FEATURE: In the Air, the Night Scented Stock: Is Never for Ever Kate Bush’s Most Underrated Album?

FEATURE:

In the Air, the Night Scented Stock

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1980

Is Never for Ever Kate Bush’s Most Underrated Album?

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I have written about…

various aspects of Never for Ever, and I approached it from different angles. I asked, earlier in the year, whether there would be an anniversary edition ahead of its fortieth on 7th September. Although Kate Bush is reluctant to look back, it would have been great to have an anniversary release, as I think Never for Ever might be one of her most important album. Hounds of Love is celebrating thirty-five years in September, and it remains her most-celebrated moment. I am going to reassess that album and give it a lot more attention over the coming weeks, but before that titanic album turns thirty-five, Never for Ever turns forty. The Kick Inside (1978), her debut, is my favourite album, and I think Lionheart (released later that year) was a bit rushed and, although underrated, it does not rank with her true essence. I think The Dreaming (1982) was important, as it was Bush alone as a produce; she released her most layered and intriguing albums to that point and, not long after that album was released, Bush was making changes to her life that would lead to the revelatory and genius Hounds of Love. I recently argued that Lionheart was a seriously underrated album, but I think Never for Ever is one of her most underrated album of all. It is also one of her most important, as there was a lot of expectation looming in the air. Lionheart was met with a murmur of disappointment. 1978 was a busy and tiring year for Bush!

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush during 1979’s Tour of Life

It seemed like there was no moment for rest! Many would have understood if Bush took a lot of time off in 1979, but she took her Tour of Life across Europe. It was important for her to assume more control of her work, as there was a feeling that, on her first two albums, she was more a bystander rather than the creative engine. The Tour of Life went some way to appeasing Bush’s lack of satisfaction; a tour that was very much her at the forefront. In the same way people massively underrate The Kick Inside and dismiss it as a ‘promising debut’ (which I think is her most underrated record), I do not hear a lot of people underline just how pivotal Never for Ever was. Maybe, looking back, Bush felt that Never for Ever was a small step to where she wanted to head, if not completely in love with the album – in interviews from the 1980s and 1990s she sort of distanced herself from her first three albums. Maybe it is not as accomplished and ambitious as Hounds of Love, but I think Never for Ever is more accessible than The Dreaming, and it is packed with brilliant moments. Kate Bush produced Never for Ever alongside Jon Kelly (who was an engineer on The Kick Inside, and Lionheart), and I think this really adds something to the album.

She was only twenty-one where she was recording the album, so it might have been a bit early to produce on her own – and after a tiring last couple of years, another body in the producer’s seat would have been welcomed! Never for Ever is vital, as it was an important transition from the sounds of her first two albums. Those albums explore various subjects, but there are a lot of songs about passion and love; the piano takes the starring role, and Never for Ever signalled a lot of development. I have seen a lot of reviews for Never for Ever, but very few are profusive and really do the album justice! The album entered the U.K. album chart at number-one on the weekend ending 20th September, 1980. That was impressive, as Bush became the first female British solo artist to achieve that status. Never for Ever is also the first studio album by any female solo artist to reach number-one in the U.K. It was a hugely popular album, so I wonder why the reviews were not terrific. Listen to the album as a whole, and the song quality is tremendous! Apart from the rather throwaway Blow Away (for Bill), every song on the album is a treasure! I feel Never for Ever gave Bush the confidence to experiment and push herself on albums that followed and, liberated by her Tour of Life the year before and the chance to work alongside a new producer, you can really hear the difference.

Although, on most polls, Never for Ever makes the top-five or six, it rarely gets any higher. I think the album is one of her most varied, and it easily unites the beauty of her first two albums and the more experimental and forward-looking sounds she would explore after Never for Ever. One big change from her first two albums to Never for Ever was a more political flavour. Whether it was a reaction following an interview Bush conducted with Danny Baker in 1979 (where he sort of suggested she lacked edge), or her reacting to a decade that was ending with a lot of division, I am not too sure. Like Bush’s best albums, the track listing is perfect. The more ‘political’ songs, Army Dreamers, and Breathing, end the album, but both are different in tone. The former has a nimbler vocal, where Bush adopts an Irish accent (Bush’s mother was Irish, as a side-note). The song talks about the way young men are sent to war and lives are wasted and, whilst it is a heavy subject, there is a lightness and beauty to the song that keeps it from being too harrowing. Breathing is an epic closer where we see a perspective of a fetus who is trying to stay safe from the horrors of the outside world: a land where nuclear war is imminent and there is so much danger around. The stark and unexpected leap from The Kick Inside/Lionheart in terms of maturity and lyrical themes is noticeable. If Bush’s first two albums hinted at broadness and an eclectic musical mind, Never for Ever was the first indication of who she really was and where she wanted to go.

Many reviews in 1980 – and a few since – single out the singles as highlights, but they feel the rest of the album lacks something. Breathing was released on 14th April, 1980 and got to number-sixteen in the U.K. charts. Army Dreamers was released on 22nd September, and it reached the same position. Between those songs was the second single and album opener: the majestic and beloved Babooshka. I went deep with that song back in May as I looked ahead to its fortieth anniversary and, following its release on 27th June, the single reached number-five in the U.K. charts. In the space of three singles, Bush covered so much ground! I love Babooshka’s wonderful introduction and the breaking glass sound from the Fairlight CMI we get later on. I think the introduction of the Fairlight CMI into Bush’s world offered new possibilities and added something special. Never for Ever, to that point, was her most musically-varied, and I love the fact there were a lot of musicians involved. Alongside strings, bass, and drums, Paddy Bush (her brother) brought in rarer instruments like a balalaika, sitar, koto, mandolin and the strumento de porco to give various songs unusual scents and beautifully angular sounds. Some truly exceptional albums arrived in 1980, and there was this sort of moment where Punk was fading and artists like David Bowie and Talking Heads were offering something more experimental and richer. Kate Bush, in my view, was as boundary-pushing and bold as those artists, and Never for Ever overflows with genius.

I disagree that the three singles are the only things worth getting excited about. From the urgency and oddness of Babooshka, Delius (Song of Summer) is a different beast. Bush’s ethereal and gorgeous vocals mix with Ian Bairnson’s bass vocal perfectly. Blow Away (for Bill) is one of the weaker tracks, but it is still beautifully performed – and it is an ode to musical stars who recently departed (including Minnie Riperton and Marc Bolan). Bush remarked in interviews around the time that a lot of great albums came out in 1980 as a reaction to a lot of the loss – in terms of musicians passing - and tensions that were happening in the world. All We Ever Look For, and Egypt end the first side of Never for Ever and, as you’d expect, Bush does not stand still - and neither song shares a lot of common ground! All We Ever Look For is one of Bush’s most-underrated songs. As she explained in an interview, the song was not about her:

“One of my new songs, 'All We Ever Look For', it's not about me. It's about family relationships generally. Our parents got beaten physically. We get beaten psychologically. The last line - "All we ever look for - but we never did score".' Well, that's the way it is - you do get faced sometimes with futile situations. But the answer's not to kill yourself. You have to accept it, you have to cope with it. (Derek Jewell, 'How To Write Songs And Influence People'. Sunday Times (UK), 5 October 1980)”.

I love the second side, and you get the rush of Violin, and this wonderful segue track, Night Scented Stock, before Army Dreamers. A lot of artists put out these sub-one minute songs that act as a pause or way to bridge between two very different songs. More than a filler track, Night Scented Stock is an incredibly beautiful passage where we get wordless vocals from Bush; her phrasing and utterances are sublime and dreamy! The song is more like a mini-hymn, and one cannot help but listen and be transported! Two of the best tracks on the album occur on the second side: The Wedding List, and The Infant Kiss. Bush always had a gift for storytelling and pushing beyond the simple, and we get these two marvellous songs that not a lot of people discuss today. The Wedding List was inspired by a François Truffaut's film called The Bride Wore Black (La Mariée était en noir). It tells of a groom who is accidentally murdered on the day of his wedding by a group of five people who shoot at him from a window. The bride succeeds in tracking down each one of the five and kills them in a row, including the last one who happens to be in jail. I love the black humour of the song and, in my view, it could have been released as a single and been a chart success! The Infant Kiss was inspired by the horror movie, The Innocents, which in turn was inspired by Henry James' novel, The Turn of the Screw. The story is about a governess who believes the ghost of her predecessor's dead lover is trying to possess the bodies of the children she is looking after. Not many artists would take inspiration from such sources, but Bush proved that there was nobody like her!

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1980/PHOTO CREDIT: Andy Phillips

In an interview Bush conducted with NME, she was asked about The Infant Kiss:

“I: Your songs all have different identity, very specific mood, based in part on the subject matter and one can't help but wonder in what circumstances the ideas come to you. Let's just take one, the next one - "The Infant Kiss". Where and how did that idea come to you?

K: That's from a very old British movie, I think it's a Fifties movie that was called The Innocents and it was based on a book called The Turn of the Screw. I haven't seen the film for I suppose eight years now but they showed it twice I think when I was much younger and it's a very very haunting film and the fact that it's in black and white makes it even spookier, it's very eerie. The story is that a governess goes to look after two children, a young boy and a young girl who are in fact possessed by the spirits of the previous gardener and the maid - and she doesn't know this, as far as she's concerned they're just two children. She starts noticing that when she tucks the little boy in bed that instead of giving her a little peck on the cheek he give her a very big manly passionate kiss. And in the film they really didn't go into that area very strongly, it was much more the haunting, but it always fascinated me that strange distortion of the child having a very experienced hard man inside. Something that the child could never be without the experience that a much older man would have. It seemed very disturbing and in order to make it very intimate and to make people try to understand how terrible it is for her, it's sung in the first person and it's really confusing for her, she's really terrified by what's happening.

I: I do find this such a beautiful lyric: Word of caress on their lips that speak of adult love, I want to smack by I hold back; I only want to touch. You really do create this picture of a woman who wants to respond as a woman rather than as a governess or a mother. Does the distortion of relationships in general other than just this particular one, appeal to you as a subject?

K: Yes, terribly. I think it is that distortion that makes me want to write about it and there seems to be distortion in so many areas and that's what's so fascinating, because without that distortion things would probably be so simple, so easy and it's always that little thing that makes it hard for us.

In the same interview, she discussed the balance of the commercial demands that would have been on her, in addition to the more experimental mentality she had:

“I: You mentioned that so much of it is experimental and I agree with you and we'll be talking about that - but was there pressure on you to have those commercial considerations which would be the result of your previous success?

K: Well, to be quite honest that's something that I never really consider. Commerciality is such - a word that we use a lot that sometimes gets mixed up, because in many terms commerciality is really something that people like, a lot of people like. Sometimes a very unobvious thing can in fact be commercial and really the way I go for it is just if I feel I have a good enough song to build on it and to give it all I can give it, all its highlights, the best you can and then really it has its own life then. It's not so much a matter of commerciality as rather dressing the song in the correct manner - like putting a nice suit on it instead of, you know, a pair of overalls.

Bush talked about the unconventional angles of love, and the fact that a song such as The Wedding List would take many by surprise:

“I: But the one you've written about is another tale of romance, successful and failed and a very touching one about a man who is tired a bit of his wife but when she dresses up in what we might call new clothes he falls for her all over again. Now someone might say that this is a very novel way of looking at love. Do you think of yourself as a writer of love songs?

K: I don't know. I suppose I would say that I have written some love songs but I wouldn't term that as one. Really I'm very annoyed at the way that the woman is behaving in this song because it is so stupid and in fact she's just ruining the whole situation which was very lovely - and it's only because of what's going on in her brain that she does these things so - suspicion, paranoia all these naughty energies again and it's really quite sad I think.

I: Has a great effort gone into the sound of this album, not just the music but the sound?

K: Yes. I thinks sounds are so important because that is what music is - it is the sound of the music - and the way sounds mix and move together is incredible. It is again so similar to colours and to have a pure colour and pure sounds are very similar things. In many ways I think we saw a lot of the sounds a visual things - this is the way I often interpret music, I see it visually, and so in many ways you'd interpret a mountain in the picture into a very pure guitar sound or whatever. I think everyone was very aware of sounds and the animation of it and how a certain sound could imply so much more at one piece in the song”.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush signing a copy of Never for Ever in Glasgow on 9th September, 1980

One of the most defining aspects of Never for Ever is Bush being in the producer’s role. She has assisted with Lionheart, but here she was having a much bigger say! It is clear that this freedom and responsibility was something she was keen to take on:

“I: You are the co-producer of this album with Jon Kelly. I suppose this then was your job in that regard, the direction of the sound?

K: Yes. The whole thing was so exciting for me, to actually have control of my baby for the first time. Something that I have been working for and was very nervous of too, obviously, because when you go in for the first time you really wonder if you are capable - you hope you are. Every time that we tried something and it worked it just made you feel so much braver. Of course it doesn't always work, but everyone helping and concentrating on the music, it's such a beautiful thing, it really is a wonderful experience - everyone's feelings going into the songs that you wrote perhaps in a little room somewhere in London, you know, it's all coming out on the tape”.

Hounds of Love will get a lot of love (as it should) when it turns thirty-five in September, but Never for Ever’s fortieth happens sooner. Maybe non-Kate Bush fans will not realise the significance, but I hope there is some focus on an album that remains hugely underrated and was a real evolution for Bush. I think more people should listen to the album, and it is long-overdue a reappraisal. Like several Kate Bush albums, many have just focused on the singles and assumed the rest of the material is inferior. That is not the case with Never for Ever. Bush herself might feel Never for Ever was good at the time but she was still finding herself and not at her very best. I feel Never for Ever is better than that and, having heard the album so many times through, it still affects me in different ways…

EACH time I return to it.

FEATURE: Denise Johnson: A Timeless Talent: The Great Lesser-Known Voices on Dance, Trip Hop and Club Classics: The Playlist

FEATURE:

 

Denise Johnson: A Timeless Talent

IN THIS PHOTO: Denise Johnson

The Great Lesser-Known Voices on Dance, Trip Hop and Club Classics: The Playlist

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EARLIER in the week…

PHOTO CREDIT: Pete Smith

the music world said goodbye to the great Denise Johnson. Many people might not know her face or name, but you would have heard her voice! It was an especially shocking piece of news, as Johnson seemed to be healthy and in good spirits. She was looking forward to the release of her debut solo album, Where Does It Go, and it was going to be a very busy time for her. The music world have been paying tribute all week, and it has rocked so many people to the core. This is how The Guardian reacted:

“Manchester’s nostalgia industrial complex tends to privilege its white men: Joy Division and Tony Wilson are the ones to have had biopics made about them, with another about Shaun Ryder on the way. But these rightful remembrances can crowd out figures such as Barry Adamson and Rowetta: black, genre-fluid pioneers amid the city’s wildly exciting music scene in the 1980s and early 90s. Vocalist Denise Johnson, who died this week aged 56, was another of them at the vanguard.

“Even though she was a mate,” remembers Johnny Marr, “you felt it was a privilege her being on your song. She kind of gold-plated songs – you knew that the track was going to acquire a few extra gold stars.”

Born into the 1960s working-class Manchester encapsulated by the photographs of Shirley Baker, Johnson was brought up by her Jamaican mother in the shadow of the imposing modernist Hulme Crescents estate. An early passion for Manchester City had to be suppressed as a child due to fears of racial abuse on the terraces, though she would later become an enthusiastic and eloquent advocate of the club. As soon as the infant Denise was aware of singing, however, it became her life, initially schooled on an eclectic syllabus of Tamla Motown, reggae and Hollywood musicals.

Listening to Johnson’s gorgeous voice, you could be forgiven for assuming that her roots were in gospel – instead, she was shaped by the far more prosaic world of the north-west club scene, singing on the Phoenix Nights circuit as part of a four-piece cabaret act, complete with cassette backing tape. She said she was fired for being “too opinionated”, but an entirely different clubland would be waiting to claim her for its own.

In 1989, Johnson joined the British neo-soul outfit Fifth of Heaven – her velvety Just a Little More is an underappreciated cut from that time – but she grew disillusioned with the constraints of the genre. “It sounded so complacent and subdued,” she told Vox magazine in 1994. “And it had no fire. I need fire.” She guested on tracks around Manchester, with the debut single for the Creation Records rave outfit Hypnotone laying the template for a career.”.

I have been inspired by The People’s Playlist on Lauren Laverne’s BBC Radio 6 Music breakfast show from Thursday. To salute Denise Johnson, she asked listeners for those hits featuring singers that we do not hear a lot about. There was a slew of Dance and Club hits in the 1980s and 1990s where the singer was either uncredited or they were not as lauded as the artist who made the song – or their name is not as famous as it should be! From Basement Jaxx and Primal Scream through to Urban Cookie Collective and Black Box, we have grown up around these songs that have soundtracked some of our best years.  After hearing of Denise Johnson’s death, I was compelled to listen back to the songs she featured on, and I have been musing about the classic tracks with incredible vocals from relatively unknown singers. I am focusing on women and their voices and, to add to the playlist Laverne collated for her show this week, I am putting out a mix of songs where we might be familiar with the voice but not the person who performed it. Here is a small selection of Dance, Trip Hop and Club classics…

PHOTO CREDIT: @5tep5/Unsplash

OF immense proportions.

FEATURE: The August Playlist: Vol. 1: I Want Something More in My Future

FEATURE:

 

The August Playlist

IN THIS PHOTO: Billie Eilish/PHOTO CREDIT: Arielle Bobb-Willis

Vol. 1: I Want Something More in My Future

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WHEN it comes to awesome and packed…

IN THIS PHOTO: Fontaines D.C.

weeks in music, they do not get much bigger than this! There are new tracks from Billie Eilish, Róisín Murphy, Beyoncé (with Shatta Wale and Major Lazer), Fontaines D.C., The Go-Go’s, Robert Plant, Sheryl Crow, Lana Del Rey, Angel Olsen, Alanis Morissette, Jorja Smith, Brandy, Marilyn Manson, Everything Everything, Glass Animals, and The Lemon Twigs! It is a rammed and ready playlist featuring every style and texture you could possibly ever want! If you require some spring and motivation to get you fully into the weekend, then this playlist is definitely going to do the job! In one of the busiest and best weeks of music this year so far, we have been treated to…

IN THIS PHOTO: Róisín Murphy

SO much bounty.

ALL PHOTOS/IMAGES (unless credited otherwise): Artists

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PHOTO CREDIT: Lars Crommelinck

Billie Eilish – my future

PHOTO CREDIT: Adrian Samson

Róisín Murphy – Something More (Extended Mix)

Beyoncé, Shatta Wale, Major Lazer – ALREADY

Fontaines D.C. – A Lucid Dream

The Go-Go’s - Club Zero

Angel Olsen - Whole New Mess

Alanis Morissette – Missing the Miracle

PHOTO CREDIT: Clark Franklyn

Jorja Smith - By Any Means

Tricky (ft. Marta) - Thinking Of

Brandy - Borderline

PHOTO CREDIT: Lindsay Ellary

Phoebe Bridgers - I Know the End

Mina Tindle (ft. Sufjan Stevens)  - Give a Little Love

Marilyn Manson - WE ARE CHAOS

Black Honey – Beaches

Laura Veirs - Burn Too Bright

Holly Humberstone - Fake Plastic Trees

Glass Animals - It's All So Incredibly Loud

Calva Louise - I Wish

Everything Everything - Violet Sun

Robert Plant – Charlie Patton Highway (Turn it Up, Pt. I)

PHOTO CREDIT: Lillie Eiger

Flohio – Glamourised

Phoebe Green – Reinvent

Hinds - Spanish Bombs (The Clash Cover)

Toni Braxton – Dance

Lana Del Rey – LA Who Am I to Love You (from the Audiobook, Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass)

Alex Kapranos & Clara Luciani - Summer Wine

Biffy Clyro - Weird Leisure

Izzy Bizu – Tough Pill

Matt Berry - Take a Bow

Liela Moss - Turn Your Back Around

Ward Thomas – Sweet Time

Sheryl Crow – Woman in the White House (2020 Version)

PHOTO CREDIT: 4thFloorCreative

Koffee – Pressure

SOAK (ft. Gemma Doherty) - I'm Alive

Sam Smith (ft. Burna Boy) - My Oasis

PHOTO CREDIT: Gabriel Green

The Lemon Twigs - No One Holds You Closer (Than the One You Haven't Met)

Hannah Wants, Eskuche – The ISH

Dizzy – Beatrice

PHOTO CREDIT: Stephanie Sian-Smith

Ella Eyre, Yxng Bane – Careless

Peaches - Solid Gold, Easy Action

FEATURE: A Buyer’s Guide: Part Thirteen: Public Enemy

FEATURE:

  

A Buyer’s Guide

Part Thirteen: Public Enemy

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AS it is the sixtieth birthday of Public Enemy’s Chuck D…

PHOTO CREDIT: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

today (1st August), I thought it was high time I included the group in A Buyer’s Guide! I am a big fan of the Long Island-formed band, and I have been following their work for a while. I would count It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back among my twenty favourite albums, and they just put out an album, Loud Is Not Enough (under the name Public Enemy Radio). To celebrate one of the most influential and powerful Hip-Hop groups ever, I have selected the four essential albums that everyone needs to own; one that is underrated and deserves wider appreciation; their current album, in addition to a useful book that is worth reading. Whether you are new to Public Enemy or have been with them since the start, I hope this guide provides…

YOU with some useful tips.

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The Four Essential Albums

Yo! Bum Rush the Show

Release Date: 10th February, 1987

Labels: Def Jam/Columbia

Producers: Rick Rubin (exec.)/Bill Stephney/The Bomb Squad

Standout Tracks: You’re Gonna Get Yours/Timebomb/Yo! Bum Rush the Show

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/Public-Enemy-Yo-Bum-Rush-The-Show/master/50985

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/0YI9ihAQIC63jyDuP5d6DN

Review:

“Sometimes, debut albums present an artist in full bloom, with an assured grasp on their sound and message. Sometimes, debut albums are nothing but promise, pointing toward what the artist could do. Public Enemy's gripping first album, Yo! Bum Rush the Show, manages to fill both categories: it's an expert, fully realized record of extraordinary power, but it pales in comparison with what came merely a year later. This is very much a Rick Rubin-directed production, kicking heavy guitars toward the front, honing the loops, rhythms, and samples into a roar with as much in common with rock as rap. The Bomb Squad are apparent, but they're in nascent stage -- certain sounds and ideas that would later become trademarks bubble underneath the surface. And the same thing could be said for Chuck D, whose searing, structured rhymes and revolutionary ideas are still being formed. This is still the sound of a group comfortable rocking the neighborhood, but not yet ready to enter the larger national stage. But, damn if they don't sound like they've already conquered the world! Already, there is a tangible, physical excitement to the music, something that hits the gut with relentless force, as the mind races to keep up with Chuck's relentless rhymes or Flavor Flav's spastic outbursts. And if there doesn't seem to be as many classics here -- "You're Gonna Get Yours," "Miuzi Weighs a Ton," "Public Enemy No. 1" -- that's only in comparison to what came later, since by any other artist an album this furious, visceral, and exciting would unquestionably be heralded as a classic. From Public Enemy, this is simply a shade under classic status” – AllMusic

Choice Cut: Public Enemy No. 1

It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back

Release Date: 28th June, 1988

Labels: Def Jam/Columbia

Producers: Chuck D/Rick Rubin (exec.)/Hank Shocklee

Standout Tracks: Bring the Noise/Don’t Believe the Hype/Night of the Living Baseheads

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/Public-Enemy-It-Takes-A-Nation-Of-Millions-To-Hold-Us-Back/master/30296

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/3PxXiYU3PjymOEE22PewGZ

Review:

“Nation of Millions netted Public Enemy the elusive American audience and platinum sales their debut couldn’t, and it changed the face of rap music. The hip-hop landscape of ‘89-’90 was dotted with sample-heavy sons of Nation. Chuck sent early copies of the album out west to Dre and Ice Cube, and N.W.A.’s landmark Straight Outta Compton cropped up like a gangsta rap rejoinder to the Bomb Squad ethos. (Cube would later tap the team for production on his post-N.W.A. solo debut AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted.) De La Soul’s 3 Feet High and Rising and the Beastie Boys’ Paul’s Boutique added a playful, psychedelic charm to the proceedings. Nation’s message of black self-sufficiency resonated through the proudly Afrocentric art of A Tribe Called Quest, X Clan, Brand Nubian and more. Beyond the ’80s, the music of Nation of Millions would continue to find new life in unexpected places: Weezer’s 1996 comeback single “El Scorcho” nicked its “I’m the epitome of public enemy” barb from “Don’t Believe the Hype,” and Jay-Z’s 2006 post-retirement salvo “Show Me What You Got” is a nod to Nation’s “Show ‘Em Whatcha Got” – Pitchfork

Choice Cut: She Watch Channel Zero?!

Fear of a Black Planet

Release Date: 10th April 1990

Labels: Def Jam/Columbia

Producers: Chuck D/Eric "Vietnam" Sadler/Hank Shocklee/Keith Shocklee

Standout Tracks: Welcome to the Terrordome/Fear of a Black Planet/Revolutionary Generation

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/Public-Enemy-Fear-Of-A-Black-Planet/master/30255

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/0aFNb4RDk2hmKKLa0bzXNz

Review:

“At the time of its release in March 1990 -- just a mere two years after It Takes a Nation of Millions -- nearly all of the attention spent on Public Enemy's third album, Fear of a Black Planet, was concentrated on the dying controversy over Professor Griff's anti-Semitic statements of 1989, and how leader Chuck D bungled the public relations regarding his dismissal. References to the controversy are scattered throughout the album -- and it fueled the incendiary lead single, "Welcome to the Terrordome" -- but years later, after the furor has died down, what remains is a remarkable piece of modern art, a record that ushered in the '90s in a hail of multiculturalism and kaleidoscopic confusion. It also easily stands as the Bomb Squad's finest musical moment. Where Millions was all about aggression -- layered aggression, but aggression nonetheless -- Fear of a Black Planet encompasses everything, touching on seductive grooves, relentless beats, hard funk, and dub reggae without blinking an eye. All the more impressive is that this is one of the records made during the golden age of sampling, before legal limits were set on sampling, so this is a wild, endlessly layered record filled with familiar sounds you can't place; it's nearly as heady as the Beastie Boys' magnum opus, Paul's Boutique, in how it pulls from anonymous and familiar sources to create something totally original and modern. While the Bomb Squad were casting a wider net, Chuck D's writing was tighter than ever, with each track tackling a specific topic (apart from the aforementioned "Welcome to the Terrordome," whose careening rhymes and paranoid confusion are all the more effective when surrounded by such detailed arguments), a sentiment that spills over to Flavor Flav, who delivers the pungent black humor of "911 Is a Joke," perhaps the best-known song here. Chuck gets himself into trouble here and there -- most notoriously on "Meet the G That Killed Me," where he skirts with homophobia -- but by and large, he's never been so eloquent, angry, or persuasive as he is here. This isn't as revolutionary or as potent as Millions, but it holds together better, and as a piece of music, this is the best hip-hop has ever had to offer” – AllMusic

Choice Cut: 911 is a Joke

Apocalypse 91... The Enemy Strikes Black

Release Date: 1st October, 1991

Labels: Def Jam/Columbia

Producers: Gary G-Wiz The Bomb Squad (exec.)/The Imperial Grand Ministers of Funk

Standout Tracks: Nighttrain/Can't Truss It/Bring tha Noize

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/Public-Enemy-Apocalypse-91-The-Enemy-Strikes-Black/master/30225

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/2UqKqZofb9pdapHk4HzRUo

Review:

“When Chuck calls out, ”Here comes the drums!” on ”Truss,” he invokes the music’s African rhythmic base. Between the syncopated verses are melodic interludes that spell the song’s march. This contrast between African and European musical modes parallels the ambivalent feelings that are part of the black American experience.

Apocalypse ’91 gives us PE’s hardest-hitting music ever. Hank Shocklee’s Bomb Squad production turns the rhetoric into kinetic sensations. Keening noises rise out of steamroller grooves. Two tracks, ”Lost at Birth” and ”Rebirth,” reassemble key sounds and words from PE’s past into edgy, jazz-metal abstractions.

At a time when some West Coast rappers concentrate on unfocused anger and profanity, this album finds Public Enemy theorizing about black discontent with a close-up, street-life focus, while insisting that rap be more than the whine of crybabies or thugs. Apocalypse ’91 has an emotional and intellectual sweep, advancing political awareness along with fellow feeling, enlightenment with pleasure” – Entertainment Weekly

Choice Cut: Shut ‘em Down

The Underrated Gem

How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul?

Release Date: 7th August, 2007

Labels: SlamJamz/Redeye

Producers: Gary G-Wiz/Amani K. Smith/Flavor Flav

Standout Tracks: Black Is Back/Harder Than You Think/Amerikan Gangster

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/Public-Enemy-How-You-Sell-Soul-To-A-Soulless-People-Who-Sold-Their-Soul/release/1093986

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3jnhHyPedm6hlPStXitAsK

Review:

“Starting in a remarkably upbeat mood, HYSSTASPWSTS turns darker when the state of modern R’n’B gets its come-uppance on tracks like “Sex Drugs And Violence “ (featuring the conscious rhymes of a guesting KRS-One), “Frankenstar” or “Amerikan Gangster”. The days of Hank Shocklee’s Bomb Squad may be gone, but Gary G Wiz’s production incorporates enough funk, psychedelic rock and rib-crushing beats to make Public Enemy’s sound almost as insistent as their halcyon days.

Even the man who seemingly single-handedly tried to destroy his band’s legacy, Flavor Flav, reins in his japery and turns in two absolutely fine self-promotional tracks as well as an compelling autobiographical tale on “Bridge Of Pain”. By “The Long And Whining Road” (where Chuck even namechecks his favourite Dylan tracks) the whole vibe’s turned slightly surreal. “Eve Of Destruction” - Barry Maguire’s protest song updated for today’s middle eastern conflict - should convince any doubters that PE still have plenty of thought-provoking moves left.

The sleevenotes address the age-old concerns of any artist who’s suffered at the hands of an industry bent on restricting the output and distribution of musicians’ work. This may obscure the deeper message of PE that resides in the grooves, but in the end this album speaks for itself. A whole generation may just now pay lip service to the legacy of Chuck D etc. but HYSSTASPWSTS stands tall on its own terms” – BBC

Choice Cut: Eve of Destruction

The Latest/Final Album

 

Loud Is Not Enough (As Public Enemy Radio)

Release Date: 1st April, 2020

Label: The SpitSLAM Record Label Group

Standout Tracks: Food as a Machine Gun/Man Listen/The Kids Ain’t Alright

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/Enemy-Radio-Loud-Is-Not-Enough/release/15028551

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0oilBN99CQEXZYMRZrQOCj

Review:

“Enemy Radio is composed of Chuck D, DJ Lord Aswod, and Oakland-based rapper and educator Jahi Torman. It’s supposed to signify a return to Public Enemy’s “two turntables, a mic, and a massive sound system” roots. Jahi has known the crew since 1999 and has recorded music with the crew since the mid-2010s; he’s the frontman for PE2.0, the “next generation” of Public Enemy.

Sonically, Loud Is Not Enough is more Yo! Bum Rush the Show (1987) than Fear of a Black Planet (1990). The beats, produced entirely by David “C-Doc” Synder (a.k.a. the Warhammer), still feel like they’d fit on a Public Enemy album, but they’re often more stark, while still hitting hard. In terms of subject matter, Chuck D and Jahi stay true to their conscious roots, seeking to inspire others to action, as well as educate the younger generation. The project is tight and compact, running at about 32 minutes, but the crew says a lot in a short time period.

The album ends on a fairly melancholy note with “The Kids Ain’t Alright.” It’s fairly pessimistic in its outlook on the future, with Chuck lamenting as he watches this generation’s youth fall into traps set by society. Daddy-O, of Stetsasonic fame, ends the song by decrying the decay of the culture surrounding hip-hop music. “We called Latifah ‘Queen’; you call Megan ‘bitch,’” he notes.

Just as much as any other time in Public Enemy’s existence, the culture needs Chuck D. He’s older and wiser, but still able to examine threats to the oppressed with potent messages and delivery. I’m certainly hoping that as time goes on, whatever viral marketing idea Chuck used in the hopes of hyping Loud Is Not Enough fades into the background, so that the album itself can get the respect it deserves” – Albumism

Choice Cut: STD (Slavery Transmitted Disease)

The Public Enemy Book

Public Enemy's It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (33 1/3)

Author: Christopher Weingarten

Publication Date: 21st June, 2010

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Synopsis:

“Christopher R. Weingarten provides a thrilling account of how the Bomb Squad produced such a singular-sounding record: engineering, sampling, scratching, constructing, deconstructing, reconstructing - even occasionally stomping on vinyl that sounded too clean. Using production techniques that have never been duplicated, the Bomb Squad plundered and reconfigured their own compositions to make frenetic splatter collages; they played samples by hand together in a room like a rock band to create a "not quite right" tension; they hand-picked their samples from only the ugliest squawks and sirens.

Weingarten treats the samples used on Nation Of Millions as molecules of a greater whole, slivers of music that retain their own secret histories and folk traditions. Can the essence of a hip-hop record be found in the motives, emotions and energies of the artists it samples? Is it likely that something an artist intended 20 years ago would re-emerge anew? This is a compelling and thoroughly researched investigation that tells the story of one of hip-hop's landmark albums” – Rough Trade

Order: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/christopher-weingarten/33-1-3-public-enemy-s-it-takes-a-nation-of-millions-to-hold-us-back

FEATURE: Sexism, Discrimination, Abuse and Misogyny in the Music Industry: Will We See a Turn Towards Change Soon?

FEATURE:

 

Sexism, Discrimination, Abuse and Misogyny in the Music Industry

IN THIS PHOTO: Haim (from left): Alana, Este and Danielle/PHOTO CREDIT: Drew Le Fore Escriva/The Guardian

Will We See a Turn Towards Change Soon?

___________

IT might seem like music has gone…

PHOTO CREDIT: @marvelous/Unsplash

into a state of hibernation, as not many gigs are happening, and there is a very strange feel about things at the moment. Plans are being made for next year and, recently, the nominations for this year’s Mercury Prize were announced. The most positive thing to come out of the shortlist was the fact that, for the first time in the award’s history, women outnumbered men on the list – either as solo artists or the lead of a band. We should be at a place where it is seen as normal that women are equal or outnumbering men in terms of award nominations, but it is still a big surprise as disparity continues. Though music has slowed and things are not as they were before, that is not to say that issues such as misogyny and sexism have gone away. Alongside continuing misogyny and sexism, women are still on the receiving end of harassment at festivals. I have read a couple of stories recently relating to sexual assault and toxicity at music festivals and, for years it has been a huge issue. One of the music world’s biggest names, Hayley Williams, recently talked about her experiences and those of her friends:

“Hayley Williams opened up about the stories of sexual assault and abuse she's been reading from friends and peers in the music industry lately in a lengthy tweet on Monday night (July 20) in which the Paramore singer and solo star sent her love and support to those who've suffered while revealing her own experience as a frontwoman in the emo scene.

"It makes my stomach hurt and my eyes turn red," Williams said about unspecified stories of sexual and other forms of abuse at the hands of men in bands or in other parts of the music industry. "It's so crazy to me how frontwomxn can be such powerful inspiration to so many young people, who see us as very much 'in control' of ourselves and our immediate surroundings when we're up on a stage."

Williams wrote that she knows that powerful feeling, which is very real for her, transcending "any notion of gender" and, for her, is more than the sum of her parts when she's on stage. "But the truth is, all us 'music people' are first and foremost human beings," she wrote, adding that female lead singers are vulnerable and feel shame just like any other young person.

While Williams did not specify which stories she's been reading, her post came amid recent reports of alleged sexual abuse and misconduct leveled at musicians and record labels and it found her thinking out loud about the vulnerability of young male rock performers that can transform due to the ingrained toxicity in the scene. "They are most definitely vulnerable too and unfortunately -- whether consciously or not -- wrapped up in the toxicity of a culture that has existed long before most of us became a factor in it," she wrote”.

IN THIS PHOTO: Hayley Williams/PHOTO CREDIT: Natasha Moustache/Getty Images

This year has been a challenging one for the industry – more so than usual -, and there is no certainty regarding gigs next year and whether a lot of our venues will still be standing. That is fair enough, but I would hope that, among these recovery plans, there is going to be discussion regarding new frameworks and protective measures in place that protects women across the industry. I will talk about sexism in a minute but, in terms of talking about assault and abuse against women, the figures do not seem to improving - the reality is bleak, and recent stories involving Ian Svenonius and The Killers’ touring crew is bleak! I am aware that music festivals are hard to police but, as next year’s festivals will be the busiest and most-anticipated ever, it is going to cause extra strain, and it also means that there will be countless cases of harassment and assault against female festival-goers. I would recommend people investigate this recent article from Louder Sound, as it talks about the ongoing issues at festivals and wider afield:

“In recent years, the wider #MeToo movement has prompted women who have been the victims of assault and abuse at the hands of musicians to speak up. A wave of allegations against prominent musicians, like Brand New’s Jesse Lacey in 2017, encouraged women to come forward with their stories.

However, as the root causes of that abuse have not been stamped out, and the perpetrators not held properly accountable, little has changed.

PHOTO CREDIT: @globelet/Unsplash

There are a few factors that make abuse more endemic within alternative scenes – like hardcore, emo, pop punk and metal – than other areas of the music industry. One, an overwhelming percentage of musicians and fans in alternative music are male. Two, the age gaps between artists and their teenaged fans is often broad. Three – and this is key – artists hold power over their female fans. In many cases, the reverence that fans have for their favourite singers and musicians makes it difficult to realise that they’re being taken advantage of”.

I wonder whether there will be a #MeToo movement for music. Compared to Hollywood, I would imagine sexual abuse, sexism and assault is just as common, and most women in the music industry would have experienced some form of sexism. I have brought the subject up now as, a) I felt that this year would be a year for change and progression. COVID-19 has sort of put a spanner in the works, but the fact women are still speaking about sexism and abuse so frequently is worrying. Also, b), I feel that the fact women are dominating and producing the best work around is not been reflected in terms of opportunities, equality and a wider platform. I hope that next year will not only see a resurgence in live gigs and security for the industry, but greater rights for women, whether this begins with discussions or funding. In the U.K., a lot of money has been pledged to help our arts scene survive this tough time.

PHOTO CREDIT: @mihaisurdu/Unsplash

I would like to imagine that a small chunk of this money would be earmarked to bring about parity, improvement and new measures that means women are not only better safeguarded and protected when it comes to sexual assault, but their talent, importance and voices are heard – from female producers and songwriters through to artists and everyone in between! As this article explores, female artists alone have to deal with so much scrutiny, double standards and sexism:

“All singers are constantly being judged and scrutinized under a magnifying glass every second of their every day, but female artists are known to always get the short end of the stick. In fact, any aspect of their lives is the subject of discussion and careless rumors, with their stories being constantly paraded on the covers and headlines of flashy gossip magazines.

Their body is continuously judged – as it never seems to be ‘thin enough’ or ‘curvy enough’. Their fashion sense is picked apart by wannabe fashionistas – as it is either ‘too boring’ or ‘too sexy’. Their love life and behavior are analyzed by cheap press reporters who act like part-time psychologists, and who feel like they are entitled to have an opinion on a stranger’s life. In the public eye, female artists are either never enough or just way too much, and that must be incredibly frustrating for them.

Therefore, it is no wonder why there are so few women who actually make it into the entertainment industry, as according to a study from 2017, 16.8% of artists are female, whereas 83.2% are men.

PHOTO CREDIT: @henmankk/Unsplash

Even women who work behind the scenes in music face an abundance of misogyny, however different it may be from what female singers experience.

Women who work as record producers, composers or songwriters face incredibly tough challenges every day, trials that can be compared to what women in STEM fields (i.e. science, technology, engineering, and math) go through: they are not respected or taken seriously by the public, and they are always the second choice, after their male colleagues. Female producers need to be the best of the best to be recognized for their talent, and even then, that doesn’t happen very often”.

 Although the Mercury Prize has seen equality for the first time, and Glastonbury’s intended 2020 bill was gender-equal, big award shows like the BRITs still have a problem with gender. The fix is not going to be overnight and easy, but I am looking on social media and seeing daily tweets from women relating to sexism and their negative experiences. Whether that is a new artist being overlooked on radio playlists or reading derogatory comments in press articles, it is appalling! Big artists, too, are not immune from sexism. Haim have delivered one of this year’s best albums in Women in Music: Pt. III, and one would imagine they not have to shout for attention or struggle to be appreciated.

As this article from Music News outlines, the band tackled the issue of sexism on their current album:

“Haim have opened up about the sexism they've encountered in the music industry on their new album.

The all-female sibling trio, comprised of Este, Danielle, and Alana Haim, are one of the hottest Los Angeles pop-rock outfits, but in a chat with Variety, they revealed interviewers were fixated on their gender up until recently.

Admitting that they would constantly be asked, "What it's like to be...?" in "every single interview", Danielle said: "We haven't gotten asked the question this record cycle, which is also another reason why we wanted to call the album Women in Music. So it's actually great."

The new record, titled Women in Music Pt. III, appears to tackle sexism from the outset, with the cover art portraying The Wire hitmakers behind the counter at their beloved Canter's Deli in Los Angeles, posing in front of a sea of sausages.

Danielle, the group's main songwriter and lead vocalist, confessed the title is "mostly funny. But we also thought, 'Why don't we just put it into our music and tell our fans some of the experiences that we've had?'"

IN THIS PHOTO: Dua Lipa/PHOTO CREDIT: Hugo Comte

Maybe the root cause of sexism, misogyny and ignorance comes from the fact that men still dominate when it comes to positions of power. It may seem terribly naïve of me to say that quality and talent should be recognised, and that men need to stop ignoring and objectifying female artists. The more artists who speak out, the more the discussion continues. Another world-class album from this year arrived in the form of Future Nostalgia from Dua Lipa. Again, Lipa is an artist who has faced various forms of discrimination and sexism. I think one of the common threads is the way women are viewed and how there is this standard for men – where they are not criticised and told how to dress -, and a different one for women. NME explained more in an article from earlier this year:

“In a new interview with The Sunday Times, Lipa discussed ‘Boys Will Be Boys’ – a new track from her ‘Future Nostalgia’ album – which explores men’s treatment of women, saying she hoped the song would start a “conversation” because these were “real things [she has] gone through.”

“There is a lot less scrutiny of male pop stars,” Lipa said, adding: “…the way women are described compared to men, it’s, like, she is wearing shorts? ‘She puts on a leggy display!’ I just feel I’m here because I do music, but when people write articles like that about me, it takes it away from my talent and makes me a thing. An object. People like to just objectify women”.

In a year where the music industry has suffered shockwaves, one would hope that, when we are out the other side, there will be a reappraisal of the way women are viewed! There have been small improvements in the last couple of years, but things seem so painfully lopsided still regarding women’s rights and balance. The last female artists I want to bring in is Beyoncé. As one of the most influential women in music, she knows how important she is to many other women out there - and it seems like she has also had enough. When she delivered a graduation speech earlier in the year, she discussed sexism:

“She also touched on the sexism that is still prevalent in the music industry and how she had to carve her own path to success. Although the process was “terrifying” in her own words, building her own company was a major turning point in her life, “I know how hard it is to step out and bet on yourself.”

“The entertainment business is still very sexist. It’s still very male-dominated and as a woman, I did not see enough female role models given the opportunity to what I knew I had to do — to run my label, and management company, to direct my films and produce my tours that meant ownership, owning my masters, owning my art, owning my future and writing my own story. Not enough Black women had a seat at the table. So I had to go and chop down that wood and build my own table. Then I had to invite the best there was to have a seat. That meant hiring women, men outsiders, underdogs, people that were overlook and waiting to be seen,” she said.

She touched on how race and gender played a part in music corporations overlooking some talented candidates.

“Many of the best creatives and business people, who although supremely qualified and talented, were turned down over and over as executives at major corporations because they were female or because of racial disparity. And I’ve been very proud to provide them with a place at my table. One of the main purposes of my art for many years has been dedicated to showing the beauty of Black people to the world, our history, our profundity and the value of Black lives. I’ve tried my best to pull down the veil of appeasement to those who may feel uncomfortable with our excellence,” she said”.

From Beyoncé’s impassioned speech to Taylor Swift’s video for The Man taking shots at everyday sexism, Janelle Monáe attacking the misogyny that is rife, it seems that some serious work needs to happen! One area where sexism and gender imbalance is rife is to do with songwriting and production credits. In this L.A. Times article, there are some concerning statistics:

“In the Grammy Awards arena, females have fared best as new artist and song of the year contenders, averaging 36.9% and 24.6% of nominations over eight years studied. Come Sunday, 44.4% of the song of the year nominees are women, and 46.2% of new artist contenders are female.

By contrast, among nominations for overall record of the year (which recognizes vocal performance, production and engineering) and album of the year categories, an average of 8.2% have gone to females since 2012, and just 2.5% for producer of the year, in the form of a single nomination in 2019 for producer Linda Perry.

IN THIS PHOTO: Beyoncé

Looking more broadly to the recordings that have fared best on the Billboard Hot 100, the numbers become significantly more skewed: Last year just 14.4% of the 3,874 songwriters responsible for the most popular 800 songs over the study’s eight-year span were women, a statistically insignificant blip above the eight-year average of 12.5%. That figure has remained nearly static over time: in 2012, 11% of songwriters who crafted the top 100 songs that year were female.

The disparity in the world of record production is even more staggering: 5% of 2019’s top 100 recordings were produced by a woman; the eight-year average is 2.6% women to 97.4% men.

“The music industry has virtually erased female producers, particularly women of color, from the popular charts,” Smith said. “As producers fill a leading creative role, it’s essential to ensure that women from all backgrounds are being considered and hired throughout the industry. Moreover, the industry itself must continue to expand its commitment to representing the voices and talent of women in all aspects of the business”.

I have thrown a lot of information in the mix, but all of this is recent. Nothing new is being revealed here. Although, as I said, there have been changes in some areas, overall, the music industry has a huge problem with sexism and misogyny! As we are in a period of relative quiet regarding gigs, it would be a good time for festival organisers to ensure that next year’s festivities are aimed at keeping women as safe as possible – the same goes for venues.

PHOTO CREDIT: @dole777/Unsplash

I think there has been a change whereby people are being activated and motivated through social media, and there is a definite desire for evolution. I feel the problem is now as it has been: those in power are normally men, and they are not often incentivised to change things. If they perceive everything is okay, then they will not do much to upset the apple cart. The fact we have testimony from big artists and countless social media post from women in the industry sharing their experiences shows that doing nothing is not an option! Whilst there are very few gigs right now, that only briefly stops one problem among myriad ones. From a lack of exposure for female producers and encouragement for women to get into the studio, to media and record label scrutiny and sexist attitudes towards female talent, this could be a time for new pledges and a change in attitudes! I do think a bit of money would help set up bodies and organisations – aside from the ones that are there – that exclusively deal with making the music industry much safer and fairer for women. I do think a #MeToo movement is needed, and it could flourish and effect change. I think those in power need to take accountability, and reports regarding sexual assault at festivals and artists like Haim speaking about their struggles should open eyes. From the amazing albums released this year to record labels, venues and every corner of the music industry, women are essential and hugely important! It is tragic that, in 2020, we still need to have these conversations. Change and true progress needs to happen now but, to be fair…

IT should have happened years ago!

FEATURE: Shape of You: Ed Sheeran on Addiction and the Early Pressure of Fame: The Expectations Artists Face

FEATURE:

Shape of You

IN THIS PHOTO: Ed Sheeran

Ed Sheeran on Addiction and the Early Pressure of Fame: The Expectations Artists Face

___________

A few things have occurred in the music world…

that have compelled me to write a feature. I will explore the legacy of Denise Johnson this weekend, but I was caught by a story that appeared online concerning Ed Sheeran. I can’t count myself as one of his fans and, when it comes to his music, I have been unkind in the past. Whilst I am not a lover of his music, I have always respected him as a person, as it seems like he had a pretty long road to acknowledgment and, when his music did get out there and started to become popular, the pressure would have been immense. Now, he seems to have a comfortable life with his wife Cherry Seaborn, and he is able to be more selective regarding the gigging he does, as he has amassed quite a fortune. He has worked hard for it and, whatever you think of his music, one has to feel sympathy towards him, as we do not really think about these artists that are capitulated to fame. I think back to the 1990s when artists like Britney Spears burst through, and what things were like behind the scenes. One assumes that stardom and success would be nothing but a blessing for an artist like Ed Sheeran but, when you consider all the touring and exposure, it would have been a real struggle. Sheeran has talked about his issues with addiction and binge eating. This BBC article explains more:

 “Ed Sheeran has revealed how his "very addictive personality" led him to binge on food and alcohol during the early days of his success.

Speaking at an online summit on anxiety and wellbeing, the star said he had suffered panic attacks and hated the way he looked after becoming famous.

He hit a particularly rough patch during his 2014-15 world tour.

"I felt, 'What was the point?' In a dark way, like, 'Why am I around? What is the point?'" he said.

The star said credited his wife, Cherry, and a more healthy lifestyle for helping him turn his life around.

"She exercises a lot, so I started going on runs with her. She eats quite healthily so I started eating quite healthily. She doesn't drink that much so I wasn't drinking," he said. "I think that all changed things."

Sheeran said the 180-date world tour to promote his 2014 album X, was his lowest point.

"I would stay up and drink all night and then sleep on the bus," he said. "The buses would park underneath the arenas and I'd sleep on the bus all day, then wake up and then come out, do the show, drink, get back on the bus and I didn't see sunlight for maybe four months.

"It's all fun and games at the start. it's all rock and roll, and then like it starts getting sad. That was probably like the lowest that I've been and I kind of ballooned in weight."

Sheeran was signed to Elton John's management company at the start of his career - and he said that reading his mentor's autobiography had prompted a few realisations about his own lifestyle.

"There are so many things that he did that I do," the star explained.

"He would be like, 'I would just go on an ice cream binge and eat four desserts until I threw up', and I was like, 'I've done that before'.

"Or his martini binges, where he sees how many martinis he can drink. And I'm like, 'I've done that before too'.

"With addiction, its very hard to moderate but moderation is the key".

I am glad that he is more stable now, and things could have been very different considering the levels of his addiction and the fact that he would have been touring and making music at the same time – the energy this would have taken out of Sheeran is startling! Hearing about Sheeran’s experiences has made me look at modern music now and how there are so many upcoming and promising artists who might be in the same position. Not all will have addictive personalities like Sheeran but, as I have written about mental-health in music before, I think there are going to be a lot of artists out there who can identify with Sheeran and his struggle. I am not placing the blame on any one area of the music industry but I think, at a time when social media and streaming figures are as important as gigs and radio play, there is an awful lot for artists to take in and deal with. I think streaming figures and numbers is one huge reason why a lot of artists suffer from mental-health issues and do, like Sheeran, turn to some form of excess and addiction. This interesting article argues why numbers don’t reflect the value of musicians: 

“Listeners often look to the numbers to choose which music to listen to and to measure an artist’s success. “If a song has a lot of streams, it must be good”, conventional thinking says. But when musicians put too much stock into the numbers associated with their own music, it can limit their creativity, usher negativity into their careers, and distract from their music.

PHOTO CREDIT: @morningbrew/Unsplash

Because numbers in music can easily be interpreted as indicators of status, many musicians get wrapped up in endless quests to boost their streaming and social media standings. This is where an earnest desire to share music with people can morph into an unsatisfying game of points where the definition of creative success is narrowed down to whether your numbers go up or not. It’s the opposite of creating authentic, meaningful music, which is what your focus should be as a musician.

Streams, album sales, and Instagram likes can’t tell you your value and potential as a musician, (or a person in general for that matter). You absolutely should strive to reach as many people as you can through your music if that’s your goal as a musician. But believing a song has value because it’s streamed a lot (or that another has less because it isn’t) misses the point. Myriad human-related factors like your unique fanbase and the way you promote your music as well as things out of your control like algorithms and trends typically determine whether audiences latch on to new music or not”.

I did not want to make this a huge feature that focuses on every possible stress and pressure on young artists, but I have been thinking about life post-COVID-19 when artists get back to touring and full-on promotion. At any other time, promotion and touring is quite exhausting, but that will become worse when we are all seeing live gigs again, as there is a sense of catching up on lost time and trying to regain momentum.

IN THIS PHOTO: James Blake/PHOTO CREDIT:  The1point8

Not only do a lot of artists have to face financial loss and anaemia right now, but they are not able to get out there and play. That being said, the touring life can be a big weight, as artists are carried from pillar to post and undergo gruelling schedules. Last year, James Blake spoke to NME and shared his experiences of touring and how it has impacted his mental-health:

“As he subsequently opened up on his mental health battles, the Mercury Prize-winning producer admitted that it’s often harboured by long periods of time on the road.

“There are a lot of musicians just starting out now who might not be aware of the pitfalls of touring, and the pitfalls of a musician’s life. Mental health on the road is something which has generally been left until this generation to really deal with”, he explained.

“I think we’ve seen the effects of the artist’s life laid out for us in previous generations, and I think we’re just starting to go, ‘Maybe I shouldn’t use these methods to cope with it, maybe I should talk to somebody.’”

But while Blake believes that the stigma on mental health is lessening, he think that musicians have never been under more pressure.

“Coming up at a time when the internet destroyed any chance of selling lots and lots of records meant there was a lot of pressure to tour, and you couldn’t really stop without taking a huge financial hit,” Blake said”.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kehlani

Ed Sheeran also remarked how he has stepped away from social media because, though it is a great tool to market music and connect with fans, there is that downside. So many musicians live with mental illnesses and, when that is revealed online, sometimes the reaction is not particularly positive or empathetic:

“When you're working in a field that opens you up to public discussion, or even ridicule, you learn to harden yourself against criticism that comes both from journalists and the sort of people whose only avatars are dogs, cartoons or the gauzy Twitter head-and-shoulders icon (RIP the egg). But it's important to note the line between criticism and vitriol. Artists like Kehlani, Fifth Harmony's Normani Kordei and most recently Arcade Fire's Win Butler have stepped away from Twitter, often citing hateful language as the reason why. Kanye West and Sinead O'Connor have had their struggles with mental illness mocked. None of this counts as productive criticism. It's being a prick, and doing so when your comments can be carried around on a screen in someone's back pocket.

"Social media allows fans to feel an authentic connection to artists, which creates more of a psychological bond and sense of relationship," says Dr Pamela Rutledge, a media psychologist based in California. "It feels close. But that closeness also makes negative remarks and harassment seem all the more hurtful." Anyone who's waited for their crush's name to pop up on the list of people who watched their latest shaky Instagram Story will already know how craving validation on social media can lead to dependence. If that validation disappears, it can trigger unfounded feelings of isolation or inadequacy”.

IN THIS PHOTO: Normani Kordei

At the moment, artists need to be protected regarding streaming income, and many are facing a very lean 2020 and an extremely packed and frantic 2021 ahead. Even if you are a very small artist starting out, that polar extreme is going to take its toll. I do hope that live music can restart properly soon enough, but I am concerned that underground and mainstream artists alike will face their toughest challenge yet regarding maintaining a work-life balance and ensuring that they take some time out and rest. I am not predicting a load of artists will speak out like Ed Sheeran and go through the same struggles, but there will be additional pressures and problems on the shoulders of artists everywhere. There are great charities and resources that are there for musicians during this very challenging time. In a more long-term sense, I do wonder whether there needs to be a shake-up regarding the life of an artist and how many hours they spend on the road and online. One might say this is all part of being a musician, but so many do not take time off, and the uncensored and vast pit of social media means that artists are exposed to all sorts of comments and criticisms – making them less likely to be open about their problems or want to speak out at all. I do hope that the industry and labels put something in place when things get back to normal, as it will be a very tough transition, and Ed Sheeran’s revelations will open quite a few eyes. Whilst we all want to hear as much new music as possible and get back into venues and see artists climb back onto the stage, I hope that, when that is possible, we all take a bit of time out to consider the wellbeing and happiness of…

PHOTO CREDIT: @ricardonunes_fotografo/Unsplash

THE people behind the music.

FEATURE: Oh to Be in Love: The Ongoing Impact of Kate Bush’s The Kick Inside on Me

FEATURE:

 

Oh to Be in Love

The Ongoing Impact of Kate Bush’s The Kick Inside on Me

___________

I would not normally put out…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Chris Moorhouse/Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

three different Kate Bush-related features in a week but, as it is her birthday today (30th July), I wanted to add an extra one to return to my favourite album ever, The Kick Inside. It turned forty-two in February, and it is a record that I am deeply enamoured of. I wanted to focus on the album as, in my view, it is the best thing Bush put out and, even though it is her debut, it is the thing I love the most. There has been news recently that Bush might be collaborating with Big Boi on a project of his but, until it can be confirmed, there is no solid news as to when we might hear her on record again. Until we do, it is a great time to look back on her incredible back catalogue. Before I move on, this article provides the background to Kate Bush’s debut album:

“By 1975 Kate Mush had recorded several cassettes’ worth of demos and song sketches on her dad’s Akai reel-to-reel tape machine. Impressed, her family enlisted Ricky Hopper, a record plugger friend, to hawk them around the labels in the hope of getting a publishing deal. After all the majors had turned them down as “uncommercial”, Hopper contacted his old Cambridge University buddy David Gilmour. The Pink Floyd guitarist was sufficiently impressed to invite Kate to record a demo at his Essex home studio, backed by him and the rhythm section from Unicorn, a band he was also nurturing. “I was convinced from the beginning that this girl had remarkable talent,” Gilmour later said.

After that didn’t work either, Gilmour decided the only way forward would be to record three properly arranged songs. Putting up the money himself, he booked time at London’s AIR Studios in June 1975, bringing in arranger friend Andrew Powell, who had worked with Cockney Rebel, Pilot and Alan Parsons. They recorded The Saxophone Song, The Man With The Child In His Eyes and Maybe, with members of the London Symphony Orchestra (the first two songs would appear on The Kick Inside.

Gilmour played the demo to Bob Mercer, then head of EMI’s pop division, who was impressed enough to sign her up. A deal was eventually sealed by July 1976. Having left school with 10 ‘O’ Levels, Bush set up a company to manage her affairs – a precocious glimpse of the total control that would come later in her career.

The Kick Inside was recorded at AIR studios over six weeks in July and August 1977 with producer Powell. Like Mick Jones of The Clash diligently soaking up Sandy Pearlman’s laborious realisation of his group’s second album so he could co-produce their masterpiece London Calling, Bush watched Powell work, absorbing the ropes to use when she struck out on her own a couple of years later”.

I will put out a podcast relating to The Kick Inside one day, because it would be great to dissect and examine the album with other people. I adore the sheer beauty of the songs and how, even though piano is at the centre, Bush manages to add as much texture and variation with her vocal phrasing and lyrics. The songs have their own skin, and the breadth of subject matter is amazing.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a promotional shot for Wuthering Heights in 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz

There are links where one can hear Bush’s early demos, and there are great playlists and sites where one can hear the buds of The Kick Inside. I would encourage people to listen to the demos as it shows, even before Bush’s first recordings for the album, she was this prodigious talent! Maybe there was a perception that Bush was being marketed as a female body rather than a songwriter on her debut. Bush referenced that herself in 1982, and there were grey areas. There were photographs where Bush’s physique was more important than her expression, and some media sources were more concerned with her body than her music. I think a lot of the shoots from 1978 are very expressive and memorable, and they do stray from the more sexualised. From Kate Bush’s first T.V. appearance on 9th February, 1978 to  the end of 1978, The Kick Inside kept her very busy indeed! Of course, prior to February 1978, the world was introduced to her remarkable debut single, Wuthering Heights. Like so many people, this was the first experience and taste of Bush’s music, and it might be one of the reasons why the album remains my favourite. I saw the video for Wuthering Heights as a child – at the same time I saw the video for Them Heavy People (which appears on The Kick Inside) -, and it was a revelation! I do not think I had ever discovered an artist through a video rather than the music itself, and the impact of that video changed everything.

I know I have written about The Kick Inside a fair bit through the years, but it is album that consistently intrigues me. Of course, Wuthering Heights is what most people associate with the album. This article from The Skinny, goes into more details:

“The song that gets the most attention on The Kick Inside is, of course, Wuthering Heights. Now a bona fide classic, endlessly gushed over as an exemplar of 70s art pop (against the grain of the then-ubiquitous disco and punk). It's also destined to be forever remembered for its equally famous visual of Bush dancing in a white dress with cheesy post-production effects (or the 'red dress' American version, with equally theatrical dancing on some real-life moors), still a few years before MTV would make the music video a mainstream creative medium.

Wuthering Heights was the first self-penned number one for a female artist in the UK, written when Bush was 18 (released a year later). Bizarrely, EMI had decided that James and the Cold Gun would be the first single from the album, but Bush was determined that Wuthering Heights should be the first release and – amazingly for a young woman in the music industry in the 70s – she got her way. This imperturbable drive towards her own creative vision is something that Bush would continually exhibit throughout her career.

Lyrically, the song deals with the ghost of Catherine (Cathy) Earnshaw – from Emily Brontë's novel Wuthering Heights – pleading to be released from her purgatory and let back in from her post-death wandering on the moors. Despite the novel's ambiguity when it comes to Cathy's affections (for either Heathcliff or Edgar), Bush asserts that Cathy longs for Heathcliff, 'I'm coming back to his side to put it right / I'm coming home to wuthering, wuthering, wuthering heights' – i.e. the wild, passionate side of her character that she supressed during her lifetime. As a mission statement for an artist unmoored from conformity, social mores or traditional expectations, it's more or less perfect”.

If one wants a start point for Kate Bush, then starting at the beginning is the way it should be done. There is so much to love about The Kick Inside. From the beautiful opener, Moving, to the title track at the end, there are so many beautiful stories and layers that beckon you in and keep you coming back for more. I think the boldness and confidence through the album is especially impressive! As Bush was a teenager when the album was written, it is all the more impressive that the songs tackle themes that stray away from the traditional boy-meets-girl. From menstruation and synchronicity of Strange Phenomena, to incest and suicide on The Kick Inside, there is this blend of more traditional songs of love and passion together with more challenging themes.

Though Bush’s voice would develop and widen as her career progression, I do really love her in the higher range. It is not everyone’s preferred sound, but I think it is what makes the album so entrancing and gorgeous! I still think The Kick Inside is seen as a promising debut, and there is almost this shared feeling (among critics) that she would do better. That is subjective, but it is the way The Kick Inside is brushed aside by some that bothers me. In recent years, there has been more of a positive and constructive approach to the album but, even so, there is more attention paid to albums like The Dreaming, and Hounds of Love. Today, there will be a lot of tribute paid to Bush, and many people will share their memories of her music and the songs/albums that mean the most to them. I love everything she has put out, but The Kick Inside will always be the album I come back to the most. I wanted to put out this feature, not only to have my say on Kate Bush’s birthday, but to, hopefully, turn more people onto The Kick Inside. It is a remarkable work that has provided me with so much strength and joy during the hard times we find ourselves in. It remains for me to wish Bush a happy birthday and, for anyone who is unfamiliar with the sensational The Kick Inside, to go out and buy it and…

IN THIS PHOTO: On 9th February, 1978, a 19-year-old Kate Bush experienced her first T.V. appearance, performing the A and B-sides of Wuthering Heights (Kite) on the West German T.V.’s Bios Bahnhof (Bio’s Station)

FALL for its many charms!

FEATURE: A Year Like No Other: The Twelve Best Albums from American and Canadian Artists in 2020 (So Far)

FEATURE:

 

A Year Like No Other

IN THIS PHOTO: Fiona Apple/PHOTO CREDIT: Kevin Hayes

The Twelve Best Albums from American and Canadian Artists in 2020 (So Far)

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IN September…

IN THIS PHOTO: Moses Sumney/PHOTO CREDIT: Eric Gyamfi

we will get to see which artist walks away with the Mercury Prize. The award is handed to the best album from a U.K. or E.I.R.E. artist over the past year. This year’s shortlist is brilliant and diverse but, whilst British and Irish artists have produced some incredible work this year (the Mercury Prize also includes albums from July 2019 onwards), I think American and Canadian artists have topped us in terms of sheer wonder and genius - as unpatriotic as that might sound! That may seem contentious, but I think many of the biggest albums of 2020 have arrived from the U.S. and Canada. Rather than do another feature that collects the best albums of the year so far, I want to focus on the best of the U.S. and Canada. From established masters like Bob Dylan, through to young mainstream stars like Taylor Swift, there have been phenomenal albums from every corner. Here, as a sort of alternative to the Mercury shortlist, are twelve musical…

IN THIS PHOTO: Haim

WORKS of brilliance.

_________________

Taylor Swift – folklore

Release Date: 24th July

Label: Republic

Producers: Aaron Dessner/Jack Antonoff/Taylor Swift

Standout Tracks: the last great american dynasty/illicit affairs/mad woman

Sample Review:

“Despite the centre-stage given to lyricisms and songwriting on this album, it would be reductive to call this a return to her roots – even when she was embracing full-on bombastic pop a-la Reputation the songwriting was always there. It always has been, Swift trading on stories and quick turns of phrase even on her now infamous red-herring singles. On Folklore this runs deeper, the lyrics once more given space to move and breathe, the music fitting around the story being told instead of succinct pop hooks. On this record Swift is enjoying the huge discography that trails behind her, even when she's trying on other people's tales: on "the 1" we get a glimpse of witty and unlucky-in-love Swift, (it would've been fun / if you would've been the one") whilst Bon Iver collaboration "exile" brings to mind "The Last Time", a collaboration with Gary Lightbody found on her Red album.

In an interview with Mark Sutherland for The Telegraph in 2015, Swift hoped that: "if I ever find some sort of meaningful relationship, I’ll be able to still find inspiration, just through the everyday ups and downs." Folklore is proof that she can, she can, she can – and beyond just writing about her own love story. This is an album of Swift at her most knowing, pushing away the tabloid fodder that has often surrounded her artistry and magnifying the talent she's been honing her entire life. The melodies are full of warmth and round-edges, moving and twinkling on her whim as she indulges in one of the most most human and timeless past-times we have” – The Line of Best Fit

Buy: https://shop.virginemi.com/taylorswift/

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/0xS0iOtxQRoJvfcFcJA5Gv?si=mRuv3sXwTO-g94yae6VpTA

Key Cut: cardigan

Bob Dylan – Rough and Rowdy Ways

Release Date: 19th June

Label: Columbia

Standout Tracks: I Contain Multitudes/Black Rider/Murder Most Foul

Sample Review:

“"I Contain Multitudes" is a meditation on a life yet unfolding; historic figures -- Anne Frank, William Blake, the Rolling Stones, etc. -- jostle against archetypes of gunslingers: "…What can I tell ya? I sleep with life and death in the same bed…." "False Prophet" is a jeremiad disguised as blues house rocker. The protagonist testifies; he's a witness who confronts evil in history and real time. "Goodbye Jimmy Reed" celebrates the bluesman in his own house-rocking style to equate religion, sin, and redemption with romantic obsession and sex. "Crossing the Rubicon" is a roadhouse blues with the afterlife riding shotgun: "Three miles north of purgatory/One step from the great beyond/I pray to the cross/I kiss the girls/and I cross the Rubicon…." Dylan's band are loose and joyful; their raucousness carries his swagger and joy. The suspenseful, loungey "My Own Version of You" features grave robbing as it employs the inspiration of the Bride of Frankenstein to seek truth in taboo. "I've Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You," caressed by marimbas, and brushed snares, finds Dylan blurring distinctions between carnal and spiritual love. Conversely, "Black Rider" whistles past the graveyard, with a nasty caution: "… Don’t hug me, don’t turn on the charm/I'll take a sword and hack off your arm…." In the Celtic gospel of "Mother of Muses," he's a grateful supplicant, a servant who humbly requests transformation knowing full well he may not be entitled: "… wherever you are/I've already outlived my life by far…."

The album's final half-hour contains only two songs. The nine-plus-minute "Key West (Philosopher Pirate)" is a rambling dirge guided by a soft accordion in a stripped-down journey of longing and weariness; an acknowledgment of mortality with the ghosts of the Beats, Buddy Holly, and Jimi Hendrix alongside him. It stands with his best work from the '70s. That gentle sojourn prepares listeners for "Murder Most Foul," a sprawling, 17-minute lyrical, labyrinthian closer that moves through history, metaphor, and culture with JFK's assassination as its hub. It will be decoded for generations. Rough and Rowdy Ways is akin to transformational albums such as Love and Theft, and Slow Train Coming. It's a portrait of the artist in winter who remains vital and enigmatic. At nearly 80, Dylan's pen and guitar case still hold plenty of magic” – AllMusic

Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/bob-dylan/rough-and-rowdy-ways

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/1Qht64MPvWTWa0aMsqxegB?autoplay=true

Key Cut: False Prophet

BC Camplight – Shortly After Takeoff

Release Date: 24th April

Label: Bella Union

Standout Tracks: Back to Work/Shortly After Takeoff/Angelo

Sample Review:

“Brian Christinzio’s fifth album as BC Camplight is a marvel, in which currents cut across each other in a half hour or so that roils with anxiety, stuns with beauty and, occasionally, provokes laughter. The whole uneasy tone – is it wrong to take so much pleasure in something so plainly the result of turmoil – is set with the opening to the second track, Ghosthunting, in which Christinzio delivers a parody standup routine to bilious audience laughter: “For the whole first half of this record, I thought I had a really bad disease. It turns out I’m just mentally ill. I called an attorney to get my affairs in order and everything. He said, ‘You know I’m a personal injury lawyer, right?’ He asked me, ‘Have you fallen?’ I said, ‘Boy have I ever.’”

Christinzio has previously spoken of his reluctance to dwell on pretty melodies or memorable choruses. That’s not the case here: he’s still not one for hammering a hook down your throat until it’s so caught it becomes irritating, but he lets them hang around long enough to sink in, and allows them to return. It’s more that the passages of disruption serve as palate-cleansers for the next piece of sweetness. It’s funny, too. Born to Cruise – whose opening minute or so is a grand, four-to-the-floor road trip banger, which makes you want to wind your window down and hammer the steering wheel, begins with the perfect bathos-laden lyric: “I’ve had my indicator on since leaving Crewe / That explains the gestures in my rearview.” This album is a masterpiece” – The Guardian

Buy: https://bellaunion.ochre.store/release/167312-bc-camplight-shortly-after-takeoff

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3hAhEoDACSr25dnJcov5eb?Smoke_=

Key Cut: Born to Cruise

Haim – Women in Music Pt. III

Release Date: 26th June

Labels: Polydor/Vertigo Berlin/Columbia

Producers: Danielle Haim/Rostam Batmanglij/Ariel Rechtshaid

Standout Tracks: I Know Alone/3 AM/Leaning on You

Sample Review:

“They sound intimately familiar with depression in all its states, whether they're turning away from the wearying, pointless challenge to prove themselves to men in media and the music industry on "Man from the Magazine," sinking into isolation on the oddly comforting standout "I Know Alone," or emerging from the darkness on "Now I'm in It," a slow-building anthem that could be the album's statement of purpose. Women in Music Pt. III's creative process echoes its feeling of growing agency. For the first time, Danielle took on production duties alongside Rechtshaid and Rostam Batmanglij, and impressionistic touches like the seagulls and alarm clocks that embellish "Up from a Dream" or the way the guitar and saxophones drift through "Los Angeles" echo Batmanglij's dreamy musical memoir Half-Light. HAIM let each song and each mood be exactly what it needs to be, making for a collection of moments that are more interesting and real than if they'd attempted a more uniform sound across the album. The band's love for the '90s is as strong as ever on the Roxette-like "Another Try" and "3 AM"'s flirty homage to the era's R&B. Their singer/songwriter and folk-pop roots get their due on "Hallelujah" and the gorgeous "Leaning on You," a pair of songs that unite the sisters' voices and struggles in perfect harmony. The lightness HAIM use to combat the heavy things going on in their lives reaches its peak at the album's end: Written in the wake of Rechtshaid's diagnosis, "Summer Girl," taps into memories of the good times to get through the bad ones and borrows the effortlessness of Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side," but trades that song's aloofness for unconditional love. Sprawling and intimate, breezy and affecting, Women in Music Pt. III is a low-key triumph” – AllMusic

Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/haim/women-in-music-pt-iii

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/6NtEjhPWfZcvJQuvjGX4bk

Key Cut: The Steps

Thundercat – It Is What It Is

Release Date: 3rd April

Label: Brainfeeder

Producers: BadBadNotGood/Flying Lotus/Mono/Poly/Sounwave/Steve Lacy/Taylor Graves/Thundercat

Standout Tracks: Black Qualls/Dragonball Durag/Fair Chance

Sample Review:

“What’s impressive is how Thundercat makes this music, with its complex structures and zigzagging rhythms, so human. “Dance away the pain,” he sings on “Miguel’s Happy Dance”. “It’s gonna be alright… just do the f***ing dance.” The bass skirts around his airy falsetto like a car dodging traffic, punctuated by bursts of Eighties-style synths. “How Sway” is the dance itself, a jittery burst of energy that disappears as quickly as it arrives.

Few songs make it past the three-minute mark: the album’s mid-section is three skits, including “Funny Thing”, where the squelchy bassline is a continuation of Drunk’​s boozy, carefree sentiment. Songs such as “How I Feel” or the freewheeling “Innerstellar Love” (on which Kamasi Washington offers a brief but intricate sax solo) speak more to the space-y grandeur of 2015 album The Epic; synths blink and whirl like constellations and Thundercat’s vocals take on a psychedelic tone.

“Fair Chance”, which directly addresses Mac Miller’s death, feels raw with grief. The acceptance that runs through the album is still here, but Thundercat sings in a softer register – almost a whisper – as the “tik-tok” of the hi-hat marks the passage of time. “Everything’s so strange,” Ty Dolla $ign, who has a surprisingly soulful voice when it isn’t bogged down with autotune, sings. “Too hard to get over it,” Thundercat admits, before uttering the album’s title. He acknowledges he cannot change things, but at the same time legitimises his own struggle to accept that. Not all things are meant to be understood” – The Independent 

Buy: https://thundercat.bandcamp.com/album/it-is-what-it-is

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/59GRmAvlGs7KjLizFnV7Y9

Key Cut: King of the Hill

Fiona Apple – Fetch the Bolt Cutters

Release Date: 17th April

Labels: Epic/Clean Slate

Producers: Fiona Apple/Amy Aileen Wood/Sebastian Steinberg/Davíd Garza

Standout Tracks: Shameika/Newspaper/For Her

Sample Review:

“About a minute into "I Want You to Love Me," the opening cut on her fifth album Fetch the Bolt Cutters, Fiona Apple holds a note a few seconds longer than you'd expect, then a few seconds more. It's the first time Apple veers away from the expected course on Fetch the Bolt Cutters and it's hardly the last, but it's telling that the shift occurs within a song, not in a transition between tracks. Apple spent the years after the 2012 release of The Idler Wheel sculpting the songs and sounds of Fetch the Bolt Cutters, working at her home studio with a band featuring drummer Amy Aileen Wood, bassist Sebastian Steinberg, and multi-instrumentalist David Garza, using their interactions and interplay as a suggestion of where the finished track should head. Everything on Fetch the Bolt Cutters seems restless: overdubbed harmonies don't quite jibe, rhythms are cluttered, narratives turn inside out, and Apple treats her own voice as a rubber instrument, stretching it beyond comfort. As pure sound, it's exhilarating. It's rare to listen to a pop album and have no idea what comes next, and Fetch the Bolt Cutters delivers surprises that delight and bruise at a rapid pace. The density is dizzying but melodies and certain lyrics make an immediate impression, such as the jolting denouement of "For Her." Apple wrote "For Her" in the wake of the contentious Brett Kavanaugh hearings and while its fury is palpable and by no means an anomaly on Fetch the Bolt Cutters, the album isn't defined by anger. Rage sits alongside heartache and humor, the shifts in mood occurring with a dramatic flair and a disarming playfulness. The unpredictable nature feels complex and profoundly human, resulting in an album that's nourishing and joyfully cathartic” – AllMusic

Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/fiona-apple/fetch-the-bolt-cutters

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/0fO1KemWL2uCCQmM22iKlj

Key Cut: Under the Table

Neil Young – Homegrown

Release Date: 19th June

Label: Reprise

Producers: Neil Young/Elliot Mazer/Ben Keith/Tim Mulligan

Standout Tracks: Separate Ways/Mexico/White Line

Sample Review:

“Of its 12 songs – recorded in late 1974 and early 1975 – seven have never been released before, including heartfelt opener ‘Separate Ways’. Over Levon Helm’s solid but minimal drum line comes a chorus up there with Young’s best, as melodic as it is thoughtful, as pensive as it is powerful. A sonic red herring, it’s perhaps the most downbeat moment on the record, which is overall a pretty chipper thing. The upbeat Try follows, a sweet little shuffle with Emmylou Harris on backing vocals and Young at his most positive, crooning: “We’ve got lots of time / To get together if we try.

The first recordings of songs that would appear on later albums from 1975 to 1980 boost the record into something not just of niche interest to Neil Young diehards, but something with universal appeal. Here the sugary ‘Love Is A Rose’ – first released by the majestic Linda Ronstadt in 1975 – sees Young being just about as cute as he’ll ever be (“I wanna see what’s never been seen / I wanna live that age old dream”) while the sparse ‘White Line’ and devastating ‘Little Wing’ prove his masterful way with deceptively simple balladry.

The hip-shakin’, joint-rollin’ title track – which would first be aired on 1977’s ‘American Stars ‘N Bars’ alongside ‘Star of Bethlehem’ – is proof, too, that Neil Young has always known how to have fun, but – as with the drawn-out release of ‘Homegrown’ – it will always be on his terms” – NME

Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/neil-young/homegrown

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5zPtFuFrZs4IKuCEKNVJla

Key Cut: Love Is a Rose

Waxahatchee – Saint Cloud

Release Date: 27th March

Label: Merge

Producer: Brad Cook

Standout Tracks: Fire/Hell/Ruby Falls

Sample Review:

“There’s always something tempering the beauty of Waxahatchee’s music. I mean that as a compliment: on the American singer-songwriter’s fifth album, Saint Cloud, luscious melodies are undercut by a lingering unease, sentimentality by steeliness.

The glorious “Fire”, which starts with plaintive keyboard strains, might have been described as “lovely” were it sung down an octave. As it is, with Waxahatchee (real name Katie Crutchfield) stretching to the upper limits of her range, her voice sounds like a match being struck. Her lolloping delivery on “Lilacs” – “and the lilacs drank the water/ and the lilacs die/ and the lilacs drank the water/ marking the slow, slow, slow passing of time” – is Bob Dylan by way of Lucinda Williams” – The Independent

Buy: https://waxahatchee.bandcamp.com/album/saint-cloud-2

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7icLwE6vs6umiO7MrCy6XJ

Key Cut: Lilacs

Moses Sumney - Græ

Release Date: 21st February (Part One)/ 15th May (Part Two)

Label: Jagjaguwar

Producers: Moses Sumney/Adult Jazz/Ben Baptie/John Congleton/FKJ/Daniel Lopatin/Matthew Otto

Standout Tracks: Cut Me/Polly/Me in 20 Years

Sample Review:

“The 2014 arrival of Moses Sumney’s soaring soul voice attracted fans from Solange Knowles to Sufjan Stevens and led to a record-label bidding war. The Ghanaian-American’s 2017 debut Aromanticism was a beautiful collection of essays on romantic attachment, and Græ picks up on this theme from its opening spoken-word passage on the subject of isolation.

Released in two parts (Part One in February), the album branches into themes of masculinity, encapsulated by the propulsive “Virile”, where a satisfying contrast of textures incorporates a growling drone, soft flute and his angelic vocals. When the album shifts into its second part, and turns inwards with a slower pace to match its vulnerable introspection, there’s no jolt: Sumney’s voice ensures that his soundscapes melt together.

It’s here that the emotional heft is to be found, particularly in “Two Dogs”, “Bless Me” and the heart-wrenching apex, “Me in 20 Years”, in which he imagines himself alone in the distant future. The song swells with an arpeggiating harp, male choral backing and delicate splashes of cymbals, until his voice is flowing so freely of rhythm that you feel him yearning, painfully, for an answer to “I wonder how I’ll sleep at night/ With a cavity by my side/ And nothing left to hold but pride.

When pinned down, Sumney defines his music as “experimental folk-soul-jazz”, but it’s more complex than that. Under his masterful production, it sounds as though there are 20 musicians in the room with him. Flourishes of jazz flute and brass add warmth to “Two Dogs”, which showcases the acrobatics of his vocals as they glide effortlessly from falsetto vibrato to rich baritone. And the euphoric dreaminess of “Bless Me” – could there be a more heavenly gospel-cloaked crescendo on which to wrap up this astonishing feat?” – The Independent

Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/moses-sumney/grae

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/35CHoLB0GEwYlOomriifC6

Key Cut: Virile

Run the Jewels – RTJ4

Release Date: 3rd June

Labels: Jewel Runners/BMG

Producers: El-P/Josh Homme

Standout Tracks: yankee and the brave (ep. 4)/ooh la la/JU$T

Sample Review:

“‘Walking In The Snow’, the album’s sixth track features a guest appearance by one time Three 6 Mafia member Gangsta Boo. The beat is heavy and the lyrics are eerily all too close for comfort as Mike takes us back to the 2014 death of Eric Garner at the hands of the police: “And every day on evening news, they feed you fear for free / And you so numb you watch the cops choke out a man like me / And 'til my voice goes from a shriek to whisper / ‘I can't breathe’ / And you sit there in the house on couch and watch it on TV / The most you give's a Twitter rant and call it a tragedy.” Such lyrics are hard to listen to, especially in the wake of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis at the hands of a police officer.

‘RTJ4’ is a must listen. It is diverse enough to appeal to even the hardest crowds. Many genres are represented here, but lyrical hip-hop is at the forefront of all that Run The Jewels is. They stand out from the crowd, whilst invoking the people to stand up for themselves. There is not a bad song on the entire album and the production and features are second to none. I kept rewinding the tracks, not just from a reviewer’s perspective, but to hear the how well combined Mike and El-P are.

As the album’s finale builds up with a saxophone crescendo, the track fades out before we are once again introduced to the mock TV show Yankee And The Brave. As I pressed play once more on the album, I realised I cannot wait to hear what Run The Jewels 5 will bring” – CLASH

Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/run-the-jewels/rtj4

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/6cx4GVNs03Pu4ZczRnWiLd

Key Cut: pulling the pin

Perfume Genius – Set My Heart on Fire Immediately

Release Date: 15th May

Label: Matador

Producer: Blake Mills

Standout Tracks: Describe/Your Body Changes Everything/Nothing at All

Sample Review:

“It feels like he’s rewriting musical history in his own image, usually by making it more oblique. Hadreas is a really good lyricist, who has an eye for detail – as when the grim, youthful one-night-stand in Jason plays out to the sound of “the Breeders on CD” – and a way with a striking line. Moonbend, the one track that recalls his early work, with its sparse sound, tape hiss and the audible creak of chairs, features a description of sex that keeps shifting from erotic to dissonantly medical: “carving his lung, ribs fold like fabric.” But it frequently feels as if he’s adapting the music here to express feelings he can’t quite articulate. Describe is punchy until it cuts dead halfway through, the rest of the song given over to ghostly synthesisers and mumbled, indecipherable voices; the beautiful harp arpeggios on Leave are set against a vocal that’s distorted and mumbled until it’s only half-comprehensible.

Whatever he’s doing, the results are uniformly fantastic: rich, fascinating and moving, packed with gorgeous melodies and arrangements that feel alive, constantly writhing into unexpected new shapes. For an artist frequently characterised by his miserable backstory of bullying, addiction and chronic illness and his lyrical empathy for human failure and frailty, it feels astonishingly assured and confident in its approach, which perhaps explains the cover image and supporting cast: an expression of power and focus, like the album itself” – The Guardian

Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/perfume-genius/set-my-heart-on-fire-immediately

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/6daEdTBi1hyFQgmsnR7oRr

Key Cut: On the Floor

Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher

Release Date: 18th June

Label: Dead Oceans

Producers: Tony Berg/Ethan Gruska/Phoebe Bridgers

Standout Tracks: Garden Song/Kyoto/Chinese Satellite

Sample Review:

“When Bridgers drops down to breathily lament “I know you had to go”, it carries a heartbreaking power before the song explodes into a surprising noise-rock coda. The epic, free-form conclusion includes contributions from iconic 1970s singer-songwriter Jackson Browne on piano, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Nick Zimmer on guitar and top session drummer Jim Keltner, alongside a choir featuring Conor Oberst and many other Americana contemporaries, while Bridgers screams at the top of her lungs. It’s evidence of how much regard Bridgers is held in by the music world, and a finale that leaves you wondering where the woman of the hour will go next.

A take-no-prisoners penchant for cutting to the savage kernel of truth is something that has been at the essence of the singer-songwriter genre since its earliest days. Bridgers’s modernity is actually a kind of timelessness, yet delivered in an emotional and lyrical lexicon that speaks directly to this moment. Punisher is an album stretched between depression and recovery, laughing at the world to stop from crying, on a set of songs exploring Bridgers’s emotional self-isolation, yearning for places and people that she can no longer reach, and might not want to even if she could.

And what could be more timely than that?” – The Daily Telegraph

Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/phoebe-bridgers/punisher

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/2xECuqnvvmVktV7UO8Dd3s

Key Cut: Punisher

FEATURE: Queen of the Mountain: The Legacy and Influence of Kate Bush: A Time for Fresh Revision and Examination

FEATURE:

 

Queen of the Mountain

PHOTO CREDIT: Mike Prior

The Legacy and Influence of Kate Bush: A Time for Fresh Revision and Examination

___________

WITHOUT stepping on the toes…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush during her Tour of Life in 1979

of articles I have written before, I wanted to write a feature about Kate Bush ahead of her birthday tomorrow (30th July). Recently, I wrote how there is no modern equivalent to Bush and, whilst that is very true, there are many who have been inspired by her; so many talk about her music, and her impact extends beyond musicians and songwriting. A few years back, I heralded the continuing influence of Bush and how extraordinary her legacy is – not that she has retired or will ever be forgotten. In this feature, I wanted to look at some of the artists/sounds she has impacted, and how her personality, music and essence has made big changes – and why she is still, in some ways, overlooked. If you have not watched the 2014 documentary, The Kate Bush Story: Running Up That Hill, then give it a watch. Ahead of her sixty-second birthday, and over forty-five years since Kate Bush recorded her first songs for the debut album, The Kick Inside, she is being referenced by artists. From modern artists like The Anchoress and Taylor Swift (on her new album, Folklore) and longer-serving acts like St. Vincent and Tori Amos, Bush’s impact has been huge. In fact, and quoting from Bush’s Wikipedia page and one can see her legacy:

 “Musicians who have cited Bush as an influence include Beverley Craven,[129] Regina Spektor,[130] Ellie Goulding,[131] Charli XCX,[132] Tegan and Sara,[133] k.d. lang,[134] Paula Cole,[135] Kate Nash,[136] Bat for Lashes,[137] Erasure,[138] Alison Goldfrapp of Goldfrapp,[139] Rosalía,[140] Tim Bowness of No-Man,[141] Chris Braide,[142] Kyros,[143] Aisles,[144] Darren Hayes[145], Grimes,[146] and Solange Knowles.[147] Nerina Pallot was inspired to become a songwriter after seeing Bush play "This Woman's Work" on Wogan.[148] Coldplay took inspiration from "Running Up That Hill" to compose their single "Speed of Sound".[149] In 2015, Adele stated that the release of her third studio album was inspired by Bush's 2014 comeback to the stage.[150]

IN THIS PHOTO: Bat for Lashes/PHOTO CREDIT: Observer New Review

In addition to those artists who state that Bush has been a direct influence on their own careers, other artists have been quoted expressing admiration for her work including Tori Amos,[151] Annie Lennox,[152] Björk,[153] Florence Welch,[154] Little Boots,[155] Elizabeth Fraser of Cocteau Twins,[156] Dido,[157] Sky Ferreira,[158] St. Vincent,[159] Lily Allen,[160] Anohni of Antony and the Johnsons,[161] Big Boi of OutKast,[162] Stevie Nicks,[163] Steven Wilson,[164] Steve Rothery of Marillion,[165] and André Matos.[166] According to an unauthorized biography, Courtney Love of Hole listened to Bush among other artists as a teenager.[167] Tricky wrote an article about The Kick Inside, saying: "Her music has always sounded like dreamland to me.... I don't believe in God, but if I did, her music would be my bible".[168] Suede front-man Brett Anderson stated about Hounds of Love: "I love the way it's a record of two halves, and the second half is a concept record about fear of drowning. It's an amazing record to listen to really late at night, unsettling and really jarring".[169] John Lydon, better known as Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols, declared her work to be "beauty beyond belief".[160] Rotten once wrote a song for her, titled "Bird in Hand" (about exploitation of parrots) that Bush rejected.[170] Bush was one of the singers whom Prince thanked in the liner notes of 1991's Diamonds and Pearls.[171] In December 1989, Robert Smith of The Cure chose "The Sensual World" as his favourite single of the year, The Sensual World as his favourite album of the year and included "all of Kate Bush" plus other artists in his list, "the best things about the eighties".[172]

It is almost impossible to calculate how many modern artists have been inspired by Bush and are, in their way, incorporating some of her essence in their music. From Ellie Goulding recently name-checking Bush in an interview with The New York Times, to some flavour of Kate Bush in Jess Cornelius’ new music, through to connections between a heavy band like Aurium, and a very different-sounding artist like Katie Wood vibing from Bush, we can see that so many modern artists are moving to the beat of the icon – her music was even covered during lockdown. When Kate Bush celebrates her birthday tomorrow, there will be an outpouring of love, not just from artists old and new who count her as an inspiration, but from every corner of the world. Although Bush’s latest studio album, 50 Words for Snow, is almost nine years old, I am seeing so many articles and posts on social media extolling her passion, unique music and magic. Last year, I asked how long it will take Kate Bush to become a Dame, and I stand by that – if ever there was anyone who deserves that honour, it is her! Bush is a national treasure but, more than that, she is enormously relevant today, whereas so many established or iconic artists have lost a lot of their magnetism and importance. When Kate Bush took to the stage in 2014 for her residency in Hammersmith between 26th August and 1st October, a whole swathe of celebrities from film, T.V., music and all areas flocked to pay tribute. There is something in the music that has endured through the years and resonated far and wide.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush signing copies of Hounds of Love in 1985 at Tower Records in New York City

What is it about Bush’s music that means she has such a strong legacy and phenomenally wide fanbase? I have investigated her love of cinema and literature, and how Bush often dipped into her favourite films and novels when seeking inspiration. When talking of desire and passion, Bush approaches the subjects in a very varied and fascinating way and, when it comes to her albums, no two sound the same. I think it is the bold originality and constantly evolution that has meant artists through all genres have been spellbound by her music. In this New Yorker article from 2018, journalist Margaret Talbot made some interesting observations when trying to explain her love of Kate Bush: 

“Yet, with this listen, I discovered that I really liked the animalistic cacophony of “Get Out of My House”—for all it suggested about how few fucks Bush gave when it came to getting radio play or charming people in any conventionally girlish way, and for its brazen strangeness. And I loved a song called “Suspended in Gaffa.” It starts with a tinny music-hall bounce that swells into a rich, chunky rhythm, accented with a chirping, distorted vocal that sounds trippy and modern. The lyrics, about seeing God or achieving some creative peak, only to have the vision snatched away, were inspired by Bush’s Catholic upbringing. The title is a reference to sticky black gaffer tape—a metaphor for frustrating ensnarement. But it also sounds, marvellously, like a geographical location in which a character from a Paul Bowles novel might be immured.

And then there was the extraordinary “Hounds of Love.” Bush’s voice is deeper and more resonant than on earlier records, the use of the synthesizer is more assured, and the experiments are never awkward, as Bush’s sometimes can be. When “Hounds of Love” came out, in 1985, I was in graduate school, at Harvard, and my mother had just had a stroke that robbed her of most of her speech. I’d soon be leaving school for a year to help take care of her. But, in the meantime, I’d walk home from Widener Library every day in a pen-and-ink drawing of a Cambridge November, the metallic smell of incipient snow permanently in the air, and when I got to my apartment with the sloping floors in Central Square—sometimes before I’d removed my winter coat or said more than hello to my boyfriend—I’d put “Hounds of Love” on the turntable, turn it up very, very loud, and wait for the galloping drum loops and the salty-sweet emotional rush of Bush’s vocals to comfort and exalt me. When it got to the end of the first side, I’d lift the needle up and put it right back at the first track, “Running Up That Hill,” the song with the pounding beat and irresistible synthesizer hook about “making a deal with God” so that men and women might “swap our places” and feel what it was like to be one another”.

In 2016, The Observer wrote a fascinating article that compartmentalised various aspects of Bush’s music and artistry and, when investigating the huge breadth and variety of artist who imbue something of Kate Bush in their own work, we can make an argument to say that she remains overlooked and under-exposed. I will move on soon, but I want to quote a section from that article, as they talked of Bush’s influence on artists who include sexual and gender identity issues in their music:

“These three artists—who grapple with issues of sexual and gender identity—all bear the hallmarks of Bush’s influence.

Mike Hadreas, the brainchild behind Perfume Genius, uses his glammed-up image and music as tools of both attraction and repulsion. The vocal/piano compositions that first brought Perfume Genius notice show that art-school flair works across the chromosomal divide.

Despite his love of opera and theatricality, Wainwright possesses less of an obvious connection to Bush. However, the Montreal-born singer/songwriter has both piano chops and humor to spare—both very much in keeping with Bush’s template.

Anohni, singer and focal point of Antony and the Johnsons has one of those rare voices, like Bush’s, which evokes an emotional response through its timbre alone. Words become secondary to Anohni’s delivery, which softly commands attention”.

Kate Bush’s fearlessness and openness in her music not only resonated with female songwriters at the time and those who have followed; as seen above, her music has made a big impact on the L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ community.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush during filming of The Line, the Cross and the Curve in 1993/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari

I will not quote from too many other articles – as I am keen to put as many original thoughts in as possible -, but Attitude discussed Bush as a gay icon in 2018.

“Queer people identified with Kate Bush because of that otherness, because of her bravery and defiance, her fearless examination of previously ‘taboo’ themes, and her often high-camp performance style. As Rufus Wainwright told The Guardian in 2006: “She is the older sister that every gay man wants. She connects so well with a gay audience because she is so removed from the real world. She is one of the only artists who makes it appear better to be on the outside than on the inside.”

The magnificent, lushly exotic 'Kashka from Baghdad' from 1978’s Lionheart, is one of the prime examples of Kate’s celebration of the joy of the outsider status. “Kashka from Baghdad,” she sings over sensual piano chords, “lives in sin, they say, with another man – but no one knows who.”

Her frank openness and recognition of a gamut of gender norms and of the reality of sexual fluidity became a recurrent theme in her work; 'Wow', a biting satire of the theatrical business, finds Kate singing “He’ll never make the scene / he’ll never make the Sweeney / be that movie queen / he’s too busy hitting the Vaseline.” If we were in any doubt as to her underlying meaning, her performance in the video removes all doubt as she taps her buttock on the payoff line.

Kate Bush is an LGBT icon for several reasons, not least because she built a successful career, without compromise, on her own terms, with thorough originality, ingenuity, and, crucially, trueness to herself. She did, and continues to do, things her own way, and is undaunted in her distinctiveness and navigation of the peculiarities of life”.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1989/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

Before Madonna was being talked about as an ally to the L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ community, Kate Bush was a role model herself – albeit it in a different manner. I am only going to really be able to scratch slightly beneath the surface in this feature, as Bush’s legacy and influence extends beyond the imagination and perception of most people – whether subtle or overt, Kate Bush has changed so much through her music, videos and pioneering change. The last article I want to grab from dates back to 2010, and it illuminates how Bush has opened doors for female artists, and why so many artists we know and love today can help trace their roots back to Bush’s music:

 “Then a wave of solo female artists followed – from Florence Welch to Fever Ray – all happy to namecheck Bush as an influence. Before Florence and the Futureheads, however, Deborah Withers, guitarist with Bristol's Drunk Granny, began a study of Bush's music, exploring themes that were perhaps obvious to a female fanbase but invisible to some male listeners. We're talking about "the polymorphously perverse Kate, the witchy Kate, the queer Kate, the Kate who moves beyond the mime". Withers develops these ideas in her new book, Adventures in Kate Bush and Theory, published on her own imprint Hammeron Press.

Drawing from feminism and contemporary philosophy, Withers attempts to unlock the secrets of Bush's oeuvre. She argues that Bush liberated female creativity as much as punk did; it's essential reading for 21st-century grrrls. It wasn't just that Bush wrote and produced her own material, breaking barriers in a male-dominated industry, or the way she sang about subjects that women were not supposed to touch.

Bush's music seems to have a womb-like function, providing incubation for artists, at least for a while. Björk has spoken of her teenage years spent under the covers listening to Kate Bush, and Bat for Lashes' Natasha Kahn acknowledges her influence on her first album, although she now feels she has found her own voice. "It's important to have visible and creative examples that you can draw inspiration from," says Withers, "otherwise it's really difficult to express yourself. Women found it a lot more difficult to be cultural producers, but Kate Bush changed that".

Kate Bush has empowered so many people, and her legacy and importance will continue for an awful long time to come. It makes me wonder, as I have mused before, whether there should be an updated and expansive documentary. Maybe it would not take the form of the 2014 BBC effort, but I do think that, in that instance, there was room for improvements – a longer running time than one hour; a broader look at her career, and something that did her full justice. Whether it happened on radio or T.V., I do think that there is so much to explore and celebrate, in addition to paying tribute to someone who, since 1978, has put her unique footprint on the scene. I do feel there is room now to put together a proper, multi-part, career-spanning documentary or piece that drills deep into Kate Bush’s work, and studies her from various different perspectives. One cannot really define Kate Bush by her music alone, as there are so many layers and facets to her being. Perhaps there will be a new documentary when Wuthering Heights, her debut single, turns forty-five in 2023, but that is quite a long way away – my hope is that something comes along sooner! A few days before her birthday, I wanted to paying fitting tribute to an artist whose legacy will continue to grow strong…

FOR many decades to come.

FEATURE: Spotlight: JGrrey

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

JGrrey

___________

WHEN looking around for artists…

who can provide something new and exciting in 2020, I take into consideration a variety of things: the originality of the music, the nuances on offer, and whether the artist has longevity and appeal. I think JGrrey is an artist providing something stunning and new. It is hard to categorise her music, but the Neo-Soul flavours are hard to ignore. It is sort of a mix of artists like Erykah Badu and India Arie combined with modern-day production values; a sense of dreaminess envelops the tracks, but there is something quite personal and serious in the lyrics. Like many artists, JGrrey investigates love, mental-health and other subjects that, at times, can make the heart skip and force one to stop. Around these incredible songs is a voice that is both steeped in embers of icons and known artists, with a sense of the individual that is hard to ignore. I love tracks such as Half Full, and Ain’t So, and JGrrey is an artist whose music could easily slot on any radio station – as it is not limited in terms of tastes and demographics like so many artists of today. The new iPhone visualiser video for Ain’t So is amazing, and I wonder what plans JGrrey has for the rest of 2020. Like her peers, this is not how she expected the year to go and, as such, touring and bigger plans have been curtailed. Before I look at the here and now, I want to pick from a few interviews that introduce us to this amazing artist.

Last year, The Line of Best Fit selected JGrrey as an artist to watch – and they talked about her start and early life:

“The story of Jennifer Clarke - better known as - JGrrey has fast become something of urban legend. From gaining her moniker because the Instagram handle for Grey was already taken to the phenomenal success of her now COLORS session, her whole journey to date has been a fortunate series of what she calls happy accidents. The 25-year-old - who great up in South London before moving to Edgware aged six her with her adoptive parents - didn’t even know she could sing for most of her young life. It was only when she started jamming with friends that her talent started to become clear: “I’d never wanted to be a singer, but I always wrote songs," she tells me, "but never listened to them. But now I’m happy that I wrote songs, it’s like second nature to me. But it was never planned.”

It was around that time when JGrrey realised that if she wanted to do anything with her music, then she was going to have to work it out on her own terms and give herself the space to grow. Recalling her first experience of actively going into the studio with a friend, she tells me, “I heard my voice on a track and started cringing because I didn’t like the sound of it and that was the point of me deciding that I needed to get my own studio; I needed to set it up myself and I need to be able to grow so when people hear it, I could be happy with what I made. I had to be happy with that experience and then I just started to fucking love it. I could say anything that I wanted to say and you know and tell any story that wanted to tell and people would listen to it”.

The melting of R&B and Neo-Soul is an amazing brew that is parts slinky and soft, but there is that energy and fire that raises the heat. The Grrey Daze E.P. was released last year and, whilst it did not get the sort of attention and widespread focus it deserved, it is a brilliant release. I would urge people to go to JGrrey’s official website and Spotify and listen to the E.P. When she spoke with CLASH last year, she broke down the tracks on the E.P. It was clear that CLASH were impressed by what they heard:

 “Each new release from the vocalist has that relaxed feel, a laid back approach that turns her gilded slow jams into heavenly R&B.

New EP 'Grrey Daze' is her boldest statement yet, full of gorgeous production, nuanced songwriting, and those stellar vocals.

Out now, it opens with 'Feelings', a song JGrrey tells Clash she finds "comfort in, I remember writing to it and thinking that I didn’t feel rushed, it could just take its own time, it’s laid back an honest, two traits I pride myself in also."

Those are traits that keep on occurring on the EP. Take her recent single 'Pretty Insane', which was "a free-style, just an instrumental I liked and myself singing obscure truths about how I felt... I do it all the time, this one just worked out well".

When considering an artist, I sort of think it is great having appealing music at your fingertips, but one craves something more. Maybe it is a personality that speaks to you or a spark that you do not get from other artists. Having read up about JGrrey, I connected with her instantly. Maybe it is the fact that we share a love of similar artists – like Amy Winehouse and Nelly Furtado -, but it is the experience of discovering music and how she approaches songwriting that connected with me. When she was interviewed by Stylist last year, JGrrey discussed her early exposure to music:

 “The first record I ever bought…

Wasn’t technically bought, I never really bought records for myself. My dad was and still is a DJ so I wouldn’t need to buy any records because he had them all. I would just steal whatever he was listening to or whatever I liked that I knew he had because he would always be the first person to have it.

I think the first record I got from my Dad was a Nelly Furtado song, but I couldn’t tell you what single it was. I remember falling in love with her, she was one of those artists that really resonated with me.

My first source of inspiration…

I remember listening to Nelly Furtado’s music and her lyricism and thinking I totally get it. Even though everything she writes about is so obscure, I definitely think that it subconsciously inspired me.

Alongside Nelly Furtado, there are all the obvious names as well like Lauren Hill, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott and Amy Winehouse.

To be honest music is a new thing for me. I’ve only really been an artist properly for three years and even now I’m still working that out - to me it’s still kind of crazy that this is something I am genuinely doing. So, when I was younger and watching all of these people, I was just watching these people and thinking they were amazing. I wasn’t necessarily taking note of them, at the time, as sources of inspiration.

Despite that though Amy Winehouse has always stuck out in my mind as a person who I think is beautiful. Her music, her style and what she created was obviously amazing but as a person, she was just so cool”.

I am going to conclude things soon enough, but I have seen JGrrey’s name shared by various sources as one to watch this year. I am definitely going to keep my eyes and ears open to see where she goes next, as I really love her music and attitude. I will bring in a couple more interview snippets, as I think it gives more colour and shows different side to the songwriter. In terms of influences, this interview from Fred Perry highlights a few sounds and sonic directions that have resonated with JGrrey:

“A song that defines the teenage you?

'I Luv U' by Dizzee Rascal.

One record you would keep forever?

Amy Winehouse's.

 “A song lyric that has inspired you?

“I don’t need nobody telling me the time”

From 'Certainly' by Erykah Badu.

The song that would get you straight on the dance floor?

'Beige 70' by Cola Boyy.

A song you wished you had written?

'Thinkin Bout You' by Frank Ocean”.

Things have been pretty busy for JGrrey the past year or so. From a relatively unknown artist, she has risen and captured the attention of many. I think JGrrey has a big future ahead, and I feel that debut album will be the real test. Her latest E.P., UGH, is another fabulous release, and it is clear that JGrrey is a prolific and hungry artist that is always looking ahead. CLASH caught up with her earlier this year, where she talked about the E.P., in addition to what music means to her:

 “New EP ‘UGH’ (it stands for Understanding Greater Highs) is outstanding, with JGrrey capable of cutting right to the bone. Working with a dizzying array of guests - production comes from Cadenza and Kadiata, amongst others - it’s held together by a palpable sense of purpose.

“It all comes from something I said, and something I felt,” she insists. “It’s weird: I’ve never seen something through. Like, I’ve never held down a job, or done well at something. So when I do hear a project that I’ve made, in it’s entirety like a body of work, that sense of completion is great for me.”

JGrrey writes continuously, almost relentlessly - spending time in LA following a tour with Billie Eilish, she returned to London and went straight back to work. “Without sounding ungrateful or lazy or anything,” she adds, “I wasn’t putting much thought into ‘UGH’. It’s like, if it works, it works.”

It’s a constant sense of forward momentum, this perpetual drive that pushes JGrrey into daring new places. “I’m learning a lot about myself,” she comments. “Music is literally therapy for me. I’m talking about a lot of shit I wouldn’t talk about with anyone, but I’m putting it in songs and releasing it to thousands of people”.

The fact JGrrey is already touring with Billie Eilish – one of the music world’s biggest new names – shows that, soon, she will be touring bigger stages herself. I would advise people to check out JGrrey’s music, as it is fantastic, and the future is very bright! There are few out there who have the same power to hook the listener in as JGrrey, and I think next year will be especially important for her. Right now, investigate a truly incredible artist whose music will only get…

BETTER and better.

_________________

Follow JGrrey

Official:

https://jgrrey.com/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/JGRREY/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/JGrrey13

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/jgrrey/

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmhJoUvS8YinODthaNsyaTA

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/66rDbD3tWR3M1uNuIaDAGx

FEATURE: Vinyl Corner: Green Day - Dookie

FEATURE:

 

Vinyl Corner

Green Day - Dookie

___________

IF one considers the classic albums…

of the 1990s, then they have to think of Green Day’s Dookie. I celebrated the album’s twenty-fifth anniversary last year, and it is an album I would encourage people to get it on vinyl . There is a lot of debate as to which Green Day album is best but, when it comes to the critics, I think Dookie wins – though Nimrod, and American Idiot are pretty brilliant. Released on 1st February, 1994 – a year that is practically synonymous with legendary albums! – Dookie was the biggest release from the Californian band. Apologies if I repeat some of the things I said in my article from last year, but Dookie was a massive leap from the band’s second studio album, Kerplunk. Working with producer Rob Cavallo – who produced their albums up until 2009 -, I feel Dookie is one of the defining albums of the 1990s, as it arrived in a year when Grunge was undergoing a lot of change; it was definitely not as vibrant as it was in the first couple of years of the 1990s. I think the Pop-Punk/Punk-Rock of the album sort of bridges the sound of Grunge with the more accessible sounds of the mainstream, though Dookie is never watered-down or too commercial. A lot of labels were trying to snap up Green Day following Kerplunk, but it was Reprise representative Rob Cavallo who connected with the band. One can imagine the scores of labels trying to get Green Day to sign, and the sort of offers they would have been presented with. Green Day felt Cavallo understood them as a band and would serve them well, and it is no surprise the band stuck with him for so long. With frontman Billie Joe Armstrong writing most of the track by himself, one feels a lot of soul-searching and nakedness on songs such as Basket Case, Longview, and When I Come Around.

The band embarked on international touring following Dookie’s release, and the critical acclaim that met (the album) was humongous!  Though Green Day had their detractors back then, I remember the album coming out in 1994 and so many people talking about it. I am not sure whether I bought the album, but many people I knew did, and I feel Dookie sound just as incredible today as it did in 1994. The mix of the well-known singles and album tracks that are almost single-worthy – including Burnout, and Coming Clean -, there is nothing but brilliance to be found. Whilst 1995’s Insomniac was a success and garnered positive reviews, it did not make the same splash as Dookie. Since its release, Dookie has been included in many lists compiling the best albums of all-time/the 1990s. It is no wonder, because I think Dookie reached behind cliques and certain camps. I do feel that, in 1994, there were those who liked Britpop, those who were into Grunge; there were acts that could unite and appeal to those who rarely strayed from their comfort zone. I knew people in school who were mad about mainstream Pop that connected with Dookie; those who refuted everything but Grunge and Alternative music that were taken by Green Day’s third album. It was a big moment, and Dookie definitely had an impact on the scene and musicians who were around at the time – in ways, one can hear shades of the album in artists of today.

In their review, AllMusic had this to say about Dookie:

“Green Day couldn't have had a blockbuster without Nirvana, but Dookie wound up being nearly as revolutionary as Nevermind, sending a wave of imitators up the charts and setting the tone for the mainstream rock of the mid-'90s. Like Nevermind, this was accidental success, the sound of a promising underground group suddenly hitting its stride just as they got their first professional, big-budget, big-label production. Really, that's where the similarities end, since if Nirvana were indebted to the weirdness of indie rock, Green Day were straight-ahead punk revivalists through and through. They were products of the underground pop scene kept alive by such protagonists as All, yet what they really loved was the original punk, particularly such British punkers as the Jam and Buzzcocks. On their first couple records, they showed promise, but with Dookie, they delivered a record that found Billie Joe Armstrong bursting into full flower as a songwriter, spitting out melodic ravers that could have comfortably sat alongside Singles Going Steady, but infused with an ironic self-loathing popularized by Nirvana, whose clean sound on Nevermind is also emulated here. Where Nirvana had weight, Green Day are deliberately adolescent here, treating nearly everything as joke and having as much fun as snotty punkers should. They demonstrate a bit of depth with "When I Come Around," but that just varies the pace slightly, since the key to this is their flippant, infectious attitude -- something they maintain throughout the record, making Dookie a stellar piece of modern punk that many tried to emulate but nobody bettered”.

I didn’t want to quote from scores of reviews, but I think it is useful to bring in a couple from different sites and gauge their opinions. This is what Pitchfork remarked in 2017:

 “What set Dookie apart from the grunge rock bellowers of its day was Armstrong’s voice, foggy and vaguely unplaceable. “I’m an American guy faking an English accent faking an American accent,” he teased at the time. Though Armstrong’s tone was bratty, his phrasing had that lackadaisical quality that left room for listeners to fill in their own interpretations. On Dookie, Armstrong channeled a lifetime of songcraft obsession into buzzing, hook-crammed tracks that acted like they didn’t give a shit—fashionably then, but also appealingly for the 12-year-old spirit within us all. Maybe they worked so well because, on a compositional and emotional level, they were actually gravely serious. Sometimes singing about the serious stuff in your life—desire, anxiety, identity—feels a lot more weightless done against the backdrop of a dogshit-bombarded illustration of your hometown by East Bay punk fixture Richie Bucher”.

I have very fond memories of Dookie, and it is an album I myself need to grab on vinyl when I am in a record shop next. It is a fantastic work from a band who are still going strong today. If you have not heard the album before, I think now is a pretty good time to become acquainted. It is a record that most certainly…

BLOWS the cobwebs away.

FEATURE: The Lockdown Playlist: The Best Album Closing Tracks

FEATURE:

 

The Lockdown Playlist

PHOTO CREDIT: @alexiby/Unsplash

The Best Album Closing Tracks

___________

AS the new working week…

PHOTO CREDIT: @priscilladupreez/Unsplash

hoves into view, I thought it was time to put out another Lockdown Playlist that should give you an extra kick of energy and motivation that you need. I recently compiled a playlist that collected together the best album openers ever. I thought I would go down the other end of the album, and unite those fantastic finales – tracks that close albums in absolute style! I hope there are songs in the playlist that tickle your fancy, and you recognise the songs in the list – thought there may be a few that are fresh and take you by surprise. Whether you like the albums these tracks come from, there is no denying that the songs themselves ended the albums…

PHOTO CREDIT: @lensinkmitchel/Unsplash

WITH a huge bang.

TRACK REVIEW: Taylor Swift - cardigan

TRACK REVIEW:

 

Taylor Swift

PHOTO CREDIT: Republic Records

cardigan

9.6/10

The track, cardigan, is available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-a8s8OLBSE

The album, folklore, is available here:

https://shop.virginemi.com/taylorswift/

RELEASE DATE:

24th July, 2020

GENRES:

Indie Folk/Alternative Folk/Chamber Pop

ORIGIN:

New York/Los Angeles, U.S.A.

LABEL:

Republic

PRODUCERS:

Aaron Dessner/Jack Antonoff/Taylor Swift

TRACKLIST:

the 1

cardigan

the last great american dynasty

exile (featuring Bon Iver)

my tears ricochet

mirrorball

seven

august

this is me tying

illicit affairs

invisible string

mad woman

epiphany

betty

peace

hoax

__________

I reviewed Taylor Swift last year…

when her album, Lover, was released. Though I liked the album, I felt that it was, perhaps, a little similar to other stuff out there and was not as strong as I made out. I think I got caught in this fever that met the album, and I was caught up in that wave! Not that Lover was a weak album: it was a very strong one, but I think she has made a huge leap with her new album, folklore. I have waited a couple of days to review something from the album, as I wanted to let the album sink in and have a good listen to all of the songs. It seems, as NME reported, that folklore has been breaking records:

“Representatives for Swift have confirmed that the album sold over 1.3million copies around the world within the first 24 hours of its release. Additionally, she has also broken records on Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music with the album.

‘Folklore’ has now set the global record for first day album streams on Spotify by a female artist with 80.6million streams. It is also the most streamed album on Apple Music in 24 hours with 35.47million streams, and has set the indie/alternative streaming record in the US and worldwide on Amazon Music (no figures have been shared)”.

I will look at various aspects of Taylor Swift and her music soon, but I like the concept of a ‘surprise release’. This is a concept that has been going for a while, whereby a big artist will not give too much notice of an album, and that sends people into a frenzy. Taylor Swift announced the release of her eighth studio album, folklore, earlier in the week, and that sent the Internet into meltdown! This is a thing that is more associated with bigger acts, the surprise release. I do not think it would have the same impact for a smaller act, and it would definitely not generate the same hype.

PHOTO CREDIT: Pari Dukovic for TIME

I do not think the reason (for a surprise release) is to get attention and stand out. Instead, it avoids all of the machine and strain of normal promotion. Usually, an artist has to go through many stages, and the whole process of promoting an album is so elongated and structured. I can understand why Taylor Swift would decide to release folklore in the way that she did. Instead of garnering a lot of focus and all this pressure, she had already created an album, and felt that it was best just to release it with very little notice. The tone and flavour of folklore sort of suits a gentler impact – though there was so many people tweeting within hours of the album being announced! I shall move on, but I am interested in the surprise release phenomenon, and why artists do it. I think Lover was more of a traditional Pop album, and I think the album did need the normal promotional approach: if it were surprise released, I think it would have been a mistake. Instead, folklore is a different sound altogether, and I do not think the endless videos, teases and tweets would have suited the album. Another thing that is worth mentioning is not only the sonic shift between last year’s Lover, but the sense of progression and quality. Again, not to suggest the last album was lacking, but I think the lyrics are incredible on folklore, as are the compositions, and Swift’s vocals are much more engrossing. That said, I think Lover was a move away from the exclusively Pop territory, and it did head into Indie realms. In fact, when Swift spoke with Rolling Stone to promote Lover, that question was raised:

“In some ways, on a musical level, Lover feels like the most indie-ish of your albums.

That’s amazing, thank you. It’s definitely a quirky record. With this album, I felt like I sort of gave myself permission to revisit older themes that I used to write about, maybe look at them with fresh eyes. And to revisit older instruments — older in terms of when I used to use them. Because when I was making 1989, I was so obsessed with it being this concept of Eighties big pop, whether it was Eighties in its production or Eighties in its nature, just having these big choruses — being unapologetically big.

And then Reputation, there was a reason why I had it all in lowercase. I felt like it wasn’t unapologetically commercial. It’s weird, because that is the album that took the most amount of explanation, and yet it’s the one I didn’t talk about. In the Reputation secret sessions I kind of had to explain to my fans, “I know we’re doing a new thing here that I’d never done before.” I’d never played with characters before. For a lot of pop stars, that’s a really fun trick, where they’re like, “This is my alter ego.” I had never played with that before. It’s really fun. And it was just so fun to play with on tour — the darkness and the bombast and the bitterness and the love and the ups and the downs of an emotional-turmoil record”.

Just look at the reviews for folklore, and one will see how excited people are and how they have taken to the album! It is a remarkable achievement from the thirty-year-old who, through the years, has achieved so much and has made big strides regarding her songwriting. Unlike some of her peers, I think Taylor Swift is more than a musician. She is a role model for so many people and, when it would be easier to say nothing regarding politics and the state of your country, Taylor Swift is someone who has spoken out. This was not always the way. It was tricky breaking rank and showing her political stripes when she has a huge number of fans and is signed with a massive record label. Republic could have advised her not to say anything about Donald Trump and to just stick to the music but, when America was being ripped apart and turned into a dictatorship, Swift was not going to remain silent. Whilst some in 2017 felt that Swift was actually a conduit for Trump’s values, it was clear that she did not support the President but, as her album Reputation was out, she could not be too overt and outspoken.

I think she has become more clear in her opinion regarding Trump, but it is pretty brave of any artist to get involved in politics and sit on one side of the fence! If Swift came out as a Democrat and attacked Trump, that could have had an impact on her young listeners, and it might have been commercial suicide. Rather than sit still and not say anything at all, Swift has been keen to speak about issues important to her. This was explored in the documentary, Miss Americana. It was clear that, from 2017, there was a noticeable shift in Swift’s music and persona. Rather than playing up to the usual role of a young artist in the public eye, I think the waves and cracks caused by Trump compelled Swift to become more activated and vocal about things she was passionate about. In an illuminating interview with The Guardian from last year, we learned about the sonic evolution in Reputation, and what finally provoked her into political activation:

“Meanwhile, Donald Trump was more than nine months into his presidency, and still Swift had not taken a position. But the idea that a pop star could ever have impeded his path to the White House seemed increasingly naive. In hindsight, the demand that Swift speak up looks less about politics and more about her identity (white, rich, powerful) and a moralistic need for her to redeem herself – as if nobody else had ever acted on a vindictive instinct, or blundered publicly.

But she resisted what might have been an easy return to public favour. Although Reputation contained softer love songs, it was better known for its brittle, vengeful side (see This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things). She describes that side of the album now as a “bit of a persona”, and its hip-hop-influenced production as “a complete defence mechanism”. Personally, I thought she had never been more relatable, trashing the contract of pious relatability that traps young women in the public eye.

It was the assault trial, and watching the rights of LGBTQ friends be eroded, that finally politicised her, Swift says. “The things that happen to you in your life are what develop your political opinions. I was living in this Obama eight-year paradise of, you go, you cast your vote, the person you vote for wins, everyone’s happy!” she says. “This whole thing, the last three, four years, it completely blindsided a lot of us, me included”.

PHOTO CREDIT: John Salangsang/Shutterstock

What I was saying about Taylor Swift being a role model. One can see how she has spoken about L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ rights and denounced Trump, and this is someone who has a lot of backing and money behind her, but she is more interested in saying what is right and not letting injustice slide. Not only has Swift seen the rights of the L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ community being eroded and compromised, but she herself has had to face sexism and a real lack of compassion. I want to dovetail these two by sourcing from an interview of last year, as I think the two are related: Swift has faced oppression and sexism, and knows that this kind of attack and foul attitude applies to the L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ community, albeit in a different context. It has made Swift more determined to see a change and speak out. She spoke with Vogue back in September, and I think the reason why Reputation sounded different to anything that came before was this rebellion against being seen as quite soft and sweet:

“I ask her, why get louder about LGBTQ rights now? “Rights are being stripped from basically everyone who isn’t a straight white cisgender male,” she says. “I didn’t realize until recently that I could advocate for a community that I’m not a part of. It’s hard to know how to do that without being so fearful of making a mistake that you just freeze. Because my mistakes are very loud. When I make a mistake, it echoes through the canyons of the world. It’s clickbait, and it’s a part of my life story, and it’s a part of my career arc.”

I ask Swift if she had always been aware of sexism. “I think about this a lot,” she says. “When I was a teenager, I would hear people talk about sexism in the music industry, and I’d be like, I don’t see it. I don’t understand. Then I realized that was because I was a kid. Men in the industry saw me as a kid. I was a lanky, scrawny, overexcited young girl who reminded them more of their little niece or their daughter than a successful woman in business or a colleague. The second I became a woman, in people’s perception, was when I started seeing it.

“It’s fine to infantilize a girl’s success and say, How cute that she’s having some hit songs,” she goes on. “How cute that she’s writing songs. But the second it becomes formidable? As soon as I started playing stadiums—when I started to look like a woman—that wasn’t as cool anymore. It was when I started to have songs from Red come out and cross over, like ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’ and ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.’ ”

Those songs are also more assertive than the ones that came before, I say. “Yeah, the angle was different when I started saying, I knew you were trouble when you walked in. Basically, you emotionally manipulated me and I didn’t love it. That wasn’t fun for me”.

On folklore, Swift has taken another step forward, and has created her most mature album to date. Some might say that, at thirty, it is quite early to properly grow up and be quite serious, but she has lived in the public eye since she was a teenager, and she has been exposed and judged for so many years! It is clear that her music needed to undergo a sea change, and it will be interested to see how that progresses.

PHOTO CREDIT: Valheria Rocha/TAS Rights Management

Before getting to a song from folklore I was keen investigate, I want to look at the sort of negative attention Swift was receiving. Swift has spoken about her eating disorder and struggles she has faced, and I think a lot of the problem stems from the tabloids and their perception of her. In an interview with Variety, she went into detail about the effect of the press attention:

“In the quiet of a hotel suite, she goes into greater detail on how formative an effect that one early tabloid torpedo had on her. “I remember how, when I was 18, that was the first time I was on the cover of a magazine,” she says. “And the headline was like ‘Pregnant at 18?’ And it was because I had worn something that made my lower stomach look not flat. So I just registered that as a punishment. And then I’d walk into a photo shoot and be in the dressing room and somebody who worked at a magazine would say, ‘Oh, wow, this is so amazing that you can fit into the sample sizes. Usually we have to make alterations to the dresses, but we can take them right off the runway and put them on you!’ And I looked at that as a pat on the head. You register that enough times, and you just start to accommodate everything towards praise and punishment, including your own body.”

She hesitates. “I think I’ve never really wanted to talk about that before, and I’m pretty uncomfortable talking about it now,” she says quietly. “But in the context of every other thing that I was doing or not doing in my life, I think it makes sense” to have it in the film, she says”.

I wanted to mention this, because it provides a wider picture of Swift, and it also shows what she has had to endure. It also shows what a modern mainstream artist has to endure. I do think that life has become a little easier for Swift over the past year or so, but she still has to face a lot of pressure and judgment.

PHOTO CREDIT: Austin Hargrave/Billboard

There was a period where Taylor Swift stopped giving interviews. After Reputation, she sort of went on an interview hibernation, and only picked up on the media trail in 2019. I can understand why she would want to remain out of the limelight, as she did not want every iota of her private life put in the press. I think she is more comfortable now, but there was an intense period where I feel she was feeling a bit buried and exposed. Alongside the media attention, social media was also playing its part. For the most part, her fans are great, and she gets a lot of love online. Maybe one reason why folklore was not given the same extensive promotional as previous albums is because of the associated problems with social media and how committed Swift would have to be regarding promotion of an album and inherent problems. When she spoke with Elle, Swift discussed the problems of social media:

“Our priorities can get messed up existing in a society that puts a currency on curating the way people see your life,” Swift began. “Social media has given people a way to express their art. I use it to connect with fans. But on the downside you feel like there are 3 trillion new invisible hoops that you have to jump through, and you feel like you’ll never be able to jump through them all correctly. I—along with a lot of my friends and fans—am trying to figure out how to navigate living my life and not just curating what I want people to think living my life is."

Swift has also had trouble figuring out where to set boundaries between her private and public life, how to be open enough on social media that she doesn't seem fake without compromising her privacy. "I’m not always able to maintain a balance, and I think that’s important for everyone to know about," she said. "We’re always learning, and that’s something that I also had to learn—that I’ve got to be brave enough to learn. Learning in public is so humiliating sometimes…."

PHOTO CREDIT: Alexi Lubomirski

I am going to get to a review very soon, but I have been eager to show different sides to Taylor Swift, and how her life and career has played out over the past few years. I can only imagine how difficult it is for a hugely successful and popular artist like Swift to be herself and find any quiet away from the glare of social media and the press. I want to nod back to the Miss Americana documentary that came out at the start of the year, as I think many people would have had the impression of who Swift was and how she approached stardom. Most of us have very little clue of what life is really like for an artist like Taylor Swift. I would recommend people watch the documentary but, as this Variety article shows, Swift has had to deal with a lot:

“If this leads you to believe that the pop superstar is in the business of sugarcoating things, consider her other new movie — a vastly more significant documentary that presents Swift not just sans digital fur but without a whole lot of the varnish of the celebrity-industrial complex. The Netflix-produced “Taylor Swift: Miss Americana” has a prestige slot as the Jan. 23 opening night gala premiere of the Sundance Film Festival before it reaches the world as a day-and-date theatrical release and potential streaming monster on Jan. 31.

The doc spends much of its opening act juxtaposing the joys of creation with the aggravations of global stardom — the grist of many a pop doc, if rendered in especially intimate detail — before taking a more provocative turn in its last reel to focus more tightly on how and why Swift became a political animal. It’s the story of an earnest young woman with a self-described “good girl” fixation working through her last remaining fears of being shamed as she comes to embrace her claws, and her causes.

Given that the film portrays how gradually, and sometimes reluctantly, Swift came to place herself into service as a social commentator, “Miss Americana” is a portrait of the birth of an activist. Director Lana Wilson sets the movie up so that it pivots on a couple of big letdowns for its subject. The first comes early in the film, and early in the morning, when Swift’s publicist calls to update her on how many of the top three Grammy categories her 2017 album “Reputation” is nominated for: zilch. She’s clearly bummed about the record’s brushoff by the awards’ nominating committee, as just about anyone who’d previously won album of the year twice would be, and determinedly tells her rep that she’s just going to make a better record”.

I will move on now, as it is interesting to look at the last few years, and how she has got to where she is now. Swift seems more settled than she did fairly recently, and I think folklore is an album from someone who has definitely stepped away from Pop and Country, and entered a new phase of her life.

I wanted to review cardigan from the album, as I think it is the best track, and its video is pretty epic! Most artists do not have the budget Taylor Swift has, but she could have released a video that was overblown and pretentious. Instead, it fits perfectly with the song, and it is an amazing visual! The idea of the song is like being a discarded cardigan; sort of being cast aside and left under the bed. The first verse of the song is delicate and emotional. We see Swift at a piano, as she looks into the distance and ponders the words she is putting out. “Vintage tee, brand new phone/High heels on cobblestones/When you are young, they assume you know nothing/Sequined smile, black lipstick/Sensual politics/When you are young, they assume you know nothing”. The idea of a cardigan projects someone a little older and perhaps a little cosy in their ways. The first verse of the song projects images of a young spirit who will be familiar to many people. This idea of someone appearing to be quite free-spirited and naïve comes through, but I can hear the importance of the lyrics emphasised in Swift’s voice as she tells of being judged and cast aside. Looking beyond the personal, I sort of applied the words to her career and how, for the most part, she was marketed and almost told to be quiet, and there was this view that she was young and a Pop artist, so she would not have any opinions or anything worth hearing. Maybe it simply applies to the personal, and the fact that she was in a relationship where she was not given proper deference and respect. The opening of the video is quite stately and grand, where there is this sense of restriction. It is a simple shot of Swift at the piano but, as the chorus comes in, she is in a forest and, steps away from the piano and explores a new, wider world.

PHOTO CREDIT: Beth Garrabrant

It is like a revelation and opening of her horizons. It seems that, where she felt like an old cardigan and cast asunder before, she met someone who has sort of changed her ways. Look deeper into the lyrics and all is not rosy. Where as Swift sings “You put me on and said I was your favorite”, that would imply that this relationship has rejuvenated Swift and she feels wanted, it seems that she was being fed lines, and she was not the only one in the guy’s life. This idea of maturity and being young gains new light. Rather than it being Swift speaking out and being taken seriously in the media, it is about being in a relationship and being lied to because, as she is young, it is okay to be played. “A friend to all is a friend to none/Chase two girls, lose the one” suggest that Swift has been dealt a bad hand, and this relationship has gone sour. The wording and powerful imagery of the lyrics means that the truth is never too obvious, and I think there is room for interpretation as to the whole story. When the chorus - “But I knew you/Playing hide-and-seek and/Giving me your weekends” – comes in, Swift’s voice changes gear and there is raises in tone. That said, she is engrossed in the emotion of the song, and there is no suggestion that this story will have a happier ending. Whereas she was spending her weekends with someone and feeling special, maybe this was deceitful, and he was actually seeing other women. The video is very beautiful and stirring, and the image of Swift playing in a forest and engulfed in nature is powerful indeed! The refrain is about her being a cardigan and feeling past her best; maybe tossed away and struggling to find ignition. She did have this feeling she had been adopted and repurposed by a new love but, as she sings, “You drew stars around my scars/But now I'm bleedin'” – those lines are especially potent, and they project stirring imagery.

The song’s endlessly evocative imagery and storytelling keeps one involved and attached from the beginning to the end. Swift wrote the song with The National’s Aaron Dessner (who was also one of the producers on folklore) and, whilst he might have helped mould the song, I think the lyrics are very personal and particular to Swift. “Tried to change the ending/Peter losing Wendy, I/I knew you/Leavin' like a father/Running like water” moves from fantasy and fiction to a very raw experience of abandonment and mistrust. The way that the song shifts so quickly and twists like rapids augments this feeling of betrayal and faked affection. This is ironic as, at its heart, is a cardigan: something very simple, humble, and undramatic! I love the fact that there is only Swift and Dessner credited on the song, as a lot of artists would have a host of producers and writers to pen a song like this – which would make it feel impersonal and insincere. Instead, we have a track that is a lot more impactful, as you know Swift connects with every word. In the third (and final) verse, the mixture of images strikes and stuns. “But I knew you'd linger like a tattoo kiss/I knew you'd haunt all of my what-ifs” is poetic and filmic: this very romantic image of a tattoo kiss; one can imagine the lovers wrapped in each other’s arms, but there is this poison and fear lurking and infusing the heroine’s mind. “Chasin' shadows in the grocery line/I knew you'd miss me once the thrill expired” starts with a beautifully domestic and ordinary setting, made extraordinary and powerful. Swift knows that she would be missed once the excitement of someone else dissipated. Right until the end, I was curious whether Swift was keen to be the only one in the relationship, or whether she was standing next to her lover and turning him away. I feel Swift knows that she cannot trust him, but she does know that he has made a mistake and that she is much more substantial and worthwhile – more than this cardigan that should be left to collect dust under the bed! As she stands in the front porch, the heroine knows that the man would come back to her but, as you would imagine, things have gone too far, and she cannot trust him. I was moved by the performance and lyrics of cardigan, and how much I came back to the song. One can get lost in the story and the wonderful lyrics, and Swift’s delivery puts every word deeply into the mind and heart.

It has been interesting reviewing Taylor Swift, as I did not listen to her music a great deal before folklore, but I have been spinning the album quite a bit. It will be fascinating to see how she follows it, and whether she continues producing music of the same ilk, or whether there is an overhaul and she sort of returns to her roots. I feel where she is now is where she is going to head; no big revolution will occur on studio album nine, and I do think that, with age and experience, she has altered her priorities and discovered a love of a deeper and richer sound that is not as colourful and bold as some of her earlier work. I may be wrong, but I do feel that she will continue to make albums as strong and acclaimed as folklore. I wanted to end by looking back to an interview in Billboard from last year, where Swift was asked about artists’ rights regarding streaming, and pay-outs. This is something that is still burning in 2020, and it is impacting smaller acts harder than the mainstream best:

“You’ve served as an ambassador of sorts for artists, especially recently -- staring down streaming services over payouts, increasing public awareness about the terms of record deals.

We have a long way to go. I think that we’re working off of an antiquated contractual system. We’re galloping toward a new industry but not thinking about recalibrating financial structures and compensation rates, taking care of producers and writers.

We need to think about how we handle master recordings, because this isn’t it. When I stood up and talked about this, I saw a lot of fans saying, “Wait, the creators of this work do not own their work, ever?” I spent 10 years of my life trying rigorously to purchase my masters outright and was then denied that opportunity, and I just don’t want that to happen to another artist if I can help it. I want to at least raise my hand and say, “This is something that an artist should be able to earn back over the course of their deal -- not as a renegotiation ploy -- and something that artists should maybe have the first right of refusal to buy.” God, I would have paid so much for them! Anything to own my work that was an actual sale option, but it wasn’t given to me.

PHOTO CREDIT: Jason Laveris/Filmmagic

Thankfully, there’s power in writing your music. Every week, we get a dozen synch requests to use “Shake It Off” in some advertisement or “Blank Space” in some movie trailer, and we say no to every single one of them. And the reason I’m rerecording my music next year is because I do want my music to live on. I do want it to be in movies, I do want it to be in commercials. But I only want that if I own it”.

That was just a little aside I wanted to bring in, as it is another case of Swift getting involved and striving for change and equality. Let us hope that there is improvement regarding streaming payments but, for now, I wanted to wrap up and encourage people investigate folklore. It arrived out of the blue, and it has been gaining some simply incredible reviews! I know that Swift will not be able to tour the album this year, but I am sure that there will be a massive worldwide tour next year. I feel that we judge and easily define the most famous artists around and assume that we have them figured. We can be a bit dismissive and, prior to folklore, I had not given Swift’s work too much attention. I was caught by the wave of affection for her latest album and was keen to learn more! Upon hearing the album, it knocked aside any preconceptions, and I saw her in a different light – not that I had any negative views of her music; I just sort of assumed it would not be for me. Away from all the media attention and fame, here is an artist who is a genuinely amazing songwriter, and she is growing stronger by the album. I am looking forward to seeing where Taylor Swift heads next and just what she can achieve. The brilliant folklore might have arrived with little fanfare, but I think the album will resonate and resound…

PHOTO CREDIT: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

FOR a very, very long time.

___________

Follow Taylor Swift

Official:

https://www.taylorswift.com/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/taylorswift13

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/TaylorSwift

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/taylorswift/

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/06HL4z0CvFAxyc27GXpf02

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ALL UNCREDITED PHOTOS:

Taylor Swift

FEATURE: One for the Record Collection! Essential August Releases

FEATURE:

One for the Record Collection!

IN THIS PHOTO: Glass Animals/PHOTO CREDIT: Pooneh Ghana

Essential August Releases

___________

NOT withstanding any surprise releases…

there are some great albums slated for release next month – that could be added to and, to be fair, some artists might delay their albums because of the lockdown situation. If you are in need of some guidance regarding the albums to own in August, then I have a few suggestions. Glass Animals’ Dreamland is out on 7th August, and I would encourage people to pre-order the album. The album was due earlier in the year because of various issues – the COVID-19 situation, and the band wanted to delay the album to support Black Lives Matter -, but is coming very soon. It seems that Dreamland will be a very different record to their last, How to Be a Human Being, of 2016. Dave Bayley of the band spoke with NME earlier in the year and talked about revelations from their previous album:

“The last album saw me digging into other people’s lives and asking them quite heavy questions – quite probing stuff that I probably shouldn’t have asked,” Bayley says. “The people I spoke to were amazingly open and at the end of all that, I thought it wasn’t fair I was asking them to do this and not myself.” Only one song on the album was personal to Bayley – the emotive closer, ‘Agnes’, which tells the story of a close friend who died from suicide. It received a staggering response from fans.

“The fan response to ‘Agnes’ was totally unexpected,” Bayley says. “I’ve always been really, really afraid to write about myself. I always thought it was selfish”.

Looking ahead to 14th August, and Biffy Clyro will release A Celebration of Endings. Go and pre-order a copy, as Biffy Clyro always bring something incredible. When Simon Neil spoke with NME, he revealed how Biffy Clyro are putting a lot of urgency into their next album:

“Lyrically, the record is a rallying cry. Having battled with depression and fought his way back to self-confidence for the band’s previous album, 2016’s freewheeling ‘Ellipsis’, frontman Simon Neil looked outside himself for the first time to find inspiration in society’s ills. A whirlwind on stage, Neil has never been a shrinking violet in person – but he’s also never allowed his politics to spill into the music before.

“I feel like I’ve investigated myself more than I probably should – more than is probably healthy!” Neil told NME as he talked us through the new tunes. “When you’re younger, you think that you can keep the personal and the political separate, but I really don’t think that we can now in this world that we’re living in. The world needs to change in the right way. It’s just been bad news for years”.

Turning in another direction and Pop superstar Katy Perry is releasing Smile. 2017’s Witness was one of her more divisive albums, so it will be interesting to see what comes from her upcoming sixth studio album. Singles like Daisies, and Smile show new lease and life in Perry, and I think the album will be met with more acclaim that previous works. You can pre-order the album, and it will be a record that Perry’s fanbase will snap up.

Although August is a quieter month in terms of big releases than July, there are a few other great albums arriving before the end of the month. On 21st August via Dead Oceans, Bright Eyes release Down in the Weeds Where the World Once Was. It is going to be an album you will want to own, and it is clear there are very few bands like Bright Eyes around:

“Sometimes it feels like you hear a Bright Eyes song with your whole body. From Conor Oberst’s early recordings in an Omaha basement in 1995 all the way up to 2020, Bright Eyes’ music tries to unravel the impossible tangles of dissent: personal and political, external and internal. It’s a study of the beauty in unsteadiness in all its forms – in a voice, beliefs, love, identity, and what fills up the spaces in-between. And in so many ways, it’s just about searching for a way through.

The year 2020 is full of significant anniversaries for Bright Eyes. Fevers and Mirrors was released 20 years ago this May, while Digital Ash in a Digital Urn and I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning both turned 15 in January. The latter, a singer-songwriter tour-de-force released amidst the Bush presidency and Iraq war, wades through incisive anti-war rhetoric and micro, intimate calamities. On the title track and throughout the record, Oberst sings about body counts in the newspaper, televised wars, the bottomless pit of American greed, struggling to understand the world alongside one’s own turmoil. In its own way, I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning carved out its place in the canon of great anti-war albums by being both present and prophetic, its urgency enduring 15 years later.

And while 2020 is a year of milestones for the band, it’s also the year Bright Eyes returns, newly signed to indie label Dead Oceans. Amidst the current overwhelming uncertainty and upheaval of global and personal worlds, Oberst, Mogis, and Walcott reunited under the moniker as both an escape from, and a confrontation of, trying times. Getting the band back together felt right, and necessary, and the friendship at the core of the band has been a longtime pillar of Bright Eyes’ output. For Bright Eyes, this long-awaited re-emergence feels like coming home”.

Erasure’s The Neon is another key release coming next month, and I would suggest the album to people, whether there are a fan of the band or not. The legendary English Synth-Pop duo, consisting of singer and songwriter Andy Bell and songwriter and keyboardist Vince Clarke, are preparing their eighteenth studio album. It does seem like The Neon is going to be something pretty special:

“The Neon is a place that lives in the imagination, that we – you and me – put in the real world. It could be a night club, a shop, a city, a cafe, a country, a bedroom, a restaurant, any place at all. It’s a place of possibility in warm, glowing light and this is music that takes you there.

Written and produced by Erasure, the album’s initial sessions saw the Vince and Andy reunited to work on the follow up to 2017’s World Be Gone with a fresh optimism and energy, in part born from their own recent personal projects. Vince goes on to explain, “Our music is always a reflection of how we’re feeling. He was in a good place spiritually, and so was I – really good places in our minds. You can hear that.”

Taking inspiration from pop music through the decades, from bands Andy loved as a child through to the present day, he explains, “It was about refreshing my love – hopefully our love – of great pop. I want kids now to hear these songs! I wanted to recharge that feeling that pop can come from anyone”.

There are a few more albums that I want to push people’s ways. Not everyone is a fan of The Lemon Twigs, but I really like the band, and, on 21st August, they release Songs for the General Public. It comes out on the 4AD label, and it is going to be an album you’ll want to own. I think a lot of music sounds very samey but, with The Lemon Twigs, you get something genuinely inventive and different. They are so young and prodigiously talented so, for a sense of sheer wonder, their upcoming album is worth investment and time:

“The D’Addario brothers return with their third Lemon Twigs album, Songs For The General Public - written, recorded and produced by the D’Addarios at their home studio in Long Island, Sonora Studios in Los Angeles and Electric Lady in New York City.

The prodigiously-talented brothers first emerged as The Lemon Twigs in 2016 with their debut LP Do Hollywood, whose showstopping melodies mined from every era of rock quickly earned fans in Elton John, Questlove, and Jack Antonoff. Go To School, the ambitious 15-track coming-of-age opus, followed in 2018 and solidified the band’s reputation for building grand walls of sound around an audacious concept”.

Two great albums come out on 28th August that will be worthy of your money. One of them is Inner Song from Kelly Lee Owens. She is an incredible talent, and the Welsh artist spoke with The Guardian earlier in the year. It seems that, even during lockdown, she is finding some positives:

“Owens is keen to find positives everywhere she possibly can. She recently tweeted the definition of the word “apocalypse”, to mean “revelation – an unveiling or unfolding of things not previously known”. Does she think, then, that there could be tiny positives to the pandemic at all? “I do, and that’s just because I’m in a very privileged position to say it,” she says. “I’m hyper-aware of how you can come across when you say: ‘This is good for the planet.’ But it also is important to point out the duality of consciousness, and raise awareness of what can happen when we are apathetic.”

The track on her album, Wake-Up, points to this idea, too. “One of the things [it questions],” she says, “is never pausing to take it in, always avoiding your sense of dread.” A world-changing event like this “forces us to ask important questions. Globally, we are connecting now. That’s what’s important”.

Disclosure’s ENERGY is the last album that I want to recommend for August, as it is going to be a huge one, and Disclosure are another one of these acts that deliver incredible albums:

“Disclosure return with a their most direct album Energy. A global spectrum of talented artists grace the record – and for the first time this includes rappers. Appearances from Mick Jenkins, Channel Tres, Aminé and slowthai sit comfortably alongside the legend that is Common. Other features include the inimitable Kelis who opens the album and Fatoumata Diawara who the boys have also linked up with previously. Cameroon’s Blick Bassy brings his own flow to the table while a powerhouse team of Kehlani and Syd ease the pace with their contribution.

Every track was written really quickly. Through an epic process of creation and distillation the path to producing their shortest, most direct album - 11 songs, 39 minutes - ran through around 200 tracks: everything from drum loops to fully realised songs. Since live touring has been paused during the global pandemic and their own plans for 2020 now being put on hold, Guy (and sadly not Howard as they isolated in different countries) found an outlet for his desire to give people a good time no matter what the circumstances by doing a regular run of their popular Kitchen Mix parties via live stream, a set for Boiler Room and a one off special to celebrate Earth Day”.

Those are the albums that you will want to own through August and, whilst there are others that are worthy of investigation, the ones I have outlined are the best. As we are still sort of in lockdown, I think music is going to be very important, and what better way to get through these tough times than stock up on some terrific sounds?! Even if there are not quite as many blockbusters out next month, there are still some golden records due that are bound to…

IN THIS PHOTO: Katy Perry

KEEP you entertained.

FEATURE: For Your Pleasure: The New Post-Disco Wave and Much-Needed Escapism in 2020

FEATURE:

For Your Pleasure

IN THIS PHOTO: Jessie Ware

The New Post-Disco Wave and Much-Needed Escapism in 2020

___________

THIS will be a fairly short feature…

but, as this year has been a pretty hard one, there is a collective of artists who have provided music with something thrilling, body-moving and energised. There have been great Pop albums from Georgia (Seeking Thrills), and Charli XCX (how i'm feeling now) that has taken the genre in new directions. They have both been nominated for a Hyundai Mercury Prize, and I think it is clear that people – and the Mercury judging panel – are embracing music that is not only interesting and original, but also has a positive edge. I think last year’s best was defined by a more political edge, but 2020, to me, feels more about musicality and something warmer. Certainly, there have been some great albums that are personal and rich, but there is an emphasis on movement and physicality. I recently wrote a feature that reacted to the news that Pop music is getting happier and faster. This has been long-overdue, and I feel lockdown and COVID-19 has changed music in so many ways. One other thing that is apparent is how Post-Disco is burning strong. It is said that Disco died on 12th July, 1979 - rock D.J. Steve Dahl donned a combat helmet to blow up a crate of disco records, a stunt now known as Disco Demolition. Of course, Disco kept going, but it was definitely not too long for the world.

At a time when Punk and more political music was dominating, Disco was losing some of its lustre. Post-Disco sort of describes the period between 1979-1984, where an underground movement of Disco music of stripped-down vibes and radically different sounds came through on the East Coast of the U.S. Getting to my point, and the spirit of that period lived on, and many artists in 2020 are shaping Post-Disco in their own vision. I think one of the most pleasing and satisfying musical breakthroughs this year has been from the likes of Jessie Ware, Dua Lipa and Kylie Minogue. Minogue releases her new album, DISCO, on 4th November. Minogue is no stranger to Disco sounds, and albums like Light Years (2000), and Fever (2001) mixed Synth, Pop and Disco to incredible effect. Minogue shared her new single, Say Something, this week, and it is almost futuristic Disco; it has an edge of her earlier work, but there is something unique working away. I am looking forward to hearing her fifteen studio album and what it offers up. Jessie Ware’s incredible album, What’s Your Pleasure?, was released in June. Although I have not mentioned the amazing Róisín Murphy – who is masterful when it comes to serving up Post-Disco treats -, I think Ware has borrowed (as a tribute or nod) some of Murphy’s wardrobe for What’s Your Pleasure? Although there are moments where Ware puts her heart on her sleeve and goes deep, I think the best moments are when the lights come up and she surrenders to the pull of the dancefloor.

I just want to quote AllMusic’s review to see what they said about the album:

“Rhapsodic dancefloor intimacy became a new specialization for Jessie Ware with "Overtime," the first in a wave of tracks the singer released from 2018 up to the June 2020 arrival of What's Your Pleasure?, her fourth album. Other than "Adore You," a chiming glider made with Metronomy's Joseph Mount, each one in the series was either produced or co-produced by James Ford, consolidating and rerouting a partnership that started during the making of Tough Love. Unlike Ford and Ware's collaborations on that 2014 LP, the new material didn't merely simmer. Hottest of all, "Mirage (Don't Stop)" worked a ripe disco-funk groove with Ware's opening line, "Last night we danced, and I thought you were saving my life" -- sighed in a Bananarama cadence -- a sweet everything if there ever was one. The loved-up energy was kept in constant supply with the dashing "Spotlight," the Freeez-meet-Teena Marie-at-Compass-Point bump of "Ooh La La," and the sneaky Euro-disco belter "Save a Kiss." All but "Overtime" are included here. That makes the album somewhat anti-climactic, but there's no sense in complaining when the preceding singles keep giving and the new material is almost always up to the same standard. Among the fresh standouts, the bounding Morgan Geist co-production "Soul Control" and the dashing "Step Into My Life" recontextualize underground club music with as much might and finesse as anything by Róisín Murphy”.

Also in the Post-Disco mix is Dua Lipa. Her Mercury-nominated album, Future Nostalgia, is different-sounding compared to Jessie Ware, and I wonder whether the term ‘Post-Disco’ would fit the bill. I wonder whether the original Disco pioneers or those who kickstarted Post-Disco would have believed that some forty years later, artists would be carrying on their legacy. In a way, I think we call almost say artists like Kylie Minogue, Jessie Ware, Róisín Murphy and Dua Lipa are Post-Post-Disco! I love Dua Lipa’s album, as there are so many hypnotic songs that beckon movement, but they also make you think. I think the current movement has a dichotomy of emotional resonance and depth, combined with compositions and jams that cast one’s mind back to the heady Post-Disco days. I guess it is not something that has become more prominent this year, but I guess it is more noticeable considering the challenging times, and one would forgive artists if they were a bit more downbeat and downcast. I would not say that Post-Disco in 2020 exclusively has to be defined or narrowed. I think one can say that the genre/movement is more of a spirit, and there are other albums that fit the category. Pet Shop Boys’ fourteenth studio album, Hotspot, fuses Disco, Post-Disco, Synth-Pop and Electropop. It is one of their best albums of the past couple of decades, and it is guaranteed to lift the spirits. NZCA LINES’ Pure Luxury is another album that can splice more affecting lyrics with an outer shell that is more extrovert, colourful and glistening:

“Written and produced almost entirely by Lovett, yet featuring a wide range of collaborators, Pure Luxury revels in both the insular – the sound of one man processing anxiety-inducing world events - and the communal. It is a record of diverse styles, voices and textures, expanding the musical universe of Lovett’s previous albums whilst cementing his own playful voice with an inescapable sense of joy and excitement.

Tired of the now over-familiar sound of Big Analog Synths and words like glacial, austere, and wistful, he set out with one clear intention: to be Extra. Extra is the governing musical direction on Pure Luxury, accepting that we live in a world of dwindling attention spans whilst acknowledging that traditional notions of accessible musical form are fast becoming irrelevant in a world of online streaming”.

This has been a year like no other, and there was a worry that so many artists would react with music that was quite fearful and depressive. Sure, there is still some of that, but I do love how these big and bold albums have been released; allowing one to escape somewhat or, at the very least, lose some of their anxiety. I love Disco and Post-Disco, and it is encouraging to see new strands and offshoots in 2020. It makes me wonder whether we might enter a new phase where a more traditional and old-skool Disco sound emerges in the mainstream. I know there are D.J.s and artists on the fringes that are doing it, but I would love to see more of its at the forefront! Pop itself is reshaping and lightening its mood, and I do feel that, more often than not, the compositions and production of so much mainstream Pop is quite soulless and predictable – even if it is trying to be lighter and optimistic. Adding in a sprinkle of Disco brings some stardust that has more flair and panache than Pop.

I was not a huge fan of previous albums by Jessie Ware and Dua Lipa, for instance, but I do love their current work, as I think they have both hit peaks. It will be interesting to see whether Kylie Minogue steps back in time twenty years – or thirty -, and gives us some of her best work, and other great albums from this year have projected some Disco moments of bliss, including Tame Impala’s The Slow Rush and Lady Gaga’s Chromatica. I do hope, post-COVID-19, that there is this summation of increasingly upbeat Pop and the brilliant Post-Disco swathes that retains some pains in the heart and shows the scars, but there is this light shining; a desire to get the blood pumping. For those who feel modern music has lost its smile and is becoming more depressing, they need to listen to some of the best albums of this year and realise that there is a sense of reversal and encouragement. Perhaps it is the natural response to a traumatic year, or a moment where music is evolving and entering a new phase. I know we are not going to return to the flares, Studio 54s and anthemic sounds of the 1970s, but a modern-day equivalent would not be too bad! I would urge people to keep their eyes open to see what comes next, as I am sure there are going to be a few big Post-Disco/Pop albums that will get people moving! After everything that has happened – and for everything that lies ahead -, this variegated and edifying music is…

IN THIS PHOTO: Dua Lipa

JUST what we need.

FEATURE: A Buyer’s Guide: Part Twelve: Patti Smith

FEATURE:

 

A Buyer’s Guide

IN THIS PHOTO: Patti Smith in 1976/PHOTO CREDIT: Lynn Goldsmith

Part Twelve: Patti Smith

___________

IN this edition of…

PHOTO CREDIT: Steven Sebring

A Buyer’s Guide, I am recommending the essential albums of one of music’s greatest songwriters, Patti Smith. Nearly forty-five years since the release of her debut album, Horses, she has produced some of the greatest work the world has ever seen and, as her eleventh studio album, Banga, was released in 2012, I wonder whether we will see another album from the iconic Smith. I really love her albums, and there are some that are definitely underrated and warrant fonder appreciation. We are very lucky to have an artist like Patti Smith and, if you are a little new to her work, I hope the recommendations below help out. Have a look and I am sure you will become closer acquainted with…

A staggering artist.

______________

The Four Essential Album

Horses

Release Date: 10th November, 1975

Label: Aritsa

Producer: John Cale

Standout Tracks: Redondo Beach/Free Money/Land (Part I: Horses; Part II: Land of a Thousand Dances; Part III: La Mer(de)

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/Patti-Smith-Horses/master/40109

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/4AEKf48nR2rvEt4I5HBuUP

Review:

“It isn't hard to make the case for Patti Smith as a punk rock progenitor based on her debut album, which anticipated the new wave by a year or so: the simple, crudely played rock & roll, featuring Lenny Kaye's rudimentary guitar work, the anarchic spirit of Smith's vocals, and the emotional and imaginative nature of her lyrics -- all prefigure the coming movement as it evolved on both sides of the Atlantic. Smith is a rock critic's dream, a poet as steeped in '60s garage rock as she is in French Symbolism; "Land" carries on from the Doors' "The End," marking her as a successor to Jim Morrison, while the borrowed choruses of "Gloria" and "Land of a Thousand Dances" are more in tune with the era of sampling than they were in the '70s. Producer John Cale respected Smith's primitivism in a way that later producers did not, and the loose, improvisatory song structures worked with her free verse to create something like a new spoken word/musical art form: Horses was a hybrid, the sound of a post-Beat poet, as she put it, "dancing around to the simple rock & roll song” – AllMusic

Choice Cut: Gloria

Easter

Release Date: 3rd March, 1978   

Label: Arista

Producer: Jimmy Iovine

Standout Tracks: Till Victory/Privilege (Set Me Free)/High on Rebellion

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/Patti-Smith-Group-Easter/master/40121

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/1p6cWoueuunhpgy6131zAd

Review:

“But Smith’s version of “Because the Night” was an absolute monster of a hit. What she forged lyrically out of Springsteen’s unfinished, unwanted demo was an anthem of frank and unapologetic desire. In 1978, a woman wasn’t allowed to be an overtly sexual being in public unless she met the standards of the male gaze; if she did, there were always repercussions, and there would be constant attempts to diminish her power and/or her legitimacy. The fact that it went to No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was on every FM radio station, especially the ones who never played her before, was righteousness incarnate, as would be Easter’s eventual ascension to #20 on the Billboard 200.

The other love songs may not be as legendary as “Because the Night,” but their complexity is vital to the story being told on the album. The first line of “We Three”—“Every Sunday I would go down to the bar where he played guitar”—speaks absolute volumes. It is Smith’s history, it is rock’n’roll history, it is a quiet sentence whispered with a veneer of the innocence of early love, then immediately contrasted with a torch ballad, decisive and resolute, the expression of unresolved ardor, the saga of her relationships with Tom Verlaine and Allen Lanier. It’s not tragic so much tinged with the sadness of resignation, but it’s not the type of love song women had been writing” – Pitchfork

Choice Cut: Because the Night

Gone Again

Release Date: 18th June, 1996

Label: Arista

Producers: Malcolm Burn/Lenny Kaye

Standout Tracks: About a Boy/Summer Cannibals/Wicked Messenger

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/Patti-Smith-Gone-Again/master/115513

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/70BHwvG9ikXsffsWfHrWzi

Review:

“The Smith who returns on Gone Again after another prolonged absence is a changed woman once more. In the past seven years, a devastating number of her family and friends have died, including husband Fred ”Sonic” Smith, a brother, a former band mate, and her most celebrated intimate, photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. Gone Again is, not surprisingly, an album that dwells on loss. ”I don’t know why/But when it rains/It rains on me,” she sings in ”Farewell Reel,” one of several songs about her husband. She even mourns Kurt Cobain (yes, another Cobain tribute song) in the elliptical ”About a Boy,” which builds to a feedback-grating mantra, rekindling memories of Smith’s boho-outta-control work on bristling records like Easter. In each case, death is treated less as a horror than as an escape to a better, more serene place.

As insensitive as it might be to say, the succession of tragedies has lent a much-needed focus (and terseness) to Smith’s work. Death becomes her — and not merely in her lyrics. Reunited with guitarist and longtime coproducer Lenny Kaye (whose absence was felt on Dream of Life), Smith has set most of the songs to plaintive arrangements that resemble nothing so much as contemporary variations on Appalachian death ballads. Songs are structured with the roundelay melodies of folk songs, and Smith’s voice has the throaty cragginess of a woman coal miner. She sounds and looks like an extra in a John Sayles movie. The album’s second half — heavy on stark, strummed ballads like ”Wing” and ”Ravens,” which both employ images of flying above the sorrow — is particularly powerful. ”Dead to the World” even finds her having a little fun with the Grim Reaper by adopting a hillbilly twang” – Entertainment Weekly

Choice Cut: Gone Again

Trampin’

Release Date: 27th April, 2004

Label: Columbia

Producer: Patti Smith

Standout Tracks: Stride of the Mind/My Blakean Year/Radio Baghdad

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/Patti-Smith-Trampin/master/181779

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6Ks8jCJfXjZETFYBzHS2eb?nAi=

Review:

“A lot of this is due to Smith's current band. Now also approaching their third decade as her sidemen, old hands like Lenny Kaye and Jay Dee Daugherty along with second guitarist Oliver Ray (Smith's partner) provide a bedrock that's equal parts garage and tight professionalism. Not only is the playing accomplished, but Smith's vocals haven't lost the ability to glide between ballad and rant with ease. This adds a humanity that stops a song like the opener, ''Jubilee'' ('We will never fade away. Doves shall multiply. Yet I see hawks circling the sky, Scattering our glad day') becoming too anthemic. Yet she's still able to do the extended stream of invective stuff on ''Gandhi'' (a rather simplistic take on the man of peace) and ''Radio Baghdad''. The latter is a chilling, 12 minute condemnation of US foreign policy that focuses on the cultural heritage being tramped (ho ho) all over by Bush and his ilk. It also contains the sounds of Iraqi children at play.

But, for someone who's made her reputation as a somewhat scary, hard-hitting advocate of individual freedom and a woman's place in the phallocentric world of rock, this album drips with a sensitivity that makes all the worthiness infinitely more palatable. ''Mother Rose'' and ''Peaceable Kingdom'' (an optimistic song of solace for a country still traumatised by the loss of the twin towers) both beguile as much as move, and the title track's touching combination of Smith and her daughter on piano reminds us of her unquenchable belief in the human spirit over tyranny. In an age of apathy and irony Smith still wants to give power to the people -and that in itself is a reason to love this album...” – BBC

Choice Cut: Jubilee

The Underrated Gem

Dream of Life

Release Date: June 1988

Label: Arista

Producers: Fred Smith/Jimmy Iovine

Standout Tracks: Up There Down There/Dream of Life/Looking for You (I Was)

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/Patti-Smith-Dream-Of-Life/master/40263

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/3TxNFi3uBnjDBFlfnbmIPe

Review:

“The big difference between Patti Smith's four 1970s albums and this return to action after nine years lies in the choice of collaborator. Where Smith's main associate earlier had been Lenny Kaye, a deliberately simple guitarist, here her co-writer and co-producer (with Jimmy Iovine) was her husband, Fred "Sonic" Smith, formerly of the MC5, who played guitar with a conventional rock competence and who lent his talents to each of the tracks, giving them a mainstream flavor. In a sense, however, these polished love songs, lullabies, and political statements are not to be compared to the poetic ramblings of Smith's first decade of music-making -- she's so much...calmer this time out. But you can't help it. Where the Patti Smith of Horses inspired a generation of female rockers, the Patti Smith of Dream of Life sounds like she's been listening to later Pretenders albums and taking tips from Chrissie Hynde, one of her spiritual daughters. Dream of Life is the record of someone who is simply showing the flag, trying to keep her hand in, rather than announcing her comeback. Not surprisingly, having made it, Smith retreated from the public eye again until the '90s” – AllMusic

Choice Cut: People Have the Power

The Latest/Final Album

Banga

Release Date: 1st June, 2012

Label: Columbia

Producers: Patti Smith/Tony Shanahan/Jay Dee Daugherty/Lenny Kaye

Standout Tracks: Amerigo/Banga/After the Gold Rush

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/Patti-Smith-Banga/master/443906

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/00w8oLfAbJhENcGgkEhCOt

Review:

“Patti Smith has returned to the poetic-punk format of 1975's Horses, which the Polar prize committee recently described as "Rimbaud with amps". Four of Horses' personnel – Smith, guitarist Lenny Kaye, drummer Jay Dee Daugherty and Television' Tom Verlaine – are present here. It's a mixture of pop songs and poetic explorations, aided by the instantly resumed chemistry between Kaye's shimmering hooks and Smith's sensual vocals. While she has never sung better, the pop songs hit home first: the dreamy Amerigo, the reflective Maria and sublime April Fool, a headrushing tale of outlaw lovers who "race through alleyways in our tattered coats". The more esoteric monologues demand – and reward – perseverance, especially the 10-minute Constantine's Dream, a passionate defence of her other great love, art, complete with fantasy sequences set in the Garden of Eden. The collision of sound and language is exhilarating; if it is also occasionally impenetrable, that's down to her death-or-glory manifesto to "let me die on the back of adventure, with a brush” – The Guardian

Choice Cut: April Fool

The Patti Smith Book

Year of the Monkey 

Author: Patti Smith

Publication Date: 1st September, 2020

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Synopsis:

“A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From the National Book Award-winning author of Just Kids 'Magical' GUARDIAN 'A gripping tale of the search for meaning in times of turbulence - expressed with Smith's signature poetic flair' VOGUE 'Extraordinary ... A tense, teasing mix of reality and dream' Sunday Times 'A melancholy mood and poetic language distinguish Smith's third memoir' BBC 'Her willingness to look closely at life's closing chapters makes for a magical book' WASHINGTON POST, 'The 10 books to read in September' Following a run of New Year's concerts at San Francisco's legendary Fillmore, Patti Smith finds herself tramping the coast of Santa Cruz, about to embark on a year of solitary wandering. Unfettered by logic or time, she draws us into her private wonderland, with no design yet heeding signs, including a talking sign that looms above her, prodding and sparring like the Cheshire Cat. In February, a surreal lunar year begins, bringing with it unexpected turns, heightened mischief, and inescapable sorrow. In a stranger's words, "Anything is possible: after all, it's the year of the monkey." For Patti Smith - inveterately curious, always exploring, tracking thoughts, writing the year evolves as one of reckoning with the changes in life's gyre: with loss, aging, and a dramatic shift in the political landscape of America. Smith melds the Western landscape with her own dreamscape. Taking us from Southern California to the Arizona desert; to a Kentucky farm as the amanuensis of a friend in crisis; to the hospital room of a valued mentor; and by turns to remembered and imagined places - this haunting memoir blends fact and fiction with poetic mastery. The unexpected happens; grief and disillusionment. But as Patti Smith heads toward a new decade in her own life, she offers this balm to the reader: her wisdom, wit, gimlet eye, and above all, a rugged hope of a better world. Riveting, elegant, often humorous, illustrated by Smith's signature Polaroids, Year of the Monkey is a moving and original work, a touchstone for our turbulent times” – Waterstones

Pre-order: https://www.waterstones.com/book/year-of-the-monkey/patti-smith/9781526614766

FEATURE: The July Playlist: Vol. 4: According to Folklore

FEATURE:

 

The July Playlist

IN THIS PHOTO: Kylie Minogue

Vol. 4: According to Folklore

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THIS week…

IN THIS PHOTO: Taylor Swift/PHOTO CREDIT: Beth Garrabrant

is a really huge one for new music. Two of music’s biggest stars, Kylie Minogue and Taylor Swift have released music – a single from the former, and an album from the latter. Taylor Swift’s folklore has been met with huge acclaim, and Kylie Minogue’s Say Something is among her best work. There is also music from Catherine Anne Davies & Bernard Butler, Katy J Pearson, Gorillaz (ft. ScHoolboy Q), and The Avalanches (ft. Jamie xx, Neneh Cherry, CLYPSO). Throw into the mix The Rolling Stones with Jimmy Page, The Flaming Lips, Sinead O Brien, and Biig Piig. It is a busy and eclectic week, with enough in the pack to excite every music lover. If you require some fizz and kick for the weekend ahead, then have a listen to the best of the week’s releases and…

IN THIS PHOTO: The Rolling Stones/PHOTO CREDIT: Kevin Westenberg

IT will do the job.!

ALL PHOTOS/IMAGES (unless credited otherwise): Artists

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Kylie Minogue – Say Something

Taylor Swift – cardigan

Catherine Anne Davies & Bernard Butler - The Breakdown

Gorillaz (ft. ScHoolboy Q) - PAC-MAN (Episode Five)

Little Mix – Holiday

Katy J Pearson – Fix Me Up

IN THIS PHOTO: Neneh Cherry/PHOTO CREDIT: Vogue España

The Avalanches (ft. Jamie xx, Neneh Cherry, CLYPSO) - Wherever You Go  

PJ Harvey – Oh My Lover (Demo)

PHOTO CREDIT: Kevin Winter, Getty Images

The Rolling Stones, Jimmy Page - Scarlet

Sinead O'Brien - Strangers in Danger

PHOTO CREDIT: George Salisbury

The Flaming Lips - You n Me Sellin’ Weed

Courtney Marie Andrews – Together or Alone

Kero Kero Bonito - It’s Bugsnax!

PHOTO CREDIT: Enda Bowe

Shirley Collins – Wondrous Love

Hannah Georgas - Just a Phase

Logic – Perfect

Nadia Rose - Bad N Boujee

PHOTO CREDIT: Parri Thomas

Native Harrow - If I Could

Another Sky – All Ends

Biig Piig – Don’t Turn Around

Fenne Lily – Berlin

Jaga Jazzist - Tomita

Madeline Kenney – Picture of You

Lola Lennox - Back at Wrong

Sylvan Esso – Ferris Wheel

Creeper - Poisoned Heart

PHOTO CREDIT: Steve Gullick

The Wytches - A Love You’ll Never Know

BLOXX – Off My Mind

IN THIS PHOTO: Bree Runway

Bree Runway, Maliibu Miitch – Gucci

Thin Lear - Netta

Charlotte Lawrence - Slow Motion

FEATURE: Second Spin: Paul McCartney – McCartney II

FEATURE:

 

Second Spin

Paul McCartney – McCartney II

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WHEN it comes to albums that…

IN THIS PHOTO: Paul McCartney in 1980/PHOTO CREDIT: Hulton Archive, Getty Images

have divided people, not many have done it as extremely as Paul McCartney’s McCartney II. Some write the album off as experimental workings with only a few decent moments; too many weird songs that should not have been released. It was McCartney second solo studio album and, following the dissolvement of his band, Wings, he was keen to keep busy – Wings ended in 1981 and the recording of McCartney II occurred in 1979. Regardless, McCartney was reacting to the split of Wings in 1979 like he did with the split of The Beatles when he released the original McCartney in 1970. Released on 16th May, 1980, the album is much-underrated. Apart from Linda McCartney providing some backing vocals, Paul McCartney did everything himself, and the album was a radical departure from his work with Wings, or what we heard on his debut solo album – in fact, I don’t think McCartney put out anything as radical and unexpected since McCartney II! With some serious synthesiser work and experimentation, McCartney was taking from New Wave and Electronica and doing things his own way! I love how McCartney always reacts to what is happening in music and never really rests on his laurels. With little more than a 16-track recorder and some microphones, there is this delightful lo-fi sound to the album that very much differs to his work with The Beatles, and what was around in 1980 for that matter.

It is amazing to think about the story behind McCartney II, and what could have happened if events had worked out differently. Wings’ final album, Back to the Egg, of 1979 must have been quite emotional for McCartney, who must have known that the band were on their final legs. He went home to his farm in north Scotland, and he started working on some private recordings in July 1979. To him, there was no intention to release an album, but McCartney wanted to keep busy and was not quite sure what to do with himself. McCartney had up to twenty songs completed, and he then looked ahead to Wings’ U.K. tour of November and December. McCartney was allowed back into Japan after years of Visa issues, and this was his first trip to the country after performing with The Beatles there in 1966! When he arrived in Japan, customs searched him and found a massive amount of weed in his possession. McCartney was arrested and spent nine days in jail; Wings had to cancel the tour, and it was a major blow, as there was huge anticipation in the Japan for Wings’ arrival. Maybe Wings would have continued if the tour had gone well; McCartney might have had this new urge to write and record with them but, returning home, he pondered his future and this is where his shelved solo recordings came in.

It was inevitable McCartney would want to record and release an album after such a difficult period, and a new Wings album was not really on the cards. Some people wonder why McCartney did not rework the songs for McCartney II, as there are a few sketches that are not really complete or that appealing. I think a lot of contemporary reviews were very unfair, and critics wanted to attack McCartney or could not accept anything that wasn’t Beatle-esque. Yes, there are some songs that never resonate or sound that great – such as Frozen Jap, and Bogey Music -, but there is plenty to like in an album that, since 1980 has received greater positivity. I still think many critics are overly-harsh towards the album, but consider the fact that bands like Hot Chip are inspired by McCartney II; the album was forward-thinking and unlike anything around in 1980. With Coming Up, and Temporary Secretary opening the album, here are two great McCartney cuts – the former found a fan in his Beatles brother, John Lennon (who very rarely dished out compliments to McCartney, and was not that impressed by the rest of the album). Waterfalls, and Nobody Knows are great tracks, the first half is really eclectic and strong. I do love the weirdness and synth sounds on Temporary Secretary, and the sheer brilliance of Coming Up, and how he does naked and emotional with Waterfalls – even if the track does suffer a little from under-production.

On the second side, Front Parlour, and One of These Days provides gold, but there are a few weaker tracks that mean McCartney II is top-heavy/front-loaded. Tracks that did not feature on the album such as Blue Sway, and Check My Machine are excellent, and I think the album would have got more love if they replaced two of the inferior songs on the second side. The fact McCartney was so prolific and inventive should be commended. So many people have just taken a track or two from the album and dismissed the rest. As it has been forty years since McCartney II’s release, the musical landscape has changed, and I think one can look back and actually see how many people were influenced by that album! I think there is an argument to suggest that some songs would have been stronger without vocals – Darkroom, and Bogey Music are prime examples. Faults and all, I think McCartney II is a really interesting and strong album that boasts at least five or six truly awesome tracks. The fact McCartney released it all, put it all together by himself and merely plugged microphones into the back of a recorder and was not using a mixing desk is amazing – and I really do like the homemade feel of the album. AllMusic are one of the sites that have given it a retrospective review, and I disagree with their almost casual dismissal of McCartney II:

“Entitled McCartney II because its one-man band approach mirrors that of his first solo album, Paul McCartney's first record since the breakup of Wings was greeted upon its release as a return to form, especially since its synth-heavy arrangements seemed to represent his acceptance of new wave. In retrospect, the record is muddled and confused, nowhere more so than on the frazzled sequencing of "Temporary Secretary," where McCartney spits out ridiculous lyrics with a self-consciously atonal melody over gurgling synths.

Things rarely get worse than that, and occasionally, as in the effortless hooks of "Coming Up," the record is quite enjoyable. Nevertheless, the majority of McCartney II is forced, and its lack of memorable melodies is accentuated by the stiff electronics, which were not innovative at the time and are even more awkward in the present. At least McCartney II finds Paul in an adventurous state of mind, which is a relief after years of formulaic pop. In some ways, the fact that he was trying was more relevant than the fact that the experiments failed”.

This 2011 review from Pitchfork offers more positives I feel:

“Elsewhere on the album, McCartney remains similarly difficult to pigeonhole. If I told you the instrumental "Front Parlour", with its tinny drum machine and sunny keyboard melody, was a 2009 blog hit by a lo-fi synth act, you'd likely believe me. And then there's "Temporary Secretary", a frankly irritating but still interesting song that combines frenzied synth programming with a self-consciously bizarre vocal-- McCartney sings as nasally as possible on the refrain, and tweaks it to sound robotic. Other songs turn away from this type of maximalist approach. "Summer's Day Song" is pretty and sparse, featuring just McCartney and a few keyboards. TLC-presaging single "Waterfalls" is even more bare, only McCartney and an electric piano, with a tiny dollop of synth and acoustic guitar.

Two other songs stand out on McCartney II, and they're as distinct from each other as this record is from McCartney. Album closer "One of These Days" is simply great, benefiting from a rudimentary approach that strips away the synths and drum machines that dominate McCartney II. Bonus track "Secret Friend", included on the second disc of this reissue, is also pretty jaw-dropping-- a 10-minute, beat-driven synth opus that shares plenty in common aesthetically with dance music a decade its junior. Though relegated to the B-side of the "Temporary Secretary" single, "Secret Friend" is among the most forward-looking things McCartney has recorded in his post-Beatles career”.

I have a lot of love for McCartney II, but I can see why some people overlook it, as there are songs that seem half-finished, and others that would have benefited from more time and thought. The classics from the album – Coming Up, Temporary Secretary, and Waterfalls among them – show that one cannot call McCartney II bad. I think it deserves a second spin, and, forty years after its release, I feel critics might be a bit kinder to it. Like all of Paul McCartney’s albums, it is clear that one could…

NEVER predict what he’d do next

FEATURE: The Lockdown Playlist: The Hyundai Mercury Prize 2020 Shortlist

FEATURE:

  

The Lockdown Playlist

IN THIS PHOTO: Kano

The Hyundai Mercury Prize 2020 Shortlist

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ON Thursday…

IN THIS PHOTO: Charli XCX

the shortlist for this year’s Hyundai Mercury Prize was unveiled. The ceremony will take place in September but, at the moment, nobody is sure what form it will take. The past year has been a strong one for British and E.I.R.E. music, and the shortlist is a broad and interesting one. There has been some criticism that not many albums from the fringes has been included; perhaps too little in the way of anything heavier-sounding but, as only twelve albums can be included, it is difficult to please everyone! The Hyundai Mercury Prize shortlist this year consists:

Porridge Radio - Every Bad
Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia
Laura Marling - Song for Our Daughter
Sports Team - Deep Down Happy
Kano - Hoodies All Summer
Anna Meredith - FIBS
Georgia - Seeking Thrills
Lanterns on the Lake - Spook the Herd
Moses Boyd - Dark Matter
Charli XCX - how i’m feeling now
Stormzy - Heavy Is the Head
Michael Kiwanuka - KIWANUKA

To honour the announced shortlist, I have put together a playlist featuring three songs from each of the nominated dozen albums. I am sure that there is enough in the playlist to get your weekend kicking. No matter what your music tastes are, one has to concede that the shortlist this year, all things considered, is actually… 

IN THIS PHOTO: Lanterns on the Lake

PRETTY damned good.

FEATURE: Tantalising Lines and Divine Rumours: Might a Collaboration Between Kate Bush and Big Boi Happen?

FEATURE:

 

Tantalising Lines and Divine Rumours

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a promotional shot for Director’s Cut (2011)/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush 

Might a Collaboration Between Kate Bush and Big Boi Happen?

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THIS will be genuinely short…

IN THIS PHOTO: Big Boi

because I have another Kate Bush feature to put out on Wednesday! A lot has happened this week in the music world. Taylor Swift put out an unexpected/’surprise’ eighth studio album, Folklore, that is a completely different direction for her - and it gathering its fair share of five-star reviews! The nominations for this year’s Mercury Prize were announced on Thursday, and Kylie Minogue released a brilliant new track, Say Something, too. It seems that good news is coming in more, and we are being treated to these great releases! I just had to react to the news that maybe, perhaps…there might be a collaboration between Kate Bush and Big Boi. CRACK were among several sources to report the news:

“Big Boi has hinted that Kate Bush may feature on his upcoming Big Sleepover project with Sleepy Brown.

Speaking toSiriusXM Volume, Big Boi listed Bush as his second favourite artist of all time and spoke about meeting her following a performance in London during her 2014 sell-out 22-date residency at the Hammersmith Eventim Apollo.

“And at the end of the show, she invited me and my wife back to the dressing room to have a glass of wine.” Big told the host. He then revealed that three years later they met up again. When asked whether we might hear a collaboration soon, Big Boi answered, “Stay tuned, stay tuned. Just stay tuned. I can’t even talk about it right now!”

Did you know @BigBoi is a MASSIVE @KateBushMusic fan? Hear him tell #VolumeWest's @lyndseyparker about finally getting to meet her and how that meeting could soon turn into a collaboration...

Check out the full interview via @SIRIUSXM on-demand here -> https://t.co/8SWIlge1nl pic.twitter.com/Q7LFXG2MoE

— SiriusXM VOLUME (@siriusxmvolume) July 23, 2020

Of course, there is every chance that this could all be tease and, in fact, the Kate Bush we could hear in a Big Boi recording is pre-existing – maybe a sample from one of her classic hits. It would seem strange to be asked the question about a Kate Bush collaboration and then, rather than deny it, sort of give a cheeky grin and tell people to stay tuned. The potential hook-up has been met with a lot of curiosity and excitement. There is no telling when we might see (the) The Big Sleepover project, as Big Boi says that he wants the album to arrive when there is greater movement and we can all get together. As he is in the U.S., this might be a fair few months away! Of course, as we all have to realise, it that there has been no announcement made officially by either Big Boi or Kate Bush. I just thought that it was worth writing about, as there has not been a huge amount of musical activity from Kate Bush since 50 Words for Snow came out in 2011. As a super-fan of Kate Bush, I am not going to wrestle Big Boi for the title of The World’s Biggest Kate Bush fan, as that title is hotly-fought and contentious! It is evident Big Boi is an enormous fan, and he contributed to a documentary about Kate Bush in 2014 that was broadcast on the BBC (Big Boi appears from 37:02).

Big Boi’s last studio album, Boomiverse, arrived in 2017, and I am excited to hear new music from him. Of course, if we do get some new music from him this year and there is no hint of an original Kate Bush vocal, then there will be an air of disappointment – though, there is nothing to say Kate Bush herself is quiet and not preparing to announce something. I love the image of the two of them sitting down for dinner in 2017, as they are very different people but, in reality, they share a lot of musical D.N.A. and passion. Some say a collaboration might sound a bit mis-matched, but think about the collaborations Kate Bush has had through the years. Though she has not performed with anyone quite as different as Big Boi, she collaborated with Peter Gabriel multiple times (on backing vocals for No Self Control, and Games Without Frontiers on Peter Gabriel III: Melt, and the duet, Don’t Give Up, from 1986’s So); she had Roy Harper provide backing vocals on her single, Breathing (from Never for Ever, 1980), and she provided vocals for his track, You, from his 1980 album, The Unknown Soldier) Kate Bush sung with the Trio Bulgarka – they are a Bulgarian vocal ensemble - on her albums, The Sensual World (1989), and The Red Shoes (1993). Kate Bush had Lenny Henry perform on a track from The Red Shoes, Why Should I Love You? Mica Paris provided some backing vocals for Kate Bush’s 2011 album, Director’s Cut, and there have been many other cases of different musicians and singers entering Bush’s world. She has been all over the musical map since her career began. I might do a separate feature on her collaborative nature but, from incorporating unconventional instruments in her songs, to her unique vocal phrasings and incredible lyrics, Bush has always strayed from the boringly conventional and embraced something much more interesting and original – so it would not be a shock is she was to trade lines with the OutKast legend (though one doubts Bush will be rapping!).

The slightest whiff of any new Kate Bush news and music is cause for great celebration and, though many would like the arrival of a new album from her, the potential of a collaboration would be fantastic. We shall have to wait and see because, whilst the rumours were out of the bag on social media yesterday – and there followed a few articles documenting a possible Big Boi-Kate Bush song -, it might be a long while before we get anything substantiated. In the meantime, one can only imagine what Kate Bush and Big Boi together would sound like and, if she is in the mix of a new project, whether she provides piano, vocals, or is sampled in some way. I am ramping up my Kate Bush writing ahead of her birthday on Thursday (30th July), and I couldn’t wait a few days to put out my thoughts regarding the Big Boi tease. Kate Bush fan sites and Twitter feeds have seen people post comments and theories, and Big Boi himself has sort of augmented that possibility by retweeting a post from someone who said that, finally, a Kate Bush and Big Boi link-up is happening. Whether you thought you needed it or not, 2020 could provide the world with one of the most unexpected collaborations in recent years! We shall keep an eye and ear out to see what, if anything, comes about, but I cannot help thinking that two musical giants (if very different) like Big Boi and Kate Bush together…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Richard Young/REX/Shutterstock

WOULD be something to witness!