Showing posts with label sufjan stevens. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sufjan stevens. Show all posts

Sunday 5 January 2020

Log #171 - A new decade, a new Van

Eddy Bamyasi

Thinking Roxy Music were just a glam pop outfit? Think again after hearing For Your Pleasure - their second album released in 1973 and one containing as much rock and electronic experimentation as your next serious rock band.

Roxy Music For Your Pleasure
Van Morrison Hard Nose The Highway
Pink Floyd Meddle
Sufjan Stevens Carrie & Lowell
Holger Czukay Moving Pictures
Elbow The Seldom Seen Kid

Then there's Meddle. Some people's favourite Pink Floyd album. It's not my favourite but it's up there in the top 3 or 4. I'm not sure what my favourite is actually. It used to be Wish You Were Here but I probably play Animals the most. Then again The Wall is an amazing project and I've recently spent some time discovering some of the band's groundbreaking early records like Ummagumma and Atom Heart MotherMeddle's greatness lies in some excellent acoustic songwriting songs on Side 1 and then of course the epic Echoes on Side 2 which could be their greatest achievement. This track was just mind-blowing for a school kid growing up in the 70s - with its submarine sonar opening, it's beautiful theme, and the funky heavy bit in the middle. #TopClass

Talking of prog Elbow offer something a little different. This is the only album I have heard of theirs. It seems to offer a very gentle laid back version of prog rock with subtle dynamic changes employed instead of the usual pyrotechnics associated with the genre. The Seldom Seen Kid is the Manchester band's 4th album and won the Mercury Prize in 2008. This is Elbow's first appearance at the blog.

Speaking of gentle we move to Sufjan Stevens' very very gentle Carrie & Lowell album. Whispered singing and sparse instrumentation it's gentle... and lovely, although you have to be in the right mood. The album is an ode to Stevens' parents, pictured on the cover. Interesting to note as Log #171 brings us into a new decade, Carrie & Lowell appeared in my first ever blog post Log #1 back in October 2016 along with Suede, Afro Celts, Paolo Nutini, Carole King and Badly Drawn Boy.

Final word to the great Van the Man. I have no idea why I have not heard this classic Van album before. It's up there with the best of his first 8 albums which took him on a golden run from Astral Weeks through to Veedon Fleece, the album with which this one shares its tone the most. [Astral was actually his 2nd album but the first one doesn't really count and was not officially sanctioned by Morrison. Ed]. It's a joy to discover a new Morrison album from his hey day and as this one is going to be less familiar to me (and I expect other fans too who may not have gone much beyond Astral and Moondance) I feel it is going to get a fair number of appearances this year/decade.




Sunday 5 November 2017

Log #58 - Soft Supreme

Eddy Bamyasi

Soft Machine! What's that all about then? I don't really know. I don't think many people do to be fair. They didn't make big waves in the mainstream world of rock to be honest, remaining firmly "underground" through their late 60s / early 70s heyday.

I remember they were something to do with the so called "Canterbury Scene" that spawned other fringe proggers like Caravan and Gong. In fact the genesis of Gong was by chance when Soft Machine guitarist Daevid Allen was refused re-enty into the UK after a tour in France - he stayed behind and formed Gong in Paris.

Soft Machine were a little different. Their music was largely instrumental leaning heavily on keyboard loops and free form sax over repeating bass grooves, with very little guitar.

Little Known Rock Fact: an early member of Soft Machine was Police guitarist Andy Summers.

The tracks are lengthy jazz rock fusion odysseys, but also drawing on minimalist classical influences like Terry Riley or Philip Glass. Their album titles also embraced minimalism being 1, 2, 3, and so on! (Ed. actually looks like the 3 was actually called Third but get your point).

Thankfully Soft Machine were a predominantly instrumental group, thus limiting the opportunities for possibly the worst voice in rock history, Robert Wyatt, to take the mic.

1. Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed
2. Whitesnake - Ready An' Willing
3. Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell
4. John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
5. Soft Machine - 3
6. Bob Holroyd - Without Within

Whitesnake were one of those bands rising from the ashes of Deep Purple in the mid 70s. They sound just like the other main offshoot - Rainbow - although the latter probably had slightly more prog pretensions. They were inflicted a little bit more by that sexist posturing common among 70s and 80s metal bands with lead singer David Coverdale to the fore. But having said that Fool For Your Loving, as featured on this album, was a superb single.

David Coverdale in full rock poodle mode

Another little plug for a superb live act I caught this weekend - American singer Eilen Jewell appearing at Brighton's Prince Albert. Ostensibly your standard Americana/Country Rock fayre but there is something exceptionally accomplished about her band of drums, double bass and electric guitar. Especially the electric guitar - Jerry Miller (not the one from Moby Grape) has an amazing feel and ear for melody and space. His guitar lines are loud and clear but never overbearing and fit perfectly in the music. One of the most effortlessly natural guitarists I've ever seen.

Guitar god Jerry Miller on vintage Chet Atkins Gretsch




Sunday 2 October 2016

Log #1 - Bret Anderson is Alive and Well (and He Knows It)

Eddy Bamyasi


Not one for mp3s and digital downloads I've always preferred my music physical and tangible. Not only for the feel and look but also I feel the art form of an album presents a sum greater than its parts. Would we have had a "Sgt. Pepper's" or "Astral Weeks" without the concept of an album?

But I can see the advantages of having an endless stream of music. Several years ago when my CD player expired I replaced it with a 6-CD magazine changer I found on ebay for around £30. Providing not an endless stream of music but a good 5 hours worth, plenty enough for a weekend. It has been one of my best ever purchases.

This weekend I was shuffling through my 6 CDs and realised my current choices were what I would consider atypical of my usual tastes. How did I get here I thought to myself? Would this be symptomatic of a permanent change in taste or were there good temporary reasons for my choices?

So here the idea of a journal of listening was born. I aim to log the 6 CDs each week with comments and thoughts, perhaps justifications and reasons, even reviews.

The 6-CD changer log #1:
Paulo Nutini-Sunny Side Up
Suede-Suede
Badly Drawn Boy-Have You Fed the Fish?
Sufjan Stevens-Carrie and Lowell
Carole King-Tapestry
Afro Celts-Seed


Mesmerising Suede front man Brett Anderson (Yui Mok/PA )

I don’t have the same out of control lifestyle that I used to have but I’m able to find these pockets of interest within everyday life.
Record of the Week: I love the Paulo Nutini, a lovely new discovery, but I was even more surprised at how much I liked previously unheard Suede when I saw them headlining the recent TTP festival here in Brighton - their debut eponymous album wins it this week. Suede contains many of their anthemic songs that were performed with enthusiastic swagger on stage with singer Bret Anderson channelling his best Bowie/Jagger.
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