DIESEL PARK WEST

LIVE AT THE HALF-TIME ORANGE

June 30, 2000

Taken from the December 2000 issue of Making Music.

Written by Haggis

It should not have been a good gig: lacklustre audience, lacklustre sound, stand-in drummer and a band that logic suggests should have split when they fell off the Food/E.M.I. bandwagon nearly ten years ago. But logic has no place in rock n roll; in it's stead come attitude, emotion, playing, singing, and songs. Great songs. One after another. From the garage psychedelia of "Bloody As Fur", to the nearly hit "All The Myths On Sunday", via new songs that have no right to sound so good, to the encore which is as always, "Mr. Soul" and is, as always, better than the last time. The years have not always been so kind to the Diesels, if there was any justice they would have been massive. But justice has no place in rock n roll either, and their distain for the men in suits fuels a healthy cynicism that stops just the right side of bitterness. Their anger charges their music, giving them the fire of a new band with the class that comes from years on the road. Gutiars weave, and vocals soar. But the highlight, the glorious highlight, is the version of Moby Grape's "Someday", a spine tingling tribute to the band's late mentor Skip Spence. This is why amplifiers and microphones were invented.

-Haggis