Andy Fairweather-Low/ Graham Parker And The Rumour/ Bowles Brothers Band

IN THE face of strong competition from the tube - third showing of Fawlty Towers included - a substantial turn-out ...

The Bowles Brothers Band are first out for a light, refreshing start, something a little dreamy to see out Sunday afternoon.

The four have been together for a few months. Two nattily-clad moustachioed gentlemen, echoing the Gitane boys or Sarah Moon's vaseline and sepia tints, playing guitars, doubling on violin, nose flute, cupped hands etc., and singing very ably, accompanied by a swinging double-bass and a sweet sparrow-like Welsh miss to bring the vocal quota up to full strength.

The biggest flash with the Bowles Bros is Dan Hicks And His Hot Licks, whom they bring very strongly to mind along with touches of Anita O'Day, Manhattan Transfer, Django, Stephane and the Hot Club and the Pointer Sisters to name a few. To balance the vision that may have conjured up, I might add that they've absorbed a lot from the English folk tradition, whether the gleeful vocalising of a college combo like the King Singers or the quiet whimsy of a Jake Thackray.

The mixture is attractive but could use a stronger personal stamp. The singing is very accomplished - love those three-part doo-wop noise lines, scat cats - the jazzy harmonising, the south-sea island rhythms, the humour and lightness of touch all combine to make them a charming addition to any living-room, garden party or high school hop.

I do wish though, that they would turn their talents to including more topical material. A rather good song about trying to make a dishonest living after the prohibition shows what they're capable of. Why don't you try it, guys.

After a short break, on came the amazing Graham Parker with The Rumour to prove conclusively, if you ever doubted it, that R'n'B lives, breathes and triumphs. Forget about all those effete "punk" boy bands - that was last year's thing - catch up with the men.

Little Graham Parker, dwarfed by an enormous guitar, exploded on stage with The Rumour - tasty looking muthas they are too - charged up and crackling for one of the all-time killer performances.

With a surge of great vitality they whipped through songs from the first and forthcoming albums; barely, pausing for breath, in the classic tradition of infectious melodies, memorable "hooks" and chorus lines that you wake up singing three days later.

Majestic power chords and a thundering bass, Brinsley Schwartz chopping away on a shiny black Gibson, a break from Martin Belmont with that lovely fat Duane Eddy tone, then in comes Parker for climactic finish screaming, "Sometimes I feel like pouring it all out" as he takes the breath out of your lungs and the floor away from under your feet.

Now, I don't want to flip the cat out by claiming he's rock and roll incarnate or by making overblown statements on rehel music and the sound of the street, but as with Frankie Miller on the rock, or Bruce Springsteen on the backstreets, or Bob Marley singing "Don't give up the fight," when Parker sings "I stand up for liberty" your fist clenches, your heart leaps and you say "Right!"

The band go into "You Can't Stop Me, Not If It Pleases Me" a rousing blues . . . so fine I dropped my pen. I mean, the boy doesn't want to cause any trouble, he just wants to party but . . . there ain't nothing gonna' stop him! The set finishes and they're back for two encores - Johnny Johnson's "Hold Back The Night" and "Kansas City", then away leaving us drained and amazed.

There aren't many people up to following Parker and The Rumour and Andy Fairweather-Low suffered by comparison although he aquitted himself well. He stood there, neat, slightly selfeffacing, a Telecaster slung over his shoulder, his yaw gritted and mouth half open - the band, including kimono-clad B. J. Cole on pedal steel, Rabbit on keyboards, and Dave Mattacks on drums, chopped and cracked away with a surprisingly black feel through songs drawn largely from his last two albums - "La Booga Rooga" and "Spider Jiving" el al.

Occasionally, Fairweather Low’s sometimes fragile voice got a little lost over the fierce African backbone, and there was a feeling that, pleasing as the songs and performances are on record, it was all a little loo lightweight for anything larger or meatier than supper clubs.

But this feeling was largely dispelled as the set progressed. "Travelling Light", the current single, lead the way plaintive and haunting, followed by a stomping "Mellow Down" then "Champagne Melody" - bubbly, intoxicating, a lilting melody with light, jazzy electric piano and simpatico steel, mmmm, carry me away.

Back with a jolt to a rousing rendition of an old single "Natural Sinner," guaranteed to titillate the plates, followed by the truly great "Wide Eyed And Legless" with the strength of the song finally overcoming any barriers of time or place.