Log #128 - Virgins Born Under A Bad Sun

This week we take in 3 new artists to the blog all from the experimental electronic stable: Tim Hecker, Mark Pritchard and Venetian Snares. These new boys on the block sandwich entries from Nils Frahm, Edgar Froese and Burial whose strong albums deservedly maintain a place in the magazine for further absorption.

Mark Pritchard Under The Sun

Nils Frahm All Melody

Edgar Froese Epsilon In Malaysian Pale

Burial Untrue

Venetian Snares Rossz Csillag Alatt Született

Tim Hecker Virgins

Tim Hecker is an artist I've read a lot about but up until now not actually heard. Thank you once again to @TheElectricApe for supplying this #NewMusicAlert.

Who is he? A Canadian electronic musician and sound artist. Tim Hecker is also an academic and lecturer on sound culture with a PhD (including a thesis on urban noise) from McGill University.  

What does he sound like? I'm only going by this 2013 album (bear in mind he's produced 10 albums since his 2001 debut Haunt Me, Haunt Me Do It Again - don't be misled as I was that his preceding album Ravedeath, 1972 was actually from 1972!) but on this evidence his sound includes elements of ambient and glitch but is closest to classical minimalism. 

The phased piano loops of Virginal I and II are from the Philip Glass and Steve Reich schools of minimalism. Yet Black Refraction is a beautiful slow piano solo similar to some of Nils Frahm's works or Glass's Solo Piano - at least until the piece literally decays towards the end. Decay and distortion are constant bedfellows through the album calling for obvious comparisons with William Basinski.

Virgins is not an easy listen as a whole but ever interesting and highlighted by moments of sheer beauty that occasionally surface above the noise: Live Room and Live Room Out combine both the jarring repeating loops of the minimalist composers and the chordal string beauty of artists like Stars Of The Lid. Stigmata II does something similar beginning with a hypnotic pulsing ripping sound that merges into gorgeous wavering synth flutes like those frequenting the Edgar Froese album which has taken up residence in the magazine.

Mark Pritchard comes from the Warp music label which, as a home to Aphex Twin, Luke Vibert, Boards of Canada, and Autechre, amongst many other groundbreaking experimental artists, is almost always a good sign. 

On initial listens of Under The Sun, however, I'm not so convinced here. The first half of the album particularly could possibly suffer from "guest vocalist syndrome" where vocals are plastered over the top of an otherwise instrumental piece (reading that back that sounds obvious, all songs would be instrumentals without vocals - I think I mean there is sometimes a sense of shoehorning some vocals in as an after thought although perhaps this is just my current predisposition to instrumental music). 

Worse when the guest vocalist is a named star such as Bono or Gabriel (I'm thinking of some mid-era Afro Celt albums that attempted to go mainstream) or in this case Thom Yorke. Maybe good for kudos and sales but I find Thom Yorke's miserabalist mumblerock moanings ill fit most music. 

We also have a spoken word track The Blinds Cage which I think would be better as an instrumental - this one voiced by someone called Beans, and the title track which has an annoying high pitched female choir round possibly manageable as a one minute synthesizer interlude like tracks Hi Red or Dawn Of The North but at 6 1/2 minutes it grates. 

In another about turn You Wash My Soul has very ghostly vocals backed just by acoustic guitar - it comes over as very righteous. I think the best vocal track is Give It Your Choir although even this one, with it's choral proggy leanings, is possibly a fish out of water in this variable album. It's a nice song nontheless.

Unsurprisingly then, it's the instrumental sections of the album I like best. Strip out the songs and you'd have a decent album of ambient drones, loops and ghostly sound effects.  Longest track Ems is probably the pick. The trouble is these sorts of records rely on building tension and atmosphere over a sustained period. The disjointed nature of this album fails to do this for me.

Bonkers! There isn't a better way to describe Venetian Snares. I describe it as classical music set to drum and bass. How does that sound? Well, it sounds like Rossz Csillag Alatt Született, prolific Canadian (another) electronic musician Aaron Funk's 15th album released in 2005. The track titles are in Hungarian and the album title translates as Born Under a Bad Star. The album was inspired by a visit to Hungary and encounters with pigeons in Budapest (hence the classy cover photo at the head of this post):

It's just a pigeon, looking for its nest
It doesn't know that it's wild
It doesn't know that it scares me
Why am I frightened so easily?
Pigeon, why can you scare me?
Am I not a part of your life anymore?
Am I not welcome anymore?
Am I not part of your life?

Some works great: Öngyilkos Vasárnap is Portishead turned up to 11 with super sharp beats and sawing violins (the sampled vocals belong to Billie Holiday's Gloomy Sunday). It's a truly haunting and moving song.

Felbomlasztott Mentőkocsi is brooding and portentous, sounding like Arvo Part or Gorecki (I'm assuming all the classical music is sampled and am not going to attempt to list the sources).

Hajnal is a masterpiece moving from jazz flavoured piano to full on breakbeat. (I was surprised on seeing Goldie with The Heritage Orchestra last year that you could actually have live drum and bass drummers, but I'm certain no human drummers could drum as fast as this).

But Szamár Madár is frankly horrible. It's a familiar classical piece and as such comes over as classical pops.

It's an intriguing and novel approach but part of me wonders if there is much more to this than simply setting classical pieces to random banging beats. And, like I say, sometimes the marriage works like on the Billie Holiday number but sometimes the union seems mismatched and irrelevant. It may miss the point somewhat but one of my favourite tracks is the final Senki Dala which combines guitar harmonics with plaintive violin and piano. It's a beautiful piece and ironically there are no drums. 

ps. I'm trying a new concept this week. Any Spotify users out there? Here is the link to a playlist for this week's selection. I understand it should play the complete tracks although some users (possibly non account holders or non logged in people) may only get 30 second previews (which would suit many anyway). Here goes: 

Looks like success!

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Log #93 - They Sold Their Souls For Rock 'N' Roll

Black Sabbath were really something else. They had a unique sound instantly recognisable. This sound was employed and developed over their first 6 albums from 1970 to 1975. This classic compilation We Sold Our Soul For Rock 'N' Roll draws from these 6 albums. Two later albums featured singer Ozzy Osbourne following this compilation before the band sacked him and set off on a revolving door's worth of new members. Although they had their moments most notably on the Dio fronted Heaven and Hell album they had essentially become another metal band having lost a lot of their uniqueness - a uniqueness that was pleasingly reignited on their recent reunion album 13.

This compilation in it's own right is an excellent record. However the first 6 albums are so strong that I would really prefer readers to just buy the original albums. We Sold Our Soul For Rock N Roll draws heavily on the first two albums meaning their third (and their best in my opinion) is neglected with only two tracks - luckily one of them being Children Of The Grave which I think was the first Sabbath track I ever heard and one that stopped me in my tracks with a "Wow, what is this?!"

For new listeners see if it has the same effect on you:

Sadly there is also only one track from their fifth album the groundbreaking Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.

1. Black Sabbath - We Sold Our Soul For Rock 'n' Roll cd 1
2. Black Sabbath - We Sold Our Soul For Rock 'n' Roll cd 2
3. Chris Rea - The Road To Hell
4. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
5. Various - Rock Chronicles: The Seventies
6. Francois And The Atlas Mountains - Plaine Inondable

Last entry in the 6 way slot this week is a curious affair from little known band Francois and the Atlas Mountains. I know little about this band. I saw them at a festival years ago and was suitably impressed enough to buy their album which translates as Flood Plains.  Here you go >> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fr%C3%A0n%C3%A7ois_%26_the_Atlas_Mountains

It would appear they are a Belgian/French/Bristol collaboration.

One of their songs reminds me of Imagine by John Lennon. Let me see if I can find it.

Actually more like Paris 1919 by John Cale or Belle and Sebastian.

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Log #89 - The New Arctic Monkeys - Still Good But Not As Brilliant

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1. Arctic Monkeys - Suck It and See

2. Arctic Monkeys - AM

3. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

4. Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare

5. Arctic Monkeys - Humbug

6. Arctic Monkeys - Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino

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You have probably noticed that the Arctic Monkeys are back, with a bunch of gigs, plenty of European summer festival appearances, and a new album, their first in 5 years.

They are also back, not surprisingly after so long, with a new image and a new sound. In a career spanning only 13 years to date, a 5 year sojourn represents a large proportion of the total allowing plenty of time for change (or "progression").

Unfortunately it would seem many of the fans have not moved on with the band and the new album has garnered mixed reviews. An average of only 3 stars on amazon (a site strongly biased towards the positive side) is pretty poor, with currently 31% of customers awarding just the 1 *. One or two armchair reviewers even bemoaned the unavailability of a zero star option! Hashtag harsh.

Is this fair? Is it too early to present a fair assessment? Is it just a knee jerk reaction to something very different to what has gone before?

What the Monkeys can be praised for, again, is doing something new and different. They have rarely stood still over their 6 album output with each album ploughing new furrows although it has to be said the changes have been gradual up until now. This more pronounced change of direction since 2013's stadium rock friendly AM could be just a little bit too much of a shock for the original fans hoping for an "AM2".

The full collection of Arctic Monkeys albums 2006-18

The fast indie thrash of their stunning 2006 debut Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not was gradually watered down through follow ups Favourite Worst Nightmare, and Humbug. The common thread through these three remained Alex Turner's Mike Skinner (The Streets) like delivery of witty and inciteful lyrics backed by skilful guitar riffage and thunderous drumming. 

Arctic Monkeys in the beginning

Yeah I'm sorry I was late
Well I missed the train
And then the traffic was a state
And I can't be arsed to carry on in this debate
That reoccurs, oh when you say I don't care
Well of course I do, yeah I clearly do!
So laugh and joke around
Remember cuddles in the kitchen
Yeah, to get things off the ground
And it was up, up and away
Still it's right hard to remember
That on a day like today when you're all argumentative
And you've got the face on

Growing up with a Mardy Bum in Sheffield

Then came Suck It and See which probably represented the biggest single leap in style between albums to date as the band slowed down and became heavier - a more conventional rock sound that was developed further on the more mature AM. Suck It and See was their most Oasis sounding album, AM had some glam leanings that have been fully embraced on Tranquility.

Arctic Monkeys a bit later on

It is early days for the new album of course, and I strongly suspect it will be a grower but would it be given any air time if it wasn't the Arctic Monkeys? If this was a new debut album from a brand new band it would probably have sunk without trace. In fact it probably wouldn't have been made in the first place.

But that's a largely irrelevant argument. Many artists earn the right to do what they want after a string of success. Many mid period albums by artists were initially received with disappointment only subsequently to become considered masterpieces. Neil Young's On The Beach featured in log #85 is an example although there are literally hundreds. 

Young is a good example, although from a different era. After the success of his Harvest album he deliberately set out to alienate fans and record companies alike only to produce a string of masterpieces in the mid 70s. Perhaps in the 80s he took it too far and was eventually sued by his record company for making records unrepresentative of himself (however that was defined legally is anyone's guess)!

For once the record company was right - Young made some absolute turkeys in the 80s peaking (if that's the word) with Everybody's Rockin', a 50s rockabilly pastiche he made in response to the record company (Geffen) demanding "rock and roll". Young maintained this was a serious project (as was the previous "electronic" album Trans based on the communication difficulties experienced by Young's handicapped son) but the paucity of the album (25 minutes of lacklustre originals and uninspired covers) and accompanying gigs where he wore a shockin' pink suit and sat in a pink car on stage suggested otherwise.

Probably Neil Young's lowest point

Anyway after a decade of rubbish his career nevertheless survived and he came back stronger than ever in the 90s with a return to heavy rock and finding himself being christened the "Godfather of Grunge" as the likes of Nirvana and Pearl Jam became popular.

Arctic Monkeys now

On initial listens I think Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino is a good album that is beginning to grow on me. It's more a brave record than a lazy one. There are some nice laid back tracks with decent grooves and Alex Turner's voice has matured into a pleasant croon like fellow Sheffield singer Richard Hawley, in contrast to his shouty beginnings (his voice was great for their style at the time, and it is now too). Turner's singing is treated to plentiful reverb which does give the sound quite a retro 60s feel. The comparisons to early 70s Bowie are fine by me, and I was also reminded of Radiohead, and the very laid back Americana band Lambchop strangely too especially when Turner goes falsetto. Thematically, both lyrically and musically, the album maintains a continuity throughout. It is impressive the band have plunged into their new project wholeheartedly when there would have been a huge temptation to dilute the whole with some nods back to their previous sound.

From the first bars of the album opener Star Treatment the new sound is startingly - gentle lilting vibes usher in Alex Turner's softly spoken vocal which does immediately reveal some form of identity crisis for UK pop's golden boy:

I just wanted to be one of The Strokes
Now look at the mess you made me make
Hitchhiking with a monogrammed suitcase
Miles away from any half-useful imaginary highway
I'm a big name in deep space, ask your mates
But golden boy's in bad shape.

It's one of the album's strongest tracks. Another is the title track with a lovely rolling bass and stuttered drumming behind a simple effective piano riff. Perhaps the rest of the band are slightly underemployed elsewhere in an album that could be an Alex Turner solo album in all but name, but here the new Arctic Monkeys blossom as one embracing their new exciting direction.

The title track follows a another key cut - American Sports which has some of the best piano on the album and some excellent distorted Jonny Greenwood like guitar. Throughout the album the emphasis is much more on the keyboards and piano, with the guitar less prominent or completely absent:

I love playing guitar but as a writing tool, I’d reached a point where it wasn’t getting me anywhere.

After the first half the standard drops a little. Golden Trunks has a nice distorted guitar break but is a bit lightweight. The catchy Four Out of Five is an obvious single. It is the most Bowie (Let's Dance era) sounding song on the album. The World's First Ever Monster Truck Front Flip with it's fairground organ is a throwaway number.

One or two of the remaining tracks, especially She Looks Like Fun verge on former Arctic trademark riffing although the guitar is watered down. Batphone is a bit all over the place but is saved by an intriguing other worldly slide guitar or keyboard refrain (I don't know which). Finally The Ultracheese is like it says, very cheesy, but I can imagine this Bowie Five Years like ballad becoming a live singalong favourite.

How will we view Tranquility in the fullness of time and in the context of a further albums assuming the AMs carry on? For now the most loyal Arctics fans would probably have to concede it is the weakest of the 6 so far, but where will it sit in the canon in a few year's time? 

The new stuff is good, but it's not as good as the early stuff, which was brilliant.

A reputation and past success gives an artist plenty of time to experiment (or be downright awkward and curmudgeonly in Young's case) - an opportunity Turner and his band have fully embraced. Where will they go next? No one is ever going to deny the Arctic Monkeys a recording contract even if they follow up the slightly tepid Tranquility Hotel with a string of turkeys. Even so 5 1/2 excellent albums is a pretty good return these days for any band where longevity is a rare commodity.

Hear for yourself what all the fuss is about. Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino out now:

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Log #77 - Exile Sur la Rue Principale - The Rolling Stones in France 1971

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1. Rolling Stones - Exile on Main Street

2. Paolo Nutini - These Streets

3. Sensational Alex Harvey Band - The Impossible Dream

4. Sensational Alex Harvey Band - Next

5. Sensational Alex Harvey Band - Live

6. Holger Czukay - Moving Pictures

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I came late to the Rolling Stones and they come late to this blog too via, perhaps subconsciously, Marianne Faithful from last week (and also more consciously through considering going to see them for the first time on tour in the UK this Spring).  

When I was younger I considered them a bit of a novelty band, neither tickling my ivories as a heavy metal band or progressive rock.

I consequently didn't really get Exile when I first heard it - as a beginner it didn't even seem to have any of the tunes I was familiar with - the likes of Start Me Up or Brown Sugar that used to get us excited at discos!

Oh how green I was. My dismissal was misguided. The Rolling Stones were and (incredibly) still are a classic rock band with a unique take on a loose and ramshackle form of rhythm and blues, and much cooler than the prog rock bands of the time or the heavy metal bands they preceded. 

Now I get it and can appreciate Exile too. Capturing a moment in time when this band were at their peak the album almost defined the bohemian and decadent rock and roll lifestyle with 18 tracks of raw and spontaneous back to basics swampy honky tonky country blues that were very much at odds with the progressive rock movement of the time and some of their own more expansive experiments of recent times. By single track you may not recognise much as being the best of the Stones but this is an album of atmosphere where the whole is something greater than the sum of its parts like Neil Young's desperate Tonight's The Night.  

A sprawling experience made in the idyllic surroundings of a French villa surrounded by guitars, drugs, hangers on, and pretty girls, those (must have been) the days...

...or were they?

The album and its making is surrounded by rock 'n' roll myth, but what was the reality? The Stones were actually genuine tax exiles forced (against their will) to decamp to France to avoid 93% tax rates in England.

I just didn't think about it, and no manager I ever had thought about it, even though they said they were going to make sure my taxes were paid. So, after working for 8 years, I discovered nothing had been paid and I owed a fortune. 

Mick Jagger

Keith Richards had rented Villa Nellcote, a sprawling mansion near Nice in the South of France and moved there with partner Anita Pallenberg and 2 year old son Marlon in early 1971. The rest of the band followed although they didn't actually stay at Nellcote, renting alternative accommodation nearby.

However once attention turned to recording a new album the Stones' new mobile studio was moved into the basement and Nellcote became the HQ for the band who would drop by with the crew to  record (and socialise of course) although it soon became obvious this arrangement rarely worked for the nocturnal Keith Richards. He was sinking into the throes of a serious heroin addiction and could barely make any scheduled sessions - not on any account of disrespect or rudeness he recalls - he "was just asleep".

In reality, far from luxurious the allegedly former Nazi headquarters from the war was rundown and damp (the basement was cramped and the band's instruments would constantly go out of tune).

It wasn't a great environment for, like, breathing. 

Keith Richards 

Tensions in the band were high. Richards and Jagger (who was often absent, more interested in visiting his new and pregnant wife Bianca who sensibly avoided Nellcote preferring to stay in Paris) weren't getting on and London boy Charlie Watts was homesick. Worse still new boy Mick Taylor was about to join Richards in his drug habit.

The house not surprisingly became a magnet for a multifarious selection of musicians, employees, friends, executives, advisers, groupies, and drug dealers, some welcome, many not. One night a thief walked in and helped himself to Richards' guitars.

We were never by ourselves... day after day, it was 10 people for lunch... 25 for dinner...

Anita Pallenberg

The sessions such as they were became shambolic jams that went on for days, often thwarted by power cuts, with hundreds of takes of rambling songs that were never finished. In fact contrary to the myth, many of the songs were written and demoed elsewhere, including London, and finished off with additional recording and production later in LA. After the birth of Jagger's daughter, Jade, he instructed the band to just carry on recording instrumental tracks and he'd add the vocals later.

Out of decadence and adversity came the Rolling Stones’ defining masterpiece.

Of course despite all this, the band frictions, the shambolic arrangements (both living and musical) and sloppy playing have contrived together to produce a ramshackle masterpiece. But at the time critics, fans, and the band themselves weren't particularly impressed with the outcome. Jagger recalls the muddy mix where his vocals struggle to be heard over the general din:

When I listen to Exile it has some of the worst mixes I've ever heard. I'd love to remix the record, not just because of the vocals, but because generally I think it sounds lousy. 

Richards wasn't sympathetic of course:

Lead singers never think their vocals are loud enough.

The place was eventually raided and Richards was banned from France. He still states: "While I was a junkie, I learned to ski and I made Exile On Main Street." Fair enough. Many consider this Richards' album.

Personnel

The Rolling Stones:

Mick Jagger – lead vocals, harmonica
Keith Richards – guitars
Bill Wyman – bass guitar
Charlie Watts – drums
Mick Taylor – guitars

Additional musicians:

Nicky Hopkins – piano
Bobby Keys – tenor saxophone
Jim Price – trumpet
Ian Stewart – piano
Jimmy Miller – percussion, drums
Bill Plummer – double bass
Billy Preston – piano, organ
Al Perkins – pedal steel guitar
Richard Washington – marimba
Clydie King – backing vocals
Venetta Fields – backing vocals
Joe Green – backing vocals
Gram Parsons – backing vocals
Chris Shepard – tambourine
Jerry Kirkland – backing vocals
Mac Rebennack (Dr. John) – backing vocals
Shirley Goodman – backing vocals
Tami Lynn – backing vocals
Kathi McDonald – backing vocals

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Log #67 - From Prog To Pop

Many bands of course change direction during their careers. Sometimes this is a natural progression or development. Sometimes it's an unavoidable result of changing personnel or a result of burnout leaving bands bereft of new ideas (how many bands shoot their loads completely with a tremendous first album which has in essence been many years in the making, but then understandably fail to follow up with a decent sophomore six months later?).

With the advent of punk and new wave in the mid to late 70s, many existing bands such as prog rock giants Genesis became "dinosaurs" and had to adapt to survive (or did they? Ed.). The Genesis transformation appeared dramatic and sudden with the release of Duke in 1980 but in actual fact had really begun a few years and albums earlier with the departures of key personnel setting in train subtle changes well before that transformative album.

German Krautrock trendsetters Can were already ahead of their time when they launched in the late 60s - their change in the mid-70s was a little more gradual as rather than punk and new wave, which they were already close to in the beginning and arguably influenced, they began to introduce elements of reggae and world music into their sound (being ahead of their time again).

The results were less than impressive though and like Genesis their core fans deserted. Genesis carried on obtaining unbridled commercial success with a new set of fans who had never heard Supper's Ready and didn't care. Meanwhile Can disbanded in 1979 leaving their original legacy largely intact notwithstanding a disappointing and short lived reunion album at the end of the 80s.

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1. Beck - Colors

2. Neil Young - Hitchhiker

3. Bruck - Violin Concerto No. 1

4. Genesis - Turn it on Again, The Hits

5. Can - Anthology 25 Years CD 2

6. Handsome Family - Honey Moon

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I have two greatest hits/compilations/anthology CDs in the player this week from these two important bands.  As regular readers know this is not normally something I advocate. But sometimes these catch all releases serve a purpose - for example you may not like the band enough to buy all the albums so just want a sample, or you just want to sample as a beginner before venturing deeper. 

In the case of Can, I do love the band (I was even named after them!), but this Anthology seemed a good choice in order to cover a lot of ground economically (having bought many of the albums before on vinyl which I no longer hold, I don't always replace all like for like with the CD formats). In particular this anthology has a good selection of their latter day material (post 1975) that doesn't really warrant purchase in its entirety (the key music from Can can be found on their first half a dozen albums or so starting with Monster Movie and ending with Landed in 1975) (but do check out their solo albums too Ed.).  Subsequent albums had their moments as the band dabbled with world, disco and reggae music, but the core Can sound which had made them so exciting and influential had gone.

Where a band is famous for extended improvisations a compilation album will also run the risk of inappropriate edits. How exactly can Hallelujah or Mother Sky for example be cut down to 5 minute samples? Having said that this compilation does it pretty well and the shortened tracks are not too grating - of course you've got to make sure you do hear the full versions of Hallelujah and Mother Sky on their original albums (Tago Mago and Soundtracks respectively), but note this CD does at least have the bonus of the unedited 20 minute You Doo Right from Can's debut album.

Similarly, yet more marked and (un)celebrated, was the change in Genesis around the same time. There can't be many bands who became so different as music fashions (and personnel) changed. This hits compilation is very heavily weighted to the latter day Genesis beginning particularly with the 1980 Duke album (although the change set in with the departure of Peter Gabriel and then Steve Hackett in quick succession following their Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974), and Wind and Wuthering (1976) albums respectively) - there are only two Gabriel era tracks on this 18 track album!

Unlikely Rock Trivia: Genesis were discovered by now disgraced record producer and radio presenter Jonathan King.

In fact being far from a fan of Phil Collins I have never had any desire to hear any post Gabriel Genesis. However this CD was a gift. Also my interest was piqued somewhat by an excellent ranking rundown I read here > http://www.prog-sphere.com/specials/genesis-albums-ranked/ which encouraged me to reassess (notice how the album covers deteriorated with the music too!).

What do I think now? Well, much the same really although I would say the chasm between the two incarnations is possibly slightly narrower than I had realised. They are still completely different bands and Collins is no Gabriel (keener prog era Genesis fans will also not underplay the influence of Hackett too). The prog era band produced some amazing original music with a charismatic front man. The pop music version went soft and became a vehicle for Phil Collins' constipated singing, thumping snare and syrupy love songs, covered in Tony Banks' synthesized cheese.

Are there any fans out there who like both the prog-Genesis and pop-Genesis?

From this to this - two very different beasts

And from this to this... nuff said

However it's not so bad and without the comparison of the original band Genesis Mark II may have been a perfectly reasonable pop band. Duke which was an affront to the existing fans was not such a bad album in itself (similarly time has been kind to King Crimson's 1980 comeback album Discipline for example which was a shocking release for their prog fans at the time but now seems quite revolutionary). To be fair, and in hindsight, Genesis Mark I.V did enjoy a prog swansong of sorts with three good post Gabriel albums that have each aged well - A Trick of the Tail, Wind and Wuthering (both 1976) and And Then There Were Three (1978), while downsizing from a five piece to an eventual trio (remarkably neither Gabriel or Hackett being replaced).

A few other new entries this week which may warrant more words at a later date. We have Beck's latest Colors which is very poppy and dare I say quite shallow compared to his usual work. I do love Stay Up All Night though.  Neil Young's Hitchhiker is a solo acoustic album from the mid-70s featuring slightly altered versions of songs from Rust Never Sleeps and various other previously unreleased tracks.  The title track is excellent and I love the version of Powderfinger which gives the song a completely different atmosphere. Best of all is Campaigner though with its famous refrain - "even Richard Nixon's got soul".

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Log #66 - Christmas Cheese and Real Drugs

A #CheeseAlert apology to start. All Christmas music is tripe. This includes both the sickly pop songs we are battered with in all public places for at least two months before the big day (I'd be mightily relieved if I could be spared ever hearing The Fairytale of New York again, or anything by Slade or Wizard), and Christmas Carols with their piercing singing and questionable lyrics (give me some John Tavener choral songs any day). Is there any decent Christmas music out there? Please let me know! So apologies that I've had to have some topical fayre in the family player just for this week. Just for this week.

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1. Guildford Cathedral Choir - The Christmas Carol's Album

2. Richard Hawley - Truelove's Gutter

3. John Grant - Queen of Denmark

4. War on Drugs - A Deeper Understanding

5. Various - Resident Sampler #10

6. The Felice Brothers - Tonight at the Arizona

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So on to the proper music:

Still loving Richard Hawley's Truelove's Gutter album. A true masterpiece of understated gorgeousness - probably his best album.

Four new albums this week courtesy of Santa (and Resident Music):

John Grant

Last May I was lucky enough to catch a surprise solo gig by John Grant at Brighton's intimate Sallis Benney Theatre as part of the 2017 Great Escape Festival. I knew about his lovely rich baritone voice but was unaware of his interesting piano playing with its skillful arpeggios and unexpected key changes.

Previously with alternative rock band The Czars, Queen of Denmark is his much vaunted solo debut. Most of the songs are fundamentally piano based but are fleshed out with orchestration or band. Several employ electronics (which become more prominent on his later albums) like the typically personal JC Hates Faggotts:

I've felt uncomfortable since the day that I was born

Since the day I glimpsed the black abyss in your eyes

There's no way you could make all of this shit up on your own

It could only come from the mastermind of lies

I can't believe that I've considered taking my own life

'Cause I believed the lies about me were the truth

It will be magic to watch your transformation when you realize that you've been had

It's enough to make a guy like me feel sad

'Cause you tell me that Jesus

He hates fruit loops, son

We told you that when you were young

Or pretty much anything you want him to

Like sitcoms, paedophiles and kangaroos

And you tell me that Jesus

He hates homos, son

We told you that when you were young

Or pretty much anything you want him to

Like Cocoa Puffs, red cars and Jews

Standouts include Marz and the moving title song:

The War on Drugs

An odd name for a band this. An odd name for a "war" too, as was the one on "terror". The original phrase was actually coined by Richard Nixon's government in the early 70s. I had assumed it was a much more recent thing.

Anyway the band The War on Drugs were formed in 2005 but this is only their fourth album. The format follows the basic 4 beat rock laid down so successfully in their tremendous Lost in the Dream outing (a great album for long car journeys). It's not too challenging - just good straight forward rock music done well.

Early listens to this new album, which features in many Best of 2017 lists, indicate some typically catchy riffs and extended guitar solos but don't immediately reveal any tracks quite as exciting as An Ocean in Between the Waves from Lost in the Dream but, as that one was, this will be a grower too. If you've got a good sound you don't have to change too much.

Neil Young, they say, only has one guitar solo, but it's a good one.

I really like the series of live sessions by Seattle radio station KEXP. The one below from War on Drugs showcases four tracks from the new album. I also recommend the previous session from the band when they were touring the Lost in the Dream album.

The Resident Sampler

This sampler CD from Brighton store, Resident Music, came free with the above purchase of the War on Drugs album.

These free sample CDs rarely stand up as independent standalone musical entities of course and this is no exception even though the varying styles are somewhat grouped and there is some logical sequencing, but they do serve to introduce new bands, which is the point after all.

Nearly all these bands are new to me. I only recognise one - No. 8, Broken Social Scene. 

Tracks that have jumped out initially (and it has to be only an initial impression to encourage further investigation as there are a lot of tracks here and I haven't got all week!) are one or two electronic ones around the middle of the set. Actually let's be more generous and take my role more seriously with a quick run through of each:

1 Zola Jesus - Exhumed

High ghostly girl vocals over a stirring string based riff which initially sounds like the CD is stuck.

2 Alice Coltrane - Rama Rama

A ghostly chant over more wavering string based electronics (some recalling Pink Floyd's Welcome to
the Machine! at least to my ears, would you believe) with a sitar and tabla. Unusual.

3 Big Thief  - Shark Smile

Pleasant Belle and Sebastian type pop. Not my favourite type of laid back/lazy singing.

4 Girl Ray - Stupid Things

60s flavoured piano pop. Velvet Underground gone soft.

5 Carmen Villain - Red Desert

What is this - Vienna? More breathy ghostly (dare I say laid back and lazy again) girl vocals? Come on guys. Whereas the over enunciation of news readers in the wake of the ridiculous Robert Peston annoys, the complete opposite by many singers these days, who barely move their lips, does the same (X-Factor anyone?). There is a fine line between being effortlessly great and effortlessly a bit rubbish. If you can sing like John Martyn slurring is fine but otherwise (call me old fashioned) I'd like to hear the words. Nice hook though.

6 Ema - 7 Years

Same again. Some of these tracks could indeed be the same band. This one, with it's flangey guitar, has
that classic Cocteau Twins sound going for it.

7 Broken Social Scene - Hug Of Thunder

Girl singer trying too hard this time.

8 Sinkane - Telephone

Pappy pop again.

9 Kelly Lee Owens - Lucid

Come on guys. Where are you? Ditto. But wait, half way through the singing stops and the track changes
into a nice gated synth groove.

10 Grandbrothers - Bloodflow

Here things get more interesting. This is an excellent piano/electronic instrumental which builds very
gradually and then fades again, in the style of Hidden Orchestra. Will investigate this one further.

11 Barr Brothers - Defibrillation

This sort of music sounds a bit over produced to me with everything including the kitchen sink
thrown in and there is so much of it about now. Similar to Phosphorescent / Sigur Ros. It's just
occurred to me - ethereal, that's the word I've been looking for throughout this CD.

An ethereal singer

12 Gulp - Search For Your Love 

This is fun. I like the underlying riff and foot tapping percussion. Sounds a bit like a more poppy Portishead.

13 Physics House Band - Calypso

Not sure what this is. It sounds like heavy rock jazz prog electronica. I can hear a 100 bands in this but it's
consequently a bit all over the place. I have to turn this CD off at this point if my wife walks into the room.

14 Blanck Mass - The Rat

This continues from the previous track. Heavy electronic dance music. The only thing I can think of in my
collection that this reminds me of is Death in Vegas.

15 Lower Slaughter - Bone Meal

Punk. Girl shouter. Riff.

16 Moon Duo - Creepin'

A little more focussed heavy pop Ramones style.

17 Acid - Acid

The heavy theme continues with a bass riff themed track with a very heavy metal style singer who reminds me of Rainbow, Whitesnake or The Darkness. In contrast to the very smooth orchestrated pop tracks above this one actually sounds very under produced.

Ok, thanks Resident. That's probably enough of all that for now. Initial impressions are confirmed with favourite track no. 10 and honourable mentions for nos. 2 and 12, with not a lot else to follow up with urgency. So putting my links where my mouth is let's see who Grandbrothers are >>

The Felice Brothers

Much of the above CD may be described as ethereal. The Felice Brothers' lose the ethe and can be described as just plain real.

As regular readers will know I really rate this band of brothers mostly on account of exciting live performances I've seen on Youtube. Unfortunately I've yet to catch them live myself; a UK tour last year was cancelled on account of leader Ian Felice's health. Since then however he has managed to release a solo album and has made some limited UK appearances to promote it, so I guess he is ok for now. But will we see the full Felice Brothers band in the UK again soon, and will they still be at the peak of their powers as demonstrated by the songs on their raw, ramshackle and invigorating 2016 album Life in the Dark? I hope the moment hasn't passed.

Hailing from the romantically sounding Catskills Mountains region of upstate New York (it sounds romantic but is probably pretty grim) The Felice Brothers channel The Band and Bob Dylan. The Woodstock Festival was held just down the road and The Band's famous Big Pink House, where they wrote much of Music From Big Pink and recorded Dylan's Basement Tapes, was located in Saugerties on the Hudson River. Dylan was a famous resident of the area in the 60s but grew tired when it became overcrowded with “dropouts, druggies, moochers and goons". Van Morrison was a near neighbour but apparently never met Dylan much to his disappointment. This did not stop him celebrating his new found domestic rural bliss with "Brown Eyed Girl" wife Janet Planet on his Tupelo Honey album. Of course it wasn't all that and they separated in 1973:

I had this album cover years ago, Tupelo Honey, where there was a horse in it. So the myth then was that I was living on a ranch and had horses on that ranch. I didn't have a ranch; I didn't have a horse. I don't have a farm, and I never will. I mean, this is all part of the f**king mythology.

Three iconic albums synonymous with Woodstock

Fast forward nearly 40 years to Tonight at the Arizona and the cover of the Felice Brothers' second proper album finds them walking across the Catskills in the snow dressed as The Band.

The Felice Brothers in full Band garb

This is mostly acoustic and closer to another solo Ian Felice album than some of their more recent full band outings. I bought it on the strength of the first two tracks: Roll on Arte, and The Ballad of Lou the Welterweight. Two of the Felice's greatest ever songs. The first is heartbreaking...

...the second starts with one of the best opening lines ever:

Powder your nose, pull off your pantyhose
Let me love you from behind, my Darling

Barnstorming live favourite T for Texas is also in the collection.

Perhaps I was too hasty condemning all Christmas music - I've only just noticed there is a track entitled Christmas Song on this album! And, of course... it's good.

  

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Log #65 - Richard Hawley's Dark and Brooding Masterpiece

One of the joys of writing this blog are the unexpected rediscoveries of artists in my collection. Playing his classic Coles Corner album a month ago led me to expand my Richard Hawley catalogue with two more purchases both featured at the top of my 6 cd changer this week. 

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1. Richard Hawley - Standing at the Sky's Edge

2. Richard Hawley - Truelove's Gutter

3. Tim Buckley - Happy Sad

4. The Felice Brothers - The Felice Brothers

5. Nick Cave - The Lyre of Orpheus

6. Nick Cave - Abattoir Blues

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After being nominated for the Mercury Prize for Coles Corner in 2006 Hawley was nominated again in 2012 for a very different album - Standing at the Sky's Edge is a powerful rock album with mixed down vocals, heavy bass, thumping drums, and distorted guitars. Sounding more like The Stone Roses or Jimi Hendrix, releasing this was a brave move being such a departure from his regular sound.

Hawley's 2009 LP, Truelove's Gutter, is more in the vein of Coles Corner but I'd say even more lush and also darker with some very long slow tracks and sad lyrics highlighted by sparse string arrangements (look at that dark cover too). The writing is stripped back both lyrically and musically - with the emphasis on space and atmosphere - with a voice like his you don't have to try to too hard -  less is more. The eight (only, yay!) songs work perfectly with Hawley's baritone and retro guitar and this album is truly addictive - the one I've had on pretty constant repeat this week. Actually more worthy of the Mercury nomination than the other two I'd say.

As the Dawn Breaks begins with atmospheric bird song. Open Up Your Door and Ashes on the Fire are beautiful waltz-like ballads with brushed drum strokes and echoey 50s style Gretsch guitar. The former has the distinction of being used in adverts for both Haagen Dazs and Renault.

It was the one time I was persuaded to do an advert and the kids went: 'Dad, do we get any free Häagen-Dazs?' So I rang up and asked. Then this massive articulated lorry turned up...this big, tattooed bloke pulled out this freezer thing. When he opened it up there were these four tiny tubs.

The lengthy Remorse Code is hypnotic with it's acoustic guitar arpeggios. The soothing Don't Get Hung Up in Your Soul features haunting saw. Soldier On is a masterpiece of Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb like proportions which builds from tabla backed sustained guitar notes to a crashing crescendo - the only loud section in the album and possibly anticipating the Standing at the Sky's Edge sound.

We then return to another mournful love song where Hawley implores: For Your Lover Give Some Time backed by plucked Spanish guitar and strings:

I will give up these cigarettes
Stay at home and watch you mend the tears in your dress
Have your name in a rose tattooed across my chest
And be your lover for all time
Maybe I will drink a little less
Come home early and not complain about the day
And give you flowers from the graveyard now and then
And for my lover give some time

Heartbreaking.

The last track is the 10 minute Don't You Cry which is more fleshed out than most of the other arrangements. Underpinned by another repeating acoustic guitar arpeggio the track features a symphony of interesting sounds played on lyre, glockenspiel, harpsichord, cristal baschet, celeste, tibetan singing bowls, waterphone, and saw again.

What on Earth is a waterphone? I've never seen or heard one before but this sounds amazing (and a little eerie).

What on Earth is a cristal baschet? I've never seen or heard one before but this sounds amazing (and a little eerie).

These sound clips give an indication of the atmosphere of this amazing album. I thought Coles Corner gave me all I needed from Richard Hawley but I'm so pleased I ventured deeper and discovered this one. For beginners I'd still recommend the lighter Coles Corner but if you like that also take a walk on the dark side with Truelove's Gutter.

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Log #64 - A Brave and Exciting Departure

Regular fans of Richard Hawley, the easy listening crooner, should be wary of his Standing at the Sky's Edge album. However I expect this album of heavy psychedelic trippy rock (don't you just love that cover?) will have won Hawley many new fans and the less sensitive of his existing fans would have nevertheless grown appreciative of this temporary transformation, it being underpinned fundamentally by typically excellent songs albeit in an unfamiliar setting.

Guitar is my first love... I'd done the orchestral thing pretty much... enough to warrant a big change for me.

For this outing, his seventh, the guitars are turned up to 11 and the drums and bass pound away providing a tremendous wall of sound, and the celebrated Hawley voice is distorted and mixed down low sounding like Jim Morrison particularly on the slow paced title track. Aside from the Doors, think Hawkwind, Neil Young (with Crazy Horse of course), Jimi Hendrix, Stone Roses, Ride, Primal Scream, My Bloody Valentine, or any other number of shoe-gazing guitar bands of the 90s.

Songs like the 7 minute opener She Brings the Sunlight with it's sustained power chords and distorted electric guitar solos are indicative of this new towering sound.

Obvious single Leave Your Body Behind You with it's descending bass line would make a great Bond theme:

Child of Eden your time is short
You can't leave with more than you've brought
Love given lightly can never be owned
A thing we feel but can never hold

You leave your body behind you
When you leave this place
You leave your body behind you
And you make a space

However it's not all monumental rock and there are a couple of more typical gentle ballads mid album in Seek It and Don't Stare at the Sun although the latter also ends with a searing guitar solo.

A departure then for Hawley, but a very successful one leading to a hugely powerful album that I think will stand the test of time. Take it in the car on a long drive and play it loud!

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1. Richard Hawley - Standing at the Sky's Edge

2. The Felice Brothers - The Felice Brothers

3. Tim Buckley - Happy Sad

4. Gong - The Best Of

5. Nick Cave - The Lyre of Orpheus

6. Nick Cave - Abattoir Blues

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