- Carly Simon - No Secrets
- Carole King - Tapestry
- Caitlin Canty - Reckless Skyline
- The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age Of The Understatement
- Camel - Moonmadness
- The Cardigans - Life
Sunday, 11 October 2020
Log #211 - First Ladies On The Moon
Sunday, 4 October 2020
Log #210 - A Heavy Rock Crossword Puzzle Circa 1983
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My LP collection - circa 1983? |
Sammy Hagar - Danger Zone
Barclay James Harvest - Eyes Of The Universe
Jethro Tull - A
Saturday, 3 October 2020
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.
Thursday, 1 October 2020
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
Sunday, 27 September 2020
Log #209 - Sunday Bible Class
Robert Fripp - Exposure
King Crimson - Three Of A Perfect Pair
King Crimson - Thrak
King Crimson - The Construkction of Light
King Crimson - The Power To Believe
Sunday, 20 September 2020
Log #208 - Reassessing The Non King Crimson King Crimson
It's taken me a long time to reach King Crimson in this blog. After seeing some quirky Robert Fripp and Toyah videos on Youtube I revisited some of the classic albums from the band's prog rock hey day - spinning Larks' Tongues In Aspic and Red last week (this could have possibly been my first revisit in the whole history of this blog - what, 3 years?, 4 years? Can you check Ed.?). [Actually you forget Eddy, the blog is about 4 years old now, but you did play King Crimson eventually in log #130 after they had won the most surprising non appearance award in the 2018 review. You're welcome, Ed.]
Great, great albums, those two, their presence barely diminished by the passing of time. These were two of the seven albums the band released between 1969 and 1974. And that was it, for the band, and most the fans - Fripp pulled the plug (when the band were at their creative and commercial peak) and buggered off to find himself.
But hold your horses...
There was a hiatus for 7 years, and then a comeback in 1981, with a new funky, punky, new wave band - a band so diverse from the original that they should n't really have used the King Crimson name (in fact Fripp did originally rename the group).
3 albums ensued, known as the Discipline trilogy (or the red, blue and yellow ones), from the same new personnel (the first time King Crimson had ever maintained the same band members over more than one consecutive album).
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The Discipline Trilogy |
I tried to like them when they came out but yearning for Wetton's thick bass, Bruford's sharp rim taps, and Fripp's distorted solos, I was left disappointed. I lost interest and didn't even notice when, following another hiatus, this time even longer, the band released another comeback album, Thrak, in 1995 (in the history of a band like King Crimson this feels thoroughly recent, but it's mindblowing to me that this record is now 25 years old, and I've only just heard it, and... it's amazing!). 2 further albums followed in the early 2000s - equally mind blowing for a fan like me who had written the band off in 1974!
The Thrak Trilogy |
ReconstruKction of Light line up (2000):
So 6 albums spanning nearly 25 years, practically half their overall output of 13 studio albums (when the first 7 had spanned just 5 years) had been dismissed by your careless correspondent (not for the first time - I had done something similar with Bob Dylan, Radiohead and Genesis).
Here Eddy rectifies things by taking a deep dive into the post '74 King Crimson with a clean sweep of the albums released after King Crimson stopped (for many) being King Crimson, sort of!
Loving the opening blues number. It's been called "tongue in cheek":
After a brief vocoderised introduction King Crimson's latest (and possibly final?) album launches with a trademark power instrumental a la Red or Larks' Tongues again (entitled Level 5 could this be Larks' Tongues Part V?). Here the drums thrash and crash, the duel guitars trace intricate lines at breakneck speed. The pace is so full on the seven minute track feels like a track of twice the length. A brilliant track.
Sunday, 13 September 2020
Log #207 - Red Gamma Rays In Aspic
King Crimson - Lark's Tongues In Aspic
King Crimson - Red
Harmonia - Deluxe
Gamma - 1
Saturday, 5 September 2020
Log #206 - 3 Hawkwind Eras
Hawkwind - PXR5
Hawkwind - Levitation
Hawkwind - In The Hall Of The Mountain Grill
Hawkwind - Warrior On The Edge Of Time
Steve Miller - Circle Of Love
Mouse On Mars - Autoditacker
More Hawkwind retrospection this week - after the fantastic prog epic Warrior On The Edge Of Time Hawkwind reinvented themselves with a new record label as a more modern new wave rock band for a series of late '70s albums fronted by eccentric singer Robert Calvert. The final of these (four) albums was PXR5 released in 1979. The results throughout the series were mixed with shorter poppier songs which occasionally hit the mark but missed out on the mind expanding space rock experimentation of the early albums. A far cry from Space Ritual this period, for me at least, does not represent Hawkwind's finest hour.
However at the turn of the decade Hawkwind changed again. With a new crack line up, which welcomed back slick lead guitarist Huw Lloyd-Langton (who appeared on the debut album), plus ex Cream legend Ginger Baker on drums and ex Gong keyboardist Tim Blake, the band produced a series of more heavy metal based albums beginning with Levitation in 1980. The album is almost brilliant, the first two or three songs are fantastic demonstrating a renewed energy and vigour and brilliant playing. Just checkout how hot this band were:
Unfortunately it does n't quite maintain its momentum as the album runs a little out of steam. The follow album up Sonic Attack (although lacking both Baker and Blake) is more consistently heavy. Sonic Attack, although not necessarily a regular fan favourite, is particularly significant for me being the first Hawkwind album I heard. I saw the band when touring the album as reported here >>
The Steve Miller album Circle Of Love is most renowned for the side long groove of Macho City which was an innovative track at the time (as was the ending of 2 minutes plus of rain and thunder sound effects).
Sunday, 30 August 2020
Log #205 - The Hall At The Edge Of Time
Deeper we go into my old heavy rock roots this week. I follow up Led Zep's debut album with another listen of the classic IV. I pick up on a relatively little known Canadian rock band. I reacquaint myself with Black Sabbath's most progressive album, and dive into possibly Hawkwind's greatest two albums. Carly Simon retains some calm from last week's playlist.
Led Zeppelin - IV
April Wine - Harder...Faster
Hawkwind - In The Hall Of The Mountain Grill
Hawkwind - Warrior On The Edge Of Time
Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Carly Simon - No Secrets
Led Zep's IV has a great balance of heavy rockers and acoustic whimsy. Black Dog is a powerhouse of blues rock - incorporating one of Page's greatest riffs and Plant's call and response moans. I'd never heard anything like it on first hearing. Now, years later, I still think it's pretty unique. Then you've got the Tolkien influenced Misty Mountain Hop and The Battle Of Evermore (with Sandy Denny). The Bonham showcase When The Levee Breaks and the hippie flower power Going To California. And Stairway To Heaven of course which is a little tired but I still love the jaunty middle section with it's "bustle in the hedgerow".
April Wine were alright. Attempting the monumental 21st Century Schizoid Man was probably not a wise move though - it has none of the show stopping power of the original.
Brilliant stuff from Hawkwind. I love both these two albums which both follow a similar pattern with alternate rock anthems and instrumental or spoken word interludes. The rock tunes are often based on just 2 or 3 stuttering guitar chords with Lemmy's heavy bass underlay. The interludes are simple piano figures, crude synthesizer effects, sawing violin, or, in the case of Warrior, spoken monologues from sci-fi writer Michael Moorcock (who also wrote lyrics for The Blue Oyster Cult).
In The Hall Of The Mountain Grill (the band's fourth album) is the more basic and less polished album. Psychedelic Warlords (Disappear in Smoke) is a classic Hawks tune. There are a couple of tracks on the band's fifth album Warrior On The Edge Of Time that approach some of the best progressive rock of the mid '70s, namely Assault and Battery / Golden Void and Magnu, where the band present monumental walls of sound. One of the most intriguing tracks for me when I first heard this album was the heavy motorik beat instrumental Opa-Loka which foretold my interest in krautrock. Surprisingly the band changed their sound after Warrior choosing to go down a more "new wave" road. The line up changed too with Lemmy, who had described Opa-Loka as "fucking rubbish" and Warrior generally as "a fuck up", moving on to form Motorhead.