Trollheart

A waste of time and talent


Artiste: Keats
Nationality: British (English)
Album: Keats
Year: 1984
Label: Renaissance
Genre: Rock
Tracks
Heaven knows
Tragedy
Fight to win
Walking on ice
How can you walk away
Turn your heart around
Avalanche
Give it up
Ask no questions
Night full of voices
Hollywood heart
Chronological position: Debut, and only album
Familiarity: Only through the work of the Alan Parsons Project
Interesting Factoid: A project within a project! Keats was a short-lived offshoot from the Alan Parsons Project, and only recorded the one album. This one.
Impression: One word: Why?
Best track(s): Heaven knows, How can you walk away, Avalanche (Really, this is the best of a pretty poor bunch)
Worst track(s): Ask no questions, Hollywood heart
Intention: Uh, none, really, since this is their one and only release. I've always meant to listen to it though, and now I have.
Comments: I've always been partial to the music of the Alan Parsons Project, which most people will probably only know from the likes of Sirius, the instrumental that introduces many a sports event and was recently used before all of the matches in Euro 2012, or the hit Old and wise, but although I bought this album, more out of curiosity than anything else, I've never really listened to it through. It's the only one they ever put out, and it features members of the APP like Colin Blunstone, Ian Bairnson and David Paton. Now, for what it is, it's good, but I find it so close to the music, style, sound and themes of the parent band that really it might as well be another Alan Parsons Project album. It's even produced and engineered by him! The only thing missing is Eric Woolfson.

It's therefore hard to separate “Keats” out from the other APP output and treat it as an album on its own merits. You sort of begin to wonder why they bothered. The familiar APP beat is there, the usual suspects singing, the crystal-clear and spot-on production courtesy of Parsons himself, and even the song titles bear resemblances to APP tracks, but unfortunately there's something missing; none of the songs have the immediacy or heart of the material by the Alan Parsons Project, and Ask no questions is a particular example, just annoying: bouncy and happy without much real substance. Worse though is the closer, Hollywood heart, where the ex-APP guys try to do soul, and not very well it has to be said.

There's no doubting the individual talents of these people: we've seen them prove themselves time and again on albums like “Eye in the sky”, “Pyramid” and “Ammonia Avenue”. I'm just not that sure why they decided to go in this direction, a decision which it seems was soon abandoned, and probably just as well.

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Trollheart

Melissa delivers a sucker punch!


Artiste: Melissa Etheridge
Nationality: American
Album: Breakdown
Year: 1999
Label: Island
Genre: Rock/Folk
Tracks
Breakdown
Stronger than me
Angels would fall
Into the dark
Enough of me
Truth of the heart
Mama I'm strange
Scarecrow
How would I know
My lover
Sleep
Chronological position: Sixth album
Familiarity: “Your little secret”
Interesting Factoid: The song Scarecrow was based on true events, written about a student who was abducted and murdered in 1998.
Impression: Holy ****! This is brilliant!
Best track(s): Angels would fall, Enough of me, How would I know
Worst track(s): None
Intention: Listen to a lot more of this lady's work, post-haste!
Comments: I wasn't to be fair expecting all that much when I decided to give this a spin, but from the very first track it grabbed me and it's not showing any signs of letting go! Every single track so far has been top-notch, so much so that I'm having a really hard time choosing favourites, though I doubt I'll have the same problem with selecting bad tracks, as I really doubt there are any. Punchy, rocky, with a lot of cool country-style class and some really polished production, these songs come across as being written and sung from the heart, all very personal and definitely not just written to climb the charts. They're real, man!

Etheridge has the perfect kind of voice for these songs: deep and honest with a real rasp and drawl that speaks of a woman who has seen much of life, but never lost her faith in herself. She lets loose the beast within when she rages against the killing of student Matthew Shepard in Scarecrow, then pays homage to Tracy Chapman with “My lover”, showing the breadth of her range. I can't really say anything bad about this album, and I was expecting to be underwhelmed. I need to hear more of her music. Like, now!

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Trollheart

Issa very good album (sorry)


Artiste: Issa
Nationality: Norwegian
Album: Sign of angels
Year: 2010
Label: Frontiers
Genre: AOR
Tracks
Angels crying
I'm alive
Give me a sign
River of love
What can I do
Closer
Unbelievable
How will I know
As I live and breathe
Flying high
It's not me
Falling angel
Chronological position: Debut album
Familiarity: Zero
Interesting Factoid: Um, she's young and sexy? Okay, then: Issa got her first break with a song written by Dimmu Borgir's Stian Aarstad, how's that?
Impression: I think this lady may have quite a career in front of her (she already has quite a lot in front of her, ahem!)
Best track(s): Angels crying, River of love, Unbelievable, It's not me
Worst track(s): None really
Intention: Isn't there a new album out this year? Must have a listen to that.
Comments:I've been meaning to listen to this album for some time. Issa, real name Isabell Over Sveen, is only 26 and comes from the cold lands of Norway, but there's nothing cold or bleak about her music, from what I'm hearing here. Uptempo, commercially hooky rock with a strong melodic flavour, it's the sort of thing that's almost exclusively male-dominated territory, but she combines the power of Nancy Wilson with the passion of Pat Benatar, while still retaining the innate innocence of a young Britney or Susannah Hoffs and throwing in the streetwisdom and raunch of Chrissie Hynde or Debbie Harry. She certainly has a powerful voice, which can rock out on songs like Angels crying, plead passionately on Give me a sign or “crunch” it on What can I do?, and with a powerful and accomplished backing band her music really hits the spot!

Of course, what would an AOR album be, especially one recorded by a female artiste, without the obligatory ballad? And yes, it's there, but it's damn good, in fact, “Unbelievable”. Well, that's the title anyway, but it is very good; a sort of cross between rock and nu-country, sung with a lot of passion and angst by Issa, and in fact it ramps up near the end into something of a power ballad, with a great backing choir. Overall I'm impressed with this album and with Issa: very satisfying and certainly one to watch for the future.

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Trollheart

Classic from the guitar god from Ballyshannon


Artiste: Rory Gallagher
Nationality: Irish
Album: Calling card
Year: 1976
Label: Chrysalis
Genre: Blues/Rock
Tracks
Do you read me
Country mile
Moonchild
Calling card
I'll admit you're gone
Jack-knife beat
Secret agent
Edged in blue
Barley and grape rag
Chronological position: Sixth album
Familiarity: “Deuce”, “Top priority”, “Photo finish”, “Stage struck”, “Against the grain”, “Defender”, “Jinx”.
Interesting Factoid: Deep Purple bass player Roger Glover co-produced the album with Rory
Impression: I can see how this is seen as a true classic.
Best track(s): Country mile, I'll admit you're gone, Moonchild, Edged in blue
Worst track(s): Rory? Bad tracks? You jest, surely?
Intention: Isn't there a new album out this year? Must have a listen to that.
Comments: I know, I know! I profess to be such a Rory fan, and yet I haven't heard what is arguably one of his finest albums. I only realise now, as I'm typing the “Familiarity” entry, how few Gallagher albums I have listened to all the way through. Sure, I know his standards, and have heard tracks from his many albums via playlists and on live recordings, but I really can only attest, now, to having fully listened to, what, six of his eleven studio albums (not including “Notes from San Francisco”) and one of his five live efforts. Some fan, eh? Well, I plan to address that wrong today, and you're right, it has been a long time coming.

First impressions of course are the expected guitar brilliance from Rory, ever a master of the blues, but what is different about this album, at least to me and at least on first listen, is the inclusion of piano, particularly on Country mile, where it comes across as very honky-tonk indeed, and on the title track, where it's pure blues heaven. Kudos to Lou Martin, whose last hurrah with Rory for fourteen years this would be, as he instigated the stripped-down, bare-bones lineup of guitar, drums and bass for his next two albums. Still, good as the piano is when Martin gets going, you can hear why Rory had decided to drop it, when you listen to tracks like the softly acoustic I'll admit you're gone or the harder, rockier Secret agent --- it's not needed! Sure, it adds something to some of the tracks, but let's be honest, with a massive and versatile talent like Rory unauguably was, he could make that guitar sound like just about anything, fill in any gap --- should any exist --- in a song, and if not, hell, there was always his trusty harmonica, as he demonstrates on the song I just mentioned. So perhaps piano was skewing the band dynamic.

And yet, this is generally accepted as one of his best albums. Against that, though, you have to measure the success that only really began to come commercially with albums like “Top priority” and “Photo finish”, neither of which used any piano or keyboards, although he then reintroduced them when he released “Jinx” in 1982 and they featured in the rest of his albums, Lou Martin even returning for Rory's final studio album before his death, 1990's “Fresh evidence”.

Yeah, I know this review is far from as short as I said these would be, but in my defence, it's Rory!

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Trollheart

Light years ahead of her competition


Artiste: Kylie Minogue
Nationality: Australian
Album: Light years
Year: 2000
Label: Parlophone
Genre: Pop/Dance/Electronic
Tracks
Spinning around
On a night like this
So now goodbye
Disco down
Loveboat
Koocachoo
Your disco needs you
Please stay
Bittersweet goodbye
Butterfly
Under the influence of love
I'm so high
Kids
Light years
Chronological position: Seventh album
Familiarity: “Body language”, “Aphrodite”
Interesting Factoid: This is, to my knowledge, the only time two top-selling albums, released in the same year, contained the same track track, which was also released as a single. From both albums!
Impression: Not half as bad as I thought it would be!
Best track(s): (Other than the ones I already knew) Disco down, Your disco needs you, Bittersweet goodbye, Light years
Worst track(s): Butterfly, I'm so high
Intention: Perhaps listen to a a few more of her albums, selectively.
Comments: I have often waxed lyrical about the wonderful attributes and beauty of Kylie's behind (and I stand by that: well, I would if I had the chance!), but it has always seemed to me that I listen to --- perhaps even “tolerate” might be a better, if less kind, word --- Kylie because of how pretty and sexy she is, and that her music, for me, comes a very long way behind (sorry!) her other delights. I was hoping to redress (SHUT it!) this imbalance by actually taking the time to listen to some of her albums. I've been disappointed with “Aphrodite” to the point of despair, thought “Body language” was a good deal better than I had expected, and that's about it for me as far as Kylie's music goes. So here I am, trying again to see if there's proper decent music behind the, ah, image. Or not.

I already know this is seen as one of Kylie's most dance-oriented albums, and indeed it was this very return to form that sparked something of a renaissance for her, garnering her a number one hit and a number two, and also a duet with bad boy Robbie Williams, which gave the two of them another hit. I'm not therefore expecting much in the way of wild experimentation, guitar solos or even touching ballads, but is it all just fluff? Even I can't help dancing clumsily around to “Spinning around” (and who could forget THAT video?) and I've heard “On a night like this” before, and it's not too bad really. A lot of the rest reminds me of the old seventies disco era, like EWF and Chic, that sort of thing, with a fairly healthy dose of ABBA thrown into the mix. Not half as annoying or bland as I expected it to be, to be fair.

Quite a fun album too, bubbly and a little over-the-top at times, certainly verging into camp territory with tracks like Loveboat and Your disco needs you, though not pitching there for the night and swiftly moving on (geddit?) with a really nice ballad, very moving. Interesting that a few of the songs are written or co-written by Robbie Williams and his songwriting partner-in-crime, Guy Chambers, though Kylie herself does have input to nearly all the tracks, proving she's not just a singer of other people's songs. Intriguing cover of Barry White's Under the influence of love as well. Of course, the famous duet between her and Robbie is on this, and I think is the only time the same track appeared on two albums at once, released from both as a single.

Yeah, this is not a bad album. I'd certainly spin it the odd time. Now I feel a little less guilty lusting after Kylie. A little.

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Trollheart

Kiss drummer shines and sparkles on his own


Artiste: Peter Criss
Nationality: American
Album: One for all
Year: 2007
Label: Megaforce
Genre: Rock
Tracks
One for all
Doesn't get better than this
Last night
What a difference a day makes
Hope
Faces in the crowd
Send in the clowns
Falling all over again
Whisper
Heart behind these hands
Memories
Space ace

Chronological position: Fifth album
Familiarity: Zero, other than his stuff with Kiss
Interesting Factoid: Uh, I used to laugh at this guy's solo efforts?
Impression: So much better than I had expected: just blew me away!
Best track(s): One for all, Doesn't get better than this, Last night, Whisper, Heart behind these hands --- hell, just the whole album!
Worst track(s): Not a single one.
Intention: Radically rethink my attitude to this guy's music.
Comments: Holy crapola! Two tracks in and I am gobsmacked! This is brilliant! And I expected nothing special at all. A sort of a cross between Springsteen, Axl and Stevie Ray, with a lot of great acoustic guitar and some really hooky rock tunes, second track Doesn't get better than this has me wondering if this is indeed true, and as it slips on into the third song, a beautiful laidback ballad, I'm having a major rethink about Peter Criss. I always considered him to be the weak link, even the joke in Kiss. I used to laugh at his solo albums going for fifty pence (yeah, it's that long ago, when we had our own currencies!) and sneer at his obvious lack of appeal, but what I'm hearing here is making an ignorant idiot out of me. Not only is he a capable singer --- I'm not going to say he's great, cos he's not, but he can carry a tune most of the time --- he also writes some damn fine material and isn't afraid to move away on certain tangents that distance his music from that usually associated with his parent band.

It's almost a total remove from Kiss indeed, with covers of the old classics What a difference a day makes and Send in the clowns, both of which are handled beautifully and expertly, the latter it seems with the help of a full orchestra. Who said this man was only a drummer, living in the shadow of Simmons, Frehley and Stanley? Okay, so this album hardly ever rocks out, but the cool, laidback acoustic rock Criss purveys on “All for one” is smooth, relaxing and very mature, for a guy who could have tried to recapture his glory days by racking off a load of hard'n'fast metal and songs about “wimmen” --- which, for all I know, he may have done on previous albums --- and what results is a very tempered, balanced and above all enjoyable album, from the edgy blues of Heart behind these hands to the semi-live anthem Faces in the crowd. I really have to take my hat off to the guy, and to paraphrase the title of one of the two covers here, what a difference actually listening to the guy's music makes. Instead of sneering at what I had never heard or experienced, and now very much appreciate. Catman one, Trollheart nil!

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Trollheart

Superb understated prog masterpiece
(Would definitely have achieved a five-Cookie rating had this been a full album: as it is I have to subtract half a Cookie for the fact that it's only three tracks...)

Artiste: Also Eden
Nationality: British (English)
Album: Differences as light
Year: 2010
Label: Self released
Genre: Progressive Rock
Tracks
Seeing red
Oud en nieuw
Reality cheque
(i) Fool's gold
(ii) Dead reckoning
(iii)Rainbow's end
Chronological position: Third release, two albums before this
Familiarity: One track on a giveaway CD.
Interesting Factoid: Vocalist Rich Harding's first band was called Dick Hardon and the Erections! I kid you not!
Impression: Loved this from the moment I heard it
Best track(s): Well, there are only three, but I'll go for Seeing red as my favourite, though the other two are also great.
Worst track(s): See above.
Intention: Check out and review the rest of their albums
Comments: Okay, so strictly speaking this is not an album but an EP, and it only has three tracks on it, but even at that, they total just over twenty-four minutes. Now that's not bad at all for an EP. Not to mention that the quality of this music is so high that in honesty, you'll probably get more out of these three tracks than you will from many a full album. It really is that good.

Add to that the fact that their vocalist, Rich Harding, was in a nearly-fatal motorbike accident and actually recorded some songs from his hospital bed(!) in 2010, and you can see how serious this band are about their music. There's absolutely nothing bad to say about any of the three tracks, though there is quite a difference between the opening mid-paced Seeing red, the much slower, laidback, almost pastoral Oud en nieuw, (which I'm going to take a total guess is Welsh for “old and new”, though I could be completely wrong) and the epic closer, Reality cheque, with its differing time signatures, three movements and harder, rockier parts.

It's the best of Marillion/Genesis/Rush/Mostly Autumn/Arena/Porcupine Tree/Any prog band you know: excellent guitars with sublime keyboard passages, and Harding's voice is smooth, warm, rich (sorry!) and friendly; the kind of tone that makes it seem like he's singing directly and exclusively to you. If I had to choose a single word to describe Also Eden's music it would be lush. I'm now off to listen to the rest of their albums; expect full reviews in the main journal soon.

Eh, that's assuming I can stop listening to this album. EP. Whatever. I've listened to it I reckon about ten times in the last three days. And I'm going to stop listening …. NOW! Well, maybe one more listen...

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Trollheart

Who says all Christian Metal has to be --- oh wait: I've said that, haven't I?


Artiste: Theocracy
Nationality: American
Album: As the world bleeds
Year: 2011
Label: Ulterium
Genre: Christian power progressive metal (it says here...)
Tracks
I am
The master storyteller
Nailed
Hide in the fairytale
The gift of music
30 pieces of silver
Drown
Altar to the unknown god
Light of the world
As the world bleeds
Chronological position: Third album
Familiarity: Zero.
Interesting Factoid:
Impression: Powerful, fast, dramatic, excellent.
Best track(s): I am, Nailed, The gift of music, Drown, As the world bleeds
Worst track(s): None. Nada. Nil. Zilch.
Intention: Become a convert...
Comments: As this album began I had to wait an agonising almost two minutes as the music powered up, orchestral and neo-classical metal merging with progressive influences, hoping that the vocals wouldn't be death, which would have spelled the end of this review before it began, as I will simply not listen to death vocals or grunts: I want to be able to understand what's being sung. Happily, I was not disappointed, and the vocals are clear and powerful, with rather a lot of Iron Maiden in the music and style, perhaps faster and a bit more dramatic, but with an opener that runs for eleven minutes, Theocracy are not skimping on the songwriting!

It's great, energetic stuff, but with a real feel for form and structure in the songs, and the vocals though powerful are never overdone, with some great backing/choral vocals adding to the overall effect. Some fine shredding, though again this never threatens to take over with the sometimes overindulgence evinced by the likes of Malmsteen. Interesting to note that lead vocalist Matt Smith (no, not that one!) also writes all the songs on this album: he certainly has some real talent. I think this album --- can't say the band, as I've only heard this one --- successfully straddles the divide between progressive and power metal without feeling it has to fall over on either side, and it works well. I fail however to see the Christian flavour in Theocracy's music, at least here: this is nothing like Narnia, who, though brilliant too, make sure their beliefs come across strongly in the lyrics of their songs. I don't see that here.

I'm particularly impressed with The gift of music, which starts off as a power ballad anthem, but along the way metamorphoses into a whole different animal entirely. Sort of like someone starts singing you a lullaby as you drift off to sleep and then suddenly hits you over the head with a brick. In a good way. I also see strong elements of a heavier Millenium here, which is a compliment as I love that band. This album is just great from start to finish, and I'll be heading towards their discography as soon as I can. Great stuff!

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Trollheart

Running on fumes now?


Artiste: Boston
Nationality: American
Album: Corporate America
Year: 2002
Label: Artemis
Genre: Rock
Tracks
I had a good time
Stare out your window
Corporate America
With you
Someone
Turn it off
Cryin'
Didn't mean to fall in love
You gave up on love
Livin' for you (live)
Chronological position: Fifth album
Familiarity: “Boston”, “Don't look back”, “Third stage”, “Walk on”
Interesting Factoid: The last album Bradley Delp recorded with Boston before his untimely suicide.
Impression: Solid, but the Suits won't be overly worried.
Best track(s): Stare out your window, Someone, Turn it off
Worst track(s): Corporate America
Intention: Wonder if Boston will ever rise to the heights of the debut again, but doubt it.
Comments:Starts off well, powerfully and with a lot more AOR to be fair than straight ahead rock, but that oh-so-missed distinctive voice is great to hear, as Brad Delp puts in a great performance, his last with Boston before tragically taking his own life five years later. I'm a little offput by the electronic/dance nature of the title track, even if Tom Scholz's instantly recognisable guitar riffs do add a bit of needed punch, but the basic tune is more like something you'd hear on a dancefloor really, and despite a pretty fine solo from Tom it's hard not to scratch your head at the composition of this song.

There's a nice change of pace then for a beautifully gentle little acoustic number, that comes on all Starman as it begins, and is very interestingly sung by country songstress Kimberley Dahme, who joined Boston that year. I believe this is the first time a Boston song has had female lead vocals, and it's certainly unexpected, to me at least. There's another unexpected twist in Turn it off, when Boston go all grunge rock, and a lovely little piece of Spanish guitar in I didn't mean to fall in love, though the rest of the song sounds like Toto, and is somewhat drowned in keyboards. Beautiful closer in an apparently live version of Livin' for you, off previous album “Walk on”, though to be honest the only clue it's live is at the end with some basic cheers, but it's a great song anyway.

Boston will never equal or exceed their amazing debut from 1976, especially now that the “voice” of that band has passed on, but they came close with “Third stage”. This I do not place in that sort of category. It's a decent album, but in a few places quite weak and really lacking the energy and enthusiasm I'd expect not only of Boston, but of an album that bears such a title. Corporate rock? Maybe not, but as Steve Hogarth once wrote, ”The fire in your belly/ That gave you the songs/ Is suddenly gone.”

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Trollheart

The Cookie Monster cometh!

I know I usually don't bother with ratings for the albums I review, but this is a whole different journal with a completely different style of review, so for these I will be rating them.

And for no reason you will ever know, I'm using a "Cookie" rating system. Hey, I found some really cool cartoon cookies and they looked, well, cool, so I decided to use 'em. Plus I owe the blue guy, okay?

Albums will be rated from one cookie

right up to five cookies

with obviously one cookie being an absolute crapfest and five being an album you have got to listen to. Because not every album will be categorisable in terms of cookies, there will also be half-cookie ratings, so an album that's better than three cookies but not quite four will be rated at three and a half cookies

(Hungry yet?)

Most albums are probably gonna fall between the 3-4 cookie mark, with some really bad ones maybe going down to 2 or even 1 cookie. It's highly unlikely, but if you ever see this symbol on its own

avoid coming within even a hundred miles of this album, and saw off your own head with a spoon rather than listen to it. Seriously, it'll be that bad!

But such a thing is unlikely to happen. Similarly, very few albums are going to attain the five-cookie mark (although it looks like one has already): these will be albums that can do no wrong, have no bad tracks, albums I love and you should love too. They will, in all probability, be few and far between, but you never know.

So since I only started this journal this week, I'm going to go back and "cookie-up" the albums I've reviewed so far, and from then on every album will have a cookie rating shown before it. I may expound on why this or that album has attained the rating it has, or I may not.

Now, where's me tea?

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