TIM ROGERS & THE TWIN SET ~ Live Music Review

[MUSIC ¬ AUS]

Governor HIndmarsh Hotel, Fri 03 Mar, 2023

It’s been a good long while between albums by Tim Rogers & The Twin Set. What Rhymes With Cars & Girls came out in 1999 and this year the splendid Tines Of Stars Unfurled was rushed out a mere twenty four years later. The Twin Set was Rogers first ‘solo’ outing after a decade of fronting the high octane rock’n’roll combo You Am I and showcased a beautiful bunch of songs that were not really in the wheelhouse of what the You Am I’s where about. Tim has over the years shown himself to be a diamond with many different facets to his creative output with solo recordings, albums with The Temperance Union, Tex Perkins, funksters The Bamboos and continuing to kick, well, everybody’s arse with his You Am I posse. He has been an actor, written a rather smashing book (Detours), hosted TV shows and done cabaret. But like an actual diamond most people are attracted to the shiny bits and undervalue the whole cut of the precious stone. Rogers is so much more than a one trick pony and his return to the alt-country sounds of The Twin Set is a most welcome one.

Opening with the lovely instrumental Bushell and a Peck from the first album, Rogers appears looking the embodiment of Dylan’s Rolling Thunder era. Large cowboy hat, open shirt, guitar pick earing, grey beard and a humble heart. These songs have that Dylan/Neil Young vibe to them. There’s a few rockier numbers but mostly they are a gentle paced ride rather than the mad gallop of a YAI show. Been So Good So Far, A Quiet Anniversary and the positivity of Twenty Two, all from Tines of Stars Unfurled, the new album which Tim repeatedly tells us is #4 in the charts currently. People get animated for a great run of songs from the first record Arse Kickin’ Lady From The North West, I Left My Heart All Over The Place, Happy Anniversary. These songs have lived in people’s hearts and minds for a couple of decades and these people embrace them like old friends.

The songs off the new Tines of Stars Unfurled are very much cut from the same bolt of cloth as the material we are already intimately connected to and often feel like family members who we are meeting in person for the first time.

Rogers is, in this musical incarnation, is less about the bombast and more about connection. The songs can feel intimate, gentle, almost confessional. Between the delicate arrangements , his wonderful lyrics and this incredible band, we are left feeling like we’ve trusted with a secret or something. His ability to tell a story, spin a yarn, take us on journey is an absolute joy.

I Live Near a Train Station starts a happy scenario about lovely trains, but takes a turn into sadness and domestic disharmony where the train station becomes a metaphor for refuge and safe haven, full of sounds and smells and comforting memories. Also the title is a knowing nod to the You Am I song I Live Under The Flight Path. Such a fantastic bunch of musicians, Jen Anderson (lead violin), John Consi (lead drums), Ruben Shannon (lead bass) and his YAI band mate and one of the best musicians in the country Davey Lane on guitar. Jen shares the vocals on Up-A-Ways and her “tiny guitar” features heavily on Get High Support The Band. Tim tells a story about touring the States with Wilco back when the first album came out. Sounds like it wasn’t that much fun but he tells us “touring at 53 can be as much fun as it was at 23 if you do it right”. The perils of doing that opening slot on tour are explained in Hi We’re The Support Band which contains the lyrics

The words just been passed round
We hear you’re real big in your home town
But that don’t mean shit round here
We don’t go in for that retro sound
Just go back to 1965..

Which sounds like something that might have been said in passing twenty years ago that has been festering away looking for a way to come out ever since. Speaking of how to treat the support band Tim warmly praises tonight’s opener local singer songwriter Katie Pomery who impressed earlier in the night.

“Let’s hear it for Katie Pomery, she’s so good that in a year from now we’ll probably be her support act. That’s happened a lot over the years.”. Which is true many bands that opened for YAI have gone on to bigger and better things like Powderfinger, The Strokes, The Vines, etc.

It’s delicious run to the end You Just Don’t Do It For Me Friend, You’ve Been Good To me So Far, and delightful story about kids drinking fruit tingles at a country bar when his car broke down in regional Victoria in the wonderful The Drinks They Drained As We Drove Away. You’ve Been Good To Me So Far is one of Rogers best songs from any of his outfits and The Songs They Played As I Drove Away, like a number of other songs reference other songs in his canon. Obviously The Drinks They Drained and The Songs They Played have a similar title structure (Train Station/Flight path I mentioned earlier). They finish with Neil Young & Crazy Horses Don’t Cry No Tears which is bloody marvellous. There are no encores.

“We are not playing any more songs, thanks for giving us a chance.”

Mr Rogers and your fine compadres of The Twin Set, please don’t let’s leave it another twenty four years til our paths cross again.

Ian Bell

SETLIST

Bushell & A Peck (What Rhymes With Cars & Girls 1999)
Been So Good, Been So Far (Tines Of Stars Unfurled 2023)
A Quiet Anniversary (Tines Of Stars Unfurled 2023)
Twenty Two (Tines Of Stars Unfurled 2023)
Arse Kickin’ Lady From The North West (What Rhymes With Cars & Girls 1999)
I Left My Heart All Over the Place (What Rhymes With Cars & Girls 1999)
Happy Anniversary (What Rhymes With Cars & Girls 1999)
I Live Near a Train Station (Tines Of Stars Unfurled 2023)
Up-a-Ways (What Rhymes With Cars & Girls 1999)
Get High, Support the Band (Tines Of Stars Unfurled 2023)
Hi, We’re The Support Band (What Rhymes With Cars & Girls 1999)
You Just Don’t Do It For Me Friend (What Rhymes With Cars & Girls 1999)
The Drinks They Drained As I Drove Away (Tines Of Stars Unfurled 2023)
You’ve Been So Good So Far
The Songs They played As I Drove Away
Don’t Cry No Tears (Neil Young cover)