Plankton

Good to see you back!

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The Batlord

I'm sorry, you like the music, but you don't like it because of fuddy duddiness? I should think the fact that Genesis' music is apparently versatile enough that it can be warped so completely and still be relevant should be seen as a validation of their talent and not an attack on it. I highly doubt an artist would take the time an effort to make an album mocking Genesis anyway, so him being so intent on putting his own stamp on music that obviously sticks with him this much is in fact the ultimate sign of respect. I can understand being confused at first, and that affecting your enjoyment of it, but wouldn't it make more sense to listen to the album a few more times since your opinion of it is so obviously conflicted?

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Trollheart

No.



Seriously, I mentioned that the LSO did their interpretation of Genesis's music on another album and I loved that. I take your point about it validating their talent, but if I buy an album that's supposed to be an orchestral version of a band's music I expect to be able to recognise it as such. This I can't. If you knew/know Genesis and take the time to listen to it you'll see what I mean.

Like I said, I'm not saying the guy is not multi-talented or that the music is terrible; it just doesn't sound like Genesis to me at all, and if someone played this blind to me, had I not heard it I would have no idea who the artiste being covered was supposed to be.

Anyway, as ever, it's my opinion, though I did read in another review that others feel the same way, especially the ridiculous overstretching of "Mad man moon", so I'm not alone.

You ready for Metal Month II?

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Trollheart

We’ve all heard the stories about the rocker or pop star who has a girl in every town, and the often naive women who somehow think they’re more than just a one-night stand, that they are different and the star is going to take them away from the drudgery of their life and make them part of the glitz and glamour that goes with showbusiness. Two songs illustrate this hope, and indeed the reality, from two entirely different perspectives, one from each side of the story and in fact one from each of the genders. In a way, they could almost be the same people talking about the same event, but with wildly differing views.

"Back on the road again" (REO Speedwagon) from the album "Nine lives", 1979
REO’s “Back on the road again” looks at the situation from the perspective of the rock star, who knows full well that he is just using the girl and has no intention either of settling down with her or taking her away with him. He lies to her --- ”I’ve loved you since the day I met you/ And I’ll love you till the day I die” --- yeah, sure! He then callously tells her it’s over --- ”I think it might be better/ If I told you now goodbye.” Better for him, certainly. But just in case he might end up back this way at some point and need to hook up with the girl again, he leaves her with a note of hope, false hope of course: ”You know that I’ll see you next time/ That I come to your town to play.”

The tempo of the song is high, a rock song with an exuberant beat for what is basically a breakup song or indeed a “wake up and smell the coffee” song. This is a rocker letting the girl down, not exactly easy, but he don’t care. He’s off to the next town, the next gig on the tour, where he’ll pick up another impressionable young woman and feed her the same lies, spin the same story and in the end, dump her with the same excuse. It’s a pretty sordid tale, and yes, I’m sure it goes on all the time in rock and pop circles. The idea of having a girl in every town is certainly attractive, but you sure as hell don’t want these women coming with you, and you don’t want them to meet your other women! And sure, they’d cramp your style, wouldn’t they? Gotta be footloose and fancy-free, and anyway, what would the wife say?

"Superstar" (The Carpenters) from the album "Carpenters", 1971
The late, lamented Karen Carpenter does a soulful and heartrending version of Delaney and Bonnie’s 1969 song two years later on the debut self-titled album by The Carpenters, and it became the most successful and famous of all the cover versions of the song. Looking at the idea from the viewpoint of the woman left behind, “Superstar” (originally titled “Groupie song” and then “Groupie (Superstar)”) takes us some time into the future, when the rock star has long since moved on and the woman is left behind. She talks about the promises he made to her --- ”Don’t you remember you told me/ You loved me baby/ Said you’d be coming back again/ This way again maybe?” --- and deep in her heart she knows, but refuses to admit even to herself, that he is never coming back for her. She consoles herself by listening to his voice on the radio, and convincing herself that he will return --- ”I can hardly wait/ To be with you again” --- and ends by sending a heartfelt plea to him via the radio: ”Come back to me again/ And play your second show”. Yeah. There will be no second show. This guy ain't ever coming back. He said what he needed to in order to get you into bed and he most likely forgot about you the moment he walked out your door.

It’s pretty obvious that the woman in the song is desperately holding on to the last shreds of her dignity by pretending the rock star will honour his promise, and like someone who refuses to believe a love affair is over she does not want to accept that she has been used, lied to and tossed aside. So much easier, so much less painful, to cling to the fragile hope that one day her lost lover will walk through that door and take her away, as he said he would, ”Long ago/ And oh so far away.”

In keeping with the more melancholy, almost bitter but certainly determined nature of this side of the story, “Superstar” is a much slower, moodier piece, with at least the Carpenters’ version (the only other version I have heard has been by Elkie Brooks) based around a mournful horn motif that gets almost embarrassingly upbeat for the chorus, where Karen recalls the promise made to her and holds on to that elusive hope like a woman clutching the edge of a cliff. It’s a far more sombre song, and though it does not specifically blame the man --- there’s something in the vocal that says she knew this was going to be the eventual outcome and that in addition to him lying to her, she was lying to herself, trying to make herself believe --- it avoids the callous disregard that REO’s song levels at the “groupie” being left behind.

Two sides, certainly, of a very sad and unfortunately probably in many cases very true story.

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Trollheart

Although I've been touting this across the forum for the last few months, I haven't actually announced it here, where it's most important.

So now I am.

Following on from the success (who laughed? I'm not going on till whoever laughed stands up!) of last year's month of Heavy Metal madness, I've decided not only to repeat it this year, but that it will be an annual event in this journal. So as before, October 1 will mark the beginning of

which will continue through to the end of October 31.

Last year, the event was somewhat a case of me flying by the seat of my pants, making it up as I went along and with no real goal in mind. This year I intend to have a much more structured and ordered show. What's that you say? Order and structure are anathema to Heavy Metal? Well yes, but that's all well and good till you try running one of these things! People don't just want to see album review after album review, you know.

So Metal Month II will include a Featured Artiste slot, music from various countries, reviews of new albums released this year, as well as returns for "The Metal that made Me" and of course four more helpings from "The Meat Grinder", as well as your own top ten lists and a whole lot more.

Anyone who wishes to is welcome to participate, whether you would like to guest review an album or band, or just write about how Metal has affected your life, or indeed anything Metal-related you think you could add. Just PM me or post here http://www.musicbanter.com/rock-meta...ii-coming.html and we'll take it from there.

So, fourteen days remaining to the second Metal Month. Warn the neighbours and secure the pets, cos it's gonna be loud!

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Trollheart

It’s been quite a while since I ran this section, so for the benefit of those who have not seen it before or are coming new to my journal let me explain. This is a feature where I look at the musical career of someone who has been originally involved in another aspect of media --- movies, TV --- or something totally else, and who has later made the switch to become, or try to become, a musician or at least a singer. I’m asking the question: did this person really and deeply harbour a desire to be a musician, either from the start or later in life, or were they simply moving into music in an attempt to squeeze as much cash as they could out of their perhaps fading celebrity? Were they serious about music or was it a one-time thing they tried, either failed at or found they had an aptitude for, or that at least their fans responded to it? Were they pushed by their management team into crossing over? Did they, in effect, see a bandwagon roll by and, with dollar or Euro signs in their eyes, hitch a ride, screaming “Me too! Me too!”?

The last --- and indeed, first --- artiste we looked at, all that time ago, was TV’s David Soul, best known of course for his role in the seventies cop show “Starsky and Hutch”, and who later had some hit singles and a few albums. After examining his career, his life and his influences, I came to the rather interesting and unexpected conclusion that Soul was not a bandwagon-jumper. He had been a singer before finding fame on the TV and when he made the switch he wrote his own music, mostly, and seemed to straddle a few different genres, rather than just peddle empty but ultimately lucrative pop or soft rock, which would have been a much easier option, and is in fact what gave him his hits. But within the albums I listened to I was surprised to find there was some depth. They weren’t classics by any means and I won’t be listening to them again any time soon, but they weren’t the dross you would expect, with the singles surrounded by fluff and filler. The guy had something to say, and seemed reasonably honest and passionate about his interest in music.

Ah, but will we be able to say that about our second subject?


On the face of it, Miley Cyrus would appear to be a shoe-in for the bandwagon brigade. Starting her career in TV playing a schoolgirl whose “secret identity” is the pop star sensation Hannah Banana, sorry Montana, she later broke out and sort of made the fantasy flesh as it were, bringing fact to fiction as she became a real, honest-to-Mickey-Mouse pop singer. But was this her idea, or her agent’s? Did she want to be a singer? Did she even sing in the show? What is, or was, her interest in music and what was her incentive for moving from one medium to another, apart from the obvious?

The thing is, as everybody knows, Miley is the daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus, the country singer who traumatised us all with “Achy breaky heart” back in the early nineties, and who, perhaps unfairly, will always be inextricably linked with that most heinous crime, line dancing. Billy Ray is a successful recording artiste, having sold millions of records, recorded over a dozen albums and won a fistful of awards. So you would have to think that at least some of his talent and his passion for music would have rubbed off onto his little girl. It did, though it was the acting bug that bit her moreso than the music one. She began to study music and drama, and when the call came to audition for the Disney TV show “Hannah Montana” she landed the title role, something that was to propel her to superstar status.

It would appear that her godmother, Dolly Parton no less, had a hand in Miley moving into the music business and in 2007 she released her first of (so far) four albums, three of which would be recorded while she was still working on the “Hannah Montana” show. Rather weirdly, the debut album, a double, has its first disc credited to Hannah Montana, the character, and is basically the soundtrack to her show, while the second disc is I guess her “breakout” from the character and is credited to her under her own name.


Hannah Montana 2/Meet Miley Cyrus --- Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana --- 2007 (Walt Disney)

Meh, I’m not expecting much from this, particularly the first disc as it’s basically the soundtrack to the show, which I’ve never seen, but let’s have a listen anyway. Hmm. A nice Cars-like guitar and to be honest I hear this as a serious rip off of Kim Wilde’s “Kids in America”, but it’s far from the crappy pop bubblegum I expected, especially with a title like “We got the party”. Could this be more interesting than I expected? Well looking at the credits I see that Kara Dioguardia co-wrote the opener and Robbie Nevil the second, which is more like the trance/disco/pop I would have expected. Yet even so, I must say the guitar is a lot more involved than I would have imagined it would be.

The same writing team of Matthew Gerard and Robbie Nevil write the sixth track too, and I won’t even hold it against Cyrus that she doesn’t have any writing input into any of the songs on the first disc, as I’m sure Disney’s viselike grip on the show would have precluded her being involved, but it will be in the second disc where I would expect to see her contribute more, which I hope will be the case. Ah damn it! I hate to admit it, but “Nobody’s perfect” evolved into a decent rockish song and I don’t hate it. Two out of two? Was not expecting that! Looks like a ballad up next as “Make some noise” betrays the influences of her father in a Country styled power ballad. Very empowering I guess with a sort of waltzy rhythm and some nice acoustic guitar. Crap! I don’t hate this either. Well, in fairness I’m not here to trash Cyrus, but to see if her music is good enough to refute the tag of being a bandwagon-jumper, and again, this is not really her music so with big writers all over the place I guess you can expect decent songs. Again, we’ll uncover the real Miley Cyrus on the second disc I would think.

She’s a good singer, of that there is no doubt. I think Disney may have used autotune on the second track but I don’t feel she needs it. Her voice is certainly good enough to stand on its own without any digital processing. I’d like to hear her do a completely acoustic or even acapella song. Perhaps she will. We’ve five albums to get through here, spanning a period of six years. And so it goes: “Rock star” is another uptempo, well, rocker, with a great guitar solo, while “Old blue jeans” sounds a little sort of industrial with slabs of new-wave thrown in, big throaty synth I think unless it’s a talkbox on a guitar. Bit lighter than the other tracks I’ve heard so far but no, I still don’t hate it. “Life’s what you make it” is another song by Nevil and Gerrard, and another empowering, you-can-do-it song, which is a bit barf-making but in keeping with the spirit of the show, so I can’t really criticise.

I thought “One in a million” would be a ballad, with a tinkly piano opening, but it turned into something else, then “Bigger than us” is another decent uptempo song with a very upbeat message; a lot of fun I must say. The rest of it is kind of generic and I lost a little interest but there was nothing that made me stop and think how bad that was. Overall a pleasant surprise but of course being Disneyfied I guess there are certain things you have to expect. The presence of a lot of guitar and the absence of too much kid pop was refreshing though.

And so we move onto disc two, where we hear from the real Miley. This is, essentially, her debut album as it’s put out under her own name, and I’m heartened to see she has a songwriting credit for about 85% of the album, even if she wrote nothing solo. This is, after all, her first effort. The first track is credited partially to Destiny Hope Cyrus, which is her original name, while the rest are just shown as Cyrus, so whether she was writing as Destiny Hope or Miley I don’t know for sure, but given the title of the second disc I think I can assume the latter.

“See you again” opens the album and it’s a nice uptempo song with dirty bass and a good sense of rocking about it; the chorus needs work though, Still not bad for a first attempt at songwriting, though in truth how much input she had into the song I don’t know. It was also her first single and seems to have done very well, getting to number four in the charts. “East Northumberland High” is okay but nothing terribly special (remember who this is, Troll… yeah yeah…) then “Let’s dance” is a very poppy song with sort of Spanish or latin overtones, but again it’s inoffensive fun. More rocky is “G.N.O (Girls’ Night Out) with a real sense of Blondie in it, or even (gulp!) Girls Aloud. Nice AOR type chorus, very catchy. “Right here” sounds like it may be a ballad, and … it’s not. Nice curve ball there. Starts slow but ramps up into a decent rocker.

More uptempo with “As I am” then it sounds like she’s ripping off the Cars on “Heartbeat City” for the opening of “Start all over”, though to be fair it’s not written by her. Good heavy rockish song with some fine keyboard work, and it was the second single released from the album, doing particularly badly. Sad to say she then attempts reggae (why does everyone do that?) with her next penned song, “Clear”. Sigh. Much better is “Good and broken”, with a lot of passion in the lyric and again some great guitar work. I’d credit musicians but as in so many pop albums there are several guitarists, a bunch of keyboardists and many drummers, and I have no way of knowing who plays on what, so they’ll have to remain anonymous, which is a pity as they do deserve proper credit.

I don’t mind that the album ends on a ballad. With a title like “I miss you” it’s expected and to be fair there haven’t been the usual joblot of slushy slow songs on this debut; in fact, this is the only one, and even then it’s not the sort of piano ballad you would expect. It’s a little slower but it’s not a song to “lurch” to --- what do you mean, how old are you grandad? Nice sort of lounge piano line driving the song and again, credit where it’s due, it brings a satisfying ending to an album which has turned out to be a lot better than I had expected it to be.

TRACKLISTING
Disc One (Hannah Montana)

1. We got the party
2. Nobody’s perfect
3. Make some noise
4. Rock star
5. Old blue jeans
6. Life’s what you make it
7. One in a million
8. Bigger than us
9. You and me together
10. True friend

Disc Two (Miley Cyrus)

1. See you again
2. East Northumberland High
3. Let’s dance
4. GNO (Girls’ Night Out)
5. Right here
6. As I am
7. Start all over
8. Clear
9. Good and broken
10. I miss you

I must admit, before I move on, I’m a lot more impressed with this than I ever expected to be. To my eternal embarrassment, I’m actually more leaning towards the Hannah stuff than the Miley, but then maybe that’s just the giant corporate Disney machine catering to what it thinks we want. Even so, I’m not a teenage girl (so far as I know) and I really enjoyed that music. But what will really be the test will be the next album, when Cyrus is released from the musical shackles of the show, although she at this point was still working on “Hannah Montana”. But I would expect her second, perhaps first real, album to show some of the fire and spark that was possibly held back on her shared debut.


Breakout --- Miley Cyrus --- 2008 (Hollywood)

Well looking down the tracklist it’s heartening, but at this point not really surprising, to see that she has a hand in writing most of the songs. After all, having co-written most of her debut she was unlikely to just hand control over to some professional songwriters now was she? But it’s good to see she kept her integrity, insofar as that applies, on this album. This is not in any way affiliated with the show (the other one wasn’t really either but having to share it with her alter-ego must have linked the two despite her efforts) and so this is her chance to stand up on her own and show the world what she can do.

The title track opens the album and retains that sort of teen-girl.new-wave pop/rock that proliferated on her debut, and which reminds me of the Runaways or Blondie. Again the guitar is to the fore, which is good to hear and it’s an uptempo song, another of those empowering ones, very catchy and singable. This is in fact one of only three songs on the album not written with her input, not including a cover version. The next one up is “7 things”, which has again that slight Country feel she must have inherited from her dad, with a kind of acoustic intro but it soon jumps up several gears and becomes almost punk in speed if not style. Hey, it’s a fun song, you know? Followed by “The driveway”, which has to me a very Bon Jovi or Bryan Adams feel, sort of intense with a passionate message, midpaced but powerful. Some really nice piano here.

There’s a cover of “Girls just wanna have fun”, which was of course made famous, but not written by, Cyndi Lauper. She does a more sort of almost rock version of it, not as light or poppy as Lauper’s and it’s a decent song though I never really liked it, or any of Lauper's material if I’m honest. It’s a real party anthem of course and kind of looks back to I guess “GNO” from the debut. Nice violin work adds to the song, but I’m never that mad about cover versions and on we go to “Full circle”, which starts out like a ballad but soon becomes more of a rocker really with some hard guitar and thumping drums. “Fly on the wall” is a bit dancy but still with a lot of teeth with a sort of new-wave chorus thing going and the guitar growling away, which can never be bad.

And so we get a proper ballad, the first real one from Miley as “Bottom of the ocean” has a really nice moody synth and handclaps that actually don’t make me want to vomit blood. Nicely done, and well sung, like just about everything I’ve heard from her so far. Yeah, I didn’t think I’d be saying that either. Miley then goes political as she sings “Wake up America”, which I must admit for the first time annoys me. This is a teenage girl who portrays a popstar on TV telling everyone to pay attention to the environment? Still, it’s better than Britney’s “He’s our president so he must be right” bullshit I guess. Decent song, can’t be denied, but is it just there to court a little controversy or does she believe what she’s singing? Well in fairness she just addressed that in the line ” know that you don’t want to hear it/ Especially coming from someone so young.” Touche, young lady. Touche. I doff my cap to you. Everything I hear is just impressing me more about this woman.

And “These four walls” continues that trend, although it’s not one of her songs. It’s a nice acoustic/Country style and really showcases her voice; there’s real passion there. This could count I guess as the second ballad, though it’s quite different to “Bottom of the ocean”. Whether she uses her father’s contacts in the world of Country music or not I don’t know, but “Simple song” is written by two of that genre’s stars, Jesse Littleton and Jeffrey Steele, and it’s another pretty damn good song with real heart, almost bringing the album to a close. The perhaps appropriately-titled “Goodbye” brings down the curtain in fine style with a beautiful acoustically-leaning ballad. Technically, it doesn’t: there’s a remix of “See you again” from her debut, but I’ve heard that and I’m not interested in hearing any remixes so for me the album ends here.

TRACKLISTING

1. Breakout
2. 7 things
3. The driveway
4. Girls just wanna have fun
5. Full circle
6. Fly on the wall
7. Bottom of the ocean
8. Wake up America
9. These four walls
10. Simple song
11. Goodbye
12. See you again (Rock Mafia remix)

If this was her first real attempt at stepping away from the persona of, and connotations to, Hannah Montana, Cyrus succeeded in the main, though a lot of the “girl power” songs here still hark back to that mindset and you can’t help but be reminded of the character and where Miley came from. Still, if you view this as her debut as an artiste in her own right it’s a pretty fine album and shows a talent that would only blossom and grow as the years went on.
When you consider she was only sixteen when she recorded that album it’s pretty damn impressive and shows a maturity seldom seen in a girl of that age. In this era of X-Factor and American Idol of course you have younger and younger stars coming through but a talent like this is fairly rare. A pity she seems to have gone on and become something of a figure of ridicule in recent years, but it’s more her music we’re concerned with here, not her celebrity image. Her next album would not be released for two more years, at which time she would have reached the ripe old age of eighteen.

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Trollheart

Can’t be tamed --- Miley Cyrus --- 2010 (Hollywood)

So is the perhaps blind optimism of youth vanished, as the girl becomes a woman? Is she more or less into her themes, have they changed and most importantly, is she still writing her own songs? Well, as to the last, the answer is a clear yes. Not only is she writing but she is writing more: only one song on this album does not have her input, and that’s again a cover. However, is she writing well, or contributing well? Let’s have a listen and make up our minds.

“Liberty walk” opens the album and right away it’s more disco/pop oriented and it definitely sounds like there’s more autotune being used. Then she attempts a rap. Oh dear. Much more in the way of keyboards and synths than the dominant guitar on previous albums. I suppose the title could be a statement, an attempt to leave behind her the philosophy that may or may not have been forced upon her as the perceived voice of teen girls in America. Miley shaking herself free of cloying influences that try to control her? Somewhat like Kylie on “Confide in me”, although contrary to that song this is I feel something of a step backward for Cyrus, as she loses the rock sensibilities of the last two albums and succumbs to pop and r&b mores.

Sounds a bit like something Madonna or Britney or Rhianna would sing really, not much of the Miley Cyrus identity here. “Who owns my heart” doesn’t fill me with confidence either, with a trancelike disco beat and handclaps, again little in the way of guitar. Very dancefloor. I could do without the title track, with its bouncy club beat and sub-Janet Jackson vibe, then she does an okay version of Poison’s “Every rose has its thorn”. Sadly, the superb guitar solo appears to be taken by synth, which really waters the song down. Sigh. The handclaps don’t help either. Talk about emasculating a classic.

The first song that doesn’t bore me is “Two more lonely people”. Even though it retains the disco beat that has been so disappointingly prevalent through this album, it has some nice guitar for once and some strings too, plus the hook is really catchy. Best track so far by a country mile(y), though that’s not at the moment saying much. Close to the first real ballad then is “Forgiveness and love”, but it sounds quite derivative and is not really worthy of Miley, nor is “Permanent December”, another disco-oriented song with more bloody autotune -- god I hate that poxy thing! --- while the chorus is much better than the verse, almost but not quite rocky.

“Stay” is a totally different proposition, with Miley singing against a solo piano in a lovely ballad, the absolute standout on the album, with emotion, heart and passion dripping from every note and every word. Hmm. Has the album taken a late upswing? Will it end much better than it began? “Scars” is another great track, guitar-driven with punch and power, more like the stuff off her previous album and a real change of pace, and “Take me along” continues this shift in direction. It’s almost like since she ditched the production team of Rock Mafia after track six the songs got progressively better. Probably coincidence, but these last four are all written by her and John Shanks alone, and they’re miles better than what has gone before.

And as I say that we’re back to the disco europop with “Robot”, though with a title like that you would probably expect something like that. Even at that though it’s got a certain rock vibe to it and a sense of excitement I just didn’t get from the earlier tracks. There’s also a message to Disney as she shouts ”Stop trying to live my life for me!/ I’m not your robot!” The closer is “My heart beats for love” and it’s a stirring ballad with a great organ opening and sort of choir effects with a marching drumbeat, kind of sounds like something Cher might have recorded during her short-lived comeback. Good closer and a whole lot better than I had expected.

TRACKLISTING

1. Liberty walk
2. Who owns my heart
3. Can’t be tamed
4. Every rose has its thorn
5. Two more lonely people
6. Forgiveness and love
7. Permanent December
8. Stay
9. Scars
10. Take me along
11. Robot
12. My heart beats for love

After what was a disappointing start showing a serious change in direction, both musically and creatively, I feared this third album would be a total letdown, but it rallied at the end. The exuberant pop/rock of her previous albums trumped the not-quite-soulless but uninspiring disco/dance of the first half of the album and it really picked up at the end, sort of Miley returning to what she does best, and what she knows. Perhaps as I said “Robot” was a marker thrown down: maybe she had been advised, convinced, pushed to go in this more club-friendly direction and take on the likes of Rhianna and Beyonce. Or maybe it was her own decision.

Either way, she seems to have thought better of it halfway through. Or maybe she was trying to please both camps: offer something new to the uninitiated and take a step into their world while still remaining true to her fans. I would call this a flawed album, and whether her latest pushes the envelope more towards the first half or returns to basics as here in the second half will for me define the direction Miley Cyrus is destined to take for the next few years. My fingers are crossed.

I must admit though to a sneaking feeling that this latest album, the last in her current discography, is going to reverse my view of her and confirm why so many people seem to think she’s grown out of her FMBs. This quote from her on her previous work does not bode well for me, and anyone else hoping for a return to the days of the first two albums: "Right now, when people go to iTunes and listen to my old music, it's so irritating to me because I can't just erase that stuff and start over. My last record I feel so disconnected from – I was 16 or 17 when I made it. When you're in your 20's, you just don't really know that person anymore." (Copied direct from Wikipedia: Bangerz - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Also, the influence of rap stars wili.i.am, Circut, Pharrell Williams and guest vocals from Big Sean, Ludacris, Nelly and even Britney make this sound more and more like an album I’m going to hate. The fact that it’s described as “dirty south hip-hop” does nothing to ease my mind. This is not going to be a happy ride.


Bangerz --- Miley Cyrus --- 2013 (RCA)

Given that this is her first release since finishing the television show that made her name, Cyrus may be forgiven for referring to it as her debut album, but I think she’s doing a massive disservice to her longtime fans and also to her music. Essentially what she’s saying is that her “old” music is crap and she doesn’t like it: this is her now. That’s all very well and good --- every artiste goes through changes and develops. Kylie soon moved away from the SAW-manufactured pop hits that made her name, and Madonna changed her image more than a chameleon (Hi, DJ!) changes colours. But few if any of these artistes ever put down their previous work and sneered at it in the way Cyrus appears to be now doing. Even Kylie still plays “I should be so lucky”, sometimes for ironic effect but mostly because she knows there are fans out there who bought that record, fell in love with her music then and while they remain fans today and follow her current career they still like to hear the older stuff. I mean, I have to wonder if Miley is even going to play the material from the first two albums? If not, she is as I say being really nasty to her fans. It’s like saying “If you liked my old music you’re an idiot: this is what you should be listening to.”

Anyway, whatever the case, the proof, or not as the case may be, is in the music so let’s just hit play and get this over with shall we? The album opens on “Adore you”, which I must admit is not what I expected, starting out as a slow ballad with some lovely piano and tripping drumkit. It’s one of admittedly few on the album into which she has no songwriting part, but even at that, she ropes in so many other songwriters --- seven, including her, on mor than one --- that again you have to wonder how much input she actually had. But it’s a nice start and I am impressed, even if that bloody autotune is everywhere again. Damn whoever invented that (thank you, NASA!)!

Nice start but of course it can’t last and the next track has that hip-hop style all over it, with a voiceover at the opening by someone who sounds like Darth Vader and seems to talk about a house party, a typical teenage rebel song transplanted to the slightly older generation. It’s mid-paced and really not that bad at all. Slow, echoey drumbeats and soft synths with a decent vocal performance from Miley. The title track is more uptempo, reminding me of Salt ‘n’ Peppa’s “Push it” (hey gimme a break! I don’t know much hip-hop ok?) but a whole lot more annoying. I think the deep, heavy vocal, returning here from the previous track, is someone called Milke Will Made It (?) --- DJ probably knows him well. It doesn’t make my ears bleed but it doesn’t float my boat either. Oddly, the track is shown as one of several labelled as “explicit”: I don’t hear (on first listen admittedly, which will probably be my only) anything terribly explicit here. Maybe I’m missing it. Maybe it’s more subtle, or they’re using that Urban Slang? Oh yeah. Britney guests on vocals here. Apparently.

“4x4” is built on a children’s nursery rhyme idea, with bouncing synth and guest performances from Nelly but to me it’s very basic and not at all memorable. “My darlin’” is a little better, featuring Future (again, ?) with syrupy autotune and a slow balladlike beat. Almost sounds like a mandolin there, but I’m pretty sure that’s just synth. Nice organ work but don’t ask me who plays it among this cast of thousands. Very good vocal performance from Miley, very passionate, probably her best on the album so far. Still, I find guest vocalists often tend to do more than guest: they take over, and this is certainly the case here as Future makes the song more his than Miley’s, to the point that it almost seems like she is singing on his song.

“Wrecking ball” was one of her singles, but I haven’t heard it till now. Built around a peppy piano melody that reminds me in certain ways of Miss Bush then kicks up with a very Bon Jovi/Heart pop/rock chorus with dramatic heavy slow drumming, and I must admit this is pretty damn good! This is, interestingly and rather disappointingly, the other of the two songs into which she had no writing input. Not so great is “Love money party”, into which she did: a hip-hop/dance tune with a fast beat and a rapid vocal delivery from Miley, it’s a bit throwaway with squealing synths and a rap guest performance from Big Sean. Hold me back. “Get it right” has a better more interesting rhythm, sort of funk with a great guitar line and some whistling, which I haven’t heard since, well, Whistle on “Just buggin’”. Very bright and breezy, quite pleasant.

More in tune with new-wave bands like Visage or Human League is “Drive”, with a deep buzzing synth backing, then a slow heavy drumbeat with a moody, dark vocal from Miley, showcasing her considerable talent. It’s good to see that even among all these hip-hop stars and producers she can still maintain her own persona, even if it is being obviously slanted towards the world these people inhabit. “FU” (wonder what that means!) has an almost French chanson quality about it: you could almost envisage her onstage at some twenties nightclub singing her heart out for the patrons, or maybe at the early Eurovisions. Impressive. Another rapper, French Montana, guests here but this time Miley keeps the song her own and he really does guest.

Samply, jumpy synths introduce “Do my thang”, probably the most dancy/trancy song on the album so far, with the first really explicit lyric I’ve heard (which is some feat considering the subject matter of the previous track) and, you know, I don’t hate it. Even with Miley rapping, which she does well, though I think Brit does it better. “Maybe you’re right” has rippling piano and hollow, metal-sounding drums with a sort of mid-paced beat and something of a refrain to the melody of “Wrecking ball”, while the closer “Someone else” references Rose Royce’s classic soul hit “Love don’t live here anymore” before ramping up into an uptempo hip-hop/dance track with some restrained and quite passionate sections and a lot of emotion in the lyric. A good closer to an album that was a lot better than I had expected it would be.

TRACKLISTING

1. Adore you
2. We can’t stop
3. SMS (Bangerz)
4. 4x4
5. My darlin’
6. Wrecking ball
7. Love money party
8. Get it right
9. Drive
10. FU
11. Do my thang
12. Maybe you’re right
13. Someone else

Quite surprised. I really expected to hate this album, to be talking about how Cyrus had turned her back on her fans and changed her image to appear grown up, and was walking in places she had no business being. But I find that I actually applaud her for taking her music to what was perhaps not the next logical step, but definitely the next step in the road along the evolution of Miley Cyrus. Not my favourite album but I couldn’t swear I wouldn’t listen to it again, and that’s a big thing for me.

So, the verdict then. When I began this study of the girl who rose from obscurity to stardom perhaps too fast, moved through media like quicksilver and might have burned out too quickly, I warned that the decision as to whether or not she was just trying out music as a diversion or a way to make more money might not be as cut and dried as it may have appeared at first. Certainly you have to take into account the two biggest musical influences in her life, her father Billy Ray and her godmother Dolly Parton. With people like this in your life it’s hard to say you wouldn’t be attracted into the world of music, or at least showbusiness.

So was Miley Cyrus’s move from TV teen heroine to teen pop star a calculated move intended only to wring as much moolah as possible from her fanbase? You know, I have to say that I don’t think it was. This looks like a woman who was certainly controlled and directed for much of her early life --- but when you work for Disney you have to expect that --- but who eventually, like many of her contemporaries, broke free and decided to ditch the image she had been painted with by the megacorporation and try to find her own identity.

She seems to have a genuine love of music, as evidenced both in her songwriting (though she has yet to write one solo) and in her recognition of how dated and irrelevant to her current image her older material is, notwithstanding the rather harsh comments I aimed at her earlier for just this reason. She may not have reached the top of her potential yet, and her antics onstage at the likes of the VMAs have certainly not helped that, but musically I think she is growing, and will continue to grow. She hasn’t found completelly her own voice yet, but she’s working on it and I have no doubt will in time get there.

As for being a jumper on bandwagons?

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Miley Cyrus is certainly better Duran Duran.

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Metal Wars

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Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

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Murder Ballads --- Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds --- 1996 (Mute)
Disclaimer I: This is another of my original reviews from my old website, written at least fifteen years ago, probably longer, so bear with me if the writing style is not up to my usual standard.

Disclaimer II (Original): All the views, theories, interpretations and explanations offered in these reviews are my own. They do not necessarily reflect the views, meanings or symbolisation which may have been intended to have been conveyed by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in these songs. I am making my own judgements, and in many cases guessing the meanings of songs, based on what I have heard and on what I have divined from the lyrics. If my ideas turn out to be completely incorrect or inaccurate, I apologise to the artiste and welcome any corrections and/or advice.

What can I say about this album that hasn't already been said? You either love it or you hate it (guess which side I fall on?). A unique album in many respects, such a thing has never been attempted before to my knowledge, a collection of original compositions as well as arrangements of traditional songs, all dealing with the subject of murder, and all handled with Nick Cave's usual flair and talent. Songs like the old rock standard Stagger Lee are given new life, with a lyric that you definitely wouldn't let your mother hear! In fact, taken on its own, Nick's version of Stagger Lee, the tale of a "Bad motherfucker" who by his own admission will "Crawl over fifty good pussies /Just to get to one fat boy's asshole" is at once staggering (no pun intended) and hilariously funny. You have to see beyond what seems gratuitious use of expletives and four-letter words, raw porn imagery and hysteria to realise that this song is crafted so well that you couldn't really take offence at it.

The instances of murder are all handled in various different and clever ways. The aforementioned Stagger Lee all but glorifies the drunk, psychotic protagonist, but then so, in a different way, does The Curse of Millhaven, in which an insane fifteen-year old girl (nice twist, Nick!) gloats about her multiple murders: "Yes it is I, Lottie, the Curse of Millhaven/I've struck horror in the heart of this town". I defy the the loopy Lottie's parting comments to fail to raise a smile in even the most stony-faced puritan, as she gleefully declares "They ask me if I feel remorse/And I answer Why of course!/There's so much more I could have done if they'd let me!" But in Song of Joy, the opening track, murder is treated in very much a different manner, with the narrator of the tale relating the horrifying story of the slaying of his wife and their three daughters, with the slowly-dawning realisation that he who speaks of his pain is perhaps more than he seems.

Then there is the ethereal, quite stunningly beautiful "Where the wild roses grow", which was selected (not surprisingly) as a single from the album. This song features Kylie Minogue in a wonderful duet with Cave, while violins, cellos and a full string section weave a tale of love, rescue and of course, in the end, murder. On this track Kylie shows the full breadth of her range: it's a pity that she has become identified with soulless pop ditties, seen by the world in general as a vacuous, empty sex symbol, and she should try to address this and redress a balance which, in my opinion, circumstance has cruelly tilted against her. (Note: remember the disclaimer? This was written sometime in the late nineties I think... TH) Oh yes, and let's not forget O'Malley's Bar...

A crazy, blood-filled, gore-spattered tale of a man who walks into O'Malley's Bar, desperate for some recognition in his home town, and shoots dead everyone there. Well, apart from Jerry Bellows, who gets the distinction of receiving the attentions of the gunman with "An ash-tray as big as a fucking really big brick/I split his skull in half"! As he glides through his dance of death, the gunman declares that he is not to blame, claiming that he is being controlled: "My hand decided that the time had come/And for a moment it disappeared from view/When it returned it fairly burned/With confidence anew". Each shooting is described with loving care, almost like a good episode of Itchy and Scratchy: I particularly like the account of how he kills O'Malley's wife: "I jammed the barrel under her chin/Her face looked raw and vicious/Her head it landed in the sink/With all the dirty dishes".

Cave admits that this is a humourous song, and shouldn't be taken too seriously, but the way it is played differentiates it, in my opinion, from the crazy, madcap Curse of Millhaven. In my view, if you want to simplify it to basics, the latter is the "funny" murder song, while the former is much more serious. We are shown the gunman's true colours in the end however, when, ready to blow his own head off, he chickens out, and comes out, hands above his head, shouting "Don't shoot! I'm a man unarmed!"

The album ends with a stunning rendition of Bob Dylan's Death is not the end, with both PJ Harvey (who guests on the lovely "Henry Lee") and Kylie taking a verse, as well as the rest of the Bad Seeds, Shane McGowan and Anita Lane. To me, the effect of this last track is like sunshine after the rain, the calm after the storm: after the senseless slaughter of O'Malley's Bar, this song, for me, closes the album in fine style, with perhaps a message that those who have died in all the songs herein have gone on to better things: Death is not the end....

Produced by Nick and the Bad Seeds, and Tony Cohen and Victor Van Vugt, Murder ballads takes Cave's genius to new heights, and even though he may not have written all the tracks hereon (some are, as mentioned, reworkings of traditional songs), he has made every one of them forever his.

TRACKLISTING

1. Song of Joy
2. Stagger Lee
3. Henry Lee
4. Lovely creature
5. Where the wild roses grow
6. The Curse of Millhaven
7. The kindness of strangers
8. Crow Jane
9. O'Malley's Bar
10. Death is not the end

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