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Random Track of the Day
Wednesday, November 2 2011 Nice little boppy pop tune the random-o-meter has picked out for us today, from Chris Rea, and an album released, would you believe, almost twenty-five years ago? Wow! I feel old! That girl of mine --- Chris Rea --- from "Dancing with strangers" on Magnet http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._Strangers.jpg Something of an underrated album, “Dancing with strangers” is a really strong record, with tons of excellent tracks and few if any bad ones. (Makes note to review it at some point) This is one of perhaps the weaker tracks, something of a filler but not at all bad. Lightweight, poppy, happy and feelgood, it's a track called “That girl of mine”, and shows that Chris Rea likes to let his hair down and have fun just like anyone else from time to time. |
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Okay, I have never done this before, and it's not what I started this section for, but this is such an unusual and even unique situation that I feel it qualifies. When Bon Jovi released “This left feels right” in 2003, they reinterpreted some of their bigger and more popular songs, giving them a fresh twist. Many were meh, some were really good, but what they did with “It's my life” truly set the song apart. So much so, that although it's their song, I almost consider the version of “This left” to be a cover, albeit by the same band. Can a band cover their own material? No of course they can't, but let's leave the semantics to one side just for now, and humour me. Have a listen to the original from “Crush” and see how much they changed it for “This left feels right”. There's no question that if another band had done the second version it would have been hailed as a stunning cover, or reinterpretation, and the fact that it was the original artiste who released the new version doesn't in any way, to my mind, take away from the truly unique slant they put on this song. Don't believe me? Here, cop an earful of the two versions below, see if you don't agree. |
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One of the bigger hits from a-ha, from their debut album “Hunting high and low”, released in 1985, this was another number one smash for them after the instant success of “Take on me” earlier that year. And no wonder: what a great song! It is, of course, “The sun always shines on TV”. |
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Anyone who's a regular reader of my journal (yes, both of you!) will know that I am most of the time firmly mired in the seventies or eighties: my album reviews rarely stray from that period, and I consider those two decades to be the best for music --- not surprising, since the seventies encapsulated my early teens and my adolescence was spent in the eighties. But all of that is about to change. Well, for a while anyway. In this section I'll be reviewing a current album, an album from this year. I hope to make this a weekly thing, but we'll see. At any rate, it will certainly be more up-to-date than my usual reviews and features. Not that there's anything wrong with them, of course, but once in a while it helps to pop your head over the parapet and check what decade you're in. This section will bring me (perhaps kicking, perhaps screaming) at least temporarily into the twenty-first century, before I dart back to the safety of 80s metal and 70s prog, and all the stuff I like to listen to from days gone by, as it were. A place where the sun is silent --- Alesana --- 2011 (Epitaph) http://photo.sing365.com/music/pictu...+Is+Silent.jpg And we couldn't come more bang up-to-date than this album, released only two weeks ago! I know nothing of this band, and the thing that drew me to their latest album was, believe it or not, a combination of the title and the sleeve. I mean, how more seventies prog rock can you get? As it happens, this band are not a progressive rock band, though they are a rock band. Lucky for me: in searching for new albums to download I came across one called “Songs of the ungrateful living” by an outfit called Everlast. Sounds metal, yeah? Sounds prog, maybe? Wrong: it's a rap group. Now I have nothing against rap, but it's not my bag, so there's an example of being led by your heart (or in this case, your eyes) and not listening to your head. I could have downloaded the album and then been really disappointed. So I checked out Alesana before I clicked the button, listened to some samples, and what I heard made me happy enough to get the album, which I will now review for the first time here. But first, a little about the band behind the album. The first, and most striking thing about Alesana is that they have three vocalists and three guitarists. Interesting. One of the vocalists, Dennis Lee, is credited as “unclean vocals”, and as I've heard some samples where those bloody “death growls” I hate so much come in, I have to assume that's what's meant by that description. The full current lineup is as follows:- Shawn Mike --- “clean” vocals, rhythm guitar, piano Patrick “Peezee” Thompson --- lead guitar Alex Torres --- lead guitar Shane Crump --- bass guitar, backing vocals Dennis Lee --- “unclean” vocals Jeremy Bryan --- drums Perhaps I'm the only person who doesn't know about these guys, and you'll all be shaking your heads, clucking your tongues and saying to each other in knowing tones, “Where has this guy been?” but so be it if that's the case: this is the first I have ever heard of Alesana, so I'm going to come at them from that perspective. This is their fourth album, their debut having been released in 2006, although they had an EP the previous year which apparently got them noticed. They seem to create concept, or at least themed albums, each time. Their first was based on Greek mythology, their second on the fairytales of the Brothers Grimm, and their third loosely around the work of Edgar Allan Poe. This time, their focus is on Dante's “Inferno”. So not your usual “rock all night” fare then! So, to the album. It certainly opens very prog-rock, even folkish, with lilting piano and soft vocal on opener “The dark wood of error”, and you could almost think you were listening to the likes of Mostly Autumn, perhaps touches of Kamelot in the spoken (Italian? Latin?) lines that accompany the music, almost like narration, but then second track “A forbidden dance” kicks in, and ups the ante with a powerful rocker, and you can right away get the impact of those three guitars. I would of course, as those who know my musical tastes will not be surprised to hear, be happier not to hear the “unclean” vocals of Dennis Lee screaming all over the place. I've never seen the point in them personally, and if anything they seem totally at odds with the music and the other vocals in the song, not quite ruining it for me, but I'd be definitely happier without them. Still, there's a sort of Lostprophets feel to them, and they're not as bad as others I've briefly suffered through. The rest of the song is great though: excellent hooks, great melody, and the “clean” vocals of lead singer Shawn Mike certainly have a lot to recommend them. “Hand in hand with the damned” is another rocker, carried of course on sharp and powerful guitars, with solid drumming, and it quickly becomes apparent how tight this band is, switching from mad triple electric guitar attack to lovely, understated acoustic at the drop of a plectrum, never missing a beat. Hard to believe they've only been together for seven years. It's not surprising that they're garnering a hell of a following though, on the basis of the music presented here (and I haven't heard anything from their previous three albums), as “Beyond the sacred glass” slips in almost unnoticed from the previous track, riding on a moody, atmospheric keyboard intro before the guitars kick in. It's the longest song on the album, at just over six minutes, quickly metamorphosing into another fast headbanger, with shades of Iron Maiden in there in some of the guitar work. It's the first track where I hear the “clean” and “unclean” vocals mesh and start to actually complement each other, and to be fair when that happens it works quite well. And then suddenly everything slows down as electric yields to acoustic guitar, and a lovely piano melody takes over, overlaid with some really fine soloing which, while not shredding or anything close, is just as effective, if not more so. Almost Santana in its style, I feel. The tempo picks up again and the song gets rocking again to the end. Probably could have lived without the sudden, jarring abrupt ending to so sublime a track, though. Like many concepts, it's a little hard to follow the story if you aren't familiar the source material, and let's be honest, not too many of us will have struggled though “The Inferno”. I tried, but found it a little dry and replete with too many references to Italian society and politics, but I have a basic idea, like most people, of the work. Nonetheless, it's a little hard then to marry up the songs to the story, but “Circle VII: Sins of the lion” does at least mention the seventh of the nine circles of Hell, and is suitably bombastic and operatic in its execution to give you a good idea of travelling through Satan's kingdom. “Vestige”, on the other hand, returns to the style of the opener, with simple piano and clean vocals, and there's little doubt that there are female backing vocals in there somewhere, but I can't find a credit for the unknown songstress anywhere, not even on the band's own website (which is sorely in need of an update --- the discography doesn't even contain this album!), while “Lullaby of the crucified” kicks up the speed again after the brief interlude, with an interesting choppy guitar part in the middle, spoken, almost tannoy-like vocals echoing in the background while the guitars get more insistent and louder, until they punch out of the song and take over again. There's no doubting the musical talent of these guys, even though from the picture on their home page you'd take them all for members of the college chess club. Guitarists Patrick Thompson and Alex Torres certainly know how to ply their trade, and while Shawn Mike adds in rhythm guitar along with lead vocals, he's really proficient on the piano, letting those fingers glide across the ivories and adding a real sense of the classical to Alesana's music. Most of it is basic fast rock though, and as I mentioned, reminds me very much of the Lostprophets, even the way Mike sings. But that's no bad thing. There's definitely more than a hint of Maiden in the guitar attack, which again is a compliment and not a criticism. A nice little laid-back, semi-jazzy part is unexpected but welcome in “Labyrinth”, which runs without pause or change into “The Fiend”, where Dennis Lee comes across very well as the Dark One, growling and roaring like a man possessed. To be honest, his “low” unclean vocals are much better and more effective I think than his “high”, screaming, throat-searing yells and roars. The former I could listen to more easily, whereas the latter really, to me, just seems to be screaming for the sake of making noise. Hey, I said I hated death vocals, didn't I? There's another supersmooth segue directly into “Welcome to the Vanity faire”, and if I have a criticism --- or indeed, just an observation --- about this album it's that there is, so far, no clear-cut ballad. No, every album does not have to have one, but considering the style of music Alesana are producing, and the largely untapped talent of Shawn Mike on the piano, I feel a nice slow song would be good to hear, as everything so far has been, generally, loud and fast, though certainly not without melody and not without a great deal of thought obviously having gone into both lyrics and music. It would just be nice to rest for a while, put our feet up on our way through Hell and take a breather. Well, “The wanderer” comes close, a nice piano-led slower piece, with some very nice female backing vocals, but it's only a minute and a half long: I would have liked this to have been expanded on, to see what Alesana can do when they try something a little less, shall we say, hectic? Manic, even. “A gilded masquerade” starts off promisingly, but soon kicks into the usual fast rock song. A good song, nothing wrong with it, but like I say, a proper ballad would have been nice. If nothing else though, the album is great value for money, with the closer, “And now for the final illusion” clocking in as track number sixteen, with only two of those being a minute or shorter. It's a good and effective closer, with a feeling of epilogue about it. Great mass vocals, with pretty much the same melody running through from beginning to end, very sparse lyric --- apart from the opening muttered monologue, I only hear the one phrase --- then a very nice piano piece with what sounds like the title of the album murmured over it to the end. I don't really know what it is that makes Alesana stand out from the pack: perhaps it's the unusual effect of having three guitarists and three vocalists, maybe the classical piano or the progressive rock flavoured themes. It could even be the “unclean” vocals of Dennis Lee, which to be fair do add a huge amount of energy to songs that are never dull, slow or boring, but do get something of a kick from his manic screams and growls. Whatever it is, it seems certain these guys are going to be around for a long time, so my advice is check them out, but make sure you have a guide. Unlike AC/DC wrote many years ago, Hell is a bad place to be. TRACKLISTING 1. The dark wood of error 2. A forbidden dance 3. Hand in hand with the damned 4. Beyond the sacred glass 5. The Temptress 6. Circle VII: Sins of the Lion 7. Vestige 8. Lullaby of the crucified 9. Before him all shall scatter 10. Labyrinth 11. The Fiend 12. Welcome to the Vanity Faire 13. The Wanderer 14. A gilded masquerade 15. The best laid plans of mice and marionettes 16. And now for the final illusion So that's my first album from this year reviewed. Interesting stuff. As I said, I'll try to make sure I run this section once a week, but who knows? With other commitments and time constraints, that may not be possible, but I will make certain that I review at least one new album per month. Next time it'll be something totally different, just to keep things fresh. And now, back to the eighties I go! http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...G-HRoTrfRPIDKW |
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The worm was talking to another worm earlier today and the weird subject came up about people who live around here who apparently speak only in numbers --- sounds a bit fourteen nine six six one seven oh, if you ask me! --- but it put in my head the old song by a band called New Musik, and their only, to my knowledge, hit single, “Living by numbers.” So here it is! |
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http://www.trollheart.com/waiter.jpg From time to time, I hear tracks in the course of my day --- usually from my ipod or maybe when in a shop, or on the telly --- which I think are really cool. They don't fit into any of my usual sections: they're not especially random, they couldn't really be always considered earworms, but I want to talk about and feature them. What to do? Create a whole new section, of course! So here is where I'll feature tracks I think you should check out, with maybe a little bit of info on each. No theme, no linkage and not even any set format: one time it could be three tracks, another ten, another time maybe just one. See how I'm feeling, what has impressed me on any particular day. I'll just post as I feel, so it could be close to a daily thing, maybe weekly, or two or three weeks could go by without any recommendations and then I could hit you with a dozen in one week. Or one day. As unpredictable and unreliable as Dublin Bus, I kid you not. So to start us off, here's the Boss, with a great track from his multi-platinum album, “The river”. It's a very low-key song, the vocals at times almost muttered, with none of the usual exuberance associated with many Springsteen songs, but it does demonstrate how his songs very often focus on the little guy, the problems of the working class, and at times, the sheer hopelessness of living a life on the fringes. With cutting lyrics like "I was going to be your Romeo/ You was going to be my Juliet/ These days you don't wait on Romeos/ You wait on that welfare cheque", you know this ain't gonna be a fun ride! Remove any sharp objects from your reach before listening to this, it has no happy ending... Point blank (Bruce Springsteen) from “The River” on Columbia And in total contrast, though she may be someone most rockers would scoff at (but you would, wouldn't you? Well, if you're a guy. Although, even if you weren't... cough cough splutter!) you have to admit that Kylie writes some pretty damn fine songs. Okay, most of her stuff can be dance tosh, as I recently found out when I reviewed “Aphrodite”, but this is sultry, sexy, and that body --- er, I mean, voice! Excuse me for just a moment.... Slow (Kylie Minogue) from “Body language” on Parlophone Now, before you get too sweaty and have to go have a lie down (like me), have a listen to this one. I love this just for the happy, up feeling it gives me. It's not a classic, but I like it a lot. Empire State (Fleetwood Mac) from “Mirage” on Warner Bros I love this one, although I'm not a huge fan of his, from John Cougar Mellencamp. This is “Check it out”, so do as the man says! Check it out (John Cougar Mellencamp) from “The lonesome jubilee” on Mercury Just love this one from Aerosmith! Livin' on the edge (Aerosmith) from “Get a grip” on Geffen And though not a big fan of the Eurythmics, I do like some of their stuff. This is the title track from one of the two albums of theirs I own. Love it. Savage (Eurythmics) from “Savage” on RCA Finally, more renowned for their love songs like “If” and “Baby I'm a-want you”, this is Bread with one of their boppier numbers, “Took the last train”. Till I feel like doing this again, then.... Took the last train (Bread) from “Retrospective” on Elektra |
Random Track of the Day
Thursday, November 3 2011 Going all the way back to 1978 today with a track taken from the eighth, even by that early stage, album by Styx. It is in fact the title track. Pieces of eight --- Styx --- from "Pieces of eight" on A&M http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...s_of_Eight.jpg I must admit, I know little of this band beyond their big hit singles “Babe” and “Mr. Roboto”, although somewhere in the dusty vaults their discography lies untouched as yet. From what I hear here, very stadium/pomp rock with prog overtones. Nice. |
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It's an odd thing, how you can just love someone's music, but then they release an album that just doesn't hit the spot for you. You try, since it's an artiste you like --- you want to enjoy it, but somehow it just isn't happening. Finally, you're forced to admit that the very fact that it's an album by X is after all not enough on its own for you to like it, and you reluctantly tell yourself it's a bump, an aberration hopefully, but this one is getting past you, and there seems no way you're ever going to like it. Maybe at some point it'll get a shot at the “Last Chance Saloon”, but for now you hate it. Well, hate is a very strong word, of course, and there are few albums in my collection --- that I've listened to --- that I could truly say I hate. But there is certainly more than one artiste whose music I collect who has released what I consider to be, shall we say, something below par, and this is what this section will concentrate on. Well, partly. It's called “Love/Hate”, so what I'll be doing is featuring two albums by the same artiste, one of which I love (or really like) and one of which I hate, although again as I say hate is probably too strong a word. Let's say, one I like a lot less, perhaps the one I like least of the artiste's catalogue, or at any rate what I have heard of them to date. I just find it interesting that sometimes you can love an artiste but they can release an album you really don't like. It just proves that sometimes, no matter how hard you try to like something --- for the right or the wrong reasons --- you just can't make the leap, and you're left having to admit there's, to quote Savatage, a complaint in the system. An otherwise perfectly-oiled machine that runs like clockwork has one defective part. It doesn't stop the machine working, but it interferes slightly with its operation. http://www.trollheart.com/love.jpg Mike + the Mechanics --- Mike + The Mechanics --- 1985 (WEA) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...28Album%29.jpg The funny thing about this album is that I bought it, not because it featured Mike Rutherford from Genesis (although it does), in fact when I purchased the album I was unaware it had any Genesis connections at all, although had I known it would have only strengthened my resolve to buy it. I decided to get the album on the strength of the first song I heard from it (on the radio, I think), which was in fact the opener, “Silent running”. I really loved this album. Yes, there are weak tracks on it, though they number very few, and there are no terrible tracks at all. But more than that, there are some absolute gems there. Conceived, as mentioned above, as a side project for Genesis guitarist Mike Rutherford (whose solo album “Acting very strange” I had already heard and liked), The Mechanics consisted of vocalists Paul Young (no, not that one!) and Paul Carrack, Drummer Peter Van Hooke and keyboards man Adrian Lee, with Rutherford of course taking all guitar and bass duties. In addition to this, they operated something of an “Alan Parsons” setup vocally, with two other singers taking the mike (sorry!) for two of the songs, while Young and Carrack alternated. As I said, the album opens strongly, on the powerful and dramatic “Silent running (on dangerous ground)”, which was in fact from the soundtrack to the film “On dangerous ground”. It has a very Genesis-like intro, with humming synth and swirling keys, and then picks up on a really nice beat, until Carrack takes up the vocal, singing a song that warns of nuclear holocaust about to occur. It's mid-paced, very keyboard-driven, which is perhaps unusual for a project created by a guitarist, but it works very well. Carrack's vocals are clear and distinct, and he has a powerful voice which really suits the song. Of course, there is the obligatory and expected guitar solo from Rutherford in the song: no point being the focus of the project if you can't make your presence felt! The opener is in fact the longest track on the album, just over six minutes, with the rest of the nine songs all coming in around the four minute or less mark, with one or two going a few seconds over that. “Silent running” ends sharply, just as you think it will probably fade, and next up is one of their big hit singles, “All I need is a miracle”. Much poppier, more commercially accessible than its predecessor, it was made for the charts, and although both songs did very well when released, initially it would be “Miracle” for which Mike + the Mechanics would be remembered. Until of course, they had bigger hits. It starts off again very Genesis-y, with lush keyboard and a sort of called-out/echoey vocal, then settles into a poppy, boppy groove, with Paul Young taking over on vocals. I don't personally feel that it's as strong a track as “Silent running”, but it's a good followup and the quality doesn't dip for “Par avion”, in fact it ups the ante quite a bit, with a truly beautiful ballad, luxurious keys and a breathy vocal from session man John Kirby. Everything about this is understated: the melody, the percussion, the singing, all gives the impression of a very rare and delicate jewel being carried on a velvet cushion, from the chirping birds and crickets on the intro to the almost Phil Collins-like percussion, the keyboard sweeps, the flutelike passage right at the end. Fragile and lovely. Things ramp up considerably then for “Hanging by a thread”, which has Young again behind the microphone. It's probably the heaviest song on the album, with electronica-like keyboard samples, thumping, insistent drums and grinding guitar, not to mention a very angry and determined vocal. Nice synth break in the middle, very Depeche Mode or Human League. Then it speeds up as it heads towards the ending of the song, finishing abruptly, which this time works well. “I get the feeling” goes all jazzy and carribean, very singalong/clapalong, with good brass from Ray Beavis and John Earle, but it's a little too “Sussudio” for my tastes. “Take the reins” picks the speed and power up again, a fast, heads-down, urgent song, the first really guitar-led song on the album. Another beautiful ballad follows, with the vocals this time taken by Gene Stashuck, "You are the one" is built on a simple piano melody with keyboards coming in to flesh out the sound, and followed by another ballad, this time a song originally written by Genesis and intended to be on their self-titled album. As it didn't make the cut, Mike Rutherford sought permission from Tony Banks and Phil Collins to use "A call to arms" on his album, which they agreed to. It's a great song. Powerful, dramatic, effective and emotional, with Carrack back on vocals and doing a fine, fine job. Opening with a gush of powerful piano and keyboards, it rides along on a punchy melody, with drums very reminscent indeed of those used on the opener to Genesis' “Genesis” album, “Mama”. In some ways, it's kind of a continuation of the theme explored in “Silent running”, with a very singalong chorus and a great hook. Would have been a great closer, but there's one more track to go. Sadly, after the majesty of “A call to arms”, closer “Taken in” comes across very much as tacked-on, a filler track that should really not have been included, or at least should not have been the last track on the album. As I point out in my “Happy endings” section, it's the last track on an album you're always left humming, and I'd much rather be humming “A call to arms” than “Taken in”, which is I feel very lightweight and inconsequential. A weak ending then, but a great album overall, which is why I really like it, and being impressed as I was with the debut, I went on to buy the next two albums, but as I shall relate below, there came a time when I knew it was no longer any use to explore this avenue. TRACKLISTING 1. Silent running (on dangerous ground) 2. All I need is a miracle 3. Par avion 4. Hanging by a thread 5. I get the feeling 6. Take the reins 7. You are the one 8. A call to arms 9. Taken in http://www.trollheart.com/hate.jpg As I say, hate is a very strong word, and I don't hate this album, but it was the end of the road for me as far as this band was concerned. I loved the debut, and the second, but after I heard this one I no longer wished to buy Mike + The Mechanics albums, and from what I've heard of them since, I have never regretted that decision. They seem to have gone more down the commercial pop route as the years and albums have gone by, and the rock has been to a large extent, as far as I can see, jettisoned. Word of mouth --- Mike + The Mechanics --- 1991 (Virgin) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...f_Mouth-CD.jpg Maybe I was expecting too much. I mean, the debut, detailed above, had blown me pretty much away, and the followup, “The living years”, was as good if not better, and of course yielded a huge hit single in the title track, so I was ready for more. I was however not ready for what I got, which was a huge disappointment, disillusion and the sinking feeling that this band were slipping away from the music I had enjoyed listening to them make. It starts off well enough, with a nice guitar intro, but this is soon superceded by poppy keyboards, and the opener “Get up” shows itself to be a very pop/chart song, with little to recommend it to any rock fan. This could, really, be a song by any sub-par pop band. Title track helps restore my faith, with its thumping drums, its live feel and its great chorus, and its quite political lyric: ”Look out for those who/ Still want to hang on/ Look out for those who/ Live in the past/ Get out and listen/ To the whisper/ Cos the times are changing fast.” Right on. Great angry guitar, not so much of the keys on this one. Perhaps we'll be okay? In fairness, ballad “A time and place” is not at all bad, though it does suffer from the curse of the mid-eighties ballad, that overpreponderance of digital piano, which tended to make nearly all ballads sound similar. Nicely sung though. Does have a very Genesis feel to it, not surprising as Rutherford was at the time also participating in recording sessions for their “We can't dance” album, which would be in fact their last with longtime frontman Phil Collins. This time out, however, there were no session vocalists, and Paul Carrack and Paul Young again shared the singing. Sadly though, this is about the last decent track on the album, bar the closer. Perhaps it's the collaboration of BA Robertson on most of the tracks with Rutherford that's to blame for the serious dip in quality in the songwriting, but then again, some of the really weak songs had no input for him, like the opener and “The way you look at me”, so maybe I'm doing him an injustice. I was never that fond of Robertson's music, though that shouldn't really be a factor, should it? Nevertheless, the inescapable conclusion is that the rest of this album is largely filler, though “Yesterday, today and tomorrow” is a decent rocker, but even that suffers from some pretty poor lyrical content, just not up to the standard I had come to expect from these guys. “The way you look at me” is pure pop. It's not a bad song, per se, but it's very very lightweight, very charty, very throwaway, and not much better is “Everybody gets a second chance”, another poppy example, with a somewhat annoying beat to it, and although “Stop baby” is a nice little ballad with a nice atmosphere to it, “My crime of passion” just doesn't do it for me. It's a little rocky, but only a little, and I just see the slide into pop music getting steeper and steeper here. The album does finish well. “Let's pretend it didn't happen” (advice for the disillusioned Mike + The Mechanics fans?) is a good harkback to the quality of the sort of songs that characterised the first two albums, with good keyboards and a very hooky melody, a lot of drama and some really effective guitar, while closer “Before (the next heartache falls)” is a powerful semi-ballad that really grabs at you and establishes itself as a worthy closer, almost too good for this album. As I say, the album isn't crap, it's not even that bad. It's just that in comparison to the first two it falls very far short of what I was expecting, with a lot of filler and below-standard songs, and it really coloured my attitude towards Mike + The Mechanics, and as I mentioned my premonitions of dread were well-founded, considering the direction the band took. A real pity, as I thought they could have done so much better, but then, I suppose for a side project for one of the most famous and accomplished rock guitarists in the world, it was a good run. TRACKLISTING 1. Get up 2. Word of mouth 3. A time and place 4. Yesterday, today and tomorrow 5. The way you look at me 6. Everybody gets a second chance 7. Stop baby 8. My crime of passion 9. Let's pretend it didn't happen 10. Before (the next heartache falls) But for me, this was where the romance ended, and we parted amicably. It started so well, but ended so badly. We see each other from time to time, but it's never going to be like it was. You can't go back. And when you've been burned once, you're not too eager to stick your hand back into the fire again. |
Random Track of the Day
Friday, November 4 2011 It's Friday, it's the start of the weekend, must mean it's time to rock! And you can't beat the old masters, can you? Randomly selected out of the compu-hat today we have the towering Iron Maiden, with the title track from the last album Bruce Dickinson was involved in for many years. Fear of the dark --- Iron Maiden --- from "Fear of the dark" on EMI http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...f_The_Dark.jpg A real classic Maiden tune on an album that was, let's face it, pretty below par, this is another of those great Steve Harris compositions, and has everything you could possibly want from an Iron Maiden track: power, class, excellent lyric, catchy melody, mad guitars, Bruce at his departing best, plus Eddie hiding in a tree! Oh my, how we missed the King when he went into self-imposed exile! |
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Just exactly how do you manouevre orchestrally in the dark, the worm wonders? Still, these guys managed it for many years, having a string of hit singles and a huge following. This is one of them, a later hit called “Sailing on the seven seas”. |
Final warning --- Neural Mass --- 2010 (Label unknown/unclear)
http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...Yx7tCi-WQo-xBO Neural mass are a heavy rock band from Canada, and let's be honest, we don't get too many of them! Their sound is classic heavy rock/heavy metal, with a good dose of prog rock and even some classical influences thrown in for good measure. This is their fifth and latest album, and though information on them is hard to come by (even their own website doesn't advise what lavel they record on, thus the above note), they would appear to be at core a three-piece outfit, consisting of Gary X Floyd (the “X” is important, apparently!) on vocals and keys, Sylvain Rodrige on drums and Mark Tremblay on guitar and bass. Although their own website credits this last as “guest musician”on this album, he seems to have been with them for four albums, including this, going back to 2002's “Sunshine hill”, so I would have considered him as more a full member. Perhaps therein lies a story, but if it does, I don't have it. Opener “Monoxyde world” is a very impressive, nine-minute instrumental that never gets boring or overstretched, with great keys and synths from Floyd, solid drumbeats from Rodrigue and some really good guitar, although this appears to be credited, for this album, to Steve Otis. I'll come back to Tremblay later, as I think I may have pieced his story, at least partially, together. There seems to be some sort of war going on in a dystopian future here, and the narrative, I think, follows the progress or afermath of this war, or attack. Hard to say which.”Trailer by the swamp” has a nice bassline opening, accompanied by a fluid organ sound, with intermittent drumming from Rodrigue. Vocals finally come in on this track, but to be honest I think I preferred it as an instrumental. Perhaps it's just the way the vocals are phrased, but on this track they don't sound too great. “Female disaster” goes back to the narrated vocals, for want of another phrase, and it's a sort of jazzy, mid-tempo number with nice piano and keyboards, while “Cold temptress” seems to be the first time we get a ballad. It's a nice slow track with jangly guitar, but again the vocals seem at odds with the quality of the playing. Whoever's singing sounds European, like perhaps German or Danish: I guess there's no reason these guys can't be from Canada but of Euopean extraction. Lovely guitar solo in this track, really smooth. “3 days”, a short, mad instrumental track sounds like Neural Mass captured Tom Waits and put him in a box, forcing him to play odd instruments for them! Very eclectic. “My death girl” proves that the vocals are definitely not up to scratch. They sound flat, expressionless, and kind of remind me of the lead singer from Tiamat, except he had a lot more emotion in his voice. Pity. If the vocals had been left off, this would have been a really good album. As it is, the singing is totally below par and ruins the songs it features in. So, about this Mark tremblay then. It seems that he started off with them on “Sunshine hill”, as mentioned, playing guitar on five of the eleven tracks. On follow-up album “Opposite control” he was again playing guitar, this time it would seem the whole album, but by this album he has been tasked with bass duties as well as guitar, although Steve Otis (who now seems to be their permanent guitarist) is also doing guitar, and Tremblay is, as I mentioned, only given a “guest” credit. So you would have to assume he has at this point left the band, but either returned temporarily for this album, or else played on tracks which were already recorded before he left. That's how I see it, anyway. “Actions in the nervous system” is, quite frankly, all over the place, with drum solos, instrumental, taped vocals, some out-of-control death vocals, and frankly it's one of the weirdest tracks I've heard in a while. Can't decide whether it's genius or rubbish. Interestingly-named “The undertaker's last customer”, the longest track on the album at just over eleven minutes, is a great baroque keyboard solo for the first two minutes or so, then changes to a nice proggy synth with guitars kicking in, with some nice drum machine sounds and some boppy keyboard. This is Neural Mass at their best: instrumental wonderland, with a few mad “sales talk” announcements, which are in fact quite good and well written, particularly the dire warning ”Other types of payment/ Will be met with violence!” I'm sure if you're “tripping” this sounds excellent --- sounds excellent to me, and I've never taken a drug in my life! I love this: track of the album for certain. The title track, and closer, is another instrumental, and it's very seventies prog, very epic and dramatic. Some minimal vocals here to close things out, more of those taped reports, newsreel-style, spoken and narrated. I prefer these to the actual singing vocals, as these add an extra dimension to the instrumental pieces, whereas the singing itself becomes a distraction from them, and on the face of it, totally unnecessary. As an instrumental album this works beautifully, and if Neural Mass can either keep the vocals to a minimum, or out altogether, or else vastly improve their singing style (or get someone who can), this band could be one to watch. As it is, a flawed masterpiece, but certainly worth listening to. TRACKLISTING 1. Monoxyde world 2. Trailer by the swamp 3. Female disaster 4. Cold temptress 5. 3 days 6. My death girl 7. Viral zoonosis 8. Actions in the nervous system 9. The undertaker's last customer 10. Final warning |
Random Track of the Day
Saturday, November 5 2011 Oh God, oh God! I really can't avoid it much longer, can I? Soon, very soon, I'm going to have to gird my loins, bite the bullet and descend into the cesspit that is boyband music! I am not looking forward to it, but I have to prove a point. Face your fears, isn't that what they say? Not that I'm afraid. No, not at all. Just, well, a little queasy.... As if to slap me in the face and remind me of the promise I made a little while ago to explore in detail music I am not naturally familiar with --- and starting with the murky, sugary, vacuous world of boybands --- the random-o-meter has grabbed one of their tracks, and well, here it is. Excuse me for just a moment... Everybody (Backstreet's back) --- Backstreet Boys --- from "Backstreet's back" on Jive http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...Back_cover.jpg Don't be afraid... nothing to be afraid of... Be strong ... |
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A classic example of hearing one song and thinking the album would be great, though in fairness the single was excellent. Sadly though, as we've seen with the albums featured here, often it seems all of the effort has gone into the one song that you heard before buying the album, leaving the rest of it empty, dull and uninspiring. Such indeed was the case when I foolishly went ahead and purchased this album, hoping that there would be more tracks on it like the single I had heard, which was being played all over the radio, but it was to prove, as we'll see, a bad idea. All that jazz --- Breathe --- 1988 (A&M) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...Jazz_cover.jpg I suppose I should have been wary of this album from the beginning, as it has the word “jazz” in it, and I am not a fan of that style of music. However, I assumed it was just the old saying, and didn't mean that the music actually had jazz influences. But it does, not that you'd know it from the single I had heard at the time, which was a huge hit for them, “Hands to Heaven”. It's a beautiful, soulful ballad, reeks of class and did in fact almost hit number one in the charts, so so far so good, yes? It was followed by another track which had been their first single, but not very successful, however after “Hands to Heaven” stormed the charts they re-released it, and it did very well. As it happened, the copy of the album I bought had not got “Don't tell me lies” on it, although I'm informed later pressings did. It's a faster, boppier song, which I felt would do really well, but it failed to get into the top forty, even on second release. The final decent song on the album is yet another single, another chart-topper and indeed another ballad, the closer from the album, “How can I fall”. Unfortunately, that's it. The album opens with “Jonah”, which I found too jazzy and funky for my tastes Then there's the title track “All this I should have known” (was this album trying to tell me something?) “Liberties of love” And the less said about “Any trick”, the better! In fairness, it's not that “All that j!zz --- sorry, JAZZ!” is a terrible album. If you're a dance/funk or even jazz fan you'll probably like it. But on the basis of the singles I had not expected that kind of music, and so I was sorely disappointed with what I got. Just proves the old adage: “Listen before you buy.” |
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Oh, the worm has a great one for you today! Going all the way back, back to 1967 for a true classic, one of the few songs the worm knows that ends with whistling (anyone know the others?), it's the late Otis Redding, and “(Sittin' on) The dock of the bay”. |
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Nice boppy track for you to try to get out of your head today, from the Cars, taken from their millions-selling album “Heartbeat City”, it's “You might think”. |
Random Track of the Day
Sunday, November 6 2011 Random Track of the Day today comes from a band fast becoming one of my favourites, Jadis, from their album “More than meets the eye”. This changing face --- Jadis --- from "More than meets the eye" on InsideOut A great progressive rock band, just about everything I hear from Jadis is great, some quite phenomenal. This is another excellent track from them, it's called “This changing face.” http://media.freeola.com/images/user...004-1-edit.jpg |
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In the days before itunes, the Interweb and ipods and playlists, we bought albums when we wanted to hear them, and because we had bought a physical product, be it CD or vinyl LP (ask your parents) we felt the need to listen to it right away. So generally, the cycle would go thus: into record shop, see album(s) we want, buy, bring home, take out of bag, stick on stereo, listen. And listen all the way through too, no such thing as playlists in my day, cough cough wheeze where's me zimmer? But in recent years, this behaviour has changed, and I too have fallen victim to it. With the advent of torrents, free music sites like the sadly-missed Napster and Audiogalaxy, not to mention those websites selling music which are based in certain, shall we say, ex-Iron Curtain countries (ahem!) music has become so much easier not only to buy, but to amass. The result is that it is now possible, indeed even preferable, to download a band's full discography almost in one mouse click. But as we do that, and the music mounts up and takes up ever more space on our straining hard drives, the days still have the same amount of hours, and it becomes nigh-on impossible to listen to everything in our collection. The result of that situation is, of course, that we end up with hundreds, perhaps even thousands of albums on our PCs that we always mean to listen to, but never get the time somehow. There's always something else to do. From time to time, we note as we pass down the directory, “Oh yes, I must go through the Dio catalogue”, or “I really should find out what that band Helloween are like”, or similar, but then we just move on. There is, quite literally, not enough time in our day to listen to everything we would like to. But we will, we promise ourselves faithfully. Some day. Just not today. Well, today is that day. Or at least, today is the day I'm going to try making some sort of inroads on my as yet unlistened to collection. I'd like to say I'm going to try to listen to an album a day, but of course there's no way I believe I can keep that sort of promise. Maybe an album a week. Let's start with that. And review it here. So, the only real criteria I have is that the album I listen to must be either a) by an artiste whose work I haven't heard yet or b) one of their catalogue I have yet to hear. I could end up hating it, or loving it, or being singularly unimpressed by it. It may make me want to devour the rest of their discography, or cause me to never listen to anything they record again. Who knows? But at least I'll be chipping away at the sizeable mountain I've created. So, how to choose what to listen to? Well, there's a real plethora of progressive rock bands on my disk waiting to be discovered, so let's give one of them a go.... Juggling 9 or dropping 10 --- Enchant --- 2000 (InsideOut) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ropping_10.jpg These guys will do. I like the name of the band, and I'm intrigued by the title of this one. I've never heard anything at all from Enchant prior to this, not even a Random Track of the Day, so this is a total punt, as they say in “Dragons' Den”. Let's see if it pays off. Opener “Paint the picture” doesn't disappoint, with its warbly keyboard intro backed by powerful guitars, a long track to start the album at just over seven minutes, and when the singing starts I'm put very much in mind of Jadis, who feature in today's RTOTD. Vocalist Ted Leonard does sound a lot like their mainman, and looking at the lineup on the album it's clear why there's right away such a lush, luxuriant and full sound, as Enchant employ up to four keyboard players, two of which seem to be multi-instrumentalists: Paul Creddick also plays acoustic guitar, bass, strings, drums, percussion, guitar, piano, harpsichord and mellotron, while Doug A. Ott plays close to the same: acoustic and electric guitar, bass, piano, mellotron as well as keys. Ted Leonard plays the bass in addition to singing, and there's another bass player plus two more dedicated keysmen, so no passengers here! “Rough draft” is a heavier, more dramatic piece, almost as long as the opener, with nice picked guitar and driving bass and some great keyboard flourishes, while “Bite my tongue” is more guitar led than previous tracks, rocky and with a good hook. Leonard certainly has a strong vocal range, and as no backing vocalists are credited I must assume the harmonies I hear on the songs are his own voice multi-tracked, and it works very effectively. “Colours fade” starts off slowly, as if we've arrived at the first ballad on the album, but then it picks up pace a little, becoming a mid-paced rocker, with some quite heavy guitar from, well, one of the four candidates! Hard to know who's playing what, which would be the only small criticism I can level at Enchant's lineup: some of the playing is so good you really want to credit the guy doing it, but as so many of them play more than one instrument, it's next to impossible to know who to praise. Even the bass playing is shared by up to four people! Never heard of that level of instrumentation before. Nice little acoustic ending to “Colours fade” before “Juggling knives” comes in, a similar sort of song with some very nice guitar and some powerful vocals from Leonard. The song puts me in mind at times of the best of It Bites. This song actually serves as the title track, as during the lyric Leonard sings ”Now my choice is / Juggling nine or dropping ten”. Great keyboard work here too, very seventies or even eighties Genesis, though again I couldn't tell you who's behind the keyswork. I really like this album on first listen, although I would admit that in essence there's very little new or innovative here, save the abovementioned multi-instrumentation. A lot of Genesis, Jadis, Marillion influences, sort of leaning rather hard into the Jadis area of the spectrum for me, but none the worse for that. I would like to see a little more individuality from this band though, an identity of their own. “Shell of a man” has a strange sort of distant vocal, almost as if Ted Leonard is standing away from the mike, at least at first. Great intermeshing of the sound, no doubt about that: each member is a craftsman on his own chosen instruments, and it's quite an achievement. I can't even play the piano! To be able to master so many different instruments is something to be applauded, and it certainly does create a deep and varied soundscape for Leonard to sing against. Nevertheless, the more this album goes on the more astounded I am how similar to Jadis they sound. “Traces” is a real tour-de-force, with just about everything put into the song by all band members, and in total contrast the closer, “Know that”, less than a minute and a half long, is a fragile, gentle acoustic treat which takes you completely by surprise but ends up being about the strongest last track to an album I've heard in quite a while. So, what are my impressions, both of this band and of the album? Well, I have to be completely honest and say I'm not blown away, but neither am I sorry I listened to “Juggling 9 or dropping 10”. I'll be listening to more of their material in due course to see is there any real identity to the band, but at the moment I see them, as I've said more than once now, as a sort of poor man's Jadis. Whether that's a compliment or insult depends, I guess, on what you think of Jadis, but the similarities are too close to the bone for me to see Enchant any other way. Not a bad start then. One down, only about fifteen hundred to go! TRACKLISTING 1. Paint the picture 2. Rough draft 3. What to say 4. Bite my tongue 5. Colours fade 6. Juggling knives 7. Black eyes and broken glass 8. Elyse 9. Shell of a man 10. Broken wave 11. Traces 12. Know that |
Random Track of the Day
Monday, November 7 2011 Great track to start us off on a new week, it's one from one of the albums that really divided Yes fans when it was released: some loved it, some hated it, but one thing is for sure --- it was certainly different to anything they had produced up to that time. Hold on --- Yes --- from "90125" on Atco http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...90125album.jpg I'll be honest: I'm not a huge Yes fan, but I loved this. Not a single bad track, and some simply astounding ones. This is called “Hold on”. |
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Was there ever a weirder band than Sparks? That guy who just stood at the keyboard with the one expression on his face, and looked like a cross between Hitler, Charlie Chaplin and Yosser Hughes! Out there, man, out there! And who could tell what the lead singer was saying? Can you? Anyway, this was their biggest (only?) hit, “This town ain't big enough for the both of us”. Oh yeah? Whatcha gonna do about it? |
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I watch the coastline nervously as it comes nearer, and a trick of perspective seems to make it bob up and down on the water. I know of course that it's me, or rather, the ship that's carrying me, rising and falling on the swell of the ocean as I approach this new and daunting land, but my brain refuses to register that. Perhaps that's due to the trepidation I feel on making this journey. I look at my ticket and heft my shoulder-bag, and not for the first time ask myself why I'm doing this, why I'm putting myself through this torture? Then I remember my promise to myself, and to the good readers of my Journal, back at Music Banter. I have decided to, Jackhammer-like, do my very best to try to ensure that I know as much about genres with which I am only peripherally acquainted, in order to fulfil, in a way, that old adage, know thine enemy. I do not expect to get into this music, but I want to be sufficiently informed that, the next time I slag it off, I can at least feel that I know what I am talking about. It's very easy to say “I hate reggae” or “All rap is awful”, or indeed “Punk is all noise”, but if you haven't listened to any of that music in any real depth then you're just as guilty of bias and ignorance as someone who has seen Genesis play “Follow you follow me” on TV and maybe heard Marillion's “Kayleigh” on the radio who says that all prog rock is rubbish. They don't know that, haven't taken the time to find out what the music is like, have based their opinion on the tiniest examples of that music, and so have come to a totally uninformed and biased conclusion. My aim, over the next I suppose year or more, is to travel to the most foreign musical countries I can, sample the local music, and try to if not understand it, at least take the good parts out of it, or if they can't be found, relate why I find that particular music so unappealing. At least the next time I say, for instance, Bob Marley is rubbish (sorry, Marley fans, just an example!) and someone says you know nothing about reggae, I will be able to quote albums, artistes and songs to back up my assertions. Of course, these voyages could do the opposite, and change my mindset, so that I will in fact get into these bands, these different genres, or if not get into them, at least get them. That would be interesting, to say the least. And so, my first, purposely-chosen as perhaps one of the scariest genres to be explored is the clinical, cold, empty and formulaic world of the Boyband. At least, that's how I see such music. Whether this trip will change my mind, whether I will begin to see some good in this genre, or whether I will be able to appreciate with a new ear the music of such bands as Boyzone, Nsync and Backstreet Boys, is open to question. But at least no-one will be able to say I didn't try. So, I remind myself, that's why I've come all this way, and as the coast comes ever closer into view, my heart begins pounding faster, and I reach for an anxiety tablet to calm my fracturing nerves. As the ship gets closer, and I can now make out the garishly coloured buildings that dot the coastline of this pristine country, a strange sound comes to my ears, borne on the wind, which itself sounds like nothing less than a frothy digital piano playing the same chords over and over again, till it is surely enough to drive hardened sailors mad and cause ships to dash against the rocks. How the captain stands it is beyond me. I start to clap my hands to my ears, to shut out the awful sound, but then remember my promise, and grit my teeth and endure it as it becomes louder as we drift nearer and nearer. The sound resolves into a low, vibrant hum which seems to maintain the same level while at the same time appearing to rise in pitch. I shake my head, fish out a sandwich from my bag for energy as I stand at the rail of the ship, in the bow as we nose into the harbour, and with trembling hands quickly run up the last prog rock track I will be able to listen to before I have to turn my full attention to the simpering, poe-faced adolescent pap that passes for music from the residents of these islands. Sorry, that wasn't very open-minded, was it? Well, I'm not on their land yet, so sue me. Before I know it, I'm leaving the ship on shaky legs, my ipod surrendered to the purser to eliminate any temptation to listen to other music, and making my way down into the docks and up into the many small villages which dot the area around the coastline. I realise with mounting horror now what that sound is, and it almost sends me screaming back to the ship, which I realise with hammering heart is gearing up for departure already. Understandable: few if any journey to these dark islands; this trip cost me, and no-one would stay here longer than they have to! But the sound! Yes, there it is again, higher-pitched and stronger than when we were coming into the harbour, and now that I'm on dry land I can make out the incessant, frenzied, almost overpowering sound of thousands upon thousands of female teenage voices just screaming, almost as one, at the top of their voices. There are no words can be made out, just an endless, indecipherable cacophony that hurts the ears and threatens to shake the brain loose from the skull. I have arrived in Early BoyBand Land. http://www.trollheart.com/boybandland1.jpg (note: my thanks to the designers of the maps used here. I have no way to contact you --- or even determine who you are --- in order to ask permission for their use, so hope you will not mind this somewhat irreverent use of your fine work, which is not meant in any way to denigrate or make fun of it. Just Boybands.) http://www.trollheart.com/pageopen2a.jpg The truly scary thing about this country is its size! Boybands have been around since the Dawn of Time (well, the late seventies) but only really came into vogue with the emergence of New Edition, and on their heels New Kids on the Block, generally accepted as having been the first “real” Boybands. But just what is a Boyband? Well, in the unlikely event that there are some of you out there blessed enough not to know what I'm talking about (World War 2 ended almost seventy years ago, by the way!) here's what Wikipedia, the online Encyclopedia of Everything, the web's version of the Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy --- though without the amusing voiceover and graphics --- has to say on the subject. ”A boy band (or boyband) is loosely defined as a popular music act consisting of only male singers. The members are expected to dance as well as sing, usually giving highly choreographed performances. More often than not, boy band members do not play musical instruments, either in recording sessions or on stage, and only sing and dance, making the term somewhat of a misnomer. However, exceptions do exist. In many cases boy bands are brought together by a producer through an audition process, although many of them form on their own.” (The above was copied and pasted directly from the Wiki entry, the only time I have ever done this. I usually utilise Wiki for much of my information, but none of it is ever copied down verbatim. This once, I felt it was right to do so, given the largely false and insincere makeup of these bands. No dubbed vocals, though!) So, definition confirmed, it seems to be agreed that the first two real boybands were these two, and although there was of course the Jackson Five, I don't really consider them a boyband, mostly due to the fact that some of them could, and did, play instruments (Tito played lead guitar, Jermaine bass and Randy played both keyboards and drums) and the teeny-bopper sensation of the 70s, Scotland's own Bay City Rollers, but again, they played instruments, at least some of them, and to my knowledge did not engage in any of the choreographed routines endemic to Boybands nowadays, so I'm not including them. Onward, brave heart! The fire awaits! Or something... |
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And so I flag down a taxi and point out my destination on the map. It's a small city further north and inland, called Editiona Nueva, which my driver helpfully informs me is the local language for “New Edition”. Well, thanks for that Einstein! I could have figured that out myself! We travel for some time through deserted roads and past vast plains of sand before we come to a somewhat run-down town, with a village clock that seems for some reason permanently stuck at six-fifteen (whether this is morning or evening I don't know) and a lot of people roam the streets in unfashionable clothes. I'm right back where it started, and it looks like the inhabitants have remained there, in 1982. I check into the nearest hotel that doesn't look too rundown and seedy, and after eating and freshening up I head off to the local library, laptop under my arm, to make my first report. http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...jWLN7WQkhu-vKg And so it is, in the city named after the first ever real Boyband, I begin my tale. In 1982 New Edition came second in a talent contest and were “created” as a new version of the Jackson 5 by producer Maurice Starr, and included the now-famous Bobby Brown in their lineup. The original personnel were as follows:- Bobby Brown Michael Bivins Ricky Bell Ralph Tresvant Ronnie DeVoe Signed by Starr and taken to his recording studio to record their first album, 1983's Candy Girl the boys must have been somewhat nonplussed to receive a cheque for the grand total of $1.87 each after completing their first major concert! This despite the fact that Candy Girl had yielded them four hit singles, one of which went to number one! Candy Girl --- New Edition --- 1983 (Streetwise) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...-Neboyband.jpg Impressionable kids? Certainly sounds like it. Sounds like they were totally ripped off by an unscrupulous manager and record label boss - thank God that doesn't happen anymore! ;) But the average age of the band members, for want of a better description, in New Edition was fifteen, so I suppose the fame and glory must have gone to their heads, the money a secondary concern. You can be sure ol' Maurice Starr made sure he got his ninety-nine point nine nine percent of their earnings, though! We'll return to the story of these guys later, and see how they got on, but for now the time has come that we all feared, me most especially: time to knuckle down and actually listen to the music! Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death... It starts off funky, with vocoder and slap bass, then the almost childlike voice of Ralph Tresvant singing the rather incongruous, given their tender age, “Gimme Your Love”. Perhaps "Gimme Your Lunch Money" might have been a more appropriate song title! Of course, in any given Boyband it's really impossible to say who's singing the lead vocals, as they all seem to take that role, but Wiki says that Tresvant was brought on board as their lead singer, so I guess it's him. There's a female voice in there too - I think: I mean, these guys are so young it could be their not-yet-broken voices I'm hearing, but a girl is credited on the album - said to be one Tina B, and there's a lot of beginner's guide to rapping. All very embarrassing, but it must have struck a chord (not literally) as it sold very well and started a lucrative career for the guys. Well, initially as mentioned it just lined the pockets of Maurice Starr, but he was soon to be jettisoned. “She Gives Me a Bang” does not after all seem to be about the latest hairdressing styles, but has some nice bright keyboard work, with some pops and whistles from the synth which would become quite synonymous with this sort of music down the years. The melody in places almost reminds me of Robert Palmer's “Some Guys Have All the Luck”, and again the vocals are shared, seems like just between two of them. Maybe. Hard to tell. Seems Starr plays keys, synth, bass, drums, guitars, vocoder …. obviously maintaining a tight control over his protoges. He also produces, engineers and mixes the album, and writes or co-writes all the songs bar one. Control freak much? I suppose at least he could say he earned all but $9.52 from the album's takings. The first of no doubt many ballads comes with “Is This the End” (which sadly it was not), an odd song to put on your debut album, I would have thought, one of their hit singles, and it's not too bad. The drums are nicely measured, the keys just the right amount of sugary sweet and the guitars add a sort of George Benson flavour to the song. Hey, give me a break! I know virtually zip about Boybands, and have less interest in them! I'm doing my best! :) “Pass the Beat” is a real “street”-song, with elements of rap and breakdance, lively keyboards and the ever-present grumbling bass that seems to always accompany songs of this type. It's sung in a type of playground chant, making it just that little bit more annoying than it was at first. Seriously, I'm going to make a real effort to find something to praise or something nice to say about these albums, I just haven't come across anything yet! Well, “Is This the End” wasn't completely terrible, unlike the rest of the album so far... (Sorry to do this to you, guys, but you knew the dangers when you followed me to Boybandland!) There surely can't be anything to look forward to about a song called “Popcorn Love”, can there? No, there isn't, and it sounds distressingly like the next track up, their number one hit single “Candy Girl”, which is right up there at the top of my list of songs I would cheerfully erase from history, had I the means. Like, what is the point of a song like that? You won't be surprised to hear that I skipped right over it, but as I say, “Popcorn Love” is virtually a carbon copy of the hit single. Originality, zero. Perhaps the only potential bright spot is their cover of the Bo Diddley number “Ooh Baby”, but no, they've removed all the soul and blues from it and made it another vacuous pop song. Well, I guess Starr is to blame for that. Still, at least the germ of a good song remains: can't kill the classics! More tinny keyboard and whistling synth, as well as the never-far-from-the-melody bass on “Should Have Never Told Me”, then we're into (thank the stars!) the penultimate track, “Gotta Have Your Lovin'”, and you wonder where bands like this would be without a vocoder? It's used so often it's almost overused, and it becomes a real pain listening to every bloody line routed through its circuits. Oh well. The album closes on “Jealous Girl”, which rather surprisingly is only the second ballad on it. Nice piano and some decent guitar work with a sort of waltzy beat which would be revisited by the likes of still-to-be-discovered Boys II Men on their big hit “The End of the Road”. There are definite elements of the Jacksons here too, not a surprise as this band were conceived as a replacement for them. Well, I still hate Boybands, but this is just the first of three albums from each band I'm going to try to struggle through. Perhaps my opinion will change over the course of these articles, but I wouldn't bet any big money on it! TRACK LISTING 1. Gimme Your Love 2. She Gives Me a Bang 3. Is This the End 4. Pass the Beat 5. Popcorn Love 6. Candy Girl 7. Ooh Baby 8. Should Never Have Told Me 9. Gotta Have Your Lovin' 10. Jealous Girl After the debacle of their first concert, New Edition successfully sued Starr and his company and were released from their contract, signing to record giant MCA and releasing their second album, which they simply entitled “New Edition”, no doubt as a sign they were being reborn, leaving behind the highs and mostly lows of the Starr era, and starting over again. New Edition --- New Edition --- 1984 (MCA) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi.../14/Ne1984.jpg With a label giant behind their second album, New Edition were promoted as more of a clean-cut, boy-next-door image which would in fact characterise most Boybands for the next quarter of a century, with bands like Boyzone and later Westlife, Nsync, Backstreet Boys and Take That all projecting a wholesome, “safe” image that would appeal as much to teenage girls as to their parents. Boys like this couldn't possibly be a bad influence, could they? MCA also gave the boys top writers and producers to work on the album, among them Ray Parker Jr., later known for his megahit “Ghostbusters” (who ya gonna call?) and as a result the album was more cohesive, mature and gained a much larger and more diverse following than New Edition had enjoyed up to now. Also, without Starr, the boys finally made some decent money, no doubt welcome after being ripped off for two years by their producer-***-taskmaster! “Cool it now” opens the album, with a beat and melody that would later surface on Whitney Houston's “I wanna dance with somebody”, and became an instant hit single when released, as did the second track, the Ray Parker Jr-penned “Mr. Telephone man”, recalling the motown hits of the sixties and seventies, with nice vocal harmonies and a lush keyboard sound. Definitely a more mature sound, less of the kids snickering about girls that more or less permeated the first album, and music aimed at an older, and more demanding audience. Another ballad follows, this standing out as being the first New Edition song written by members of the band. “I'm leaving you again” also has a motown feel to it, and was written by Ricky Bell and Ralph Tresvant. To be completely fair, for a first attempt at songwriting it's not half bad, with that squidgy bass and paced out drums while in the background the synth lays down a pretty sumptuous backing track. Digital piano features heavily on this album, in line with the thinking about eighties ballads, which always seemed to have to have a digital piano melody running through them. “Delicious” is a mid-paced ballad, inoffensive but with plenty of synth and piano. Also features some pretty good acapella vocal harmonies at the end. In comparison, “My secret (didja get it yet?)” is just intensely annoying --- I really couldn't care what their secret is. Was a single though. No accounting for taste. “Hide and seek” makes me want to hide and never be found, blatantly ripping off the Eagles' lyric “Sneakin' up behind ya/ Swear I'm gonna find ya” from “One of these nights”. The saving grace of this album, and I would venture to predict, most if not all Boyband albums, are the ballads, which at least are bearable. Even though the digital piano is in overdrive again, “Lost in love” is a nice little song with good harmonies, though it is pretty devoid of ideas and just more or less repeats the same phrasing over and over. The first songwriting credited to the whole band is nevertheless nothing to write home about, and “Kinda girls we like” fulfils its exceptionally limited potential, with an annoying rap before “Maryann” closes the album with another eminently forgettable track which does at least have a decent line in sax. TRACKLISTING 1. Cool it now 2. Mr. Telephone man 3. I'm leaving you again 4. Baby love 5. Delicious 6. My secret (didja get it yet?) 7. Hide and seek 8. Lost in love 9. Kinda girls we like 10. Maryann So that's the second album from New Edition. A little more mature yes, but ultimately I don't see a massive difference between it and the debut. The army of songwriters and producers seem to have failed to have come up with any noteworthy songs really, and after the second track it all kind of descended into more mediocrity for me. At the end of 1985 Bobby Brown was out of the band, replaced by Johnny Gill, who went on to record three more albums with New Edition, and is in fact still with them. The first he recorded with them will be the last example we'll look at here, 1988's “Heart break”, said to be yet another move in the direction of more mature, polished pop and away from the “bubblegum” music of their previous years. Yeah, well, we'll just see about that... Heart break --- New Edition --- 1988 (MCA) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...heartbreak.jpg Interestingly, it starts with a synthy, almost prog-like intro, with a spoken vocal behind rising cheers and applause, which makes it sound as if the thing is live, and in fact segues into what also sounds like a live song, the actual opener (as the intro --- called, in a flash of original thinking, “Introduction”! --- lasts just over a minute) “That's the way we're livin'”, which comes across a little Prince-y circa “1999” or “Purple rain”, with some surprisingly good guitar parts and for now, no rap. Very eighties dance, kind of reminds me of Five Star, though of course they were a female band. Fairly generic, but not too bad. “Where it all started” continues the Prince/Janet Jackson style, a slower, funky song with much programmed synth and keyboards, and a lot less guitar than the previous, and things slow down a little for “If it isn't love”, a semi-ballad that gets a little more intense and passionate near the end. The album is peppered with things called “skits”, which are apparently twenty or thirty seconds of “street talk” as the guys discuss their conquests, real or imagined. They're nothing to do with the music, such as it is, so although there are three of them in total I'm going to ignore them. Next up is “NE Heartbreak”, a dancy, Paula Abdul-inspired number, followed by a short annoying rap then “Crucial”, with more funky bass and stabbing synth --- you know the sort: remember “What have you done for me lately?” That sort of thing: sudden, loud stabs of chords either on their own or in staccato sequence, the sort of thing pioneered by the likes of Jackson, Abdul and Prince, and which became an integral part of most dance music, it would seem, right up to today. The first proper ballad comes in the form of “Superlady”, with some very tasty horns and a nice piano and guitar backing, and there's another laid-back smooth ballad following it, the rather not-bad “Can you stand the rain”. Okay, okay, it's actually quite good, in fact I'd pin it as the standout track on the album thus far. Very mature sounding, well crafted and quite effective. A third ballad follows, in the shape of “Competition”, and I have to admit, when they pull out the stops on the slower songs on this album they really do sound good. Lovely addition of sax helps to create a really cool atmosphere for this song. And yes, there's a fourth ballad to come! Talk about throwing everything together! “I'm comin' home” is really nice, but to be honest I think these songs would have been better spread evenly throughout the album, where they would have had more of an impact, and serve to break up the faster (and quite frankly, inferior) songs. Also, having them one after the other lessens their effect, I believe, as you kind of think, “Oh here's another ballad”. And yes, you guessed it! The album closes on yet another ballad: that's five in succession, almost half of the album. “Boys to men” is a nice song, and did in fact apparently inspire the creation of another Boyband --- can you guess which one? --- but at this point it's number five of five, and though it's very good in its own right it would have had more effect I think had it come after a fast song, or even a bad one. As it is, I find it a case of the shrugging of the shoulders, a very small bit like the recent John Sykes album I reviewed, “Loveland”, which is nothing but ballads and slow songs. I love them, but they have their time and place, and unless you're someone like Air Supply (and even they rock out very occasionally!) you really can't expect a full album of ballads to hold the attention. So that's the last of our look at the first credited Boyband, New Edition. I'm not singularly impressed by them --- but then, I didn't really expect to be --- but I have to grudgingly admit they have a little bit more about them than I had originally expected. This is the band that gave us “Candy girl”, after all! Nonetheless, I don't see their albums remaining on my hard disk once this article is finished. TRACKLISTING 1. Introduction 2. That's the way we're livin' 3. Where it all started 4. If it ain't love 5. Skit #1 6. N.E heartbreak 7. Crucial 8. Skit #2 9. You're not my kind of girl 10. Superlady 11. Can you stand the rain 12. Competition 13. Skit #3 14. I'm comin' home 15. Boys to men After fleecing New Edition and then being sued by them, thus having to release them from their ironclad contract, our good friend F@gin --- sorry, Maurice Starr! --- simply dusted himself off and went in search of another band he could make money off. This time he went for five white guys as opposed to black, and so New Kids on the Block were born. And so I pack up my laptop (after having availed of the hotel's power supply to charge it up for the journey) and pop on my shades as the early morning sunlight filters through the far-off mountains and sparkles off the pools of unnameable substance that dot the ground around here. I hear my taxi arrive, pay my bill and head out to the car, jumping in the back. We're on the road again, where rather worryingly, more Boybands await... |
We drive southwards, for in this land of the elder Boybands there are only two regions which house the history and music of the first two known Boybands, and so it is to N'kotbia we drive, the cabby engaging in rambling chit-chat which I do my best to ignore. My head is swimming with close harmonies and digital piano chords, and the word “baby” running around like a beheaded chicken, and the repeated listens to New Edition's catalogue have not helped my stomach to settle after the rather choppy journey to this strange land. Oh well, on we go.
http://www.trollheart.com/boybandland2.jpg http://www.trollheart.com/pageopen4a.jpg The first thing I notice on arriving in the main city is that this is a far cleaner place than Editionia Nueva: it's more upscale, scenic and prettier than the place I have just left. Is this because it is a middle-class white neighbourhood? Possibly, but whatever the reason I'll be glad not to have to wade through trash on the streets of this town! And maybe I can get a hotel where I can sleep through the night without being eaten alive. Hope springs eternal, but as we pass rows of white picket-fenced houses and well-maintained buildings, with smart top-of-the-line cars outside each house, the place screams “Suburbia!” I pay off the cabby, find my hotel --- which is a lot nicer than the one I've just left --- and settle in before beginning my gruelling second day's work. http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...iOsE2iBwVZO0Si Formed, as I already mentioned, by the same man who “made” New Edition, and marketed as “the white New Edition”, New Kids on the Block (NKOTB) also came from Boston, and consisted of founder member Donnie Wahlberg, brother of actor Mark and indeed an actor himself later, who, having won an audition with Starr out of hundreds of teenage boys all looking for instant stardom, helped Starr put the rest of the band together. First he recruited his brother, but Mark left before the band began playing or recording. The final lineup ended thus: Donnie Wahlberg Jordan Knight Jonathan Knight Joey McIntyre Danny Wood There were some other changes along the way initially, but this is the known lineup of NKOTB, although originally they weren't called that. The label demanded a change from the name Starr had given them, Nynuk, and so they changed to New Kids on the Block, or NKOTB. As with New Edition previously, Starr maintained an iron grip on his new moneymaking machine, writing the lion's share of the songs on their debut self-titled album, and producing it as well as playing most of the instruments. Success, however, would not be repeated right away, and the album did very poorly, with the result that Starr had to struggle to find the boys gigs, unlike New Edition, who had embarked on a big tour when their own debut smashed the charts. New Kids on the Block --- New Kids on the Block --- 1984 (Columbia) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...lbum_cover.jpg Desperate to emulate the original success of his former protoges, Starr made the crucial mistake of trying to make NKOTB be New Edition, writing them bubblegum pop songs and worse, giving them raps to perform. New Edition, as we have seen, although successful with their debut, built their lasting fame and appeal on subsequent records, which were more mature and less kiddish. Starr's gamble didn't pay off, and here's why. As an album, and indeed career, opener, “Stop it girl” is weak, sugary, throwaway. If you're going to “unleash” the next Boyband on the world --- shame on you, but if you're going to --- you have to grab people's attention from the off, as with any album, and this song does not come close to doing that. It's faceless, generic tripe, with that damn vocoder again! “Didn't I (blow your mind)” is the first ballad on the album, a lot better. Not surprisingly, it's an old seventies cover. As a matter of fact, though this album largely left the charts unshaken, it would be this track which, when re-released after their second album hit the big time, would reignite interest in this album. It's quite a nice little ballad, with nice piano and nice guitar. Just nice, period, as the Cat from “Red Dwarf” once said. Of course, it would be emulated and copied by Boybands down through the years, and become the template for every hit single from Westlife to Nsync and Blue to JLS. “Popsicle” sounds as you would expect, simple bubblegum pop in the style of early New Edition, with another annoying rap, while “Be my girl” is another ballad, nothing special, another generic slow pop song, but it does showcase some of the voices rather well. There's still not, though, to borrow a phrase from our transatlantic cousins, a whole lot going on under the hood. The title track attempts to address this, doing its best to stamp the album with the identity of these new successors to the first Boyband. It's basically a rap with little in the way of music, just percussion and some “scratching”, is it they call it? That thing where they run a record backwards over and over? Never really got that personally, not even when Run DMC did it... and though next track “Are you down” tries to change the format and kick it up a notch, it's too jarring a change, with heavy drums, deep throaty keyboards and a rap. I guess it piques the interest, but you're left wondering where this band really fit in, what they're about? “I wanna be loved by you” is a soul-style ballad, where each of the band “introduce” themselves --- ”I'm Danny, and I'm a Taurus...” Yeah, nice chat-up lines, guys. Original. It's an exceptionally self-indulgent song, even for a Boyband, and I officially hate it. Just so you know! Typical Starr crap. “Don't give up on me” (a plea from Starr to potential fans, perhaps?) ramps up the power a little more, with bright keys and pulsing bass, nice percussion and an almost rock melody, until closer “Treat me right” actually bops and rocks along quite nicely with a really not too bad ender, with elements of swing and doo-wop, as well as gospel and a little blues. Nice. It's certainly not an album that was ever going to shake the world to its foundations, and were it not for the success of the followup, that may have been the last we ever heard of New Kids on the Block. Unfortunately for me, fate had other ideas... TRACKLISTING 1. Stop it girl 2. Didn't I (blow your mind) 3. Popsicle 4. Angel 5. Be my girl 6. New Kids on the Block 7. Are you down? 8. I wanna be loved by you 9. Don't give up on me 10. Treat me right Disappointed with sales of the debut album, and the Kids' reception by the public in general, Starr herded them back into the studio for over a year until they produced their second effort, 1989's “Hangin' tough”. Like New Edition before them, the guys decided they hated the bubblegum, “safe” approach of the debut and demanded more input into the new album, as well as their look. However, though three of them received credits as “associate producers”, Starr maintained his iron grip on the songwriting, but this time he in fact cracked it, and after initially looking like the new album would bomb just like the first, and NKOTB would be dropped by Columbia, sudden increased airplay and then interest from MTV saved them, and the album eventually went to number one, making the Kids, within a few short years, one of the hottest properties in the US music scene. Hangin' tough --- New Kids on the Block --- 1988 (Columbia) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...m_cover%29.jpg The album opens with a very Paula Abdul-type dance song, “You got it (The right stuff)” is typical of the sort of thing that would emanate from bands of this nature for the next ten years or more, until they all seem to blend together into one song, indistinguishable one from the other. That's how I see it, anyway. This, and the three tracks which follow it, were all released as singles and broke the charts wide apart. “Please don't go girl” is another soul ballad with the soon-to-be familiar spoken intro, clicky drum machine beats and electric piano. The quality of the vocal harmonies is deserving of praise, indeed, but then again, since none of them play any instrument or write the songs, they had bloody better know how to sing together! Again, that's my take on it. More swirly synth and digital piano introduces another ballad, one of their bigger hit singles, “I'll be loving you (forever)”, which actually got to the number one spot. “Cover girl” is actually a huge surprise, with its screaming, soaraway guitar intro, and its Springsteen/Dire Straits-like piano. Another big hit, it reached number 2, and although it sort of slides into generic pop after the promising opening, it's still my favourite on the album due entirely to its unexpectedness (is that a word?). “I need you” is another ballad, as the poor digital piano gets another workout, and then the title track throws down the gauntlet, creating yet another smash hit for NKOTB, and another number one. Almost reminiscent of Joan Jett's “I love rock and roll”, it's again something of a surprise, and not a totally bad track really. Then “I remember when” takes us back into the sugary realms of Boyband ballads (this makes the fourth ballad so far), with a certain seventies soul feel to it, before “Whatcha gonna do about it” transports us to the world of Janet Jackson, with a very hard-edged dance number, more of those stabbing synths and glissando keyboard runs. Starr relaxes his death-grip on the songwriting --- or perhaps the boys manage to pry his fingers loose for a moment! --- to allow Wahlberg, Wood and Jordan Knight to contribute to the writing of “My favourite girl”, but to be honest they needn't have bothered, as it's nothing special and doesn't stand out as any different to the rest of the tracks. Closer “Hold on” starts out with some nice slap bass and possibly acoustic guitar before it falls back into yet another generic pop/dance track, although there is some pretty rocky guitar work there near the end. And so we come to the end of the album which broke New Kids on the Block, and assured they would become a household name. I can see the differences between this and their debut, just as New Edition distanced themselves from their first album and upped the ante. It's a lot more polished, professional and has some far superior songs on it, though a lot of it sounds to me like it could still have used some work. Well, what do I know? By the end of the year the album had shot to number one, and there was no stopping the new guys! TRACKLISTING 1. You got it (the right stuff) 2. Please don't go girl 3. I'll be loving you (forever) 4. Cover girl 5. I need you 6. Hangin' tough 7. I remember when 8. What'cha gonna do (about it)? 9. My favourite girl 10. Hold on And that was it. Just like that, the band Columbia had been intending to drop due to poor record sales and thinking they had no future, suddenly became one of their biggest moneyspinners, and Maurice Starr was laughing all the way to the bank. NKOTB had conquered America by 1990, and the rest of the world by the following year. Merchandising contracts flowed, and the Kids even had a syndicated cartoon show on TV about them. They were huge business, but it would not last. Allegations of lip-syncing (eventually withdrawn) hit their fanbase hard, and as the world shifted its focus away from Boybands towards the emergent gangsta rap scene and grunge rock, the Kids (now officially known only as NKOTB) parted company with Starr, and began to write and produce their own albums. These were not as successful as their second and third albums, and interest in NKOTB began to wane. Members left, record sales dipped and finally in 1994, disappointed with reaction to, and sales of their fourth album, the perhaps appropriately titled “Face the music”, they decided to disband altogether. But as Count Dracula once warned, “You cannot kill what does not live!” and the boys reunited in 2008 for a triumphant comeback album and tour, and Lord help us, they're touring this year even as I write, supporting another Boyband, the Backstreet Boys. So it seems they're baaaaacckkk! Where's me Marillion albums? So the last album we'll look at here is then, not surprisingly, their comeback album, recorded fourteen years after they had split up. The Block --- New Kids on the Block --- 2008 (Interscope) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...B-TheBlock.jpg Oh well, apparently they're back to their full name, as the album sleeve attests to. Have they changed their musical style? Are they writing decent songs? Are they, in short, any good after almost a decade and a half in the wilderness? Enquiring minds want to know, so down I go, into the pit of despair. The things I do for you guys... Well, one thing I notice from the liner notes (okay, okay, Wikipedia!) is that there are a lot of big guest stars on this album, whom we'll get to in due course. I do have to say though that the opener, “Click click” is a whole lot more mature and professional than anything I've heard from them to date: age does seem to have improved them, or maybe they've just gone full circle. After being the flag-bearers and vanguard for the Boyband movement in the eighties, perhaps they have now looked at the work of some of the “young pretenders” and decided those bands know what they're doing (considering the moolah they're raking in) and followed suit. From the off, it's a lot less annoying an album than any of the others I've listened to, with restrained, echoey piano and keyboard rather than the stab of the synth that permeated their previous albums, at least the ones with Starr involved. It's a sort of semi-ballad, lots of handclaps and an easy melody. Nice opener. Then we come across the first of the big name involvement, Ne-Yo guests on “Single”, with that annoying updated vocoder vocal that is so prevalent in dance and r&b bands these days. Relatively restrained though. Not bad so far. “Big girl now” features the flavour of the year, Lady Gaga, but it's a real example of the kind of song I hate, and I find it empty and vacuous. So, normal service resumed then! Oh well, let's not write them off just yet: we're only three tracks in. “Summertime” starts off as a nice laidback ballad, gets a little more animated, but it's pleasant enough, with some busy synth in the background of the melody. Another ballad follows in the shape of “2 in the morning”, and it's okay, nothing special but hey, it doesn't make me throw up, and that has to be good! I notice that most of the songs on this are written by members of the band, mostly in fact Donnie Wahlberg, and it's got no less than twelve producers! Overproduced? Maybe. “Grown man” features the Pussycat Dolls and Teddy Riley (who he?) starts off with a kind of country rock melody, but with the Dolls on the track it really comes across as one of their songs, possibly a missed opportunity. “Dirty dancing” comes in on a nice clear piano line which continues through the song, and it works quite nicely against the handclap drumbeats, while the ridiculously titled “Sexify my love” is just basic throwaway, very forgettable apart from the title, then Timbaland guests on “Twisted”, close to a rock song for part of the track, and not too bad at all, nice orchestration on the strings. New Edition, of all people, appear on “Full service”, and Lady Gaga reprises her role, making the song something of a celebration as the two old Boybands meet. Probably like if Zep and Purple guested on the same song. Maybe. Exuberant feel to the song, at any rate. “Lights camera action” sounds like someone's playing that old pop hit “Popcorn” in the background, and has the by-now-standard talking intro, but beneath it's just another boring dance song really. Akon pops in for “Put it on my tab”, but as I say, the problem with these guest appearances is that it seems to me that each takes over the song and makes it in their own image, so it's hard to relate it to the Kids Who Are No Longer New on the Block. A case of pulling in stars to bolster up the album, perhaps? I personally feel it detracts from rather than benefits the comeback album, making it difficult to work out whether they've changed or improved at all. Used to be Maurice Starr who controlled them, now ostensibly they control their own music, but they do seem to have handed over a lot of creative control to these guests they have invited to contibute. At least the closer, “Stare at you” is a decent, very decent ballad, and leaves you with a good tune in your head as you close down your media player and wonder what next for the New Kids? TRACKLISTING 1. Click click 2. Single 3. Big girl now 4. Summertime 5. 2 in the morning 6. Grown man 7. Dirty dancing 8. Sexify my love 9. Twisted 10. Full service 11. Lights, camera, action 12. Put it on my tab 13. Stare at you And so I return to the dock, watching the ship slide in closer through the early afternoon fog that shrouds the harbour. My first visit to Boybandland is complete. I've learned a lot, and I do have something more of a regard for the bands I've investigated, but I'm not going to be running out and buying a ticket for the NKOTB/BSB concert just yet! As I look back from the rail of the ship, pulling away now from the dock and heading back out to sea, I ruminate on the beginnings of this thing called a Boyband, and wonder how much blame the bands that came before them have to take for the creation of this beast? After all, without the Jackson 5 or indeed the Osmonds, there might never have been a belief that a band could exist without any instruments, that more than one person could sing and that they should also dance. I guess we can't blame New Edition or New Kids for being a product of their time, and to be fair, it's more the later, media-saturated bands like Westlife and Take That I have a problem with. And I know I'll be soon listening to their brand of music when I reach the second island in this weird country, and begin to trace the history of the nineties Boybands, particularly those from my own native Ireland. Until then, I think I'll go belowdecks and review a Venom album or two: got to do something to get that bloody digital piano out of my head! |
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Sick to death of all this Boyband tosh? The worm will see you right! Get your listening gear round THIS! :D |
Random Track of the Day
Tuesday, November 8 2011 Oooh, I still feel dirty after listening to all those boyband songs! Brrr! Feel like someone's danced in choreographic perfection across my grave! Be a while before I do that again! Thankfully the random-o-meter has selected for us today a decent rock track, the incomparable Rory Gallagher. Why do the good always leave us too soon? I'll admit you're gone --- Rory Gallagher --- from "Calling card" on Chrysalis http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...lling_Card.JPG A sort of mixture of blues and a little country, this is a track from an album of his that I have to sheepishly admit I'm not that familiar with, and I should be. But hey, it's Rory! Thank the rock gods for people like him... |
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Time once again for another selection of those first impressions, the opening tracks we hear when we put on an album, and that often determine either whether or not we listen to the rest of it, or how wary we are in doing so. A bad opening track can potentially spoil your enjoyment of what could be a good album, but that isn't a criticism that could be levelled at any of the below tracks. Starting with the late Laura Branigan, opening track from her “Self control” album, and itself a hit single, this is “The lucky one”. Great opener from a great Album, this is Heart, from “Bad animals”, with “Who will you run to”. Could there be a more classic opening track, or a more definitive one? Boston, from their self-titled debut, and the massive “More than a feeling”. A truly epic start to what is a little of a hit-and-miss album for Fish, this is “The perception of Johnny Punter”, taken from “Sunsets on empire”. And last but definitely not least, you just know from the opening snarling guitar chords on this that it's gonna be one hell of a ride! And it is! From the debut album by Ten, this is “The Crusades (It's all about love)”. |
Random Track of the Day
Wednesday, November 9 2011 Someone we haven't heard from at all during the course of my journal, in any capacity, is Bryan Ferry. The random-o-meter rectifies that now, with a track from his fifth solo album, the rather tittilatingly-titled (try saying that after six pints of wicked strength lager!) “The bride stripped bare”. Sign of the times --- Bryan Ferry --- from "The bride stripped bare" on EG http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...bare_ferry.jpg Always a distinctive voice, Ferry was the frontman for Roxy Music for over ten years, and for this album he pulled in top talent like John Wetton, Herbie Flowers and the incomparable Mel Collins on sax. It's a rocker, with a hard edge reminiscent of his early work with the band, in the vein of “A hard rain's gonna fall” or “Virginia plain”. |
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Ah, the worm doesn't know: there's just something about this song that he likes. Yeah, it sounds a bit drab and boring, but it has a certain something... |
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Ah yes, time to descend once again into the darkest pits of Eurovision Hell! Going all the way back to the year of my birth (what a wonderful year, eh?), and a song from Denmark, sung by Grethe and Jorgen Ingmann, called “Danesvise” (I would hazard it's something like dancer or dancing, but my Danish isn't up to scratch I'm afraid!), which was actually the winner of the 1963 competition. Sounds like something you'd hear Lili Marlene sing in a seedy World War II German nightclub, is what I think! Oh well, it obviously got the most votes so they must have thought it was good. At least the guy on the guitar --- Jorgen I presume --- seems to be enjoying himself! http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...zlmiD3qjHmqbDq 1963 --- Denmark --- “Danesvise” by Grethe and Jorgen Ingmann (Winner!) |
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Some albums are excellent, some are really dire, and then there are the ones in the middle. You don't hate it but you don't love it. You might play it the odd time, but you're not going to be that pushed. It's in your record collection, you wouldn't get rid of it, but it will probably be a long time before, if ever, you listen to it all the way through again. Welcome to “Meh...”, the new section where I'll be reviewing albums that did not impress me, but nevertheless are not bad enough to qualify for the “Nice song, shame about the album!” section, and which are unlikely to ever make it to the “Last Chance Saloon”. These are the albums I know I was not blown away by, but weren't so bad that I'd never listen to them again. At best, I might lift a track here or there for a playlist, but that's about it. Prepare to be underwhelmed as we delve into my barrel of mediocrity, not quite scraping the bottom... The power and the myth --- House of Lords --- 2004 (Frontiers) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...d_the_myth.jpg This was an album I had high hopes for. Don't ask me why: I had never heard of the band before, but something about it just piqued my interest and I decided to give it a try. While not awful by any means, it nevertheless did not exactly send me searching avidly for the rest of their catalogue. It is in fact their fourth of, to date, eight studio albums, but even the appearance of Dream Theater's Derek Shernihan and the lovely Robin Beck could not lift this album above the realm of the ordinary for me. It opens with “Today”, nice humming synth and lovely little picked classical guitar, the synth getting louder and more insistent until it's joined by electric guitar and drums, and the song gets going. The vocals of James Christian, who also plays lead guitar, swing between a sort of Nickelback growl and a generic AOR style, but effective and also very clear. Nice guitar solo too. It's an impressive opener, but then “All is gone” seems to be a fairly generic rock song, nice idea but undeveloped, with an almost Free-like melody, failry predictable and a bit of a disappointment after the first track. “Am I the only one” has a nice oriental feel to the keyboard opening, then slips into a sort of semi-ballad style, understated, not bad. It goes along nicely, but then ends very badly, quite unexpectedly. It's followed by a hard rocker, “Living in silence”, but this goes from prog rock to almost heavy metal: hard to place this band, whom I had taken as being a progressive rock band at heart, but find now to be more straddling AOR and hard rock with, it has to be said, not too much confidence on either side. A balancing act that constantly looks in danger of failing, sending the guys tumbling through the air and down to the ground. The title track, then, comes over all prog-rock, a powerful instrumental with organs, keyboards, synth and rumbling drums, wailing guitars and warbling keys going at it hammer and tongs. This then runs into the eastern-favoured, Zep-like “The Rapture”, which gives way to the gentle, almost acoustic “The man who I am” (bad grammar too!), probably one of the best tracks on the album with its softly keening synth and its laidback guitar, Christian singing the best I've heard him so far. I believe Shernihan's expertly-crafted keyboards are what makes this song so good. Then we're into “Bitter sweet euphoria”, a mid-paced rocker with busy guitars and a nice solo, but then “Mind trip” falls over into hard rock/almost-punk territory, and it just doesn't work for me. Just sounds a little too confused. Closer “Child of rage” mimicks Guns 'n' Roses' version of Dylan's “Knockin' on Heaven's door” with its opening, but it settles into a nice little ballad with country leanings, great acoustic guitar and organ taking the melody until the electric guitar kicks in as the chorus hits. Very much in the style of Bon Jovi, Poison or indeed the aforementioned G'n'R, a kind of “cowboy ballad”, the sort that tends to be popular with heavy rock bands, and to be fair, they do a good job on it, and it's a very decent closer. But there are too many low points and nothing special enough about this album to earn it any proper points. Not, as I said at the introduction, a bad album by any means, but nothing great either. And so it earns the dubious honour of being the first album into the “Meh” pile. I don't doubt there'll be plenty more. TRACKLISTING 1. Today 2. All is gone 3. Am I the only one 4. Living in silence 5. The power and the myth 6. The Rapture 7. The man who I am 8. Bitter sweet euphoria 9. Mind trip 10. Child of rage |
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Cool song from Aerosmith today, with tongue firmly in cheek, this is “Dude (Looks like a lady)”! |
Random Track of the Day
Thursday, November 10 2011 Something very different today. From my collection the random-o-meter has picked out this from Bruce Springsteen, from one of his early albums, this is the ostensible title track to the 1973 album “The wild, the innocent and the E Street shuffle”. The E Street shuffle --- Bruce Springsteen --- from "The wild, the innocent and the E Street shuffle" on Columbia http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...heInnocent.jpg Not by any means typical of the type of song Springsteen would some become famous for, and connected with, this is a mixture of blues, soul, jazz and rock, but this sort of “story of the streets” would resonate through his later work, even as his music turned to harder-edged rock, particularly albums like “Born to run” and “Darkness on the edge of town”. (Note: after searching for a long time for the right candidate, Trollheart finally has an assistant to help run this section, and you'll meet Stacey-Lynn tomorrow. From then on, she will take over "Random Track of the Day" and be responsible for it. There will be a makeover of the section, which again will be guided by and under the creative influence of Stacey-Lynn. Ah, some help at last! ) |
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When I found out that Tom Waits had a new album in the works, there wasn't really any doubt that it would shoot straight to the top of my list of current albums to be reviewed. And here it is. Bad as me --- Tom Waits --- 2011 (ANTI-) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...px-BadasMe.png It's been seven years since Waits' last studio recording, “Real gone”, and doesn't it feel like it? In between we've had the three-volume rarities and unreleased collection, “Orphans: Brawlers, bawlers and bastards”, and the live album “Glitter and doom”, but this is his first album of new, original material to hit the streets since 2004. Has it been worth the wait (sorry)? Come on, seriously now: you call yourself a Waits fan and ask that question? What? You're not a Waits fan? Well, we'll have to see what we can do about that now, won't we? “Chicago” gets us off to a flying start, with the usual eclectic mix of instruments you expect to find on a Waits album --- accordion, trombone, clarinet, vox organ (whatever that is!), vibraphone, harmonica, tablas, pump organ --- in fact, as Waits albums go, this is fairly restrained in its use of the weirder things he usually makes to create his musical soundscapes. The opener flies past really quickly, almost before you have a chance to appreciate it, but it's a fast, uptempo, happy song with Waits as ever on top form, gravelly voice not dulled by the years, or the time spent away from the recording studio. “Raised right men” is a boogie/blues number, with screeching organ and insistent banjo, while “Talking at the same time” slows things down for a typical Waits tune, with clarinet and trombone leading the way, vibraphone painting a delicate picture in the background. On this song, Waits reverts to the higher-pitched voice he employs on songs like “Shore leave”, proving that he doesn't always have to growl, and is just as unique and satisfying singing like this. The brass give the effect of walking down a dark street, perhaps somewhat the worse for drink, as the rest of the music swirls around like the way the street spins when you're, shall we say, tired and emotional, and trying to find your way home. Sounds like a pretty slick upright bass in there too. Class. “Get lost” showcases Waits at his most manic, circa “Bone machine”, with a jazzy, boppy number carried on guitar and trombones with some pretty mad organ doing its thing too. A totally insane banjo solo (yeah, I know!) gives way to an equally effective guitar solo in a song that's under three minutes long. Definite fifties vibe in there, with Waits channelling the ghost of Elvis, and beating the King at his own game. It's a slow, lazy stroll then, after the headlong dash of the previous track, for “Face to the highway”, with some special guitar work and a busy bassline, while “Pay me” is another drunken ballad in the style of “Innocent when you dream”, with accordion, violin and harmonica meshing in a way they seldom can to create a fragile, fractured song of true and simple beauty. Only one man can produce Waits, and that's Waits, but since 1999's "Mule variations" he's been joined at the production desk by his longtime partner and wife Kathleen Brennan, counterbalancing his often lunatic, discordant style and making sure the songs fit into some sort of format, the calm ying to his raging yang, as Mr. Burns once said. “Back in the crowd” is another slow, almost Mexican song with lovely acoustic guitar and castanets, plus some fine banjo adding real spice to the track, while all Hell is let loose for the title track, with Waits again the mad musician, crazy guitar, kettle drums and his falsetto rising above it all like some sort of insane king surveying his equally mad kingdom. Ah, Waits, ye've been away for too long! Showing his total musical versatility, “Kiss me” is a gentle, electric piano-led ballad very much in the vein of “Old boyfriends”, which was sung by Crystal Gayle on the soundtrack to “One from the heart”, on which she co-starred with him. A real slow jazz and blues number, it has some truly sparkling piano work in it, then the trumpets and trombones announce the arrival of the joyous “Satisfied”, as Waits envisions life after him with none of the maudlin regrets or fears most of us have when contemplating our own end. Great, out-of-control organ helps the song along, a real fun ride. Waits is not known for long songs, and nothing here is over four minutes, and all but three tracks under that. Short, snappy, concise, Waits is like a mugger who hits you, robs you and legs it before the law come after him, running off with a mad laugh down the street: hit and run music, certainly, and the better for it. You're just finished delighting in the madcap fun of “Satisfied” when the beautiful simplicity of “Last leaf” hits you upside the heart, a delicate, simple song in which Waits sings ”I'm the last leaf on the tree/ The autumn took the rest/ But they won't take me.” Stunning imagery in a truly exceptional song, the more impressive due to its understated nature. “Hell broke luce” kicks out the last restraints on Waits and he goes totally crazy, a kind of march or parade as he struts along and asks the question we all want to know the answer to: ”How many ways can you / Polish up a turd?” Angry guitar breaks in for the first time --- that would be the one and only Keith Richards making his presence felt --- making this the heaviest track on the album by a long way, with a pretty repetitive melody that somehow stays interesting, like poetry being recited on stage, backed by drummers who must be high on something. Gloriously weird. And then it ends, with another slow, gentle accordion-led ballad, the wonderful “New Year's Eve”. Beautiful banjo work again gives this song a slightly Mexican/Mariachi feel, and the only bad thing about this song is that it signals the end of the album. I could listen to twice this many tracks, and more. Not that I expected anything less, but “Bad as me” is a hugely triumphant return of the king of the offbeat, a complete vindication of Waits' music and a joy to his many fans. It's strangely appropriate that Waits again takes the music world by storm in the year in which he has been, finally, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His reaction was vintage Waits as he grinned “They say I have no hits and I'm difficult to work with, like it's a bad thing!” This album is going to get listened to a LOT in this house, I can tell you! It's truly great to see him back, at the top of his game again, and let's hope we don't have to wait (again, sorry!) too long for his next opus. TRACKLISTING 1. Chicago 2. Raised right men 3. Talking at the same time 4. Get lost 5. Face to the highway 6. Pay me 7. Back in the crowd 8. Bad as me 9. Kiss me 10. Satisfied 11. Last leaf 12. Hell broke luce 13. New Year's Eve |
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Wherever you are today, the worm hopes it's not raining as heavily as it is at the moment in Ireland! Nice speedy one today for you --- how does this guy sing so fast? --- their one and only hit, as far as this invertebrate knows, this is Hue and Cry with “Labour of love”. |
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Been a while since we had any instrumental tracks round here. Let's remedy that right now... A masterclass in guitar here from the one and only Mike Oldfield, from “Tubular Bells II”, this is “Blue saloon”. A lovely relaxing soundscape from John Williams' Sky, which goes under the name of “Sahara”. And to close, an interesting little piece from Asia, taken from the second volume of rarities and previously unreleased material that went under the banner of “Archiva”, this is “Armenia”. |
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Hi everyone! I'm Stacey-Lynn, and I'll be taking over this section from today. Poor old Trollheart was so inundated with work, trying to keep all those plates spinning, as it were, the grey hairs are beginning to outnumber the black on his head! No such problems for me, as you can see! I've given the section a little makeover, do let me know what you think of it if you want to. When Troll began this section it was his intention to talk a little about each track, but trying to do that every single day, as well as keep all the other sections going (don't like that worm --- eeew!) he just wasn't able to fulfil that promise. I'll be doing my best from now on to speak about the tracks randomly selected each day. Comments are of course as always invited. Okay, that's my little introduction over. Enjoy the track, and hope you enjoy the new-look Random Track of the Day feature! Friday, November 11 2011 Beaujolais --- The Alan Parsons Project --- from "Stereotomy" on Arista http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...Stereotomy.jpg http://www.trollheart.com/speak111111.jpg |
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Time for some good ol' rock and roll! Many of you will know this from the soundtrack to the movie “An American werewolf in London”, but the more savvy among you will also know that this is one of the dozens of hits that Creedence Clearwater Revival had in the seventies. It's one of their most famous, and is of course “Bad moon rising”. |
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Hi again, Stacey-Lynn back with today's random selection from Trollheart's Music Library. Today it's the Moody Blues again: not one of Troll's favourite bands, though I don't mind them too much. Not sure I'd listen to a full album, though. Mind you, that Justin Hayward's a bit of all right! Well, he was, when he was younger. Oooh! Coming over all flushed now, better concentrate on the task at hand... Saturday, November 12 2011 Dr. Livingston, I presume? --- The Moody Blues --- from "In search of the lost chord" on Deram http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...lost_chord.jpg http://www.trollheart.com/speak121111.jpg |
Hot fuss --- The Killers --- 2004 (Lizard King)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...x-Hot-Fuss.jpg I first heard the Killers when I saw a video for “All these things that I've done”, loved it and wanted to hear more. But kind of like when I first heard “Ashes” by Embrace, I found that listening to their other tracks didn't seem to measure up to this great single. Over time though, I've heard more than a few tracks in playlists, though I have as yet to listen to the album all the way through, which is a situation I am now going to remedy. Having heard probably about half of the album via playlists, I think I can be reasonably confident that this will be an album I'm going to enjoy, and recommend. Of course, you probably know it already. It has after all sold over seven million copies, spawned four hit singles, and seems never to be off the radio. But for anyone who hasn't heard it, these are my impressions, for what they're worth. First though, a little background. Far from being an overnight sensation, the Killers, based out of America's adult Disneyland, Las Vegas, were largely ignored by the music press and the public when they released their first single from this, their debut album, and it wasn't until the release of the second single, “Mr. Brightside”, that they clicked, and people began listening to, then buying, their records, and fame and success followed. The album subsequently hit the number one spot, as did the two after it. “Jenny was a friend of mine” is the opening track, and apparently it's part of a “murder trilogy”. Not too sure what's going on there, but the first part is on a rarities compilation, this is the second, and “Midnight show” is the finale. Seems a bit odd to do that --- I mean, why not have the trilogy all on the one album, or at least on “standard” ones? Anyway, “Jenny” is a good powerful rocker, with great keyboard work from lead vocalist and main songwriter Brandon Flowers, with some good guitar licks from Dave Keuning. Very full keyboard sound making it almost a techno song, but heavy for all that. It leads into “Mr. Brightside”, the song that started it all for them. Good fast rhythm with cool piano and great dirty guitar, the song of a jealous boyfriend who knows his girl is cheating on him, it's sung with real venom and passion by Flowers, touch of Blondie in there, very catchy, and easy to see how it captured the imagination and attention of record-buyers when it was released as a single. Lots of energy in the song. A little slower then is “Smile like you mean it”, yet another single, led by some jangly guitar, great riffs and fine vocals from Flowers. Some very new-wave style keys adding a real mid-eighties flavour, then a great guitar riff reminiscent of the Edge at his best. Things speed back up then for “Somebody told me”, guitar-led with a great hook and some interesting lyrical ideas: ”Somebody told me/ That you had a boyfriend/ Who looked like a girlfriend/ That I had...” Very boppy, good rocker, which leads into the song that started it all for me, “All these things that I've done”. You've more than likely heard it. Starts off on echoey keys and organ and an almost gospel intro, then gets going with solid drumming and a great guitar riff to take the song into its main melody. Halfway through it slows down for the by-now-famous refrain ”I've got soul/ But I'm not a soldier”, helped out by the Sweet Inspirations Gospel Choir. Personally I still see this as the best track on the album, and nothing they've done has come close, though there have been some good songs. Sharp guitar then introduces “Andy, you're a star”, a slower, bluesy tune kind of in the style of REM with a flavour of Nick Cave too. Peppy synth leads the way for “On top”, a mid-paced tune which sounds like the Cars jamming with U2. “Change your mind” is a breezy, upbeat song which resonates with hope and optimism, keyboards and guitar working in perfect harmony to create a mutli-layered sound and carry the song along. Brandon Flowers has quite a unique voice, and it's used to good effect on this track. “Believe me Natalie” comes in on a low, keyboard and synth intro, with drums then crashing in and guitar riffing, and some nice brass or synth-brass near the end, then the murder trilogy concludes with “Midnight show”, a fast, almost frenetic track with lots of guitar, desperation and frustration in the lyric, finishing with a nice synthy keyboard run. The album closes on the slowburner “Everything will be alright”, the vocal kind of warped, as if being routed through some sort of effect, slow organ and clicking, minimal percussion providing a low-key ending to an album that began so powerfully and, in its own way, ends that way too. As a debut album, it's certainly up there with the better ones. I'm still not a hundred percent sure that I would go out and buy another of the Killers' albums, but I'm glad I listened to this all the way through for once. A rewarding experience, without doubt. TRACKLISTING 1. Jenny was a friend of mine 2. Mr. Brightside 3. Smile like you mean it 4. Somebody told me 5. All these things I've done 6. Andy, you're a star 7. On top 8. Change your mind 9. Believe me Natalie 10. Midnight show 11. Everything will be alright |
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Some songs just have that iconic opening riff, don't they? Like this one, from the then-mighty Joe Jackson (again, the worm asks, what happened to this guy?) and one of his big, big hits. It's “Steppin' out” (always leave the “g” out...). |
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You could hardly have two more disparate and diametrically opposed artistes, in music style, lifestyle, age and outlook, and the idea of them ever performing a duet would have been unthinkable before 2001, but everyone was amazed at the Grammys that year when notoriously bigoted rapper Eminem appeared onstage with gay icon Elton John and they performed Eminem's “Stan”. Itself a sampling of the basic melody from Dido's massive hit “Thank you”, the song concerns a letter written from an obsessed fan to Eminem, angry that he is not getting any reply, and by the time Eminem gets to write back to him the eponymous Stan has taken his own life and that of his girlfriend in despair, thinking no-one cares about him. Eminem and Elton John --- Stan http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...n_CD_cover.jpg Originally a number one hit for Eminem when performed with the abovementioned Dido, the song really came to life as explained above when he was accompanied by Elton John at the 2001 Grammys. The fact that so much of Eminem's music is slanted towards a very homophobic view, coupled with the violent imagery in the song is perhaps all the more reason it was a surprise to see someone who, though something of a maverick and a rebel in his day, never advocated anyone killing another human being, or gloried in violence and misogynism, even if only through his lyrics. Laying, for the most part, to rest the spectre of anti-gay sentiment and the backlash from the gay community (most of whom could be potential customers!), “Stan” is quite a unique achievement, making several statements all at once. Certainly something that would not be seen as a marriage made in Heaven, it turned out to be less of a mismatch than might have been reasonably expected. |
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