FEATURE: Too Good to Be Forgotten: Songs That Are Much More Than a Guilty Pleasure: New Kids on the Block - Step by Step

FEATURE:

 

 

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

New Kids on the Block - Step by Step

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THERE are some divisions when it…

comes to boy bands and girl groups. There are those who do not like any of them, whereas there are others who feel that some were a lot stronger than others. I tend to have more time and appreciation for girl groups and the music they made. I find that, when we look at groups like TLC, En Vogue and Destiny’s Child, they were cooler, funkier and boasted stronger material than, say, Take That. Blue or Westlife. I feel that there was a golden era for girl groups and boy bands. One can chart the phenomenon back to the 1960s; I feel the golden run ended by the 2010s. I feel there were some great tracks from boy bands. I like a lot of what Take That did in the U.K. One can say that the best boy bands, certainty of the 1980s and 1990s, came from the U.S. Think of *NSYNC, Boyz II Men, and The Backstreet Boys. The song that I am included today is from a group who started out in the 1980s but released this track in 1990. New Kids on the Block didn’t acquire the same sort of credibility as some of the girl groups and boy bands of the 1980s and 1990s. I think they were seen as a bit soft and lacking in any edge – not that many others had that much grit! For that reason, many of their tracks have been derided or seen as guilty pleasures. Whilst the fandom was predominately teenage girls, I feel New Kids of the Block’s music was broad enough to appeal to a wider demographic (the group are still together; their seventh studio album, 10, was released in 2013).

I do not like everything they did, though tracks such as Hangin' Tough are good. Step by Step is one of their better-known songs. I have seen some sites refer to the song as a guilty pleasure – one that is a bit lame or reserved for the fans. In terms of background, Wikipedia have us sorted:

“Step by Step" is a song by New Kids on the Block, released on May 10, 1990 as the first single from the album of the same name. It is the group's biggest-selling hit single. The lead vocals were sung by Jordan Knight. Danny Wood sang "Step 1", Donnie Wahlberg sang "Step 2", Jordan Knight sang "Step 3", Joey McIntyre sang "Step 4", and Jonathan Knight sang "Step 5".

"Step by Step" was initially recorded by one of Maurice Starr's other groups, The Superiors. It was released as a single in 1987 on Motown Records but it was not successful. The New Kids cover of the song on the other hand was a huge worldwide hit, becoming one of the biggest selling singles of 1990. The New Kids on the Block's cover spent three weeks at No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and was eventually certified platinum; it also spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Canadian Singles Chart, in total "Step by Step" spent five weeks at No. 1 in the North American charts. It also peaked at No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart and was also a top 10 hit in the Australian, French, German, Irish and Norwegian charts.

Donnie Wahlberg's brother Mark Wahlberg appears in the video for this song.

Bill Coleman from Billboard wrote, "Unstoppable teen idols preview upcoming album of the same name with a perky pop/dance confection rife with disco-era string fills. The phenomenon continues." People Magazine said in their review of the album, that "the music, all written or co-written by the group's conceiver Maurice Starr, is in fact better in spots than on their previous effort", noting that the song is "funkier".

I think that one should not judge all boy bands or feel that the music is not worth listening to. If you are into other genres and bands, there are songs that will catch you by surprise or provide something you were not expecting. New Kids on the Block, despite not being one of the strongest boy bands, are definitely worth investigation. Step by Step is a catchy and fun song that should be heard. I want to end with an article from The Guardian. Published in 2016, they spoke with Rebecca Wallwork about her book, New Kids on the Block's Hangin' Tough (33 1/3). They question asked was whether we should remember New Kids on the Block:

“Where would we be without New Kids on the Block? Clean-cut and always ready to burst into harmonies or a complicated piece of choreography at a moment’s notice, they set the template for subsequent boy bands, first the Backstreet Boys and *N Sync, then One Direction. In America at least, New Kids breathed new life into teen pop music and stoked a newly rabid kind of pop fandom. Plus, they laid the blueprint for Lou Pearlman’s business model, which may have landed him in prison but also transformed the charts of the late 90s and early 00s.

The New Kids were influential. They mattered. Which is exactly what journalist Rebecca Wallwork set out to prove in her book, Hangin’ Tough. It’s part of the 33 ⅓ series that has seen different writers tackle a famous album. The books have ranged from Michaelangelo Matos on Prince’s Sign O’ the Times to Alex Niven on Oasis’s Definitely Maybe.

IN THIS PHOTO: New Kids On The Block circa 1989/PHOTO CREDIT: Michel Linssen/Redferns

There’s nothing ironic about her admiration of the album – she was a fan. “[I was] a Blockhead,” Wallwork explains over the phone. “I was a little late to the game with New Kids because I was in Australia. The Right Stuff is where I began, probably a few months later than the American Blockheads, but I’m still a fan to this day.” To give it its full title, You Got It (The Right Stuff) was NKOTB’s breakthrough hit. Released in 1988, it got to No 3 in the States and No 1 in the UK.

And Wallwork doesn’t use the term “fan” lightly: she’s met the band upward of 20 times (not including when she’s met members individually or as a music writer), and her Tumblr boasts photos of herself as a teen proudly posing by her NKOTB merch, proving the seriousness of her dedication and how long it’s lasted.

“I was 13 when I first saw [The Right Stuff] video, and it just seemed so cool and funky,” she recalls. “I hadn’t heard music like that before. And if you listen to it now, it still sounds kind of different. It doesn’t sound to me like Backstreet Boys or *N Sync or One Direction – it was dancey, they were driving around in a convertible picking up chicks, and I was like, ‘You look cool, I like this.’ They grabbed my eye, I’ll admit it. And then I really did love the music. 

“And in a way, they were safe,” she adds. “Parents allowed their kids to become quite obsessed with them because it wasn’t a bad obsession.”

A sentiment anyone who’s dabbled in boy band culture (hi!) will understand. There’s safety in basking in a relationship you can dictate exclusively through your own frame of mind. There’s comfort in deciphering the meaning of lyrics, or poring over interviews and hoping the member you like implies he’s single. (Wallwork’s favourite member is Joe, by the way: “He was closest to my age - he seemed sweet.”)”.

I would advise people to listen to Step by Step if they need a boost. Go and check out other songs like Hangin' Tough. The album of the same name also features the hit, You Got It (The Right Stuff). Whilst the Step by Step album is not as strong, I feel there is enough in there to satisfy Pop fans. The title track has a definite infectiousness and spark. It is a song that is a little cheesy, yes, but it is definitely not a guilty pleasure. A single spin of Step by Step and you will find yourself singing it…

FOR a long time later.

FEATURE: Ranking Tracks from Kate Bush’s Albums… The Dreaming

FEATURE:

 

 

Ranking Tracks from Kate Bush’s Albums…

The Dreaming

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I am doing a short run…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1982/PHOTO CREDIT: Pierre Terrasson

where I am looking at various Kate Bush albums and ranking the tracks. I feel everyone should listen to Kate Bush albums in full, though some songs are better than others. I might not include Director’s Cut – as I have covered that extensively. I am continuing with The Dreaming as its first single, Sat in Your Lap, is forty next month. I would advise everyone to buy it on vinyl. It a terrific album that is underrated and is among Bush’s most experimental, broad and exciting works. Produced by Kate Bush and featuring several engineers and a range of fascinating musicians and sounds, this was an album where Bush was working intensely. Before bringing in the songs, I want to quote from the Kate Bush Encyclopaedia (who I will rely on when ranking the tracks):

“After the last album, 'Never For Ever', I started writing some new songs. They were very different from anything I'd ever written before - they were much more rhythmic, and in a way, a completely new side to my music. I was using different instruments, and everything was changing; and I felt that really the best thing to do would be to make this album a real departure - make it completely different. And the only way to achieve this was to sever all the links I had had with the older stuff. The main link was engineer Jon Kelly. Everytime I was in the studio Jon was there helping me, so I felt that in order to make the stuff different enough I would have to stop working with Jon. He really wanted to keep working with me, but we discussed it and realised that it was for the best. ('The Dreaming'. Poppix (UK), Summer 1982)

Yes, it's very important for me to change. In fact, as soon as the songs began to be written, I knew that the album was going to be quite different. I'd hate it, especially now, if my albums became similar, because so much happens to me between each album - my views change quite drastically. What's nice about this album is that it's what I've always wanted to do. For instance, the Australian thing: well, I wanted to do that on the last album, but there was no time. There are quite a few ideas and things that I've had whizzing around in my head that just haven't been put down. I've always wanted to use more traditional influences and instruments, especially the Irish ones. I suppose subconsciously I've wanted to do all this for quite some time, but I've never really had the time until now. ('The Dreaming'. Poppix (UK), Summer 1982”.

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10. There Goes a Tenner

“Song written by Kate Bush. Originally released on her fourth album The Dreaming, it was also released as a single on 2 November 1982. The song's lyrics are about a bungled bank robbery as told by a fearful and paranoid perpetrator. Towards the end of the song, the lyrics and tone take on a dream-like state, which is reflected in the video.

It's about amateur robbers who have only done small things, and this is quite a big robbery that they've been planning for months, and when it actually starts happening, they start freaking out. They're really scared, and they're so aware of the fact that something could go wrong that they just freaked out, and paranoid and want to go home. (...) It's sort of all the films I've seen with robberies in, the crooks have always been incredibly in control and calm, and I always thought that if I ever did a robbery, I'd be really scared, you know, I'd be really worried. So I thought I'm sure that's a much more human point of view. (The Dreaming interview, CBAK 4011 CD)

 That was written on the piano. I had an idea for the tune and just knocked out the chords for the first verse. The words and everything just came together. It was quite a struggle from there on to try to keep things together. The lyrics are quite difficult on that one, because there are a lot of words in quite a short space of time. They had to be phrased right and everything. That was very difficult. Actually the writing went hand-in-hand with the CS-80. (John Diliberto, Interview. Keyboard/Totally Wired/Songwriter (USA), 1985)” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

9. The Dreaming

“Song written by Kate Bush. Originally released as the lead single from her fourth album The Dreaming on 26 July 1982. The song is about the destruction of Aboriginal homelands by white Australians in their quest for weapons-grade uranium. The original title for the track was 'The Abo Song', which unwittingly made use of a racial slur. Promotional 12" copies bearing this title were circulated before being recalled.

The title actually came last. It always does. It's the most difficult thing to do. I tried to get a title that would somehow say what was in there. It was really bad. Then I found this book [Hands me huge tome on australian lore]. I'd written a song and hadn't really given it a proper name. I knew all about this time they call Dreamtime, when animals and humans take the same form. It's this big religious time when all these incredible things happen. The other word for it is The Dreaming. I looked at that written down and thought, ``Yeah!'' (Kris Needs, 'Dream Time In The Bush'. ZigZag (UK), 1982)

 The Aboriginals are not alone in being pushed out of their land by modern man, by their diseases, or for ther own strange reasons. It is very sad to think they might all die. 'The Dreaming' is the time for Aboriginals when humans took the form of animals, when spirits were free to roam and in this song as the civilized begin to dominate, the 'original ones' dream of the dreamtime. (Press statement by Kate Bush, 1982)” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

8. Leave It Open

“Like cups, we are filled up and emptied with feelings, emotions - vessels breathing in, breathing out. This song is about being open and shut to stimuli at the right times. Often we have closed minds and open mouths when perhaps we should have open minds and shut mouths.

This was the first demo to be recorded, and we used a Revox and the few effects such as a guitar chorus pedal and an analogue delay system. We tried to give the track an Eastern flavour and the finished demo certainly had a distinctive mood.

There are lots of different vocal parts, each portraying a separate character and therefore each demanding an individual sound. When a lot of vocals are being used in contrast rather than "as one", more emphasis has to go on distinguishing between the different voices, especially if the vocals are coming from one person.

To help the separation we used the effects we had. When we mastered the track, a lot more electronic effects and different kinds of echoes were used, helping to place the vocals and give a greater sense of perspective. Every person who came into the studio was given the "end backing vocals test" to guess what is being sung at the end of the song.

"How many words is it?"

"Five."

"Does it begin with a 'W'?"

It is very difficult to guess, but it can be done, especially when you know what the song is about.

I would love to know your answers. (Kate Bush Club newsletter, October 1982)” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

7. Night of the Swallow

“Ever since I heard my first Irish pipe music it has been under my skin, and every time I hear the pipes, it's like someone tossing a stone in my emotional well, sending ripples down my spine. I've wanted to work with Irish music for years, but my writing has never really given me the opportunity of doing so until now. As soon as the song was written, I felt that a ceilidh band would be perfect for the choruses. The verses are about a lady who's trying to keep her man from accepting what seems to be an illegal job. He is a pilot and has been hired to fly some people into another country. No questions are to be asked, and she gets a bad feeling from the situation. But for him, the challenge is almost more exciting than the job itself, and he wants to fly away. As the fiddles, pipes and whistles start up in the choruses, he is explaining how it will be all right. He'll hide the plane high up in the clouds on a night with no moon, and he'll swoop over the water like a swallow.

Bill Whelan is the keyboard player with Planxty, and ever since Jay played me an album of theirs I have been a fan. I rang Bill and he tuned into the idea of the arrangement straight away. We sent him a cassette, and a few days later he phoned the studio and said, "Would you like to hear the arrangement I've written?"

I said I'd love to, but how?

"Well, Liam is with me now, and we could play it over the phone."

I thought how wonderful he was, and I heard him put down the phone and walk away. The cassette player started up. As the chorus began, so did this beautiful music - through the wonder of telephones it was coming live from Ireland, and it was very moving. We arranged that I would travel to Ireland with Jay and the multi-track tape, and that we would record in Windmill Lane Studios, Dublin. As the choruses began to grow, the evening drew on and the glasses of Guiness, slowly dropping in level, became like sand glasses to tell the passing of time. We missed our plane and worked through the night. By eight o'clock the next morning we were driving to the airport to return to London. I had a very precious tape tucked under my arm, and just as we were stepping onto the plane, I looked up into the sky and there were three swallows diving and chasing the flies. (Kate Bush Club newsletter, October 1982)” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

6. Pull Out the Pin

“I saw this incredible documentary by this Australian cameraman who went on the front line in Vietnam, filming from the Vietnamese point of view, so it was very biased against the Americans. He said it really changed him, because until you live on their level like that, when it's complete survival, you don't know what it's about. He's never been the same since, because it's so devastating, people dying all the time.

The way he portrayed the Vietnamese was as this really crafted, beautiful race. The Americans were these big, fat, pink, smelly things who the Vietnamese could smell coming for miles because of the tobacco and cologne. It was devastating, because you got the impression that the Americans were so heavy and awkward, and the Vietnamese were so beautiful and all getting wiped out. They wore a little silver Buddha on a chain around their neck and when they went into action they'd pop it into their mouth, so if they died they'd have Buddha on their lips. I wanted to write a song that could somehow convey the whole thing, so we set it in the jungle and had helicopters, crickets and little Balinese frogs. (Kris Needs, 'Dream Time In The Bush'. Zigzag (UK), November 1982)

 I saw a programme with a camera man on the front line in Vietnam. The Vietnamese were portrayed as being very craftful people who treated their fighting as an art. They could literally smell the Americans coming through the jungle. Their culture of Coke cans and ice creams actually made them smell. Anyway, I learnt that before the Vietnamese went into action they popped a little silver Buddha in their mouths. I thought that was quite beautiful. Grotesque beauty attracts me. Negative images are often so interesting. (Robin Smith, 'Getting Down Under With Kate Bush', 1982)” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

5. Suspended in Gaffa

“Kate wrote about the filming of this music video: "The video of 'Suspended in Gaffa' was to be done as simply and quickly as possible; as always with very little time to complete it in, the simpler the better. I saw it as being the return to simplicity, a light-hearted dance routine, no extras, no complicated special effects. As we were all so pleased with the previous sets - put together under the supervision of a very clever man, Steve Hopkins - we asked him to build another, this time an old barn with large gaps in the walls where we could allow the light to streak through. We used a combination of natural and artificial light, and everyone was thrilled with the sense of realism that the set achieved. Steve brought in huge branches of trees that were behind the gaps in the set, and a dedicated helper called 'Podge' sat up on a piece of scaffolding for six hours and enthusiastically shook a piece of tree to make the light move and dance as if motivated by a furtive wind. The video did remain uncomplicated - just a few effects and just one extra: but a very special. one. There is one section where a child's voice says, 'Mother, where are the angels? I'm scared of the changes.' And there was only one person that could be addressed to - my mother. When I asked her to appear in the section, contrary to my concern about her nerves, she was more than obliging and said, 'Yes'. She was definitely the star of the day, and waited patiently hour after hour as we slowly moved through the bulk of the shooting to eventually reach her debut. I was amazed at her grace and stamina: as all of us began to wane and wilt, my mother continued to blossom and glow, and her only worries were getting back home in time to get dinner and hoping she would not succumb to an attack of giggles during the vital moments of being on screen. She needn't have worried, for she is a natural professional, a real star and my favourite mum."

I could explain some of it, if you want me to: Suspended in Gaffa is reasonably autobiographical, which most of my songs aren’t.  It’s about seeing something that you want–on any level–and not being able to get that thing unless you work hard and in the right way towards it. When I do that I become aware of so many obstacles, and then I want the thing without the work. And then when you achieve it you enter…a different level–everything will slightly change. It’s like going into a time warp which otherwise wouldn’t have existed. (Richard Cook, 'My music sophisticated?...'. NME (UK), October 1982)” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

4. Get Out of My House

“The Shining' is the only book I've read that has frightened me. While reading it I swamped around in its snowy imagery and avoided visiting certain floors of the big, cold hotel, empty for the winter. As in 'Alien', the central characters are isolated, miles (or light years) away from anyone or anything, but there is something in the place with them. They're not sure what, but it isn't very nice.

The setting for this song continues the theme - the house which is really a human being, has been shut up - locked and bolted, to stop any outside forces from entering. The person has been hurt and has decided to keep everybody out. They plant a 'concierge' at the front door to stop any determined callers from passing, but the thing has got into the house upstairs. It's descending in the lift, and now it approaches the door of the room that you're hiding in. You're cornered, there's no way out, so you turn into a bird and fly away, but the thing changes shape, too. You change, it changes; you can't escape, so you turn around and face it, scare it away. (Kate Bush Club newsletter, October 1982)

 The song is called 'Get Out Of My House', and it's all about the human as a house. The idea is that as more experiences actually get to you, you start learning how to defend yourself from them. The human can be seen as a house where you start putting up shutters at the windows and locking the doors - not letting in certain things. I think a lot of people are like this - they don't hear what they don't want to hear, don't see what they don't want to see. It is like a house, where the windows are the eyes and the ears, and you don't let people in. That's sad because as they grow older people should open up more. But they do the opposite because, I suppose, they do get bruised and cluttered. Which brings me back to myself; yes, I have had to decide what I will let in and what I'll have to exclude. (Rosie Boycott, 'The Discreet Charm Of Kate Bush'. Company (UK), 1982)” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

3. All the Love

“Although we are often surrounded by people and friends, we are all ultimately alone, and I feel sure everyone feels lonely at some time in their life. I wanted to write about feeling alone, and how having to hide emotions away or being too scared to show love can lead to being lonely as well. There are just some times when you can't cope and you just don't feel you can talk to anyone. I go and find a bathroom, a toilet or an empty room just to sit and let it out and try to put it all together in my mind. Then I go back and face it all again.

I think it's sad how we forget to tell people we love that we do love them. Often we think about these things when it's too late or when an extreme situation forces us to show those little things we're normally too shy or too lazy to reveal. One of the ideas for the song sparked when I came home from the studio late one night. I was using an answering machine to take the day's messages and it had been going wrong a lot, gradually growing worse with time. It would speed people's voices up beyond recognition, and I just used to hope they would ring back again one day at normal speed.

This particular night, I started to play back the tape, and the machine had neatly edited half a dozen messages together to leave "Goodbye", "See you!", "Cheers", "See you soon" .. It was a strange thing to sit and listen to your friends ringing up apparently just to say goodbye. I had several cassettes of peoples' messages all ending with authentic farewells, and by copying them onto 1/4'' tape and re-arranging the order, we managed to synchronize the 'callers' with the last verse of the song.

There are still quite a few of my friends who have not heard the album or who have not recognised themselves and are still wondering how they managed to appear in the album credits when they didn't even set foot into the studio. (Kate Bush Club newsletter, October 1982)” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

2. Sat in Your Lap

“Song written by Kate Bush. Released as a single on 21 June 1981, and subsequently included on Kate's fourth album The Dreaming. The lyrics of the song deal with humanity's endless search for knowledge, which is often limited by unwillingness to devote the effort necessary to attain it. Musically, it was faster and more percussive than Bush's previous releases.

I already had the piano patterns, but they didn't turn into a song until the night after I'd been to see a Stevie Wonder gig. Inspired by the feeling of his music, I set a rhythm on the Roland and worked in the piano riff to the high-hat and snare. I now had a verse and a tune to go over it but only a few lyrics like "I see the people working", "I want to be a lawyer,'' and "I want to be a scholar,'' so the rest of the lyrics became "na-na-na"' or words that happened to come into my head. I had some chords for the chorus with the idea of a vocal being ad-libbed later. The rhythm box and piano were put down, and then we recorded the backing vocals. "Some say that knowledge is...'' Next we put down the lead vocal in the verses and spent a few minutes getting some lines worked out before recording the chorus voice. I saw this vocal being sung from high on a hill on a windy day. The fool on the hill, the king of the castle... "I must admit, just when I think I'm king."

The idea of the demos was to try and put everything down as quickly as possible. Next came the brass. The CS80 is still my favourite synthesizer next to the Fairlight, and as it was all that was available at the time, I started to find a brass sound. In minutes I found a brass section starting to happen, and I worked out an arrangement. We put the brass down and we were ready to mix the demo.

I was never to get that CS80 brass to sound the same again - it's always the way. At The Townhouse the same approach was taken to record the master of the track. We put down a track of the rhythm box to be replaced by drums, recording the piano at the same time. As I was producing, I would ask the engineer to put the piano sound on tape so I could refer to that for required changes. This was the quickest of all the tracks to be completed, and was also one of the few songs to remain contained on one twenty-four track tape instead of two! (Kate Bush Club newsletter, October 1982)” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

1. Houdini

“The side most people know of Houdini is that of the escapologist, but he spent many years of his life exposing mediums and seances as frauds. His mother had died, and in trying to make contact through such spiritual people, he realized how much pain was being inflicted on people already in sorrow, people who would part with money just for the chance of a few words from a past loved one. I feel he must have believed in the possibility of contact after death, and perhaps in his own way, by weeding out the frauds, he hoped to find just one that could not be proven to be a fake. He and his wife made a decision that if one of them should die and try to make contact, the other would know it was truly them through a code that only the two of them knew.

His wife would often help him with his escapes. Before he was bound up and sealed away inside a tank or some dark box, she would give him a parting kiss, and as their lips met, she would pass him the key which he would later use to unlock the padlocks that chained him. After he died, Mrs. Houdini did visit many mediums, and tried to make contact for years, with no luck - until one day a medium called Mr. Ford informed her that Houdini had come through. She visited him and he told her that he had a message for her from Houdini, and he spoke the only words that meant for her the proof of her husband's presence. She was so convinced that she released an official statement to the fact that he had made contact with her through the medium, Ford.

It is such a beautiful and strange story that I thought I had very little to do, other than tell it like it was. But in fact it proved to be the most difficult lyric of all the songs and the most emotionally demanding. I was so aware of trying to do justice to the beauty of the subject, and trying to understand what it must have been like to have been in love with such an extraordinary man, and to have been loved by him. I worked for two or three nights just to find one line that was right. There were so many alternatives, but only a few were right for the song. Gradually it grew and began to piece together, and I found myself wrapped up in the feelings of the song - almost pining for Houdini. Singing the lead vocal was a matter of conjuring up that feeling again and as the clock whirrs and the song flashes back in time to when she watched him through the glass, he's on the other side under water, and she hangs on to his every breath. We both wait. (Kate Bush Club newsletter, October 1982)” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

FEATURE: Second Spin: John Legend - Love in the Future

FEATURE:

 

Second Spin

John Legend - Love in the Future

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THERE are some artists…

that split people and it can be hard to find common ground. I think that John Legend is a fantastic Soul/R&B artist who has written some truly beautiful music. A certain camp feels his music is a little boring or formulaic. I have listened to most of his albums and one can definitely find gems in each. As a vocalist, Legend is superb and varied. I really like his 2013 album, Love in the Future. It received mostly positive reviews when it came out, thought there were a few that were mixed and dismissed the album (and Legend). I think this is an album that people should listen to as, whether you are a Legend fan or not, there is plenty to appreciate. I will bring in two contrasting reviews very soon. Before that, Wikipedia has an article/section where Legend discussed the making of the album:

“August 2013, during an interview with XXL, John Legend spoke about how long it took him to finish the album, saying:

"Well I did the Wake Up! album with The Roots in 2010, so it’s really only been three years in my mind, because I put as much energy and time into that as I would my own album. Then I did some shows with them and I toured with Sade, so I spent a decent amount of time on the road, and then I spent the past couple of years on the album. It took a little longer on this album than on previous albums, but I’m really just a year off my pace."

He also spoke about working with Kanye West on the album, saying: "I worked with Kanye more on this album than I had before, and I think part of it is just us connecting and getting together to create, given how busy he is and how busy I am. Just finding time for us to work together kind of added a little bit of extra time to the process. But I think it was worth it."[3] He also spoke about how he feels this is his best album yet, saying: "I feel like it’s my best album yet, and I think creatively, we did some great things. The collaboration and the talent that we have on the album is better than we’ve ever had. As far as producers, co-writers and people just helping shape the sound. I feel like Kanye’s leadership was great in helping to do that. I really feel good about it”.

I think two of the singles, Who Do We Think We Are and All of Me are two of John Legend’s best songs. At sixteen tracks and a variety of producer and writers, Love in the Future could have been a bit of a mess and lacking in consistency. As it is, there is a solidity to the album that means there are very few weak tracks.

Many met Love in the Future with praise and plenty of warmth. There were some who were a little less convinced about the album. One example of this is a review from Exclaim:

“Love in the Future? Speaking of which, any forthcoming John Legend documentary should be titled The Curious Case of John Stephens. For a musical prodigy that first burst out of the gate with a lively debut album (2004's Get Lifted), Legend has settled into a languid musical stride, one akin to a Las Vegas lounge singer. As one of the initial members of Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Music imprint, the vivacious soul spark initially exuded by the Ohio-born artist has withered into a commercially boring drone. While he never was a "hip-hop star," as some culturally lazy writers have tagged him, early Legend had some strut, some bite that promised a unique twist on contemporary soul and R&B. However, backed by mature production from West and Dave Tozer, singles like "Made to Love" and "All of Me" typify Legend's current commercially friendly, sentimental sound. A spritely track such as "Who Do We Think We Are?," featuring rapper Rick Ross, moseys along, lacking any resonance. Even a cover of Bobby Caldwell's "Open Your Eyes" feels mechanical, rather than a fresh take on a classic. "Tomorrow" and "Wanna Be Loved" are the most intriguing tracks, inducing a few head nods, but today's Legend is content to adopt a croonerific sound that doesn't challenge existing soul genre parameters in the least. That's fine, in theory, but rather yawn-worthy in execution. (Sony)”.

I have been listening to Love in the Future on and off since it was released. I feel it is one of Legend’s very best and most rewarding albums. I am glad that it got positive reviews, though I don’t think it mined enough in terms of radio play and awareness now. In their review, this is what AllMusic had to say:

“This is John Legend's first solo studio album since 2008's Evolver. Between the two releases, he recorded the Grammy-winning Wake Up! with the Roots, scored a gold single with "Tonight (Best You Ever Had)" (from the Think Like a Man soundtrack), was featured on a couple albums' worth of songs by other artists, and somehow managed to be deeply involved in philanthropy. He also got engaged. Although he proposed to model Chrissy Teigen five years after meeting her, much of Love in the Future seems drawn from a romance that was quicker to bloom. "The Beginning…" sets a tone of urgency with a scene from the day after their first night spent together. Legend sings with certitude, "Pick some names, boy or girl/Then we'll change, change the world." That sense of blissful urgency -- of seizing the moment, getting lost, and knowing that the future is set -- is belied in the pacing. Even the album's standard 16-track edition meanders at a crawling pace. It's broken up by the occasional soaring arrangement or some hypnotically clanking/pinging percussion, as heard on highlight "Made to Love," which resembles a latter-day Moby collaboration with distant handclapping, spooky background vocals, and a sample from Lil Louis' noisy house classic "Video Clash." This is a heavy, laboriously made set of songs.

The list of producers alone includes Hit-Boy, Bink, 88 Keys, the Runners, Doc McKinney, Q-Tip, and Ali Shaheed Muhammad. Kanye West, and Dave Tozer pile on as co-producers and co-executive producers. Perhaps they ensured that the whole album would have its dramatic, slightly eerie tone; even the covers of Bobby Caldwell's "Open Your Eyes" and Anita Baker's "Angel" are a little uneasy. That level of sonic indulgence seems like it should be incompatible with an artist who is, essentially, a piano man, but Love in the Future is among Legend's best work, made for couples who are into one another for the long term while feeling a little daring and crazy”.

Go and listen to Love in the Future if you have not done so already. It is a great album from an artist who, I feel, remains underrated. Legend’s 2020 album, Bigger Love, was met with mixed reviews. I think we will see many more albums from him. Looking at his catalogue, and there are some truly terrific albums to be discovered – Love in the Future among them. Take a moment to appreciate an album that was, by many, appreciated…though there were some that were…

A little less kind.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Black Country, New Road

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Matilda Hill-Jenkins for Loud and Quiet

Black Country, New Road

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IT is remiss of me…

to have excluded Black Country, New Road from this feature. The band are one of the brightest we have in Britain. Black Country, New Road formed in London in 2018. They consist of Isaac Wood, Tyler Hyde, Lewis Evans, Georgia Ellery, May Kershaw, Charlie Wayne and Luke Mark. I think they are one of the most interesting bands around. Many are hailing their debut album, For the first time, as the best album of 2021. I will bring in a couple of reviews for the stunning album soon. Before that, it is worth sprinkling in some interviews. Although they formed three years ago, the debut album of this year has brought them to the attention of the masses. They have a growing fanbase at the moment. I think Black Country, New Road will grow bigger and bigger as touring recommences. The first interview that I want to drop in is from The Guardian. We discover more about a fascinating and eclectic young band:

“From Cambridgeshire, they formed in 2018 when barely in their 20s, and quickly whipped up a fervent following. Pre-lockdown saw sellout tours on the back of two 7in singles – Athens France and Sunglasses – both of which go for daft money on Discogs. They even have unofficial merch to keep an eye on: a sour IPA by the Cheltenham brewery DEYA called I Am Locked Away in a High-Tech, Wraparound, Translucent, Blue-Tinted Fortress, named after the lyrics from Sunglasses. “We were a bit peeved they didn’t let us know,” says Evans. “We didn’t even get any free cans.”

BC,NR formed when their previous band, Nervous Conditions, ended abruptly after their singer was accused of sexual assault (he apologised, and said the accusations “fill me with sadness and horror, as they don’t fit with my memory”). They reassembled without him, guitarist Isaac Wood stepping in as singer. “Things were intense and emotionally difficult,” he says. “We were struggling and fragile but the new group represented something very important.”

Hyde agrees: “I had no choice but to carry on making something with these people – I’m so emotionally and musically connected to them.”

These disparate styles are turned into music that is exuberantly fresh and youthful, the product of what the band say is a seamless and democratic creative process. “We’re so close that we wouldn’t feel uncomfortable telling someone an idea is a bit shit,” says Evans. “Music for some songwriters is like their baby, but that’s never been our ethos. We change songs all the time and the ability to let go is really important in a seven-person band. You don’t want to be dictatorial. There are six other voices that are incredibly brilliant so what’s the point in ignoring them? It just makes the music worse. If it was up to me, our music would be shite.”

They are abundantly talented musicians – three of them classically trained – but given they formed unexpectedly, Wood’s learn-on-the-job role as lyricist and singer has been tumultuous. “I was scared performing,” he says of the early days. “Our original goal was simple: make music that translated on a shit sound system. There was no space for nuance because we needed it to impact in a small venue. Lyrics were rambling, flowing narratives with a line or two I’d shout for impact. It gave me room to whine about my problems but I was under the impression some things people wouldn’t be hearing.”

Wood’s lyrics – often delivered via caustic and self-deprecating spoken word, and dotted with references to pop-cultural figures from Kanye West to Black Midi – have been tweaked, with earlier versions seen as a failure; the two original singles have been reworked and re-recorded. “Either they change or we stop playing them,” says Wood, with Evans adding: “We’ve grown a lot. We feel like a new band”.

One of the most interesting and deep interviews the band have given comes from Loud and Quiet. Isaac Wood’s unique lyrics are discussed – we also learn more about the band’s great bond and humour:

“The band’s approach, along with Woods’ lyrics, feels like the formation of a new language; a distinctly Generation Z approach to musical overlap and hyper-awareness of the world around them as a result of a life lived in a forever switched-on digital age. The band are something of a hodgepodge ensemble who don’t fit the conventions of a traditional band – aesthetically they resemble more school trip outing than they do polished unit.

There’s a sort of wide-open, anything goes approach to both music making and listening today, where genres and dividing lines are no longer seen as key contributors in the building of scenes and tribes as there were for generations before – now they’re unnecessary hurdles in the way of experimentation and wider-exposure.

And yet, when I ask if BCNR feel like they are making music that feels inherently and distinctly of their generation, they disagree and cite Gen X-er Father John Misty as a huge influence. “I haven’t written a song since I first started listening to him,” Wood says. “I only started a month or two ago. I was like, ‘oh no’. He’s fucking awesome. I’d be delighted to be half as funny and emotionally resonant as he manages to be.”

Whilst some think FJM’s raging narcissism and superiority complex prevent him from striking this balance Wood speaks of, it’s clear they share some of the same approaches when it comes to creating characters that test and prod people.

PHOTO CREDIT: Matilda Hill-Jenkins for Loud and Quiet 

“I’m not saying that I myself am not arrogant as a character,” Wood says, “but I am putting on a slightly more arrogant persona.”

Occasionally Wood’s response to questions about his own lyrics and character creations can be as enjoyable as the initial words themselves. When asked about the role of sex in his lyrics (“Fuck me like you mean it this time, Isaac”; “She tries to fuck me, I pretend that I’m asleep instead”) and how they explore a seeming anxiety and discomfort around sex that’s belied by his ability to publicly sing about it, he responds: “Songs about sex are never about sex. Just like songs about cars are never about cars – they are about sex. Like muscle cars and sex, things of great weight and fuel consumption tend to move us at speeds we cannot really control.”

There’s always a great sense of humour running through everything with the band, both as a group and in Wood’s lyrics and in responses to being asked about them. This amalgamation of humour and seriousness, along with blurred lines between sincerity and irony, feels intrinsic to the band not only in terms of interpersonal relationships but their musical and lyrical approach too. One of Wood’s impressions he likes to slip into is the writer David Foster Wallace, but he also mentions a fondness for some of his writings exploring irony and sincerity. This dichotomy is something that feels prominent in the lyrics; the kind of words that possess a biting, caustic, cynical edge to them but also project a tenderness, vulnerability and complexity that squashes one-dimensional readings. “In some of the authors’ or lyricists’ songs that I really like, they are not necessarily giving a direct evaluation of the things going on around them but simply describing them,” says Wood. “If you describe being on your phone or your laptop, you can interpret that as me saying how stupid and vacuous and empty that is, but that’s not really what I’m saying, it’s just describing the world that exists around you.”

Part of the band’s approach, and appeal, is that they are not pretending to be something they are not – which is far rarer than it sounds. They are not a message band, a political band, an issues band or one who wish to be seen as such in order to be relevant or on point. They are a group of middle class kids primarily from Cambridge and they are very aware of that. “Why pretend otherwise?” says Wood. “It’s who we are and it’s obvious.”

When asked what ties all seven of them together, he replies: “There’s not a single thing, I would say.” There’s some incredulous groaning and countering from the rest of the band and later on it’s decided that pop music and Kanye West are the universal connectors. “We are a pop band,” Mark says without hesitation. Kanye appears lyrically in a few songs too – most notably in the screeching proclamations of ‘Sunglasses’: “I’m more than adequate/ Leave Kanye out of this/ Leave your Sertraline in the cabinet.” “He’s an incredible recording artist,” says Wood simply of why he keeps appearing. “He’s got a good sense of humour, he’s obviously insane in a quite sad and unfortunate way for him at the moment. He’s said and done a lot of stupid stuff but I look at him almost like…”

“A father you never had,” chips in Wayne.

“It’s like you’re constantly batting for him but then he will always say something bad,” says Evans before extending his comment into a cricket metaphor that I don’t follow”.

The final interview I want to source from is from The Quietus. It is really interesting reading the different interviews and hearing what they have to say. One would think that a seven-piece would make for an awkward interview – though Black Country, New Road make it work. The fact that lockdown kicked in as the band were starting to get a lot of attention hasn’t affected a remarkable debut album:

“Back in the first rock & roll touring era (1950-2020) and looking in from Europe, Black Country, New Road were viewed as an intriguing minor mystery happening in London. One of the last British bands to be touted as the Next Big Thing and seen, however mistakenly, as a follow-up to Black Midi, whose scorched earth playing lit up some European festivals the previous summer. Deals were already in motion in the festivals of early 2020, dressed up as mid-morning seminars (replete with healthy buffets), where bookers came together to review the data on the bands they had seen.

Inevitably this idiosyncratic Gang Of Seven from Cambridge were heavily touted: a new product on the market where prime stock was evaluated and cultural value weighed up against a certain population’s need. The latest update on a new British rock trope, in fact, however pretentious, eccentric and Gen Z. There again British eccentricity, just like Oasis-style Brit laddishness, is tolerated and even loved in many places in Europe. And Black Country, New Road were the sort of band that could confirm a festival was on the money, aware of the heaving shifts and micro readjustments of wider underground culture.

But did Black Country, New Road really click on the mainland? Initially the hype around them felt rushed, unfinished. When seen live in European clubs, just before the crush of lockdown, the band stuck out as maybe too different. The quiet bafflement from some at festivals like MENT in Ljubljana and ESNS in Groningen was understandable. People brought up on sepia-tinged traditions and tropes of British pop invasions asked me, was this not a kind of joke? Wasn’t Black Country, New Road a haughty, austere band, in love with reading, and prickly when interviewed? I couldn’t say. Meeting them at a coronavirus-mitigated Haldern festival was an eye opener. In place of this fabled bunch of uptight swots, I met a gang of affable, witty, fun loving people whose intelligence and energy was channelled into their music and their group dynamic. Admittedly the Haldern 2020 experience was akin to a faerie glade in a heatwave, but as good a place as any to expunge any myths. And seeing them operate musically at close quarters quashed any doubts to their nascent brilliance.

And then, lockdown.

Still: the world is dealing with a here and now that feels very far away from the reality many had previously enjoyed. The world of popular music has collapsed in on itself; countries are viewed not from a tour bus but projected as a million back bedrooms on an LCD screen.

Let us be thankful for the small mercies then. Ready to be interviewed about life, a debut album and whatever else came to mind and as affable and chatty as I remembered, Evans and Hyde and guitarist Luke Mark crashed down on a communal couch whilst violinist Georgia Ellery Zoomed in. The inevitable question was tabled, maybe as a way of getting the bad stuff out of the way. Without coronavirus creating global chaos, Black Country, New Road would doubtless be playing a set of club gigs after a European tour and revving up for more of the same, promoting an album released on the very streetwise Ninja Tune. How had the band coped personally and professionally with this sudden ripping up of the blueprint?

Rather than relate a tale of woe and lost chances, the four delivered another, more intriguing story, mainly based around personal and artistic reevaluation. A good deal of the tracks on For The First Time had already been laid down and signed off in the studio, meaning that, according to Tyler, “It didn't feel we were too affected by lockdown, musically.” Time was spent in various ways, including a number of journeys of self-discovery which seemed, if Lewis was to be believed (and the pile of wood in the garden to be taken as evidence), to be “kind of nice”. And the chance to reassess what Black Country, New Road ‘was’ at this juncture after “being forced to chill the fuck out”, was unexpected but useful after the “whirlwind” of 2019. Tyler Hyde: “I’m not saying the momentum wasn’t great, it was; it was exciting. We could have been carried away and been blinded by the good things that were going on.” Self healing and personal recalibrations of the artistic psyche, including chopping down garden fences, was the order of the day”.

I think it is worth finishing with reviews regarding For the first time. Released through Ninja Tune, the six-track album is a sensationally rewarding and memorable listen. Coming back to Loud and Quiet. They were very impressed when they sat down to review the album:

“Black Country, New Road must be aware of the immense pressure being exerted on For The First Time. Heaped with praise after three singles, a wicked reputation as live performers and murmurs of “best rock band in the world” in the air, the group could’ve gone one of two ways with their debut; disregard your own hype, or face it head on. Clearly, they decided that the LP simply had to be a statement. To this end, ‘Opus’ acts as an expanded reprise of the opener ‘Instrumental’ – which at once recalls Eastern European klezmer music and a rock cover of an RPG battle theme – and ‘Track X’ is a gorgeous acid folk song crafted from pieces of melody and chord structures lifted from ‘Sunglasses’, giving off the ambition of Rush-flavoured multi-part suites without much of the pretence. While at times it could feel like a nagging lack of material, the self-referential musicality of For The First Time is neatly reflected in Wood’s self-referential lyricism. Passing references are made to fellow scenesters black midi and Jerskin Fendrix, along with Wood’s own Guest solo moniker. Then there’s the near-constant cropping-up of that elusive “Black Country”, a reminder that, while the group are London-based, they are not necessarily a London group. I’m left wondering what he means by it, and indeed what the band’s name refers to in the first place. Black Country; the region in the West Midlands, so-called for its centrality to the coal, iron, glass and steel industries in the early 19th century. New Road; a provocation; a different way of being and progressing. A militaristic advance.

When Wood isn’t referencing himself or his friends, other figures and aspects of a wider culture pepper his prose – Kanye West, The Fonz, Nutri-bullets, six-part Danish crime dramas, sourdough bread, ‘thank u, next’ – in a way that might seem gauche to the average songwriter. But these are more than just empty “references, references, references,” as Wood puts it in ‘Science Fair’. The repetition signifies an emptying kind of fatigue but, like Slint’s weird fiction of haunted Americana, the speakers of Black Country, New Road’s tall tales invoke a colourful, lived-in world full of stuff, and yet they are also plagued by loss – of people, places, culture and selfhood – only half-understood through the media they consume. The surly, privileged brat of For The First Time’s sprawling, nine-minute centrepiece ‘Sunglasses’ – re-tooled and fuelled by menacing forward momentum, improving on the winning formula of its 2019 seven-inch version – grumbles about endemic declines in British industry and values in a way that is at once a caricature and also full of feverish, Joycean poetic cadences. Often the perspectival quantum leaps feel like all-too-intimate portrayals of Wood himself, wracked with self-critique and guilt in the search for an authentic self. “Why don’t you sing with an English accent?” somebody asks him on ‘Athens, France’. “Well, I guess it’s too late to change it now,” he concludes. These songs feel very personal, pointed messages to former lovers and forgotten friends; fractal stories, always deeply-felt and engaging, whether we can tell what they’re directly about or not.

The losses felt across this album– some recognisable, others frustratingly lacking in discernible boogeymen – hold many mysteries as they play out across the dizzying comprehensiveness of the band’s music. What’s for certain though is that it feels like a fitting representation of living today. It’s becoming annoyed at Instagram ads that deign to represent your needs and wants. It’s a tacit reminder that genre doesn’t exist anymore – or rather never did. It’s history in the making, part two. It’s frustration felt at an American TV show for not representing your lived experience, and guilt on your part for not already living it. It’s Weezer meets The Fall meets Cardiacs meets Modest Mouse’s The Lonesome Crowded West, written in a bedsit rehearsal space far from home; but it’s more than just “the world’s second-best Slint tribute act”. Forget the best band in the world. This feels like everything a rock band can do”.

I shall end things with another glowing review. This one is from The Guardian. If you have not heard For the first time, then go and stream it or get it on vinyl. I would also recommend people follow them on social media. Anyway. This is what The Guardian wrote in their review:

“Unprecedented times or not, few will have foreseen that one of the best albums of 2021 would have combined the post-rock of early 90s cult band Slint with klezmer music and harrowing references to Bruce Springsteen and NutriBullets. Thesauruses have been worn out trying to describe this London-via-Cambridge seven-piece’s unholy marriage of intense, long-form guitar work and incandescent saxophone. Ultimately, Black Country, New Road push the “rock band” format as far as bands like Radiohead do.

There are a mere six tracks on their debut album. Two – Sunglasses and Athens, France – have been re-recorded from their previously released iterations to reflect many months of hard touring in which this fledgling punk orchestra (some conservatoire-trained, some self-taught) fully took wing. If the interplay between the band’s instruments makes gleeful mincemeat of genre, singing guitarist Isaac Wood’s equally remarkable lyrics regularly float to the top of the mix. Half-spoken, half-sung, they riff on granular scene references (“I told you I loved you in front of Black Midi”) and Gen-Z witticisms, but pack in plenty of timeless tenderness and anomie”.

I shall leave things there. I hope that Black Country, New Road enjoy massive success. Their debut album certainly shows that they have the talent and music to go a very long way! At the moment, I think they are best known in the U.K. and Europe – I am not sure how big their fanbase is in the U.S. Maybe they haven’t had much chance to play there before. I get the feeling that this…

 PHOTO CREDIT: El Hardwick

MIGHT change very soon.

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Follow Black Country, New Road

PHOTO CREDIT: Matilda Hill-Jenkins for Loud and Quiet 

Official:

https://blackcountrynewroad.com/

Bandcamp:

https://blackcountrynewroad.bandcamp.com/

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/3PP6ghmOlDl2jaKaH0avUN?si=NkfvXeESTCulTRh7CbG0_w&nd=1

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/blackcountrynewroad/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/BCNRband

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/BlackCountryNewRoad/

FEATURE: Inspired By… Part Eleven: Tom Waits

FEATURE:

 

 

Inspired By…

PHOTO CREDIT: Jesse Dylan 

Part Eleven: Tom Waits

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THIS time around…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Peter Pakvis/Redfern

I am featuring an artist who very much has his own sound – yet he has managed to compel and inspire a lot of people. At the end, when compiling songs from other artists, I am including those who have either cited Tom Waits as an influence or have been compared to him. It is almost ten years since he put out his seventeenth studio album, Bad as Me. So many of wonder whether there will be another studio album. Let us hope so! Before coming to the playlist, Britannica provide some interesting biography on the great man:

“Tom Waits, in full Thomas Alan Waits, (born December 7, 1949, Pomona, California, U.S.), American singer-songwriter and actor whose gritty, sometimes romantic depictions of the lives of the urban underclass won him a loyal if limited following and the admiration of critics and prominent musicians who performed and recorded his songs.

Born into a middle-class California family but enamoured of the bohemian lifestyle depicted in Beat literature, Waits lived in his car and in seedy Los Angeles hotels as he embarked on his career. His raspy vocals, delivered in his signature growl, evoked the late-night atmosphere of the smoky clubs in which he first performed in the late 1960s. Drawing on jazz, blues, pop, and avant-garde rock music, he combined offbeat orchestrations with his own piano and guitar playing and stream-of-consciousness lyrics that reflected the influence of writers Jack Kerouac and Charles Bukowski.

Although Waits’s albums found considerable commercial success in Britain beginning in the mid-1980s, even his best-selling albums—Small Change (1976) and Heartattack and Vine (1980)—failed to crack the American Top 40. His songs, however, have been recorded by the Eagles (“Ol’ 55”), Bruce Springsteen (“Jersey Girl”), and Rod Stewart (“Downtown Train”). He also scored films, cowrote the stage musical Frank’s Wild Years (which premiered in 1986), and collaborated with writer William S. Burroughs and theatre director Robert Wilson on another musical, The Black Rider (1990). Waits’s 1992 release Bone Machine, typical of his increasingly experimental musical efforts in the 1990s, won a Grammy Award for best alternative music album. His 1999 album, Mule Variations, was also much praised and took the Grammy for best contemporary folk album.

Later albums included Blood Money (2002), Alice (2002), Real Gone (2004), and Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers, and Bastards (2006), a sprawling collection of 56 songs. In 2009 Waits released Glitter and Doom, a series of live recordings from his 2008 concert tour. Waits’s first studio release since 2004, Bad as Me (2011), a collection of blues-tinged, whiskey-soaked love songs, was greeted with wide critical acclaim. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011.

The theatrical posturing of Waits’s live performances led in the 1980s to an alternate career as a film actor, notably in Down by Law (1986). He made further appearances in Dracula (1992), Mystery Men (1999), Coffee and Cigarettes (2003), and Domino (2005). His saturnine features and gravelly voice perfectly suited him to Mephistophelian roles, and he deployed these attributes to memorable effect as one of the “people in charge” of purgatory in Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006) and as the Devil himself in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009). Waits later appeared in The Old Man & the Gun, about a real-life group of bank robbers known as the Over-the-Hill Gang, and The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (both 2018), the Coen brothers’ ode to the Old West. He was then cast in the zombie movie The Dead Don’t Die (2019)”.

I shall get down to the playlist. Here is a selection of songs from artists who have a bit of Tom Waits in them. Either that or they have name-checked him as someone influential. I think Waits is one of the most original and compelling artists we have ever seen. It is small wonder he has so many admirers. Let’s hope that, when it comes to new music, we have not heard the last…

FROM the fantastic Mr. Waits!

FEATURE: Ranking Tracks from Kate Bush’s Albums… Lionheart

FEATURE:

 

 

Ranking Tracks from Kate Bush’s Albums…

Lionheart

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STARTING this mini-series…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in the ‘Red Head' outtake from the back cover series of portraits that was shot for Lionheart in August 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz

where I rank the tracks from Kate Bush’s albums, I am featuring Lionheart. I may also include Hounds of Love, The Dreaming, The Kick Inside, Never for Ever, The Sensual World and Aerial (though I am undecided). Lionheart has ten tracks. I am relying on the excellent Kate Bush Encyclopaedia regarding song background. I may not be able to provide as much depth here – though I will do my best to flesh out the songs rather than just post a simple ranking. Released nine months after her debut, The Kick Inside, Lionheart was a development from that album - though, with little time to write new material, it was not as big an evolution as Bush would have hoped. I would urge people to get Lionheart on vinyl if they can. The album did get to number-six in the U.K., and it contains some of Bush’s best songs. Lionheart remains seriously underrated. Before ranking the songs, here is some background from the Kate Bush Encyclopaedia:

“'Lionheart' is Kate Bush's second album, released by EMI Records on 10 November 1978. Like The Kick Inside before it, the album was produced by Andrew Powell. The album was recorded between July and September 1978, with all the songs written and composed by Kate.

Reception to the album has been average, with the album almost universally being looked upon as an inferior version of her debut. NME's Ian Penman wrote: "'Mature' lyrics sung in that twee irritating schoolgirl-siren voice... Actually most of the time she's nearer a vague British lineage - Barbara Dickson to Lynsey de Paul - than a Joni/Janis wonderland". Record Mirror's Chris Westwood: "A product which is at best moderate, lacking and often severely irritating... This is flat conceived silliness." However, Dave McCullough in Sounds gave the album four stars and wrote: "You have to take her seriously in spite of all the flying sneers and jeers."

Maybe I'm a bit too close to it at the moment, but I find it much more adventurous than the last one. I'm much more happier with the songs and the arrangements and the backing tracks. I was getting a bit worried about labels from that last album; everything being in the high register, everything being soft, and airy-fairy. That was great for the time but it's not really what I want to do now, or what I want to do, say, in the next year. I guess I want to get basically heavier in the sound sense... and I think that's on the way, which makes me really happy.

I don't really think there are any songs on the album that are as close to Wuthering Heights as there were on the last one. I mean, there's lots of songs people could draw comparisons with. I want the first single that comes out from this album to be reasonably up-tempo. That's the first thing I'm concerned with, because I want to break away from what has previously gone. I'm not pleased with being associated with such soft, romantic vibes, not for the first single anyway. If that happens again, that's what I will be to everyone. (Harry Doherty, Kate: Enigma Variations. Melody Maker, November 1978)

[Recording in France] was an amazing experience. I mean it's the first time I've ever recorded out of the country. And the environment was really quite phenomenal, I mean it was just so beautiful, it was so unlike anything I'd seen for a long while. And I think there was so many advantages to it, but there were a couple of disadvantages - the fact that it was so beautiful, you couldn't help but keep drifting off to the sun out there, you know, that sort of thing. But you just didn't feel like you needed a break, because the vibes and the weather and everyone around was just so good, you know, you didn't feel like you were working. It was really, really fun. (Lionheart Promo Cassette, EMI Canada, 1978)”.

_____________

10. In Search of Peter Pan

“Song written by Kate Bush before her debut in 1978. When the album Lionheart was recorded, it was one of seven 'older' songs to be recorded. The song quotes the song 'When You Wish Upon A Star' from the classic Disney film Pinocchio

There's a song on [Lionheart] called 'In Search Of Peter Pan' and it's sorta about childhood. And the book itself is an absolutely amazing observation on paternal attitudes and the relationships between the parents - how it's reflected on the children. And I think it's a really heavy subject, you know, how a young innocence mind can be just controlled, manipulated, and they don't necessarily want it to happen that way. And it's really just a song about that. (Lionheart promo cassette, EMI Canada, 1978)” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

9. Oh England My Lionheart

“Song written by Kate Bush. Originally released on her second album Lionheart. Kate later all but disowned the song, labelling it as 'embarrassing'.

It's really very much a song about the Old England that we all think about whenever we're away, you know, "ah, the wonderful England'' and how beautiful it is amongst all the rubbish, you know. Like the old buildings we've got, the Old English attitudes that are always around. And this sort of very heavy emphasis on nostalgia that is very strong in England. People really do it alot, you know, like "I remember the war and...'' You know it's very much a part of our attitudes to life that we live in the past. And it's really just a sort of poetical play on the, if you like, the romantic visuals of England, and the second World War... Amazing revolution that happened when it was over and peaceful everything seemed, like the green fields. And it's really just a exploration of that. (Lionheart Promo Cassette, EMI Canada, 1978)

 A lot of people could easily say that the song is sloppy. It's very classically done. It's only got acoustic instruments on it and it's done ... almost madrigally, you know. I dare say a lot of people will think that it's just a load of old slush but it's just an area that I think it's good to cover. Everything I do is very English and I think that's one reason I've broken through to a lot of countries. The English vibe is very appealing. (Harry Doherty, Enigma Variations. Melody Maker, November 1978)” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

8. Don't Push Your Foot on the Heartbrake

“Song written by Kate Bush. Originally released on her second album Lionheart, the song was written a few years before. According to Kate, it was written as a 'Patti Smith song'.

Versions

There are two officially released versions of 'Don't Push Your Foot On The Heartbrake': the album version and the live version from Hammersmith Odeon, which appears on the On Stage EP. However, a demo version from 1977 has also surfaced and was released on various bootleg cd's.

Performances

Kate performed 'Don't Push Your Foot On The Heartbrake' on the Leo Sayer Show on 17 November 1978 and on the 1979 Christmas special. The song was also included in the setlist of the Tour of Life.

Cover versions

'Don't Push Your Foot On The Heartbrake' was covered by Goodknight Productions.

It was sampled in a track by Fonky Family” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

7. Full House

“Song written by Kate Bush in 1978. One of three new songs - along with Coffee Homeground and Symphony In Blue - written for the album Lionheart. The lyric seems to be autobiographical, an insight into psychological struggles she was encountering, with paranoia and self-doubt. The song was also released as the B-side of the single Wow.

Performances

Kate performed 'Full House' during the Tour of Life live shows in 1979” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

6. Hammer Horror

“There are three officially released versions of 'Hammer Horror': the album version and the single version (which omits the sound of the gong at the very end) plus a live version recorded at the Hammersmith Odeon during the Tour of Life in 1979. However, a demo version from 1977 has also surfaced. It appears on the bootleg 7" single 'Cathy Demos Volume One' and various bootleg CD's.

The song is not about, as many think, Hammer Horror films. It is about an actor and his friend. His friend is playing the lead in a production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, a part he's been reading all his life, waiting for the chance to play it. He's finally got the big break he's always wanted, and he is the star. After many rehearsals he dies accidentally, and the friend is asked to take the role over, which, because his own career is at stake, he does. The dead man comes back to haunt him because he doesn't want him to have the part, believing he's taken away the only chance he ever wanted in life. And the actor is saying, "Leave me alone, because it wasn't my fault - I have to take this part, but I'm wondering if it's the right thing to do because the ghost is not going to leave me alone and is really freaking me out. Every time I look round a corner he's there, he never disappears."

The song was inspired by seeing James Cagney playing the part of Lon Chaney playing the hunchback - he was an actor in an actor in an actor, rather like Chinese boxes, and that's what I was trying to create. (Kate Bush Club Newsletter, November 1979)” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

5. In the Warm Room

“Kate was asked to perform on the children's TV programme Ask Aspel, where she wanted to present the new song 'In The Warm Room', but the BBC felt this song was too explicitly sexual, so she opted for Kashka From Baghdad instead. As a result, there are no televised performances of 'In The Warm Room'. The song, however, was performed during the Tour of Life and one of these performances ended up in the Live In Germany TV special.

I'm always getting accused of being a feminist. Really I do write a lot of my songs for men, actually. In fact, 'In The Warm Room' is written for men because there are so many songs for women about wonderful men that come up and chat you up when you're in the disco and I thought it would be nice to write a song for men about this amazing female. And I think that I am probably female-oriented with my songs because I'm a female and have very female emotions but I do try to aim a lot of the psychology, if you like, at men. (Personal Call, BBC Radio 1, 1979)” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

4. Coffee Homeground

“Song written by Kate Bush while in the USA in May 1978. It was one of only three songs newly written for the album Lionheart - along with Full House and Symphony In Blue.

['Coffee Homeground'] was in fact inspired directly from a cab driver that I met who was in fact a bit nutty. And it's just a song about someone who thinks they're being poisoned by another person, they think that there's Belladonna in their tea and that whenever they offer them something to eat, it's got poisen in it. And it's just a humorous aspect of paranoia really and we sort of done it in a Brechtian style, the old sort of German [vibe] to try and bring across the humour side of it. (Lionheart Promo Cassette, EMI Canada, 1978)” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

3. Kashka from Baghdad

“The studio version is the only officially released version. However, a demo version of 'Kashka From Baghdad' has also surfaced. It appears on the bootleg 7" single 'Cathy Demos Volume Two' and various bootleg CD's.

Performances

Kate performed 'Kashka From Baghdad' live on the piano on Ask Aspel, a TV show broadcast by the BBC in 1978. The song was also included in the setlist for the Tour of Life”

That actually came from a very strange American Detective series that I caught a couple of years ago, and there was a musical theme that they kept putting in. And they had an old house, in this particular thing, and it was just a very moody, pretty awful serious thing. And it just inspired the idea of this old house somewhere in Canada or America with two people in it that no-one knew anything about. And being a sorta small town, everybody wanted to know what everybody what else was up to. And these particular people in this house had a very private thing happening. (Personal Call, BBC Radio 1, 1979)” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

2. Wow

“There are two versions of the studio recording of 'Wow': the album version and the single version. The single version is an edited version of "Wow", although it is not labelled as such on most editions. On all European "Wow" singles, the first 12 seconds of synthesiser chords have been removed. There was also a live version from Hammersmith Odeon.

Music video

A video was filmed for the single release, featuring Bush performing the song in a darkened studio, and then backed by spotlights during the chorus. When a video compilation was released in 1986 for the compilation album The Whole Story, a new video was made of "Wow", featuring a montage of Bush performing live in concert.

'Wow' is a song about the music business, not just rock music but show business in general, including acting and theatre. People say that the music business is about ripoffs, the rat race, competition, strain, people trying to cut you down, and so on, and though that's all there, there's also the magic. It was sparked off when I sat down to try and write a Pink Floyd song, something spacey; Though I'm not surprised no-one has picked that up, it's not really recognisable as that, in the same way as people haven't noticed that 'Kite' is a Bob Marley song, and 'Don't Push Your Foot On The Heartbrake' is a Patti Smith song. When I wrote it I didn't envisage performing it - the performance when it happened was an interpretation of the words I'd already written. I first made up the visuals in a hotel room in New Zealand, when I had half an hour to make up a routine and prepare for a TV show. I sat down and listened to the song through once, and the whirling seemed to fit the music. Those who were at the last concert of the tour at Hammersmith must have noticed a frogman appear through the dry ice it was one of the crew's many last night 'pranks' and was really amazing. I'd have liked to have had it in every show. (Kate Bush Club newsletter, Summer 1979)” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

1. Symphony in Blue

“Song written by Kate Bush in 1978, released on her second album Lionheart. It was one of three newly written songs for the album, along with Coffee Homeground and Full House. It is believed that the lyric of the song is an attempt at describing Kate's own belief system. The descriptions of God, sex and the colour blue seem to be inspired by reading about Wilhelm Reich's theory in A Book Of Dreams.

Performances

Kate performed 'Symphony In Blue' during the live shows of the Tour of Life. The song also appeared in the 1979 Christmas special.

Cover versions

'Symphony In Blue' was covered by Astral Prince, Big City Orchestre, Kat Devlin, The Kate Bush Experience and Niki Romijn.

Kate about 'Symphony In Blue'

 It was inspired by Erik Satie's Gymnopedies” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

FEATURE: Modern Heroines: Part Forty-Nine: Little Mix

FEATURE:

 

 

Modern Heroines

Part Forty-Nine: Little Mix

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THIS is a first in this feature…

 PHOTO CREDIT: EUPHORIA.

as I am highlighting a group who have recently lost a member. That means that, in terms of highlighting their latest album (and when it comes to thew playlist at the end), we get to hear Little Mix as a quartet rather than a trio. Their original member, Jesy Nelson, left the group after almost a decade with them. It is worth highlighting the incredible group a decade after they formed. Also, Little Mix were honoured at the BRIT Awards last week. I shall come onto that. First, I wanted to draw some background and biography about Little Mix from Wikipedia:

“Little Mix are a British girl group formed in 2011 during the eighth series of the British version of The X Factor. The group consists of Jade Thirlwall, Perrie Edwards and Leigh-Anne Pinnock; former member Jesy Nelson departed the group in December 2020. The first group to win The X Factor, they signed with Simon Cowell's record label, Syco Music. They released a cover of Damien Rice's "Cannonball" as their winner's single, which debuted atop the UK Singles Chart upon release. The group are known for their strong vocals and signature harmonies, as well as their representative songs about female empowerment and unity.

Being one of the most successful acts to emerge from The X Factor, the group has since earned four more UK number-one singles: "Wings" in 2012, "Black Magic" in 2015, "Shout Out to My Ex" in 2016 and "Sweet Melody" in 2021. Each of their albums, DNA (2012), Salute (2013), Get Weird (2015), Glory Days (2016), LM5 (2018) and Confetti (2020), have peaked in the top five of the UK Albums Chart, with five of the albums certified platinum to 3× platinum by BPI. Their fourth album, Glory Days, became the longest-reigning girl group number one album since the Spice Girls' debut album 20 years earlier, and the highest first week UK album sales for a girl band since 1997. Throughout their career, the group have sold over 60 million records worldwide, making them one of the best-selling girl groups of all time.

Winners of three Brit Awards, British Single in 2017 with "Shout Out to My Ex", British Video of the Year in 2019 for "Woman Like Me", and Best British Group in 2021, they have also received six MTV Europe Music Awards, two Teen Choice Awards, five Global Awards and nine Brit Award nominations. Get Weird Tour was the biggest-selling UK arena tour of 2016. As of March 2021, Little Mix have five platinum certified albums and twenty-six certified singles in the UK. In the media, Little Mix has appeared on Debrett's 2017 list of the most influential people in the UK, Forbes' 30 Under 30 list in 2018,[9] on the Sunday Times Young Rich List for four consecutive years, from 2017 to 2020”.

Little Mix made history last week by being the first all-female group to win Best British Group at the BRIT Awards. The Independent reported the news (as did many others):

“Accepting the historic prize, the group’s Leigh-Anne Pinnock read a prepared speech from her phone which began: “We have been together for 10 years. It’s been the best years of our lives. We’ve gone through so much. We’ve had so much fun and made so many incredible memories.”

She went on to thank Little Mix’s fans, their former bandmate Jesy Nelson, and their entire team. She added: “It’s not easy being a female in the UK pop industry. We’ve seen white male dominance, misogyny, sexism and lack of diversity. We’re proud of how we’ve stuck together, stood our ground, surrounded ourselves with strong women and are now using our voices more than ever.”

The group’s Jade Thirlwall then took over the speech, saying: “The fact that a girl band has never won this award really does speak volumes. So this award isn’t just for us, it’s for the Spice Girls, Sugababes, All Saints, Girls Aloud, all of the incredible female bands - this one’s for you!”

The group’s victory follows the news that two out of three members are now pregnant”.

It is interesting that there will be this natural hiatus as motherhood beckons. I think that this will affect future Little Mix material in terms of themes and sound. As the group have such an enormous fanbase, I wonder whether tour dates for 2021 and early-2022 will be popped on hold - though I think 2022 is the earliest we will see Little Mix tour. It is clear that a lot of people will want to see the group on the road as soon as possible.

The new version/remix of Confetti featuring Saweetie is fantastic. The trio spoke with NYLON about the track and recent developments in the camp:

“In January, the band scored their fifth number one single; a month later, they were named as Glamour UK’s “Gamechangers in Music,” and are currently up for top British Group at the 2021 Brit Awards — not to mention, just days after this interview (their first stateside as a trio), Pinnock will announce that she is pregnant with her first child. “We started 2021 as ‘Sweet Melodies’ went to number one, which was just an amazing pick-me-up after the time we'd had locked down,” says Edwards. “We were just so excited to get back. During lockdown, I think it really hit home how much we missed doing it all, and how much we love it.”

In a way, the Saweetie remix of “Confetti” is a perfect celebration of where Little Mix is at right now: it’s fun, it’s free, and it is, above all, a celebration of girl power. “There’s always room for female empowerment,” Pinnock says. “I think that's what we do best. So we absolutely love having females on our tracks — it's good to have as many females on board as possible when it comes to collaboration. Saweetie on ‘Confetti’ was just perfect. She's definitely someone that we feel like embodies that.” The song itself is a feel-good banger of a pop anthem, ready for the days when we can all actually get to the club again — something the band is conscious of when choosing what music to put out at this time. “Everyone is just ready to go out and have a boogie, and I think we've got some really good songs coming out that [can help] people do that,” notes Pinnock.

Until then, the band has a provided a fake club for the track, thanks to its tongue-in-cheek music video that sees the girls dressed up as their male alter-egos, facial hair and all. While “one of the funniest days of [her] life,” according to Pinnock, the shoot was not without its struggles. “I was like, ‘Oh, this is such a sick idea, can't wait to be a dude,’” says Edwards. “Then the second they started putting the prosthetics on, I literally couldn't breathe. I was like, ‘Oh no. This is a bad plan.’” The concept, however, is something they’ve been wanting to do for a long time, and at this stage, they’re done holding anything back. “We’ve reached this point where we're like, ‘Yeah, let's do anything that we haven't quite been able to execute before, or haven't ticked off our list yet of things we want to achieve as a band,’” says Thirwall.

That mindset comes partly from the past of year being put on hold, but the band’s entire history has also been leading up to it, in a way: this year marks ten years of Little Mix. They’ve got nothing left to prove. “When we first got put together, we were so excitable and a bit naive to everything. We sort of went along with what we thought we should be,” recalls Thirwall. “We were just figuring out who we were ourselves. We had to grow into women in the public eye, which was a lot to take on. In the middle of all that, we had a little bit where we felt constantly scrutinized and judged for who we were and what we sounded like and tried to like gain credibility as a band coming from a reality show, and just being a girl band in general.

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“As the years went on, we just started to care less and less,” she continues. “Now, we're at this point where I feel like we've earned the right to be exactly who we want to be unapologetically, and use our voices more than ever, and wear what we want, look how we want, and not really care as much about what other people think.”

When talking about 2021 and what’s to come, the band uses the word “era” often — as in, buckle up Mixers, we are on the precipice of a new era of Little Mix. “We're feeling a lot of creative freedom. We're pushing the boundaries, and we’re doing things creatively that we maybe hadn't done before,” Thirwall says. “We just want to have good energy, good vibes this year.” Adds Edwards: “Sticking together is the most important thing. Sticking together and having each other's back. We would have fallen apart without that.”

“I don't think people can say anything to us anymore — we have stood the test of time,” chimes in Pinnock. “We've been together for 10 years. What band can really say that?”

I want to wrap things in a bit with a couple of reviews for Confetti. It was one of last year’s finest Pop albums – their sixth album was the final one to feature Jesy Nelson. It is well worth listening to as, since their 2012 debut, DNA, the group have really grown and blossomed as performers and writers.

Before getting to Confetti reviews, this article discusses a new documentary, Leigh-Anne: Race, Pop & Power, from Pinnock (I am writing this on 12th May; the documentary airs tomorrow) – where she (in the article) discusses racism in the U.K. and being the only Black member of Little Mix:

“The last tour, I remember coming off stage and crying most nights… and just being like, 'Why do I feel like this? Why do I feel like no one likes me? I might as well not be on the stage.'"

Little Mix's Leigh-Anne Pinnock has been making a documentary for more than a year about her experience as the only black member of her band. In the film, she speaks to other people - including fellow musicians - about racism in the music industry. I spoke to her in a quiet studio in East London.

"The lack of diversity is disgraceful," the Shout Out to My Ex singer says about the wider media industry, ahead of her BBC Three documentary Leigh-Anne: Race, Pop & Power. "So, I think however I can… be an ally, then that is what I want to do.

"We all know that racism is a massive horrible issue in this country and I really wanted to delve deeper into it.

"It was important for someone like me to do something like this as well [because] I do have such a predominantly massive white fanbase and the people that I feel like I could reach by doing this documentary is massive. Why wouldn't I put myself out there and do that?"

Although racism is the subject of the documentary, Leigh-Anne also touches on colourism - when a lighter-skinned person is favoured over a darker-skinned person due to the shade of their skin.

Leigh-Anne says: "I wanted to use my voice to address colourism because I am so aware of how awful it is and it is just something that needs to be spoken about.

"I know my privilege and I do address it in the documentary. What I address is that I know that if I was some shades darker that I wouldn't be in the band. I think that was so important for me to address because it is true.

"We know there aren't enough dark-skinned women that are being represented so that was something I really felt like I needed to talk about."

She adds: "I wanted to speak about my experiences and the way I felt in the band, being the black girl in the band and people identifying me as the black girl. I really wanted to explore why I felt so overlooked, so shadowed and it was down to my colour”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: BBC

It is, as I said, a bit strange focusing on the catalogue of a group who have only just existed as a trio. I think that Little Mix still sound fresh and inventive after a decade. The loss of Nelson was hard - though I feel we will see a few more albums from them. One can debate that they are iconic already and have a huge legacy. I think this will be cemented and highlighted as they put out more music and tour Confetti this/next year. In their review of the album, this is what CLASH noted:

“With the success of their recent singles, including ‘Break Up Song’, the highly anticipated 'Confetti' is all Little Mix fans could ask for and more. From an increase of R&B influences, meta critiques on the music industry and driving forward with their empowering agenda to be every girl’s best friend, the four of them continue to challenge the world around them and better it for the young women that follow in their footsteps.

Jesy, Perrie, Jade and Leigh-Anne’s passion can be felt in all aspects of this album, from the writing to production, they took the driving seat. Being in control of the work they put into the world allows for the band’s authenticity as artists and people to shine through. Once again demolishing any idea that they’re a tokenistic girl band and presenting their true artistic capability as performers.

‘Happiness’, along with tracks like ‘If You Want My Love’, prove that Y2K isn’t just an aesthetic style this year but has bled into all creative fields. Touches of R&B, the nostalgic beats and the impeccable harmonies that the four produce offer comfort with their familiarity and still manage to feel progressive with the 2020 take on these classic elements of an iconic music era.

The undeniable star of the album is ‘Not a Pop Song’. The misleading title of the pop song sets the stage for a meta critique of the very genre in which the band have found their success. They mock the topics that they themselves observe and in turn, not only show their versatility, but that of the genre itself.

And if you need a pick me up, ‘Gloves Up’ and ‘My Love Won’t Let You Down’ are there to pump you up, comfort you and empower any listener. As we enter Lockdown 2, we need positive music, empowering tracks and an auditory hug, all of which the band have gifted to us in this near perfect pop production”.

I think it is sad that there is not a larger and more diverse market of girl groups. In the 1990s and early-2000s, there was such a bustling and competitive scene. In many ways, Little Mix are part of a dying scene. I feel they will inspire other girl groups and compel a brief resurgence.

To end, I wanted to pull in The Independent’s view on Little Mix’s incredible and confident sixth studio album, Confetti:

“Little Mix’s last album was mired in controversy. Released just days after it was announced that the British quartet had split from their label Syco, 2018’s LM5 was a confused mix of influences that reflected how the group were being pushed and pulled in different directions. Its follow-up, Confetti, is by contrast a fierce and mercifully coherent statement of independence.

Since they formed on The X Factor in 2011, Little Mix have traded in Girl Power, often taking cues from the movement/brand’s pioneers, the Spice Girls. They’ve become experts at the kiss-off anthem, from their early hit “Shout Out to My Ex” to Confetti single and opener “Break Up Song”, which races along a pulsing, Eighties-influenced synth beat. Further into the album, the genre gets a clever twist on “Not a Pop Song”, with its thinly veiled digs at former label boss Simon Cowell: “I don’t do what Simon says/ Get the message ’cos it’s read.”

Little Mix’s new talent show, The Search, seeks to form a group inspired by the ones who dominated the charts when members Jade Thirlwall, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Jesy Nelson and Perrie Edwards were pre-teens. This approach has clearly inspired the album too, with “If You Want My Love” and “Happiness” nodding to the silky R&B of groups such as TLC and Destiny’s Child. “Rendezvous”, while an album highlight, sounds an awful lot like “Buttons” by the Pussycat Dolls – for the most part, those retro influences mesh wonderfully with contemporary pop production”.

After their BRIT Award triumph, I was keen to include Little Mix in this feature. They have existed as a quartet for so long, it might take a little while until they fully mesh as a new trio. It is overdue that a female act won Best British Group. This win will bring new fans to Little Mix. I have been following them for a few years; they have definitely matured and strengthened. They say that not all that glitters is gold. In the case of Confetti, that is certainly…

NOT the case.

FEATURE: The May Playlist: Vol. 4: Wildflower Wildfire and Some Fear Colours

FEATURE:

 

 

The May Playlist

IN THIS PHOTO: Lana Del Rey 

Vol. 4: Wildflower Wildfire and Some Fear Colours

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THIS is another great week…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Billie Marten/PHOTO CREDIT: Katie Silvester

where there are some terrific tracks from big artists. In the mix this week is Lana Del Rey, LoneLady, Sharon Van Etten & Angel Olsen, John Grant, Billie Marten, Jade Bird, Olivia Rodrigo, Garbage, and Kate Nash. Also included is Holly Humberstone, Green Day, MARINA, Georgia/David Jackson, Japanese Breakfast, Alanis Morissette, Florence + The Machine, and Biig Piig. It is a really solid week for new music so, if you need a boost and some push to get you into the weekend, then I think that these songs should do the trick. Get involved and discover what the best of this week…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Angel Olsen/PHOTO CREDIT: Fernando Guerrero

HAS to offer.   

ALL PHOTOS/IMAGES (unless credited otherwise): Artists

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Lana Del Rey - Wildflower Wildfire

PHOTO CREDIT: Alex Hurst

LoneLady – Fear Colours

Sharon Van Etten & Angel Olsen - Like I Used To

John Grant – Billy

Billie Marten - Human Replacement

Jade Bird - Different Kinds of Light

Olivia Rodrigo - enough for you

Garbage – Wolves

Kate Nash – Misery

Holly Humberstone - The Walls Are Way Too Thin

MARINA - Ancient Dreams In a Modern Land

Georgia, David Jackson  - Get Me Higher

PHOTO CREDIT: Dustin Liu

Japanese Breakfast - Savage Good Boy

PHOTO CREDIT: Phil Smithies for DIY

Biig Piig – American Beauty

Lucy Dacus – VBS

Anne-Marie, Niall Horan – Our Song

PHOTO CREDIT: Sacha Lecca for Rolling Stone

black midi - Chondromalacia Patella

Green Day – Pollyanna

Mysie – Seven Nights

Duran Duran – INVISIBLE

Zara Larsson – Morning

Liz Lawrence - Down for Fun

Sinead Harnett – Obvious

Martha Hill – Boom

Kelli-Leigh – Feelin’ U

PHOTO CREDIT: Matsu

POND – America’s Cup

Róisín O – 2023

Maisie Peters – Helicopter

Julia Wolf – In My Way

Litany - Cream

Tequisha – Maybe One Day

PHOTO CREDIT: Pooneh Ghana

Faye Webster - I Know I'm Funny haha

Maria Kelly – eight hours

Lola Young – Bad Tattoo

Alanis Morissette - Rest

Florence + The Machine - Call me Cruella (from Cruella)

Boys World - All Me

Gruff Rhys - The Keep

CHAI (ft. Mndsgn) - IN PINK

Chrissie Hynde - You’re a Big Girl Now

Gary Numan - The Chosen

PHOTO CREDIT: Erik Carter for The New York Times

Georgia Anne Muldrow - Passin Ooout!

BAMBI BAINS - Khayaal

Tilsen - Little Worse

FEATURE: The Lockdown Playlist: Songs from Albums with Iconic Covers

FEATURE:

 

The Lockdown Playlist

Songs from Albums with Iconic Covers

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THIS Lockdown Playlist is a bit special…

as I wanted to mark thirty years of an iconic album cover being shot. On 23rd May, 1991, photographer Michael Lavine took what would be the publicity shots for Nirvana's Nevermind album at Jay Aaron Studios in Los Angeles. The idea for the front cover shot of the baby swimming was taken after Kurt Cobain and Dave Grohl saw a T.V. documentary on water babies and was taken by Kirk Weddle. Several babies were used; five-month-old Spencer Eldon's photo came out best. Many consider that cover to be the finest of all-time. Because of this, I thought I would include a song from Nevermind…but I also want to source songs from albums that have eye-grabbing covers. Here is a collection of songs from albums where you are hooked and mesmerised…

 PHOTO CREDIT: @jonasleupe/Unsplash

BY the cover.

FEATURE: Groovelines: The Mamas & the Papas - California Dreamin'

FEATURE:

 

 

Groovelines

The Mamas & the Papas - California Dreamin'

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THIS it current Groovelines…

 PHOTO CREDIT: RB/Redferns

concerns a song that is considered to be a classic. I am talking about the timeless brilliance of California Dreamin’. The song written by John Phillips and Michelle Phillips (who were part of the band with Denny Doherty and Cass Elliot). It was first recorded by Barry McGuire. The version we all know and identify with was The Mamas & the Papas’ single of 1965. The lyrics of the song express the narrator's longing for the warmth of Los Angeles during a cold winter in New York City. I think that California Dreamin’ is a quintessential 1960s songs; one that sounds as compelling and bright as the day it was released. I can listen to the song at any time, and I am transported to this warm and welcoming place. I want to bring in a couple of features that discuss California Dreamin’ and its legacy. I would urge people to check out the If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears album. It also contains the other classic in their cannon, Monday, Monday. The entire album is exceptional and gorgeous. I think that California Dreamin’ is the best-known and popular song from the Los Angeles band. This feature from udiscovermusic discusses how the song took a while to make an impression in the United Kingdom:

“By the spring of 1966, the Mamas and the Papas were big news in the United States. They’d gone Top 5 with “California Dreamin’’’, released the previous December 8, and were climbing fast with the follow-up, ‘Monday, Monday.’ That was on its way to a three-week stint at No.1 in the US when, on the chart for April 28, the vocal quartet appeared on a British chart for the first time.

“California Dreamin’’’ made a tentative first showing in the Top 50 that week at No.49, as Dusty Springfield climbed to the top of the bestsellers with “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me.” But it was appropriate for the John and Michelle Phillips composition to be making an impression in the chillier transatlantic climes. The pair wrote it when they were literally feeling the cold of a New York winter and missing the warmth of Los Angeles.

The song never made quite the same impression in the UK as it did in the States, at least not first time around. It climbed the chart over the next month, 34-29-26, before spending two weeks at its peak position of No.23. “Monday, Monday” would be the real British breakthrough, resting for two weeks at No.3 in June. That month, back home, “Dreamin’’’ was certified gold, and then the Mamas and The Papas album spent nine consecutive weeks in the UK top ten, peaking at No.3.

One of the song’s many charms was its alto flute solo, played by jazz man Bud Shank, also a saxophonist. Earlier in 1966, he’d claimed a piece of Beatles-related notoriety with a minor US hit version of “Michelle.” It reached No.65 for the Dayton, Ohio-born musician.

A ‘magical’ session

Fellow Californian scenester P.F. Sloan played guitar on “California Dreamin’”, and later remembered the session in an interview with Songfacts. It was “magical,” he said. “John [Phillips] was very nervous. Nobody particularly liked the song, and to be honest with you, ‘California Dreamin’’ was maybe three or four chords. I added the “Walk Don’t Run” Ventures guitar riffs for that ‘da da da da da da.’ That was all creative work inside the studio when I heard them singing on mic. I had recorded them with Barry McGuire on his second album, so I knew how good they were.”

It was another generation before “Dreamin’” finally landed a Top 10 UK placing. In 1997, the song was used in a TV commercial campaign in Britain for Carling Lager. That started a whole new wave of interest in the classic Californian pop sound and propelled the song to No.9”.

Whilst I love California Dreamin’, one of the moist interesting things about the group is the cover for If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears. Shot by Guy Webster, five different versions exist. The one we see is a classic example of a cover that does not hint at the music within. It is an odd choice for a cover, though it does raise a smile! I want to finish by quoting from an article that points to the endurance of California Dreamin’ and the If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears album:

“How about our ears? What did they have to struggle to believe? The group sang HARMONIES! I don't believe it! What's next, well-crafted songs? Well, that's why we're here today... "California Dreamin'", to stick to the most famous of their tunes, was a well-constructed universal piece of song writing. And by universal, I mean anyone could sing it. Start with Sinatra and make the list. One can hear nearly any vocalist covering it.

Let me make the point by offering an opposite kind of song: could anyone sing "Oh, Yoko?" I'm not asking if anyone would want to; I'm asking if anyone possibly could. Tiny Tim? Perhaps. He was, at his best, capable of singing the strangest of tunes, but still...give "California Dreamin'" it's due: The song is melodic, even haunting, and well sung.

The lyrics hang visibly in the memory: "on such a winter's day. Stopped into a church along the way, fell down upon my knees - I began to pray!" (One thinks of Jake Barnes in The Sun Also Rises; god listens but goes back to reading his paper.) Dreamin' soars, but its heart is dark. The singer would be safe and warm IF he were in L.A., but he isn't. And the preacher knows he's going to stay. Sin hovers at the edges of the song. "If I didn't tell her, I could leave today." Tell her what exactly? What has happened?

Only now, decades later, does one notice the presence of a mystery. It may be why the song has lasted. That, and the fact that it sounds good. As for the album itself, it has more than a few moments that have held up. Cass sings a ragtime remake of "I Call Your Name", daring then, today as easy to listen to as "Something Happened To Me Yesterday", made during that period in which everyone had to make some version of Winchester Cathedral. The covers are all well-picked: "Do You Wanna Dance"; "Spanish Harlem"; "You Baby"; but take away "California Dreamin'" and we wouldn't be talking about it today”.

Although The Mamas & the Papas released many great songs, it is hard to ignore the importance of California Dreamin’. It is a song that is widely played to this day and has touched generations. Whilst the lyrics were very meaningful to the Los Angeles band, I feel we can all identify with and appreciate what is being sung. One spin of California Dreamin’ is enough to…

MAKE you feel warmer inside.

FEATURE: Drip by Drip: The Modern-Day Promotional Campaign

FEATURE:

 

 

Drip by Drip

PHOTO CREDIT: Mailchimp/Unsplash 

The Modern-Day Album Promotional Campaign

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THIS may seem like I am…

 PHOTO CREDIT: @victrola/Unsplash

being a bit of an old man and harking for the past. I think that there always used to be quite a hard drive and extensive promotional campaign when it came to album releases. Some artists put out four or five singles (or more) before an album arrived. I never really thought of it now but, in an age where there is a wider and more viperous promotional cycle, it does seem to be a bit much! There are so many examples of artists putting out quite a few songs before an album arrives. I love London Grammar but, ahead of the release of Californian Soil, they put out four singles (a third of the album) – one would expect at least one more single from it. Little Simz is putting out her album, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, in September. Two singles have come from it already; one feels several more may arrive. Every artist has their own strategy when it comes to releasing music and singles from an album. Some go for a few singles and then put the album out; others might release more, whereas some release fewer. Maybe the situation is different for mainstream artists but, for those who do not have the same following and big label behind them, drip-feeding a new album can provide more attention and, hopefully, result in more people buying their albums. I think that the modern promotional cycle is stripping some of the mystery and spontaneity.

 PHOTO CREDIT: @dole777/Unsplash

I feel one of the reasons why artists pre-social media/Internet put out quite a few singles from an album is that it was a music landscape that relied on music television and radio. There weren’t the same channels as we had now; where we have social media that means one can post regularly and reach a lot of people. Also, many artists would release a couple of singles from an album. Then, when it was released, a couple more were put out to get people buying after the album’s arrival. I know it is the labels that drive the single arrivals, though I wonder whether the modern strategy of releasing a bunch of singles pre-release with an intense campaign behind them is the right call. Not too many artists put out singles after an album has come out. What it means is that you get these songs hammered and pushed massively, the album then it out, then that is it. I think that too much attention on individual songs means that, when you come to hear the whole album, you are a bit over-familiar or a little bored of that track. Radio playlists seem more intense, so that one might hear the same song for a month solid, played about ten times a day. Alongside radio play comes Facebook posts, tweets and teaser videos. Many artists might do a teaser video, lyric video and the official video. On social media, you get cryptic posts ahead of time, reminders that the single is coming out, then you have the slew of reminders and retweets/shares. As I said, competition is tough and it is a very hard market to navigate – especially for smaller artists coming through.

 PHOTO CREDIT: @eddybllrd/Unsplash

I like the excitement of a single coming out, the wait for it to arrive and then looking ahead to the album. That’s how it used to feel years ago. Even if an artist put out several singles, I wasn’t hearing those songs too much. By the time the album came out, I still had appetite for the songs and then discovered so many other treats. Now, when I get an album where three/four/more songs have been out there and almost bled dry, I sort of put those tracks aside and return to them infrequently. Today more than ever, the importance of the album is paramount! I feel people still stream and handpick tracks rather than listening to albums through. One wants people to appreciate albums as a single listening experience. Some may only play singles from an album and then move on. One may say that this disproves my point that hammering singles ahead of an album is a positive thing - though I would disagree. I am not sure what the solution is. I think that two singles pre-album release is quite enough. You get to pick songs that represent the album and give people a taster. In terms of social media focus, I wonder why artists post silent or teaser videos.  I think so much impact could be created with a less intense and prolific campaign. Then, when an album comes out, keep the interest going with a further single.

 PHOTO CREDIT: @chadmadden/Unsplash

That way, I don’t feel people have heard too much before the album is released. There is that post-script or post-release consideration. It is strange that so much fervency goes into releasing an album that we rarely hear anything about it or from it when it is out in the world! One gets the feeling that labels want artists to look ahead to the next album or project rather than focusing on the on they have put out. Sure, artists post about their album when it has been released and make sure people do not miss out. What I mean is that there is not another single from it. The surge in vinyl sales shows that people love the album and are willing to buy rather than stream. For me and many music listeners, it can be quite heavy-going having so much focus on individual songs rather than the album itself. I would like to see videos of artists recording their album and discussing individual tracks. Maybe, instead of a raft of singles, these videos help promote an album yet leave one wanting more and not having heard too much give away. Perhaps it is an unavoidable symptom and necessity of the modern age. I like when you get artists that put out a single or two and then let the album do most of the talking. There is such a run-up and calculated campaign for albums and E.P.s now that it does seem too regimented and inorganic. Many might ask that, given this, what is the easy answer. I think artists can get their music out there by stripping back slightly. By releasing a couple of singles and, say interviews or features about the album, that means that there are not the pointless teaser videos and posts for every song. You can also give people songs from the album but craft a deeper connection. Not just in terms of the relationship between artists and fan, but also the process of recording an album itself. I think that would be much more rewarding. I feel that, as things stand at the moment, some of the importance and purpose of an album is being taken away. By exsanguinating songs and putting too much on social media, it is removing some of the...

 PHOTO CREDIT: @annietheby/Unsplash

EXCITMENT of an album.

FEATURE: After the iPod… What Is the Next Great Music-Playing Device?

FEATURE:

 

 

After the iPod…

What Is the Next Great Music-Playing Device?

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I have written about the iPod before…

when I was spotlighting great music breakthroughs – software and hardware that has changed how we listen to and appreciate music through the decades. Ahead of the original iPod’s twentieth anniversary later this year, it has got me thinking about devices and how we listen to music today. There is a great love and demand for vinyl. We cannot really streamline vinyl and make something portable. I am not sure people are listening to compact discs on the move anymore. Tapes are still selling, though I do not think the Walkman or any cassette-playing devices are about anymore. I think there have been a few innovations and breakthroughs over the years since the iPod was launched. I am going to expand in a minute. Before then, I want to bring in an article that looks at the history of the iPod and the first few iterations:

“Our iPod adventure begins in October 2001, when Apple launched its first portable music player.

The first incarnation of the device that was to revolutionise the music industry had a mechanical scroll wheel and launched with 5GB and 10GB capacities, starting at a shade under £300.

The name 'iPod' was coined for use with the Apple music player by copywriter Vinnie Chieco. He was called in by Apple to help market the new product. Curiously, Apple had already registered the trademark 'iPod', but had originally intended it to be used as the name for its Internet kiosks, though these never saw the light of day.

The second-generation iPod waved sayonara to the clunky mechanical scroll wheel and introduced the touch-sensitive version still in use today, albeit in a different form.

Released in July 2002, the new model built on the success of the first incarnation, and came in capacities up to 20GB for £399, with the 5GB model at £259 and 10GB for £329.

With the third-generation iPod, Apple did away with the buttons that surrounded the touch-sensitive wheel, instead setting backlit controls horizontally under the LCD screen.

This edition launched in April 2003 and was the first model to use Apple's 30-pin dock connector. 10GB, 15GB and 30GB models were available, costing £249, £299 and £399 respectively”.

I use the iPod as an example of a device that really changed how we listened to music. Following on from technology such as the Sony Walkman, the original iPod – though it had some drawbacks – offered a library of music in your pocket. I think that, as people still have an affection for hardware but also want a wide range of music at their fingertips, there has not been a development or evolution for today’s market.

It will be great to mark twenty years of the iPod later in the year. In terms of its capacity and specification, this article from Life Wire gives us more details – in addition to information regarding subsequent iPods:

“Introduced: Oct. 2001
Released: Nov. 2001​
Discontinued: July 2002

The 1st generation iPod can be identified by its scroll wheel, surrounded by four buttons (clockwise from the top: menu, forward, play/pause, backward), and its center button for selecting items. When it was introduced, the iPod was a Mac-only product. It required Mac OS 9 or Mac OS X 10.1.

While it was not the first MP3 player, the original iPod was both smaller and easier to use than many of its competitors. As a result, it quickly attracted accolades and strong sales. The iTunes Store wasn't introduced until 2003, so users had to add music to their iPods from CDs or other online sources.

At the time of its introduction, Apple wasn't the powerhouse company it later became. The initial success of the iPod, and its successor products, were major factors in the company's explosive growth.

Capacity
5 GB (about 1,000 songs)
10 GB (about 2,000 songs) - released in March 2002
Mechanical hard drive used for storage

Supported Audio Formats
MP3​
WAV
AIFF

Colors
White

Screen
160 x 128 pixels
2 inch
Grayscale

Connectors
FireWire

Battery Life
10 hours

Dimensions
4.02 x 2.43 x 0.78 inches

Weight
6.5 ounces

Original Price
US$399 - 5 GB
$499 - 10 GB

Requirements
Mac: Mac OS 9 or higher; iTunes 2 or higher”.

I have been looking online for something that has the same sort of functions as an iPod – albeit a bit more developed and multi-capacity – and doesn’t just feel like a way of utilising Spotify and other streaming platforms. Rather than having an anniversary edition of the iPod and doing a more updated version of that, I wonder whether there is a way that people can feel the benefits of the physical and digital. I loved the Walkman because of its solid feel and the fact you could play tapes on the move. That may seem unwieldly now, though people want the tactile pleasure of vinyl and tape; the feeling they are paying for music and have something that will not evaporate. I don’t think that people have evolved from music-playing devices and entirely rely on Smartphones. Vinyl is great but cannot be played portably. I do like the idea of a multi-format device where one could, for example compile a digital mixtape, insert a USB or their library or they could also play cassettes. Maybe something where you could just go digital but have access to streaming and your own personal library. That crossbreed sounds quite chunky and complex. I am a big fan of album artwork, the thrill of the past and the capabilities of the present when it comes to streamlining music and producing something physical. I feel we will get something in the form of a ‘new iPod’ before too long, I for one…  

 PHOTO CREDIT: Daniela Mota/Unsplash

WOULD be interesting to see what form it takes.

FEATURE: Magical Mystery Tours: A Glimpse Inside the Iconic Abbey Road Studios

FEATURE:

 

 

Magical Mystery Tours

A Glimpse Inside the Iconic Abbey Road Studios

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THIS will be a short feature…

but I am going to put out one Abbey Road Studios-related feature a month ahead of its ninetieth anniversary in November. I will come to a very valuable and rare opportunity for people to explore Abbey Road Studios in the summer. First, if you are not aware of the iconic London studios, then their official website gives us some useful and interesting history:

“Abbey Road Studios is the most famous recording studio in the world and a global music icon. Originally a nine-bedroom house built in 1829, it was purchased by the Gramophone Company in 1928 who went on to build the world’s first purpose-built recording studio. The St John’s Wood address was chosen for its large garden and ideal location – close enough to the performance spaces of the time, but away from the noise and vibrations of the traffic and trains.

The grand opening ceremony on 12 November 1931 included a performance of Land of Hope & Glory in Studio One conducted by Sir Edward Elgar. The Gramophone Company merged with Columbia Graphophone Company to form Electric and Musical Industries (EMI) in 1931, and the studios later became known as EMI Recording Studios. Since EMI engineer Alan Blumlein patented stereo at Abbey Road in 1931, the studios have been famed for innovation in recording technology, largely developed by the Record Engineering Development Department (REDD) who were responding to the needs of the artists and producers using the rooms. Their innovations include the REDD and TG desks, as well as studio techniques such as Artificial Double Tracking (ADT), created by studio technician Ken Townsend, who went on to become the studios’ MD, as well as Vice President of EMI Studios Group.

While initially a venue for classical recordings, the studios’ repertoire soon embraced jazz and big bands, too, as well as the first British rock & roll records of the 1950s, including Sir Cliff Richard’s first single Move It. Abbey Road is of course synonymous with the legendary work of The Beatles, who worked with EMI producer Sir George Martin and recorded 190 of their 210 songs at the studios. But Abbey Road’s unparalleled history spans the wild experiments of Pink Floyd to iconic recordings from Shirley Bassey, Aretha Franklin, The Hollies and many more”.

Since those exceptional years, artists from Kate Bush, Radiohead, Oasis, Kanye West, Amy Winehouse, Kylie and Muse to Sam Smith, Florence + The Machine, Ed Sheeran, Frank Ocean, Lady Gaga and Adele have made Abbey Road their creative home, producing countless landmark recordings.

As the demand for classical recording spaces declined, Ken Townsend found a new role for the big rooms – movie scores, with the first major film score being Raiders of The Lost Ark in 1981. Since then, Abbey Road has developed into one of the world’s premier destinations for movie scoring. Blockbuster films such as The Lord of The Rings Trilogy, Skyfall, the Harry Potter series and the Oscar-winning Gravity feature scores recorded here, while recent projects include Black Panther, Solo: A Star Wars Story and the multi award winning The Shape of Water.

The studios house a number of state-of-the-art mastering suites, with engineering expertise spanning direct to vinyl and half-speed mastering. Recent projects mastered or re-mastered by Abbey Road’s award-winning engineers include music from The Beatles, Sam Smith, Sade, Abba, Krept & Konan, Graham Coxon, Novelist, Johnny Marr, Roxy Music and The Rolling Stones.

In Spring 2017, in the biggest transformation since first opening, two new contemporary studios were launched - The Gatehouse and The Front Room - making the magic of Abbey Road accessible to a whole new generation of recording artist. They have already hosted artists from James Bay, Jess Glynne, George Ezra and Skrillex to legends like Nile Rodgers plus grime MCs Novelist and Jammer BBK”.

 IN THIS PHOTO: The late Amy Winehouse is among the artists who has recorded music at Abbey Road Studios

I have not been to Abbey Road Studios myself, though I am very keen to go and visit. In the summer, as this article explains, the doors are being opened to the public - ahead of Abbey Road Studios’ ninetieth anniversary in November:

“Abbey Road Studios will open its doors to the public for one week this summer, offering fans a rare look inside the legendary recording studio.

The Abbey Road: Open House tour comes as part of the recording studio’s 90th anniversary celebrations this year. From 9 to 15 August, fans will be able to visit all three famed recording studios, in which the likes of The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Radiohead, Oasis, Ed Sheeran and Adele have recorded.

If you’re a gear head, it’s a rare chance to get up close with the studio’s EMI TG Mk3 and REDD.17 consoles; Mrs Mills piano; a Studer J37 tape machine, and more. Plus, you’ll also get to tour the control rooms and the iconic echo chamber for Studio Two, which was constructed back in 1931.

The tour will also explore Abbey Road’s deep film scoring history and explain how the music for blockbusters such as Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Black Panther, as well as the Harry Potter, Lord Of The Rings and Star Wars series were recorded.

Jack Franklin, Head Of Events at Abbey Road Studios, said of opening the studio’s doors to the public in a statement [via MusicRadar]: “As a working studio, the doors to Abbey Road are normally closed, so being able to share a rare glimpse inside our very special building is something we’re all really excited about.

“With a project like this, the major challenge is selecting which bits of the story to tell,” he said. “There is so much history here that editing it down to a 90-minute experience is all part of the fun of the job”.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Noel Gallagher

It is amazing to think that Abbey Road Studios is almost ninety! Through the decades, it has seen some of the world’s greatest artists record there. After a hard past year or so, it will be a relief for them to welcome people in. Luckily, I think, there is a relatively normal schedule happening there; so long as artists can maintain social distancing and work safely. We have heard about Abbey Road Studios, but few of us are aware of its geography, landscape and specifications. I posted about this when the news was announced but, in terms of additional anniversary celebrations, Mary McCartney (Paul McCartney’s daughter) is putting out a documentary. If These Walls Could Sing offers a personal and remarkable look inside a hallowed space:

“Mercury Studios, the music-first content studio from Universal Music Group, has announced If These Walls Could Sing, the untold story of the world-famous Abbey Road Studios, directed by celebrated British photographer and filmmaker Mary McCartney. The feature-length documentary will be produced by Academy Award®, BAFTA and Prime Time Emmy Award-winner John Battsek following a new development deal between Mercury Studios and Battsek’s Ventureland. Development of the documentary has been overseen and will be executive produced by Universal Music UK’s Marc Robinson and Mercury Studios CEO, Alice Webb.

IN THIS PHOTO: Mary McCartney/PHOTO CREDIT: Mary McCartney 

Mary McCartney brings a unique and personal perspective on the history of Abbey Road. She says, “Some of my earliest memories as a young child come from time spent at Abbey Road. I’ve long wanted to tell the story of this historic place and I couldn’t be collaborating with a better team than John and Mercury Studios to make this creative ambition a reality”

Alice Webb says, “Mercury Studios could not be partnering with a more visionary and passionate team than Mary McCartney and John Battsek to tell Abbey Road Studios’ incredible story on film for the first time. We are passionate about showcasing work of pioneering film makers of the highest quality – which is why we are delighted Mary is bringing her creative vision to this project.”

Isabel Garvey, Managing Director of Abbey Road Studios, said, “If these walls could sing. I have lost count how many times I’ve heard that said at Abbey Road Studios over the years. I can’t wait for some of these stories to finally come to life in what will become a timeless documentary”.

I shall wrap things up. I wonder whether there will be any other documentaries or special celebrations planned for Abbey Road Studios closer to its anniversary. Perhaps an album from artists recording songs there? Maybe we will get some live event on 12th November? I would love to go to Abbey Road Studios and do something there one day. I am definitely going to go in the summer when the public are allowed in. The studios still hold so much power and pull…

AFTER ninety years.

FEATURE: Bob Dylan at Eighty: A Selection of Great Cover Versions from Other Artists

FEATURE:

 

 

Bob Dylan at Eighty

PHOTO CREDIT: The Guardian (the image has been digitally manipulated) 

A Selection of Great Cover Versions from Other Artists

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AS Bob Dylan turns eighty…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Chris Pizzello/Associated Press

on 24th May, this will be the final feature I write to mark this important event. Rather than put out a feature about one of his albums or a side of his career, I thought I would look at cover versions of his songs. I will end with a playlist of songs from other artists. These are, what I consider to be, among the best cover version of his songs. Before bringing in an article about Chrissie Hynde, Wikipedia outlines Dylan’s influence and legacy on other artists:

“Dylan is considered a seminal influence on many musical genres. As Edna Gundersen stated in USA Today: "Dylan's musical DNA has informed nearly every simple twist of pop since 1962". Punk musician Joe Strummer praised Dylan for having "laid down the template for lyric, tune, seriousness, spirituality, depth of rock music". Other major musicians who acknowledged Dylan's importance include Johnny Cash, Jerry Garcia, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Pete Townshend, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, Bryan Ferry, Nick Cave, Patti Smith, Syd Barrett, Joni Mitchell, Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen. Dylan significantly contributed to the initial success of both the Byrds and the Band: the Byrds achieved chart success with their version of "Mr. Tambourine Man" and the subsequent album, while the Band were Dylan's backing band on his 1966 tour, recorded The Basement Tapes with him in 1967 and featured three previously unreleased Dylan songs on their debut album.

Some critics have dissented from the view of Dylan as a visionary figure in popular music. In his book Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom, Nik Cohn objected: "I can't take the vision of Dylan as seer, as teenage messiah, as everything else he's been worshipped as. The way I see him, he's a minor talent with a major gift for self-hype." Australian critic Jack Marx credited Dylan with changing the persona of the rock star: "What cannot be disputed is that Dylan invented the arrogant, faux-cerebral posturing that has been the dominant style in rock since, with everyone from Mick Jagger to Eminem educating themselves from the Dylan handbook".

Fellow musicians have also presented differing views. Joni Mitchell described Dylan as a "plagiarist" and his voice as "fake" in a 2010 interview in the Los Angeles Times. In a 2013 interview, Mitchell, who had previously toured with Dylan and covered his songs, said that her comments about Dylan had been taken out of context. However, she still questioned Dylan's authenticity and musical ability. Mitchell's original comments led to discussions on Dylan's use of other people's material, both supporting and criticizing him. Talking to Mikal Gilmore in Rolling Stone in 2012, Dylan responded to the allegation of plagiarism, including his use of Henry Timrod's verse in his album Modern Times, by saying that it was "part of the tradition".

IN THIS PHOTO: Chrissie Hynde/PHOTO CREDIT: Matt Holyoak for The Sunday Times Magazine

As I am writing this on 13th May, I may be a little too late to include any Chrissie Hynde in the playlist (though, if I see a song surface between now and the time the feature goes live, I shall pop a song in). The Pretenders’ lead, as Rolling Stone reports, is putting out her Dylan covers album on the master’s eightieth birthday:

“Chrissie Hynde will be releasing an album of Bob Dylan covers, the Pretenders singer announced on Monday. The LP, titled Standing in the Doorway: Chrissie Hynde Sings Bob Dylan, will be out on May 21st via BMG.

In a statement, Hynde explains that she recorded the album during the Covid-19 lockdown with her Pretenders bandmate James Walbourne.

“A few weeks into lockdown last year, James sent me the new Dylan track ‘Murder Most Foul.’ Listening to that song completely changed everything for me,” Hynde says, echoing what she told Rolling Stone about the upcoming album last summer. “I was lifted out of this morose mood that I’d been in. I remember where I was sitting the day that Kennedy was shot — every reference in the song.”She continues, “Whatever Bob does, he still manages somewhere in there to make you laugh because as much as anything, he’s a comedian. He’s always funny and always has something to say. That’s when I called James and said, ‘Let’s do some Dylan covers’ and that’s what started this whole thing.”

Hynde and Walbourne collaborated on Standing in the Doorway almost entirely via text message. Walbourne would record an initial idea for each cover on his phone before sending it to Hynde, who would then record vocals. All of the tracks were mixed by Tchad Blake (U2, Arctic Monkeys, Fiona Apple).

The album will be accompanied by a television special, Tomorrow Is a Long Time, that will give a behind-the-scenes look at the recording process for the Dylan covers. Tomorrow Is a Long Time is produced by White Light Film Productions and directed by Michael Nunn and William Trevitt, and will premiere Monday, May 24th (Dylan’s 80th birthday) on Sky Arts.

Standing in the Doorway: Chrissie Hynde Sings Bob Dylan Tracklist

1. In the Summertime

2. You’re a Big Girl Now

3. Standing in the Doorway

4. Sweetheart like You

5. Blind Willie McTell

6. Love Minus Zero / No Limit

7. Don’t Fall Apart on Me Tonight

8. Tomorrow Is a Long Time

9. Every Grain of Sand”.

To show how other artists have covered Bob Dylan’s catalogue and how they have approached his songs, the playlist at the end is an eclectic selection. I hope that you enjoy. I am a big fan of Bob Dylan and he will get a lot of love on his eightieth. Here, to end, is a collection of interpretations…

OF Bob Dylan songs.

FEATURE: Mother (and Father) Stands for Comfort: Kate Bush and Her Parents’ Support

FEATURE:

 

 

Mother (and Father) Stands for Comfort

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush with her mother, Hannah, in the video for Suspended in Gaffa/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush 

Kate Bush and Her Parents’ Support

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EARLIER in the year…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush with her parents, brothers and friends

I published a feature about Kate Bush and how she draws inspiration from her family. There are few artists who have included their entire family in their music. In terms of turning her onto music and different forms of culture, her brothers, Paddy and John (‘Jay’), were important guides for Kate Bush. They have both played a big role in her career – Paddy in terms of making his sister more aware of unusual and less conventional music; he has appeared on many of her albums; John, as a photographer, has snapped his sister since she was a child. Bush’s son, Bertie (Albert) can be heard on 2005’s Aerial and 2011’s Director’s Cut and 50 Words for Snow (he also performed on stage with her during Before the Dawn in 2014). Her partner, Danny McIntosh, has appeared on many of her recordings. It must be comforting to have her family appear on her records. Of course, when it comes to her brothers, she had a musical and creative bond with them from childhood. Bush’s ‘new family’ of Bertie and Danny has mixed alongside Paddy Bush on more-recent recordings (both appeared on Director’s Cut). I am casting my mind to other artists whose family has been so instrumental in terms of appearing on recordings; who have also inspired the creative process. It is no surprise that Bush has her family appear on her albums, as she has her own studio at home and there is that convenience. Ever since 1978, Bush has worked alongside her family on professional recordings (of course, John Carder Bush photographed Kate many years before that).

I think her siblings’ influence is very powerful and important. Most musicians can count their parents as big fans and supporters. Not only has Kate Bush’s parents been encouraging and helped shape her path; they also appeared on her albums. It was not the case that her mum and dad had no reservations about going into music. They would have liked her to go to university of spent longer in education. Given the fact Bush released her debut album when she was nineteen, one can understand why there were reservations. She was very young and, if things didn’t pan out, what were her options? That said, they didn’t hold her back. They were encouraging and supportive. Maybe it is the fact that this was a middle-class household. They would have been able to support their daughter if things did not go right. A more working-class family may have dissuaded their child from pursuing music in their teens. In a household filled with music, I am not surprised it enforced Kate Bush’s passion! Recognising their daughter’s innate and amazing gift, I feel her parents knew she was going to be a star and provided this support and comforting air. Before moving on, it is worth learning more about Kate Bush’s parents. Her father, as the Kate Bush Encyclopaedia highlights, can be heard on many of her most-famed recordings:

“Born on April 4, 1920 in South Ockendon, Robert John Bush worked hard to win a scholarship to the Grammar School at Grays, and later won a place at medical school to become a doctor.

He married Hannah Bush in early 1943. Together they had three children: John Carder Bush (1944), Paddy Bush (1952) and Kate (1958).

His voice can be heard in the song The Fog, in the extended version of The Big Sky (The Meteorological Mix) and also among the voices calling to the heroine of The Ninth Wave between the songs Under Ice and Waking The Witch.

He passed away in 2008”.

Her mother, too, is someone who one can hear on some brilliant tracks. Again, with the help of the Kate Bush Encyclopaedia, we can discover more about an incredibly inspiring woman:

“Born on June 20, 1918, Hannah Patricia Bush was Kate's mother. She worked as a staff nurse at Epsom Grove Hospital and was one of 12 children who originally hailed form the harbour town of Dungarvan in County Waterford (Ireland).

She married Robert John Bush in early 1943, giving birth to John Carder Bush a year later. On December 9, 1952, Paddy Bush was born. Six years later, Kate was born.

Hannah's voice can be heard in The Ninth Wave, saying the line 'Come here with me now' in the song And Dream Of Sheep, and among the many voices calling to the heroine between the tracks Under Ice and Waking The Witch. She can be seen in the video for Suspended in Gaffa.

Hannah Bush passed away on 14 February 1992, and the album The Red Shoes is dedicated to her memory”.

I am going to do another detailed dive into Kate Bush and her family later down the line. Growing up at East Wickham Farm in Welling, the young Kate Bush was exposed to so much music and creative flair. Her Irish mother, who grew up in Waterford (where music was part of the familial and domestic fabric) identified a spark in her daughter. Kate Bush bought her first album, Simon & Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water, and bonded with popular music of the 1970s – Roxy Music, Elton John and Marc Bolan (and many others) mixed with English and Irish folk.

Her father played Classic pieces on the piano and integrated that with songs from the Great American Songbook. Bush, as Graeme Thomson notes in the biography, Under the Ivy: The Life & Music of Kate Bush, was inspired by that early exposure. Her love of Classical music later explains her unorthodox song structures and more experimental nature- one can trace this back to her father’s playing. From her mother, she picked up Irish folk and the instruments played on these records - one can hear an Irish influence in her music pretty early on (it is especially prevalent on The Dreaming (1982) and Hounds of Love (1985). It is clear that some tutors at school encouraged Kate Bush and were important to her. Like most artists, the biggest inspiration came from her folks. They realised that she could realistically make a career from music and dedicate her life to this medium. The young Kate Bush was not someone who had her parents ask to hear her songs and barge into her room. Her father was especially attentive and useful as a sounding board when she needed it. Bush has said in interviews how she would ask her dad to listen to her new songs and, so long as she could wait until the adverts came on T.V., he would sit and listen. I think that sort of dedication and audience meant that she could play her  mass of new songs (she was especially prolific and prodigious!) and determine which were promising. Her father was encouraging, but he would not say everything was great – he would give fairly honest feedback (though, as I will soon mention, there was a littler bias and subjectiveness). Her father’s ear and shoulder would be utilised by Bush through her career.

I think his impact was vital when it came to her career and determination. Her mother was also very supportive from the start. When the debut single, Wuthering Heights, was released in 1978, Hannah Bush would ask friends and people to call the radio stations and get the song played in order to get it up the charts - the song would eventually reach number-one. Perhaps the love and slight subjectiveness was a mixed blessing. There was a definite sense from Hannah Bush that, if her daughter’s interests were not being treated fairly, she would have a say. One example came when Kate Bush took the mix of The Man with the Child in His Eyes (from her debut album, The Kick Inside) to producer Andrew Powell. Her mother felt the strings were not turned up enough. Powell, an experienced producer, disagreed. An assumption, in a bid to support and encourage their daughter, that everything she recorded was fabulous was overridden with the introduction of Del Palmer (he and Bush dated early in her career through to the 1990s; Palmer appeared on many albums and is still working with her to this day as an engineer) into the family circle. A no-nonsense and funny Cockney, he would be straighter with Bush! Whilst she did not like people being too critical about her work, I think this sort of balance was healthy. Her parents, of course, were fantastically supportive…though a sort of blinkered and rose-tinted glasses approach could have led Bush to be too complacent and not push herself.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1978

Kate Bush grew up in an affluent household, though she never relied on that or needed much financial support too much from her parents. They made sure their daughter was being treated equitably, though she had a clear vision and did not need too much interference. I love the fact that her father, for nearly all of her career, was there to hear music and provide his feedback. Later in life, I think his natural paternal instincts and love was sage and needed. As he was a doctor, he was at hand when Bush was suffering with stress and nervous fatigue. He prescribed bed rest. This came after the recording of The Dreaming. So intense was the recording of that album that it took her six months to recover. Subsiding on an unhealthy diet, things changed when she started work on Hounds of Love. Not only did the fresh air of East Wickham Farm and a custom-built studio (she built a 24-track studio in the summer of 1983 in the barn behind her parents’ home) help reverse a lot of the pollution and strain of London; her parents’ warmth and perfect environment, I feel, played a big part in the sound and brilliance of the album. Her mother’s legendary hospitality meant that musicians and those involved with recording Hounds of Love were well fed and catered for. Of course, her brothers were there to give her help and love - though her parents’ influence and warmth meant that there was this safe haven. I am going to cut it short here. I wanted to break away from my previous piece about Kate Bush’s family and their influence and concentrate on her parents. I know that parents are supportive and loving, but there was something extra about the Bushes. The combination of music, arts, nurturing and hospitality was a massive reason why Kate Bush had this confidence and natural ability. Although they are both (sadly) no longer with us, they will both…

NEVER be forgotten.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Empress Of

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

Empress Of

___________

I like to have a mix of artists on Spotlight…

between those who are just coming through and others that are more established. Empress Of (Lorely Rodriguez) definitely slots into the latter category. She has released three albums – 2015’s Me; Us of 2018 and last year’s I’m Your Empress Of -, in addition to E.P.s and a mixtape. I will finish by focusing on her most-recent album. I want to start a bit further back. Before introducing the first interview, here is some background information about the Los Angeles-born artist:

“Rodriguez initially gained attention in 2012 for anonymously releasing a series of one minute-long demos (via YouTube) prefaced only by a solid color entitled "Colorminutes".Her first 7" single, "Champagne" was released soon after on November 5, 2012 through a limited run via No Recordings. Lorely's stage name was inspired by a tarot card reading she did with a friend: "The first card he pulled out was an Empress card and I was like, 'It's me, I am Empress.' [...] the Empress card is connected to fertility and mothering and strength. It's kind of nice to have those feelings."

On April 2, 2013, her bilingual four-track EP Systems was released via Double Denim and Terrible Records in the UK and North America respectively.[5] Since the release of her EP, she's showcased at SXSW, Iceland Airwaves and Pitchfork's Summer Music Festival[6] and toured as a support act with the likes of Jamie Lidell, Jungle, Kimbra and Florence and the Machine.

"Water Water", the first single off her debut full-length Me was released on April 14, 2015. She has also released a Spanish-language version of the track, "Agua Agua" "so that [her] mother listens [to her] music." Rodriguez's debut album Me, which she self-produced and recorded in Mexico was released on September 11, 2015 via XL Recordings and Terrible”.

Before coming up to date, the first interview I want to bring in is from IMPOSE. In it, Empress Of discusses the route to her debut album. We get to learn more about a fascinating artist:

“When Rodriguez was growing up, her father, also a musician, attempted to teach her Beatles songs on the family piano. The uninterested teen resisted, preferring a more autonomous musical education online. When the family got internet, the first website Rodriguez visited was www.christinaaguilera.com. Later, upon discovering Limewire and Napster, thirteen-year-old Rodriguez set out to find the weirdest stuff she could find. She was quickly drawn to Björk, whose swan dress was being broadcast on MTV and VH1, channels Rodriguez and her brothers watched after school. In particular, Rodriguez became obsessed with the Icelandic singer’s big band experiments, like 1995’s “It’s Oh So Quiet.” She researched the original composers and fell down a jazz rabbit hole. After being a competitive jazz singer in high school, Rodriguez enrolled at Boston’s Berklee College of Music to study jazz. But having received her first laptop when she was seventeen, Rodriguez became more interested in making beats. She switched into the college’s sound engineering program. After graduating in 2011, Rodriguez moved to Brooklyn to perform with her pals in Boston psych-shredder outfit Celestial Shore.

Once in New York, Rodriguez began to perform under her new solo monniker, Empress Of. The name originated after a tarot reading by a friend, in which he immediately pulled the Empress card, one that is associated with nature, fertility, femininity, and abundance. Rodriguez later wrote a song inspired by the experience, “Hat Trick.” She decided against calling herself simply “Empress,” saying, “That sounded so cocky. I’m confident most of the time, but not cocky.”

In late 2012, Empress Of released her first recordings, Colorminutes, a song-a-day demo project wherein she releases short, 1-minute snippets of songs straight to YouTube, each assigned a specific color. The process was meant to refine her creative discipline and technical skills. When discussing Colorminutes and her overall practice, Rodriguez feels strongly that true passions lead to intellectualizing: “When you obsess over something there has to be a point where it becomes academic. Like, if you’re obsessed with DJing, then you’re going to be obsessed with all the techniques and the history and records or record collecting,” she explains. “When I first got into production, it got really nerdy for a second. Like how to make certain sounds and how to mix a little bit and then it crosses over into the creative side.” Colorminutes was an opportunity to flex, as she says, the intersections of her nerdy tendencies and her creative side. The project’s minimal information was meant to let the songs speak for themselves. Rodriguez notes that although she would like to return to these songs at some point, particularly her personal favorite, the turquoise-green #2, she cannot because her production and songwriting styles have evolved so intensely. “I would never write that experience like that now,” she says, of the time in her life channeled into that song. “It would be much more of a story. I think developing as a songwriter, you learn how to tell stories so people walk away with your experiences.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Miriam Marlene Waldner for Wonderland.

“I love this record. I love playing this record. I own up to this record 100%. I put everything I could possibly put into it,” she explains. Me’s success, like its content, ultimately depends on the energy Rodriguez pours into it, and for the past two years, she has been relentlessly devoted.

At this mid-summer meet up, Rodriguez tells me more about writing her record. To start, when she arrived in Mexico, Rodriguez broke down. The opportunity to spend a full month alone in a foreign place with the sole purpose of writing her debut album was a surreal opportunity. However, it was difficult to write with the pressure of fulfilling a contract rather than just for herself. “I felt so obligated to come up with content every day. I felt like I was writing against the clock. You can’t force yourself to be creative. I worked on it every day. Some days it was garbage, some days it was amazing, but I mostly drove myself crazy.” While making the album’s biggest hurdle may have been isolation and personal high expectations, these same conditions were the most motivating. “Driving myself crazy is what made those songs happen,” she says. “I spent so much time by myself because I was far from anything. A lot of the songs are about me digging in my head.”

“The biggest message in this record is that it’s hard to be comfortable with yourself,” she continues. “It’s hard to love yourself. When you’re alone for so long you have to love yourself, otherwise you go crazy. I didn’t love myself. When you’re in New York there are so many distractions, there are so many people you can go to and forget that you have these insecurities”.

In this 2019 interview with Wonderland., there are observations regarding her two albums (to that point) and the difference between them. 2018’s Us is a fascinating album and a step on from her debut:

“This element of collaborating and bringing people together has been the main difference between Rodriguez’s two records, both within the songwriting sphere and in her general life. While Me was written entirely by herself in the secluded village of Valle de Bravo in Mexico, she wanted to surround herself with people for her second, moving from New York back to her hometown of LA to be closer to her family and recruiting outside producers and writers such as Dev Hynes and Jim-E Stack to help create her vision. “I wanted to be around other people. I didn’t want to be alone,” she explains. “After working on my first album all alone — and that being great — where I am in my life is wanting to share experiences. I want to know about your experiences. I don’t want to be so selfish, you know?” Covering life experiences that everyone goes through, at its core Us explores what brings people together. Throughout the record, Rodriguez weaves between stories that deal with depression, love, heartbreak, jealousy and friendship that she’s witnessed in her circle of family and friends. She’s done it in a way that has resonated with everyone who’s listened – a fact realised by the 99+ Instagram DM notifications on Rodriguez’s phone from fans bursting with stories of how the record has touched them.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to have people reach out to me and tell me how this album makes them feel,” she smiles. “I love when I listen to an album and it becomes a part of a time and a place in my life and it’s like something that was missing. If I can give you something that was missing, that makes you understand yourself better, then I would love that. Listen to the record, find something in it that makes you feel like you understand yourself. It doesn’t always have to be about me. There are autobiographical songs, but these are things that everyone experiences within their lives.” It seems that becoming a #relatable pop icon will only be a matter of time for Rodriguez, but what does she think? “Basically, I’m just a passive-aggressive Libra who wants everybody to get along,” she laughs. Already iconic”.

Skipping to her recent album, and a lot more people turned their heads the way of Empress Of. Not that her previous work flew under the radar. What I mean is that I’m Your Empress Of is, to me, her most confident and incredible album. I am keen to bring together a couple of positive reviews for that album. Before then, this interview from PAPER, we discover more about the time between 2018’s Us and how Empress Of has progressed as an artist:

“Empress Of came down to earth and embraced pop on her indelible sophomore effort Us — one of 2018's best albums. Since then, Rodriguez has thrived in the space opened up by the breakdown between mainstream and alternative music, shared by folks like FKA Twigs, Caroline Polachek, Dev Hynes, Clairo and Solange. Besides Rogers, Rodriguez has opened for Lizzo, Hynes' Blood Orange and Mura Masa, and featured on songs with Khalid and MØ. "On Me, I realized I could write pop music and I loved it," she says. "I loved going into rooms with artists that are so different from me and learning from them."

I'm Your Empress Of takes a different direction. While Me was warm, tender and serene, I'm Your Empress Of is a little bit fucked up. "I wanted this record to sound broken," says Rodriguez.

"[While writing Us] I was in a really settled place," she continues. She had just moved to Los Angeles and carved out a block of time to write her sophomore album. Meanwhile, I'm Your Empress Of came together on the road, in the midst of a tour and painful breakup. "I was physically and emotionally unsettled. I was traveling all around the world. A lot of those beats I made on airplanes or in greenrooms our tour buses. There was this driving chaotic energy to the production." Us took her longer than she'd hoped to write. Rodriguez finds "settledness" creatively challenging, so it will tell you something about her emotional state that the new record wrote itself: "I came home for a few months, and I was like 'woah, something's happening to me.' I felt so creative."

Rodriguez co-produced both of her last two albums with Jim-E Stack (Charli XCX, Perfume Genius, HAIM). Us favored frothy synths and percussion with naked vocals firmly in the foreground. I'm Your Empress Of meanwhile, is a maze of clashing symbols, jagged club beats and knotted melodies. She opts for blurry vocal effects on songs like "Not The One," "Awful" and "Love Is a Drug," which turn her lyrics into beat-keeping chants, in contrast to of Us's detail-heavy storytelling. There's a few moments of the blissed out euphoria that fans have come to expect from Empress Of — like the chorus of "U Give It Up" — but overall, I'm Your Empress Of is a darker, more challenging listen.

Empress Of has always been of the music-as-therapy school of songwriting. But on I'm Your Empress Of, writing was more of a life-line than ever. "I'm really bad at expressing myself in relationships and with family," says Rodriguez. "I was really heartbroken when I was on tour and I didn't process it until I went home and started writing." During one songwriting session, Rodriguez realized she needed to take her mental health more seriously. "I need some help, I need some help, I need myself, I need myself," she sings on "Awful," which also contains the excellent gut-punching rhyme, "I get off on being awful to myself." "I realized I needed to talk to someone after writing that song," she says.

The album charts the full life and death of a relationship, from the thrill of letting someone call you "baby," to screaming matches, to apologies like "an anthology of empty words," to self-medication with casual sex, to begging for another chance, to wishing desperately to move on. With this story arc in mind, what of the album's deceptively straightforward title? Whose Empress Of, exactly?

The album offers two different answers. On the opener and title track, Rodriguez sings the lyric "I'm your Empress Of," over and over again on a helium plinking keyboard. Her mother Reina, who returns as a character through spoken interludes across the album, speaks the line "I only have one girl/ But the only girl is like having thousands of girls/ Because look how she reproduces herself in each bunch of you." On her album cover, Rodriguez wears a multicolored bell skirt and bandeau woven from hundreds of shiny, plasticky purple and pink ribbons and bows like a human present. "When a song is done, it's not mine anymore, it's the listener's. I love that my songs, that came from a place of pain, that pain becomes”.

I am going to wrap up soon. Before I do, I think it is worth highlighting what critics made of I’m Your Empress Of. It was one of last year’s best albums. I think that Empress Of is going to go on and be a major star of the future! The Line of Best Fit were keen to lend their praise:

“Title track “I’m Your Empress Of” begins the record with Rodriguez repeating the title over a salsa piano riff she learned from her dad at the age of eight. The rhythm gives way to her mother’s voice, reminiscing about what it was like to come to America, learn a whole new language and find her way in this world. Then she turns to Lorely herself.

It often feels like a gimmick, getting a non-musical family member involved, but here it sets out the stall for what I’m Your Empress Of will become. There’s a pride in her mother’s voice as she declares “Look how many times she’s represented herself in each one of you”. What follows is an Empress Of that feels rejuvenated and connected; spurred on by a need to process a breakup but also to celebrate everything she stands for.

Taking back control by writing and producing most of the album, she sounds fully in tune with every facet of her identity. The Chicago house inspired wonky pop is back. The Latin vibes are back. Most importantly, her way with words is back (“Void”’s opening line “Every apology got worse / An anthology of empty words” is a particularly delightful one).

Us, while full of great tunes, seemed to lose what made Me so special. The cavalcade of producers and writers stripped it of the first album’s magic, as though each song was written for anyone to take on. It’s something all the more apparent when it’s sandwiched between two albums so full of personality since I’m Your Empress Of has that magic back too. By trusting in her ideas and taking on this quest by herself, Empress Of has imbued this record with life.

From the sharp synth stabs of “Bit Of Rain” to the distorted reflections of album closer “Awful”, all led by Rodriguez’s fantastic vocals, I’m Your Empress Of is a funky, generous and vibrant record”.

To finish off, this review from Pitchfork is an interesting read. Never ones to provide too much positivity, they do highlight the merits of I’m Your Empress Of:

“While poring over I’m Your Empress Of’s lyrics suggests an author with fresh wounds, the album is also a showcase for Rodriguez’s production abilities at this new peak. The lead single, “Give Me Another Chance,” is a rush of Eurodance, and in the balearic-inspired mid-tempo “Void,” Rodriguez Auto-Tunes her vocals to suggest weightlessness, her ennui dusted with clouds of powdered sugar. “What’s The Point,” is shot through with pitter-patters of drum’n’bass percussion, and you can imagine the song’s thick, creeping bass whipping crowds into a frenzy at a festival (failing that in the foreseeable future, your living room speakers will do the trick). In the hands of a less sure-handed artist the whiplash between emotional extremes could be jarring, but Rodriguez makes it feel delightfully dizzying. What is life in the digital age if not a constant pinball between joy and despair?

One of Rodriguez’s earliest ambitions as Empress Of was to be “weird.” The first music she shared was a homemade series of wonky electronic oddities titled Color Minutes, but by the time of her second album, she was drawing from the high gloss hip-pop of Ariana Grande. Yet the creative furrow she finds on I’m Your Empress Of is enriched by Rodriguez looking closer to home, an impulse literalized with the inclusion of spoken-word passages delivered by her mom, Reina, a first-generation immigrant from Honduras. Reina’s unguided reflections move from proud messages of survival to love and femininity, providing a guiding light while foregrounding the album as in conversation with shared Latinx immigrant histories. “It was not easy speaking English,” Reina says on the album intro, after Rodriguez plays a bright salsa piano line that she learned from her father. “It was not easy having to learn it,” continues Reina. “But I got it.”

I’m Your Empress Of vibrates with the contradictions that one person can contain: how mourning the loss of a partner is bound up with anger, the fatigue of resilience, and the pleasures to be found in escaping it all, if only for one lusty night. With unexpected production and left-field samples, Rodriguez’s album is powered by a heady rawness that bucks the trend for theatrical concepts in today’s electronic pop nonconformists, producing epiphanies like hot stones spat from a fire. You could say it is as addictive as modern love”.

If you have not followed Empress Of, then go and check her out and listen to her music. She released a new song recently (see below). I hope we get more music from her very soon. On 30th April, Rodriguez/Empress Of announced that she was partnering with an Ad Council-backed national campaign called Sound It Out Together. The campaign is designed to highlight youth mental-health and create an outlet for adolescent school children of colour; to express their emotions and experiences through music. She is an inspiring human and a remarkable artist!. When it comes to to the amazing Empress Of, I think that there is…

A lot more to come.

_______________

Follow Empress Of

PHOTO CREDIT: Miriam Marlene Waldner for Wonderland. 

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/empressof/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/EmpressOf

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/empressof

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/5QuBVnBPEzwYvFrgBbwpmU

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClc6xFj1RFSNrklVTzGmHnQ

FEATURE: Vinyl Corner: The Roots - Undun

FEATURE:

 

 

Vinyl Corner

The Roots - Undun

___________

THERE is always something…

 IN THIS PHOTO:' The Roots perform an exclusive track during the John Varvatos fall/winter 2011 campaign shoot at Republic Airport in New York

fascinating and unique with every album from The Roots. The Hip-Hop band were formed in 1987 by Tariq ‘Black Thought’ Trotter and Ahmir ‘Questlove’ Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Their most-current album, ...And Then You Shoot Your Cousin, was released in 2014 – let’s hope that this is not the final album from the group. I want to discuss the album that arrived before that: 2011’s magnificent Undun. Its concept is one that really interests me. The album is about the short, tragic life of fictional character Redford Stevens, set in urban poverty and told through a reverse-chronological narrative. Before bringing in some reviews and a link to buy the album, it is worth grabbing some Wikipedia information regarding Undun’s concept:

“The plot of the album takes place in reverse over the course of a day in Redford's life, with the multiple featured rappers all speaking from Redford's first-person perspective. The album opens with the sound of a flatlined EKG on the instrumental track "Dun", signifying Redford's death. This leads into the second track, "Sleep", where Black Thought's verse portrays Redford's dying thoughts on his life, fate and whether he will be remembered. "Make My" depicts the killing of Redford, with an extended outro modeled on Mobb Deep's "Shook Ones (Part II)" that conveys Redford's spirit beginning to leave his body.

"One Time" finds Redford feeling remorse and contemplating the course of his life; he reflects on the time that he stopped caring about school. "Kool On" and "The OtherSide" depict Redford living successfully as a drug dealer. "Kool On" hints that Redford is deluding himself, and the song's lyrics are about "how successful street hustlers might fool themselves in believing they are living the 'good life' but, in reality, 'living on borrowed time.'" "Stomp" is meant to be the song on which "he's either gonna live or he’s gonna die with whatever path he has chosen to go down." While Redford feels that he has been forced into crime, he is also decisively choosing his path. On "Lighthouse", Redford contemplates suicide,[19] and the song's hook "there’s no one in the lighthouse/Face down in the ocean" is a metaphor for Redford being caught up in crime and questioning the direction of his life. Redford recalls his life before crime on "I Remember". "Tip the Scale" explores "how the odds are already stacked against a black man growing up in the ghetto even before he is born".

The album is concluded with a four-part instrumental movement. Part one is Sufjan Stevens performing his "Redford (For Yia-Yia & Pappou)", originally from the album Michigan; part two has a string quartet reinterpret the song. Part three is a free jazz performance by Questlove and pianist D. D. Jackson. The album concludes with the fourth part, another string quartet piece that ends abruptly with an unresolved piano chord. Roots manager Richard Nichols described the final four tracks as a "birth-cycle" and said "It’s almost like he was undone upon birth ... your outcome of your life is definitely gonna be affected by your surroundings, statistically".

I would recommend that people buy the tremendous and hugely memorable Undun on vinyl. You can buy it from Rough Trade. They describe Undun in these terms:

“10th studio album from the Roots originally released in December 2011. The first conceptually-based album from the Roots featuring Big Kirt and Sufjan Steven. Undun is an existential re-telling of the short life of one Redford Stephens (1974-1999). Through the use of emotives and Redford's internal dialogues the album seeks to illustrate the intersection of free will and prescribed destiny as it plays out On the Corner. Utilizing a reverse narrative arc, the album begins as the listener finds Redford disoriented - postmortem - and attempting to make sense of his former life. As he moves through its pivotal moments he begins to deconstruct all that has led to his (and our own) coming undun”.

Many of The Roots’ album have received positive feedback. From their 1993 debut, Organix, to today, the group have been lauded and celebrated as one of the most consistent and innovative in music. It is no surprise that Undun, given its concept and the exceptional music within, resonated with critics and showed that The Roots had lost none of their genius.

The first review that I want to bring in is from AllMusic. They were incredibly positive and deep in their review. They made some interesting observations and points that hasn’t occurred to me before:

“The Roots' umpteenth album is titled after a Guess Who song mutilated by countless lounge bands since 1969. It incorporates a Sufjan Stevens recording, mixtape-style, for the purpose of starting a four-part instrumental suite that closes a program lasting only 40 minutes. Based on those details, it would not be irrational to think that the band’s well of inspiration might be dry or tainted. While the well might be slightly tainted, it is full. Undun is based on the life of Redford Stephens, a fictional product of inner-city New York who was born in the mid-‘70s and tragically passed in 1999, the point at which the album begins -- with a quiet EKG flatline. Appearances from MCs Big K.R.I.T., Dice Raw, Phonte, Greg Porn, and Truck North, as well as contributions by singers Aaron Earl Livingston and Bilal, flank principal voice Black Thought, yet this is no hip-hop opera or anything close to a typical concept album. The existential rhymes, seemingly created with a shared vision, avoid outlining specific events and focus on ruminations that are grave and penetrating, as if each vocalist saw elements of himself and those he has known in Redford. What’s more, Undun probably shatters the record for fewest proper nouns on a rap album, with the likes of Hammurabi, Santa Muerte, and Walter Cronkite mentioned rather than the names of those who are physically involved in Stephens’ life. (The album’s app, filled with video clips and interviews with Stephens’ aunt, teachers, and peers, provides much more typical biographical information.) Musically, Undun flows easier and slower than any other Roots album. The backdrops ramp up with slight gradations, from soft collisions of percussion and keys (“Sleep”), to balmy gospel-soul (“Make My”), to Sunday boom-bap (“One Time”). There's a slight drop into sinewy funk (“Kool On”) that leads into a sustained stretch of stern, hunched-shoulder productions, highlighted by the crisply roiling “Lighthouse,” that match the cold realism of the lyrics. The strings in the slightly wistful “I Remember” and completely grim “Tip the Scale” are a setup for the Redford suite, which is nothing like padding. It glides through the movements, involving mournful strings, a violent duel between drummer ?uestlove and guest pianist D.D. Jackson, and a lone death note that fades 37 seconds prior to silence”.

Just before wrapping things up, it is worth introducing a review from Entertainment Weekly. In another hugely glowing review, this is what they had to say:

“The Roots currently occupy a strange yet comfy bifurcated existence as the hardest-working, most-sought-after band in hip-hop, and the resident music-makers on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. Thankfully, the safety and security of a regular gig at 30 Rock (with benefits, no less!) has emboldened rather than stifled the group’s raging ambition. The Philadelphia vets’ 13th studio album, Undun, is the group’s first concept album, and the culmination of everything it has worked toward musically and lyrically. It’s a subtly assured magnum opus that broadcasts its aspirations from the mountaintops.

Conceptually, Undun resembles Christopher Nolan’s Memento. It begins at the end, with the death of its hustling protagonist, and unfolds backward to reveal how he reached such an end.  The ghostly instrumental “Dun”—with its distant echoes of anguished screams and heavenly strings— and the hypnotic “Sleep” kick the album off on an appropriately elegiac note. As befits a project about a dead man’s shattered dreams, it’s a haunted, shadowy album of regrets and retrospection. The backward structure and opening death lend a tragic air to even upbeat tracks like “Kool On,” which swaggers joyously like a lost vintage track from Sly And The Family Stone.

Undun ultimately registers as a melancholy, exquisitely downbeat cautionary tale about the dangers of street life. Previous Roots masterpieces like Things Fall Apart and Phrenology were defined by aggressive, borderline-heroic over-reaching. With the tight, concise, ferociously focused Undun, however, the immensity of the project’s ambition is matched by its seamless, masterful execution”.

If you have not already got a copy of Undun, then go and grab it on vinyl. It is such a remarkable album that keeps you engrossed from start to finish. Not only is its plotline arresting; the music is so rich and varied – from its snare drums to the choral arrangement and strings, it is absolutely brilliant! Almost a decade old (Undun was released on 2nd December), the album has lost none of its power and potency. Do yourself a favour and grab this…

ON vinyl

FEATURE: Mercy Mercy Me: Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On at Fifty

FEATURE:

 

 

Mercy Mercy Me

Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On at Fifty

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I want to bring in a few articles…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Marvin Gaye in 1971/PHOTO CREDIT: Redferns

to mark fifty years of Marvin Gaye’s stunning eleventh studio album, What’s Going On. It turns fifty on 21st May. There will be commemoration and celebration around the world. Not only a moment when Gaye hit a real peak; many of the songs and themes documented through the album are relevant today – from alarm about the environment to racial injustice and violence. One can listen to What’s Going On on one level and appreciate its musicianship, incredible vocals and overall quality. On another, one can listen closely to Gaye’s imploration regarding sanity, peace and progression. I think that is why the album resonates today: we have not really moved on as a world in many ways. I am going to get to some articles and a review of the seminal What’s Going On. Before that, a little overview regarding its recording and impact:   

“What's Going On is the eleventh studio album by American soul singer, songwriter, and producer Marvin Gaye. It was released on May 21, 1971, by the Motown Records-subsidiary label Tamla.

Gaye recorded the album between 1970 and 1971 in sessions at Hitsville U.S.A., Golden World, and United Sound Studios in Detroit, and at The Sound Factory in West Hollywood, California. It was his first album to credit him as a producer and to credit Motown's in-house studio band, the session musicians known as the Funk Brothers.

What's Going On is a concept album with most of its songs segueing into the next and has been categorized as a song cycle. The narrative established by the songs is told from the point of view of a Vietnam veteran returning to his home country to witness hatred, suffering, and injustice. Gaye's introspective lyrics explore themes of drug abuse, poverty, and the Vietnam War. He has also been credited with promoting awareness of ecological issues before the public outcry over them had become prominent.

The album was an immediate commercial and critical success, and came to be viewed by music historians as a classic of 1970s soul. In 2001, a deluxe edition of the album was released, featuring a recording of Gaye's May 1972 concert at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Broad-ranging surveys of critics, musicians, and the general public have shown that What's Going On is regarded as one of the greatest albums of all time and a landmark recording in popular music. In 2020, it was ranked number one on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time”.

I want to bring in an article that talks about the powerful title track. It is a song that has so much punch and importance, at a moment when there is racial violence and intolerance around the world – it is especially pronounced in the U.S.

Not to cobble together different sections from a fascinating article, but Sound on Sound dissected the recording of What’s Going On back in 2011. I wanted to highlight some interesting portions. We get some recollections and insights from engineer Ken Sands:

“For the previous few years, Gaye had felt increasingly frustrated by the lack of artistic freedom afforded him by the commercial, pop‑oriented edicts of the Motown hit machine and its autocratic founder Berry Gordy (who also happened to be his brother‑in‑law). Then, in March 1970, when a brain tumour claimed the life of Gaye's friend and collaborator Tammi Terrell, he plunged into a full‑blown depression. Refusing to sing on stage or in the studio, he made an unsuccessful attempt to join the Detroit Lions football team, before agreeing to record once more, but only on his own terms, which meant making artistic decisions without deferring to Motown's head honcho.

"In 1969 or 1970, I began to re‑evaluate my whole concept of what I wanted my music to say,” Gaye would later tell Rolling Stone magazine. "I was very much affected by letters my brother was sending me from Vietnam, as well as the social situation here at home. I realised that I had to put my own fantasies behind me if I wanted to write songs that would reach the souls of people. I wanted them to take a look at what was happening in the world.”

IN THIS PHOTO: Marvin Gaye in 1973 

Accordingly, after a golf game with Obie Benson and Al Cleveland resulted in them playing Marvin Gaye the unfinished song back at his house, he came up with the title and added more lyrics, while also embellishing the melody on his piano. 'What's Going On', Gaye thought, would be ideal for the Originals, whose hits 'Baby I'm for Real' and 'The Bells' he had co‑written and produced. Benson convinced him otherwise, and so on June 10th, 1970, Marvin Gaye entered Studio A at Motown's Hitsville USA to record the song himself.

In the case of 'What's Going On', it was Steve Smith who recorded the basic drums, bass and piano.

"That's how Marvin would usually start his sessions,” Sands continues with regard to the general approach on Gaye's records. "He'd play the piano while Pistol [Richard 'Pistol' Allen] was on the drums and Jamerson was on bass, and he would also do a demo vocal along with that rhythm track on track one. The microphones that we used were tube Neumann U67s; they had an extremely clean sound, but they would also allow for a certain amount of distortion/compression that was just enough to give things an edge.

"Pistol would play a relatively small, dark mother-of-pearl Rogers drum kit that was actually designed for jazz. There was a large ride cymbal, a crash on the left, a small tom‑tom, a floor tom‑tom and snare. Pistol would keep that set tuned the way he liked it for playing — he was responsible for the drum sound after Benny Benjamin died.

"Benny was a heavy drummer with a broader sound,” Sands says. "Pistol, on the other hand, was a really good, close friend of mine, and he taught me how to play drums. Then there was Uriel Jones — they were consummate jazz musicians. To record Pistol, I would use just three mics: an RCA DX77 ribbon on the foot, a U67 on the snare, and a U67 overhead. People couldn't believe we were using a ribbon microphone on a bass drum — 'Why would you do that?' The wave front of a bass drum would tend to stretch the ribbon of a ribbon microphone, but that's what we used. That was the foot sound, that was Motown.”

The result, after Ken Sands took care of the mix, was a protest song like no other that had come before; a number that, rather than ask "what's going on,” answered this by reporting on America's struggles and Marvin Gaye's personal strife without bitterness or anger. In a relaxed, laid‑back manner that exuded empathy and understanding, Gaye addressed a "father, father” in reference to his troubled relationships both with God and the patriarch who would eventually kill him, and reached out to the "brother, brother, brother” as an appeal to not only his Vietnam vet sibling Frankie, but all of humankind.

"You see, war is not the answer, For only love can conquer hate,” Gaye intoned, blending the vocal spirituality of his gospel roots with the soulfulness and warmth of the song's sax breaks and jazz‑flavoured rhythms, but this didn't impress Berry Gordy. On the contrary, denouncing 'What's Going On' as "too jazzy”, after Gaye presented it to him with the religiously‑infused B‑side 'God Is Love', the Motown CEO refused to issue the single.

The possibility that Gaye's political statements might alienate certain white listeners can't have been Gordy's primary concern — earlier in 1970, he had approved the release of Edwin Starr's 'War' and the Temptations' 'Ball Of Confusion' (mixed by Ken Sands with producer Norman Whitfield). Quite simply, he just didn't like 'What's Going On', telling Harry Balk — who had sold his Impact and Inferno labels to Motown before running its Creative Division — that it sounded "old” and that he hated its "Dizzy Gillespie‑styled scats”.

Marvin Gaye responded by refusing to record any other material until 'What's Going On' was released, and when Gordy asked Smokey Robinson — then Motown's Vice President, as well as one of its biggest stars — to persuade the Prince of Soul to change his mind, Robinson informed him that, "like a bear shitting in the woods, Marvin ain't budging.”

The stalemate lasted several months until January of 1971, when Harry Balk pushed for the single's release. Quality Control's Billie Jean Brown disagreed, so they turned to Vice President of Sales Barney Ales, who sided with Balk, resulting in 100,000 copies being pressed and promo singles being mailed to radio stations. Gordy was placated when the former sold out within 24 hours, leading to the pressing of a further 100,000 discs to meet demand and 'What's Going On' hitting the top spot on the R&B chart that March. Reaching number two on the Billboard Hot 100, it ended up shifting over two‑and‑a‑half million units, making it the fastest‑selling release in Motown's history up until that time.

By then, predictably, Berry Gordy had commissioned the recording of an entire album to cash in on the single's success. Ken Sands took care of the strings and brass on those sessions alongside David Van DePitte in Studio B, while also recording the lead vocals and some of the backing vocals. The rhythm section and other parts were tracked at Studio A, Detroit's United Sound Studios and The Sound Factory in West Hollywood before, according to Sands, he did the final mix on the tenth floor of the Motown Center. Completed in May 1971 and released that same month, What's Going On was the first of Marvin Gaye's albums to afford him credit as sole producer.

"Steve Smith did a couple of mixes and I did the final one,” Sands recalls, contradicting the conventional wisdom that, after he arrived in LA for a film project, Gaye scrapped 'The Detroit Mix' and remixed the album to give it an even softer, smoother feel. "It was my mix that I heard on the radio,” Sands insists, "and that was my final assignment for Motown before the company relocated to the West Coast.”

Either way, What's Going On remained on the Billboard Top 200 for over a year, selling more than two million copies, while being named 'Album Of The Year' by Rolling Stone, which, in 2003, would rank it number six on its list of the '500 Greatest Albums Of All Time”.

Every song on What’s Going On is a gem! They are all powerful in their own way. As this article explores, the story behind the title track is intriguing and important:

“The spring of 1970 was a dark time for Marvin Gaye. His beloved duet partner Tammi Terrell had died after a three-year struggle with a brain tumor. His brother Frankie had returned from Vietnam with horror stories that moved Marvin to tears. And at Motown, Marvin was stymied in his quest to address social issues in his music.

While he was pondering his next move, a song fell in his lap that would provide a channel for all his sorrow and frustration.

The initial idea for “What’s Going On” came to Four Tops member Obie Benson when he was in San Francisco in 1969.

“They had the Haight-Ashbury then, all the kids up there with the long hair and everything,” he told MOJO. “The police was beating on the kids, but they wasn’t bothering anybody. I saw this, and started wondering what was going on. ‘What is happening here?’ One question leads to another. ‘Why are they sending kids so far away from their families overseas?’ And so on.”

Benson shaped his tune with fellow Motown writer Al Cleveland, then pitched it to the Four Tops. But they weren’t interested in a protest song. Obie played a rough version to Joan Baez, who also passed. He then brought it to Marvin Gaye, who loved it, saying it would be perfect for the Originals, a Motown vocal quartet he was producing.

PHOTO CREDIT: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images 

Benson disagreed, giving Marvin an ultimatum. “I finally put it to him like this: ‘I’ll give you a percentage of the tune if you sing it, but if you do it on anybody else you can’t have none of it.’”

Marvin agreed, then set about earning his writer’s percentage of the song. “He definitely put the finishing touches on it,” Benson said. “He added lyrics, and he added some spice to the melody. He added some things that were more ghetto, more natural, which made it seem more like a story than a song. He made it visual. He absorbed himself to the extent that when you heard the song you could see the people and feel the hurt and pain. We measured him for the suit, and he tailored it.”

Marvin was so thrilled by “What’s Going On” that he tracked down Berry Gordy while the boss was on vacation. “I was in the Bahamas trying to relax,” Gordy recalled in a Motown documentary. “He called and said, ‘Look, I’ve got these songs.’ When he told me they were protest songs, I said, ‘Marvin, why do you want to ruin your career?’”

All Motown artists went through a finishing school that taught them to carefully avoid controversial topics in both their interviews and music. But since day one of his tenure at the label, Marvin Gaye was a rebel. He’d come to blows with Gordy over lesser things. He wasn’t about to back down now.

To record “What’s Going On” and the concept album around it, Marvin drew from the full arsenal of local talent, from house arranger David Van De Pitte to the Funk Brothers. Paying for the sessions himself, Marvin drafted in extra players, including several Detroit Symphony members and two friends from the Detroit Lions football team to add street chatter.

Before ending with a recent article about the relevance of What’s Going On today, I think it is important to source a positive review. I think the album is one of the most highly-regarded in all of music. It is a masterpiece that has resonated through the years and inspired generations. In their review, this is what AllMusic had to say:

“What's Going On is not only Marvin Gaye's masterpiece, it's the most important and passionate record to come out of soul music, delivered by one of its finest voices, a man finally free to speak his mind and so move from R&B sex symbol to true recording artist. With What's Going On, Gaye meditated on what had happened to the American dream of the past -- as it related to urban decay, environmental woes, military turbulence, police brutality, unemployment, and poverty. These feelings had been bubbling up between 1967 and 1970, during which he felt increasingly caged by Motown's behind-the-times hit machine and restrained from expressing himself seriously through his music. Finally, late in 1970, Gaye decided to record a song that the Four Tops' Obie Benson had brought him, "What's Going On." When Berry Gordy decided not to issue the single, deeming it uncommercial, Gaye refused to record any more material until he relented. Confirmed by its tremendous commercial success in January 1971, he recorded the rest of the album over ten days in March, and Motown released it in late May. Besides cementing Marvin Gaye as one of the most important artists in pop music, What's Going On was far and away the best full-length to issue from the singles-dominated Motown factory, and arguably the best soul album of all time.

Conceived as a statement from the viewpoint of a Vietnam veteran (Gaye's brother Frankie had returned from a three-year hitch in 1967), What's Going On isn't just the question of a baffled soldier returning home to a strange place, but a promise that listeners would be informed by what they heard (that missing question mark in the title certainly wasn't a typo). Instead of releasing listeners from their troubles, as so many of his singles had in the past, Gaye used the album to reflect on the climate of the early '70s, rife with civil unrest, drug abuse, abandoned children, and the spectre of riots in the near past. Alternately depressed and hopeful, angry and jubilant, Gaye saved the most sublime, deeply inspired performances of his career for "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)," "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)," and "Save the Children." The songs and performances, however, furnished only half of a revolution; little could've been accomplished with the Motown sound of previous Marvin Gaye hits like "Stubborn Kind of Fellow" and "Hitch Hike" or even "I Heard It Through the Grapevine." What's Going On, as he conceived and produced it, was like no other record heard before it: languid, dark, and jazzy, a series of relaxed grooves with a heavy bottom, filled by thick basslines along with bongos, conga, and other percussion. Fortunately, this aesthetic fit in perfectly with the style of longtime Motown session men like bassist James Jamerson and guitarist Joe Messina. When the Funk Brothers were, for once, allowed the opportunity to work in relaxed, open proceedings, they produced the best work of their careers (and indeed, they recognized its importance before any of the Motown executives). Bob Babbitt's playing on "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)" functions as the low-end foundation but also its melodic hook, while an improvisatory jam by Eli Fountain on alto sax furnished the album's opening flourish. (Much credit goes to Gaye himself for seizing on these often tossed-off lines as precious; indeed, he spent more time down in the Snakepit than he did in the control room.) Just as he'd hoped it would be, What's Going On was Marvin Gaye's masterwork, the most perfect expression of an artist's hope, anger, and concern ever recorded”.

After the murder of George Floyd last year, a lot of people were asking what was happening in the world. It seemed unbelievable to watch a police office kill an innocent Black man. This incident was not isolated. Brutality, police racism and injustice still reigns around the world. It is especially noticeable in America, particularly given the gun laws and the number of shooting we have heard about. I want to end by quoting from this article, where musician Devon Gilfillian revealed why, recently, the title track from Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On hit hard:

“(CNN)As a child, musician Devon Gilfillian remembers his father, a professional wedding singer, harmonizing with Marvin Gaye's iconic "What's Going On" album in their living room. While the groove of the music was palpable, the lyrics were lost on a young Gilfillian.

The haunting questions of the song resurfaced to Gilfillian, now 31, following the murder of George Floyd. In a recent interview for a new CNN documentary about Gaye's work, titled "What's Going On: Marvin Gaye's Anthem for the Ages," the Grammy-nominated artist and activist recalled rediscovering the album just before heading to a protest in Nashville last summer.

"I saw people with instruments, I saw people with drums, and I was like, man, I want to bring my guitar and I'm like, 'What am I going to sing?''

His song choice, "What's Going On," was easy, but performing it was not.

"I went home, picked the guitar up and started strumming through it. And immediately I just started crying," Gilfillian said.

It was an epiphany, a lyrical catharsis delivered from one man to another, a half-century later.

"He's saying everything, mother, mother, there's too many of us crying, brother brothers, too many of us dying. Father, we don't need to escalate. War is not the answer," Gilfillian said. "It hurt to sing those words. I was legitimately sad and upset and angry."

That was the moment Gilfillian caught up with the message, "I felt like Marvin was like, yo, see, this is what I was trying to say."

Gilfillian has since released a cover album of "What's Going On," paying homage to a man who was pleading for the world to listen, tackling controversial issues, perhaps, before some could hear them.

Who the hell was writing songs about the ecology?" music critic Nelson George said in a conversation for the special. "('Mercy, Mercy, Me') is a song about environmental racism in 1971."

"I'm not sure, in 1971 people wanted to hear that we were burning up the planet and we were polluting the oceans." Marvin Gaye biographer, David Ritz, told CNN for the same project. "He got the message across by grooving it up so craftily until you want to hear it over and over and over again."

"His melodies were like a voice of cry." Sheila E., who toured with Marvin Gaye in 1982-83, says in the film. "(He) talked about the ghetto, talked about injustice, talked about the war. But he wasn't yelling and protesting."

Gilfillian describes Gaye's music as a subtle seduction.

"He makes you hear the lyrics, which are very important and potent. But then he tricks you into listening to them with his music, you know, by making you move and feel and hypnotizing you. And at the same time, you don't know you're actually getting woke”.

Ahead of the fiftieth anniversary of one of the greatest albums ever, many people around the world will share their memories. Marvin Gaye was shot and killed by his father when he was aged only forty-four. It was such a premature and tragic death that, sadly, brings to light some of What’s Going On’s lyrics regarding violence and tolerance. In spite of the fact we lost Gaye far too early, we remember him through his music. What’s Going On, I feel, is his ultimate release. After all of these years, Gaye’s eleventh studio album remains…

A peerless work of wonder.

FEATURE: The Lockdown Playlist: The Best of Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails

FEATURE:

 

 

The Lockdown Playlist

The Best of Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails

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AS it is…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Nine Inch Nails

Trent Reznor’s birthday tomorrow (17th May), I wanted to put out a playlist of his best tracks - those with the band and his frequent collaborations with Atticus Ross. The Nine Inch Nails lead is a constantly engaging and innovative musician. He is a hugely influential songwriter and singer who has impacted so many others. Before coming to the playlist, it is worth bringing in some biography:

“Michael Trent Reznor (born May 17, 1965) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and composer. He serves as the lead vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and principal songwriter of the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, which he founded in 1988 and of which he was the sole official member until 2016. The first Nine Inch Nails album, Pretty Hate Machine (1989), was a commercial and critical success. Reznor has since released 11 more Nine Inch Nails studio albums.

Reznor began his career in the mid-1980s as a member of synth-pop bands such as Option 30, The Innocent, and Exotic Birds. He has contributed to the albums of artists such as Marilyn Manson, whom he mentored, and rapper Saul Williams. Alongside his wife Mariqueen Maandig and long-time Nine Inch Nails collaborators Atticus Ross and Rob Sheridan, he formed the post-industrial group How to Destroy Angels in 2009.

Beginning in 2010, Reznor, alongside Atticus Ross, began to work on film and television scores. The duo have scored many of David Fincher's films, including The Social Network (2010), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), Gone Girl (2014), and Mank (2020). They won the Academy Award for Best Original Score for The Social Network and Soul, and the Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The duo has also scored the films Patriots Day (2016), mid90s, Bird Box (both 2018), Waves (2019) and Soul (2020), the documentary Before the Flood (2016), and the television series The Vietnam War (2017) and Watchmen (2019), winning a Primetime Emmy Award for the lattermost. In 1997, Reznor appeared on Time's list of the year's most influential people, and Spin magazine described him as "the most vital artist in music".

To honour the great Trent Reznor, this Lockdown Playlist is all about his best musical moments. It is a wonderful collection of power, memorable and moving songs…

FROM a music icon.

FEATURE: Music as a Medicine: Could New NHS Trials Provide a Breakthrough in the Treatment of Alzheimer’s Patients and Stressed Medical Staff?

FEATURE:

 

 

Music as a Medicine

PHOTO CREDIT: @armin_lotfi/Unsplash 

Could New NHS Trials Provide a Breakthrough in the Treatment of Alzheimer’s Patients and Stressed Medical Staff?

___________

ALTHOUGH this piece of music-related news…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Tessa Rampersad/Unsplash

came online on 5th May, I have been thinking about it them and wondering whether new NHS trials that are going ahead could provide some breakthrough in treating Alzheimer’s patients. I will provide some thoughts and feelings. The Guardian reported the news of this fascinating trial for Alzheimer’s patients and stressed medical staff:

“Now trials are under way at an NHS trust to see if an algorithm can curate music playlists to reduce suffering in Alzheimer’s patients as well as in stressed medical staff.

A test among people with dementia found an algorithm that “prescribes” songs based on listeners’ personal backgrounds and tastes resulted in reductions in heart rate of up to 22%, lowering agitation and distress in some cases.

This week, Lancashire teaching hospitals NHS trust is extending trials to medical staff who worked in critical care during Covid to see if it can ease anxiety and stress. It is also planning to test it on recovering critical care patients, needle-phobic children and outpatients coping with chronic pain in the hope of reducing opiate prescriptions.

The technology operates as a musical “drip”, playing songs to patients and monitoring their heart rates as they listen. A 90-year-old might be prescribed big band music, while a 50-year-old might get a dose of Van Halen and Paul McCartney.

An algorithm allows the software, which is linked to a streaming service like Spotify, to change forthcoming tracks if the prescription doesn’t appear to be working. Its artificial intelligence system assesses the “DNA” of songs, examining 36 different qualities including tempo, timbre, key, time signatures, the amount of syncopation and the lowest notes. Gary Jones, the chief executive of MediMusic, the company developing the software, said these were among the factors that can shape the heart rate and blood pressure response to a track.

PHOTO CREDIT: Hush Naidoo/Unsplash 

A trial of 25 people with Alzheimer’s aged from their 60s, to their 90s conducted at the Lancashire NHS trust has shown some promising results, the trust said.

“There has been an up to 22% reduction in heart rates in these patients,” said Dr Jacqueline Twamley, academic research and innovation manager. “Some people it doesn’t affect the heart rate at all, but you can see the effect in their facial expressions and in them tapping along. One patient burst out crying. He said the song brought back happy memories and they were happy tears.”

The playlist of a patient in their 60s included Mull of Kintyre by Wings and Peter Gabriel’s Solsbury Hill, said Twamley, adding: “I thought Mull of Kintyre would increase agitation, but that’s a matter of taste.”

Three recommended playlists

The playlists are intended to start with more energy, becoming calmer to lower the heart rate. They are tailored to broad demographic categories as well as personal listening habits and preferences. These are highlights of three lists produced by the algorithm:

For a 90-year-old white British woman
Teresa Brewer – Music! Music! Music!
Bing Crosby – Galway Bay
Frank Sinatra – Among My Souvenirs

For a 60-year-old woman of British Indian origin
Mere Dil Mein Aaj Kya Hai – Rajesh Khanna, Sharmila Tagore, Kishore Kumar
Pyaasa – Geeta Dutt & Mohd Rafi
Lag Jaa Gale – Sadhana, Lata Mangeshkar

For a 40-year-old black British man with interest in soul, R&B hip-hop and pop
The Notorious B.I.G. – Mo Money Mo Problems
Ashanti – Foolish
Fugees – Killing Me Softly With His Song”.

It is interesting looking at the playlists above and that a certain type of song can be applied to different age/ethnicity groups! We know that music can help unlock memories for Alzheimer’s patients and provide hugely therapeutic benefits. Although the new trials – for patients and hospital staff – cannot necessarily do too much to aide memory and help in that respect, the fact that agitation and stress levels are reduced is very encouraging. I do playlists all the time and I have never really thought about songs that patients and stressed medical workers would respond positively to. Each person has their own music tastes and leanings, so tailoring playlists and recommending various songs is much more helpful and effective than generic playlists - those designed to ease stress and calm your mood. Whilst medicine and therapy is crucial regarding tackling Alzheimer’s, something as broad and universal as music can provide something powerful and life-changing. The fact patients have recalled happy memories when listening to certain songs makes me wonder whether more studies will be done into the possibility that music – or certain genres/sounds – can assist when it comes to Alzheimer’s and memory. For stressed NHS workers and anyone with anxiety, music can lower the heartbeat and provide something soothing or uplifting. I think that the more we discover from the trials’ results, the more it will impact dementia/Alzheimer’s patients and those with a range of illnesses.

Going back to the article, we learn more about what the technology aims to do and how triggering songs are filtered out:

“The technology aims to build on research showing the effectiveness of using music to manage chronic pain and on managing anxiety and depression in dementia patients.

It tailors its playlist in part by scanning the user’s music preferences based on the listening patterns recorded on their streaming service, if they have one. It also examines their age, gender, nationality, and ethnicity. Jones said a calming track would often have a major key, would be relatively slow and with spaced out instrumentation.

The system is aware that music can be upsetting too. There are “red flag tracks” that are filtered out if the patient fears they may trigger upset by reminding them of a traumatic event. And if Twamley or anyone else, really doesn’t want to hear Mull of Kintyre when they are trying to reduce their blood pressure, they can put their own red flag in it”.

This is all very encouraging! It is wonderful that stressed hospital staff are being considered - through the complexity and severity of dementia means anything that can provide help is important. The more music is utilised and experimented with, the more that playlists and musical therapy can be applied on a bespoke and individual level. Although the NHS trials are still in the early stages, I think that they have the potential to be…

A hugely important breakthrough.