Log #176 - Magpies Drinking Wine In Bombay

The Unthanks Mount The Air

Bombay Bicycle Club So Long, See You Tomorrow

Free The Free Story

Trees On The Shore (bonus disc)

Iron And Wine The Creek Drank the Cradle

Lal and Mike Waterson Bright Phoebus

Just the two new entries this week - both charity shop pick ups. 

Good value for my £ was Iron and Wine's debut album. It's fairly predictable solo acoustic strumming with whispered voice stuff from Sam Beam. This was what attracted fans to him in the first place, and some were disappointed when he went a bit more electric around the time of Kiss Each Other Clean in 2011 (which I loved), and then again when he went a bit more avant garde jazz (yes, really - I saw him at Black Deer Festival in 2018 and have no idea what he was playing).

As for the other new entry I wasted a £. Even the CD case is broken. I should have guessed. With a silly name like that, Bombay Bicycle Club were bound to be insipid middle of the road electro indie pop - file with Mercury Rev, Vampire Weekend, Arcade Fire and Florence and the Machine - in other words in the bin.

Thank goodness for the Unthanks. Lovely stuff. Their rendition of Magpie (as first heard on The Detectorists) is haunting although I was intrigued why it stopped at 7 when I think I saw 8 the other day. There are various versions of the rhyme, but it seems the most common in folklore is the 7 version:

One's for sorrow

Two's for joy

Three's for a girl and

Four's for a boy

Five's for silver

Six for gold

Seven's for a secret never told

Devil devil i defy thee

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Log #143 - Fried Wax To Burn

Julian Cope, him from Teardrop Explodes, and Antiquarian and Krautrock expert, is a genius. His Modern Antiquarian reference guide, 7 years in the compiling, is a fantastic gift to mankind, one of my favourite books, and one that has enlightened many a holiday to the South West. His musical taste is impeccable - an early adopter of Krautrock, his Krautrock Sampler is a long out of print classic of the genre. I've also been enjoying his double autobiography Head On/Repossessed which has led me to the current selection Fried his second studio album following the break up of The Teardrop Explodes.

With the Teardrops over, Cope retreated to his new home in Tamworth with his American girlfriend Dorian, to play on his keyboard, collect Dinky toys and take drugs. 

Tom Pinnock, Uncut 

So what of his music? I have to say I don't know anything about his music, or The Teardrop Explodes, save for the pop single World Shut Your Mouth (incidentally worth noting that Cope's first solo album also uses the title World Shut Your Mouth but confusingly does not include the track of the same name which was not released until 1986, 2 years later).

Fried is a nice surprise. It's pretty raw and heavy and doesn't sound dated in that typical '80s way. It reminds me of The Smiths. I particularly loved the brilliantly sung Mik Mak Mok which appears as a bonus on my copy (generally though I don't think Cope's vocals are that strong but he gets away with the enthusiasm of the band's playing). Other standouts are the catchy Sunspots and Reynard The Fox. 

The bizarre cover features Cope in a turtle shell with one of his toy trucks (Cope was an avid model car collector).

Is his image of eccentricity and edginess at all contrived? Having read his warts and all books I'd say definitely not.

Nightmares On Wax - Feelin' Good

Calexico with Iron and Wine - Years To Burn

Julian Cope - Fried

Michael Hedges - Aerial Boundaries

John Martyn - Bless the Weather

Fairport Convention - Liege and Lief

Feelin' Good is the 7th album from Leeds DJ and producer George Evelyn otherwise known as Nightmares On Wax. And it does just what it says on the can: It's a feel good record of down tempo beats taking in afro beats, Kruder and Dorfmeister like dub, reggae, funk, deep bass and even ambience.

Luna 2 for instance recalls Can's Hallelujah style circular drumming with throbbing Holger Czukay bass and Nile Rodgers disco strumming whereas Master Plan sounds like Portishead.

The Calexico/Iron/Wine collaboration sort of sounds like the whole is not as great as the sum of the parts, or not as great as it should be. Two different artists in combination. Both great in varying degrees over variable careers but together? Is there a point? Sometimes these sorts of collaborations can feel less a real fusion but a "your turn, no after you" situation. You can hear the trademark laid back Sam Beam drawl, and the occasional Calexico mariachi trumpet but I wouldn't say Years To Burn offers much of an advance on either band's individual catalogue albeit “The Bitter Suite is certainly the most compositionally ambitious song either entity has released in years"(Stephen M. Deusner, Pitchfork).

It's a nice cover, like the Father John Misty covers, and that's a good reference point although this ain't so good as his recent records.

It's also very short, leaving me with a "was that it?" sentiment.

Aerial Boundaries is the classic Michael Hedges album, and a staple of the Windham Hill "new age" catalogue. The late Hedges was a much revered acoustic guitarist at the forefront of the rebirth of the instrument in the 80s through guitarists like Will Ackerman, Alex de Grassi and Pierre Bensusan. A dynamic live performer, incorporating percussive effects and even vocals, some of his albums verge a little too close to easy listening for my tastes, especially with the heavy use of fretless electric bass. Also fond of his own arrangements of covers this album includes Neil Young's After The Goldrush.

Hedges was a tragically killed in a motor accident in December 1997, age 43.

I've not heard anything else in the genre that has changed my mind, and general consensus, that Liege and Lief is the greatest folk rock album of all time. Combining traditional songs with a rock beat what I love most about the sound of Fairport Convention at the time is the circular grind of Richard Thompson's guitar and Dave Swarbrick's fiddle. I'm sure you've all heard the double murder ballad Matty Groves many a time but it remains one of their greatest songs:

Lord Donald, he jumped up

And loudly he did bawl

He struck his wife right through the heart

And pinned her against the wall

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Log #91 - Jazz and Wine

Cover album this week is Iron and Wine's Around The Well double-cd. This is a mostly solo acoustic low-fi collection of b-sides, outtakes and rarities. This is twinned with Neil Young's second solo album Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. Not an obvious twinning perhaps save for the fact that I had the pleasure of attending the inaugural Americana and Country Black Deer Festival this weekend set in Eridge Park, Kent.

1. Earl Sweatshirt - I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside
2. Wiley - Snakes and Ladders
3. Sigur Ros - Takk
4. Quantic - Apricot Morning
5. Iron and Wine - Around The Well cd 2
6. Neil Young - Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere

Neil Young wasn't there but was represented by perhaps my highlight of the weekend which was a storming cover of his Down By The River by fellow Canadian barroom classic rockers The Sheepdogs - the singing from these Lynyrd Skynyrd copyists wasn't quite Neil's but the duelling guitar sound was spot on. Down By The River is one of two classic extended guitar whigouts on this tremendous album, the other being Cowgirl In The Sand; on both, Crazy Horse set down a rolling bass and drum groove allowing Young's guitar to soar. Never one for screaming fret burning he is a master of a cool languorous style that allows the music to breath and take flight in unexpected directions.

It has been said that Young only has one guitar solo, but it sure is a good one.

I'd just hot footed from the main stage headliner, the actual Sam Beam, aka Iron and Wine. Beam had sauntered on stage with an acoustic guitar and an actual glass of red wine which he placed on a stool beside him. Right on time he looked out upon, it has to be said, a smaller than expected crowd which didn't actually grow even with the ending of the excellent Eric Bibb's set on a nearby alternative stage. In fact I think the crowd diminished further as the set progressed - the crowd perhaps confused with the sound and chilled by the breeze after a day of glorious sunshine in this barmy English summer.

Beam started with the popular Trapeze Swinger from the featured record here with lovely percussive playing and his breathy vocals. But I'd probably say this was the highlight of a disappointing set beset with some sound issues, namely the bass drowning out the rest of the band (how often does this happen? - can the sound man not hear the same as me or is the sound set up for a new festival just not what you'd expect) including a cellist who was completely inaudible despite performing energetically. Even Beam turned to say he couldn't hear himself. "Nor can we," someone heckled (could have been me :) )

The songs were culled from his career but were all played with a more jazzy fusion arrangement which I understand has impressed on his latest album but didn't work well on a big stage and actually rendered some favourites unrecognisable.

When I first saw him during the excellent Kiss Each Other Clean tour he had gone full band electric which sounded fantastic to my newcomer's ears, although I did read subsequently some of his fans at the time didn't like his new direction and wanted to hear the introverted acoustic troubadour.

Recent album reviews have been very positive for his latest Beast Epic album heralding a return to the softer acoustic sound albeit with some experimental jazz overtones. I don't doubt the new record is excellent but as I say maybe it is music more suited to the living room, or the Festival Hall, than a festival main stage headlining slot.

Iron and Wine - the new band

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Log #71 - Two Camels and a Dummy

~

1. Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway

2. Genesis - Selling England By The Pound

3. Portishead - Dummy

4. Camel - The Snow Goose

5. Camel - Moonmadness

6. Iron and Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean

~

Two Classic Camels

While rediscovering Genesis over the last few weeks I noticed the band that resembled them the most to my ears was Camel. Both proggers are quite keyboard heavy but not in the mellotronic string backing style of King Crimson or The Moody Blues. The keyboards in Genesis and Camel are much more to the forefront of the music often taking up the melody lines. In Genesis this seemed to be to the detriment of guitarist Steve Hackett who is barely heard on many recordings. In fact, famously he was not even replaced on leaving in 1977. No such chance with Camel as guitarist Andy Latimer was most definitely the leader of the band both musically and spiritually (and now the only remaining original member).

Andy Latimer and Pete Bardens of Camel -  they could have been brothers?

Two classic mid 70s Camel albums in the player this week. If you like your prog melodic and at the easy listening end of  the heavy and challenging scale then you'll enjoy Camel. 

Consummate musicians with an ear for a heart wrenching melody the majority of both these albums is instrumental. In fact Snow Goose is entirely so. Both the recording and live performances featured the services of The London Symphony Orchestra. 

Beginning with Latimer's famous Rhayader flute riff the music on Snow Goose flows and soars continuously, essentially one symphonic piece with repeating themes that weave in and out across the fifteen tracks. The prominent organ and synthesizer arpeggios recall Genesis and when Latimer lets rip on the guitar over one of Pete Barden's organ grooves he sounds like Dave Gilmour or Carlos Santana - Rhayader Goes To Town is a Pink Floyd Echoes in miniature, the beautiful Snow Goose title track sounds like Santana's Samba Pa Ti.

(Im)famously the concept album was based on a novel of the same name by Paul Gallico who threatened to sue the band on copyright (I don't understand why fellow artists do this when the only effect the music could possibly have had - and it did become a popular record - surely was to increase the exposure to the source material?). 

The 1941 novel is a love triangle of sorts featuring a young girl who meets a reclusive artist living in an abandoned lighthouse on the Essex marshes. Together they nurse an injured bird back to health which subsequently returns each year during its migration. After the man is lost at sea during the Dunkirk evacuation the symbolic bird returns to the girl one more time.

Interesting Trivia Fact: Paul Gallico's other famous story was The Poseidon Adventure

In fact to avoid the copyright claim the album was originally entitled Music Inspired by The Snow Goose. Whatever, Paul Gallico did not live long to benefit or otherwise from the success of the record, dying in 1976 only a year after it was released.

Moonmadness, Camel's 4th album, followed Snow Goose in 1976. Following the extended concept of  the instrumental Snow Goose, Moonmadness saw a return to the more defined track based writing of their first two albums. Most of the 7 tracks are lengthy with extended instrumental passages of keyboard, guitar, and flute, and minimal, often distorted or mixed down, vocals (the band had literally yet to find it's voice with the understated vocals shared across all members). Sudden changes in direction are less bewildering than some employed by their prog contemporaries like Yes or Genesis but this does mean the music does verge upon the easy listening spectrum sometimes. What elevates Camel above that slightly anaemic diagnosis though is the sheer melodic beauty of the music. 

Camel are touring Moonmadness this year ending with a September gig at the Royal Albert Hall. I'm very tempted, if tickets are still available. 

Dummy

I had a gap year travelling in 93/94 and when I came back there were two new albums out on the UK streets that everyone was talking about. These were the debut albums by Oasis and Portishead. I was completely unaware of either having spent most of my time in Whitney Houston and Bob Marley obsessed South East Asia.

One was very old fashioned and derivative (not that there is anything wrong with that) and the other sounded futuristic and out of this world. I liked the latter, by Portishead, the more, but have to say I play neither very much any more. In fact I don't even own the Oasis one. But at the time Dummy, from the initial eerie strains of Mysterons, sounded amazing being one of those records the like of which you have not heard before. Someone posted a clip of a live track performed with orchestra on facebook the other day encouraging me to dig out the original album just to remind myself how fresh and original it was 24 years ago. Then I was watching the film Wild the other night with Reece Witherspoon (in the film, not on my sofa, obviously) and the soundtrack included Glory Box ("give me a reason to love you").

In 1995 I was in the acoustic tent for Portishead's long awaited set (long awaited as I recall there was some delay to do with Evan Dando of the Lemonheads failing to show, and then much consternation that it shouldn't take two hours to plug a synthesizer in, even if this was supposedly the acoustic stage). This is the story taken up by Paul Stokes writing in the NME:

‘Dummy’ had sneaked out in August 1994. By the end of the year word of mouth was spreading fast: Portishead’s debut album finished at or near the top of all the end of year polls and was hailed as the most brilliant, original album of the decade. The hype snowballed into 1995. Radiohead expressed admiration; Noel Gallagher declared that it had been an influence on ‘The Masterplan’; soon it would win the Mercury Music Prize, and bands imitating its cinematic sound – trip-hop – started to spring up everywhere. For Portishead, hailing from Bristol, Glastonbury was something of a homecoming show. Yet having been offered the pick of slots and stages, they opted for a low-key billing in the small Acoustic Tent on Saturday night. When it finally came, however, there was nothing ‘acoustic’ about this performance: their set crackled with electricity. Little was said onstage, yet the ever-shy Beth Gibbons bewitched the crowd, and every song from everyone’s new favourite album was cheered like an anthem on a football terrace.

In front of Portishead, it was total chaos. Sweaty limbs slid against each other and one moment you were capsizing to the right, before pressure came back the other way and the ripples started swelling again. Briefly, the band left the stage, allowing just enough time for word to skip around the crowd that, outside, 15,000 others were trying to squeeze in. The scrum had been worth it, though, and, as ‘Glory Box’ rounded off the encore, the mass of bodies who’d been squashed together all night were suddenly able to part. For those of us who endured the wait, the crush and, worst of all, Dando, a bond for life had formed. We are the ones who can say: Portishead at Glastonbury 1995, I was there…

Beth Gibbons of Portishead, Glastonbury 1995

1995 was hot. I went back in 1997 which was a quagmire. Another thing I remember about 1995 was bumping into a friend I'd met in the Philippines the year before. Imagine that - randomly meeting again in a field of 100,000 people in Glastonbury.

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Log #31 - David Sylvian - From Pop Star to Serious Musician

David Sylvian found fame as the flamboyant front man of pop group Japan who were actually active a lot earlier than I'd assumed. They were formed as far back as 1974 ie. in the hey day of prog and glam. This surprised me as I'd always thought of them as an 80s pop band of the Duran Duran, Flock of Seagulls, Spandau Ballet type, rather than contemporaries of Roxy Music and David Bowie. To be fair they didn't really emerge proper until the early 80s having adopted a new romantic style.

David Sylvian did not like to be associated with the new romantic movement which may explain the break up of the band at the peak of their success at the end of 1982, and his subsequent about turn in his solo recordings which began with Brilliant Trees in 1984. But the real eye opener for me was Secrets of The Beehive which I heard at a friend's house shortly after it's release in 1987. Frankly, it blew my mind. I thought it was superb and could not believe it was David Sylvian. I don't play it that often now but for a time it was one of my favourite albums and one of those nice surprises to share with others (I remember Talk Talk's Spirit of Eden was a similarly revered "surprise" album).

Continuing his bee obsession Dead Bees on a Cake came 12 years later. It's a lengthy album with 14 mostly substantial tracks touching on jazz, rock, blues and world music - beautifully produced and performed by Sylvian's usual plethora of top notch session musicians who included Talvin Singh, Marc Ribot, Bill Frisell and Ryuichi Sakamoto on this one.

David Sylvian through the ages

1. Prem Joshua - Yatri
2. Iron and Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean
3. David Sylvian - Dead Bees on a Cake
4. Van Morrison - Enlightenment
5. Luke Vibert - YosepH
6. Luke Vibert - Stop The Panic

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Log #30 - Impressive Beards / Mixed Results

1. Willard Grant Conspiracy - Mojave
2. Iron and Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean
3. David Sylvian - Dead Bees on a Cake
4. John Surman - Coruscating
5. Luke Vibert - YosepH
6. Arbouretum - The Gathering


The Willard Grant Conspiracy album is so so. I used to love this sort of laid back Americana stuff but now it sounds pretty middle of the road and very low key. Actually a bit depressing. The lead singer has one of those baritones popularised by The Handsome Family, Tindersticks and Nick Cave. Sadly on googling a meaning for Willard Grant (there wasn't one particularly) I learn that the lead singer died only this February and that wasn't his name.

Willard Grant singer Robert Fisher 1957 - 2017

I was surprised the band were still going actually. I saw them at our local Komedia venue many years ago, probably around the time (1999) of the Mojave album (which also has a pretty bleak cover) and they seemed jaded at the end of a long European Tour. I could see the drummer lying on the floor back stage before the band made their appearance.

Depressing imagery on the WGC album

Iron and Wine on the other hand really resonate with me. I came to them late when I saw beautifully bearded leader Sam Beam with full electric band at The Green Man Festival in Wales about 7 or 8 years ago. I thought they were excellent - superb musicians, great vocals, and powerful songs especially Your Fake Name is Good Enough for Me. Later I read that diehard fans of Sam Beam were not so impressed with his switch to electric band from his acoustic roots. I've now caught up on the more solo emphasized earlier albums and they are excellent, but that doesn't detract from Kiss Each Other Clean this week's cover album.

Sam Beam, impressively bearded well before it became fashionable

Finally this week a return for Baltimore rock band Arbouretum who I was surprised to see are playing at a tiny venue in Brighton in June. Tickets secured and I hope for some tracks from this guitar laden Gathering album.

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Log #29 - I Love Luke Vibert's Acid

1. Iron and Wine - Around the Well CD 2
2. Iron and Wine - Kiss Each Other Clean
3. David Sylvian - Dead Bees on a Cake
4. John Surman - Coruscating
5. Luke Vibert - Lover's Acid
6. Luke Vibert - YosepH

I love these heavy beatz Luke Vibert albums from his early noughties acid phase. They sound so fresh and current even though they are both over 10 years old now. An artist who has kept up a remarkably original and consistent standard over a number of years and name changes including Plug, Kerrier District and Wagon Christ.

One of my fave tracks with it's Kraftwerk like pulses and vocoder is I Love Acid from YosepH which does exactly what it says on the tin.

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Log #28 - Lost and Found, the Unusual Career Trajectory of The Sugarman

Like many I discovered Rodriguez through the superb Searching for Sugarman film. My partner wanted to go to the cinema and I'd read rave reviews about the film Argo which was also showing (also a brilliant film incidentally). I wasn't fussed about seeing the Sugarman film but I was wrong and it was fascinating. I knew nothing about him apart from through the track Sugarman which appeared on a David Holmes DJ mix album in 2002 entitled Come Get It I Got It.  And as I knew nothing and indeed had no idea if he was still alive the suspense in the film during "the search" was tangible. I'm sure the story of a poor manual labourer from Detroit achieving overdue fame and fortune in South Africa unbeknownst to himself was somewhat romanticised but still a great one.

*spoiler alert* I don't think there are many music fans left with an interest in his music who would not know the outcome of the film so it is ok for me to say that a still living Rodriguez was tracked down and by coincidence he appeared at Brighton Dome just two weeks after I saw the film in November 2012.

It was a superb concert where a fragile but strong voiced Rodriguez played most of the tracks from his only two albums Cold Fact and Coming From Reality plus a storming encore of Blowin' in the Wind (Rodriguez was yet another artist originally hailed as the new Dylan or could have been as good as...). The former album is the more famous and includes the Sugarman track but I actually think the Coming From Reality album is stronger. This edition includes a couple of new outtakes and B sides.

As a tragic aside the Oscar winning director of the Searching for Sugarman film shockingly took his own life in 2014: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/searching-sugarman-director-dead-thr-710882

1. Rodriguez - Coming From Reality
2. Bob Dylan - Desire
3. Iron and Wine - Around the Well CD 1
4. Neil Young - After the Goldrush
5. Calexico - Garden Ruin
6. Van Morrison - Moondance/St. Dominic's Preview*

A bit of a cheat on the whole selection this week as I was on holiday and away from the CD magazine. These are the CDs I had with me and was able to play in a hire car. Amazingly I really was on the way to some Aztec ruins in Mexico when I heard Bob Dylan sing: "Past the Aztec ruins and the ghosts of our people" from Romance in Durango off of my favourite Dylan album Desire. #evocative

Durango is a real place in Northern Mexico

*The last CD in the list is a home made compilation of two of Van Morrison's greatest albums (sometimes fun to do this when you can fit two on the same CD) - a combination not officially available.

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