FEATURE: Don’t Stop: The Legendary Mick Fleetwood at Seventy-Five

FEATURE:

 

 

Don’t Stop

The Legendary Mick Fleetwood at Seventy-Five

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AN iconic drummer…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Fleetwood performing with Fleetwood Mac in 2018

and a member of the legendary Fleetwood Mac, Mick Fleetwood turns seventy-five on 24th June. One of the band’s founders, he has been responsible for some of the best and most popular beats in music history. The backbone and driving force of songs like Don’t Stop (from Rumours) and Tusk (from Tusk). To celebrate his big birthday, I will end with a playlist featuring some of his best work with the band (and a couple with other artists). Before that, AllMusic have some biography about the great man:

“Mick Fleetwood anchored his namesake band Fleetwood Mac through thick and thin, seeing the group evolve from one of the pioneering British blues combos to the biggest pop/rock band in the world. Fleetwood may have never left his seat behind the drums in Fleetwood Mac but he did occasionally step away from the group. Notably, he released a pair of solo albums in the early 1980s: The Visitor, which was recorded in Ghana, and the slick, nervy pop LP I'm Not Me, which was credited to Mick Fleetwood's Zoo. He resumed his solo career in the 2000s with the Mick Fleetwood Blues Band, who released Blue Again! in 2008, and he once again returned to his solo career and his blues roots in 2020, when he organized a star-studded tribute to his late bandmate Peter Green.

After the supporting tour for 1979's Tusk, Fleetwood recorded his debut solo album, The Visitor, which was released in 1981 and displayed the drummer's interest in worldbeat. After the 1982 Mac album Mirage, Fleetwood cut a second solo record, 1983's I'm Not Me, which featured cameos from several Mac members. Fleetwood Mac subsequently went on hiatus until 1987, when Fleetwood's declaration of bankruptcy prompted the reunion LP Tango in the Night; even Lindsey Buckingham was persuaded to join in, albeit only in the studio.

Even as the band's classic '70s lineup splintered, Fleetwood kept versions of the band going throughout the '90s, without enjoying much commercial success until the full-fledged reunion on 1997's The Dance. Meanwhile, he also continued working on outside projects such as the Zoo, which issued Shakin' the Cage during the early '90s. Something Big (attributed to the Mick Fleetwood Band), a joint project with songwriter Todd Smallwood, was released in 2004 on Fleetwood's own label, TallMan Records. As Fleetwood Mac prepared to tour again in early 2009, the drummer issued yet another album, this one culled from a live performance by the Mick Fleetwood Blues Band. Entitled Blue Again!, the two-disc set featured the blues-based songs of Fleetwood Mac's early career while also devoting time to original material, with former Fleetwood Mac vocalist Rick Vito assuming frontman duties.

Fleetwood next went solo in 2020, when he organized a star-studded tribute to his old colleague Peter Green. The concert was released in 2021 as Celebrate the Music of Peter Green”.

The inspiring and incredible drummer for Fleetwood Mac, Mick Fleetwood has been so important regarding the success of the band. I don’t know if there are plans for the band to perform again or do anything together. One thinks that it is only a matter of time before there is a biopic about the band or their 1977 album, Rumours. Many happy returns to the sensational Mick Fleetwood. Here are a few great beats from…

A masterful drummer.

FEATURE: A Minor/Major Issue: Can a Music-Based Comedy Succeed and Be Profitable?

FEATURE:

 

 

A Minor/Major Issue

IN THIS PHOTO: American actor Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel)/PHOTO CREDIT: Ryan Pfluger for The New York Times

Can a Music-Based Comedy Succeed and Be Profitable?

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IT may seem like a strange question…

PHOTO CREDIT: Krists Luhaers/Unsplash 

but I have been thinking about an idea I have for a film that is music-based. Comedies in general have smaller budgets than other genres when it comes to the big screen. Fewer of them are released and, when they are, the reception is not as impassioned. There are lots of successful comedies, but how many come along that blow people away and get big box office receipts and this incredible status?! Very few spring to mind from the past couple of decades. Compare that to, say, horror films or action flicks, and there is a definite disparity. I have been looking at lists of the ‘best’ comedy films from the past twenty years, and there are not too many that are too recent. From Bridesmaids (2011) to Shaun of the Dead (2004), there are those that were incredibly well-received and stand as classics today. Apart from the iconic This Is Spinal Tap (1984), there are not that many music-based comedies. I am not including musicals in this. Instead, a film where music or a band is at the centre. Everyone loves music so, whether the soundtrack is heavy, and the plot revolves around music, or the film is about a particular artist, one would thing there’d be potential and a big audience. I think comedies are hard anyway, because it is a form that is so subjective. It is easy to convince people in action and drama because, to me, there is great promise to evoke the right emotions. Making people laugh is very hard! I have found that a lot of comedies from the past decade or so are either quite basic and streamlined or they are a little predictable and lacking anything special.

I have been looking around for recent music comedies. Maybe the best modern example is 2021’s Mixtape. That is an excellent film, yet it is a rarity in terms of its genre and success. I can’t really divulge details about my idea, suffice it to say, it shares some similarities with Mixtape. Humbling that it did do well in terms of reviews and reputations, I still wonder whether this is an area of cinema undervalued and under-explored. My film idea very much has actors like Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) in mind - so I could, hopefully, get a good cast. I think the issue of budget vs. box office is an issue. The film needs to be relatively inexpensive and make sure that it makes its money back. It is hard to balance ambition and scope with the realisation that comedies do not often do better than other types of films. Unless you have a franchise and popular Hollywood film on your hand that you know if going to be a big success, it is a gamble. Comedies are difficult to ‘get right’. Humour is a very subjective thing and, when it comes to impressing critics, there is this hard task of making them laugh and ensuring the film stays in the mind. There are not many comedies that can do that! I think the so-called ‘best’ comedies of this year are nothing spectacular. I cannot find too many music-based comedies from recent years, so there is this trepidation as to why that is. Is it difficult to sell to studios and get made? Is it a case of the critics not supporting it? Maybe the box office is going to be low and, as such, the film could lose money.

I am excited about an idea I have, yet I do know there is this risk and sense of stepping into a world that is not overly represented and familiar. I know there is a follow-up to This Is Spinal Tap planned. The original is a masterpiece, so that sequel is going to have a ready audience. Making a new comedy film that is very much about music and features it heavily is another matter! I feel few succeed in this area, and even the films that do well, they are not really mentioned as classics. If anyone knows films I am missing, then let me know. I think a good idea is worth holding onto and pushing as far as you can get it. Other types of films are easier to sell and get made, so it may take longer until there is any realistic way my film idea can even get to the early stages. I think the marriage of film, comedy and music is a wonderful thing! Combining these elements can fail and go wrong but, when it does go right, it can charm and wow audiences. Having a music-based comedy stay in the memory long after it is finished is quite a challenge – and yet it is not impossible and beyond the realms of possibility. I do hope that there is an audience around for these films, because I do not want to bail on my idea or let it die. To think that it could be made and find an audience…

WOULD be a dream.

FEATURE: Nothing But Good Vibrations: The Peerless Brian Wilson at Eighty: The Playlist

FEATURE:

 

 

Nothing But Good Vibrations

The Peerless Brian Wilson at Eighty: The Playlist

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ALTHOUGH there has been a lot…

PHOTO CREDIT: Harry Langdon/Getty Images

of attention around the fact Paul McCartney is eighty on Saturday (18th), we shouldn’t forget that one of Macca’s contemporaries, Brian Wilson, is the same age two days later. McCartney would be the first to say how influential Brian Wilson’s songwriting was to him during his time in The Beatles. Wilson has discussed how Rubber Soul was a real turning point for him and, in the mid-1960s, there was this friendly rivalry between the two geniuses. I am going to end with a collection of the best Brian Wilson songs (often co-writes, but the compositional brilliance belongs to Wilson). Before that, I think it is useful sourcing AllMusic’s biography of one of the greatest songwriters in history:

“Brian Wilson is arguably the greatest American composer of popular music in the rock era. As the founder of the Beach Boys, Wilson's songwriting captured the arc of innocence and turmoil that played out for those coming of age in the 1960s, quickly moving from the carefree fun of his early songs about cars, surfing, and teenage love to the complex self-inspection and vulnerability exhibited on his 1966 masterpiece Pet Sounds. Wilson's drive for experimentation only heightened as his music fell out of mainstream favor, but his art would also be influenced by his mental health struggles. Solo efforts like a self-titled 1988 album and 1995 Van Dyke Parks collaboration Orange Crate Art showed that Wilson still had a gift for songwriting, but his legacy remained defined by the "teenage symphonies to God" that he crafted for the Beach Boys. Along with projects centered around new material, Wilson returned to his earlier Beach Boys compositions frequently, embarking on tours where he played mostly selections from SMiLE or Pet Sounds, and revisiting some of his best-loved tunes in the form of solo piano instrumentals on his spare 2021 album At My Piano.

Wilson was born in 1942 and raised in Hawthorne, California. He formed the Beach Boys in 1961 alongside his two younger brothers, cousin Mike Love, and school friend Alan Jardine. Serving as the group's primary songwriter, Wilson combined the rock urgency of Chuck Berry with the harmonies of the Four Freshmen before expanding his musical imagination during the late '60s, during which time he experimented with new songwriting structures and production techniques. Wilson retreated from his dominance of the Beach Boys after 1967, yielding most of the control to his younger brother Carl. (He made sporadic contributions to their records, returning only briefly in the 1970s and 2010s, the latter as part of a special 50th anniversary tour and album.)

Following a long period of drug addiction, mental illness, and general isolation, Wilson issued his first solo album in 1988. Despite the promising lead single "Love and Mercy," commercial success proved elusive; ironically, the Beach Boys had recorded their own comeback record around the same time and wound up topping the charts with "Kokomo." Wilson attempted to find his footing with a second solo album, Sweet Insanity, which was rejected outright by Sire and permanently shelved.

The 1990s signaled a creative resurgence and coming to terms with his immense influence. It began with a reunion; he recorded the collaborative album Orange Crate Art with mid-'60s collaborator Van Dyke Parks -- it featured Parks' songwriting and Wilson's vocals. That same year, Wilson was the subject of a documentary feature, I Just Wasn't Made for These Times, for which he also recorded a full soundtrack. Following those releases was 1998's Imagination, which included several throwbacks to his lush Beach Boys productions of the 1960s; still, it failed to entice a wide commercial audience.

During his time with the Beach Boys, Wilson had often remained at home -- or in the studio -- while the rest of the group set out on tour. Things started to change in the early 2000s, when he began touring as a solo act (often accompanied by a large backing band) and released a pair of live titles: Live at the Roxy Theatre (2000) and Pet Sounds Live (2002). He also prepared a studio album, Gettin' in Over My Head, released in 2004. It was partially overshadowed by Wilson's next project: preparing the legendary Beach Boys record SMiLE for its live debut, as well as making new studio recordings of its songs. He debuted the new SMiLE at the Royal Festival Hall in London on February 20, 2004, and recorded it in the studio that April. Both the live and studio versions earned rapturous reviews, prompting Wilson to launch a full world tour in support of the Grammy-winning album. The seasonal effort What I Really Want for Christmas followed in October 2005.

Wilson began preparing another thematic work after he was commissioned by London's Southbank Centre to help kick off the venue's 2007 season. The result was That Lucky Old Sun, a concept album based on the Great American Songbook and including the participation of his SMiLE band as well as Van Dyke Parks. That Lucky Old Sun premiered at the Royal Festival Hall in September 2007 and was released as a studio album later that year. Wilson returned to the studio two years later, this time to put his own stamp on a number of George Gershwin covers. (At the request of Gershwin's estate, he also completed two piano compositions that were unfinished by Gershwin at the time of his death.) Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin was released in August 2010, marking Wilson's first album for the Disney-affiliated Pearl label. Wilson's second project for Pearl, In the Key of Disney, arrived the following year, and featured 11 classic Disney songs.

In 2012, Wilson officially reunited with the Beach Boys. (All four surviving members of the classic lineup had contributed to a track from Al Jardine's 2011 album, Postcard from California.) The group toured and recorded during the first half of 2012, and in June of that year released That's Why God Made the Radio, their first original album with Wilson in more than 15 years. The album debuted at number three on the Billboard charts and earned positive reviews. After the summer tour, however, Mike Love returned to touring the Beach Boys with only himself and Bruce Johnston as members of the classic lineup, leaving behind Wilson and Jardine.

By 2014, Wilson began recording as a solo act again, with songs that he had initially written for a Beach Boys album. Instead, he recruited guest stars for the venture, including She & Him's Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward, Fun.'s Nate Ruess, Kacey Musgraves, Capital Cities' Sebu Simonian, and former Beach Boys Al Jardine, David Marks, and Blondie Chaplin. (Musicians for the project featured classic session players such as Jim Keltner, Kenny Aronoff, Dean Parks, and Don Was.) The results appeared on Capitol in April 2015, under the title No Pier Pressure. The following year marked the 50th anniversary of the Beach Boys' landmark Pet Sounds album, and Wilson embarked on a world tour to commemorate the iconic LP. That summer also saw the release of a new live album and DVD from the No Pier Pressure tour under the title Brian Wilson and Friends. As the Pet Sounds tour spilled into 2017, with dates in Europe and the U.K. during the summer and a North American stint in September, Wilson also released a compilation that spanned his 30-year solo career. Arriving in late September on Warner, Playback: The Brian Wilson Anthology included picks from all of his nine solo records alongside two previously unreleased tracks, "Run James Run" and "Some Sweet Day." In mid-2019, he embarked on an extensive U.S. tour alongside the Zombies -- billed as Something Great from '68 -- during which Wilson played selections from two Beach Boys albums: Friends and Surf's Up. After a relatively quiet period, a documentary film, Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road, debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival in June 2021, receiving wider distribution that November. That month also brought At My Piano, a collection of gentle, solo piano renditions of some of Wilson's most celebrated compositions”.

To celebrate the eightieth birthday of Brian Wilson on 20th June, I wanted to compile a selection of some of his best songs. Everyone will have their own opinions but, with The Beach Boys, he was responsible for composing some of the most timeless tracks ever. I hope that there are articles written about Wilson to mark his birthday. There is so much respect and admiration out there for…

A treasured and much-loved person.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Dove Cameron

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

Dove Cameron

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ALTHOUGH she is not a brand-new artist…

Boyfriend, released earlier this year, announced Dove Cameron as a promising and growing artist on the scene. Maybe not the kind of artist I would normally recommend, the Washington-born Pop talent played a dual role as the eponymous characters in the Disney Channel comedy series, Liv and Maddie, for which she won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in Children's Programming. She is not the first artist to transition from T.V. to a Pop career. In fact, the likes of Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears have taken this route. Cameron is an artist who, when an E.P. does arrive, will make a big impact. I feel, on the strength of Boyfriend, she has a long future. Not just a teen Pop artist or someone for a precise demographic, her music is broad enough to appeal to those who love other genres – maybe slightly older listeners will connect and relate. I am going to bring in a couple of interviews relating to Boyfriend. Maybe, by the time, I publish this (I am writing it on 10th June), there will be another Dove Cameron song out. A tremendous queer artist who is a huge inspiration to many, there are going to be a lot of new fans flocking the way of Cameron. I want to start with a Women in Pop interview. They chatted with Dove Cameron after the release of the breakthrough single, Boyfriend:

“In February this year she launched a new era of music with the single ‘Boyfriend’. It is a stunningly good track that mixes moody electronic pop with smoky jazz and an orchestral grandeur that is breathtaking in its scope. Lyrically the song sees Cameron embracing her true self and falling for someone at a party, persuading them “I would be a better boyfriend than him…plus all my clothes would fit.” The song has become her first major solo chart hit, reaching the top 10 in the UK and the top 20 in Australia, a country that now streams her music on Spotify more than anywhere else in the world.

The video is appropriately cinematic and features Cameron, in a room of faceless dancers, locking eyes with a woman across the room. They are soon making out in a phone box, and an open top car speeding through a motorway tunnel. It is a rush to watch and it is dripping with dark, sensual imagery.

Cameron says of the single “In writing “Boyfriend,” I feel like I finally found my sound, my perspective and myself in a way I wasn’t sure I ever would.” There is definitely a confidence, a maturity and assurance in the way she proudly delivers ‘Boyfriend’, which augurs well for future releases. Cameron is definitely a supremely talented artist who is going to be so exciting to watch in the next few years. We recently caught up with her to find out more about ‘Boyfriend’ and this next chapter in her career.

Dove, we are such fans of your work and I really appreciate you joining us today.

I really appreciate your time. Truly, it's such an honour to be speaking to you. Thank you for taking the time.

How are you feeling about the release of the absolutely impeccable ‘Boyfriend’?

I'm feeling fucking phenomenal! It's really, really mind blowing. It’s highlighted where my imposter syndrome lives and the corners of my mind where I'm limiting myself and self hating saying ‘something like this is never gonna happen’. Things like that! It's really wild to experience this in a career at any point, but also just as a human being I'm kind of mind fucked. It's really interesting!

That's such a wonderful thing to hear from someone that just continues to do wonderful things. There's quite often this perception that pop stars are nonchalant about these things, ‘yeah, just drop that, yeah, that was pretty cool.’ And to hear you've got impostor syndrome, and you're wildly excited about ‘Boyfriend’s success is really inspiring.

I definitely think there's this sort of thing in celebrity culture that we should be chill about certain things, but I don't know one person that actually lives like that. Everybody's an extreme geek, a fan of other artists and everybody's like 12 years old, you know. It's so nice to be able to just share human moments with people on a massive scale. That's a mistake that people make with having a large scale level of communication with people is they hide more. Shouldn't we be more human if we're gonna have a big megaphone?

Beautiful! Lastly, before I have to leave you, we have ‘Boyfriend’ out and it's an amazing sound. Can you tell me what else you've got coming up, you mentioned an EP might be on the way?

I've said that a few times now, which I'm not sure the label’s happy with or not! I wrote this song called ‘Breakfast’, which I'm really excited about. I wrote it like three weeks ago. The label is pretty confident that's going to be my next release, which is so great because my dream is just to release music constantly and for it to be something I just wrote so it is still relevant to my life, and I'm not sick of it. I then have two movies coming out, I have this movie called Good Mourning with Machine Gun Kelly, Megan Fox and Pete Davidson and that should be really fun. And then I have a movie called Vengeance with BJ Novak, Ashton Kutcher and Issa Rae. And then hopefully I'm going to delve into my debut album and a pretty sizeable tour in the fall!”.

At twenty-six, there is an instant maturity to her music. Not as teen-focused one might thing, it will be interesting seeing how Dove Cameron’s music changes and evolves with each release. An E.P. will give listeners and fans a fuller impression of who she is as an artist and woman. A skilled and acclaimed actor, she is definitely making quick impressions. Official Charts also spoke with Dove Cameron. Whilst not her debut single, it is the one that has registered her highest chart position so far:

“Boyfriend is your first-ever Top 20 hit on the Official Charts. What kind of stuff were you listening to while making it?

Actually a lot of the influence for the Boyfriend instrumentation was taken from films. Growing up, I really identified with all these flamboyant, male villains. Even with female ones, they're so hyper-sexualised in the Male Gaze. F*ck that, why don't I relate to any of this? I had to grow up and find the right language around it [to subvert it].

It's such an obvious queer trope that we're rooting for the villain, but they're so much more interesting and multifaceted! A lot of these new songs are coming, sonically, from a villainous, darker point of view. Based around intrapersonal stories of my life, obviously.

Things are moving very quickly for you now. What does this mean for the EP? Maybe an album?

I was actually just in New York to meet with the label about this! Without giving too much away...we are in a new era. I am re-introducing myself. Look, I'm in the studio every day. I've posted more songs on TikTok. It could be an EP, it could be an album, it could be a string of singles leading in to an EP. I just want to say we have a f*ck tonne of music for you.

We also think it's important to point out, Dove, that commercial radio pop hits like this, from a queer female perspective, are sadly quite rare.

This song has honestly enriched my life in so many ways. I have so many more queer circles and feminine circles. They've gotten much larger and wider and deeper. It's such a treat to find myself in conversation with my favourite people, with my community! We should just be able to drop a big, sexy, one-night-only song the way straight artists can. It's so great to have a big pop banger with a sexual, queer content and people aren't up in arms about it”.

If you are not aware of Dove Cameron’s music or are not sure it is your vibe, I would urge some investigation. Boyfriend is her best-known song but, as the year progresses, there will be more from her. A superb young artist who is going to establish herself as a major name in music, it is exciting seeing her take these early steps. By the end of 2022, I predict Dove Cameron will be…

A global name.

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Follow Dove Cameron

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/DoveCameron

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/dovecameron/

TikTok:

https://www.tiktok.com/@dovecameron

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/2W8yFh0Ga6Yf3jiayVxwkE

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSnSe-5ECm9qdw69tT86Jxg

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/officialdovecameron

FEATURE: For Those New to Kate Bush…The Best Starting Track: Them Heavy People

FEATURE:

 

 

For Those New to Kate Bush…

The Best Starting Track: Them Heavy People

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ABOUT a week ago…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1979/PHOTO CREDIT: David Redfern/Redferns/Getty Images

BBC Radio 6 Music put out a tweet asking which Kate Bush track is the best when it comes to starting out. For new fans of her work, there were a lot of different responses. It got me thinking. I may have sort of touched on this before, but I think one of the songs that got me started out is the one that I would recommend to others. I think that I will also use this feature to start a short run that I am going to write about Kate Bush’s debut album, The Kick Inside. One of the best songs on that album is Them Heavy People. I think, because of the ongoing success of Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) - which went to number one on the U.K. chart on 17th June -, this song has taken on a new life. For many people, this has been their starting point to Bush’s music. Even though that track has been out for nearly thirty-seven years, many younger listeners are listening to it new now! That is a little strange to me. It is played quite widely, but the fact it has featured on Stranger Things has brought it to life for so many. If someone was trying to navigate their way through her catalogue and wanted a song to begin with, it would be something from her debut album. I feel Them Heavy People is a perfect song to begin with. Not one of the singles from The Kick Inside – Wuthering Heights and The Man with the Child in His Eyes were the U.K. singles -, it is a great track that incorporates so many of her best qualities. It is accessible and catchy. It has a sense of intelligence and the philosophical, in addition to a having perfect placement on The Kick Inside.

I realise I have covered this song a few times but, as I was intrigued by that BBC Radio 6 Music question and the answers people provided – most of her back catalogue was covered -, it is a good time to bring it up. I will end with a little bit about Them Heavy People and why it means a lot to me. First, the Kate Bush Encyclopaedia provides an interview exert where Bush discussed the story behind the track:

“The idea for 'Heavy People' came when I was just sitting one day in my parents' house. I heard the phrase "Rolling the ball" in my head, and I thought that it would be a good way to start a song, so I ran in to the piano and played it and got the chords down. I then worked on it from there. It has lots of different people and ideas and things like that in it, and they came to me amazingly easily - it was a bit like 'Oh England', because in a way so much of it was what was happening at home at the time. My brother and my father were very much involved in talking about Gurdjieff and whirling Dervishes, and I was really getting into it, too. It was just like plucking out a bit of that and putting it into something that rhymed. And it happened so easily - in a way, too easily. I say that because normally it's difficult to get it all to happen at once, but sometimes it does, and that can seem sort of wrong. Usually you have to work hard for things to happen, but it seems that the better you get at them the more likely you are to do something that is good without any effort. And because of that it's always a surprise when something comes easily. I thought it was important not to be narrow-minded just because we talked about Gurdjieff. I knew that I didn't mean his system was the only way, and that was why it was important to include whirling Dervishes and Jesus, because they are strong, too. Anyway, in the long run, although somebody might be into all of them, it's really you that does it - they're just the vehicle to get you there.

I always felt that 'Heavy People' should be a single, but I just had a feeling that it shouldn't be a second single, although a lot of people wanted that. Maybe that's why I had the feeling - because it was to happen a little later, and in fact I never really liked the album version much because it should be quite loose, you know: it's a very human song. And I think, in fact, every time I do it, it gets even looser. I've danced and sung that song so many times now, but it's still like a hymn to me when I sing it. I do sometimes get bored with the actual words I'm singing, but the meaning I put into them is still a comfort. It's like a prayer, and it reminds me of direction. And it can't help but help me when I'm singing those words. Subconsciously they must go in. (Kate Bush Club newsletter number 3, November 1979)”.

Released as a single in Japan (where it reached number three; a live recording of this song was the lead track on the On Stage E.P., which reached number ten in the UK Singles Chart in 1979), I love the live versions of the song and the fact that Bush had affection for the song. Maybe she does not place it high among her best songs now but, in 1978, it is a song that she seemed to really enjoy performing. Track eleven of thirteen, it has quite a prominent place on The Kick Inside. Appearing just before Room for the Life – a track that I sometimes struggle to bond with -, it is an excellent track that means the listener is treated that far down the album. Them Heavy People is quite easy-going when it comes to the composition and vocal, but the lyrics do make you think and show how Bush was very different and original right from the off. I think people hearing Them Heavy People will then provoke investigation of its sister album. It is a tremendous song that should be explored more. I really love the track, as I remember seeing the video (a live version performed in 1979) when I was a child. I was awed by Bush’s performance and the strange sway and sensuality of the song. Rather than go for an obvious song, I would recommend Them Heavy People, as it is from the debut album and it is a good distillation of Bush’s early sounds. One of Kate Bush’s best tracks in my view, if you are new to her work, I would encourage you to listen to Them Heavy People. Once heard it is…

NEVER forgotten.

FEATURE: Revisiting… Arctic Monkeys - Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino

FEATURE:

 

 

Revisiting…

Arctic Monkeys - Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino

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IN this feature…

where I look back at great albums from the past five years that are underrated or under-played, it leads me to the latest album from Arctic Monkeys. Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino was released in May 2018. It was written by band frontman Alex Turner in 2016 on a Steinway Vertegrand piano in his Los Angeles home. A lot of critics were quite sniffy and critical of the sixth studio album by the Sheffield band. Some felt it was a departure from their Rock foundation; maybe a bit too weird or overly-gentle for an Arctic Monkeys release. I really love the album. I am going to end with a couple of positive reviews for the superb Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino. I have written about the album a couple of times before. Each time, I have sort of had to defend it against criticism and a reputation as not being a typical Arctic Monkeys album. Even so, there were a lot of positive reviews for the album. I think that, four years after its release, it remains undervalued and sort of placed low among the best albums from Arctic Monkeys. Taking inspiration from Lounge and Glam Rock, there is a mix of styles. It is a definite move away from the sound of the previous album, AM. That was released five years prior to Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino. Reaching number one in the U.K. and hitting the top ten in the U.S., the album was a big success. It is unfortunate that there were some mixed reviews for a mighty album that is really interesting.

If you have not heard Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, then spend some time exploring all the richness of a wonderful work. My personal favourite songs are American Sports and Four Out of Five. Featuring some of Alex Turner’s exceptional and poetic lyrics and wonderful compositions, everyone needs to hear Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino. This is what NME said in their review:

“Composed initially on a piano by Turner in his LA pad, these songs were given the go-ahead by guitarist Jamie Cook, who felt they were appropriate enough for the band to record. ‘Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino’, however, is as close as we’ve ever been to hearing an Alex Turner solo record, outside of his solo soundtrack for 2010 film Submarine. There’s a noticeable lack of workable choruses, several of the songs feature a leisurely pace that’s a far cry from most of the Monkeys’ material, and most of the 40-minute record is occupied by Turner’s crooning. From the opening drawl of “I just wanted to be one of the Strokes/now look at the mess you made me make”, it’s evident that he’s not just the architect of this lavish establishment – he’s the concierge, towel boy, bartender and everything in between.

That’s not to discredit the performances from the rest of the band. They’ve turned what might have resembled a spiritual sequel to Father John Misty’s moody 2016 album ‘Pure Comedy’ into a fleshed-out, Bowie-esque statement of excess and grandeur. Lavish strings populate ‘One Point Perspective’, and album closer ‘The Ultracheese’ is one of the band’s finest collective achievements to date – like ‘Que Sera, Sera’, but with a gorgeous guitar solo. Drummer Matt Helders, whose skills are a tad underused on this record, has found a place by experimenting on synths for several tracks, while bassist Nick O’Malley turns in another steady effort with fantastic harmony work and irresistible basslines. ‘Four Out Of Five’ will feel the most familiar, existing as a compromise between some of ‘Suck It And See’’s poppiest arrangements and the ‘70s West Coast vibe that dominated The Last Shadow Puppets’ last record ‘Everything You’ve Come To Expect’.

‘Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino’ will reward deep-diving listeners – in particular those with an interest in picking apart Turner’s densest and most self-aware lyrics to date. He dabbles with religion, (“emergency battery pack just in time for my weekly chat with God on videocall), technology (“my virtual reality mask is stuck on ‘Parliament Brawl’) and politics (“the leader of the free world reminds you of a wrestler wearing tight golden trunks”). There’s zingers on here too, and some of the best quips come when things get a bit silly – from Blade Runner references to illusions of “Jesus in the day spa” and self-deprecating moments of being “full of shite”. Plus, Turner manages to turn “who are you going to call, The Martini Police?” into a serviceable chorus on ‘The Star Treatment’. It’s a bloody miracle.

Even if it doesn’t feel like it immediately, the Monkeys’ DNA does inhabit these new songs. ‘Golden Trunks’ has as raw and brooding a riff as anything on ‘AM’, and there’s a distinct ‘Humbug’ feel to songs like ‘Science Fiction’ and ‘Batphone’. The Sheffield band’s journey has now taken them from “chip-shop rock’n’roll”, in Turner’s own words, to their very own ‘Pet Sounds’: the threads have been dangling for years, but Turner’s finally tied them together in a rather magnificent bow. Depending on where you’re sitting, this album will likely either be a bitter disappointment or a glorious step forward. But to where, exactly?

The album’s title is a fitting one: this record feels a lot like gazing into the night sky. At first it’s completely overwhelming – you’ll be trying to connect the scattered dots on this initially impenetrable listen, and maybe even despairing when it doesn’t all come together. But when the constellations show through, you’ll realise that it’s a product of searingly intelligent design”.

I will finish up with a review from The Guardian. There were a lot of three-star reviews. People a bit unconvinced or finding merit on some tracks. This review is a little more positive:

“Other artists have laboured the fame/space metaphor before; the Weeknd is only the most recent. Turner is, obliquely, dealing with being a “motherfucking starboy”, doing some work on himself, and writing about writing; his gift is such that he can carry this solo-album-under-another-name. Hilariously, the album opens with the line “I just wanted to be one of the Strokes”; a jawdropping admission from one of music’s best beaters-around-the-bush. Even better is Batphone’s imagined scent. “I launch my fragrance called ‘Integrity’,” intones Turner, eyebrow making a parabola. “I sell the fact that I can’t be bought.”

The Starboy analogy works because, just as AM fed rock through the west coast genres, this album feeds lounge music through it too. One Point Perspective starts with dink-dink-dink keys, whose vibes recall Dr Dre on Still DRE. There are breakbeats here and there, and subtle funk. The new ingredients, though, are soul and 60s film soundtracks. The vintage loveliness of Curtis Mayfield and his ilk hits you from the off on Star Treatment; retro keyboard sounds abound. The amazing Four Out of Five partially recycles Cook’s bejewelled riff from Do I Wanna Know? and elides it with the memory of Lou Reed’s Satellite of Love (“take it easy for a little while”). The album exists in a narrow bandwidth of sound but that strip reveals depths and textures over time.

Buried inside scenarios, allusions and lunar perspectives are disarming moments of what you might laughably call “realness” in the hall of mirrors that is art. “So I tried to write a song to make you blush,” sings Turner, “but I’ve a feeling that the whole thing may well just end up too clever for its own good, the way some science fiction does.” There is a risk that this atmospheric record, one that wrong-foots expectation, might not land well. But this voyage into themed purgatory – what one song calls the Ultracheese – is worth it”.

An exceptional album that is among the most underrated or 2018, I do wonder what Arctic Monkeys will do next. There are rumours that there is an album coming from them this year. That would be great news. I think people need to revisit Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino. A different sound to what a lot of fans are used to, go and listen to it. It is album that I have no hesitation…

POINTING people in the direction of.

FEATURE: The Kate Bush Interview Archive: 1984: Women of Rock

FEATURE:

 

 

The Kate Bush Interview Archive

1984: Women of Rock

__________

I wanted to head back to 1984…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush at Tyne Tees studios in 1981. Bush and Lyn Spencer with the Razzmatazz guests

for this part of The Kate Bush Interview Archive, as it was the year before Hounds of Love was released. With the ongoing chart success of Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) and the records she is breaking in 2022, it is interesting looking back before that song was released. Profiled By Women in Rock, this was an artist who was on the cusp of releasing her most successful album to date. I think that the years 1983 and 1984 were really intriguing, as Bush was recording Hounds of Love, but people didn’t really have an idea what was to come and how important this album would be. I have selected some exerts from the Women in Rock interview:

“Success initially greeted Kate Bush back in 1978, when she scored an immediate hit with her classic debut single Wuthering Heights. Over the next two years she became established as one of Britain's most creative musical forces, and by 1980 had enjoyed three consecutive chart-topping albums, besides proving herself a totally compelling live attraction. [Actually, the only one of those albums to "top" the charts was Never For Ever.]

Yet since then Kate seems to have almost vanished from the limelight, and when she released her fourth studio LP The Dreaming last year, it met with mixed response from both critics and fans. The record revealed diverse influences, including Irish and Australian tribal themes, and many felt that Kate had stepped out of her depth by endeavouring to be too "arty".

To tell the truth, when I first heard The Dreaming I was sadly unimpressed, having always been an admirer of her work, but more recently I've found myself getting into it. Now I'd rate it as the most inspiring Kate Bush offering to date.

"Quite a few people have found that it's grown on them after a while," she tells me. "It was certainly different from the things I'd done before, and the overall sound was more layered. THere's a lot of things you pick up on gradually. I find that an attractive quality, and on the whole, I was very pleased with the record."

Kate Bush originally started writing songs more than a decade ago, and was "discovered" when one of her early demo tapes found its way into the hand of Pink Floyd's Dave Gilmour. The guitarist was so impressed by the girl's potential that he invited her to do some more recording at London's Air Studios. Among the tunes she subsequently put down there were The Man With the Child in His Eyes and The Saxophone Song, both of which were later to surface on her first album.

When she was sixteen, with Gilmour's assistance Kate secured a deal with EMI Records. However, instead of rushing to release product, she decided to complete her schooling and continue writing more material. [Most accounts credit the decision to delay Kate's debut to EMI executives; also, Kate did not complete her schooling, exactly; she returned only briefly at the beginning of what would have been her final year of secondary school, in order to take "mock-A" level examinations.] Before long she was attending dance and mime classes, and had also begun to start gigging in her local Lewisham area with an outfit called The KT Bush Band.

By the middle of 1977 Kate was hard at work in the studios recording her debut LP, and in early 1978 Wuthering Heights emerged and shot straight up the charts. Music listeners were stunned by this nineteen-year-old lass's originality. The album The Kick Inside spawned another hit in The Man With the Child in His Eyes, and it seemed that Kate could do little wrong in the eyes of the public.

Her second platter, Lionheart, was issued towards the end of 1978, and it received rave reviews. Wow and Hammer Horror were the hit singles this time around. At this juncture Kate had resumed dance lessons and was preparing for her first major tour.

She took to the road in Europe and the UK in the spring of '79, playing a two-and-a-half-hour set every night. The exhausting show incorporated clever dance routines together with elaborate stage designs, and featured songs from both of Kate's albums. I attended one of her performances at London's Hammersmith Odeon, and was quite stunned by her complete professionalism.

A four-track EP from the Hammersmith dates was subsequently released in a neat gatefold sleeve, and contained a superb rendition of the tune James and the Cold Gun from the first album (what a scorching guitar solo!), along with live versions of Them Heavy People, Don't Push Your Foot on the Heartbrake, and L'Amour Looks Something Like You.

A videocassette, filmed at Hammersmith, has also been made available, and since its release it's remained a regular fixture in the Top Ten video charts.

Following the completion of her inaugural tour Kate took a well-earned break before starting work on her third album, Never For Ever, which came out in the autumn of 1980. The LP entered the UK charts at number one, and gave birth to three highly successful singles: Breathing, Babooshka and Army Dreamers.

At the end of 1980 Kate had come up with the seasonal December Will Be Magic Again, but it wasn't until the following summer that her fans were treated to fresh vinyl output in the form of the Sat In Your Lap single. (Heavy metal fans may be interested to know that ex-Rainbow and -Wild Horses bassist Jimmy Bain plays on this tune.) An album was expected to follow shortly afterwards, but this was not to be. In fact, it was a whole year before The Dreaming finally emerged.

However, as she explained in her record-company biog., Kate had not been idle during the two-year gap between albums. "Following the release of Never For Ever in September '80 I spent the rest of the year promoting the album," she explained. "After Christmas I had a short break and then started writing songs for The Dreaming.

"I wanted a big catalogue to choose from, so every evening I'd write a different song, using a piano, rhythm machines and synthesiser. The whole songwriting process was very spontaneous, and I ended up with about twenty songs, from which I chose ten for the album. I spent more time than ever trying to get the lyrics just right."

Due to the nature of the material, Kate had decided to produce the record herself, but evidently this added to the delay. She states: "I used a lot of different studios to get the songs sounding just how I wanted them to, and I spent weeks putting different textures onto these tracks."

After The Dreaming had been released, I was hoping for news of a tour from Kate, but alas no live dates have materialised. Her last live appearances were back in 1979 and I asked why she hadn't performed on stage since then.

"The main reason I haven't been able to do any gigs has been due to the time factor," Kate replies. "After the last tour, which basically revolved around the first two records, I didn't want to go back out until I had another two albums' worth of material. Never For Ever was the first of those, and then there was The Dreaming, but that took so much longer than I'd anticipated that I couldn't do a tour.

"And so now I'm doing another record, otherwise there would have been a two-year gap between albums, which is really much too long. [As it turned out, the gap grew to three full years before Hounds of Love was released.] Maybe if I'd managed to finish The Dreaming quicker, then I'd have done a tour. I wanted to, but the situation just didn't allow it."

Kate's comments on her four albums.

The Kick Inside: "That was a very important LP--it was my first, and was very successful, with the single (Wuthering Heights) on it. I think it was basically responsible for everything that's happened to me in the last five years.

"I was very young at the time, and listening back I think I sound young and fresh. I'm still very affectionate toward it. It was something I'd been waiting years to do, and I think there were some good songs on it-- The Kick Inside and Moving are probably my favourites."

Lionheart: "Looking back, I don't really think that Lionheart actually expressed the true phase I was in at the time, whereas all the others have. While the first LP consisted of material I'd written up to that point, I found that the time pressures prevented me from writing more fresh material for the second one.

"In fact, I only wrote three new songs-- Symphony in Blue, Fullhouse and Coffee Homeground-- and if you know that, then you can tell the difference in style. Basically, this album could have been a lot better."

Never For Ever: "For me, this was the first LP I'd made that I could sit back and listen to and really appreciate. I'm especially close to Never For Ever. It was the first step I'd taken in really controlling the sounds and being pleased with what was coming back.

"I was far more involved with the overall production, and so I had a lot more freedom and control, which was very rewarding. Favourite tracks? I guess I'd have to say Breathing and The Infant Kiss."

The Dreaming: "Again I'm very fond of this, because it's my latest, and because it represents total control, owing to the fact that I produced it by myself. It's the hardest thing I've ever done--it was even harder than touring! The whole experience was very worrying, very frightening, but at the same time very rewarding.

"It took a long time to do, but I think there are some very intense songs, and the ones I like best of all are Night of the Swallow, Houdini and Get Out [of My House]. All in all, I was very proud of this record".

After the release of The Dreaming in 1982, there was this critical reaction which wavered between curious and a little unsure. Bush was keeping busy in the couple of years after but, as she did not release a new album until 1985, more and more people asked if this was the end. As The Dreaming was quite mad, experimental and different to her first three albums, there were some who wondered whether Bush was ending her career. As wise minds knew, she was merely entering a new phase and announced herself as a producer and unique artist with a stunning set of songs that are still misunderstood to this day. Although the album has gained more following, some still seem reluctant to listen to it. The interview above is really interesting. It is clear Bush was looking ahead and, in 1984, entering a new phase and about to release her most acclaimed album. I may do a few more editions of The Kate Bush Interview Archive, as each one provides new insight and depth. It must have been crazy for her around 1984, as she was making Hounds of Love, but she also had to keep quiet about it. Where some felt she may be at the end of her career, Bush knew that this album that was forming would take it to new heights! As one of its key singles, Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God), tops charts and continues to reach new ears, I wanted to focus on an interview that was released the year before…

THAT stunning masterpiece.

FEATURE: Kendrick Lamar at Thirty-Five: His Greatest Tracks

FEATURE:

 

 

Kendrick Lamar at Thirty-Five

His Greatest Tracks

 __________

ON 17th June…

the wonderful and supremely talented Kendrick Lamar turns thirty-five. His latest album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, was released earlier in the year and received huge reviews. Maybe his best album to date, it shows that the Hip-Hop genius is always inspired and at his peak. To mark his upcoming thirty-fifth birthday, I wanted to include a career-spanning playlist of his best tracks so far. Prior to getting to that, AllMusic’s biography of Lamar will help fill in gaps for anyone unfamiliar with his work:

“Indisputably the most acclaimed rap artist of his generation, Kendrick Lamar is one of those rare MCs who has achieved critical and commercial success while earning the respect and support of those who inspired him. After several years of development, Lamar hit his creative and chart-topping stride in the 2010s. Good Kid, M.A.A.D City (2012), the Grammy-winning To Pimp a Butterfly (2015), and the Grammy- and Pulitzer Prize-winning DAMN. (2017), his three proper major-label albums, have displayed an unmatched mix of inventive wordplay and compelling conceptual narratives, examining internal conflict, flaunting success, and uplifting his community. The screenplay-level detail of Lamar's writing has been enriched by a collective of producers, instrumentalists, singers, and rappers, a high percentage of whom -- including inspirations Dr. Dre and MC Eiht, and contemporaries Sounwave and Jay Rock -- represent Lamar's native Los Angeles. Lamar's cinematic and collaborative inclinations inevitably attracted the mainstream film industry. Black Panther: The Album (2018) was the source of three of Lamar's Top Ten pop hits. In 2022 he delivered Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, his fifth studio album and what would be his last with Top Dawg Entertainment.

Compton, California native Kendrick Lamar Duckworth grew up immersed in hip-hop culture and surrounded by gang activity. As a youngster, he gradually discovered an aptitude for writing stories, poems, and lyrics, which naturally led to rapping. He made a name for himself as K. Dot. At the age of 16 in 2003, he issued his debut mixtape, The Hub City Threat: Minor of the Year. While it merely hinted at the potential of the then-teenager, it was impressive enough to catch the attention of Top Dawg Entertainment and led to a long-term association with the label that steadily propelled his career. Training Day, the Jay Rock collaboration No Sleep 'til NYC, and C4, issued from 2005 through 2009, likewise preceded Lamar's decision to go by his first and middle names. The last of the three was issued the same year he became part of Black Hippy, a group whose members -- including fellow TDE artists Ab-Soul, Jay Rock, and ScHoolboy Q -- frequently appeared on one another's mixtapes and albums.

The first tape credited to Kendrick Lamar was Overly Dedicated, released in September 2010. Also the rapper's first commercial release, it reached enough listeners to enter Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. After XXL magazine selected him for the 2011 Freshman Class feature, Lamar released his first official album, Section.80, that July, and crossed into the Billboard 200, reaching number 113. With deeper conceptual narratives and sharpened melodic hooks, as well as comparative multi-dimensional development from primary producer Sounwave, the set acted as a kind of warning flare for Lamar's mainstream rap dominance. In addition to the dozens of tracks he had appeared on by then, Lamar had the support of veteran West Coast stars as well. During a concert later in 2011, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and Game dubbed him "The New King of the West Coast," a notion Dre endorsed more significantly by signing Lamar to his Interscope-affiliated Aftermath label.

Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, Lamar's major-label debut, was released in October 2012 and entered the Billboard 200 at number two. Three of its singles -- "Swimming Pools (Drank)," "Poetic Justice," and "Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe" -- reached the Top Ten of Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart and went Top 40 pop. More significantly, the album showcased Lamar as an exceptional storyteller capable of making compelling concept albums. It led to Grammy nominations in four categories: Best New Artist, Album of the Year, Best Rap Album, and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration (for "Now or Never," a deluxe edition bonus cut featuring Mary J. Blige). Miguel's "How Many Drinks?" and A$AP Rocky's "Fuckin' Problems," two tracks on which Lamar made guest appearances, were nominated as well.

Rather than rest, Lamar remained active during 2013-2014, touring as well as appearing on tracks by the likes of Tame Impala, YG, and fellow Top Dawg affiliate SZA. The proud single "i" was released in September of the latter year, became Lamar's fourth Top 40 single, and won Grammys for Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song. Still rolling, he announced in early 2015 that his third album, To Pimp a Butterfly, would be out in March with tracks featuring Snoop Dogg, Bilal, Thundercat, and George Clinton. A technical error caused the digital version to be released eight days early, but the LP nonetheless topped the Billboard 200 with sales of 325,000 copies within its first week. It made numerous best-of lists at the end of the year and won the Grammy for Best Rap Album. The defiant and life-affirming "Alright," which was quickly adopted by the Black Lives Matter activist movement, along with another single, "These Walls," took awards for Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Song, and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. Riding high on his wins and a striking Grammy ceremony performance, Lamar followed up in March 2016 with untitled unmastered., consisting of demos recorded during the previous three years. Like the previous release, it debuted at number one, and seamlessly synthesized beatmaking and traditional musicianship from the likes of Sounwave, Terrace Martin, and Thundercat. Within a month, Lamar added to his ever-lengthening discography of featured appearances with his contribution to Beyoncé's "Freedom."

Led by "HUMBLE.," his first number one pop hit, DAMN. arrived in April 2017 and likewise entered the Billboard 200 at the top. Remarkably, all 14 of its songs entered the Hot 100, and it was certified multi-platinum within three months. Among the contributors were Rihanna and U2, but at this point, the supporting roles were beneficial more for the guest artists than they were for Lamar, whose artistic clout was unrivaled. Lamar snagged five more Grammys. DAMN. won Best Rap Album. "HUMBLE." took Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Song, and Best Video. Best Rap/Sung Performance went to "LOYALTY," the Rihanna collaboration. Another number one hit followed in February 2018. The soundtrack Black Panther: The Album featured Lamar on every track. "All the Stars" (with SZA), "King's Dead" (with Jay Rock and Future) and "Pray for Me" (with the Weeknd), its three singles, eventually hit the Top Ten. That April, DAMN. won the Pulitzer Prize for Music. It was the first time the judges recognized a work outside the genres of classical and jazz. Months later, "King's Dead" made Lamar a 13-time Grammy winner. The track took the award for Best Rap Performance. "All the Stars" alone was nominated in four categories, while Black Panther was up for Album of the Year. The film itself was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. After some time away from music that included an acting role on fifth season of the Starz network series Power, Lamar surfaced in 2021 on a series of songs with his cousin Baby Keem. Keem and Lamar's collaborative track "Family Ties," released in August of 2021, won Best Rap Performance at the 2022 Grammys. In February of 2022, Lamar performed at the Super Bowl LVI half time show alongside a crew of rap royalty that included Dr. Dre, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, Anderson .Paak, and Mary J. Blige. In April of that year he announced his fifth album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, would be arriving the next month. In May he released a new song, "The Heart, Pt. 5,” an installment in his ongoing series of The Heart singles that began in 2010. The accompanying video for the non-album track featured Lamar rapping as his face transformed into the likenesses of O.J. Simpson, Kobe Bryant, Nipsey Hussle, Kanye West, Will Smith, and Jussie Smollett, utilizing controversial deepfake technology. Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers was released in May of 2022 and featured guest appearances from Sampha, Kodak Black, Baby Keem, Portishead’s Beth Gibbons, and others”.

To celebrate the thirty-fifth birthday of the sensational Kendrick Lamar, the songs in the playlist below are, I think, the cream of the crop. He is headlining Glastonbury next week. It will be a chance for fans here to hear his new album performed live. If you are unfamiliar with the music of Lamar, then the playlist below…

SHOULD provide a good overview.

FEATURE: Songs of Solomon: Inside Studio 2… Imagining a Live, Stripped-Back Abbey Road Session from Kate Bush

FEATURE:

 

 

Songs of Solomon: Inside Studio 2…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush at Abbey Road Studios in 1985/PHOTO CREDIT: Steve Rapport

Imagining a Live, Stripped-Back Abbey Road Session from Kate Bush

 __________

AFTER all the chart success…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Abbey Road Studio 2

of Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God), many are asking whether an album will follow. She has given her hit song to Stranger Things and, as there has been such a big reaction, I imagine it has given her a sense of the love out there for her! Whilst it seems like her 2014 residency, Before the Dawn, was the last time she will take to a big stage and perform a show of that scale, it is not to say she will never play live again. I think that there is an interesting possibility. I think I have written before about Kate Bush and her live performance of Under the Ivy (a B-side to Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God), from Abbey Road in 1986. She has recorded a few times at Abbey Road. This hallowed studio would provide her with plenty of space. Rather than having an audience there, maybe just her at a piano with a small selection of players. It would be a chance for her to perform some stripped-down versions of songs. Maybe, if she does release a new album, it could be featured. I also think that 2011’s 50 Words for Snow would sound beautiful played at Abbey Road Studios. Maybe taking a few songs from various albums and giving them a different treatment – similar to the way she reworked songs from The Sensual World and The Red Shoes for 2011’s Director’s Cut -, it could be a single concert that would satisfy fans. Of course, people would love to see her perform live - but, as her residency and 1979 The Tour of Life were massive productions, it is unlikely, at sixty-three, she will mount something like this again.

On 50 Words for Snow, Bush sort of took things back to the sound of The Kick Inside in a sense. That 1978 debut was mostly piano-based. That is not to say a potential new album would sound like her 2011 efforts. That said, it is also unlikely to go back to a more experimental sound. As much as anything, having a one-off gig would provide a bridge between the newfound success of Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) and any possible future projects. Maybe performing the Hounds of Love classic in a stripped-down style would be part of the set. I am not sure, were such a venture to be realised, how many songs there would be. Perhaps about twenty in total that covered most of her albums, or that included some rare songs or a cover or two. You never know with Kate Bush what she is planning and what is coming next. With every feature I write, I wonder if, by the time it has gone live, she has announced something or there is a bit of news coming through! When trying to keep on top of the success and progress of Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God), I have had to revise features because the song kept climbing up the charts! I get the sense that we are in a part of the year when something might be announced soon.

Also, Bush The Dreaming is forty in September. A more layered and wilder album, it is unlikely, were a live show to materialise, she would play songs from that album. Even so, you can see her taking some of the songs down and revisioning them. That would be cool! I think that the days of her performing on a big stage are gone, yet there is a possibility of something else. I can imagine her voice is still beautiful and has that lower register. Not as nerve-wracking a prospect as Before the Dawn, to imagine Studio 2 at Abbey Road, with Bush in the centre with her piano, is quite a vision! I cannot really envisage a dream setlist, because there are so many tracks that I would love to see played at a piano gig. Together with some orchestration, a small band and some guest singers, a single evening with Kate Bush at a studio that she knows well and could bond with in 2022 (or next year), you would get this remarkable set. I am not sure what is coming and whether the next thing we get is new music or a documentary etc. Bush has been busy with Stranger Things and ensuring that her song was used right. She is quite exacting. I can understand why she wanted to see the script and watch the placement of her song. Bush is at her most electric and spine-tingling when performing live, so it is understandable why some people are wondering whether she may do this again. I hope so. Having the iconic artist performing live from Abbey Road would be…

SUCH a treat.

FEATURE: Time for a New Fang? Them Crooked Vulture: When Will They Return?

FEATURE:

 

 

Time for a New Fang?

Them Crooked Vulture: When Will They Return?

 __________

I have been thinking about…

supergroups and the fact that, today, we do not really have that many. Sure, groups will call themselves that! They don’t have the authority, calibre and conviction as some of the classic supergroups. I think one of the very best modern supergroups is Them Crooked Vultures. Consisting of Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme, with John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin and Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl, their eponymous album came out in 2009. The album debuted at number twelve on the Billboard 200, selling 70,000 units in the U.S. in its first week. I have been listening back to Them Crooked Vultures and marvelling at the sheer quality of the songs! Such a tight and talented trio, there have been no plans for a follow-up albums. I think that there is a demand for Them Crooked Vultures to do something together again. I know that Dave Grohl is busy with Foo Fighters and still mourning the loss of his bandmate, Taylor Hawkins. Josh Homme is producing and there has been recent accusations from his former wife, Brody Dalle of domestic violence. Perhaps there is too much going on for the group to come together right now. I do feel like their debut is underrated. Maybe there are one or two weaker tracks, but the album is bursting with gold! From the incredible opener, No one Loves Me and Neither Do I, to Dead End Friends (my favourite track), and the epic closer, Spinning in Daffodils, it is a brilliant Rock/Blues album! Like some supergroups, Them Crooked Vultures do not suffer the issue of someone taking charge and dominating. Although Homme is the lead songwriter and would have the biggest creative say, the tracks are collaborative, and the group are friends. It is a democracy that you can hear on the album and see in the live performances.

In terms of bands, I don’t think there is anyone like Them Crooked Vultures around. It is clear they had a blast recording their debut album. I think they are too good to leave it with one album! With no announcements regarding new Foo Fighters or Queens of the Stone Age music, there is an opportunity for the group to get together for their second album. Although some were more reserved regarding the 2009 album, there was a lot of positivity. This is what AllMusic said in their review:

“Often, supergroups wind up dominated by one particular personality - think Eric Clapton in Derek & the Dominos, Jack White in the Raconteurs -- which makes the egalitarianism of Them Crooked Vultures all the more remarkable. Of course, when it comes down to it, it’s a group of three natural-born collaborators: John Paul Jones, the old studio pro who gravitated toward provocative partners after Led Zeppelin’s demise, teaming up with R.E.M. as easily as he did with avant-queen Diamanda Galas and nu-folkster Sara Watkins; Dave Grohl, who hopped into an empty drummer’s chair whenever the opportunity presented itself; and Josh Homme, who set up a mini-empire based entirely on jam sessions. If Them Crooked Vultures brings to mind Homme’s projects more than Grohl's or Jones', it’s largely due to his role as lead vocalist and how guitar can push a rhythm section as powerful as this to the side, dominating with its grinding riffs and solos. Homme’s predilection for precision does reign supreme -- when the group stretches out, even wallowing in the murk on “Interlude with Ludes,” there’s the sense that, like a great improv troupe, the trio freaked out then retained the best moments, trimming away the indulgence and experiments, leaving behind intrinsically, grippingly musical hard rock, where power is secondary to interplay. And while there are melodies and hooks that certainly dig into the skull, what impresses is chemistry, how the three play together, how they instigate each other, and how they spur each other on, to the point where their familiar tropes sound fresh -- as on “Scumbug Blues,” where Jones’ “Trampled Underfoot” clavinet intertwines with Grohl’s avalanche and Homme’s rigorous psychedelia - creating guitar rock that’s at once classicist and adventurous and undeniably thrilling”.

Not just reserved to me, I know there are other fans of Them Crooked Vultures who would love to see them back again. In another review, The A.V. Club wrote the following:

“What should be expected of Them Crooked Vultures? Put Josh Homme, Dave Grohl, and John Paul Jones in the same band, and it’s hard not to do some basic rock ’n’ roll algebra. Adding Queens Of The Stone Age’s catchy crunchiness to Nirvana’s relentlessly driving rhythms and Led Zeppelin’s flowing basslines and rich orchestral textures certainly sounds, well, super. But Them Crooked Vultures is not the sum of its members’ most famous bands. Thinking that it could be means overlooking an obvious fact about super-groups: Rock stars don’t form bands with other rock stars in order to top what they’ve already done. They do it because hanging out with famous rock stars is a hell of a lot of fun. Freed from the weight of untenable expectations, Them Crooked Vultures is a hell of a lot of fun, too”.

A magnificent album that everyone should check out, Them Crooked Vultures deserves a follow-up fairly soon. I have been revisiting the album and wondering why, over twelve years on, why Josh Homme, John Paul Jones and Dave Grohl have not returned to the studio. Maybe they will at some point. With a clear chemistry and respect for one another, you can feel that brotherhood and incredible musicianship in every song. You do not need to know much about Homme, Grohl and Jones to realise that Them Crooked Vultures is…

SUCH a mesmeric supergroup.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Mariah the Scientist

FEATURE:

 

Spotlight

Mariah the Scientist

 __________

AN artist who has been on my radar…

for a little while low, the unbelievable Mariah the Scientist is one of the most fascinating and engaging artists around. Creating such wonderous music that cuts deep and has this directness, I have no doubt she will be an R&B icon and legend of the future. Inspired by the likes of Frank Ocean, she very much has her own style and layers. Atlanta-born Mariah Amani Buckles is someone who should be on everyone’s radar too. Her second studio album, Ry Ry World, was released last year. There are a few interviews that I will bring in. I am going to also highlight a review of Ry Ry World. It is an album that did not get a load of coverage. Considering it is brilliant and has no weak spots on it, I hope that people do pick it up and bond with a truly awesome young artist primed for the super leagues. There is something about Mariah the Scientist’s voice and the way that she commands a song means that every note makes its mark and has its place. An utterly instinctive and accomplished artist who released a  new E.P. recently. I want to go back to 2020 and an interview from Pitchfork. The year before, she put out her remarkable debut album, Master, on the RCA label:

“The details she discusses in her songs resonated with a lot more people than she originally anticipated. Not that she totally understands why. “It’s strange to me that people say shit like they really feel me because… they don’t!” she says. “You don’t know what the fuck I’m talking about. At the end of the day, you don’t know. You’ll never know.”

Mariah’s songs are specific, and she says they’re completely true to life. But they’re not literal narratives, instead something closer to autofiction via ballad. Her observations are wry, charming, precocious, but not pretentious. And, as a 21-year-old woman making her way through a dumb man’s world, she has a perspective not always prevelant in R&B, as her thoughts on love include critique, not just lamentation. It’s as if someone wrote the woman’s perspective to the debauchery bragged about in the Weeknd’s songs: If his music offers tales of aspirational ridiculousness told live from the party of a lifetime, hers gives us the view of the girlfriend who had to live with his ego when he woke up the next the morning after doing too much coke.

Pitchfork: How did you start writing?

Mariah the Scientist: It sounds so corny when I say it, but I feel like my first notions of writing were poems in my dorm room. It was to no beat. It was just things that rhymed.

Why is that corny?

It’s almost uneasy for me thinking about it sometimes, because I feel like my whole life my parents really instilled structure. The creative thing wasn’t as appreciated in comparison to hard work and academics.

What were you writing about initially?

Anything, anything. I started harping on the fact that in the back of your head there’s something called a hypothalamus, right? And that’s where all of your hormones are secreted, and your hormones are responsible for every feeling. Back in the day, I was smoking a lot of weed, so I was doing a lot of research on how THC affects your hypothalamus, and the secretion of hormones, and little things like neurotransmitters, and how when you smoke weed it falsifies your sense of happiness, because it’s secreting dopamine. I was writing about that kind of stuff.

You were writing science papers for school about it, or you were just writing for yourself?

It was a combination of the two. I feel like when I think about it now that’s probably why I liked doing it, because I could combine what I was learning in school—because I really do fuck with science, that’s a real thing for me—with the shit I was going through, wondering why I was feeling the way I was feeling. I couldn’t help but try to dissect that. So it’s like: Your heart is broken, and you feel so shitty, what is responsible for that? And then it turned more sentimental, almost like storytelling”.

 Last year, VICE featured Maria the Scientist. Even though Lil Baby and Young Thug feature on Ry Ry World, it is very much the Hip-Hop queen who is at the centre and creating the biggest waves and impressions:

“In 2019, Mariah released Master, her major-label debut led by the melancholy ballad “Beetlejuice,” a song so personal that the listener feels special by being made privy to the intel she reveals. Mariah’s superpower is in the intricacies of how she writes this love story, coming up with creative ways to describe that her man’s deception was eventually just another way to control her. “Cause you’ll lie to my face / And then you’ll say that even Jesus forgave,” she sings. In the two years since Master, Mariah has only strengthened that skill. And although Ry Ry World’s was also completed two years ago, the former science major kept tweaking it for precision. The result is a project that is both a haunting yet sentimental musing of relationships, and break-ups, that have held space in Mariah’s heart.

The album art for her latest project, which features the singer smiling with an arrow through her chest, is the first indicator of Mariah’s pain tolerance. She is reflective on Ry Ry World, acknowledging that sometimes, she’s stayed in situations she should’ve left a lot sooner. On “Aura,” which samples the Isley Brothers’ “Make Me Say It Again Girl,” she’d use her last breath to salvage her relationship—even if he’d rather be friends. Elsewhere, on “2 You,” she sings “Should’ve left you last July, but I was only trying to save us.”

Where most love songs offer bouquets of flowers, Mariah’s music might as well commemorate her old flames on tombstones. VICE sat down with the singer to talk about her real-life love for science, heartbreak, and working with Lil Baby and Young Thug.

VICE: How would you say that Ry Ry World continues the narrative that you started on Master?  

Mariah the Scientist: It’s a different narrative now. [Master] was a little more down. I was down when I was writing it. I was down when I was recording it, but now I feel different. The dynamic has changed and the perspective has changed. If there’s any correlation between the two it’s just that I’ve grown and evolved and this project, when you deep dive and read between the lines it’s the most multifaceted depiction I could give of how I’ve changed in the past two years.

Your music is a little dark and twisted. You describe your relationships like a Tim Burton film. Would you attribute that to being in toxic relationships, or is that just the lens you gravitate towards?

Someone can say there are a couple of different sides to a story. I can’t say how they interpreted those situations, but when I’ve looked back on those situations it just seemed so gruesome. I was done really dirty in a lot of those relationships. Even though I wasn’t literally murdered, it felt like a lot of things were taken away from me, or maybe I sacrificed a lot. It felt like a lot of things were killed off in me, and I felt like the only way I could show it imaginatively was what I can create”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Gunner Stahl

The penultimate interview I want to grab from is VIBE. Again, they spoke with Mariah the Scientist last year. Some really interesting answers and observations came up. A step up from her 2019 debut, Ry Ry World is an album from an artist reaching new heights:

“Do you think that singing about your experiences and your personal ups and downs is an important part of your own healing process?

I think that when I have something on my chest … like something I just want to get off my chest. I do think it’s easier to relieve myself of that when it comes to writing a song, but a lot of times I don’t have much to talk about. You know at all like, go on long binges of not writing anything and then like, all of a sudden, I’ll have something to talk about again and then I’ll just binge write for maybe a week or two weeks at a time. It definitely goes back and forth a lot. I think overall it’s just…I don’t know, it just comes down to honest emotion. I feel like it comes in waves, you know?

What made you decide to name it Ry Ry’s World? If it were a real place we traveled to, what are we going to see? What does it smell like in Ry Ry’s World?

Initially, there was a different title and I think I just sat on it a little too long. I didn’t like it as much by the time the project was coming out. Plus, like the dynamic of songs and everything it was just shifting. I felt like it was just more oriented around myself, and I didn’t really want it to be… I don’t like the idea of this project necessarily being fully about somebody else I kind of feel like it’s just more about me

I think it would just be a lot of scientific sh*t going on (laughs). Literally, I swear I love science. I know a lot of people don’t really make that correlation, I think it’s just a name, but I’m obsessed with it. If Ry Ry World was a place, I would bring space closer to the skyline, the skyline will be like the planets. I think you will find the most exotic plants and flowers and fruits, as the norm, like you can go outside and pick it. I think it would be colorful. I think it would be just like a utopia, to be honest. All of the natural things in life but enhanced. Like on steroids, the most beautiful things but just really more vibrant.

Do you think you’ll ever branch off your music career and get back into science professionally?

I’ve definitely thought about it, especially over Corona. It [coronavirus pandemic] just changed my perspective on a lot of things including [my] career. I had a lot of time to … I don’t want to say studying and reading books every day, but I definitely was more in a place where I was trying to pick up more information on subjects that I found interesting. I definitely would go back into it [science] professionally for sure. I’m trying to see if I can find some sort of avenue to make a hybrid out of my career. I don’t really like the idea of having to pick and choose. I feel like you should be able to have everything. I don’t like the idea of being categorized or having to pick a category. I just feel like life is really vast and you should be able to jump around, to be honest. It’s not like we just are single faceted.

With Ry Ry World, it’s been about two years since Master was released. What can you say have been some defining moments or some pivotal points for you personally or as an artist between the two projects? How have you been able to kind of keep track of that growth and evolution?

I think I’ve just changed in general as a person, and I think I’m still changing every day. In a good way, though. I feel really good about it. I was just in a completely different place when I was writing and recording Master. It was more dark. I think I still have that capability of being in some darker place but realistically, that’s not what I want to be. That’s not necessarily the kind of person I want to be. I don’t want to be constantly in a dark place. I do appreciate the mysteriousness that I hold but, I don’t think that I would just want to be constantly speaking on dark and dreary moments. I would rather have better things to talk about. Like I said earlier, it’s not that I wanted it to be like that. Those are just the experiences that I had, but hopefully, I’m hoping that it evolves to a better place. I mean, I feel like it is already, but you know it probably gets even better.

What do you think or hope fans take most from this project?

I just want them to like this project. Granted, it seems like it’s about someone else, but a lot of times I’m talking to myself. I just feel like it’s more about the perception. I think you should just be honest. I would like them to take from it that…I think I just have a lot of layers, very many layers. I just feel like I’ve been a million different people in this lifetime, which is weird because I’m only 23. I’m sure things will change more but I just feel like I have just changed so much and I’m still changing.

Even with that being said, that doesn’t mean that I have to be one person. I could just be different things every day. You can just be different. I just want everybody to realize that we’re different on purpose. If we were all the same… which makes no sense as to why everybody’s forcing this narrative to just all be on the same sh*t. Everybody wants a bust-down, everybody wants to go to the club every night, and everybody wants a Birkin bag. That’s cool, but do you want that because everybody else wants it, or do you want it because you really like it? I just feel like you can be different and have a bunch of different layers and they don’t have to look anything like the layers of someone else. This should be respected. This should be cool”.

Prior to coming more up-to-date, Pitchfork were among those who sat down with Ry Ry World. It is an album that I really love and have come back to again. If you have not listened to it, make sure you carve aside some time to experience it:

“Mariah’s second album confirms her as one of modern R&B’s realest talkers, as well as one of its most vivid storytellers. Her earliest songs began as poems, and there’s an imagistic quality to Ry Ry World’s casual evocations of, say, snow on a sunroof during a trip to Toronto, or the “damage in the brain matter” inflicted by a lover’s mixed messages. Less consistent lyricists would make these lines into centerpieces; for Mariah, they’re scenery.

The careful observations endow Mariah’s storytelling with particular heft. “I want to remind my fans to ‘tell it like it is’ because it helps define your character,” she said in an interview last year. “If you’re gonna be the bad guy, own it.” She commits to the bit with flair. With its pitched-down “Cry Me a River” sample, “Revenge” morphs from a confessional to a murder ballad; Mariah bares emotional wounds before imagining righteous payback. “Tell ’em that in death we’ll meet again,” she sings, voice cracking. “Like it ain’t your blood that’s on my hands.” You could imagine it soundtracking some avant-garde production of Macbeth, but it runs deeper than theater, too. It can be easier to pour out your heart by couching its secrets in hyperbole.

Ry Ry World is concise at just 10 tracks; along with recent projects from serpentwithfeet, Jorja Smith, and Victoria Monét, it’s a refreshing counter to the more bloated releases of major label R&B. At times the brevity is frustrating. With production from Swedish duo Jarami (Frank Ocean’s “Chanel,” “Biking”), the 90-second intro “Impalas & Air Force 1s” feels like a blissed-out drift through a coral reef. It would be welcome at triple the length. The unmemorable “Maybe” slides into watery ambience, and cheap shots at “big booty [...] city girls” don’t add to its likeability. Mariah is at her best when she focuses on her own desires and agency. Over Spanish guitars on the raunchy “Walked In,” she plays feature artist Young Thug at his own game. “Off the Tesla, yes sir,” she instructs, before warning, “None of that cappin’ about booin’ up.”

Fans have long gossiped about Mariah’s past relationship with Lil Yachty; in “Brain,” over a beat that rattles like a pinball in a sewer, she namechecks one of his tours and seems to describe her own depressive episode from the time. “I just/Wanted to escape for sure,” she sings, adding pained backing vocals. “I was/Staring out the big window, but I/Should've locked the bedroom door.” Once she starts it feels like she can’t stop, in a raw, diaristic digression that’s unique to Ry Ry World. You might find yourself replaying the song to let its brutal honesty sink in.

Around the time of her debut, Mariah defined her music as “a summation of my agony.” Recently she updated that description. “It’s more like after agony,” she said. “Maybe it used to hurt, and now it’s just a little scarred.” She traces that evolution in the wonderful “2 You,” a bittersweet ballad produced by DJ Camper, co-architect of at least two of the past decade’s best R&B songs. “I never thought it would go up in flames,” Mariah sings, as her voice breaks through an airy beat built of oohs and aahs. “But look at what we made/Sure was beautiful.” In the video, she performs against a starry backdrop, as if surveying her past with a birds-eye view. Her eyes are wide open, ready to experience it all”.

I am going to conclude with Billboard’s interview with Mariah the Scientist from March. The remarkable Buckles Laboratories Presents: The Intermission is a four-track E.P. containing some of Mariah the Scientist’s best work. It is a glimpse of where she might be heading next:

“The Intermission continues the singer’s knack for mixing interstellar themes with grounded tales of romance and heartbreak. On “Spread Thin,” Mariah offers a measured tell-off to an unreliable lover (“You always think the only one who needs any attention is you/ Don’t be so conceited/ Hope you learn honesty was the only thing that could keep me from leaving,” she laments on the hook).

It’s fitting that the first song Mariah plays for me when we meet in an Atlanta studio is the reworked version of “Church,” considering the 24-year-old singer and I quickly discover we both went to the same Christian school as kids. Although she’s known more for her East Atlanta roots, the artist born Mariah Buckles spent her early childhood years in southwest Atlanta, where she attended Believers Bible Christian Academy, the small private school tucked inside a church and located between a liquor store and Church’s Chicken on Campbellton Road. The updated version of “Church,” which serves as the opener for The Intermission, isn’t exactly a religious offering. Instead, Mariah refers to her lover as her “preacher,” who invokes heavenly feelings (and, of course, a few intergalactic messages).

Even if this new project resonates with fans, serving as a buffer from last year’s album and her next project (expected later this year), Mariah knows she has a bit of work to do this year when it comes to other aspects of her career. While Ry Ry World received mostly favorable reviews, the singer’s live performances have been met with the complete opposite response. Videos of Mariah nervously dancing around festival stages and half-heartedly singing along to her music have repeatedly circulated on social media in the past few months.

“I can’t disagree with [the critics],” she acknowledges. “I do agree that a lot of those performances I did in the last year have been really bad. I hate that for myself. But the only thing I can do now is work really hard at trying to make it better. There’s really no way around it, especially if I’m going to maintain this career in any way… I wasn’t intentionally half-a–ing it, but realistically, that’s what it was.”

Mariah is, admittedly, still feeling reluctant about the increased attention that comes with being an entertainer. “A lot of people prepare for this their entire life. I just decided one day I was going to make a career out of something that I was gifting somebody on a whim,” she says. “I underestimated all that it comes with.”

When we talk she tells me about a time when she practically hid in a corner when a club appearance turns into an impromptu performance. Even when she’s recording in the studio, Mariah says she doesn’t like to have a lot of people around. Oftentimes, she turns out all of the lights and locks the door to ensure no one can come in. In interviews, she shies away from confirming who her songs are inspired by. The vulnerability of writing and releasing a song might be fulfilling, but she still prioritizes keeping her privacy, she says.

Still, the singer says she is committed to figuring out how to balance her career with the demands of fame to deliver a worthwhile experience for her fans. “I’m in a little too deep to be trying to cut corners on this s–t. My only option now is to do it full force and that’s exactly what I’m going to do,” she says”.

Go and explore the wonderful world of Mariah the Scientist. After releasing a phenomenal E.P. this year, she will come back from touring – after appearing in London last week, she is currently back in the U.S. – and decide upon what comes next. Maybe album three? Perhaps she wants to do a film or something else. Anything is possible with the always-sensational Mariah the Scientist! You may have only just heard of her now but, trust me, you are going to have to stand back and…

WATCH her explode.

___________

Follow Mariah the Scientist

Official:

http://mariahthescientist.com/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/mariahthescientist/

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/7HO5fOXE4gh3lzZn64tX2E

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/mariahscientist

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ5h-ez6pTE8LzZxNHDhG1g

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/MariahTheScientistOfficial/

FEATURE: Our Loz: Celebrating the Wonderful Lauren Laverne

FEATURE:

 

 

Our Loz

PHOTO CREDIT: Andrew Woffinden for The Telegraph 

Celebrating the Wonderful Lauren Laverne

__________

THERE is no timely…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Sophia Spring for The Times

reason why I am writing about Lauren Laverne. The host of the BBC Radio 6 Music breakfast show, and the iconic Desert Island Discs, she is someone who I listen to a lot. I think I want to discuss her because, since the pandemic started in 2020, she has been an invaluable, trusted and hugely warm presence on the airwaves. I think there should be more interviews with her. A fascinating broadcaster who is a brilliant award show host (I understand she will host next year’s Ivor Novello awards), her versatility and undeniably huge talent has not been fully recognised I don’t think! I have said before how she deserves an OBE or MBE. Whether she would accept it or not, I am not sure. She is deserving of accolades and high honour. I think that, based on her broadcasting alone, she is someone hugely influential and important. Her BBC Radio 6 Music breakfast show keeps bringing in new listeners. I am not surprised. I think I first started listening to her on BBC Radio 6 Music in 2016. That was a year when we lost huge musicians like David Bowie and Prince. During those times, she was a source of comfort and stability. I grew to love her mixture of warmth, humour and accessibility.

Down to earth and super-cool, compassionate, and knowledgeable like no other broadcaster I know, she is someone who has a great ear for the best new music, tied to an encyclopaedic understanding and wide scope of older music. I want to bring in a couple of interviews with Laverne. The first one is from The Guardian from 2016. In addition to her duties on BBC Radio 6 Music – this was before she took over on Desert Island Discs -, she was also presenting Late Night Woman’s Hour on BBC Radio 4:

“Laverne’s grandfathers (the other was a miner) often figure in her interviews. So it seems reasonable to assume that she values her working-class heritage. Laverne’s father, like her mother, was from a large family, one of six. But both parents – “60s grammar-school kids, that classic working-class thing” – studied hard and had university jobs so that life for Laverne, growing up in Barnes in Sunderland, was comfortable.

“It was a house full of music and books and ideas that were not that usual where I was. There was always a lot of – we might call it alternative culture now,” she says. “We were this funny little middle-class outpost of a big working-class family, and that was a really lovely place to be. Because we had all the advantages of being middle class, but also had a real sense of place in history and culture that connected back to where we were from.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Sarah Lee/The Guardian 

Does she worry that her own children will be further removed from those origins? “Well, you know, they’re part of my family too, and they’re part of their own extended family and they have their own relationship with that, with my parents, my cousins, the place that I’m from,” she says. She’s sitting in a swivel chair, spinning from side to side as she thinks. “They’ve been on the beach that The Walrus and the Carpenter was written about!” The question was really an economic one, to which Lewis Carroll – a passion she got from her father – is an unexpected answer. I wonder if she worries about the privileges her children enjoy compared with the life of her grandfathers – does she sometimes feel the need to adjust their perspective?

“What? When we’re throwing another 50 on the fire?” she exclaims.

“My dad said a thing to me the other week that is really interesting. He said, you don’t teach kids the value of money, you teach them the value of people. And for me, that’s what it comes down to. What is a pound? What is a gold bar worth? It’s actually more about how you treat people, so that’s what I try to do.”

In many ways, another radio show is the last thing Laverne needs. She already hosts every weekday on 6 Music, she does voiceover for a children’s show, fills in time with all manner of documentaries and prize-presenting and live events – the Mercury, the Turner, the Baftas, Glastonbury. She has written a teen novel. When she counts her BBC radio stations – “I’m not sure about 4 Extra, but certainly 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, I’ve hosted on” – she runs out of fingers. Somewhere in there, she finds time to call her mother “several times a day”.

I also wanted to write this feature, as I think that the rest of this year and 2023 will be among the most successful for Laverne. Her breakfast show will continue to grow in popularity, but I think there are great opportunities for outside of that. At the moment, I am not sure whether she has any room on her plate for many new projects! I think that there are radio documentaries, podcast appearances and T.V. shows that would benefit from her incredible locker of talent and magnetism. Not to say her radio shows are dominating her time, but I feel there is a lot in front of her that may mean her scaling back. I am going to wrap up in a minute but, beforehand, I want to bring in a more recent interview from The Guardian. As I have said before, there are not that many interviews with her. She is always compelling when being interviewed. She is very relatable and grounded as a person but, having had the career she has already, there is almost an element of the superhuman too:

“What is the trait you most deplore in others?

Unkindness, meanness. People who could make the world better and choose to make it worse.

Aside from a property, what’s the most expensive thing you’ve ever bought?

A caravan. I was brought up going on caravan holidays – but we quickly realised that a double-axle caravan was too much of a commitment and sold it.

Describe yourself in three words

Hopeful, curious and thoughtful, in the sense that I am always thinking about things.

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If you could bring something extinct back to life, what would you choose?

The concept of polite disagreement.

What makes you unhappy?

I find it very difficult when the people I care about are unhappy.

Who would play you in the film of your life?

Evanna Lynch who plays Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter films.

What was the last lie that you told?

Oh, what a lovely hat.

What is your most unappealing habit?

I have a tendency to take on a bit too much and then complain about it in my head afterwards.

What scares you about getting older?

Losing people”.

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There is a lot to love about Lauren Laverne. She is someone who brings her listeners in and embraces them. Hugely funny, charming and popular, at forty-four, we are going to hear her on the air for decades more. I would love to see her do more T.V. and side projects. She is such a varied and remarkable person who can grab your attention and keep you hooked with everything she does. I think there is an autobiography or another novel in her (her debut novel came out a while ago now). Maybe we might see her launch a new T.V. music series or a great documentary. One of the big reasons why so many people got through lockdown with positive spirits, Laverne is one of our most important broadcasters. It is her positivity and obvious passion that radiates through! I know she is dedicated to BBC Radio 6 Music and BBC Radio 4 but, in years to come, maybe she will move on. She has helped cultivate a family at BBC Radio 6 Music. She genuinely has that closeness and love for her listeners. An invaluable guide, source of new music and comforting shoulder, it is high time Lauren Laverne is awarded and rewarded for her years of broadcasting excellence – whatever form that takes on. We are going to share one of Sunderland’s (the city where she was born) proud daughters’ essential company…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Suki Dhanda/The Guardian

FOR many years more.

FEATURE: Paul McCartney at Eighty: Forty: What He Means to Me

FEATURE:

 

 

Paul McCartney at Eighty

IN THIS PHOTO: Paul McCartney in 1969/PHOTO CREDIT: Linda McCartney 

Forty: What He Means to Me

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I am now at the end…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Mary McCartney

of a forty-run feature marking Paul McCartney’s eightieth birthday. On 18th June, fans around the world will mark the eightieth birthday of the greatest musician the world has seen. In the other thirty-nine features, I have looked at his music and legacy in a less personal way. I wanted to use this final feature to talk more about my experiences with Paul McCartney’s music and when it entered my life. Like so many people, it is the music of The Beatles that opened my eyes to Paul McCartney. I think the first time I heard McCartney’s voice and music was listening to early Beatles songs like Love Me Do and She Loves You. Of course, I was raised in a house where The Beatles’ music was easily available and regularly played. I followed McCartney and a solo artist and through Wings, and it occurred to me that this man who I thought I knew was completely unpredictable. By that, I sort of knew what he was capable of with The Beatles. Through the simpler love songs of their early period (1962-1965), through to the more experimental work that came after Rubber Soul (1965), he definitely staggered me as a writer and composer. The one thing that impressed me most about his Beatles work was the sheer versatility! Seemingly always writing songs and never one to stand still, this became even more pronounced after The Beatles. I think that a lot of McCartney’s solo albums and Wings stuff is overlooked or rubbished.

I think that every Wings and solo McCartney album contains something interesting. One cannot overlook the fact that McCartney is such an inventive and original songwriter. Seemingly blessed with this innate ability to construct timeless melodies and countless ideas, I was mesmerised by his versatility. From childlike songs and lovelorn ballads through to multi-part epics and complex tracks, this music spoke to me louder than anything else. Decades after I first heard McCartney on record, I am discovering songs of his that passed me by. Others are revealing their true beauty and, in some cases (such as We All Stand Together), I am reassessing my initial view (a song that I overlooked or did not give time to, I am diving into it with new passion). His music means so much to me, not only because it scored my childhood and opened my eyes to the possibilities of Pop music and McCartney genius. It has this quality and consistency that no other songwriter has. He has endured for decades because of his tireless invention and the fact that he can create brilliant albums so far down the line. 2020’s McCartney III is proof of that – one of his very best solo albums. As he heads into his ninth decade of life, McCartney will slow down and probably won’t tour as much. There is nothing to suggest he will stop anytime soon. I would love to hear a few more McCartney albums. The whole world hopes, just because of everything that has come before, McCartney will make music for many years more.

I think, if Paul McCartney were not such a nice person and one with such a strong conscience, I would not be as enamoured of him and fascinated by everything he does. Someone with a huge heart and this passion to highlight the wrongs in the world and make the world a better place, this sense of campaign, morality and respect for everyone comes through in his music. McCartney has such a common touch, even though he is a global megastar! As a human being, he is as close to a political leader that speaks for everyone as anyone. A person who is so respected and adored because he is genuine and a humanitarian, losing him will be an almighty shock. We will never see anyone else again who has the same qualities and brilliance as Paul McCartney. He has faced tragedy and loss through his life, yet he always seems to have this optimism and approach to life that is inspiring and admirable. One can say that money and security is a big reason for that, but McCartney is a human and is fallible and subject to depression. Many did not think he would continue as a songwriter and artist after The Beatles stopped. When his eponymous debut solo album came out in 1970, many reviews were scathing and spiteful. After that, he kept going and has forged this unique and untouched career! Everyone has their own reasons for loving Paul McCartney, which in itself is unusual. One would think there would be finite reasons, and yet they are countless and all different. For me, he IS music. The ultimate composer songwriter and a simply amazing singer (with a flair and knack for accents and nuance), he has scored so many important moments in my life. This forty-feature run was my way of thanking Paul McCartney for his music and what he means to me. To be completely honest, I cannot…

THANK him enough!

FEATURE: A Mighty Summit: Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) and the Opportunity for a Book, Podcast or Documentary About the Iconic Track

FEATURE:

 

 

A Mighty Summit

PHOTO CREDIT: Alamy

Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) and the Opportunity for a Book, Podcast or Documentary About the Iconic Track

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LAST week…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

Kate Bush posted to her official website in reaction to the fact that her song, Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) was in the U.K. chart at number eight. From her 1985 album, Hounds of Love, Bush has now had a top twelve song in every decade since the 1970s. Ten years after a remix of the same song was used at the Olympics (for the closing ceremony) in London and charted, this enduring, evergreen and hugely inspiring track continues to reach new people and take on a life of its own! I am going to discuss something that occurred to me in a minute. Given the chart success, sites around the world reported on the legendary Kate Bush making history and scoring her first big chart success in the 2020s. This is what The Guardian said:

“Kate Bush is back in the Top 10 of the UK singles chart for only the third time since the 1980s, after her song Running Up That Hill found a new global audience via the Netflix drama Stranger Things.

Running Up That Hill, which reached No 3 on its initial release in 1985, reaches No 8 this week based on streams and downloads. After a slow start at the beginning of the week, when it was well outside the Top 100, its popularity grew as listeners sought it out following the premiere of Stranger Things’ fourth season last Friday; Running Up That Hill plays a key part in the fourth episode.

It is now the most-streamed song each day on Spotify in the US and the UK, just shy of Harry Styles’ As It Was in Spotify’s global chart, and in the same No 2 position on Apple Music. The song is also expected to place highly in the US charts, which are announced on Tuesday.

This is Running Up That Hill’s third appearance in the UK Top 10; it also re-entered in 2012 after it was used in the closing ceremony of the Olympics. For that version, Bush rerecorded the song at a slightly lower pitch to accommodate for changes to her voice.

Bush has reached the UK Top 10 on six other occasions. She topped it with her debut single Wuthering Heights in 1978, then had Top 10s with The Man With the Child in His Eyes; the live EP Kate Bush on Stage; Babooshka; Don’t Give Up (her duet with Peter Gabriel); and King of the Mountain, her comeback single in 2005, following more than a decade away from recording. Twelve of her albums have reached the Top 10, three of them No 1s.

Running Up That Hill’s latest success demonstrates the cultural might of supernatural thriller Stranger Things, which registered the biggest premiere weekend ever on Netflix, with viewers spending 287m hours watching the first seven episodes. The rest of the season will be released in July.

With its distinctive martial rhythm, spectral synth sounds and a commanding vocal performance from Bush, Running Up That Hill is one of the most critically admired songs of the 1980s. Bush spoke about the song in a 1986 interview:

It’s very much about two people who are in love, a man and a woman, and the idea of it is they could swap places ... The man being the woman and vice versa and they’d understand each other better. In some ways [the song is] talking about the fundamental differences between men and women, I suppose trying to remove those obstacles, being in someone else’s place; understanding how they see it, and hoping that would remove problems in the relationship”.

The song has also reached number eight in the U.S. It reached thirty on its original release - making this chart position her highest position! The finale of season four of Stranger Things happens next month. I believe Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) features again. Bush herself is excited to see it - and I know fans of the show and her music will surge forward eagle-eared. I have cast doubts as to whether filmmakers are aware of Bush’s deeper cuts and why songs like Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) are repeatedly used – the more obvious songs appear on film or in T.V. shows. I have thought harder and feel, actually, people might discover Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) and then work their way through her catalogue. A new generation have found Kate Bush through a song that has made the news lately. This article talks about the story of Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God). Rebecca Nicholson recently wrote about the track for The Guardian. U.S. artist Kim Petras has also just covered the song. You can look at the latest news about Kate Bush, and there is a raft of articles congratulating her on chart success, in addition to discussing why the Hounds of Love gem continues to shine and resonate. Everyone has their own opinions and views as to why the song keeps coming back and has this power. Maybe there are personal reason, though there is an objective truth about Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God).

At its heart, the songs message about men and women swapping places to better understand one another is universal and irrefutably intriguing! Remarkably produced by Bush, with a chorus that is spine-tingling and singalong, there are so many layers and nuances to be found. Timeless and never subject to sounding dated, we have certainly not heard the last of Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) on the screen. Maybe Bush will be less selective because of the song’s new chart potential, or she may feel the inclusion in Stranger Things is exposure enough. The requests will come in regardless! What happens next? Think about how the remixes and covers of the song. It has appeared on the screen and is frequently viewed and rated as one of Kate Bush’s defining songs. Overtaking Wuthering Heights as the most-streamed songs of hers on Spotify, we are now living in a year when Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) is, perhaps, Bush most important song. One that blew people away in 1985 and has done again in 2022, there must be some tribute and representation of this history and continued achievement. Maybe there will be a new podcast about Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) and Stranger Things. Taking things back to the creation of the song and it first appearing on Hounds of Love in 1985. It will be interesting to learn about the history of the track; discussions with artists and people who have been compelled by the song.

I also think that a book could be written about this one track. Going into depth regarding its story and origins, we could then move onto the way Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) was received in 1985. Take things through the years and the way in the which the track has been played and reached new audiences. It could then come to 2022 and a new lease of life; going on to predict where else Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) will be used and how it might continue to influence and grow. Add to the mix a documentary about the song. That would also be welcomed and embraced. I think Kate Bush herself would be behind such projects. She would not provide interviews herself I don’t think, but it is clear she is touched about the Stranger Things inclusion and the chart success Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) has acquired. Undoubtedly one of the most iconic songs ever written, there is a chance for writers, broadcasters and podcaster makers to come together and dissect and document the wonder and phenomenal popularity and love there is out there for the mesmeric Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God). After Stranger Things and the way it has brought this song to new ears and discoverers of Bush’s work, I do wonder…

WHERE it appears next.

FEATURE: Inspired By: Part Sixty-Six: Frank Ocean

FEATURE:

 

 

Inspired By…

Part Sixty-Six: Frank Ocean

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FOR the sixty-sixth…

part of this Inspired By…, I am also tying things into Pride Month. Happening all June, I wanted to highlight some Pride/L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ artists. Frank Ocean is one of Hip-Hop’s true innovators and heroes. I am going to end with a playlist of songs from artists influenced by him. Before getting to that, here is some biography from AllMusic:

“Frank Ocean has been one of the more fascinating figures in contemporary music since his early-2010s arrival. A singer and songwriter whose artful output has defied rigid classification as R&B, he has nonetheless pushed that genre forward with seemingly offhanded yet imaginatively detailed narratives in which he has alternated between yearning romantic and easygoing braggart. Known first as a writer and Odd Future affiliate, Ocean made his solo debut with "Novacane" (2011), a single regarding a fling that could be read, in part, as a criticism of commercial radio, yet it found a home on mainstream urban playlists and went platinum. Despite further strained relations with music industry machinations, Channel Orange (2012), his first proper album, nearly crowned the Billboard 200 and made him a Grammy winner. When Ocean left the major-label system, his commercial clout was greater than ever, as demonstrated by the chart-topping success of Blonde (2016). His recordings since then amount to a short album's worth of singles including the platinum "Chanel" (2017) and the simultaneously-issued "Dear April" and "Cayendo" (2020).

Born Christopher Edwin Breaux in Long Beach, California, Ocean moved with his family to New Orleans, Louisiana at the age of five. The aspiring songwriter and singer had just moved into his dorm at the University of New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit. With his future under water, Ocean immediately left the academic life behind and moved to Los Angeles to give music a shot. He cut some demos at a friend's home studio, shopped them around town, and eventually landed a songwriting deal that led to work for Justin Bieber, John Legend, and Brandy. Some of this writing was done beside Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, a fellow songwriter and producer who convinced Ocean to sign a solo artist deal with Def Jam in late 2009. It was also around this time that Ocean met Odd Future and began writing for the crew while making guest appearances on their mixtapes.

In February 2011, as Odd Future were making waves, Ocean broke out on his own with the Nostalgia, Ultra mixtape, issued through his Tumblr blog. Later in the year, he appeared on Tyler, the Creator's Goblin ("She," "Window"), Beyoncé's 4 ("I Miss You"), and Jay-Z and Kanye West's Watch the Throne ("No Church in the Wild," "Made in America"). Def Jam's plan for the release of Nostalgia, Lite -- an EP-length version of the mixtape -- was scrapped, yet the songs "Novacane" (produced by Stewart) and "Swim Good" (MIDI Mafia) were released as singles with accompanying videos. The former reached number 17 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart and eventually went platinum. The latter peaked at number 70. By the end of the year, several publications listed Nostalgia, Ultra as one of 2011's best releases.

Ocean proceeded with the making of his official debut album, working beside the likes of Malay, Om'Mas Keith, and Pharrell Williams as fellow producers. The LP, Channel Orange, was previewed for journalists at a handful of listening events. Some writers alleged that certain lyrics on the album revealed Ocean's bisexuality. Ocean subsequently published a screen shot of a TextEdit file (entitled "thank you's") that included details of a romantic relationship, his first love, with a man. On July 10, 2012, six days after the post, Channel Orange was released by Def Jam as a download. The CD version followed a week later. Along with featured appearances from Earl Sweatshirt, John Mayer, and André 3000, the album involved material about unrequited love, as well as class and drug dependency, all delivered with Ocean's descriptive storytelling and understated yet expressive vocals. Channel Orange received nearly universal critical acclaim and landed on the Billboard 200 chart at number two. Ocean was subsequently nominated in six Grammy categories, including three of the "big four" (Album of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best New Artist. Channel Orange took the award for Best Urban Contemporary Album, and Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild" won Best Rap/Sung collaboration.

As Channel Orange was on its way to gold certification, Ocean began work on a follow-up. Various recording details were reported during those three years. Ocean dropped hints that led to much speculation. Meanwhile, he appeared on Beyoncé's self-titled album, Kanye West's The Life of Pablo, and James Blake's The Colour in Anything. In August 2016, a video of him building a staircase, accompanied by instrumentals, was streamed on his website. Later that month, he released Endless, a 45-minute visual album that featured additional construction footage and a stream of full-blown songs written primarily by Ocean alone. Jazmine Sullivan, Jonny Greenwood, and Blake were among the contributors to the new material. The following day, Ocean released the skeletal and sprawling Blonde for streaming. Copies of an Ocean-published magazine, distributed at pop-up locations, included a compact disc version with a shorter track list. A multi-genre festival's worth of "album contributors," ranging from many of his previous associates to the likes of David Bowie and Yung Lean, was listed in the pages of the publication. The album replaced Drake's Views at the top of the Billboard 200.

Beginning with the platinum "Chanel," Ocean issued a few singles across 2017, during which he also surfaced on Jay-Z's 4:44, Tyler, The Creator's Flower Boy, and Calvin Harris' Funk Wav Bounces, Vol. 1. An update of Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer's "Moon River" followed in 2018. "DHL" and "In My Room" arrived in 2019. "Dear April" and "Cayendo" were offered together in 2020”.

To recognise the enormous influence of Frank Ocean, the playlist at  the end is a great collection of songs from artists who are definitely affected by him in some way. Spanning genres, I think Ocean will continue to be a huge force when it comes to impacting the next generation. This is my tip of the cap to…

A wonderful artist.

FEATURE: Maybe You're Lonely, and Only Want a Little Company: The Kate Bush Fanzine, HomeGround, at Forty: Could We See It Rise Again?

FEATURE:

 

Maybe You're Lonely, and Only Want a Little Company

The Kate Bush Fanzine, HomeGround, at Forty: Could We See It Rise Again?

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AFTER the recent…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1982

mass of interest and success around Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) charting after appearing on Stranger Things – the song went to the top ten in the U.K, almost thirty-seven years since its original release -, I wanted to look ahead to a few anniversaries. One that occurred last month was the fortieth anniversary of the Kate Bush fanzine, HomeGround. Released in the same year as her remarkable fourth studio album, The Dreaming, it started life quite modestly. With articles and items pasted together and then photocopied and handed to a selection of fans, the fanzine/magazine grew in stature, relevance and size. I actually have two books chronicling HomeGround from 1982 through to its end in 2011. I think, as Bush has accrued new feats, records and a wave of fans since 2011, there will be an appetite and curiosity to see if HomeGround could reform in some way to commemorate the last decade or so - in addition to looking forward to new music and possibilities. Earlier in the year, Kate Bush News reported how fans can contribute to a special anniversary edition of HomeGround:

“In 1982, in the months leading up to the release of The Dreaming single, we first had the idea of making a Kate Bush fanzine. Over the following 30 years we put out 79 issues, full of news and information about Kate and her music and associated subjects, providing a platform for review and discussion of Kate’s work on a worldwide basis. On the way we also organised, with the official Kate Bush Club, the 1985, 1990, and 1994 fan Conventions, the 1986 Video Party, all of which Kate attended. We also organised the fan contribution to the video shoot for The Big Sky. We were asked to provide the chronology and discographies for the 1987 Kate Bush Complete music and lyric book from EMI Music Publishing, and the sleeve note for the 1997 EMI 100 remastered CD of Hounds of Love.

The last printed HomeGround magazine was published at the end of 2011 and rapidly sold out. It was followed in March 2014 by the hugely successful two-volume HomeGround Anthology, containing over 1,200 pages of material from all 79 issues.

In May 2022 it will be 40 years since the first issue of HomeGround, and we felt we should mark the occasion with a very special issue – issue 80. Our intention is to make this available as a free downloadable PDF enabling us to use full colour.

Just as no previous issue of HomeGround could have happened without contributions from Kate Bush fans around the globe this special issue cannot happen without your help.

We will be producing the familiar news and a special retrospective summary of the last ten years in the Kate Speaking world. What we need are other features, artwork, poetry, short “Letters to the Editor” and even For Sale, Wanted, and Personal Message ads, just as we always did.

Here are some ideas for articles: there’s the work Kate has done since 2012, the 2014 Before the Dawn live performances, the 2015 live album, the 2018 re-masters and The Other Sides, and the Record Shop Day specials. 40 years of The Dreaming. Last words on 50 Words for Snow and the animations. Tribute Bands and tribute gigs, cover versions and Kate songs on TV talent shows. Inspired fictional stories. Reviews and reactions to the many and various Kate related books now available. The trials and tribulations of collecting Kate material. Charts and facts. That day you met Kate. The Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever, tales of fan conventions and other Kate fan meet ups”.

It is amazing to think back to 1982 and this really important way to bond fans. I can imagine there was some form of fanzine or communication between fans about Kate Bush prior to 1982, but HomeGround was a way of joining fans through letters, photos, news and all manner of Kate Bush stuff. In a year when she released her most experimental and least commercial album to date, few people knew that a few years later she would release something like Hounds of Love. 1982 was a very exciting year to be a Kate Bush fan! Taking her music in a new direction, there must have been a lot of speculation about why The Dreaming sounded like it did and whether it signalled a permanent move into a music territory that she had not stepped into beforehand. If you want the books of HomeGround and a chance to see how it changed and grew through the years, then it is a must-own for every Kate Bush fan. The anniversary was actually on 18th May, but I wanted to mark it now, as it is a great achievement and project that was undertaken. Given the new fans that have discovered Bush’s music through HomeGround, it sort of renews my call for either a new fanzine or club that would unite generations. I know social media is a useful way to connect but, when you think of all the possible material and involvement in something like this, I reckon it would be a great success.

Maybe there could be digital editions that are compiled and fans can access, or there would be a regular Kate Bush fanzine or magazine printed. Maybe not every month, but there could be a twice-yearly edition that would be bumper and packed with news and contributions. Having celebrated their fortieth anniversary, I think it would be great to see HomeGround or a new project come to life. If you are wondering what the HomeGround refers to; Bush has a song on her second studio album, Lionheart (1978), called Coffee Homeground. An underrated track with some of her most fascinating and vivid lyrics, together with a composition that quickly took the sound of The Kick Inside (1978) in a new direction, it was a leap in terms of sonics and experimentation. I am pleased that the fanzine has honoured this song! Now that the dust is settling on the adulation of chart records Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) has achieved, maybe a whole book will be written about the history of this song. Perhaps Bush will be made a dame this year. The Dreaming turns forty in September, whilst August marks forty-five years since her debut album, The Kick Inside, was recorded. There is endless chatter as to whether new music will also arrive – a perfect moment to get fans bonded through a physical or digital fanzine. A new fanzine would take its inspiration and guidance from…

THE incredible original.

FEATURE: Pride Month 2022: An L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ Playlist

FEATURE:

 

 

Pride Month 2022

IN THIS PHOTO: Hayley Kiyokjo/PHOTO CREDIT: Amanda Charchian 

An L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ Playlist

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AS we are well into Pride Month…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Bronski Beat/PHOTO CREDIT: Mike Prior/Redferns

I thought it was time to mark an important part of the calendar and mark it with some great L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ artists into a playlist. I have done this a few times before but, for every Pride Month, I do keep it updated and include some newer tracks. This is a combination of songs from legendary and established artists, in addition to some great acts to watch this year. I am hoping to put out another feature related to Pride Month and modern music. I think there are a lot of hotly-tipped L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ artists breaking through this year. It is an exciting and diverse wave of talent, many of whom have the promise and talent to remain for a very long time. An awesome selection of cuts from L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ artists, here are some incredible songs for…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Shamir

THIS Pride Month.

FEATURE: Groovelines: The Archies – Sugar, Sugar

FEATURE:

 

 

Groovelines

The Archies – Sugar, Sugar

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THROUGH the course of musical history…

there have not been many cartoon or animated bands. Of course, Gorillaz are pretty well known and popular. They are definite pioneers. Looking further back, there have not been many examples. One can understand why. People do want a human face and, with a cartoon group, there is a lack of authenticity and this sense of them being a novelty. Among the great one-hit wonders, Sugar, Sugar by The Archies is among the very best. Written by Jeff Barry and Andy Kim, it reached number one in the U.S. on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1969. It there for four weeks. Originally released on the album, Everything's Archie, this album was recorded by a group of studio musicians managed by Don Kirshner. Ron Dante's lead vocals were accompanied by Toni Wine and songwriter Andy Kim. The song’s initial release was met with moderate chart success and acclaim. When the song was re-released in mid-July 1969, it achieved enormous success by the late summer/early autumn. I think it is a very summery and delightful song that scored high in the charts around the world. A massive-selling single that helped end the 1960s with a huge smile – at a time when bands like The Beatles were breaking up and there was uncertainty in the air -, it would be nice to think that there is going to be another song like this in the future. Even though it was released fifty-three years ago, Sugar, Sugar has lost none of its power. I have heard the song so many times, yet it remains so fresh and exciting. I know there are people who can’t stand the song.

I was interested reading Stereogum’s article about The Archies’ Sugar, Sugar. It is a track that is made really interesting because few people know about the group and those who wrote the song:

“Jeff Barry was a pop genius who, in the early ’60s, had co-written “Be My Baby” and “Then He Kissed Me” and “Chapel Of Love” and “Leader Of The Pack.” He co-wrote “Sugar, Sugar” with Andy Kim, a Lebanese-Canadian singer and songwriter who was on the way to a pretty decent run as a solo performer. Ron Dante, who sang the lead Archie part, was a former novelty-song guy who would go on to produce records for Barry Manilow and Pat Benatar. Toni White, who’d co-written “A Groovy Kind Of Love” for the Mindbenders, sang the Veronica part. Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry’s ex-wife who’d co-written most of those classic songs with him, also contributed. These were professional music-biz lifers who didn’t fit with the era’s excesses but who knew their way around a hook.

And “Sugar, Sugar” is a merciless hook machine. It’s a bright and shiny love song, aimed at actual toddlers, that tries to express nothing other than non-threatening warmth. And it hits that mark so hard. There’s an almost mechanical precision to the beat — bass, drums, handclaps, guitar-strums. The half-mocking keyboard riff on the chorus will remain in your head through any calamity that doesn’t kill you. And the song stabs away with its own scientifically calibrated power, building to a weirdly overwhelming crescendo.

Do people still get snobby about “Sugar, Sugar”? Probably not, right? A song like that does what rock ‘n’ roll is supposed to do. It fills you up and gives you weird little dopamine rushes, and then it lingers. Lester Bangs once called “Sugar, Sugar” “a rock & roll classic to which something like the Grateful Dead’s ‘Dark Star’ can’t hold a candle,” and Bangs also goaded Lou Reed into admitting that he wished he’d written it.

Does it matter that the Archies were not actual humans? I think it makes the whole stunt even more audacious. Nothing like “Sugar, Sugar” could happen now; the closest thing in recent memory, unless I’m forgetting something, is the fleeting success of Crazy Frog. If the Archies had been an art stunt, rather than a commerce stunt, we’d be talking about them in hushed tones. But it doesn’t matter what kind of stunt they were, since “Sugar, Sugar” still bangs”.

A song that I feel is much more than a novelty, one cannot listen to Sugar, Sugar without feeling lifted and happier. The sheer infectiousness of the track steers it away from cloying and too sweet territory. There is no doubt that the insatiable and sunny Sugar, Sugar…

A 1960s classic.

FEATURE: Second Spin: Melody's Echo Chamber – Melody's Echo Chamber

FEATURE:

 

 

Second Spin

Melody's Echo Chamber – Melody's Echo Chamber

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BECAUSE Melody’s Echo Chamber’s…

latest album, Emotional Eternal, came out in April and won some incredible reviews, I wanted to concentrate on the eponymous debut studio album by French musician Melody Prochet. It was released on 25th September, 2012 on Weird World Record Co and Fat Possum Records. A remarkable and beautiful album, I don’t think it got all the positivity it could have. I am going to finish with a couple of positive reviews for Melody’s Echo Chamber. Spine-tingling, otherworldly and dreamy, if you are not aware of the work of Melody’s Echo Chamber, then the eponymous debut is a great place to start. It is an album that definitely requires fresh ears and a new take. Brooklyn Vegan spoke with Melody Prochet in 2012 around the release of Melody’s Echo Chamber. I have selected bits of the interview; they provide detail and depth about a incredible album that everyone should know and listen to:

“Having previously fronted the more overtly pop My Bee's Garden and The Narcoleptic Dancers, Melody Prochet discovered dreampop, enlisted the help of Tame Impala's Kevin Parker (a busy man this year) to capture the sounds in her head, and Melody's Echo Chamber was born. Recorded at Parker's home studio in Perth, Australia, and at Melody's grandparents' seaside home in the South of France, the self titled album -- out September 25 via Fat Possum -- is a gorgeous headtrip. You can stream a couple cuts from it below.

I met Melody on a very rainy late July afternoon to talk about the new album, finding her sound and how she's going pull it off live. On the latter, NYC will find out in October when Melody's Echo Chamber open for The Raveonettes at Webster Hall.

BV: You had a couple bands before this, very different sound. What made the change?

Melody Prochet: I just grew up, really. I've always been writing songs, and the people you meet they influence you. It wasn't till I was 19 that I heard the kind of music I listen to now, so for many years it was a different style. I hadn't digested all these new things.

Was there a certain record or group you heard where you were like, "Yes! This is the kind of music I want to make!"?

A million different records. I'm a fan of so much stuff I wouldn't know where to start. I was listening to Debussy at the same time I was listening to Spiritualized or Red Krayola, so it came from all over.

How did you end up working with Kevin from Tame Impala?

Two years ago my old band My Bee's Garden supported Tame Impala in Europe. We got along and we shared a lot of songs and it just blossomed into collaboration. It started with just a couple songs but it was really easy to work together. Complimentary opposites.

You say it was easy, but as a listener it sounds very dense and layered, like a lot of work.

I wasn't hard to make, it was very organic and natural. Most of what you hear are first takes and we did the drum sounds in two seconds. We put mikes on a pile of bricks in the yard because we didn't have professional setups. It was a very natural process, making the record. But I know what you mean, the production is really cool. I'm obsessed with production, though I'm not really good at it yet myself. I have the vision, but I need magic hands to do it for me. This record was my dream sound. I've tried for years to get it but finally found the right hands to sculpt it.

Did you come in with songs or was it more born out of the studio?

I came in with songs and some basic recordings but it was messy. Kevin helped figure out what we could keep, how to organize that mess. I tend to write pretty and dreamy songs -- I studied classical music for 12 years -- but I was boring myself so Kevin helped destroy everything and put it back together, find the right balance. I think we did pretty well in that way.

You said you have a classical background. Did you play any on the album?

A little bit but I didn't have any good instruments. I just have this tiny viola. I tried but it didn't sound that good. It would need a big one. So that's my big goal for the next record is to do the string arrangements. Or at least put them through a lot of crazy effects.

The vocals on the album... they were recorded in France, at your grandmother's house?

Yeah at this house on the beach in the French Riviera which is heaven on earth. Not in summer when everybody is on holiday there, but in the Spring. But the house is being sold right now, it's pretty sad, so I had to go there to do it, one last time. I also needed the isolation. I'm so self conscious, singing in a room with people”.

I want to end up with a couple of reviews for the wonderful Melody’s Echo Chamber. It is coming up for its tenth anniversary. Displaying the clear and stunning talent of Melody Prochet, this is an album that you need to hear. This is what AllMusic wrote about Melody’s Echo Chamber:

“The name Melody's Echo Chamber doesn't particularly roll off the tongue, but it does a fine job of preparing you for what you're going to hear on their self-titled album. Melody is Melody Prochet, the songwriter/singer behind the band, true, but the record is also coated in layer after layer of sweetly sung melodies -- "Echo Chamber" thanks to the homespun weirdness of Tame Impala's Kevin Parker and his effects-drenched, very echoey production. Cute tricks with their name aside, what Prochet and Parker have come up with here is music that follows in the tradition of art pop groups like Broadcast and Stereolab, borrowing their use of sound and structure to give their ultra-catchy songs loads of sonic depth and texture. Every song on Melody's Echo Chamber plays with sound and space, sometimes stripping things back and leaving space between the instruments, sometimes covering everything with a heavy blanket of reverb and fuzz. Parker is a whiz at each approach and his drum sounds are absolutely perfect throughout. Within the shifting arrangements and sounds, there is the consistent sound of Prochet's light and breezy voice. Even though it sometimes feels like she could drift away in a light wind, she anchors the songs with simple and direct vocal melodies that keep the songs out of the realm of mere experiments with sound. Even the trickiest tunes, like the bossa nova-space pop hybrid "Quand Vas Tu Rentrer?" and the uneasy listening "Snowcapped Andes Crash" (on which the duo gets extremely trippy) are tethered by her voice. The combination of Parker's inspired production, Prochet's lovely singing and evocative songwriting, and the perfect balance the duo strikes between pop and art makes Melody's Echo Chamber a rather stunning debut”.

NME provided a very positive and interesting take on Melody’s Echo Chamber. I did not experience the album in 2012. It is one that I discovered and listened to first relatively recently:

“Welcome to the court of 2012’s psychedelic king and queen. As the leader of Tame Impala and sometime contributor to Pond, The Dee Dee Dums, Mink Mussel Creek and other Perth-based bands, Kevin Parker has installed himself as this generation’s retro-psych regent by playing a brand of ’60s psychedelia most had given up for dead.

Now he’d like you to meet his girlfriend, Melody Prochet – a classically trained musician from the French countryside who moved to Paris, discovered rock music and, as the cosmos dictated, got talking to Parker backstage at a Tame show. Soon enough she was in Australia, unfurling her diabetically sweet melodies in Parker’s personal studio.

But while Tame’s bejewelled new record ‘Lonerism’ had a specific date-line in mind – summer 1966, The Beatles making the transition from ‘Rain’ to ‘Revolver’ – Melody’s Echo Chamber is less bound by big names. It’s in thrall to the past, sure, but to lesser-known music like Pentangle and Comus; to stuff that occupies the forever-French hinterland between musique concrète, Serge Gainsbourg’s thing, jazz and Muzak. The stuff that Stereolab brought back into the Anglo-Saxon world in the ’90s; ideas that Broadcast ran with.

When Melody’s light-saturated first single ‘Crystallized’ rolled into our Twitter feeds back in March, it was easy to dismiss the shimmery-shiny song as standard blog-bait. But ‘Melody’s Echo Chamber’ manages to create something just as dark as it is light.

‘Snowcapped Andes Crash’ not only has a title that could’ve fallen off the back of Radiohead’s ‘Amnesiac’, it also pushes Melody’s stilted, reverb-caked guitar arpeggios towards ‘Knives Out’ territory, before breaking back towards the safety of the Cocteau Twins. ‘Quand Vas Tu Renter?’ takes the bizarre keyboard tone childhood Casio users will recognise as ‘dog bark’ and pushes it into an uneasy clinch with spy jazz. Then, if things start to drift off into the lazy, stoner-y drone that Tame Impala fans will know only too well, she isn’t afraid to try something weird to snap out of it. ‘IsThatWhatYouSaid’, for instance: a backwards-tracking squall that’s like flying an aeroplane through a flock of guitars.

What it all adds up to isn’t big-push psych loonycakes like The Flaming Lips, but something more subtly disorienting. The

‘echo chamber’ name comes from Melody sitting in her bedroom, making a sort of den, and blurting out her tunes to no-one but a hard drive. It’s that sense of intruding on a private moment that Parker and Prochet have managed to retain. After all, here are two people who already see the best in each other, and with ‘Melody’s Echo Chamber’ they’ve tried to make everyone else see it too. It shows”.

Go and listen to the remarkable Melody’s Echo Chamber if you are not aware of the album. With Prochet putting out the third studio album, Emotional Eternal, this year, let’s hope there is a lot more to come from her. There were some very warm reviews for Melody’s Echo Chamber - but some were not entirely convinced. It does require more airplay and affection. Very shortly into the opening track its true beauty and strength…

WILL be revealed.

FEATURE: I'm the Replacement for Your Part: Kate Bush: The Horror Collection

FEATURE:

I'm the Replacement for Your Part

PHOTO CREDIT: Fotex/REX 

Kate Bush: The Horror Collection

 __________

I have written about…

 IMAGE CREDIT: iniminiemoo

Kate Bush and her fascination with suspense and horror. Rather than retread, I wanted to take a slightly different approach. This is going to be the final feature in a run around the inclusion of Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) being included in the Netflix series, Stranger Things. Earning much huge chart success and records, she has been thrust firmly back into the spotlight because of it! Although her Hounds of Love superhit is not horror-themed, it was used prominently in a series that has a darker, scarier tone. I have raised it before, but I think that there will be people looking around and thinking which Kate Bush songs could feature next. She is not going to throw open the doors and grant permission to anyone wanting to use her music in film or T.V. Whereas most would assume that Bush’s music is best used in romantic comedy, I think her catalogue is ideally suited to series and films that are more psychological or have a shadowy vibe. Apart from obvious songs that have yet to be used for suspense and horror films – I am thinking about Hammer Horror (Lionheart) and Get Out of My House (The Dreaming) – there are other songs on Hounds of Love people do not think about. But, like Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God), it would resonate with a wider audience. Mother Stands for Comfort, Under Ice, Waking the Witch and Watching You Without Me are songs that would perfectly elevate and score remarkable scenes. Another great song that is long-overdue a feature in a horror or psychological drama is Experiment IV (a single from her 1986 greatest hits album, The Whole Story). Thinking about it, most of Hounds of Love, nearly every track from the album could be used in some form or other in a psychological drama or horror.

Whereas a lot of people will focus solely on Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) and that song is going to get a lot of covers and new coverage, there are a load of Kate Bush songs that, if she is willing, could be used in similar series to Stranger Things. From The Kick Inside’s title track and Wuthering Heights, through to Lily from The Red Shoes, there are songs of Kate Bush that would earn new merit and focus. Not to suggest that now Stranger Things has created history for Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) everyone should jump in! I have seen people on Twitter highlight a selection of Kate Bush songs that are either not well-known and played or they are definitely prime for some screen time. What the Stranger Things experience has proven is that Bush’s music, regardless of tone, theme and sound, has the potential to mesmerise if paired with the right actors and visuals. If exposure on big series and films is a way for the new generation to find her and others to be reminded how brilliant she is, then it would be a good thing to have more Bush music on the screen. Although Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) has not been officially re-released as a single, it has topped charts and earned Bush records. An artist who has been a chart success since the 1970s, ample proof that love and support for her music spans the generations.

The innate cinematic and filmic resonance of Bush’s music has been evident since her debut single, Wuthering Heights. Though inspired by the Emily Brontë novel, it was a T.V. adaptation that influenced Bush to write the song. Get Out of My House was compelled by Bush reading the Stephen King novel, The Shining - and yet it has not been used in a film of that sort. There are so many missed opportunities and gaps. It is about moderation. Rather than flooding Bush with requests to use her music for anything – which could lead her to reject everything -, series and films are going to be written with her music in mind. Some classic, underrated and deeper cuts would prove as potent and popular as Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) on Stranger Things. I shall not write about the subject again, as I have others in mind. Looking ahead to the rest of this year and the future, I believe we will see Kate Bush feature more on the screen. She was involved quite intently on ensuring that Stranger Things’ use of Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) was just right. If further requests come through and she is keen, she will also be quite involved again. Maybe this new love and attention of her older music will translate to new music perhaps. For now, it is nice to recognise the ever-awesome and genius Kate Bush as the…

QUEEN of the screen.