Jordan: the comeback --- Prefab Sprout --- 1990 (Kitchenware)
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Do not ask me why I bought this album. I was never a fan of Prefab Sprout. Like most people I heard and liked singles like “Cars and girls”, “The king of rock and roll” and “When love breaks down”, but I would never have considered buying one of their albums. A handful of singles do not merit the shelling-out of hard earned cash on an album. So I don't know what it was that pointed me in Prefab's direction --- possibly a review, or maybe I heard some tracks on the radio, I really can't remember --- but in the end I was really glad I did. This is an absolute diamond.

Of course, I have never since bought any of their albums (and truth to tell, they didn't exactly rush to follow the success of this one up) but this is still one I can listen to all the way through, with no bad tracks at all. Not one. At all. No. Not one.

For a single album it was huge at the time, containing a massive nineteen tracks in all, and it gets going with the pop/rock of “Looking for Atlantis”, a staccato of drums announcing the arrival of the album, with some really upbeat backing vocals and jangly guitar, sparkling keyboards before Paddy McAloon begins singing. The song is very commercial, very chartworthy with some rather obscure lyrics, as is often the case throughout this album. It's frequently hard to figure out what McAloon is singing about, but the album is so good that you really can just enjoy it on that level, and not be too worried about the deeper meanings in the lyrics, though they're surely there.

It's a great start, with backup vocals from Wendy Smith and madcap harmonica from Judd Lander adding to the sense of fun about the song as Paddy sings ”Should be lovin' someone/ And you know who it must be/ Cos you'll never find Atlantis/ Till you make that someone me.” Er, yeah. Things slow down then for the first of several ballads, the sparkly keyboards again evident as “Wild horses” starts, Paddy's voice laidback and soft, but hitting some high notes in there too. There's a spoken section voiced by Jenny Agutter, of all people --- not sure if it's sampled from one of her movies or if she actually took part in the song, but she is thanked on the album liner notes. At any rate, it's very effective, spoken as it is over trickling cascading keys. It's a sudden change so early in the album, from the rollicking, galloping pop of the opener to this slow, soulful ballad, but then it all changes again for “Machine gun Ibiza”, with a sort of half-blues melody, mostly keyboard led with some nice touches on guitar. It's a slow song, but not a ballad.

And things stay slow but get really special then for “We let the stars go”, a beautiful ballad of lazy summer nights, McAloon recalling it seems a love affair from his youth. Lovely backing vocals again from --- almost a duet with --- Smith, whose voice complements his so well. Layers of keyboards and what could be classical guitar give the song a lush, graceful sound and Paddy sings from the heart. Everything ramps up then for “Carnival 2000”, a fiesta of brass and guitar, starting off low-key on electric guitar as Paddy sings ”Tonight let's raise a glass my friend/ To those who couldn't make it/ A century has shut its eyes/ And who are we to wake it?" A vision of ten years in the future at the time of writing, and a look forward to the turn of the millennium. Very samba-styled, with trumpets, horns and whistles and bongo-style drums with celebratory bells ringing in the background.

It's seldom, if ever, that I would attempt to comment on every track on so large an album, but really, the quality of songs here is so incredible that really, I can't leave out even one. The production, by Thomas Dolby, is pristine without becoming stale or clinical, allowing the genuine warmth --- or the prevailing emotion at any rate --- to shine through in each song, without being produced to the nth degree. The title track envisages Elvis still living somewhere, ready to make his comeback, with a soul/jazz feel to it, more trumpets and some great keys. The King sniffs ”And all of those books they wrote about me/ Man, there wasn't much love in 'em, boys!/ If I'd have taken all that medication/ Man, I'd have rattled like one of/ My little girl's toys!”

With nineteen tracks on the album it's not that surprising that there are no long songs. Only five of them go over the four minute mark, and many are much shorter than that. But each one is a carefully-crafted gem. There really is no filler on this opus, and there's nothing you want to skip over, or think any less brilliant than the tracks that came before. If there's a standout though, it may have to be the double “Jesse James symphony” and “Jesse James bolero”, the first of which is played on tinkly keyboard with a very simple melody as Paddy tells the story of (possibly the, but certainly a) Jesse James, and how he was cursed from birth. ”Jesse James was never/ Part of life's great symphony/ All he heard were / Penny whistles out of key.”

It then slips into the tango-like second part, the bolero, much more dramatic and powerful as Paddy relates how Jesse met his end. ”All his plans/ Crafted and clever/ Fated unborn/ Unfinished forever.” “Jesse James bolero” is a much more solid song, with full instrumentation and backing vocals from Wendy, which have been missing for a little while now. Nice banjo in the middle, great little touch. The two songs are great, but really it's hard to play them apart, as they really do run together, and they're a great example of something that becomes more than the sum of its parts. A minor masterpiece.

After that, “Moon dog” is a little ordinary, but still a great little song, with a lovely whistling keyboard intro, kind of reminscent of Deacon Blue's “The very thing” . Pulsating little piano runs as Paddy bemoans the destruction of natural resources as he sings ”We chopped a billion trees/ To print up eulogies.” Not entirely sure, but I think he's annoyed that the USA were the ones to make it to the moon, after all the hurt they caused on the Earth. Like I say, hard to get into his head vis a vis the meaning of his lyrics, but you can definitely enjoy the songs. “All the world loves lovers” is a simple mid-paced half-ballad, with sweeping keyboards and a boppy beat as Paddy tells his lover ”You and I won't lose our heads/ Like other lovers do/ Thinking this will last forever/ When it's just a year or two.” Pragmatic, but hardly likely. One of the shortest songs on the album then, at just over a minute and a half, “All boys believe anything” showcases, finally, the lead vocals of Wendy Smith against Tom Waits-style accordion and piano, with lovely strings arrangement, and the only lyric in the whole song is the title. Lovely lonely harmonica to end.

Things pick right up again then with the electric “Ice maiden”, buzzy feedback guitar riding on keyboard lines as the song bops along and Paddy declares ”So what if tomorrow you're frozen?/ Death is a small price for Heaven!” What sounds like saxophone makes a welcome contribution here, the guitar getting a little funkier as the song goes on, then “Paris Smith” segues directly in on the back of wavy keyboards as McAloon again demonstrates his mastery of the written word: "Any music worth its salt/ Is good for dancing/ But I try to be the / Fred Astaire of words.” And indeed you are, my friend!

Tongue firmly in cheek then, he launches the band into “The Wedding March”, where he admits ”One dance whose steps/ I never could learn/ It's called the wedding march.” It's played like an updated twenties dance tune, and you could just see him in top hat and tails, dancing under the spotlight as he sings this on some vaudeville stage. It's great fun, with a very catchy melody, what sounds like mandolin and a put-on twenties voice at one point, mirambas and vibes adding to the feel of a song from yesteryear.

The absolute standout then --- and it's hard to say this, since as I've already mentioned once or twice, every song here is a potential standout --- has to be “One of the broken”. How can you ignore a song which begins "Hi! This is God here!” One of the most beautiful and simple ballads I've heard in a very long time, it's carried mostly on piano lines and light guitar, as Paddy, as God, advises "Sing me no deep hymn of devotion/ Sing me no slow sweet melody/ Sing it to one, one of the broken/ And brother, you're singin' to me.” Stunning, just stunning. And too short. But then again, just the right length really.

After that, “Michael” comes as something of a shock, its dark, dirty guitar and its almost growled vocal sounding more like something you'd expect to hear from Matt Johnson than Paddy McAloon, but it's a powerful song, as Paddy, having taken the role of God, now takes the opposite character as he sings as Satan, looking for forgiveness, asking the archangel to ”Help me write a letter/ To “you-know-who”/ I will sign it “Lucifer regrets”.” The sharp, echoey keyboard helps reinforce the Devil's frustration and panic as he says ”Can't forget his final words were/ Ain't no comeback gonna come your way/ He never could resist a sinner/ Or ignore a distress call/ Got such a fall!”

And THEN... a simple, gorgeous acoustic ballad, “Mercy” is the shortest track on the album, at a mere one minute twenty-three seconds, and is, well, just amazing. Completing, if you like, the “Satan looking for forgiveness” trilogy, it's a velvet punch to the heart. Just Paddy and the guitar, nothing else, and it's flawless. Organ keys introduce “Scarlet nights”, which for the first time gets to the kind of tempo we saw in “Looking for Atlantis”, great guitar and powerful drumming as the guys really go for it as the album heads towards its close. Those mellifluous backing vocals are back as Wendy takes her place behind the microphone again, and if this were the closer, it would have been perfect. As it is, there's one more track to go before we bid farewell to Jordan.

A sweet soul ballad, with sumptuous organ and heartwrenching singing from Paddy, accompanied by Wendy, “Doo wop in Harlem” seems to be a song in memory of someone gone on ahead, as the lyric mentions ”If there ain't a heaven/ That holds you tonight/ They never sang doo-wop in Harlem.” It's a low-key, sobering end to an album that has more rises and falls than a ride on Alton Towers, but these are only in terms of tone or rhythm or tempo, never quality, which is maintained at an almost unbelievably high level all through this remarkable album.

It may very well be the case that this is the best album Prefab Sprout ever recorded, or I might just be missing out on others of the same quality, though the latter seems hard to believe. It was nine years before Prefab released their next album, so although this was hugely successful for them, they missed the chance to capitalise on that reception and success, though I doubt Paddy McAloon was, or is, ever that bothered about pleasing the masses and having hit singles.

They're still recording, with another four albums completed and a fifth slated for release in 2011 (better get a move on guys!), but I truly believe this album must stand head and shoulders above not only their other work, but the work of many another pop or rock artist. It's an album that deservedly I believe has a very high place in my collection, and I play it often. I never skip any tracks, and I'm always freshly impressed by how incredible the whole thing is, every time I play it.

It's been said to be a concept album, but I don't really see it. There are recurring themes that keep cropping up: comebacks are mentioned in both the title track and “Michael”, and kind of hinted at in both “Moon dog” and “Jesse James symphony/bolero”, and the theme of religion (with McAloon's somewhat unique slant on it) also runs through much of the album, as do the usual ones of love and loss, childhood and memory. But I don't see any real cohesive story tying the whole thing together.

That does not in any way take from the overall brilliance of “Jordan: the comeback”. It's a stunning achievement, and a record to be treasured, listened to over and over again, and really everytime you listen to it you're likely to discover further layers that you didn't at first realise were there. If Prefab Sprout had stopped recording after this, it would have been a fitting and proper tribute to them, the very zenith of their musical and creative output. And if there ever was a comeback album, in many ways this should have been it.

TRACKLISTING

1. Looking for Atlantis
2. Wild horses
3. Machine gun Ibiza
4. We let the stars go
5. Carnival 2000
6. Jordan: the comeback
7. Jesse James symphony
8. Jesse James bolero
9. Moon dog
10. All the world loves lovers
11. All boys believe anything
12. The ice maiden
13. Paris Smith
14. The wedding march
15. One of the broken
16. Michael
17. Mercy
18. Scarlet nights
19. Doo-wop in Harlem

Thanx for that man: nice to know someone is reading! ;)

As it happens, the worm doesn't really tend to listen to albums much, just the radio in the house whose garden he lives in. Kind of hard for an invertebrate to go into Dixons and buy a stereo! So he hasn't listened to any XTC albums, and I must admit, neither have I.

I'm only familiar with their singles like that one, "Senses working overtime" and one other I think which I can't remember. Did read something years ago about how the lead singer was sleeping rough after the fame thing crashed in on him; hope that's not still the case.

As for your YouTube, damn thing won't work! Pressed both play buttons, nothing happens. Nice looking bird though!

Happy Christmas! (Why is there not a Santa or Xmas icon? Hmm? HMMM??)

Troll

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One of the worm's all-time favourites, this. It's the Motors, with “Forget about you”.

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Make way! Make way for the master! Peter Gabriel has forgotten more about music, theatre, technology and merging the three than most other bands will ever know. If there's an innovation in music, chances are he's behind it, at the forefront (if that's not a contradiction!), spearheading the next muso/technical revolution. Unlike some artistes of his generation, Gabriel sees emergent technologies not as taking over his music, but as a tool he can use to further improve that music. No real surprise then that he should once again try to step out of the box and engage in a new venture.

Of course, setting an artist's music to an orchestra is nothing new. It's been done many times, whether it's the Symphonic Pink Floyd or the music of the Beatles for orchestra, or even the Genesis Suite from last year by Tolga Kashif, but in each case that has been a conductor, composer or indeed orchestra interpreting the music of the artiste, but with no input from said artiste. “New Blood”, Peter Gabriel's latest album, is the first instance I have heard of where the artiste himself plays with the orchestra his own re-arrangement of his songs.

New blood --- Peter Gabriel --- 2011 (Real World)
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You might expect Gabriel, in this sort of setting, to pick the obvious tracks to get the orchestral treatment. What a show “Sledgehammer” or “Big time” would make, or maybe “Games without frontiers” or “Biko”. But that's not the path he takes. Instead, he goes for some hits, but mainly tracks that may not be that well known outside his fanbase, but that translate the best (to his mind) for orchestral arrangement. “Freedom from the tyranny of guitar and drum” is how he announces the project, and indeed, you won't find either here. It's all completely on strings, woodwind, brass and piano that these songs are carried.

So how does it work out? Well, the atmospheric opening to the album, which also opens the album it comes from, 1982's album, one of four all self-titled (though this one does apparently carry a sub-title of “Security”) should I think impress more. It's introducing the whole thing, and though “The rhythm of the heat” is a slowburner, I just don't think it works that well here, at least not as an opener. The song is pretty much built on a heavy drumbeat, and I personally think it suffers without it, though the violins and cellos do their best to maintain the menace of the original, at which I'm sorry to say I feel they come up short. Gabriel's voice is as desperate and urgent as ever, almost as if he's calling for help, but this song kind of falls a little flat for me, and it's a disappointing beginning.

“Downside up”, from 2000's “Ovo”, features Melanie Gabriel, whom I'm assuming is his daughter, and is better. A slow, sedate song, it's almost perfectly suited for the orchestral treatment, almost a mini-symphony in itself. Bassoon and oboe lead the song in on slow string accompaniment ++ and then Melanie's lovely angelic voice just takes over the song, lifting it to Heaven on silver wings. Her father joins her then, and the orchestra gets a little happier and more a-buzz, the violins setting up a joyous melody not a billion miles removed from Handel's “Arrival of the Queen of Sheba”. One of my very favourites of Gabriel's is up next, the dreamy “San Jacinto”, and again this is well served by the orchestra, tinkling piano and low trombone carrying the opening of the tune, Gabriel's voice low, almost a mutter, as the violins and cellos come in alongside a vocal chorus.

Gabriel's voice gets stronger then as the song goes on, and as it reaches the crescendo in the song, the string section rises with him, creating a soundscape that is almost perfect, man and musical section in complete harmony. I can't understand why this wasn't the opener: it would have been perfect. Nevertheless, as the happy flutes and violins pepper the song, memories of “The rhythm of the heat” have now faded, and the album is turning out to be what was really expected, and that is a triumph, a seamless melding of Peter Gabriel's flawless and amazing songwriting and musical skills with the sublime power of the orchestra.

The unsettling “Intruder” from his third album is next, and this will be a test. The track, again an opener, relies on building a sense of tension and fear, and the violins and cellos manage to convey this quite well, rather like setting this song to the soundtrack of a movie. Gabriel's voice is less threatening, I feel, on this version, but it's a good treatment of the song. The choral arrangements help, and the strings are very effective, but again this is a track that is built originally on a solid backbeat, and the loss of drums is again I feel to the detriment of the song, making it a lot less effective than it is on the original album. I also miss the shouted “I AM THE INTRUDER!” which is abandoned in favour of a whisper. Effective, yes, but not as much as on the song proper.

I only know the fourth album through what I've heard of it via the “Plays live” album, so “Wallflower”, which is from the “Security” album, I can't really comment on as I haven't heard it before, but it comes across as a nice piano led ballad with some good strings and oboe, possibly French horn in there too. Lovely cello line takes the main melody and complements Gabriel's yearning vocal well, while piano keeps a counterbeat in the background. Very restrained, but not an awful lot for the orchestra to work with. Nice duet with Melanie again though.

The next three tracks are from his 1986 “So” album, the first to actually have a title (despite “Security” being retitled for the US market), kicking off with the boppy “In your eyes”, here given full strings opening with bassoon and horns taking part, slowing down then to allow cello to accompany Gabriel's voice, then speeding up again and getting very busy as the song goes towards the joyous chorus, vocal choir adding its power to the song, the tempo considerably slowed down nevertheless from the original.

I find the exuberant African mood missing from this version though, and that was one of the things that in my opinion made it such a good song, almost gospel in its way. “Mercy Street” was always a restrained song, very sparse, so there's not a whole lot the orchestra can do here, though the cellos and violins carry the track well, but for me it's an odd choice. Better is “Red rain”, and even though this opener from “So” does rely quite heavily on drums and percussion, the orchestra manage to make it work this time, with flurries of violins, bassoons and trombones replacing the rhythm of the original.

“Darkness” is another song I'm unfamiliar with, coming as it does from the album I tried so hard to get into, but failed, that being “Up”. There's a nice sense of menace and power conveyed by the string section, then flute takes centre stage for a few lines, as Gabriel's singing gets less manic, then the strings come back in full force as he goes over-the-top again. This however as I say I can't really comment on, as I really hated “Up”, and this version of “Darkness” doesn't change my opinion of that album, even though I don't actually remember it. Next up is a classic, that surely had to be included in this reimagining of Gabriel's catalogue.

Although I'm disappointed Kate Bush couldn't lend her talents to this version --- I always consider her duet with Gabriel to be the iconic version of this song --- the incarnation we get here of “Don't give up” starts off well, but then Swedish singer Ane Brun chimes in, and she is not a patch on Bush: her contribution to the vocals is shaky, hesitant and has none of the heart or power of Kate Bush's desperate plea to keep going despite everything. In fact, I'd go so far as to say she ruins the whole song. There, I said it. My god, what a terrible voice, in comparison to Kate. What was Peter thinking?? Jesus, this girl sings like she has a cold! I can't believe how much she's ruined one of my favourite classic Gabriel songs!

Still smarting from the betrayal of “Don't give up” being butchered as it has been, the only song from 1992's “Us” almost passes me by, but “Digging in the dirt” gets a pretty dramatic treatment with powerful horns and frenetic violins managing to come close to the somewhat unhinged tone of the original, then the beautiful, fragile, sensual “The nest that sailed the sky”, the only other track taken from “Ovo”, loses none of its soft, gentle beauty, still a classic instrumental and one of the very few Gabriel has ever written.

Following this, and preparatory to closing the album, is a weird little thing called “A quiet moment”, which is essentially almost five minutes of nature and pastoral sounds, like rain, birds, waves and the like, interesting and certainly different, but surely a bit of a cheat when another track could have been included, considering how large Gabriel's repertoire is?

It does end well though, with the all-time favourite “Solsbory Hill” given the orchestral arrangement, though I still prefer the original. It's something of an annoyance to find that, should you decide to shell out for the “extended edition” with extra disc, all you get is instrumental versions of all the songs here, plus one additional track, right at the end, “Blood of Eden”. I would have thought extra tracks, information, out-takes, different versions other than just instrumental (this is an orchestra, after all!) would have been better value. As it is, I'm not going into that disc, even though I have it here: I see no reason to. I don't believe it would add anything to what has already gone.

As it is, I have to admit, somewhat in surprise, that I'm a little disappointed. While many of the tracks work well with an orchestra, many don't, and some are actually worse for the treatment. After having listened to this, I don't so much feel the need to hear more songs given this arrangement as an urgent need to revisit Gabriel's catalogue and hear them again as they should be heard. Sometimes the clever thing is not to do anything, to leave the classics as they are. I really believe that, on balance, that's the lesson that should be learned here. Perhaps, stunning a revelation though it may be, the master actually has something to learn?

I had expected so much more, but sadly, though Peter Gabriel crowed that his songs had been liberated from the “tyranny of guitar and drum”, I personally feel that his music needs that tyranny, and that, taken away, the stalwart servants of every musician are sadly and most effectively missed. Pushing the boundaries is all very well, but in the final analysis, I really don't feel it worked this time. I'm probably in a minority here, but after the disappointment of “Up”, here's another Peter Gabriel effort that has not made the grade for me.

And I so wanted it to...

TRACKLISTING

1. The rhythm of the heat
2. Downside up
3. San Jacinto
4. Intruder
5. Wallflower
6. In your eyes
7. Mercy Street
8. Red rain
9. Darkness
10. Don't give up
11. Digging in the dirt
12. The nest that sailed the sky
13. A quiet moment
14. Solsbory Hill
++ = I'm no student of the orchestra, and I certainly can't distinguish too many instruments one from the other, and information as to what is played on what song is very hard to come by. As a result, I've made my best guess when commenting, but I could be wrong. So if something I describe as a bassoon is an oboe, or a violin is actually a viola, or whatever, don't jump on me. Correct the text if you can, let me know, but bear in mind I'm winging it here as far as orchestral instrumentation goes. And writing “string section” or “woodwind” every time is both repetitive and boring, and shows a lack of interest or originality.

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Oh yes, in a perfect world all these selections would be Christmas themed, but maybe that's a little hackneyed, and I'm trying my best to stay away from the obvious this festive season. So although there are one or two Christmas songs here, we're starting off with one of my all-time favourite Irish traditional songs.

I'm not generally into Irish trad as a genre, but you can't ignore the power and passion of a song like “Grace”, by Jim McCann, here sung by him and in this video he explains the background to the song.


And after that sobering and sombre song, let's lighten the tone with another original from one of my favourite TV shows, “Mongrels”, and I know this is what we're all thinking about him....


But it wouldn't be Christmas without a Christmas parody, so here's Irish acting legend Frank Kelly (you'll probably know him as Father Jack in the TV series “Father Ted”) with his hilarious version of “The twelve days of Christmas”. See if you can get through it without having to stop to restitch your sides back together!


Not a huge fan of Bette Midler, but I love this version of “The rose” by her. Close to perfect.


We began on a sobering note, and in this season of stuffing ourselves and spending more than we could ever repay, and thinking largely about ourselves, let's take a quiet moment to remember those who died so that we could have this freedom, with another traditional Irish song, the epic and famous “The green fields of France”. And on that note, let me wish you all a very Happy Christmas!

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You'll often hear a lot of classical music around this time of the year: everyone just seems to suddenly want to get culture. Plus of course there are many masses written by classical composers, and masses are, essentially, an integral part of Christmas. So here's a selection of the best Christmas-themed and appropriate classical pieces I could come up with, leaving aside the obvious plethora of hymns and carols.
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Opening with J.S. Bach's (1685-1750) “Nativity”, taken from his two-hour composition, “Christmas Oratorio”. If you like this, seek out the full thing: some kind soul has posted it on YouTube.

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Perhaps not an actual Christmas piece, but the “Troika” from “Lieutenant Kije” by Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) always gives the impression of sleighs dashing through the snow...

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Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) is always a favourite at this time, with his “Nutcracker” ballet.

I know, I know! I said classical music, didn't I? Well, consider this a blip not to be repeated in this section again, but I simply can't resist including this version of “Carol of the Bells” by Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

And to finish on a high note, here's George Friedrich Handel (1685-1759) with the glorious “Messiah”. This is of course the “Hallelujah Chorus”. And with that, I wish you all a very Happy Christmas!

In the course of writing the section “More than words”, I've thought frequently about including some of Tom Waits' songs. How could I not? The man is a genius, and almost everything that flows from his pen is pure gold! He has at once some of the most obscure and deep lyrics you could ever come across. Many of his songs seem not to make sense on one level, but if examined deeply and with enough insight they become clear. Sometimes. Others are just A-level weird. But one thing about his songs is that they are always well written: he doesn't commit lyrics to paper that are banal or mundane.

So of course I'd want to showcase some of his writing in that section. The only problem is, which ones? And how would I resist the temptation to feature one of his every time? Surely there could be only one solution: start a separate section to cover his lyrics. And here it is.
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In this section I'll be (of course) discussing the genius of Tom Waits, featuring three songs of his and reproducing both the video and the lyrics, talking extensively about the latter, and trying to give you a real appreciation for the ridiculous amount of talent this man has. We're going to start off with something that is in fact live, and was never on any studio album. Taken from the 1975 album “Nighthawks at the diner”, the album itself is something of an oddity, being recorded as it was in a studio, Record Plant in New York, but the studio having been setup like a bar, and the performance taped live. Although listening to it it sounds impromptu and ad-lib, the whole thing was actually rehearsed before the band got on stage, as it were.

On the album, Waits spends plenty of time in between tracks telling little anecdotes, sometimes to do with the songs, sometimes not, but it's all extremely entertaining, and though the music is fantastic, sometimes the introductions --- or intermissions if you like --- are even moreso. None of the tracks on this album ever surfaced on a studio Waits album, since or after, so this is the only place you get to hear such excellent compositions as “Emotional weather report”, “Nobody” and “Warm beer and cold women”.

The one I want to concentrate on, though, to open this section, is a song many women may take offence at, but it's all meant in fun, so don't be too hard on the guy. You'll understand what I mean when you hear the title: “Better off without a wife.”
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Better off without a wife, from “Nighthawks at the diner”, 1975 (Asylum)


The song is a piano based blues/jazz melody wherein Waits extols the virtues of being single. You can go where you want, when you want, no-one's on your case. He talks about his friends, who are all married, and how he doesn't want to be like them. Of course, he only looks at one side of the argument, but it's a great funny little song at its heart, and if you leave any simmering outrage at the door, you'll realise he's only singing about what we all think of from time to time, single, married or divorced.

Here's the lyric.

All my friends are married: every Tom and Dick and Harry:
you must be strong if you're to go it alone.
Here's to the bachelors and the bowery bums
And those who feel that they're the ones
Who are better off without a wife.

[CHORUS]
I like to sleep until the crack of noon:
Midnight howlin' at the moon.
Goin' out when I wanna, comin' home when I please.
I don't have to ask permission if I want to go out fishin':
And I never have to ask for the keys.

Never been no Valentino but I had a girl who lived in Reno
Left me for a trumpet player, but it didn't get me down.
He was wanted for assault though he said it weren't his fault.
You know, the cops they rode him right out of town.

[CHORUS]

Selfish about my privacy; as long as I can be with me
We get along so well I can't believe.
I love to chew the fat with folks and listen to all your dirty jokes.
I'm so thankful for these friends I do receive.

The next one I want to share with you is from his album “Rain dogs”, and it's a track entitled “9th and Hennepin”. I guess it's purely coincidental that “Rain dogs” is his ninth album, but the track itself is written about real-life events, as is much of the imagery on the album. It's quite odd in that it has no real verse or chorus structure, and Waits does not sing it. It's more like drawled poetry behind a very discordant piano, wailing clarinet, double-bass and marimba, and you get the feel of looking out of grime-encrusted, yellow windows out onto rain-washed streets at night. The song is spoken in one continuous verse, though he does take breath a few times to allow the piano to carry the tune.

Waits described the inspiration for the song thus: “Most of the imagery is from New York. It's just that I was on 9th and Hennepin years ago in the middle of a pimp war, and 9th and Hennepin always stuck in my mind. "There's trouble at 9th and Hennepin." To this day I'm sure there continues to be trouble at 9th and Hennepin. At this donut shop. They were playing "Our Day Will Come" by Dinah Washington when these three 12-year-old pimps came in in chinchilla coats armed with knives and, uh, forks and spoons and ladles and they started throwing them out in the streets. Which was answered by live ammunition over their heads into our booth. And I knew "Our Day Was Here." I remember the names of all the donuts: cherry twist, lime rickey. But mostly I was thinking of the guy going back to Philadelphia from Manhattan on the Metroliner with The New York Times, looking out the window in New York as he pulls out of the station, imagining all the terrible things he doesn't have to be a part of.”
(Transcribed verbatim from Wikipedia article)

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9th and Hennepin, from “Rain dogs”, 1985 (Island)


It's typical of the sort of social commentary Waits puts into his songs. But he never seems to do this to be seen as controversial, or to be noticed, or praised for his cleverness. The lyrics seem to be written in a genuine, honest attempt to bring someone's plight to the attention of the masses. You can always imagine Waits staggering along a dark street, raincoat pulled tight across his scrawny chest, a half-empty bottle of whiskey clutched in his bony hand, shouting at and haranguing everyone he meets in a slurred, drunken voice. Like some inebriated prophet of the sidewalk, Waits always seems to not only write for the common man, or woman, but to be right down there among them. As I once said about Nick Cave, he's kind of the patron saint of the dispossessed.

Anyway, here's the lyric, poem, prose, call it what you will. What can't be denied though, is that it is genius, on every level.

Well it's 9th and Hennepin, and all the donuts have names that sound like prostitutes.
And the moon's teethmarks are on the sky like a tarp thrown over all this
And the broken umbrellas like dead birds,
And the steam comes out of the grill like the whole goddamned town is ready to blow.
And the bricks are all scarred with jailhouse tattoos, and everyone is behaving like dogs.
And the horses are coming down Violin Road, and Dutch is dead on his feet.
And the rooms all smell like diesel and you take on the dreams of the ones who have slept here.
And I'm lost in the window; I hide on the stairway, I hang in the curtain and I sleep in your hat.

And no one brings anything small into a bar around here:
They all started out with bad directions.
And the girl behind the counter has a tattooed tear:
“One for every year he's away” she said.
Such a crumbling beauty --- ah there's nothin' wrong with her that a hundred dollars won't fix.
She has that razor sadness that only gets worse with the clang and thunder of the Southern Pacific going by.

And the clock ticks out like a dripping faucet till you're full of rag water and bitters and blue ruin
And you spill out over the side to anyone who'll listen.
And I've seen it all, I've seen it all through the yellow windows of the evening train.

Waits also has this uncanny ability to tap into the wanderer, the restless dreamer in all of us, and nowhere is this more perfectly demonstrated than in the tragic tale told in “Burma-Shave”. It's a piano-led song, almost a ballad, about a girl who hooks up with a mysterious stranger who rolls into town one day on his way through. Tired of waiting for something to happen, the girl decides to leave with him and seek out the fabled better life waiting just out of reach. But of course, never one to let fantasy outlive reality, Waits has them involved in a pileup and killed.

Yes, it's a morose song, but very realistic, and sadly probably true of many of the “wild ones” who thought they were indestructible. Waits tells the story of how the name of the song came about thus (this is from memory, so I may not get it right: I think it comes from a radio interview): “When I was growin' up and we'd go out driving with my father we'd keep passing these signs, they'd say things like “Food and gas up ahead --- Burma Shave!” And I thought Burma Shave was a place. Never realised it was just a shaving product till I grew up. I was really upset, thinking “Never gonna live there, Tom!”

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Burma-Shave, from “Foreign affairs”, 1977 (Asylum)


The song is really almost a one-man-show. Waits plays the piano, sings the vocal and the only other accompaniment is right at the end, with a plaintive sax break. In many ways an introspective song, it's certainly gritty and full of realism, and yet there's no moral here. Waits doesn't make the point that maybe the girl should have stayed at home instead of going off on what she hoped would be an adventure. Similarly, he doesn't say that she was right to do what she did, even though it cost both her and the boy their lives. In the end, there is no right or wrong. People are people, they'll do stupid, impulsive things, but if they didn't, then they wouldn't be people.

Waits takes the role of observer, narrator and does not take sides in the story. His voice is not sad as he describes the car crash and the resultant death (or deaths; we assume the boy dies, but only the girl is mentioned as being “pulled from the wreck”. It's also not confirmed she is dead, though it's assumed to be the case) but almost philosophical, a musical shrug that hey, these things happen, and it's tragic, but that's life.

And here's the lyric:

Liquorice tattoo turned a gun metal blue scrawled across the shoulders of a dying town.
The one-eyed jacks across the railroad tracks and the scar on its belly pulled a stranger passing through.
He's a juvenile delinquent: never learned how to behave ---
But the cops would never think to look in Burma-Shave.

The road was like a ribbon and the moon was like a bone:
He didn't seem to be like any guy she'd ever known.
Kinda looked like Farley Granger with his hair slicked back;
She says “I'm a sucker for a fella in a cowboy hat. How far are you going?”
He said “Depends on what you mean.” He says “I'm only stopping here to get some gasoline.”
He says “I guess I'm going thataway, just as long as it's paved:
I guess you'd say I'm on my way to Burma-Shave.”

And with her knees up on the glove compartment she took out her barrettes
And her hair spilled out like rootbeer and she popped her gum, and arched her back.
“Hell, Marysville ain't nothing but a wide spot in the road:
Some nights my heart pounds just like thunder: don't know why it don't explode.
Cause everyone in this stinking town has got one foot in the grave
And I'd rather take my chances out in Burma-Shave.

Presley's what I go by: why don't you change the station?
Count the grain elevators in the rearview mirror.”
She said, “Mister, anywhere you point this thing has got to beat the hell out of the sting
Of going to bed with every dream that dies here every mornin'.
So drill me a hole with a barber pole.
I'm jumping my parole just like a fugitive at night.
Why don't you have another swig?
Pass that car if you're so brave?
I wanna get there before the sun comes up in Burma-Shave.”

The spider web crack and the mustang scream:
Smoke from the tyres and the twisted machine.
Just a nickel's worth of dreams; every wishbone that they saved
Lie swindled from them on the way to Burma-Shave.

The sun hit the derrick and cast a bat wing shadow up against the car door on the shotgun side.
And when they pulled her from the wreck you know she still had on her shades.
They say that dreams are growing wild just this side of Burma-Shave.

If the songs above prove anything, it's that, excellent as Tom Waits' music is, it's his lyrics that truly characterise his songs, give them heart and life. The man is a poet, and puts that poetry to music. But it's not airy-fairy poetry: it's the poetry of the streets, the words of the ordinary man, the view from the gutter. He has a way of framing the most mundane settings and objects in a way few others can, allowing us to see through the eyes of the characters in his songs, feel what they feel, dream what they dream and understand in the way only they can.

He allows us to put on their shoes, and we walk the grimy streets he has painted for them, live their lives and experience what they go through. It can be a scary process, but it's always worthwhile.


It's a rare talent, and almost a lost art, but as long as Waits is around, it won't be lost just yet.

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Hey, who says the worm has no culture in him? Try this one for a classy mix of rock, pop and classical! This is --- let's see if the worm can get this right --- Rondo Veneziano --- with “La serenissima”.

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What do you do when you've broken the world of soul and pop music wide open, had a bunch of hit singles, three of which hit the top five --- one a number one --- and sold over 20 million records? Why, you pay homage to the people who paved the way for your success by covering the great soul classics. This is what Seal did in 2008, with his album simply entitled “Soul”. It did very well, and was well received.

So what do you do after that? Well, do it again of course.

This time, he's picked more soul standards that he recognises as very important steps along the road to the birth and growth of soul music, and this time he's called the album --- well, what else?

Soul 2 --- Seal --- 2011 (Reprise)
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Teaming up again with producer superstars Trevor Horn and David Foster, Seal kicks off with a spirited rendition of Rose Royce's classic ballad, “Wishing on a star”. Infusing it with new life, he ups the tempo just very slightly, bringing in strings and piano to flesh out the classic song and make it just a little punchier. Royce's original is still soul heaven, but he does the song proud. Of course, a portion of that praise has to be shared with Horn and Foster, who make this, and all the tracks on the album, pristine and perfect via their shared decades of producing for some of the biggest names in music.

Womack and Womack's “Love TKO” is the next one he tackles, and as people here who read this journal regularly will know, I'm not a huge soul fan, so I must say I don't know this song. For what it is though, he makes a nice George Benson/Luther Vandross job of it: nice gravelly vocal with some great backing. Horn manages to perfectly recreate the seventies soul sound, so you can really close your eyes and imagine Seal singing this on “Top of the Pops” or even “Soul train”. Beautiful strings outro, the perfect ending. Next up is Smokey's “Ooh baby baby”, and you have to wonder before it starts if Seal could possibly measure up to the sweet soulful voice of Smokey Robinson, but close your eyes and it could be him! Seal certainly has a versatile voice, as demonstrated on the different singers he covers on this album. This is pure gold, right down to the motown-style backing --- where are my flares?

Of course, they're all classics on this album, but what can you say about Al Green's “Let's stay together”? Reworked decades later and given new life by Tina Turner --- and essentially restarting her career in the process --- this song is approached a different way by Seal. He doesn't try to imitate Green (who could?), nor does he opt for the easy way out and emulate La Turner, but instead puts his own very unique slant on the song, and thereby grants this classic yet another stab at the charts, which a song like this certainly deserves. Great funky guitar and some solid drumming, though I have no credits for any of the musicians available, and totally out-there horns that just make you want to slow dance.

The hits just keep comin', and next up is Marvin Gaye's “What's going on?” with a truly beautiful and emotional orchestral arrangement that really does give this classic new life. The thing about the way Seal sings is that you can hear it in his voice: these aren't just a set of covers he's singing to sell an album. These are the songs he grew up listening to, these are the artistes he sought to emulate, that he probably studied and hoped one day to be as good as them. This is part of his childhood, his heroes revisited and thanked in the only, and best, way a singer can, by covering the songs that meant so much to him as a kid. More than just an album, for Seal this is an emotional journey, and he takes us with him.

One of my all-time favourite soul classics is given the Seal treatment next, the second by Rose Royce, their tender and bitter ballad “Love don't live here anymore”. Trevor Horn's arrangement is magical: he even recreates the signature drum machine pattern that makes the song. The tempo is, like his treatment of the other RR song, slightly faster than the original, but it doesn't take from the song. Of course, there's nothing like the original, but it's a good cover.

“Back stabbers”, on the other hand, I do not know. I believe it was a top three hit for the O'Jays in 1972, and whether it's meant to or not, Foster here gives it a classical piano intro, then the song gets into its groove, and for hearing it the first time it's not bad. Yeah I know: Philistine. But I already admitted I don't know a huge amount about soul music. So why am I reviewing this album then? Shut up, that's why. :)

Nevertheless, despite my limited knowledge of the genre, there are a lot of other songs I would have liked to have seen covered here, like “Being with you”, “I'll be there” or even “Ain't no mountain high enough”, but this is Seal's own personal choice, and the songs obviously mean a lot to him. It is a pity though (my own fault, I readily admit) that there are so many songs here that I'm unfamiliar with, which makes it hard to judge whether the cover does them justice or not. The next two fall into that category, firstly the Spinners' “I'll be around”, which has a nice string arrangement accompanying it, and some great backing vocals, while “Love won't let me wait” is a beautiful ballad given a sumptuous orchestral feel by Foster and Horn, as well as co-producer Jochem van der Saag, who also works on the previous two tracks, as well as “Let's stay together”. Gorgeous sax solo adds extra class to this lovely song, then we're into one I (finally!) know, as so I should.

Who doesn't know Bill Withers' uplifting “Lean on me”, a real anthem for the downtrodden, the lonely, the brokenhearted and the desperate, and just those of us who need a helping hand from time to time? It would be hard to emulate or even come close to Withers' powerful and emotional delivery of his song, and Seal really doesn't. He does a good version, but there's a lot missing, and it actually comes across, to me, as the weakest --- of the ones I know and can therefore judge --- of the covers. Which is not to say it's a bad version, just not the best I've heard, and certainly not the best on this album.

And then we're at the closer, rather more quickly than I had expected. Most of the songs, by their very nature, were and are short, most under four minutes. The closer then comes from the Chi-lites, and though it's not my favourite from them, “Have you seen her?” it is I believe their only number one hit single. “Oh girl” closes the album very well, and Seal puts in a triumphant finale performance, giving this song everything he has, and doing the classic proud, as indeed he has done for almost all of the tracks here.

If nothing else, this would be a good introduction to some true soul gems. As it is, Seal manages to not just cover these classics, but imbue them with a new life and open them perhaps to a whole new audience, and maybe make people like me who have more or less ignored or at least stayed on the periphery of soul music rethink that position. There has been some amazing soul music down the decades, and all music owes the artists here, and more soul legends, a great debt of thanks. We should never forget that.

Seal's “Soul 2” goes a long way towards ensuring that never happens.

Hey, look, I have to say it: the man's got soul. Again.

TRACKLISTING

1. Wishing on a star
2. Love TKO
3. Ooh baby baby
4. Let's stay together
5. What's going on
6. Love don't live here anymore
7. Back stabbers
8. I'll be around
9. Love won't let me wait
10. Lean on me
11. Oh girl

A Christmas message from Trollheart
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I'd just like to thank everyone who has read, commented or looked at my journal over the last eight months, and I hope it's been entertaining. I've done my best to make it the most interesting and certainly the most frequently updated journal on Music Banter: obviously, I failed miserably at the former --- I wouldn't presume to blow in here from nowhere and expect to be as good as people who have been maintaining journals here for years --- but in general I think the latter has been achieved, as I've been anxious to make sure there's at least two updates per day. I've also striven to make the Playlist of Life more than just a collection of reviews, with specific sections and ongoing features, and I hope they've been enjoyed by the majority of you. Next year will hold plenty more, I can promise you.

I've also gone perhaps a little out on a limb by extending my journal to include my four female helpers, collectively known as the NewsFoxes, and with Stacey-Lynn particularly shining on the “Random Track of the Day” slot. If nothing else, it's added a little more interest and variety to the journal, and given me the feeling of working with a team, even if they're not real. Sad? Who said that? :)

Anyway, if no-one objects to something I can't know it's not working, and so far nobody has, so I'm going to go for the obvious conclusion. Comments, as I never tire of saying, are always welcome and will always be greeted with politeness and consideration, as long as the same courtesy is extended to me. I would like thank you all for pushing the views on this journal, since its inception only back at the end of April, to almost 17,000. That's quite phenomenal, given that some of the journals going here --- many much better than mine --- have much less than that, and only a few have more. I know it's not a competition, but for me this amount of views is an indicator of how many people regularly read my journal, and I'm eternally grateful that you all stop by, and hope it's a worthwhile experience for you.

In closing, let me just wish you a very Happy Christmas: hope you get all the music you wish for this year and we'll see you again in 2012 for more of the same, only hopefully even better.

As we say here in Ireland, Nollaig Shona --- Happy Christmas!
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Okay, okay! The worm knows when he's beat! If a Christmas song you want, then a Christmas song you shall have. But let it be one of the better ones...

Happy Christmas to all!

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Yes, it's Christmas, and yes, it's our last voyage into the Tunnel of Love before the new year begins, and as you might expect, the songs are all Christmas themed. But in my continuing attempts to avoid the easy sell, take the simplest or most expected route, I've chosen not necessarily Christmas songs, but songs that either evoke the Season of Goodwill, have it in their title or even just paint a picture of winter, in some cases. So no carols, no hymns, no hits and definitely no bloody “Last Christmas”! Hope you enjoy this selection anyway.

Opening with a band you would definitely not expect in the Tunnel of Love at any time, though they've had some very decent ballads, here's Kamelot, and a track called “On the coldest winter night”.


This is often a Christmas favourite, but a great song too, from David Essex, and this is “Just another winter's tale”.


This, on the other hand, has pretty much nothing to do with the festive season, though it is in the title and also the lyric. A great song from Steve Earle, it's called “Christmas in Washington”.


An album very soon to be reviewed by me (after Christmas, now), the new one from Kate Bush is called “50 words for snow”, and this is the opening track, a great little number called “Snowflake”.


Another one you probably have never heard, this is Shadow Gallery, from their album “Tyranny”, the closing track in fact, entitled, appropriately enough, “Christmas Day”.


Gerry Rafferty knew how to write a great song, rest his soul. This is from one of his last albums, “North and south”, and it's a great little song called “Winter's come”.


Another man who sadly left us, but was a master songwriter was Dan Fogelberg, and this is his contribution to the Christmas season, something of a favourite, it's “Same old lang syne”.


We'll squeeze in just the one carol, notwithstanding what I said in the intro. This is Josh Groban with his version of “Silent night”.


Great ballad by a-ha, featured recently in our “Taking centre stage” slot, this is a song written by the guitarist Pal Waaktaar for his wife, it's a lovely little song called “Angel in the snow”.


And we'll close with a song that definitely does not evoke the Christmas spirit, but is nevertheless a great little tear-jerker, from the master of the art of songwriting, Tom Waits. This is “Christmas card from a hooker in Minneapolis”.

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Although Ric Ocasek had flatly stated that the Cars would never reunite, they did, this year, but are of course without their longtime bass player, songwriter and singer Benjamin Orr, who sadly died eleven years ago of cancer. The album was, fittingly, dedicated to him, and in memoriam the remaining Cars decided not to hire a bassist to take his role, but to share the bass duties among Greg Hawkes and producer Jackknife Lee.

Move like this --- The Cars --- 2011 (Hear Music)
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So, twenty-four years on from what was to have been their swansong, the excellent “Door to door” (reviewed here a while back), is the magic still there? Perhaps consciously, perhaps not, but in a fitting way the album begins with bass line, soon joined by those bippy keyboards Hawkes is famous for, and which helped define the sound of the band in the seventies and eighties. “Blue tip” was the first single from the album, and it's classic Cars. Boppy with a sense of weirdness about it, Ocasek in fine voice after almost two and a half decades away from the mike, at least with the Cars, and great chunky guitar work from Elliot Easton.

It's a short opening track, and “Too late”, coming next, is a bit more atmospheric, with clangy keys and heartbeat drumming from David Robinson. With a sense of “Just what I needed” in the melody, again it's pure Cars, great backing vocals and rising keyboards, those samply sounds we all like to hear in Cars songs evident again. “Keep on knockin'” is a harder, rockier track, more reminscent of some of Ocasek's solo work, while “Soon” becomes the first ballad, with big heavy organ and nice guitar, a very laidback, relaxed sound, really nice, then “Sad song”, despite its title defies expectations, turning out a boppy, uptempo rocker with great little keyboard fills and bass Orr would have been proud of.

Speaking of Orr, Cars fans will know that he used to share vocal duties with Ocasek, and of course that's him you hear singing on their huge hit “Drive” off “Heartbeat City”, but with the death of his friend Ocasek takes all the vocals himself. Nice that they wanted to keep everything inhouse as a tribute to Orr, but to be honest Ocasek's vocal style can grate at times, and it was always nice to have the “break” that Orr-voiced songs would provide. Without this, it's a little hard but you have to get used to Ric singing every song.

“Free” is another fast rocker with good heavy guitar, and “Drag on forever” is a mid-paced rock smoulderfest, then “Take another look” is another slow ballad, with a nice bassline and some sweet warm synth. The album wraps up with two good rockers, “It's only” and the closer “Hits me”. Good choppy guitar and a very off-the-wall Ocasek vocal.

I have to say, after almost 25 years there are no surprises on this album. It could have been recorded directly after “Door to door”, with the obvious exception that Benjamin Orr's voice would also have graced the album, not to mention his bass. But these guys do not sound like they've been apart for almost a quarter of a century. While nothing staggering, “Move like this” shows a band in great form, comfortable with each other, still writing great songs and able to rock with the best of them. Hopefully it won't be too long before we have their next effort.

TRACKLISTING

1. Blue tip
2. Too late
3. Keep on knocking
4. Soon
5. Sad song
6. Free
7. Drag on forever
8. Take another look
9. It's only
10. Hits me

Suggested further listening: “Heartbeat City”, “Door to door”

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Oh yeah, right. No prizes for guessing what the theme will be this time, right? Well, actually it's not as straightforward as that. I could have gone for Christmas (easy), Santa (also easy) or even snow or presents (little harder, but still fairly predictable), but I decided instead to pick a theme related to Christmas, but not confined to that season. So as Christmas is one of the times when we all get together and see brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles we haven't seen all year, I thought let's make the theme family. And so I have.

And there's no other song I could really start this off with than this, is there?


Mike Oldfield had a great song out some time ago, with Maggie Reilly on vocals, and this is it. It's called “Family man”.


And Fish sang about “Family business” on his debut solo album, “Vigil in a wilderness of mirrors”.


Without the word family in the title, this is nevertheless a song very much concentrated on the importance of the ties that bind. It's Bruce Springsteen, from the album “Nebraska”, and “Highway Patrolman”.


Of course, we couldn't leave out Cat Stevens' beautiful classic, could we?


From “Father and son” to “Father to son”, this is Phil Collins, from his “... But seriously” album.


Lovely track from Martina McBride, “In my daughter's eyes”.


With a strong anti-war message, this is Dire Straits, title track from their album “Brothers in arms”.


Mostly Autumn sing about the mother of us all, the big one, “Mother Nature”.


And we'll end this, the final feature and the last entry before Christmas, with another classic, this time from the late Harry Chapin. This is “Cat's in the cradle”. See you all after Xmas, and thanks for staying with us!

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Welcome back to the Playlist of Life, hope you all had a nice Christmas --- for many of you it's probably still going on! --- but some of us have to get back to work! Still, this is hardly work, is it?;)

I'm sorry to say that I have to start off the first entry after Christmas on a very sad and tragic note, having just heard the awful news about the passing of the wife of our own Jackhammer. It's obviously a terrible time for such a tragedy --- not that there's ever a good time to lose a loved one, but having it happen so close to a time when everyone is celebrating must be doubly hard, and my heart goes out to you, my friend, and your children.

I hope that in the dark days to come you can find some small ch1nks of light, and I know that for your kids' sake you need to be strong, and that it's often the hardest thing to do when you just want to break down and know you can't, that you don't have that luxury. I don't want to trivialise in any way your hurt and pain, but I would like to dedicate the first video in the post-Christmas journal to you, and your family. I thought long and hard about what would be appropriate, yet still respectful and hopefully show a measure of understanding. I think this song really says it all. Be strong, brother, we're all here for you.

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Although I of course buy albums by artistes I like, and this therefore usually leads to collecting their whole catalogue, or as near as I can, there are artistes by whom I will buy one or maybe two albums --- and quite like them --- but never feel the compulsion to go ahead and buy the rest of their material. Sometimes it might just be one song I'm after, or perhaps I want to see how the rest of this particular album measures up. In the old days, it was often also the case that, should an album have up to three hit singles from it (or three singles I enjoyed), then it was financially more prudent to buy the album, as the price of three singles would usually outweigh, or at least come close to, the price of the full album.

There are other reasons why I bought just one or two albums from a particular artiste and never any more, among them perhaps the fact that although I really enjoyed this album, I knew in my heart that the rest of their output would not appeal to me. Sometimes, you just know. George Michael's “Listen without prejudice” is one such album, which I already reviewed. Then there are bands whom I think are going to be great, but the album doesn't measure up to the single(s) and I'm sorry I got it. Lots of reasons, and no hard-and-fast rule, therefore, that just because I have, say, one Duran Duran or Nik Kershaw album that I'm going to have them all.

We too are one --- Eurythmics --- 1989 (RCA)
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So it is with the Eurythmics (surely one of the all-time misspelled band names?). I bought “Savage”, quite enjoyed it, but was not blown away with it. Then they released “We too are one”, and to be honest it was cheap and second-hand, and I had liked the two singles from it, so I thought, why not? It's a good album --- in places really good --- but never impressed me enough to make me want to seek out their other six, at the time, albums.

As it happens, “We too are one” followed “Savage”, so you could say the latter led me on to the former, though in truth I did not buy “Savage” when it came out, and it's actually purely coincidental that the only two Eurythmics albums I have were released two years apart, one after the other. It just happened that way.

The album in question opens with the title track, with a kind of weird horn sound, then gets going with a mid-paced rocker, Annie Lennox's voice clear and unmistakable, Dave Stewart's guitar taking a little of a backseat to Pat Seymour's keyboards, though it certainly makes its presence felt as the track goes on. Nice sort of whooshy sound on the keys and also the vocals, giving a sort of spacey feel to it in places. It's a good opener, and certainly sets the stage, and the second track doesn't disappoint either, upping the tempo a bit and introducing more brassy horns, romping along on a nice clean keyboard line, “The king and queen of America” is more poppy than rock, with elements of soul in there too, courtesy of the horns, which could be made on the keys, as they don't seem to be credited.

Production is clean and crisp, as you would expect from Jimmy Iovine, who shares duties with Dave Stewart, who always had a strong grip on the Eurythmic sound. Surprisingly perhaps, this song, although released as a single, did not get a US outing, maybe due to the rather pastiche nature of the video that accompanied it, which parodied certain aspects of American culture. Oh, those Americans!

“(My my) Baby's gonna cry” is almost new-wave in its melody, Stewart's guitar coming more to the front, and he adds to the vocals this time, for the first time I've heard on the album. It's a slower tempo, though not a ballad, very solid, and the dual vocal works very well, especially when Stewart and Lennox sing in unison. Nice little new-wave keyboard touches from Seymour stay just where they should, not trying to take over the song, but definitely helping to form its identity. Nice guitar solo from Stewart, not over the top, but certainly making the point.

With definite shades of their big hit single “Here comes the rain again”, the next track up, “Don't ask me why” is again a pop-driven tune, with more keyboard taking the lead, and Lennox's voice absolutely taking command as she revels in her element. With lyrics like ”I don't love you anymore/ Don't think I ever did/ And if you ever had/ Any kind of love for me/ You kept it all so well hid” it's fair to relate this back to her perceived failed love affairs and her attitude towards men, most famously exposed on the track “I need a man” from the previous album. Despite the bitterness in the lyric, it's quite a tender and lush song, with a really nice melody and some almost strings-like keyboard arrangements.

The first ballad on the album, the sumptuous “Angel”, features some lovely restrained guitar work from Stewart and a lonely, almost lost vocal from Lennox, emotion drenching the memories she recalls in the lyric: ”I remember you/ Like Elvis Presley singing/ Songs on a Sunday.” Some great backing vocals in an almost gospel style, a very big production and indeed this should have been a big hit for them, but perhaps because the subject matter concerns suicide it did not do as well as perhaps it could have done. “Revival” is a real hard-edged rocker with more gospel elements, a real call to action, a “pick yourself up off the ground” sort of song. Nice little keyboard hook, reminds me of the Tubeway Army.

There's little ambiguity about a song with the title “You hurt me (and I hate you)”, and as you might expect it's a tough, bitter, savage little song, opening with a deceptively low-key piano intro before it kicks into gear, as Annie lists her faults: ”I'm not an angel/ I'm not a saint/ I'm not a saviour/ I'm not that quaint” and then snarls the title with all the vitriol a scorned or hurt woman can muster. Great horns again in this track, some nice whistly keyboards and there's almost a false sense of fiesta about the melody: you could nearly take it as a celebration, and perhaps it is --- a kind of “I will survive” mentality.

“Sylvia” comes in on beautiful string intro, quite similar in ways to INXS's classic “Never tear us apart”, a great sense of drama and tragedy in the song, perhaps presaging the woman in “Angel” who takes her own life, as Annie sings ”She wants to fall/ Into a deep, deep sleep/ So she can forget herself.” Nice solo on what sounds to me like a harpsichord, but may be Stewart being really inventive on the guitar, who knows? It's a sparse but yet powerful song, while “How long” rides on a deep bass line carrying a pretty rocky track with some great guitar, but it's the closer that really puts the finishing touches on this album.

Opening on a low, wailing bass and keys, “When the day goes down” is a deeply powerful ballad, with Lennox giving her all on the vocal, as she talks about the evils in the world: “All the people of this lonely world/ Have got a piece of pain inside/ Don't go thinking you're the only one/ Who ever broke right down and cried.” It's almost a lullaby for adults, a calming voice in the maelstrom of modern life and all our worries, fears and nightmares are shushed away by Annie's gentle voice, the lush soundscape behind her perfectly complementing her passionate vocal. Great little guitar solo from Dave, and then the whole thing fades out, as it really has to, it's the only way it can end. Lovely, truly lovely.

You might say, if I enjoyed the album so much, why did I not get more of their work, and to be honest I don't know. This is a really great album, but I was never a huge fan of the Eurythmics, and as it happens this was their last album before they broke up, though they did reform some years later and released another album. Maybe I came in too late, or maybe just at the right time. I know from their previous singles that they had some very good music (but then, I don't like all of their singles), but were their albums that good? I don't know, I guess I never will.

But this one is really good, and I'm certainly glad I listened to it.

TRACKLISTING

1. We too are one
2. The king and queen of America
3. (My my) Baby's gonna cry
4. Don't ask me why
5. Angel
6. Revival
7. You hurt me (And I hate you)
8. Sylvia
9. How long
10. When the day goes down

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Ho ho ho! Hope you all had a happy Christmas, and are looking forward to the new year --- then, back to work ha ha! Here's a real classic which the worm thinks epitomises the sound of the seventies to get us going on the last few before 2012 sticks its oar in. This is “Sad sweet dreamer”: you'll recognise it once you hear it...

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Note: as we head into the last few days of 2011, I'm anxious to review the remaining albums from this year that I have already written up, so I'll be posting one a day, perhaps even more depending on how time goes. After Saturday, this section will only feature albums from 2012 --- as soon as they're released and I get them! This doesn't mean that no more albums from 2011 will be reviewed: they will, of course, but not under this section.

Most of us have a healthy diverse interest across several spectrums and genres of music. Me, I like rock and metal first, but I'm also partial to some good classical and good vocal albums. My interest in Josh Groban's work is well known among those who read my journal, and I do intend to review his new album quite soon. But first I want to take my first dive (ah, if only!:)) into the music of one Katherine Jenkins, and review her latest album.

Daydream --- Katherine Jenkins --- 2011 (Warner Bros)
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Now, this could be a real crash and burn. Katherine Jenkins is known foremost as an operatic style singer, and I really can't stand opera, but we'll give it a lash (again, if only...) and see how we get on. I see from the tracklisting there is a mixture of classical, opera and pop tunes, along with some traditional fare and even a song that featured in Doctor Who! Can't be bad then...

It opens, as you would be correct to expect, with a lavish orchestral overture, then “Black is the colour (of my true love's hair)” is delivered on a soft, gentle vocal from Katherine, she taking centre stage as the orchestra slowly builds behind her. It's a traditional Scottish folk song, and its first proper performance was in 1913, though it dates back much further than that. I have never heard the song, so can't comment on her version, but it's a nice song, powerfully driven by the orchestra and well sung by her. As a matter of fact, looking down the tracklisting, there are few songs here that I do know. Hopefully though that won't hinder my reviewing them.

Next up is “Your silhouette”, again opened on powerful strings and then dropping to a simple piano line for the opening verse, Katherine's vocal feather-gentle, then the drums come in and her backing vocalists add their voices, and her own gets stronger, sounding a little, if I'm honest, like Mary Black. It's another ballad, but let's be fair, we're not expecting a rendition of “Ace of spades” or “Enter Sandman” here, are we? Gentle piano reminiscent of Nilsson's classic “Without you” introduces “Can't slow down”, which can't really: it's already a slow song. Okay, time for the crap jokes to end.

It's a powerful song in fact, another ballad of course but with a lot of heart and emotion put into it by Jenkins. Sounds vaguely country, for some reason, kind of Faith Hill or Leanne Rimes. A song from “Les Miserables” is next, “J'avais reve d'une autre vie” --- says the translation is “I dreamed a dream”, and I guess they should know, but looks more like, to my admittedly limited French, “I dreamed of another life”? Anyway, as musicals go the song is of course dramatic and epic, with great backing from the orchestra, and Katherine stretching her vocals to that famous mezzo-soprano that made her name. Very effective. I'm one of the probably three people in the known world who have never seen the show, but she certainly seems to put in a passionate performance of this song.

One of the few I do know is “Carrickfergus”, the old Irish traditional song covered more times than old Mister Brennan can remember (sort of in-joke for Irish people there), and she does a nice version of it, though it's one of those songs that really, it's been covered so many times that it's hard to pick out a better version of it. Powerful, emotive and well arranged though, with really nice backing vocals from a choir of some sort --- solid information on this album is not that easy to come by. Nice to see her paying tribute to Ireland, too.

That's about it for the ones I know, more or less. “L'alba verra (The dawn will come)” is like something out of a film, or possibly the stage, or an opera, starts powerfully then again drops to single piano backing. Sung in the native language of the song (Italian?), it's impossible for me to tell you what the lyric means: my Italian is worse than my French. Nicely sung though with again that high-pitched voice reaching notes others can only dream of, but never getting jarring in the way so many opera divas can. Some really class piano playing there really adds to the song.

Back thankfully to English for “And this is my beloved”, another stirring ballad where the strength of Jenkins' voice really comes through, while “Love divine (Hyfrydol)” appears to be some sort of hymn (hey, don't look at me: I'm an atheist, thank god!) and delivered in flowing style with great backing from her choir and the orchestra. Even a non-believer like me, though, knows “Ave Maria”, and she certainly sings it like an angel, backed by what sounds like harp and cello? There seem to be a lot of different versions of this song, and this is one I'm actually not familiar with, but lovely nevertheless.

“A flower tells a story” is another powerful ballad, again showcasing her tremendous voice, at times gentle and at times belting out the song, while the power and passion she puts into Delta Goodrem's “Break it to my heart” is phenomenal to say the least. “Blaenwern”, I have to assume, is a Welsh traditional song, and very nice it is too, and the album then closes on that song I mentioned from Doctor Who. It's called “Abigail's song”, and I remember Katherine, who also guest starred in the last Christmas episode, singing it and how touching it was. It loses none of its magic or majesty here, absolutely stunning. Heartbreaking and tearjerking, a really powerful and emotional finale to the album, with excellent backup and just a fantastic atmosphere about the whole piece. Spellbinding.

I would be the first to admit I'm probably not a fan of Katherine Jenkins, but be the hokey she can sing! She's also damn hot! But seriously, this album is not really for everyone: there's a good mix on it, but some of the songs --- the hymns, the stage stuff --- I don't know and to be honest I doubt I'd listen to them in any other sphere. There are some great performances on here, but then that's the least you'd expect from a talent like hers.

I would say in conclusion, I'm definitely impressed, and wouldn't for instance turn off the radio if she were singing, but I don't think I'd be rushing out to buy another album by her. This one, however, won't be getting deleted just yet.

TRACKLISTING

1. Black is the colour (of my true love's hair)
2. Your silhouette
3. Can't slow down
4. J'avais reve d'une autre vie (I dreamed a dream)
5. Carrickfergus
6. L'alba verra (The dawn will come)
7. And this is my beloved
8. Love divine (Hyfrydol)
9. Ave Maria
10. A flower tells a story
11. Break it to my heart
12. Blaenwern
13. Abigail's song

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For a guy who had, at one time, two separate singles in the top twenty, you'd think Fergal Sharkey would have gone on to great things, wouldn't you? But he seems to have basically crashed and burned after those two singles: maybe he should have stayed with the Undertones! Here's the one you all know...

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I've been told the latest Journey album has no ballads. To be honest, that comes across to me as unlikely as there not being a keyboard solo on a Rick Wakeman album, or Prince releasing an album with no songs about sex. It just seems impossible. Journey have, if not made, at least advanced their long career upon classic ballads like “Open arms”, “Faithfully”, “Still they ride” and of course “Who's crying now”. To hear that they released an album without a single ballad sounds, well, hard to believe. But so the reviews I've read would have me believe, and they should know, having heard the album, while I haven't.

Up to now, that is.

So, let's find out if they know what they're talking about then.

Eclipse --- Journey --- 2011 (Nomota LLC)
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“Eclipse” is Journey's first new album in three years, their second with new vocalist Arnel Pineda, and the first on which he sings a collection of totally new songs. 2008's “Revelation” --- although I have yet to hear it --- consisted of a mixture of new songs and re-recordings of old ones, so this is the first time Pineda has a chance to impress and shine on his own merits, though of course he'll always been compared to previous Journey vocalists, most notably the great Steve Perry.

Although it's now been fifteen years since Perry and the band parted company, the man casts a long shadow, and even though Steve Augeri was the singer for two albums since Perry's departure, he was and always will be compared to “classic” Journey, and Perry's is the name that will be forever the yardstick by which he, and any subsequent pretenders to his throne, will be judged. It's not fair, but that's just how it is. Perry was frontman for Journey for so long that it's hard to forget him, and few Journey fans ever will. For them, there will never be another Steve Perry.

And so there should not be, but Pineda will probably carry the albatross of Perry's reputation around his neck for a long time, trying to prove himself to the dyed-in-the-wool Journey fans. He's already won over many of them from the last album and from gigs, but there's work to do yet. This album is his chance to perhaps throw off the shackles history has weighed him down with, and become once and for all his own man, not just the new singer for Journey, but simply Journey's singer.

The album opens strongly, with a good rocker, Neal Schon at his best, and there's no doubting the power and talent inherent in Pineda's voice, though whereas Steve Augeri sounded uncannily like his predecessor, there's a whole different sound about the guy from the Philippines, and he's eager to stamp his own identity on the band, and on the album. “City of hope” is a great opener, laden with the usual hooks you expect in Journey songs like “Faith in the heartland”, “Girl can't help it” and “Separate ways”. Jonathan Cain's keyboards take something of a backseat here, as Schon stands centre stage alongside Pineda, introducing the new Journey album with a grand flourish and a powerful punch.

“Edge of the moment” has an opening riff that sounds so close to “Separate ways” it's frightening, but it soon settles down into its own song, another rocker with some great guitar from Schon. The tracks on this album are longer than normally expected on a Journey album, with all but two of them breaking the five-minute barrier (one is 4:57, so we won't count that as below the marker) and several over six, while two come close to the seven-minute mark. When “Chain of love” is introduced on sweet synth and dreamy piano, you think here we go, here's the first ballad, but after Cain's “Tubular Bells”-like intro, Schon's growling guitar shoulders its way in like an uninvited party guest, and Deen Castronovo's drums pound out a rhythm that turns the song into a hard rock cruncher. Also one of the longer songs on the album, it's quite a surprise, evolving as it does, and Pineda's vocals are stretched on the song, and not found wanting.

Since Perry left, Schon and Cain have exercised a pretty tight control over the songwriting on Journey albums, and Pineda had no input at all into “Revelation”. Here, he co-writes two tracks, one of which also credits Erik Pineda --- his brother? --- but the rest are firmly helmed by the guitarist and the keysman. And they know, as we already are aware, how to write damn fine songs! “Tantra” again opens with soft, mellow piano, a gentle vocal from "the new guy", and surely this has to be a ballad? Well... there's strong guitar, thumping drums, but I would have to say this still keeps to the format of what I would consider a ballad. Okay, it's not “Faithfully”, but it's certainly a slower song. Yeah, I'd have to call this a ballad, even if it is a power one. Knew there had to be one in there.

Then, after a brief interlude (you know what Ade Edmondson said in Bottom: “Yeah, well, you gotta put something in for the girls, don't ya?") we're off with a mid-paced rocker, though “Anything is possible” is still kind of in mid-ballad territory, a slowish beat, impassioned vocal and a very anthemic chorus. Damn good workout by Schon as the song comes to its close. Next up is “Resonate”, which opens with guitar feedback, spacey synth then melodic guitar as Pineda keeps it fairly low-key. I wouldn't go so far as to call this a ballad, no, but it's not a rocker either. Quite guitar-led really, as is the vast majority of the album, Journey opting for a harder, rockier edge to their previous outings.

“She's a mystery”, the first song on which Pineda gets to show his songwriting skills, is almost acoustic, quite jangly and boppy, with some very nice proggy keyboard from Cain --- nice to hear him getting in on the action properly! Near its end the song morphs into a hard crunching rocker, then Cain and Schon trade licks all across “Human feel”, while Castronovo goes nuts on the drums. Things finally speed up again with “Ritual”, with almost a brass feeling to Cain's keyboards, and Pineda really sounding like he's enjoying himself.

The other song on which Pindea --- well, the two Pinedas --- has songwriting credit comes across really as another ballad. “To whom it may concern” smoulders and simmers just below the boil, with powerful guitar and emotive piano, and excellent, soulful vocal from Ardel Pineda, as well as really effective backing vocals. This has all the hallmarks of being a future classic, and certainly I could see it being shouted for at Journey concerts. Urgent, dramatic keyboards from Cain really paint the soundscape, and Pineda is probably at his best on this track. Take note guys: this guy can write! Although I of course don't know how much input he had into this song --- and as he's a vocalist I assume it was mostly on the lyric --- the difference this and the other song he co-wrote make to the album is considerable, and not to be ignored. Perhaps we'll see more of his songwriting on the next album.

The band get rockin' again then with “Someone”, the closest we've come to a throwback to the days of “Escape” and “Frontiers”, or even “Raised on radio”. Great keyboard melody line and exuberant piano from Cain, with Schon's guitars keeping just a little more to the shadows but certainly there. The album ends on an instrumental, as if Schon means to confirm that he is in charge. “Venus” is composed solely by him, and it's a great little closer to the album, a kind of coda if you will. Does come across as more the end-part of a song though than a full piece in its own right. Nice though, very dramatic and epic.

Of course, a less kind reviewer would say this is a prime example of Cain and Schon shutting Pineda out, reminding him that he's the new guy and that Journey is built around the two of them. But I wouldn't be so crass.

This album has been hailed as a classic, a masterpiece, best Journey album since “Escape” and so on. I'm not so sure. It's certainly a great album, but does it rank up there with “Frontiers” and “Escape”? Or my all-time favourite, “Arrival”? I've heard efforts from Journey that are just as good, to be honest. “Generations” is a great album, as is “Trial by fire”. The songs are pretty much without exception excellent on “Eclipse”, but are they better than on other albums? Are there any future classics lurking in there, waiting to be discovered?

Maybe “To whom it may concern”, but even then it's just a really great song, and lacks the pedigree and punch of the real classics we all know from this band. One thing is certain though: Ardel Pineda has definitely stamped his authority as vocalist on this album, and though he may technically still be seen as something of an outsider, he's moving closer to getting into the sanctum. It may not be too long before people are saying “Yeah, but he's no Pineda!”

Both Steves, Perry and Augeri, are tough acts to follow, but on “Eclipse” I think Pineda has proven that not only can he follow these former stars of Journey, but he can make himself a star and lead this band to new heights. Eclipse them? Perhaps that's asking too much, but I feel confident, from his performance on this album, that he can once and for all step out from underneath their rather long shadows.

TRACKLISTING

1. City of hope
2. Edge of the moment
3. Chain of love
4. Tantra
5. Anything is possible
6. Resonate
7. She's a mystery
8. Human feel
9. Ritual
10. To whom it may concern
11. Someone
12. Venus

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Some bands are hard to categorise, aren't they? Like these guys...

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Who would be the hardest band to Google, eh? Think about that for a moment. Here's your answer:

The ghost you gave to me --- 3 --- 2011 (Metal Blade)
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Yep. Try googling a band called 3, and see how far you get. Possibly not the cleverest marketing decision made by a band --- I had to input the name of the album on Wiki to get to the band --- but certainly innovative, challenging and indicative of a band prepared to take risks. This, as it turns out, is their sixth album, and yes, it's another one of those I bought on impulse. Basically, I saw an ad for their album in a mag and decided I liked the look of it. After a quick read of a review I knew I wasn't veering too far off my usual path in checking their music out, but let's see exactly how far they pull me off my normal route. With interest and a little unease, I note their Wiki entry says they have tried every genre from hip-hop to progressive funk and from metal to punk and rockabilly on their albums, leading them to describe themselves as a “hybrid” band. You have to be interested. This sounds like the sort of thing Jackhammer would be into, were circumstances different at the moment. In his honour, as it were, let's check it out and see if it measures up.

It starts very proggy with a nice little acoustic guitar track, very short, barely over one minute, with nice soft vocals from I guess Joey Eppard, as he's shown as the only vocalist on the album, but it certainly sounds female. “Sirenum scopuli” runs directly into the first full track, “React”, retaining its basic melody but filling the song out a little more with electric guitars and drums. Strangely enough for a so-called progressive band, or at least one with progressive leanings, 3 don't appear to employ any keyboard player, content to make all their sounds on guitar, and if that's the case then Eppard and Billy Riker deserve some major plaudits, as they definitely make their guitars sound like much more than just the instruments they are.

“React” is a good rocker, with some nice passages and some very decent vocals from Eppard, quite commercial in its way, and you could without question hear parts where keys would have been very welcome, yet the song doesn't seem to suffer from the lack of them, which is a hard trick to pull off. There's a great hook to the song, marking it for radio airplay should anyone bother to take notice, which hopefully they will. “Sparrow” is a much heavier song, bringing to mind images of Deep Purple in its hard guitar opening riffs, nice bass work from Daniel Grimsland laying a decent foundation to the song, which then veers off into kind of Led Zep territory, circa “Zep II”.

There are no backing vocals credited, but they are there, even if it's just Eppard multi-tracking his own voice, and they're good. There's a hook in this song too, but not as insistent or as instant as in the previous --- kind of wanders around a bit like someone who's had a few too many trying to find his way home in the dark, then “High times” reminds me of the Lostprophets, with maybe a dash of Snow Patrol, uptempo but much less heavy than “Sparrow”. Next up, “Numbers” comes in on a rolling drumbeat, then jangly guitar and there's a certain edge of funk mixed with hard rock on this, decent guitar solo that doesn't go over the top but makes its point. Towards the end though it does become little more than a vehicle for Eppard and Riker to show off their guitar skills, which are, it has to be said, admirable.

One of the longer songs on the album, “One with the sun” is introduced on almost pastoral acoustic guitar, a kind of post-Beatles vibe to the track, probably the closest on the album so far to out-and-out prog rock, or at least, what I consider prog rock. Makes me think of It Bites, actually. Quite similar. Yeah, the more I listen to it the more I hear It Bites in there. I like this one, best so far. Joey Eppard has a voice that's very easy on the ear: he doesn't seem to shout or scream, but you can hear him clearly on every track, and his voice has a great warmth to it. All too soon, “One with the sun” is over, and we're into the title track.

A heavier sound on this, almost a stripped-down sound, sharp guitar and pounding drums but I don't really hear the actual melody until about a minute into the song when the chorus kicks in. It's certainly a song of two halves, as it were: the verses have their own separate sound while the chorus is much more melodious and together I feel. “Afterglow” has a sort of Britpop feel to it, nice chunky guitars and quite commercial --- could see this as maybe a single being released from the album. There's something of a return to the prog-rock sensibilities of “One with the sun” then for “It's alive”, kind of early Yes in its makeup, and those guitars without doubt sound like keyboards, but I'll take their word that they aren't using keys. Heavy sound on the chorus, which seems to be something of a signature with 3: one sound on the verse, another almost completely different on the chorus. Certainly keeps it interesting, but are these guys being too varied? I'm beginning to think so.

“Only child”, the longest track on the album at just over seven minutes, slows things down for I guess what you would accept as being a ballad, though it kind of goes along at a mid-pace, and again I could swear there are keyboards in there! It's got a sort of Spanish rhythm to it: you could almost imagine some girl in a flame-red dress dancing the flamenco to this. Then about halfway in the guitars get heavier, then lighter but faster, more technical, and the song kind of goes into a faster rhythm, picking up speed and getting more intense as it goes on. What sounds like violins or cellos at the end adds a nice extra dimension to the song.

An acoustic ballad closes the album, and “The barrier” is about the most straightforward of their songs I've heard now. It's very relaxing, and I am sure I can hear piano in the background but again none is credited. Nice little guitar solo in the song, very effective and also what sounds like accordion, but I'm sure it isn't.

I really don't know what to make of this album. My initial impression is that 3 are trying too hard to be all things to all men, and that seldom if ever works out well. Just when you think you've got a handle on their style, they change it --- often within the same song --- and it can be very unsettling and jarring. If all their music was like “The barrier”, “One for the sun” and “React”, I think I would be quite fond of and impressed with this album, but as it is it's just confusing me, jumping from style to style, genre to genre, and I'm left with a feeling of not knowing where I am, or what to think.

So all I can suggest is that you have a listen to it and decide if you like it or not. I can't recommend it, but in fairness I can't not recommend it either.

TRACKLISTING

1. Sirenum scopuli
2. React
3. Sparrow
4. High times
5. Numbers
6. One with the sun
7. The ghost you gave to me
8. Pretty
9. Afterglow
10. It's alive
11. Only child
12. The barrier

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Always good to have a touch of class here at the Daily Earworm, and this guy oozes it! It's the Thin White Duke, David Bowie of course, with “Heroes”.

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Who's in the mood for some more of the longest songs you're ever likely to hear? Yeah? Well tough, cos I am! Heh heh! Yes, it's time to venture once again into the world of epics.

And we start off this time with Arena, and their longest (so far as I know) track, coming in at 19 mins 47 seconds, this is “Moviedrome”.


Genesis' longest song is of course “Supper's ready”, but I prefer to go for something a little more recent. This is from their last album with Phil Collins, 1991's “We can't dance”, and with a fairly respectable length of 10:09 it certainly has an epic theme. This is “Driving the last spike.”


Something from Virgin Steele now, from their latest album which is entitled “The black light Bacchanalia” (don't ask me!) it's a track called “To crown them with halos”, and it runs for 11:16.


Bah! I hear you snort! Epics?? These are not epics! Where are the really long songs you promised us, Trollheart? Eh? Tell us that! Well, if you insist... Let's go right back to 1971, to an album by prog rock legends Van der Graaf Generator, called “Pawn hearts”. This track took up the whole of side two (come on, it was the seventies, and only the beginning of those!) and it's split into ten parts, which all go to make up “A plague of lighthouse keepers”. And it comes in at 23:04. Long enough for ya?


Look, I really wanted to feature a Supertramp classic here, I did. But they seem to be as scarce on YT as an honest banker, so at some point I will upload and use one, but for now let me take the opportunity to shoehorn in one of my favourite bands no-one knows and give them another plug. This is Ten, with the title track from their album “The Robe”, a good candidate at 9:07.

How many more times am I going to start off a review with the admission that I'm not really a fan but...? It seems to happen quite a lot, but I suspect I'm not the only one who would buy an album or two by Band A but is not really into them. Some artistes, of course, I avidly collect all of their material and love just about everything they release, and conversely there are some artistes whose music I am not into and never will be, and would not consider even listening to any of their albums, never mind buying them.

And of couse there's nothing wrong with that. There is no law anywhere that says that once you listen to an album by Band A you have to be into them and get the rest of their catalogue, though generally speaking, most of us probably hope that this will be the effect: a band or singer we have previously ignored or just never listened to will, through the experience of one of their recordings, cause us to change our minds about them forever and become a fan. It has happened: I never listened to Nick Cave prior to hearing “The good son”, after which I bought all his albums. The Divine Comedy was unknown to me until a workmate loaned me “Casanova”, and I was hooked.

But then, in essence, isn't that how most of us get into whatever we're into? Few of us know in advance that we're going to love an album, or an artiste, but either recommendation or exposure via the radio or TV nudges us in their direction and we find we like them. Or don't. Then of course there is the less than scientific approach of buying an album by a new artiste (to us) purely because we like the sound of their name, or their album, or both. A positive result in this manner for me was Lanterns on the Lake's debut, “Gracious tide, take me home” --- I loved both the artiste name and the album title, and was blown away by the album --- and an instance where this approach did not work is in Charred Walls of the Damned's second album, “Cold winds on timeless days”. Like they say, great name, shame about the content. Or something.

All that you can't leave behind --- U2 --- 2000 (Island)
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Nerd alert! When I heard the title of this album I immediately thought U2 were ripping off the title of the last ever episode of “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”, which is called “What you leave behind”, and had aired the previous year. There is of course no proof to link the two, but it did seem strange to me that, prior to the DS9 episode, I had never heard this phrase before, and suddenly there it was again.

Anyway, leaving that aside, it's the old story, as related above. Although I like and rate U2, and feel justifiably proud that they, an Irish band from the poorer part of Dublin, rose to become mega-famous and indeed one of the biggest bands in the world, I had none of their albums, other than their greatest hits compilation. My sister had “The Joshua Tree” on vinyl (what?) and one of their concerts on VHS (again, what??) but I had none of their music. She of course only had those items because she had a crush on Bono.

But --- and again, I couldn't tell you why --- I decided to go for this one, and not really expecting that it would live up to the hype, I listened somewhat in trepidation that my hard-earned had been squandered when I could have bought something I really wanted. But by the end of the album I was definitely impressed, though as ever I have not been sufficiently affected to actually go out and buy more of their albums. I think it was tracks like “The fly”, “Angel of Harlem” and “Hold me, kiss me, thrill me, kill me” (or whatever it's called, that one from the Batman movie) that began to turn me off U2. I'd enjoyed classic songs like “Still haven't found what I'm looking for”, “Pride”, “The unforgettable fire” and my own personal all-time favourite, “Where the streets have no name”, but when they began experimenting with new styles it turned me off. I know, naïve: bands have to evolve. Hey, I was younger then.

So it was no small thing to find that “All you can't leave behind” is a very solid rock album, with little if any surprises for someone who had grown up on the above songs. It opens with “Beautiful day”, which being the lead single to the album I had already heard. It's a good rocker, with some great drumming from Larry Mullen and the usual class guitar from the Edge, Bono in introspective voice until the chorus when he comes alive, and there are probably few who have not heard the track at least once, not to mention its clever video with them apparently playing on a runway as an airliner takes off, so let's move on to track two.

“Stuck in a moment you can't get out of” is a great semi-ballad, with very much gospel leanings, Bono singing in memory of his good friend Michael Hutchence, INXS lead singer who committed suicide. It's quite keyboard oriented with a strong message of trying to get it together before it's too late, as Bono sings ”Don't say that later will be better/ Now you're stuck in a moment/ That you can't get out of.” A song about recognising the hole you've dug for yourself, or found yourself in, and making plans to dig yourself out before it's too late, it was another single and so again most will be at least familiar with it. Nice brass from Paul Barrett gives the song something of an optimistic feel.

“Elevation” is a little of the more post-rock experimentation U2 had flirted with on previous albums “Pop” and “Zooropa”, with a hard-edged (pun intended) guitar and a sort of stuttering, staccato beat and some lingering dance influences left over from previous albums, but used quite well. Production by the legendary Brian Eno and the equally formidable Daniel Lanois --- both of whom also play on the album --- is sharp and clear, dispelling any cobwebs that might be hanging around after the disappointing “Pop”. Eno and Lanois previously worked with U2 before, of course, on “The Joshua Tree”, “Achtung baby” and “The unforgettable fire”, and surely it's no coincidence that some of their biggest and best-loved hits came from these albums?

There's no actual title track, but the title is mentioned in the opening to “Walk on”, one of the standouts on an album with, to be fair, few if any bad tracks. A tribute to Burmese human rights activist Aung Suu San Kyi, the inclusion of this track irked the authorities there so much that the album was banned in Burma. It's a great half-ballad, with great keyboards paired with just perfect guitar touches from the Edge, Bono in his element as he sings about causes that matter to him, and should matter to us all. One thing I do like about Bono is that although he puts a lot of his politics into his lyrics, it's not forced down your throat like some others try to: it's usually quite subtle (although when he's talking about these issues there's little of subtlety about him, and so there should not be).

The title phrase comes back in for the fadeout ending, as he sings ”All that you fashion/ All that you make/ All that you build / All that you break/ All that you measure / All that you fear/ All this you can leave behind” almost mirroring the lyric in Pink Floyd's “Eclipse” off “Dark side of the Moon”. Another great track is “Kite”, with a slow, lazy guitar and a sort of swaying rhythm, with the guitar getting stronger and more insistent later on in the song, and a really nice solo thrown in too. One nice thing about the Edge is that, despite being one of the world's best-known guitarists, he seldom takes the spotlight for himself: I can honestly say that this is the first solo I've heard from him on the album so far, and even then it's not a big, ostentatious, “look-at-me” type of thing. Very workmanlike, and fits well into the song structure.

For me, the song quality dips slightly then. It does recover before the album ends, but “In a little while” is a weak track in my eyes. It's not terrible, a sparse, blues type of song with a lot of heart, but coming after two powerhouses like “Walk on” and “Kite”, I just feel it falls short of the grade, and “Wild honey” can really only be described as filler, and it also features two subjects I really don't like --- monkeys and honey --- but we're soon back to greatness with the sumptuous “Peace on Earth”, which I felt sure would have been a Christmas number one had it been released, and it should have been, as the album came out in October. But it seems never to have been considered for single release, perhaps because the lyric concerns the Omagh bombing of 1998, making it too much a political hot potato.

Whatever way you view it though --- as an honest appeal for peace or as a bitter realisation that such a thing will never happen --- it's a starkly beautiful, powerful and emotional song, as Bono relates the names of those who died in the bombing, and speaks of the heartache suffered by those left behind. ”Sean and Julia, Gareth Anne and Breda/ Their lives are bigger than/ Any big idea.” Bono admits in the song that in the ”Song I wrote/ The words are sticking in my throat”, the whole thing carried on atmospheric keyboard and semi-acoustic guitar, and yeah, it does bring the tears, especially to an Irishman who remembers that awful day. Time don't dull the pain.

Kind of carrying on from this, “When I look at the world” is a song about losing faith, a more uptempo sort of tune with lots of warbly keyboards and a mid-paced rhythm, then after all the heavy lyrical themes, “New York” is a song about, well, New York. It's a fast, powerful rocker --- though it starts out slow and low-key --- which betrays Bono's love of the city, and after September 11 certain lyrics had to be altered, like ”Religious nuts, political fanatics/ In the stew” . The tempo and rhythm actually remind me of the rushing tempo of the streets of New York (though I've never been there, but who hasn't seen it portrayed on telly or film a million times?), where everyone is dashing here and there, trying to get to where they need to go. It's also the first --- only --- song on the album where you can really hear the signature guitar sound the Edge is known for, roaring triumphantly as he lets it loose.

The album ends on a laidback almost acoustic ballad, “Grace”, which beats out “New York” as the longest track on the album by one second (does anyone really take note of these things? I do...), with a beautiful little guitar intro, the Edge almost going Hawaiian in his playing. It's a really introspective, simple little song to end an album that is full of ideas, great songs, interesting themes and a band getting back to doing what they do best.

TRACKLISTING

1. Beautiful day
2. Stuck in a moment you can't get out of
3. Elevation
4. Walk on
5. Kite
6. In a little while
7. Wild honey
8. Peace on Earth
9. When I look at the world
10. New York
11. Grace

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What happened to the Sensual World? What of this woman's work, and where did Lionheart go? In other words, where has Kate Bush been? It's now six years since her last album, 2005's “Aerial”, and a whopping twelve years between that and its predecessor, 1993's “The red shoes”. So what has she been doing in the interim? Well, setting up her own record label, for one thing, on which this is the first album proper to be released (earlier in the year saw a re-recording of songs from “The sensual world” and “The red shoes”, but this is the first new album), and writing one damn fine album for another. I think I can safely say it's been worth the wait.

50 words for snow --- Kate Bush --- 2011 (Fish People)
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The album has only seven tracks, but in typical Bush fashion each one is a gem. Well, near as dammit. On opener “Snowflake” --- it's not a coincidence; every song here concerns snow or winter in some way, hence the title --- Kate's son Albert joins her on the vocal, her plaintive piano creating a fragile, delicate melody that is counterpointed by Steve Gadd's insightful drumming. In typical off-the-wall Bush style, “Snowflake” concerns the thoughts of a snowflake as it drifts to the ground. Albert's not-yet-broken voice naturally drags the mind to thoughts of Aled Jones on that perennial Christmas favourite “Walking in the air”, but it's Kate's mesmeric piano playing that really draws the ear on this gentle first assault in what will be an overall attack on your senses and emotions, albeit a warm and fuzzy one.

To be fair, though there are only seven songs they're all quite long, only two coming in at below eight minutes, and one is thirteen. “Snowflake” is almost like a prelude, gently rising and falling with the cadences of first Bush then Albert's voices, carrying you along like that little boy in “The Snowman” as he flies to the North Pole with his snowy friend. Bush's vocal hardly rises above a soft whisper throughout the track, and the overall feeling is of being wrapped in a soft blanket by a loving mother and sung to sleep as the wind howls and the snow falls outside.

There is guitar here, but it's so restrained and so economically used that you almost don't notice it. There is, however, no guitar on the second track, “Lake Tahoe”, carried entirely on Bush's at first somewhat discordant piano, while choral singer Stefan Roberts duets beautifully with her on, what else, a Victorian ghost story. This woman is the very essence of romantic drama in music. This track is just over eleven minutes long, and to keep that going, and keep it fresh, with nothing more than a piano and drums, and of course, her most potent weapon, her ethereal, spectral voice, is no small thing, but Bush manages it not only with aplomb, but with absolutely no question that there ever was going to be a problem doing so. It's almost an operetta in itself.

The longest track though comes next, beating out the previous by a good two minutes. “Misty” is the tale of a girl who falls in love with a snowman, in perhaps a more adult interpretation of the animated classic. Bush's piano is a little more animated and uptempo on this song, showing how versatile she can be on the instrument. She takes all vocals on this one herself, putting more than a little motown soul into her singing, the passion evident in lines like “So cold next to me/ I can feel him melting/ Melting in my hand” and ”He won't speak to me/ His crooked mouth is/ Full of dead leaves.”

It's a tender, tragic dark fairytale, driven at all times by the whisper-quiet longing passionate voice and feather-light fingers of Bush on the piano keyboard, Gadd's drumming providing just the right amount of percussion, while bass from Danny Thompson completes the rhythm section, little touches of guitar from Dan MacIntosh adding the final flourish. Bush's piano gets more insistent and desperate as the night ends and morning dawns, and the woman finds her snowman lover has melted away. An allegory, perhaps, for those selfish lovers who steal away in the night, having taken what they wanted?

Andy Fairweather Low guests on vocals next on “Wild man”, almost the shortest song on the album, would you believe, at just over seven minutes? For this track, Kate swaps the piano for a keyboard, and it's a much more uptempo song, though still gentle, with again no guitar and some pretty sterling vocal harmonies. The song itself concerns an expedition into the Himalayas during which evidence of the mythical Yeti (the Abominable Snowman) is found. Rather than sensationalise and report the footprints though, the group decide to wipe them out, so that the Yeti will not be disturbed and hunted by men. It's an interesting idea, but would have been hilariously misplaced had the aforementioned Yeti come charging down the hill to attack them!

Bush's keyboard works hard on this song, taking the role of most instruments and keeping the melody and the rhythm going, and it's certainly so far the most boppy of the songs --- well, the only boppy song, thus far anyway --- on the album. She adds the piano to the keys for the next track, which utilises the talents of Sir Elton John on the duet “Snowed in at Wheeler Street”, which seems to follow the doomed relationship throughout various lives of two lovers, where Kate sings ”Then I saw you in '42/ But we were on different sides/ I hid you under my bed/ But they took you away” and Elton recalls ”When we got to the top of the hill / We saw Rome burning.”

The music is very urgent and desperate on this song, the piano getting loud and brash as the two lovers try not to be separated again, though they know they will never be together. Excellent vocal performances from both the leads, and it's a powerful, dramatic and yearning song, leaving you as it fades with a real sense of loss and sympathy for the characters, knowing you can do nothing to help them.

The title track features Stephen Fry as Professor Joseph Yupik narrating fifty words that either denote or pertain to snow while Kate keeps a count as he heads towards, well, how many do you think? The melody and rhythm behind the song is excited, fast and encouraging as Kate exorts Fry to continue, pushing him towards the magical number. To be honest, it's excessively indulgent. I don't like Fry's self-congratulatory view of his own limited talent, and the song itself is a little pointless. As a title track, and as a song to stand amongst the greats that are on this album it fails on every level. It's complete tosh, too: half the words Fry uses to describe snow is just that word in another language, which you could then apply to any word. I thought the whole idea was to have fifty different words --- English words --- for snow? Bah! A small dip in the overall quality of the album, a little snowdrift you fall into that turns out to be a lot deeper than you at first thought, and you lose your footing and sink in.

Luckily, the album recovers from this minor (but very annoying, and more so the more you listen to it) bump, ending triumphantly with a real vintage Bush ballad, “Among angels”. Just her on vocals and piano, as it was in the beginning, so it is at the end. Painfully heartfelt, simple and beautifully elegant, this is Kate Bush at her very best, and it's fitting that the album, which has up to now maintained such a consistent high quality, should end on an ethereal, haunting note, and when she unleashes her voice, really lets it do what we know it's capable of, her fifty-plus years fall away like a blanket of snow from the shoulders of a coat as its wearer steps into the warmth.

At its heart a collection of songs, prayers even, to snow, to winter and to the colder side of Mother Nature, “50 words for snow” is a minor masterpiece, showing that Kate Bush still has it, and even if she takes her time letting her light shine through the darkness, it shines all the brighter for it. A child of nature in her own soul, a drifting spirit who haunts dreams and fantasies, Kate Bush is the Snow Queen and our Fairy Godmother rolled into one, with a little touch of Cinderella, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, all fusing into one glorious entity, with the true voice of an angel.

TRACKLISTING

1. Snowflake
2. Lake Tahoe
3. Misty
4. Wild man
5. Snowed in at Wheeler Street
6. 50 words for snow
7. Among angels

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Ah, what song to end the year on, eh? Such a choice... well, this has a lot of the elements of change and also the new year in it, even if it wasn't written as such. See you all next year! Happy New Year from the Daily Earworm! :)

Terra Incognita: Beyond the horizon --- Roswell Six --- 2009 (ProgRock)
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Hands up those of you who like progressive rock. Okay. Now hands up, anyone who likes science-fiction. Hmm. I see a lot of the same people raising their hands, but that's okay, because as it happens this project will satisfy both of your cravings. Based completely on a sci-fi novel series written by author Kevin Anderson, and with music by superprogger Erik Norlander, “Terra Incognita: Beyond the horizon” is in fact the first of two discs, two separate albums tracing the story in Anderson's books. Roswell Six are a supergroup made up of some of the biggest names in progressive rock, the likes of Norlander's wife, Lana Lane, Shadow Gallery's Gary Wehrkamp, Asia's John Payne, James LaBrie from Dream Theater and IQ and Jadis' Martin Orford, to name but a few.

It's an epic undertaking, and in order to realise Anderson's vision, Norlander has worked closely with the author to create the music and most importantly lyrics that reflect the storyline of his novels. The album opens with dramatic organ and vocal chorus, rolling drums setting the scene and really making this quite an overture. It is in fact the longest track on the album, right off, at just over eleven minutes, and as the guitars and keyboards mesh, “Ishalem” gets underway, with beautiful, clear vocals by Lana Lane and (I think) Michael Sadler , a great slab of proto-symphonic prog rock, similar to the sort of thing you get in rock operas. Superb keyboards to rival the best you'll hear in classic Yes, ELP or Genesis alongside guitar riffs that just grab you by the throat. What an opener!

Much of “Ishalem” is instrumental, which probably accounts for its almost bloated length, though the rest of the album is much more realistic in length, with the next two tracks the second and third longest, at six and a half minutes and six minutes each. “The call of the sea” is much faster and heavier than the immense opener, with trumpeting keys in the best tradition of Asia, and a rollicking, rocking rhythm that carries the song along. Lana Lane again sings on this track, but detailed information on this album is very hard to get, ie who sings what track, and I'm not familiar with the vocalists --- though I've heard some of them --- nor experienced enough to be able to identify one from the other. It should perhaps be explained here that the actual Roswell Six are: Erik Norlander (keyboards) and wife Lana Lane (vocals), Kurt Barabas (bass) and author Kevin Anderson with his wife, who is also a novellist, Rebecca Moest. Shawn Gordon, head of ProgRock records, makes up the sixth member of the group. The others are all guests, and do not form part of the band, though they are certainly integral to its success.

I do know that Dream Theater's James LaBrie guests on vocals for “I am the point”, a dirty, crunching, heavy track much more guitar-led than the previous two, and certainly the heaviest on the album so far. I'm fairly familiar with John Payne's voice from his work with Asia, so I think I may be able to say with a little certainty that the first two tracks were sung by Saga's Michael Sadler, though don't hold me to that. “Letters in a bottle” has some beautiful violin from Kansas' David Ragsdale and acoustic guitar from Gary Wehrkamp at his laidback best, slowing things down for the first time, and I'm fairly sure that's Sadler on the vocals there. Lana takes centre stage for “Halfway”, a semi-ballad with insistent keyboard behind her, guitars breaking in after about a minute. The melody almost borders on reggae, but maintaining its rock core all the way.

Lovely, expressive organ introduces “Anchored” before it breaks out into a hard rocker, LaBrie again behind the mike, and Wehrkamp rocking it out as only he can. The organ continues throughout the song, Norland providing a symphonic backdrop to the melody, while adding in some dazzling flourishes of his own. Is that “Kashmir” by Led Zep I hear? No, this is one of the standout tracks, the symphonic and epic “Here be monsters”, which features all three vocalists --- Lana Lane, John Payne and Michael Sadler --- in a true tour-de-force that will take your breath away. Real sense of drama and of the story coming to a denoument here. Majestic.

More heavy guitar work from Shadow Gallery's axeman allies with mesmerising keyboard and beautiful piano from Norlander to create “The sinking of the Luminara”, an almost six-minute instrumental, with a really great bass solo --- yeah, that's what I said! --- from Kurt Barabas. Then “The winds of war” has Lana back on solo vocals for a galloping rocker as she wonders ”Why do they hate us?/ What did we do?” I suppose in retrospect it would be helpful to have the novel, or at least the liner notes, to go by, but as I didn't buy the physical CD --- haven't done that for years now --- I don't have that luxury, so the actual story is a little of a mystery to me. But this song definitely seems to involve some sort of sneak attack by an unknown enemy.

And she stays at the mike for “Swept away”, a heavy rock cruncher which at times gives way to some lovely gentle keyboard before powering back in courtesy of Wehrkamp and Chris Brown's guitars. Sadler partners Lane on this track, their duet quite intriguing. “Beyond the horizon” is another lovely ballad, piano melody leading what is essentially the title track on the album with some lovely keyboard runs and insightful drumming. Another contender for standout track, with a truly exceptional classical guitar solo from Chris Brown, and some very timely and effective flute from IQ's Martin Orford.

Penultimate track “Merciful tides/ Letters in a bottle (reprise)” is just that: a reprise of the first ballad on the album, with again Lana singing her heart out and a gentle but powerful keyboard melody keeping pace with her, and Wehrkamp adding a beautiful and entrancing solo to bring to a close the vocal part of the album. Closer “The edge of the world” is a powerful finale, instrumental as I say, allowing Norlander and Wehrkamp to have the final word. Starting off with synthy wind noises the track goes from symphonic prog bombast to hard rock and back to prog rock in a heartbeat, sliding effortlessly from one to the other, throwing in some more Orford flute along the way as the song speeds up, slows down, speeds up again, so that you're somewhat dizzy by the tremendous conclusion. But a great way to end the album.

Certainly a unique proposition, it's clear from this first album that the concept works, and everyone who has had a hand in this project has absolutely worked themselves as hard as possible, putting everything they have into it. It works as a prog rock album, as a symphonic rock album, and as a concept album. It works as a showcase for the vocalists, it works as a vehicle for Norlander's spellbinding keyboard work, and it works as a media through which to disseminate Anderson's novels.

Like I say, on every level, this works. Can't wait to review the sequel!

TRACKLISTING

1. Ishalem
2. The call of the sea
3. I am the point
4. Letters in a bottle
5. Halfway
6. Anchored
7. Here be monsters
8. The sinking of the Luminara
9. The winds of war
10. Swept away
11. Beyond the horizon
12. Merciful tides/ Letters in a bottle (reprise)
13. The edge of the world

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I'll never get out of this world alive --- Steve Earle --- 2011 (New West)
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Been waiting a while for this one! It's been four years now since the last Steve Earle album proper, although he did release a tribute to his friend and mentor Townes Van Zandt in 2009. This however is the first original album of his since 2007's “Washington Square serenade”, and I've been itching to hear some new Earle material, so let's dive right in on this, the last 2011 album to be reviewed by me this year.

It starts in fine style as “Waitin' on the sky” takes us in, a classic Earle tune with plenty of country in it and also lots of rock as Steve recalls living on a military base when he was younger. It's a solid song and opens the album with both a sense of living with the sword of Damocles hanging over your head as well as a shrug of the shoulders, a kind of “so this is how it is, not gonna let it ruin my life”, and so in that sense an air of perhaps misplaced optimism. That optimism disappears, to be replaced by cold, bitter anger at a certain “Dubya” on the bluegrass tune “Little emperor”, when Steve's political leanings come once again to the fore in his songwriting.

There's the usual lineup of great musicians on this album, with two females so that Earle changes his bandname from Steve Earle and the Dukes to Steve Earle and the Dukes and Duchesses! Some great fiddle, courtesy of Sara Watkins and banjo on this track, increasing the country feel and perhaps moving a little away from the last two albums, which planted their feet a bit more firmly in the world of rock music. There's an acapella opening with a very traditional flare to “The Gulf of Mexico”, and even when the instruments get going it's more like a trad song than a country one. I've seen this performed on “Later with Jools Holland”, so can tell you that Earle's wife (his seventh! --- Doesn't this man ever have enough?) plays guitar, keys and occasionally sings on the album, and she does a great job here as her husband sings about his grandfather who ”Drew a steady paycheck/ Twenty years to Texaco/ When he died we spread his ashes/ On the Gulf of Mexico.”

There's a very celtic feel to the song, with superb fiddle from Watkins, and uptempo guitars from both producer T-Bone Burnett and Patti Smith's son Jackson, the beat kept tight by Jay Bellerose on the drumkit, a country flavour infused into the song via pedal steel from multi-session player Greg Leisz. The workaday feel of the song is suddenly brought into sharp focus though at the end, when Earle recounts a huge oil spill that made him think again about his chosen profession: ”Then one night I swear I saw the Devil /Crawlin' from the hole/ And he spilled the guts of Hell out /In the Gulf of Mexico.”

Acoustic banjo (is there any other kind?) and fiddle introduce “Molly-o”, a stripped-down song of murder and revenge, with Earle sounding a lot like James Taylor on the chorus. Weird. It's another bluegrass song, Watkins' sentimental fiddling lending it a graceful air, while one of the standouts comes in the shape of “God is God”, apparently originally written for Joan Baez. A nice ballad with a rhythm somewhat reminiscent of a much slower “Copperhead Road”, the song reflects Steve's belief that it doesn't matter what you believe, if God is there he, she or it is there, and your opinion doesn't change that. Some cutting lines: ”Every day that passes /I'm sure about a little bit less/Even my money keeps telling me /It's God I need to trust” and ”God of my little understanding /Don't care what name I call/ Whether or not I believe /Doesn't matter at all.”

A very Tom Waits vibe then about “Meet me in the alley” (wouldn't a duet between them be so cool?), with lonely, drunken horns from Allan Toussaint and guitar effects from Burnett and Smith, as well as mournful harmonica which all help to underscore Waits' --- sorry, Earle's! --- low, growling vocal that complements the song perfectly. Real Nashville Blues goin' on here! “Every part of me” is another acoustic ballad, the type Earle does so well, with nice double bass and understated percussion. Some really effective mandolin in the background adds to the low-key atmosphere and fragility of the song, then it's another ballad for “Lonely are the free”, though slightly more electric this time: reminds me of “Lonelier than this” from one of my favourite of his albums, “Transcendental blues”.

That pedal steel is back, wailing in the background and anchoring the song as Earle sings in his plaintive drawl, in fact I find a lot of this album low-key and quite sad. In comparison to “Washington Square serenade”'s anger and the power and determination evident on “The revolution starts now”, this album comes across as world-weary, frustrated but too tired to do anything about it. Even the title, through taken from a Hank Williams song, reflects a sense of fatalism and acceptance that things will not work out as you want them to.

Allison Moorer joins him on “Heaven or Hell”, a more upbeat track but still pretty firmly in ballad territory, Leisz's pedal steel this time the dominant instrument rather than just a backing player. Moorer has a nice voice, and like that of his sister Stacey, it meshes well with Steve's. It's seldom he duets, and when he does he obviously picks voices that will complement and play off his Texas growl. Things keep slow and played-down for “I am a wanderer”, very country in its makeup, getting a little faster and upbeat as it goes along, but yet a song of a man who knows he will never again see home. This song was written for her, and there's a rumour that the vocals heard in the background belong to the great Baez, but I can't confirm that. Certainly sounds like her.

The album closes on the track that won it a Grammy nomination. Written for the TV series “Treme”, the closer is called “This city” and has a very New Orleans vibe about it, with Allan Toussaint's horns adding the colour to what is again a fairly dour song despite the optimistic lyric: ”Doesn't matter, come what may / I ain't ever gonna leave this town/ This city won't wash away/ This city won't ever drown.” Yeah, it's a low-key ending to a low-key album, and the very nature of the song reflects what little I saw of the series. I didn't like “Treme” and I can't say I like this track either.

On the whole, I must admit I'm quite disappointed. No rockers, no great statements of intention, nothing that remains in my head for long after the album has finished. I must admit, having watched him perform on TV I was a little anxious, as I wasn't that thrilled with what I was hearing. Listening now to the album all the way through, I'm similarly unimpressed. This is nearly as close to an acoustic album as you could come for Steve Earle, almost his “Nebraska”, though without Springsteen's sharp and touching line-drawings in music of characters and places. I would have to place this low on my list of favourite Earle albums: it wouldn't quite be “Train a-comin'”, but it's not too far ahead of it, and I really hated that album!

Four years to wait for this? It's not a terrible album, and it wouldn't turn me off Steve Earle (nothing could), but I am hugely let down by this collection. Maybe the last few albums spoiled me, but I just would have preferred something a bit more upbeat and a bit more, I don't know, uplifting? I always got the feeling, listening to a Steve Earle album, that he believed he could take on the world and win, every time. After the last few albums, this almost feels like him giving up the fight, giving up on society. Perhaps it is. But I won't give up on his music.

It'll be a while before I play this through again though.

TRACKLISTING

1. Waitin' on the sky
2. Little Emperor
3. The Gulf of Mexico
4. Molly-o
5. God is God
6. Meet me in the alleyway
7. Every part of me
8. Lonely are the free
9. Heaven or Hell
10. I am a wanderer
11. This city

Recommended further listening: “Copperhead Road”, “Transcendental blues”, “El corazon”, “The revolution starts now”, “The hard way”, “I feel alright”, “Washington Square serenade”

Footnote: And so we come to the last review of a 2011 album in the year of its release. I will of course continue to review albums from this fast-fading year in 2012, but not under this banner. From tomorrow, or as soon as there are 2012 albums to buy and review, they will be the only ones which will populate this section. That may take a little time, as I don't know who is due to release albums in the first weeks of 2012, so bear with me. I'm as much at the mercy of the new year as you are.

Just a last note from me (assuming this gets approved and posted in time!) to wish you all a Happy and safe New Year, and thanks for reading and sticking with me. This journal has been a great source of relaxation, enjoyment and almost therapy for me, and I hope to improve it vastly in 2012. Hope you all enjoyed it, and will continue to do so.

Just a few namechecks: HNY to Jackhammer (hope it's not too tough a time to get through for ya, fella!), Pedestrian, Burning Down, Above, Urban Hatemonger, Cardboard Adolescent, Vanilla, Zero, Captaincaptain, The Nice Guy, Billyjerome, Unchained Ballad, Nonsubmissive Wife, The Big 3, Badlittlekitten, Tumor and anyone else I forgot --- thanks for your communication, support and contributions to my journal, even if it was only as a lurking reader, and I'll see you all on the other side of 2011.

And now, to go get drunk. Or something.

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