Sweet Charity…

My attention was recently drawn to a couple of video clips of Lloyd Cole and the Commotions playing Glasgow nightclub Bennets in the late 80s(thanks to LloydCole_Guru for alerting me to them). After a little searching it seems that this was as part of an Aids benefit evening simply called Aids Aid.

Also on the bill were His Latest Flame, the sadly missed Fruits of Passion, headliners Deacon Blue and stand up comedian Bing Hitler (Craig Ferguson before he became the second most famous Scot on US TV). The clips come courtesy of ToadHallStudios whose YouTube page is archived by Alistair Wells. It is a mine of rare 80s and 90s live and video footage of bands both known and forgotten such as The Shamen, The Orchids and Iain Donaldson solo stuff as well as various fashion shows that Toad Hall Studios were involved in.

But for me the most interesting clips are the ones from that night in Bennets. The folk from Toad Hall were the only ones filming the evening, which unfortunately consists of only one camera although the sound is surprisingly good, but even though the recordings are a little rough it is still a great record of the music of the time and what must have been a hell of a night. There are many more clips than I’m going to post here so go to their home page to see the rest.

First of all this is Fruits of Passion, who had one of my favourite singers of the time in Sharon Dunleavy, with Everything I Ever Wanted:

Next up is Lloyd and the Commotions with a great performance of Rattlesnakes:

Finally, here are Deacon Blue with Raintown which once again highlights what a singer Lorraine Macintosh is:

Since these performances were to raise money for such a good cause I think it is only right that I give the address of HIV Scotland (@http://www.hivscotland.com/) where you can donate to a cause that these days is too often forgotten.