over to the new material. Opener ‘The School Song’ picks up where ‘The Facts Of Life’ left off - school yard chanting of “black box recorder” as Miss Nixey guides us through life in the school of song. As ever, Luke Haine’s lyrics are punctuated with a wry humour, “some of you will achieve greatness, others of you will succeed in a more modest capacity, some of you, well, we want to hear about you for the right reasons” . Of the new material, ‘These Are The Things’, ‘Being Number One’ and ‘The New Diana’ (in which Nixey fantasises about wanting to be “the new Diana, lying on a yacht reading photo magazines” ) stand out. The rest of the set consists of tracks from previous albums; ‘Child Psychology', ‘England Made Me’, ‘Girl Singing In The Ashes’, ‘The Facts Of Life’ and ‘Lord Lucan Is Missing’, all possessing the quaintness and oddity that is the world of BBR. Ending with 'Andrew Ridgley’, an ode to the less successful member of Wham, Nixey comes over all girlie - “I was brought up to the sound of the synthesiser, I like to dance to the beat of electronic drums, I fell in love with the smouldering fire in your eyes, I love you now and I will 'til the day that I die” , although feels the need to point out that she much preferred George Michael and that the rest of the band think it’s very funny getting her to sing it. With that they’re gone and the image of Luke Haine’s Cheshire cat grin is imprinted on my mind and rather disturbingly reminding me of the child catcher from ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’.
