London The Venue

THERE'S SOMETHING about the Monochrome Set that doesn't belong on a stage. They're insular, wrapped up in their own preoccupations and eccentricities. Their inspiration is drawn more from films–those celluloid flickerings which occupy a definite and cosy closet in time and space–than the full frontal, hardcore brutalisms of our beloved 'rock culture'.

This is the Monochrome Set re-formation or should that read 'revival'? They are undoubtedly popular. Monday night and the Venue is close to being packed solid with assorted types. All round appeal! No tribalism practised here! The group enter to cheers.

The wit, charm and imagination running through the lyrics can barely be grasped in the rough-and-tumble of the live arena but there is the physical humour. Lester lurks in semi-darkness. His body becomes involved in an ungainly twist-and-contort routine, a neck like Hank Marvin and legs like Chuck Berry, not to mention the man being blessed/cursed with ragged, exaggerated facial features as if chiselled by a half-crazed sculptor.

Bid, hitman for the jet-set junta, makes a claim for his admittance to the aristocracy with a Hooray Henry cap perched on his noddle and jacket (tweed or maybe Bid tartan) casually draped around his shoulders. Now wouldn't he have-just loved to have sired the young Prince William?

Andy Warren still plays bass. New person Maurice Windsor, formerly a Soft Boy, is the drummer. The set itself contains a fair sprinkling of dapper pun-pop pleasure from yesteryear with several selections from the first album, plus numerous and perhaps more concise observations from the forthcoming and very wonderful 'Eligible Bachelors' lp.

Whatever they may once have been, the Monochrome Set are now primarily a record-making concern. Their subtleties are missed in a place like the Venue (and would be in most regular gig places). The tasteful delicacies disappear in the high volume thundering chord sequences. Hard thinking needs to be done if they are to maximise their potential in the live situation.