FEATURE: In Conversation: Envisaging a Kate Bush Interview Series

FEATURE:

 

 

In Conversation

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush captured in 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz 

Envisaging a Kate Bush Interview Series

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I have discussed Kate Bush…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Journalist Tom Doyle

as an interviewee beforehand, and I will continue to explore various sides to her as an interview subject. Whilst she provided a lot of interviews early in her career, there was a bit of a dip after Hounds of Love (1985) and before Aerial (2005). On her most recent album, 50 Words for Snow (2011), there was quite a nice selection of interviews. As is the way with journalists and broadcasters, they were asking very similar questions so, unsurprisingly, we got very similar answers! It is still great hearing Bush talk about her music, as she is so engaging and interesting. I wonder whether we will get to see or hear Bush interviewed again, as there is always talk as to whether another album will arrive. It is back to the MOJO Collectors’ Series edition that arrived last year. I have been fascinated by the magazine and all the different features. Right near the back of the magazine is a piece by Tom Doyle. When Bush’s Remastered albums came out in 2018, Doyle discovered pensées on the making of Bush’s studio albums – they exist on four hours of interview tapes. I always feel that Bush’s words and interviews are as important as her songs. Whilst there have been a few releases in the past where we got to hear Bush interviewed, there has not been a definitive collection of her interviews from 1978 to the present day.

Maybe these interviews could be sprinkled through corresponding albums; so that we get the 1978 interviews on releases of The Kick Inside, and Lionheart, whilst the ones from 1989 appear on The Sensual World. I know Bush put her albums out in 2018, but I feel releases with interviews and outtakes/demos would be wonderful! Reading Tom Doyle’s feature made me realise that there is still gold in the archives that people would eat up! The feature centres on Bush’s interaction with Doyle in 2005. They spoke for four hours. I wonder whether there is a tape of the interview, as it would be a wonderful thing to hear. I believe exerts were published by MOJO in an interview feature, but one of the interesting things about print interviews is that there is often so much unused that is as revealing as what we actually read! Doyle starts by describing how Bush discovered a world of sound on Never for Ever in 1980 when she utilised the Fairlight CMI. From the breaking glass on Babooshka, to the bodhran beats on Army Dreamers, this technology enabled Bush to unleash what was in her imagination previously; she could bring it to the surface! The Fairlight provided Bush with the access to experimentation and a wider palette. Bush told Doyle in 2005 how important it was experiment and broaden her work and, whilst she couldn’t always clearly articulate what was in her mind, she had this determination and passion that would not rest.

Bush co-produced Never for Ever with Jon Kelly. Her previous two albums saw her take more of a back seat so, with experience under her belt, she was in a better position to take charge. Bush explained how visual Never for Ever was  and (how music) was a case of trying to solidify something quite tangential. Bush also explained how painstaking production and a sense of control could afford her the freedom she required in order to bring the most from her music. Doyle also takes us back to 1972, when a then-thirteen-year-old came into the world of Brian Bath – he would work with Bush until Hounds of Love in 1985. He was invited by Bush’s brother, Paddy, and he was stunned by the chord progressions and how different the songs were. Bush revealed to Doyle how there was dissatisfaction with her second album, Lionheart, as she has to record and release it less than a year after The Kick Inside. Whilst her debut was a result of accumulating songs that she had been working on since the age of twelve or thirteen, there was little time to create new tracks for a second album. Flip to Hounds of Love, and it saw Bush retreated back to her home at East Wickham Farm. She was using professional studios before then and, as she told Doyle, this was not entirely preferable or a happy experience.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1985/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari

The quiet and peace she got from this setting allowed her to be self-disciplined; something that benefited her as a songwriter and a producer – after the experience of her previous album, 1982’s The Dreaming, Hounds of Love was much less stressful (on The Dreaming, she recorded at several different studios). There are great revelations from Tom Doyle’s feature, as he reflected on the 2005 marathon interview where Bush was taking a look back at her career so far. She noted how there was humour on Hounds of Love – for instance, the backing vocals on the title track (“Ow, ow, ow”) are, literally, the hounds of love yowling. From Bush revealing her annoyance of the Sony 32-track digital tape recorded she used for 1993’s The Red Shoes (“Shitty digital tape”), to her explaining a gap of twelve years between that album and Aerial (“I have the real tendency to want to overdo things”), it must have been fascinating being shown around her house and getting that sort of access! Bush discussed how she was not completely easy with opening up her private life to public scrutiny. She also was asked about the time between albums and, whilst she admitted that the recording was hard and she could have released more albums, it clearly shows that a lot of care had gone into making her music.

It sort of brings me back to my idea about a new Kate Bush documentary and how there is all this interview material in the vaults that could be explored. I assume there is a clean recording of the four-hour chat between Tom Doyle and Kate Bush in 2005 that could be scored and tied to a bit about Aerial. There was a multi-part interview Bush conducted with Mark Radcliffe, though it seems like most of that recording has been taken off of YouTube. I know there is a lot of recorded interview material that was available online that has been taken off. There is also a lot of stuff that was recorded for a print interview that was never used – simply because there was so much of it. I like the idea of, either through a documentary or a new compilation, hearing all of Kate Bush’s interviews from 1978 to 2011. I think we can learn so much about her as a songwriter and person by listening to these interviews. It is a shame that there are ones that were online that no longer are, and that there is so much brilliance – like Doyle’s long interview with Bush – that remains unheard or abridged through text. I feel every Kate Bush interview is a wonderful thing so, in the future, it would be awesome to have access to them all. Being able to open up these interviews to the fans would give us all access to…

SO much untapped gold.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Lola Lennox

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Daniella Midenge

Lola Lennox

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OVER the past few weeks…

PHOTO CREDIT: Daniella Midenge

I have discussed and spotlighted some promising Pop artists. One name to look out for this year is Lola Lennox. The daughter of the legendary Annie Lennox, songs like La La Love Me (her latest) highlights someone who is going to go far. Maybe aimed more at a BBC Radio 1 or 2 audience – Pop that is a bit more youth-oriented -, I feel that she has crossover appeal. I don’t think that the modern Pop music has a great deal of energy and positivity but, with artists like Lola Lennox delivering fresh and punchy Pop, there is hope of a revival. I really like her background and current sounds. Before moving to interviews, I want to bring in her biography:

“For as long as her memory can take her, Lola Lennox has always been drawn to music. Not just listening to it but making it; a then eight-year-old Lola decided to sign up for singing lessons at her school. Even as a child, Lola wanted to foster her passion for music.

She joined the choir, performed in school plays and tried every ‘flavor’ of music from classical to jazz to theatrical. It quickly became her favorite thing to do. “Music spoke so directly to me at such a young age,” says Lola, “It was a great outlet for me.”

Lola, who started playing piano at age seven, earned a place at The Royal Academy of Music as a vocalist, but decided after a short time she wasn’t meant to stay. Around the age of 15, Lola started writing her own songs. She initially kept this information to herself, stealing down to the basement and writing about whatever was consuming her at the time. “It wasn’t technically advanced, but lyrically it was honest and emotional. Some of my early music is really quite sweet.” Her love of writing songs developed from there. When working on her own, Lola often sits at her piano working on melodies, and then vowels that will work with those melodies. “It is like a jigsaw puzzle, trying to connect each sound with a word that can build a story. On a good day, it just falls out, and I don’t even realize.”

Lola’s mother is Grammy and Academy Award winning artist Annie Lenox. Her father is film maker/producer Uri Fruchtmann. Lola never felt her parents were different, however. “I don’t think I ever thought my parents were unusual, but I knew they had ‘inspiring’ jobs. “I remember going to the Roundhouse in London where my mum was shooting a music video for “A Whiter Shade of Pale.” I knew there was something exciting and fun going on.”

Now living in Los Angeles by way of London, and working alongside top songwriters such as Eg White (Florence & the Machine, Sam Smith), Dan Wilson (Adele) and Dan Muckala (Leona Lewis, LeAnn Rimes), Lola is creating songs that bridge the gap between nostalgia and modernity.

Lola has four singles that will be released over the course of the year. They bring her emotion, her ideas and her passions to life, almost like getting a peek into a diary. “My main objective is to connect with people through a real emotional expression. Songwriting is very comfortable for me, it is a release I am grateful to have.”

Her first single, “In the Wild,” [Writers: Lola Lennox & Jon Green, Producer: Jon Green] reflects a toxic relationship that was still fresh in Lola’s mind during a songwriting session. “The verses depict a depressive, grey city, a suffocating feeling. The chorus is a dreamscape, fantasizing about letting go of the issues to make something better. I thrive in nature, so it was important to me to have the chorus reflect that landscape.”

The next release is the ardently raw “Pale,” [Writers: Writers: Lola Lennox & Andy Stochanski, Producer: Dan Muckala. Additional Production & Mix: Scott Salinas] a plaintive song about grief. “I had lost someone really close to me and the sorrow was so intense. The words just fell out of me. When grieving, all the colors of the world feel like they’ve been sucked away. You can’t see life in a vibrant way anymore.” 

The groovy “LaLaLove Me” [Writers: Lola Lennox & Carl Ryden, Producer: Dan Muckala] comes next, a girly daydream that pays homage to the 60s girl group sound.

The last track is the hooky “Back at Wrong” [Writers: Lola Lennox, Ben Schofield & Dan Muckala, Producer: Dan Muckala. Additional Production & Mix: Wayne Wilkins] about another toxic relationship but with much more drama.

“There is fighting and loving, and knowing you shouldn’t keep going back. The song has a bluesy feel, and the groove punches you in the heart.” Continues Lola, “These tracks are really personal stories from my life. They’re honestly from my heart and a true intimate expression.

In addition to her solo music, Lola was honored to be asked by Simon Fuller to collaborate with Goldfrapp’s Will Gregory on the soundtrack for the Discovery Channel’s Serengeti docu-series. This was a much different approach than Lola was used to, since these songs were guided by what was happening on the screen.

Each animal featured in the series had its own song, which Lola sang, as well as providing lyrics for the Hyena and the Elephant. “The ‘Hyena Song’ is my favorite. It’s very emotional to me because the Hyena mother sacrifices her life for the pride. The daughter has to take over as leader, and you can literally see her sadness. I was very moved by their story.”

Lola has many more of her own stories to tell.

After the first four singles come out, she plans to go back in to the Studio to finish a full album of songs. Clearly, Lola knows what it’s like to make a living as a musician. “I’ve seen first-hand how much passion, diligence and creativity you have to devote to having a career in music. I am willing to work hard and go deeply into the process. My goal is to touch people with my songs, to let them know they’re not alone and that I’ve felt a certain way too. I wasn’t in the greatest place with self-worth as a younger person and it took writing songs to help me express who I was inside. Music allows you to find your real self”.

I wanted to bring in all that information because, looking ahead at the rest of the year, and it seems like we will get an album from Lennox. With a string of individual and interesting singles under her belt, I feel like we will get something more comprehensive by the summer – maybe her mother might feature on a song or two!

Rather than compare Lola Lennox with her iconic mum, one has to judge Lola Lennox on her own merits. The two are very different artists - though it is clear that her mother has been hugely influential and supportive. I want to bring in an interview from People from 8th February, 2020. They spoke to Lennox about her great single, Into the Wild:

“On Saturday, the singer — who is the eldest daughter of former Eurythmics frontwoman Annie Lennox — dropped the ethereal music video for her new single “In the Wild,” which was inspired by past heartbreak.

“It was one of those toxic relationships where you love someone so much, but it’s wrong and you’re not meant to be together and you’re not happy in it,” Lennox, 30, tells PEOPLE. “In the song, the verses are depicting the suffocation of the relationship and being in this gritty, cityscape. And in the choruses, it’s going into, ‘Let’s go to the wild and into nature and let go of these complexities that we’ve somehow fallen into.'”

“In the Wild” is just the beginning for Lennox, who plans to release three more songs titled “Back at Wrong,” “LaLaLove Me” and “Pale” in the coming months before eventually putting out a full album.

Of the forthcoming new music, she says, “Some are upbeat, and some are intimate and more of a ballad.”

“I kind of go across the spectrum of feeling and emotion with the music I create,” Lennox says. “So I’m really excited to switch it up whenever I release new music.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Lucas 

“There’s a thread, of course, of correlation,” she adds. “But as human beings we all have a spectrum of emotions and a spectrum of stories and things that we go through in life. So I want to cover all those bases.”

No matter what, though, there is one thing that remains consistent throughout all her songs: vulnerability.

“I think that’s the most potent way that you can really connect to listeners, is being very honest,” she says. “I love music that really comes from the heart and is a real window into somebody’s personal lives. I find that is the most touching, so I wouldn’t do anything other than that.”

Someone who knows a thing or two about showing vulnerability through music is Lennox’s mom, Annie, 65, whom she credits for teaching her that the “strongest thing is about connectivity and passion to what you do.”

“Like, having so much love for making something that it’s the best it can be and will inspire and touch people and maybe help people,” she explains. “She’s such a tuned in and inspired person”.

I will bring stuff up to date in a minute, as I feel this year is going to be a defining one for Lola Lennox. I am not sure when she will get to perform again – things are looking pretty fraught when it comes to festivals and live music. I do feel we will see some gigs this year, though it may be the case that Lennox will put out an album instead of hope that live music will return soon – her debut E.P. is coming soon.

Music Week ran a great feature about Lennox recently. Not only do we learn more about her early life, but we also discover how lockdown has been for her:

“Lennox grew up surrounded by music – largely Eurythmics’ legendary synth pop catalogue – and dreamt of making it on her own from a young age. She began playing piano at seven, and remembers begging for extra singing lessons at school. By 15, she was writing songs and later sang soprano in The Royal Academy Of Music. In February this year, she introduced her soulful, impassioned pop sound with a ballad titled In The Wild, which was soon followed by a performance with her mum for the One World: Together At Home concert for an audience of 270 million.

“It felt like a really nice gathering of positive energy where music was really lifting the spirits of the people watching,” she smiles.

The singer has since spent much of this year in her home studio with her musician boyfriend Braeden Wright, and while 2020 might not be the most conventional year in which to launch a pop career, she hasn’t found too many surprises so far. “Being around my mum making music and touring from when I was little, I did see the meaning it was giving her,” she says. “It wasn’t a conscious decision of, ‘My mum does this, so I’m going to’. I just felt something strong when I was listening to music and I was naturally drawn to it.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Daniella Midenge 

Lennox speaks with self-assurance and determination, qualities that informed her decision to self-release her music via her label La Lennoxa. “I’m definitely learning a lot and it’s totally different to writing and being an artist, you have to put your business hat on and that’s been cool and empowering,” she says.

Empowerment is at the centre of Lennox’s artistry and as she readies her debut EP, she is calling for more representation of women in the industry. “I want to see more female producers, mixers and co-writers,” she says. “Those [areas are] so dominated by men. Women have a unique ability to tune into emotion and, by proxy, make great art. I want to see more women doing that. It doesn’t have to be a man’s world”.

If you have not discovered Lola Lennox or heard her music, then investigate her social media channels and check out the music she has released so far. Ahead of an E.P., there has been a lot of attention thrown her way. She is an ambitious and exciting young artist that has gained a lot of love from big BBC stations already. I am interested to see where she will head next and what an E.P. might offer. There are some great solo artists pushing ahead this year; I think Lennox will be among the very best and acclaimed. It is early days for her but, on the evidence of the music she has released already, it seems that her future is…

PROMISING and bright.

________________

Follow Lola Lennox

Official:

https://www.lolalennox.com/about.php

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/lolalennoxmusic/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/lolalennox/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/lola_lennox

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/01vDNTZk6lwMf5aL9T1YIv?si=J7ciYS5RTmCWaJJQO3P87g

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/lolalennox

FEATURE: The Lockdown Playlist: The Best of Sheryl Crow

FEATURE:

 

 

The Lockdown Playlist

PHOTO CREDIT: William DeShazer

The Best of Sheryl Crow

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ON 11th February…

it is Sheryl Crow’s birthday and, even though I put out a playlist of her hits in the past, this one is going to be more expansive. I am a big fan of Crow and, in 2019, she put out the studio album, Threads. She has said that it would be her last, but I’d like to think that Crow has not retired from recording and we will hear more music in the future. I cherished her music in the ‘90s and felt she was among the very finest artists around. Below are some of those songs that I listened to on repeat; there are some great songs from later in her career. Ahead of her birthday on Thursday, this Lockdown Playlist is dedicated to…

THE magnificent Sherly Crow.

FEATURE: Vinyl Corner: Carole King - Tapestry

FEATURE:

 

 

Vinyl Corner

Carole King - Tapestry

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THIS Vinyl Corner is special…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Carole King poses with the four GRAMMYs she won for Tapestry, March 1971/PHOTO CREDIT: Jim McCrary/Redferns

as I am revisiting a very iconic and loved album. Also, Carole King’s Tapestry turns fifty on 10th February, so I was eager to mark such an important occasion. If you do not own this album on vinyl, then I would urge people to buy it. I wonder why the album was not remastered and re-released to commemorate its fiftieth anniversary because, at the moment, one cannot pick up a copy that readily and inexpensively. That said, Tapestry is such a fantastic album that shelling out a little bit more for the vinyl is well worth the investment! I will bring in a couple of reviews for Tapestry soon, but, first, it is worth exploring this amazing album. Tapestry is the second studio album by King, released on Ode Records and produced by Lou Adler. It is the eighty-first best-selling album of all time with over ten million copies sold worldwide. It has been certified Diamond by the RIAA and it received four Grammy Awards in 1972, including Album of the Year. Tapestry was one of those albums that I grew up listening to. Although I love the rarer cuts on that album, I think It’s Too Late is my favourite; it may be one of my favourite songs ever. I first heard that song when I was in primary school, and I was moved and struck by it. I Feel the Earth Move, Will You Love Me Tomorrow?, and (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman are the other notable and standout tracks on the album.

If you dig deeper, one will find so many treasures and memorable tracks. Home Again, Way Over Yonder, and You’ve Got a Friend are other remarkable tracks. The title track is phenomenal, and, in fact, there is not a weak or slight moment across the album. Fifty years after its release and I feel Tapestry is inspiring songwriters - and  will continue to do so for years to come. Whilst I think Carole King is a singular talent, I can hear elements of her in other artists. I want to bring in a review from AllMusic, who had this to say when they assessed the 1971-released Tapestry:

“Carole King brought the fledgling singer/songwriter phenomenon to the masses with Tapestry, one of the most successful albums in pop music history. A remarkably expressive and intimate record, it's a work of consummate craftsmanship. Always a superior pop composer, King reaches even greater heights as a performer; new songs like the hits "It's Too Late" and "I Feel the Earth Move" rank solidly with past glories, while songs like "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow," and "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" take on added resonance when delivered in her own warm, compelling voice. With its reliance on pianos and gentle drumming, Tapestry is a light and airy work on its surface, occasionally skirting the boundaries of jazz, but it's also an intensely emotional record, the songs confessional and direct; in its time it connected with listeners like few records before it, and it remains an illuminating experience decades later”.

There are a lot of people who have not heard Tapestry or are unaware of the music of Carole King. Although she wrote Will You Love Me Tomorrow?, and Smackwater Jack alongside Gerry Goffin, and (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman with Goffin and Jerry Wexler, I feel it is King’s solo contributions that hit hardest – although some may disagree. Carole King turns seventy-nine on 9th November, so there will be this two-day celebration: first for the iconic songwriter, then for a classic album that turns fifty. Before wrapping up, I want to source heavily from a Pitchfork review of Tapestry. It goes into real depth and provides some great information:

“Tapestry was King’s second album as a bandleader, primary songwriter, unvarnished singer, and tentative recording artist—an American master of melody whose introspection became a phenomenon. At 29, she had been in the music industry for over a decade, outlasting the sea change away from bubblegum music and towards the singer-songwriter. She was skeptical of stardom. (“I didn’t think of myself as a singer,” King has said, and having written for Aretha, who could blame her?) She had also divorced her lyricist. Gathering her daughters, Louise and Sherry, and her cat, Telemachus, King moved cross-country to the Hollywood Hills, where she undertook the time-honored pop-music tradition of self-reinvention by way of self-discovery. In time, she grew spiritual, becoming a follower of the artistically beloved Swami Satchidananda. Crucially, she finally began to write her own lyrics in earnest, penning more than half the songs, and all of the peaks, of Tapestry alone.

King’s lyrics are a testament to the potential of the simplest phrases when heightened by an uncluttered arrangement and an unfettered truth, the definition of classic. “You’re beautiful,” “you’ve got a friend,” “you’re so far away”—her words are conversational, economic, and nearly telepathic, as if reading our collective mind. In songs that mix girl-group longing, Broadway balladeering, blues, soul, and wonder, Tapestry used the room itself as an instrument. The producer, King’s longtime publisher Lou Adler, wanted it to sound like the understated and sought-after demos she recorded when writing for other artists, with the tactile intimacy of a woman at the piano singing straight to you. The result was precise but not overly manicured. Owing to her newfound spirituality, there is a sweet serenity to Tapestry. Here was a ’50s rock’n’roller from Brooklyn having journeyed through the ’60s to become a ’70s lady of the Canyon, making music that seemed to elude time completely.

The songs of Tapestry are like companions for navigating the doubts and disappointments of everyday life with dignity. Having composed hundreds of singles for others, King knew what they needed: raw feeling, careful phrasings, a little sparkle. She lets her voice break to show that it’s alive. The soulful “It’s Too Late”—co-written with Toni Stern, a then-unknown lyricist who King called “a quintessential California girl”—feels like a grown-up girl-group anthem, wherein the best part of breaking up is, it turns out, clarity. The gospel-tinged backing vocals of “Way Over Yonder,” sung by Merry Clayton, charge its calm with resilience, dreaming of “true peace of mind” and “a garden of wisdom.” By 1971, King was not only practicing yoga but teaching it at the Integral Yoga Institute, and an attendant sense of collectedness carries Tapestry. The Broadway-ready “Beautiful,” which came to King while riding the subway, is a loving-kindness meditation banged out to a Gershwin-like orchestra of piano chords: an appeal to the world to choose a positive outlook, to put forth what you’d like to receive.

Though barely promoted by King herself, Tapestry spent 15 weeks as the No. 1 album in the U.S. upon its release, and stayed on the charts for five years. King won four Grammys for Tapestry in 1972, more than anyone had ever received at once, and it was the first time that the New York award ceremony was broadcast live on television. But King didn’t attend to collect the awards herself. She chose to remain in California with her newborn third child, Molly, instead.

It’s telling: There’s an unmistakable maternal energy to Tapestry. Throughout King’s career, she has recalled moments when her responsibilities merged, in which she’d have her baby in the playpen at the studio or be breastfeeding in between takes. Toni Stern has said that, while writing for Tapestry, King would be “playing the bass with her left hand and diapering a baby with her right.” King herself said that having kids kept her “grounded in reality,” which is audible in every loosely calibrated note of Tapestry. Her next artistic achievement was a collection of children’s music, 1975’s Really Rosie, in collaboration with author Maurice Sendak. A reworking of “Where You Lead”—rewritten, King has said, to sound less submissive—became the theme song to the mother-daughter sitcom “Gilmore Girls,” sung by King and her daughter Louise.

But there was nothing light about a woman who came of age in the ’50s controlling her destiny, constructing and reconstructing her existence at will, choosing a life of both home and adventure, of heart and mind, and narrating her multitudes, the tapestry of her experience, with popular song. If it feels light, that is a feat; it feels comforting, that is a gift. For all the teen-dreaming of those early Goffin-King tunes, there’s little fantasy on Tapestry: It’s real life”.

Ahead of its fiftieth anniversary on Wednesday, I want to encourage people to go and buy one of the greatest albums that has ever been released. Although Carole King may not have released an album as affecting and brilliant as Tapestry after 1971, I think that people should define her by the one album, as she has released some terrific work through the years. There are some titanic albums turning fifty this year – including Joni Mitchell’s Blue -, but I wanted to celebrate one of my all-time favourite albums. It is such a beautiful and timeless release and, whilst some feel the lyrics are a bit light, I feel that does disservice to Tapestry. Maybe the album does not make the earth move under my feet, but it comes…

PLENTY damn close!

FEATURE: Groovelines: R.E.M. – Losing My Religion

FEATURE:

 

 

Groovelines

R.E.M. – Losing My Religion

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FOR the new editions of Groovelines…

I am deep-diving into songs that are celebrating anniversaries. On 19th February, 1991, R.E.M. released one of their best-loved singles. Losing My Religion is one of their most enduring and popular songs and, thirty years after its release, it still holds the power to move and stun people. The first single from the band’s seventh studio album, Out of Time (which was released on 12th March, 1991), I am still besotted by Losing My Religion. With Out of Time, R.E.M.'s status grew from that of a cult band to a massive international act. Whilst tracks like Radio Song, and Shiny Happy People have divided people regarding their status and popularity, I think that Losing My Religion is a song that everyone can agree is a classic! Losing My Religion was an unlikely hit for the group, receiving huge airplay on radio as well as gaining focus on MTV and VH1 due to its critically acclaimed music video – which I shall finish up with. The song became R.E.M.'s highest-charting hit in the United States, reaching number-four on the Billboard Hot 100. Even though the band were not sure about releasing Losing My Religion as a single because it is quite unusual and uncommercial, it is clear their decision paid off – the song is one of the most popular of the 1990s; it moves you to your very core.

 IN THIS PHOTO: R.E.M. (from left): Mike Mills, Michael Stipe, Peter Buck and Bill Berry in 1991/PHOTO CREDIT: Frank Ockenfels

In terms of the inspirations behind the song and how it developed, songfacts provides some insight:

“The title is a variation on the Southern expression "lost my religion," meaning something has challenged your faith to such a degree you might lose your religion. The song has nothing to do with religion, but the title is significant: If you are "losing your religion" over a person, you are losing faith in that person and questioning the relationship.

R.E.M. lead singer Michael Stipe wrote the lyrics, which he has said are about "obsession" and "unrequited love," which is powerful and dangerous combination. Throughout the song, he is baring his soul, searching for hidden meaning and hopeful signs, but driving himself mad in the process.

"I love the idea of writing a song about unrequited love," he told Top 2000 a gogo. "About holding back, reaching forward, and then pulling back again. The thing for me that is most thrilling is you don't know if the person I'm reaching out for is aware of me. If they even know I exist. It's this really tearful, heartfelt thing that found its way into one of the best pieces of music the band ever gave me."

This song has its origins in guitarist Peter Buck's efforts to try learn to play the mandolin. When he played back recordings of his first attempts, he heard the riff and thought it might make a good basis for a song. Explaining how the song came together musically, Buck told Guitar School in 1991: "I started it on mandolin and came up with the riff and chorus. The verses are the kinds of things R.E.M. uses a lot, going from one minor to another, kind of like those 'Driver 8' chords. You can't really say anything bad about E minor, A minor, D, and G - I mean, they're just good chords.

We then worked it up in the studio - it was written with electric bass, drums, and mandolin. So it had a hollow feel to it. There's absolutely no midrange on it, just low end and high end, because Mike usually stayed pretty low on the bass. This was when we decided we'd get Peter (Holsapple) to record with us, and he played live acoustic guitar on this one. It was really cool: Peter and I would be in our little booth, sweating away, and Bill and Mike would be out there in the other room going at it. It just had a really magical feel”.

I will bring in a couple of articles soon but, picking from Wikipedia, and one can see how Losing My Religion has been received:

"Losing My Religion" became R.E.M.'s biggest hit in the U.S., peaking at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. The single stayed on the chart for 21 weeks. It topped both the Billboard Album Rock Tracks and Modern Rock Tracks charts, for three and eight weeks respectively, also personal bests for the band on both charts. It charted at number 19 on the UK Singles Chart, and peaked at No. 16 and No. 11 in Canada and Australia, respectively. Mills said years later, "Without 'Losing My Religion', Out of Time would have sold two or three million [copies], instead of the ten [million copies] or so it did.

But the phenomenon that is a worldwide hit is an odd thing to behold. Basically that record was a hit in almost every civilised country in the world.” The success of "Losing My Religion" and Out of Time broadened R.E.M.'s audience beyond its original college radio fanbase. When asked at the time if he was worried that the song's success might alienate older fans, Buck told Rolling Stone, "The people that changed their minds because of 'Losing My Religion' can just kiss my ass."

The single placed second in the Village Voice Pazz & Jop annual critics' poll, behind Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit". R.E.M. was nominated for seven awards at the 1992 Grammy Awards. "Losing My Religion" alone earned several nominations, including Record of the Year and Song of the Year. The song won two awards, for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals and Best Short Form Music Video. In 2004, Rolling Stone listed the song at No. 169 on its list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time". In 2007, the song was listed as No. 9 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the 90s. In 2009, Blender ranked it at No. 79 on its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born". The song is also included on The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll”.

Michael Stipe explains the origins of Losing My Religion

(📺: Song Exploder) pic.twitter.com/m8o57mNOR6

— Netflix (@netflix) October 2, 2020

The long-running and wonderful series, Song Exploder, is available to see on Netflix. The idea is that songwriters discuss a single track of theirs and go into depth. Last year, Losing My Religion was featured on the show – as this article explains:

“Losing My Religion” will be prominently featured in Episode 3, Season 1, launching tonight, October 2, with R.E.M. opening up about the influences behind the life-changing track alongside hits from Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton), Alicia Keys &, Ty Dolla $ign.

This monumental episode marks the first time in many years all 4 original members: Michael Stipe, Mike Mills, Peter Buck & Bill Berry, have together recorded interviews about the band. In addition, the band will be releasing their ‘Losing My Religion’ EP digitally to mark the occasion.

“‘Losing My Religion’ was kind of a mistake. The fact that it became what it became is still puzzling to all of us,” Michael Stipe shared in the official series trailer.

The song first appeared on R.E.M.’s Out Of Time album, which has sold more than 18 million copies worldwide. The track reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in June of 1991. It remains the band’s highest-charting single and one of their four Top 10 hits.

Song Exploder is hosted and executive produced by Hrishikesh Hirway with filmmaker Morgan Neville, with the series taking a deep dive into the creative process with songwriters and artists, from a song’s first inception to its creation and lasting influence”.

Not only is the song incredible, but its music video is powerful and evocative. One can read an article from Rolling Stone, where director Tarsem Singh is asked about his experiences. Despite the fact Singh was inexperienced, he pulled off this triumph:

“Twenty-five years ago, R.E.M. released Out of Time, which eventually sold over four million copies in the United States and transformed longtime college radio darlings into a mainstream concern. It was the album’s first single “Losing My Religion” that definitively turned the group to artistic and commercial leaders of the burgeoning alternative rock movement. Up until this point, the group’s singer Michael Stipe had directed their music videos, or had entrusted them to people rooted in the art world like Robert Longo, James Herbert and Jem Cohen. Stipe had also stated publicly that he would never lip sync in a video — a claim he backed up in every video during the band’s first ten years.

Though the band and their label sensed that this was their potential crossover moment, they selected Tarsem Singh to direct “Losing my Religion.” Singh (credited as just Tarsem) was finishing up film school at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena while nearing the age of 30 and selling cars in the summer to afford tuition. He had previously directed only two videos for record labels — for Suzanne Vega and En Vogue — but the young director managed an artistic triumph. “Losing My Religion” would go on to win six MTV Video Music Awards, including Best Video and Best Direction as well as the Grammy for Best Short Form Video”.

The video for Losing My Religion is a thing of wonder:

“Michael Stipe's dancing ties the video together as he moves like he is in the throes of revelation, a contrast to all the other characters who are barely moving. He wasn't supposed to dance: The treatment had him singing lines from various poses, but when they shot it that way, it didn't work at all. This put director Tarsem Singh's grand production in jeopardy; he was so upset, he went to the bathroom and threw up. When he emerged, Stipe said, "Let me try to dance."

There was no choreography - Stipe just let the spirit move him, and the results were sublime. He says his dancing is a mashup of Sinead O'Connor's moves in her "The Emperor's New Clothes" video and David Byrne's gyrations in his "Once In A Lifetime" performances.

Stipe remembers being hot and bothered when recording his vocal. His heartfelt lyric needed a certain feel that was hard to achieve in the studio, so he recorded a lot of takes. He wasn't happy with the engineer, who seemed out of it. "I was very upset," he told Top 2000 a gogo. "I also got really hot because I was all worked up, so I took my clothes off and recorded the song almost naked”.

I shall leave things there but, thirty years since its release, I was interested to learn more about R.EM.’s Losing My Religion. It is a track I remember fondly from childhood, and its pull and passion still infuses my senses and stays in the memory! It is a masterpiece from a band who, whilst sadly no longer together, created these incredible songs that resonated with…

SO many people

FEATURE: Modern Heroines: Part Thirty: Rico Nasty

FEATURE:

 

 

Modern Heroines

Part Thirty: Rico Nasty

___________

IN the thirtieth edition of Modern Heroines…

I am spending some time extolling the music of Rico Nasty. Maria-Cecilia Simone Kelly was born on 7th May, 1997. The American rapper, songwriter and singer hails from Maryland. I am not going to say too much myself because, with some great interviews out there and positive reviews for her album of last year, Nightmare Vacation, I thought they could do the talking (I am, as usual, going to end with a playlist of her best songs at the end). I am a fan of the incredibly powerful female artists coming through like Rico Nasty, IAMDDB, and Bree Runway - who are producing such scintillating and timeless music. I think that Rico Nasty is definitely going to be an icon of the future. At just twenty-three, she has already made big strides and is releasing music of the highest order! I want to start by quoting a few sections from an NME interview conducted last year:

“We all know the world isn’t all sunshine and rainbows: it’s OK to get a little nasty sometimes. And Rico Nasty is the 23-year-old Maryland native dominating the macho rap world, all while injecting a bit of punk realness along her way to stardom. With hustle, braggadocio and immense talent, women are now running rap with a sense of community spirit; Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion, Rico and more are sticking together and trailblazing with wildly original artistry”.

Now with six mixtapes under her belt – from 2014’s icy ‘Summer’s Eve’ to 2019’s frenetic ‘Anger Management’ with Beats – a shiny deal with Atlantic Records and an ever-growing fan base, it’s the perfect time to solidify her sound with her debut album, ‘Nightmare Vacation’. Nasty’s known for coining the term “sugar trap”, blending hardcore, gruff vocals and grungy hooks with softer, computerised beats. She describes the new album, due for release this month, as “sugar trap on steroids”.

With her androgynous nature and outlandish style, Rico has been an icon for outcasts for years. This, she says, is because she was once an outcast like her fans. The mosh pit became her outlet, and she was able to find herself as she flailed around with fellow super turned-up teens at her first Rolling Loud Festival, one of the biggest rap events in the world, held all over America. “When someone’s an outcast looking for a safe space,” she says, “they walk around like, ‘Where the weirdos go!’ And it’s like, ‘Hey! Go to a Rico Nasty show’.”

It’s fair to say that Rico is a part of a contemporary musician revolution of amazing female rappers (sorry, “bad bitches”). With Cardi B and Nicki Minaj sitting pretty atop of a cool roster of modern talent, this century’s female rappers don’t seem to fight as much as the ’90s ladies did. In the space of a decade, female rappers went from trying to kill each other (literally – see Lil Kim and Foxy Brown’s infamous feud) to having each other’s back and showing love across the whole community”.

If you have not discovered the music of Rico Nasty, then I would urge you to seek it out, as one does not need to be a big fan of Rap or Hip-Hop to appreciate it. Nasty has a mixture of styles and sounds that means her music is individual and fresh. She has grown and matured as an artist through the years and, with her being so young, I do feel that her best years lie ahead. It is fascinating watching the rise of such an incredible and passionate artist; one who will inspire a lot of other artists and people around the world. I want to bring in an interview from Interview Magazine, where Rico Nasty spoke with Carina Imbornone. There were a couple of questions-and-answers that caught my eye:

“IMBORNONE: How has it felt growing up alongside your music career?

NASTY: When I first introduced myself to my fans, I was 17, 18. The things I wanted in life were different. What I expected from people and how I wanted to be treated as a person were different. Fans who listened to my music when they were 17, 18—now we’re all 23 and 24 together. You might have had a whole group of friends that you hung out with when you first heard about me, and now you’re not hanging out with them. So it’s just that but in album form. Shit is changing. The world is changing.

IMBORNONE: Could you describe your technique, “Primal Screaming Therapy?”

NASTY: By releasing all the tension inside of you, that’s like a therapy session. A lot of people would describe this as going in a room and screaming or going in the bathroom and holding your breath. Those are small forms of primal scream therapy. People go to the mountains, they go to a place where it’s very quiet and they bare it all right there, and a lot of people say that when they’re done, they feel a lot better. They feel relief. I know that shit sounds redundant. How are you going to bring yourself all the way up to calm down? But sometimes when you’re on edge and you work a crazy job or you don’t sleep a lot or you don’t eat a lot, your temper—it can be fucking crazy. People have done it since the beginning of time, just going into remote places and screaming. It sounds fucking crazy.

IMBORNONE: How does this process relate to your music?

NASTY:  Well, originally, when I was doing rage, and I was making all that type of music, I would go in the studio, and I would fucking scream my heart out on some ad-libs and it felt good. I know it sounds crazy, but I think that’s what’s wrong with everybody. We feel like somebody’s watching us all the time. We’re always so like, “Oh, I can’t do that. I’m going to look crazy.” But it’s like, “Bro, fuck it. Go crazy, bitch. People are crazy all the fucking time.” You can look crazy in private. It’s okay if you’re by yourself. Who’s going to judge you, god? Being a millennial, I was like, “Wait a minute. Did I just come up with something different?” And, of course, it’s not new. That’s how I found out about Arthur Janov and Primal Screaming. I used the cover of his book for the cover art for Anger Management.

IMBORNONE: Are there any artists who are on the come up right now that you really love and you want to see succeed in music?

NASTY: Flo Milli. I want to see this bitch win 110%. It’s something about her. She’s such a fucking sweetheart, but her shit is hard. You know, my best friend, she has the best music taste ever, hands-down. Two weeks ago in quarantine, I’m in her room, and she played this girl named Tia Corine, and I don’t want to say that Tia is up-and-coming, because I don’t know how long she’s been rapping, but I like her. I’ve got my eyes on her too. Listen to Lotto or Chanel. She’s fire. Oh, and Hook. I-L-Y Hook. She’s very different. She’s refreshing. She reminds of Lil B but on fire. Like, if Lil B and Chief Keef had a baby and it was a girl, that’s her”.

This takes me to the debut album from Rico Nasty, Nightmare Vacation. It arrived in December of last year - and it really scuppered my best of the year lists! I was not expecting such a huge and important album to come that late in the year but, with Nightmare Vacation, Rico Nasty delivered the goods! I am going to wrap up by bringing in a couple of interviews for that album. You can go and stream it now and experience something incredibly impressive. This is what The Guardian wrote in their review:

“If 2020 is our nightmare vacation from normal life, then Maryland 23-year-old Rico Nasty is an entertainingly misfit holiday rep. On her debut album, after a string of mixtapes under various alter egos, the rapper (real name Maria-Cecilia Simone Kelly) delivers track after track of pummelling catharsis – an aggro punk-rap party to pop the lid on an airless 12 months.

Nasty emerged in the emo-showered SoundCloud rap era (she nods to that with rapper Trippie Red on the track Loser), but builds on the rap-metal intensity of her 2019 release Anger Management, screeching and invoking moshpits (STFU) like the Joker by way of Joan Jett. There are songs, too, that pinpoint hyperpop (iPhone; OHFR?), this year’s buzzy, catch-all term for candied pixelations of J-pop, EDM, hip-hop, rock and chipmunk vocals that is aesthetically rooted in the 00s (and is either the coolest thing to happen on TikTok or is like what Hudson Mohawke was making 10 years ago).

The result is an invigorating if disorientating listen, as Nasty hurtles from a seductive trap tête-à-tête with Aminé (Back and Forth) into songs resembling Korn (Girl Scouts, Let It Out). To some this will sound like a gimmick; to others it’s the future. Either way, it’s refreshing to hear the once-maligned nu-metal genre revitalised: Nasty’s 2018 breakthrough Smack a Bitch, remixed here, comes off like a riposte to the misogynist bands of that era. Her music is heavier and more raging than them all”.

I am interested to see where Nasty goes from her and what direction her music takes. I feel, with some artists who are hyped and have put out some promising music, there can be a lot of expectations regarding a debut album. With Rico Nasty, she stepped up to the plate and produced one of last year’s finest albums! When they assessed Nightmare Vacation, DIY observed the following:

“Teaming up with several established contemporaries, Rico flourishes when going toe-to-toe with her peers. Feature highlights come in the form of the ‘00s-leaning ‘Losers’, featuring Trippie Redd, which calls back to teen-flick classic Mean Girls with the lyrics “We’re going shopping loser get in” and the Aminé-featuring ‘Back & Fourth’ which sees the duo’s vocals effortlessly flowing together. But its the hard-as-fuck remix of 2018 single ‘Smack A Bitch’ that stands out, with Rico teaming up with fellow female rappers ppcocaine, Sukihana and Rubi Rose for a snarling reworking that will rile up even the most chilled-out listener.

However, flying solo is where Rico clearly excels, and across the 15-track album, she lets rip. ‘Let It Out’ is a biting punk-tinged thrasher, while ‘OHFR?’, one of the many bangers where 100 gecs’ Dylan Brady hops on production duties, sees Rico tearing into her haters as she growls “fuck how you feel” in her signature brash vocals. ‘Pussy Poppin’ sees her refreshing her sugar-trap style as she spits fire about getting it on in a saccharine tone over the bass-heavy beat. ‘Check Me Out’ oozes confidence as she growls over dark-tinged piano chords, while ‘No Debate’ sees a slightly more reserved Rico flexing her musical muscles over an infectiously dance-a-long ready beat. Jumping between her kaleidoscopic influences, Rico’s determined flow remains the driving force throughout every track, effortlessly guiding the differing beats with her cutting lyrical delivery, and proving why she’s considered one of the best in the biz.

Biting and abrasive in the best kind of ways, ‘Nightmare Vacation’ finds an artist stepping up into the hype that’s been surrounding her for years, and delivering on it tenfold. It will chew you up and spit you out, and you’ll love every minute of it”.

Spend some time discovering and immersing yourself in Rico Nasty and her amazing music. I shall leave things there but, like all the female artists I include in this feature, I really do think that Rico Nasty is a legend of the future. She has released so much incredible music so young, I know that she will go from strength to strength. Given all I have said, miss out on her music…

AT your peril!

FEATURE: Lost on Some Horizon: Kate Bush’s The Kick Inside at Forty-Three: The Man with the Child in His Eyes

FEATURE:

 

 

Lost on Some Horizon

Kate Bush’s The Kick Inside at Forty-Three: The Man with the Child in His Eyes

___________

IN a song-specific …

feature to mark forty-three years of Kate Bush’s debut album, The Kick Inside, I want to spend some time diving into one of its best-known songs. The Man with the Child in His Eyes is a much-storied and celebrated songs, and, to this day, we do not truly know who the true inspiration is behind the song. The Kick Inside was released on 17th February, 1978, whilst The Man with the Child in His Eyes was released as the second single (in the U.K.) on 26th May, 1978. Before investigating the song in more detail, I am fascinated by the background to the album and what was happening in 1977. I have written features before regarding how Bush was discovered and the role Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour played in getting her music to a big label. Bush recorded The Man with the Child in His Eyes in 1975, and it is staggering to think that she was only thirteen when she wrote the song – and sixteen when she recorded it! The Kick Inside remains this unique and very striking album that arrived in February 1978 – at a time when the music scene was, perhaps, not highlighting and encouraging artists like Bush. In terms of music tragedy, we said goodbye to Marc Bolan (T. Rex), Elvis Presley, and three members of Lynyrd Skynyrd in a plane crash: Cassie Gaines, Ronnie Van Zant and Steve Gaines.

In terms of the albums that were released in 1977, we saw legendary records from David Bowie (Low, and “Heroes”), Television (Marquee Moon), Fleetwood Mac (Rumours), Iggy Pop (Lust for Life), Sex Pistols (Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols), and Steely Dan (Aja). It was quite male-dominated but, in terms of sounds, one could not easily see anyone like Bush around! Even though her songs were written before she headed into the studio in the summer of 1977, I know that artists like Bowie and Steely Dan inspired her – and one can feel a bit of them in various songs on The Kick Inside. 1977 was a very strange and important year and, when Bush was recording her beautiful and hugely evocative songs at AIR Studios in London, I don’t think the world was prepared for anyone quite like her! When The Kick Inside arrived in February 1978, things were still very male-dominated; Rock and Punk were more prominent than Pop. Even though Bush’s music is not simple Pop – it is more experimental and Baroque -, it wasn’t necessarily embraced by everyone. Of all the amazing songs on the album, few are more touching and gorgeous than The Man with the Child in His Eyes. To think of a thirteen-year-old Bush writing such moving and mature words is staggering! The song received the Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding British Lyric in 1979. I can fully understand why, because Bush managed to write a song that has mystery, drama and love at its heart.

Maybe there is not a specific ‘man’ in her mind; there have been theories as to whom Bush was thinking of when she wrote one of her finest songs. I want to bring in an article from the Kate Bush Encyclopaedia, that gives us some information regarding a masterpiece of a song:

“The inspiration for 'The Man With the Child in His Eyes' was really just a particular thing that happened when I went to the piano. The piano just started speaking to me. It was a theory that I had had for a while that I just observed in most of the men that I know: the fact that they just are little boys inside and how wonderful it is that they manage to retain this magic. I, myself, am attracted to older men, I guess, but I think that's the same with every female. I think it's a very natural, basic instinct that you look continually for your father for the rest of your life, as do men continually look for their mother in the women that they meet. I don't think we're all aware of it, but I think it is basically true. You look for that security that the opposite sex in your parenthood gave you as a child. (Self Portrait, 1978)

I just noticed that men retain a capacity to enjoy childish games throughout their lives, and women don't seem to be able to do that. ('Bird In The Bush', Ritz (UK), September 1978)

Oh, well it's something that I feel about men generally. [Looks around at cameramen] Sorry about this folks. [Cameramen laugh] That a lot of men have got a child inside them, you know I think they are more or less just grown up kids. And that it's a... [Cameramen laugh] No, no, it's a very good quality, it's really good, because a lot of women go out and get far too responsible. And it's really nice to keep that delight in wonderful things that children have. And that's what I was trying to say. That this man could communicate with a younger girl, because he's on the same level. (Swap Shop, 1979)“.

Reaching number-six on the U.K. chart, The Man with the Child in His Eyes is a song that takes the breath. With her voice quite deep and straight, I think we get something different to other songs on The Kick Inside. I like the fact Bush employed different vocal approaches on various songs. In terms of lyrics, one picks over every line and imagines what Bush is singing: “I hear him, before I go to sleep/And focus on the day that's been/I realise he's there/When I turn the light off and turn over/Nobody knows about my man/They think he's lost on some horizon/And suddenly I find myself/Listening to a man I've never known before/Telling me about the sea/All his love, 'til eternity/Ooh, he's here again/The man with the child in his eyes/Ooh, he's here again/The man with the child in his eyes/He's very understanding/And he's so aware of all my situations/And when I stay up late/He's always waiting, but I feel him hesitate/Oh, I'm so worried about my love/They say, "No, no, it won't last forever”/And here I am again, my girl/Wondering what on Earth I'm doing here/Maybe he doesn't love me/I just took a trip on my love for him/Ooh, he's here again/The man with the child in his eyes/Ooh, he's here again/The man with the child in his eyes”. Ahead of The Kick Inside’s forty-third anniversary, I wanted to highlight a song that is so rich and complex. Bush casts herself as a lover/mother/daughter; the hero seems to exist only in her mind, yet Bush projects so much concern and real emotion. Listening to it now, and I am still affected by the vocals, the stirring lyrics and the subtle-yet-powerful orchestration that causes shivers and swells! Not to go back to age but, realising Bush was thirteen when she wrote such a profound song is…

ALMOST too hard to comprehend.

FEATURE: A Buyer’s Guide: Part Forty-One: Siouxsie and the Banshees

FEATURE:

 

 

A Buyer’s Guide

PHOTO CREDIT: Costello/Redferns/Getty Images 

Part Forty-One: Siouxsie and the Banshees

___________

THIS is another feature that is quite timely…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Pennie Smith

as Siouxsie and the Banshees formed in 1976 – that means the band are forty-five this year. It is a pleasure to feature this hugely important band in A Buyer’s Guide. Formed by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and bass guitarist Steven Severin, the band were initially associated with the Punk scene; they quickly progressed and changed to create something Post-Punk and more experimental. Their debut album, The Scream, was released in 1978 to widespread critical acclaim. During their career, Siouxsie and the Banshees released eleven studio albums and thirty singles. The band experienced several line-up changes, with Siouxsie and Severin being the only constant members. They disbanded in 1996. To honour a vastly interesting and always-inspiring band, this A Buyer’s Guide is dedicated to…

THEIR very best work.

______________

The Four Essential Albums

 

The Scream

Release Date: 13th November, 1978

Label: Polydor

Producers: Siouxsie and the Banshees/Steve Lillywhite

Standout Tracks: Pure/Helter Skelter/Metal Postcard (Mittageisen)

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=42280&ev=mb

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/3uMr78kOScjc6eLHMYcVl4?si=bD7cUQMCSHyDTsiFbY80ew

Review:

“After building up an intense live reputation and a rabid fan base, Siouxsie and the Banshees almost had to debut with a stunner -- which they did, "Hong Kong Garden" taking care of things on the singles front and The Scream on the full-length. Matched with a downright creepy cover and a fair enough early producing effort from Steve Lillywhite -- well before he found gated drum sounds -- it's a fine balance of the early band's talents. Siouxsie Sioux herself shows the distinct, commanding voice and lyrical meditations on fractured lives and situations that would win her well-deserved attention over the years. Compared to the unfocused general subject matter of most of the band's peers, songs like "Jigsaw Feeling," "Suburban Relapse," and especially the barbed contempt of "Mirage" are perfect miniature portraits. John McKay's metallic (but not metal) guitar parts, riffs that never quite resolve into conventional melodies, and the throbbing Steven Severin/Kenny Morris rhythm section distill the Velvet Underground's early propulsion into a crisper punch with more than a hint of glam's tribal rumble. The sheer variety on the album alone is impressive -- "Overground" and its slow-rising build, carefully emphasizing space in between McKay's notes as much as the notes themselves, the death-march Teutonic stomp of "Metal Postcard," the sudden near-sunniness of the music (down to the handclaps!) toward the end of "Carcass." The cover of "Helter Skelter" makes for an unexpected nod to the past -- if it's not as completely overdriven as the original, Siouxsie puts her own definite stamp on it and its sudden conclusion is a great moment of drama. It's the concluding "Switch" that fully demonstrates just how solid the band was then, with McKay's saxophone adding just enough of a droning wild card to the multi-part theatricality of the piece, Siouxsie in particularly fine voice on top of it all” – AllMusic

Choice Cut: Hong Kong Garden

Kaleidoscope

Release Date: 1st August, 1980

Labels: Polydor/PVC (original U.S. release)/Geffen (1984 U.S. reissue)

Producers: Nigel Gray/Siouxsie and the Banshees

Standout Tracks: Tenant/Christine/Red Light

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=42315&ev=mb

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/5jynqY8ZyDoeqrIfYSwF8P?si=cQjx9ftTTWqVX7G1DuGEGA

Review:

“A member of the 'Bromley' contingent, responsible for the birth of London's early punk explosion, Siouxsie Sioux was foremost a scenester, but by 1979 she was older and wiser in many ways. Her band, The Banshees, had fought tooth and nail for their recording contract, following John Peel's championing; then following two corruscating yet somewhat disappointing albums both the guitarist and drummer jumped ship. Talk about a cloud with a silver lining...

The silver came in the form of who was drafted in to replace Kenny Morris and John McKay. Firstly Siouxsie brought in the man who was to prove her life's work partner; Budgie. Fresh from transforming the Slits from - surprise, surprise - punk scenesters to post punk icons, this multi-talented drummer then proceeded to add a layer of sophistication to the band's back line.

Next up were the guitarists. Prior to becoming a full-time member, John McGeoch was making his name with those other post punk icons, Magazine. His flanged arpeggios proved a perfect foil to the newer direction of Eastern-tinged songs that were now replacing the sub-Patti Smith-isms that had dragged down previous efforts. Also on board was the Pistols' underrated axeman, Steve Jones, who added much-needed muscle.

With Police producer, Nigel Gray, also on board to smooth out the edges, Kaleidoscope was to propel the Banshees into the major league and to also prove that they had chart potential aplenty. This was where their first hits finally emerged; "Happy House" - dripping with sarcasm - and "Christine", the proto-goth template that was such a burden in later years.

But every track is taut and smoothly seductive. From the psychedelic synth swoops of ."Tenant", to the weirdly atmospheric "Lunar Camel". Kaleidoscope was where Siouxsie came of age…” – BBC

Choice Cut: Happy House

Juju

Release Date: 6th June, 1981

Labels: Polydor/PVC (original U.S. release)/Geffen (1984 U.S. reissue)

Producers: Nigel Gray/Siouxsie and the Banshees

Standout Tracks: Into the Light/Arabian Knights/Night Shift

Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/siouxsie-and-the-banshees-e391454b-12ce-4714-a030-03be62edf747/juju

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/5OEum65e1HMGX51Ifu51Wb?si=jA_BZm7zRTeKn6-yo7jiHQ

Review:

“One of the band's masterworks, Juju sees Siouxsie and the Banshees operating in a squalid wall of sound dominated by tribal drums, swirling and piercing guitars, and Siouxsie Sioux's fractured art-attack vocals. If not for John McGeoch's marvelous high-pitched guitars, here as reminiscent of Joy Division as his own work in Magazine, the album would rank as the band's most gothic release. Siouxsie and company took things to an entirely new level of darkness on Juju, with the singer taking delight in sinister wordplay on the disturbing "Head Cut," creeping out listeners in the somewhat tongue-in-cheek "Halloween," and inspiring her bandmates to push their rhythmic witches brew to poisonous levels of toxicity. Album opener "Spellbound," one of the band's classics, ranks among their finest moments and bristles with storming energy. Siouxsie's mysterious voice emerges from dense guitar picking, Budgie lays into his drums as if calling soldiers to war, and things get more tense from there. "Into the Light" is perhaps the only track where a listener gets a breath of oxygen, as the remainder of the album screams claustrophobia, whether by creepy carnival waterfalls of guitar notes or Siouxsie's unsettling lyrics. "Arabian Nights" at least offers a gorgeously melodic chorus, but after that the band performs a symphony of bizarre wailings and freaky imagery. As ominous as the cacophony is on its own, close attention to Siouxsie's nearly subliminal chants paints a scarier picture. A passage such as "I saw you...a huge smiling central face with eyes and lips cut out but smiling and eating lots of other lips" doesn't exactly brighten one's day. Siouxsie is full of such quips throughout the album's running time, but her delivery packs as much punk as her message. Her attack-the-world dynamic range on "Voodoo Dolly" predates and out-weirds Björk's similar styling years later. McGeoch, Budgie, and bassist Steven Severin deserve just as much credit for crafting an original sound that would inspire a diverse group of future bands from Ministry to Placebo. All the while, producer Nigel Gray maintains the sense that the album is an immediate, edgy performance unfolding right in front of the listener. The upfront intensity of Juju probably isn't matched anywhere else in the catalog of Siouxsie and the Banshees. Thanks to its killer singles, unrelenting force, and invigorating dynamics, Juju is a post-punk classic” – AllMusic

Choice Cut: Spellbound

Hyæna

Release Date: 8th June, 1984

Labels: Polydor/Geffen (U.S.)

Producers: Siouxsie and the Banshees/Mike Hedges

Standout Tracks: Dazzle/Take Me Back/Bring Me the Head of the Preacher Man

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=42373&ev=mb

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/323iuhvsRRZap4VcT2F9Zf?si=h2-hSgTnRn-lzpFbHIhYlA

Review:

“Broadening the eclectically experimental landscape of 1982's Kiss in the Dream House with the occasional string arrangement and a spacious sound mix, Siouxsie and the Banshees' Geffen debut nicely bridges the gap between the band's handful of more-punk-than-pop early releases and their run of new wave, radio-friendly hits from the late '80s and early '90s. And though echoes of classic albums like Kaleidoscope and JuJu are heard in dark and menacing tracks such as "Bring Me the Head of the Preacher Man" and "Blow Your House Down," the emphasis here is on layered arrangements and pop tunes disguised as art-house production numbers ("Dazzle"); tasteful horn and keyboard parts expand the group's guitar-dominated sound and provide Siouxsie with an airy and dreamlike backdrop in which to fully display her considerable vocal talents. Siouxsie further refines things by also including a generous share of fleet and gothic-tinged pop numbers like "Belladonna," "Running Town," and the band's hit cover of "Dear Prudence." Anchored by the signature sound of Steven Severin's guitar-like bass and Budgie's exotically adept percussion work, Hyaena qualifies as one of Siouxsie and the Banshees' finest moments” – AllMusic

Choice Cut: Swimming Horses

The Underrated Gem

Superstition

Release Date: 10th June, 1991

Labels: Polydor/Geffen (U.S.)

Producer: Stephen Hague

Standout Tracks: Fear (of the Unknown)/Shadowtime/The Ghost in You

Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/siouxsie-and-the-banshees-e391454b-12ce-4714-a030-03be62edf747/superstition-b96fe2d4-6bf0-4562-b5f0-4b237b6e2ae7/lp-x2?channable=409d92696400323330333136f1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAmL-ABhDFARIsAKywVae3kwVNaP_0qiGzjZxod_HcQbx6RbR5f2co_SLA5GFuVjt-hp_AwJ0aAgGWEALw_wcB

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/0MNKE093cSDfCrABTCCXwP?si=7-KgiFvlTi-MZuROzs-Etg

Review:

“Superstition followed after a three-year hiatus and found the band, somewhat bizarrely, teaming up with producer Stephen Hague (Pet Shop Boys, New Order) and his synthpop touches are evident throughout. This is a sleek affair, to be sure, but not one without its charms. 'Kiss Them For Me' features what is probably Sioux's finest-ever vocal performance and the song's streamlined and glittering features helped propel the single into the US Billboard charts for the first time in their lengthy career. As with 'Cry' and 'Drifter' there are flashes of the old Banshees but in the main, Superstition is daubed with Hague's fingerprints. However, as evidenced on the bouncing 'Silver Waterfalls', there are moments when the band and producer's ideas coalesce to create something quite special” – The Quietus

Choice Cut: Kiss Them for Me

The Final Album

 

The Rapture

Release Date: 16th January, 1995/14th February, 1995 (U.S.)

Labels: Polydor/Geffen (U.S.)

Producers: Siouxsie and the Banshees/John Cale

Standout Tracks: Stargazer/Not Forgotten/The Rapture

Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/siouxsie-and-the-banshees-e391454b-12ce-4714-a030-03be62edf747/the-rapture-d50203b5-c31e-44b8-a13a-59b7bdd35527

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/0w03cDwFhaT9BKE12PSvMJ?si=HHS4UBfiTl69fWp4Sun5UA

Review:

“It would have been easy to write off the Banshees after the so-so Superstition, especially given the fact that it came after two uneven and disappointing albums (including the unnecessary covers collection Through the Looking Glass) Frankly, one of punk's most consistently invigorating acts seemed to have run their course. Sure enough, The Rapture proved to be their final recording. The surprise is that it's a career highpoint. The band deny, incidentally, that they knew this was to be their last album. Quite how Siouxsie, Severin and Budgie rediscovered their chemistry is a moot point - some credited producer John Cale, who worked on four tracks - but rediscover it they did. Despite nods to the band's past in the savage "Not Forgotten," the real gems are the sunny-side-up "O, Baby" (when did Siouxsie ever sound so genuinely happy?) and an 11-minute title-track that is as dazzling as anything they have ever performed. A classic case of leaving the scene on a high note, and a fitting final chapter from one of punk's finest, and most dignified, bands” – AllMusic

Choice Cut: O Baby

The Siouxsie and the Banshees Book

 

Siouxsie and the Banshees' Peepshow: 132 (33 1/3)

Author: Dr. Samantha Bennett

Publication Date: 18th October, 2018

Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic USA

Synopsis:

“In 1978, Siouxsie and the Banshees declared 'We don't see ourselves in the same context as other rock'n'roll bands.' A decade later, and in the stark aftermath of a devastating storm, the band retreated to a 17th-century mansion house in the deracinated Sussex countryside to write their ninth studio album, Peepshow. Here, the band absorbed the bygone, rural atmosphere and its inspirational mise en scène, thus framing the record cinematically, as Siouxsie Sioux recalled, 'It was as if we were doing the whole thing on the set of The Wicker Man'.

Samantha Bennett looks at how Siouxsie and the Banshees' Peepshow is better understood in the context of film and film music (as opposed to popular music studies or, indeed, the works of other rock'n'roll bands). Drawing upon more than one hundred films and film scores, this book focuses on Peepshow's deeply embedded historical and aesthetic (para)cinematic influences: How is each track a reflection of genre film? Who are the various featured protagonists? And how does Peepshow's diverse orchestration, complex musical forms, atypical narratives and evocative soundscapes reveal an inherently cinematic record? Ultimately, Peepshow can be read as a soundtrack to all the films Siouxsie and the Banshees ever saw. Or perhaps it was the soundtrack to the greatest film they never made” – Bloomsbury

Order: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Siouxsie-Banshees-Peepshow-Book-132-ebook/dp/B07H35CZPB

FEATURE: Music Technology Breakthroughs: Part Eight: The Fairlight CMI

FEATURE:

 

 

Music Technology Breakthroughs

Part Eight: The Fairlight CMI

___________

THROUGH the course of this series…

I have discussed software and hardware technological breakthroughs in music. Today, I want to look at the Fairlight CMI. In terms of models, we have Series I: 1979–1982, Series II: 1982–1985, and Series III: 1985–1989. I am going to include a playlist at the end of the feature that compiles songs where the Fairlight CMI plays a part. Before moving on to quote from an article that highlights huge songs that have employed the Fairlight CMI, here is some history about a piece of technology that helped transformed music:

“The Fairlight CMI (short for Computer Musical Instrument) is a digital synthesizer, sampler, and digital audio workstation introduced in 1979 by Fairlight. It was based on a commercial licence of the Qasar M8 developed by Tony Furse of Creative Strategies in Sydney, Australia. It was one of the earliest music workstations with an embedded digital sampler, and is credited for coining the term sampling in music. It rose to prominence in the early 1980s and competed with the Synclavier from New England Digital.

In the 1970s, Kim Ryrie, then a teenager, had an idea to develop a build-it-yourself analogue synthesizer to be called the ETI 4600, for his family's magazine Electronics Today International (ETI). Ryrie was frustrated by the limited number of sounds that the analogue device could make. After his classmate, Peter Vogel, graduated from high school and had a brief stint at university in 1975, Ryrie asked Vogel if he would be interested in making "the world's greatest synthesizer" based on the recently announced microprocessor. He recalled: "We had long been interested in computers - I built my first computer when I was about 12 - and it was obvious to me that combining digital technology with music synthesis was the way to go."

In December that year, he and Vogel formed a house-based company to manufacture digital synthesizers. They named it Fairlight after the hydrofoil ferry passing before Ryrie's grandmother's home in Sydney Harbour. The two planned to design a digital synthesizer that could create sounds reminiscent of acoustic instruments (physical modelling synthesis). They initially planned to make an analogue synth that was digitally controlled, given that the competing Moog analog synthesizer was difficult to control.

After six months, the pair met Motorola consultant Tony Furse. In association with the Canberra School of Electronic Music, Furse built a digital synthesizer using two 8-bit Motorola 6800 microprocessors, and the light pen and some of the graphics that would later become part of the Fairlight CMI. However, the machine was only able to create exact harmonic partials, sounding sterile and inexpressive.

Vogel and Ryrie licensed Furse's design, mainly for its processing power, and decided to use microprocessor technology instead of analogue synthesis. Over the next year, the duo made what Ryrie called a "research design", the bulky, expensive, and unmarketable eight-voice synthesizer QASAR M8, which included a two-by-two-by-four foot processing box and a keyboard.

By 1978, Vogel and Ryrie were making "interesting" but unrealistic sounds. Hoping to learn how to synthesize an instrument by studying the harmonics of real instruments, Vogel recorded about a second of a piano piece from a radio broadcast. He discovered that by playing the recording back at different pitches, it sounded much more realistic than a synthesized piano. He recalled in 2005:

It sounded remarkably like a piano, a real piano. This had never been done before ... By today's standards it was a pretty awful piano sound, but at the time it was a million times more like a piano than anything any synthesizer had churned out. So I rapidly realised that we didn't have to bother with all the synthesis stuff. Just take the sounds, whack them in the memory and away you go.

Vogel and Ryrie coined the term sampling to describe this process.[9] With the Fairlight CMI, they could now produce endless sounds, but control was limited to attack, sustain, decay and vibrato. According to Ryrie, "We regarded using recorded real-life sounds as a compromise - as cheating - and we didn't feel particularly proud of it." They continued to work on the design while making money by creating office computers for Remington Office Machines, which Ryrie described as "a horrendous exercise, but we sold 120 of them".

I can only imagine how musicians reacted to the news of the Fairlight CMI and what it could do to music! Prior to 1979, there was technology that allowed musicians some sonic freedom - but nothing quite as revolutionary and fascinating as the Fairlight CMI. We all know a great song where we hear a sample/sound from a Fairlight CMI. My favourite is Kate Bush’s Babooshka – which I will bring in soon –, that has the sound of breaking glass on it.

In the U.K., Peter Gabriel was among the first people to utilise and promulgate the Fairlight CMI. I want to introduce a fascinating article from the Science+ Media Museum, that outlines notable songs that have used the Fairlight CMI. I have selected a few:

“Can you hear this sweet sound at the beginning of ‘San Jacinto’? It’s not a real marimba. It’s a sound produced by a Fairlight CMI.

Peter Gabriel owned the first Fairlight CMI in the UK, and was the first musician here to release an album featuring its sounds. Initially, he was assisted by Peter Vogel, one of the Fairlight’s designers, who was primarily interested in the use of digital synthesis to reproduce the sounds of acoustic instruments.

The Fairlight did indeed out a wide range of pre-recorded sounds of acoustic instruments at your fingertips: an ‘orchestra for sale’, according to the first sales slogan.

“Insert a systems disc in the left-hand drive, a library disc in the right, and you can explore a world of sound limited only by your imagination”

⁠—Giles Dawson, New Scientist magazine, 1983

Musicians at the time were concerned about being replaced, but in the end they needn’t have worried: the sound quality was good, but not enough to replace the real thing. However, the Fairlight’s capability went far beyond the reproduction of acoustic instruments; there was another feature that transformed this synthesizer in a mainstay of electronic music.

The Fairlight was also presented as a compositional tool, a technology to allow you to explore your creativity and ideas well beyond what was possible before. In addition to the reproduction of acoustic instruments, in fact, the Fairlight allowed musicians to incorporate any type of sound into their music: it officially began the era of digital sampling. This opportunity was what attracted Kate Bush the most: “What really gets me about the Fairlight is that any sound becomes music. You can actually control any sound that you want by sampling it and then playing it.”

Inspired by Peter Gabriel’s experiments with everyday objects, the singer started to use sampling in Never for Ever (1980), assisted by Richard Burgess. The album features the sounds of footsteps on stairs, buzzing insects, and cocking rifles. But the most famous is the sound of breaking glass that punctuates the first song, ‘Babooshka’. Can you imagine transforming your favourite sound into a musical pattern that you can play on a keyboard?

The development of sound technologies increased the quality of pre-recorded orchestral sound and decreased the price of digital synthesizers. From the 1990s, more accessible synths and samplers hit the market, offering crisper variations of ORCH2.

The term ‘orchestra hit’ describes a synthesized sound effect that layers the sound of numerous orchestral instruments to create a dramatic staccato note. Today, this effect can be found in all sorts of digital mixers, and appears in many 90s teen-pop classic hits including Britney Spears’ ‘Lucky’ and the Backstreet Boys’ ‘It’s Gotta Be You’. It is also the symbol of the Fairlight’s legacy, going far beyond the use of pre-recorded orchestral sounds in popular music.

The first digital sampling synthesizer opened the way to a new era of music production: an era where we can generate and manipulate sounds from computers, create music from any source of sound, and make music together in different spaces and times. All these new opportunities originated from a machine that embodied the origins of our contemporary digital culture. A culture where anyone can explore a world of sound limited only by our imagination”.

It is a shame that the Fairlight CMI is not used more widely today. Perhaps it is seen as a bit clunky and old-fashioned. As technology allows for sampling and a range of sounds, maybe the innovation of the Fairlight CMI seems quaint and limited today. That said, the In 2015, the Fairlight CMI was inducted into the National Film and Sound Archive's Sounds of Australia collection. As you will hear from the playlist at the end (and the songs I have already included), the Fairlight CMI was this transformative breakthrough that artists were keen to employ! If people do not use the Fairlight CMI a lot today…

ITS influence and legacy has been established.

FEATURE: Too Good to Be Forgotten: Songs That Are Much More Than a Guilty Pleasure: Men at Work – Down Under

FEATURE:

 

 

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

Men at Work – Down Under

___________

SOMETIMES when I am selecting songs…

for this feature, there is some contention as to whether that song is a guilty pleasure or it is more accepted. I think, in the case of Down Under by Men at Work, it falls more into the guilty pleasure camp; in the sense I have seen it appear on polls and lists (of guilty pleasure songs). I really love it, and I think it is one of those tracks that cannot help but to lift you up! Men at Work are an Australian rock band formed in Melbourne in 1979. Founding member was Colin Hay on lead vocals and guitar. After playing as an acoustic duo with Ron Strykert, he formed the group with Strykert playing bass guitar, and Jerry Speiser on drums. They were then joined by Greg Ham on flute, saxophone, and keyboards, with John Rees on bass guitar (Strykert then switched to lead guitar). Originally released in 1980 as the B-side to their first local single, Keypunch Operator, Down Under (and Keypunch Operator) was written by Colin Hay and Ron Strykert. The first version was recorded before Men at Work signed to Columbia; the widely-known version was then released on Columbia in 1981 as the third single from their debut album, Business as Usual. Like so many of the songs I include in this feature, Down Under was a big hit. It reached the top spot in Men at Work’s native Australia; it went to number-one in Canada in October 1982.

Down Under went on to sell over two-million copies in the U.S. Here in the U.K., the song topped the charts in January and February 1983. Down Under is a patriotic song in Australia, where it remains popular and beloved. I don’t feel anyone should consider the track a guilty pleasure. It is a fascinating song that is a lot deeper than many people give it credit for. I want to bring in a bit from Wikipedia, as we get some insight into Down Under’s lyrics:

“The lyrics to "Down Under" depict an Australian man travelling the globe, who meets people who are interested in his home country. The story is based in part on singer Colin Hay's own experiences, including a prominent reference to a Vegemite sandwich (a popular snack in Australia), which derived from an encounter, during Hay's travels abroad, with a baker who emigrated from Brunswick, Melbourne. Hay has also said that the lyrics were partly inspired by Barry Humphries' character Barry McKenzie, a comically stereotypical Australian who tours abroad.

Slang and drug terms are featured in the lyrics. They open with the singer travelling in a fried-out Kombi, on a hippie trail, head full of zombie. In Australian slang "fried-out" means overheated, "Kombi" refers to the Volkswagen Type 2 combination van, and having "a head full of zombie" refers to the use of a type of marijuana. "Hippie trail" refers to a subcultural tourist route popular in 1960s and 70s which stretched from Western Europe to South-East Asia. The song also contains the refrain, where beer does flow and men chunder. To "chunder" means to vomit.

Speaking to Songfacts about the overall meaning of the lyrics, Hay remarked:

The chorus is really about the selling of Australia in many ways, the overdevelopment of the country. It was a song about the loss of spirit in that country. It's really about the plundering of the country by greedy people. It is ultimately about celebrating the country, but not in a nationalistic way and not in a flag-waving sense. It's really more than that.

The promotional video comically plays out the events of the lyrics, showing Hay and other members of the band riding in a VW Kombi van, eating muesli with a 'strange lady', eating and drinking in a café, and lying in an opium den. The band are moved along at one point by a man in a shirt and tie who places a 'Sold' sign in the ground. The exterior shots for the music video were filmed at the Cronulla sand dunes in Sydney. The band are seen carrying a coffin across the dunes at the end. This, Hay has explained, was a warning to his fellow Australians that their country's identity was dying as a result of overdevelopment and Americanization. Hay has also stated that the same ominous sentiment lies behind the choral line, Can't you hear that thunder? You'd better run; you'd better take cover”.

I like the fact there is a mixture of political and social commentary on Down Under, in addition to some humour and lightness.

I would urge people to check out the Business as Usual album – where Down Under was taken from -, as it is a great record filled with amazing songwriting! I think that Colin Hay is one of the more underrated songwriters in music history – one can feel his genius throughout Business as Usual. I feel there should be some re-evaluation regarding Down Under. It is an amazing song and one that is among my favourites ever. On the surface, it may come off as a bit bare and lacking in any real depth. Listen to the song more carefully and with greater attention and you will see revealed this wonderful song. I will wrap up soon, but I wanted to shine a light on a song that has appeared on lists of guilty pleasures – in the sense that people feel a bit ashamed embracing and adoring such a track openly. Forty years after its release, and there is still so much love and respect for Down Under. If you have not heard the track, then give it a spin and I guarantee it will burrow into your brain in a good way! Also check out Business as Usual because it is a magnificent album; Down Under is just one pearl from it. Rather than it being a guilty pleasure, Down Under, instead, is…

<

A real pearl.

FEATURE: The Lockdown Playlist: Songs from Albums That Have Sold More Than Thirty Million Copies

FEATURE:

 

 

The Lockdown Playlist

Songs from Albums That Have Sold More Than Thirty Million Copies

___________

THIS might appear quite niche and random…

for a Lockdown Playlist, but I have been thinking about those immense albums that everyone is familiar with and I am wondering whether, in years to come, they will still be selling loads and reaching people. For albums that have sold more than thirty million copies, I think there is this sense of status and brilliance that will survive the ages. As per Wikipedia, I have compiled songs from albums that have sold more than thirty million copies as of 27th January, 2021 (these are claimed sales and not certified figures). I am not just focusing on the bracket of thirty million-plus; I am also looking at those that have sold more than forty million copies. Many people will own copies of the album listed, though some might be a bit surprised and discover a new album. There is a nice assortment of artists and sounds so, for this Lockdown Playlist, I have combined songs from some of the…

BIGGEST albums ever.

FEATURE: Too Good to Be Forgotten: Songs That Are Much More Than a Guilty Pleasure: Simply Red - Stars

FEATURE:

 

 

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

Simply Red - Stars

___________

I am including this particular songs as…

Simply Red’s album, Stars, turns thirty in September. The fourth album from the band, it spawned five singles - including the top-ten hits, Stars, and For Your Babies. The album was a massive success, particularly in the U.K. It has been certified twelve-times platinum. The album was on the shortlist of nominees for the 1992 Mercury Prize (it lost out to Primal Scram’s Screamadelica). I think that the band get a reputation as being a little bit lame or cheesy, perhaps. Maybe it is an age thing, but I feel there is a generational shift when it comes to Simply Red. I have seen Stars’ title track called a guilty pleasure. Even though it has a natural sing-along quality, there are many who feel it is a bit sickly and naff. I really like Simply Red and, though I do not like all of their songs, I have plenty of time for the classics! Think about the Stars album and it opens with two cracking tracks: Something Got Me Started, and Stars. The title song became the first single from the album to make the U.K. top-ten, reaching number-eight in December 1991. Although Stars is a big song that many of us know, there are a lot of people that dismiss it and think that it is this guilty pleasure. Grabbing from Wikipedia, and Stars has gained some positive assessment:

“AllMusic editor Jon O'Brien called the song "wistful dreamy". Billboard described it as a "midtempo crooner". Writing for CultureSonar, Ellen Fagan wrote, "This exquisite ballad references a couple who love one another but are unlikely to walk off into the sunset together for various reasons. Because of that, both are destined to walk away reeling. The video released with the song is a vintage '80s masterpiece of surrealism; the whole package emerges as a mournful tune with a yearning, otherworldly feel." Dundee Courier noted it as a "slowie".Music & Media commented that "the title track of their new album has numerous allusions, including references to Mick Hucknall's own road to fame and to the stars in the European flag. This soulful pop song confirms the position of the red-headed singer at the top, close to the galactic stars."

Pop Rescue stated that Hucknall "hits those notes with perfection in the chorus, resulting in a wonderfully warm and catchy track." Karla Peterson from The Press-Courier called it "swooning" and said the track is "one of the most open-hearted love songs Hucknall has ever written." In 2014, Luke Turner from The Quietus noted that the song itself "holds up wonderfully." He added that "there's not a huge amount going on, but that's what makes it work: piano, terrific drums, layers of vocals, and a load of bonus hints of chorus snuck in amongst the verses." In his review of the Stars album, Richard Paton from Toledo Blade described "Stars" as a "soulful groove". Johnny Dee from Smash Hits said the song is "superb".

Maybe there are other Simply Red songs that are held in less warm regard and affection. Perhaps it also the case of Simply Red dividing people, whereas Stars might be a song that most can get behind. I would disagree. I have seen plenty of unfair criticism for a song that is incredibly strong and accomplished. From Mick Hucknall’s soulful performance to the stunning performance from the band, Stars’ title cut is one of the best songs from the early-‘90s. Nearly thirty years after it was released into the world, and the brilliant Stars still elicits emotions and reaction. I can understand why some are not massive fans of Simply Red, as there are songs in their catalogue that are not brilliant. Whilst I do struggle with some of their numbers, I feel Stars is one of their very best songs - and one that warrants celebration. Plenty of people have lauded the track, though there are plenty who have been unkind and see it as this guilty pleasure. If you have been a bit negative about Stars and think that it is a song that is overrated, then give it another spin and…

LET it work its magic.

FEATURE: The Lockdown Playlist: Tracks Featured on Song Exploder: 2018-2021 (Inclusive)

FEATURE:

 

 

The Lockdown Playlist

Tracks Featured on Song Exploder: 2018-2021 (Inclusive)

___________

IN an age where streaming means that…

so many people pick at songs and only listen to them for a few seconds, having a podcast that is dedicated to forensic and passionate discussion about a single track seems like it would be deemed to fail. Conversely, Song Exploder is a massive success. Artists are invited to discuss and explain a song of theirs. In an episode from 27th January, HAIM reflected on Summer Girl:

“HAIM appeared on the latest episode of Hrishikesh Hirway’s Song Exploder podcast. The Los Angeles band was joined by producers Ariel Rechtshaid and Rostam to discuss the genesis of their 2019 single “Summer Girl,” from last year’s Women in Music Pt. III. Listen to the full episode below.

In the episode, the sisters talk about how Rechtshaid’s cancer diagnosis informed the songwriting, referencing Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side,” trying to get Bono to sing on the track, and more.

Women in Music Pt. III is up for the 2021 Grammy Award for Album of the Year. HAIM were also nominated for Best Rock Performance for “The Steps.” Last month, the group shared a remix of “3AM” by Toro y Moi.

Find “RIYL: Haim’s Women in Music Pt. III” over on the Pitch”.

For this second related Lockdown Playlist, I have included songs from the series between the years 2018 up to the HAIM episode. I would advise people to check out the Song Exploder series and you will get a new appreciation for music and what goes into writing and creating a song. Perhaps ironically, I am only including the songs featured on Song Exploder, though I would advise people to listen to the corresponding episodes. Here is a fantastic selection of…

WONDERFUL and interesting tracks.

FEATURE: Storms Over America: Watching from Above: Kate Bush’s Hello Earth from Hounds of Love

FEATURE:

 

 

Storms Over America

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a water tank at Pinewood Studios whilst filming visuals for The Ninth Wave’s And Dream of Sheep

Watching from Above: Kate Bush’s Hello Earth from Hounds of Love

___________

WHILST I have written…

quite a few features regarding Hounds of Love and various songs from it, I do not think I have heavily featured one of the standout tracks from the album, Hello Earth. It is the penultimate track on the album, and it appears on the conceptual suite, The Ninth Wave. Though I can appreciate The Ninth wave as a cohesive piece that is best heard in one sitting, I do think that the seven songs from that side are well worth investigation on their own merit. To me, Hello Earth is one of the most moving and stirring songs that Bush ever wrote! I will delve more into the lyrics soon but, before then, I will bring in some information and background about a stunning song. It is to the Kate Bush Encyclopaedia for assistance:

“Song written by Kate Bush. Originally released on her fifth studio album Hounds Of Love. Sixth track of The Ninth Wave suite. The choral section, performed by the Richard Hickox Singers, is taken from a Georgian folk song called 'Zinzkaro' ('By The Spring'), which Kate heard performed by the Vocal Ensemble Gordela on the soundtrack of Werner Herzog's 1979 film Nosferatu The Vampyre.

'Hello Earth' was a very difficult track to write, as well, because it was... in some ways it was too big for me. [Laughs] And I ended up with this song that had two huge great holes in the choruses, where the drums stopped, and everything stopped, and people would say to me, "what's going to happen in these choruses," and I hadn't got a clue.

We had the whole song, it was all there, but these huge, great holes in the choruses. And I knew I wanted to put something in there, and I'd had this idea to put a vocal piece in there, that was like this traditional tune I'd heard used in the film Nosferatu. And really everything I came up with, it with was rubbish really compared to what this piece was saying. So we did some research to find out if it was possible to use it. And it was, so that's what we did, we re-recorded the piece and I kind of made up words that sounded like what I could hear was happening on the original. And suddenly there was these beautiful voices in these chorus that had just been like two black holes.

In some ways I thought of it as a lullaby for the Earth. And it was the idea of turning the whole thing upside down and looking at it from completely above. You know, that image of if you were lying in water at night and you were looking up at the sky all the time, I wonder if you wouldn't get the sense of as the stars were reflected in the water, you know, a sense of like, you could be looking up at water that's reflecting the stars from the sky that you're in. And the idea of them looking down at the earth and seeing these storms forming over America and moving around the globe, and they have this like huge fantasticly overseeing view of everything, everything is in total perspective. And way, way down there somewhere there's this little dot in the ocean that is them. (Richard Skinner, 'Classic Albums interview: Hounds Of Love. Radio 1 (UK), aired 26 January 1992)”.

There are upas and downs and myriad emotions on The Ninth Wave. I think that, occurring near the end of the story, Hello Earth has a sense of dreaminess and optimism among its more dreaded moments. After the propulsive and Irish-infused Jig of Life, Hello Earth takes the pace down a bit and it is a lot more choral-like and tender. I like the verse where Bush sings about holding one hand up and blotting the Earth out. It is almost like she is seeing a reflection of the planet from the sea and blocking it out, or she is looking down from very high and watching herself in the sea waiting to be rescued. The opening is one of the most captivating segments of The Ninth Wave: “"Columbia now nine times the speed of sound/"Roger that, Dan, I've got a solid TACAN locked on, uh, TACAN twenty-three"/"The, uh, tracking data, map data and pre-planned trajectory are all one line on the block"/"Roger your block decoded". I love the mixture of the dramatic and child-like on Hello Earth. The song’s heroine has this fascination with Earth and its beauty, but there is also this rather epic and sweeping aspect to the song. I think that Bush’s lyrics were at their most poetic and original on Hounds of Love. One of my favourite passages is this: “Watching storms/Start to form/Over America./Can't do anything/Just watch them swing/With the wind/Out to sea”.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush being carried off stage during a performance of Hello Earth during Before the Dawn in 2014

I was not lucky enough to attend Kate Bush’s live residency, Before the Dawn, in 2014 and witness Hello Earth mounted for the stage almost thirty years after it was released. It must have been staggering and hugely emotional seeing the song brought to life in such a way. I like the fact that, on the song, there is a continuation of the Irish tones and sounds heard on Jig of Life – with Liam O'Flynn on uillean pipes, and Donal Lunny on bouzouki. The addition of  The Richard Hickox Singers combines magnificently. One gets such a rich and heady brew that provokes the imagination and makes the senses tingle! I was keen to come back to Hounds of Love because, whilst it was great to celebrate its thirty-fifth anniversary last year, I wanted to go deeper with one of the album’s very best songs. I usually listen to The Ninth Wave as a suite, so I never really stop and dissect each track and think about their story. There is sadness and heartbreak on Hello Earth, but I think there is that feeling that help is coming and things are going to work out for the heroine – after the terrifying earlier stages of The Ninth Wave, the listener is as relieved as they are entranced. Listening to Hello Earth so many years after I first heard it…

STILL has such a powerful effect.

FEATURE: Second Spin: The Divine Comedy - Fin de Siècle

FEATURE:

 

 

Second Spin

The Divine Comedy - Fin de Siècle

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I first discovered The Divine Comedy…

when they released their third studio album, Promenade, in 1994. The band is essentially Neil Hannon and a rotation of musicians. I love Hannon’s songwriting and perspective and, by the time Fin de Siècle arrived in 1998, I was properly invested! The sixth studio album, Fin de Siècle followed the remarkable A Short Album About Love. I think many consider Fin de Siècle to be the weakest album from The Divine Comedy to that point. The album peaked at number-nine in the U.K. It is a great and rounded work that is very rewarding and interesting. I wanted to include it here as it remains underrated and underappreciated. I am going to bring in a couple of reviews soon but, before then, I wonder why some dismissed it or felt it was weaker than previous albums from The Divine Comedy. The first single, Generation Sex, was released on 14th September, 1998, and it typically humorous and incredibly smart! I think it is one of the best songs from The Divine Comedy but it is the huge hit, National Express, that people associate with Fin de Siècle. Released on 25th January, 1999, I remember buying the single and really loving it – I had heard it on the radio a lot and was hooked by its catchiness! Many critics felt that Neil Hannon was sneering at the working-class population and being classist.

In fact, National Express was his observations from using the coach service and typical scenes that many of us would also have witnessed – nothing in the way of taking a shot at those less-well-off! Away from those singles, there is plenty of quality to be found. With ten tracks, there is very little wastage. Thrillseeker is a magnificent song, whilst I love the grandeur of Sweden. Here Comes the Flood is stirring and contains some of Hannon’s most biblical and memorable images. Although Fin de Siècle does not scale the same heights as 1996’s Casanova, I do think that it is primed for re-evaluation. This is what AllMusic wrote in their review:

“The songs on Fin de Siècle, though pleasant, don't quite scale the heights Neil Hannon has before: nothing is as arresting as A Short Album About Love's "In Pursuit of Happiness," though "Commuter Love," the grandiose, wind-swept "The Certainty of Chance," and especially the rainy-day funeral song "Life on Earth" make attempts, as does the song that jumps out at you the most, in line with Hannon's past work, "Sweden." Its '60s-movie oom-pah pomp and bombast that introduces each verse is fabulous. But otherwise, Hannon's done better. More unfortunate, Jon Jacobs' engineering seems fine, but his mix is convoluted, muted, as if Hannon's wry voice and the various lugubrious blends of sounds Jobi Talbot scores -- of woodwinds, brass, strings, guitar, and timpani-like drums -- were all trapped in a sandwich bag, fighting to get out where ears are.

Where such mellifluous tones should tickle, tease, dazzle, and sometimes outright startle, outside of those yelping parts of "Sweden," it's all a little muffled. Still, it's hard to stop laughing at Hannon's suit-wearing, minor send-up of the storied English gentleman, like a man who is a playboy jet-setter but also affects uptight, fastidious manners. And there's still much to swing on here. Talbot is a fabulously imaginative arranger -- surely the LP's biggest saving grace -- and Hannon's songs thus seem to spiral toward dramatic conclusion no matter what. Best of all, Fin de Siècle largely diminishes the Scott Walker whispers that have shadowed his every move, if not actually erasing them. In the end, Hannon is the one you want at your party, sitting at an end table, smoking, drinking your most expensive booze, slyly winking at the ladies, and sizing up the crowd like an international spy. Give the man his due, style is his middle name. You can bet he's got unbelievable chat-up lines”.

Twenty-three years after its release, and I think that Fin de Siècle has a lot going for it. The songwriting is mature and consistently engaging. Hannon manages to mix humour, deep emotions and flights of fancy seamlessly. I think his voice is as rich and powerful as ever. Perhaps a lot of people argue whether National Express is a song that jabs at the working classes, but I don’t think it does. It is a classic from The Divine Comedy that one cannot help but sing along with.

Back Seat Mafia highlighted and reassessed Fin de Siècle back in 2014:

“Neil Hannon (the man who effectively is The Divine Comedy), cut a unique dash through the British music in the mid 90s, as his almost imperceptible rise to near-fame ran parallel to the Brit-pop movement, meant that he sometimes got lumped in with the unwashed masses.

Foppish, louche and possessing a more sophisticated musical mind than his more straight-forward peers, Hannon had built himself a career by stealth. Every studio album was just a little better than the last, with a few more sales and with his minor coup of getting the job of writing the theme music for Father Ted, Hannon’s music had found it’s way into the hearts and minds of music fans who recognised a classy tune when they heard one.

Yet still a proper ‘hit’ single eluded The Divine Comedy. When Fin de Siècle was released in 1998, there were the usual modest sales, but it looked as though they were still as far away from mainstream success as ever. Then came the freak (some would say ‘novelty’) hit that was “National Express” and suddenly The Divine Comedy were enjoying airplay and top-ten singles.

As it happens, though it’s a fine pop-tune, “National Express” is one of the lesser tracks on Fin de Siècle. From the majesty of “Life on Earth” and “The Certainty of Chance” to the admire-from-afar style romance of “Commuter Love”, to the social commentary of “Generation Sex”, Fin de Siècle is a well rounded and mature album, a world away from those that were making guitar singalongs for the hard-of-thinking. Particularly impressive is the faux-Bond Theme that is “Thrillseeker”, which finds Hannon in particularly bombastic vocal form and the strangely compelling “Sweden”. The weak point of the album is the over-stretched “Eric the Gardener”, which could have been a cracking tune, if only it’s duration had been halved.

In many ways, Fin de Siècle is The Divine Comedy’s most diverse and fully-realised album. After this they had a big hit with a compilation, national embarrassment Robbie Williams claimed they were his favourite band for a full week, they lost their way a little and have been spending the last five years trying to regain the heady heights of 1998 and 1999”.

If you have not heard Fin de Siècle, then seek the album out and I guarantee that you will enjoy it! It is such a broad album, one will find a song that suits them. Maybe The Divine Comedy released better albums, yet I maintain Fin de Siècle is a masterful work with a lot to love. I think I bought the album when it came out in 1998, and it was great hearing songs that I had not heard and discovering a new side to Neil Hannon and his songwriting. Fin de Siècle is an underrated and discussed album that I am happy to play…

TIME and time again.

FEATURE: The February Playlist: Vol. 1: The Return of Cardi B

FEATURE:

 

 

The February Playlist

Vol. 1: The Return of Cardi B

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THIS week’s Playlist is a little quieter…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Hayley Williams

in terms of the number of tracks, but it is pretty exciting in terms of the biggest songs. There is new music from Cardi B, Hayley Williams, The Staves, Foo Fighters, H.E.R., Death from Above 1979, Victoria Monét, Ben Howard, Black Country, New Road, and Pixey. There are also cuts from Julien Baker, and Chet Faker – so there is something in there for anyone! If you require a bit of a boost and some energy to get you through a chilly and wet weekend, then I hope that the songs below do the job and can get you moving! It is another great week for new music so, if you require some tunes to provide a kick, then I think that there is more than enough…

IN THIS PHOTO: Foo Fighters

TO enjoy here.

ALL PHOTOS/IMAGES (unless credited otherwise): Artists

__________

PHOTO CREDIT: AB+DM

Cardi B – Up

PHOTO CREDIT: Lindsey Byrnes

Hayley Williams – My Limb

H.E.R. - Fight For You (From the Original Motion Picture Judas and the Black Messiah)

The Staves - Failure

Death from Above 1979 - One + One

 Foo Fighters – Making a Fire

Victoria Monét - F.U.C.K

Ghetts (ft. Pa Salieu & BackRoad Gee) - No Mercy

Ben Howard - Crowhurst's Meme

Black Country, New Road - Opus

Pixey – Electric Dream

Chet Faker – Get High

The Weather Station – Separated

PHOEBE ∆X∆ – Bed

Daya – Bad Girl

Stereolab - Household Names

Julien Baker – Favor

VC Pines – Smoke Without Fire

The Snuts – Somebody Loves You

FINNEAS - American Cliché

PHOTO CREDIT: Netti Hurley

Puma Blue – Already Falling

TV Priest – Saintless

PHOTO CREDIT: Olivia Bee

Rostam - These Kids We Knew

The Aces - Sleepy Eyes

Charlotte Clark – Odyssey

SG Lewis (ft. Nile Rodgers) - One More

Ruby Francis – Stuck Right Here

Priya Ragu – Chicken Lemon Rice

Sad Night Dynamite - Smoke Hole

FEATURE: The Lockdown Playlist: The Best of Bob Marley

FEATURE:

 

 

The Lockdown Playlist

The Best of Bob Marley

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AS is traditional with these birthday…

IN THIS PHOTO: Bob Marley in 1979/PHOTO CREDIT: Glen La Ferman 

Lockdown Playlists, I am going to bring in a chunk of information from Wikipedia that provides information about the artist; I will then move onto the playlist itself at the very end of the feature. The artist in question is the late Reggae icon, Bob Marley. Today (6th February) would have been his seventy-sixth birthday - and I think there has been a real gap in the world since Marley died in 1981. He is a hugely important and inspirational artist who, in his short life, left such a mark on the world! Here is some detail regarding the legendary Bob Marley:

“Robert Nesta Marley, OM (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981) was a Jamaican singer, songwriter, and musician. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements of reggae, ska, and rocksteady, as well as his distinctive vocal and songwriting style. Marley's contributions to music increased the visibility of Jamaican music worldwide, and made him a global figure in popular culture for over a decade. Over the course of his career Marley became known as a Rastafari icon, and he infused his music with a sense of spirituality. He is also considered a global symbol of Jamaican music and culture and identity, and was controversial in his outspoken support for the legalization of marijuana, while he also advocated for Pan-Africanism.

Born in Nine Mile, British Jamaica, Marley began his professional musical career in 1963, after forming Bob Marley and the Wailers. The group released its debut studio album The Wailing Wailers in 1965, which contained the single “One Love/People Get Ready”; the song was popular worldwide, and established the group as a rising figure in reggae. The Wailers subsequently released eleven further studio albums; while initially employing louder instrumentation and singing, the group began engaging in rhythmic-based song construction in the late 1960s and early 1970s, which coincided with the singer’s conversion to Rastafarianism. During this period Marley relocated to London, and the group embodied their musical shift with the release of the album The Best of The Wailers (1971).

The group attained international success after the release of the albums Catch a Fire and Burnin’ (both 1973), and forged a reputation as touring artists. Following the disbandment of the Wailers a year later, Marley went on to release his solo material under the band’s name.[10] His debut studio album Natty Dread (1974) received positive reception, as did its follow-up Rastaman Vibration (1976). A few months after the album’s release Marley survived an assassination attempt at his home in Jamaica, which prompted him to permanently relocate to London. During his time in London he recorded the album Exodus (1977); it incorporated elements of blues, soul, and British rock, enjoyed widespread commercial and critical success”.

To mark what would have been Marley’s seventy-sixth birthday, this Lockdown Playlist is an assortment of his very best tracks. Marley moved a lot of people in his lifetime and, almost forty years since his death, it is clear his genius and legacy…

STILL burns bright.

FEATURE: What Is the Solution? Financing Artists, Songwriters and Grassroots Venues

FEATURE:

 

 

What Is the Solution?

PHOTO CREDIT: @tijsvl/Unsplash 

Financing Artists, Songwriters and Grassroots Venues

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ONE of the things that I cover a lot…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Tim Burgess

on my site is grassroots venues and streaming. Both are in the news again because, whilst venues are shut and streaming sites are not providing artists and songwriters with enough money, there is a struggle that cannot only potentially impact the future of live music; it can also damage existing artists in terms of their ability to continue and survive. I want to draw from a couple of articles because, whilst there is determination from those in the music industry to see change, we need Government support and businesses to step up. The music world was thrown into chaos because of the pandemic. It meant that venues had to close and, for artists who gain a lot of revenue from gigs, they were forced to look elsewhere for a financial stream. In terms of streaming platforms, the business model still means that, whilst the companies earn a lot of money as companies, a lot of the money is going straight to the labels and not to the artists and songwriters. I know it is hard to divide the pie equally but, as the actual talent are getting paid far less than labels, it seems that 2021 is a year when change needs to happen very quickly. Musician Tim Burgess wrote for The Guardian last week. He outlined the extent of the disparity and issue:

“The basic point is that the UK music industry contributed an estimated £5.8bn to the economy in 2019, but artists are maybe not seeing as much of that as they should. Almost 5m vinyl albums were sold in 2020, the most since way back when we released our debut LP in the early 90s. There’s hope and excitement in the gloom, but there’s also an elephant in the gloom. That elephant’s name is streaming. To understand the issues better, it might help if we imagined trying to explain the way it works to someone back in 1995.

PHOTO CREDIT: @lastly/Unsplash 

“OK, so for a penny under a tenner a month, you’ll have access to pretty much every record ever made, to listen to whenever you want. It’s like you own the music but you kind of don’t.” I’m guessing our person in 1995 would be mightily impressed.

There is much made of the sums paid to artists as a result of all this – yes, they get a cut, and millions of people stream every day, right? – right, but these sums usually go to 26 decimal places, and the first four digits are often 0.000.

Gary Numan recently said that he made £37 from a million streams of one of his songs. Again, he wasn’t griping about the money due to him, but painting a picture of what it’s like for a new artist who couldn’t hope to get a fraction of those plays. Let’s say 25,000 people streamed that artist’s latest track. As popular as that might make them seem, it wouldn’t buy them a coffee in the shop where they had to work a second job because their income from music was so meagre.

The thing is, streaming has taught us that people are willing to pay for music. Spotify had total revenues of $7.4bn in 2019. A lot of that money goes to major labels rather than directly to artists, so they’re part of the equation too. Tom Gray and the Broken Record campaign (pretty sure they supported us at the Rayleigh Pink Toothbrush in 1992) have done some sterling work in holding the platforms and labels to account, but it’s an uphill struggle.

PHOTO CREDIT: @hakimr/Unsplash

Julian Knight MP, chair of the digital, culture, media and sport committee, recently called in the major record labels to discuss streaming. He asked one of them whether they had cut royalty rates to artists after a deal with Spotify. He wasn’t happy with the answer. “You are in front of a parliamentary select committee now,” he said. “In the past, with the likes of Google, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, we have found them to be frankly dissembling and not being in any way [clear]. So far I have to say you are beating them to the prize in terms of lack of clarity and lack of actual openness to a parliamentary committee.” I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t give me a lot of faith that they’re going to be open to changing things”.

I am not sure what the instant answer is regarding parity and something that will benefit everyone. I know that there are wheels in motion regarding discussion about streaming and improving the situation. With every new article and outcry from the music industry, it enforces the seriousness of how things really are. I am not sure what the long-term impact of the pandemic will be regarding musicians’ survival and streaming, but there is a growing desire for dialogue and action. Not only is there a massive issue concerning streaming and how it pays new and established artists; venues are also threatened right now. Two sources of revenue for artists are under threat right now.

 PHOTO CREDIT: @bantersnaps/Unsplash

Many of the larger venues will survive and be okay this year. The same cannot be said for a lot of the grassroots venues. As this NME article shows, there is one politician at least who understands the gravity of the reality many venues face:

“Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has suggested that the “big players” of the music industry should pay a levy to support grassroots music venues through the coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking as part of Independent Venue Week’s Culture Panel last week (January 28), Burnham said the industry had a responsibility to protect beleaguered venues which have faced the threat of financial ruin.

“The industry has to pay a levy to support grassroots venues, because that is their talent production ground. They are the junior football clubs of the country. That’s where the talent comes through,” he said.

Burnham said that the closure of venues would be “like closing junior grassroots football clubs and then expecting English football to still be strong.”

Backing the idea, Music Venue Trust CEO Mark Davyd explained that a number of European countries tax the music industry to finance grassroots music development.

“We would rather see the industry organise itself into such a model,” he said, per the BBC.

PHOTO CREDIT: @overdriv3/Unsplash 

“We believe the skills and expertise available in our industry could quickly develop such a programme to be an effective model of investment into new talent.

The MVT has continued to work to protect and preserve live music in the UK during the coronavirus pandemic, which has forced live music spaces across the country to close their doors. Back in November, the organisation launched a campaign to save 30 UK venues that were still in danger of being lost forever in the wake of coronavirus restrictions.

Having already secured over £80 million in donations and government grants this year through their #SaveOurVenues campaign – securing the futures of over 400 UK grassroots venues until March 31, 2021 – the MVT moved to aid 24 venues that have been “unable to access sufficient funding” and have been “added to a ‘red list’ of venues in imminent danger of permanent closure”.

Let’s hope that there is extra financing from the Government and bigger businesses to ensure that most of our valued grassroots venues will be okay. We all also hope that streaming sites look at how much they are paying artists and songwriters and, on that basis, alter things. I think that awareness continues to be raised but, beyond that, we all have our fingers crossed that there will be consultation and good news this year. Last week, NME published a piece of news that one hopes will be picked up by the Government:

“Leading figures across the live events industries have called on the UK Government to maintain the 5 percent VAT rate on ticket sales, which was introduced to help the struggling sector last year.

The new appeal has been delivered in a letter, signed by industry figures representing thousands of businesses across the UK, to Chancellor Rishi Sunak ahead of March’s budget.

The tax reduction was initially introduced in July last year, but the prolonged closures of venues due to the coronavirus pandemic means that they are yet to directly benefit. It is now feared that the VAT rate could now rise to 20 percent, striking a direct blow to beleaguered venues”.

One possible way that some venues may be able to open with a reduced capacity is through something called a ‘health passport’. This article explains more:

“After the coronavirus pandemic made the majority of live gigs impossible over the past 10 months – bar some socially distanced shows outside of lockdown – the industry is now looking for ways to reopen live music in a safe manner. Now, it’s been announced that start-up comany You Check will be trialling a new digital health passport app – collaborating with the Music Venue Trust and approved by the government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport”.

The trials are currently planned at London’s 100 Club and The Exchange in Bristol for March with events at 25 per cent capacity with two sets of tests on the same people, before trialling at other spaces across the country with a hope to gradually building up capacity”.

It is good that there are developments an some glimmers of hope with venues at least. Whilst they may not be able to properly open until later this year, solutions are being discussed. I do have a fear for their solidity and safety if they cannot reopen fully soon, and if the Government does not pledge more financial support to ensure that live music can swing back post-pandemic. Artists and venues are facing a crisis right now and, with no confirmation as to when venues can reopen at their full capacity, let’s hope that those in power…

 PHOTO CREDIT: @wesleyphotography/Unsplash

DO the right thing.

FEATURE: Vinyl Corner: J Dilla - Donuts

FEATURE:

 

 

Vinyl Corner

J Dilla - Donuts

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THIS instalment of Vinyl Corner…

IN THIS PHOTO: J Dilla in his home studio/PHOTO CREDIT: Raph Rashid

is all about an album that turns fifteen on 7th February. If you have not experienced the late J Dilla’s Donuts, then you need to get involved! I would encourage everyone to buy it on vinyl, as it is such a magnificently rich and broad album filled with so many different sounds and samples. It is one of the last great sampling records in my opinion – something that was more synonymous with Hip-Hop of the 1980s and 1990s. Donuts is a largely instrumental album – there are short vocal snippets and phrases from various samples -, and it contains thirty-one tracks (that was how old J Dilla was at the time). Whereas a lot of sample-heavy albums are full songs with several samples in each track, Donuts is a collection of very short songs (between one and one-and-a-half minutes for the most part) where you get these amazing sketches and layers that all work wonderfully alongside one another. It is like you are scrolling through radio stations or a playlist and getting all these very different and intriguing songs! Despite the brilliance and originality of Donuts, there is sadness and tragedy behind the album. As we learn from Wikipedia, J Dilla was very ill in hospital for much of the recording – he died on 10th February, 2006 (Donuts was released on his thirty-second birthday):

“In 2002, J Dilla had been diagnosed with thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP), an incurable disease of the blood, while also battling lupus, which had been diagnosed a year previously. According to close friend and fellow producer Karriem Riggins, the impetus for Donuts came during an extended hospital stay in the summer of 2005.

In the December 2006 issue of The Fader, J Dilla's mother, Maureen Yancey, a former opera singer, spoke of watching her son's daily routine during the making of Donuts:

I knew he was working on a series of beat CDs before he came to Los Angeles. Donuts was a special project that he hadn't named yet. This was the tail end of his "Dill Withers" phase, while he was living in Clinton Township, Michigan. You see, musically he went into different phases. He'd start on a project, go back, go buy more records and then go back to working on the project again.

I saw him all day, everyday. I would go there for breakfast, go back to Detroit to check on the daycare business I was running, and then back to his house for lunch and dinner. He was on a special diet and he was a funny eater anyway. He had to take 15 different medications, we would split them up between meals, and every other day we would binge on a brownie sundae from Big Boys. That was his treat.

I didn't know about the actual album Donuts until I came to Los Angeles to stay indefinitely. I got a glimpse of the music during one of the hospital stays, around his 31st birthday, when [friend and producer] House Shoes came out from Detroit to visit him. I would sneak in and listen to the work in progress while he was in dialysis. He got furious when he found out I was listening to his music! He didn't want me to listen to anything until it was a finished product.

He was working in the hospital. He tried to go over each beat and make sure that it was something different and make sure that there was nothing that he wanted to change. "Lightworks", oh yes, that was something! That's one of the special ones. It was so different. It blended classical music (way out there classical), commercial and underground at the same time”.

It is such a shame that J Dilla (James Dewitt Yancey) did not live long enough to see the impact his album had and the way it inspired Hip-Hop. From tracks being taken from Donuts and used on the T.V. to other Hip-Hop artists borrowing its beats, this exceptional album is still providing nourishment and fascination after all of these years. I want to finish by bringing in an article but, before then, AllMusic’s review of Donuts:

“Donuts was made on a hospital bed and in a home studio, on a stripped-down setup with a stack of vinyl. Released on its maker's 32nd birthday, three days before he passed away, the album has a resonance deeper than anyone could've hoped for or even imagined. Some who were close to Dilla have said that there are hidden messages in the samples, the track titles, and who knows where else. It's impossible not to speculate about some things, like the track titled "Don't Cry," the looped "broken and blue" from a version of "Walk on By," the presence of Eddie Kendricks singing "My people, hold on," or the fact that there are 31 tracks, a possible signal that Dilla survived a little longer than he expected. Then again, for every possible message, there are two or three elements that could've been designed to throw any analysis off its trail. After all, if there's one single image that the disc brings to mind, it's that of Dilla goofing off, having fun with some of his favorite records, and messing with some heads in the process. (And you could probably make the album's title out to be a metaphor for the circle of life, but sometimes a donut is just a donut.)

Armed with sources that are either known to novice sample spotters or only the most seasoned diggers -- surprisingly, the former greatly outweighs the latter -- Dilla's also just as likely to leave his samples barely touched as he is to render them unrecognizable. It's fitting that Motown echoes, a predominant theme, are often felt, from the use of Dionne Warwick's Holland-Dozier-Holland-written "You're Gonna Need Me" (on "Stop"), to the shifting waves of percussion plucked from Kendricks' "People... Hold On" (on "People"), to the Stevie-like piano licks within Kool & the Gang's "The Fruitman" ("The Diff'rence"). Most of the tracks fall into the 60-90 second range. It's easy to be overwhelmed, or even put off, by the rapid-fire sequence, but it's astounding how so many of the sketches leave an immediate impression. By the third or fourth listen, what initially came across as a haphazard stream of slapped-together fragments begins to take the shape of a 44-minute suite filled with wistful joy. Like everything else Dilla has ever done, Donuts is not defining; in fact, elements of its approach bare the apparent influence of Jaylib collaborator Madlib. His mode has always been too slippery and restlessly progressive to be equated with any one track or album, but Donuts just might be the one release that best reflects his personality”.

Even if you are not a Hip-Hop fan and are a bit unsure about digging too deep, I would advise you to listen to Donuts as it is so accessible and varied. The sounds and sensations one gets from the album are so heady and memorable. It is a unique and hugely impressive album that is moving people fifteen years after its release. In 2016, Observer Music looked back on Donuts ten years after its release. The article consisted a fascinating discussion between figures who reflected on an awesome album:

“Participating in the discussion were renowned funk/soul/hip-hop DJ and Stones Throw CEO Peanut Butter Wolf, Stones Throw recording artist, veteran jazz drummer and longtime Dilla friend Karriem Riggins, acclaimed electronic music maverick Adam Dorn, who does business as Mocean Worker, and Jeff Parker, the mighty guitarist from Chicago post-rock legends Tortoise”.

“In your opinion, do you think Dilla had this magnum opus in his mind or was the creation of these beats done on a more cathartic level or therapeutic level for him that summer he was in the hospital?

Riggins: He would make the beats from his hospital bed at Cedar-Sinai. At that point, he wasn’t mobile.

Wolf: I think the pain and suffering he dealt with off and on through his final years contributed to the album he created coming out the way it did, but when he gave me the first Donuts demo on CD, he was in between hospital stays. He was in my car with Madlib and I and we were going record shopping and he just gave it to me to play in the car. I had released the Beat Konducta volume 1 & 2 album a few months before (which is Madlib’s instrumental hip-hop alias) and I later felt like maybe he gave me that as his own version of Beat Konducta.

So the story goes the album was named as such because Jay loved donuts. But what was the true meaning behind the title?

Wolf: The “donuts” thing was just another tongue-in-cheek thing that Dilla did. I don’t think he really thought too hard about calling his album Donuts. I don’t even to this day know if it was supposed to be an instrumental album or a beat tape for rappers, but I damn near begged him to let me release it as an instrumental album and he agreed. But the “donut” thing could be his ode to unhealhty food (he called another one of his beat tapes “Pizza man”) or it could be because he knew that J Rocc and I loved spinning 45s when we went on the road with him and Madlib, and Dilla sampled from 45s for most of that album. “Donuts” is a nickname for 45s cuz of the hole in the middle. We’d all go to Rockaway Records in Silverlake/Glendale and get our fix of 45s and I believe that’s the record store where the majority of the samples from Donuts came from.

How does Donuts look on your ends a decade later?

Dorn: It’s amazing to witness because now it’s long enough ago that guys don’t even know why they’re playing behind the beat the way they are. Like they don’t even know the records that inspired this in the first place. That freaks me out the most. Combine that with churches churning out players and you have a rebirth of musicianship. 

Jeff Parker: We were all giant fans of that record in Tortoise, man. I mean, we all loved Dilla in general. But that record blew everybody’s minds. We had all been following Dilla’s music, and whenever he dropped anything we were curious to know what it was going to sound like and one of us would go out and get it. It was a very exciting time.

For me personally, it wasn’t anything I expected it to sound like. It was totally different from the stuff that he had been doing. When I first put it on, I was actually kind of put off by it. I was like, “Yo, man, where’s the smooth beats? Where’s the space?” (laughs) Especially comparing it to all of his other stuff, I was like, “Man, what is this?” But the more and more I listened to it, and like the most intriguing music, hearing it over and over again eventually it became like one of my favorite things I had ever heard, still to this day. I was actually just listening to it very recently and I always hear new things every time I listen to it”.

I shall leave things there, as I would point people in the direction of the album – either on vinyl or streamed – and its myriad sounds. Ahead of its fifteenth anniversary, I was eager to spotlight an album that has a huge legacy and has been celebrated by critics far and wide. I hope, on 7th February, people around the world spin Donuts and raise a glass to remember…

THE remarkable J Dilla.

FEATURE: Talk of the Town: The Chrissie Hynde Telecaster and a Pledge to Get More People to Pick Up a Guitar

FEATURE:

 

 

Talk of the Town

PHOTO CREDIT: ddp USA/Rex/Shutterstock 

The Chrissie Hynde Telecaster and a Pledge to Get More People to Pick Up a Guitar

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AMONG all the bad news and lack of positive rays…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Fender

in the music industry right now, there are these interesting stories that take the mind in a different direction. It has been a pretty heavy year already for music in terms of bad news – what with venues still closed -, but I am always cheered by something a little more positive. One of my favourite musicians, Chrissie Hynde, has launched her own guitar. This NME article explains more:

“The Pretenders frontwoman’s team-up with the US instruments manufacturer, which was announced yesterday (February 2), pays homage to the Ice Blue Metallic Telecaster she purchased in New York City nearly 40 years ago.

Since the release of the band’s self-titled debut album (1980), Hynde has played the guitar on many subsequent studio records and live tours.

Fender’s new Chrissie Hynde Telecaster, released as part of the company’s Artist Signature Series, allows fans worldwide to embody the axe-playing prowess of The Pretenders’ leader for the very first time.

According to an official description, the guitar “serves the unmistakable look and feel of Hynde’s treasured ’65 Telecaster model”. The new instrument features an alder body in Faded Ice Blue Metallic Road Worn lacquer finish, vintage-style ’50s single-coil Tele pickups voiced to match Hunde’s original set as well as a 6-stainless steel barrel saddle bridge.

Justin Norvell, EVP Fender Products, said it was “a true honour” to bring the singer’s “legendary” guitar to life, adding: “Chrissie really wanted this model to be as faithful as possible to its original.”

You can watch an official demonstration video above and find further information at Fender’s official website”.

I wonder whether this development will inspire other artists and we will see more guitars to enter the market. I do not play the instrument myself, but I do have an appreciation of a great guitar. I think that other signature series have been released, but rather than this news being something that can benefit Fender and Chrissie Hynde, I think that it will lead many people to pick up a guitar. In 2018, we learned that half of the guitar-buying public were women. I am not the only one that is asking whether women are the future of guitar music. Anna Calvi, and St. Vincent are two of my favourite guitar players of the moment - and St. Vincent already has her own collection. I wonder whether we will see an Anna Calvi series. She has spoken about her guitar heroes before; she talked with Guitar World last year about her early idols and her dream guitar:

“I’d say my initial guitar hero was Jimi Hendrix. I saw some footage of him playing at Woodstock, I must have been around nine years old and I thought he sounded amazing. It got me really excited. If I could meet any musician from history, it would definitely have to be him. Just to be in the same room and see him play would be magical. When I was a bit older, I got into Jeff Buckley, I really loved his approach to guitar, as well as [jazz and] fusion-style players John McLaughlin and Django Reinhardt.”

“I got my dream guitar when I was 14 and it’s the same guitar I play now – a 1994 Telecaster. It just sounds so pure and beautiful, better than anything else I’ve played. I’m monogamous when it comes to guitars. I haven’t changed anything on it, though I do sometimes wish it had a whammy bar because they can be a lot of fun".

I do think that more young women have picked up a guitar over the past few years, and this will (hopefully) continue unabated. It is pleasing that more people in general are finding the guitar. Maybe things will drop off during lockdown, but I do think that we should be encouraging as many people as possible to play an instrument. I feel that there are some great Rock bands and guitarists at the moment, though there is still a dominance of other sounds and styles. Maybe we have passed the golden age of guitar bands and players…that is not to say things have died down in that respect. I do feel that many people will have an appetite for the guitar and creativity now that we are in lockdown and, post-pandemic, I think many bands will form and we will see a surge in guitar sales. After the news about Chrissie Hynde’s special Fender, I would really like to see some more artists partner with guitar companies. I feel Hynde herself will influence a lot of people to play guitar but, as we look to a year with potentially no festivals or live gigs, maybe there is not the same impetus and allure. Things are bad now for many people, but I have heard of many people practicing an instrument when they would not otherwise have even considered it. Maybe Chrissie Hynde and this latest great launch will not single-handedly kickstart a new band of people buying electric (and acoustic) guitars but I think, through this year and going forward, we will see…

 A real boom and amplification.