Album #59 : Devin Townsend - Ocean Machine: Biomech

Devin Townsend

Ocean Machine : Biomech (1997)

Devin Townsend is arguably one of the most productive, talented and experimental musicians on the planet. Researching his work and his extensive career tells a tale of a man who has never been content with one style of music; rather, admitting that his music is an extension of his feelings, and his personality, and consequently changing to suit. In interviews, he comes across as a charismatic, passionate man who has a no bullshit approach to life.

And yet, I am about as personally familiar with his work as I am with the breasts of Salma Hayek.

Knowing him only by reputation, it's time to remedy that, with an album that has come highly recommended by two mates. It's 1997's Ocean Machine: Biomech, an album that was written and recorded not long before Townsend's diagnosis with bipolar disorder; he would later remark that this, and its predecessor (Strapping Young Lad's City) were representative of his personality extremes at the time.

Heavy stuff. But is the album?

The Album

Well......not exactly.

Musically, it certainly has moments where we can see that reputation as 'Hevy Devy' come to the forefront. However, for the most part, the album is bombastic, melodic progressive metal, monstrous in sound and scale.

Emotionally, however, it packs one hell of a punch, with most of the songs dealing with death, mortality, depression....the darker side of humanity, basically. Yet throughout, the music is never depressing; mournful at times, yes, but Townsend's massive production and the heavy use of anthemic keyboards means that the grandeur of the music never allows it to wallow in pity for too long.

Townsend himself is a beast of a vocalist, covering a huge spread of vocal styles throughout Biomech. There's powerful screaming, stage whispers, passionate wails, pure smoothness.....and at every stage it just seems to go with the music.

Speaking of which, there's very few tracks on Biomech that aren't sprawling anthems. That is not a bad thing, because Townsend does sprawling anthemic prog metal superbly. There's no guitar wankery, just insistent riffs, synth string chords galore and his enthralling vocal. Tracks like the brilliant opener Seventh Wave, the crunch-meets-Yes prog metal riffathon Hide Nowhere and the splendid Greetings are the prime examples of this sound. Then there's the songs that are mainly sprawling prog metal anthems but with unexpected twists, like Voices In The Fan. It follows the keys and crunchy riff formula well, until the last moments, when a choral section, resplendent in all its angelic glory, sings us out to remarkable effect.

Having said that, there are also small hints of that harder, aggressive metal sound that Townsend was more famous for through Strapping Young Lad. Night is a real headbanger with a superb vocal delivery; Townsend's vocal is aggressive and driving, while simultaneously sounding tortured. Regulator is the first of the album's four defining songs, in my view; really aggressive metal, another great vocal from Townsend, it might not be close to the pure brutality of SYL but it's still harder than anything else on Biomech.

That's not all though! There are even flirtations with a more alternative rock style on Life (with its hooky chorus and lighter, more melodic tone) and the frankly stunning Funeral, which is another one of that run of four defining tunes. Beginning with a jangly guitar rhythm that wouldn't be out of place on an Interpol album, it is largely an alternative rock-flavoured prog metal tune; the alternative comparisons coming from the key, chord progressions and the softer edge to the track. The lyric is powerful, seemingly about being the person left behind when someone has died, and all the assorted emotions that go with that; and as for Townsend, he turns in his most memorable vocal of the album, full of passion, power and gut-wrenching emotion.

The other two tracks that form the quartet that I feel best sum up the album are Bastard and The Death of Music. And they could not be more different as a pair. Bastard continues the anthemic prog metal vibe for ten minutes, moving through two different movements and stories seamlessly. It's nearly flawless in its scope and execution - the biggest tick I can give it is that I didn't even notice it had been running so long, so lost was I in the music. 

As for The Death of Music, well this might seem like a backhanded compliment, but its ambient tone and electronica-tinged sound, its melding of mild jangly guitar and keyboards, as well as Townsend's passionate vocal cries, mark it as stylistically extraordinarily similar to early U2 (you know, when they were good). Townsend himself seems to be channelling early Bono in sound and vocal stylings. Now far be it from me to imply that Townsend is saying U2 represent the death of music, but.....hey, the proof's in the pudding. Having said that, it stands alone from every other song on the album, completely unique and yet still remaining a remarkable listen (even if the talking at the end, featuring a nonsensical discussion about golf driving ranges and a rather Canadian joke about Fukuoka, are a bit...odd.)

The closing scream after the final song, the okay but overshadowed Thing Beyond Things? One of those things that's probably up to the listener to decide. My guess? Townsend doesn't want people listening to this song late at night in darkened rooms because THAT SHIT WAS SCARY.

The Verdict

Biomech is an absolute stone-dead must listen. Don't let the 'progressive metal' label scare you - this is a wonderful, melodic, emotional album that can also simply be enjoyed for its massive sound. It's a wonderful creation that deserves more of an audience than it had upon its release. It's amazing to think that Townsend had to create his own record label to release this, because no other label would touch it.

It makes you wonder what record execs think sometimes.

Now, if somebody could put me in touch with Salma Hayek, I would like my opening analogy to be proportionally maintained.......

My rating: *****

Standout Tracks

Funeral

Bastard

Seventh Wave

Voices In The Fan

Tomorrow, a brief February recap, a preview of March, and the first March album (to be decided.)

Album #58 : William Shatner - The Transformed Man

William Shatner

Captain Kirk Of Star Trek

The Transformed Man (1968)

William Shatner has been many things - actor of note on stage and screen, director, author, Captain Kirk.....

He has also been a recording artist.

Stop sniggering.

Now, many are familiar with his (admittedly AWESOME) cover of Pulp's Common People. Family Guy fans will be indirectly familiar with his entirely screwed-up cover of Rocket Man because Stewie Griffin did it once. It's unlikely many will be familiar with The Shat's debut, The Transformed Man.

One of the great things about the LOAD Project for you, the readers, is that sometimes, I'm listening to an album so that you don't have to. What you are about to discover is that The Transformed Man is such an album. Yet, at the same time, it's the single greatest album I've listened to this far.

Allow me to explain.

The Album

Upon the conclusion of The Transformed Man, this sums up my feelings:

This is the audio equivalent of a 5000 car pileup. 

Essentially, the album can be summarised thus: William Shatner talks over lame muzak for thirty-seven minutes and eighteen seconds. Shakespearean readings interspersed with Shatnerean readings of pop and cabaret tunes, all in Shatner's inimitable style:

       'IN THE

       JINGLE

        JANGLE MORNING

          I'LL COME FOLLOWIN' YA'

                                 - W. Shatner, 'Mr. Tambourine Man'

It's dramatic pause after dramatic pause after ridiculous flourish. Witness Shatner inexplicably turn Mr. Tambourine Man into a creepy lecherous tune! Marvel at him screaming "MISTER TAMBOURINE MAAAAAAAAAANNNNNN!!!!!" like he's just been thrown down a well! Hark at Shatner's DRAMATIC READING of Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds ("A GIRL!!!!! WITH......KALEIDOSCOPE EEYYYYYYYEEEEESSS.......ANDSHE'SGONE!!!!!!!")

It honestly needs to be heard to be understood. Mere words on a screen do not do this justice. It is beyond bad - it is horrific. Except for his reading of Hamlet, which, it must be said, is absolutely superb (but given his Shakespearean training, it's not a surprise.)

However.

It is also one of the funniest things you'll ever hear. Whether that was the intention, I don't know. But that's the effect. His ridiculously overblown delivery is beyond parody - it is parody itself. 

The Verdict

No.

Just no.

Unless you want a damn fine laugh.

My rating as a serious release: half a star thanks to Hamlet

My rating as a comedy album: ***** thanks to Shatner

Standout Tracks

MISTER TAMBOURINE MAAAAAANNNNN!!!!!!!

Tomorrow, we round out the month of February with an album by metal maestro, Devin Townsend.

Album #57 : John Farnham - Whispering Jack

John Farnham

Whispering Jack (1986)

People often forget that John Farnham's career has run through a number of phases. There was his teen heartthrob idol phase of the 60s and 70s (when he was known as Johnny Farnham, and spent the majority of the 70s appearing in stage musicals and cabaret shows), his brief solo reinvention as an adult contemporary singer in 1980-81, his stint as lead singer of the Little River Band, his return to the world of being a solo adult contemporary singer, his retirement, his comeback, his second retirement, his second comeback, his third retirement, his third comeback.......

Okay, so that might be slightly exaggerated. Nevertheless, Farnham's been at the forefront of Australian music for the best part of 30 years. But, had it not been for Glenn Wheatley's belief in him, had it not been for the influence of others around him, then his career may well have faded into obscurity, just another teen pop star whose time was up. Even though Farnham was pooling tracks for a potential solo album while in LRB, record labels wouldn't touch him and he was not exactly flush with cash.

Whispering Jack, released late in 1986, was funded by Wheatley, who mortgaged his house to pay for the recording. It consists of songs that were written by others and given to Farnham to record. Some of those songs are bona fide Australian classics. That's part of the reason why it shot to number one, and relaunched Farnham as an Australian icon. Yet even that success came with difficulty; radio stations refused to play the singles, and it was only the sheer public popularity of one song that saw the album take flight.

It's undisputedly one of Australian music's most popular albums, and it's the subject of today's review.

The Album

Take a listen to Whispering Jack, and it's easy to see why it shifted so many copies and relaunched Farnham's career. It delves deeply into the new wave/synthpop sound that was still very prevalent at the time, though there is one key difference that differentiates it from other synthpop bands - and that's Farnham himself, who surely is one of the greatest singers this country has produced. His powerful voice and considerable range manage to even lift the album's worst cuts to something listenable.

The other factor that heavily influences the album's quality is that the four singles - Pressure Down, You're The Voice, A Touch of Paradise and Reasons - are all songs of the highest quality. In my view the weakest is the first of the four, and even that's still a great pop song. Synth heavy with supporting guitar licks, Farnham's vocal is typically powerful and it's full of hooks. You're The Voice is close to the quintessential drunken Australian singalong song (it maybe has only Khe Sanh as real competition), and for good reason. That chorus is bombastic and powerful, and sweeps you away as a listener; the song itself manages to convey a sense of majesty and grandeur whilst remaining deceptively simple. And, of course, there's Farnham again, smashing the vocal out of the park.

A Touch Of Paradise is a brilliant ballad. Its strength is twofold; firstly the gentle instrumentation (synthesisers and drum machine) and subtle backing vocals create a soothing backdrop, and secondly, the vocal is the best one on the album. That gentleness of sound allows Farnham to be heavily prominent, and he responds by giving us a spinetingling vocal, full of 'wow' moments. Even the saxophone solo is smoooooooth. The last of the singles, Reasons, is for mine one of the most underrated songs in Farnham's catalogue. It's a simple (again) synthpop song, with a cracking vocal and a chorus that demands to be heard (it shifts dramatically in intensity compared to the verses).

The rest of the album is lesser in quality, and all basically identical in structure - synthpop/New Wave songs with pop structures, and mostly featuring midsection guitar solos that positively wail. Fair to say that the singles don't contain flashy instrumentation, but some of the album tracks (notably Love To Shine, Trouble and Let Me Out) feature pretty wild guitar solos from Brett Garsed. It's all mostly album filler though (even if it's somewhat decent album filler), and not really worth talking about in great detail; the stars of the album are those four singles.

The Verdict

Whispering Jack reminds me a little bit of Icehouse's Man Of Colours, which I reviewed in January, in that it contains some crackingly outstanding singles and the rest is album filler. There are however some key differences that see Whispering Jack get a higher rating from me; firstly the singles are better, and the album filler (unlike Man Of Colours) still has some catchy, hooky pop moments, and generally consists of solid tunes.

On the whole, this is a pretty decent album. It's worth listening to in its entirety just for Farnham, who even sings brilliantly on those album tracks. And, of course, there's the four singles, which are winners all.

My rating: *** and a half

Standout Tracks

Reasons

A Touch Of Paradise

You're The Voice

As February draws to a close, and the March schedule nears its completion, tomorrow sees The LOAD Project take on its first 'novelty' album, before finishing February with a highly recommended metal album. 

Album #56 : INXS - The Swing

INXS

The Swing (1984)

The recent TV-led resurgence in interest in INXS is both a good and a bad thing for music fans. It's a good thing in that it allows people who experienced it the first time to relive their youth, and also allows those who missed it the first time around to discover, and hopefully get into, the work of a seminal Australian New Wave/rock band. 

It's a bad thing in that it might tempt the band back into reforming for more legacy-destroying tours, and I'm sorry, but I still have horrendous memories of the band being fronted by bloody Terence Trent D'Arby and watching him "oooh baby ooooh ooooooooooh live oooooooooooh baby live ooooooooooooohhhh" his way through New Sensation. 

And let us not even get started on that prat JQYDXYWE$%@# Fortune or whoever he was (past tense being the most appropriate choice).

Nevertheless, those legacy-tarnishing moments (I MEAN TERENCE TRENT D'ARBY? SIGN YOUR NAME ACROSS MY HEART TERENCE TRENT D'ARBY? YEAH GREAT CHOICE, NEXT UP - RICK ASTLEY TO REPLACE ROBERT PLANT) can be eradicated by listening to an album that captures the band approaching their heights - 1984's The Swing. Contained within are one of the band's most famous singles....and one of my favourite INXS tracks.

Let's get into......the swing of things.

The Album

The Swing is fairly representative of the early to mid 80s INXS sound. There's synths a-go-go, monstrous reverb on the drums and the obligatory sax solos, courtesy of Kirk 'I Can't Believe There's A Rock Star Called Kirk' Pengilly. Guitars are there, but are generally relegated to the role of support instrument. Then, of course, there's the undisputed star of the show, vocalist Michael Hutchence. Even on the album's weaker tunes, Hutchence is the highlight. He displays such a range of vocal conveyances - there's swagger, there's power, there's the raw sex-appeal heavy rock vocal, there's more restrained, sweeter sections. It's all here and it's all good.

Original Sin, the album opener, is that very well-known track mentioned earlier. It's synths aplenty (I reckon even the guitar is guitar synthesiser) and a corking vocal from Hutchence, singing what even today would be considered a confronting lyric to racist douchebags. It also contains a few big name guest involvements - firstly, Daryl Hall of Hall and Oates sings with Hutchence in the choruses, and secondly, it's produced by musical god Nile Rodgers. Dancing On The Jetty is much the same in terms of synth and funky bass grooves, creating a real dance vibe to the track; however there's a really shuddering, and effective, change into the choruses. Hutchence becomes smoother, there's a plaintive melodic synthesiser line, and the song takes a brief breather. Burn For You is close to my favourite INXS song. It's full of great hooks (especially that repeated synth motif), Hutchence belts out the verses with real gusto and is supported by some truly outstanding backing vocals on the choruses, and there's plenty of little changes to keep the listener interested (aka Songwriting 101.) There's even a BIG DRUM ENDING.

There are a couple of other cool tracks. Firstly, there's the title track, which is the closest thing to a guitar rocker on this album. There's a drum solo at the start before the guitars kick in, and they drive this song. It's got an infectious groove and another great vocal. Face The Change echoes Blondie, with its steady tempo funk/New Wave groove that's created by drums, bass and guitar working in concert. Even the vocal occasionally strays into that Debbie Harry sing/talk combination used so effectively on tracks like Rapture. Album closer All The Voices is essentially Hutchence swapping vocals with himself, only multitracked. It sounds suspiciously like the band's attempt to write some grand, album-closing anthem, but it does come up a little short, because it's basically a four minute song stretched out to six. It's worth the listen for Hutchence alone.

The other tracks, though? Well they go from uninteresting and unengaging (Johnson's Aeroplane and Love Is (What I Say), although the latter is smashed out of the park vocally) to dated and fatigued (the drenched-in-80s-production-of-reverbarama-and-staccato-synth Melting In The Sun and the funky synth-dance of I Send A Message). I feel bad including I Send A Message in there, because I actually dig the song a great deal - it's easy to picture it being spun in dance clubs in the 80s because of its funky grooves. That does not, however, mean the song isn't horribly dated.

Which, to be fair, could be levelled at the whole album; but in my view, what separates I Send A Message from the highlights of the album is that those highlight tracks contain enough about them to still be somewhat relevant and timeless, whether it be a lyric or vocal performance, or even varied instrumentation and clever songwriting. Just an opinion, I know, but I find tracks like Original Sin and Burn For You to have aged far better than others on The Swing.

The Verdict

It's good, but not great - it's one of those albums that you'd probably only get if you were a completist, because the best tracks would have found their way to a hits compilation. There are a couple of tracks that you'd miss out on if you didn't have the album, but there's a few that are probably best left forgotten.

Still, it is probably the best example of INXS's established New Wave sound; a sound that, beginning with their next album, would begin to evolve and change, seeing guitars take precedence over synthesisers. History records that this period is where the group really began to take off, and ascend to greatness, and we should be thankful for that.

Even if it means also being scarred with that memory.

My rating: ***

Standout Tracks

Burn For You

Dancing On The Jetty

Original Sin

Tomorrow, as it's the 26th of the month, another Australian album. It's another classic release of the 80s.......

Album #55 : Simon and Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water

Simon and Garfunkel

Bridge Over Troubled Water (1970)

Regarded as one of folk rock's greatest partnerships, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel have contributed some of rock's finest examples of songwriting and harmonising. All this was achieved in a career that spanned just five studio albums, and featured its fair share of fractious times; in fact, the pair split up on several occasions, although since the final separation in 1970 there have been a number of reunion tours.

The pair could not have had more divergent careers after their split; Simon continued in music, forging a fine reputation as one of America's great songsmiths and popularising a number of world music sounds, while Garfunkel combined an acting career with a string of minor hits, but musically never achieved the heights of the Simon and Garfunkel years.

This album, 1970's Bridge Over Troubled Water, was the pair's final studio album. There are hints in some of the lyrics about the fact that the partnership was reaching its termination, but there are also some of the band's highest regarded, and most remarkable, songs.

And, after about twenty years of wanting to listen to the whole album, today I'm reviewing it.

The Album

Loaded with wall to wall harmonies and sprawling backing vocals, Bridge Over Troubled Water is an album that any vocalist worth their salt should be listening to. Both Simon and Garfunkel are supremely gifted vocalists, equally comfortable and powerful at all ends of the vocal spectrum. They alternate between softer, lilting folk ballad vocals and a more rollicking rock and roll style throughout the album's eleven songs, though it's probably the former where they are at their finest; their skills in delivering dual harmonies almost without peer on the quieter tunes.

And what a set of songs they are, kicking off with the album's title track. The first two verses are piano and a solo Garfunkel (the piano arrangement, played with sublime skill and dexterity by Larry Knechtel, is almost the greatest musical moment of the whole album. It manages to evoke such a range of emotions in combination with the vocal). Garfunkel begins with a more withdrawn, quiet vocal, gradually increasing in intensity by the time he reaches the second 'chorus'. If it were to have a weak spot, it's that final verse; bombastic in sound, there's drums and strings that are simply too loud and drown out the piano. That however is a nitpick on what is one of the pair's finest songs.

Cecelia has the album's first example of a more uptempo sound. It's a real stomping tune with a rollicking dual vocal line and some interesting instrumentation through the mid-section. This more rock, less folk approach is also heard on the underrated Keep The Customer Satisfied, a mildly aggressive attack on the rigours of going on tour and with roots in rockabilly and Motown, the Beach Boys-lite rock and roll style of Baby Driver, and there's even a decent cover of the Everly Brothers classic Bye Bye Love.

However, in keeping with the duo's skill in combining their vocal talents in softer, more folk-style tunes, the real highlights come in the group's ballad-style tracks. Apart from the title track, the album also gave us career highlight The Boxer, a sprawling folk ballad that, through one of the great lyrical sets, tells the tale of a man (the titular boxer) dealing with poverty, unemployment and loneliness in a sprawling New York metropolis. Fingerpicked guitars from Simon and Fred Martin, Jr are the basis of the song's sound, while there is also a mournful, plaintive cry in the form of a soprano saxophone solo. It's got to be one of the greatest ballads ever written or recorded. There's also the two songs that are aimed squarely at Garfunkel; the parting farewell of So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright, which uses the famous architect as a metaphor for Simon's compadre, telling warm tales of their earlier years while saying a fond 'so long', and Simon's tale of isolation, The Only Living Boy In New York, written about Garfunkel's trip to Mexico to shoot a movie, leaving Simon alone to work on material for the album.

The album's bittersweet finish is also of interest; Song For The Asking is solo Simon, just him and his guitar (and more of those annoyingly too-loud strings that detract from the album). There's no Garfunkel, which is sad, as this serves as the last song ever released on a studio recording by the two.

The Verdict

The mild departures from their established folk sound on Bridge Over Troubled Water mark it as an album of interest. However, it's clear that the pair are at their best on those folky tunes, as this is, after all, where they made their name. It is a minor disappointment that the album's production is far too much of the Wall of Sound variety, as there are clear times when the songs should be allowed to breathe on their own, free of overbearing string arrangements.

There's plenty on here apart from the three singles of note, though, that make it a worthy recommendation. Put simply, today's "folk" scene owes a great debt to the work of Simon and Garfunkel, and in my view it still doesn't hold a candle to the duo at their finest.

This is a great album, and a fitting final release, managing to say goodbye while retaining all the hallmarks of what made them one of America's most popular artistic groups.

My rating: ****

Standout Tracks

Bridge Over Troubled Water

The Boxer

The Only Living Boy In New York

Tomorrow, the first of two classic Australian releases of the 80s.

Album #54 : Electric Six - Fire

Electric Six

Fire (2003)

On one of my journeys to Tasmania with three of my mates on a beer-finding mission (by the way, James Boag's, we were happy that you sent Boag's Draught to the mainland but Y U NO STRONGARM BITTER???) this album formed part of the soundtrack of the journey. I remember very little other than the lyrics were hilarious and the riffs in-your-face.

And, of course, there's Gay Bar, one of the most outstanding songs in rock history.

But what else does this album have? Why is it still one of the most outstanding debut albums in history? And why does it continue to hang over Electric Six, a constant reminder of an age past, where songs about NUCLEAR WAR and FIRE and DANCING were a much needed part of the musical landscape?

Let's find out today.

The Album

Will you laugh when listening to Fire? Absolutely. Frequently. There's a reason why some consider their schtick here to be comedy rock - when you're opening tracks with the line, "I was born a prisoner in your dungeon of fish", urging people that they MUST OBEY THE DANCE COMMANDER, telling people that IMPROPER DANCING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET means that "somebody better notify the chief of police", and openly promising that "I've got something to put in you" in a song called Gay Bar, well......clearly there's an element of humour there. A MASSIVE, highly common element.

Don't let that fool you, though. This is pumping, high octane, high energy dance/disco/funk/rock fusion. The riffs are crunchy and powerful, the tempos are lightning quick and there's plenty of hi-hat intensive disco beats. Tying it all together is the undeniable gravitas of bandleader and vocalist Dick Valentine. He has the perfect vocal for this style of music because he is completely serious (or deadpan) and equally high voltage.

There are cracking songs aplenty. The aforementioned Gay Bar is simply brilliant; the riffs burrow into your head and refuse to leave and the lyrics are genius - Valentine implores you to 'start a war/start a nuclear war/at the gay bar' and you have no idea what he means but YOU ARE GOING TO GO AND DO IT. Improper Dancing is classic funk/disco with all the trappings - groovy bass, drums and guitar combining to create a dancefloor filler. There's continued comedy gold with Valentine's "STOP. CONTINUE!" as he orders the music to bend to his will. Danger (High Voltage!) is more great disco rock, with a Jack White (yes, THE Jack White) guest lead vocal and even a smooth sax solo. Dance Commander, I'm The Bomb, She's White....all great hard rocking disco-tinged dance party tracks.

There's also a track called Naked Pictures Of Your Mother. Dick Valentine tells us he's got 'naked pictures/of your mother/naked pictures of your mother/naked pictures/of your mother GO!' and at no stage are you disgusted by this. You are, in fact, SCREAMING IT AT THE TOP OF YOUR LUNGS.

It takes a rare talent to have people screaming lyrics like that at the top of their lungs while dancing around like lunatics. Dick Valentine is such a man with such a talent. 

The Verdict

Acting like some sort of strange mixture of Kiss and Andrew WK, Fire is a burst of energy to the senses. It breathes life into a long-dead and hardly lamented musical style, and makes it sound vital, relevant and fresh again. Yeah, at times it's fucking hilarious. And yeah, we still don't know exactly how one starts a nuclear war on the dancefloor. But Electric Six made an album that's close to the quintessential party rock album. Fuck those douchebags in LQERDGDTDBDWERTGOAOAO or whatever, they are mere pleb scumbags, sucking on the discarded flotsam of Electric Six with their "Party" "Rock" "Anthem".

You want a real "party rock anthem"? Put on Fire. ALL OF IT.

My rating: ****

Standout Tracks

Gay Bar

Improper Dancing

She's White

Tomorrow, we take a trip back to the 60s to listen to some classic folk rock sounds.

Album #53 : Paolo Nutini - These Streets

Paolo Nutini

These Streets (2006)

Scottish singer/songwriter Paolo Nutini released These Streets, his debut album, to a very good public reception (even if the critical reception was lukewarm at best). Remarkably, Nutini was just nineteen when the album was released, which is a pretty fair effort - though he certainly sounds a little older and world-weary than nineteen.

As somebody who generally tries to avoid modern pop music, I confess to only having a cursory awareness of the bloke's existence. I know I've heard snippets of Jenny Don't Be Hasty but that's about it. Consequently I'm going in with no preconceptions because I haven't heard anything other than a few seconds of his work. I should also point out that this is another request, this time for a former colleague of mine.....

Let's see what I find out about the Scots lad with the Italian name.

The Album

In a word?

Safe.

That is, believe it or not, not meant as a horrible slur on the artist. Nutini is a good singer (when he's not being Joe Cocker-lite with gravel in his larynx) and knows how to write a poetic set of lyrics (especially in the reverb-drowned ballad Autumn). The album itself is a collection of radio-friendly pop rock unit shifters and moody emotional 'beautiful' ballads, and little else. There's scant attempts to bend the rules of pop, or even try to fuse styles together (though there are occasions where the songs tip a hat to folk and soul). It's just nice music and lyrics designed to appeal to the sappy side of humanity.

In other words, safe. It's the tofu of music - you can use it and try to spice it up as much as you want, but in the end it's still bland sponge.

There's lots of autobiographical ballad stuff here (and let's face it, any good singer-songwriter derives much of their work from their own lives and experiences, especially early on in their careers) and it's very tastefully told by Nutini. Songs like Last Request and Rewind, among others, deal with reflections on the dissolution of a relationship, with all the formulaic pop ballad requirements in place - verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge/chorus, heavy on the piano, mild reverb and a lighter harmonious vocal. Million Faces is much the same but features an ear-catching soulful falsetto vocal, which at least gives it some distinctive edge, as does the coda (a sharp key change and some snappy drumming provide an exciting finish). White Lies is rooted in folk, with some pretty string arrangements and nifty slide guitar work; though it reminds me of James Blunt's work, and I'm sorry, that's not a good thing.

The uptempo pop tracks are a little better. Jenny Don't Be Hasty has a real 90s guitar pop vibe to it, and is pleasant radio-friendly pop rock. New Shoes was one of my favourite songs, with a touch of swing, a simple arrangement and a groovy, toetapping tempo. It's not as uptempo, but Loving You was also a pleasant surprise, with its surf-folk laidback acoustic groove and light, jazzy drums; unfortunately the decision to have comparatively INTENSE LOUD VOCALS destroys this chilled out vibe.

The Verdict

Eh, it's nice I guess, but I'm struggling to think of a time you'd put it on. Perhaps if you wanted to wallow in self pity, or lose yourself in the moody, occasionally haunting, quality of his vocal and songs.

It's proof that there is always a place for safe music in the world, music that takes no risks and asks for none in return.

But that's really all that can be said for it.

My rating: ** and a half

Standout Tracks

New Shoes

Autumn

Jenny Don't Be Hasty

Album #52 : Sleater-Kinney - The Woods

Sleater-Kinney
The Woods (2005)

Sleater-Kinney were born out of the Olympia riot grrrl scene; singer/guitarist Corin Tucker was previously a member of a well regarded riot grrrl band, while other members Carrie Brownstein (guitar/vocals) and Janet Weiss (drums) were also members of assorted riot grrrl/queercore bands. Despite these origins, the group crafted themselves an appealing mainstream indie rock sound for most of their career.

Until this, their final album (unless rumours of a potential reunion come to fruition), The Woods.

This album, produced by master producer Dave Fridmann (The Flaming Lips, MGMT and Mercury Rev amongst others) features a dirty, raw, garage style sound, with heavy influences in 60s and 70s blues-based hard rock. The result is one hell of an electrifying album, and a wonderful closing note for an underrated band.

The Album

The Woods is wall-to-wall with fuzzy, scratchy guitar riffs, thumping drums and passionate, wailing vocals. While Tucker and Brownstein may not be technically proficient guitar wankers, they riff as hard as anyone, while Brownstein's approach to solos is to make them discordant, chaotic, unpredictable and just plain noisy. Fridmann deserves credit for his production also. Given that he is more at home with creating lush, multi-instrumental soundscapes, his ability to show a different side here, keeping the arrangements simple and raw whilst maintaining an unhinged quality to the sound, is outstanding.

Genuinely, honestly, I did not find there was a single song on The Woods that I did not like. The abrasive riffs and punchy drumming are insane, intense and thoroughly enjoyable. Highlights abound; opener The Fox is powerful and discordant, albeit with low-in-the-mix (yet no less powerful) vocals, What's Mine Is Yours charts a course for 'Jimmy Page on Dazed and Confused' Land, with its chaotic ballsy guitar sound that sounds like the wailing of a million guitar banshees, while Jumpers starts as a 60s garage tune, before settling into a song full of punk and riot grrrl scene touches. Modern Girl breaks the album up perfectly, acting as a nice counterpoint to the album's abrasive flint, featuring mournful harmonica blasts, dual guitar work (which is quite pleasant) and minimal drums. Entertain features more punk rock flavours, a crazed barely in-tune vocal from Brownstein and a denouement that burns intensely with power and energy.

Rollercoaster goes into southern rock territory with a swampy groovy riff and an undeniably rocking vibe, while the surprising Steep Air mixes 90s alternative crawling tempos with the experimental hardness of 70s hard rock; Weiss' rumbling tom fills give the sound a real edge, while there are even elements, if you listen to the riff pick up after the choruses, of that early tuneless Flaming Lips punk/alternative sound; noise solos and ADHD drumming.

Penultimate track Let's Call It Love is unapologetically seductive, with an aggression that is bloody refreshing to hear from an all-girl band; this is the sound of women taking control of their sexuality, and it's outstanding. It's wrapped up in an eleven minute sprawl that is positively Zeppelinesque. The early arrangements and riffs are brilliant, and when the song settles into its groove, the instrumentation from all three members is insanely good. The lead guitar playing is unconventional, adding to the raw garage vibe of the song, while Weiss doubles as some sort of new Keith Moon, keeping time by throwing out all conventions of timekeeping. It builds into absolute mayhem at the end.....a brilliant end to a quality tune. 

The Verdict

If The Woods really does, in history's final washup, turn out to be Sleater-Kinney's final album release, then they can at least rest easy that their last studio release was an outstanding work. It's aggressive noisy punk/alternative rock that takes classic rock influences and bends them to serve the band's will. It's crazed, urgent and insistent, and above all, fucking enjoyable.

The Woods is another album that will be staying permanently in my album collection. 

My rating: **** and a half

Standout Tracks

Let's Call It Love

Jumpers

Steep Air

My next album is a pop release from the 2000s, that I do remember being on the now-lost forever album schedule....

Album #51 : Devo - Freedom of Choice

Devo

Freedom of Choice (1980)

There was some sad news in the music world yesterday, with the death of Bob 2 from Devo, Bob Casale. As is probably to be expected with the passing of a member of a forty-year-old band, the news was met with typical grace from Devo fans, while others merely commented on it in passing (to my mild amusement, one website said they were going to 'honour' him by watching a single music video of the band's biggest hit....some honour.)

His passing though made me reflect on just how influential Devo have been on music. They were one of the first bands to really take the post-punk movement into different directions, exploring new wave music when it was in its infancy, and spearheading the heavy use of synthesisers in new wave music; in fact, arguably, Devo were music's first synthpop band, using synthesisers to create pop structures while still retaining some semblance of rock/post-punk credibility.

Their first two albums were heavier in sound (in terms of guitar), although sophomore effort Duty Now For The Future saw the group increase their experimentation with synths. This use of electronic instruments would be further ensconced in the band's sound on their third album, Freedom of Choice, where traditional instrumentation would be heavily reduced (pretty much to only guitar and drums). Consequently it has been suggested by critics to be one of the most important and influential new wave albums.

As my feeble attempt to salute Bob 2's work (I think it's better than watching a single fucking music video) I am going to review this album today.

The Album

Devo's reputation for unusual time signatures, experimentally dissonant chord progressions and just general tomfoolery with the conventions of music are still on this album, although they are largely replaced with more pop music sentiments. There's a few tracks that contain undeniable hooks and more conventional song structures. The biggest change for the group is in sound - while their post-punk roots occasionally bare themselves, on the whole this is a synth new wave album. The dissonance is now played by synth chords rather than guitars, and the role of the guitar is confined to providing backbone riffs while synthesisers blast away over the top.

Freedom of Choice provided Devo with probably their two biggest hits, those being Girl U Want and the iconic Whip It. The former is the template for a successful, catchy new wave pop single - punchy verses, a danceable beat and tasteful synthesiser hooks aplenty. The latter is a sublime combination of several catchy riffs all mingling together (ironically, the most memorable riffs are the simplest ones: the two different two-chord synthesiser melodies that punctuate the guitar during the verses, and are the main component of the choruses). Driving it all is a motorik beat that is a tip of the hat to German music of the late 60s and 70s, particularly Neu! and Kraftwerk.

Other examples of this heavy synth new wave pop sound abound. Snowball is part new wave tune, part cheap 80s synthesiser theme tune for a bad TV show, with its phased wobbly synthesiser melodies, and 100% hooktacular. It's Not Right sees Mark Mothersbaugh's vocal very low in the mix, while plonking synthesisers blip and blop away in the foreground. Like a good punk song, it doesn't overstay its welcome. Planet Earth does contain some guitar, but its thunder is completely stolen by a swirling, insistent synthesiser melody.

There are some songs where the guitar is more prominent, but there is still a substantial presence of synthesiser sounds and effects, in keeping with the band's shift in direction. Cold War, for instance, contains a simple, repetitive series of guitar riffs, while synthesisers swirl in and out supported by electronic sound manipulations. Don't You Know is very similar in style and sound to Girl U Want, featuring the same balance between synth and guitar, and is rather unsettling in sound, keeping with its stalkerish themes. That's Pep is an intriguing track also. Using a poem from a 1924 Ohio State University College of Engineering periodical, the song is stylistically an advertising jingle, hook-laden and featuring a catchy refrain ("That's Pep!").

On the rare occasions that Devo revisit their more guitar based sound from their first album, the results are electric (pun not intended). Gates of Steel is a deceptively, and surprisingly, heavy track with a riff that is bursting with energy. It is the purest post-punk song on the album with some impressive guitar work from Bob Mothersbaugh (aka Bob 1). The synthesiser on the track is simple and supports the crunchy riff. The title track is one of the group's real underrated classics, a rollicking guitar track that is typical of the new wave sound. The underlying backbone of the track is provided by synthesisers, though the sound is dominated by another abrasive, crunchy guitar riff. There's a rumble to the percussion and the choruses are sparse, with the synths dropping out. It's a genuinely brilliant song.

The Verdict

Freedom Of Choice is a terrific album. Its strengths lie in Devo's ability to take a certain level of sonic experimentation and squeeze it into a pop song. With songs that don't run for much longer than four minutes, this is for all intents and purposes a pop album with a new wave/post-punk edge. Apart from the two big singles, there are other tracks that are well worth your time.

If there's one thing that shines through, it's that Devo were a band that could write hooks with the best of them, but in keeping with their slightly anarchic, agitprop viewpoint, these hooks were manipulated, synthesised, intermingled with others. 

So on this fairly sad occasion, we can at least take heart that Bob 2 was a co-conspirator in a band that were wildly influential, even though those that have never understood them hate them. Give it a listen. You'll either love it or hate it.

My rating: ****

Standout Tracks

Freedom of Choice

Whip It

Gates of Steel

Tomorrow, I'll be reviewing a release by an all-girl rock band. I reckon those of you with an ear for 70s rock revivalism that isn't Wolfmother will quite like it.

Album #50: Snow - 12 Inches of Snow

Snow

12 Inches of Snow (1993)

Well, I promised you a 90s classic today...and here it is. Snow (real name Darrin O'Brien), Canada's finest white Irish-Canadian reggae musician, and his debut release, the wonderfully named 12 Inches of Snow.

Better known as the album that gave us Informer.

And other songs apparently.

Researching the man's history though reveals much about his musical leanings. Growing up in a housing project in Toronto, his musical exposure during his youth was very much reggae and dancehall music....and it shows. Heavily influenced by reggae and dub, he grew to prominence by fusing reggae with other styles, particularly rock and hip hop.

So what you have here on 12 Inches of Snow is a reggae fusion that takes some of the hallmarks of hip hop (some vocal flavours, piano and horn samples, heavy bass and drum beats) and mixes them with Jamaican dancehall and reggae to create the sound of Snow.

Because I'm a nice person, I'm willing to expose myself to the sound of Snow and report back. If I don't return, tell my wife hello.

The Album

Wow.

I....um....wow.

So anyway, 12 Inches of Snow is, for all intents and purposes, supposed to be a perfect example of the dancehall/reggae fusion spoken about earlier. However, there are only maybe four or five examples of this heavy dancehall/reggae style on the album.

And, to be brutally honest, this is when the album is at its most tolerable. Snow's Jamaican patois vocal is quite good. Close your eyes and listen; you would swear you were listening to a Kingston native, rather than a Canadian from the projects. On songs like Runway and Drunken Styles, his breakneck Jamaican reggae delivery is spot on and (I can't believe I'm saying this) first-rate. Having said that though, of the two, only Runway is passable, because Drunken Styles is shithouse. 

There's also a really powerful (!!!) set of lyrics on the album's closer, Ease Up, where Snow blatantly warns the listener of the potential consequences of making poor choices in your youth, and you know that he speaks from first-hand experience.

Then, of course, there's the only Snow track the universe except for the 34 Snow fans (of whom one is comedian Drew Carey, I KNEW there was a reason I didn't like him) knows: Informer. And you know what? We can say what we like (Snow sure does, with all that 'Informer/you knakdjfhadskjfasuakelfnajvn,mcmvlkxvoifkasdiufhaef/A licky boom boom down/Detective man see asdkgjahsighakdspwerjoawiekfjnvnuaiewurhiawefjn4@#R5#$5%$&UUFDF/A licky boom boom down' nonsense) but there's a reason the song sold a metric fucktonne of copies - it's GODDAMNED CATCHY AS HELL. That Jamaican patois is at the forefront and is part of the song's charm. I know it's au fait to make fun of Informer - hell, I do all the time - but as a dancehall/reggae/hip hop/pop fusion, it just works.

That, however is the end of the positives. Then we go on to the negatives. And BOY OH BOY WOWEE BIG BOY are there plenty:

• Let's start with the song Lonely Monday Morning. More cool Jamaican patois vocal delivery, but wait what's that? He's mentioning Informer....detective man...come with a nice young lady....Daddy Snow is the Boom Shakata....FUCKING WHAT? HE IS REUSING HIS OWN LYRICS IN A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT SONG. WHAT IS GOING ON??? WHAT MANNER OF SORCERY IS THIS????
• That closing track with the fantastic lyrics? Ruined by the worst rapping you've heard since Lou Reed. THE. WORST.
• The album is filled with questionable 'love ballads' that contain more cheese than if Monty Python's Cheese Shop Sketch was filmed in an actual cheese shop with actual cheese and featuring characters made entirely of cheese and called Mr and Mrs Cheese. The worst? Uhh In You. Snow literally (LITERALLY) sings the lyrics, "Girl you drive me crazy/All I wanna uhh uhh in you". YOU CANNOT UNHEAR OR UNSEE THIS SPAWN OF BEELZEBUB.
• It's like Snow put Informer on the album as the seventh track and went FUCK IT NOBODY WILL LISTEN TO ANYTHING AFTER THIS, so filled it with the worst songs ever.
• 12 Inches of Snow? Dude 10 of those inches are limp and show no signs of having any erectile tissue whatsoever.
• But the worst song? YES. THE WORST SONG? Creative Child. Imagine, if you will, that the worst song you've ever heard was recorded by the worst band you've ever heard, using out-of-tune cheap Chinese student instruments on a 1980s cassette tape deck that your children filled with sugar so that every time you try and record something, the tape has this horrible periodic scratchy sound. The song was only issued on 8-track tape except 7 of the tracks don't actually work so all of the audio is only on 1 track, oh but most of it is very quiet so you can't really hear it, so all you hear is the faint sound of dreadful-sounding $50 guitars and possibly some recorder and the drums are actually those little plastic ones you buy for three year olds and you can't even hear all of that very well because the sugar in the cassette deck makes the sound go CSSSHHHH CSSSSSHHHH CSSSSSHHHHH every ten seconds.
  
  Now imagine that experience was made worse through magnification by a factor of about 10^6500000000.
  
  The resulting song, a song so heinous that it would probably cause the universe to rip itself apart and return everything to complete nothingness, would still be better than Creative Child. The rapping makes his work on Ease Up (that I just compared to some truly fucking horrendous rapping by Lou Reed) seem like the second coming of the Wu-Tang Clan, the 'choruses' of Snow repeating the mantra 'Creative Child' like if he keeps saying it it'll come true is enough to make you envy the deaf, and musically there is no music, just an atonal dreck.

I feel unclean even writing about that song. UNCLEAN.

The Verdict

If Snow had stuck to faithful fusions of classic dancehall and reggae sounds on this album, only going to other genres sparingly, I don't think this would have been a complete waste of time. As it is though, all the crap ballads and abominable rap tunes render the few decent moments on 12 Inches of Snow almost meaningless. 

I stand by my comment that as a reggae vocalist, Snow is actually pretty fucking good. He makes that Jamaican patois sound like the most natural thing in the world, and that is far from easy to do even for a Jamaican vocalist. Unfortunately on this album, there's not enough of that.

There's plenty of dreadful though.

My rating: *

Standout Tracks

Informer

Runway

Tomorrow, a slight change to the schedule; in memory of Bob Casale, who passed away today, I'll be listening to a classic Devo release, and hopefully helping people understand why Devo are, for all of their weirdness, still a very influential band.