FEATURE: MTV at Forty: Why Music Videos Were Hugely Important in My Discovery and Love of Music

FEATURE:

 

 

MTV at Forty

IN THIS PHOTO: The U.S. Grunge/Rock band, Soundgraden, in 1994 (the video for their song, Black Hole Sun (from the 1994 album, Superunknown), was one I saw on MTV as a child that changed the way I approached and loved music/PHOTO CREDIT: A&M Records

Why Music Videos Were Hugely Important in My Discovery and Love of Music

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I will make this the last MTV…

 PHOTO CREDIT: MTV

feature for a far few months, as the fortieth anniversary does not happen until 1st August! It is a bit premature of me but, as I think it such an important anniversary, I may do a couple of features in June, one in July and then publish one on the anniversary itself. There is another reason why I am getting in there extra-early regarding anniversary features and MTV: the decline of music T.V. and, perhaps, the fact that music videos hold less stock than they did decades ago. Certainly, there are more videos around than ever. Even if an artist has a very small budget and little resources, they can record their own music video and upload it to the world. Maybe a lack of music television is because that medium has been replaced by sites like YouTube. I will come onto that soon. I don’t think one gets the same interactivity and personality from a video streaming site than they would an active and contemporary station. I have mooted how it would be good to see a revival of MTV how it was in the 1980s and 1990s. Whereas albums and songs on their own are amazing pieces of work and carry enormous importance, I have always loved the fact that a music video allows an artist to tell a story and provide a very short film about a track. I am not sure whether there is a physiological reason as to why the pairing of music and film creates such a rush and sense of joy.

MTV was hugely important to me when I was a child. Although I was not born until 1983, I experienced the late-1980s and early-1990s. I feel the station was very much at its peak around this time - though some might say that occurred a little earlier on. It was not just my experiences of the station at the time that inspired me. In the late-1990s and years since then, I saw clips from MTV. Certainly, when it came to lodging music in my brain and heart, videos were instrumental. Maybe it is the fact that children watch a lot of television so, if there was this song on T.V. that had a cool video then I’d be more receptive. One can feel a sense of wonder listening to a song on the radio or through a cassette/C.D./vinyl; the visual representation of that track adds new layers and dynamics. There were music videos on Top of the Pops, but they came between in-studio performances, whereas one got more videos on MTV. Through the late-1980s and 1990s I was seeing videos by legendary directors like Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry. I think I saw the famous video for Wax’s California in 1995 when I was twelve. I saw Soundgarden’s Black Hole Sun in 1994 and, years before that, I dimly remember catching Madonna’s Material Girl on MTV – though it may have been a year or two after the song came out in 1984. In all three cases, there is something about the story concept and direction that not only provided the well-known song with new meaning and nuance; to me and those I discussed music with, it was like watching a segment of a T.V. show or film.

I think music videos really resonated with me through the 1990s. I saw a couple of big Michael Jackson videos on MTV in 1991, I think – at that point his videos were more like short films! When Britpop was raging, great videos by The Blur, Oasis, Elastica, Supergrass and other bands really sunk in. I think I saw the video for Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit for the first time on MTV in 1991. Perhaps it was the fact I was open to these bands and videos, at that point in my life, were relatively new. In years since I witnessed some seriously important videos, I have been thinking about the importance of MTV. There are articles like this, this and this that list the best and most iconic videos. I remember watching those videos on MTV and discovering artists off of the strength of that exposure. The videos not only meant that songs grew in meaning and stature; I was going out and buying singles and albums from seeing MTV spin a great new video. I feel that MTV took my love of music to new levels. Thanks to the station, I always look out for great videos now and see what various artists are doing. I also still think that a video can be more powerful than streaming figures, hype or anything else regarding ensuring a song is heard/seen and remembered. From the giddiness of the 1990s to some funny and cool videos of the early-2000s (No Doubt’s Hey Baby is a particular favourite), MTV was so important. Maybe we can never return the station to its roots. There is the argument as to whether YouTube and other platforms have effectively replaced MTV. I know that, as the iconic station turns forty in August, many people will share their fond memories and which videos they first encountered on MTV. When I think about that, there are so many fond memories and incredibly moving videos…

THAT spring to mind.

FEATURE: The Lockdown Playlist: Lisa Stansfield at Fifty-Five: Her Greatest Tracks

FEATURE:

 

 

The Lockdown Playlist

 IN THIS PHOTO: Lisa Stansfield in 1989/PHOTO CREDIT: Chris van de Vooren/Sunshine/Rex 

Lisa Stansfield at Fifty-Five: Her Greatest Tracks

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EVEN though Lockdown is gradually being eased…

we still have a little way to go before we can relax and feel like things are back to normal. As the wonderful Lisa Stansfield is fifty-five on Sunday (11th April), I wanted to put out a Lockdown Playlist with some of her greatest hits in the mix. Before then, I want to source quite liberally from her official website. We learn more about the background and success of one of Britain’s finest voices:

“Britain has produced some of the world's best-loved divas over the past four decades - but few, if any, have been as soulful as Lisa Stansfield.

Lisa is not your typical glitzy diva. In fact, the word prima donna doesn't fit the down-to-earth honesty that characterises the girl from Rochdale, Lancashire, North West England, who has sold more than 20 million albums worldwide.

Lisa Jane Stansfield was born at the Crumpshall Hospital in Manchester, England, on 11th April 1966. She is the middle of two sisters, Karen the eldest by three years and Suzanne who is four years younger than Lisa. They grew up in the town of Heywood in Greater Manchester, then by the age of 12, Lisa's parents Keith and Marion moved the family to the nearby town of Rochdale.

​Her early musical tastes and influences came from the Motown era and soul music to the likes of Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin and Barry White. Lisa soon realised she wanted to become a singer from a young age and she was already singing at local working men’s clubs in her early teens.

It didn't take too long before Lisa who was barely 14 years old, got her big break after she entered and won a local talent contest "Search For A Star" which was sponsored by the Manchester Evening News at the Willows Club in Salford. This opportunity led to her first recording contract.

In 1981 at the age of 15, she recorded and released her first single called, "Your Alibis".  Subsequently Lisa got signed to Polydor and between 1982 and 1983 she released a handful of singles. None of them charted. However, around the same time Lisa was invited to co-host a UK based TV music show called Razzamatazz where she appeared as a co-presenter for a couple of series. Although it was a well paid job, Lisa believed that nobody would ever take her seriously as a singer if she continued presenting for the longterm and decided to leave the show to continue her career as a singer.

Along the way she met Augusto Grassi, an Italian costume designer on a holiday in Tunisia. In 1987 they got married at Sacred Hearts Catholic Church in Rochdale and Lisa moved to live with him in Italy on a hilltop town called Zagarolo outside of Rome. However Lisa was really in-love with the idea of Italy rather than her husband and after sixteen weeks, she realised that their marriage was over.

Lisa moved backed to Rochdale and met up with her former school friend Ian Devaney (who was soon to become her fella) and his friend Andy Morris. Several years prior on a chance meeting, Ian and Andy convinced Lisa to write some songs. This led them to form a band together , they called themselves "Blue Zone". They made a demo which was sent around to several record labels. Their chance came when a small independent label called Rockin' Horse signed them (which later got taken over by Arista). Blue Zone's first two singles were unsuccessful, however their third started to make some waves. It was 'Thinking about His Baby' with the b-side 'Big Thing'. Kiss-FM and the club scene picked up on 'Big Thing' and went on to sell over 10,000 copies in one week. Their album which took over a year to complete created a stir without charting.

Lisa's major breakthrough came in 1989 when Morris and Devaney, both brass players, were recruited for a Coldcut session. Lisa went along just for fun and was asked to provide guest vocals on the group's new single, "People Hold On". The song became an instant dance hit and reached number 11 in the UK charts. On the strength of its success, Lisa was persuaded to try her luck as a solo artiste and the threesome decided to drop the band name and Blue Zone eventually became "Lisa Stansfield".

​They were now signed to Arista Records - and things started moving rapidly when the next single release, "This Is The Right Time", became a top 20 hit in the UK.  A few months later came Lisa's most infamous anthem "All Around The World". This was to become her first UK number one hit and still remains the biggest selling single and her most well known track to date.

"All Around the World" opened the doors to Lisa's success overseas and gave her the first taste of success in the US where, in addition to topping the pop charts, it also headed the R&B charts - making her only the second white artiste to score such a distinction. Her first album as a solo artiste, "Affection" was released in November 1989 and went onto sell over 5 million copies worldwide. To cap a spectacular first year off as a solo artiste, Lisa was at number one for the second time on the charity single with Band Aid 2,with Do They Know Its Christmas.

In February 1990 she won a BRIT award for Best Newcomer, while All Around The World won an Ivor Novello award for Best Contemporary Song. By then, her debut album, Affection, had topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic. Lisa was also nominated for a Grammy awards in the categories of Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Best New Artist.

As they toured around the globe promoting Affection, Lisa continued writing new music together with Ian and Andy. Whilst their second album began to take shape. Lisa was asked to perform at the 2nd Rock In Rio festival in Brazil in January '91. Several more charity based concerts followed that year which included a concert for Kurdish Refugees, an AIDS Benefit show for Red Hot & Dance and UK's Amnesty Int. Big 20 Concert.

In November 1991, the fans were treated to a new, more sophisticated look and sounding Lisa with her second album "Real Love". With a run of several hit singles, which included Change, Set your Loving Free, All Woman, Time To Make you Mine and A Little More Love it was no surprise that in 1992 to the delight of her global fan base she won her third BRIT award .

With this followed an invitation to write a song for The Bodyguard soundtrack which resulted in Someday (I'm Coming Back), a top 10 hit in its own right, as well as securing her place on the biggest-selling soundtrack of all time (which has sold over 200 million records).

Lisa continued to tour in Europe, Asia and the United States.  She also grabbed pole position the UK pop charts in in April 1993 with the charity EP called 'Five Live' in conjunction with George Michael and the iconic British rock group, Queen. The record stemmed from her appearance with Michael at The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert at Wembley in April 1992. It remains a personal highlight of her years in the music business, with over 100,000 people attending with some of the worlds biggest artists.

"So Natural" was the third studio album released in November 1993, recorded at Windmill Lane Studios, also known as the "U2 studio" in Dublin, Ireland. It got to number six in the UK charts. However The album was not commercially released in North America. It also saw the last contribution of Andy Morris who had co-written three songs for this album together with Lisa and Ian”.

To mark the fifty-fifth birthday of a fantastic artist who was a big part of my childhood, here is a collection of her terrific work. It leaves me to wish the incredible Lisa Stansfield…

A very happy birthday

FEATURE: Baby, I’m a Star: Prince: A Guitar God Like Nobody Else

FEATURE:

 

 

Baby, I’m a Star

IN THIS PHOTO: Prince performs during the Super Bowl XLI halftime press conference in 2007 with a custom guitar inspired by the Fender Telecaster Green Bay musician Jimmy Crimmins sold him in 1981 in Los Angeles/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

Prince: A Guitar God Like Nobody Else

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FORGIVE me for throwing together…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Prince with his Love Symbol guitar in 1990/PHOTO CREDIT: Steve Parke

a few articles without too much connection and narrative. I wanted to write about Prince because, on 21st April, it will be five years since the master died. I will cover a few other sides to his music and legacy before that date. Today, I wanted to highlight his guitar prowess. When ranking the greatest guitarists ever, many will go for Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page; others might select Jeff Beck or B.B. King. To me, Prince is one of the most individual and innovative of them all. In 2015, Rolling Stone placed Prince at number thirty-two. This was a year before his death and at a point in his career where, perhaps, he was not producing his best work. I think that such a low ranking deserves comeback (whether they would rank him higher given the chance I am not sure). Here is what they said:

“He played arguably the greatest power-ballad guitar solo in history ("Purple Rain"), and his solo on an all-star performance of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" during George Harrison's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2004 had jaws on the floor. But he can also bring the nasty funk like Jimmy Nolen and Nile Rodgers (listen to the groove magic of "Kiss") or shred like the fiercest metalhead ("When Doves Cry"). Sometimes his hottest playing simply functions as background – see "Gett Off" and "Dance On." Prince gets a lot of Hendrix comparisons, but he sees it differently: "If they really listened to my stuff, they'd hear more of a Santana influence than Jimi Hendrix," he once told Rolling Stone. "Hendrix played more blues, Santana played prettier." To Miles Davis, who collaborated with the Purple One toward the end of his life, Prince was a combination of "James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, Marvin Gaye… and Charlie Chaplin. How can you miss with that?"

Key Tracks: "Purple Rain," "Kiss," "When Doves Cry”.

I want to bring in some expansive and detailed features which highlight why Prince was such a trailblazing and hugely important guitarist. Maybe we take for granted what an epic guitarist he was without dissecting his technique and range. Last year, Guitar World placed Prince at number-eight in their rundown of the best axe wielders. This is how they described Prince’s chops:

“The Purple One’s ambition knew no bounds, just as he refused to be restrained by any one genre. An underrated guitarist as well as a songwriter-extraordinaire, here are five things you can learn from his sensational playing

There’s a famous Clapton anecdote; you’ve probably heard it. Slowhand was said to have been asked, ‘What’s it like to be the best guitar player alive?’ To which he responded, “I don’t know, ask Prince.”

But did he ever actually say that? Well, no, he didn’t. But the fact a completely fabricated quote (that’s also been attributed to Hendrix on Rory Gallagher) has been widely accepted speaks volumes about Prince Rogers Nelson, whose sudden death on 21st April, aged 57, shocked the world.

In response, Clapton would pay real tribute to the late legend for pulling him out of depression in 1984 when he saw Purple Rain and was instantly re-inspired. Many were introduced to him by the title track, but the few interviews he gave rarely focussed on his musicianship, especially a guitar approach that brought a remarkable Hendrix fire to his facets of James Brown funk and Little Richard showmanship.

He always played plenty of guitar, but was highly proficient in a number of instruments; a 19-year-old Prince played everything on his 1978 debut, For You.

“The key to longevity is to learn every aspect of music that you can,” he said in 2006. Prince certainly learned his lessons well, but let’s celebrate one thrilling aspect of Prince that is often overlooked; why he should be remembered as one of the greatest guitar players of all time.

Develop Talent With Hard Work

The idea that all Prince’s achievements were as effortless as his cool are a myth. Yes, he was clearly a naturally gifted musician and songwriter but he never stopped working on his craft, which is why he will be remembered as one of the greatest live showmen of all time.

He put painstaking hours in behind the scenes on the world’s stages and in his Paisley Park studio; he confirmed there’s vaults of unreleased recordings, and there’s even reports of him arriving to shows hours early in the 90s to personally set up the sound.

As his career progressed, his shows became looser and his musicianship became more of a showcase of his theatrical abilities, with two shows a night not uncommon as the diminutive dynamo moved from arena to intimate late-night club. It was a reflection of a player who never stopped learning, and teaching others in the process, with his last live band, 3rdeyegirl, seeing him play rockier guitar again, too.

“One thing that I’ve learned from Prince is his amazing work ethic,” his bandmate Donna Grantis told TG. “Always doing your best. I think that’s a huge thing. I think, always giving your all, and putting the art first. It’s the dedication and the passion and the talent, all together. Just being so prolific. It’s really a way of life.”

Be a Slave to the Rhythm

Prince was funky from the start; he wrote his first song at age seven, and it was called Funk Machine. He was also a student of the Grand Master Funkateers; Brown, Bootsy, Sly, Clinton – while naming Sonny T (former New Power Generation guitarist), Tony Maiden (Rufus) and Ike Turner as key influences.

And this is the key to his DNA as a player; his masterful rhythm playing is what really set him apart. Being Prince, he had a distinct approach and opinion on the matter...

“I’m always trying to work in the bass notes when I’m playing funk rhythms,” Prince told Guitar Player magazine in a rare guitar chat back in 2004. “It’s the same way that Freddie Stone [Sly And The Family Stone guitarist] would always play the same parts as [bassist] Larry Graham, but just a tad higher.

“Kids don’t learn to play the right way anymore. When the Jackson 5 came up, they had to go through Smokey Robinson and the Funk Brothers, and that’s how they got it down. I want to be able to teach that stuff, because kids need to learn these things, and nobody is teaching them the basics.

“See, a lot of cats don’t work on their rhythm enough, and if you don’t have rhythm, you might as well take up needlepoint or something. I can’t stress it enough”.

Not to pile into those who rank Prince low as a guitarist or underestimate his chops but, as the anniversary of his death is coming up fairly soon, I wanted to illustrate and illuminate his majestic guitar work. Go Radio feel that Prince is the greatest of them all. They make some compelling arguments:

“But there’s one honorific that the we’re forgetting: Prince is the greatest guitarist of all time. Fight me.

Maybe it’s because The Purple One was a polymath talent who played every instrument on nearly all of his classic records, or maybe it’s just because he’s mainly thought of as an R&B singer rather than a towering rock god. The fact remains: Prince is regularly and criminally underrated as a guitarist.

Rolling Stone‘s top 100 list had him at a lowly #33, with some utterly ludicrous names ahead of him. Prince gets left all off these kind of lists all the time. Here’s a case for our dearly departed hometown hero using the 5 factors that define a guitarist’s greatness.

Chops

Aka “sheer unadulterated guitar-playing skill.” This should be a pretty easy case to make, as Prince was an apocalyptic shredder from the moment he burst onto the scene until the day of his untimely passing.

Observe, Exhibit A: “Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad.” Prince was 20 when he wrote that solo. That’s four years younger than Jimi Hendrix was when he recorded Are You Experienced?.

Exhibit B: The year is 1985, and Prince sweeps the American Music Awards and rubs it all up in Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritchie’s faces with this thunderous clapback of a solo.

Exhibit C: Just in case you forgot about Prince melting 111 million faces simultaneously at Superbowl XLI, here it is again!

Creativity

This is what separates session guitarists with incredible skill but nothing new to say from the true guitar-slinging elite. Again, Prince scores incredibly high marks here for his innovative approach to the instrument, single-handedly creating a new language for R&B guitar by ushering it into the synthesizer era.

Along with being an early pioneer in the realm of guitar effects pedals, Prince can lay claim to two signature sounds: The paper-thin, metronomic stabbing on tracks like “Controversy” and the blistering harmonized leads present on songs like “Let’s Go Crazy.”

Versatility

The big secret about the usual “guitar greats” like Jimmy Page, Angus Young, Eric Clapton and the like is that they’re often one-trick ponies. Once they found a lane early in their careers, that was it. Even if we remove the significant factor that Prince was an exceptional pianist, drummer, and bassist, the Purple One’s sheer breadth of musical expertise on the guitar is dizzying.

The man could play everything from silky soul ballads to bombastic rock, and even stretched the far edges of the guitar’s sonic properties on more experimental tracks, like “Computer Blue.” Finally, if that wasn’t enough for you, the man was capable of captivating a room with just an acoustic guitar, and did so memorably during his MTV Unplugged performance.

Legacy and Influence

Flip on your favorite R&B record from the ’90s or aughts. Listen to the guitar. Who does it sound like? Yup. But let’s not stop there, what about your favorite hip-hop artists who used live guitar sounds on their beats? Prince again. Quite simply, Prince created the prototype for guitar sounds in the sample era, and his acolytes are innumerable and influential.

Just listen to Questlove talk about it in this panel discussion at NYU from last year. Even shredding rockers like Vernon Reid from Living Colour and Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine followed the formula set out by Prince. Unlike Hendrix, who perished too soon to truly see the scope of his influence as a player, Prince was able to interact with his legacy, and even riff on sounds his disciples found”.

I am finishing up soon. Before then, one final article argues why Prince was such an important and sensational guitarist. SLATE wrote passionately in 2016 about a player with a voice and style like nobody else:

“But in years since Prince’s position in the rock pantheon has remained unstable. On Rolling Stone’s list, he ranked 33rd, five spots beneath Johnny Ramone, a guitarist widely beloved for not being very good. Any list like this is stupid, but this is really, really stupid. Prince may have been the greatest guitarist of the post-Hendrix era and often seemed to carry Hendrix’s aura more intrepidly than anyone, most notably in his incredible versatility. Our pop-cultural memory of Hendrix is dominated by gnashing feedback squawls and pyrotechnics both figurative and literal, a misguided belief that his signature moments were the last few minutes of “Wild Thing” at Monterey or quoting “Taps” in the early morning at Woodstock. But Hendrix’s true greatness lay in his ability to do almost anything and everything with the instrument, from the dreamy Curtis Mayfield-isms of “Little Wing” to the psychedelic frenzy of “Purple Haze” to the chicken scratches and pentatonic howls of “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” to the sumptuous melodicism of “Burning of the Midnight Lamp.” Take a moment to watch this incredible footage of Hendrix covering Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” in 1967 (also at Monterey) and marvel at the flawlessness of his rhythm guitar playing.

Prince was an incredible singer, keyboardist, and drummer, too, but as a guitarist he leaves behind a truly singular body of work. There are so many spectacular performances, but one I keep coming back to is one of his earliest. “Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?,” the second cut on his 1979 self-titled sophomore album, was Prince’s first single that found him working in a “rock” vein, all snarling guitars and thumping backbeat. It failed to make the Top 40 upon its release, but it’s one of the finest compositions in his early catalogue, a pristine love song whose heartsickness is belied by its near-impossible musical exuberance. “I play the fool when we’re together/ but I cry when we’re apart/ I couldn’t do you no better/ Don’t break what’s left of my broken heart,” sings Prince going into the first chorus, lyrics that sound simple but couldn’t articulate their sentiment any more perfectly.

And then at the end of the song the solo happens, a solid minute of sustained instrumental greatness. The guitar is saturated in distortion but it warms rather than scalds, tearing through beautiful melodies and exquisitely crafted phrases. It has blazing 16th-note runs; it has sustained, soaring vibratos that absolutely sing. It’s all here, everything from Mississippi John Hurt to Sister Rosetta Tharpe to B.B. King to Revolver to Hendrix to Clapton himself, pouring out of the fingers of a 20-year-old kid. There’s a sort of joyous fury and defiant reclamation to it, like someone who’s just heard his generation flip out over Van Halen’s “Eruption” (released the previous year) and is letting anyone within earshot know that he could do that, too, but chooses not to. To paraphrase another Minnesotan out of context, it’s the sound of when he was hungry, and it was their world. But they were wrong—it was always his”.

It is always tragic when we mark the anniversary of a great artist’s death. It is also important to celebrate their talent and place in our hearts. There are many reasons why Prince was so special and will never be equalled. One of those reasons is his intelligence and power when it came to his licks, riffs and guitar brilliance. Capable of explosions and raw passion in addition to subtleness, layers and finesse, he is, without doubt, one of the finest guitar players…

THE world has ever witnessed!

FEATURE: Spotlight: Yard Act

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

Yard Act

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IT is great when I get to…

 PHOTO CREDIT: James Brown for DORK

feature a band from the North in this feature. I think a lot of attention is still on London acts so, with the Leeds-formed Yard Act in my sights, it is a chance to go further north. I am going to end by bringing in a review/assessment of their new E.P., Dark Days. Before then, I want to introduce a few interviews with the band (James Smith, the band’s vocalist, actually fields most of the quartet’s interviews). Back in November, The Line of Best Fit focused on a great new band on the rise:

“Yard Act wear their politics on their sleeve. Telling disparaging stories about exploitative grifters, and parodying politically ignorant middle-class men who revel in their inability to mispronounce foreign names, it's not difficult to guess where their political values lie. “I feel the lyrics are pretty obviously quite left-wing,” James Smith, the band’s lyricist and vocalist, tells me. “A lot of what I believe at the core is probably more extreme than most people would accept. Like my core value is that I'm completely anti-capitalist.”

But for a band with such a clear message, their formation owes more to happenstance than didactic ambition. Formed by Smith and bassist Ryan Needham in Leeds during September last year, Yard Act started as a project in waiting. “I’ve known Ryan for years and he ended up living in my house for a few months when he was between homes. That's when we started doing the band,” Smith says. While the two were already “pub associates”, living together for four months provided a “turbocharged bonding session” and the chance to finally start the band they’d spoken about for years.

The duo was soon joined by George Townend on drums and, after a brief stint with another guitarist who parted over disagreements with the group’s direction, recruited long-time friend Sam Shipstone to take over six-string duties. “He was in the band for about four months before we managed to practice with him because of lockdown, but we were like, ‘It's official you're in the band, you're in the band!’”

With Needham a member of Menace Beach and Smith previously fronting Post War Glamour Girls, Yard Act are entrenched in their local Leeds scene. “Secretly everyone's jealous when somebody else gets more successful, but overall it is really supportive,” Smith says about his locale. “It's always been a really good incubator for bands. I think maybe it's too good at doing that and then you get bands like mine that aren't very good at branching out of Leeds”.

Short, repetitive loops form the foundations of their songwriting and pushed Smith to change his vocal style to suit. Placing more rhythmic than melodic focus on his lyrics, he inadvertently found himself pursuing a poetic form of wordplay and building free-flowing narratives over the songs’ beats. Lyric-writing is now smith’s main focus in the band and the novelty of their narrative vocals has become their prime appeal. Their breakout single, “Fixer Upper”, centres around a rambling stream of consciousness, while their latest song, “Peanuts”, sojourns into a mid-song monologue that sits closest to spoken-word poetry.

“I think it comes from lack of ability to edit myself,” says Smith candidly about his lyrical style. “I feel like I'm taking liberties now where I'm just going, ‘Oh yeah, the song should just stop for a bit so I can talk for 30 seconds,’ and the band have gone along with it. At one point I’m going to take it too far and everyone’s going to go, ‘you’re no longer allowed to pretend you’re a band. This is just a man talking with some music at the start and end”,

I think that, even though it is early days, Yard Act have a long future. They are among the most important bands of the moment. In October, Loud and Quiet talked with James Smith about the disruption of the pandemic. We learn more how some people view their music:

“In a year where gigs have faded away to non-existence, it would have been easy for a band like Yard Act to slip through the cracks. Fortunately, this Leeds outfit have all the ingredients for lasting intrigue: a whip-smart take on current affairs, a line-up that reads like something of a West Yorkshire supergroup, and a bulging back pocket of infectious-yet-unpredictable songs that satisfy both brain and feet. 2020 might be a write-off for most, but in the Leeds suburb of Meanwood, things are only just getting going.

“It has all happened pretty fast, but I suppose we’re not totally out of the blue,” explains James Smith, the band’s vocalist. “Me and Ryan [Needham, bass] have been passing friends for years – he played in Menace Beach while I was in a local band called Post War Glamour Girls, and we ended up on a split seven-inch together through Jumbo Records. Bumping into each other all the time turned into intentionally meeting up down the pub – we kept saying we were going to start this band, but just never got round to doing it.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Oliver Halstead for Loud and Quiet 

With Needham moving into Smith’s spare room last September, housemate status allowed a productivity that meant early demos could be racked up at speed, finally turning those pub chats into reality. Pinching two extra members from Leeds group Treeboy & Arc, the now four-piece laid down their debut single ‘The Trapper’s Pelts’ with Bill Ryder Jones; a slice of strutting post-punk that manages to recall Nick Cave and Franz Ferdinand while sounding distinctly of the moment. Industry interest was piqued, but a mere three gigs in, everything came to an unexpected halt.

“We came straight out of the gates in January, then headed right into lockdown,” says Smith. “We wanted to keep everything going, so we got Ross Orton to remix this live demo we had as the second single, ‘Fixer Upper’. In the process, Sammy, our original guitarist, actually left. It was all amicable, he just wasn’t really feeling the vibe. Now we’ve got a new guitarist called Sam in, so very little difference there! And that’s pretty much the potted history of Yard Act – the tiniest pot available.”

Like the politically outspoken IDLES or Sports Team, it is undoubtedly true that as Yard Act’s star begins to rise, there will be people waiting in the wings to take a pop at their presumed performativity. A recent Facebook comment from a fan who took umbrage at the band’s post in support of Black Lives Matter was a teaching opportunity for Smith, who had perhaps naively assumed that he would be preaching to a progressive choir. “I was really surprised at that response, but then that’s what happens when you sound like a punk band from the ’80s,” he deadpans.

“Some of that older generation still hasn’t moved on, but I suppose the whole point is that it’s good to have the conversation. I’ve seen other bands have it where right-wing fans have questioned their politics, and they’ve basically just said, ‘fuck off then, don’t listen to my music.’ I don’t think I always agree with that. I have that strange advantage as a relatively middle-of-the-road white man where I can Trojan horse into conversations with working-class men a little bit faster than the people that they see as different from themselves and will cause them to put their guard up. So I think it’s important that I don’t wage war on them if I could maybe help them understand. You plant seeds; no one changes their mind in the heat of an argument.”

Coincidentally, it’s the planting and harvesting of musical seeds that have brought Yard Act to their exact place of eclecticism. The ’80s punk rock sound that Smith mentions is certainly audible, but it is filtered through all kinds of other retro touchpoints that he carries from childhood – ’90s hip-hop, ’70s Italo-Disco, even a touch of ’00s indie’s more cerebral moments. Seldom suffering from writers’ block, Smith estimates that the band have at least 60 demos on lock: “Whether it’s any good or not is another thing, but I’m not too precious about stuff until it gets to the final stages”.

I you have not discovered the music of Yard Act, then go and follow them on social media and have a listen, as they have put together a wonderful E.P. with Dark Days. When speaking with DIY this year, Smith talked about his writing process:

“Even though the songs can sound really specific,” James explains, “I think it’s really important that you can still take different things away from it, and there’s never necessarily a statement being made. That’s not something I’m particularly interested in; putting my own opinion on things to a point where I’m telling people that I’m right. Life itself is such a complex thing that people should just let [the songs] wash over them, and take what they want from it.

“Writing in different characters has been really liberating,” he nods. “But you have to remind yourself, and everyone else, that these people do exist and the world isn’t this place where people are perfect. People are fundamentally flawed and that’s really important. It doesn’t make them bad people. Everyone has their issues, or their problems, and we can detest them or laugh at them, but it’s just part of life and cracking on with it.”

It’s this potent narrative that has already marked them out from the crowd; despite having only been able to play three shows to date, they’ve already bagged spots on the 6 Music playlist and have “been selling t-shirts to Brazil and America.” James is even working on a companion book, which began life as a 2,000 word short story and has now grown into a 30,000 word novella. Safe to say, they’ve gained an opportunity that - thanks to previous musical endeavours in Post War Glamour Girls and Menace Beach - isn’t lost on them.

“I think part of the reason that Yard Act has been doing quite well quite quickly is because we’ve learned from past mistakes,” James agrees. “Even after ‘Trapper’s Pelts’ came out, we knew it was different to anything that either of us had previously done. Something was registering, and both Ryan and I made a pledge to each other of, ‘Yeah, we’ve been doing this for years, we clearly wanna do it so let’s make sure we do it properly and not fuck it up.’ So far, so good…”.

I am going to bring things to a close soon. I want to source from a Louder Than War interview where, at the top, they provided their thoughts regarding Dark Days:

“Their fabulous EP, a compilation of sorts, is an assertion of this idea. The Dark Days EP was released last month and presents what Yard Act has had to offer up until now. The latest songs, Dark Days, and Peanuts, released in January and featured on the EP, oozes a kind of calculated rant those familiar with Yard Act will now understand as foundational; yet also point toward new directions of experimentalism and adventure. An EP representative of their desire to bludgeon structure and torch chords and say no to the orthodox tropes and pale traits, which paint people into particular corners of convenience and accessibility. They have quickly established their sound as being a combination of different interlocking parts which draws from a range of different sources (Wacky, Postcard jaggedness; jittery, dizzying, dissonant early 80s Creation angst; Northern post-war brutalist industrial robustness, and tight, tessellated, breezeblock electronica); therefore enabling them to play with, and rearrange a basic, impressive formula of thoughts; a clever process of putting together different pieces; assortments of oddities which haven’t even been rehearsed by the band themselves thanks to…well yeah, that thing.

But no matter. They’ve been busy.

Hampered not one bit have Yard Act been despite the rules and regulations thrust upon the public. Instead, ever the restless minds; trying to make sense of this notion that the grass is, and has always been, rumoured to be greener on the other side.

The grass is artificial.

They have seized the opportunity to write and record, a bright, striking burst of creativity in lockdown, and briefly together when we could breathe. In either case, a definite feeding the fire continued to spread. One which burns from within them and peels back the cloak which covers the country to reveal the characters tumbling throughout each Dark Day. I had the pleasure of interviewing, and simultaneously investigating where Yard Act fit on this maddening, modern map. More to the point; what their frontman, and mouthpiece James Smith; wants Yard Act to be…or not to be (inside joke between me and the man himself which will never see the light of day so help me god)”.

It has not been an ideal last year or two when it comes to playing live and trying to launch a band. I bet Yard Act must be full of energy and impetus regarding new music and getting that onto the stage! They have announced live dates on their official website, so keep an eye out and go and catch them if they are near you. When venues open, the stunning quartet will surely…

MAKE up for lost time.

______________

Follow Yard Act

Official:

http://www.yardactors.com/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/yardactband/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/YardActBand/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/YardActBand

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-8rZyq39_FXBBSf4cseehQ

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/2h3ooJn8m8X8cL2g1BZ1Rd?si=QJ9ODxygRvCJ4jGZkpgHRg

Bandcamp:

https://yardact.bandcamp.com/

FEATURE: A Unique Storyteller: Kate Bush: Her Videos and Assuming Greater Creative Control

FEATURE:

 

 

A Unique Storyteller

IN THIS PHOTO: A promotional image for Kate Bush’s 2011 album, Director’s Cut 

Kate Bush: Her Videos and Assuming Greater Creative Control

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I am thinking of doing one more feature…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush directing the Hounds of Love video/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

that takes advantage of the recent MOJO where there are a number of articles about Kate Bush. It is wonderful when there are new magazine features and books, as even the most ardent fans will learn something new. One of the most interesting aspects of Kate Bush’s work is her videos and how they give new perspective to the songs. There is a definite stylistic change from the earlier videos and when Bush started to direct her own from the time of Hounds of Love album (in 1985). Tom Doyle writes for MOJO and he says how directing videos was as important to Bush as producing her music. When there is another producer directing the sounds, it can be like control is being taken away. Bush definitely felt this (to an extent) on her first couple of albums. One can definitely feel Bush pushing her limits harder and expanding her sound widely from 1980’s Never for Ever (which she produced with Jon Kelly) onwards. At that time, other directors were behind the camera. The first video Bush directed was the title track from Hounds of Love. The single came out in February 1986. Inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps, Bush wasted no time in making a video that was full of drama, beautiful shots and moments. Maybe not quite as accomplished as some videos in her cannon, Hounds of Love as a confident and fascinating first outing. One might assume that Bush taking the reigns regarding directing signalled a dissatisfaction with videos before then. That is not the case.

MOJO start at the beginning and the two videos for Wuthering Heights. One was made for the U.S. market where Bush was in a red dress dancing on Salisbury Plain. The second, where she wore a white dress, was directed by Keith MacMillan (‘Keef’) – the two would collaborate on several videos. That second video was shot to video rather than film and, with some dissolve trickery and dry ice, it is a classic in my opinion!. Maybe not sophisticated or ambitious, I think it is perfect for the song. The fact that the Wuthering Heights video was shot one afternoon, edited overnight and then sent to Top of the Pops the following day proved a quality video could be delivered quickly and fairly easily. After a fairly disastrous first appearance on Top of the Pops to promote the single (complete with an orchestra backing track (as a solo artist, Bush could not perform with a band) and an unhappy-looking artist), the idea that a video could be shown instead, understandably, intrigued Bush! Rather than it being a way to avoid live performance, Bush’s love of film and T.V. meant that she could connect with a medium that she was very enamoured of and fascinated by. Tom Doyle notes that Bush’s sonic vision is unique and so strong that it is only natural that she would want to have direction when it came to videos. I guess many songwriters write with a video in mind so, for Bush, the move to directing was only a matter of time.

Bush’s videos became more adventurous and filmic from The Dreaming onwards. The title track, whilst expensive and not a favourite of EMI, is a bigger production piece with more of a concept and budget. Sat in Your Lap features roller-skating and dunces caps and was a lot easier to shoot. That video was recorded in an afternoon at Abbey Road, whilst The Dreaming was shot using wide angles and had a more arduous process. This use of wide angles was unorthodox – as you need other shots to make a story move along -, but Bush was keen on, as director Paul Henry explained, “showing off the dance routine”. With a grungy, dusty look, this was Bush flexing her muscles. As she produced The Dreaming (album) on her own, that sense of ambition and autonomy bled into the videos. Although the video for The Dreaming was relatively pain-free, the editing was more of a problem. Bush wanted the choreography and moving to take centre stage, so she did not want close-up shots. Henry recalls how the final cut that was presented was not received well by EMI. They wanted things simpler and more conventional for the There Goes a Tenner single. Even though Bush was not able to repeat the experience of The Dreaming for There Goes a Tenner in terms of the visual style and wider angles, she threw herself into the acting side.

Paul Henry also directed the video for There Goes a Tenner, but he would not return for the video for Suspended in Gaffa. That song and There Goes a Tenner were released on the same day. Suspended in Gaffa was a single in continental Europe and Australia, whilst There Goes a Tenner was released in the U.K. For Suspended in Gaffa, Brian Wiseman helmed. Not that there was a massive falling out but, during the shoot for There Goes a Tenner, there was two set of directions: one from Henry and another from Bush. Not only eager to deliver a great acting performance, Bush was immersed in the concept and, as a natural director who had a lot of ideas, there were often mixed instructions and confusion on the set. Even though it might have been frustrating for a director to have to get their voice heard with an eager artist offering suggestions, it showed that Bush was getting closer to directing solo. For Hounds of Love, Bush was still brimming with ideas and directing zeal. For Cloudbusting, she suggested storyboard ideas and wanted to portray Peter Reich in the video (taking inspiration from the 1973 Peter Reich memoir, A Book of Dreams, the song is about the very close relationship between psychiatrist and philosopher Wilhelm Reich and his young son, Peter, told from the point of view of the mature Peter). Director Julian Doyle said she could not play a boy as this was very unusual and (he felt) people would not expect this. Although Bush is playing that role in the video, she has a more androgynous look and, without some serious make-up, she was never going to convince as a young lad!

It goes to show that Bush was really engaged with filmmaking and was excited to assume more responsibility. She did feel that she was not being given too much chance to have directorial input. One scene highlighted in the article is where Donald Sutherland (who played Wilhelm Reich) is arrested and driven away. Actually. Let’s back things up a bit. I find it amazing that Bush got Sutherland to appear in the video! Tenacious and ambitious, she originally suggested the second Doctor Who, Patrick Troughton. Sutherland initially turned down an offer but, without much hesitation, she knocked on his hotel door at The Savoy and won him over! With the director and cameraman in the front of the car in that final scene with Sutherland and two officers in the back, there was no room for Bush. When Doyle returned, Bush was unhappy about being left out (as he explains, there would not have been room to squeeze her in!). Not that there was a breaking or Bush felt other directors were pushing her aside, but she alone directed the videos for Hounds of Love and The Big Sky. With years of experience watching directors work and offering her guidance, she was growing in desire and efficiency. Those videos are excellent and, whilst the 1993 film, The Line, the Cross and the Curve could have been a success, she had very little money and time. As such, she was dissatisfied with the results.

That short film threaded several songs from the album, The Red Shoes, and it has some genuine moments of beauty and innovation. It would be interesting to see what she would do now if she tackled the project. In a way, Bush was assisting to directing her live performance during 1979’s The Tour of Life. She was definitely getting involved with the choreography and sets, so it was no shock that she would be heavily involved when it came to her Before the Dawn residency in 2014. The MOJO article ends with a 2005 interview where Bush reflects on a particular nutty idea: floating on her back in a twenty-feet-deep tank at Pinewood Studios when filming a visual for the Hounds of Love song, And Dream of Sheep. She endured mild hypothermia and, not surprisingly, Bush sort of questioned her sanity! It was an ambitious idea but, so many years since that Wuthering Heights video, Bush was involved and very committed. She has always understood the link between music and film and how important the visual aspect is. Even though Bush has not directed much since 1993, that is not to say we will never again see a short/video that she has directed. In the sense that Bush has had an attachment to her videos and she has been vocal and proactive has proved…

INSPIRATIONAL to so many artists.

FEATURE: In the Works: The Videos of Tim Pope

FEATURE:

 

 

In the Works

 IN THIS PHOTO: Tim Pope directing Freddie Mercury (Queen) in 1984/PHOTO CREDIT: Mirrorpix

The Videos of Tim Pope

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I won’t be able…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Andy Vella

to include all the amazing videos from Tim Pope in this feature. For an idea of his incredible work, have a look at the videos that he has directed. There is nothing especially timely about including Pope in a feature. The reason I wanted to focus on him is because I was listening back to older episodes of The Adam Buxton Podcast. Pope spoke with Buxton back in 2017. I hadn’t realised the sheer number of videos he directed and the range of artists he has collaborated with! I am going to source from an interview later but, before then, here is a bit of biography regarding the remarkable Tim Pope:

“Tim Pope always wanted to make films. He attended in his teens film studies at Ravensbourne College, Bromley, then he got a job working the cameras at a company training politicians of the late '70s for TV appearances and going to No. 10 Downing Street many times. With the same equipment, which he 'borrowed' without telling his bosses, he began to film bands on stage, including The Psychedelic Furs and The Specials. Pope started making pop videos, and by the mid 1980s and onwards was working on both sides of the Atlantic. Bands from past to present include Neil Young, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Talk Talk, The Bangles, Queen, Paul McCartney, Siouxsie & the Banshees…

 Strawberry Switchblade, Paul Weller, Amanda Palmer, Wham, The The, Soft Cell, Fatboy Slim, The Darkness, The Kaiser Chiefs, Tim Burgess and most famously The Cure for whom alone he made 37 clips. He worked in TV, made documentaries, live concert films, short films and worked in Hollywood to direct "The Crow: City of Angels," which went to the US No. 1 box-office slot. Tim's recent work includes "Anniversary," a film of The Cure's spectacular 40-year career-spanning performance at Hyde Park in 2018, which went worldwide on release to over 1, 500 cinemas, and in 2019 a well received ITV documentary about the actress Sheridan Smith called "Coming Home." Future projects include  documentaries about bands The Cure, The The and Tim Burgess. Also, he is in the early stages of casting his own self-written movie, "Drone," which he hopes to shoot in 2021. He continues to make pop promos and commercials and also lectures in film at film schools and universities”.

I think that many associate Pope with his videos for The Cure. I will bring them back in later as Pope directed a documentary about The Cure a few years back. Before I come to that, I want to draw from Wikipedia. It is amazing reading about Pope breaking onto the scene and eventually hooking up with The Cure:

“While still at HyVision, in 1979 Pope met Alex McDowell, who ran Rocking Russian, a company that designed T-shirts and record sleeves from a studio in Berwick Street. Alex had designed Iggy Pop's album sleeve for Soldier and Pope was a massive Iggy Pop fan. (Pope later became a close friend to the singer and worked with him many times). The duo went on to form a very successful and long-lasting relationship with McDowell as production designer and Pope as director – before McDowell emigrated to America in the mid-1980s to become a movie production designer for people like Steven Spielberg and Tim Burton.

At about this time, pop videos were starting to be made more frequently by directors like Russell Mulcahy (Duran Duran), David Mallet (David Bowie), and Brian Grant (Olivia Newton-John). Pope decided to turn his hand to this new form. His first attempts at rock video were shot in Carnaby Street and in Putney Bridge's tunnels on a non-broadcast format for the single "Cut Out the Real" by Jo Broadbery and the Standouts, as well as its B-side.

After unsuccessfully pitching many videos (and with very little to show as his own work), he was finally engaged to make Soft Cell's first video for Some Bizzare Records, Non-Stop Exotic Video Show, which was a companion release to their debut album Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret. The collection was originally issued on VHS, Betamax, and laserdisc in 1982, and re-issued on DVD in 2004. The video for "Bedsitter" had Pope's trademark individuality, as it featured the band's singer, Marc Almond, wearing shirts that matched the walls behind him. In many ways, it is considered this video bears all the major hallmarks of a Pope video: individuality, linear progression in terms of story, and a slight psychedelic feel. (Pope has many names for different genres of videos and this type he calls a narrative/atmospheric. He has lectured all over the world on the subject, including at London's National Film Theatre.)

More Some Bizzare videos followed with Soft Cell, including "Say Hello and Wave Goodbye" and thereafter an entire album of videos for their debut album Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, including the infamous "Sex Dwarf" that featured a handful of real-life prostitutes, their pimp, a trainee doctor in leather trousers, and a handful of maggots that Pope chucked in during, causing a riot when the prostitutes fled from the St John's Wood film studio. The video was later seized by the Scotland Yard Pornography Squad, but handed back soon after, as it was realized that hype was more at play than real facts about the video's contents. The video is considered a cult classic and is even banned from TV programmes about banned videos. It was probably this Some Bizarre video that earned Pope his early reputation as a 'bad boy'.

By 1982, and with a few more videos made, (Scottish band Altered Images, Nancy Nova, Jersey pub-rockers-financed-by-a-millionaire "Volcano", etc.) Pope met The Cure's singer Robert Smith. Their work together was to prove that directors could be constantly innovative, on a factory-line basis. Pope ultimately directed over 37 videos for the group, including many of their most famous songs – "Let’s Go To Bed" (1982), "Close To Me" (1985), "Just Like Heaven" (1987), "Friday I’m in Love", (1992), "Wrong Number" (1997). He also directed the 35mm movie of "The Cure in Orange", which captures their performance at the eponymous theatre in the south of France. He recorded his own song with them, called "I Want to be a Tree", with its B-side "Elephants" and "The Double Crossing of Two-Faced Fred" (a choral verse poem he had written and performed at Latymer, a few years earlier). The single is a collector's item for many Cure fans and Pope was the only early collaborator, apart from their postman, with a song called "I Dig You". 

Pope provided the video for "I Want to be a Tree", which was famously achieved in a single, unbroken shot of over three minutes duration – the first time this was ever attempted in a pop video. Pope also musically supported another band he was working with at the time, The Psychedelic Furs, at Hammersmith Odeon, the same stage David Bowie had 'retired' from as his fictional character Ziggy Stardust. Pope parodied Bowie, referring to his own character as "Twiggy Sawdust" (a play on words from the Tree song). This appears to be the climax of Pope's burgeoning wannabe-pop star career. The single reached number 137 in the British charts.

 In between commitments to the Cure, the Glove and the Banshees, Robert Smith also found time to perform on Pope's Syd Barrett-inspired "I Want To Be A Tree" single. Pope at the time was the regular director of promotional videos for the Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Marc Almond, among others, but was taken aback when his fame on American MTV as a video director began to rival that of the bands he worked for. He described the project as "a real piss-take of what was going on in America", prompted by people referring to "Tim Pope Videos", and said that he "felt really strongly that they were not Tim Pope videos, they were Cure videos or Siouxsie videos or whatever". Over the 1983 Christmas holidays, Pope and a friend, Charles Gray, recorded what Pope described as "this really stupid song" that they had co-written years earlier as teenagers.

Pope made an accompanying video for his showreel, asking several of the artists he worked with (the Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Soft Cell, Talk Talk, the Style Council, Paul Young and Freur) to "come along and slag me off on the showreel". He then played the artists the song, while filming their reactions to it. The Old Grey Whistle Test screened the video, which Pope says resulted in several record deals being offered. The song was re-recorded with Robert Smith playing most instruments in January 1984, produced by Chris Parry, and was released on Fiction Records (with a new video) in June, reaching number 34 in the British charts”.

It is a shame I cannot include every Tim Pope video, as the sheer scope and variety of his work is incredible! What I wanted to do was, in an age where videos hold less stock, highlight one of the greatest music video directors of them all. I think that videos should be explored more and we should be encouraging more people to take to the medium. An amazing video can not only take a song to a new place; it can open doors for directors in terms of them working with other artists and even breaking into film. It is a medium that I really love and it was responsible for me getting into music and acquiring such a fascination with the connection between music and film. In 2019, Classic Pop spoke with Pope, as he recently masterminded the feature-length film of their momentous fortieth-anniversary concert in London’s Hyde Park. Pope discusses his work with the band and why he does not direct videos so much anymore:

“You once said, “Even my dreams came with dirt on them, like my Standard-8 movies”? So how did you get into the film-making game?

I’d done the film college thing and ended up working for this company that trained politicians to go on telly. That was at the end of the 70s, so I used to go to 10 Downing Street. I know people do media stuff these days, but this was like the first company to do it. Then Labour and Mrs Thatcher got in, so I always think I’m partially to blame for that.

In the meantime, I used to nick the camera in the evening and go and film bands on stage. I was working with people like The Psychedelic Furs and The Specials, just filming them at gigs with a single camera. And then a mate of mine from the place where I used to nick the camera from had just done a video for Iggy Pop, so I started doing storyboards for videos. I think my first video was for Soft Cell’s Bedsitter.

You directed 14 of Soft Cell’s videos. What made that working relationship so fruitful?

My thing is always to get to know the bands well. I always use this metaphor of the tailor. In a way, all I try to do is create a suit which fits them perfectly, rather than an off-the-peg number. When I get a song, I take it in my mind, sort of chuck everything up into the air and see where it lands in my imagination. I take it from there. That’s to do with the lyrics, what the band have told me, their history… I mean, I can still remember the time I first pitched to Marc Almond. I do a lot of talks to film students these days and one of the things I say to them is, you will have the passion to do anything, you will kill, you will steal, you will do anything, to make your film. And I wasn’t going to let Marc leave that room until he said yes to me. I told loads of lies about videos I’d done, I think I claimed I’d worked with Suzi Quatro, and god knows who else… that seemed to impress him.

You don’t do many music videos these days. Is it a dying artform?

I think they had their moment. The last one I did that I liked was one for Fatboy Slim, for a song called Slash Dot Dash. I love that video because I shot that in six or seven hours and, at that point, I hadn’t made a video in years. The reason I decided to do it was born because, well, my hair had started to become a bit grayer and people suddenly began to give me lifetime awards. I remember the awards morphing in my hands into a carriage clock, like a retirement thing, and I just thought, ‘Oh my god, I’m not ready to retire!’ So I thought, ‘Fuck it, I’ll do this video’, and I did. I still think it’s got a great energy to it.

What do you think is different now about record companies and their attitude towards music videos?

My relationship with the bands was key and nowadays record companies come between you and the band. These days, record companies act more like advertising agencies. It doesn’t seem very relevant, someone like me doing videos. I think there are far better people doing the type of videos that are required.

You directed The Cure’s 1986 concert film, The Cure In Orange. And now, 33 years later, here you are again, directing their latest.

I’ve read some stuff on Twitter saying, ‘I don’t wanna see The Cure in daylight, they’re a night band,’ and they are, but they’ve also got these amazing, uplifting, sun-drenched songs as well. I think the shift from daylight to the evening was very important in terms of the film. That was the story I wanted to tell. Robert makes reference to that early on, he says something like, ‘Oh, the sun’s gone down.’ It was draining his energy before.

What I wanted to do was capture two things about the band. One was their epic music – I think there’s no one as epic as them. Also, the day before the show, I sat in the middle of the band while they rehearsed the entire set in this tiny room and I thought, what I want to do is capture their relationship, so I shot it, hopefully, like a piece of drama. You feel their musical relationship through it and that’s what I was after. I tried to film it from the point of view of it being in the best seat – the seat I had in rehearsal. How many thousands of Cure fans would have died to have had that place? So I wanted to make the film from that point of view.

To me, this film is like Orange II and I think it’s another turning point for them. We’re moving into their third act with this new album they’re about to finish. Robert has told me about it, I know it’s quite dark, I think that sounds very promising.

I am going to do a few other features when I dive deep into the filmography of a great music video director. MTV turns forty on 1st August, so I want to explore videos a lot between now and then. Pope turned sixty-five earlier in the year and, whilst he has had an impressive career, we probably will not see any (or many) further music videos from him. I think that artists and directors should study his work and interviews as he is an inspiring and hugely important director. Without necessarily knowing it, you would have watched many of the videos he has helmed! From working with The Bangles, David Bowie, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Talk Talk, and Wham!, the man has pretty much covered most genres! He is such a versatile and interesting director. I have put as many videos as I could into this feature. I would urge everyone to spend some time watching the remainder of his videos as they are really fantastic and memorable. In 2021, perhaps music videos are not as crucial and interesting as they used to be. It is a sad inevitability of the modern age. To me, music videos are a window into a song; a chance to see it is a whole new way. Great directors have their own style, yet they are flexible and can work with pretty much anyone. Tim Pope is a classic example. That is why I wanted to feature the amazing catalogue of…

ONE of the very best.

FEATURE: The Lockdown Playlist: A 1980s Mix

FEATURE:

 

 

The Lockdown Playlist

IN THIS PHOTO: Talking Heads in 1980/PHOTO CREDIT: Lynn Goldsmith

A 1980s Mix

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AS BBC Radio 6 Music…

 IN THIS PHOTO: The Bangles/PHOTO CREDIT: Paul Natkin/WireImage

are spending a lot of time celebrating and spotlighting music of the 1980s on Thursday, I have been thinking about that decade and the superb music from it. It is impossible to include all of the best music from the 1980s - though I have included quite a few of the best songs from that time. If you were not born then or have avoided the decade because you think that it holds very little in the way of satisfaction, then have a listen to the playlist at the bottom and I know there will be something in there for you! As I wanted to join in with saluting of a broad and magnificent decade for music, this Lockdown Playlist is a selection of the best music from…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Prince/PHOTO CREDIT: Jeff Katz/The Prince Estate

THE sensational 1980s.

FEATURE: Pride of the Country: The Legendary Bob Harris at Seventy-Five

FEATURE:

 

 

Pride of the Country

PHOTO CREDIT: BBC

The Legendary Bob Harris at Seventy-Five

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I have put out a few…

birthday-related posts this year already. They don’t come much more important than Bob Harris’ seventy-fifth on 11th April. Not only is he one of our finest broadcasters and voices; his The Country Show with Bob Harris is essential listening for every music fan. I think that the genre is so broad that it can be appreciated by anyone. The way Harris speaks about the music played and effuses is infectious! He is a legend who, through the years, has inspired me and so many others regarding music. He is also known for his work on The Old Grey Whistle Test in the 1970s. I am in my thirties, yet I have seen old episodes of the show. The series started on 21st September 1971. Harris he took over from 1972. It is a show that ran until 1988 and it is, without a doubt, a classic. It is a shame that we do not really have a show like that on the BBC (or anywhere) like that anymore. I want to source from a couple of interviews where Harris discussed Country music and its evolution (among other things). Before that, I found an article from The Guardian where, on 31st October, 1972, Martin Walker met Bob Harris on The Old Grey Whistle Test:

“Perhaps you need to be soft in the head to think that you can use the medium of speech to portray and interpret the medium of music and then use the visual tool of television to get the whole thing across. But it is being said that BBC-2’s late Tuesday night rock programme, “The Old Grey Whistle Test,” is the first television rock show which is a success in inter-media terms.

There have been successful programmes before: “Ready, Steady, Go” was one of the vectors along which Swingin’ London was supposed to oscillate, and “Top Of The Pops” has silenced all but the rattle of glasses in a lot of pubs for half an hour a week since it began. These shows tried to present rock in a pale imitation of its natural habitat the live audience - and filled the screen with gyrating dolly birds and expensive looking sets and the plastic spontaneity of the talk show.

As part of that throbbing audience out there in telly-land I always felt vaguely patronised: “We know you’re only going through a phase, son, but Auntie Beeb and Uncle ITV will feed you the pap anyway.” Even more annoying was the growing realisation that somehow television should be receiving and not just a transmitting system. Because nobody had seen television as anything but a super-radio, nobody presumed that the medium might have its own aesthetic logic. Rock was treated as sound to be broadcast with the added curse of needing visuals to fill the screen. So they gave us little stages, little lights, and little audiences and it felt wrong.

Some of the older shows had tried to give the music a visual backing with short films. Occasional sequences were fine; the Beatles’s dreamy film to “Strawberry Fields” and Roy Orbison’s street hunt for “Pretty Woman” were two of the more memorable things about “Top of the Pops.” “Whistle Test” has tried to develop a psychedelic television light show. So far this has tended to reinforce that point McLuhan forgot; the television screen is so very, very small that to watch it and focus upon it needs an effort of will.

The production team point out that the essence of the operation is cheapness. The show works on a budget of little more than £500 a week. The producer, Michael Appleton, was executive producer on “Late Night Line-up” and has some forthright opinions of his own about the use of television and the exigencies of the late night show. “We cannot do a ‘Ready, Steady, Go’ because we cannot afford it. I had to turn down a superb film clip of the old Yardbirds, because it would have cost more than a quarter of my budget for a week.

“Other shows could be spectacles of pop, but we are dealing with Rock music. Nobody else is doing this on TV,” he says. He also worked on “Colour Me Pop” and “Disco 2” which have each reflected the music and its stylistic implications for the social scene as it evolved. He talks of the “visual tricks” of the pop shows, and fondly remembers the “electric holiday” of “Disco.”

The gentle manner of Bob Harris and of his predecessor on Whistle Test, the rock journalist Richard Williams, reflects the primarily respectful way the show tries to approach the audience. Nothing pretentious, no extravaganzas, but the constant implication that this is serious music, worth intelligent attention. Harris himself, who spends most of his day between two stereo speakers listening to Rock, helped to found the magazine Time Out with Tony Elliot. He has written about radio, run record shows for the Royal Academy of Music, and worked with film. “The media has a responsibility to evolve its own forms, its art form if you like,” Harris says. “We know something of the process of entertainment, but not enough about the process of information. Can you just give information or does it have to be shared?” he asks”.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Bob Harris in 1977

I want to introduce an interview Belles & Gals conducted in 2019. They discussed Harris’ huge involvement in the highly anticipated C2C Festival of that year and his time hosting The Old Grey Whistle Test:

“How do you introduce a man who’s done so much in his life? To be honest, he’s someone who I was completely in awe of interviewing, who has dedicated his entire career to his passion for music, a well-respected broadcaster and icon in the UK Country music scene. Of course, I could only be talking about Bob Harris.

Bob has had a huge involvement in the highly anticipated C2C Festival taking place next month, and has been interviewing musicians taking part on his radio show. Before starting Bob Harris Country on BBC Radio 2, he presented the famous Old Grey Whistle Test.

His YouTube channel, WhisperingBobTV, home to the Under The Apple Tree Sessions, has accumulated over a million views, giving budding artists a platform to share their music.

I had the pleasure of speaking to him about his outstanding knowledge of Country music, the Under The Apple Tree Tour, C2C, and who he believes is the “next big thing”.

You’ve been in music journalism for over 40 years so far, which is incredible! One of the shows you’re well known for presenting was The Old Grey Whistle Test, which focused mainly on Rock music. Since then you’ve moved onto Country music. What sparked your love of Country?

Whistle Test was a very eclectic show, we had lots of different styles of music – from Bob Marley to Curtis Mayfield and Freddie King. We were huge supporters of Country-Rock in the Seventies;  bands like The Eagles, artists like Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris, who did a live concert special for us.

By that time, I’d realised how much great music was coming out of Nashville – Blonde on Blonde by Bob Dylan was recorded there. There was a lot of Country-Rock in the early Seventies and I really latched onto that.

If you draw a straight line from that music in the early Seventies to what I’m playing now, there’s a direct connection. I realised when I got to Nashville, for the first time in 1999, that it was the place I’ve always wanted to be. I absolutely LOVE it there; the people, the community, and the music. I discovered how much depth there is to Country music and how much I love it, It’s really good!

That’s just incredible,  especially with C2C 2019, which has got the most publicity yet! The line-up this year is fantastic and you’ve been interviewing artists like Ashley McBryde and Jimmie Allen who are performing on Bob Harris Country. Could you tell us a little bit more about your involvement in the festival?

I introduced the very first act that walked out on stage at the first C2C in 2013, Kristian Bush. The first session we recorded at Under The Apple Tree was with Kristian. He was over here for a songwriters round and he came down to the studio. My son Miles recorded an interview with him. This was the start of the idea of us getting these Under The Apple Tree sessions underway. There we were, on stage together,  at C2C with me introducing him. It felt to me like Kristian was an important building block in it all. We’ve become good friends, and he presented me with my CMA International Broadcaster Award a few years ago;  he’s been there at the key moments.

Looking out from the stage, seeing the festival grow year by year, has just been an incredible experience. That first weekend in 2013 had quite a nice vibe to it, but the turning point really was I think was the Zac Brown Band set a few years later. The traditionalists didn’t like the idea of them doing a cover of Kashmir by Led Zeppelin.

The following year it was Florida Georgia Line, and all the seats that had been vacated had been taken up by an entirely new generation who brought in a new energy with them.

The festival is so dynamic and really exciting. The main auditorium is packed. It’s a triumph seeing it grow from the stage;  a fantastic experience. This year is going to be the biggest yet!!”.

Sticking with 2019 and, around the time of C2C, Harris chatted with Six Shooter Country. It is interesting learning about the artists he was listening to at the time (I am familiar with them) and where he felt U.K. Country was headed:

“I’m interested to know from you, Bob. You’ve pushed country in the UK for years, did you always have a feeling it would blow up like this and all it would take was maybe something like a C2C to help these fans emerge from the shadows?

I’m not sure there was a light bulb moment where we moved from the dark into the light and you could say “wow, that’s it, that’s the single reason this has happened”. There were a whole number of signposts that began to point in this direct, in fact I became aware of an arriving shift at the time when I first started doing the country show and started going to Nashville in 1999. When Alan Jackson and George Strait and people like that were ruling country music with an iron rod, however a new generation were just starting to arrive and I think of Brad, Sara Evans, then Keith Urban, more sort of broad minded artists who were prepared to think that there is something beyond the horizon line! There’s a rest of the world out there that actually might enjoy country.

 I’m very interested to know if there’s anyone you’re listening to at the moment and think is going to break through in the next 12 months?

Molly Tuttle. I love Molly Tuttle. She’s just fabulous. She’s not dead-centre country, more bluegrass but she was the instrumentalist of the year at the Americana’s at the Ryman last September. I think she’s lovely, she’s got a really light touch, her music is very driftily creative. She’s coming over in April and I think she’s wonderful. The other name, actually recommended to me by Sam Outlaw, is Caleb Caudle. His album is beautiful, really really lovely.

It’s funny you say Sam Outlaw’s name, what a great artist. It’s funny how there are certain artists that seem to make a name over here but struggle back in the States. It’s a strange phenomenon.

And Sam is definitely in that category. He’s been struggling a bit in America whereas here we’ve really embraced him. I was will Al Booth, Mark Hagen and Millie Olykan at a little venue in Madison on the outskirts of Nashville called Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge, Sam had a residency there playing 90’s country covers. It was one of the best gigs I’ve been to in years and yet he was basically playing as a cover band. He is sensational, I was very happy Millie came with us because, with her position at CMA, I really wanted her to see him.

Just to wrap things up, this is an open question, but what do you see for the future of country music in the UK?

I think it’s just going to keep on going. It’s interesting how broad a church it is but perhaps that’s more emphasised today than at any time. I do think that one of the reasons is the fact that some of the new artists have been listening to the radio, going on Spotify and exploring genres and picking off music they really like. They’re allowing the influence of things they like to bleed into music they’re making now. It’s like Keith (Urban) really, if you really really analyse his set at the O2 it’s not awash with pedal steel but it’s rooted in country music in a way that’s difficult to define. His music has grown out of Nashville, and alright it may have taken on board influences from other musical genres, but it’s based in country. I think we’ll gradually see more of the definition lines in musical genres blurring. I think that’s a long-term process in the next five to ten years but I think it’s going to happen. I don’t see that with any kind of dread. For the traditionalists, this is the end of country music as we know it! I say to people who moan; OK, well, turn the clock back to the late 50’s early 60’s, to Jim Reeves, Patsy Cline, Chet Atkins and the production of that, what were they doing? They were turning country into pop as a reaction to the rough and raw sound of rock n roll.  The audiences were concerned what they were hearing when they heard the new Jim Reeves record was a pop single with a country basis. Now, the traditionalists are saying “music isn’t like it was when Jim Reeves was making records” – well he was making pop records! The people who are now saying country is going too pop – have we not heard this before?! I’m absolutely against the idea of resisting this change. I think it is a change, it’s an energy, it’s amazing fuel being poured into country and I’m 100% behind that!

I’ve quoted this a couple of times, but to me it summed everything up at that moment. We were broadcasting live at the Grand Old Opry and this is when we were doing literally the live coverage of the CMA Awards. Richard Wootten was with us and the door of the studio was open, Alan Jackson was stood literally just outside the door about 15 yards from me and my microphone. Richard said “oh, there’s Alan Jackson, I’ll go grab him for an interview”. I was privy to this conversation, Richard said “Hi Alan”, Alan knew who he was, he said “we’ve got the BBC here, with an audience of 15 million, they’d love to have a chat with you so that maybe you could talk to your fans in Britain for a couple of minutes, it’d be really nice”. He looked at Richard and said “why would I want to do that?” I’ve always remembered that. To me that narrow and closed mind, these new artists were beginning to blow it away. Lonestar, Rascal Flatts, these are the artists that paved the way and were the first of the newer acts that were coming here to build an audience. Then Taylor, the influence with the young girls like Catherine McGrath who were inspired by her. ‘O Brother Where Art Thou’ was very influential, I remember T Bone Burnett saying it was like a depth charge then a few years later all the bubbles starting coming to the surface – for us that happened with the likes of Mumford and Sons.

Then you get the likes of The Civil Wars, who inspired The Shires, they were the first outpost of British country. That all coincided with the arrival of C2C. It was a lot of filings that eventually began to point to magnetic north. It was a gradual process. Of course, don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to forget The Country Show. Right from day one I was the guy who was saying “have you heard of Gillian Welch? Rascal Flatts?” I think Millie Olycan was massively important to C2C and she was a huge supporter of my show, she saw it as a massive catalyst”.

I am going to wrap things up in a moment. Recently, Penny Black Music paid tribute to an icon who has been in broadcasting for over fifty years. Harris talked about how musicians have been affected by lockdown and which interview from his time on The Old Grey Whistle Test is his favourite:

“There aren't many icons of rock music with whom the broadcasting legend Bob Harris hasn't worked – and socialised.

When he was celebrating 50 years in broadcasting this summer, heartfelt tributes poured in from many of the biggest names in music. From his early 'Old Grey Whistle Test' days to his time on BBC Radio One and his more recent championing of country music, the 74 year-old 'Whispering' Bob has hung out with them all, from John Lennon and George Harrison to Marc Bolan, David Bowie and Led Zeppelin.

He once sang backing vocals for Bowie, he watched Arthur Brown set his hair on fire, had a scrap with the Sex Pistols, tracked down reclusive Beach Boy Brian Wilson, sat in on recording sessions with Bob Marley and Alexis Korner, and he once toured America with Queen.

So when Bob decided recently to assemble a cast of artists to record a Band Aid-style charity record to assist musicians hit by the coronavirus, the big issue wasn't who to involve, but who to leave out.

Bob ended up with a wish list of top performers playing a cover of his favourite song – Ben E King's 'Stand By Me' - with all the proceeds going to the organisation Help Musicians. The project celebrates Bob's half century in broadcasting and also marks the 60th anniversary of the song's original recording back in October 1960.

"Many musicians have had their income obliterated by lockdown", Bob says from his home in rural Oxfordshire. "Their careers have been decimated. They've not been able to earn money from live performance or getting new music published. It has been dire – and I just wanted to help them.

"The contributions to the record were mainly made remotely, of course. People on it include Mark Knopfler, Duane Eddy, Rick Wakeman, Leo Sayer, Peter Frampton, Paul Rodgers, Richard Thompson of Fairport, Beth Nielsen Chapman, John Oates, The Shires, and so many more!

"Each brought their own style and charm to the recording. My son Miles Myerscough-Harris mixed it here at my home studio and it is going out under our Under The Apple Tree label. I am so proud of it. And I am on there, playing the triangle! It's been a fantastic project and the crowning achievement of my 50 years in the music industry and on radio."

Who was Bob's favourite interviewee over all the years? “No question. It was John Lennon. My best interview with John was for The Old Grey Whistle Test back in 1975 in John's adopted New York home.

"He was candid, chatty, witty, open and honest. I asked if he would be getting The Beatles back together and I recall being delighted when he said that if someone organised it, he'd happily go along with it. Incidentally, John had recorded his own version of 'Stand By Me' in 1974, the year before. He loved that Ben E King song, too!”.

Ahead of his seventy-fifth birthday on Sunday (11th April), I wanted to salute a broadcasting colossus. From his hugely important and memorable T.V. work through to his endless dedication to and passion for Country music, there is nobody out there like the incredible Bob Harris! He had to take a break in 2019 after a heart scare. I am glad that Harris is okay, and we still get to hear his golden voice on the radio. I hope that this is the case…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Jeff Gilbert

FOR a very long time to come.

FEATURE: Classical Gas: Injecting New Sonic Invention and Variation Into Modern Music

FEATURE:

 

 

Classical Gas

IN THIS PHOTO: American French horn player, Kyra Sims/PHOTO CREDIT: Kyra Sims

Injecting New Sonic Invention and Variation Into Modern Music

___________

AS I have been listening to The Beatles…

 PHOTO CREDIT: @gwundrig/Unsplash

even more than I normally would for research purposes, I have been noticing various songs and marvelling at how they are enhanced by some Classical music strings. Maybe it would be a bit overdone is modern music was drenched in strings and had that Classical vibe. I do think that the worlds of Classical and all other genres seem to be separated. I have been listening to some classic film scores and iconic Classical artists and enjoying how varied and captivating the songs are. If you want beauty, terror, joy and every other emotion know to man, then Classical music has it all! I think that, as we do not hear sampling much these days, there is a certain  layering and cross-pollination that is missing. Artists do splice genres and sounds but, to me, there is something lacking - a space that can be filled and a potential that is not being fulfilled. I am just trying to cast my mind back to the last song or album I heard that utilised Classical music and mixed in those sounds to the blend. I know it can be expensive booking these musicians and finding the space to record during a pandemic. That said, one would not need to bring in a full orchestra or necessarily find a large recording space to record in. Maybe this is for post-lockdown but, as Classical music is always evolving and there are so many great composers and musicians around, it would be incredible hearing their influence across multiple genres. Even if you do not like Classical music and want a brief sprinkle, there is this perfect opportunity to broaden and enhance music.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Catherine Martin, a violinist, has been doing delivery shifts at weekends/PHOTO CREDIT: Andy Staples

I say this because Classical musicians have especially struggled during the pandemic. I guess their careers rely more on live performances and they might be performing more concerts than writing and recording their own songs. I associate Classical musicians as being together and needing a lot of space, whereas most other musicians can record remotely and do not have the same specifications. The situation has been bad in the U.K. and the U.S. The Guardian published an article last month where they spoke to musicians who have had to take other jobs to make ends meet. Catherine Martin told her story:

“The violinist described the poignant moment when she was sent to deliver Waitrose groceries to an address near London’s Wigmore Hall, a venue she had graced as a professional violinist only months earlier. “You take it for granted what you do. It has been difficult, but I’ve tried to find positives.”

She said she was not aware when she decided to stop working as a professional musician – a career she has had for 25 years – that a grant would be introduced for self-employed people. Even if she was, Martin said, she would not have been able to take the money and do nothing.

“I actually found that, without concerts in my diary, I totally lost my motivation. I got quite depressed and I really realised I needed to do something.” On top of the weekend delivery work, she said, she also took on volunteer work at her local Oxfam shop while it was able to open.

Despite a distinguished career that has taken her all over Europe, she was quite pessimistic about returning to music. “Concerts and festivals are organised years in advance. So, usually at this point in the year, I’d have a pretty firm idea of what I’m doing for the rest of the year, and some things into next year … But these things are not coming in.

“At the moment, I’m not looking at the end of the pandemic and then we’ll all start doing concerts again because the concerts already have all been cancelled.”

Martin said many people have assumed that life will return to normal soon. “But, for us in the arts, it’s a different story”.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Choral singer Alexander Blake is leading a movement for anti-racism in Choral music/PHOTO CREDIT: Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times

In the United States, there are similar struggles now that concert halls and venues are closed. The Los Angeles Times spoke with a range of Classical musicians as they discussed loss and hope during the pandemic:

“In January, Kyra Sims was hired to perform at the Grammys with Lizzo. That same week, she played with Tituss Burgess at Carnegie Hall.

“2020 was going to be my year,” Sims says. “I felt like I was really starting to arrive professionally. Everything was going up, up, up.”

Sims also had been hired to play in a Broadway musical. Then, for no reason that she could discern, she got fired from the show after the first rehearsal.

“I’m a Black woman playing a brass instrument, and as of right now, I don’t think there are any Black women playing brass instruments on Broadway,” she says, declining to name the show from which she was fired. “Was it implicit bias? I don’t know.”

That happened three weeks before New York shut down and the show closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

During her conservatory training, pianist Sharon Su had been taught to stick rigidly to the classical canon, which prompted her to pose the question: “Why have I only ever played music by white guys?”

Recognizing systemic bias, Su began playing and recording work by female composers, including Clara Schumann, Louise Farrenc and Cécile Chaminade.

PHOTO CREDIT: Joshua Woroniecki/Unsplash

In the months leading up to the coronavirus shutdowns, she was working with a composer to transform a sonata by 19th century German composer Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, sister of Felix Mendelssohn, into a concerto. But the pandemic put a grand concert tour on hold.

“We’re back in talks to get that concerto tour up and running, but only one ensemble has committed, because everybody’s budgets are shot,” Su says.

Within a two-hour span in March one year ago, Corinne Olsen lost all her gigs for the month.

Soon enough, cancellations started on her April jobs, and by mid-April, the L.A.-based freelance viola player’s entire calendar for 2020 was gone.

Over the summer, a few one-off jobs began cropping up here and there. The problem was that they were often attended by people not wearing masks. “Is my health and safety worth the $200 to play a half-hour at a wedding?” she asks”.

I actually keep abreast of The Guardian’s section on Classical and what is happening right now. Many musicians are able to survive but, with restriction in place, we have not seen the same sort of activity and growth that we would have liked. I hope that, post-pandemic, there is a new appreciation of Classical musicians and money is provided by the Government so that there is not too much loss.

Whether it is some eerie strings, sweep scores or tender piano, the influence of Classical music is huge! There has always been a connection and link between Classical and other genres, yet I think that many artists today are either relying on technology or more traditional sounds (suitable to their genre) and not experimenting in that way. As I said, costs might be prohibiting a lot of artists when it comes to merging Classical music into their world. I feel many people assume Classical music is a thing of the past or that it is very samey or unappealing. It is a changing and broad genre where old impressions of snobbishness and elitism. There are some great shows and podcasts regarding Classical music. BBC Radio 3 is a precious resource. I hope that many artists reach out in months to come and we do get these intriguing collaborations. I think there is so much untapped potential when it comes to joining together Classical and other genres. Whether it is bringing strings and more drama into Grime and Hip-Hop or augmenting a Pop hit with a quartet, so much more richness and  variegation can be created. I feel for Classical musicians during an especially tough period. I just hope that, when things get better, we will not lose too many…

OF these fantastic musicians and composers.

FEATURE: The Amazing Annie Clark: Looking Ahead to the Release of Daddy’s Home

FEATURE:

 

The Amazing Annie Clark

PHOTO CREDIT: Zackery Michael  

Looking Ahead to the Release of St. Vincent’s Sixth Album, Daddy’s Home

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RATHER than do…

a Modern Heroines-style feature (which I have already included St. Vincent in), I wanted to shine a light on the magnificent Annie Clark (the women behind St. Vincent) and her exciting new album, Daddy’s Home. It arrives on 14th May. Many are predicting this will be her best album yet. Her sixth solo album is shaping up to  be this fascinating and compelling work. Go and pre-order the album from Rough Trade:

“St. Vincent returns with an inspired album of her best work yet. Daddy's Home was produced by pop producer and long term collaborator Jack Antonoff. "The album was inspired by the classic records of the 70s. Stevie, Sly, Stones, Steely Dan, Chords, Groove. The days when sophisticated harmony and rhythm didn't sound heady - they just sounded, and felt good. Lots of guitar. But warm sounds, not distortion and chaos. Hopefully a turn nobody will see coming" - Annie Clark”.

I am going to bring in a few recent interviews where Clark discusses her new album and some of the themes/sounds that inspired it. As a songwriter and visionary, I sort of feel she is a modern-day David Bowie…in the sense she always innovates and creates this truly original music. Her style changes, and we have this chameleon-like artist who always fascinates. Whatever mode and guise she is in, she is always very much herself – in the sense that there is not another artist like St. Vincent.

I have been thinking about St. Vincent (I shall refer to her as the artist going forward) creating the album and what her life has been like over the past few months. That brings me neatly to an NME interview. In it, we learn what has been occupying the amazing St. Vincent, how she has progressed as an artist, and what we can expect from Daddy’s Home:

“It turns out that, over the past year, not even rock stars have been spared from the churn of incredibly wholesome pandemic hobbies. Forced away from the stage, Annie Clark, who makes and releases music as St. Vincent, has recently been unearthing some unlikely outlets for her creativity – with a newfound knack for home improvement that could give Changing Rooms a run for its money.

Now back in Los Angeles, with spectacular new album ‘Daddy’s Home’ on the way, Annie Clark is taking a well-earned break after remodelling her mum’s house to keep busy, and has been carefully cultivating a growing collection of power tools featuring “really legit drills and sanders and saws to do landscaping”. Tearing down interior walls and grouting tiles helped her to connect with her inner DIY daddy, she tells NME over the phone: “Once I turned those breakers off and started moving sconces around, I was like, I don’t need to call an electrician! I’m an expert after 15 minutes and a YouTube video.”

She adds, cheerfully: “If you need any plumbing done, or – God – a wall poorly painted, give me a call. I’m your girl.”

Since 2003, ‘this music thing’ has led 38-year-old Clark in a variety of directions – from playing in American choral rock band the Polyphonic Spree and singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens’ live bands early on to her 2012 collaborative album with David Byrne, ‘Love This Giant’, and her own storied solo career. Her previous record, 2017’s ‘MASSEDUCTION’, saw St. Vincent push her harsh, angular sonics to their glam-rock conclusion. This was a precise and severe-sounding web of tousling power dynamics; a leopard print-clad ass peeked out of its neon-hued cover.

Oozing with lust, desire and selfishness, it often returned to the unspoken gulf between what people say they want, and what people truly want at their core. A whirlwind of unidentified pharmaceuticals, ‘Pills’ depicted a narrator gobbling down prescriptions and rushing home “to give head to the money I made,” while ‘Los Ageless’ painted the city as a sleazy and seductive trap of a place. Like the burned-out, barbiturate-sipping housewife at the heart of Joan Didion’s 1970 novel Play It As It Lays, St. Vincent’s protagonist also tries to escape it by compulsively racing her car down the freeways in search of yet more self-destruction.

For ‘Daddy’s Home’, St. Vincent has transformed herself again – this time, into a ’70s singer-songwriter type crusading around New York City with a tumbler of bourbon permanently in hand, expensive perfume and cigarette smoke in her hair. “Imagery-wise, there’s this one side which is the really coquettish daddy’s girl, which is really just so pervy,” Clark says, “and the other side is wearing the suits and the more daddy vibe. I think it might be my funniest album title?” she muses aloud. “My funniest since ‘Marry Me’.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Zackery Michael   

Another major inspiration was Candy Darling, an American actor and trans woman who later became a muse for The Velvet Underground, Lou Reed and Andy Warhol. As Clark puts it, she “lived within and presided over it all”, becoming a fixture in fashionable Manhattan. The closing song of St. Vincent’s record is named after Darling, who died in 1974 aged just 29, and imagines waving her off on the “latest uptown train” with armfuls of bodega roses.

“I just got pretty obsessed with her,” she continues. “I had a friend who was friends with her, and was at her bedside when she died, and I just started thinking about her. She was from Queens, which was not geographically far, but may as well have been a lifetime away from Manhattan. She invented herself there, and got to become herself in Manhattan,” Clark says. “I just kept picturing that we were all on the platform seeing her off and she was taking that last uptown train to heaven, slow motion waving with the tiniest bit of subway wind in her hair.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Zackery Michael   

Often ‘Daddy’s Home’ returns to the image of a fallen angel or the myth of Icarus: tragic figures killed after flying too close to the sun. The title track, meanwhile, is autobiographical, recalling Clark signing makeshift autographs in the visitation room before her father left jail. “We’re all born innocent but some good saints get screwed,” she sings, “Hell where can you run when the outlaw’s inside you?”

And though ‘Daddy’s Home’ is more patently autobiographical than anything the musician has done before, it still stems from a fantastical world populated by down-and-out characters – and despite shedding light on some of the experiences that led here, Clark is opaque as ever when it comes to defining the meaning of her music. Though she’s said that this is partly an album about her self-discovery in the decade during which her father was incarcerated, she won’t elaborate on what exactly she’s learned – nifty DIY skills aside”.

The reason for bringing in a few interviews is that, in each, we learn something new. There will be more promotion before the album arrives but, with two singles from the album out already – Pay Your Way in Pain, The Melting of the Sun –, there is a lot of intrigue and excitement. I love the direction St. Vincent has taken on Daddy’s Home. There are elements of 1970s’ music sprinkled together with some arresting imagery and lyrics. This is covered in an interview St. Vincent conducted with The Forty-Five:

“On ‘Daddy’s Home’, Clark writes about a past derelict New York; a place Los Angeles would suffocate in. “The idea of New York, the art that came out of it, and my living there,” she says. “I’ve not given up my card. I don’t feel in any way ready to renounce my New York citizenship. I bought an apartment so I didn’t have to.” Her down-and-out New York is one a true masochist would love, and it’s sleazy in excess. Sleaze is usually the thing men flaunt at a woman’s expense. In 2021, the proverbial Daddy in the title is Clark. But there’s also a literal Daddy. He came home in the winter of 2019.

On the title track, Clark sings about “inmate 502”: her father. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison for his involvement in a $43m stock fraud scheme. He went away in May 2010. Clark reacted by writing her third breakthrough album ‘Strange Mercy’ in 2011; inspired not just by her father’s imprisonment but the effects it had on her life.“I mean it was rough stuff,” she says. “It was a fuck show. Absolutely terrible. Gut-wrenching. Like so many times in life, music saved me from all kinds of personal peril. I was angry. I was devastated. There’s a sort of dullness to incarceration where you don’t have any control. It’s like a thud at the basement of your being. So I wrote all about it,” she says.

PHOTO CREDIT: Zackery Michael 

“I am protective of my family,” she says. “It didn’t feel safe to me. I disliked the fact that it was taken as malicious obfuscations. No.” Clark wanted to deal with the family drama in art but not in press. She managed to remain tight-lipped until she became the subject of a different intrusion. As St. Vincent’s star continued to rocket, Clark found herself in a relationship with British model Cara Delevingne from 2014 to 2016, and attracted celebrity tabloid attention. Details of her family’s past were exposed. The Daily Mail came knocking on her sister’s door in Texas, where Clark is from.

The entire record is familiar, giving the listener the satisfaction that they’ve heard the songs before but can’t quite place them. It’s a satisfying accompaniment to a pandemic that encouraged nostalgic listening. Clark was nostalgic too. She reverted to records she enjoyed with her father: Stevie Wonder’s catalogue from the 1970s (‘Songs In The Key Of Life’, ‘Innervisions’, ‘Talking Book’) and Steely Dan. “Not to be the dude at the record store but it’s specifically post-flower child idealism of the ’60s,” she explains. “It’s when it flipped into nihilism, which I much prefer. Pre disco, pre punk. That music is in me in a deep way. It’s in my ears.”

Clark is interested in the new generation. She’s recently tweeted about Arlo Parks and has become a big fan of Russian singer-songwriter Kate NV. “I’m obsessed with Russia,” she says. In a recent LA Times profile, she professed to a pandemic intellectual fixation on Stalin. “Yeah! I mean right now my computer is propped up on stuff. You are sitting on The Gulag Archipelago, The Best Short Stories Of Dostoyevsky andThe Plays Of Chekhov. I’m kinda in it.” The pop world interests Clark, too. She was credited with a co-write on Swift’s 2019 album ‘Lover’. At last year’s Grammys she performed a duet with Dua Lipa. It was one of the queerest performances the Grammys has ever aired”.

I am going to wrap it up soon. Before that, an interview from Esquire really caught my eye. With inspiration taken – in terms of the album title and a lot of the material – from her father’s time in prison, it is interesting to see how she views that experience. St. Vincent also talked about a recent songwriting and creativity masterclass, and  the vibe of Daddy’s Home:

“We're curious about your dad and the American legal system.

I have had a lot of questions about that. For some reason it didn’t occur to me how much I would be answering questions about… my hilarious father!

How do you view his time in prison?

Just that life is long and people are complicated. And that, luckily, there’s a chance for redemption or reconciliation, even after a really crazy traumatic time. And also anybody that has any experience with the American justice system will know this... nobody comes out unscathed.

You recently presented an online MasterClass: "St. Vincent Teaches Creativity & Songwriting". One of the takeaways: “All you need are ears and ideas, and you can make anything happen”. Who’s had the best ideas in music?

Well, you’ve got to give credit to people who were genuinely creating a new style – like if you think of Charlie Parker, arguably he created a new style. This hard bop that was just absolutely impossible to play. It was, like, “Check me out – try to copy me!” So, that’s interesting. I think Brian Eno, for sure, has some great ideas about music – and obviously has made some of the best music. Joni Mitchell – completely singular. I mean: think about that. There are some people who are actually inimitable – like, you couldn’t possibly even try to imitate them.

PHOTO CREDIT: Erik Carter for Rolling Stone 

The new album has a very “live” Seventies feel. I’d read that some of the tracks are first takes. Can that be right? It all sounds very complicated.

That’s not right. I should say [rock voice] "Yeah, that’s right, we just jammed…" But, you know, I’ll be honest. There are some vocal takes in there that are first takes. But it really is just the sound of people playing. We get good drum takes. And good bass takes. And I play a bunch of guitar and sitar-guitar. And it’s the sound of a moment in time, certainly. And way more about looseness and groove and feel and vibe than anything else [I’ve done before].

Amazing live albums, virtuoso playing, jamming – those were staples of Seventies music. Have we lost some of that?

I mean, I can wax poetic on that idea for a minute. In the Seventies you had this tremendous sophistication in popular music. Stevie Wonder, Steely Dan and funk and soul and jazz and rock…. and all of the things rolled into one. That was tremendously sophisticated. It just was. There was harmony, there were chord.

What else from that decade appealed to you for Daddy’s Home?

It reminds me of where we are now, I think. So, 1971-1976 in downtown New York, you’ve got the Summer of Love thing and flower children and all the hippy stuff and it’s, like, “Oh yeah, that didn’t work out that well. We’re still in Vietnam. There’s a crazy economic crisis, all kinds of social unrest”. People stood in the proverbial burned-out building. And it reminds me a lot of where we are today, in terms of social unrest, economic uncertainty. A groundswell wanting change... but where that’s headed is yet to be seen. We haven’t fully figured that out. We’re all picking up pieces of the rubble and going “Okay, what do we do with this one? Where do we go with that one?” Being a student of history, that was one of the reasons why I was drawn to that period in history.

Also: that’s the music I’ve listened to more than anything in my entire life. I mean, I was probably the youngest Steely Dan fan. It didn’t make me that popular at sleepovers. People were, like, “I want to listen to C+C Music Factory” and I was, like, “Yeah, but have you heard this solo on [Steely Dan’s] ‘Kid Charlemagne’”? That music is so in me. It’s so in my ears and I feel like I never really went there [making music before]. And I didn’t want to be a tourist about it. It’s just that particular style had a whole lot to teach me. So I wanted to just dig in and find out. Just play with it”.

I am excited about the upcoming release of Daddy’s Home. St. Vincent is, to me, one of the most compelling and inspirational modern artists. She is a phenomenal songwriter, musician and creative that is influencing so many people. Whilst she will release a lot more music, Daddy’s Home is going to be a huge release! I wonder whether there will be a short film or documentary around the release of the album because, in terms of its themes and inspirations, there is a lot of personal weight and family in it. Brace yourself for a phenomenal album from…

A modern-day genius.

FEATURE: Smile Away: Paul and Linda McCartney’s Glorious Ram at Fifty

FEATURE:

 

 

Smile Away

Paul and Linda McCartney’s Glorious Ram at Fifty

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THIS is another album anniversary feature…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Paul McCartney in Scotland in 1971

where I am a little quick off of the mark. Because a fiftieth anniversary addition of Paul and Linda McCartney’s Ram is being released soon, I wanted to take a closer look at a wonderful album. In their feature, udioscovermusic explain more:

“Paul and Linda McCartney’s classic 1971 album Ram will be released in a 50th anniversary, limited edition half-speed mastered vinyl pressing by UMe on May 14.

The only album to be credited to Paul and Linda as a couple, Ram was recorded over a five-month period from the autumn of 1970 onwards, in the time immediately after the dissolution of The Beatles. The LP was started in sessions in New York but created mainly at the couple’s farm in Scotland, and first released by Apple in May 1971.

The album’s appearance came just over a year after Paul’s solo debut McCartney, and unlike that one-man recording, Ram featured guests such as Denny Seiwell, the drummer who would soon become a co-founding member of Wings. Hugh McCracken and David Spinozza also featured on guitar.

tchfork would later enthuse about the album’s enduring influence by noting that the home-made approach of the record was “inventing an approach to pop music that would eventually become someone else’s indie-pop.” It called Ram “a domestic-bliss album, one of the weirdest, earthiest, and most honest ever made,” while Mojo judged it to be “quintessentially McCartney.” Rolling Stone went on to describe Ram as a “masterpiece” and “a grand psychedelic ramble full of divine melodies.”

The sessions for the album yielded McCartney’s major hit of early 1971, “Another Day,” which was not included on the original release, but was added to the 1993 reissue in the Paul McCartney Collection series. “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey” was released as a US single from Ram in August 1971 and reached No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 a month later; it didn’t become a single in the UK, where “Back Seat Of My Car” came out as a 45 instead. “Eat At Home” was subsequently a single in other parts of Europe.

It is amazing to think that there was animosity towards Paul McCartney’s albums in the early years of the 1970s. I guess many blamed him for breaking up The Beatles, so no matter what he put out in the world, people would attack it! His McCartney debut of 1970 is a phenomenal record that divided critics. Ram followed a year later - many consider it to be his finest album outside of The Beatles and Wings. With his wife, Linda, Paul McCartney created this album that matched some of his best work with The Beatles. I would encourage people to pre-order the new edition of Ram (which comes out on 14th May). I am baffled people were not seeing the genius of the album back in 1971. Even though most of the mixed or negative reviews came back in 1971, there have been reviews since that have been a little harsh. Ultimate Classic Rock took a glowing look at the album in their feature of 2016:

“An overlooked precursor to the current handmade-pop phenomenon, Paul McCartney's Ram was initially criticized for everything that makes it sound unexpectedly bold, fascinatingly unedited and utterly misjudged today.

The album, released on May 17, 1971, moves with a guileless joy from the country-blues parody of "3 Legs" to the plucky reverie of "Ram On," from the burping rockabilly riffs of "Smile Away" to the comfy domesticity of "Heart of the Country." Imperfect but so very interesting, Ram is just as apt to indulge in the convoluted escapism of "Long Haired Lady," as it is in the jokey doom's-day howl of "Monkberry Moon Delight," as it is in the Buddy Holly-inspired sexual innuendo of "Eat at Home."

 That said, for all of McCartney's furious creativity, the loss of longtime writing partner John Lennon — not to mention Beatles producer George Martin — can be keenly felt at times.

"Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey," for instance, always seemed to miniaturize everything McCartney once strove for with Abbey Road, feeling more calculatedly twee than truly inspired, despite its episodic construction. Ultimately, no matter how many copies it sold as a single, this is Ram's most obvious indulgence. The principal weakness that Paul McCartney has always had, the one that the Beatles at their best seemed to so deftly obscure, is fully exposed: He's so well aware of his own charm.

Worse still: How Ram is hampered, even now, by the long-forgotten sniping then engulfing McCartney and Lennon — from the haughty sermonizing of the opening track "Too Many People" to the rather silly conceit that his photographer wife was somehow stepping in for John Lennon as collaborator, from the unselfconscious contempt of "Dear Boy" (which Lennon felt was about him) to the utterly unsubtle cover image of two beetles copulating.

At the time, for some reason, both of these former bandmates were making a habit of fighting their battles through the medium of music, and the albums were poorer for it. (As delicious as Lennon's "How Do You Sleep?" might have seemed at the time, for instance, it really didn't jibe with the utopian sentiment of the title track from the same album, you know?)

 McCartney is, at this point, still bursting with post-Beatles ideas — and it gives this album a dizzying momentum. Even his stand-alone non-album efforts from the period, collected on subsequent reissues, end up as interesting asides. "Another Day" is like a lesser "Penny Lane." "Oh Woman, Oh Why" has always been blessedly, truly weird, with McCartney staring down the barrel of a pissed-off lady's gun.

The most intriguing moment might just be "The Back Seat of My Car," his soaringly constructed, yet desperately sad closing track on Ram.

In keeping with the rest of this project, the song is a little unfocused — too overstuffed with ideas, too reliant on multi-tracked McCartneys, not as rustic as his solo debut but somehow tossed-off sounding anyway – and simply too long. But yet it still perfectly encapsulates everything that makes Ram such a wildly inventive gem: It's gutsy and unprecious at one point and then a testament to McCartney's enduring pop sensibilities at others. As McCartney bolts from '50s-era rock to cocktail-lounge crooning to swooning violins, and back again — all inside of this one final tune, mind you — there is a sense of limitless possibility.

Neatly foreshadowing the quirky allure of today's homespun singer-songwriter projects, Ram certainly would have benefited from having someone else to bounce ideas off of, but its essential pop magnetism — its compulsively listenability — simply can't be denied”.

I am going to finish off with, as I do, a couple of positive reviews. Ram On, Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey and The Back Seat of My Car are McCartney classics. I love Linda McCartney’s backing vocals and her co-lead vocal on Long Haired Lady. The whole album is a real treat and, whilst Paul McCartney has released some sensational albums since 1971, I think that Ram is his best album outside of The Beatles and Wings. It is one of those albums that still sound remarkable and highlights keep forming. There are so many layers revealed the more you listen. In their review, this is what AllMusic wrote:

“After the breakup, Beatles fans expected major statements from the three chief songwriters in the Fab Four. John and George fulfilled those expectations -- Lennon with his lacerating, confessional John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, Harrison with his triple-LP All Things Must Pass -- but Paul McCartney certainly didn't, turning toward the modest charms of McCartney, and then crediting his wife Linda as a full-fledged collaborator on its 1971 follow-up, Ram. Where McCartney was homemade, sounding deliberately ragged in parts, Ram had a fuller production yet retained that ramshackle feel, sounding as if it were recorded in a shack out back, not far from the farm where the cover photo of Paul holding the ram by the horns was taken. It's filled with songs that feel tossed off, filled with songs that are cheerfully, incessantly melodic; it turns the monumental symphonic sweep of Abbey Road into a cheeky slice of whimsy on the two-part suite "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey."

All this made Ram an object of scorn and derision upon its release (and for years afterward, in fact), but in retrospect it looks like nothing so much as the first indie pop album, a record that celebrates small pleasures with big melodies, a record that's guileless and unembarrassed to be cutesy. But McCartney never was quite the sap of his reputation, and even here, on possibly his most precious record, there's some ripping rock & roll in the mock-apocalyptic goof "Monkberry Moon Delight," the joyfully noisy "Smile Away," where his feet can be smelled a mile away, and "Eat at Home," a rollicking, winking sex song. All three of these are songs filled with good humor, and their foundation in old-time rock & roll makes it easy to overlook how inventive these productions are, but on the more obviously tuneful and gentle numbers -- the ones that are more quintessentially McCartney-esque -- it's plain to see how imaginative and gorgeous the arrangements are, especially on the sad, soaring finale, "Back Seat of My Car," but even on its humble opposite, the sweet "Heart of the Country." These songs may not be self-styled major statements, but they are endearing and enduring, as is Ram itself, which seems like a more unique, exquisite pleasure with each passing year”.,

I am looking forwards to the half-speed mastered version of Ram arriving in May. A few remarkable albums turn fifty this year, but I think that Ram is one of the finest and most interesting of them all. It is Paul and Linda McCartney at their harmonious and inspired best. Whereas McCartney arrived very soon after The Beatles’ break-up and one can feel a sense of anxiety, there is a different sound and mood on Ram.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Paul and Linda McCartney in 1971/PHOTO CREDIT: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Ram was reissued back in 2012. I want to bring in portions of Pitchfork’s review of that album. They had a lot of love to offer one of the best albums of the 1970s:

“The joy of paying close attention to Ram is gradually discovering that Paul was humming darker things under his breath than it seemed. "Smile Away", for instance, is a messy, romping slab of Buddy Holly rock. Paul makes a joke about his stinky feet. The chorus goes "Smile away, smile away, smile away, smile away, smile away." But it's not just "smile," a brief, cost-free act that can last a second. It's "Smile Away", keeping a fixed grin as conversation grows unpleasant. In interviews of the period, Paul was asked repeatedly if he felt lost without his collaborating partner, if he was motivated solely by commercial success, how he felt about being "the cute Beatle." The backing vocal chant behind "Smile Away" goes, by turns, "Don't know how to do that" and "Learning how to do that." "Smile away horribly, now," Paul slurs over the song's fadeout. Yes, he's fine. No, he and Linda will not become the next "John and Yoko." But thanks so much for asking. If you tell a dog it's a brainless fleabag with the same tone of voice you use to say "Good boy," it will still wag its tail.

 The album is riddled with dark grace notes like this: "Monkberry Moon Delight" has an absolutely unhinged vocal take, Paul gulping and sobbing right next to your inner ear. The imagery is surrealist, but anything but whimsical: "When a rattle of rats had awoken/ The sinews, the nerves, and the veins," he bellows. It could be a latter-day Tom Waits performance. "Too Many People" opens with Paul warbling "piece of cake," but the lyrics themselves wag their finger at societal injustices, former bandmates-- basically everybody. The lyrics to "3 Legs" are full of hobbling animals with missing limbs.

The almost-title song "Ram On", could serve as the album's redeeming spirit: A haunting, indelible little tune drifts past on ukulele as Paul croons, "Ram on, give your heart to somebody/ Soon, right away." The title is a play on his old stage name "Paul Ramon," which makes the song a private little prayer; a mirror image, perhaps, to John Lennon's "Hold On". The song is reprised, late in the record, functioning like a calming breeze. "I want a horse, I want a sheep/ Want to get me a good night's sleep," Paul jauntily sings on "Heart of the Country", a city boy's vision of the country if ever there was one, and another clue to the record's mindstate. For Paul, the country isn't just a place where crops grow; it's "a place where holy people grow." Now that American cities everywhere are having their Great Pastoral Moment, full of artisans churning goat's-milk yogurt and canning their own jams, Ram feels like particularly ripe fruit”.

Fifty years after the release of the magnificent Ram and we still have Paul McCartney making incredible music and keeping busy (Linda sadly died in 1998). If you can afford the vinyl for the anniversary release then it is well worth the money. Just one spin of Ram and one is truly…

BEGUILLED and amazed.

FEATURE: Vinyl Corner: John Grant - Pale Green Ghosts

FEATURE:

 

 

Vinyl Corner

John Grant - Pale Green Ghosts

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BECAUSE there is some…

John Grant news and future album action, I wanted to include his second solo album, Pale Green Ghosts, in Vinyl Corner. His album, Boy from Michigan, arrives on 25th June. He unveiled the title track on 24th March and, after one listen, it is clear that Grant is on peak form! I want to return to 2013 and the brilliant Pale Green Ghosts. One should buy the album on vinyl, as it is a wonderful thing:

“Pale Green Ghosts is the second solo album by former The Czars frontman John Grant, released on March 11, 2013 on the Bella Union label. Pale Green Ghosts was recorded in Reykjavík, Iceland with Icelandic electronic musician Birgir Þórarinsson (a.k.a. Biggi Veira) of electro-pop group Gus Gus, and also features a range of local musicians on the album as well as Sinéad O'Connor singing backing vocals.

The title refers to the Russian olive trees that stand along the I-25 highway near Grant's family home in the small town of Parker, Colorado”.

I am going to bring in a couple of positive reviews for Pale Green Ghosts in a minute. First, I want to bring in some snippets from an interview from The Guardian. We learn about Grant’s HIV diagnosis, life after The Czars, and what it was like recording his new album:

“As soon as he landed in Sweden, Grant had to find a doctor. A week later the test results confirmed his fears: he was HIV positive.

"I was in shock," he says, falteringly, sitting on a couch in his west London hotel room, clutching a cushion to his chest. "It was a really, really dark time." With his strong brow and heavy beard, the burly 44-year-old has the face of a melancholy Viking.

The diagnosis comes up within the first 10 minutes of the interview, in response to a simple question about why making his new album, Pale Green Ghosts, took longer than expected. I would be taken aback by Grant's candour had I not already seen him break the news on stage last summer, to the immense surprise and confusion of the audience, while performing at London's Meltdown festival with New York disco act Hercules and Love Affair.

Even though he recorded the new album in his adopted Reykjavik, with Biggi Veira of electro-pop group GusGus, it's a record consumed by his past. "It's about putting a puzzle together," he says. "You're trying to figure stuff out." The title refers to the Russian olive trees that stand along the I-25 highway near his family home in the small town of Parker, Colorado. "They have these pale green leaves with a silvery back, so they're sort of luminescent in the moonlight," he says, enraptured. "And at the end of May every year, like clockwork, they grow these tiny little yellow flowers that exude the most beautiful fragrance I've ever smelled."

In 2004, after a decade of good reviews and poor sales, the rest of the Czars abandoned Grant, and he doesn't blame them. He joined AA, moved to New York and quit music to become a hospital interpreter. It was with great reluctance that he finally accepted an invitation to join the band Midlake in Denton, Texas to work on Queen of Denmark in 2009. It turned out to be a joyous and transformational creative experience, but other areas of his life were in chaos.

Only after his HIV diagnosis has Grant accepted that he hadn't conquered his addiction but simply transferred it from substances to sex. "If I can't go out and do fat rails [of cocaine] off the bathroom floor at a club, I want to at least have my sex, because sex is natural. Nobody's going to deny me that, right? But that's just cheating. I was out there fucking for a purpose, to hurt myself, to punish myself for not being good enough. And when I realised I had to deal with that too, I was just so tired. I was like, Are you kidding me? I can't relate in a normal way to anything! I mean, it's enough to make you despair."

There has been so much drama in Grant's life that one can't help but dwell on it, which makes him seem more serious and self-obsessed than he is. Give him the option and he will talk eloquently about gay rights, the Pussy Riot case or the confounding complexity of Icelandic grammar, which challenges even a polyglot "language freak" like Grant. But he keeps getting sucked back into mysteries even more unfathomable”.

I really love his fourth studio album, Love Is Magic, of 2018, though I feel his first couple of solo albums are his best. Queen of Denmark is his phenomenal debut. I think Pale Green Ghosts is a worthy and very solid follow-up.

Pale Green Ghosts accrued some love and positivity from critics. I will quote from a deep review in a second but, now, a briefer one from NME:

“Three songs in, former Czars singer John Grant brands himself “the greatest motherfucker”. You can kinda see what he’s getting at because, for his second album, he’s all but ditched the ’70s soft-rock sound of debut ‘Queen Of Denmark’ in favour of dark ’80s electro. The risk pays off. Grant’s rich voice dovetails beautifully with the silvery synths of ‘GMF’ and ‘Vietnam’, and he gets away with channelling The Human League on ‘Black Belt’. His lyrics are brave, too – see ‘Ernest Borgnine’, where he wryly references his HIV-positive status. He said it best himself: this is audacious stuff from one talented motherfucker”.

In another review, Alex Pedtridis of The Guardian had a lot of kind things to say about one of the strongest albums of 2013:

“As anyone who's spent an evening nodding understandingly while a friend bangs on and on and on about their ex will attest, there are more enjoyable and rewarding ways to spend your time. It says something about Grant's confounding brilliance as a songwriter that it's hard to imagine a more enjoyable and rewarding hour of music being released this year than Pale Green Ghosts. Whether detailing the agonising death throes of a relationship – or rather, his relationship – on You Don't Have To, or enumerating his multiple personal failings on GMF, his lyrics are frequently astonishing, filled with vivid metaphors and perfect comic timing. Depression, he suggests at one point, is like "a cold, concrete room with fluorescent lighting", adding: "Which, as you know, makes everything look bad".

The album's closer, Glacier, offers what you might conceivably describe as seven minutes of inspirational messages for teenagers who find themselves in the position Grant was once himself in, growing up gay in a religious household. But that makes it sound awful, and Glacier is variously funny, wise, foul-mouthed with rage and impossibly moving. "This pain that's moving through you is like a glacier," he sings, "carving out deep valleys and creating spectacular landscapes, and nourishing the ground with precious metals and other stuff." There's something about that vague, dismissive "and other stuff" that both leavens the mood and makes the song's emotional punch even more winding.

A collaboration with Birgir Thórarinsson of Icelandic electronic experimentalists Gus Gus, it's undoubtedly a darker and harsher-sounding album than its predecessor. Some of the soft-rock lushness the Texas band Midlake brought to Queen of Denmark has been stripped away and replaced by sparse electronics and occasionally rather ominous-sounding string arrangements: the words of Ernest Borgnine address Grant's HIV diagnosis with a combination of black humour and stoical determination, but the music tells a slightly different story. It swims around his voice, dislocated and presageful; the opening synth riff sounds as if it's falling apart as it plays. But Grant's way with a melody never fails him, even when his lyrics are at their most dyspeptic. In fact, you sometimes get the sense that the more likely the song's words are to tie your stomach in knots, the more likely they are to come couched in a warm, gorgeously lulling tune. If our old chum TC thinks his depiction in It Doesn't Matter to Him errs on the unfair side, he can always console himself with the fact that he inadvertently inspired an exquisite piece of music. In fact, he's inadvertently inspired a genuinely remarkable album: self-obsessed but completely compelling, profoundly discomforting but beautiful, lost in its own fathomless personal misery, but warm, funny and wise. It shouldn't work, but it does”.

In preparation for new John Grant material, I have been revisiting some of his previous work. I think that Pale Green Ghosts is one of his very finest releases; an album that offers so much to the listener. One of the most original and popular voices in music, go and buy this album in vinyl if you can. Ahead of the release of Boy from Michigan, revisit the wonderful…

PALE Green Ghosts.

FEATURE: Brief Return: Kate Bush and the Q Interview of 2001

FEATURE:

 

 

Brief Return

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush with John Lydon at the Q Awards in October 2001 

Kate Bush and the Q Interview of 2001

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THIS is the final feature…

that I will take from the MOJO edition that came out recently. Among the Kate Bush features that were in there, one that really struck me was a great and memorable interview that she provided to Q in 2001. To mark twenty years (almost) since Bush briefly returned to the media spotlight, I wanted to provide some reflections on that interview. There is a great photo in the magazine with Bush at the Q Awards in October 2001 with one of her heroes, John Lydon. I remember that time and, as it was a month after the terrorist attacks in the U.S., the atmosphere must have been less jovial and celebratory than unusual. John Hazelwood writes for MOJO and he started off the article by asking why Bush sort of came out of a wilderness and spoke to Q. Her last album was 1993’s The Red Shoes; it would be another four years before she came out with the double album, Aerial. As that album was in her mind in 2001, maybe she was keen to talk about music or, knowing the album might not come out for a while, show the public that she was still about! In 1998, Bush became a mother. The public were informed of that through newspaper stories and rumours. I can understand why Bush would have wanted to engage with a magazine and make an appearance.

Bush said herself that it was weird that she was giving an interview when she had no work out. I suppose that is the way we have been conditioned: that actors, musicians and anyone in the creative industries only conducts interviews when they have something to sell; the fact that they would agree to an interview without that motivation seems strange. Regardless, Bush was doing something very rare in music (especially for someone as popular as her) and there were clear nerves from her. Q was MOJO’s sister magazine (it sadly came to an end last year). I love how Hazelwood describes his meeting with Bush. She wanted to control her nerves by taking control of the in interview. Having the setting as one of the Harrods restaurants might not be the most obvious location for an interview but, as he says, she was hiding in plain sight – nobody clocked her or made a fuss. Indeed, Hazelwood wondered if he would recognise Bush when he walked in! The fact that she looked like a slightly older version of her younger self meant that, instantly, any potential embarrassment was averted. There was a mix of the extravagant and homely – just what you would expect from Kate Bush! She was in quite a posh setting but, rather than being flanked by a team and creating a tense environment, she was on a shopping trip with her family.

With Danny McIntosh and her young son, Bertie, she could kill two birds with one stone by getting some shopping done and doing an interview (as one does!). I am not sure whether she would have seen it as a massive deal. So many years after her last interview and round of promotion, few would have expected any word from her! Bertie and his dad departed, so it was left to Bush and Hazelwood to chat. In chronological terms, I suppose the short film, The Line, the Cross and the Curve was one of the most recent and discussion-worthy jumping-off points. Bush stated how she regretted doing it: “I was so tired. I’m very pleased with four minutes of it, but very disappointed with the rest”. Bush stated (perhaps unfairly) how she blew the chance to make something big and important. To be fair, she was biting off a lot by writing, directing as well as appearing in the film. If she had let someone else direct then that might have resulted in a better product. Bush was directing videos and fully involved in the creative process, so I can appreciate why she was determined to take on all these duties. She wanted the film to resemble, as closely as possible, what she had in mind. As she had recorded The Red Shoes and things were pretty hectic; maybe her quality control and concentration was not at a high level.  

I really like The Line, the Cross and the Curve, though the gulf between expectation and the final result must have been quite extreme. Bush explained how she was seen in a negative light at that point, much like she was when The Dreaming arrived in 1982 – “It dissipated my energy severely and threw me into a state of exhaustion. You just get worn down”. The fact that her mother, Hannah, died in 1992 and she had this couple of years of negativity and depression resulted in her stepping away from the limelight. Many people ask why Bush ‘disappeared’. She was not being reclusive or quitting music. Instead, she was still mourning her mother’s death and having to process some of the most negative press of her career. She also broke up with her long-time boyfriend, Del Palmer, around this same period. It was a devastating and hard time where she felt detachment was a way to cope. Watching, as she said, a lot of rubbish T.V. and not being motivated to work, it is as bit of a blessing that Bush was able to recover, be inspired to work and not retire from music. The fact she found new love and meaning is a big reason why she wanted to be interviewed in 2001. As she told Hazelwood: “…I look at him and I know it does”. She was referring to a belief in magic after the birth of her son.

Clearly, Bush was in a much better headspace and she had recovered a lot of purpose and happiness since 1993. Bush was asked whether she would want her son to follow her into music. She explained how she wants him to be happy; she knows how tough the industry can be. Asked whether her own music made her happy, Bush answered with “Yeah, sort of…”. Hazelwood raced ahead in time and noted how Bertie would become Albert. He would study Physics at Oxford University and join her on the stage for 2014’s Before the Dawn. Bush was giving an interview, I guess, to say to fans and her label at the time (EMI) to be patient and she was still very much around. She had bought herself time with Bertie and being in a family. That familial setting and happiness inspired a lot of Aerial and, with that, she would go on to undertake new interviews. As we look ahead to twenty years since that interview, there has almost been as long a gap as the seven or eight years between The Red Shoes and the 2001 Q interview. She did some interviews in 2016 to promote the live album of her Before the Dawn residency but, since then, there has been very little. Maybe we will not see a similar interview where Bush speaks with a magazine or newspaper a few years before a new album comes out. A lot has changed since 2001. She has a grown-up son and there is probably not the same expectation for her to come back. After a bad year in 1993 and some bad press, the fact she started a new family meant, to me, an album was inevitable. Maybe she will follow 50 Words for Snow soon but, with so many magazine features and books about her being released, we have plenty to keep us occupied! I love the MOJO spread regarding the Q interview. Who else but Bush would hold an interview at a Harrods restaurant and talk about her past work just after her family has left to do some shopping?! Thinking about it and it…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush during her Before the Dawn residency in 2014/PHOTO CREDIT: Ken McKay/Rex Features

COULD only be her!

FEATURE: One Love: Massive Attack’s Game-Changing Debut Album, Blue Lines, at Thirty

FEATURE:

 

 

One Love

Massive Attack’s Game-Changing Debut Album, Blue Lines, at Thirty

___________

I am going to lean heavily…

on other writers and features because, when it comes to an album as important and scene-shifting as Massive Attack’s debut, Blue Lines, I cannot do it full justice! I just want to nod to an album that has made such an impact on so many people’s lives through the years. Whilst we were seeing incredible Hip-Hop and Rap emerge from the U.S. in the late-1980s and early-1990s, there was this movement in the U.K. that was very much our own. Whether you see Massive Attack as pioneers of Trip-Hop or a British form of Hip-Hop, it was an exciting time for music! I associate 1991 with being all about Pop and Hip-Hop, yet there was this movement forming in Bristol that was incredibly inventive and fresh. Massive Attack formed in 1988 in Bristol, by Robert ‘3D’ Del Naja, Adrian ‘Tricky’ Thaws, Andrew ‘Mushroom’ Vowles and Grant ‘Daddy G’ Marshall. Although Blue Lines (released on 8th April, 1991) is a monumental record, the band did put out other genius albums – including 1994’s Protection and 1998’s Mezzanine. I think that Blue Lines is not only one of the biggest Trip-Hop albums of all-time. It is one of the greatest albums full stop. I am bringing in a couple of Blue Line reviews to end this feature. I want to borrow heavily from a feature on the Albuism website from 2016, as they marked twenty-five years of a classic. The story behind Blue Lines is fascinating:

“The trio of Robert “3D” Del Naja, Grant “Daddy G” Marshall, and Andrew “Mushroom” Vowles is most commonly regarded as one of the driving forces behind the emergence of trip-hop, the musical style that developed in the early-to-mid 1990s, predicated upon the confluence of electronic, hip-hop, reggae, dub, bass, R&B, funk, and jazz music, among other sonic inspirations. However, the media-constructed term itself didn’t formally enter the musical lexicon until June 1994, when Mixmag journalist Andy Pemberton coined it in reference to “In/Flux,” one of DJ Shadow’s earliest singles. By that time, Massive Attack’s career had already been evolving for a handful of years, so the trip-hop label was subsequently bestowed upon them and retroactively applied to their initial recordings.

From their earliest days to their aforementioned recent recordings, Massive Attack have avoided succumbing to narcissism and the celebrity spotlight, as their mugs have never appeared on any of their albums or singles’ front covers. It would seem, then, that the group prefers for their music, and not their faces, to define their artistic identity whilst preserving their professional integrity. Moreover, their reputation as ambassadors of the so-called Bristol Sound has always seemed to make the group a bit uneasy. “There’s this Bristol myth,” a dismissive 3D insisted during an April 1991 NME interview. “Everyone talks about a Bristol sound, but half our album was done in London and the video for ‘Unfinished Sympathy’ was shot in LA.”

Geographical contextualization aside, Blue Lines, their debut long player from which the masterful “Unfinished Sympathy” originates, was a landmark achievement at the time of its release. Together with Soul II Soul’s Club Classics Vol. One (1989), The KLF’s White Room (1991), LFO’s Frequencies (1991), The Orb’s The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld (1991), and Primal Scream’s Screamadelica (1991), Blue Lines proved a vital blueprint for the proliferation of British dance music as the end of the 20th century approached. Its mellifluous mélange of various inspirations characterized by assorted hip-hop breakbeats, expertly selected samples (Billy Cobham, Funkadelic, Al Green, Isaac Hayes, etc.), dense dub rhythms, cerebral rhymes, and soulful guest vocals is unabashedly reverential to the past, but still represents a fresh and novel sound imitated by no one at the time.

Recorded in Bristol and London in 1990 into early 1991 and released on their own Wild Bunch imprint by way of Virgin/Circa, Blue Lines was the outcome not just of Massive Attack’s musical vision, but also a fair amount of coaxing by one of the group’s most devoted champions. “We were lazy Bristol twats,” Daddy G conceded to The Observer in 2004. “It was Neneh Cherry who kicked our arses and got us in the studio. We recorded a lot at her house, in her baby's room. It stank for months and eventually we found a dirty nappy behind a radiator. I was still DJing, but what we were trying to do was create dance music for the head, rather than the feet. I think it's our freshest album, we were at our strongest then.” Executive produced by Cherry’s musical collaborator and husband, Cameron “Booga Bear” McVey, the album was co-produced by the group and the late Jonny Dollar. (As a side note, due to assumed sensitivities concerning the Persian Gulf War raging at the time of the album's completion and per McVey's urging, the initial pressings of Blue Lines and the "Unfinished Sympathy" single were adorned with the temporarily abbreviated band moniker "Massive." A ceasefire was declared on February 28, 1991, and "Attack" was then reincorporated for all subsequent LP pressings and singles.)

Album opener and third single “Safe From Harm” offers one of the album’s most dramatic and foreboding arrangements, largely built around the sample of the revered jazz fusion composer Billy Cobham’s “Stratus” (1973). The track’s subdued, swirling sonics provide the perfect backdrop for Nelson’s defiant voice to shine, as she vows to protect her “baby” amidst the inevitable madness of the world and convincingly admonishes “if you hurt what's mine / I'll sure as hell retaliate.”

Though Nelson casts a wide spell across Blue Lines, the same can absolutely be said for the prolific, sweet-voiced reggae crooner Horace Andy, who features on three tracks with the geopolitically charged album closer “Hymn of the Big Wheel” the most memorable of the bunch. Andy assumes a paternal tone throughout the track, as he reflects on life (“the wheel”) and the human struggle to preserve one’s innocence in the midst of the world’s destructive forces. He laments the environmental impact of industrialization across the song’s most poignant verse:

We sang about the sun and danced among the trees / And we listened to the whisper of the city on the breeze / Will you cry in the most in a lead-free zone / Down within the shadows where the factories drone / On the surface of the wheel they build another town / And so the green come tumbling down / Yes close your eyes and hold me tight / And I'll show you sunset sometime again

Despite its plaintive lyrics, “Hymn of the Big Wheel” concludes with a redemptive refrain, as the sanguine Andy surmises “The ghetto sun will nurture life / and mend my soul sometime again.”

In the twenty-five years since Massive Attack dropped Blue Lines, the group has persevered through inter-band turmoil, departures, and reunions to cultivate one of the most indispensable discographies of the past few decades, with Protection (1994) and Mezzanine (1998) completing their trio of transcendent album masterpieces. For better or worse, they will likely forever be regarded as the patriarchs of trip-hop, with Blue Lines the natural precursor to other esteemed debut LPs with parallel sonic pedigrees and structures, such as Portishead’s Dummy (1994) and their long-time comrade Tricky’s Maxinquaye (1995).

With no pun intended, trip-hop is a tricky term, a la the equally contrived “neo-soul.” Particularly so when artists’ musical identities are more broadly associated with a genre or movement, which unfairly obscures the merits of their specific works.  Indeed, such media-driven, cookie-cutter categorization risks diminishing the uniqueness and dynamism of a band like Massive Attack. But those able to cast such superfluous labels aside recognize Massive Attack’s music for what is fundamentally is. Quite simply, great music”.

It is no surprise that such a bold and brilliant album got critics talking in 1991! I want to bring in a couple of retrospective reviews that show, no matter when critics approach Blue Lines, it resonates and leaves a mark. This is what AllMusic said in their review:

“The first masterpiece of what was only termed trip-hop much later, Blue Lines filtered American hip-hop through the lens of British club culture, a stylish, nocturnal sense of scene that encompassed music from rare groove to dub to dance. The album balances dark, diva-led club jams along the lines of Soul II Soul with some of the best British rap (vocals and production) heard up to that point, occasionally on the same track. The opener "Safe from Harm" is the best example, with diva vocalist Shara Nelson trading off lines with the group's own monotone (yet effective) rapping. Even more than hip-hop or dance, however, dub is the big touchstone on Blue Lines. Most of the productions aren't quite as earthy as you'd expect, but the influence is palpable in the atmospherics of the songs, like the faraway electric piano on "One Love" (with beautiful vocals from the near-legendary Horace Andy). One track, "Five Man Army," makes the dub inspiration explicit, with a clattering percussion line, moderate reverb on the guitar and drums, and Andy's exquisite falsetto flitting over the chorus. Blue Lines isn't all darkness, either -- "Be Thankful for What You've Got" is quite close to the smooth soul tune conjured by its title, and "Unfinished Sympathy" -- the group's first classic production -- is a tremendously moving fusion of up-tempo hip-hop and dancefloor jam with slow-moving, syrupy strings. Flaunting both their range and their tremendously evocative productions, Massive Attack recorded one of the best dance albums of all time”.

I want to end by sourcing from an extensive Pitchfork review from 2012 (they reviewed the box-set of Blue Lines):

“In fact, those Raw Like Sushi credits (Vowles' for programming, Del Naja's for co-writing "Manchild") were the only real music-industry bona fides any of the principal contributors to Blue Lines had going into it, aside from vocalists Shara Nelson and roots reggae veteran Horace Andy. But somehow the group realized a remarkable and seamless sonic identity. That's clear from the arresting opener "Safe From Harm", which spins an aggressive drumbeat, Del Naja's rap, Nelson's soulful vocals, and a mist of sustained minor-key synths around an intimidatingly muscular bass loop. From that moment, every major part of the Massive Attack profile is already present, from the collaging of genres to the spacious, nocturnal sonic environment to the heavy dose of paranoia that permeates it all.

They spend the rest of the album exploring variations on these themes. "One Love," with Andy on vocals, has a digital dancehall feel, a creepy-funky electric piano riff, and a scratched sample of a blaring horn section that predates Pharoahe Monch's "Simon Says" by almost a decade. "Daydreaming", with its scratchy breakbeat drums, is more directly hip-hop than most of the rest of the album, but the layers of atmospheric synthesizers and Tricky's felonious near-whisper make it clear that Massive Attack was up to something entirely different from what every other rap producer at the time was doing.

Blue Lines brought producers around to its unique vision. By the time Massive released Protection three years later, the group's renegade approach had been copied enough times to become a full-on movement. They'd go on to produce their masterpiece, Mezzanine, a couple of years after, but by then the project had already started to splinter. Tricky split from the collective after Protection to follow his own solo vision, while the core trio behind it would eventually burn out acrimoniously, with Vowles and then Marshall leaving Del Naja to produce increasingly less rewarding music under the group's name. Meanwhile, trip-hop in general had its edges polished off by genteel musicians who transformed it into soundtracks for fashionable hotel lobbies.

Still, that doesn't change the fact that Blue Lines was a startling record when it came out, and it remains one now. For this reissue it received a new mix and a new mastering job straight from the original tapes. It's available as a CD, in digital form in standard and high fidelity formats, and as a set of two LPs and a DVD of high resolution audio files. There aren't any bonus tracks, and aside from a reproduction promo poster in the vinyl edition there aren't any add-ons either. Frankly they'd just be a distraction from the underlying theme that becomes clear once you get absorbed into the music, which is that Blue Lines is still Blue Lines, and most of the world is still trying to catch up to it”.

I should have put Blue Lines in Vinyl Corner (I might have already done so thinking about it). That said, I would encourage people to own Blue Lines on vinyl as it such a phenomenal album that sound great on that format! From the epic and peerless Unfinish Sympathy to the phenomenal and intense opener of Safe from Harm, Blue Lines is a masterpiece! Ahead of its thirtieth anniversary on 8th April, I wanted to pay my respects and give my thanks to…

MASSIVE Attack’s spectacular debut.

FEATURE: The Lockdown Playlist: The Best of Pharrell Williams

FEATURE:

 

 

The Lockdown Playlist

PHOTO CREDIT: Brian Bowen Smith/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images 

The Best of Pharrell Williams

___________

IN this Pharrell Williams…

birthday Lockdown Playlist, I am not including songs that he has performed and written as the main focus (though he does appear on some of the tracks). As a tremendous and broad producer, this is a collection of songs where Williams is credited as a producer. If you are not familiar with him, here is some information:

“Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (/fəˈrɛl/; born April 5, 1973) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, fashion designer and entrepreneur. Alongside close friend Chad Hugo, he formed the hip hop and R&B production duo The Neptunes in the early 1990s, with whom he has produced songs for various recording artists. In 1999, he became lead vocalist of the band N.E.R.D., which he formed with Hugo and Shay Haley.

Williams released his debut solo album, In My Mind, in 2006. In 2013, he was featured on the song "Blurred Lines" with Robin Thicke and T.I., and his song "Happy" was the lead single for the soundtrack of the film Despicable Me 2. In the same year, he was featured on Daft Punk's single "Get Lucky", which won Record of the Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 56th Grammy Awards.[6] His second album, Girl, was released in 2014.

Williams has received numerous accolades and nominations. He has won 13 Grammy Awards, including three for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical (one as a member of The Neptunes). He is also a two-time Academy Award nominee: in 2014 for Best Original Song, for "Happy" (from Despicable Me 2); and in 2017 for Best Picture, as a producer of Hidden Figures”.

To nod to and honour some of his incredible production skills, this Lockdown Playlist salutes Pharrell Williams ahead of his birthday on 5th April. Much respect to a…

TREMDNOUS and hugely influential talent.

FEATURE: I Want to Tell You: The Seven Best Tracks from The Beatles’ 1966 Album, Revolver

FEATURE:

 

I Want to Tell You

The Seven Best Tracks from The Beatles’ 1966 Album, Revolver

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AS 6th April…

 IN THIS PHOTO: The Beatles in Washington D.C. on 13th August, 1966

marks fifty-five years since the first session of what would become The Beatles’ album, Revolver, started, this feature commemorates that. The iconic foursome started in the evening at Abbey Road Studios, with the recording of the basic track of a new John Lennon song, Tomorrow Never Knows. In terms of ambition, they were going in with the most complex and highly-regarded song! Here is some more information regarding a hugely important date:

“Recording 'Mark I' (working title of `Tomorrow Never Knows')(takes 1-3). Studio 3. Abbey Road.

"John showed up with a song after we'd had a couple of days off. I remember being in Brian Epstein's house in Chapel Street in Belgravia. We met up and John had a song that was all on the chord of C, which in our minds was a perfectly good idea.

I was wondering how George Martin was going to take it, because it was a radical departure; we'd always had at least three chords, and maybe a change for the middle eight. Suddenly this was John just strumming on C rather earnestly - 'Lay down your mind…' And the words were all very deep and meaningful - certainly not 'Thank You Girl'; a bit of a change from all that.

George Martin took it very well. He said, 'Rather interesting, John. Jolly interesting!' So we got in and recorded it as a fairly straightforward rock'n'roll band thing." - Paul, from The Beatles Anthology”.

The fourteen-track album is not only one of the best from The Beatles; it is one of the very best albums that has ever been released. To mark the first Revolver recording session, I have selected the seven best tracks from the album. It is hard to cut the album in half like that, such is the quality throughout! Here are my seven favourite cuts from a hugely influential album. On 6th April, it will be fifty-five years since The Beatles started work on…

A timeless masterpiece.

__________________

Eleanor Rigby

Main Songwriter: Paul McCartney

Recorded: 28th–29th April and 6th June, 1966

Length: 2:07

Paul McCartney: vocals

John Lennon: harmony vocals

George Harrison: harmony vocals

Tony Gilbert, Sidney Sax, John Sharpe, Jurgen Hess: violin

Stephen Shingles, John Underwood: viola

Derek Simpson, Norman Jones: cello

“Paul McCartney came up with the initial idea in the music room in the basement of Jane Asher’s family home in Wimpole Street, London.

I wrote it at the piano, just vamping an E minor chord; letting that stay as a vamp and putting a melody over it, just danced over the top of it. It has almost Asian Indian rhythms.

Paul McCartney, Many Years From Now, Barry Miles” – The Beatles Bible

Here, There and Everywhere

Main Songwriter: Paul McCartney

Recorded: 14th, 16th and 17th June, 1966

Length: 2:25

Paul McCartney: vocals, acoustic guitar, bass, finger clicks

John Lennon: backing vocals, finger clicks

George Harrison: backing vocals, lead guitar, finger clicks

Ringo Starr: drums, finger clicks

“Interestingly, McCartney claims to have had a demo version in March 1965, while The Beatles filmed Help! in Obertauern, Austria.

John and I shared a room and we were taking off our heavy ski boots after a day’s filming, ready to have a shower and get ready for the nice bit, the evening meal and the drinks. We were playing a cassette of our new recordings and my song ‘Here, There And Everywhere’ was on. And I remember John saying, ‘You know, I probably like that better than any of my songs on the tape.’ Coming from John, that was high praise indeed.

Paul McCartney, Anthology” – The Beatles Bible

Yellow Submarine

Main Songwriter: Paul McCartney

Recorded: 26th May and 1st June, 1966

Length: 2:39

Ringo Starr: vocals, drums

John Lennon: backing vocals, acoustic guitar

Paul McCartney: backing vocals, bass

George Harrison: backing vocals, tambourine

Mal Evans: backing vocals, bass drum

Neil Aspinall, George Martin, Geoff Emerick, Pattie Harrison, Brian Jones, Marianne Faithfull, Alf Bicknell: backing vocals

“Released as a double a-side with ‘Eleanor Rigby’, ‘Yellow Submarine’ has become a divisive song among Beatles fans. To many it’s a charming singalong for all ages; for others, it’s one of the band’s weakest moments, and an unnecessary bout of whimsy on the otherwise flawless Revolver.

I don’t actually know where they got the idea for it; I just felt it was a really interesting track for me to do. I’d been doing a lot of covers. At that time I did either covers or something they wrote specifically for me.

Ringo Starr, Anthology

I remember lying in bed one night, in that moment before you’re falling asleep – that little twilight moment when a silly idea comes into your head – and thinking of ‘Yellow Submarine’: ‘We all live in a yellow submarine…’

I quite like children’s things; I like children’s minds and imagination. So it didn’t seem uncool to me to have a pretty surreal idea that was also a children’s idea. I thought also, with Ringo being so good with children – a knockabout uncle type – it might not be a bad idea for him to have a children’s song, rather than a very serious song. He wasn’t that keen on singing.

Paul McCartney, Anthology” – The Beatles Bible

She Said She Said

Main Songwriter: John Lennon

Recorded: 21st June, 1966

Length: 2:36

John Lennon: vocals, rhythm guitar, Hammond organ

George Harrison: backing vocals, lead guitar, bass guitar

Ringo Starr: drums, shaker

“The final track recorded for Revolver, ‘She Said She Said’ was inspired by an LSD-influenced conversation between John Lennon and actor Peter Fonda.

During The Beatles’ US tour in the summer of 1965, they rented a house in Los Angeles’ Mulholland Drive. On 24 August they played host to Roger McGuinn and David Crosby of The Byrds, and the two parties, apart from Paul McCartney, spent the day tripping on LSD.

The actor Peter Fonda arrived at the house, also on acid. He attempted to comfort Harrison, who thought he was dying.

I told him there was nothing to be afraid of and that all he needed to do was relax. I said that I knew what it was like to be dead because when I was 10 years old I’d accidentally shot myself in the stomach and my heart stopped beating three times while I was on the operating table because I’d lost so much blood.

John was passing at the time and heard me saying ‘I know what it’s like to be dead’. He looked at me and said, ‘You’re making me feel like I’ve never been born. Who put all that shit in your head?’

Peter Fonda

Lennon recounted the incident in 1980 in one of his final interviews, speaking to a journalist from Playboy magazine.

It’s an interesting track. The guitars are great on it. That was written after an acid trip in LA during a break in The Beatles’ tour where we were having fun with The Byrds and lots of girls. Some from Playboy, I believe. Peter Fonda came in when we were on acid and he kept coming up to me and sitting next to me and whispering, ‘I know what it’s like to be dead.’

He was describing an acid trip he’d been on. We didn’t want to hear about that! We were on an acid trip and the sun was shining and the girls were dancing and the whole thing was beautiful and Sixties, and this guy – who I really didn’t know; he hadn’t made Easy Rider or anything – kept coming over, wearing shades, saying, ‘I know what it’s like to be dead,’ and we kept leaving him because he was so boring! And I used it for the song, but I changed it to ‘she’ instead of ‘he’. It was scary. You know, a guy… when you’re flying high and [whispers] ‘I know what it’s like to be dead, man.’ I remembered the incident. Don’t tell me about it! I don’t want to know what it’s like to be dead!

John Lennon, All We Are Saying, David Sheff” – The Beatles Bible

And Your Bird Can Sing

Main Songwriter: John Lennon

Recorded: 20th and 26th April, 1966

Length: 2:00

John Lennon: vocals, rhythm guitar, handclaps

Paul McCartney: backing vocals, lead guitar, bass, handclaps

George Harrison: backing vocals, lead guitar, handclaps

Ringo Starr: drums, tambourine, handclaps

“Written primarily by John Lennon, ‘And Your Bird Can Sing’ is notable mainly for its cryptic lyrics and the twin guitar riffs – played by Paul McCartney and George Harrison – that drive the song.

While Lennon never revealed the inspiration behind the song, it is believed to refer to the rivalry between The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Although the two groups were friends, Lennon saw the Stones as Beatles copyists, and the titular ‘bird’ may have been Marianne Faithfull.

Like ‘Rain’, ‘And Your Bird Can Sing’ hinted at knowledge denied to all but the enlightened, showing the influence of LSD. It is also likely that the oblique lyrics were an attempt at writing something akin to the wordplay of Bob Dylan, whose songs Lennon greatly admired.

Lennon was later dismissive of ‘And Your Bird Can Sing’, describing it as “a horror” and “throwaway”. Paul McCartney claims to have helped Lennon write the song.

‘And Your Bird Can Sing’ was John’s song. I suspect that I helped with the verses because the songs were nearly always written without second and third verses. I seem to remember working on that middle eight with him but it’s John’s song, 80-20 to John.

Paul McCartney, Many Years From Now, Barry Miles” – The Beatles Bible

For No One

Main Songwriter: Paul McCartney

Recorded: 9th, 16th and 19th May, 1966

Length: 2:00

Paul McCartney: vocals, bass, piano, clavichord

Ringo Starr: drums, tambourine, maracas

Alan Civil: horn

“‘For No One’, Paul McCartney’s meditation on the end of a love affair, was one of the highlights of the Revolver album.

The song was written in March 1966 while McCartney was on holiday with Jane Asher in Switzerland. It was originally called ‘Why Did It Die?’

I was in Switzerland on my first skiing holiday. I’d done a bit of skiing in Help! and quite liked it, so I went back and ended up in a little bathroom in a Swiss chalet writing ‘For No One’. I remember the descending bassline trick that it’s based on, and I remember the character in the song – the girl putting on her make-up.

Occasionally we’d have an idea for some new kind of instrumentation, particularly for solos… On ‘For No One’ I was interested in the French horn, because it was an instrument I’d always loved from when I was a kid. It’s a beautiful sound, so I went to George Martin and said, ‘How can we go about this?’ And he said, ‘Well, let me get the very finest.’

Paul McCartney, Anthology” – The Beatles Bible

Tomorrow Never Knows

Main Songwriter: John Lennon

Recorded: 6th, 7th and 22nd April, 1966

Length: 3:00

John Lennon: vocals, organ, tape loops

Paul McCartney: lead guitar, bass guitar, tape loops

George Harrison: guitar, sitar, tambura, tape loops

Ringo Starr: drums, tambourine, tape loops

George Martin: piano

“‘Tomorrow Never Knows’, the monumental closing track on Revolver, was also the first song to be recorded for the album.

While the title, like ‘A Hard Day’s Night’, was a Ringoism particularly liked by John Lennon, the lyrics were largely taken from The Psychedelic Experience, a 1964 book written by Harvard psychologists Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzner, and Richard Alpert, which contained an adaptation of the ancient Tibetan Book of the Dead.

Lennon discovered The Psychedelic Experience at the Indica bookshop, co-owned by Barry Miles. On 1 April 1966 Lennon and Paul McCartney visited the bookshop.

John wanted a book by what sounded like ‘Nitz Ga’. It took Miles a few minutes to realise that he was looking for the German philosopher Nietzsche, long enough for John to become convinced that he was being ridiculed. He launched into an attack on intellectuals and university students and was only mollified when Paul told him that he had not understood what John was asking for either, and that Miles was not a university graduate but had been to art college, just like him. Immediately friendly again, John talked about Allen Ginsberg and the Beats, laughing about his school magazine the Daily Howl: ‘Tell Ginsberg I did it first!’ Miles found him a copy of The Portable Nietzsche and John began to scan the shelves. His eyes soon alighted upon a copy of The Psychedelic Experience, Dr Timothy Leary’s psychedelic version of the Tibetan Book of the Dead. John was delighted and settled down on the settee with the book. Right away, on page 14 in Leary’s introduction, he read, ‘Whenever in doubt, turn off your mind, relax, float downstream.’ He had found the first line of ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’, one of the Beatles’ most innovative songs.

Many Years From Now, Barry Miles” – The Beatles Bible

FEATURE: Lioness: International Treasure: Was Amy Winehouse the Last Great Original Voice and Icon?

FEATURE:

 

 

Lioness: International Treasure

PHOTO CREDIT: Phil Griffin (2006)

Was Amy Winehouse the Last Great Original Voice and Icon?

___________

SOME people might contest that question…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Paul Bergen/Redferns

and argue that there have been artists since Amy Winehouse’s passing who are iconic or have a more striking voice. Others might claim that Winehouse was a little overrated. I am writing this feature because 2021 marks two anniversaries. In October, it will fifteen years since her second studio album, Back to Black, was released. Before then, on 23rd July, it will be a decade since we lost one of the most extraordinary voices we have ever heard. Even though Winehouse struggled with addiction (alcohol abuse led to her untimely death at the age of twenty-seven) and there was controversy through her life, the legacy she has left and the music she released is so important and amazing. From her style and realness through to her unique voice, I think that Winehouse was one of the last true stars and icons – in the sense that so many artists look up to her and she has such a following. There are those who may say that Winehouse’s voice is a mix of influences like Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan. A documentary film, Amy, directed by Asif Kapadia and produced by James Gay-Rees, was released on 3rd  July, 2015. The film covers Winehouse's life, her relationships, her struggles with substance abuse both before and after her career blossomed. It is one of the most honest and memorable documentaries.

You are amazed by Winehouse’s talent but feel sad at the same time that she is not here. I think that the media villainised her and they projected this image that she was a wayward woman who courted trouble - whilst overlooking her immense talent. Not every media outlet, but certainly quite a few should hang their heads.. In actuality, Winehouse was a very down-to-earth and shy person who, I think, became overwhelmed by the pressures of fame and media intrusion. Fortunately, to coincide with the tenth anniversary of Winehouse’s passing, a new film will show her in a new light:

“A new Amy Winehouse film is set to air on BBC Two, marking 10 years since the singer’s death.

Amy Winehouse: 10 Years On has been commissioned by BBC Two and BBC Music to explore Winehouse through the people who knew her best.

According to a press release the film will be “shining a light on parts of her life that have, to date, not been heard about”.

The film is set to be told primarily from the perspective of Winehouse’s mother, Janis, whose perspective “often differs from the narrative we have been told before”.

“I don’t feel the world knew the true Amy, the one that I brought up, and I’m looking forward to the opportunity to offer an understanding of her roots and a deeper insight into the real Amy,” Janis said.

Other family members and friends will also contribute to the documentary, which is being described as a “female-driven interpretation of her life, her loves and her legacy”.

Before giving some biography about Winehouse and focusing on her two studio albums (a posthumous album, Lioness: Hidden Treasures, was released in 2011), I want to bring in something that has been brewing for a while now. Come this July it will be heart-breaking, as we mark a decade since Winehouse died. A daughter of Camden, London, I am sure we will see people congregate and pay tribute to a magnificent artist. There has been talk of an Amy Winehouse biopic for a few years. Last year, as NME reported, there has been some progress:

“A biopic about Amy Winehouse‘s life will be released in “a year or two”, her father Mitch has revealed.

Mitch has said the film will offer an truthful portrayal of the singer’s life after he previously hit out at Asif Kapadia’s 2015 documentary Amy for its “misleading” portrayal of the relationship between him and his daughter.

He told Paul Danan’s ‘The Morning After’ podcast: “We’ve got a lovely movie, a lovely Broadway show coming, and that’s how we’ll get our own back, by portraying Amy the way she was.”

He added that a script was currently in the works.

“The movie is gonna be in a year or two. We’ve gone beyond talks, we’re at script stage. The film is going to be a biopic,” he explained”.

I want to bring in some biographical information about Winehouse. She had this modest start with the debut album, Frank, in 2003 before becoming international with 2006’s Back to Black. In addition to addiction and personal struggles, she did receive awards and huge plaudits:  

“Amy Jade Winehouse was born on September 14, 1983, in the suburb of Southgate in London, England. Her father, Mitch Winehouse, worked as a cab driver, while mother Janis was employed as a pharmacist. In her early years, Winehouse was immersed in music; many of her uncles on her mother's side were professional jazz musicians, and her father sang as a child with his family. Winehouse's paternal grandmother was also once romantically involved with British jazz legend Ronnie Scott. Winehouse grew up listening to a diverse range of music, from James Taylor to Sarah Vaughan. At the age of 10, she was drawn to listen to American R&B and hip-hop acts, including TLC and Salt-N-Pepa, and she founded a short-lived amateur rap group called Sweet 'n Sour.

Amy Winehouse broke into the music business when, at age 16, a classmate passed on her demo tape to a record label. She signed her first record deal as a jazz vocalist, and her music later blossomed into an eclectic mix of jazz, pop, soul and R&B. Winehouse won five Grammy Awards connected to her 2006 album Back to Black, and earned acclaim for songs like the title track, "Rehab" and "Love Is a Losing Game."

Regardless of personal setbacks, 2009 proved to be another strong year for Winehouse. In 2008, her album Back to Black was declared the second-highest selling album in the world, and in 2009, she earned entry into the Guinness Book of World Records for "Most Grammy Awards Won by a British Female Act."

Aside from her music and the fact that she was grounded and relatable, I think Winehouse’s style and fashion is another reason why she is so revered and influential. Her love of 1960s girl groups might have led to her famous beehive hair. The  Cleopatra makeup look came from The Ronettes. Like icons such as Madonna and Prince, I think that Amy Winehouse had so many sides that makes her much more than an ordinary songwriter. It would have been interesting to hear where Winehouse headed after Back to Black had she recovered from addiction struggles and recorded more music. Although most people will agree Winehouse’s greatest album is Back in Black, I think that Frank is a marvellous debut. More indebted to her Jazz icon heroines, there is plenty of brilliance and promise throughout. This is what AllMusic wrote in their review:

“If a series of unfortunate comparisons (like the ones to follow) cause listeners to equate British vocalist Amy Winehouse with Macy Gray, it's only natural. Both come on like a hybrid of Billie Holiday and Lauryn Hill who's had a tipple and then attempted one more late-night set at a supper club than they should have. Despite her boozy persona and loose-limbed delivery, though, Winehouse is an excellent vocalist possessing both power and subtlety, the latter an increasingly rare commodity among contemporary female vocalists (whether jazz or R&B). What lifts her above Macy Gray is the fact that her music and her career haven't been marketed within an inch of their life. Instead of Gray's stale studio accompaniments, Winehouse has talented musicians playing loose charts behind her with room for a few solos. Instead of a series of vocal mellifluities programmed to digital perfection, Winehouse's record has the feeling of being allowed to grow on its own -- without being meddled with and fussed over (and losing its soul in the process). Simply hearing Winehouse vamp for a few minutes over some Brazilian guitar lines on "You Sent Me Flying" is a rare and immense pleasure. Also, like Nellie McKay (but unlike nearly all of her contemporaries), Winehouse songs like "Fuck Me Pumps," "Take the Box," and "I Heard Love Is Blind" cast a cool, critical gaze over the music scene, over the dating scene, and even over the singer herself. With "In My Bed," she even proves she can do a commercial R&B production, and a club version of "Moody's Mood for Love" not only solidifies her jazz credentials but proves she can survive in the age of Massive Attack”.

I do think that Back to Black was quite a big leap. More varied in terms of its themes and sounds (she retained producer Salaam Remi from Frank and joined up with Mark Ronson), I think that the mix of producers and Winehouse growing as an artist contributed to this strength and nuance. I am not going to go into depth regarding tracks from Back to Black, as I am ending this feature with an Amy Winehouse playing. I am going to finish by offering some conclusions. Before then, there is an interview that I want to source. In terms of the press for Back to Black, there was so much praise and love. This is how The Independent judged the album:

“That directness applies equally to her lyrics, whose sexual frankness and pottymouthed articulation leaves no room for misunderstanding. Lines such as "He left no time to regret/ Kept his dick wet/ With his same old safe bet" act like turbochargers on the emotion, bringing an unmistakable modern slant to the loping Fifties R&B of songs such as "Back to Black" and "Me & Mr Jones", an ironic Noughties equivalent of Billy Paul's affair anthem. When the same candid attitude is applied to female sexual obsession in "Wake Up Alone", the result is like Millie Jackson crossed with Peggy Lee, a blend of unashamed assertiveness and languid vocal power.

The lack of shame is probably the album's defining characteristic. From the opening "Rehab" to the closing "Addicted", there's none of the blame-shifting or hand-wringing apologia that American singers routinely employ. In the former - all fat horns, R&B feel and tubular bells punching up the lines - she refuses flip, therapeutic explanations for her melancholy and drinking ("There's nothing you can teach me/ That I can't learn from Mr Hathaway" - Donny, presumably); and in the latter, she gives equally short shrift to a flatmate's lover who smokes up all her stash without offering to replace it. If a man has treated her badly, as in "Tears Dry On Their Own", she doesn't whinge, just chides herself for placing too much faith in him: "I should just be my own best friend/ Not fuck myself in the head with stupid men"; and it's clearly hard for her to feel too guilty, in "You Know I'm No Good", about keeping two lovers on the go.

Productions, split almost equally between Salaam Remi and Mark Ronson, are perfectly sculpted to reflect the updated soul mode, with Motown-like grooves, Otis-style horn arrangements, and a rich, smoky Southern soul feel. But, for all its musical purchase on the past, what sets Winehouse's album apart from those of her peers is its rejection of genre clichés”.

Before concluding my discussion of her legacy, I want to source from an interview Paul Du Noyer conducted in 2004. Winehouse, at that point, was virtually unknown. For that reason, I think she is less guarded and we get a look at an artist who, through massive success, would be affected more by attention and fame:

“This year’s girl sits in a Camden Town tapas bar. She’s a young pop star in waiting with a record that everyone loves. But she endures the WORD photo shoot with a show of martyred patience. Amy Winehouse does not look as happy as you might expect, and I settle in for the interview thinking this one could be heavy going. But when our small talk turns to London her mood magically brightens.

“Oh, I love this city! I love it. Wherever I go in the world, to land back in London is the best feeling. I get to see so many amazing places when I’m working, like Miami, and I think, I could live here. But then I go, Yeah, but I wouldn’t be in London.”

Last year Amy Winehouse made a great London album. Frank was her diary of a torrid adolescence –she was just 19 when it was recorded – sung with the funky melisma of a jazz veteran and the glottal stops of a mouthy schoolgirl on the Piccadilly Line. It’s a great piece of modern British R&B: for all its vintage American stylings, Frank could not have been made anywhere but in London, in the 21st century. 

“Thank you so much!” she beams. “That is the best compliment you could pay to me. The city is really important to me. I’ve always been a really independent girl. From the age of 13 or so I’ve always found my own way in the city and there’s nothing I like more than to find another part that I didn’t already know. It really fascinates me. It’s a really English album but I guess I’m a typically English girl.”

So we’re getting along OK, this year’s girl and this morning’s interviewer. She has a striking, exotic look. Being curvy and with a pronounced bone structure Winehouse looks Amazonian in some photographs, but is actually petite in person. Yet she has a cold stare that you guess she could deploy to deadly effect. She is very bright, though not in a systematic way, as if she has learnt so much so quickly that the patterns have not yet come together in her head. She seems a forthright young woman, and her conversational manner is confrontational. By the interview’s end, however, she looks preoccupied by private anxieties.

She already has a reputation for moodiness. Overnight success seldom makes people easier to get along with. But some reports suggest that Amy Winehouse has gone from nought to Van Morrison. Sauntering over to Camden Town I felt like one of those brave chaps in bomb disposal, who crawl up to unexploded devices. With perspiring brow they manipulate the delicate, deadly wiring: one false move and – KA-BOOM! – there goes the neighbourhood. But Amy is now under pressure from her minders to curb her enthusiasm for controversy. Gone are scathing comments about her record company, and the criticisms of her album and the sideswipes at Dido. (Well, almost. Like a recovering smoker she can’t resist a sly one now and then.)

Frank was released last October to great reviews: it was often called the debut of the year. But Top 20 action had to wait until this year: after a couple of Brit nominations Frank began to settle into the charts. The soul/jazz hybrid of Amy’s style won deserved praise, but most commentators were struck by the songs’ autobiographical tone. There are graphic accounts of her sexual infatuations and star-crossed romances. You would not want to be the former paramour who is rubbished in Stronger Than Me (“feel like a lady but you my lady boy”); an infidelity of her Dad’s is resurrected in What Is It About Men? and In My Bed commemorates a waning relationship: “The only time I hold your hand / Is to get the angle right”.

Frank is a story-teller’s album, in the way that great country & western records used to be. If she seems self-absorbed, she’s refreshingly observant, too. Another track, called Fuck Me Pumps, paints a merciless portrait of women who prowl the clubs of London on their primal hunt for alpha males: “You can’t sit down right / Cos your jeans are too tight… Your dream in life / Is to be a footballer’s wife.” In a certain light, Amy Winehouse could pass for a hip hop Jane Austen.

So, Amy. The Frank album. Are you happy with it?

“Yes and no. If I’d been 100 per cent satisfied then I could have relaxed and gone on holiday for six months. But it’s a constant thing for me to better myself. I’ve got a clear ambition now, to make a record of what I hear in my head. Like Stevie Wonder did. It was a learning curve. I always thought I would do music, but I certainly didn’t expect to have a record deal by the time I was 19.”

Winehouse was raised in the north London suburb of Southgate. Her mother is from Brooklyn and her father, a taxi driver, is an East Ender. Her parents separated when Amy was nine, though her father remains in close touch. “He’s a great man, my Dad,” she says. “I love him. I love my Mum, but me and my Dad are two peas in a pod. We’re really impulsive people. It’s good that my Dad moved out when I was growing up, or we would have had some terrible clashes.”

On her American mother’s side of the family she has relatives in Miami and Atlanta, though she rarely had the chance to visit: “We didn’t have that kind of money. I’m sure the family would have paid for us, but we’re proud people.”

It’s the norm now for young musicians to be weaned on their parents’ record collections. But Winehouse denies her jazz buff Dad was a formative influence. “Not really. There was what he had in his car. And there were tapes at home. I would go to sleep listening to things like Sinatra and James Taylor. But that’s as far as my parents went. You discover music the most when it’s music that no one tells you to listen to, that you find out for yourself.”

So you weren’t sat down and told, Listen, this is good for you?

“Ha! I’d have told them to fuck off. I’ve always been a rebellious person. The only music that truly spoke to me was jazz and hip hop.”

It’s often said that first novels are autobiographical. People use up their life’s experiences. Did you do that with your first album? Could that be a danger for the second?

“Yeah but… I dunno. Life is inspiring, regardless. I don’t want to make a second album talking about record companies and stuff. The thing that always drove me with Frank was human interaction and that will always drive me. Relationships and how fucked up they can get. I guess that’ll always inspire me.”

If you had to give up either singing or songwriting, which would it be?

“I’d cut my throat out. Singing is singing. If I couldn’t sing a song, and express it, which – ” (her expression darkens) “ – which I haven’t been able to for the past five months but that’s OK it comes from me, I understand that – if I couldn’t do that, I’d be fucked. Singing and writing go hand in hand for me, it comes from one place”.

I think that Amy Winehouse is the last iconic artists we have seen. There will be others in the future but, since her death in 2011, nobody has come along that has the same attraction and gravitas! Her influence is huge. In terms of the artists that she has inspired, there is a long and impressive list:

“Adele has credited Winehouse's success in making her and fellow British singer Duffy's journey to the United States "a bit smoother." Lady Gaga credited Winehouse with paving the way for her rise to the top of the charts, explaining that Winehouse made it easier for unconventional women to have mainstream pop success. Raphael Saadiq, Anthony Hamilton and John Legend said "Amy Winehouse was produced by people who wanted to create a marketing coup. The positive side is that it reacquainted an audience with this music and played an introductory role for others. This reinvigorated the genre by overcoming the vintage aspect."

Other artists that have credited Winehouse as an influence and/or for paving the way for them include Bruno Mars, Tove Lo, Jessie J, Emeli Sandé, Victoria Justice, Paloma Faith, Lana Del Rey, Sam Smith, Florence Welch, Halsey, Alessia Cara, Estelle, Daya, Jorja Smith, Lauren Jauregui and Billie Eilish.

After the release of Back to Black, record companies sought out female artists with a similar sound and fearless and experimental female musicians in general. Adele and Duffy were the second wave of artists with a sound similar to Winehouse's. A third wave of female musicians that has emerged since the album was released are led by V V Brown, Florence and the Machine, La Roux and Little Boots. In March 2011, the New York Daily News ran an article attributing the continuing wave of British female artists that have been successful in the United States to Winehouse and her absence. Spin magazine music editor Charles Aaron was quoted as saying "Amy Winehouse was the Nirvana moment for all these women," "They can all be traced back to her in terms of attitude, musical styles or fashion." According to Keith Caulfield, chart manager for Billboard, "Because of Amy, or the lack thereof, the marketplace was able to get singers like Adele, Estelle and Duffy," "Now those ladies have brought on the new ones, like Eliza Doolittle, Rumer and Ellie”.

It will be tragic to think that, very soon, it is ten years since the music world lost one of its greatest stars. Although Winehouse’s influence is wide and we can see it in artists of today, her inimitable personality (the shyness and realness mixed with a more controversial edge) and stunning music will live forever. Not only would I suggest people buy her studio albums but, from 7th May, you can get Amy Winehouse at the BBC. Resident describe the two discs like this:

“this will be the first time that the two discs ‘a tribute to amy winehouse by jools holland’ and ‘bbc one sessions live at porchester hall’ are available as audio-only.

the set features tracks from later with jools across the years, notably amy’s first performance on the show in 2003 with ‘stronger than me’, as well as two performances from the mercury prize – take the box in 2004 and love is a losing game in 2007”.

I will close it there. I really wanted to pay tribute to a simply amazing and peerless artist. The amazing Amy Winehouse was a lioness with a huge voice and an amazing lyrics book. The unforgettable Winehouse, in so many senses, was…

VERY much one of a kind.

FEATURE: Sounds and Visions: Creating a Central Hub for BBC Podcasts, Shows and Video

FEATURE:

 

 

Sounds and Visions

IMAGE CREDIT: BBC 

 Creating a Central Hub for BBC Podcasts, Shows and Videos

___________

THIS is going to be a short one…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Fearne Cotton/PHOTO CREDIT: Stephanie Sian Smith/Kintzing

but the point of this article is not just an issue reserved to the BBC. The Sounds section of their website is great. I also love the music options that you can get on the iPlayer, in terms of documentaries and shows. Fearne Cotton’s Sounds of the 90s turned one recently. This is a show that provides some much-needed nostalgia for those who were around in the 1990s. To be fair, one can spend a lot of time navigating Sounds and checking out all the great stuff that is on there. I am bringing this up for a couple of reasons. I love Cotton’s series but, as I am a little late the party, I have not heard many of the earliest episodes. I know they are repeated on Sounds but, like all new episodes, one can listen for about a month and then they disappear. Maybe it is a cost thing but, at a time when so many of us are relying on podcasts, radio and great video, I do wonder whether there could be a central hub or website where all of the shows could go. I am not sure whether Sounds of the 90s with Fearne Cotton will be repeated in-full and all the episodes will be made available at a later date. The same goes for Top of the Pops and great music television shows. I have written about that before and why we can only see a few episodes on the BBC iPlayer.

Like Later… with Jools Holland, having that archive material would be brilliant! Holland’s show is still going, yet there are some great performances in the vaults through the years that I would love to revisit. If it is an issue of space, I wonder whether a website could be created. BBC Radio 6 Music had its yearly festival last week. It was different this year, whereby there were archive performances and some specially-recorded sets. I am not sure how much of the previous festivals is available on the BBC Radio 6 Music website. I love classic Glastonbury performances and, as we miss live music and are not sure exactly when it is coming back, having an arsenal of great live material from Glastonbury, festivals and shows like Top of the Pops would lift many people. The Sounds app and site is full of great stuff and, with limited room, they have to make way. I am not sure of the exact reason behind the thirty-day storage time, though one suspects that it is to do with costing a lot of money. I love how there is a load of new stuff on there but, for those who want to go back through the locker and listen to older podcasts and watch some shows that were new month ago, being able to access these for an unlimited time is a dream. I am not sure whether it is possible at all or too costly. Even if it were BBC-centric, it could be organised so that you could search for podcasts and shows and have all the episodes.

Either that or there would be categories so that a series like Later… with Jools Holland would come under ‘Music T.V.’. A podcast like Sounds of the 90s with Fearne Cotton could be ‘Music Podcasts’, and there would be menus whereby you could get the latest episodes and go as far back as possible. It is the live music side of things that would prove particularly enriching and popular. Having T.V. show performances and Glastonbury sets; some live videos that are not available on YouTube. Perhaps it would be a case of moving a lot of this onto YouTube but, if there were no huge costs involved and the logistics were not too head-spinning, it would be more logical to combine everything to one site. Taking advantage of the wonderful music, podcasts and shows available has really kept away the boredom. It has been a bummer missing the start of great series or not being able to get on top of everything that I would enjoy. I am sure there are some podcasts and documentaries that would be fantastic but, with so much on offer, it can be challenging getting on top of everything! A new website could make it easier to search or make more suggestions regarding the stuff I/people would enjoy (I know BBC Sounds does that, but this would mix audio and visual into one). The combination of historical series, the best new audio and live music in a portal/hub that is always being updated would be…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Mother Design

A bonanza for music fans.

FEATURE: Second Spin: George Michael - Older

FEATURE:

 

Second Spin

George Michael - Older

___________

I will move out of the 1990s…

for the next album in this feature, as I am aware that I have included a lot of music from the ‘90s lately. I also feel bad for including George Michael twice in recent weeks for, maybe, the wrong reasons. I recently wrote about Wham! and their hit, Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, arguing how it is not a guilty pleasure (some people feel it is). Now, I am trying to get people to look at George Michael’s 1996 album, Older, in a new light. I might do him justice one day and include his phenomenal 1987 debut, Faith, in Vinyl Corner. The reason I am including Older is because it is such a fine album that not only had some mixed reviews (though many were positive); many of the songs on the album are not played. Even the biggest hits are not spun as much as they should be! I think Older is one of these albums where the non-singles are really strong, and the singles are timeless. If some critics were not completely on board with George Michael’s third solo album, the success it accrued speaks for itself:

“Older was a huge commercial success, especially in the European markets. In the UK the album was largely anticipated, and debuted at No. 1 with an impressive 281,000 copies, becoming one of the biggest debuts ever in British history (it currently ranks as the 23rd fastest-selling album in the UK). It is also Virgin's fastest-selling album of all time. It became Michael's biggest-selling album in his homeland, achieving over 1.8 million copies sold, and receiving a 6× Platinum certification by the BPI on 5 December 1997. In the UK, it spent a total of 147 weeks inside the top 200, 99 of them on the top 75, and 35 of them on the top 10 (including 23 consecutive weeks).The steady sales of the album were the result of good promotion market and the release of six hit singles throughout a two-year period”.

If you need some songs to remind you of Older, I am sure you are familiar with Jesus to a Child and Fastlove. Older and Spinning the Wheels are also big songs from the album. Whilst my favourite George Michael tracks do not appear on Older – Faith is from the album of the same name; Outside was the first single from his 1998 greatest hits album, Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael -, I really love Older. It is a shame that some feel the album only has a couple of brilliant moments. This is what AllMusic wrote in their review:

“Older is the album that many observers initially believed Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1 to be -- a relentlessly serious affair, George Michael's bid for artistic credibility. It's an album that makes Listen Without Prejudice sound like Faith. Michael has dispensed with the catchy, frothy dance-pop numbers that brought him fame, concentrating on stately, pretentious ballads -- even "Fastlove," the album's one dance track, lacks the carefree spark of his earlier work. Although Michael's skills as a pop craftsman still shine through -- several songs are well-constructed ballads that rank with his best material -- his earnestness sinks the album. It is one thing to be mature and another to be boring. Too often, Michael mistakes slight melodies for mature craftsmanship and Older never quite recovers. When melodies do pop up, he doesn't deliver them with enough force to make an impact, and the album slowly disappears as a result”.

I will wrap it up soon but, before then, I want to bring in a positive review from NME. It is interesting reading their thoughts on, what I think is one of the stronger albums of the 1990s:

“Lyrically, George is still fighting off maturity with all (young) guns blazing. "My friends got their ladies/They're all having babies/But I just want to have some fun!" he declares on the impeccable 'Fast Love'. On 'Move On' he even invokes the chinking-glass intro of 'Club Tropicana', but makes sure that it leads into a gorgeous, jazz club schmooze, just what his audience are after these days. No more passing out under tables at Club 18-Dirty, George seems to be saying. Let's do it the classier way; dining out at Mezzo, a cool-eyed seduction at his place and then, well, breakfast at Tiffany's.

Upbeat the rest of it is not. 'Jesus To A Child' we know about, while the eerily arabesque 'The Strangest Thing' and 'To Be Forgiven' find George lost in a flood of distant, mystical flutes and even the faint twang of sitar. Cool.

He has his customary dig at the fame game in 'Star People' ("Who gives a f­­ about your problems, darling?" George growls cattily, the victim of one too many glittery ligs) while the final track, 'Free', shimmers to a close wordless, before George, the sweetie, whispers, "It feels good to be free" in its dying seconds.

What more could you ask for? Simply Red may go for the jugular every time with their unnervingly upbeat pop razzle, but George is just too much of an old soul boy smoothie for that. He knows that the art is to never look like you're trying; no matter what the provocation, no matter how frustrating the six-year hiatus might have been.

The real return of the mack then, despite the beardy haircut and the fact he's still so touchy about bad press, NME had to buy their own copy of 'Older' to hear it.

He really needn't have worried”.

As it comes up to its twenty-fifth anniversary in May, I think that people should give George Michael’s Older another listen. It is a tragedy that he is no longer with us (Michael died in 2016) as his voice is one of the finest of his generation. It seems like Older was an important album for George Michael. I found a piece published on the GM Forever website.. They quoted from his final interview that Red Line posted in 2017:

“GM: I sat at a keyboard in some studios in Notting Hill which was where I’d recorded a lot of Faith. And I sat at keyboard, played a very simple string part, added a very, very gentle guitar part. My way of making music is very strange; it’s very strange. Generally, I put my backing tracks together very simply on keyboards. In this case, I think I’d added a little guitar. But the moment I think there’s something coming, there’s something important coming, I shove everybody out of the room. I go in; I know how to work the vocal recorder that we use and then I just sing on repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat. I sing and I sing and I sing and it’s all total stream of consciousness rubbish that people would laugh their heads off if they heard what I was singing. And then I sang “Like Jesus to a Child” – simple as that.

GM: And I thought, “Oh my God, that’s him! That’s him and me, like Jesus to a child.” And within probably a day, the track was almost finished, which is REALLY unusual for me. And within a week, I was singing it in front of the Brandenburg Gate because I was so excited I was writing again. I could write again and not only that but I’d written probably the most personal song I’d ever written in the space of a day, day and a half, and it was all systems go. It was all systems go from that point on.

I wrote Older within about I suppose eight months, and months I think I wrote the best most healing piece of music that I’ve ever written in my life with that album”.

I shall leave it there but, for those who have shrugged off the 1996 album or only listened to the big hits, I would urge them to have a deeper listen. With some big hits and excellent deeper cuts working alongside one another, Older is a terrific and hugely varied and likeable album that…

GROWS stronger with age.

FEATURE: Modern Heroines: Part Forty: Jane Weaver

FEATURE:

 

 

Modern Heroines

Part Forty: Jane Weaver

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THERE is a timelessness…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Andy Votel

to including Jane Weaver in Modern Heroines, as she released her album, Flock, last month. I am going to introduce some interviews with Weaver and reviews of Flock soon. This is an album that you will want to own:

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

The album features an untested new fusion of seemingly unrelated compounds fused into an eco-friendly hum; pop music for post-new-normal times. Created from elements that should never date, its pop music reinvented. Still prevalent are the cosmic sounds, but Flock is a natural rebellion to the recent releases which sees her decidedly move away from conceptual roots in favour of writing pop music. Produced on a complicated diet of bygone Lebanese torch songs, 1980's Russian Aerobics records and Australian Punk.

Amongst this broadcast of glistening sounds is The Revolution Of Super Visions, an untelevised Mothership connection, with Prince floating by as he plays scratchy guitar; it also features a funky whack-a-mole bass line and synth worms. It underlines the discordant pop vibe that permeates Flock and concludes on Solarised, a super-catchy, totally infectious apocalypse, a radio-friendly groove for last dance lovers clinging together in an effort to save themselves before the end of the night.

The musician’s exposure to an abundance of lost records served as a reminder that you still feel like an outsider in this world and that by overcoming fears you can achieve artistic freedom. Jane Weaver continues to metamorphise”.

Flock is Jane Weaver’s eleventh studio album, so she is someone who has been in the industry for a little while. Even though she has a large fanbase now, I feel she will go on to become an icon whop inspires so many artists. She seems not to have lost any quality and power since albums like Seven Day Smile in 2006. I want to bring in a 2018 interview from The Skinny (Weaver released Modern Kosmology in 2017 and Loops in the Secret Society in 2019):

“Hailing from the fringes of the north-west indie/alt-rock scene, Jane Weaver is a prolific, resilient artist – if not a central figure, an important outlier working consistently in an industry and genre that can at times be outright hostile to women. Having fronted acts Kill Laura and Misty Dixon in the 90s and early 00s respectively, and after earning such famous fans as John Peel, Lauren Laverne and Jarvis Cocker, Weaver noticed a distinct decline in a certain subsection of her musical counterparts. “A lot of my male peers were going from strength to strength and a lot of my female peers were just dropping off and I thought, 'What’s going on here?' And it’s not because everybody who was female was rubbish, there just weren’t the places to go, there just weren’t the paths available.”

Weaver reacted by carving out her own space in the music industry for women and others who maybe struggled with traditional paths. In 2002, she launched her own independent label, Bird Records. “I started [the label] to be open to people who wanted to release a single, like a small single, and then go on somewhere else, and it was also to release my own music. I’d had several record deals that hadn’t gone well and my manager at the time just said to me, even though I had an album to go, 'I can’t get you arrested, it’s just boy guitar bands here.' And I thought it was ridiculous. It’s not that I didn’t have good songs or good ideas or a good work ethic, it was just the fashion for the boy guitar bands. It’s always been the predominant thing and it still is now. It’s upsetting.”

Weaver is cautiously optimistic about change in an industry that can be conservative and misogynistic. “[Festivals] have signed that Keychange pledge” in an effort to battle gender disparity in music festival bookings, “where they say by 2022 there’s going to be more of a balance. I think it will take a long time, I don’t know why, but it’s probably to do with financial issues, probably big festivals will go for the men with guitars for some reason, I don’t know!” she laughs.

Weaver has been touring tirelessly with her band of late, playing her most recent and perhaps best-received album yet, 2017's Modern Kosmology. Her new Loops in the Secret Society tour, which kicks off on 17 October at Edinburgh’s Pleasance, is a solo audiovisual reworking of both Modern Kosmology and her 2014 album The Silver Globe, a record Weaver endearingly considers “a mini breakthrough” because it had her phone ringing off the hook with gig and press offers. Loops in the Secret Society is her first solo tour in over five years and comes with its own unique set of challenges. “It just means that I’m under more pressure to play stuff live and do it on my own. I can manage everything, it’s fine, it’s just the brain pressure of knowing that you have to do it. It’s like a one man band having to do so many things at once, where I’m not just like walking about the stage and pointing and stamping on the floor and singing. It’s maybe a little more. And maybe I won’t have two drinks before I go on stage, I’ll maybe just have half of one!”.

There are not too many interviews available online for Flock. I did see a good one that she conducted for Louder Than War, where we learn some good insight regarding the album’s themes and inspiration:

“The very word “Flock” conjures up the same things the album does at times: collectiveness, nature. What’s the significance of it as an album title/the album’s title track?

I didn’t want the record to be conceptual like others I’d done, but I did have this idea about the first track and that it would be a dramatic opener entering a sonic wood and surrounded by nature and birds! But yes, Flock is a collection of pop songs that I don’t think lend themselves to just one thing, I just went with the flow and looked at each song individually. The artwork features me in a peacock chair surrounded by birdboxes waiting for the flock to return.

The way you deal with “the revolution” as a supernatural force has a somewhat Jungian undertone. How do you think these plague years have affected our collective unconscious – especially in music and the arts?

I can’t help thinking that musicians and artists and the supporting industry feel very undervalued at the minute, it’s understandable that gigs had to stop but we follow the rules and we still have rent to pay, a lot of people have had zero support, and Brexit rules are now another thing to navigate. Digital streaming is a great invention but lockdown has highlighted the problem that streaming for a lot of artists is unfair, the combination of all of these is quite a lot to deal with in a short space of time especially living in a pandemic. I think there is a strong collective energy and I’m hoping something positive will come out of this when we return!

You talk on the album about wanting to smash the patriarchy and the nature of the industry. In the wake of Me Too, where do we go from here?

Keep promoting equality and calling out bad behaviour, its inspiring to see bold moves from successful female artists who’ve been faced with an abuse of power from those they’ve worked with closely and they once trusted, the threat of someone deliberately trying to undermine and dismantle your career is hideous, just because they can. Taylor Swift and Kesha continue to fight back and empower themselves after the experiences they’ve been through, and its also highlighting what actually goes on in the world and exposing sexism and the dark side of the music industry”.

I am going to end with a playlist of some of her best tracks through the years. As Flock is new and it has won big critical praise, I thought it would be useful to bring in a couple of examples. This is what AllMusic said when they spent time with Flock:

“Throughout the second half of the 2010s, Jane Weaver hit her musical stride, releasing two albums that combined shimmering synths, alternately propulsive and languid tempos, and Weaver's trilling vocals into something magical. 2014's Silver Globe and 2017's Modern Kosmology are both mini-masterpieces of dream-meets-synth pop and showed that she basically had mastered that style. After a digression into experimental electronics on 2017's Loops in the Secret Society and a record of avant-garde indie rock with her band Fenella, Weaver set out to make a more diverse-sounding album that reflected a wider range of her musical interests. Where her work in the 2010s flowed from song to song like a masterful DJ set, 2021's Flock comes across more like a greatest-hits album as she bounces from style to style. Thumping post-Goldfrapp electro-glam ("Stages of Phases") jostles with laid-back summer jams ("Sunset Dreams"); loopy electro ballads ("All The Things You Do") rub against future funk that sounds like Prince and Broadcast fighting it out ("Pyramid Schemes"); and tracks like "Modern Reputation" that have the wibbly, synth prog feel of Dots and Loops-era Stereolab -- right down to channeling the celestial vocal interplay of Laetitia Sadier and Mary Hansen -- nestle nicely alongside more traditionally Weaver-esque offerings ("Heartlow"). Only "The Revolution of Super Visions" stumbles just a bit due to it being a touch too naggingly catchy, but the sheer beauty of the album's closing track makes up for that. On the truly radiant "Solarised," she does a one-woman Saint Etienne impression, matching a pulsing disco-house rhythm with synths warm enough to melt the ice on a bleak winter sidewalk and a melody that reaches the heights of emotion thanks to the truly lovely vocals. The song is a highlight on an album full of them; Weaver's artistic progression continues to be stunning. She could have kept making the same wonderful dream pop albums over and over until the world ended and that would have been fine. For her to take the template she had perfected and apply it to slightly different styles of music is a daring move and it works out very well, to say the least. Flock is the work of a daring artist, a crafty writer and performer, and someone who is always worth following to see what kind of great things she might do in the future”.

In another glowing review, The Line of Best Fit were keen to provide plenty of positivity and praise for a terrific album:

“Perhaps the irrepressible hooks and rejoicefully juicy grooves that characterize Flock – best of which bring up vivid impressions of Funkadelic jamming with Tangerine Dream, or Prince developing a Hawkwind habit - are an inevitable development. 2015’s The Silver Globe and 2017's Modern Kosmology stood out amongst a procession of Can and Neu! aficionados due to Weaver’s blanket refusal to give in to the usual stoned noodling of artists who spend their disposable income on rare 1970’s German vinyl and malfunctioning vintage kit. Having found a comfortably fitting sound after earlier dabbles with psych-folk and indie-rock, Weaver stood pretty much alone in her ability to combine motorik momentum-building with dense, synth-saturated atmospherics with soaring songcraft.

If the recent one-woman live reinterpretation of those albums’ material (Loops in the Secret Society) leaned heavy on its abstract and experimental potential, Flock represents the sweet revenge of the melody: dancefloor-friendly pop music, but of a variety that remains intoxicatingly unmoored to the conventions and codes of the earthly realm.

Take first single “The Revolution of Super Visions” as an example. Blessed with plenty of fresh wide open spaces between the sparingly administered notes, the track’s chicken-scratch funk guitar strokes and rubbery bass bubbles bring to mind something George Clinton might have cooked up in the early 80’s, had Parliament ever directed the mothership to Can’s studio: maximalist funk-pop with minimalist ingredients. “Pyramid Schemes” is an even more successful example of Weaver’s brave new method of stripping away dense layers of sound to expose the full bounce of the tunes and the grooves.

It’s not all mirror ball-hugging disco queen moves, however (and even when it is, Weaver’s ear for the unusual places this particular dancefloor somewhere on the furthest and headiest fringes of the cosmos): the flute-saturated, gently galloping title track resembles the pastoral prog-funk of Dungen, whilst the majestic upward trajectory of the synth-heavy dream-pop closer “Solarised” defies categorization while it floats weightlessly amidst the cosmos, as heartwarming as a beautiful sunrise”.

I have been listening to Jane Weaver’s music for a number of years now and it is amazing that she is so consistent and incredible. I think that we will see a lot more music come from one of the finest artists in Britain. If you are fairly new to Weaver, take a dive into her back catalogue and experience an artist who released one of this year’s best albums with Flock. One would forgive an artist for dropping some quality and originality after eleven studio albums. That is not the case with Jane Weaver! Keep an eye on her Twitter account, as it seems like rehearsals are taking place for live music. That will be exciting to see! I love Jane Weaver’s sound, so I am very interested to see…

WHAT arrives next.