Jah Wobble & The Invaders of The Heart at The Half Moon Putney, Saturday October 10th

Jah Wobble's Invaders of The Heart at the Half Moon Putney

The New Oxford Dictionary of English should be done with it and just go ahead and amend their definition of "eclectic" to simply read – "Jah Wobble". It's the first word that pops into my head whenever I think of the legendary bassist and after witnessing a superb two hour set here at the Half Moon in Putney, there's no reason to think otherwise. We are taken on a mind-bending journey that cherry picks from a bewildering array of styles and genres that he has tackled throughout his career. Tonight's set is loosely based around Wobble's latest release "Redux - Anthology 1978-2015" a beautifully packaged 6 CD box set released by Cherry Red Records. I say loosely based as it would take a damn sight longer than a two hour set to completely cover all aspects of his music. For example, we don't get any Chinese Opera or Japanese Dub tonight - but what's a couple of skipped genres amongst friends? He kicks off proceedings with "Socialist" from Public Image Ltd's "Metal Box" which goes to show just how ahead of the game PiL were, as the Krautrock inspired, Drum'n'Bass precursor thunders around the Half Moon. We then get a run through of most of his new 12" vinyl “Cover Versions” album which includes the Dave Brubeck Quartet's Jazz standard "Take Five" and Harry J Allstars’ Ska classic "Liquidator". In a strange way these are surprising choices mainly due to their familiarity, I suppose it’s surprising because we are always so busy looking for the obscure. 

Jah Wobble at the Half Moon Putney

Then we get treated to Jazzy versions of some much loved theme tunes, "Midnight Cowboy", "Get Carter" and "The Sweeney" which ends with Jah telling us, "You're Nicked!". Renowned as a pioneer of World Music we then get a cross section of genre busting songs which take us on a trip across the globe. It’s a cross continental journey with its starting point of course firmly bas(s)ed in Jamaica with that heavy Dub sound. We then travel to the heart of Spaghetti Western land as evident in "New Mexican Dub" and then there are the plaintive, atmospheric Arabic strains of "Java" and "Invaders Of The Heart". Not forgetting the “hits” – “Visions Of You” and “Becoming More Like God” which are personal highlights. Both have Wobble on lead vocals and are swirling with North African, Indian and Far Eastern infused sounds. But as he has proven with his recent collaborations with Keith Levene, he's also not afraid to stay at home to revisit and shake up the past. So, tonight we get a "sophisticated" take on the classic "Public Image" which I would like to hear a recorded version of as it worked so well.

Jah Wobble's Invaders of The Heart at the Half Moon Putney

I have to say the current Invaders of The Heart band he has assembled is something special, you can hardly call them a backing band as Wobble gives them free rein to adequately show off their quite considerable  talents. Jamie Crossley is half hidden behind a computer screen and despite Wobble claiming he "didn't quite know what Jamie does" he did provide a nice undercurrent of samples and atmospheric sounds that didn't detract from what was basically a pretty stripped down outfit. Martin Chung manages to wring some simply mind-blowing sounds from his fluorescent blue Ibanez guitar; he seems to come in for a lot of good natured ribbing from Jah throughout the show, in fact only keyboard player George King seems to escape the Bassist's banter. George switched effortlessly between superb Jazz piano to some great Hammond organ sounds. But it's drummer Marc Leyton-Bennett who almost steals the show with a stunning display behind the kit. Wobble's affectionate put-downs ("I resent them their youth...!") and teasing ("Marc is the brawn and Jamie is the brains...") can't hide the fact that he seems genuinely chuffed to have the band around him. 

Jah Wobble's Invaders of The Heart at the Half Moon Putney

He chats to them as much as to us in the crowd "This is from the Jah Wobble early period Chungy..." and "This is from the Jah Wobble 80's period, Marc you would have looked good back then, in make up and eye-liner". Then he deadpans "Oh no, I'm referring to myself in the third person now..!" The one-liners come thick and fast, he turns to his guitarist "The problem with the music business Chungy is there are too many name-droppers.” Then he turns to us. “Anyway, here's a track I wrote with Holger and Jaki from Can...!" At one point all the banter does back-fire on him though, there’s a bit of an embarrassing moment when he is bigging up the bass as an instrument. "You see, the bass is the Lion of the Jungle, whereas the guitar is more of your meerkat". The bass decided not to work. Cue a bit of an awkward shuffle, a change of instrument and a sly grin from the meerkat in the band! Then it is back to business. The sound man is asked to do a bit of live mixing and then implored to turn the bass up until it hurts. "You have your insurance, don't come crying to me afterwards". The set draws to a close with “Poptones” closely followed by a pounding, extended version of "Fodderstompf" and we all join in singing along, "We Only Wanted To Be Loved..." Wobble coerces Chungy into joining him in an impressive aerobics routine which included star jumps, marching on the spot and finally he machine guns the band and crowd with his bass. There was no encore, but to top that, even with this band, would have been nigh on impossible.

Jah Wobble at the Half Moon Putney

For more information on upcoming tour dates and all the latest news please check out the Jah Wobble official web-site or Facebook page. The "Redux - Anthology 1978-2015" box set is available to buy from Cherry Red Records here. For more photos of the gig please head on over to the Retro Man Blog Facebook page and hit “Like” if you are not already following.

Jah Wobble's Invaders of The Heart at the Half Moon Putney