September 22, 1998

Think Tank

Today, civilisation is crumbling around us. Humanity is decaying, brought almost to its knees by indulgence, sloth, stupidity, ugliness, smallness and weak-thinking....

6 / 10 TODAY, CIVILISATION IS CRUMBLING around us. Humanity is decaying, brought almost to its knees by indulgence, sloth, stupidity, ugliness, smallness and weak-thinking. They are dragging the spirit of the |bermensch into the dirt. So what can a poor boy do, except to sing for a rock'n'roll band? Or better still, rant about all of the above in public.

Smashing bloke, though, our Henry. And it is this slightly dubious charm and charisma that makes him worth listening to for the two hours-plus of this double live CD package.

Because it isn't the material. OK, he has some quite thought-provoking and mildly amusing wisdom to impart on such subjects as sexuality, world politics and Baywatch, if you can stomach the sub-Nietzschean 'bludgeon everyone who seems weaker or less intelligent than me' subtext of some rants.

If he wasn't Henry Rollins, he'd raise only lukewarm smiles as the stand-up comedian people always say he could be. But just as when your reasonably witty mate tells you a story in the pub about what happened to them on the way to the, er, pub, it somehow seems funnier when you know them...