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Great little track from the 90s today, one of the ex-Bananarama girls, this is Siobhan Fahey of Shakespear's Sister, with their biggest hit, a great song called “Stay”. |
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It's rarely if ever that I feature bands from the sixties, but I'm going to make an exception for this one, because in order to demonstrate the differences in the versions of this song I have to refer to the original. Released by Herman's Hermits in 1966 the song was a big hit, and has been covered since of course, but the version I want to put side-by-side with the original here is one I heard on one of my favourite TV shows, “Sons of Anarchy”. It's performed by Joshua James and the Forest Rangers (whom I have to assume is the same JJ from the Runaway Trains, if I'm wrong let me know), and though it retains the downbeat pessimism and fatalism of the original, it's played in a downbeat way, whereas the original is played like a pop song, happy, uptempo, light and breezy, belying the lyric. James changes the song into an ominous, depressed piece of introspection --- yeah, I know: my favourite word. Don't you know any others? --- with a vocal that's almost mumbled, and a great guitar breakout to end the song. Though sticking to the original theme and idea of the song, I believe he does a great job updating it and interpreting the song in his own unique way. Anyway, as ever here are the two versions for you to compare, original first followed by Joshua's cover. |
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Whatever happened to Roxette? The worm was not a fan, but at one stage they did seem like they were about to conquer the world, then poof! Never heard from again. How weird. Here they are with one of their big hits, this is “The look”. |
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Well, it's an extremely bland and unadventurous (not to mention incongruous) cover, and on first (and only) listen I found the album to mirror the cover. Given that here is the man who steered Dire Straits to worldwide fame and dominance over the course of thirty-odd years, and considering his “Local hero” solo single was just really good, I was expecting a whole lot more from the man with the strangely-spelled surname, who has given his name to a Strat, but on first listen I was very much underwhelmed. Let's check it out again and see if time has changed my opinion of this album. Sailing to Philadelphia --- Mark Knopfler --- 2000 (Mercury) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...iladelphia.jpg Apparently the title is a tribute to the two explorers who established the Mason/Dixon line in the USA, the accepted border between Northern and Southern states in America, but I was definitely put off by the mixed message the sleeve conveys. I mean, why not have had a picture of a ship instead of an aircraft? Planes don't sail, except in literary description --- but if someone tells you “I'm sailing to wherever”, you expect them to be on the high seas. Anyway, it's not hugely important but it kind of put me on the back foot before I had even heard a note, which is never a good thing. As you would expect, there's a lot of guitar on this album, and it's heavily in evidence on opener “What it is”, with, again as you might guess, something of a Dire Straits melody, but with some interesting violins from Aubrey Haynie differentiating it from the DS sound. Knopfler's guitar signature is of course recognisable and synonymous with the band with whom he made his name, so it's hard not to make the obvious comparison, but for what it is (hah!) he handles the guitar well on the first track, his trademark mutter clearly in evidence on the vocals. There are the usual guest stars, some heavyweights, including James Taylor on the title track, which he co-wrote with Knopfler (the only one on which the Dire Straits frontman collaborates) and duets with him on the vocals. It's a folky ballad, with some nice acoustic guitar and piano, telling the story of Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon as they head off to Philadelphia to establish the famous border. It's a nice laidback song, perfect for travelling as long as you're on a slow boat or a train, something that allows you to take your time getting there. Nice little touches from Paul Franklin on the pedal steel gives the song a nice midwestern feel. It's a bit more uptempo for “Who's your baby now”, strummed guitar meshing with Franklin's pedal steel and taking the song along at a nice lick, then “Baloney again” is a lazy, harmonica-led semi-ballad with, would you believe, cricket noises? The insect type, not the sport, idiot! Gives the song a real backwoods atmosphere, nice slide guitar adding its influence and great Hammond organ cutting in here and there, adding flourishes when needed. A nice, classic Straits guitar solo from Knopfler finishes things off nicely. Another great (though not a favourite of mine, but then, you can't like everyone, can you?) lends his considerable expertise to “The last laugh”, and I think --- though I'm never sure what one sounds like --- that that is an autoharp playing. There's definitely one on the album, so it could be here. It's another semi-ballad, again quite country in its flavour, and personally I don't feel Van Morrison's vocals add much if anything to the song, but there you go, I'm bound to say that, aren't I? Nice keyboard work by Guy Fletcher, who has followed Knopfler from Dire Straits into his solo work and has been with him for most if not all of his solo albums. “Do America” recalls the joyous uptempo rock of “Walk of life”, with more great keyswork from Fletcher, and a cool little guitar workout by the man. One trap Knopfler avoids is that of having songs that are overlong: there are only five of fourteen here that top the five minute mark, and most of the remainder clock in at around four. More star talent steps up for “Silvertown blues”, where Squeeze stalwarts Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford share vocals with Knopfler. It's a dark, dangerous little tune, with a dramatic air about it, the idea that something bad is in the wind. Fletcher's atmospheric keyboards help to create and maintain this air, as Knopfler relates the tale of a city which has been bled of its resources (I don't know which one he's referring to, though he does mention Canning Town?) and to whose inhabitants the only option left is emigration: ”And I can make out the words 'seven flights every day'/ Says six of those birds are bound for JFK.” Quite reminiscent in many ways of Dire Straits' epic “Telegraph Road”, even the guitar ending to fade. Horns take “El macho” in, a low, broody, moody song played at mid-pace, nice use of trumpet and flugelhorn, followed by “Prairie wedding”, on which country stars and partners Gillian Welch and David Rawlings guest on vocals. It's another country/folk-styled laidback semi-ballad, and there's really little, so far, apart from “Do America”, to make the heart quicken a little or even get the fingers tapping. Very relaxed, almost acoustic album. Boring? Well, let's not say that just yet. We've another six tracks to go. Still, I have to admit, I almost fast-forwarded this track: this album is not lighting any fires underneath me! “Wanderlust” does little to change that, another slow, steady song with guitar and keys and a drawled vocal from Knopfler which doesn't so much fill me with wanderlust as wonderlust, as in, wonder when this album will finally be over? There's a return for Welch and Rawlings on “Speedway at Nazareth”, along with the very welcome return of Aubrey Haynie's violin. It's the longest track on the album, just under six and a half minutes, and my heart sinks, but at least it's a more uptempo song, kind of bluegrass with some nice vocals from the country duo: hey, at least my foot's tappin' now! How long will that last, though? Good use of banjo here too, with the guitar then cutting in, and a great duet between the guitar and Haynie's violin. If more of the album was like this I probably would enjoy it more. As it is, this is something of a rarity, a track that makes you want to move, and for once, not your hand towards the forward slider! The tempo remains relatively fast for “Junkie doll”, a kind of blues boogie with some nice stride guitar and bright piano, but the idea is a little limited and the song doesn't really end up going anywhere. “Sands of Nevada” is a dour ballad where Knopfler sings of wasted years and missed dreams, nice keyboard line backing him, but the song doesn't really leave any impression on me, and then the album closes on “One more matinee”, another folky ballad which is ok but it's not a very strong closer. TRACKLISTING 1. What it is 2. Sailing to Philadelphia 3. Who's your baby now 4. Baloney again 5. The last laugh 6. Do America 7. Silvertown blues 8. El macho 9. Prairie wedding 10. Wanderlust 11. Speedway at Nazareth 12. Junkie doll 13. Sands of Nevada 14. One more matinee So, having listened to the album for the second time, has my view changed? Not really. I don't think it's the crapfest I originally believed it to be, but it's no classic either. There are definitely more bad songs on it than good, and the whole flavour of it is so laidback that it really does border at times on boring. I've more than once reached for the forward slider, but managed to restrain myself, as I wanted to give every song a chance. But there are few positives to take out of this. I'll be filing this away again after this review, and I really doubt that I'll be taking it out again any time soon. Sorry Mark, you've had your shot at the Last Chance Saloon, and I'm afraid it's a pine box for you! |
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The worm always liked this one from the Carpenters, a different sort of song to their usual lovesong fare, this was a tpo ten hit for them in 1977, it's called “Calling occupants of interplanetary craft”. |
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It seems like ages since we last explored how a live version of a song can differ so radically from the studio version --- oh, wait! It has been: last time we did this was last October! Wow! Certainly let that one slip. Must be time to delve in again then. Known for their excellent live sets, Dire Straits produced one of the seminal live albums of the mid-eighties in “Alchemy”, and from that double-live recording came a song which originally appeared on their second album, 1979's “Communique”. It's a great song even studio, but live on “Alchemy” Dire Straits more than doubled the length of “Once upon a time in the west”, without making it overlong or boring. Just have a listen to the two versions here and see what you think. |
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One-hit wonders, ya gotta love 'em, eh? Well, sometimes. Maybe. This one the worm does love, not a classic by any means but he remembers listening to it when he was younger. Girl called Patsy Gallant, with “From New York to LA”. |
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Another new section to be implemented now, as first announced by Stacey-Lynn's NewsFoxes last month, this will feature collections of my favourite solos, mostly guitar but they could also be keyboard, piano, even drum if the fancy takes me (not bloody likely!), from across possibly a wide variety of genres, though chances are that rock and metal will feature quite heavily. Thinking about how I was going to approach this, I didn't want to go through the hassle of creating a separate YouTube video for each solo, so instead I've cobbled together a file with all the solos for the first edition and added an admittedly boring title for them to run under. But you're not bothered about the picture, are you? It's the music we're interested in, yes? So let's get to it. As YouTube restricts you to fifteen minutes per video, I decided to limit the selection to a total of ten minutes each time. Means I can't put in as many solos as I'd like --- some run longer than you might expect --- but I think we've picked out some pretty decent ones here, not to mention some you may not have heard, heard of, or considered would be included. The video is below, with the running order underneath. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...neyarrival.jpg First up we have Journey, who are not always thought of for their brilliant guitar solos, and this is a pity, as Neal Schon is one hell of a guitarist. A fact he proves ably here, with a track from the “Arrival” album, a great solo to close “World gone wild”. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...Dslogr.jpg.jpg His solo album “Sailing to Philadelphia” may have got its arse kicked only a few days ago in the Last Chance Saloon, but there's no doubting Mark Knopfler's expertise and artistry on the guitar, and here he is in his element with Dire Straits, on the closing track to “Love over gold”, a track called “It never rains.” Bit of organ and piano thrown in there for good measure too! http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._Lightning.jpg A real virtuoso on the guitar, this is John Sykes in action on Thin Lizzy's last studio album, the brilliant “Thunder and lightning”, with a scorching solo from “Cold sweat”. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...juggernaut.jpg One of my very favourite tracks from Frank Marino's 1982 album “Juggernaut”, this is the powerful and emotive solo that ends “Stories of a hero”. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...oppriority.JPG There was absolutely no way we were ever going to leave Rory G out of this inaugural edition of “Fingers of fire”, but what track of his to pick? It could literally have been any one, and no doubt we'll be featuring him in future editions, but for now, I like this one from “Top priority”, it's “Wayward child”. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...s_album%29.jpg Not a band you would have expected to have been included in a selection of guitar solos? Well, just listen to the powerful one that ends their classic “Goodbye to love”, and ask yourself if the Carpenters deserve their place here? Next time we may mix it up a little, or it may be all guitar solos again, I haven't really decided. Wow, I really plan ahead, don't I? |
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The worm is a little bored. It's Monday, the start of a new week, and the worm has an idea. For the next few weeks, the song each day is going to be picked alphabetically. Why? See the opening sentence. Today we begin with --- anyone? --- that's right, A. Now what can we find that begins with A....? Today's edition of Daily Earworm has been brought to you by the letter A, with A-ha, and “Manhattan skyline”, from the album “Scoundrel days”. |
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A song I featured a long time ago, this one was rather interesting in that it's a pop song, was a number one hit and yet it's quite a hard-hitting indictment of drug addiction, seen from perhaps two perspectives. It's also been said to merely reflect a particularly difficult break up, but I think the drug motif is there for everyone to see. It's also got a great melody, more a rock tune than a pop one really, with snarling guitars pulling in the chorus which is sung more or less like children reciting a nursery rhyme to music, almost like a game. The song is by Martika, flash-in-the-pan artiste who had one or two big hits, including this, and then more or less vanished from public view, though she then teamed up with her musician husband for some latin pop albums before taking on a career in acting, and promises a new album under her own name this year. Can't wait. Seriously. No, not really. Martika's debut, which in fairness is all I know of her music, did not live up to the promise of “Toy soldiers”, making in fact the single seem very out of place on it, an anachronism, if you will. Nevertheless, it remains a great song, a tough look at the world of drugs and addiction, though to be honest no specific narcotic is mentioned, though the word “addiction” is, but then again that could be taken several ways. It's interesting though that the first verse seems to be either the drug/addiction personified, speaking to the singer, or possibly someone who has introduced her to the drug, if you go with the drug motif, which I am. If you don't, of course, it could just be an apology for leading someone on and hurting their feelings. The lines run thus: ”It wasn't my intention to mislead you/ It never should have been this way/ What can I say? / It's true, I did extend the invitation/ I never knew how long you'd stay.” See what I mean? Toy Soldiers (Martika) from “Martika”, 1988 Music and lyrics by Martika and Michael Jay I know when I heard the song at first I was very impressed, and thought this lady had a big future ahead of her if she could write songs like that. Sadly, having listened to her debut album through I no longer had that opinion, and believed instead that she had just struck lucky, rather like Nena with “99 red balloons”, and would have no more hits. As it happened she had two, but they don't concern us for this piece. Here's the song, with the lyric below. Note: The lyric is longer than this, as you'll see from the YT, but as it's basically a repeat of the bridge and chorus I didn't bother reproducing the whole lot, lazy git that I am... ”Step by step,/ Heart to heart, Left, right, left,/ We all fall down Like toy soldiers. It wasn't my intention to mislead you --- It never should have been this way. What can I say? It's true, I did extend the invitation; I never knew how long you'd stay. When you hear temptation call It's your heart that takes, takes the fall. Won't you come out and play with me? Step by step,/ Heart to heart, Left, right, left,/ We all fall down Like toy soldiers. Bit by bit,/ Torn apart: We never win/ But the battle wages on For toy soldiers. It's getting hard to wake up in the morning. My head is spinning constantly: How can it be? How could I be so blind to this addiction? If I don't stop, the next one's gonna be me. Only emptiness remains: It replaces all of the pain. Won't you come out and play with me?” |
Planetary confinement --- Antimatter --- 2005 (Prophecy)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...er_confine.jpg A solo project orginally put together by Mick Moss, Antimatter became a duo, with the addition of Anathema's Duncan Patterson for three albums, after which he left, leaving Moss to continue on his own. Their musical style changed over the course of three albums, with the sound more or less coalescing in this, their third album. The picture on the sleeve tells the story of the music, almost a physical motif for or representation of what you will find inside. Two strands of barbed wire cut a grey, dark, sullen skyline: loneliness, despair, isolation and pain are what you'll encounter on this album, but it's played and composed so perfectly and in such a fragile way that you can't help but be drawn to it. It opens on solo piano, for a very short instrumental which forms the title track, then “The weight of the world” is another acoustic number, but this time with vocals from Moss. Very laidback, very melancholic, good clear vocals from Moss, very atmospheric as he asks ”Am I the only one/ Crushed by the weight of the world?” Halfway through the song becomes a bit more fleshed out, with drums and lovely mournful violin from Rachel Brewster. An odd situation: of the nine tracks on this album, they seem to be split down the middle both in terms of songwriting and of performance. Moss claims four, Patterson the other four, and the remaining song is a cover of Trouble's "Mr. White". They don't appear, from what I can see, to play on or get involved with each other's music, so that the album seems to come across as essentially two solo projects on one album. Nice change in vocals then with a female voice from Amelie Festa for “Line of fire”, one of Patterson's compositions, another eerie acoustic song, with nice piano and echoey guitar. A recurring line of low, sparkling keyboard underpins the song, adding another dimension to its already somewhat downbeat tone, and djembe drums from Alex Mazarguil just set the whole thing off perfectly. Next up is another of Moss's efforts, with Brewster's soft violins bringing “Epitaph” in on a sad wail, counterpointed by Moss's acoustic guitar and little if any percussion. It doesn't seem to be an album you listen to to cheer you up; it's quite morose, slow and dark, and each of the singers have their own take on the somewhat nihilistic timbre of the songs, each bringing his own particular vision to the project. It's hard to say who's better, and perhaps more fair to say that each have their own approach to the songs, and that neither supercedes the other. It's certainly stark, stripped-down and basic, but just about every song seems to work. The violin is again heavily featured in the cover of Trouble's “Mr. White”, with doomy bass and piano, and vocals this time again taken by Festa, and a very good job she does with it too. Then it's back to Moss for another of his contributions, “Portrait of the young man as an artist”, with more solid acoustic guitar and slightly more forceful vocals, which he takes himself, a lot of simmering anger and outrage it would seem in the lyric as he berates a rising star and asks him ”What's real about this story?/ What's real about this picture?” --- quite possibly meant to be himself asking himself, I guess, challenging his own talent or his own perception of it. Hard to say. But a very decent song. “Relapse”, then, is another from Patterson's songbook, opening on eerie keyboard, slowly joined by acoustic guitar which fades in, then organ takes the melody as Amelie Festa again sings the vocal, the guitar taking on a certain “Stairway to Heaven” tune with flute-like keyboards from Mehdi Messouci, and the organ sound permeating the whole thing like a funeral dirge. If there's such a thing as acoustic doom metal (and there probably is) then this would be what I would expect it would sound like. Stripped of electric guitars, roared or screamed vocals and with hardly any percussion at all, this could be the very essence of dark music distilled right down to its basic components. Musical melancholy in a jar? “Legions” is the last song on the album by Michael Moss, and one of the longer ones, though not the longest, not yet. Joined here on vocals by Sue Marshall, Moss does a fine job painting his own dark vision of the world, as he sings ”Stony and grey is the whore/ And long are the days in the morgue/ Where God is a wall/ Where God is a wall to look upon.” The acoustic guitar gets quite intense on this song, as I say, Moss's last on the album, and Rachel Brewster's violin thrusts and parries with his melody as the song winds on, possibly the most solid drumming on this track that appears all through the album, almost, but not quite, lifting “Legions” out of the confines of acousticity. The longest track has been saved for last. I'm no fan of Anathema, but I believe “Eternity part 24” is a direct continuation of parts 1-3, which appear on their album “Eternity”. It opens with a long acoustic guitar intro quite reminiscent to me of Mostly Autumn, of all bands, then the keyboards take the melody in a long, held chord while another keyboard line keeps countermelody beneath it, keeping pace as the music moves along in almost celestial majesty. An eight, almost nine-minute instrumental to close an album is a bold move, but then, from what has gone before it seems obvious that Antimatter did not concern themselves too much with what would sell, or please others. This is purely introspective, personal music, written by and for Moss and Patterson, and if others enjoy it that's a plus. If not, I doubt they're worried. This is my first encounter with this type of music, and I don't know what I'd term it: ambient doom metal? Gothic ballads? Acoustic black depressive? Whatever the label --- if it falls under one --- the lyrics really are secondary to the simplicity and yet beauty of the music. With a stark, raw production and very little instrumentation, Antimatter have perhaps managed to define and capture what is intrinsic to the very best music, that it doesn't all have to be pristine production, multi-tracked vocals and orchestral backing to make some of, truly, the most amazing and impressive, deep and moving music I have heard in a very long time. TRACKLISTING 1. Planetary confinement 2. The weight of the world 3. Line of fire 4. Epitaph 5. Mr. White 6. A portrait of the young man as an artist 7. Relapse 8. Legions 9. Eternity, part 24 |
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Continuing the worm's perhaps ill-advised attempt to alphabeticise the tracks for the next few weeks, here's his selection for today, the letter B. The worm didn't want to go too obvious, so try this one on for size. Today's Daily Earworm was brought to you by the letter B, with Big Audio Dynamite, and “E=MC2” |
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So we're up to C already? Haven't the days just flown. No? You just ask the worm's friend, Mister Snail, see what he says! Anyway, here's a good one from China Crisis. Today's Daily Earworm was brought to you by the letter C, with China Crisis, “King in a catholic style”. |
Surface tension --- Clockwork --- 1999 (Sensory)
http://www.metal-archives.com/images/7/0/6/5/70658.jpg Progressive jazz metal, did you say? Interesting indeed. This is the only album I can find by this band, and as it was released over ten years ago, it's probably safe to assume they are no longer together, but I can find little or no information on them on the web, not least because of the title of their album, which keeps leading me to scientific websites! So let's have a listen then and make up our own minds. “Secrets of centuries” opens on a solo piano, joined by keyboards and then breaks out with metal-style guitars and choral voices, then vocalist Douglas Joseph Matthew Gillin (yeah, he uses all four names apparently) begins singing, and I must say I find his voice either a little weak, or low down in the mix. It certainly doesn't grab your attention, and this is with the music basically dropping back to basic piano and guitar when he sings most of the time. Nice guitar solo from M. Thomas Gammarino, the keyboard line held by Chris Pignatelli, or possibly Gillin, as he also plays the keys, in addition to flute, percussion and of course vocals. There's a nice keyboard break near the end, reminscent of Yes or Asia, but other than that I have to say I'm singularly unimpressed so far. The sound is like that of a demo tape, or some band practicing in their garage. Haven't these guys heard of production? Incidentally, who produced this? Doesn't say. How interesting. No-one wanted to take the blame, (cough) I mean credit! “One wing” doesn't change my opinion. Confused melody, lots of guitars battling each other but seem to be crossing over instead of working together, giving the whole thing a very disjointed sound. I still hear nothing that stands out. It's quite surprising, to look at the other reviews of this album, to see that they uniformly not only like it, but love it! But hey, this is my opinion and it ain't gonna be swayed by what anyone else says, or thinks. I'm not impressed, though there are some nice keyboard and some nice guitar moments on the second track --- at one point, the guitars actually manage to harmonise, and then they do in fairness sound pretty good. Acoustic guitar introduces “East of knowing”, then squeaky keyboard blasts in, the melody stopping and starting like a cheap car. Actually, it may be Spanish guitar, not acoustic, and it does keep pace nicely with the keys as the song goes on, but I feel the keyboards are a little out of place, making the song something it isn't, or should not be. It's short, just a second shy of three minutes, and an instrumental, and for what it is it isn't the worst, though I've yet to hear anything to get excited about on this album. “If these walls could talk” is a much heavier prospect than any of the tracks so far, and again it's not bad but nothing about it stands out to me. The vocals are not great, not very strong, and the addition of flute to the song does nothing for it at all, though the little guitar break at about 3:30 in the song is quite nice. It sort of morphs after that into a Genesis/Yes hybrid, with squalling guitars and keyboards that are just let run riot to be honest. I really think Clockwork should have thought more about the arrangement of their songs before putting this album together: it's just so all over the place! There's an interesting jazz/fusion track then in “The guardin' of Eden”, (ho ho guys, you have a sense of humour. But that alone won't get you through an album...) but again Gillin's vocals are so weak that the backing vocals, when they come, outshine him totally. That's not a good position for a lead singer to find himself in. I also repeat my assertation that the terrible production of the album has a lot to do with its muggy sound, and takes away any chance to hear these guys at perhaps their best. Then again, maybe this is as good as they get: perhaps there's a reason why they only seem to have released the one album before splitting. I'm at that point again where I hate to be, when I'm not so much listening to the album as waiting (praying) for it to end. There are three tracks left, and I just hope that there's something to grab my attention and give me something kind to say about Clockwork, because I hate to be so negative, but this album sucks! Well, on to the next track, which is called “The convolution box”, don't ask me why, but it opens on a heavy guitar and keyboard intro, getting into something of a metal groove as it takes off, and maybe this could be the one? Nice bit of piano there too, not bad so far. Lovely little guitar passage, okay... over four minutes without Gillin singing, half the song, can't be bad. That Spanish guitar is back for a little cameo before the electric and the keys take the melody away again, and even the drummer sounds like he's having fun. More than I am, but anyway... Six minutes of eight, and still no singing. It's an instrumental then. Fairly ambitious, to have such a long one, but they do fairly okay with it. It's nothing mad special, but it's not terrible either, and that's about the most positive comment I can make about this album at this point. If I turn my head to the left, there's a paused picture on my TV showing a man with his hands clapped over his ears as he listens to some kids' choir or something. He looks in pain, and I know how he feels! This album isn't, in fairness, awful, but it's really not far from it. Nice progressive-rock style intro to “Smile under sad eyes”, then we're subjected sadly to the below-par singing of Douglas Joseph Matthew Gillin, and worse, his goddamned flute, which is really getting on my nerves! To be fair to the guy, his vocals are a little stronger here, for the first time, and there's a nice melody hiding in there somewhere, but it's lost among the different ways the guys approach the song, mad guitar solos, flying keyboards and THAT DAMN FLUTE! The closer is their epic, almost thirteen minutes long! Can I survive it? “Design of enlightenment” opens on bass and dramatic, strings-like keyboards, with pizzicato strings added and some rolling drumbeats, then takes off into a high-powered rocker, but it doesn't stay like that for long, and I think the problem here is that the guys try to cram too many different ideas into the song, maybe to fill it up, I don't know. But if you're going to write a song of this length you should have a good idea where it's going, what's going to be in it, and this all sounds like it's almost being done on the fly. I'm sure it's not, it just doesn't sound cohesive enough to me. There are some good ideas in the song, but they're not fleshed out properly or enough, and it becomes another confusing mess, with, it must be said, some very good individual performances, like Gammarino's acoustic and Spanish guitar, and Gillin's sparkling keyboards that run through the composition, but it never settles into any real sort of permanent groove, almost as if they're trying to imitate the prog-rock classic epics like “2112”, “Supper's ready” and “Tarkus”, but without any of the innovation, discipline or vision of Rush, Genesis or ELP. In the end, I'm glad to just ride out the last five minutes of the song as the album staggers to a conclusion, and I can only wonder what the other reviewers saw in this? Maybe I'm totally wrong, and maybe I'm missing something, but I'm actually sorry I listened to this. That's close to an hour of my life I'll never get back. Well, that's the chance you take, but before I say anything more about them and offend their fans, I'll just stop here and leave it at that. TRACKLISTING 1. Secrets of centuries 2. One wing 3. East of knowing 4. If these walls could talk 5. The guardin' of Eden 6. The convolution box 7. Smile under sad eyes 8. Design of enlightenment |
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As mentioned before, this section takes one hell of a long time to put together, and as I certainly don't want to rush it just to get it up there, I apologise for the delay in getting the latest edition out, but think you'll all appreciate it the more for the time taken and the attention to detail. Now, where's that cut-and-paste job from the last time I did this...? ;) It'll come as no surprise to anyone who the featured solo artist is this time round, as that girl Stacey-Lynn has had her NewsFoxes on this like sharks scenting blood in the water for some time now, and it is in fact one I've been wanting to do for some time. So without any further fanfare, let's look deeply into the solo career of one http://www.trollheart.com/bruce.jpg Part I: The loneliness of the long-distance run to the hills: Breaking the iron grip From his humble beginnings as vocalist for a small rock band to frontman, writer, singer and recognised face of what is arguably the biggest and most successful and indeed most enduring heavy metal band in the world, Bruce Dickinson has come a long way. Somehow he's managed to stuff into a thirty-odd year career, in addition to fronting Iron Maiden and releasing ten albums with them --- four of which were recorded after his much-publicised break from the band --- being a writer, actor, screenwriter, fencer, broadcaster, managing director and even commercial airline pilot, and he has still had time to record and release six solo albums, with which we will of course be concerning ourselves here. His first solo effort, “Tattooed millionaire”, was released in 1990, three years before he would take a sabbatical from Iron Maiden (well, let's be fair: quit the band, but he would later rejoin it for their triumphant “Brave new world” album and has remained with them since), and came about more from the fact that he was asked to write a song for the soundtrack of the new “Nightmare on Elm Street” movie. He came up with “Bring your daugher … to the slaughter”, which appeared on Maiden's “No prayer for the dying album” of that year, and also became one of their biggest hits. Impressed, the label asked if he was interested in writing a full album, and so “Tattooed millionaire” became his first work outside of Iron Maiden. Tattooed millionaire --- 1990 (Columbia) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...illionaire.jpg It opens with “Son of a gun”, with a familiar Iron Maiden guitar, and indeed features, as does the whole album, guitarist Janick Gers, who joined Maiden that year and is still with them. The song is Maiden in ways, and isn't in others, with a very western, almost heavy Bon Jovi kind of feel. The lineup is more back to basics, stripped down to just a four-piece, with Andy Carr on bass and Fabio del Rio on drums completing the band. Unlike with Maiden, there are no double (or even triple!) guitar attacks, but Gers performs at times as if there were. Dickinson's voice is as strong and powerful as ever, and there's a certain feeling of freedom about the song, as if he is finally happy doing what he is, whereas he had been unhappy with the direction Maiden were taking from the “Somewhere in time” album on, the more progressive metal sound the band were developing as the 1990s wound on. The title track has more than a touch of Def Leppard's “Photograph” about it, more rock than metal with very AOR-style vocal harmonies, and a big step away from his work with Iron Maiden, which of course is what he was trying to achieve. It's hard though not to associate that gravelly, rasping voice with Steve Harris and the boys, but as the album goes on Bruce manages to successfully establish his own identity, separate from the band with which he had made his name. At times, Gers' guitar work takes on a certain Thin Lizzy sound, and there's even a sense of the Police on “Born in '58”, a retrospective look at Bruce's growing up in a small mining town, a half-ballad with jangly guitar and solid drumming but little metal about it, and indeed with a title like “Hell on wheels” you would be inclined to think, given who's involved, this is where the album takes off into Maiden territory, but no, it's relatively restrained. A heavy track, but more rock than metal: no blazing guitar solos, no screaming high notes of the type that earned Bruce his nickname of “Air-raid siren”, but a solid rock track nonetheless. There's a definite sense of Dickinson consciously trying to give his recognised sound a wide berth, a calculated attempt not to fall into the trap many solo artistes do, that of just transposing the music they play in their band onto their solo album, so that it sounds more or less just like another album from that band, albeit without the rest of the guys. “Gypsy road” has a lot of Guns'n'Roses about it, a mid-paced rocker with some nice guitar work, while “Dive! Dive! Dive!” is the first song to tip a nod back to Maidenesque songs, reminiscent in lyrical theme of “Run silent, run deep” from their album of that year, “No prayer for the dying” (although it's a far different song) and the other world war two songs like “Aces high” and “Tailgunner”, but again it's missing the heaviness of the Maiden songs, and it's really only Dickinson's screeching voice that puts you in mind of those tracks. Gers pulls off a nice solo though. A solo album can also be the place to pay your dues, give respect back to the music you grew up on, and that perhaps influenced your own musical career, and here Bruce pays homage to Bowie. Although it gained fame as a hit for Mott the Hoople, “All the young dudes” was written by Bowie and was in fact intended to be on his “Ziggy Stardust” album, so I see this as a Bowie song. It's a great song, kind of simple really and probably hard to mess up, and Bruce does a decent job with it, lowering his register enough to sound a little like the Thin White Duke, and so his version is okay, but to be fair it's nothing special. That's a description unfortunately that also suits “Lickin' the gun”. With a title like that you're expecting something a little different, but it's sort of forgettable rock fare that passes by quickly and into obscurity just as quickly. Better is “Zulu Lulu”, rocky and fun with a hint of Maiden's staple “Charlotte the harlot” in there, but the closer, “No lies”, in fact the longest track on the album at nearly six and a half minutes wraps things up nicely with a fast-paced rocker, again somewhat reminiscent of Leppard. It's a good chance for Janick Gers to show off his expertise on the guitar, and he puts on one hell of a show, taking the song from about the third minute to almost the fifth. TRACKLISTING 1. Son of a gun 2. Tattooed millionaire 3. Born in '58 4. Hell on wheels 5. Gypsy road 6. Dive! Dive! Dive! 7. All the young dudes 8. Lickin' the gun 9. Zulu Lulu 10. No lies As a debut solo effort, I feel this is an album that started off very well but tailed off from about track six or so, recovered right at the end, but I would have expected something a lot better from the frontman of Iron Maiden to be perfectly honest. I doubt it won over any of the Maiden crowd, and I feel sure that those who were not already fans of the band would have been rather unimpressed had they decided to check this out. Still, it seems to have made a reasonably respectable showing in the charts, at least in the UK, but a look at the performance of subsequent solo albums shows that this must have been largely due to curiosity. Having decided to leave Iron Maiden in 1993, Bruce released his second solo album (first since leaving the band) the next year. For this he brought in the band Tribe of Gypsies as his backing group, and the album was released in 1994. It did poorly, possibly due to the well-publicised animosity between he and the rest of Maiden, and the fans' shock and anger at his departure from the band. In fact, the history of Dickinson's solo releases shows a retrograde down the charts, each album charting lower in the UK than the previous (with his last, and current, not even breaking the top forty) and doing even worse in the USA, where three of his six completely failed to chart. This was, in fact, the last of his albums to get anywhere in the US before “Tyranny of souls”, his last, and even then this only got just inside the top 200, getting to 185 with ToS reaching a paltry 180. Balls to Picasso --- 1994 (Mercury) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...sToPicasso.jpg “Cyclops” gets us underway, with a big heavy Black Sabbath-like sound, vocoders adding a little uneasy menace to the track, then hard and heavy guitars heralding what sounds to be, on first listen, a much more metal album than his debut. Prior to this, Bruce had tried recording with two other lineups, the sessions for both he had hated and had scrapped. He later said that this album was not as heavy as it could or should have been, but it certainly sounds closer to the sort of thing Iron Maiden fans would have expected. Roy Z on guitar is somehow heavier and grungier than Janick Gers was on the previous outing, and even the drumming sounds more intense, provided this time by Tribe of Gypsies' David Ingraham. With big, crunching guitar sounds and heavy, sludgey bass, “Cyclops” is a good opener, and raises the bar, as well as raising hopes that this album could be a lot better than the admittedly disappointing debut. The track is also his longest to date, just shy of eight minutes. “Hell no” maintains the heavy vibe, but slower, crunchier, with a sort of latin or eastern tone, while “Gods of war” is another heavy cruncher, with some good vocals and a decent hook, then “1000 points of light” is a little more in the rock vein, with some twiddly guitar in the best Zep tradition with a certain nu-metal flavour. It's nice also, throughout this album, to see Dickinson rein in his famous screeching voice in favour of a more controlled growl which doesn't tend to grate in the way his voice sometimes can. The heavier nature of this album is also much more appreciated, and I already like it more than “Tattooed millionaire”. The first (and so far as I know, only) song co-written with his son, Austin, “Laughing in the hiding bush” is a heavy song written about childhood, it would seem, with some really nice soaring guitar and slow, measured drumming, while Dickinson's first ever ballad is next up, in the form of “Change of heart”. With what sounds like classical guitar, a laidback melody and some really nice and controlled singing from Bruce, it's one of the standouts of the album so far. “Shoot all the clowns” (a sentiment I think the vast majority of us share!) has a real hard-edge funk style, even incorporating (gasp!) a rap! But somehow Bruce manages not to allow this to let the song slip into parody, and it turns out to be a really good rock track. “Fire” goes back to Black Sabbath territory, with a little Deep Purple in there also, and “Sacred cowboys” reprises the idea of rapping over the music, slightly different, and with a title like that it's of course going to recall Maiden's big hit “Run to the hills”, though it's not that similar. Good fast guitars from Jay Z and thunderous drumming and bass bring this track to the fore as Dickinson asks ”Where are the injuns on the hill? / There's no injuns left to kill!” One of the other standouts then, and indeed the second ballad, “Tears of the dragon” is a real slowburner with echoey guitar opening that slowly builds to a heavy climax with a really effective guitar solo from Jay Z, dropping back to its balladic core for the ending. This is in fact the only song on the album which Bruce writes solo, on the others he collaborates mostly with Jay Z and as mentioned on “Laughing in the hiding bush” with his son Austin. There's again a strong ending with “All in your mind”, a fast rocker where he goes back to the air-raid siren voice, sounding more like Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden than Bruce Dickinson the solo artiste, but we can allow him this one indulgence, as “Balls to Picasso” is a far superior album to his debut, and shows Dickinson growing as a solo performer. TRACKLISTING 1. Cyclops 2. Hell no 3. Gods of war 4. 1000 points of light 5. Laughing in the hiding bush 6. Change of heart 7. Shoot all the clowns 8. Fire 9. Sacred cowboys 10. Tears of the dragon 11. All in your mind As with all solo artistes featured here (with the exception of our inaugural star, Phil Lynott, who only had two solo albums before his death cut short a promising solo career) we tend to try to feature up to four albums from the catalogue. Bruce Dickinson has had six in all, but we won't be reviewing every one of them, instead picking and choosing from the releases. I haven't heard any Dickinson solo output prior to this (even though years and years ago, a mate at work bought me a double-boxed tape of “Tattooed millionaire”: I never even got to listen to it) so I don't know if I'm making the right choices, but generally I try to get the artiste's debut --- obviously --- their most recent or last, and one or two then from around the middle of their career. So here I'm going for our third look, and I'm choosing 1997's effort, which saw Bruce team up with his old mucker from Maiden, guitarist Adrian Smith, who had also left the band by that time, but who would rejoin them when Dickinson made a triumphant return. This album also features Jay Z and his Tribe of Gypsies, and is said to be a lot different to the previous year's “Skunkworks”, but I can't cover everything, so this is what I'm going with. That's coming in part two, up right after this... |
Part II: Lone wolf back in the fold: the prodigal returns
Accident of birth --- 1997 (CMC International) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...t_of_Birth.jpg As I say above, Bruce released his third solo album in 1996. Called “Skunkworks”, he wanted it to be released under that name, ie not his, but the label forced him to pin his own name to it, thinking it would not sell otherwise. They were probably right, but then, it didn't sell that well anyway, possibly due to being apparently a big shift away from his rock/metal roots, while this one gets right back to those roots. But it still didn't shift the units. No pleasing some people! The album is also notable, not only for the introduction of Adrian Smith, but for the reunion with artist Derek Riggs, who created Eddie and who did the artwork on most of the Iron Maiden album covers, including such well-known icons as “Killers”, “Number of the beast” and “Powerslave”. As a result of both events, I expect this album to have a much more Maiden feel. We shall see though. Well it certainly opens heavily enough, as “Freak” shoulders its way onto the stage, and right away the familiar twin guitar attack is back, and this sounds a lot more like Maiden, though still with Dickinson's own solo persona imprinted on it. Rocking along nicely, it's great to hear Adrian Smith's guitar licks in there: sounds like old friends reunited indeed. There's a short (thirty-seven seconds!) instrumental in “Toltec 7 arrival” --- an instrumental but with a gutteral voiceover behind it --- then “Starchildren” is a heavy metal mid-paced cruncher --- sounds like something Steve Harris might have written --- with big, busy guitars and thumping bass, then “Taking the queen” turns everything on its head. Utilising for the first time strings arrangement, Bruce introduces violin and cello into a hard-edged rocker with balladic elements, creating quite a song and indeed possibly a standout, even this early in the album. A fine solo from Smith recalls the best of early Iron Maiden, the strings really adding a new dimension to the music, making this a powerful, emotional tour-de-force for Dickinson, maybe a personal best. It feeds into the longest track on the album, at almost seven minutes, the epic “Riders of Aquarius”, almost as good as the previous track, with some finger-burning fretwork and a great vocal performance from Bruce. Slowing down in the middle, and with an almost lute-like guitar passage, it's close to Dickinson's “Rime of the ancient mariner”, a real saga, another standout as this album just gets better and better. Everything speeds back up then for “Road to Hell”, powerful drumming from Ingraham driving the track on, while Jaz Z and Adrian Smith make their presence count in no uncertain fashion, each trying to outdo the other on their guitar solos. Another standout then in “Man of sorrows”, where for the first time Bruce utilises piano, played by Richard Baker, and reintroducing Silvia Tsai on the violin and Rebecca Yeh on the cello, creating a lovely, full and dramatic atmosphere for his excellent ballad, perhaps his best so far. Or maybe that was “Tears of the dragon”? Well, they're both fantastic songs. The title track, then, is a big, monstrous slab of industrial rock to begin with, then becomes a solid metal rocker, loping along like a wolf pursuing its prey. It runs directly into “The magician”, which is ok but comes across as very much an Iron Maiden song, while “Welcome to the pit” kind of just goes past without making any real mark. “Omega”, on the other hand, is a big, brooding, powerful cruncher which grabs the attention, with some really laidback, almost Gilmouresque guitar which later breaks out into a real Maiden-type axe duel as the song gets heavier and faster. Clocking in at almost six and a half minutes, it's the second longest on the album and yet another standout. Closer “Arc of spades” is another surprise: an acoustic ballad which brings back for one final time the violin of Tsai and the cello of Yeh, beautifully complementing the acoustic and Spanish guitars, a really gorgeous and powerful end to the album. TRACKLISTING 1. Freak 2. Toltec 7 arrival 3. Starchildren 4. Taking the queen 5. Darkside of Aquarius 6. Road to Hell 7. Man of sorrows 8. Accident of birth 9. The magician 10. Welcome to the pit 11. Omega 12. Arc of space So from a somewhat shaky start, it seems Bruce Dickinson quickly established himself as a viable solo artiste. Having tried out some new things on his first album, it appears that he soon reverted back to the rock/metal formula that has served him so well over the years, and I can only say that the last two of his albums I've listened to here are a huge improvement over his debut. In 1999, after realising that Blaze Bayley was just not working out as the new Iron Maiden singer, the band parted company with him and negotiations were opened with Bruce, who eventually returned to the fold, along with Adrian Smith, the reunion serving to reinvigorate what had become a tired band, a shadow of their former selves. Back in the band, not surprisingly Bruce concentrated on Iron Maiden and put his solo career on hold. But not for good. Which means we have one more of his solo albums to tackle, and it's his most current, and last so far, released seven years ago now, in 2005. Should he come up with a seventh solo album, it will mark the longest hiatus between any of his output, the biggest gap to date being between the debut in 1990 and its follow up in 1994. Of course, his return to the mothership explains that break in his solo work, but with a new Iron Maiden album and tour currently occupying his time, it seems unlikely that we'll see any further solo material, if at all, from Bruce for another few years. Tyranny of souls --- 2005 (Sanctuary) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ruce_cover.jpg Right from the off there's a sense of a change, kind of in line with the newer, more progressive sound that characterised the more recent Iron Maiden albums, which is ironic, as this was a key element in Bruce's original decision to depart, and once he came back they were more prog-metal than ever! And now his most recent solo album reflects that same change, or continuance in direction. “Mars within” is a synthy, deep keyboard melody that models itself on the classical composition by Gustav Holst, “Mars: the bringer of war” (trust me, you've heard it before. It's used in so many different films, soundtracks, ads and even precedes Diamond Head's “Am I evil”?) with a muttered growl of a backing track vocal, then the first track proper is “Abduction”, and really, if it sounds like anything it sounds like a current Iron Maiden track. Adrian Smith does not take part on this album, presumably having his plate full with being back with Maiden, and although Jay Z again co-writes and plays on the album with Bruce (it was apparently his idea to do the thing, which helps to further explain why there was such a gap between this and the last solo album) the Tribe of Gypsies are absent, and keyboard player Maestro Mistheria adds a new dimension to the music with his clever synth lines and deep organ melodies. “Soul intruders” is another rocker, well constructed but again hard to distinguish from a Maiden song. Great guitar work from Jay, with solid basslines from Juan Perez for this and the previous track, though bass duties for the rest of the album are taken by Ray “Geezer” Burke (anything to Geezer Butler from Black Sabbath? No?) and powerful, steamhammer drumming from David Moreno, Bruce as ever in fine vocal form. “Kill Devil Hill” tells the story of the Wright Brothers' first successful manned flight, and rocks along nicely, a mid-paced cruncher with a lot of Maidenesque guitar, which is a little odd, as Adrian Smith is not on the album, so I can only assume Jay Z has been influenced by him. Mistheria's synth arrangements set a really storylike atmosphere as the song begins to slow towards the end, with gorgeous little guitar licks from Z, and expressive bass. “Navigate the seas of the sun” opens with acoustic guitar and eerie synth, as Bruce sings of aliens who may have visited us in our prehistory and been treated as gods. The song stays generally acoustic, and quite laidback in a midpaced kind of way. My favourite on the album so far. There's a good rock cruncher then in “River of no return”, with some great heavy bass and some really nice piano and keyboard lines from Mistheria, then things kick into high gear for “Power of the sun”, but with a few exceptions most of this is sounding so similar to Iron Maiden songs that it's hard to judge the album on the merits of being a solo effort, and I'm beginning to think that, while going back to the band was undoubtedly the best thing for Maiden and their music, and for Bruce, it seems to have stymied his creative juices as far as his own separate work is concerned. Course, there are three tracks yet to go, so he may produce something very un-Maiden, but I'm not laying any smart money down. The individualism that characterised much of the last two albums at least seems to have disappeared, and I'm basically listening to an Iron Maiden album. Hmm. Despite the metal title, “Devil on a hog” revisits the AOR stylings of his debut, with a really catchy hook and some muted guitar. I wouldn't see this on a Maiden album! Nice vocal harmonies. Pretty damn good. Impressive solo from Jay Z. Could it be this album will finish strongly? Well, “Believil” (see what he did there?) is a final stab at Black Sabbath territory, and it's not half bad, though the joke does wear a little thin over the span of its almost five minutes, then we close with the title track. Loosely based on Shakespeare's famous play “The Tempest” --- which, incidentally, also featured in the title of Maiden's comeback album, “Brave new world” --- it's an epic closer, with harpsichord-like opening and soft vocals from Bruce, then the guitars wind up and it becomes a slow metal cruncher in the mould of Metallica almost: how's that for full circle? Slow, grinding drumming and doomy guitar counterpoint Bruce's increasingly angry vocal, the guitar getting fluid and vibrant for the chorus. TRACKLISTING 1. Mars within 2. Abduction 3. Soul intruders 4. Kill Devil Hill 5. Navigate the seas of the sun 6. River of no return 7. Power of the sun 8. Devil on a hog 9. Believil 10. A tyranny of souls It's a decent finish to what is in the end a decent album, but not a great album. I much prefer some of the other ones we featured here. What is clear is that Bruce created some fine music while apart from Iron Maiden, but once he went back it would appear that all his energies were --- probably rightly --- devoted to the band, leaving little over for his solo projects. Nevertheless, as a solo artist he produced some really fine music, and can justifiably be proud of what he has done. Given that he has also had his own radio show for eight years, made TV shows and was employed as a fulltime airline pilot, it's quite staggering that Bruce managed to record even one solo album, never mind six. On the basis of that, you would have to give him respect and say that he really has tried, and succeeded, in just about everything he has ever attempted. What next for the once-bullied son of an army mechanic? |
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Anyone remember Dennis DeYoung from Styx? Anyone remember Styx...? Today's Daily Earworm has been brought to you by the letter D, with Dennis DeYoung, “Desert moon”. |
Out from the cold --- Coldspell --- 2011 (Escape Music)
http://www.metal-archives.com/images/2/9/3/0/293011.jpg Just missing out by days for inclusion in our “Meanwhile, back in the real world ...” section, this is a band who we sampled on the first “Devil's Ballroom”, back at the end of last year. Hailing from that coldest of cold countries, Sweden, Coldspell are a five-piece who have been together since 2005. This is their second album, for which they have dispensed with the services of their original drummer and bass player, who had featured on their debut album, replacing them with two new members who now make up the current lineup of the band. Two albums in six years is probably not the most prolific, but Coldspell appear to be gathering momentum with the release of their second album “Out from the cold”, which has gained critical acclaim across the rock and metal spectrum, and gaining more and more fans every time they play live. With Sweden now well known for such successful bands as Therion, Evergrey, Hammerfall and of course Opeth, Coldspell have a good chance I think of being in the vanguard of new metal bands to come out of this icy country. The album opens on deceptively lush keyboards, with a child's voice saying “We're heroes of the future” before the opening track, called “Heroes” kicks the door in, founder member Michael Larsson's guitar and the thundering drumming of new guy Perra Johanson laying down the powerful soundscape. THIS is METAL! But metal with melody. Vocalist and also founder member Niklas Swedentorp (I kid you not!) has a good voice, powerful but not ragged, well able to reach all the required registers without screaming or cracking. It's a good opening, and a statement of intent as Swedentorp yells ”We're heroes/ Of the new world!” Could very well be true: Coldspell certainly seem to be making their mark in the world of metal and hard rock. “Run for your life” is somewhat more keyboard-led, very catchy and again very heavy but with a great melody, some really Led Zep style fretwork by Larsson as the song rocks along at a fine pace. Matti Eklund's keys definitely add a different feel to the previous track, and it's not AOR but it's damn good rock! “One in a million” is a little slower, but not much, and another great tune with lots of hooks and some great vocals from Swedentorp. Duties are more or less handed back to Larsson on guitar for this song, though Eklund's keyboards are there keeping pace with him and adding little flourishes here and there as needed. Great growling guitar opening to “Six feet under” and the song rocks along nicely, with some good keyboard and organ input from Eklund. Very catchy chorus. For just a moment there I thought they were covering the Pink Floyd classic, as “Time” opens with pealing bells and ticking clocks, but any such notions are soon dispelled as the tempo kicks right up and sharp guitars carry the song into an original composition, a faster rocker after the last few, somewhat slower, tracks. Still, a cover of the classic would have been cool. Oh well. It's a damn fine song anyway, and it's followed by another, as “Save our souls”, the track we featured on “The Devil's Ballroom”, takes the stage, slowing things down again with a heavy rock cruncher. Man, just about every song on this is memorable, catchy, well-written and played with a lot of enthusiasm. These guys are going to go far! All I need now is a ballad. Wait a moment, what's that fluty keyboard and acoustic guitar I hear? Could “The king” add the missing piece to this excellent jigsaw? Violins, slow drums, I like it, I like it. I'm going to go out on a limb (though not a very shaky one, admittedly!) and say this is the metal ballad the album has been lacking. Great vocals and backing vocals too, and Coldspell aren't taking the easy way out by singing about love here. Hmm, getting a little heavy with the guitars, could be I was wrong. Half-ballad? Power ballad? Whatever it is, it's damn good. Oh wait, I've said that already, haven't I? Well, it's true, and superlatives are beginning to run dry on me as I listen to this band. Balladry, half-balladry, whatever you want to call it, it's forgotten as “Fate” cranks up, and the band go back into overdrive on another cruncher, heavy guitar backed by insistent keys, Swedentorp singing his powerful lungs out, and as I said earlier, these guys know how to do backing vocals. Great prog-like keyboard solo by Eklund here, then “Seven wonders” ramps up the power again, an extremely melodic and catchy track which trundles along on rails of steel and must be a favourite at live gigs. Let's be fair here: Coldspell don't break any new ground lyrically. Most of their songs are typical metal fare, with subjects like how good they are/rock is, how you should never give up, as well as the odd semi-abstract theme like in “Time”, but they're not rewriting metal as a genre here. I wouldn't call them progressive exactly, but they're a cut above a lot of run-of-the-mill metal bands, and they definitely have a certain something. Even on their own website information is a little hard to track down, but I get the impression that founder and guitarist Michael Larsson writes most, if not all of the songs, and though as I say he doesn't get too creative with the subject matter, he definitely knows how to write a catchy song that stays in your head. I would have thought there was a good chance that a track called “Angel eyes” might be a ballad, but no, the guys keep rockin' and it's another heads-down, stadium-stridin' stomper with some great guitar work from Larsson, who really does seem to be the driving force behind the band, though never to the detriment of his fellow bandmates. And the pace doesn't slacken as we launch into “Heading for tomorrow”, with some nice organ riding along the melody. Some great vocal harmonies help make this song pretty special, and that organ coming in again gives the song a little extra punch. Lovely country-style guitar opening to the closer, and title, track, then it revs up and it's another rocker that refuses to allow you to catch your breath before the album slams to a close. It's hard to pick out a favourite or best track here, but that's not because there isn't one. It's because each track is as good as the next. There are no bad ones. I would maybe --- maybe --- single out “The king” or “Time”, just because they break the mould a little and step outside the normal scope of Coldspell's at times limited lyrical themes, but really, any song could qualify. And that's high praise from a picky bugger like me! I tell you, the sun may not rise for part of the winter, up there in Sweden, and it may get very cold and dark, but with bands like Coldspell coming “Out from the cold” (sorry!) the future for Swedish metal is very bright indeed. TRACKLISTING 1. Heroes 2. Run for your life 3. One in a million 4. Six feet under 5. Time 6. Save our souls 7. The king 8. Fate 9. Seven wonders 10. Angel eyes 11. Heading for tomorrow 12. Out from the cold |
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Serendipity, eh? Here the worm is, looking for an artiste beginning with E, and Stacey-Lynn comes along with Steve Earle. That'll do! This is a great one from his “Copperhead Road” album, one of the first albums, the worm is told, reviewed in this journal. Mind you, that was a long time before the worm came to work here! This is called “Snake oil”. No, not “Worm oil”.... Today's Daily Earworm has been brought to you by the letter E, courtesy of Steve Earle, with “Snake oil”. |
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Let's check out the mellow side of rock and metal again, shall we? This is Elegy, a power metal band from Holland with currently eight albums to their credit. This is from their last-but-one, 2000's “Forbidden fruit”, and a great ballad called “I believe”. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...28album%29.jpg Staying in Europe (and quite close, geographically, to Holland), Avalon are a German progressive metal band, who unfortunately share their name with a Christian rock group. Gaah! Anyway, this is from their second album, “Mystic places”, a nice little acoustic number called “Prisoner of my mind”. http://www.progarchives.com/progress...3191012010.jpg Nightwish can always be relied upon for some decent ballads. Here they are with a track that seems only to appear as part of the single “Amaranth” (what we used to call a B-side, though these days singles can have almost as many tracks as small albums: they're not EPs, dunno what they're called) which itself is from the album “Dark passion play”. This is apparently the theme to a movie, though I've never heard of “Lieska”. Anyway, it's called “While your lips are still red”. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ssion_Play.jpg Always found Manowar something of a joke, myself, though I did buy their first three albums. Seems they may have reinvented themselves though, in somewhat the style of Virgin Steele. This is a lovely piano ballad taken from their album “Louder than Hell”, released in 1996, it's simply called “Courage”. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._than_hell.jpg And to close, we'll bring it kind of full circle. Therion are another band who, like Manowar, have successfully reinvented themselves, changing from death metal beginnings to a more melodic, symphonic metal, and this is from their album “Vovin”. How does that bring things full circle? Well, the song “The king”, featured here, is actually a cover originally written and performed by Accept, who kicked off this whole section at the beginning of the month. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...20px-Vovin.jpg |
One among the living --- Mystery --- 2010 (Unicorn Digital)
http://www.unicornrecords.com/mystery/UNCR5080.jpg You have to admire the spirit and determination of Mystery's drummer, Stephane Perrault, who in 1993 lost the use of both his legs, but refused to allow that to cut short his career, and became the first drummer to operate solely from a wheelchair. He's not with them now, but that story is such a triumph of the human spirit over adversity, and the power of music that I felt it needed to be related. Formed in Canada in 1986 by guitarist and keyboard player Michel St-Pere, Mystery have steadily grown their fanbase over the course of twenty-five years and now five albums, creating a name for themselves in the world of progressive rock. The album opens with a squealing guitar, lovely little keyboard and piano line with a vocal line by David Benoit, who later of course joined the nth incarnation of Yes, and is busily making a name for himself on their current album, “Fly from here”. Just over a minute long, “Among the living” leads into “Wolf”, a good rocker with great synthy keyboards and powerful guitars from St-Pere, plenty of typical prog influences: long keyboard passages, stabbing drum sections, intricate guitar workouts, all music to my ears! Most of the songs are relatively long, after the opener, which I see really more as an introduction or overture to the main event. This, and followup “Between love and hate” just miss the six minute mark, while “Till the truth comes out” is over nine, but even that pales beside the multi-part composition “Through different eyes”, clocking in at around twenty-three minutes. More of that later. Right now, back to “Between love and hate”, which is slower, more relaxed and ambient, elements of Mark Knopfler's guitar in Michel St-Pere's almost lazy melody here, and indeed the track seems to rely more on the guitar, with less of the keyboard seen in the previous one. It seems St-Pere can shine as easily on guitar as he does behind the keyboard, and he really is the heart and soul of this band --- in addition to being the founder --- but much of the album stands or falls on Benoit David's gentle, soulful vocal, and in general, it stands proud. The blues influence St-Pere brings to this song marks the difference between Mystery and a hundred other prog-rock bands, that they can switch and mix styles, not being constricted to the one type of music, and it's very healthy. “Till the truth comes out” opens on lovely acoustic guitar, redolent of early Rush or the best of Steve Rothery, with lush keyboards joining it as the vocal comes in gently from David. You can see why he was a natural replacement for Jon Anderson in Yes: he really sounds so much like him, that if I didn't know better I might think it was the great man himself singing on this album. Speaking of great men, Mystery rope in some stellar talent to guest on the album, including Daryl Steurmer, John Jowitt and Oliver Wakeman, though on what tracks they play I can't tell you, as I've been unable to locate that information. In general, this is a slow, stately track with some lovely guitar and some fine keyboard melodies running through it, with a large instrumental section in the middle, vocals coming back in on about the seven-minute mark to reprise the opening and take the song towards its conclusion, acoustic guitar taking centre stage for the final part, at about 8:30, and the track finishes instrumentally, fading away which is perhaps a little of a disappointment, as I would have preferred a strong, dramatic end, but definitely a standout track so far. More jazzy and funky then is “Kameleon man” (spelt that way, don't blame me!), with a lot of boogie and swagger about it, nice brassy keyboards from St-Pere as well as some pretty damn rocky guitar. It's probably the most out-and-out rocker on the album, with little of the prog rock about it, but personally it's my least favourite so far. It leads into the epic on the album; as already mentioned, “Through different eyes” runs for about twenty-three minutes in total, and is divided into six parts, the first of which is a nice slow ballad with great vocal harmonies and what sounds like violin or cello. “When sorrow turns to pain” runs for almost four minutes, with some nice guitar touches , then “Apocalyptic visions of Paradise” is a short instrumental, just short of two minutes, mostly carried on picked guitar backed by violin, though it's probably made on the keyboard. Very emotive though. One of the two longer parts, at just under six minutes, “So far away” reintroduces David's vocal over essentially the same melody as the previous section, still slow and stately and graceful, sailing on like some majestic ocean liner traversing a glittering sea of music and melody. The piece gets a little heavier as it reaches the halfway mark, though losing nothing of its beauty or fragility, then it drops back again to that guitar melody that opened the whole thing, joined by keys and slightly heavier percussion, choral vocals complementing Benoit David's as he sings like the very image of Anderson. Part IV, entitled “The point of no return”, gets a lot heavier with machine-gun drums and hard guitar, upping the tempo, though David's vocal throughout remains calm and composed, like someone standing in the very eye of the storm. As guitars wail, keyboards howl and drums batter him all around, he stays focussed, intent on his job and suddenly the storm passes as Part V comes in, on a gentle guitar and crying keyboard line. “The silent scream” is the other long section, again close to six minutes, a slow, measured, almost acoustic tune but with some truly beautiful seventies-style prog keyboard from St-Pere, and a Gilmouresque guitar solo which leads into a really dreamlike melody that carries the composition towards its final conclusion, in Part VI, “Dancing with butterflies”. For a song as long as this, it's quite amazing that Mystery have resisted the urge to do the usual, as it were, and change time signatures, moods, speeds, tempos and styles, opting instead to keep the same general melody and theme throughout the whole composition, tweaking it a little here and there, but essentially not changing the overall formula, and yet ending up with an incredible piece like that. Quite astounding. And we're not finished yet. The title track reminds me of the general mood of “In the air tonight”, or perhaps some of Tony Banks' more atmospheric (come on, you knew I was going to work that word into the review, didn't you?) tracks, split open halfway through by powerful guitar and then upbeat prog keyboards as the song takes on a distinctly Genesis flavour: is that a mellotron? David's vocals are strong and forceful here, as he abandons his usual gentle tone for a much more urgent, persistent sound and Michel St-Pere cuts loose with another great guitar solo. Then “The falling man” has a very ominous guitar sound to it, as David cries ”Help me!” in the background. The song breaks into a pretty powerful cruncher, with heavy guitar taking the dominant role, fading right down to allow David to sing the opening lines then blasting along with him as he hits his stride, falling back again, coming in again in a mad dance that, though it seems arbitrary, is choreographed to the max. Certainly the heaviest track on the album, with more musical ideas than the other heavy track, “The kameleon man”, it's a powerhouse that stomps rather than rocks, a sense of impending doom in the almost Metallica-like guitar, the keys keeping a dark counterpoint in the background. Progressive doom metal? Not quite, but definitely a different take on Mystery, a long way removed from the intricacies of the likes of “Through different eyes”, “Wolf” or “Till the truth comes out”. They even throw in a little jolt of jazz/funk near the end. Special. The album closes with “Sailing on a wing”, five minutes of very progressive rock, reminding me, inescapably, of Yes, with its acoustic guitar and alto vocals, tight bass lines and swirling keys. More great vocal harmonies put the finishing touches on the track, and indeed, on a very fine album. Mystery may not be known all that much outside their native Canada, but with musicianship of this calibre that is surely set to change. This album was released in 2010, so hopefully by now a lot more people have been turned on to their special brand of progressive rock, and discovered for themselves what a unique band these four guys from Montreal are. As for me, I'm off to check out the albums that led up to this. I need more Mystery in my life! TRACKLISTING 1. Among the living 2. Wolf 3. Between love and hate 4. Till the truth comes out 5. Kameleon man 6. Through different eyes (I) When sorrow turns to pain (ii) Apocalyptic visions of Paradise (iii) So far away (iv) The point of no return (v) The silent scream (vi) Dancing with butterflies 7. One among the living 8. The falling man 9. Sailing on a wing |
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Meh. It's a grey and rainy Saturday here in the Emerald Isle, the typical wet weekend. Let's rock things up a little, shall we? Today's Daily Earworm has been brought to you by the letter F, with Foo Fighters, and “The pretender”. |
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The Pollys are coming! http://www.trollheart.com/countdown7days.jpgDays To Go... |
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Even though they're a band who have had some of the longest, most convoluted and intricate songs, Pink Floyd are, or were, a band who could still bring everything right back down to basics, and still pen a classic tune. From the complex interweaving of themes on songs like “Astronomy domine”, “Set the controls for the heart of the sun”, and of course “Echoes”, not to mention “Shine on you crazy diamond”, to the simplicity of a song like “Mother” and “Pigs on the wing”, Floyd knew that although sometimes big, deep, bombastic or meandering songs were what was needed, occasionally the very simplest, most basic ideas were best. Wish you were here --- Pink Floyd --- 1975 Music by Roger Waters and David Gilmour, Lyrics by Roger Waters http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...reHere-300.jpg This philosophy came to a wonderful head on the iconic title track from the album “Wish you were here”. The simplest of the simple, a lone twelve-string guitar opens the song, sounding as if it's recorded in mono, then it's joined by a fully “stereo” acoustic guitar, with David Gilmour singing the first verse, drums crashing in on the second verse, with Steinway piano and pedal steel filling out the sound before the sound drops back to acoustic for the leadup to the chorus, which is only sung once before the song fades out more or less as it began. The song consists of only a few basic chords, and is a sad and reflective look back at one of the band's founder members, Syd Barrett. Though the lyric is somewhat obscure, it does refer to the regret that Barrett could not remain with the band, had personal problems and that they drifted apart. Apparently, when he once wandered in on a recording session, nobody recognised Barrett, he had changed so much. Very sad. As if you needed to hear it, the song is below, but sure even if you know it backwards (and what rock fan doesn't?) it's a good excuse to give it another listen. |
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Let's upset the neighbours on this nice quiet Sunday, shall we? Well, maybe just a little! Here's Guns'n'Roses... Today's Daily Earworm was brought to you by the letter G, with Guns'n'Roses, and “November rain”. |
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Almost a month to the day that I started this section, it's time to again check in on some of the frankly amazing lyrics written by Tom Waits in his time. As in the first edition of this section, I'll be discussing the songs, what they mean, how they fit into Waits' catalogue and what makes them different to any other music you've heard before. First up, a track from his 1983 album “Swordfishtrombones” (no, my spacebar isn't stuck: the words are run together that way!), the first album on which he had a go at production himself, and one that marked a pretty dramatic change in styles, both musical and lyrical. The song I want to look at here is the second on the album, and it's called “Shore leave”. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...htrombones.jpg Shore leave, from “Swordfishtrombones”, 1983 (Island) As you might possibly suspect, it concerns the thoughts and ruminations of a sailor in a foreign town, perhaps the gist of a letter he sends back to his loved one. Knowing that it'll be a long time before he gets home again, and possibly a long time before he has anymore shore leave, he immerses himself in the culture of the place he finds himself in, trying things out. He sings of playing ”billiards with a midget” and buying ”A new deck of cards, with girls on the back” as he tries ”Squeezing the life out of / A lousy two day pass.” It's a lonely song, the alien nature and otherworldy strangeness of being in a foreign country far from home brought home by the odd instrumentation and almost drunken melody of the song, Waits singing it more like “Ninth and Hennepin”, which we featured in the first edition: more spoken word/prose than actually singing, other than the chorus, where he serenades his wife, thousands of mile across the ocean, and wishes he was with her. In addition to the usual piano and drums, Waits utilises such odd items as bass marimba, shaker, banjo guitar, chair (!) and metal aunglongs (whatever they are!) as well as of course trombone to make the song as off-centre and eceletic as possible, successfully bringing home the lonely feeling of being very much a stranger in a strange land. Here's the lyric: ”Well with buckshot eyes and a purple heart I rolled down the national stroll, And with a big fat paycheck Strapped to my hip sack And a shore leave wristwatch underneath my sleeve In a Hong Kong drizzle, on Cuban heels I rowed down the gutter to the Blood Bank. And I'd left all my papers on the “Ticonderoga”, and I was in bad need of a shave. So I slopped at the corner on cold chow mein And shot billards with a midget Until the rain stopped. I bought a long sleeved shirt With horses on the front And some gum and a lighter and a knife, And a new deck of cards (with girls on the back) And I sat down, and wrote a letter to my wife. And I said Baby, I'm so far away from home: I miss my Baby so. I can't make it by myself --- I love you so. Well I was pacing myself: Trying to make it all last; Squeezing all the life out of a lousy two day pass. I had a cold one at the Dragon With some Filipino floor show; And talked baseball with a lieutenant over a Singapore sling. And I wondered how the same moon outside Over this Chinatown fair Could look down on Illinois And find you there and you know I love you Baby And I'm so far away from home: And I miss my Baby so. I can't make it by myself --- I love you so. Shore Leave... Shore Leave...” The next song I want to concentrate on is the title track to his 1980 album, “Heartattack and Vine”. This song is semi-famous (or infamous) for having started legal proceedings on Waits' side against Levi Strauss, when they used the song without his permission --- albeit a cover version --- in one of their advertisements. Waits sued and won, getting a written apology from Levis (and who knows how much in damages?). Waits has always jealously guarded his intellectual property, and doesn't allow his music to be used in commercials, promos, ads or any other such media. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...k_and_Vine.jpg Heartattack and Vine, from “Heartattack and Vine”, 1980 (Asylum) The song itself seems to be a general comment on the daily goings-on at Hollywood and Vine in California, the name of the street no doubt changed to avoid the very legal issues that prompted him to sue years later. It's again owes much lyrically to “9th and Hennepin”, which opened this section last month, although stylistically and musically it is a far different song. Whereas the former used minimal instrumentation and a spoken vocal, Waits sings on this track and uses standard instruments like guitar, bass, piano and drums, although also throwing in odd little touches like chimes or glockenspiel. I feature this more or less really because it contains what I consider to be one of Waits' most important and quotable lyrics, when he drunkenly slurs ”Don't you know there ain't no devil?/ That's just God when he's drunk!” Absolutely classic. ”Liar liar with your pants on fire, White spades hangin' on the telephone wire. Gamblers reevaluate along the dotted line: Never recognise yourself on Heartattack and Vine. Doctor, lawyer, beggar man, thief. Philly Joe remarkable looks on in disbelief. If you want a taste of madness, You'll have to wait in line: Probably see someone you know on Heartattack and Vine. Boneys high on china white, shorty found a punk, Don't you know there ain't no devil? That's just God when He's drunk! Well this stuff will probably kill ya --- let's do another line. Won't you say you'll meet me down on Heartattack and Vine? See that little Jersey girl in the see-through top? In pedal-pushers, suckin' on a soda pop? Well I'll bet she's still a virgin (But it's only twenty-five til nine): You can see a million of 'em on Heartattack and Vine. Better off in Iowa against your scrambled eggs, Than crawlin' down Cahuenga on a broken pair of legs. You'll find your ignorance is blissful every goddamn time: Waitin' for the RTD on Heartattack and Vine.” The last one I want to look at for, for now, is one from a collaboration Waits recorded with country super-songstress Crystal Gayle, for the soundtrack to the movie “One from the heart”. The movie itself is nothing special, but the soundtrack is. On the album, Waits sings most of the tracks while Crystal has four solo shots, but they're all written by Waits. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...eart_cover.jpg Broken bicycles, from “Original soundtrack to the film One from the heart”, 1982 (CBS) It's a tender little ballad, played just on piano where Waits compares his broken heart and love affairs to the wrecks of bicycles left to rust in the garden. It's powerful, striking imagery, and typical of Waits --- who else would think to ally the two images to create such a metaphor? And yet it works brilliantly, in such a way that really, you'll never look at the skeleton of an old bike in a junkyard or in someone's garden shed in quite the same way ever again! ”Broken bicycles, old busted chains, Rusted handlebars out in the rain. Somebody must have an orphanage for These things that nobody wants any more. September's reminding July It's time to be saying goodbye. Summer is gone, but our love will remain Like old broken bicycles out in the rain. Broken Bicycles, don't tell my folks; There's all those playing cards pinned to the spokes. Laid down like skeletons out on the lawn. The wheels won't turn when the other has gone. The seasons can turn on a dime, Somehow I forget every time; For the things that you've given me will always stay They're broken, but I'll never throw them away.” So that's, once again, some examples of the lyrical genius of Tom Waits. Do yourself a favour and check out some of his albums. You won't regret it, I can promise you. |
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The Pollys are coming! http://www.trollheart.com/countdown6days.jpg Days to go... |
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Wow! Finding a decent song by an artiste whose name begins with H was harder than the worm thought! He came up with a good one in the end, though... Today's Daily Earworm was brought to you by the letter H, with Bruce Hornsby and the Range, and “Mandolin rain”. |
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