High Society's show is consistently stylish, with cleverly constructed songs, Coward-style rhymes, and lots going on on the harmony front, along with a few cute tricks (like the pretended record jumps in "I Could Never Live Without You").
Front man Terence Cassidy's voice is perfect for this sort of thirties-style music — elegant vocals over 3 voices of oooh-aah harmonies with Dickey Baldwin laying down a solid foundation on his melodic bass, matched by Richard Hudson's jazzy syncopated chords on rhythm guitar.
Simon Bishop's lead guitar parts shine particularly - a stylish period sound, mostly played on a beautiful old guitar which sounds and looks the part.
The first half concentrated on the classic High-Society numbers taken from their current CD, and nicely arranged for the acoustic line-up — the overall sound is accomplished and authentic. All the numbers are written by High Society and they'd fit right into any movie of the time or a palm court tearoom at the Ritz!
New excursions became evident in the second half as they expanded the style a yet further — a highlight for me was the laid back country style "Beautiful Evening", three songs into the second half. Simon Bishop's impossibly fluid country licks and the band's classy harmonies together lifted the second half to a new level, bringing the audience in as a "yippee-eye-aye" chorus.
The audience willingly participated in filling out the chorus on "I Never Go Out In The Rain." The more recently written "Down By The River" which spoofs the Millennium Dome and all things technological ("my interactive sweetheart" ... met "in the androgynous zone") also has a cracking chorus and hook, the audience once again joining in with gusto.
The second set finished with the pyrotechnic "I Can Sing High" — T.C.'s yodelling to the fore leaving the audience baying for encores, which the chaps happily provided with a paean to the legion of managers in the music business — "All My Life I Give You Nothing, Still You Ask For More" — "cheque's in the post" quipped Richard in falsetto tones — an apt song to bring a wonderful evening to a close with us still demanding more.
(Many thanks to Dick Greener for this glowing review!)