FEATURE: You’re the One: Kate Bush in Front of the Camera

FEATURE:

 

 

You’re the One

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1982

Kate Bush in Front of the Camera

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A little earlier this year…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1993/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari

I wrote a feature regarding two excellent Kate Bush photograph books: Gered Mankowitz’s WOW!, and Guido Harari’s The Kate Inside. Both are excellent volumes that are worth getting but, as they are a bit on the pricey side, I want to relaunch a question that I recently asked: Will we see a new volume of Kate Bush photographs in 2021? I know this is a subject that I have investigated a bit over the last year or so, but I am always stunned by the sheer variety and wealth of photographs featuring her. Whilst a lot of the photographs online are owned by press agencies, there are many from various photographs that people would love to see! I know that Bush’s publicity drive decreased after 1993’s The Red Shoes, so there are fewer press images and photoshoots of her from that time onwards. I have also previously mentioned how the definitive photobook out there, KATE: Inside the Rainbow by John Carder Bush, is a must-own. With photos taken by her brother from childhood through to 2011, we get to see Kate Bush through the years. The reason for reigniting the theme of photographs is to highlight the way Bush can bring the best from photographers. Although, by her own admission, she is quite shy and private, I have sourced countless photos through the years when putting together features about her.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1979/PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz 

Whether it is a simple press shot or a more creative concept, there are so many wonderful images of Bush. I do wonder whether we will get more volumes and books in future years. I have mooted this before, but a new book of photography need not be the work of a single photographer: I feel a wider collection from several sources would be hugely popular. When I am writing different features about Kate Bush, I look for images that are related to a particular year – if I am discussing a particular album or song -, or it might tie into a particular theme – if I am investigating her love of literature and film, I’ll seek images where there is a more filmic concept. Although I have written recently about how the media often sexualised Bush and there was this idea of her as a ‘sex symbol’, I think it is just her innate beauty and versatility in front of the camera that is one of her biggest assets. With her brother, John, being a photographer, I guess the childhood household was a very comfortable and natural space where she could have photos taken by someone she trusted. Not to say that Bush was well-trained when it came to working with other photographers, but I think that this early exposure helped. Whether it was working with Gered Mankowitz in 1978/1979 or Guido Harari through her career – there are some especially fine images from the filming of The Line, the Cross and the Curve in 1993 -, we got to see Bush provide so many iconic shots and wonderful moments.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Mondadori Portfollio/Getty Images

I think a lot of the biggest artists are hugely engaging when they are photographed, I guess, because they have a lot of experience and it is a big part of promoting their music. I feel, when Bush decided to wind down promotion and came to dislike that side of things, it was more to do with interviews and traveling as opposed to photoshoots. I think we get the best shots of Bush when she worked with trusted photographers like her brother and Guido Harari, thouigh one only need to do a Google search for images to see phenomenally engaging photos through the years. In terms of period, I really like some of the images around 1982 – when she released The Dreaming -, but I am a big fan of the promotional images from 1993 – both for The Red Shoes, and The Line, the Cross and the Curve. I guess it can be hard defining why some artists are particularly striking in front of camera…whether it is their smile, the well-chosen photographers they work with, or a natural ability to convey a range of emotions without much provocation. Maybe a lot of the photos of Kate Bush from 1978 – when her debut album, The Kick Inside, was released – are a little reliant on her sexuality and youthfulness, but I can see that she was exploring a range of guises and looks that early on; an ability that she had as a songwriter too.

PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

I will wrap it up soon, but I think I take for granted photographs of Kate Bush when I use them for various features. Whether it is an image of her engaged in a dance move or displaying huge physicality or something more classic and subtle, she never fails to fascinate me! The same can be said of so many people around the world because, as I often see photos of Bush shared, there is such a huge reaction. It does sort of put back to mind the idea of collating images that have not already been published into a handsome book. I am not sure whether it would be an expensive and implausible thing to realise, but I am often stumbling on images I have ever seen of Kate Bush that tells a story. I think people underestimate how powerful and important photography is in general. I feel a great photo can reveal so much mystery and truth; there are so many contrasting and broad emotions that can be elicited from the photographer. I love how a photo can paint so many words and provoke so much discussion - but it can also leave questions in the mind and a sense of mystique. I guess a more vivid and moving representation of Kate Bush’s photographic quality can be seen through her videos. I keep coming back to Kate Bush as a photographic subject and why she is so captivating. Maybe I shall explore it in more depth further down the line, but I have stopped and thought about all the images I have used for my Kate Bush features and the sheer sense of beauty, fascination and variety that is abundant. From her earliest shoots at the start of her career, to her more recent images for 50 Words for Snow (2011), Kate Bush is…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1979/PHOTO CREDIT: Claude Vanheye

A dream for any photographer.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Pa Salieu

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Zek Snaps

Pa Salieu

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AS we are now in 2021…

 IMAGE CREDIT: The New York Times

many people are offering up suggestions as to which artists are going to dominate the year - those that we really need to look out for. I think Pa Salieu is someone poised to strike big! Late last year, he released the superb album, Send Them to Coventry – I shall quote a couple of glowing reviews for that album later. Before I get there, I want to bring in interviews…because it is important to not only learn a bit of background regarding Salieu, but how he is looking to the future. The twenty-two-year-old Gambian-British rapper from Coventry has been tipped by the BBC in their Sound of 2021 longlist; I would not be surprised if he were in the winner’s position very soon. The first interview I want to bring in is from DAZED. We get to learn more about Pa Salieu’s heritage and what life was like in Coventry when he was at school:

“The Gambian-British rapper has many reasons to be happy, despite everything. In the last 12 months, he has become one of the most hyped new musicians in the country, with everyone from FKA twigs to Virgil Abloh tapping his talent. Things really took off with “Frontline”, a gritty and urgent tale of “block life” set against twisting and colliding beats, which became Radio 1Xtra’s most-played song of 2020 to date and amassed more than three million views on YouTube. From there, his tracks only got weirder and darker, with “Bang Out” sampling the silky and ghostly jams of UK jungle favourite, Japan’s “Ghosts”.

Born in Slough, Salieu moved to The Gambia to live with his grandparents for five years, before returning to the UK to join his mum and younger brother and sister in Hillfields, a deprived area of Coventry (his brother, Tee, joined him for this shoot). Salieu’s lyrics don’t sugarcoat his experiences of hardship and violence growing up (several bullets remain lodged in his skull today after he was shot at last year), and yet, there are slickly playful moments that permeate the darkness. Where “My Family” depicts the grit of Hillfields, “Betty”, his other smash track, is richly melodic; club-ready and dancehall-tinged.

Do you think it’s harder for British rappers coming up from outside of London?

Pa Salieu: Take hip hop; it started in (the Bronx), but it spread across New York, then there’s a scene in LA, in Atlanta. You know what I’m saying? Now that’s what’s happening here too. There’s more than just a UK scene; it’s London, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham – seeing (Manchester rapper) Aitch, that makes my heart go... It’s mad. If you’re in the hood, you’re in the hood, wherever you are. Coventry is not like London; there’s less opportunity. The only part I loved about it is the culture. I know Urdu words, Afghan words, I know Somali words. There would be 50 different nationalities just in Hillfields, you know? That’s the good thing, the culture.

How did you adapt to life back in the UK? What were you like at school in Coventry?

Pa Salieu: I was a cheeky kid. I wasn’t a troublemaker, but I always ended up getting excluded. School failed me. I’m dark, my African accent is strong but it was even stronger back then. In those times it wasn’t ‘cool’ to be African – well, it was always cool to me. I was very proud of who I was, that’s what Gambia did to me. I’ve lived in a place where nobody gives you dirty looks because everybody looks like you. You’re not going to take the piss out of me. So when people at school dissed me about being African, I wasn’t gonna let it go. I didn’t take any of it; I stood my ground. I always fought back.

Do you feel hopeful about the future?

Pa Salieu: Yeah. Our generation ain’t a joke! You saw how racist this country is, I feel like we’re very stubborn now and nothing’s going to pass us like that, you know? I see it. This is about unity. I went to the Black Lives Matter protests – it was mad seeing the unity of everyone, I feel strong on it. Music is one of the keys to that and I think it’s going to be a big key in uniting Africa, I’m telling you. Look at (Hackney group) NSG; they’re building a studio in Ghana. I’m so proud of all this stuff going on. We’re all building”.

It has been amazing seeing Salieu rise and reach so many people. I am not sure whether he would have predicted he would be in this position, even as early as the start of last year. His album has made a big impression, but I think his consistency and incredible passion and talent has made most of the waves! Even though I said that Salieu himself would not believe how far he has come, as we discover from an interview with CLASH, there was a certain degree of inevitability to his formidable rise:

“Today, a career in music is allowing Pa to secure his family’s future. “There’s no plan B. This is a gateway. I can help my mumsy. I can make some generational wealth while I have the chance, doing something I love. The energy you put towards this world, in some way or form it’s gonna come back to you. If music is gonna make sure my mum’s calm, my descendants are calm, then it is what it is.”

Perhaps it was written that Pa would flourish as an artist; music is in his blood. “My auntie is a Gambian folk singer. She goes around the world, and she always used to come to my house every year. So I used to be around music, just not in it. I’ve always felt intrigued. I love what she does, I love the feeling she gave at naming ceremonies, weddings, I admire it.”

Of the circumstances that led him towards “doing mazza inna frontline” Pa is beautifully succinct. “I was around life, real life. You just gotta survive innit. You gotta eat.” But perhaps fate intervened. “If it wasn’t for being on road I probably wouldn’t even go to a studio. I went to a friend's house to do whatever and there was a studio there. The whole idea of putting down my story and my message and then listening back to it. I fell in love with it. I still feel the same way now. Everything happens for a reason.”

Pa rediscovered the freedom and space he’d known in Gambia, within the confines of the recording booth. “It’s something special, it’s not a joke innit. When I go studio I feel free. It’s a different feeling. That’s why I don’t believe in genre”.

I am going to finish off by sourcing positive reviews for the incredible Send Them to Coventry album soon but, before then, I was captured by an interview in The Standard from the summer. The Black Lives Matter protests last year was one of the most important social and political movements in recent memory; ignited by the murder of George Floyd in the U.S., Pa Salieu was very much involved in voicing is support for change and equality:

“He has been vocal on the Black Lives Matter movement and attended protests in London. Last month he posted a long essay on his Instagram profile: “We need to start explaining why our lyrics contain so much pain. Why violence was dropped upon us. This was never our nature,” he wrote.

“I think it will change. This generation ain’t having it,” he tells me. “Here’s an example: if I’m running through my street and I see someone walking ahead, I’ll cross the road. I don’t want them to get scared. I’m a dark guy, I’ve got a hoodie on. They’ll get shook. This is all normal. I know people are afraid of me. It shouldn’t be like this.”

He continues: “I had a friend that died. We called him ‘the hood representative’. Since he died, that’s me. I’m the hood’s representative. I’ve seen everything. There’s so much in my head. I need to speak out. I’m not going home, just kicking back. I’m taking this serious. I know there’s a power you can use with this music thing. I’m just getting myself ready for greatness”.

If you have not heard Salieu’s music, then I think that his Send Them to Coventry album is a good place to start – though many would advise one to his earliest work to get a real sense of how he has grown and where he started. 2020 was a terrific and busy year in terms of albums that stunned the senses. I think that Send Them to Coventry is among the very best of the year. This is what Pitchfork wrote when they tackled the album:

“Combining elements of dancehall, Afrobeats, hip-hop, and grime are now par for the course in the UK’s saturated rap scene, which can make it difficult to innovate. Pa Salieu makes it look easy. On “Over There,” he bends the pitch of his voice to inhabit a cast of characters and skips from trap trills to baile breakdowns without missing a beat. “Betty” packs all the lyrical braggadocio of road rap, but the track’s lean, skittish drum rolls, and Salieu’s playful delivery—dancing between a half-sung flow and full-throated proclamation—round off the sharp edges and transform it into something else entirely. On “More Paper,” he mourns the death of his best friend over gentle rimshots and a synth line that could have been lifted from Clint Mansell’s score for Black Mirror’s “San Junipero.” He channels Youssou N’Dour’s rich harmonies on “Flip, Repeat”; the offbeat stabs of “No Warnin’” and picked guitar on “Block Boy” nod to canonical West African pop.

This is an extraordinarily assured first offering from a young artist capable of surprising at every turn. The result is not so much a foreboding portrait of a forgotten, boom-and-bust city, but an invitation to a place and people unduly ignored—and an introduction to an artist who won’t be. Not so much sent to Coventry, then, as visiting voluntarily”.

There has been a lot of love for Pa Salieu’s Send Them to Coventry. I think The Guardian’s observations are especially important:

“Salieu has pulled off his breakthrough largely through carving out a musical space entirely of his own in a crowded market. You can see where the comparisons to J Hus have come from – there’s a distinct note of Afroswing about the beats – but Salieu’s music is largely devoid of Hus’s lush melodicism. The most obviously hooky of his 2020 singles, Bang Out, which sampled Japan’s Ghosts, is absent; the closest he leans to pop comes on More People, with its 80s soft-rock synths, and Energy, decked out with limber bass and vocals from UK soul singer Mahalia. Instead, he taps into the ominous atmospherics of grime and the minimalism of dancehall, the latter particularly noticeable on No Warnin’, featuring a vocal from Trinidad’s Boy Boy. On Frontline and Flip, Repeat, Auto-Tuned vocals are marooned over a bleak landscape of ghostly, high synth lines, minor chords, murky bass tones and dubby echo; Betty has an insidiously catchy chorus, but it’s set against a backdrop that’s creepy and muted, the electronics churning in the distance.

The overall effect is to spotlight Salieu’s voice, which is fantastic and, like the music, seems to exist in a space between genres, his delivery slipping naturally between rap flow and dancehall toast, between understatement and imposing bellow. His lyrics lurch between thoughtful considerations of his African heritage and its place in what he calls “the wild west”, and grimly unflinching reportage from the “frontline” of Hillfields. The macho swagger of the gun talk is undercut, lent a hollow, desperate tone, both by the music and his willingness to shift from boasts to sudden moments of stark clarity and introspection: “All I’ve known is patience”; “I never saw my power”.

It’s smart, original, raw and occasionally cathartic listening. Perhaps the success of a track like My Family – a raucous, unrepentantly aggressive collaboration with BackRoad Gee, another UK rapper audibly in touch with their African heritage – does have something to do with the events of the last eight months: rather than escapism, it feels like a release of pent-up emotions. But Send Them to Coventry sounds like it would have been successful at any time, regardless of extraneous circumstances: it’s too fresh and inventive to ignore”.

There are going to be a lot of great artists breaking through this year; so many potential idols of the future making some very big moves. I feel Salieu will have a very successful year and, when we can all get out and see live music again, he will get a chance to bring his latest release to the masses. There is a huge fanbase behind him already but, as his music and name gets out there even more, I think he will…

ASCEND to new heights.

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Follow Pa Salieu

PHOTO CREDIT: John Ogunmuyiwa 

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/KING_SALIEU

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/pasalieuofficial

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/pa_salieu

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/290nCNEce1y6rfoJiO2rK7?si=vkf6d_3aSxiQYW-jaRXJQg

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf2su0Eljvo9Uya9Ha1bhsA

FEATURE: The Lockdown Playlist: Alex Turner at Thirty-Five

FEATURE:

 

 

The Lockdown Playlist

Alex Turner at Thirty-Five

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AS tomorrow (6th January) is the birthday…

 PHOTO CREDIT: K.C. Alfred/San Diego Union-Tribune

of the Arctic Monkeys’ lead, Alex Turner, this Lockdown Playlist is dedicated to some of his best songs. It is also the thirty-fifth birthday of Turner, so it seems like an extra-big celebration! He is one of the greatest songwriters this country has produced and I think we will see him develop - and continue to pen these observational and very relatable songs for decades more (I have included some of Turner’s work with The Last Shadow Puppets (the duo he is in with Miles Kane); some songs from the Submarine soundtrack, and the odd cover version and some rarer tracks). I admire Turner’s wordplay and delivery and, in this playlist, you will see that ability and agility in spades! To nod ahead to Alex Turner’s thirty-fifth birthday tomorrow, here are some exceptional songs from…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Alex Turner with the Arctic Monkeys

A modern-day genius.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Chloe Rodgers

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

Chloe Rodgers

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IN my opinion….

 PHOTO CREDIT: Lucia Garcia

Chloe Rodgers is one of the finest new artists coming through. I love the dreaminess of her voice and how immersive her songs are! I have been listening to a fairly new cut, Faces, and it is as beautiful song that one really dives into and can be swept away by! There is a sweetness and mellow vibe, but her songs are packed with nuance so that one keeps coming back. On the first listen, you will pick up a lot, but you’ll keep listening to the tracks and new things unfurl and shine. I will bring in a few interviews soon - just so that we can be introduced to Rodgers properly and get an idea of where she is heading. I am not sure whether she is releasing an E.P. this year, but there is a lot of demand for her stunning music. Whilst her social media numbers are climbing, I feel that it might be the summer of this year when we see a real surge from her – as she might be able to gig and get her music to a bigger audience. There are a lot of fantastic new artists around right now, each offering something different. I don’t think there is anyone truly like Chloe Rodgers. I have seen she has shared posts where publications and various sites have backed her music and tipped her to be one to watch this year.

 PHOTO CREDIT: @whoistiani

It is all richly deserved from an artist who has made a hugely strong start in her career! Although my favourite song from her is A Delphian Lullaby, I love Faces, and The Algae, and I can feel these songs slotting together nicely on an E.P. I also think that, when it comes to touring, there are these small and intimate venues where fans can feel the full effect and spine-tingling sounds of Rodgers’ songs. I am going to quote from a number of interviews as there is a lot to discover about Rodgers regarding her background, ambitions and musical influences. The first one I want to bring in is from CLOUT:

“HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN MAKING MUSIC?

Literally since I learned to talk. When I was learning to read at nursery I used to get feedback from the teachers saying I was learning but needed to just speak the words rather than sing them – I shit you not. And my papa always used to make up songs with me about the stories he’d read to me so I quickly learnt to do that on my own too. I’ve got lyrics in folders somewhere that I wrote at 4/5 years old that are just hilariously terrible. Stuff like “I’m sitting on the floor, it’s sparkly as well, it’s like my bestest friends, have cast a lovely spell”

WHY DO YOU MAKE MUSIC?

Because I love it. It’s been brought to my attention recently that music is just how we decorate time. For people who genuinely enjoy your music, it’s like you’re making those few minutes a bit more meaningful, colourful, emotional or just more nice for them, the same way an artist makes a little bit of space nicer or more thought-provoking for people. Even if it just gives them a catalyst for an emotion they’ve been needing to let out. & I want to do that for myself too.

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY HAS BEEN YOUR BEST MOMENT SO FAR?

If you mean the best moment of my music career, I’d probably say when I supported a lovely and crazily talented American band called the Harmaleighs at The Bodega in Notts and in the middle of their set one of them announced through the mic that they had been nervous to approach me after I played because they thought I was so good! Hearing that from them just made my year.  If you meant the best moment of life in general, I wouldn’t know what to tell ya. Maybe it was the time my papa was at our house & I took him for a nap (it wasn’t long after he came out of hospital after a brain op that went wrong so he wasn’t really himself anymore). I sang to him and I thought he was asleep, but then when I finished the song he poked his little head up and said “can you play me another one chlobo?” And that was really special.

 PHOTO CREDIT: @duckgarnham

If you have not heard of Chloe Rodgers before, then I think you will hear a lot from her this year. Although 2021 has just begun, I think that she will be one of the brightest artists; a lot of people will turn into her music for the first time. Under the Radar shone a spotlight on Rodgers when she released her debut single, A Delphian Lullaby, back in September:

“Hotly tipped Nottingham based singer, songwriter and musician Chloe Rodgers releases her debut solo single today. Entitled "A Delphian Lullaby", the single is out via Crowds And Power on all streaming platforms.

Having carved out a reputation as one of the brightest emerging talents on the East Midlands music scene in recent years, Rodgers has spent the past few months working with Scandinavian production outfit Twenty Committee.

That association came to fruition after producer and composer Anders Källmark spotted her on You Tube. "She was so effortlessly talented," says Källmark, "that we thought she must be performing a series of covers. But she wasn't!" Kallmark subsequently included her as the main vocal component in Twenty Committee, an innovative project featuring a rotating cast of songwriters and performers that's been compared to 4AD collective This Mortal Coil. "Chloe is absolutely integral to Twenty Committee and puts her own spin on everything we do together," adds Källmark.

Since first collaborating with Källmark and Twenty Committee, Rodgers has laid down a number of tracks culminating in a string of releases for the project such as the haunting single "Bones", which came out earlier this summer.

Born and raised in Nottingham, Chloe cites Thom Yorke as her biggest inspiration. "You know immediately that his lyrics have hidden depths," she suggests, "but the deeper you dig, the further you are from getting to what they might mean".

I am fascinates in learning more about Chloe Rodgers. Her voice is so full of textures and colours that are so powerful and stirring. Her compositions and lyrics demand repeated listens and, when you put all of this together, you get an immense hit! I want to introduce an interview with Wonderland. - they spoke with Rodgers about her single, Faces, and what she hopes to achieve this year:

“Chloe Rodgers is the youthful face of alt-pop you should already be getting to know. The singer got her start in music biz after accidentally winning Nottingham’s answer to X Factor whilst she was interning at a record label. Unbeknownst to her, her boss had entered her in the competition, but she still charged forth and became an instant fan favourite. When local fame soon followed, a cocktail of live performances and her rising presence on YouTube lead her to producer Anders Källmark – who originally thought her songs were so perfect they had to be covers – and record label Crowds And Power.

Hi Chloe, how have you been during this uncertain time? How has it impacted your music and creativity?

Hey how’re you doing! It’s been a bit up and down for me but mostly down to be honest. I was ill with something that may have been the virus (coughing, rattly chest, lost my voice & energy etc) for a good few months starting in March so I was unable to sing for that entire time apart from the odd day here and there where it would temporarily clear up. So I didn’t get much writing done at all and just didn’t have the energy for it. It’s obviously a lot harder to find a job with the current crisis so it’s hard to find time for what I really want to do which is music! But there won’t be any gigs for a long time anyway. Really hope the live music industry survives this.

COVER DESIGN: @howiewonder 

How did growing up in Nottingham influence you sonically? Who are your musical heroes?

Growing up here has definitely inspired me to want to be alternative. There’s such a varied music scene here and it’s made me want to explore so many different paths of music. So far my releases have been ethereal and cinematic sounding but this isn’t the only sound I want to create in the long run. At the minute I’d say my musical heroes are Radiohead, Whisky Moon Face and Billie Eilish. All completely different artists that inspire me in different ways. I’m always harping on about how beautiful I find Thom Yorke’s lyrics, but with Whisky Moon Face it’s completely different. They make a blend of like Russian folk and french jazz (I think?) with lyrics like “I wish I was the lice in your hair” and “there’s a dead dog in your bed, you can’t sleep in your bed” which is just such a quirky and strange way to say “I really fancy you, come and share my bed if you like!” & I completely adore it. Their singer also does things with her voice that I’ve never heard anywhere else and it’s just so brilliant.

The music video for “Faces” is really haunting and ethereal – where was it shot and what did you want to convey with it?

I can’t take any credit for the music video at all. The ideas and locations were all thought up by Kate Lomas & Anna Tiani from Autonomy and by Jack Davies from Friction Collective. We shot in some lovely places in the Bath/Bristol area. We wanted to convey the passing of time with Bonnie as a sort of younger version of myself and the contrast between the lighter & darker sides of the mind; peace and ease (walking with the flow of the river, running happily in the fields) VS struggle and turmoil (wading against the flow of the river, being lost in the dark, being trapped in the tall grass).

What do you want fans to take from your music?

I just want to make people feel something. If I could make people feel the way I feel when I listen to “No Surprises” by Radiohead or “Everything I Wanted” by Billie Eilish, where my heart just swells and I want to hug everyone then I’d be so happy. I always try to put the kind of imagery into my lyrics that I loved analysing when we studied poetry in A-level English so it would be really awesome if anyone took the time to think about those parts of my songs too. I never understood why we never studied song lyrics as a part of learning about poetry.

What’s next for you? What are you looking forward to in 2021?

I have 2 more singles to release in the coming months and videos to work on for those and we’ll work on the album after that. With the pandemic it’s hard to predict what is even going to be possible. Hopefully when the restrictions ease a bit it will give me chance to rehearse with the band to get my set perfected for when the live music industry is resurrected (fingers crossed)”.

I shall wrap up soon, but there is one final interview that I need to bring in that reveals some interesting information. Even though Chloe Rodgers is just starting out, I think a lot of heads are turning her way.

PHOTO CREDIT: Paul Boast 

The last interview I am going to source is from Mystic Sons. They asked her (among other things) which current artists she is connecting to:

“Can you remember the first song that made you want to pursue a life in music?

I don’t think there really was any one song really. If I had to pick one it would probably be Complicated by Avril Lavigne, I had such a massive crush on her when I was little! But it was mainly my papa (grandad) that made me want to be a singer, he was always singing and making up songs for me. He had such a gorgeous voice.

Who are your favourite artists you have found yourself listening to at the moment?

I’m currently listening to lots of Whisky Moon Face and Billie Eilish. Whisky Moon Face are a stunning combination of french jazz, & Russian & Irish folk I’d say? They’re absolutely incredible musicians and the singer does such unique things with her voice that I’ve never heard anywhere else, ‘When These Bones’ and ‘Dead Dog’ by them are some of my favourite songs ever. They deserve so much more recognition than they get. & Billie Eilish just has the most heavenly tone I’ve ever heard and her lyrics bring me to tears. Bloody stunning!

How many of your songs have you written about people in your life?

Ooooo quite a lot. I’ve written a good few songs about love interests and one about losing my papa. I’d say the song I’m happiest with that is about people in my life is one I have written recently about two of my best friends, Yana and Ella. It’s basically about how much I love them and want them to be happy. Hopefully I’ll be able to record it soon!

Outside of music, what is your biggest passion?

People. I think trying to make my friends feel loved & sticking up for the little guy is probably what most of my energy goes into besides music. I do love drawing & calligraphy as well though”.

Go and follow Chloe Rodgers (all the links are below) and check out her amazing music. I do feel we will get a physical release this year, and I know Rodgers will have a very successful and long career! It only takes a few moments of Rodgers’ music before you are…

COMPLETLEY hooked and in love!

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Follow Chloe Rodgers

PHOTO CREDIT: Eva Pentel 

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/chloemaryrodge

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/chloe.rodgers.music/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/chloe.rodgers.music/

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/3dptXWP4MdgRHTg65bsR7U?si=qCAUlG-SQ_qe0oJurlmlCQ

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/user/MissLalala121  

FEATURE: Tune In: Looking Back on What Radio Provided Us All in 2020 – and What Hopes I Have Going Forward

FEATURE:

 

 

Tune In

IN THIS PHOTO: Lauren Laverne (BBC Radio 6 Music, BBC Radio 4)/PHOTO CREDIT: BBC  

Looking Back on What Radio Provided Us All in 2020 – and What Hopes I Have Going Forward

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WHEN news broke of the pandemic….

 PHOTO CREDIT: @ocv_photo/Unsplash

early last year, I think a lot of us started to turn to radio in order to provide some form of company and distraction. Not only has the sheer range of radio stations – both AM/FM and digital – lured more people and provided that choice; many have bonded with presenters and tune in because it is almost like they are hearing from a family member! That may seem like an exaggeration, but it is clear that many radio stations have welcomed in their listeners like a family lately. Given that we are all going through the same struggles, radio has responded and so many of us have been kept uplifted and hopeful because of that important lifeline. The first weeks of lockdown meant that many more people were turning to the radio. This article reports on some of the positive news that came through:

“Radio stations are reinventing themselves during the coronavirus pandemic and being rewarded with record online listening figures as a result.

And a number of local commercial and BBC stations across the UK are stepping up their game with extra local content and interactivity with listeners.

Some stations are reporting double-digit increases in online listening in recent weeks.

Global says that there has been a significant increase in connected radio listening, with daily reach up 15% and hours up 9%, between 9-17 March. LBC displayed the most notable growth, with its daily reach growing 43% and listening hours increasing 17%.

 Figures for Bauer a week later also show an average daily reach increase of 15%, and average daily hours up 13% week-on-week. The broadcaster also reported a record daily reach for Bauer Radio streaming on Friday 20 March.

Some of the biggest increases have been especially noted across morning programming – which suggests that people are keeping devices on when they would normally be heading out to work.

These increases come on top of significant growth in online listening over the past year. The most recent RAJAR figures for Q4 2019 showed that online listening was the fastest growing method in the UK, up 33% year-on-year.

Meanwhile, BBC Local Radio, which standardised all programme schedules to protect the workforce and limit footfall into the studios is also going above and beyond to keep communities together.

More than 100,000 people have contacted BBC Local Radio’s coronavirus helpline since it was set up two weeks ago and has seen the biggest response the BBC has ever had to a Local Radio campaign”.

Although some stations have been hit and advertising revenue has dropped, I do feel like radio in general has played a vital role over the course of the past year. Broadcasters are deemed as essential workers. And rightly so! I feel like we have all been lonely and isolated, so being able to tune into our favourite station every day has been such a relief and sense of warmth.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Craig Charles (BBC Radio 6 Music/BBC Radio 2)/PHOTO CREDIT: BBC

I think radio’s important role will continue through this year and, as we are not out of the woods and will be struggling for quite a while to come, that invaluable sonic balm and hug is more important now than ever. Even when we come through the other side and things are markedly better, I don’t think people will abandon radio and spend more time outside/engaged in other forms of entertainment. All of us who listen to the radio owe the stations and broadcasters a huge debt…and I would like to think that listener figures will climb through this year. I listen to BBC Radio 6 Music, and BBC Radio 2. On BBC Radio 2, I tune into Ken Bruce’s weekday morning show. He is one of the best and most recognisable voices on the radio. I also listen in to Jo Whiley, and Sara Cox: everyone at the station has been brilliant when it comes to making us feel better and less alone. BBC Radio 6 Music is my station of choice and, from Chris Hawkins first thing, through to Lauren Laverne’s breakfast show, over to Mary Anne Hobbs, Shaun Keaveny and everyone on the weekday schedule, I have been made to feel a lot safer and more positive because of these people. I also listen to Craig Charles, Radcliffe and Maconie, and Steve Lamacq frequently; all at the station are simply brilliant! Everyone has worked hard and had to come into buildings and studios that are a lot quieter than normal! I can only imagine how strange it has been for everyone, though I never get the sense of that when I listen to BBC Radio 6 Music (and other stations).

 IN THIS PHOTO: Angela Scanlon (BBC Radio 2)/PHOTO CREDIT: Angela Scanlon

In terms of other things this year, I hope that there is continued work regarding gender disparity at various stations. I know things have improved the past couple of years, and stations like BBC Radio 2 have made quite big strides moving female broadcasters to more prominent timeslots. From Ana Matrronic, to Zoe Ball; to Vanessa Feltz, through to Elaine Paige…there are some phenomenal female broadcasters on the station. Angela Scanlon is one of my favourite broadcasters on BBC Radio 2, so it would be great if she got more airtime this year. I also loved Cat Deeley’s broadcast on 2nd January on BBC Radio 2, and she is someone else I would love to hear from more from. On BBC Radio 6 Music, we have phenomenal women like Lauren Laverne, Mary Anne Hobbs, and Cerys Matthews on their schedule - I do think there needs to be a bit of a move this year to bring in more women. I am a big fan of Gemma Cairney. She stepped in for Lauren Laverne over Christmas, and she has proven herself to be a very popular choice. She is so bubbly, passionate and uplifting; having her in a more permanent setting on the station, I feel, would be welcomed by many. Similarly, music news reporter Georgie Rogers is someone I have been lobbying for regarding getting her own show. I think that she could bring something exciting and fresh to the station. In terms of gender and racial equality, I feel many radio stations need to make a pledge to create balance going forward.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Gemma Cairney (BBC Radio 6 Music)/PHOTO CREDIT: Katherine Anne Rose/The Observer

Even though there do need to be more women on BBC Radio 6 Music, it is not a problem so big that it affects me listening – just something I hope will be rectified and addressed in the next couple of years. In general, radio has been such a pillar and fountain of comfort for those who need us – which is pretty much all of us! I do feel like we will see some line-up changes on some stations this year. Regardless, I wanted to salute all radio stations really, as they have provided their audiences with so much. These very key workers have been brilliant and, as we look ahead this year to some brighter possibilities, the broadcasters who have joined us in our darkest days will be right alongside us! I have so much respect and appreciation for the broadcasters and teams who have done such sterling work over 2020. Let us hope that the army of listeners who have tuned in and discovered new radio wonders lately stick firm and understand the power and importance of radio. For all the good things about T.V. and podcasts, I do think that radio offers something more personal and enriching. My 2020 was so much better because of stations like BBC Radio 6 Music and BBC Radio 2 – I know many others feel the same way and have felt like their favourite presenters have been talking directly to them every day. It goes to show that, even in such a modern age, that radio remains such…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Ken Bruce (BBC Radio 2)/PHOTO CREDIT: Andrew Crowley

AN important and invaluable format.

FEATURE: The Lockdown Playlist: Songs from Great Albums Turning Fifty This Year

FEATURE:

 

 

The Lockdown Playlist

 Songs from Great Albums Turning Fifty This Year

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THIS is going to be the furthest back…

I head when assembling album anniversary playlists. I am now heading back to 1971 and albums that turns fifty this year. I think a fiftieth anniversary is a huge deal and, as you will hear in the playlist at the end, there are some truly wonderful albums included. I think the 1970s is one of the best decades for music and, even though 1971 was not the strongest year of the ‘70s (even though it is pretty damned good!), there was still some real genius being released. I have been enjoying sifting through the archives and selecting tracks from the very best albums of 1971. If you have not heard some of the albums included in this Lockdown Playlist, then I hope that this selection…

PROVIDES some nice surprises.

FEATURE: Vinyl Corner: Monie Love – Down to Earth

FEATURE:

 

 

Vinyl Corner

Monie Love – Down to Earth

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THIS is an album that I have been eager to include…

for some time now. In 1990, I was listening to a lot of great Pop music that incorporated Hip-Hope elements. Not that I would call Monie Love a Pop artist, but there is that accessibility together with something a bit cooler. Betty Boo was another artist who was coming through strong at that time and, looking back thirty years, I think the music still gets to me and makes me feel this real rush. Down to Earth is an album I recall listening to when it came out. It is the debut of the Battersea-born artist who scored a minor hit in the U.S. with the album – the singles, Monie in the Middle, and Down 2 Earth fared better on the R&B and Hip-Hop charts. I think 1990 was such a big and competitive year that it would have been easy for someone as talented and fresh as Monie Love to not get her just dues. You can get Down to Earth on vinyl for a very small cost, and it is one that I would recommend people investigate. Even if you want a nice blast from the start of the 1990s, then this record has you sorted! I will bring in a couple of reviews for the album soon – one positive and the other more mixed – but, at eighteen tracks and running in at over an hour, Down to Earth is an ambitious debut album – it seems that its title is slightly ironic, in the sense Monie Love is putting it all out there.

Of course, most of us have heard the big tracks like It’s a Shame. That song features a sample of It's a Shame by The Spinners (and there are additional vocals by Ultra Naté). Monie in the Middle is a great opening track, and we get a few interesting samples – including I Wouldn't Change a Thing by Coke Escovedo. I do love how there are these great samples sprinkled into songs. They help give these original tunes some familiarity and new contour. 1990 was right in the middle of the golden age for Hip-Hop, where artists were uniting various samples and sounds. If Down to Earth is not as political as some of the Hip-Hop of the time, critic Robert Cristgau noted: “(Monie Love) radiates sisterhood even though she concentrates on the guys, and positivity and tradition”. He also noted: “Set loose on a saturated market, female rappers must overcome overproduction--like the indie rockers before them, they're competing for a store of compelling musical ideas that's clearly diminishing even though its limits will never be determined. But rhymewise--contentwise--they're just getting started. Connected to the street and her family's front steps, Monie's shtick is proud rather than hostile, as in "R U Single," where she sees through a casanova's bullshit to what's "cute and smart" about him: "And don't you getta attitude when I speak straight and blunt/It simply shows you ma brother that I don't front…And she finds way more than her statistical share of beats. Cute and smart--also tough”.

I will introduce a couple more review soon, but I have really fond memories of Down to Earth - released on 30th October, 1990 -; it is one of my favourite releases from that period. At the 33rd Grammy Awards, Monie in the Middle was nominated for Best Rap Solo Performance, but lost to MC Hammer's U Can't Touch This. The following year, at the 34th Grammy Awards, she was nominated for Best Rap Solo Performance (again) for It's a Shame (My Sister) but she lost to LL Cool J's Mama Said Knock You Out. I should have put Down to Earth in Second Spin, as there are some that are not overly-effusive regarding the album. This is what AllMusic wrote in 2014:

“Few British rappers have enjoyed much recognition among American hip-hop audiences. Perhaps the British MC who has received the most attention in the U.S. is the highly talented Monie Love, whose Down to Earth is one of the few British rap efforts released by a major label. With Earth, she managed to convert some American hip-hoppers while maintaining the strong respect she enjoyed in British rap circles. If a comparison to Love's American counterparts is needed, she has more in common with Queen Latifah than MC Lyte -- Love is aggressive and outspoken, but not quite as hard as Lyte. There are some definite classics here, including "It's a Shame (My Sister)" and the wildly infectious "Monie in the Middle." But like so many American rappers, Love spends too much time boasting and not enough time telling meaningful stories. Nonetheless, her strong and interesting technique and her overall musicality make this album enjoyable, though not outstanding”.

In a review that is truer to the quality and appeal of Down to Earth, this is what Entertainment Weekly observed in 1990:

“Everyone’s out to get Monie Love. According to this devastating young rapper’s album, guys in high school hit on her, record producers try to exploit her, and other women have the hots for her boyfriend. But Monie’s no victim. Bristling with confidence, the charismatic British émigré drops her adversaries with ego-crushing insults.

Although Monie’s irritability occasionally curdles the mood, Down to Earth is rooted in positive values: self-respect, self-reliance, independence, and ambition. Her advice to an abused friend is solid; her put-down of promiscuity ends with a warning about AIDS. When she grills a date in ”R U Single,” which holds out the affection of a strong woman as a prize worth earning, her withering inquisition is tempered with praise.

In contrast, her harangue against eating pork may be based in the Muslim faith, but her disgust makes it funny, more like a defiant teen wrinkling her nose at supper. Facing the album’s diverse musical menu — hard hip-hop, sensuous ’70s soul, guitar rock — Monie handles it all, indelibly stamping each track with her spirited personality”.

Perhaps some feel Down to Earth has not aged as well as it could but, as I heard it as a child in 1990 and am listening to it now, I think the songs still crackle and hit hard! I really love the album. It sounds great hearing it as a single experience: listening to every track and enjoying all the different sounds and rhymes being delivered. It us a wonderful album that sounds perfect on vinyl.

I want to finish off by quoting from a feature on Back Seat Mafia, who gave praise to a brilliant debut record:

“The nineties were an interesting time for music in general. The cheesiness of the eighties were going out of fashion, and everyone was talking about Mad-chester. Hip hop was changing too. Whilst in the eighties it was all about the gangs and the guns, a collective of rappers called The Native Tongues were making music with a more positive message. Amongst them were De La Soul, Tribe Called Question and The Jungle Brothers. There was also a couple of ladies in amongst the primarily male gang. Queen Latifa is, who is better known now as an actress and a talk show host, was releasing music of her own. And then there was her protégé Monie Love.

Monie went out on her own with her single ‘Grandpa’s Party’. It was followed up by her debut album ‘Down To Earth’. At last hip hop had some female icons (Neneh Cherry and Salt n Pepa were also having big chart hits) . It would be easy to say that the album was released at the perfect time. But in reality, it was part of the reason that hip hop moved the way it did.

Recently Nicki Minaj sampled female-liberation-nightmare anthem ‘Baby Got Back,’ but turned the sexism in the message to her own advantage. It would no doubt never have happened without the groundwork being laid ‘Down To Earth’ was part of that groundwork. But it wasn’t just the girls she was representing. Whilst she was a woman taking control in a man’s business, she was also a British artist making her way to the top in an American dominated market.

The album spawned a handful of singles. ‘It’s A Shame (My Sister)’ was a huge cross-over pop hit. Whilst on ‘Ring My Bell’ she teamed up with the huge vocals of Adeva to create a more house-influenced floor filler. House music and rap seemed to go hand in hand in the nineties, and Monie was at the forefront of it again, mixing the two styles to create huge chart hits.

Monie is still huge in the states as a radio show host. But this album is no doubt what she will be remembered for. It is a great collection of songs that still stands up today”.

If you can’t grab it on vinyl, then go and listen to it on streaming platforms. Thirty years after its release, Down to Earth remains a stunning album! Some people then and now haven’t really appreciated the wonders of the album. If one cannot truly bond with such a remarkable album then, well…

IT’s a shame (sorry).

FEATURE: The Lockdown Playlist: Songs from Great Albums Turning Twenty-Five This Year

FEATURE:

 

 

The Lockdown Playlist

Songs from Great Albums Turning Twenty-Five This Year

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IN a run of Lockdown Playlists…

that collates songs from albums celebrating big anniversaries this year, I am heading back twenty-five years to 1996. It was another hugely impressive year for music and, as Britpop was sort of fading and there was a sense of change in the air, we saw so many terrific and original albums come through that provided fresh directions and possibilities. I think some of the finest albums of the 1990s arrived in 1996 so, to show that, I have chosen a song from each of the biggest albums of that year. These are important records that are going to turn twenty-five this year and, with that, there will be new attention - and people who may not have heard the albums before will discover them. Enjoy prime cuts from magnificent albums that celebrate their twenty-fifth anniversary…

THIS year.

FEATURE: The Lockdown Playlist: Winter Songs

FEATURE:

 

 

The Lockdown Playlist

PHOTO CREDIT: @jannerboy62/Unsplash 

Winter Songs

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AS we are in 2021…

 PHOTO CREDIT: @spencerbackman/Unsplash

and the weather is not exactly ideal, I wanted to combine some wintery songs to help warm the blood. As we all look forward to spring and warmer weather, I thought it was appropriate to have a winter-themed collection of songs. Although last year was a pretty rough one, things are going to be better this year, and I feel things will start to come back to some sense of normality by the time the summer arrives. If you need some form of comfort or calm, then I think these tracks should do the job. Rather than brave the elements and endure the winter’s worst, stay put and listen to some tracks that either summon up images of the season or can provide…

 PHOTO CREDIT: @stephanejuban/Unsplash

A warmer feeling inside.

FEATURE: The Lockdown Playlist: Songs from Great Albums Turning Thirty This Year

FEATURE:

 

 

The Lockdown Playlist

Songs from Great Albums Turning Thirty This Year

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I may do a few anniversary Lockdown Playlists…

as there are some important albums celebrating big birthdays this year. 1991 was an incredibly rich and great musical year! I think 1990 was a strong in terms of classic albums, but you look at the following year and things got even better – maybe 1991 was one of the best years of the decade (behind 1994). As we will mark the thirtieth anniversary of some truly staggering albums this year, I wanted to put together a playlist of cuts from some of the very finest albums of that time. It is a bit of a nostalgia blast for me but, if you are not a big fan of the 1990s for some reason, then surely this collection of songs should change your mind! I will do a few more anniversary/year-specific Lockdown Playlists over the next few weeks or so but, first, here are songs from albums that demonstrates why 1991 was…

SUCH a sensational one for music.

FEATURE: I’ve Always Been a Coward: Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love

FEATURE:

 

 

I’ve Always Been a Coward

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1985/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

 Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love

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I have been looking through my archives…

to see if I have done a feature specifically about Hounds of Love’s title track. I have covered so many Kate Bush tracks, but I don’t think I have detailed this one – I wrote about The Big Sky, Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God), Mother Stands for Comfort, and Cloudbusting previously. If I have already featured Hounds of Love then forgive repetition. The Hounds of Love album turned thirty-five back in September, and I was eager to explore it from a number of different angles and get behind individual songs. The title track was the third single from the album. Released on 24th February, 1986, it reached number-eighteen in the U.K. With the single’s thirty-fifth anniversary occurring relatively soon, I may come back to the song and take a more specific look at it. Now, I want to give an overview of a truly moment in Kate Bush’s career. When people rank the songs on Hounds of Love’s first side – the second side, The Ninth Wave, is a conceptual suite -, they normally put Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) first, and then Cloudbusting might come next. I will discuss how various magazines and sites have ranked the song but, first, I want to draw from the Kate Bush Encyclopaedia, where we get some background to the song:

“['Hounds Of Love'] is really about someone who is afraid of being caught by the hounds that are chasing him. I wonder if everyone is perhaps ruled by fear, and afraid of getting into relationships on some level or another. They can involve pain, confusion and responsibilities, and I think a lot of people are particularly scared of responsibility. Maybe the being involved isn't as horrific as your imagination can build it up to being - perhaps these baying hounds are really friendly. (Kate Bush Club newsletter, 1985)

The ideas for 'Hounds Of Love', the title track, are very much to do with love itself and people being afraid of it, the idea of wanting to run away from love, not to let love catch them, and trap them, in case the hounds might want to tear them to pieces and it's very much using the imagery of love as something coming to get you and you've got to run away from it or you won't survive. (Conversation Disc Series, ABCD012, 1985)

When I was writing the song I sorta started coming across this line about hounds and I thought 'Hounds Of Love' and the whole idea of being chasing by this love that actually gonna... when it get you it just going to rip you to pieces, (Raises voice) you know, and have your guts all over the floor! So this very sort of... being hunted by love, I liked the imagery, I thought it was really good. (Richard Skinner, 'Classic Albums interview: Hounds Of Love'. BBC Radio 1 (UK), 26 January 1992)

In the song 'Hounds Of Love', what do you mean by the line 'I'll be two steps on the water', other than a way of throwing off the scent of hounds, or whatever, by running through water. But why 'two' steps?

Because two steps is a progression. One step could possibly mean you go forward and then you come back again. I think "two steps" suggests that you intend to go forward.

But why not "three steps"?

It could have been three steps - it could have been ten, but "two steps" sounds better, I thought, when I wrote the song. Okay. (Doug Alan interview, 20 November 1985)”.

In October 2004, Q magazine placed this song at number-twenty-one in its list of the fifty greatest British songs of all-time. In a recent MOJO Collectors’ Series about Kate Bush, they ranked the song at number-one. They observed the following:

“In its unstoppable forward thrust, it has the inaugural logic of a dream, although not the way meant by Rolling Stone magazine in its cold review of the album: “Still a precocious, coddled child at 27, Kate Bush loses herself in daydreams and then turns them into songs.” But it is a mature, womanly voice that ruins out of Hounds of Love, not a fey or elfin one, ands certainly not one that asks to be patronised. Neither is it a song that ignores the way of the world. (Coincidentally, the album pushed Madonna’s Like a Virgin from atop the UK charts, another record named after a single that wasn’t quite as otherworldly as it seemed.) The line “I’ve always been a coward/And I don’t know what’s good for me” speaks of experience, but not as much as the delirious cry of “Here I go…” uttered in full awareness that the ground is about to give way, that this is the very second before the falling begins”.

The Guardian named Hounds of Love as Kate Bush’s fifth-best single…and it is a song that means a lot to very many people. In the U.K., the single had the B-side of The Handsome Cabin Boy – a very good and underrated song -, and I hope that there is plenty of attention for Hounds of Love (the single) in February when it turns thirty-five.

On an album that has nothing but brilliance, I think the title track is one of the most extraordinary songs that Bush ever created. The video, which she directed, was inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's film, The 39 Steps - and a Hitchcock lookalike also features in the video (a nod to the director's famous cameo appearances in his films). I think that Bush delivers one of her most remarkable vocals on Hounds of Love, and one can dive into the lyrics and pick them apart. Certainly, there are many lines that make you stand back and think. With so much emotion and urgency in her voice, I first get affected when Bush sings: “Hiding in the dark/Hiding in the street/And of what was following me...”. Whether one gets literal visions of her running and hiding in the street or takes it as a metaphor, these are powerful words that are delivered perfectly. The fact that Bush admits that she’s always been a coward – and doesn’t know what’s good for her – is such a bold and honest line that really does take your breath away. There are exclamations as she runs from the hounds of love and this darker spirit that is chasing her. “Take my shoes off/And throw them in the lake/And I'll be/Two steps on the water”. I love that imagery and how she emphasis and elongates ‘throw’ and then underlines the word ‘two’.

The entire song is a masterclass in delivery and storytelling. Every line is important and quote-worthy; the incredible maturity that Bush displays is moving indeed. My favourite section of the song comes near the end when Bush sings: “I found a fox/Caught by dogs/He let me take him in my hands/His little heart/It beats so fast/And I'm ashamed of running away/From nothing real/I just can't deal with this/But I'm still afraid to be there”. I sort of see the ‘fox’ as a wounded lover or a victim of a bad breakup (rather than a literal fox), but one cannot help but envisage Bush holding this dying fox and being affected. Hounds chase foxes, so I think it is more about a relationship and fighting; the way people are hurt without us meaning to or, as Bush (or a character in the song) has admitted to a sense of timidity, maybe there is this sense of miscommunication and reluctance. The idea of someone running away might indicate a love that is getting too real or too heavy to handle. One can spend hours investigating the lyrics and coming to their own conclusions. In a career of masterpieces, Hounds of Love’s title track is very near the top! Before the single celebrates thirty-five years, I wanted to shine a spotlight on it and uncover this remarkable work. From its beautiful and haunting lyrics to its remarkable video, Hounds of Love is a song that will be…

REMEMBERED forever.

FEATURE: The Lockdown Playlist: Saluting Beth Gibbons: The Very Best of Portishead

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The Lockdown Playlist

Saluting Beth Gibbons: The Very Best of Portishead

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IT seems that 4th January…

is quite a packed day when it comes to significant birthdays of musicians. I am going to do one or two others and post them before that date, so we can have Lockdown Playlists of various artists. The wonderful lead of Portishead, Beth Gibbons, celebrates a birthday on 4th January – what better excuse to have a great selection of Portishead tunes?! I have been a fan of the Bristol group since the 1990s and, alongside Adrian Utley and Geoff Barrow, Gibbons helped to popularise and transform Trip-Hop music. Portishead’s most-recent album, Third, was released in 2008. Many are hoping that they release another album soon as they create such stunning and important work. To nod to a hugely important lead who has one of the most distinctive and memorable voices in all of music, here are some classic Portishead cuts with Beth Gibbons…

RIGHT at the front.

FEATURE: Too Good to Be Forgotten: Songs That Are Much More Than a Guilty Pleasure: New Radicals – You Get What You Give

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Too Good to Be Forgotten: Songs That Are Much More Than a Guilty Pleasure

New Radicals – You Get What You Give

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ONE can scarcely believe songs that some deem…

to be guilty pleasures. I guess, if you feel there is no such thing as a guilty pleasure, then everything is open and good. That is the view I share so, for those tracks that are labelled with that term, I am here to shed some new light and fight their corner. Not that the New Radicals’ You Get What You Give is lacking in any punch and fighting spirit! This is a song that appears on Spotify’s playlist of guilty pleasures. There are some interestingly-chosen tracks that I feel are worthy of shouting about. There is no doubt that there some pretty dodgy songs floating around in the 1990s and, whilst New Radicals might be seen as a one-hit wonder, it is one of those hits that is sort of timeless and properly good! Released in 1998 by the Californian band, You Get What You Give reached number-thirty on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay rundown in January 1999; number-thirty-six on the overall Hot 100 and number-eight on the Billboard Modern Rock chart. It also reached number-five in the United Kingdom, number-four in Ireland, and number-one in Canada and New Zealand. According to Wikipedia:

“In the liner notes to her 2004 compilation Artist's Choice, Joni Mitchell praises "You Get What You Give" for "rising from the swamp of 'McMusic' like a flower of hope.” In 2006, Ice-T was asked on Late Night with Conan O'Brien about what he has heard, besides rap music, in the last few years that really grabbed him and his only reply was "You Get What You Give". In a Time interview, U2 lead guitarist The Edge is quoted saying "You Get What You Give" is the song he is "most jealous of. I really would love to have written that".

You Get What You Give is taken from the Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too which, as an album, is one of the more underrated of those from the 1990s. It has gathered critical acclaim and, rather than it being one terrific song and lesser numbers, there is an amazing consistency throughout. With songs like Someday We'll Know, and I Hope I Didn't Just Give Away the Ending, there is ample quality on that exceptional album. With the vocal and songwriting power of Gregg Alexander (he co-wrote You Get What You Give with Rick Nowels) making the song such an anthem, it is a shame that some (more than Spotify) consider You Get What You Give as a guilty pleasure or something novelty from the 1990s. I am not sure whether it is some slightly younger, cynical sources feeling the song is overrated or those who remember it from the 1990s feeling it sound dated…but I love the song and think it can rub shoulders with the finest of the ‘90s. Far from it being a light and harmless song, there was actually a bit of controversy regarding the last verse: “"Health insurance, rip-off lying/FDA, big bankers buying/Fake computer crashes dining/Cloning while they're multiplying/Fashion shoots with Beck and Hanson/Courtney Love and Marilyn Manson/You're all fakes, run to your mansions/Come around, we'll kick your ass in". Gregg Alexander sort of used that verse to see whether people would pick up on the more political elements or the celebrity-riling lines.

Predictably, there was a bit of blowback. Marilyn Manson objected to the mention, whereas Alexander apologised to Beck when he saw him in a supermarket – Hanson, too, were pretty cool with the reference (Alexander actually collaborated with Hanson). There have been plenty of diss songs since You Get What You Give but, unlike many, the New Radicals meant nothing by. I want to finish by bringing in a feature from The A.V. Club, that starts off by stating how the music scene altered post-Grunge:

“Ben Folds Five’s worldview ranged from sardonic to sentimental to caustic, while Semisonic, Fastball, and Fountains Of Wayne crafted power-pop that was classic-sounding, catchy, and smart. An even weirder slew of one-hit wonders sprouted on modern rock radio, especially at the tail-end of the ’90s and into 2000: Marcy Playground’s “Sex And Candy,” Chumbawamba’s “Tubthumping,” Wheatus’ “Teenage Dirtbag,” Len’s “Steal My Sunshine,” Bran Van 3000’s “Drinking In L.A.,” Marvelous 3’s “Freak Of The Week,” Harvey Danger’s “Flagpole Sitta,” Fretblanket’s “Into The Ocean,” and Citizen King’s “Better Days.” (Swirl 360’s “Hey Now Now,” despite its presence in the Top 40, felt like a lost alternative music classic in the vein of Sloan and Fastball.) With the exception of “Flagpole Sitta,” most of these songs never became wildly influential—in fact, a large portion of these bands gathered dust in the dollar bins, sunk by their own novelty—but they made the teeming underbelly of alternative-rock radio far more interesting”.

Although there is a goofiness to You Get What You Give on one level, the song is almost like a message from Alexander to himself to keep going and continue on. He previously released too fairly unsuccessful solo albums - 1989’s Michigan Rain and 1992’s Intoxifornication -, so New Radicals was almost like a last shot at getting a hit. The A.V. Club note that, whilst You Get What You Give is fairly similar to a lot of ‘90s hits, it has endured and has definitely transcended the status of a one-time gem:

“On paper, New Radicals’ “You Get What You Give” isn’t drastically different than many of the other one-hit wonders of the late ’90s. The tune is airy-sounding and uplifting in a general way, courtesy of frontman Gregg Alexander’s soaring falsetto. Musically, it’s vaguely alternative-sounding, between the electric guitar corkscrews and optimistic piano chords popping out of the mix here and there, although it possesses enough of an accessible pop sheen to explain why it scraped the bottom of the Top 40. (The song was co-written by Rick Nowels, who went on to co-write huge hits for Dido, Madonna, and Lana Del Rey, and features contributions from Rusty Anderson, a former member of Ednaswap who’s now Paul McCartney’s guitarist.) The bridge contains a spoken-word section that Alexander often transformed into a near-rap live, in a nod to the era’s growing conflation of hip-hop and rock, while the vocalist’s forceful, half-spoken, half-sung delivery on the chorus made it easy (and fun) to sing along to.

The attention given to his critique of fame underscored his distaste for the culture’s emphasis on celebrity attention, something else that would only grow more intense and pervasive in the coming years. “My favorite artists—Prince, [David Lee] Roth-era Van Halen, even Madonna when she was doing cutting-edge work—they were mysteries to me and my friends,” Alexander said in 2014. “That was part of what made their work compelling, was that we didn’t have their opinions tweeted and Facebooked every 30 seconds. I didn’t know what Prince was having for dinner, thank God. So that was some of what I idealized and thought would be more present in my life as an artist.”

 “So even though “You Get What You Give” stayed in the mainstream’s consciousness during the next 15 years, Alexander retreated from the public eye, at least under his own name. Using a pseudonym, he wrote or co-wrote major European hits (including Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s “Murder On The Dancefloor” and Ronan Keating’s “Life Is a Rollercoaster”), as well as songs for Spice Girls’ Mel C and Geri Halliwell, Boyzone, and Enrique Iglesias. With Nowels, he also co-wrote Santana’s massive, Grammy-winning hit “The Game Of Love,” which in its demo form isn’t that far off from New Radicals’ amiable style, and was also part of a collective called the Not So Silent Majority, which put together an effervescent song called “Obama Rock” around the time of the president’s 2009 inauguration. More recently, Alexander penned songs for the 2013 movie Begin Again with Nowels and his longtime musical collaborator Danielle Brisebois. One of these tunes, “Lost Stars,” was even nominated for an Oscar, precipitating his brief return to the limelight. The template Alexander created on “You Get What You Give” turned out to be surprisingly influential on popular music, just in a non-obvious, almost obscured way.

Yet New Radicals’ shelf life has also been surprisingly long. “You Get What You Give” has been in a slew of movies, including 2000’s The Flintstones In Viva Rock Vegas and 2004’s Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. In Glee’s season-three finale, outgoing seniors sang it as a goodbye song to the underclassmen, while Savoir Adore covered the song for A.V. Undercover in 2013. The band also has some superstar supporters: Hall & Oates covered “Someday We’ll Know” with Todd Rundgren, and the members of U2 are unabashed fans of Alexander’s work (in fact, Bono was the one who reportedly connected him to Begin Again director John Carney). The band even received Joni Mitchell’s stamp of approval: “The only thing I heard in many years that I thought had greatness in it was the New Radicals,” she told Rolling Stone in 2002. “I loved that song ‘You Get What You Give.’ It was a big hit, and I said, ‘Where did they go?’ It turns out the guy [Gregg Alexander] quit. I thought, ‘Good for him.’ I knew he was my kind of guy”.

Though some might say the New Radicals’ You Get What You Give is a guilty pleasure or a simple one-hit wonder, I think it is a great song. It is still played a lot to this day, and people of all ages have affection and respect for the song – not to mention that it also has a killer chorus! Rather than view it is a secret, guilty pleasure, one should definitely view You Get What You Give as…

A magnificent song.

FEATURE: Selective Memory: Going Back to My Childhood Mixtapes and Favourite Songs

FEATURE:

 

 

Selective Memory

Going Back to My Childhood Mixtapes and Favourite Songs

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THIS is a subject that I have talked about…

 PHOTO CREDIT: @greg_wwm/Unsplash

quite a few times before but, after such a hard year, I am listening back to a lot of the songs and mixtapes (not literally; the songs on them) from my childhood. I have argued against nostalgia before. Some people say that, if you are reverting to the music you loved when you were younger, then it is pure nostalgia. I would say that, for the most part, one can indulge in the great hits from the past as it is simply great music – and one is not particularly trying to live in the past. I think 2020 was a year when I was also experiencing some much-needed nostalgia and warmth. I have spent a long time looking back on 2020 and the best albums and songs. I have been keeping abreast with all the new songs and artists that we need to look out for through this year. I think this year will be a much better one than the last but, as we are still in a bad situation and a sense of normality might not occur until after the summer, I am spending some time enveloping myself in a childhood bubble. A lot of other people are doing this but, rather than it being me trying to merely return to a better time, there are so many songs that I have been revisiting that one does not hear talked about and played much. I will put out a Spotify playlist at the very end – a personal mixtape/playlist -, but I have been listening to a lot of great playlists like Spotify’s Summer Hits of the 90s, and 90s Smash Hits – in addition to a great All Out 80s, and All Out 90s.

 IMAGE CREDIT: Spotify

What I love about the songs of the 1980s and 1990s is how much variety there was! I know we have variety now, but there will big musical movements and scenes back then – something we do not really have nowadays. My earliest musical memories revolve around experiencing something very powerful and new. This feature is going to be all about me, but I will try and widen it at the end and talk about how many of us have been returning to out prized childhood songs whilst things have been really rough. From my first memory of life listening to Tears for Fears’ Everybody Wants to Rule the World, to seeing the video for The Bangles’ Eternal Flame when I was very young…these memories are indelible and in my mind all of the time - and they opened my eyes to the way music can move and overwhelm. A lot of my most-treasured memories of music occurred when I was in middle and high school. The concept of mixtape arrived in my life when I was in middle school. I was born in 1983, and I had my first mixtape when I was about, maybe, eight or nine (before then, I was listening to albums on cassette), I think. I was listening to a lot of the big Pop artists of the day like Madonna and Michael Jackson, but I was also being introduced to stuff from my parents’ record collection: classics from The Beatles, The Small Faces, Led Zeppelin, Steely Dan, and  Billy Joel.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Billy Joel in 1983

I was a massive fan of T. Rex at that age, and I was also discovering to a lot of eclectic music – from early Beach Boys stuff to Freddie Mercury, all the way to The Tremeloes, Del Shannon, The Righteous Brothers, and Johnny Tillotson. It was amazing to discover all this contemporary and older music! I think, when we are younger, we are far less discerning; our imaginations are more receptive to a variety of sounds. I am not sure whether it was me or my parents putting together mixtapes, but having all these great artists together was not only important when it came to discovering the full breadth and beauty of music, but it was a great social tool. My friends and I would swap tapes and bond over our favourite tracks from the cassettes. From Kate Bush to Carole King, seeds were being planted that would bloom years later – in the sense that I would pursue a much deeper love of music when I was an adult. High school was a tough time but, when I think of the happy memories, I recall all the great music of the 1990s that I was drinking in. I started high school in 1994, and I was immersed in all the Britpop music…but there was so much great Pop around that was so uplifting and wonderful. Although Smash Mouth’s Walkin’ on the Sun, and the Spice Girls’ Spice Up Your Life are songs that sound-tracked harsher and more upsetting memories from high school, I listen to these songs now and so many memories flood back from before and after that time (that are happier).

It is the way music can open up memories that were stored away that stuns me. I have remarked before but, most of the time, I cannot vividly remember my earliest years and what happened with bringing music to mind as an aid. I think music is the big reason why I can retrieve memories at all! From these humble and vital mixtapes that I had when I was very young, through to the eye-opening wonders of the 1990s, I have been listening back to many of these songs that I fell for as a child. I have also said before, but Now That's What I Call Music! 24 of 1993 was the first album I bought (on double cassette, I think); Graceland by Paul Simon holds very special memories; I have especially precious memories of family holidays, simply because of the music that was played when I was there or on the car drive to and from the airport – from Kylie Minogue to Charles & Eddie, through to Shakespears Sister, and Deee-Lite. Maybe some of the Pop I listened to when I was very young (such as Betty Boo) has not aged all that well (though I still love it!), but it means a great deal to me – and, at this tough point of life, it is helping me greatly. Whether it is recalling why Red Alert by Basement Jaxx, and Kiss Me by Sixpence None the Richer were bittersweet in my last year of high school; how important the Dance and Electronic music of 2000/2001 was regarding fitting in when at sixth form college, and who introduced me to The White Stripes when I started university…all of these songs/artists are hold a very special place in my mind (even though I have said the playlists contain songs from my childhood, I am squeezing in a few tracks from my sixth form college and university days - so, technically, they are also about young adulthood).

 IN THIS PHOTO: Belinda Carlisle

Things will get better this year but, as we are all looking to keep going and finding something positive, I am revisiting songs from my earlier life. If it is big Pop songs by Belinda Carlisle and Lisa Stansfield, or some classic Beastie Boys or some Deacon Blue, all of this music has really resonated. I think that we all have our bank of musical memories that could find their way onto a huge mixtape. It is lucky we have streaming services now, as I would spend hours and endless cassettes putting together all my favourite songs – whereas I can fit everything in on one digital playlist! I would encourage everyone else to think about the songs they have been coming back to – whether they are from your childhood or from only a few years back - and compile your own digital mixtape/playlist. I am going to keep hold of the one I have put together, as I can generate so many happy memories and emotions from listening to the songs. I think nostalgia is not a bad thing now as we all know better days are ahead, but I think we can find the determination to look ahead by thinking back to our brighter days and childhood years. The music from that time is so transformative and important to all of us! I am going to end with the tunes that I have been listening to a lot lately. They are not going to be chronological – in terms of when I first heard the tracks -, but the songs are very special to me. If you have a spare moment, mix some songs onto a playlist that hold a special place in your heart and get…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Deacon Blue

A warm rush of needed and nice nostalgia.

FEATURE: The Lockdown Playlist: Five Years: Artists Inspired by David Bowie – and Great Cover Versions of the Icon’s Work

FEATURE:

 

 

The Lockdown Playlist

IN THIS PHOTO: David Bowie photographed on the set of the 1976 film, The Man Who Fell to Earth/PHOTO CREDIT: Geoff Maccormack/Bonhams

Five Years: Artists Inspired by David Bowie – and Great Cover Versions of the Icon’s Work

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I may put out more than five features….

before 10th January - as that is when we mark five years since David Bowie died. I want to speak in more depth about Bowie’s influence in a wider sense, beyond music and artists who owe a debt to him. For this Lockdown Playlist, I wanted to bring together songs from artists who have definitely been inspired by Bowie; others that have cited him in an interview or their work contains some Bowie-esque elements. In the second half of the rundown, I have compiled some cover versions which are pretty good. I want to finish by quoting from an article from The Hollywood Reporter, who wrote of David Bowie’s legacy on 13th January (a few days after he died).

“Over the course of almost five decades, David Bowie transformed the very possibilities of pop music. Since his arrival at the dawn of the 1970s, every new movement that followed — punk, new wave, hip-hop, electronic, Goth, grunge, industrial — bore his stamp in some way. While age caught up with his peers, making them look old and irrelevant, or (best case) turning them into objects of nostalgia, Bowie's cool never faded; his impact only kept expanding.

But whatever method of expression he chose — from writing songs like "Rebel Rebel" and "Life on Mars?" to roles portraying Andy Warhol and Pontius Pilate — Bowie's work consistently returned to common themes: the sense of alienation, of being an outsider. His radical individualism helped give voice to several generations of misfits and weirdos, enabling "the children that you spit on" — to borrow a line from his 1971 hit "Changes" — to come out from the shadows, defiant and proud.

“He announced his bisexuality in the mid-1970s, long before such a declaration was widely tolerated. Having dived deep into black music on such R&B-drenched hits as "Fame" and "Young Americans" (he was one of the few white artists to appear on Soul Train), he was a strong advocate for African-American artists. He gave Luther Vandross his start as a recording artist and tapped Nile Rodgers to produce 1983's Let's Dance — which became his biggest-selling album in the U.S. — at a time when Rodgers was reeling from the anti-disco backlash. Perhaps most significantly, Bowie called out MTV during the network's early years for not playing videos by black artists. "I'm just floored by the fact that there are … so few black artists featured on it. Why is that?" he asked during an on-air interview in 1983.

This was the David Bowie who set a course for musicians, designers, actors, politicians and fans around the world. He was the original performer in a state of constant reinvention, paving the way for Prince, Madonna and Lady Gaga. "He was a one-off, a brilliant outlier," wrote Peter Gabriel on Facebook, "always exploring, challenging and inspiring anyone who wanted to push the boundaries of music, art, fashion and society”.

To show how far and wide Bowie’s influence has reached, music-wise, this Lockdown Playlist is about artists who have been influenced by Bowie, either through their original songs…

OR through cover versions of Bowie’s tracks.

FEATURE: Let the Records Show… Looking Ahead to Some Anticipated Future Releases – and Ones That I Would Like to See Arrive This Year

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Let the Records Show…

IN THIS PHOTO: St. Vincent/PHOTO CREDIT: Pamela Neal 

Looking Ahead to Some Anticipated Future Releases – and Ones That I Would Like to See Arrive This Year

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EVEN though we are still in January…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Jane Weaver

there are some great albums that we can look forward to. I am going to ignore February, as I am doing a separate feature about albums due then. Last year produced more than its share of wonderful albums, and I think we will get some immense albums in 2021. There are a few albums that have been announced for March. Jane Weaver is releasing her new album, Flock, on the fifth. After hearing the single, The Revolution of Super Visions, last year, I am really looking forward to the album coming out. FIRE explains more:

“‘Flock’ is the record that Jane Weaver always wanted to make, the most genuine version of herself, complete with unpretentious Day-Glo pop sensibilities, wit, kindness, humour and glamour. A consciously positive vision for negative times, a brooding and ethereal creation.

The album features an untested new fusion of seemingly unrelated compounds fused into an eco-friendly hum; pop music for post-new-normal times. Created from elements that should never date, its pop music reinvented”.

On 30th August, 2019, the release day of her seventh studio album, Norman Fucking Rockwell!, Lana Del Rey announced that she had already begun work on her follow-up album, revealing the title to be White Hot Forever. The title has since been confirmed as Chemtrails Over the Country Club, and this is going to be one of the most-anticipated releases of the year. I think Norman Fucking Rockwell! was the best album of Del Rey’s career, so I am looking forward to hearing what arrives next. She seems to be in really prolific mood at the moment, and I think Chemtrails Over the Country Club will be one of the hottest releases of 2021.

IN THIS PHOTO: Lana Del Rey/PHOTO CREDIT: Chuck Grant for Interview Magazine

Expected in May, Paul Weller’s Fat Pop (Volume 1) is going to be another fantastic album. Weller only put out On Sunset last year, so it seems that he has spent a lot of time writing new material and being creative. Weller’s last few albums have been some of the best of his career, and I feel we will get another tremendous album regarding Fat Pop (Volume 1). I love the title alone, so it will be intriguing to see what sound Weller adopts for his sixteenth solo album. I have written about Lorde recently and, after 2017’s Melodrama made such an impact and got some incredible reviews, there has been this demand for her third album. She has suffered some personal setbacks since then, but it seems like we will get a new album from the New Zealand artist very soon. Her music is among the most extraordinary in the world, and I can see her album being among the very best of the year. Last year, Billie Eilish released a new song called Therefore I Am. When it comes to following up on her massive debut album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, I think we will see yet another staggering work.

I love that album, so I am looking ahead and anticipating what the teen genius comes up with. In this article from NME, Eilish’s brother/producer, Finneas O'Connell, provided an update:

“Billie Eilish‘s new album will not be released until she can safely tour, her brother and producer Finneas has said.

In a new interview with Australian newspaper The Herald Sun, Finneas said he didn’t want his or Eilish’s new albums to “be a bummer COVID record”.

“I have a desperate desire not to release them during COVID-19. It’s the vaccine record! I want it to be the album everyone’s out dancing in the streets to,” he said.

Elsewhere in the interview, Finneas provided a brief update on the progress of the two albums while quarantining.

“Billie and I are full steam ahead on her next record, I’m working on my own album too. I haven’t suffered at all because of my set-up,” he explained.

“Billie and I can work one-on-one, and I’m working remotely with other artists who FaceTime me and ask if I want to work on a song”.

There are some other wonderful artists who are in the studio and expected to release material this year. St. Vincent is one such artist. Her music is so incredible, so I can understand why so many people (myself included) cannot wait! Pitchfork have reported the following in December:

“St. Vincent has said that she has a new album on the way. “The rumors are true. New record “locked and loaded” for 2021,” Annie Clark wrote in a tweet. “Can’t wait for you to hear it.”

Clark spoke more about the followup to 2017’s MASSEDUCTION in an interview with MOJO. Describing the record as a “tectonic shift,” Clark explained, “I felt I had gone as far as I could possibly go with angularity. I was interested in going back to the music I’ve listened to more than any other—Stevie Wonder records from the early ’70s, Sly and the Family Stone. I studied at the feet of those masters,” according to Stereogum.

Annie Clark also said the album has “the color palette of the world of Taxi Driver” and “Gena Rowlands in a Cassavetes film.” “I just wanted to capture the colors, the film stock, and tell these stories of being down and out, down on your luck,” she said.

Since the release of MASSEDUCTION, Clark has shared two reworked versions of the album, MassEducation and Nina Kraviz Presents Masseduction Rewired”.

Noel Gallagher is in the studio and has recently released a demo for We’re Gonna Get There in the End. I am not sure whether that will form part of a new album, though new Noel Gallagher material is always a good thing. Sinead O'Connor is also rumoured to be in the studio. The news was reported by NME in December:

“Sinéad O’Connor is to release a new album next year, her first in seven years.

The Irish singer-songwriter will follow up 2014’s ‘I’m Not Bossy, I’m The Boss’ with her 11th studio album. No release date nor title have been announced.

She confirmed the album news via Twitter yesterday (December 8) by gushing about the artwork. “Thrilled to say @JacobStackArt has drawn the cover of my album and it’s GORGEOUS!!!!! But you can’t see it until release in late 2021,” she wrote”.

2018’s Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino was a slightly different sonic direction from Arctic Monkeys and, whilst some fans were not so keen on a less Rock-focused and hard sound, I am a big fan of the album myself. There has been talk for a while as to when the Sheffield band will follow that album up and, as this article  teases, there may be something brewing from the band:

“The Sheffield band's manager Ian McAndrew has talked about the band's live album and revealed they've been "beavering away" during the pandemic.

Arctic Monkeys have been "working on music" according to their manager Ian McAndrew.

The music boss spoke to Music Week about the band's Royal Albert Hall live album and when asked what else they've been up to this year, he teased: "They’re working on music. In this rather disjointed time, the guys are beavering away and I hope that next year they’ll start working on some new songs, new ideas, with a view on a future release."

However, when asked if the band would be releasing their follow-up to 2018's Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino much sooner than their other records, he was far more measured.

"We followed that release with a fairly robust touring plan that went on until October 2018," said McAndrew. There weren’t any prearranged plans to get back in the studio quickly, so I don’t quite know the basis of that rumour honestly."

He added: "It’s fair to say that plans to write and record music have been deferred or postponed in terms of difficulties in getting together. Nevertheless, it in some ways creates a welcome opportunity, more time, more space and ability to go away and devote a bit more time to the creative process. That’s been a blessing in a weird way".

IN THIS PHOTO: Robert Plant

Although there is nothing concrete at the moment, I believe Robert Plant has been in the studio and may be working on a new album. His previous album, 2017’s Carry Fire, got some really positive reviews, so there are going to be a lot of Plant fans seeing whether the master brings us some new music very soon. There are two other big, confirmed forthcoming albums that I want to look ahead to. The Cure are readying the world for their forthcoming album. As Music News report, it is a darker and denser album than we may be used to:

“The ‘Close To Me’ hitmakers are expected to release their long-awaited new LP next year – their first since 2008’s ‘4:13 Dream’ – and guitarist Reeves Gabrels explained the record has been inspired by a “tough couple of years” for the whole band.

He said: “It’s a heavy and dark record. I don’t think there are any short songs on there.

“The description of Lou Reed’s ‘Berlin’ when it came out was that it was the “‘Sgt Pepper’ of depression” – I don’t know if we’re that psychedelic but we are that depressed.

“It was a tough couple of years for everybody. A by-product of getting older is that people around you keep dying. We all lost relatives. Robert lost his brother, I lost a step-dad and father-in-law – while we were on the road too, which meant there was more strain.”

IN THIS PHOTO: The Cure

The group have recorded so many songs, Reeves isn’t sure just how many albums frontman Robert Smith is planning.

He added in an interview with Uncut magazine: “We started the record in January 2019 in Wales – we went in for about two months.

“We’d all been writing before that. So we got together and listened to it all, learned it, went into the studio and recorded it.

“There’s enough material for two or three records, a lot of stuff”.

One band who have been in the news quite a bit lately are Chvrches. The band’s lead, Lauren Mayberry says they have learned from Billie Eilish’s debut album. I am interested to see what they produce when their new album comes out. The Guardian recently spoke with Mayberry about what we can expect from a new Chvrches album:

“Following three top 10 albums, the Scottish synthpop trio are preparing to release their fourth this spring, and will hopefully bring their pounding live show back to the festival circuit. Frontwoman Lauren Mayberry explains how the privations of 2020 helped them get rid of their baggage, and get to the heart of who they really are.

What’s the overall vibe for the album?

We sat inside and listened to music that we really loved all year, like Depeche Mode, the Cure and Brian Eno. I wanted the music that was the most comforting to me and that era of tunes was very formative for our band. It’s not the frilliest of Chvrches records, but I don’t think that now is necessarily a time for frilliness.

How have the events of 2020 shaped the music you’ve been working on?

We had a lot of the ideas and the concepts before this year started and got a few weeks of writing in before everything shut down, so we kind of knew what we were getting on with. The theme of it didn’t necessarily change, but it evolved because of the circumstances of 2020. I think it was also helpful for us to be removed from the bullshit of the music industry. Everybody says that you don’t think about that stuff when you’re making a record, but in practice you totally do. You might shut the door, but it’ll sneak in the window. Everyone always has advice and opinions about what you should do; everyone else knows best. But it was nice to go: ‘Fuck it!’”.

There has been talk of a new Janet Jackson album for a while now. Black Diamond was slated to come out last year, so hopefully we will see a follow-up to 2015’s Unbreakable this year. I am a big fan of Janet Jackson, so I am looking onward keenly and will definitely keep an eye out to see when Black Diamond arrives. Adele released 25 in 2015 so, after nearly six years, there are a lot of people asking when we will get a follow-up to that hugely successful album. It seems that this year is the earliest we will get a new album from her, and I do think that we will get something from her later in the year. After releasing the single, BRON, last year, there is news that Lykke Li will release an album this year. Her last album, so sad so sexy, came out in 2018 and it was received positively. She is another one of those artists who always creates brilliant music, so  I do hope we get an album from her this year.

The final album that I want to look at is the forthcoming one from Royal Blood. The Brighton duo are one of our best British Rock acts and there is a lot of buzz around their new music. Mike Kerr of Royal Blood spoke with NME about what the new record is sounding like:

“Have you been working on the album through lockdown?

“We were actually in the middle of making the record before full lockdown hit. We had to call it, because it wasn’t safe for everyone to be working. We had a full studio gang of engineers and people coming in and out. During lockdown I ended up tinkering with the record on my own and ended up writing a couple more songs. It was a really creative time for me.”

What does ‘Trouble’s Coming’ tell us about the rest of the new album?

“All the tracks on this record have their own personality. This encapsulates the change and progression that we’ve made as a band and as people. We’re aware that we’ve been away for a long time, and we didn’t want to come back with something that we’d done before. This shows a maturity on every level. This record wasn’t just the next 10 songs that we wrote about the last album. We wrote an insane amount of music after coming off tour. To us this is like our sixth record, but it’s officially being released as our third!”

So what’s new?

“There are a lot more additional elements and luxurious production. It’s also a self-produced record. I know it’s traditional for a producer to push and challenge, but we felt like we were having people in the way. We knew so clearly what we wanted to do and how we wanted to do it. It felt like a very delicate direction. With rock music, it can very easily go wrong. You want to make something scary and with one slip-up it becomes spooky, which is just awful. Or you want something romantic and then the next minute it’s just cheesy. Rock’s so extreme, it can highlight these things quickly. A producer would have either held us back or pushed us so far that it would have destroyed the DNA and fabric of the band. We had to do this on our own and for ourselves”.

There are other releases confirmed and others less certain but, when it comes to artists we’d like to hear from, there are four that leap to mind for this year. I am a massive Björk fan and I have followed her career since the 1990s. She released Utopia back in 2017 - and she had left four-year gaps between albums before. I hope that there is another album from Björk in 2021, as every one of her albums is wonderful and she has this ability to create her own world that welcomes you in and blows your mind! I have not heard whether she is recording new material, but there are a lot of people who would welcome a fresh album from the Icelandic pioneer. Similarly, Queens of the Stone Age have left large gaps between albums before – Era Vulgaris (2007)/…Like Clockwork (2013) -, but I think 2021 needs a new blast of brilliance from the Californian band. Led by the awesome Josh Homme, I am hopeful that we will receive a gift from Queens of the Stone Age at some point in 2021. I think Rock is in a pretty good state right now, but I think Queens of the Stone Age are the finest Rock act in the world. It would also be great to get new albums from PJ Harvey, Portishead and Beyoncé. I am a big fan of all three. 2021 would be immeasurably lifted by albums from them.

IN THIS PHOTO: Beyoncé

I think Radiohead are the band I am really hoping we hear more from this year. I adore their most-recent album, A Moon Shaped Pool, that was released in 2016. The members of the band have been busy over the past few years putting out their own projects and albums, but they are at their finest and most mind-blowing when they are all together. There have been rumours and suggestions they are recording material but nothing solid has come to light regarding the veracity of those claims. Predictably, the last artist I want to mention is Kate Bush. Her last album, 50 Words for Snow, came out in 2011, and one would not have thought we’d have to wait nearly a decade for a new album – seeing as she released two albums in 2011! We can wait and be patient as Bush’s albums are always sublime, but I do hope that we get a new album in the autumn or winter (she tends not to release albums in the spring and summer). You never know when music will come out or what it will sound like, but the thrill of the unexpected means we could get an announcement in mere days – or it may be another few years! There will be a mix of surprise releases and big announcements coming through the year. I am looking at this fondly and I cannot wait to hear the albums that have already been announced. Music helped make a very dark 2020, and I think the musical treats we will receive this year will make things…

SO much brighter.

FEATURE: Second Spin: Stevie Wonder – Music of My Mind

FEATURE:

 

 

Second Spin

Stevie Wonder – Music of My Mind

___________

WHEN you have a career as long-running…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Stevie Wonder performing at Madison Square Garden in 1972/PHOTO CREDIT: Chris Walter/WireImage/Getty

as Stevie Wonder, then there are going to be albums that are not as regarded and celebrated as the classics. Although his fourteenth studio album, Music of My Mind, is not badly reviewed or dismissed, I don’t think many rate it as fondly as Songs in the Key of Life or those that get a lot more attention! Released on 3rd March, 1972 by Tamla Records, it was Wonder's first to be recorded under his new contract with Motown – this allowed him full artistic control. On Music of My Mind, Wonder introduced Electronic music pioneers Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff as co-producers, employing their custom TONTO synthesizer on several tracks. Music of My Mind, bafflingly, was a fairly modest commercial success; many critics feel it is the start of his classic period and a real statement of artistic growth, though. I am going to bring a couple of reviews in but, when you look at the songs included on the album, it is strange that Music of My Mind did not sell better! On the first side, we have Superwoman (Where Were You When I Needed You), and Sweet Little Girl; Happier Than the Morning Sun, and Keep on Running are on the second side. Over nine exceptional tracks, I think one can completely immerse themselves in such a terrific album. Maybe the songs are not as standout and timeless as those we instantly associate with Stevie Wonder, but I would urge everyone to listen to the album and experience something wonderful!

I will bring in a couple of reviews before wrapping things up. When they assessed Music of My Mind, this is what AllMusic remarked:

“With a new contract from Motown in his hand, Stevie Wonder released Music of My Mind, his first truly unified record and, with the exception of a single part on two songs, the work of a one-man-band. Everything he had learned about musicianship, engineering, and production during his long apprenticeship in the Snakepit at Motown Studios came together here (from the liner notes: "The sounds themselves come from inside his mind. The man is his own instrument. The instrument is an orchestra.") Music of My Mind was also the first to bear the fruits of his increased focus on Moog and Arp synthesizers, though the songs never sound synthetic, due in great part to Stevie's reliance on a parade of real instruments -- organic drumwork, harmonica, organs and pianos -- as well as his mastery of traditional song structure and his immense musical personality. The intro of the vibrant, tender "I Love Every Little Thing About You" is a perfect example, humanized with a series of lightly breathed syllables for background rhythm. And when the synthesizers do appear, it's always in the perfect context: the standout "Superwoman" really benefits from its high-frequency harmonics, and "Seems So Long" wouldn't sound quite as affectionate without the warm electronics gurgling in the background. This still wasn't a perfect record, though; "Sweet Little Girl" was an awkward song, with Stevie assuming another of his embarrassing musical personalities to fawn over a girl”.

From the improvised synths through the sheer expressiveness and power of Music of My Mind, one cannot fault such a bold and phenomenal statement. I think the album deserves a place in the top-five list of Stevie Wonder albums - and it is one that seems to mean more to me the more that I listen! The BBC reviewed the album and had this to say:

“Music of My Mind was Stevie Wonder’s first release after he gained complete artistic freedom from Motown Records’ "hit factory". Re-signing to the label after his contract lapsed on his 21st birthday, no committee would tell him which track to release as a single or what cover versions to include – this was now his domain alone.

Aside from trumpet, guitar and support from his wife at the time, Syreeta Wright, Wonder played every note on this, his 14th studio album. It also marks the first time he collaborated with synthesizer pioneers Robert Margouleff and Malcolm Cecil.

Music of My Mind is a work that brims with passion, excitement and exuberance. Opener Love Having You Around signposts the new territory: a leisurely, synth-driven jam, its propulsive beat, jive talk and the line “Every day I want to fly my kite” render it childlike celebration of the freedom Wonder was now enjoying.

The album was described at the time by Sounds as representing the “coming of age of black soul music”, and it’s as much the sound of African-America in the early 70s as Marvin Gaye or Curtis Mayfield. From Wonder’s visible afro on the cover to its reference to Melvin Van Peebles’ then-current landmark blaxploitation movie Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, it was the record that put to bed "Little" Stevie Wonder forever.

This being Wonder, however, all of his polemic is sweetened with breathtaking melodies. I Love Every Little Thing About You is one of his most beautiful songs. Happier Than the Morning Sun is great fun, and the second half of Superwoman (Where Were You When I Needed You) shows Wonder’s indestructible way with a love ballad.

The closing track, Evil, was written at the height of the Vietnam War as response to Memorial Day. It ends proceedings on a downbeat, questioning note, and is indicative of just how far Wonder had travelled since My Cherie Amour.

Somewhat left in the shadow cast by his following two albums, Talking Book and Innervisions, Music of My Mind nevertheless remains a fascinating, influential listen”.

It is unusual to highlight a Stevie Wonder album as underrated, as many associate him with having this faultless career. There are a few albums that are weak and not up to his best but, because it didn’t shift as many units as some of his albums, Music of My Mind seems to have been forgotten by many - and it is one of his very strongest efforts. If you have not heard the album then go and do so now and discover this great treasure! Wonder would quickly follow-up on Music of My Mind with Talking Book in October 1972; he would put out Innervisions less than a year later in August 1973 – such amazing invention, consistency and brilliance! If people did not know it in March 1972, Music of My Mind was…

THE start of a very special period for Stevie Wonder.

FEATURE: The Lockdown Playlist: The Best of John Paul Jones

FEATURE:

 

 

The Lockdown Playlist

PHOTO CREDIT: Simone Joyner/Getty Images 

The Best of John Paul Jones

___________

WITH the earliest part of January…

 IN THIS PHOTO: John Paul Jones (back) with Led Zeppelin in 1969/PHOTO CREDIT: WireImage

seeing more than one musical giant celebrate a birthday, it is a pleasure to focus on John Paul Jones (whose birthday it is tomorrow (on 3rd January). The Led Zeppelin and Them Crooked Vultures genius is one of the most respected and admired musicians - and, as part of Led Zeppelin, he ruled the world with Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Bonham. To show a mark of respect for a truly titanic musician, this Lockdown Playlist collects together some of his best performances (I have also included a Jeff Beck track where he played bass (supremely). Whether it an awesome piece of bass work, some epic keys, or something else, this playlist is all about a musician who has…

 IN THIS PHOTO: John Paul Jones with Josh Homme (right) and Dave Grohl (far right) as part of Them Crooked Vultures

FEW equals.

FEATURE: A Buyer’s Guide: Part Thirty-Six: Donna Summer

FEATURE:

 

 

A Buyer’s Guide

Part Thirty-Six: Donna Summer

___________

ON New Year’s Eve…

many people marked what would have been Donna Summer’s seventy-second birthday. She sadly died in 2012 but, in her lifetime, the American legend released seventeen studio albums and left a huge legacy. She gained prominence during the Disco era of the 1970s and became known as the ‘Queen of Disco’. According to Wikipedia: “Summer was the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach No. 1 on Billboard's album chart: Live and More, Bad Girls and On the Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes I & II. She became a cultural icon and her prominence on the dance charts, for which she was referred to as the Queen of Disco, made her not just one of the defining voices of that era, but also an influence on pop artists from Madonna to Beyoncé”. To honour the fantastic Donna Summer, this A Buyer’s Guide brings together he best work. As usual, I recommend four albums that are worth getting; one that is a bit underrated still and deserves a new spin; her final studio album, in addition to a great book that provides background and story. Dive into the essential work of…

PHOTO CREDIT: Lawrence Lucier/Getty Images

A much-missed artist.

______________

The Four Essential Albums

 

Love to Love You Baby

Release Date: 27th August, 1975

Labels: Casablanca/Oasis

Producer: Pete Bellotte

Standout Tracks: Full of Emptiness/Whispering Waves/Pandora's Box

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=76255&ev=mb

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/210folYgKMSZAz4IiqDnmy?si=NPNHfDjcRY25TKFiA4IPUw

Review:

“"Love to Love You Baby"'s 16 minutes and 48 seconds of arousal and refill -- ticklishly sensitive rhythm and fusion -- threw disco into a tizzy overnight, but the tonally starved blues-of-isolation on the B-side isn't to be missed, either: the broken promises Donna Summer bemoans in "Full of Emptiness"; "Need-a-Man Blues," with its unrequitedly sexy guitar rhythm as out of range of Summer's voice as she of satisfaction; the imaginary seaside hold-me in "Whispering Waves"; and "Pandora's Box," where Summer and guitar scream icily at one another as they turn their backs on each other's body music. Hunger without recourse; essential disco” – AllMusic

Choice Cut: Love to Love You Baby

Bad Girls

Release Date: 25 April, 1979

Label: Casablanca

Producers: Giorgio Moroder/Pete Bellotte

Standout Tracks: Bad Girls/Dim All the Lights/Our Love

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=25893&ev=mb

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/58GjBhQvLHwfQFJtdP9Oxg?si=P-B4gYXrSxajcFRmu5qRCA

Review:

“The closest thing to a social comment on Bad Girls comes in "Sunset People," a sweeping, high-rise view of Hollywood. Against an icy refrain of "doin' it right — night after night," the song telescopes the nightmarish glamour world of the Sunset Strip—with its teenage prostitutes, billboards, foreign cars and star worship — into an evocation of pleasureseeking as cold as it is tantalizing. If there's a moral here, it's in the music's ominous suggestion of the boredom beyond glitter and in the lyrics' telegraphed equation of the disco ethos with Hollywood and hooking. "Sunset People" just might be the disco culture's "A Day in the Life."

In one of the photos on the LP's inner sleeve, Donna Summer's co-producer, Giorgio Moroder, poses as her pimp. That's as good a metaphor as any for their musical interaction. Moroder's technique simultaneously mocks and exalts the star, who becomes both a goddess and a sideshow attraction in a futuristic technosex amusement park. Though this record's production contains nothing as startlingly novel as the sequenced bass synthesizer of "I Feel Love," the best tracks strike a perfect blend of German Eurodisco and American rock and soul that ultimately transcends the disco environment. Bad Girls' aural style is a lot sparer than the mechanized swirls of "Mac-Arthur Park Suite" and Once upon a Time....The new album's sound effects — e.g., the backward tape loops that sound like speeding cars in "Sunset People"— seem integral to the material” – Rolling Stone

Choice Cut: Hot Stuff

The Wanderer

Release Date: 20th October, 1980

Label: Geffen

Producers: Giorgio Moroder/Pete Bellotte

Standout Tracks: Running for Cover/Cold Love/Who Do You Think You're Foolin'

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=27128&ev=mb

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/5K5zdagMRQFtpwFpzoxqCt?si=PI3BXhR3QOOLRmCN1MAoHA

Review:

“Even in The Wanderer's most awesome and shattering love song, the brittle and brilliant "Cold Love," she's triumphant: "Hope in the dark, love in the light/I'll keep on looking for someone who's right." In the end, this triumph is so total that the closing number, "I Believe in Jesus" (a statement of belief so naive it ought to seem puerile), sounds completely natural and fitting.

"I Believe in Jesus" is the first convincing gospel-based vocal performance of Summer's career. Based on the militant fundamentalist hymn "Onward Christian Soldiers" and the nursery rhyme "Mary Had a Little Lamb," the composition escapes being cloying only by the narrowest of margins–a chorus so perfectly sung that to deny it is practically inconceivable: "I believe in Jesus you know I know him oh so well/And I'm going to heaven by and by 'cause I already been through hell."

These words evoke images of those satin jackets that soldiers used to bring back from Vietnam–jackets that displayed a map of the country with large stars locating Khe Sanh or Da Nang and the same flat statements about having witnessed hell on earth. In its way, I think, The Wanderer is a road map of Donna Summer's soul. And while nothing on it matches the hellishness of actual combat, the analogy is less a conceit than a metaphor that the rest of this resounding record gives her the absolute right to use” - Rolling Stone

Choice Cut: The Wanderer

Another Place and Time

Release Date: 20th March, 1989

Labels: Atlantic/PWL

Producers: Stock Aitken Waterman

Standout Tracks: I Don't Wanna Get Hurt/When Love Takes Over You/Breakaway

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/Donna-Summer-Another-Place-And-Time/master/26375

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/01wjr9UN1VCEUUXF3gZOaE?si=iw2UH1zpRC6Ajau7R3a0yQ

Review:

“In the late '80s, the Mike Stock/Matt Aitken/Pete Waterman team was as important to European dance-pop as Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte had been to Euro-disco in the late '70s. Many pop critics hated Stock/Aitken/Waterman's slick, high-gloss approach with a passion, but what critics like and what the public buys are often two different things -- and the British team had the Midas touch when it came to Dead or Alive, Samantha Fox, Rick Astley, and other '80s favorites. So, for Donna Summer, working with them was a logical decision when, in 1989, she made a temporary return to a Euro-dance-pop setting. Produced, written, and arranged by Stock, Aitken & Waterman, 1989's Another Place and Time is arguably Summer's most European-sounding release since the late '70s. This CD came 14 years after the erotic "Love to Love You, Baby," and from a Euro-dance perspective (as opposed to a Top 40, adult contemporary or urban contemporary perspective), Another Place & Time is one of the best albums that Summer provided in the '80s. Critics can hate Stock, Aitken & Waterman all they want, but the team certainly does right by Summer on exuberant, club-friendly Euro-dance/Hi-NRG gems like "Whatever Your Heart Desires," "I Don't Wanna Get Hurt," and the hit "This Time I Know It's for Real." Not all of the songs are aimed at the dancefloor, but 90 percent of the time, this album is unapologetically dance-oriented. Contrary to popular wisdom, disco didn't really die with the '70s -- disco simply went high-tech and changed its name to dance-pop in the '80s, and it isn't hard to see the parallels between this release and Summer's work with Moroder and Bellotte in the mid- to late '70s. Another Place and Time is an excellent CD that Summer's fans should not overlook” – AllMusic

Choice Cut: This Time I Know It's For Real

The Underrated Gem

 

She Works Hard for the Money

Release Date: 13th June, 1983

Label: Mercury

Producer: Michael Omartian

Standout Tracks: Woman/Love Has a Mind of Its Own/Unconditional Love

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=86643&ev=mb

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/0x3qYJCMrhJPgi7hTqxEl2?si=EcnmLcOSTSaWwSmBrhuJEA  

Review:

“Given Summer's bad-girl past, it's sometimes hard to distinguish sacred from profane; Summer is at her best when she keeps us guessing. "He's a Rebel," with its West Side Story sense of drama, could be about James Dean, not Jesus Christ; the arrangement of "Stop Look and Listen" is jauntily upbeat, despite the fact that Summer is actually trying to rewrite "Sounds of Silence" (with lines like "The prophets of the times are written on streetcar walls"). The most obvious hit here is the title track, a driving Giorgio Moroder-style riff that was eclipsed this summer only by Moroder's own "Flashdance... What a Feeling." But "Unconditional Love" could be a sleeper – it's a collaboration with Musical Youth that's so utterly charming you scarcely wonder what Summer is doing preaching about Jah. The message, thank God, is mostly in the music” – Rolling Stone

Choice Cut: She Works Hard for the Money

The Final Album

 

Crayons

Release Date: 20th May, 2008

Label: Burgundy

Producers: Nathan DiGesare/Toby Gad/Jamie Houston/Greg Kurstin/Lester Mendez/Sebastian Arocha/ Morton/J. R. Rotem

Standout Tracks: Fame (The Game)/I'm a Fire/Be Myself Again

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=26587&ev=mb

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/1p8EsJY5RCeEBvw74uQTrK?si=E49KiwKNTEWWGIN_0tV8BQ

Review:

“Donna Summer returns with an album that truly is a fine encapsulation of her career to date: a pinch of dance, some frothy pop; a power ballad or two, all given a 2008 sheen. Summer is keen to prove that she is no disco relic: Hers is the world of American Idol and the contemporary charts. Crayons is her first album of original material for 17 years. And it owes more to her golden Casablanca era as opposed to her last recorded work as the 80s became the 90s. Although her record company wanted an album of covers, Summer surprised them by her desire to record original material, inspired by her love of James Blunt's You're Beautiful (I kid you not).

Although it is far removed from her high-period Giorgio Moroder work, it's much better than even the die-hards could be expecting. The Queen Is Back is typical of much here; big, bold and impactful; I'm A Fire is the album's centre, while opener Stamp Your Feet is pure Gwen Stefani; Summer may not be a Hollerback girl, but she sure sounds like it. Musically, Christina Aguilera is referenced also on the title track.

Driving Down Brazil is enough to make a smooth radio programme froth at the mouth. It's Only Love is the show-stopper, full of the insouciance of the final side of Bad Girls as it closes the album.

The planet seems to be ready for her. In the US, the album has debuted within the Top 20, and I'm A Fire has topped the dance charts. It’s good to have her back, sounding quite so contemporary; or, at the very least, like an approximation of what Donna Summer sounding contemporary would sound like” – BBC

Choice Cut: Stamp Your Feet

The Donna Summer Book

 Ordinary Girl: The Journey

Author: Donna Summer

Publication Date: 11th January, 2004

Publisher: Three Rivers Press

Synopsis:

“Ordinary Girl is legendary singer-songwriter Donna Summer’s delightfully candid memoir about her journey from singing in a Boston church to her unexpected reign as the Queen of Disco and the tragedy and spiritual rebirth that followed. Donna Summer was born on New Year’s Eve in Boston. Her childhood was filled with music. Inspired by Mahalia Jackson, she began singing in church choirs at the age of ten. A few years later she joined a Boston rock group, and by the end of the 1960s she was living the life of an artist in New York City’s Greenwich Village. Soon after, Donna left the United States to join the German cast of Hair. She was still in her teens, a shy, ordinary girl who was suddenly feeling the jolt of the sexual revolution. She lived in Germany for seven and a half years, modeling, acting, falling in love, getting married, and giving birth to a daughter. She met a producer named Giorgio Moroder, and together they created a song called Love to Love You Baby. It became one of the world’s premier disco hits. Donna Summer returned to America as a star, a sex goddess who bore little resemblance to her own sense of who she was. She describes what that personal transformation felt like from the white-hot center of the disco era, and how, over the next two decades, it contributed to a sometimes harrowing spiritual journey. With heart and humor, Donna Summer relives the decadent days of disco and shows how she transcended them. This is the inspiring tale of an ordinary girl on an extraordinary journey” – Find-Book.co.uk

Order: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ordinary-Girl-Journey-Donna-Summer/dp/1400060311

FEATURE: Music Technology Breakthroughs: Part Three: Pro Tools

FEATURE:

 

 

Music Technology Breakthroughs

Part Three: Pro Tools

___________

FOR the third part of this feature…

I am moving away from hardware technology and moving to a technological breakthrough and discovery regarding music software. We hear the words ‘Pro Tools’ now, and it is practically synonymous! So many artists use it and, when it comes to recording, I think music would be very different if Pro Tools did not exist. I am going to quote from other sources for this feature when it comes to explaining what Pro Tools is and its history. I am surprised how early Pro Tools was developed and solidified, as I have always assumed that it is a relatively modern innovation – maybe the past decade or so! When it comes to recording and mastering, Pro Tools offers a world of convenience and choice to artists. This Wikipedia article provides details as to what Pro Tools is:

“Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS used for music creation and production, sound for picture (sound design, audio post-production and mixing) and, more generally, sound recording, editing, and mastering processes.

Pro Tools operates both as standalone software and in conjunction with a range of external analog-to-digital converters and PCIe cards with on-board digital signal processors (DSP). The DSP is used to provide additional processing power to the host computer for processing real-time effects, such as reverb, equalization, and compressionand to obtain lower latency audio performance. Like all digital audio workstation software, Pro Tools can perform the functions of a multitrack tape recorder and a mixing console along with additional features that can only be performed in the digital domain, such as non-linear and non-destructive editing (most of audio handling is done without overwriting the source files), track compositing with multiple playlists, time compression and expansion, pitch shifting, and faster-than-real-time mixdown.

PHOTO CREDIT: @gnolatinbird/Unsplash 

Audio, MIDI, and video tracks are graphically represented on a timeline. Audio effects, virtual instruments, and hardware emulators—such as microphone preamps or guitar amplifiers—can be added, adjusted, and processed in real-time in a virtual mixer. 16-bit, 24-bit, and 32-bit float audio bit depths at sample rates up to 192 kHz are supported. Pro Tools supports mixed bit depths and audio formats in a session: BWF/WAV (including WAVE Extensible, RF64 and BW64) and AIFF. It imports and exports MOV video files and ADM BWF files (audio files with Dolby Atmos metadata);[9] it also imports MXF, ACID and REX files and the lossy formats MP3, AAC, M4A, and audio from video files (MOV, MP4, M4V). The legacy SDII format was dropped with Pro Tools 10, although SDII conversion is still possible on macOS.

Pro Tools is revolutionary when it comes to getting your music recorded and heard. Not only does it greatly reduce the time needed to record and edit music (by using analog recording, one has to spend hours cutting and splicing recording tape to edit tracks; Pro Tools can do it in a click). Artists do not need to gig and showcase their work and get signed to a label. They can, instead, record their music to Pro Tools and edit it there - and, with the Internet and music-sharing platforms get it out there! Giving artists this studio-like quality and professionalism has changed the game. It is worth giving some history regarding Pro Tools in terms of how it started life and when the industry standard came into place.

I would encourage people to read the full article from Music Radar, as it is really fascinating and informative. The Pro Tools story begins, interestingly, the year that I was born:

“The story starts in 1983 with the release of E-MU's Drumulator drum machine. A companion to the Emulator sampling keyboard and antecedent to the equally legendary SP-12 and SP-1200 samplers, the Drumulator was a relatively simple digital unit with EPROM- based memory for its non-editable 12-bit samples.

The Drumulator was a hit despite the fact users were limited to its built-in sounds. Enter Evan Brooks and Peter Gotcher, high school buddies and University of California graduates with a shared interest in music, recording, electronic engineering and computer programming.

After consulting E-MU for details of the Drumulator's memory system, the duo set about creating new sound libraries and formed a company, Digidrums, to offer a series of upgrade EPROM microchips just a year after the release of the drum machine itself.

Identifying the audio potential of the newly released Macintosh computer, they set about creating basic digital audio recording and editing software for their own use. Despite their primary interest in making their own lives easier, it soon became apparent that the software should be developed for general release.

 Working in conjunction with E-MU, Digidrums changed its name to Digidesign and began work developing a groundbreaking Mac-based sample editing system for the Emulator II keyboard.

Released in 1985 at a price of $995, Sound Designer brought the visual editing features of exotic instruments like the Synclavier and Fairlight to a much larger market”.

The solution came in 1987 with the release of the Macintosh II, complete with six NuBus expansion slots. Brooks built an expansion card equipped with a 16-bit DA converter and a prototype Motorola DSP chip, allowing Sound Designer to use the DSP chip rather than the computer's CPU for its audio editing”.

“The Sound Tools system's stereo audio features were groundbreaking, but the move to multitrack recording with the release of the Pro Tools system was a logical progression for Digidesign.

Released in 1991, the first version of Pro Tools was based around a similar hardware-software hybrid setup to Sound Tools, this time with a four-channel interface. Priced at nearly $6,000, the software side of the system was handled by Digidesign's ProEDIT program and ProDeck, a newly designed version of OSC's Deck application.

However, the Digidesign team soon admitted that relying on a third party to develop part of the Pro Tools software was a mistake. Version 2, released early in 1993, brought the software back in-house and introduced the now-familiar Pro Tools application”.

The 1990s was an exciting and busy time for music software. Again, I would not have imagined that there was much in the way of quite advanced music software that early. Listening to music from the time and I never really think about the software technology used and how the performances are captured and edited. Now, we sort of take for granted this wonderful breakthrough for musicians everywhere; the finalisation and consecration of something close to what we know today came in the first decade of this century.

“2002 saw Apple buy out Emagic, acquiring the rights to Logic, and Steinberg announce Cubase SX, rewritten from the ground up and based on the Nuendo audio engine.

Digidesign hit back with Pro Tools HD, an update focusing mainly on new hardware choices rather than dramatic overhauls of the software front end.

With the introduction of the 192 I/O interface and new HD Core and Process cards (soon followed by the even more powerful HD Accel cards) Pro Tools offered substantially more recording flexibility and DSP power than ever before.

Over the past decade, Pro Tools has come to define the workflow of most modern studios. Consistently staying at the front of the pack with regular software updates, Pro Tools offers audio editing options which exploit its DSP power to the maximum. Beat Detective (introduced in PT5, 2001), Elastic Audio (PT7.4, 2007) and Elastic Pitch (PT8, 2008) have become essential tools for recording and mix engineers”.

Pro Tools has come a long way since its beginnings! Countless studios use it and, for recording film scores with large orchestras, Pro Tools provides low-latency performance when recording many tracks via HDX hardware. There are many great aspects and uses for Pro Tools; there are other options on the market today which are favoured. I think that Pro Tools has kickstarted a lot of competition and development in terms of what the market can provide people but, despite that, so many still rely and cherish the original. I will be using it myself next year in some form, so I wanted to learn a little bit about where Pro Tools began and why it is so important. I have always known about Pro Tools, but I never really knew much about its life and influence. In future parts, I will move back to hardware but, for this outing, I wanted to salute an invaluable piece of software that has helped transform music…

IN so many ways.