SAHB - Rock Drill Reviewed

Rock Drill was the last proper SAHB album (SAHB did record another album Fourplay between Stories and this one, although bizarrely without Harvey who was equally bizarrely otherwise engaged working on a Loch Ness monster documentary!).

Although often considered a bit of a non event and largely disowned by the band who were slowly disintegrating at the time (keyboardist Hugh McKenna had already left being replaced by Tommy Eyre who would stay for Harvey’s following solo albums), Rock Drill does, to be fair, contain some inspired moments despite some degree of general incoherence.

In its best moments the album continues where SAHB Stories left off, extending further into a more progressive heavy rock sound. The first three tracks are excellent ranging from the heavy metal title track, through the progressive The Dolphins (considered “one of the best things we ever did” by guitarist Zal Cleminson) and the straight forward rocker Rock N Roll with its Adam Ant like jungle drumming (a percussive style that appears on several tracks).

But tracks like the instrumentals King Kong with strings and Booid with Scottish pipes are confused and ultimately pointless, and the album finishes weakly with the country style Mrs Blackhouse although not before a welcome return to basics with the Zeppelin/Stones swagger of Who Murdered Sex and Nightmare City. Oddity Water Beastie was no doubt inspired by Harvey’s recent Loch Ness monster research.

Disappointingly another track No Complaints Department was oddly pulled from the final pressings at the last minute apparently at Harvey’s personal request:

So my best friend died in a plane crash
my brother was killed on the stage
So don’t be upset if I’m angry
and seem in some kind of a rage

Although by no means as weak an album as some critics have made out Rock Drill, not unlike many of Harvey’s records, is a two thirds decent record that doesn’t quite match the consistency of his best work.

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Can's Sacrilege? - Eddy reviews the remixes

As the title suggests this album of Can remixes was a risky project but it actually works pretty well and there are some exciting reworkings here which have, on the whole, been praised by the band… except Damo Suzuki that is:

It’s not my tea.

As befits the era Sacrilege (1997) consists mostly of remixed instrumentals of original tracks in the drum and bass style. Therein lies the issue. As the original Can songs are already very drum and bass heavy the artists behind this project struggled to improve upon the fab originals. It wasn’t enough to simply add some banging beats and funky drummer fills. Brian Eno sums up the problem:

Any attempt to do anything rhythmic against Jaki is an insult to his beautiful, spare playing, and just fills up the gaps he so gracefully left.

Eno’s track, Pnoom, is one of the most interesting (although it is a shame his version of Uphill has never surfaced). The 56 second free form jazz honker is given new clarity and light.

Probably the most successful tracks are the ones where the re-mixer has given up attempting to better the original and has created something altogether different. Irmin Schmidt states that he enjoyed Tango Whiskeyman but didn’t recognise it! You Doo Right is a case in point where the original basic riff is turned into a magnificent Ibiza style anthem!

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John Martyn / Well Kept Secret

Released in 1982 just one year after the excellent Glorious Fool is it fair to ask if Well Kept Secret was the beginning of John Martyn's long decline? Sure Martyn wholeheartedly embraces the production values of the day and the tracks are submerged in keyboards and easy listening bass and saxophone. However to be fair the songs are passable retaining some hints of the immediately preceding albums, said Glorious Fool and the harrowing Grace and Danger. They just aren’t very memorable and there’s no way songs like this would have passed the quality control on earlier albums.

You Might Need A Man is a catchy upbeat number that reminds me of Perfect Hustler from Glorious Fool. Love Up is similarly upbeat but very corny with an awful sounding heavily treated guitar riff and Hiss On The Tape is light hearted/weight. The soppy lyrics don’t help as evident on the weak love song that finishes the album — maybe Martyn had been hanging out with Phil Collins too long.

Nevertheless the voice is still strong, and clear, and high in the mix. The slightly corny grizzly cracks in the vocals, which became more and more prominent on later albums, are employed with restraint. But after the impressive Glorious Fool this, his second and final album for the WEA label, was a disappointing follow up which set Martyn on the road towards irrelevant easy listening.

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Bonnie 'Prince' Billy at Peace? Master and Everyone

The voices in Will Oldham's head that speak to us via his Bonnie 'Prince' Billy incarnation are not peaceful ones. This is an album of universal questions, asked on a personal level. What role does traditional love hold in the modern world? How does one reconcile the undeniable evil in us all? Heavy stuff - but all these questions relate to Oldham alone. The outsider looking in.

It's a long decade since, as a post-rock contemporary of fellow Louisville legends Slint, Oldham (along with sibling Paul as Palace/Palace Brothers/Palace Sound) started searching for a new American music. With an exponentially decreasing brouhaha, successive releases have shorn slick production values until he reached the zen-like clarity of Bonnie 'Prince' Billy. Last album, Ease Down The Road was a far jauntier trip, but this time it's all ambient foot-tapping, sighing electronica and hushed harmonies. This is hardly suprising as Master And Everyone was produced by Lambchop's Mark Nevers, whose Is a Woman had the same whispered vibe.

This gorgeous album however replaces Kurt Wagner's pantheistic joy in small things with a more carnal slant on life's mysteries. "Let your unloved parts be loved" he mutters in the opener, The Way. Previous reviews of Bonnie 'Prince' Billy seem to have downplayed his influence on master magpie, Beck, yet it's this track that proves the fact irrefutably.

Like Beck he's not frightened of mixing bluegrass religiosity, slacker nonchalance or even English folk rock. Duetting with Nashville professional Marty Slayton on several tracks, they summon the ghost of Sandy Denny. The title track even resembles a stripped down reel. Yet it's the ambivalent lyrics that draw you in - balancing tender love songs (Ain't You Wealthy, Ain't You Wise?) with explorations of biblical evil, only to deflate the whole enterprise with a song like Maundering (it means talking drivel - look it up). It tells you straight that he's just a very flawed man, on the lookout for redemption - and with a tendency to ramble. In the end it's all about infidelity and indifference.

Even a song called Joy And Jubilee hardly convinces you that this is a happy world to visit. As American gothic goes, this is far more compelling and convincing than, say, Nick Cave's cartoon baptisms of fire.

Finally, the key track seems to be Wolf Among Wolves, with its plea to let Oldham/Billy be loved for what he really is. The biggest question seems to be; if we are evil, why can't we accept it? This is a peaceful album, but it contains very little peace.

Review by Chris Jones (2003) shared by CC http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/2pqv/ with scoring by E.B.

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Can's Spanner In The Sky Album Reviewed

Of all Can's latter period albums Can aka Inner Space, the band's last proper album released in 1979, before the short lived reunion a decade later that was Ritetime, is patchy but good. The album presented another shift in sound; a bit more gutsy, jazzy, rhythmic and very unusual. It has more the character of Landed from 1975 than its immediate predecessors; the world music flavoured albums Saw Delight and Out of Reach.

The old side one is strong, in particular the two openers All Gates Open and Safe with confident vocals, synthesizers, and Jaki Liebezeit's scatter-gun drumming, to the fore.  Erstwhile bassist Holger Czukay returned after missing the Out of Reach sessions but only on “editing” with Rosco Gee formerly of Traffic retaining bass duties.

The quality continues through Aspectacle with its funky drummer breaks, but, as was the case with several of Can’s latter period albums, the overall atmosphere is diluted as the band literally appear to run out of ideas and fill the remaining time of this already quite short album with several out of context tracks — in particular a poor and pointless cover of the Offenbach Can Can.

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The Sensational Alex Harvey's New Band

This album represents quite a departure from Alex Harvey’s rock and blues roots. The vocals are still there of course and are stronger than ever making it unmistakably Harvey but the musical arrangements are more involved displaying a wide range of dynamics both across and within songs resulting in moments of power and beauty. An approach that was perhaps attempted with less success on the preceding album, the less cohesive Rock Drill.

However Harvey has literally gathered a new band here. Although SAHB were no slouches you get the impression he has sourced some crack session musicians here from the rock and jazz field.

This is immediately evident with the instrumental opener which showcases new horn man Don Weller’s saxophone breaks which remain prominent throughout the album. Meanwhile the guitarist Matthew Cang trades in clean solos with less emphasis on the heavy riffing of Zal Cleminson, and the bass player and drummer underpin a very tight band. Keyboardist Tommy Eyre remained as the only surviving member from the last SAHB album.

There are two epics which with their slow piano based build up recall former glories like The Last of The Teenage Idols or Give My Compliments to The Chef; Back in the Depot, and the save the whales anthem The Whalers:

Murder in the silver foam
Grab the gold and sail back home
Slaughter cubs and mummy too
Here’s a perfume just for you

There she blows
See the spout
Money is what it’s all about
In leopard skins and tiger shoes

We all sing the dog food blues
Sling it on the rusty deck
Rip the sinew from its neck
You can’t complain, it’s fair enough
We kill it and you buy the stuff!

Both covers in the set are inspired — Shakin’ All Over and Just A Gigolo/I Ain’t Got Nobody. The latter would have been quite a fitting last hurrah for Harvey if the ill conceived The Soldier On The Wall had remained in the vaults.

With an invigorated Harvey, brilliant musicianship, a strong song set, and crisp production, The Mafia Stole My Guitar is a return to form and stands up as Harvey’s last great (and often overlooked) album despite the absence of SAHB.

A full rundown of all of Alex Harvey's albums can be found at https://medium.com/6-album-sunday/the-sensational-alex-harvey-band-albums-ranked-worst-to-best-312ec8f11c45

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First Narrows by Loscil - A Subtly Beautiful Listen

Electronica is by nature ephemeral. It didn't take long for the Future Sound of London to sound like the Retro Sound of Nowhere In Particular, for example. So while it might be the case that today's cutting edge laptop constructions will sound anachronistic in a few years time, it's nice to know that some music being made at the moment won't have that problem. Which is where this album comes in. This is the third effort by Loscil (aka Canadian Scott Morgan), and the first to use 'real' instruments (and 'real' musicians) alongside computer generated constructions. I've not heard the other two, but if they're anything like this one, I'm keen to get them on the stereo as soon as possible.

Despite his use of digital elements, Morgan doesn't go for the usual jumpcutting, pasting and glitching beloved of the laptop crowd. This is calm, unhurried stuff; warm, fuzzy and expansive. In the opening tracks, drum machines shuffle away gently under gauzy drones and synth pulses. Nothing much happens, but it happens beautifully. Later, electric piano, cello and guitar turn up to improvise sketchy, spare melodies or spin out lush, plangent chords, sometimes sampled and fed into Morgan's slow moving, dubby constructions. It's here that an Eno-esque feel creeps in; sometimes the rigorously gorgeous miniatures of Another Green World or Before and After Science, at other times the faintly jazzy bits of his collaborations with Harold Budd.

Like the domed one, Morgan never allows his music to lapse into mere prettiness. He doesn't subvert conventionally melodic material with digital noise bursts (a common trick these days), or underpin it with irregular rhythms. Instead he strips down and stretches his chords and melodies into a melisma of foggy drones and slow tonal shifts. It's often gorgeous, but there's a vague sense of unease abroad for much of the time; a faint, unresolved tension which catches the ear even at background levels.

It's this mix of beauty and vague threat that makes First Narrows a subtly beautiful listen.This is music that seems to be out of time, like Morgan's contemporaries Stars of the Lid or Pan American and (speaking from experience) an ideal soundtrack to watching the restless cloudscapes of early Summer. Float on.

Lifted with creative commons thanks from https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/52rg/

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And It's Goodbye From Ulrich Schnauss

Ulrich Schnauss presents the final part in his trilogy of electronically ethereal albums. As their names – Far Away Trains Passing By, A Strangely Isolated Place and now Goodbye - suggest, his productions invoke the idea of a bleak, but worthwhile, journey. His music could be for an outing that involves the body physically moving (the ideal tape for a long car ride), or a static body allowing the mind to truly wander. Ultimately the same outcome is achieved, a deep sense of introspection initiated via a soundtrack of delicate beauty.

A beautiful and emotive soundscape.

The first two albums were released on the small German electronica label City Centre Offices, but, as a testament to Schnauss’ success and veneration, this album has been picked up by the much larger Independiente label. His tracks have been used by luminaries such as Nick Warren and Sasha on their mix albums, and his own remixes range from Depeche Mode to Long-View – the English band for whom he has recently taken over keyboard duties. Schnauss utilizes lead singer Rob McVey on Shine; an eerie orchestral epic, where layered vocals melt together with cyclic drum beats to create a beautiful and emotive soundscape.

Goodbye may, at times, put you in mind of sirens drawing sailors to their downfall, but that’s not to say that this isn’t an uplifting album. The dissociated vocals are seamlessly combined with fragile chord progressions, tribal rhythms and textured electronic noise to create an album filled with optimism. The two tracks which make up the finale, Goodbye and For Good, emphasise the message of the album; a valediction at the end of the journey. Hopefully there will be a reprise sometime soon and this is not goodbye, for good.

A creative commons review from https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/gj54/

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Album Review - The Simmer Dim by John Martyn

The Simmer Dim is both great and poor. In the first place the playing and the repertoire is superb making it potentially one of John Martyn’s greatest live albums, however secondly it loses a significant number of brownie points on account of the poor sound which is of barely bootleg quality.

First the songs. The Simmer Dim (the name refers to the summer twilight in the most northerly part of Great Britain) captures Martyn playing 80 minutes worth of his greatest songs in one coherent solo setting thus meeting a gap in the market I’m not aware is fulfilled by any other official releases.

We are treated to five tracks from the One World album, some on straight acoustic guitar like wonderful versions of Couldn’t Love You More and Certain Surprise, and some guitar effected including Big Muff (dedicated to Margaret Thatcher), Dealer and a One World which segues into an edited version of Small Hours also known as Anna. And of course centrepiece is a masterful 18 minute Outside In where Martyn coaxes soaring melodies from his guitar while grappling with echoplexed rhythms that threaten to run away with themselves.

The performance is book-ended by Over The Hill and May You Never with Martyn slapping his guitar strings and bending the notes with more percussive vigour than the studio versions. Indeed Martyn’s acoustic guitar playing is a revelation peaking for Seven Black Roses a traditional finger picking tune harking back to his The Tumbler album.

Leave it at that and you’d have, with all the One World songs, an album probably greater than Live At Leeds or On Air its closest comparisons.

However the recording. I’m all for intimacy and rawness but this is too visceral to pass muster as an official recording. Taken from a one off gig at the tiny Lerwick Folk Club in the Shetland Islands in August 1980 the recording captures not only Martyn on stage but also every other noise in the intimate room, even a baby crying (which is quite amusing to be fair)!

Martyn is indeed on form in song and between song sharing light hearted and witty banter throughout albeit much of it is inaudible. Martyn seemed to have this slightly schizophrenic personality where he could appear a bit of a drunken yob whilst speaking — making silly noises, putting on mocking accents and berating his band members (Live At Leeds sported a parental awareness sticker on later releases) — yet effortlessly switching into beautiful playing and singing. Here he sounds like he’s enjoying himself lapping up the close adoration and the general pub like ambience lends an extraordinary warmth to the proceedings.

Not for the fainthearted but The Simmer Dim is a fascinating insight for the keen fan.

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Up Close And Personal - David Sylvian's Most Compelling Incarnation Yet

David Sylvian / Blemish

It's been a trying time for the former Mr David Batt. Following protracted wranglings with a major label he's finally emerged from the legal jungle with head held high and bearing this, the first of his creative trophies from a plethora of ongoing projects. Described as 'an impromptu suite of songs for guitar, electronics and voice', Blemish is initially only available via the internet, yet those who have longed for some forward motion in Sylvian's career of late would do well to hunt this down immediately.

Mainly improvised solo, excepting three tracks with free jazz guitar icon Derek Bailey and one with electronica guru Christian Fennesz, Blemish is delineated from the rest of David's work to date by two points. Firstly: his singular extemporised recording process has freed him from any previous sense of precious perfectionism. This is a record that burbles, clicks and buzzes with, well, blemishes, and thus seems more approachable than his most recent work. Secondly: the voice, while retaining the sub-Ferry vibrato, is closely mic'ed; intimately double tracked for harmonies; and, most importantly, his lyrics seem remarkably honest.

Whereas previous stabs at profundity often resulted in a scattergun approach (involving dropping as many erudite literary and artistic references into one song as possible), now the subjects seem far less oblique. The title track hints at emotional trouble with the opposite sex. The Good Son seems almost sarcastic in its approach to familial turmoil, and The Heart Knows Better wins one over with a frankly simple message of redemption. Most impressively, Late Night Shopping contains mantra-like intonations seemingly at odds with the mundanity of its subject matter (''We can make a list, or something...''). That is, until you realise the strange sense of agoraphobia that seeps in with the lines: ''We can take the car. No one will be watching...'' It's both creepy and strangely mesmeric.

Sylvian always knew how to pick collaborators as he struggled to break away from his New Romantic origins with Japan. Names like Holger Czukay, Robert Fripp, Marc Ribot and Danny Thompson are just the tip of the iceberg of artists who have allowed his work to escape its crass commercial roots. Yet this time his choice is particularly inspired and, by stripping away most of the hip credentials, Sylvian's forged a work that startles with its originality. Bailey's guitar may often remind you of a roadie falling downstairs, yet it suits this rougher hewn material down to the ground. Most songs revolve around a single chord but never remotely approach the territory marked 'drone', with close attention being repaid by a swarm of insectoidglitches that will endlessly intrigue. Sylvian alone is his most compelling incarnation yet. Prepare to get close...


A 2003 review by Chris Jones shared under Creative Commons via https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/bwmq/

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Never Say Die! Eddy Reassesses Black Sabbath's Much Maligned Breakup Album From 1978

Come on Sabbath lovers. Never Say Die!, Ozzy Osbourne's final album with Black Sabbath (before the 2013 reunion) is actually a cracking good album! Like Technical Ecstasy before it, it only suffers relatively from comparison with the earlier albums, that were even better, but as a standalone rock album from 1978 it knocks the spots off most competitors.

Granted the sound is different from what we were used to, with a more conventional rock sound — the tracks are more upbeat, the guitar is tuned higher and the overall production is super polished. There are even elements of jazz which is not entirely alien to the Sabs going back as far as their debut album (although admittedly instrumental honker Breakout is taking it too far).

There is a reason the best bands have a good singer.

Another track that doesn’t work too well is the messy closer Swinging The Chain where Bill Ward takes up vocals again as he did more successfully on It’s Alright from Technical Ecstasy (there is a reason the best bands have a good singer).

However where the new polished production really comes together well is on tracks like Junior’s Eyes which has a funky drum and bass backing a chugging guitar, and a catchy chorus, and Air Dance which has fluid guitar and piano arpeggios and goes full on jazz fusion in its second half.

The overall continuity of sound and style is pleasing and in the title song Never Say Die! the band nail down one of their most exciting rockers ever — enough to keep even the most cynical fan happy.

I also love the cover with the hooded pilots, stormy sky, and iconic Sabbath font (another from Hipgnosis).

Despite it's difficult provenance and the messy aftermath leading to Osbourne's replacement by Ronnie James Dio Never Say Die! remains a fitting, albeit underrated, (first) swansong for vintage period Sabbath.

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2019 Review Of The Year

Another year, another poll.

This year's review covers logs #119 to #170 - that's 52 weeks from 6th January to 29th December 2019.

Unlike most annual lists entries are not limited to releases that actually came out in 2019. In fact most of my listening is from the rock archives and you won't find many brand new releases here.

Some categories below are based on gut feelings, some on actual statistics. Some stats are for the year  only and some (particularly where it is difficult to isolate just the change on the year) are cumulative since records began (in October 2016).

1. Most Played Artist Overall: Neil Young

[last year's winner: Neil Young]

Neil Young has consolidated his place at the top of the appearances chart with 26 appearances since records began (up from 15 at the end of last year).

Seedy Neil

Neil Young listens were bolstered by some new releases of archive material such as the Hitchhiker album and live recordings from the vaults like Tonight's The Night At The Roxy. While preparing a rundown of his entire album discography I also visited some of his more recent (post millennium) albums too.

One Van and his dog

Van Morrison has moved up to 2nd place from 4th last year - his records are always great go to music for lazy Sunday afternoons or when visitors are around. You can safely stick 6 of his albums on shuffle and be done, and I believe Morrison is one of only a small handful of artists to have had the clean sweep honour of holding all 6 slots in the player at any one time.

The much more embracing The Felice Brothers are now joint third (with Tangerine Dream who weren't played quite so much this year but remain steady).

Proving cream will eventually move to the top The Felice Brothers led by the genius songwriter Ian Felice are joined by John Martyn (also a subject of a forthcoming album rundown review) and The Beatles, both firmly established in the Top 10.

There are lots of expected appearances in the chart from established favourites like Can, Floyd, Zeppelin, Dylan and Beck but a surprise to me is a strong showing from Laura Marling at 7th=. And then a little further down Paolo Nutini who is relatively new to me, and German electronic maestros Cluster come in at the top of my renewed interest in German experimental rock of the 70s (a wide category that dilutes the showings of individual artists).

This year's appearances table:

Here is last year's table of appearances:

I can see some artists haven't moved at all this year (Whitest Boy Alive, Afro Celts, Black Sabbath and The Cocteau Twins).

2. Most Played Artist This Year: Neil Young

[last year's winner: Tangerine Dream]

A great advance up the chart for John Martyn and The Felice Brothers who both came from nowhere relatively, but in terms of pure numbers Neil Young showed the most advances with 11 appearances in the year.

3. Best Band: Harmonia

[last year's winner: Tangerine Dream]

This award could logically simply go to the artist played the most but this year it is going to a band new to me that reignited a long standing interest in "krautrock".  Harmonia are actually more of a collective of musicians who variously appear as parts of a number of bands from the German experimental rock scene. As the short lived permutation Harmonia they only produced two proper albums in the mid 70s but enough for Brian Eno to declare them the most important rock band in the world.

4. Best New Band: The Decemberists

[last year's winner: Stars Of The Lid]

I've discovered quite a few new (to me) bands and artists this year - as detailed in the album of the year shortlist for the most part.

But in the spirit of something truly new and surprising the award goes to The Decemberists who I was only vaguely aware of, perhaps even mixing them up with the heartwarming TV Show The Detectorists (which I also discovered literally on the last day of this year, plus the music of Johnny Flynn).

The award is on the strength of their Picaresque album packed through with great folk rock where the rock is more than the folk.

5. Most Unexpected Rediscovery: Laura Marling

[last year's winner: Radiohead]

Talking of folk most unexpected rediscovery goes to Laura Marling who I had previously written off  in that fly by night nu-folk category fronted by the likes of Fleet Foxes and those annoying waist-coated country gents masquerading as The Pogues or something.

To see her in my Top 10 of all time plays was a surprise to me as I only have two of her albums and haven't particularly rushed to buy more. But the two I have are both excellent and (evidently) keep returning to the player.

I'm not a fan of many female singers (I can leave Joni Mitchell) but Marling's voice is great and her guitar playing unusual which gives her songs unique characteristics.

6. Best Album: Tord Gustavsen Trio -The Other Side

[last year's winner: Jan Jelinek - Loop-Finding-Jazz-Records]

Possibly the most prestigious award at Bamyasi HQ the album of the year is one that I just sort of feel is a great album somewhere deep in my consciousness. Of course there are many great albums I already know about which get played every year but there's not much point giving it to established classics like Astral Weeks or On The Beach. The main point is it is either new to me, or it's a rediscovery from such a long time ago I had almost forgotten. This doesn't mean the award can't go to an established artist (Morrison and Young are still bringing out new albums and have old ones I haven't heard yet).

I also find myself going through phases of liking a particular type of music be it jazz, songwriters, classical or ambient - often for a period of a couple of months at a time, then moving on to something else. This year I would say the music I have enjoyed most consistently, and a type that has returned time and again to the player, is (as broadly defined) Krautrock, closely followed by further ambient excursions following my discoveries last year.

The shortlist of favourite albums is:

Gas - Pop
Fennesz - Endless Summer
Neil Young - Tonight's The Night At The Roxy
Felice Brothers - Celebration, Florida
Harmonia - Deluxe
Father John Misty - God's Favorite Customer
Nucleus - Plastic Rock
James Joys - Glyphic Bloom
Edgar Froese - Epsilon In Malaysian Pale
Floating Points - Elaenia
The Decemberists - Picaresque
Nils Frahm - All Melody
KLF - Chillout
Soft Hair - Soft Hair
Cluster - Sowiesoso
Alice Coltrane - Universal Consciousness
Ashra - New Age Of Earth

All excellent albums but the prize actually goes to a jazz album which is not particularly unusual or ground breaking. But in its sheer spaced out beauty it ticks all the boxes in what I want from piano music. Congratulations to Norwegian jazz pianist Tord Gustavsen for The Other Side.

7. Best Live Band: Richard Hawley

[last year's winner: Pussy Riot]

I again saw Pussy Riot at the Byline Festival this summer but this time, hampered by security and sound problems, they weren't half the experience of the first time.

Best gig award this year goes to Richard Hawley who I saw at Brighton Dome in October. With an artist like Hawley, who varies his output between romantic ballads and heavy rock, you are not certain what to expect. I imagine he has particular fans in both camps who may be disappointed with his choice live (particularly the ballad fans who may be more sensitive to the heavy rocking numbers?). As it happened he played nearly all heavy rock from a range of albums particularly his current Further and the stupendous Standing At The Sky's Edge which at times sounded like the wall of sound I've experienced at a Neil Young and Crazy Horse concert. All the fans seemed happy.

8. Most Read Blog Post Overall: Can's Albums Ranked From Worst To Best

[last year's winner: Can's Albums Ranked From Worst To Best]

No change here. This post is way out in front despite it being reproduced over at my sister site at Medium. People love lists and Can have a fanatical following who love discussing the relative merits of their relatively small output.

Lists (rankings) and specific album reviews continue to be more popular than the weekly logs. There will be some more coming in 2020 with Neil Young and John Martyn album rankings in the pipeline.

The next most popular articles since records began are as below in descending order:

Review of Rockpommel's Land by Grobscnitt
Review of 2018
Log #126
SAHB album ranking
Review of Byline Festival
Review of Refuge by Griffin Anthony

These all have 4 figure viewing figures but only one log in here.

Looking at just the logs the most popular in descending order are as follows:

Log #126 - Griffin Anthony
Log #73 - Servants of Science
Log #20 - Barclay James Harvest
Log #54 - Tangerine Dream
Log #11 - Roxy Music
Log #86 - The Incredible String Band
Log #118 - Low
Log #79 - Up, Bustle and Out
Log #61 - Hawkwind
Log #106 - Blue States
Log #133 - KLF
Log #78 - Stereolab

I can't immediately see any rhyme or reason to why these have been the popular ones. It wouldn't appear to be the artists necessarily.

Everyone likes a good quiz too and this challenging album cover quiz is still going strong.

It is intriguing what makes a post gain readers. It will be to do with the mysteries of SEO including the titles and the content of course, and to a large extent I assume just down to reaching a critical tipping point and gaining a momentum all of its own. Also perhaps the uniqueness of the subject.

Many logs are by definition very short pieces on 6 different albums where even the title of the post is a nonsensical combination of words from various album titles. This provides very diluted content for internet searchers. As the blog progresses I am inevitably starting to repeat my listening and consequently my writing too.

The oddest thing is something I mentioned last year. My most popular article anywhere by far is my Lynyrd Skynyrd piece which now has 35,000 views at Medium. Oddly it originally appeared as Log #23 here but gains no views on this platform. It doesn't happen to all posts I reproduce at Medium but the ones that do take off seem to have the potential to gain large viewing numbers. Added to the fact that my blog views have gone down significantly since Google discontinued Google + I have considered moving the whole blog to Medium but for now I have a separate magazine there of just selected highlights.

9. Most Read Blog Post Of This Year: Log #126 - There's A Party Going On, Griffin Anthony Picks 6

[last year's winner: not awarded]

Way out in front is this guest post by NY songwriter Griffin Anthony who chose 6 albums that were his established favourites or current obsessions. It's an eclectic selection, take a look.

10. Most Read Review Overall: Rockpommel's Land by Grobschnitt

[last year's winner: Rockpommel's Land by Grobschnitt]

Last year's winner German prog rockers Grobschnitt extend their lead this year. It's a tiny review but has been picked up on the net for some reason.

Excluding general essays, annual reviews, festival reviews and album rankings, the most popular music reviews for individual albums overall are:

Rockpommel's Land by Grobschnitt
Refuge by Griffin Anthony
In The Jungle Groove by James Brown
Zero F**ks by The Wreks!
Epsilon In Malaysian Pale by Edgar Froese

Worth also mentioning some excellent guest reviews gratefully received from Raphael Gouin Loubert, Kieran Baddeley and Sangmin Han. None of these have had quite the viewing figures to reach the Top 5 above but they are doing better than the regular Logs.

11. Most Read Review This Year: Refuge by Griffin Anthony

[last year's winner: not awarded]

For reviews written this year this mammoth over indulgence (the review, not the album) on Griffin Anthony's Refuge album gained a mind of its own and the most views. Thank you to Griff's marketing execs. for the invitation to write the review and their subsquent sharing of it. 

12. Best Festival: Love Supreme

[last year's winner: Byline]

Byline was great again but perhaps not quite as mind expanding as the first time, and everyone was suffering from some Brexit fatigue - the subject having been done to death last time.

Love Supreme is always a good day out, at a lovely site - and the weather has been kind every year I've gone. The headliners tend to be a bit cheesy but there is always a chance to hear some of the latest jazz on the scene (and some of the oldest too - Chick Corea being a highlight this year), and when you are lying in a warm field with a cup of nice local ale there's no better way to hear a jazz trio.

By the way I've just seen that Fyre Festival documentary on Netflix. Addictive viewing on how not to plan a festival.

13. Most Surprising Non Appearance Overall: Lou Reed

[last year's winner: King Crimson]

My pie in the sky aim is to have an entry by every artist under the sun on my blog such that the search bar will yield an answer for any enquiry. This is plainly impossible but 389 (up from 286 last year) artists have now have had an album entry. That's 103 new artists in a year, which sounds surprisingly high to me, although to be fair that would be an average of 2 new artists per week out of the 6 potential plays.

Many artists have broken their duck and sit at 1 appearance. The following have not yet appeared at all:

Johnny Cash, Pearl Jam, REM, Lou Reed, Gil Scott Heron, Daft Punk, Eric Clapton, BB King, Dr John, Free, Sex Pistols, Black Crowes, Tindersticks, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Moody Blues and Patti Smith.

The odd thing is I do have some great albums by these artists. I love Free - they were a class rock band but maybe just a bit old fashioned now, or too middle of the road? They spawned Bad Company who were pretty good too although I never replaced my LPs with their CDs. Tindersticks were my favourite band for a brief time about ten years ago but their unique brand of orchestral prog pop didn't have legs. Pearl Jam feature on one of Neil Young's best albums and their Ten album was a classic which meant a lot to me at the time. Patti Smith and Lou Reed have recorded classic albums. With his association with Velvet Underground (and having bought a new book on Andy Warhol recently) I have decided to award the prize to Lou Reed this year. He is very likely to break his duck next year.

14. Best Album Cover: Cluster & Eno

[last year's winner: The Tired Sounds Of Stars Of The Lid]

There were (and still are) some artists who take care with the presentation of their albums especially in the 70s. This year's award goes to the cover for the 1977 Cluster & Eno album featured in Log #153 showing a single microphone in front of a hedgerow against dusky skies. It says a lot about the "found sounds" and ambience within. But more than that, it's just one of those scenes that makes me want to be there.

Incidentally probably the runner up, Ashra's New Age Of Earth (top line centre, below) actually shows a very similar format on a larger scale, with the block in front of the sun. Actually come to think of it there are a bunch of albums that use this Space Odyssey 2001 monolith type image.

A mention too for the gorgeous green Epsilon album cover (joint runner up) which I just want to dive into despite the feeling there may be dinosaurs behind those ferns...

15. Best Music Book: Electric Eden by Rob Young

[last year's winner: Hotel California by Barney Hoskyns]

Electric Eden is a masterful book on the roots of English folk (and rock) music. It's not only a great read but has opened my listening to numerous artists I had not heard of before.

I always enjoy adding to my 33 1/3 series too and the one that has stood out for me this year is for an album I haven't actually heard; Zaireeka by Flaming Lips. The album was a bizarre experiment and not one I'm going to actually attempt to listen to as intended (via 4 CDs played on 4 players simultaneously!) but it makes for a fascinating read.

16. In Memoriam 2019

We all hear about a George Michael, Prince or David Bowie, but some important artists pass with barely a mention at the mainstream:

Daniel Johnston
Robert Hunter (Grateful Dead)
Ginger Baker (Cream)
Keith Flint (Prodigy)
Bernie Torme (Gillan, Ozzy Ozbourne)

Pete Tork (Monkees)
Pegi Young (Neil Young)
Ted McKenna (SAHB)
Mark Hollis (Talk Talk)
Scott Walker
Dr. John
Ric Ocasek (The Cars)

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John Martyn with Danny Thompson - Live Germany 1986

The late-sixties London music community gave birth to a wealth of beautiful and diverse hybrids. The combination of a jazz scene surrounding venues such as Ronnie Scott's, and a folky, singer-songwriter enclave supported by clubs such as Bunjy's was never the most likely of fusions but, as this album testifies, the music made by such a pairing still pulses as strongly today as it did over four decades ago. John Martyn and Danny Thompson have always jumped genres with ease - Thompson from his early days with Tubby Hayes, through The Pentangle to his more traditional acoustic work with Richard Thompson, and Martyn's friend Nick Drake - while Martyn himself has covered the bases from blues and folk through to reggae and even the occasional show tune.

The pair started their professional relationship in 1970 and this record of a gig from 1986 demonstrates how the odd couple could still breathe fire into these ageing classics. A crowd-pleasingly unvaried set list had become Martyn's stock in trade by the mid-eighties - heavily relying on his 1970s highlights from Solid Air, Bless The Weather and One World - but the intimate setting of his smokey, slurred voice and Thompson's almost abstract double bass truly cements the timeless quality of this work. Both men had spent the previous decade as notorious hell-raisers but their experience only heightens the plaintive, almost spiritual quality of the work.

Martyn's elegy to Drake, Solid Air, is here in all its mournful glory as is the ambient soulfulness of One World and Skip James' edgy I'd Rather Be The Devil. All numbers managing to be both strangely intense and, simultaneously, so laid-back as to be almost horizontal. The sound quality, while a little rough, compliments the night club atmosphere - a snapshot of a relaxed evening in the company of two genial gents of the road. As the man says: may they never lay their heads down without a hand to hold...



CC review by Chris Jones at https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/hgw6/

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Black Purple - The Inspiration Behind Spinal Tap

Black Sabbath's Born Again appeared in 1983 with a disturbing cover that reminded me of the final fade out scene from the terrifying Rosemary’s Baby film.

Departed vocalist Ronnie James Dio was replaced with ex-Deep Purple vocalist Ian Gillan. Unfortunately despite the anticipation this latest dream team didn’t really mesh, with Gillan’s high pitched frenetic screaming not best suited to the Sabbath sound.

More metal in sound the album was also marred by a rushed and muddy production, however tracks like Zero The Hero with its dirty low down riffing did recall former glories. Ironically Digital Bitch also recalled former glories of… Deep Purple, being pretty much a remake of Highway Star.

The Hawkwind like instrumentals Stonehenge and The Dark showed the Sab’s had (through regular backing member Geoff Nicholls) finally mastered fruitful use of the synthesizer after some amateur attempts on earlier records.

The Born Again episode was also characterised by a farcical tour. Gillan, who could not grasp the lyrics to Sabbath’s back catalogue, struggling to read his script through dry ice surrounded by oversized Stonehenge monoliths and a dancing dwarf. They even took to doing Smoke On The Water for goodness sake — talk about wheels of confusion. You couldn’t make it up and evidently the Spinal Tap script writers didn’t need to!

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Genesis: Selling England By The Pound (1973)

Genesis are one of my latest 70's rock discoveries; of course I knew the band and sometimes heard post A Lamb Lies Down On Broadway hits on the radio, but I was far from realising that Genesis were amongst Kings of early 70's progressive music.

Not only the band's gem but also one of the best prog albums ever made.

It is clear that Genesis has two phases: a Peter Gabriel one and a second phase following his departure, where sound and song composition changes drastically. What is less clear is which of the Peter Gabriel era albums is the best? I still can't answer this after listening to them extensively for more than a year, but here is a track by track review of what is generally considered not only the band's gem but also one of the best prog albums ever made: Selling England By The Pound.

~~~

Dancing With The Moonlit Knight

"Can you tell me where my country lies?" After spinning my father's old LP for the first time and hearing the soft guitar riff, I still didn't realise what adventure I was getting into. The keyboard choirs and piano sections then explode as the "Captain leads his dance", leading to an accelerated riff with tapping guitar. Gabriel's high voice pierces the rhythm as we are slowly led to a shimmery flute/keyboard segment that goes until the song's closing. I knew then I was into something special!

I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)

The title song of the album cover, featuring the story of a lawn mower listening to gossips on a bench! One of the first songs that had great success internationally, with such a simple but catchy riff. This is a major turning point in my opinion as the chorus has a synthie, floaty keyboard part that would define Genesis's sound in the years to come (Abacab comes to mind). Nothing much to say about this song except it's hard not to sing along!

Firth Of Fifth

This song starts with a minute and a half piano intro so complex that the band plainly skipped the intro when they played live, starting instead at "The path is clear". It is a song of great beauty and harmony, with what is considered to be one of the most emotional guitar solos of the band (I disagree, think The Lamia or After The Ordeal). Great song overall.

More Fool Me

Acoustic guitar only and Phil Collins on the singing. A beautiful love song, with lots of emotions in it. It's nice to see Gabriel left a place for Phil to sing for himself, it makes for a nice addition to the album and a shift in the mood too, closing side A perfectly.

The Battle Of Epping Forest

Another nice lengthy song, but probably the weakest of the album (one has to be). Gabriel goes deep into the narrative of a fight between rival gangs. The bass is groovy though and there are nice guitar segments, but I frankly don't like the voice in some parts and it is maybe a couple minutes too long getting repetitive in the end.

After The Ordeal

One of the most beautiful guitar pieces of the band; it really feels like something big like a battle or an adventure has just come to an end. The piano and guitar complement each other perfectly in a delicate but harmonious manner. Then in an instant the song softly shifts from acoustic to electric, ending with a melodic electric guitar solo backed with keyboard and flute.

The Cinema Show

I'm not ashamed to say this song brings shivers and tears, just like the Lover's Leap segment of Supper's Ready! An all guitar intro with again a shift from acoustic to electric when reaching the chorus, then back to acoustic and beautiful flute. After the chorus is played twice we're in for an amazing, unbelievable 5 minute long keyboard solo, Tony Banks demonstrating all his skills and amazing talent. Then to a perfect song ending, bringing back the Moonlit Knight riff in the last seconds...

Aisle Of Plenty

...On to Aisle of Plenty. Such a well done album closer, acting more as a closing section to The Cinema Show and the album than a song in itself, with the Moonlit Knight riff again bringing the cycle to a full circle. I can't listen to The Cinema Show without listening to Aisle Of Plenty - that's what I mean. They did something similar on the A Trick Of The Tail album, where the album closer, Los Endos, brings back riffs from two other songs, Dance On A Volcano and Squonk, and I think it's beautifully done.

~~~

Well this album had to end and what an album it is! It integrates so many key elements of 70´s prog in a perfect manner, no wonder it's considered a gem by many. For a long while I considered Emerson Lake and Palmer to be the Kings of Prog, but this album and all the Gabriel era ones changed all that, it was a revelation to me and I have a hard time stopping listening to them. I have yet to discover the post A Trick Of The Tail material in more detail, but as I said, in my opinion Genesis was never really "Genesis" again after the Gabriel split.


Raphael Gouin Loubert

Our guest writer this week is Raphael. A huge fan of Krautrock and 60-70’s rock Raphael also enjoys more contemporary artists like Radiohead, Godspeed You Black Emperor, White Stripes, and Half Moon Run. He hangs out at the Krautrock Facebook Group and his reviews can be found on www.progarchives.com .

Other reviews by Raphael:

Tago Mago by Can
Amnesiac by Radiohead

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Saint Julian Cope - A National Treasure

Having spent time as a brief threat to Duran Duran with his psychedelic pop outfit The Teardrop Explodes, Julian Cope was considered a relatively outsider artist when he struck out alone in the early 80s.

His first two solo records – World Shut Your Mouth and Fried, both issued in 1984 – saw him heading into Syd Barrett territory, tortoise shell on his back, while the pop firmament was trying to feed the world.

But in late '86 came a jubilant comeback. His World Shut Your Mouth single, the first to be taken from third solo set Saint Julian, was more accessible than the somewhat surrealist style of its predecessors. Cope was up for one more crack at this pop star lark.

And why not? Around him, one-time contemporaries were moving into serious songwriting circles, U2 for example showcasing a blossoming strain of problem rock. Cope, instead, absorbed what he hated, rather than reflecting it – he sucked it in, and became stronger.

Cope constructed a “two-car garage band”, the beginning of his long association with guitarist Donald Ross Skinner, and created what’s perhaps best described as amphetamine stadium rock.

All clad in leather, Cope and his cohorts looked like the last bad-ass gang in town. And the image was completed by Saint Julian’s cover – its headline star pulling a Jesus Christ pose in the middle of a scrap yard.

An exhilarating tour-de-force of big-scale garage rock.

Channeling heroes such as Alice Cooper and Iggy Pop, Saint Julian is an exhilarating tour-de-force of big-scale garage rock.

From the dizzying opener Trampolene (“I can’t believe you’re trampling me”) and the frantic Spacehopper, the album rarely takes a breather from its cacophony of guitars, colossal pounding 80s drums and swirling keys.

When it does calm slightly, as on closer A Crack in the Clouds, the effect isn’t too far from arena goth. A nod to the “ba ba”s of The Teardrop Explodes on the poppy Eve’s Volcano (Covered in Sin) suggests that this could have been an album of chart-toppers – albeit in an alternate dimension.

He’d never repeat it, of course. Cope followed Saint Julian with the disappointing My Nation Underground, and slipped once more from mainstream tastes. But somewhere between then and now he became a national treasure – an amazing feat, given where his mind must’ve been back in 1984.

Another review shared from the BBC under a Creative Commons Licence http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/hm6m/

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Neil Young with Daniel Le Noise

Neil Young now belongs to that rare stratum of artists whose work is no longer judged purely on its merits but on the basis of its status within their catalogue. As with Dylan and Bowie, interest lies not only in whether the latest record stands up to repeated listening, but what it says about them within the context of their career. So when Le Noise was announced, most stories focussed on the fact that it sees the veteran collaborate with Grammy-winning producer Daniel Lanois, previously responsible for records from Dylan (of course), Peter Gabriel and Emmylou Harris, and who here has reduced Young’s backing to (mainly) electric guitar and Lanois’ own "sonics". It sounded like one for the musos.

But what this means is that when Walk With Me opens the album with one crunching, distorted chord, it sounds like Crazy Horse, his sometime backing band, are about to unleash hell’s fury. Instead, Young’s trademark impassioned whine insists "I’ll never let you down no matter what you do if you just walk me", while he chops out chords that decay like thunder, Lanois adding a few restrained vocal loops and guitar treatments. There are no drums, no hurricane solos and, it has to be said, no great signs of a melody. In fact this at first sounds as though Young is merely demoing new songs, feeling his way through them, trying to decide whether they would work better if they rocked with a band or instead reached back to the tender acoustics of Harvest. His research appears to have been inconclusive.

This being a Neil Young album, however, it’s worth returning to, and what initially appeared indecisive reveals itself as an experiment in the rejection of standard rock arrangements. Le Noise therefore remains reasonably accessible, Young’s lyrics still as appealingly forthright as his playing, his melodies slowly rising through the unsettling, growling dirge. Hitchhiker sees Young look back over his life atop a bare and formidable landscape; Rumblin' is plaintive yet full of an urgent energy, Young’s voice vulnerable but resolute, while Lanois’ greatest contribution is arguably his general absence.

It’s not an easy listen, obviously, but acclimatisation to the unfamiliar, monochromatic sound of such raw electric guitar brings with it the ability to recognise that Young’s songwriting skills haven’t dulled with age. Examined as a part of his overall body of work, furthermore, it’s amongst the more fascinating left turns he’s made, and once again confirms the evergreen restlessness of this gnarly and frequently inspiring Canadian. Once again, he’s not let us down.

Shared under Creative Commons via the BBC at http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/8zx2/ (my scoring)

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