November 2021 Anniversaries
COLD SPRING HARBOR
Billy Joel
In many of the songs on here you can hear the genesis of some of his later and better known work. The opener, 'She's Got A Way' for example is a clear precursor musically and thematically to 'Always a Woman' - the basic message is 'this gal means everything to me'. Basic love song trope I suppose. 'You Can Make Me Free' brings in more instrumentation beyond the piano. When I did The Police I complained about the repeat-to-fade. This doesn't even repeat, just fades. 'Everybody Loves You Now' shows off his skill at the piano, it's up-tempo and complex.
'Why Judy Why' is very McCartney-esque and I'd say is written in a Viennese Waltz time. 'Falling of the Rain' utilizes the piano to the full to actually recreate the sound of rain falling. 'You Look Good To Me' sees him moving to an organ sound and he picks up his harmonica in the middle. 'Tomorrow Is Today' starts very much like 'Bridge Over Troubled Water', so much so that I checked up on release dates to see which came first (Bridge wins). He also takes an odd tonal diversion with his singing style partway through and goes all Al Jolson. Nocturne is an instrumental, he obviously had classical interests from the start.
She's Got a Way
You Can Make Me Free
Everybody Loves You Now
Why Judy Why
Falling of the Rain
Turn Around
You Look So Good to Me
Tomorrow Is Today
Nocturne
Got to Begin Again
PRINCE CHARMING
Adam and the Ants
Oh dear. It hasn't worn well. It just comes across as brash and chaotic, and the pantomime stylings were taking a firm hold, as evidenced by the title. Adam and the Ants seemed quite dangerous at first and we all wanted one of those artilleryman's jackets, but this was just a step on the journey to Puss In Boots, Goody Two Shoes and a forgettable single song at Live Aid. We all still try to do the dance at every wedding though.
Scorpios
Picasso Visita el Planeta de los Simios
Prince Charming
Five Guns West
That Voodoo!
Stand and Deliver
Mile High Club
Ant Rap
Mowhok
S.E.X.
The Lost Hawaiians
Released: 15th October 1986
Elton John
Not a lot of love out there for this, but to me it's no better or worse than anything else he was chucking out in the eighties, meaning that it is indeed quite poor. There's nothing on here which would ring a bell with anyone but the most dedicated Eltonophile. The most notable thing about it is a duet with Cliff Richard called 'Slow Rivers', but even this coming together of the giants of British blanditry doesn't raise much of a ripple on the internet.
Elton blames cocaine for the general low standard. It's fairly contemporary with Ice On Fire, but producer Gus Dudgeon slung his hook after this, possibly through exasperation.
The one almost recognizable single is 'Heartache All Over The World', which was the lead release, but probably because it is so Elton-by-numbers (which is saying something) that you end up feeling sure you must have heard it before.
Everything else ranges from the dull and pedestrian ('Memory of Love') to the downright offensive and bewildering ('Angeline') although for the latter, Bernie's lyric must shoulder the blame.
Leather Jackets
Hoop of Fire
Don't Trust That Woman
Go It Alone
Gypsy Heart
Slow Rivers
Heartache All Over the World
Angeline
Memory of Love
Paris
I Fall Apart
SHEPHERD MOONS
Enya
I loved her previous album, Watermark and it's lead single 'Orinoco Flow', and this is really just as good, but something about it didn't quite grab me in the same way. I was inclined toward the gaelic, folky end of the musicverse in the late eighties and early nineties so Enya was right up my street. Confusingly, she includes a song called 'Lothlorien' which is an obvious Tolkien reference and then was engaged by Peter Jackson and co to contribute a song to the film soundtrack, but not this one. Well, I find it confusing anyway. I also had to do a double take when I saw the title of the last track. Not an ode to hard-wearing luggage after all.
Shepherd Moons
Caribbean Blue
How Can I Keep from Singing?
Ebudæ
Angeles
No Holly for Miss Quinn
Book of Days
Evacuee
Lothlórien
Marble Halls
Afer Ventus
Smaointe...
Released 5th November 2021
ABBA
We've been gaslit into thinking we all wanted this, but the real reason the sudden announcement of an initial two new songs, new album and virtual concert/installation grabbed the attention was that we had all resigned ourselves long ago that they'd never get back together again. They should not have either. This is SO MUCH an Abba album that it borders on parody. The vocals are sibilant and most of it sounds like not-quite-up-to-it demos that got dropped off the albums in their heyday. BBC Radio 2 have been mad for it ever since they got the exclusive first interview, but then they're mad for Adele's latest wail too, so we'll take their view with a pinch of salt.
There's a fair amount of tweeness. Let's assume that they all have grandchildren now and so 'Little Things' is the song equivalent with one of those 'Grandkids Spoiled Here' signs. Maybe they intend a pitch for Xmas number one with it. 'I Can Be That Woman' is even worse as it focuses on the family cat and dog getting caught up in a marital breakdown, which is clearly presented as the fault of the female narrator who is now pledging to mend her ways. Maybe the last 40 years never actually happened in Sweden?
I'm not the first (even in my own house) to point out that 'Just A Notion' seems to be a tribute to 'A Wombling Merry Christmas'. Rarely will you hear a more lazy effort at a song.
On the plus side Agnetha and Frida's voices are still more or less intact, and they picked the two outrider songs well, they are the best on here, mainly because they tackle the more grown up themes of their best original work.
I Still Have Faith in You
When You Danced with Me
Little Things
Don't Shut Me Down
Just a Notion
I Can Be That Woman
Keep an Eye on Dan
Bumblebee
No Doubt About It
Ode to Freedom
Released: 5th November 1971
Elton John
This is a bit more promising. I do love 'Tiny Dancer' and Elton is not an adherent to the Marks And Spencer school of marketing which puts your best stuff at the back of the shop in order to get you to walk past the tat. Previously 'Your Song' and now 'Tiny Dancer' are presented first and foremost, like he knew they were something special, or maybe it was a canny record company man who made the decision. Whatever, it draws you in and introduces an album where Elton seems much more engaged with the subject matter of what he's singing about.
There's a harder edge as well. Song titles like 'Razor Face', 'Madman Across The Water', 'Rotten Peaches' and 'All The Nasties' don't sound like the output of a bland piano balladeer. They're songs about people with problems. 'Levon' is a complex song that plays with words and phrasing, flipping "he shall be Levon" with "he shall believe on" like one of those optical illusions that could be a candlestick or two face profiles.
There is a big red sore thumb in the middle of it though. 'Indian Sunset' is very much of its time, in which a couple of songwriters from Pinner and Sleaford respectively believe they can reflect the native American experience. In fairness it doesn't feel offensive, but did they do their research? No-one talks about Squaws and Tomahawks now do they? It's quite tragic too. Plenty of death.
Still, we can all relate to the horror of having to stay at a 'Holiday Inn', and if they are, at best, bland places to lay your head now, it's probable that in 1971 they were grim indeed. The intricate plucked guitar at the end is a bit too nice in comparison to the sentiment.
Tiny Dancer
Levon
Razor Face
Madman Across The Water
Indian Sunset
Holiday Inn
Rotten Peaches
All The Nasties
Goodbye
SKIN AND BONES
Foo Fighters
Never got into the Foo Fighters, but Grohl seems like a nice chap, I watched his CBeebies Bedtime Story the other night. This is probably a good place to start. It's a sort of an Unplugged live album. They sound a little like The Verve at times and you can hear the Nirvana DNA at times when the noise is stripped away.
Razor
Over and Out
Walking After You
Marigold
My Hero
Next Year
Another Round
Big Me
Cold Day in the Sun
Skin and Bones
February Stars
Times Like These
Friend of a Friend
Best of You
Everlong
LED ZEPPELIN IV
Led Zeppelin
We all know what's coming, and no-one is dreading it more than me as I seek some kind of original angle on Stairway. But first, 'Black Dog'. Churchill's euphemism for depression, but it ain't a depressing song. In fact I find it particularly uplifting as it reminds me of Vic and Bob on Shooting Stars screaming "He's a baby, he's a baby!" as George Dawes made his infant-attired entrance across the set. Otherwise it's a bit of a glorious mish-mash.
'Rock And Roll' lives up to it's name perfectly as virtually every trope of that particular genre gets a look-in.Honky-tonk piano, crashing drums, blues riffs, banal lyrics, it's all there.
'The Battle Of Evermore' is one of those songs I've always known about, but never really listened to. Page gets the old lute out. There's plenty of folksy, Arthurian imagery in the words.
And here we go...It's frequently at the top of any poll of the greatest ever songs and we must assume that folk see it as an uplifting, feelgood song about redemption and all that. For all I know it could just as easily be about being off your chump on banned substances. You can see similarities with that other boringly predictable all-time chart topper - Bo Rhap; starts with a quiet reflective section, then ramps up into a more pacy bit before going into mental, guitar strangling mode at the end. I'm quite familiar with the live version from 'The Song Remains The Same' where Perce follows the line "and the forests will echo with laughter" with a rather trite "does anyone remember laughter?". I never really got the "bustle in your hedgerow" lyric, unless I'm mishearing it (maybe "rustle"?). I'm not going to look the lyrics up on a point of principle. Not entirely sure if the "aaa-aaaa-aaa-aaahs" are Plant's voice or Page's guitar. When I was 18, the line "to be a rock and not to roll" seemed like the ultimate in the wisdom of life. Not so sure now.
'Misty Mountain Hop' sends them right back to their sixties pop roots. Could be Herman's Hermits (albeit with a slightly harder edge). 'Four Sticks' is a bit disjointed and Plant is at the upper limit of his vocal range. 'Going To California' is a pleasantly plucked bit of hippydom. It's all wrapped up in 'When The Levee Breaks'. Swooping guitar over a steady beat with Plant doing his usual thing.
Cover is a bit dull really. A 19th Century oil painting. However in true Spinal Tap style they came up with a symbol to represent each band member, which are also pictured. I wonder if you can guess which is which?
Black Dog
Rock and Roll
The Battle of Evermore
Stairway to Heaven
Misty Mountain Hop
Four Sticks
Going to California
When the Levee Breaks
LIVE 75-85
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
PART 1
"Ladies and Gentlemen, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band...." and on he comes and does an impassioned version of 'Thunder Road'. This was issued as 5 vinyl albums, 3 cassettes (which I've got, but nowhere to play them) and 3 CDs. My Local Springsteen Archivist got the albums on the day of release but only had the option of our Smiths-fan flatmate's rather odd upright record player to play them on. I'm amazed he didn't sterilise the needle before applying it to the sacred Bruce vinyl. I've elected to go for the three-way split here, since that's what Spotify has. 'Thunder Road' is great obviously and is part of a set of three songs recorded at the Roxy Theatre, although several years apart. 'Adam Raised A Cain' is pretty gutsy and they had 'Spirit Of The Night' off pat by 1978. I've always been a bit ambivalent about '4th July Asbury Park (Sandy)'. It's just a bit too melodramatic. In advance of 'Paradise by the 'C'' he want to know if there is 'anybody out there?' He asks this a lot in live shows, but to be honest he usually draws a crowd. "This is for all the girls" he says with a lunkish guffaw before 'Fire' It's a better version than on The Promise and by the Pointer Sisters. He pauses before the "Rom-e-OH and Juliet!" line to give a grunt. There's a fair bit of chit-chat around the songs as well, and the first significant one is in 'Growin' Up'. His folks are in the audience (the crowd get distracted when told as they try to locate them) and he suggests his chosen career is a disappointment to them as they wanted him to be a lawyer or a writer. Motorcycle accidents, fallings out with his Dad and Pop's hatred of his guitar are all chronicled (Bruce moans that he never hears him refer to "the Gibson guitar" or "the Fender guitar", just "the Goddamn Guitar". Well I have some sympathy for Springsteen Snr. If Bruce can't remember the make then it's a bit unreasonable to expect the old fella to be making the distinction). He finishes with "well, one of you wanted a writer and the other wanted a lawyer, well tonight your both gonna have to settle for Rock and Roll". Audience screams, Clarence blows and we're off again. 'It's Hard To Be A Saint' is a great version with an extended closing section. 'Backsteets' is suitably overblown. I've never been happy with the line "Trying in vain to breathe the fire we was born in". It's "In which we WERE born" Springsteen! And never end a sentence with a preposition boy! He does the intros during 'Rosalita'. "Do I have to say his name? Do I have to SPEAK.HIS.NAME? Do I have to say his name?....King of the World, Master Of The Universe, Weighing in at 260 lbs. The Big Man, Clarence Clemons!". "Miami Steve if you please" says Bruce at the start of 'Raise Your Hand'. "Sounds like Mustang Sally" sniffed J. and she's right I suppose. He berates the audience for not participating physically and accuses them of expecting a free ride. This must have been part of a radio broadcast because he urges the folks at home to turn the <expletive deleted> up as loud as she'll go. Oh dear. Next we have 'Hungry Heart'. It sounds clapped out even in this 1980 version, with the audience doing the duties on the first verse as expected. I'm sure I covered the appalling string of double negatives when I did The River last year so we won't dwell on that. The last track on this first set is 'Two Hearts', which is fine. The audience enjoy it. The picture is of the first of the three cassettes (on our unwiped chopping board), which you may note stops at 'Raise Your Hand'.
PART 2
I remember when this was released, Bruce did an interview on Whistle Test (no longer old and grey) with either David Hepworth or Mark Ellen where he prominently held the box on his lap and he chuntered on about it. Bruce has never been a great interviewee, he seems to find pretty much everything so amusing that he can't stop chuckling. This carries on with a splendiferous version of 'Cadillac Ranch', one of my favourites on the whole collection and so much so that until fairly recently it was my live holy grail. I also finally got round to checking out who Junior Johnson is - probably not news to anyone in the US, especially my Georgia friends, but he was a NASCAR driver in the 50's and 60s. The James Dean line refers to Rebel Without a Cause and the Burt Reynolds is Smokey and The Bandit. This is a really full-on section of the boxset actually because it's followed by 'You Can Look (But You'd Better Not Touch)'. Miami Steve squawks and groans in the background and there's some fun back and forth between him and Bruce in the middle. Things slow down for 'Independence Day' and then take off again for 'Badlands'. I listened through my headphones while running recently and in the intro virtually the only thing coming through the left speaker was Clarence on the triangle.This is a staple of the live set today but on this version there is less of the prolonged oooh-oooh-oooh-oooh-ooohs that the audience do these days. I talked about my disappointment with 'Because The Night' when discussing The Promise, but the version on here is a fine one. All strangly guitars and muscular vocals culminating in a crashing denouement.Plenty of Brooooc-ing at the end of 'Candy's Room'. J. always accuses Springsteen audiences of sounding like a herd of cows. There's a majestic version of 'Darkness On The Edge Of Town' and I've listened to the Promise version of 'Racing In The Street' so much recently that the original song performed here sounds fresh in itself. I remember him doing it in 2005 when he very considerately played a short bus ride from our house at Crystal Palace Stadium on The Rising tour and it felt like a rare treat at the time. Big News!. Bruce has read a book! 'Woody Guthrie A Life' which features in the intro to 'This Land Is Your Land'. He describes it as an answer to Irving Berlin's 'God Bless America'. It's a terrific fit of a song for Springsteen, having that ambivalence between pride in America and the fading of the American Dream. I'd also recommend Billy Bragg's British take on the same song. Time for a rest, so lets have some stuff from Nebraska. The trilogy of 'Nebraska', 'Johnny 99' and 'Reason to Believe' show that this kind of stuff can work in a stadium setting. 'Johnny 99', another fave, is performed with breathtaking intensity and almost a capella. I may have mentioned last year, the way that for 'Reason To Believe' he has recently set live performances against a 'Spirit In The Sky' harmonica riff. This version is straight off the album but still great. My second cassette stopped here, but the Disc versions on Spotify carry on with 'Born In the USA' and 'Seeds'. Unless the splits have just been put in randomly by Spotify it seems odd, because the Nebraska stuff provides a good break point. The vinyl also stops after 'Reason To Believe'. Not much can be said about BITUSA, it's a straight-on, screamy version. We all know it. 'Seeds' is also a favourite. It has a good down-and-dirty guitar sound and I love the bit where the band come in after the line "and I don't know just where I'm gonna sleep tonight"
PART 3
Due to the odd splits I'm having to cope with, this starts with The River, coming in at over 11 minutes, almost half of which is intro. I mentioned it last year when doing the album. Over a strummed guitar refrain, Bruce tells of more fights with his dad and the time he failed his army medical and so didn't go to Vietnam. The bits the crowd like in the story are:
Bruce asking them how they are doing
Bruce used to have long hair past his shoulders (when he was 17 or 18 - everything happened to Bruce when he was 17 or 18)
Bruce spent a lot of time in a phone booth to get out of the wind phoning his girl (we must assume he got through a few in his teenage years)
Bruce shows his vulnerable side by admitting he was scared about his medical
Bruce failed his medical (he modestly admits its "nothing to applaud about")
When Bruce tells his Dad that they didn't take him, Ol' Pop Springsteen says "That's good"
He follows this with the single harmonica intro and everyone with a soul is in a crumpled heap on the floor. 'War' was a single and was on the jukebox in Sunderland Polytechnic's Wearmouth bar for quite some time, gleaning a fair number of small change from myself and my Local Springsteen Archivist. But, the version on Spotify cuts out the introductory spiel, which is kind of the whole point of it. It's not what you'd call controversial is it? Bruce advises "all the young people out there" that the powers that be are going to be looking at them the next time a war like Vietnam comes along, and they are going to need a lot if information to decide what they are going to do. He finished off with "because in 1985, blind faith in your leaders, or in anything, will get you killed", before exploding into the Edwin Starr classic. I'm betting he wishes he hadn't been so prophetic. Things lighten up as he and Nils head off to 'Darlington County' and he spends some time 'Working On The Highway', two pieces of BITUSA filler in my view. There's a blistering version of 'The Promised Land' and an equally full-on 'Cover Me', complete with tribute to Martha Reeves' 'Nowhere To Run To' in the intro. 'I'm On Fire', 'Bobby Jean' and 'My Hometown' follow. All fairly faithful to the album versions. 'Born To Run' is as you would expect, no introspective acoustic version here.We DO get the slowed down version of 'No Surrender', which I think is better than the album. '10th Avenue Freeze Out' complete with Miami Horns is a joyous celebration of being young and in a rock band. It was done every night on the recent tour as a tribute to Clarence Clemons. His line is introduced here by Bruce saying "now this is the important part!". And finally, Tom Waits' 'Jersey Girl'. a fitting tribute to is home state delivered in the Meadowlands Arena there. I have a particular affection for this box set. It introduced me to Springsteen and, if you're starting out, it still represents a good primer. Also presented here is a picture of mine in it's entirety, complete with packaging stickers which includes an 'Important Notice' from Bruce about the running time of the cassettes.
Thunder Road
Adam Raised a Cain
Spirit in the Night
4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)
Paradise by the "C"
Fire
Growin' Up
It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City
Backstreets
Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
Raise Your Hand
Hungry Heart
Two Hearts
Cadillac Ranch
You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)
Independence Day
Badlands
Because the Night
Candy's Room
Darkness on the Edge of Town
Racing in the Street
This Land Is Your Land
Nebraska
Johnny 99
Reason to Believe
Born in the U.S.A.
Seeds
The River
War
Darlington County
Working on the Highway
The Promised Land
Cover Me
I'm on Fire
Bobby Jean
My Hometown
Born to Run
No Surrender
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
Jersey Girl
ARCHITECTURE AND MORALITY
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
I think I wanted to like OMD more at the time. They seemed quite cerebral in the early eighties synth-pop landscape. The whole Joan of Arc/Maid Of Orleans thing is confusing however, I'm still not quite sure if there are two songs with the same title, or just the same theme, or if one runs into the other.
'Souvenir' is the other biggie on here, with the 'tubular bells' button firmly pressed down on the synth.
The New Stone Age
She's Leaving
Souvenir
Sealand
Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc (Maid of Orleans)
Architecture and Morality
Georgia
The Beginning and the End
ADVENTURES IN MODERN RECORDING
The Buggles
A Spotify blind, errr spot? I had to look it up on YouTube where some kind soul has assembled it. The most interesting thing is the crossover with Drama-era Yes. Horn and Downes were pretty much at the helm of both operations and so we get Same Song, Different Title with Buggles' 'I Am A Camera' and Yes's 'Into The Lens'. Wikipedia thinks that Horn likes the Buggles version better, which shows you can even be wrong about your own work, because 'Into The Lens' is much punchier
Adventures in Modern Recording
Beatnik
Vermillion Sands
I Am a Camera
On TV
Inner City
Lenny
Rainbow Warrior
Adventures in Modern Recording (reprise)
WE CAN'T DANCE
Genesis
Never listened to this in full before now. That might tell you something, although I would never have counted myself a fan. The singles are familiar enough and I was quite surprised that 'No Son Of Mine', 'Jesus He Knows Me', 'I Can't Dance', 'Tell Me Why' and 'Hold On My Heart' were all off this album. I could've sworn that a couple were Collins solo efforts. 'No Son Of Mine' has that groany, Chewbacca noise in the intro and comes from the same stable as Mike and The Mechanics' 'Living Years' - father/son conflict. Quite bleak though - the message of zero forgiveness isn't one you get very often. Phil does some 'improvisational vocals' at the end, which are just irritating.
The Hooters got there first with satirising televangelism with 'Satellite' so 'Jesus He Knows Me' felt like an old idea even then. It is quite biting for Genesis though. Not sure about that cod-reggae bridge.
'Driving The Last Spike' is the obligatory Long Song. About 19th Century rail workers, we're straying dangerously close to the worthy territory previously claimed by Sting and his ramblings about shipyards. However unlike previous long/story songs by the band this is largely musically conventional and they play it straight. I think it's pretty successful as a song and credit must be given for doing the unexpected.
I never rated 'I Can't Dance' and that video where they rather awkwardly walked in Indian file was rubbish, but as soon as it started, J started singing along, so it must have something going for it. I still think it's dull. 'Never A Time' has an intro that is alarmingly reminiscent of Wet Wet Wet's version of 'Love Is All Around' for a moment. Gave me quite a turn. Fortunately it settles into a lazy Collins-by-numbers ballad, and so is easy to ignore. African riddims for 'Dreaming While You Sleep' - well you do don't you? I found it to be over 7 minutes of nothing very interesting happening, although there is a hint of Prince's 'Sign O The Times' which is mildly interesting since Collins was accused of ripping off '1999' with 'Sussudio'.
In fact the rest of the album is all a bit, well, meh. 'Tell Me Why' is familiar enough, but that doesn't make it any good. Same goes for 'Hold On My Heart'. 'Since I Lost You' is only remarkable for being about Eric Clapton's son Conor. So Genesis are going to go out with a whimper, and I hold no great expectations for the Collins-less 'Calling All Stations'. The 10+ minute final track, 'Fading Lights' is rather aptly named in that respect.
The cover is a bit more interesting than the past few, but it's overall blandness does a very good job of conveying the content.
No Son of Mine
Jesus He Knows Me
Driving the Last Spike
I Can't Dance
Never a Time
Dreaming While You Sleep
Tell Me Why
Living Forever
Hold on My Heart
Way of the World
Since I Lost You
Fading Lights
NURSERY CRYME
Genesis
A nostalgic tear came to my eye as I listened to this (well almost). So much was familiar but I had not heard it in ages. The line-up for this and the next few albums is considered the definitive one for most of the die-hards. Gabriel, Rutherford, Banks and new recruits, Steve Hackett and Phil Collins. The uninitiated would probably opine that Genesis were a bunch of humourless musos in those days, wilfully obscure and complicated, but I'd argue that Nursery Cryme shows them to be having a bit of a giraffe at the same time. 'Return Of The Giant Hogweed' and 'Harold The Barrel' in particular have Bonzo-levels of humour, albeit fairly black. It's a terrific album and I can see why this particular incarnation is so well regarded.
I think 'The Musical Box' is considered a fan-fave. it's whimsical and shows off Gabriel's cracked vocal style to the full. They break all their own rules on 'For Absent Friends'. It's short and almost poppy in a late-era Beatles way. It's obvious where Messers Day and Whitehouse got their parodical Day Of TheTriffids inspiration when you listen to 'Return Of The Giant Hogweed'. A cautionary tale of the perils of importing invasive horticultural species into the UK. Pippa Greenwood would have a blue fit. It's mad and funny with top lyrics such as "Kill them with your Hogweed hairs, HERACLEUM MANTEGAZZIANI! Gabriel must have almost certaiinly used this song as an excuse for a bit of dressing up on stage.
There's a bit of pomp and grandeur on 'Seven Stones'. My personal favourite is probably 'Harold The Barrel'. For you Springsteen fans out there (there must be one or two), think of a middle-England, prog-rock version of 'Johnny 99'. Harold cuts off his toes and serves them for tea in his Bognor restaurant, then does a runner before ending up on a window ledge threatening (and ultimately following through) to commit suicide. The lyrics are delivered by various characters, including Mr Plod, Harold's mum and Harold himself. I'm tempted to say that Collins' stagey background played a part in this one.
'Harlequin' has a gentle beauty and the closing 'Fountain Of Salmacis' is a retelling of a Greek legend originally told by Ovid (I TOLD you I would be doing more research). It has a suitably epic quality and tells of the seduction of Hermaphrodite by the nymph Salmacis and the subsequent creation of the fountain that turns all who touch it into a hermaphrodite. I loved listening to this, not just for the memories but because it's just great.
The Musical Box
For Absent Friends
The Return of the Giant Hogweed
Seven Stones
Harold the Barrel
Harlequin
The Fountain of Salmacis
DRIVING RAIN
Paul McCartney
There's a lot of context around this album. Paul had started his relationship with Heather Mills. George Harrison was dying of a brain tumour and the world had been pretty much turned upside down by the attacks on the World Trade Center in September 2001. As stated before, this is not the place for amateur psychology, but there's a lot of stuff on this album which relates to his situation at the time and his reaction to events. So much of this is about his new relationship and, for the rest of us, hindsight is a wonderful thing. On the evidence of this, you can only conclude that he was fulfilled and happy with Heather Mills. Another good game to play is 'What Would John Lennon Say?'. If we assume that he was still around and a good friend to McCartney, then maybe he would have been casting some cynical doubts over whether committing to a new partner 25 years his junior so soon after losing someone like Linda, who so was so clearly a soul-mate, was a good idea.
However, let's stick to the facts that the album presents to us. He starts with 'Lonely Road', a musical letter to Linda that also wrestles with the conflict of taking on a new partner and therefore offering yourself up to loss all over again. He follows it with 'From A Lover To A Friend', which also might be addressed to Linda. A request for permission to move on? Oh, and just as an aside, they're both great songs. 'She's Given Up Talking' once again, shows McCartney to be able to transform the simplest of melodies. This time it's 'Hush Little Baby' that has been McCartney-ized and even the opening to the subsequent title track could be accused of finding inspiration in "One, two, three, four, five; Once I caught a fish alive". 'I Do' is a classic McCartney ballad which manages to mix intimacy and the grandiose use of kettle drums, chime bars and a full brass section. As the album progresses it becomes more about Heather. 'Your Way' is a pretty simple country song which is a statement of happiness at his current state of affairs and 'Spinning On An Axis' is unremittingly optimistic. 'About You' and 'Heather' are directly addressed at the soon-to-be-missus. In the latter he sings that they will dance to a "runcible tune", but since I never quite got to the bottom of what a "runcible spoon" is, I can only guess at what this involves. The sentiments of 'Back In The Sunshine' and 'Your Loving Flame' are spelt out for all to see in their titles. 'Riding Into Jaipur' seems to come from leftfield however. What is it with the Beatles and these constant returns to sitars and tablas? All that business in the mid-sixties clearly left a lasting impression. Then, 'Rinse The Raindrops' comes on like Eminem's 'Lose Yourself', although there's no references to "Mom's spageddy". Tacked on the end of this is 'Freedom', which he wrote in response to the 9/11 attacks. You won't be surprised to hear that I consider Springsteen's The Rising to be definitive in this respect and McCartney's effort was subject to a little political misappropriation apparently. It wasn't on the original release, and rightly so, its a considerably worse fit than even 'Riding Into Jaipur'.
This does not seem to be a well-known nor even well regarded album (it didn't sell well and none of the singles would spring to mind as McCartney classics), and it could be rated as a Tottenham Hotspur of a musical effort - top half, consistently good with moments of brilliance, but probably not going to challenge for honours at the end of the day. Maybe McCartney was being looked at a little askance at the time, an old fool besotted by a much younger woman, and the subsequent messy fallout and divorce could detract from what he achieved here when you look back on it. But it's tender and open. Being Paul McCartney, or anyone with a degree of celebrity and fame, means that you put yourself and your life on show for everyone to comment on (including jaded amateur bloggers who have just come off the back of Ringo's latest abomination). Macca at least has the skills to make a great job of it, even if he was being sucked into what was to become a domestic nightmare.
Lonely Road
From A Lover To A Friend
She's Given Up Talking
Driving Rain
I Do
Tiny Bubble
Magic
Your Way
Spinning On An Axis
About You
Heather
Back In The Sunshine Again
Your Loving Flame
Riding Into Jaipur
Rinse The Raindrops
Freedom
LICENSED TO ILL
Beastie Boys
Oh the furore! The British tabloids lapped it up in 1986. Outrage at women in cages on stage and adopting a general implication that the whole proposition was inauthentic (wrong ethnic group) and therefore offensive. Of course we all know now that they were having a luagh at everyone's expense. 'Fight For Your Right' has certainly stood the test of time and those of a certain vintage get a nostalgic shiver when they hear "KICK IT!". Great artwork too.
Rhymin & Stealin
The New Style
She's Crafty
Posse in Effect
Slow Ride
Girls
Fight for Your Right
No Sleep till Brooklyn
Paul Revere
Hold It Now, Hit It
Brass Monkey
Slow and Low
Time to Get Ill
NOTORIOUS
Duran Duran
Duran Duran reconvene and decide it's far too confusing having so many Taylors in the band, so they jettison the deadweight and drop to a threesome (the gushing Wikipedia entry makes the comings and goings sound much more soapy).
The opening title track is good. The side projects seem to have had the desired effect. There's a little female gasp at the start and that funky choppy guitar backed by Taylor's twangy bass (see it's so much simpler to refer to the band members now). Love the "Don't monkey with my business" lyric. It sounds like they're trying to be a bit political too. 'American Science' follows on with some more light funk backed up with some slightly brassy interjections. 'Skin Trade' was a single and they really try hard to emulate Prince (HE's climbing the to-do list, never fear), from the repeating jingling chords to Le Bon's 'Kiss' style falsetto vocal. There's more brass as well, and I'd even say it's the real thing, including a jazzy break in the middle.
'A Matter Of Feeling' is introspective and I quite liked it. It's nicely constructed and quite well sung (all things considered). 'Hold Me' is a bit more old-style Duran. It has a Bond-ish "Duh-Duh, Duh-Duh" at the end of the chorus, which is all Le Bon holding the note until he's surely going to cough.I have no idea what 'Vertigo - Do The Demolition' is about, maybe they were hoping to start a new dance craze. What would 'The Demolition' look like? Maybe crashing into walls, or making a gesture like you're operating one of those plungers that they use to set off dynamite.
'So Misled' starts with drums a bit like Power Station's 'Some Like It Hot' (that kind of isolated thump, thump, thump). In fact the whole thing is a little bit redolent of Power Station's meisterwerk. 'Meet El Presidente' was another single and has some soulful backing singing. The lyrics are nonsensical to my ears. It's about an empowered woman I think, or maybe it's a slice of sexist woman-hating, it's so hard to tell with these guys. 'Winter Marches On' is meant to be atmospheric. It's OK but, you'll be surprised to hear, I think SleB oversings it. 'Proposition' brings it to an end. More funk stylings, but a catchy enough song.
The cover shows the Duran Duran hardcore with nice hair and in black suits and white shirts buttoned all the way without a tie. I hate that.
Notorious
American Science
Skin Trade
A Matter of Feeling
Hold Me
Vertigo (Do the Demolition)
So Misled
Meet El Presidente
Winter Marches On
Proposition
THIRTY THREE AND 1/3
George Harrison
Ah. When George Harrison is good, he's very good indeed. The bright and breezy cover artwork accurately advertises the content. This is as easy going and enjoyable as it is ever likely to get. I'm writing this on the 1st October, Autumn is well and truly here and this is just what I needed as I wave the summer goodbye. Harrison has always had a good ear for a tune and he captures quite a lot of the feel of previous classics like 'Something' and 'My Sweet Lord'. He'd kind of abandoned any spiritual themes in Extra Texture, which now seems more like an exercise in getting back on the rails in preparation for this, but now he reapplies them with a lighter touch than he has managed before. 'Dear One' and 'Beautiful Girl' almost seem slight, and run the risk of falling into the Easy Listening category, but this is complex music which is simply easy to listen to. There's a Steely-Dannish feel to some of the songs - the piano in 'It's What You Value' in particular reminded me of them. He also exorcises some of those My Sweet Lord demons by having a good laugh about it with 'This Song'. The video is pretty good too.
He threw me a curveball with his cover of 'True Love', because I immediately assumed it was his song that had been subsequently covered by others, but it's actually a Cole Porter standard. It's good though, Harrison makes it his own. There's a thread of smooth funk running through the whole thing, 'Pure Smokey' is the clearest example.There's also a great video for the sublimely goofy 'Crackerbox Palace' (Why wasn't it a massive hit? Well, not even released as a single in the UK, it got to 25 on the Billboard charts) where you get to see him not get out of his pram. Directed by Eric Idle, you can sort of see that the seeds of his Handmade Films ventures were being sown. That's Neil Innes as the nanny, so those links with the Pythons and Gilliam were clearly being formed.
It finishes with 'Learning How To Love You' which has been maddening me every time I hear it. There is a hint of another song. It's the line in the chorus, "and left alone with my heart", but it's just a hint. I'm sure I'll hear the song I'm thinking of again eventually and the veil will fall, but any suggestions are gratefully received. I loved this. Did you guess? It's just perfectly formed.
Woman Don't You Cry For Me
Dear One
Beautiful Girl
This Song
See Yourself
It's What You Value
True Love
Pure Smokey
Crackerbox Palace
Learning How To Love You
BLOOD BROTHERS EP
Bruce Springsteen
The Blood Brothers EP was released in 1996 following several years where the E Street Band had been mothballed as a going concern. At the start of Blood Brothers he sounds a bit like Rafiki from the Lion King but it soon settles into a jangly mess of guitars and drums. Rather good. 'High Hopes' is on the EP and is followed by 'Murder Incorporated', which is a live favourite (of Bruce's at least). Commentary on the ubiquitousness of guns and the almost commercialization of fatal violence. 'Secret Garden' is familiar from the Jerry Maguire soundtrack. At the time it was out, we used to listen to Capital radio a lot and they played a version interspersed with dialogue from the movie which worked rather well ("You had me at Hello"). The song here is dubbed 'string version' and there are some nice violin twiddles going on. 'Without you' could be Bruce's attempt to emulate Craig David's '7 days' as we work through the week. Although I guess it's the opposite, because unlike love-god Craig, Bruce is spending none of his week with his girl. It's pretty jaunty.
Blood Brothers (alternate rock version)
High Hopes
Murder Incorporated (Live)
Secret Garden (string version)
Without You
EMANCIPATION
Prince
Dear lord. 3 hours? B Springsteen Esq. of this parish is known to be prolific in producing a lot of material and then sorting the wheat from the chaff before assembling a final album and although there's doubtless a lot of whole grain goodness in this marathon from Prince, surely some trimming was possible?
I mean, I get it, this is the aftermath of his struggle for freedom from the bondage of his Warner Bros contract, so he was probably holding a lot of stuff back for just this moment and Chaos and Disorder, released just 4 months earlier, may have been a collection of his rejects (although I enjoyed the rockier sound) that he put out to complete the required album quota, but to be honest, there's more width to this than top notch quality. Also, being quite weary after 18 albums and 4 films, I'm not inclined to give this the attention it might deserve. He seems content to pay tribute to classic soul sounds, to the extent that the lead single was 'Betcha By Golly Wow', which deviates nary a gnat's whisker from the Stylistics version. Incidentally the song is not a Stylistics original and started out under the title 'Keep Growing Strong'. Prince takes the later title and adds an exclamation mark for good measure, Probably a bit peed off because he couldn't call it 'Bet U By Golly Wow'.
I get the feeling that the Isley Brothers may be the most influential act in popular music history, I often find myself thinking of them when listening to other artists. It may be that soaring twanging guitar sound is so unique that anything similar makes me think of them. 'I Can't Make U Love Me' does owe quite a lot to 'Summer Breeze' though.
Otherwise the length makes it unremarkable. There's just too much and it all becomes a libidinous slurry. Why anyone would sit down and listen to the whole thing is beyond me, and I guess that I'm deliberately missing the point, maybe he does intend it as something you just dip into. It's a shame in the sense that I'm calling it a day with this one. There's heaps of albums after this but I doubt I'd be able to find anything original to say about them. Prince fell right out of the mainstream at this point. I'm sure I could not tell you one single from this point onward, so he clearly meant little to me.
Jam Of The Year
Right Back Here In My Arms
Somebody's Somebody
Get Yo Groove On
Courtin' Time
Betcha By Golly Wow!
We Gets Up
White Mansion
Damned If Eye Do
I Can't Make You Love Me
Mr. Happy
In This Bed Eye Scream
Sex In The Summer
One Kiss At A Time
Soul Sanctuary
Emale
Curious Child
Dreamin' About U
Joint 2 Joint
The Holy River
Let's Have A Baby
Saviour
The Plan
Friend, Lover, Sister, Mother/Wife
Slave
New World
The Human Body
Face Down
La, La, La Means Eye Love U
Style
Sleep Around
Da, Da, Da
My Computer
One Of Us
The Love We Make
Emancipation
STOP AND SMELL THE ROSES
Ringo Starr
If you need any evidence of the importance and influence of the Beatles, then you only have to look at Ringo's solo output to date. It's awful, and yet people are lining up to keep it on the rails. And not just any people. Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Harry Nilsson, Ronnie Wood, Steven Stills, even Keith Richards contributes a backing vocal on this. The songwriting pedigree is impeccable, although you do wonder if he was being thrown all the offcuts, and yet Ringo just sucks any craft or artistry from everything. One of Nilsson's is 'Drumming Is My Madness', which we must assume was written especially for him and yet it poaches the line "Do you think I'm sexy". When you're referencing late seventies/early eighties era Rod, you are in BIG trouble.
As usual, there is a brush with acceptability when Ringo goes Country on 'Sure To Fall', and 'Back Off Boogaloo' is a good enough song to survive the reworking It's just possible that the Starr tongue is planted firmly in his cheek, but the joke is really wearing thin now.
Another theory is that Ringo is like the mice in Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, and is performing beautiful elegant experiments on the rest of the human race to see how long they will tolerate this dross before they suss him out. If so, this album provided a kind of readout to his study. It failed to trouble the charts anywhere, the record company dropped him straight after and he will not now be bothering us for another 10 years. He looks pretty creepy in the cover photo too.
Private Property
Wrack My Brain
Drumming Is My Madness
Attention
Stop And Take Time To Smell The Roses
Dead Giveaway
You Belong To Me
Sure To Fall
Nice Way
Back Off Boogaloo
GODDESS IN THE DOORWAY
Mick Jagger
Mick looks like he's just emerged from the Camberwick Green musical box on the cover.
"Here is a box, a musical box, wound up and ready to play. But this box holds a secret, shall we see what is in it today?"
"Oh, look! It's Mr Jagger, the rock star."
"Hello Mr Jagger" [Mr. J waves], "You look both old and yet strangely vigorous today. Have you been making a new record?"
[Mr J. nods]
"Are you pleased with it?"
[Mr. J shrugs]
"Oh dear. That doesn't look good. What's the problem? [concernedly] Did you ask Mr. Bono to help you on a track?"
[Mr J nods]
"Oh well. Perhaps you've learned a valuable lesson today Mr Jagger. I have to say I have listened to the album and I really quite enjoyed it"
[Mr. J smiles]
"Well. I'd better let you get on with your day Mr Jagger. Will you be spending time with Mr Richards, the walnut impersonator?"
...and so on.
Visions of Paradise
Joy
Dancing in the Starlight
God Gave Me Everything
Hide Away
Don't Call Me Up
Goddess in the Doorway
Lucky Day
Everybody Getting High
Gun
Too Far Gone
Brand New Set of Rules
50 WORDS FOR SNOW
Kate Bush
Right at the start I cast doubt on Danny Baker's assertion that Kate Bush was a prog rock artist. Here she seems determined to finally prove him right. There are no tracks under 6 minutes long and it does go on a bit. The first 3 tracks are very piano heavy, and, whisper it, a bit dull. Things perk up a bit with 'Wild Man' which has a nice catchy refrain. The we get 'Snowed In on Wheeler Street' in which, as if by magic, Elton John appears. Now I'm in no hurry to investigate HIS back catalogue (stop it!) and have always maintained that while he's a decent songwriter, he's also a rotten singer. This isn't him at his pub-singerish worst but he'll never win me over. '50 Words For Snow' features Stephen Fry reciting, well, 50 words for snow, while Kate counts him down. The closing 'Among Angels; is unremarkable. Having listened to this one again, I'm promoting The Sensual World from bottom slot. This is frequently quite boring and has nothing that really stands out.
Snowflake
Lake Tahoe
Misty
Wild Man
Snowed in at Wheeler Street
50 Words for Snow
Among Angels
BEAUTIFUL WORLD
Take That
Here's some depressing context for you. Take That have been back in business for about as long as they were out of it before this album, In fact it feels a bit like they are still making a comeback. Robbie bailed out and pooped the party and they limped on as a foursome, I seem to remember a dire version of the Bee Gees 'How Deep Is Your Love'. In fact, after the drugs and doughnuts it seemed like Rob had risen from the ashes victorious when the all-conquering Life Thru A Lens album came out, while Barlow fell flat on his face and seemed destined for a rapid return to the northern working men's clubs where he learned what we shall call, for sake of argument, his 'craft'. Mark managed to get out his reasonably well received but not that successful Green Man album and had a decent hit with '4 Minute Warning' before reaching the depths of Celebrity Big Brother. Howard and Jason never even got that far. Robbie just got more and more annoying and seemed to be suffering a talent haemorrhage that still hasn't been stemmed.
The shock when the That resurfaced was that they sounded halfway decent. For me this comeback album doesn't quite grab you like it should. The single 'Patience' felt like a stroke of genius at the time, emotional, big sound, decent video, but 10 years on it falls a bit flat. Credit where it's due, I moan constantly about Elton and Adele pretending to be American when they sing, but Mark on 'Shine' and Howard on 'Mancunian Way' are faithful to their native accents. However for me, the standout is poor old Jason Orange on 'Wooden Boat'. The frail, forgotten man of Take That gives quite a touching performance on a good song.
Reach Out
Patience
Beautiful World
Hold On
Like I Never Loved You at All
Shine
I'd Wait for Life
Ain't No Sense in Love
What You Believe In
Mancunian Way
Wooden Boat
FRAGILE
Yes
The artwork is coming on isn't it? This is the first Roger Dean, but it's not really typical. Wakeman, gold cape and all, is in for Kaye. This sometimes veers from the horrific to the inspired. However it starts well, lute-ish plucking soon gives way to Squire's bass, I must assume that rather like Zaphod Beeblebrox, he has availed himself of a third arm in order to achieve the complexity of his playing. It's all good though and 'Roundabout' is something of a Yes classic I think. One thing I am becoming aware of is that, Yes are not so good at what some people refer to as 'the words'. Lyrically they are a bit poor. Not that that matters, no-one came here expecting Morrissey.
Not really on board with 'Cans and Brahms', one suspects it might have been the Grand Wizard's idea. If anything it comes across as a bit cheesy. However the short 'We Have Heaven' is quite engaging. Anderson sings it in a round with himself. 'South Side Of The Sky' might be a 7 minute jam session. It does have some guts about it though. They calm down in the middle but Anderson's la-la's sound twee. 'Five Per Cent Of Nothing' is awful for the entirety of its 36 seconds. They manage a decent 3 and a half minute pop song with 'Long Distance Runaround'. That Beatles influence just won't go away will it? 'The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus)' is interesting for airing some new noises that you probably thought weren't really possible with a bass guitar. They weigh in with a 10 minute offering at the end. 'Heart Of The Sunrise' starts with mad bass wrangling which then mutates into a very very very simple bass-line which even I could play (with a couple of weeks tuition). Eventually it all settles into a gently sung song which gathers strength as it goes along. Just great really, Anderson's voice soars at times.
Spotify stocks a reissue of the album with 'America' included at the end. This is interesting as, to me, it shows what sets Yes apart from their turn-of-the-decade contemporaries. If anything, it's a cover of the Simon and Garfunkel song, but they also weave in bits from the West Side Story piece as well. Also, it's nothing like a cover really. More of a 're-imagining'. Yes weren't afraid to apply their touch to concurrent classics of contemporary culture, which suggests they did see themselves as being in the business of entertainment.
Roundabout
Cans and Brahms
We Have Heaven
South Side of the Sky
Five Per Cent for Nothing
Long Distance Runaround
The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus)
Mood for a Day
Heart of the Sunrise
THE VISITORS
ABBA
One reading of the ABBA story is that it is an extended metaphor of a relationship from the early euphoric days to bitter break up (or you could just take them as a great pop band who tried to add a bit of weight to some of their songs). If you do subscribe to that theory then their last effort might be described as a last ditch attempt to add a bit of spice and so revive it. The opening title track is kind of like a popped-up interpretation of The Beatles 'Tomorrow Never Knows'. One of the A's (I never did learn how to distinguish their voices) delivers the verse in a trancey way with just a hint of woozy sitar sounds before they burst into a synth-pop chorus. Maybe it sounds awful as described, but it's quite a grower. When you start to consider the lyrics too - seemingly anxiety about having to entertain guests - it starts to become quite disturbing.
Next, I notify ABBA's lawyers that early eighties pop-twerps The Thompson Twins and their song 'We Are Detective' might be a nice little earner should the foursome ever find themselves in the unlikely situation of being on their uppers. The opening few bars and the general feel of the melody of 'Head Over Heels' is pretty much identical. 'When All Is Said And Done' nags at the bag of my mental song archive too, but I can't place it. It's a good song though and shows a hint of optimism in the vein of "OK, we've broken up, but it's time to look forward and get on with it". 'I Let The Music Speak' is rather grandiose and epic with a chorus that, would be a great fit if Benny and Bjorn have a tilt at a musical version of Doctor Zhivago. By now, the singles chart success was probably tailing off, although they did release 5 of the 9 songs, but 'One Of Us' is the one that has endured. Whatever progress they had made when they wrote 'When All Is Said And Done' was written was not being applied for this one. She's basically moping around and lying in bed.
There's also the Bjorn-led 'Two For The Price Of One', a very odd but catchy thing. The story of the song is that a lonely railway station cleaner sees a personal ad in the paper essentially promising a threesome (two for the price of one, d'you see?). He calls the number, the woman on the other end of the phone sounds nice, but possibly puts the mockers on the deal with the closing line: She said, "I'm sure we must be perfect for each other; And if you doubt it you'll be certain when you meet my mother". Crumbs! That's the Swedes for you. 'Slipping Through My Fingers' is guaranteed to bring a tear to Mrs RockOdyssey's eye, and she doesn't even have a daughter. It is certainly ABBA in full sweet and wistful mode. They finish off with ‘Like An Angel Passing Through My Room’, which has a curious musical box/ticking clock motif running through it.
The Visitors
Head Over Heels
When All Is Said And Done
Soldiers
I Let The Music Speak
One Of Us
Two For The price Of One
Slipping Through My Fingers
Like An Angel Passing Through My Room