Concert Review—

Orleans Wastes No Time Bringing Ridgefield Crowd To Its Feet

By John Voket

RIDGEFIELD — It’s so easy to take the easy shot spewing clichés when it comes to writing a feature on the classic ‘70s group Orleans. With top charting singles like “Dance With Me” and “Love Takes Time” still widely played on the radio (and in the case of the band’s mega-hit “Still the One” inappropriately sampled by a Presidential campaign), one can really go to town factoring song titles into banal snippets. Go ahead, I know you can do it.

“Orleans Appeals To Fans: Dance With Me”

“Orleans Proves They Are Still the One”

“Maybe Love Takes Time, But Orleans Gets Right Down To Business”

You get the idea.

But in the interest of keeping readers on task and not ticking off the band, I’ll attempt to avoid any cutesy title tie-ins at all costs.

The bottom line is, anyone taking the opportunity to check out Orleans as they pass through the area every year, including those making up the nearly sold-out crowd at the recent Ridgefield Playhouse show love this band. In fact, much of the intermission chatter at the Ridgefield show centered around how well the non-hit material was received.

Performing a full two-set concert, original band members John Hall, and Lance and Larry Hoppen were well complimented by former Elton John drummer Charlie Morgan and younger brother Lane Hoppen on keys. The Ridgefield show was also a unique stop on the tour because it included the complimentary performance of Dennis “Fly” Amero.

Mr Amero was on for the night shadowing Mr Hall, for whom he will be filling in intermittently as Mr Hall bows to pursue his current run for US Congress in the coming months. Suffice to say, the instrumentation was not only infused with the energy of having a “new guy” on stage, but many of the songs that were punctuated by Orleans’ trademark harmonies were particularly sweet with as many as six voices chiming in intermittently.

Before the show, the original Hoppen brothers (Lance and Larry) took the opportunity to speak with The Newtown Bee, talking at length about some of their latest work together, as well as touching upon some key points of history with the ensemble.

Like some bands of their day – among them America, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Seals & Crofts – Orleans vocal symbiosis is a major aspect of their lingering appeal, but Lance Hoppen said the band never set out to be a vocal band.

“Songwriting for us is a very organic process. We didn’t, at our inception, say ‘Let’s be a vocal band.’ I remember considering us good players who sang, but Chuck Plotkin – who grabbed us and made some hits with us – considered us singers who played. I don’t think we write the songs to see how we would do vocal arrangements,” Lance said.

“The two aspects are side by side,” he continued. “We see where it fits in the songwriting process. The reality was we had four guys who sang.

There were always different configurations, sometimes with up to five of us who sang. Even with our new album, Dancing in the Moonlight, you’ll hear the thread is the same as it was going back to our first album we ever recorded.”

Concertgoers, fans and even casual listeners of Orleans will likely agree the choice of the ‘70s hit “Dancing in the Moonlight,” originally recorded by one-hit wonder King Harvest, is a natural and perfect fit for a band that draws so much of its energy from that decade. But in discussing the choice of packaging the song as Orleans’ latest single, Lance and Larry revealed just how much of a natural progression it was to make this new version of “Dancing in the Moonlight” their own.

“We have intimate connections to that song, and coincidentally I just talked to Sherman Kelly a few hours ago – he was the guy who wrote the song and was originally with King Harvest along with our former drummer Wells Kelly,” said Larry. “In 1969, we were the first band to originally record that song. And we used to play that song at every club gig we ever did.”

Lance said that cutting a modern version of the song was an opportunity to bring their history with the song full circle some 35 years later.

“It’s been covered a bunch of times, but this version is more true to the original version than any other,” Lance added.

My remaining true to the commitment avoiding clichés involving song titles didn’t stop the brothers Hoppen from indulging the seminal question about the origins of the band’s name. Pointing out the diversity of opinion on how the band came to be known as Orleans, Larry Hoppen admitted that several different stories may all be correct.

“In February of 1972, the trio that became Orleans – John, Wells and myself – were playing a bunch of music by The Meters, The Nevilles and other New Orleans bands,” he said. “But we were put under pressure by one of the clubs to give ourselves a name. So we picked the name Orleans because we were originally playing so much material from New Orleans – and we all liked that name, so it stuck.”

Hitting all the buttons with their big hits, playing uptempo, mid-tempo and easy-listening material on their current tour, the band sticks to a more song-oriented formula than a jam style they felt they could never reproduce following the passing of their former drummer.

“I think it’s a good balance – we do a bit more acoustic-laden stuff but we still mix a little rocky stuff in with ‘Let There Be Music’ and some other new songs,” Larry said.

Lance added that the group breaks down into an “unplugged format during the set, and put in a plug for a new number that should remind fans very much of the classic Orleans sound.

“The opening track on the new CD, ‘Mission of Mercy’ is one of my favorites that we’ve ever done. It has all the elements of ‘Dance With Me’ – the acoustic guitars, the melodic sound, the big harmonies – and I want people to know about that,” Larry said. “I don’t know what a single means anymore, but if I could have just one more hit record on the radio, this would be it.

“And it’s actually the first song ever John co-wrote with Lance,” he said.

“It’s CSN meets Marvin Gaye,” Lance said. “It’s set in a Motown groove.”

Besides the collaboration on “Dancing in the Moonlight,” the Hoppen brothers were quick to mention some other partnerships which are still yielding significant activity, especially on the political front.

“Our relationship with Jackson Browne goes back to the ‘70s when we were on tour with him,” Larry said. “And that was a memorable tour because he was recording ‘Running on Empty.’ But Jackson has more recently come to the aid of John [Hall’s] congressional campaign.

“And remember back in the late ‘70s the No Nukes campaign came together with Jackson, Bonnie Raitt and Graham Nash all coming together on the board of that movement along with John,” he said.

Before heading out for the show, Larry touched on the issue of the 2004 Bush campaign “borrowing” their hit “Still the One” as introduction music for the incumbent’s campaign appearances.

“We were completely behind John [when he insisted the Bush campaign discontinue using the clip]. He was our spokesman for basically saying it was about copyright ownership, it wasn’t necessarily about President Bush. You just can’t take somebody’s work without asking, and without paying,” Larry said.

“You have to say Yes to the use of that kind of thing,” said Lance. “And there were some rights infringed upon, but it comes down to ownership which is a universal right and not political at all.”

Anyone interested in checking out Orleans catalog, especially the newest album, Dancing in the Moonlight and a special live retrospective, can visit OrleansOnline.com. A percentage of the proceeds from all online sales goes to the Red Cross gulf disaster relief fund.

If you missed the Ridgefield show, the band – still featuring Larry and Lance with John Hall – will return to Connecticut for a free show in Foxwoods Casino’s Fox Theatre on August 29 and 30.