Log #170 - What Was The Secret Of David Sylvian's Beehive?

Built on noir balladry, instrumental abstraction, and an abiding sense of distance.

...So Pitchfork describes David Sylvian's sumptuous 4th solo album Secrets Of The Beehive. It's a far cry from his pop work with chart topping new wave band Japan in the 80s.

Al Stewart Year Of The Cat
Nucleus Plastic Rock

Nils Frahm All Melody

Jeff Buckley Grace
David Sylvian Secrets Of The Beehive

Floating Points Elaenia

Probably only half a dozen times or so I've heard something so unique and different and significant and new to me it has left an indelible impression on my life - when I heard Can for the first time (taking a chance on a 2nd hand record - their Spanner fronted one, closely followed with Tago Mago and Hallelujah in particular), Black Dog by Led Zeppelin (possibly on TV?), Van Morrison (I bought Astral Weeks and Moondance together when I was about 19 and feel lucky I took that plunge relatively early in my music listening career!), discovering The Cocteau Twins (hearing Heaven Or Las Vegas and Four Calendar Cafe on a long journey in a friend's car), the coda to Mr. Blue Sky (Out Of The Blue being my first ever LP purchase), Re-ac-tor by Neil Young (borrowed on cassette tape from someone), Epitaph by King Crimson (my school friend Guy was moving on all his King Crimson albums in favour of Neil Young incidentally - come to think of it he probably lent me the Re-ac-tor tape), Captain Beefheart (not Trout Mask Replica but Clearspot), and The Orb's Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld.

There have probably been lots more life changing moments actually although the experience is less frequent than once was. Anyway the point is Secrets Of The Beehive was one such experience. It was one of the most beautiful records I'd ever heard, the experience was no doubt enhanced by the setting - 1987, late one cold winter night, in a smokey student room (where it was so cold I had to put my coat on to come indoors). It was also an utter surprise, coming from the bloke in Japan of course. I remember the crystal clear acoustic guitar, the tender piano, the horns, swirling strings, and Sylvian's slow easy going baritone. It's an album that flows from start to finish, one of atmosphere. Like Astral Weeks.

Oddly like a number of classic albums (and the similarly brilliant Grace by Jeff Buckley is another - what a voice that gentleman had) it is not one I play that often any more - I wonder why. Maybe it belongs to that time when I first heard it. Maybe I remember it too well.  But nevertheless if it is a record you've never heard I recommend you do and see if it leaves a similar impression.

David Sylvian released a number of other solo albums and ambient collaborations with the likes of Holger Czukay and Robert Fripp. They vary from minimalist experimentation to more traditional rock music but all are of a consistently high standard. 

Checkout the other records in this week's playlist here>>:

Elaenia

Year Of The Cat

All Melody

Plastic Rock

All four excellent albums, three will be near my Album Of The Year shortlist.

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Log #169 - The Other Side Of God's Favorite Customer

As I come to the end of the year and thoughts turn towards my year end review there are two or three albums in this list this week that will probably make the short list for Album Of The Year. They are the Tord Gustavsen, the Father John Misty, and the KLF.

KLF Chill Out

Father John Misty God's Favorite Customer

Simon and Garfunkel Bridge Over Troubled Water

Bill Laswell Imaginary Cuba

Tord Gustavsen The Other Side

Ketil Bjornstad and David Darling Epigraphs

Taking each in turn we have The Tord Gustavsen Trio's The Other Side which is a simply beautiful album of wistful chilled jazz piano. Gustavsen takes a minimalist approach yet the melodies are Debussyesque. Themes repeat and return throughout the album's 12 tracks, something I did not notice before I had fully absorbed the album several times.

I don't know where this sort of music sits in the jazz pantheon (jazz experts may consider it easy listening or light weight?) but I know I love it and find it much more satisfying than the often too frantic classical solo piano (see Log #166 ) or even the minimalist chamber piano of Bjornstad and Darling's Epigraphs album. It's effortless flow is closer to Keith Jarrett's Koln Concert and Philip Glass's Solo Piano album.

Father John Misty's God's Favourite Customer (English spelling there) album could also be considered slightly on the light weight side but the sheer brilliance of the melodic songs pulls it through. Father John Misty is a cross between Elton John and John Grant.

I can't decide if KLF's Chillout has nothing going on or a helluva lot. Whatever, it remains a fascinating and atmospheric listen - one where you hear more the more you listen. Save for a jumpy number towards the end, the album is essentially a concept piece played out over one continuous 45 minutes of ambient sound effects and samples.

One timeless classic and a pretty nondescript non event make up the numbers this week and we have our 6.

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Log #168 - Rumours Going Down

I came late to Rumours as explained here but its charms have grown on me, particularly on the more rock orientated numbers like the excellent The Chain which is so much more than that slightly annoying bass riff used for that very annoying car programme. It was a video I caught this week on youtube of a live performance of The Chain that encouraged me to give the album another spin.

Fleetwood Mac Rumours

Neil Young Hitchhiker

Foals What Went Down

Edgar Froese Epsilon In Malaysian Pale
John Martyn Solid Air

Neil Young Rust Never Sleeps

Hitchhiker was an album by Neil Young recorded in 1976. For some reason it was not released then...

- actually the reason I believe was the record company thought the solo acoustic songs should be recorded as a band.

- indeed some like Powderfinger were later re-recorded with a band and appeared on a subsequent album (Rust Never Sleeps and others).

Anyway Hitchhhiker, like Chrome Dreams and some others, became one of those legendary lost albums of Young's - until last year when the original was released.

It is indeed a shame this album did not see the light of day for so long as, despite it having an air of demo about it, it is actually one of Young's best. There are ten excellent songs, 9 on guitar, one on piano. Eight have appeared on other albums, usually in a differing version / two are previously unreleased. I do believe it may be Young's only entirely solo album??

[By the way any Neil Young fan should check out his Archives website - this is a subscriber service but there is always a free to stream featured album available].

Excellent stuff from the Foals on this, their fourth album. It is a pretty heavy album but still demonstrates their excellent musicianship.

'What Went Down' is unbelievably aggressive, a bold return so to speak, combining a fierce pulsating drumbeat with erratic overdriven guitars that lend a real intensity.

Clash Magazine

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Log #167 - Young Doves Old Streets

Albums one and two from young Paolo Nutini and four from old Neil Young.

Paolo Nutini These Streets

Paolo Nutini Sunny Side Up

Neil Young Mirror Ball

Neil Young Hawks And Doves
Neil Young Tonight's The Night Live At The Roxy

Neil Young Rust Never Sleeps

More consistently excellent soulful rock from Scottish singer Nutini. I'm surprised at the number of catchy tracks in both these albums. But not only catchy, but brilliantly constructed and superbly performed. Very impressed.

Much more to come from Neil Young as I continue work on an album ranking. Here we have four albums all at the excellent end of the variable Young scale released between 1973 and 1995 (actually the live Tonight's The Night wasn't released until 2018 but was fundamentally a 1973 album):

Mirror Ball - a surprisingly excellent collaboration with Pearl Jam.

Hawks And Doves - one of Young's lesser known albums which nevertheless contained two or three of his greatest acoustic songs.

Tonight's The Night Live - very similar to the original studio album with in-between track banter and an encore of Walk On from On The Beach.

Rust Never Sleeps - half acoustic, half heavy, all classic Young.

The strong finish to the year from Neil Young will secure his place once again at the top of my appearances chart in the upcoming Year End Polls. Will anyone ever catch him?

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Log #166 - A Caustic Voice

Paolo Nutini Caustic Love

Sibelius Complete Works for Violin and Orchestra

Satie Piano Music

Debussy Preludes
Granados Goyescas

Debussy Orchestral Music (CD 1)

I really like Paolo Nutini's voice - it has that gravelly souly quality of a Rod Stewart or Joe Cocker. Oh, go on then, a caustic quality.

Caustic Love is his third and most recent album coming out in 2014. He's not prolific, the first two were released thus:

These Streets 2006
Sunny Side Up 2009

In my mind's eye I sort of place him in that hard to define James Morrison, Scott Matthews, category - two other very good souly singers. The music mind map certainly agrees with the former of these comparisons:

Nutini may just be the best of the three but I need to hear more.

For now though I'm loving this track  >>

And the opening track is a stormer too, no doubt a live favourite >>

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Log #165 - Beauty, Happiness, Peace and Low

After The Gold Rush is one of those albums that I feel I know so well I hardly have to play it any more. What was nice hearing it again though is recalling the excitement on first hearing it all those years ago. For me NEIL YOUNG was one of the first singer-songwriter artists I discovered, along with Van Morrison and Bob Dylan, who took my listening experience to a new level following a diet of rock bands up until then. And After The Gold Rush is a perfect singer-songwriter album with its mix of rock numbers (actually only two - the searing Southern Man and the honky piano When You Dance placed midway through each side) and poignant acoustic love songs (with Young's lyrical prowess at its zenith). More on this album and Nils Lofgren's contribution at Log #122 from January this year (so actually it wasn't such a long time ago I last played it).

Neil Young After The Gold Rush

Ludovico Einaudi In A Time Lapse

Low Double Negative

Rokia Traore Beautiful Africa
The Lumineers The Lumineers

Peace Happy People

THE LUMINEERS is a new band on me. I discovered them through the passage ways of The Felice Brothers (via Simone Felice especially) and The Decemberists. This album (their 2012 debut) is nearly all acoustic. It contains a bunch of jaunty sing-a-long folk rock numbers including their big hit Ho Hey. More to hear here I'm sure but initial impressions are the band is slightly closer to the Mumford Sons end of the spectrum rather than the aforementioned The Felice Brothers and The Decemberists. 

I didn't really get on with the LUDOVICO EINAUDI album this time around - very easy listening in a Michael Nyman The Piano soundtrack sort of way, but with a lot more strings. Heck, they even look identical:

Separated at birth? Nyman and Einaudi

I love ROKIA TRAORE's wavery powerful voice. Some good rock and some trad. African stuff on this excellent album. Some songs in French. Africa is beautiful as is she.

PEACE are an indie guitar band hailing from Worcester, England. Happy People is their second (of currently 3) albums. I fleetingly liked an indie guitar pop band called Dodgy way back in the early 90s (they made a bit of a comeback recently). Their songs were very catchy but shone very briefly in my consciousness. I feel much the same about this music: Peace's decent throwaway pop is a throwback to Britpop but doesn't really leave a lasting impression. They're good and probably excellent live but don't seem quite to have the swagger and originality of say The Happy Mondays of that time, or contemporaries The Arctic Monkeys for example.

Last out the blocks this week is the album Double Negative by LOW. Much acclaimed this album appeared in many best of lists of 2018. But be warned, it's not an easy listen as demonstrated by a visitor to Bamyasi Towers this weekend who asked me to change the music as it was just too dark. Perhaps the band's distorted soundscapes are more for the critics than the listening public - I was surprised to see their appearance at Glastonbury so poorly attended, for a band who had just achieved such a critical breakthrough. Personally the album is not one that grabs me immediately, but is one that I will want to return to for a deeper dive (but it will have to be when I'm alone!).

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Log #164 - Living With Young

Felice Brothers Favorite Waitress

Van Morrison Too Late To Stop Now (cd 1)

Mark Ronson Uptown Special

Mike Oldfield Ommadawn
Neil Young Living With War

Neil Young Greendale

I've been recommencing some concentrated Neil Young research towards a forthcoming album ranking - as he has about 50 albums to his name and is showing no sign of letting up any time soon (Young's latest Colorado has just come out) this is a mammoth undertaking. Luckily I know a lot of them well already but there are a lot of new ones to wade through too (I gave up purchasing every Neil Young album released around 1985). Despite his Quality Control Department largely going AWOL for much of the new millenium (and for all the 80s) there are some undiscovered gems which will reveal themselves once I finally get the ranking out. Neither of the above really come into that category - they seem very similar to me for a number of reasons - from the guitar rock riffing and basic backing to the chronology (2002 and 2006 respectively) and even the buff brown covers. 

A Frank Sampredo-less Crazy Horse provide the backing on the earlier Greendale; for Living With War Young turned to regular recent contributors the late Rick Rosas on bass and Chad Cromwell on drums - both backing bands sound practically the same on these two records. Interestingly when Young toured Living With War he somehow persuaded Crosby Stills and Nash to join him. The infamous "Freedom Of Speech" tour was captured on film:

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Log #162 - The Veedon Fleece Brothers Undress

Some treats this week. We spin Beck's latest (although a new album Hyperspace is out later this month) and also The Felice Brothers' latest. Top of the magazine we have two classic albums in the smooth jazz rock form of Steely Dan and Donald Fagen (one half of Steely Dan of course and Donald's first appearance solo at the blog). Centre midfield is taken up by one of Van Morrison's greatest albums and the revolutionary samplefest debut from DJ Shadow.

Steely Dan Aja

Donald Fagen The Nightfly

Van Morrison Veedon Fleece

DJ Shadow Endtroducing
The Felice Brothers Undress

Beck Colors

Compiled almost entirely from samples DJ Shadow's groundbreaking Endtroducing received critical acclaim on its release in 1996. No doubt a technical achievement the fear might be that the means trumps the end, but actually the album is very cohesive and contains excellent tracks of down tempo trip hop.

A full list of samples used track by track is shown at this website -  http://www.musicismysanctuary.com/dj-shadows-endtroducing-sample-list

Of most interest to me the list includes artists Pink Floyd, Tangerine Dream and Nirvana, not that you'd be able to tell.

Veedon Fleece is a truly beautiful album. Somewhat over(dj)shadowed by the greatness of its surroundings. Released in 1974 Veedon Fleece was possibly Van Morrison's last great album (for a while at least) following in the footsteps of a run of classics like Moondance, Astral Weeks of course, and St. Dominic's Preview, plus the live double Too Late To Stop Now which came out earlier the same year. It would be another three years before the underwhelming A Period Of Transition would demonstrate a change in style.

Live, human, and dynamic. Richly atmospheric loose-limbed arrangements that parallel ‘Van the Man’s’ tenderly gentle and wildly explosive deliveries. 

Griffin Anthony

Veedon though is slow and easy with Van at his most soulful - I don't think I've heard his voice pitched so high on any other album, possibly channelling his Al Green or Marvin Gaye. Where Astral Weeks is stringy and Moondance is brassy, this one is pianoey.

Some artists sing about individual personal feelings, some are more outward looking and will comment on the state of the world and politics for instance. Then you get the uniqueness of an artist like Dylan who tells long dense stories littered with proper nouns (for better or worse Ian Felice is similar). But I don't think I know of an artist whose songs recall such a sense of place. 

Often this is implicit, 

but sometimes explicit 

as in Streets Of Arklow. Arklow is a town on the east coast of Ireland Morrison visited in 1973 (he was living in the US at the time):

And as we walked
Through the streets of Arklow
In a drenching beauty
Rolling back 'til the day
And I saw your eyes
They was shining, sparkling crystal clear
And our souls were clean
And the grass did grow

I'm also intrigued what Linden Arden Stole The Highlights means:

Linden Arden stole the highlights
With one hand tied behind his back
Loved the morning sun, and whiskey
Ran like water in his veins
Loved to go to church on Sunday
Even though he was a drinking man
When the boys came to San Francisco
They were looking for his life

Morrison described this made up character as "an image of an Irish American living in San Francisco - it's really a hard man type of thing".

I still don't understand how he stole "highlights".

Reviewing Van's discography I'm frankly shocked to realise there are 2 albums up to Veedon Fleece that I don't think I've actually heard in their entirety. They being Hard Nose The Highway and His Band And The Street Choir. I don't know how this has happened and I  promise to rectify immediately Ed. with a visit to ebay. Sure I'd find these for £3 or so at World of Books or Music Magpie.

Undress is the latest album from The Felice Brothers. The band, being generally media darlings, usually get great reviews for both their studio work and their live shows, and this is no exception. However on initial listens I have to admit I was slightly disappointed. Of the dozen tracks there are 4 or 5 that are up to the Brothers' usual high standards, which ain't bad by anyone's measure, but also two or three that are on the weak side. The balance are literally middle of the road.

The lyrics, mostly from Ian Felice who is often compared to Dylan, are important in the Felice Brothers' songs, and many reviews highlight a shift from introspection to a more outward looking view on the state of our political world such as in the sing-a-long Special Announcement:

I can promise more berries
On Blueberry Hill
I can promise you this
Charlie Parker on the ten dollar bill
I'll gather up all the cash
Toss it to the birds
Burn down the Stock Exchange
The Federal Reserve (It's going down)
I'm saving up my money
To be president

and the title track:

Smell the chrysanthemums
Republicans and Democrats
Undress
Even the evangelicals
Yeah, you
Lighten up, undress
Shake the maracas
Everyone's nude on Family Feud
Undress
Under the mushroom cloud
The Pentagon
Undress
Lady Liberty
Crimes against humanity
Undress
Caesars of Wall Street
Brooklyn Bridge
Undress
Comanche and Iroquois
Exploitation, genocide
Undress
Bank of America
Kellyanne
Undress
Read me the Riot Act
Vice President and President
French Kiss

Many of the songs on the new album are motivated by a shift from private to public concerns. It isn’t hard to find worthwhile things to write about these days, there are a lot of storms blooming on the horizon and a lot of chaos that permeates our lives.  The hard part is finding simple and direct ways to address them.

Ian Felice

However, like Dylan, it's the odd genius line of juxtaposition that delights in Felice's lyrics, like exchanging pleasantries under pleasant trees.

Despite my lukewarm feelings about the album the Felices, to be fair, are a band who have rarely stood still, each release pushing new boundaries which can confuse their fans at first. Here original brothers Ian and Felice are joined by new bassist Jesske Hume and drummer Will Lawrence (third brother Simone left in 2009 - his subsequent output as The Duke and The King and as a solo artist are due an examination at a later date). They've also lost long term fiddle player Greg Farley which goes some way to explaining how this record has taken a step away from their popular ramshackle brand of rootsy americana (never more ramshackle as on the previous release Life In The Dark) into a more polished mainstream rock sound.  

The Brothers are touring the UK in January and I also see The Black Deer Festival have pulled off a blinder for next summer:

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Log #161 - Tom's Industrial Years

Tom Waits is quite a difficult artist. In retrospect my tastes may have changed as I didn't enjoy this album as much as I remembered (house members overhearing the record likened Waits' strangled vocals to the sound of someone dying!). 

Franks Wild Years (officially no apostrophe although it only makes grammatical sense to have one) followed Swordfishtrombones and Rain Dogs in what seemed a trilogy (indeed some characters reappear through the run although I'm not certain a theme or concept was intentional). Certainly in my mind the 3 albums each developed Wait's new "clanky industrial" style, each containing multiple short 2 minute sketches. 

Contained within this album, the 3rd, are certainly some classics like Hang On St. Christopher, Cold Cold Ground and Telephone Call From Istanbul, although the latter in particular is much more exciting on the live follow up album Big Time which drew heavily on Franks Wild Years.

Mojave was the third of ten albums from Boston "Alt-Country" band Willard Grant Conspiracy. The band were a revolving collective (like the "lesser spotted", at this blog, Lambchop) centred around singer Robert Fisher who sadly passed away in 2017.

The music is typical alt-country fayre; many tracks using the formulaic 3 or 4 chord slow acoustic guitar strum opening joined by portentous drums on the 9th bar. Fisher adds further gravitas with his hefty baritone. 

I'd probably be happy to leave it there, Mojave (1999) being my only WGC excursion, but I understand their best album is Regard The End (2003) and I've stumbled upon parts of Let It Roll (2006) which sound excellent. So, more to investigate.

I like what I've heard of Paolo Nutini. I'd written the name off prematurely as some teeny bopper but I then caught him on Jools Holland. He has a soulful voice (like James Morrison and Scott Matthews) with just that hint of gravel that makes it interesting.

That's all for this week folks. Full listing below:

Laura Marling Alas I Cannot Swim

Curtis Mayfield Love's Sweet Sensation

Paolo Nutini These Streets

Tom Waits Franks Wild Years
Willard Grant Conspiracy Mojave

Terry Riley Shri Camel

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Log #155 - From Celluloid to Wax - Discovering New Music Through Django Unchained

Beirut The Flying Club Cup

Jim Croce Photographs and Memories

Wilco Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

Anthony Hamilton Ain't Nobody Worryin' 

John Legend Once Again

Tangerine Dream Cyclone

Miserabilist - a person who appears to enjoy being depressed, especially a performer of or listener to gloomy music.

[That's the definition from the Collins English Dictionary]

As a genre of music miserabilist is perhaps undeveloped and lists of artists so described are not forthcoming. However I'd wager the term is made for American Alt-Country outfit Wilco. 

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, their fourth album from 2001, kicks off with one of the worst songs I've heard from them... I Am Trying to Break Your Heart has a nursery rhyme like melody which singer Jeff Tweedy can barely raise any energy to sing. It's so down tempo and uninspiring. 

I want to hold you in the Bible-black predawn
You're quite a quiet domino, bury me now
Take off your Band-Aid because I don't believe in touchdowns
What was I thinking when I said hello?

What was he thinking? What is he on about?

Luckily the album actually improves after this depressing false start and second track Kamera is a little more uplifting, albeit the lyrics aren't... 

Phone my family
Tell 'em I'm lost on the sidewalk
And no, it's not okay

Or maybe I spoke to soon - the third track is back to depression again and I sort of lost the will to live after that.

Hang on, the fourth track is quite jolly.

Oh, I don't know, maybe it's Wilco at their schizophrenic best. I guess I conclude it's not an easy listen and just could be one of those classic slow burners (I do doubt this having had it in my collection for well over a decade).

OMG, I've just googled "Wilco Albums Ranked" and it comes out on top. Jeez, what am I missing? And the usually reliable Pitchfork gave it 10/10! Really? That's a score that should be reserved for the likes of Astral Weeks or Blood On The Tracks. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot should be docked two points for I Am Trying To Break Your Heart alone. 

I've said this many times on this blog: It's the singing that counts for so much and while I'm on the subject of being underwhelmed by the Wilco singing I move on to a new band for me, Beirut...

Unfortunately they would appear to be another group (Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev, Vampire Weekend, Arcade Fire, even, say it softly, Radiohead) where the vocals provide a barrier to my enjoyment.

I say "they" but Beirut is actually American musician Zack Condon's solo vehicle. Condon plays trumpet and ukulele (yes). Other musicians lend hands on accordions, trombones, violins and pianos. The result is described as a sort of indie/world/old-time/gypsy/busking music centred on European folk influences - Condon's first album had an Eastern European flavour, this one French. 

It's an ambitious project but doesn't quite hit that unique sweet spot Tom Waits has made his own. I was on the verge of confining the CD to the "back to the charity shop" bin but it could be a grower if I can tune into Condon's wobbly voice. Worth another week in the player I'd say.

No such issues with the vocal talent on the rest of the selection this week (I even include perennial favourite Cyclone in here - Tangerine Dream's only vocal based album as far as I'm aware): Three more artists new to me which I picked up after watching Quentin Tarrantino's Django Unchained film. The film and the soundtrack is excellent (better than his most recent much hyped Once Upon A Time In Hollywood film).

Now granted I could have just bought the soundtrack album but I like to hear the artists in their proper individual contexts so I alighted upon this selection from Jim Croce, Anthony Hamilton and John Legend. 

The Jim Croce album is a "best of" compilation which includes I Got A Name from the film. It's a great song rendered perfectly in the film where the two horsemen heroes ride across wide open winter Western savannas. On first hearing I thought it was Glen Campbell - it's got that Wichita Lineman type vibe:

[parental advisory exists on the clips below]

Photographs and Memories includes 14 tracks from Croce's last three albums (he made five in all between 1966 and his tragic air-crash death in 1973). Most are gentle acoustic guitar numbers, some with Nashville strings. There are a few upbeat country rock and bluesy songs too that remind me of Gram Parsons. 

Apart from I Got A Name the other track that I've heard before is I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song.

Unfortunately the two songs I was looking for most from Anthony Hamilton and John Legend don't appear on any of their individual albums: respectively Freedom (also featuring a singer, Elayna Boynton, who unaccountably doesn't appear to have any albums out at all despite a great voice): 

and Who Did That To You?:  

Both Hamilton and Legend albums are excellent smooth soul if you like that sort of thing, with the bass and drums (and hand claps) high in the mix. So far the albums have existed for me as easy listening background music and I haven't really alighted upon any tracks that approach the brilliance of the two film soundtracks above (admittedly the vivid film associations count for a fair bit). I hope there are some otherwise the albums will become a minor footnote in my listening history, and I'll just have to get the Django soundtrack after all. Tarrantino certainly knows his music.

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