FEATURE: Spotlight: Public Practice

FEATURE:

Spotlight

Public Practice

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THIS is a part of the year…

where festivals are offering stages and platforms to the best new artists around. I think it is a shame that so many acts who were hoping to play to new fans and get more exposure might have to wait until next year. Hailing from New York, Public Practice (Sam York: Vocals, Vince McClelland: Guitar, Drew Citron: Bass/Synth/Vocals, Scott Rosenthal: Drums) have delivered one of this year’s best albums in the form of Gentle Grip. The List published an article earlier in the year that discussed the album’s upcoming arrival and what went into the recording:

“New album Gentle Grip, out on Fri 15 May, deals with tension and release, both musically (danceable rhythm sections cut through with angular guitars) and in the lyrics. Lead lyricist York tells us that 'the overarching themes surround essential "moral gymnastics" – how do we function in society? How do you walk through your daily life trying to be good when everything is so corrupt?' This constant questioning and lack of certainty adds to the group's unpredictability, with songs taking unexpected turns and wrong-footing the listeners. 'You don't always get the chorus when you want it,' York says, 'and some songs will leave you questioning what the chorus actually is'.

The group recorded the majority of Gentle Grip in their own practice space and studio, something that York feels they were extremely fortunate to be able to do. 'Getting to do it ourselves, and pick and choose how we wanted songs to sound, allowed us to make them exactly what we wanted them to be'. A major exception to this is the album's blistering opening track 'Moon', which was recorded live in another larger studio. Recording it live allowed Public Practice to introduce themselves to the world on their terms, as a formidable unit, weaving together sounds to create an uncompromising sound.

In terms of their live gigs, York says the band very much enjoy what they're doing and want the audience to feel and understand that. Discussing how they put on a show, she says, 'we don't shy away from the fact that we are performers, we don't shy away from the theatrics', referencing not only key post-punk/new wave inspirations like Talking Heads but also traditional pop music. 'The music is how we got to the stage, but when you have that stage you should use it'”.

I have listened to Gentle Grip quite a lot, and I am finding new things to enjoy each time I visit. In terms of sound and influence, I think people have comparted Public Practice to everyone from Blondie to The B-52’s. In their review, NME had this to say:

“‘Gentle Grip’ presents some conundrums for both listeners and the band themselves. In its subject matter, it ruminates on the “moral gymnastics” of life in 2020 – one where we’re trying to do our best for the world around us, but are also still driven by material wants and desires. The early Blondie gleam of ‘Compromised’ finds York torn between the two sides over tumbling guitar hooks, spinning circles around herself as she whispers: “House is important/Car is important/Shoes are important […] Trees are important.”

Sonically, though, the album is also a puzzle – namely, where on earth is it going to go next? That unpredictability exists as it changes from track to track but also within each individual song themselves. Opener ‘Moon’ is a dark, swirling piece that puts Public Practice’s love of the theatrical at the forefront, York presiding like a mythical higher being over a thunderstorm of drummer Scott Rosenthal’s beats and McClelland and Citron’s spiralling, spiky accompaniments. Later, ‘Disposable’ metamorphoses from chunky Rapture riffs ready to soundtrack the grimiest of DIY discos to something more fragmented and eerie, like morning sun piercing through warehouse windows and shaking you out of party mode.

‘Gentle Grip’ doesn’t let you return to the real world for too long though, continuing on its ever-surprising journey through irresistible grooves and glittering masterpieces of invention. We might not be able to hit a proper dancefloor for some time but, with their debut album, Public Practice are urging us all to push the furniture aside and find relief in the space we’ve got. Don’t let their call go unanswered”.

I would encourage people to go and listen to Gentle Grip, as Public Practice have many years in the music industry ahead of them. That is where they are now and, without knowing when they can tour and get out and see people, I want to head back to last year when many sites and magazines were starting to pick up on this remarkable band. There aren’t too many features/interviews online relating to the band, but DIY featured them in 2019. I have picked out a couple of questions that I feel are important when it comes to understanding the band: which artists inspired them and how important New York is:

“Who were some artists that inspired you when you were just starting out (and why)?

The U2 album that they installed in everyone’s phone, unsolicited. Every time we plug in my phone in the van on tour this record we didn’t even know existed plays through the speakers and now we all inadvertently know the words to the first song.

You’re based in New York - what’s the music scene like there at the moment? Are there other artists breaking through at the same time that you take inspiration from?

We are very lucky to be a part of such a vibrant music scene in NYC where basically any night of the week there are bands worth seeing playing near by. We have a little family of bands that we play with often including Pill, Bodega, Future Punx, B Boys and Gustaf”.

I do love the band, and I appreciate how fresh and uplifting their music sounds whilst, at the same time, providing plenty of nuance and interesting angles. It is a pity they will not get to tour for a while, but I encourage people to follow them online and go and buy their music. I wanted to end with a recent interview from NME, as they were keen to catch up with one of the hottest rising bands of the moment. The interview is fascinating – I did not want to include the whole thing -, but they were asked about the future and touring:

“We’re going through a big cultural shift, which is a pretty weird time to be releasing records,” frontwoman Sam York sighs from her apartment. “We put a lot of work into this record and I’m excited to share it any way we can, but not being able to do shows is pretty heartbreaking as a performer.”

Over the last couple of years, Public Practice have made themselves an integral part of the New York DIY scene alongside the likes of Bodega, Future Punx and Pill. This isn’t any of the members’ first rodeo – York and guitarist Vince McClelland were formerly a part of promising post-punk group WALL, while bassist Drew Citron and drummer Scott Rosenthal were bandmates in Beverly. Given those projects, it’s unsurprising that this current outfit have become quietly renowned as one of the most exciting bands in the city, both on and off stage. Their songs and performances are theatrical and compelling, and are always ready to fuel a good time.

While other artists have been going live online, the New Yorkers have mixed opinions about doing it themselves. York concedes that there are “a lot of cool, creative things that can be done with live-streaming”, but she can’t reconcile the idea of performing to a screen with the feeling of an actual gig. “Being on stage with lights and the energy of a room full of people is incredibly powerful,” she says. “That’s something that that simply does not happen with this kind of online interaction. I don’t think it’s comparable.”

As for what lies ahead for Public Practice beyond the next few months, the band themselves aren’t sure. McClelland has been using the time in isolation to work on new music, while York has been struggling to access her creativity. They’re also aware of how slow the return to physically being able to take in culture will be. “I genuinely can’t picture what the cultural landscape is gonna look like,” York sighs again. One thing she can promise is the band will “keep making music we believe in and feel happy and excited to perform and share.” No matter what the future looks like, at least we’ll have that”.

I have high hopes for Public Practice, as they have a magnificent sound and have released a belting album. I hope they get to come to the U.K. later this year or next year, and I would really love to see them play. The New York band are definitely worth keeping an eye out for, as they are going to be…

PRETTY big very soon.

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Follow Public Practice

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/PublicPractice_

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/publicpractice/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/PublicPractice/

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/5iIR0tru2tKI6NPIYUJjkf

Bandcamp:

https://publicpractice.bandcamp.com/

FEATURE: Vinyl Corner: Rod Stewart – Atlantic Crossing

FEATURE:

 

Vinyl Corner

Rod Stewart – Atlantic Crossing

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IN the 1970s…

Rod Stewart’s career went through a couple of different phases. It was a bit of a mixed and slow start to the decade. 1974’s Smiler – his fifth solo album – gained some mixed reviews, and it was not one of his best works. Things change drastically the following year when Atlantic Crossing arrived. Though it is hard to buy the album on vinyl in perfect condition, there are options around, and you can pick up a pretty good copy. Stewart’s sixth solo album went to number-one on the U.K. charts, and Atlantic Crossing was his bid to gain some new commercial success; Stewart changed direction on Atlantic Crossing (and he signed to Warner Brothers), and the album was divided into two different sides:

“Fast Half (Side One)

1.    "Three Time Loser" (Rod Stewart) – 4:03

2.    "Alright for an Hour" (Stewart, Jesse Ed Davis) – 4:17

3.    "All in the Name of Rock 'N' Roll" (Stewart) – 5:02

4.    "Drift Away" (Mentor Williams) – 3:43

5.    "Stone Cold Sober" (Stewart, Steve Cropper) – 4:12

Slow Half (Side Two)

1.    "I Don't Want to Talk About It" (Danny Whitten) – 4:47

2.    "It's Not The Spotlight" (Barry Goldberg, Gerry Goffin) – 4:21

3.    "This Old Heart of Mine" (Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland, Eddie Holland, Sylvia Moy) – 4:04

4.    "Still Love You" (Stewart) – 5:08

5.    "Sailing" (Gavin Sutherland) – 4:37”.

I love Rod Stewart’s voice through Atlantic Crossing, and I think the album contains some of his best tracks. I grew up listening to songs like Sailing, I Don’t Want to Talk About It, Three Time Loser and Drift Away. During this album, Stewart cut ties with long-time associates such as Ronnie Wood and the musicians he had worked with when he was signed to Mercury Records. Completely overhauling his sound and working practice, Stewart recruited The Memphis Horns and three-quarters of Booker T and the MG’s. Rod Stewart left The Faces by the end of 1975. The group disliked his change of sound, and it seemed like Stewart and the rest of the group were moving in different directions. This article from Ultimate Classic Rock sheds more light on the success of Atlantic Crossing and Rod Stewart’s view on the album:

 “Although Stewart continued to struggle to gain traction on American radio stations, Atlantic Crossing was a sizable hit the U.S. as well as the U.K., breaking the Top 10 and going gold in the States while hitting No. 1 in Britain and spinning off a pair of Top Five singles ("Sailing," No. 1, and "This Old Heart of Mine," No. 4). Two years later, Crossing would deliver yet another hit, when "I Don't Want to Talk About It" was released as a two-sided single with "The First Cut Is the Deepest," a cut from his follow-up effort A Night on the Town.

Although some listeners, missed the Faces-style rootsy charm of his previous records, Crossing's success — coupled with guitarist Ron Wood joining the Rolling Stones — put the writing on the wall for the band, as well as Stewart's increasingly commercial focus on subsequent efforts.

"The world is a lot bigger than Great Britain and the Faces. A lot bigger," he told Creem. "I must have had blinkers on these last five years. I must have been mad using the same musicians over and over again. I should have branched out a long time ago. All the fun has come back into recording for me at last. I've never liked going into the studio and now I can't wait to go back. I'd always used the Faces on my albums so for that reason I've wanted to keep the band together. But now I know I can stand on my own two feet."

That attitude spilled over into the Faces' final round of dates, a tumultuous U.S. tour booked through the fall of 1975, and by the end of the year, the group announced it was splitting up — leaving Stewart to get right back to work on his next solo album.

"It only took three weeks' solid recording time to do it," he laughed. "When an album is only 40 minutes long, I'm a firm believer that it shouldn't take a year to make. I think I could make another one before Christmas".

Although many of the songs on Atlantic Crossing were not written by Rod Stewart, I think he makes the tracks his own. Stewart would find further success with 1976’s A Night on the Town; an album that contains classics like The First Cut Is the Deepest. The 1970s was a changeable and mixed decade for Stewart in terms of success, but I think Atlantic Crossing is a great album and one of his best solo efforts. In their review, this is what AllMusic had to say:

“Rod Stewart's sixth album was called Atlantic Crossing because the singer was literally crossing the Atlantic, making America his new home for reasons of the heart (he was fully enamored with actress Britt Ekland at the time) and the wallet (he was eager to escape Britain's restrictive tax rates). As it happens, 1975 was a perfect time for a new beginning for Stewart: the Faces were falling apart, his last LP, Smiler, wasn't roundly loved, and he had wrapped up his contract with Mercury and signed with Warner, so he completely rebooted, hiring legendary producer Tom Dowd to steer him through a slick, streamlined revamping of his signature sound. The first thing to be ditched were any traces of the ragged folkie who had popped up on all his first five solo albums, including on his career-making hit "Maggie May," a move that may partially have been due to Stewart's longtime writing partner Martin Quittenton deciding to sever ties with him.

Without those ringing acoustic guitars, Dowd and Stewart ratcheted up the rock & roll, soul, and whiskey-soaked ballads, first taking a stab at recording the album with the MG's (outtakes of which popped up on Warner's 2009 double-disc Collector's Edition of the album), then expanding this core group with other studio pros who could easily settle into a smooth, polished groove. The results were splashy without being glitzy, soulful without being gritty, an impressive big-budget revamp of Stewart that benefited enormously from a clutch of great songs, both originals and covers. Tellingly, all the great originals arrive on the first side dubbed "The Fast Half," with Rod writing blistering, funny rockers about being laid up three times with VD ("Three Time Loser") and suffering through an unwanted sobriety ("Stone Cold Sober"), then easing back for a quick romance on the Jesse Ed Davis co-written "Alright for an Hour" -- all good indications that his heart was still at a party. But the "Slow Half" did reveal that Stewart had lost none of his fine, nuanced interpretive skills, as he tore into Danny Whitten's "I Don't Want to Talk About It," took his first stab at "This Old Heart of Mine," and kept "Sailing" from drifting away into sentimentality. When taken together, the two halves might have showcased a somewhat slicker Stewart, but he was still the same old Rod with a big, oversized heart and an irresistible bad boy smirk. He may have crossed the Atlantic, but he was none worse for the wear for his journey, at least not yet.

Even if you are not a Rod Stewart fan, I think Atlantic Crossing is a fantastic album with plenty of variety and standouts. It is brilliantly produced (by Tom Dowd), and Stewart gives every song his all. Atlantic Crossing is not often talked about, but I think that it is a great album…

WORTH some serious exploration.

FEATURE: An Underrated Genius: A Perfect Ten: Ringo Starr’s Best Beats

FEATURE:

 

An Underrated Genius

IN THIS PHOTO: Ringo Starr captured in London in 1963/PHOTO CREDIT: Cyrus Andrews/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

A Perfect Ten: Ringo Starr’s Best Beats

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I will try not to step on my own toes…

PHOTO CREDIT: Bent Rej

and repeat myself in this feature. Excitedly over-eager and prepared for Ringo Starr’s eightieth birthday on 7th July, I composed a piece about him back in March. Although it has been less than two months since I last wrote about the mighty Ringo Starr, I will try and approach things from a different angle this time around. There will be some similarities: the word ‘genius’ appears on both features; I will be highlighting his finest drumming performances with The Beatles; I want to bring in words from other people, too – those who are far more qualified to explain why a particular bit of drumming is spellbinding and reveal some of the technical aspects of the performance. I do not need to give even casual fans of The Beatles details about when Starr (Richard Starkey) joined the band and what he brought. One reason why I have decided to revisit Starr’s percussive prowess – aside from the fact that the master turns eighty in a matter of weeks – is to satisfy a passion I have for his playing, whilst simultaneously dispelling any notions that he was a bad drummer! Though there was a time when people joked about Starr’s talent and did not give his drumming proper respect, there are still people today who see Starr as hugely inferior to other members of The Beatles.

IN THIS PHOTO: Ringo Starr with the rest of The Beatles/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

Sure, John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote the majority of the band’s songs and they must be regarded as two of the finest songwriters who have ever graced the planet. It sort of irks me that there are some who deride Starr’s brilliance or feel he was, in any way, a minimal and minor player in The Beatles’ story. I think so many of the band’s best songs are heightened and defined by Starr’s unique and wonderful playing – as I underlined and explained in my last feature. I will be quoting heavily from other articles, as I can only really describe why a performance hits me, rather than giving you any real technical specifications or proper explanation. I think Starr is not only an underrated genius; he has also inspired pretty much every drummer who has come since him – whether they know it or have just subconsciously absorbed Starr’s magnetic and phenomenal work. I think Starr’s drumming chops should not be doubted or undervalued, and there are articles that explain why Starr is such a terrific player. There is a magnificent feature that was published a few years back that goes into detail regarding Ringo Starr’s style, the kit he used and why he remains so distinct. Before I move on to selecting ten songs that perfectly epitomise Starr’s wide-ranging and undeniable gifts, I want to quote a few bits from the (excellent) article:

“He’s not a technical drummer. Men like Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa would run rings around him, but he is a good solid rock drummer with a steady beat, and he knows how to get the right sound out of his drums.”

That’s how Sir George Martin, the man who produced The Beatles into existence, summed up the magic of Ringo’s drumming genius. No, it wasn’t technically perfect, but it had an intuitive soul that all truly great musicians have. So how did he do it?

PHOTO CREDIT: Express Newspapers/Getty Images

Ringo was also known for “painting” his hi-hat with an unorthodox swing. He swung his stick at a more horizontal angle, glancing back and forth off of the hi-hat. He would also aim to hit the middle of the stick, not the tip. The beauty of this technique is that he could add more sound without expending more energy, simply by adjusting the angle of his swing and how close to the tip he would hit. This technique is easy to spot in early hits like “I Saw Her Standing There.”

Ringo’s drum sound was a collaboration between Ringo and master producer George Martin. It began with Ringo’s unorthodox approach to drum tuning. Up to that time, many of the early rock ‘n’ roll drummers were still aiming for the same tones produced by jazz, swing and bebop players.

Ringo wanted deeper, more resonant tones. He started by tightening his top heads and loosening the bottom heads. He also tinkered with the bass, removing the front head and adding blankets or pillows to muffle the sound. Ringo would also play with thin tea towels draped over the toms and a pack of cigarettes or roll of masking tape resting on the snare. As a final touch, Ringo removed the resonant heads from his toms, creating a louder, flatter effect”.

IN THIS PHOTO: Ringo Starr in 1964

Whilst it might be reductive to distil Starr’s awe-inspiring drummer to just ten songs, I would suggest people dig the back catalogue of The Beatles and listen to everything Starr played on. Whilst not every Starr turn is hugely memorable, there are certain albums that are raised to God-like levels because of Starr’s beats – Rubber Soul (1965) and Abbey Road (1969) stand out to me. Whilst every Beatles fan will have differing opinions as to Ringo Starr’s best drumming turns, I think there is some consensus as to songs that are simply impossible to ignore! I will be quoting some passages from a DRUM! Magazine article from last year that goes into detail about Starr’s best performances – I will not present my favourite songs in chronological order (as I am pretty annoying like that!). I think the finest Ringo Starr drumming performance is on Rain – which was a B-side on Paperback Writer (a non-album track) in 1966. When it comes to placing the other nine songs, it can be tough; for that reason, I am not going to rank his best drumming turns. I am also thankful to Goldmine Magazine, as they also provide some great insight into Ringo Starr’s choice tracks…

Rain (1966)

This is The Beatles song that, to me, really defines why Ringo Starr is a genius. If anyone is under the impression Starr was a crap drummer – silly, idiotic people -, then Rain should silence any doubts – whilst simultaneously blowing your mind wide fuck*ng open!

“Generally acknowledged as one of the percussive highlights of Starr’s Beatles career — by critics, fans, and Ringo himself — the 1966 B-side found Ringo moving all around the kit with precision while still remaining firmly in the pocket.“It was the first time and last time I ever played that busy,” Starr has said, although he actually had played in a not dissimilar fashion a few months earlier when he recorded the almost-as-wonderful drums for“She Said She Said” on “Revolver”  - Goldmine Magazine

“For those who disparage Starr as an unadventurous drummer, “Rain” should prove to be an ear-opener. After firing off bracing snare shots, he’s all over the kit by the halfway point of the first verse, and he stays that way through the entire song, free-forming fills and never repeating a phrase. The Beatles cut five takes of the rhythm track, recording them at a fast tempo but then slowing down the tape, which resulted in lower tones and a more disorienting drum sound.

Rather than a standard-issue guitar solo, there’s a break at 2:24 during which McCartney performs a booming, squiggly run. Starr locks in with him, matching every note on the snare before taking off wildly into the song’s psychedelic coda, replete with Lennon’s drug-induced backward chants. Summing up his own work on the track, Starr is anything but humble, at one point calling it “the best out of all the records I’ve ever made” – DRUM! Magazine

Tomorrow Never Knows (1966)

There are plenty of golden Ringo Starr performances on 1966’s Revolver – I’m Only Sleeping, She Said She Said (which I will talk about later), in addition to And Your Bird Can Sing among them -, but the album’s final track takes some beating! The Beatles produced more their fair share of epic album closers (they would end their next album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, with A Day in the Life; another genius Starr performance!), and Tomorrow Never Knows ranks alongside the best. The power and technique from Ringo Starr throughout the song is spinetingling!

“There are tape loops galore—seagull sounds, an orchestra droning on a B-flat chord, a finger rubbing the rim of a wine glass—along with backward guitar solos and other bits of aural experimentation. Underneath Lennon’s almost unrecognizable sneer (altered by a Leslie speaker and artificial double-tracking) is a pounding, hypnotic, and utterly sensational drum performance by Starr. Playing on slackened tom heads, his minimalist pattern of eighth-notes on the crash (with a subtle variation on his snare-and-tom work from “Ticket To Ride”) barely waivers. Paired with McCartney’s equally repetitive bass line, it’s the perfect underpinning for this daring musical free-for-all” – DRUM! Magazine

Something (1969)

Whilst some would not include Something in the list of the top-ten Ringo Starr drumming performances, I think it should be. The George Harrison-written highlight from Abbey Road (alongside his other track, Here Comes the Sun) is almost perfect! From the sublime vocal to the gorgeous and deeply personal lyrics, I think Starr takes it over the top with his wonderfully-judged and phenomenal drumming.

“Ringo once described his drumming on “Abbey Road” as “tom-tom madness” — due to the fact that he had just obtained a marvelous-sounding new kit with calf skin drum heads — and that madness is in full effect on this song. At first blush the drums might sound simple, but once the bridge kicks in, Starr elevates the track to another level by upping the dynamics considerably. There’s a version of the song on YouTube that has the drums isolated — hearing that bridge section is absolutely mind blowing” – Goldmine Magazine

In My Life (1965)

There are so, so many Rubber Soul tracks that stand in the mind, but I think John Lennon’s In My Life is the best of them all! It is such an emotional and beautiful song that, to be honest, could take the breath with no drumming at all. It was quite brave adding percussion in, but Starr’s playing adds something extra to the song; it seems to have its own voice that transforms In My Life from a wonderful song to a masterpiece.

“The instrumentation on “In My Life” matched the song’s gentle Baroque pop—Lennon on softly strummed electric rhythm, Harrison playing lattice-like riffs, McCartney performing understated bass lines. As for Starr, he provided a subtle rhythmic underpinning that is perhaps the song’s greatest sonic asset. Rather than keep a straight 2 and 4 beat, he composed an arresting and memorable soft-funk rhythm based around the hi-hat, snare, and bass drum—he doesn’t even touch his toms and crashes—and only attends to the ride during the tune’s captivating bridges (“In my life, I’ve loved them all”) where he splits his time between quarter- and eighth-note patterns.

Starr later overdubbed a tasteful tambourine part that underscored the song’s wistful lyrics, and Martin added a brilliantly composed, Bach-influenced piano solo section that sounded remarkably like a harpsichord. Everything came together to complete what Lennon would later call his “first real major piece of work” – DRUM! Magazine

She Said She Said (1966)

Revolver is an album that is packed with exceptional drumming performances. Whilst Starr does not top the work he did on Tomorrow Never Knows on She Said She Said, I just adore what he did to the track and how he brings so much passion, texture and nuance to the song. Take a listen to the song and concentrate on Starr’s percussion: it is a masterclass in how sparsity and subtlety can make as big an impression as power, potency and loads of layers.

“Ringo’s unorthodox drumming style has given the band some of the most memorable moments in their songs. Take, for instance, the John Lennon-written bluesy classic ‘Come Together’. Starr’s drums on this single are a testament to his laconic style. His style is swinging and cultured, as he “plays with his shoulder”—it leads to some off-beat and unique fills. It’s a style that is almost impossible to replicate.

The song ‘She Said She Said’, a track penned by Lennon for the 1966 album Revolver, was once described as “an ‘acidy’ song” by Lennon. It was the beginning of the band’s rejection of their popstar tagline. They were now expanding not only their sound but their minds.

The lyrics were inspired by actor Peter Fonda’s comments during an LSD trip in August 1965. The striking opening lines “She said, she said, I know what it’s like to be dead,” were attributed by Lennon after a particular night with acid took place with members of The Beatles and The Byrds.

‘She Said, She Said’ is also a contentious song for the fact it doesn’t feature Paul McCartney at all on the record. Macca allegedly stormed out of the recording sessions after an argument over the arrangement of the tune. But Ringo Starr more than makes up for his departure bringing an understated rhythm to this psychedelic number” – Far Out Magazine

Strawberry Fields Forever (1967)

This is another Beatles masterpiece, and it is part of the double A-side (with Penny Lane) that dropped in 1967 which still sounds out of this world today! Of course, we all know John Lennon wrote the track and, whilst the rest of the band definitely bring their A-game, it is, again, Starr’s drumming that transforms the song into this biblical, transcendent thing.

“With each new verse, he opens the kit up more, laying down a furious sixteenth-note groove on the floor tom while increasing the intensity of his fills. By the final verse, taken from the “harder” second take, he’s bearing down like he’s in a drum line. After the innovative fade-out/fade-in fake, Starr is in full freak-out mode, performing some of his most flamboyant and sophisticated licks before the whole thing ebbs away with Lennon’s infamous “cranberry sauce” line, which many listeners thought was “I bury Paul,” one more element of the “Paul is dead” hoax” – DRUM! Magazine

I Feel Fine (1964)

There are two camps of Beatles fans: those who prefer their tighter and more Pop-y songs pre-1966, and those who gravitate towards the more experimental songs that appeared on Revolver and albums after that. I think Ringo Starr’s drumming went up a notch on Rubber Soul in 1965, but there are some cuts pre-1965 where he really brought the heat! I Feel Fine is a prime example from 1964. This Lennon-penned single features one of Starr’s most joyous and accomplished performances – it is definitely in my top-five!

“Paul McCartney: “The drumming is what we used to think of as ‘What’d I Say’ drumming…sort of a Latin R&B that Ray Charles’ drummer played on the original record, and we used to love it. One of the big clinching factors about Ringo as the drummer in the band was that he could really play that so well” – Goldmine Magazine

“And so “I Feel Fine” starts, and after Harrison’s splendid, arpeggiated opening riff, Starr grabs hold. Although the song is in 4/4 time, Starr performs the verses as something of a subtle hybrid of mambo and R&B, the main influence being the Latin feel in Ray Charles’ hit “What’d I Say.” While teasing the ride cymbal with a groovy, heavily accented “stuttering” pattern, he alternates between the tom and snare rim clicks as if they were conga drums—a sexy and stylish flow that works as the perfect counterpoint to Harrison’s distinctive lead lines” - DRUM! Magazine

She Loves You (1963)

There is not much I can say about this iconic single that has not been said before! Released in the U.K. on 23rd August, 1963, She Loves You is one of the greatest singles ever released. It is quintessential 1960s Pop, albeit on a different plain to anything else. The fact the song has inspired and survived for nearly sixty years is down to the band giving it their all – including a tremendous bit of drumming from Ringo Starr!

“Beginning with rolling toms followed by a staccato beat during the chorus and the open hi-hat that became a Starr trademark in the early years, the drive, passion and pure energy here is undeniable” – Goldmine Magazine

A Day in the Life (1967)

I do not think any album has ended as memorably as Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. A Day in the Life is a symphony in itself, and it could not have appeared in any other position on the album – it ends so dramatically, any song that follows it would have sounded pale in comparison. By 1967, Starr was near the top of his game, and A Day in the Life is full of so much detail and nuance. The lyrics, vocals and compositions make A Day in the Life a true masterpiece; Starr’s unbelievable drumming, again, turns a piece of near-genius into an unbeatable and untouchable epic.

“Lesser drummers might have approached Lennon’s folk-flavored first verses with a straight beat or even a soft shuffle, but Starr treats them as musical theater, dispensing with the idea of rhythm in favor of those well-placed, well-spaced tom flurries. Played on low-tuned calfskin heads and drenched with echo, they sound like timpani in a concert hall, contrasting with the spine-tingling effect of Lennon’s detached, almost otherworldly vocals.

After an orchestral crescendo and the ring of an alarm clock, Starr keeps militaristic pace with McCartney through the cheeky “woke up, fell out of bed/dragged a comb across my head” section, and then we’re plunged back into Lennon’s kaleidoscopic vision. Here, Starr is in full bloom, working double-duty as a peerless timekeeper and a virtuoso pit drummer, providing ingeniously propulsive tom licks that rise up to meet Lennon as the song spirits away to its shattering conclusion” – DRUM! Magazine

Come Together (1969)

The reason I have only quoted from Goldmine Magazine and DRUM! Magazine is because, between them, they have chosen the very finest Ringo Starr performances in their lists. There are one or two songs that are exclusive to each – ones they do not both mention -, but I am not being lazy by only selecting onr song outside of that (She Said She Said), as I agree with what they say. There are some notable omissions – I have only selected ten tracks to show you the tip of the Starr iceberg of drumming genius -, but I could not ignore Abbey Road’s Come Together. Like Rubber Soul, Abbey Road is a brilliant percussion album where Starr turns every song into something golden. I could have selected I Want You (She’s So Heavy) and The End in addition to Come Together and Something. I feel bad fort leaving out Here Comes the Sun, but it just shows how many staggering performances from Starr there were on Abbey Road alone – let alone every other Beatles album.  

“Emerick’s innovations worked wonders on the minimalistic drum figures Starr employed on “Come Together.” Coming off a sixteenth-note triplet on the hi-hat, Starr plays what is now one of his signature licks, a melodic triplet roll across the toms—“tapita tapita tapita tap”—that segues into the backbone of the song, a floor tom–led pattern that sounds both groovy and ominous. On the next two choruses, he transcends the “less is more” ethos with beautifully placed snare cracks on the 2 and 4, and it is not until the organ/guitar solo section that he opens the kit up, laying down a driving rhythm on the crash and snare. For the final chorus, he reduces his playing to a single quarter-note bass drum pattern before taking flight once again.

All in all, it’s a masterful performance that once again underscores Starr’s ability to compose the perfect hooks and to play exactly what is needed at exactly the right point in a song” – DRUM! Magazine

FEATURE: The Lockdown Playlist: Hip-Hop Gold

FEATURE:

The Lockdown Playlist

PHOTO CREDIT: @breakreate/Unsplash

Hip-Hop Gold

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FROM focusing on various years…

PHOTO CREDIT: @omarlopez1/Unsplash

of music, I have branched out into genres and different scenes. I thought I would present some great Hip-Hop cuts for the Lockdown Playlist today. This is a genre that I really love, so I have delved into the archives and united some classics and newer tracks. We still have a little while until we come out of lockdown, so I think music is going to be important in keeping us all upbeat and looking ahead. Enjoy the playlist, and I hope there is something in there that strikes the ear. If you require some energy and boost to get you through the day, then I think I have a selection of great songs that should…

PHOTO CREDIT: @wackomac007/Unsplash

DO the trick.

FEATURE: He Contains Multitudes: The Bob Dylan Playlist

FEATURE:

 

He Contains Multitudes

The Bob Dylan Playlist

___________

AS Bob Dylan is seventy-nine…

PHOTO CREDIT: Bettmann/Bettmann Archive

today (24th May), I felt it only right to put together a career-spanning playlist to celebrate his work. I do not think I have done an essential Dylan – not for a while, anyway -, so I think one is long-overdue! It is amazing to think that he is still putting out original material – a few new songs have arrived so far this year -, and Rough and Rowdy Ways is out on 19th June. I am a fan of Dylan’s work, so I wanted to pay tribute and wish him a very happy birthday! From his earliest work in the 1960s through to the present time, the legend has inspired fans and musicians alike. It seems like there is no slowing the songwriting genius so, with that in mind, I have compiled a career-spanning playlist that salutes…

PHOTO CREDIT: Express Newspapers/Getty

A true great. 

FEATURE: Second Spin: Britney Spears - Britney

FEATURE:

 

Second Spin

Britney Spears - Britney

___________

FOLLOWING the success of…

IN THIS PHOTO: Britney Spears in 2001

2000’s Oops!... I Did It Again, there was a certain level of pressure on Britney Spears when it came to her third album. Released a year after Oops!... I Did It Again, Britney was out in the market. Although Spears was nineteen when Britney was released, she wanted to move in a more mature direction for her third album. If her first couple of albums were more Pop-focused, Britney fuses Electronica, Hip-Hop and Disco into the mix. There is a slightly harder edge to the music, and I think that was a natural transition for an artist who had been in the public eye for a few years and did not want to repeat herself. I love the blend of sounds, and I don’t think she sacrificed big tunes in the desire of evolution and a more serious direction. With some brilliant production throughout, Spears addressed adulthood and sexuality. I think she balanced the more fun and dispensable Pop sound with songs that had a serious and less accessible edge. Maybe critics were looking for something like her first two albums; maybe they were uncomfortable with her image. There was a lot of press attention given over to a more proactive look and sound from Spears. If a male artist were in Spears’ shoes, there would be no complaints. She was still a role model for women, but as she approached twenty, Spears was growing into womanhood; none of her songs promote a bad message, and I think a lot of the grumbling and judgement was the feeling Spears was setting a bad example.

That said, the album debuted at number-one on the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 745,750 copies. Its success made Spears the first female artist to have her first three studio albums debut atop the chart, a record she would later break again with her fourth studio album, In the Zone (2003). I’m a Slave 4 U is a sweaty and thrilling number where Spears pushed up the sauce factor. With influences of Urban and Middle Eastern music, her development and experimentation were clear from the off. Overprotected talks of a girl being manipulated and not wanting to stand for it any longer – the song’s Europop flavours makes it an instant gem. A lot of what was being discussed on Britney would have resonated with girls and women alike. Tracks that investigate loneliness and impedance would have resonated with many of Spears’ fans and, whilst her videos were definitely catching the eye, there was never a sense of Spears leading young fans down a bad path or her flaunting flesh to get coverage. This was Spears’ most eclectic album to date, and one where she was able to push the envelope and win the heart. I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman dealt with the struggle teenage girls experience, and it is a mature and memorable offering. Songs like Boys and I’m a Slave 4 U are among Spears’ best songs.

Whilst there are some issues with the album – the second half is weaker than the first; I Love Rock 'n' Roll could have been reserved as a B-side -, there are great moments to keep you invested. Though Britney Spears has released finer albums - Oops!... I Did It Again and 2007’s Blackout -, I think she is someone who courted negative reviews, just because of who she was and not what she was producing. Britney is an album that has some great songs, and Spears sounds committed throughout. I agree that there are some filler tracks, but I think a lot of reviews reacted to the attention Spears was getting in the media; the fact here was a huge Popstar that we could tear down. This is what SLANT wrote back in 2001:

“The problem is, however, that Spears is also a consummate under-achiever. There’s a learning curve in pop superstardom and Britney’s development has seemed comparatively slow—if only because she’s released three albums in such a short period without much time for growth in between. The media generously and optimistically dubbed her the next Madonna but she’s nowhere near “Live to Tell” and she’s light years away from Like a Prayer. (It’s undoubtedly hard to gain street cred when you think DJ Skribble matters anywhere else but at the Jersey Shore.) Her interpretations of classics like “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” and, now, “I Love Rock N’ Roll” lack irony and grit. Her work with electronic guru BT was guiltlessly scrapped because it didn’t “fit” Spears’s vision. (Lord knows we wouldn’t want to silence the screaming TRL contingent.)

Spears unveiled the album’s first single, “I’m a Slave 4 U,” at the 2001 VMAs. The song, her chirpy voice and performance initially recalled Paula Abdul’s last moderate hit, “My Love Is for Real.” Both songs have subtle Middle Eastern flavors and both require little of their vocalists. However, “Slave” (produced by the ubiquitous Neptunes), coupled with one of the hottest videos of the year (courtesy of director Francis Lawrence), elevates Ms. Spears just slightly above her paradoxical squeaky clean image. Likewise, the retro-funky “Boys” calls on Janet’s “Nasty” and Vanity’s “Nasty Girl” to help channel Spears’s chastity into unapologetic dancefloor aggression.

Other surprise deviations from the formula include the saccharine-doused disco of “Anticipating” and the midtempo “That’s Where You Take Me,” in which Spears gives a Janet-inspired performance amid Middle Eastern chimes and a collage of electronic beats and drum programming. Martin and Rami spice up their pop recipe on the savory “Overprotected” but the hip-pop of tracks like “Let Me Be” and “Bombastic Love” stick to the same old Britney blueprint. Britney fills her role of guilty pleasure (the disc certainly satiates more than the stunted growth of last year’s Oops!…I Did It Again), but it’s time for Spears to quit being such a cock-tease and cook something up that will satisfy the ever-vacillating hype-machine”.

I have been looking at reviews long after Britney came out, and opinion has changed slightly. Maybe there was too much expectation on her shoulders, and Spears was trying to please those who wanted Pop classics and others who wanted her to progress and change.

Britney is a hugely autobiographical album, and one that won her a lot of new fans. In their review from 2013, AllMusic were in a positive frame of mind:

“The title says it all -- that this third album is where it's all about Britney. Actually, the titles say it all: Britney is "Overprotected," she pleads "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman," tries to let us all see "What It's Like to Be Me." All three songs are pivotal moments on Britney Spears' third album, the record where she strives to deepen her persona (not the same thing as her character, of course), making it more adult while still recognizably Britney. That much was evident from the selection of the first single, "I'm a Slave 4 U," a sultry Neptunes-produced salute to Prince that is so far removed from the big, glitzy Max Martin productions that are her signature that at first it sounds awkward, even wrong. As it grows, it sounds like one of her best singles -- a skittering, spare funk number that is a perfect next move for her teasing, unformed sexiness. Such a departure seems to signal a full album of surprises like that, especially when teamed with the aforementioned title, but Britney isn't that bold -- after it opens with the Neptunes' retro-future funk, it delves right back into Martin territory with "Overprotected." At first, that's a disappointment, but then the small, yet significant, changes become apparent. Rhythmically and melodically, the whole album is sharper, tougher than what came before.

IN THIS PHOTO: Britney Spears performing at the V.M.A.s in 2001/PHOTO CREDIT: Kevin Mazur/Wireimage/Getty Images

What used to be unabashedly frothy has some disco grit, underpinned by Spears' spunky self-determination that helps sell hooks that are already catchier, by and large, than those that populated her previous two albums. While there's no denying that this reinvention and statement of dogged individuality is no doubt a calculated move (and a brilliant, timely one at that), there's no denying that it's effective, in large part because Spears is committed to making this record work. She's co-written more songs than ever before, and these are strong selections, whether it's the hard-edged "Lonely," the sweet "That's Where You Take Me," or, especially, the neo-disco "Anticipating," one of the pure delights on this record. These are small steps forward -- really, the most overt steps forward are the collaborations with the Neptunes on "Slave" and "Boys," which are the sexiest sounding cuts she ever did -- but most of the Martin productions sound fuller (particularly the Dido-written ballad "I'm Not a Girl"), and Rodney Jerkins offers some welcome rhythmic invention on many of his contributions.

This isn't a perfect record -- Martin stumbles on "Bombastic Love," Jerkins drops the ball on "I Love Rock N Roll" (this year's entry of the now obligatory cringe-inducing classic rock by Ms. Spears) -- but it does sound like the work of a star who has now found and refined her voice, resulting in her best record yet (and rivaling Mandy Moore's eponymous album as the best teen-pop record yet released). It's enough of a reinvention to suggest that Britney will know what to do when the teen-pop phenomenon of 1999-2001 passes for good”.

Maybe Britney sounds a little dated now, but I think it inspired a lot of other Pop artists of the time, and Spears would follow Britney with 2003’s In the Zone – an album that was better received and contains the brilliant single, Toxic. I would encourage people to listen to Britney, as it has some great tracks, and it is interesting comparing the album with her first two and seeing how she grew. I think Britney deserves some reappraisal and, as it was released almost twenty years ago, we can see artists who have taken the album to heart and incorporated elements in their work. Despite some patchy moments, Britney is an album that warrants more respect and acclaim. I have been playing it a bit lately, and some of the songs I missed back in 2001 are revealing themselves to me now.  I am glad I have featured Britney and given some new exposure to…

A pretty decent album.

FEATURE: I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass (and Other Strange Objects): Kate Bush and the Fairlight CMI

FEATURE:

 

I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass (and Other Strange Objects)

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in the 1980s

Kate Bush and the Fairlight CMI

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I have sort of covered this…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush with a Fairlight CMI in 1982

in other features, yet I have not focused on the Fairlight CMI. Whilst Kate Bush did incorporate other synthesisers and equipment into her work from the time of Never for Ever (1980), it was that album that marked a real change and eye-opener – the Fairlight CMI was a passage to new worlds and possibilities. For some more information about the Fairlight CMI and Kate’s quotes relating to it, here is a useful bit of information from the Kate Bush Encyclopaedia: 

 “The Fairlight CMI (short for Computer Musical Instrument) is a digital synthesizer, sampler and digital audio workstation introduced in 1979 by the founders of Fairlight, Peter Vogel and Kim Ryrie, developed based on the commercial license of Qasar M8 dual-MC6800 microprocessor musical instrument originally developed by Tony Furse of Creative Strategies in Sydney, Australia. It was one of the earliest music workstations with an embedded digital sampling synthesizer. It rose to prominence in the early 1980s and competed in the market with the Synclavier from New England Digital.

Peter Gabriel was the first owner of a Fairlight Series I in the UK, with Boz Burrell of Bad Company purchasing the second, which Hans Zimmer hired for many recordings during the early part of his career. It was Peter Gabriel who introduced Kate Bush to the Fairlight. She first began to use the Fairlight on her album Never For Ever. By the time of the albums The Dreaming and Hounds Of Love it had become her primary writing tool.

As we have a Fairlight, it tends to negate us getting in other sampling gear. We're pretty well covered with the Fairlight and the DX7 for keyboard and the quality of the Fairlight is much better, though so difficult to use. Everyone says that. I used to programme it myself, but since the new software... I can't keep up. They keep changing it as soon as I learn to programme it. (What Katie did next. International Musician, 1989)

I'm not sure it really made me more in control, but it introduced a whole new library of sounds that I was able to access. And the Fairlight had a very specific quality to its sound which I really liked, so it was very much a sort of atmospheric tool for me. (Kate Bush Speaks. The Fader, 23 November 2016)”.

On Lionheart’s (1978) Wow, Coffee Homeground and Hammer Horror, Bush did use a synthesiser – it was played by Duncan Mackay. Whilst those songs are afforded a certain resonance and originality; the synthesiser we get on Wow does give the song a definite strangeness. Maybe Bush would have discovered the Fairlight CMI without Peter Gabriel, but I’d like to think of her, eyes wide, being blown away when she heard it played; thinking to herself what it could bring to her albums! I am not sure whether Babooshka was selected as the opening track (and second single) on Never for Ever because Bush was eager to get the Fairlight into play, or whether Babooshka just seemed like a perfect way to open one of her best albums – I suspect there was a bit of both.

I love what she manages to summon with the Fairlight CMI on Babooshka. The breaking glass sound, especially, is wonderful. In terms of the song’s lyrics, I guess the breaking glass represents shattered trust, change…or maybe Bush just wanted to take her compositions away from being largely piano-based and shake things up a bit. The Yamaha CS-80 polyphonic synthesizer appears on Babooshka and All We Ever Look For, and I wonder, actually, whether it was the Fairlight or Yamaha that Bush used to get the breaking glass effects from – I suspect it was the Fairlight. As today is International Synthesiser Day (23rd May is the birthday of Robert Moog – he was an American engineer and pioneer of electronic music. He was the founder of Moog Music and the inventor of the first commercial synthesizer, the Moog synthesizer, which debuted in 1964), it is interesting to note that a Minimoog was used on the track, Egypt. In fact, Never for Ever utilises synthesisers and synthetic sounds in a way Kate Bush had never done before. Maybe Hounds of Love (1985) was when she utilised equipment like the Fairlight CMI best, though nobody can deny just how much she got from synthesisers between 1980 and 1985. Whilst the Prophet synthesizer on Breathing is magnificent, and the Prophet 5 synthesizer on Egypt works beautifully (played by other instruments), it was Bush’s playing and experimentation with the Fairlight CMI (John L. Walters and Richard James Burgess programmed it) that, to me, defines Never for Ever and how it took Bush to a new stage.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush on Peters Pop Show in 1985

Some noted how Bush sounded a bit flighty on The Kick Inside and Lionheart (from 1978) and, by 1980, she was able to be theatrical, dramatic and varied without losing identity or sounding too flighty (if that is an appropriate word to use?!) – the more eclectic compositions maybe took some of the pressure from her voice, as it were. I love her first two albums, but even I wont dispute the fact Bush was evolving and producing genius work on Never for Ever. I will move on to The Dreaming and Hounds of Love (and beyond) in a bit, but this fascinating article is worth a read, as it gives a breakdown on some of Bush’s biggest songs and how the Fairlight CMI comes into play:

“Running Up That Hill

Arguably Kate Bush’s most well-known song, Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) is full of strange tones, with a dreamy background that transcends the usual synthpop palette of the era. When asked about some of the production techniques in a 1986 interview with Island Ear, Bush was very tight-lipped, preferring to keep her production secrets to herself so they wouldn’t be imitated. However, she did confirm that the songs scooped parts came from the Fairlight.

Regarding the types of sounds you get, how did you get that little part on "Running Up That Hill" that comes in first at the start of the song, after the drums and before the vocals? That's the Fairlight and that was actually what I wrote the song with. That was what the song was written around.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush performing Babooshka on French T.V. in 1980

Army Dreamers

Army Dreamers from Bush’s 1980 album Never For Ever uses the Fairlight for its cello sound, this time the SOLOSTR2 sample from the HISTRING bank. The folk instrument that plays the melody in the intro sounds suspiciously like the KICHAPEE sample, although it can’t be the Fairlight as the sounds last longer than its sampler would allow. The song may have been demo'd with the Kichapee sound and then recorded with a real instrument for the final version.

All We Ever Look For

In the track All We Ever Look For, the intro's whistling hook comes from the Fairlight, specifically the WHISTLE sample from the WIND bank. Again, the patch is played without manipulation, although it is layered with a piano and synth to strengthen the overall sound of the sample. The synth is the Yamaha CS-80, which was Bush’s favourite at the time. The lead patch is a simple square wave patch that uses pulse-width modulation to get a wind-like hollow sound.

Babooshka

The lead plucked sound in Babooshka is the CS-80, possibly layered with a Balalaika or another folk instrument. In Arturia CS-80 V, I used the Voice I preset 9 (Guitar 1) and made use of the touch sensitivity to add a human element to the part. The touch-sensitivity is the feature that Kate has mentioned being her favourite of the CS-80, which isn't surprising as she is also a pianist”.

The Fairlight CMI can be heard on every track from The Dreaming bar Pull Out the Pin and Suspended in Gaffa. This was the first album Bush produced solo – she co-produced Never for Ever with Jon Kelly -, and I am not surprised that the Fairlight become more instrumental and used. I am not sure that, if she had discovered the Fairlight on her debut album, the record company would have been as happy to let her use it as much. I guess having the freedom to produce how she wanted meant that she could move on a direction that felt natural to her. Tracks like The Dreaming, Houdini and Get Out of My House are given extra weight and intrigue because of the Fairlight CMI. Piano was still evident across The Dreaming, but far less in the spotlight as it was on The Kick Inside and Lionheart – almost like Bush stepping into the modern day and more away from the classical image of her first couple of records.

The Fairlight isn't just capable of instantly replaying a given sampled envelope (waveshape) at a different frequency: it can be used to modify the shape, too. Kate, however, finds it infinitely preferable to retain the natural envelope. In an interview with Electronic Soundmaker circa 1983, Bush discussed the Fairlight CMI and how it transformed her music:

"Quite often there's very little that needs doing to it. Occasionally I quite like reversing it -- quite an interesting example of that was when I was working on "The Dreaming". I wanted a dijeridu, and as the Fairlight is an Australian instrument, it happened to have a dijeridu as one of its present samples." This was used as the basis of a loop, which illustrates another aspect of the <Fairlight> CMI: it can construct a sound that lasts longer than its maximum sampling period, by looping sections of the original envelope together.

"There's a page <commands for modifying or setting up sounds are presented as pages on a display screen> where you can loop your sound up, and you can vary the length of the loop according to what you want. Other pages have different functions. For instance, page two is the voice page, so that's where you actually call up the sound. You can actually create sounds by drawing your own waves, but the problem is that they do tend to sound very synthetic, and I haven't found any use for them. It's very hard to draw something that sounds natural -- it's a very complicated thing."

We then rounded on the visual dimension of the CMI.

"That's something that's very useful: you can actually see a sound. Incredibly ugly sounds can look really beautiful. It's really like another dimension: visual interpretation of the world rather than audial."

And again Kate enthused about the "human element" of the Fairlight.

"I'm very into natural sounds -- particularly taking them out of their range, and maybe sometimes putting them backwards. I suppose I like distortion of natural things. I like to still feel there's something natural in it."

The main employment for the Fairlight -- certainly as far as Kate Bush is concerned -- is as a tool for filling gaps in the music.

"When you've already got the song, and there's a gap in there, and you know that there's some kind of instrument that will fit it, you know that it's gonna come out of the Fairlight, and just can't find it, it's incredibly frustrating".

Maybe some of the sounds produced on The Dreaming was a bit too much for critics back in 1982 – since, Bush’s replication of natural sounds is seen as one of the key reasons why The Dreaming is such a rich and challenging album. Perhaps the greatest use of the Fairlight CMI came on Hounds of Love. In 1983, Bush built her own 24-track studio in the barn behind her family home which she could use at any time she liked.

This gave her the freedom to work of her schedule and, also, used the Fairlight CMI as liberally as she wished. This article talks about Bush building her studio and how she worked on Hounds of Love:

“Bush would describe building her own studio as “the best decision I ever made”, and she kitted it out with the most up-to-date music technology of the time: LinnDrum machines, a vast array of synths and, most importantly, her Fairlight CMI sampler, which she had utilised heavily on preceding album The Dreaming and would incorporate in a very forward-thinking way on Hounds of Love and future productions. She composed the bulk of the album’s material with the Fairlight after using a Yamaha CS-80 as her primary composition tool on previous albums.

Cloudbusting is a sample-heavy composition that Bush wrote and arranged on the Fairlight CMI. “Discovering the Fairlight gave me a whole new writing tool, as well as an arranging tool,” Bush told Option magazine in 1990, “…like the difference between writing a song on a piano or on a guitar. With a Fairlight you’ve got everything: a tremendous range of things. It completely opened me up to sounds and textures, and I could experiment with these in a way I could never have done without it.”

The eighth track Waking the Witch is a chilling piece of textured sound. A freaky, whispered voice states “wake up” with an ominous swelling piano chord kicking off the composition (which is actually recorded backwards) resolving into a sampled voice saying “this is your early morning call” before exploding into a sea of chopped-up myriad voices insisting that the listener (or Bush herself) wakes up. Crazed piano and guitar arpeggios then form an uneasy, uncomfortable musical landscape as the track conjures an image of a witch trial. Watching You Without Me is the perfect comedown from the insanity of the previous aural onslaught”.

Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) is, perhaps, the most notable and famous use of the Fairlight CMI that, along with Del Palmer’s (he was an engineer on the album and played various parts) LinnDrum programming, gives the song such majesty and beauty. Drums, Fairlight CMI and cello are the only non-vocal parts on Hounds of Love – the fact there is no bass makes it amazing! -, and The Big Sky (my favourite song from Hounds of Love) shows that the Fairlight CMI can work alongside instruments as diverse as the bass and digeridoo! Apart from string and drums (and vocals from Kate Bush, John Carder Bush, Paddy Bush, Del Palmer and Brian Bath), it is the Fairlight CMI that provides this vibrant palette that scores one of Kate Bush’s finest songs. 1989’s The Sensual World signalled a return to more keyboard and piano and, not to equate a slight dip in quality with the relative absence of the Fairlight CMI – Del Palmer played Fairlight CMI percussion on the album -, but there might be a link. To be fair, Bush wanted to keep moving and not repeat herself, and The Sensual World features a banquet of different instruments – included are whip (swished fishing rod), valiha, mandolin, tupan, uilleann pipes, whistle and bouzouki! Fairlight programming can also be heard on The Red Shoes (1993), but I think that was the last time that Bush really used this technological aid in her music – listen to Aerial (2005), Director’s Cut (2011) and 50 Words for Snow (2011) and Bush sort of returns to the musical template of her first couple of albums – albeit, more expansively and maturely.

From the first breakthrough after The Kick Inside, Never for Ever (1980), to her magnum opus, Hounds of Love (1985), the Fairlight CMI changed the way Bush felt, worked and wrote. She was less constricted and could use technology to give her music so much more range and effect. It is a shame that she sort of retired the Fairlight CMI by the 1990s, but I guess technology changed and, as she was working in digital from that point, maybe she felt that she needed to use other instruments and change the way she composed. I listen to Never for Ever, The Dreaming and Hounds of Love, and I marvel at many things: the staggering vocals and how tight her musicians are; the lyrical range and genius throughout, and the blend of traditional instruments and the Fairlight CMI. Bush herself was inspired and motivated by seeing Peter Gabriel utilise the Fairlight CMI, but there is no doubt she influenced artists who followed her because of the popularity of her albums where the Fairlight CMI was used. With the Series I: 1979–1982, Series II: 1982–1985 and Series III: 1985–1989 making a big impact on popular music, Bush and other artists played a big role in changing the landscape of music. You can read more information about the Fairlight CMI here, but it is worth noting the connection to Kate Bush and how important Never for Ever is:

“Peter Gabriel was the first owner of a Fairlight Series I in the UK. Boz Burrell of Bad Company purchased the second, which Hans Zimmer hired for many recordings during the early part of his career. In the US, Bruce Jackson demonstrated the Series I sampler for a year before selling units to Herbie Hancock and Stevie Wonder in 1980 for US $27,500 each. Meat-packing heir Geordie Hormel bought two for use at The Village Recorder in Los Angeles. Other early adopters included Todd Rundgren, Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran, producer Rhett Lawrence and Ned Liben of Ebn Ozn.

“The first commercially released album to incorporate it was Kate Bush's Never for Ever (1980), programmed by Richard James Burgess and John L. Walters.

Wonder took his Fairlight out on tour in 1980 in support of the album Stevie Wonder's Journey Through "The Secret Life of Plants" to replace the Computer Music Melodian sampler he had used on the recording. Geoff Downes of Yes conspicuously used a CMI with monitor on the band's 1980 tour to support the album Drama. The first classical album using the CMI was produced by Folkways Records in 1980 with composers Barton McLean and Priscilla McLean”.

Whilst the Fairlight CMI decreased in use and popularity after the 1980s, its legacy and use in music cannot be underestimated and understated – Phil Collins was another musician who took to the Fairlight:

“The ubiquity of the Fairlight was such that Phil Collins stated on the sleeve notes of his 1985 album No Jacket Required that "there is no Fairlight on this record" to clarify that he had not used one to synthesize horn and string sounds.

Coil considered the device unique and unsurpassed, describing using the Fairlight as "An aural equivalent of William Burroughs cut-ups".

In 2015, the Fairlight CMI was inducted into the National Film and Sound Archive's Sounds of Australia collection”.

For Kate Bush, there was this sense of awakening and endless possibility. For someone who was so curious when it came to the studio and technology, I can imagine the Fairlight was both a blessing and curse: Bush had access to a library of new sounds, but her near-perfectionist habits must have fatigued some of her musicians and crews and she searched for those ‘perfect sounds’! Helping to define and score some of her best songs and albums, the extraordinary Fairlight CMI was a…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush buying a Fairlight CMI in 1981

HUGE revelation.

FEATURE: The May Playlist: Vol. 4: Mr. Motivator Raining on My Parade

FEATURE:

 

The May Playlist

IN THIS PHOTO: Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande 

Vol. 4:  Mr. Motivator Raining on My Parade

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THIS week’s new cuts…

IN THIS PHOTO: IDLES/PHOTO CREDIT: Pooneh Ghana

includes some real gold! Not only is there music from Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande; there are selections from Tim Burgess, IDLES, Phoebe Bridgers,  Lucy Rose, HAIM, The 1975, Sia and Lianne La Havas. It has been another packed and interesting week for music and, if you require a soundtrack to get the weekend off to a good start, I have the playlist for you! It is going to be a bright and warm weekend, so I think it is a perfect time to acquaint yourself with the best tunes of the week and take them wherever you go. Despite the fact that we are in lockdown, it is amazing to see the quality of music coming through…

PHOTO CREDIT: Tim Burgess

WEEK after week.

ALL PHOTOS/IMAGES (unless credited otherwise): Artists

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Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande - Rain on Me

IDLES - Mr. Motivator

PHOTO CREDIT: Lera Pentelute

Phoebe Bridgers – I See You

Tim Burgess – Lucky Creatures

Orlando Weeks - Milk Breath

Lucy Rose - White Car

The 1975 – Tonight (I Wish I Was Your Boy)

Lianne La Havas - Can't Fight

HAIM - Don't Wanna

Khruangbin - So We Won't Forget

Bombay Bicycle Club – Lose You to Love Me

Sia – Together

The Mysterines – I Win Every Time

PHOTO CREDIT: Shervin Lainez

Katie Von Schleicher - Nowhere

We Are Scientists - I Cut My Own Hair

Fiona Harte - Auburn

Foster the People – Lamb’s Wool

The Naked and Famous – Death

Tove Lo – sadder badder cooler

PHOTO CREDIT: Alex Perkins

Carly Rae Jepsen – This Is What They Say

>

Mariah the Scientist – RIP

Nick Mulvey - Begin Again

Badly Drawn Boy – Banana Skin Shoes

Nasty Cherry - I am King

Inhaler – Falling In

Ellie Goulding – Power

India Jordan – Rave City

PHOTO CREDIT: Chris Sgroi

Matt Berninger - Serpentine Prison

Sinead Harnett – Quarantine Queen

Steve Earle – Union, God and Country

PHOTO CREDIT: OPD Brooks

Aidan Knight - Sixteen Stares

Marie Dahlstrom (ft. James Vickery) - I Don't Wanna Wake Up

Dream Wife - So When You Gonna…

Gia Woods – NAIVE

Will Joseph Cook - Driverless Cars

FEATURE: New Order: Utilising T.V. Streaming to Raise Finance and Awareness for the Music Industry

FEATURE:

 

New Order

PHOTO CREDIT: @thibaultpenin/Unsplash

Utilising T.V. Streaming to Raise Finance and Awareness for the Music Industry

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A few articles and bits of news…

PHOTO CREDIT: @john_matychuk/Unsplash

have come out in the past few days that has made me think about the lack of music T.V. and, when we have streaming giants like Netflix, why do we not have a channel or show that helps raise finance for the industry. Right now, venues are struggling and, whilst the Music Venue Trust has their #SaveOurVenues campaign, a lot of venues are being threatened with permanent closure. Social media and music journalism are great, but so many music fans are either unaware of the campaign, or they assume that everything is okay. I think there should either be a dedicated channel for the arts that allows for greater exposure and awareness, or a show on a platform like Netflix. So many venues require funding, and I think a show that gives information, links and videos from venues would be more effective than various news reports and tweets from myriad venues. A station would be even better, but I think a daily show on Netflix, or some other platform would provide a central and essential source for all the music needs and developments happening. Another heartbreaking story that has arrived is the possible end of Q magazine. Here is what The Quietus reported:

“Music magazines Q and Planet Rock could soon disappear from the shelves of newsagents after German-owned company Bauer Media announced a review of its portfolio of UK print titles.

The magazines are two of 10 print titles that are currently under review with Bauer Media saying that the coronavirus crisis is speeding up the shift of audiences and advertisers to online media. The company – which also owns UK radio stations such as Magic and Absolute – believes that maintaining its current portfolio of print magazines will not be possible beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. 

IMAGE CREDIT: Q

Following a review of its current portfolio, that will be carried out over the next month, Bauer is considering closing, selling, merging or moving to digital-only format the 10 named magazines. Q and Planet Rock are the only music-focused magazines under review.

"The pandemic and lockdown has further accelerated the trends already affecting the publishing industry," said Chris Duncan, the chief executive of UK Publishing at Bauer. "Bauer publishes nearly 100 magazines in the UK, and some titles that were already challenged, unfortunately, are not expected to be sustainable after the crisis. We must protect the long-term health of our business and ability to invest in future growth by re-shaping our portfolio".

I have been following the magazine since I was a child, and I got properly into music because of magazines like Q. I can understand that fewer people are buying the print edition, but I think a music show would help. There could be ongoing news about how Q are doing, and films made that look at how the magazine has changed through the years; some interviews with musicians and people who have worked at Q. I think the magazine will survive, but there are so many people that might have missed the news or are not sure how to best support Q. There would be many benefits to a music show on a streaming service. Think about the way Spotify treats artists and how little they are paid. Presenting that news and having a discussion laid out would better inform and motivate Spotify, and, in time, I’d like to think there will be real change where artists are paid depending on the quality of their music, rather than whether they are a mainstream act represented by a huge label.

PHOTO CREDIT: @kushagrakevat/Unsplash

The idea of a music television show would not just be about fundraising, but I think the music industry is facing its toughest challenge ever, and there are so many people out there who want to help out. Conversations could take place, important information could be laid out, and there would be a huge portal where people can donate. Sara Quin of Tegan and Sara; Pop singer-songwriter Ella Eyre; James McGovern of The Murder Capital; Jeremy Pritchard, bassist of Manchester’s Everything Everything and the singer-songwriter Jack Garratt spoke with The Guardian about their time in lockdown and the challenges they face. I have selected a couple of questions-answers that caught my eye:

“Lockdown has underlined that most musicians make their living from playing live, not from recorded music. How has the closure of all live venues for the foreseeable future affected you?

Jack Garratt: I’ve got an album coming out 12 June, so what do we do? It has inspired some really creative and interesting conversations but the fork in the road is a really big fork. Touring has completely dried up for the foreseeable future. Everything’s getting pushed until 2021, and even that’s a maybe. So not only is that promotion that I can’t do any more – the thing that I love doing – any revenue that I was going to make from shows, that’s just gone.

Sara Quin: We’re fucked, too. It’s not just about making money, it’s about that ecosystem of our agents, managers, band, crew, our creative collaborators, our merchandise business; they’re all so integrated and the engine is that we get on the bus and play for people. We see the pain of all the people who are working on commission for us, who rely on our contract work. We’re in emergency mode, thinking about: what if we never return to normal? Is there a normal we can build for our business that won’t require us going back to the way it was before?

IN THIS PHOTO: Sara Quin (Tegan and Sara)/PHOTO CREDIT: FSG

Spotify has introduced a tip jar for artists – what are your thoughts? There has been a lot of talk about how unfair to artists the royalty system on streaming services is; is this the time to change it? If so, how?

Jack Garratt: do I bite cats in my spare time? No!

Garratt: It’s offensive to artists that are putting the music on that platform and it’s offensive to the consumer. It’s a platform owning up to the fact that there’s an issue, and the Band-Aid they are putting around that issue is to make it the consumer’s problem to fix it.

McGovern: It’s a load of fucking horseshit. It’s exactly what you’re saying: a PR cover-up for a situation where we’re not being paid clearly for having our music on their platform.

I have seen a lot of live-streamed gigs and, in fact, there has been a host of musical activity, including album listening parties and other interviews. I am not sure how to work it, but I think streaming gigs on Netflix on a dedicated show would offer fans a chance to connect on a bigger scree, maybe pay a ‘ticket price’, so there could be a virtual gig happening.

PHOTO CREDIT: @bukowski/Unsplash

That would allow artists to get some more funding whilst in lockdown, and it would sort of be like Jools Holland’s Later… show but with extra dimensions. I have long-argued why we need another music T.V. show. Jools Holland features mainly established artists, but there are a lot of underground acts who have had gigs cancelled who need exposure and a platform. Maybe it comes back to financing, but a mix of big and smaller artists could promote their music and play virtual gigs ‘together’. I am not suggesting a music T.V. show on a streaming platform would fix issues and ensure venues survive and artists are paid, but channels like BBC Four are being threatened, and with that loss would come a huge blow to the arts. So many people are not using their Netflix substitutions at the moment, or they feel like there is nothing on there for them. I would be inclined to get a Netflix subscription and donate to a kitty/various venues/musicians if there was a show/daily show where I could learn about everything happening in music at the moment, and have that balanced with some great gigs, documentaries, interviews and features. Not only could there be a chance to combine everything being reported on social media and on various sites, but it would be another music T.V. show that could mix the current and the classic – I also forgot to mention record stores struggling; a T.V. show could shine a light on them. I really hope, what with a crisis looming and the music industry struggling, that a Netflix-streamed music T.V. show…

PHOTO CREDIT: @glenncarstenspeters/Unsplash

COULD be a reality.

FEATURE: The Lockdown Playlist: Motown Jams

FEATURE:

 

 

The Lockdown Playlist

PHOTO CREDIT: @alekzanpowell/Unsplash

Motown Jams

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IN this Lockdown Playlist…

PHOTO CREDIT: @lightrisephotography/Unsplash

I am concentrating on Motown and have compiled an assortment of some real classics. If you need something to up your mood and get you energised, then have a listen to these great songs. With these playlists, I have moved away from years and time periods, and I am spotlighting various genres and avenues of music. I was keen to explore Motown, as the scene is almost synonymous with upbeat songs that are tight, punchy and memorable. I have tried my best to mix in some of the biggest tracks with some that might not be all that well known – apologies if any obvious ones have been omitted! Enjoy this assortment of Motown cuts that should get you up, get you moving and energised and, whilst you’re doing that, get the voice…

PHOTO CREDIT: @jakobowens1/Unsplash

SINGING loud.

FEATURE: A Buyer’s Guide: Part Three: Joni Mitchell

FEATURE:

 

A Buyer’s Guide

Part Three: Joni Mitchell

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IN the third part…

IN THIS PHOTO: Joni Mitchell in 2019/PHOTO CREDIT: Mark Seliger

of this feature, I wanted to feature a legendary artist who has inspired numerous other artists. Joni Mitchell is one of my favourite artists ever, and she has produced so many tremendous albums. If you are new to her or have not dipped into her catalogue in a  while, I have compiled a list of her essential albums that you need to own; one that is underrated and worth new respect, and her final/latest studio album – in addition to a definitive Joni Mitchell book. Have a look through the rundown, and I know you will discover some real gems! Joni Mitchell is a true musical genius, and it has been great celebrating…

IN THIS PHOTO: Joni Mitchell in 1968/PHOTO CREDIT: Jack Robinson/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

HER wonderful work.

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The Four Essential Albums

Ladies of the Canyon

Release Date: 2nd March, 1970

Labels: Reprise/Warner Bros.

Producer: Joni Mitchell

Standout Tracks: For Free/The Arrangement/Big Yellow Taxi

Buy: https://jonimitchell.com/Music/album.cfm?id=4

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/7JOdtLDLyXJIppDRB7kxr9

Review:

“This wonderfully varied release shows a number of new tendencies in Joni Mitchell's work, some of which would come to fuller fruition on subsequent albums. "The Arrangement," "Rainy Night House," and "Woodstock" contain lengthy instrumental sections, presaging the extensive non-vocal stretches in later selections such as "Down to You" from Court and Spark. Jazz elements are noticeable in the wind solos of "For Free" and "Conversation," exhibiting an important influence that would extend as late as Mingus. The unusually poignant desolation of "The Arrangement" would surface more strongly in Blue. A number of the selections here ("Willy" and "Blue Boy") use piano rather than guitar accompaniment; arrangements here are often more colorful and complex than before, utilizing cello, clarinet, flute, saxophone, and percussion. Mitchell sings more clearly and expressively than on prior albums, most strikingly so on "Woodstock," her celebration of the pivotal 1960s New York rock festival. This number, given a haunting electric piano accompaniment, is sung in a gutsy, raw, soulful manner; the selection proves amply that pop music anthems don't all have to be loud production numbers. Songs here take many moods, ranging from the sunny, easygoing "Morning Morgantown" (a charming small-town portrait) to the nervously energetic "Conversation" (about a love triangle in the making) to the cryptically spooky "The Priest" (presenting the speaker's love for a Spartan man) to the sweetly sentimental classic "The Circle Game" (denoting the passage of time in touching terms) to the bouncy and vibrant single "Big Yellow Taxi" (with humorous lyrics on ecological matters) to the plummy, sumptuous title track (a celebration of creativity in all its manifestations). This album is yet another essential listen in Mitchell's recorded canon” – AllMusic

Choice Cut: Woodstock

Blue

Release Date: 22nd June, 1971

Label: Reprise

Producer: Joni Mitchell

Standout Tracks: Little Green/Blue/River

Buy: https://jonimitchell.com/Music/album.cfm?id=5

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/1vz94WpXDVYIEGja8cjFNa

Review:

“About that follow-up: 1971's Blue is possibly the most gutting break-up album ever made. After Mitchell's relationship with Nash dissolved, she headed to Europe to lose the tether of her fame, eventually taking exile in a cave on the Greek island Crete. The trip would inspire the how-Joni-got-her-groove-back ditties "Carey" and "California". The album is suffused with melancholy for all that is missing: her daughter ("Little Green"), innocence ("The Last Time I Saw Richard"), and connection ("All I Want"). Mitchell bleeds diffidence and highlights it with spare notes plucked out on her Appalachian dulcimer. While her pals Neil Young, Leonard Cohen, and Laura Nyro were also pushing the singer-songwriter genre forward, none of them managed to stride the distance that Mitchell did here in a single album.

"Will you take me as I am/ Strung out on another man?" Mitchell pleads on "California". She was (in)famously strung out on other talents that were as mercurial as hers, fueling constant speculation as to whether this song was about Leonard Cohen, or that one about James Taylor or Nash or that puerile heartbreaker Jackson Browne. The year Mitchell issued Blue, an album that would be a landmark in any artist's career, Rolling Stone named her "Old Lady of the Year," a dismissal effectively saying her import was as a girlfriend or muse to the men around her more than as an artist in her own right. Worse still, they called her "Queen of El Lay," and offered a diagram of her supposed affairs and conquests. She'd made the best album of her career and in exchange she got slut-shamed in the biggest music magazine in America” – Pitchfork

Choice Cut: Carey

For the Roses

Release Date: November 1972

Label: Asylum 

Producer: Joni Mitchell

Standout Tracks: Banquet/For the Roses/Blonde in the Bleachers

Buy: https://jonimitchell.com/Music/album.cfm?id=6

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/1yyPagl5Z7wE6rmJoqv8wj

Review:

“Joni’s lyrics are meaningful and self-reflective, like on ‘For The Roses’: “In some office sits a poet/And he trembles as he sings/And he asks some guy/To circulate his soul around/On your mark red ribbon runner.

Lyrically, she was pushing past contemporary pop and folk without giving in to female stereotypes surrounding “relationship songs” (or whatever you want to call them) in rock music. The defiant ‘Woman of Heart and Mind’ is an admission of personal flaws and at the same an ode to independence: “I’m looking for affection and respect, a little passion…you want stimulation, nothing more.

A quick look at online lists of 1972’s top chart hits should make us even more thankful for this album. There was the sticky patriotism of ‘American Pie’ and the excruciating electronic instrumental ‘Popcorn,’ which was covered by about a million different bands that year (why, why, WHY??) Amongst that ridiculousness Joni and Neil’s honesty, perhaps even naivety, of expression must’ve been refreshing. There were also Nilsson’s pukey/strangely-catchy ‘Without You,’ Derek & the Dominos’ great/self-indulgent ‘Layla’ and Young’s wonderful ‘Heart of Gold’. Shoot me for writing this, but all that manly philosophising about love and women and stuff can get annoying (yes, that reason for revisiting For The Roses is a tad biased). The boldness and brilliance of Joni’s lyricism should be considered in its own right, not simply categorised with Young, Dylan, etc. The way it recasts folk music in classical terms is beautiful, original, and…well, listen to the album…” – For Folk’s Sake

Choice Cut: You Turn Me On, I’m a Radio

The Hissing of Summer Lawns

Release Date: November 1975

Label: Asylum 

Producer: Joni Mitchell

Standout Tracks: Edith and the Kingpin/The Hissing of Summer Lawns/Shadows and Light

Buy: https://jonimitchell.com/music/album.cfm?id=9

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/3gUlFM3azK6ZIkKz1zK7Nj

Review:

“Mitchell never makes things simple. Nor needlessly complex. The music on these songs flows like water running downhill, switching this way or that not for the sake of it but because it must. Its course is unpredictable and ineluctable; once followed, it could not, you sense , have gone any other way. The same is true of the feelings and images it carries along. They are as plain and as complicated as the lives they invoke. So there is no easy dichotomy whereby women at liberty are happier than women trapped by men, or by themselves. Freedom has its own hazards. “Since I was seventeen/I’ve had no one over me,” snarls the narrator of ‘Don’t Interrupt The Sorrow’, the scene of a fierce and terse battle of the sexes in which ancient, Abrahamic patterns of domineering and resistance play out via the mores of the day. Religion clutches at everything. ‘Out of the fire like Catholic saints/Comes Scarlett and her deep complaint.” Woman as something wounded. Woman as something bloody and unbowed. Woman as something red, aflame and dangerous. This is ‘Shades of Scarlett Conquering’. A lambent piano ballad, invoking Gone With The Wind and depicting a creature of unblinking will: ‘It is not easy to be brave/Walking around in so much need... Cast iron and frail/With her impossibly gentle hands/and her blood-red fingernails.’ Mitchell unfolds the femme fatale from the inside, in the most delicate and ingenious reverse origami, and makes you quiver at the truth of it.

The Hissing Of Summer Lawns closes even more anomalously than it opens, with ‘Shadows And Light’, a breathtaking choral and synth meditation; a Gregorian chant made so modern that, after 45 years and countless hommages, it still sounds as if it is beaming in on a mainline from the future, in a steady rush of ideas and sound. Again, Mitchell pulls in and juxtaposes images, this time creating a gorgeously tempered aural collage. It is a song about meaning, about the futility of the binary, about the way meaning itself hides in shades and creases. It is among the most extraordinary four minutes in the history of popular music. You can take it as an epilogue for the album; a commentary on all that’s gone before; a guide to how to hear it. It certainly works that way. It also stands entirely alone. As, amid her hordes of disciples and imitators, does Joni Mitchell - and never in more enrapturing fashion than on this subtle marvel of an album” – The Quietus

Choice Cut: In France They Kiss on Main Street

The Underrated Gem

Clouds

Release Date: 1st May, 1969

Label: Reprise 

Producers: Joni Mitchell, Paul A. Rothchild

Standout Tracks: Tin Angel/Roses Blue/Shadows and Light

Buy: https://jonimitchell.com/music/album.cfm?id=3

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/03iFLgmgkLT7X5gnXVPID5

Review:

“Clouds is a stark stunner, a great leap forward for Joni Mitchell. Vocals here are more forthright and assured than on her debut and exhibit a remarkable level of subtle expressiveness. Guitar alone is used in accompaniment, and the variety of playing approaches and sounds gotten here is most impressive. "The Fiddle and the Drum," a protest song that imaginatively compares the Vietnam-era warmongering U.S. government to a bitter friend, dispenses with instrumental accompaniment altogether. The sketches presented of lovers by turns depressive ("Tin Angel"), roguish ("That Song About the Midway"), and faithless ("The Gallery") are vividly memorable. Forthright lyrics about the unsureness of new love ("I Don't Know Where I Stand"), misuse of the occult ("Roses Blue"), and mental illness ("I Think I Understand") are very striking. Mitchell's classic singer/songwriter standards "Chelsea Morning" and "Both Sides Now" respectively receive energetically vibrant and warmly thoughtful performances. Imaginatively unusual and subtle harmonies abound here, never more so in her body of work than on the remarkable "Songs to Aging Children Come," which sets floridly impressionistic lyrics to a lovely tune that is supported by perhaps the most remarkably sophisticated chord sequence in all of pop music. Mitchell's riveting self-portrait on the album's cover is a further asset. This essential release is a must-listen.- and never in more enrapturing fashion than on this subtle marvel of an album” – AllMusic

Choice Cut: Chelsea Morning

The Latest/Final Album

Shine

Release Date: 25th September, 2007

Labels: Hear Music/Universal 

Producer: Joni Mitchell

Standout Tracks: One Week Last Summer/Bad Dreams/Shine

Buy: https://jonimitchell.com/music/album.cfm?id=28

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/2U5MjSQ07NGHV7rCLfSU6G

Review:

“Meditative, graceful and becalmed are surprising adjectives, given the prevailing subject matter. Mitchell has said she was provoked out of retirement by the war on terror and looming ecological catastrophe, and a sense of impending doom is never far away. She's hardly the first artist in recent times to make with the End Is Nigh sign, but her response is the diametric opposite of the Arcade Fire's sturm-und-drang or Thom Yorke's anguished finger-pointing. In Hana she suggests we "tackle the beast alone with its tenacious teeth", and there's a sense of fight about the closing rewrite of Rudyard Kipling's If, but more often the tone is not so much one of defiance as a disquieting acceptance of fate. You hear it in the beautiful ballad If I Had A Heart in its chilling refrain of "bad dreams are good in the great plan", and in the echoing drift of the title track, which comes up with a litany of modern-day ills, but never raises its voice in anger.

The sense of an artist roused by the fear that we're all going to hell in a handcart, only to discover that it may be too late and there's nothing we can do to avert disaster, gives much of Shine its emotional heft.

Sanctimony is a condition to which the musical denizens of Laurel Canyon were always prone - in his twenties, Graham Nash was already loftily instructing the world how to Teach their Children - but the urge to wag fingers arises only once. There's a hint of I-told-you-so smugness about revisiting her 1970 eco-anthem Big Yellow Taxi, but that's not the reason the re-recording backfires. Listening to it, you notice there's a sparkiness about the lyric - "they took all the trees, put 'em in a tree museum" - noticeably absent elsewhere: This Place's "money makes the trees come down" suddenly sounds a bit clunky and laboured.

Ultimately, that's a minor quibble in the face of a strange, intoxicating and unsettling album, idiosyncratic enough to make you glad Joni Mitchell put her retirement on hold. Shine is an album worth spoiling the greatest flounce-out in rock history for” – The Guardian

Choice Cut: If I Had a Heart

The Joni Mitchell Book

 

Reckless Daughter: A Protective Biography of Joni Mitchell

Author: David Yaffe

Publication Date: 13th June, 2017

Publisher: Sarah Crichton Books

Review:

“Yaffe staunchly defends his subject from criticism; Rickie Lee Jones’s accusation that Mitchell “didn’t walk on the jazz side of life,” Yaffe writes, prompts an outraged rebuttal: “Rickie Lee Jones sang with a fake black accent. Wasn’t that pretentious?” Only at rare moments does the biographer let Mitchell’s dark side — evident, for example, in how pitiless she can be toward former lovers and spouses — speak for itself. Chuck Mitchell was a “major exploiter,” Leonard Cohen a “phony Buddhist” and “the high prince of envy.” Mitchell’s second husband, Larry Klein, was one of several “puffed-up dwarfs.” James Taylor “was incapable of affection. He was just a mess.”

Uncritical admiration can make “Reckless Daughter” seem like a 400-page fan letter, though one certainly prefers Yaffe’s approach to that of biographers who despise their subjects. Championing Mitchell, right or wrong, and trying to stay on her good side is not exactly the same as taking her seriously as a composer and performer. Ultimately, it hardly matters. The person who wrote and sang “Blue,” “Court and Spark” and “Hejira” doesn’t need protection from readers who, decades after those albums appeared, remember Mitchell’s songs. Anthems not only of restlessness and heartbreak but also of intelligence, insight and courage, they are tributes to the power of music to imprint itself indelibly on the consciousness of its listeners” – The New York Times

Buy: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31450894-reckless-daughter

FEATURE: Spotlight: Margaret Glaspy

FEATURE:

 

Spotlight

Margaret Glaspy

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MANY people might not be aware…

of Margaret Glaspy and her music, but she is an artist that you definitely need in your life. Glaspy is based in New York, but she was born in Sacramento (in 1989) and grew up in California. As an artist, Glaspy was curious from a young age, where she learned the fiddle, guitar and trombone – she decided to focus on the guitar from the age of sixteen. Glaspy’s first L.P., 2016’s Emotions and Math, was released to acclaim, and she released Devotion, her latest album, very recently. Glaspy has released E.P.s and been busy through most of her career, but I think Devotion is the album that has introduced her music to many people who, until now, might have been unaware. I will come to that album in a minute, but I want to bring in an interview from 2015 where Glaspy spoke with Interview Magazine. There was a lot of anticipation around her music and, in the interview, Glaspy spoke about her early years and moving to New York; she spoke to the nature of the songs on Emotions and Math:

 “After attending the Berklee College of Music for one semester before dropping out, Glaspy spent time in Boston working and performing. In September 2010 she made the inevitable move to New York. “Since I was a tiny girl I knew I was going to live in New York,” she says. “It was a dream of mine. Living in Boston, it was so close. It just felt like, ‘Why not take the opportunity?'” After six years in the city spent babysitting and, at times performing two shows a week, she planned to release Emotions and Math via Bandcamp, but luckily, ATO Records picked up on her music and released the LP last month.

When we’d be around the campfire my family would all play together. We were a camping family when I was young. At home—I see it now as such a special environment—someone would be on the couch playing the guitar and someone else would pick one up and start strumming along. That was the vibe in the house.

I would argue [the songs are] not autobiographical or from my diary, only because I approach the whole songwriting process pretty objectively. I think that it’s really fun to hear people’s perspectives on the songs because often they’re argued as being straight from my life. A lot of them are kind of character studies or taking something I’ve seen a thousand times, honing in on it, and capturing it in a certain way”.

I have only recently discovered the music of Margaret Glaspy, but I have listened back to her older work and sort of caught up. I adore her voice and lyrical style; there is a rawness in her voice that is emphatic, whiskey-soaked and filled with emotion. Tracks such as You and I (from Emotions and Math) are full of kick and memorability. Glaspy, on her latest album, is more experimental and far-reaching, but she has retained so much of her sound. The best way to get a sense of who Glaspy is is to listen to her music. Devotion is a terrific album that I have been listening to for a few weeks now.

She spoke with Billboard about the artists that inspired her album, and the nature of her hugely accomplished voice came up:

“Devotion doesn’t dwell on the world going up in flames so much as forging something beautiful -- and foreign -- from that fire. On 2016’s Emotions and Math, Glaspy, firmly rooted in the indie intersection of rock and folk, clutched a guitar and established herself as a talent to watch following her years at Boston’s Berklee College of Music and two self-released EPs. She toured in support of Emotions and Math for three years, and returning home to New York offered an opportunity to recalibrate and switch up her palette in the process.

Devotion is as experimental as it is classic, in that it builds on Glaspy’s desire to expand her multi-instrumentalist skill set and her lyrical profundity. From the shimmery major chords and unabashedly adoring choruses of “Without Him” and “Young Love” to the metallic clashes of “You’ve Got My Number” and the dizzying breakdown of “Consequences,” Devotion is a study in contrasts and cohesion: each song sounds further afield from Emotions and Math, yet every verse fortifies Glaspy’s voice and the vulnerability she chooses to embrace in life, love and a world gone mad.

Did any artist or outside inspiration leave a particularly strong imprint on Devotion?

I’d always been hip to Alexander McQueen, the designer, and I think that one thing that really pushed me was learning more about his life and his lineage. I started to watch a lot of his runway shows and got really into his clothing, his art, what he did in his lifetime. That inspired Devotion and made me want to shift directions a lot. I wanted to make music that was inspired by his clothing, and also wanted to make music that made sense of the clothes that he made, that you could wear them or even just look at them, and the music would make sense on some level. ... He had a sense of being able to mix a lot of unexpected mediums, and also had a real eye for the future. Sometimes the things that he was making felt like science fiction.

Of course, the things that I’m making, everything is very derivative of something I’ve heard, and you can’t help it -- that’s kind of the joy of music in a way, that you’re just going to be kind of recycling bits that you’ve got at some point. He inspired me to want to reach past what I’ve used before and try and make the things I was hearing instead of just recycling all the things I’ve used in the past. So, yeah -- a lot of different angles in the way I was inspired by his aesthetic. He was also just a brilliant, brilliant man who was a transcendent artist, for sure, that made me want to just do my best.

Your voice is crystal clear, and a potent messenger, throughout Devotion:It’s romantic and loving in some songs, but downright devastating in others. Which songs best demonstrate the challenges you set for yourself with Devotion?

I think one of the biggest songs that was an orienter for the record was probably “Killing What Keeps Us Alive.” The demo feels very much so like the record version -- synthesized vocals, and also, I had written a short story that was the inspiration for that song. All of a sudden it put me on the map, in my brain, of what the record was about. That was a song that I think challenged me to make a lot of different elements, production-wise, lyrically, be vulnerable, and also at the same time kind of command the experience.

When you start to work in a different medium or in ways that you haven’t, you’re vulnerable anyway, because you’re kind of off your game -- I’m not just playing the guitar the whole time or trying to construct music the way I have been. I felt a little bit like, “Whoa, I’m making myself vulnerable, consciously.”

In that process of making that song, I felt like I was doing things that I hadn’t done before and I had to power through it and make some decisions in order to get to that spot. When I did, that was the first time that I had felt proud of it: I had written a lot of s---ty songs before that, that poked at it, and that was the first success of me finding a sonic and lyrical footprint that made sense together all in one fell swoop”.

It is amazing to think about what Glaspy has mixed into her music since Emotions and Math. Her confidence has grown and, whilst many great artists expand and diversify as their careers go on, I think Glaspy has made some big steps on Devotion. I have seen some reviews that were a little underwhelming; some sources that were not as blown away by Devotion as they were with Emotions and Math. I think Devotion is an album you need to spend some time with and let it sink in. In their review, Rolling Stone had this to say:

“Margaret Glaspy’s second album begins with a brief jolt of vocoder that recalls the statement-making opening to “Oh, What a World,” a highlight from Kacey Musgraves’ 2018 album Golden Hour. Musgraves’ synth-country blockbuster provided a template for how roots-based songwriters can strive for modern pop ambition without sacrificing songcraft.

Devotion, the latest from New York singer-songwriter Glaspy, is one of the most fully-formed efforts to come out in the wake of Golden Hour. Glaspy doesn’t tear down so much expand and build upon the warm Seventies folk-rock of her wonderful 2016 debut Emotions + Math, incorporating drum loops and processed vocals into an effortless mix of swooping indie-pop (“Without Him”), industrial noise (“What’s the Point”) and Ben Folds-piano sing-alongs (“Vicious”).

“Anybody with a pulse, or even half a heart, has a reason to be foaming at the mouth,” Glaspy sings on “Angry Again, a forceful Fifties-style torch ballad about being paralyzed by one’s emotions (in this case, outrage). That raw track feels like an aberration from Glaspy, who usually writes with uncommon emotional dexterity and precision. When Glaspy asks, “who’s the clown, and who’s the savior?” on the bouncy “Stay With Me,” the song’s refrain pokes fun at the idea that any such categorization could ever be so black and white: “Me/You/Me/You/Me/You”.

If you have not heard of Margret Glaspy, I would recommend you check her out and go and follow her on social media. Devotion is her latest statement, and I am sure we will see a lot more music from her in the coming years. Glaspy’s latest album is a stunning work that boasts…

A wonderful blend of sounds.

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FEATURE: Nightmares and Awakenings: Kate Bush’s The Dreaming

FEATURE:

 

Nightmares and Awakenings

Kate Bush’s The Dreaming

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I was poised and ready for it to come around…

PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari

because, at the moment, The Guardian are running a series where they focus on a big artist and give a buyer’s guide: where the best place to start with them is; the albums you need to buy, in addition to some suggested reading. Kate Bush was up on the block, and I knew that whatever was written about her would draw some discussion and division. The article is pretty interesting, as the album they recommended to start with is The Dreaming:

“When Big Boi from Outkast said that The Dreaming, the worst performing of Kate Bush’s 10 studio albums, was “a good place to start” in her catalogue, he was not wrong. Her previous three releases had established the high-octane prog-pop and catsuited hand-wafting image that still lingers today. But, though it seems ludicrous considering her legendary status now, Bush still wasn’t widely acclaimed by then. Most of the men writing about her would describe her looks or her tits, or ask her band whether she ever loses her temper with them, before acknowledging her songwriting craft. Even despite achieving a UK No 1 with Wuthering Heights at 19, her role as the architect of her own musical universe went largely unrecognised.

Faced with such idiocy, it’s little wonder that Bush secreted herself away and came up with something as deranged as The Dreaming. This isn’t the album that took her stratospheric (that was its follow-up, Hounds of Love) but it’s her Willy Wonka-sized adventure in sound; the self-sufficient cocoon that turned her, some say, from musician into “artiste”. The Dreaming was the first record that she produced entirely herself, which she would continue to do, using an expensive Fairlight sampler to dazzling effect. Listening to it now, it sounds like Bush unbound, unleashing her frustration like never before. 

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush with a Fairlight CMI in 1982

These are brilliant rackets where her ingenious use of sampling (smashed marbles! Twittering birds!) defies expectation and her voice pole-vaults to new heights. The intricacy is overwhelming and thrilling. Opening track Sat in Your Lap is one of her best ever, foreshadowing Running Up That Hill with its gated drum gallop, as she screeches how people think that a knob equals knowledge, the rhythm pushing and pulling with kinetic energy. Every song after comes like a shock: the Artful Dodger oompah-pah of There Goes a Tenner, the guttural howling of “I am aliiiiive!” on the onyx slink of Pull Out the Pin to rival any hair-metaller’s, a title track about aborigines having their homeland stolen that unfortunately has Rolf Harris on didgeridoo, a chorus of donkeys on the closing song …

Bush has called The Dreaming her “mad” album, amused that many, like Björk, have called it their favourite. But perhaps she shouldn’t be so surprised: in the decades since, it’s been reappraised as technically pioneering – especially poignant because women in the studio are still not being given due credit compared to their male peers. And, once you’ve got through it, the rest of her oeuvre will land on your ears like tufty down”.

It was obvious that the selection of The Dreaming as the best Kate Bush starting place would draw some shock and reaction. Most people would say, logically, that The Kick Inside (her debut album) or Hounds of Love (1985) would be the best starting place, as they are quite accessible and popular.

A lot of people expressed consternation regarding The Dreaming being highlighted as the one to investigate for new fans, but I think it is an album that remains underrated and wonderful. I think most of the negativity towards The Dreaming was less to do with quality and more to do with its accessibility. Logic would dictate one starts at the beginning and sort of works their way to The Dreaming, much like Kate Bush did as an artist. The Dreaming was released in 1982, and Bush’s fourth album peaked at number-three in the charts. Although five singles were released from the album, they were less commercially successful (overall) than her work on The Kick Inside, Lionheart and Never for Ever – nothing as instantly catchy as Babooshka or Wuthering Heights. Since 1982, The Dreaming has risen in the estimation of critics – many mention it in their list of the 1980s’ best albums. I am not sure why The Dreaming did not get a bigger reaction when it was released. Bush produced The Dreaming alone, and she created her most diverse and experimental album yet. The Fairlight CMI was a technological asset that Bush used on Never for Ever and would extensively deploy through The Dreaming. As such, her sound palette moved further away from the piano; Bush was pushing her limits and taking her music in new directions – much more ambitious and adventurous than anything she had ever created.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush signing copies of The Dreaming in 1982

I can appreciate how some critics might have felt like the lack of commercial hits signalled a defeat. Opinion has shifted quite a bit, and many fans and artists rank The Dreaming as their favourite Kate Bush album. This is AllMusic’s take on the album:

“Four albums into her burgeoning career, Kate Bush's The Dreaming is a theatrical and abstract piece of work, as well as Bush's first effort in the production seat. She throws herself in head first, incorporating various vocal loops, sometimes campy, but always romantic and inquisitive of emotion. She's angry and pensive throughout the entire album, typically poetic while pushing around the notions of a male-dominated world. However, Kate Bush is a daydreamer. Unfortunately, The Dreaming, with all it's intricate mystical beauty, isn't fully embraced compared to her later work. Album opener "Sat in Your Lap" is a frightening slight on individual intellect, with a booming chorus echoing over throbbing percussion and a butchered brass section. "Leave It Open" is goth-like with Bush's dark brooding, which is a suspending scale of vocalic laments, but it's the vivacious and moody "Get Out of My House" that truly brings Bush's many talents for art and music to the forefront. It prances with dripping piano drops and gritty guitar, and the violent rage felt as she screams "Slamming," sparking a fury similar to what Tori Amos later ignited during her inception throughout the '90s. Not one to be in fear of fear, The Dreaming is one of Kate Bush's underrated achievements in depicting her own visions of love, relationships, and role play, not to mention a brilliant predecessor to the charming beauty of 1985's Hounds of Love”.

Whilst many argue over the best Kate Bush albums, I do think that some new appreciation should go the way of The Dreaming. Opening track Sat in Your Lap is one of Bush’s finer songs, and it reached the top-twenty. The first half of the album is impressively broad, and there is that urgent and tribal opening salvo; There Goes a Tenner concerns a bank robbery and finds Bush cracking out her best cockney/mockney accent. Pull Out the Pin sports one of Bush’s most impassioned vocals, whilst Leave It Open has this amazing composition that sort of spins the head! The Dreaming’s title track finds Kate Bush inhabiting an Australian accent, whilst All the Love is this gorgeous and affecting song. The album switches between more energetic and layered songs and these very touching and moving songs. Bush found this balance, not only in terms of dynamics and tone, but lyrical content – from the political to matters of the heart, The Dreaming is overloaded with brilliance! The album’s final two tracks, Houdini and Get Out of My House, between them, cover The Shining-inspired possession and an escapologist faced with the peril of drowning. Houdini mixes beautiful strings and a rare romance with a well-known subject in the form of Harry Houdini, whereas Get Out of My House propels and rumbles as Bush (aided by Paul Hardiman) brays and eyores with the best of them!

I would rank The Dreaming in my top-five favourite Bush albums, and I think a lot of the problems stems from the way many perceived it back in 1982: as this album that was too far from the mainstream which lacked ready singles, shafts of light and the same sort of appeal that was evident in earlier albums. It is a challenging album but, to me, one of her most rewarding. This sort of brings us to the matter as to whether The Dreaming is the best place to start regarding Kate Bush’s albums. I would say that, if one were new to Bush or was making someone aware of her music, I would say to start out with The Kick Inside and work that way – doing it chronologically seems like the best approach. I do think that The Guardian’s article raised interesting debate. I would disagree with those who said The Dreaming should be overlooked – there were a few – or anyone who suggested it is too out-there to be lovable. What I would say is that this album – in addition to Bush’s entire cannon – warrants fresh ears and study. I think The Dreaming has gained a lot of fresh respect since 1982, but it is an album that demands some serious attention. I love all the madness and chaos and how one can get buried in something intense; the album then offers up something absolutely beautiful and moving. It is a thrilling, intoxicating and varied listen, and I am still amazed that Bush managed to pack so much into the album! I have covered The Dreaming before but, in the wake of fresh focus (from The Guardian), I wanted to have my say. If you have not experienced The Dreaming before, please do spend some time listening to…      

A truly masterful work.

FEATURE: Music Is Our Radar: Mental Health Awareness Week 2020

FEATURE:

Music Is Our Radar

PHOTO CREDIT: @evphotocinema/Unsplash

Mental Health Awareness Week 2020

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THIS week is an important one…

PHOTO CREDIT: @jblesly/Unsplash

as it is Mental Health Awareness Week. Hosted by the Mental Health Foundation, Mental Health Awareness Week takes place from 18th-24th May, 2020. The theme is kindness. I think spreading kindness is important now more than ever, as many of us are seeing our mental-health take a bit of a battering. I think that things will improve when we are out, but things are quite strained right now. This week, more than ever, I think music is going to play a huge role. It is known that music and happiness are linked.

“Music can lift the spirits. But science has now shown it has a physical effect on our bodies, too. As we listen, music works on the autonomic nervous system, which is responsible for controlling blood pressure and heartbeat, as well as the limbic system, which is responsible for feelings and emotions. A review of 23 studies by Bradt & Dileo (in 2009) involving almost 1,500 people found music helped to reduce blood pressure, heart rate and anxiety in heart disease patients.

Music can benefit psychological wellbeing, too. Research from the University of Missouri published in The Journal Of Positive Psychology found for the first time, that upbeat music can have a very positive effect on our wellbeing.

‘People were successful at raising their positive mood as long as the music they listened to was happy and upbeat,’ said Dr Yuna Ferguson, the lead author.

And participating in music-making can also increase our happiness, and help us to get on better with others. A 2013 Finnish study of 1,000 pupils who took singing classes found they reported higher satisfaction at school in almost every area.

Lead researcher Päivi-Sisko Eerola said ‘synchronising’ with each other may ‘even make people like each other more than before’”.

PHOTO CREDIT: @austinloveing/Unsplash

Although we can exercise outside as much as we need, we are not able to go to the gym, but the fact that the weather is brighter and warmer means that many of us are listening to music whilst walking and running. I think that, for many of us, music is playing a bigger role than it did pre-lockdown. Not only are there streamed gigs and album listening parties; I think we are all streaming more and using music as a bit of a lifeline. The power of music is different to everyone but, for me, I have been listening back to favourite tracks to get a nostalgia boost and blast of warmth. I also digging out new artists and digging deeper than I have ever done. Maybe the tangible benefits of live gigs are not going to be felt for quite a few months, but we are able to connect with one another online and share music. Recent statistics relating to the effect and prolificacy of mental illness makes for alarming reading: 

• Mental health problems are one of the main causes of the overall disease burden worldwide.1

• Mental health and behavioural problems (e.g. depression, anxiety and drug use) are reported to be the primary drivers of disability worldwide, causing over 40 million years of disability in 20 to 29-year-olds.2

• Major depression is thought to be the second leading cause of disability worldwide and a major contributor to the burden of suicide and ischemic heart disease.3

• It is estimated that 1 in 6 people in the past week experienced a common mental health problem4

PHOTO CREDIT: @benwhitephotography/Unsplash

1. Vos, T., et al. (2013) Global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for 301 acute and chronic diseases and injuries in 188 countries, 1990–2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study. The Lancet. 386 (9995). pp. 743-800.

2. Lozano, R. et al. (2012) Global and regional mortality from 235 causes of death for 20 age groups in 1990 and 2010. a systematic analysis for the global burden of disease study 2010. The Lancet. 380(9859), pp. 2095–2128.

3. Whiteford, H. A. et al. (2013) Global burden of disease attributable to mental and substance use disorders: findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010. The Lancet. 382 (9904). pp. 1575-1586.

4. McManus S, Bebbington P, Jenkins R, Brugha T. (eds.) (2016) Mental health and wellbeing in England: Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey 2014. Leeds: NHS Digital. Available at: http://content.digital.nhs.uk/catalogue/PUB21748/apms-2014-full-rpt.pdf [Accesed 5 October 2016]

I am not sure how much worse lockdown has made the plight of mental illness, but I think it is brilliant how we are all together and, even though times are bad, we are able to communicate, share music and still access so many brilliant tracks and albums. I want to keep this fairly short but, really, this feature is for everyone. There will be those who are using music as a shelter and balm, whereas others are finding it compatible with exercise and good physical health.

PHOTO CREDIT: @jontyson/Unsplash

For me, I think music can provide inspiration and a sense of hope. It is important to know that we are not alone; this is especially true in the world of music. An article that was published/updated last year showed the multiple benefits of music on mental health and memory:

“It has long been suggested that music can help reduce or manage stress. Consider the trend centered on meditative music created to soothe the mind and inducing relaxation. Fortunately, this is one trend supported by research. Listening to music can be an effective way to cope with stress.

In one 2013 study, participants took part in one of three conditions before being exposed to a stressor and then taking a psychosocial stress test. Some participants listened to relaxing music, others listened to the sound of rippling water, and the rest received no auditory stimulation.

The results suggested that listening to music had an impact on the human stress response, particularly the autonomic nervous system. Those who had listened to music tended to recover more quickly following a stressor.

One of the most surprising psychological benefits of music is that it might be a helpful weight-loss tool. If you are trying to lose weight, listening to mellow music and dimming the lights might help you achieve your goals.

According to one study, people who ate at low-lit restaurants where soft music was played consumed 18 percent less food than those who ate in other restaurants.

The researchers suggest that music and lighting help create a more relaxed setting. Since the participants were more relaxed and comfortable, they may have consumed their food more slowly and have been more aware of when they began to feel full.

PHOTO CREDIT: @annhwa/Unsplash

Insomnia is a serious problem that affects people of all age groups. While there are many approaches to treating this problem as well as other common sleep disorders, research has demonstrated that listening to relaxing classical music can be a safe, effective, and affordable remedy.​

In a study looking at college students, participants listened to classical music, an audiobook, or nothing at all. One group listened to 45 minutes of relaxing classical music while another group listened to an audiobook at bedtime for three weeks. Researchers assessed sleep quality both before and after the intervention.

The study found that participants who had listened to music had significantly better sleep quality than those who had listened to the audiobook or received no intervention.

Another important psychological benefit of music lies in its ability to boost performance. While people have a preferred step frequency when walking and running, scientists have discovered that the addition of a strong, rhythmic beat, such as fast-paced musical track, could inspire people to pick up the pace. Runners are not only able to run faster while listening to music; they also feel more motivated to stick with it and display greater endurance.

According to researcher Costas Karageorghis of Brunel University, the ideal tempo for workout music is somewhere between 125 and 140 beats per minute.

While research has found that synchronizing body movements to music can lead to better performance and increased stamina, the effect tends to be the most pronounced in cases of low to moderate intensity exercise. In other words, the average person is more likely to reap the rewards of listening to music more than a professional athlete might”

PHOTO CREDIT: @andriklangfield/Unsplash

There are so many ways music can help us at the moment, but I felt it was important to write a feature during Mental Health Awareness Week, as there will be many people out there struggling. Music is not a magical cure, but I feel there are numerous benefits regarding listening to more music and trying to connect with people online through music. Whether you are listening to radio, checking out a great music podcast, or watching a streamed gig, having that sense of company and companionship is very valuable and powerful. If you do need to talk to someone if your mental-health declines, The Samaritans are available on 116 123 twenty-four hours a day. It is important that we take care of ourselves but, over the past couple of months, music has been this bedrock and endless source of uplift for many people. From uplifting playlists on Spotify to online record stores where you can order albums, make sure this week is one fore improving mental-health through music. For me and so many people in the world, music is having a positive effect on our mental-health, and it also…

PHOTO CREDIT: @wackomac007/Unsplash

MEANS lockdown is easier to bear.

FEATURE: Vinyl Corner: The Streets – Original Pirate Material

FEATURE:

 

Vinyl Corner

The Streets – Original Pirate Material

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FOR this edition of Vinyl Corner…

IN THIS PHOTO: Mike Skinner (The Streets) in 2002/PHOTO CREDIT: Harry Borden

I was keen to feature The Streets’ Original Pirate Material. I have been a huge fan of The Streets since that album came out in 2002 – it must rank alongside the best debut albums ever released. It is a wonderful immersive and accomplished album from Mike Skinner (The Streets). If you can get it on vinyl then do so, as it is truly wonderful. The album was mostly recorded in a South London flat Skinner was renting at the time, and it was put together using a laptop and digital audio software. Mixing influences of U.K. Garage and U.S. Hip-Hop, it was not a surprise that Original Pirate Material was a big success. Skinner’s incredible lyrics and lo-fi songs get in the head and stay in the heart. Singles such as Has It Come to This? and Let’s Push Things Forward are classics that sound incredible nearly twenty years after the album’s release. One can hear the influence of American Hip-Hop and Skinner himself stated how groups like Wu-Tang Clan were big influences. The lyrics and vibe of the album, mind, puts us on the London streets; in cafes and settings that are distinctly British. Skinner’s main drive was to incorporate the emerging and rising British Garage scene of the late-’90s, and make the album genuine. He could not well discuss the same sort of themes you’d hear in Hip-Hop: boasting about wealth and trying to be American. A flash and braggadocio-laden album would not have played well.

Original Pirate Material is full of confidence, but it is much humbler and more grounded than a lot of Hip-Hop records. I think it is the relatability of the album that makes it so enduring. I do think those who have not experienced Original Pirate Material should snap it up on vinyl. Although Skinner followed the album with the immense A Grand Don’t Come for Free (2004), I still think his debut is his finest moment. The reviews for Original Pirate Material – with very few exceptions – were hugely positive. This is AllMusic’s take on one of the finest albums from the first decade of the twenty-first century:

“When Streets tracks first appeared in DJ sets and on garage mix albums circa 2000, they made for an interesting change of pace; instead of hyper-speed ragga chatting or candy-coated divas (or both), listeners heard banging tracks hosted by a strangely conversational bloke with a mock cockney accent and a half-singing, half-rapping delivery. It was Mike Skinner, producer and MC, the half-clued-up, half-clueless voice behind club hits "Has It Come to This?" and "Let's Push Things Forward." Facing an entire full-length of Streets tracks hardly sounded like a pleasant prospect, but Skinner's debut, Original Pirate Material, is an excellent listen -- much better than the heavy-handed hype would make you think.

Unlike most garage LPs, it's certainly not a substitute for a night out; it's more a statement on modern-day British youth, complete with all the references to Playstations, Indian takeaway, and copious amounts of cannabis you'd expect. Skinner also has a refreshing way of writing songs, not tracks, that immediately distinguishes him from most in the garage scene. True, describing his delivery as rapping would be giving an undeserved compliment (you surely wouldn't hear any American rappers dropping bombs like this line: "I wholeheartedly agree with your viewpoint"). Still, nearly every song here succeeds wildly, first place (after the hits) going to "The Irony of It All," on which Skinner and a stereotypical British lout go back and forth "debating" the merits of weed and lager, respectively (Skinner's meek, agreeable commentary increasingly, and hilariously, causes "Terry" to go off the edge). The production is also excellent; "Let's Push Things Forward" is all lurching ragga flow, with a one-note organ line and drunken trumpets barely pushing the chorus forward. "Sharp Darts" and "Too Much Brandy" have short, brutal tech lines driving them, and really don't need any more for maximum impact. Though club-phobic listeners may find it difficult placing Skinner as just the latest dot along a line connecting quintessentially British musicians/humorists/social critics Nöel Coward, the Kinks, Ian Dury, the Jam, the Specials, and Happy Mondays, Original Pirate Material is a rare garage album: that is, one with a shelf life beyond six months”. 

In this review, NME were keen to praise an album from a very special British talent who was capturing the attention of so many different people:

“What we’re dealing with here is an album that owes a lot to garage, but also quite a lot to the all-night garage, too. By turns dark, funny and heartbreaking, the songs on ‘Original Pirate Material’ are snapshots of ordinary life as a young midlands resident, set to innovative two-step production: tales of love, going out, being skint, getting drunk (there’s a lot of this – sometimes it’s a surprise Skinner has called himself Streets and not The Coach and Horses), and eating chips. It’s Streets by name, and streets by nature, and it’s great.

The single ‘Has It Come To This?’ may have given you the idea already, but there’s an incredible strength of character to Streets. It’s small wonder that Mike Skinner presently finds himself feeling the love of the people (the single reached number 18), but not of garage’s more established crews – he sounds nothing like them, and he’s making the isolation sound splendid.

There’s the voice, of course, upfront in the mix as if this were a spoken-word record, but what it’s saying is better still. The heartbreaking ‘It’s Too Late’ is a musical highpoint and tearful updating of [a]Specials[/a], but includes the line: ‘We first met through a shared view/She loved me, and I did too‘. Elsewhere there’s the heavy hip-hop of ‘Sharp Darts’, and Specials-like ‘Same Old Thing’, casting an eye over the late night takeaway scene to further smash the urban mould. As he says on ‘Let’s Push Things Forward’, ‘this ain’t your archetypal street sound’, and it’s an admirable mission statement.

Because the sound of the streets is too often like an episode of ‘The Bill’ – hard hitting and ‘real’, certainly but without any of the stupidity, joy and occasional moments of beauty that you’ll find in here. As in records, as in life – you’re simply much poorer if you never get a chance to experience it”.

I will wrap things up soon, but I wanted to bring in an article (from 2017) from FADER published to mark the fifteenth anniversary of The Streets’ Original Pirate Material. It is a testament to the strength and diversity of Original Pirate Material that it has resonated so far and has made an impact on so many people. The feature brought in a range of artists and journalists to give their take on the album. I have selected a couple of extracts:

“Rob Mitchum, journalist

In 2002, the nuances of British electronic and hip-hop culture went way over your typical American music critic’s head — which is my lame excuse for wildly misinterpreting Original Pirate Material when reviewing the album for Pitchfork that year. Since then we’ve had grime and dubstep to put U.K. garage in retrospective context. But I was pleased to discover Original Pirate Material still sounds bonkers 15 years later. Tracks like “Don’t Mug Yourself” and “Sharp Darts” are like head-on car collisions that somehow build a motorcycle — there’s no way these combinations of beat and flow should work, but they do. Mike Skinner was also ridiculously adept at mixing the grand and the mundane, with severe, ragged orchestra loops scoring the most minute of observations. “Weak Become Heroes” might still be the most accurate song about raves in existence, with a woozy pulse, a relentless, wavy piano loop, and stream-of-consciousness imagery detailed enough to trigger flashbacks. Call it first-timer luck or genius, but The Streets’s sound aged a lot better than its genre labels and clueless reviewers”.

Kojey Radical, artist

I remember hearing [Original Pirate Material] for the first time and thinking, This feels like the perfect medium between garage culture and indie music. It was like the perfect soundtrack for not knowing what you want to listen to. Hearing “Stay Positive” in [2006 U.K. film] Kidulthood confirmed it was the soundtrack for growing up in London and marrying all the cultures that you come across. I’m from east London and the way [Skinner] spoke reminded me of just going to a cafe on Roman Road and speaking with the people there. Lyrical rap can feel daunting, but Mike Skinner’s approach removed all that tension in understanding lyrics, and made it sound like a conversation. (As told to Jacob Roy.)”.

If you need album suggestions, then I will point you the way of The Streets’ Original Pirate Material, as it is a remarkable record. You can also stream it, and however you do it, marvel in the skill and genius of Mike Skinner! It is one of my favourite albums from the past twenty years, and it is one that never sounds old or boring. Without further ado, make sure you give this remarkable album…

SOME serious attention!

FEATURE: The Lockdown Playlist: Boybands and Girl Groups

FEATURE:

 

The Lockdown Playlist

PHOTO CREDIT: @thefakebhogra/Unsplash

Boybands and Girl Groups

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THROUGH various parts…

IN THIS PHOTO: Take That photographed in 1992/PHOTO CREDIT: Tim Roney/Getty Images

of this feature, I have covered quite a bit of music! Taking in some huge U.K. hits, I have now headed away from something more general and am focusing on different aspects of music. In this edition of The Lockdown Playlist, I am focusing on boybands and girl groups. These are types of groups that do not exist in the same way now as they did years ago, and it is a shame. I think boy and girl groups get a bad rap or do not get the sort of respect they deserve. This playlist collates some crackers that, hopefully, will appeal to a wide range of people – there are going to be bands I have missed out and apologise for any omission! Enjoy this playlist of crackers that should help get…

IN THIS PHOTO: Destiny’s Child/PHOTO CREDIT: Dave Hogan/Hulton Archive

THE energy levels up.

FEATURE: Never Going Back Again: Will We Hear Another Fleetwood Mac Album?

FEATURE:

 

Never Going Back Again

IN THIS PHOTO: Fleetwood Mac in 2019 (L-R: Mike Campbell, Stevie Nicks, Neil Finn, Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie and John McVie/PHOTO CREDIT: Press

Will We Hear Another Fleetwood Mac Album?

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THE past few years…

IN THIS PHOTO: Fleetwood Mac in the 1970s with Lindsey Buckingham (far right)

has been a pretty eventful and changeable one for Fleetwood Mac. Long-time member Lindsey Buckingham was fired from the band in 2018 and he sued the band off of the back of it. I bring this subject up because, on 11th July, their eponymous album turns forty-five. It was the first Fleetwood Mac album to feature Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, and songs like Rhiannon and Landslide became classic pretty soon. Former Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell and Neil Finn of Crowded House have replaced Buckingham, and the newly-rearranged band have been touring a bit. Right now, although the band have to wait until they can get back on the road, it makes me wonder whether they are considering an album. The last studio album, Say You Will, was released in 2003 and gained some positive reviews. I want to bring in an interview from The Independent published last year, where drummer Mick Fleetwood discussed the endurance of Fleetwood Mac; the situation involving Buckingham’s departure was also raised:

“I think we were damned lucky that our music never went down the drain because we went down the drain,” the 71-year-old drummer says now, “and I think in truth there are moments where you could have said we got pretty close, you know.

“Cocaine was everywhere, people who worked in banks [used it]. Personally, I had a run on that lifestyle, but fortunately, I didn’t get into any other type of drug that would have been more damaging – I don’t even know why, but I’m very thankful. Brandy and cocaine and beer,” he says, naming his poisons, as he describes the 20 years of “high-powered lunacy” that he put his body through. “That lifestyle became something that had to come to an end… hopefully, you come out of it with your trousers still on, and not taken out in a plastic bag.”

The tension between Nicks and Buckingham though was intense, and famously led to a violent confrontation in 1987, in which Buckingham reportedly tried to choke her over a car bonnet. “That whole situation is for Stevie and Lindsey to answer about, but it’s no secret that their journey has been volatile in emotional terms,” Fleetwood says.

Buckingham told Rolling Stone in October that he was given a message that “Stevie never wants to appear on a stage with you again” after he “smirked” during a thank you speech that she gave at a charity concert and claimed that she had given a “him or me” ultimatum to the rest of the band. Other reports suggested that Buckingham’s request to take three or four months off to go on a solo tour had been part of the decision. He took legal action against the group after being asked to leave, but in December it was reported that this had been settled, which may be why Fleetwood doesn’t want to discuss the issue”.

It is a shame ties have been cut with Buckingham, but with Christine McVie, Stevie Nicks, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood still going strong, I think something magic could happen if the band got back in the studio. As much as I love all of the members of Fleetwood Mac, I have an incredibly soft spot for Stevie Nicks!

I fell for her voice when I heard it on Fleetwood Mac’s 1975 album when I was a child (in the 1990s); I hold Rumours up as one of my favourite albums, and Dreams is my favourite song from that album. I think Nicks adds something magical to the mix, and I hope to see Fleetwood Mac perform one day. There has been speculation that they will get into the studio, but I think the main objective of the band post-Buckingham was to get on the road and have Campbell and Finn cut their teeth in the new line-up. Although my favourite period for Fleetwood Mac was 1975-1987, I did really love Say You Will. Now that we are in lockdown, many people are looking ahead to see which artists will put out albums. We all have out dream list of the ones we want to hear. Some speak of Fleetwood Mac and a new album, but I personally would jump at the chance to hear new material from them. This is all guessing, but I can imagine there are songs in the locker, not just from Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks, but from Mike Campbell and Neil Finn. The pedigree of Finn and Campbell is incredible, and I would love to see how they write with Nicks and McVie, and whether they combine or work alone. Nicks released 24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault back in 2014; the album contains new versions of demos that Nicks primarily recorded between 1969 and 1987.

IN THIS PHOTO: Stevie Nicks in 2019/PHOTO CREDIT: Randee St Nicholas

Before then, 2011’s In Your Dreams was released – both are fantastic albums. Christine McVie released In the Meantime in 2004, and that is a terrific album. The thought of Nicks and McVie penning some new Fleetwood Mac songs alongside Campbell and Finn would be a dream; I don’t think they have ruled out a return to the studio, but I think touring has been highest on their priorities list. Although Buckingham is not in the crew, there is this generation of new fans that is discovering Fleetwood Mac. I think there would be this huge wave of affection from older fans and young if Fleetwood Mac stepped back in the studio. In an interview with Rolling Stone last year, Stevie Nicks (who was talking about being the first woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice) discussed a big Fleetwood Mac fan and admirer of hers (one suspects the feeling is mutual):

“You somehow have this timeless appeal to every new generation of fans. Harry Styles does such a great version of “The Chain.”
He’s Mick [Fleetwood]’s and my love child. When Harry came into our lives, I said, “Oh my God, this is the son I never had.” So I adopted him. I love Harry, and I’m so happy Harry made a rock & roll record —  he could have made a pop record and that would have been the easy way for him. But I guess he decided he wanted to be born in 1948, too — he made a record that was more like 1975”.

Maybe we might have to wait a while for new Fleetwood Mac material but, for me, a new record from them would be near the top of my wishlist. Nearly forty-five years since their eponymous album – that introduced Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham -, having four of the five original band members returning to the studio would thrill the fanbase. Maybe it is on the back of their minds, but I hope they consider it more during this tense time. So many people (myself included) would be so joyed…

IF a new album came to fruition.  

FEATURE: Long Promised Road: 2021 and the Possibility of The Beach Boys’ Sixtieth-Anniversary Tour

FEATURE:

 

Long Promised Road

IN THIS PHOTO: The Beach Boys (from left): Al Jardine, Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson and Mike Love/PHOTO CREDIT: Pictorial Parade/Alamy

2021 and the Possibility of The Beach Boys’ Sixtieth-Anniversary Tour

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MANY of us are…

IN THIS PHOTO: The Beach Boys pose for a portrait in 1964. From left to right: Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine and Brian Wilson/PHOTO CREDIT: Gems/Redferns/Getty Images

now looking to next year for gigs and festivals. There might be some gigs later in the year, but I think 2021 is more realistic for most gigs. One band who might be making moves in 2021 are The Beach Boys. The band formed in 1961 so, next year, it will be sixty years of this brilliant musical force of nature! I am a big fan, and it seemed likely, until fairly recently, that the band would get together; that Mike Love, Al Jardine and Brian Wilson would share the stage for a Beach Boys reunion. This article from Rolling Stone explains more and mentions how the fiftieth-anniversary tour of 2012 did not go down as planned:

“The surviving members of the Beach Boys have been touring in two competing camps since the bitter conclusion of their 50th-anniversary tour in 2012, but Mike Love told Rolling Stone he is open to the idea of another reunion — this time for the 60th anniversary. “I’m not against anything like that,” he said. “Anything that’s creative and done for positive reasons is good with me. We will continue thinking about stuff like that and see what we can do.”

Next year would mark the 60th anniversary of the formation of the group. They debuted with “Surfin'” in December 1961 and released their first album, Surfin’ Safari, in October 1962.

The idea of a 60th anniversary tour first surfaced in March, when Al Jardine told Chicago Concert Reviews that another reunion tour was a strong possibility. “Oh, it will happen,” he said. We’ll probably do about 20 or 30 [shows] together next year.”

Responding to Jardine’s comment, Love told Rolling Stone, “He and I have spoken, but not about that specifically. Al’s a really good singer, but he’s been traveling and performing with Brian Wilson, [and] Brian has some serious health issues. We are in a very fortunate and blessed position to be able to do music for a lifetime. It’s pretty amazing. I can remember when my cousin Brian was a young boy. He sang ‘Danny Boy’ sitting on my Grandma Wilson’s lap. So that’s how far back we go musically.”

The 50th anniversary tour didn’t end well in 2012, after Love unexpectedly announced new tour dates for the fall that weren’t part of the reunion. “As we move on, Bruce and I look forward to performing live for Beach Boys fans everywhere,” Love said.

“As far as I know, I can’t be fired — that wouldn’t be cool,” Wilson told the Los Angeles Times. “The negativity surrounding all the comments bummed me out. What’s confusing is that by Mike not wanting or letting Al, David [Marks] and me tour with the band, it sort of feels like we’re being fired”.

I am not sure whether the restrictions in place because of Covid-19 will ease soon, but I feel like next year will be one where every artist gets out there to make up for lost time. I think the possibility of The Beach Boys being together to celebrate sixty years since their formation is wonderful. I recall listening to the band as a young child, and I really loved their earlier surf period – songs like Surfin’ U.S.A. are among my all-time favourites. Pet Sounds turned fifty-four yesterday (16th May), and it is considered by many to be their finest album. Whether you prefer the earlier material or like them when they were a bit more experimental and emotionally-broad, everyone will be able to connect with The Beach Boys. It is staggering to think they have been together for almost sixty years, and a wonderful celebration to mark that anniversary would bring so many people together. It is a way off now, but let’s hope that the guys can work something out and make the sixtieth-anniversary show/series of show happen! I know so many people around the world will want to see them play and, almost sixty years after their formation, they are one of the most beloved and inspiring bands. We have all heard The Beach Boys’ music, and I often wonder how these harmonies-laden songs with intricate compositions translate to the stage. If we got to see original members of the iconic band come together to mark sixty years of their musical brilliance, it would be…

ONE hell of a thing to see.

FEATURE: A Buyer’s Guide: Part Two: Blondie

FEATURE:

 

A Buyer’s Guide

IN THIS PHOTO: Debbie Harry (Blondie)/PHOTO CREDIT: @christein

Part Two: Blondie

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IN the second part of this feature…

I am concentrating on a band who have put out so many incredible records. Blondie are an American band founded by singer Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band were pioneers in the early American New Wave and Punk scenes of the mid-late 1970s. The band’s lead, Debbie Harry, turns seventy-five on 1st July, and she remains as cool and iconic as she did back in the 1970s. Blondie have a lot of fans, but there are people out there who are not aware or might need some guidance regarding the albums to buy. In this guide, I have collected together the albums worth buying, and a book about the band that is pretty interesting. In this Blondie mix are…

SOME real treats.

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The Four Essential Albums

Blondie

Release Date: December 1976

Label: Private Stock (later re-released on Chrysalis)

Producer: Richard Gottehrer

Standout Tracks: Little Girl Lies/In the Flesh/Rip Her to Shreds

Buy: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blondie/dp/B00005MNP5

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/54V45InMvJ6uVtRtO6h1Co

Review:

“If new wave was about reconfiguring and recontextualizing simple pop/rock forms of the '50s and '60s in new, ironic, and aggressive ways, then Blondie, which took the girl group style of the early and mid-'60s and added a '70s archness, fit right in. True punksters may have deplored the group early on (they never had the hip cachet of Talking Heads or even the Ramones), but Blondie's secret weapon, which was deployed increasingly over their career, was a canny pop straddle -- they sent the music up and celebrated it at the same time. So, for instance, songs like "X Offender" (their first single) and "In the Flesh" (their first hit, in Australia) had the tough-girl-with-a-tender-heart tone of the Shangri-Las (the disc was produced by Richard Gottehrer, who had handled the Angels ["My Boyfriend's Back"] among others, and Brill Building songwriter Ellie Greenwich even sang backup on "In the Flesh"), while going one step too far into hard-edged decadence -- that is, if you chose to see that. (The tag line of "Look Good in Blue," for example, went, "I could give you some head and shoulders to lie on.") The whole point was that you could take Blondie either way, and lead singer Deborah Harry's vocals, which combined rock fervor with a kiss-off quality, reinforced that, as did the band's energetic, trashy sound. This album, released on independent label Private Sound, was not a major hit, but it provided a template for the future” – AllMusic

Choice Cut: X Offender

Plastic Letters

Release Date: February 1978

Label: Chrysalis

Producer: Richard Gottehrer

Standout Tracks: (I'm Always Touched by Your) Presence, Dear/Love at the Pier/Kidnapper

Buy: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Plastic-Letters-VINYL-Blondie/dp/B00U88WD0O/ref=tmm_vnl_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1589269665&sr=8-1

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/0N12rQBwFaD13ELCuEmUDl

Review:

“In artistic terms, Plastic Letters, Blondie's second album, was a classic example of the sophomore slump. If their debut, Blondie, was a precise update of the early-'60s girl group sound, delivered with an ironic, '70s sensibility, its follow-up seemed to consist of leftovers, the songwriting never emerging from obscurity and pedestrian musical tracks. The production (again courtesy of Richard Gottehrer) was once again bright and sharp, but in the service of inferior material it alone couldn't save the collection. The two exceptions to the general mediocrity were "Denis," a revival of Randy & the Rainbows' 1963 hit "Denise," for which Deborah Harry sang a verse in French to justify the name and gender change, and "(I'm Always Touched by Your) Presence, Dear," written by Gary Valentine, who had left Blondie shortly before the recording of the album. Due to these two songs, the album became a commercial success, at least overseas. British-based Chrysalis Records had bought out Private Stock, giving Blondie greater distribution and more of an international marketing focus. The result was that "Denis" broke them in Europe, nearly topping the U.K. charts and followed into the Top Ten by "(I'm Always Touched by Your) Presence, Dear," with the album also peaking in the Top Ten. In the U.S., Blondie finally charted, making the Top 100. The songwriting problem did not seem to bode well, but they would take a distinctly different approach next time out.” – AllMusic

Choice Cut: Denis

 

Parallel Lines

Release Date: 23rd September, 1978

Label: Chrysalis

Producer: Mike Chapman

Standout Tracks: Hanging on the Telephone/One Way or Another/Sunday Girl

Buy: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Parallel-Lines-Blondie/dp/B00005MNP8

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/4M6s2jbhKWEcOdXZ8WiHts

Review:

“Blondie turned more than a few punk purist heads with Parallel Lines. Originally born out of the New York punk rock scene of the mid-1970s, the band made a surprising shift toward more pop-oriented material on their third album, a deft mix of new wave, pop and disco produced by Mike Chapman. The album’s biggest hit, of course, is “Heart of Glass,” its swirling synths and Chic-like guitar riffs radiating off a drum machine beat and singer Deborah Harry’s sweet, honey-dipped vocal. (One can only imagine what disco maven Giorgio Moroder could have done with the track, but the fact is that he probably wouldn’t have changed a single thing.) Harry displays a remarkable range throughout the album, her voice purring like a kitten and then building to a mean growl on tracks like “Hanging on the Telephone” and “Picture This.” Many of the songs find Harry in some state of wont desire: she simultaneously predicts and dreads her lover’s rock stardom on “Will Anything Happen,” and stalks him during the creepy b-section of “One Way or Another” (“I will drive past your house/And if the lights are all down/I’ll see who’s around”). The song’s quick meter shifts and carnival-esque finale add to its sinister vibe. “Fade Away & Radiate” starts off just as ominous with a coquettish Harry praising some kind of deity; the track builds from cool synth tones and lone tom-drum beats to jangly guitars, tight drum fills and multiple chord changes, revealing that Harry’s god is actually a television set. The ‘60s-girl-group-pop meets ‘70s-new-wave of “Pretty Baby” and “Sunday Girl” give Parallel Lines its two most whimsical moments. The former chugs along with tongue-in-cheek splendor, offering spoken bits (in French no less), while the latter finds a girlish Harry capturing her own rock-goddess essence: “I know a girl from a lonely street/Cold as ice cream but still as sweet.” Just as her band struck an infuriating balance of punk and pop on Parallel Lines, Harry paved the road for multihued, genre-defying female rockers like Madonna, Gwen Stefani, and even Pink” – SLANT

Choice Cut: Heart of Glass

Eat to the Beat

Release Date: 13th October, 1979

Label: Chrysalis

Producer: Mike Chapman

Standout Tracks: Dreaming/Union City Blue/Eat to the Beat

Buy: https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=blondie+eat+to+the+beat+vinyl&crid=HU1JZQRS30NF&sprefix=blondie+eat+t%2Caps%2C124&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_3_13

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/4gbZS6jj6ufbiSG4C8jLv5

Review:

“Behind all this was, again, the genius (and superhuman levels of attention to detail, spending hours listening to playbacks at eardrum bursting volume) of bubblegum producer, Mike Chapman. He may have recognised in Blondie the ability to be moulded like the Sweet, Mud and all his other RAK creations at the beginning of the 70s, yet the band was equally responsible for this chart assault - writing the material that fitted Chapman's vision. One look at the credits shows exactly how democratic a place Blondie was to be as a band member. Everyone gets a mention at some point.

Maybe this accounts for the stylistic ragbag that emerges. Eat To The Beat still bears the traces of the art punk roots that had given birth to them back in their CBGB's days in New York (on the title track, the manic Accidents Never Happen and Living In The Real World); but at times the album reads like a veritable history of chart styles: Here was their first proper foray into reggae with Die Young Stay Pretty, the Duane Eddy-at-the-disco grandeur of Atomic, the skittering, Spectorish pure pop of Dreaming and Union City Blue and the Motown stomp of Slow Motion. Sound-A-Sleep goes even further back into the kind of 50s dream pop that might feature in a David Lynch film.

Americans, still hamstrung by the double-edged values of the late 60s, were always suspicious that a band first marketed as 'new wave' could be so mercenary and saw it as ersatz 'selling out', giving the album a lukewarm reception. Meanwhile in Europe their ability to soundtrack every great disco, wedding and barmitzvah was rightly valued. In the end, pop is pop and Blondie, at this point, were making the timeless variety that still sounds box fresh today” – BBC

Choice Cut: Atomic

The Underrated Gem

No Exit 

Release Date: 23rd February, 1999

Label: Beyond

Producer: Craig Leon

Standout Tracks: No Exit/Nothing Is Real but the Girl/Out in the Streets

Buy: https://www.amazon.co.uk/No-Exit-Blondie/dp/B00000ILST/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3B6C96H884D7C&dchild=1&keywords=blondie+no+exit&qid=1589269976&sprefix=blondie+no+e%2Caps%2C125&sr=8-1

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/0suodQyBq4rdq7xh23XaCE

Review:

“Otherwise, No Exit‘s sanitized mix puts too much emphasis on Harry’s thin voice and not enough on Burke and the boys. Blow-dried ballads such as “Forgive and Forget,” “Night Wind Sent” and “Double Take” could have been lifted off a Top Gun-era movie soundtrack, with their schmaltzy keyboards and dire lyrics (“In the silence of your steps/I can see into the depths”). And instead of teeth-rattling power pop in the tradition of “Hanging on the Telephone” or “Dreaming,” Blondie indulge in the kind of dilettantish genre dabbling that preceded their 1982 demise: lounge swing (“Boom Boom in the Zoom Zoom Room”), defanged blues (“Happy Dog [For Caggy]”), languid reggae (“Divine”) and a can of country corn (“The Dream’s Lost on Me”).

Even more gimmicky is the title song, a slice of gothic hip-hop bombast with contributions from Coolio, and “Dig Up the Conjo,” a big-beat goof that at least evinces some of Blondie’s smartass personality. Only a spectral remake of the Shangri-Las’ “Out in the Streets” — a trippy girl-group homage that Madonna might covet — shows any imagination from a production standpoint. It’s the kind of seductive pop moment that used to be routine, back in the days when Blondie sounded like a band” – Rolling Stone

Choice Cut: Maria

 

The Latest/Final Album

Pollinator

Release Date: 5th May, 2017

Labels: BMG/Infectious

Producer: John Congleton

Standout Tracks: Long Time/My Monster /Too Much

Buy: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pollinator-VINYL-Blondie/dp/B01LTI9PQG/ref=sr_1_1?crid=311S756LZK45F&keywords=blondie+pollinator&qid=1589271262&sprefix=blondie+poll%2Caps%2C124&sr=8-1

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/6o4STrKI7oQoWppn6Nkdp5

Review:

“It doesn’t bode well when formerly prolific bands reach for outside songwriters, but a cast stretching from Johnny Marr to Sia to Charli XCX and the Strokes’ Nick Valensi have helped recreate Blondie’s classic late-1970s band sound, albeit with a modern sheen. Clem Burke’s trademark machine-gun drumming propels songs with teasingly familiar big hooks and earworm choruses.

Four writers – including TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek – collaborate on Fun’s Chic-style disco-funk. However, the old Chris Stein/Debbie Harry partnership contributes excellent opener Doom Or Destiny, sung with Joan Jett. Love Level has a glorious pop brass riff. Already Naked and When I Gave Up on You find Harry at her most warm and emotional.

One or two songs drop the ball, but the Dev Hynes/Harry-penned electro shimmer Long Time shares the DNA of Sunday Girl and Heart of Glass. The 71-year-old singer’s tales of youthful “racing down the Bowery” are wonderfully evocative, as Blondie rediscover their Midas touch” – The Guardian

Choice Cut: Fun

The Blondie Book

Face It: A Memoir

Author: Debbie Harry

Publication Date: 1st October, 2019

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Synopsis:

“As a musician, an actor, a muse, an icon, the breadth of Debbie Harry’s impact on our culture has been matched by her almost Sphinx-like reticence about her inner life. Through it all – while being acclaimed as one of the most beautiful women in the world, prized by a galaxy of leading photographers and fashion designers, beloved by legions of fans for her relentless, high-octane performances, selling 50 million albums or being painted by Andy Warhol – Debbie Harry has infused her perennial Blondie persona with a heady mix of raw sexuality and sophisticated punk cool.

In Face It, Debbie Harry invites us into the complexity of who she is and how her life and career have played out over the last seven decades. Upending the standard music memoir, with a cutting-edge style keeping with the distinctive qualities of her multi-disciplined artistry, Face It includes a thoughtful introduction by Chris Stein, rare personal photos, original illustrations, fan artwork installations and more.

Peppered with colourful characters, Face It features everyone from bands Blondie came up with on the 1970s music scene – The Ramones, Television, Talking Heads, Iggy Pop and David Bowie – to artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Marina Abramović and H.R. Giger of Alien fame. It explores her successful acting career (she has starred in over 30 film roles, including David Cronenberg’s Videodrome and John Waters’s Hairspray), her weekends with William S. Burroughs and her attempted abduction by serial killer Ted Bundy. Ranging from the hardscrabble grit and grime of the early New York City years to times of glorious commercial success, interrupted by a plunge into heroin addiction, the near-death of partner Chris Stein, a heart-wrenching bankruptcy and Blondie’s break-up as a band, an amazing solo career and then a stunning return with Blondie, this is a cinematic story of an artist who has always set her own path. Inspirational, entertaining, shocking, humorous and eye-opening, Face It is a memoir as dynamic as its subject” – Waterstones

Buy: https://www.waterstones.com/book/face-it/debbie-harry/9780008229429

FEATURE: Cutting Costs and Making Space: What Is the Future of BBC Four?

FEATURE:

Cutting Costs and Making Space

IMAGE CREDIT: BBC

What Is the Future of BBC Four?

___________

IT is hard to say how hard hit…

PHOTO CREDIT: @molliesivaram/Unsplash

T.V. stations will be during this current time. I guess more and more people are streaming and using services like Netflix, meaning broadcasters like the BBC might see fewer people tuning in. It would be a shame if we were to see any stations cut back. News is circulating that BBC Four might be scrapped or, at the very least, it will change. I think the demographic for BBC Four is older than most BBC channels – given the nature of the shows, a more mature audience tunes in. Some have this stuffy impression of BBC Four being quite artsy and stuffy, but I think the rang of programmes broadcast is incredible. Given the news there might be cuts that affect BBC Four, many have come out and thrown a weight of support behind BBC Four:

“BBC Four presenters are rallying to save the arts and culture channel which is rumoured to be facing closure as the corporation looks to cut costs and invest in younger audiences.

Presenters including Lucy Worsley, art historian Dr James Fox, Oxford historian Dr Janina Ramirez and Waldemar Januszczak have taken to social media to campaign against widespread rumours that it could be shut as a TV channel by the end of this year.

BBC Four, which has an annual budget of £44m, attracts a small, niche audience of mostly older viewers to its schedule of shows, although it was responsible for creating the hit comedy The Thick Of It.

This lo-fi music mix with Bob Ross is just what we need this holiday weekend...

Sound on 🔊 pic.twitter.com/LulR2XDEJO

— BBC Four (@BBCFOUR) May 9, 2020

Rumours that BBC Four could be under threat have been circulating for some time as the corporation has made it clear that its goal is to pursue younger audiences increasingly slipping away to rivals such as Netflix.

Speculation intensified earlier this month when it was announced that Cassian Harrison, BBC Four’s long-serving controller, is to move to BBC Studios, the corporation’s commercial arm, on a nine-month attachment.

However, there are several options available as an alternative to a full closure of the channel. One option, which has been floated a number of times over the years, is to merge BBC Four with BBC Two. Another is for BBC Four to follow sister channel BBC Three and cease to exist as a TV channel, instead becoming online-only”.

I can understand why the BBC would want to compete with streaming services that attract a younger audience, but it seems baffling that they woulf consider merging BBC Four with another station or getting rid altogether. Surely the best compromise would be to keep BBC Four and, instead, blend shows into the broadcast that a bit more youth-orientated. I think BBC Four will not be able to make the impact it has in the past, but I do not think the solution is to merge the station with another like BBC Two. I have enjoyed repeats of Top of the Pops and music documentaries; arts and culture shows on the station are great, and it is a valuable corner of the BBC that I fear might be lost.

In lockdown, we are seeing a new appetite for arts and culture because we have more time free. I feel there will be a surge of programme-makers who will react to that post-lockdown. I worry that, if BBC Four was merged with BBC Two, we would lose a lot of the music show repeats and the great documentaries that are currently on. I think one of the reasons why BBC Three moved online was because of a narrow age demographic and the fact it did not resonate as widely as hoped, and the BBC needed to make cuts. I get that the Beeb does have to think about budget and, if they are struggling, it will be mean sacrificing stations. If BBC Four is lost, I do think a lot of people will lose out. I have discovered so many interesting things from watching BBC Four. I love the music programming that allows us to look back, and shows about art, literature and theatre that provides nourishment and entertainment. Although nothing is set in stone yet, it does seem that there will be some form of cuts that will either see BBC Four heading online or it being scaled back. The Radio Times wrote an article that reacted to rumours of BBC Four’s potential demise:

“At times frightening, at other times frustrating, lockdown is a stressful state to be in, and BBC Four represents everything that’s keeping us sane during this pandemic. We find refuge in the arts: escapism, a creative outlet, or else a place to disappear. Under lockdown, galleries, theatres and film sets are (rightly) closed. Concerts are cancelled, and booksellers struggling. But as we’ve discovered, the arts aren’t luxuries: they are a vital part of our own identities, of our culture and communities.

America's race to the moon begins with Soviet Russia's launch of Sputnik 1.

Chasing the Moon. Tonight, 10pm, @BBCFour https://t.co/LRbnO3jpmu

— BBC Four (@BBCFOUR) May 14, 2020

Through film and art and reading books, we travel to places we may never go, meet people we would never encounter otherwise; it’s a lifeline for those who are currently staring at the same four walls day in, day out, and particularly for those self-isolating alone.

For those stuck at home and looking for creative ways to fill their time, BBC Four has filled that gap. Tomorrow at 8pm, for example, BBC Four viewers are invited to pick up their pencils for a life drawing class – with real nude models – as the nation channels its artistic side.

t’s via BBC Four that we were first introduced to many foreign dramas, from Twin (the Scandi-noir, starring Game of Thrones’ Kristofer Hivju, that’s recently gripped the nation), The Killing and the original Wallander, to American imports like Mad Men and the gentle art series Painting with Bob Ross, which has enjoyed a resurgence of interest and achieved cult status among millennials and Generation Z viewers (it even featured in teen drama Euphoria).

Britain’s future music stars, like the royal wedding cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, are discovered on the contest BBC Young Musician, which has been televised solely for BBC Four since 2014.

Music, literature, drama, comedy, theatre, art: it’s all there. And now more than ever, we need channels like BBC Four, to plug the gap that’s currently missing from our lives.

Lucy Worsley looks at how photography helped reinvent the British monarchy.

Lucy Worsley's Royal Photo Album. Tonight, 9pm, @BBCFour @Lucy_Worsley https://t.co/iQUlLVlZyf

— BBC Four (@BBCFOUR) May 13, 2020

Through channels like BBC Four, we can all access the arts. It doesn’t matter if we couldn’t attend that famous play at The Globe Theatre, or couldn’t visit the Tate Modern; and it certainly doesn’t matter if we’d normally be too shy to attend a real-life life drawing class.

But taking BBC Four off-air, and limiting its resources, would make it that little bit harder for people to experience world-class culture – whether we’re in lockdown or not”.

I do feel, as I said, there will be an appetite for more culture and arts after lockdown, and BBC Four seems like the natural place to go. If the BBC combined more original arts programmes and combined that with ‘younger’ shows, then they could retool the station. Maybe this would cause some confusion, but I think it would be a bad idea to funnel BBC Four online and get rid of the station. So many people are only now discovering BBC Four and how valuable it is during this time – to lose it would be a real shame. I hope the BBC realises that there is an audience for BBC Four, and how many out there would mourn its loss. Nothing is confirmed yet, though things do look quite bleak. It is clear there is so much love out there for…

Celebrating performances at the BBC, from the Spice Girls to The Supremes, Labelle to TLC, and The Pointer Sisters to B*Witched.

TOTP2. Tonight, 10.35pm, @BBCFour https://t.co/10LHru8OaW

— BBC Four (@BBCFOUR) May 9, 2020

SUCH a great station.