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Ah yes, the time has finally come. Almost a month into the new year and there are now sufficient new albums for 2012 to allow me to resume reviewing current releases. Truth to tell, there were albums available from January 1, but I didn't want to just grab the first one just because it was the only one, so I've been patiently buying albums over the last few weeks --- and of course will continue to do so --- and now have a decent enough stockpile that I can pick and choose from. The hope, naturally, is to get through them all, so that there are more 2012 albums reviewed by me during 2012 than could be said of the last year. I'll try to do one a week, but we'll see how that goes.

First up is an album that I simply had to buy, merely because of the huge joke in the title. The wit that came up with both the band name and the album title, which together gently poke fun at one of the largest bands on the planet, hopefully hints at some pretty good music to be heard. In addition, I believe the album was released on January 1, so it's a fitting way to start off our reviews of the no doubt many albums, good and bad, to be released this year.

How to dismantle a U2 --- The Atomic Bomb Audition --- 2012 (Self-released)
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A four-piece (I think: more later), The Atomic Bomb Audition describe their music as “psychedelic soundtracks for films that don't exist”, which in itself is one hell of an interesting statement. Hailing from Oakland, California, this is in fact their third album, and has been released through their own website The Atomic Bomb Audition for free download, or as much or little as you're willing to pay, following the model set by Radiohead a few years back. It only has seven tracks, though the last one is ten minutes long, and opens on “Plainsong”, a hard but very melodic metal-type song, guitars to the forefront courtesy of Alee Karim, who also takes vocals, though keyboards come in fairly quickly. This is where things get a bit weird, bandwise. Keys are credited to “The Norman Conquest”, who I have to assume is a person, as the photo of them shows four guys, but what an odd name!

The vocals are growled in a very low, almost sotto voce snarl, so much so that it is completely impossible to hear what's being sung at first, then more vocals start up and you can kind of hear what they're singing, as the original ones drop back to the status of backing. Karim's guitar, whether intentional or not --- and one would have to assume, given the title and its U2 connections, the former --- has a very similar sound to that of the Edge. Given how almost indiscernible the vocals are, I am prepared to take this opener as an instrumental, and in that way it works quite well. Following song, “Time lapse”, goes so slow it makes original Sabbath seem breakneck! The vocals are low and growly again but audible this time, a definite nod to Nick Cave in Karim's singing. The drums from Brian Gleeson and bass from James Hoopes are so interminably slow that you wonder they're not caught in some sort of slow-motion trap, but Karim's guitar adds a nice slow melodic sound to what must be close to being death metal slowed to almost a stop.

If this was an old LP record, I have to wonder how slow the ABA would sound if the speed on the record player was switched down, as we used to do? It really doesn't sound like it could possibly get any slower. Unlike recently reviewed Antimatter though, the lack of speed on this track just annoys, giving you a sense of “get on with it!” and so basically ruining what at heart could have been a good song. “Three sevens” doesn't fall into that snare, being a much faster, uptempo song, with some weird little vocoder touches and I think a theremin --- one is certainly used on the album, but I'm not entirely certain what one sounds like, so I can't be sure. It's still all a little confused though: I really find the vocals hard to make out, and even the music on this one is all over the place. Good guitar work and nice synthery, but it's hard to sort it all out.

It all slows down then near the end, into a sort of chant, but by then it's too late as the song is over, and we're into “Laura's theme”, which is indeed a retreading of the old “Twin Peaks” song, albeit given a sort of death metal treatment. If you've watched the show or listened to the soundtrack (no for the former, yes for the latter in my case) you'll know the song: all brooding, melancholy and atmospheric, and indeed instrumental, which is where the ABA seem to shine best. When they really try, they can put together some decent music. This of course is not their own song, and is the first to really stand out, so it remains to be seen whether their own original material will fare as well.

Thing with such a short album is though, they only have three more tracks with which to try and impress me, and “Ra'ad: traced upon the sky” opens with a very eastern melody --- surely that's the theremin again? --- going into a slow, crunchy guitar sound with some nice echoey effects, and just when I thought it was going to be an instrumental some muttering voices appear in the mix, like a crowd mumbling some sort of stream of consciousness: again, it's hard to make out what's being said, though I do believe that's intentional, and to fit the mood and theme of the track, which seems a bit mysterious and enigmatic. I hear Karim now singing the title, but that's about it. Perhaps this could be defined as electronic, melancholic doom or death or black metal? Very strange, that's for sure.

There's a guest vocal on “All is full of love”, another slow, doomy song very reminiscent I think of Sabbath, or maybe some other doom metal bands I don't know --- I'm not that familiar with/interested in the genre --- and the change really works wonders. A lady called Agnes Szelag finally brings some cohesion to proceedings, her voice soaring and clear, sounding inexplicably a little like Debbie Harry, would you believe? This is a decent song, with the band all pulling together to produce a recognisable melody, although that's not really fair. The other songs have their charm, it's just that sometimes they seem a little disjointed, as if no-one is sure what they're supposed to be doing. I'm sure that's not the case, but that's how it comes across to me. This is probably the best I've heard from these guys yet.

Oh, excuse me: I misread the running times. Final track, “Echoes”, is not ten minutes long. It's eighteen! And a few seconds. As a matter of fact, I think it may be the “Echoes”, a cover of the classic from Pink Floyd's “Meddle”, which should surely be interesting if nothing else. Yes, it is. It is, however, a little disappointing for me. Having failed yet to fully form an opinion of this band, I had hoped to have the chance to experience a long track of their own composition to try to break the deadlock. And though I do love this song, and to be fair they do an okay job with it, it's not their own material and so makes it a little difficult to judge the album. One good thing though: it does make me now want to go and relisten to the original...

I have to say, the vocals are very muddy and off, though in fairness the instrumentation is pretty much there: nothing like the original of course, but then that's often the point. It does, however, show again that, like with “Laura's theme”, the Atomic Bomb Audition can play when they want to, and make very good music. It's sadly only really evident though when they do covers, or when they bring in guest vocalists, as in “All is full of love”, prior to this. I guess that leads inescapably to the conclusion, sad though it may be, that it's really the vocals (or almost lack of them) that let this band down, and while Alee Karim does play guitar well, to my ears at any rate he does not sing well. Maybe this is common within this genre (whatever this genre is), but I expect to be able to hear a singer, and I don't get his style at all.

Not a very auspicious start then to my reviews of 2012 albums. I desperately wanted to like this album, mostly for the seemingly different idea to it, and the guys' bravery in self-releasing and offering their music on the net, but it seems the joke, which originally inspired me to check out this band, has worn thin and certainly does not sustain itself through a very confusing, conflicting and at times very frustrating album. I would not be in any particular hurry to hear any more music from this foursome, I'm afraid.

And now, the most obvious comment and the least funny joke of 2012 so far: I have to sadly report that The Atomic Bomb has failed its audition. It's a no, from me. Oh well. That's two disappointments in quick succession for me, with my recent review of Bon Iver's self-titled, though that was not as big a letdown as the fall I had set myself up for here. Still, “How to dismantle a U2” is not bad music, and it may suit or appeal to someone who has more experience with this genre, or who knows the band. It just isn't for me.

TRACKLISTING

1. Plainsong
2. Time lapse
3. Three sevens
4. Laura's theme
5. Ra'ad: traced upon the sky
6. All is full of love
7. Echoes

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Getting closer to the end of this trip through the alphabet. Today we move on to R, so here's Rainbow. So it's not that terribly original: whaddya want from the worm?

Today's Daily Earworm has been brought to you by the letter R, with Rainbow and “Since you been gone”.

Self preserved while the bodies float up --- Oceansize --- 2010 (Superball)
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Since the dawn of time (well, for decades anyway) there have been weird and obscure album titles. This however has to be one of the weirdest. Fourth and final album from prog rockers Oceansize, it gained wide acclaim both for their efforts to step out from behind long, convoluted prog songs as evidenced on their previous albums, particularly “Frames” and “Effloresce” and for exhibiting a heavier side to their music. Is it, though, a fitting end to their legacy, a sign-off that hits all the right notes?

It opens on “Part cardiac”, which starts off like someone tuning an electric guitar, and becomes a heavy cruncher, with almost shouted vocals from Mike Vennart, which I have to say are quite hard to make out behind his wall of guitar sound and the thundering drums. My first impression is that this is not prog rock, or even prog metal, as I generally know it. The song's more than halfway through and all I've been able to make out so far is in-your-face guitar, like a much slower Motorhead, and someone yelling in the background, but I have no idea what Vennart is singing, if singing is the word. Part cardiac? Could give you one, or him, the way he's forcing that voice!

“Superimposer” goes for an all-out drum assault, but this time you can at least hear Vennart sing, and the guitars, though still heavy, are a little more restrained, not so violent and all-pervasive. There's a suggestion of good backing vocals there, but again they're kind of subsumed in either the bad production or the oversaturation of guitars, and it's really hard to hear them clearly. As the song nears its end the guitars scale back a little and you can hear the singing, and it is good, but it ends on a fairly confused mess of noise, which so far is not I have to say endearing this band to me! However, the next track makes the last two sound like ballads, as “Build us a rocket then” kicks up the gear into tenth, and, well, rockets off into the farthest reaches of space. The vocals are, to be fair, clearer here, but the guitar just tends to overshadow anything, and even though there are keyboards, courtesy of both Steve Hodson and Gambler, it's very hard to hear if they make any sort of impression, as Vennart's guitars never really give way, hogging the whole song.

There's an almost amusing point, just near the end of the song, when a small piece of introspective guitar is attempted, but immediately blasted out of the way by what I would have to term eff-star-star-key-you guitar. Things finally settle a little for “Oscar acceptance speech”, the longest track on the album at just under nine minutes, with nice slightly discordant piano and just the barest percussion from Mark Heron, Vennart's guitar kept on a tight leash for the first time. His vocal, as well, can be made out much more clearly here, and is not at all bad. Helen Tonge guests with some really nice violin near the end, and it's a much slower, more restrained track altogether. I much prefer this side of Oceansize, but can it last?

Well, for now, yes it can it would seem. “Ransoms” is another laidback ballad, with muted guitar and a chance for the keyboardists to shine, while Vennart restricts himself to a really nice lazy little solo, throwing some feedback on it for good measure as the song ends, then “A penny's weight” seems to be in Beatles/Beach Boys territory, with a dreamy little melody and some great vocal harmonies, nice bright keys and piano. “Silent/Transparent” is the second-longest track, just over eight and a half minutes, and again it's relaxed, uptempo but without the heaviness or grunge of the first three tracks.

It would appear then that Oceansize were a strange band, one who could morph from heavy death metal fugues and skullcrushing guitar attacks to light, poppy, almost pastoral melodies at the drop of a plectrum. Versatile, certainly, and it's quite clear that on “Self preserved while the bodies float up” you get to experience both sides of the band. Vennart shows on this track that he knows how to rein in the guitar when he has to, and the fine piano playing of Hodson really shines on this song. But it's Vennart's gentle (yeah, I said gentle. I know!) vocal on “Silent/Transparent” that really transforms the Oceansize sound, and your appreciation --- or lack of same --- of their final album. It's really quite remarkable, and shows a band who were not content to stay in the same genre or style for long.

Even a sustained guitar attack to close the song is handled tastefully and with restraint, and contibutes to and improves the song, rather than just bludgeoning it, and the listener, into submission, as has previously been the case. I started out wanting to like this album, decided after three tracks I was beginning to hate it, and now feel the love washing over me. Just proves you can't make up your mind halfway! Then, as if to sort of contradict that thought, “It's my tail and I'll chase it if I want to” comes kicking in the door with heavy guitar and surrender-or-die-well-die-anyway drums, a heavy heavy beat and definitely no lilting piano. The vocal, like the song, is delivered at a mile-a-minute, and you'd wonder how Vennart and backing vocalist Simon Neil can keep up that sort of pace? But even though it's heavy, there's a great melody about it and you can hear everything: it's not just a wall of sound or indeed noise, like “Part cardiac”, “Superimposer” or “Build us a rocket then”.

And then everything turns around again, and “Pine” is brought in on simple acoustic guitar and keyboards, with Vennart back at his laidback best, a mini-anthem with some gorgeous cello from Semay Wu, and the album closes on “Superimposter” (add the “t”), which is nothing like it's “t”-less cousin from the beginning of the album. It's a mid-paced blues effort with more downbeat vocals from Vennart and an acoustic guitar that strides along the melody, some feedback guitar that again fleshes out the song rather than stripping the flesh from it, and on balance a really nice closer.

So for an album that started out like someone trying to kick their way out of my head, this album has performed, like the Incredible Hulk, a startling metamorphosis, becoming a collection of decent, listenable, well-written songs that you can hear, appreciate and enjoy. “Self preserved...” received a huge number of plaudits on its release, and while I can't quite agree with their almost unanimously gushing praise for this swansong for Oceansize, I can say that by the time it's over I'm relieved that it didn't all continue as it began.

Whether it's a great album or not is something I'm not that sure I can decide right now. What is not in dispute though is that it shows two very different sides of a very accomplished and versatile band, who certainly seemed to know how to straddle boundaries without actually falling over into either completely.

TRACKLISTING

1. Part cardiac
2. Superimposer
3. Build us a rocket then...
4. Oscar acceptance speech
5. Ransoms
6. A penny's weight
7. Silent/Transparent
8. It's my tail and I'll chase it if I want to
9. Pine
10. Superimposter

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Friday has rolled around once again, and the worm is getting close to the end of this alphabetic marathon --- and he doesn't even have any legs! :)

Today's Daily Earworm has been brought to you by the letter S, with Spandau Ballet, and “True”

Undiscovered soul --- Richie Sambora --- 1998 (Mercury)
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Almost as much a driving force behind megastars Bon Jovi as the man whose name the band bears, Richie Sambora writes most of their music in concert with frontman Jon Bon Jovi, and also plays guitar, but he has released two solo albums of his own, both of which are quite excellent and stand as separate works in their own right, away from the massive output of his parent band. I could have reviewed them both, but although I love “Stranger in this town”, it does have one or two weaker tracks on it, while I feel this one has few if any. With all the work Bon Jovi do, what with recording, writing, touring, TV slots and so on, it's a wonder Richie ever got the chance to put out a solo album, but as I say, this is his second.

It starts with a good rocker, “Made in America”, where Sambora recalls his own youth and how he got into music. It's a nice mid-paced song, with acoustic becoming electric guitar, Hammond organ from Billy Preston swelling in the background, but of course as he's a guitarist the song is dominated by Sambora's guitar sound, but not to the detriment of the other instruments. Good solid drumming too from Kenny Aronoff, and a very decent opener with a simple message. The song also proves, if it needed to be proved, that Richie Sambora can sing very well indeed.

“Hard times come easy” has a very Springsteen feel to it, with whistling keys from Robbie Buchanan and a song about overcoming adversity through love. Nothing new here, but Sambora isn't trying to reinvent the wheel, just stay separate enough from his Bon Jovi roots to allow him to stretch outside that limit, but still keep fans of the band interested enough to buy his albums. It's a very upbeat track, with a real message of hope: ”There's gonna be thunder/ Gonna be rain/ Gonna be those times/ We both get caught up in the pain/ Realisation sinkin' in/ Way to make it/ Learn to take it on the chin.” No time, as Queen once immortally sang, for losers. Some great solo work here from the Bon Jovi man, but again he doesn't showboat, just gets on with the job in hand. Sounds like Billy Preston there on background vocals too.

Even more impressive is the ballad “Fallen from Graceland”, with its low-key acoustic guitar while the electric whines in the background, lovely bit of fretless bass from Pino Palladino, and then Sambora's voice is soft and wistful as he sings ”There's nowhere left to hide/ When you're tangled up inside.” After the exuberance and optimism of the first two tracks, the somewhat fatalism of this one takes you a little by surprise. There's no solution, no advice, just a statement of fact: ”When you're too proud to crawl/ Keeps your back against the wall/ You wanna die, but you live/ With nothing left to give.” Nice keyboard lines holding the melody too, very relaxing.

To his credit, Sambora does not rope in any help from his bandmates, unlike on his debut, other than to co-write three songs with keyboardist David Bryan, of which this is one. He could very easily have involved Jon or even Tico or Alec, (Tico Torres and David Bryan both guested on “Stranger in this town”, though Jon was never involved in any way) but chose to sail this ship alone, and it certainly seems to have worked for him. After the melancholy soul-searching of “Fallen from Graceland”, Richie grins and unleashes the powerfully fun “If God was a woman” upon us, knowing exactly how to bring the mood back up. In a fast blues tune, he asks ”If God was a woman/ Would you be impressed/ If she showed up in high heels/ And a pretty red dress?” Great harmonica helps infuse even more fun into this smart, sassy little song. Not sure the religious Right would approve, though!

It's another co-written with his Bon Jovi bandmate, and right through the album Sambora collaborates with one or the other songwriters, which is perhaps something of a disappointment, showing that he either can't, or isn't comfortable writing a song on his own. I suppose he feels most at home in a songwriting partnership, which is fine: play to your strengths. “All that really matters” is another ballad, piano driven, very simple melody, and you would have to wonder, considering the passion with which it's sung, if this isn't dedicated to his then-wife, Heather Locklear. Sadly, the two parted company in 2006, but around this time he would only have been married to her for four years, so their marital problems would not have been surfacing yet.

Great song, with a lovely restrained little solo from Richie and some fine keyboards, a sharp, Brian May-esque guitar part also there, then he really lets loose for “You're not alone”, a powerful, guitar-driven slow rocker whose lyrical theme is certainly that of a ballad, but delivered with force and energy. I know arranger normally refers to the musical arrangement, but if it were to mean the order which the tracks are arranged on the album, Sambora as arranger has done an outstanding job here. With five ballads in total, he's spaced them evenly across the album, not grouping them either near the beginning nor at the end, the latter of which many artistes prefer. I like the way he's done this: it's like, hard rock track, softer rock track, ballad, and it rounds out the album very well.

As an example of that, “In it for love” is another ballad, played on acoustic guitar with minimal percussion thanks to Paulhino da Costa, perhaps the closest Sambora comes to a Bon Jovi-like track on the album, while still remaining his own distinctive product. But you could hear this being played at a Bon Jovi concert, certainly. None of the singles released from the album charted particularly well, but somehow I don't think Richie is short of a bob or two, so I doubt that mattered much to him. This definitely comes across as much more a personal project, something intimate and important to him, rather than an attempt to cash in on his superstar status and the Bon Jovi fanbase. Though I'm sure that helped in its own way.

“Chained” is a faster, harder rock tune, but still with a sense of restraint about it, and it's clear Richie can rock out much harder than this, so is he consciously holding back, trying to make this less of an obvious tie back to his parent band? Or is he just experimenting, seeing what his limits are? Whichever, it's a worthy effort, and just about every track stands on its own, though there are standouts, one of which is coming up next. Opening on a scaled guitar intro almost like that old favourite, “Classical gas”, the moody and introspective “Harlem rain” is indeed one of the best tracks, perhaps the best track on the album. Its simplicity and honesty, as Sambora sings of a guy down on his luck and how he has nothing left to look forward to, is touching and painfully real. ”There's a tattoo of his sweetheart/ Painted on his arm/ He talks a painful tragedy/ How he lost his lucky charm/ His memory is clouded/ From the thunder in his veins/ He's vanishing, vanishing, gone/ In the Harlem rain.” Some mounrful violin accompanies the guitar, a keyboard melody washing them along like flotsam in the gutters as the rain lashes the grey streets. I would put this as perhaps Richie Sambora's best turn on the guitar, his best performance on the album. It's restrained, sad, soulful, tragic and immensely hard-hitting, all in one, and really it's his world-weary voice that carries the tune, despite his excellent and technically flawless guitar work.

Then he ramps it up to ten for “Who I am”, perhaps the hardest, heaviest rocker on the album, almost at times approaching heavy metal territory as he cries ”Who I used to be/ Ain't who I am/ If you walked inside my shoes/ Maybe you would understand.” A powerful track with a truly epic guitar solo, where we really see what Sambora can do on the guitar, and then it all cuts back for the ending with an expressive and intricate little guitar piece that takes the track to its end in a very low-key fashion. In ways, the album as a whole can almost be seen as a concept, the journey of one man --- be it autobiographical or not --- from his youth playing around and not caring about much, through his life and loves, to his career, all the time trying to find the answer to the question asked in, and titled by, this track. The closer, too, deals with part of the story, if you choose to see the album, or parts of it, as linked and telling a story, but before that we have the other contender for top track, and the last penned by him with David Bryan, the power ballad “Downside of love”.

Starting off with screeching guitar, wailing organ and heavy drums, it's an affirmation that everyone goes through tough times, but that love triumphs in the end. Old story, yes, but no less true. Very blues style guitar from Sambora, and some great technical expertise on a really good song, fine backing vocals. A song with a great hook, “Downside of love” would have been a worthy closer, but there's one more track to go before we finish, and it's the title. Opening on chugging guitar, joined by keyboards and percussion, it's bringing the story of the album --- if it exists, anywhere else than in my mind --- full circle, with the tale of someone leaving home and trying to make it on their own in the world.

The trepidation of taking that first huge step are shown in the lyric ”She was standing at the station/ Smalltown suitcase in her hand/ There were dreams she found inside her/ That no-one cared to understand.” but the determination to cut the ties and get out of a bad situation wins through: ”She's scared to go/ But still she says goodbye.” The song gets going as a mid-paced rocker with balladic elements, and it's interesting that, similar to “Fallen from Graceland”, Sambora doesn't offer any solutions, no resolution to the drama of life playing out every day on the streets, as he shrugs ”When you walk that road/ You walk alone/ Just an undiscovered soul/ In the great unknown.” Not happy sentiments to be sure, but sobering and very honest and realistic.

It's a great ending to a great album, and as I said before, it's heartening to see Richie Sambora resist the urge to draw on the talent available to him in Bon Jovi, determined to make this album on his own. As an album by the Bon Jovi guitarist it's a triumph, as a solo album by a supremely talented guitarist and singer, it's a revelation and a vindication that Richie Sambora is more than the sum of his parts, and is more than able to exist on his own merits outside the confines of the band that gave him his real shot at fame.

He's a star. But then, you knew that already.

TRACKLISTING

1. Made in America
2. Hard times come easy
3. Fallen from Graceland
4. If God was a woman
5. All that really matters
6. You're not alone
7. In it for love
8. Chained
9. Harlem rain
10. Who I am
11. Downside of love
12. Undiscovered soul

Recommended further listening: “Stranger in this town”

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Time for T, as they say! The nightmare begins to wind down. Never doing this again....

Today's Daily Earworm was brought to you by the letter T, with Ten Sharp and “You”.

The march from the Marriage of Figaro is alright but I think Mozart did better ones. And from that opera the overture is very famous and the finale to the work is a nice dramatic interweaving of voices and tempi.

I've always like On The Wings of Love by Jeffrey Osborne, it was a hit in Britain at the time. Stay With Me Tonight is good too, though a dance track and not a romantic ballad.

With All About Eve I've liked their famous track for a while, and more recently I discovered Lady Moonlight. Those are the 2 that made a big impression on me. Apparently the performance of Martha's Harbour was messed up on Top of the Pops as she couldn't hear the music, but they had her on the next week to do it properly. Don't think I've heard their last two albums.

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Asia

True, hardly the hardest-rocking band you could come across, but Asia have their moments. They do however do a really great line in ballads, so let's have a look at what they've produced, in their various incarnations over a career spanning almost thirty years and a dozen albums.

Oddly enough, their self-titled debut has no ballads on it at all, though it does contain their two most well-known and successful singles, “Only time will tell” and “The heat of the moment”. Some people might think “Without you” qualifies, but I disagree. In my opinion (which, in the context of this article, is all that matters!) it's not until 1983's “Alpha” that they really started writing great rock ballads.

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Alpha (1983)

Making up for the complete lack of ballads on their debut, “Alpha” has three in all. First we have this one, “The smile has left your eyes”


It might start off a little rocky, but “My own time (I'll do what I want)” turns out to be a mid-paced ballad

Then there's the lovely “The last to know”


And we finish on the atmospheric “Midnight sun”.

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Astra (1985)
Asia's next album, “Astra”, was released two years later, in 1985. For this album founder member and guitarist Steve Howe departed, to be replaced by Mandy Meyer. This situation would partially reverse itself in 1992. The album is seen as their least successful, but it does contain the anthemic “Voice of America”

and the less powerful, more low-key and frankly substandard “Love now till eternity”, which itself sounds suspiciously close to the melody for “Voice of America”...


After that, it seemed Asia had broken up, and to some extent they had. They released one odd album in 1990, made up half of old material and half of new, which they called “Then and now”.
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Then and now (1990)

There's just the one ballad on it, “Prayin' 4 a miracle”.



It was another two years after that --- seven since their last "full" album --- before they would reappear with a changed lineup. This time John Wetton was gone and vocals were taken by John Payne, who would remain in that slot for another sixteen years and seven albums, making him by far the longest-serving (consecutively) vocalist in Asia. Steve Howe was back, supplemented by Al Pitrelli on guitar.

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Aqua (1992)
The new album, “Aqua”, contains some stunning ballads, including “Love under fire”,

the beautiful “Crime of the heart”,

the bitter “Don't call me”

and the powerful, almost-closer “Heaven on Earth”.


Two years later came “Aria”, with the departure of longtime drummer and founder member Carl Palmer, replaced by Mike Sturgis. Steve Howe also left, for the second time, not to return until 2008's “Phoenix”, when Palmer would also make his way back to the fold along with John Wetton, to recreate the original lineup. Geoff Downes is therefore the only member of Asia to remain through every incarnation, and thus had a huge input to and influence on the band.

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Aria (1994)

The album features four ballads, of which “Summer” is the first,

followed by “Sad situation”

then the wonderful “Feels like love”

and closing with the fragile reprise in the title track.


1996 was a great year for Asia fans. Not only did they release their sixth album, but also two volumes of rarities and unreleased material. For “Arena”, Al Pitrelli was replaced by two guitarists, Aziz Ibrahim and Elliot Randall.

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Arena (1996)
It's a great album, but not as chock-full of ballads as the previous. It does, however, have the powerful “Words”

and the rather excellent “U bring me down”


Staying in 1996 then, as mentioned Asia got together a whole bunch of unreleased stuff and put out not one, but two full albums of these rarities.
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Archiva 1 (1996)
Both going under the title of “Archiva”, it's volume 2 that has the most overall ballads, though volume 1 has the Queenesque “Fight against the tide”

The jaunty “We fall apart”

and the powerful and emotional “I can't wait a lifetime”


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Archiva 2

“Archiva Volume 2”, released at exactly the same time, has four ballads, all of which, oddly, come one after the other and near the end of the collection. First off is “That season”

the tragic “Can't tell these walls”

then “The higher you climb”

and the soulful and heartfelt “Right to cry”.

After all that activity, it's not surprising that Asia then took a five-year break. When they returned in 2001 with a new album, it seems the only core members were Downes and Payne, with others, including Sturgis and Randall, as well as Steve Howe, relegated to the status of “guest musicians”.
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Aura (2001)

It has four ballads, among them being this one, entitled “Forgive me”.


Also the slightly more uptempo “Kings of the day”


and the excellent “On the coldest day in Hell”


Not to mention the powerful “The longest night”


It was three years before they came back with a new album, this time Payne and Downes adding new drummer Chris Slade to the lineup, completing that lineup with Guthrie Govran on guitar. “Silent nation” was the first studio album ever from Asia (not counting the weird "Then and now") not to have a title beginning and ending in “a”.

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Silent nation (2004)

Not one of my favourite Asia albums, it has nevertheless some good ballads on it, including “Blue moon Monday”


the standout “Gone too far”

and the closer, “The prophet”, which was in fact the last song John Payne sang with Asia. After sixteen years, he was replaced on the next album by original vocalist John Wetton.


Seen as having broken up (again!) Asia nevertheless returned in 2008 with a brand new album, reuniting the original lineup of Carl Palmer, Steve Howe, John Wetton and Geoff Downes (who had never left) for the first time since 1983.

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Phoenix (2008)
A huge return to form after a somewhat shaky few years, “Phoenix” has some terrific ballads, including the beautiful “Heroine”

“I will remember you”

and the wonderful “Orchard of mines”


The last album Asia have released to date has been 2010's “Omega”, which retained the reunited original lineup.
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Omega (2010)

“Omega” continues the great tradition of excellent Asia ballads, including “Ever yours”

“There was a time”

and the country-flavoured “Don't want to lose you now”.

Absolutely the March is not great, but then that's the nature of Random Track of the Day: I have to take whatever comes out. I'm not a huge Mozart fan (my sister is) but even I know that would not be something chosen to showcase the guy. It's just the luck of the draw.

I don't actually know any other Jeffrey Osborne: the worm just needed some artiste beginning with O that wasn't Oasis! :D

I've spoken at length about AAE; all I have to say is first album great, second album bad, after that I lost interest, which is a pity. Maybe they made better albums, but S&OS bugged me so much that I wasn't prepared to check them out. Yes, I heard the story too: bloody TOTP! :)

Thanks for commenting!

TH

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A very good Sunday to you all! The worm approaches the end of his alphabetic adventure, and we're up to the letter U...

Today's Daily Earworm was brought to you by the letter U, with Ultravox, and “The Voice”.

A dramatic turn of events --- Dream Theater --- 2011 (Roadrunner)
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Now before anyone asks, no, I'm not a DT fan, in fact I only recently acquired their discography, and it will be some time before I even get to it, never mind through it, but this album, being a 2011 release, was originally intended to be featured in the “Meanwhile, back in the real world” slot, until time caught me up and 2011 became 2012. So now, though current, it does not fulfil the criteria to be in that section, but I would still like to review it, so here it is.

Fans will know of course (as will most musically-savvy people who read a rock mag or even casually peruse music forums) that this album is the first without founder member and drummer Mike Portnoy, a fact which will mean more to proper DT aficionados than it does to me. Talk to me about Fish leaving Marillion. Engage me in conversation about Genesis sans Gabriel, or go on at length about the departure of Roger Hodgson from Supertramp, but in this particular subject I am completely ambivalent. There's no doubt Portnoy was (is) a great drummer and was loved by the DT faithful, but as I've mentioned before, though I would not put down any drummer's abilities, I find it hard to see any real difference between even the greats. Cozy Powell or Carl Palmer? Phil Collins or Brian Downey? I just don't see it. I'm sure drumming is a great skill, and takes years to master, but I'm just not musically aware enough, I guess, to be able to pick out the nuances of a good drummer from those of a less good, or even a bad.

So I can't tell you how new drummer Mike Mangini compares to Portnoy, though I'm sure there was and is much heated debate about the subject on various DT forums. I also can't tell you how this album compares to their previous output, but I'm going to have a listen to it and review it on the basis of it being a new album by an established band. Hell, knowing little or even nothing of the music of a band prior to reviewing one of their albums has never stopped me before, so why start now?

So, it opens on the lead single, “On the backs of angels”, which has a nice acoustic start, echoey guitar and swirling synth, John Petrucci's fluid electric guitar work coming in as Mangini announces himself behind the drumkit. Choral vocals fill out the sound until Petrucci's guitar comes to the foreground, starting up a heavy rock riff while Jordan Rudess joins him on the keys, setting down the soundscape with Mangini providing the beat. Then James LaBrie's vocals come in, and I'm sure for Dream Theater fans it must seem like the band has never been away, despite the fact that this is their first album in two years. The song becomes a powerful epic rocker, with twiddly keyboard fills from Rudess dancing about with sharp riffs and solos from Petrucci.

A lovely piece of classical piano then from Rudess as the song nears its end, then we're into “Build me up, break me down”, with hard-edged almost muted guitar and synthesised vocals from LaBrie, a slower, moodier song with some solid synth work from Rudess, but riding mostly on Petrucci's growling guitar. Stabbing keyboard chords --- what are those called? Sound like samples --- also drive the song along, giving it an epic, dramatic feel, but there's a low-key, atmospheric ending which brings us to track three, one of the longer ones on the album.

Dream Theater, it seems, don't do short tracks, and many of the songs here are over eight, nine, even ten minutes, with one clocking it at a massive twelve, but “Lost not forgotten” just skims the ten minute mark, opening with deceptively soft piano before smashing into a fast power rocker as it takes off on twin rails of galloping keyboards and chugging guitars, Mangini's drums thundering behind them. However this track exhibits a trait I've heard, an accusation levelled at this band, that they tend to overindulge in showy demonstrations of how good they are on their particular instruments, and indeed here there are lengthy instrumental passages that seem, really, to be there just for the sake of it, leaving LaBrie with often very little input into the song. It's a point I'll be exploring as the album goes on.

Short, by their standards, at seven minutes, “This is the life” is the first ballad, played on sweet guitar and dreamy synth, with LaBrie getting into his stride as a vocalist. There's no doubting Petrucci's expertise on the guitar, as he shows here with a lovely restrained little solo. I'd just prefer his instrumental breaks to be there for a reason, as they sometimes seem to be out of place with the song. This is nice though, with what sounds like female backing vocals, though they're not credited as far as I can see. Nice piano work from Jordan Rudess again, and I can see this being a situation where lighters are called for when it's played live.

“Bridge in the sky” is another long one, eleven minutes, and opens on shimmering synth and choral voices, then Petrucci's guitar slams in and Mangini's drums punch out the rhythm, and the song gets heavier and harder as it leads up to LaBrie's vocal, which doesn't come in until about three minutes in. Like most songs of this kind of length, “Bridge in the sky” goes through a few changes, from hard rocker to prog epic, with lengthy keyboard solos and guitar solos peppering the song, so that it's kind of hard to pin down exactly what to describe it as. Near the end it slows down for a bit, then changes gear back up to its dramatic conclusion. Powerful, certainly, and varied without a doubt.

Another eleven-minuter, “Outcry” opens with synth again, this time deep and throaty, accompanied by a very bright piano line from Rudess, running along the melody like a skater on ice, before the whole thing explodes again --- the ice breaks? --- and big, booming, choral synth and powerful drums take the song off to new realms, Petrucci's guitar doing its bit but a little subsumed, for once, in the overall mix. Of course, he soon remedies that, and as the “overture”, as it were, dies away, he takes command, standing front and centre with his trusty guitar slung over his shoulder, master of all he surveys. Some pretty frantic and excellent keyboard and piano work from Rudess, but again the song becomes a pretty big part instrumental, and I again have to ask the question, is this necessary to the shape of the song or is it, to be rude, technical wankery, as DT have often been accused of? Are these songs too long, or more to the point, have they too much in them?

Frankly, eleven minute tracks followed by other eleven minute tracks are a little hard to digest, unless there's some real cohesive structure to them, or some story being told with the lyric, and I have to say I find evidence of neither here, nor in the previous. I think these songs are longer than they need to be, and on that basis it makes it a little hard to objectively review them.

An example of how Dream Theater can pull it all back and write a decent, short song is shown in “Far from Heaven”, a few seconds short of four minutes: miniscule in their terms, hardly a Petrucci solo! But it's really nice, another ballad, carried on Rudess's emotive piano and what sounds like violin but may be his keyboard, James LaBrie singing faultlessly and with a lot of wounded passion. See guys? Songs don't have to be twenty minutes long... Oh, they're not listening to me, as the next one is the longest, at over twelve minutes. Oh well.

With a big, dirty guitar intro, “Breaking all illusions” is the only song on which bassist John Myung gets involved in the lyrics, co-writing them with Petrucci, who otherwise has iron control over the rest of the songs, bar the one just gone, which was written by LaBrie. Hey, have you noticed? Four out of five of the members of DT have first names that begin with the same letter? James LaBrie, Jordan Rudess, John Petrucci and John Myung. No, no, I'm not bored. Not at all...

There's a sort of swaying, half-ballad feel to this track, though as ever it doesn't stay that way, and within four minutes we're into faster, uptempo territory, with rocking choral synths and wild guitar, LaBrie getting more animated on the vocals, and now here comes the obligatory instrumental part. Lasts how long? Let's see... O-kay. Five and a half minutes. See what I mean? Admittedly, this time it did sound like the music was integral to the song, unlike previous ones where it really did seem just like showing off. Still, there's no reason why this song couldn't be half the length it is, without really losing anything. I'm all for long tracks and value for money, but DT seem to take overextension to new heights of indulgence.

The closer is at least not another monster. Coming in at a very respectable five and a half minutes, “Beneath the surface” starts on nice laidback acoustic guitar and those violins/keyboard sounds again, with LaBrie nicely restrained in his soft vocal delivery. A third ballad? So it would seem. A very simple song, quite fragile and very sincere, and a sweet and low-key ending that I didn't really expect.

As I said at the opening of this review, I'm not a fan of DT, so perhaps I'm missing something, but the overlong nature of many of their songs tends to drive me away rather than make me want to hear more. I'm no stranger to epics of course: I'm a big Genesis, Marillion, Rush and Pink Floyd fan, and there's nothing at all wrong with long songs, but they really do have to go somewhere, and I feel that, for the most part, Dream Theater's epics just tend to wander around, looking for some direction, and then kind of tail off. For me, it's more a trial to get through one of their longer songs than an enjoyable experience, and does indeed make it hard to review them fairly.

I shouldn't worry of course: DT fans will more than likely love this album, but if I'm to use it as a possible gateway into their world, a chance to get more into their music and a spur to listen to more of their albums, then I'm afraid for now, for me, it's a gate that remains more or less firmly shut.

But perhaps one day.

TRACKLISTING

1. On the backs of angels
2. Build me up, break me down
3. Lost not forgotten
4. This is the life
5. Bridges in the sky
6. Outcry
7. Far from Heaven
8. Breaking all illusions
9. Beneath the surface

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Here are a few random tracks I really like, and think perhaps you may like too. All decisions are final, no refunds given. Terms and conditions do not apply...

I've always liked this song, though for some reason I always thought the band were Irish. Not so: they're from Australia. Now how could I have made that mistake? Moving pictures is the band in question, think this was their only hit.
What about me (Moving Pictures) from “Days of innocence” on Epic


A band who are Irish, this is the Adventures, from their third album, and the only song (to my knowledge) on which Lloyd Cole collaborated. Love this one.
Desert rose (The Adventures) from “Trading secrets with the moon” on Elektra


I love the sense of, for once, male empowerment and the honesty in this song, from Steve Earle.
I thought you should know (Steve Earle) from “The revolution starts now” on Esquared


Track now from the Eagles, before they got all West Coast cool, and knew how to write a really good country song...
Bitter Creek (The Eagles) from “Desperado” on Asylum


And speaking of the Eagles, epitomising the other side of the band, I've nevertheless always loved this one from Glenn Frey, from his solo work.
Part of me, part of you (Glenn Frey) from “The solo collection” on MCA


One of my all-time favourite bands, this is Marillion, from indeed an album which was one of the first I ever reviewed in this journal.
Wrapped up in time (Marillion) from “Happiness is the road, Volume I: “Essence” on Intact


One of Bowie's lesser-known hits, I've liked this since I discovered, way back when we had singles, that it was on the B-side of “Life on Mars”.
The man who sold the world (David Bowie) from “The man who sold the world” on Mercury


Another of my favourite bands, this is Shadow Gallery, with a lovely little track from the album “Carved in stone”.
Alaska (Shadow Gallery) from “Carved in stone” on Magna Carta


Powerful and moving track from Suzanne Vega's debut album.
The queen and the soldier (Suzanne Vega) from “Suzanne Vega” on A&M


Always loved this one from Gallagher and Lyle. Just reminds me of holidays. Not surprisingly, as it was once used in a TV ad for one of our (now defunct) travel agents.
Breakaway (Gallagher and Lyle) from “Breakaway” on A&M


And to wrap things up this time round, here's Threshold, from the album “Hypothetical”, with a really nice little ballad.
Keep my head (Threshold) from “Hypothetical” on InsideOut

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Robert William Gary Moore (April 4 1952 – February 6 2011)

Tomorrow marks the first anniversary of the tragic and untimely death of one of rock's most beloved and accomplished guitarists, a man who ate, slept, drank and breathed (and of course played) the blues like no other contemporary musician since the passing of the great Rory Gallagher. A man whose musical output stands as a testament to his talent, his eye for a song and his great and enduring love for the blues; a man who will be, and is, sorely missed at this time, and always.

In recognition of the loss of this great talent, we will be featuring Gary's music all next week, with album reviews, specials, top tens, information, tributes and anything else we can lay our hands on. “Gary Moore Week” will run from tomorrow, Monday February 6 2012 to Sunday February 12 2012. We will be featuring, at minimum, an album review a day --- sometimes more --- as well as specials crafted around the man's music, such as his instrumentals, his cover versions of blues songs and his best and worst work.

Join us then for a celebration of the man whose music informed a new generation about the power of the blues, and who has left behind a legacy few can match. Struck down at the age of only fifty-eight, Gary Moore surely had so much more to give, but fate will have its way, and all we can do is remember the giant star he was, and how his music affected us. If anyone would like to comment on Gary or his music feel free to drop a comment onto the journal, or email me if you have something specific you would like to hear or be featured.

For those who are not interested in Gary's music (shame on you! Why not?), don't despair, as we will still be running the usual regular features as well as some non-Gary Moore album reviews and sections. Going to be a busy week, both for the staff here and at Music Banter! Sorry guys, but it's all in a good cause!

Gary Moore: gone far too soon, but never forgotten, at least, not here.

Thanks for your time. We now return you to your regular scheduled programme...

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Haven't heard from the girls for a little while, so let's sample some more of my favourite female artistes. Kicking off with Alicia Keys, this is “Fallin'”.


One of my favourites from the late Laura Branigan, a big hit for her at the time, it's “Gloria”.


And another favourite from my (long distant) youth, Debbie Gibson, who I had such a crush on! This is from her album “Electric youth”, track called “We could be together”.


Full of energy and one of the top soul/disco acts of the time, it's the Pointer Sisters, with “Jump!”


And finally, the “smooth operator” herself, Sade, with a beautiful track from her first album, this is “Haunt me”.

84 is a bit of a nostalgic year for music for me, I loved some songs a lot from then. Jump by The Pointer Sisters is another of those. As is Sade's Smooth Operator. I remember when I first heard it, I was listening to Radio Luxembourg and I knew it would be big straight away, as did the DJ Andy Hollins. The whole Diamond Life album is great though and it just shows that records that sell huge can also be very good, people don't have to be snobby and ignore them later. Music that you have lived with for a long time becomes part of people's shared memories. I'm not sure I ever go off music that I truly love.

Laura Brannigan herself met an early death, both Gloria and Self Control were covers of Italian songs, the second song having a typically extravagant and inventive 80s video (which may remind some of Eyes Wide Shut, the Kubrick film).

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Ah, into the final week of the ABC we go, and we're up to the letter V. So who shall the worm choose? How about this one?

Today's Daily Earworm has been brought to you by the letter V, courtesy of The Vapors, and “Turning Japanese”.

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Robert William Gary Moore (April 4 1952 – February 6 2011)
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Today marks the first anniversary of the untimely and tragic death of one of rock's favourite sons, a modern icon and champion of the blues, and one of Ireland's, if not the world's most talented guitarists. Gary Moore died in Estepona in Spain one year ago today of a suspected heart attack. He was only fifty-eight.

During his time, Gary played with Thin Lizzy, being fast friends with founder and frontman Phil Lynott, who was to die in 1986, twenty-five years before Gary himself was taken from us. He also worked alongside some of the greats in the business, the respect and affection he held for figures like Albert Collins, BB King and George Harrison reflected in their participating in recording and/or performing with him. Raised listening to giants of the blues, Gary was hoisted on their shoulders and by the end of his career and too-short life, was proud and competent and respected enough to stand toe-to-toe, alongside his heroes. In the end, Gary leaves a legacy few can boast, and will go down as one of the greatest guitarists and proponents of the blues from certainly the twentieth century, if not of all time.

This week, we honour his memory in our own small way with seven days of tribute to the man who started at Skid Row and ended up doing what he loved to the end, playing the blues. Over the course of this week, right up to and including Sunday, we will be reviewing all, or as many of his albums as we can, side projects, live performances, and running special sections and features to remember the man of whom it was said, among many, many tributes following the news of his death, that he was “without question, one of the great Irish bluesmen. His playing was exceptional and beautiful. We won't see his like again”. (Bob Geldof)

Robert William Gary Moore was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, but left the north just as the “Troubles”, the conflict that raged across the border for nigh-on thirty years began, moving to Dublin and later to the UK. In Dublin he met a young black singer who was in a band with his mate Brendan “Brush” Sheils called Skid Row, and Gary joined the band as their guitarist, but soon after Phil Lynott left the band, eventually forming Thin Lizzy, whom Gary would later join on an on/off basis. Gary thrived in Skid Row, performing on both their official albums, and touring the USA with them, where he met one of his later idols, Fleetwood Mac's Peter Green. This would prove to be a turning point in Gary's young career, as Green took to the kid with the burgeoning talent, taking him under his wing and becoming his mentor, introducing him to a record label.

When he left Skid Row Gary decided to put out his own solo album (although it was released under the name of “The Gary Moore Band”) and sought the help of Lynott, who wrote some of the songs, and sang on most of it, also playing bass, which Shiels had taught him in recompense for having fired him from Skid Row. The album was well received but did nothing to break him commercially, so Gary then joined Thin Lizzy at Phil Lynott's behest, but was only really involved in three tracks, one of which made it onto Lizzy's album “Nightlife”, and would go on to become a solid standard for them. The version of “Still in love with you” though, that Gary performed on, bears little resemblance to the classic it later became.

The next year Gary left Lizzy to join John Hiseman's band, Colosseum II. They cut three albums (two of which were almost entirely instrumental) before disbanding, and Gary moved on, joining Thin Lizzy again in 1978. This was in fact the third time he had joined Lynott's band, as he had helped out in 1976 for one of their tours when Brian Robertson was unable to play, having injured himself. This time, however, he stayed long enough to record and be featured on an album, the only Thin Lizzy album he features in, “Black Rose: A rock legend”. He left shortly thereafter and did not return until after Lynott's death, in support of the Irish version of LiveAid, SelfAid, and again in 2005 for a reunion concert to mark the erection of a statue of Phil Lynott in Dublin.

His second album, on which Lynott again guested, was released in 1978, while he was still in Lizzy, and proved to be his breakout, containing the classic “Parisienne walkways”, on which Lynott takes the vocals but which is written by both. The record catapulted him to international stardom, and while on tour with Lizzy in the States, Gary decided to try to put together his own band, ending up with G-Force, with whom he released one album in 1980. It was successful but the band did not last, and it would be two more years before his first “proper” solo album since “Back on the streets” would hit the shelves.

“Corridors of power” (reviewed here elsewhere, and so not included in the many Gary Moore album reviews this week) was very successful, and brought his music firmly back into the public eye, with radio-friendly ballads like “Falling in love with you” and “Always gonna love you” sitting alongside hard-rockin' stuff like “Gonna break my heart again”, “End of the world” and “Cold hearted”. This album started a commercial “purple patch” for Gary which would last (with the exception of the next album) through to 1987, and along the way he would renew his partnership with Phil Lynott, just a year before the Thin Lizzy frontman's death.

After the success of the last of those albums, 1987's “Wild frontier”, Gary would soon return to the blues which had informed his first two albums, and with the exception of 1999's “A different beat”, which would prove a wild left-turn in direction for him, he never really deviated from that pattern. As a result, there were few if any singles and no more commercial successes like “Over the hills and far away”, “Empty rooms” or “Out in the fields”. To the general public, Gary disappeared from view after 1987, but he was still there, plugging away, playing and recording great albums right up to 2008, three years before he died. A timeless servant of the blues, the world is poorer and a little darker for the loss of Gary Moore, but brighter thanks to the wonderful music he left us to remember him by.


To open our tribute, I'd like to first feature two of Gary's albums, one of which I've always loved and one which I had not heard until I started putting together this tribute, but which has since become one of my favourites of his.


Wild frontier --- 1987 (Virgin)
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Starting off with one of my favourites of his, 1987's “Wild frontier” betrays Gary's deep connection to his Irish roots, and many of the songs on the album are either written about Ireland or in an Irish, celtic style. The album would have been topped off by having Phil Lynott sing the title track, as was Gary's intention, but Phil's passing the previous year put paid to that, and so Gary took the vocals himself. There's a huge feeling about this album, a feeling of wide-open spaces and nature, and yet at the same time the sense of being crushed and crowded and pinned down by the weight of history, particularly the troubled history of Northern Ireland. All drums were programmed, though no programmer is credited, and Gary uses only two other musicians on this, surely his most personal album.

It opens with “Over the hills and far away”, which was also released as a single, and the celtic feel is immediately evident, with fiddle and oileann pipe sounds made by Neil Carter on the keyboards, Gary's guitar as ever the star of the show as he tells the story of a man who must go to prison for a crime he did not commit, rather than betray the honour of the woman he loves. The sheer power in the song is almost breathtaking, reminiscent indeed of the very best of Big Country, with a huge sound and an atmosphere about the music that makes you think in terms of ancient battles and castles, men riding or marching to war, smoke and banners in the air, and shouts of “Freedom!” all around.

The title track then, is Gary's first and most direct reference to “The Troubles”, as we colloquially called the thirty-some years of sectarian violence, death and conflict that plagued Northern Ireland till just relatively recently. It's another powerful rocker, riding on squealing guitar from Gary, as he cries ”I remember the old country/ They called the Emerald Land/ And I remember my own home town/ Before the war began.” There's a lot of uninhibited anger in the song, anger for those who lost their lives for a pointless cause, but halfway there's a short, introspective little guitar passage, when he sings softly ”Those are the days I will remember/ Those are the days I must recall/ We count the cost/ Of those we lost/ And hope it's not in vain/ The bitter tears of all those years/ I hope we live to see those days again!” This was, of course, before peace, of a sort, came to Northern Ireland, thankfully.

After two strong tracks, I find “Take a little time” slightly weaker, a fast rocker built mostly on a keyboard melody, though with plenty of Gary's trademark screaming guitar. Top quality is soon restored however with the amazing instrumental “The loner”, which I have featured probably about three times already in my journal. The first song not written by Gary, it's a searing, emotional workout on the guitar which just wrenches at the heart, and demonstrates not just how proficient Gary's guitar playing was, but how he could make the instrument do just about anything he wanted it to: cry, sing, scream, yell, whisper.

I could definitely do without the cover of the Easybeats' “Friday on my mind” --- I didn't even know who they were until I heard this song, and I care less --- I think it takes from the general theme and feel of the album, and is a cheap attempt at creating a hit single for the album. Which in fact it was, but it does not to my mind reflect the kind of music I associate with Gary Moore, not at all. Much better is “Strangers in the darkness”, co-written with Neil Carter, which tells the harrowing story of the dispossessed, the homeless, the destitute, those who walk our streets, no matter where we live, and pass by as unnoticed by us as ghosts. The whole aura of the track is of desperation and danger, the vocal from Gary low and restrained until it rises as his guitar punches its way into the song, backed by Carter's expressive keys.

Gary sings of the woman who ”Sells her fading beauty/ To the passersby/ And tries to hide that far-off look/ That's in her eyes.” and as for the guy? Well, ”They found him after midnight/ On a city street/ A young man with a problem/ That he couldn't beat.” The guitar goes into overdrive as the song winds to its end and Gary asks ”Why is it no-one seems to care?” His other effort with Carter is next, the rocking, blazing “Thunder rising”, with not surprisingly a strong keyboard melody from Carter to lead the song in, in fact in some ways he emulates Darren Wharton on Thin Lizzy's “Angel of death”, his keys shimmering and racing while Gary pounds out the chords and sings with effortless power.

The celtic theme is back for “Johnny boy”, an almost acoustic, indeed almost acapella ballad sung in traditional Irish style by Gary, as he sings ”When I look to the west/ Out across the River Shannon/ I can still see you smiling / Johnny boy, oh Johnny boy.” Whether this is a reference to someone he lost, or just a generic character I don't know, but it's a moving and powerful song, amply demonstrating that the deepest emotions and the biggest effect can be achieved with the very minimum of instrumentation.

The next two tracks are twelve-inch (ask yer dad!) versions of two of the tracks, and so not really worth discussing, but the closer certainly is. Starting off with a very Journey-ish keyboard intro, quite similar in fact to “Who's crying now”, it's another ballad which again explores the plight of the lonely, this time two lovers who see each other, having broken up, but ignore each other, perhaps unable to look into the eyes they used to adore, or else just not caring, hatred or apathy having replaced love. Again, Gary looks at the problem from the view of both a woman and a man, cleverly (or not) simply switching “he” for “she”, “his” for “her” and repeating the same lyric in alternating verses, thereby avoiding laying the blame, as it were, at the feet of either. And so the lyric goes from ”Sometimes he sees her walking by/ He never looks her in the eye” to ”She doesn't know, she doesn't care/ What he is feeling” and so on. Great soulful little guitar solo to back up Carter's lush keyboards as the song moves towards its conclusion, as well as good backing vocals from the keyboard man.

Like I say, one of Gary's best albums, or certainly one of my favourites of his, “Wild frontier” occupies pride of place in my Gary Moore collection, alongside the likes of “Corridors of power” and “Run for cover”. Rarely has any artiste delved, I believe, so deeply into their own emotions and history to lay bare their soul and committed it to music. But then, with Gary you always got one hundred percent, and you would have expected no less.

TRACKLISTING

1. Over the hills and far away
2. Wild frontier
3. Take a little time
4. Friday on my mind
5. The loner
6. Strangers in the darkness
7. Thunder rising
8. Johnny boy
9. Crying in the shadows

(The album also contains 12” versions of both “Over the hills and far away” and “Wild frontier”, but as they're additional/bonus tracks I haven't included them in the tracklisting here. They will, however, be featured in another section to be run during the week.)

Dark days in Paradise --- 1997 (Virgin)
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If Gary can be said to have had three distinct phases in his music, or at least, his album releases, this would be from the third stage. The first I see as being his debut period, from 1973-1982, which left him relatively unknown up to the release of “Corridors of power”, then a sequence of albums that brought him more to the attention of mainstream music listeners with some hit singles during a period stretching from 1982 to 1987, (his "purple patch", if you like, at least commercially) where after “Wild frontier”, though he continued to make albums --- and great ones --- he seems to have stepped back from the spotlight and concentrated on more blues and rock than hit singles, leading the uncognescenti (is that a word?) to mistakenly believe that his last album was “Wild frontier”, and remembering him (again inaccurately) as “that guy who wrote Parisienne walkways and Empty rooms”, and maybe “your man who sang with Phil Lynott on Out in the fields”.

Sadly, outside the Thin Lizzy fanbase and his own, and to all others who refuse to appreciate good rock music, Gary Moore's career consisted of the above three highlights, and he had “a few albums”, but generally speaking he would appear (to them) to have dropped out of sight circa 1988. Of course, that's not the case: Gary was making records up to his death last year, his last effort being a live set from Montreaux recorded the previous year and released in 2011. But his last studio album came in 2008, when he recorded “Bad for you baby”.

“Dark days in Paradise” pulls away a little from the overall rock/blues flavour of albums he had recorded post-1987, with a softer, more balladic and even pop-oriented feel, but this did not serve to relaunch his successful singles count from the 80s, and after it he decided to try dance music (bad move, Gary! What were you thinking??) before falling back on his old faithful, the blues, for another six fine albums, including one with his new band Scars, before his untimely death.

“One good reason” gets us underway, with a low-key, almost mono vocal to start, before the guitars and drums blast in and things get going, with the addition of what sounds like violins, which was a new thing for Gary to include in his sound. It's a passable opener, nothing terribly special though, and moves on to the darker, moodier “Cold wind blows”, with thick bass and an almost Native American rhythm, Gary's voice firmly lodged in the lower register as he adds layers of menace to the song with his deep, dark drawl, the song mostly carried by the rhythm section. Even the guitar, when it inevitably comes in on a solo, sounds very western and Indian-like. Interesting song.

Another shift in musical direction, “I have found my love in you” is a laidback cool soul ballad, piano-led with a nice keyboard line that reminds me of Rose Royce's “Love don't live here anymore”. It's a nice song, though very unexpected, and you would have to wonder if Gary was deliberately trying to write songs that could take him back to the charts? He writes everything on this album solo, so there's really no other influence to blame; all the decisions must surely be his. It seems there may be very little in the way of fretburning solos on this album.

The tracks are quite long too, most over five minutes, with a few hitting six, and one monster seventeen-minuter (though it does contain the title track hidden within it). “One fine day” is a decent rocker, with some pop elements, almost Beatles-like with a little Marillion circa “Anoraknophobia” in there too, some nice keyboard flourishes from Magnus Fiennes and Phil Nicholas. It's an uptempo, optimistic song as Gary sings ”One fine day/ We will walk in the sunshine/ One fine day/ We will reach to the stars.” It's also the first song where the guitar starts to come to the fore, which in and of itself is almost unheard of on a Gary Moore album: the guitar is always king on his recordings, but here it's a little late arriving to the party. Still, when it does arrive, it's the life and soul, and worth having waited for.

A beautiful, tender ballad then on “Like angels”, with some nice backing vocals and a really nice keyboard and piano line, though Gary's guitar does lead this song again. This is the first time we really hear him cut loose with one of those oh-so-emotive solos we're used to hearing though, and it's wonderful to hear. Actually, there are two solos, each as good as the other, the second of which fades out the song. Great stuff. “What are we here for” is another dark, moody track, similar to “Cold wind blows” but with a lighter, slightly more upbeat melody. More funky, dancelike beats in “Always there for you”, which has a general balladic construction but kind of pops along on a dancy bassline. Not mad about that one, have to say. Shivering presentiment of what would come on the next album...

There's definitely more of a pop than a rock sound to the low-key “Afraid of tomorrow”, with something that sounds like a sitar, but is probably made on a synth. Again, Gary's guitar takes something of a back seat here, letting the keyboards take the main melody while he adds more or less rhythm guitar, though it's quite obvious that the guitar is in there, just not leading. More eastern-style influences on the keyboards, with a false ending and then reprise to the end. But if you thought “Like angels” was the standout ballad, you've yet to hear “Where did we go wrong?”

Without question the standout track on the album, I'd even mark it down as one of the top five best ballads from Gary Moore. It just has everything. Opening guitar and keyboard line, impassioned vocal from Gary, lovely hooks that just lodge right in your brain and, to be honest, bring the tears every time I listen to this excellent song. It's worth the price of the album on its own, a real harkback to the classic Gary Moore ballads we've been blessed with. Very Floyd “Dark-side-of-the-moon” style backing vocals add another level to the song, with soulful keys and beautiful string arrangement and then to top it all off, a fantastic, heartstring-tugging guitar solo from the man himself, which, I'm glad to report, lasts the whole two minutes plus to fade out the song. Stunning.

I would have been happy for the album to end there, but there's still over seventeen minutes of music to be heard. “Business as usual” is an epic thirteen minutes long, which I think qualifies as Gary's longest track ever. It opens on wibbly (Yeah, I said "wibbly": what of it??) keyboard and acoustic strummed guitar, turning into, unbelievably, another super-powerful and emotional ballad. And now I'm confused. I had picked "the previous track as the standout, but this is just as good, perhaps better! Where did the guy get the creative energy? After a song like “Where did we go wrong?” you would think he would have been drained, but no, there's more left in the gastank, and so “Business as usual” fights hard for the place of standout, and it's a close run thing. Beautiful string arrangement as the song moves to the halfway point, then around the eight-minute mark the tempo picks up slightly, and Gary's guitar takes over.

The title track comes in a few seconds after the end of this epic, and to be fair it's something of a disappointment, with its calypso/island rhythm. It's a hidden track, and would probably be better remaining hidden, as “Business as usual” makes a far better closer.

This album has undoubtedly some weak tracks, but I believe the good ones more than make up for the few duff songs, and although “Dark days in Paradise” is a much less rockier album than his previous efforts, and with a lot less blues than the ones that would follow, it has managed to find a way onto my top ten Gary Moore albums, which surprises no-one more than myself, but the more I listen to it the more I like it. It's certainly an important and almost unique release in the long catalogue of this master of the guitar and proponent of the blues.

TRACKLISTING

1. One good reason
2. Cold wind blows
3. I have found my love in you
4. One fine day
5. Like angels
6. What are we here for
7. Always there for you
8. Afraid of tomorrow
9. Where did we go wrong
10. Business as usual (incorporating “hidden” track, Dark days in Paradise)

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Now, no-one would be surprised to hear that Carole King was still making albums. In a career spanning over forty years, she's been making music for almost as long as I've been alive (okay, okay, add ten years! Humph! Hate being old!) and has had more number one singles and charting albums than you can shake a decent-sized stick at (why would anyone want to do such a thing? But I digress...), in addition to writing hits for huge stars like James Taylor, Celine Dion and the Monkees, in particular with her husband and writing partner Gerry Goffin. She's a music legend, even if many people only know her by the songs she's written for other people, and music is obviously in her blood, so reaching the tender age of forty-seven (at the time of the release of the album I'm going to look at here: she's seventy this year!) was surely going to be no barrier to her continuing her career.

What did blow me away though was how she could still turn out a classic album at that age, this being her eleventh album at the time, and usually at this point in their career artistes like her tend to get by on past glories, with greatest hits compilations, tributes, live albums and collections keeping the money steadily streaming towards their door. But the album she put out in 1989, after six years inaction on the music scene, was quite frankly phenomenal.

City streets --- Carole King --- 1989 (Capitol)
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It's an album with no bad tracks, and some really excellent ones. Not surprisingly, it's all self-penned, mostly with other writers and twice with Goffin, but she has an input into every track. She also produces the album, in addition to playing guitar, piano and synth and of course singing. As you might expect she ropes in some guest stars, though the album is not overpopulated with star names, as it could have been. One of those stars guests on the title track, someone you may have had a passing acquaintance with, guy by the name of Clapton? I predict big things for this talented guitarist...! ;) The opener and title track is a pop/rock bouncer, with great keyboard lines and as already mentioned, guitar courtesy of God Himself, a great solo from him at the end of the song. Also some nice sax, and of course Carole's singing hardly need be praised anymore than it has been down the years.

It's a strong opener, and in a way there's a sense of trepidation, as you wonder has King injected everything into that one track, leaving filler in its wake? Nothing could be further from the truth though thankfully, as the cool funk of “Sweet life” shows in spades, with nice jangly guitar, some cool organ and a very upbeat and positive message: ”You can't keep living inside your head/ In a prison cell all your own/ Just let yourself go/ Get your body out of bed/ You don't have to do it all alone.” This, if no other track, personifies Carole's optimistic attitude and view on life. Easy to have, I hear you say, if you have her millions, but there's something infectious about her optimism, and it certainly comes through in this song.

Things slow down then with a half-ballad, “Down to the darkness”, which despite its ominous title is nevertheless a song of hope, as Carole sings ”I know you're gonna take me/ Down to the darkness/ Oh, but I want you to.” Some really nice percussion here from Omar Hakim, steady piano from Carole herself, the lady getting a little raunchy on the vocals, a deep organ keeping the melody behind her. “Lovelight” is a bright and breezy little uptempo pop tune then, with an almost Peter Gabriel feel about it, circa “So”, nice backing vocals on a wistful plea for the rekindling of love. Great little splash of rock guitar, this time from Mark Bosch, and the song gives way to the first real ballad, a delicate piano acoustic which recalls the best of Fleetwood Mac's “Songbird”. “I can't sop thinking about you” is a simple, plain song with a really heartfelt message, some nice country-style piano as Carole asks ”Why did you show me all your colours/ When you knew that I was blind?” It's lyrics like that, which get right to the point in a subtle and yet intense way, that have helped make her the success she has been for four decades now.

This song is a duet with Paul Hipp, who also plays guitar on the track, and with whom King had a collaboration in an off-Broadway show she acted in with him. Some really soulful trombone from Nick Lane and sultry sax from the great Michael Becker really add something to this song, and it's a beautiful, perfect little ballad, crafted by a master songsmith. It's followed by “Legacy”, a powerful rocker that starts off slowly on a piano line that reminds me of Laura Branigan's “The lucky one”, but soon ramps up into a fast uptempo bopper, something close to the opener, with some great solid organ, powerful drumming from the E Street Band's Max Weinberg. It's one of two tracks on the album she co-wrote with Rudy Guess, who also helped her produce the album, the other being “Sweet life”.

This is an album with no “tipping point”, and you would think that after a great stormer like “Legacy” this is where the quality might begin to dip, but not a bit of it. Clapton reprises his role on “Ain't that the way”, the last of four tracks on the album penned solo by Carole. It's a slow, bluesy ballad with heavy organ and as mentioned Clapton's signature guitar sound, rock fusing with blues fusing with slow gospel, another simple song about human relationships, which is where Carole King shines, and always has done. Things jump back up a gear then for “Midnight flyer”, on which Carole renews her songwriting partnership with ex-husband Gerry Goffin, and you can just hear the years fall away as the song bops along, not a care in the world. A truly exceptional turn by the legendary Branford Marsalis adds layers of class to what is already a great song, with some right-on harmonica courtesy of another great, Jimmy “Z” Zavala, and though that sounds like banjo there in the break near the end, I guess it's just someone being very creative on the guitar, as no banjo player is credited.

Most artistes --- young or old --- would surely have a problem maintaining this level of quality on an album, but Carole has no such problems, as she effortlessly launches into “Homeless heart” with a huge AOR keyboard hook, and backing vocals by her and Gerry Goffin's daughter, Sherry. A mid-paced half-ballad, it evokes uneasy images of wandering through a city at night with a lot on your mind, with a great piano line and some really nice guitar, and the kind of piano solo to fade the song out that would have made it a satisfactory closer, but it's not the last track.

The album closes on another simple piano ballad, in fact a song written by Carole originally for Air Supply. The tender, supportive lyric of “Someone who believes in you”, the other song on which she collaborates with Gerry Goffin, evokes the very best of Carole King, the sort of songs that could, and did, last down the years, and pass into musical history. This song deserves the same distinction, however it seems the record-buying public did not agree, and the album did so badly that it is now out of print. Truly a crime, however my vinyl copy is safely under lock and key.

Hard to believe that after nearly twenty years of recording and writing hit songs, that Carole King could still come up with a gem like this, but “City streets” certainly proved that she was, and is, a force to be reckoned with. I was, to quote a phrase, gobsmacked, having expected nothing that great and been totally overwhelmed by the quality on this album. Just proves, some things only improve with age.

TRACKLISTING

1. City streets
2. Sweet life
3. Down to the darkness
4. Lovelight
5. I can't stop thinking about you
6. Legacy
7. Ain't that the way
8. Midnight flyer
9. Homeless heart
10. Someone who believes in you

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All the world's a stage Part I --- Gary Moore live

Just a collection of videos of live performances from various gigs, showing what a consummate showman and supremely talented guitarist Gary was. Whether with Thin Lizzy or solo, Gary always gave one hell of a show! We'll be (hopefully) featuring a set of these every day during Gary Moore Week. Here's the first collection.
“Still got the blues” from “Still got the blues” (location/year unknown)

“Where are you now” (unreleased track) (Montreaux, 2010)

“Separate ways” from “After hours” (Live Blues, year/location unknown)

“The boys are back in town” from “Jailbreak” (One night in Dublin: tribute to Phil Lynott, 2005)

“Parisienne walkways” from “Back on the streets” (Monsters of Rock, Sheffield, year unknown)

“The Messiah will come again” from “After the war” (Montreaux 1990)

“Stormy Monday” (with Albert King) from “Back to the blues” (Hammersmith Odeon, 1990)

“All messed up” from “Wild frontier” (Stockholm, year unknown)

“Empty rooms” from “Victims of the future” (Stockholm, 1987)

“End of the world” from “Corridors of power” (possibly Dublin SFX, 1984)

Two apologies. Of sorts.

1. Most importantly, to the Mods. I know this Gary Moore Week is going to provide you with more work in a week on my journal than you would normally have in two, but there is an awful lot for me to get through, and it all has to be in the space of seven days. So I hope you'll bear with me guys as the posts come flooding in in what will appear to be an almost ceaseless flow as I try to ensure everything I wrote/write gets published before Sunday ends.

It's a lot of work, yes, but I think a huge talent like Gary Moore deserves to be properly honoured and remembered, and I hope you agree. Incidentally, whoever is on at the moment, thanks for posting my stuff so far so quickly!

2. To anyone else: the nature of this tribute is going to invariably result in the repetition of certain songs/videos, as for instance one may feature in the instrumentals section and also in best songs, or whatever. I apologise for the repeats, but will do my best to keep them to a minimum, and to as far as possible ensure that where a song is repeated, I try to use a different video.

3. I am not, however, going to apologise to anyone who's pissed off at there being so much Gary Moore material here this week, ie people who are not into Gary's music, as you have your own problems, serious ones if you cannot appreciate this giant among guitarists. Educate yourselves! :) Seriously, try clicking some of the links: you might be surprised!

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The worm knows exactly what track he wants today...

Today's Daily Earworm has been brought to you by the letter W, featuring the Waterboys, with “A bang on the ear”.

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Dirty fingers --- 1984 (Jet)
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Following the critically-acclaimed and fan favourite “Corridors of power”, this album continues the mixture of hard rock and tasteful ballads started on its predecessor and seen again on albums like “Victims of the future” and “Run for cover”. It opens with “Hiroshima”, a fast but grinding hard rocker which evidenced Gary's occasional foray into political themes on his albums. The chorus is a little twee, and the song is not as hard-hitting as the music suggests it could be, but although it's a shaky start the album does get better. Well, sort of. A bit. The title track is a short, one-minute instrumental which is really little more than Gary running up and down the scale on his guitar and showing off, then “Bad news” is a hard rocker with real bite, very guitar-led and quite Zeppelin in its approach.

“Dirty fingers” displays a more raucous, wild side to Gary Moore's music; whereas previous outing “Corridors of power” was a polished, professional and slick product with just about every track on it worth listening to, this album feels like it belongs to an earlier time, a time perhaps when Gary was still finding his feet, when he was just making music for the fun of it. It really sounds about ten years older than it should be, and even “Grinding stone” sounds more professional than this. Which is not to say it's a bad album, but the polish is definitely not there.

A cover of the Animals' “Please don't let me be misunderstood” doesn't do a lot to raise the quality, though he does a decent job of it, with Don Airey laying down some smooth organ grooves. Oddly enough, with production from Chris Tsangarides and Gary himself, it all seems a little muddy, at least thus far, with the guitar sounding a little too grungy and even muffled at times, and it's a million miles removed from “Corridors...” Another hard rocker, “Run to your mama” isn't bad, but it's nothing terribly special, decent backing vocals with a nice boogie rhythm, but it's not until “Nuclear attack” that things finally get going.

With a guitar riff shamelessly ripped off Rainbow's “All night long”, it's a powerful, driving rocker which warns of the impending danger of a global war. Gary's voice sounds better here for the first time to me, clearer, less forced and growly. The guitar sounds great too, as Gary cries ”The Russians are ready/ The US is armed/ They're trying to tell us/ There's no cause for alarm!” It has a great keyboard hook which in its turn must have been grabbed by Europe, for their megahit “The final countdown”. Great ambulance sounds made on the guitar add to the feeling of panic and paranoia engendered by the lyric, and it's pretty close to the standout, though then again from what I've said about the album so far, that really means it's the first track I like.

Unfortunately, after that “Kidnapped” is fairly standard rock fare, nothing marks it out at all, and then “Really gonna rock”, as you might expect, is another unremarkable rocker, basically “Rockin' every night” from the previous album slightly rewritten. It's got plenty of energy, yes, but that's about it. I suppose every rock album has to have a track like this, the obligatory “gonna rock ya” song. Keeping things heavy and fast, “Lonely nights”, which you would surely expect to be a ballad, is nothing of the sort. Hard grinding guitar, thumping drums and some rather nice backing vocals lift this song just a little out of the ordinary, but it's the closer that saves the album. Almost.

One of Gary's finest ballads, it's almost out of place on what is generally to my mind a pretty mediocre album. Carried on gentle twangly guitar with a soulful, hurt vocal from Gary, it's the sad tale of the spirit of a loved one who refuses to leave, perhaps not realising they're dead. Losing your lover is bad enough, sings Gary, but when they won't go to their reward it makes it doubly harder: ”Rest, rest in peace/ You have gone, please leave me alone./ Rest, rest in peace/ You must go/ Heaven is your home now.” Of course, it can be argued that it's just the memory of the girl that persists in the man's memory, rather than some sort of supernatural visitation. Lovely sweeping synth from Airey helps create the eerie atmosphere of the song, and Gary's singing is heartfelt and moving.

Of course, no ballad of Gary's would be complete without the requisite emotional guitar solo, and so it proves here, the song riding on the edgy, ethereal guitarwork of the master, and it's a fine, and mostly unexpected closer to an album which I sadly have to rate as one of Gary's least impressive. Were it recorded in the seventies I could maybe make allowances, but on the back of fine releases like “Corridors of power” and “Back on the streets”, this one is a big disappointment, bar the two excellent tracks which help to partially save it.

TRACKLISTING

1. Hiroshima
2. Dirty fingers
3. Bad news
4. Don't let me be misunderstood
5. Run to your mama
6. Nuclear attack
7. Kidnapped
8. Really gonna rock
9. Lonely nights
10. Rest in peace

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It may be predictable, but then there really was ever only one team-up where Gary was concerned. Twice he paired up with his old mucker Phil Lynott to record what turned out to be two big hit singles, both of which we feature below. The combination of Phil's thick Dublin accent and Gary's either screaming or sobbing guitar was just magical, and created two classic songs.

Gary Moore and Phil Lynott --- Parisienne walkways
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A song that has forever gone down as Gary's signature tune, it's that more of an achievement for him as he has no hand in the singing, unlike the other collaboration with Lynott. But though Phil sings the vocals, and it's his voice you remember as the one telling the story of the song, it is and ever will be Gary's powerful yet tender and reflective guitar work that makes “Parisienne walkways” what it is. Even moreso live, when he could really stretch out the guitar solo, this became a staple of his live show, the “Free bird” or “Still in love with you” from his repertoire. A bittersweet look back to an affair, possibly a holiday one, that ended, the lyric is sparse though effective, with only two short verses and no chorus, but it's the virtuoso performance by Gary on the guitar that really gives the song its heart, and its soul, and for which we remember it best.

Gary Moore and Phil Lynott --- Out in the fields
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The other song on which the two combined their talents is of course “Out in the fields”, taken from the 1985 album “Run for cover”. It's a powerful indictment of war and particularly religion-driven war, with not surprisingly a strong emphasis on the at the time ongoing conflict in Northern Ireland, a subject close to the hearts of both Irishmen. Written by both Gary and Phil, with the vocal shared between the two, it's a fast rocker that gets a little frenetic as it approaches its sudden end, with a really excellent guitar solo from Gary to finish it.

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After the war --- 1989 (Virgin)
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The last straight-ahead rock album Gary released before his return to the blues, “After the war” is bookended by two instrumentals, both called “Dunluce”, part 1 opening the album and part 2 closing it. Both are celtic-influenced, as are other tracks on the album, carrying over his Irish heritage displayed on the previous “Wild frontier”. The album utilises many guests, including Don Airey, Sam Brown, Ozzy Osbourne and Brian Downey. The title track is quite AOR in its way, almost harking more back to 1985's “Run for cover” than “Wild frontier”, with a softer, keyboard-led approach, longtime contributor Neil Carter on the keys as well as Airey, and I find the song in fact to have a very definite Alan Parsons Project feel, especially in the keyboard arpeggios.

“Speak for yourself”, one of three tracks on the album on which Gary collaborates again with Carter, is heavier, rockier and more in line with tracks on “Wild frontier”, very much more guitar-oriented. The rock style continues with “Livin' on dreams”, with a more boogie feel, guitar again very much to the fore, and in some ways resembling Thin Lizzy's “Dancin' in the moonlight”, while “Led clones”, with its mock-”Kashmir” melody is a poke at bands who try to emulate Led Zeppelin, and features Ozzy Osbourne on vocals. I think --- though I may not be right --- this is the first time Gary ever handed over vocal duties to anyone, other than Phil Lynott. I hope Ozzy was suitably honoured.

The beautiful instrumental “The Messiah will come again” brings a lull in the rock, one of the few instrumentals Gary has ever included on his albums. It's a cover, but does not suffer for it, given here the full Gary Moore treatment as his guitar wails and sighs, rises and falls and describes the most exquisite arcs in the musical firmament, tearing at your heartstrings in a way few musicians can do, without the benefit of words. The contribution made by the organ sounds of Airey and Martin can't be overstated either. In a word, stunning.

Sounding unaccountably like “Out in the fields”, things speed right up and rock on with “Running from the storm”, with Martin's keyboards back playing a fairly prominent role, then “This thing called love” thunders along with a great fun vibe and tons of energy before “Ready for love” takes a more mid-paced, AOR approach, with the wonderful Sam Brown on backing vocals adding her inimitable touch to the song. The last song, as such, is an epic tribute to the late Phil Lynott, one of Gary's greatest friends, and recalling Gary's youth growing up in Belfast.

“Blood of emeralds” is a celtic-styled rocker, with a sort of marching beat, the last of the songs on the album to feature writing from Neil Carter. It's a powerful, anthemic song with backing vocals from Andrew Eldritch of Sisters of Mercy. It has a slow, introspective section in the middle, making it quite close to being progressive rock really, one of the few times Gary would attempt such a thing. The album then closes properly on the second part of the instrumental “Dunluce”.

TRACKLISTING

1. Dunluce Part 1
2. After the war
3. Speak for yourself
4. Livin' on dreams
5. Led clones
6. The Messiah will come again
7. Running from the storm
8. This thing called love
9. Ready for love
10. Blood of emeralds
11. Dunluce Part 2

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Well, my first choice for review of a 2012 album went less than swimmingly. Let's hope it's second time lucky for the new year. Joseph Arthur has built himself a strong and dedicated following over fifteen years gigging and a virtual plethora of albums, EPs, Promos, soundtracks and other works too numerous to mention. Talk about prolific! In only a decade and a half he's released nine full albums, of which this is the most recent.

Redemption City --- Joseph Arthur --- 2012 (Self-released)
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Discovered by Peter Gabriel in 1997, Arthur signed to the man's RealWorld label, the first ever American artist to do so, but later broke away to work with other, independent labels, finally forming his own, on which he released his last three albums. This one, however, he has released for consumption directly via the internet as soon as he had completed it, so technically it's not on any label, though perhaps it may surface on his own label, Lonely Astronaut, in some form.

Arthur has made his reputation through intensely personal songs and his habit of making all his live shows instantly available after the gig, like those bad bootleg tapes we used to buy (what? Bootleg? What? Tapes? Ah, yer too young, kid!), with the major difference that Arthur's “bootlegs” are first of all legit, as it's his music and he's selling them, and also they are of course of far higher quality than the hissy, squeaky C90s with annoying crowd chatter we used to buy. Look, it was a different time, okay?

This is a double CD, so there's a lot to get through. Disc one opens with “Travel as equals”, which starts almost as a poem with just percussion and a little piano before it kicks up and becomes a mid-paced rock/folk song, Arthur's singing a little odd, almost like a stream of words just one after the other, in some ways like a folk musician attempting a rap. Well, not really, but you'd have to hear it to understand. It's only the verses though, as on the chorus he sings normally. Perhaps there's a hint of early Dylan in there, though I'm not a fan personally. Little touch of David Byrne, maybe.

It's a good opener and certainly doesn't disappoint, and it's followed by “Wasted days”, even more like a rap by a folkster. I could almost compare it to Nick Cave at his more restrained drawling his rap over the music, or maybe Matt Johnson in his less angry moments. The song is another mid-pacer, with a nice keyboard line and some sort of popping percussion. It's hard to know what the instruments are, as they're not credited, but there's a very good, and original reason for that: Joseph Arthur plays every single instrument on this album. He also writes every song and produced and arranged it: small wonder then that it took almost three years to create.

There's something very attractive about Joseph Arthur's music, hard to put your finger on. It's almost like you get a front-row seat at one of his shows, or get inside his head or his heart. It's that personal and intimate. “Mother of exiles” is a little funkier, with talkbox guitar and smooth bass, and does indeed evoke the best of The The in its atmosphere, dark and brooding and just a little dangerous. “Yer only job” is more uptempo and happy, and as you listen to the record you realise that, as Arthur says on his own website, this is not just a recording: it's a city. It's a city with streets and laybys and avenues and cars with cats in them and a night sky and shops and garages, and many, many dark and unexplored places, and it takes a while to walk the city and see all it has to offer.

So this review will be a little longer than usual, not only because the album is a double, but because I would like to do this work justice, and not skip over anything if I can. The guy was good enough to allow people download it for free from his website, so the least I can do is give it a proper review. “I miss the zoo” is a lovely, guitar led ballad with a definite r&b feel, and I can hear so many people in this album --- Mark Knopfler, Matt Johnson, Bruce Springsteen, Paddy McAloon and more. So many styles and yet the one style, so many voices and yet all singing the same song to the same tune. In some ways, Joseph Arthur is showing how a certain type of rap can work with music if it's approached properly. It doesn't all have to be angry and forceful, guys. I'm sure there are some rappers who would really appreciate how Arthur uses what they probably see as their medium in a whole new way.

Some pretty weird, discordant effects accompany “There with me”, though the song is again slow and relaxed, and I'm put in mind of telephones dialling, as on ELO's “Telephone line”, with some spacey synth sounds. This is a short track, but just as I'm thinking it's going to be an instrumental the voice cuts in, but the lyric is kind of sparse and really more an extra instrument than anything else. It goes into “No surrender comes for free”, with a big powerful drum sound and smooth slide guitar, kicking up the tempo in an almost country style, Arthur's vocal double-tracked and time-delayed so that it sounds like he's harmonising with himself. Clever touch.

“Night clothes” opens as a Gabrielesque, jungle-type rhythm with deep, funky bass and synth, swaggering keys in the background, and a sweet little guitar solo near the end, which takes us into the title track, a real folk-style handclapper with a really lovely line in synth and some very effective percussion. An interesting lyric where every line of the verses seems to begin with the words “Redemption City”, but the chorus has no mention of the city, just finding redemption. Nice twist. Some great mandolin really adds an extra layer to the melody as the song begins to wind down. “Barriers” is almost a piece of freeform instrumental electronica, then “You're not the only one” is a heavy, dramatic melody led by a madly screeching guitar, forming a backdrop to a laconic vocal from Arthur, which in part recalls the solo work of the Cars' Ric Ocasek.

The first disc ends on “So far from free”, a laidback, breezy, almost ethereal melody that carries another double vocal. I have to say one of the voices sounds female, though if Arthur really does play every instrument and sing every voice, maybe it's technical trickery that allows his voice to go up several octaves, or maybe it's just an uncredited female singer, though it seems, from what I've learned of Joseph Arthur, he gives credit where it's due, so it's unlikely he would have a backing singer and not mention her. Anyway, it's a nice slow, understated ending to the first part of the album, and I'm impressed so far, that's for sure.

And as disc two opens, we're faced with by far the longest track on the album. Arthur has stated on his website that the two parts of the album can be listened to separately, that those who, for one reason or another, dislike double albums can listen to the first part and not miss anything. He has said that the songs on the first part, the first disc, are ”the deep cuts, which would have otherwise remained on the cutting room floor or else been leaked out over time in various ways, fragmented beings with no brothers or sisters or home. I think both parts serve to strengthen the whole. They are relating to each other and breathing back and forth. They are each other’s shadow and hold hands when no one is watching.” (Verbatim from Joseph Arthur | Redemption City, new album available for FULL FREE DOWNLOAD [HQ])

If that's true, then anyone who decided not to download the second disc is right away poorer for the experience, as the opener, “Surrender to the storm” is a beautiful, lazy and yet powerful ballad with some exceptional guitar, atmospheric keys and runs for over eleven minutes! If nothing else, this track is a showcase for just how multi-talented Joseph Arthur is, able to play all those disparate instruments, and excel at each one, in addition to his other many talents like singing and songwriting, and producing. Talk about an all-round man! If Arthur were charging for the album --- he's not: you can make a donation, but the album can be downloaded for nothing --- then “Surrender to the storm” would be worth the price by itself.

Most of the track seems to be an incredibly intense instrumental, with scattered singing here and there, just where he believes it's needed, and it works beautifully. My only fear is that, with a song as amazing as this to start off the second disc, can this top quality be maintained, or has Arthur poured all his heart and soul into this one track, leaving if not filler, then surely lower standard material to take up the rest of the disc? Well, “Fractures” starts off as another spoken word/rap deal, but then takes off on the back of some very new-wave synthery, punchy percussion and some nice backing vox, lending the thing a kind of semi-gospel air, while deep organ and drum machines take “Free freedom” in, and now I realise who that semi-rap/semi-sung vocal reminds me of: it's the Pet Shop Boys, though with a lot more emotion than Neil Tennant ever showed on their music.

“Touched” is another mid-paced track with a mostly spoken vocal, some jazzy guitar, sort of cushioned percussion and a great little sax break, then “Follow” is much more laidback, an ambient little piece with strange almost falsetto vocal from Joseph, the song itself fading it seems rather suddenly, then we're into a discordant “Kandinsky”, very off-key, very weird and a strange little song that I really don't get, nor like particularly. Still, that's eighteen tracks into an album of twenty-four, and this is the first one I haven't enjoyed. Not a bad ratio, really. It's followed by the atmospheric “Humanity fade”, where Arthur warns of the dangers of being too reliant on the internet and computers: ”We are connected to the mainframe/ With our souls plugged in/ Our spirits are now digital/ We wear electical skin.” There's a brooding sense of danger and rising panic about the song, which basically keeps the same melody all the way through, but the intensity seems to somehow build anyway.

“Sleepless” has a nice little dancy bassline and some whistling keyboards, what sounds I think like some more talkbox guitar, and no real vocal to speak of, then the track with the longest title on the album, “It takes a lot of time to live in the moment”, is another dancy number with a spoken vocal, but a shorter track. Piano leads “Visit us”, a nice easy ballad with a delightfully lazy drumline and some delicate synthwork, again little in the way of vocals, similar to “Sleepless”, while “I am the Mississippi" has a lovely gentle guitar opening against a backdrop of sumptuous synth, a spoken vocal which allows you to effortlessly float down the mighty river in question, watching the scenery as you drift by, then the album ends as it began --- as the whole, two-disc experience began --- with “Travel as equals (reprise)”, a slowed down, gentle and almost acoustic version of the opener which brings everything full circle.

This is the first time I have heard of Joseph Arthur, never mind heard his music, and I am seriously impressed. This would not be the sort of thing I would normally seek out, but once I heard “Travel as equals” I knew it was quite likely that I would enjoy this album. However, I did not for a moment envisage how deeply it would affect me. Having heard “Redemption city”, I'm now eager to hear more of this man's work. How amazing that you can have an experience like this, and not even be asked to pay for it, which I would have, and will if asked.

Truly an artist for the age, it would be rather hard to travel as Joseph Arthur's equal, as I believe he has few if any who come anywhere close to his talent. You really have to hear this album, and hey, it won't even cost you a cent! What have you to lose?

TRACKLISTING

DISC 1

1. Travel as equals
2. Wasted days
3. Mother of exiles
4. Yer only job
5. I miss the zoo
6. There with me
7. No surrender comes for free
8. Night clothes
9. Redemption City
10. Barriers
11. You're not the only one
12. So far from free

DISC 2

1. Surrender to the storm
2. Fractures
3. Free freedom
4. Touched
5. Follow
6. Kadinsky
7. Humanity fade
8. Sleepless
9. It takes a lot of time to live in the moment
10. Visit us
11. I am the Mississippi
12. Travel as equals (reprise)

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It's always interested (sometimes annoyed) me that different, often wildly different, songs can have the same title. There are of course some titles which are seen as sacrosanct --- no-one in their right mind is going to call a song “Stairway to Heaven”, for instance, or “Free bird”, or even “Bat out of Hell”. These titles are already so famous and forever tied in with the songs they represent that anyone seeing them credited to another artist would just assume they were covers of the original, and no-one wants that if this is a new song we're talking about.

There are also long or obscure titles, titles no-one but the original artist would consider using. “Scenes from an Italian restaurant”. “Over the hills and far away”. “Christmas card from a hooker in Minneapolis.” These are inspired titles, unique titles and no-one else would think of using them. They pretty much fit the song that has been written and would not fit any other. But most other things are game. Words are words, after all, and there is no copyright on a song title, so far as I know.

And so we end up with many songs which have the same title, but are completely different, often by artistes working in totally separate genres. I want to explore one of these here today, in this first edition of this new section. I'm going to be taking a look at a song which has had several incarnations under the one name, two in fact by the same artiste. It's called “Open all night”.

Open all night (Bruce Springsteen) from “Nebraska”
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Bruce's version comes from the acoustic album “Nebraska”, and is a fast, rockabilly-style song of a guy out on the road heading home. As do all the tracks on the album, it features only the Boss himself, on guitar with no percussion, keyboards, bass, anything, but somehow he manages to make the guitar sound like a full band. His voice, too, sounds like it's coming from some sort of empty auditorium, with a sound both big and expansive and also intimate.

Open all night (Georgia Satellites) from “Open all night”
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Another rockin' track from the Georgia Satellites, this actually surprisingly contains some similar melodies to Springsteen's version, though it's a slower, more bluesy feel to it, kind of southern boogie. From the album of the same name, it's a great rocker.

Open all night (Hall and Oates) from “H20”
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Then there's the version from Daryl Hall and John Oates. You couldn't get much further from the rock of Springsteen and the Satellites, this being a laidback, soul ballad featuring the smooth voice of Daryl Hall, from the H2O album, one of their biggest successes.

Open all night (Marc Almond) from “Open all night”
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And moving even further away from rock towards --- well, how would you describe Marc Almond of Soft Cell? No, don't be mean! :) Anyway, he too had an album, seems to have been live, though I'm no fan so I can't be sure, also called “Open all night” and the title track from it is what appears to be a jazzy/soul half-ballad, though to be honest the only version I could get on YT has not got the best sound...

Open all night (Bon Jovi) from “Bounce”
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Bon Jovi actually used this song title twice, first in the closing track to their 2002 album “Bounce”, where it's a tender, soft little ballad about two damaged souls meeting in a bar and exchanging stories of the hurts they've experienced.

Open all night (Bon Jovi) from “One hundred million Bon Jovi fans can't be wrong”
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Then on the rarities/unreleased box set, “One hundred million Bon Jovi fans can't be wrong”, they used it again but this time as a mid-paced rocker, with a far different message, as two lovers split and Jon tells her don't worry about me I'll be all right.

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All the world's a stage Part II --- Gary Moore live

Time for the second part of our look at Gary's live performances. Apologies for the sound quality on some of these clips (and the bloody awful video quality on the one from Dublin!) but when you're You-Tubing around sometimes you just can't pick and choose. Hope you enjoy them anyway. More tomorrow.

“Wild frontier” from “Wild frontier” (Saturday Night Live, date unknown but in the 80s)


“Oh pretty woman” from “Still got the blues” (Hammersmith Odeon, date unknown)


“Further on up the road” from “Still got the blues” (2002 reissue) (Live Blues, 1993)


“Victims of the future” from “Victims of the future” (Emerald Aisles, live in Ireland 1984)


“Cold day in Hell” from “After hours” (London, 1992)


“Whisky in the jar” from “Vagabonds of the western world” (Dublin, Self Aid concert, 1986)


“Back on the streets” from “Back on the streets” (Goldiggers, Chippenham, 1984)


“Run for cover” from “Run for cover” (Belgium, 1986)


“Cold hearted” from “Corridors of power” (PinkPop, Holland 1983)


“After the war” from “After the war” (Belfast, 1989)

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Yeah, well there was really only going to be one band the worm could feature today, now wasn't there?
You were expecting maybe “Xylophone Maniacs” or something...? ;)

Today's Daily Earworm has been brought to you by the letter (wait for it) X, with XTC, “Senses working overtime”.

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No tribute to Gary would be complete without a look at his first band, in which also was to be found a young Phil Lynott, and which would bring Gary to the attention of Fleetwood Mac's legendary Peter Green while Skid Row supported them, thus setting the young guitarist on the road to being properly discovered. Although he only stayed with the band for three years, returning briefly for their reunion in 1974, he was present on both their official albums, released in 1970 and 1971. There's no doubting that Skid Row gave Gary his start, and so it's only right and proper that we acknowledge the role of his first band.

Formed in Dublin in 1967 by Brendan “Brush” Shiels, the original incarnation of Skid Row didn't include Gary, who only joined the next year, but it did include a young Phil Lynott, who at the time was a vocalist and didn't know how to play the bass! When Shiels fired him in 1968 he taught him how to play the instrument as compensation, and gave him a bass guitar he had bought, and thus was one legend born. Gary stayed on till 1971, when he left just before the band's third album, which was subsequently not released till two decades later.

During his time with Skid Row, Gary participated in their tour of the USA --- his first time in the country, though it certainly would not be his last --- in support of Fleetwood Mac, where he met and impressed Peter Green. Green brought him to the attention of one of the major labels, and on returning home Gary soon decided to leave Skid Row and strike out on his own, forming his own band with whom he released what is generally accepted as his first solo album, “Grinding stone”, in 1973.

Gary was somewhat awestruck by Green, and the Fleetwood Mac guitarist remained one of his big influences, culminating in his tribute album “Blues for Greeny” in 1995, an album almost completely consisting of songs written by the man.

Skid --- Skid Row --- 1970 (CBS)
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At one point, Skid Row seemed to be on the verge of becoming the “next big thing” in Irish rock, but changes to the lineup and internal wrangling seem to have basically done for the band before they could realise their true potential, and as Taste gave birth to a solo star in Rory Gallagher around the same time, Skid Row created two rock legends who would later go on to work together for a time, and remain fast friends up until their deaths. Created by “Brush” Shiels (who was generally known as “The Brush”), the original Skid Row didn't feature Gary Moore but did feature Phil Lynott, as related already above, but by the time of the release of this, their debut album, he had been sacked and The Brush was the main man on vocals. Gary was of course the guitarist, adding some vocals too. The trio was completed by Noel Bridgeman on drums.

The albums starts out on gentle, folky guitar and soft percussion, Shiels' voice putting me in mind of yer man from Dr. Hook (sorry, Brush!), and “Sandie's gone” remains laidback and gentle with a certain CSNY feel to it, very sixties hippy/folk, some really nice piano, which appears to go uncredited, while Gary's first guitar contribution is acoustic for most of the song, then later he switches to electric, while still keeping the tone laidback and relaxed. Nice little solo, presaging the huge talent he was to later become. “The man who never was” is a shorter track, jazz/improvisational with a frantic, almost psychedelic turn to it, much more uptempo, then changing the time signature halfway though, this I guess showing how versatile Gary could be, even in those early days.

“Heading home” is pure bluegrass country, with a very foot-tapping beat and some exquisite work by Gary, a great little solo to end the track, then we're into more jazz/fusion with “Felicity”. (Look, I'll be honest here: I'm a little confused. I've never heard any Skid Row prior to this, and the track listing of the album seems to be different than that shown on Wiki, but it also appears that there were demo tapes recorded in 1970 which weren't released till 1990, possibly the third album spoken of in the intro, and I'm just not 100 percent sure which album I have here. As Gary later sold the rights to the band name to an American outfit, who went on to record many albums, it's hard to track down the original Skid Row recordings, so what I have here will have to suffice. If it's wrong, if I'm reviewing the wrong album, bear with me, as I'm no Skid Row aficionado.) Lots of scat singing on this track, pushing the jazz angle even further, and a tasty bass solo from Brush, the track running on for a good nine minutes, with plenty of jazz-style improv and jamming before we hit “Unco-op showband blues”, which as you might suspect is the first time we get to hear Gary indulge in his first, and what would become his abiding, love, the blues.

Nice slow track with some kind of jarring jazz flourishes which to my mind take away from rather than add to the song, which in fact metamorphoses along the way into a Zep/Purple slow hard rocker with Black Sabbath overtones. It does however provide an opportunity for Gary to again show what he can do on the guitar, carrying much of the song on his sweet soloing. “Morning star avenue” I find quite plodding and boring, that is, until Gary lets loose with one hell of a solo and just kicks the bejaysus out of the song! Noel Bridgeman goes a bit wild on the drums too, but the most appropriate thing perhaps about this track is in the lyric: ”Who wants to know?/ No-one wants to know!” Amen.

A nice bluesy intro to “O I'll tell you later”, which seems to be a proper ballad, though it would appear that with the somewhat fluid and often musically volatile nature of Skid Row you can never take anything for granted, or judge a book by its cover. And so it proves, as the song quickly picks up speed, then slows right back down again, and up again, then “Virgo's daughter” kind of comes and goes in a blur, and we close on the country ballad-like “New faces old places” (which I think was a single), with a very Neil Young sound. Somewhere along the line I think Gary sings, particularly on “O I'll tell you later”, but I can't be sure, this is such an obscure album and information so hard to come by.

TRACKLISTING

1. Sandie's gone
2. The man who never was
3. Heading home again
4. Felicity
5. Unco-op showband blues
6. Morning star avenue
7. O I'll tell you later
8. Virgo's daughter
9. New faces old places

34 hours --- Skid Row --- 1971 (CBS)
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So titled, the legend goes, because it was recorded in thirty-four hours, this is a much shorter album, containing only six tracks, and clocking in at around thirty-five minutes total. Interesting: if it totalled thirty-four, then that would work out as one minute of music per hour recorded! Well, anyway, it opens on the longest track, another nine-minuter, “Night of the warm witch”, which starts off pretty weirdly, with odd sounds and then feedback guitar pulls the track in, and it goes into a kind of half-Santana vibe, with plenty of jazz movements, nice guitar from Gary and some pretty good bass from Brush too. It's a little overextended though, I feel.


Much shorter --- and faster --- is “First thing in the morning”, with the band totally rocking out, and it sounds like Gary on vocals, though as I'm unaware what Brush Shiels' voice sounds like I can't say for sure. Less than two minutes of finger-burning fretwork and it's over, and we're into “Mar”, opening with some nice bass from Brush and what definitely sounds like a pedal steel, though again no such instrument is credited. It's a nice ballad, very country-oriented, with a good beat: the bassline is close to hypnotic!

Much heavier and rockier, “Go, I'm never gonna let you” is more in the style that Gary would later adopt on his own albums, with sharp, hard guitar and heavy drumming from Bridgeman. It's another long track, almost as long as the opener, just short of nine minutes. You can hear the influence of Fleetwood Mac's Peter Green on this track; Gary was obviously trying to emulate the great man's style, and in the main succeeding. He rips off a fine solo here which more or less holds the song together. In the absence of any piano or keyboards, or indeed rhythm guitar, it ends up being the guitarist who becomes the focus of the band; while the rhythm section are of course very important, all eyes (and ears) turn to the man on the guitar for the solos, the riffs, the intros and outros that generally bass players or drummers don't that often get involved in. In many ways, in a power trio like this, the guitarist becomes the frontman, especially when the singer is not singing.

Gary fills this role with the comfortable ease of someone who has been playing in a band all his life, even though this is only his second year with Skid Row, they being his first band, and he only seventeen at the time. “Lonesome still” returns to the country themes, with squealing pedal steel, some accordion in there, maybe fiddle too. It's a mid-paced country song, quite infectious in its own way, though the swing from genre to genre is a little hard to get used to: rock to folk to blues to country to jazz and back, this album seems to wander amongst them all.

Closer, “The love story”, runs headlong back into jazz territory, very much a jarring change after the sweet country ballad, the beat quite syncopated and frantic, Gary's guitar chiming out here and there but generally subsumed for most of the song by Shiels' busy bass. Halfway through then it slows down again for some scat singing and bass improvisation by Shiels, then Gary takes over with a nice guitar solo, but if this is what's known as jazz fusion I have to say it's not to my taste. I wouldn't listen to much of this, 1970s or no 1970s.

As a vehicle to launch the careers of both Gary and Phil Lynott, I guess we have to give Skid Row plaudits, but their albums are in the main not my cup of Jack Daniels. I'm not a big jazz fan, and there's a lot of that in here, but even apart from that it comes across as a little rushed and confused. Maybe that's just me. Well, they certainly have gone down in musical history as the springboard for two of Ireland's most famous sons, so I guess that can't be bad.

TRACKLISTING

1. Night of the warm witch
2. First thing in the morning
3. Mar
4. Go, I'm never gonna let you
5. Lonesome still
6. The love story

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As we've just run a feature on Gary's first band, Skid Row, this would seem like a good place to look at his first solo album, the one that started it all and would lead to great things for the man. Although a short album, and indeed not actually credited to him alone --- and featuring mostly instrumental work into the bargain, it's nevertheless a glimpse into the future of someone who would become one of the most famous, accomplished, loved and respected, and now sadly missed, blues guitarists on this planet.

Grinding stone --- 1973 (Castle)
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Although released as “The Gary Moore Band”, this nevertheless stands as the debut album from Gary Moore. It's quite short, having only six tracks in all, however one of those runs for almost ten minutes, with another clocking in at seventeen, so you certainly don't feel shortchanged. The band Gary used on this album were not signed up for the second album, which was released under his own name, though keyboardist Jan Schelhaas went on to work with both Caravan and later Camel.

The album opens with the title track, which as mentioned runs for almost ten minutes, perhaps an ambitious first step into the world of rock music? Even moreso, as it's an instrumental. How many emerging artistes would you be prepared to listen to almost ten minutes of music from, without vocals? After a somewhat low-key opening, it's quickly into an uptempo boogie groove, which even at this early stage highlights Gary's expertise on, and love of the guitar. This is the first and only time Gary shares guitar duties, with the exception of 1990's “Still got the blues”, where he enlists the great Albert Collins, George Harrison and Albert King, and again in 1992 when both Collins and the legendary BB King guested on “After hours”. Apart from those instances, Gary has always taken care of all guitar work on any and all of his albums.

“Grinding stone”, the track, is really more a jam than an actual song, and despite its nine-plus minutes it goes by fairly quickly, never seeming stretched or overlong. The first time we hear Gary sing then is on “Time to heal”, and his voice, it has to be said, is rough and raw, having something of a time being heard and distinguished above the music, a straightforward rocker with boogie elements, nice piano from Schelhaas, and in fact the twin guitar attack, in tandem with Philip Donnelly, works quite well on this track, lot of elements of Rory Gallagher in the song. All tracks on this, including the two instrumentals, are written by Gary, so even from the off he was keeping a tight control over his material.

“Sail across the mountain” is the first time we get an inkling of just what beautiful ballads this man would write over the ensuing almost forty years. A lovely, lazy, laidback tune that just makes you want to lie back and relax, nice country-style piano and restrained guitar ushering the song along, and indeed even Gary's voice is less raw, more tempered and softer than on the previous track. There are elements of Lynyrd Skynyrd in the song too, very nice. “The energy dance” is exactly not that, a short instrumental mostly based around keyboards, bit odd, then we're into the big one.

Running for over seventeen minutes, perhaps overlong, “Spirit” recalls early Thin Lizzy, and is a big, rocking monster that goes through plenty of changes over the course of its length. Elements of funk, rock, prog rock, jazz fusion all run through the song. Halfway through it slows right down and in fact stops, then slowly comes back up on synth and organ, slows and almost stops again then comes right back with some heavy organ and guitar, then goes into a heavy progressive-rock vibe with some serious synthery and then the expected breakout guitar solo. I guess it served to highlight Gary's talent on the guitar but even so this is not what I would have chosen to announce myself to the world, had I been him. I think two long instrumentals on an album with only half-a-dozen tracks was asking a lot of the public.

The album ends on a straight boogie rocker, called “Boogie my way back home”, with some nice harmonica from someone who's uncredited, and great honky-tonk piano from Schelhaas. In fairness, as a debut this was never going to set the music world alight, but it's a daring first album, certainly exhibiting some of the embryonic talent that would flower into one of the greatest blues guitarists of this century, and lead to a massively successful career.

TRACKLISTING

1. Grinding stone
2. Time to heal
3. Sail across the mountain
4. The energy dance
5. Spirit
6. Boogie my way back home

Hereafter --- Magica --- 2007 (AFM)
Moderator cut: image removed

Ah yes: melodic power metal from that home of hard and heavy music … Romania? Yep, that's where these guys hail from, and I can confidently state that I have never yet listened to a Romanian band, metal or otherwise. Perhaps after this I'll regret that and wish I had sampled more music from this country whose biggest export is Count Dracula (even though he didn't exist: Vlad Dracul did though...) and revolution, but I'm not exactly inundated with records from that corner of the world, you know?

Anyhow, this is Magica's third album --- to date, they have released five --- so we're kind of coming in at the middle, which can sometimes be fun, unless you're seeing a movie in a cinema. There is, not surprisingly, little information on them, and some of the names of the bandmembers have those weird little characters that most wordprocessors don't understand or that don't translate well to the web, so we'll have to deal with that as we come across them. Right now, let's hear the music, always a good place to start.

Opener, “All waters have the colour of drowning” starts on nice classical piano intro from keysman Viorel Rainenau (at least, I assume he's male --- checking --- yes, seems to be) then the pounding drums of Cristian Barla and chugging guitars from Bogden “Bat” Costea and Emy power in, and finally the vocals of Ana Mladinovici take the song, and inevitably comparisons to the likes of Nightwish, Epica, Edenbridge et al surface, which is unfair: just because it's a power metal band fronted by a female shouldn't make it a clone of any of the above.

She has a powerful voice indeed, that sort of high, almost operatic style that tends to enunciate every word and sound very competent indeed. The song, though, is quite Epica in its style, while “Turn to stone” ramps up the speed and gets going with a real metal scorcher, great guitars from Costea (who I will from now on refer to as Bat) and Emy, thundering drums and another powerful vocal from Ana, all against a keyboard backdrop laid down by Viorel, which is how I shall refer to him. There's an element of Dio's “Don't talk to strangers” in the melody, but only a few riffs, then “Through wine” is even faster, with some great keyboard passages, and “No matter what” starts out just as fast, then slows down to crunch along.

“Entangled” starts off as if it's going to be a soft ballad, very gentle piano intro, but then Cristian's drums kick that notion away, and the song powers up, though it does slow down again almost immediately for a vocal from Ana sung almost entirely against Viorel's synth line, until the others come in and rock the song along. Nice hook in this, very commercial in its way. Probably the first song that has really grabbed me on the album. Hope there's more like this. A blast of very AOR-style keyboards announces “This is who I am”, and though the guitars from Emy and Bat are strong and fierce, it does come across as more pomp rock than power metal. Good though, with a great proggy keyboard solo backed up by some damn fine work on the guitars.

Nice violin and strings opening to “The weight of the world”, which soon takes off as another hard rocker, leaving the AOR influences behind and blasting off back to the world of melodic hard rock, a hint of Maiden in the guitar attack. Great vocal from Ana, with some sort of backing, whether they're her own multi-tracked or someone else I don't know. “Energy for the gods” introduces for the first time male vocals, which switch with Ana on the chorus, but again I have no idea who it is that's singing. Maybe one of the guitarists? Sorry, not enough information available. It's a powerful song though, racing along on Cristian's hellhammer drums, and if the gods need energy, well there's enough here to supply them for some time!

“Shallow grave” keeps up the tempo with some more great keyboard melodies driving the song, but if there's a criticism to be levelled at Magica, it's this: their music fairly much all sounds the same. We're almost at the end of the album now, and apart from the few tracks which resembled more AOR than metal, most of the songs have kind of blended into each other. Of course, this is a problem with many power metal bands: it's hard to be original in such an intrinsically unoriginal genre.

However, they do save it with the closer, a beautiful ballad played on piano and where Ana really gets to shine, utilising the softer side of her voice. The appropriately-titled “Into silence” takes Magica to different realms altogether, Ana's not thick but recognisable Romanian accent serving her well as it adds to the mystique of the song, very delicate and fragile, and an interesting, unexpected and rather satisfying way to end the album.

Well, I'm not about to rack up the rest of their discography and listen to it tonight, but nor am I prepared to consign this band to history. Yes, they're derivative, but then, you could say that about nearly every band that follows this path, with a few notable exceptions. Their proficiency and professionalism can't be faulted, and as there's nothing to say to the contrary, I must assume they --- or at least one of the band members --- wrote the songs, which while not classics are not rubbish either. Ana has a lovely, strong, powerful voice that can whisper as well as shout, as we see from the final track, and the imagery the band use, while again standard for many of these bands, is evocative and interesting.

If this is what Romania has to offer, then perhaps it's time to delve a little further into the music of this much-maligned and stereotyped country.

TRACKLISTING

1. All waters have the colour of drowning
2. Turn to stone
3. Through wine
4. No matter what
5. Entangled
6. This is who I am
7. Weight of the world
8. Energy of the gods
9. Shallow grave
10. I remember a day
11. Into silence