'Sweet Home Quarantine' online show on StageIt.com.
Playing 'Element of Light' songs with Morris on harmonies and percussion.
No Emma Swift at this show as she was in Australia.

Review by Adrienne Meddock from Zub Records
I was very excited for this show, in part because two Soft Boys would be in the same location (3 it turned out--Kimberley showed up in the comments!) Morris came up to London for SHQ to sing backing vox in person (not on phone) and add percussion and generally assume his responsibilities as an Egyptian.

Andy Washington was doing the honors as Emma was still in Australia. We open with ‘If You Were A Priest,' Morris with maraca in one hand and brush on snare with the other. On ‘Winchester’ Morris’s lonely highs are still extant and the sound is lovely. Brush + snare and tambourine come out for ‘Somewhere Apart’ (incidentally the title of his new lyric book--have you ordered yours yet?) Robyn asks Morris, “Did you count that?” Morris replies that he “can’t sing and count. We just looked at each other, maybe, with no counting at all.” Ha, that was our method in our band the Beef People too, mostly.

Robyn reminisces that his “gran had Ray Bans, pre-dated the Velvets by a year.” Morris: “Oh, what a groover!”

‘Ted, Woody, and Junior’ has Morris grabbing both maracas, alternately striking and shaking them. Sounds great. This little bit of percussion does wonders for the SHQ sound.

Robyn tells us that the version on Element featured a “stadium rock version” we get the 2020 version of ‘The President’ with new Trumpy context “hundreds of years later.” Robyn plays slide and it suits.

He tells us he wrote the next song in Highgate, never having been in LA. He and Morris reminisce about traveling from San Francisco to LA with a deli tray they had at the prior night’s gig, a perk that was new to them. They listened to Heroes side two the whole way, they recall.

Morris plays shaker (the pro-version of a Tic-Tac box) on the beautiful, atmospheric ‘Raymond Chandler Evening,’ always a stand out.

Robyn needs to “rehydrate the Nixons” before moving on to ‘Airscape.’ RH declares it “one of my favorite RH songs,” but not before riffing on the movie Yesterday. “The Beatles and Ed Sheeran--what a team,” deadpans Robyn. Morris plays stick and tambo. There are a few flubs and they crack each other up while continuing to play. These two have band closeness still.

Introduced as “very much a British seaside song,” it is time for ‘Bass.’ We always love the low range on the sonorous chorus! The Groovers rejoice.

Andy lets the boys know Kimberley is in the chat and Morris and Robyn are chuffed. Give it to the Soft Boys.

‘Never Stop Bleeding’ has Morris back with the pro-Tic Tac shaker. Robyn hypes ‘Lady Waters and the Hooded One’ by barking “give it up for...The Plague!” It is stirring during our own pandemic times to hear this song, with Emma in and out of lockdown in Australia.

Morris, man of many noise makers, adds electric guitar to the proceedings to join RH on ‘Tell Me About Your Drugs.’ Morris even took a lead and solo!

‘Each of Her Silver Wands’ ends the Element of Light show. Next week Morris will be back for I Often Dream of Trains. What a gift these shows are.

--Adrienne Meddock, save your illusions for yourself