The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 60

I' JVL nn Recommended Still Mental As Anything GD OEUIEWS I ACOUSTICWORLD CATHY MAC BAND Bar Broadway, The Sutherland Hotel, 8pm. BehanBrittania Hotel, Chippendale, 3pm-6pm. SAN FRANCISCO JAZZ BAND Richmond Club Limited, 2.30pm-6pm. COUNTRY DWAYNE ELIX THE ENGINEERS Royal Arms Hotel, Parramatta, 3pm-7pm. THE HELLDORADOS Commercial Hotel, Balmain, 6pm-9pm.

HOT DOG BAND Moore Park, Sydney, 12.30pm-1.10pm 3.30pm-4.10pm. i km ROCKDJ BEFORE AFTER SCIENCE Lennon Special, The Globe, Newtown, 8pm. BOOT Soma, Caroline, 3 Weeds, Rozelle, 8pm. CAPTAIN RATS Faker, Barn Coren, Bat Ball Hotel, Surry Hills, 8pm. EL MOPA Sonic Emotion Explosion, The Whoppers, Vocablarist, The Globe, Newtown, 8pm.

1 1 mm KEITH URBAN Hughie Murray, The Basement, lit ttm.tr-1 1 i FANTASTIC LESLIES XMAS PARTY The Finkers, The Circular Quay, 9pm. SOUTHBOUND Tropicana Hotel, Wilberforce, 5pm-9pm. STRINGYBARK Marayong Hotel, 2pm-6pm. ACOUSTICWORLD BEN THATCHER Scott O'Hara, Michelle Nadia, 3 Weeds Hotel, Rozelle, 6pm. 5 i i Brothers Murphy, Cat Fiddle Hotel, Balmain, 7.30pm.

FOX-C Stoned Crow, Crows Nest, 9.30pm-lam. KARMA COUNTY Hopetoun Hotel, Surry Hills. LYDIA HANNAH PETER WATTS Lagoon Bar, Star City, 9.30pm-lam. ROBBIE KRUPSKI Ivanhoe Hotel, Manly, 8.30pm-midnight SHORT NOTICE Toggle, Koke, North Point Tavern, North Sydney, 7.30pm. SLIDE McBRIDE Marble Bar, Sydney Hilton, 8.30pm-11.30pm.

UNCLE BOB Kirribilli Hotel, Milsons Point, 8pm-10pm. I CANDELA DJ Dwight "Chocolate" Escobar, Bar Broadway, The f. 1. Sutherland Hotel, 7.30pm. CLASSICALNEW THE CHOIR OF ST PATRICK'S CATHOLIC CHURCH city, will sing Mass for the 4th Sunday of Advent, noon.

JACOBEAN SINGERS Walter Sutcliffe (dir). Service of Nine Lessons and Carols, All Saints Church, Woollahra, 8pm. I THE WHITLAMS Pollyanna, Deadstar, Panthers, Penrith. THE SONG COMPANY "Noel PRINCE Rave un2 the Joy Fantastic (NPGBMG) '2 His time has' passed, whatever you want to call him. Irrespective of the music, it's hard to see the public or radio venturing into Prince territory again.

And yes he is Prince again, or at least partly. The album is still credited to that silly symbol, but the album is produced by Prince. There are times on this 18-track collection where it is the "old" Prince we are hearing, the Prince who mined soul and funk and mixed in pop in equal portions (the smooth semi-ballad Wherever Go or the bouncy and dead-on catchy So Far So Pleased and Everyday Is a Winding Road) and that will please those who hopped off the bandwagon earlier this decade. But there's also the wilful and often exciting Prince who was doing Lauryn Hill while Lauryn Hill was at school (Hot Wit US and who can still deploy rippling minimalist groove Strange But True) as well as James Brown brassy funk Prettyman). Beck is working this territory now, but you should find room for this small, strange man too.

BERNARD ZUEL Noel" 1 6th Century Christmas Music, Poulenc, Edwards, Byrd, Anne Boyd's "A Vision Jesus Reassures His St James Church, city, 3pm. SUTHERLAND SHIRE SYMPHONY Peter and The Wolf, Belle of the Ball, When Icicles Hang), Carols, Sutherland Choral Society, Sutherland Entertainment Centre, 2.30pm. JAZZ BARRY LANGRISHE QUARTET BB's Wine Bar, Bondi Beach, 8pm. BLAINE WHITTAKER TRIO The Rocks Square, The Rocks, 11.45am 3.15pm. EPIZO BANGOURA Singh Brothers, Guy Strazzullo, Wayne Goodwin, The Basement, Circular Quay, 9pm.

LILY DIOR 6pm-9pm, Crossroads Bar, Merchant Court Hotel, city. MONKEY BUSINESS Brass Monkey, Cronulla. MOODS CHRISTMAS EXTRAVAGANZA Soup Plus Restaurant, city, 7.30pm-11.30pm. ANYTHING GOES AND GOES AND GOES They do seem to be have been around forever, but guitarist Reg Mombassa tells MATT BUCHANAN he won't be playing in Mental as Anything when he's 65. It's official.

Country audiences are different from city 1 audiences. After 22 years with Mental As Anything that's what I guitarist Reg Mombassa thinks anyway. "People in the country really appreciate when bands get out there," he says. "But they're used to a lot of cover bands playing and I think some of them don't understand the 'encore' concept. They expect you to be doing three sets, whereas we just do one set, if the crowd are enjoying it, we come back and do an encore.

"But in some country places they won't get you back for an encore because they expect you to do another set. It is," he concludes, "a slightly different protocol." What do Australia's best-loved, superannuated art school graduates do? Linger backstage feeling all hurt? "We just think, 'Oh well, crossed Fair enough. The summit of The Mentals' success was established 10 years ago with a string of national and international singles, chief among them Live It Up and Too Many Times. Is it hard for Mombassa to keep going, particularly as he has so successfully pursued a professional career as a painter (most notably with surf-culture merchandisers Mambo)? "Well, I wouldn't imagine I'll still be doing it touring when I'm 65," he says conceding that the travel does get him down a little. "But my work as a freelance artist, that's my day job and I'm very grateful for it." Does the band look back to the success of the late '80s and think "if "There was a period when Live It Up was a big hit in England and Europe, and we were just gearing up to get into America but record company politics got in the way of that," he says, sounding perfectly reconciled with their fate.

"A company splits up or goes broke and can't offer you the support." So much for ancient history. Tonight Santa Claus will once again "be drinking beer and trying not to worry" as The Mentals host their inaugural yule party at the Metro. "We're working on a limited edition giveaway of a not entirely straight, slightly weird and bizarre White Christmas, a few contests and maybe a chocolate wheel." Mental As Anything's Yule Party is on tonight from 8.30 at the Metro (tickets $15 plus booking fee) with Karma County and Custard's Dave McCormack and Glenn Thompson. FREEOIES To win one of five double passes to the Lo-Tec Highbrows's debut EP launch at the Hopetoun Hotel on Thursday at 8pm, phone 9365 5281 between noon and12.15pm today. The first 20 payers to the Iliad, Village Green and Shale treble bill at the Cat Fiddle at 8 tonight, will win a free CD from the act of their choice.

To win one of five double passes to the show, phone 9974 4628 at 12.30pm today. Readers can win one of five double passes to see Skunkhour (with special guests Mofo and DJ Dik Becker) tomorrow at the Cat Fiddle from 8pm by phoning 9264 3420 between 10am and 10.15am today. To win one of five double passes to El Mopa's CD launch at the Globe on Wednesday night, phone 9452 1570 between 10am and 10.15am today. RfJCKOJ ENORMOUS HORNS Quakers Inn, Quakers Hill, 9pm-mid-night. GIRLS TALK Punchbowl Ex-servicemens Club, 6.30pm-10.30pm.

LEGENDS OF OZ Rydalmere Centre, Rydalmere, 7pm-9pm. SHAYLEE WILDE THE LADS O'Donoghue's Irish House, Emu Plains, 7pm-mid-night STEVE CLARK Sandy Klose, Hammond Co, The Hopetoun Hotel, Surry Hills, JAZZ BOBBY GERBERT TRIO The Rocks Square, The Rocks, 11.45am 3.15pm. BRAD CHILD 13-PIECE SWING ORCHESTRA Soup Plus Restaurant, city, 8pm-llpm. CUBAN CIGAR APPRECIATION Brass Monkey, Cronulla. LITTLE LOTTA'S WHISKERS Friend In Hand Hotel, Glebe, 7.30pm.

ACOUSTICWORLD JIGZAG Joy Lara, The Basement, Circular Quay, 9pm. ROCKDJ ANDREW FUNNELL Narrabeen Sands Hotel, BLIND MARY Kirribilli Hotel, Milsons Point, 7pm-llpm. BONDI CIGARS Allawah Hotel, 9.30pm-lam. BRIAN GILLETTE BAND Cabravale Diggers Club, 7pm-llpm. CORA Prop, The Basement, Circular Quay, 9pm.

DAVID BOND Jannaii Inn, 8pm-llpm. DOMINIC Narrabeen Sands Hotel, DOUBLE VISION Bull Bush Hotel, Baulkham Hills, 9pm-lam. EDWIN DUFF Smooth Groove Duo, DJ WW 100, The Room, Level 3, 61 Regent Street, Central, 8pm. THE FUNSTERS SECRET IMAGES llpm-2am, Lagoon Bar, Star City. THE HUMDINGERS Gordon Social Recreational Club, Chatswood, 7.30pm-11.30pm.

JOINED AT THE BASS The Globe, Newtown, 8pm. KESSEL The Globe, Newtown, 8pm. ,0 I LO-TEC HIGHBROWS (EP launch) Hopetoun Hotel, THE RECTIFIERS Sparkles from the Wheel (Way Over There) 72 The Rectifiers played in Sydney recently and inspired a kind of studied delight from the crowd, many of whom were hearing them for the first time. It was an understated, though thoroughly engaging performance, an apposite description of their first album Sparkles From The Wheel. Their sound is that of a countrified Radiohead, a result'of an equal-parts passion for the keening of a pedal steel guitar, minor-chord noodling and urgent exuberance.

However, though guitarist and singer Jo Volk's vocals are as sweetly emotive as Thorn Yorke's, there's dashes of early REM here too. Picture Wheel is a standout, a wonderful blending of Hammond and strings with a strong vocal performance at its centre. With that dubious genre, urban country, in vogue, The Rectifiers are one of the few bands not using slide guitar for gratuitous effect. MATT BUCHANAN Duke Hotel, Alexandria. SYDNEY BLUES SOCIETY XMAS JAM Rose of Australia Hotel, 4pm.

TEZZA THE TWISTOPS Jive a Boogie DJ, Rydalmere Bowling Club, 7.30pm-llpm. TINA HARRIS DELICATESSEN Sackville Hotel, 6.30pm. TRECE 5 Arncliffe Scots Club, VELVET LOUNGE Blue Chip Bar, Swiss Grand Hotel, Bondi Beach, 6pm-9pm. JAZZ ROCKDJ gT BERNIE HAYES Julia Richardson, The Globe, Newtown, 8pm. COOLKIDZ Palm Groove, Darling Harbour, 11.30am 1.30pm.

D.HENRY FENTON The Excelsior Hotel, Glebe, 8.30pm-11.30pm. DEADSTAR Gang Awry, Skooby, North Point Tavern, North Sydney, 7.30pm. LOUNGE The Fool, Cat Fiddle Hotel, Balmain, 8pm. RAOUL GRAF BAND Metro, ll city, 7.30pm-10pm. VEGAS KNIGHTS Lansdowne Hotel, Broadway, 8pm.

JAZZ ATMASPHERE feat David Jones, The Basement, Circular Quay, 9pm. THE GROOVE LOUNGE BAND Bondi Surf Club, 8.30pm. JACKIE 0 FRIENDS Rose of Australia Hotel, Erskineville, 8pm. MATT McMAHON TRIO The Rocks Square, The Rocks, 11.45am 3.15pm. THE VERY INTERACTIVE BAND Lansdowne Hotel, Broadway, 8.30pm.

COUNTRY COUNTRY GIRLS NIGHT OUT Quakers Inn, Quakers Hill, 7.30pm-10.30pm. PRU CLEARWATER Kate Ballantyne, Quakers Inn, 7.30pm-10.30pm. CLASSICALNEW CAROLS BY CANDLELIGHT Burwood RSL, 7pm. Surry Hills, 8pm. M00NSHAD0W New Brighton Hotel, Manly, THE QUIMBIES Quakers Inn, Quakers Hill, 9.30pm-12.30am.

THE RUNNERS Manly Pacific, Parkroyal, 9pm. SKINDIVER Ragadoll, Mick Lm Daley, Lansdowne Hotel, Broadway, 8pm. STATE OF GROOVE The Albion Hotel, Parramatta, 9.30pm-12.30am. THE TEE-JAYS Panania East Hills RSL Club, 8pm-llpm. TERRY MURRAY Harbord Beach Hotel, 8.15pm-11.45pm.

VAN THE MAN The Van Morrison Show, O'Donoghue's Irish House, Emu Plains, 7pm-midnight. WARREN ANDREW WILLIAMS Maroubra Seals Club, Maroubra, noon. WILLIAMS BROS Maroubra Seals Club, Maroubra, 7pm. JAZZ DARREN PAUL Brass Monkey, Cronulla. JOHN GORDON 3pm-6pm, SANDY KLOSE 6pm-9pm, Crossroads Bar, Merchant Court Hotel, city.

KEVIN HUNTS JS BACH TRIO The Rocks Square, The Rocks, 11.45am 2.30pm. PAUL FURNESS IN 3D Soup Plus Restaurant, city, 7.30pm-11.30pm. Guerillas, Arken, Bondi Pavillion Theatre, 3pm and 7pm. FRIGID Sub Bass Snarl, Sir Robbo, Seymour Butz, Nicki Gee His Sensual Sax, DJ Pace, Explanetary, Sulo, Spanky, The Pilfernators, The Globe, Newtown, 8pm. JAMIE HUTCHINGS (Bluebottle Kiss), Sonic Emotion Explosion, The Hopetoun Hotel, Surry Hills, 3pm-6pm.

JEFF ADAMS Jannaii Inn, 5pm-8pm. JOEY DEE Kingswood Bowling Club, 4.30pm-8.30pm. JOHNNY GREEN HIS BLUES COWBOYS Vic On The Park, Enmore, 6pm-9pm. KEN MATTHEWS Drummoyne Rowers, Drummoyne, 2pm-5pm. MARK CALDER Marlborough Hotel, Newtown, 7.30pm-11.30pm.

ROB HENRY Maroubra Sands Hotel, Maroubra, 6pm-9pm. ROBYN LOAU Carols in the Stadium, Parramatta Stadium. SATELLITE Lansdowne Hotel, Broadway, 6pm. STEVE SPOUSE Blacktown Inn, 3pm-7pm. SUNK LOTO The Porkers, The Iron I BILL DUDLEY THE NEW ORLEANIANS Norfolk Hotel, Surry Hills, 5pm-8pm.

CATE ALU DAY TRIO Darling Harbour Parkroyal, 12.30pm-2.30pm. DARREN PAUL FRIENDS Ivanhoe Hotel, Manly, 8.30pm-midnight. I FRIED PIES Tim Rollinson (guitar), Hamish Stuart (drums), Jonathan Zwartz (bass), Stuart Hunter (Hammond organ), Woolloomooloo Bay Hotel, 6.30pm-9.30pm. MARIE WILSON QUARTET Gladesville Bowling Club, 4.30pm-7.30pm. MISS OTIS REGRETS Brendan fffi Hear soundclips vi- from these albums and many more at www.smh.cirysearch.com.au METROSMH 20 DEC 17 -23.