FEATURE: The June Playlist: Vol. 1: If I’m a Lost Cause, How Can I Make It Ok?

FEATURE:

 

 

The June Playlist

IN THIS PHOTO: Wolf Alice/PHOTO CREDIT: Jordan Hemingway for NME

Vol. 1: If I’m a Lost Cause, How Can I Make It Ok?

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THIS weekly Playlist…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Billie Eilish

is packed with gems. Not only is there new music from Billie Eilish, Wolf Alice, LUMP, Dua Lipa, Prince, and CHVRCHES (ft. Robert Smith). There are also tunes from Genesis Owusu, Tinashe & Buddy, The Beach Boys, Crowded House, Pa Salieu (feat slowthai), King Princess, Madison Beer, Jessie Ware, Barenaked Ladies, and Boy George. It is a varied and busy week that should provide interesting listening for everyone. If you do require a kick and push to get you into the weekend, then this Playlist should have you sorted. It is a nice mix of more uplifting songs and those which take things down a bit. It is another quality…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Genesis Owusu

WEEK for new music.   

ALL PHOTOS/IMAGES (unless credited otherwise): Artists

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 PHOTO CREDIT: Alex Lake for The Times

Wolf Alice - How Can I Make It Ok?

Billie Eilish – Lost Cause

LUMP – Climb Every Wall

Prince - Born 2 Die

PHOTO CREDIT: Sebastian Mlynarski & Kevin J Thomson

CHVRCHES (ft. Robert Smith) – How Not to Drown

Genesis Owusu – Same Thing

Tinashe & Buddy – Pasadena

The Beach Boys – Big Sur

Crowded House – Show Me the Way

Pa Salieu (feat slowthai) - Glidin'

King Princess - House Burn Down

Madison Beer – Reckless

PHOTO CREDIT: You Magazine

Jessie Ware – Hot N Heavy

PHOTO CREDIT: Matt Barnes

Barenaked Ladies - New Disaster

Boy George – The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread

Japanese Breakfast – Paprika

PHOTO CREDIT: George Chinsee/WWD

H.E.R. - Change (from the Netflix Series We the People)

PHOTO CREDIT: Ben Murphy

Martha Skye Murphy – Found Out

Greentea Peng (ft. Simmy, Kid Cruise) - Free My People  

John Mayer - Last Train Home

ENNY – I Want

Mathilda Horner – I’m Sorry

PHOTO CREDIT: Dani Monteiro

IDER – BORED

Molly Burch - Heart of Gold

Spector - Catch You On The Way Back In

Hayley Kiyoko – Chance

Remi Wolf - Liz

Matthew E. White – Genuine Hesitation

Emma-Jean Thackray – Spectre

Charli Adams - Get High w/My Friends

PHOTO CREDIT: Stoney Darkstone

Bimini - God Save This Queen

Matilda Cole – Bruised Knuckles

PHOTO CREDIT: Rhys Frampton

Tara Lily – The Things You Do

Dua Lipa - CAN THEY HEAR US (From Gully with original Daniel Heath score)

Baby Queen, MAY-A - American Dream

Blood Red Shoes - A LITTLE LOVE

PHOTO CREDIT: Owen Harvey

Porridge Radio - Happy In a Crowd

FEATURE: Golden Year: My Favourite Albums of 2021 So Far

FEATURE:

 

 

Golden Year

IN THIS PHOTO: Rhiannon Giddens/PHOTO CREDIT: Ebru Yildiz 

My Favourite Albums of 2021 So Far

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THIS year has been a struggle…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Squid/PHOTO CREDIT: Holly Whitaker

in terms of artists touring and things not being back to normal. Even though we are in June, I wanted to think about some of the albums that I think have made the biggest impact. Quite a few of the albums are quite recent - though there are one or two that are from earlier in the year. There is a lot more golden and brilliant albums to come. I am looking forward to seeing what else 2021 has to offer up. Many other people are putting together their lists of the best albums of 2021 so far. Here are the albums that I have particularly loved. In each case, I will bring in a review and a link where you can buy the album. Here is my rundown of the very best…

 IN THIS PHOTO: The Staves

OF a great year for music.

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The Anchoress – The Art of Losing

Release Date: 12th March

Producer: The Anchoress

Label: Kscope

Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/the-anchoress/art-of-losing/lp-x2

Standout Cuts: The Exchange (ft. James Dean Bradfield)/Unravel/Paris

Review:

“A concept album this is not, but the with the veins running deep with recurring themes, as a second album, Davies has managed to construct a weighty signifier of impassable change. Certainly, when deep into the throes of a sun-kissed summer, this isn’t an album that can offer any further escape - it’s purposeful, it isn’t supposed to retain - this is an album for healing.

Packing a punch musically; twisting and turning; immersing with piano interludes branching elegantly from the albums introductory roots (“All Shall Be Well”), the softest nature is held for later cut “5am” which feels as vulnerable as it does honest.

The titular track, which Davies has referred to as the centrepiece of the album, comes packed with undulating synths and action-packed rattling drums to create a sense of befitting urgency. Manic Street Preachers' James Dean Bradfield comes in early doors on the whirring and raging, “The Exchange”, where the two’s voices find equal pegging in failed romance. “Unravel” concocts an eighties gift for all those ready to feast upon a buffet of delicate ethereal synths, tribal drums and emotional pleading “If you don’t want me / then I don’t want me”.

“My Confessor” is a reckoning which sees Davies bellowing “Is this love?”, leading nicely into the tapering off rear. There’s an air of exhaustion that echoes through the closing moments, where the fight, depending on the situation, finds a conclusion or leads back, ready for round one with the lunar bookend “Moon (An End)”, but not without a gentle, hopeful swell before a voice advises “For once in your life just let it go”.

Grief will always exist; in the truest of relationships, to the blood we wrenchingly say goodbye to. It’s as natural as the trees we watch wither and wilt on a yearly basis, but how we deal with it is up to us, and Davies’ fight back is well worth remembering in those times of grave need” – The Line of Best Fit

Key Cut: The Art of Losing

Lana Del Rey – Chemtrails Over the Country Club

Release Date: 19th March

Producers: Jack Antonoff/Lana Del Rey/Rick Nowels

Labels: Interscope/Polydor

Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/lana-del-rey/chemtrails-over-the-country-club

Standout Cuts: White Dress/Chemtrails Over the Country Club/Tulsa Jesus Freak

Review:

“Perhaps it’s a case of the grass always being greener – pre-fame Lana surely wouldn’t have imagined achieving all she has and wanting to be back bussing tables – but she closes the song rationalising her desire to go back: “Because it made me fee… like a god/ It kind of makes me feel like maybe I was better off.”

The sublime, dreamy float of the title track is similarly nostalgic, calling back to a time where “there’s nothing wrong, contemplating God / Under the chemtrails over the country club”. It’s gorgeous and idyllic, distilling a scene of quintessential Americana into its most poetic form. Del Rey even manages to make the most mundane of chores and activities sound magical: “Washing my hair, doing the laundry/ Late night TV, I want you only”.

Conversely, on the romantic waltz of ‘Wild At Heart’, she’s in the here-and-now, evoking a scene of being chased by the paps, fingers on the shutter. “The cameras have flashes / They cause the car crashes,” she sighs, with an important distinction to make lest anyone get things twisted: “But I’m not a star.” ‘Dark But Just A Game’, which shifts from brooding trip-hop atmospherics to brighter folk licks, was inspired by a party at Madonna’s manager’s house and finds Del Rey explaining she doesn’t “even want what’s mine / Much less the fame” – NME

Key Cut: Let Me Love You Like a Woman

Squid – Bright Green Field

Release Date: 7th May  

Producer: Dan Carey

Label: Warp

Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/squid/bright-green-field

Standout Cuts: Narrator (ft. Martha Skye Murphy)/Paddling/2010

Review:

“An energetic shouting match of vivid new wave, Krautrock, and post-punk influences, Bright Green Field is the much-anticipated debut album from U.K. combo Squid. Since forming in Brighton in 2016, the London-based quintet have delivered a consistently befuddling array of eclectic singles and EPs that, in addition to their frenzied live shows, have agitated the hype machine in a big way. And for good reason: Squid is a legitimately exciting band whose generally unclassifiable sound feels tapped into the weirder currents of the zeitgeist. As with their 2019 Town Centre EP, Bright Green Field was helmed by Dan Carey, the sympathetic producer who has helped finesse interesting Mercury-nominated records from artists like Kae Tempest and Fontaines D.C. In some ways, their debut carries the absurdist lineage "Houseplants'' and "The Cleaner," two of the Squid's best-known singles, though it's also clearly its own monster. Like an avalanche gathering up everything in its path, Squid seem to thrive on evolution and an inherent sense of danger. Out of the gate, the thrilling "G.S.K." (a reference to British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline) roils with a mixture of hip-hop swagger, prog-funk chops, and brazen post-punk proclamations, recalling Public Image Ltd.'s early records, mid-period King Crimson, or a less-filthy Mr. Bungle. As both frontman and drummer, Ollie Judge wields his arresting commentator/barker vocal approach to great effect while muscling the group through sprightly grooves punctuated with horns, spiky guitar licks, freak-outs, and breakdowns. Clocking in at about 50 minutes long, Bright Green Field somehow manages to hold the attention with a range of dynamics and ear-catching techniques like the staggered vocals stacks on the alternately mellow and chaotic "2010." The music is busy, but rarely familiar, and certainly stimulating. Truly a band for the times, Squid feels like a wild jumble of thoughts come to life, effusing anger, confusion, humor, detachment, and even joyfulness in their pursuit of true creative freedom” – AllMusic

Key Cut: Boy Racers

Arlo Parks – Collapsed in Sunbeams

Release Date: 29th January

Producer: Gianluca Buccellati

Label: Transgressive

Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/arlo-parks/collapsed-in-sunbeams/lp

Standout Cuts: Hurt/Caroline/Black Dog

Review:

“Parks describes her teenage self as “that black kid who couldn’t dance for shit, listening to too much emo music and crushing on some girl in her Spanish class” and what shines through on this lovely album is her ability to communicate with real empathy. So often it seems as if young singers taking on mental health are doing it to show us what wonderful people they are. That is not the case on the languid, subdued Black Dog, written for a friend suffering from depression and featuring the refrain: “It’s so cruel, what your mind can do for no reason.”

The authenticity of feeling is devastating. On Hurt, another ode to outright misery, albeit cheered up by some funky drumming, Parks sings: “Wouldn’t it be lovely to feel something for once?” Alternately sung and spoken, with the glottal stops of a native Londoner, the song is a straightforward articulation of generational ennui.

Parks has a way of evoking small moments that tell bigger stories, setting details against a musical style that falls between jazzy soul and the introspective indie rock of Elliott Smith. “You put your hands in his shirt/ You play him records I showed you,” she gripes on Eugene, a pretty lament about the agony of listening to her best friend complain about her boyfriend while being secretly in love with her. Then comes the ultimate betrayal for a sensitive teenager: “You read him Sylvia Plath/ I thought that was our thing.”

Everyday observations are delivered with lyrical colour and melodic sweetness. Caroline describes seeing a couple fighting on a bus, “Strawberry cheeks flushed with defeated rage,” before the man accidentally spills his coffee over the woman. “Reminiscing about the apricots and blunts on Peckham Rye,” Parks sings on Hope, a tale of getting through isolation by thinking about happier times.

It’s all very unforced, making this a rare thing: an album about mental health and the ever-so serious business of being young that’s actually a joy to listen to” – The Times

Key Cut: Hope

St. Vincent – Daddy’s Home

Release Date: 14th May

Producers: Annie Clark/Jack Antonoff

Label: Loma Vista

Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/st-vincent/daddy-s-home

Standout Cuts: Pay Your Way in Pain/The Laughing Man/My Baby Wants a Baby

Review:

“The lyrics sound similarly unsettled, about everything from the prospect of parenthood – My Baby Wants a Baby wittily reworks the chorus of 9 to 5, Sheena Easton’s unironic 1980 paean to the pleasures of housewifery, slowing it to an agonised crawl in order to wrestle with the proverbial pram in the hall – to the very business of being St Vincent. For a decade now, Clark has invented a persona to inhabit on each new album: the “near-future cult leader” seated on a throne on the cover of 2014’s St Vincent, a latex-clad “dominatrix at a mental institution” for 2017’s Masseduction. There’s another on the cover of Daddy’s Home, in a blonde wig and stockings, the “benzo beauty queen” mentioned in the lyrics, who exudes such sleazy energy that, on opener Pay Your Way in Pain, parents feel impelled to shield their children from her (“the mothers saw my heels and they said I wasn’t welcome”).

But elsewhere, Clark seems conflicted about the whole business of playing with identity, flipping between songs projecting a character and songs that are clearly personal: not just the title track, but The Laughing Man’s eulogy for a late friend. On The Melting of the Sun, she lists a succession of soul-baring singer-songwriters and some of their most personal work – Tori Amos’s harrowing depiction of her rape, Me and a Gun; Nina Simone’s livid Mississippi Goddam; Joni Mitchell’s self-baiting exploration of musical “authenticity” Furry Sings the Blues – and finds herself wanting in their company: “Who am I trying to be? … I never cried / To tell the truth, I lied”.

Perhaps her confusion is linked to the fact that constructing a persona is what her father seems to have done: “You swore you had paid your dues then put a payday in your uniform,” she sings on the title track. Or perhaps the album’s fixation with the early 70s, a high-water mark era for pop stars gleefully reinventing themselves, cast a troubling shadow over the whole enterprise. David Bowie, Alice Cooper and Elton John are justly revered artists, but they’re also cautionary tales about the dangers of playing with identity: one of the reasons they ended up in deep trouble was an inability to square their real lives with the images they projected. Whatever her reasons, the sound of Clark’s confusion, and its wilfully warped musical backing, is significantly more gripping than the gossip” – The Guardian

Key Cut: The Melting of the Sun

Sleaford Mods – Spare Ribs

Release Date: 15th January

Producer: Andrew Fearn

Label: Rough Trade

Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/sleaford-mods/spare-ribs

Standout Cuts: Shortcummings/Nudge It (ft. Amy Taylor)/Mork n Mindy (ft. Billy Nomates)

Review:

“Nottingham punk duo Sleaford Mods are a relentless tour de force when it comes to attacking a range of unpleasantries in British life.

This time they depict the value of human lives, addressing their expendability in the view of government and the elite, critical comparisons are made between lives and ‘spare ribs’ in capitalism. Sonically, connections are adjusted to the theme. It is the strong, self-assured and grounded sound of two people who understand their role as musicians and take responsibility for it.

Confidently hinting at what the next phase in their music partnership might be, the featured guest appearances from Amy Taylor of Melbourne punk rockers Amyl and The Sniffers and Bristol-based Billy Nomates add finesse and energy to this record.

A raw snapshot perfectly designed to capture the ugliest sides of Britain, it’s obvious that the duo is happy to knock at our doors once again. There’s an ongoing need for this portrayal of relevant topics, and their sharpness and humour are as strong as ever.

Brexit, immigration, lockdown and the fight for the independent venues, it’s all in there. Never before has there been a greater need for the full Sleaford Mods treatment than there is now, and the goods are delivered with crisp urgency and precision” – CLASH

Key Cut: Elocution

Billie Marten – Flora Fauna

Release Date: 21st May

Label: Fiction Records

Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/billie-marten/flora-fauna/lp-plus

Standout Cuts: Garden of Eden/Creature of Mine/Human Replacement

Review:

“The intelligent thing about ‘Flora Fauna’ is that you can think about this record in every single one of those ways. For this album, Billie has taken her minimalistic acoustic folk and given it a more intricate soundscape. She uses a bass guitar as the backbone of her rhythm, a choice that was inspired by an impulsive drunk decision. Or so we’ve heard.

Openers ‘Garden Of Eden’ and ‘Creature Of Mine’ find Billie shedding the skin of her youth, exploring different synaesthetic textures and elements of the nature that surrounds her. She finds empathy in the earth, being the one constant in this ever-changing and unpredictable life.

Billie doesn’t give us time to mourn the loss of the waif-like, earth-child that we became so familiar with in ‘Writing Of Blues And Yellows’ – and quite frankly we don’t need to. ‘Human Replacement’ sees a different side to Billie Marten. Like another Billie that we know and love, she takes ownership over image. She puts on her war-paint and prowls down the streets of London in a massive tank. No one dares to raise an eyebrow. 

In ‘Pigeon’, we imagine Billie sitting on the tube, humming to herself as she becomes more and more pissed off by the sight of the advertisements plastered on every flat surface, images that demand her attention. In a stream-of-consciousness, she pokes fun at the irony that we are constantly being fed dirt, and being told that it’s good for us. Modern life is suffocating, but Billie provides sweet relief in her buttery tones.

Brought to a close with ‘Walnut’ and ‘Aquarium’, these peaceful affirmations let us float within them. These tracks are like messages in glass bottles, making their journey from one continent to another, across a calm sea. Pure serenity.

‘Flora Fauna’ is proof that a woman can be many things. She can eat the earth and become it, or like an archer with a bow and arrow, she can throw heavy clumps of mud at the things that stand in her way” – CLASH

Key Cut: Heaven

Black Country, New Road – For the First Time

Release Date: 5th February

Producer: Andy Savours

Label: Nina Tune

Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/black-country-new-road/for-the-first-time

Standout Cuts: Athens, France/Science Fair/Sunglasses

Review:

“Sonically it’s looser yet more cohesive with a warmer, more harmonious outro that delivers us seamlessly into the first single to be taken from the new record, “Science Fair.” A track in which squalling guitars interrupt sprawling viola and sax loops, each vying for your attention while cymbals jitter in the background, providing a platform for Wood. An unassuming song at first “Science Fair” soon descends into madness, (as Black Country, New Road songs so often do) as Wood delivers his narrative with unrivalled speedy, tenacity, anger and eloquence - screaming “It’s Black Country out there” as the whole thing collapses in on itself in a wild frenzy.

A frenzy that then leans into the new growling distorted guitar intro to “Sunglasses”, which too has been revamped to fit the flow of For The First Time. “We wanted it to sound exactly how we love to sound live,” Evans said when speaking about their choices to re-record. It’s eruptive, beautiful, self aware, visceral and all the things we know that song to be but it also finds a more melodic core, with Wood embracing his singing voice and harmonising with the band. It lends greater grace to their satire whilst losing none of the bitterness - pointed squarely at the distance between what our generation was promised and reality.

Latest single “Track X” continues the focus on Wood’s singing voice as the band present their most vulnerable face. Gentle saxophone notes play with tense violin strings while a deep baritone voice slowly dances over the top of a warm array of textures with heartfelt, earnest sentiments - still peppered with amusing nods to modern pop culture (throughout the record we get stans, influencers, Tik Tok glow ups, Phoebe Bridgers and contemporaries Black Midi to name a few).

Just like “Instrumental” came in at the beginning, the aptly named 8 minute “Opus” marks the end. It’s the most outright jazz inspired track on the record, the first half mostly leaving behind the prowling bassline of post punk in favour of frenzied sax howls that demand movement before the slow crawl and fuzz returns. Repetition in this song, like in the whole record, is the key to Black Country, New Road’s power - Wood howling in increasingly apocalyptic broken vocals: “Everybody’s coming up, I guess I’m a little bit late to the party.”

With only six tracks spread out across 41 minutes, For The First Time is a tornado of a record. Conjuring all the sights, sounds and moods of endlessly intimate and universal experiences, it pulls you up with rallying cries and drags you down with spiralling jazz freakouts. For The First Time is ferocious and endlessly intelligent, highly considered and wildly improvised, eked out with bristling tension and set alight with a burning intensity and a knowing smile” – The Line of Best Fit

Key Cut: Track X

Ghetts – Conflict of Interest

Release Date: 5th February

Producers: BLK VNYL/Reiss Nicholas/Rude Kid/Sir Spyro/Smasher/TJ Amadi/Ten Billion Dreams

Labels: Ghetts Limited/Warner

Buy: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Conflict-Interest-Ghetts/dp/B08TQ9KV28/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&qid=1621944625&refinements=p_32%3AGhetts&s=music&sr=1-1

Standout Cuts: Mozambique (ft. Jaykae and Moonchild Sanelly)/Autobiography/No Mercy (ft. Pa Salieu and BackRoad Gee)

Review:

“The subject of relationships is frequently revisited throughout. On “Dead to Me”, he reflects on past breakups and life with ADHD, while on “Proud Family”, he praises his single mother’s parenting and vows to serve as a positive role model to the younger generation, inviting his guitarist brother Kadeem – a member of Little Simz’ band – to take the reins on the outro. This sentiment is reaffirmed on the album’s stirring closer, “Little Bo Peep”, where Wretch 32 and Dave join him in guiding listeners away from the temptations of crime. The latter lyricist also offers a searing social commentary, pointing out the hypocrisy of government-sanctioned atrocities committed by the military, and Ghetts himself is similarly outspoken on the outstanding “IC3”, in which he celebrates Black British excellence while challenging institutional racism and the nation’s colonial legacy.

Opting for atypically pared-back productions, he’s able to achieve a cohesion like never before, with close collaborators TenBillion Dreams and TJ playing to his strengths at every turn. Gone are the twinkling arpeggios and gospel features of yesteryear, replaced by G-funk synths, decorative choral chants and slick, rolling basslines which ensure minimal distraction from his dense multi-syllable rhymes. This barebones approach is pushed to its very limits on the low-slung, patois-inflected Giggs team-up “Crud”, which consists almost entirely of trappy percussion.

Interestingly, another recurring theme on the album is reminiscence—a fact that’s seemingly overlooked on its opener, “Fine Wine”, in which Ghetts asserts “I don’t care ‘bout nostalgia”. “Autobiography” finds him quite literally chronicling his career highs and lows, demystifying the tales behind his infamous beef with SLK and his departure from N.A.S.T.Y Crew. Elsewhere, there’s an abundance of old-school grime samples – Dizzee’s “Ice Rink” freestyle; D Double E’s legendary adlib; a Logan Sama set rip – and even a dedicated section of “Hop Out” where he recites early wheel-up bars.

At the same time, he’s firmly grounded in the present. Men of the moment Pa Salieu and BackRoad Gee are both on top form on the menacing “No Mercy”. The music video for the Stormzy-featuring hit “Skengman” is a bona fide blockbuster, featuring a guest appearance from hotly tipped rapper Shaybo. And with Warner now in his corner, it’s looking like Ghetts may have been onto something when he prophesised in the album’s intro: “My best years are ahead of me” – The Line of Best Fit

Key Cut: Proud Family

CHAI – WINK

Release Date: 21st May

Labels: Sub Pop/Otemoyan Record

Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/chai/wink

Standout Cuts: Donuts Mind If I Do/ACTION/Miracle

Review:

“Though their delivery has mellowed, CHAI maintain the unwavering commitment to self-love and community that makes their music so endearing. On PUNK, they celebrated the virtues of curly hair, having lots of friends, and eating lollipops, dumplings, and beef. On WINK, food—a symbol of beauty, desire, and more abstract concepts like longing and confidence—is the primary motif of their joy. The body becomes a site of pleasure and curiosity on “Maybe Chocolate Chips,” where moles decorate the skin not as flaws but as sugary treasures. The sensual love song “Karaage” envisions the members of the band as a meal of fried chicken waiting to be eaten. On “It’s Vitamin C,” CHAI ask, “What’s good for you? What’s good for me?” and find their answer in “yummy kiwi fruit/yummy orange juice.” Consume enough healthy fruit, they say, and no mistake can hold you back. In domestic spaces, women are often expected to cook as a means of caring for others, but rarely are they encouraged to take the same pleasure in eating. It’s affirming to see these four women so explicitly link the love they feel for themselves to the foods they enjoy.

The mood on WINK is more consistently pleasant than memorable, and it’s hard not to miss the frenetic energy of CHAI’s first two albums. When the hazy mood occasionally breaks—like the rage punctuated by slippery synth blips in “END” and the 8-bit video game sounds of “PING PONG!”—it’s a welcome change of pace. Still, there is something thrillingly strange about hearing a band find fulfillment in the sheen of a glazed donut, or longing in the salty succulence of a salmon ball. It’s easy to get protective over your happiness, especially when it feels fleeting or hard-earned. But CHAI generously extend their wonder-filled perspective to anyone who will listen. In turn, they ask us to find our own joy, wherever and whenever we can” – Pitchfork

Key Cut: Nobody Knows We Are Fun

Rhiannon Giddens (with Francesco Turrisi) - They're Calling Me Home

Release Date: 9th April

Label: Nonesuch

Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/rhiannon-giddens/they-re-calling-me-home-with-francesco-turrisi/lp

Standout Cuts: Avalon/I Shall Not Be Moved/Amazing Grace

Review:

“Rhiannon Giddens’ new album with Francesco Turrisi, her partner in life as well as music, explores two subjects that occupied them (and, frankly, the rest of us) over the last tumultuous year. One is often comforting: home. The other is usually the opposite: death. But for this American and Italian, locked-down in their adopted Ireland, they found that exploring these subjects through songs from the perspective of their respective upbringings was uplifting. “Every culture has these songs that are laments,” said Giddens. “Those feelings that you have … you experience them through the song and at the end, you’re a little bit lighter.”

This is a big, beautiful album, a showcase for direct, punchy emotions and Giddens’ vocal versatility. She trained as an opera singer and executes astonishing levels of beauty and control on Monteverdi’s Si Dolce è’l Tormento and When I Was in My Prime, a folk song previously covered by Pentangle and Nina Simone. Old-time staple Black As Crow is different and delicate, its banjo-plucked tenderness further softened by Emer Mayock’s Irish flute. Then O Death lands with a whack, as heavy, funky gospel blues: Turrisi does propulsive work on the frame drum. Giddens goes the full Merry Clayton.

There is mournfulness on a joint a cappella, Nenna Nenna, an Italian lullaby that Turrisi used to sing to his daughter, as the couple’s close harmonies twist and yearn with great feeling. But there’s also hope in Niwel Tsumbu’s beautiful nylon string guitar on Niwel Goes to Town, and even on the title track, by US bluegrass singer Alice Gerrard, about an old friend “on his dying bed” leaving songs behind him, his “sweet traces of gold”. This album is full of dazzling examples in this vein. They’ll live on” – The Line of Best Fit

Key Cut: Black as Crow

The Staves – Good Woman

Release Date: 5th February

Producer: John Congleton

Label: Atlantic UK

Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/the-staves/good-woman

Standout Cuts: Good Woman/Next Year, Next Time/Satisfied

Review:

“Six years is a long time to leave between albums, but one listen to the title track and opener for the third full-length from The Staves reveals both all that can change with the passing of time and all that remains from the things that have made this trio of sisters such a potent and wonderful musical force over the last several years.

Still in place are the ubiquitous beautiful harmonies, clever, sometimes sweet and sometimes biting lyrics and the deceptively powerful musical flourishes that make the band so special, but added to the mix is a dash of increased musical power, undoubtedly from the band but aided by clever production from John Congleton. And that’s just the first song.

These thirteen tracks, detailing joys and sorrows, love and loss, indicate that The Staves are as vital as ever. “We could be better than, better than all of them” they sing together on ‘Best Friend’ and while the song is probably about the excitement of a developing relationship, it could also be a comment on the potential status this band could be lifted to by this fabulous album.

Whether on the restrained ‘Nothing’s Gonna Happen’, splendidly infused with Cello and brass, or on the more driving ‘Devotion’, one of several songs to be propelled by cleverly-deployed loops and electronic inflections which add much to the palette of the band ( or in several places besides) 'Good Woman” serves as a fine artistic statement of a developing musical institution” – CLASH

Key Cut: Devotion

Lou Hayter - Private Sunshine

Release Date: 28th May (digital release)

Label: Skint

Pre-order: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/lou-hayter/private-sunshine

Standout Cuts: Cherry on Top/Time Out of Mind/Still Dreaming

Review:

“Best known as one fifth of primary-coloured nu rave stand-outs New Young Pony Club, in the decade since parting ways with that band Lou Hayter has dipped a toe into various musical projects but never managed to skewer the zeitgeist quite as brilliantly as with her first outfit. Debut solo offering ‘Private Sunshine’ - a slick slice of glimmering yacht pop that may as well come with a free pair of designer sunnies - might not be destined for dizzying commercial heights either, but it does showcase Lou as a songwriter with a distinct knack for an atmosphere: an expensive-sounding, plush playground where beautiful people brush shoulders in the beating sun. From the more downbeat, Sky-Ferreira-goes-’70s eyelash flutter of the title track, to the slow-jam, synth strut of ‘Telephone’, ‘Private Sunshine’ is a polished affair - but it’s this slightly-too-perfect detachment that often also stops the album from truly hitting deep. Though ‘Cold Feet’’s relatable tales of a “momentary love” say all the right things, Lou’s vocal is too glossy to convey the necessary emotion, while a cover of ‘Time Out of Mind’ stays reasonably true to the Steely Dan original but again removes much of the warmth. There are moments where it works; ‘What’s A Girl To Do?’ in particular has a more playful hint of early-’90s Madonna to it. But though ‘Private Sunshine’ comes wrapped in a desirable, effortless package, you’re left wanting a few more layers to unpack beneath it” – DIY

Key Cut: Telephone

Wolf Alice - Blue Weekend

Release Date: 4th June

Producer: Markus Dravs

Label: Dirty Hit

Order: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/wolf-alice/blue-weekend-rsd-2021

Standout Cuts: Lipstick on the Glass/Feeling Myself/No Hard Feelings

Review:

“In broad strokes, ‘Blue Weekend’ is a study on relationships – yes, with romantic partners, but also with friends, with yourself and with the world at large. The sparse and minimal heartbreaker ‘No Hard Feelings’ contains evocative scenes within its exploration of a separation. “It’s not hard to remember when it was tough to hear your name,” Rowsell sighs. “Crying in the bathtub to ‘Love Is A Losing Game’.” The song referenced might change for different people, but the feeling that sucker-punches you from within is universal.

If that track takes you into the depths of lovelorn grief, sunkissed album closer ‘The Beach II’ whisks us off to somewhere much calmer. Here, Rowsell is by the shore, drinking lukewarm “liquid rose” with her mates, but in her narration positions herself as an observer looking on fondly. “The tide comes in as it must go out, consistent like the laughter/Of the girls on the beach, my girls on the beach, happy ever after,” she sings softly. Combined with the gently surging guitars and buzzing synths beneath her, the song captures a moment of magic that makes you feel like you’re hovering above your own memories of the tableau it depicts” – NME

Key Cut: The Last Man on Earth

FEATURE: Inspired By… Part Thirteen: The Velvet Underground

FEATURE:

 

 

Inspired By…

 IN THIS PHOTO: The Velvet Underground with Nico (centre left)/PHOTO CREDIT: Cornell University - Division of Rare Manuscript Collections 

Part Thirteen: The Velvet Underground

___________

I did say how I was going to…

include a band for this Inspired By… Because of that, I want to feature one of the most influential bands ever. The Velvet Underground have inspired so many artists through the years. Before coming to the playlist at the end – composed of songs from artists influenced by The Velvet Underground -, I want to bring together some biography regarding the band. I will not bring in all of AllMusic’s biography of The Velvet Underground. I did want to source a lot:

“Few rock groups can claim to have broken so much new territory, and maintain such consistent brilliance on record, as the Velvet Underground during their brief lifespan. It was the group's lot to be ahead of, or at least out of step with, their time. The mid- to late '60s was an era of explosive growth and experimentation in rock, but the Velvets' innovations -- which blended the energy of rock with the sonic adventurism of the avant-garde, and introduced a new degree of social realism and sexual kinkiness into rock lyrics -- were too abrasive for the mainstream to handle. During their time, the group experienced little commercial success; though they were hugely appreciated by a cult audience and some critics, the larger public treated them with indifference or, occasionally, scorn. The Velvets' music was too important to languish in obscurity, though; their cult only grew larger and larger in the years following their demise, and continued to mushroom through the years. By the 1980s, they were acknowledged not just as one of the most important rock bands of the '60s, but one of the best of all time, and one whose immense significance cannot be measured by their relatively modest sales.

Historians often hail the group for their incalculable influence upon the punk and new wave of subsequent years, and while the Velvets were undoubtedly a key touchstone of the movements, to focus upon these elements of their vision is to only get part of the story. The group was uncompromising in its music and lyrics, to be sure, sometimes espousing a bleakness and primitivism that would inspire alienated singers and songwriters of future generations. But the band's colorful and oft-grim soundscapes were firmly grounded in strong, well-constructed songs that could be as humanistic and compassionate as they were outrageous and confrontational. The member most responsible for these qualities was guitarist, singer, and songwriter Lou Reed, whose sing-speak vocals and gripping narratives came to define street-savvy rock & roll.

Reed loved rock & roll from an early age, and even recorded a doo wop-type single as a Long Island teenager in the late '50s (as a member of the Shades). By the early '60s, he was also getting into avant-garde jazz and serious poetry, coming under the influence of author Delmore Schwartz while studying at Syracuse University. After graduation, he set his sights considerably lower, churning out tunes for exploitation rock albums as a staff songwriter for Pickwick Records in New York City. Reed did learn some useful things about production at Pickwick, and it was while working there that he met John Cale, a classically trained Welshman who had moved to America to study and perform "serious" music. Cale, who had performed with John Cage and LaMonte Young, found himself increasingly attracted to rock & roll; Reed, for his part, was interested in the avant-garde as well as pop. Reed and Cale were both interested in fusing the avant-garde with rock & roll, and had found the ideal partners for making the vision (a very radical one for the mid-'60s) work; their synergy would be the crucial axis of the Velvet Underground's early work.

Reed and Cale (who would play bass, viola, and organ) would need to assemble a full band, making tentative steps along this direction by performing together in the Primitives (which also included experimental filmmaker Tony Conrad and avant-garde sculptor Walter DeMaria) to promote a bizarre Reed-penned Pickwick single ("The Ostrich"). By 1965, the group was a quartet called the Velvet Underground, including Reed, Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison (an old friend of Reed's), and drummer Angus MacLise. MacLise quit before the band's first paying gig, claiming that accepting money for art was a sellout; the Velvets quickly recruited drummer Maureen Tucker, a sister of one of Morrison's friends.

Even at this point, the Velvets were well on their way to developing something quite different. Their original material, principally penned and sung by Reed, dealt with the hard urban realities of Manhattan, describing drug use, sadomasochism, and decadence in cool, unapologetic detail in "Heroin," "I'm Waiting for the Man," "Venus in Furs," and "All Tomorrow's Parties." These were wedded to basic, hard-nosed rock riffs, toughened by Tucker's metronome beats; the oddly tuned, rumbling guitars; and Cale's occasional viola scrapes. It was an uncommercial blend to say the least, but the Velvets got an unexpected benefactor when artist and all-around pop art icon Andy Warhol caught the band at a club around the end of 1965. Warhol quickly assumed management of the group, incorporating them into his mixed-media/performance art ensemble, the Exploding Plastic Inevitable. By spring 1966, Warhol was producing their debut album.

The Velvet Underground & NicoWarhol was also responsible for embellishing the quartet with Nico, a mysterious European model/chanteuse with a deep voice whom the band accepted rather reluctantly, viewing her spectral presence as rather ornamental. Reed remained the principal lead vocalist, but Nico did sing three of the best songs on the group's debut, The Velvet Underground & Nico, often known as "the banana album" because of its distinctive Warhol-designed cover. Recognized today as one of the core classic albums of rock, it featured an extraordinarily strong set of songs, highlighted by "Heroin," "All Tomorrow's Parties," "Venus in Furs," "I'll Be Your Mirror," "Femme Fatale," "Black Angel's Death Song," and "Sunday Morning." The sensational drug-and-sex items (especially "Heroin") got most of the ink, but the more conventional numbers showed Reed to be a songwriter capable of considerable melodicism, sensitivity, and almost naked introspection.

The album's release was not without complications, though. First, it wasn't issued until nearly a year after it was finished, due to record-company politics and other factors. The group's association with Warhol and the Exploding Plastic Inevitable had already assured them of a high (if notorious) media profile, but the music was simply too daring to fit onto commercial radio; "underground" rock radio was barely getting started at this point, and in any case may well have overlooked the record at a time when psychedelic music was approaching its peak. The album only reached number 171 in the charts, and that's as high as any of their LPs would get upon original release. Those who heard it, however, were often mightily impressed; Brian Eno once said that even though hardly anyone bought the Velvets' records at the time they appeared, almost everyone who did formed their own bands.

White Light/White HeatA cult reputation wasn't enough to guarantee a stable livelihood for a band in the '60s, and by 1967 the Velvets were fighting problems within their own ranks. Nico, never considered an essential member by the rest of the band, left or was fired sometime during the year, going on to a fascinating career of her own. The association with Warhol weakened, as the artist was unable to devote as much attention to the band as he had the previous year. Embittered by the lukewarm reception of their album in their native New York, the Velvets concentrated on touring cities throughout the rest of the country. Amidst this tense atmosphere, the second album, White Light/White Heat, was recorded in late 1967.

Here is a playlist of songs from musicians who have cited/are inspired by The Velvet Underground (and/or The Velvet Underground & Nico) as important and influential. As you can hear, their impact and brilliance stretches…

FAR and wide.

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

FEATURE:

 

 

Ranking Tracks from Kate Bush’s Albums…

The Sensual World

___________

I may do one more edition of this feature…

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

but I was keen to cover The Sensual World and rank the tracks. Released in 1989, it was a shift from 1985’s Hounds of Love. Perhaps a bit more personal, sensual and emotionally open, it is one of her best-reviewed albums. Although there are no weak tracks on the album, there are some definite standouts (I am including the track, Walk Straight Down the Middle, which was a bonus song on C.D. and cassette editions of The Sensual World). I will rank them in a second. Before then, a bit of album background from the Kate Bush Encyclopaedia:

“Sixth album by Kate Bush, released by EMI Records on 16 October 1989. The album was written, composed and produced by Kate.

As with Hounds of Love, the album was recorded mainly in Kate's home studio, after it was upgraded, adding an SSL console. Kate said she felt "overwhelmed by the amount of equipment aroud me. It was quite stifling, and I made a conscious effort to move away from that, and treat the song as the song."

Del Palmer was her principal engineer, and they often worked together on the new album, with Haydn Bertall appearing now and again. Three tracks on the album feature backing vocals by the Trio Bulgarka. The title track was inspired by James Joyce's book Ulysses, specifically the closing passage of the novel by Molly Bloom. When the estate refused the use of that text, Kate wrote her own which echos the original passage, but adds a dimension: 'Stepping out of the page / into the sensual world'.

Other people have said to me that they think this album is very dark, although for me I think it's my happiest album really. I find some of the tracks quite funny where other people say they find them scary. Although I have a dark sense of humour, maybe it is a subconscious thing that just goes into my music, because I think when I was writing this album that was perhaps something I was feeling a little - a sense of being a bit scared. Maybe it comes out in the music. I do think it's a very big self- therapy thing now - the more I work on an album the more I think it's almost a process for me to try and heal myself, have a look at myself. Do you know what I mean? Actually a very selfish thing in a way, but I think art is. I do think what artistic people are trying to do is work through their problems through their art - look at themselves, confront all these things. (...) It's not that the album is written about me, not that it is autobiographical, but it is the most direct process I've used for an album. It's in my own studio and I had a lot of time so as not to be under pressure by outside forces. I've recorded the whole album with Del so it's just myself and Del in a very close relationship working together very intensely and it was hard for me to write this album. To actually write the songs was very difficult, and for the first time really, I went through a patch where I just couldn't write - I didn't know what I wanted to say. (...) Everything seemed like rubbish - you know? It seemed to have no meaning whatsoever. Somehow I managed to get a sense of some meaningfulness, and that's why (...) to me now, albums are perhaps a way of helping myself, but maybe helping other people too. To work through my problems maybe will help other people too. To work through my problems maybe will help other people to work through their problems. Maybe the meaningfulness of art is that once you've got over your selfish work within it, you can give it to other people and hopefully it might at least make them smile or something. (Roger Scott, Interview. Radio 1 (UK), 14 October 1989)”.

_____________

11. Rocket's Tail

“I wrote this for the trio, really, musically, in that I wanted a song that could really show them off. The other two songs that they appear on were already structured and in a way they had to very much fit around the song's structure to become a part of it, but this song they were there en masse, really, the whole song was based around them. And I wrote it on a synthesizer with a choir sound and just sang along. We put John's on and I had no idea if their voices were going to work on it at all, really, so the whole thing hung on the fact of whether when we went out to Bulgaria, whether it worked or not. And the arranger we worked with out there was such a brilliant man. In some ways, I think that the fact that we didn't speak the same language made our communication much easier because he seemed to know exactly what I wanted, and, really, just after a few hours he was coming up with the most incredible tunes, and I just had to say "Oh yes, I like that one", "Er, no, not too keen on that one," "Umm, that's lovely!" and just go away and write it out. It was incredible, I've never worked like that before, so quickly with someone I've never met before. It was really exciting to find that kind of chemistry. (...)

Rocket is one of my cats, and he was the inspiration for the subject matter for the song, because he's dead cute [laughs]. And it's very strange subject matter because the song isn't exactly about Rocket, it's kind of inspired by him and for him, but the song, it's about anything. I guess it's saying there's nothing wrong with being right here at this moment, and just enjoying this moment to its absolute fullest, and if that's it, that's ok, you know. And it's kind of using the idea of a rocket that's so exciting for maybe 3 seconds and then it's gone, you know that's it, but so what, it had 3 seconds of absolutely wonderful... [laughs]  (Roger Scott, BBC Radio 1 (UK), 14 October 1989)” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

10. Between a Man and a Woman

“It is perhaps about how you actually have that choice sometimes, whether to interfere or not. You know, there's this tendency to want to leap in and take over and control: "Oh, I know best!"; when I think a relationship is a very delicate balance: it's very easily tipped, and then needs to be refound again. (Steve Sutherland, 'The Language Of Love'. Melody Maker (UK), 21 October 1989)

 That was, let's get a groove going at the piano, and a pretty straightforward Fairlight pattern. Then we got the drummer in, and I thought that maybe it was taking on a slightly Sixties feel - not that it is. So we got Alan [Murphy] in to play guitar - who unfortunately wasn't credited - a printing error. He played some smashing guitar. Then I wanted to work with the cellist again, because I think the cello is such a beautiful instrument. I find it very male and female - not one or the other. He's actually the only player that I've ever written out music for. They're lucky if they get chord charts normally.

We were just playing around with a groove. We actually had a second verse that was similar to the first, and I thought it was really boring. I hated it, so it sat around for about six months. So I took it into a completely different section which worked much better. Just having that little bit on the front worked much better. Quite often I have to put things aside and think about them if they just haven't worked. If you leave a little time, it's surprising how often you can come back and turn it into something. (Tony Horkins, 'What Katie Did Next'. International Musician, December 1989)” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

9. Walk Straight Down the Middle

“Song written by Kate Bush. Originally released as the B-side of the single The Sensual World. Also included as a bonus track on the tape and CD versions of the album The Sensual World. The track was based on an old backing track, originally intended as a B-side. Kate quickly wrote the lyrics and recorded the synth overdubs and vocals in a single day, using the next day for final overdubs and mixing. It was the last track to be finished for the album, created in just over 24 hours.

In 2013, 'Walk Straight Down The Middle' appeared on the B-side of the 10" single for Running Up That Hill 2012 Remix.

I fancied being Captain Beefheart at that point, and it just came to me: standing out, calling for help in the middle. It just went, "BBRRRROOOOAAAAAAAAA''. It's the idea of how our fear are sometimes holding us back, and yet there's really no need to be frightened. Like 'The Fog', being scared because the water's deep, you could be drowned; but actually if you put your feet down the bottom's there and it's only waist high, so what's the problem? Just get on with it: that's what I'm trying to tell myself.

'Walk Straight Down The Middle' came together very quickly. It's about following either of two extremes, when you really want to plough this path straight down the middle. Rather than "WAAAARRRRGGGGHHHH": being thrown from one end of the spectrum to the other. I'd like to think of myself as holding the centre, whereas in fact I'm - "WAAARRRRGGGGHHHH" - taking off all the time. (Len Brown, 'In The Realm Of The Senses'. NME (UK), 7 October 1989)” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

8. Reaching Out

“That was really quick, really straightforward. A walk in the park did that one for me. I really needed one more song to kind of lift the album. I was a bit worried that it was all sort of dark and down. I'd been getting into walks at that time, and just came back and sat at the piano and wrote it, words and all. I had this lovely conversation with someone around the time I was about to start writing it. They were talking about this star that exploded. I thought it was such fantastic imagery. The song was taking the whole idea of how we cling onto things that change - we're always trying to not let things change. I thought it was such a lovely image of people reaching up for a star, and this star explodes. Where's it gone? It seemed to sum it all up really. That's kind of about how you can't hold on to anything because everything is always changing and we all have such a terrible need to hold onto stuff and to keep it exactly how it is, because this is nice and we don't want it to change. But sometimes even if things aren't nice, people don't want them to change. And things do. Just look at the natural balance of things: how if you reach out for something, chances are it will pull away. And when things reach out for you, the chances are you will pull away. You know everything ebbs and flows, and you know the moon is full and then it's gone: it's just the balance of things. (...) We did a really straightforward treatment on the track; did the piano to a clicktrack, got Charlie Morgan [Elton john's drummer] to come in and do the drums, Del did the bass, and Michael Nyman came in to do the strings. I told him it had to have a sense of uplifting, and I really like his stuff - the rawness of his strings. It's a bit like a fuzzbox touch - quite 'punk'. I find that very attractive - he wrote it very quickly. I was very pleased. (Tony Horkins, 'What Katie Did Next'. International Musician, December 1989)” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

7. Heads We're Dancing

“That's a very dark song, not funny at all! (...) I wrote the song two years ago, and in lots of ways I wouldn't write a song like it now. I'd really hate it if people were offended by this...But it was all started by a family friend, years ago, who'd been to dinner and sat next to this guy who was really fascinating, so charming. They sat all night chatting and joking. And next day he found out it was Oppenheimer. And this friend was horrified because he really despised what the guy stood for. I understood the reaction, but I felt a bit sorry for Oppenheimer. He tried to live with what he'd done, and actually, I think, committed suicide. But I was so intrigued by this idea of my friend being so taken by this person until they knew who they were, and then it completely changing their attitude. So I was thinking, what if you met the Devil? The Ultimate One: charming, elegant, well spoken. Then it turned into this whole idea of a girl being at a dance and this guy coming up, cocky and charming, and she dances with him. Then a couple of days later she sees in the paper that it was Hitler. Complete horror: she was that close, perhaps could've changed history. Hitler was very attractive to women because he was such a powerful figure, yet such an evil guy. I'd hate to feel I was glorifying the situation, but I do know that whereas in a piece of film it would be quite acceptable, in a song it's a little bit sensitive. (Len Brown, 'In the Realm of the Senses'. NME (UK), 7 October 1989)” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

6. The Fog

“Again, it's quite a complex song, where it's very watery. It's meant to be the idea of a big expanse of water, and being in a relationship now and flashing back to being a child being taught how to swim, and using these two situations as the idea of learning to let go. When I was a child, my father used to take me out into the water, and he'd hold me by my hands and then let go and say "OK, now come on, you swim to me." As he'd say this, he'd be walking backwards so the gap would be getting bigger and bigger, and then I'd go [Splutters]. I thought that was such an interesting situation where you're scared because you think you're going to drown, but you know you won't because your father won't let you drown, and the same for him, he's kind of letting go, he's letting the child be alone in this situation. Everyone's learning and hopefully growing and the idea that the relationship is to be in this again, back there swimming and being taught to swim, but not by your father but by your partner, and the idea that it's OK because you are grown up now so you don't have to be frightened, because all you have to do is put your feet down and the bottom's there, the water isn't so deep that you'll drown. You put your feet down, you can stand up and it's only waist height. Look! What's the problem, what are you worried about? (Roger Scott, BBC Radio 1 (UK), 14 October 1989)

 That started at the Fairlight. We got these big chords of strings, and put this line over the top, and then I got this idea of these words - slipping into the fog. I thought wouldn't it be interesting to sort of really visualize that in a piece of music, with all these strings coming in that would actually be the fog. So I wrote a bit of music that went on the front of what I'd done, and extended it backwards with this bit on the front that was very simple and straightforward, but then went into the big orchestral bit, to get the sense of fog coming in.

Then we put a drummer on, and Nigel Kennedy, the violinist, came in and replaced the Fairlight violin, which changed the nature of it. He's great to work with - such a great musician. The times we work together we sort of write together. I'll say something like, "what about doing something a bit like Vaughan Williams?", and he'll know the whole repertoire, and he'll pick something, and maybe I'll change something. By doing that we came up with this different musical section that hadn't been on the Fairlight.

So when I got all this down it seemed to make sense story-wise. This new section became like a flashback area. And then I got the lyrics together about slipping into the fog, and relationships, trying to let go of people.

It sounded great with the Fairlight holding it together, but it just didn't have the sense of dimension I wanted. So we got hold of Michael Kamen, who orchestrated some of the last album, and we said we wanted this bit here with waves and flashbacks. He's really into this because he's always writing music for films, and he loves the idea of visual imagery. So we put his orchestra in on top of the Fairlight.

Again a very complicated process, and he was actually the last thing to go on. I don't know how anything comes out as one song, because sometimes it's such a bizarre process. It does seem to work together somehow. (Tony Horkins, 'What Katie Did Next'. International Musician, December 1989)” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

5. Love and Anger

“Song written by Kate Bush. Originally released on her sixth studio album The Sensual World. It was one of the first tracks written for the album, but it came together in a period of two years, during which Kate herself had trouble understanding what the song was trying to say. The track features a guitar solo by David Gilmour.

It's one of the most difficult songs I think I've ever written. It was so elusive, and even today I don't like to talk about it, because I never really felt it let me know what it's about. It's just kind of a song that pulled itself together, and with a tremendous amount of encouragement from people around me. There were so many times I thought it would never get on the album. But I'm really pleased it did now. (Interview, WFNX Boston (USA), 1989)

I couldn't get the lyrics. They were one of the last things to do. I just couldn't find out what the song was about, though the tune was there. The first verse was always there, and that was the problem, because I'd already set some form of direction, but I couldn't follow through. I didn't know what I wanted to say at all. I guess I was just tying to make a song that was comforting, up tempo, and about how when things get really bad, it's alright really - "Don't worry old bean. Someone will come and help you out."

The song started with a piano, and Del put a straight rhythm down. Then we got the drummer, and it stayed like that for at least a year and a half. Then I thought maybe it could be okay, so we got Dave Gilmour in. This is actually one of the more difficult songs - everyone I asked to try and play something on this track had problems. It was one of those awful tracks where either everything would sound ordinary, really MOR, or people just couldn't come to terms with it. They'd ask me what it was about, but I didn't know because I hadn't written the lyrics. Dave was great - I think he gave me a bit of a foothold there, really. At least there was a guitar that made some sense. And John [Giblin] putting the bass on - that was very important. He was one of the few people brave enough to say that he actually liked the song. (Tony Horkins, 'What Katie Did Next'. International Musician, December 1989)” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

4. Never Be Mine

“It's that whole thing of how, in some situations, it's the dream you want, not the real thing. It was pursuing a conscious realisation that a person is really enjoying the fantasy and aware it won't become reality. So often you think it's the end you want, but this is actually looking at the process that will never get you there. Bit of a heart-game you play with yourself. (Len Brown, 'In The Realm Of The Senses'. NME (UK), 7 October 1989)

 I wanted a sort of eastern sounding rhythm. I wrote it first on the piano, though the words were completely different, except for the choruses. I did it on the piano to a Fairlight rhythm that Del programmed - I think that maybe because of the quality of the sounds, it was harder for Del to come up with the patterns. And I was more strict - he found it much harder. I think the pattern in 'Heads We're Dancing' is really good - really unusual, the best he came up with. But 'Never Be Mine' was kind of tabla based. We got Eberhard (Weber) over to play bass and he played on the whole song. When we were trying to piece it together later we kept saying it just doesn't feel right, so we just took the bass out and had it in these two sections. You hardly notice it going out at all. I think the song has a very light feel about it, which helps the whole imagery. The Uilean pipes have a very light feel, and the piano is light... I think it's a nice contrast when the bass suddenly come in.

The piano on this is an upright Bernstein that has a really nice sound - I think it has to do with proportions for us. We did have a big piano and it's a small room, and it didn't record well. The small piano sounds much bigger. (Tony Horkins, 'What Katie Did Next'. International Musician, December 1989)” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

3. Deeper Understanding

“Song written by Kate Bush. Originally released on her sixth studio album The Sensual World, it was re-recorded for her 2011 album Director's Cut. This version was released as a single on 5 April 2011. Kate Bush explained that the song is about how people are replacing human relationships with technology.

This is about people... well, about the modern situation, where more and more people are having less contact with human beings. We spend all day with machines; all night with machines. You know, all day, you're on the phone, all night you're watching telly. Press a button, this happens. You can get your shopping from the Ceefax! It's like this long chain of machines that actually stop you going out into the world. It's like more and more humans are becoming isolated and contained in their homes. And this is the idea of someone who spends all their time with their computer and, like a lot of people, they spend an obsessive amount of time with their computer. People really build up heavy relationships with their computers! And this person sees an ad in a magazine for a new program: a special program that's for lonely people, lost people. So this buff sends off for it, gets it, puts it in their computer and then like , it turns into this big voice that's saying to them, "Look, I know that you're not very happy, and I can offer you love: I'm her to love you. I love you!" And it's the idea of a divine energy coming through the least expected thing. For me, when I think of computers, it's such a cold contact and yet, at the same time, I really believe that computers could be a tremendous way for us to look at ourselves in a very spiritual way because I think computers could teach us more about ourselves than we've been able to look at, so far. I think there's a large part of us that is like a computer. I think in some ways, there's a lot of natural processes that are like programs... do you know what I mean? And I think that, more and more, the more we get into computers and science like that, the more we're going to open up our spirituality. And it was the idea of this that this... the last place you would expect to find love, you know, real love, is from a computer and, you know, this is almost like the voice of angels speaking to this person, saying they've come to save them: "Look, we're here, we love you, we're here to love you!" And it's just too much, really, because this is just a mere human being and they're being sucked into the machine and they have to be rescued from it. And all they want is that, because this is "real" contact. (Roger Scott, BBC Radio 1 interview, 14 October 1989)” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

2. The Sensual World

“Song written by Kate Bush. Originally released as a single by EMI Records on 18 September 1989. Also released on her sixth album The Sensual World. Bush was inspired to write the song after hearing Irish actress Siobhan McKenna read the closing soliloquy from James Joyce's 'Ulysses', where the character Molly Bloom recalls her earliest sexual experience with husband-to-be Leopold Bloom. The book was published in 1922. Kate, believing the text had fallen to public domain, simply lifted parts from it and sang them on the backing track she'd created. She approached director Jimmy Murakami to make a video for the song, and he expressed doubts because he suspected James Joyce's grandson Stephen James Joyce had the rights to the book. Kate then contacted him numerous times, but the Joyce estate refused to release the words. She spent over a year trying to gain permission before accepting defeat.

In the end, she kept the backing track but "re-approached the words", writing a lyric that sounded a lot like the original text but also added the dimension of 'stepping out of the page / into the sensual world', in effect Molly Bloom stepping out of the book and walking into real life.

he song is about someone from a book who steps out from this very black and white 2-D world into the real world. The immediate impressions was the sensuality of this world - the fact that you can touch things, that is so sensual - you know... the colours of trees, the feel of the grass on the feet, the touch of this in the hand - the fact that it is such a sensual world. I think for me that's an incredibly important thing about this planet, that we are surrounded by such sensuality and yet we tend not to see it like that. But I'm sure for someone who had never experienced it before it would be quite a devastating thing. (...) I love the sound of church bells. I think they are extraordinary - such a sound of celebration. The bells were put there because originally the lyrics of the song were taken from the book Ulysses by James Joyce, the words at the end of the book by Molly Bloom, but we couldn't get permission to use the words. I tried for a long time - probably about a year - and they wouldn't let me use them, so I had to create something that sounded like those original word, had the same rhythm, the same kind of feel but obviously not being able to use them. It all kind of turned in to a pastiche of it and that's why the book character, Molly Bloom, then steps out into the real world and becomes one of us. (Roger Scott, Interview. Radio 1 (UK), 14 October 1989)” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

1. This Woman’s Work

“Song written by Kate Bush. Originally released on the soundtrack of the movie She's Having A Baby in 1988. A year later, the song was included in Kate's sixth studio album The Sensual World. The lyric is about being forced to confront an unexpected and frightening crisis during the normal event of childbirth. Written for the movie She's Having a Baby, director John Hughes used the song during the film's dramatic climax, when Jake (Kevin Bacon) learns that the lives of his wife (Elizabeth McGovern) and their unborn child are in danger. As the song plays, we see a montage sequence of flashbacks showing the couple in happier times, intercut with shots of him waiting for news of Elizabeth and their baby's condition. Bush wrote the song specifically for the sequence, writing from a man's (Jake's) viewpoint and matching the words to the visuals which had already been filmed.

John Hughes, the American film director, had just made this film called 'She's Having A Baby', and he had a scene in the film that he wanted a song to go with. And the film's very light: it's a lovely comedy. His films are very human, and it's just about this young guy - falls in love with a girl, marries her. He's still very much a kid. She gets pregnant, and it's all still very light and child-like until she's just about to have the baby and the nurse comes up to him and says it's a in a breech position and they don't know what the situation will be. So, while she's in the operating room, he has so sit and wait in the waiting room and it's a very powerful piece of film where he's just sitting, thinking; and this is actually the moment in the film where he has to grow up. He has no choice. There he is, he's not a kid any more; you can see he's in a very grown-up situation. And he starts, in his head, going back to the times they were together. There are clips of film of them laughing together and doing up their flat and all this kind of thing. And it was such a powerful visual: it's one of the quickest songs I've ever written. It was so easy to write. We had the piece of footage on video, so we plugged it up so that I could actually watch the monitor while I was sitting at the piano and I just wrote the song to these visuals. It was almost a matter of telling the story, and it was a lovely thing to do: I really enjoyed doing it. (Roger Scott Interview, BBC Radio 1 (UK), 14 October 1989)” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

FEATURE: Teenage Dream: Are Our Adolescent Years the Most Important in Terms of Music Discovery?

FEATURE:

 

Teenage Dream

PHOTO CREDIT: @gemmachuatran/Unsplash 

Are Our Adolescent Years the Most Important in Terms of Music Discovery?

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I have explored this topic before…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Katie Gerrard/Unsplash

but I wanted to return to the theme because of a new series from journalist and writer Jude Rogers. For me, there are different stages of life when music took on a new significance. As a pre-teen, I was listening to a lot of my parents’ stuff and bonding with my peers and wider world through music. Although music would be more dominant and important years later, those earliest years were really instrumental and exciting. Rogers’ series explores music’s impact at various stages of life. I think that the teenage years are the ones where music is more pivotal and affecting. Before coming onto that, there is an interesting article from The Guardian regarding the notion that Classical music can make babies smarter. My earliest musical memory was when I was a couple of years old. Though Classical music was not part of my life when I was extremely young, there was a lot of different sounds and genres in the family home. It was interesting reading The Guardian’s findings and points:

“The idea that listening to Mozart makes babies smarter surfaced in the 1990s in a study published in Nature: a dubious theory, though naturally I tried it on my young, leaving us exhausted but, surely, super-alert. How the results compared with those of the Italian buffaloes whose mozzarella reportedly improved after exposure to Mozart I’ll never know. Disappointingly, the “Mozart effect” theory has long been discredited: his music may bring you joy but it won’t raise your IQ.

PHOTO CREDIT: @invent/Unsplash 

How to introduce children to music, as listeners, performers or serious musicians, remains a perennial question. A new book out in July, The Musical Child by Joan Koenig, is full of sensible ideas to try out on newborn and young. American-born, the author has run a successful, multilingual musical school in Paris, l’école Koenig, for 30 years.

My feeling is that you will probably want Koenig to move in with you to help with those games-exercises, from clapping to squatting to waggling legs in the air, activities you may already be attempting with Joe Wicks. Her informative book is the next best thing.

A BBC success story

In a galling week for the BBC, especially depressing for those of us who worked there during the period under scrutiny by the Dyson investigation, or who knew some of the figures now being called to account, here’s something to raise spirits.

Those fast-receding principles – inform, educate, entertain – established by the first BBC director general, John Reith, still hold good in some quarters. The BBC’s Ten Pieces, a series of short films showcasing classical music aimed at seven- to 14-year-olds, is being shown on national TV for the first time this week, daily on CBBC”.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Jude Rogers/PHOTO CREDIT: Katherine Anne Rose/The Observer

In a BBC radio series,  Jude Rogers speaks to musicians, neuroscientists, psychologists and music-lovers to discover how fundamental music is at each stage of our lives. It is definitely worth listening to. I was particularly hooked on the ‘teenage life’ episode and Rogers’ experiences of music during her teenage years. I have written a few nostalgia pieces during lockdown. I think it is inevitable that we would look back at a safer and less stressful time to help us cope moving ahead. Rather than retreat in the past and argue the musical merits of the 1990s vs, today, I wanted to talk more generally about how music was impactful during my teenage years. I feel music can be hugely influential between the ages of birth and pre-teen years. We also learn a lot from music in our twenties and thirties. Also, music can take on new importance as we grow older. There is something magical, tragic, soul-searching and unique about our teenage experiences. Perhaps it is because we are still growing, finding our place in the world and attending school – a stage of life that sees us meeting new friends, challenges and undertaking huge decisions. In my pre-teen years, there was this mix of musical experiences. I was discovering different genres through my parents, though I was also discovering new artists through my friends. When I became a teenage, I think that there was this greater independence. If music pre-teenage years was a soundtrack to carelessness and a lack of responsibility, there was greater nuance and utilitarianism when I entered a more complex and rich time.

 PHOTO CREDIT: @alicemoore/Unsplash

Attending high school, I was faced with the precipice of adulthood and this sense that I was growing up and the world was changing around me. Most of my experiences are positive, though there were also some scary and challenging ones that were quite tough. As someone who has lived with depression since those days, it was hard to discuss problematic and troubling moments. Music offered an outlet and, at times, provided answers. So many crucial and life-changing experiences occur when we are at high school. From crushes and new lessons through to high hopes and tragedies, so much happens during those years. Some of those moments are consciously attached to music and particular songs. For me, there are these subconscious associations where certain songs score these big moments. Away from that, and I feel the teenage years were the first where I bought a lot of music – rather than sharing music with friends and hearing what my family were listening to. There was this physical curiosity that manifested itself in so many interesting ways. I love Jude Rogers’ series, and it got me thinking about the teen days and why our musical discovery peaks here. I have sourced this article before, yet I want to return to a piece from The Verge that focused on a New York Times study regarding our teen tastes and how they enforce our adult tastes:

“A New York Times analysis of Spotify data has found that the songs we listen to during our teen years set our musical taste as adults.

For men, the most important period for forming musical taste is between the ages of 13 to 16. Men were, on average, aged 14 when their favorite song was released. For women, the most important period is between 11 and 14, with 13 being the most likely age for when their favorite song came out. It also found that childhood influences were stronger for women than men and the key years for shaping taste were tied to the end of puberty. 

The NYT analyzed every Billboard chart-topping song released between 1960 and 2000. Citing Radiohead’s “Creep” as an example, the NYT found the song is the 164th most popular song among 38-year-old men. These men would have been around 14 years old at the time the song was released in 1993, making that selection consistent with the analysis. “Creep” isn’t even in the top 300 songs for those born 10 years earlier or 10 years later. Meanwhile, “Just Like Heaven” by The Cure was released in 1987 and is popular with women aged 41, who would have been 11 at the time of the song’s release”.

I think that it is important to bring that article back in. Everyone has different experiences with music during their teenage years. I think the one thing that bonds us all is how music can provide so much wisdom, stability and memories during a very important passage of life. In a way, this is why so many of us return to the music of our teens deep into adulthood.

Just to expand on this point before rounding off. An article from the BBC went into more detail regarding the reasons as to why music plays such a big part of our adolescent years:

“The nostalgia surrounding our favourite songs isn’t just a recollection of old memories; scientific studies show we remember more from our adolescence and early twenties than any other period of our lives.

The music we listen to during this period has greater lasting impact than songs in later life because of a psychological phenomenon called the reminiscence bump.

Our memories define who we are and shape our sense of identity, but they are not evenly distributed throughout our life.

We have fewer memories from birth to about eight-years-old, while at the other end of the scale our minds can easily recall memories that happened most recently, although this does decline with age.

However, researchers have found there is a key age between the ages of 10 to 30-years-old when the reminiscence bump applies, meaning our memories have a particular affinity for recalling events.

The reminiscence bump means songs from our teenage years connect with us through our lives.

The power of emotional communication

The reminiscence bump happens for everything – our favourite books, films, sports stars and music, but evidence suggests music features most highly because musical memories are stored in a ‘safe’ area of the brain which is more resilient and protected against age related conditions.

“Music is one of the most fundamental ways that we can express emotions”, says Prof Catherine Loveday, a cognitive neuropsychologist at the University of Westminster.

Prof Loveday has extensively studied the relationship between music and memory.

She spent the last eight years asking people about their music memories and their preference for music across a lifetime.

She found there is a consistently reliable peak in both memory and preference for music people listened to during their teenage years.

Even when working with people in their eighties she found their strongest musical memories take them back to their youths.

It’s not necessarily when the music was released that is relevant but rather the time frame during which the music was important to an individual.

One theory for why this happens is that our minds undergo an intense and rapid phase of development during our teenage years and early twenties so our budding brains and memory systems are at their peak absorbing as much information about the world as they can.

IMAGE CREDIT: @morganhousel/Unsplash 

Neural connections

Prof Loveday explained that listening to our favourite music has a fundamental effect on the brain; there’s a surge of activity in the reward pathways that increases the levels of dopamine and oxytocin in our brains - the same pathways that are triggered when we do anything pleasurable such as eating, drinking or dancing.

“There is evidence that structural elements of music get physically tied to our autobiographical memories” she said.

“Musical reminiscence bump is so powerful because we attach music to particularly emotional times.”

The strength of these memories can also be explained by identity theory.

Our teenage years are a time of development socially, biologically and cognitively, and we start to build our own independent sense of identity.

It’s during this period when we start to make key decisions that help shape who we are – who we surround ourselves with, our attitudes to things, what job we want to pursue, what we want to study, where we want to live.

The power of firsts

It’s a lot more powerful when the brains processes exciting, new experiences than boring ones, and during this period of ‘firsts’ we start to build a bank of self-defining memories – first kiss, first car, first time travelling abroad, first time away from home, first time going to a concert.

“Music provides the soundtrack to our lives.” Matt Griffiths CEO of Youth Music, which funds music-making projects for 0-25 year olds, explained.

PHOTO CREDIT: @eliottreyna/Unsplash

“It stirs powerful emotions and feelings, recalling vivid memories.

“It defines who we are, creates precious bonds and friendships, makes us feel better.

“Again and again, the evidence we gather at Youth Music demonstrates powerfully the personal and social benefits of music-making, how young people benefit from this and develop their own coping strategies, which they draw on particularly in difficult times”.

I wonder how many of us think about music in terms of age and which periods of life were the most important. Taking ‘adolescence’ as a few years before the teenage boundary, that was a really big and personality-moulding time. I do think the teenage years are when music impacts the most. I was very fortunate that my teen years occurred during a decade as busy and excellent as the 1990s. No matter which decade you became a teen, we all have stories of the albums and songs that have accompanied some of our greatest experiences. Through such a hard time, listening to music that I first heard during my teenage years has been great. Not only was it good to reminisce and cast my mind fondly back to that time. It has also allowed me to…

KEEP looking forward.

FEATURE: Spotlight: KMRU

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Julia Sellmann for Pitchfork

KMRU

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THIS time around…

I am spotlighting an artist that I am new to. Joseph Kamaru is a Berlin-based artist/producer with a difference. Under the moniker, KMRU, he is mixing field recordings and different sounds to create a palette that is hugely evocative and original. I will bring in a review for his album, Logue, later. It was released earlier this year, and I would encourage people to dig it out. Before that, I want to source a couple of interviews that tell us more about an exciting and curious talent. Music Radar chatted with KMRU a couple of weeks ago. We discover more about his fascination for found sounds:

“Berlin-based sound artist Joseph Kamaru originally began experimenting with field recordings in his home city Nairobi.

Releasing music under the moniker KMRU, the inquisitive producer became fascinated by the timbre of redundant physical instruments and other stationary objects that he felt had ‘something to say’, then developed his use of contact microphones to capture environmental sounds with acute precision.

Using Ableton Live and Ableton Push as his primary arrangement and recording tools, KMRU released three albums throughout 2020 - Jar, Opaquer and Peel. The latter cultivates a rich tapestry of calming atmospheres based on the producer’s personal collection of field recordings combined with effects-laden electronics.

Meanwhile, Kamaru’s recent relocation from Nairobi to Berlin has required a period of adjustment - the thrum of Africa’s varied sonic backdrop replaced by the filtered disquiet of concrete city living.

What lay behind your interest in using found sounds to make music with?

“It began three years ago in Nairobi. I bought a field recorder to use as a soundcard but eventually started using it as a mic to record sounds on-site. I realised that there were sounds in my environment that I wasn’t aware of, and discovering that prompted me to engage more and use that discourse as a compositional tool.

"Eventually, I stopped buying sample packs and spent all my time outside recording sounds and taking them back to the studio.”

Is your objective to take the listener back to the environment where your found sounds originated from?

“It differs from project to project. With installations, it’s more about inviting the listener to be aware of their environment, so I’m not changing or manipulating the field recordings much. I realised that when I played back environmental sounds, for example, children speaking Swahili or cars passing by, people became very familiar with a particular environment.

"When I use the sounds in more of an artistic way, it forces the listener to figure out whether a particular sound is really happening.”

Is your music designed for listening to on headphones?

“I always make music on headphones and then reference on speakers for certain listening situations. When you listen on headphones you’re prompted to listen to what you’re hearing in more detail, and when you play it on speakers, new tones are being projected through the air so there’s a durational aspect, but I don’t have a preference to how Peel should be listened to”.

I would not normally seek out an artist like KMRU. I have turned onto his music. It goes beyond conventional and mainstream sounds. There is something almost otherworldly and transformative. There was a really interesting interview from Pitchfork conducted in April, where we got to find out some really deep information regarding KMRU. I will not bring all of it in. There are some sections that I want to highlight:

“Berlin is a quiet city, especially in the depths of winter, and the residential neighborhood of Moabit, ringed by waterways, is especially tranquil. Yet when I call up Joseph Kamaru in his apartment there on a recent Saturday morning, he has been awake since 5 a.m., thanks to a singer practicing in a nearby flat. Germans are notoriously testy about noise—it’s illegal to toss glass bottles into the recycling container on Sunday, lest the shattering glass disturb someone’s day of rest—and the vocal exercises had elicited a chorus of outrage throughout the apartment block, the neighbors’ stern barks blending with the singer’s scales and bouncing off the courtyard’s brick walls.

“I wanted to record it but I was so sleepy,” says the 24-year-old musician better known as KMRU, who has been living in the German capital since October, when he enrolled in a graduate program for Sound Studies and Sonic Arts at the Universität der Künste. Unable to muster the energy to find his recorder, he flopped over and tried to return to sleep amid the cacophony of an early-morning civic breakdown.

It would have been an uncharacteristically noisy recording for Kamaru. For the past few years, he has been working the sounds of his surroundings into meditative ambient music. He captures sonic snapshots with his handheld recorder and then collages the pieces into lengthy drones where the real-world reference points dissolve into a haze. His early, more upbeat work dates back to the mid-2010s, but his 2020 album Peel marked a clear breakthrough. Imbuing supersaturated tone colors with the depth of a Rothko painting, Kamaru exerts a powerful pull; his tracks—some 13, 15, even 23 minutes long—are obsidian-colored lakes that beckon the listener to sink into their lightless depths.

For many, Peel came along at precisely the right time: July 2020, as the initial shock of quarantine was turning to monotony. The music’s contradictory character—seemingly static on the surface, yet harboring a wealth of detail once your ears become attuned to it—proved uncannily suited for the doldrums of the pandemic. It’s a lockdown record through and through: Kamaru recorded it in early April last year, shortly after returning to Nairobi from a workshop in Montreal and seeing his plans for 2020—his job teaching guitar, an appearance at Ableton Loop Summit followed by a short European tour, his annual return to Uganda’s Nyege Nyege Festival—fall like dominoes.

Using street sounds from near his home in Nairobi, along with nature recordings from Lunkulu, an island in Uganda, and background ambiance from Montreal, he recorded the album across two days of improvisations, seated at his laptop, slowly turning knobs to stretch his samples into unrecognizable shapes. He sent it to three labels; only Editions Mego, a Viennese experimental imprint, got back to him. Label founder Peter Rehberg was stuck in Berlin for the first phase of lockdown, with little to do but go through demo emails. “Peel became my soundtrack during those weeks,” he says. Like a homeopathic treatment, its curious sense of suspended time seemed to ameliorate the unchanging days.

Kamaru hails from a musical lineage: His maternal grandfather, also named Joseph Kamaru, was a titan of Kenyan benga and gospel, famous for songs that challenged the political establishment. (The younger Kamaru has been reissuing the elder’s music on Bandcamp in the last couple of years; the ultimate goal is to establish a formal archive, perhaps a museum.) Growing up, his name left him little room to hide—all his teachers were aware of his grandfather. “I couldn’t skip class,” he says with a laugh. “Since he died, in 2018, there’s a burden that fell out of nowhere: ‘Kamaru, now it’s your time.’”

Though he grew up singing in the choir and playing guitar, it wasn’t until he started making music on the computer that Kamaru found his own path. In high school, he realized that the school’s computers came equipped with the digital audio workstation FL Studio. The only problem: None of the teachers knew how to use it. So Kamaru and a few of his classmates taught themselves. “There were three of us in my class who were into production, and we’d lock ourselves into the computer lab at night,” he recalls. With the help of another classmate, he learned Ableton Live; they finished a song together, a lilting tropical-house tune called “Feeling,” and even got it signed to a German label, Black Lemon, kicking off a stretch of releases informed by progressive house and Afro house. One early track was included on a compilation from deadmau5’s Mau5trap label, making KMRU probably the only artist to have both Skrillex and Sunn O))) as label mates.

When you’re doing field recording around Nairobi, how do people respond to you?

My friend from Berlin was in Nairobi and she wanted to buy fabric. There’s this town called Eastleigh with a Sunday market that I wanted to visit and collect sounds. I remember this guy coming up to me—he asked me if my recorder was a bomb. Then I gave him my headphones to listen to and he was wowed. He wanted to go everywhere and listen to the sound.

I did an interesting project in 2018 in Kibera. It’s the hugest urban slum in Africa. People don’t go to this place because they think it’s unsafe. I was doing a film project with a friend, collecting sounds. We were walking in different shops with my recorder, and some people would refuse to let me record the sounds of the place. We would insist: It’s only the sound! We’re not taking pictures of you. It’s interesting. Why wouldn’t you want me to record you when you’re sewing clothes? I just wanted this sewing sound. But some people were excited—they want the sounds of the place to be heard.

There’s a real melancholy beauty to some of your albums, like Peel and Jar.

I think that’s just how I am personally—I’m very calm and still and introverted. I just share how I feel through my sound pieces. When I was playing techno or DJing, there was a point where I just wanted people to listen to how I was feeling with sounds. But it was hard because people didn’t want to listen. They wanted to dance. That’s good, I enjoy dancing, too. But I’m trying to invoke this listening situation. For me, the best way to do that is with field recordings. An artist who uses his voice as the main instrument, you’re listening to the lyrics. But with field recordings, you’re listening to the surroundings. There’s so much to learn and understand from our surroundings with these sounds. You need to listen”.

Before rounding off, it is time to quote a review of KMRU’s excellent album, Logue – though, at nine tracks, maybe one can label it as a mini-album. When they heard Logue, this is what Loud and Quiet had to say:

“There’s an almost intimating depth to the sprawling, intricate music of KMRU. On the surface, it nods towards giants of ambient and drone like William Basinski and Tim Hecker, all seismic pads and glacial pacing. On further inspection, though, there’s something else going on here, woven between the processed field recordings that evoke the likes of Manchester’s Space Afrika or Stuart Hyatt’s Field Works project; something a little more dynamic and tactile than the occasionally monolithic impenetrability of many established ambient artists.

KMRU’s background may be instructive. He’s originally from Nairobi, though he’s lived in Berlin, and his grandfather was the musician and activist Joseph Kamaru, whose blend of jazz, gospel, Benga and Kikuyu folk brought him considerable fame across East Africa in the 1960s and ’70s. Kamaru’s highly political music placed him in a turbulent, sometimes dangerous position in the Kenya of that period, as the struggles and tensions of the newly postcolonial country led to conflict.

His grandson’s music doesn’t deal with this complicated history head-on, nor should it have to. It is, however, important to bear it in mind when trying to understand this shifting, amorphous work, whose beauty reveals itself gradually. There’s real complexity here, in the product of an artist whose life and familial experiences have given him a highly distinctive approach and insight. Time invested in Logue will be rewarded in rich, unexpected ways”.

I shall leave it there. Do go and check out the music of KMRU. He is a really promising artist and producer. Check out his official website, as there is much more to him than his recordings. At such a strange and stressful time, he is a balm for the troubles. His work is incredible. Go and investigate a wonderful figure who I hope we will be hearing from…

FOR a very long time to come.

___________

Follow KMRU

PHOTO CREDIT: Julia Sellmann for Pitchfork

Official:

https://kmru.info/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/_kamaru_/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/joseph_kamaru

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/K4MARU

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0uO9vd_nkCatzNK4oMDr9g

Bandcamp:

https://kmru.bandcamp.com/

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/5blZUSGq0z7HhuSldSXV3a?si=aC2MPnBSTACJIzvqJmv2jg

FEATURE: The Lockdown Playlist: Pride Month Tracks

FEATURE:

 

 

The Lockdown Playlist

PHOTO CREDIT: @zeak/Unsplash 

Pride Month Tracks

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BECAUSE it is Pride Month…

 PHOTO CREDIT: @mrs80z/Unsplash

I wanted to put out a selection of songs from L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ artists - in addition to Pride-appropriate/themed songs. Before I come to that playlist, here is some information and background behind Pride Month:

“Pride Month is celebrated every June as a tribute to those who were involved in the Stonewall Riots. We’re getting ready to dust off our rainbow flags, douse ourselves in glitter, and go join in the fun. With parades, festivals, and concerts going on across the globe, there’s always some way for you to get involved — as well as learn some important social history along the way.

On a hot summer’s night in New York on June 28, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay club in Greenwich Village, which resulted in bar patrons, staff, and neighborhood residents rioting onto Christopher Street outside. Among the many leaders of the riots was a black, trans, bisexual woman, Marsha P. Johnson, leading the movement to continue over six days with protests and clashes. The message was clear — protestors demanded the establishment of places where LGBT+ people could go and be open about their sexual orientation without fear of arrest.

Pride Month is largely credited as being started by bisexual activist Brenda Howard. Known as ‘The Mother of Pride,’ Brenda organized Gay Pride Week and the Christopher Street Liberation Day Parade a year after the Stonewall Riots. This eventually morphed into what we now know as the New York City Pride March and was the catalyst for the formation of similar parades and marches across the world”.

There are ways that you can get involved with Pride Month and educate yourself. An article from The Independent listed some ways that everyone can do their part:

“Each June, parades, rallies, parties and demonstrations are held around the world to mark Pride month – the annual event that pays tribute to those involved in the Stonewall Riots.

From the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1967, to the same-sex couples marriage act of 2013, Pride has long been vital in paving the way for progression – recognising the need for equal rights for people of all genders and sexual orientations.

One of the most effective ways you can influence change is by donating to causes and organisations that advocate for LGBTQ issues. The charity Stonewall is the UK’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans charity, and their work helps people in the community not just to survive, but to thrive.

A donation to Stonewall helps the charity to transform institutions, change and protect laws, foster inclusivity and empower LGBTQ people to be their most authentic selves.

GoFundMe is also a great place to find direct, personal causes to support. In recent months, many people have turned to the platform to crowdfund their transitions, asking donors to help them access vital surgery that they cannot afford themselves – especially given the social and employment discrimination that transgender people face.

There are so many fun and enjoyable ways to educate yourself about LGBTQ rights that go way beyond reading a dull Wikipedia page.

Whether you stick on the Netflix documentary Disclosure (which looks at Hollywood’s depiction of transgender people), plug into a podcast like Making Gay History or you simply update your bookshelf with some new reads, it’s so easy to find ways to ‘do the work’ that don’t feel like a chore.

Once you’ve read up on LGBTQ issues, use what you’ve learned to look inwards at some of the ways you enable harmful stereotypes.

Do you tell jokes where a gay person is the punchline? Do you use swear words that could be derogatory? Are you in a workplace that isn’t lifting up its LGBTQ staff members?

Even if you feel like you don’t practise harmful behaviours, part of being an ally is also calling out unacceptable behaviour from friends and colleagues when you see or hear it. Essentially, we can all evoke positive change on a micro-level.

Pride is one of the most uplifting and joyful events of the year – so make sure to get involved with whatever is happening in your local area.

Pride in London will take place in September 2021 this year and many indoor events have been cancelled because of social distancing rules, but there are lots of digital celebrations happening across the internet and Zoom.

Find an online party, don your most feel-good outfit, and get your mates together to celebrate love and acceptance – in all of its many wonderful forms”.

There are so many terrific L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ artists. I (unfortunately) have probably forgotten quite a few. I have sprinkled in a few Pride anthems too. There is going to be a lot of articles, posts on social media and radio hours dedicated to Pride Month. I may do a few more features through June. Before then, here is my 2021…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Josè Maria Sava/Unsplash

PRIDE playlist.

FEATURE: Spotlight: L. Devine

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

L. Devine

___________

IN quite a timely Spotlight…

PHOTO CREDIT: Jack Alexander for NOTION 

I am focusing on an artist who released a terrific single recently. Girls Like Sex arrives ahead of the album, Near Life Experience Part 1, on 23rd July. It is exiting to hear new music from L. Devine. Real name Olivia Rebecca Devine, the English songwriter is one of the hottest and most promising out there. Keep your eyes on her social media channels to see when you can order her album I am writing this on 29th May; it is not going live for a little while). I want to bring in a few interviews so that we can learn more about L. Devine. It is interesting reading the interviews, as most of them have been conducted earlier in the pandemic. Then, there was not much expectation of much new music in such a tough time. Now, we have something ahead and signs that there is more to come from L. Devine. Before introducing some recent interviews, there is one from 2019 that I really like. It was early days for L. Devine. Even then, there was this buzz and excitement. DORK shone the spotlight on  the Whitley Bay-born artist:

“It’s a tale as old as time: a girl moving to the big city to follow her dreams. Dreams that every parent eyes with suspicion because they are simply too big, because the chance of them actually coming true is one in a million. But here is a girl who followed through, who’s making her dreams reality. A girl whose third live performance was a slot at BBC’s Big Weekend. L Devine. Newcastle’s coolest pop star and Charli XCX’s vision of ‘The Motherfucking Future’.

PHOTO CREDIT: Jack Alexander for The Line of Best Fit

Ever since releasing her second EP ‘Peer Pressure’, L Devine has been on a steady rise. “It’s still very surreal. You’re always onto the next thing, and everything goes by so quick. I was so overwhelmed by the show the other night, and now I’m like ‘right, when’s the next one?’ Get my thinking cap on and try to top it, but it’s unbelievable. I’m so happy with how everything’s going, and I’m just really excited.”

And she has every reason to be excited: sold out headline shows in Newcastle and London and a slot at this year’s Big Weekend in Middlesbrough mark the start of her journey as a live performer. A start that most artist can only dream of. Talking about her Middlesbrough adventure, she says: “It was definitely a bucket list moment, just to be on the line-up next to those huge names like Miley Cyrus and Billie Eilish. And if you look at other artists who have played the BBC Introducing Stage in the past years, it’s so cool to be recognised by the BBC.”

But let’s start at the beginning. As she puts it, Liv got into music by copying a friend. “I always thought he was really cool, and he picked up the guitar so I thought I should do it, too. Then I just kinda got the bug for it, and I got really into writing music. I’m pretty impatient. I didn’t want to spend all my days looking at YouTube tutorials on how to learn other people’s songs, so I just made my own up.” Growing up in Whitley Bay, by Newcastle, Liv was surrounded by a culture that was very big on alternative and indie music, but her first songs were all very singer-songwriter. “That was all I had. Me and my guitar in my bedroom. Then I realised that I listened to so much music and I would get tired pretty quickly sticking to just one genre. That’s when I became interested in production and a lot of electronic music. Because I had been playing guitar so much, I was so excited about weird sounds and unique beats. I guess I got into pop music, not because I listen to it more than other genres, but because pop music is the one you can bend the most. It doesn’t really have any boundaries. You can constantly reinvent what it is and what it means to you.”

And so her journey began. From her bedroom up North down to London, where she moved in with a friend hoping to get in with the big guys. Eventually, the labels came knocking, and with good reason”.

“All my songs that have connected with people are the ones that I’ve been so desperate to get off my chest, that are helping me through the situation. I wrote it in 15 minutes. It was so easy to write because it was just me telling the story start to finish. It was completely overwhelming. I was nervous to put that song out because it was the first time I had explicitly talked about my sexuality and it was so out in the open, and I didn’t want to feel like I was cashing in on it or anything. I was scared of what people thought of me after putting out the song, but everyone was coming to me, telling me how much the song had helped them. How much they needed that song. It was really special.”

What sets L Devine apart from the rest of the pop world is her attention to visuals. Similar to Billie Eilish, her music comes alive on screen. But where Billie hones in on the strange and twisted, Liv’s aesthetic takes a more indie film approach. Talking to her about the two improvised short films that accompanied her EPs, it’s clear to see that Liv has an endless supply of creativity and that she is not just excited about music.

“Visuals are super important to me. It’s one of my favourite things if not THE favourite thing at the moment. I love diving into it. Whenever I’m writing, I have visual ideas coming to mind, and I’m always making mood boards. I’m shit at Photoshop, but I’m always trying to make some kind of artwork or designs for T-Shirts”.

The next interview I want to bring in is from NOTION. Conducted earlier this year, one gets a picture of this bold and thrilling Pop artist:

“Loaded with attitude, L Devine’s melody-heavy strain of intelligent pop showcases an unashamed young woman with an innate ability to craft instantly relatable sonic tunes. There’s an organic connection between the young artist and her expanding following; the vulnerability of her songwriting is embraced by fans experiencing similar experiences as they transition to adulthood.

With praise from fellow Brits Charli XCX, Dua Lipa and Lewis Capaldi, Geordie singer-songwriter, L Devine, continues to make huge waves since her arrival in 2017. Her singles “Boring People” and “Don’t Say It” were both named as Annie Mac’s Hottest Record before being playlisted at BBC Radio 1 last year.

Following this, L Devine was able to use her youthful innovation in order to pull off one of the most inventive livestream series to date. Her ground-breaking ‘URL Tour’ gathered huge traction online and garnered praise across the board. The tour took the place of her cancelled ‘IRL Tour’ and was structured around five unique shows on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook Live, TikTok and YouTube across March last year.

More recently, L Devine has linked up with chart-topping DJ/producer Route 94 on the dance-pop single “Sad Songs”, which swiftly amassed over 3 million streams on Spotify.

First song you released?

“School Girls” in 2017!

First CD or record you owned?

My dad bought my first CD for me: ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ by Wheatus.

First time you realised you wanted to be a musician?

I got a guitar for Christmas when I was a child. I just felt really cool playing it and became obsessed with the idea of becoming a rock star.

First gig you went to?

My older cousins were in this band called Slap Stanley or something like that. My dad took me along to one of their gigs – I must have been around 6 or 7, I was really young. And it was so rowdy the band started fighting with security on stage. I loved it!!

First festival you went to and the first one you performed at?

First proper festival I went to was T in the Park with my friends. It was very interesting… we woke up to a cup of human shit outside our tent on our first morning, which kind of set the tone for the rest of the weekend!! The first festival I performed at was The Great Escape in Brighton. I played the AMP stage down on the beach – it was my second ever show!”.

If you have not checked out her music, then have a listen to it and get involved I feel L. Devine is going to be a big act that will be touring the world before long. She is certainly fresh, vital and dynamic. The material she is writing is eye-opening, thought-provoking and urgent. It also has plenty of warmth, heat and depth. Keep your eye out for her. The next interview that warrants highlighting is from The Line of Best Fit. It was conducted at the end of last year. Although a lot of has changed since then, we do get an impression of how L. Devine spent a strange and stressful 2020:  

“The pandemic put a pause on Devine’s own release schedule with just singles “Don’t Say It” and “Boring People” offered up this year. Pointing towards more promising progressive pop, these tracks are just a teaser as she's been using her newfound time to work on music, with the hope of releasing a longer body of work next year.

Uncertainty stills reigns though, she laughs that “everything could change [again]," when talking to us over Zoom. We caught up with the songwriter to talk all things 2020 and beyond before we unveil the stripped-back session she's recorded for as part of our Off The Road series.

Despite everything you’ve still managed to drop some new music this year too.

Yeah I felt like it was a really good time to jump on some features, jump on some collaborations and keep getting music out there. I didn’t feel like I could do my next project justice within all the restrictions. They’ve both been really fun, so I’ve managed to keep quite busy, but it has been pretty chill.

How have you found releasing music without being able to play many live shows?

I guess it’s made people think outside the box and think of new and interesting ways to get your music out there. Everyone’s in the same boat, aren’t they? I miss it so much though, playing live is my favourite thing. I forgot how good it was to hear the crowd sing back to you. I was lucky enough to do a gig in Newcastle in September, for this outdoor socially distance festival, [This Is Tomorrow Festival], with 2,000 people. It was my favourite gig I’ve ever done, because everyone was so gagging for it.

It was like pig pens almost with six people, so went in your household and they were all separated, so it looked massive. I went to see Sam Fender, when he played, and it’s kind of like having your own VIP section. There’s certain music where you wanna be squished up against some randomers and getting all sweaty, but at the time it suited me quite nicely.

In this hellish year, what was your highlight?

I know this might sound lame, but I’ve lived in London for four years and I never saw my family, only at Christmas, so it’s been so unreal to be with them again and re-connect. I just feel like northern families, it’s such a close knit thing and I can’t describe it, but we all live on the same couple of streets and I see them every single day. Sometimes it’s a bit much, but when I’m away from it I just wanna be around them. They’re truly my best friends and I just love being surrounded by the kids, my sister, my cousin, my mum, my dad...They’ve definitely been my saviour.

What are you most looking forward to next year?

Going on out on the road. Just going out man, I miss the club, but I just wanna go out and hear those features in a club. It’s such a shame that I released two club bangers and then not hear them in the context they’re meant to be heard in. The “More Life”, Tinie Tempah and Torren Foot one, I just know that would bang so hard in a club. Maybe I’ll put on a little night and play those songs back to me”.

As there is an album arriving in July, more people will hear the music of L. Devine. She is a terrific artist that is primed for big things. Her fanbase is growing and, with songs like Girls Like Sex out in the world, one cannot ignore her. I shall wrap things up now. I have been following L. Devine for a while, but I think this year will be her biggest so far. After quite a rough 2020 for us all, venues will soon reopen. If you can get to see L. Devine then do so. She is someone who puts on an electric live set. If you are looking to get behind an artist who is going to be making music for years to come, then I can recommend…

THE terrific L. Devine.

________________

Follow L. Devine

Official:

https://www.ldevinemusic.com/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/LDevineMusic

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/ldevinemusic/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/LDevineMusic

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2_Y6hH4VXgWRJxC9bPGD2w

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/5dhyUSoGhz79WTzP39vKs4?si=8hwKrx_zQrG22WTXFVqzMA

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

FEATURE:

 

 

Ranking Tracks from Kate Bush’s Albums…

The Red Shoes

___________

THIS part of my mini-series…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1993

that ranks the songs from Kate Bush’s albums takes us to The Red Shoes. The 1993 album was the last before Bush came back with Aerial in 2005. Many consider The Red Shoes to be among Bush’s weaker releases. I think it is an album that has many highlights and underrated songs. I will provide my rankings soon. Before then, an overview and some background from the Kate Bush Encyclopaedia:

“Seventh album by Kate Bush, released by EMI Records on 2 November 1993. The album was written, composed and produced by Kate.

The album was inspired by the 1948 film of the same name by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. The film in turn was inspired by the fairy tale of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen. It concerns a dancer, possessed by her art, who cannot take off the eponymous shoes and find peace. Bush had suggested she would tour for the album and deliberately aimed for a "live band" feel, with less of the studio trickery that had typified her last three albums (which would be difficult to recreate on stage). However, the tour never happened in the end. A few months after the release of the album, Bush did release The Line, The Cross and the Curve, a movie incorporating six tracks from the album.

Most notably, The Red Shoes featured many more high-profile cameo appearances than her previous efforts. Comedian Lenny Henry provided guest vocals on Why Should I Love You, a track that also featured significant contributions from Prince. And So Is Love features guitar work by Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck. Gary Brooker (from the band Procol Harum) appears on two tracks as well.

The album was recorded digitally, and Bush has since expressed regrets about the results of this, which is why she revisited seven of the songs using analogue tape for her 2011 album Director's Cut.

Critical reception

NME wrote: "How many of us could stand the self-imposed exile that has been the adult life of Kate Bush. She's elevated privacy to an art-frm... it's her most personal album to date, yet it is her most accessible, in which the listener can identify directly with the pain she's trying to pull herself through..."  The Independent on Sunday added: "There is nothing here that quite compares with her most splendid songs - 1980's Breating and 1986's The Big Sky... but The Red Shoes is a triumph nonetheless...". The Observer: "Bush's most pensive album yet... its mood of wistful mystery maintained by elaborate arrangements... the occasional number is overwrought, but the best confirm Bush as an artist of substance."

I've been very affected by these last two years. They've been incredibly intense years for me. Maybe not on a work level, but a lot has happened to me. I feel I've learnt a lot – and, yes, I think [my next album] is going to be quite different… I hope the people that are waiting for it feel it's worth the wait. (BBC Radio 1 interview, 14 December 1991)”.

_____________

12. Constellation of the Heart

“Song written by Kate Bush. Originally released on her seventh album The Red Shoes. The lyric describes telescopes being turned inside out and pointed towards the heart, “away from the big sky", which is a direct reference to the track The Big Sky and seemingly a disavowal of old subjects.

Credits

Drums: Stuart Elliott

Bass: John Giblin

Guitar: Danny McIntosh

Hammond: Gary Brooker

Vocals: Paddy Bush, Colin Lloyd-Tucker

Tenor saxophone: Nigel Hitchcock

Trombone: Neil Sidwell

Trumpet: Paul Spong, Steve Sidwell

Keyboards, piano: Kate” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

11. Big Stripey Lie

“Song written by Kate Bush. Originally released as the B-side of the single Rubberband Girl in the UK. Subsequently released on her seventh album The Red Shoes.

Versions

There are two versions of 'Big Stripey Lie': the album version from 1993, and the remastered version from 2011, included on a new release of The Red Shoes on the Fishpeople label.

Credits

Drums, percussion, FX: Gaumont d'Oliveira

Violin: Nigel Kennedy

Guitar, bass, keyboards: Kate” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

10. You're the One

“'You're The One' was covered by Göteborgs Symfoniker and Justin Roberts.

Credits

Drums: Stuart Elliott

Bass: John Giblin

Guitar: Jeff Beck

Hammond: Gary Brooker

Vocals: Trio Bulgarka

Fender Rhodes, keyboards: Kate” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

9. The Red Shoes

“Song written by Kate Bush. Originally released on her seventh album The Red Shoes. Also released as a single by EMI Records in the UK on 4 April 1994. Lead track of the movie The Line, The Cross and the Curve, which was presented on film festival at the time of the single's release.

Formats

'The Red Shoes' was released in the UK as a 7" single, a cassette single and two different CD-singles. The 7" single and cassette single feature the B-side track You Want Alchemy. CD-single 1 added 'Cloudbusting (Video Mix)' and This Woman's Work, and CD-single 2, released one week after the other formats, features Shoedance (see below), together with the single remix of The Big Sky and the 12" version of Running Up That Hill.

Music video

The music video for 'The Red Shoes' was also used in the movie The Line, The Cross and The Curve” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

8. Why Should I Love You?

“Song written by Kate Bush. Originally released on her seventh album The Red Shoes. Bush asked Prince to contribute background vocals to 'Why Should I Love You' in 1991. She sent him the track, which she had recorded at Abbey Road Studios (Studio Number One), London, England, and Prince added vocals, but also added many instrumental parts to the song, at his Paisley Park Studios. When Kate Bush and Del Palmer listened to Prince's returned track, they weren't sure what to do with it. They worked on it on and off for two years to try to "turn it back into a Kate Bush song". The track also features background vocals by British comedian Lenny Henry, a good friend of Kate's.

Drums: Stuart Elliott

Keyboards, guitar, bass, vocals: Prince

Vocals: Lenny Henry

Tenor saxophone: Nigel Hitchcock

Trombone: Neil Sidwell

Trumpet, Flugelhorn: Steve Sidwell

Vocals: Trio Bulgarka

Keyboards: Kate

Arrangements by Prince and Kate” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

7. Top of the City

“There are two versions of 'And So Is Love': the album version from 1993, and the version from Bush's album Director's Cut in 2011.

A live version appears on the album Before The Dawn.

Performances

The song was performed live as part of Kate's Before The Dawn shows in London, 2014.

Cover versions

'Top Of The City' was covered by Anna's Fanclub and Goodknight Productions” - Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

6. The Song of Solomon

“There are two versions of 'The Song Of Solomon': the album version from 1993, and the version from Bush's album Director's Cut in 2011.

Percussion: Charlie Morgan, Stuart Elliott

Guitar: Danny McIntosh

Vocals: Trio Bulgarka

Fender Rhodes, Keyboards, Piano: Kate” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

5. Eat the Music

“Song written by Kate Bush. It was originally released as the lead single for The Red Shoes in the USA on September 7, 1993, while everywhere else in the world Rubberband Girl was released. In the UK, a small handful of extremely rare 7" and promotional CD-singles were produced, but were recalled by EMI Records at the last minute. A commercial release followed in the Summer of 1994 in the Netherlands and Australia, along with a handful of other countries. The song's lyrics are about opening up in relationships to reveal who we really are inside.

Formats

The USA CD-single featured the album version and 12" version of 'Eat The Music', along with Big Stripey Lie and Candle In The Wind. A 2 track CD-single, released in the Netherlands in the summer of 1994 featured 'Eat The Music' and You Want Alchemy. The Dutch and Australian 4 track CD-singles featured these two tracks plus the 12" version of 'Eat The Music' [which is actually the 4'55 US edit, see below] and 'Shoedance (The Red Shoes Dance Mix)'. It is worth noting that the Australian CD-single came in a 'Scratch And Sniff' card sleeve” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

4. Lily

“Song written by Kate Bush. Originally released on her seventh album The Red Shoes. The song is devoted to Lily Cornford, a noted spiritual healer in London with whom Bush became close friends in the 1990s. “She was one of those very rare people who are intelligent, intuitive and kind,” Kate has said of Cornford, who believed in mental colour healing—a process whereby patients would be restored to health by seeing various hues. “I was really moved by Lily and impressed with her strength and knowledge, so it led to a song - which she thought was hilarious.”

Versions

There are two versions of 'Lily': the album version from 1993, and the version from Bush's album Director's Cut in 2011. A live version appears on the album Before The Dawn.

Music video

A music video for 'Lily' exists, as part of the movie The Line, The Cross and The Curve” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

3. And So Is Love

“Song written by Kate Bush. Originally released on her seventh album The Red Shoes. Also released as a single by EMI Records in the UK on 7 November 1994.

Formats

'And So Is Love' was released in the UK as a picture disc 7" single with a large poster and as two CD-singles: one in a regular small case and one in a big case with three 5" x 5" card prints.

All formats feature the lead track and the U.S. mix of Rubberband Girl. The two CD-singles also featured the U.S. mix of Eat The Music.

Performances

After the release of the single, it climbed to number 26 in the UK singles chart. The chart entry marked Bush's first appearance on the chart show Top Of The Pops in nine years. It was a straightforward performance with Kate lipsynching the song in front of the studio audience with two female backing singers by her side” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

2. Moments of Pleasure

“Song written by Kate Bush. Premiered on television (see below) and officially released on her seventh album The Red Shoes. The song was subsequently also released as a single on 15 November 1993. Bush wrote the chorus "to those we love, to those who will survive" for her mother, who was sick at the time of recording. She died a short time later.

I think the problem is that during [the recording of] that album there were a lot of unhappy things going on in my life, but when the songs were written none of that had really happened yet. I think a lot of people presume that particularly that song was written after my mother had died for instance, which wasn't so at all. There's a line in there that mentions a phrase that she used to say, 'every old sock meets an old shoe', and when I recorded it and played it to her she just thought it was hilarious! She couldn't stop laughing, she just thought it was so funny that I'd put it into this song. So I don't see it as a sad song. I think there's a sort of reflective quality, but I guess I think of it more as a celebration of life. (Interview with Ken Bruce, BBC Radio 2, 9 May 2011)” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

1. Rubberband Girl

“Song written by Kate Bush. Originally released as a single by EMI Records in the UK on 6 September 1993. Also released on her seventh album The Red Shoes. The song was subsequently also released as a single in the USA, on 7 December 1993.

Versions

There are four different versions of 'Rubberband Girl': the album version (which was also the single version) and an extended version, both released in September. A year later, a 'U.S. remix', credited to American DJ Eric Kupper, appeared as an extra track on the single release of And So Is Love. And in 2011, a re-recording of Rubberband Girl appeared on Bush's album Director's Cut.

I thought the original 'Rubberband' was... Well, it's a fun track. I was quite happy with the original, but I just wanted to do something really different. It is my least favourite track. I had considered taking it off to be honest. Because it didn't feel quite as interesting as the other tracks. But I thought, at the same time, it was just a bit of fun and it felt like a good thing to go out with. It's just a silly pop song really, I loved Danny Thompson's bass on that, and of course Danny (McIntosh)'s guitar.  (Mojo (UK), 2011)” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

FEATURE: Vinyl Corner: The Breeders - Last Splash

FEATURE:

 

 

Vinyl Corner

The Breeders - Last Splash

___________

THERE are albums that you identify…

with a particular song. It might be the case that it is the best on the album or the biggest hit. When it comes to The Breeders’ Last Splash, Cannonball would be that song. One of the best tracks of the 1990s, it is the centrepiece of the album. There are many other brilliant songs to be found on the album. New Year, Saints, and Divine Hammer are all amazing tracks. The whole album is a phenomenal listen. It is no wonder it is ranked alongside the best of the decade. Released on 31st August, 1993, the band was, at first, a side-project for bassist Kim Deal (Pixies). By the time of the second album, the band soon became her main focus. The 1990 debut, Pod, is a classic. I feel Last Splash is an even better album. I would recommend people buy Last Splash on vinyl. This is what Rough Trade say about it:

“For her second full-length Breeders album, Kim Deal jettisoned Tanya Donelly, brought in her sister kelley as lead guitarist (despite the fact that she could barely play when she joined), and came up with a disc full of fun, toothsome rock, not least of which was the mammoth summer-of-'93 hit Cannonball, a celebration of mosh-pit bounce and purred innuendo. Deal's voice is coy, but the band's full of dreamy energy, rocking like her old band the Pixies without their abrasion, tomboyish rather than macho. Officially 4ad's top selling album”.

Before I round things off, it is worth bringing in a couple of reviews of the second album from the Ohio band (their fifth studio album, All Nerve, was released in 2018). In their review of Last Splash, this is what AllMusic had to say:

“Thanks to good timing and some great singles, the Breeders' second album, Last Splash, turned them into the alternative rock stars that Kim Deal's former band, the Pixies, always seemed on the verge of becoming. Joined by Deal's twin sister Kelley -- with whom Kim started the band while they were still in their teens -- the group expanded on the driving, polished sound of the Safari EP, surrounding its (plentiful) moments of brilliance with nearly as many unfinished ideas. When Last Splash is good, it's great: "Cannonball"'s instantly catchy collage of bouncy bass, rhythmic stops and starts, and singsong vocals became one of the definitive alt-pop singles of the '90s. Likewise, the sweetly sexy "Divine Hammer" and swaggering "Saints" are among the Breeders' finest moments, and deserved all of the airplay they received. Similarly, the charming twang of "Drivin' on 9," "I Just Wanna Get Along"'s spiky punk-pop, and the bittersweet "Invisible Man" added depth that recalled the eclectic turns the band took on Pod while maintaining the slick allure of Last Splash's hits. However, underdeveloped snippets such as "Roi" and "No Aloha" drag down the album's momentum, and when the band tries to stretch its range on the rambling, cryptic "Mad Lucas" and "Hag," it tends to fall flat. The addition of playful but slight instrumentals such as "S.O.S" and "Flipside" and a version of "Do You Love Me Now?" that doesn't quite match the original's appeal reflect Last Splash's overall unevenness. Still, its best moments -- and the Deal sisters' megawatt charm -- end up outweighing its inconsistencies to make it one of the alternative rock era's defining albums”.

The second review is from SPIN. When they sat down and provided some words about the incredible Last Splash, this is what they offered:  

“All is not resentment and cruel satire, of course: In their harmonizing heart of hearts, the Breeders would like you boys to like them. Live, these sisters (plus bassist Josephine Wiggs and drummer Jim MacPherson) are almost painfully unpretentious; Kim’s plain voice has my vote for the sound most likely to emit from the girl next door. They’re friendly hosts — they just don’t want to have to mutilate themselves to get you to stay. They’re willing to work, but they’re not sure you’re worth it. They’re the summer that’s “ready when you are.”

For the most part, though, Last Splash is caught up in what it means to be the subject — the voice of rock’n’roll — and what it means to be female. Like PJ Harvey’s Rid of Me, Last Splash claims the spotlight—the sun —and has no trouble commanding the stage. Confidence propels the turbodelic “New Year,” while “Hag” sweetly and resolutely affirms the pleasure of performing —even amid snarling censure (that’s the “Hag” part). Finally, the Breeders subvert their playfully slight, stylized “Do You Love Me Now” (all passive melancholy) with a warm wind of demanding aggro on the bridge. Explicit desire is one rock tool the Breeders are psyched about utilizing.

But the ingratiatingly tuneful Last Splash is also marked by deliberate incoherence. Kim’s vocals are often drowned by guitars — or distorted into garbled ravings. Songs stutter and stop, only to rise again with startling fervor. The band has included two instrumentals (one called “SOS”); another track, “Roi,” is pretty much indecipherable — a pastiche of smeared distortion, muted vocal musings, hills and valleys of volume, and a repeated hard rock signature. It’s haunting, but I have no idea what it means. What it feels like, though, is that the sisters Deal are lined up with Polly Harvey, questioning whether the rock’n’roll that’s made an outsider of their gender can be trusted to get across both their love and their dissatisfaction. The Breeders want to tear down as much as they want to move in — which leaves them sifting through the tenets of rock for those they can use, and sometimes finding themselves without a known vehicle for the stories they want to tell. Or, as Kim herself puts it lightly on “Driving on 9″: “Looking out my windowsill / Wondering if I want you still / Wondering what’s mine.” For the everygirl Breeders, the promise of summer is still up in the air”.

I will leave things there. I have been a fan of The Breeders since the 1990s. I am glad they are still going strong. One can debate which of their albums is the best. I think that honour goes to Last Splash. It is an incredible album that boasts many wonderful cuts. Go and grab it on vinyl if you can. It is a record that stands up to repeated listens and offers…

MANY treasures.

FEATURE: Spotlight: CHAI

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

CHAI

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I will bring in…

a couple of reviews for WINK in a minute. It is the new album from the rising group, CHAI. Even though the group formed in 2012, I think they are starting to produced their best work and break out worldwide. Consisting Mana, Kana, Yuuki and Yuna, the group released their debut studio album, PINK, in 2017. Formed in Nagoya, Japan, they are creating such bright and interesting Pop music. It is experimental yet accessible. There have been a couple of great interviews published this year to promote WINK. I want to look back at a couple of interviews published around the time of PUNK. I think CHAI are one of the most exciting groups around. Their blend of Pop, Rap and other styles is unique and full of nuance. They are an incredible force that are going to go on to be icons of the future. I think there is a lot of terrific Pop coming out of Japan and South Korea. It is a fertile and exciting time for music that is far less conventional than what we hear in the mainstream. The first interview that I want to bring in is from NYLON . Apart from introducing the group, we learn more about NEO-Kawaii:

“Like most women, the members of Japan's post-punk quartet known as CHAI learned very early on the supposed code of conduct for being female. For them, it boiled down to the concept of Kawaii—the term used for anything cute or adorable in their native Japan. Outside of the country, Kawaii has become a marker of Japan's prolific entertainment industry and a staple in its commercial sector, where stores and shops are often dominated by adorable, bite-sized mascots that aim to attract customers with their innocuous looks. Beyond the realm of capitalism, though, Kawaii has also inspired a restrictive social template that women in Japan are often expected to adhere to.

"Kawaii is the best compliment [for a woman] in Japan. Usually, that means long legs, small waist, skinny, pale skin, small face, big eyes. That is typically Kawaii," explains bassist Yuuki, as the band — Yuuki, drummer Yuna and sisters Kana and Mana — congregates around a computer for a Skype call on a Sunday morning. Getting ready to fly to their next tour stop with Whitney, the girls are dressed in matching outfits, makeup-free, and much too chipper for this time of morning.

"Those [Kawaii] people are on TV or more like celebrities in Japan," Yuuki continues. "It's very specific what kind of people or looks is Kawaii. Other than that, everybody [who does not fit in] is not Kawaii."

By the age of 10, the members of CHAI had realized that they fell in the latter category, and reconciling with that fact took a toll on them. "We grew up with a complex because we were not in that category," Mana explains. "But at the time we didn't know how to change."

The band has termed their resistance as NEO-Kawaii. The bedrock of their oeuvre, it's a world where the only criterion for being cute is being you. Far from the reach of the "lipsticks, treatment, highlight cheek, eye-shadow" — as goes their song "I'm Me" — NEO-Kawaii is CHAI's quasi-camp realm where you don't hide your weight, put butter on your steaks, and always feel pretty. Your complexes are your charm; they are what make you cute.

PHOTO CREDIT: Jackson Bowley for CRACK 

"Everyone has a different complex, but they all have these insecurities," Mana says. "Once we started the band, we realized that maybe this was not only us, that there were a bunch of people feeling like us. That was the point. We wanted to spread the word— you can be who you are, even if you are not in that category. You are okay. You are beautiful."

These insecurities are a universal thing. It's not only in Japan.

To the members, the visual language of this message is of the utmost importance. One would think the path to resistance is seldom paved with pink satin and flowers, but this clash between ideology and presentation is what singles NEO-Kawaii out from other acts pushing against traditional cute culture.

"The basic [idea] is the same as people who play with punk and rock: wanting something to change," says Yuuki on why the band so heavily incorporates commonplace Kawaii elements in their videos. "However, people who are not Kawaii already have a complex, which is already negative. We wanted to change the negative into the positive."

Diving into a CHAI song is, in turn, a multifaceted lesson in dismantling social systems. The traditional Kawaii elements are ever-present — endearing juvenescence, babydoll dresses, and vibrant colors, most prominently pink — but this time, they've been stripped to their bare essentials and reconstructed with a more inclusive perspective. CHAI has weaponized its native elements to become more accepting of shortcomings.

This repositioning extends into their sound, where love-letters to gyozas, body hair and catchy English phrases — a residue from the early commercialization of Kawaii — blend in with their voraciousness to never quite stick to a genre. They alternate between frenetic post-punk and sweet, slow funk, pop, and traces of R&B. Collectively, they've named this melting pot of sounds CHAI. "We want to pick the best of them and create a new way," Mana says. "A CHAI way".

I think that their latest album is their most astonishing and compelling release. I love PUNK and their debut, PINK - I would urge people to dig them out. I cannot wait to see if they come and play in the U.K. very soon. There will be a lot of demand for the Japanese group. Before getting to reviews of WINK, I want to source from an interesting interview CRACK conducted with the exciting and hugely lovable CHAI:

“The Neo-Kawaii ethos is woven through CHAI’s entire creative process, but the music video for N.E.O., from the girls’ debut album PINK, is perhaps the easiest introduction to it. It starts with a burst of fuchsia and Mana’s high-pitched vocals in all-caps on screen as she affirms: “YOU ARE SO CUTE, NICE FACE, C’MON, YEAH!” The video goes on to show details not often brought attention to – hairy chests, freckled faces, pudgy bellies.

What really drives the message home is the genuineness in which it is delivered and lived by the four girls in front of me. For CHAI, none of this is a marketing device or a disingenuous way to be perceived as “accepting”. It’s a philosophy they are living, creating and learning, both as a group and as individuals.

CHAI’s hard-to-miss image – a hyper-saturated, playful and almost cartoon-like take on girlhood – is as carefully curated by the group as their philosophy, with Yuuki at the helm illustrating their website and album covers. Today at the studio they are happy to wear what’s on offer, throwing on frilled neon dresses and metallic silver skirts, taking selfies with CHAI painted across their faces. But onstage the four-piece always rock up in matching pink outfits. The concept was initially inspired by Devo’s kitsch aesthetic, but the choice to wear them at every show goes deeper than that. “Pink is a colour that is often thought as only suitable for little girls,” says Mana, sighing. “We want to change the image of pink, to show that pink can be very cool and fashionable, not just cute.”

Their first album was named after the shade, followed by the latest, PUNK, which the band describes as “the future” of CHAI – a portrait of the band they want to be. It’s cheerful electronic rock, where swirling synths meet an undoubtedly punk rock bass and Mana’s punchy vocals. When asked if they enjoy any punk groups specifically, the band laugh. They tell me the title was chosen due to the similarity of the words, rather than a specific interest in the genre. Instead, they cite the likes of Brazilian group Cansei de Ser Sexy (CSS), tUnE-yArDs and Justice as their musical inspirations. “We like music we can dance to,” explain Kana and Yuuki animatedly. “It’s about the feeling. Not about being cool.”

CHAI’s music is a reminder that the universal experience of girlhood is not about needing to be “cool”. To them it’s about learning to love yourself as you are. For that, CHAI are the coolest girls around”.

This year has seen some phenomenal albums released. I think that WINK is among the very best. The world is becoming more aware of groups from Asia. The likes of BTS and BLACKPINK get a lot of airplay in the U.K. and U.S. CHAI are another group who put their name in bold and deliver music that is vivacious, captivating and new. Not to say western Pop is lacking in desire and surprise. I feel the most interesting variety is emanating from Asia.

The reviews for WINK have been hugely positive. In their review, this is what The Quietus had to say about a remarkable album that is jam-packed with highlights:

“But of course, the reality of that togetherness necessarily changed during the pandemic. We’ve been living through a period in which we’ve been forced to isolate, taking a step back from our innate need to be around others, all for a greater good. The pandemic, for all its draining exhaustion, has given many people time to pause and ruminate. It has meant time alone, forced to accept ourselves. Notably, it’s also a pause which has given time and space for more people to become politicised and radicalised – time to spend reading up on social justice, on solidarity. Protests have felt more galvanised than in recent years, with more and more young people reading up on solidarity and prison abolition, with a new generation becoming aware of the importance of collectivism.

It’s within this backdrop that WINK, arrives, making the case for “we” – celebrating the group and it’s listeners in equal parts. It’s their first record working with external producers, and tellingly pushes the group to a wider sonic scope than ever. It pulses with an excellent hip-hop and R&B polish, blending waves of sheen with their proclivity for brash pop and the cascading dance-y punk energy of a group like Le Tigre. Take ‘It’s Vitamin C’, which shimmies with the echoes of the dancefloor while also playing with breezy jazz hip-hop inflections.

After self-isolating last year, the group’s return has its foundations in Zoom calls and remote Garageband productions. There’s certainly an introspection presumably born out of that time at home, and the record starts off more lush, silky and laid-back than we’ve heard from them before. Take opening track, ‘Donuts Mind If I Do’, the floaty love song dedicated to baked goods (“Hello, hello, would you like any donuts, honey?”), which is sprinkled with all the effervescent, sweet lightness of a blanket of icing sugar. Or there’s the breathy, tactile ballad ‘Maybe Chocolate Chips’ – after a year at home with perhaps more time contemplating our bodies, it’s a sexy ode to moles and appreciating yourself, featuring swoon-worthy bars from Chicago rapper-singer Ric Wilson (“Your moles are what deem you special / And if he can’t see don’t settle”).

But while there’s an undercurrent of that sugary softness, sensual love and powerful femininity that permeates WINK, this is a record that’s still just as defined by the exquisite propulsion of their earlier work. There’s ‘ACTION’, which specifically channels political energy and solidarity – they’ve said the writing was inspired by the Black Lives Matter protests of last summer, and although the phrases used are arguably somewhat hackneyed (it features lines like “Action is more than words” and “Be the change you want to see”), the simplicity here is the charm. It’s a punchy, jerky call to arms that gets you pumped.

Standouts also include the brash, skittering heat of the excellent ‘END’, or the spangled game console sounds of gloriously upbeat ‘PING PONG!’. Even gentler tracks, like the Toro Y Moi-style ‘IN PINK’, featuring producer and artist extraordinaire Mndsgn, or the wobbly bass of ‘Nobody Knows We Are Fun’, have a discernible strut to them.

WINK is CHAI’s most comforting listen to date, but that doesn’t mean they’ve left behind the fun or the bold, animated bite of it all. Instead, it’s a record that builds on everything they’ve done before, understanding their strengths together as a group and then growing something more immersive and insightful from it – all while remaining deliciously joyful”.

I am keen to wrap things up in a minute. Before then, I want to source CLASH’s review of WINK and what they had to say about the Japanese group’s third studio album:

“And with the societal limitations that CHAI have emerged from, a call towards freedom seems appropriate. As with most women, across the world, CHAI have faced many a challenge due to their gender, with Japanese culture specifically leaning towards an expectation of cuteness rather than progressive creatorship and intelligence.

Exhausted by the labels they run from, but still determined to make a creative stamp on the world around them, CHAI push back. With their eccentric outfits, buoyant personalities and superb lyricism, they’re breaking down the wall brick by brick.

‘Maybe Chocolate Chips’ is a very appropriate self-love anthem, the product of YUUKI’s journey to see her moles in a different light, rejecting “beauty myths” and finding her own truth.

2020 saw them rethink a lot more than their self-perception, with the change in circumstances dually leading to a shift in production. Accessing software such as GarageBand and writing over Zoom, the four managed to thrive where others may have struggled. And with Ric Wilson, YMCK and Mndsgn coming on board, the band’s collaborative effort to produce a rebellious and determined album has been able to come to fruition.

With such a strong determination to create work that disputes any possible risk of these girls being seen in a reductive manner, WINK is used to address important issues. ‘ACTION’, a response to this “year of action” addresses the mass movement the four saw towards a more equal world, with causes like BLM taking precedent throughout 2020 and hopefully beyond.

Personal favourite, ‘END’, addresses what we’ve all being looking towards, an end. But to what? Whilst we’ve been battling with the fear of what is next, CHAI channelled their observations into an incredible production of anger and movement, exploring the idea that an end is not necessarily a negative thing. With their placement of the track, in the first half of the album, furthering this perception that an end isn’t always the end”.

If you are not aware of CHAI, then go and follow them on social media and check out their music. One does not have to be aware of J-Pop, the scene in Japan or the group’s backstory to appreciate albums like WINK. The young group are destined for very big things. I think we will see a lot more music from them. They seem to have this incredible bond and affection among them. The music is bright, bold, cutting and eye-opening. I have heard WINK a few times and I come back because it is such an engrossing listen! Spend some time to investigate…

A terrific group.

___________

Follow CHAI

PHOTO CREDIT: Motoyuki Daifu for CLASH 

Official:

https://chai-band.com/global/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/CHAIofficialJPN/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/CHAIofficialJPN

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/CHAIofficialJPN

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVieoyO8NvikN4kCG61ArPw

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/0NZsNnETGPWLKJj2Y0vpBx?si=Xx9jiy2bQOi352hpiVdQWA

FEATURE: Modern Heroines: Part Fifty-Two: Kacey Musgraves

FEATURE:

 

 

Modern Heroines

PHOTO CREDIT: Eric Ray Davidson for GQ 

Part Fifty-Two: Kacey Musgraves

___________

IN this Modern Heroines feature…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Drew Gurian/Invision/AP

I am looking at an artist I have featured a few times before. Kacey Musgraves is one of the most astonishing and versatile artists in the world. I want to pull quite heavily from a recent interview in Rolling Stone. I will also drive into reviews of her current studio album, Golden Hour ((2019), and an interview conducted around the time. Before then, a quick overview of the incredible Musgraves:

“Kacey Lee Musgraves (born August 21, 1988) is an American singer and songwriter. She has won six Grammy Awards (including the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 2019), seven Country Music Association Awards, and three Academy of Country Music Awards. Musgraves self-released three solo albums and one more as Texas Two Bits, before appearing on the fifth season of the USA Network's singing competition Nashville Star in 2007, where she placed seventh.

She later signed to Mercury Nashville in 2012 and released her critically acclaimed debut album Same Trailer Different Park in 2013. Her debut won the Grammy Award for Best Country Album. The album's lead single "Merry Go 'Round" won her the Grammy Award for Best Country Song. It also featured the platinum certified single "Follow Your Arrow" which won her the Country Music Association Award for Song of the Year. In 2015, she released her second studio album Pageant Material (2015). Her sophomore effort also received critical acclaim and a Best Country Album Grammy nomination. Musgraves also released a Christmas-themed album, A Very Kacey Christmas, in 2016.

Her fourth studio album Golden Hour (2018) was released to widespread critical acclaim and won all four of its nominated Grammy Award categories, including Album of the Year and Best Country Album. The album's first two singles, "Butterflies" and "Space Cowboy", won Best Country Solo Performance and Best Country Song, respectively. Golden Hour also won the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association Award for Album of the Year, making Musgraves only the fifth artist to win all three major Album of the Year (Grammy, CMA and ACM) awards for the same album as well as the second artist to win the Grammy, CMA, ACM and all-genre Grammy Album of the Year”.

Quite a lot has happened in Musgraves’ life since 2019. Unfortunately, her marriage to Ruston Kelly was ended last year. Quite a few songs on Golden Hour were inspired by Kelly. That said, I wanted to go back and investigate a fantastic album. Before sourcing from a couple of reviews, it is worth highlighting a few segments from an NME:

“It was also inspired by an even more elusive and intoxicating drug: love. Back when she first started writing the record in Nashville, Musgraves went along to a songwriters’ showcase at the Bluebird Cafe to see a friend and by chance caught a performance by a singer-songwriter named Ruston Kelly. The pair got to talking and a few months later he went over to her house to write a song. You can see where this is going. They married in October 2017.

Musgraves’ relationship with Kelly inspired several songs on the album, including ‘Butterflies’ and stand-out track ‘Oh, What A World’ which manages to combine the sense of falling in love with the feeling of tripping on acid. “That song started as a love letter to a person but also to humanity and nature and spirituality,” says Musgraves. “I had met the right person and I was falling in love while learning how to love myself more which gave me a more compassionate feeling towards humanity and the world.”

“Musgraves has always had a voracious musical appetite. As a child her parents played her a lot of Neil Young, which she loved just as much as the ’90s pop and R&B her friends were into. She was born on 21 August 1988, a month early – she arrived on the day of her mother’s baby shower, so has apparently always liked a party – in the aptly named town of Golden, Texas. Once known as the sweet potato capital of the state, the crop has dried up in recent years but that hasn’t stopped Golden hosting a Sweet Potato Festival every October. Musgraves played it back in 2012. “My mom is already asking me if I can make it this year,” she says, in a tone that suggests that the Golden Sweet Potato Festival doesn’t have quite the same pull as the main stage at Coachella. Sorry Mrs Musgraves.

It may have been a small town upbringing but Musgraves remembers her early years fondly. “I had a very quote-unquote ‘normal’ childhood,” she says. “We were lower middle class. My parents were small business owners and they’re still together. I have one sister, Kelly. I spent a lot of time outside. I begged my parents for a horse but I never got one. It wasn’t a super luxurious upbringing by any means, but it was happy.”

Fans of childhood dreams coming true will be pleased to know she has now finally got her horse. Meanwhile, Musgraves is self-aware enough to know that there were some parts of life that growing up in a small Texan town didn’t teach her about. “No matter where you grow up you’re kind of a product of your environment until you leave that and get a different perspective,” she says when I ask her if she’d consider parts of her upbringing ‘redneck’. “I was definitely more in that category then. I just hadn’t seen the world yet, ever. I hadn’t been around a lot of different kinds of people. I know it sounds stupid but I just hadn’t. I moved to Austin after high school and of course that’s a huge melting pot. My childhood best guy friend came out to me one day, and that made a big impression on me”.

I am keen to get to the interview from Rolling Stone. As Golden Hour is such a magnificent album, I wanted to quote a couple of reviews. This is what AllMusic had to say in their review:

“Golden Hour shimmers with the vivid colors that arrive when the sun starts to set, when familiar scenes achieve a sense of hyperreality. Such heightened emotions are a new aesthetic for Kacey Musgraves, who previously enlivened traditional country with her sly synthesis of old sounds and witty progressive lyrics. Musgraves barely winks on Golden Hour, disguising her newfound emotional candidness behind a gorgeous veneer of harmonies and synthesizers. Sonically, the album doesn't scan country. Whenever Musgraves makes an explicit nod to the past, she acknowledges the smooth grooves of yacht rock and the glitterball pulse of disco, styles that only have a tangential relationship with country but feel more welcome in a landscape where R&B and hip-hop are embraced by some of the biggest stars in country. Musgraves doesn't mine this vein, preferring a soft, blissed-out vibe to skittering rhythms and fleet rhymes. At their core, the songs on Golden Hour -- which Musgraves largely co-wrote with her co-producers Ian Fitchuk and Daniel Tashian, but also featuring Natalie Hemby, Luke Laird, and Shane McAnally, among other collaborators -- don't play with form: they are classic country constructions, simply given productions that ignore country conventions from either the present or the past. This is a fearless move, but Golden Hour is hardly confrontational. It's quietly confident, unfurling at its own leisurely gait, swaying between casual confessions and songs about faded love. The very sound of Golden Hour is seductive -- it's warm and enveloping, pitched halfway between heartbreak and healing -- but the album lingers in the mind because the songs are so sharp, buttressed by long, loping melodies and Musgraves' affectless soul-baring. Previously, her cleverness was her strong suit, but on Golden Hour she benefits from being direct, especially since this frankness anchors an album that sounds sweetly blissful, turning this record into the best kind of comfort: it soothes but is also a source of sustenance”.

The second review that I want to bring in is from The Guardian. It is wonderful to see the support and praise Golden Hour received:

“Musgraves’ 2015 follow-up, Pageant Material, was more consolidation than progression, but Golden Hour is something else entirely: an album built for crossover success. The lyrics dial down her trademark sardonic vignettes of small-town life in favour of more universal themes. She’s very good at knowingly playing with country cliches while writing about love: “I wanna show you off every evening,” she sings on Velvet Elvis, “go out with you in powder blue and tease my hair up high.” The music, meanwhile, draws not just on classic rock – it’s not a stretch to imagine Rainbow as a cut from an early 70s Elton John album, while the title track carries a distinct hint of Comes a Time-era Neil Young – but also on hazy psychedelia and Daft Punk-influenced disco-house.

The former works to impressive effect on the drowsy, vocoder-assisted Oh What a World, while the latter represents a very bold move, not least because attempts to meld country with dancefloor beats have frequently yielded some of the least disarming music in history, from Rednex’s Cotton Eye Joe to the terrifying ordeal that is Billie Jo Spears’ assault on I Will Survive. But High Horse works with a casual elan: the song is beautifully turned, nothing about its sound feels ungainly or cobbled together and there’s a lovely up-yours quality to its vocal hook, which any Top 40 pop artist would feel impelled to slather in Auto-Tune, but Musgraves sings straight.

The success of High Horse is indicative of the ease and confidence that courses through Golden Hour. Regardless of genre, you’ll be hard pushed to find a better collection of pop songs this year. Everything clicks perfectly, but the writing has an effortless air; it never sounds as if it’s trying too hard to make a commercial impact, it never cloys, and the influences never swallow the character of the artist who made it. In recent years, there have been plenty of artists who’ve clumsily tried to graft the sound of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours on to their own. On Lonely Weekend, possibly the best track here, Musgraves succeeds in capturing some of that album’s dreamy atmosphere without giving the impression that she’s striving to sound like Fleetwood Mac. It’s an album that imagines a world in which its author is the mainstream, rather than an influential outlier. It says something about its quality that, by the time it’s finished, that doesn’t seem a fanciful notion at all”.

I am going to bring this to 2021. It has been two years since Golden Hour and there is talk of a fifth studio album. I am really excited to see what Musgraves delivers next. She is a sensational artist and one that will inspire artists years from now. I am not going to drop in everything from the Rolling Stone interview. That said, there is quite a lot that caught my eye:

“It’s exactly one week after the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, and her nerves having been frayed like a rodeo rope, Kacey Musgraves is today opting for some self-care. This is how she finds herself, raven tendrils piled carelessly atop her head, pale cheeks slightly flushed, in a floral and fetching Dolce & Gabbana swimsuit and up to her armpits in steaming hot water in a private session at Nashville’s Holiday Salon & Bathhouse (“Sweat Out Your Sins,” its bumper sticker beckons, with a cheekiness that could easily find a home in a Musgraves lyric). “I just felt like starting the day off on some kind of therapeutic note,” she explains, as if — that week of all weeks — an explanation were necessary.

What happened at age nine or 10 was this: Musgraves started performing. And what was happening when she signed on for the guided trip was this: the emotional fallout from her divorce from musician Ruston Kelly, for the love of whom she had written Golden Hour. Whether those two things, the performing and the breakup, are related, who’s to say? Certainly not Musgraves, who vaguely explains that her marriage “just simply didn’t work out. It’s nothing more than that. It’s two people who love each other so much, but for so many reasons, it just didn’t work. I mean, seasons change. Our season changed.”

But there are other things she says that day that are perhaps more illuminating. For instance: “Part of me questions marriage as a whole, in general. I mean, I was open to it when it came into my life. I embraced it. I just have to tell myself I was brave to follow through on those feelings. But look at Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell. They’re doing something right.” And: “I think I live best by myself. I think it’s OK to realize that.” And: “I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting on growing up as a woman in the South and being a performer from a young age — we were told to please, to make this person happy. That has to imprint on your code. It kind of erodes boundaries. So I’m trying to examine things that may not be useful anymore and maybe unlearn some things.”

usgraves was an achiever, but not, by nature, a pleaser, which makes for an interesting combo in the Venn diagram of personality. In school, she did well enough in classes that interested her, but shamelessly blew off those that didn’t. She managed to get in trouble “just for dumb shit. I would talk back a lot or be late, just classroom disruption, always had to have the last word. I would cheat on papers. I would sneak out, get grounded. There was nothing to do in Golden, it wasn’t even worth sneaking out for.”

After high school, she moved to Austin, and then to Nashville’s east side, living in a downtrodden house below an old woman everyone called Mama Sophia, with whom she would kindly share her weed. She wrangled work as a demo-tape singer after quitting a job performing at kids’ birthdays when, she says, the kid in question turned out to be Blake Shelton. “Actually, I found out later it was Blake Shelton,” she qualifies. “But the guy was like, ‘Yeah, there’s a birthday party at the Palm restaurant and it’s a famous person, and they need a French maid to deliver balloons and sit on the birthday boy’s lap.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, no. I’m not doing that.’”

PHOTO CREDIT: Ana Cuba for FADER 

She also turned down the first record deal she was offered. By then, she’d gotten a staff position as a songwriter, and had realized that “there’s a lot to being an artist that’s pretty daunting. And you only get your first shot to say something to the world once, so it better be what you want to say.” A year or so later, however, she’d figured out what that was, having rounded up a cache of songs she didn’t want to give away to other artists. A few years after that, she was covering “No Scrubs” in London’s Royal Albert Hall, and a few years after that, she was being heralded as “the world’s preeminent country-pop starlet who can fuck up a banjo lick real good and simultaneously know who Trixie Mattel is.”

Her rise might have felt like a “Slow Burn,” as per her song with that title, but looking back she realizes that it all happened in a blur of momentum. In the unexpected months of reflection the pandemic has provided, Musgraves has been working to unblur things: the divorce, yes, but also the years of living on the road “like camping at full speed,” the decades of eroded boundaries. “I’m someone who deals with anxiety by making sure I stay busy and moving,” she says. “And I haven’t had that luxury this year. So I’ve been forced to sit with my sadness, sit with my anxiety, sit with my anger, sit with all the things that you normally can outrun.” She pauses to consider. “I think that’s kind of a beautiful thing.”

That expansive perspective sure comes in handy in the parking lot. Towel-dryed and wearing high-cut jeans and a fuzzy sort of jacket, she’s behind the wheel of her Audi and apologizing for the tumbleweed of hair left behind by her dog, Pepper, when — “Shitballs!” — she backs right into the bumper of a nearby Honda SUV. She looks at me wide-eyed, mouth in a capital “O,” the blissed-out glow of the spa eroding in nanoseconds. A scrape runs along the Honda’s bumper, one that can’t be buffed out by a spare Covid mask, try as Musgraves might. “Shit, what do I do?” she asks before sticking a note under the Honda’s wiper with a fake name, her phone number, and the promise to “make it right.” Only then does she check her own bumper, which is scraped in a similar fashion. This seems to concern her much less. “Jeez, I don’t deserve nice things,” she says wryly before gingerly pulling into the traffic circulating through Nashville’s low-slung environs.

On the way to producer Daniel Tashian’s house to work on her new album, which is set to be released this year, she explains how two days ago she was in the process of sitting with her sadness, listening to Bach’s “Komm, süßer Tod, komm selge Ruh,” when suddenly the word “tragedy” sprung to mind. This got her thinking about Greek tragedies and the classic three-act narrative, which got her thinking about her divorce and also about the state of America and also about the state of the world at large, locked down and fearful. “This last chapter of my life and this whole last year and chapter for our country — at its most simple form, it’s a tragedy,” she figured. “And then I started looking into why portraying a tragedy is actually therapeutic and why it is a form of art that has lasted for centuries. It’s because you set the scene, the audience rises to the climax of the problem with you, and then there’s resolve. There’s a feeling of resolution at the end. I was inspired by that.”

Soon she was thinking of Romeo and Juliet and the idea of being “star-crossed,” and the revelation that, of the 39 songs she’d thus far written over the course of the past few years, she could figure out which ones to use if she structured the album like a tragedy, grouping the songs into acts. Suddenly, the album that had seemed fairly nebulous began to take real shape in her mind. “It’s crazy because you have to just wait on it,” she says of that moment. “You can’t ask for it.” The conceptualization also showed her that she still needed one more song, the one that would be the “crescendo of the climax. And that’s what we’re going to play around with today,” she says, rolling the car to a stop in front of a white, brick house.

She finds Tashian and fellow producer Ian Fitchuk — the team also behind Golden Hour — in the backyard, sitting around a fire pit, near a trampoline and a plastic slide and a couple of large storage pods, out of which Tashian’s wife sells vintage books. In front of the garage, which has been converted to a studio referred to as Royal Plum, there is a tangle of pastel bikes. Placidly moving about all this is a yellow dog named Pippi.

“I just want to continue to make healthy choices for myself physically, mentally,” she says, perched on the yellow duvet. “Even when the world starts ramping up again, I want to keep the things I’ve found useful this past year.” This means riding her horse more “because that’s what makes my soul really happy,” doing more pottery, doing more journaling, especially while listening to the Johns Hopkins playlist, which is meant to evoke moments from her trip. It means trying to be OK with the fact that catharsis “is a moving target,” and that “doing the right thing just doesn’t feel right sometimes.” It means recognizing the golden hour never lasts, and that it’s always inevitably followed by night. “I’m in a night period,” Musgraves had said. “But what’s great about that is that next is another light period. It will come again.”

Musgraves doesn’t even know if she’ll tour this next album. The season when she wants to say what it will end up saying might pass, and she’s OK with that. The important thing is that she’ll have said it. “I mean, it’s a therapeutic outlet for me, you know? I can’t help but to write about what I’m going through. I want to honor the huge range of emotion that I’ve felt over this past year, past six months. I also want to honor the relationship we had and the love we have for each other. Because it’s very real.”

Next week she’ll get in the studio with Fitchuk and Tashian and keep figuring out how to do that, how to record the story of her unfolding tragedy in a way that might bring about resolution. She’ll surround herself with salt lamps and good energy and maybe some fat joints, and certainly with musicians who feel “almost like my brothers at this point.” The songs are all there, in her brain and her Voice Memos app, ready to be actualized. Just in the past day, she’d gotten the idea to have Carlos Santana play on “Star-Crossed,” and heard that he may very well be game. So much was possible. There were many paths to healing. Oh, and one more thing: The owner of the Honda had called to report that the scrape was no big deal. She doesn’t even like that car anyway”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Cass Bird for Elle

Before rounding up, Musgraves conducted an interview with Elle last week week. We learned more about her upcoming album.

“And with her upcoming music, her canny ability to connect with her listeners should only intensify. Troye Sivan, who worked with her on a remix of his song “Easy” last year, puts it best: “It feels like you have a friend when you’re listening to a Kacey Musgraves song.”

It isn’t quite right to say that her new album is the inverse of Golden Hour, which was written while she was falling in love with Kelly—the looming negative image behind those warm snapshots. When I went back and re-listened to Golden Hour, I was struck by the pathos lurking in the wings of even the most chipper songs, like a restless houseguest. “Lonely Weekend” is about missing someone who’s out of town to the point where you feel unmoored. The title track begs, “Keep me in your glow.” And “Happy & Sad” pretty much explains itself. Musgraves excels at writing about the kind of complicated emotional states that there should be a multisyllabic German word for. And sometimes, she admits, “I just make something more sad than it needs to be.

“Golden Hour was, in a lot of senses, escapism,” she adds. “It was fantasy. It was rose-colored glasses.” Its successor, she says, “is realism.” The album rejects the linearity of the moved-on, never-been-better narrative. Instead, she sings about longing for the past, recognizing that it was imperfect and craving it anyway, thinking about the possibilities of putting oneself out there again, and then politely demurring, for now. And about modern quandaries like scrolling through old pictures on your phone, examining the digital wreckage of an analog entanglement (“It’s that space where you’re like, ‘It’s too soon to delete these, but I also don’t want to look at them’ ”), and timeless ones, like trying to shape-shift into the person a partner wants you to be…

Speaking of the expectations we place on women, Musgraves has spent this time reexamining the ideas she absorbed about marriage growing up. The album finds her wondering what it means to be the right kind of wife. “I come from a family full of long marriages. My grandparents met when they were in second and third grade, and they’re still together in their eighties,” while her parents ran a small business together and sat side by side at their desks for 30 years. When she divorced, “It was hard to not feel like I was in some ways a failure,” Musgraves says, bemoaning the fact that relationships that have ended are described as “failed” or seen as shameful. After all, she says, “There’s nothing more shameful than staying somewhere where you don’t fit anymore”.

I am going to wrap it up here. I think people should check out Kacey Musgraves’ music and follow her (you can follow her on Twitter). She is one of the finest songwriters in the world. In a dark and unpredictable 2021, a new Kacey Musgraves album would…

PROVIDE a ray of sunshine.

FEATURE: Sky Fits Heaven: Madonna’s Drowned World Tour at Twenty

FEATURE:

 

 

Sky Fits Heaven

Madonna’s Drowned World Tour at Twenty

___________

IN 2021…

there are a few Madonna anniversaries to mark. Various singles and albums will/have celebrated big anniversaries. I think that marking various tour anniversaries is important, as it looks back at an important time in her career. The Drowned World Tour/Drowned World Tour 2001 is twenty this year. I think 2001 was a pivotal year in Madonna’s career. After releasing the iconic Ray of Light album in 1998 and following that with the excellent Music of 2000, she was embarking on this new phase in her career. Almost thirty years after her debut single, Everybody, was released, the Queen of Pop was still very much on the throne. I am interested in her tours and the concepts/tracks performed at each. Whilst the Drowned World Tour might not be as memorable and game-changing as The Blond Ambition World Tour (billed as Blond Ambition World Tour 90), it did bring together songs from two of her biggest albums. Although the setlists changed from night to night, a typical setlist shows what lucky crowds might have experienced on one of the nights. I think that the Drowned World Tour is really important. I will drop in a couple of videos to  give a sense of what audiences witnessed during that run. I shall go on to an important date that fell during the tour that could have disrupted it hugely. Before that, some background regarding a hugely popular Madonna tour:

“The Drowned World Tour (billed as Drowned World Tour 2001) was the fifth concert tour by American singer-songwriter Madonna in support of her seventh and eighth studio albums Ray of Light (1998) and Music (2000), respectively. The tour began on June 9, 2001 in Barcelona, Spain and ended in Los Angeles, California on September 15 of the same year. It was her first tour in eight years, following The Girlie Show in 1993. The tour was supposed to start in 1999, but was delayed until 2001 as Madonna gave birth to her son, married Guy Ritchie, was working on Music, and was busy filming The Next Best Thing. When the tour was decided, Madonna appointed Jamie King as choreographer and the tour was planned in a short timespan of three months, including signing up the dancers, musicians and technicians. Designer Jean-Paul Gaultier was the costume designer who designed the costumes in such way that they indicated different phases of Madonna's career. The poster and logo for the tour included references to Kabbalah, which Madonna studied.

The show was divided into five segments, namely Cyber-Punk, Geisha, Cowgirl, Spanish, and Ghetto. The setlist consisted mainly of songs from the last two studio albums released at that point, with 4 songs from previous albums added. The first segment displayed high-energy performances with Madonna wearing a kilt and dominatrix-style costumes. In the geisha segment performances Madonna wore a kimono and later performed airborne martial arts. Acoustic songs were performed in the country segment which featured Madonna in cowboy costumes. The Latin segment featured flamenco dancing and the last segment featured ghetto-themed performances. Drowned World Tour was critically appreciated from contemporary critics who complimented her ability to re-invent continuously.

This article gives you more information regarding a tour that was meant to start in 1999 - The tour was supposed to start in then, but was delayed until 2001 as Madonna gave birth to her son, got married to Guy Ritchie, was working on Music, and was busy filming The Next Best Thing. Whilst Madonna went around the world and received great reviews, the terrorist attacks on 11th September must have come as a huge shock. I think about artists who were touring at that time and how they must have felt. She postponed her 11th September date, though the 13th September date was very emotional:

“On September 13 2001, Madonna resumed the final string of dates on her Drowned World Tour after having postponed the September 11th show due to the terrorist attacks in New York. She donated the proceeds from her second Los Angeles concert on the 13th to benefit children who were orphaned following the tragic attacks that killed thousands of parents.

Several changes were made to soften some of the show’s violent theatrics for the final three shows: at the end of the Geisha segment she was lowered from the stage with her arm around the dancer’s shoulder instead of shooting him; her kilt in the opening section was changed to an American flag design; she did not perform The Funny Song but instead took the opportunity to share some more serious thoughts with the audience.

Madonna told the crowd at the Staples Center:

“Any of you who purchased a ticket to the show tonight will be contributing to a fund that will be for children orphaned by this tragedy, so thank you all. Now on a personal note I think that each and every one of us should look inside our own hearts and examine our own personal acts of terrorism, hatred, intolerance, negativity, the list goes on and on, we’re all responsible. If you are homophobic or racist or hate, you contributed to this disaster. It’s not just Bin Laden, it’s all of us, we’ve all contributed to hatred in the world today. And I would like to have one minute of silence to say a prayer for those who have died; to say a prayer for the friends and families of those who have died; to say a prayer for the rescuers who have worked night and day to rescue people from the rubble. And most of all say a prayer for anyone who thinks that it is right to kill in the name of God. Where there is violence, there is no God. Let’s have a moment of silence. Hold hands with those around you. Or stay still and reflect.”

A minute of silence followed before Madonna launched into Secret, which she prefaced by adding:

“One more thing–if you want to change the world, you must first start with yourself!”.

I will end with a review from one of the nights from The New York Times. It seemed like it was pretty stirring and striking being in the audience and witnessing the Drowned World Tour:

“It has been a long time since Madonna styled herself as a ''boy toy''; now everyone, boy or girl, is her plaything. What comes through her songs is an adamant determination. While her music still seeks to please pop ears, Madonna has long since given up flirting. And if she's narcissistic, her narcissism is backed up by the fact that people have been watching her for all those years.

The concert was a set of angry kiss-offs (''Human Nature''), non- apologies (''Nobody's Perfect''), nightmares (''Mer Girl,'' by far Madonna's strangest song), self-help manifestoes (''Frozen'') and metaphysics (''Ray of Light,'' in which she flies faster than light).

''What It Feels Like for a Girl,'' Madonna's quasi-feminist statement, turned up twice: first as a near-instrumental with Japanese anime cartoons showing a girl pursued, trapped and sexually abused, and later sung in Spanish with a pumping electronic beat.

Madonna has, as always, been diligent. Her voice sounded fuller and smoother than on previous tours, and she confidently exposed it in the ballads ''You'll See'' and ''I Deserve It,'' post-breakup songs that insist she'll recover. She picked up a guitar every so often, playing a punk girl at one point and a country gal (singing a ditty about cannibalism with a put-on Southern drawl) later. And while she danced more sparingly than she has in previous tours, she still made herself an object of authority and desire.

The female dancers and the two female backup singers often came forward to share Madonna's steps. The male dancers, however, followed her slavishly, throwing themselves at her only to be spurned. At one point, they were suspended high overhead by their feet, arduously curling themselves upward only to fall back again.

Through it all, Madonna made a display of arrogance, tossing off profanities, striking tough postures and glaring more often than she smiled. She represents self-love backed by plenty of gym time and a whole troupe of devoted flunkies -- enough to delight an audience she only seems to disdain. ''Music makes the people come together,'' she sang in the finale -- together, that is, if Madonna is in charge”.

I will leave it there. I think it is important to mark big anniversaries concerning iconic artists. Having not seen the Drowned World Tour myself, I have watched videos and seen photos and have got a sense of the atmosphere and drama. Aside from the horror of the terrorist attacks in September – that would have moved Madonna hugely -, it was a huge success. Even though the tour was restricted to North America and Europe (Madonna skipped Canada), all dates of sold out within minutes of going on sale. There were reports that the Drowned World Tour earned $76.8 million from forty-seven summer sold-out shows and eventually played in front of 730,000 people throughout North America and Europe, averaging at $1.6 million ($2.34 million in 2020 dollars per show. Drowned World Tour became the highest-grossing concert tour of 2001 by a solo artist, as well as the fourth highest-grossing among all, behind U2, N Sync and the Backstreet Boys (thanks to Wikipedia for that information). On 9th June, many Madonna fans around the world will mark twenty years…

SINCE one of the most-successful tours ever started.

FEATURE: A Case of You: Joni Mitchell’s Blue at Fifty

FEATURE:

 

 

A Case of You

Joni Mitchell’s Blue at Fifty

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I will put out a few features…

regarding Joni Mitchell’s Blue. Her iconic and genius album turns fifty on 22nd June. I would urge people to investigate the personnel, background and information regarding the album as it is fascinating. Arriving a year after the phenomenal Ladies of the Canyon, Blue took Mitchell’s work to a new level. I am going to bring in a couple of features/reviews in a bit. First, a little overview regarding a masterful album:

“Blue is the fourth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, released on June 22, 1971, by Reprise Records. Written and produced entirely by Mitchell, it was recorded in 1971 at A&M Studios in Hollywood, California. Created just after her breakup with Graham Nash, and during an intense relationship with James Taylor, Blue explores various facets of relationships from infatuation on "A Case of You" to insecurity on "This Flight Tonight". The songs feature simple accompaniments on piano, guitar and Appalachian dulcimer. The album peaked at number 3 on the UK Albums Chart, number 9 on the Canadian RPM Albums Chart and number 15 on the Blllboard 200.

Today, Blue is generally regarded by music critics as one of the greatest albums of all time; the way Mitchell's songwriting, compositions and voice all work together are frequent areas of praise. In January 2000, The New York Times chose Blue as one of the 25 albums that represented "turning points and pinnacles in 20th-century popular music". In 2020, Blue was rated the third greatest album of all time in Rolling Stone's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time", the highest entry by a female artist. It was also voted number 24 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000). In July 2017, Blue was chosen by NPR as the greatest album of all time made by a woman”.

I feel each of the ten tracks are flawless. With their own sound and story, there is a lot of variety on the album. Whilst the acoustic guitar, to me, is the dominant instrument, I think that the compositions are rich and wide-ranging. I have heard some call Blue a simple Folk album. There is something more soulful and eclectic to be found. Perfectly sequenced so we open with the gorgeous All I Want, with the title track in the middle of the pack, and working up to the finale, The Last Time I Saw Richard, everyone has their favourites. I might do a tracks ranking in a future feature. If I had to select three tracks from the album that are my favourite, I would pick Carey, Blue and A Case of You. Before getting to an extensive and interesting review from Rolling Stone, this feature in Americana UK caught my eye. They discuss (among other things) the inspiration behind the tracks:

“The songs on ‘Blue’ were largely inspired by various relationships Mitchell had seen crumble in the years before she laid down said album; Graham Nash – of Crosby & Stills fame – was one such relationship, inspiring ‘My Old Man’ and ‘River’, while her romance with James Taylor saw her writing ‘This Flight Tonight’, ‘All I Want’, and the titular ‘Blue’. The songs ‘Carey’ and ‘California’ came together during Mitchell’s trip through Europe in the spring of 1970, the former of the two based around a holiday romance she had in Greece. The remaining three songs that make up the collection (‘All I Want’, ‘The Last Time I Saw Richard’ and ‘Little Green’) were composed a few years earlier but didn’t end up being recorded until 1970 with the rest of the tracks.

One of the beautiful things about the album is how distinct each song feels, their stories unique and captivating; to try and pour over each of these would require something of almost novel length, so instead we’ll stick to a few of the most compelling tracks – even if that’s a very difficult selection to make.

The background on aforementioned ‘Little Green’ is fascinating: Mitchell wrote the song in 1966, expressing the feelings she had upon placing her daughter up for adoption the previous year. She had fallen pregnant at age 20 while attending art college, and with abortion not an option, had decided that to give the child up was the only choice she had left (she concealed her pregnancy as best she could because, as she would later reflect, the shame cast upon young, unmarried and pregnant women was immense: “You have no idea what the stigma was. It was like you murdered somebody,” she said). After the birth, she was kept in the hospital for almost two weeks due to complications, which meant she had time to forge a bond with her daughter, and thus decided to rush into a marriage of convenience to keep her. The marriage (to the man it is largely accepted was the inspiration behind the last track on ‘Blue’, ‘The Last Time I Saw Richard’) fell apart within a month and ultimately, Mitchell felt she had no choice but to give up her child. “Born with the moon in Cancer / Choose her a name she will answer to / Call her green and the winters cannot fade her / Call her green for the children who’ve made her / Little green, be a gypsy dancer,” she sings heartbreakingly to the gentle strum of an acoustic guitar of the girl that she named Kelly (hence the reference to green with its kelly hue). The story has a happy ending of sorts in that Mitchell was finally reunited with her daughter in 1997.

The album’s title track features a suitably haunting piano melody to accompany lyrics that touch on the subject of dark depression. “You know I’ve been to sea before / Crown and anchor me / Or let me sail away,” Mitchell begs with depression not to consume her. “Well, there’s so many sinking now / You gotta keep thinking / You can make it through these waves / Acid, booze, and ass / Needles, guns, and grass / Lots of laughs,” she offers with scorn on the bridge, seeing the hollowness of what relief these pursuits offer. “Blue, I love you,” she eventually admits, coming to terms with a sadness that will forever haunt her.

‘River’ is a bonafide classic, having been recorded by other artists some 400 plus times – mostly for Christmas albums and compilations. While the song itself isn’t about the festive season, it does open with the immortal lines, “It’s coming on Christmas / They’re cutting down trees / They’re putting up reindeer / And singing songs of joy and peace,” which, along with the twinkling piano work throughout and its echoes of ‘Jingle Bells’, invokes feelings of the winter solstice. This is no cheery tale however; instead it sees Mitchell wishing to escape the emotional ties of a bad relationship that has recently ended. “I wish I had a river so long / I would teach my feet to fly / Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on / I made my baby cry,” she tells us longingly on the chorus.

While ‘A Case of You’ may not receive as many official recordings by other artists as ‘River’ (or her most re-recorded song ‘Both Sides Now’), it has become a standard for a certain type of singer-songwriter; one who enjoys a picture painted with words in a way few other artists could ever manage. In fact, a better opening chorus surely does not exist: “Just before our love got lost you said / “I am as constant as a northern star” / And I said, “Constantly in the darkness / Where’s that at? / If you want me I’ll be in the bar”,” Mitchell sings with a weary resentment. “On the back of a cartoon coaster,” she continues, “In the blue TV screen light / I drew a map of Canada / Oh, Canada / With your face sketched on it twice.”

While ‘Blue’ may be almost 50 years old, it has a timeless quality, and the influences it has had on some of the greatest singer-songwriters that have emerged this millennium are easy to hear. One such artist is Brandi Carlile, who in October 2019 performed the entirety of ‘Blue’. Before the performance, Carlile summed up the legacy of Mitchell about as perfectly as can be done: “We didn’t live in the time of Shakespeare, Rembrandt or Beethoven,” she said, “but we live in the time of Joni Mitchell”.

There will be a lot of celebration and focus ahead of the fiftieth anniversary of Blue. I am keen to go deep and investigate some of the tracks closely. Mitchell recently gave a rare interview. In my opinion, we will hear new music from her in years to come. I wonder what she thinks of Blue now and whether it is an album that she recalls and cherishes. Whilst a lot of the emotion and rawness of Blue suggests that it was quite a hard album to write and sing, there is so much beauty and grace. Before I wrap up, I wanted to draw in a review from Rolling Stone (from, I think, 1971):

“The last time I saw Joni Mitchell perform was a year and a half ago at Boston's Symphony Hall, in one of her final appearances before she forswore the concert circuit for good. Fragile, giggly and shy, she had the most obvious case of nerves I have ever seen in a professional singer. Her ringing soprano cracked with stage fright and her frightened eyes refused to make contact with the audience. It wasn't until well into the second half of the concert that she settled down and began to enjoy herself; even then it seemed clear that she would have preferred a much smaller audience perhaps a cat by a fireside.

Joni Mitchell's singing, her songwriting, her whole presence give off a feeling of vulnerability that one seldom encounters even in the most arty reaches of the music business. In "For Free," her one song about songwriting, she declared that she sang "for fortune and those velvet curtain calls." But she long ago renounced the curtain calls; and her songs, like James Taylor's, are only incidentally commercial: Her primary purpose is to create something meaningful out of the random moments of pain and pleasure in her life.

IN THIS PHOTO: James Taylor and Joni Mitchell, 1971/PHOTO CREDIT: Joel Bernstein 

In the course of Joni's career, her singing style has remained the same but her basically autobiographical approach to lyrics has grown increasingly explicit. The curious mixture of realism and romance that characterized Joni Mitchell and Clouds (with their sort of "instant traditional" style, so reminiscent of Childe ballads) gradually gave way to the more contemporary pop music modern language of Ladies of the Canyon. Gone now was the occasionally excessive feyness of "Rows and rows of angel hair/And ice cream castles in the air"; in their place was an album that contained six very unromanticized accounts of troubled encounters with men.

Like Ladies, Blue is loaded with specific references to the recent past; it is less picturesque and old-fashioned sounding than Joni's first two albums. It is also the most focused album: Blue is not only a mood and a kind of music, it is also Joni's name for her paramour. The fact that half the songs on the album are about him give it a unity which Ladies lacked. In fact, they are the chief source of strength of this very powerful album.

Several of the lesser cuts on Blue give every indication of having sat in Joni's trunk for some time. The folkie melody of "Little Green" recalls "I Don't Know Where I Stand" from her second album. The pretty, "poetic" lyric is dressed up in such cryptic references that it passeth all understanding. "The Last Time I Saw Richard" is a memoir of Joni's "dark cafe days," cluttered with insignificant detail and reminiscent of the least memorable autobiographical songs on Ladies. "River" is an extended mea culpa that reeks of self-pity ("I'm so hard to handle/I'm so selfish and so sad/Now I've lost the best baby/That I ever had"). Joni's ponderous piano accompaniment verges on a parody of Laura Nyro, especially the melodramatic intro, which is "Jingle Bells" in a minor key. The best of this lot is "My Old Man," a lovely, conventional ballad.

These songs have little or nothing to do with the main theme of the album; developed in the remaining songs, which is the chronicle of Joni, a free lance romantic, searching for a permanent love. She announces this theme in the first line of the first cut, "All I Want": "I am on a lonely road and I am traveling/Looking for something to set me free."

The lonely road has taken her through a series of places in the past–from Chelsea to Sisotowbell Lane, from Laurel Canyon to Woodstock–and she had followed it in pursuit of the settled, long term happiness that has always eluded her. "All I Want" is a manifesto for that happiness; Joni has found a new lover and she bombards him with a list of her desires, piling them up in a quick succession of rhymes:

I want to talk to you, I want to shampoo you

I want to renew you again and again

Applause, applause–life is our cause

When I think of your kisses, my mind see-saws

The accompaniment–James Taylor and Joni strumming a nervous, Latin-flavored guitar part over a bass heartbeat that throbs throughout the song–perfectly expresses Joni's excitement and anticipation. So does the melody, a dipping, soaring affair which she sings in her sweetest soprano.

"All I Want," though it begins the album, marks the end of the long holiday journey described in "Carey" and "California." Both songs have the syncopated, Latin touch that characterizes the best cuts on the album. "Carey," a calypso about dalliance on Crete, had a definite festival flavor, but with a twist at the end: "The wind is in from Africa/Last night I couldn't sleep/Oh, you know it sure is hard to leave here but it's really not my home."

"California" jumps along in short bursts, the lyrics giving snapshots of Joni's European itinerary. Then comes the flowing chorus with its hint of tango, its plaintive pedal steel guitar and its homesick refrain: "Oh, it gets so lonely/When you're walking and the streets are full of strangers." The song is a model of subtle production; James Taylor's twitchy guitar and Russ Kunkel's superb, barely detectable high-hat and bass-pedal work give it just the right amount of propulsion.

In "This Flight Tonight," "A Case of You," and "Blue," Joni comes to terms with the reality that loneliness is not simply the result of prolonged traveling; the basic problem is that her lover will not give her all she wants. In "This Flight Tonight," Joni has walked out on her man, is flying West on a jet, and now regrets the decision. The lyrics, a clumsy attempt at stream of consciousness, are virtually unsingable and Joni's lyric soprano is hopelessly at odds with the rock and roll tune. But the chorus has just the wispiest trace of Bo Diddley and it sticks with you:

Oh Starbright, starbright

You've got the lovin' that I like, all right

Turn this crazy bird around

I shouldn't have got on this flight tonight.

In "A Case of You," James repeats the same dotted guitar riff he played in "California," only the melody here is slow, stately and almost hymnlike. The song is neatly divided in its ambivalence: each verse is about a setback to the affair, followed by a chorus in which Joni affirms: "But you are in my blood like holy wine." In comparing love to communion, Joni defines explicitly the underlying theme of Blue: for her love has become a religious quest, and surrendering to loneliness a sin.

It is only a short step from that to Joni's vow that she will walk through hell-fire to follow her man: "Well everybody's saying/That hell's the hippest way to go/Well I don't think so/But I'm gonna look around it though/Blue I love you." This is "Blue," the last cut on the first side but clearly the album's final statement, the bottom of the slope downward from the euphoria of "All I Want." For all its personal revelation, "All I Want" still sounds like a beautiful pop tune; "Blue," on the other hand, has the secret, ineffably sad feeling of a Billie Holliday song. Joy, after all, can be shared with everybody, but intense pain leads to withdrawal and isolation.

"Blue" is a distillation of pain and is therefore the most private of Joni's private songs. She wrote it for nobody but herself and her lover:

Blue here is a shell for you

Inside you'll hear a sigh

A foggy lullaby

There is your song from me.

The beauty of the mysterious and unresolved melody and the expressiveness of the vocal make this song accessible to a general audience. But "Blue," more than any of the other songs, shows Joni to be twice vulnerable: not only is she in pain as a private person, but her calling as an artist commands her to express her despair musically and reveal to an audience of record-buyers:

And yet, despite the title song. Blue is overall the freest, brightest, most cheerfully rhythmic album Joni has yet released. But the change in mood does not mean that Joni's commitment to her own very personal naturalistic style has diminished. More than ever, Joni risks using details that might be construed as trivial in order to paint a vivid self portrait. She refuses to mask her real face behind imagery, as her fellow autobiographers James Taylor and Cat Stevens sometimes do.

In portraying herself so starkly, she has risked the ridiculous to achieve the sublime. The results though are seldom ridiculous; on Blue she has matched her popular music skills with the purity and honesty of what was once called folk music and through the blend she has given us some of the most beautiful moments in recent popular music. (RS 88)”.

I especially love that review. 1971 was a great year for music. Marvin Gaye released the seismic What’s Going On in May. I feel that and Blue are the finest albums of the year. On Blue, we get something both naked and oblique. I feel Mitchell’s lyrics are at their peak, and I also love her emotional vocal range and how she delivers the songs. I am not sure who said it, but someone said that every song on Blue could be made into a tattoo. Such is the quotability and poetic brilliance of the lyrics, so many lines connect with people around the world! It is amazing how a personal album can be appreciated and understood by so many others. I would advise people to put some money aside and buy Blue on vinyl after its anniversary. As The Quietus reported, Mitchell’s first four studio albums are coming out in a boxset:

“Joni Mitchell's first four albums are to be reissued in a 4xLP box set this June.

The Reprise Albums (1968-1971) features newly remastered versions of Song To A Seagull, Clouds’, Ladies Of The Canyon and Blue, with each album split across two sides of vinyl. A previously unseen self-portrait that Mitchell drew sometime in the period of working on the albums features on the release's cover.

The release coincides with the 50th anniversary of Blue, one of Mitchell's best-loved albums, and it marks the latest instalment in Mitchell's ongoing series of archival releases.

Rhino Records will release The Reprise Albums (1968-1971) on June 25, 2021”.

I have been fascinated with Blue ever since I first heard of it as a child.  I love the album now, and I don’t think it has been matched in terms of its impact and brilliance. I am interested to see how the world reacts to fifty years of Blue and how many people discover it for the first time. If you have not heard the album then make sure…

YOU do so now.

FEATURE: Ranking Tracks from Kate Bush’s Albums… Never for Ever

FEATURE:

 

 

Ranking Tracks from Kate Bush’s Albums…

Never for Ever

___________

I am pretty sure…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush at the 1980 British Rock and Pop Awards/PHOTO CREDIT: Mirrorpix/Getty Images

I will cover off The Red Shoes and The Sensual World before wrapping up this series – one where I look at Kate Bush studio albums and rank the tracks on them. I have not done it yet, so I thought it would be a good idea. I love her albums and feel they deserve a complete listen, though I also admire individual tracks and think there are some that shine above others. Bush’s third studio album, Never for Ever, was released in 1980 and came a year (less) after The Tour of Life (where Bush performed around the U.K. and Europe). I would advise people to get the album on vinyl. Before ranking its eleven tracks, here is some information from the Kate Bush Encyclopaedia:

“Third album by Kate Bush, released by EMI Records on 5 September 1980. The album was produced by Kate Bush and Jon Kelly and recorded between September 1979 and May 1980. All the songs were written and composed by Kate.

Critical reception

The album was favourably received by music critics at the time, save for a curiously critical review in Record Mirror: "...one of the most empty dull packets of poop one could ever hope to avoid". Soundswas equally critical: "This album has been a long time in the making, but I'm not sure that this is always a good thing." Melody Maker was more enthusiastic: "Any doubts that this is the best Bush album yet are finally obliterated by the inspired unorthodoxy of the production. I had to look to see if Steve Lillywhite wasn't at the controls - it's that clean and fresh".

Now, after all this waiting it is here. It's strange when I think back to the first album. I thought it would never feel as new or as special again. This one has proved me wrong. It's been the most exciting. Its name is Never For Ever, and I've called it this because I've tried to make it reflective of all that happens to you and me. Life, love, hate, we are all transient. All things pass, neither good [n]or evil lasts. So we must tell our hearts that it is "never for ever", and be happy that it's like that!

The album cover has been beautifully created by Nick Price (you may remember that he designed the front of the Tour programme). On the cover of Never For Ever Nick takes us on an intricate journey of our emotions: inside gets outside, as we flood people and things with our desires and problems. These black and white thoughts, these bats and doves, freeze-framed in flight, swoop into the album and out of your hi-fis. Then it's for you to bring them to life. (Kate Bush Club newsletter, September 1980)”.

_____________

11. Violin

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

Performances

'Violin' was premiered during the Tour of Life, when it was performed as the eighth song of the first act. At the end of 1979, Kate performed 'Violin' during the Christmas Special, after which she never performed the song again.

Kate about 'Violin'

'Violin' is for all the mad fiddlers from 'Paganini' to 'Old Nick' himself. (Kate Bush Club newsletter, September 1980)” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia 

10. Egypt

“Song written by Kate Bush. She described the song as 'an attempted audial animation of the romantic and realistic visions of a country'. The song was premiered during the Christmas Special in 1979 and released on the album Never For Ever in 1980.

'Egypt' is an attempted audial animation of the romantic and realistic visions of a country. (Kate Bush Club newsletter, September 1980)

 The song is very much about someone who has not gone there thinking about Egypt, going: "Oh, Egypt! It's so romantic... the pyramids!" Then in the breaks, there's meant to be the reality of Egypt, the conflict. It's meant to be how blindly we see some things - "Oh, what a beautiful world", you know, when there's shit and sewers all around you. (Kris Needs, Fire in the Bush. Zigzag (UK), 1980)

Drums, percussion: Preston Heyman

Electric bass: Del Palmer

Fender Rhodes, Minimoog: Max Middleton

Strumento de Porco, Backing vocals: Paddy Bush

Prophet 5: Mike Moran” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

9. Night Scented Stock

“Song written by Kate Bush. Not to be confused with the flower of the same name, 'Night Scented Stock' is an instrumental song consisting entirely of layered vocals. On the album Never For Ever, it leads into the next song, Army Dreamers.

Cover versions

'Night Scented Stock' was covered by Göteborgs Symfoniker and Marie Haddad. It was also sampled in the track 'Les Enfants du Paradis' by Loopzone” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

8. Blow Away (For Bill)

“Song written by Kate Bush. It was dedicated to Bill Duffield. The phrase 'Put out the Light, then put out the light' comes from Shakespeare's Othello, in the scene just before Othello kills Desdemona. The song mentions the names of deceased musicians, in the following order: Minnie Riperton, Keith Moon, Sid Vicious, Buddy Holly and Sandy Denny.

'Blow Away' is a comfort for the fear of dying and for those of us who believe that music is perhaps an exception to the 'Never For Ever' rule. (Kate Bush Club newsletter, September 1980)

 So there's comfort for the guy in my band, as when he dies, he'll go "Hi, Jimi!" It's very tongue-in-cheek, but it's a great thought that if a musician dies, his soul will join all the other musicians and a poet will join all the Dylan Thomases and all that.

 None of those people [who have had near-death experiences] are frightened by death anymore. It's almost something they're looking forward to. All of us have such a deep fear of death. It's the ultimate unknown, at the same time it's our ultimate purpose. That's what we're here for. So I thought this thing about the death-fear. I like to think I'm coming to terms with it, and other people are too. The song was really written after someone very special died.

Although the song had been formulating before and had to be written as a comfort to those people who are afraid of dying, there was also this idea of the music, energies in us that aren't physical: art, the love in people. It can't die, because where does it go? It seems really that music could carry on in radio form, radio waves... There are people who swear they can pick up symphonies from Chopin, Schubert. We're really transient, everything to do with us is transient, except for these non-physical things that we don't even control... (Kris Needs, 'Lassie'. Zigzag (UK), November 1985)” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

7. The Infant Kiss

“Song written by Kate Bush. It was inspired by the gothic horror movie The Innocents, which in turn was inspired by Henry James' novel 'The Turn Of The Screw'. The story is about a governess who believes the ghost of her predecessor's dead lover is trying to possess the bodies of the children she is looking after. The song was released on the album Never For Ever.

Versions

There are two versions of this song: the original album version and a French version, entitled Un Baiser d'Enfant, released two years later.

'The Infant Kiss' is about a governess. She is torn between the love of an adult man and child who are within the same body. (Kate Bush Club newsletter, September 1980)” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

6. All We Ever Look For

“Song written by Kate Bush. The Fairlight is used on this track to great effect, with many sound samples being played back. At one point, a group of Hare Krishna followers is singing the 'Maha Mantra', with Kate using a tiny part of a line from this mantra: "(Hare) Krishna, Hare Krishna, (Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare)", presumably to represent the chorus immediately following the sound clips: "a God", followed by birdsong ("A Drug") and then finally applause ("A Hug"). The song was released on the album Never For Ever.

'All We Ever Look For' is about how we seek something but in the wrong way or at wrong times so it is never found. (Kate Bush Club newsletter, September 1980)

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

5. Delius (Song of Summer)

“Song written by Kate Bush as a tribute to the English composer Frederick Delius. The song was inspired by Ken Russell's film Song of Summer, made for the BBC's programme Omnibus, which Kate had watched when she was ten years old. In his twenties, Delius contracted syphilis. When he became wheelchair bound as he became older, a young English admirer Eric Fenby volunteered his services as unpaid amanuensis. Between 1928 and 1933 he took down his compositions from dictation, and helping him revise earlier works.The song was released on the album Never For Ever and as the B-side of the single Army Dreamers.

Music video

A music video for 'Delius' exists, which was shown on television at least twice: during a Dr. Hook television special on 7 April 1980 and during the Russell Harty Show on 25 November 1980. The setting is a quiet, lazy English riverbank filled with reeds and grass. By the bank is a wheelchair-ridden old man, his body covered by a throw-rug, his head obscured by a large yellow disk resembling a sun. This figure presents an image of Delius much like the one which was depicted in the BBC television film  by Ken Russell. Gliding along on the river is a young swan-girl, represented by Kate in a gossamer white gown with wings” – Kate Bush Encyclopedialike

4. Army Dreamers

“Song written by Kate Bush. The song is about the effects of war and about a mother who grieves for her young adult son, who was killed on military manoeuvres. Saddened by his unnecessary death, she wrestles with her guilt over what she could have done to prevent it. The song was originally released on the album Never For Ever, and as a single soon thereafter.

The song was blacklisted during the Gulf War in 1991 – joining a list of 67 songs simultaneously banned from BBC airplay, including The Beatles, Frank Sinatra, ABBA and Queen

It's the first song I've ever written in the studio. It's not specifically about Ireland, it's just putting the case of a mother in these circumstances, how incredibly sad it is for her. How she feels she should have been able to prevent it. If she'd bought him a guitar when he asked for one. (Colin Irwin, 'Paranoia And Passion Of The Kate Inside'. Melody Maker (UK), 10 October 1980)

 The song is about a mother who lost her son overseas. It doesn't matter how he died, but he didn't die in action - it was an accident. I wanted the mother to be a very simple woman who's obviously got a lot of work to do. She's full of remorse, but he has to carry on, living in a dream. Most of us live in a dream. (Week-long diary, Flexipop, 1980)

 No, it's not personal. It's just a mother grieving and observing the waste. A boy with no O-levels, say, who might have [??? Line missing!] whatever. But he's nothing to do, no way to express himself. So he joins the army. He's trapped. So many die, often in accidents. I'm not slagging off the army, because it's good for certain people. But there are a lot of people in it who shouldn't be. (Derek Jewell, 'How To Write Songs And Influence People'. Sunday Times (UK), 5 October 1980)” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

3. Breathing

“Song written by Kate Bush. Originally released as the lead single from Kate's third album Never For Ever. The lyrics of the song are about a foetus, very much aware of what is going on outside the womb and frightened by nuclear fallout, which implies that the song is set either during a nuclear war scare or a post-apocalyptic birth. The lyrics also refer to the foetus absorbing nicotine from the mother's smoking. In an interview that year Bush described the song as her "little symphony", adding that she considered it her best work to date. Bush stated that the information within the song mostly came from a documentary she had seen about the effects of nuclear war, while the tone of the song was inspired by Pink Floyd's 'The Wall'. The song was recorded over three days in early 1980.

It's about a baby still in the mother's womb at the time of a nuclear fallout, but it's more of a spiritual being. It has all its senses: sight, smell, touch, taste and hearing, and it knows what is going on outside the mother's womb, and yet it wants desperately to carry on living, as we all do of course. Nuclear fallout is something we're all aware of, and worried about happening in our lives, and it's something we should all take time to think about. We're all innocent, none of us deserve to be blown up. (Deanne Pearson, 'The Me Inside'. Smash Hits (UK), May 1980)

 When I wrote the song, it was from such a personal viewpoint. It was just through having heard a thing for years without it ever having got through to me. 'Til the moment it hit me, I hadn't really been moved. Then I suddenly realised the whole devastation and disgusting arrogance of it all. Trying to destroy something that we've not created - the earth. The only thing we are is a breathing mechanism: everything is breathing. Without it we're just nothing. All we've got is our lives, and I was worried that when people heard it they were going to think, 'She's exploiting commercially this terribly real thing.' I was very worried that people weren't going to take me from my emotional standpoint rather than the commercial one. But they did, which is great. I was worried that people wouldn't want to worry about it because it's so real. I was also worried that it was too negative, but I do feel that there is hope in the whole thing, just for the fact that it's a message from the future. It's not from now, it's from a spirit that may exist in the future, a non-existent spiritual embryo who sees all and who's been round time and time again so they know what the world's all about. This time they don't want to come out, because they know they're not going to live. It's almost like the mother's stomach is a big window that's like a cinema screen, and they're seeing all this terrible chaos. (Kris Needs, 'Fire In The Bush'. Zigzag (UK), 1980)” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

2. The Wedding List

“Song written by Kate Bush. The song was inspired by a François Truffaut's film called The Bride Wore Black ('La Mariée était en noir'). It tells of a groom who is accidentally murdered on the day of his wedding by a group of five people who shoot at him from a window. The bride succeeds in tracking down each one of the five and kills them in a row, including the last one who happens to be in jail.

The song was premiered during the Christmas Special in 1979. The studio recording was released on Kate's third album, Never For Ever, a little over eight months later.

Revenge is so powerful and futile in the situation in the song. Instead of just one person being killed, it's three: her husband, the guy who did it - who was right on top of the wedding list with the silver plates - and her, because when she's done it, there's nothing left. All her ambition and purpose has all gone into that one guy. She's dead, there's nothing there. (Kris Needs, 'Fire in the Bush'. Zigzag, 1980)

 Revenge is a terrible power, and the idea is to show that it's so strong that even at such a tragic time it's all she can think about. I find the whole aggression of human beings fascinating - how we are suddenly whipped up to such an extent that we can't see anything except that. Did you see the film Deathwish, and the way the audience reacted every time a mugger got shot? Terrible - though I cheered, myself. (Mike Nicholls, 'Among The Bushes'. Record Mirror, 1980) – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

1. Babooshka

“Kate performed 'Babooshka' in various European programmes, including Collaro (France), Countdown (Netherlands) and Rock Pop (Germany). Her performance of the song in a Dr. Hook television special remains the first, and is memorable for the costume she is wearing: on her the right side she resembles a staid Victorian lady in mourning dress; on the left side a glittering, liberated young woman in a silvery jumpsuit, with bright lightning-streaks painted down the left side of her face. Her figure is lit so that only the "repressed" side of her costume is visible during the verses of the song, and mainly the "free" side during the choruses.

Apparently it is grandmother, it's also a headdress that people wear. But when I wrote the song it was just a name that literally came into my mind, I've presumed I've got it from a fairy story I'd read when I was a child. And after having written the song a series of incredible coincidences happened where I'd turned on the television and there was Donald Swan singing about Babooshka. So I thought, "Well, there's got to be someone who's actually called Babooshka." So I was looking through Radio Times and there, another coincidence, there was an opera called Babooshka. Apparently she was the lady that the three kings went to see because the star stopped over her house and they thought "Jesus is in there".' So they went in and he wasn't. And they wouldn't let her come with them to find the baby and she spent the rest of her life looking for him and she never found him. And also a friend of mine had a cat called Babooshka. So these really extraordinary things that kept coming up when in fact it was just a name that came into my head at the time purely because it fitted. (Peter Powell interview, Radio 1 (UK), 11 October 1980)

I love the melody line of the bass guitar on this song. We got through a lot of boxes of broken crockery to get the right sound at the end - the canteen ladies were not impressed.

It was really a theme that has fascinated me for some time. It's based on a theme that is often used in folk songs, which is where the wife of the husband begins to feel that perhaps he's not faithful. And there's no real strength in her feelings, it's just more or less paranoia suspicions, and so she starts thinking that she's going to test him, just to see if he's faithful. So what she does is she gets herself a pseudonym, which happens to be Babooshka, and she sends him a letter. And he responds very well to the letter, because as he reads it, he recognises the wife that he had a couple of years ago, who was happy, in the letter. And so he likes it, and she decides to take it even further and get a meeting together to see how he reacts to this Babooshka lady instead of her. When he meets her, again because she is so similar to his wife, the one that he loves, he's very attracted to her. Of course she is very annoyed and the break in the song is just throwing the restaurant at him...  (...) The whole idea of the song is really the futility and the stupidness of humans and how by our own thinking, spinning around in our own ideas we come up with completely paranoid facts. So in her situation she was in fact suspicious of a man who was doing nothing wrong, he loved her very much indeed. Through her own suspicions and evil thoughts she's really ruining the relationship. (Countdown Australia, 1980)” – Kate Bush Encyclopaedia

FEATURE: No Expectations: Belle and Sebastian’s Tigermilk at Twenty-Five

FEATURE:

 

 

No Expectations

Belle and Sebastian’s Tigermilk at Twenty-Five

___________

A lot of great albums from 1996…

are celebrating twenty-five years in 2021. I have already covered the Manic Street Preachers’ Everything Must Go (which was twenty-five on 20th May). Today, I want to look ahead to the anniversary of Belle and Sebastian’s Tigermilk on 6th June. Led by the incredible Stuart Murdoch and with some brilliant instrumentation (especially superb cello from Isobel Campbell), Tigermilk is an album that I heard when it came out in 1996, but I have connected with quite hard recently. I want to bring in a couple of reviews for an album that I would advise people to get. Before coming to the reviews, Stereogum ran an anniversary feature in 2016 to mark twenty years. The story behind the album and the way the band released Tigermilk is fascinating:

“Belle And Sebastian released Tigermilk, their first album, 20 years ago today, but I didn’t hear it then. Neither did you. Neither did practically anyone. The band self-released the album, limiting it 1,000 copies. This wasn’t because they figured only 1,000 people would want to hear these songs. Even as modest as they may have been, Stuart Murdoch and his co-conspirators must’ve known they had something here. Tigermilk isn’t some basement four-track recording; it’s a set of lush, orchestrated, fully realized old-school pop songs, all recorded in full and lovely clarity. Rather, Tigermilk, at least on some level, was part of Murdoch’s grand plan. It could’ve been a happy accident — a bunch of Murdoch’s songs, recorded with a group of near-strangers, for a music-business class. But Murdoch liked how bands like the Smiths always had some mysterious unheard records haunting collectors’ shelves. He was into the idea that a band could have some vast shadow history lingering somewhere. So he went about manufacturing one for himself. That’s Tigermilk. Murdoch didn’t want anyone to hear the thing — at least, not immediately. He wanted it to be out there as some impossible-to-find curio, one that might exist only in fourth-generation dubs passed around fan communities. At this point, Murdoch was in the business of world-building. Tigermilk was background material.

But if you did happen to be one of those weird lucky randoms who got to hear Tigermilk before it turned into an object of cultish covetousness, you got to hear something special. Even from the beginning, Murdoch was as gifted at writing songs as he was at developing his own mystique, which is really saying something. This band was only a few months away from hitting on something like perfection and releasing the absolutely deathless If You’re Feeling Sinister. But they were already just about fully formed, capable of putting together these lush and layered songs on what I have to imagine was a shoestring budget. While scrappy immediacy was still basic indie rock currency, Murdoch and his friends were working with synths and trumpets and strings and expertly reverbed oldies-radio guitars. “The State I’m In” remains one of the band’s most perfect songs, and they must’ve known that, since they recycled it on the Dog On Wheels EP a year later. And plenty of other Tigermilk tracks belong on that list: “Expectations,” “I Don’t Love Anyone,” “My Wandering Days Are Over.”

There was some context for what Belle And Sebastian were doing on this album. The band’s native Glasgow, after all, was the site of a miserablist underground scene that was only just starting to take shape. And it was also home to twee pioneers like the Pastels and the Vaselines, both of whom, you’d have to imagine, were key influences. The Smiths clearly loomed large for Murdoch, as did the first couple of Nick Drake albums. But nobody else was putting these influences together in the same way that Belle And Sebastian were early on, and Tigermilk must’ve sounded absolutely alien to anyone who heard it cold. Here we had a classically gifted songwriter cranking out these hooky, bittersweet odes to misfits, all wispily sung and precisely worded and made to sound like they were recorded at Abbey Road, with a full orchestra on deck. How does a group of total unknowns record an album like this? And how do they put it out to only a thousand people in the world? Frankly, I’m still at a bit of a loss to figure it out.

The band hadn’t quite locked down their aesthetic on Tigermilk. There are a few moments that aren’t quite fully realized yet, like the watery synthpop of “Electronic Renaissance” or the ever-so-slight garage-rock bite of “You’re Just A Baby.” But this is still an example of something rare and mysterious: a band figuring out its craft and its sound in the shadows, and still coming close to perfection. They’d come even closer with Sinister, the album that ended up exploding skulls on both sides of the Atlantic. But taken on its own merits, Tigermilk remains a minor miracle, a piece of precise beauty that, if you hear it at the right time in your life, sounds like it was made completely for you personally”.

With such an incredibly quick recording turnaround, one might think Tigermilk is an album that could come off as slight and lacking in nuance. Instead, the debut album from the Scottish band is incredibly deep, layered and memorable. Their tenth studio album, Days of the Bagnold Summer, was released in 2019 and it is a real corker. I love that their debut, as it started on such modest ground and has grown into this classic. In their review, Pitchfork offered the following:

“Tigermilk also leaves room for a bit of self-mythologizing. Murdoch wrote “My Wandering Days Are Over” after meeting Campbell, and the lyrics contain direct references to Campbell’s job serving drinks to tired businessmen at a piano bar, as well as “the story of Sebastian and Belle the singer.” The moment when Murdoch sings, “I said, ‘My one-man band is over/I hit the drum for the final time and I walked away,’” it’s as if Belle and Sebastian becomes no longer his solo project but a true unit.

After two days of mixing, all that was left to decide was an album title and artwork. Murdoch settled on a photo he had taken of a then-girlfriend, Joanne Kenney, naked in a bathtub pretending to nurse a stuffed tiger. Claiming inspiration from venerable jazz label Blue Note but more often compared to their melancholic UK poet-laureate predecessors the Smiths, Murdoch presented the image in monochrome, a tradition that, with a few exceptions, has carried across Belle and Sebastian’s discography. With its mix of sensuality and childlike whimsy, the shot could hardly have been more strikingly appropriate, and the title, Tigermilk, naturally followed.

Electric Honey manufactured only 1,000 vinyl copies. At Tigermilk’s release party, attendees threw the records like Frisbees. At least one was spotted at a shop the next day. Murdoch continued his job at the church; Campbell’s bartending days weren’t over. The album received just a single review on its initial release, with Scottish arts magazine The List favorably opining, “Let’s hope Belle and Sebastian reach the size of audience they have the potential to seduce.”

But the students at the music business course remembered to send the record to BBC DJs John Peel and Mark Radcliffe, who began to champion the group. The mystique of Tigermilk spread when Belle and Sebastian released their masterpiece If You’re Feeling Sinister later in 1996 via London indie Jeepster, with U.S. distribution via now-defunct imprint The Enclave. They dropped three more EPs, including the demo with the original “The State I Am In,” and a third album, The Boy With the Arab Strap, which brought Campbell and Jackson to the fore on vocals for the first time, before Tigermilk finally received its first widespread release, in 1999. By then, copies of the original vinyl were selling for as much as £850; cassette dubs circulated, but few people could’ve heard the album.

From the beginning, in January 1996, Murdoch had written in response to an offer from Jeepster of his desire to “draw in my audience, instead of bombasting them.” Because the band was averse to interviews, traditional publicity photos, or touring, it’s appealing to think that fans had to find out about Belle and Sebastian for themselves, through word of mouth, hearing them on the radio, or in my case, downloading “The State I Am In” in my first week of college after hearing a classmate name-check them as her favorite band. No music exists in a vacuum, of course—purposefully mysterious 21st-century acts from Burial to Jungle can attest how a lack of information can sometimes be a media angle in its own right—but Belle and Sebastian left space for the already-formidable songs on Tigermilk to grow into listeners’ lives.

When it was made, the album was a pointedly melodic, anti-machismo rejoinder to Britpop’s increasingly lunkheaded swagger and the post-grunge bluster of American alt-rock radio. “There’s no sex in your violence,” Gavin Rossdale grunted on Bush’s “Everything Zen”; “There must be a reason for all the looks we gave/And all the things we never said before,” Murdoch chirps atop a hand-clappy T. Rex stomp on “You’re Just a Baby.” Tigermilk was also a worthy successor to the “oppose all rock’n’roll” ethos of early UK punks Subway Sect, the droll yearning of Glasgow indie pioneers Orange Juice, and the confrontational tenderness of Kurt Cobain’s beloved K Records. By the time of Tigermilk’s 1999 re-release, critics either sneered or swooned accordingly. “Do you want to know how much I hate them? Even their name raises my blood pressure,” a mid-tier Scottish pop singer told The Guardian, amid juvenile complaints about “wussiness.” In those lad-mag, anti-“P.C.” years, it was still acceptable for an otherwise-approving Rolling Stone review to use the disparaging slang term “swish” (Pitchfork’s gonzo original assessment was also positive).

These days, Tigermilk’s radicalism may be harder to perceive, but it’s no less essential. In recent decades, as Belle and Sebastian have became reluctant elder statesmen of a twee movement in music and film, the early caricatures of them have also spread—a 2015 review on this website cast them as “the most sensitive band in indie rock, patron saints for daydreaming boys and girls”—but to buy into that overlooks the depth in these songs. As keyboardist Chris Geddes felt forced to complain to the NME as far back as 1997, “We’re human beings, not sensitivity machines.” And while the notion of male un-macho-ness has been hijacked by a basket of deplorables I’d rather not talk about here, you need look no further than the White House to know what type of man is still truly in power in 2020. Tigermilk might not preach revolution; with its low-key insistence on the notion of art as a source of personal epiphany, it feels revolutionary nevertheless”.

Go and listen to Tigermilk if you have not heard it before. I am sure we will hear songs shared from it ahead of its twenty-fifth anniversary. In a year where there were a lot of big and hyped albums put into the world, Belle and Sebastian’s introduction was completely lacking in festival and commercialism. I think that the album is such a tremendous and moving listen. The fact we are talking about it all these years later shows that it doesn’t matter how many copies you press and how much promotion you do – the quality of the material will shine through and survive. When they assessed Tigermilk, AllMusic observed the following:

“Recorded quickly and cheaply as the first album from Electric Honey, the in-house record label from Glasgow's Stow College's music business program, Belle and Sebastian's 1996 debut, Tigermilk, is a rare record in many respects. Initially, it was simply scarce, limited to a run of 1,000 and not re-released until 1999, by which time Belle and Sebastian were established as one of the great indie pop sensations of the late '90s. It is also rare in the sense that not many indie records are made with assistance from a university, but Tigermilk is rarest in how it captures a band that seems simultaneously fledgling and fully formed. Certainly, Tigermilk bears its share of rough edges -- the subjects linger in adolescence, the compositions aren't as sophisticated as what would arrive just a short time later, "Electronic Renaissance" is the kind of lo-fi synth pastiche bands need to get out of their system in their first year -- but they're splinters on a distinctive aesthetic forged by singer/songwriter Stuart Murdoch. His wry delivery and plummy voice, along with his predilection for delicate folk, disguises his toughness. Tigermilk may be gentle on the surface, but Murdoch's strength is evident in his sardonic storytelling and sturdy craftsmanship, the very things that wound up being the foundation of Belle and Sebastian's career. They're in full flower on Tigermilk, surfacing on tunes throughout the album, but crystallizing on the skipping "She's Losing It," rushed "Expectations," '60s throwback "I Could Be Dreaming," and, especially, "The State I Am In," a masterful melodrama that points toward the richness of If You're Feeling Sinister, which arrived just a few months later. Those are the moments when Belle and Sebastian feel preternaturally gifted, seeming to know precisely who they were right out of the gate”.

I shall leave it there. I wanted to mark twenty-five years of Tigermilk before 6th June. The incredible Belle and Sebastian are still going strong. Whilst their sound has grown and their fanbase has swelled, I think that their debut album ranks alongside their best work. In a huge year for music, one could have been forgiven for overlooking Tigermilk. It has earned such a reputation and legacy that many might not have expected twenty-five years ago. It is a phenomenal album that is…

HARD to ignore.

TRACK REVIEW: black midi - Marlene Dietrich

TRACK REVIEW:

 

 

black midi

PHOTO CREDIT: Matilda Hill-Jenkins for Loud and Quiet

Marlene Dietrich

9.7/10

The track, Marlene Dietrich, is available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-GM18LE1lA

GENRES:

Progressive-Rock/Jazz/Avant-Garde

ORIGIN:

London, U.K.

The album, Cavalcade, is available via:

https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/black-midi/cavalcade

RELEASE DATE:

28th May, 2021

LABEL:

Rough Trade

PRODUCERS:

Black Midi/John ‘Spud’ Murphy/Marta Salogni

TRACKLISTING:

John L

Marlene Dietrich

Chondromalacia Patella

Slow

Diamond Stuff

Dethroned

Hogwash and Balderdash

Ascending Forth

__________

IT is quite right that many…

are showing so much love for black midi right now. Their second album, Cavalcade, is receiving rave reviews for its originality and hugely impressive sound. It is a different thing compared to their 2019 debut, Schlagenheim. At eight tracks, their new album has concision and no waste. Each song is different and, when you listen to what they are producing, there is so much inventiveness and magic in their music. I am going to get down to reviewing a track from the album a bit later. Before that, I think it is worth providing some black midi background. I am also keen to look back at their debut and the sense of expectation and reception it received – I will work my way forward and get to Cavalcade after that. If you have not heard of the band, then black midi are an English rock band from London, formed in 2017. The band consists of Geordie Greep (vocals, guitar), Matt Kwasniewski-Kelvin (vocals, guitar), Cameron Picton (vocals, bass guitar, synths) and Morgan Simpson (drums). An interview from The New York Times this month gives us some introduction:

“Band members cited copious musical influences. Simpson, 22, had been playing drums in his Pentecostal church since he was 4 years old, learning all the flexibility and drive that comes with live gospel music. Picton, 21, started as a guitarist but had a revelation listening to Motown bass lines. Greep, 21, absorbed his father’s record collection — progressive-rock, classical music, country — but was also fascinated by the whiz-bang impact of scores for cartoons.

black midi honed its music with regular gigs at the Windmill, a pub in Brixton with a reputation for nurturing innovative bands. The group still touches down at the Windmill — most recently with a 2020 Christmastime benefit webcast to support the club through the pandemic. For that concert, black midi merged with Black Country, New Road — billed as Black Midi, New Road — to perform Christmas carols, Minimalistic improvisations and, well, “Born to Run”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Martin Goodwin for The Guardian

I remember the buzz surrounding black midi back in 2019. Before they put out their debut album, so many people were discussing their music and bigging them up as a band to watch very closely. Certainly, when you hear what they produce, it is very different to anyone/anything else. Not quite Rock, (their music) draws in Jazz, Experimental and so many other sounds. Quoting from Interview Magazine, and we get a sense of how the band formed and the sort of reception afforded them in 2019:

“Black midi began honing their sound shortly after they met at BRIT School, a performing arts school that has seen the likes of Adele, Amy Winehouse, and FKA twigs pass through its doors. There, its members, Geordie Greep, Morgan Simpson, Matt Kwasniewski-Kelvin, and Cameron Picton, were encouraged to experiment and improvise. That perfectly imperfect sound can be heard on their debut record, Schlagenheim, which also stands as a perfect encapsulation of the four-piece’s frenetic live show. “It’s like Russian roulette,” says Greep of playing in front of an audience. “It could be the best show you’ve ever done, or it could be absolutely terrible. The main thing is that you can’t have any expectations.”

Zero expectations is how black midi are approaching their future. So far, they’ve shunned attempts at trying to contextualize their music, especially when they’re asked if their bleakly abstract sound might be a response to Brexit. “If that’s the comparison people want to draw, then that’s cool, but for us, it’s just about music,” says Greep. “It says more about the person describing it than the band. In that way, we’re an inkblot test”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Bella Howard for The New York Times

Although there is modesty and that feeling that there is no pressure on the shoulders of black midi, I do feel like there was a real wave of affection for them. They definitely had people interested and curious as to what Schlagenheim would sound like. The album has such an improvisational feel. One wonders how it all formed in the studio. Returning to that interview from The New York Times, we get a sense of what the studio setup was:

“The band carved its early songs out of ideas that arose in collective jam sessions and were reshaped by relentless touring. Material that would end up on its debut album reached a worldwide audience on YouTube with a set filmed for the Seattle public-radio station KEXP during the Iceland Airwaves Festival in 2018. For “Schlagenheim,” black midi expanded its lineup in the studio, using synthesizers and guest horn players, refusing to be confined by what its members could perform onstage. Still, the album clearly captured the band’s manic energy.

When black midi performed “Bmbmbm” on television for the Mercury Prize in 2019, Kwasniewski-Kelvin leapt and tumbled across the stage. The group went on a later tour without him, substituting BRIT schoolmates on saxophone and keyboards. In January 2021, Kwasniewski-Kelvin announced that he was taking a hiatus from the band because he was “mentally unwell.” Although he shares some composer credits on “Cavalcade,” he is not heard on the album, reducing the band to three core members. “It’s a personal situation he’s getting through,” Greep said. “We’ll see what happens”.

I think, to contextualise and better explain Cavalcade, one needs to look back at Schlagenheim in order to compare and evaluate. Definitely, black midi have changed their studio habits and songwriting since that debut. Before that, I want to stick on the band’s formation and their earliest days. Coming to an interview from CRACK of 2019. It makes for interesting reading:

“Initially starting life as “two-hour ambient jams” between Geordie and Matt, the band recruited Morgan behind the kit in their final year at Brit School. A school show was part of a world music assignment that saw them take on Neu!’s krautrock jam Hero. “We must have taken up about half the show,” recalls Matt, “because we made it 15 minutes long. I wasn’t even playing guitar in that one, just smashing a cymbal,” he shrugs.

From there, things freewheeled. Geordie sent emails around to “every venue [he] could think of” in search of a gig. He only one got reply: The Windmill in Brixton. At that point, they realised they needed a bassist. “We only had one rehearsal with Cameron on that day,” Geordie remembers of that first show, in June last year. “But hey, it went alright!” After that, the group began playing at The Windmill with increasing regularity, tightening the screws of that live show and building a word-of-mouth following in lieu of any recorded tracks or social media presence. Months later, an NTS Radio session unexpectedly popped up on YouTube, gathering views like wildfire, crowds clamouring for scraps of information on a band by then dubbed by fellow Londoners Shame as ‘the best band in London’.

PHOTO CREDIT: Titouan Massé 

If it all seemed mysterious, that wasn’t the intention. “People cottoned on quite quickly and we didn’t have much money,” shrugs Cameron of those quiet early months, not even a demo to their name. “And we really were just starting out, as well,” picks up Morgan. “Every little thing is a bonus. We’re not getting ahead of ourselves at all. It’s just one thing at a time.” From there, they were snapped up by producer Dan Carey, a man with a knack for drawing the wonderful out of British indie’s weirdest offerings. “He came up to us after a show and was like, ‘I want to record that one – boom, boom, boom’,” recalls Geordie. That then-nameless track subsequently took on an onomatopoeic description, the lolloping, blues-meets-a-helium-balloon of bmbmbm becoming Black Midi’s debut single.

Now, the group are back in with Carey, working on a debut album. Sessions are going “really well,” Geordie says, reticent to offer up much more. There have been setbacks along the way – a big-time London show at Electrowerkz was nearly derailed by an exploding amp, he explains – but given their ever-mutating state, they’ve learnt from every bump in the road. It lends that debut an unknowable edge. It’s a first-work that could take Black Midi’s sound anywhere.

“If you’re setting out to be a thing, you’re already pigeonholing yourself,” shrugs Morgan. It’s a totally open approach to creativity which feels core to Black Midi’s being. Every show they play finds them morphing further still; no two sets are ever the same. It’s that – more than hype, mystery, or any other buzzword – that makes Black Midi such a beguiling prospect. “We don’t want to be the same in two months, or four months or six months,” says Morgan, looking to the future, before pulling out a word surely no-one would use to describe his band: “We don’t want to get… complacent”.

I think, with the hype that surrounding them from the debut album, there were misconceptions and false labels applied to black midi. It must be quite hard for any band to misconstrued or defined falsely. On that point, the band spoke with Loud and Quiet. The banner headline of the interview sort of says it all: “The industry scrambled over an unlikely hype band just pleasing themselves with awkward sounds”:

“They’re an unusual bunch in conversation. Simpson and Greep do the majority of the talking, and their manner contrasts sharply, the former relaxed and effusive, the latter rather more intense, prone to a withering stare or a monosyllabic answer when my questions don’t interest him. He’s a puzzling presence throughout, steely-eyed and detached, yet not unfriendly. At one point during the interview he produces a packet of obscurely-named biscuits from somewhere within his long, Cossack-style overcoat, and offers them to me sweetly. I politely decline, slightly wrongfooted by his sudden shift in character, to the visible amusement of his bandmates.

I suspect that this slight oddness, the occasional incongruities between the four band members, has only added to their secretive reputation. I ask whether they’ve actively cultivated that air of mystery, and whether they like the label now that it’s been attached to them.

“No, and no,” asserts Picton sharply.

Simpson expands. “It basically just came from one article. We never set out to be hard to find. I guess the whole mystery thing is the lack of activity on social media, but that’s not a lack of anything – we’re posting what people wanna see, just the information that’s needed.” It’s true: look at their social media presence, and it is fairly sparse, but they do share all their live dates and link to where their music is available online. They’re not hiding anything.

“But yeah, that NME article, saying we’re mysterious, was one of the first things that was written about us, so it set the tone for what followed,” says Simpson. “But it’s just made up.”

Picton laughs wearily. “That article was funny as well, cos they were like, ‘the band have no recorded music whatsoever, you can’t hear them anywhere’, and then at the bottom it linked to the NTS session, which then linked to three other tracks that you could’ve listened to at the time. They were all studio quality too – it was a live recording, but it was in a proper recording studio”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Edwina Hay

It is amazing to think that, with two incredible albums under their belt now, there was a sense of modesty or caution around Schlagenheim. I guess it is dangerous blowing one’s own trumpet so early – lest the band be seen as arrogant or there is schadenfreude if they fall. Staying with that Loud and Quiet interview, the band did talk about their feelings and expectations for their debut:

“As I wrap up the interview, we discuss what comes next for the band, once this album is released. In a good-humoured way, they’re a little evasive, keeping their cards close to their chest.

“Hopefully it’ll sell a million copies,” Greep says, his deadpan tone inscrutable as ever. After all, it’s unlikely that a band as challenging as Black Midi will truly break through to the arena-level mainstream, but their rise has been meteoric so far; stranger things have happened. “Then we’ll retire and chill out.”

“We’ll all go and live all over the world and rehearse like twice a year,” suggests Picton. “Make an album out of that and put it out whether it’s shit or not.”

Simpson is a little more sincere. “An album is literally just a snapshot of an artist at that time. Up til the release of the album, that’s been our sound. Hopefully in two years’ time, it’ll be different.”

“As long as it keeps changing, we’ll keep going,” agrees Greep. “Don’t wanna be zombies playing the hits”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Matilda Hill-Jenkins for Loud and Quiet 

I shall shift things forward to Cavalcade. I suppose, like so many other artists, black midi did not want to repeat themselves on their second album. Whereas they were a new band in 2019 and there wasn’t a lot to suggest what a debut album would sound like, by the time this year rolled around, so many knew about black midi and what they are about. I feel it is useful introducing some background regarding Cavalcade:

“Black Midi began writing music for a new album in late 2019, not long after the release of their debut studio album, Schlagenheim, in June of that year. The band chose to have a less improvisational approach to writing their second studio album, in contrast to Schlagenheim which was crafted around jam sessions. Guitarist Geordie Greep said of the process, "People seemed to really like the debut album but after a while we all became pretty bored with it...So, it was like: this time let's make something that is actually good." Prior to the recording sessions for the album, guitarist Matt Kwasniewski-Kelvin took a break from the band, citing a need to focus on his mental health; he took part in the writing sessions for Cavalcade, however. Saxophonist Kaidi Akinnibi and keyboardist Seth Evans, who were a part of Black Midi's recent touring lineup, were a part of the album recording sessions. The band first recorded "John L", the opening track, with Marta Salogni in London.v Afterward, they recorded the rest of the album with John "Spud" Murphy at Hellfire Studios in Dublin during the summer of 2020”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Stas May for Interview Magazine

One of the most notable evolutions between the two albums is that black midi have adopted a broader sound palette this time around. I shall come onto the fact that the songwriting and recording is more structured (and less improvisational). One reason Cavalcade is receiving such praise is that black midi are venturing into new territory. The interview from The New York Times tips on this:

“On its second album, “Cavalcade,” arriving Friday, black midi broadens its music even further. The band pushes its dynamics to new extremes, juxtaposing bristling cacophony with sparsity and quietude, while Greep and Cameron Picton, the band’s bassist, sing about societal and physical decay along with the chance that music holds hope. The album even offers one straightforwardly melodic song: “Marlene Dietrich,” a bossa-nova-tinged ballad about the familiarity of pop as a sanctuary in a world of strife. “Cavalcade” is the work of a band that’s determined to defy all routines, including its own”.

There is a great interview from Vanity Fair that I want to reference very soon. The band have such a wide range of sounds and artists they admire. In terms of their listening habits, it is so varied and eclectic. Perhaps Schlagenheim didn’t truly reflect that:

“According to the members of the group, who spoke to Vanity Fair on a Zoom call from their London practice space earlier this month, the biggest change is that they actually composed the songs this time around. “On the first album, most of the songs were more textural than, you know, traditional or whatever. They were more, someone plays a riff and then let’s all play on top of each other and make cool sounds,” Greep said. For Cavalcade, they wrote partly through jam sessions but also by individually bringing in ideas for songs in the more traditional sense. “The whole thing with this album was just making it a lot more melodic but also making the crazy bits a lot more crazy. Making it crazy in both directions—more accessible moments, and more tangible, but also more insane, more crazy, more funny”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Sacha Lecca for Rolling Stone 

On Cavalcade, the humor and insanity is both lyrical and experiential. The record begins with “John L,” a practically scary onslaught of crunching horns, guttural vocals, and clattering percussion, which fades directly into “Marlene Dietrich,” a hazy crooner that could fit in on a.m. radio. Those stylistic veers of flight and surprises persist throughout. “It’s more of a roller coaster,” said Picton.

Bassist Picton, sporting a mop-top of curls and red-painted fingernails, said he did read a handful of reviews for Schlagenheim and thought they didn’t do a great job of capturing the breadth of the band’s listening habits. They don’t only listen to noise rock, for example, and aren’t particularly obsessed with the genre’s history. “I think it's just funny when people say, like, ‘Oh, yeah, these guys are definitely influenced by X band,’” he said. “But then it’s just a band that we’ve never heard of. It’s some random American band that was a regional success, and we’ve never heard of it in our entire lives, and the only people that like it are nerds on weird corners of the internet.” (So what do they listen to? “A banger is a banger,” Picton quipped.)

It might seem a little strange that a couple of talented teenagers could tap into exactly what keeps rock nerds hunting through the archives without necessarily realizing it, but their explanation is two-fold. The band met at the BRIT School, the government-funded music school known primarily for producing pop stars like Adele and Jessie J and for the profound influence its well-trained musicians have had on the British record industry at large.

PHOTO CREDIT: Neale Haynes for The Times

I really like Schlagenheim, though one feels that it could have been slightly tighter and edited. It didn’t quite have that concession that one would hope. Maybe this is natural for a band who had so much energy and such a rich sound. Cavalcade sees them address that in spectacular fashion. The band spoke with THE FACE about the changes adopted for their new album. Concision is very much at the heart:

“All of those disparate influences come to bear on Cavalcade, where the speed-prog of Chondromalacia Patela settles into an indie-jazz groove presided over by Greep, who’s now singing like a choirboy chansonnier before some Actual Headbanging takes the musical reins. It’s like every aspect of Scott Walker’s four-decade career in 290 action-packed seconds.

As the vocalist says, ​“the idea [moving on] from the last album to this album was to go further in both directions: have the crazy bits be crazier, and also have the more melodic, consonant bits be more accessible, or poppier or whatever. And just to have that wider dynamic. And, yeah, the sense of space, or have some room sometimes.”

Also, be concise. Eight tracks will do it, and if one of them, Hogwash and Balderdash is only two-and-half minutes, so be it. Because black midi years are like dog years – they pack a lot in. Or, as Simpson, says: ​“It’s all about intent, isn’t it? You don’t want to do a half-arsed version of a 12-minute song and it be OK. Do a five- or six-minute version and make it really, really good”.

With some streamlining and changes comes an album that is more structured. That is not to say that black midi has become tame or conventional – they are still very much as odd and unique as they always were! Whereas improvisation was God back in the Schlagenheim era, there has been a conversion. We learn more about that in this interview from The Quietus:

“The band that once seemed evangelical about the infinite power and possibilities of improvisation have now ditched it in favour of structured songwriting. The forced downtime of the pandemic brought about a much-needed break and reflective pause period for them. “It was a welcome change because things had been so hectic,” says drummer Morgan Simpson. “For a few years we hadn't had the time to be in a space together for a few weeks to try and create something new. So we fell into patterns of jamming and rehearsing but the productivity levels weren't as high because it was hard to get in the zone when you knew you had a 5am flight to catch.”

Greep: “If you're playing and touring all the time you get into a sense of wanting to have some control over things and not wanting to do anything wrong,” he says. “When you get into a situation with unlimited time, you really start to think about what you want to do in music, to ask what kind of music you want to make, and then realising how many times you have actually thought about that and been honest about it. So we were making a conscious effort to change the music.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Yis Kid 

The move away from improvising is less of a leap than some may think, the band say. “The whole notion of being an improvisational band was pushed a bit harder than was actually the case,” says Simpson, with bassist Cameron Picton adding, “People pick up on certain aspects of your story and you don't really have much in the way of control over what gets picked up on.” Greep also echoes this. “That was the story, like we’re this band who make it all up as they go along, the whole album you can hear them thinking it up as they play it, all the words are made up on the spot and stuff”.

At moments on the record the band sound unrecognisable from their previous incarnation. “The songs now have proper chord sequences and there's actually melody,” says Greep. “We had a bit of that on the last album but a lot of the time if you have monolithic songs that are just burning away with effects over the top you can't really sing in a melodic way. So my voice in this style lends itself a lot better to these songs.”

Picton contributes as the writer and singer of two tracks. There’s the lush, hypnotic and deeply textural ‘Diamond Stuff’ that sounds almost slowcore-like in its starkness. The antithesis to this is ‘Slow’, which would be more aptly titled as ‘Raging Jazzcore Fury’. Across the album there’s still plenty of the band’s usual taut, intense, guitar work that marries no wave ferocity with prog proficiency, but it’s where those songs lead that results in such a constantly surprising listen. There are moments of real tender beauty on the album that will have those who hated the band’s earlier work wondering what the hell is going on but just before you’re sucked into a more serene and pretty world, things explode and confound once more. As you’ll hear on 'Chondromalacia Patela' which sways from a gentle jazz-tinged post rock groove into an eruptive force that sounds a bit like if Swans and Magma joined forces”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Yis Kid for CRACK

I do want to focus on a few sonic inspirations behind Cavalcade. I mentioned earlier how Schlagenheim did not quite incorporate all of black midi’s musical tastes. Stereogum spoke with the band. I have selected a few of the band’s choices regarding influences on Cavalcade:

“As musically dense as Cavalcade is, it’s also got a lot of different ideas colliding. Black Midi were tight-lipped about the meanings and themes of the songs on Schlagenheim, but from the jump they introduced Cavalcade as a multi-faceted, festering series of characters and scenes. A lot of different inspirations went into that. Ahead of Cavalcade‘s release, the current members of Black Midi — Greep, Cameron Picton, and Morgan Simpson — called us to talk about what they were reading, watching, or listening to when concocting the contorted, vivid world of Cavalcade. The band approached this a specific way: Each member chose three of their own influences, and then all three selected one they collectively held close. Read below to hear some of the stories and thoughts that made Cavalcade what it is.

Igor Stravinsky’s “Cantata” And Olivier Messiaen’s Saint François d’Assise Opera

GREEP: When I was young, my parents used to play Stravinsky’s music a lot. When I was 12 or 13, there was a music teacher I really, really liked at school. We got along really well and he showed me all these cool types of music. I thought, “This guy is a great man.” Then he left and he was replaced by quite an old, cranky teacher. Someone I didn’t respect very much. I thought, “This old guy, he’s not all that.” A lot of time with my original music teacher, I used to go up at lunchtime and chat music with him. That’s where I learned a lot. With this new teacher, I couldn’t. Slowly but surely I found he wasn’t so bad. He knew a thing or two. One day he says, “Let me put The Rite Of Spring on.” Because it was him that was playing it, I really wanted to hate it and think it was complete crap. It was shocking to hear, because it’s a crazy piece of music. I was like, “Yeah, you’re nuts.” But really, I was like, “This is really good.” There was something there compelling me to listen to it. As we were listening, he said, “I would give anything to be able to listen to this for the first time again.” I thought, “Whoa, that’s pretty mad.”

IMAGE CREDIT: Anthrox Studio 

Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks

SIMPSON: A friend of mine in secondary school was really into art, and he showed me that painting. I wasn’t into art that much at that time. I do remember that being one of the few paintings where I thought it was very cool. A few years ago, I went to an exhibition, “Soul Of A Nation: Art In The Age Of Black Power” at the Tate Modern. After the exhibition, there were postcards in the shop, and Nighthawks was one of them. It wasn’t related to what I’d just seen, but it jumped out to me. In that moment, I felt a sense of tranquility that I’d never really felt looking at a painting before. That’s why I love it so much. It’s actually my laptop background. It’s just some peeps hanging out drinking whatever it is.

I’ve probably done the thing a lot of British people do and subconsciously look over the river. When I thought about my influences, I’ve gone for all American ones without consciously thinking, “Wait, there’s loads of British ones that could also be on that list.” It just shows the influence you guys have on our country”.

  PHOTO CREDIT: Bella Howard for The New York Times

The final thing I will investigate before reviewing the track, Marlene Dietrich, is how black midi have succeeded in spite of their unusual sound. Going back to the interview from The Quietus, the band cite a possible reason behind their success. We also discover a recent fundraising event black midi were involved with:

“Considering the kind of music Black Midi make, it’s left some perplexed that they’ve graduated to such a level of acclaim, developed a rabid fan base, slid straight into prime time radio playlists and ended up being the most experimental band in years to land a Mercury Music Prize nod. “I think it’s right place, right time,” says Picton when asked if they’ve ever wondered why they’ve broken through the kind of barriers that a lot of other alternative bands face. “Plus, making good behind the scenes decisions and having a good team.”

However, they also credit the privileged situation they had being at the famed BRIT School together. “Having two years where we had free rehearsal time whenever we wanted it at college,” says Picton. “Having those two years to just do all the stupid shit - do all the embarrassing stuff and get it out the way.”

The band has been involved with fundraising to help The Windmill in Brixton, a venue where they once had a residency and grew their reputation. These have manifested in live collaborations with pals Black Country, New Road. Is there any future there for a proper collaborative album? “Probably at some point,” says Greep. “If there's another band who are really good in the same city, who you also really get on with, there's no reason not to get together and do something proper. It's just making sure you don't do it for the sake of it and you have a solid reason for doing it.”

For now, the band is focused on their own material. Which is already at a stage beyond their second album. “Hopefully by the time we start playing shows again we'll be onto the next one with even more new songs to play,” says Greep, with Picton suggesting album three is already about 40% done. It puts them in a position where their return to performing live offers up as much potential for reinvention as their latest album has done. “We relished making this album and not even having to think about how we'd play it live,” says Simpson. “It's just about keeping it exciting,” Greep adds. “We don't want the live show to be a product that we as a band can completely envision before we're there. There's nothing worse than going to a show and knowing what you're going to see before the show even starts”.

It is important to move on to reviewing a Cavalcade track. I have selected Marlene Dietrich, as it is one that really interests me. Whereas some tracks on the album enter with an explosion, Marlene Dietrich welcomes in soft guitar. One gets this romantic-cum-riparian sound that is delicate and beautiful. From a band who excel when they ramp things up, they also prove they can do something more modest and level-headed. I feel a lot of the focus goes on black midi’s sound. Not too many focus on their lyrics. On Marlene Dietrich, there are some terrific lines. The first verse sets the scene: “Marlene Dietrich/Under soft lights/With a taped back face/Our soft spoken queen/Takes her place on the stage”. One gets caught in the sway and gentle grace of the song. The acoustic (or Spanish?) guitar plucks and stutters as the bass provides some liquidity. Strings come in as we get this gorgeously rich and cinematic sound. In a song about the German-born American acting icon, it might be hard to find a particular angle. In its simplicity and lack of layers/strangeness, black midi allow the song to breathe. “As the big curtains open/The last troops run in quick/For the one and only/Marlene Dietrich/She whispers demurely/“from The Blue Angel”/The song we all know/The one that we’ve paid for”. One gets a really fascinating picture. I listen to the song and was imagining the scenes and images. Marlene Dietrich is a really arresting and incredible song that is quite different to everything else on Cavalcade. I feel the song contains some of the best lyrics the band have produced so far.

There is a slight tension one feels, half-expecting there to be this snarling guitar or wig-out. Without mania or experimentation, the band keep things straight and focused. Whereas Schlagenheim  was improvisational and one feels this sense of a band doing it live without too much honing, a song like Marlene Dietrich is more composed and nuanced. I wonder how long it took to write the track. It has so many standout lines that one cannot help but fall inside of: “Fills the hall tight/And pulls at our hearts/And puts in her place/The girl she once was/In that suit of ’33/Soundtracked by disapproving commentary”. There is wit, intellect and fantasy mixed together in a track that almost seems like a film in itself – appropriate, given the nod to a cinema queen. The strings are especially beautiful! There are guitar lines, a great drumming layer; all wrapped together in this symphonic, lush song. It is nice to hear a track from black midi that wins you over with its heart and soulfulness – as opposed something angular, multi-part and accelerated (not that there is anything wrong with that). My favourite section of the song definitely provoked a smile: “And my shuddering neighbour/Turns and roughly rouses me/He says, “While a kiss on the lips may not make a frog a prince,/An orgasm renders any queen a witch:/Metamorphosis exists!”. Where as some lines are quite easy to interpret and hit you because of their beauty, there are others that leave you wondering: “Damn all us idiots/Damn us till death/Relentlessly trying to untie our knots of/Rivers and roads that defy all sense”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Daniel Topete

I have listened to Marlene Dietrich a few times, and it impacts me differently every time. The second track on Cavalcade, it arrives after the frenetic and epic John L. That track almost seems like a Bernard Herrmann score on speed! It shows great bravery and consideration to then follow that with a track that is almost the polar opposite. The final lines/verse are as striking and brilliant as those which came before: “But her hands loosen all/And her voice brings you youth/Her cheeks cradle the holy breath/That pumps the lungs of her Mackie Messer”. Running in at under three minutes, one could definitely listen to a lot more of Marlene Dietrich. Although Cavalcade is eight tracks-long, five tracks run at over five minutes – the swansong, Ascending Forth, clocks in at just under ten minutes. The second-shortest track on the album (Hogwash and Balderdash take the top honour), Marlene Dietrich is my favourite. It ends mention of ‘Mackie Messer’. Mack the Knife (or The Ballad of Mack the Knife; (German: Die Moritat von Mackie Messer) is a song composed by Kurt Weill with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht for their 1928 music drama, The Threepenny Opera. It adds another layer and twist to a fascinating story: “And she beats the heart of her Mackie Messer/And she walks the stage with her Mackie Messer/And she makes us smile with her Mackie Messer”. On an album with so many pearls, I especially love Marlene Dietrich. It is a song that you will come back to again and again.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Martin Goodwin for The Guardian

Before wrapping up, it is probably worth looking ahead and seeing what might come next for black midi. As we learn from The New York Times’ interview, the guys are already working towards a third album:

“While preparing to tour again, band members have also been writing songs for a third album. “One thing that we all really want to do is enhance the pretty and beautiful and melodic side of things,” Simpson said. “But also go even more to town with the crazy, super intense loud stuff. We really want to try and just maximize both ends.”

As band members talked about their music, the word “crazy” kept coming up. For black midi, it’s a point of pride. “I think it’s better to go crazy, full crazy, and fail, than just do something you know you can do,” Greep said. “We’re just going further in all directions”.

Not only is there new material brewing; the band are also looking to get back onto the stage. Referencing the Vanity Fair interview from earlier, black midi discussed performing live and the challenges faced post-Brexit:

“As for Black Midi, the band is looking forward to getting back to what it does best, performing live. When we talk, they’ve just finished rehearsing for two shows on Friday night, their first in-person performances since early 2020. Like most stunning natural phenomena, Black Midi does kind of have to be seen to be believed. Offstage, they’re a group of unassuming, agreeable friends in their early 20s with an easy rapport, but onstage, they’re a chugging machine that always seems on the verge of collapse. Greep is the wiry, barking archetype of a post-punk front man, Picton has unshowy mastery of his instrument and a metronomic sense of rhythm, and Simpson is, simply put, one of the most physical, electric drummers around.

IMAGE CREDIT: Anthrox Studio  

They discussed the challenges for touring bands presented by Brexit and the aftermath of the pandemic, but Greep is pretty confident that there will always be an audience for what they have to offer. “This isn’t chart music or anything,” he said. “But I think there’s always going to be that niche of live music, music that’s played with instruments and everything that sounds like it can fall apart at any minute. Because people just like that”.

I will end things here. There is so much (justified) praise surrounding Cavalcade. It is a great album that will surely rank alongside the best of this year. I wonder whether there is increased pressure on black midi to exceed themselves or change for a third album. I feel they will take some time to craft an album that is true to them. Make sure you grab a copy of Cavalcade (there is a link at the top of this review) and follow them on social media (links are at the very bottom). I am excited to see where black midi head and what is in store. Venues will open up very soon, so the band are going to be keen to get their new album out there. In a year that has delivered so many tremendous and instantly-engaging albums, black midi have given the world one of the best. They are so hard to pin down and can not be compared with anyone else. Let’s hope that we see much more music from them. When it comes to their music, one can never predict…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Yis Kid 

QUITE what they will deliver.

___________

Follow black midi  

PHOTO CREDIT: Matilda Hill-Jenkins for Loud and Quiet 

Official:

https://bmblackmidi.com/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/bmblackmidi

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/blackmidi

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/bmblackmidi/

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/7Hvq85OU8T7Hsd63zNBwaL?si=I1rkvdVLRfaZpOx8gHfHkQ

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ALL UNCREDITED PHOTOS:

black midi

FEATURE: A Buyer’s Guide: Part Fifty-Six: Sparks

FEATURE:

 

 

A Buyer’s Guide

Part Fifty-Six: Sparks

___________

IT is quite a challenge…

distilling the work of Sparks down to a few albums! They have released so much brilliance, inevitably, there are a few terrific albums that will have to be left aside. Before bringing in some biography, an upcoming documentary from Edgar Wright is well worth catching. This Pitchfork feature from a few weeks ago reveals a new trailer that has been released ahead of the documentary’s release:

“Following its premiere at Sundance earlier this year, Edgar Wright’s Sparks documentary is getting a wide release in just a few weeks. The Sparks Brothers is out June 18. A new trailer for the project includes commentary from Beck, Jason Schwartzmann, Jack Antonoff, Todd Rundgren, Giorgio Moroder, Flea, the Go-Go’s Jane Wiedlin, and more. Watch The Sparks Brothers’ trailer, and find its poster, below.

The Sparks Brothers is the first music documentary from Wright, whose other credits include Shaun of the Dead, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, and Baby Driver. The band’s most recent album—their 24th—was last year’s A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip”.

I will not bring in a full biography, though AllMusic provide fascinating detail regarding the incredible the impact of Ron and Russell Mael:

“One of pop's best-loved and most influential cult bands, Sparks grew out of the minds of brothers Ron and Russell Mael. The combination of Russell's formidable vocal range, Ron's impressive keyboard skills, and their vividly witty songwriting defined their music as it changed over the years -- which it did often. When they emerged in the early '70s, their theatricality fit in with the glam rock scene, with albums like 1972's A Woofer in Tweeter's Clothing and 1974's Kimono My House earning them a strong following in the U.K. Just a year later, Sparks were at the forefront of the power pop movement with 1975's Indiscreet; by the end of the decade, they were electronic pop pioneers, working with Giorgio Moroder on 1979's No. 1 in Heaven.

The synth pop and new wave leanings of albums like that one and 1983's In Outer Space -- which featured "Cool Places," a duet with the Go-Go's Jane Wiedlin that became one of the band's biggest hits -- evolved into the house and techno leanings of 1994's Gratuitous Sax and Senseless Violins, which felt timely and true to Sparks' inventive history. The Maels only grew more adventurous in the 2000s, reworking classical music in their own image on 2002's Lil' Beethoven and delivering their first musical with 2009's The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman. When they returned to pop music, they held on to that innovative spirit as they collaborated with Franz Ferdinand on 2015's FFS and commented on the issues of the day on 2020's A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip. For a band that often felt like a well-kept secret, Sparks appeared on the charts fairly frequently, with "This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us" (1974), "The Number One Song in Heaven" (1979), and "When Do I Get to Sing 'My Way'" (1994) among their most popular songs. A better measure of Sparks' success, however, is the wide range of artists they inspired: Pet Shop Boys, Nirvana, Björk, and the Smiths are among the many acts who put their own spin on the Maels' boundlessly creative approach to pop music and culture.

Brothers Ron and Russell Mael grew up in Los Angeles. In the late '60s, they attended UCLA, with Russell studying theater and filmmaking and Ron studying cinema and graphic design. Musically, they were self-described Anglophiles, preferring the Who, the Kinks, the Move, and Pink Floyd to the folk-rock scene popular on the West Coast. The Maels started making their own music in January 1967 as Urban Renewal Project, recording four songs at Hollywood's Fidelity Recording Studios with their friends Fred and Ronna Frank (one of those songs, "Computer Girl," later appeared on the 2019 collection Past Tense: The Best of Sparks).

In 1968, the Maels formed the band Halfnelson. Featuring songwriter Ron on keyboards and Russell as lead vocalist, the lineup was rounded out by another pair of brothers, guitarist Earle and bassist Jim Mankey, and drummer Harley Feinstein. Halfnelson soon came to the attention of Todd Rundgren, who helped land the group a contract with Bearsville Records and produced their self-titled 1971 debut. Their quirky, tongue-in-cheek art pop failed to find an audience, however, and their manager convinced the Maels to change the group's name. After becoming Sparks and re-releasing their debut album in 1972, they almost reached the Hot 100 with the single "Wonder Girl." For the following year's sublimely bizarre A Woofer in Tweeter's Clothing, Sparks worked with Rundgren's engineer (and former Electric Prunes singer) Thaddeus Lames Lowe. Featuring the single "Girl from Germany" -- another near-hit for the band -- the album cemented the band's cult status.

While touring the U.K. in support of the album, Sparks won an avid following. Ultimately, the Mael brothers relocated to London and signed to Island, leaving the rest of the group behind. Earle Mankey subsequently became a noted producer, while Jim later joined Concrete Blonde. In need of a new backing band, the Maels placed an advertisement in Melody Maker. With guitarist Adrian Fisher, bassist Martin Gordon, and drummer Norman "Dinky" Diamond firmly in place, they recorded May 1974's glam-bubblegum opus Kimono My House with producer Muff Winwood. Thanks to its more accessible version of Sparks' sound, the album reached the Top Five of the U.K. album charts and spawned the British hits "Amateur Hour" and "This Town Ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us," a startling song that reached number two on the U.K. Singles chart. Working once again with Winwood alongside guitarist Trevor White and bassist Ian Hampton, Sparks returned that November with the power pop-tinged Propaganda. Peaking at number nine on the U.K. Albums chart, it scored with the Top 20 U.K. hits "Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth" and "Something for the Girl with Everything." Propaganda also hit number 63 on the Billboard 200, marking their highest chart position in the U.S.”.

Many might disagree with my selection…but here are four essential Sparks albums, an underrated gem, their latest studio album, in addition to an accompanying book that is worth reading. If you need a guide to the best of Sparks, then have a look…

AT the suggestions below.

_______________

The Four Essential Albums

 

Kimono My House

Release Date: 1st May, 1974

Label: Island

Producer: Muff Winwood

Standout Tracks: Amateur Hour/Hasta Mañana, Monsieur/Talent Is an Asset

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/release/327543

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/7HfC3Cd8qSkGKqbOZi4Nbz?si=sDhTxm4WT4yHE0nr0hu_CA

Review:

“Arguably one of Sparks' best albums, 1974's Kimono My House finds the brothers Mael (Ron wrote most the songs and played keyboards, while Russell was the singing frontman) ingeniously playing their guitar- and keyboard-heavy pop mix on 12 consistently fine tracks. Adding a touch of bubblegum, and even some of Zappa's own song-centric experimentalism to the menu, the Maels spruce up a sleazy Sunset Strip with a bevy of Broadway-worthy performances here: as the band expertly revs up the glam rock-meets-Andrew Lloyd Webber backdrops, Russell sends things into space with his operatic vocals and ever-clever lyrics. And besides two of their breakthrough hits (the English chart-toppers "This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us" and "Amateur Hour"), the album features one of their often-overlooked stunners, "Here in Heaven." Essential”- AllMusic

Choice Cut: This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us

Indiscreet

Release Date: October 1975

Label: Island

Producer: Tony Visconti  

Standout Tracks: Without Using Hands/Pineapple/Looks, Looks, Looks

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=87057&ev=mb

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/7dgrdhuTNbswEBBRSY5iH9?si=t6_KCBaTSv-miyHBp6cPWQ

Review:

“It followed the behemoth shadow of Kimono and Propaganda and was doomed to be overshadowed by both and fall into relative obscurity. No matter how hard it tried it wouldn’t have been as well received because the two previous albums were just way to good that they had nowhere to go but down. When the bar is set so high, there’s no way to pass it. That’s what happened with Indiscreet. They continued to improve their sound and sense of humour and created something that was even more alienating than Propaganda, which obviously turned people off to it. In retrospect, it holds up and is truly a Sparks masterpiece. Here they try their hand at so many different styles and themes and ideas and manage to make it flow super well. It’s not super showy and over the top and Sparks takes a much more mellow mood compared to to their previous efforts which just creates such an atmosphere throughout the album that most f their other albums would not be able to recreate. The opener Hospitality on Parade sets the mood up perfectly of what’s to be expected and stands as one of their greatest songs, remaining simplistic but eerily layered. We bust into a classic Sparks sounding song with Happy Hunting Grounds, that takes from the page of Propaganda and then follow up with Without Using Hands, that is funnily enough more literal than expected. Three songs in, three different styles and it doesn’t stop there as we go through Get in the Swing, Under the Table with Her and How Are You Getting Home? All different and yet somehow it all works so perfectly together. (Let’s not forget the ever hilarious Tits and one of my personal favourites In The Future which is just a high energy song that predicts some of their future sounds they would work with). Sparks were trying a lot of new things with this album and they managed to put it altogether in a cohesive sounding album that in retrospect deserves way more credit and praise than it has. It might be a bit of an acquired taste, but so is good wine and like wine it has aged fantastically” – Bosco’s Modern Life

Choice Cut: Get in the Swing

Nº 1 in Heaven

Release Date: March 1979

Labels: Elektra (U.S.)/Virgin (U.K.)

Producer: Giorgio Moroder

Standout Tracks: Tryouts for the Human Race/La Dolce Vita/The Number One Song in Heaven

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=87067&ev=mb

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/1WwkwSVwh9clBkan9ElU0e?si=ImhGTuUXRmKnU8ah2T0Stw

Review:

“Prior to No. 1 in Heaven, bands were generally four or more individuals, although there were more stripped down bare-bones power trios doing the rounds as well. It was almost never less than three though, as even duos had backing bands, a la The Carpenters. Unless you were Suicide. Or The Silver Apples. It was Sparks that popularised the duo as band format. Suddenly a band could be just a vocalist and a keyboard player, and the template for the synth-pop duos that would become so popular over the next decade was formed. Be they Soft Cell, Yazoo, The Communards, or even the mighty Pet Shop Boys, they all owe Sparks a tip of the hat for pretty single handedly creating the line up format of their bands. Not only that, but with Moroder’s help Sparks reinvented synth-pop from the over-serious detached self-importance of the likes of Kraftwerk, Tubeway Army, and Jean-Micheal Jarre, to something considerably more personable and playful. No.1 in Heaven is an album which has a joyous feeling running all the way through it, something which is particularly difficult to achieve when using the cold and unyielding sounds of the synthesiser, but something which Sparks never had a problem with, especially with the help of the production smarts of Moroder.

Clocking in at under an economical 35 minutes, No.1 in Heaven is heaving with hit single potential, which given Moroder’s involvement is no surprise. Four of No.1 in Heaven’s six tracks were released as singles, with “No.1 Song in Heaven” seeing Sparks crack the top 20 for the first time in years, and the irresistible “Beat the Clock” going one better and hitting the top 10. Another single, album opener “Tryouts for the Human Race”, deserved to be a bigger hit, but given that the album had been out a few months by then, most music fans with an enthusiasm for the new Sparks sound would probably already have it in their collection. With half a dozen tracks over the course of the whole album, Moroder and Sparks made sure there was more than enough room for the cutting edge electronica soundscape to make an impression. “No.1 Song in Heaven” sounds particularly thrilling in its album format, giving the much loved single version an extended introduction which enhances rather than detracts from the hit version.

With the exception of “La Dolce Vita”, all the songs from No.1 in Heaven that were released as singles had alternative extended mixes or single versions, some of which are featured on the second disc of this recent reissue. These are accompanied by a couple of uniquely amusing promos for the album featuring comedian Peter Cook, who evidently had great fun throwing in pop culture references. Such are the effectiveness of these promos, you have to ask why such an approach wasn’t used more often. Another thing of note is that the original album and the bonus material are given two separate discs in CD format, despite all the material fitting neatly on a single CD. This maintains the original integrity of the album, without the listener having to stop the CD if they just wanted to hear No.1 in Heaven as originally intended. Perhaps if the reissue was not done via The Mael Brothers own Lil’ Beethoven imprint, such care might not have been taken, so it’s a nice touch.

40 years after its release, No.1 in Heaven continues to stand up to scrutiny as one of the key albums by Sparks. Sure, Giorgio Moroder’s involvement took the music on the album to another level, but credit should go to the Mael Brothers for knowing who they needed on production duties to reinvigorate their career. It was a hugely influential album at the time, and remains a life-affirming electropop classic that proved that, even outside of Disco, synthesiser music didn’t always have to equate to self-important and dour young men” – Backseat Mafia

Choice Cut: Beat the Clock

Hippopotamus

Release Date: 8th September, 2017

Labels: BMG/The End

Producers: Ron Mael/Russell Mael

Standout Tracks: What the Hell Is It This Time?/Hippopotamus/So Tell Me Mrs. Lincoln Aside from That How Was the Play?

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=1234306&ev=mb

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/1S6CN2iacm5MXUBqrHCzyS?si=OxBjwNyoSuuq-lm313n5Lg

Review:

“In their 45-year career,  have pulled off everything from  operatic glam rock to Giorgio Moroder-produced electronic disco (the wonderful ) to the  with Franz Ferdinand. The band’s 23rd studio album surprisingly echoes their stomping guitar/drums heyday, when Russell’s gale-force falsetto and keyboard player  to the Top of the Pops camera caused small children to peer from behind the sofa. However, while Missionary Position sounds like retooled classic Sparks, the Los Angeles brothers are still forging into new areas. For all their trademark arch, witty and , there is a new emotional heft to songs such as the lovely Probably Nothing, which delicately tackles the difficult subject of age-related memory loss. I Wish You Were Fun is one of the simplest, sweetest-sounding songs of their career. For anyone yet to experience the Maels’s unique charms, their best album in decades is as good as any place to start” – The Guardian

Choice Cut: Edith Piaf (Said It Better Than Me)

The Underrated Gem

 

Hello Young Lovers

Release Date: 6th February, 2006

Labels: In The Red Recordings (U.S.)/Gut (U.K.)

Producers: Ron Mael/Russell Mael

Standout Tracks: Perfume/(Baby, Baby) Can I Invade Your Country/Waterproof

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=87055&ev=mb

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/7LmBhM0HCIc5AFvmoM0H1P?si=0Up0AKxoSoa5LdQkh8QVBA

Review:

“As with last album Lil' Beethoven, Ron and Russell Mael's new opus presents you with pop music that bears hardly any relation to anything else. A strange amalgam of keyboard-led, semi-operatic sturm und drang with added metal (courtesy of Dean Menta of Faith No More) this builds on ...Beethoven's template of repetition and wit, adding a coherent concept: Modern love and all its pitfalls. Hello Young Lovers addresses its effect on your career (''Dick Around''); your self-esteem (''Here Kitty''); its monotony (''The Very Next Fight''); even its socio-politically euphemistic aspects (''(Baby Baby) Can I Invade Your Country?'').

The killer punch however has to be ''Perfume'' - a list of girls and their chosen scents, all topped off with a twist on the Proustian effect of smell. In other words it's cynical, intelligent and very, very funny. For a band celebrating over 30 years of active service this is still extremely bold, new stuff. Screw the past, indeed…” – BBC

Choice Cut: Dick Around

The Latest Album

 

A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip

Release Date: 15th May, 2020

Label: BMG

Producers: Ron Mael/Russell Mael

Standout Tracks: I'm Toast/Sainthood Is Not in Your Future/Self-Effacing

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=1764622&ev=mb

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/43DZQacT84CN8EYfKcmeSL?si=sapYsJ2nSPGUShcpn6jPRA

Review:

“All that we’ve done / We’ve lost / We’ve won,” sings Russell Mael on the opening track on the twenty-fourth Sparks album, ‘A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip’. ‘All That’ sets a bold, mature tone to the record , one that suggests this will be a record that you’d expect from a duo that’s been active since 1967. It is a song that betrays a sense of coming to terms with their legacy, of looking back fondly over the last 53 years.

Fortunately, Sparks are not ready to go all schmaltzy and sentimental just yet. By the second track, we’re reassuringly back in the absurdist place that Ron and Russell Mael call home: ‘I’m Toast’ is, on on one level, a song about a relationship ending, not just badly, but almost certainly catastrophically. It’s also a song about toasted bread. Like, actual toast. Who else but Sparks could pull that off?

And so it brilliantly goes. Here we find songs that might be about actors slipping messily from grace or might be asking you to take a good, long look at your own morality (‘Sainthood’s Not In Your Future’); Uniqlo winter coats (‘Left Out In The Cold’) ; a song which creates an intricately-crafted character out of phonetic imitation (‘Ono mata Pia’) ; a dose of extreme paranoia (‘Existential Threat’); and, finally, a plaintive, emotional call to look after one another (‘Please Don’t Fuck Up My World’). These are classic Sparks moments, full of comedy, clever wordplay, deft explorations of all the myriad issues of the world, with arrangements that sound as current and fresh as a dew-soaked spring daisy.

‘Lawnmower’ is the album’s highlight, a song that has pulled this writer out of self-isolation moroseness on countless occasions over the past few months, taking the improbable form of an infectious electronic pop song about a chap with a major over-attachment problem toward his grass-cutting equipment. The song has a simple, almost nursery rhyme innocence, bouncing along quite cheerily with Russell sing ing about manicuring an award-winning lawn that will be the envy of the protagonist’s neighbours. The fact that his obsession is highly likely to cost him his relationship with a girlfriend from Andover who drives a Range Rover – the rhymes on this song are utter, utter genius – doesn’t get in the way o f ‘Lawnmower’ raising a much-needed smile” - CLASH

Choice Cut: One for the Ages

The Sparks Book

 

In the Words of Sparks...Selected Lyrics

Authors: Ron Mael (Editor)/Russell Mael (Editor)/Morrissey (Introduction)

Publication Date: 5th January, 2014

Publisher: Tam Tam Books

Reviews:

“Sparks--the long-running duo of Ron and Russell Mael--are among the most respected songwriters of their generation, their songs ranking alongside those of Ray Davies (The Kinks having been a formative influence), George Gershwin, Cole Porter and Stephen Sondheim. Formed in Los Angeles in 1971, Sparks have issued over 20 albums and scored chart hits with songs such as "This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us," "Cool Places" and "Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth." While their musical style has changed dramatically over the course of 40 years--embracing the British Invasion sound of the 60s, glam rock, disco (they teamed up with Giorgio Moroder for 1979's "No. 1 in Heaven") and even techno--their work has consistently stretched the boundaries of pop music and the song form. Sparks continue to break new ground: they are currently working on a project with filmmaker Guy Maddin and are soon to embark on a world tour. Now, for the first time, the Mael brothers have chosen their favorite Sparks lyrics (to some 75 songs), editing and correcting them for presentation in In the Words of Sparks. As James Greer--novelist and former member of Guided by Voices--comments, "Sparks-level wordplay is a gift, and more than that, an inspiration." This book also includes a substantial introduction by fellow Los Angeles resident and longtime fan, Morrissey" – Amazon.co.uk

Buy: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Words-Sparks-Selected-Lyrics/dp/0985272406

FEATURE: Too Good to Be Forgotten: Songs That Are More Than a Guilty Pleasure: Savage Garden - Truly Madly Deeply

FEATURE:

 

 

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

Savage Garden - Truly Madly Deeply

___________

WHILST I vowed to stay away from the ‘90s…

when it comes to songs I include in this feature, I am drawn back to the decade. I don’t think any song is a guilty pleasure, though many have labelled the Australian duo, Savage Garden, as a guilty pleasure group. Consisting of Darren Hayes on vocals and Daniel Jones on instruments, they split in 2001. I think that Savage Garden’s eponymous debut is a great album with some really strong songs. Many feel that their biggest hit, Truly Madly Deeply, is slushy and a guilty pleasure. Maybe it is a bit syrupy, though I think that it has a tenderness and appeal that might have been missed by some in 1997. Produced by Charles Fisher and Mike Pela (there was an original Australian Version; there is also an International Version) and written by Hayes and Jones, I really like Truly Madly Deeply. It sits on the debut album alongside other big songs like To the Moon and Back and I Want You. There was a lot of great music released in 1997. I think Savage Garden were a group/dup who split people and maybe appealed more to young women/a narrow fanbase. In terms of background information and details regarding Truly Madly Deeply, this Wikipedia article explains more:

“Truly Madly Deeply" is a song by Australian pop duo Savage Garden, released as the third single from their self-titled debut album in March 1997 by Columbia Records, Roadshow Music and Sony Records. It won the 1997 ARIA Music Award for Single of the Year and Highest Selling Single and was nominated for Song of the Year. Written by bandmates Darren Hayes and Daniel Jones, the song is a reworking of a song called "Magical Kisses" that the pair wrote together during the recording of their debut album.

The song reached number one in Australia, Canada, and the United States. Two music videos were filmed for the track: one for its original Australian release and another for the international market shot in Paris. In November 2019, the song was added to the National Film and Sound Archive's selection of recordings. The songs added to the list provide a snapshot of Australian life and have "cultural, historical and aesthetic significance and relevance".

Larry Flick from Billboard wrote that "this is the single that should help affirm that Savage Garden is more than a one-hit wonder." He described the song as a "percussive ballad" and complimented it for revealing "vocal skills and charisma not previously displayed". He noted further that "with its romantic lyrics and plush, guitar-etched instrumentation, this song "truly madly deeply" deserves as much airplay as top 40 programmers can heap upon it." Insider described it as "a truly sweet song, written out of homesickness, this love ballad has total staying power and is still played over 20 years later." Music & Media stated that "this Australian duo possess a fine knack for writing excellent mainstream pop with top flight radio appeal." They added that "this track, taken from their eponymous debut album, is no exception—as proven by its recent two-week stay at the top of Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart." In 2018, Stacker placed the song at number 21 in their list of "Best pop songs of the last 25 years", noting it as "a quintessential '90s pop song". In 2019, they ranked it at number 9 in their list of "Best 90s pop songs".

It is a shame that Savage Garden had a very brief run. Their second and final album, Affirmation, was released in 1999. It is a strong album but did not receive the same sort of reviews as Savage Garden. Maybe a song like Truly Madly Deeply is a very 1990s song and one wouldn’t really hear anything like it today. That said, it is a track that has received some stick; many feel it is a bit too sickly and it is a guilty pleasure. I am going to wrap up in a bit. Before I come to the end, I want to bring in an article from Smooth Radio. They provide us with a bit more information regarding the recording of the song and the different videos shot for Truly Madly Deeply:

“Jones were sent to Sydney for eight months to record songs for a debut album.

For Hayes, this was the first time in his life that he was away from his family and his native Brisbane.

This longing for his family and his then-wife, inspired him to write a song that would express his feelings.

The chorus of the song didn't occur until the very last moment before recording. Jones had doubts over the chorus they had written, as he felt it did not fit with the rest of the song or Savage Garden's other tracks.

The night before, Hayes had dinner at the Bayswater Brasserie on Bayswater Road, Kings Cross. Here, he came up with the new chorus of "I want to stand with you on a mountain, I want to bathe with you in the sea, I want to lay like this forever until the sky falls down on me."

The next day, they performed the new chorus for producer Charles Fisher, and recorded it as a trial run. Fisher loved it, and it was later released as a single.

The song actually started life as a song called 'Magical Kisses', that the pair wrote together long before they began recording their debut album.

Two music videos were made for the song.

The original Australian video, which sees Hayes with long hair, features the duo in a white room with other people. Hayes appears on a red sofa singing the song while Daniel performs on the piano.

However, the video used for Europe sees Hayes with short hair, and was filmed in Paris.

This video was directed by Adolfo Doring, and depicts the story of two lovers, a young man and a woman, who have been separated. The woman arrives in Paris in search of her lover, who is also waiting for her.

He is seen in various places within the Montmartre area, including the Soleil de la Butte restaurant. Hayes is also seen walking around Paris, in locations such as the Place de la Concorde and the Jardin des Tuileries”.

Some people have avoided Savage Garden and side-lined them. I would urge people to give them another taste and spin Truly Madly Deeply. Despite some cliché imagery (“I wanna stand with you on a mountain/I wanna bathe with you in the sea”), the lyrics are really strong and poetic. The chorus is powerful and it will draw you in soon enough! I was not a big fan of the song in 1997. In the years since, I have got behind it and embraced it. As a teen when it came out, perhaps I did not see it as cool. Having dispensed with that kind of attitude, I have changed my tune. Even though not everyone will love the song and appreciate it, I think it is unfair to label Savage Garden’s Truly Madly Deeply…

AS a guilty pleasure.

FEATURE: Oh! You Pretty Things: Ten of the Best Albums from 1971

FEATURE:

 

 

Oh! You Pretty Things

IN THIS PHOTO: David Bowie in 1971/PHOTO CREDIT: Brian Ward

Ten of the Best Albums from 1971

___________

I am returning to the year 1971…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Joni Mitchell

for a couple of reasons. For one, there is a new Apple docuseries, 1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything, that I will get to soon. One titanic and hugely important album from 1971, Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On, has just turned fifty. Another, Joni Mitchell’s Blue, is fifty on 22nd June. Some would argue 1971 is the finest year ever for music. Whilst I think that honour goes to 1994, one marvels at the variety of genius albums released in 1971 and how important and timeless they are! So busy and eclectic, it must have been thrilling for music lovers in 1971. Not to be reductive, but I want to highlight ten terrific albums from 1971 that adds to the argument that it is one of the greatest years for music. I am looking forward to Joni Mitchell’s Blue turning fifty. There are many other rich and hugely popular albums that hit that anniversary later in the year. Before coming to a top-ten, The Guardian published a feature recently regarding the new Apple docuseries. They highlight the joys of the series and a few of the albums under the microscope:

“Volume is paramount on the new Apple docuseries 1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything, both in the play-it-loud sense as well as the sheer-quantity sense. The watershed social and artistic moment explored across the eight episodes contained a staggering amount of genius, to the point that an interview quickly dissolves into the same awed name-cataloguing one might expect to hear around a college radio station or independent record shop.

“It’s a predictable answer,” executive producer James Gay-Rees tells the Guardian, “but my favorite is What’s Going On, really one of the greatest songs of all time.”

“We bought all the discussed records on vinyl, listened to them fully through as cohesive works, and at different times, different ones became my favorite,” explains episode director James Rogan. “I had a phase with Hunky Dory, one with Bill Withers’ Just As I Am. As single songs go, What’s Going On was massive for me as well.”

“We can’t get into a chat without the words Sly Stone,” pipes in full-series director Asif Kapadia, an Oscar-winner for his 2015 bio-doc on Amy Winehouse. “Curtis Mayfield, too. Isaac Hayes, with the theme from Shaft.”

“Gil Scott-Heron, Pieces of a Man.”

“Aretha Franklin’s recording of Bridge Over Troubled Water.”

“Tapestry, by Carole King.”

It’s easy to imagine them continuing this for several hours, probably with a case of beers and a good set of speakers.

But for all their open-hearted admiration, the brilliance of their new project lies in the discipline with which they channel that spirit of fandom into a more studied form of cultural anthropology. The vast purview of their chosen year – John Lennon moving to New York, the Stones shacking up in the south of France, the Concert for Bangladesh, Joni Mitchell releasing Blue, the list of key events seems to go on forever – forced them to consider more thoughtful, creative methods of organizing the material. Though they worked from the basis of David Hepworth’s book Never a Dull Moment, the creative team wanted to move away from his straightforward chronology toward a structure shaped by overarching themes.

IN THIS PHOTO: Marvin Gaye 

The series eschews the usual talking-head interview segments, instead jam-packing every episode with archival filmstrips from front to back. Snippets of disembodied voiceover blur the line between the excavated audio from the period and the soundbites the directors harvested themselves in the present day. As Kapadia would have it, the cohering effect was intentional. “We’ve been making archive-driven films for a while now, and the whole idea is to make everything feel like part of the same universe,” he says. “You shouldn’t be able to mark them, ‘Oh, that’s a period sample, and oh, that’s a contemporary one.’ The whole thing should be in the moment, 1971 as the present. We don’t cut from people now, older, to their younger beautiful selves. The whole thing is about being there, walking down the street in 1971”.

Others may have their own opinions as to the ten best albums of 1971. It is so tough to narrow it down, though I think the albums below are among the very finest. They are tremendously important and engaging albums that I think will survive for decades and move people very many years from now. Despite the fact that I truly believe 1994 was the best year for music/albums, exploring the very best of 1971 has given me…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Led Zeppelin/PHOTO CREDIT: Michael Ochs Archive

PAUSE for thought.

_______________

David Bowie - Hunky Dory

Release Date: 17th December

Label: RCA

Producers: Ken Scott/David Bowie

Standout Tracks: Oh! You Pretty Things/Life on Mars?/Kooks

Review:

“The theme of shifting sexual identity became the core of Bowie's next album, 1971's scattered but splendid Hunky Dory: "Gotta make way for the Homo Superior," he squeals on the gay-bar singalong "Oh! You Pretty Things", simultaneously nodding to Nietzsche and to X-Men. He'd also made huge leaps as a songwriter, and his new songs demonstrated the breadth of his power: the epic Jacques Brel-gone-Dada torch song "Life on Mars?" is immediately followed by "Kooks", an adorable lullaby for his infant son. The band (with Trevor Bolder replacing Visconti on bass) mostly keeps its power in check—"Changes" is effectively Bowie explaining his aesthetic to fans of the Carpenters. Still, they cut loose on the album's most brilliant jewel, "Queen Bitch", a furiously rocking theatrical miniature (Bowie-the-character-actor has rarely chewed the scenery harder) that out-Velvet Undergrounds the Velvet Underground” – Pitchfork

Key Cut: Changes

Marvin Gaye – What’s Going On

Release Date: 21st May

Label: Tamla

Producer: Marvin Gaye

Standout Tracks: Save the Children/Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)/Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)

Review:

“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” – AllMusic

Key Cut: What’s Going On

Joni Mitchell - Blue

Release Date: 22nd June

Label: Reprise

Producer: Joni Mitchell

Standout Tracks: Blue/California/A Case of You

Review:

“All I Want," though it begins the album, marks the end of the long holiday journey described in "Carey" and "California." Both songs have the syncopated, Latin touch that characterizes the best cuts on the album. "Carey," a calypso about dalliance on Crete, had a definite festival flavor, but with a twist at the end: "The wind is in from Africa/Last night I couldn't sleep/Oh, you know it sure is hard to leave here but it's really not my home."

"California" jumps along in short bursts, the lyrics giving snapshots of Joni's European itinerary. Then comes the flowing chorus with its hint of tango, its plaintive pedal steel guitar and its homesick refrain: "Oh, it gets so lonely/When you're walking and the streets are full of strangers." The song is a model of subtle production; James Taylor's twitchy guitar and Russ Kunkel's superb, barely detectable high-hat and bass-pedal work give it just the right amount of propulsion.

In "This Flight Tonight," "A Case of You," and "Blue," Joni comes to terms with the reality that loneliness is not simply the result of prolonged traveling; the basic problem is that her lover will not give her all she wants. In "This Flight Tonight," Joni has walked out on her man, is flying West on a jet, and now regrets the decision. The lyrics, a clumsy attempt at stream of consciousness, are virtually unsingable and Joni's lyric soprano is hopelessly at odds with the rock and roll tune. But the chorus has just the wispiest trace of Bo Diddley and it sticks with you:

Oh Starbright, starbright

You've got the lovin' that I like, all right

Turn this crazy bird around

I shouldn't have got on this flight tonight.

In "A Case of You," James repeats the same dotted guitar riff he played in "California," only the melody here is slow, stately and almost hymnlike. The song is neatly divided in its ambivalence: each verse is about a setback to the affair, followed by a chorus in which Joni affirms: "But you are in my blood like holy wine." In comparing love to communion, Joni defines explicitly the underlying theme of Blue: for her love has become a religious quest, and surrendering to loneliness a sin.

It is only a short step from that to Joni's vow that she will walk through hell-fire to follow her man: "Well everybody's saying/That hell's the hippest way to go/Well I don't think so/But I'm gonna look around it though/Blue I love you." This is "Blue," the last cut on the first side but clearly the album's final statement, the bottom of the slope downward from the euphoria of "All I Want." For all its personal revelation, "All I Want" still sounds like a beautiful pop tune; "Blue," on the other hand, has the secret, ineffably sad feeling of a Billie Holliday song. Joy, after all, can be shared with everybody, but intense pain leads to withdrawal and isolation.

"Blue" is a distillation of pain and is therefore the most private of Joni's private songs. She wrote it for nobody but herself and her lover:

Blue here is a shell for you

Inside you'll hear a sigh

A foggy lullaby

There is your song from me.

The beauty of the mysterious and unresolved melody and the expressiveness of the vocal make this song accessible to a general audience. But "Blue," more than any of the other songs, shows Joni to be twice vulnerable: not only is she in pain as a private person, but her calling as an artist commands her to express her despair musically and reveal to an audience of record-buyers:

And yet, despite the title song. Blue is overall the freest, brightest, most cheerfully rhythmic album Joni has yet released. But the change in mood does not mean that Joni's commitment to her own very personal naturalistic style has diminished. More than ever, Joni risks using details that might be construed as trivial in order to paint a vivid self portrait. She refuses to mask her real face behind imagery, as her fellow autobiographers James Taylor and Cat Stevens sometimes do.

In portraying herself so starkly, she has risked the ridiculous to achieve the sublime. The results though are seldom ridiculous; on Blue she has matched her popular music skills with the purity and honesty of what was once called folk music and through the blend she has given us some of the most beautiful moments in recent popular music. (RS 88)” – Rolling Stone

Key Cut: Carey

The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers

Release Date: 23rd April

Label: Polydor

Producer: Jimmy Miller

Standout Tracks: Wild Horses/Can't You Hear Me Knocking/Sister Morphine

Review:

“In the topsy-turvy world of success they’d had more than their share of recent ups and downs. Sticky Fingers was destined to be the triumphant first release from their self-owned label but this success was leavened by the fact that they’d signed over their back catalogue to previous manager Allen Klein and had to give him the royalties from Brown Sugar and Sway to boot. The incessant touring meant that the band were now world citizens, but they still moved closer to their American roots. Using the usual support cast of Bobby Keys, Ry Cooder and Nicky Hopkins they turned their experiences into ten tracks of narcotic misery and sexual frustration. All wrapped in a very louche Andy Warhol sleeve.

Narcotics are a major theme, of course, but also loss, frustration and incredible world-weariness. Reviews at the time complained that Sticky Fingers lacked the bite of previous releases like Let It Bleed or Beggars Banquet, but it’s this very quality that makes the album special. Like Neil Young’s Tonight’s the Night, the sense of a wake creeps through tracks like Dead Flowers and Sister Morphine.

Elsewhere, the Delta serves as a touchstone for some of Jagger’s most heartfelt wailing as on I Got the Blues and You’ve Gotta Move, while he’s never bettered his letchery on Brown Sugar. Taylor’s arrival is keenly felt on Can’t You Hear Me Knocking?, with its Santana-esque coda. Sway and Bitch are hard-bitten rockers that couldn’t exist without Charlie’s taut snare.

Eventually the whole thing collapses in on itself with Moonlight Mile. A coked-out, somnambulant drift through an era’s last days, and a beautiful end to a beautiful journey. While many hold their next album, Exile On Main St., as their zenith, Sticky Fingers, balancing on the knife edge between the 60s and 70s, remains their most coherent statement” – BBC

Key Cut: Brown Sugar

Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV

Release Date: 8th November

Label: Atlantic

Producer: Jimmy Page

Standout Tracks: Black Dog/Rock and Roll/When the Levee Breaks

Review:

“One of the ways in which this is demonstrated is the sheer variety of the album: out of eight cuts, there isn’t one that steps on another’s toes, that tries to do too much all at once. There are Olde Englishe ballads (“The Battle of Evermore” with a lovely performance by Sandy Denny), a kind of pseudo-blues just to keep in touch (“Four Sticks”), a pair of authentic Zeppelinania (“Black Dog” and “Misty Mountain Hop”), some stuff that I might actually call shy and poetic if it didn’t carry itself off so well (“Stairway to Heaven” and “Going To California”) …

… and a couple of songs that when all is said and done, will probably be right up there in the gold-starred hierarchy of put ’em on and play ’em again. The first, coyly titled “Rock And Roll,” is the Zeppelin’s slightly-late attempt at tribute to the mother of us all, but here it’s definitely a case of better late than never. This sonuvabitch moves, with Plant musing vocally on how “It’s been a long, lonely lonely time” since last he rock & rolled, the rhythm section soaring underneath. Page strides up to take a nice lead during the break, one of the all-too-few times he flashes his guitar prowess during the record, and its note-for-note simplicity says a lot for the ways in which he’s come of age over the past couple of years.

The end of the album is saved for “When The Levee Breaks,” strangely credited to all the members of the band plus Memphis Minnie, and it’s a dazzler. Basing themselves around one honey of a chord progression, the group constructs an air of tunnel-long depth, full of stunning resolves and a majesty that sets up as a perfect climax. Led Zep have had a lot of imitators over the past few years, but it takes cuts like this to show that most of them have only picked up the style, lacking any real knowledge of the meat underneath.

Uh huh, they got it down all right. And since the latest issue of Cashbox noted that this ‘un was a gold disc on its first day of release, I guess they’re about to nicely keep it up. Not bad for a pack of Limey lemon squeezers” – Rolling Stone

Key Cut: Stairway to Heaven

Carole King – Tapestry

Release Date: 10th February

Labels: Ode/A&M

Producer: Lou Adler

Standout Tracks: I Feel the Earth Move/Will You Love Me Tomorrow?/(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman

Review:

“She was 19 when “Will You Love Me Tomorrow?” first came out; she wrote the music, arranged the strings using a book on orchestration borrowed from the public library, and played piano on the recording. The lyric was a kind of response to the Shirelles’ previous hit, “Tonight’s the Night,” but turned “sideways and upside down,” King has said. For 1960, it was rather radical: the voice of a clear-eyed young woman accepting the possibility of a one-night stand—“Can I believe the magic in your sighs?”—despite her longing for true love, resigned but not fooled. It became the first No. 1 hit of the girl group era. King and Goffin were so proud of the song that they engineered the doorbell of their home in suburban New Jersey to play its lovelorn hook every time a visitor arrived. But perhaps it was a cautionary tale for their own doomed marriage. On Tapestry, “Will You Love Me Tomorrow?” was a raw emblem of King’s own complex teenage years, and she sang it in careful measures, as if savoring the memory in each note.

King and Goffin wrote their monumental Aretha single after Atlantic exec Jerry Wexler pulled up to them while walking on Broadway, rolled down the window of his limo, and asked them to craft a hit for her with the title “Natural Woman.” They drove home to New Jersey, listened to R&B and gospel on the Black-programmed WNJR, and poured out a piece of history: “When my soul was in the lost and found/You came along to claim it.” Of course King’s “Natural Woman” does not summon the heavens with the same earth-shattering force as the Queen of Soul’s version, released in 1967. When King performed it live on tour with Taylor three years later, she would ask the audience to please imagine it as it once was—a demo for Aretha, and part of her life story. But the grasping of King’s “you make me”s and the fluttering of her “feel”s are charged with the force of a person attempting to turn herself inside out. In the voice of Aretha, “Natural Woman” is glory. In the voice of King, it is, like all of Tapestry, an act of pure conviction.

Though barely promoted by King herself, Tapestry spent 15 weeks as the No. 1 album in the U.S. upon its release, and stayed on the charts for five years. King won four Grammys for Tapestry in 1972, more than anyone had ever received at once, and it was the first time that the New York award ceremony was broadcast live on television. But King didn’t attend to collect the awards herself. She chose to remain in California with her newborn third child, Molly, instead.

It’s telling: There’s an unmistakable maternal energy to Tapestry. Throughout King’s career, she has recalled moments when her responsibilities merged, in which she’d have her baby in the playpen at the studio or be breastfeeding in between takes. Toni Stern has said that, while writing for Tapestry, King would be “playing the bass with her left hand and diapering a baby with her right.” King herself said that having kids kept her “grounded in reality,” which is audible in every loosely calibrated note of Tapestry. Her next artistic achievement was a collection of children’s music, 1975’s Really Rosie, in collaboration with author Maurice Sendak. A reworking of “Where You Lead”—rewritten, King has said, to sound less submissive—became the theme song to the mother-daughter sitcom “Gilmore Girls,” sung by King and her daughter Louise” – Pitchfork

Key Cut: It’s Too Late

T. Rex – Electric Warrior

Release Date: 24th September

Labels: Fly (U.K.)/Reprise (U.S.)

Producer: Tony Visconti

Standout Tracks: Cosmic Dancer/Jeepster/Life’s a Gas

Review:

“The album that essentially kick-started the U.K. glam rock craze, Electric Warrior completes T. Rex's transformation from hippie folk-rockers into flamboyant avatars of trashy rock & roll. There are a few vestiges of those early days remaining in the acoustic-driven ballads, but Electric Warrior spends most of its time in a swinging, hip-shaking groove powered by Marc Bolan's warm electric guitar. The music recalls not just the catchy simplicity of early rock & roll, but also the implicit sexuality -- except that here, Bolan gleefully hauls it to the surface, singing out loud what was once only communicated through the shimmying beat. He takes obvious delight in turning teenage bubblegum rock into campy sleaze, not to mention filling it with pseudo-psychedelic hippie poetry. In fact, Bolan sounds just as obsessed with the heavens as he does with sex, whether he's singing about spiritual mysticism or begging a flying saucer to take him away. It's all done with the same theatrical flair, but Tony Visconti's spacious, echoing production makes it surprisingly convincing. Still, the real reason Electric Warrior stands the test of time so well -- despite its intended disposability -- is that it revels so freely in its own absurdity and willful lack of substance. Not taking himself at all seriously, Bolan is free to pursue whatever silly wordplay, cosmic fantasies, or non sequitur imagery he feels like; his abandonment of any pretense to art becomes, ironically, a statement in itself. Bolan's lack of pomposity, back-to-basics songwriting, and elaborate theatrics went on to influence everything from hard rock to punk to new wave. But in the end, it's that sense of playfulness, combined with a raft of irresistible hooks, that keeps Electric Warrior such an infectious, invigorating listen today” – AllMusic

Key Cut: Get It On

Paul and Linda McCartney – Ram

Release Date: 17th May

Label: Apple

Producers: Paul McCartney/Linda McCartney

Standout Tracks: Too Many People/Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey/Heart of the Country

Review:

“Despite reaching No. 1 in the UK and No. 2 in the US, Ram received harsh reviews, with Paul perceived as the bread-head who broke up the group. Yet decades on, as is so often the way, the music has triumphed, the antipathy set aside. Now, the cool thing to say is that the 1971 album – McCartney’s second post-Fabs, his last before Wings, and the only one co-billed with Linda – is one of his best.

Its stylistic grab-bag makes a highly entertaining spree, punctuated with bursts of true genius. There’s little coherence – it leaps restlessly from grandiose to silly, as is Macca’s way – but the best moments are breathtaking.

The UK single The Back Seat of My Car stalled, astonishingly, at number 39, but it’s a textbook example of why it’s impossible to sneer at this master craftsman for long. Romantic, surging, loaded with melodic twists and dynamic swoops which rip your heart out while smiling innocently, it’s a career pinnacle from a golden, competitive era.

Mr and Mrs McCartney sketched the songs while on a "get away from it all" holiday in the Mull of Kintyre, and then recorded in New York and L.A. with swiftly recruited musicians. Linda serves as backing vocalist (though she comes to the fore on Long Haired Lady).

Paul’s voice throughout shows uncanny range: although the whole vibe tries to say not-trying-too-hard, he proved a few points to Lennon. There are a couple of R&B plodders (Smile Away, Monkberry Moon Delight), but Heart of the Country is all rustic charm and the brilliant centre-piece (and US single) Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey is Abbey Road in microcosm.

Ripe for another re-evaluation, this reissue also offers rare/unreleased tracks, Paul’s orchestral version of the album, Thrillington, and that exquisite jewel, Another Day. Slaughtered at birth, Ram has lived on to fight” – BBC (Review of the Deluxe Version)

Key Cut: The Back Seat of My Car

John Lennon - Imagine

Release Date: 9th September

Label: Apple

Producers: John Lennon/Yoko Ono/Phil Spector

Standout Tracks: Imagine/Gimme Some Truth/Oh My Love

Review:

“A personal statement in the form of an honest and heartfelt apology and asking for forgiveness, “Jealous Guy” is a pleasant song. Spector’s presence is obvious, with the trademark strings building behind the fine ballad. Spector-ization of this album is a double edged sword – the simple, honest themes are probably best in their stripped down version, but Spector’s production does add a bit of richness and commercial appeal

Despite the strength of “Imagine” and “Jealous Guy,” The first side of the album is bogged down with much filler and is ultimately much weaker and less interesting than side two, where the action is. From the simple love song, “Oh My Love” to the deep, introspective “How?”, which includes perhaps the best lyric on the album-

“How can I go forward when I don’t know which way I’m facing?”

The second side also includes a very personal dig at Lennon’s former bandmate and songwriting partner. Earlier in 1971, Paul McCartney had released his second solo album Ram, which contained the opening song “Too Many People” that had some harsh lyrics directed at John and his wife, Yoko Ono. “John had been doing a lot of preaching”, McCartney admitted in 1984. “I wrote, ‘Too many people preaching practices,’ that was a little dig at John and Yoko”. “How Do You Sleep?” was a direct response, with even less veiled criticism that directly took on McCartney with clear references and double-entendres.

“Gimme Some Truth” is the best song on this album. It is a rant expressing John’s frustration with the general bullshit of life and society. It features scathing lyrics delivered in a syncopated rhythm against a background heavy with bass and drums –

“I’m sick to death of seeing things from tight-lipped, condescending, mama’s little chauvinists All I want is the truth Just gimme some truth now I’ve had enough of watching scenes of schizophrenic, ego-centric, paranoiac, prima-donnas”

It is a precise statement about politicians lying and propagandizing – cut the crap and just tell the truth.

Although the album features Beatles band mate George Harrison as lead guitarist, he does not shine too brightly at any one moment. Pianist Nicky Hopkins, however, provides some great virtuoso and memorable playing, especially on “Crippled Inside”, “Jealous Guy”, and the upbeat pop song, “Oh Yoko!”. Alan White takes over for Ringo on drums and there are many guest musicians, including several members of the band Badfinger.

On Imagine, John Lennon slides from themes of love, life, political idealism, to raw emotion. Honesty is an ongoing theme in his lyrics, especially after he descends from the polyanic vision of the theme song. It settles on the more realistic theme of life is not perfect, but if one lives honestly, loves fully and rises above the conflicts, it’s pretty close” – Classic Rock

Key Cut: Jealous Guy

Sly & The Family Stone - There's a Riot Goin' On

Release Date: 1st November

Label: Epic

Producer: Sly Stone

Standout Tracks: Just Like a Baby/Runnin' Away/Thank You for Talkin' to Me Africa

Review:

“It's easy to write off There's a Riot Goin' On as one of two things -- Sly Stone's disgusted social commentary or the beginning of his slow descent into addiction. It's both of these things, of course, but pigeonholing it as either winds up dismissing the album as a whole, since it is so bloody hard to categorize. What's certain is that Riot is unlike any of Sly & the Family Stone's other albums, stripped of the effervescence that flowed through even such politically aware records as Stand! This is idealism soured, as hope is slowly replaced by cynicism, joy by skepticism, enthusiasm by weariness, sex by pornography, thrills by narcotics. Joy isn't entirely gone -- it creeps through the cracks every once and awhile and, more disturbing, Sly revels in his stoned decadence. What makes Riot so remarkable is that it's hard not to get drawn in with him, as you're seduced by the narcotic grooves, seductive vocals slurs, leering electric pianos, and crawling guitars. As the themes surface, it's hard not to nod in agreement, but it's a junkie nod, induced by the comforting coma of the music. And damn if this music isn't funk at its deepest and most impenetrable -- this is dense music, nearly impenetrable, but not from its deep grooves, but its utter weariness. Sly's songwriting remains remarkably sharp, but only when he wants to write -- the foreboding opener "Luv N' Haight," the scarily resigned "Family Affair," the cracked cynical blues "Time," and "(You Caught Me) Smilin'." Ultimately, the music is the message, and while it's dark music, it's not alienating -- it's seductive despair, and that's the scariest thing about it” – AllMusic

Key Cut: Family Affair