FEATURE: There Goes a Tenner (or Two!): Kate Bush and Self-Investment

FEATURE:

 

 

There Goes a Tenner (or Two!)

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush on the set of There Goes a Tenner (from 1982’s The Dreaming)

Kate Bush and Self-Investment

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MAYBE it is common for most artists…

but it is amazing to think how much of their own money goes into what they do. When we think of mainstream acts and those legendary artists, there is an assumption that the labels pay for everything. When I discovered Kate Bush’s music as a child, that was my assumption. I did not know that artists do put their own money into their work! I have been thinking of this, as I was re-watching an interview Bush gave in 1980 (around the release of Neve for Ever). In the Profiles in Rock interview, she was asked about material things and what she would love to own. Typical of Bush, she was not interested in frivolity and excess. She was asked if there was anything spiritual that she wanted. That was a more complex question. When she was asked about what it was like to have money, Bush explained that the best thing was that she ploughed it back into her own career. There was genuine passion in Bush’s voice. Some artists might begrudge the fact that they would have to spend any of their earnings on new kit. I will talk about The Tour of Life soon It seems to me that, since the earliest days, Kate Bush has spent a lot of her own money making her work as good as it could be. Of course, EMI paid for most things.

By 1980’s Never for Ever, her music was getting more ambitious. The Fairlight CMI was introduced into her music. I feel technology as a whole became more important. At the turn of the 1980s, music was changing, and one could hear a shift – in terms of the sounds and role technology was playing. There is a feeling, to some, that Bush became famous and she kept her money aside - and that it was EMI that made sure she had everything she wanted. Like all labels and artists, there would have been a plan and budget. Bush became hungrier and more curious as a musician and producer. When she started producing her own music, the relative confines of the studio compelled her to think bigger. I love that interview from Profiles in Rock, as Bush seemed genuinely relaxed and philosophical. Many artists might be uncomfortable discussing their own money and materialism. Bush was raised in a comfortable setting and she came from a middle-class family. Some may observe that she never had to struggle financially. It isn’t the case that Bush was pampered or spoilt in any way. There would have definitely been caps and reigns to what could be spent and what she could have. Many artists of her generation would have spent their money on cars, houses and needless luxury. When it came to Bush, she was so detached from fame and that notion of being a ‘Rock star’. Although she did receive gifts through her career – she was gifted a £7,000 Steinway piano by EMI following Wuthering Heights' success and was flown to Paris for dinner (in March 1978) -, she used a lot of her earnings to improve and expand her music. That is an admirable quality!

Hearing and seeing how much of herself she put into the albums, one could forgive Bush for splashing out and spending a lot of her money on a big house. To be fair, at a point in her career, she was earning enough so that she could live in a very nice house and finance bigger ambitions regarding her music. She has lived in some very nice houses and is not struggling for a bob or two. She deserves that and has worked very hard to earn that sort of money, That was not the case when she was starting out and building her name. In fact, I get the impression that Bush would have constantly had a pressure on her shoulders. As an artist with no comparisons and a unique sound, perhaps she was not the most conventional and commercial. EMI had faith in her though, as I will explore in a feature soon, her chart positions were not always great. Her album sales were generally good, though I sense there was always this feeling that there was this fear of failing or not selling as many singles/albums as she would have liked. Think about The Dreaming and how the Fairlight CMI enhanced that. She built her own studio by her family home by the time of 1985’s Hounds of Love. Rather than this being a Pop/Rock star move, it was to allow her somewhere safe and homely to work at her best. Listen to that album and one can definitely feel the difference (from working at various studios around London).

I guess that people could argue that, if an artist has these big aims and plans, then they should kick in a bit of their own money – as it would be a financial risk for a label to invest so heavily! I would say that many artists, given that ultimatum/dilemma, would scale things back. Look at The Tour of Life in 1979. This was Bush’s first tour undertaking. To promote The Kick Inside and Lionheart in 1978, she travelled around the world and appeared on T.V. She had done nothing like The Tour of Life! This was a cross-continental set of dates whose production values and design were far removed from one would expect. Rather than a simple set or something generic and cold, Bush and her tea crated these incredible sets. This gave something back to the audiences and ensured that they were entranced and treated to an unforgettable live experience! The Tour of Life was more like a theatrical production that a gig. From the different scenes/designs to the incorporation of mime, magic, and readings during costume changes, it was a costly and time-consuming thing to pull off. Despite the success and adulation The Tour of Life accrued, it was not a financial success. Such was the cost of mounting the show and travelling, maybe that was a reason as to why Bush did not repeat the feat until 2014 (then, she kept things static at Hammersmith so she did not have to lug a huge production around the world).

The fact was Bush was so committed to her concept with The Tour of Life that she invested a lot of her own money. Prog expanded on this in a feature from last year about The Tour of Life :

“EMI were unsure what the show would involve, so the costs were reportedly split between the label and Bush herself. In return, they got an artist who threw everything into her biggest endeavour so far.

“She was very determined about how her music was presented and performed – that was pretty obvious from her first album,” says Southall. “So no one saw any reason to step in and stop it. The rock’n’roll story was that you put singles out, you put albums out, you went on Top Of The Pops, you toured. But she wasn’t prepared to do the conventional thing”.

There are so many cases of Bush spending her money in various areas in order to improve her art and aid her career. In this interesting article from last year, Penny Brazier looked at Bush and how she never compromised. Many would have looked down their noses at her. Being a woman in the 1970s (when she started out) would have been challenging regarding getting acclaim and respect. She was spending her own money really early on to ensure that, when she did release her debut album, she stood out and was prepared:

“I can’t imagine many teenagers would spend their record company advance on interpretive dance lessons, but Kate was wise beyond her years. She invested her EMI money in her studies with Bowie’s former dance teacher Lindsay Kemp and classes with mime artist Adam Darius.

This is such a great lesson for anyone who works for themselves in the creative industries. Ringfence some of the money you make to put back into learning — whether that’s your own industry or something complementary. You will only keep growing”.

Even though that advance was from EMI, it was Bush’s money - and there was no stipulation to say that she had to spend that money on anything specific. Rather than blow it on comfort and material emptiness, she was sowing seeds and planting trees. This wise investment, as articles like this highlight, was money well spent! Look at the videos and one is instantly gripped. Wuthering Heights’ video, to me, really flies because of the choreography and Bush’s dance training. That video would have helped boost sales figures for the single which, in turn, boosted album sales and gained her new fans. Although some costs (such as travel expenditure for The Tour of Life) wouldn’t have been too appealing to her, Bush’s attitude to money was very different to many of her peers. Post-Hounds of Love, maybe she was indulging more in living a more comfortable life. I feel that her commitment to perusing excellence and using a lot of her own money to strengthen her music is hugely admirable. This noble and commendable quality is one that has influenced a lot of artists through the years. Natural talent is the main reason why Kate Bush is a success and has had a fantastic career for over forty years. I do think that things could have been very different if her Bush had not invested her own money and pegged back her ambitions and curiosity. Maybe The Tour of Life would have been less layered. She may not have invested in technology or built her own studio. All these factors would have been detrimental. Rather than spend money on things that would have created ego rather than great music, Kate Bush wisely used her money to…

INVEST in herself.

FEATURE: Make Some Noise: The Lockdown Playlist: Forty Years of the Beastie Boys

FEATURE:

 

 

Make Some Noise

IN THIS PHOTO: Beastie Boys in 2009; from left to right: Ad-Rock, MCA and Mike D

The Lockdown Playlist: Forty Years of the Beastie Boys

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I am not sure of the exact day…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Fryderyk Gabowicz/Getty Images

but, as the Beastie Boys formed in July 1981 (they originally consisted of Michael Diamond, John Berry, Kate Schellenbach and Adam Yauch; Adam Horovitz joined in 1982), I wanted to mark forty years of the Hip-Hop icons with a playlist. I know I have given the trio a spotlighting more than once. As it is a big year for them, I want to come back and explore their incredible catalogue (I also recommend people buy the Beastie Boys Book). Before I put in a Lockdown Playlist, it is worth exploring the biography of the New York-formed legends. I lean on AllMusic a lot. They have provided a comprehensive story of an act who are an incredible success story:

“Beastie Boys crashed into the mainstream in the mid-'80s rapping about "The New Style" and yelling "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)," their brash hedonism striking a chord with hip-hop fans and suburban metalheads alike. This loud, obnoxious blend of hard rock and rap, showcased on their debut Licensed to Ill, wound up having a lasting impact, but the trio of Adam Yauch, Adam Horovitz, and Mike Diamond were young punks and restless artists. They soon abandoned pounding, aggressive rap-rock for the dense sampladelic vistas of Paul's Boutique, their 1989 collaboration with the Dust Brothers. Paul's Boutique stalled the trio's commercial momentum but it became an album revered by hip-hop aficionados, pointing the way to the genre-bending, self-referential pop culture of '90s pop. Beastie Boys played a vital role in that decade, starting with 1992's punk-rap-jazz fusion Check Your Head, which gave them another Top Ten album and established the group as alternative rock icons. Ill Communication consolidated the group's comeback in 1994, thanks in no small part to the hit "Sabotage," accompanied by a campily retro video directed by Spike Jonze.

Music videos, many directed by Yauch under his Nathanial Hornblower pseudonym, were a crucial component of Beastie Boys' popularity, as was their Grand Royal empire -- it spanned a record label and a much-revered but short-lived magazine -- and their activism, a social engagement spearheaded by Yauch co-organizing the Tibetan Freedom Concerts in the late '90s. After the 1998 chart-topper Hello Nasty, Beastie Boys' productivity slowed in the 2000s as the trio settled into an eccentric middle age, balancing the old-school salute To the 5 Boroughs with the soul-jazz instrumental 2007 LP The Mix-Up. As the trio worked on their eighth studio album, Yauch was diagnosed with cancer. The group finished and released Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 2 in May 2011; he was dead a year later. Horowitz and Diamond stopped working as Beastie Boys, although they reconvened to tell their story through Beastie Boys Book in 2018, which was followed by the Jonze-directed documentary Beastie Boys Story in 2020.

All three members of the Beastie Boys -- Mike D (b. Mike Diamond, November 20, 1966), MCA (b. Adam Yauch, August 5, 1965; d. May 4, 2012), and Ad-Rock (born Adam Horovitz, October 31, 1967) -- came from middle-class Jewish families in New York and had become involved in the city's punk underground when they were teenagers in the early '80s. Diamond and Yauch formed the Beastie Boys with drummer Kate Schellenbach and guitarist John Berry in 1981, and the group began playing underground clubs around New York. The following year, the Beasties released the 7" EP Pollywog Stew on the indie label Rat Cage to little attention. That same year, the band met Horovitz, who had formed the hardcore group the Young and the Useless. By early 1983, Schellenbach and Berry had left the group -- they would later join Luscious Jackson and Thwig, respectively -- and Horovitz had joined the Beasties. The revamped group released the rap record "Cookie Puss" as a 12" single later in 1983. Based on a prank phone call the group made to Carvel Ice Cream, the single became an underground hit in New York. By early 1984, however, they had abandoned punk and turned their attention to rap.

In 1984, the Beasties joined forces with producer Rick Rubin, a heavy metal and hip-hop fan who had then-recently founded Def Jam Records with fellow New York University student Russell Simmons. Def Jam officially signed the Beastie Boys in 1985, and that year they had a hit single from the soundtrack to Krush Groove with "She's on It," a rap track that sampled AC/DC's "Back in Black" and suggested the approach of the group's forthcoming debut album. The Beasties received their first significant national exposure later in 1985, when they opened for Madonna on her Virgin tour. The Beasties taunted the audience with profanity and were generally poorly received. One other major tour, as the openers for Run-D.M.C.'s ill-fated Raisin' Hell trek, followed before Licensed to Ill was released late in 1986. An amalgam of street beats, metal riffs, b-boy jokes, and satire, Licensed to Ill was interpreted as a mindless, obnoxious party record by many critics and conservative action groups. That didn't stop the album from becoming the fastest-selling debut in Columbia Records' history, however, as it sold over 750,000 copies in its first six weeks.

Much of the album's success was due to "Fight for Your Right (To Party)," which became a massive crossover single. In fact, Licensed to Ill became the biggest-selling rap album of the '80s, which generated much criticism from certain hip-hop fans who believed that the Beasties were merely cultural pirates. On the other side of the coin, the group was being attacked from various factions on both the left and the right, who claimed the Beasties' lyrics were violent and sexist and that their concerts -- which featured female audience members dancing in go-go cages and a giant inflatable penis, similar to what the Stones used in their mid-'70s concerts -- caused even more outrage. Throughout their 1987 tour, they were plagued with arrests and lawsuits, and were accused of inciting crime.

While much of the Beasties' exaggeratedly obnoxious behavior started out as a joke, it became a self-parody by the end of 1987, so it wasn't a surprise that the group decided to revamp its sound and image during the next two years. During 1988, the Beasties became involved in a bitter lawsuit with Def Jam and Rick Rubin, who claimed he was responsible for their success and threatened to release outtakes as their second album. The Beasties finally broke away by the end of the year and relocated to California, where they signed with Capitol. While in California, they met the production team the Dust Brothers, and they convinced the duo to use their prospective debut album as the basis for the Beasties' second album, Paul's Boutique. Densely layered with interweaving samples and pop culture references, the retro-funk-psychedelia of Paul's Boutique was entirely different than Licensed to Ill, and many observers weren't quite sure what to make of it. Several publications gave it rave reviews, but when it failed to produce a single bigger than the number 36 "Hey Ladies," it was quickly forgotten about.

Despite its poor commercial performance, Paul's Boutique gained a cult following, and its cut-and-paste sample techniques would later be hailed as visionary, especially after the Dust Brothers altered the approach for Beck's acclaimed 1996 album, Odelay. Still, the record was declared a disaster in the early '90s, but that didn't prevent the Beasties from building their own studio and founding their own record label, Grand Royal, for their next record, Check Your Head. Alternating between old-school hip-hop, raw amateur-ish funk, and hardcore punk, Check Your Head was less accomplished than Paul's Boutique, but equally diverse. Furthermore, the burgeoning cult around the Beasties made the album a surprise Top Ten hit upon its spring 1992 release. "Jimmy James," "Pass the Mic," and "So Whatcha Want" were bigger hits on college and alternative rock radio than they were on rap radio, and the group suddenly became hip again.

Early in 1994, they collected their early punk recordings on the compilation Some Old Bullshit, which was followed in June by their fourth album, Ill Communication. Essentially an extension of Check Your Head, the record debuted at number one upon its release, and the singles "Sabotage" and "Sure Shot" helped send it to double-platinum status. During the summer of 1994, they co-headlined the fourth Lollapalooza festival with the Smashing Pumpkins. That same year, Grand Royal became a full-fledged record label as it released Luscious Jackson's acclaimed debut album, Natural Ingredients. The Beasties' Grand Royal magazine was also launched that year.

Over the next few years, the Beasties remained quiet as they concentrated on political causes and the machinations of their record label. In 1996, they released the hardcore EP Aglio e Olio and the instrumental soul-jazz and funk collection The In Sound from Way Out! Also that year, Adam Yauch organized a two-day festival to raise awareness about the plight of Tibet, and the festival went on to become an annual event. The Beastie Boys' long-awaited fifth LP, Hello Nasty, finally appeared during the summer of 1998 and became their third chart-topping album. A longer wait preceded release of their next record, To the 5 Boroughs, which appeared in mid-2004. In 2005, Capitol issued Solid Gold Hits, a 15-track survey of the Beasties' lengthy career. One year later, the band released a concert film titled Awesome: I Fuckin' Shot That!, which had been pieced together from footage shot by 50 DV and Hi-8 cameras that had been distributed to fans. The DVD version appeared in July of that year.

An instrumental album, The Mix-Up, continued the band's prolific activity in 2007 and garnered a Grammy Award the following year. The Beastie Boys returned to rap with Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 1, parts of which were previewed during the band's performance at the 2009 Bonnaroo Festival, but the album ended up unreleased in the wake of Yauch's announcement that he had cancer. He underwent successful surgery and radiation treatment, and the band announced late in 2010 that Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 2 (including virtually all the material intended for the first volume) would be released in 2011. They made good on their promise; the album appeared in May, and was positively received both critically and commercially. One year later, however, in May of 2012, Yauch finally succumbed to cancer”.

To celebrate forty years of the iconic Beastie Boys, I have enjoyed dipping back into their catalogue and compiling the very best cuts from…

NEW York’s finest.  

FEATURE: Hardly Run of the Mill: The Incredible 50th Anniversary Release of George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass

FEATURE:

 

 

Hardly Run of the Mill

The Incredible 50th Anniversary Release of George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass

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I am a little late to this news…

but George Harrison’s incredible third solo studio album, All Things Must Pass, has been given a 50th anniversary release (there are seven different physical editions). It was released in 1970. Because of the pandemic and various factors, it has been held back until this year. I am not someone who covers all big anniversary releases. There are some albums that definitely warrant that attention. Harrison’s masterpiece is a six-sided vinyl release packed with tracks! It was hugely acclaimed upon its release and it is seen as one of the best albums of the 1970s. There have been various remastered, and bits and pieces brought out through the years regarding All Things Must Pass. This bumper release is a real treat for fans of the album. Although it is quite a big and expensive anniversary release, owning an expanded celebration of an all-time classic is worth it! I will bring in a couple of reviews for the classic album – to give a sense of why it is so important and revered. Before that, Super Deluxe Edition give us the details regarding the superb 50th anniversary edition of All Things Must Pass:

“George Harrison‘s 1970 album All Things Must Pass will be reissued in August for a belated 50th anniversary edition and will be available in SEVEN different physical editions including an ‘Uber Deluxe Edition’ which comes in wooden crate and contains everything…and more!

Paul Hicks – the mixer/engineer who has worked on the Lennon reissues – has created a new mix of All Things Must Pass, overseen by George’s son Dhani, who is executive producer on this project. There is a new stereo mix, a surround mix and a Dolby Atmos mix of the album. The new stereo mix replaces the original album mix on every format. Speaking of which here are the formats:

Uber Deluxe Edition: 8LP+5CD+blu-ray. Comes in a wooden crate with books, figurines, Klaus Voorman illustration and more.

Super Deluxe Edition (CD): 5CD+blu-ray. Original album, plus 3CDs of demos and outtakes, plus a blu-ray with the surround mixes

Super Deluxe Edition (vinyl): 8LP. Original album plus 5LPs of outtakes/demos

Deluxe Edition (vinyl): 5LP. Original album plus 2LPs of outtakes (no demos)

Deluxe Edition (CD): 3CDs. Original album plus an extra discs of outtakes. Comes in a little box.

Standard Edition (vinyl): 3LP set featuring the new mix of the album. This is available on black vinyl and green splatter coloured vinyl

Standard Edition (CD): 2CD set featuring new mix of the album. Gatefold card sleeve presentation.

The Uber Deluxe Edition comes in a wooden crate and includes figurines of Harrison and those gnomes (click image to enlarge)

The Uber Deluxe and both 8LP vinyl and 5CD+blu-ray Super Deluxe Editions contain 70 audio tracks. There are 23 tracks on the original album, so that leaves 47 demo recordings, session outtakes and studio jams, of which 42 are previously unreleased. On the CD edition the three bonus discs are split into two discs of demos (‘day 1’ and ‘day 2’) and a third disc of outtakes.

George Harrison / All Things Must Pass 50th anniversary super deluxe edition 5CD+blu-ray5CD+blu-ray super deluxe edition (click image to enlarge)

The 5CD+blu-ray super deluxe edition comes in a slipcase with a 56-page scrapbook curated by Olivia Harrison, with unseen imagery and memorabilia from the era, handwritten lyrics, diary entries, studio notes, tape box images, a comprehensive track-by-track and more. It also includes a replica of the original album poster (all formats have the poster).

The 8LP super deluxe has all the tracks from the 5CD set and a 60-page scrapbook with the same contents as above.

The 5LP deluxe edition is the remixed album with two bonus LPs which are the Session Outtakes & Jams. In other words, CD 5 from the super deluxe, or LPs 7 & 8 from the 8LP vinyl super deluxe.

All Things Must Pass 8LP vinyl super deluxe edition (click image to enlarge)

The ‘uber deluxe’ has an “elaborate and expanded” version of the scrapbook and includes a second book (44 pages) chronicling the making of All Things Must Pass through extensive archival interviews with notes. This also comes with a wooden bookmark made from a felled Oak tree (Quercus Robur) in George’s Friar Park, the 1/6 scale replica figurines of Harrison and the gnomes featured on the album cover, a limited edition illustration by musician and artist Klaus Voorman, a copy of Paramahansa Yogananda’s “Light from the Great Ones”, Rudraksha beads contained in individual custom-made boxes and the poster.

All Things Must Pass 50th anniversary edition will be released on 6 August 2021. The SDE widgets below cover all seven physical editions except for the ‘Uber Deluxe’ which is available via the official George Harrison store in the UK or the official store in the USA”.

I would encourage anyone who is in a position to do so to investigate the anniversary editions. It is a superb original album that has been accompanied by so many extras! I am a big fan of the solo albums from The Beatles. Whilst my favourites are from Paul McCartney, one cannot ignore the genius and importance of All Things Must Pass. It still sounds so vital, beautiful and spellbinding after so much time. Harrison was definitely confident through All Things Must Pass. Although it is such an expansive album, I don’t think there is any filler. In their review of the album, this is what AllMusic wrote:

“Without a doubt, George Harrison's first solo recording, originally issued as a triple album, is his best. Drawing on his backlog of unused compositions from the late Beatles era, Harrison crafted material that managed the rare feat of conveying spiritual mysticism without sacrificing his gifts for melody and grand, sweeping arrangements. Enhanced by Phil Spector's lush orchestral production and Harrison's own superb slide guitar, nearly every song is excellent: "Awaiting on You All," "Beware of Darkness," the Dylan collaboration "I'd Have You Anytime," "Isn't It a Pity," and the hit singles "My Sweet Lord" and "What Is Life" are just a few of the highlights. A very moving work, with a slight flaw: the jams that comprise the final third of the album are somewhat dispensable, and have probably only been played once or twice by most of the listeners who own this record. Those same jams, however, played by Eric Clapton, Carl Radle, Bobby Whitlock, and Jim Gordon (all of whom had just come off of touring as part of Delaney & Bonnie's band), proved to be of immense musical importance, precipitating the formation of Derek & the Dominos. Thus, they weren't a total dead end, and may actually be much more to the liking of the latter band's fans”.

Before I wrap up, there is a fascinating article from Best Classic Bands that gives us some background about the album. It is a very long article - though I felt it was worth dropping some in:

“Many arrangements embraced Spector’s “Wall of Sound” ethos, combining multiple drummers, massed guitars and keyboards, and backing choruses into sonic juggernauts, heard through canyons of echo. At its most unbridled, the approach overwhelms with blunt force, most glaringly on “Wah Wah,” a blitzkrieg of jangling guitars, thundering drums, blaring horns, and chanted vocal choruses that surely pinned the needles into the red on the recording console. The final mix is so instrumentally dense as to verge on distortion; Harrison himself was reportedly conflicted in his initial reactions to that track, the first recorded for the project.

Elsewhere, the symphonic weight attainable through force of numbers is managed more effectively. “What is Life” harnesses its orchestral firepower more elegantly, pulling back on the verses to let its lead vocals breathe before adding horn and choral fanfares to punch up its joyous choruses. “Awaiting on You All” shares the same balance of uptempo energy while delving more directly into its religious subtext.

Harrison’s forthright meditations include three portentous songs, risky in the context of a secular rock record, that he manages to pull off with subdued arrangements. “Isn’t it a Pity,” a stately inventory of human failure, is the album’s longest vocal track at over seven minutes, reprised in a second version later in the set.

Restraint likewise frames “Beware of Darkness,” a minor-keyed warning against lost dreams and encroaching demons.

Beyond the lamentation of “Isn’t It a Pity” and the threat of “Beware of Darkness” lies the reflective acceptance of the title track, the least doctrinaire and most durable of the three. Had Harrison not chosen to stretch beyond two LPs of songs to add a third disc of instrumental jams, “All Things Must Pass” would have gained added impact as the album’s final statement.

Joining the Maharishi, Phil Spector and the ur-Americana of The Band and the Bramletts as influences here is no less an icon than Bob Dylan, whom Harrison had bonded with during a visit to Woodstock. The collaboration between the future Wilburys yielded two co-writes that represent the two most straightforward love songs on All Things Must Pass, the album opener, “I’d Have You Anytime,” and “If Not For You,” which Dylan himself would also record for his New Morning album.

George Harrison’s overall success with All Things Must Pass surely drew from confidence gained in producing two earlier instrumental albums, while his eagerness to collaborate outside the Beatles’ rarefied fellowship translated to the scale and party atmosphere of the project’s sessions. That he recognized its importance as his first solo statement as singer, songwriter and producer prompted his involvement in a remastered and expanded version completed a year before his death. In that context, the instrumental jams that comprise the original third LP are worthwhile mementos of those fateful sessions, yet it’s fair to admit that at the time of its original release only a minority of fans spent as much time spinning those loose workouts as the more coherent songs on the first two discs”.

I am saving and hope to get one of the 50th anniversary editions/packages of All Things Must Pass. It is a tremendous album released at a time when The Beatles split, and the four members were going their own way. Harrison proved his songwriting brilliance on 1969’s Abbey Road (Something, Here Comes the Sun). He continued that with aplomb on All Things Must Pass. Not confined to one format and edition, we get a treat in the form of seven physical releases of…

A masterpiece from 1970.

FEATURE: Emerald Gems: Kate Bush and Her Irish Roots

FEATURE:

 

 

Emerald Gems

IMAGE CREDIT: Caroline Andrieu 

Kate Bush and Her Irish Roots

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I wrote a feature…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush made her first appearance on Irish television on The Late Late Show in 1978

last year when I discussed the Irish influence in Kate Bush’s work. I am going to do one or two features regarding the impact of Bush’s music on the L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ community through the decades as it is Pride Month. As I have been thinking about her family and their importance regarding the music and a constant sense of support, it takes me to Ireland. Her mother, Hannah, was born in Waterford and helped introduce her daughter to Irish music and culture. I will sprinkle in a few songs through this feature where the spirit and influence or Ireland are clear. Though Bush travelled to Ireland to record with musicians there for Hounds of Love, I don’t think there is any footage from that time. Of course, she spent quite a bit of time in Ireland and had that familial connection. One other reason why I want to revisit her Irish roots is because, when people describe Bush, they think of her as English. Whilst there is an obvious Englishness to Bush, I think the Irish influence is equally powerful. I want to bring in an article that highlights Bush’s Irish connection and whether, truly, she is English or Irish:

“Bush acknowledged her Irish roots by integrating Irish traditional musicians and instruments into ALL her 1980's albums. Her 1980 hit 'Army Dreamers' gives the first strong hint of her Irish roots. Her lilting vocal is accompanied by her brother Paddy's mandolin playing and Stuart Elliot's bodhrán thumps. 'Violin' from the same Never for Ever album features legendary ex-Bothy Band fiddler Kevin Burke as the titular violinist.

The list of famous Irish traditional musicians that play on her subsequent albums is like a who's who of Irish folk music. The contributions of Donal Lunny (Bothy Band, Planxty, Moving Hearts), Liam O'Flynn (Planxty), John Sheahan (The Dubliners), Seán Keane (The Chieftains), Davy Spillane (Moving Hearts) and very characteristic arrangements by Riverdance composer Bill Whelan connect her to almost all the major Irish folk bands of the 60's, 70's and 80's and the Riverdance boom of the 90’s.

It's hard to tell from the sleeve notes how much of the Irish-style music is arranged/composed by Kate or Paddy Bush and how much is Whelan’s, however one thing that's unmistakable is the instrumentation and melodic content are like an angular, experimental precursor to Riverdance.

Besides the tracks featuring Irish musicians it's novel to hear Bush occasionally bring out a lilting almost-Irish accent on tracks like 'Suspended in Gaffa', 'Army Dreamers', ‘The Red Shoes’ and 'The Big Sky' (where she sings some 'diddely dyes' for good measure). 'The Big Sky' also represents a direct lyrical reference to Ireland 'That cloud, that cloud looks like Ireland'

An Irish lilt is also very discernible in the spoken-word segment on 'The Jig of Life' written and narrated by Bush's brother John Carder Bush. Though he was born in England, there's an unmistakably Irish cadence to his narration.

For reasons that perhaps only Bush herself can explain 'The Sensual World' was the last original studio album by Bush to feature any Irish trad musicians.

Her final nod to her Irish heritage thus far is her recording of 'Mná na hÉireann' at the invitation of Donal Lunny for his Common Ground project in 1996. Learned phonetically due to her lack of Gaelic and coloured by a lush orchestration, this is not a recording for sean-nós purists. Nevertheless the impassioned beauty of Bush's voice on this recording is undeniable”.

I am fascinated by the Irish roots that run through Bush’s music. I think there has been the odd podcast/video dissecting that side of her career. I don’t think we can ever see Bush as purely an ‘English’ artist. Though she was born in Kent, there is something hugely powerful and important regarding her Irish side. It is not like she has subtlety and occasionally sprinkled the country into her songs! From Never for Ever’s Army Dreamers to Hounds of Love’s Jig of Life and The Sensual World’s title track, The Emerald Isle is a hugely source of wonder and creativity. I found an article from the Irish Examiner. Del Palmer (who has worked with Bush since before her debut album in 1978) discussed working in Ireland for Hounds of Love:

“The making of the record was a plunge off the deep end, too – one that saw Bush travel to Ireland to reconnect with her Celtic heritage. The journey would take her from U2’s Windmill Lane stomping the ground to her roots in Waterford and finally the furthest reaches of the Dingle Peninsula.

There, between the grey sky, the choppy sea and the sheep hugging the hills she must have felt she’d arrived at the edge of the world (not by coincidence, surely, the first track of the side-b suite, ‘The Ninth Wave’, is titled ‘And Dream Of Sheep’).

“There were no roads - just tracks,” recalls Del Palmer, Bush’s musical foil across the span of her career and her partner for some 15 years.

You couldn’t make a phone call on a Sunday because the phone-master was away. They used to have wind-up telephones. It was very different.

Bush’s family hail from around Dungarvan and Palmer’s from Cork (he has since become an Irish citizen). With Bush at the peak of her fame, their odyssey into the far south-west of Ireland was, Palmer recalls, enormously liberating.

“We loved it. One night we had to sleep in the car. We couldn’t make a phone call we needed to because it was a Sunday. And it was no problem. It was a Volkswagen Golf — nothing fancy. I can’t think of many other countries where you’d be fine about sleeping in a car.”

By the time of Hounds of Love, Bush had come to a critical juncture. Her previous album, The Dreaming, had not been well reviewed (it was regarded as too experimental).

So a lot was riding on the new LP. Adding to that, both she and Palmer were determined to connect with their Celtic heritage.

“We were recording in Windmill Lane. Dónal Lunny was involved, John Sheahan [The Dubliners], Paddy Glackin [The Bothy Band]. Kate wanted to get back to her roots. On one occasion they had done a piece for Hounds Of Love called ‘The Jig of Life’.

They were all around her and played the piece and she was reduced to jelly. It just blew her away, she got so emotional. Irish music is for her and her family a very intense relationship.

There was also a trip to Waterford to meet Bush’s family.

“We went to look them up and they seemed to come out of the woodwork there were so many. ‘This is cousin Mick, this is cousin Johnny…’ There were thousands of them. They were so friendly”.

I will move on from familial elements and connections in Kate Bush’s music. I am particularly interested in how various nations and cultures have inspired her. I think that Irish instruments and sonics have not been hugely integrated into mainstream music. Of course, we have celebrated Irish musicians; though how many non-Irish acts take guidance from the country? With Kate Bush, she proudly wore her D.N.A. and love of Ireland into her music. Some of my favourite songs from Bush incorporate Irish tones and elements – The Sensual World (song) is heightened and elevated to glorious heights because of the importance of Milly Bloom’s soliloquy from James Joyce’s Ulysses and the use of musicians Davy Spillane, John Sheahan and Dónal Lunny. I will leave things there. In terms of nationality-specific features, I have covered Australia and Japan. From growing up in a household when Irish voices and sounds would have ricocheted from the walls, through to Bush travelling to Ireland and working with musicians there, one cannot deny the prominence and place the nation holds in the Kate Bush story. The Irish elements of Bush’s music contains…

SO much richness and beauty.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Lava La Rue

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Benjamin Askinas for Wonderland.  

Lava La Rue

___________

AS she has been nominated…

as this year’s AIM Awards, I wanted to take some time to spotlight Lava La Rue (Ava Laurel). She is a visual artist, rapper and musician from London, founder of NiNE8 collective. I will work my way up to a review for La Rue’s E.P., BUTTER-FLY, as it is one of the finest of this year. I want to source a series of interviews, so that we can get to know the remarkable Lava La Rue better. In this DAZED interview from 2018, we discover more about La Rue’s flat (at the time) In London - in addition to what it was like growing up:

“Lava La Rue’s flat is a creative space. Paintings, torn-out magazine pages, a photo of Grace Jones, and a couple of spray-painted skateboard decks hang from the wall, while some friends hang out on the sofa. The flat is in Ladbroke Grove, an area of west London whose ultra-wealthy residents often obscure the fact that the borough has one of the starkest equality gaps in the UK. It’s a council flat, a rare bit of social housing remaining in a city that’s sold most of its stock to private landlords, and it’s somewhere the 20-year-old artist can express herself and create her art on her own terms. Lava has been here for the past two years, when she left the foster care system that she’d been in since she was 14.

“I was hopping around, in and out of foster care, until I was 18,” says Lava La Rue – an anagram of her own name, Ava Laurel – while sitting outside her window on a blisteringly hot summer’s day. “I had my dreams set: ‘I wanna do this, I wanna be doing music, I want my own place”.

Laurel grew up locally, raised by her grandmother. When she was 16 years old and still in foster care, she started making music, initially being in a band before getting involved in the spoken word scene. At college, she met a group of like-minded individuals, who not only helped shape the music she was making herself – a lo-fi style of hip hop/neo-soul defined by her hushed raps, diary entry lyrics, and dusty boom-bap beats – but also led to the formation of NINE8, a 15-strong collective of musicians, producers, artists, and designers doing things less do-it-yourself, more do-it-together.

What was it like growing up around west London?

Lava La Rue: It’s inner city, so you have huge affluence and then severe poverty across the road. It’s different to certain areas, where it’s just poverty. Growing up, I’d go to school and there’d be the kid of this (important and wealthy) person, and then kids I knew from the block, all in one classroom. But that’s London, ain’t it?

Can you tell me what foster care was like for you?

Lava La Rue: I was quite lucky. I didn’t go into care until I was in my mid-teens, which is a totally, totally different thing to being in and out of care from the age of five or six. Your experience of identity and attachment is totally different. As a teenager, I really learned a lot about self-preservation, being my own person, and not having dependencies. People learn self-love and self-care at different ages, but I really had to have my own back from a young age.

I grew up with my grandma – she was actually a carer as well, so I had loads of foster brothers growing up. A lot of people aren’t educated about the system at all, but I knew all the ins and outs. I had my dreams set: ‘I wanna do this, I wanna be doing music, I want my own place.’ That was a different experience to someone who doesn’t know. My grandmother was one of the first wave of Jamaicans to come over here, so even though I’m third generation, I have the experience of being raised by the first generation and the whole culture around that.

What do you take your inspiration from?

Lava La Rue: Where I live and the people around me. They all live really interesting lives. As cliché as it is, I’m definitely a Londoner. The shit I feel, literally walking on roads every day, that’s the stuff I generally write about. I take huge inspiration from incredible women – I love Erykah Badu, I love Neneh Cherry, women who exist and say their perspective and are unapologetic of who they are. That stuff is what keeps me going, you know what I mean?

And my collective, man! Mac Wetha is literally one to watch, because I think there’s always an appreciation for producers, but he, in himself, is a star. And obviously Biig Piig is incredible”.

As it is Pride Month, I am spending time with some terrific and hugely promising L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ artists who are primed for big things. That is true of Lava La Rue. NME caught up with one of the U.K.’s best talents. Among other things, sexuality, gender identity and the L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ experience is discussed:

“Instead of feeling like they were “being mushy” or “giving in” to writing songs about love, they came to appreciate the gravity of a queer person making music – in part for the benefit of the LGBTQIA+ community. “In the past I was using female pronouns for my lovers and people were reaching out to me and being like, ‘You have no idea how much it meant to me to just listen to a bop and it so casually be about a lesbian relationship, but not actually for the whole thing be about that.’”

“It was made in a transitional period for me. I’d fallen head over heels in love and I felt like I had cut off all the negative things in my life. And I was surrounded by really nourishing and caring people. Before that I was very much in hustle mode; trying to make sure my music could cover my living. I’d fucked off to LA [in late 2019] to write this project and suddenly I was like, ‘Do you know what? I’ve got good people around me. I’m OK. I’ve got a great team. I need to not look left, not look right and just focus on the music.’ Suddenly loads of waves of emotions hit me and I realised I started feeling things I’d been putting off for years. When you’re in hustle mode you don’t really allow yourself to process things because you’re just so busy trying to survive. So in that time period I was really emotional and I was like, ‘All right, well let me put this all into the music.’”

And what about the growing pains of identity and coming out, if at all? “To be honest I always knew that I was genderqueer and didn’t quite see myself on a specific side of the spectrum from a very young age, but those words weren’t actually in circulation to use. It was just seen as, ‘Oh yeah, little Ava, she’s a bit of a tomboy’. When I did start doing more research, I was like, ‘OK, there’s actually a word for this.’

“A misconception about being non-binary is people think it’s almost like a third gender – like a gender in a middle – where it’s actually a whole spectrum. I think my idols exuded that same energy but I those words really weren’t in circulation. Prince was probably non-binary. I realise now there’s maybe a bit more terminology for exactly how I feel, but even within that I still feel it’s a very complex thing.”

But the conversation isn’t moving fast enough, Laurel adds. “It’s very easy to feel like there’s been progression when you have your own bubble of people or if you have your own echo chamber online. Yet there’s also a whole other world of people where it’s totally not OK, especially in other countries. I have a lot of people close to me who come from countries where you’re absolutely at risk by being openly queer – let’s focus on making those people safe. They need the bare necessities and they’re still not there. To me, that’s not progression. We should be way beyond that by now”.

Before getting to the BUTTER-FLY E.P., I found an interview that La Rue gave to The Forty-Five at the start of this year. I would urge people to read the whole thing. The section about La Rue’s NiNE8 collective caught my eye:

“Unsurprisingly for someone so community-minded, accountability is huge for Lava. With NiNE8 she’s run songwriting workshops for local children, and for the release of ‘G.O.Y.D.’ she donated proceeds from the song to ‘For Our Sibs’, a Black Trans Exclusive collective centring Black Trans, Non-Binary, Gender Non-Conforming, and Intersex folk. It’s not just about giving back to society either, it’s about leading by example.

“The main message of NiNE8 is a collective vibe and solidarity across races and genders and identity and class. [As a solo artist] it’s about something as simple as just trying to teach people self-love, and you know the best way to do that is to put that in your own life. Because there are so many artists that talk about that stuff and just don’t follow it.”

It’s difficult to think of many other musicians who could enthuse about self-esteem, solidarity, and personal growth without coming over preachy or insincere. This ability to connect with audiences on a human level is precisely the reason we need an artist like Lava La Rue in 2021, a year that’s already shaping up to be every bit as challenging as its predecessor.

Ask Lava about her hopes for the year, however, and you’ll find her eyes already trained far further into the distance. “I’m always thinking five years ahead,” she asserts, deadly serious. “I already know the project I want to do at the end of next year and the year after that, and the project I want to release when I’m 25.

“I don’t feel like I’ve remotely peaked or shown half of my capabilities. I’ve only just gotten into the groove. There’s gonna be so much more to come”.

The last interview that I am including is from Vogue. Not only is La Rue a talented visual artist and rapper. She is a fashion icon who has a unique blend and set of influences. This is explained more in the interview from earlier in the year:

“Lava La Rue has become a household name in recent years. Many will know the 22-year-old as the singer-songwriter and rapper behind the critically acclaimed 2019 EP Stitches, and as a founding member of NiNE8 – a diverse London collective, home to rappers, producers and familiar names such as Biig Piig. Others will recognise her as a regular at fashion shows and the face of multiple campaigns, or as a vocal and active member of the Black and LGBTQIA+ community, championing Black stories and queer love in the mainstream through music and art. This summer, she released a fan-led music video exploring the “summer of love” in lockdown for her single “G.O.Y.D” (Girl Of Your Dreams) with proceeds going towards the Black Trans collective FOR OUR SIBS.

Fortunately, the pandemic has in no way diminished La Rue’s creative prowess. On 19 February, she releases her second EP Butter-Fly alongside self-made artwork and a music video for the bluesy opening track “Magpie”. Inspired by Björk, Prince and the sounds of her collective, it consists of five personal queer love stories envisioned as “individual movies with the same characters but different settings and genres”. After “Magpie” comes “Angel” – a poppy fusion of West London and American West Coast sounds followed by the ethereal love ballad “Goofy Hearts”, the trippy R&B track “G.O.Y.D”, and “Lift You Up” featuring Karma Kid – a sugary finale to a kaleidoscopic EP”.

How do you DIY your clothes?

I swap unworn clothes in charity shops or revamp them with new materials. I’d make clothes before a night out – ripping, sticking, pinning something up quickly. People liked what I made and that’s how my brand Lavaland came about. When I’m making clothes, I think about functionality and past subcultures that inspire me. I’ll see a sick photo of Joan Jett in a crazy pinned T-shirt or jeans, then go to Portobello Market and make my own version. With Lavaland and NiNE8 Garms, I buy second-hand clothes by the kilo at warehouses. For the boutique collection we did for London Men’s Fashion Week, we found loads of Korean army pants, fixed all the zips and added all the additional textures.

What is your best style or DIY tip?

Don't be afraid to DIY expensive clothes because no one else will be wearing that anyway.

What do you wear on date night?

Pre-Covid, I’d be in a full leather Matrix outfit. It’s casual, sexy and not too crazy. I wore that on my first date with my partner.

Who, in your opinion, is the greatest fashion icon?

They’re all around my house! Posters of Grace Jones, Prince, Joan Jett. I feel like 2021 needs authentic rockstars with their energy”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Jack Cullis

I am going to end with a review from NME of BUTTER-FLY. It is an exceptional E.P. from a multidisciplinary artist on the rise. This is what they had to say:

“Take ‘G.O.Y.D’, a lush slow jam about a long-distance relationship. After a torrent of gushy declarations rapped by Laurel (“Call me Molly ’cause I been rolling like a heartthrob”), Clairo picks up the receiver to play the other longing half. It’s a welcome dabble into romanticism, and a jump from the socio-political stories that coloured early work. But, as ever, it comes with a wider purpose. They recently told NME that they were inspired to explore and vocalise these emotions so because “queer love is inherently political” and that “it’s still extremely underrepresented across all genres.”

Elsewhere, Laurel turns up the wonk for EP highlight ‘Angel’ – featuring new-gen rockstar Deb Never – a sparkling tune sprung by hypnotic synths and taut basslines. “Pupils dilating / Want you up and down”, Laurel purrs before switching to breathy R&B singing at the song’s hook. On ‘Magpie’, Laurel instead exposes the risks of love and how they fall in and out too easily. Opening up has its downfalls, after all.

Dreamy trip-hop track ‘Lift You Up’ returns to Laurel’s longtime manta of self-love and acceptance: “This world is for me it’s my Lava town”, they spit in spoken-word over swelling beats, while Karma Kid’s gorgeous falsetto strengthens the track’s hopeful message. ‘Butter-Fly’ revels tonally and thematically in Laurel’s first flush of love, and being its voyager is a rewarding experience. Their next journey will no doubt be just as thrilling”.

Go and follow Lava La Rue if you are uninitiated and unfamiliar. Her music is stunning and points towards a very bright and successful future. I will leave things there. Go and spend some time studying and familiarising yourself with…

THE amazing Lava La Rue.

_____________

Follow Lava La Rue

PHOTO CREDIT: Sarah Louise Bennett for The Forty-Five 

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/lavalarue/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/lavalarue/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/lavalarue

Bandcamp:

https://lavalarue.bandcamp.com/

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoj0cZBCGdfz_X253eX_gVw

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/271bbpX3pdCi56ZJA1jQ43?si=0EG052KvTrSpIWVUGaZQcg&dl_branch=1

FEATURE: The King of Queen: A Towering Voice: Remembering Freddie Mercury

FEATURE:

 

 

The King of Queen

IN THIS PHOTO: Freddie Mercury performing with Queen at their incredible Live Aid set at Wembley in 1985/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

A Towering Voice: Remembering Freddie Mercury

___________

I will publish other features…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Queen/PHOTO CREDIT: Michael Putland/Getty Images

closer to the thirtieth anniversary of his death. It is hard to believe that, on 24th November, it is thirty years since the world lost the peerless Freddie Mercury. The reason I wanted to mention him today is that I have been listening to a lot to his music - more than I otherwise would. One of my favourite Queen albums, A Kind of Magic, turned thirty-five on 2nd June. Founded in 1970, Queen recorded fourteen albums whilst Mercury was alive – they have released posthumous records. Now, Adam Lambert heads the band. Whilst he is an exceptional singer, there is something about Mercury that will never been matched. It is heartbreaking that, on 30th May, 1991, Mercury recorded the final music video with Queen, These Are the Days of Our Lives. He was so strong and committed to the very end. I want to bring in news of a Freddie Mercury graphic novel that is coming soon. Before that, here is some biography  regarding the great man:

“The life of Frederick Bulsara began on the East African island of Zanzibar on September 5, 1946. 25 years later in London under the name of Freddie Mercury he was fronting the now legendary rock group named Queen.

The immortal operatically styled single ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ was released in 1975 and proceeded to the top of the UK charts for 9 weeks. A song that was nearly never released due to its length and unusual style but which Freddie insisted would be played became the instantly recognisable hit. By this time Freddie’s unique talents were becoming clear, a voice with a remarkable range and a stage presence that gave Queen its colourful, unpredictable and flamboyant personality.

Queen was always indisputably run as a democratic organisation. All four members are each responsible for having penned number one singles for the band. This massive writing strength combined with spectacular lights, the faultless sound, a sprinkling of theatricality and Freddie’s balletic movements made up Queen on stage and on film.

Their phenomenal success continued around the globe throughout the 80’s highlighted in 1985 by their show-stealing and unforgettable performance on stage at Live Aid.

His first major collaboration outside Queen was with Dave Clark for the recording of London’s West End musical Time, in 1986. This was followed in 1987 with the realisation of one of Freddie’s long-term dreams; to record with the world revered opera diva Montserrat Caballé. The LP’s title song, ‘Barcelona’ went on to become an anthem for Señora Caballé’s home city and the theme for the Olympics in 1992.

Freddie returned to the studios to record ‘Innuendo’ with Queen in 1990.

On November 24th, 1991, Freddie’s struggle against AIDS ended when he passed away just over 24 hours after he had publicly announced he had the disease. Musicians and fans from all over the world paid their highest respects as the passing of rock’s most innovative, flamboyant ambassador signified the end of an era at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert at Wembley Stadium on April 20, 1992 which gave birth to the Mercury Phoenix Trust, the AIDS charity set up in Freddie’s memory by the remaining members of Queen and Freddie’s Executor, Jim Beach.

IN THIS PHOTO: Freddie Mercury with Montserrat Caballé (they released the album, Barcelona, in 1988.. The L.P.’s title song went on to become an anthem for Caballé’s home city and the theme for the Olympics in 1992) 

Despite twenty years having passed since Freddie lost his life to HIV complications, he remains in the minds of millions throughout the world as one of the greatest artists we will ever see. In September 2010 (coincidentally, around Freddie's 64th birthday) a poll carried out among rock fans saw him named the Greatest Rock Legend Of All Time, beating Elvis Presley to claim the title, and ahead of David Bowie, Jon Bon Jovi, Jimi Hendrix and Ozzy Osbourne.

Taking it one stage further, Freddie’s 65th birthday, September 5, 2011 was celebrated with a major party in London in aid of The Mercury Phoenix Trust, hosted by Queen’s Brian May and Roger Taylor.

While most publicly recognised as the front man to one of the most progressive rock bands of the 70’s, Freddie defied the stereotype. A taste for venturing into new territories – a trait that was to have a marked influence on the direction Queen would take – took Freddie to explore his interests in a wide spectrum of the arts, particularly in the areas of ballet, opera and theatre, even taking a participating role: in October1977 the sell-out audience of a charity gala at the London Coliseum organised by Royal Ballet Principal dance Wayne Eagling received the surprise of an unannounced appearance by a silver-sequinned leotard-clad Freddie performing an intricate routine choreographed for him by Eagling. In 1987 he made a one-night appearance in Dave Clarke’s Time at the Dominion Theatre, although legend has it Freddie occasionally turned up at the theatre to support friend Clarke’s musical, one night selling ice-creams in the stalls! Freddie would have loved the fact that The Dominion now plays host to the band’s phenomenally successful musical We Will Rock You which has now held the Dominion stage nearly seven years longer than Time’s two year run”.

I know there will be a mix of celebration and sadness when we mark thirty years since Mercury’s death. Of course, it is tragic that he is no longer with us, though he left a huge legacy. To me, he is one of the greatest voices ever. The sheer power and panache he injected into every song is amazing! His emotional range was phenomenal. Listening to interviews he conducted, he was quite shy - though he was also very funny and captivating. He had this aura and gravitas that marked him out, not only as one of the greatest frontmen ever; he was also a hugely arresting and fascinating person. Some dislike Queen because of the pomp and overlook the incredible songwriting of Mercury. Aside from writing classics like Bohemian Rhapsody, he penned so many of Queen’s biggest songs, including Bicycle Race, Killer Queen and Crazy Little Thing Called Love. I can just about recall (being eight) when the news of Mercury’s death broke. I was aware of Queen’s music and was sad. In the years since, I have come to appreciate him, not only as the leader of Queen, but as a solo artist too. He was such an amazing force of nature. As a live performer, he was one of the most magnetic. One only need to think about Live Aid in 1985 and that iconic set! I don’t think we will see another artist with the same incredible voice and gift as Freddie Mercury. His legend will never die.

Before ending this feature, there is something exciting happening. Later in the year, a graphic novel is being released in November. As we learn from the official Freddie Mercury site, it something every fan will want to pre-order:

“Z2 COMICS ANNOUNCES THE FIRST-EVER OFFICIAL REDDIE MERCURY GRAPHIC NOVEL–LOVER OF LIFE, SINGER OF SONGS

The Legendary Rock Icon to be Honored In An All-New Book Inspired By His Music, Life, and Words

Click here to pre-order now in Softback, Hardback and Limited Edition Deluxe Hardback, which includes exclusive prints and a coloured version of 'Never Boring'.

LOS ANGELES, CA – Z2 Comics is proud to partner with Universal Music Group and Mercury Songs Ltd for Freddie Mercury: Lover of Life, Singer of Songs, the first-ever graphic novel paying tribute to one of the greatest figures the music world has ever known.

For the first time in comics format, Freddie Mercury: Lover of Life, Singer of Songs will be a journey through Freddie’s life; from his childhood in Zanzibar and India, through his formative years in England, to become the rock star, known and loved by millions around the globe. The story is told in his own words, with each chapter giving a glimpse into the many facets of his life.

Written by Tres Dean (All Time Low Presents: Young Renegades), the graphic novel will give a true insight into the many experiences that helped shape the young Farrokh Bulsara and his compelling existence, both on and off stage—that was the life of Freddie Mercury, Lover of Life, Singer of Songs.

Following up on the tremendous success of the Oscar-winning 2018 film Bohemian Rhapsody, and inspired by the book Freddie Mercury: A Life, In His Own Words,  compiled by Greg Brooks and Simon Lupton, this upcoming graphic novel will be another essential addition to the bookshelf or coffee table of fans new and old, sumptuously illustrated by Kyla Smith, Robin Richardson, Safiya Zerrougui, Tammy Wang, and Amy Liu, with accompanying cover painting by David Mack.

Freddie Mercury: Lover of Life, Singer of Songs is available for preorder in standard 136-page softcover ($19.99) and hardcover ($29.99) editions, released in finer comic shops, book and record stores in November. Available exclusively through Z2 in a special hardcover deluxe edition for $99.99 complete with an exclusive vinyl LP, as well as limited edition prints by Sarah Jones, Kyla Smith, and Sanya Anwar. Reserve your copy today!”.

I know we have the Bohemian Rhapsody film that came out in 2018. I watched it and really enjoyed it. We got to see more of Freddie Mercury beyond what he was like in the studio and on stage. I wonder whether there will be a documentary or any other release ahead of the thirtieth anniversary of his death. In any case, I wanted to put out a feature prior to then to remember one of my favourite artists ever. The fact that we are still talking about Mercury and playing his music so long after he has passed shows what an impact he has had. He truly was…

ONE of the very greatest.

FEATURE: Vinyl Corner: Troye Sivan - Bloom

FEATURE:

 

 

Vinyl Corner

Troye Sivan - Bloom

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FOR Pride Month…

I want to spotlight some especially great albums from L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ artists in Vinyl Corner. I wanted to spend some time with Troye Sivan’s remarkable second album, Bloom. Following from the acclaimed Blue Neighbourhood of 2015, his 2018 follow-up is even finer I love that debut album, though I feel Bloom is a much grander and more nuanced album. I think the Australian singer-songwriter is one of the most underrated artists around. Go and get a copy of Bloom, as it is an extraordinary album that everyone needs to listen to. Rather than jump straight to reviews, there is an interview that The Guardian conducted in 2019 that gives us more context regarding Sivan and his path to Bloom:

“Sivan has been preparing to be looked at since before puberty. As of last year, he is a pop star – not quite a household name, but big enough to command an invitation from Taylor Swift to duet on her recent US tour, and a guest spot from old friend Ariana Grande on his 2018 album Bloom. Critics compared Bloom’s euphoric synth-pop to cult Swedish pop star Robyn (the ecstatic My My My!) and 4AD goths This Mortal Coil (The Good Side, a spectral break-up ballad). He’s also an actor, recently lauded for his supporting role in the gay conversion therapy drama Boy Erased, with Nicole Kidman and Lucas Hedges.

But in 2002, Sivan was a seven-year-old boy living in Perth, western Australia, obsessed with his parents’ tapes of classic concerts. He would watch videos of Madonna and Michael Jackson, in awe at the way they moved and commanded a crowd. “I used to get nervous for them,” Sivan says, wiping off his face paint after the photoshoot. “Oh God, what if they mess up? What if they forget a lyric? I would imagine what it would be like.”

He asked for singing lessons, but was taught choral music, which bored him. “I wanted to sing Hero by Enrique Iglesias – but I didn’t have the guts to ask if I could learn a pop song. So I saw it as practising to get better.” He was rehearsing for the moment when he could become a pop star himself.

Sivan’s family had no music industry connections. “I used to Google ‘how to be a singer’,” he says, rolling his eyes at his naivety. He was an early adopter of social networking. When, aged 13, he uploaded a video of himself singing fellow teen Declan Galbraith’s Tell Me Why (“do the dolphins cry?”) to YouTube, it got 1,000 views – an audience far bigger than he’d sung to as a young chorister touring synagogues. Here was his in.

He started selling CDs of his angelic covers through a DIY website (the Dare To Dream EP, he recounts, cringing at the memory), sending his supportive but baffled mother, Laurelle, to the post office laden with packages. He accrued enough followers to attract an agent, who got him small roles in X-Men Origins: Wolverine and a South African film franchise with John Cleese. Enough, too, for creepy blokes to pose as managers and attempt to solicit him for sex. (He told his parents immediately.)

Then his voice broke. “I was really, really self-conscious because I’d built so much of my sense of self on my singing,” Sivan says. “I would open my mouth and have no idea what was going to come out. It was terrifying and broke my confidence a bit.”

Sivan came out to his family when he was 15, and to his YouTube fans three years later. By then he’d watched enough coming-out videos himself to know how helpful they could be. Plus, now he was signed, he needed to live without fear of being outed. “I wanted to be able to go to a gay club and not be worried that someone’s going to take a photo,” he says. “I wanted to tweet about boys.” On 7 August 2013, he told his (then) one million subscribers, with preternatural calm: “This could kind of change everything for me, but it shouldn’t have to.” He hadn’t warned his label; they emailed congratulations.

He launched his debut album with a series of interwoven videos in which two male lovers confront homophobic parents, repression and suicide – an unusually uncompromising approach to the pop mainstream. “This is something we simply aren’t seeing from other gay pop stars,” wrote the US culture publication Fuse.

Is mainstream acceptance the endgame for LGBTQ pop, or should queerness challenge the status quo? “I’m actually a little bit scared to have the conversation,” Sivan says. “Because I feel there’s some underlying homophobia in the general public, and within our own community.” There are two dominant stereotypes, he adds: gay men can be feminine, or “the hunky hot, masculine gay guy. As soon as you enter this grey area – and this is not just for gay men, but for all queer people – that’s where people are having a harder time understanding.”

Recently, Sivan’s peers have been debating the backlash that followed the announcement that Ariana Grande, a straight artist, would headline Manchester Pride this August. Olly Alexander of Years & Years endorsed Grande’s love for the LGBTQ community, and the city. “But – can’t stress this enough – if more people listened to and supported LGBT+ artists, they’d get more slots,” he tweeted. Sivan demurs on whether the issue lies with a homophobic industry, or with fans who simply aren’t stumping up. “We don’t have a queer Ariana, you know? If we did, I’m sure that person would be headlining. Until that day, I think we should expect that straight people are going to headline these things.”

As things are, Sivan says, he might not be in the music industry for ever. “I have a plan in my head that I’m going to grow up and have kids and a pretty normal adulthood,” he says, getting up to leave for Shabbat dinner with his mother and his boyfriend, who are on tour with him. “I want to do the school run.” He might act more, or go back to school to study graphic design. The worst thing, he says, would be to become predictable. “I am constantly trying to keep myself on my toes – and everyone else, too”.

I am interested to see whether we will get a third studio album from Troye Sivan in the next year or two. He is such an incredible talent with a very inspiring past. I know that he provides strength and inspiration to a lot of other L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ artists (and fans).

I am going to close with a couple of reviews for Bloom. There was universal praise for one of the finest albums of 2018. In their review, NME had this to say:

“These days, Sivan possesses a quiet sort of confidence. His potential previously peered through the blinds, looking out over the sleepy suburban cul-de-sac that housed his 2015 debut ‘Blue Neighourhood’. The record borrowed its name from the awkward tension that can hang over your hometown when you’re a young queer kid searching for belonging (Sivan grew up in the suburbs of Perth, Australia). “I am tired of this place / I hope people change” he sang on ‘Fools’, mapping out potential little houses and children’s names for his future like a wistful dreamer.

On ‘Bloom’, however, much of that anguish is left behind. Instead, this record sees Sivan frankly chart his dabbles on the gay dating app Grindr (‘Seventeen’) and put forth a tender sort of apology for his past actions (‘The Good Side’). On closing track ‘Animal, he softly whispers, “I am an animal with you” atop sounds that resemble a make-out mixtape spun out through a purple kaleidoscope. Whatever subject matter he touches, Sivan manages to tear away all the filters; there’s a tender sort of honesty to the whole album.

While Blue Neighbourhood’ moped deliciously amid a painful break-up, its successor explores lust, desire and wanting. Troye Sivan soars joyfully through it all, smuggling winking sexual metaphors and filthy imagery into the picture by way of Trojan horse-shaped pop bangers such as ‘Bloom’.

There is certainly something to be said for the amount of dopamine that permeates every inch of the record. Troye Sivan and other queer pop stars frequently find themselves lumped with common tags – “unapologetically out” is one clumsy term that often gets thrown about. As much as it’s often a cliché, unapologetic – or rather, completely empowered – is a mood that applies wholeheartedly to ‘Bloom’. Here, Sivan has created an album that does away with any apology; instead it sees him seize happiness with both hands”.

To finish off, here is a review from AllMusic. I like bringing in different reviews, as each site/person brings a new perspective to the same album. This is what AllMusic wrote:

“Seizing his moment with a tight set of glimmering pop confections, Australian singer/songwriter Troye Sivan embraces his role as a budding LGBT icon with Bloom, his aptly titled sophomore effort that signals his sexual awakening and personal growth into adulthood. On his 2016 debut, Blue Neighbourhood, fans met the boy; here, Sivan introduces them to a bold and fearless man. Brave and unapologetic, Bloom bursts forth with confidence, grace, and poise, allowing listeners to peek into a world that includes fumbles and mistakes, but also pure joy and romance. On the opener, "Seventeen," Sivan dives right in, recounting the loss of his virginity to an older man. Given the age gap, it's an uncomfortable but ultimately important moment for Sivan, both a rite of passage and endearing coming-of-age touchstone. From there, he spins between the dizzying extremes of young love, celebrating fleeting passions on the joyous "My My My!" and breezy innocence on the Ariana Grande-assisted "Dance to This" before lamenting the last gasps of a union on "Plum" and coming to terms with a breakup on the absolutely lovely "The Good Side." Additional highlights include the explicitly horny metaphor "Bloom" and the irresistible, 1975-esque "Lucky Strike." At a taut ten tracks, Bloom is an unambiguous statement from Sivan, clear in its intent to celebrate the highs and lows of queer love through the eyes of a proud pop star in the making”.

Go and get Troye Sivan’s second studio album. Bloom is an apt title for someone who really was blooming and determine to illustrate and illuminate queer love – through all the highs and lows that it provides. If you are foreign to Bloom, then go and investigate now. It is an album that...

ONE you need to hear.

FEATURE: An Instrumental Sibling: Kate and Paddy Bush

FEATURE:

 

 

An Instrumental Sibling

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate and Paddy Bush alongside Peter Gabriel/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

Kate and Paddy Bush

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THIS will be quite a short feature…

as I have discussed Kate Bush and the relationship with her brothers. Her two brothers brought different things into her life. Music connects all three, though John Carder Bush (her oldest brother), photographed his sister since she was a toddler. He was a teenager when his young sister was born. Paddy Bush, who was born in 1952 (Kate was born in 1958), provides something different. Before giving my thoughts on that, here is some biography about Paddy Bush from the Kate Bush Encyclopaedia:

 “Paddy Bush was born on 9 December 1952. He is an English musician, instrument maker, music critic, producer and artist. He is also the older brother of Kate. His best-known works are his collaborations with her on all of her studio albums up to the 2005 release Aerial. He wrote many contributions to the Kate Bush Club newsletter during the 1980's. Bush often plays standard instruments such as the guitar, mandolin, and harmonica, along with more exotic and unusual instruments, such as the balalaika, sitar, koto, and digeridoo. Bush is the sole European musician who has mastered playing - and making of - the Marovany, a traditional Malagasy instrument related to the Valiha. He undertook a number of extensive trips to Madagascar for filming and radio recording purposes. On one of these, Bush presented the widely screened television documentary 'Like A God When He Plays' which also features popular Malagasy musician Justin Vali. Bush was an original member of the KT Bush Band. In 1993, Bush collaborated with Colin Lloyd-Tucker to form the band Bushtucker”.

People talk about Bush’s music and what a sensational innovator she is. This is true, though I think the ongoing influence from Paddy was a big reason why she unearthed so many unusual sounds and took big leaps. In the Bush household, the aspiring songwriter was exposed to English and Irish sounds (her mother was Irish). There was a lot of different music played, though one feels that Bush’s exploration of bands like Pink Floyd and artists like David Bowie would have come from her peers and self-discovery. Her parents might have helped open her eyes to acts like Frank Zappa, though one feels that this was another discovery by Bush herself. Whilst one hears elements of the more esoteric, experimental and diverse in her music, I think that didn’t really happen until Never for Ever – there are flashes and sparks on her second album, Lionheart. Paddy Bush became a regular player and big contributor on her albums since 1978’s Lionheart. He did appear on the debut, The Kick Inside (he played mandolin on Oh to Be in Love and delivered some backing vocals). I will drop in the documentary that was broadcast around Bush’s The Tour of Life in 1979 (see below). Paddy Bush can be seen (as he was part of the musicians on the tour) talking about his sister and introducing the interviewer to unusual instruments. Although Kate Bush was pretty curious and bonded with technology and unconventional instruments herself, Paddy was especially left-field. Among the instruments Paddy Bush played on Lionheart, one hears strumento de porco (psaltery), mandocello and pan flute.

There are English Folk elements combined with the more international and unorthodox. They sound brilliant and add new layers to the songs he appears on. I might do another feature that expands upon the childhood days for Kate Bush and her brothers’ impact. Having Paddy in the fold took her music to new levels. I love the backing vocals Paddy provided to songs such as Them Heavy People (The Kick Inside), harmony vocals on Lionheart, and the incredible backing vocals on Never for Ever (including the track, All We Ever Look For). There are two elements to Paddy Bush’s impact. His backing vocals provided new characters and richness to various songs. From his backing on Never for Ever’s Army Dreamers, to Hounds of Love’s Cloudbusting, one could hear the sibling bond. A lot of artists bring their siblings into their work, through one can hear so much of Paddy Bush through the catalogue of his young sister. In fact, one can hear him on 2011’s Director’s Cut. He did not appear on the most-recent album, 50 Words for Snow – the first studio album where he does not get a credit. That said, he was a part of the 2014 residency, Before the Dawn (credited as helicopter pilot (Waking the Witch), harmonic vocals, fujare). I wonder, if Bush releases another album, her brother will be part of it. It is amazing to think that, for over forty years, the two have been such an integral and essential part of the music!

Have a look through Kate Bush’s discography on Wikipedia or Discogs and read the list of vocal performances from Paddy Bush. There was this obvious love and trust between the two. I think that Paddy learned a lot from his sister by working with her for so many years – he has produced music of his own; one gets the sense that we hear more from him in the future. One of the problems with The Kick Inside is the fact that Bush did not have too many of her first-choice musicians on the album. Having been part of the KT Bush Band, she would have wanted Brian Bath and Del Palmer in the fold. They first appeared on Lionheart, though having Paddy in the studio on The Kick Inside would have given her confidence and that support – that said, the musicians she played with were very warm and professional. In addition to recording material at or near her childhood house of East Wickham Farm, having her brother alongside her from the beginning would have been very comforting! Rather than it being a case of the star throwing her brother a bone, Paddy’s invaluable importance and knowledge bled into the music of his sister. Think about the instruments one hears on 1980’s Never for Ever. One hears balalaika, sitar, koto, strumento de porco (psaltery), harmonica, musical saw, banshee and mandolin.

Perhaps less prolific and expansive on The Dreaming (as the Fairlight CMI played a bigger role), he still throws in sticks, mandolins, strings and bullroarer! There are a lot of gorgeous Irish instruments (no doubt inspired by her mother and Bush being exposed to Irish folk as a child), but there is also the didgeridoo. The Australian instrument was played by Rolf Harris on The Dreaming, through I think Paddy played a part in introducing it into the studio (Bush wanted to play the instrument, though Aboriginal law prevents women from playing a didgeridoo). Paddy Bush did play didgeridoo on Hounds of Love’s The Big Sky but, in addition to a few other instruments, he played violins and fujara. I have already written about the range of instruments on Bush’s albums, though I have not singled Paddy out before. Each Bush album has a different sonic texture and palette. She is the reason for that, though I feel her brother’s constant discovery of new sounds and his suggestions pricked his sister’s ears. On 1989’s The Sensual World, he wields whip (swished fishing rod), valiha and backing and tupan (among other things). Alongside some great vocals on 1993’s The Red Shoes, Paddy supplied valiha, singing bowls, fujara, musical bow, whistle and mandola. I think one reason why Paddy’s eclectic influence diminished from 2005’s Aerial was the nature of Bush’s music and the fact that there was a relatively simplicity.

There are gorgeous orchestrations through the double album, though there are a lot of more conventional instruments. Rolf Harris (unfortunately) played didgeridoo on the album, whilst Paddy did some backing vocals on the single, King of the Mountain. By Director’s Cut, he was given more to do with some mandola, flute, whistle and backing vocals. 50 Words for Snow is Bush’s most pared-down album, I think. There is percussion and guitars; the piano rules – hence the reason we do not hear Paddy on the album. Maybe, on a new album, she will continue down that road, although one imagines Paddy will feature on another Bush recording before her career is through! I was digging through the archives to see whether Paddy has spoken in detail about his sister and vice versa. I cannot find anything too detailed, though one cannot deny or ignore the influence of Paddy, not only on his sister, but her musical expansiveness and passionate curiosity for new sounds and worlds. Would she has visited Bulgaria and recruited the Trio Bulgarka were it not for Paddy Bush?! I think the wildness and wind of some of The Ninth Wave’s (from Hounds of Love) tracks was because of Paddy. He is such an important part of Kate Bush’s story and success. Let’s hope that the siblings…

WORK together again.

FEATURE: In My Bed: A Misunderstood Icon: Remembering Amy Winehouse

FEATURE:

 

 

In My Bed

PHOTO CREDIT: Jake Chessum

A Misunderstood Icon: Remembering Amy Winehouse

___________

ON 10th June…

a new book came out: My Amy: The Life We Shared, written by Amy Winehouse’s best friend, Tyler James. It is one that everyone should own, as I feel it clears up some misconceptions about a musical icon. On 23rd July, it will be ten years since the world lost Amy Winehouse. She was just twenty-seven. Her second studio album, Back to Black, will be fifteen later this year. It is one of the greatest albums of the first decade of this century. There was so much hope and promise. Rather than mourn and be too angry at losing such a remarkable talent so young, I wanted to bring in Tyler James’ book and his recent interview with The Times. I am going to write a couple more articles about Winehouse in the lead-up to the tenth anniversary of her death. One of the things that galls me most is how misperceived Winehouse was. Whilst one cannot blame the press entirely (and their hounding and vilification) for her drug and alcohol abuse, one can definitely hold them accountable. There is this idea that Winehouse was a heavy drug-taker on the day of her death. Many get the idea of someone who was addicted and showing no signs of rehabilitation. That is not true. I think it is important that this untrue idea if laid to rest. One of the tragic things about reading The Times’ interview is hearing her best friend talk about how close Winehouse was to getting clean and starting over.

With more personal space and less press intrusion, who knows what could have been. We’d like to think that she would still be here and, in 2021, Winehouse would be putting out stunning music and having her personality and voice felt across social media. I want to bring in a few parts of the extensive and hugely fascinating interview with Tyler James. It is an emotional interview where we learn how Amy Winehouse was turning her life around and was not dependant on heroin:

“Winehouse had been clean of heroin and crack for three years by the time she died, “But she never gets credit for that,” says James, now 39 years old.

The paparazzi, permanently camped outside the Camden Square house and the flats that had preceded it, all of which she shared with James, had recorded everything up to the point of her death: her skeletal frame from bulimia; her heroin highs; her wounds from self-harm; her destructive and often violent relationship with Blake Fielder-Civil, the man she married and then divorced, who inspired her lyrics for the phenomenal 2006 Back to Black album; her trademark pink ballet slippers splattered with blood; her stumbles in and out of cars with her teetering beehive and winged eyeliner.

“She was always thought of as this fantastic jazz singer, not commercial. I don’t think anybody thought that would happen.” There was a halcyon period where they both had money, and drove around Miami in an open-top car, but it didn’t last long. James was dropped by his label, Island, after a faltering start, which marked the beginning of his own addiction to drink and drugs (later dealt with in rehab, which Winehouse paid for). When Winehouse followed her first album, Frank, released when she just 20, with Back to Black, she quickly began to struggle with the pressure of global fame and her own addictions.

IMAGE CREDIT: Pan Macmillan 

“I want people to please, please recognise how hard she had worked to come off drugs and just how close she was to [giving up drink] for good, how close she was to being healthy. She was so, so close to being exactly where I am. I can picture her, where she would be right now in life and it wouldn’t have anything to do with being f***ing famous.

“Amy was a girl in her twenties suffering from addiction, and everybody was a part of it. Everybody was watching it. When you go to rehab, you have to be the strongest you’ve ever been in your life, when you are the weakest you’ve ever been in your life. And she had to go through that in front of people. And I want people to understand how hard that was for her. I want people to know what it was, to stop seeing her as this doomed person.”

I meet Tyler James today because, finally, approaching the tenth anniversary of Winehouse’s death, he has written a heartbreaking book about his life with his best friend. It is called My Amy: The Life We Shared and tells the story from when, aged 13 and brought up in a council house in Canning Town, east London, he met her at theatre school after winning a scholarship, right up to the end when he wrote her a love letter and laid it with her ashes at Edgwarebury Cemetery, Edgware.

“To this day,” he says, “someone will come up to me in the street and say, ‘Ah, you’re Amy Winehouse’s best friend.’ They might not even know my name. But it doesn’t bother me at all. Because I’m proud of that. I feel, ‘Yeah! I was lucky to get to know that girl.’ I don’t regret that everything else went on hold. I don’t regret it at all. She would have done it for me. When you love someone, that’s what you do. You don’t bale out”.

Of course, Amy Winehouse’s legacy is not defined by her troubles and demons. Naturally, one cannot talk about her passing without wondering whether her addiction problems and the press pressure on her shoulders could have been avoided. Rather than think of Winehouse in these terms, there does need to be reappropriation and reappraisal. She seemed like someone who was looking ahead. So many fans can only wonder how her voice would have progressed and what musical direction she would have taken after Back to Black. I know that there will be a mix of celebration and remembrance in July as we mark ten years since Winehouse left us. There has been nobody like her since she died. I feel she is one of these artists who will never be forgotten. A true icon and someone who has inspired so many artists, we shall always remember this gigantic and prodigious talent. A unique voice and a women who, despite having endured some problems, was shy, humble, passionate and compelling. I would recommend that people spend some time listening to Winehouse’s music and watching some of her live performances. They are so amazing, moving and memorable! I am glad that we have a book from Tyler James. It is a chance for people to learn more about the true Amy Winehouse. It is a book that sets the record straight from someone…

WHO knew her so well.

FEATURE: Influenced by Sara Cox’s BBC Show, Between the Covers... Should There Be a Televised Record Club?

FEATURE:

 

 

Influenced by Sara Cox’s BBC Show, Between the Covers…

PHOTO CREDIT: Sean Benesh/Unsplash

Should There Be a Televised Record Club?

___________

THIS will be a short one…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Sara Cox/PHOTO CREDIT: Alex Lake/The Observer

but I wanted to react to a great BBC Two show that started last year, Between the Covers. Hosted by Sara Cox (BBC Radio 2), the concept is that four celebrity guests come on each week and discuss books important to them, in addition to a new release. I think it works so well for a few reasons. There is no studio audience so it is like a traditional book club. Not that a studio audience would have much to react to, though I feel the lack of excess noise and distraction means one focuses on the guests’ words and reasons why they love a particular book. Cox is a warm and witty host who throws in joke but ensures that things are not farcical or too silly! She has a clear passion for literature and provides a lightness and humour to a show that could otherwise have been dry and too academic. I am a book fan, but I have found myself discovering new books and becoming more interested because of Between the Covers. It is a BBC gem that has attracted a passionate audience! I know there are podcasts and other shows (from the past) that act like a book club. It is fascinating looking at the podcasts that explore books. For a literature lover, there is a banquet of choice. I don’t think there can be too much choice when it comes to shows and series that are dedicated to literature.

IN THIS PHOTO: Graham Norton/PHOTO CREDIT: BBC

I especially like Between the Covers, as I think Cox is a natural and engaging presenter. The fact there is this structure where each guests brings their own book and shares their thoughts on a new release means there is this consistency and set format. It never becomes too rigid or formulaic. Each show is very different; every guest provides their own fascinating takes. Go and bookmark the series if you like literature and have not checked it out. I have repeatedly written about the lack of music television and how, when there are so many different and exciting artists looking for a platform, there is this dearth. The same can be said for other music programmes. Of course, there are podcasts and radio series, yet there is precious little on T.V. I feel there could be a similar show to Between the Covers for a music audience. One is tempted to simply amend the title to Inside the Covers, though it would not simply be a copy of Sara Cox’s show. That said, I like the format of that series and it could allow for exploration of some great albums. A few new albums from the week could be dissected and featured. Whereas Between the Covers has the author of the new book discussing the concept and story, there could be the artist talking about their new album. I would be interested to hear guests discussing their favourite albums.

 PHOTO CREDIT: @jonasleupe/Unsplash

Maybe they could talk about the first album they owned and one that means a lot. It is similar in concept to the First, Last and Everything feature on BBC Radio 6 Music that is on the RadMac Sunday show. More than one new album from the week should be under the spotlight. Perhaps guests could bring in a mixtape with their favourite songs – and then one of the tracks is played. Maybe, in terms of albums, have their favourite album and one that is underrated or people might not know about. There is scope for flexibility, but I do think that there would be an appetite for a T.V. show that is like a record club. In terms of set design, it could be like a record shop setting. Having the seats in a circle in the middle of the set/shop would lend a sense of authenticity and atmosphere. I think that, as it is T.V., including music videos would be a good idea. The idea is to bring music and album passion to the small screen. At the moment, there is this dominance of audio formats and very little T.V. inclusion. Some might say that YouTube and other platforms allows one to have a music T.V. show – though you could also say that about books and why we need Between the Covers. A T.V. show is more for the family, and it lets us slow down and spend some time in front of the screen without the distraction of the Internet and phones.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Clay Banks/Unsplash

The digital age has brought us closer to artists and opened our worlds to sounds we might not have otherwise discovered. I also think a certain community and tradition has been taken away. You could mix retro with modern. In the sense that there is a sort of 1980s/1990s ‘record club’ vibe where one could mix cassettes asnd vinyl. The record shop set could see artists drop in. Maybe one artist a week could perform to close the show – one whose new album is being recommended? I like the idea of mixing in different layers and angles. One could do this without things becoming too crowded and unfocused. The fact that we saw the first drop of Record Store Day on 12th June means that there is a big appetite for vinyl and albums in general. I know that there would be demand and a big audience for a show that put music at the forefront. Rather than going between the covers, the viewer could dive…

 PHOTO CREDIT: @jonasleupe/Unsplash

INSIDE of the sleeve.

FEATURE: The Glory and Grace: Kate Bush and The Man I Love

FEATURE:

 

 

The Glory and Grace

Kate Bush and The Man I Love

___________

THIS is a song that I have covered before…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari

but I feel that it warrants a repeat. As much as I love Kate Bush’s original material. She is also an excellent interpreter. I have recently written about her take on Elton John’s Rocket Man – that was a single from a 1991 tribute album to Elton John and Bernie Taupin. Some artists are quite faithful when it comes to taking on someone else’s material. For Bush, it is an opportunity to make the song her own. She achieved this when she recorded the George and Ira Gershwin song, The Man I Love. I have been thinking about her rendition, as it is not one that we hear on the radio much – the same can be said of most of her back catalogue. I especially love what Bush did with the song. In terms of some background and some detail from Bush, the Kate Bush Encyclopaedia provides more detail:

“Song written by George & Ira Gershwin. Originally written for the 1927 Fred and Adele Astaire musical, 'Lady Be Good'. The song received a lukewarm reception and was subsequently dropped from the 1930 version of the show. Lady Mountbatten came across the tune in America and she asked George Gershwin for an autographed copy that she could take back to England, prompting British dance bands to start playing the song. A few years later, a recording by torch singer Helen Morgan finally made the song a success in the US. Other artists who have covered it include Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Barbra Streisand.

Kate Bush recorded a cover version of this song in 1994 for the album The Glory Of Gershwin, with Larry Adler on harmonica. The song was released as a single on 18 July 1994 in advance of the release of the album.

“This romantic song was written by George and Ira Gershwin and when Larry Adler put an album together of their songs, called The Glory of Gershwin, he asked me to sing this beautiful song. The album was produced by George Martin. I was very fond of George - such a special talent and creative spirit, a really gentle man, very kind and incredibly interesting. It was a great honour to work with him and Larry.  George and Larry were very different personalities (Larry was a real character), but they made a great creative combination.

It was released as a single and Kevin Godley directed the video. I loved working with Kevin -  so imaginative and great fun. I’d worked with him and Lol Creme when they directed the video for Peter Gabriel’s song, Don’t Give Up. Kevin chose to present the video in a very traditional way which suited the song extremely well.  Godley and Creme are huge talents who left their mark not just in the music industry with their intelligence and wit in the band 10CC but also in the visual world with their groundbreaking videos, working with an impressive list of diverse artists”.

Although Bush did not include any cover versions on her studio albums, one can discover these gems on other albums. In terms of comparing her vocal performance on The Man I Love to any of her albums, one can sort of see a connection between the song and the 1989 album, The Sensual World. There is a sensuality and gracefulness to her voice. It is rich and powerful when it needs to be. It is one of my favourite vocals from her. Although Bush has not released a cover version recently – I think the most recent one was Sexual Healing (the B-side to the 2005 single, King of the Mountain) -, one cannot rule out the possibility of one in the future. I think she inhabits The Man I Love and gives it her everything. I do often say how radio stations are restrictive regarding which Kate Bush songs they spin – one can narrow it down to fewer than a dozen songs; there are so many gems that have never been played. I would love to hear The Man I Love played a lot more. It is a wonderful song I can come back to time and time again and get something new from. With some incredible production and mixing (the song was mixed by Giles Martin and Rupert Coulson; it was produced by George Martin), one cannot ignore the beauty and nuance of The Man I Love. In a year that was fairly quiet for Bush (1994), her take on a classic allowed people to see yet another side to her incredible voice. I have heard the song so many times and it…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari

STILL hits me hard.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Yola

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Alysse Gafkjen 

Yola

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I was convinced that I…

had included Yola in my Spotlight feature before. I have had a look through the archives and cannot find anything! No matter. She has been recording music for years, though I feel she is still being discovered by people and not quite at the mainstream. Yola is a Bristol- born artist now based in the U.S. She received four nominations at the 62nd Grammy Awards (2020), including the all-genre Best New Artist category. I will come to her 2019 debut album, Walk Through Fire, soon enough. There is so much fascinating detail and story when we think of Yola. I want to bring in some interviews where we discover more about a tremendous artist with one of the most powerful voices in modern music. The first article I want to bring in is from Rolling Stone. They spotlighted Yola in 2019. Having a big fan in the form of The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach (who produced the album), it is clear Yola is a very special artist.. There are a few segments from the feature that are particular highlights:

“Yola was at home in Bristol in December of 2015 when she realized her kitchen was beginning to fill up with flames. “I was walking around burning like a human torch, and my first instinct was, ‘Ahhh!’” says the British singer-songwriter, who had accidentally set a new kitchen appliance on fire “But instinct two was laughter, because I was thinking, ‘What’s worse than this?’ And the thing that was worse was the life I had just managed to get myself out of.” The title track, which she wrote with Auerbach and legendary R&B songwriter Dan Penn, became the most obvious way for her to address the direct split head-on. “Fire is like an instant cleanser,” she says. “You immediately are propelled into a new environment of awareness, so there’s no doubt how bad something is, and how extreme it is, and why you need to get away.”

“I started with the idea of a tardy breakup record,” she says, “the idea of putting some things to bed. Saying goodbye to that past version of myself and the relationships inherent in that period of my life.”

The title track, which she wrote with Auerbach and legendary R&B songwriter Dan Penn, became the most obvious way for her to address the direct split head-on. “Fire is like an instant cleanser,” she says. “You immediately are propelled into a new environment of awareness, so there’s no doubt how bad something is, and how extreme it is, and why you need to get away.”

Both the song and the album, she adds, are about “the hurt before the walk and the hope you feel after it.”

The 35-year-old artist, born Yolanda Quartey, has spent the past decade or so shifting between various behind-the-scenes roles as a singer in Bristol and London. By the time she turned 30, she says, her central musical outlet, the Bristol-based band Phantom Limb, had become a toxic environment, a white boys’ club (“like True Blood, except guitars”) in which her own work and art was devalued and trivialized.

“There’s a lot of that patriarchal dominance in Bristol,” she says. “The word ‘feminist’ was a dirty word, and you couldn’t say it. It was this forceful, endless, exclusively white bro-athon, and that paradigm permeates people who are otherwise lovely.”

Back home in England, Yola’s musical skills were being limited exclusively to her vocals, so in order to begin making space for her musical departure from the Bristol scene, she began writing her own music.

“I got to this point of realizing that I could create something for myself by just being a singer-songwriter, like bloody everyone else,” she says. “It wasn’t that revolutionary. And the C, D and G chords really aren’t that challenging.”

Her first attempt was her 2016 EP Orphan Offering, which introduced the singer as an up-and-coming singer-songwriter fusing roots in a new way, but the record’s songs didn’t have enough distance from the Bristol scene the singer had only just begun leaving. “The E.P. was about the agony of the situation,” she says.

Over the next few years, Yola plotted her next move, slowly assembling a team around her as she carefully plotted how she wanted to introduce herself to the world as a solo artist. After making a splash in the Americana scene with Orphan Offering, that meant turning down several high-profile offers to serve as a backup singer, a role that she feels has become one of the only ways in which dark-skinned women of color are given opportunities in music. “Try to think of somebody in pop who is my shade or darker who is a woman,” she says. “It takes work to think of someone. Doing backing vocals becomes this job that people try to coax you into doing all the time as a woman of color. It’s to the point where I’ve been places as the artist where people assume I’m doing backing vocals”.

I think that Yola has progressed as an artist since she started out. Walk Through Fire is a huge statement. With some fantastic singles release last and this year, there is going to be demand for another E.P. or a follow-up to Walk Through Fire. Stand for Myself (her latest single) is one of the best of this year so far.

I am eager to get to an album review. There were some great interviews conducted in 2019. For those who were not conscious of Yola and who she was, one had an opportunity to bond with a tremendous artist. The Guardian sat down with her. Her early life and family situation is especially complex and compelling:

“Yola doesn’t remember her Ghanaian father, who left before she was two. Her mother was of the “late Windrush generation”: a psychiatric nurse who emigrated on a one-way ticket from Barbados in the 1970s. Yola is certain she regretted it: “There’s a whole generation of people that did. It was the worst bait and switch. ‘You don’t want to be in Barbados! It’s really beautiful in Milton Keynes!’”

Yola’s mum was a practical, stoic woman who moved her family to the overwhelmingly white town of Portishead because she imagined a better life for them there. But work was hard to come by and Yola recalls her mum buzzing around on her motorcycle between dozens of different jobs. As well as nursing and care work, she was the Avon lady, and worked at the supermarket. When money was tight, she would plunder the bins behind the store for food that had been thrown out.

“The hustle was real,” says Yola. “We knew we were too poor for Santa. We used to get bath products for Christmas – end-of-line vibes, for a quid or so, that was the treat.” As almost the only black kid in town – aside from her older sister – Yola was never allowed to forget her otherness. “People might have seen us every day but they were still suspicious. They’d keep an eye out as you walked down the aisles to check you weren’t shoplifting stuff. I got used to being placatory and over-nice.”

Music was a place she could feel she belonged. Her mother’s record collection – Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Dolly Parton, Elton John – was a refuge and she was soon besotted. As a four-year-old, she told her mother she was going to be a singer when she grew up. “But because she was so practical, that was a fictional concept to her.”

Yola’s mother forbade her from pursuing her music, so when she was in her teens, Yola’s rehearsals and gigs became secret affairs, disguised as sleepovers with friends. She tried university, dropped out and, after her London crisis, returned to Bristol, where she became the frontwoman of a country-rock band called Phantom Limb”.

Although she has not performed live a lot during the pandemic, she was certainly busy and well-travelled through 2019. It is no surprise that people wanted to see Yola after she put out Walk Through Fire. The final interview I will quote is from PAPER. Not only do we learn details about Walk Through Fire. As a Black woman in America during a time of political turmoil, Yola’s experience must have been quite tough:

“For as many timeless tearjerkers as there are, Walk Through Fire is suffused with a defiant spirit like on its title track or on "It Ain't Easier." When making the album, Yola learned to play guitar and did so onstage before she was "ready," defying how she's long been told that "ladies shouldn't [play guitar]." Yola cites Dolly Parton, Ella Fitzgerald and Mavis Staples as examples of women whose lives have encouraged her to rebel against these types of expectations.

She's similarly outspoken, and a Black woman singing roots-based rock music during a political moment in America confronting its own hideously racist origins. "I will not be stopped by views that I should be in a role of service because I look how I look," she says. "Not when I have this much to say."

Now, there's no stopping Yola. She's only had a week off touring in the last six months. Just the other night, she was in Boston, and weeks before, she was buying expensive shoes in Milan. She wore them onstage the other night, and strummed her guitar before a packed house. Very intentionally, she closed by singing Aretha Franklin's recording of "You're All I Need to Get By." Franklin, another one of Yola's heroes, sang just about everything, regardless of genre.

Artistic flexibility and a desire to help others connect to their history is now what's most important to Yola — beyond seeing fans wear her merch or sing her lyrics back in sold-out venues, or being occasionally stopped in the street by people who thank her for being herself. For someone who never quite fit anywhere, those experiences are undeniably validating and something she'd now like to pay forward.

"I knew I was always going to be fighting to highlight the relationship of people of color to all of these genres of music," Yola says. "And I'm going to want to talk about the erosion of Black people in rock 'n' roll music, considering Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Big Mama being main creators. This career is about having an arc, and a long enough time to explore it all, instead of just being a one trick pony. That's what drew me to music: a need to tell that story in many ways. The story of where I come from... where we come from”.

I shall wrap things up in a bit. It has been enriching reading about Yola and her career. I think we will see a lot more albums and years of music from her. I feel she is one of the most promising rising artists – though some would say that she is already established.

Just before finishing up, it is worth introducing a positive review for Walk Through Fire. It was one of my favourite albums of 2019. Glide Magazine provided their take on a hugely impressive and stirring debut album:

“The debut full-length album from Yola, titled Walk Through Fire showcases her phenomenal vocals over lush retro-pop and light soul/country arraignments. Produced by Dan Auerbach with songs co-written by Yola, Auerbach, Bobby Wood, Pat McLaughlin and Dan Penn the album is a throwback to Nashville’s 60’s sound even going so far to recruit Wood who played piano with Elvis and Dave Roe who played bass with Johnny Cash.

Auerbach has been wading in these waters for a few albums now (his own Waiting On A Song, and Shannon Shaw’s Shannon In Nashville) but he has not worked with a vocal talent like Yola before as she luxuriates in the opulent musical surroundings. The opening song “Faraway Look” is a stunner, with her vocals soaring into the stratosphere around dynamic orchestral strings, harpsichord, crisp drumming and Broadway level drama. The gauntlet is thrown down directly at the start and while the following songs are all strong, nothing tops this dynamite performance.

A pleasant shuffle “Shady Grove” is more restrained vocally but chock full of surrounding instrumentation before the first single “Ride Out In The Country” delivers a sunny easy groove. The Nashville pop country of “It Ain’t Easier” fits Yola perfectly as her low key head shaking humming is just as affecting as her heartfelt straining pleas and falsetto flights which follow; a gorgeous tune.

While Yola is a survivor, the songwriting stays more surface level on the slow twang of the title track, never catching fire. “Keep Me Here” talks about flawed relationships but musically piles on the schmaltz, overdoing it towards adult contemporary while “Rock Me Gently” seems to be caught between genres and never fully coalesces.  These are minor quibbles though and don’t detract from the overall strength of this debut record.

“Love All Night (Work All Day)” gloriously melds gospel vocals with easy countrified 70’s Los Angeles sound, throwback “Lonely the Night” feels like a ‘20’s jazz song spectacularly redone and the production rich “Deep Blue Dream” stays warm and enveloping.  Yola shines on all tracks, she is the rare singer who doesn’t feel the need to display her powerhouse voice to its maximum affect each time out; sure she can blow the songs away with her pipes but displaying restraint and intimacy can be just as exciting.

The sweet brightness of “Love Is Light”, complete with dazzling rising horns, wraps up the impressive first offering from Yola as she announces to the world’s stage that she is a talent to be noticed immediately. Working with Auerbach and company fuses the robust production and instrumentation with her vocal charms making Walk Through Fire a rousing success on all fronts”.

If you have not discovered Yola yet then go and follow her on social media. I do think we will get another album pretty soon. I hope that she gets to tour and can do some U.K. dates along the way. There are few artists who have a voice like Yola! Such a tremendous artist with a long future ahead, there is no reason to overlook such a talent. Walk Through Fire is a stunning debut, though I can hear Yola growing even more confident and powerful. She is taking her music…

TO a whole new level.

______________

Follow Yola

 PHOTO CREDIT: Big Feat PR

Official:

https://www.iamyola.com/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/iamyolaofficial/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/iamyolaofficial

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/iamyola

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/2gqMBdyddvN82dzZt4ZF14

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkgmSsnsC6TP0XViHYHLgdA

FEATURE: A Buyer’s Guide: Part Fifty-Nine: Judas Priest

FEATURE:

 

 

A Buyer’s Guide

PHOTO CREDIT: Justin Borucki

Part Fifty-Nine: Judas Priest

___________

IN this A Buyer’s Guide…

I am recommending the essential work of the legendary Metal band, Judas Priest. The band have been together over fifty years and their released their most-recent album, Firepower, in 2018. Led by the amazing Rob Halford, he is also an icon of the L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ community. Someone who helped break down barriers and walls by coming out. Before getting to the albums, here is some biography from AllMusic:

“Judas Priest were one of the most influential heavy metal bands of the '70s, spearheading the New Wave of British Heavy Metal late in the decade. Decked out in leather and chains, the band fused the gothic doom of Black Sabbath with the riffs and speed of Led Zeppelin, as well as adding a vicious two-lead guitar attack; in doing so, they set the pace for much popular heavy metal from 1975 until 1985, as well as laying the groundwork for the speed and death metal of the '80s.

Formed in Birmingham, England, in 1970, the group's core members were guitarist K.K. Downing and bassist Ian Hill. Joined by Alan Atkins and drummer John Ellis, the band played their first concert in 1971. Atkins' previous band was called Judas Priest, yet the members decided it was the best name for the new group. The band played numerous shows throughout 1971; during the year, Ellis was replaced by Alan Moore; by the end of the year, Chris Campbell replaced Moore. After a solid year of touring the U.K., Atkins and Campbell left the band in 1973 and were replaced by vocalist Rob Halford and drummer John Hinch. They continued touring, including a visit to Germany and the Netherlands in 1974. By the time the tour was completed, they had secured a record contract with Gull, an independent U.K. label. Before recording their debut album, Judas Priest added guitarist Glenn Tipton.

Rocka Rolla was released in September of 1974 to almost no attention. The following year, they gave a well-received performance at the Reading Festival and Hinch departed the band; he was replaced by Alan Moore. Later that year, the group released Sad Wings of Destiny, which earned some positive reviews. However, the lack of sales was putting the band in a dire financial situation, which was remedied by an international contract with CBS Records. Sin After Sin (1977) was the first album released under that contract; it was recorded with Simon Phillips, who replaced Moore. The record received positive reviews and the band departed for their first American tour, with Les Binks on drums.

When they returned to England, Judas Priest recorded 1978's Stained Class, the record that established them as an international force in metal. Along with 1979's Hell Bent for Leather (Killing Machine in the U.K.), Stained Class defined the nascent New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement. A significant number of bands adopted Priest's leather-clad image and hard, driving sound, making their music harder, faster, and louder. After releasing Hell Bent for Leather, the band recorded the live album Unleashed in the East (1979) in Japan; it became their first platinum album in America. Les Binks left the band in 1979; he was replaced by former Trapeze drummer Dave Holland. Their next album, 1980's British Steel, entered the British charts at number three, launched the hit singles "Breaking the Law" and "Living After Midnight," and was their second American platinum record; Point of Entry, released the following year, was nearly as successful.

At the beginning of the '80s, Judas Priest was a top concert attraction around the world, in addition to being a best-selling recording artist. Featuring the hit single "You've Got Another Thing Comin'," Screaming for Vengeance (1982) marked the height of their popularity, peaking at number 17 in America and selling over a million copies. Two years later, Defenders of the Faith nearly matched its predecessor's performance, yet metal tastes were beginning to change, as Metallica and other speed/thrash metal groups started to grow in popularity. That shift was evident on 1986's Turbo, where Judas Priest seemed out of touch with current trends; nevertheless, the record sold over a million copies in America on the basis of name recognition alone. However, 1987's Priest...Live! was their first album since Stained Class not to go gold. Ram It Down (1988) was a return to raw metal and returned the group to gold status. Dave Holland left after this record and was replaced by Scott Travis for 1990's Painkiller. Like Ram It Down, Painkiller didn't make an impact outside the band's die-hard fans, yet the group was still a popular concert act.

In the early '90s, Rob Halford began his own thrash band, Fight, and soon left Judas Priest. In 1996, following a solo album by Glenn Tipton, the band rebounded with a new young singer, Tim "Ripper" Owens (formerly a member of a Priest tribute band and of Winter's Bane). They spent the next year recording Jugulator amidst much self-perpetuated hype concerning Priest's return to their roots. The album debuted at number 82 on the Billboard album charts upon its release in late 1997. Halford had by then disbanded Fight following a decrease in interest and signed with Trent Reznor's Nothing label with a new project, Two. In the meantime, the remaining members of Judas Priest forged on with '98 Live Meltdown, a live set recorded during their inaugural tour with Ripper on the mike. Around the same time, a movie was readying production to be based on Ripper's rags-to-riches story of how he got to front his all-time favorite band. Although Priest was originally supposed to be involved with the film, they ultimately pulled out, but production went on anyway without the band's blessing (the movie, Rock Star, was eventually released in the summer of 2001, starring Mark Wahlberg in the lead role). Rob Halford in the meantime disbanded Two after just a single album, 1997's Voyeurs, and returned back to his metal roots with a quintet simply named Halford. The group issued its debut in 2000, Resurrection, following it with a worldwide tour that saw the new group open up Iron Maiden's Brave New World U.S. tour, and issue a live set one year later (which included a healthy helping of Priest classics) -- Live Insurrection.

In 2001 the Ripper-led Priest issued a new album, Demolition, and Priest's entire back catalog for Columbia was reissued with remastered sound and bonus tracks. In 2003 the band -- including Halford -- collaborated on the liner notes and song selections for their mammoth career-encompassing box Metalogy, a collaboration that brought Halford back into the fold. Owens split from the group amicably in 2003, allowing the newly reunited heavy metal legends to plan their global live concert tour in 2004, with their sixteenth studio album, Angel of Retribution, to be released the following year. In 2008 the band released Nostradamus, a sprawling, two-disc conceptual piece that charted the life and times of the famous French seer. On December 7, 2010, Priest broke the news that their upcoming Epitaph world tour would be their last. The following month, however, they clarified that they were not disbanding, announcing that they were working on new material. Before the tour began, founding member Downing left the band over differences with the other members and their management; he was replaced by Richie Faulkner.

Priest worked on their new album during the tour, which ran until 2012. The album's release was delayed several times, but it was eventually announced that it would see the light of day in July 2014. Entitled Redeemer of Souls, it was described by Priest as a traditional, crowd-pleasing return to their roots, and went on to become the group's first Top Ten album in the U.S., landing at the number six slot on the Billboard 200 chart. A lengthy tour followed, and in early 2016 Priest issued the concert album/DVD/Blu-ray Battle Cry, which featured highlights from their August 1, 2015 performance at Germany's Wacken Festival.

Judas Priest began loosely demoing ideas for a studio album in 2016, but didn't enter the studio as a band until a year later. It wasn't until January of 2018 that they announced to the press and social media that they'd completed Firepower, their 18th studio album. They revisited their original, organic way of recording, with the entire band playing together at the same time in the studio. They underscored this by enlisting producers Tom Allom -- who worked on all of the band's records from 1979 through 1988 -- and Grammy-winning veteran Andy Sneap. In a press release, Halford explained, "Tom Allom has got this classic metal thing, and Andy is a bit more of a 'modern metal producer'," adding, "I think to get this balance between that classic old-school metal to what Andy's world is was just a remarkable coalescence."

In January of 2018, the band announced the March release of Firepower with a teaser video for the single "Lightning Strikes" and news of a forthcoming world tour. In February, guitarist Tipton -- diagnosed with Parkinson's disease a decade earlier -- announced that it had progressed to the point where he had to retire from touring. Sneap would fill his slot on the road. Former guitarist K.K. Downing, who claimed he was shocked that he wasn't asked to replace Tipton on tour, asserted in public that "Sneap's role was actually much more than as a producer on Firepower" -- i.e., he actually played Tipton's parts on the album. Halford took to the media to respond, saying that "everything that you hear from Glenn on Firepower is the amazing Glenn Tipton." He called Downing's accusation "completely superfluous" and "a thousand percent false." On March 2, Judas Priest released the lyric video for second single "Never the Heroes." Firepower was issued on March 9”.

If you need a guide to Judas Priest, then I have recommended their four finest albums, one that is underrated, the latest studio album. I also brought in a book suggestion that should serve you well. Here is my guide to…

THE epic Judas Priest.

_____________

The Four Essential Albums

 

Sin After Sin

Release Date: 8th April, 1977

Label: Columbia

Producers: Roger Glover/Judas Priest

Standout Tracks: Starbreaker/Raw Deal/Dissident Aggressor

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/release/741024

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/2GXeHOkRouW0LnKBMUnVtv?si=NzHqBR01TeCl-H9TQwwE0A&dl_branch=1

Review:

“Judas Priest's major-label debut Sin After Sin marks their only recording with then-teenage session drummer Simon Phillips, whose technical prowess helps push the band's burgeoning aggression into overdrive. For their part, K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton employ a great deal more of the driving, palm-muted power-chord picking that would provide the basic rhythmic foundation of all but the most extreme heavy metal from here on out. Sin After Sin finds Priest still experimenting with their range, and thus ends up as perhaps their most varied outing. Yet despite the undeniably tremendous peaks here, the overall package doesn't cohere quite as well as on Sad Wings of Destiny, simply because the heavy moments are so recognizable as the metal we know today that the detours stick out as greater interruptions of the album's flow. The proggy ballad "Last Rose of Summer" is the biggest departure here, with florid lyrics and "red blood/white snow" imagery that would be fully at home on any goth rock band's most depressing bedsit dirges. "Here Come the Tears" is musically dissimilar, with heavy guitars and Halford's downcast wailing, but it's just as lyrically mopey. These two sit rather uneasily against the viciousness of the more metallic offerings. Classic opener "Sinner" is packed with driving riffs, sophisticated guitar interplay (including a whammy-bar freakout during a slower middle section), a melody that winds snakily upward, and nifty little production tricks doubtless inspired by Queen. A galloping, fully metallic reimagining of the Joan Baez folk tune "Diamonds and Rust" is a smashing success, one of the most effective left-field cover choices in metal history. "Starbreaker" is the first of many "alien monsters from the sky!" tunes in the band's catalog. Proggy, churchy guitar intro "Let Us Prey" quickly leads into the speed-burner "Call for the Priest," which may just be the earliest building block in the construction of speed metal, and features some of Tipton and Downing's most impressive twin-guitar harmonies yet. "Raw Deal" is a less immediate metal offering that faintly recalls the band's blues-rock roots, though it may be most interesting for the blatant lyrical references to S&M bars and gay haven Fire Island, not to mention an unmistakable endorsement of gay rights. Things close on a high note with the utterly stunning "Dissident Aggressor," one of the heaviest songs in the band's catalog, so much so that it was covered (and not outdone) by Slayer. Once the bludgeoning main riff abruptly kicks in, Halford screams at what must be the very top of his range; a completely manic Phillips offers some of the earliest double-bass drumming in metal; and the crazed guitar solos prove that Tipton and Downing had more than just pure technique at their disposal. It's not a stretch to say that at the time of its release, "Dissident Aggressor" was probably the heaviest metal song of all time. It's the biggest sign here that as good as Judas Priest already was, they were on the verge of something even greater. In what must seem like a much bigger oddity now, the inaugural American tour that ensued found them opening for REO Speedwagon and Foreigner” – AllMusic

Choice Cut: Diamonds and Rust

British Steel

Release Date: 14th April, 1980

Label: Columbia

Producer: Tom Allom

Standout Tracks: Rapid Fire/United/Living After Midnight

Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/judas-priest/british-steel-3954bff0-1f56-40f1-abc6-5a75540ef3b6

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/4OwBaU87F1fKR9xAQ5qdhQ?si=5lpLSNe3R42G0zHHAduJng&dl_branch=1

Review:

“The mighty Priest are everything that makes heavy metal the last true youth tribe. To the uninitiated they represent the naffness of the genre: the leather, denim, studs and spandex uniform and the harsh, histrionic, almost operatic vocal delivery. To their legions of fans, however, they will always remain the most important of all heavy metal groups. They represent the bridging point between the heavy doom rock of Black Sabbath et al and the myriad forms of extreme metal that came after the late 80s. They basically laid the bedrock for thrash, death and black metal. Also aiding the genre’s longevity is the uniform, which was popularised and codified by the group who combined the Hells Angels uniform with Viking and fetish elements.

But if Judas Priest are the gatekeepers of real metal, even they have an entry drug and that is British Steel, which here receives the lavish 30th anniversary treatment. The band was already 11 years old and onto their second (and most famous) vocalist, Rob Halford, by the time they released this revolutionary album. In very loose terms it represented a new found maturity and individualism in metal, as it severed the last remaining links to the blues that had informed earlier albums by fellow Black Country bands Sabbath and Led Zeppelin.

The showy virtuosity of previous albums was replaced by the chugga-chug riffola of Rapid Fire. The twin guitar assault of Glen Tipton and KK Downing was promoted to the fore on tracks like Metal Gods – meaning this would be the first album which would break the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) into the mainstream. But mainly it was Priest’s continued ability to pen stone cold classics like Breaking the Law, Grinder and Living After Midnight that saw them move into the 80s at the top of their game.

This is an essential heavy metal artefact, packaged here with a live disc and accompanying DVD, recorded in 2009. The bonus content gives an important album of the past some contemporary context, rendering it every bit as relevant as fare from today’s younger pretenders” – BBC (30th Anniversary Edition)

Choice Cut: Breaking the Law

Screaming for Vengeance

Release Date: 17th July, 1982

Label: Columbia

Producer: Tom Allom

Standout Tracks: Electric Eye/(Take These) Chains/Screaming for Vengeance

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=26341&ev=mb

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/0V7mTTzioHiYIjfM8ATZBI?si=LO11w_hYS_m7kLUeWiImXg&dl_branch=1

Review:

“Judas Priest rebounded from the shaky Point of Entry with Screaming for Vengeance, arguably the strongest album of their early-'80s commercial period. Having moved a bit too far into simplistic hard rock, Vengeance found the band refocusing on heavy metal, and achieving a greater balance between commercialism and creativity. The results were catchy and accessible, yet harder-hitting, and without the awkwardly apparent calculation that informed the weakest moments of the album's two predecessors. Ultimately, Screaming for Vengeance hangs together better than even the undeniable landmark British Steel, both thematically and musically. There's less of a party-down feel here -- the remaining traces of boogie have been ironed out, and the lyrics return to the darkness and menace that gave the band its mystique. Sure, if you stop to read the lyrics, all the references to demons and devils and monsters can look a little gratuitous, but the music here is so strong that there simply aren't any seams showing. Even the occasional filler is more metallic this time around -- in place of trite teenage rebellion, listeners get the S&M-themed "Pain and Pleasure." In fact, "Pain and Pleasure" and "Fever" are the only two songs here that have never shown up on a band retrospective, which ought to tell you that Priest's songwriting here is perhaps the best it's ever been. The midtempo grooves that enlivened British Steel are here in full force on the band's signature tune, "You've Got Another Thing Comin'" (their only American chart single), as well as "Bloodstone," "Devil's Child," and unfairly forgotten single "(Take These) Chains," all uniformly great. But there's a nearly equal emphasis on uptempo headbanging, thanks to the classic "The Hellion/Electric Eye," the terrific album track "Riding on the Wind," and the stupendously high-velocity title cut, which is the closest they ever came to thrash metal (at least in the '80s). Despite a one-album misstep in between, Screaming for Vengeance managed to capitalize on the commercial breakthrough of British Steel, becoming the first Priest album to be certified double platinum, and reaching the Top 20 in America and the U.K. alike. Along with British Steel, it ranks as one of the best and most important mainstream metal albums of the '80s”- AllMusic

Choice Cut: You've Got Another Thing Coming

Painkiller

Release Date: 3rd September, 1990

Label: Columbia

Producer: Chris Tsangarides

Standout Tracks: All Guns Blazing/Night Crawler/A Touch of Evil

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=26296&ev=mb

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/7LgrhuKnAXpNEv8qzcVd2t?si=cajHQg0YToKSX7SS3qux6A&dl_branch=1

Review:

“Judas Priest finally released Painkiller on September 3rd, 1990. It was an instant classic. The band came roaring back into the heavy metal universe with perhaps its heaviest release yet. Painkiller was a speed metal masterpiece, and its take no prisoners style was very influential over the next decade and a half, especially to German power metal bands such as Primal Fear and Gamma Ray.

Unlike in previous albums, every song is strong on Painkiller. Whether it be the heavy, intense title track; the short but energetic Leather Rebel; The very metallic sounding Metal Meltdown; or the mid paced and dark Between the Hammer and the Anvil; each song is worth listening to. None of the songs could really be considered filler except for maybe Battle Hymn, as it is just a short introduction to the tenth track, One Shot At Glory. The two bonus tracks on the remaster: the ballad Living Bad Dreams, and Leather Rebel (Live), are also excellent, excellent tracks and very well deserve to be on the album.

Painkiller is full of many memorable riffs and leads from Glenn and K.K. Among the finest moments of the album come from the intense riffing combined with Halford's wailing vocals. In many of the songs, the guitar work is very aggressive, especially in the relentless title track. The songs found on Painkiller are very energetic from start to finish, and each member seems to feed off each other's performances.

If Painkiller had a weak point, it would be the lyrics that were put together for the album's songs. Judas Priest has never been known for writing deep or introspective lyrics, but what you'll find on Painkiller is some of the worst of their career. Silly lines such as "Faster than a lazer bullet / Louder than an atom bomb!"(Painkiller), "Cross cutting thundercharge / Blade of destruction / Flame throwing hurricane destroys the cage"(All Guns Blazing) or "Imminent Collision / Shockwaves all around / Generating energy / Screams so loud"(Metal Meltdown) can be heard throughout the album. The lyrics aren't bad enough to bring down an album Painkiller's stature, but at times they are very cringe worthy. This is my only complaint with Painkiller, however, and it isn't really that big of a problem.

Unfortunately, this would be the last album that vocalist Rob Halford would take part in with the band until 2005's Angel of Retribution, fifteen years later. Rob went on for form many projects such as Fight or his solo band, Halford in the coming years. Priest, on the other hand, layed low for seven years, before releasing their next album Jugulator with Tim 'Ripper' Owens. While this occurred, their 1990 release, Painkiller, flexed it's influential muscle, particularly in the field of power metal, where many band's tried to recreate it's intense riffing and unforgettable leads in their own albums. Painkiller is easily one of the all time great speed metal albums, and definitely ranks among Judas Priest's top 3 albums” – Sputnikmusic

Choice Cut: Painkiller

The Underrated Gem

 

Rocka Rolla

Release Date: 6th September, 1974

Label: Gull

Producer: Roger Bain

Standout Tracks: One for the Road/Deep Freeze/Run of the Mill

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=26328&ev=mb

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/4AxwGk6EmqSZMadj39ZI3T?si=0lqbiSazTDqq8Ah4rdtKiQ&dl_branch=1

Review:

“A sketchy and underfocused debut, Rocka Rolla nonetheless begins to delineate the musical territory Judas Priest would explore over the remainder of the decade: frighteningly dark in its effect, tight in its grooves, and capable of expanding to epic song lengths. On the other hand, Rocka Rolla is also murkier, less precise and powerful in its riff attack, and more blues-based; the stylistic debts to Black Sabbath and Deep Purple are obvious at this juncture, although they would become much less apparent on subsequent releases. The compositions alternate between short songs and extended suites; some are decent, but overall they don't establish a real direction and tend to plod aimlessly in many of the longer pieces. Mostly a curiosity for hardcore fans, Rocka Rolla definitely hints at Judas Priest's potential and originality, but doesn't always suggest the quantum leap in vision that would occur with their very next record” – AllMusic

Choice Cut: Rocka Rolla

The Latest Album

 

Firepower

Release Date: 9th March, 2018

Label: Epic

Producers: Tom Allom and Andy Sneap

Standout Tracks: Lightning Strike/Never the Heroes/Flame Thrower

Buy: https://store.hmv.com/store/music/vinyl/firepower

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/7p3G0OCxtlWyJcPE1FxnyB?si=WWLo_idvQ7KGU69ybFR-_w&dl_branch=1

Review:

“What do you do when you made your name hitting notes high enough to summon all dogs within a 40-mile radius, but age takes your pitch down and puts the screech out of reach? It’s an issue particular to metal, and particularly relevant to Rob Halford of Judas Priest, who has responded to age by taking his smoke-alarm voice down an octave or two, into a stentorian baritone. Given that his voice helped define Priest, one needs to treat the assertions that this 18th album is a return to their classic late-70s and early-80s Priest sound with a pinch of salt.

It’s different in other ways: though Tom Allom – who oversaw their breakthrough albums – returns as co-producer, he’s joined by Andy Sneap, and the result is an album whose sound is far thicker and richer than British Steel or . Sometimes the updates are intrusive – the double kick-drums slathered across the first three tracks might be meant to be reminiscent of Exciter, but they’re so overbearing they start to irritate. But by and large it’s all done tastefully enough (if tasteful is the right word for a track like Necromancer, with its none-more-14-year-old boy lyrics: “Raising the dead! Cadavers consumed!”). 

Firepower’s success depends on the songwriting, though, and that’s pretty strong. At 14 songs, there is inevitably some sag – neither Rising from Ruins nor Sea of Red achieve the windswept epicry they are striving for – but the riffs are strong, choppy, hooky and powerful: Traitor’s Gate has one that James Hetfield would have killed for, even 30 years ago. Of course, Firepower could never sound as revolutionary as Priest did when they were codifying metal 40 years ago, but it’s often excellent. If only they’d release the  now, eh?” – The Guardian

Choice Cut: Firepower

The Judas Priest Book

 

JUDAS PRIEST: 50 HEAVY METAL YEARS

Publication Date: 1st February, 2021

Publisher: Rufus Stone Limited Editions Ltd

Synopsis:

“JUDAS PRIEST and Rufus Publications are pleased to announce the publication of the first ever official Judas Priest Photographic Book documenting the bands extensive history over the last 50 years -  JUDAS PRIEST - 50 HEAVY METAL YEARS, the book has been put together by David Silver, Ross Halfin and Jayne Andrews.

“I've photographed Judas Priest from 1978 until now and of all the bands I’ve worked with they are one of the most enjoyable to me - you have to love the mighty Priest,” Ross Halfin, August 2020

This huge, 648 page coffee table book chronicles the history of the world’s foremost heavy metal band using hundreds of unseen, unpublished photographs from Rock’s greatest photographers including Ross Halfin, Neil Zlozower, Mark Weiss, Fin Costello, Oliver Halfin and many more. With a linking text by renowned journalist Mark Blake the book explores the bands exciting history on stage and off in a unique photo documentary designed to excite fans and devotees of true heavy metal the world over. Current band members have all contributed to the book with written pieces detailing their love and passion for the band, making this an extraordinary artefact for their legions of followers. The book features an exclusive cover by Mark Wilkinson who has worked with the band for many years now.

Rob Halford comments "The photographs in this book capture the life of Judas Priest in all our glory!"

The Deluxe Leather Edition: 500 numbered copies 12” square - bound in black leather with a 3D lenticular to the front - gold foil in a beautiful, embossed leather clamshell box and an exclusive fold out poster. Each copy is personally signed by Rob Halford, Glenn Tipton, Ian Hill, Richie Faulkner and Scott Travis” – Rufus Publications

Buy: https://www.rufuspublications.com/jpleather

FEATURE: Too Good to Be Forgotten: Songs That Are Much More Than a Guilty Pleasure: Kenny Loggins - Footloose

FEATURE:

 

 

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

Kenny Loggins - Footloose

___________

IT is hard to believe that some songs…

are dismissed or seen as guilty pleasures! I am selecting Kenny Loggins’ Footloose today, as I have seen a few articles where the song has been dismissed as being cheesy; something one should not admit to loving. It is a fantastically fun and memorable track. I especially love epic and timelessly brilliant songs from film soundtracks. Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song (with music and lyrics by Loggins and Dean Pitchford), there is no denying that Footloose is a great track! Starring Kevin Bacon, if you are not familiar with the plot of 1984’s Footloose, then there are plot details online that should assist. One need not be familiar with the scene in which the title track plays. You can hear the song in any context and time and feel lifted and motivated! I am not one who believes in guilty pleasures, though I do think that there are songs that are a little cheesy. That is not the case with Footloose. It is a terrific song. I am going to end up with an article that tells how Loggins performed Footloose last year to raise COVID-19 response funds. Before that, AllMusic spoke with Footloose bassist Nathan East on the thirtieth anniversary of the song to share his memories:

“AllMusic: On to "Footloose." How did you start playing with Kenny Loggins?

East: It came abruptly in the early eighties when his bass player was either sick or had to leave suddenly, and I got a call from the road saying, “Can you get out here as soon as possible, we have some shows to do,” so I jumped out there on short notice and started doing some touring with him, which led to recording a few albums with him, one of which was the Footloose soundtrack.

AllMusic: What were you doing at the time?

East: I’ll never forget that the day I left to go tour with Kenny Loggins, I had just received my first call from Quincy Jones to play on a Michael Jackson album he was doing, Thriller, and I couldn't record the Thriller album. Around that time, I was starting to get the session career going, so I was working with Julio Iglesias, Whitney Houston and all these people who were going around then. Fortunately, the second time the call came around [for Bad], I was able to make it.

AllMusic: What was going on when the call came in to do a song for Footloose?

East: We had done one record, Vox Humana, and so we had been in the studio, and I was in there recording with Lionel Richie, I did a bunch of Pointer Sisters sessions around that time. On Vox Humana, I’d co-written some songs with him, and we were becoming brothers in music. It was prior to Live Aid that we went in and he got the soundtrack for Footloose, which won Song of the Year at the Grammys in 1985. I think by summer ’83 we were running around and practicing it on the road. Every day on the road we heard, “OK, we have this movie, Footloose—Footloose, Footloose…”
He started coming up with little bits and pieces at a time, and it was really pretty tedious, because over the course of a summer tour, everywhere we went, we’d have to find a place in the hotel, like a banquet room, where we’d go and set up our gear and run the song. I remember dialing in the part a little more each day, so when we went to the studio to record it, it was only one or two takes. We were glad to get that out of the way.

AllMusic: How much direction was given about the style of the song and how much it should tie into the movie?

East: The bottom line is since it was called Footloose, it was going to be a dance film, so it had to be an uptempo, active-feeling song. There was a screening after it was all put together, but not until then did we actually see the movie. Kenny probably met with the directors prior to going on tour, so he had all the intel on what he needed and wanted. A lot of times what they’ll do is have temporary beats in the film, and you can use that. I’m sure what they had at the time was the [sings “Footloose” beat], that was the direction they wanted. On my end, and maybe it was out of boredom, but every day I was trying to add more to this bassline so it becomes this driving, forward motion that made sense, and would be something that could be identified with the song as well.

AllMusic: How much of that was to actually serve the song and how much was out of boredom?

East: I think it was about 50-50. After a couple of weeks, when you’d be in rehearsal and see his lips form the word “Footloose,” you start to get a little twitch. We definitely knew that song inside and out when we went into the studio to record it, and that made it all the more solid for the film.

AllMusic: And was it a hit immediately?

East: Pretty much. Having a motion picture as your video for a song definitely doesn't hurt. At that point, the movie came out, the single came out, and it shot to the top, it was one of those times when you couldn't turn the radio on without hearing that song.

AllMusic: Even though you were a little tired of it, was it fun to play live?

East: We played it at Live Aid, and that’s one of the first times I met Eric Clapton. He was standing at the side of the stage, listening to the band, and then he immediately approached me when I got offstage about getting together. I think when we played it live, it was one of those undeniable home run hits where everyone was responding to it, and after all that hard work, it felt good. You’d break into it at the show, and it was like a hypnotic trance people would get in and just start dancing.

One fun thing with “Footloose” was that he included the band on the little breakdown section, we each got a line. Steve [Wood, keyboards] sings, “You've got to turn me around,” and I sing, “And put your feet on the ground.” That was a big line, the first record I ever sung on was a Number One record. And I do it live, too, as well. It was on the radio the other day, and my son said, “Wait, daddy, here comes your line!” He made us all listen to my little solo singing line”.

I don’t think Footloose will age in terms of its impact. Whereas the film is not talked about much these days, the song has taken on a new life and continues to thrill people. Kenny Loggins performed Footloose last year. This article explains more:

“The artist performed Saturday night at the iconic Hollywood amphitheater and sang some of his biggest hits, including "Footloose," the single he co-wrote for the hit 1984 Kevin Bacon film of the same name.

The unique concert was part of an ongoing fundraiser, RWQuarantunes, which takes place each weekend on a private Zoom call.

Talent agent Richard Weitz and his 17-year-old daughter Demi are the brains behind the concert series, which they say has raised more than $3 million for food banks, hospitals and related Covid-19 relief efforts.

"To think that two months ago when Demi and I started the RWQuarantunes that we would go from our kitchen to the Hollywood Bowl is not only surreal but very humbling," Weitz, a partner at William Morris Endeavor, told CNN.

Saturday marked the 10th benefit concert that RWQuarantunes has done but the first to use the Hollywood Bowl. Although the venue is shuttered for the 2020 season, Weitz managed to get permission for Loggins to perform there. Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti also attended.

Much to the delight of viewers, Bacon also made an appearance on the virtual fundraiser Saturday from his home.

"When we were making the movie, we didn't have the song yet," Bacon said while introducing Loggins. "In the middle of shooting, Kenny was still writing the song. It was just Kenny on an acoustic guitar, that was the demo ... I heard the song and was like, 'Yeah, That's cool.' It just hits you. I did what I could, but I don't think the movie would have been what it was without it".

If you are one of those people who thinks Footloose is a guilty pleasure song or that you can’t bring yourself to listen to it, I would advise you to get back into it. It has such energy and verve that one is helpless to resist! Songs from film soundtracks do not always endure, though Kenny Loggins’ smash will survive and get people moving for decades more. It is a song that has the power to lift the mood…

NO matter what.

FEATURE: The Lockdown Playlist: Brandon Flowers at Forty

FEATURE:

 

 

The Lockdown Playlist

PHOTO CREDIT: Taylor Jewell/Invision/AP 

Brandon Flowers at Forty

___________

ANOTHER big music birthday…

 IN THIS PHOTO: The Killers/PHOTO CREDIT: Robert Ascroft

is coming along in the form of Brandon Flowers’ fortieth. The Killers’ frontman is forty on Monday (21st June). To honour that, I am going to put together a selection of his best tracks – not only with The Killers but solo too. Before getting there, AllMusic help out with some biography about the incredible lead of The Killers:

“Brandon Flowers was the most popular frontman of the new wave revival, which swept through America and England during the early 2000s. As frontman of the Killers, he helped popularize a genre that hadn't been fashionable for nearly two decades, drawing influence from a number of '80s synth pop bands -- including New Order, Echo & the Bunnymen, and the Psychedelic Furs -- while writing the songs that comprised his band's multi-platinum debut, Hot Fuss. Flowers also proved to be a super-sized media personality, gathering headlines for his clothing choices (which ran the gamut from neatly tailored suits to bizarrely feathered shoulder pads) and controversial, outspoken opinions on rival bands. Although the Killers retooled their sound with each album, the group rarely subscribed to convention -- and Flowers, who launched a solo career in 2010, seemed happy to be the most unconventional of them all.

Flowers grew up in the Southwest, spending his first eight years in the Las Vegas suburbs before moving to Utah with his parents. He returned to Las Vegas several years later, where he finished high school and landed a job working as a bellhop at the Gold Coast Hotel. He began spending his free time playing keyboards in a synth pop band, although he lost his position in the group when his bandmates all relocated to Los Angeles in 2001. Flowers remained in Las Vegas and began working with local guitarist Dave Keuning, with whom he pieced together a new band that relied on guitars as much as keyboards. The Killers' lineup was officially cemented in August 2002 with the arrival of bassist Mark Stoermer and drummer Ronnie Vannucci, and their glossy debut album -- released on both sides of the Atlantic in 2004 -- made the Killers one of the decade's biggest pop bands.

With their open-armed embrace of synthesizers, icy atmospherics, and other trappings of the '80s, the Killers were placed into the same retro category as groups like Franz Ferdinand and the Rapture. For the band's second album, though, the guys shifted their focus to the heartland rock & roll of Bruce Springsteen. Released in October 2006, Sam's Town found Brandon Flowers modeling his performance after the Boss and Bono, and the album (although not as popular as Hot Fuss) went platinum across the globe. While on tour the following summer, Flowers had his first son with wife Tana Mundkowsky, whom he'd married two years prior.

After releasing a rarities compilation, Sawdust, in late 2007, the Killers began working on a third album. Day & Age arrived in November 2008 and became another worldwide hit, with "Human" hitting the Top Ten in several countries. Flowers' second son was born while he was on the road in support of Day & Age, and his mother passed away in early 2010. Both experiences inspired him to keep writing, and he decided to launch a solo career later that year while the rest of the Killers enjoyed a short hiatus. Flamingo, his first album of solo material, was released that fall. Flowers returned to the Killers for 2012's Battle Born but resumed his separate solo career in 2015 with The Desired Effect, a record produced by Ariel Rechtshaid”.

A happy fortieth birthday in advance to Brandon Flowers. As The Killers put out their sixth studio album, Imploding the Mirage, last year, they will be keen to bring it to the stage. Let us hope they will have the chance to do that later in the year. It leaves me to wish a very happy birthday to…

THE incredible Brandon Flowers.

FEATURE: Vinyl Corner: SOPHIE - OIL OF EVERY PEARL'S UN-INSIDES

FEATURE:

 

 

Vinyl Corner

SOPHIE - OIL OF EVERY PEARL'S UN-INSIDES

___________

IT is especially tragic…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Charlotte Wales

that the world lost the pioneering and remarkably influential SOPHIE at the age of just thirty-four on 30th January, 2021. Her only studio album, OIL OF EVERY PEARL'S UN-INSIDES, was released in 2018. I have been meaning to include the album in Vinyl Corner for months. It has been hard to find it on vinyl. Rough Trade describe the album like this:

“Sophie’s debut album Oil Of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides is released via Transgressive Records. The album is the next step in Sophie’s incredible and unorthodox career, following the Product EP and is a bold artistic statement that establishes Sophie as a pioneer of a new pop sound. It is sprawling and beautiful, while still keeping the disorienting, latex-pop feel of her fascinating production technique. The worlds of commercial pop and electronic music have never converged in quite the way they have with Sophie. Oil Of Every Pearl's Un-Insides, Sophie's first proper album, presents her artistic vision in a purer form than anything she's done before. It is at times unapologetically poppy, beginning with the opening power ballad, It's Okay To Cry. But it's also utterly, defiantly weird, flouting conventions of rhythm, composition and, perhaps most of all, taste”.

There were copies available through Rough Trade until very recently. One can find a copy for not too much at Discogs. It is a little pricey, though I would recommend people spend some money on a future classic. Alternately, keep your eyes peeled in your local record store and sites like Rough Trade.

It is hard to define or categorise OIL OF EVERY PEARL'S UN-INSIDES. Such is its eclectic nature, one listens to it over and over and gets new things. An album that will inspire artists for many years to come, one wonders where SOPHIE could have headed and what she could have achieved. Rather than mourn or become too morose, it is worth celebrating an album that stunned critics in 2019. She released the compilation album, Product, in 2015 – so people knew kind of what to expect. I feel OIL OF EVERY PEARL'S UN-INSIDES is one of the greatest debut albums we saw in the 2010s. It is no surprise that there is an abundance of remarkably positive and effusive reviews. I want to bring in a couple. This is what AllMusic had to say about OIL OF EVERY PEARL'S UN-INSIDES:

“Considering SOPHIE's influence on electronic and pop music in the 2010s, it's hard to believe that Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides is only the producer's debut album. The music collected on Product emphasized whimsical artificiality, using it as candy-coated armor that expressed SOPHIE's queerness and originality in equally affected and affecting ways. On the producer's first proper album, SOPHIE juxtaposes shiny surfaces and what lies beneath them.

Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides begins with the manifesto "It's Okay to Cry," a single that, upon its October 2017 release, felt and sounded drastically different than the producer's previous music. Instead of the helium-pitched vocals, it features SOPHIE's own voice for the first time while softly unfolding synths turn small but profound realizations into something epic. While nothing else on the album is quite so vulnerable, or close to conventional pop, "It's Okay to Cry" is the perfect prologue to Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides. Working with pop stars ranging from Charli XCX to Madonna hasn't blunted SOPHIE's music in the slightest -- in fact, it's even bolder, particularly on the album's first half. On "Is It Cold in the Water?" and "Infatuation," the producer embellishes on "It's Okay to Cry"'s widescreen intimacy, transforming deep synth grooves and diva vocals into mutant pop ballads that are all the more gorgeous for their strangeness. SOPHIE complements these reflective moments with the hard-edged mischief of "Faceshopping," which uses ever-changing lyrics and torquing synths to express how an authentic identity can be created through aesthetic choices, and the raunchy "Ponyboy," which sets the erotic possibilities of those identities to a heaving beat.

Despite these radical shifts, SOPHIE never sounds indecisive. Where Product felt like a collection of alien pop hits, Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides abounds with interludes, passages, and major statements that allow the producer to dig deeper on the album's second half. The dissolution telegraphed by "Not Okay"'s malfunctioning rhythms and vocals morphs into the liminal space of "Pretending," a six-minute dronescape that suggests an idea -- or identity -- coming into being with a mood that's equally blissful and anxious. The dualities grow even more complex on "Whole New World/Pretend World," a collage of sugary pop, sirens, self-destructing electronics, and clouds of wordless vocals that falls somewhere between a beginning and a warning. Fortunately, SOPHIE takes a moment to celebrate the joys of imagination and reinvention on "Immaterial," a shout-out to misfit boys and girls that sounds like a party with Prince, Basement Jaxx, and Hatsune Miku at the top of the guest list. While SOPHIE's music has never been simple, Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides' complexities and reinventions make it a remarkable debut album that reveals more with each listen”.

I think the first time I heard OIL OF EVERY PEARL'S UN-INSIDES in full was a few months after it was released. I did not know much about Glasgow-born SOPHIE. I was moved by OIL OF EVERY PEARL'S UN-INSIDES and compelled myself to check out other stuff she had done. I can recommend buying OIL OF EVERY PEARL'S UN-INSIDES on vinyl.

Just before closing things off, I want to quote from a particularly deep review of OIL OF EVERY PEARL'S UN-INSIDES. I might write more about the album, as it is Pride Month and SOPHIE identified as a trans woman. I will end with a review from Tiny Mix Tapes. Go and read the entire review if you can (I have selected a few parts that I feel are important):

“Pop music is built on a history of love songs and becomings, of a desire to find oneself in another. Madonna wrote “Material Girl,” an anti-love song that is inevitably also a love song to herself, singing “Boys may come and boys may go/ And that’s all right you see/ Experience has made me rich/ And now they’re after me,” a material world building a self through fleeting impressions of and with others. SOPHIE, also perhaps inevitably, writes “Immaterial,” the truest Pop Song on a Great Pop Album, a euphoric number in the classic PC Music hyperpop register that offers, “Without my jeans or my bra/ Without my legs or my hands/ With no name and with no type of story/ Where do I live?/ Tell me where do I exist?” Even when she’s not writing bangers like this song, the pop-drive permeates, this reaching toward another person or thing through codified and socially-coded but endlessly reworked musical forms, through chords and melodies that evoke heartfelt emotional responses through well-worn but ever-fresh routes.

In this music, there is nothing without a signifier; a body is immaterial, a body is raw material for experience, for boys. But here, there is another, and it sings, “You could be me and I could be you,” it sings, “anything, anyhow, any one, any place, any time,” “and no matter where I go, you’ll always be here in my heart.” There are jubilant horns. Auto-tuned vocals leap upward far past the range of unmodified human voice. Is there an unmodified human voice, a voice free of the pressure of vocal training and social training? There is real joy in this fucked-up non-body, these beings of sound and play and fear.

The album ends in a warzone with “Whole New World:Pretend World,” a 10-minute, blasted-out shell of largely percussion-free sonic aggression and down-mixed gravelly vocal intonations interspersed with chirpy exclamations of the title. It’s endlessly repetitive, but nothing ever repeats without being reworked or retuned, tiny cycles of new worlds opening and disappearing in sonic violence. It dissolves into hissing and buzzing. It’s a pretend world, a pop world, a Real World. Fractured, inconsistent, broken, torn, OIL OF EVERY PEARL’S UN-INSIDES aims toward the stylistic grandness of High Pop, and in that inconsistence, it achieves it.

In its flows and breakings, it echoes and repeats a fractured self, locating this fracture as something aimed toward futurity, toward a new image of pop music, toward a new mode of being and becoming, toward a new way of moving limbs on a dancefloor with others. It’s incredible”.

Nearly six months since the world lost the visionary SOPHIE, I feel there is a new appreciation for her sole solo album, OIL OF EVERY PEARL'S UN-INSIDES. It is a masterful and hugely accomplished album that everyone needs to own on vinyl – regardless of their musical tastes. Even though its creator is no longer with us, OIL OF EVERY PEARL'S UN-INSIDES is…

A stunning work that will live forever.

FEATURE: Inspired By… Part Fifteen: Kylie Minogue

FEATURE:

 

 

Inspired By…

Part Fifteen: Kylie Minogue

___________

I normally wouldn’t include…

so much biography but, when it comes to Kylie Minogue, there is so much to dissect and discuss! As an artist and actor, she has had such a long and busy career. She is someone who has influenced so many other artists. I will end with a playlist consisting of songs from those who owe some form of debt to her. Before then, I want to draw from AllMusic and their biography of the extraordinary Kylie Minogue:

“Born in Melbourne on May 28, 1968, Kylie Minogue began acting in television dramas at the age of 12. Although the small roles brought her a fair bit of exposure, it was her 1986 debut on the insanely popular soap Neighbours that catapulted her to stardom. In Australia, Minogue's role as the tomboy Charlene won her a number of awards, but in Britain, the exploits of that character and her love interest -- played by the actor Jason Donovan -- attracted record numbers of television viewers, and made the Aussie drama one of the most watched shows in the U.K. Understanding Minogue's megastar potential, as well as her ability to vamp and sing, Mushroom Records signed her to a contract in 1987. Her success was immediate, as her debut single, "The Loco-Motion" (a cover of the 1962 Little Eva hit) rocketed to number one and eventually took the globe by storm, hitting the upper reaches of the charts in many countries.

Minogue then headed to England and partnered with the production team of Stock, Aitken & Waterman. The first track the group released with her, "I Should Be So Lucky," dominated the Australian and U.K. charts, did well on a number of charts in Europe, and hit the Top 40 in the U.S. Her pop status was further consolidated with her debut album, 1988's Kylie, which topped the charts in the U.K. and did very well in many other places, including Australia. As the '80s drew to a close, Minogue's stature worldwide only grew. Her duet with Jason Donovan, "Especially for You," sold over a million copies in 1989, even while being critically panned. A second full-length, Enjoy Yourself, was also released that year, along with a handful of singles that managed to further dominate charts in both hemispheres. In the midst of this pop success, Minogue also appeared in her first feature film, The Delinquents.

Many things would change for her in the frenetic decade of the '90s. She began to trade in her cutesy, bubblegum pop image for a more mature one, and in turn, a more sexual one. Her relationship with the late frontman of INXS, Michael Hutchence, and her shedding of the near-virginal facade that dominated her first two albums began to have an effect, not only on how the press and her fans treated her, but in the evolution of her music. Released in 1990, Rhythm of Love, its worldwide hit single, "Better the Devil You Know," and its follow-up, "Shocked," took her out of the stifling world of teen pop and brought her into the more adult world of dance music and nightclubs.

Minogue's career was not without its ebbs, however. As she began to flex a bit more creative muscle, her relationship with Stock, Aitken & Waterman felt restrictive. Their sound had dominated music for a number of years on both sides of the Atlantic, but the scene was beginning to move on, and Kylie's fourth and final album with Mushroom and the production team, Let's Get to It, would sell disappointingly. Freed from the yoke of both a production team and a mainstream pop label, Minogue began a long trend of collaborating with up-and-coming and hot producers and songwriters, which not only allowed her to roll with cultural trends and stay current in an extremely fussy and fickle genre, but allowed her to branch out into new areas of performance unheard of by most pop singers of her style.

Now signed to the dance label Deconstruction, Minogue released a much more mature and stylish dance-pop record in 1994's Kylie Minogue. The singles "Confide in Me" and "Put Yourself in My Place" were slicker and more stylish than anything she had previously recorded. While the record sold well and Kylie made more movie appearances (1994's Street Fighter and 1996's Bio-Dome), the next couple of years were fairly quiet except for the hit single (and unlikely collaboration) with Nick Cave entitled "Where the Wild Roses Grow." A dark ballad about a murder (with a video based on the Millais painting Ophelia) -- the duet featured Cave as the murderer singing his point of view and Minogue as the victim singing hers -- the single was widely successful in Australia and the U.K, earning Kylie a new set of fans and a new sense of respect.

Her eagerness to expand on this collaboration led to the work that would make up her 1997 album, Impossible Princess. While the lead single, the more rock-tinged "Some Kind of Bliss," was the result of working with James Dean Bradfield and Sean Moore of Manic Street Preachers, the rest of the album (for the most part) consisted of further collaborations (with Brothers in Rhythm co-founder David Seaman, for instance) and efforts to expand on the dance-pop that was her bread and butter. The album, soon retitled Kylie Minogue in England due to the death of Princess Diana, was successful, but her attempt at developing her sound met firm resistance critically, with many radio stations and journalists writing her off, figuring her career had run its course. Obviously, this was not the case, as Minogue toured the world for the album, selling out stadiums (as usual) and appearing in a number of specialty concerts over the next two years.

In 1999, having been dropped from Deconstruction but signing to Parlophone, Minogue shed the indie influences that guided Impossible Princess and set about creating dance-pop that was more disco than anything in her catalog. The resulting album, Light Years, and its lead single, "Spinning Around," were huge successes, bringing her critical acclaim and winning a new generation of fans.

Her place in pop music history would be consolidated in 2001, and she would be reintroduced to America after more than a decade. That year's album, Fever, and its massively successful (and aptly titled) single "Can't Get You Out of My Head" were the first to be released in the U.S. since Enjoy Yourself, and the single managed to chart stateside at number three. Even the Grammys began to recognize Minogue, as the first of many nominations (eventually she would win for "Come Into My World" in 2002) finally happened that year. While her next album, 2003's Body Language, was not as big a seller as Fever, it was another successful attempt at broadening her sound, this time with electro and hip-hop influences. A greatest-hits package (her second), 2004's Ultimate Kylie, acted as a catalyst for her worldwide Showgirl tour, but that was to be set aside after her diagnosis with breast cancer.

In 2005, she underwent successful surgery and follow-up chemotherapy, and eventually made a full recovery. She started out slowly, but would eventually finish her Showgirl tour, and in 2007 she released her tenth album, X. It was well-received and sold enough to convince Minogue that 2009 was the time to undertake her first tour of the United States. Although limited to a few dates and select cities, the North American jaunt was a rousing success, and an Internet-exclusive album of the New York show was made available at the end of that year. As X was making waves in 2008, Minogue was also honored by Queen Elizabeth with an OBE (Order of the British Empire) for her services to music. She released her 11th full-length, Aphrodite (a set executive produced by Stuart Price), in 2010. That same year, she guested on songs by Hurts ("Devotion") and Taio Cruz ("Higher"), and released a holiday EP titled A Kylie Christmas.

In 2012, Minogue celebrated her 25th year in the music biz with a greatest-hits collection (The Best of Kylie Minogue), a new single ("Timebomb"), an exhaustive singles collection (K25), and an album of her hits reimagined for a small band and orchestra (The Abbey Road Sessions). She also found time to restart her acting career with an appearance in Jack & Diane and a leading role in the acclaimed Holy Motors. Not one to take a rest, Minogue spent a busy 2013 appearing on Laura Pausini's single "Limpido," signing with Jay-Z's Roc Nation management firm, and recording a new album. In early 2014, she began appearing as a coach on the U.K. version of The Voice. Her 12th album, Kiss Me Once, which featured songwriting and production from the likes of Pharrell, Sia, and MNDR, was released in early spring of 2014. Soon after, she hit the road on an ambitious concert tour that took her from Istanbul to Madrid to Perth, with many stops along the way. The tour was documented on the 2015 CD/DVD Kiss Me Once Live at the SSE Hydro.

Minogue kept up her breakneck pace for the rest of 2015, appearing on Giorgio Moroder's single "Right Here, Right Now" and hitting the top of the dance charts with a spot on Nervo's "The Other Boys." She had roles in the ABC Family show Young & Hungry and the film San Andreas, released an EP with producer Fernando Garibay titled Kylie + Garibay, and finally, in November, ended the year with her first full holiday album, Kylie Christmas. In the summer of 2016, Minogue returned with a contribution to the Absolutely Fabulous movie, the theme song "This Wheel's on Fire."

Minogue signed to BMG in 2017 and began working on a new album, her 14th. Recovering from heartbreak, she took the suggestion from one of her team to try writing and recording in Nashville. For the first time in her career, she co-wrote all the songs and teamed with writers and musicians there (and a team of producers in London including Biffco and Sky Adams) to craft a sound that was a hybrid of modern country and her more traditional dance-pop. The resulting record, Golden, was released in April 2018. The following year saw the arrival of Step Back in Time: The Definitive Collection, Minogue's fifth major greatest-hits album. The compilation featured 42 tracks, including the previously unreleased "New York City," which was recorded during the sessions for Golden.

In 2020, she returned with fresh material for her 15th official album, including the singles "Say Something" and "Magic." These nostalgic throwback tunes landed on the aptly titled DISCO, which returned the pop diva to the dancefloor in a major way. Primarily written and recorded at her London home during the COVID-19 lockdown, DISCO also marked the first time Minogue handled engineering duties herself.

Here is a short playlist from some great artists who, in some way, have been moved and impacted by Kylie Minogue. With every album, she seems to undergo evolution and transformation. It is no wonder what she has…

COMPELLED so many artists.

FEATURE: EMI vs. Fish People: Will Kate Bush’s First Three Studio Albums Ever Be Reissued?

FEATURE:

 

 

EMI vs. Fish People

Will Kate Bush’s First Three Studio Albums Ever Be Reissued?

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THERE are three reasons…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Trinity Mirror/Mirrorpix/Alamy

as to why I am bringing up a subject I covered a couple of times. Revisionism and reissues is something some artists get involved with. I am going to bring in an article from 2011 soon that asked whether Kate Bush’s albums pre-The Dreaming will ever be reissued. When she remastered her studio albums and brought out unheard material in 2018, I guess that was a way of taking more control of her back catalogue - but also giving fans something they may not have heard. The greatest hits compilation, The Whole Story, is thirty-five in November. I think that, rather than another greatest hits compilations, perhaps reissuing those early albums would be a better idea. I am also thinking of holding a celebration of Kate Bush next year. 2022 marks forty-five years since The Kick Inside was recorded. It is also forty years since The Dreaming was released. Because of that, I have been thinking about her earlier albums and the fact there has not been a lot of revision. Bush, as she set up her Fish People label, has the rights and ownership of The Dreaming to modern-day. I also think that radio stations will never really break from their rigid playlists and limited exposure of Kate Bush’s music – just the singles and the songs that we all know. Having albums out with additional material and context might well compel them to explore her catalogue more thoroughly.

For every album, there would have been demos and material that was either cut or did not really make the grade. As I have said before, perhaps Bush feels that releasing music that was not meant to see the light of day is illogical. She will be able to resist any attempts at repackaging her post-1982 albums, though EMI will be able to have a little more say with albums prior to then. I am going to conclude in a bit. First, I wanted to pull in an article from Record Collector. Although there has been some revisionism since 2011, there has not been a lot of retrospection and reissuing regarding her studio albums:

“Which brings us to date. As Kate has now taken over the rights to her post-Dreaming albums and decided to reissue The Dreaming and Hounds Of Love in virtually unaltered form through her new Fish People label – Hounds Of Love will apparently feature the Special Single Mix of The Big Sky in lieu of the original, though we can’t be sure if this will be the remastered version overseen by EMI in 1997 – the likelihood of expanded editions of these albums seems minimal. We wonder if EMI might exercise their control over her pre-Dreaming work and go ahead with the expanded editions planned in 2000 independently of Kate’s approval. It would be wonderful to see editions of those early albums presented in the way that Universal recently handled The Cure’s back catalogue – each album offered in remastered form in carefully planned packaging with a bonus disc full of unreleased material from the relevant era and accompanied by a booklet of outtakes and notes.

As we’ve seen, there’s more than enough material for such a project. We haven’t even begun to touch on the wealth of Kate Bush video material that needs to be unearthed, preserved and presented to the public. All we can do is hope that Kate may soften to her past and to the whims of her fans and give the go-ahead for the vaults to be rifled. We live in hope”.

It is a shame that so much needs to be tied to anniversaries. 2023 marks forty-five years of The Kick Inside and Lionheart; Never for Ever turns forty-five in 2025. It is a long time to wait! I would love to see, next year, long-awaited expansions of those first three albums, with booklets, photos and maybe a two/three-vinyl package for each – there could be interviews and demos/rarer tracks combined. We did get to hear some of those lesser-heard cuts on the Remastered series (and on The Other Sides), though there is a lot left in the archives that have not seen the light of day. Another reason why I am thinking of it now is how the pandemic has been a time when more and more people have connected with Bush’s work. There might be a conflict and coming together if EMI decide to reissue expanded editions of The Kick Inside, Lionheart and Never for Ever without her permission. It is less likely Bush will put out reissues of her other albums. Ahead of The Whole Story’s anniversary, it would be a way to sort of clear the cupboards and that way there will be no need in the future to address the question. It comes down to how Bush feels about putting out material she was not completely happy with. I think EMI could release her first three albums without cashing in and being insensitive. So many fans would love to hear those albums alongside demos and B-sides. Alongside photos from the time and extras, it would help spark new interest in her music. At a time when radio stations only play the hits and many people do not dive deep, a few reissues would help address that. Putting out a few of her albums – or most of them – in a new vinyl package would be…

A real treat.

FEATURE: Modern Heroines: Part Fifty-Five: MARINA

FEATURE:

 

 

Modern Heroines

Part Fifty-Five: MARINA

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I wanted to include MARINA…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Atlantic Records

in this Modern Heroines now as her fifth studio album, Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land, was released on 11th June. I think that it is her best work yet. It has received more positive reviews than 2019’s Love + Fear. I think she has really hit a peak on the new album. You can buy it here. It is a fantastic album where MARINA proves she is one of modern music’s finest Pop artists. I have been following her career for years and feel she is going to be an icon of the future. Before coming to some interviews and a couple of reviews for Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land, it is wise to include some biograph about MARINA:

“Marina Lambrini Diamandis (/ˌdiːəˈmændɪs/; Greek: Μαρίνα-Λαμπρινή Διαμαντή; born 10 October 1985), known mononymously as Marina and previously by the stage name Marina and the Diamonds, is a Welsh singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer.

Born in Brynmawr to a Welsh mother and Greek father, Diamandis was raised in Abergavenny and moved to London as a teenager to become a professional singer, despite having little formal musical experience. In 2009, she came to prominence upon placing second in the BBC's Sound of 2010. Her debut studio album, The Family Jewels (2010), incorporated indie pop and new wave musical styles. It entered the UK Albums Chart at No. 5 and was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry. The album's second single, "Hollywood", peaked at No. 12 on the UK Singles Chart. Her follow-up record, Electra Heart (2012), was a concept album about a character of the same name which became her first No. 1 project in the UK. The album was certified gold in the US and UK, with its singles "Primadonna" and "How to Be a Heartbreaker" becoming international hits.

Diamandis's synthpop-inspired third studio album, Froot (2015), became her third top 10 album in the UK and her first top 10 entry on the US Billboard 200, where it charted at No. 8. Produced entirely by Diamandis and David Kosten, it was praised for its cohesive sound and introspective lyrical content. In 2018, she was featured on Clean Bandit's single "Baby", which reached the top 15 in the UK. Her fourth studio album, Love + Fear, was released on 26 April 2019. The album charted at No. 5 on the UK album chart. She is set to release her fifth studio album, Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land, in June 2021”.

Rather than do a history of MARINA and her albums, there is an interview from 2019 that I want to start with. It is from DAZED. It is quite an extensive interview - though there are parts of it that I wanted to mention:

“Her work, both past and present, has always been “pop cultural” rather than straight-down-the-line pop in that sense. While chart music, the kind made by Diamandis’s conforming contemporaries, is made to slide seamlessly into the public realm ready for consumption, she was able to take the well-mined tropes of contemporary society – self-obsession, overexposed celebrity culture – and show us exactly what was so shitty about them through her songs. She was criticising the very system she naturally had to assimilate into. “I was this opinionated person who wrote my own songs, but at the same time I loved the idea of following the zeitgeist,” she says when I point out that dichotomy to her. “Sometimes, those two things don’t necessarily cross with being a pop star.”

Being something of an underdog earned Diamandis swathes of fans, who passionately respond to every one of her posts on social media. But when you’re taking a break from the pop world, little nuances – like those behind her subtle name change, for example – are something the most fervent ones don’t take note of. Sifting through her mentions, you’ll find pop stans gunning for viral fame, joking that her hiatus has lead to her becoming “poor”. “For the most part, my fans are all intelligent and nice, and it might just be the nature of being young and online, but there’s a lot of misogyny that I see – even in my own fanbase,” Marina says. She knows much of it is said in jest, but petty comments about financial status never wind up in the mentions of men taking a break, only the kind of women who fans think will work faster to appease those they don’t know.

As a result, she’s learned to step back, and only share what’s absolutely necessary with those who might love her but don’t know her IRL. “I have boundaries now,” she says. “I love and adore all support for my music, but people online don’t own me, and I won’t give them any illusion that they have any kind of entitlement.” It’s a noble stance for a pop star to make when the line between life, art, and commodity is continually blurred. “I think it’s really unhealthy to play into that, so I don’t post about my personal life online at all. Any other stuff that’s not about my music, I can just... put on a private Insta!” So, Diamandis has a finsta? She suddenly takes a keen interest in whatever's on the ceiling, before bursting into a fit of laughter. Next question.

Away from the rigid structure of the album cycle, in early 2017 she started MarinaBook: a project that saw her channel the emotion that once went into her music into blogs about her encounters with anxiety, and navigating life as an artist on hiatus. It’s interesting, I say, that her private life is off limits on Instagram, but is dissected in fine detail on that blog, one she updated sporadically before taking a step back at the end of 2017. “I think that’s why I didn’t go back to it, because it freaked me out!” she says, laughing at how nauseous the experience was for her. She sees the long-term benefits of it now, though. Dissecting the human psyche, both within her music and as a person, has always been something that has fascinated her, so much so that she decided to enrol on a psychology course at Birkbeck University in London. For a few months, if you were to wander into the school's library, you could find Marina Diamandis writing essays on modern psychology and theories of personality.

I wonder if the degree was a conscious decision for Diamandis, a curious person in professional limbo, to try and make better sense of herself or to help those around her. She claims it was both, but a course on attachment theory really struck her personally. “It helped me understand a lot of my own motives and my childhood much more.” She pauses for a sip of her now lukewarm coffee. “I’ve done a lot of therapy, and that definitely brought something new to me.”

Times have changed now, and a pop star discussing their mental health so openly is no longer such a taboo subject, but is Diamandis, who rose to fame before this transitional period in pop, comfortable with talking publicly about therapy? “I think so, because I just told you – and we just met!” she grins. “But maybe I wouldn’t have before, because I was always keeping up this perception of an artist that was so narrow. I haven’t done loads of therapy, maybe only two years of it in total, but I, like many in our generation, have had a lot of struggles with my emotional health since I was very young. Perhaps I’ve gravitated towards that subject naturally because I always wanted to solve it”.

It has been exciting charting the career of MARINA and how the music has evolved through the years. As I mentioned, I feel like she has hit a real high with her fifth studio album. Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land, is one that I would recommend to anyone.

It is interesting focusing on an interview from Vogue. Published last year, it was centred around the release of the single, Man’s World. The song was written by MARINA (Diamandis), and it brought to life by an all-female creative team. The percentages of women producing and engineering in studios was mentioned:

“Women currently make up only 2% of producers and 3% of engineers across popular music. Why do you think this industry has been so slow to recognize women behind the scenes?

In my own experience, one of the reasons I think there are so few female producers is because female artists or songwriters don’t get credit. It’s a very interesting thing that I’ve had to navigate. On the first record I got no production credits because I didn’t even think to ask for them, but the fact is that I helped shape every record and I was precious about getting each song to the shape that I wanted it. If I hadn’t been in the room, these records would’ve sounded very different.

I could see the lines getting blurred when there’s enough people in the studio throwing out ideas.

There’s such a blurred line. Obviously you’re hiring a producer, but that doesn’t mean that your contribution is nil. My experience has varied along the way because on the second record I didn’t really have a role in the production since I was working with massive pop producers. You were hiring them to give you something that you thought you couldn’t produce, which was, like, radio hits in America. Then with Froot, I tried to scale it back and coproduce with one guy. But I think a big part of it is women don’t think they have the right to ask for a credit that symbolizes or represents their contribution. It’s up to us to ask for the credit.

You said earlier that each record is sort of the opposite of the previous one. What feels different this time around?

Love + Fear was such a different record and it was highly collaborative on the songwriting front, which is what I needed at the time. At that time in my life, I just felt very unsure about everything. I was coming off two years of just feeling very depressed in ways where I started to doubt my decision-making. But I feel very different on this record. I think I’m much more confident and my life’s more balanced. I’ve made several changes in my professional life and that always translates to the art, if you have a team facilitating your ideas and helping you create what you want. I feel in control. It feels so liberating and strengthening not having to fight with your label to hash out your ideas”.

  PHOTO CREDIT: Atlantic Records

I am going to finish with a playlist comprised of some of the best songs from MARINA/Marina and the Diamonds. With a gem of an album out, it is no wonder that it is being received with such acclaim and appreciation! In their review, this is what The Line of Best Fit had to say:

“A whirlwind of an opening, and also setting the tone for the albums first half, the title track is a re-actualization of Muse’s "Uprising" - sharing thunderous percussion and a sense of urgency with the former. MARINA’s voice soars across a rambunctious bass line, her angelic soprano launching into orbit as she senses the advent of a revolution. A sense of hard-earned confidence rises to the surface: the ebullience of the first track and the fruits of its introspection are echoed in the second, a sassy self-empowerment call to arms that only grows more hectic with time. “Why be a wallflower when you can be a Venus flytrap?”, MARINA ponders in jest.

Her vocal dynamism translates particularly well in rock-leaning settings, where her leaping registers make their way through enthralling kicks and mean guitar riffs. She flies across second single “Purge The Poison”, confronting turbulence with ease and getting her every word in despite the constant menace of being overthrown by an instrumental neurosis.

It’s precisely those moments of maximalism across Ancient Dreams that glue the collection of tracks together. The relentless "New America" is the hymn of a country ready to confront its demons: anthemic and critical at the same time, it pushes the idea that the social reckonings of last year should amount to more accountability and action at a systemic level. MARINA spells the end of an era of willful naivete: “America, you can’t bury the truth / It’s time to pay your dues”.

Despite a relatively short runtime two distinct albums seem to be vying for the listener’s attention: a socio-politically charged alternative pop rock epic on one side and a more tender intimate narrative following heartbreak on the other. It's the ballads of Ancient Dreams that bear the brunt of this slight schizophrenia. "Highly Emotional People" might be rooted in a specific past relationship with Clean Bandit’s Jack Patterson but it’s hard not to hear it as a broader statement about masculinity, even more so considering the track’s placement–wedged in between the intense "Purge The Poison" and "New America". There’s a disheartening simplicity in lyrics like “people say men don’t cry” that only scratch the surface of a topic that’s become a touchstone of popular culture.

But, some good comes from personal musings getting turned into grander ideas - whether intentional or not. Pandora becomes a feminist icon, reclaiming control over her own fate in "Pandora’s Box". The ancestral representative of the world’s woes transcends the misogyny of the original myth into a symbol of power and independence in MARINA’s hands. The track proves that somewhere amongst the ruins of Ancient Dreams lies a path to merging the album’s twin souls into one”.

It will be good when MARINA can take Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land to the stage – as the tracks, I feel, are designed to fully come to life in this arena. The second review for the new MARINA album comes from CLASH . They were (clearly) impressed by it:  

“Now, Marina returns with her fifth studio album, ‘Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land’, a 10-track wonder that is a more mature and eclectic take on her gloriously femme and thundering electro-pop. The record opens with the carnivalesque and neo-classical: title-track ‘Ancient Dreams…’ is infused with dry, desert landscapes and sounds that are earthy and elemental. Marina attributes these colour compositions, her choice of rich magentas and blossoming greens to classical portrait artist John William Godard, a strong inspiration on the visual element of this project.

‘Venus Fly Trap’, ‘Man’s World’ and ‘I Love You But I Love Me More’ lyrically revive the Marina from the days of Electra Heart (“I’ve got the beauty, got the brains, got the power, hold the reins. I should be motherfucking crazy.”), a project that in its prime, was wildly defiant and wonderfully juvenile. At its peak is sensory ephemera ‘Purge the Poison’, with remix featuring Pussy Riot, and a heady, visual world of chains, leather and female power.

We are brought back down to earth with ‘Flowers’ and ‘Goodbye’ two ballads dominated by piano and Marina’s spiraling vocal twangs. These tracks certainly change the momentum of the record, but in a way that doesn’t feel unnatural or forced. Marina makes a strong case for embracing a change of trajectory: in life, music and art. There is something to be said for the Art Of Quitting. Or at least detaching ourselves from the things in life that no longer bring us joy”.

 I am a big supporter of MARINA, and I get the feeling that she will be putting out albums of the highest calibre for many years to come. Already an icon to many, that will expand and reinforce as albums such as Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land resonates and causes ripples. It is a remarkable album that sits alongside…

THIS year’s very best.

FEATURE: The June Playlist: Vol. 3: Good to See You, Ms. Ross

FEATURE:

 

 

The June Playlist

IN THIS PHOTO: Diana Ross

Vol. 3: Good to See You, Ms. Ross

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THIS is a busy and big…

 IN THIS PHOTO: BANKS

weekly Playlist that should add some brightness to a wet weekend. There is new music from Diana Ross, BANKS, Tyler, the Creator, Denise Chaila, Leon Bridges, and Kojey Radical. Throw into the mix some Laura Mvula (ft. Simon Neil), Little Simz, Natalie Imbruglia, Aldous Harding, Mykki Blanco, and Vince Staples. That makes for an eclectic and quality-rich selection! If you require a boost and kick to give you some weekend lift, then I hope that these songs help do the trick. Even if the weather is not great today, these tunes are sure to brighten the day and bring some heat. With so many gems in the rundown, one cannot help but…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Tyler, the Creator/PHOTO CREDIT: Luis ‘Panch’ Perez

FEEL motivated.   

ALL PHOTOS/IMAGES (unless credited otherwise): Artists

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Diana Ross – Thank You

BANKS – The Devil

Tyler, the Creator – LUMBERJACK

Leon Bridges – Why Don’t You Touch Me

PHOTO CREDIT: Róisín Murphy O’Sullivan

Denise Chaila – 061

Kojey Radical – Woohaa

Little Simz - Rollin Stone

Laura Mvula (ft. Simon Neil) - What Matters

Natalie Imbruglia – Build It Better

Griff – Shade of Yellow

Mykki Blanco – That’s Folks

PHOTO CREDIT: Clare Shilland

Aldous Harding – Old Peel

Vince Staples – LAW OF AVERAGES

Orlando Weeks – Big Skies, Silly Faces

Jennifer Hudson - Here I Am (Singing My Way Home)

Kings of Convenience, Feist – Catholic Country

Olivia Rodrigo - The Rose Song

Pip Blom - Keep It Together

H.E.R. – Hard to Love

PHOTO CREDIT: Shervin Lainez

TORRES - Hug from a Dinosaur

Liz Lawrence – Saturated

Yves Tumor – Jackie

Mabel – Let Them Know

The Go! Team - A Bee Without Its Sting

Joy Crookes – Feet Don’t Fail Me Now

Hope Tala – Mad

PHOTO CREDIT: Pooneh Ghana

La Luz - In the Country

Wet Leg - Chaise Longue

YONAKA – Raise Your Glass

Honey Mooncie – Here for Me

Rhett Nicholl – Love in Vain

Tara Lily – The Things You Do

Cathy Jain – cool kid

PHOTO CREDIT: Percy Walker-Smith

FEET - Library

PHOTO CREDIT: Callum Walker Hutchinson

Gia Woods - Enough of You

 

Eliza Shaddad - The Man I Admire

PHOTO CREDIT: Cornelia Wahlberg

Tove Styrke - Mood Swings

Kamasi Washington - Sun Kissed Child