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Time to rock this place as we stumble towards what looks like being a very warm, sunny and pleasant weekend (cue stormclouds and torrential rain!), with the Clash! |
Stronger than pride --- Sade --- 1988 (Epic)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...Than_Pride.jpg Jazz, as most of my readers will know, is not my thing. It's quite the “Unknown Country”, and I have very very little experience in it. What jazz I have heard has generally bored me, and though I can tell you the names of a few of the greats, I'd be hard-pressed to list any of their songs. I think my dislike of, or lack of tolerance for jazz comes from its openly experimental and improvisational nature. I like my music to be structured, and while I'm sure there are jazz fans out there who will dispute this, I find jazz to be very freeform, and I really can't get into it. Don't anyone try to convince me either: I know what I don't like, and for that very reason I may enter the world of jazz at some point for my “Stranger in a strange land” series, but that will be my only real dalliance with this genre of music. All very well and good, I hear you say, but here you are preparing to review an album by a band who are known to have jazz influences, if only soft jazz, as well as soul, funk and r&b. So what's the deal? Well, the deal is that at the time I bought this album I was well into my short career as a radio DJ, and Sade at the time were quite popular (though of course everyone thought Sade was the name of the singer. Well, it is, but also the band. So it's not “she had a great song” but “they had a great song,” and so on) with hits like “Smooth operator” and “Your love is king”. Now, they came from the debut album “Diamond life”, but this was four years later and the new album was out, so I thought I'd hop on the bandwagon early and be first to unleash it on my adoring public of three or more listeners. Thing is, though “Diamond life” was extremely popular and introduced the world to Sade, making them (her) a household name, this album was destined to be a lot more low-key, despite the fact that their most successful US single would be on it. Most of the rest would not do so well, and Sade would not repeat the chart success they had achieved in 1984. Put simply, this album would be for the fans, not the casual listener, and definitely not for the chart record buyer. But is it any good? Well, it's not bad. It certainly has its moments, though I would think it's less immediately accessible than “Diamond life”, and although I've not heard that album through, I base that conclusion on the sudden rise of Sade through the charts, the way people took to their music and the hits they had, all of which tell me that their debut must have been a very strong album indeed. This? Well, it's more... seasoned. A more mature album, showing the band less worried about having hits and more interested in writing good music, which is never a bad thing. The title track gets us underway, with bassy, echoey drumbeats and lead singer Helen Folasade Abu, shortened to Sade's voice floating like some sort of ethereal presence across the music. She certainly has a very hypnotic voice, and though this music, to someone who was into Iron Maiden and Motorhead in the late eighties, came across as boring, it is in fact very ambient, with a lot of deep soul infusion and a very smooth and cool jazz base. Definitely good music to have on when she/he comes around, really sets the scene for a romantic night in. Nice guitar touches filling out the sound, which is mostly carried on keys and that muted percussion, and it's a nice slow introduction to an album that's obviously never going to have any pretensions towards rocking out, but even at that, “Paradise”, which turned out to be Sade's biggest hit single in the USA, up next, is more uptempo. With a nice funky bassline and Sade's voice more animated but still sultry and cool, it rides along on a nice keyboard and guitar line and you can see why it was such a big hit on the dancefloor too. Not a ballad, not a smoocher but not a floorfiller in the sense of the likes of “Rhythm is a dancer” or “No limits”, it was still intensely popular at discos. “Nothing can come between us” takes the tempo down a notch, with some lovely sweet sax from Stuart Matthewman and very effective backing vocals from Leroy Osbourne, but it's the chilling “Haunt me” that remains the album's standout track for me. Drifting on a beautiful classical guitar melody with backing by piano, it's one of two ballads on the album, and head and shoulders above everything else. When I bought the album, found it was “boring”, as I saw it at the time (and kind of still do, I have to admit) I consoled myself that there was at least one track for which I was glad I had bought the record. And it is very good indeed. With a soft yet insistent vocal from Sade, with just the right inflections and the right emphases at the right time, it's completed by Gavin Wright's gorgeous violin passages which meld with some truly special piano work from Andrew Hale. Some luscious female backing vocals worthy of Judie Tzuke and a sumptuous sax break from Matthewman top this gem off, and it's a real pity that it's so relatively soon in the album, as really nothing comes close to this, nothing even stands in the same light as it. Getting a little funkier with a tight little bassline and some nice guitar, “Turn my back on you” has Sade in higher, falsetto voice, and being the longest track on the album at just over six minutes, it has almost a minute of instrumental intro before she starts singing. It's another song of declaration of love and fealty, as many of the songs on this album are: not surprisingly, as the overall theme, which ties in with the title of the album, is that love is stronger than pride, and should always be fought for against all odds. The album, however, it must be said, is not stronger than “Haunt me”, and even though that is one amazing track, it is only one, and can't be expected to carry the other nine. “Keep looking” is another mid-paced soul-flavoured piece, and “Clean heart” is a little more in ballad territory with a more commercial pop feel about it, nice sax breaks and some really insightful digital piano. “Give it up” slips along on a bongo/castanets beat with that solid digital piano again and some nice upbeat sax, the song itself a more jaunty effort than any of the last, while “I never thought I'd see the day” slows everything right down, though perhaps just a little too much, as it seems to almost stop. Hale's digital piano virtually carries the entire song, with minimal percussion and bass, though Sade's voice is a strong as ever, if a little too relaxed at times. The closing track is a rather nice instrumental called “Siempre hay esperanza”, and it's been a very long time since I took Spanish, but I think I can be reasonably confident that it means “I always have hope”. Not completely sure why it's in Spanish --- Sade has no Spanish heritage that I know of, having been born in Nigeria to an English mother and a Nigerian father --- at least the likes of Gloria Estefan can justify, if justify is the right word, using Spanish lyrics, being Cuban. Then again, Heart had a Spanish song on their album “Desire walks on”. Guess it's no problem, but a little odd. Nice little track though, and it does give the band a chance to really shine, with the bulk of the melody taken by Matthewman on the sax and the guitar, some nice trumpet indeed from James McMillan, and another of Paul Denman's cool little basslines driving the thing. Oddly, since she is identified almost as being the band, there's no place for Sade herself on the closer, as she doesn't play any instrument. I'm still not that impressed by this album, and in some ways I regret buying it, though that money is long spent now! It's definitely not my kind of music, but for a third album by a band who topped the charts with their first effort, it's an interesting departure from the style ascribed to them. Brave in a way, although of course they don't deviate too far from the winning formula that gave them hits with “Smooth operator” and “The sweetest taboo”, this album is nevertheless a little more intense, for such a laidback recording. As for me, I may spin one of their discs every so often, or add a track to a playlist, but I don't think I can ever see myself becoming a fan of Sade. TRACKLISTING 1. Love is stronger than pride 2. Paradise 3. Nothing can come between us 4. Haunt me 5. Turn my back on you 6. Keep looking 7. Clean heart 8. Give it up 9. I never thought I'd see the day 10. Siempre hay esperanza |
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Hey, anyone out there remember Climie Fisher? No? Anyone? You, there at the back... |
Hail to England --- Manowar --- 1984 (Music For Nations)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ltoengland.jpg As a fresh-faced nineteen year old who was deep into heavy metal by the early eighties, I thought Manowar were an answer to prayer: a band who played unashamed, undiluted heavy metal and merged this with songs steeped in classic mythology, particularly Norse, my favourite kind. These albums had zero ballads, did not use pianos or synths, and were pretty much proudly proclaimed as “albums for men!” The songs were invariably about fighting, struggling for a cause, drinking, riding motorcycles and occasionally women. Manowar were a hard, guitar-based band rooted in the traditions of the “new” heavy metal, mostly gleaned from the rise of the NWOBHM, not surprisingly really as although they're American they formed in and used the UK as their base, and it was here that they gained their biggest following. However, after a year or so I began to see the cracks appear in Manowar's “harder-than-****” claims. They always bragged they would take on any band who thought they could play louder or faster --- though of course many did --- but never made good on that boast. Then an article in “Kerrang!” made me question their sincerity, when it was reported they had a run-in with (I think) another metal band, and ran away from the fight, their defence “Hey, we're musicians, not boxers!” Manowar had always portrayed themselves as the hardest, baddest metal band on the planet (yeah I know: they really needed to get over that sense of modesty!) and yet when it came down to it, they ran like little girls when faced with some good old-fashioned violence. Now, I would never advocate fighting, and a more devout coward you would go far to find, but come on: if you're going to throw down a challenge and create an image at least make an effort to live up to it! This was when I realised that the operative word there was “image”. Manowar were no harder than the next band, in reality: they just wanted to seem like they were. They were creating a persona, an identity that they believed fit in well with heavy metal fans, and while bands like Sabbath and Motorhead regularly got into fist-fights and all-out brawls, Manowar were, to be frank, all mouth. But was their music equally as disappointing? Well, that's where it all changes, because although they didn't live up to their hard-drinkin', hard-ridin', hard-fightin' image, their music spoke louder than any words, threw down a gauntlet that was hard to pick up, and established them as one of the premier emerging American heavy metal bands of the eighties. These guys were not afraid to scream that they were heavy metal; in a time when many bands, including the older ones, were muttering about being “hard rock” or even “blues rock”, Manowar stood up to be counted, and musically at any rate didn't care what anyone thought of them. This was the last of their albums I bought, and it's the one on which their massively overblown image and their equally often pompous, epic music crashed head-on and reached critical mass. It was in ways a massive PR faux pas to call this album “Hail to England”, as they more than likely immediately alienated all Scottish, Welsh and indeed Northern Irish (to say nothing of us down here in the south!) fans, who probably complained that England wasn't the only place that had taken these American metallers to their hearts. Had they called it “Hail to Britain” I think that might have been more acceptable, but the title and the ridiculously comic art on the sleeve just made them full-blown laughing stocks, and I decided I'd had enough. Not that the album is bad: it's not, though it's not really a patch on the first two, and although I recently acquired their discography, I have yet to listen to another Manowar album after this. It has some great tracks, some not so great, and really, for an Irishman to buy an album called “Hail to England”? Well, let's just say it was a little embarrassing, no matter how fundamentally flawed that thinking may be. It also would not have gone down well had they toured here in 1984/5 with that album, but they never came here, to my knowledge. It starts off powerfully, though at first with just chiming guitar chords then the drums kick in and vocalist Eric Adams screams and launches into “Blood of my enemies”, a crunching power metal stormer, with definite mythological overtones: ”Strong winds, magic mists/ To Asgard the Valkyries fly/ High overhead they carry the dead” and some fine guitar solos from Ross the Boss, who is pretty much the heart of Manowar. Great choral vocals, created on Ross's keyboards (hold on! I thought these guys didn't believe in using keys? Well, it seems they're not averse when the need arises) and a real sense of the epic, even though the song is only just over four minutes long, and it takes us into one which edges closer to black metal with a much deeper, growlier vocal from Eric Adams and chugging rather than blazing guitar from Ross. It's probably my least favourite on the album, but even at that, “Each dawn I die” is a solid metal track and you can certainly bang your head to it. There's a thunderous rhythm section in the shape of Joey DeMaio on bass and Scott Columbus on drums, and indeed it's the latter who introduces “Kill with power”, starting off on slowly rolling drums that quickly pick up speed, like a steam train, the song itself Manowar's first fast one, with Adams screaming in glee ”Kill with power! Die! Die!” No, there are no deep political or socio-economic issues being discussed on this album! It's metal, through and through, unapologetically heavy and in-your-face. It works well. Manowar followed the same sort of themes that Virgin Steele and Tyr, along with probably a lot of others who practiced Viking Metal and the like, though at the time I didn't know of these bands, and thought the boys were being really original. Ah, the innocence of youth! Sort of. The title track then rides along on a wave of glory and anticipation, evoking invaders heading for plunder, though the lyric is somewhat confused: ”The quest for the Grail/ To England we sail” Er, the only ones who searched for the Holy Grail were King Arthur's knights, and they were already in England. Nonetheless, it's great fun and I'm sure many an English heart swelled listening to this. Great energetic chorus, which surely went down well onstage. More great guitar solos from Ross, and he is good, but just that: he's not a prodigy and he's certainly not the greatest metal axeman there ever was, as I think he may once have claimed. The song slows down near the end in a grand, dramatic finale, with no doubt much air-punching and flag waving, and ends on a powerful guitar and vocal hammerblow, Columbus's drums almost exploding. Then you get “Army of the immortals”, which is a song written about their fans, and really is quite cringeworthy, although the music is good enough, a sort of mid-paced metal puncher, but there's a sneaking sense that Kiss have done this sort of thing before, and better. To be fair, you have to listen to Manowar with tongue firmly inserted in cheek. They made out when they released their first album that they were totally serious about the claims they put forward, but they couldn't have been really. This had to be at least partially meant in jest, as otherwise it comes across as completely poe-faced and ridiculous. But taken on that level, it's good fun, and I was definitely a fan. Even now, listening to the last album I would ever buy from this band, almost thirty years later, I have a smile on my face, and while it may seem dated in many ways, in others it's as fresh and relevant as it was back in 1984. There's an interesting departure from the normal metal stuff as the album comes to a close (yeah, there are only seven tracks on it: what a rip off, huh?) as Ross is allowed take centre stage for “Black arrows”, an unashamed wankfest on guitar with an ooh-so-scary spoken into that warns of the ”Black arrows of death” that will go ”straight to the hearts of/ All those who play false metal!” Oh no! Save me! I didn't mean it! I can c hange! See what I mean about surely not taking themselves seriously? Remember, these are the guys who ran from a fight in reality. Makes ya think, dunnit? There's no denying the technical brilliance of Ross's guitar work, and anyone who enjoys shredding will get a kick out of this, with some neo-classical touches put in, not to mention the obligatory I-can-make-my-guitar-sound-like-a-motorbike effect, but really, do we need three minutes of indulgence on an album that only has seven songs? It closes exceptionally well though, it has to be said. A nine-minute epic called “Bridge of death” which opens with sharp acoustic guitar with very classical influences, almost harpshichordal, then settles down for heavy, doomy synth with the guitar fading into the background and a very effective, low-key vocal from Adams, no percussion at all as yet --- or very little --- with the keyboard work on this album showing other metal bands how it should be done. Rather than soften the metal, they complement it and add an extra dimension to the music. Hard metal guitar then kicks in, Scott Columbus's drums powering in as the song moves into what I guess would be its second movement as Adams faces the Devil at the end of his life. Having sold his soul for a life of power and glory, it would seem, Adams now pays the price as he sings ”All my years of earthly pleasures/ gave support unto the bridge/ I now cross it, giving him my soul!” Then there's another silly spoken vocal as Adams dedicates his eternal soul to Satan, as Manowar perhaps try to cash in on the black metal movement, shouting ”Lucifer is king! Praise Satan!” But no-one is going to believe it, as they haven't referred to any sort of devil worship prior to this, unless very peripherally. Bells of doom peal out, before the music returns to the opening melody, Adams doing a fine job as the soul of the doomed warrior, damned for all time, willingly selling himself into slavery at the mouth of the pit. Laughter which is no doubt meant to be evil and ghastly at the end is just comical, and wouldn't scare a rabbit, but other than that it's a good ending. After this album I moved more towards progressive rock and tended, for a long time, to leave metal alone, so as a result I never bought any more Manowar albums. It wasn't that I didn't like this one (though as an Irishman who never forgets, the title did sort of stick in my craw and may have had something to do with my decision, if only on a subconscious level) but it just never seemed to be that important to seek out the next Manowar album in the way I had waited with bated breath for the first three. It's said this is seen as the best of the early “classic” Manowar, though I think personally I prefer “Into glory ride”, on which album I think they perfected both their sound and their image, but as it was the last one I bought for three decades I wanted to concentrate on it. It's quite possible that their later material blew this to hell, I don't know: I will make a point of listening to some “newer” Manowar as soon as I can, if only to see how they developed while I was away. But as long as you don't fall into the trap of taking them too seriously, or deconstructing their music, I think Manowar could always be relied on to satisfy most metalheads. Though I do wonder if they played Edinburgh on this tour...? TRACKLISTING 1. Blood of my enemies 2. Each dawn I die 3. Kill with power 4. Hail to England 5. Army of the immortals 6. Black arrows 7. Bridge of death Suggested further listening: “Battle hymns”, “Into glory ride” |
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Not a huge fan of hers, but this is a nice one from Christina Aguilera, this is, well, “Beautiful”. |
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Nice relaxing little tune to ease us into another Monday morning, this is Simply Red with an old classic. |
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All right! All right! The worm admits it! There is one Wham! song that he actually likes, and this is it. Happy now, you've all found out the worm's dark secret? Humph! |
… And they have escaped the weight of darkness --- Olafur Arnalds --- 2010 (Self-released, I think)
https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/im...vTRuHrksHEkyan This is a little outside my comfort zone, as they say. Icelandic pianist and multi-instrumentalist Olafur Arnalds began his music life as a drummer with metal band Celestine and others before branching out on his own and broadening his musical base, releasing his first solo album in 2007. If you include EPs this is his fifth recording, but as a full album it's only his second. It's all instrumental, and based mainly around piano and sometimes cello, though with lots of other influences thrown into the mix. Don't ask me what the title means, though it would appear to be some sort of quote as it starts with “and”; the fact that all the titles of the songs are in Icelandic doesn't help either, as there's supposed to be some sort of story running through the album, but not being able to read Icelandic I can't tell you what that story is, nor indeed what the titles mean. But in the final analysis that's not as important as the music itself, so let's get to that. It opens with “Bu ert solin”*, a nice slow relaxed acoustic piano melody with cello slipping in and adding its mournful voice as the piano gets a little more solid, violins joining the chorus, and in fact it runs so seamlessly into “Bu ert joroain” that I scarcely realised I was no longer listening to the opening track. It's very relaxing, very ambient, the strings taking more of an active role now, the piano mostly a background, or indeed grounding instrument for the melody. However, “Tunglia”, up next, relinquishes control back to the piano, with the strings this time waiting on the keys, another slow relaxed melody that would probably make perfect music to read by, fall asleep to or calm you down after a hectic or bad day. Halfway through, this starts to get a little more insistent, with percussion coming in and the strings picking up a little speed and getting more intense, a fuller sound allover, and then it all slows to a graceful pace for the solo cello ending, taking us into a piano melody on “Loftio verdur skyndilega kalt”, with just small touches from the violin and cello framing the edges of the piano music, everything again slow and sedate, a little mournful, a little morose perhaps but shot through with a vein of hope. The cello takes this piece to its slow conclusion and then hands over to the piano again for “Kjurrt”, another slow, stately piece with violins and cello just adding their own extra weight to the music at the right time, the piano very much the centrepiece here. “Gleypa okkur” starts out on a soft yet somehow brighter piano line, cello and violin coming in quite early this time around, as does bass and drums, moving at a more uptempo pace than we've heard on this album to date, and the addition of the rhythm section changes the piece entirely, making it somehow less bleak and depressing and a little more uplifting. Halfway through the volume of all instruments increases, the added punch of the percussion filling out the music now, and it becomes more consistent, with what sounds like electric guitar --- possibly synthesised --- chiming in and creating its own little counter-melody, making this so far the most varied piece on the album.The drums and bass fall away in the last minute, leaving only the synth-guitar, and finally, the piano and cello to usher the song to its end. Soft, gentle piano is then back for “Haegt, kemur ljosio”, with the faintest of strings which soon begin to swell and accompany the keys, the piano getting a little harder and the tempo increasing as the cello and violins surge forward, almost overtaking the entire tune, then a little bass finds its way in, and it's quickly followed by percussion which seems out of step, but in fact melds quite wonderfully with the overall tune, changing it and yet allowing it to remain the same, until the whole thing bursts out in an explosion of sound, light and colour like a firework expending itself high above the city. A great sense of joy and relief comes through in this piece, and it really changes the whole shape of the music. Things go back to slow and sedate through for “Undan hulu”, with lonely soft piano and cello, and the album closes, all too soon, on “Bau haffa sloppio undanbunga myrkursins”, more piano and cello though a little more upbeat and solid, with bass filling in and the overall tempo raised a little more. Some nice percussion and drum loops open up the track and afford it something of a new identity, with a little brassy flurry at the end. As far as ambient music goes, I find I'm feeling my way and discovering both artistes that appeal to me, and some who don't. This definitely falls into the former category. I love the way Olafur uses the barest minimum of instrumentation but yet manages to make his music sound both interesting and complete. I'll certainly be listening to more of his catalogue before long, though at the moment this is the first of his I have tried. It's left a lasting impression. TRACKLISTING 1. Bu ert solin 2. Bu ert joroin 3. Tunglio 4. Loftio verdur skyndilega kalt 5. Kjurrt 6. Gleypa okkur 7. Haegt, kemur ljosio 8. Undan hulu 9. Bau hafa sloppio undanbunga myrkursins * = As all these titles are in Icelandic, and they don't use the same character sets as we do, I've interpreted as best I can and taken my best guess as to what certain letters --- which don't exist in our alphabet --- are best translated as. In other words, a letter that looks like a b could be a d, but I've done the best I can. I may have got it totally wrong, but I can't install an Icelandic character set just for this review, and anyway, I don't know how it would display on the web. |
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After the revelation of his embarrassing little secret yesterday, the worm has to rebuild his street cred! So how about this one from Def Leppard? |
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Right then, enough of this rock and/or roll! It's time to listen to some proper music! Seriously, classical music paved the way for everything --- everything --- we listen to today, and there are some amazing compositions to be heard, if you just take the time to appreciate them. In this section I'm constantly trying to educate people to the beauty that lies within so much classical music, and even though everyone will have heard “Largo” or “O fortuna” via advertisements, films or TV series, or even “mashed-up” in some godawful mix, not everyone knows the rich variety and talent that is out there, just waiting to be discovered. So let me be your guide. Again. This is one of my all-time favourites, from Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943), a beautiful piece that crops up all over the place, probably one of the most relaxing piano concertos I've ever heard. This is his piano concerto no. 2 in C Minor. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...68_Cropped.jpg One of the most famous composers of all time, and one of the “three Bs” --- with Bach and Beethoven --- Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) is recognised as a master of his craft, and he's one of those faces you'll see when those advertisements for collections of classical music (“On nine CDs! NOT available in the shops!”), as he is one of the most recognisable, along with Beethoven and Tchaikovsky. This is his double concerto for violin and cello. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...nnesBrahms.jpg On the heavier side of things we have Wilhelm Richard Wagner (1813-1883) --- usually referred to as just Richard Wagner --- who composed dark, dramatic German operas based on the Ring Cycle legends of his people; the tales of Sigurd and Siegfried, and the Twilight of the Gods, known in Norse legend as Ragnarok. We will return to Wagner later in the year, but for now here's one you surely have heard at some point, used as it has been in most military or just action movies, or when high drama and a sense of tension, excitement and courage is called for. From that four-cycle opera, “Der ring des nibelungen”, this is taken from “Die walkure”, the most well-known piece from it, “The ride of the Valkyries”. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...hardWagner.jpg And if you think you've heard this before, you're right. Richard Strauss (1864-1949) composed many operas and orchestral works during his life, but his legacy outside of classical connoisseurs is this one, from the opera “Also sprach Zarathusthra”, which you'll recognise as the epic theme to the movie “2001: A Space Odyssey”. It's the introduction, called “Sunrise”. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...rd_Strauss.jpg Finally, we have Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (1839-1881), who's known principally for his work “Pictures at an exhibition”, but also for this one, “Night on Bald Mountain”. Again, you'll recognise parts of it. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...iy%2C_1870.jpg |
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Humph! No-one thinks of giving the worm holidays! Invertebrates need a break too, you know. Oh well... at least he can pretend.... |
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What is it about living in Ireland that annoys me most? Is it the string of incompetent governments we've had over the last ten or more years? The rising rate of inflation? The political scandals, the devaluing Euro or the absolute gall of our current government (puppets of European masters) has in asking us to vote for a treaty which will forever ensure we pay back irresponsible and uncaring speculative investors? Is it the fact that it rains so much here? Or even the fact that so many are emigrating to find jobs, and that if I had children I would at some point be waving them goodbye at Dublin Airport or down at Dublin Port as they headed off to search for a new life, one in which they can be appreciated, valued and contribute to society? Well, yes, all those things anger and annoy me. But the biggest daily annoyance, embarrassment and fly in the ointment to my mind is https://encrypted-tbn3.google.com/im...c4Qr616Jwh__O7 How can two totally inexperienced, pointless brothers completely lacking in talent be now the bloody ambassadors for this country? They've represented us at Eurovision TWICE (thank God they haven't won either time), kids love them, they're role models for thousands, probably millions, and they DO NOTHING! They don't write songs, they don't play instruments, and they certainly don't sing. The best that can be said of them is that they sort of cavort about onstage like two totally immature idiots (which they are) and hope that people don't see through them (which they don't). Has it now come to a point where talent is not only irrelevant, but actually discouraged? In a world where you can be famous for being famous, is it no longer necessary to do anything, just to make an impression? When these two gombeens appeared on the X-Factor they were laughed at by Cowell, who has been known to champion more than one questionable artist, so when he sneers and says you're no good he usually has good reason, and good instincts. But they were let through, and though they didn't win the contest, they might as well have, as our very own Louis Walsh, possibly needing a new wing built on his castle, signed them and unleashed them on the public. Now even the president is talking about them, and no doubt soon they'll have an audience with the pope (if they haven't already done so). In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if His Holiness travelled to see THEM! No, seriously, I know that wouldn't happen, but in this mad world it seems anything can. https://encrypted-tbn1.google.com/im...5vmkMioK-WvwAq WHAT is the appeal? Okay, so the young kids think they're great because they're just like them, and they do what they want to do, but come on! How long is that sort of attitude going to last? How long before you're found out? Well, if the Irish people (and, let's be fair, you lot outside Ireland too: you have as much to answer for as the stupid people of my native Ireland!) have their way, probably never, as they seem happy to lavish praise upon praise, award upon award and honour upon honour on these two talentless brothers. Their parents must be very proud (and probably still don't understand how this happened). http://www.google.ie/imgres?num=10&h...44&tx=42&ty=45 It's obviously paying off though. In 2009 these idiots were unknown, and three years later they're reported to be worth almost five million! I ****ing hate them, but even more I hate the machinery of populist --- what shall we call it? I know: let me invent another word! --- sheepery --- that created these two dancing, grinning, cavorting little monsters. I suppose you can't blame the two lads --- they do a lot of good charity work, and that can never be denigrated --- if people make you famous then milk it, why not? Make your money while you can, cos it will not last, that's for certain: can you see them doing their ridiculous act at forty? Nah, they'll have two major motion pictures under their belt and probably have books ghost-written for them (”My life with John in Jedward” by Edward and ”My life with Edward in Jedward” by John, probably!), have their own line of clothing and perfume and god knows what else. https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/im...svPiRRHwvAga0P But the people who put them there? Shame on you. Shame on you X-Factor, for not voting them off before they had a chance to even be known. Shame on you Louis Walsh, for turning them into stars, which they have no right to be. Shame on all the politicians, for using them (positively and negatively) in their campaigns, and thus giving them more exposure. And shame on every Irish person who grins and says “Yeah, they're not so bad!” They ****ing are! And it's your fault! And shame on you too, Jedward, both of you, for making me embarrassed to be Irish. I wonder if there's any room on that emigration boat? |
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A new month, halfway through the year. Let's have some classic rock, shall we? This is the great Jimi Hendrix: but then, you knew that... |
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As we've found with many of the bands we've looked at in this section, the debut album can be totally different to how they are today, with different influences, styles and moods that were either jettisoned entirely for the second and subsequent albums, or faded away or changed as time went on. Supertramp's debut is a case in point: after this and the followup “Indelibly stamped”, they changed from being a more or less heavy progressive folk rock band to more of a progressive rock and finally into a mainstream rock area, verging into pop on occasion. It's no surprise of course to find that they received their biggest successes off the back of later albums like “Crime of the century”, “Even in the quietest moments” and of course “Breakfast in America”. But this album is interesting in many ways. Firstly, it contains no lyrics, at all, from either of the two who would become the main songwriters in the band, as according to Wiki neither Roger Hodgson nor Rick Davies wanted to write lyrics, so everything in that department was left up to Richard Palmer. Even stranger, Palmer himself left Supertramp after this album, moving on to join prog rock giants King Crimson, and yet you couldn't say it was down to the quality of the songwriting, as there are some beautiful pieces here. Of course, a lot of that has to do with the music, and then as later that was where the other two shone, but the lyrics on this album read more like poetry really, quite a hippy feel to them, whereas on the next album out both Davies and Hodgson handled the songwriting, and it turned out to be quite a heavier album, though still, like this one, a massive flop. Here though we're not concerned with how well it did in the charts. Few debuts turn platinum or gold anyway, or have hit singles taken from them. The point of this section is to investigate the beginnings of the artiste, to see how time has changed them, if at all, and how their music evolved, devolved, or remained the same. Many people would point to “Crime of the century” as being Supertramp's first album --- not that surprising, as it did spawn the massive hit “Dreamer” --- and would probably be largely unaware these two albums even exist. But this is where they got their start, this is where it all began and although it's got its flaws, as a debut it's a lot better than some I could name. Supertramp --- Supertramp --- 1970 (A&M) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...Supertramp.jpg The first interesting and innovative thing about the album is that it begins and ends with songs with the same title. The exact same title. It opens on “Surely”, which is half a minute of acoustic guitar and vocal, a short, very short intro to the album indeed, with the mellifluous voice of Roger Hodgson the first we hear, then “It's a long road” is a much heavier, organ-led rocker with a lot of Santana in it, with Hodgson again taking the vocals; most of this album would be sung by him, before he and Davies would begin dividing up singing duties later. Davies is a revelation on the organ though, firmly stamping his own identity on this song, with some rather nice harmonica from Robert Millar, who would become another casualty of band changes on the next album. Davies' organ introduces the next track, split into two, which is called “Aubade/ And I am not like other birds of prey”, and it's here that you really hear Palmer's overly poetic lyrics, with Hodgson's acoustic twelve-string adding a nice little layer to the organ melody, the song quite Gabrielesque in its composition, rather similar to tracks off their debut. It's a song that wanders and meanders a little though, and I always have trouble remembering it later, when put up against the likes of “It's a long road”, “Surely” and “Words unspoken”. It's quite progressively folky, though the vocal from Hodgson is at times too low in the mix, or he's just singing too quietly, with an echo on the track that gives his singing a psychedelic feel. Some nice drumming from Millar, just heavy enough to get the attention, saves the song from just fading into obscurity. One of the standouts then comes in the form of “Words unspoken”, again carried on Davies' organ melody, with a lovely little piece of bass from Hodgson as well as a fragile but powerful vocal from him. It's very gentle, very flower-power, but somehow manages to avoid being twee, with a sweet line in soft guitar, the organ the heartbeat of the song. A very medieval sound permeates “Maybe I'm a beggar”, taken in on lilting flageolet and again riding on Rick Davies' organ sound, with a very soft vocal from Hodgson which again makes it a little hard to hear, and therefore to remember afterwards. Richard Palmer joins him for the first time here on the mike, though to be honest his voice doesn't add much to the song. There's a cool guitar break then and Davies goes a bit wild at the keyboard, again very in the Santana style, the song coming the closest so far to Supertramp rocking out, before it all settles down again. I'm not sure whether it's inexperience or the bad production (with which the band are credited as a unit), but the sound of this album is muddy, confused and quite, well, quiet. The vocals frequently seem too low in the mix to be properly heard, and the percussion tends to come and go. “Home again” is a short little acoustic ballad, almost gone before you know it, then everything rocks out with “Nothing to show”, which shows evidence of the sort of style Supertramp would experiment with on the next album, only to drop entirely after that. Definitely a band feeling their way, finding their sound. On this we hear for the first time the voice of Davies, as he joins Hodgson on vocals, the two perfectly complementing each other, so much so in fact that you wonder they didn't do it more often later on. Also here we first hear the expertise and technical prowess of Davies on the piano, as he unleashes an extended solo in the last minute or so, then Hodgson gets in on the act musically, throwing in some fine guitar flourishes. Another standout up next, as Davies on piano and Hodgson on vocals join together for “Shadow song”, a beautiful little introspective ballad, with some more lovely flageolet from Hodgson, then run into the longest song on the album, and one of the longest ever Supertramp songs. “Try again” clocks in at an impressive twelve minutes, edged out only by the title track to “Brother where you bound”, which would not be recorded for another fifteen years, and with Hodgson having left the band. Opening on gentle flageolet it again moves to the stately beat of the organ, with another low vocal from Hodgson, slow percussion and as it goes along some expressive acoustic guitar along with Richard Palmer's balalaika playing, which really reaches something of a crescendo in the sixth and a half minute and the whole song goes into a blues/boogie jam. There's a kind of “psychedelic tune-up” at the ninth minute, then it all goes back rocky in the eleventh, mostly on the back of organ as the drumming speeds up and becomes more intense, the vocal too growing in desperation and volume as the song approaches its end. Yet, for all its length, I still fail to remember much about this track when the album is over. The album ends as it began, on “Surely”, with the same melody, vocal and almost the same lyric, except that one extra verse is added to the beginning. It's also differentiated from the opener by a powerful organ outro with guitar accompaniment, which fills out the promise of the song seen at the beginning, and closes the album powerfully, as it opened it enigmatically. This is not by any stretch a fantastic debut, and I'd never list it as one of my favourites, but it is interesting in that it shows a band who are at this point trying to find themselves, work out what they like and what they don't, and how they want to sound. For the band, even more than for the listener, it's a voyage of discovery that was to lead, pretty much literally, to the promised land. In a few short years, Supertramp would be a household name, with hit singles and as many people hating them as loving them. They would forever polarise opinion between rock fans, one half of whom thought they were soft and had sold out, the other which maintained they were one of the original progressive rock bands, and kept true to their beliefs. Either way you look at it, whichever stance you take, or even if you take none, it can't be denied that this was one hell of a way to start out on that journey, and from such small beginnings grew such timeless classics as “The logical song” and “Dreamer”. Not bad for two guys who never wanted to write lyrics in the first place. TRACKLISTING 1. Surely 2. It's a long road 3. Aubade/And I am not like other birds of prey 4. Words unspoken 5. Maybe I'm a beggar 6. Home again 7. Nothing to show 8. Shadow song 9. Try again 10. Surely |
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Ah, not a fan but the worm couldn't resist dedicating this to Laura. Maybe you should buy a new alarm clock, gurl! :) |
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Dark eyes --- Half Moon Run --- 2012 (Indica) http://covers.mp3million.com/0623563...ark%20Eyes.jpg An indie band who have been together now for just over two years, Half Moon Run hail from Ottawa and British Columbia in Canada, and look to be well on their way to joining such other musical exports from that country as Arcade Fire, Glass Tiger and Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Not that their style or music is necessarily akin to any or all of those bands, but they do have that certain something about them that seems to indicate that they may soon be spoken of in the same breath as them, and labelled perhaps as one of the brightest new Canadian hopes for 2012. Half Moon Run are a trio, and this is their debut album, with influences ranging from rock and classical to electronic and folk. Each of the three bandmembers are versatile musicians, each playing more than one instrument and often crossing over, though it's the heavenly vocals of frontman Devon Portielje that really grab the attention and make you believe this is a band who are going places. They've already gone down well at local festivals, and no doubt will soon be on the road to support this, their first album. There's a lovely folk sound about “Full circle”, which opens the album on soft acoustic guitar with rumbling percussion coming in, the vocal from Devon almost rap-like in places, then some beautifully inspired guitar from Conner Molander adds more layers to the song, but the real centrepiece becomes the triple harmonies on the vocals. A restrained and yet powerful song, it says what it needs to say without shouting or any instrumental histrionics. Almost acoustic in ways, it's simple and yet very effective, and leads into “Call me in the afternoon”, a little poppier, led on another nice guitar line but with an electro drumbeat that makes the song a lot dancier and yet keeps from going all the way down the electronica path. Definitely one for the audience to clap along to. Really introspective guitar takes us into “No more losing the war”, almost early Floydesque in Devon's vocal and the simple guitar line, slowly evolving into something more intricate, little in the way of percussion as the acoustic guitar leads the song along until about a minute and a half in when the drums cut in but not too forcefully. Lovely bit of slide guitar from Molander, and soft keys from Dylan Phillips, a very gentle yet bitter song, which could make a good single. Elements of REM and Travis in the song, then “She wants to know” is a faster, uptempo rocker with some bright piano and a frankly menacing bassline, the guitar punching up the intensity as the song moves along on an almost new wave synth melody. One of the standouts is next, the beautiful laidback blues ballad “Need it”, where Conner Molander excels on the guitar (although it could be Devon, as they do tend to interchange) with some solid organ and great vocal harmonies; you don't so much hear this song as let it wash over you, drowning you in its sumptuous melodies and gentle nuances. Rolling, chugging drums then kick the tempo up a little for “Give up”, with another great guitar line and drawled, weary vocal from Devon which suits the theme of the song perfectly. Some nice soft keyboards slide in, and Devon's vocal gets a little more ragged and hoarse, as if he's reaching the end of his rope. It really is the drum (drum machine?) that carries this track though, providing the melodic canvas upon which the rest of the instruments paint the picture. There seems to be some violin in there too, but solid details on the album aren't easily available, so I couldn't say for sure: could be on the synth. Very effective though. “Judgement” opens on a simple acoustic piano run, soon joined by bass and some sparse percussion, then breaks out into a sharp, punchy electronica tune with some very rocky guitar which pulls the song from electro/dance to rock and back, sort of like a tug-of-war is going on. The keyboards are bright, happy and chirpy, the guitar more growling and insistent, then things get even more dancy and darkly electronic with “Drug you”, with its trance-like rhythm and melody, while in almost direct contrast we have the lovely, dreamy “Nerve”, with an almost John Lennon-style guitar sound and a certain sense of early Deacon Blue about it, mixed in with a little Prefab Sprout. Though there's no title track as such, the title is mentioned as the opening lines to “Fire escape”, a laidback little ballad which rides along on a sprightly little guitar track and is augmented along the way by some soulful harmonica, again possibly on synth but it sounds quite authentic. The album closes on “21 gun salute”, a rolling, sweetly organ-driven half-ballad with gentle percussion that later in the song kicks up into a higher gear, with Devon singing at the top of his game and some lovely electronic touches on the keys to fill out the song. It's a good closer, and an example of how versatile this band are, how they can cross from genre to genre with relative ease, comfortable in either, or both. As a debut album this is quite stunning. I had never heard of the band prior to this, and like a lot of the newer material I review here, it was a punt: I liked the name, both of the band and the album, and just took a chance that it would be good. It is. It's very good. It's not quite the debut of the year so far, but it's pretty damn close, and it's certainly an album I'm glad I took a risk buying. Half Moon Run. Remember the name. Watch for them at the bigger Canadian festivals, if you're lucky enough to be able to see them live over there, and don't be surprised if they cross the Atlantic and start making waves over this side of the world. In fact, don't be surprised if you start hearing them on the radio, or they appear on TV. You can't hide talent this good, and you can't hold down a band like this for very long. TRACKLISTING 1. Full circle 2. Call me in the afternoon 3. No more losing the war 4. She wants to know 5. Need it 6. Give up 7. Judgement 8. Drug you 9. Nerve 10. Fire escape 11. 21 gun salute |
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Anyone remember a band called Wax? This was their big hit, it's “Building a bridge to your heart”. Well, if it was being built here in Ireland, with our current economy, it'd only be half built! |
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Couple of quick questions.
Do you change Stacey Lynn's clothes yourself? Are you the one that chooses her outfits? |
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On the beach --- Chris Rea --- 1986 (Magnet)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ris_Rea%29.jpg I've had a strange kind of relationship with Chris Rea down the years: musical only, you understand! He's not one of those artistes I'd class as being a favourite of mine; I don't have all his albums (nothing like it) and of those I have got, I don't like or love them all, though I do like the vast majority of them. I haven't followed his discography backwards or forwards, as I usually do when I come across an artiste I like: there are huge gaps in my collection of music from him. And yet, I really do like his music, his style, his lyrics, his melodies. This album came sort of at the height of my “getting into Chris Rea” phase. Mid-eighties, and I'd heard some of his songs on the radio, had bought “Water sign” and “Wired to the moon”, nipped back to get “Deltics” --- which was different but still a great album --- looked into “Tennis” and wasn't too impressed, and decided not to go back any further. Following this, I'd buy “Dancing with strangers” and “The road to Hell”, both of which I'd love, but skip over “Shamrock diaries” --- don't ask me why; I was a little less disciplined and ordered in my selection of music back then --- after which I'd miss out everything up until “The road to Hell part 2” (bad move!) but despite that being a turkey I would continue undaunted to invest in “King of the beach”, which was a good move, and then the two-disc “Dancing down the stony road”, and then stop, not because that was a bad album --- far from it --- but like Basil Fawlty once said about his chef, I just … stopped. And I've never really felt the need to go back. It's not that I don't think Rea's current stuff is any good. Maybe I've just got too involved with other music to give his a second thought. Before downloadable music came available I remember staring at my CD collection (about 200 or so) and being regularly stumped by what I should listen to, and wishing I had more but was unable to just go out and buy a new CD, unless I knew it was really good. So my collection tended to get overplayed and thus familiar almost to the point of contempt. Then when the likes of torrents and (ahem!) certain websites selling albums gave me another avenue, I was suddenly able to try out albums and artistes I had never heard before, thus allowing me a much wider musical taste and making such questions as should I get the new Chris Rea CD more or less unimportant. But nonetheless, Rea has had some great albums, and I have never regretted buying any of his. Well, except for one. Probably his best were the earlier ones I mentioned, but I do have a special place in my heart for this one, though I probably couldn't really tell you why. I just know it brings back certain memories for me, but what those memories specifically are, I, well, forget! I should mention also that when I bought this album it was on vinyl (though CDs were available, we couldn't all afford them, and we didn't all have CD players --- is any of this making sense or am I talking an alien language?) and so I will be following my usual habit of reviewing only the tracks I know, ie the ones that were on the original album, as I don't know the others, and though I could listen to them, they wouldn't have the same immediate impact on me, or fit into the makeup of the album as those I already know. The album opens with the title track, a lazy, laidback, carefree meshing of synth and guitar, whistling keys and wind sounds ushering the album in gently till it slowly and unhurriedly takes off on a sort of restrained funky/jazzy beat, Rea's instantly recognisable drawl singing of places he used to go, places that still engender certain feelings years later. He's much more than just a singer and songwriter, and here he plays guitar, keyboards, piano and even fretless bass, though it's a lovely little run on the Fender Rhodes courtesy of Max Middleton that steals the show. It's a song for relaxing to, and though not a ballad, and not necessarily slow, it conjures up images of lying in the sun, or sitting in a chair outside, watching the clouds and drinking something cool, with no worries and no responsibilities or concerns. More than likely one of the many songs a father who is a songwriter pens for his child, “Little blonde plaits” is a slow, dreamy ballad with lovely slide guitar, and though he has two girls, the youngest was only born three years after this album was released, so we must assume this is the Josephine, at this point three years old, who is referred to in “Bombollini” on “Wired to the moon” and later on “Dancing with strangers” in the song which bears her name. It's okay I guess, with a certain celtic flavour to it, but I find it a little limp after the supersmooth opener. Things get a lot better though with “Giverny”, which although it starts off like a ballad, on breathy synth and easy guitar, picks up nicely and trots along at a decent lick, with a great solo on guitar and drums at the end. It shouldn't be supposed or taken for granted that I think this is a great album, without flaws, because it certainly is not. It's a good album, but it does suffer from some weak tracks, perhaps not quite filler, but definitely not up to the higher standard of the better tracks. I've already mentioned that I was not that impressed with “Little blonde plaits”, and it's a similar story with “Lucky day” and the one that follows it, “Just passing through”, though both songs have their decent points and things to recommend them. It's seldom --- of what I've heard from Chris Rea anyway --- that he writes a bad song, but I just feel these few let down the overall quality of the album and stop it from being as good as “Dancing with strangers” or “King of the beach”, for example. But for what it is, “Lucky day” is an uptempo groove-led guitar calypso, with a few reggae touches and what sounds like castanets getting in on the act, then “Passing through”, in contrast, is a low-key, introspective, downbeat ballad with blues guitar licks, some nice bright piano contrasting with some dour notes on the Fender Rhodes, becoming something of a gospel piece halfway, though never rising to the joyous level of a true gospel song. Probably the most existential of the tracks on the album, with its quiet acceptance that no-one lives forever, some nice piano leading it out. Luckily, that's it as far as the, shall we say, lower quality tracks go, and from here on in, as McCain say, it's all good. A relatively big hit single for him at the time, “It's all gone” is a boppy, upbeat song with a somewhat bitter message: you can't ever go home, and find things the way you remember them. Time moves on, whether you're there to see it or not, and people and places change. Great synthesiser and some very effective percussion, and a very catchy song. Easy to see how it was so popular. It also features a really good guitar solo, which I think is Chris himself: certainly has his style. Some more great work on the Fender Rhodes too, as Middleton joins forces with Kevin Leach on the keyboards to take the song to its instrumental conclusion in a special extended version to the one that was released as a single. Chris Rea writes first and foremost about people: about their emotions, their situations, their thoughts, their hopes and their dreams, and “Hello friend” is another example of that, carried on Chris's fretless bass and Robert Awhai's gentle guitar and a soft percussion, a letter to a friend written in an attempt to reconnect, an attempt he knows is futile. Sometimes distance and time keeps us so far apart it's almost impossible to bridge the gap again. “Two roads” bumps up the mood again, a jaunty little tune running on a funky guitar and piano line, with some jazzy brass adding joyous heart to the proceedings, then “Light of hope” is a gorgeously fragile ballad that runs on a deep little bass line and picked guitar, going right back to the laidback, lazy theme of the opener, but slowed right down, Fender Rhodes from Middleton flowing like a river in the background. A breathy, gentle vocal from Rea almost whispers at times, and it certainly sounds like there's acoustic guitar in there somewhere. One of my favourite Chris Rea ballads. It all comes to a close then on another ballad, a track which we're told is “from the film”, though how many of us have ever heard of, never mind seen a film called “Auf immer und ewig” is a matter for conjecture. Apparently, it means “always and forever” in German, but my lack of knowledge of the film is unimportant, as this is one beautiful little ballad, and a great way to end the album. There's not a huge amount in terms of lyrics --- I think one verse and one chorus --- but it's the instumentation that makes the song; from the deep bassy opening and the sighing guitar to the gently fingered piano notes and the closing synth runs, this is one lovely song. Rea's deep, soulful voice just adds the final layer on an emotional, touching closer. If you wanted to start listening to Chris Rea, this is not a bad place to start, though in fairness his music has not changed all that much down the years, so you could theoretically start anywhere. But I would definitely recommend this album, especially if you're heading anywhere there's likely to be a lot of sun, a lot of relaxing, and a lot of free time spent doing lots of nothing. TRACKLISTING 1. On the beach 2. Little blonde plaits 3. Giverny 4. Lucky day 5. Just passing through 6. It's all gone 7. Hello friend 8. Two roads 9. Light of hope 10. Auf immer und ewig |
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Good one from the moon goddess herself, this is Kate Bush, and the appropriately titled “Wow”! |
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Ah, supercool with a heatwave on the way! No, the worm is sadly not talking about the weather forecast, but rather this smooth band from back in the late seventies, with “Mind blowing decisions”. |
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Okay, time to once again take off the gentleman hat and let a lascivious grin spread across my face, as I shamelessly feature a music video for the tittilating content in it (not to mention the tit content --- wonder will that one get by the censorbots? Yup! It did! :)). Regardless of how pretty damn awful this song is, there are few of us guys (and probably some girls!) whose tongues were not hanging out when Britney danced down the school hall in that little schoolgirl uniform! From the first slow almost upskirt (control, Trollheart! Control!) shot that opens the video to Britney's sexy bored naughty look sitting in the desk, it's pure teenage fantasy all the way. Only thing I don't like about the video is when she changes into that bloody tracksuit! Man, that school uniform woke dark fantasies within me (not that they were ever that deeply asleep, truth to tell) and allowed me to suffer this terrible song over and over, conveniently “forgetting” to change channel when it came on the TV. Oh yeah, that's Britney Spears. Terrible isn't it? I must turn the telly.... errr, what was I saying? Huh? Sure, I'd love an omelette right about now... Britney Spears --- ...Baby one more time --- 9 out of 10 on Trollheart's “Way-hay!” scale, to about 1:24 when the rating drops back to about 6 out of 10. |
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The worm has some news for you. You had better get ready, cos there's a train a-comin'! You don't need no ticket, you just get on board... |
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