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Christmas --- Chris Isaak --- 2004 (Reprise)
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Name one Chris Isaak record OTHER THAN "Wicked game". Go on, bet you can't. Well, maybe you can if you know his music better than I, but like a lot of people that one single is how I know the guy, and only that. His rise to fame seems to have been a happy (for him) accident really, when a local radio DJ pushed his vocal version of the theme from one of David Lynch's movies, and from there his career took off, with his own radio show and acting parts as well as ten albums (not including this), the latest of which broke the US top ten but didn't do so well over here.

So of course, he was going to release a Christmas album, wasn't he? I mean, really: who buys these things? Who would even think of purchasing one as a present? I got you the new Chris Isaak Christmas album. Chris Rea? Er, no. Chris de Burgh? Errgh! NO! Well it's hardly going to be greeted with open arms, is it? Anyway, our Chris decides he's not just going to play and sing his own favourite songs from the festive period, oh no! No Lionel Ritchie, he! Not for him the safe path to commercial success at Xmas. He decides to write his own songs and mix them in with some Christmas standards. So alongside "Blue Christmas", "White Christmas", "Have youself a merry little Christmas" and "Let it snow", we get five original Chris Isaak Chrismas songs (Chris-mas Isaaks? Sorry...), including the frankly terrible "Gotta be good" (a song that does not take its own advice) and the not much better "Hey Santa!"

He also covers The Beach Boys's "Mekki" ... "Mellik ..." "Makki..." --- Oh, you know the one! I'm not spelling THAT one out again! --- and Willie Nelson's "Pretty paper", as well as throwing in "Auld lang syne" at the end. The album cover shows him in a car with a Christmas tree on the roof, but does not slow the rest of the picture, where he's hauling a trailer full of cash for having recorded this affront to the holiday season.

TRACKLISTING

1. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
2. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
3. Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
4. Washington Square
5. Blue Christmas
6. The Christmas Song
7. Hey Santa!
8. Let It Snow
9. Christmas on TV
10. Pretty Paper
11. White Christmas
12. Mele Kalikimaka
13. Brightest Star
14. Last Month of the Year
15. Gotta Be Good
16.Auld Lang Syne

Gazpacho prove that sometimes a whisper is more effective than a shout...
March of ghosts --- Gazpacho --- 2012 (Kscope)
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Only the second album released by Gazpacho on a major label --- the five previous put out independently by the band --- "March of ghosts", their seventh album overall, is, like the previous "Missa Atropos", a concept, but whereas the latter was one long story concerning one main character, "March of ghosts" is a collection of tales, essentially the stories told by a succession of ghosts who troop by the main character. The whole album, it would appear, was essentially written in just one day two years ago, but you'd never know it to listen to it. Gazpacho have been making themselves something of a name as crafters of some of the finest, best-honed and polished progressive rock around today, and this album continues that high standard.

Luckily, I've been able to unearth a video in which the band talk about the concept behind the tracks, so rather than attempt my usual ham-fisted explanation of what the story running through this album is, I'll leave it to the experts, those who wrote them, to tell you, and I'll just concentrate on the music and what it says to me. The video is below, about thirteen minuts long, but definitely worth your time if you're a fan, a prospective fan of the band, or if you just want a clearer idea of what "March of ghosts" is all about.


Opening with Thomas Andersen's soft, evocative synth lines joined by sweet violin from Mikael Kromer as the drums roll gently in the background, waiting to come in, "Monument" gets us started with with a two-minute instrumental introduction before "Hell freezes over I", part of a quartet of songs under the same name takes us in on more solid but not hard percussion, the melody from the intro flowing seamlessly into the second track --- as indeed do most of the tracks here --- as the distinctive voice of Jan-Henrik Ohme, who sounds so much like Steve Hogarth of Marillion, washes over us accompanied by Andersen's soft keyboards and some harder lines from Jon Arne Vibo on the guitar, a thick bassline from Kristian Torp (who likes to be known as "Fido") and some more beautiful violin from Kromer giving the whole thing something of a semi-celtic feel. It's a slowburner, really laidback and easing us gently into its brother, "Hell freezes over II", which comes in on soft Marillion-style acoustic guitar.

The tempo increases slightly but not that much, though Vibo's guitar comes through more strongly on this track, particularly near the end, with something that sounds like whistle or flute in the mix, but may very well be made on Andersen's keys. "Black lily" has a more moody, tense atmosphere about it, some nice interplay between guitar and drums, and Ohme proving he never really has to strain his voice to be heard: he's from the school of singers who believe in the gentler approach, the less-is-more philosophy, and it works really well. Some sublime layers of keyboard melodies laid on top of the guitar soften the somewhat harder style of this song, but it's still nothing you would honestly call rocking out. Gazpacho don't seem to do that very much, but it doesn't in any way detract from their music, in fact it vindicates it. This is a band you have to listen to, and their albums often take more than one listen before you truly get to the soul of the music. Not for just listening to as you workout or sweep the floor; this is music you have to take in, let it wash over you, absorb it and by a sort of osmosis you begin to realise how good it is, how many layers there are in it and how deep and insightful it is. Probably better listened to with headphones, but that option is not often open to me.

The celtic influence is back for "Gold star", with a thumping drumbeat and a skirling guitar and violin, Ohme's vocal a little more powerful and forward, and Vibo's guitar getting a lot rockier too, though the general tone and tempo of the songs have not really changed that much since the opening of the album. There's something that sounds like a bassoon or sousaphone near the end, with tinkling little piano notes that remind me of a musical box, then it fades slowly out and runs directly into "Hell freezes over III", with some lovely crying violin from Mikael Kromer making a return to the fore, deep bass and swirling keys adding to the atmosphere of the song, with sounds sampled in the keyboard which at times sound like voices (and could be), giving the clear and almost unsettling feel of ghosts floating in the air. It's a short song, and leads into one of the longer ones, as "Mary Celeste" comes in on acoustic piano followed by chiming soft guitar and thumping, solid drumwork.

Obviously at least partially about the mysterious ship that was found abandoned in the nineteenth century, and whose crew was never found nor the reason for their departure ever established, it's got a real sense of mystery and paranoia about it as the ghosts from that ship relate their tale to our hero, and Thomas Andersen's piano playing here is a standout, rating at times with the best Mark Kelly has produced. Kromer's violin work cannot be overlooked either, and sets up a real note of despair and frustration. A little sailor's hornpipe/reel near the end is a nice touch, again recalling the celtic themes on some previous tracks on this album. The pipes, flutes, keys, whatever, are joined by Lars Erik Asp on the drums, bringing the song to a fun and satisfying close. Into "What did I do" we go, as everything slips back into slow, relaxed mode for this standout, with some lovely expressive backing vocals against which Kromer's violin sighs and moans.

That violin follows us into "Golem", as the atmosphere builds and smoulders, pulsating bass punching through and bright piano adding its touch as the tempo rises very slightly, soft, almost miltaristic style drumming following the melody, quite low in the mix, not quite in the background until Vibo cuts loose on the guitar and the percussion ramps up to meet him, he and Asp taking the song up several notches. Some Jean-Michel Jarre-like effects on Andersen's keyboards fill in before Vibo takes off on a solo, then the organ carries the melody for a few moments, as Ohme's powerful but understated vocal runs under and above everything, the quiet but definite centre of attention. "The dumb" starts off as a gentle, balladic song with Ohme's vocal centre stage, accompanied only by Vibo's laidback guitar lines, until about halfway in, when Asp's drums crash in like breakers on the coastline, and Ohme's voice rises to meet them, some oriental-style keyboard work from Andersen helping paint the soundscape as we head into the final track.

Bringing everything full cricle and completing the quadrology, "Hell freezes over IV" opens on a big heavy drum solo, quickly joined by Vibo's frenzied guitar with Ohme delivering his strongest vocal on the album, and a great spooky little instrumental in the middle which wouldn't really be out of place on Jeff Wayne's "War of the worlds". More heavy guitar and percussion as the song reaches its midpoint, and Ohme's vocal dropping back in intensity, almost as if he has been worn out by listening to all these disembodied spirits telling him their stories. As if in response to that, Vibo takes over with a fine solo, joined by Andersen with some bubbly, atmospheric synth as the song heads towards its final minute, and the album comes to a close. Deep, heavy organ punctuates the ending, like some sort of celestial choir, and fades away as the march of ghosts ends.

TRACKLISTING

1. Monument
2. Hell freezes over I
3. Hell freezes over II
4. Black lily
5. Gold star
6. Hell freezes over III
7 Mary Celeste
8. What did I do
9. Golem
10. The dumb
11. Hell freezes over IV

If you know Gazpacho, then you know what I'm going to say here. This is not an album that rocks. Well, it does, but in subtler ways. There are many progressive rock acts out there who can write fine, uptempo songs you can rock along to, many of them. Gazpacho don't do that, not very often anyway. "Missa Atropos" was another slowburning, laidback, thoughtful album that you really couldn't just pick a track from and get the full experience of this band. Their albums are really more like novels, and to properly appreciate them you can't just read a chapter here or there. They don't do playlists very well. A Gazpacho album is an event, an experience, a happening, and to really "get" it, you have to open your mind, and your ears, and yes, your heart and soul, and let them sink in. Once they do, once you allow these six guys form Finland to enter your heart and pump their music through your bloodstream, you may find it quite hard to live without it.

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Merry Christmas with love --- Clay Aiken --- 2004 (RCA)
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God, they just keep coming, don't they? Perennial runner-up to American Idol Clay Aiken had to have his stab at the Christmas market too, and this only his second album! Of course, the American public (and, I'm sure, many millions of his fans outside the States) ate it up, as you would expect, but really, it's just taking the michael, I feel. Oh well.

Apart from the usual fodder, it's at least interesting in that it features two cover versions of songs by Christian contemporary artists, both of which were written approximately twenty years prior to this album, with Mark Lowry's "Mary, did you know" while Sandy Patti's contribution forms the title track of the album. There's a medley of "Hark! The Herald Angels sing" and "Come all ye faithful", and one of my other Christmas favourites, Spector's "Sleigh ride", but then Celine Dion's "Don't save it all for Christmas Day" brings things back to earth with a bump, while the intensely annoying and smug "What are you doing New Year's Eve" closes proceedings.

I suppose you'd have to say that it was maybe a bold move, making only your second album a Christmas one. Certainly paid off for Aiken, who I have developed a little more respect for after seeing him as a finalist on Donald Trumps's "Apprentice" show. But the problem here is that the high album sales --- two million copies sold worldwide as of 2010 --- must surely have been down in very large part to American Idol fans, and really, those are the sort of people who would buy a turd if it had Clay Aiken's name and face on it.

Although maybe that's not being fair. To turds.

TRACKLISTING

1. O Holy Night
2. Winter Wonderland
3. Silent Night
4. Medley: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing/O Come All Ye Faithful
5. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
6. Mary, Did You Know?
7. Joy to the World
8. The Christmas Song
9. Don't Save It All for Christmas Day
10. Merry Christmas with Love
11. Sleigh Ride
12. What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?

The saddest Kamelot album I have ever heard --- cheer up guys!
Silverthorn --- Kamelot --- 2012 (SPV/Steamhammer)
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I've said this before about Kamelot; they seem to have a bad reputation among metallers and prog metallers as something of a generic, boring, formulaic and very commercial band. I've never quite been able to see that myself. Kamelot have remained one of my favourite prog metal bands, and even with their recent slide into more gothic areas in the last few years, I still prize every album they release. This, their tenth. sees them for the first time without their longstanding vocalist and frontman Roy Khan, who quit the band in 2010 for personal reasons, his last contribution being to that year's "Poetry for the poisoned". So what is life like after Khan for Kamelot? Have they still got that spark, or are they exposed as being a one-man band, as it were? Although I didn't like their first two albums, it was mostly the histrionics of vocalist Mark Vanderbilt that I failed to warm to, and truth to be told, though "Eternity" and "Dominion" are not a patch on later albums, they do have some good tracks. But it was only with the arrival of Khan that the band really took off. So how do they now fare without him?

Well, the creative and driving force behind Kamelot has always been guitarist Thomas Youngblood, and while Khan may have been for twelve years the voice and face of the band, Youngblood has always been its beating heart and its inspirational brain, and thus it proves here, with the compositions mostly written by him and keyboard player Oliver Palotai. Although everyone in the band is given writing credits, the whole concept behind the album, the story that runs through it, is a joint effort between these two. And it is a concept, Kamelot's third album to be based on an overarching storyline. The plot itself is I think intentionally vague --- Youngblood refuses to go into too much detail about it even on their own website --- allowing the listener to make up their own mind as to what it's about, which is all fine and good, except when it's so ambiguous that you really have no hope of working out what's going on. The basic premise seems to concern a wealthy family who have a dark secret, which results in the death of their daughter, quite possibly at the hands of her two brothers. There may very well be some incest involved, something unsavoury certainly, and it takes place in the nineteenth century: that much the writer has confirmed.

But when it gets right down to it, the story is not as important as the music. Sure, it's great to know what the lyrics are about and how they tie the songs together, but if the music is not that good then that becomes very much a secondary concern. Now, I've read several reviews of this album and almost all have raved about it, some even describing it as Kamelot's best album, but I have to say I don't see it. I'm not saying the album is bad, because it's not: in fact, it's very, very good. But I fail to be moved in the same way as others have been about how different, ground-breaking or intense it is. I'm still waiting for them to equal "The black halo", and for me, this doesn't really come close.

But enough about comparisons, come with me and let's explore the music, which is, after all, the most important part of any album.

It opens (and closes) on an instrumental, with lovely harpsichordal piano from Oliver Palotai, then heavy strings and choral vocals as it builds dramatically, and you can see right from "Manus dei" Kamelot continuing on the path towards more operatic, gothic and cinematic metal that they began to show on albums like "Ghost opera". The first contribution from new vocalist Tommy Karevik is a low, muttered prayer of sorts, then we pile into "Sacrimony (Angel of afterlife)" and it's quite amazing to hear how similar to the man he replaced Karevik is. In some ways --- many ways --- you might think it was still Roy Khan singing, as indeed I did when I first heard the album. It's a fast rocker with some great guitar from Thomas Youngblood and a choir which goes under the name of Silverthorn Choir, featuring among others Amanda Somerville from Epica and Elize Ryd from Amaranthe. It continues the practice established by Kamelot since 2003's "Epica" of featuring female vocals, mostly guest artistes, these supplied by the aformentioned Ryd here; Kamelot also use another female vocal, with "death vocals" as her speciality (here credited as "unclean female vocals") in the shape of Alissa White-Gluz. The rocking tempo continues into "Ashes to ashes", but despite the pace you can already see this is going to be a very bleak and desolate album, lyrically speaking.

The great Kamelot sound is there as ever, with powerful guitar runs from Youngblood, great keyboard passages from Palotai and thunderous drumming from Casey Grillo, while Karevik gives it all he's got, his voice here perhaps not as strong or commanding as Khan's usually was but still very satisfactory. Very prog-rock keyboard solo from Palotai, and there are "unclean vocals" again, male this time, from Sascha Paeth, who also adds extra guitars to some of the tracks. Very dramatic and powerful is the following track, "Torn", on which Karevik gets to shine properly, but as I say the story is somewhat lost in the lyrics, and I've read them all but still can't get the idea behind the concept, other than something very basic. The recurring theme seems to be one of despair, guilt and a wish for forgiveness from, I think, the ghost of the murdered girl, who is called Jolee, as we find from the next track, the first ballad, "Song for Jolee". This is a beautiful song, with sublime piano, beautiful strings and laidback guitar, Tommy Karevik's voice almost bleeding with passion and regret as he sings. The lyric is a little silly, as one of the brothers talks about writing to the angels to keep his sister safe. Er, yeah. Great combined guitar and keyboard solo with strings backing near the end, and it fades out on soft piano.

Lovely strings intro to "Veritas", and you think it's going to be another ballad till Youngblood's hard guitar cuts in and it takes off as a metal cruncher, Karevik unleashing the full power of his vocal again, backed by Elize Ryd and the Silverthorn Choir in a real chant that evokes the best of Within Temptation and Nightwish. There's a lot of latin in the lyric here, and showing how thorough they are and how authentic they want to be, Kamelot have hired in Luca Turilli from Rhapsody to make sure they get it right --- guess he knows a lot of latin. Lovely accordion passage from Istvan Tamas closes the song, and it's a powerful, punchy track with a great sense of drama, but the darkness runs through it like black thread or smoke. Kicking up the tempo somewhat is "My confession", with perhaps one of the most commercial hooks in the chorus and some great keyboard work from Oliver Palotai. Sean Tibbets' bass is the pulsating heartbeat of the opening to the title track, joined by sweet strings before Youngblood racks up his guitar and the track takes off with a powerful vocal from Karevik and some almost manic piano. This is very evocative of previous Kamelot material, rather a lot I think like "March of Mephisto" from "The black halo", a real rocker that thunders along with great purpose and drama.

Kamelot even enlist the help of children to add that lost innocence touch to the album, with a choir featuring, among others, Annelise Youngblood, whom I have to assume is the daughter of the Kamelot guitarist, and they add quite a spooky feel to this track. Youngblood's guitar features heavily right from the start in the Sabbath-like "Falling like the fahrenheit" (stupid, nonsensical name for a track), that stomps and grinds along in a murky, moody fugue that at times feels almost claustrophobic but has a great hook, one thing Kamelot know how to do so very well, and possibly one of the reasons so many people accuse them of being commercial and generic, and yet they've never had so much as one hit single. You only have to glance through the tracklisting to see this is not a happy album --- "My confession", "Prodigal son", "Torn", "Ashes to ashes" --- they all speak of dark thoughts and feelings, despair and woe, sorrow and pain. No love songs really, and nothing uplifting. And yet the music doesn't come across as doomy or dark, quite uptempo and not cheerful but not despair-laden either.

I do have an issue with their titling a second track "Solitaire" though: they already have a song of this name on the "Ghost opera" album, so why call this track the same? Surely they could have come up with a better more individual name? It's a good song though, recalling the best from "Epica" such as "Centre of the universe" and "Descent of the archangel", and powering along on Grillo's incessant, vibrant drumbeat and driven as always by Youngblood's incisive guitar work. The standout comes however in the form of the usual Kamelot epic, and it's very good indeed. "Prodigal son" is broken into three parts, the first, "Funerale", an emotional hymn which starts off with soft church ogan and pealing bells, almost Mozart's "Requiem" in tone, with a pure, beautiful yearning vocal from Karevik backed by only Palotai's sad organ but then joined by the Silverthorn Choir in an impressive and moving performance, just like a mass, which I suppose is the idea it's meant to convey. Two minutes in Youngblood adds acoustic guitar and Karevik sings solo before Grillo hits in the percussion, after which Thomas breaks out the electric and fires off an emotional and searing solo, taking us into Part II, "Burden of shame (The branding)" as Karevik's vocal gets stronger and more determined, while Youngblood's guitar rages behind him. Another beautiful solo in the fifth minute and then he lets the guitar loose properly as Casey Grillo fires up the drumkit and thunders along, the song picking up tempo heading into the final part.

Part III, "The journey", ends on a dramatic, fast, powerful instrumental and the album closes on "Continuum", which although it's not really a true instrumental is close enough to rate it as one. Bookending the album very well it takes us out of the story --- which I doubt anyone properly understands --- and is a nice way to close the album, a sort of reverse overture, a coda to a very fine album which has had Kamelot reaching for the stars, even if they have fallen more than a little short of that goal. You can't fault their ambition.

TRACKLISTING
1. Manus dei
2. Sacrimony (Angel of afterlife)
3. Ashes to ashes
4. Torn
5. Song for Jolee
6. Veritas
7. My confession
8. Silverthorn
9. Falling like the Fahrenheit
10. Solitaire
11. Prodigal son
(i) Funerale
(ii) Burden of shame (The Branding)
(iii) The Journey
12. Continuum

(Note: This will probably be one of the longest, if not the longest afterwords I've written in an album review, but I have a lot to say about this album, and Kamelot in general)

So is this the album Kamelot were always supposed to make? Is it "the best Kamelot album ever", as many have postulated, and is all the hype justified? Well I've listened to the album about ten or more times now and I can't truthfully put my hand on my heart and say yes it is. It's a great album, of that there's no doubt --- Kamelot don't do bad albums, at least not since their third --- but is it one of my favourites of 2012? No it definitely isn't. I was a little underwhelmed with it when I heard it the first time, though as it progressed I felt it got much better, especially towards the closing section, but on repeated listens, while I haven't revised my overall opinion of "Silverthorn", it remains a good, possibly great album, but not the greatest they've produced. For me, they attained that peak with "The black halo", and have yet to surpass or even equal that. I did like "Ghost opera", but it wasn't close to their best.

Due credit must of course be given to new vocalist Tommy Karevik, who handles all the songs with great skill and heart, and manages to sound so close to departed Roy Khan that longtime fans of the band won't be shaken or put off by the change; in fact, some may not even realise he's a different singer. Yet for all that he retains enough of his own individual style to be able to stamp his identity and personality on the album, not an easy thing to do with such massive shoes to fill! I do miss Khan, but I think he probably articulated his decision best in "Anthem" from "Ghost opera", when he obviously realised he must prioritise his new family over his career, over his music, and who would blame him? Perhaps we'll see him popping up again, perhaps not, but either way he's been a worthy and faithful servant to Kamelot, and his input with and influence on them is and always will be appreciated.

This is, though, by far the most depressing, bleak, sad and bitter album Kamelot have ever put out. Even "The black halo", with its themes of revenge, betrayal and death, had its "up" moments --- lots of them, in fact. This has few if any. Oh, the music is mostly uptempo, but listen to the lyric and you'll glimpse the true heart of this album. If you're easily depressed, I'd avoid unless you want to be brought down. If you're not already depressed before listening to it, it will suck you down into a deep, dark, bitter pit of despair, and though the music is excellent and it's very well put together, it's more like what I think that DBSM would sound like. Music to slit your wrists to? Not quite, but it certainly won't cheer you up or make you feel any better about the world. Someone in another review noted that the album was so dark and sad it was like the band's collective hearts were breaking. I can't deny that, and would wonder if there is any parallel to a similar incident that happened to any of them? Hopefully not, because it sounds really horrible and upsetting. The circumstances, I mean, not the music.

I never really linked Kamelot with depressing music before, bitter themes or bleak soundscapes, but this just sounds, on one level, like the hurt of all the world given voice. Much of that, it has to be said, is down to Karevik's pained and torn vocal, like a damned soul crying in the void, and also to the amazing choir Kamelot employ. Definitely leaning heavily towards the side of gothic metal now, I wonder if this is the direction the band are now headed in, and if so, will they ever sound happy again?

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Christmas with you --- Clint Black --- 2004 (Equity)
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I guess in many ways you could say Country music is almost uniquely suited to the Christmas market. I don't claim to be any sort of an expert, but it seems to me that Country relies a lot on sentimentality, memories, traditions and has a real connection with religion, all relevant and important factors when constructing a Christmas album. Of course, there are so many Country artists out there, and whose record do you find the most repugnant, from a Christmas point of view?

Well, Clint Black (NO! CLINT! C-L-I-N-T! Don't be dirty!) comes close. Now I don't know the guy, have no experience of his music, but the sheer oversentimentality and cheesiness that drips from every groove on this record (ask yer parents, I'm sick explaining! Well, ask yer grandparents, then!) definitely puts him in my crosshairs. Add to that the fact that this album is a reissue of his original Christmas outing, back in 1996, and you really have to ask yourself why he's bothering unleashing it on us again? I know that's probably the label's call, but still, you'd imagine he would have some input.

Every song here is an original. That could be good, or it could be bad. It's bad. There are, admittedly, no angels having been heard singing on high or nights without any sound, and not a snowman to be seen, but these songs are so bad I almost wish there were. From the dreary and sickening opener "The finest gift", where Clint talks about his woman's love as being, you guessed it, to the terrible "Santa's holiday song", which mercifully closes the album, this is mawkish schmaltz from the word go to the word please stop. Yeah, I know that's two words!

In fairness, there are a few decent tracks. "The kid" is an interesting idea, where the singer remembers being a child and all excited about Christmas, then is grown up as a parent and watching his kid do the same thing, and "Looking for Christmas" is a nice look at the arrival in Bethlehem two thousand and some years ago. Trouble is, it's the title of the original '96 album, which kind of reminds you you're paying for recycled product. But the bad definitely outweighs the good, which tracks like "Milk and cookies (Til Santa's gone)" and "Under the mistletoe" particularly puke-inducing, though "The coolest pair" is a bit of fun. That fun does not however last very long.

TRACKLISTING

1. The Finest Gift
2. Under the Mistletoe
3. The Kid
4. The Coolest Pair
5. Looking for Christmas
6. Christmas for Every Boy and Girl
7. 'Til Santa's Gone (Milk and Cookies)
8. Slow as Christmas
9. The Birth of the King
10. Looking for Christmas (Reprise)
11. Christmas with You
12. Santa's Holiday Song

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The worst is almost over, people: we're into the final week before Christmas and this will all be drawing to a conclusion tomorrow week. Before that, though, we have to stomach the likes of this. Sorry... :D
Christmas: Women of Faith --- Women of Faith --- 2000 (Integrity)
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I would never slag anyone's religion or beliefs off, but it must be a scary sight, thousands and thousands of women all coming together in the name of Jesus. That's what Women of Faith is: an organisation that holds these sort of concerts, festivals, gatherings where they all get together and sing about how much they love the Saviour. Kind of like Donington, but without the leather, loud music, booze, drugs, scantily-clad girls, motorbikes, references to the Devil ... yeah, nothing like Donington really. Probably more like a very long mass with music. Urgh! Anyway, they also produce these albums, and I suppose if they're going to do so, Christmas would seem the perfect time.

The trouble is, as with most overtly-religious groups, or anyone trying to push a view, they come across as over-enthusiastic to the point of almost hostility to anyone who doesn't hold their views. The album of course is heavily slanted towards songs of a religious nature, so you have "Joy to the world", "Silent night", "Away in a manger", "O holy night", as well as various medleys, but nothing about the most important person, the one Christmas is all about, he who was born on this day to take away our sins. Yeah, nothing about Santa Claus at all!

Seriously, you wouldn't give this as a present to anyone, unless they're a dyed-in-the-wool Christian who thinks going to mass seven days a week is not enough. The music's pleasant enough, and sung well, but as always with Christian artistes I find an underlying current of veiled menace in the way these songs are put across: it's like they're saying "This is our special time, now hear us roar!" Uh, yeah.

TRACKLISTING

1. Medley: You Are Emmanuel/Emmanuel
2. Angels We Have Hear On High
3. Joy To The World
4. O Holy Night
5. Medley: Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne/Worthy, You Are Worthy
6. Silent Night
7. Medley: The Birthday Of A King/O Come All Ye Faithful
8. Holy Lamb Of God
9. Away In A Manger
10. Medley: One Small Child/More Precious Than Silver

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Okay, so already there are people saying “This isn't metal opera!” Well, no, it isn't, but it is most certainly rock opera, in fact I'd go so far as to say it's the original rock opera, and the best. After all, if you're going to tell what is generally accepted as The Greatest Story Ever Told, you really need to write The Greatest Rock Opera Ever, don't you? And in my opinion this is exactly what Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Tim Rice did here, treating the subject of Christ's last days both with respect and a healthy dose of irony. This is an album (and indeed, film and stage show) you can enjoy even if you're not a believer (which I'm not), because it's just such a damn good story, and the music is of the very highest quality. This is also of course the perfect time to feature such an album, with Christmas only a week away.
Jesus Christ Superstar --- Original Motion Picture Soundtrack --- 1973 (MCA)
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Among other things, this rock opera broke new ground (and in the process of course angered the religious right) by looking at the story of Jesus through the eyes of a man who had, up until then, been one of the most universally-hated and reviled figures in history, along with Hitler and Jack the Ripper, perhaps even Satan himself.

(Disclaimer: I freely accept that many devout Christians are happy to believe the line the Bible tells, painting Judas in the darkest light possible, and making of him a scapegoat for the betrayal and ultimate death of Jesus, and I would never seek or attempt to denigrate them for that. I just think it's possible, even probable, that a more logical approach could be used, and indeed Lloyd-Webber and Rice thought so too (although whether or not they were invested in this religiously is in some doubt: they were and are just artistes practicing their craft), so the below is merely one take on the Judas story, not the definitive one. But then, I believe that also to be the case with the account given in the Bible. It's a free world, and you're entitled to make your own decision about it, if indeed you want to. The below is not meant to challenge anyone's firmly-held beliefs or ridicule anyone's religion. In this context, it's just a story set to music.)

The very idea that Judas Iscariot might be seen as a sympathetic figure, that we might try to understand his motivation in betraying the Saviour, was such anathema to the Church that they took umbrage to it. Far easier to paint Judas as a one-dimensional figure, an evil man who joined the Apostles merely to get close to Jesus, earn his trust and then betray him for thirty pieces of silver. Now really, does that sound likely? And then when he's done the deed, he hangs himself? Please. The Church of course is all about not questioning, or daring to question its teachings, but this particular story has never resonated with me. Why would someone do this?

It makes much more sense though if you see the view through Judas's eyes, and this is what you see in this production. I'm going with the TV film of 1973, because although there have been many adaptations, mostly onstage, of this story, one of which starred metal icon Ian Gillan as Christ (he must have loved that!) this is the one I like best and which I return to time and again. The basic music is the same, with a few little changes for later versions, but this is my favourite.

Anyone doubting that this is a rock opera has only to hear the mad guitar solo in the “Overture” which, not surprisingly, opens the album after some choral vocals and a nice little riff which is quickly joined by orchestral brass and heavy, dramatic percussion, with some frenetic piano as the tune besically runs through an amalgam of tunes and themes we will hear later in the opera. It quickly settles down then, to fade off in heavenly choral vocals as one of the (many) standouts opens the story proper, Judas watching Christ preaching and voicing his concern as “Heaven on their minds”, a truly brilliant piece of guitar melody, takes us into the world of Jesus as he goes among the people. Judas, watching from the top of a hill in the film, worries that his master and friend is attracting too much attention from the Romans and that it will be their, and his, undoing: ”You've started to believe/ The things they say of you/ You really do believe/ This talk of God is true/ And all the things you've done/ Will soon get swept away/ You've begun to matter more/ Than the things you say!”

From this opening soliloquy we see a totally different Judas, a man who is dedicated to Christ but who is increasingly frustrated by his message of peace. Judas, like others, believed Jesus would be the man to lead the Jews into freedom, and lift the yoke of tyranny from around the necks of his people. But Christ is showing no signs of pursuing such a course. It's also quite clear that he does not believe the hype which says Jesus is the Messiah, the one who has come to lead them all to the Kingdom of Heaven. Judas believes in what he can see, touch, feel, not religious dogma. He declares this most powerfully when he says "They think they've found the new Messiah/ And they'll hurt you when they find they're wrong".

Judas worries now that the Romans will pick up on what Jesus is saying, and arrest him, and their only chance for salvation will be gone. More, though, he considers Jesus a friend, and is concerned on his behalf for the man's safety. He recalls ” I remember when this whole thing began/ No talk of God then/ We called you a man/ And believe me, my admiration for you hasn't died” The song is carried on a big guitar intro but then mostly on funky piano, but it's the vocal of Carl Anderson as Judas that really makes it. You can definitely feel his frustration changing to anger as he snaps ”Your followers are blind!/ Too much Heaven on their minds/ It was beautiful but now it's sour.”

As an opener (discounting the overture), “Heaven on their minds” gives us a much more rounded, clearer picture of the man painted for two thousand years as the Betrayer. We see a man, a good man, dedicated to his cause and trying to reconcile it with Jesus's defiance not to engage in violence and only follow the path of peace, and his refusal to give in to Judas's entreaties that he take up the sword. Judas does not hate Jesus; far from it. He loves him, but as a friend he realises it may be time to do something to force his hand. This understanding, this sympathising with Judas's position put the writers on a direct collision course with the Church, who have always refused to see any sort of mitigation in --- or indeed, offered any credible explanation for --- Judas's selling out of Christ, other than that he was “evil”. Well, they'd know all about that, wouldn't they?

There's a sixties hippy vibe to “What's the buzz”, with bouncy organ and funky bass, with a vocal mostly taken as an ensemble as the Apostles press a tired Jesus for news of what they are to do next. As they demand ”When do we ride to Jerusalem?” he snaps back ”Why should you want to know? / Why are you obsessed with fighting?” as the first vocal part for Ted Neeley in the title role comes in; his voice is quite falsetto but clear and strong. The song also introduces Mary Magdalene, played by Yvonne Elliman, who offers to cool the pressurised Jesus down. This of course angers Judas, who sees as it were a rival for Jesus's affections in the woman, and so the track runs into its second section, called “Strange thing mystifying”, as he queries Mary's right to be in Jesus's presence. He's also worried that this behaviour will attract unwelcome attention from the authorities. The perceived scandal attached to such a high-profile figure consorting with a woman of ill-repute can, he feels sure, do nothing but harm to their enterprise, and give the Romans the excuse they need to arrest them all.

Jesus however stands up for her, and gets angrier, declaring that the Apostles don't really care about him, eliciting a chorus of denials. The scene now shifts to the temple, where the high priest of the Jews discusses with his second, Annas, the impact of the teachings of Jesus on their people. Opening on a scratching, squealing guitar chord, “Then we are decided” settles into a boogie piano run as Caiaphas, the High Priest, declares that Jesus is a danger to them all. Annas shrugs "He's just another scripture-thumping hack/ From Galilee!” which Caiphas counters with ”The difference is they call him king!/ The difference frightens me!”

Back with Jesus and the Apostles, Mary Magdalene tries to soothe Jesus and convince him to sleep, and the first ballad on the album is a rippling piano melody for “Everything's alright”, but it's interrupted by Judas who berates her for spending money on her ointments and oils, saying they could have helped the poor instead. Ignoring him, Mary turns back to Jesus, who sneers at Judas that the poor will always be a constant in the world, but soon he must leave them and they will be sorry when he has departed. It's a warning of things to come, sooner than Judas or any of them expect it, but it goes unmarked. Strings and woodwind join the piano and bass as the song fades out, and we're back with the priests, as Caiaphas and Annas try to convince the other priests of the danger of allowing Jesus to live.

On an ominous cello intro, the song begins with the High Priest's advising his fellows they have a problem, and Annas mocking the crowd as we hear the first strains of what will later become the song “Hosanna”, the tempo getting more sprightly then dropping back to the ominous chords as the priest sing in unison ”He is dangerous!” while in counterpoint, the “Superstar theme” runs in choral vocals. This song is unintentionally funny too, where Caiaphas, making his case, ends on a deep, rich baritone to be instantly taken up by Annas's high falsetto, the one the opposite of the other. I always find it amusing, even if it's not meant to be. The tempo again picks up on piano and organ as Caiaphas lays out for his brothers the consequences of leaving Jesus to his own devices, and finally convinces them, leading to the title of the song, “This Jesus must die”.

Big dramatic intro then into “Hosanna” as Jesus enters the city to orchestral accompaniment and chorus, with Caiaphas advising Jesus to tell his followers to disperse before there's a riot. One thing that becomes a recurring theme throughout this album is the reuse of melodies. Sometimes it may seem like just laziness on the part of Andrew Lloyd-Webber, but if you look closely the reused themes usually reflect back to the song they were originally used for. An example of this is “Hosanna” itself, where later, the theme resurfaces --- indeed, with similar lyrics --- as Jesus is taken to trial, but instead of singing ”Hey JC, JC/ You're alright by me!” the much more sombre tone is ”Hey JC, JC/ Please explain to me/ You had everything/ Where is it now?” There are other instances of this, but I'll point them out as we go along.

As it is, this song again features the vocals of Neeley as he, in the role of Christ, tells the high priest that even the rocks and trees would sing out his name were every person silent. His vocal delivery is framed against a much slower, lusher strings section, which then goes back into the main theme, with him this time joining the chorus. The possibility of his message of peace and love getting misinterpreted, or taken advantage of, comes about in “Simon Zealotes”, where a Jewish Zealot tries to convince him to ally his message to the overthrow of the Romans. A real disco-type piece, it runs on happy piano and joyful brass, but ends on a sour note, as it falls into “Poor Jerusalem”, Christ bemoaning the fate that is to befall him, adding the bleak message ”To conquer death you only have to die.”

In total contrast to this dance piece, and continuing its main melody, a simple acoustic guitar frames “Pilate's dream”, as the governor of Judea reflects on a strange dream he had about ” A Galillean/ A most amazing man” and wonders what it can mean. According to dogma, even Jesus lost it from time to time, and “Temple” highlights one of the most famous times, when he goes to the temple and finds moneychangers and traders there, throwing them all out. On a bouncy guitar line the tradespeople tout for business until Jesus screams ”My temple should be/ A house of prayer/ But you have made it/ A den of thieves!” and overturns the tables, the music turning suitably dramatic and dissonant as he does so, harking back to elements from the overture.

As he walks off, he is pursued by people who have seen the miracles he has worked and want to be cured. With the opening notes from the Overture hanging in the air, the music slows down on soft strings without percussion and Jesus suffers a moment of doubt that he can fulfill his mission, saying ”My time is almost through/ Little left to do/ After all, I've tried for three years/ Seems like thirty.” On a trumpet note and a guitar chord the prayers for cure begin to assail him, piano joining in and the guitar getting harder and more insistent in concert with the petitioners, till Jesus, overwhelmed by the demands of his public, has to run away and leave them all behind.

The next ballad comes in the shape of “I don't know how to love him”, as Mary Magdalene considers, against a soft guitar melody, her feelings for Jesus, and what she should do about them. It's a great solo piece for Yvonne Elliman, who has a very strong and distinct voice. Gentle, upbeat flute backs the melody and it's deceptively uptempo for the subject matter. The bridge is taken by a lovely keyboard and strings instrumental section, and again this admission of the possibility that Jesus may have had feelings for Mary, and vice versa, is again completley against the teachings of the Church, and another reason for them to denounce this opera. Another standout is next, as Judas tries to make up his mind what is best for the cause, and decides to see if Caiaphas would listen to Jesus, if they could meet. Perhaps the high priest would understand? A heavy, rocky piano line runs “Damned for all time/ Blood money” as Judas tries to explain that he has no choice and Annas sneers ”Cut the protesting/ Forget the excuses/ We want information/ Get up off the floor!” making it obvious that they're not interested in talking to Jesus, they just want to arrest him and get him off the streets. Judas chooses to ignore this, and goes ahead with the sellout. The first part ends with presumably angels singing “Well done Judas”, so that he seems to have made the correct choice.

Another great track opens the second act, with a 70s prog keyboard and organ backing up the ensemble vocal on “The Last Supper”, but Jesus, in sudden anger, accuses the Apostles of not caring about him, saying ”For all you care/ This bread could be my body” against a single piano line until abruptly he launches into a tirade, declaring that they'll all forget him once he's gone: ”Look at your blank faces!/ My name will mean nothing/ Ten minutes after I'm dead!” Here again, Lloyd-Webber reuses a melody that we first heard in “Everything's alright”, but kicking up the intensity and drama as the mood at the table sours and gets more angry. Then an argument breaks out between Jesus and Judas, as they discuss his betrayal, and Judas accuses Jesus of using him to get what he wants. With some truly excellent vocal interplay between Neeley and Anderson, the latter runs off and the “Last Supper” theme returns as Judas despairs that Jesus's behaviour has brought them to this pass.

As Jesus goes after him and their argument reaches fever pitch, a heavy guitar chord melody brings in a lyric which will later surface in the triumphant “Superstar”, near the end, and “The Last Supper” ends on a slow acapella vocal harmony. This then leads into the total, complete and undeniable standout of the entire album, the amazing “Gethsemane (I only want to say)”, retracing portions of the melody from both “Pilate's dream” and “Poor Jerusalem” and featuring a stellar solo performance from Neeley against acoustic guitar backing as he faces his darkest hour, waiting in the garden for the betrayal he knows is to come, and asking his Heavenly Father to relieve him of this burden, knowing it can never be.

A great orchestral section also creates the atmosphere for this centrepiece, and masterpiece, of the opera, Neeley's voice becoming angrier as he asks ”Why should I die?”, brass and cellos powering up behind him as he faces the long night of the soul. As the music reaches a frenzied crescendo, he realises he has no choice and must accept his Father's will, and as the fight goes out of him with this realisation, he reflects on his life against a slower, more sedate guitar and piano melody: ”Then, I was inspired/ Now, I'm sad and tired/ After all, I've tried for three years/ Seems like ninety/ Why then am I scared to finish/ What I started?” the percussion kicking in as he accepts his lot, and the orchestra rising like a living thing as the piece reaches its conclusion with the final notes of the “Overture”.

“Arrest” sees a return to the melody and indeed lyric for “What's the buzz”, virtually a continuation of that song, as the Apostles leap to Christ's defence. He however tells them to put down their swords and as he's marched away the song takes on a press-conference tone as people ask him ”Tell me Christ/ How you feel tonight/ Do you plan to put up a fight?” Taken to Caiaphas, he is accused and the high priest reveals his plans to send the Saviour to Pilate for trial. Another reuse of melody comes in “Peter's denial”, with the exact same melody of “Strange thing mystifying”, ending with a short solo piano piece as Mary remarks in horror that Peter has denied Christ, even as was foretold at the Last Supper.

Brought before Pilate, Christ is unknown to the governor, who asks in a disdainful tone against heavy brass, percussion and strings ”Who is this broken man/ Cluttering up my hallway?” Utilising the basic melody sung by Caiaphas earlier, when Jesus is entering the city in “Hosanna”, Pilate questions the Saviour, but on Jesus's refusal to confirm or deny that he is king of the Jews, he angrily sends him on to King Herod, under whose jurisdiction Jesus, as a Galilean, falls, and the “Hosanna” theme recurs again, this time using that lyric I mentioned at the beginning. The court of Herod is brought to life brilliantly by Josh Mostel, who pulls off a star turn as the loopy king, with a twenties-style piano song as he tries to force Jesus to perform a miracle for him. Unmoved, Jesus is returned to Pilate.

As Jesus makes the trip back, Mary Magdalene and Peter duet on “Could we start again please”, the final ballad as they wonder how things have come to this pass, and if it's possible just to turn back the clock? It's a lovely little piece, with a nice piano melody with strings backing, the vocal taken alternately by Elliman and Philip Toubus as Peter, then by both in unison and finally by the whole chorus as all the Apostles join in. A reprise of “Damned for all time/ Blood money” and indeed “I don't know how to love him” as Judas realises what he's done, but the priests of the temple are unsympathetic, pointing out that he was paid for his service in getting a dangerous rebel off the streets. Thrown out of the temple with contempt, Judas sings to the melody of “I don't know how to love him”, before a high organ introduces the return of the guitars from “Heaven on their minds”, which in a perfect job of bringing things full circle, ring out and get more frenzied as the penny drops and he realises theat Jesus has used him to achieve his ends. Prior to hanging himself he yells to Jesus “You have murdered me! Murdered me! Murdered me!” and the angel chorus returns as the guitars fade. Wow.

“Trial before Pilate” retraces the melody from “Then we are decided” as the governor looks at the man who has been sent back to him. Elements from “Hosanna” also find their way here, the hard guitar chords punctuating Pilate's impassioned plea to Jesus to justify himself, and the “Overture” comes back in until Pilate has no choice but to sentence him to be flogged. This then brings in the “Thirty-nine lashes”, which is a bit off-putting, featuring another return for the guitar riff plus trumpets from “Heaven on their minds”, against the sound of whips. At the end of the thirty-nine lashes (it was said to have been meant to be forty but that Pilate could not make himself suffer through seeing it to the end, or so the Bible would have us believe. Seems unlikely, but there you go.)

But this is, as we know, not enough for the crowd, and they demand crucifixion, reminding Pilate that his boss, the Emperor may not look favourably on his attempts to spare this messiah. Giving in, Pilate orders the crucifixion against a heavy guitar melody. Rather oddly, “Superstar”, the triumphant resurrection piece, comes before the crucifixion, perhaps meant to be played out in Jesus's mind, as if it never happened? I don't know, but anyway “Superstar” is a soul/disco/funk piece that bops along at a good pace and has a lot of, not surprisingly, gospel flavour about it, and is voiced by Carl Anderson as the returned Judas, coming down out of Heaven. Take that, Catholic Church! Great brass section in this too, and it would have been a great closer, but then we're into “Crucifixion”, which is generally an ambient texture piece, containing the sound of hammering, creaking, laughing, agonised screams, and perhaps the most important words uttered by Jesus, certainly said to be his last on the Earth, commending his soul into the hands of his father.

The coda to it all is a beautiful little two-minute instrumental retracing of the slower section from “Gethsemane”, which has been titled “John 19:41”, referencing the line in John's Gospel which reads ”Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. “ This piece still gets me, and even as I type I'm wiping away tears.

As usual, the Catholic Church got it wrong. Far from pushing people away from Christianity, or making a mockery of it, or not treating it with the proper respect, I believe “Jesus Christ Superstar”, in all its forms, opened up the story of Jesus to a new audience, possibly in much the same way as Mel Gibson's movie “The passion of the Christ” did, though much less violently. Surely, you would have to think, anything that told the story of Christ's mission on Earth and gave people understanding of his love for all men would be a good thing? As I said, I'm no believer but I thoroughly enjoy this album, and this film, every time I decide to see or listen to it, and it's forever up there with my all-time favourite movie soundtracks, films and rock operas.

TRACKLISTING

1. Overture
2. Heaven on their minds
3. What's the buzz/Strange thing mystifying
4. Then we are decided
5. Everything's alright
6. This Jesus must die
7. Hosanna
8. Simon Zealotes
9. Poor Jerusalem
10. Pilate's dream
11. Temple
12. Everything's alright (reprise)/ I don't know how to love him
13. Damned for all time/ Blood money
14. The Last Supper
15. Gethsemane (I only want to say)
16. Arrest
17. Peter's denial
18. Christ and Pilate/ Hosanna (reprise)
19. King Herod's song
20. Could we start again please?
21. Judas's death
22. Trial before Pilate (including the 39 lashes)
23. Superstar
24. The Crucifixion
25. John 19:41

Just a quick note of thanks to whoever just approved my posts (Jansz, is that you?) --- the album review was very large and in two parts, and I appreciate it being put up so quickly after I submitted it. Just think credit where credit's due: I'm sure most people don't even bother thanking you for such speedy service.

Happy Christmas!
Trollheart

No problem. :)

This week's planned reviews
With only two weeks remaining of 2012, I've still a pretty large list of outstanding albums of this year to be reviewed, so I've had to choose carefully. After some deliberation then, here are the penultimate selections, which I will be tackling this week.

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Momentum by Neal Morse
Former member and founder of Spock's Beard with an ambitious solo album, with only six tracks!

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Bag of bones by Europe
"It's the fin-al count-down!" Shut up! Europe are more than just that one song, and they prove it on their latest album.
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Ampersand by Villebrad
Look, I don't know how to categorise this band. Just stay tuned for the review, ok?
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Cauldron of the wild by Witch Mountain
Doom metal band from Oregon with their latest release. Yeah, I said "doom metal". Don't miss this one!

Spock's Beard? No. Spock's Beard? No. Spock's Beard? NO! Good though? Oh yeah. But not Spock's Beard? NO! Sounds like it.. Yeah...
Momentum --- Neal Morse --- 2012 (InsideOut)
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It's a pretty amazing feat, but Neal Morse has had, with the release of "A Proggy Christmas" this year, twenty solo albums in addition to being founder and member of progressive rock stars Spock's Beard. Two of these were released while he was part of the band, but are not really what you'd call progressive rock. Having left the band in 2002, Neal joined Translatlantic but also concentrated on his solo career, and having rediscovered his faith and become a born-again Christian, he wanted to write music that would better reflect his beliefs, which he believed would not fit well into what Spock's Beard were doing. His faith would, it might seem, be justified, as his daughter, who was suffering from a potentially life-threatening condition, was mysteriously cured after he and his church prayed for her. Me, I don't know: could be coincidence, but I would not be so churlish as to say there could be nothing else to it. I am however not here to discuss Morse's faith, nor anyone's, but just thought that little bit of information was important. Whether it was related or not to his rediscovery of his Christianity, it certainly would have reinforced his faith, and in fairness I think most of us would tend to think the same thing in his shoes.

In any case, as I say, this is his nineteenth solo album, with his twentieth also released this year, and as I mentioned in my preview it has but six tracks. Now normally I would be inclined to point out that this is shocking value for money, until you look a little closer and see that one of the tracks --- indeed, the last one --- is over thirty minutes long! More about that later, but we open on the fast, rocky, keyboard-driven title track, with some fine sharp guitar and pounding drums, vocals shared between Neal and Rick Altizer, but it's the former voice of Spock's Beard that I certainly recognise. The song has a lot of Supertramp about it too, and the inevitable SB influence as well as early Genesis. The resemblance to his former band is something I'll come back to over the course of the review, but "Momentum" is a good opener, and to be fair, every track here really has to be good, because if the closer is terrible, or just weak, even thirty-plus minutes of length is not going to make it any better. And if it's bad, then all you have to rely on is the five other tracks, so with only six in total there's no margin for error and no real excuse for weak songs.

Thankfully, all the above is moot as the end track is a stormer, of which again more later. But as I say the album opens really well, and there are some perhaps slightly indulgent moments from Neal on keys and guitar, though Mike Portnoy does a great job on the percussion, almost another Nick D'Virgilio in this case. Great guitar work too from Paul Gilbert, and even Wil Morse (his other brother? Alan, his most famous sibling, stll being part of Spock's Beard) helps out on the vocals, though I certainly hear Neal's as the dominant voice. The track ends on a nice little bass and piano part, then we're into total Spock's Beard territory with jerky guitar, Yes-style multi-tracked vocals as "Thoughts Part 5" begins, and here is where the problem begins for me. Although this is a great album, and I like it a lot, it sails so close to Spock's Beard territory that it almost feels like one of their albums. Peter Gabriel was always identified as the voice of Genesis, yet when he went solo his music sounded very little like that of his parent band, and less as he developed his own style. The same goes for Phil Collins, Jon Anderson and even Freddie Mercury: they all developed their own individual sound that took pains --- whether intentional or not --- to distance itself from the music it had become associated with. No point, after all, in going solo if all you're going to do is transplant the music of your band to your own albums.

Neal has had, as I mentioned, ten years to perfect his own style, and in fairness I've not heard all his material: some is very Christian/worship-oriented, and I'd probably be unlikely to listen to that, or want to, but he has released prog rock albums and if they're all like this then I think I'd rather just buy the latest Spock's Beard. For what it is, "Thoughts Part 5" is a good little song, but it could have been performed by the band, so where is the individuality on this album? Where are the new ideas? Where is the difference between this music and the music of the parent band? That's not to say the guys on this album can't play, because they obviously can, and very well. Neal does a lovely early-Genesis mellotron and Portnoy is excellent as ever, Gilbert's a capable guitarist, though I'm not that familiar with the work of Mr. Big, and Adson Sodre helps out too. But I don't see the spark, the creative individualism I expected to see, or hear, here.

"Smoke and mirrors" is a nice little laidback acoustic ballad, with some fine piano and organ (alright, not acoustic, but it has that air about it) and a lovely little piece of classical guitar. There's a powerful keyboard solo about halfway through, and the lyric hints somewhat obliquely at Morse's faith and beliefs, but that's okay. Another short track then is "Weathering sky", though in contrast this is much bouncier, more uptempo and with those squealy, squeaky guitars and talk boxes so identified with Spock's Beard. The song has a touch of the Beatles about it too, and it's a good one, but again too close to SB for my tastes. I have grown to love Morse's old band, after something of a struggle, but I prefer a solo artist to do his or her own thing, and if you just sound like your band, well, what's the point is what I'm saying. Again.

There's a great sense of pathos and tragedy about "Freak", perhaps a song about the dangers of seeing people in terms of one dimension, but it's very similar to other songs I've heard from "The light" although there's good use of violins and cellos, with pizzicato strings and some interesting bass work. Good lyric too: "I'm not welcome where the work is/ Not in your homes or in your churches". I like the not-so-obvious rhyming scheme in this a lot. Good powerful orchestral passage firms up the melody, and the final warning "Maybe an angel's come between us/ Who knows? I may be Jesus!" is particularly effective. Probably my favourite on the album.

And that takes us to the long-awaited closer. "World without end" runs for a total of thirty-three minutes and forty seconds, and the first six of these are taken up by an instrumental intro, opening with celestial keys and winding up hard guitar, with a melody very reminiscent initially of "The Lamb lies down on Broadway". I guess you have to admire Morse's confidence and courage: putting a track on an album that is longer than some albums are on their own is a bold step, but by god it had better be good, because this makes up seventy percent of the album and like it or not it's on this one track that the album is going to be judged. I do have to report that for such a long track it doesn't lose my attention, much. The powerful instrumental introduction is great and sets the scene well, though it goes on for so long that when I first heard it I worried that the entire half-hour plus could be like this, no vocals at all. I guess that would have been a step too far!

So it's full of the usual you'd expect from Morse/Spock's Beard: twiddly keyboards, trumpeting organs, fanfares and short, stop-start guitar, different parts and themes, and in fact the song is broken into six parts (again, a bad move really as it's so like the construction of his former band's songs it almost feels like he's copying the structure) of which the first is called, not too surprisingly, "Introduction", and though there's no actual way to work out what's what, I assume the instrumental to be the first part. When the vocal comes in it's on to part two, which is titled "Never pass away", a concept and theme that recurs throughout the long work. The melody and indeed the lyric comes back later in slightly different form, but here it's backed by fast piano, guitar and strong keyswork. It's quite rocky and uptempo, compared to the introduction, which is more dramatic and cinematic really. I'm not sure I could ever see him playing this live, but if he decided to take parts from it, this second section would go down really well on its own, I feel.

A warbly keyboard solo with accompanying piano takes us into what I assume to be part three, "Losing your soul", where everything slows down against just piano and percussion, joined by a keyboard run which will eventually become the closing section/theme of the song. Choral voices rise in the background, and really, the song is now eleven minutes old, and for anyone else this would indeed be the end, but not our Neal! There's another two-thirds of "World without end" to go, as we push on with a hard guitar riff and faster, tougher drumming from Mike Portnoy moving into part four, "The mystery", with Morse's voice run through some sort of effects pedal to make it sound distorted and mono, as if talking on the radio. It's a very Zep groove now, with some pretty wild guitar and organ stabs punctuating the fretwork. Hold on, no: this is still "Losing your soul", as it's just been mentioned in the lyric. Well, it's hard to judge where one part ends and the next begins unless you're given timings or it's very obvious, which is isn't.

Well we're now almost halfway through on the back of a fine guitar solo which then changes time signatures in a very tried and trusted progressive rock manner, a thick bass taking the melody as it changes to a sort of reggae/caribbean style, Morse's voice back to normal now as the song trips along on a bouncy, happy line accompanied by flutes and it seems we're now into part four. Things speed up then as we head towards the twentieth minute on mellotron joined by bright keys and guitar, a big instrumental passage that runs for almost two minutes and ends dramatically, almost stopping dead before it picks up again on soft, slow synth and piano, gentle whispering percussion and I guess this is then part five, "Some kind of yesterday", confirmed indeed as Neal sings the lyric. Very Genesisesque keys and the drums get a bit harder and more pronounced now, sprinkles of piano joining the melody, Neal's voice more relaxed and softer.

A return then to the basic theme of "Introduction" on buzzy keys and piano, fanfares breaking out all over the place in triumph as we no doubt move towards the final part, the conclusion, but not before some boogie guitar and organ get in on the act. Nice little bass solo too from Randy George before the keys swamp everything again, though in a good way it has to be said. This is certainly a keyboard-centric track, indeed album, not that surprisingly. We head into the twenty-fifth minute on a rushing, busy keyboard solo before part five, for which the entire track is named, hits, and it's a retracing of the theme from "Never pass away", with soft piano accompanying Neal's voice, also soft for the first minute or two, until sweeping percussion from Portnoy and strong organ intensify both the tune and Morse's vocal. Again very Genesis-like keyboards draw the curtain down, choral vocals and backing vocals joining, and a strident flourish on keys, guitar and drums brings the mammoth composition to a triumphant and very satisfying conclusion.

It's pretty obvious from the title, lyrical content and tone of this song that Neal Morse is talking about God and the Kingdom of Heaven ("that shall never pass away") but it doesn't come across as preachy, rather joyful and hopeful; it really sounds like Neal is saying God will save us all in the end; whether you believe or you don't, there's a place waiting for you at his table. Even for a hardened old cynic like me, I have to admit that's comforting in a way. As for the track itself being the centrepiece of the album, which it undoubtedly is: is it worth it? Does it stand up to close scrutiny and does it make the album purchase worthwhile? Yes, yes it does. It's a great track, and as I said, if you can listen to over half an hour of music in one track and not get bored, the guy has to be doing something right.

TRACKLISTING

1. Momentum
2. Thoughts Part 5
3. Smoke and mirrors
4. Weathering sky
5. Freak
6. World without end
(i) Introduction
(ii) Never pass away
(iii) Losing your soul
(iv) The mystery
(v) Some kind of yesterday
(vi) World without end

My only problem with this album is that it sounds so very much like Spock's Beard, as I have already stated many times over the course of this review, and which you're no doubt sick of hearing me say. But it's true: there's really nothing here I wouldn't expect to hear on one of their albums, and if I heard this on the radio (unlikely) I would probably think it was them. I'm sure Neal Morse has many more strings to his bow, and I would just have preferred if he had tried to be a little different, take a step back from what his fans are used to hearing from the band he left ten years ago now. That said, his gentle and pretty unobtrusive insertion of his Christian message into his music must be applauded: whereas other artistes might try to ram their message down your throat, he just puts it out there; if we want to listen we can, if we don't he's not telling us we're going to burn in Hell. As I say, his message seems to be that there is a place for all in the Kingdom of God.

It's not such a bad message really, when you think about it. I just hope he manages to shake off the cloying effects of Spock's Beard for his next album. Even if he doesn't though, this music is so intrinsically good that there'll always be room for him in my record collection.

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Christmas in the Stars: Star Wars Christmas --- Meco Monardo --- 1996 (Rhino)
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA300_.jpg

Quite possibly outright winner for the "weirdest Christmas album" goes to this one, in which producer Meco Monardo, at the time famous for his disco treatments of the famous Star Wars tunes, turns his hand to celebrating the festive season in the company of Chewbacca, C3PO and R2D2. With songs like "What do you buy a Wookie for Christmas (When he's already got a comb)?" and "The odds against Christmas", not to mention the title track, you're unlikely to come across another offering of this, well, weirdness, anywhere.

It even has Threepio retelling "The night before Christmas", while his shorter, rounder companion whistles and bleeps his way through an interesting rendition of "Sleigh ride". Most of the songs were written by a Yale Music Professor, just to add to the esoteric nature of the album, and produced by Meco, with all the songs running into a general overall theme and story that threads its way through the album, as droids working for Santa slowly come to learn the meaning of Christmas.

Only one meaning for George though: gimme that foldin' green! This album is only for Star Wars fanatics, or someone who wants a good laugh at Xmas time. To anyone else, it's just going to seem -- what's the word? --- oh yeah: weird.

TRACKLISTING

1. Christmas In The Stars
2. Bells, Bells, Bells
3. The Odds Against Christmas
4. What Can You Get A Wookiee For Christmas....
5. R2-D2 We Wish You A Merry Christmas
6. Sleigh Ride
7. Merry, Merry Christmas
8. A Christmas Sighting ('Twas The Night Before...)
9. The Meaning Of Christmas

I really like the Christmas album reviews, you're doing the lord's work. I'm ashamed to admit it, but I have a soft spot for "All I Want For Christmas is You", mainly because Love Actually made me cry like a little bitch.

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Christmas time again --- Lynyrd Skynyrd --- 2000 (CMC International)
http://megaboon.com/images/release/4...09031708538532

Oh guys! How could you? Of all the people I expected not to succumb to the lure of a Christmas album...!

Yep, at the turn of the millennium the boys who brought you "Sweet home Alabama" and "Free bird" sold their souls, and not for rock and roll either. With songs like "Santa Claus wants some lovin'" and "Hallelujah, it's Christmas!" though, you know this is not going to be just another tired collection of carols and hymns, and Xmas favourites. But it finds its way into this list due to my sheer disbelief that the godfathers of southern rock would even consider releasing such a thing.

There are contributions from Charlie Daniels on "Santa Claus is coming to town", two Rudolph songs --- "Run Rudolph run" and the perennial "Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer" --- and even 38 Special put in an appearance. Oddly enough, there's a version of "Greensleeves" --- not sure why that seems to be associated with Christmas these days --- and the opener "Santa's messin' with the kid" is great fun, but overall you have to wonder why a band of Skynyd's calibre would get involved in something like this. Surely they couldn't have run out of whisky money already?

TRACKLISTING

1. Santa's Messin' with the Kid
2. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
3. Christmas Time Again
4. Greensleeves
5. Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
6. Run Run Rudolph
7. Mama's Song
8. Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin'
9. Classical Christmas"
10. Hallelujah, It's Christmas
11. Skynyrd Family

An angel amongst demons?
Cauldron of the wild --- Witch Mountain --- 2012 (Profound Lore)
http://www.metal-archives.com/images...38945.jpg?4634

Anyone who knows me or has read my journal knows that doom metal and I go together about as well as Hitler and pacifism, or bank managers and frugality, but I was pleasantly surprised by this album. There I was, perusing the new releases from my usual music vendor (No, not itunes! You think I'm made of money?) when I came across this album called "South of Salem" by a band called Witch Mountain. The only genre shown was "metal", so I hit the preview button and was disappointed to hear slow, grinding, doomy guitars and bass with drums that sounded like they belonged on a slave ship. Everything about this sound pointed towards sludge or doom metal, and I waited with sinking heart to hear the vocals, expecting growly, raspy or unintelligible singing. Imagine my surprise then when I heard a female voice, and not screaming or spitting fire, but just singing quite what I would call normally. Not even over-the-top operatic or dramatic, like some of the female singers in the bigger progressive metal bands.

Sadly, she only got a few seconds to sing before the one-minute preview faded out, but I had heard enough to decide I liked this, and hit the purchase button. That album was from last year, so I wondered if they had anything current, and it turned out that they did, and do, and this is it. Although they have been together since late 1997, they only recorded their first EP in 2000, and released their first album proper the following year. Witch Mountain have only had the three albums in that time: this one, the one I mentioned and their debut, called "Come the mountain". This appears to be due to the fact that, for reasons unknown to me, the band went on hiatus in 2002 and didn't return to performing until 2005, and even then it took them another six years to record their second album. Not ones to rush things, then?

Hailing from Portland, Oregon, Witch Mountain are a four-piece, with Ula Plotkin, that female singer I told you about, the only woman in the quartet, and in fact she's only been with them since 2009. Prior to that, vocals were handled by guitarist Rob Wrong (I don't know if that's his real name, but I hope he never marries!) In addition to this album, Witch Mountain have also released a two-track EP, perhaps wanting to make up for lost time, or perhaps to soften the blow when you realise this album has only six tracks, although in fairness two of them are pretty long.

"The ballad of Lanky Rae" starts us off and it's as you'd expect from a doom metal band: big heavy pounding guitar going about four miles an hour, punching drums at about the same speed, with Ula's voice rising from the miasma like summer mist, clear and powerful. Of course, the only real experience I have with this sort of music would be the greats like Black Sabbath, and therefore I find this quite similar, but Sabbath did their best work over thirty years ago and this is much more up to date. Nice backing vocals too, and the music, though skull-crushingly heavy, does not turn me off. Wrong proves he's one hell of a guitarist, with a blistering solo halfway through, but the music soon slips back into that sludgey, heavy, thick metal groove that plods along like an elephant caught in a swamp. It certainly is powerful though, and it doesn't depress me as I somehow expected a genre or sub-genre like doom metal to. It's not what you'd call uplifting, but still enjoyable. It's what I feel Nick Cave would sound like if he decided to do metal.

There's a big growling, grinding guitar opening to "Beekeeper", with Plotkin's voice a little further down in the mix, singing in almost a kind of medieval way, with elements of progressive metal vocals in there too. Nathan Carson makes sure he's heard behind the drumkit and drives the heavy rhythm, but for me he's nothing special. Then again, as I admit, I know next to nothing about this sub-genre, so he could be a leading light within it. What is clear is that for my money Rob Wrong and Ula Plotkin carry the music between them, and I'm pretty sure he's adding semi-gutteral backing vocals in this song --- he used to be the singer, after all, so would be the natural choice for a backing vocalist. The song's very intense, perhaps moreso than the opener, but as to what it's about, well you got me. Another short solo and Wrong makes his guitar sound amusingly like a swarm of bees at one point near the end. Nice touch. Plotkin proves she can really hit the high notes when necessary, but never descends (ascends?) into screaming.

Somehow contriving to be slower than its two predecessors, "Shelter" opens on a great bit of fretwork from Wrong, Neal Munson's bass crashing like thunder behind him, then carrying the basic melody as Ula sings, much clearer now and more to the front. Having nothing else to base my opinion on, I fall back on the Sabbath comparison and say this sounds like their title and signature track. It has a slow, doomy feel with guitar punching like a fist, in, out, in, out, and the drums, well, they're there, is all I can say really. The best and most effective parts of the song come when Ula's voice sings with just the bass backing, again like the beginning of "Black Sabbath", a bit of strumming from Wrong in the mix too, but when it breaks out into a full-on heavyfest it gets just a little bit overwhelming and confused. I'm not sure this song needs to be over seven minutes long though, as it sort of follows the same routine all the way through. Well, hold on, I take that back: there is a breakaway guitar part about five minutes in and the tempo increases noticeably, the slow, doomy, broody aspect somewhat changed to a more upbeat, faster melody. More male backing "death vocals" and the song finishes strongly on a powerful vocal from Ula.

Sharp, echoing guitar that may or may not have reverb on it opens "Veil of the forgotten", the tempo dropping back to the plodding, ponderous gait of most of the album, Wrong adding those sinister death vocals as a sort of evil whisper, Ula singing her heart out and halfway through again the song surprises me by speeding up on the back of Wrong's guitar and the demonic percussion of Carson. The last two tracks are the longest, with "Aurelia" the longest overall, clocking in at almost twelve minutes. Opening on a deceptively gentle guitar, almost acoustic, it's joined by some nice dark bass courtesy of Neal Munson, and it's the slowest --- dare I say laidback, or even utter the "b" word here? --- of all the songs so far, with some almost folky vocals from Ula and Rob Wrong, who for once actually sings rather than just growl gutterally. When he does that, he seems to be a half-decent singer, and this song really changes the game, at least so far.

It's a quarter of the way through now, and though of course it could suddenly explode into a heavy, doomy dirge ... er, as I think it just has, so forget that thought. Heavy pounding guitar cuts in and rearranges the song, though in fairness it slips then into a nice metal bit of noodling, and the basic melody remains intrinsically the same. Ula really outshines herself on this one, giving full vent to her powerful voice, though Rob seems to prefer to slip back into those death growls and mutters that have peppered the album thus far. I'd go so far as to say Ula Plotkin is wasted in this band, because she really is the one thing that makes them interesting and listenable: hook these guys up with any of the usual death growlers and I wouldn't give Witch Mountain a second listen, personally, but she makes their music much more accessible, at least for me.

Rob Wrong's guitar expertise must be remarked upon too, and he really is quite technically proficient. I wouldn't call him a great guitarist --- I'm sure there are many as talented or moreso in other metal bands I have yet to hear --- but he does the job well and considering there are no keyboards or pianos or anything else to help mould the music, and the rhythm section sounding to me quite basic, I think he holds it all together quite well, with occasional flashes of what he could be capable of were he to apply himself more. What do I know? I couldn't play guitar to save my life! But I know he has talent, but is perhaps wasting it slightly in this band.

I did postulate that "Aurelia" could be a ballad; it's not of course --- I'm not sure whether doom metal bands do ballads --- but it's probably the closest you'll get to one on this album and it ends quite gently on softly strummed fadeout guitar, taking us into the closer, "Never know". This comes in at just over nine minutes long and opens on a thick, sludgy bassline that takes almost the first minute of the song before Ula's soft vocal comes in, and that sixties/hippie/folk vibe is back in her voice, again making me feel that she's in the wrong band here. I could hear her on some progressive rock album, or some space or psychedelic rock one, but metal seems a bad fit for her. This is a slowburner, and even by the third minute, a third of the way through its run, it hasn't really got going, just a few clashes of the hi-hats and some toms from Carson, low, muted guitar from Wrong and running through it all the persistent heartbeat of Munson's throbbing bass. That is, until the fifth minute when Wrong decides he's had enough of being in the background and turns his amp up to ten and lets loose.

In response to this explosion, Ula screams almost in ecstasy and the song hits a new level, guitar wailing and grinding as Wrong slips his self-imposed leash. Having been pent-up for so long he lets it all loose in an orgasmic outpouring that lasts well into the seventh minute, the song ending on Ula's anguished wail and his guitar riff.

TRACKLISTING

1. The ballad of Lanky Rae
2. Beekeeper
3. Shelter
4. Veil of the forgotten
5. Aurelia
6. Never know

So has this album been an epiphany for me, changed my mind about doom metal, made me a fan? Er, no. Mostly I don't really like the music here, though I'll admit I don't hate it in the same way I hate thrash/speed metal (well, most of it), as at least here I could make out what was being sung, the music, though slow and mostly depressing (duh!) was listenable and there were moments of light shooting through the dark. Without question, the star of the show is Ula Plotkin, and I also must rate the fretwork of Rob Wrong, but I couldn't see myself becoming a fan of this sort of music, not on the basis of this album. In retrospect, it was a bit of a slog to get through it and in the end I'm grateful there were only six tracks, even if they did total over forty-five minutes of music.

I must also give credit to the band for their sense of humour in titling the album (though interestingly there is no title track) and I would wish them the best in the future, though I can't see a terribly bright one for them on the basis of this offering. Then again, as I say, I am not well-versed in the sub-genre, so this may come to be regarded as a classic, who knows?

But I don't think I'll be taking any more trips up Witch Mountain any time soon.

Thanks! Glad they're appealing to someone. Just wanted to do my little bit for Christmas, ya know, but in a, well, alternative way. Getting close to the end now. Wish I'd thought of it earlier so I could have rated them, but I wouldn't have had the time for that. Maybe next year. Or on second thoughts, maybe not. :laughing:

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Christmas time is here --- Christopher Cross --- 2010 (101 Distribution)
http://megaboon.com/images/release/4...65820057876408

Now a lot of us like Chris, and those of us that don't at least know his hits, but surely this is yet another unnecessary, unwanted Christmas album by an artist who should know better? Taking into account Cross's considerable songwriting talent, I think (though I can't be sure, despite repeated searches for the answer) that he has written some new songs here. Certainly titles like "Count your blessings instead of sheep" and "Dream of peace at Chrismastime" sound new, and I definitely haven't heard or seen them on any of the other Christmas albums I've so far eviscerated, sorry, reviewed.

He doesn't overpopulate it with "Christmas favourites" either, with just "Have yourself a merry little Christmas", "Silent night", "The Christmas song" and "Little drummer boy" fitting the bill, though he does throw in one or two I haven't heard much, if at all, before, such as "O come, o come Emmanuel", also that one that cropped up on Density, sorry Destiny's Child's offering, "8 days of Christmas", "Do you hear what I hear". So a pretty balanced album all taken as all, and probably not the worst, but again I ask the pertinent and recurring question: why?

Other than the obvious reason, no-one's been able to answer that yet, which means that every album on this list qualifies to be here.

TRACKLISTING

1. Silent Night
2. Christmas Time is Here
3. The Christmas Song
4. Does It Feel Like Christmas
5. Little Drummer Boy
6. I'll Be Home For Christmas
7. A Dream Of Peace At Christmas Time
8. Count Your Blessings instead of Sheep
9. Do You Hear What I Hear
10. The Best Christmas
11. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
12. O Come, O Come,Emmanuel

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No update yesterday --- don't you just love Christmas shopping? --- :rolleyes: so doubling up on them today. Sorry, sorry, but they are TWENTY-FIVE of the worst Christmas albums! Never mind, it'll all be over soon, just a nasty memory your mind will block for you for years to come, rather than face the awful truth...
Warnng from Trollheart: these are some heavy-duty, seriously BAD selections coming up! If you're not sure you can handle it DO NOT continue. You have been warned...
Christmas for all --- The Kelly Family --- 1995 (Import)
http://megaboon.com/images/release/4...86654782295227

Hah! Nearly wrote "The Jelly Family" there! Ah, wouldn't that be something? A family of gelatin desserts, all singing about Christmas. You think that would be bad? Then you haven't heard this album! The only possible thing worse than if the Corrs were to release a Christmas album (and they may have done; I'm only scratching the tip of the crapberg here) is an album from the Kelly Family, and the only thing worse than an album from the Kelly Family is a Christmas album from the Kelly Family!

The kind of people who give Ireland a bad name, travelling around in a double-decker bus and playing trad music, upping the Paddywhackery factor to ten, and they're not even Irish! I mean, they have Irish blood, but they originate from the USA then came to Spain before finding fame as this travelling musical family, but they rely heavily on celebrating their Catholic faith and family values in their music. However, any band or group who can write a song about bedwetting gets the thumbs-down from me!

This is, in fact, their second Christmas album, and features such glorious Xmas ditties as "Jingle bells", "Ave Maria", "The first Noel" and "We are the world" (?) I say again, ?. Also included is one of my most hated "comedy" Christmas songs, "All I want for Christmas is me two front teeth" (Christ!) and other favourites such as "Silent night" and "Little drummer boy", as well as some of their own material, like "Santa Maria" and "Peces" --- which, given the subject matter of the earlier mentioned song should perhaps be titled "Feces"?

It would certainly describe this collection of annoying, family-friendly, over-the-top happy, pointless, unrealistic and annoying (I know I said annoying twice, but it is that annoying!) Christmas songs. Another album that should have been strangled at birth. Bring on the Corrs, says I!

TRACKLISTING

1. One more Christmas
2. Santa Maria
3. White Christmas
4. Peces
5. Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer
6. Two front teeth
7. The first Noel
8. Ave Maria
9. O holy night
10. Chi-qui-rri-tin
11. Who'll come with me
12. Jingle bells
13. Little drummer boy
14. We are the world
15. Santa Maria (reprise)

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Christmas Eve --- James Last with Engelbert Humperdinck --- 1995 (Avalanche)
http://megaboon.com/images/release/4...49352177232504

There's an episode of the TV sci-fi sitcom Red Dwarf where the characters are on a planet where all the world's most evil people have come alive as waxworks (bear with me) and Lister and the Cat, locked in a cell and awaiting their fate, are watching as Lister names off all the bad guys. Hitler, Mussollini, Rasputin... then he gasps, unable to take it. "Oh my god!" he says in disbelief and horror. "That's James Last! I recognise him from Rimmer's record collection!"

If you don't know the series that probably meant nothing to you, but it does serve to underline that to people of my age, when we were young, James Last was the Devil. Not a good Devil, like Ozzy or Alice, who made you want to rebel against society, your parents, whatcha got? No. James Last was the good Devil, the Flanders Devil. He was everything we hated in music, everything we were opposed to. His soulless, feather-light treatment of classics and pop tunes drifted from every lift (elevator) in every shopping centre (mall) and his grinning face could be seen peeking out of every record shelf labelled "Easy listening". James Last was the antithesis of rock; he took safe tunes and made them safer, and we hated him for it. At least, I did, and all my mates did. He was the kind of music your parents listened to, and there was no more damning indictment than that.

I was always a Mantovani man, myself; if you wanted some relaxing instrumental music, the man from Italy was the one to go to. But Last? Ugh! You'd rather listen to white noise than his pre-packaged brand of supermarket soft pop instrumentals. And yet he was mega-popular, selling over seventy million albums --- dude, that's 0.07 BILLION albums! --- and with a discography that takes up three full columns on Wiki. And Christmas was one of the times when he was unleashed upon us with his full, terrible ferocity.

To make things worse, here he's joined by sixties singing sensation Engelbert Humperdinck --- a man who actually changed his name TO this! I mean, he wasn't born with it: when he became famous he TOOK the name! Beggars belief!. Also surely one of the most frequently misspelled and mispronounced names in music history? So he sings while Last plays, and we all promise to do anything the duo say if they will just PLEASE STOP!

There's nothing more to say. The bossa-nova beat was invented for people like Last, and even though I'm now old enough to be a parent (though I'm not one) I STILL loathe his music with a passion. Some demons just never die, y'know? Still, he's getting on in years, can't have much time left ... unless he's signed a contract with the Devil! Oh no! Surely not...?

TRACKLISTING

1. Believe In Love
2. Have I Told You Lately
3. Holly Holy
4. Ave Maria
5. One More Night
6. Your Love
7. Bed Of Roses
8. White Christmas
9. Lean On Me
10. A Whole New World
11. O Little Town of Bethlehem
12. God's Sending Angels

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Christmas in the heart --- Bob Dylan --- 2009 (Sony)
http://megaboon.com/images/release/4...73937491606921

Now I'm no Dylan fan, but surely even he must hang his head in shame at getting roped in to the "Christmas album" deal, something I would have felt sure, from his reputation, that he would have steered clear of, even sneered at? I'd be more surprised, to be honest, to see Nick Cave or King Diamond release a Christmas album! But here he is, complete with Russian-looking horsedrawn sled, snow and lots of songs about the festive season, delivered in the characteristic lazy drawl that has become his trademark, and made of him a living legend in music. Personally, I don't like his singing, but who am I to talk?

Well, looking a little deeper now, I see that all profits from the sales of the album went to various worthy charities, so I guess I can't put him down too much on that front. None of the songs are composed by him, which is itself perhaps unusual for such a prolific songwriter. He prefers to stick with the standards: "The first Noel", "Here comes Santa Claus", "Winter wonderland" and so on, with "The Christmas Blues" and Mitch Miller's "Must be Santa" thrown in to just offset the traditional songlist. It's Dylan's first --- and to date, last --- Christmas album, and it sold very well, so I guess the charities the sales supported at least had a happy Christmas.

TRACKLISTING

Here Comes Santa Claus
Do You Hear What I Hear?
Winter Wonderland
Hark the Herald Angels Sing
I'll Be Home for Christmas
Little Drummer Boy
The Christmas Blues
O' Come All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles)
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Must Be Santa
Silver Bells
The First Noel
Christmas Island
The Christmas Song
O Little Town of Bethlehem

Europe give the finger to everyone who wrote them off as a one-hit wonder band!
Bag of bones --- Europe --- 2012 (Gain)
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What's the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of Europe? Fiscal meltdown, Greek debt, Germany ruling with an iron (financial) fist ... yeah, I meant the band. Oh in that case, that would be DADA-DADA! DADADADADA! DADADADA! and the words "It's the fi-nal count-down!" Yup, that's the one: trumpeting, fanfare keyboards and Joey Tempest bouncing around on stage in front of thousands of adoring fans. I must admit, when I first saw that song being performed on "Top of the Pops", I wondered who the hell these guys were? Coming in and riding the wave of popularity for this sort of music created by the likes of Bon Jovi and Heart, I took them to be an American band, though of course they're not. The single was huge, as we all know, even though it's really, really weak and survives around that famous keyboard arpeggio. I mean, have you ever listened to the lyric? But this was Europe's big hit, it caught on like wildfire and spread across the globe. It was actually taken from their third album, and that sold really well off the back of that number one single, though the other singles released from it did poorly, and subsequent albums didn't make the cut. After blazing brightly for a few months, a year, Europe were gone from the scene, forgotten about, destined always to be associated with, and remembered by, that one song.

But they soldiered on, and while many would class them as a "one-hit wonder", they released another five albums after "The final countdown", and though the followup "Out of this world" was very successful in terms of sales, and did well in the album charts, they never managed to repeat the success of the title track of their third album. Along the way they changed record labels twice, and this is their ninth album overall. In listening to it I did so more out of curiosity thatn anything else, but I found myself if not quite blown away, then certainly impressed, in a big way.

It opens in rockin' style with talkbox guitar as "Riches to rags" gets us underway, and Joey Tempest is in fine voice, even after all this time --- I've heard nothing from him since 1986, and that's over twenty-five years now. It's pretty much the same band, more or less, that recorded that famous album, with a few changes over the years, but mostly the same five guys who lit the charts up with that incessantly catchy single and seemed the new Bon Jovi for a time. There's a great sense of boogie about this opener, and John Norum is great on the guitar, but it's the second track that really lights the spark. "Not supposed to sing the blues" seems to be at its heart a tale of a white man who wants to play the blues, but is advised/warned not to by authority figures/parents, blues being almost exclusively the pervue of the black community back in the sixties, which is when this song is set. Well, it says the protagonist is "Born in '63/ In the shadow of Kennedy" so I guess it could be seventies/eighties when he's learning the guitar. It might of course be totally made up, or it could be based on someone, I don't know, but it's a strong and powerful song, with some great ominous guitar from Norum, and a real bluesy vocal from Tempest.

There's some small orchestration in the song too, which adds to the somewhat paranoid nature of it as the singer is warned "If you walk across those railroad tracks/ Son, you're on your own" but is unable to resist the pull of the blues. Blues of course began in the poorer black cities and towns of the deep south, while the "rich white folks" were listening to big band and swing. So a white guy wanting to play the blues could indeed have been frowned upon. It's hard to think of a white man who played the blues back then; all the greats were black. "Firebox" is another great rocker, with jangly guitar and thundering bass, with a brilliant hook which could make it a decent choice for a single, and you can hear really for the first time on the album the contribution from Mic Michaeli on keys. It's not mentioned in the credits, but unless that's some great synth work I believe that must be a sitar, giving the song a real Indian feel, a sort of a hippy vibe in places.

The great and incomparable Joe Bonamassa lends his talents on slide guitar to the other standout on the album, the title track, which starts off like a ballad, and indeed you'd be fooled into thinking that, yes, this is about where a ballad might be. Soft acoustic guitar from John Norum and something that again sounds like a mandolin with Bonamassa's slide in the background frames Joey's passionate vocal, and the song looks like it's going to be a great little acoustic ballad. Bass and percussion cut in, guitar filling out the song and then ... everything kicks up in tempo and the track takes on some real Springsteen influences, hard electric guitar and powerful organ now forming the backdrop for the song, which could be a 9/11 song, with the lines "My city lies in ruins" and "I'm siftin' through the rubble", but I doubt it, as it would be very late, over a decade later, and hardly current. Still, it's a great song and definitely my favourite on the album. Bonamassa's slide really adds to the feel of the track, and it rocks along with just enough commercial radio-friendly sound that could make it a single, and possibly a successful one.

Lovely strings and orchestration then for a short --- less than thirty seconds --- piano instrumental which reminds me of one of those old western movies, and runs into the slowburner "My woman my friend", with a great repeating piano line leading it, courtesy of Michaeli, joined by booming guitar and heavy organ in a real blues scorcher, a great vocal from Tempest with a lot of power and passion. The song reminds me a little of late-seventies Deep Purple, with some great multi-tracked backing vocals adding to it. Great burning guitar solo from John Norum. One thing I do notice on this album --- and this is on the understanding I have only heard the one other Europe album --- is that it's nowhere as heavily keyboard-centric as "The final countdown" was. With much less of the AOR and more of the straight-ahead rock, this is an album that shows a band evolving and moving in the right direction. I don't know what Joey Tempest looks like these days, but I'd say those golden locks are probably much shorter, probably not golden any more, and the music has matured along with the man, and his band.

"My demon head" is another hard rocker, with a great descending chord structure in the melody, and the great line "Some drunken honesty", more talkbox guitar from Norum and thrashing, pounding drumwork from Ian Haugland. A great almost gospel style organ punctuates procedures, and then guitar and drums take over again with Joey singing his (demon) head off, and the organ returns for the somewhat frenetic ending, taking us into another great track, the acoustic "Drink and a smile", which succeeds in not taking itself too seriously on the back of an uptempo acoustic guitar and a blues vocal from Joey, the return of the sitar (if it is a sitar) and some laidback electric guitar from Norum. Other than the instrumental it's the shortest track on the album, under two and a half minutes, and very simple and sparse, with handclap beats and a little reverb on the vocal.

The fun continues in "Doghouse", a big rip-roaring rocker with the eternal complaint of men: nag nag nag. A really heavy guitar melody carries this song, almost ZZ in style, and some deep organ from Michaeli blends in early Zep with Purple, Joey doing a very passable Coverdale, while "Mercy you mercy me" is a faster, almost frenetic track with a big city feel and racing guitars, a dark heavy sound to Norum's axe, almost Iommi-like at times. There's a great thumping, pounding, punching anthemic chorus too, though I'd think this is a little too heavy, comparatively, to make it as a single. The album ends then on the "cigarette lighter in the air" moment, with the Poison-ish "Bring it all home", a stirring semi-ballad with some pretty deep emotion in it, though it rather worryingly sounds like a sign-off, with lines like "Thrills will fade/ We've had some good laughs on the way" seeming very like a thank-you and farewell to their fans. And let's face it, they must have them: you don't last almost thirty years in the business and sell over five million records without having a big fanbase. Joey's voice sounds totally ragged and raspy here, more Joe Cocker than Jon Bon Jovi really, and it's sure to be a crowd-pleaser if used to close a concert, which I'm sure it will. If it is Europe's swansong I'd be disappointed, on the strength of this album, as I think they have many more years left in them yet. Still, if it is to be their last hurrah, it's a damn good one, and brings the curtain down in style on one fine album.

TRACKLISTING

1. Riches to rags
2. Not supposed to sing the blues
3. Firebox
4. Bag of bones
5. Requiem
6. My woman my friend
7. My demon head
8. Drink and a smile
9. Doghouse
10. Mercy you mercy me
11. Bring it all home

For some time now, I've been intending to look deeper into Europe's catalogue, and I had hoped to have managed this in 2012, but that now seems increasingly unlikely, so next year I'll be launching a new section (what? Another one? Yeah, another one: you got a problem with that??) in which I'll be looking at perhaps forgotten bands, or bands or artistes who are seen only in the light of one album or single, but who have produced a lot more than most of us realise. The story of Europe, so far, will head this up; I want to see if "The final countfdown" was a blip (albeit a very successful and profitable blip), if their music has always been that brand of slick AOR or if they developed from other styles, indeed to other styles. Does that one album, I'm asking, define, characterise and represent Europe? Find out next year...

In the meantime, if you thought all there was to this band was that one song, then give a listen to "Bag of bones": you just might be pleasantly surprised.

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I know I said I'd post the last album in this series on Christmas Day, but really, who's going to be working then? I certainly hope not to be, and I don't expect any mods to be either, so here then are the last two, just before the big day.
Christmas at home --- Donny Osmond --- 1997 (Sony)
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Another suave, insincerely-friendly face stares out at you from yet another album cover for a Christmas collection. This time it's the darling of the seventies, America's most blue-eyed boy at the time, the star of the Osmonds, Donny. He's cooked up a concoction of Christmas favourites sure to brighten any Christmas. Er, yeah. With expected songs like "God rest ye merry gentlemen", "I'll be home for Christmas" and "The most wonderful time of the year", you also get more eclectic, perhaps lesser-known fare such as "After December slips away", "Who took the merry out of Christmas" and "A soldier's king", so at least you have to give him points for a certain amount of originality. But how original can you be on a Christmas album?

Donny looks well, standing in unconvincing snow in his expensive black suit, under an unconvincing sky and with one very unconvincing Christmas tree in the background, grinning at the camera, no doubt thinking of how much money this record is going to make off gullible fans, but you have to say at least he looks the part. However, I do wonder why so many of the reviews of albums like this on the likes of Amazon and CD Universe are so universally gushing. Guess they only select the good ones: don't want someone saying "This album is crap! Don't buy it!" now do they?

It's from one of these reviews that I find the one sentence that sums up this album, and also acts as a warning, though it's not meant to. These are the actual words of a fan: "It is one of the very best Christmas cd, right next to Clay Aiken, The Osmonds, and the Carpenters' Christmas cds." Nothing more need be said.

TRACKLISTING

1. Angels We Have Heard On High
2. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
3. I've Been Looking For Christmas
4. After December Slips Away
5. It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year
6. Baby, What You Goin' To Be
7. Deck The Halls/ Hark The Harold Angels Sing
8. I'll Be Home For Christmas
9. Who Took The Merry Out OF Christmas
10. O Holy Night/ Divine
11. A Soldier's King
12. The Kid In Me
13. My Grown-Up Christmas List
14. Mary, Did You Know?
15. Come To The Manger

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Christmas on the open road --- Various Artists --- 2008 (Oh who really cares?)
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Man, these terrible Christmas albums have really taken it out of me! I couldn't even be bothered to find out what label this is on, but there's one good thing about this crummy album: it's the last in our series. I have no idea at all what it's about. Sounds like the sort of thing truckers might record, songs about being away from their families maybe, but I can't be sure. I know none of the artists featured on it, although I've heard of Taylor Swift. The songs? They seem to be a mixture of standards like "Silent night", "The first Noel" and Elvis's "Blue Christmas" and I suppose original songs with titles like "Christmases when you were mine", "Papers angels" and "21st century Christmas", and someone called Russell de Carle sings "I got the blues for Christmas". I know how ya feel, man!

There's also some godawful song I've never heard before --- and hope never to hear again! --- called "Hockey sweater", not to mention "Christmas in jail", which, judging from the performances of some of the artistes here, is what they should be looking forward to! What is the point of this album? Then again, that's really a question you could ask about the last twenty-four albums in this series I guess.

TRACKLISTING

1. Christmas must be something more (Taylor Swift)
2. Merry Christmas to all (Doc Walker)
3. Silent night (Johnny Reid)
4. I wanna be your Santa Claus (Willie Mack/Jason McCoy)
5. Paper angels (Jimmie Wayne)
6. 21st century Christmas (Jaydee Bixby)
7. The first Noel (The Higgins)
8. I've got the blues for Christmas (Russell de Carle)
9. Auld lang syne (Jack Ingram)
10. Blue Christmas (Tara Oram)
11. Christmas in jail (Prairie Oyster)
12. Christmases when you were mine (Taylor Swift)
13. Hockey sweater (Dala)

I conceived this notion late in November, and initially wanted to make this a countdown to the very worst Christmas album ever, but quickly realised I had not the time to listen to each album, possibly more than once, so as to judge and place them. Not that these are albums you'd really want to listen to any more than once in any case, if at all! But it would have been cool to have crowned one album the Christmas Turkey. Still, what can you do? Perhaps next year I'll try listing the best Christmas albums. Probably a short list though.

In any case, I hope you've enjoyed this satirical and gently humourous look at some of the albums released down the years over the festive season. I think you'll agree some were worse than others, some not so bad, and some so awful they should be forever locked away from human sight. Had we rated them, I feel sure the likes of the albums from The Kelly Family, James Last, Star Wars and that Irish Christmas one would have had a good shot at getting in there at the top, not to mention The Waltons and A Country Christmas! Ah, so many terrible albums, so little time!

Finally, if by some chance you happen to like any of my selections, as I said at the start, don't take offence. It's all in fun, and no slight is meant. Christmas is a time for japes and frolics, after all, and if you can't laugh at this time then when can you? Hope this list raised a few smiles, and all that's left to say is have yourselves a very happy Christmas, wherever you are, whatever you're doing, and whatever you choose to listen to.

See you after Christmas!
Trollheart.

Hope you all had a great Christmas, but for me it's time to head back to work, as it were, and fill up the last few days of the year with whatever updates I can. "Bitesize" won't be reopening till January, and there may indeed be something a little --- well, completely different on the horizon. More about that in due course. For now though, it's full steam ahead here to the end of the year.

There are a few more 2012 albums to be reviewed, (well there are loads, but of the ones I wanted to review specially I still have a few left) but with only now four days left I won't be getting them all done, so watch later for the list of those I intend to post.

Until then, what better way to relax after big Christmas dinners and many Christmas drinks than with a selection of songs you only have to change about once every twenty minutes or so? Yes, it's our final round for this year of
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As we all know, if there's a go-to genre for epic songs, it's progressive rock. And so we're heading back in that direction to check out five super-long prog rock compositions, some of which you may know, some of which you may not, but all of which kick in around the twenty minute mark.

Starting off with one from an album we recently reviewed in the Prog Rock Album Club, this is Spock's Beard, with a track that, though broken into sections, runs in total for 23 minutes 10 seconds. From their debut, “The light”, this is “The water”.


Just short of that by eleven seconds, this is the title track to Big Big Train's album, “The underfall yard”. Watch for a feature on this band soon.


The great epic “Milliontown”, from Frost*, coming in with a running time of 26 minutes 37 seconds!


Classic AND epic, this is Yes, from the seminal “Close to the edge” album, with the title track from same, running a very respectable 18 minutes 43 seconds.


And with a tenuous link to Yes, this is Mystery, a band from Canada whose vocalist, Benoit David, went on to replace Jon Anderson. This is from their album “One among the living”, and it's called “Through different eyes”, coming in at 22 minutes and 35 seconds.

(Of the four albums I meant to review before Christmas, this was the one that fell by the wayside. So, better late than never, eh?)

"Non-genre-based compositions"? Er, not quite.
Ampersand --- Villebrad --- 2012 (Transubstans)
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Okay, first things first: for those who don't know, "ampersand" is that little symbol that signifies "and". You know the one, looks like "&". Why is the album called that? I have no idea. The band's name though, Villebrad, apparently comes from a Swedish word for quarry or prey. They're Swedish, in case you hadn't guessed. Formed in 2004 by brothers Erik and Pahl Sundstrom, Villebrad was the coming together of some pretty apposite influences, blending hard rock, electronic, ambient, progressive and even folk elements into one band, the two boys having cut their musical teeth for over a decade in metal, prog rock and electronica bands. With a desire to write "non genre based compositions", Villebrad were setting themselves a rather lofty and perhaps unattainable goal, and on this, their third album, and first in English, I must say that I feel they still fall far short of that ambition. The album is good, even great in places, but comes across to me more as a hybrid of progressive rock with electronic and some dance elements. Not groundbreaking, and certainly not genre-free, but certainly interesting.

"Sketchy feelings" opens the album on high-pitched vocoder, reminding me of the work of Pink Floyd on "A momentary lapse of reason", then kicks into a pretty standard rock/pop song with electronic overtones, nice guitar work from Pahl and Erik filling in with some weird warrbly whistling keys. Pahl is lead vocalist and sounds to me rather a lot like a-ha's Morten Harkett, which is no bad thing. Nice percussion also from Erik, which doesn't come across as electronic or sterile, and a lovely blast of sax from Magnus Kjellstrand helps lift the song and give it extra soul. More almost in the Ultravox mode is "Liberation day", with Erik's keyboards mostly driving the melody, supported by a fine little bass line from Petter Broman. There's a lot more as I say of the electronic pop about this one, with little of the slight rock influence evident in the opener, and it's also slower, though not really what you'd call a ballad. Good backing vocals, reinforcing for me the a-ha comparison I made earlier.

Also quite keyboard driven is "Clouded sleeping buildings", with an more uptempo beat, short, tinny keys like one of those old cheap Casio machines stabbing through the melody, a good vocal from Pahl but not too much in the way of guitar. Some atmospheric synth creates a nice backdrop against which a constant percussive beat taps, with some nice choral vocals on the keys breaking in as the song slow in the last minute, before it takes up again in a driving finale. Truth to tell though, as I've listened to this album there hasn't been that much that's stood out or impressed me. "Dead weight" changes this slightly, one of the better tracks, with a racing, computer-game melody on the keys and some solid drumming, a laconic, almost mournful vocal from Pahl while the general atmosphere of the song takes on that of an eighties new-wave composition. Fine backing vocals from Erik add to this, and his powerful and varied keyswork really creates and supports this track. It's a little repetitive, to be fair, with not too much in the way of originality or variety in the lyric, but considering the title perhaps that's intentional? Anyway, it's definitely one of the tracks that made me sit up and take notice.

Things begin to take a turn for the better after that, with "Split in two" a funky, dancy catchy song with a great squealing keyboard line and some almost timpani-like drumwork from Erik, while "Inertia" is built around a busy bassline and some dancy keyboards with Erik's echoing synth lines permeating the melody like veins in a rock. The vocal from Pahl is indistinct and hard to make out, but the music is pushed to the front so in some ways that doesn't really seem to matter all that much. Pahl does however add a nice guitar line in the last minute, but maddeningly it's fractured and broken --- obviously quite deliberately, though why I don't know: sounds terrible --- and we move into "No more open hands", the track I'd consider the ballad on the album. Pahl's vocal here is clear and soft, with a ringing, sharp guitar line carrying the music, some nice piano from Erik filtering in, but it's mostly his brother's song.

The title track then is probably the most rock-oriented, though it opens on a deceptively gentle lush keyboard line. Pahl's electric guitar quickly breaks through though and takes the song in a new direction, with Erik's keys and synths turning a little more solid and aggressive, the whole thing instrumental as Petter Broman shows he's not just there to make up the numbers with a thumping, hypnotic bassline on which the main song hangs, little in the way of percussion with a big finish. This, and the closer, show what perhaps Villebrad can accomplish if they really put their minds to it. "Harm" is in fact the longest track on the album, over seven minutes, and driving on the twin rails of Pahl's acoustic guitar and Erik's bipping, squeaking keyboards, a lot of OMD or Echo and the Bunnymen in it, touches perhaps of China Crisis there too. It's a great vocal performance from Pahl, with the two brothers meshing, along with the rest of the band, into one almost indistinguishable whole, almost as if for the first time they're working as a unit and not separate parts of the machine. Some very proggy keyboard touches from Erik, but it's the guitar hook that runs from about the third minute to the end that really defines the song, and that you're left humming as you put the disc away. Some more fine sax leaks in too, and Broman's bass is a constant heartbeat through the melody.

The remaining four minutes, in fact, are completely instrumental, and it's a testament to the expertise and accomplished musicianship of the band that it doesn't get boring or repetitive. In fact, it almost seems to fade out too soon. Saved the best for last? Yes, they certainly have: it's just a pity that the rest of the album --- a few tracks notwithstanding --- fails to live up to the high promise of this most interesting, but ultimately underachieving album.

TRACKLISTING

1. Sketchy feelings
2. Liberation day
3. Clouded sleeping buildings
4. Dead weight
5. Split in two
6. Another worthless phrase
7. Inertia
8. No more open hands
9. Ampersand
10. Harm

Perhaps one of the most honest and sincere, and personal, albums of this year.
Aftermath of the lowdown --- Richie Sambora --- 2012 (Dangerbird)
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I don't hate many people, but I do intensely dislike my sister-in-law, and that dislike does verge on a sort of hatred every so often. She's one of these domineering personalities who, not only have to control everything and everyone, but also have always to be right. She's the type who will, and has, upend a gameboard in a petulant fit if she's not winning, who will turn on the waterworks to get any attention that's going which she feels is going to others, and is just a thoroughly nasty person. She also, incidentally, is convinced that beef and pork come from the same animal, and you can't tell her she's wrong.

Why do I tell you this, and why should you care? Well, you shouldn't, but I say it all because despite how much I dislike her, I reluctantly have to thank her for one thing, and that is for getting me into the music of Richie Sambora. I didn't even know he did any solo work at the time, when she gave me a cassette of "Stranger in this town", his debut, and I must say I really liked it, though his followup, "Undiscovered soul", which I reviewed here some time back, I found to be a much better album. This of course leads us to his latest, released earlier this year, and which comes close to being his best yet.

A much more mature album than even its two predecessors, the overall impression I get from "Aftermath of the lowdown" is of a man standing back and taking stock, looking at his life; where he has gone wrong, where he has made the right decisions and why, and the ultimate realisation that in the end it's only yourself that can save you, if you want to be saved. Track titles like "You can only get so high", "Seven years gone" and "Weathering the storm" tell their own story, but I get ahead of myself. This is, as I mentioned, the third solo album from the Bon Jovi guitarist and songwriter, and his first in fourteen years. That's twice the gap between his debut and his second, and that gap was so large at the time that I believed Richie would only have the one solo album. Glad I was wrong.

Most of this album is written by him with the help of Luke Ebbin, who masterminded Bon Jovi's smash comeback with "It's my life" and the following album "Crush". This is similar to what Richie did with "Undiscovered soul", when he penned many of the songs on that album with the mysterious Richie Supa, previous to that his bandmate/leader Jon Bon Jovi helped out on one track on his debut, as well as keyboardist David Bryan, who also had some input into the debut. But this appears to be more of a collaborative effort, which is maybe why it sounds more polished and together than his previous outings. It retains however Sambora's personal stamp on it, and his frank detailing of a life often lived on the edges bleeds through many of the tracks, though there's plenty of room for good old rockin' fun too.

And rock we do, as "Burn that candle down" gets us started, that hard-hittin' guitar we know so well smashing forward, with a hard funk/rock track, stomping drumwork from Aaron Sterling sounding like he's hittin' the skins inside a tunnel. There's the expected fret workout from Richie, and his voice is a little mechanised here, which to be fair doesn't work that well, but it's a good hard opener and paves the way for much better tracks. Great organ from Matt Rollings and squealing guitars from Richie, taking us already into one of the standouts. When I first heard "Every road leads home to you" I had to double-check, because it sounds so poppy and commercial I for a moment thought that maybe I had put on the wrong album! Definitely the most radio-friendly song he's ever written, it rides along on the bubbling keys of Roger Manning, with some fine piano from Rollings alongside and a hook that surely must make this a hit? No? Well, we live in hope. It has been released as the first single from the album, so you never know. Great song though, and here you can hear Richie sing as he's supposed to, devoid of any technical trickery.

It runs at a nice pace too, not a blisterer by any means but nowhere close to a ballad, and with a great sense of optimism. Much of this album is, as I mentioned earlier, reflective as Richie seems to take stock, and looking back at the decisions in his life and where he goes from here. Many are dark realisations that things can't go on like this anymore, some are perhaps thanks for what he still has, and this certainly seems to fit into the latter category. Heavier but still quite commercial in its way is the blues-influenced "Takin' a chance on the wind", which starts on what sounds like a dobro (but I don't think is: maybe just a capo on the guitar?) then goes into a nice acoustic passage before the electric blasts in and the drums come thundering behind. Sense of boogie too in this song, and more optimism in evidence here. Great bassline from Curt Schneider and more powerful organ from Matt Rollings, with definitely a harder edge than the previous song.

Another standout (and there are many) comes in the form of the rocketing "Nowadays", a searing indictment of our modern world, with hard stop/start guitar and Richie's vocals slightly mechanised again. Some great lines in this: "Walking Wall Street dead", "Tryin' to tell your friends/ From your enemies" and not much in the way of keyboards. It's pretty much a guitar-centric songs with some great work from Richie; could nearly be another single, though it might be too heavy for radio. Things slow down then for "Weathering the storm", the first ballad, where Richie shows off how powerful his voice can be without having to shout or scream, that even when he takes it down several notches he's still got the presence to grab your attention. Almost a gospel feel to this song, one of the redemption songs I'd say. Back to rockin' then with the fun "Sugar daddy", which is a little throwaway but lightens the somewhat sombre mood of the album. With almost the rhythm and melody of the Doors' "Roadhouse blues" or even Bowie's "Jean genie" it's a real boogie rocker and should go down well on stage. Great backing vocals and shot through with another fine thread of blue, then "I'll always walk beside you" is another lovely ballad which has been released as a charity single, all proceeds going to the Red Cross.

It's low-key, opening on soft acoustic guitar and with a gentle vocal from Richie, swirling keys floating in the background, then Richie's voice gets progressively stronger and more insistent, as does his guitar, until acoustic is joined by electric and choral vocals drift into the mix, and then halfway through the song the percussion comes up more powerfully and the song takes off on electric guitar and organ, picking up tempo and intensity as it goes. Nice subdued little solo from Richie, and we move into another acoustic ballad, the brilliant "Seven years gone". Having spent time in rehab for alcohol abuse from 2008, I'd wonder if this is a reference to that time lost? Okay, he didn't spend seven years in there --- it was on and off --- but even so, perhaps he feels that's too many years wasted out of his life. The lyric would seem to support this: "Can't find a road to healin'/ When you're blinded by your pride" and "You wake up/ Move on/ Seven years gone". Richie's not above robbing a line from Don Henley's "The end of the innocence" here either, but the song gets harder and more uptempo, if not upbeat, as it goes along, so it's not really what you'd call a ballad. Great song though, and another standout.

I could probably do without the mad guitar solo at the end, as I personally feel it changes the whole feel of the song, which was sad, reflective, emotive and now just goes out on a burst of riffs and ends abruptly, but it is what it is, and it doesn't quite ruin the song, though I'd prefer it had ended differently. Another hard rocker is up next, in the shape of "Learnin' how to fly with a broken wing", recalling the best from "Undiscovered soul", and also betraying his Bon Jovi heritage. Probably some of his best solos on here too, a real braincrusher. That leads us into what, if I had to pick just one standout, I would select as the best track on this album. "You can only get so high" is about as reflective as you can get, with a truly gorgeous, melancholic piano run from Rollings and Richie's guitar crying like a violin, and some of his best lines ever: "First light came without a warning/ Sunrise scared the daylights out of me" and "I'll take one more drink/ And two packs of lies." Beautiful burst of synthwork from Luke Ebbin adds real heart to the song, and if there's one song that depicts Richie realising that he can't go on living like this, well this is it. A true tale of remorse and realisation, and determination to change. Just stunning.

The closer is, interestingly, another ballad, another acoustic beginning with what really does sound like violin joining him, and whereas I think I would have preferred the previous track to have closed the album, "World" is a good finale too. Some really nice light piano from Rollings, and a fine clear vocal from Richie. There's a certain sense of sixties hippy/psychedelia about the song, sort of Beatles meets the Byrds. It's also quite short for a closing track, less than two and a half minutes. There are, however, two extra tracks which although I don't usually feature them, I will, as this is the first time I've heard this album. Well, not really: I've listened to it on and off for about a week now, probably ten or more times. What I mean is that I usually don't include bonus tracks because they weren't on the original version of the album I listened to or owned, but in this case I haven't heard this album without the extras so they're getting mentioned.

As it goes, one is a fast happy rocker, the ultimate "had enough of this" song, with "Backseat driver" featuring some great organ and a really upbeat vibe, while the other, "Forgiveness Street", is perhaps one of Richie's most emotional and accomplished songs to date, really tugs at the heartstrings. Both these were included on the Japanese release --- which is obviously the one I bought --- but the latter was for some reason removed from later pressings, which staggers me, because it's easily as good as some of the very best work on the album proper. But there it is: it's no longer available, unless it gets released on the back of one of the singles. Carried on the doleful organ of Matt Rollings, it features somewhat understated guitar from Richie, and reminds me in ways of "Harlem rain" from the previous album. As a coda to his soulsearching on this album it's the perfect ender, which is why I'm even more surprised it wasn't on the main album, much less cut from the extras.

TRACKLISTING

1. Burn that candle down
2. Every road leads home to you
3. Takin' a chance on the wind
4. Nowadays
5. Weathering the storm
6. Sugar daddy
7. I'll always walk beside you
8. Seven years gone
9. Leaning how to fly with a broken wing
10. You can only get so high
11. World
12. Backseat driver (additional track on Japanese release)
13. Forgiveness Street (additional track originally on Japanese release but now deleted from same)

It's been fifteen years since we've had a solo album from Richie Sambora, but we shouldn't be that surprised. He has, after all, his day job helping Jon run Bon Jovi, and apart from that he's also been involved with other artistes, as well as taken part in and in some cases organising various charity events. If there's one word I had to pick to describe this album it would be honest. We're listening to the tales of a man who knows he went to excess in his life, and has mercifully managed to come back from it. He knows where he went wrong, acknowledges his past failings and sins, and is now looking for redemption and forgiveness in the church of rock and roll.

Who'd deny him that?

Should have realised I would find it here :wave:. My Floyd days are well behind me but I will still have to check this one out.

Okay then, time for the last
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of this year.

Today we're looking at songs about roads. Being on the road, going back on the road, running/walking/staggering down the road, depending on whose song it is, and songs that just have roads or the names of roads in the title. This time out, it wasn't hard at all coming up with ten different songs, the hard part was cutting it down to ten! Here's what I ended up with.

A great song from the Doors, oft covered, this is “Roadhouse blues”. Yeah, man!


Opening track from “Born to run”, it's Springsteen's minor classic, “Thunder Road”.


Steve Earle is heading “Down the road”...



Dan Fogelberg is going along it...



... while the Talking Heads are on one that goes nowhere.


Chris's one goes to Hell...


... while Marillion's one leads to happiness. Sort of.


One of the many bands to cover “Tobacco Road”, this is Spooky Tooth


Classic from the Beatles


and to finish up with, REO Speedwagon are back on it.

Coming in 2013...
 

After a brief hiatus to allow me complete, insofar as I could, my reviews of 2012 albums, "Bitesize" will reopen for business in January, and I'm planning a whole new journal separate to this one, details to follow soon. There will be some major changes coming to "The Playlist of Life", now running into its third year of operation. There are lots of new sections planned for the new year, many of which I had intended to implement before now, but hey, there are only so many hours in the day! So, look out for these new features in the coming months...

ROSES AMONG THE THORNS --- Focussing on the distaff side, the ladies of rock and other music genres, the women who have made it in what is primarily a man's world.

WHERE IT ALL STARTED --- I write about the first album I bought or heard from a particular artiste who impressed me. It may not have been their first, but it was where I was introduced to them, and in most cases made enough of an impression on me that I bought the rest of their catalogue.

THE STRANGE WORLD OF THE SESSION MUSICIAN --- The life of the wandering minstrel, eh? Some people were better known as session men (Steve Lukather) before they joined their main band, others still survive by playing with just about anyone they can (Michael Landau) but it must indeed be a strange thing to be going from band to band, gigging with maybe a jazz troupe this month and a hardcore metal next, or whatever. This section will be my attempt to look into the often long and varied careers of these temps of the music world, and see just what makes them tick, why they don't settle into a band or what makes them so much in demand.

POWER BEHIND THE THRONE --- Some people are just made to produce and direct, create and compose, and have their work disseminated through others. Sometimes these people are content to work from the shadows, like maybe Steve Lillywhite, never attempting to come out from behind the curtain, and sometimes they make a bid for personal glory, like Jim Steinman. But one thing is certain: without these men and women, there are many acts that would not be where they are today.

THAT ACOUSTIC FEELING --- Exploring music you can play even when the power is out. Some of the most beautiful and soulful music has been made, and is made, without the benefit of a single piece of technology. A guy/girl, a guitar, a piano, a violin: one person and their instrument can, often, wring more emotion from an audience than a whole philharmonic or an eighteen-piece band with three guitarists and banks of keyboards. I'll be exploring some of that very music in this section, later in the year.

THE ALBATROSS --- That "one-hit wonder" tag, or more specifically, the single that was a hit and now defines the band, even though they may have created some truly excellent albums since, or even before. Think of Genesis' "Follow you follow me", A-ha's "Take on me" or Europe's "The final countdown". I'll be looking at these "career-defining" singles in depth, and asking the question, does this artiste deserve to have this hanging around their neck for all time?

MUSIQUE SANS FRONTIERES --- Already hinted at during the year, I'll be travelling (metaphorically) far and wide to investigate and sample the music of countries beyond the usual. So expect to hear music from Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia, and some tiny little island somewhere in the South Pacific that has a population of about a hundred. Well, maybe not them. But a lot of what I hope will be unknown and obscure music. Widen your knowledge, you know? Broaden the horizons?

All this and, as already mentioned and intended, ICONS and GUITAR MAN, plus the return of THE TWO HUNDRED WORD ALBUM REVIEW. And that's not all. Lots to keep you hopefully checking out and coming back to the Playlist of Life in 2013. It's gonna be a blast!

Hey welcome stp, and thanks for the compliment! :D
As you'll see from the review, I wasn't overly impressed by this. Not that the album isn't good --- if you're an Orb fan I'm sure it's great --- but Gilmour's contribution to it was a lot less than I had expected, and apart from a few isolated flashes of brilliance, it could have been any guitarist really.

Still, let me know if you can't find it and need me to hook you up.

TH

Upto Page 148:

Nice reviews of Tank and Saxon as part of your NWOBHM section. Also liked your review of Zoom one of the few ELO albums that I haven't heard.

What better way to close my reviews of albums released in 2012 than with another effort from a relatively young Irish band?
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Although together since 2007, Northern Irish band Two Door Cinema Club only released their first album, "Tourist history", in 2010, to some great acclaim. They've taken their time over the followup too, though not quite as long has elapsed between albums, and this year they released their awaited second album. When I reviewed "Tourist history" in March, as part of Irish Week (how original, eh?) I pointed out that Irish music in general, unless it's the big names like U2, Gary Moore, Rory and the godawful Westlife tends to get ignored outside our island. Christ! To think we're now synonymous with those arsewipes Jedward! But I noted that bands like Two Door Cinema Club are helping to reshape that thinking, and even making an impact on the charts outside their home country. This practice continues with their second album.

Beacon --- Two Door Cinema Club --- 2012 (Kitsune)
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Not entirely sure why a band like this has to be signed to a label I originally assumed to be Japanese, but which I now see is French? Are the big names not interested? They should be. However, to be fair, Kitsune have supported 2DCC since the start, releasing and promoting their debut, and I'm gratified to see that this, their second album, has made a much more impressive showing, both here and abroad. Whereas "Tourist history" hit the top 20 in Ireland and just scraped into the top 30 in the UK, "Beacon" debuted at number 2 in the UK and took the top slot in Ireland. Not bad for a band with only two albums and no hit singles to their credit.

There's an electronic, dancy start with "Next year" before the vocals of Alex Trimble come in against just low synth and then the whole band pile in on a real poppy rocker with a great hook, Trimble's voice kind of reminding me of Ricky Ross or Paddy McAloon. There's some technical guitar work from Sam Halliday and a nice bassline from Kevin Baird holds things together nicely. The band worked on this album with Irish producer Garret "Jacknife" Lee, who has worked with the likes of Snow Patrol, The Cars and Robbie Williams to name but a few, and his input on the album shows in a much more polished, professional feel and sound. This is more than just three guys trying to get their music out there; this now sounds like a proper band with a proper plan. And that plan is to take the world by storm with their music. Not a terribly original one, granted, but one they have every chance of achieving on the strength of this album.

The tracks on the album follow the same basic pattern as the debut, all short with only one, the opener, over four minutes. They're catchy, memorable pop/rock songs, most of which you can dance to and most of which you are probably likely to remember, or at least recognise when they come on, surely half the battle. "Handshake" is a mostly keyboard driven song with some very trance-style drumwork from Trimble, the true multi-instrumentalist, who plays guitar, piano, synth, drums and of course also sings. "Wake up" rides on an infectious little bassline joined by multiple guitars and bops along at a fine pace, with a sense of U2 and Big Country while the second single, "Sun", opens on soft digital piano with an almost acapella vocal from Trimble before the busy bass again kicks in and the song becomes a funky little rocker with some really nice hooks. Halliday proves he's no slouch on the guitar here, running off some fine riffs almost in a Steely Dan style, while Trimble's vocal presence is lighter and more carefree than on the previous tracks. Quite a happy song really, probably a good choice for a single, with some interesting brass lines thrown in on the synth.

None of these songs would be out of place on your local dancefloor, and if that's how 2DCC are to get their exposure and have people buy their records then all the best to them. However "Someday" is much more a rocker, again quite in the Big Country mould with a sharp, fast guitar and ticking bass, and a punchy, thumping beat. A great midsection led by bass, percussion and some growling guitars would seem to provide a point where the traditional "introduction of the band" would take place onstage, amid much hand-clapping, and this takes us into "Sleep alone", the lead single from the album, which sadly did terribly when released. Still, singles are secondary to album sales, and since "Tourist history" went gold, on the basis of sales and chart positions this album should equal if not improve on that. It's another fast rocker with great guitar that to be fair owes a lot to The Edge and the late Stuart Adamson, but then the guys do appear to be influenced by bands like Big Country and U2. Nice big synth passage near the end, adds a lot of emotion to the song before it closes.

A somewhat introspective song without being anywhere close to a ballad, "The world is watching" features sparse guitar and a great hook in the chorus, heavy percussion and moves along at a nice fast pace without being too fast. Great backing vocals from someone called "Valentina", but don't ask me who she is. Has a lovely voice though and really supports Alex Trimble well here. Bubbling keyboard run from Sam Halliday gives the song a lot of commercial appeal, and I'd wonder if, along with its again dance-oriented rhythm, it might end up being another single? "Settle" comes across to me as the most similar to Big Country yet, with a thrumming bass and squealing keyboards at the beginning, then it breaks out into a great guitar powerslam with the synths backing it nicely.

"Spring" has a lovely busy little guitar riff going through it, with a gentle vocal from Trimble, more fine bass from Baird, the song pumping up as it goes along, and "Pyramid" then built on Baird's bass and Halliday's swirling keys and pizzicato strings in a sort of striding boogie tune. Some great brass touches again on the synth, elements almost of swing in the song, and certainly one of the standouts: very catchy and with a great hook in the chorus again. Ends way too abruptly though unfortunately. The album then ends on the title track, pure eighties new wave with great vocal harmonies, reminds me of Fiction Factory or Depeche Mode in places. Even the guitar, when it cuts through, sounds electronic and synthesised. Nice digital piano from Sam Halliday; another catchy little tune but perhaps a shade weaker than some of the better songs on this album, and not one I would have chosen to have ended on.

TRACKLISTING

1. Next year
2. Handshake
3. Wake up
4. Sun
5. Someday
6. Sleep alone
7. The world is watching
8. Settle
9. Spring
10. Pyramid
11. Beacon

There are definite signs of Two Door Cinema Club improving here, though perhaps they need to move slightly away from the over-influence of the bands I mentioned and find their own unique sound. That said, this is a good album though not really what I'd class as a great one. The placing of the title track at the end is for my money a bad move, as I have already forgotten what it sounds like, but I remember the prior track, so I think "Pyramid" would have been a better closer. But they're getting there. Certainly, the chart positioning and album sales would seem to indicate that this little-known band from 'cross the border will soon be taking their first steps out onto the wider world stage.

A last word of thanks...
 

So that's it for another year. I'd like to thank everyone who has stopped by and read my ramblings, whether you visited once and never came back, dropped in occasionally or indeed became a regular reader here. Whether you posted comments or lurked in the background, thank you. This journal would be a waste of time if no-one read it, so you have my gratitude and appreciation for taking time out of your day to read what I write.

I hope it's been interesting, maybe informative, or at the very least entertaining. I will endeavour to improve on all fronts in the coming year, and as ever, your comments, suggestions, feedback, advice or even criticisms are warmly welcomed and encouraged.

If you're going out tonight, enjoy yourselves but remember if you're drinking leave the car: no point in starting the new year in the emergency room, or making someone else start theirs there. That's why we have taxis. Toast the new year, ring in 2013 and get home safely.

Thank you again for your continued patronage of this journal, and we hope to look forward to your ongoing support in the coming year.

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Hope you all had a great New Year's Eve, and aren't feeling the effects of partying and ringing in 2013 too badly today!

All that reviewing of 2012 albums over the last few months has left me feeling a little drained, so I'm taking a trip back to my favourite decade, with an album from one of my favourite artistes.

Against the wind --- Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band --- 1980 (Capitol)
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Bit of musical trivia for you: what was the album that knocked Floyd's phenomenal classic "The Wall" off the number one spot in the US Billboard charts? Yeah, this is it. Bob Seger's only ever number one album, and it's not even one of my favourites, though there are a lot of things about it that I like, not least the beautiful painting of the wild horses on the cover. It's his eleventh album overall, and even now, thirty years and some later, sounds pretty damn fresh to me. It features both his longtime band, The Silver Bullet Band, as well as the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section who, in case you don't know them, are one of the busiest and most famous bands of session men, who have played with a plethora of stars. They were even inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, fifteen years after playing on this record. As well as being semi-regulars with Seger, they have played with people as diverse as Elton John, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Boz Scaggs, The Oak Ridge Boys, Elkie Brooks, Rod Stewart and JJ Cale, to name but a very few.

Winner of two Grammys, I still see albums such as "Stranger in town", "Night moves" and the later "Like a rock" and "The distance" as far superior to "Against the wind". It suffers, in my view, from some pretty pedestrian and weak tracks, though it backs that up with some proper classics. The former is in evidence as we open on the very country-influenced "The horizontal bop", which features Bob's often risque sense of humour and his desire to have a good time. Great honky-tonk piano line from the legendary Dr. John, with a happy blast of sax from Alto Reed, and it's good rockin' fun, but comes very close to the later --- and far superior --- "Betty Lou's gettin' out tonight". Things soon settle down though for the beautiful ballad "You'll accomp'ny me", which features Seger's trademark drawl as he paints a scene of a quite calm night and the absolute certainty of his love. Driven on a low acoustic guitar melody, the song is typical of the ballads Seger had become known for, and would continue, through the eighties, to be associated with. Great percussion from David Teegarden backed by soft piano from Bill Payne, who also adds some powerful organ and solid keyboards to the song. The final layer is added by the female backing vocals from Laura Creamer, Ginger Blake and Linda Dillard, a sound which would also become identified with Seger's work.

Totally different then is "Her strut", swaggering with a hard guitar from Seger and a bouncing beat, as Seger marks the line between feminism and femininity --- "Oh, they do respect her but/ They love to watch her strut!" --- also accepting that the woman in the song uses her womanly wiles when needed to get what she wants. Not a new idea, certainly, but it's a great song and drives along on twin guitars from Seger and The Silver Bullet Band's Drew Abbot. The Muscle Shoals come in on the next track, their first appearance on the album, with a lovely acoustic guitar from Pete Carr joined by upbeat piano from Barry Beckett which itself is joined by Randy McCormick's swiring organ work, the whole thing running on a mid-paced beat courtesy of Roger Hawkins. Seger's vocal as usual hold court over everything, and his voice is instantly recognisable, that slightly gruff Michigan growl that can as easily roar out a chorus as whisper a ballad. Great little guitar solo to end, and we're into the standout of the album, indeed one of my favourite Seger tracks of all time.

Bouncing along on a jangly guitar line and hopping piano with a driving beat and searing organ, "Long twin silver line" is an ode to the great steam trains of yesteryear, and just oozes joy and freedom. Really great piano work from Beckett, with Seger counting off the train's stops --- "Through Chicago, rolling into Kansas too/ Rolling into Denver doing all she'll do/ And she hangs a big left in Salt Lake City/ Southwest to the Nevada line/ Rollin' into California right on time!" Really gives you a sense of the power and beauty of those old transcontinental trains when they were in their heyday. One of the most uptempo, rocky tracks on the album. It's followed by what Bob himself describes as "the title cut" on the live album "Nine tonight", and it's another soft ballad with lush organ and piano from the returning Silver Bullet Band, a reflective song as many of Seger's are, looking back at his life, the loves left behind, the decisions made whether good or bad, and a realisation that things can never stay the same, and that love, while it might seem at the time eternal, is as fleeting as time itself.

Beautiful piano solo from Paul Harris, who also backs up his playing with some droning organ, the song very much a keys-oriented one. In ways, the lyrical content here would be mirrored six years later in again the title track to another album, 1986's "Like a rock". Seger calls in the help of three Eagles to assist on backing vocals on this album, and here it's Glenn Frey who adds his unmistakable voice to the lead-out of the track, the whole thing riding along on Harris's superb piano melody and soft percussion from Teegarden. Interestingly, "Against the wind" is followed immediately by a second ballad, which doesn't happen that often on Seger albums. "Good for me" is a very much gospel influenced piece, with almost church organ from Randy McCormick as the Muscle Shoals come back in, and the three ladies add their heavenly voices to the backing vocals.

The percussion is harder than in the previous track, and there's a real sense of gratitude and thanks in the lyric, with a hard piano helping out courtesy of the returning Barry Beckett. The end part features a great slow buildup which culminates in an almost spitirual outpouring from the three girls, raising the song to the heavens, then fades out on simple piano and guitar. Everything rocks back then for the already mentioned "Betty Lou's gettin' out tonight", with a real fifties rockabilly feel, great driving piano in another fine almost Jerry Lee Lewis performance from Paul Harris, while Alto Reed makes sure his horn is heard loud and clear, and there's a great energy and enthusiasm about the song: no deep lyrics, just the boys gettin' ready to fight cos Betty Lou's finally gettin' out tonight! Great fun, though as I mentioned the basic melody does pull a lot from the opener.

"Fire Lake" then rides on a swinging, swaying country beat and features Frey and his fellow Eagles, Don Henley and Timothy B. Schmidt on backing vocals, with Seger in holiday mood on a happy, carefree song which then leads into the closer, "Shinin' brightly" , driven on organ and acoustic guitar, but for my money definitely one of the weaker tracks. Some great, Clarence Clemmons-like sax from The Muscle Shoals' Jimmy Johnson, and powerful organ from Randy McCormick, and some tinkly piano from Barry Beckett. A last hurrah for the three ladies on backing vocals, and they do a great job, but not the track I would have chosen as a closer.

TRACKLISTING

1. The horizonal bop
2. You'll accomp'ny me
3. Her strut
4. No Man's Land
5. Long twin silver line
6. Against the wind
7. Good for me
8. Betty Lou's gettin' out tonight
9. Fire Lake
10. Shinin' brightly

As I said at the start, I do like this album but pretty much only certain tracks. There are Seger albums I listen through to all the way, but this is not one of them. I do find myself wondering how this scored his biggest hit while others which I consider far better fared a lot worse. I suppose you'd have to say this was the pinnacle of Seger's career then, although 1982's "The distance" gave him his biggest hit single and did well enough, hitting the number five slot, while the followup, 1986's "Like a rock" not only got to number 3 but also had its title track featured in a Chevy commercial, and another song in the TV series "Miami Vice". No doubt people were asking, what is that song? But that's Bob Seger for you: you may not know him, or of him, but chances are you've heard his music somewhere, even if you haven't recognised it.

And as he moves this year into his forty-fourth year in the business, chances are you'll continue to hear from him.

Brothers in arms --- Dire Straits --- 1985 (Vertigo)
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Although it would not prove to be their last album, "Brothers in arms" was such a monster success for Dire Straits that it essentially became almost both their comeback album and their swansong. The release of "On every street", six years later, and the subsequent breakup of the band, would almost pass off quietly, unnoticed as Mark and the boys faded from the public eye after ten years making great music. But this album would give them two massive hit singles, re-establish them as masters of their craft and technological innovators, and also turn out to be one of the all-time biggest selling albums in the world, ever, selling at the time of writing over thirty million copies, and turning nine times platinum. It was also one of the first albums to specifically target the emerging market in CD releases, pushing the CD factories into overdrive to cope with the massive demand for it.

Their previous studio effort, 1982's "Love over gold" was an odd beast. A beautiful album but possessing only a total of five tracks, one of which ran for over fourteen minutes. Although Dire Straits would never be considered to be a progressive rock band, there were definite progressive leanings on "Love over gold", particularly the mostly instrumental "Private investigations" and the epic "Telegraph Road". This album though would return them to their more basic rock leanings, while also allowing them to place a foot gingerly into the world of pop, and see them produce one of the first ever totally computer-animated videos for the huge hit single, "Money for nothing". Rough by today's standards, certainly, but back then we were in awe as to how the mouths of the cartoon characters moved in concert with the music. Amazing!

But to the album itself. It starts with the lazy, laidback guitar and keyboard of "So far away", before Knopfler's laconic vocal comes in and some fine slide guitar joins the proceedings. For an album which was to have such a huge impact, both on their career and on the music world in general, it's a deceptively slow start. Almost country in flavour, it's a relaxed little song with a hint of bitterness in the lyric, and would in fact be one of the five singles released from the album, doing reasonably well and hitting the number 20 spot, which would of course pale in comparison with the next track, the chartbusting "Money for nothing", which featured that video I spoke of earlier. Everyone knows the song by now, with its characteristic wail from Sting that opens it, as he pines for his MTV, then there's a buildup of percussion and synth, lots of busy keyswork in the background before Knopfler's heavily-miked guitar breaks through, almost talking, and the song takes off.

This was the only Dire Straits song to feature another artist, and Sting also got a co-writing credit, which again was unheard of for this band, where the lion's share of songwriting was taken by Knopfler. With a great bouncy beat, and that squawking, talking guitar plus its gentle poking of fun at the rock lifestyle (and thus themselves) --- "Shoulda learned to play the guitar/ Shoulda learned to play them drums.../That ain't workin'!/ That's the way you do it!" --- it proved an instant hit and powered right to the top of the charts, forever cementing itself in the group consciousness, and people who had never heard of Dire Straits were suddenly singing the song and thinking about buying if not the album then at least the single. It reminded me of when Foreigner hit the number one slot that same year with "I want to know what love is", and a week or so later I overheard two older women --- mothers, I would say, about forty or so: I would have been what, twenty-three? --- remark as the song came on the radio "Oh yes, I love that Foreigner!" People who would look at you as if you had two heads if you mentioned "Urgent", "Cold as Ice" "4" or even Lou Gramm loved the chart-topping single. And so people who would have maybe known of "Romeo and Juliet" and "Sultans of swing" danced and nodded and hummed "I want my, I want my, I want my MTV" gleefully. Thus are legends born, huh?

There's no doubting that "Money for nothing" was the massive hit single that drove the huge sales of this album, and rightly so as it's a great song, but we shouldn't lose sight of the other great tracks on the album, and there are numerous. Much of what was then the first side of the album was released as singles, as the label fought to capitalise on the success of the monster smash, and indeed with "Walk of life" they scored another. A rockalong, almost fifties style bopper with a big organ intro and then the whistling keyboard riff that would run through it and characterise its sound, it's a cool little song and again Knopfler delivers a fine performance, with some real rockabilly style guitar and something of an innovative dance in the video if I remember. For the time it became something of an anthem, an upbeat, happy, optimistic axiom: do the walk of life. It's placed well on the album, because after "Money for nothing" the last thing you want to hear is a substandard song, and this certainly keep the tempo and the energy going, and is a worthy successor to the behemoth.

Total film noir then in a complete change for "Your latest trick", with a bluesy sax intro from either Michael Brecker or Malcolm Duncan, don't know which as they both play on the album, backed by some melancholic digital piano by Alan Clark and some vibraphone adding a somewhat lonely and otherworldly touch, the tune sounding more like something you'd find on a Tom Waits album really. Then Mark Knopfler comes in with his trademark low, muttered almost disinterested vocal and you see how well it fits in to their sound. To some degree I think this serves as something of a sequel to their first original big hit "Sultans of swing", with its mention of the band and the landlord paying them off, but I could be wrong there. The vibraphone runs through the tune like a tiny ticking heartbeat, courtesy of Michael Mainieri, and we're into "Why worry", another slow song --- and I mean slow! --- in which Knopfler's almost lazy vocal on the previous song sounds positively pumped in comparison. It's carried mostly on acoustic guitar and what sounds like mandolin, with a nice little soft keyboard line playing behind it. It's a nice song, with a somewhat overoptimistic sentiment rather like Bobby McFerrin's "Don't worry be happy" which, while an admirable stance is a little less than realistic. I also find it's far too long, at over eight and a half minutes, and seems to go on forever. Nice backing vocals though it has to be said.

In many ways, the second side of the album, from track six to nine, is a concept of sorts, concentrating on mostly militaristic themes, and showing why the album is titled as it is. "Ride across the river" is the tale of revolutionaries in some South American country, maybe somewhere like Nicaragua, though it's never stated. Opening on tribal style drums and pan flute (synthesised I assume) it builds slowly against chiming keyboards and pulsating bass, with some great trumpet work from Randy Brecker (brother to Michael, the saxaphonist?) and horn from Dave Plews. There's both a sense of oppression and fiesta about it, the latter engendered by the great horn work of the two guys. You really get the sense of a band of rebels crossing a river at night, fearful for their lives but determined to prevail against the hated, nameless enemy. It's quite a long song, just under seven minutes, but unlike "Why worry" it doesn't seem overstretched. Whereas the famous Knopfler guitar is subdued and very much to the background in this song, it comes roaring to the front for "The man's too strong", built on a folky acoustic guitar melody with soft yet thumping drumwork. It's when the chorus comes in that the electric guitar blasts out and the drums get stronger, taking you quite by surprise the first time you hear it. Little in the way of keys or synth, though they're there in the background working away: this is primarily a showcase for Mark Knopfler's guitar expertise.

The song seems to concern the memories, or indeed confessions, during his capture and trial of a war criminal, and his realisation he has done wrong but shows little or no remorse for it. This is the life he chose to lead, and he does not regret it. The shortest track on the album then, "One world" comes in at short of four minutes and is probably the most uptempo on side two, and the most rocky and upbeat since "Walk of life" on side one. Again Knopfler's guitar is to the fore though it's helped out this time by Guy Fletcher's keys with some handclap drumbeats. Nice little bit of almost harpsichordal keys from Alan Clark, but the song is a little pedestrian when compared to some of the masterpieces that have preceded it. Luckily, the album ends strongly and with passion, on the title track.

With a haunting, atmospheric synth backdrop from Fletcher, Knopfler's signature guitar line slides in and he again almost mutters the vocal, not so much that you can't hear him but almost like a whispered prayer, as he bemoans the insanity of war: "There are so many different worlds/ So many different suns/ And we have just one world/ But we live in different ones." A beautiful accordion-like sound gives the song a very rustic feel which ties in with the lyric "One day you'll return to/ Your valleys and your farms" and Knopfler almost makes his guitar cry and wail, giving voice to the dispossessed, the bereaved and the wronged who fall on either side during conflicts, lost among the larger issues, the politics and the strategies. The song ends on a prayer: "But it's written in the starlight/ In every line on your palms/ We're fools to make war/ On our brothers in arms" and a sumptuous guitar solo, joined later by Fletcher's soaring organ to bring the album to a quite amazing close.

TRACKLISTING

1. So far away
2. Money for nothing
3. Walk of life
4. Your latest trick
5. Why worry
6. Ride across the river
7. The man's too strong
8. One world
9. Brothers in arms

It's easy to see why this album was such a huge seller. The honesty and simplicity in the lyrics, the mixture of toe-tapping melodies and mature songs, the messages and the warnings, the big hit singles and the songs that weren't released but can stand shoulder to shoulder with those that were --- and are in some cases even better --- all come together to create an album that really, any band would have been proud to have said farewell with. This was undoubtedly the high point of Dire Straits' career, and despite the fact that they hung around for another six years they would never come close to matching it. Perhaps deep down, Mark Knopfler, guiding light and driving force behind the band for so many years, realised this and decided it was time to call it a day.

If only he had done so with this album, it would have been a legacy to be justifiably proud of. As it is, it marks for me the end of a very successful career, with one small coda to come in 1991.

Thanks man. I learned a lot about Saxon doing that section. Brought back some memories too! Surprised to see how Tank went; certainly progressed there's no doubt of that.

Yep, that "Zoom" album is definitely worth listening to. Just a pity it's only Jeff Lynne, otherwise I'd have it down in my top five favourite ELO albums!

Branigan --- Laura Branigan --- 1982 (Atlantic)
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Seldom has any artiste, least of all female, straddled the pop/rock divide so successfully and comprehensively as Laura Branigan. True, her output stalled a little in the final years, but her first four albums were all pretty close to being classics. This one is even more impressive, being her debut and yet yiedling her her biggest ever hit single and the song always associated with her now, although it wasn't her own song. Laura combined just the right amounts of sexy diva with chanteuse and serious recording artiste to allow her to easily jump from one genre to another, comfortable whether she was singing pop, disco, rock or even salsa, somewhat like her contemporary, Gloria Estefan, though the latter mostly made her career on ballads and love songs. Laura's music, in the main, was usually more concentrated on uptempo songs.

That being said, it's perhaps ironic that the album opens on a ballad, with soft digital piano and deep bass, though in fairness it picks up strength and tempo fairly quickly and becomes a more intense love song, with some great backing vocals. It is however rather typical of the glut of ballads that bombarded us through the early years of the eighties, though a lot better than most. It's strange in that ballads are and were usually reserved for further down the running order, often near the end as the album wound down, but the tempo is quickly kicked up to ten with her smash hit "Gloria". A rearrangement and re-recording of an Italian love song, Laura changed it totally, pumping it up and giving it teeth, and with a huge descending synth opening and then stabbing synth chords that run through the melody, with pounding drumbeat, it's been described as disco or eurodisco, but I see it far more as a rock song. It has the disco feel, sure, but the power and passion and the punch it delivers to me is far more deserving of being called a rock song. Probably everyone knows the song by now, and it's a great workout for Laura's voice, as she hits the most powerful registers with ease.

Again, for a debut album from a then-unknown singer, there are some famous faces on this album, including guitar gods Steve Lukather and Michael Landau, not to mention Carlos Vega on the drumseat. A big deep synth and piano opening takes us into "Lovin' you baby", with Laura's impassioned, husky vocal delivering a lyric which sounds almost Steinmanesque; powerful, dramatic, passionate, big and bold, the sort of thing that really to be fair screams for a full orchestra and massive backing vocals. And yet, though there are backing vocalists, Laura handles the song mostly herself, her voice dripping with emotion and desperation. Definitely the standout after the rather obvious "Gloria". It's followed by "Livin' a lie", which actually sounds almost exactly like Bon Jovi's "Burning for love" --- and I mean exactly --- from their debut, released --- oh dear! Two years later! Oh, boys! I never realised this before. I mean, it IS the same song, almost note for note and chord for chord. A great rocking track, with stabbing synths and a fine solo from Lukather, and keeps the tempo well up.

Another possible indicator of the high hopes held for Laura is when you see that the mighty Diane Warren contributes a song to her debut album, and as ever with Diane, it's a winner. A soft, piano-driven ballad, sung with all the heartbreaking regret that Laura can squeeze into her voice, and that's a lot. In the bridge there's a beautiful, flowing synth run that just pulls in the chorus with drama and emotion, and takes it to another level entirely. There's nothing to say really --- Warren doesn't do bad songs. The woman seems to write hits as easily as she draws breath, and there's many an artiste owes her for much of their success. Things kick right back up then for "Please stay, go away", with a running, almost progressive rock piano line, thundering drums from Vega and crunching guitar from Landau and Lukather: the basic melody does borrow a lot from "Gloria" however.

There's another ballad up next, and in fact "I wish we could be alone" is Laura's first attempt at songwriting, which she handles completely on her own. It's an impressive first try, with a semi-country feel to the music driven on piano with great backing vocals, some of which almost duet with her, male ones which really complement her own voice. Reminds me a lot of Nanci Griffith's early work, particularly "If wishes were changes" from the "Storms" album. Winding up then for a big finish, "Down like a rock" pulls out all the stops in a big fast rocker, with jangly guitar and funky bass, the rhythm almost Wham!-ish (bear with me) and a kind of fifties feel to the music, Laura's voice kind of echoing alongside what I assume must be synthesised brass and some swirly organ, not to mention another fine soaraway guitar solo. Nice! Everything wraps up nicely then with another ballad, which kind of bookends the album with the opener. "Maybe I love you" is a tender love song again driven on soft piano but soon taken by Landau's sharp hard guitar lines, developing into a stronger song, again like the opener, with Laura's clear, pristine vocal above everything, a fine solo to bring things to a close and scrap forever any idea that Laura Branigan was a disco or even pop artiste --- this album has rock gem written large all over it.

TRACKLISTING

1. All night with me
2. Gloria
3. Loving you baby
4. Livin' a lie
5. If you loved me
6. Please stay, go away
7. I wish we could be alone
8. Down like a rock
9. Maybe I love you

Over a period of ten years Laura Branigan released seven albums, but she will always be known for the second track on this, her debut. Some people will also know "Self control", the title of her third album, and perhaps "The lucky one" from the same record. I haven't heard her last two albums but I didn't care for "Touch", her fifth, released in 1987, which is a pity as up to then she had put out pretty consistently good albums. Sadly 1993's "Over my heart" was her last ever recording, and eleven years later she passed away from a previously undiagnosed brain aneurysm. She died peacefully in her sleep, and the world of music lost a wonderful voice and a true star who should have been much more famous and regarded than she was.

Bad English --- Bad English --- 1989 (Epic)
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What do you get when you put three Journey members together, add in John Waite and top it off with the bass player from Styx? Well, ostensibly an AOR supergroup, which is how Bad English were touted when they released their self-titled debut as the eighties drew to a close . I personally bought the album (second hand, of course!) purely on the cool, rockin' cover, and was surprised to find once I had got it home that such luminaries were involved. I have to say the super in this supergroup cannot be overstated, and this stands for me as one of the best albums from that period. If you hate Journey, AOR, sweet melodies, hard rocking and great guitar solos coupled with swirling, punching keyboard runs, you're out of luck and you should seek elsewhere, because that's what this album delivers in spades. Every single track (every single track!) is a classic, and I could not really pick out one that was in any way substandard. Well, okay, maybe just the one. The same therefore has to be said for standouts, because just about every track here is as good as the one that precedes, or follows it.

Jonathan Cain and Neal Schon had of course both been in Journey, Deen Castronovo joining them later, and John Waite and Ricky Philips had been with Cain in The Babys, so everyone knew each other and they got together as friends trying out a project during a hiatus in which Journey effectively split from 1987 to 1994. They scored a number one and number five US hit with singles taken from this album, and the album itself shifted the units, however their second and only other album did not do anywhere as well, and after it Bad English decided to disband, Cain and Schon returning to Journey, Waite to solo work and Phillips back to Styx after a stint with Coverdale/Page. Castronovo, as already mentioned, would join Journey in 2001, having by then worked with Ozzy Osbourne, Steve Vai and Hole, among others.

And just in case you think this is just another Journey offshoot, that with Cain and Schon at the helm it's basically going to sound like a Journey album, don't count on it. I say this a lot, I've noticed, but here it seems particularly appropriate, that the whole of this band is very much more than just the sum of its parts. If you've heard John Waite you'll know he comes across as one of the quintessential AOR voices of the eighties, with just the right mix of power and tenderness, and the ability to turn it on at the drop of a hat. He has that scratchy, somewhat fractured voice you associate with people like Rod Stewart and Bob Seger, though he operates in a different arena to either of those, and he puts heart and emotion and passion into everything he does. The other two members of Bad English I must admit I don't know. I'm not familiar with much of the work of Styx, but anyone who could hold their own with two legends in David Coverdale and Jimmy Page has to be worth his salt, no?

It opens on what sounds like a full brass band, but must surely only be Cain's athletic synthesiser run, as no horns are credited, then a big heavy guitar sound from Schon and the pounding, crashing drums of Deen Castronovo punch in, and we're off to a great start with "Best of what I got", a big, strutting, striding, swaggering (yeah, I know: I love my alliteration!) rocker that just bounces along as Waite takes the mike and completes the quintet. He's no Steve Perry, but I still find myself wondering what it might have been like had he replaced the Journey frontman. Still, after this album he seemed to want to go back to solo work, so I suppose it would not have happened. All the same... Anyway, there's little letup as we power on into "Heaven is a 4 letter word", a big grinding cruncher with a great hook in the chorus and a commanding vocal from John Waite. Most of the material here is written by a combination of Cain, Schon and Waite, with Philips adding to one or two of them.

Things slow down for the first time then for "Possession", the first of five ballads on the album, and it's a powerful, emotional song, with some great guitar work from Neal Schon, and a feature of this band, perfect, spot-on backing vocals that complement John Waite's solo voice and create a really full vocal sound throughout the album. One of the standouts next in the uptempo rocker "Forget me not", which blazes away at top speed and allows Castonovo to let loose on the drumkit, a human drum machine. It's the fastest track on the album so far and also of course features great interplay between the two Journey men (hah!) on keys and guitar, and was in fact the first single released from the album, just barely missing out on the top forty. The next one, however, blew it wide open.

It'll come as no surprise to those who know, or know of her, that Bad English's biggest hit single was written by Diane Warren. Taking the number one spot with ease, "When I see you smile" is a tender ballad built on the tinkling keys of Jonathan Cain's piano, then joined by Neal Schon's powerful guitar, while John Waite sings the lyric with all the lovestruck awe he can put into his voice. Cain manages to make his keyboards sound like a full string orchestra at points in the song, and not to be outdone, Schon rips off a fine solo. This song had hit single written all over it from the word go, and so it proved to be. Oddly, it was not selected as the lead single --- that was, as mentioned, "Forget me not" --- but the second, whereupon it proved a massive hit.

It's the finest of AOR Heaven next with "Tough times don't last", a real sense of mid-period Bon Jovi in the lyric; "Tough times don't last/ Lovers do/ Baby don't give up/ On me and you." Great keyboard melody laid down by Cain, then an appropriately haunting song in the shape of "Ghost in your heart", which qualifies as a ballad even though it's a little harder than you would normally expect ballads to be. More great keyboard runs and riffs set up by the Journey keyboardist, while another ballad, "Price of love", which follows it, was to give Bad English their second --- and only other --- top ten single. A beautiful, emotionally-charged song based somewhat on the lyrical theme of Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a prayer", though nothing like it musically, it's a stirring, effective power ballad that had the guys once again reaching for the top of the charts.

The rest of the album is heavy rock all the way, bar the closer. Castronovo's almost drum solo leads in "Ready when you are", and Schon piles on the riffs in a staccato rhythm in part quite similar to the opener, while "Lay down" is mostly driven on his bandmate's batteries of keyboards. "The restless ones" then opens on a soft, atmospheric keyboard line and a piano melody that starts off quite gentle but gets a little harder as the song develops, and if you thought it was going to be another ballad the guys soon disabuse you of that notion as it kicks into life. It has a great singalong chorus and a real sense of early Bryan Adams before he got all commercial (think "Cuts like a knife" or "You want it, you got it") and rides along on Cain's frothy piano lines. The last hard rocker is the again aptly-titled "Rockin' horse", which hands over control mostly to Schon on the guitar and features a powerful, urgent vocal from Waite, while Cain again sets up an almost orchestral sound on the keyboards.

The closer then is a little light ballad, somewhat out of place really among all these strong songs, and indeed apart from Diane Warren's contribution the only one on which none of the bandmembers have input to. It's co-written by King Crimson legend Peter Sinfield, but is probably the weakest track on the album, which is a pity, as I would have preferred a strong closer to end this extremely strong album. It's a small niggle though, and really there's very little negative I can, or would want to say about this debut album, apart from the fact that it was in the end the highpoint of the career of a supergroup who I would have liked to have heard more from.

TRACKLISTING

1. Best of what I got
2. Heaven is a 4 letter word
3. Possession
4. Forget me not
5. When I see you smile
6. Tough times don't last
7. Ghost in your heart
8. Price of love
9. Ready when you are
10. Lay down
11. The restless ones
12. Rockin' horse
13. Don't walk away

Purple rain --- Prince --- 1984 (Warner Bros)
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A true classic album and one every serious music fan should hear, "Purple rain" marked the beginning of an, ahem, purple patch for Prince, who had come from relative obscurity via albums like "Dirty mind" and "Controversy" to explode upon the scene with 1982's "1999" (if that doesn't sound a contradiction in terms: it isn't) and grab the charts by the balls with hit singles such as "Little red Corvette" and the title track. Although "1999" is seen as his breakthrough album --- and it was: prior to this, if you mentioned his name people would ask "Prince? Prince who?" --- his biggest success and mainstream acceptance would come with this album. Whereas "1999" was essentially a disco/dance/funk album, "Purple rain" established the dimunitive one forever as a true rock artiste. There are few rock fans who will tell you they don't have this in their collection, or have at least heard it, and while it still retains the lingering influences from the previous album in hits like "When doves cry" and "I would die 4 U", the title track, "Let's go crazy", "Take me with U" and others have rock writ large all over them.

A man who would change his image more frequently than most of us change our socks, who would reinvent himself more times than Kylie, Prince rose to international fame both on this album and on the film to which it is the soundtrack. Being such, it is also quite staggering that the album has to date sold in excess of twenty million copies worldwide, and is ranked as one of the most important albums in music history. It features his sometime band, The Revolution, whom he would later part company with, and would go on to become one of the best-selling albums of 1984, define a sound and an era, and raise Prince to iconic superstar status, a position from which he would only voluntarily retire, later eschewing even his name and becoming known as a symbol, "The Artist Formerly Known As Prince".

But all that was in the future, and at the time of release this was the must-have album, and whether you saw the movie and then bought the album or vice versa, most of us did both. To be honest, the movie's not much to write home about, as I'm sure our resident movie buff Exoskeletal will tell you: you see it mostly for the music, which is kind of ironic really as you can hear that on the album. But the album: well, that's something else entirely. Nobody would claim it's a perfect album, and there are tracks on it which are weaker than others, but the strong ones are so strong that they more than compensate for the less impressive ones. It starts and ends well, and in between there are some real gems.

"Let's go crazy" opens the album, with a deep church organ and Prince's voice intoning a prayer, then the percussion hits in like a a hammer, squealing guitar and keyboards join in and we're off a a rip-roaring pace on a rocker with a lot of dance and funk energy, featuring a guitar solo that helps cement Prince as one of the most innovative axemen of the eighties and nineties. A song that's hard to stay still while listening to, it also rides along on the bubbly keyboards of the equally bubbly Lisa Coleman, who with bandmate Wendy Melvoin would later go on to form the duo Wendy and Lisa. Big heavy guitar ending and we're into "Take me with U", almost eighties Genesis in its melody, slower but still moving along nicely; sense of The Bangles' "Manic Monday" in it too, not surprisingly as it was Prince who wrote the number one hit for the girls.

Nice solid keyboard arrangement backed up by cellos and violins, but as ever it's Prince's high falsetto vocal that dominates proceedings, a voice which would become almost ubiquitous over the next ten years as he had hit after hit on album after album. Nice backing vocals too from Apollonia Kotero. Much more stripped-down then is "The beautiful ones", carried mostly on a bassline and lilting piano melody complementing Prince's high vocal throughout the song, the first slow song on the album, on which you really hear the man's soul roots coming through. It also features some spoken vocals from Prince, and definitely has a sense of motown smooth soul about it. Great little unfussed guitar solo thrown in too, though the song is mostly driven on the keyboards and piano combination. Near the end Prince's voice gets harsher, more desperate, almost emulating the late Micheal Jackson at times.

Wendy and Lisa get to take the opening lines for "Computer blue", a very funky, poppy number with an uptempo beat and bouncy guitar, not one of my favourites on the album I have to say. When I spoke in the introduction about weaker tracks, this is one I consider to fall into that category. It's okay, but I somehow never remember it when I play the album. It just seems a little empty to me, almost more an instrumental in many ways considering how little there is in the song in terms of lyrics. I guess it's a good workout for the band though. Again I hear Genesis melodies in here, including one from Mike and the Mechanics' later "All I need is a miracle", so I guess you'd have to say Mike Rutherford half-inched that riff for himself from Prince.

Another weak track for me is "Darling Nikki", which marches along on a hard synth line rather like something out of a Tom Waits album, some nice talkbox guitar and heavy percussion, but again it's one I tend to either skip or forget when I play this album. The last two minutes of the song feature a fairly strong and insistent organ passage courtesy of Dr. Fink, sax and then a Laurie Andersonesque vocal ending which segues into some sort of African/gospel chant, sounds like backward masking to be honest. Totally weird.

Luckily, that's the end of the weak tracks, and if you haven't heard "When doves cry", how is Mars these days? A massive number one hit for Prince, it's built on a stop/start synth line and echoing drumbeat, with some of Prince's best vocals on the album, much of them double-tracked. It's also one of the few songs I know that has no bass line at all, and consists of a number of loops. Synthesiser plays of course a large part in the song, painting the backdrop, and Prince's guitar solo in it really adds teeth to what is essentially a dance tune. It ends with a choral vocal harmony and orchestral style keyboard passage. Next up is a rippling disco piece, "I would die 4 U" --- I'm not sure, but I think Prince may have started this whole craze of using numbers to represent words: I know I had never seen it in use before he came along --- with a ticking, sweeping drumbeat and some nice synthy guitar, keyboards naturally the main instrument and Prince's vocal less falsetto than on previous tracks.

The premise of the movie, in case you haven't seen it, is that Prince begins as a support act, trying to make it big, and of course by the end of the film he is the main attraction, and this is the subject of the penultimate track, "Baby I'm a star", which basically runs almost directly from the previous one and maintains the same sort of fast disco beat, but with harder percussion and some dancy piano lines. Guitar is also much more to the fore here, some good backing vocals from Wendy and Lisa, but the undeniable standout is the closer, and title track.

It's more than likely you've heard "Purple rain", but just in case: it opens with a twangy guitar, then develops into one of the most heart-wrenchingly pure ballads you've ever heard, with soulful, emotional vocal from Prince, and though I mentioned that "When doves cry" was one of his best vocal performances on the album, here he's saved the very best till last. Almost a reincarnation of Hendrix, he stands alone onstage, spotlit as the band plays behind him, pouring out his heart to the world --- I never meant to cause you any sorrow/ Never meant to cause you any pain" --- and it's about as far removed as possible from the dancefloor levity of the last few tracks, a true ballad based in the old blues tradition with some powerful piano backed by violin and cello to create the almost unbearably emotional atmosphere the song weaves. It ends on one of the most evocative and moving guitar solos I've heard in a long time, coupled with a wounded, cathartic vocal from the man who would be Prince. Just a stunning end to an album which, while it is not perfect, nevertheless has gone down, deservedly, as a classic of the time.

TRACKLISTING

1. Let's go crazy
2. Take me with U
3. The beautiful ones
4. Computer blue
5. Darling Nikki
6. When doves cry
7. I would die 4 U
8. Baby I'm a star
9. Purple rain

As time went on, and he became more and more famous, Prince began to see through the sham that is the music business and he shunned celebrity, eventually almost withdrawing completely from the public eye, changing his name and slapping the internet basically with an injunction, forbidding sites like YouTube and Ebay to carry any of his videos, likenesses, or music. It seems he took his own advice in the opener to this album and went a bit mad, draconianally demanding any and all references to him be removed from fansites, blogs, anything at all. As a result of this, his music can never be carried by stores like itunes, which seems a bit silly as they're legal and surely that would only provide more revenue for him? Although it seems he may have relented upon this a little recently.

Two years ago he released his new album as a completely free covermounted CD with daily newspapers, and has been quoted as saying "The internet is completely over". While you perhaps have to take a lot of what the little guy says with a large pinch of salt, you can't deny the power or popularity of his music, and though later albums may have changed, morphed and transformed his sound, "Purple rain" stands as a monument to one time he got it completely right, and wrote for himself a chapter in the history of music.