FEATURE: Vinyl Corner: This Mortal Coil – It’ll End in Tears

FEATURE:

 

 

Vinyl Corner

This Mortal Coil – It’ll End in Tears

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I wanted to feature…

This Mortal Coil’s first album, It’ll End in Tears, in Vinyl Corner. If you have not experienxed This Mortal Coil or know much about them, Wikipedia provide some more details:

“This Mortal Coil were a British music collective led by Ivo Watts-Russell, founder of the British record label 4AD.[2] Although Watts-Russell and John Fryer were the only two official members, the band's recorded output featured a large rotating cast of supporting artists, many of whom were otherwise associated with 4AD, including members of Cocteau Twins, Pixies, and Dead Can Dance”.

With Elizabeth Fraser on vocals, Robin Guthrie on guitar and Simon Raymonde on guitar, bass and synthesizer, there is so much to love about It’ll End in Tears. Released in October, 1984, the album consists of a mixture of original songs and cover versions – the rendition of Tim Buckley’s Song to the Siren is probably the album’s/group’s best-known song. If you can get it on vinyl, it provides a magnificent and rewarding listening experience. I say that about a lot of albums I cover on this feature. I mean it with It’ll End in Tears. This is what Rough Trade say in their description of the Deluxe Vinyl edition of the album:

“The first This Mortal Coil release from 1984 and what a classic. Summing up 4AD at that point, created by label head Ivo Watts-Russell and engineer John Fryer this soundtracked many a sun dappled bedsit deftly mixing soundscapes, original music and classic covers (Tim Buckley, Alex Chilton, Roy Harper, Rema Rema etc) but it's the guest musicians who make the album such a seminal slice of wonder - the hugely undervalued Gordon Sharp (Cindytalk), Dead Can Dance, Howard Devoto, Colourbox, Modern English and of course the Cocteau Twins with Elizabeth Fraser taking top honours with readings of Harper's Another Day and Buckley's Song to the Siren.

LP - Deluxe Vinyl which is different from the original release with the artwork reimagined by Ivo Watts-Russell and Vaughan Oliver (4AD’s long-time visual partner). Presented in a beautiful, hand finished and high-gloss gatefold sleeve. Remastered audio made from the original analogue studio tapes by the late, great John Dent”.

I am going to bring in a couple of reviews for a tremendous album. Before getting there, I want to bring in what TREBLE noted in 2018:

“This is music performed by people who’ve seen some shit, or are real good at faking it. That’s my description that most immediately comes to mind, yet that obviously doesn’t scratch the surface. Under the loose stewardship of 4AD label founder Ivo Watts-Russell, various artists from that massively influential imprint collaborated to turn tunes already expressing lament—by singer-songwriters at the fringes of popular appeal, like Buckley, Roy Harper and Big Star’s Alex Chilton—into some of the purest distillations of despair ever committed to tape. Chilton’s “Holocaust” finally becomes a horror worthy of its name, performed by Buzzcocks/Magazine frontman Howard Devoto like a man playing one last piano number in an apocalyptic rain-swept wasteland, bottle of whiskey and handgun at the ready for the only possible response to such suffering. Opening track “Kangaroo” is less dark but weirder, with a reverby bassline and forlorn major-key synth melody under the theatrical vocals of Scottish post-punk session man and eventual Cindytalk frontman Gordon Sharp. Its conjuring of the titular animal amid a tale of missed romantic connection lets you know exactly what strange place you entered the moment you pressed play.

In case it isn’t already abundantly clear, It’ll End in Tears is the essence of goth not because of volume, shock value or even its haunting cover photo (featuring model Pallas Citroen, as all releases by This Mortal Coil do). Only one song sounds like anything resembling traditional post-punk—naturally, it’s the band’s interpretation of Wire’s “Not Me,” and industrial accents only surface on the instrumental “FYT” and “The Last Ray.” Most of the music is low-key piano and synthesizer, arpeggiated clean guitar, extraordinarily expressive bass playing, basic drum machine programming and about 16 tons of dark atmosphere. The album simply radiates the feeling of slow emotional collapse. You can call the sound “dream pop,” as many have, but that phrase more accurately applies to Cocteau Twins and Julee Cruise or their many modern-indie disciples (ranging from Lykke Li and Lorde to the xx and Beach House) than it does This Mortal Coil. 4AD labelmates Dead Can Dance come close, but their music is guarded by its bombastic arrangements and frequent allusions to mysticism.

Speaking of which: As much praise as Fraser justly gets for “Siren” (and a string-accented cover of Roy Harper’s “Another Day”), Lisa Gerrard of Dead Can Dance deserves nearly as much praise for her two contributions to It’ll End in Tears. Both are original tracks, unlike a lot of the album, and they showcase a powerhouse artist at her peak: “Waves Become Wings” is a foreboding, drumless plea of longing driven by synthesizer and Gerrard’s multi-tracked voice, while “Dreams Made Flesh” features Gerrard playing yangqin (a Chinese dulcimer-esque instrument) at blazing speed and chanting like she’s desperate to repel—or perhaps summon—malevolent spirits. Neither song is dissimilar to work Gerrard did with Dead Can Dance, especially Spleen and Ideal and Within the Realm of a Dying Sun (talk about goth, amirite), but it’s beautiful to hear her knock these out of the park alone.

The album concludes with its most beautiful and perhaps most devastating song, “A Single Wish,” another original by Sharp, Cocteau Twins multi-instrumentalist Simon Raymonde and Colourbox’s Steven Young, the latter delivering a spirited piano performance. Its lyric is brief: nothing more than “You and I, alone here, you and I/It’ll end in tears,” and you realize sometimes feelings of loss, romantic or otherwise, don’t feel any more adorned than that naked, almost skin-stripped feeling. Specific lyrics aren’t particularly relevant when discussing This Mortal Coil and It’ll End in Tears anyway, because the project is more about an ineffable bleak mood than anything else.

It’s interesting to consider This Mortal Coil’s construction—a label getting everyone in the lab to throw their styles together and see what comes up. These can create supergroups as godawful as Damn Yankees or overrated as The Traveling Wilburys (fight me; that album is boring as shit). More recently, it’s led to rap-collective showcases: We Are Young Money, Rick Ross’s MMG compilations and, arguably most successfully, Kendrick Lamar and Black Hippy’s stewardship of the Black Panther soundtrack. Such a thing isn’t really sustainable when artists all return to their regular bands or gigs. This Mortal Coil released two more albums, Filigree & Shadow and Blood, both of which are well worth your time if more uneven than their predecessor. But five years passed between the second and third, and 4AD as a label would eventually move beyond the ethereal goth stereotype it’d picked up and embrace a truly diverse stable of artists across multiple genres. Chaos is inherently unsustainable, and despite approaching it in an oft-nuanced way, This Mortal Coil is all about chaos. It is sui generis beautiful pain, and no one can (or probably should) produce something this intense day in and day out. But remastered reissues of all three albums (along with an odds-and-sods release, Dust and Guitars) ensure that a new generation of listeners will come to It’ll End in Tears when they’re ready for it. Here it is. Let it enfold you”.

I am not overly-versed in the work of This Mortal Coil. Their three studio albums are essential listens. I particularly love and respect It’ll End in Tears. The first all-out review that I will source from is from AllMusic. They are among many who have hugely praised one of the best albums of the 1980s:  

“The first of 4AD owner Ivo Watts-Russell's multi-artist studio sessions under the This Mortal Coil name, 1984's It'll End in Tears was a surprisingly influential album in many circles, key in the reawakening of interest in artists like Alex Chilton and the late Tim Buckley by a younger generation of listeners. (Two songs from Big Star's Third are included, a version of "Kangaroo" featuring Cindytalk vocalist Gordon Sharp that sounds even druggier and more disorienting than the original, and a chilling piano and strings version of "Holocaust" with haunted vocals by Howard Devoto; the simple but ravishing version of Buckley's "Song to the Siren" by Cocteau Twins Liz Fraser and Robin Guthrie was cited by David Lynch as the direct inspiration for Julee Cruise's first two albums and has since been used several times in commercials and films.) The covers are the most memorable part of the album -- a Robbie Grey-sung version of Colin Newman's "Not Me," cleverly incorporating a hypnotic riff from another Newman song, "B," is the most conventionally hooky song on the album, to the point that folks who haven't listened to the album for a while tend to forget that half of the songs are "band" originals. These six songs mark 4AD's definitive break from its origins as an artsy post-punk imprint (Bauhaus, Modern English's first few records, etc.) to the development of "the 4AD sound," a heavily reverbed wash of treated guitars and atmospheric keyboards with vocals treated as another instrument in an amorphous wash of sound. The problem is that these largely instrumental tracks sound more like half-baked studio doodles than fully formed songs; a three-song stretch on side two featuring Dead Can Dance's Lisa Gerrard is particularly tiresome. As a whole, It'll End in Tears is a lovely, often exquisite record; taken individually, the power of some of the songs is lost”.

I think that It’ll End in Tears is a glorious Dream Pop album that anyone can enjoy! Go and seek it out if you have not listened before. I guarantee you will get something from it. In their review, this is what Sputnikmusic had to say:

“After Song to the Siren, Tears unleashes a more subtle and challenging set of covers, which (with the exception of Collin Newman’s Not Me) dominate the rest of the record. Holocaust stays within the original piano melody of Big Star’s original. But this time the song starts off surrounded in tense and droning strings. There is something not quite right, and in a good way, slivering beneath the surface. Vocalist Howard Devoto comes off sounding like a weepy Brian Eno circa Here Come The Warm Jets. Yet somehow his often nervous and at times off key delivery is perfect for the songs sickly melody. Holocausts cryptic yet obviously depressing message is cemented in the songs shivering final lines “you’re a wasted face, a sad eyed lie, you’re a holocaust”.

Both Kanga-Roo and Holocaust originate from Big Stars final album “Third” the masterpiece of their small, but influential discography. Third is also the groups most ragged and distressed recording, highlighting the groups disbandment. This Mortal Coil should be given credit here for establishing structure to the originals purposely broken arrangements, which Chilton used to destroy his own groups claim to fame and fortune. As mentioned before, the super group make their versions of the songs their own whilst staying in touch with the tearful emotions of the originals.

The next two songs are relatively similar in tone. Both are much more intimate than the previous set of covers. Lyrically, Fond Affections and Another Day are also the highlights of the album. Combining just enough metaphors with straightforward confessions, these songs are both easier to relate to and resonate with thoughtfulness. Sung by an almost feminine Gordon Sharp making a reappearance, Fond Affections is almost an A cappella. What refuses it the title is a strange whipping noise which resonates through the songs complete running length. A strange yet compelling choice of instrumentation. Another Day once again starring the excellent Elizabeth Fraser on vocals updates Roy Harpers arrangement by adding a fuller string section and abandoning the originals guitar chord structure.

At this point in time it should be advised for me to tell you about the groups own material. Yes, despite This Mortal Coil being known as a covers band for the most part, half of It’ll End in Tears contains the groups own copyrighted material. These tracks are all instrumentals to an extent. Composed mostly by Watts and Fryer with them applying their usual studio trickery. Sadly most of these instrumentals become the albums weak spots. With the exception of The Last Ray, Dreams Made Flesh and A Single Wish, which features vocals from Gordon Sharp, the group would have to wait till their sophomore effort “Filigree and Shadow” to gain a better footing with instrumental sequencing. And it's sequencing which damages the albums third act. Because the group suddenly puts greater emphasis on their own inconsistent material (written here by the usually much better Lisa Gerrard) , it suddenly means the listener has to hold their breath to get to Dreams Made Flesh and the excellent Newman cover, Not Me.

This is not to say the weaker instrumentals are terrible. If you have the patience to look upon them as ambiance they do their job fine enough, but they are ultimately put to use as filler. Waves Become Wings and Barramundi occupy 8 minutes of the albums middle end. Once the waiting is over the final two songs fortunately redeem the albums brief stumble. Robby Grey's vocal cover of Not Me is easily the most instant and freewheeling of the set. It feels like pure sunlight as the band smartly incorporate a ringing melody from another Newman song, B. Robbie Grey sings here and sounds like he’s having a better time than everyone else despite Newman’s cynical lyrics. Whilst Not Me is the albums only outdated track in terms of production, it is ultimately redeemed by its refreshing pace and B’s melody. A Single Wish finally concludes the album as an epitaph. Gordon Sharp makes his final appearance delivering unintelligible lyrics except from his final line “It’ll all end in tears” echoing the name of the albums title. As the music blissfully fades out, one is left with a sense of poignancy and nostalgia.

These moods sum up the albums thematic qualities and its strengths perfectly. Though imperfect, It’ll End in Tears is an undoubtedly powerful recording, even if it at times feels less rousing with many of its songs taken individually. If you are a fan of any of the bands and artists mentioned above this may be a mandatory release. At least do yourself a favor and look this up, you will be pleasantly surprised about this relatively unknown but talented super group”.

I will end it there. I have not really covered This Mortal Coil in my features before. I thought it was high time that I spotlighted their incredible debut release. It’ll End in Tears is an album that you are sure to love and appreciate. For those who are new to its wonders, go and get a copy…

WHEN you can.

FEATURE: One for the Record Collection! Essential August Releases

FEATURE:

 

 

One for the Record Collection!

IN THIS PHOTO: Lorde 

Essential August Releases

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AS we are ending the month of July…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Maisie Peters

it is worth looking ahead to August and albums due then. I am writing this on 17th July - so there might be some albums I am listing that are pushed back; others might be announced or have escaped my radar. In any case, below are the August-due albums that you should investigate and save some money for. I am writing this on Record Store Day. It is the second day…so record stores around the country are seeing people come in their drove to buy special releases and browse for great records! Things start to hot up towards the middle of August. I will start with one album from 6th August that is worth pre-ordering. It is IDER’s shame. There are not a load of details available regarding the album. The London duo are incredible. I loved their 2019 album, Emotional Education. When the lead single, Cross Yourself, was released, DORK published an article. We discover a little bit about that track:  

“News of ‘shame’ – which follows on from 2019 debut ‘Emotional Education’, and is due out later this year – arrives alongside lead single ‘Cross Yourself’. The record saw the duo move to Berlin for writing sessions.

“We got there, and we got COVID four weeks later,” they explain. “We had three weeks of heaven where we wrote so much new music and it was everything we dreamed of, living that chaotic, no-routine lifestyle. We Thelma and Louised it back, because the messaging at the time was “if you don’t come back to London now, you never will.”

Of the track, they add: “‘Cross Yourself’ is a reflection on how we search for purpose – how we often attach meaning to things or like the idea of something external to believe in, in exchange for believing in ourselves”.

I will move on to albums due on 13th August. You will want to get a copy of Jungle’s Loving In Stereo. This article from March gives up some details regarding a highly-anticipated album:

“Jungle has unveiled a new album Loving In Stereo, which will be released in August on AWAL. To push the LP, they have released the first single “Keep Moving” along with a music video. The album is about positivity and reflecting that, they have announced an extensive run of worldwide tour dates starting in September, running through the winter.

The video for “Keep Moving” was inspired by West Side Story and the “idea of two groups working together and in opposition at times,” explains Josh Lloyd-Watson, one half of Jungle.

The album’s themes are about new beginnings, new love and fighting back against the odds. “When we write music there’s hope,” adds Lloyd-Watson. “Maybe today we’ll create something that influences people and changes the way they feel. If you can make something that lifts people, that’s an amazing feeling”.

Do ensure that you pre-order a copy. I am excited to see what Jungle come up with. They deliver something exciting, multi-layered and full of life! This is what Rough Trade have to say about an album that many people will be adding to their collection:

“Jungle’s new album Loving In Stereo is the soundtrack for a summer quite unlike any other. The British producer duo have created a huge disco record for the post-social distancing age, with a life-affirming, dancefloor-igniting, sun-kissed celebration of all the things that make music irresistibly joyful. Both their Mercury Prize-nominated, Gold-certified debut and 2018’s follow-up For Ever landed in the UK Top 10 and charted globally”.

An album due on 13th August is Jade Bird’s Different Kinds of Light. It follows her eponymous 2019 debut. She is one of the U.K.’s brightest young songwriters. Go and pre-order her album. I want to bring in an interview from earlier in the year. So soon after the release of her previous album, Bird was looking ahead to her sophomore release:

“WERE THE TRACKS IN THE NEW ALBUM RECORDED THROUGHOUT THE PANDEMIC? HOW DID THE SITUATION AFFECT THE PROCESS?

Jade Bird: They were recorded in the summer in Nashville. It changed the process as I had to quarantine in Mexico for 2 weeks and ended up writing half the album in that time there, like some crazy last minute inspiration hit.

“HOUDINI” IS BUILT AROUND A METAPHOR BASED ON THE FAMOUS MAGICIAN. COULD YOU EXPAND ON THIS CONCEPT?

Jade Bird: It focuses on the male figures in my life doing a ‘disappearing act’, I thought Houdini was the perfect metaphor for this.

YOU EXPLORE THE IDEA OF ABANDONMENT IN “HOUDINI.” WHAT PROMPTED YOUR INTEREST IN THAT THEME?

Jade Bird: I think I needed closure on my past, it was the first song I wrote for this album and it felt cyclical to end the monologue of my childhood with this song.

THIS YEAR WILL SEE YOU RELEASING YOUR SOPHOMORE ALBUM. HOW HAS YOUR SONGWRITING PROCESS EVOLVED SINCE YOU STARTED RELEASING MUSIC?

Jade Bird: Leaps and bounds. I think my songs are more concise and clearer, whilst retaining the imagination. I love things to be direct without being entirely obvious – song titles really help me guide that.

YOU HAVE ESTABLISHED YOURSELF AS AN ARTIST TO WATCH IN THE AMERICANA SPACE. WHO ARE YOUR INFLUENCES AND HOW DID YOU DISCOVER THEM?

Jade Bird: I think Gillian Welch, Dolly Parton and Sheryl Crow have all been huge influences in that space, all discovered on my own I think… or maybe my grandma…

WHAT CONCEPTS AND SOUNDS WILL YOU EXPLORE IN YOUR UPCOMING ALBUM, AND HOW ARE THEY DIFFERENT FROM THOSE TOUCHED UPON IN THE FIRST ALBUM?

Jade Bird: They are very ‘90s British influences. The electric guitar tones have been huge, drawing from Blur to Cocteau Twins to Iggy Pop. It’s a bit more powerful in that aspect; that’s what I wanted to achieve”.

There are a few albums out on 20th August that are worth some money. One album that I am looking ahead to is Deafheaven’s Infinite Granite. Aside from having a great title, there are going to be some seriously great songs in the mix. The American post-Metal band are one that you need to check out. Go and pre-order your copy. It is shaping up to be a tremendous release:

“Over the course of their first ten years, Deafheaven’s music vacillated between tormented beauty and harmonic rage, a hybrid of black metal’s malice and shoegaze’s sublime wall-of-sound. On their fifth album, Infinite Granite, Deafheaven are no longer toying with the juxtaposition of pitting metallic abrasion against swirling grandeur. Quite the opposite: Infinite Granite is a bold and brave leap forward, a gorgeous and invigorating album brimming with style and splendor. In the context of their catalog, it takes on a whole other layer of defiant beauty.

Across Infinite Granite, vocalist George Clarke showcases a startling vocal range; falsettos, whispers, multi-part harmonies, and other adventurous vocal treatments, with his trademark black metal-inspired howls mostly absent. Guitarists Kerry McCoy and Shiv Mehra expand their sonic palette to include synth textures using them to enrich their astral guitar work rather than outright replace it. Drummer Daniel Tracy has always been a force to reckon with behind the kit, but where he used to floor audiences with his speed and stamina, he’s now free to broaden his approach and lay down authoritative drum patterns that together with bassist Christopher Johnson’s punchy bass lines anchor the band’s lofty arrangements. The refinement of their sound was further encouraged by producer Justin Meldal-Johnsen (M83, Paramore, Wolf Alice, Metric), who lent a pop ear to the record. Jack Shirley, who helped produce every previous Deafheaven album, remained on board to engineer the album at his Atomic Garden East studio in Oakland, CA along with additional engineering and mixing from nine-time Grammy Award winner Darrell Thorp (Foo Fighters, Radiohead, Beck). Ultimately, Infinite Granite is Deafheaven’s most goosebump-inducing album to date”.

Jumping in terms of genre, the legendary Kool & The Gang are readying their latest album, Perfect Union, for 20th August. Whilst you can order it as this U.S. site, I am not sure whether you can get it from a U.K. site (you will be able to buy it on Apple Music):

“25th studio release from Kool & The Gang, featuring the singles “Pursuit Of Happiness” and “Sexy (Where’d You Get Yours).”

Formed in 1964, The Jazziacs would play with McCoy Tyner, Pharoah Saunders, and other jazz greats. They would change their name to Kool & The Gang in 1969, sign with De-Lite Records and release their self-titled debut the following year. 1973’s Wild And Peaceful featured the Gold singles “Jungle Boogie” and “Hollywood Swinging.” The end of that decade and beginning of the next saw them collaborating with producer Eumir Deodato for a string of Platinum albums—Ladies Night, Celebrate!, and Something Special. They continued through the 80s with more Platinum albums, including Emergency, which featured four Top 20 singles.

The use of “Jungle Boogie” in 1994’s Pulp Fiction brought a new generation of fans to the group, and David Lee Roth invited them to open for Van Halen’s A Different Kind Of Truth tour in 2012, after catching their set at Glastonbury. 2016’s Kool & The Gang And Friends! had them collaborating with artists including Sean Paul, Angie Stone, Redman, Jamiroquai, Lisa Stansfield, and more. Kool & The Gang have won multiple Grammy® and American Music Awards, have been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and have sold over 70 million records worldwide!

Over five decades since their formation, Kool & The Gang returns with their 25th studio album—Perfect Union. Produced by Ronald Khalis Bell (a founding member of the group who passed away in 2020), this CD / Digital release contains 10 tracks including the new single “Pursuit Of Happiness” and “Sexy (Where’d You Get Yours),” which hit #16 on the Adult R&B charts and a rap version of “Pursuit Of Happiness.”

To make things even more special, the release is the first on Omnivore’s reactivated Ru-Jac Records label!

So, celebrate Kool & The Gang’s sixth decade of hit making with Perfect Union”.

Perhaps the album that most people are looking ahead to in August is Lorde’s (Ella Yelich-O'Connor) Solar Power. The third studio album from the New Zealand-born artist, it is going to be a staggering album! Following 2017’s Melodrama, you definitely need to pre-order a copy of Solar Power:

“Of the album Lorde says, “The album is a celebration of the natural world, an attempt at immortalizing the deep, transcendent feelings I have when I’m outdoors. In times of heartache, grief, deep love, or confusion, I look to the natural world for answers. I’ve learned to breathe out, and tune in. This is what came through.”

Of the single she adds, “The first song, also called Solar Power and written and produced by myself and Jack, is the first of the rays. It’s about that infectious, flirtatious summer energy that takes hold of us all, come June…”

To honor the natural world the artist is presenting the album in a first-of-its kind, discless format. An eco-conscious Music Box will be available for purchase as an alternative to a CD. This innovative offering will contain extra visual content, handwritten notes, exclusive photos, and a download card. The card will give purchasers a high-quality download of the music, two exclusive bonus tracks, and access to some special surprises along the way”.

In the same week, Martha Wainwright’s Love Will Be Reborn is out. The Canadian-American Folk-Rock singer-songwriter is one of my favourites. I love her songwriting and incredible voice. 2016’s Goodnight City was her previous album. I wonder how she will follow it with Love Will Be Reborn. I would encourage people to pre-order this must-hear album:  

“Martha Wainwright is beginning again. The beguiling performer and songwriter makes a most welcome return with Love Will Be Reborn, her first new album in five years. It’s her first album since 2016’s Goodnight City, and the first since 2012’s acclaimed Come Home To Mama to feature so much original material. All eleven songs on Love Will Be Reborn are written by Martha. She wrote the first song, and what would become the title track, a few years ago in what was a very dark time for her personally. The title track hints at the ache of recent years while capturing a sense of optimism for the future. She wraps her wondrous, trademark vocals around the heartbreak to dizzying effect. “I wrote the song in its entirety within ten or fifteen minutes,” she admits.” I was bawling,”

Martha began to play the song live before she recorded the album and it became something of an anthem, giving her hope when it was most needed. The song, and the entire album, was produced by Pierre Marchand, best known for his work with Rufus Wainwright on Poses, the McGarrigle’s on Heartbeats Accelerating and much of Sarah McLaughlin’s 90’s catalogue. Recorded in Martha’s Montreal hometown, the album was made in the basement of café Ursa which also served as a studio and at PM Studios. Martha plays guitar and piano and enlisted the help of Toronto musicians Thom Gill (guitars, keys, back-ups) Phil Melanson (drums, percussion) and Josh Cole (bass). Pierre Marchand plays keyboards on Love Will Be Reborn plus two other tracks while Morgan Moore plays bass on several songs”.

There are a few albums due on 27th August that I want to point your way. The final one due on 20th August is Villagers’ Fever Dreams. Fronted by Conor J. O'Brien, the Dublin band are always incredible! Their fourth studio album, The Art of Pretending to Swim, was among the very best of 2017. Four years later, they are offering up an album that might be even stronger. Go and pre-order a copy of Fever Dreams when you can:

“Villagers' release their fifth studio album Fever Dreams via Domino. Escapism is a very necessary pursuit right now, and Fever Dreams follows it to mesmerising effect. It works like all the best records - it becomes a mode of transport; it picks you up from where you are and sets you down elsewhere.

These are songs with the strange, melted shapes and the magical ambivalence of dreams. The intent of the songs is both mysterious and as clear as a bell. With Fever Dreams, there is a sense of a deepening mastery and an expanding reach by O’Brien. Inspiration for the album was found in many places and came in from all angles, from night swimming on a Dutch island to Flann O’Brien, Audre Lorde, David Lynch, L. S. Lowry via the library music of Piero Umiliani and Alessandro Alessandroni and jazz from Duke Ellington and Alice Coltrane”.

I am intrigued to hear what Chubby and the Gang’s The Mutt’s Nuts will sound like. The London quintet are definitely out on their own and purveyors of arresting and uplifting music. I love the dichotomy of their music. They cover some quite bleak topics - though they also toss in witty lines and rousing compositions. Rough Trade talk about this a little bit:

“West London five-piece Chubby and the Gang are balanced by two energies on The Mutt's Nuts 'a casual 'fuckit' on one side, an active 'fuck off' on the other. For every moment of punk imperfection, there's an intricate flurry of detail. For every enraged statement about modern life as war, there's a lyric like 'Hello heartbreak, my old friend' that catches you off guard. Made up of musicians from across the consistently thriving and criminally overlooked UK hardcore scene (ft. The Chisel, Big Cheese and more), Chubby and the Gang marinate its characteristic speed and sick-of-it-all energy in a mixture of 50s pop sounds. The result is a prickly take on the older, more melodic genres that punk derives from, chewing them up and spitting them out into something mangled but revitalized”.

Go and get the album. It is going to be a treasure trove that will offer up rewards every time you listen. There is definitely a lot to recommend when it comes to Chubby and the Gang. I am a fan of the band and am looking forward to see where they head next and how far they can go!

 IN THIS PHOTO: CHVRCHES

Another huge album that you will want to save some money for is CHVRCHES’ Screen Violence. Go and pre-order a copy now. The Glasgow band formed in September 2011 – their tenth anniversary is coming very soon. Their fourth studio album is among this year’s most-anticipated. I want to bring in a bit of an interview from NME. The band’s lead, Lauren Mayberry, revealed some inspirations behind Screen Violence’s first single:   

“Some of Mayberry’s online interactions can be felt in certain songs on the record. Over the years, she’s had multiple perceptions placed on her by people that have never – and likely will never – meet her in the flesh.

She’s been criticised for wearing clothes on stage that are “too revealing”, but also had complaints coming her way when she retreated to baggier clothes – a reversal of the arc of criticism Billie Eilish recently experienced when she ditched the oversized outfits for her British Vogue cover. She has been labelled an “angry feminist”, “bitch” and “slut” for speaking out about things she believes are right or wrong has, and chastised for mixing politics and music. If she had stayed silent, you imagine she would have been scolded for not using her platform to talk about important issues too.

Although Mayberry may face more extreme reactions – and from a lot more people – it’s far from a unique experience. Women have to deal with these impossible and often contradictory standards in everyday life, and in trying to adhere to the patriarchy’s rules you can incur psychological whiplash.

“You could have offered me a collaboration with anyone and I would still choose Robert Smith” – Martin Doherty

It’s a feeling that takes centre stage on ‘Screen Violence’’s gigantic first single ‘He Said She Said’. “Get drunk, don’t be a mess,” Mayberry sings at one point, later following it up with more inconsistent commandments: “He said you need to be fed, but keep an eye on your waistline / Look good, but don’t be obsessed.” No wonder the chorus is her voice engaged in a disorienting call-and-response with a digitised echo of herself crying: “I feel like I’m losing my mind.”

“I’ve always been, for the most part, the only girl in a band, or the only girl on a lineup, or the only girl working in a venue,” she says. “I spent a lot of time trying so hard to be one of the boys because it’s just easier. When I was younger, it was like, ‘OK, well you need to be better, faster, smarter, tougher, quicker to make the dirty joke, because then that makes you less of an outlier”.

One huge album that is very much on my radar is Halsey’s If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power. It is a great title from the hugely popular U.S. artist. If you have not heard Halsey’s music, go and check it out and ready yourself for the new album. You will want to pre-order what is going to be one of this year’s best:

“Capitol Records release Halsey’s If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power. She recorded the career-defining album with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, known for their work in Nine Inch Nails and as Oscar, Golden Globe and Grammy®-winning film/television composers. She continues to push creative boundaries, expanding her influence and impact beyond music. Named as one of TIME's 100 Most Influential People of 2020, she has won over 20 awards, including an AMA, MTV VMA, GLAAD Award, the Songwriters Hall of Fame’s Hal David Starlight Award and a CMT Music Award. Halsey recently introduced about-face, a multi-dimensional makeup line for made for everyone. Halsey continues to use her voice to speak up for causes she passionately believes in, including disenfranchised youth, women’s rights, mental health and the LGBTQ community”.

Halsey is an incredible artist who seems to get better and more astonishing with every album. I am really looking forward to seeing what she produces on this forthcoming album. It is going to be an album that you will not want to miss out on.

There are actually a couple of other albums out on 27th August that slipped my mind! Before that, I want to stick with Halsey. She spoke with Byrdie earlier in the year. We get a sense of what the new album might provide – in addition to how she has been raising awareness of terrific Black creatives:

“While About-Face and Manic are entirely separate creative projects, it’s easy to see a parallel between the makeup emphasizing one’s honest appearance and the album’s candid portrayal of Halsey’s thoughts. I Would Leave Me If I Could fits neatly into this picture as well, letting her express herself without the pressure of preconceived notions. “Everything changes when you're Halsey and saying it, instead of a writer,” she explains, “because then people are projecting years of every slutty outfit I've ever worn, or every guy I've ever dated, or every tweet I've ever tweeted, every song of mine they've ever heard.” The experience of writing and curating the poems, some of which are older works that inspired some of her lyrics, was freeing: “It made me feel like what I look like doesn't bastardize what I have to say. That made me feel confident, and I really loved doing that.”

 Halsey once joked on Twitter that God made her and declared, “lmao and then she’ll create a new persona every 6 months.” However, this recurring theme of stripping back the layers behind which she hides—be they makeup, metaphors, or a stage name—feels less like the backstory of a temporary character and more like the makings of an entirely new era, in which Halsey takes the backseat. Her goal in her current projects isn’t to promote herself, but to amplify “lesser celebrated members of our community,” she says between bites of a salad that she can’t resist any longer. One such project is the Black Creators Fund, through which Halsey provides Black creatives with a platform and financial support.

It was an idea she had been toying with, but after participating in peaceful Black Lives Matter protests last summer at which police tear-gassed and shot rubber bullets at the crowd, she was spurred to do even more. “I wanted an opportunity for people to look at a database of amazing Black creatives, and see art that people of color had made in a time where you couldn't log on without seeing bodies on the internet,” she says. “That was the first thing. The second thing goes back to the amount of times that I'd been trying to hire a Black stylist, or a Black director, or a Black photographer and had been told that they can't find anyone, and me being like, ‘You're full of s–t”.

Maisie Peters’ You Signed Up For This is an album I am looking ahead to. Go and pre-order it if you can. She is an artist that many might not know. Her songwriting is so personal and impactful. I love what she puts out. You Signed Up for This is one you will not want to miss out on:

“Revered for her songwriting, Maisie has spent the past three years honing her craft in sessions across London, LA and Nashville, creating songs for You Signed Up For This alongside the likes of Ed Sheeran, Steve Mac, Fred again.., Johnny McDaid, Miranda Cooper, and producers Joe Rubel (Tom Grennan, Benjamin Francis Leftwich), Afterhrs (Niall Horan, GRACEY), Rob Milton (Easy Life, Holly Humberstone) and Brad Ellis (Jorja Smith, Little Mix).

With her knack for transforming everyday experiences in to vividly written diary-style songs, You Signed Up For This is both Maisie’s coming of age story and a love letter to girlhood; penned with the wit, charm and quiet confidence that has seen her ascend from busking on the streets of Brighton, to recently making her US TV debut on The Late Late Show with James Corden. Transporting us directly in to her world as she navigates from small town teenager to adulthood, there’s a universal sense of familiarity and nostalgia as she shares memories of blossoming relationships (‘Outdoor Pool’, ‘My Elvis Song’), being played (‘Boys’, ‘Volcano’), heartbreak (‘Tough Act’, ‘Villain’), and first holidays with her twin sister (‘Brooklyn’)”.

The last album from August (unless I have missed anything obvious) that you should save some pennies for is a reissue of Supergrass’ magnificent second studio album, In It for the Money (originally released in 1997). Even if you have a passing interest in Supergrass, you should definitely pre-order the new-look In It for the Money:

“Remastered version from original tapes of In It For The Money. From the vein-busting opener "In It For The Money" to the stoopid, human-beatbox closer of "Sometimes I Make You Sad", Supergrass's second album fairly defines the term "classic". "Going Out" swivels on an outrageous, 14-bar passage of Memphis brass and buzzes like the Beatles on the roof at Apple, while "Sun Hits The Sky" has all the furious bass-runs of the Who's "I Can See For Miles". And "Late In The Day" breaks into a guitar solo of such unindulgent homesick beauty it could cause pavements to weep. God would have to buy a Gibson and crib off John Lennon to top half of the songs on Money.

3CD - 43 extra tracks over two CDs of B-Sides, Rarities, Outtakes and Live Tracks.

2LP and 2LP+ -With bonus 12" featuring ‘Sun Hits The Sky (Bentley Rhythm Ace Remix)’ and ‘The Animal’”.

Those are the albums out next month that you will want to add to your collection As I said, some dates may change and there may be the odd album that comes out of nowhere. It looks like it is a strong and varied month for new releases. If you were curious which albums you should buy, then I hope that my recommendations above…

PROVIDE some answers.

FEATURE: The Kate Bush Interview Archive: 1985: Hot Press

FEATURE:

 

 

The Kate Bush Interview Archive

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush on the set of the video for The Big Sky in 1986

1985: Hot Press

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I am not surprised that…

there are a lot of print interviews available from 1985 concerning Kate Bush. It was the year Hounds of Love arrived; there was a lot of interest in her. That had been the case since Wuthering Heights was released in 1978, although Hounds of Love was her most accomplished album to that point. Whilst there are a lot of great interviews from that time, there are some slightly awkward ones – especially when it came to the U.S. press and one or two interviewers being misinformed and lacking any research! The interview I want to source from today was published in Hot Press in November 1985. Thanks to Reaching Out for providing this invaluable resource. The interviewer’s name does not appear (an anonymous journalist), but the questions are a mixture of slightly ‘tabloid’ and those centred around her work. Bush had to deal with the press all of the time. Some interviews are really good; many more are a little painful to read and see – in the sense that Bush was having to field some ridiculous questions and those not really related to her work at all. I selected the Hot Press interview, as there are some great answers from Bush. She kept composed and dignified throughout the exchange. There are a few sections of the interview that I wanted to highlight:

“Kate Bush is notoriously wary of press scrutiny. She last spoke to Hot Press back in 1978 around the time of the release of Wuthering Heights, her first single, which subsequently raced all the way to the number one spot.

A megastar ever since, she's the kind of artist who gives Press Officers nervous breakdowns. We've sought another audience on numerous occasions in the intervening period, but the idea remained interminably in the pending file, awaiting what La Bush might deem the most appropriate moment. During the three years since the release of her superb fourth album, The Dreaming, we've kept in almost constant contact (Jesus, the phone bills!)...

With the impending launch of the next meisterwerk, Hounds of Love, by the summer of 1985, the logic seemed inescapable. We made the case as often as possible and (sweet relief) Kate was convinced. Not that everything is necessarily hunky dory once the interview has been agreed to in principle: that was August, this is November. No wonder the press office remain nervous and apprehensive until the writer is safely dispatched in a taxi to the artist's Elsham rehearsal hideaway...

It all seems so out of context when you finally confront Kate Bush herself. She's warm and wonderfully friendly. And you can see right away why people have fallen in love with those two huge dimples on her left cheek: the beauty is in the blemishes. She's admirably unaffected, too, making a quick cup of tea herself, and downing two chocolate eclairs without batting an eyelid.

When the tea is finished, we settle down to chew some tape up. This is what we find.

I am sure you are fed up answering this question, but the obvious thing people want to know first is why there was such a long gap between your last album and this one.

"Yeah, it really is the question! I wanted to sort out my environment. I was living in the city, and I wasn't happy working in London studios--so we moved to the country and built and equipped our own studio, which we then recorded everything in. Also, I was taking time to go dancing again, to get back into training. Whenever I make an album I just stop completely, and it's those gaps in between when I can throw myself back into it. And things like learning to drive, going to see a few movies--actually I wanted to go to see people. Just to do those things that you don't get time to do when you are so busy. And I think it was all really beneficial. It really was."

The second side of your new album has been described as a "concept" piece. Was there any resistance on EMI's part to releasing a record with that aspect to it?

"I think if they'd heard demos, if they'd heard about the idea of it being a concept before they actually heard the finished thing, I might have had that problem, yes. But because they were presented with the final thing, with all the songs completed and linked together, and it was finished, I think they were accepting it as music rather than having any preconception of 'concept'--of everyone going 'Ooh, no! That's really Sixties!' It did frighten me a lot, just that word, 'concept'. 'Ooh!' You could feel people shuddering just as you said it. But it is what it is, you can't get away from it.

Obviously on one level The Ninth Wave is about somebody nearly drowning. But I was struck by images which suggested that there could be drugs involved. There's the line in And Dream of Sleep [sic]: "I can't be left to my imagination/Let me be weak..." And then there's the mention of poppies.

"Definitely there is the connection, with the poppies. That imagery wasn't really meant to be drug-orientated, but when you think of poppies you automatically get that sense of terrible drowsiness, and I suppose you do connect it to opium."

As somebody who is involved in making records, you are also involved in creating a product and to an extent, Kate Bush becomes a commodity. How do you feel about that?

"Yes, that is something that does scare me. If you want to make records, videos, you have got to have money, and to get that money you have to have albums that are relatively successful. You have to promote them. And that's where I feel the commodity side comes in, because as soon as the personality seeps into it rather than the work, you're making that person vulnerable to the public. I don't like that. I'd much rather work on albums, videos, and explore films and that, without having to promote them. I find it difficult, I feel false. It's very against what I feel is right.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush directing the video for Hounds of Love in 1985/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush 

"I think sometimes the work speaks much better than the person does. I certainly feel mine does. Because I can spend a lot of time trying to say something, and I don't feel that I am good enough at what I am doing now to really warrant doing it, other than for selling my work. And I think sometimes it can go against the work: the personality can almost taint it."

Can you give an example of that?

"Preconceptions can cause problems, and I think, say some of the press I got a while ago was very flippant. And I felt that that, to a certain extent, did work against what I was trying to do. It created an impression of me that wasn't really what I was, and perhaps gave that impression to people who could have seen me in a different way."

You can't escape the fact that this is the century of mass communication, and the whole way in which the media work is through creating resonances off one another. To me, it's part of the excitement.

"I suppose if we start talking about someone else, I can automatically relate to what you are saying. I am curious about what made Sting write Message in a Bottle. But at the same time I can see things that have happened to other people, where it would have been better if that area of their personality hadn't been aired."

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush on the set of the video for The Big Sky in 1986

The initial poster promoting your first album was a close-up shot of you in a leotard. That caused quite a bit of controversy at the time. What's your view, retrospectively, of that?

"I didn't really see it objectively at that time, and I think now, when I see it, it's quite embarassing--but I suppose that's because I'm a long way away from it. I don't think it had too many sexual connotations--I thought it was rather nice at the time."

Is there a very conscious root in English culture in your writing? For example, the Tennyson quote you used to introduce The Ninth Wave. And then there was Oh! England, My Lionheart on the second album.

"My patriotic number! Yes, I think there probably was, moreso than there is now. The Tennyson thing is a bit misleading because rather than that inspiring the b-side, I needed a title for all the pieces and there wasn't any line in the songs that really was right. It needed a title that said something, so I was looking through some books, and I found this quote from Tennyson that I though was perfect, so that was it."

Is most of your reading concentrated on nineteenth-century literature?

"I read very little. I'm really terribly ignorant, just like my politics. As a child, I used to read lots and lots, but I just feel guilty now when I pick up books. I think I should be doing something else. It's really an incredible experience--it's so intimate, just you and the book. And you create so much of it. That's what's so nice about it. You are involved with the effort. And I suppose that's why I don't do it much!"

I suppose I got that impression starting off with "Wuthering Heights".

"Right, well it always affects me. Every book I've read has really affected me. It's that special, you do create a relationship, really. And that was such a huge story...Oscar Wilde was one of my earliest influences--his fairy stories. I could still read one of them-- definitely--and cry. Terribly tragic stuff."

So what about the Irish flavour in your music?

"I feel that strongly, being torn between the Irish and the English blood in me, really. And the Irish influence is definitely very strong. My mother was always playing Irish music, and again, I think when you are really young, things get in and get in deeper because you haven't got as many walls up. I just--it's the same as my mother--I watch her, and when the pipes start playing, 'Yahoo!', you know, everything just lights up and it can be so inspiring. It's just emotional stuff. I think I was really lucky to be given that kind of stimulus. It's really heavy, emotionally--the pipes, they really tear it out of your heart."

But do you listen to Irish traditional music at the moment?

"Yeah, I do. It's great. I love it."

What's your reaction to Ireland?

"It's beautiful, totally beautiful. There are so many different kinds of landscapes and beauty. It's so wonderful just hanging around the coast and watching it change. It's always dramatic, stepping back into the last century. It has a real sense of magic. And the people are so fantastic, so warm, so wistful. I really do like Ireland a lot. It's one of the few places apart from England where I'd ever think of living."

Were you ever north of the border?

"No, never."

Would you like to go?

"Yes, I would."

You've no reservations about it?

"I think everybody that's English has hesitations. You can't help but be conditioned. It happens everywhere, and I would very much like to go over, and certainly without having experienced--to understand the reality of it and not the illusion that's created by people”.

I would encourage people to read the whole interview. 1985 was a year when Bush released the masterpiece of Hounds of Love. She was getting new interest from the U.S. This Hot Press interview would have reached U.S. fans and those that were new to her music. I am not sure what impression they would have got reading the interview! Bush comes across really well. I’m not so sure that the interviewer was asking all of the right questions and keeping it all about Hounds of Love – I suppose that he was attempting to do a sweep of her career and present a broad viewpoint of Bush in terms of her work and personal life. I suppose people do want to know about her loves and personal details, though it always makes for slightly uncomfortable reading. There is a section when she is asked about her long-term relationship with Del Palmer (who has worked with her since the start of her career and still does today). They were pictured together when she promoted Hounds of Love at the London Planetarium . Not that it was the cat being let out of the bag. There were people outside of her circle that knew about the relationship. It was Bush being accompanied by Palmer and not wanting to make a big deal of it. Some in the press were too intrusive about the relationship. Regardless, there is a lot from the Hot Press interview to appreciate – that is why I have spotlighted it. At the peak of her creative and commercial powers, Bush was one of the most in-demand artists in the world (although, with the likes of Madonna and Michael Jackson around and storming the charts, she was not the biggest artist around). One can only imagine the sort of exhaustion Bush felt promoting Hounds of Love! As I always say, she always delivered these wonderful and interesting interviews. The one with Hot Press is another example of…

HOW fascinating and professional she is.

FEATURE: Groovelines: Mariah Carey - Emotions

FEATURE:

 

 

Groovelines

Mariah Carey - Emotions

___________

I am going to talk about…

the album in addition to the single. Both are called Emotions. They are, of course, from Mariah Carey. I think both are classics that remain underrated. On 13th August, the single turns thirty. It seems amazing to think that it was released that long ago! I remember it coming out and being hooked by it. Carey’s second studio album was released in September 1991. The title track opens proceedings with real energy and memorability. Maybe Carey started to really hit her stride (in terms of her vocals and songwriting) on her fifth studio album, Daydream (1995). I really like Emotions and feel that it is a fantastic album that warrants reinvestigation. Before coming to an article regarding the album, here is some information about one of Carey’s biggest singles:

“Emotions" is a song by American singer Mariah Carey from her second studio album Emotions (1991). It was written and produced by Carey, Robert Clivillés, and David Cole of C+C Music Factory and released as the album's lead single on August 13, 1991. The song's lyrics has its protagonist going through a variety of emotions from high to low, up to the point where she declares, "You got me feeling emotions." Musically, it is a Gospel and R&B heavily influenced by 1970s disco music and showcases Carey's upper range and extensive use of the whistle register.

"Emotions" received positive reviews from critics.

About.com's Bill Lamb called the high notes as the pros of the album itself and that it stands with Mariah's best.

AllMusic editor Ashley S. Battel highlighted this song and he wrote that this song is upbeat and it serves to send the listener on a musical journey filled with varying emotions.

Billboard editor Larry Flick said, "Although the heat generated by her multiplatinum debut album has barely cooled, Carey previews her sophomore set with a dance /pop ditty that will remind some of the Emotions' "Best Of My Love". Expect instant multiformat attention.

Cashbox described it as "a happy, perky soul/pop number bearing a resemblance to the music the group The Emotions embraced during the 1970s".

Chicago Tribune editor Jan DeKnock wrote "just listen to those incredibly high notes on the title cut and current single 'Emotions.'"

Los Angeles Times wrote that this song's producers somewhat perk up this song but he noted that the song can't match the quality of any C+C material.

Music & Media said it "is a good display of Carey's impressive vocal gymnastics. A fashionable co-production by Cole and Clivilles (C&C Music Factory) is paired to a gospel-tinged pop groove."

Music Week called it a "dynamic gospel/R&B-inflected house track" in their review.

Rolling Stone writer Rob Tannenbaum also said, "they (producers) back Carey with pumping house keyboards and shamelessly recycle the chords of Cheryl Lynn's 'Got to Be Real' and the Emotions' 'Best of My Love' to construct the bubbly new-disco 'Emotions.'"

Sun Sentinel magazine editor Deborah Wiler wrote that "the unimaginative first single, Emotions, sounds suspiciously like the `77 hit Best of My Love (by the Emotions)."

"Emotions" was nominated for the 1992 Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, losing to "Something to Talk About" by Bonnie Raitt. It won a BMI R&B Award, continuing Carey's unbroken streak of wins for this award. Carey was also nominated for Producer of the Year (non-classical), becoming the second woman to achieve this honor”.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Mariah Carey won the Best New Artist award at the GRAMMYs in 1991

The chorus has an incredible hook. Carey’s whistle register, whilst it can put some of, works really well and highlights her amazing range. Many people have placed Emotions in the top-ten singles from the superstar. Nearly three decades after its release, Emotions is still being spun and celebrated. Mariah Carey has influenced legions of new singers. One can tell that songs like Emotions are important and have fed into other tracks. If you need to be uplifted and have some energy put into he veins, then I would recommend you listen to Emotions. My second-favourite song of Carey’s (behind Fantasy from Daydream), there is something about Emotions that draws me in. Before finishing with an article that asks us to reassess the album, Emotions, here are some facts about the album’s lead single:

“In this song, Mariah Carey is over the moon for a guy who makes her feel alive and in love. The emotions he makes her feel are deeper than she's ever dreamed of.

Carey wrote the lyric, but the track came courtesy of David Cole and Robert Clivillés, who were the C+C of C+C Music Factory. They were red-hot producers at the time with a hit of their own in 1991 with "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)."

This song bears resemblance to the 1977 #1 disco hit "Best Of My Love," by... The Emotions. Producers would often conjure up tracks in the style of hits from the past, and would label them accordingly. So, it's entirely possible that when Carey got the track (which would have come in a box), it said "Emotions" on it, perhaps triggering her lyric.

Carl Sturken, who as a member of Rythm Syndicate toured with C+C Music Factory around this time, is convinced this is the case. "I am absolutely one thousand percent certain that when they wrote that groove, they labeled it 'Emotions' because it's The Emotions' groove," he told Songfacts. "Then when Mariah Carey comes in to write over it, she sees 'Emotions' written as the name of the groove, so she writes a song called 'You've Got Me Feeling Emotions.'"

The "Best Of My Love" songwriters are not credited on "Emotions," but one of them - Maurice White of Earth, Wind & Fire - took legal action and received a settlement.

Speaking to Fred Bronson, author of The Billboard Book Of #1 Hits, David Cole weighed in on the connection to "Best Of My Love": "What was funny was both Robert and Mariah came up with the 'Emotions' groove separately. She had an idea for it and so did Robert. They both mentioned doing something similar to the (group) Emotions. I mean, the Emotions were an inspiration for the song 'Emotions,' there's no way to deny that or get around it. It definitely has the feeling from the Emotions, but we're not dumb enough to go and steal the damn record."

According to Cole, Tommy Mottola, the head of Sony Music and Mariah's soon-to-be husband, suggested the collaboration. Mariah was a big fan of the producer and the pair hit it off right away. "Working with Mariah was, first of all, fun," Cole recalled. "Robert and I bounced off ideas. We came up with a whole bunch of grooves. If this worked, cool, this doesn't work, next. And that's how we did the whole project. We would all come together and decide on what worked and what didn't.

Even though she was already a perfectionist in the studio, Mariah credits Cole with pushing her to even further heights. "He was one of the only people I used to have in the studio when I would sing because I respected him as a singer," she recalled in a 2018 Pitchfork interview. "He would push me in different areas where he could actually sing it to me and I would be like, 'Oh, this is cool. I like that.' If you listen to the song 'Emotions,' that was him going, 'You can do that. Try this.' Half the time, I would lose my voice afterwards because he would just push me."

In a 2015 retrospective interview for her greatest hits album #1 To Infinity, Mariah said she enjoyed making the music video because the director, Jeff Preiss, was more artistic than her previous directors. The playful clip shows her cruising in the back of a convertible and hanging out with a group of friends in New York City”.

To wrap up, SLANT wrote about Emotions five years ago. They marked twenty-five years of an album that is underrated. Few speak about Emotions as highly as albums like Daydream and Butterfly. They make some interesting observations:

“At the time of its release, Mariah Carey’s sophomore effort, Emotions, was considered a commercial disappointment, failing to reach the top of the charts and selling just half of what the singer’s blockbuster self-titled debut did. In his review of the album, Rolling Stone’s Rob Tannenbaum deemed Mariah’s singing “far more impressive than expressive,” a criticism ostensibly borne out by the album’s titular lead single, on which she proclaims that she’s been “feeling emotions.” Not to put too blunt a point on it, she then tells us, rather than shows us: “I feel good, I feel nice!”

Critics like Tannenbaum routinely griped about Mariah’s reliance on vocal acrobatics, which, they claimed, kept audiences at a remove from her actual songs. Like that of Whitney Houston, to whom she was often compared (and much to both women’s irritation), Mariah’s voice was indeed almost supernatural, a thing to marvel at from a distance. But the assertion that her music lacked expression, even at this early date in her career, is one that the songs themselves simply don’t bear out. The deliriously joyous “Emotions,” however broad its lyrics may seem, all but mandates a performance of the magnitude that Mariah delivers: Her object of desire has her feeling “intoxicated, flying high,” and though hers might be a literal vocal interpretation, it’s certainly an expressive one.

PHOTO CREDIT: John Loengard 

Mariah and her label, however, obviously got the very public memo, as the arguably gratuitous sustained whistle note at the end of “Can’t Let Go,” the album’s second single, was removed from the radio edit of the song, and her upper range was employed sparingly, and often only as background textures, throughout much of the remainder of the decade. Luckily, Emotions still exists as it was conceived, complete with Mariah’s unapologetic deployment of her powerful instrument, and free of the reproach of the same people who would, in just a few years’ time, lament its inevitable deterioration.

Beginning with a rumbling piano tremolo followed by what might be the lowest note Mariah has committed to tape, the bombastic “You’re So Cold” is a lesson in fabulous excess, a showcase for four of Mariah’s infamous five octaves. The first 60 seconds of the song make for a deceptive introduction, with the singer’s portentous, protracted opening invocation (“Lord only knows…why I love you so…”) giving way to a bouncy, horn-filled kiss-off to a cruel devil in disguise. Of course, whistled at a pitch where articulation is rendered secondary, the word “disguise” becomes as unintelligible as Mariah’s euphoric squeals throughout the title track.

There are, believe it or not, moments of subtlety and nuance on Emotions, the fact of which is perhaps key to understanding the frustrations some have regarding Mariah’s myriad vocal tics. “Can’t Let Go” is, in hindsight, one of her most understated hits, her downcast verses floating ephemerally atop the song’s pointillistic percussion, while the album’s penultimate track, “Till the End of Time,” finds Mariah taking her sweet time building from a barely audible whisper to a thundering belt over the span of five minutes.

Mariah’s albums hadn’t yet become venues for her karaoke-style covers of ‘80s power ballads, but Emotions was an early indicator of her penchant for musical quotation. Mimi’s fascination with appropriating hits from her youth manifested itself on “Can’t Let Go,” which swipes its opening keyboard riff from Keith Sweat’s “Make It Last Forever” (she would go on to more directly sample the 1987 R&B hit on a remix for 1999’s “Thank God I Found You”). More than on any other Mariah Carey album, though, disco is a clear influence here, thanks in part to her collaborations with Robert Clivillés and David Cole of C+C Music Factory. House music, the duo’s genre of choice, was still gloriously and inextricably bound to hip-hop in the early ‘90s, as both were built almost entirely on pastiche: “Emotions” is a shameless homage to “Best of My Love” (by none other than the Emotions), while “Make It Happen” makes a less overt nod to Alicia Myers’s 1981 single “I Want to Thank You.”

If Mariah’s struggle to locate her musical identity at this point in her career often resulted in her cribbing from the past, she was already exerting a sense of agency in her lyrics. Songs like the autographical “Make It Happen” and “The Wind,” the latter of which is the story of the death of a friend set to Russ Freeman’s instrumental jazz composition of the same name, hint at the inspirational anthems and confessional manifestos, respectively, that would come to be fixtures on Mariah’s future albums. “No proper shoes upon my feet/Sometimes I couldn’t even eat,” she sing-raps on “Make It Happen,” recounting her struggle from Long Island backup singer to multiplatinum superstar by the age of 20. Though her “struggle” ended before most people’s usually begin (“It just didn’t take that long for the girl with one shoe to acquire many,” Rich Juzwiak quipped in our 2005 retrospective of Mariah’s work), her performance is galvanizing and soulful”.

Mariah wouldn’t completely liberate herself from the fetters of everything she believed was holding her back until 1997’s Butterfly, and has since strained to maintain an equilibrium in terms of both her music and image, often slipping into caricature. But on Emotions, at least musically, she managed to strike a balance of soul and pop that’s not just technically impressive, but filled with undeniable, honest-to-god feeling”.

A stunning song that is infectious and sounds fresh today, Emotions is one of the very best from the iconic Mariah Carey. If anything, Emotions has received more love and investigation this long after its release than it did when it was released in 1991. Perhaps Carey was seen as a new commodity and few knew what to make of her music. Despite the Emotions album having a few weaker moments, one cannot deny the strength and importance of its title track. It is a jam that has this incredible force and positivity. If you have not heard the song or have not spin it for a while, put it on now and spend some time with it. In my opinion, it is…

A real gem.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Porij

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Oliver Pringle

Porij

___________

ONE of the most promising bands…

of the moment come in the form of Manchester’s Porij. There are a few features that I want to bring in - so that we can be introduced to the band. Their six-track mixtape (as opposed to an E.P.), Breakfast – it had to called that, right?! -, was released last year. It was a collection of awesome songs from a group that are turning heads right now. I think that, despite a rather terrible 2020 and 2021 (so far), the group have done well to get their music out there and grow their fanbase. They are going to be keen to get out there and gig more later in the year. The first article, an interview that NME conducted last year, introduces us to Porij. The group - Eggy (vocals and keys), Tommy (vocals and guitar), Jammo (bass) and Tom (drums) – have been friends for a while now:  

“When you form a band, the first live show is normally the last stage of the process. After initial rehearsals you might start to write some of your own songs, and once those have been perfected and you’ve spent hours coming up with a name, you’ll take the tentative steps to performing in front of an audience. But Porij (pronounced like the breakfast oats), did everything backwards.

After living in the same block of halls at uni in Manchester, the foursome – who are all studying popular music at The Royal Northern College of Music – became pals. Although they’d messed around recording bits and pieces, they hadn’t properly considered becoming a band until a friend was forced to pull out of a live show in Leeds.

“It was literally going through Tommy’s computer [listening to recordings] being like ‘yeah we’ll play that… we’ll just need to make it five minutes longer!’” drummer Tom laughs. Thankfully, the gig went well, despite missing bassist James, who wasn’t actually in the same country when it happened, and thus, Porij (the Ready Brek-themed name has “no meaning” and was picked at random) was formed.

As for their other influences, the band sing the praises of Swedish electro-poppers Little Dragon and jazzy left-field multi-instrumentalist Louis Cole, before dissolving into a heated discussion about UK garage don MJ Cole’s back catalogue – which results in the band booing Tom when he says some of it “isn’t good”.

Whilst there are not many (if any) reviews for Breakfast, there are some interviews where we discover more about Porij’s tastes and what they have planned for the future. In October last year, Rebecca Mason spoke with Porij. They discussed their then-latest single, Dirty Love - in addition to how their songs come together:

“Talk us through your new single ‘Dirty Love’, where did it come from and what does it mean to you as a band?

Eggy: I had to write a song for a deadline at uni and somehow this came out. I was pretty stressed at the time so I wanted to distract from my real life. This led to me imagining this weird toxic cult reigned by a freaky Queen. She rules over her people by weaponising her love. I wanted to write something captivating but unsettling and I think Dirty Love is the epitome of that sensation.

Band: It’s probably the fattest, filthiest version of our sound yet. We like it.

How do the majority of your songs come together? Are your influences often similar or are they constantly changing?

It’s changing all the time. We all produce, so we make beats, bring them into rehearsals and try and play them live. It’s super fun, but every single song seems to be a completely different process so we can’t really tell you.

We all listen to different stuff, but here’s what we’re collectively into at the moment: Kano (Hoodies All Summer is incredible), Disclosure (new tune with Slowthai slaps), and Little Dragon (always).

Is there anything you’ve learned about yourselves through making music?

We’re all massively insecure but sometimes when we make music we forget that we are.

What is something you wish you’d known when you first got into the music industry?

Don’t do pay to play gigs. You can record in your bedroom and get it played on the radio. Don’t master your own music.

What’s it like being involved in the Manchester scene at the moment? Any favourite upcoming artists we should be listening to?

Manchester’s sick. There’s such a huge history of dance music here, so it feels amazing to be able to be a part of it.

There are too many good upcoming bands to pick so we’re gonna take one each:

Jamo: See Thru Hands. Massive through rig.

Tom: KSR’s voice gets me every time.

Tommy: Codex. They slap, the most lush electronic music I’ve seen live!

Eggy: Paige Kennedy. If you’re looking for engaging songwriting than look no further. Can usually be found in a studio or on the hockey pitch”.

The music scene has always been vibrant in Manchester. At the moment, there are some seriously good acts coming from there. If you have not checked out Porij, then make sure that you do as soon as possible. They are making some seriously good music!

 PHOTO CREDIT: Oliver Pringle

Before moving on, there are a couple of other interviews that I want to draw in. Earlier this year, DORK looked back on the year and asked Porij how – for a hungry and talented young band – it has been not hitting the road:  

“2020’s been a bit much, hasn’t it, are you guys all okay? What have you been up to this year?

We’re getting by alright! Chaotic good energy. It has all been a bit much, although Biden won, so that’s a relief. All our gigs got cancelled, so we’ve been focussing on writing and recording instead.

Must be weird trying to get a new band going while unable to play gigs, is that impacting you much? Are you able to get shows “in the diary”?

It’s sad not being able to perform together because it had become a big part of what we do and we miss interacting with everyone that came to our shows. We had to find different ways to do that the past six months by getting progressively sillier on social media. We’ve been offered a few gigs recently, but it’s all so up in the air at the moment that we don’t know what’s going to happen.

Is there a particular vibe you like to go for with your music? Any lyrical themes you’re particularly drawn to?

Anything and everything is allowed. We like to be open. Just as ‘Dirty Love’ was complete fantasy, songs like ‘Closer’ are completely personal.

What do you lot do for fun when you’re not doing band business?

Eggy likes supermarkets, in particular the mystery aisles in Lidl and/or Aldi. Tommy likes making drum’n’bass loud. Tom bought a skateboard a couple months ago and can take a hefty slam. Jammo eats”.

The final interview comes from DIY. Some of the biggest tastemakers in the country have been saluting and highlighting one of Manchester’s finest. They highlighted the single, Nobody Scared (the interview was published in May this year):

“Following the release of last year’s ‘Breakfast’ mixtape, the group returned with plucky and poignant new alt-pop single ‘Nobody Scared’ last month. Speaking about the track, vocalist Eggy explains, “I wrote the lyrics for ‘Nobody Scared’ after watching a documentary on Netflix about the Yorkshire Ripper. It focused on the Reclaim the Night marches and it made me remember the feeling of fear when I used to walk home alone at night. The song is about recognising those feelings but addressing the fact that women and girls shouldn’t have to live their lives afraid. The line ‘nobody scared’ is meant to be empowering and embody the Reclaim the Night Movement. It’s crazy that people force the narrative that women aren’t being careful when in reality they shouldn’t be in danger just because of their gender and no matter how many precautions they take it doesn’t seem to matter. Gender-based violence affects women from all countries, backgrounds and social statuses. The fact that 97% of women say they had been sexually harassed is astounding but sadly not a surprising statistic to those who have been through it.

“We originally wrote this song back in December and it felt like an important topic then but it feels even more important now. When I was watching the documentary, the original Reclaim the Night march first happened in 1977 but the fact that we’re still having to protest over the same issues of femicide is shocking, especially as the advice is still the same. We shouldn’t have to take preventative measures in order to be safe, why is no-one tackling the issue instead of blaming the victims? Women shouldn’t have to stay out of public spaces after dark and have a curfew inflicted upon them. Hopefully this song can help empower the women that deserve so much more.”

Are there any other artists breaking through at the same time that you take inspiration from?

Jamo: Petsematary, completely different from us but slaps on a gig.
Tommy: Coco Bryce. No two breaks will ever be the same.
Eggy: Paige Kennedy - wild'n'wonderful. Hold on to your hats.
Tom: I am in love with Enny's music at the minute, she's a sick storyteller.

Who would be your dream collaborator?

porij x Hot Wheels 🔥

Musically or otherwise, what are you most looking forward to this year?

A big rig in a field please. And gigs! And more new tunes! And some new suits...

If people could take away one thing from your music, what would it be?

The world is ending but we're having a great time x”.

Let’s finish up here. If you require further information about Porij, then do some digging and check out their amazing music. I feel that they will make up for lost time regarding gigs. Check out their social media pages to see where you can catch them live. They are an incredible force that are going to be around for years. Original, instantly appealing and memorable, the band deserve as many followers as possible. I shall leave it there. Go and investigate…

ONE of the country’s best new bands.

___________

Follow Porij

PHOTO CREDIT: MEN UGC 

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/porij_/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/porijmusic/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/porij_

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/5Ph4BCHTBnS7CJctvtUDkp?si=RiVFsYVTSc6i5YUQppk1-Q&dl_branch=1

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa6Oj3uL5oEoI5kS0pjcDow

FEATURE: The Kate Bush Interview Archive: 2005: Tom Doyle (MOJO)

FEATURE:

 

 

The Kate Bush Interview Archive

IMAGE CREDIT: MOJO

2005: Tom Doyle (MOJO)

___________

I am not going to include the whole interview…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 2005/PHOTO CREDIT: Trevor Leighton

in this feature but, in this series, I am highlighting great interview through the years. I have not included any from the mid-1980s or later in the decade. I shall rectify that in the next couple of features in this series. Today. I want to spotlight an interview from Tom Doyle. It appeared on The Guardian’s website - though it was an abridged version of an exclusive sixteen-page interview with Bush that appeared in MOJO (which went on sale on 3rd  November, 2005). Even though the original interview was published in MOJO, I am taking from the abridged version that The Guardian ran. It was not the only interview conducted around Aerial, although it is one of the best and most illuminating! This was a fascinating period, as Bush released the double album, Aerial. That came twelve years after her previous studio album, The Red Shoes. There was speculation years before as to whether she had retired or was a recluse. Neither was true! Instead, she was looking after her new son (Bertie was born in 1998; there is an Aerial track, Bertie, that is about him). The interview is really interesting to read:

“Yet here, in Kate Bush's home, there is a 47-year-old mother of one, the antithesis of the mysterious recluse, dressed in a workday uniform of brown shirt, jeans and trainers, hair clipped up in practical busy-busy fashion, all wary smiles and nervous laughter. We shake hands, tentatively. She seems tiny (five foot three-and-a-half inches) and more curvaceous than the waif-like dancer of popular memory.

Famously, Kate Bush hates interviews - the last was four years ago, the previous one seven years before that. So the prospect of this interrogation, the only one she has agreed to endure in support of Aerial, must fill her with dread. Around us there is evidence of a very regular, family-shaped existence - toys and kiddie books scattered everywhere, a Sony widescreen with a DVD of Shackleton sitting below it. Atop the fireplace hangs a painting called Fishermen by James Southall, a tableau of weather-beaten seadogs wrestling with a rowing boat; it is soon to be familiar as part of the inner artwork of Aerial. Balanced against a wall in the office next door is a replica of the Rosebud sledge burned at the dramatic conclusion of Citizen Kane, as commissioned for the video of Bush's comeback single, King of the Mountain, and brought home as a gift for her seven-year-old son Bertie.

Can she understand why people build these myths around her?

"No," she begins, apprehensively. "No, I can't. Pffff. I can't really."

You once said: "There is a figure that is adored, but I'd question very strongly that it's me."

There is silence. A stare. You did say it ...

"Well supposedly I said that. But in what context did I say it?"

Just talking about fans building up this image of you as some kind of goddess.

"Yes, but I'm not, am I?"

So, do the rumours bug you? That you're some fragile being who's hidden herself away?

"No," she replies. "A lot of the time it doesn't bother me. I suppose I do think I go out of my way to be a very normal person and I just find it frustrating that people think that I'm some kind of weirdo reclusive that never comes out into the world." Her voice notches up in volume. "Y'know, I'm a very strong person and I think that's why actually I find it really infuriating when I read, 'She had a nervous breakdown' or 'She's not very mentally stable, just a weak, frail little creature'."

If the outside world was wondering whether Kate Bush would ever finish her long-awaited album, then it was a feeling shared by its creator. "Oh yeah," she sighs. "I mean, there were so many times I thought, I'll have the album finished this year, definitely, we'll get it out this year. Then there were a couple of years where I thought, I'm never gonna do this. If I could make albums quicker, I'd be on a roll wouldn't I? Everything just seems to take so much time. I don't know why. Time ... evaporates."

There was a story that some EMI execs had come down to see you and you'd said something like: "Here's what I've been working on," and then produced some cakes from your oven. True? "No! I don't know where that came from. I thought that was quite funny actually. It presents me as this homely creature, which is all right, isn't it?"

The shiver-inducing stand-out track on Aerial, however, comes at the end of the first disc. A Coral Room is a piano-and-vocal ballad that Bush admits she first considered to be too personal for release, dealing as it does with the death of her mother, a matter that she didn't address at the time in any of the songs on The Red Shoes.

"No, no I didn't," she says. "I mean, how would you address it? I think it's a long time before you can go anywhere near it because it hurts too much. I've read a couple of things that I was sort of close to having a nervous breakdown. But I don't think I was. I was very, very tired. It was a really difficult time."

Kate Bush begins to tidy up the plates and cups and get ready for Bertie's arrival home from school with his dad. Before I go, however, there is one last Bush myth to bust. Apparently, when she attended a music industry reception at Buckingham Palace this year, she asked the Queen for her autograph. Is that true? Instantly a grin spreads across the face of the Most Elusive Woman in Rock. "Yes, I did!" she exclaims, only half-embarrassedly. "I made a complete arsehole of myself. I'm ashamed to say that when I told Bertie that I was going to meet the Queen, he said, 'Mummy, no, you're not, you've got it wrong' and I said, 'But I am!' So rather stupidly I thought I'd get her to sign my programme. She was very sweet.

"The thing is I would do anything for Bertie and making an arsehole of myself in front of a whole roomful of people and the Queen, I mean ... But I don't have a very good track record with royalty. My dress fell off in front of Prince Charles at the Prince's Trust, so I'm just living up to my reputation”.

The Tom Doyle interview is a rare print interview (as I associate the promotion for Aerial with being largely radio interviews). I will go and get that copy of MOJO, as the full interview is captivating and it is a must-read. I was keen to include bits of it here, as 2005 was when Bush sort of returned for a long spell out of music. Alongside raising a young son, she was taking time out from a rather stressful time in 1993/1994. This was a time when I feel like she was taking on a lot. Her album, The Red Shoes, did not receive that many glowing reviews. The short film, The Line, the Cross and the Curve (which was shown at the London Film Festival on 13th November 1993) was also not that well received. It must have been disappointing and upsetting for Bush. It is not a surprise that she needed some space and time to settle. Aerial might have taken a while to come to us, but one only needs to listen to it to realise that it is one of her greatest works – Bush herself has said it is her favourite album, as she associates it with a happy period. One can hear this iconic artist with a whole new lease and sense of purpose.! This new mother brings the domestic and new-found bliss into the album – though one cannot define Aerial by being about motherhood and the home. There are shades of nature and the natural world through the second disc, A Sky of Honey. I would encourage any Kate Bush fan to seek out print/online interviews from 2005. There are a few radio interviews on YouTube that are well worth some time. The interview with Tom Doyle, to me, is among…

THE very best of 2005.

TRACK REVIEW: Joel Culpepper - Remember

TRACK REVIEW:

 

 

Joel Culpepper

PHOTO CREDIT: FELIX

Remember

9.5/10

The track, Remember, is available from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjvhYLf0q3Q

GENRES:

Alternative R&B/Soul/Trip-Hop/Funk

ORIGIN:

London, U.K.

The album, Sgt Culpepper, is available via:

https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/joel-culpepper/sgt-culpepper

RELEASE DATE:

23rd July, 2021

LABEL:

Mr. Bongo

__________

THIS time around…

I am spending some time with one of the best young artists around. Even though I only discovered Joel Culpepper’s music relatively recently, he has been recording for a long time now. I feel his music at the moment is the strongest it has ever been. With his new album, Sgt Culpepper, out and receiving so much love, there is definitely a lot of eyes cast his way. I am going to make my way to the album soon enough. Before then, there are a few things that I need to cover off. I am interested in Culpepper’s childhood and when he started singing. In this 2017 interview, we discover more about Culpepper’s upbringing and when singing came into his life:

“C: We start, as we always do. The beginning. Where were you born? How was life as a kid and what were you like?

J: I'm a south east London boy. Originally Peckham until I hit 11 and my mum was like "nah we're moving..." I don't think she wanted me to get in with the wrong crowd and I was already a known face on the estate. Not in a bad way but maybe with her being a probation officer, she saw a pattern about to emerge. I'd like to think I was a good kid in a mad city. I cried when we left... Moved to sunny Catford. New school, new friends, new everything.

PHOTO CREDIT: The Flash Pack 

C: Peckham! Very early for a tangent but was this around the same time when the TV show "Desmond's" was on?

J: Yep! Actually got my haircut in Desmond's. Obviously not the TV set but it was based on a real barbershop. I went there once, they butchered me.

C: Ahaaaaa! That's amazing. That's a Top 5 show for me, I had to ask.

Alright, back to you. So mother was a probation officer, was it just you and your mother growing up?

J: No. Me & my elder sister. My mum raised us. My mum separated with my ol' man but he had a pub in Peckham at the time so I would go and visit him. Very popular man, always had his friends wrapped round him.

C: I see. So, how were you exposed to music back then? Was it you listening to whatever your sister or mother listened to or did you have a more independent ear?

J: I remember quite vividly my sister bringing home two LP's. Boyz II Men and Mary J Blige. Eventually, H-Town was in there, Heavy D (who my mum fancied) and it just sort of grew from there. Mum played Luther [Vandross] a lot in the house... A lot bro!!! But also a lot of Whitney, Gloria Estefan. Wow, a lot of memories there.

C: Heavy D huh? I see you Mama Culpepper!

So that's a very eclectic mix. A lot of soul, R&B, little bit of Hip-Hop in there. Putting a pin in what music shaped you for the time being. When did singing come in? Because I've assumed is that you started out very recently, sometime within the past 5 years. Am I wrong there?

J: I've been singing a while, it just took me awhile to find my voice I think. Everyone I knew and their gran sang, so I didn't even wanna admit it caught me the way it did”.

Sgt Culpepper, as I say, is the new album from the London-born artist. I have been listening back to his first two E.P.s, Skydive and Tortoise. When he spoke with The Soul House in 2019, Culpepper was asked about these terrific works:

“Culpepper’s first EP Skydive came out in 2012. While enjoying his early material, I note that his more recent music seems darker, grittier, and edgier both sonically and lyrically. Culpepper agrees: ‘I love that you feel that as well.’  While Culpepper was scoping out his artistry in his early material, he has since become convinced that he wants his music to be as raw and free as possible. ‘I now have a sledgehammer and I’m going to town! It’s important to break the rules.’ But he clarifies: ‘You need to know them first.’

Skydive garnered some industry attention. Culpepper sees Jimmy Hogarth – a London-based songwriter and producer (Duffy, Amy Winehouse, Estelle) – as the first industry veteran to see potential in him. Together they produced ‘Don’t Mean I’m In Love’, a track from Culpepper’s most recent EP Tortoise (2017), in a single take. Culpepper also has a personal friendship and professional relationship with Guy Chambers, a formidable writer, musician and producer best known for his work with Robbie Williams.

Culpepper’s sophomore EP Tortoise (2017) was another turning point. And understandably so: it showcases Culpepper’s raw vocals and songwriting chops. I quiz him about two of the standout tracks from the album. ‘Far From Your Average’, which tends to open Culpepper’s shows, is the best James Bond theme that never was. It is dripping in gravitas. The song was produced by Rich De Rosa (Rita Ora, Example) and Morgan Nicholls (Gorrilaz, Muse). Culpepper describes how the song draws upon a series of bad relationships as well as a general dismissive attitude he observed from others about his prospects as a performer. ‘The message that I want to convey in the song is “you should have never underestimated me”.

I want to focus on the Tortoise E.P. for a little bit. Even though the E.P. took a while to make, one can hear the effort that has gone into it! I have been listening to it in preparation for this review. One can hear Culpepper growing and building as an artist from his earlier work. His voice especially sounds at its very best. Returning to the first interview I quoted from, Culpepper spoke about creating Tortoise:

“So with that, knowing that you can really do this, we can move a little closer to now, what would you consider your next milestone?

J: I've done the EP thing and I'm ready to put out a body of work. A concept album. I've been working hard at it & hopefully I get it right. Just trying to stay away from the pressure of making it great and make it honest, something I like.

C: Ah yes! We'll get to the album but I'd like to talk "Tortoise" if you don't mind. Actually, I had a question in mind but this one is better. Why "Tortoise"?

J: Because I saw a tortoise ornament at a mates house when I was round for tea. Beautiful looking thing but not in a loud or obvious way. And then I realised I've eaten dinner here a thousand times but never noticed this tortoise. It's always been here. I sort of liked the idea in finding an identity with it. It hides in plain sight and always consistent. In the story of the Tortoise and The Hare it was underestimated because it was never counted in the race. The perceived weakness was almost used as a strength for the Tortoise because the Hare never saw him coming which makes the Tortoise more dangerous than anyone, what a threat.

My EP took 4 years to make but I think it's subtle release continues to creep on people, maybe something that wasn't expected I'm not sure. Well I hope it does anyway. Artists that really move me are not necessarily fast but they do impact. I want impact.

C: Very nice! Always love a backstory. I especially love that last bit about taking time. I'm completely fine waiting years for my favourite artists to drop their next project. As a writer I believe the longer you marinate on something, the better it becomes. But there are exceptions”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Lauren Luxenberg for CLASH

One of the most arresting and distinct elements of Joel Culpepper’s music is his soulful voice. We have a few soulful singers in the U.K., though I have often associated the U.S. with having the best Soul singers. Maybe I need to readjust that. Culpepper is certainly an artist with a rich and powerful voice that captures you. Coming back to that interview from The Soul House, Culpepper questioned whether he was a Soul artist:

“When I ask whether Culpepper thinks of himself as a soul artist, he answers directly: ‘I do soulful music and I’m inspired by a lot of soulful artists.’ However, he argues that soul music is somewhat ubiquitous. ‘I think soul music is everywhere in every kind of genre… I’ve found it in Beach Boys; I’ve found it in Tame Impala.’ He therefore stresses the importance that the genre be seen as progressive, drawing comparisons to how the jazz scene has evolved in the UK.

Given his position on the many faces of soul, I ask Culpepper what he deems as the common denominator in soul music. Though acknowledging that there are various factors, he pins down the voice as key. ‘It doesn’t need to be a voice that is massively acrobatic. It has to have a resonance, a tone that definitely has a bit of melancholy to it.’ He specifically calls out Dan Auerbach, lead vocalist of the Black Keys, as an example of this. When I ask him who he regards as the definitive soul voice, he answers with Donny Hathaway. ‘He has the perfect blend of happy and sad. It’s in his voice the minute you hear it.’ He argues that this duality is another characteristic feature within soul, noting the interdependence between joy and pain in the Negro Spirituals. ‘They sang to alleviate pain, to deal with suffering, to feel a level of joy.’

 The specificity with which Culpepper discusses soul music is unsurprising given his upbringing. While his parents themselves were not musical, he was exposed to soul music as a child living with his mother in South-East London. ‘I used to watch my mum downstairs eyes closed with the stereo system on just playing Luther Vandross.’ He also namechecks the likes of Teddy Pendergrass, Diana Ross, and Whitney Houston as particular favourites in his household. His father was a particular fan of Randy Crawford. Using his parent’s tastes as a starting point, he went further back, discovering the likes of Prince, Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield, and James Brown. It was at an uncle’s prompting that he first heard Donny Hathaway.

Culpepper went on to study the likes of Jill Scott, Musiq Soulchild, and Eric Roberson as they spearheaded the neo-soul movement. Initially disheartened that he did not sound like Boyz II Men like his peers in church, it was upon listening to D’Angelo that he began to harness his own falsetto and understand the capabilities of his voice. Thought of as a promising dancer and visual artist, friends and family gradually came to see Culpepper’s potential as a musician.

I direct our discussion onto the British soul landscape. Culpepper’s appraisal is positive and optimistic. ‘I think it’s growing; I think it’s re-defining itself.’ He points to singer-songwriters Jordan Rakei, Tom Misch, and Michael Kiwanuka as champions of this progressive streak.

Sticking to the topic of British soul, I refer to the mainstream success of artists like Duffy, Adele, and Sam Smith initially marketed as ‘soul’ or ‘soulful’. I float the argument that the industry has a problem marketing black British soul singers specifically. He agrees. ‘Black soul singers have always had a tricky time. Artists that I feel that should be on everybody’s lips and minds as living legends [are] people like Omar [and] Terri Walker. [They] deserve more props and respect for the music they’ve made but also the way they’ve paved some major roads for artists like myself to even exist.’

He also cites Lynden David Hall, Shaun Escoffery, and Beverley Knight as other important figures in British soul. In fact, Culpepper supported Ms Knight at the London Palladium as part of her I <3 Soulsville tour in 2017. He describes how Knight has ‘shown [him] such love and support’ in every encounter they’ve had”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Dan Knott

I am going to quote a lot from Music Glue. Sort of an official website for Culpepper, there is a great section that tells us about Sgt Culpepper; we discover more about the man behind it. Rather than cut it up and make it sounded a bit fragmented, I have brought in the entire thing:

“Joel Culpeppers’ subconscious knew that he was capable of making a great album before he did. A long-held joke with himself, “SGT CULPEPPER” is a pun that hints at the leadership he was wary of embodying, the relief when you realise you’re capable of all that you feared.

“‘SGT CULPEPPER’ just felt right as a title for so many reasons; ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ is recognised as one of the first concept albums obviously, but it’s also me finally being in this position to go, yeah, you've finally been approved to make an album, and here are all the soldiers involved,” he says. “The team of producers, the strategy and allegiances and legacy, with me having to steer it all; there’s an internal battle when you step into those public positions. It’s conflicting; you feel like you can do it, but at the same time you're scared of the outcome, even if it’s positive. And I feel like ‘SGT CULPEPPER’ is that story - who is this guy, and what is he all about?”

Born in Peckham before moving to Catford, South East London, Culpepper’s journey of musical self-discovery began as an ardent fan. From a very young age, he was raised on the work of the legends – watching from the top of the stairs as his mother swooned to the soulful vibes of Teddy Pendergrass on the record player, attending church during the growing era of Kirk Franklin and Fred Hammond’s Gospel cool. Friends were getting down to Chart RnB and American-import Hip-Hop, but for Joel, a true sense of belonging came with the discovery of both Prince and Neo-Soul, a fusion that shaped his ear for soaring falsetto and loose-swinging beats.

 “Musiq Soulchild, D'Angelo, Jill Scott, Indie Arie, Erykah Badu, The Root, Dwele…it was literally like I’d found the world,” he smiles. “I got a little bit obsessive with it actually, a little too streamlined. But I had started to develop my own tastes, and then Prince suddenly became on my radar. With him, I learnt that the most powerful thing you can do as a performer is to allow yourself to be free in the moment – just do you and be present. Once I knew that, my performance flew.”

Having attended Croydon College as a performing arts student, a wide-eyed, 18-year-old Joel had seen enough episodes of MTV’s Making The Band to know that America was the place to be. Staying with an Aunt in the Bronx, he took to the streets with 100 demo CDs, thrusting them into the hands of likely industry types who showed interest in his style. Despite major label interest no deal was signed, but Joel returned to London with a much-needed sense of self-belief, the knowledge that he could put himself out there and survive. Now in his thirties, he believes that that early near-miss might have been the best thing to happen to him, allowing him to stay true to the kind of compassionate artist he wants to be.

“I do think friendship is a big thing for me; I lead with that and the music is second,” he says. “I want to understand who the person is that I'm working with and what they're about and if we can be pals. Not in a like 'please be my friend!' way, but everyone that I work with I respect; they’ve become family to me. Sometimes it takes time for the musical aspect to reveal itself; it did with me and Swindle. ‘Woman’ was maybe two years into our friendship, but we knew when we had something that felt right.”

 An indispensable member of the Culpepper family, producer Swindle (Ezra Collective, Mahalia, Kojey Radical) plays a pivotal role in Joel’s creative expression, right there with him from the laidback 2017 EP ‘Tortoise’ (including the aforementioned ‘Woman’, the Colors Show performance of which has racked up 13-million-and-counting views) to the joyful style and ambitious focus of ‘SGT CULPEPPER’. Having mythicized the format of an album to impossible levels, the pressure Joel put upon himself to create his own ‘What’s Going On’ or ‘The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill’ created a kind of perfectionist-procrastination, the sort that can be difficult to snap out of without a good pep talk. Swindle, it seems, was that great friend.

“I don't know if it was anxiety, but there was definitely a responsibility to make a record that can do all these multiple things, you know?” says Joel. “It's got to have a strong identity, it's got to be impactful, it's got to be genuine but crossover. An album isn’t just a collection of songs; it’s a whole story. Where are the messages? Where is it nice, where is it sweet, where is it sour? It needs to pull and push and I think I just overthought it and became intimidated by it. My relationship with Swindle kind of changed that; recognising that we had not only great chemistry in our friendship, but at work too. I started collecting all these producers via unplanned scenarios, becoming friends and then naturally involving them in the record. When I finally asked Swindle to executive produce, it was him basically going 'Thank God. I've been waiting for you to ask forever, let's do it'. So, yeah, it took a while, but I think it needed to.”

Two years in the works, you can hear every note of the thought that was poured into ‘SGT Culpepper’, every participant holding an implicit understanding of what they wanted to achieve as a team. Inspired by the multiplicities of Joel’s Gemini star sign, it is a record that is split into four sections - the battle, the surrender, the love and the lesson, each guiding the listener through a process of acceptance and healing. Every aspect of that essential push and pull is addressed, from the skittering jazz-soul frustration of ‘Dead Bodies’ and ‘W.A.R’ (“I’m tired of having to turn the other cheek”) to the summery, lovestruck effervescence of ‘Kisses’ and the double-entendre of ‘Break’, simultaneously written about a struggling romantic relationship and the weathering nature of the Brexit debate. “It was the first song I had for the record, and I was just so proud that I’d achieved this kind of Soul Train, Al Green, Sly and The Family Stone moment.”

Across the record, you can hear the hand of all manner of collaborators and producers – Tom Misch, Redinho, Kay Young, Guy Chambers, Joker – but somehow, it all comes together to feel inherently Joel, the sort of record that would have slotted seamlessly into his Mother’s vinyl collection. Whether it’s the ‘Bennie & The Jets’-esque Piano on ‘It’s In Your Sex’ or the Smokey Robinson nod on ‘Tears Of A Crown,’ every reference is lovingly curated from a place of personal significance, a recognition that it is okay for him to play host in the journey through his life. It’s abundantly clear that he’s a soul man, but despite the caperings of lead single ‘Thought About You’ (featuring Joel and viral comedian Munya Chawama in impeccable 70’s disco dress), he was keen for his love of all things old-school not to come off as mere pastiche.

“It’s a really fine line - you don't want it to be try-hard or like, 'we get it, you like Soul'. I wanted to nod to things that had influenced me, but it also needs to work on radio in 2021. And that's where having the people within your team and the producers and the right sort of creative involvement kind of helps to steer it back in a direction that's authentic to yourself. We’re all very aware that I’ve probably listened to Curtis Mayfield a few times, but I want the audience to know other things about me as well.”

One of the most formative things to know about Joel is the time he has put in supporting the generation coming up behind him. Having worked in schools as a learning mentor for young people with challenging behavioural needs, it once again informs the importance he places on community spirit, rooted in the wisdom that it takes a village to raise a child. The experience runs through ‘SGT CULPEPPER’s desire to elevate other people’s stories, but really shines on the album closer, ‘Black Boy’, an unabashed celebration of all that it takes to be unique in the ever-growing pressures of the world.

PHOTO CREDIT: Michal Augustini for EQUATE Magazine

“I feel there have been so many important songs that address black men, but I wanted to hear a song that universally celebrated being a black lad with an upbeat Minnie Riperton, summertime vibe,” he says. “When I was writing I kept going back to this one memory of a boy I worked with, just this one morning when he was running late, bowling through the playground with such a confidence and an air about him. He had his older sister's leopard-print coat, a pink lunchbox, these ankle-swinger trousers with no socks on. Some of the kids were saying stuff, but he was just head forward, bowling through, didn't care. I'll never forget me turning around to the other teachers and them going 'he's got it, int he?' Like fair play mate, you've sussed out life. That lived with me; we spend our whole adulthoods trying to find ways to be that uninhibited, and he’d cracked it at 10 years old.”

“I just wanted him to have that message. I felt horrendous for leaving that job, but in my head, I just kept thinking, I don't just want to be the guy that just spoke about doing music – I want those kids to see me doing it. It’s very much me coming to terms with this contradicting feeling of responsibility that I want to carry, where you feel nervous but know you can spearhead it if you try. ‘Black Boy’ is very much in a space of nah, you're meant to do this – go ahead and tip the crown. ”

Standing on the shoulders of the musical giants we all know and love while also bringing his peers and mentees with him, Joel has found a way to craft a love letter to a community that lives simultaneously in the past and future, a retro-modernity that never feels stifled or contrived. Having conquered his uncertainties, is SGT Culpepper any closer to figuring out who he is?

“He's a leader, but he's also someone that doubted himself at points, as we all have. He’s showing you his weaknesses as well as his strengths,” Joel says. “I just want to tell that story through these chapters of this individual, the many sides to the one coin.”

“I think what matters is the experiences and the relationships that you form with people, the people who inspire you to really notch things up every time. I haven’t always been the ‘one to watch’ or the person on everyone’s radar, but there are so many people who are making me feel like you don’t just get one shot, like there’s a way to enjoy the journey. And that's the beautiful thing; I feel like I've only just gotten started.”

PHOTO CREDIT: The Flash Pack 

That is quite a lot of information from the same source! I wanted to highlight it, as we get a rich and detailed story and background. I will move on very soon and review one of the tracks from Sgt Culpepper, Remember. I am excited to see where Culpepper heads next and how far his career can go. I know he will have tour dates coming up. Go and check out his social media channels to keep up with all the happenings. CLASH featured Culpepper earlier in the year. An interesting source of inspiration was key when making the album:

“On the album, they’ve tapped into the processes favoured by the masters of soul to create a cohesive body of work. “We went to watch Hitsville: The Making Of Motown in the cinema. There’s a blueprint that you follow in order to create those kinds of albums. We went to a remote studio, we stayed there for a week, we brought in musicians who played across the whole thing. Swindle was adamant that we spoke to each producer and made sure they understood the picture we were painting too. There was definitely a Quincy Jones element to the way we attacked this.”

Thematically, there’s a real urgency to the glimpses of ‘Sgt. Culpepper’ we’ve been given so far. ‘Return’ finds Joel meditating on thoughts of payback over a driving bass (“Hear them voices a calling / Trying hard to ignore them / But I wanna give in / Get up / And get lawless”) while the upbeat vibe of ‘W.A’R’ can’t mask his disdain at the treatment of marginalised groups. Justice and forgiveness is explored on the funk-licked ‘Poetic Justice’. It’s prescient music, reflective of testing times”.

There has been a lot of brilliant music put out this year. So many artists have been nodding to the past in quite a big way. Laura Mvula’s album, Pink Noise, was nominated for a Mercury Prize. It travels back to the 1980s in terms of its sonic inspiration. With Joel Culpepper, I can tell that artists like Stevie Wonder and D'Angelo are important. I selected Remember to review as it is my favourite song from the album.  We get this cosmic and spacey sound. With a synth sound creating this intergalactic and evocative sound, there is a definite sense of build. Even though it is not necessarily tied to the theme and story of the song, it is a nice introduction that sounds great. I am a big fan of a good introduction and, with Remember, one is prepared for something pretty special! I do not want to draw too many comparisons, as it takes away from Culpepper’s singular talent. That said, with rousing horns and some processed vocals alongside his rich lead, there is a bit of Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder and even Daft Punk in the blend. The spirit and energy of the first verse really hooks you in and gets the energy flowing. I am not sure whether the lyrics are based on true events or are aimed at anyone specific. He tells someone that, when they are down and need pulling up, “Remember what I told ya”. That mantra and piece of advice is the key to the song. Also, when they are in a rut and need the key to their life (a Stevie Wonder nod?) then, rather than being despondent and defeated, recall the advice Culpepper offered. It is a brilliant structure that ensures the lines stick in your thoughts for a long time. They are punchy and soulful. If love ain’t enough and things are looking bad, then they (whether it is a lover or friend) can hold onto some sage advice. I was intrigued what Culpepper said and whether he was holding his secret words back.

His vocals and sensational and filled with meaning and compassion. He wants you – again, whomever it is -, to feel loved and not be down. Culpepper’s voice grows hotter as the song steps up a notch when we hear the words come back again. Of being stuck in a rut and needing to be pulled up, there is an extra layer or two in the mix (there is a female vocal providing backing; I couldn’t see online whose it is). The build and power that emanates from the song is incredible. It is definitely motivated by classic acts. One can hear some of his influences in there, yet the most dominant sound is Culpepper’s unique D.N.A. With some great backing vocals and this belief that, despite what is happening and how things look, there can be this resolution, Remember very much seems like a song for these times. One of the biggest weapons of the song is the repetition. Rather than there being a lot of story and different lines, we get the catchy and memorable chorus that one cannot help but feel energised by. There is a nice section just before the three-minute mark that some big bass sounds and a great low, processed vocal that drops things down a bit. From the high-pitched vocal and sound before, the pace is still there, yet the tone has shifted a bit. I was not expecting it. It lends a nice new layer. I love that section. Culpepper sings “Do you remember?” and, again, I wonder what he said before and what this person needs to remember. One of the key strengths of Remember is its rhythm and how funky it sounds. I have not even mentioned Funk music and its relevance to Culpepper. Fusing classic Soul, Funk and Disco with something now and fresh, Remember is a song that contains a lot of depth and nuance – in spite of the fact that it has a simplicity and does not have too many lyrics. It is a terrific song. To me, it is the highlight of Sgt Culpepper. The album has been getting a lot of love. I would advise everyone to seek it out. I really like Culpepper’s earlier work - though I feel he is at his strongest and most astonishing on Sgt Culpepper. Without a doubt, he is one…

OF our very best artists.

___________

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FEATURE: A Buyer’s Guide: Part Sixty-Four: Saint Etienne

FEATURE:

 

 

A Buyer’s Guide

PHOTO CREDIT: Rob Baker Ashton  

Part Sixty-Four: Saint Etienne

___________

FOR this A Buyer’s Guide…

I am recommending the essential works of a band that some people might not know about. Since they formed in 1990, Saint Etienne have made some of the most original and engaging music you will hear. They are an amazing band whose most-recent studio albums, 2017’s Home Counties, ranks alongside their best. Before getting to the recommendations, here is some biography from AllMusic:

“Like most bands founded by former music journalists, Saint Etienne were a highly conceptual group. The trio's concept was to fuse the British pop sounds of '60s London with the club/dance rhythms and productions that defined the post-acid house England of the early '90s. Led by songwriters Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs, and fronted by vocalist Sarah Cracknell, the group managed to carry out their concept, and, in the process, Saint Etienne helped make indie dance a viable genre within the U.K. Throughout the early '90s, Saint Etienne racked up a string of indie hit singles that were driven by deep club beats -- encompassing anything from house and techno to hip-hop and disco -- and layered with light melodies, detailed productions, clever lyrics, and Cracknell's breathy vocals. They revived the sounds of swinging London as well as the concept of the three-minute pop single being a catchy, ephemeral piece of ear candy, in post-acid house Britain, thereby setting the stage for Brit-pop. Though most Brit-pop bands rejected the dance inclinations of Saint Etienne, they nevertheless adopted the trio's aesthetic, which celebrated the sound and style of classic '60s pop.

The origins of Saint Etienne date back to the early '80s, when childhood friends Bob Stanley (born December 25, 1964) and Pete Wiggs (born May 15, 1966) began making party tapes together in their hometown of Croydon, Surrey, England. After completing school, the pair worked various jobs -- most notably, Stanley was a music journalist -- before deciding to concentrate on a musical career in 1988. Adopting the name Saint Etienne from the French football team of the same name, the duo moved to Camden, where they began recording. By the beginning of 1990, the group had signed a record contract with the indie label Heavenly. In the spring of 1990, Saint Etienne released their first single, a house-tinged cover of Neil Young's "Only Love Can Break Your Heart," which featured lead vocals from Moira Lambert of the indie pop band Faith Over Reason.

"Only Love Can Break Your Heart" became an underground hit, receiving a fair amount of airplay in nightclubs across England. Later in the year, Saint Etienne released their second single, a cover of the indie pop group Field Mice's "Let's Kiss and Make Up," which was sung by Donna Savage of the New Zealand band Dead Famous People. Like its predecessor, "Kiss and Make Up" was an underground hit, helping set the stage for "Nothing Can Stop Us." Released in the spring of 1991, "Nothing Can Stop Us" was the first Saint Etienne single sung by Sarah Cracknell (born April 12, 1967), whose girlish vocals became a signature of the group's sound. Cracknell was the main vocalist on the band's debut, Fox Base Alpha, which was released in the fall of 1991. Following that release, Cracknell officially became a member of Saint Etienne; she had previously sung in Prime Time.

"Only Love Can Break Your Heart" was re-released in conjunction with Fox Base Alpha and cracked the lower end of the British pop charts. Saint Etienne were beginning to gain momentum, as the British press generally gave them positive reviews and their records gained them a strong fan base not only in England, but throughout Europe. Throughout 1992, the group released a series of singles -- "Join Our Club," "People Get Real," and "Avenue" -- which maintained their popularity. In addition to writing and recording music for Saint Etienne, Stanley and Wiggs became active producers, songwriters, remixers, and label heads as well. In 1989, Stanley founded Caff Records, which issued limited-edition 7" singles of bands as diverse as Pulp and the Manic Street Preachers, as well as a number of other lesser-known bands like World of Twist. In 1992, Stanley and Wiggs founded Ice Rink, which intended to put out records by pop groups, not rock groups. The label released singles from several artists -- including Oval, Sensurround, Elizabeth City State, and Golden, which featured Stanley's girlfriend Celina -- none of which gained much attention.

Preceded by the single "You're in a Bad Way," Saint Etienne's second album, So Tough, appeared in the spring of 1993 to generally positive reviews and sales. Over the course of 1993, the group released three more singles -- "Who Do You Think You Are," "Hobart Paving," and "I Was Born on Christmas Day" -- which all charted well. In 1994, the trio began to lose momentum, as their third album, Tiger Bay, was greeted with decidedly mixed reviews, even as singles like "Like a Motorway" continued to chart well. After completing a new track, "He's on the Phone," for their 1995 singles compilation Too Young to Die, as well as the French-only single "Reserection," Saint Etienne took an extended break during 1996.

Sarah Cracknell pursued a solo project, releasing a single titled "Anymore" in the fall of the year. Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs began a record label for EMI Records, with the intention of releasing music from young developing bands. In the fall of 1996, Saint Etienne released a remix album, Casino Classics; a new studio effort, Good Humour, followed two years later, and the trio returned in 1999 with an EP, Places to Visit. The full-length Sound of Water appeared in mid-2000, featuring guest appearances by Sean O'Hagan (of the High Llamas) and To Rococo Rot. After a successful U.S. tour in support of Sound of Water, the group issued Interlude, a collection of new tracks, instrumentals, and B-sides, in early 2001. A year later, the trio followed up with Finisterre, and Tales from Turnpike House arrived in 2005.

Following a seven-year break during which the bandmembers worked on making films, doing remixes, and various solo projects, musical and otherwise, the band resurfaced in 2012 with Words and Music by Saint Etienne, an album loosely based on the concept of how music can affect and shape lives unexpectedly, both positively and negatively. It would be another five years before they released new music, but, as ever, the bandmembers kept themselves busy with other projects in the meantime. Cracknell signed to Cherry Records, and released the solo album Red Kite in 2015; Stanley's second book, Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!: The Story of Pop Music from Bill Haley to Beyoncé, was published in 2014; and Wiggs contributed the soundtrack to the film Year 7.

After the band played a series of shows in 2016 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Foxbase Alpha, they decided it was time to record some new songs. They selected producer Shawn Lee and began writing songs inspired by the counties in the southeast of England where each of the bandmembers spent their teenage years. Working quickly with Lee and his studio full of vintage instruments, the record, titled Home Counties, was finished in three weeks and released in June of 2017 by Heavenly”.

To celebrate the work of Saint Etienne, here are the four albums that you need to know, the underrated album in addition to the most-recent studio album. Like some artists I feature here, there is no book available. I have searched, but I cannot find a Saint Etienne one. If you need a guide of which Saint Etienne albums are worth snapping up, I think that the below…

HELPS out.

____________

The Four Essential Albums

 

Foxbase Alpha

Release Date: 16th September, 1991 (Europe)/January 1992 (U.S.)

Labels: Heavenly/Warner Bros. Records (U.S.)

Producer: Saint Etienne

Standout Tracks: Can’t Sleep/She’s the One/Kiss and Make Up (Sarah Cracknell version; 2009 release)

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/release/8487

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/3NWRCkCxGD8lf6sBqyChLz?si=iiwlqldjTTueWbsKABV_vg&dl_branch=1

Review:

“Foxbase squeezes so many "lighter side of" sounds-- be they from the worlds of rock, dance, soul, whatever-- into one LP that it's a marvel it sounds so unified, mostly owing to Wiggs and Stanley fixing on the platonic house rhythm as the glue to hold their disparate passions together. But the second disc of bonus tracks often feels like two producers still figuring out how to make the raw materials of post-acid house their own. A grab-bag of late 80s/early 90s rave sonics-- only sometimes processed through what we know as the Saint Etienne idiom-- dates much of the material. "Chase HQ" and "Speedwell" are competent but sketchy early UK house singles, full of jittery samples and keyboard stabs. Fun, but ultimately too generic without Cracknell's voice or the sample-choice oddness and studio chops Wiggs and Stanley would bring to the band's later music. Better is the dub playground chant of "Sally Space", Cracknell humming "Iko Iko" through a quiet storm front of classic ambient house textures, the Orb with a dose of girl-pop glee.

Speaking of the p-word (again): Continental, a previously Japan-only odds-and-ends collection reissued in the same batch of Saint Et records as this new Foxbase, works as a sort of mirror image of Too Young to Die, the band's almost absurdly listenable 1995 singles compilation. If the all-hits uniformity of TYTD represents Saint Etienne's final, most obvious stab at Now That's What I Call Pop immortality, then Continental is the beginning of the more wide-ranging (and hit-or-miss) restlessness that's characterized the band's records from 1998's Good Humor onward. Each track is recognizably Saint Etienne-- Cracknell's inimitable winsome-but-grown-and-sexy coo announces that, if nothing else-- but the tracks (frequently darker, often instrumental) go very different places than the uniform, bubbly house-lite of Foxbase's uptempo moments.

So much so that when legit UK hit "He's on the Phone"-- not coincidentally the only track Continental shares with Too Young to Die-- shimmers into earshot, it's such a glittering throwback to the old Saint Etienne that it nearly skews the vibe of the whole collection. "He's on the Phone" is Saint Et's most deliriously normal single, a go-for-broke attempt at the kind of high-test mainstream house that still appears on comps with "Ibiza" unironically in their titles. The rest of Continental offers another of Saint Etienne's seemingly paradoxical combos. It's far more subdued, even reflective, than Foxbase's unashamedly hooks-first buoyancy. But it's also sonically "big" in a way that makes it seem like a commentary on the mid-90s moment when even chill-out-centric electronic music went stadium-sized” – Pitchfork

Choice Cut: Only Love Can Break Your Hart

So Tough

Release Date: 22nd February, 1993

Labels: Heavenly (U.K.)/Warners (U.S.)

Producer: Saint Etienne

Standout Tracks: Calico/Avenue/Hobart Paving

Buy: https://store.hmv.com/store/music/vinyl/so-tough?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIqfGovuzk8QIVuRkGAB2hAwTZEAQYASABEgI7-_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/0jthc9ezftxi0w1jyhZfgi?si=A86j1hHCRHaBcG1VtZJKyQ&dl_branch=1

Review:

“Although you've probably never heard it, Saint Etienne's So Tough is visionary pop that ought to be a hit. The CD cover is an old photograph of a little girl – a tomboy – looking sweetly inquisitive. She's on the verge of experience, and that sense of expectancy can be heard in the way vocalist Sarah Cracknell embellishes the bouncy, filigreed tunes with a lovely, clear voice: "Everyone's dreaming of all they've got to live for/Joking around still digging that sound." Digging that sound themselves, keyboardist Pete Wiggs and guitarist Bob Stanley – Saint Etienne's composers – invent a new pop environment based on an affectionate rehash of swinging '60s styles. Bass notes are mixed with rich-sounding computerized chimes, soft piano or sweet violas, making each track a whimsical, Utopian narrative.

Saint Etienne's cast of characters – Dilworth, Hobart, Calico, Conchita – inhabit an impressionistic soundscape ("Avenue"), a fanciful rap ("Calico"), a girl-group pledge ("You're in a Bad Way"), a nostalgic reverie ("Leafhound") and a lovelorn ballad ("Hobart Paving"). Their world (families, clubs, eccentric locals) is what must suffice in a fragmented era in which pop music's legacy is often the only common ground. There's a surprise from track to track, usually announced by a movie sound clip or a record sample like Rush's "Spirit of Radio," testaments to Saint Etienne's big pop ears and their meaningful emulation of hip-hop collage. The diversity recalls the group's debut album, Foxbase Alpha (1992), yet So Tough is entirely different.

It's Blondie without trash, each cut a delightful pop homage bestirring lifelike memories. Among the high points is "Avenue," an elegiac report on an English day that folds and unfolds in choruses of onomatopoeia. Cracknell's bah-da-da-da-da-da-das are split up by a thunder crack, then a harpsichord interlude. The eclectic sense of rhythm that has revitalized British pop through raves, techno and other aural experiments allows Wiggs and Stanley to make "Avenue" one of the most breathtaking set pieces since Roxy Music's "Amazona."

Earlier, "Mario's Cafe," the group's account of daily episodes and wonderment, includes lyrics like "Did you pick Wednesday's fight?/And did you see the KLF last night?" Everything relates to pop for Saint Etienne, which means there's nothing in this arty, charming, particularly English group that American pop fans cannot relate to” – Rolling Stone

Choice Cut: You’re in a Bad Way

Tiger Bay

Release Date: 28th February, 1994

Label: Heavenly

Producer: Saint Etienne

Standout Tracks: Like a Motorway/Pale Movie/Cool Kids of Death

Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/saint-etienne/tiger-bay-deluxe

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/6CisCNwbSLFprahnoN6xKE?si=Zofd3QkUSraxoRUHCzScag&dl_branch=1

Review:

“After three years (and two albums) of stunning development, Saint Etienne's disco-llision of '60s pop, '70s dance, and '90s club reached the peak by which they still are judged, with an album that is alternately heartwarming, heartbreaking, electrifying, and impossibly captivating. From the dramatic opener "Urban Clearway," to the mysteriously Kraftwerk-ian "Like a Motorway," and on through "Pale Movie" (that could make Valentino weep), Tiger Bay is everything that two generations of post-Beatles wannabes have labored to create, but have always been too in awe to complete: a melding of mood with momentum, emotion with eccentricity, and an endless succession of divine verses sliding into sad and sexy hooks. Tapping veins of nostalgic romance that bring a tear to the eye before you even know what the lyric is (once you do know, you're a goner, no questions asked), the tracks then explode out of rhythms that could make a dead dog dance. Tiger Bay is alternately seductive, silly, and sassy. But it was also constructed with such an eye for sensuous detail that any attempt whatsoever to toy with the track listing can only shatter the crystal. [A U.K. reissue in 1996 added three extra tracks and none of them really fit, while the 1994 U.S. edition did the record an even greater disservice; its own additions forced the removal of two of the album's finest moments: the luxurious drift of "Western Wind" and "Tankerville" -- one an exquisitely haunted Sarah Cracknell vocal, the other a sweeping instrumental with a melancholic edge as dark as the edge of town. To hear "Boy Scouts of America" finally break through at the end of that is to witness sunrise at the end of the bleakest night. However, 2017 saw the release of a two-CD digitally remastered Deluxe Edition of Tiger Bay that restored "Western Wind" and "Tankerville" to the track listing and included bonus B-sides, rarities, and more.]” – AllMusic

Choice Cut: Hug My Soul

Tales from Turnpike House

Release Date: 13th June, 2005

Label: Sanctuary

Producers: Ian Catt/Saint Etienne/Xenomania

Standout Tracks: Side Streets/A Good Thing/Milk Bottle Symphony

Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/saint-etienne/tales-from-turnpike-house/lp

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/5h6bg8Ol9pxoKosTYyZowy?si=JOx14nGdS9CfUvML1SYaSg&dl_branch=1

Review:

“Saint Etienne is something like the musical equivalent of a Hugh Grant romantic comedy—sophisticated, extremely English, somewhat yuppified and materialistic, and with a predilection for prettiness that at times seems like a stronger driving force than substance. But at its best, it's the pinnacle of breezy pop. The band's seventh disc, Tales From Turnpike House, is one of its finest, deploying Sarah Cracknell's warmly personable singing and Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs' deft songwriting and production on a series of linked songs about a day in the life of the ordinary inhabitants of a posh London apartment building. (Released last year in Britain, Turnpike has been remodeled for its stateside release, with its track listing shuffled and three new songs recorded specifically for the U.S. disc.) Concept albums are always chancy, but Turnpike's arrangements are rich and often gorgeous, and the lyrics are filled with subtle mood shifts and telling observations on the daily grind for middle-class, mid-30ish Londoners with midlife crises.

In some ways, Turnpike hearkens back to the postwar British pop of smooth, even suburbanite warblers like Petula Clark and Georgie Fame. Stanley and Wiggs also unlock their inner Brian Wilson on the Beach Boys harmonies of "Side Streets" and "Sun In My Morning." The album's thematic climax, "Teenage Winter," seemingly a modern update of Ralph McTell's achingly sad "Streets Of London," checks in on the characters one last time and finds them full of disappointments and wistful nostalgia. While they aren't the lonely, destroyed people of McTell's song, they struggle with the ordinary anomie of everyday life—the wasted time, the disappearance of youth, the inevitable approach of death. The fact that the band pulls this song off without turning mawkish speaks to the quality of the songcraft on the whole disc. Turnpike is Saint Etienne's strongest record in years, and if the rumors that this may be its final record are true, it would be an excellent swan song” – The A.V. Club

Choice Cut: Stars Above Us

The Underrated Gem

 

Good Humor

Release Date: 4th May, 1998

Label: Creation

Producer: Tore Johansson

Standout Tracks: Split Screen/Mr. Donut/The Bad Photographer

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/release/43064

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/35hVWd3uQFdosmj27cQIdZ?si=gxvjAvwhRAGCxyxAeYeChA&dl_branch=1

Review:

“Was there ever a less likely addition to the Sub Pop roster than Saint Etienne? In the late 1990s, the grunge and punk-associated Seattle label was emboldened to expand its purview, and if Sub Pop was going to gamble on any band, why not one of the UK's smartest, most sophisticated connoisseurs? At the time, the band (signed to Creation back home) was reportedly frustrated with its thoroughly continental reputation, and in 1998 the results of that restlessness, Good Humor, made good on threats to try something new.

Following its formative first three records, all self-produced, the band instead decamped to Sweden-- well ahead of the Western embrace of Swedish indie pop-- to work with an outsider, Tore Johansson. Furthermore, while known for its synths, samples, and programming, the band this time chose to embrace traditional rock instruments, including a horn section. And it's not a coincidence that the "humor" in the title drops the "u" from the anglicized version of that word.

At its best Good Humor capably splits the difference between old Etienne and new, embracing the 1960s as fervently as ever on "Split Screen" and "The Bad Photographer" while adopting that era's studio vernacular-- brass, vibes, electric piano. It also maintains the band's trademark melancholy streak with songs like "Mr. Donut", "Postman", and "Lose That Girl". Perhaps inevitably, given the origins of the album, the band even tips its hat to ABBA on "Sylvie". While perhaps not as immediate as the band's earlier output, these songs remain potent, and anyone that caught the group's full-band tour behind the album will attest that they more than held their own against the group's formidable back catalog” – Pitchfork

Choice Cut: Sylvie

The Latest Album

 

Home Counties

Release Date: 2nd June, 2017

Label: Heavenly

Producers: Augustus/Carwyn Ellis/Shawn Lee/Nick Moon/Saint Etienne/Pete Wiggs/Richard X

Standout Tracks: Magpie Eyes/Popmaster/Out of My Mind

Buy: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Home-Counties-VINYL-Saint-Etienne/dp/B06XDPX8RK

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/1NvtOgvGbr4d71SJbpRCfd?si=Spg9PUJzQki4a9zrDnMrlQ&dl_branch=1

Review:

“Home Counties is a loosely Kinks-ian concept album, revelling in the staid, pastoral surroundings of southern England: the “doughnut of shires that ring the capital", explains Bob Stanley. The arrangements here are crisp and atmospheric, but never imposing. The piano-led Something New, for example, or the whimsical harpsichord at the beginning of Whyteleafe, provide gentle, loping soundtracks that Sarah Cracknell's breathy vocals can glide over, painting beautiful pictures of the bucolic English countryside.

By utilising samples from Radio 2 and 4, a brief snippet of a classified football report and soft orchestral/choral interludes, Saint Etienne create a strong sense of rural Englishness across Home Counties, as well as allowing plenty of breathing space between tracks. Penultimate song, Sweet Arcadia, is peak Etienne as Cracknell lists off the little towns that one might pass on a train journey around the South of England, considering their origins and history with the same specificity as The Clientele or Lemon Jelly, but without their respective appetites for melancholia or surrealism; just a wide-eyed, honest rendering.

Whether musing about 'heading home across the moors' or 'DVDs in the boot sale', the band rarely deviate from their thematic nexus, which helps to tie the album together as it sprawls over nineteen tracks. As they move closer to the middle ground, Saint Etienne are far from re-inventing the wheel, but in writing delectable pop hooks about a place as decidely uncool as the home counties, that was never really the point” – The Skinny

Choice Cut: Dive

FEATURE: Second Spin: Iggy Azalea - The New Classic

FEATURE:

 

 

Second Spin

Iggy Azalea - The New Classic

___________

HERE is an album where…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

the sales and popularity were not matched by critical reviews. It is an interesting phenomenon that fascinates me. Sydney-born Iggy Azalea (Amethyst Amelia Kelly) released her debut album, The New Classic, in 2014. I really like the album and feel it was vastly underrated. I shall bring in a couple of contrasting reviews. If one judges it upon sales and chart positions, it can be seen as a success::  

“The album debuted at number 3 on the Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 52,000 copies in the United States. The New Classic was the highest-charting female rap album, since Nicki Minaj's Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded (2012) and the highest chart entry for a female rapper's debut album since Minaj's Pink Friday (2010) entered at number 2. The album also moved up to number one on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and Top Rap Albums, making Azalea the first non-American female rapper to reach the summit of these charts

The album's produced 5 singles, "Work", "Bounce", and "Change Your Life" were released as the first three singles all of which saw success in charts worldwide. The fourth single, "Fancy" featuring British singer Charli XCX was an international success, reaching the top-five in Australia and the United Kingdom, and peaking at number one in New Zealand, the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States and the Canadian Hot 100. The fifth single, "Black Widow" featuring British singer Rita Ora, peaked at number 4 on the UK Singles Chart, becoming her highest-charting single as a lead artist on that chart, and also peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100”.

The public reacted positively to the introduction of a wonderful talent. Indeed, the five singles did well. Maybe one of the problems is the running order. Although we get the singles nicely dispersed through The New Classic, I don’t think the album starts as strongly as it could have. Also, the final two tracks are not the best on the album. It is a rare case of the torso/middle of the album being stronger. It means you get a relatively unspectacular start and end; one then experiences the best bits in the centre. Not that it is necessarily a bad thing – perhaps a slight reshuffle would have created a better and more even listening experience. I feel a track like Work could have opened The New Classic with greater aplomb. Although there are a few collaborations (Black Widow features Rita Ora; Charli XCX is on Fancy), they are well-chosen and suit the song. Azalea is confident and compelling through the album. Some felt that the songs on The New Classic were less forward-looking than those on E.P.s like Glory (2012). In their review, this is what AllMusic observed:

“Australian rapper Iggy Azalea's rise to Island Records/Hustle Gang status was quite strange, seeing as how she was a high fashion model gone Dirty South rap, like some kind of Down Under mix of Lana Del Rey and Trina. Dating A$AP Rocky meant she had her rap game proper, and it was all the more tantalizing when her privileged party anthems landed some whip smart punch lines, but two tracks into The New Classic, "Don't Need Y'all" take her from detached to jaded, making this debut album one icy cold coming out party. By the album-closing "F**K Love," her snarled declaration "I'm already in love with myself" is a redundant credo of epic proportions, but get past the narrow "me me me" theme of the album and it's amazing how "live" it all feels.

Chalk it up to cutting-edge taste as trapstep group Watch the Duck turn the cut "100" into something blog-worthy, while a Mavado appearance and an electro-dancehall production from the Invisible Men and the Arcade make "Lady Patra" the highlight to pick for Mad Decent or Diplo fans. Put the tried and true singalong "Change Your Life" with T.I. on the track list, along with the traptastic "Fancy" featuring Charli XCX, and The New Classic features an EP or so worth of memorable moments that mash fashion, sass, high tax bracket mackin', and flashy beats. Taken in as an album and Azalea's constant "bow down" attitude makes this a cuckoldish experience, so think "some will pay for what others pay to avoid" and approach accordingly”.

Iggy Azalea said how she wanted to talk about herself and her story more on her debut album. There were a few reviewers who felt the songs (on the album) that spoke of self-improvement and striving were more relatable and appealing than those which seemed emptier and shallower. I would agree. Overall, mind, The New Classic is an album that got some unfair stick. I wonder if reviewers would alter their viewpoint if they approached the album fresh now? I feel there are at least six or seven songs on the album that are really strong and stand up to repeated listens.

I will end with a review that is more positive. The Line of Best Fit sat down with The New Classic and they had this to say:

“The New Classic is an ambitious pop-rap record, steering Iggy Azalea out of her comfort zone – you can glimpse her actually singing for example, and she dabbles in acoustic soul (“100”) as well as electro-reggae/dancehall-lite (“Lady Patra”) alongside her standard trappy chart-bait.

It’s not a groundbreaking record sonically – though it is fantastic, it’s her story and her words that are the draw. It’s a pretty famous story, summed up in “Work”, but essentially, she moved from her native Oz to Miami age 16, all alone, to pursue a career in rap. Initially, as she scaled the ziggurat via Southern hip-hop with an Atlantan drawl that usurped her own Aussie accent, we saw Azalea dip into gangsta rap and garner controversy (mainly for early YouTube hit “Pu$$y”), but now as that chapter of her life ends, she emerges stronger, truer and more vocally talented than 90% of the top rappers in mainstream hip-hop.

Almost eight years on from being fresh off the boat, she’s flourished, becoming the kind of superstar that’ll give you whiplash when she enters the room. The New Classic chronicles the hardships of that journey. On first glance, dressed to the nines on red carpets, she might appear a silver spoonfed doll, but she’s as real and down-to-earth as they come (“Don’t Need Y’all” is pretty representative of that). This debut album proper, eagerly anticipated across the globe, is Azalea celebrating the end of a near-decade of ordeals. It’s Azalea’s retrospective, not just cheering recent successes, but documenting everything she’s had to overcome in the process, for posterity and to stimulate her legions of fans.

“Goddess” is emblematic of the LP’s core tenet. It sounds like a track Kanye West would have as a set staple. In terms of Azalea’s repertoire, it’s a career highlight: the production is flawless fusillade, an apocalpyso hip-pop Armageddon. It’s a galvanising rapture, Beyoncé-esque in terms of motivation and female – heck, human – empowerment, and her snarled, coiled-larynx spiel in the chorus fuses razorwire, boomslang venom and the piston-firing impetus of a Rocky speech. Oh, and did we mention it’s got a kickass, totally out-of-place-and-therefore-awesome hair metal axe solo at the end? No? Well it does.

Although the magnifying glass Azalea employs mainly scrutinises her trials and tribulations, she’s not one for ignoring the overwhelming urge to lunge for pop. The focus is clearly on the innate themes and words bursting from her lips like doves from a Vegas magician’s sleeve, but tracks like “Change Your Life” (featuring mentor T.I.), “Black Widow” (featuring Rita Ora) and “Fancy” (featuring pop catalyst Charli XCX) are slabs of indulgent, Top 40-ravaging behemoths. Anthem is a word bandied around more than coke in an ’80s Wall Street film, but for “Fancy” at least, it’s apt. It’s uplifting, self-affirming and packed with the rousing singalong strains that are integral to a genuine pop classic these days. It’s a new classic (badum-tish).

Iggy Azalea might seem like an act easy to deride or yell “sell-out!” to, due to her transformation from the Sleigh Bells-sampling early mixtapes to the EDM-twanged furore of major label success, but her rags-to-riches saga is inspirational. Listening to The New Classic, you can tell that she’s not changed one bit. She’s got a bigger platform, she’s infinitely grateful for the chances given to her – there’s no rap entitlement on display, and even brand-dropping doesn’t feel disingenuous or superficial, somehow – and, furthermore, she’s a grounded everyman rap icon. It’s endearing to no end. Azalea’s an affable bundle of chum-ly charm with lessons (not patronising lectures) that are applicable for anyone with a lick of ambition – “Impossible Is Nothing” is probably the best example. If you’ve got your sights set on stardom, on making a name for yourself, Azalea’s the role model you should adore. Let her gospel be an allegory for your rise”.

If you have not investigated The New Classic, give it a spin. It does have its weaker moments - though there are plenty of good tracks that highlight Iggy Azalea’s talent. I do think that The New Classic is a stronger album than 2019’s In My Defense – maybe the five-year gap between albums sapped some of the energy and promise of the debut. Whilst not perfect, The New Classic of 2014 is an album that…

CAN hold its head up.

FEATURE: Sound Waves: Kate Bush and Her Connection and Fascination with Water

FEATURE:

 

 

Sound Waves

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in June 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: George Wilkes/Hulton Archive/Getty Images 

Kate Bush and Her Connection and Fascination with Water

___________

THIS is going to be quite brief…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a promotional photo for The Ninth Wave (Hounds of Love, 1985)/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

but I have been casting my mind back to interviews where Kate Bush discussed her fascination with water. In several of her albums, one can hear songs that relate to water or mention them. It is not uncommon for songwriters to write about water - either literally or as a metaphor. For Bush, I think it relates to her wider interest in the natural world. 2005’S Aerial has a second disc, A Sky of Honey, where we get the cycle of a day. On the album’s first disc, A Sea of Honey, water is represented and employed in different ways. I especially love the domestic setting of Mrs. Bartolozzi (“I took my mop and bucket/And I cleaned and I cleaned”)., Rather than it being grand and sweeping, it is more mundane yet no less extraordinary and arresting. If some artists use water images rather simply or obviously, Bush can take us from the wide expanse of the ocean to a washing machine. Mrs. Bartolozzi is the heroine who is washing the muddy floor and watching clothing tango in the washing machine. Perhaps less obvious is water and birth. Some of Bush’s songs discuss birth and motherhood – or the creation of new life. Never for Ever’s Breathing is about a foetus that is living in the womb as nuclear apocalypse beckons. The video for Army Dreamers sees Bush and her cast in the water, in danger – Breathing’s video also is partly set in the water. Think about her debut album, The Kick Inside (1978), and we open with the sound of whale song (on the track, Moving).

Whilst one of Bush’s more stressful experiences with water came when she was filming a video for her 2014 residency, Before the Dawn, that takes me to an album (Hounds of Love) where her curiosity with water is at its most striking. Bush, in 2014, filmed a video for And Dream of Sheep. This is a song on Hounds of Love’s second side, The Ninth Wave. One feels that this is Bush’s most rewarding and favourite creative project. She has remarked how she and her friends debated what the scariest thing is you could imagine. Being stuck on the water and not knowing what is below is at the top. It is that uncertainty and constant anxiety which makes The Ninth Wave so compelling. With sound effects and various stories of a heroine marooned on the ocean, this is Kate Bush using water and the sea in a really interesting way. There is danger and a sense of calm. On Under Ice, one gets the feeling of being trapped under the water, whilst Hello Earth sort of takes us above the world and we get this incredible view of the ocean and world. There is a blend of horror, very human fear and utter beauty through The Ninth Wave. It is staggering how Bush brings us with the heroine. We are alongside her on the dark and cold water! It is not only The Ninth Wave where Hounds of Love discusses the water.

Maybe inspired by her move from the city to the country, Hounds of Love looks at the sky and sea. It feels very rooted in nature – whereas other albums have painted on a different canvas. The Big Sky is about clouds and the child-like joy of the different shapes they make. Cloudbsuting seems to be the opposite: a device that would cause it to rain. That songs draws inspiration from the 1973 Peter Reich memoir, A Book of Dreams, which Bush was struck by. The song details the relationship between psychiatrist and philosopher Wilhelm Reich and his young son, Peter. It is narrated from told from the point of view of Peter. It is about the boy's memories of his life with Reich on their family farm. There, the two spent time ‘cloudbusting’: a rain-making process involving a machine designed and built by Reich (called a cloudbuster) that they point at the sky. This article discusses folk horror in Bush’s music. Hounds of Love’s title track is one that combines water and the more macabre:

“The track contains what is perhaps my favourite lyric out of all of Kate Bush’s songs; Take my shoes off / And throw them in the lake / And I’ll be / Two steps on the water. This is a piece of perfect fairytale logic; to walk on the water you simply need to throw your shoes onto its surface. It references all of the otherworldly, not-quite-safe aspects of fairy stories and folklore and applies them to the equally not-quite-safe experience of being in love. To be in love, and to be loved, you need to do things which make you vulnerable. You need to throw your shoes onto the water, hoping they will dance on the surface. Kate blends the fear of Night of the Demon with the cautious hope and optimism of this fairytale imagery, creating through their conflict something that is far more than the sum of its parts.

There are B-sides and covers where, again, Bush has this attachment and curiosity regarding water. Returning to the article I just quoted from, and her take on Donavon’s Lord of the Reedy River (a B-side of her 1981 single, Sat In Your Lap) seemed like a very natural choice:

‘Lord of the Reedy River’ initially appears to be a very simple song. The minimal instrumentation of fluting organ provides backing to an equally minimal vocal performance which tells an archetypically ambiguous folktale; is it simply the thoughts of someone captivated by the beauty of a swan or, as the line “sadly we mourned and sighed” implies, a study of grief or even suicide. We are left to make that decision ourselves.

Yet the song itself is also a tale of re-telling.

While the piece may appear to be a work of traditional folk song it was in fact written by Donovan, only twelve years before Kate recorded it. Yet Donovan didn’t write the song for himself and didn’t release it under his own name until it appeared on HMS Donovan in 1971. ‘Lord of The Reedy River’ was in fact first performed by Welsh folk singer Mary Hopkin on her 1969 album Postcard”.

There are other references regarding water through Bush’s catalogue. From Delius (Song of Summer) – “…to be sung by the summer/(Delius) night on the water/(Delius) on the water/(Delius)” – and, once again, Moving - “Moving liquid, yes, you are just as water/You flow around all that comes in your way” -, there is something clearly powerful, symbolic and multi-layered!

Water can hold and sustain new life; it can destroy worlds. I am not surprised that aspects and elements of water have played a fairly big role in Bush’s songwriting. Her most popular album, Hounds of Love, puts it front and centre. Perhaps my favourite lyric of Bush’s involving water comes on Hounds of Love’s Jig of Life: “Over here!/Can't you see where memories are kept bright?/Tripping on the water like a laughing girl”. This is something that I might examine more in a future feature. Different songwriters have their own reasons for bringing images of water into their work. I guess water represents passion - and, by its use, that can be a very powerful songwriting tool. I am especially interested how, from her debut album through to her most recent album, 2011’s 50 Words for Snow, water is vital and in her veins. In fact, there are a few songs from 50 Words for Snow where water plays a role. Lake Tahoe, obviously, very much takes from the water – as this article from the Kate Bush Encyclopaedia lays out:

“It was because a friend told me about the story that goes with Lake Tahoe so it had to be set there. Apparently people occasionally see a woman who fell into the lake in the Victorian era who rises up and then disappears again. It is an incredibly cold lake so the idea, as I understand it, is that she fell in and is still kind of preserved. Do you know what I mean? (John Doran, 'A Demon In The Drift: Kate Bush Interviewed'. The Quietus, 2011)”.

One of the song’s best lines, “Cold mountain water/Don't ever swim there”, stays in the head. A unique and incredible song from 50 Words for Snow, Misty, is about a snowman that melts in the bed after a night of passion with a heroine (“Melting, melting, in my hand/Sunday morning/I can't find him/The sheets are soaking”). I have probably missed some obvious examples where Bush has dissected and examined water and used it in different forms. Whether we are cast adrift in an unforgiving ocean or watching a snowman melt (sadly) away, water and songs where it is mentioned can take on different forms. As she is one of the greatest songwriters ever, there are other areas and angles to her lyrics that are worth discussion and highlighting. I have been thinking about Hounds of Love and hearing songs like Cloudbusting on the radio. It got me thinking about water and how Bush has kept it fairly close to her pen. In my view, some of her most arresting images and finest songs connect with water. I shall leave things there. Whether she is creating a concept around water or sprinkling the subject in quite subtlety, every time Bush takes us to the water, it leads to something enriching and…

ALWAYS compelling.

FEATURE: The Lockdown Playlist: Stevie Nicks’ Bella Donna at Forty

FEATURE:

 

 

The Lockdown Playlist

 Stevie Nicks’ Bella Donna at Forty

___________

MAYBE this is a little tenuous…

but I wanted to mark the upcoming fortieth anniversary of Stevie Nicks’ debut solo album, Bella Donna. Released on 27th July, 1981, it came a year before Fleetwood Mac’s thirteenth studio album, Mirage. I am going to do a Lockdown Playlist that collates the best of Stevie Nicks’ solo work – I have done a Lockdown Playlist about her before but, as her debut celebrates a big anniversary, I feel obliged to revisit. Before getting there, here is some information about Nicks’ wonderful debut:

“Bella Donna is the debut solo studio album by American singer and songwriter Stevie Nicks. Released on July 27, 1981, the album reached number one on the US Billboard 200 in September of that year. Bella Donna was awarded platinum status by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on October 7, 1981, less than three months after its release, and in 1990 was certified quadruple-platinum for four million copies shipped. Bella Donna spent nearly three years on the Billboard 200 from July 1981 to June 1984.

The album spawned four hit singles during 1981 and 1982: the Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers-penned duet "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" (#3), the Don Henley duet "Leather and Lace" (#6), her signature song "Edge of Seventeen" (#11) and country-tinged "After the Glitter Fades" (#32).

Bella Donna would mark the beginning of Nicks' trend of calling upon her many musician friends and connections to fully realize her sparse demo recordings. Along with friends Tom Petty and Don Henley, Nicks brought in session musician Waddy Wachtel, Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band pianist Roy Bittan, and Stax session man Donald "Duck" Dunn of Booker T. & the MGs. Though Bella Donna's personnel list includes some 20 musicians, the album is very much Nicks' own work, with all but one of the songs on the record written by her. The album also marked the first recording featuring Nicks' backing vocalists, Sharon Celani and Lori Perry, who still record and tour with Nicks today.

The album was also included in the "Greatest of All Time Billboard 200 Albums" chart”.

To mark forty years of Stevie Nicks’ stunning and hugely memorable debut album, Bella Donna, below is a collection of great songs from…

A musical icon.

FEATURE: Childhood Treasures: Albums That Impacted Me: Paul Simon - Graceland

FEATURE:

 

 

Childhood Treasures: Albums That Impacted Me

Paul Simon - Graceland

___________

THIS is quite timely…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Paul Simon in 1986/PHOTO CREDIT: Deborah Feingold

as Paul Simon’s seventh solo studio album, Graceland, turns thirty-five ion 25th August. It is definitely one of my favourite albums. In terms of the albums that were important to me as a child, Graceland is right near the top. It is a magnificent work that I still listen to a lot. There was quite a lot of controversy surrounding Graceland when it came out. I will explore that more in a bit. I adore how accessible the album is - even though there are South African musicians and sounds many of us are not be familiar with. Graceland arrived at a time when there was some commercial and personal struggle for Simon. Wikipedia explains more:

“In the early 1980s, Simon's relationship with his former musical partner Art Garfunkel had deteriorated, his marriage to actress Carrie Fisher had collapsed, and his previous record, Hearts and Bones (1983), had been a commercial failure. In 1984, after a period of depression, Simon became fascinated by a bootleg cassette of mbaqanga, South African street music. He and Halee visited Johannesburg, where they spent two weeks recording with South African musicians. Further recordings were held in the United States, with guest musicians including Linda Ronstadt, the Everly Brothers, Louisiana band Good Rockin' Dopsie and the Twisters, and Mexican-American band Los Lobos”.

There are few albums as important to me than Paul Simon’s Graceland. It brings back so many memories and transports me to some fascinating places. The musicianship and songwriting is so rich and deep that every spin reveals something new!

I want to bring in a couple of reviews for Graceland. Despite some condemnation when it was released, Graceland has received hugely positive reviews. It is considered to be one of the greatest albums ever released. In their review, this is what AllMusic had to say:

“With Graceland, Paul Simon hit on the idea of combining his always perceptive songwriting with the little-heard mbaqanga music of South Africa, creating a fascinating hybrid that re-enchanted his old audience and earned him a new one. It is true that the South African angle (including its controversial aspect during the apartheid days) was a powerful marketing tool and that the catchy music succeeded in presenting listeners with that magical combination: something they'd never heard before that nevertheless sounded familiar. As eclectic as any record Simon had made, it also delved into zydeco and conjunto-flavored rock & roll while marking a surprising new lyrical approach (presaged on some songs on Hearts and Bones); for the most part, Simon abandoned a linear, narrative approach to his words, instead drawing highly poetic ("Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes"), abstract ("The Boy in the Bubble"), and satiric ("I Know What I Know") portraits of modern life, often charged by striking images and turns of phrase torn from the headlines or overheard in contemporary speech. An enormously successful record, Graceland became the standard against which subsequent musical experiments by major artists were measured”.

Just before wrapping up, there is a review from Pitchfork . They assessed the twenty-fifth anniversary edition of the album in 2012. It is compelling and really intriguing reading the entire thing. For those who do not know much about the history of Graceland, it is a must-read. Pitchfork provide some story behind Graceland:  

“As I prepared to review the 25th Anniversary Edition of Paul Simon's Graceland, I thought a lot about what the album means to me. It's a more complicated question than it seems. This is an album that's sold more than 10 million copies worldwide and was vigorously protested in certain quarters on its release. It has sat at the center of arguments about cultural exchange, cultural imperialism, and whether Simon was right to skirt the United Nations' cultural boycott of South Africa in order to record with black musicians from that country-- arguments that remain part of the record's story even as the tragedy of apartheid fades further from the headlines.

As unignorable as the context of the record is, there's no doubt in my mind that its songs transcend the context as listening experiences. These songs are astute and exciting, spit-shined with the gloss of production that bears a lot of hallmarks of the era but somehow has refused to age. Taken as a whole, the album offers tremendous insight into how we live in our world and how that changes as we get older.

The stories Simon tells on Graceland wouldn't have been told without the collaboration of the mostly South African musicians he worked with on the record. Their music sparked Simon's imagination after the commercial disappointment of 1983's Hearts and Bones, and the jam sessions he recorded with them in South Africa gave rise to all but a few of these songs. Simon learned to write differently by homing in on the ways guitarist Chikapa "Ray" Phiri varied his playing from verse to verse, and by grounding his vocal melodies on the basslines of Bagithi Khumalo. Khumalo's playing has such fluency and personality that, at least on the five songs he's a part of, this is nearly as much his record as anyone else's. On the brief disc of outtakes included in this set, there's a version of "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes" that's stripped down to just vocals and bass, and his line so completely frames the song (rhythmically, harmonically, and melodically) that the other elements of the album version's arrangement are barely missed.

So we get songs where the groove came first, and the lyrics long after. Simon considered writing political songs about apartheid but quickly concluded that he wasn't very good at it and owed it to the other musicians involved to stick to his strengths. Still, the album's opening song, "The Boy in the Bubble", is a thriller that ties together threads of technological progress, medicine, terrorism, surveillance, pop music, inequality, and superstition with little more than a series of sentence fragments, all tossed off in the same deadpan delivery. The song sets a monumental stage on which the small dramas and comedies of the other songs can play out, and it also establishes the record's unsettled tone-- out of all these songs, only "That Was Your Mother" is sung from a settled place, and even that one is a reminiscence about itinerant life.

But more than Simon's single-minded devotion to his art and Tambo's ideological politics, the experience surrounding this album is best conveyed by the musicians who made it. They were violating the boycott, too, just by participating in a dialogue with non-South African musicians, and there's a moment where Ray Phiri describes a meeting he was called to in London with African National Congress officials while touring to support the album that speaks volumes. The ANC officials told Phiri that he was violating the boycott and had to go home, and his response was that he was already a victim of apartheid, and to force him to go home would make him a victim twice. In the end, Simon's assertion that Graceland helped put an emotional, human face on black South Africans for millions of people around the world doesn't seem off the mark. This set also comes with a DVD of the concert Simon and these musicians played with South African exiles Hugh Masekela and Miriam Makeba in Harare, Zimbabwe, in 1987, and the joy visible on stage and in the audience certainly speaks to that.

It's easy to overstate what Graceland was. It wasn't the first world-music album, as some critics claim. But it was unique in its total, and totally natural, synthesis of musical strains that turned out to be not nearly as different from each other as its listeners might have expected, and the result resonated strongly around the world and across generations”.

I hope that there is celebration and new investigation of Graceland after thirty-five years. Various controversies have plagued the album - though I don’t think any really tarnish one’s enjoyment of it. Asa we discover from this NME article from 2012, Paul Simon spoke of having no regrets recording Graceland in South Africa:

“Paul Simon has insisted that he was no regrets over the recording of his album ‘Graceland’ in South Africa.

The folk legend was widely criticised for travelling to the country and making the 1986 with South African musicians, for effectively breaking the cultural boycott of the country due to its racist Apartheid regime.

Although the album was a smash hit and is now credited with bringing local music to the a global audience, he was also censured at the time by the African National Congress, who implied that he was supporting the regime. The controversy is documented in new film Under African Skies, which marks the 25th anniversary of the album.

Speaking at a screening as part of the Sundance Festival in London yesterday (April 26), Simon was asked whether he has any regrets of his actions. He replied: “As for regrets, no I don’t have any regrets because it’s a happy ending. Would I have done things differently? Perhaps. If anybody had come to me and said, during the recording or in the 16 months between the recording and the release of the record anybody from the ANC had come and said ‘we don’t want you to do this’, or ‘we wish you would make some sort of statement supporting us’ I would have been very happy to do so”.

If you are unfamiliar with Graceland, then go and check it out. It was a breakthrough and eye-opener when I was a child. I would say, behind Kate Bush’s The Kick Inside, it is my favourite album. Ahead of its thirty-fifth anniversary, I wanted to mark and recognise an album that has impacted so many people. As a collection of songs, there are few other records that match it. Graceland transcends any controversial and criticism. It helped popularise African Rock in the West; some have viewed it as a bridge between cultures and worlds. It is a magnificent album that I will love…

ALL of my life.

FEATURE: C'mon, Angel, C'mon, C'mon, Darling… Revisiting the Video for Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)

FEATURE:

 

 

C'mon, Angel, C'mon, C'mon, Darling…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush and Michael Hervieu in the video for Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

Revisiting the Video for Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)

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THERE are two reasons…

why I am coming back to Kate Bush’s track, Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God). I have explored it when I ranked songs from her studio albums recently. I have also singled out the track previously. The first track from her fifth studio album, Hounds of Love, Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God), it was released on 5th August, 1985. It is Kate Bush’s birthday on 30th July. Because it is her birthday very soon, I want to up the quota of Bush features for July. Also, Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) is a song that has been covered quite a few times through the years – including at least a couple of covers this past year. I am specifically going to dissect and discuss the beautiful and moving video. Before that, there are a couple of articles I want to source from. They explore the legacy and genius of a classic Kate Bush track. Salon discussed (among other things) a then-recent cover of Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God):

“In early 2020, Meg Myers rose to No. 1 on Billboard's Rock Airplay chart with her cover of Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill." The milestone was a long time coming: As the magazine noted at the time, the song had been on that chart for 29 weeks. For good measure, right after topping the Rock Airplay chart, Myers also spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Alternative Songs chart.

This wasn't the only "Running Up That Hill" cover to make waves this year. In June, the metal talk show "Two Minutes To Late Night" released a ferocious take on the song featuring searing lead vocals from Emma Ruth Rundle (Marriages, Red Sparowes); back-up singing from the show's co-host, Jordan Olds; and instrumentation from members of Mastodon, Old Man Gloom and YOB.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1985/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari 

Sonically, the two versions of the song are quite different. Meg Myers' approach is pop-leaning and hews close to the futuristic sounds of Bush's take: The song surges forward thanks to booming drums, pulsating keyboards and Myers' gutsy vocal delivery. The "Two Minutes To Late Night," version, meanwhile, tapped into the original's propulsive underbelly, swapping keyboards for jagged guitars and adding theatrical metal flourishes.

That malleability explains partly why "Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)" — which was released 35 years ago, on August 5, 1985, and appears on the "Hounds of Love" LP — is one of the most enduring singles of the '80s. It's been covered and interpreted by dozens of other artists, including Tori Amos (who pairs Bush's song with her own 1994 hit "God" during live performances), Placebo, Chromatics, First Aid Kit, and Jade Bird. Noted Kate Bush mega-fan Big Boi dissected the song for Pitchfork last year, praising the lyrics and production, while a remix of the song played in the closing ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

Bush's catalog has many high points — and her songs "Cloudbusting" and "Hounds of Love" have also been covered quite a bit — but "Running Up That Hill" looms largest of all. It's her lone U.S. top 40 hit, peaking at No. 30 in 1985, and one of her biggest global singles. The song's origins date back to 1983, when Bush and then-boyfriend Del Palmer started working on the music that would emerge on "Hounds of Love."

 

Bush wrote the song using the cutting-edge Fairlight CMI, while Palmer contributed a Linn drum rhythm. Although these instruments were common in the '80s, Bush's production and songwriting approach elevates the song. "Running Up That Hill" is warm and enveloping, with galloping rhythms, those mysterious squiggly effects, and Bush's sturdy, conspiratorial vocals. The song hovers between the physical and spiritual worlds, suspended in gauzy, hazy consciousness that's akin to the dreams people have just before waking.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, "Running Up That Hill" was originally called "A Deal With God." However, Bush's label was worried about the commercial implications of the title's religious overtones. "For me, that is the title — but I was told that if I insisted [on calling the song that], the radio stations in at least 10 countries would refuse to play it because it had 'God' in the title," she told Q in 1989. "Spain, Italy, America, lots of them. I thought it was ridiculous”.

However, "Running Up That Hill" is no compromise: It's a singular statement made by a strong, confident protagonist asserting their worth. "It's very much about love, really — trying to keep it alive," Bush told Blitz in 1985. "I don't know that perfect love exists in any human being, but I don't think it can be encouraged enough."

In a separate interview with The London Times that same year, she added: "It seems that the more you get to know a person, the greater the scope there is for misunderstanding. Sometimes you can hurt somebody purely accidentally or be afraid to tell them something because you think they might be hurt when really they'll understand.

"So what that song is about is making a deal with God to let two people swap place so they'll be able to see things from one another's perspective."

Her assessment points to one reason "Running Up That Hill" endures: The desire to be heard and understood by other people — especially someone for whom you care deeply — is timeless, and transcends generations. No matter how old you are, it's deeply meaningful to feel like you aren't walking through life alone”.

I feel one reason why the video is so powerful is because of the interpretation of Bush’s lyrics. Some directors may have written a treatment that was too filmic or literal. David Garfath paired Bush with dancer Michael Hervieu in a sublime video. The two of them dancing together in harmony is so powerful. Choregraphed by Diane Grey, I think it is a perfect union. American Songwriter explored the song’s lyrics a couple of years back:

“Running Up That Hill” is a song about how a man and a woman might view their relationship roles differently if God gave them the ability to trade places. In a 1992 interview with BBC Radio 1’s Richard Skinner, Bush explained what the lyric was about, and how she initially had trouble getting the song accepted by radio pretty much all over the world.

“I was trying to say that, really, a man and a woman, can’t understand each other because we are a man and a woman. And if we could actually swap each other’s roles, if we could actually be in each other’s place for a while, I think we’d both be very surprised! [Laughs] And I think it would be led to a greater understanding. And really the only way I could think it could be done was either … you know, I thought a deal with the devil, you know. And I thought, ‘Well, no, why not a deal with God!’ You know, because in a way it’s so much more powerful, the whole idea of asking God to make a deal with you.

 You see, for me it is still called ‘Deal With God,’ that was its title. But we were told that if we kept this title that it wouldn’t be played in any of the religious countries, Italy wouldn’t play it, France wouldn’t play it, and Australia wouldn’t play it! Ireland wouldn’t play it, and that generally [meant] we might get it blacked purely because it had ‘God’ in the title. Now, I couldn’t believe this, this seemed completely ridiculous to me and the title was such a part of the song’s entity. I just couldn’t understand it. But none the less, although I was very unhappy about it, I felt unless I compromised that I was going to be cutting my own throat, you know, I’d just spent two, three years making an album and we weren’t gonna get this record played on the radio, if I was stubborn. So I felt I had to be grown up about this, so we changed it to ‘Running Up That Hill.’ But it’s always something I’ve regretted doing, I must say. And normally I always regret any compromises that I make.”

“Running Up That Hill” has since appeared on numerous greatest hits and compilation albums, and in 2012 Bush released a remixed version of the song for the album A Symphony of British Music: Music for the Closing Ceremony of London 2012, putting new vocals on the track from the extended-play 1985 12-inch single. The song has been covered by numerous other artists, including Placebo, Meg Myers, and even the still-active onetime teen queen Tiffany”.

Although Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) has been covered quite a bit, I don’t think that many artists have done anything too different or distinct. As good as some covers are, nothing beats the transfixing and beautiful original! A large part of the timeless appeal and allure of the song is that video. Prior to making Hounds of Love, Kate Bush had abandoned dance to an extent – it was certainly a little to the wayside when she was intensely focused on producing The Dreaming (1982). She, alongside changing her diet, got back into dance in preparation for the album. On videos like Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) and The Big Sky (which she directed), that training and reconnection comes through! From the lightning, costumes, chorography and cinematography of the video, I am transfixed by Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God). The Kate Bush Encyclopaedia took a closer look at the video:

“'Running Up That Hill' was intended as a fond farewell to dance, at least as far as Kate's video appearances were concerned. The music video, directed by David Garfath, featured Bush and dancer Michael Hervieu (who won an audition after Stewart Avon-Arnold was not available due to other commitments) in a performance choreographed by Diane Grey. The pair are wearing grey Japanese hakamas. The choreography draws upon contemporary dance with a repeated gesture suggestive of drawing a bow and arrow (the gesture was made literal on the image for the single in which Bush poses with a real bow and arrow), intercut with surreal sequences of Bush and Hervieu searching through crowds of masked strangers.

 

At the climax of the song, Bush's partner withdraws from her and the two are then swept away from each other and down a long hall in opposite directions by an endless stream of anonymous figures wearing masks made from pictures of Bush and Hervieu's faces. MTV chose not to show this video (at the time of its original release) and instead used a live performance of the song recorded at a promotional appearance on the BBC TV show Wogan. According to Paddy Bush, 'MTV weren't particularly interested in broadcasting videos that didn't have synchronized lip movements in them. They liked the idea of people singing songs'”.

I have been thinking a lot about Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) after hearing a recent cover version. In doing so, I’ve been watching the video and having my eyes and mind opened in new ways1 Whilst it is not my absolute favourite video of hers, it is close to the top. I feel Bush’s most impactful videos are where she is very much at the front and captivating us with dance. That is one reason why, in a different way, Wuthering Heights remains such an amazing and unforgettable video! As we inch closer to Kate Bush’s birthday (on 30th July), I am putting out a lot of features on a variety of things. The nature and quality of her music videos is never too far away. When it comes to those that engulf and seduce the senses and cause tingles, few are as powerful…

AS Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God).

FEATURE: Groovelines: ABBA – Dancing Queen

FEATURE:

 

 

Groovelines

ABBA – Dancing Queen

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ONE reason why I want to include ABBA’s…

PHOTO CREDIT: Allstar Picture Library

Dancing Queen in this feature is that ABBA Gold has spent over a thousand weeks on the U.K. chart. It is an amazing achievement! I am not surprised that an album with so many ABBA classics has been in the charts all this time. Released in 1992, it is wonderful to realise how many people have bought the album. It is a real classic. On 16th August, Dancing Queen turns forty-five. The lead single from their fourth studio album, Arrival, the song is one of the most loved and popular in all of ABBA’s catalogue. I want to bring in a couple of articles that dig deep into an absolute classic track. Whether you see it as Pop, Eurodisco or something else, it has endured through the decades. It is a track that we all know and can sing along to! It became ABBA's only number-one in the United States. It topped the charts in Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, the U.K., Germany and Rhodesia. That is quite a feat! The first piece I want to quote from is from the ABBA website. The origins of Dancing Queen are really interesting:

“A boogaloo beginning

The video for Dancing Queen was filmed at the Alexandra's discotheque in Stockholm.In early August 1975, ABBA were fresh off a summer tour of Sweden. But there was very little time for rest: for one thing, there were new recordings to be made. After their breakthrough with ‘Waterloo’ the previous year, the group had released their third album, simply titled ABBA, in the spring of 1975. The album yielded hits like ‘SOS’ and ‘Mamma Mia’. However, in the 1970s most major acts were expected to release an album every year, so the Andersson/Ulvaeus team was already working on new material.

On August 4, Björn and Benny entered Glen Studios, located in a Stockholm suburb, where they would spend two days recording backing tracks together with the session musicians. They brought with them the melodies for three new songs, all of which at this point only had nonsense lyrics – and titles that were equally preliminary. One of the songs was called ‘Tango’, but later turned into the more familiar ‘Fernando’. Another carried the working title ‘Olle Olle’, but was destined to remain unreleased. Composition number three, finally, was titled ‘Boogaloo’, suggesting that it had something to do with dance rhythms. And, indeed, this was the song that would eventually become ‘Dancing Queen’.

Agnetha and Frida giving their all in the Dancing Queen promo clip.Björn and Benny gave a lot of thought to how they would best achieve the dance feel they were after. For inspiration they turned to George McCrae’s 1974 disco hit ‘Rock Your Baby’, a pioneering recording within its genre. Added rhythmical influence came from the drumming on the 1972 album Gumbo by Dr. John, a favourite of ABBA session drummer Roger Palm and engineer Michael B. Tretow.

A good, solid backing track was put together for the song, consisting of drums, bass, guitar and keyboards. As basic as it was, just this first stage of the recording was enough to provoke a strong emotional reaction from Frida. ”Benny came home with a tape of the backing track and played it for me,” she recalled. ”I thought it was so enormously beautiful that I started to cry.”

Agnetha taking on the part of the dancing queen. It would take several months before the recording was completed, however – few ABBA songs had such a long journey from start to finish. It was ABBA manager Stig Anderson who came up with the title ‘Dancing Queen’, writing the lyrics in collaboration with Björn, and in September, Agnetha and Frida added their vocals to the track. But even as late as December 1975, Björn and Benny were still fine-tuning the recording, adding further overdubs.

The queen is snubbed

Agnetha and Frida in a typical profile shot.By coincidence, it happened that both ‘Fernando’ and ‘Dancing Queen’ were completed around the same time. ABBA wanted to release a new single in March 1976, and were unsure which of the tracks to choose:they knew that both had a strong hit potential. However, Stig Anderson insisted that ‘Fernando’ was the right song to go with at this point – a ballad seemed like a fresh contrast against the previous single, the uptempo ’Mamma Mia’ – and Björn and Benny eventually agreed with him. ‘Dancing Queen’ would have to wait another five months before it reached record shops.

On August 16, 1976, the ABBA single ‘Dancing Queen’ was finally released in Sweden. On the B-side it featured a song called ‘That’s Me’, taken from the ongoing sessions for ABBA’s upcoming album, Arrival.

The record sleeve featured ABBA posing in white hats, a picture that became one of the most widespread images of the group. The photograph was taken by Ola Lager, who was responsible for many ABBA single and album cover pictures. The ”white hats” photograph is said to be one of the group’s own favourite images of themselves”.

Even if you are not an ABBA fan, one must surrender to the sheer joy of Dancing Queen. My personal favourite ABBA track is Super Trouper (from the 1980 album of the same name) – though Dancing Queen would be in the top-five for sure! Last year, The Guardian listed their favourite one hundred U.K. number-one singles. They placed ABBA’s Dancing Queen at nine. This is what they had to say:

“The dense arrangements in Dancing Queen’s final mix make it especially magical. Their Phil Spector-obsessed audio mixer, Michael B Tretow, talked through the layering of the song in a 2001 BBC pop music series, Walk on By. Multiple tracks of percussion, stuttering guitars, synthesised strings, clavinet and vocals filled every second of the song with nagging pop hooks. In the same documentary, Nile Rodgers said he was hugely inspired by this approach to songcraft (in 1976, he was in the early stages of putting together Chic).

Dancing Queen was premiered in June 1976 in a suitably regal setting: a gala to celebrate the wedding of Sweden’s King Carl XVI. By the autumn, it was an international smash, with even smirking music press critics recognising its brilliance. “Any band that can make even disco sound like the Ronettes can’t be all bad!” crowed Robot A Hull in Creem. “It’s fodder for the masses in its least derogatory sense,” wrote Tim Lott in Sounds. New wavers loved Dancing Queen too. Elvis Costello cribbed its piano line for Oliver’s Army and Chris Stein admitted that Blondie’s Dreaming was “pretty much a copy of Dancing Queen”.

Although some of its lyrics have dated (“You’re a teaser, you turn ’em on” might not pass muster today), the bulk of them capture a sense of boundless possibility. Our dancing queen is looking for someone to dance with, but “anybody could be that guy” – the thrilling mystery of the future from the perspective of youth gleams in those words. A verse later, we’re told “anyone will do / You’re in the mood for a dance”. Even in the less progressive mid-1970s, having someone to dance with was far less important than the dancing itself.

“And when you get the chance,” we’re told, we become the dancing queen – that small word “and” positing this transformation as an inevitability. Today, the song’s legacy still delivers this message. Its way of bringing people together was underlined in the Abba film, Mamma Mia, as an ever-growing crowd gathered to sing it while roaming the streets of the fictional Greek island of Kalokairi. (This montage was revisited, with even bigger crowds, in its 2018 sequel.) Theresa May’s arrival to the song on stage at the 2018 Conservative party conference also showed us its transformative power: the right-wing press briefly turned in her favour in the midst of Brexit negotiations because of it (the Daily Mail said she’d “danced her way back to authority”)”.

When it comes to transcendent and iconic songs, there are few as big and important as Dancing Queen. It is no surprise that the song is the lead track on ABBA Gold. Nearly forty-five years after its release, people are discovering this song and being lifted by it. One hopes that the Swedish group (Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad) reform or record new music together – there have been rumours circulating for years.  The magnificent Dancing Queen is…

ROUSING, glistening and truly uplifting.

FEATURE: Inspired By… Part Twenty: The Beatles

FEATURE:

 

 

Inspired By…

PHOTO CREDIT: Apple Corps Ltd.

Part Twenty: The Beatles

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WHILST it is impossible…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Apple Corps Ltd.

to include all of the acts inspired by The Beatles in this feature, I wanted to include the legendary and iconic Liverpool group. When one thinks about artists who have inspired generations, they do not come more important than The Beatles! Before ending with a playlist containing some of those who have been influenced by The Beatles, I want to borrow heavily from AllMusic’s biography of the band:

“So much has been said and written about the Beatles -- and their story is so mythic in its sweep -- that it's difficult to summarize their career without restating clichés that have already been digested by tens of millions of rock fans. To start with the obvious, they were the greatest and most influential act of the rock era, and they introduced more innovations into popular music than any other group of their time. Moreover, they were among the few artists of any discipline that were simultaneously the best at what they did and the most popular at what they did. Relentlessly imaginative and experimental, the Beatles grabbed hold of the international mass consciousness in 1964 and never let go for the next six years, always staying ahead of the pack in terms of creativity and never losing the ability to communicate their increasingly sophisticated ideas to a mass audience. Their supremacy as rock icons remains unchallenged to this day, decades after their breakup in 1970.

It's hard to convey the scope of the Beatles' achievements in a mere paragraph or two. They synthesized all that was good about early rock & roll, and changed it into something original and even more exciting. They established the prototype for the self-contained rock group that wrote and performed its own material. As composers, their craft and melodic inventiveness were second to none; they were key to the evolution of rock from its blues/R&B-based forms into a style that was far more eclectic, but equally visceral. As singers, both John Lennon and Paul McCartney were among the best and most expressive vocalists in rock, and the group's harmonies were intricate and exhilarating. As performers, they were (at least until touring wore them down) exciting and photogenic. When they retreated into the studio, they proved instrumental in pioneering advanced techniques and multi-layered arrangements. They were also the first British rock group to achieve worldwide prominence, launching a British Invasion that made rock truly an international phenomenon.

More than any other top group, the Beatles' success was very much a case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. Their phenomenal cohesion was due in large degree to most of the group having known each other and played together in Liverpool for about five years before they began to have hit records. Guitarist and teenage rebel John Lennon got hooked on rock & roll in the mid-'50s, and formed a band, the Quarrymen, at his high school. Around mid-1957, the Quarrymen were joined by another guitarist, Paul McCartney, nearly two years Lennon's junior. A bit later they were joined by another guitarist, George Harrison, a friend of McCartney. The Quarrymen would change lineups constantly in the late '50s, eventually reducing to the core trio of guitarists, who'd proven themselves to be the best musicians and most personally compatible individuals within the band.

The Quarrymen changed their name to the Silver Beatles in 1960, quickly dropping the "Silver" to become just the Beatles. Lennon's art college friend Stuart Sutcliffe joined on bass, but finding a permanent drummer was a vexing problem until Pete Best joined in the summer of 1960. He successfully auditioned for the combo just before they left for a several-month stint in Hamburg, Germany.

Hamburg was the Beatles' baptism by fire. Playing grueling sessions for hours on end in one of the most notorious red-light districts in the world, the group was forced to expand its repertoire, tighten up its chops, and invest its show with enough manic energy to keep the rowdy crowds satisfied. When they returned to Liverpool at the end of 1960, the band -- formerly also-rans on the exploding Liverpudlian "beat" scene -- were suddenly the most exciting act on the local circuit. They consolidated their following in 1961 with constant gigging in the Merseyside area, most often at the legendary Cavern Club, the incubator of the Merseybeat sound.

They also returned for engagements in Hamburg during 1961, although Sutcliffe dropped out of the band that year to concentrate on his art school studies there. McCartney took over on bass, Harrison settled in as lead guitarist, and Lennon had rhythm guitar; everyone sang. In mid-1961, the Beatles (minus Sutcliffe) made their first recordings in Germany, as a backup group to a British rock guitarist/singer based in Hamburg, Tony Sheridan. The Beatles hadn't fully developed at this point, and these recordings -- many of which (including a couple of Sheridan-less tracks) were issued only after the band's rise to fame -- found their talents in a most embryonic state. The Hamburg stint was also notable for gaining the Beatles sophisticated, artistic fans such as Sutcliffe's girlfriend, Astrid Kirchherr, who influenced all of them (except Best) to restyle their quiffs into the moptops that gave the musicians their most distinctive visual trademark. (Tragically, Sutcliffe would die of a brain hemorrhage in April 1962).

Near the end of 1961, the Beatles' exploding local popularity caught the attention of local record store manager Brian Epstein, who was soon managing the band as well. He used his contacts to swiftly acquire a January 1, 1962, audition at Decca Records that has been heavily bootlegged (some tracks were officially released in 1995). After weeks of deliberation, Decca turned them down as did several other British labels. Epstein's perseverance was finally rewarded with an audition for producer George Martin at Parlophone, an EMI subsidiary; Martin signed the Beatles in mid-1962. By this time, Epstein was assiduously grooming his charges for national success by influencing them to smarten up their appearance, dispensing with their leather jackets and trousers in favor of tailored suits and ties.

One more major change was in the offing before the Beatles made their Parlophone debut. In August 1962, drummer Pete Best was kicked out of the group, a controversial decision that has been the cause of much speculation since. There is still no solid consensus as to whether it was because of his solitary, moody nature; the other Beatles' jealousy of his popularity with the fans; his musical shortcomings (George Martin had already told Epstein that Best wasn't good enough to drum on recordings); or his refusal to wear his hair in bangs. What seems most likely was that the Beatles simply found his personality incompatible, preferring to enlist Ringo Starr (born Richard Starkey), a drummer with another popular Merseyside outfit, Rory Storm & the Hurricanes. Starr had been in the Beatles for a few weeks when they recorded their first single, "Love Me Do"/"P.S. I Love You," in September 1962. Both sides of the 45 were Lennon-McCartney originals, and the songwriting team would be credited with most of the group's material throughout the Beatles' career.

The single, a promising but fairly rudimentary effort, hovered around the lower reaches of the British Top 20. The Beatles phenomenon didn't truly kick in until "Please Please Me," which topped the British charts in early 1963. This was the prototype British Invasion single: an infectious melody, charging guitars, and positively exuberant harmonies. The same traits were evident on their third 45, "From Me to You" (a British number one), and their debut LP, Please Please Me. Although it was mostly recorded in a single day, Please Please Me topped the British charts for an astonishing 30 weeks, establishing the group as the most popular rock & roll act ever seen in the U.K.

What the Beatles had done was take the best elements of the rock and pop they loved and make them their own. Since the Quarrymen days, they had been steeped in the classic early rock of Elvis, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Carl Perkins, and the Everly Brothers; they'd also kept an ear open to the early-'60s sounds of Motown, Phil Spector, and the girl groups. What they added was an unmatched songwriting savvy (inspired by Brill Building teams such as Gerry Goffin and Carole King), a brash guitar-oriented attack, wildly enthusiastic vocals, and the embodiment of the youthful flair of their generation, ready to dispense with postwar austerity and claim a culture of their own. They were also unsurpassed in their eclecticism, willing to borrow from blues, popular standards, gospel, folk, or whatever seemed suitable for their musical vision. Producer George Martin was the perfect foil for the group, refining their ideas without tinkering with their cores; during the last half of their career, he was indispensable for his ability to translate their concepts into arrangements that required complex orchestration, innovative applications of recording technology, and an ever-widening array of instruments.

Just as crucially, the Beatles were never ones to stand still and milk formulas. All of their subsequent albums and singles would show remarkable artistic progression (though never at the expense of a damn catchy tune). Even on their second LP, With the Beatles (1963), it was evident that their talents as composers and instrumentalists were expanding furiously, as they devised ever more inventive melodies and harmonies, and boosted the fullness of their arrangements. "She Loves You" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand" established the group not just as a popular music act, but as a phenomenon never before seen in the British entertainment business, as each single sold over a million copies in the U.K. After some celebrated national TV appearances, Beatlemania broke out across the British Isles in late 1963, and the group generating screams and hysteria at all of their public appearances, musical or otherwise.

Capitol, which had first refusal of the Beatles' recordings in the United States, had declined to issue the group's first few singles, which ended up appearing on relatively small American independents. Capitol took up its option on "I Want to Hold Your Hand," which stormed to the top of the U.S. charts within weeks of its release on December 26, 1963. The Beatles' television appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show in February of 1964 launched Beatlemania (and the entire British Invasion) on an even bigger scale than it had reached in Britain. In the first week of April 1964, the Beatles had the Top Five best-selling singles in the U.S.; they also had the first two slots on the album charts, as well as other entries throughout the Billboard Top 100. No one had ever dominated the market for popular music so heavily; it's doubtful that anyone ever will again. The Beatles themselves would continue to reach number one with most of their singles and albums until their 1970 breakup.

Hard as it may be to believe today, the Beatles were often dismissed by cultural commentators of the time as nothing more than a fad that would vanish within months as the novelty wore off. The group ensured this wouldn't happen by making A Hard Day's Night in early 1964, a cinéma vérité-style motion picture comedy/musical that cemented their image as "the Fab Four": happy-go-lucky, individualistic, cheeky, funny lads with nonstop energy. The soundtrack was also a triumph, consisting entirely of Lennon-McCartney tunes, including such standards as the title tune, "And I Love Her," "If I Fell," "Can't Buy Me Love," and "Things We Said Today." George Harrison's resonant 12-string electric guitar leads were hugely influential; the movie helped persuade the Byrds, then folksingers, to plunge all-out into rock & roll, and the Beatles (along with Bob Dylan) would be hugely influential on the folk-rock explosion of 1965. The Beatles' success, too, had begun to open the U.S. market for fellow Brits like the Rolling Stones, the Animals, and the Kinks, and inspired young American groups like the Beau Brummels, Lovin' Spoonful, and others to mount a challenge of their own with self-penned material that owed a great debt to Lennon-McCartney.

Between riotous international tours in 1964 and 1965, the Beatles continued to squeeze out more chart-topping albums and singles. (Until 1967, the group's British albums were often truncated for release in the States; when their catalog was transferred to CD, the albums were released worldwide in their British configurations.) In retrospect, critics have judged Beatles for Sale (late 1964) and Help! (mid-1965) as the band's least impressive efforts. To some degree, that's true. Touring and an insatiable market placed heavy demands upon their songwriting, and some of the originals and covers on these records, while brilliant by many groups' standards, were filler in the context of the Beatles' best work.

But when at the top of their game, the group was continuing to push forward. "I Feel Fine" had feedback and brilliant guitar leads; "Ticket to Ride" showed the band beginning to incorporate the ringing, metallic, circular guitar lines that would be appropriated by bands like the Byrds; "Help!" was their first burst of confessional lyricism; "Yesterday" employed a string quartet. John Lennon in particular was beginning to exhibit a Dylanesque influence in his songwriting on such folky, downbeat numbers as "I'm a Loser" and "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away." And tracks like "I Don't Want to Spoil the Party" and "I've Just Seen a Face" had a strong country flavor.

Although the Beatles' second film, Help!, was a much sillier and less sophisticated affair than their first feature, it too was a huge commercial success. By this time, though, the Beatles had nothing to prove in commercial terms; the remaining frontiers were artistic challenges that could only be met in the studio. They rose to the occasion at the end of 1965 with Rubber Soul, one of the classic folk-rock records. Lyrically, Lennon, McCartney, and even Harrison (who was now writing some tunes on his own) were evolving beyond boy-girl scenarios into complex, personal feelings. They were also pushing the limits of studio rock by devising new guitar and bass textures, experimenting with distortion and multi-tracking, and using unconventional (for rock) instruments like the sitar.

As much of a progression as Rubber Soul was relative to their previous records, it was but a taster for the boundary-shattering outings of the next few years. The "Paperback Writer"/"Rain" single found the group abandoning romantic themes entirely, boosting the bass to previously unknown levels, and fooling around with psychedelic imagery and backward tapes on the B-side. Drugs (psychedelic and otherwise) were fueling their already fertile imaginations, but they felt creatively hindered by their touring obligations. Revolver, released in the summer of 1966, proved what the group could be capable of when allotted months of time in the studio. Hazy hard guitars and thicker vocal arrangements formed the bed of these increasingly imagistic, ambitious lyrics; the group's eclecticism now encompassed everything from singalong novelties ("Yellow Submarine") and string quartet-backed character sketches ("Eleanor Rigby") to Indian-influenced swirls of echo and backward tapes ("Tomorrow Never Knows"). Some would complain that the Beatles had abandoned the earthy rock of their roots for clever mannerism. But Revolver, like virtually all of the group's singles and albums from "She Loves You" on, would be a worldwide chart-topper.

For the past couple of years, live performance had become a rote exercise for the group, tired of competing with thousands of screaming fans that drowned out most of their voices and instruments. A 1966 summer worldwide tour was particularly grueling: the group's entourage was physically attacked in the Philippines after a perceived snub of the country's first lady, and a casual remark by John Lennon about the Beatles being bigger than Jesus Christ was picked up in the States, resulting in the burning of Beatles records in the Bible Belt and demands for a repentant apology. Their final concert of that American tour (in San Francisco on August 29, 1966) would be their last in front of a paying audience, as the group decided to stop playing live in order to concentrate on their studio recordings.

This was a radical (indeed, unprecedented) step in 1966, and the media was rife with speculation that the act was breaking up, especially after all four spent late 1966 engaged in separate personal and artistic pursuits. The appearance of the "Penny Lane"/"Strawberry Fields Forever" single in February 1967 squelched these concerns. Frequently cited as the strongest double A-side ever, the Beatles were now pushing forward into unabashedly psychedelic territory in their use of orchestral arrangements and Mellotron, without abandoning their grasp of memorable melody and immediately accessible lyrical messages.

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, released in June 1967 as the Summer of Love dawned, was the definitive psychedelic soundtrack. Or, at least, so it was perceived at the time: subsequent critics have painted the album as an uneven affair, given a conceptual unity via its brilliant multi-tracked overdubs, singalong melodies, and fairy tale-ish lyrics. Others remain convinced, as millions did at the time, that it represented pop's greatest triumph, or indeed an evolution of pop into art with a capital A. In addition to mining all manner of roots influences, the musicians were also picking up vibes from Indian music, avant-garde electronics, classical, music hall, and more. When the Beatles premiered their hippie anthem "All You Need Is Love" as part of a worldwide TV broadcast, they had been truly anointed as spokespersons for their generation (a role they had not actively sought), and it seemed they could do no wrong.

Musically, that would usually continue to be the case, but the group's strength began to unravel at a surprisingly quick pace. In August 1967, Brian Epstein -- prone to suicidal depression over the past year -- died of a drug overdose, leaving them without a manager. They pressed on with their next film project, Magical Mystery Tour, directed by themselves; lacking focus or even basic professionalism, the picture bombed when it was premiered on BBC television in December 1967, giving the media the first real chance they'd ever had to roast the Beatles over a flame. (Another film, the animated feature Yellow Submarine, would appear in 1968, although the Beatles had little involvement with the project, either in terms of the movie or the soundtrack.) In early 1968, the Beatles decamped to India for a course in transcendental meditation with the Maharishi; this too became something of a media embarrassment as each of the four would eventually depart the course before its completion.

The Beatles did use their unaccustomed peace in India to compose a wealth of new material. Judged solely on musical merit, the White Album, a double LP released in late 1968, was a triumph. While largely abandoning their psychedelic instruments to return to guitar-based rock, they maintained their whimsical eclecticism, proving themselves masters of everything from blues-rock to vaudeville. As individual songwriters, too, it contains some of their finest work (as does the brilliant non-LP single from this era, "Hey Jude"/"Revolution").

The problem, at least in terms of the group's long-term health, was that these were very much individual songs, as opposed to collective ones. Lennon and McCartney had long composed most of their tunes separately (you can almost always tell the composer by the lead vocalist). But they had always fed off of each other not only to supply missing bits and pieces that would bring a song to completion, but to provide a competitive edge that would bring out the best in the other. McCartney's romantic melodicism and Lennon's more acidic, gritty wit were perfect complements for one another. By the White Album, it was clear (if only in retrospect) that each member was more concerned with his own expression than that of the collective group: a natural impulse, but one that was bound to lead to difficulties.

In addition, George Harrison was becoming a more prolific and skilled composer as well, imbuing his own melodies (which were nearly the equal of those of his more celebrated colleagues) with a cosmic lightness. Harrison was beginning to resent his junior status, and the group began to bicker more openly in the studio. Ringo Starr, whose solid drumming and good nature could usually be counted upon (as was evident in his infrequent lead vocals), actually quit for a couple of weeks in the midst of the White Album sessions (though the media was unaware of this at the time). Personal interests were coming into play as well: Lennon's devotion to romantic and artistic pursuits with his new girlfriend (and soon-to-be wife) Yoko Ono was diverting his attentions from the Beatles. Apple Records, started by the group earlier in 1968 as a sort of utopian commercial enterprise, was becoming a financial and organizational nightmare.

These weren't the ideal conditions under which to record a new album in January 1969, especially when McCartney was pushing the group to return to live performing, although none of the others seemed especially keen on the idea. They did agree to try recording a "back-to-basics," live-in-the-studio-type LP, the sessions being filmed for a television special. That plan almost blew up when Harrison, in the midst of tense arguments, left the group for a few days. Although he returned, the idea of playing live concerts was put on the back burner; Harrison enlisted American soul keyboardist Billy Preston as kind of a fifth member on the sessions, both to beef up the arrangements and to alleviate the uncomfortable atmosphere. Exacerbating the problem was that the Beatles didn't have a great deal of first-class new songs to work with, although some were excellent. In order to provide a suitable concert-like experience for the film, the group did climb the roof of their Apple headquarters in London to deliver an impromptu performance on January 30, 1969, before the police stopped it; this was their last live concert of any sort.

Generally dissatisfied with these early-1969 sessions, the album and film -- at first titled Get Back, and later to emerge as Let It Be -- remained in the can as the group tried to figure out how the projects should be mixed, packaged, and distributed. A couple of the best tracks, "Get Back"/"Don't Let Me Down," were issued as a single in the spring of 1969. By this time, the Beatles' quarrels were intensifying in a dispute over management: McCartney wanted their affairs to be handled by his new father-in-law, Lee Eastman, while the other members of the group favored a tough American businessman, Allen Klein.

It was something of a miracle, then, that the final album recorded by the group, Abbey Road, was one of their most unified efforts (even if, by this time, the musicians were recording many of their parts separately). It certainly boasted some of their most intricate melodies, harmonies, and instrumental arrangements; it also heralded the arrival of Harrison as a composer of equal talent to Lennon and McCartney, as George wrote the album's two most popular tunes, "Something" and "Here Comes the Sun." The Beatles were still progressing, but it turned out to be the end of the road, as their business disputes continued to magnify. Lennon, who had begun releasing solo singles and performing with friends as the Plastic Ono Band, threatened to resign in late 1969, although he was dissuaded from making a public announcement.

Most of the early-1969 tapes remained unreleased, partially because the footage for the planned television broadcast of these sessions was now going to be produced as a documentary movie. The accompanying soundtrack album, Let It Be, was delayed so that its release could coincide with that of the film. Lennon, Harrison, and Allen Klein decided to have celebrated American producer Phil Spector record some additional instrumentation and do some mixing. Thus the confusion that persists among most rock listeners to this day: Let It Be, although the last Beatles album to be released, was not the last one to be recorded. Abbey Road should actually be considered as the Beatles' last album; most of the material on Let It Be, including the title track (which would be the last single released while the group was still together), was recorded several months before the Abbey Road sessions began in earnest, and a good 15 months or so before its May 1970 release.

By that time, the Beatles were no more. In fact, there had been no record”.

To mark the undying and endless influence of The Beatles, the playlist below collates songs from artists who either cite them as influences or have been clearly affected by them. As I say, it would be hard to include every musician who owes a debt to The Beatles. Here is just a portion of the great artists who would sound very different…

WERE it not for The Beatles.

FEATURE: Vinyl Corner: Regina Spektor - Begin to Hope

FEATURE:

 

 

Vinyl Corner

Regina Spektor - Begin to Hope

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EVEN though it is quite hard…

to find a copy of Regina Spektor’s Begin to Hope on vinyl, it is available through Amazon. This is an album that I really like and wanted to recommend. Released in June 2006, the fourth studio album from Spektor is brilliant. I really like Spektor’s albums, though I think Begin to Hope might be my favourite. The hugely successful single, Fidelity, is one of her best songs. If you have not heard of Regina Spektor or are unsure where to start, Begin to Hope is a good place to start. I do hope that there are plans to reissue the album on vinyl so that it is more widely available. It is such a strong and astonishing album from a songwriter whose lyrical and actual voice is like nobody else’s! I will get to a couple of reviews for the 2006 album. Before then, NPR provided an interview (conducted in 2006), where we discover more about Spektor’s upbringing and what she brought to Begin to Hope:

“On her new release, Begin to Hope, singer, songwriter and pianist Regina Spektor sings in her native Russian for the first time.

"It feels very good to sing in Russian," the 26-year-old says. "It feels so good inside my body."

A Russian Jew, Spektor and her family fled the anti-Semitism of the Soviet Union and emigrated to the Bronx when she was 9 years old.

Spektor recalls how difficult it was to leave behind the family piano, which she began playing when she was 6.

Songwriting was difficult for her, she says, after studying classical music from the great composers. And as a result, she often incorporated hiccups and other odd sounds into her work. The hiccup sounds, she says, were like discovering she had a tambourine in her throat.

She also talks about how, unlike many songwriters, her songs aren't personal.

"I think songwriters are more related to fiction writers," she says. "The Odyssey was a story in song. To me, that's so beautiful, all those painted characters, all those travels and adventures."

And of songwriters who sing in their own voice, Spektor says, "It's almost like putting a ball and chain around your foot and being sentenced to being yourself. Who the hell wants to be themselves all the time? It's so boring".

I have heard Begin to Hope a few times. It is an album that provides so many treats and wonderful moments. Fifteen years after it was released, I do not feel it has lost any of its brilliance and impact. Spektor’s most-recent album, Remember Us to Life, was released in 2016. Many people will hope that there are more albums from Spektor in the future. She is one of the most original and consistent artists around.

Just before wrapping things up, it is worth bringing in a couple of reviews. The first one is quite brief. This is what The Guardian said when they reviewed Begin to Hope:

“Russian-American songwriter Regina Spektor is a self-proclaimed "dork", conjuring up memories of Tori Amos. It's an apt comparison, because Spektor's first major-label release sets her up as a serious rival for Amos's queen-of-whimsy title. If elected (not inconceivable, considering the big-budget production that gives her girlish voice a very commercial cut-glass clarity), she'll bring to the job a highly appealing, open-hearted freshness. Her adopted Manhattan is the inspiration for these songs: the punk-folky That Time name-checks Delancey Street. The Muscovite in her surfaces on Apres Moi, whose drama stems from its sweeping grand-piano backdrop and the impassioned "Poka grohochushaya slyakot!" that closes the song. There's hardly a moment here that fails to enchant. As she says: "Vesnoyu chernoyu gorit”.

If you can go and find a copy of Begin to Hope online, it is definitely worth investing in. Seek our other Regina Spektor albums and get involved with a fabulous artist. Her songwriting and incredibly deliver has the ability to take you somewhere very special indeed. It is small wonder that Begin to Hope received acclaim when it was released.

AllMusic provided a deeper review when they investigated Begin to Hope. As usual, they made some interesting observations about one of 2006’s best albums:

“£On Begin to Hope, Regina Spektor treads a delicate balance between her anti-folk past and her present home on Sire Records. Though the label re-released Soviet Kitsch in 2004, Begin to Hope is Spektor's first original material for Sire, and it feels more like a major-label debut than Soviet Kitsch ever did. The album's big, glossy production and preponderance of drum machines and keyboards inches Spektor toward territory that isn't exactly mainstream, but is closer to a more conventional adult alternative singer/songwriter sound. Her songwriting mirrors this, too: "Field Below," which finds her wishing for the countryside while living in the city, has a mellow, appealingly rambling vibe that grows from the traditional singer/songwriter roots of Joni and Carole; "Better" takes the breathy, literate, pretty side of Spektor's music and tailors it into a radio-friendly single. "On the Radio" takes it a step further and becomes a smart, funny, and sad meta-single, with lyrics like "We listened to it twice/Because the DJ was asleep" backed by poppy synths and beats. But even though Begin to Hope's first few songs might suggest otherwise, Spektor is much too freewheeling and quirky a talent to stick to the straight and narrow for the entirety.

Show tunes, classic soul, the Bible, and the backs of cereal boxes are all inspirations for the album. And whether she quotes the melody from Doris Troy's "Just One Look" and pairs it with lyrics about orca whales on "Hotel Song," or begins the lovely, confessional closing track, "Summer in the City," with the line "summer in the city means cleavage," Spektor uses them in unexpected ways. She also places some truly surreal, heady tracks toward Begin to Hope's end: "Lady" is a torchy number arranged for piano, saxophone, and typewriter, while "20 Years of Snow" is buoyed along by impressionistic keyboards that twinkle and tumble like a just-shaken snow globe. "Après Moi," one of the album's most impressive tracks, showcases her classical piano training, her Russian heritage, and those biblical influences to ominous, paranoid effect. Leaving the more unique, quintessentially Regina Spektor-esque tracks at the end of Begin to Hope isn't so much a bait-and-switch as it is a clever way to lure in and loosen the inhibitions of new fans. The album feels like getting to really know someone: at first, it's polite and a little restrained, but then its real personality, with all of its charming idiosyncrasies, finally reveals itself”.

Begin to Hope is an album that unravels more as you listen and come back to it. I love all the sounds and innovations that Regina Spektor brings to her albums. It is a delight to dive in and hear all these details and interesting moments. If you can, go and spend some time with…

THE brilliant Begin to Hope.

FEATURE: The July Playlist: Vol. 4: Remember, a woman is a god

FEATURE:

 

 

The July Playlist

PHOTO CREDIT: Tommy Genesis 

Vol. 4: Remember, a woman is a god

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ALTHOUGH it is a little quieter…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Joel Culpepper/PHOTO CREDIT: FELIX

than previous weeks in terms of big names in the mix, there are still some heavyweights with new tracks out. Alongside music from Tommy Genesis, Joel Culpepper, Lorde, Camia Cabello, Matthew E. White, James Blake, IDER, Leon Bridges, and Tinashe, we have Prince, Dave, IDLES (ft. slowthai), Anne-Marie/Little Mix, The War on Drugs, and Julia Bardo. It is definitely a varied week for music. If you need a boost to get you into the weekend, the collection of new tunes below should do the job. It is going to be a changeable and unsettled weekend for many so, rather than brave the weather, staying in with some good music seems like the sensible option. Take a listen to the best new tracks from…

IN THIS PHOTO: IDER/PHOTO CREDIT: Daniela K Monteiro

THIS week.   

ALL PHOTOS/IMAGES (unless credited otherwise): Artists

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Tommy Genesis -  a woman is a god

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Joel Culpepper – Remember

PHOTO CREDIT: Ophelia Mikkelson Jones

Lorde - Stoned at the Nail Salon

Camila Cabello – Don’t Go Yet

Matthew E. White – Electric

James Blake – Say What You Will

IDER – obsessed

v

Leon Bridges – Steam

Tinashe – I Can See the Future

Prince – Hot Summer

IDLES (ft. slowthai) – Model Village

Anne-Marie, Little Mix – Kiss My (Uh Oh)

The War on Drugs – Living Proof

Julia Bardo - No Feeling

v

Alewya – Spirit_X

DAISY WORLD – SUNDOWN

PHOTO CREDIT: Piczo

Lucy Tun – MONARCHY

v

Julia Wolf – Resting B*tch Face: Part 2

Remi Wolf - Liquor Store

v

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Alesha Dixon – War

Brandi Carlile - Right on Time

v

PHOTO CREDIT: Pooneh Ghana

La Luz - Watching Cartoons

Penelope Isles – Sailing Still

Aquilo – Our Bones Turn to Stone

Grace Davies – toothbrush

The Linda Lindas – “Oh!”

Azure Ryder – Some Kind of Love

PHOTO CREDIT: George Hutton

Jake Bugg – Downtown

Larkins – if + when

Steve Gunn – Fulton

Connie Constance - Prim & Propa

TOPS – Party Again

Jetta – He Usually Likes Boys

Lola Young - Pill or a Lullaby (4AM till sunrise)

Willow Kayne – I Don’t Wanna Know

Dave - Three Rivers

PHOTO CREDIT: Nicole Mago

VÉRITÉ - he’s not you

Emma-Jean Thackray - Venus

FEATURE: Spotlight: Enny

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

ENNY

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I am a little slow off the mark…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Udoma Janssen for CRACK

at the moment regarding some artists that should be in this Spotlight feature! To be fair, I have known about ENNY (Enitan Adepitan). I feel last year was a big year for her. In 2021, ENNY has taken even bigger steps - and she is being compared to some heavyweights of Rap and Hip-Hop (including Lauryn Hill). I am keen to bring in a few interviews where we learn more about the sensational London artist. First, this interview from The Line of Best Fit gives us some insight into her early musical memories and path into music:

“Growing up in Thamesmead, South-East London, Enny's first musical memories are of listening to gospel music in her mum’s car as she was driven around. “Anytime you’d go to church, anytime you’d go to do shopping, or anytime I was just in her car it would just be that gospel music, gospel music, gospel music,” she smiles. “So that was a very fond memory.”

Around the age of seven she joined a local street dance group. The youngest one there, she began dancing to American hip hop, Missy Elliot a particularly prominent feature. “I wanted to be a rapper since I was a kid in primary school. It was always something I wanted to do, it was always in my head,” she says. “I think I’ve always been exposed to music as well, just through family and everywhere. I think that’s one of the most key things I can remember, just listening to music.”

She recounts that a lot of her friendships always grew from a shared love of music. J. Cole was her favourite artist growing up. “I remember trying to tell my friends to listen and then slowly by slowly they all caught on,” she laughs. “It’s very precious that moment, especially as a teenager.”

With her friends at school she formed a group called A8, named after their music room. However, when she left to study film at Canterbury Christchurch, music fell to the wayside. “Musically during uni I wasn’t really like outside, because I’m an introvert so I really just kept to myself and my housemates,” she explains. “I had my production stuff in my room but I never really tried to make music. I think that’s the period in my life where I didn’t really make music or meet other artists or look at the music scene.”

Upon leaving uni she tried to get into the film industry, but found it difficult to catch a break. “I was just getting older and after graduating things weren’t picking up and I just got a normal job,” Enny says. “I’d been there for two years and I started to realise that I wasn’t happy, and then you just start realising that you only have one life and you have a desire to chase it.”

This was a pivotal moment quitting her job and throwing everything back into music. “I was just constantly writing music,” she smiles. “So I would always make music but I wouldn’t release it. So there was a lot of time of me just growing internally and artistically but not putting anything out.”

Now being mentioned amongst a rising tide of black, female, UK rappers, Enny is aware of her position but feels that with opportunity doesn’t necessarily come the responsibility to represent an often homogenised group of people. “I feel like black women always have to be the black woman in these spaces, they can just never be the woman,” she says”.

Although I don’t think Hip-Hop and Rap is truly accepting of women - and it has not amended all of its bad practices - there are so many great women coming through that one cannot ignore! They are helping to break down doors and open up conversations. ENNY is among our brightest young artists. Someone who, surely, is going to rank alongside some of the very best in years to come! Earlier this year, The Guardian caught up with ENNY. I have selected a few sections. It is interesting learning about how she got noticed – and how she has risen in popularity during the pandemic:

“Despite going to university and trying other careers, Adepitan kept making music – and got noticed by local radio stations for a freestyle version of her song He’s Not Into You. That is what put her on the radar of Root 73, an artist-development programme run by people born and raised in Hackney, east London.

“I met Root 73 in 2019 through my now-manager” – Adepitan turns the camera to Pascal, who’s sitting nonchalantly in the driver’s seat, and cackles. “He brought me into Root, which was the studio he was working out of, and they became family. They really took me in, putting me on stage and stuff like that early on, when I only had about three songs,” she says.

Considering her shyness, what were her first experiences on stage like? “Horrible!” she shouts. “I had to drink a lot of alcohol just to get the juices going.”

 After the pandemic broke out and the gigs ended, Adepitan released Peng Black Girls, and by the end of the year it had blown up. The remix, which featured her label-mate Jorja Smith singing the hook rather than former collaborator Amia Brave, had been released via the streaming channel Colors. The video racked up millions of views in a number of days.

Online feedback seems to have been all the more significant for Adepitan given that she rose to fame during the pandemic. It has made for a strange introduction to the industry: the absence of live events means she is yet to meet many women in the business, other than Smith, whom she describes as a passionate perfectionist. “I think I’m still finding my footing,” she says.

When the industry resumes, there is a big world out there for Adepitan to explore. The last few years have seen a sudden boom for women in rap – from the success of Shygirl and Little Simz in the UK, to Megan Thee Stallion and Doja Cat across the pond. “It’s almost like a Renaissance moment for women who are taking a stand in what they want to do, and just being whoever they want to be when it comes to music. They’re not getting stuck in boxes, or focused on what they think that people might want to hear, or what labels are telling them to do. They’re just being themselves.

“Before Cardi [B] and Nicki [Minaj], it was Lil’ Kim and Missy Elliott, like you could pinpoint specific moments,” she says. “But now you’ve got hundreds of lady rappers.”

She admits that sometimes, as a Black woman, she feels the pressure of the industry looming over her. “I feel like that pressure was initially what kind of stalled me for a long time, because I always felt like there wasn’t a market for people that look like me ... for a dark-skinned Black rapper, especially one that was not going to rap about sex or stuff like that.

“But I’m going to die one day. I don’t want to have regrets and be like: ‘Oh, I didn’t do this because another human being thinks a certain way, or society is telling me that I can’t”.

I do wonder, as a Black woman in Rap, whether ENNY will get as many opportunities and platforms as some of her male peers. It is a shame that there are prejudices and discrimination that negatively impacts such strong and promising artists as ENNY. She is clearly fuelled and inspired by some icons of Rap. There is nothing to suggest that she will not be at their level before too long. On the evidence of what she has produced so far, she is going to be very special and adored.

There are a couple more interviews that are worth including before wrapping things up. One of the defining and crowning moments in ENNY’s career so far was the release of her song, Peng Black Girls. It is, as this CRACK interview explains, a huge moment:

“It’s precisely this reason that she put people like her at the centre of the video for her breakthrough track Peng Black Girls. Landing in November 2020, the visuals celebrated Black women of all hues, ages, hair and body types, as Enny takes centre stage looking extremely south London with pretty acrylic nails, a black puffer jacket and fiery red braids. Other scenes paid homage to her Nigerian heritage, with a regal pink gele and ankara dress, and showed her in a black slip evening dress. No matter how often people try to make Blackness monolithic, videos like this showcase its versatility. The song’s memorable opening lines, delivered in a laid-back, bouncy flow, are an ode to this: “There’s peng Black girls in my area code/ Dark skin, light skin, medium tone.”

Upon its release, Peng Black Girls quickly started to gain traction online as other peng Black girls found themselves, their lives and their experiences within the celebratory bars. At the time of writing the original song has more than one million views, while the remix featuring Jorja Smith has almost 5.5 million. “That’s gassy!” she says when I break the news. Enny has been uploading her freestyles onto YouTube since 2018, but it was when she self-released the soulful He’s Not Into You that she was signed to Smith’s label FAMM, setting the wheels in motion for their wildly successful collab on the Peng Black Girls remix. Nowadays, she’s taking a break from looking at the original’s streaming figures as she finds it all “a bit much”.

For now though, it’s Peng Black Girls that has resonated the most with her fans, and cemented her status as a rising star. The song’s success is such that she even had to stop using Hinge after a match recognised her. “Someone said Peng Black Girls yeah?’” she tells me. “And I was like, ‘Nah.’” The song sits among the canon of UK rap that builds and affirms our community in a country that often makes it clear our presence is unwanted at worst and conditional at best. Like Dave’s recent hit Black, or Bashy’s brilliant Black Boys before that, the track holds particular resonance with young Black people who, like Enny, don’t see themselves uplifted often enough. And if both Bashy and Dave’s Afrocentric rap songs hold a special place in UK music history as a reminder not to underestimate yourself, then both have also courted controversy. Peng Black Girls is no different, but rather than the backlash coming from angry white people, the addition of Jorja Smith on the remix served to infuriate some Black commentators. Indeed, the remix eclipsed the original, leading some to question why there was more appetite for a light-skinned pop star reworking a hook that was originally performed by the lesser known, and darker-skinned, Amia Brave”.

Even though she’s not entirely comfortable in her new surroundings yet, Enny finds herself a part of a golden generation of UK rappers. “Looking at the whole scene from soul to R&B there’s real quality,” she reflects, shouting out the new wave from Ragz Originale to Tiana Major9. She’s sanguine when I ask her about the future, revealing she doesn’t have a plan for where she will be in five years. She explains that if she has no expectations then she will be even more “gassed” for whatever lies in store. “I’m just a Black girl from south London and everything that has happened in the last year is mad, the people I’ve met, the interest,” she smiles. “I already feel mad proud”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Udoma Janssen for CRACK

I want to end up with a great and deep interview from NME. There is a lot to enjoy about the interview. We go back to Peng Black Girls - and we discover how Queen Latifah is a source of inspiration:

“‘Peng Black Girls’, in particular, gives off the same vibes as rapping polymath Queen Latifah and her 1993 single ‘U.N.I.T.Y’. “There was a period of time where I fell in love with Queen Latifah, and just like the messaging of her music. I remember being 16 and hearing that song for the first time, I was like, ‘Oh, my God’. I think it’s great that she’s been recognised for her contributions to hip-hop. I feel like there’s a different energy from women when they rap. Men are more masculine with gangster rap, so when women came out and expressed themselves, it was cool.” Enny loves that the greats like Latifah and Lauryn Hill have paved the way for what we have now; when NME makes the suggestion that she could be the UK’s next Lauryn Hill, she’s smitten – this is the ultimate compliment, after all.

‘Under 25’ is yet more proof of UK rap’s strengths right now; perhaps many are not seeing it, but Enny may well be one to cut through. There are stars like Knucks, Che Lingo, BenjiFlow, who all have cult followings just like Enny’s, but they are getting overlooked by the current mainstream need for quick party songs and intense introspection. Enny feels that this “sick renaissance moment the UK is having” is falling short because there needs to be a place to recognise and a platform for this style of music. But then again, Enny wants you to remember that she “doesn’t want to blow up”, she “just wants to make music”. Her sound blowing up is just a bonus.

But, surely, there’s got to be some deeper mission in the work? Mainly, she wants to “take the music thing worldwide” to keep showing off the real London. The capital is forever changing, clamouring to keep up with worldwide hype and most of the time, it’s at the expense of the rich culture in its most populous areas including south London. And in doing so, she wants to show the world a true depiction of what it means to be a black woman in the UK”.

Go and follow ENNY. She has recruited a lot of fans during the pandemic. I reckon she is eager to get out and perform live. I think that is when we will see her pack her the biggest punch. Looking ahead, there are likely to be E.P.s and more singles released. With every new release, we hear a different side to an amazing and hugely inspiring artist. I shall leave things there. I am already a fan of ENNY. But, having read more about her, I am growing in passion and intrigue. As ENNY has said, there are numerous multi-talented women emerging in Rap right now. Let’s hope that this quality and quantity results in greater parity regarding festival bookings and focus. I know that ENNY herself will be a worldwide success before you know it. She is a sensation that you will want…

TO watch closely.

______________

Follow ENNY

PHOTO CREDIT: Timo Spurr for NME 

Official:

http://ennyintegrity.com/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/ennyintegrity

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/ennyintegrity/

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/3qEnCAnX23lvoxZYtBiPgL

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/ennyintegrity

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3AbQ6Mvj9iVw6fX82HclRA

FEATURE: Childhood Treasures: Albums That Impacted Me: T. Rex – Electric Warrior

FEATURE:

 

 

Childhood Treasures: Albums That Impacted Me

T. Rex – Electric Warrior

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THIS is an album that contains…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Marc Bolan in 1971/PHOTO CREDIT: Bob Gruen

a few of the best T. Rex tracks ever. I heard Electric Warrior pretty early on in life. The album was released in 1971 – it celebrates fifty years in September. I mist have heard it in the late-1980s or early-1990s. I was aware of T. Rex to that point, and I had heard the greatest hits. Electric Warrior is the album that I bonded with and still hold dear. It is small wonder. When you consider the strength of the material and Marc Bolan’s phenomenal performances throughout. To me, Bolan is one of the most underrated songwriters ever. Look at some of the songs on Electric Warrior. Cosmic Dancer, Jeepster, Bang a Gong (Get It On), Life's a Gas, and Girl are all gems! When I was a child, I must have been struck by the catchiness of the songs. I had heard quite a bit of Glam music to that point. I was struck by the more theatrical elements of Electric Warrior. What kept me coming back was the variety. There are softer, more emotive numbers against stompers. If you are unfamiliar with Electric Warrior, then go and seek it out. It is one of the most consistently brilliant albums ever released. I am going to conclude with some more thoughts in a bit. Before that, I want to source a couple of reviews for an absolutely magnificent album.

AllMusic gave their impressions of 1971’s Electric Warrior. As you can see, they were hugely moved and stunned by a hugely influential album:

“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”.

There is another review that I want to source. When Pitchfork spent some time with Electric Warrior in 2003 (when it was reissued), this is what they said:

“For those hunting down the singles, Electric Warrior does contain the immortal "Bang a Gong (Get it On)", but that's neither the only nor the best reason to pick it up. What makes this record so enduring is its almost accidental emotional depth: When T.Rex is kicking out the jams, they sound like they're having the most gleeful, absurd good time ever committed to wax. There's nothing so glorious in rock and roll as hearing Bolan croon, "Just like a car, you're pleasing to behold/ I'll call you Jaguar if I may be so bold," over his namesake boogie.

The most significant aspect of Electric Warrior isn't its arena rock confidence; it's that Bolan allows his grinning mask to slip. With the incomparable aid of producer Tony Visconti, Bolan sketches a vast, empty room, where, after the party's over, he resides alone, wide-eyed and desperate. On ballads like "Cosmic Dancer", "Monolith" and "Girl", he speaks in the same gibberish as elsewhere, but he's clearly haunted-- by what we can't say. But the gaping, searing question mark that comes at the conclusion of the album-- guitar feedback paired with a string section, holding a shivering and very ambivalent cluster of notes-- is just one of many clues that there's more to Electric Warrior than its surface lets on. This is not simply a man who plays party songs because he wants to: This is a man who plays party songs to fend off darkness”.

I have so much love and respect for Electric Warrior. It is an album that I can put on at any time - and it will make me feel better. From the unique and memorable lyrics, to the musicianship of the band and Marc Bolan’s magnetic vocals, one cannot help but love Electric Warrior. It was an album that impacted me as a child. One would think that the album has diminished or faded from my consciousness as I have played it so many times. The opposite is true. The magnificent 1971-released work of genius is enormously important to me…

AFTER all of these years.

FEATURE: The Kate Bush Interview Archive: 1980: MisK

FEATURE:

 

 

The Kate Bush Interview Archive

1980: MisK

___________

I am not sure…

who exactly conducted the interview that I am spotlighting today. In this run of Kate Bush features, I am looking back on great interviews through the years. Bush is such a compelling interview subject, that there are dozens to choose from! As I love 1980’s Never for Ever (her third studio album) so much, I wanted to look at a 1980 interview from MisK (I am not sure whether the main image is from 1980; it is around that time). Supplied by this indispensable source of Kate Bush interviews, the interview appears to have been conducted in London. It is a fascinating interview I want to quote sections from. I am not going to put it all here – I would urge people to check out the whole thing. Never for Ever was the album where Bush co-produced alongside Jon Kelly. It was her first big production credit (she assisted Andrew Powell on 1978’s Lionheart); Never for Ever is he most experimental and diverse album to that point. Although some of the questions are overly-personal and intrusive, there are some interesting exchanges:  

“I: One has to begin at the beginning, Kate, and I can't help but realize that I can't make sense of the title of the album: Never For Ever. What does it mean?

K: Well, it's really meant to be reflective of all the things that happen to us all the time ourselves, we're never for ever, death is inevitable, things always pass, good and bad things, so when you're feeling really desperate you know that it's not going to last for ever. It's really saying that everything is transient - ourselves and everything that we are in is transient and we should really remember that because I think to remind you of that makes you think more.

I: During the time since you've made your last album, have you had reason to feel that way?

K: I think it's something I've always felt, probably since I started creating. I think once you start exploring the creative areas you become aware of how transient things are, especially one's writing, one's art. You become very aware of the fact that that won't be around for a long time - maybe, but very unlikely - and so that's something in your mind a lot of the time.

I: And do you feel sometimes that if I don't put this down on paper now I'll forget it and it will be gone for ever?

K: Yes - yes, I think you have to catch a moment when it's happening. It's like not snapping up opportunities when they wave at you - you can so often let things go by you and when you're old you think, wow, I let all those things go by me. You must try to act in the moment, though it's very hard.

I: Does that annoy you at any time - do you feel that you're not the master of your own time - if you get the muse you have to obey it then and there?

K: Yes, but unfortunately a lot of the time the muse is obstructed by other forces. I'll be very busy doing something else and although it's calling me I can go. That's something that I'm very aware of, the fact that when you do feel that there is something there, almost like a gift, I think you sometimes worry that you abuse it or neglect it and that it might go away. I think one of an artist's great fears is of drying up and I think probably anyone who writes must have such fear inside.

I: In "The Wedding List" you have a character named Rudy - is that named after anybody you'd read about in literature or real life?

K: No, not at all. It was really the name that just happened as the words were coming with the song and so I didn't fight it - I just accepted it.

I: Was it your idea to invite Paddy on the album or did he say to you hey, sis, can I be on it?

K: No, it's very much my idea from a long way back to involve Paddy. He's been on all the albums but not really featuring quite so much as on this one. I think one of the great things about this album is that it left much more room for people to do things than on the other ones - it was that direction, much more experimental, exploring. And Paddy played a big part with all the instruments exploring little pieces and areas, absolutely invaluable. Very like animation, his instruments - they just put a little bit of red on here and a little bit of green down there and complete it.

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

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

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

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

I: The song after that, "Blow Away", is also about musicians, this in a different way - It's about a member of your band, perhaps fictitious, perhaps real life, who wonders where the music goes when he goes. Is there such a person who mentioned that thought to you.

K: No, there isn't such a person who actually said it, but I'm sure I know so many people that think that. I myself do feel that sometimes and it just seemed for someone in my band fictionally to open up to me, made it a much more vulnerable statement. It was really brought on by something - I think it was The Observer. They did an article on all these people who when they'd had cardiac arrests had left their bodies and travelled down a corridor into a room at the end. In the room were all their dead friends that they'd known very well and they were really happy and delighted. Then they'd tell the person that they had to leave and they'd go down the corridor and drop back into their body. So many people have experienced this that there does seem to be some line in it, maybe. It's some kind of defense hysteria, I don't know, but they felt no fear and in fact they really enjoyed it. Most of them have no fear of dying at all. And I thought that a nice idea, what a comfort it was for musicians that worry about their music; (knowing) that they're going to go up into that room and in there there's going to be Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Holly, Minnie Ripperton, all of them just having a great big jam in the sky, and all the musicians will join in with it.

I: And so Bill, who was mentioned in the title, Bill is the fictitious member of the band?

K: No. Bill is Bill Duffield, the gentleman who died on our tour and in so many ways he made me want to write the song right from the beginning. It was such a tragedy and he was such a beautiful person that it only seemed right that there should be something on the next album for him.

I: It's almost ironic that it does have a very up tempo new waveish feel because in some of your earliest interviews you said that some of your favourite artists were the new wave artists even though you yourself did not transmit as a new wave artist. Do you think there's any paradox in that?

K: Hard to say. I suppose I can't really relate to them, that's what I mean, because I do feel different in so many ways, like the way I go about things. I'm not projecting myself as a new wave person and people wouldn't accept me as such because my music is generally not in that area. But I love the energy, I love the power and the rawness - I love raw music, it's very primitive, it's what so much of our music is about. That's what I love and it's something I've always enjoyed - I've always loved rock 'n' roll and only recently have I started learning to control rhythm in my songs. It's normally controlled me and it's mainly the rhythm box that has helped me tremendously.

I: There follows an interlude called "Night Scented Stock". Have you ever wanted to do more in the way of instrumental or sound without words?

K: Yes, I have. I think perhaps I've always felt worried about doing it myself because I've always written songs and I've never really regarded myself as much as a musician as a songwriter. This album taught me that I should be a little more brave about that because music without words is just as beautiful and sometimes I feel the need to just keep putting words on music instead of just letting the music be. I hope in the future that perhaps I will move into that area a little more.

I: You mentioned there's a least one unreleased track - are there tracks we will never hear or will they come out as singles?

K: I think they'll come out. Some of them have already come out as B sides, tracks that weren't on the album we put on the B sides of singles. That's something I've always wanted to do, it's so good to give the public something not on the album, especially if they're going to buy that too. It's quite exciting because you can dig up little novelty tracks that you've forgotten all about that you did years ago and for a B side they're smashing because they're one off and people have never heard them and it's a monument in time that may be from years ago.

I: You mentioned there are some ideas for you now as you consider your next recorded work - do you think you will do more recording next or will you do live work or will yo go home to the farm and think about it?

K: As I was saying, I really don't know. I want to do both so badly - the logical move would be to tour next but I'm so worried about making that decision, it's a long piece of time to give away and I want to do an album so badly. It's very difficult for me at this time to choose. I hope that as the months pass now with this promotion the answer will clink in my head - it always does that at the last minute”.

This is an interview that I had not come across before but was interested to seek out. I love Never for Ever. It is very much an underrated album. In the production seat, Bush was expanding her horizons and making very different musical compared to that on The Kick Inside and Lionheart. The interview above is really illuminating. Many people might not be aware of a lot of Kate Bush’s print interviews - as they are quite old and have been archived. As you can see above, she provided fresh perspectives and revelations…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Angelo Deligio/Mondadori via Getty Images

FOR every album.