Sunday 1 July 2018

Log #92 - A Supreme Festival of Love, Jazz and Dad Rock

Eddy Bamyasi


1. The Cardigans - Life
2. Traffic - John Barleycorn Must Die
3. Chris Rea - The Road To Hell
4. Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
5. Various - Rock Chronicles: The Seventies
6. Neil Young - Greendale

Love Supreme 2018

It's festival season again and a particularly hot and sunny one here in England. This Sunday I visited the excellent Love Supreme Festival in beautiful Glynde, Sussex (more famous for the Glyndebourne Opera Festival).

The festival has grown appreciably since my last visit (or was this just the weather with many festival goers now so spoilt for choice they don't always have to pre-book any more?) but the site was still able to absorb the numbers (albeit the bars did run out of all except cider early).

One of the joys of the festival is the interview area known as the Jazz Lounge. Here artists talk about their music and inevitably their insights and enthusiasm encourage you to attend their slots later on and subsequently gain more out of their performances. One such highlight this weekend was world renowned tabla player Zakir Hussain who emitted such amazing sounds from his array of tablas that I could barely believe what I was hearing. Subsequent standard drummers sounded dull in comparison.

Mavis Staples followed with an energetic set of blues and soul infused with protest and anger from the US civil rights movement in the 60s. It was nice to see an established old time star without a massed band of keyboards, percussionists and backing singers. Her band consisted of drummer, bassist and electric guitar (and a couple of backing singers to be fair) and sounded all the better for it (I find the live sound of such old time acts inevitably blows newer bands out of the water).

I hotfooted over to the main stage to see a bit of Funkadelic but I didn't understand them - I think they had gone heavy rap or something (or maybe they were always like that?). On my way back to the Round Top to catch one of my favourite artists Steve Winwood I stopped by to appreciate a young upcoming talent in the jazz field, one Keyon Harrold who played trumpet like Miles Davis but also sang beautifully (sometimes instrumental music can get a bit tiresome and leaves one yearning for a song occasionally).

The young, cool and talented Keyon Harrold

Steve Winwood didn't disappoint. I've seen him before and he played a similar set of well known hits (many of which the casual punter would not realise are his). For instance I'm A Man and Give Me Some Loving from his Spencer Davis Group time, his own solo big hit Higher Love, and Can't Find My Way Home from the Blind Faith album, but the highlights were a Traffic classic from the listed album Empty Pages which I wasn't expecting, and the fantastic guitar rocker Dear Mr. Fantasy as an encore I was both hoping for and expecting.

An amazing talent on guitar, organ (with bass pedals!) and voice, ably demonstrated on the superb Traffic album John Barleycorn Must Die. I've banged on about it before being a bit of an old timer but this is when music was real and amazing (1970!).

The headliners for the night were Earth Wind and Fire. They did have a mass of people on stage of whom three were in the original band. They played a lot of easy listening ballads which didn't really float my boat but finally got to the tracks the fans were waiting for Boogie Wonderland and September and everyone went home sun kissed and happy.

Greendale

Greendale is an unfairly maligned Neil Young album. Sure it just sounds like one long jam and the plodding tracks just go on and on but there's a great barroom sound from Young and his band Crazy Horse and the effect is somewhat hypnotic and soothing. The album is a sort of concept album about a family living in a fictitious small town called Greendale but I can't say I've paid that much attention to the story.

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

A departure from their previous albums Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (their 5th coming out in 1973) is the closest Black Sabbath ever came to prog. Just check the track titles to figure - A National Acrobat, Spiral Architect and Sabbra Cadabra. Amongst these ambitious epics are two typical riff heavy rock monsters in the title track (many fans' favourite Sabbath track of all) and Killing Yourself To Live plus a couple of down tempo tracks - the acoustic instrumental Fluff and the innovative synthesized Who Are You?

It was a different album altogether with a new sound. We experimented on that and it turned into a creative high-point which took us to a different level.
Tony Iommi

For many years this was my favourite Sabbath album (and cover!) before I settled on Master of Reality as the true greatest!

The Road To Hell

Most pleasant surprise award this week goes to Chris Rea. I was given this album a while back and have paid little attention to it; I thought I knew all I needed to know about Chris Rea, a middle of the road guitar journeyman with a gravelly voice and a hit back in the 80s. The hit was the title track to this album and it's a decent track. But there is more especially with the Looking For a Rainbow track where Rea's slide guitar builds to a David Gilmour like climax.


Dad Rock

Talking of being an old timer I know most the tracks on this naff 70s rock compilation. It's starts off with Meatloaf's Bat Out Of Hell for goodness sake. From there we progress through standard fayre from Free, Black Sabbath, Judas Preist, T-Rex and Deep Purple. The most interesting tracks are less well known - the instrumental Frankenstein by the Edgar Winter Group, Tomorrow Night by the piano funky Atomic Rooster and Sylvia by Dutch progsters Focus.

Life

Lastly we have a lovely pop record by The Cardigans. The voice of lead singer Nina Persson is a bit high and twee which makes their cover of the aforementioned Sabbath Bloody Sabbath even more bizarre. I think it works well:


It's not the band's only Sabbath cover - apparently the guitarist and bass player played in heavy metal bands previously. It does make you wonder why, just why?


Since you’re here…

… I have a small favour to ask. No more people are reading my blog than ever and advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. But unlike many news organisations, I haven’t put up a paywall – I want to keep my journalism as open as I can. So you can see why I need to ask for your help. My independent, investigative journalism doesn't takes a lot of time, nor money and not much hard work to be honest. But I do it because it's fun and I learn a lot and I believe my perspective matters – because it might well be your perspective, too.

If everyone who reads my reporting, who likes it, helps to support it, all our futures would be much more secure. For as little as no money at all, you can support 6 Album Sunday – and it only takes a second. Please sign up to my email alerts here. Thank you.

About The Author

Eddy Bamyasi

Eddy is a music writer from Brighton, England, named after a Can record. Each Sunday he logs and reviews the albums that happen to be in his vintage Pioneer 6-CD magazine changer, amongst other things.

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Powered by Blogger.

Leading Artists (by appearance)

neil young (26) van morrison (22) john martyn (18) tangerine dream (18) felice brothers (16) pink floyd (14) led zeppelin (13) black sabbath (12) brian eno (12) whitest boy alive (12) bonnie prince billy (11) can (11) david sylvian (11) radiohead (11) talk talk (11) beatles (10) cluster (10) cocteau twins (10) laura marling (10) nick cave (10) afro celts (9) beck (9) bob dylan (9) fennesz (9) genesis (9) iron and wine (8) loscil (8) midlake (8) paolo nutini (8) tom waits (8) autechre (7) foals (7) nucleus (7) richard hawley (7) stars of the lid (7) camel (6) david bowie (6) dj vadim (6) efterklang (6) elo (6) fairport convention (6) harmonia (6) holger czukay (6) kings of convenience (6) low (6) luke vibert (6) matthew e white (6) miles davis (6) sahb (6) the doobie brothers (6) tord gustavsen (6) war on drugs (6) william basinski (6) arovane (5) bear's den (5) black keys (5) boards of canada (5) bob marley (5) calexico (5) edgar froese (5) father john misty (5) hawkwind (5) jan jelinek (5) king crimson (5) mouse on mars (5) nils frahm (5) public service broadcasting (5) robert plant (5) sigur ros (5) takemitsu (5) arbouretum (4) badly drawn boy (4) budgie (4) carly simon (4) carole king (4) decemberists (4) emeralds (4) four tet (4) handsome family (4) hidden orchestra (4) jethro tull (4) jj cale (4) john legend (4) klaus schulze (4) kruder and dorfmeister (4) manuel gottsching (4) opeth (4) penguin cafe orchestra (4) ravi shankar (4) soft hair (4) steely dan (4) the unthanks (4) tim hecker (4) trees (4) ulrich schnauss (4) KLF (3) alan parsons project (3) alex harvey (3) alison krauss (3) alva noto (3) barclay james harvest (3) bon iver (3) bonobo (3) caitlin canty (3) caribou (3) chicago (3) coldplay (3) curtis mayfield (3) david crosby (3) deep purple (3) depeche mode (3) eilen jewell (3) enid (3) fleetwood mac (3) floating points (3) free (3) gorillaz (3) gram parsons (3) grateful dead (3) grobschnitt (3) incredible string band (3) james morrison (3) jill scott (3) john grant (3) john surman (3) keith jarrett (3) kraftwerk (3) lal waterson (3) last shadow puppets (3) lift to experience (3) lynyrd skynyrd (3) mahavishnu orchestra (3) manitoba (3) mike oldfield (3) mike waterson (3) monolake (3) neu! (3) palace brothers (3) philip glass (3) popol vuh (3) quantic (3) rodriguez (3) rokia traore (3) rolling stones (3) rory gallagher (3) roxy music (3) rush (3) simon and garfunkel (3) sly and the family stone (3) steve hillage (3) suede (3) sufjan stevens (3) the comet is coming (3) tim buckley (3) wagon christ (3) wilco (3) 4hero (2) abc (2) ac/dc (2) al stewart (2) amon duul II (2) aphex twin (2) arctic monkeys (2) baka beyond (2) band of horses (2) belle and sebastian (2) blue oyster cult (2) blue states (2) bonzo dog band (2) boris salchow (2) burial (2) cardigans (2) carlos barbosa-lima (2) charles mingus (2) chemical brothers (2) chris rea (2) cinematic orchestra (2) compilations (2) crosby stills nash (2) david darling (2) death in vegas (2) debussy (2) dj shadow (2) doors (2) earl sweatshirt (2) eloy (2) emilie simon (2) erik satie (2) farben (2) festivals (2) fleet foxes (2) francois and the atlas mountains (2) fripp and eno (2) gas (2) gong (2) granados (2) green on red (2) griffin anthony (2) jazzland (2) jean sibelius (2) jeff buckley (2) john coltrane (2) johnny flynn (2) josh t pearson (2) julian cope (2) kamasi washington (2) kanye west (2) kate bush (2) ketil bjornstad (2) la dusseldorf (2) lambchop (2) larkin poe (2) little feat (2) ludovico einaudi (2) magma (2) marianne faithfull (2) marvin gaye (2) mike lazarev (2) money mark (2) morton feldman (2) nektar (2) nightmares on wax (2) ninja (2) nirvana (2) nitin sawhney (2) peace (2) porya hatami (2) prefuse 73 (2) prem joshua (2) randy newman (2) robert fripp (2) ryan adams (2) scorpions (2) scott and maria (2) scott matthews (2) servants of science (2) soft machine (2) steve miller (2) susumu yokota (2) talvin singh (2) the who (2) thievery corporation (2) traffic (2) truckstop honeymoon (2) ufo (2) up bustle and out (2) weather report (2) wiley (2) willard grant conspiracy (2) wishbone ash (2) wyclef jean (2) yes (2) abba (1) acid mothers temple and the cosmic inferno (1) aimee mann (1) air (1) alabama 3 (1) alice coltrane (1) amadou and mariam (1) andy shauf (1) anthony hamilton (1) april wine (1) arcade fire (1) ashra (1) asia (1) badger (1) barber (1) beach boys (1) bee gees (1) beirut (1) bert jansch (1) beuno vista social club (1) bill laswell (1) biosphere (1) bjork (1) blow monkeys (1) bob geldof (1) bob holroyd (1) bob seger (1) bombay bicycle club (1) boubacar traore (1) broken social scene (1) bruce springsteen (1) bruch (1) byline (1) captain beefheart (1) cardi b (1) cast (1) cat stevens (1) catfish and the bottlemen (1) charles and eddie (1) chopin (1) chris child (1) christine and the queens (1) chuck prophet (1) climax blues band (1) cosmic jokers (1) crowded house (1) d'angelo (1) daft punk (1) david goodrich (1) davy graham (1) dexy's midnight runners (1) dolly collins (1) donald fagen (1) dreadzone (1) dub pistols (1) eagles (1) echo and the bunnymen (1) eden espinosa (1) eels (1) elbow (1) electric ape (1) emerson lake and palmer (1) erlend oye (1) erukah badu (1) essays (1) euphony in electronics (1) faust (1) feist (1) flaming lips (1) future days (1) gamma (1) gang of four (1) gentle giant (1) goat roper rodeo band (1) godspeed you black emperor (1) gorecki (1) groove armada (1) grover washington jr. (1) gun (1) guru guru (1) hatfield and the north (1) hats off gentlemen it's adequate (1) heron (1) hiss golden messenger (1) hozier (1) human league (1) idles (1) india arie (1) iron and wire (1) isaac hayes (1) james brown (1) james joys (1) jamie t (1) janelle monae (1) jayhawks (1) jean-michel jarre (1) jerry paper (1) jim croce (1) jimi hendrix (1) jjcale (1) john cale (1) john mclaughlin (1) jon hassell (1) jurassic 5 (1) kacey musgraves (1) keith berry (1) kid loco (1) king tubby (1) king's consort (1) kings of leon (1) kirk degiorgio (1) kodomo (1) lenny kravitz (1) lighthouse (1) love supreme (1) luc vanlaere (1) lumineers (1) mark pritchard (1) mark ronson (1) me'shell ndegeocello (1) messiaen (1) metallica (1) micah frank (1) michael hedges (1) michael jackson (1) mike west (1) mitski (1) modest mouse (1) moody blues (1) morte macabre (1) motorhead (1) national health (1) nick drake (1) nusrat fateh ali khan (1) oasis (1) omd (1) orb (1) orquesta reve (1) other lives (1) oval (1) paco pena (1) paladin (1) panda bear (1) pat metheny (1) paulo nutini (1) pentangle (1) pierre bensusan (1) portishead (1) proprio (1) protoje (1) purcell (1) pussy riot (1) queen (1) rainbow (1) ramsay midwood (1) rautavaara (1) rem (1) rhythm kings (1) richard strauss (1) robyn (1) roni size (1) ryuichi sakamoto (1) sada sat kaur (1) saga (1) sam jordan (1) sammy hagar (1) santana (1) scaramanga silk (1) shakti (1) shirley collins (1) shostakovich (1) snafu (1) snatam kaur (1) sparks (1) st germain (1) stanford (1) steeleye span (1) stereolab (1) steve reich (1) styx (1) supertramp (1) susumo yokota (1) t bone walker (1) terry riley (1) the band (1) the clash (1) the jayhawks (1) the streets (1) the wreks (1) tricky (1) tycho (1) uriah heep (1) velvet underground (1) venetian snares (1) vladislav delay (1) whiskeytown (1) whitesnake (1) william ackerman (1) yngwie j malmsteen (1) zhou yu (1) μ-Ziq (1)