The Queens of Lovers Rock at the Jazz Cafe

A shocking two days after the event and I finally have time to blog about being in the presence of the great Janet Kay and Carroll Thompson at the Jazz Cafe on Saturday night. Both operate under the title of 'Queen of Lovers Rock' (a gentle form of reggae for the uninitiated) so it's nice to see them share a stage.

I first saw them back in January at the Barbican and was impressed (and a little awestruck). Janet's been around forever, having her first hit in 1978 with the lovely 'Silly Games'. I wasn't that enamoured back then - I prefered my reggae to have balls and bite, more Linton Kwesi Johnson than Janet Kay. I've learned to appreciate other forms of reggae since then, particularly the great Jimmy Cliff and John Holt (John is playing the Jazz Cafe this week but he's sold out so no chance of my seeing him) and, of course, Desmond Dekker. I indulged a bit in the Trojan boxsets over the summer so have been exposed to loads of other singers and bands from the '60s and '70s I'd never heard of. I don't hear much reggae these days - at least outside my house - which I don't quite understand since there's so much good old stuff, or maybe the newer stuff doesn't cut it?

Janet and Carroll have their stage act down to a tee, sharing the stage and the band, showcasing someone else mid-set and leaving their hits till the end. They were on for over one and half hours and only left when they were rushed off due to a 'club night' starting after their set. They were great fun, chatting away to the audience, reminiscing and hardly ever still, too busy moving to the music and those reggae beats.

Carroll came on first for three songs, then Janet for three songs and then swapped back and forth in that pattern. Gentle, happy music. They've got complementary voices so work well together, but we didn't get any duets. It was nice to see them sitting at the side of the stage when the other one took the mic, singing along with the backing singers, obviously familiar with each others songs but they also seemed to like them.

The highlight of Carroll's part of the set is 'Hopelessly In Love' and Janet's is (obviously) 'Silly Games' (and yes, Janet can still hit the high notes). Janet also took over the drums to play the first half of 'Silly Games', which she seemed to relish. Other songs of note included Carroll's great version of 'Breakfast in Bed' (which I'd never dreamed of with a reggae beat) and Janet's 'You Made Me So Very Happy' (that was a thrill if only because it's the first time I've heard Brenda Holloway's great song live). It was also great to hear the band play some reverb-erb-erb-erb in a couple of Janet's songs - not heard that in an age! They've got great stage presence, not in a starry way, but they're professional and know how to work a crowd (and it was packed out for them on Saturday). All in all, it was a great night with some fun and funky music and lovely voices and songs. Why aren't they bigger?

After the show we headed over to the merch stall where I bought a copy of all the available CDs (five in total) - for some reason neither of their records are easy to get in this country which I don't understand at all. Janet's signed to Sony Japan and is big out there but just try to get any of her records over here! They've got a new joint record out, 'Side by Side', which has some great tunes. They did a signing afterwards so I happily queued for the chance of an autograph and I was rewarded with big smiles, hand shakes and the great Queens allowed me to take a photograph.

If you get the chance go and see them - you won't regret it.