Tokyo's Coolest Sound

The last show I went to in 2011, on December 28, was one organized by Sally Soul Stew, band of bassist Sally Kubota (Les 5-4-3-2-1, The Phantom Gift). I had been to their previous show last May, also held at Shinjuku Red Cloth.

The opening band was The Fave Raves, led by singer Aoyama Haruhiro. I realized only later that this band has been around for a long time, since around 1990, though they had a 9-year hiatus on the way. The band mostly covers U.S. soul classics, and the singer has a great voice and presence that's best experienced live. This time they the band was supported by soul chorus trio The Favelettes and also trumpet and saxophone, taking the audience right back to the 60's.

The Fave Raves

The show opened with "I Found A Love" Al Green's "L-O-V-E (LOVE)", and I already felt like that they gave it all right from the beginning, wondering how they could keep this up for the rest of the show. But it continued with a full set of great songs one after another, until the show closed with a powerful 2-song homage to J. Blackfoot, who just passed away last November. The ending was perfect and left me with a tear in my eye.

Set list (partial): L-O-V-E (LOVE) (Al Green) / Let's Stay Together (Al Green) / If I Could Reach Out (Otis Clay) / Mustang Sally (Mack Rice) / Super Soul (J. Blackfoot) / Taxi (J. Blackfoot)

The stage's garage door curtain came down for the next band to set up while DJ Jimmy Mashiko spinned. Sally Soul Stew had the same members as last time: Nakayama Tsutomu (Hammond organ), Nakamori Yasuhiro (guitar, from Hicksville), Shirane Kenichi (drums, from GREAT3), and vocalists Mashiro Megumi (Hicksville) and Lemon (Wack Wack Rhythm Band, also part of The Favelettes above).

Their repertory also had many songs in common with last time. There were also several new covers that I couldn't pick up the names of, and maybe a new song. Again I had a great time hearing these songs played by these great musicians. Mashiro Megumi's talk is also always funny, sometimes asking Sally a question out of the blue.

Sally Soul Stew

Set list (partial): Golden Cup (original) / Boy and Girl (Wada Akiko) / I Can't Keep From Crying (The Blues Project) / Bye Bye Adam (Wada Akiko) / anata dake de ii (Sawada Kenji) / New song ? / hitori no kanashimi (Zoo Nee Voo) / anata ni maketa no (Koyama Rumi)
sekai wa boku no ryōte ni (The Tempters)

The band came back for an encore and called The Fave Raves' singer and The Favelettes on stage to perform Ray Charles' "What'd I Say".

A great show, and a nice way to end the year! Goodbye 2011.

Larger sizes and more photos at Flickr

The Fave Raves "I Found A Love"

A lot more of The Fave Raves' live shows can be found on YouTube.