Lots of female singers in the magazine this week - Carly Simon continues her great form with No Secrets which is proving very popular at Bamyasi HQ, and on the road - Carole King makes a re-entry with the similar Tapestry - Caitlin Canty lays down some Nashville country rock - and Nina Persson of The Cardigans sings some quirky pop.
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
On top of that we have, in essence, a missing Arctic Monkeys album from The Last Shadow Puppets and some smooth prog from Camel in the form of their 4th studio album, Moonmadness. The latter is many fans' favourite from the Guildford prog rockers, although not for me. I notice it was produced by Rhett Davies who I hadn't heard of before but his name cropped up in my recent King Crimson listening having produced that band's 1981 comeback album Discipline. My edition of Moonmadness comes with some excellent additional live and demo tracks.
The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age Of The Understatement
Stars Of The Lid - The Tired Sounds Of
Not much movement in the blog this week with just one new entry as I allow the subtle tones of Basinski, SOTL and Eno absorb. That sort of music is a case of gradual absorption. Assimilating the music is a slow and long process but it grows on you as exposure is increased. Needless to say I discover more on each play and each of these records is a masterpiece of understated ambience.
On to the new entry which is PSB's third album following Inform, Educate, Entertain (2013) and The Race For Space (2015). Both those albums were excellent - the first one literally drew upon old public information films on the overnight postal service, Mt. Everest, the Spitfire etc (the musical tracks were accompanied by skilfully crafted black and white videos). The second one continued the idea but within a concept - this time the space race between the US and USSR.
Here is an extract from each album just to demonstrate how good the idea was. The first one is Spitfire from album no. 1 featuring Ricky Gervais (no, not really):
The second one, in colour, is from album no. 2, the very exciting Go!
Ok, so far, so excellent.
I saw PSB at a festival a couple of years ago and a friend in the crowd said to me they were just a gimmick. Having heard the third album I'm not so much in agreement with that description but it could be the case that the boys Willgoose and Wigglesworth could be running out of ideas, or rather the concept is wearing thin.
Having said that the record does attempt a change of direction using specially recorded interviews rather than archived footage, and even some fully formed rock songs with guest singers. This is admirable, and probably necessary, but the problem is I don't think it actually sounds that great. Both the sampled word (generally in thick Welsh accents and including a predictable Richard Burton eulogy - The Pit with it's "death-ray" guitar burst is very War Of The Worlds) and the songs with vocals sound a bit random and out of place. The latter point especially the case on the ill-advised U2 like Turn No More with guest singer James Dean Bradfield of Manic Street Preachers.I doubt this earned PSB any new fans and the existing ones brought up on the first two albums probably didn't want to hear it either. This reminds me of the time when Afro Celts attempted to go mainstream with Bono and Peter Gabriel fronted pieces.
But generally reviews were positive - both for the concept and the music. The Quietus, not averse to publishing stinging reviews, were largely out of step with their lengthy hatchet job on the band. They argued the point of the "dire, tacky and inept" album was not even clear without the accompanying press. However the writer was clearly not a fan of the first two albums either struggling to understand how PSB became popular in the first place (before similarly nostalgic British Sea Power for instance), thus weakening his specific prosecution case somewhat.
Indeed there are moments especially in the first half of the album - the heavy guitar riffing of All Out recalls the fantastic Signal 30 from the first album, People Will Always Need Coal has that chugging guitar and synthesizer loop bubbling along under a plumby accent which builds to lush keyboards like a lot of the Race For Space tracks, and Progress is similar with hints of a Kraftfwerk vocoder. Go To The Road goes a step further down this autobahn with a catchy The Model like Kraftwerk synth riff.
The problems for me come with the songs later in the album despite some nice guitar especially on the jazzy Mother Of The Village and the whole thing comes to a weak end with the Welsh choir piece, no doubt poignant in the right setting, but ultimately demonstrating the disjointedness of the concept here.
I hope you don't mind my click-bait title but he'd probably make a good one don't you think? Here Arctic Monkeys front man Alex Turner stars in one of his side projects, with Miles Kane, The Last Shadow Puppets. For all intents and purposes, with Turner taking on the majority of vocals, and his ear for a catchy pop tune intact, I think it is pretty much an Arctic Monkeys album.
Wyclef Jean - The Ecleftic 2 Sides II A Book
Low - Double Negative
Brian Eno - Ambient 1
William Basinski - A Shadow In Time
The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age Of The Understatement
Stars Of The Lid - The Tired Sounds Of
I am surprised The Age Of The Understatement came out in 2008. It contains many of the elements of the Monkeys' latest release, Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino, with its atmospheric vibes and abundant strings courtesy of the London Metro Orchestra. Some tracks would have certainly enhanced that slightly lightweight album like the psychedelic sounding The Chamber:
Yet, equally, there is plenty to keep the traditional AM fans happy too. Separate and Ever Deadly is old style Monkeys with fast riffing and biting lyrics:
When we walked the streets together
All the faces seemed to smile back
And now the pavements
Have nothing to offer
And all the faces seem to need a slap
Probably the most experimental track on this classy album is Only The Truth which has a galloping drum roll like Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song and brass which, with the swirling strings, lends the track a James Bond theme like sound. In fact that's not the only one thus justifying the title to my blogpost! The best track on the album with more masterful James Bond production is My Mistakes Were Made For You which would have made a superb Bond song:
About as subtle as an earthquake, I know My mistakes were made for you
"We meet again Mr Turner"
Who's That Girl?
Well, the one pictured immediately above with Alex Turner is Lana Del Rey. The one on the cover of the album no one knows although she may have been called Gill. Apparently it was a genuine 60s shot taken by South African based art photographer Sam Haskins. But my sources (google) say the model was just a girl who had walked in off the street. Isn't that wonderful.
