As Kasim has been so busy with his work with Meat Loaf, Todd Rundgren and others, he has played few solo shows for several years so everybody was eagerly awaiting this night! The big moment arrived with surprisingly no announcement but just Kasim walking out onto stage (he had two acoustic guitars already set up). After a “Hello everybody” he just belted out the words “I gave no promise or guarantees” from his song Don’t Hold Me Back off his CD The Basement Tapes! It was a great dramatic start that made all the audience sit up and take notice! Kasim’s voice sounded so clear, …. so strong ….. and so confident! At the end of the song, it was obvious that everybody else in the room agreed with me as he received a massive round of applause!
Kasim explained that Don’t Hold Me Back was a song that he used to sing when he was in the band Utopia during his own solo spot and that it had stayed with him over the years. This then became the format for the shows – Kasim singing great acoustic songs, interspersed with fascinating stories about the songs or events in his life!
Kasim’s second song was surprisingly a relatively unknown track called Afraid Himself To Be, written by Jason Falkner but it suited Kasim’s voice and style perfectly. Kasim then showcased two of his new songs that will be on his CD to be released later this year, Before She Was Gone and Sometime Love Is A Dangerous Thing. Before She Was Gone was written by Kasim but on stage he changed the ending very effectively as the track itself fades out so he sang part of the ending words (which are the crux of the song) during the song too.
As an introduction to Sometime Love Is A Dangerous Thing, Kasim told a
really amusing story about how he came to write it with Tommy Hambridge.
Tommy is a drummer so when the two of them settled down to write one day,
Tommy declared that he didn’t really play anything when he wrote. He then
announced that he really didn’t write either – he just thought of
suggestions! Which mean that Kasim did most of the work! Tommy also
apparently consumed a whole bottle of wine by himself during the writing
session! But, however it was written, it’s a great song and really suits
Kasim playing it acoustic style.
Kasim’s fifth song was Set Me Free which was the track that he wrote while he was in Utopia and was a top thirty hit in America for them (which was ironic as he wrote it because of his frustration with their record company not releasing him so that he could pursue a solo career!). The version that Kasim sang on stage was nothing short of brilliant! It’s a strongly based keyboards track with a lot of background vocals and yet, with just Kasim and a guitar, nothing was missing at all. Personally I think that this version is strong enough that it could almost be released as a single and be a hit the second time around, acoustic style!
Another highlight of the set was Kasim’s version of The Beatles song, Across The Universe, before he went off stage to rapturous applause! The Arlene Grocery runs to a very tight schedule so rarely allow artist to do encores but the clapping just would NOT stop so Kasim came back on and sang Todd Rundgren’s It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference before taking his final bows.
The following week, Saturday 14th April, Kasim played a gig at The Bitter End in New York. There was a larger crowd and Kasim was visibly more relaxed as there had been nothing but good reviews about the Arlene Grocery gig all week!
Kasim played a similar set list but included the song, All The Right Reasons which seems to be most people’s favourite song off The Basement Tapes. Kasim gave us some different stories about all the songs and explained that he’d been in Los Angeles all week working with Meat Loaf on his new album. Amusingly when Kasim had told Meat that he was playing a solo acoustic set, Meat is reported to have assumed that he was doing a folk act!
Before this gig, rumours were widely circulated that Kasim was to have a
“special guest” on stage with him. Kasim explained that he’d joined Meat
Loaf in 1992 / 1993 and they were looking for what they called “The Paradise
Girl”. They auditioned lots of female vocalists and eventually it came down
to two and, as we all know, Patti Russo was given the spot and she was the
special guest! They sang It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference but, as Patti
had just returned from holiday, they hadn’t had much time to rehearse it so
Patti had some crib sheets on stage with her (actually the words were
written on some serviettes!). Thankfully, the professionals that they both
are, they sounded really great together and harmonized wonderfully!
With or without a special guest, I would strongly advise everybody to go to one of Kasim Sulton’s solo gigs if they get the opportunity as they really give him a chance to show his FULL talent. Those of us who have seen him play bass and sing background vocals with Meat Loaf or Todd Rundgren know how hard he works (especially as Musical Director on the StoryTellers tour last year) and how versatile he is, but it’s not until he sings with an acoustic guitar that you realise what a great vocal range he has and how effortlessly he appears to play. As for the raconteur in him……!
Kasim’s next gig is at The Saint in Asbury Park, New Jersey on Friday 4th May. His support act that night is Blue van Gogh featuring his fellow band member from Meat’s band, Ray Andersen, and his wife Patti Maloney.
Kasim then plays two shows on Saturday 19th May at The Point in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania (10 miles from Philadelphia) before embarking on some gigs in Ohio in June. Kasim himself has said that he then expects to play lots of gigs all over America throughout the Summer. Details can be found on his official website www.KasimSulton.com.
After those first two great gigs, let’s hope that Kasim considers bringing his shows to UK too……!
Sue Williams