THE SHOW:

Scottish quintet the Trashcan Sinatras has been one of my favorite bands since their first album came out in 1990. I lived in Southern California at the time, and their singles "Obscurity Knocks" and "Only Tongue Can Tell" were in regular rotation on KROQ and were even getting some airtime on MTV. Their music was beautifully melodic and the lyrics inspired debates among fans trying to untangle their clever, twisted wordplay. Sassy Magazine at the time even put them in their Cute Band Alert. Unfortunately, despite the artistic growth of their next two albums, they suffered from diminishing commercial returns. Their 1996 album never got released in the United States, and most people thought the band faded. I was among a small group of loyalists on the internet who never gave up hope, and thanks to the fan-created Bobame Recordings (who released this DVD), the Trashcans were able to put out B-side collections, live albums, and a demos compilation. These releases helped fund the recording of Weightlifting, released in 2004.

The Trashcan Sinatras - Midnight at the Troubadour was recorded on October 8, 2004, and it marks a three-gig stint in Hollywood as part of the band's triumphant U.S. tour, a return to our shores for their first full-jaunt in 11 years. The fact that these shows sold out just speaks to the enduring love many of us still have for the outfit. (I personally was fortunate enough to catch them twice on their travels through Oregon.)

Midnight at the Troubadour is definitely a labor of love, and the production can be kind of raw. There are multiple camera angles, but they are largely stationary, and the lighting is done for the show and not necessarily for filming. Even so, that's not really a downside. This is a showcase for the music, and the Trashcan Sinatras are in fine form. They play 19 songs, with selections from all four of their albums and even a surprise B-side ("I'm the One Who Fainted"). Surprisingly, some of the hits are absent (the aforementioned "Obscurity Knocks" and "Only Tongue Can Tell," "Hayfever," "How Can I Apply...?"), but it's a well-chosen set of some of their best album cuts.

"The Sleeping Policeman" starts the proceedings. It's a soft, brooding song, with an instrumental swath that is reminiscent of both the heavy breathing of slumber and the pull of the tide. "Twisted and Bent" and "The Genius I Was" are both bouncy and catchy pop songs, while "Easy Read" and "Got Carried Away" are danceable ballads. Most of the band isn't overly animated, but lead singer Francis Reader carries that load with aplomb, indulging in some spastic dancing but pleasingly absent of too much ego posing.

Though not shot in the most sophisticated manner, the editing remains lively, moving from player to player, and sometimes indulging in multiscreen angles to give the full sense of the stage. The audience is rarely shown, nor do we ever see the camera operators, all lending the video an immediacy that transports the viewer to the club, but for a concert that feels like it's just for you.

The full setlist:
1) The Sleeping Policeman
2) Freetime
3) Easy Read
4) All the Dark Horses
5) January's Little Joke
6) It's a Miracle
7) Twisted and Bent
8) Got Carried Away
9) The Genius I Was
10) I Must Fly
11) I'm the One Who Fainted
12) Orange Fell
13) The Main Attraction
14) Country Air
15) I'm Immortal
16) Weightlifting

Encore...
17) Welcome Back
18) The Hairy Years
19) The Safecracker

Another plus to the smaller presentation is that the clarity of focus makes Midnight at the Troubadour accessible for new fans. (For easy comparisons, think other indie bands like Ocean Blue and Aztec Camera, and consider them distant cousins to the Smiths and Belle & Sebastian.) Absent of excessive trappings, you can just sit back and listen, letting the easygoing magnetism of the Trashcan Sinatras do its work. If this is one of those bands you've known from the past and forgotten about, it's also a great way to get reacquainted. Current fans...well, you probably already have it, don't you?

THE DVD

Video:
Midnight at the Troubadour is full frame (4:3 aspect ratio), and as I noted, shot on a low budget in the Hollywood club. Given its newness, though, the transfer is obviously going to be really clean. I don't expect the DVD to win any cinematography awards, but like I said, it's all about the music, anyway.

Sound:
There is only one stereo mix available, most likely taken straight from the soundboard, and it's mainly pretty good. Sometimes it can be a little tinny, and you can occasionally hear the vibrations of the drums, but at the same time, the rawness is also part of the appeal.

Extras:
The main concert is 72 minutes long, and the two bonus features add another hour of music for fans, spanning two programs. That's a lot of music.

Footage from the band's March 16, 2004, session on Los Angeles' influential KCRW radio station offers us an interview with Nic Harcourt sandwiched between two songs: "How Can I Apply...?" (yay!) and "The Safecracker." While a handful of tracks from this show ended up on the bonus DVD of the Weightlifting album, these cuts are exclusive to Midnight at the Troubadour.

Later that night, the Trashcans performed what was actually their real return to the Troubadour, coming seven months before the main program here. Ten songs from that night are here for you:
1) How Can I Apply...?
2) Funny
3) Send for Henny
4) Leave Me Alone
5) A Coda
6) The Best Man's Fall
7) Trouble Sleeping
8) Hayfever
9) What Women Do To Men
10) Obscurity Knocks

From the looks of it, the songs chosen from the earlier gig were picked due to their absence from the October show, giving us a completely different concert and trotting out some of those tunes notable in their absence.

The interior sleeve for the DVD features detailed liner notes explaining the band's full history, tracking them from their early beginnings and through the travails that lead to Weightlifting and Midnight at the Troubadour. The Trashcan Sinatras story is ripe for a documentary. If only VH-1 was still making "Behind the Music."

FINAL THOUGHTS:
Highly Recommended. This DVD naturally appeals to me because I am a Trashcan Sinatras fan, but I can safely say that Midnight at the Troubadour has a broader appeal to indie music fans. This concert recording is testimony to their enduring strengths, as well as the loyalty and love that can keep an under-the-radar group like this going. If you find current music too gimmicky or lacking in any real passion, then the Trashcan Sinatras are the ones you've been waiting for. (Sample the Trashcan Sinatras at their website: www.trashcansinatras.com.)

Jamie S. Rich is a novelist and comic book writer. He is best known for his collaborations with Joelle Jones, including the hardboiled crime comic book You Have Killed Me, the challenging romance 12 Reasons Why I Love Her, and the 2007 prose novel Have You Seen the Horizon Lately?, for which Jones did the cover. All three were published by Oni Press. His most recent projects include the futuristic romance A Boy and a Girl with Natalie Nourigat; Archer Coe and the Thousand Natural Shocks, a loopy crime tale drawn by Dan Christensen; and the horror miniseries Madame Frankenstein, a collaboration with Megan Levens. Follow Rich's blog at Confessions123.com.