Little Angels, Skin

It didn't sound promising. Skin looked like being another big-permed band endeavouring hopelessly to prove that this music is still thriving. Skin surely were to be just another Shy, and every bit as embarassing. After all, guitarist Mike Gray pops up in a fresh bunch of no-hopers every few months. Either that or he can't settle on a band name.

Yet Skin are looking like they own the place. They sound good, and few are more suprised than me. As if to make sense of my raised eyebrows, Skin are being treated exceptionally well by Little Angels' audience. Rarely have I seen a completely unknown band on a major national tour going down as well as this. Skin looked so damn comfortable with it, too. With the audience on their side, Skin were the ideal precursor to Little Angels' bright and tidy set. Whether they really have the credentials to make a go of it in their own right remains to be seen in 1994.

To all intents and purposes, Little Angels are already there. It's all a rather pleasant suprise. After all, no one is meant to like Little Angels. They are supposed to be all at sea with their record company. They have been ravaged by an embarassingly heated girlie following, some of whom desire to cover diminutive keyboard player Jimmy Dickinson in chocolate milk. It's bizarre to start with - and now Dickinson has taken to calling himself The Beast, which is hardly likely to calm things down.

But of course, Little Angels will always have the last laugh. Their music has grown and strengthened, and they have prospered accordingly. As Toby Jepson modestly tells us tonight, they're slowly but surely getting there. Most bands would be happy with a fraction of such achievement, which is a good thing seeing as that's all they're likely get. Little Angels' accessibility makes it very easy to like them.

Playing a set like tonight's, it's very difficult not to. It's not exactly their finest hour, because the Aston Villa Leisure Centre is a cavernous sports hall in which the sound gets lost, as if in a vacum. The band nethertheless create the sublime party atmosphere which has become their trademark, the Big Bad Horns blasting a brilliant new amplitude into songs which might otherwise seem one-dimensional. The material from 'Jam', especially 'I Was Not Wrong', 'Eyes Wide Open' and 'Sail Away' are dauntlessly put across, as good as anything from before.

'The Wildside Of Life' makes for a crazy, chaotic, multi-faced climax. It's always fun to see this band going at full blast, and there's not much that even this staid venue can do to restrain them. Three years ago, The Black Crowes spluttered and died here, so it's slightly ironic to see Little Angels getting away with a cover of ZZ Top's 'Sharp Dressed Man'.

It's an appropriate cover too, as the main improvement Little Angels have made in the last year is in their approach to presentation. Suddenly, the band are making an effort to be as visually striking as they are musically excellent. You'd feel somewhat cheated if you'd paid 17 pounds to see Kiss, only to find them in their tracksuits, strolling disinterestly around the stage. Presentation at any big rock 'n' roll show is an important consideration, and it's one that Jepson in particular has come to appreciate.

There can't be any doubt now that Little Angels are genuinely in this game for the long haul. There'll be more from them next year, and it will be interesting to see how they play their next hand.

Steve Beebee, Kerrang!