September 2021 Anniversaries
Released 2nd September 1991
TIN MACHINE II
Tin Machine
This has proved problematic. Not available on Spotify. I even considered buying it but Amazon and iTunes don't have it either. He can't be THAT ashamed of it can he? In the end I'm listening to the tracks on YouTube. 'Baby Universal' has a slightly annoying repetitive intro before plunging into headlong rock. 'One Shot' reminds me of '(I'm In With) The In-Crowd' and I was quite surprised that he hadn't covered it. Could have sworn he had. 'You Belong In Rock and Roll' features Deep-Voice Bowie and is low key and rather pleasing. 'If There Is Something' is more thrashy, a bit of a kickback to his Mick Ronson days.'Amlapura' is a bit dreamy and, let's be honest, a bit boring too. 'Betty Wrong' passes me by but 'You Can't Talk' is nice and catchy. I had to settle for a live version of 'Stateside' which has Hunt Sales on vocals. Dunno if this is how it should be so I will not pass judgement. L
ive version of 'Shopping For Girls' too. Dave gives it a bit of sax. Didn't know he had it in him. The song is rubbish though. D'you know what? I'm halfway through and I'm going to stop trying to find things to say about is. In the interests of completeness and integrity I soldiered on with the album to the end, but it is really not great. Believe me, I've listened to this so you don't have to. The inconvenience of trying to listen to the bloody thing leaves me badly disposed toward it anyway, but I can see how the Tin Machine project all petered out in the end. I've reproduced both versions of the album cover, which in true Diamond Dogs style was censored to remove exposed male appendages. In my view the censored version is more unpleasant because it looks like a botched castration. Only altered in the US I think.
Baby Universal
One Shot
You Belong in Rock n' Roll
If There Is Something
Amlapura
Betty Wrong
You Can't Talk
Stateside
Shopping for Girls
A Big Hurt
Sorry
Goodbye Mr. Ed
Hammerhead
Released 2nd September 1996
BILINGUAL
Pet Shop Boys
I'm missing out Alternative, which is all previously released B sides. I found this one a bit of a mixed bag. As I was listening to it, the title-ish track 'Single - Bilingual' seemed a bit repetitive and dull, but ever since I have realised that it is one of the most pernicious earworms ever written. 'Metamorphosis' has a tish-boom beat straight out of the Stock, Aitken and Waterman starter kit. Most recognizable track here is 'Sa a Vide e', whiich is also horribly catchy. 'It Always Comes As A Surprise' features an extremely smoky saxopohone and 'Red Letter Day' starts with a Male Voice Choir that reprises Go West. My favourtite track was 'To Step Aside', which includes a weird but compelling snatch of female/child/alien vocal throughout.
Discoteca
Single
Metamorphosis
Electricity
Se a vida é (That's the Way Life Is)
It Always Comes as a Surprise
A Red Letter Day
Up Against It
The Survivors
Before
To Step Aside
Saturday Night Forever
FUTURE GAMES
Fleetwood Mac
This is one of my 'lost' Fleetwood Mac albums, in that it was not available when I did the original post. I actually jumped from The Pious Bird of Good Omen straight to 1975's Fleetwood Mac. That makes it difficult to think about this in the context of the progression of the band. It does seem to be a step on the road from English blues bores to rock-pop titans. It's like Buckingham has joined before he actually did. Christine McVie is now a full member (whatever that means in the crazy world of Fleetwood Mac) so that is probably the key difference. Her two songs on here are 'Morning Rain' and 'Show Me A Smile' are probably the most characteristic of future Fleetwood Mac
Woman of 1000 Years
Morning Rain
What a Shame
Future Games
Sands of Time
Sometimes
Lay It All Down
Show Me a Smile
Released 4th Spetember 1981
DEAD RINGER
Meat Loaf
I've seen the musical of Bat Out Of Hell and it's a blast, but Jim Steinman had very histrionic body of work to draw on. The title track really does just amount to Meat and Cher screaming at each other, but there is a bit of variety in here as well. 'More Than You Deserve' has an intro which is half 'Wichita Lineman' and half Springsteen's 'Backstreets'. It's no 'Bat' but it's lots of fun anyway.
Peel Out
I'm Gonna Love Her for Both of Us
More Than You Deserve
I'll Kill You if You Don't Come Back
Read 'Em and Weep
Nocturnal Pleasure
Dead Ringer for Love
Everything Is Permitted
Released: 9th September 1971
IMAGINE
John Lennon
Well someone got out of bed on the wrong side didn't they? What a crosspatch. No hidden messages here for Paul to puzzle over. John's self-centredness and paranoia is plainly spelt out for all to hear. You do wonder if he caught the irony of the line in 'Gimme Some Truth' of "I've had enough of watching scenes of schizophrenic, ego-centric, paranoiac, prima-donnas". His bitterness is writ large in 'How Do You Sleep', but perhaps some of that came from a realization that he knew he was shouting into the void with the manifesto of the title track. So let's tackle that first, since it opens the album anyway.
I alluded to some of the problems I have with Lennon when discussing the Plastic Ono Band album, and 'Imagine' is a song that encapsulates all of them. It's his holier-than-thou, I've got the answer to everything attitude and the banal lyrics. I'd be first in line to sign the petition to abolish religion, but I wouldn't expect it to happen, its too important to too many people.
By now it seems that Lennon sees himself firmly in the role of capital-A artist, with Yoko as both muse and mentor. So everything he does has a message and it's usually about him. There's the homespun country of 'Crippled Inside' and the self flagellation of 'Jealous Guy', a song influenced by Rod's 'Handbags And Gladrags' and influential on the Scorpions 'Wind Of Change' - so there's that to blame him for as well.
And then there is the all-out assault on McCartney of 'How Do You Sleep'. "Those freaks was right when they said you was dead", "the only thing you did was Yesterday" and "the sound you make is Muzak to my ears", are the choicest snipes that he takes at Paul. However, musically, it's actually quite an interesting song. That slow deep riff on the chorus is great. Funnily enough he seems to have nicked a bit of 'The Long And Winding Road' for 'How?' immediately after it.
On a positive note, the closing 'Oh Yoko!' is positive and upbeat, but then it is about his second favorite person in the world. Sorry, it's probably what is increasingly referred to as 'much-beloved' and the music itself is varied and well-executed, but he's still irritating me.
Imagine
Crippled Inside
Jealous Guy
It's So Hard
I Don't Wanna Be A Soldier Mama I Don't Wanna Die
Gimme Some Truth
Oh My Love
How Do You Sleep?
How?
Oh Yoko!
Released 10th September 2001
MAGNIFICATION
Yes
As we breach the millennium we are approaching the end. Only two more after this, although you might be forgiven for not thinking so judging by the amount of live albums and reissues you have to scroll through on Spotify to get to this one. Igor has been given the bum's-rushki, Sherwood is gone too. Wakeman is lurking in the background and will eventually return one year later, but for this album they are sans keyboardist. Only Yes could have come up with the solution of replacing the keyboards with a full orchestra. So this incarnation is 'WASH'.
It is my intention to move on to Jethro Tull after I finish with this lot and the opening title track has a touch of the Tull about it. A sort of folkiness to the melodies, although Anderson would never pass for a bone fide hand-on-the-ear singer. The track is a bit of a curate's egg. Mostly good, but some horrendous collapses in places. After that they go a bit Bond-theme on 'Spirit Of Survival' Squire employs a chugging bass and its all very dramatic. 'Give Love Each Day' is as romantic as the title suggests.The chuck in a couple of 10-minuters, 'Dreamtime' and 'In The Presence Of'. The orchestra really comes into play here and I think it does give the album something extra however,I don't know what they were thinking with the cover.
Magnification
Spirit of Survival
Don't Go
Give Love Each Day
Can You Imagine
We Agree
Soft As a Dove
Dreamtime
In the Presence Of
I. "Deeper"
II. "Death of Ego"
III. "True Beginner"
IV. "Turn Around and Remember"
Time Is Time
Released 10th September 1991
CATFISH RISING
Jethro Tull
Weirdly, despite never owning this, I seem to know it quite well, but can't quite recollect how this has come to pass. I can only assume that since it's release coincides with a period in my life when I was neither a student nor gainfully employed, and therefore living at home with my parents, I must have once again got it out of Tamworth record library. Also, there is an immediacy to the songs, at least the first few, and so they probably imprinted quite quickly during the month's loan period. I have to tell you, dear reader, that the Philistines that share my life have not expressed unalloyed pleasure at being exposed to the entire back catalogue of Anderson, Barre, Pegg and co, but even Mrs. M, on hearing the first three tracks on this, declared it not completely awful.
The opening 'This Is Not Love' contains an irritating earworm reminding me of something that I just cannot place. The nearest I can suggest is (inevitably) part of 'Badlands' by Bruce, but that's not really it either. 'Occasional Demons' continues in the catchy groove. I always surmised that 'Roll Your Own' was less about Rizlas and rough shag and rather more about another kind of (solo) shag. But it's a nice little acoustic blues anyway and provides a break from the light-heavyweight rock that Tull have slipped into on the past three albums. I like 'Rocks On The Road' but it doesn't offer much that Crest or Rock Island hadn't already achieved. Same with 'White Innocence', which is a rehash of 'Budapest'.There's a rather jolly bass guitar part to the mischievously folky 'Thinking Around Corners' and I even enjoyed the Gary Moore mimicry on 'Still Loving You Tonight'. 'Doctor To My Disease' starts like the theme to Casino Royale that Chris Cornell did, which reinforces my point about Tull tending toward well-executed but not really groundbreaking rock music.
There is still a lot of lyrical spikiness however. Most interesting track on the album for me is easily 'Like A Tall Thin Girl' which seems a clear juxtaposition to 'Fat Man' all those years ago on Stand Up. There are references to it and it's musically similar. I must be right mustn't I? Also, the slow blues of 'Sleeping With The Dog' could be off This Was. Finally, 'Gold Tipped Boots, Black Jacket and Tie' has the advantage of an intriguing title but doesn't really deliver. Another good piece of artwork again. They're on a roll.
Original track listing is hard to pin down. This is the order on Spotify, but Wikipedia sticks 'Roll Yer Own' on Side 2, which doesn't seem right to me or my memory.
This Is Not Love
Occasional Demons
Roll Yer Own
Rocks On The Road
Sparrow On The Schoolyard Wall
Thinking Around Corners
Still Loving You Tonight
Doctor To My Disease
Like A Tall Thin Girl
White Innocence
Sleeping With The Dog
Gold Tipped Boots, Black Jacket and Tie
Released 10th September 1996
NEW ADVENTURES IN HI-FI
REM
I have this one too and I am convinced that I am not mistaken in thinking that I've had trouble breaking into it. Having said that, I adore 'E-Bow The Letter'. The opening 'How The West Was Won And Where It Got Us' is a mixed bag. The verses with their jabbing piano and Stipe's disinterested vocals are great, but they embrace a jazz ethic on some of the instrumental bridges, and not good jazz either. There's a nice clean blues break too however, and what is now becoming a bit of a trademark, the sharp cut-off at the end.
A good bit of contained rockin' out on 'Wake-Up Bomb', although I think Michael is giving us too much information about his guilty pleasures with "Get drunk and sing along to Queen, Practice my T-Rex moves and make the scene'. 'New Test Leper' revisits themes that have become more prominent in the last few albums, coping with celebrity and the expectations of people around you that come with it, and the little rolling buildup to each line of the chorus is magical. And another killer line as well: "The talk show host was index-carded, organized and blank; The other guests were scared and hardened, What a sad parade".
'Undertow' returns to the fuzzy guitar soundwall of Monster and a pretty much spoken lyric, although there is real desperation in the 'I'm drowning' refrain. 'E-Bow The Letter' was the first single I think, and no-one is going to argue that it's an obvious bid for a high chart placing. Patti Smith sounds like she might well 'take you over', but I wouldn't expect a good experience. Stipe's phrasing seems to be all over the place but it just pulls you right in. This may be their most interesting song (ever), and it has some pretty stiff competition. 'Leave' has a muted introduction, almost an overture, before a siren like backdrop to a lyric about, I'd say, depression. On 'Departure' there a little too much effort to find rhymes for "glider", meaning that economics journalist William Greider gets a name check. When 'Bittersweet Me' started I thought, "This sounds like another song" and then I realized it sounds like 'Bittersweet Me'. Funny that. The scuzzy riff on the chorus is glorious.
You'd think there'd be screeds of material on t'internet for a song called 'Binky The Doormat', but I have to tell you, you'd be surprised. If I wanted other bloggers' opinions I guess I could have looked them up, but I'm going with it being a tribute to a doormat. Called Binky. Not an affectionate one though.
The little interlude 'Zither' (probably not played on a zither) is followed by a couple more songs in the fuzzy mould, 'So Fast, So Numb' and 'Low Desert'. And finally a quite long album (65 mins) is finished by 'Electrolite' which is more in the Green and Out Of Time pattern. Again, I obviously haven't paid enough attention to this and it's better and more accessible than I remember. As for the artwork. I give up. Just do what you want. You're clearly going to anyway.
How the West Was Won and Where It Got Us
The Wake-Up Bomb
New Test Leper
Undertow
E-Bow the Letter
Leave
Departure
Bittersweet Me
Be Mine
Binky the Doormat
Zither
So Fast, So Numb
Low Desert
Electrolite
NINE OBJECTS OF DESIRE
Suzanne Vega
No backtracking or reverting back to her folksy roots. Vega continues to develop her sound and builds on 99.9F °. If anything she goes a little bit too commercial at times here and starts to sound like Sheryl Crowe, but perhaps that's just the production fashions of the mid-nineties showing.
The opening track even features some Garbage-style fuzzy effects on her vocal. 'Headshots' has a kind of haunted house vibe, 'Stockings' which carries thematic echoes of 'Tom's Diner' has a 'Mama Told Me Not To Come' riff and a Moroccan Souk backing. 'Casual Match' has a sort of 'Owner Of A Lonely Heart' clatter at the start. 'Thin Man' has a real Donald Fagen/Steely Dan feel to it. SO much so that I found myself checking that he didn't produce it or was involved in some other way.
'No Cheap Thrill' is the most Crowe-ish of all. I think this might have been a single because it sounds familiar, but I would probably have sworn blind that it was Sheryl. All of this is a good listen. Whoever wrote the Wikipedia entry tries to identify the 9 objects and how they relate to the songs. Not sure anyone needs to know. One thing is certain is that object 9 is Suzanne's 'Favourite Plum' which has a kind of Gothic mystery about it. The artwork is nice I think, that apple is a lovely shade of green and she's looking pretty good too.
Birth-day (Love Made Real)
Headshots
Caramel
Stockings
Casual Match
Thin Man
No Cheap Thrill
World Before Columbus
Lolita
Honeymoon Suite
Tombstone
My Favorite Plum
A NEW WORLD RECORD
Electric Light Orchestra
Very symphonic, and ELO are rising above the accusations that they always sound like someone else. I have to admit that the double meaning of the title eluded me for some time, kind of like an optical illusion where you can only see one thing until you suddenly see it the other way, at which point you can't get the original picture back in your head. Anyway, my initial thought was the emphasis was on New World and not World Record, and indeed, via a rather clunky piece of elliptical writing I can tell you that this was their breakthrough recording in the US. Anyway, on my original point, they now sound more like ELO than anything else. Some big hits here too; 'Telephone Line', 'Rockaria' and 'Livin' Thing'. Lynne's songwriting is good now too. 'Telephone Line' blends some remotely Beatlish arrangements with bits that resemble some of Bacharach's best work.
'Rockaria' is quite successful at the ELO Mission Statement of blending Classical and Rock. 'Mission (A World Record)' is an oddly rambling that might be an attempt to emulate 'Space Oddity' although there are parts of the melody that resemble Macarthur Park. The nasty bleepy bongo bit in the middle of 'So Fine' is best forgotten as it destroys an otherwise acceptable song. 'Livin' Thing' is a classic. They rhyme 'livin' with 'given', there's all sorts of call-outs from the backing vocalists and the string backing melds with the pop melody perfectly.
'Above The Clouds' is less successful but then they kick back in with 'Do Ya' which apparently is an old Move song written in 1971. It has a bit of The Sweet's 'Fox On The Run' and even a touch of Bruce's more melodramatic early stuff. No need for that military drum break in the middle though. The closing 'Shangri-La' is a bit tedious.
On the artwork front, they finally settle on some branding with the disc-ey, flying saucer-ey thing. More on that for the next one..
Tightrope
Telephone Line
Rockaria
Mission (A World Record)
So Fine
Livin' Thing
Above The Clouds
Do Ya
Shangri La
BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE
Elvis Costello And The Attractions
Look, I get it, it's undoubtedly good and the songs are all well written. Maybe I've never really been fully on board with the Elvis's throaty snarl, but it just didn't really grab me. In my current Radiohead research I've heard its relationship to King Of America, released 6 months earlier is comparable to that of Amnesia to Kid A, which is to say it's a product of band burnout and a bit of a disappointment as a result. But what do I know? I understand many devotees of this Elvis consider it a masterpiece.
Uncomplicated
I Hope You're Happy Now
Tokyo Storm Warning
Home Is Anywhere You Hang Your Head
I Want You
Honey, Are You Straight or Are You Blind?
Blue Chair
Battered Old Bird
Crimes of Paris
Poor Napoleon
Next Time Round
TA-DAH
Scissor Sisters
Not as consistent as the debut, but 'I Don't Feel Like Dancing' was an instant classic, 'Land Of A Thousand Words' meandered like the best of Elton's 70's output and 'Kiss You Off' was a worthy successor to 'Filthy/Gorgeous'. 'Paul McCartney' is not about him, but may have been inspired by his appearance in one of Jake Shears' dreams.
I Don't Feel Like Dancin'
She's My Man
I Can't Decide
Lights
Land of a Thousand Words
Intermission
Kiss You Off
Ooh
Paul McCartney
The Other Side
Might Tell You Tonight
Everybody Wants the Same Thing
RINGO'S ROTOGRAVURE
Ringo Starr
This is the first of the 'lost' Ringo albums, by which I don't mean it is rare and mysterious, I don't think anyone would accuse him of that, but that it is not available on Spotify. This means that I have to resort to YouTube to hear it (I ain't buying the bloody thing) and for that reason it will get less thought and attention than something I can spend time listening to repeatedly. I'll write as I listen. But, if Ringo can't be bothered to allow me to sponge off what we shall call, for sake of argument, his 'talent' for the modest subscription fee of £9.99 per month then the big-nosed droner only has himself to blame.
Anyway, this has a sort of claim to fame in that it is the last album before Lennon's death to feature input from all four Beatles. So we start with 'A Dose Of Rock And Roll' which comes in more like a dose of salts before settling down into a kind of doo-wop effort. Then he turns his hand to 'Hey! Baby', which better artists than him have murdered, he just makes it shambolic and raucous, which is about the best you can do with it. McCartney's contribution is 'Pure Gold', which might be a good song, your guess is as good as mine, but that old Ringo magic renders it rather humdrum.
The self-penned 'Cryin'' could have been done in his sleep, and might well have been. At this point, it's worth pointing out that the YouTube option means you sometimes get to see the great man in action, so 'You Don't Know Me At All' sees him wandering around some unnamed Southern European city with bald pate and striped shirt. It's nice because it distracts from the song.
He starts side 2 with a song from John Lennon, 'Cookin' (In The Kitchen Of Love)'. Fairly typical Lennon rock'n'roll-by-numbers. Then George's contribution, 'I'll Still Love You' comes in. A great opening guitar intro is unceremoniously slapped down by Ringo's unmistakable drawl. What bewilders me is why all these great songwriters blow good songs on him. You can only conclude that he must be a thunderingly great mate to have and therefore you'll happily donate some of your intellectual property for him to squander.
Next in line is Clapton - who gives him 'This Be Called A Song' (not one of his best mind you). He goes all mariachi on 'Las Brisas', which he partially wrote, as he did the wretched 'Lady Gaye'.
Just to cap it all off there's this thing called 'Spooky Weirdness'. Least said, soonest mended. I'd probably have found more to like if I'd given this a fair hearing, although the last album I had to do this with was Tin Machine II, and you could understand why Bowie wanted that out of the public eye. Just for the record, since I had to look it up, a rotogravure is a printing machine.
A Dose Of Rock And Roll
Hey! Baby
Pure Gold
Cryin'
You Don't Know Me At All
Cookin' (In The Kitchen Of Love)
I'll Still Love You
This Be Called A Song
Las Brisas
Lady Gaye
Spooky Weirdness
Released 17th September 1991
USE YOUR ILLUSION I and II
Guns 'n' Roses
The double release was a bit of a thing in the early nineties and it was rarely successful. Bruce's Human Touch and Lucky Town were patchy to differing degrees. GnR's hubris was such that they decided to do it with two doubles, despite seeming to have all filler and no killer among the 30 tracks foisted onto a public still just about vulnerable to the hype. You might remember 'Live And Let Die', November Rain', 'Knockin' On Heaven's Door' and 'Civil War', but I doubt it's with any fondness. 'You Could Be Mine' at least basks in the reflected glory of Terminator II Judgment Day. Full disclosue, I listened to I in full only. That was enough for me.
I.
Right Next Door to Hell
Dust N' Bones
Live and Let Die
Don't Cry
Perfect Crime
You Ain't the First
Bad Obsession
Back Off Bitch
Double Talkin' Jive
November Rain
The Garden (ft. Alice Cooper)
Garden of Eden
Don't Damn Me
Bad Apples
Dead Horse
Coma
II.
Civil War
14 Years
Yesterdays
Knockin' on Heaven's Door
Get in the Ring
Shotgun Blues
Breakdown
Pretty Tied Up ("The Perils of Rock n' Roll Decadence")
Locomotive ("Complicity")
So Fine
Estranged
You Could Be Mine
Don't Cry
My World
Released 18th September 1981
ABACAB
Genesis
We're at the raggedy-arsed end of the Genesis back catalogue now. This isn't awful for the neutral at least, but the longstanding fans must have been wondering why they were still bothering. My view, having listened to everything so far, is that the Collins creative stranglehold had come to its ultimate fruition to the extent that this is almost a solo album. Wiki-preposterous claims it is 'art-rock'. Ha! That's what comes of letting the general public write your encyclopedia entries.
The title track is named after the note sequence I think, which may tell you how much creative imagination was being expended. It has an extended instrumental at the end which quite often sounds like the Super Mario music. Collins sounds pretty disinterested in places, such as 'No Reply At All'. There's a stabby, brassy soul sound that you'll recognise from 'No Jacket Required' and the Casiotone drumbeat that introduces 'Keep It Dark' is straight off 'In The Air Tonight'. 'Me and Sarah Jane' is a particular mess, veering from light reggae to, well, I don't know what. I should imagine that Billy Paul, who recorded 'Me and Mrs Jones', and his songwriters were having a good hard listen to the lyrics in their lawyers chambers.
'Keep It Dark' has this kind of sub-industrial backing and breaks into Collins droning the title. It's memorable, I'll give it that. Maybe they're trying to keep up with 'ver kids' their new fangled synth-pop. 'Dodo/Lurker' is a bit of a dog's-breakfast too. I have to admit to quite liking it when I was 13, but age brings wisdom and I can now recognize it for the heap of doo-doo that it is. Particularly annoying is the spoken bit where Collins is addressed by the lurker (I guess) and which then breaks into the most banal squeaky one-fingered synth tune you've ever heard. Crazy Frog levels of irritation. 'Whodunnit' is lyrically barren, repetitive and unpleasant.
With a weird twist of irony, it's Collins solo contribution (there's one solo penned song from each member), 'Man On The Corner', which is probably the best song here. 'Like It Or Not' is bland and bearable and they give good advice in the final 'Another Record' by singing "just put another record on". Well indeed.
I've surprised myself at how much I disliked this, as I have no bad memories from my youth. I guess when you hear in context with everything that went before, you can see what a let-down it all is. I'm really worried about 'Genesis' and 'Invisible Touch' now. Oh, and look at the cover. Just not trying.
Abacab
No Reply at All
Me and Sarah Jane
Keep It Dark
Dodo/Lurker
Who Dunnit?
Man on the Corner
Like It or Not
Another Record
THE CAPTAIN AND THE KID
Elton John
It's a promising title and not a bad cover, so my observations in the previous post for Peachtree Road would suggest that this one might be worth the effort. Well, I am kind of right. I think this is a cut above an awful lot of what has gone before. It's got a nice clean production - which Elton needs to iron out the shortcomings of his voice and is distinctly piano led.
'Just Like Noah's Ark' provides some kind of call back to the last Elton song I remember enjoying ' The Club At The End Of The Street' with "me and you, two by two" echoing "me and you, rendezvous". I'll give Bernie the benefit of the doubt that it really is an echo and not just lazy songwriting. There's a mention of tiny dancers too.
'Tinderbox' is good and I liked the honky-tonk piano of 'And The House Fell Down' after it too. He does rely on some old styles in places, you'd swear he was starting 'Candle In The Wind' when he strikes up 'Wouldn't Have You Any Other Way (NYC)' and there's something of 'Your Song' in the intro to 'The Bridge' too. The gentle country of 'I Must Have Left It On The Wind' and the title track feels different in a good way too.
Postcards from Richard Nixon
Just Like Noah's Ark
Wouldn't Have You Any Other Way (NYC)
Tinderbox
And the House Fell Down
Blues Never Fade Away
The Bridge
I Must Have Lost It on the Wind
Old '67
The Captain and the Kid
Released 19th September 2006
DESPITE OUR DIFFERENCES
Indigo Girls
Nice bit of tuenful country to see me through a couple of work afternoons, although there's clearly a hard-edge lyrically at times. A band I was aware of but never really investigated. Honestly? I probably prefer the Dixie Chicks.
Pendulum Swinger
Little Perennials
I Believe in Love
Three County Highway
Run
Rock and Roll Heaven's Gate
Lay My Head Down
Money Made You Mean
Fly Away
Dirt and Dead Ends
All the Way
They Won't Have Me
Last Tears
CHAPTER AND VERSE
Bruce Springsteen
Released to coincide with the autobiography and so really intended as representative of his lifelong output. The only new stuff is the really old stuff. Two tracks from The Castiles - 'Baby I' is the Beatles to the Stones of 'You Can't Judge a Book By The Cover'. The sound quality of the originals must have been appalling if these have (presumably) been cleaned up. Then we move onto Steel Mill - Bruce cottoned on early to the appeal of a blue-collar image - with 'He's Guilty (the Judge Song)'. It has opening line that was used almost verbatim for 'Johnny 99' and generally stands as a thematic prototype for about a third of Bruce's work ever since.
Jesse James seems to be a bit of an obsession with American songwriters, the closest thing they have to an outlaw prince I suppose, so the contribution from The Bruce Springsteen Band (megalomania beginning to take hold) is 'The Ballad Of Jesse James'. It starts with a version of the Darkness intro, but it's recognizably early Bruce of the Asbury Park, E Street Shuffle variety.
Henry Boy is just Bruce and a guitar in a studio in New York, but it would belong easily on any of the first three albums.
The rest are covered adequately elsewhere in this blogging parish. Interestingly he selects one per album all the way from Asbury Park to Lucky Town before giving Human Touch a body swerve, but after Long Time Comin' from Devils and Dust, only Wrecking Ball makes the cut.
Baby I
You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover
He's Guilty (The Judge Song)
The Ballad of Jesse James
Henry Boy
Growin' Up
4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)
Born to Run
Badlands
The River
My Father's House
Born in the U.S.A.
Brilliant Disguise
Living Proof
The Ghost of Tom Joad
The Rising
Long Time Comin'
Wrecking Ball
SCREAMADELICA
Primal Scream
All that housey-housey music thing of the late eighties and early nineties missed me a bit, which is odd because I should have been bang-smack in the middle of the age group who it was aimed at. But then, I was a bit of a square as a student. Anyway, Primal Scream, were bracketed in my mind with all that Madchester crap that was going on at the time.
However I was and am aware that this was a bit of a breakthrough for them as the embraced all that dancey-trancey stuff. I mean, this is OK and Movin' On Up is memorable, but I the blinding light on the road to Damascus has not come for me and I remain largely unimpressed.
Movin' On Up
Slip Inside This House
Don't Fight It, Feel It
Higher than the Sun
Inner Flight
Come Together
Loaded
Damaged
I'm Comin' Down
Higher than the Sun (A Dub Symphony in Two Parts)
Shine Like Stars
ELECTRIC WARRIOR
T-Rex
I was listening to this on a Friday afernoon in late summer and it was a warm and pleasant day and the overall effectwas that I could almost believe I was sitting there in 1971 being soothed by Marc Bolan's fey voice.
It's got a lot going for it. 'Jeepster', 'Get It On', and 'Life's A Gas' for a start. But the real joy is 'Cosmic Dancer', used with great effect, if I recall correctly, a the start of the movie of Billy Elliot.
Mambo Sun
Cosmic Dancer
Jeepster
Monolith
Lean Woman Blues
Get It On
Planet Queen
Girl
The Motivator
Life's a Gas
Rip Off
NEVERMIND
Nirvana
It's slightly odd to consider that modern day saint Dave Grohl was the drummer with this band. As career trajectories go, him and his former lead singer couldn't have more diverse ones.
Is it that great? 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' certainly is, but quite a lot of it isn't all that memorable. I've listened to it before and I listened to it again now, but most of it still didn't grab me.
Smells Like Teen Spiri
In Bloom
Come as You Are
Breed
Lithium
Polly
Territorial Pissings
Drain You
Lounge Act
Stay Away
On a Plain
Something in the Way
Endless, Nameless
SONGS IN RED AND GRAY
Suzanne Vega
She isn't prolific. Following a standard opening career arc of an album every two to three years, Vega fans had to wait five for this one. She sounds much more like her original self here. No industrial bangs and crashes and melodic and introspective. From the themes it's clearly a breakup album following her divorce from Mitchell Froome. 'Widow's Walk' is a bit grim, as she likens a divorce to bereavement and seems to blame herself for making bad choices.
'(I'll Never Be) Your Maggie May' has a pleasant light choppy melody. 'Soap and Water' could be trying to reassure the child caught up in the breakup but "you are my little kite, carried away in the wayward breeze' might not really do the trick. The relationship with her daughter and the effect of the split on her is explored further in the title track. 'Last Year's Troubles' reflects on the romanticisation (real word?) of history in comparison to today, pointing out that folk were just as awful then, even if they did have nicer clothes.
Suzanne's devotion to metaphor is given full rein in 'If I Were A Weapon', but that isn't to say that the meaning is unclear - more tiffs with the hubby. 'Machine Ballerina' has an amiable melody set against harsh lyrics. So we find Suzanne in a cynical mood, hurt by the dissolution of a marriage and sticking it all down on the album.
This is about as personal and painful an album as you are likely to hear, despite the pretty tunes. Don't listen to this if you are pissed off with your partner.
Penitent
Widow's Walk
(I'll Never Be) Your Maggie May
It Makes Me Wonder
Soap and Water
Songs in Red and Gray
Last Year's Troubles#
Priscilla
If I Were a Weapon
Harbor Song
Machine Ballerina
Solitaire
St. Clare
BEYOND THE SHROUDED HORIZON
Steve Hackett
As it happens, Genesis and their history is at the forefront of my mind just now, having seen The Last Domino show in Leeds this week. I was harbouring fantasies that Peter Gabriel might just decide to turn up and make genuine rock history, but alas it was not to be. Still, there's probably more chance of that than Hackett turning up ever since he got a bit huffy about the Genesis: Together and Apart documentary.
This is pleasant enough. It felt a little like a Mike Oldfield album to me, maybe due to the Maggie Reilly-type vocals on a few of the tracks, but Hackett really is the 'proper' member of Genesis that everyone forgets.
Loch Lomond
The Phoenix Flown
Wanderlust
Til These Eyes
Prairie Angel
A Place Called Freedom
Between the Sunset and the Coconut Palms
Waking to Life
Two Faces of Cairo
Looking for Fantasy
Summer's Breath
Catwalk
Turn This Island Earth
TALKING WITH THE TAXMAN ABOUT POETRY
Billy Bragg
In 1986 I was living on a comfortably lower-middle class housing estate in small town middle England. Billy Bragg seemed like a horrid metropolitan leftie with turn ups on his jeans and a knackered amp (which he was). However more recently I heard him talking very warmly about Bruce Springsteen and I've come to realize that he wasn't doing all that stuff for effect and he seemed to actually be reasonably intelligent. On the downside, his man, guitar and amp act could be taken as an argument that he was the proto-Sheeran.
If I were to take one song on here that epitomizes the problem I had with him when I was 18, it's probably 'There Is Power In A Union'. Strident, left-wing, polemic and I think if I'd known the term 'virtue signalling' at the time, I'd have accused him of it. But of course, he's actually steeped in the folk tradition and calls on all kinds of styles to make his points on this album. So in my more left-leaning old age, I'm happy to admire him as an authentic British Woody Guthrie or Pete Seeger. Nicking Dylan's entire melody of 'Chimes of Freedom' for 'Ideology' is a bit of a cheek though.
Greetings to the New Brunette
Train Train
The Marriage
Ideology
Levi Stubbs' Tears
Honey, I'm a Big Boy Now
There Is Power in a Union
Help Save the Youth of America
Wishing the Days Away
The Passion
The Warmest Room
The Home Front