FEATURE: A Buyer’s Guide: Part Sixty-Six: Muse

FEATURE:

 

 

A Buyer’s Guide

Part Sixty-Six: Muse

___________

THERE were two…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Sam Riley/NME

fairly big Muse anniversaries this year. The band – who formed in Devon in 1994 – released their second album, Origin of Symmetry, in 2001; Black Holes and Revelations – their fourth album – was released in 2006. It was good to celebrate those huge albums. Their eighth studio album, Simulation Theory, was released in 2018. I think that of Matt Bellamy (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Chris Wolstenholme (bass guitar, backing vocals), and Dominic Howard (drums) are working on new stuff. Before recommending Muse’s best albums, here is some biography from AllMusic:

“Evolving from their late-'90s alt-rock origins into a bombastic force that fused progressive rock, electronica, and pop, English trio Muse carved out a niche as a genre-blurring powerhouse that balanced intergalactic sci-fi and government-conspiracy-theory themes with yearning anthems of love and heartbreak. Initially plagued by Radiohead comparisons on debut Showbiz (1999), the trio steadily matured over a decade, incorporating a wide range of sonic inspirations ranging from the grandiose arena rock of Queen and the R&B-funk of Prince on Black Holes & Revelations (2006) to the dubstep grind of Skrillex on The 2nd Law (2012). In 2016, they scored their second Grammy win for Best Rock Album with the muscular, antiwar Drones, and in 2018 they issued the flashy, synth-heavy Simulation Theory. As their albums consistently topped international charts, Muse also built a reputation as a top live draw with award-winning concerts that often featured big-budget, U2-esque stage setups, selling out arenas and stadiums worldwide.

The band's core comprises guitarist/vocalist Matthew Bellamy, bassist Chris Wolstenholme, and drummer Dominic Howard, a trio of friends who began playing music together in their hometown of Teignmouth, Devon. They started the first incarnation of the band at the age of 13, changing the name of the group from Gothic Plague to Fixed Penalty to Rocket Baby Dolls as time passed. By 1997, the bandmates settled on the name Muse and released their self-titled debut EP on Dangerous Records, followed by the Muscle Museum EP in 1998. The group's emotive, passionate sound and live presence drew critical acclaim and industry buzz, which resulted in a deal with Maverick Records after a trip to New York's CMJ Festival. The singles "Cave" and "Uno" preceded their debut full-length album, Showbiz, which was released toward the end of 1999. The effort went platinum and peaked inside the U.K. Top 30. Two years later, Muse issued Origin of Symmetry, which featured hit singles "New Born," "Plug in Baby," "Bliss," and "Hyper Music," which helped propel the album to multiplatinum status in the U.K. The following year, fans were treated to Hullabaloo Soundtrack, a combination of Showbiz/Origin rarities packaged with a Parisian live set that peaked at number ten in the U.K.

Muse returned in 2003 with their third album, Absolution, an apocalyptic sci-fi love epic that became the band's big U.S. breakthrough and first U.K. number one. Featuring radio hits "Time Is Running Out" and "Hysteria," Absolution eventually went platinum in the U.S. and triple-platinum back home. On their follow-up, the band pushed further into outer space and incorporated more beat-driven influences. Released in 2006, Black Holes & Revelations marked the band's brightest, most dynamic set of material to date, topping the U.K. album chart within its first week and earning Muse their second consecutive number one album at home. In America, the album broke into the Top Ten upon the strength of funky, Prince-indebted single "Supermassive Black Hole" and uplifting anthem "Starlight." Taking advantage of their expanding international reach, the band toured Europe, America, Australia, and Asia in support of the effort, and their dynamic stage performance won the band multiple awards for Best Live Act, including accolades from the NME Awards, the Q Awards, and the Vodafone Live Music Awards. (It was also captured on 2008's H.A.A.R.P. Live from Wembley.)

The trio spent the remainder of 2008, as well as the early part of 2009, in the recording studio, eventually emerging with The Resistance in September. Incorporating an epic orchestral scope on the album's closing "Exogenesis" trilogy and channeling Depeche Mode and Queen elsewhere, the album hit number one in more than a dozen countries, while lead single "Uprising" became their highest-charting U.S. song to date. The band kicked off another world tour, headlining shows as well as supporting U2. In 2011, Bellamy and company were asked to write the official theme for the 2012 Summer Olympics, which were being held in London, and the band returned with the triumphant rock anthem "Survival." The song also became the lead single of their next album, 2012's The 2nd Law. An outlier in their catalog, the album featured the electronic pop single "Madness," an experimental dubstep influence, and a pair of tracks written and sung by Wolstenholme. The road-hungry band undertook another large-scale tour to promote The 2nd Law, and their spectacular show at Rome's Olympic Stadium -- complete with pyrotechnics, video walls, and acrobats -- was filmed in ultra-high definition for the concert movie Live at Rome Olympic Stadium, which was released in December 2013.

When Muse returned to the studio, they took a step back from the electronic textures of The 2nd Law, returning to a heavier rock sound. In early March 2015, Muse issued the singles "Psycho" and "Dead Inside," the first offerings from their seventh studio long-player, Drones. Released in June of that year, the conceptual album was their fifth consecutive U.K. number one album and their first release to top the U.S. charts, netting them a Grammy Award for Best Rock Album in February 2016. The accompanying Drones World Tour, which featured actual drones that flew over audiences, was captured on film and released to theaters in the summer of 2018. By that time, the band was already in the midst of promoting its neon-washed, '80s-inspired eighth LP, Simulation Theory, with singles "Dig Down," "Pressure," and "Dark Side." The effort was released that November and became their sixth consecutive U.K. chart-topper. An international tour occupied the band for much of 2019 and they closed the year with a massive box set that commemorated their Showbiz and Origin of Symmetry eras. Origin of Muse boasted nine CDs and four vinyl records, collecting the B-sides, demos, EPs, and some live tracks from each period. In 2021 Muse released a remixed and remastered version of their sophomore long-player titled Origin of Symmetry: XX Anniversary RemiXX”.

If you are new to Muse or need some guidance as to which albums to buy, then I hope the suggestions below are of some use. I have listed their four essential albums, their underrated gem, the latest studio album. I have also named a book that is a useful guide. Here are my recommendations regarding where to start when it comes to…

THE epic Muse.

___________________

The Four Essential Albums

 

Origin of Symmetry

Release Date: 18th June, 2001

Labels: Mushroom/Taste

Producers: David Bottrill/John Leckie/Muse

Standout Tracks: Space Dementia/Plug in Baby/Feeling Good

Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/muse/origin-of-symmetry and https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/muse/origin-of-symmetry-xx-anniversary-remixx

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/1Dh27pjT3IEdiRG9Se5uQn?si=VHqF9kihTuiU565j09xYQg&dl_branch=1

Review:

“In two years of public life Muse have accumulated a high-pressured mythology. Half a million copies of their debut 'Showbiz' and one iMac advert down the line, they've strewn a totemic trail of destroyed equipment, confessed to a taste for mushrooms, seances and Hector Berlioz's 'Grande Messe Des Morts', and announced, "If I couldn't do this I would not want to live".

The stakes were high. Their reinvention of grunge as a neo-classical, high gothic, future rock, full of pianolas and white-knuckle electric camp, is a precarious venture. Yet as the bloody abattoir riff kicks in on 'New Born', colliding with Bellamy's fairy dreamtime piano, it's apparent that Muse can handle their brutal arias.

Almost everything on 'Origin Of Symmetry' is overstated, but with Matt reined in by the constraints of a dirty rock three-piece, the operatic stuff is devastatingly channelled. 'Bliss' is all carnage riffs and a pleasingly corrupt lyric about innocence envy. 'Space Dementia' sets Bellamy's grand piano mastery up against vaulting rock. 'Hyper Music' burns with a genuinely new, art punk rage.

Given the ultra-vivid tones of Muse's palette - purity, insanity, corruption, virtual consciousness, Bach, metal and barking madness - it's not surprising they overstep their overstepping. A happy Bellamy singing (literally) to the butterflies on 'Feeling Good' sits oddly, and the organ fugue finale is somewhat Hammer horror, even if the track's called 'Megalomania'. But relentlessly, on 'Dark Shines', 'Screenager', particularly 'Micro Cuts' and of course 'Plug In Baby', they add vicious, original serrations to the hysterical edge of extreme rock. It's amazing for such a young band to load up with a heritage that includes the darker visions of Cobain and Kafka, Mahler and The Tiger Lillies, Cronenberg and Schoenberg, and make a sexy, populist album. But Muse have carried it off. It's their 'Siamese Dream'. Now begins the psychoanalysis.

Thom Yorke's least favourite word is 'angst'; Matt Bellamy's is about to become 'psychotic'. We're the lucky ones who get to look at the pretty shapes as the blood hits the wall” – NME

Choice Cut: New Born

Absolution

Release Date: 15th September, 2003

Labels: East West/Taste

Producers: John Cornfield/Rich Costey/Muse/Paul Reeve

Standout Tracks: Time Is Running Out/Stockholm Syndrome/Hysteria

Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/muse/absolution-669fd592-21aa-4633-bf4e-9975549b347d

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/0HcHPBu9aaF1MxOiZmUQTl?si=EL2WBAxMQiWs5K8PgLU7MA&dl_branch=1

Review:

“Which brings us nicely to the inter-stellar guitar battle that is ‘Stockholm Syndrome’, possibly the most audacious and grandiose rock song of the last ten years. It’s where the sentiments of virtuosic muso munchkin, Matt Bellamy, become as crystal clear as his gruesomely beautiful voice. "Look to the stars…we’ll love and we’ll hate and we’ll die unto no avail," he gleams. Similar themes to Coldplay's 'Politik', except where Chris Martin and co simply stargaze, Muse Earthgaze from a distant star. These undertones of purity, fear and emotion override the whole record, and as the ricocheting solos clamber over each other, fighting for sonic superiority, you feel that the most progressively rock tune on the album must surely be the peak of this whole glorious affair.

Perhaps it is, because by the time we reach ‘Hysteria’, it seems like ‘just’ another overdose of future-rock, but there’s no dead weight here. It is true that Matt’s vocal phrasing does often plagiarise itself, but when the song lurches into the three-way harmonic guitar instrumental it all becomes clear. Absolution isn’t about revolution, it’s about elevation. Everything about Muse is on a completely different level to anyone currently claiming to be best band of the week. The only hyperbole here is the music.

The most painfully beautiful moment is the masterfully gushing ‘Falling Away With You’. Twinkling with the kind of meticulous guitar picking trademarked by Vinnie Reiley (The Durutti Column), it's the closest Matt comes to bearing a soul. Whilst the bursting middle section gushes into typical, extravagent Muse, gloriously juxtaposing the quiet part, the exquisiteness of the song definitely lies with the melody and guitar playing of the mellower sections, rather than the operatic hollering of which do occasionally threaten to overbear.

Sometimes though, they're incapable of going over the top. "Got to change the world and use this chance to be heard," Matt parades on ‘Butterflies and Hurricanes’, as if it’s one of ten commandments. The track bursts and resonates across desolate minor chords, riveting time-signatures and flamboyant string arrangements. It isn’t just the masterful musical ability on show, nor even the quality of their songs, it’s their violent longing and instinctive ambition. This track is Muse coming of age. It's absolutely wonderful.

Reason, referencing and the constraints of genre took their leave of Muse long ago. As the possibility of any band coming forward to better them disappears faster than the last ‘revolutionary’ garage rock act, we're left to salute them as the best rock band of our generation. So scream for the guitar album of the year and sing for Absolution. God knows, we'll be singing” – Drowned In Sound

Choice Cut: Butterflies and Hurricanes

Black Holes and Revelations

Release Date: 3rd July, 2006

Labels: Helium-3/Warner Bros.

Producers: Rich Costey/Muse

Standout Tracks: Supermassive Black Hole/Assassin/City of Delusion

Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/gb/muse/black-holes-and-revelations

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/0lw68yx3MhKflWFqCsGkIs?si=wCzb5jymTMuhT2WGXw4Hrg&dl_branch=1

Review:

“Since forming in 1997, alternative rock trio Muse have ambitiously created a sound of their own, mixing elements of glam, pop, and symphonic music into a rock hybrid. While British fans have praised Muse for years, it wasn't until 2003's Absolution that Americans discovered the band and gave them their rightful props. Whether or not you championed the grand dramatics of Absolution, it was obvious that Muse are a solid and unique band, and Black Holes and Revelations, the follow-up, confirms those strengths with a passion. Rich Costey joins Muse in the co-production of this 11-song set; together, they create the band's most realized and meticulous album to date. "Take a Bow" sets the scene by layering full rock orchestration with waves of synthesizers and percussion, all of it building up to vocalist/guitarist Matthew Bellamy's aching observance of a world torn apart by its own instability. Though frequently compared to Queen's Freddie Mercury and Radiohead's Thom Yorke, Bellamy comes into his own as a vocalist here, and he, drummer Dominic Howard, and bassist Chris Wolstenholme pull equal weight as instrumentalists throughout. The sultry, swaggering "Supermassive Black Hole" and the razor-edged, paranoiac "Assassin" are prime examples of how adamant Muse are about delivering the biggest rock & roll package possible, while "Starlight" proves they can write a radio-worthy anthem without jeopardizing their ethics. Bellamy howls "You and I must fight for our rights/You and I must fight to survive" during the riotous, Rush-like megalomania of "Knights of Cydonia," and it's true -- they've totally fought for their craft on this one. It may have taken four albums for Americans to get with the program, but with Black Holes and Revelations, the whole world should be watching” – AllMusic

Choice Cut: Knights of Cydonia

The 2nd Law

Release Date: 28th September, 2012

Labels: Warner Bros./Helium-3

Producer: Muse

Standout Tracks: Panic Station/Survival/Liquid State

Buy: https://www.amazon.co.uk/2nd-Law-VINYL-Muse/dp/B008N4XC2I

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/3KuXEGcqLcnEYWnn3OEGy0?si=7jFRysoUTVSZx6Fiz__IhA&dl_branch=1

Review:

“The understated single Madness suggested a new stripped-back approach: there's not much to it beyond an electronic bassline, a decent pop song and Bellamy's vocal, which declines to unexpectedly burst into an ear-splitting falsetto (or scream), or proclaim the imminent arrival of the apocalypse, or indeed do any of the things he usually does within seconds of getting near a microphone. But clearly any discussions about toning it down a bit were shortlived. Supremacy's musical DNA is equal parts Led Zeppelin's Kashmir and Wings' Live and Let Die: its idea of restraint is to leave it a minute and a half before bringing the choir in. It should be noted that, Madness aside, The 2nd Law's lowest-key track is Animals, which concludes with what sounds like a recording of a riot in full swing.

In fact, the most obvious sign of change on The 2nd Law is its incorporation of the kind of dubstep produced by Skrillex and dismissed by its detractors as "brostep". It actually meshes with Muse's existing style remarkably well, perhaps because Muse and your average brostep producer are cut from the same cloth in at least one sense: neither of them has much interest in subtlety. Unsubtle or not, the concluding two-part title track – the most obviously brostep-indebted thing here – is thunderously exciting stuff, a boiling mass of fidgety strings, electronic voices and sub-bass wobble.

This is obviously all great rollicking fun, but there are problems with The 2nd Law. You can see why the organisers thought Muse would be the right band to provide the official song of London 2012, but Survival didn't work – partly because it seems to have no tune whatsoever, but mostly because it didn't fit the event. The Olympics turned out to be as much about tiny human stories – from Chad le Clos's dad to Kirani James and Oscar Pistorius swapping nametags – as epic spectacle. With their choirs, string-laden intro, hysterical vocals and lyrics you might characterise as a bit Ayn Randy – "I chose to survive whatever it takes … vengeance is mine … Fight! Win!" – Muse got the scale but missed the humanity. Six albums in, this is a recurring problem: amusing and enjoyable as the aural histrionics are, you do start to wonder what, if anything, they're trying to express, or if it's just bombast for bombast's sake.

Occasionally, you get the sense the band's sound is actually antithetical to genuine emotional impact. Follow Me is a song about Bellamy's baby son: "I will keep you safe, I will protect you, I won't let them harm you," he sings. He obviously means it, but delivered as it is, in a portentous voice that leaves teeth-marks on the scenery, to a backdrop of distorted dive-bombing bass (courtesy of co-producers Nero) and florid synthesiser arpeggios, it sounds like he doesn't. Similarly, it's hard to tell whether there's actual political conviction behind the title track's equation of the second law of thermodynamics with global economic collapse, or if it's just showy grandiloquence, a lyrical counterpart to one of Bellamy's more baroque guitar solos.

None of this stops The 2nd Law from being a hugely entertaining album. Nor will it stop it being a vast success. After all, no one goes to see a blockbuster for its profundity and deep characterisation. They go for the stunts and the special effects, both of which The 2nd Law delivers” – The Guardian

Choice Cut: Madness

The Underrated Gem

 

Drones

Release Date: 5th June, 2015

Labels: Helium-3/Warner Bros.

Producers: Robert John ‘Mutt’ Lange/Muse

Standout Tracks: Psycho/The Handler/Defector

Buy: https://www.discogs.com/sell/release/7088529

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/2wart5Qjnvx1fd7LPdQxgJ?si=jrWLeibXQAqZDw2wnX8VoA&dl_branch=1

Review:

“The two pre-release tasters, as usual, were red herrings. ‘Dead Inside’, considered by some to be an attack on Bellamy’s ex Kate Hudson with its quivering cries of “Do you have no soul?/ It’s like it died years ago”, threw back to ‘The 2nd Law’’s electro-pop bangers ‘Madness’ and ‘Panic Station’. ‘Psycho’, in which our hero is trained to become “a super drone” by a bawling drill sergeant, apes every glam rock stomper from Tame Impala’s ‘Elephant’ to Pink Floyd’s ‘Money’ to Muse’s own ‘Uprising’. But from there, ‘Drones’ swoops and dives like its navigation system has malfunctioned. ‘Mercy’ is infectious electro-rock about the “men in cloaks” and “puppeteers” at the controls of the world, while ‘Reapers’ has Bellamy indulging his hair-metal bent alongside android backing vocals.

Once our protagonist has reached peak drone on ‘The Handler’ – “I have been programmed to obey… I will execute your demands” he parrots over ‘Radio Ga Ga’ powerchords – and starts fighting back, ‘Drones’ likewise reaches peak Muse. Wrapped in a sample of a JFK speech decrying shadowy cold war tactics, ‘Defector’ is a brilliant slinky pop squealer, while ‘Revolt’ is among their most creative songs, a two-speed storm built on monumental riffs.

The lack of an indulgent multi-section symphony like those on ‘The Resistance’ and ‘The 2nd Law’ makes ‘Drones’ the most focused Muse album since 2006’s ‘Black Holes And Revelations’, but the weirdness (obviously) lingers. ‘Aftermath’ is an after-the-battle singalong in the vein of Rod Stewart’s version of The Sutherland Brothers’ ‘Sailing’ or, oh yes, Dire Straits’ ‘Brothers In Arms’. ‘The Globalist’, in which our hero starts his own nuclear state and destroys the planet, is a 10-minute epic taking in chunks of Ennio Morricone funeral scene metal and Elgar’s 19th century ‘Enigma Variations: Nimrod’. The title track – do not adjust your NME – is a choral piece based on 16th-century hymnal ‘Sanctus And Benedictus’, featuring a choir of Matts intoning “My mother, my father, my sister and my brother, my son and my daughter, killed by drones”.

‘Drones’’ trademark Muse themes of brainwashing, warmongering superpowers, suppression of The Truth and the urgent need to fight the hand that bleeds us still resonate in 2015, but obliquely. It’s Bellamy’s job to prise open deeper socio-political dimensions as much as it is to comment on the times, and Muse’s music once more matches his adventurous intrigue” – NME

Choice Cut: Reapers

The Latest Album

 

Simulation Theory

Release Date: 9th November, 2018

Labels: Warner Bros./Helium-3

Producers: Rich Costey/Mike Elizondo/Muse/Shellback/Timbaland

Standout Tracks: Propaganda/Something Human/Thought Contagion

Buy: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Simulation-Theory-VINYL-Muse/dp/B07FPYQT3W

Stream: https://open.spotify.com/album/5OZgDtx180ZZPMpm36J2zC?si=nYEo6Q9PS2KgOoXmdwn1NQ&dl_branch=1

Review:

“Whether they're fighting alien invaders, shadowy government conspiracies, or the Apocalypse, Muse always do it for love. On their eighth effort, Simulation Theory, they attempt to break through the virtual matrix in search of that human connection and freedom from the machine. The least complicated or overly conceptual offering (for Muse) in over a decade, the 11-song set is focused and cohesive, blaring down a neon-washed highway of pulsing synths and driving beats while swerving to avoid the orchestral and dubstep meandering of their preceding 2010s output. Unlike these same predecessors, there's also no filler or wasted time, making it the most compulsively listenable and immediate Muse album since 2006's Black Holes & Revelations. Fully embracing their sci-fi tendencies, the trio dip into the nostalgic '80s, tapping the aesthetics of Tron, Blade Runner, and composer John Carpenter. After the dramatic opener, "Algorithm," introduces this new Muse era, they launch into "The Dark Side," one of their strongest singles to date, which blends the urgency of "Bliss" with the groove of "Map of the Problematique." Meanwhile, "Pressure" is a rollicking, horn-backed blast that wouldn't sound out of place blaring from the stadium speakers at a football game. From here, the simulation gets weirder as some of frontman Matt Bellamy's big influences rear their heads. His Prince love returns on the slinky, Timbaland-assisted "Propaganda" -- the type of camp that Muse have been perfecting for years -- while an homage to Tom Morello's guitar stylings -- wonky, down-tuned riffs and hip-hop scratching -- collide with Bellamy's pseudo-rapping on "Break It to Me." On the second half of the album, the mood is lifted as the simulation begins to crack. The uplifting "Something Human" is the "Invincible"/"Guiding Light" of Simulation Theory, leading into singalong anthems such as "Thought Contagion" and the politically charged "Madness" redux "Dig Down." Swedish singer Tove Lo even makes an appearance on the unexpectedly gorgeous "Get Up and Fight," a huge rallying cry produced by Shellback. On an album packed with such catalog standouts, the highlight here is "Blockades," which propels along a pounding gallop that recalls "City of Delusion" and "Knights of Cydonia." While Simulation Theory might appear to be overly polished mainstream trickery -- all part of the simulation! -- it's purely Muse at heart, successfully merging electronic-pop songcraft with their typically urgent, stadium rock foundation” – AllMusic

Choice Cut: Pressure

The Muse Book

 

Muse: Out of This World

Author: Mark Beaumont

Publication Date: 10th February, 2014

Publisher: Omnibus Press

Synopsis:

“This updated edition of the bestselling biography now includes new interviews with the band conducted by the author between 2010 and 2012, including many extremely personal, never-before-seen passages. Alongside this is a detailed new chapter to the book, covering the extensive world tour for 'The Resistance' and the relationship break-ups, wild LA rock'n'roll parties, alcohol addictions and recoveries that led to the writing and recording of Muse's most recent album 'The 2nd Law'. Exploring the meanings behind the songs themselves, the chapter concludes with first-hand accounts of several up-close-and-personal live shows and looks forward to the huge stadium tour of the summer” – Waterstones

Order: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Muse-Out-This-World-Updated/dp/1783050187/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=muse&qid=1627746651&s=books&sr=1-2

FEATURE: Groovelines: Run-D.M.C. (ft. Aerosmith) – Walk This Way

FEATURE:

 

 

Groovelines

 PHOTO CREDIT: Danny Sanchez 

Run-D.M.C. (ft. Aerosmith) – Walk This Way

___________

I am starting this feature…

with a bit of an issue! I am talking about Run-D.M.C.’s collaboration with Aerosmith on their track, Walk This Way. I have seen the Hip-Hop group’s name written as ‘Run-D.M.C.’, ‘Run DMC’ and ‘Run-DMC’. I am sticking with the former. In any case, Walk This Way was originally released as the second single from Aerosmith’s 1975 album, Toys in the Attic. It peaked at number ten on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1977. Run-D.M.C. covered it on their 1986 album, Raising Hell. At that point, Aerosmith’s career was waning. Although 1985’s Done with Mirrors was not a bad album, it did not do that well commercially. Run-D.M.C., conversely, were doing fantastically and were not struggling for acclaim or commercial success. The was one of the first Rap-Rock crossovers. Although the Aerosmith original is fine, I think that the force and cool that Run-D.M.C. put into the song is a reason why it was such a commercial success! I have just missed the thirty-fifth anniversary of its release – the Run D.M.C. and Aerosmith hook-up was put out on 4th July, 1986 as the second single from Raising Hell. Walk This Way is one of the greatest collaborations ever and one of the finest tracks from the 1980s. I feel the newer version eclipses the Aerosmith original. The story behind the coming together is interesting. The Atlantic wrote a feature about Walk This Way in 2019. It was written around the release of the book, Walk This Way: Run-DMC, Aerosmith, and the Song That Changed American Music Forever:

“It was, like many great breakthroughs, both a brilliant idea and the worst idea you’ve ever heard: Get Run-DMC and Aerosmith in the studio together, force them to perform a hybrid, rap-boosted, ebony-and-ivory version of an Aerosmith hit from the ’70s, and then make a video about walls coming down, etc. Genius, right? Let’s go! Aerosmith, corroded rock behemoths in a slump, were sort of dazedly into it; Run-DMC, coming into their power as hip-hop’s first superstars, were sullen and wary. But it happened—in retrospect it had to happen—and with 1986’s goofy, clankingly enjoyable “Walk This Way,” rap music was big-banged into being as mainstream entertainment.

So at least argues the Washington Post staffer Geoff Edgers in his new book, Walk This Way: Run-DMC, Aerosmith, and the Song That Changed American Music Forever. “Before ‘Walk’ struck in 1986,” writes Edgers, “hip-hop was a small underground community of independent labels and scrappy promoters. After ‘Walk,’ it became a nation, a genre that would soak itself into virtually every element of culture, from music and film to fashion and politics.”

A grand claim, Geoff Edgers. A mighty pitch. And the question with a book like this—a book that zeroes in on a particular happening or art moment and then extrapolates boomingly outward—is always: Is there enough there? Enough action at the core, that is, and enough concentrically moving energy to prevent the narrative from collapsing in on itself as it stretches to book length? The answer in this case, I am happy to report, is yes”.

Not only did Walk This Way help introduce me to the music of Aerosmith – who I was not that aware of when I heard the song for the first time in the 1990s -; it also introduced me to a wider Hip-Hop world. I discovered Run-D.M.C. and their magic! Thirty-five years after its release, and the meeting of two disparate groups still seems remarkable. It could have been a flop. As it was, the public and critics reacted positively to the song!

Whilst Aerosmith were getting a leg-up from Run-D.M.C. and reigniting their flagging popularity, I don’t think that the Hip-Hop band would have made the song such a success and interesting proposition if they covered the song on their own. I guess the iconic video for the song also helped its appeal – at a time when MTV was so important when it came to promoting artists and their work. I want to end with a feature from The Guardian. They wrote about Walk This Way in 2016 on its thirtieth anniversary. We learn about the fortunes of Run-D.M.C. and Aerosmith, in addition to how the song came together:  

“Not that hip-hop had always been an easy sell. The rap records that reached radio listeners in the early years had a tendency, ever since the Sugarhill Gang’s breakthrough, Rapper’s Delight, to exude a novelty flavour, while turntablism, in real life the beating heart of the culture, tended to manifest itself only as a cheesy wikki-wikki add-on. And then there were the clothes. Oh dear God, the clothes. Seek out the extraordinary footage of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five on Channel 4’s The Tube performing The Message, its pioneering gritty street-level content undermined by their superfly sci-fi costumes, which looked like they’d been raided from George Clinton’s tour bus seven years earlier.

 The reputation of the entire genre was rescued by Run-DMC who, in the words of British writer Neil Kulkarni in The Periodic Table of Hip Hop, “made everything that had happened before them sound old-fashioned, too slick and smarmy”. The trio had roots in that clunky prehistory: Run (Joseph Simmons), the teenage brother of Russell Simmons, had previously DJed for Kurtis Blow, before forming his own band, originally called Orange Crush, with DMC (Darryl McDaniels) and DJ Jam Master Jay (Jason Mizell). But everything changed in 1983 when the trio, renamed Run-DMC and still in their teens, released their debut single, It’s Like That, on Profile. That track – brutally blunt by the standards of the time – and its rival-dissing flipside, Sucker MCs, blew up on rap radio and changed the game for good. “Ultimately it took Run-DMC, with their black leather, sweats, homburgs and in-your-face attitude, to crystallise the image of toughness into rap chic,” wrote SH Fernando Jr in hip-hop history The New Beats. “Their attitude, like their beats, was hard. Their dress, unlike the extravagant leather, sequin and feather outfits of most rap acts at the time, reflected a street aesthetic to which the average b-boy on the corner could relate.”

Aerosmith, meanwhile, were in a slump. Album sales had steadily declined since their 70s peak, the band’s key members were ravaged by various addictions, and they hadn’t had a Billboard top 10 single since the original Walk This Way, a decade earlier. The song had first been recorded for the band’s Toys in the Attic album, and was born on tour when singer Steven Tyler, who had been listening to the Meters and James Brown, asked drummer Joey Kramer to lay down something with a little funk to it. (Run-DMC, therefore, were not so much appropriating Aerosmith’s groove for black culture as reclaiming it.) Guitarist Joe Perry added a simple but effective hook, and Tyler came up with a lewd loss-of-innocence lyric about a schoolboy getting caught masturbating by his father, who instructs him in the ways of seduction.

When it was time to record the track at New York’s Record Plant studio, it still needed a title and a chorus. Inspiration finally came to them when they took a break to walk a few blocks to Times Square to catch a movie. The film was Mel Brooks’s comedy Young Frankenstein, in which Marty Feldman’s Igor lurches and limps down some stone steps, then instructs Gene Wilder, playing the title role, to “walk this way”. In a classic sight gag, Wilder does exactly that.

By the time the Run-DMC/Aerosmith collaboration was mooted, Jam Master Jay had already been cutting Walk This Way back and forth between his decks for years, and Run had been rapping over it since he was 12. They weren’t the first act, though, to attempt a rap-rock hybrid. The Beastie Boys’ AC/DC-sampling Rock Hard and LL Cool J’s Rock the Bells – both Rick Rubin productions – had already walked that way, and Run-DMC themselves had released several trial runs, notably the Russell Simmons-produced Rock Box and the provocatively titled King of Rock, both featuring chunky riffing from session guitarist Eddie Martinez.

When Collins relayed Rubin’s offer to Tyler and Perry, they were initially sceptical, but went along to Magic Ventures studio in Manhattan on 9 March 1986 for the rate of $8,000 a day. And a day is all it took: Run-DMC had a rental car that was overdue for return, and needed to work fast. As Tyler recalled in Walk This Way: The Autobiography of Aerosmith, “Run and D and Jay were huddled in a corner, really intent on something. I go, ‘Joe, what are they doing?’ He says, ‘Probably smoking crack.’ Later we went over to the corner. They’d been eating lunch from McDonald’s.”

What Rick Rubin created with that day’s work still stands as an immortal party anthem, as liable to spark outbreaks of air-scratching as air-guitar among drunks unable to decide whether they want to be Jay or Joe as they lurched around (an ability to dance was optional for the enjoyment of Walk This Way). Tyler’s rapid-fire vocal was too slang-packed to be completely decipherable to British ears, but the bits about “feet flying up in the air”, a “kitty in the middle” and being “down on the muffin” left little doubt that it was thinly veiled filth”.

Thirty-five years after its release and Walk This Way still sounds phenomenally fresh and exciting! It put Aerosmith back on the map and, to an extent, heralded the Rap-Rock crossover. I first heard the song as a child, and I was thrilled from the moment I heard it. The catchiness of the chorus, the great guitar riff and Run-D.M.C. adding this authority and power…that combination was too hard to resist! I am trying to think about other genre crossover hits that are as important as Walk This Way. In 1987, Aerosmith released Permanent Vacation. It was the first album of theirs to get heavy video rotation on MTV. I think it is the band’s true comeback album after the band reunited in 1984. It is a shame that the two acts cannot get together to perform the song again. Tragically, Run-D.M.C.’s Jam Master Jay was killed in 2002. Even though that is sad, we have the original track and that magnificent video! Walk This Way is not only one of the best collaborations ever. I think it might also be among…

THE most important songs ever.

FEATURE: Modern Heroines: Part Sixty-One: Nubya Garcia

FEATURE:

 

 

Modern Heroines

Part Sixty-One: Nubya Garcia

___________

I am going to come onto…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Adama Jalloh

a couple of reviews for Nubya Garcia’s debut studio album, SOURCE, in a minute. The 2020 release was just nominated for a Mercury Prize. It is a marvellous album that has elements and shades of her Jazz roots while incorporating Dubstep, Reggae, Colombian Cumbia, Calypso, Hip-Hop, Soul and African-Diasporic. The London-born composer, musicians and bandleader is definitely someone who is a modern heroine: a tremendous artist who will influence and inspire other artists for years to come. There are some interviews that are worth bringing together. The Line of Best Fit spoke with her last September. It is interesting to read about her musical background and the connection to her Caribbean roots:

“Some of my earliest memories were watching my older brothers and sisters in their music concerts at school. Those would have been my first experiences of live music. And I was practicing and playing myself, and that’s like young young young. Like 4 or 5.”

“I started on violin and piano and recorder, as you do in school. Then I started playing the saxophone at age 10. I wasn’t enjoying the violin as much. I think saxophone was my main thing from the second I got it.”

Despite growing up in London, Nubya Garcia feels deeply connected to her Caribbean heritage. “Some of my earliest memories are of Notting Hill Carnival and also Trinidad Carnival: such a huge celebration of Black culture within my family and also the wider community. At home it was more reggae, jazz and classical. You know, I didn’t grow up in the Caribbean – I went a lot but I didn’t grow up there – so Carnival has always been my way to tap into my culture.”

This is a culture that Garcia recognises has become part of the vibrant pluralist landscape of her native London and in the UK in general. “There’s such a Caribbean community, and Black community, that’s sharing through music, through food, through dance, through sound system culture, that has been permeated into other UK music, like dance music especially. It’s always been around me in many ways that maybe I didn’t notice at the time, but looking back, I notice that it was always surrounding me, having this culture in music.”

Garcia also grew up exploring the bass music of London’s underground clubs – a sound that has worked its way into the new wave of British jazz. “Rave culture is such a huge part of London and the UK in general,” she says. “When I was a teenager, there was so much music appreciation and so many good nights going on — good dancing nights where they’d be playing like garage and footwork. And obviously like dubstep, but I wasn’t not huge on the dubstep scene because it started to get a bit like… wobbly.”

“So I was discovering all this warehouse, underground culture in my late teens and early 20s, and it had a huge influence on me, because I’ve got that alongside all the other music, alongside jazz, alongside dub and stuff from sound system culture. All of that comes together and it’s just what I hear. I don’t really separate them out in my mind when I’m writing. I’m just thinking ‘this bit would be great with this’ or ‘can it work with this rhythm?’ Because what you have in your head is just what you create.”

And then, of course, there is Garcia’s passion for jazz, incited from an early age by her parents. “My parents took me to a lot of gigs when I was a teenager, and that was really amazing. I think because my parents were just so into music and they also saw that I was getting into it, they really placed a huge importance on actually being in the room with the legends that you’re hearing on the records.” Garcia saw legends like Sonny Rollins and Ornette Coleman in her early teens. “I can’t even begin to say how those experiences changed the way that I feel about music. That’s the most important thing to me, now: to see music being played and getting to hear it and be present with it”.

Does Garcia prefer working as a bandleader to her already prolific output as a band member? She is unable to say. “I love both. I love to be in the space of being the creator. In my band, I write all the tunes, but I’m quite an open bandleader.” Garcia’s gratitude for her position – so evident throughout our interview – has clearly shaped how she approaches leading her ensemble. “It’s not my way or the highway. So that allows for a really beautiful creative environment. But I also love not having to think of any of the other stuff bandleaders have to think about,” she laughs. “So yeah, I kind of love them equally. I wouldn’t stop doing either one. I value both spaces and the creativity of both.”

Thanks to the freedom that being a bandleader with her notoriety lends her, Garcia is unapologetic in her composition, aiming for self-expression rather than accessibility. “I know how the music industry can be because I’m a consumer as well,” she says. “But as a creator, and a creative, I feel that you’ve got to concentrate on the music before anything else, otherwise you’re tainting it. It’d rather stay in the creative realm as long as possible, and just play music with musicians that I absolutely love to bits”.

You can pre-order SOURCE on vinyl. It is a record that you definitely should investigate. Whether it wins the Mercury Prize or not, Garcia is one of the most important and inspiring artists in music – not only in the field of Jazz. This Jazzwise interview from October is interesting. Again, we discover how the music Garcia is making feeds back to her history and community:

“Identity is countersunk into Garcia’s music. Source is a sonic photograph, a portrait of the artist in 2020 to accompany the portrait of Garcia on the cover: eyes closed, head tilted back, her face framed by strands of hair that look like branching roots or veins or forks of crackling electricity. The ambiguity, I’m sure, is deliberate.

“All of these tunes can be traced back to roots and connections and history and community,” she explains. “It’s an exploration of what’s at your root and what makes you you. What feeds you to be the best that you can be. It’s identity, it’s family histories, it’s afro-diasporic connections.”

Garcia grew up in North London and was surrounded by music from a young age. She remembers one of her teachers, pianist Nikki Yeoh, telling her ‘you are what you listen to’ and for Garcia that means a bit of everything: jazz of course, and classical music, which she studied alongside her siblings, but also sounds from the Caribbean and Latin America. She reminisces about going to [Notting Hill] Carnival when she was tiny (just three or four) and listening to dub and lovers rock on the speakers at home, so loud it shook the room. You can hear those influences in the swaggering groove of Source’s title track, produced by Garcia and Kwes and mixed with some heavy dub echo. King Tubby would surely approve.

Other tracks lean more towards hip hop and creative R&B and elsewhere there are Latin flavours, not to mention plenty of the punchy melodies and driving dancefloor-focussed grooves that have won Garcia international acclaim, catching the attention of The New York Times and DownBeat, helping to establish her as a poster child for London’s genre-fluid young jazz scene. Last year she won Jazz Act of The Year at the Jazz FM awards. The week before our chat, over Zoom from opposite sides of London, I listened to her on BBC Radio 6 Music covering for Gilles Peterson, one of her many champions. Shortly before that she played a socially-distanced set in front of a herd of grazing friesians and the skeleton of The Pyramid Stage for The Glastonbury Experience. It was a duo with keyboardist Joe Armon-Jones, one of her bandmates, along with bassist Daniel Casimir and drummer Sam Jones.

I ask Garcia if the current climate has influenced her thinking. “Being a Black woman in this country I don’t think I could avoid it,” she says, “and I wouldn’t want to either. I think it’s important to be part of this movement. These ideas I’ve been thinking about for a long time, whether I didn’t know how to voice them... In recent years I’ve just matured, I’ve done reading, I’ve spoken to a lot of people.” There is no off switch, she says. “It lives in my body. I don’t have the luxury of being able to stop wanting equality or to stop thinking about all the things that have happened in the history of my people. The second you learn that inequality exists, and racism exists you don’t un-feel it every time it happens to you.”

I ask if she feels a responsibility to use her platform, to speak out and to reflect issues like these in her music. Is silence betrayal? “I think it will come out in my music because I live it,” she says. “I’m living through this time and you reflect, if you choose to, what you’re living through as a creative. It’s going to be part of my life forever.” She feels cautiously optimistic about the future. “Hope is a dangerous thing but it’s also a beautiful thing and I think we do need that. It’s a crazy time to be alive and see global attitudes changing for the slightly better, but I’m aware that just because people have decided to say that racism exists in all practices, in all parts of the word, in all industries… We’ve just got to the point where maybe that’s starting to happen. We’ve got a long way to go”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Adama Jalloh

Before coming to some reviews, I am going to put in some sections from the interview The Forty-Five conducted last year. Garcia is asked about her parents’ support and whether Jazz is becoming more mainstream:

“How did your parents encourage you to explore music?

My elder siblings always went to music stuff at the weekend, and it was kinda expected that I’d do the same. My mum took me to a lot of gigs when I was younger and placed really high importance on live music, as well as CDs for presents. My mum and my step-dad had quite a lot of records. Not as many as I have now, but a lot when you’re a child and looking up at the shelf like “Woah! That’s a lot”. They were very present in encouraging me to be involved in music.

With so many cuts to art and youth projects across the country, how important was it to you to have access to spaces such as the programme you were part of at The Roundhouse?

Really important. We were probably the last generation who had quite a lot of government support for arts in the communities, and music especially. I was within The Roundhouse for a little bit, and Tomorrow’s Warriors. Loads of things that we probably all took for granted at the time, but knowing that they exist in a very different way now, knowing that the community centres aren’t there, they’ve all been cut, it’s a huge shame. I did a bit of teaching about four or five years ago, after leaving Uni, and it’s just different. Even the structure of lessons – group lessons being a thing to save money. It’s very different now. It’s sad.

What was it like growing up in Camden and being interested in jazz?

I was never really part of the Camden scene that people think of – indie music, rock music, grunge, punk. It wasn’t really what I experienced Camden as. I went down to The Roundhouse and played jazz and I went to The Jazz Cafe and saw stuff and did gigs there. Jazz is this tiny pocket of people interested in that and I think I really came into my own when I found Tomorrow’s Warriors, that community based in Southbank Centre. That was the first time, other than The Roundhouse, that I had been in contact with people my own age who were heavily into jazz. That was really amazing, I felt seen in a different way. And heard.

What was your process when you were making ‘Source’, and how different was it to your previous work?

I’ve been collecting little bits of musical ideas whilst I was on tour last year, when we toured for ages and ages. I didn’t really have a lot of time at home, so I spent a lot of time before and after sound check and in my hotel room trying to play really quietly and not disturbing anyone. Playing around and working out melodies and basslines and keeping my creativity going. That definitely can stop if you don’t keep it charged, because you put everything out there at every single gig. And then when I came back from tour last summer, I had about a week off so I booked a space because working outside the home is really healthy if you have the means to do so.

I’d already booked my album session which is something that I do and helps to get things going for me. I’d done that for all of my EPs, with this one it was on a bigger scale. I had more ideas to flesh out, I put ideas together with ideas, I worked with the guests on the record, I thought of them when I was writing these tunes. This album felt a lot more conceptual than I’d ever thought, or played or written about previously.

What do you think about jazz becoming more mainstream? Some of the more successful musicians aren’t necessarily representative of the community that created this genre.

What is different now is the notion of collaboration. That’s really changing what has happened in the past, which was people coming in, deciding they like something and completely appropriating it. And that’s regardless of music – I’m talking about everything, fashion as well as art, anything. I think it’s important for us to grow and for communities to feel like their voices can be heard. Representation, diversity, this is what everything is about and comes down to. Reflecting the world as it is rather than some people being successful and some people just never getting a leg up because of everything. I kinda struggle with the word ‘mainstream’. I wanna hear as many people collaborate as possible and I think ‘mainstream’ or ‘niche’ excludes people, whereas two people from completely different musical worlds can collaborate on a track and people will really like it, whereas if you say “oh this person’s gone mainstream” or “this person is doing something a bit too niche” it becomes about something else”.

To finish off, I am going to source from some positive reviews for Nubya Garcia’s Mercury Prize-nominated debut. SOURCE is a stunning listening experience from start to finish. This is what CLASH wrote in their review for one of 2020’s best albums:

“With the help of Joe Armon-Jones (keys), Daniel Casimir (bass) and Sam Jones (drums), Garcia incorporates elements of spiritual jazz, latin rhythms and dub effects to create a record of sharp contrasts. The opener, ‘Pace’, sets the tone with a frantic rhythm and busy arrangement, designed to invoke the hyper-stimulated bustle of modern life. The maximalist approach returns on the title track and centrepiece, which meanders through passages of exhilarating cacophony and calm, anchored by Casimir’s alluring dub bassline. But there are also spare, still moments, such as the hypnotic vocal-led ‘La cumbia me esta llamando’ - one of two excellent compositions indebted to the music of South America.

The consistent thread that runs through the album is the exceptional quality of Garcia’s playing, which can be equally taut and forceful as it can be soft and luxurious, and the generosity with which she offers space to her collaborators. Source may be a solo debut but it has community and collective expression at its heart. Garcia allows these songs to ebb and flow without a clear end point in mind, allowing the interplay between her band-members to become this album’s primary draw. She has proven herself to be just as formidable a composer as she is a performer”.

The Line of Best Fit were keen to lend their praise to SOURCE. Not only is there a mixture of sounds and genres; there is this balance of the serene and busy that means the album has this sense of motion, unpredictability and contrast:

“The majesty of a genre who's only sole human vocal input, in the case of Source, comes on the hypnotic and meditative “La cumbia me está llamando”, and closer “Boundless Beings” (ft, Akenya) is the scope for deeper meaning. Within each bar of celebratory, or questioning music, comes the duality of Garcia’s meaning and your own. Feel free to plug the gaps where human voices tend to lead the charge, let the expanse of Garcia’s debut uncover your understanding

Blending warm tones into genteel spasmodic flourishes that, in the same manner as a summer storm, rumble and crash when you least expect it but once the clouds have passed comes that fresh crisp air with warm undertones. Even the moments where Garcia steps back, allowing the rest of the instrumentation, provided by Joe Armon-Jones (keys), Daniel Casimir (double bass) and Sam Jones (drums), to flourish and crash around give a sense to her ability in knowing when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em.

The epic titular track, clocking in at just over twelve minutes, and featuring collaborators Ms MAURICE, Cassie Kinoshi and Richie Seivwright (also appearing on “Stand With Each Other”), rides along in a smooth wave. It also proves jazz’ adept nature; where if you aren’t paying attention you’re certainly guaranteed to miss things. But even if you are paying attention the depth of the matter can also be missed - it’s a genre that adapts to your context, and in the instance of Source, Garcia has created an album that wants to help you in any way it can, without overloading your surroundings, or becoming obnoxious in itself.

Delving into fusions of reggae (“Source”), afro-beat (“La cumbia me está llamando”) and everything in between, Garcia triumphantly tries to discover just who she is, while offering that sparkling sound of a world ripe for the taking. Chockful of jazz that embraces you in a familiar feeling, Source is akin to an old friend you may not see for a while, but whenever you do, the world feels that little bit brighter and it’s as if no time has passed at all”.

The amazing Nubya Garcia is an artist who is going to be around for years to come. Such is her talent and vision, I am excited to see where she heads next. I know that other artists look up to Garcia and are being influenced by what she’s doing. Best of luck to hear ahead of the Mercury Prize winner being announced in September. The acclaim that SOURCE has received proves the love that is out there…

FOR Nubya Garcia.

FEATURE: Second Spin: Tori Amos - From the Choir Girl Hotel

FEATURE:

 

 

Second Spin

Tori Amos - From the Choir Girl Hotel

___________

THE first three…

albums from Tori Amos are classics in my view. Her 1992 debut, Little Earthquakes, is one of the finest debuts of the 1990s. It announced her as a bold, memorable, phenomenal and varied songwriter who was among the most important voices around. The songwriting by Amos through the album is incredible. Crucify, Silent All These Years, Winter, China, and Me and a Gun are so affecting and accomplished. After such an acclaimed and complete debut, many songwriters may have struggled to follow it up with a second album that matched the debut. 1994’s Under the Pink is another classic. With songs like Cornflake Girl in the ranks, it is an album that continues along the same lines as Little Earthquakes – in the sense that it is piano-driven. The lyrics are less confessional and personal. I adore both albums. 1996’s Boys for Pele, whilst slightly less acclaimed, was a switch of direction. The album was recorded in rural Ireland and Louisiana. The songs on the album incorporate harpsichord, clavichord, harmonium, gospel choirs, brass bands and full orchestras. Amos wrote the tracks and was the sole producer for her own album. It was the young songwriter deciding that she needed to guide her own vision and not repeat herself. It is another tremendous album. Highlights include Professional Widow.

By the time of her fourth album, From the Choir Girl Hotel dome write it as From The Choir Girl Hotel or From the Choirgirl Hotel), we were hearing a very different artist to the one on Little Earthquakes. Released on 5th May, 1998, it is an album that won positive reviews. I feel there were some that are quite mixed. Also, one does not hear songs off of From the Choir Girl Hotel played as much as cuts from Amos’ first few albums. Maybe that has something to do with the fact that the fourth album steps more into Electronic and Rock. It is a great album that definitely won some fans. In addition, From the Choir Girl Hotel  gave Amos strongest debut to date in terms of U.S. sales - selling 153,000 copies in the first week alone. It is a shame that fantastic songs like Spark and Raspberry Swirl are not heard more. We associate Tori Amos with tracks like Cornflake Girl, Professional Widow and Crucify. I wonder how many people have heard songs from the brilliant From the Choir Girl Hotel?! I want to bring in a couple of reviews for the album that are a little mixed. I will then balance that with two positive assessments. I would urge everyone to listen to From the Choir Girl Hotel. It is a magnificent album with many highlights.

Whilst most reviews have been positive, there are a couple of mixed ones for From the Choir Girl Hotel. In their review from 1998, this is what NME had to say:

“Sure, only a fiendishly callous misanthrope would dismiss the very real, very painful events endured by Amos - not least the recent miscarriage that inspired this record - but her luxuriant soul-baring and indulgent assumptions soon grate. "You're only popular with anorexia", she sighs on 'Jackie's Strength', instantly forcing a whole world of victimhood upon the listener. Yet for all the passion, all the intensity, there's something strangely inert about 'Songs From The Choirgirl Hotel', as if all the emotion were recorded in the dead air of a lightbulb, the audience looking in through the glass, asked to admire and sympathise entirely on her terms.

This is the infuriating indulgence that the confessional needs to avoid if it's not to make you take to the streets with a machete; the unbridgeable gap between Kurt Cobain and Eddie Vedder, Kristin Hersh and Alanis Morissette, between expecting applause for pulling out your heart and bleeding, and having the discipline to use a scalpel and a paintbrush.

All of which would make 'Songs From The Choirgirl Hotel' utterly intolerable, were it not for the fact that it's often musically intriguing, a conscious effort by Amos to move away from her pianocentric horizons. The opening 'Spark' rains down in a cloud of Cocteaus-esque gloom, while the crazed 'Raspberry Swirl' is genuinely sexy, Tori convulsively growling "let's go" over a rogue-robotic pulse. Even 'Jackie's Strength', despite bringing those Giants Of Rock Mark Cohn and 10,000 Maniacs to mind, manages to be prettily affecting. Yet Amos' creative use of unpredictable rhythms comes across not so much as a new language, but as the same old language spoken by someone with a lousy grasp of syntax. At its best - on 'Iieee' and 'Cruel' - she shows the ill logic of an organic Tricky, cracking open a chilled, Martina-cool groove. At its worst, it's the self as show-and-tell, the messy splatter of 'She's Your Cocaine' or 'Liquid Diamonds' as irritating as an acid bath on sunburn.

It would be easy to believe Tori, hanging from a heartstring, is just giving, giving, giving. In reality, all she does is demand”.

Pitchfork also reviewed the album. Although they liked a couple of songs off of From the Choir Girl Hotel, they were less impressed by the remainder:

“The lengthy Boys for Pele followed in January of 1996. Amos was becoming extremely experimental, and her music now overshadowed the lyrics, formerly her obvious forte. Musically, Pele took a bat to everything Amos had previously released; it was her most melodically beautiful creation ever. But in most cases, whatever points Tori was trying to drive home were lost in her nonsensical, stream-of-consciousness poetry.

So what of From the Choirgirl Hotel? As always, Amos has managed to turn out a couple of truly great songs. The beautiful "Black-Dove (January)" is a stunningly gorgeous piece whose creepy, delicate imagery is perhaps some of Amos' best work since Under the Pink's "Bells for Her." The first single, "Spark," about Amos' recent miscarriage, is powered by her realization of denial. ("You say you don't want it/ Again and again/ But you don't really mean it.") But perhaps the finest moment on Choirgirl is "Jackie's Strength," a song that remembers the sadness every woman felt for Jackie Onassis the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated. The haunting piano and string section, accompanied by Amos' fragile vocals and moving lyrics ("Shots rang out/ The police came/ Mama laid me on the front lawn/ And prayed for Jackie's strength") match each other effortlessly, making this one of the most powerful songs in Amos' repertoire.

The rest of the album, as it turns out, doesn't stack up against Tori's past releases. Several of the songs sound frighteningly alike, and the musical accompaniment seems to draw more inspiration from bad industrial and dance music than Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell. But while Choirgirl houses some of Amos' less interesting performances, it also occasionally showcases electrifying work. We'll hope it marks a transition to something bigger and better, but let's not get attached to the idea”.

As I say, I really like From the Choir Girl Hotel. It shows that Amos could shift and change her sound and remain vital and consistent. Her production work is also excellent. In their review, this is what AllMusic noted:

“Shortly before she began work on From the Choirgirl Hotel, Tori Amos suffered a miscarriage. While she was recording the album, she married her long-term boyfriend. As expected, both events cryptically wind their way into the album, which arguably has Amos' most personal lyrics since Little Earthquakes. The surprise is, From the Choirgirl Hotel is considerably more accessible than its immediate predecessor, Boys for Pele. Tori has opened up her sound by working live with a full band, bringing an immediacy to her sound that has never been heard before. Added to that are samples and drum loops, ballads supported by eerie, sweeping strings and heavy guitars -- everything she played with on Pele has come to fruition here. All the while, she's kept the perversely cryptic, convoluted lyrics that have always marked her work, yet the lines that connect have more power and savage wit than ever. Besides, Amos' songs have an interior logic of their own. Until now, it seemed that she could only deliver them on her own, supported by her piano, a guitar, or strings. With From the Choirgirl Hotel, she proves that with a little aural experimentation and muscle, she's as potent and powerful as any modern rock artist”.

Just before wrapping things up, I am going to finish with a feature from The Guardian. Alex Macpherson explains why From the Choir Girl Hotel is so important to him:

“It's certainly not irrelevant. Amos's lyrics were always too oblique to be as straightforwardly confessional as her reputation indicated; her preference for fragmented poetry, wordplay and private references seemed at times to convey an impulse to hide rather than reveal. References to her miscarriage appear throughout From the Choirgirl Hotel, but rarely in a simple way. On the elegiac, pedal-steel driven ballad Playboy Mommy, they set the scene for a not-quite-apology from a "bad mother" to her dead daughter. Lament, self-recrimination and self-justification combine in a character study of a compelling, complex narrator, its emotional climax coming with the line: "I'll say it loud here by your grave – those angels can't ever take my place."

The sheer craft of Playboy Mommy still astonishes – something that applies to the album as a whole. On Choirgirl, Amos catapulted herself out of the piano-and-vocal mode that had formed the majority of her work to date. A variety of richly detailed, percussion-dominated arrangements characterise the album: demented electronic loops (iieee), swirls of marimbas (Cruel), crunching cock-rock (She's Your Cocaine). Having hit No 1 in 1996 with Armand van Helden's house remix of a Professional Widow, Amos seemed inspired to make a four-to-the-floor dancefloor banger herself in Raspberry Swirl, all pounding beats, aggressive sexuality and percussive gasps of breath.

Liquid Diamonds lives up to its title, aqueous and luxurious, as Amos submerges and re-emerges from a sea of drums, bass and piano. On Hotel, she goes so far out that, even 13 years on, it sounds like nothing else: tactile drum pads, 8-bit synths, shrieking vocals and cascades of piano culminate in an absent-minded fairground organ melody. None of it makes sense, but it's utterly captivating. (This even extended to the album's B-sides, with a highlight being a full-throated, drum-heavy cover of Steely Dan's Do It Again.)

From the Choirgirl Hotel is not a typical Amos album – that would be the more traditional singer-songwriter fare of Little Earthquakes. But it came in the centre of a stretch from 1996-99 during which she seemed to be pushing the form further out in every direction at once – more intense, more complex, more experimental – and, in pulling it off, becoming an even more powerful artist. Despite her largely unsung influence on today's singer-songwriters, both male and female, Amos's combination of conviction, catharsis and vision feels worlds away from the relatively timorous aesthetics of her followers, from Joanna Newsom to Bat for Lashes. There is still no one remotely like her”.

I shall wrap it up there. If you have not heard From the Choir Girl Hotel, then go and give it a spin. Whilst not regarded as highly as Tori Amos’ first few albums, it is a hugely impressive record. Her fifteenth studio album, Native Invader, was released in 2017. I hope that Amos puts out more albums, as she remains one of the most extraordinary and vital songwriters we have. The remarkable From the Choir Girl Hotel is proof of her…

PURE brilliance.

FEATURE: Inspired By… Part Twenty-Three: Madonna

FEATURE:

 

 

Inspired By…

Part Twenty-Three: Madonna

___________

FOR this outing…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Michel Linssen/Redferns

of A Buyer’s Guide, I am spending some time with the legendary Madonna. In terms of influence, her power and relevance are huge! It is her birthday this month (16th), so I am tying this with a couple of other features I am doing around the time. I am ending with a playlist from artists who are inspired by Madonna – those who have cited her or sound similar. Before then, here is some biography from AllMusic:

“Madonna changed the trajectory of popular music not long after "Borderline" became her first Top Ten hit in 1984. Fusing post-disco dance with effervescent pop, "Borderline" seemed unexpected and fresh, a trick that soon became her signature. Over a career that lasted for decades, Madonna ushered underground sounds into the mainstream, specializing in trends percolating in dance clubs. As she arrived at the dawn of the MTV era, she seized the possibilities of music videos, creating a series of sexy, stylish clips that earned her the reputation of a provocateur while also establishing the network as the bastion for hip culture in the 1980s. Madonna recorded many of the pop anthems that defined that decade -- "Like a Virgin," "Material Girl," "Live to Tell," "Papa Don't Preach," "Open Your Heart," "Like a Prayer," "Express Yourself" -- and, in the process, she created the archetype of a modern pop star: one whose music was inextricably tied with its visual representation, and one who was loathe to trade upon past glories. As Madonna entered her second decade of stardom, she continued to take artistic risks; she delved into modern R&B for 1994's Bedtime Stories and electronica for 1998's Ray of Light. During the 2000s and 2010s, Madonna continued to be driven by that restless artistic spirit, a move that may not have resulted in as many hits, but helped put the entirety of her body of work into perspective, emphasizing the common threads and consistency that run throughout her music.

She moved from her native Michigan to New York in 1977 with dreams of becoming a ballet dancer. She studied with choreographer Alvin Ailey and modeled. In 1979, she became part of the Patrick Hernandez Revue, a disco outfit that had the hit "Born to Be Alive." She traveled to Paris with Hernandez, and it was there that she met Dan Gilroy, who would soon become her boyfriend. Upon returning to New York, the pair formed the Breakfast Club, a pop/dance group. Madonna originally played drums for the band, but she soon became the lead singer. In 1980, she left the band and formed Emmy with her former boyfriend, drummer Stephen Bray. Soon, Bray and Madonna broke off from the group and began working on some dance/disco-oriented tracks. A demo tape of these tracks worked its way to Mark Kamins, a New York-based DJ/producer. Kamins directed the tape to Sire Records, which signed the singer in 1982.

Kamins produced Madonna's first single, "Everybody," which became a club and dance hit at the end of 1982; her second single, 1983's "Physical Attraction," was another club hit. In June of 1983, she had her third club hit with the bubbly "Holiday," which was produced by Jellybean Benitez. Madonna's self-titled debut album was released in September of 1983; "Holiday" became her first Top 40 hit the following month. "Borderline" became her first Top Ten hit in March of 1984, beginning a remarkable string of 17 consecutive Top Ten hits. While "Lucky Star" was climbing to number four, Madonna began working on her first starring role in a feature film, Susan Seidelman's Desperately Seeking Susan.

Madonna's second album, the Nile Rodgers-produced Like a Virgin, was released at the end of 1984. The title track hit number one in December, staying at the top of the charts for six weeks; it was the start of a whirlwind year for the singer. During 1985, Madonna became an international celebrity, selling millions of records on the strength of her stylish, sexy videos and forceful personality. After "Material Girl" became a number two hit in March, Madonna began her first tour, supported by the Beastie Boys. "Crazy for You" became her second number one single in May. Desperately Seeking Susan was released in July, becoming a box office hit; it also prompted a planned video release of A Certain Sacrifice, a low-budget erotic drama she filmed in 1979. A Certain Sacrifice wasn't the only embarrassing skeleton in the closet dragged into the light during the summer of 1985 -- both Playboy and Penthouse published nude photos of Madonna that she'd posed for in 1977. Nevertheless, her popularity continued unabated, with thousands of teenage girls adopting her sexy appearance, being dubbed "Madonna wannabes." In August, she married actor Sean Penn.

Madonna began collaborating with Patrick Leonard at the beginning of 1986; Leonard would co-write most of her biggest hits in the '80s, including "Live to Tell," which hit number one in June of 1986. A more ambitious and accomplished record than her two previous albums, True Blue was released the following month, to both more massive commercial success (it was a number one in both the U.S. and the U.K., selling over five million copies in America alone) and critical acclaim. "Papa Don't Preach" became her fourth number one hit in the U.S. While her musical career was thriving, her film career took a savage hit with the November release of Shanghai Surprise. Starring Madonna and Penn, the comedy received terrible reviews, which translated into disastrous box office returns.

At the beginning of 1987, she had her fifth number one single with "Open Your Heart," the third number one from True Blue alone. The title cut from the soundtrack of her third feature film, Who's That Girl?, was another chart-topping hit, although the film itself was another box office bomb. The year 1988 was relatively quiet for Madonna as she spent the first half of the year acting in David Mamet's Speed the Plow on Broadway. In the meantime, she released the remix album You Can Dance. After withdrawing the divorce papers she filed at the beginning of 1988, she divorced Penn at the beginning of 1989.

Like a Prayer, released in the spring of 1989, was her most ambitious and far-reaching album, incorporating elements of pop, rock, and dance. It was another number one hit and launched the number one title track as well as "Express Yourself," "Cherish," and "Keep It Together," three more Top Ten hits. In April 1990, she began her massive Blonde Ambition tour, which ran throughout the entire year. "Vogue" became a number one hit in May, setting the stage for her co-starring role in Warren Beatty's Dick Tracy; it was her most successful film appearance since Desperately Seeking Susan. Madonna released a greatest-hits album, The Immaculate Collection, at the end of the year. It featured two new songs, including the number one single "Justify My Love," which sparked another controversy with its sexy video; the second new song, "Rescue Me," became the highest-debuting single by a female artist in U.S. chart history, entering the charts at number 15. Truth or Dare, a documentary of the Blonde Ambition tour, was released to positive reviews and strong ticket sales in the spring of 1991.

Madonna returned to the charts in the summer of 1992 with the number one "This Used to Be My Playground," a single featured in the film A League of Their Own, which featured the singer in a small part. Later that year, Madonna released Sex, an expensive, steel-bound soft-core pornographic book that featured hundreds of erotic photographs of herself, several models, and other celebrities -- including Isabella Rossellini, Big Daddy Kane, Naomi Campbell, and Vanilla Ice -- as well as selected prose. Sex received scathing reviews and enormous negative publicity, yet that didn't stop the accompanying album, Erotica, from selling over two million copies. Bedtime Stories, released two years later, was a more subdued affair than Erotica. Initially, it didn't chart as impressively, prompting some critics to label her a has-been, yet the album spawned her biggest hit, "Take a Bow," which spent seven weeks at number one. It also featured the Björk-penned "Bedtime Stories," which became her first single not to make the Top 40; its follow-up, "Human Nature," also failed to crack the Top 40. Nevertheless, Bedtime Stories marked her seventh album to go multi-platinum.

Beginning in 1995, Madonna began one of her most subtle image makeovers as she lobbied for the title role in the film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita. Backing away from the overt sexuality of Erotica and Bedtime Stories, Madonna recast herself as an upscale sophisticate, and the compilation Something to Remember fit into the plan nicely. Released in the fall of 1995, around the same time she won the coveted role of Evita Peron, the album was comprised entirely of ballads, designed to appeal to the mature audience that would also be the target of Evita. As the filming was completed, Madonna announced she was pregnant and her daughter, Lourdes, was born late in 1996, just as Evita was scheduled for release. The movie was greeted with generally positive reviews and Madonna began a campaign for an Oscar nomination that resulted in her winning the Golden Globe for Best Actress (Musical or Comedy), but not the coveted Academy Award nomination. The soundtrack for Evita, however, was a modest hit, with a dance remix of "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" and the newly written "You Must Love Me" both becoming hits.

During 1997, she worked with producer William Orbit on her first album of new material since 1994's Bedtime Stories. The resulting release, Ray of Light, was heavily influenced by electronica, techno, and trip-hop, thereby updating her classic dance-pop sound for the late '90s. Ray of Light received uniformly excellent reviews upon its March 1998 release and debuted at number two on the charts. Within a month, the record was shaping up to be her biggest album since Like a Prayer. Two years later she returned with Music, which reunited her with Orbit and also featured production work from Mark "Spike" Stent and Mirwais, a French electropop producer/musician in the vein of Daft Punk and Air.

The year 2000 also saw the birth of Madonna's second child, Rocco, whom she had with filmmaker Guy Ritchie; the two married at the very end of the year. With Ritchie as director and Madonna as star, the pair released a remake of the film Swept Away in 2002; the movie didn't fare well with critics or at the box office. Her sober 2003 album, American Life, debuted at number one on the Billboard charts but it didn't generate any hit singles in America; it did produce two hit singles in the U.K., "Nothing Fails" and "Love Profusion." That same year also saw the release of Madonna's successful children's book, The English Roses, which was followed by several more novels in future years.

Confessions on a Dance Floor marked her return to music, specifically to the dance-oriented material that had made her a star. Released in late 2005, the album topped the Billboard 200 chart and was accompanied by a worldwide tour in 2006, the same year that I'm Going to Tell You a Secret, a CD/DVD made during her Re-Invention Tour, came out. In 2007, Madonna released another CD/DVD set, The Confessions Tour, this time chronicling her tour of the same name.

She inched closer to the completion of her Warner Bros. contract with 2008's Hard Candy, featuring collaborations with the Neptunes and Timbaland. As poorly received as it was, the bold album boasted a Top Five hit in "4 Minutes," and it was supported with the Sticky & Sweet Tour, which concluded in September 2009 (a month prior to her filing for divorce from Ritchie) and produced yet another CD/DVD package, released in 2010. It was her final Warner Bros. release and set the stage for her long-term recording deal with Live Nation.

Madonna began work on her 12th album midway through 2011, with the goal of releasing it early in 2012. The subsequent full-length, MDNA, featured production from French electronic musician and DJ Martin Solveig, as well as longtime collaborator Orbit. The album's title, an abbreviation of Madonna's name, appeared on the heels of her performance at the 2012 Super Bowl.

Preceded by the Top Ten single "Give Me All Your Luvin'" (featuring Nicki Minaj and M.I.A.), MDNA debuted at number one across the world, including the U.S. and U.K. Her MDNA Tour took up the rest of the year, as she performed in Europe, the Middle East, North America, and South America. She filmed a concert special, and also released the live album MDNA World Tour in September 2013. At the beginning of 2014, Madonna announced that she was starting work on her 13th studio album. Taking to social media to capture the process, she revealed that recording sessions with the likes of Avicii, Diplo, and Kanye West had taken place. Excerpts from the sessions leaked toward the end of 2014, forcing Madonna to release a digital teaser EP by the end of the year. The full release of Rebel Heart came in March 2015; the album peaked at number two in the U.S. and U.K. She toured from the fall of 2015 to the spring of 2016, playing more than 75 dates in North America, Europe, and Asia.

In April 2019, Madonna began to issue singles leading up to the June release of her 14th album, Madame X, starting with "Medellín," a collaboration with Colombian reggaeton singer Maluma. The album featured co-production by Mirwais, Mike Dean, Diplo, and Jason Evigan, as well as collaborations with guest artists including Brazilian singer Anitta and rappers Swae Lee and Quavo.

Upon its June 14, 2019 release, Madame X debuted at number one in the U.S. and number two in the U.K.”.

Here is a selection of tracks from some artists who count Madonna as a key source of inspiration. You can see how far her music has spread and the impact she has had! Nearly forty years since her debut single was released, Madonna is still…

THE Queen of Pop.

FEATURE: Childhood Treasures: Albums That Impacted Me: Now That's What I Call Music 24

FEATURE:

 

 

Childhood Treasures: Albums That Impacted Me

Now That's What I Call Music 24

___________

THIS one might seem…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Take That in 1993

a bit odd, as it is a compilation album and not a studio album. Now That's What I Call Music 24 was released in 1993. Whereas studio albums are important and allow me to bond closer with one act, compilation albums contain a variety of songs from different artists. One reason why Now That's What I Call Music 24 is one of my favourite albums is because it was the first album I recall buying as a child. It came out when I was ten. There was an independent record/music shop near my house and the latest Now That's What I Call Music was available on two C.D.s or cassettes. We have the original C.D. version in the family home still! I remember it was also bought on cassette. The excitement of hearing chart hits from 1992/1993 – and the odd older song that was re-released – in one place was something that we take for granted now! In an age of playlists and streaming, anyone can compile a selection of songs whenever they like. There have been countless compilation albums released through the years; Now That's What I Call Music was a must-buy for music lovers once upon a time. Even though the series is still going and is popular, it was at its peak in the 1980s and 1990s – the first Now That's What I Call Music was released the year I was born: 1983.

Look at the tracklisting from the album released on 26th April, 1993. Many debate which Now That's What I Call Music is the very best. Most would list a compilation from the 1990s as the best – perhaps towards the end of the decade. The decision rests on which year had the best Pop. I feel 1992 and 1993 was a wonderfully rich period where we got so many classics. My favourites from Now That's What I Call Music 24 include The Bluebells’ Young at Heart (originally released by Bananarama in the 1980s, The Bluebells took it to number one in 1993). I also love Take That’s Could It Be Magic, Snow’s Informer, Shaggy’s Oh Carolina, The Stereo MC’s’ Step It Up, Duran Duran’s Ordinary World, k.d. lang’s Constant Craving and Peter Gabriel’s Steam. There is also Paul McCartney’s Hope of Deliverance and Tasmin Archer’s In Your Care! This is what AllMusic said in their review of Now That's What I Call Music 24:

“The U.K.'s Now series features timely selections of pop hits and provides a convenient way for casual pop fans to stay on top of the most popular singles. The sets are almost always naturally well-rounded, encompassing dance music, R&B, hip-hop, teen pop, and rock. And though they might expire, in a sense, since they're based on trends in pop music, they work as more than adequate snapshots of specific points in time. The 24th volume, released in 1993, includes 2 Unlimited's "No Limit," Lenny Kravitz's "Are You Gonna Go My Way," Depeche Mode's "I Feel You," Shaggy's "Oh Carolina," Duran Duran's "Ordinary World," P.M. Dawn's "Looking Through Patient Eyes," and Ugly Kid Joe's "Cats in the Cradle”.

Back in the 1990s, the way we digested music was largely through the radio and buying music. Singles were popular and, when Now That's What I Call Music 24 offered many of the very best together for a much lower cost – I guess the original would be expensive in today’s money but would have been affordable in 1993. One other reason why we debate the finest Now That's What I Call Music is because the compilation series is a portal of memories. These songs soundtracked many of our lives and were there at some hugely important moments. When I was nine and ten, these songs were with me during middle school. This was a time when I really bonded with music and was exploring a range of different sounds. I have said this before - though I feel it warrants repeating. I think the 1990s was the finest time for music. Some might say 1994-1998 was a better period than 1990-1993. I would agree. That said, take a look at some of the songs on Now That's What I Call Music 24 and they are undeniable classics – songs played today that young people can hear fresh and love right away! For me, the compilation album is a snapshot of childhood. It is also a reference point for those who want to know which tracks were charting high in the U.K. in 1992 and 1993. You can buy a used copy of the album for not a lot.

I am not sure whether there are plans to release Now That's What I Call Music 24 and every other album from the series on vinyl. For nostalgia and retro charm, having all of them on cassette would be cool. For so many, owning them on vinyl would be a real treat! I would love to snap up a reissue of Now That's What I Call Music 24 on vinyl. I would keep that copy for decades! If not the most important childhood album, Now That's What I Call Music 24 is a watershed moment regarding compilation albums and really getting into chart music. It helped me broaden my horizons and not just listen to one type of music. Although there is a lot of Pop on Now That's What I Call Music 24, there is also other genres and styles. Some of the songs are a little dated now; most of them stand the test of time. As my first album purchase, Now That's What I Call Music 24 will always be very special and moving! I sit down and listen to the album now and so many memories come flooding back. The quality of the songs throughout is extraordinary! Perhaps there has been a decline in the quality and memorability of modern-day Pop. Back in the 1980s and 1990s (and the first five or six years of the 2000s), there was this real peak and golden period. The wonderful Now That's What I Call Music 24 is an essential and blissful…

STEP back in time.

FEATURE: Kate Bush’s 50 Words for Snow: Bringing the Remarkable 2011 Album to the Stage or Screen

FEATURE:

 

 

Kate Bush’s 50 Words for Snow

 Bringing the Remarkable 2011 Album to the Stage or Screen

___________

I will do another feature…

PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

about 50 Words for Snow before its tenth anniversary on 21st November. I have done a couple of general features about the album, in addition to song-specific features. In other pieces, I have remarked how there are Kate Bush albums that have not been brought to the stage. In 2014, when she performed her Before the Dawn residency, she performed one song from 50 Words for Snow. Among Angels was sung as an encore. The other six tracks on the album have not been committed to the stage. I am going to give my thoughts regarding the album and why it would be great to bring it to the stage or screen. Aerial was explored during Before the Dawn, as was Hounds of Love. Even though Bush herself feels 50 Words for Snow is not a conceptual album, there is the theme of snow; the songs could hang together in a very interesting and arresting way. I want to source a review of the album and an interview Bush gave around the time. When they approached 50 Words for Snow, The Guardian were impressed by how the album really does get under the skin:

“But in one sense, these peculiarities aren't really that peculiar, given that this is an album by Bush. She has form in releasing Christmas records, thanks to 1980's December Will Be Magic Again, on which she imagined herself falling softly from the sky on a winter's evening. She does it again here on opener Snowflake, although anyone looking for evidence of her artistic development might note that 30 years ago she employed her bug-eyed Heeeath-CLIFF! voice and plonking lyrical references to Bing Crosby and "old St Nicholas up the chimney" to conjure the requisite sense of wonder. Today, she gets there far more successfully using only a gently insistent piano figure, soft flurries of strings and percussion and the voice of her son Bertie.

Meanwhile, Fry's is merely the latest unlikely guest appearance – Bush has previously employed Lenny Henry, Rolf Harris (twice) and the late animal imitator Percy Edwards, the latter to make sheep noises on the title track of 1982's The Dreaming. Equally, Fairweather Low is not the first person called upon to pretend to be someone else on a Bush album, although she usually takes that upon herself, doing impersonations to prove the point: Elvis on Aerial's King of the Mountain, a gorblimey bank robber on There Goes a Tenner. Finally, in song at least, Bush has always displayed a remarkably omnivorous sexual appetite: long before the Yeti and old Snow Balls showed up, her lustful gaze had variously fixed on Adolf Hitler, a baby and Harry Houdini.

No, the really peculiar thing is that 50 Words for Snow is the second album in little over six months from a woman who took six years to make its predecessor and 12 to make the one before that. If it's perhaps stretching it to say you can tell it's been made quickly – no one is ever going to call an album that features Lake Tahoe's operatic duet between a tenor and a counter-tenor a rough-and-ready lo-fi experience – it certainly feels more intuitive than, say, Aerial, on which a lot of time and effort had clearly been expended in the pursuit of effortlessness. For all the subtle beauty of the orchestrations, there's an organic, live feel, the sense of musicians huddled together in a room, not something that's happened on a Bush album before.

That aside, 50 Words for Snow is extraordinary business as usual for Bush, meaning it's packed with the kind of ideas you can't imagine anyone else in rock having. Taking notions that look entirely daft on paper and rendering them into astonishing music is very much Bush's signature move. There's something utterly inscrutable and unknowable about how she does it that has nothing to do with her famous aversion to publicity. Better not to worry, to just listen to an album that, like the weather it celebrates, gets under your skin and into your bones”.

It took Bush about a year to make the album. That was quite quick for her. She also released Director’s Cut in 2011. It was an amazingly busy time for her! Bush really wanted 50 Words for Snow out before the end of 2011, as it was a winter album and it would not have sounded right in the spring or summer. Even though 50 Words for Snow was put together quicker than usual for Bush, the music is very rich and complex. I think that it is one of her most beautiful and nuanced albums – where one can get so much from each song every time they listen. I am going to give my thoughts regarding the wider and bigger potential for 50 Words for Snow. In promotion of the album, The Quietus spoke with Kate Bush. This is an interview I have sourced before. It is one that I like a lot. There are a few parts of John Doran’s chat that I want to revisit:

“So Aerial is full of images of clear skies, still water, warm days and it’s full of the bustle of family life and an easy domesticity. 50 Words For Snow is a similarly beautiful album but there is a chill to it - it lacks the warmth of its predecessor. I wondered if it represented another switch from an autobiographical to a narrative song writing approach?

KB: Yeah, I think it’s much more a kind of narrative story-telling piece. I think one of the things I was playing with on the first three tracks was trying to allow the song structure to evolve the story telling process itself; so that it’s not just squashed into three or four minutes, so I could just let the story unfold.

I’ve only heard the album today so I can’t say I’m completely aware of every nuance but I have picked out a few narrative strands. Would it be fair enough to say that it starts with a birth and ends with a death?

KB: No, not at all. Not to my mind anyway. It may start with a birth but it’s the birth of a snowflake which takes its journey from the clouds to the ground or to this person’s hand. But it’s not really a conceptual piece; it’s more that the songs are loosely held together with this thread of snow.

Fair play. Now some of your fans may have been dismayed to read that there were only seven songs on the album but they should be reassured at this point that the album is 65 minutes long, which makes for fairly long tracks. How long did it take you to write these songs and in the course of writing them did you discard a lot of material?

KB: This has been quite an easy record to make actually and it’s been quite a quick process. And it’s been a lot of fun to make because the process was uninterrupted. What was really nice for me was I did it straight off the back of Director’s Cut, which was a really intense record to make. When I finished it I went straight into making this so I was very much still in that focussed space; still in that kind of studio mentality. And also there was a sense of elation that suddenly I was working from scratch and writing songs from scratch and the freedom that comes with that.

Had you always wanted to do 50 Words For Snow or were you just on a roll after Director’s Cut?

KB: No, they were both records that I’d wanted to do for some time. But obviously I had to get Director’s Cut done before I could start this one... Well, I guess I could have waited until next year but this record had to come out at this time of year, it isn’t the sort of thing I could have put it out in the summer obviously.

Did the snow theme come from an epiphany or a particular grain or idea? Was there one particular day when you happened to be in the snow…

KB: No. I don’t think there was much snow going on through the writing of this… it was more to do with my memories of snow I suppose and the exploration of the images that come with it.

Now the cover art features a snowman kissing a girl and I was worried that her lips might get stuck to his. Do you know like when you’re young and you get your lips stuck to a lolly ice straight out of the freezer?

KB: [giggles]”.

One can tell how proud Kate Bush was of 50 Words for Snow. She was pretty generous with interviews, and she discussed the album with quite a few people. It is one of her best and, despite the fact it contains seven tracks, the album runs at over one hour (the album spawned two singles: Wild Man, and a double A-side 10″ vinyl release of Lake Tahoe/Among Angels). You are definitely getting value for money!

We will celebrate the tenth anniversary of 50 Words for Snow in November. Maybe Bush will announce a new album before that comes. Who knows! Like Hounds of Love’s The Ninth Wave, there is so much story and a great arc to 50 Words for Snow. Although The Ninth Wave is a single story with different songs representing stages and chapters, things are a bit looser with 50 Words for Snow. Lake Tahoe reminds me of some of the songs on The Ninth Wave in terms of its story and resonance. The Kate Bush Encyclopaedia produced an article where Bush talked about the song:

“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)”.

Misty is a song that details a tryst between a woman and a snowman. It is tender and childlike but it is also sexual and original. Seeing that on the screen or a stage production would be amazing. A definite story and narrative could be constructed to link the songs. Wild Man is about a Yeti/Abominable Snowman. It is an empathetic look at a creature of mystery.

Snowed in at Wheeler Street (a duet with Elton John) is two lovers that keep meeting through history in different settings. The title track is a fascinating list of made-up words for snow. Among Angels, whilst not related to snow, is a great closing track. There are some great stories and lyrics through the album that would go together brilliantly in the form of a live show or filmed piece. With some wonderful musicians joining Bush through the album  - Dan McIntosh – guitar; Del Palmer – bass guitar and bells; Danny Thompson – double bass; John Giblin – bass guitar and Steve Gadd – drums -, 50 Words for Snow is such a fantastic and rewarding listening experience! Michael Wood and Stefan Roberts, Albert McIntosh, Andy Fairweather-Low, Elton John and Stephen Fry feature as vocalists on 50 Words for Snow. One listens to the song and imagines these beautiful, strange and wintery scenes. Maybe it would be too far-fetched to imagine Kate Bush performing the album in full. I would still love to see it come to the stage in some form. More likely, there could be something like Raymond Briggs’ The Snowman. I feel Misty is partly inspired by The Snowman. There is a computer-generated video for the song. There is a nice animated section for Wild Man, in addition to an animation for Lake Tahoe - all look different to one another. It would be great for all seven tracks to be newly-animated and reimagined, perhaps - or have a single look, whether filmed or animated (where there is more of a story and a protagonist(s). It makes me think about the album’s tracks and how, perhaps over a one-hour episode, there could be this story where all the tracks are played out. I am not sure whether there would be narration or any exposition. As The Snowman was released in 1982, maybe something similar to it forty years down the line (next year) would be great. One of short film’s directors, Jimmy T. Murakami, directed the video for Kate Bush 2005 single, King of the Mountain. Almost ten years after its release, it would be such a treat to see 50 Words for Snow…

FULLY brought to life.

FEATURE: Back and Forth: Aaliyah's Music Is Finally Coming to Digital Services

FEATURE:

 

 

Back and Forth

Aaliyah’s Music Is Finally Coming to Digital Services

___________

ON 25th August…

we mark twenty years since we lost the great Aaliyah. The Brooklyn-born star was only twenty-two when she was tragically killed in a plane crash after filming the video for Rock the Boat. Her eponymous album was released on 7th July, 2001. Its creator barely had any time to enjoy its success and see how it was received by the world. On 27th August, it will be twenty-five years since her sophomore album, One in a Million, came out. There is a mix of celebration of these great albums and mourning the fact that Aaliyah is not with us. Whilst one can see her music videos on YouTube, I think it is a little harder getting her music on vinyl. There are some who would say Aaliyah’s impact and influence on modern music is minimal. I would disagree. There are artists out there today who one can trace back to Aaliyah (including Beyoncé). That said, the lack of visibility on streaming services means not as many artists as one would like are discovering her and the three studio albums that she left behind. It is complex when we think about Aaliyah’s music on streaming services. Up until now, one could only really find a song or two; meaning entire albums were missing. 2001’s Aaliyah is a fantastic album that many people want to see on streaming sites. The good news is that her music is coming to digital platforms. This article from The New York Times explains more:

“For years, it has been one of music’s most conspicuous, and puzzling, absences: The majority of the catalog of Aaliyah, the groundbreaking R&B singer of the 1990s and early 2000s, has been absent from digital services — rendering the work of one of the most influential pop stars in recent decades largely invisible, and depriving her of a proper legacy. The singer, whose full name was Aaliyah Haughton, died in a plane crash in 2001 at age 22.

But on Thursday came a surprise announcement that her music will soon arrive on streaming platforms, starting with her second album, “One in a Million” (1996), on Aug. 20.

PHOTO CREDIT: Margaret Norton/NBC, via Getty Images 

Fans, including Cardi B, celebrated online. But the return of Aaliyah’s music remains fraught, with a battle still playing out between her estate and the music impresario who signed her as a teenager and retains control of the bulk of her catalog. Here’s an overview of her long unavailability on the services that dominate music consumption today.

What music is coming out now?

Blackground Records, founded by the producer Barry Hankerson — Aaliyah’s uncle — said it would be rereleasing 17 albums from its catalog over the next two months, on streaming services as well as on CD and vinyl. They include the bulk of Aaliyah’s output — her studio albums “One in a Million” and “Aaliyah,” along with the “Romeo Must Die” soundtrack and two posthumous collections — plus albums by Timbaland, Toni Braxton, JoJo and Tank.

The releases, being made through a distribution deal with the independent music company Empire, will introduce a new generation to Aaliyah’s work. In the 1990s, she stood out as a powerful voice in the emerging sound of hip-hop: a forthright young woman — she was just 15 when she released her first album, “Age Ain’t Nothing but a Number” (1994) — who sang like a street-smart angel over some of the most innovative backing tracks of the time.

Exactly what led to the current release of Aaliyah's music is unclear.

According to a new article in Billboard, Hankerson began seeking a new deal for her music about a year ago, after Aaliyah’s estate made a cryptic announcement that “communication has commenced” between the estate and “various record labels” about finally getting her music online. “More updates to come,” it said”.

It is great that, in a matter of days, One in a Million, will be available to access digitally. I understand that her estate is not too happy with this new ruling – that her music is now going to be available on streaming sites. It is a complex situation where there is this massive excitement from fans and her supporters. There are others who feel that her work should remain on physical formats. Unless the prices come down for copies of her albums, there is always going to be that demand for digital versions. Going back to the article, it explains what happened to Aaliyah’s music after she died:

“By the time Aaliyah died, she seemed well on her way to a major career. But as the music business evolved in the digital age, and Blackground’s output slowed down, her music largely disappeared.

Aside from the album “Age Ain’t Nothing but a Number,” which remained part of the Jive catalog through Sony Music, and a handful of other tracks, most of Aaliyah’s songs have been unavailable for streaming. Used CDs and LPs of her work trade for eye-popping prices”.

I wonder whether, alongside this new streaming news, there will be plans to put her albums out on vinyl. Surely, that is a way to encourage physical purchase and people experiencing her music on vinyl and C.D. It is a shame that it is pricey getting Aaliyah’s music! Many would welcome the albums reissued on vinyl.

One can, as I said, watch her music videos and get album tracks on YouTube. I don’t feel that it is disrespecting her music and wishes by doing this. I know there is unhappiness from her estate. As Barry Hankerson is the man who wrote and helped mould her music early on, he has the say on what happens. That is where things get a bit sticky and tense. As a fan of her work, having access to an album like One in a Million is good news. I don’t think that there are plans to put her 1994 debut, Age Ain't Nothing but a Number, on digital platforms. The only way that Aaliyah will help to influence the next generation and resonate with artists is if her music is available on the market. Streaming is a great way of making it widely available. I guess there is a bit of debate regarding pricing and people accessing Aaliyah’s albums for little or no money. Rather than argue and debate the issue of releasing her music on streaming platforms - seemingly against the will of her estate - we are about to mark the twentieth anniversary of Aaliyah’s death. It is a chance to remember a hugely important artist who, in her brief life, released some incredible music and certainly inspired many artists. We are also getting a posthumous album:

“With the 20th anniversary of her death approaching later this month, her uncle Barry Hankerson has revealed to Billboard that there's plans to release a posthumous album of new Aaliyah music. The album is yet to get a release date, but is due to feature appearances from Drake, Future, Ne-Yo, Snoop Dogg and Chris Brown. According to the piece, "Timbaland has also remixed and produced some of the sessions".

Hankerson said of working on the new music, "It has been really nice. The only part that has been a little distasteful has been so many people being angry with me because the music didn’t come out when they wanted it. But I learned to live with that. There’s nothing I can do about it”.

Her awesome talent and unforgettable songs are not only a sign of a woman who was on the verge of becoming a superstar; they are a bittersweet sound of…

WHAT could have been.

FEATURE: The August Playlist: Vol. 1: Coastin’ as We Walk the Beat

FEATURE:

 

 

The August Playlist

IN THIS PHOTO: Victoria Monét 

Vol. 1: Coastin’ as We Walk the Beat

__________

FOR this week’s…

IN THIS PHOTO: Tierra Whack/PHOTO CREDIT: Matt Allen

Playlist, there are new tracks from Victoria Monét, Tierra Whack, Nas, IDER, Tony Bennett/Lady Gaga, Du Blonde (ft. Paul Smith & Ross Millard), Jorja Smith, and The Weeknd. Throw into the mix some FINNEAS, Holly Humberstone, Duran Duran (ft. CHAI), IAMDDB, Hayden Thorpe, and GOAT, and it is an eclectic and busy week. If you require that little kick to get you into the weekend, then I hope that the songs below do the job. It is going to be a bit of a wet and windy weekend for many. With that in mind, play these tracks and I am sure they will offer great distraction. Although there are few major artists in the Playlist this week, the quality of songs is…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Lady Gaga

REALLY high.   

ALL PHOTOS/IMAGES (unless credited otherwise): Artists

__________

Victoria Monét – Coastin’

Tierra Whack - Walk the Beat

Nas - Rare

IDER - cbb to b sad

Tony Bennett, Lady Gaga - I Get a Kick Out of You

Du Blonde (ft. Paul Smith & Ross Millard) - Radio Jesus

PHOTO CREDIT: Clark Franklyn

Jorja Smith - All of This (Jorja Smith X GuiltyBeatz)

The Weeknd – Take My Breath

FINNEAS – A Concert Six Months from Now

IMAGE CREDIT: Anthrox Studios

black midi – Cruising

Holly Humberstone – Please Don’t Leave Just Yet

IAMDDB – Silver Lines

Duran Duran (ft. CHAI) - More Joy!

Hayden Thorpe – Parallel Kingdom

GOAT - Fill My Mouth

PHOTO CREDIT: Pooneh Ghana

Chubby and the Gang – I Hate the Radio

Tinashe, Wax Motif – Undo (Back to My Heart)

Cat Burns – Into You

Becky Hill, Ella Eyre – Business

GIRLI – Ricochet

PHOTO CREDIT: Amanda Hugenquist

Unknown Mortal Orchestra - That Life

Joy Crookes – Skin

Eves Karydas – Lemonade

Anna Vincent – Naxos

POZI - Detainer Man

India Shawn – Don’t Play with My Heart

Leah Blevins – Little Birds

Allison Ponthier - Faking My Own Death

Lea Heart – I’ll Get Over It

Barbara Streisand - Living Without You

Joya Mooi - My Favourite

Green Gardens - I Keep Eating Myself

Adia Victoria - Magnolia Blues

Ingrid Andress (with Sam Hunt) - Wishful Drinking

Salt Ashes - Love, Love

FEATURE: Vinyl Corner: ZZ Top - Eliminator

FEATURE:

 

 

Vinyl Corner

ZZ Top - Eliminator

___________

THERE are two reasons…

as to why I am covering ZZ Top’s eighth studio album, Eliminator, for Vinyl Corner. Released on 23rd March, 1983, the album peaked at the top of the charts in many countries. Classics such as Gimme All Your Lovin’ and Got Me Under Pressure still sound fantastic to this day – as does the entire album! Eliminator is the Texan band’s most commercially successful release, with sales of over ten million copies in the United States alone. Another (sad) reason to cover the album is the death of ZZ Top’s bassist, Dusty Hill. He died last week. The BBC were among many to report the news:

 “Dusty Hill, the bassist of US blues rock band ZZ Top, has died at the age of 72.

Bandmates Billy Gibbons and Frank Beard said that Hill died in his sleep at his home in Houston, Texas. They did not give further details.

Earlier in July, ZZ Top had announced that Hill would not play some upcoming shows due to a hip injury.

Known for his bushy beard and sunglasses, Hill played with ZZ Top for over 50 years.

"We, along with legions of ZZ Top fans around the world, will miss your steadfast presence, your good nature, and enduring commitment to providing that monumental bottom to the 'Top'," the statement from Gibbons and Beard said.

"You will be missed greatly, amigo."

Born Joseph Michael Hill, the bassist originally played guitar alongside his brother Rocky in Dallas before moving to Houston and joining Beard.

ZZ Top was founded in 1969, and played their first live concert the following year.

The trio would go on to release 15 studio and four live albums, with hit singles like Gimme All Your Lovin', Sleeping Bag, and Viva Las Vegas.

ZZ Top was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004”.

Whilst some critics did not like the band’s use of synthesizer, drum machine and sequencer on the album, others felt it was a great evolution and continuation of what we heard on 1981’s El Loco. If you can get the album on vinyl, I would definitely recommend you do so. It is an absolute classic that anyone can pick up and enjoy. One need not know too much about ZZ Top’s background and sound to be able to appreciate songs such as Sharp Dressed Man. I want to bring in a couple of reviews for Eliminator. This is what AllMusic said when they reviewed the album:

“ZZ Top had reached the top of the charts before, but that didn't make their sudden popularity in 1983 any more predictable. It wasn't that they were just popular -- they were hip, for God's sake, since they were one of the only AOR favorites to figure out to harness the stylish, synthesized grooves of new wave, and then figure out how to sell it on MTV. Of course, it helped that they had songs that deserved to be hits. With "Gimme All Your Lovin'," "Sharp Dressed Man," and "Legs," they had their greatest set of singles since the heady days of Tres Hombres, and the songs that surrounded them weren't bad either -- they would have been singles on El Loco, as a matter of fact. The songs alone would have made Eliminator one of ZZ Top's three greatest albums, but their embrace of synths and sequencers made it a blockbuster hit, since it was the sound of the times. Years later, the sound of the times winds up sounding a bit stiff. It's still an excellent ZZ Top album, one of their best, yet it sounds like a mechanized ZZ Top thanks to the unflaggingly accurate grooves. Then again, that's part of the album's charm -- this is new wave blues-rock, glossed up for the video, looking as good as the omnipresent convertible on the cover and sounding as irresistible as Reaganomics. Not the sort the old-school fans or blues-rock purists will love, but ZZ Top never sounded as much like a band of its time as they did here”.

I know there was some wrangle and dispute regarding various writing credits; some dismiss Eliminator as one of ZZ Top’s less authentic and necessary albums. Plenty of critical lists have placed Eliminator among the best albums ever. Classic Rock Review had their say when they reviewed the album in 2013:

“Sound engineer Linden Hudson researched popular song tempos, and suggested that 120 beats per minute was the most popular tempo in rock music, so most of the recorded Eliminator album was recorded at that tempo. This has since become know as “the people’s tempo”. Although this sort of sound manipulation may not go over well with all old-school blues and rock purists or blues-rock purists, the album does not contain one filler song, as each individual track works well as a stand-alone song. In fact, one can claim that the whole is much less than the sum of this album’s parts

Beard’s simple rock drum beat sets the pace for the riff-driven “Gimme All Your Lovin'” (which in turn sets the pace for the album). Accented by a few guitar overdubs and pad synths, this opener contains one of the more famous leads by Gibbons and reached the Top 40 on the U.S. charts. “Got Me Under Pressure” follows and has become the most controversial song, not due to lyrical content, but due to allegations by Hudson that it was written and recorded by himself and Gibbons in one afternoon without the involvement or knowledge of the other two band members. Although the band members disputed much of his compositional accounts, Linden says he created the bass on a synthesizer, the drums on a drum machine, and helped Gibbons write the lyrics while Gibbons performed the guitars and vocals.

“Sharp Dressed Man” is the most catchy of the hit songs and utilizes a more traditional rock arrangement with some strange vocal effects being the only really synthesized parts. While on tour in England to support the album Degüello, the band members were impressed with the cool threads and overall sense of fashion. The song reached the Top Ten on the mainstream rock charts and has remained one of the band’s most famous songs.

The best song on the album is “I Need You Tonight”, led by Gibbons’s really soulful and bluesy guitar with an effect-laden edge. Hill uses a real bass guitar (not a synth bass arpeggio) and the song contains some great melodies during the choruses, adding a splash of sweetness to this extended piece with an almost dark feel. The persistent reaching of Gibbons’ guitar, especially during the long instrumental sections, makes it a highlight of the album and even as the song ends, it feels like the bluesy guitar is reluctant to quit. The short but potent “I Got the Six” completes the first side as a full-fledged, good time party anthem.

The early part of the album’s second side is the best demonstration of the “synthesizer meets soul” sound which the group was aiming for on Eliminator. On “Legs” the synths are most prominent along with a consistent beat and very few chord changes. With a decent melody, clear hook, and some bluesy lead guitar licks, “Legs” was inspired by a real-life situation when the group spotted a young lady and spun the car around for a second look. But when she vanished Gibbons said, “That girl’s got legs, and she knows how to use them.” “Thug” is the most unabashed eighties-style, synth-heavy song, almost sounding experimental. “TV Dinners” contains organ-like synths good lead by Gibbons. Written late in the recording process, the song’s title was inspired by a woman in a Memphis nightclub, where the group went during a break in recording”.

It is a shame that we lost Dusty Hill. One can hear his magnificent work right through Eliminator. It is a tremendous album that everyone should hear. If you have not experienced it or are new to ZZ Top, then Eliminator is something that you need to own. Grab the album on vinyl and enjoy the Rock legends at their very best! Their 1983-released eighth studio album is…

ABSOLUTE gold.

FEATURE: Odes to Joy: What Will the Sound of Post-Pandemic Pop Be?

FEATURE:

 

 

Odes to Joy

PHOTO CREDIT: @batelstudios 

What Will the Sound of Post-Pandemic Pop Be?

___________

I have been thinking about…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Charli XCX

the look and feel of Pop music after the pandemic has passed. Maybe that is not going to be for a long while yet, though I know that artists will be reflecting the turmoil. we have faced and how we will get through the other end. I have been intrigued by promotional photos for Charli XCX’s upcoming single, Good Ones. The song is out next month and, looking at the images, I am envisaging something that is a bit 1980s! The hair is big…and I get the impression we might hear something 1980s-ish. Perhaps not. Maybe I have covered this subject recently, but I do think that there are a lot of artists today looking to the past for inspiration. That has always been the case but, during the pandemic, this is especially true. Will Pop music later this year and next be very different to what we heard pre-pandemic? By ‘Pop’, I mean artists near the mainstream. A particular genre rather than what is deemed ‘popular’ across multiple genres. What I haver noticed regarding modern Pop is that artists are trying to blur genre lines and not be too easily defined. Perhaps it means that we do not have the consistency of Pop from the past, though there are artists who have plenty of personality and originality. Relative newcomers like Olivia Rodrigo, beabadoobee and Arlo Parks. Billie Eilish, perhaps, is one of the best-known modern-day Pop icons. I feel that her sound has changed quite a bit since her 2019 debut album, WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? Her new album, Happier Than Ever, is confessional and has darkness to it. I feel it is her most revealing and honest work yet. Will Pop music post-pandemic be more honest? There has been no shortage of confessional Pop music the past few years. That said, more and more, I am noticing Pop artists who are opening up more. By that, there is a greater sense of letting listeners into something more intimate and difficult to discuss. After such a turbulent 2020 and 2021 so far, there will be this desire (in artists) to connect more with fans.

The opening up of venues and festivals will lead to more physical music – in the sense of energy and something raw. That sounds like a mix and mess. Pop music will be broader than it has ever been and, as we are seeing future-looking artists sit alongside those with a hint of the 1980s and 1990s about them, this variation and depth will be felt widely. To me, if one could label a genre as ‘Post-Pandemic Pop’, it is going to include more uplifting sounds. One of my gripes is that modern Pop music is still too sad, edgy and lacking in the same warmth, hooks and choruses that we enjoyed decades ago. This is a change that has occurred over the past fifteen years or so. I think that, on a psychological level, music has been affected by lockdown and the pandemic. Sex and something more intense have been lacking from genres like Pop and R7B – definitely compared to the early-2000s and 1990s. With this sense of nostalgia and artists looking back, with that, I feel we will see a Pop scene that is not only more open and soul-baring; many artists will be more exploration regarding their passions and love. Looking at an artist such as Charli XCX transform in her new promotional images has got me wondering. Her 2020 album, how I’m feeling now, is future-thinking, experimental and hook-filled. It is also pretty honest and revealing. I reckon her upcoming music – whether Good Ones is part of a new album – will have more of an element of escape and lust. Perhaps there will be less edge and more lustre. Pop acts (if you can narrow them down that much) such as Jessie Ware (What's Your Pleasure?) and Dua Lipa (Future Nostalgia) produced Disco-infused albums last year, as did Kylie Minogue (Disco). This, in my view, will become more common. Not to say that sad bangers and more anxious Pop. The sense of release and passing through a scary time is going to have a big impact.

One of my big hopes is that there are going to be scenes and movements. Modern music, because few want to be defined by genres, does not have clans, movements and scenes. Britpop was an example of one from the past. I do remember that I have explored this question before! I feel it is worth coming back to the subject of Pop music in late-2021 and 2022 onwards. Many of us will want to be cheered and listen to music that has a hopeful nature. Even so, Pop artists are going to reflect the stresses of the past year or two, and there is going to have to be some recognition of wider issues such as global warming. Nothing seismic will happen with Pop music. To feel we will return to the 1980s and 1990s in terms of the quality and sound would be far-fetched. Modern artists, as much as they look back, want to make their music personal and fresh. I hope that more optimism comes into things. After a collective trauma, many will year for that sort of catharsis and positivity. Energy is going to be a big thing. We have all spent a long time feeling down and scared. Whether that energy manifests itself into anger or joy has yet to be seen – maybe it will be a combination of the two. Personal revelation, in terms of sex, will be more common in the mainstream. Not to be salacious but, as there will be a need for collective embrace and something hopeful, there has been this tension because of physical restraints and social distancing. Things are starting to improve and, with live music starting to gear back up, we get the chance to hear songs that artists have had in their pockets for a while. There are albums that have been out for over a year that have never been played live! Whether new/post-pandemic Pop is lighter, more nostalgic, angrier, deeper or more sexually revealing, there will be a faster acceleration and change now than there has been in Pop for many years. Who knows, maybe new cultures and scenes will form! Whatever is brewing up, I think that we will all witness…

QUITE a change.

FEATURE: Cherished: Madonna’s Essential Twenty Singles

FEATURE:

 

 

Cherished

IN THIS PHOTO: Madonna shot for Cosmopolitan in July 1987

Madonna’s Essential Twenty Singles

___________

AS the iconic Madonna…

IN THIS PHOTO: Madonna in 2018/PHOTO CREDIT: Paul Zimmerman/Getty Images

celebrates her birthday on 16th August, I am putting out a few features. For this one, I am collating, in my view, her twenty best singles. It is hard to narrow down the list, as she has released eighty-eight singles and twenty-four promotional singles! That said, there are some that are definitely better than others. Here are my rankings regarding the very best singles from the Queen of Pop (I am considering promotional singles alongside standard singles). Some might disagree with my placements – we all have our views on the singles that are the great and those which are average. As you will see from the rundown and rankings below, Madonna has produced some of the best Pop music…

IN THIS PHOTO: Madonna in the video for Take a Bow (from 1994’s Bedtime Stories)

WE have ever seen.

_______________

20. Nothing Really Matters

From the Album: Ray of Light (1998)

Release Date: 2nd March, 1999

Producers: Madonna/William Orbit/Marius De Vries

Critical Reaction:

“Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic, Kevin C. Johnson from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Chris Gernard from Metro Weekly highlighted "Nothing Really Matters" as one of Ray of Light's best tracks. Erlewine, who also wrote Madonna's biography for the website, cited the song as one of her career standouts. Chuck Taylor from Billboard labeled the song as a "gem" and commended the "irresistible hook".From the same publication, Jason Lipshutz commented, "What if the suave dance of 'Nothing Really Matters', the eye-popping 'Ray of Light' music video or the stark beauty of 'Frozen' never existed? Luckily, we never need to find out." Paul Moody from NME noted that the song "floats by almost as if it's asleep, a knowing return to the disco diva-effortlessness of 'Vogue', but with Madonna free from the narcissistic outer-shell of old, free to announce: "I've realised/No-one wins..." Rolling Stone said, "Songs like the title track and 'Nothing Really Matters' are filled with warmth and wonder.” "A bubbly, infectious piece of shufflebeat…" Stuart Maconie wrote in a Q review of Ray of Light, "but aberrant items continually swim into view, like a tumbling, atonal piano solo right out of Schoenberg." Sunday Mirror said it is the "best pop tune" from the album. Stephen Thompson from The A.V. Club was positive, stating that the "chugging" chorus and composition "should ring across dance floors for years to come[...]" Nathan Smith from the Houston Press was also positive, stating, "Few singles illustrated [Madonna's change in musical approach] better than 'Nothing Really Matters'". He concluded, "It's a great, bouncy dance track that never received the love it deserved, and its family-friendly themes are a good fit for the event" – Wikipedia

US Billboard Hot 100 Position: 93

19. Erotica

From the Album: Erotica (1992)

Release Date: 29th September, 1992

Producers: Madonna/Shep Pettibone

Critical Reaction:

“Erotica" received generally positive reviews from music critics. Stephen Thomas Erlewine from Allmusic highlighted the song as an album standout, calling it "some of Madonna's best and most accomplished music". Larry Flick from Billboard described it as a "sexy pop/hip-hop gem" and a "sensual slice of aural sex." He added, "With the aid of collaborator Pettibone, she has crafted a deep and complex arrangement rife with intriguing Middle Eastern influences." Randy Clark from Cashbox commented, "Okay, there's nothing new musically on this virtually melody-less, "Vogue'-esque single, although the Material Girl does seem to want to continually push the barriers out a little further (fortunately, there’s not much further to go)." Alan Jones from Music Week said it "takes up the story where Justify My Love left off. The same hypnotic Soul II Soul shuffle underpins the moaning, groaning superstar as she raps/sings what are faintly ludicrous lyrics." Rolling Stone's Arion Berger wrote: "'Erotica' [...] promise[s] a smorgasbord of sexual experimentation, like the one portrayed in the video for 'Justify My Love'. But the sensibility of 'Erotica' is miles removed from the warm come-ons of 'Justify', which got its heat from privacy and romance [...] The Madonna of 'Erotica' is in no way interested in your dreams; she's after compliance"; he called the song "'Vogue' with a dirty mouth, where all the real action's on the dance floor". Stephen Holden from The New York Times, commented that the "foggy growl" that Madonna uses in the spoken-word sections of the song "contrast dramatically with the shrill little-kid voice from Madonna's earliest records that she still often uses to project a bratty teen-age exuberance". J. Randy Taraborrelli, author of Madonna: An Intimate Biography, wrote that "['Erotica'] wasn't a surprise for anyone who had been paying attention to Madonna's recent music. She had shown her hand earlier with Breathless when she sang 'Hanky Panky', the song about spanking [...] then there was her single 'Justify My Love' [...] 'Erotica' though, was the full-blown music exploration, an exhibition, of what we were to believe was Madonna's sexual reality". Authors Allen Metz and Carol Benson, called it "a bondage update on 'Justify My Love'". Matthew Jacobs from The Huffington Post, placed it at number 23 of his list "The Definitive Ranking Of Madonna Singles"; Jacobs wrote "Released at the apex of Madonna's sex appeal, 'Erotica' and its accompanying title album are remarkable as a period of innovation for the singer" – Wikipedia

US Billboard Hot 100 Position: 3

18. Beautiful Stranger

From the Album: Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (soundtrack, 1999)

Release Date: 19th May, 1999

Producers: Madonna/William Orbit

Critical Reaction:

“Beautiful Stranger" received generally positive reviews. Chuck Taylor from Billboard denoted the song as a "new shift in the wind for [Madonna]", calling it another creative high for her. He also complimented the production saying that "this latest partnership with [Orbit] taps into a walloping romp of guitars and enough cascading organs to prompt an urge to listen to your Monkees collection." Taylor ended the review with positive feedback for Madonna's vocals, likening them to those for the Evita album, along with commending the chorus. In a different article for Billboard talking about the song's remixes, Paoletta described the track as "effervescent blast of psychedelic electronica". Writing for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Gino DeLa Paz found it "cute but forgettable". Gwen Ihnat, from the entertainment website The A.V. Club, labeled it as "Madonna's best song that never appeared on one of her regular albums [...] a psychedelic pop confection that offered a few of her most indelible hooks". Ihnat also wrote that "although less ethereal than 1998's Ray of Light, ['Beautiful Stranger'] is just as dance-floor ready [...] dance flute has never sounded so enticing, and Madonna's voice so sweetly seductive".  AllMusic's Jose F. Promis listed the track "as one of the singer's more memorable moments, coupling 1960s go-go rock with 1990s electronica, resulting in nothing less than a true slice of old fashioned rock & roll"; Promis also praised the two Calderone mixes” – Wikipedia

US Billboard Hot 100 Position: 19

17. Hung Up

From the Album: Confessions on a Dance Floor (2005)

Release Date: 17th October, 2005

Producers: Madonna/Stuart Price

Critical Reaction:

 “Hung Up received critical acclaim. Keith Caulfield from Billboard, while reviewing Confessions on a Dance Floor, called the song "a fluffier cut". Chris Tucker from Billboard explained that "Madonna returns with a song that will restore faith among her minions, fans of pop music and radio programmers". Jon Pareles of The New York Times said that Madonna kept her pop touch in "Hung Up" and called it a love song which is both happy as well as sad. Alan Light from Rolling Stone called the song candy coated. David Browne from Entertainment Weekly was impressed by the song and said "'Hung Up' shows how effortlessly she [Madonna] can tap into her petulant inner teen". Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine compared the song to the remix of Gwen Stefani's 2004 single "What You Waiting For?". Ed Gonzalez from the same magazine called the song the biggest hit of her career. Margaret Moser from The Austin Chronicle said that the song strobes and pulses along with another album track "Forbidden Love". Peter Robinson from The Observer commented that "Hung Up" is Madonna's "most wonderfully commercial single since the mid Eighties". Alexis Petridis from The Guardian called the track a "joyous...single that could theoretically have been more camp, but only with the addition of Liza Minnelli on backing vocals and lyrics about Larry Grayson's friend Everard” – Wikipedia

US Billboard Hot 100 Position: 7

16. Justify My Love

From the Album: The Immaculate Collection (greatest hits collection, 1990)

Release Date: 6th November, 1990  

Producers: Lenny Kravitz/André Betts

Critical Reaction:

 “Justify My Love" received acclaim from many music critics. In a separate review from AllMusic, they gave the song four-and-a-half stars out of five, stating "[Justify My Love] stands as one of the best of Madonna's long history of well-packaged maxi-singles, and further helped set a precedent for the maxi-single market." Larry Flick from Billboard commented that "her steamy collaboration" with Lenny Kravitz "has the juice to become the '90s equivalent" of Donna Summer's "Love to Love You Baby". He noted that "the chameleonlike singer writhes and whispers on top of a sparse, hypnotic hip-hop beat that strays miles away from the chirpy pop of her past. Break a sweat." In a review from Entertainment Weekly by David Browne, he gave it a positive remark saying that people who have a "hoo-haa" surrounding the banning of the single "underestimate her". Music & Media commented, "The unlikely collaboration of Madonna and Lenny Kravitz is a marriage made in heaven. Kravitz brought that beat back, while Madonna's sultry moans would make the Pope faint with certain desires. Atmospheric, yet brutal in an unconventional manner, this record whispers the word SEX very loudly and very convincingly. Most of all, it's a gutsy product.” Music Week called it a "mumbling sexy judderer". Rolling Stone said that the song and contemporaneous Rescue Me were "worthy sensual newies". While reviewing Celebration, Bill Lamb from About.com said "Songs such as "Justify My Love" that sounded a little over-indulgent when first released have worn very well over time." Alexandra Capotorto from PopCrush.com said "'Justify My Love' is perfectly constructed lovemaking music. While this track might be oozing sex, it's the NSFW music video that caused the most drama [...]" – Wikipedia

US Billboard Hot 100 Position: 1

15. Borderline

From the Album: Madonna (1983)

Release Date: 15th February, 1984  

Producer: Reggie Lucas

Critical Reaction:

 “Author J. Randy Taraborrelli, in his biography of Madonna, called "Borderline", along with "Holiday", the two key recordings that helped establish Madonna's base in the music industry. He added that Madonna's sober voice made the track "as close to an old Motown production as a hit could get in the dance-music-driven eighties." Author Maury Dean, in his book Rock 'n' Roll Gold Rush, called the song "echoey boogie" with "saucy-style and come-hither magnetism." Author Rikky Rooksby in his book, The Complete Guide to the Music of Madonna, called it harmonically the most complex track of her debut album. Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic called the song effervescent. Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine called the song soulful. Commentator Dave Marsh in his book, The Heart of Rock & Soul, said that the "music's too damn good to be denied, no matter whose value system it disrupts." Journalist Roxanne Orgill in her book, Shout, Sister, Shout!, commented that "Borderline" was the song that made Madonna the star that she is. Thom Duffy of Orlando Sentinel commented that "Borderline" was a song that "introduced Madonna, the helium-induced pop star, and a siren kitten” – Wikipedia

US Billboard Hot 100 Position: 10

14. Into the Groove

From the Album: Desperately Seeking Susan (soundtrack, 1985)

Release Date: 15th July, 1985  

Producers: Madonna/Stephen Bray

Critical Reaction:

 “Ever since its release, "Into the Groove" has received critical acclaim. J. Randy Taraborrelli, author of Madonna: An Intimate Biography, said that the song demonstrated Madonna's ability to create infectious dance music. Rikky Rooksby, author of Madonna: the complete guide to her music, said that "'Into the Groove' will make you feel like you're a winner either way. And that's one of the best things pop music can do for ya. [It's] Madonna's first great single." Clive Barker and Simon Trussler, authors of New Theatre Quarterly, felt that the song was the first disco-anthem of the 1980s.

Toby Cresswell, author of 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time and the Artists, Stories and Secrets, said that the song is a "sweet, limited white tune on the top, and there's Madonna – all the right-shop chic – dragging the straight world into this subterranean paradise. All the magic of the eighties is right here." Matthew Rettenmund, author of Totally Awesome 80s: A Lexicon of the Music, Videos, Movies, TV Shows, Stars, and Trends of that Decadent Decade, declared "Into the Groove" as the ultimate 1980s song and felt that it "cemented Madonna's place as the dancing queen of the era". Dawn Keetley and John Pettigrew, authors of Public Women, Public Words: A Documentary History of American Feminism, called it a "mesmerizing theme song" – Wikipedia

US Hot Dance Club Songs (Billboard) Position: 12

13. Cherish

From the Album: Like a Prayer (1989)

Release Date: 1st August, 1989  

Producers: Madonna/Patrick Leonard

Critical Reaction:

 “Wayne Robins from Newsday believed that "Cherish" exemplified the "kind of random pop we'd get if [postmodern author] William Burroughs were the program director of a Top 40 radio station." Burt compared the song and Madonna's delivery of the lyrics with the dialogues spoken by Shakespeare's Juliet, and found similarity in the, "Sweet so would I, Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing" from the play, with the lyrics of "Cherish". Allen Metz, one of the authors of The Madonna Companion, felt that "Cherish" as the opening song of the B-side of Like a Prayer, reaffirmed the sweet and happy romanticism that was missing from the A-side of the album adding, "As much a child of pop as of the church, Madonna is restored by music's healing power, in this case with a mixture of classic sweet soul and L.A. pop moderne."

Music critic J. D. Considine, while reviewing the Like a Prayer album for Rolling Stone complimented the song for creating an effective balance, contrasting its lighthearted nature with the trauma of "Oh Father", the next song. Considine also found retro-rock references in the song. Freya Jarman-Ivens, one of the authors of Madonna's Drowned Worlds, felt that the song was one of the last works on pure romanticism by Madonna. "She should come back to the formula from time to time, but I guess she has moved beyond all of that", Jarman-Ivens added. Carol Clerk, author of Madonnastyle noted that the "refreshing" nature of the song was particularly noticeable if one follows Madonna's catalog chronologically, especially embedded between the anthem like nature of the previous release, "Express Yourself", and the lament of the succeeding release, "Oh Father” – Wikipedia

US Billboard Hot 100 Position: 2

12. Express Yourself

From the Album: Like a Prayer (1989)

Release Date: 9th May, 1989  

Producers: Madonna/Stephen Bray

Critical Reaction:

 “Biographer Mary Cross noted in her book Madonna: A Biography, how the song paved the way for its music video and became a testament to freedom Authors Allen Metz and Carol Benson noted in their essays on Madonna, how she decimated "patriarchal, racist and capitalist constructions", by the way she pronounced the word "self" in "Express Yourself". They added that the opening line "Don't go for second best, baby" transformed the song into a postmodernist anthem. Scholar Sheila Whiteley noted in her book Women and Popular Music: Sexuality, Identity, and Subjectivity, that Madonna's acknowledgment of the pastiche and of being capable of imitating musical style was interesting to her, but given Madonna's ability to manipulate image, the musical exuberance of "Express Yourself" did not appear surprising.Mark Bego, author of Madonna: Blond Ambition declared that "the song that most reflected the Madonna everyone had come to know and be shocked by was 'Express Yourself'." O'Brien was impressed with the song, and gave a detailed review:

"Express Yourself" is a feminist call to arms, complete with muscular brass-playing and soulful voice. Here Madonna is the anti-materialism girl, exhorting her audience to respect themselves. That means having a man who loves your head and your heart. If he doesn't treat you right (and here's the revolutionary rhetoric) you're better off on your own. Like a female preacher, Madonna emphasizes each word of the chorus, invoking God and the power of orgasm. In parts Cosmo-woman, girl-talk, and swinging dance track, it presages the deliciously declarative stance of "Vogue" and shows Madonna moving from introspective to survivalist mode” – Wikipedia

US Billboard Hot 100 Position: 2

11. Like a Prayer

From the Album: Like a Prayer (1989)

Release Date: 3rd March, 1989

Producers: Madonna/Patrick Leonard

Critical Reaction:

 “Following the release of "Like a Prayer" on March 3, 1989, it received widespread acclaim from critics, journalists and academics. Taraborrelli commented that the track "deserved every bit of the curiosity it generated. While being devilishly danceable, the song also shows Madonna's uncanny ability to inspire strong, conflicting emotions during the course of a single song, leaving the listener scratching his head for answers—and craving for more.” Stephen Holden from The New York Times, while writing about Madonna's re-invention of her image, observed how her sound had changed from the "simple blaring dance-pop to the rich, fully rounded pop of 'Like a Prayer'". Lucy O'Brien felt that the most remarkable aspect of "Like a Prayer" was Madonna's usage of liturgical words. "There is the surface meaning, forging sexuality with pop lyrics that sound so sweet. But underlying that is a rigorous mediation on prayer. In shorter words, 'Like a Prayer' really takes you there," she concluded. This view was shared by Mary Cross, who wrote in her biography of Madonna that "the song is a mix of the sacred and the profane. There-in lies Madonna's triumph with 'Like a Prayer'. It still sounds catchy and danceable."

From the academic world, positive reviews came from Michael Campbell, author of Popular Music in America: And the Beat Goes On, who felt that the soothing melody of the track resembles British singer Steve Winwood's 1986 single "Higher Love". The author noted the song for merging disparate and contradictory musical features in it. He found that the simple melody of "Like a Prayer" offered an easy listen, but the contrasts in sound, rhythm and texture appealed to different target audiences. Australian rock music journalist Toby Creswell wrote in his book 1001 Songs that "'Like a Prayer' is a beautifully crafted devotional song in the guise of perfect pop. God is the drum machine here." Scholar Georges Claude Guilbert, author of Madonna as Postmodern Myth: How One Star's Self-Construction Rewrites Sex, Gender, Hollywood and the American Dream, noted that there is a polysemy in "Like a Prayer" since the singer addresses either God or her lover, and in doing so "Madonna achieves the gold-card of attaining her own divinity. Whenever someone calls her name, it alludes to the song". Theologian Andrew Greeley compared "Like a Prayer" with the biblical Song of Songs. Greeley, although focusing more on the video, acknowledged the fact that sexual passion may be revelatory, and complimented Madonna for glorifying ideologies of female subjectivity and womanhood in the song” – Wikipedia

US Billboard Hot 100 Position: 1

10. Papa Don’t Preach

From the Album: True Blue (1986)

Release Date: 11th June, 1986

Producers: Madonna/Stephen Bray

Critical Reaction:

 “Papa Don't Preach" was met with acclaim from music critics. Davitt Sigerson from Rolling Stone magazine in a review of the album True Blue said that if there is a problem with the album "it's the lack of outstanding songs", adding that "only the magnificent 'Papa Don't Preach' has the high-profile hook to match 'Like a Virgin', 'Dress You Up' and 'Material Girl'.” In its review of True Blue, Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine said that "she is using the music to hook in critics just as she's baiting a mass audience with such masterstrokes as 'Papa Don't Preach'". Robert Christgau in a review for The Village Voice felt that "she [Madonna] doesn't speak for the ordinary teenaged stiff any more than Reagan speaks for the union members", adding that "while the antiabortion content of 'Papa Don't Preach' isn't unequivocal, and wouldn't make the song bad by definition if it were, the ambiguity is a cop-out rather than an open door, which is bad."

Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine said that "with songs like 'Papa Don't Preach', Madonna made the transition from pop tart to consummate artist, joining the ranks of 80s icons like Michael Jackson and Prince." David Browne from Entertainment Weekly in a review of her first compilation album The Immaculate Collection, commented that "In theory, a 30-ish urban sophisticate singing in the voice of a pregnant teen [...] ought to sound ridiculous", but added that "With the help of collaborators like Stephen Bray and Patrick Leonard, though, [the song] turns into a perfectly conceived pop record." In 2005, the same magazine placed the song at number 486 on its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born". In 1987, the song was nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 29th Grammy Awards, but lost to Barbra Streisand's The Broadway Album” – Wikipedia

US Billboard Hot 100 Position: 1

9. Music

From the Album: Music (2000)

Release Date: 21st August, 2000

Producers: Madonna/Mirwais Ahmadzaï

Critical Reaction:

 “Upon release, the song received generally positive reviews from critics. J. Randy Taraborrelli, author of Madonna: An Intimate Biography, declared "Music" as a dance-anthem "that reaches into the future but also slyly conjures images and feelings of the good ol' disco days”. In a similar review, Lucy O'Brien, author of Madonna: Like an Icon, relegated the track as "a resurrection of the disco girl" image. She listed "Music" as a career-defining moment for Madonna, like previous singles "Vogue" and "Justify My Love" (both released in 1990). O'Brien clarified the song as "the same genre defining quality, robotic, tinny, trashy and audacious... She resurrects the Madonna imperative. Dance. Party. Surrender". Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic called it "a thumping track which sounds funkier, denser, sexier with each spin". Jim Farber of the New York Daily News gave a positive feedback, stating that it is "everything a single should be: pithy, simple and maddeningly catchy, her most instantly embraceable single since 'Holiday'". Farber also highlighted the lyrics, which he felt covered familiar ground for Madonna by talking about the power of dance music. This thought was shared by Fouz-Hernández, who believed that like her debut single "Everybody", "Music" defined Madonna's artistic credibility.

Reviewing the parent album for Rolling Stone, Barry Walters also compared it to Madonna's earlier work. Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine called it Madonna's best dance track since "Vogue", also comparing it to her 1985 single, "Into the Groove". In his review of Madonna's 2001 compilation GHV2, Cinquemani praised the single's "retro club beats and vintage synth sound". Giving it a B rating, he concluded that "only a former material girl living in a NASDAQ world could get away with a song like this". Dimitri Ehrlich from Vibe found "Music" to be "a bouncing parade of synthesizers that pose the question 'Do fortysomething baby-mamas still have the divine right to get down?' (The answer is yes)". Chuck Arnold from Entertainment Weekly, called it one of Madonna's "most eccentric hits ever" and found it to be reminiscent of her earlier works, specifically "Holiday” – Wikipedia

US Billboard Hot 100 Position: 1

8. Holiday

From the Album: Madonna (1983)

Release Date: 7th September, 1983

Producer: John ‘Jellybean’ Benitez

Critical Reaction:

 “The song received critical acclaim. Author Rikky Rooksby in his book The Complete Guide to the Music of Madonna commented that "'Holiday' was as infectious as the plague. One listen and you could not get the damn hook out of your mind." He also likened the track as getting on a carousel and enjoying the ride, or get really bothered by the song going "on-and-on" for six minutes. Jim Farber of Entertainment Weekly commented that "Holiday" satisfied the musical ear of both the sides of the Atlantic. While reviewing The Immaculate Collection album, David Browne from Entertainment Weekly commented that "Holiday" was a "spunky dance-beat trifle". He also complimented the song's expert production. 

Mary Cross in her biography of Madonna, described "Holiday" as "a simple song with a fresh appeal and a good mood." According to author Lucy O'Brien, who wrote in the biography Madonna: Like an Icon, the track was an example of Madonna's early musical endeavors being about the "power of dance". She believed that the song cemented her style of music with its "bubbling Latin undertow, crunchy bass and strings and Fred Zarr's elegant closing piano riff". O'Brien declared "Holiday" as Madonna's "most" persuasive dance song with its "tension, release, resolution and celebratory" nature enhanced by Madonna's "playful commands and exhortations". Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine described the song as airy. Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic called it effervescent and one of the great songs of the Madonna album. While reviewing The Immaculate Collection, he called it one of her greatest hits. Don Shewey of Rolling Stone commented that the simple lyrics of the song sound clever” – Wikipedia

US Billboard Hot 100 Position: 16

7. Human Nature

From the Album: Bedtime Stories (1994)

Release Date: 6th June, 1995

Producers: Madonna/Dave Hall

Critical Reaction:

 “Human Nature" received mostly positive reviews from music critics. Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine gave the song a positive review, stating that "for years, Madonna spoke in metaphors, fantasies and blatant shock tactics, but the performer indignantly struck back at her critics on 'Human Nature'. She didn't just hold up a mirror, she became the mirror". Barbara O'Dair from Rolling Stone also gave a positive review of the song, commenting that "Madonna does a drive-by on her critics, complete with a keening synth line straight outta Dre", adding that "Madonna's message is still 'Express yourself, don't repress yourself.' This time, however, it comes not with a bang but a whisper". Scott Kearnan of The Boston Globe included the track at number 11 on his list of "30 Ultimate Madonna Singles", stating that the line "Absolutely no regrets" was a "Madonna mantra if ever there was one". Medium's Richard LaBeau deemed it "one of Madonna’s best forays into R&B, this all-around-clever song features bold, unapologetic lyrics that serves as her unofficial manifesto".

Larry Flick from Billboard was also positive, and expected "radio to hungrily come to the table and dine on this wickedly catchy jeep/pop jam in which La M unapologetically snaps at her more close-minded critics". He complimented her vocals which were "playfully snide and aggressive, holding strong against a forceful hip-hop groove and a host of ear-pleasing funk guitar links and synth hoops". Music Week gave it four out of five, adding that "Maddy gets quirky on the hippest and most memorable track from Bedtime Stories". Author Chris Wade wrote in his book, The Music of Madonna, that "Human Nature" lifted the sadness emanated from the first few tracks from the album. "There's a great beat to this, a brilliant vocal where Madonna answers herself with whispers and an unforgettable chorus," Wade added. Matthew Rettenmund wrote in his Encyclopedia Madonnica that "in spite of the chart performance", the song has become a modern "self-empowerment anthem". Charles Aaron from Spin described the song as "slinking through [Hall's] low-ridin', gum-smackin' groove, Maddy's hard-bitten ingenue expresses no regrets, but this time you feel for her." Aaron highlighted the lyrics "Would it sound better if I were a man?" as subversive and coy. Author Lucy O'Brien described in her book, Madonna: Like an Icon, that "Human Nature" was one of the "quirkiest" tracks on Bedtime Stories, "throbbing with a tightly restrained but devastating anger” – Wikipedia

US Billboard Hot 100 Position: 46

6. La Isla Bonita

From the Album: True Blue (1986)

Release Date: 25th February, 1987

Producers: Madonna/Patrick Leonard

Critical Reaction:

 “Rikky Rooksby, in his book The Complete Guide to the Music of Madonna called the song "a little escapism". Dawn Keetley in his book Public Women, Public Words called the song one of Madonna's most perfect songs capturing her inner emotional life. William McKeen called the song "tranquil" and "Up on the Roof type imaginary escapes from the city snarl, the kind of Latin-flavored sweets that Blondie could never resist." Ken Barnes of Creem wrote the song is "no "Open Your Heart", but its lilting (yet reflective) quality transcends the south-of-the-border cliches."

Jon Pareles of The New York Times said that "La Isla Bonita" was one of Madonna's "friendlier" love songs. Don McLeese of the Chicago Sun-Times believed that the song was the best song on the album, as well as the most memorable. Meanwhile, Steve Morse of The Boston Globe believed that it was one of her "prettier" songs. Joey Guerra of the Houston Chronicle, while reviewing Madonna's Sticky & Sweet Tour, called the song a true retro one. Marty Racine, from the same newspaper, believed that the song was one that stood out on the album. Los Angeles Daily News, when discussing Madonna's style of music, believed that "La Isla Bonita" was a song that was "pointing in [a] welcome direction” – Wikipedia

US Billboard Hot 100 Position: 4

5. Material Girl

From the Album: Like a Virgin (1984)

Release Date: 30th November, 1984

Producer: Nile Rodgers

Critical Reaction:

“Following the song's release on November 30, 1984, as the second single from Like a Virgin, "Material Girl" received mixed reviews from music critics. Author Rikky Rooksby, in his book The Complete Guide to the Music of Madonna, compared the song with those of Cyndi Lauper because of Madonna's shrill voice in the song. He added that the song was a "pungent satire on the Reagan/Thatcher young-guns-go-for-it era. Which just goes to show that pop music and irony don't mix." Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic said that "Material Girl" was one of the songs that made Madonna an icon, the other being "Like a Virgin" from the same album, both remaining as a definitive statement. He added that both tunes overshadow the rest of the record, "because they are a perfect match of theme and sound." Debby Miller from Rolling Stone, felt that the song portrayed Madonna as a more practical girl than previous female singers. Dave Karger from Entertainment Weekly, while reviewing the album in 1995, felt that the song came off a bit repetitious and immature when compared to the present context. Jim Farber from Entertainment Weekly felt that the song provided then critics a way to criticize Madonna's work. Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine commented that Madonna had "defined a generation with hits like 'Material Girl'." Alfred Soto from Stylus Magazine compared the song with "Everything She Wants" by Wham!. Michael Paoletta from Billboard commented that the song sustained a "fevered dance-rock momentum." Nancy Erlick from Billboard said that "singer and team conquer once more with their irresistible assembly of new and used pop hooks." In 2003, Madonna fans were asked to vote for their Top 20 Madonna singles of all time for a special issue of Q magazine dedicated to Madonna. "Material Girl" was allocated the 15th spot on the list” – Wikipedia

US Billboard Hot 100 Position: 2

4. Vogue

From the Album: I'm Breathless: Music from and Inspired by the Film Dick Tracy (soundtrack, 1990)

Release Date: 27th March, 1990

Producers: Madonna/Shep Pettibone

Critical Reaction:

“Vogue" has been lauded by critics since its release. AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine claimed that the song was "Madonna's finest single moment" and that it had an "instantly memorable melody". In a review of The Immaculate Collection, Erlewine also claimed that the song was "sleek" and "stylish". Jose F. Promis, in another AllMusic review, claimed that "Vogue" was a "crowning artistic achievement". Bill Coleman from Billboard commented that "the starlet's pop/house homage to the underground (soon to be pushed very overground) fad pulls off its aims." He stated that it "maintains the flavor of Pettibone's past "house" treatments with a bit of his classic "Love Break" tossed in for good deja vu measure." Ernest Hardy from Cashbox stated that "pop savvy takes well to a house setting", adding, "it's gonna be a Madonna Summer". Jim Farber from Entertainment Weekly, in a relatively negative review of I'm Breathless, asserted that the "finale of Vogue" is "the sole bright spot". David Giles from Music Week stated that "it possesses a meatier groove than we've been used to and also a silly "list" segment that reduces her to the level of the Beloved.” In his review of I'm Breathless, Mark Coleman from Rolling Stone wrote that, whilst the song initially sounded "lackluster", within the album's context, it "gains a startling resonance"]. Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine, in his review of the album as a whole, claimed that whilst the "hugely influential" song initially sounded "grossly out of place", it turns out to be "a fitting finale" for I'm Breathless. J. Randy Taraborrelli, in his book, Madonna: An Intimate Biography, wrote that the song was a "funky, uptown anthem celebrating the art of 'voguing'", as well as that the rap section "is still one of Madonna's greatest camp musical moments” – Wikipedia

US Billboard Hot 100 Position: 1

3. Ray of Light

From the Album: Ray of Light (1998)

Release Date: 6th May, 1998

Producers: Madonna/William Orbit

Critical Reaction:

“Ray of Light" received acclaim from music critics. In a review of the album as a whole, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic described it as "swirling". In a review of the maxi CD single, Liana Jonas of the same website called the track a "wickedly good club song" and "sonically progressive yet listener-friendly". She also praised Madonna's vocals, comparing them to those of a "club diva to celestial goddess". "The title track builds from another incongruously pretty guitar arpeggio into thumping rave anthem mode," Stuart Maconie wrote in a Q review of Ray of Light, "but always underscored with keen musical intelligence. It could be a lighter, less one-dimensional Chemical Brothers."

Larry Flick of Billboard described it as Madonna at her best, calling it a "spiritually charged, often poetic song". He especially mentioned the flexible vocals and Madonna's progression as a recording artist. Rob Sheffield from Rolling Stone in his review for the album as a whole, wrote that, alongside other tracks such as "Swim" and "Drowned World/Substitute For Love", Madonna is "positively ferocious" sounding on "Ray of Light". Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine wrote that the song was a "celebratory tech-frenzy", and noted Madonna's elated singing. In a review of Madonna's second hits compilation, GHV2 (2001), Cinequemani wrote:

Like no other Madonna hit in recent memory, the frenetic “Ray of Light” found the singer in a celebratory tech-frenzy. Whether it was an epiphany of the spiritual or sonic kind, her elation was unmistakable. Orbit’s cycles of analog synths and electric guitar licks perfectly supplemented the elasticity of Madonna’s newly-trained vocal chords. Not since “Deeper and Deeper” had she reached such dizzying heights” – Wikipedia

US Billboard Hot 100 Position: 5

2. Frozen

From the Album: Ray of Light (1998)

Release Date: 23rd February, 1998

Producers: Madonna/William Orbit/Patrick Leonard

Critical Reaction:

“Jon Pareles from The New York Times was impressed how Madonna, dulcet and careful, performed the song. Joan Anderman from The Boston Globe said that on Ray of Light, only "Frozen" achieves a "state of divine balladry", recalls the "emotional pitch" and simmers the "beauty of 1986's 'Live to Tell' with a dark, lush string section, the smash and patter of a lone drum, and an ominous, pulsing buzz". In his review of Ray of Light, Neil Spencer of The Observer commented, "it's sensuous songs such as [...] 'Frozen' that stand out; music for the chill-out room." Elysa Gardner, writing in the Los Angeles Times, said "Madonna's enduring knack for incorporating hip and exotic textures into accessible pop tunes is evident on the plaintive single 'Frozen'". Sputnikmusic viewed the track as the singer "at her soothing best", highlighting its "interesting percussion backing" and "beautiful use of strings with techno effects".

David Browne of Entertainment Weekly described the song as a "wuthering-beats melodrama that's often breathtaking." Also from Entertainment Weekly, Chuck Arnold wrote: "sounding unlike anything Madonna had ever done before, and creating a mystical forest of sonic wonder — sweeping strings and all — 'Frozen' possesses an almost operatic grandeur that never fails to give you chills". Stephen Thompson from The A.V. Club wrote, "the atmospheric 'Frozen' is a great first single despite lyrics like, 'Love is a bird / She needs to fly.'" Conversely, NME called the song "another pile of her usual weepy old bollocks". Jim Farber of the Daily News wrote that "Frozen" compromises its electronic style with "too much tepid pop". The Guardian's Caroline Sullivan regarded it as a tremulous song Ray of Light could have done without. Jose F. Thomas from AllMusic rated the song two stars out of five, describing it as "chilly” – Wikipedia

US Billboard Hot 100 Position: 2

1. Take a Bow

From the Album: Bedtime Stories (1994)

Release Date: 6th December, 1994

Producers: Madonna/Babyface

Critical Reaction:

“Upon release, "Take a Bow" received general acclaim from critics. Peter Calvin from The Advocate praised the lyrical flow of the song, saying that the "effect is truly heartbreaking. The song... shows that ultimately Madonna... is just like you and me". Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic referred to "Take a Bow" as "tremendous", listing it as one of the best songs from Bedtime Stories and stating that it "slowly works its melodies into the subconscious as the bass pulses". He goes on to say that it "offer[s] an antidote to Erotica, which was filled with deep but cold grooves". Louis Virtel, from TheBacklot.com, placed "Take a Bow" at number 27 of his list "The 100 Greatest Madonna Songs". He wrote; "Madonna's most successful single to date is a melancholic evisceration of a lover's artifice, and its hopeless plain-spokenness makes it one of the finest examples of 90s balladry". J. D. Considine of The Baltimore Sun stated that the song, about "innocent romance" has a "gently cascading melody”.  In his review of Bedtime Stories, Billboard's Paul Verna called it a "holiday feast for Top 40, rhythm crossover, and AC". Also from Billboard, Larry Flick gave the single a particularly positive review; "The follow-up to the top five smash 'Secret' [...] is as perfect as top 40 fare gets. This single has a delightful, immediately memorable melody and chorus, engaging romance-novel lyrics and a lead vocal that is both sweet and quietly soulful. A lovely way for [Madonna] to kick out '95".

Rikky Rooksby, author of The Complete Guide to the Music of Madonna, was less impressed with the track. Although he felt that it sounded "shockingly normal" after the "ambient 'Bedtime Story'", he found the song's length as over-long and deduced it to be "communica[ting] no sense whatsoever of the pain of a real goodbye." In his 2011 review of Bedtime Stories, Brett Callwood of the Detroit Metro Times called the song "spectacular". Encyclopedia Madonnica writer Matthew Rettenmund called it a "sentimental ballad with showbiz theme" while finding similarities in the song to that of "Superstar" by The Carpenters. Writing for Entertainment Weekly, Chuck Arnold called it "one of the most elegant, most un-Madonna-sounding things she’s ever done". While ranking Madonna's singles in honor of her 60th birthday, Jude Rogers from The Guardian placed the track at number 38, calling it a "compellingly cinematic orchestral drama". Matthew Jacobs, from The Huffington Post, placed it at number 19 of his list "The Definitive Ranking Of Madonna Singles" calling it her "most poetic ballad". Bianca Gracie from Idolator noted it as a "timeless ballad", adding that it "has warm strings and soaring harmonies with a hint of tragedy from Madonna’s somber vocals, which makes the end result all the more beautiful." In his book, Madonna: An Intimate Biography, J. Randy Taraborrelli called it a "melancholy and beautifully executed ballad". Music & Media said it is "an elegant ballad, a perfect alternative to prosaic lullabies." They added, "The intro could be mistaken for jingle bells and fits in well with the season” – Wikipedia

US Billboard Hot 100 Position: 1

FEATURE: Spotlight: NOISY

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

NOISY

___________

BECAUSE I have been listening a lot…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Alannah Williams

to their single, Young Dumb, I wanted to throw the spotlight on NOISY. The Worthing trio have been receiving love from a lot of different sources lately – including the guys at NME (I shall quote from their recent interview soon). I will work to 2021 and the interviews conducted then. Before that, 1883 Magazine spoke with the band when they released their debut E.P., Press Space to Play:

“First off, can you tell us about the band name, and what made you decide to come up with NOISY?

We always wanted a simple one-word name that people could remember easily. Also wanted it to contain only 4-5 letters, so we didn’t give ourselves a lot of options! We had like 50 names that we whittled down to 1, which was Happy Sad. Although it wasn’t the short snappy name that we first wanted, it seemed to create a buzz between us for a few days. Thinking back now, I’m glad it was an option as the logo we use today wouldn’t have been created. After realising Happy Sad wasn’t for us, “Noisy” quickly came around and stuck immediately. We felt like it fit our whole vibe and everyone seemed to be hyped on it from the get go.

You all worked within the NHS when you were signed. During these times that must have been an interesting experience. What was it like working such an important role while also pursuing creative passions?

It was actually a really good time for us. There was no pressure on writing back then so we were smashing out 2-3 songs every week whilst discovering what we wanted Noisy to be and sound like. People at work knew us as “the boys in the band” so it felt like a constant news update on what was happening and what we were up to. Working 7.30-4 and then going to the studio after to track in some lyrics that I’d snuck off to the bathroom to write that day, was the norm for me.

Congratulations on the new EP! How did you feel about releasing this body of work?

Can’t actually believe it’s out in the world. We’ve been sitting on I Wish I Was A… for well over a year now as it never felt like the right time for it to drop, and I’m glad we waited. This release feels like we’ve really arrived now. From start to finish it sums up our band, lyrically and musically. We’ve built the Noisy foundation with these last 2 EPs and now it’s really time to go.

What are you most looking forward to in 2021? What can we expect next, word on the street is that you’re hoping to start your own club?

Shows hopefully. It’s getting boring now haha. Feel like everyone just needs that release. We also have a lot of new music to share with the world, so we need dark rooms to play it in. Fast FWD To Friday is a club night we started back last October and was a huge success. The plan is to put more on around the country in the future. Less of a gig and more a messy night”.

They created quite a bang with that E.P. I think that, despite the pandemic hitting, the trio has accrued a healthy fanbase and distinguished themselves as one of the most promising young acts around. I know that they will cement that when they play live and can finally get out there to the people!             

This year, BN1 highlighted the incredible and compelling NOISY. We discover about the group’s unique sound and how they have fared during the pandemic:

“Their sound is unique as they portray a roulette-style genre; you never quite know what you will get with a Noisy song. Rather like a good cocktail, a combination of hip hop and drum & bass, their style is rich and glitchy and lunges from pop one minute into a hybrid indie-rock/rap-esc concoction. After asking each of them to describe their music in one word, we were left with “euphoric”, “youthful” and “energy.” Everything about Noisy is outer-worldly, with their music keeping you on your toes.

Being a new band, they have found it challenging to have had the opportunity of live shows confiscated from them so soon after entering the scene. Cody explained, “that’s kind of where we thought we would grow the most.” However, from the true spirit of their music, it is clear they collectively will not let obstacles get in the way. “Lockdown has allowed us to be quite creative; we wrote the whole next body of work or at least what we think it’s going to be.”

Lockdown has provided the band with the time to experiment in ways they maybe never would have: “we have become social media wizards.” Relieving the pressures of being on tour, eliminating time restrictions on creativity is often when the best comes out. In the face of having time to make music through lockdown, the trio is ready to get back on the road and endure new experiences to bring into their work.

Growing up in a small town with not much to do, provided Noisy with an environment of focus, allowing the boys to put the majority of their energy into creating music. “If we lived in Brighton or London, there would have been so much more to distract us.” The band perfectly represents the rebelliousness of today’s youth, drawing on the experiences of young people growing up. “Lyrically, we write about going out with our mates and, you know, regretting it in the morning.” The familiarity of their strain and ability to relate to the listener makes this band unique. They are all about going out and having a good time, making you want to leave nothing behind and just live the Noisy life. The boys’ affinity with their hometown and all that comes with it has become a pivotal part of their musical experience. “The space you’re in definitely inspires you to make stuff and usually it is a reflection of where you’re at and who you’re with”.

Before closing things and urging you to investigate NOISY, it is time to get to that NME interview. It must be a big honour for the band to be recognised by one of the most reputable and popular music sites/magazines in the country:

“The frontman of the Worthing-based band – who are completed by guitarist Connor Cheetham and producer/guitarist Spencer Tobias-Williams – is recalling the moment they signed to Island Records in April 2019 without a single release to their name. After NOISY’s team played some demos to label execs at some ungodly hour post-pub, a deal was swiftly agreed. “Our management showed them a few songs and they were like, ‘We need to sign this, now!’” Thomas-Matthews recalls excitedly. “And then we got an offer in the morning.”

NOISY’s swaggering hybrid of dance, rap, drum’n’bass and jungle can certainly inspire such instant thrills: their pick’n’mix approach to chopped samples and self-produced beats liberally experiments with genre conventions. Arriving in a Day-Glo blaze with the ‘Press Space To Play’ EP in January 2020, the band have spent the following year and a half churning out impossibly massive-sounding singles in preparation for a long-awaited return to their natural environment: sweat-drenched, laser-filled nightclubs.

With a brand new single ‘Young Dumb’ now out in the world, NOISY want to replicate that “utterly euphoric” feeling for fans at their festival slots this summer. NME hopped on a Zoom call with the trio to chat about how they rose from the ashes of their previous band, FIFA 22 and their live plans for the rest of 2021.

Your background was originally in indie-rock. What prompted the pivot to explore dance, hip hop and jungle influences?

Connor: “We’ve always listened to those genres of music. Even when we were in an indie band, people used to come to our gigs and the pre-show playlists were stuffed with American rap and dance music, and everyone in the crowd would be like, ‘What the hell is going on?!’.”

Spencer: “There was definitely a Skrillex song on there, plus some Dr. Dre and Baauer. So yeah, it was a bit mental! Thinking about it now, people must have been spinning out a bit before we came on stage… But also, in a way boredom propelled this: there’s only so far you can take two guitars, bass and a drum kit in a room. We wanted to get a bit weirder, and we couldn’t really do that with the classic set-up.”

Your music looks outward: you sing about escaping from the drudgery of your day-to-day routine and seeking out raves and new experiences. Has it felt strange releasing these songs throughout a time where clubs have been closed?

Cody: “It’s really not been great because we’re not a TikTok band, we’re a live band: I feel like that’s how we’re going to make new fans. To have that taken away, and for this long as well, has been quite intense. But I feel like we’ve managed to get through it, and we’ve used the time to get better at writing as well. I think that’s one thing that we’ve taken out of it: we’ve written a lot of really strong music.”

What have you learned about yourselves on this journey so far?

Cody: “Being able to quit our jobs and do this for a living was obviously a massive blessing. Spending every single day with each other has been sick. Sometimes we sit here thinking, ‘This life is a proper dream’”.

I am going to leave things here. Make sure that you check out and listen to NOISY. There are a lot of terrific new artists around. One can tell NOISY will be around for a while and have a lot more to say. They are incredible, tight-knit and creators of some memorable music. Check out their social media pages to see where you can catch them play live. After a trough and strange past year or so, they must be eager to get out and release some of that pent-up live energy. If you can catch them on the stage, then make sure that you do not…

PASS up the opportunity.

_______________

Follow NOISY

Official:

https://theworldnoisy.com/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/theworldnoisy

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/theworldnoisy

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/theworldnoisy

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/5bt1iZVk3VV1LxRL4wzZ9F

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRZCWTZIKZK11k1Ef19aEYg

FEATURE: The Lockdown Playlist: The Edge at Sixty: The Very Best of U2

FEATURE:

 

 

The Lockdown Playlist

The Edge at Sixty: The Very Best of U2

___________

I want to put…

out a Lockdown Playlist for U2’s The Edge, as he turns sixty on 8th August. The lead guitarist, keyboardist, and backing vocalist of the iconic Irish band, I am going to put together a selection if the best U2 songs - rather than just the best performance from The Edge. Before coming to that, here is some biography about the great man:

“Edge was born David Howell Evans in East London on 8th August 1961 to Garvin and Gwenda Evans. He has one sister, Jill, and one brother, Dik, who was also one of the founder members of U2's forerunner, The Hype, before leaving to join the Virgin Prunes. Having moved to Ireland while David was still at school, the Evans family settled in St. Mary Park Road, Malahide - an affluent area north of Dublin. His mother was friendly with Adam's mother, Jo, so he and Adam knew each other before the band was formed. It was while in Malahide that he attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School and met the rest of the band.

Many theories exist concerning how Edge came to get his unusual name. As teenagers, he and Bono were both members of a group called Lypton Village, where everyone was given a name that suited them (as opposed to the one they'd been born with). Some say that the name The Edge was chosen due to his 'edgy' style of guitar playing, while others say it was because he rarely became fully involved in things, preferring instead to remain 'on the edge'. Either way, the name stuck.

Edge learned guitar mainly by playing over records that the rest of the band supplied him with. Rory Gallagher and Tom Verlaine were early influences, although the fledgeling U2 covered anything from The Moody Blues to The Sex Pistols - in fact it was the realisation that they were not a good cover band that forced them to start writing their own material and become good. Edge developed a distinctive style that he described as "doing the work of two", as he liked to fill every spare moment with guitar. He has always seen himself as the opposite of the stereotypical guitar hero, preferring instead to think of himself as someone who communicates something meaningful through his music in a way that means something to the listener. While some detractors claim that Edge's style is simplistic, others have praised him for defining his own sound”.

To mark the upcoming fiftieth birthday of The Edge, here are some classic U2 tracks. Whilst Bono leads the band, I feel The Edge is one of the most important members; responsible for many of U2’s best and most memorable moments. Here are the U2 songs where The Edge is…

VITAL to their brilliance.

FEATURE: Inspired by The Godfather… Kate Bush’s Between a Man and a Woman

FEATURE:

 

 

Inspired by The Godfather…

PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari (from his book, The Kate Inside)

Kate Bush’s Between a Man and a Woman

___________

I have almost done…

and investigated every Kate Bush song in some form of other. I published a feature recently that celebrated the icon on her birthday (30th July). I was doing some research and came across some background to the song, Between a Man and a Woman. One of the most underrated and lesser-known songs from The Sensual World (1989), it sort of arrives half-way down the tracklisting – after the brilliant Deeper Understanding and before another less-heard song, Never Be Mine. The Sensual World is an album that contains the huge songs that most people know about: The Sensual World, Deeper Understanding and This Woman’s Work. All three of these songs were reworked by Bush for her 2011 album, Director’s Cut (The Sensual World was retitled Flower of the Mountain). Between a Man and a Woman comes on the second side of an album on a run of three songs – Between a Man and a Woman, Never Be Mine and Rocket’s Tail – that are not really played or known about. There are a few reasons to love Between a Man and a Woman. It is one of Bush’s finest vocal performances on The Sensual World. It crackles with energy, lust, hurt and so many different emotions. The physicality from her performance brings the song to life! I love the musicians on the song and, particularly, Alan Stivell’s backing vocals and Celtic harp. The production and sound of the song is amazingly powerful. It reignites my call for radio stations to broaden their Kate Bush scope. I don’t think I have heard Between a Man and a Woman played before – shame, as it is a song that so many people would love!

I do like the story and background of the track. As we see from quotes sourced by the Kate Bush Encyclopaedia, there is some fantastic playing on the song. I was also not aware until recently what influenced the track’s title:

“It's about a relationship being a very finely balanced thing that can be easily thrown off by a third party. The whole thing really came from a line in 'The Godfather', during some family argument, when Marlon Brando says, "Don't interfere, it's between a man and a woman." It's exploring the idea of trying to keep a relationship together, how outside forces can break into it... Rubbish really, but I quite like the cello. (Len Brown, 'In The Realm Of The Senses'. NME (UK), 7 October 1989)

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

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

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

I do love the first side of The Sensual World, though there are so many rich and beautiful songs on the second side. Like so many Kate Bush albums, the tracks are exactly where they need to be. I am not sure whether that was Bush’s decision as the album’s producer, or whether one of the engineers like Del Palmer got a bigger say. Between a Man and a Woman hits you with its sound and the intriguing sonic layers. You will also come back in to experience the lyrics. Whether she is talking about characters or there are bits of her personal experiences in the lyrics, it is a song that has some tension and fears. A lot of Bush’s songs regarding relationships are positive and passionate – in fact, she is hugely positive when it comes to love; very little finger-pointing and judgment. Maybe The Sensual World was the first album where there is more pull and push and clashes regarding love. There was some of that in 1985’s Hounds of Love, though there was nothing like Between a Man and a Woman on there I don’t think. Some of the lyrics really jump out: “Every day and night I pray/Pray that you will stay away forever/It's so hard for love to stay together/With the modern Western pressures”. With Stuart Elliott’s punchy drums and Alan Murphy unleashing this sensational guitar part, you get a palpable feel of heartbeat and strain.

Bush let’s her voice fly and wind. Whilst her vocals were higher-pitched earlier in her career and the acrobatics were quite common, here, her lower vocal register creates a different impact. Her voice is matured, more sensual and imbued with greater wisdom. She gives every line her all! Another favourite lyrical section of mine: “Stay out of this/Oh, I know you mean to help me/And I know you've good intentions/But stay out of this/This isn't your problem/Do not interfere”. I am not surprised Between a Man and a Woman was not chosen for reworking on Director’s Cut. I don’t think it was a case Bush doesn’t like the song and felt it was not work reinvestigating. I feel she is happier with its sound and what she did first time around - at least I hope so anyway, as it definitely does not need changing or stripping back. It is a magnificent song that more people should hear. I really love how The Godfather compelled Bush! She frequently took from film, T.V. and literature. That idea of there being this private struggle and complex situation in a relationship that is vulnerable from unwanted and intrusive outside forces. This was nothing new in a song, yet few songwriters articulated this sensation like Bush did on Between a Man and a Woman. The song is quite busy and full of life, yet I do not think it is too cluttered. One of the problems Bush had with The Sensual World - and particularly The Red Shoes (the 1993 follow-up) - is the edgier sound and the fact there are lots of instruments and elements fused together. Between a Man and a Woman is a stunning track that is among the finest…

ON The Sensual World.

FEATURE: Here, There and Everywhere: Revolver at Fifty-Five: The Legacy and Importance of The Beatles’ Masterpiece

FEATURE:

 

 

Here, There and Everywhere

Revolver at Fifty-Five: The Legacy and Importance of The Beatles’ Masterpiece

___________

TOMORROW is a special day…

 PHOTO CREDIT: David Mcenery/REX/Shutterstock

as The Beatles’ seventh studio album, Revolver, turns fifty-five. Released on 5th August, 1966, it is a hugely impressive and influential album. There has been debate through the years as to which album by the band rules. Maybe Abbey Road (the final album the band recorded) could claim some superiority and popularity over Revolver. For a long time, 1967’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was seen as the king. Many were swept up by the fact it was so important when it was released - and it seemed to usher in something new and seismic. If one integrates the songs and judged the album as a whole, maybe the importance of the time and what Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band represents in a wider sense is more impressive than the album itself – even if there are some absolute classics to be enjoyed! Revolver sort of came into its own because people realised that it is a more collaborative effort than its successor. Maybe it was the last album where the band were on the same page and seemed very together. Also, in the 1990s, many Britpop bands used Revolver as a template. With Revolver turning thirty in 1996, small wonder many artists were picking it up again and finding inspiration. There is so much in the album that influences and blows the senses. If some bands were captivated by the psychedelic spin and epic atmosphere of Tomorrow Never Knows or the somnambulism of I’m Only Sleeping; the way a sad song like Eleanor Rigby could sound so beautiful and addictive; the pure perfection of And Your Bird Can Sing or the childlike wonder of Yellow Submarine, others found something else to admire. There are so many colours and styles mastered and experimented with. Even today, artists are finding something new in Revolver.

With one thing or the other, Paul McCartney was dominating and leading the group by 1967. Lennon was not as productive and together. Whilst Ringo Starr and George Harrison were more together and focused, one can feel more of McCartney in Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Lennon rediscovered inspiration and almost surpassed McCartney in terms of his contributions on The Beatles (1968). By Abbey Road in 1969, again, McCartney was the group leader and most prolific songwriter – the same is also true of Let It Be (1970). Revolver seems to be The Beatles tight and balanced. George Harrison contributes great songs like Taxman (Revolver’s opener); Ringo Starr’s vocal on Yellow Submarine is infectious, strong and brilliant. I am going to bring in a couple of articles that look at the legacy of Revolver. Although John Lennon and Paul McCartney were largely writing separately by 1966, there isn’t this sense that they were drifting apart, or big cracks were forming – just that the two had their own ideas and ways of working. Lennon wrote the staggering And Your Bird Can Sing, Tomorrow Never Knows and I’m Only Sleeping (McCartney may have contributed a bit here and there; Lennon the same on McCartney’s tracks). Maybe McCartney was slightly ahead in terms of the classics: Eleanor Rigby, Here, There and Everywhere, Good Day Sunshine and Got to Get You Into My Life. Rather than Revolver being a competition, it is an album where the band are at their peak. Not only in terms of the range of songs and how advanced everything sounds. The songs make a huge impact without extending the three-minute mark! Eleanor Rigby is 2:06; Yellow Submarine 2:38; And Your Bird Can Sing 2:00. Even the immense closer, Tomorrow Never Knows, is 2:59. Only one song on the album – I’m Only Sleeping – exceeds three minutes. And to be fair, it is 3:00 dead!

For those like me who grew up in the 1990s, Revolver was handed down from our parents. We got a sense of what they must have felt when the album came out in 1966. With bands of the 1990s especially influenced by it, the album took on new meaning and life. Whilst no one song or artist could match the best moments of Revolver, it shows that it had this amazing legacy and real sense of significance. Before bringing in some articles, this Wikipedia entry reveals the extent of Revolver’s legacy:

“MacDonald deems Lennon's remark about the Beatles' "god-like status" in March 1966 to have been "fairly realistic", given the reaction to Revolver. He adds: "The album's aural invention was so masterful that it seemed to Western youth that The Beatles knew – that they had the key to current events and were somehow orchestrating them through their records." MacDonald highlights "the radically subversive" message of "Tomorrow Never Knows" – exhorting listeners to empty their minds of all ego- and material-related thought – as the inauguration of a "till-then élite-preserved concept of mind-expansion into pop, simultaneously drawing attention to consciousness-enhancing drugs and the ancient religious philosophies of the Orient". Author Shawn Levy writes that the album presented an alternative reality that contemporary listeners felt compelled to explore further; he describes it as "the first true drug album, not a pop record with some druggy insinuations, but an honest-to-heaven, steeped-in-the-out-there trip from the here and now into who knew where”.

According to Simon Philo, Revolver announced the arrival of the "underground London" sound, supplanting that of Swinging London. Barry Miles describes the album as an "advertisement for the underground", and recalls that it resounded on the level of experimental jazz among members of the movement, including those who soon founded the UFO Club. He says it established rock 'n' roll as an art form and identifies its "trailblazing" quality as the impetus for Pink Floyd's The Piper at the Gates of Dawn and for Brian Wilson to complete the Beach Boys' "mini-symphony", "Good Vibrations". Citing composer and producer Virgil Moorefield's book The Producer as Composer, author Jay Hodgson highlights Revolver as a "dramatic turning point" in recording history through its dedication to studio exploration over the "performability" of the songs, as this and subsequent Beatles albums reshaped listeners' preconceptions of a pop recording. In his review for Pitchfork, Plagenhoef says that the album not only "redefin[ed] what was expected from popular music", but recast the Beatles as "avatars for a transformative cultural movement". MacDonald cites Revolver as a musical statement that, further to the Rubber Soul track "The Word" and "Rain", helped guide the counterculture towards the 1967 Summer of Love due to the widespread popularity of the Beatles.

Revolver has been recognised as having inspired new subgenres of music, anticipating electronica, punk rock, baroque rock and world music, among other styles. According to Rolling Stone, the album "signaled that in popular music, anything – any theme, any musical idea – could now be realized". Through the Beatles' example, psychedelia moved from its underground roots into the mainstream, thereby originating the longer-lasting psychedelic pop style. Russell Reising and Jim LeBlanc credit the songs on Revolver with "set[ting] the stage for an important subgenre of psychedelic music, that of the messianic pronouncement". As with Rubber Soul, Walter Everett views the album's "experimental timbres, rhythms, tonal structures, and poetic texts" as the inspiration for many of the bands that formed the progressive rock genre in the early 1970s. He also considers Revolver to be "an innovative example of electronic music" as much as it broke new ground in pop by being "fundamentally unlike any rock album that had preceded it". Rolling Stone attributes the development of the Los Angeles and San Francisco music scenes, including subsequent releases by the Beach Boys, Love and the Grateful Dead, to the influence of Revolver, particularly "She Said She Said".

Steve Turner likens the Beatles' creative approach in 1966 to that of modern jazz musicians, and recognises their channelling of Indian and Western classical, Southern soul, and electronic musical styles into their work as unprecedented in popular music. He says that, through the band's efforts to faithfully translate their LSD-inspired vision into music, "Revolver opened the doors to psychedelic rock (or acid rock)", while the primitive means by which it was recorded (on four-track equipment) inspired the work that artists such as Pink Floyd, Genesis, Yes and the Electric Light Orchestra were able to achieve with advances in studio technology. Turner also highlights the pioneering sampling and tape manipulation employed on "Tomorrow Never Knows" as having "a profound effect on everyone from Jimi Hendrix to Jay-Z".

The fact many name Revolver as The Beatles’ best album means its influence and importance is huge! There are other facts and achievements that can be mentioned that goes to show just how special Revolver is. One only needs to consider how highly Revolver has been regarded by music critics and magazines through the years. This Beatles Daily article from 2016 shed more light:

“In 1997, it was named the third greatest album of all time in a Music of the Millennium poll conducted in the United Kingdom by HMV Group, Channel 4, The Guardian and Classic FM.

In 2000, Q magazine placed it at number 1 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever.

In 2002, the readers of Rolling Stone ranked the album the greatest of all time.

In 2006, Guitar World readers chose it as the 10th best guitar album of all time.

In 2007, a PopMatters review described the album’s content – “the individual members of the

greatest band in the history of pop music peaking at the exact same time”.

One can listen to Revolver for the first time today and would be won over. The songs are short and punchy, yet there is a lot of experimentation and some lush moments. As opposed to the largely brief and anthemic Pop songs of their earliest albums, Revolver is more textured and layered. To me, it is the sheer breadth of the sounds on Revolver that means anyone can find something to love! For such a busy and important album, it only lasts a little over thirty-four minutes. It is amazing how The Beatles packed so much in and leave you wanting even more! It is testament to the band’s consistency and overflow of quality material that the single, Paperback Writer (with Rain as the B-side), was not put on Revolver! Take away its innovation and the fact The Beatles were starting to push the studio and experiment more – as they were touring less and starting to find that slog and routine exhausting and not work it anymore - and the album is still so important and ahead of anything else. The Beatles recorded Revolver after taking a three-month break at the start of 1966. Many people regard it as the start of The Beatles’ Psychedelic period. Pushing away from love songs and broadening their horizons, they addressed themes such as death and transcendence from material concerns. The boys knew they would not be touring these songs - so, as such, they could spend time in studio making the material a little denser and more sophisticated. The Beatles were doing things their own way and were pushing boundaries like never before. How exciting and inspiring it would have been for other artists at the time!

I am going to finish off with a feature from 2016 that the BBC published. To me, it is the absolute quality and power of the album that makes it so influential and inspiring:

“The best Beatles album? The rock historians often point to Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band as the moment, in 1967, when rock magically grew up and became a legitimate art form, at least as it was perceived by the mainstream media. Many fans love the sprawl and variety of the self-titled 1968 double album, popularly known as The White Album. In some quarters there’s a fondness for Abbey Road and its side-long suite of mini-songs, and lovers of the Bob Dylan-influenced folk-rock of the mid-‘60s cherish Rubber Soul above all. They all have merit, but none of them is as consistently brilliant and innovative as Revolver.

All The Beatles’ previous albums had been rush jobs – their debut was recorded in four hours. But in 1966, the quartet pulled off the road for good to devote themselves to songwriting and record-making. Lennon and McCartney were still closely collaborating and pushing each other to new levels of innovation, and Harrison was emerging as a formidable third songwriter and voice in the band. Now, with the luxury of time to tinker, edit, re-edit and experiment, The Beatles were poised to record a masterpiece.

Tomorrow Never Knows set a high standard for an album that moves from one peak to the next: Harrison’s corrosive guitar lick and McCartney’s commanding counterpoint bassline in Taxman made for one of The Beatles’ toughest-sounding tracks, the brisk strings on Eleanor Rigby presaged the chamber-pop feel and emotional tenor of She’s Leaving Home on Sgt Pepper, and Harrison’s plunge into Eastern mysticism and modalities on Love You To set the stage for the similarly inclined Within You Without You on the later album.

The melancholy beauty of Here, There and Everywhere answered the challenge of Brian Wilson’s Beach Boys masterpiece Pet Sounds, Doctor Robert and And Your Bird Can Sing achieved jingle-jangle guitar-pop perfection, and the horn-fueled Got to Get You Into My Life channeled Motown and Stax soul. Even a relatively lightweight track such as Yellow Submarine presaged the sometimes fanciful, almost child-like wonder of Sgt Pepper tracks such as Lovely Rita”.

On its fifty-fifth anniversary tomorrow, I am going to spin the album again. Although I do not love everything on Revolver – I can do without George Harrison’s Love You To -, one cannot deny the place it holds in The Beatles’ cannon and wider cultural relevance. Reaching fresh audiences in the 1990s through to its use in Britpop and other genres, a new generation are picking it up now. We will be hearing elements of Revolver in new music for decades to come. The fact Revolver is such a cohesive listen means it will always appear on lists of the best albums ever and be celebrated widely. On its fifty-fifth anniversary, I wanted to nod to and salute…

A faultless masterpiece.

FEATURE: Vinyl Corner: Charli XCX - how I’m feeling now

FEATURE:

 

 

Vinyl Corner

Charli XCX - how I’m feeling now

___________

THINKING back to last…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Huck Kwong

year and artists who were releasing albums that were made in the early stages of lockdown/quarantine, it has led me to Charli XCX. The Cambridge-born Charlotte Aitchison is one of this country’s most outstanding songwriters and extraordinary artists. Taking Pop in new directions, she grows as a writer on every album. Last year’s how I’m feeling now was rightly nominated for a Mercury Prize – it lost out to Michael Kiwanuka’s KIWANUKA. This year’s shortlist has fewer Pop albums; it is quite a different look and feel to last year. Regardless of it not winning the award, the critical reception to the album was immensely positive. Released on 15th May, 2020, it arrived only eight months after her previous album, Charli. The sublime how I’m feeling now was conceived during the lockdown and made in a D.I.Y. collaborative process with her fans in the span of six weeks. Recording in quarantine was a new experience for every artist. Charli XCX rose to the challenge and produced what is, arguably, her finest and most complete record. It is an album that you need to grab on vinyl. This is what Rough Trade say about how I’m feeling now:

“Now in 2020, Charli is already breaking boundaries - this year has seen her first BRIT nomination for British Female Solo Artist, marking a huge moment of validation from a mainstream audience that Charli has built on her own terms. The new album was written, recorded and released in 39 days, completely in self-isolation.

The creative process was also to push her collaborative stream in a unique way; opening up the recording, writing, artwork, music videos and more to fans for feedback and contribution - she also further inspired her fans’ creativity, allowing them access to song stems to create remixes and greenscreen footage to be edited using their own imagination.

How I’m Feeling Now has given further spotlight to Charli’s status as one of the most adaptable, exciting pop artists working today, and through it’s uniquely collaborative approach, provided a shared space for those who listen to feel safe enough to express themselves however they wish at a time when they need it most”.

I am hoping to get the album on vinyl soon myself. It is an album with no weak spots at all. I especially love the songs, claws and party 4 u. Before I get to some reviews of how I’m feeling now, there is an interview that I want to source from - just that we can get some perspective from Charli XCX herself.

In May of last year, The Guardian spoke with Charli XCX about her stunning new album and how she was getting on. There are some bits from the interview that I want to quote:

“Partying has been Aitchison’s biggest source of inspiration; no one is better at crystallising the invincible highs or lonely lows of a night out. Now the dancefloors are dimmed, she has only the inside of her four mock-Tudor walls to play with. The entire household is hostage to the album: she lives with her two best friends from school, who are also her managers, and Huck Kwong, a video game producer and her on-off boyfriend of seven years. “It’s a cult kind of vibe,” she admits. The lounge has become a recording studio. The artwork for her single Forever was photographed in her bedroom. She exercises and directs her own photoshoots (like this one) in the space outside. Lockdown is the longest she and Kwong have spent together, she says, and it’s been good to write about it. It’s also been weird, “yelling about my relationship into a microphone while my boyfriend’s in the other room, doing a puzzle”.

When it comes to collaborating with fans, Aitchison says she has been surprised by the way they have gravitated towards the deeper stuff – not the parties and fast cars. “I suppose I was always afraid to show that side of myself,” she says. But sharing everything has its downsides: one day, she posted lyrics on Twitter and fans thought they were so bad, they were a joke. “Then I posted funny, fake lyrics to troll myself and they were like, ‘This is sick!’ I thought, ‘Oh no!’” (She didn’t use them.)

Yet watching her work out in the open, it’s also clear that Aitchison makes every creative decision. When she mentions her work-guilt, I suggest that nobody could say she hasn’t worked for her success. “Well, thanks,” she says glumly. “I don’t know – sometimes the story isn’t always portrayed…” She trails off. What does she mean? “There’s always a misconception about female pop artists. That’s just the unfortunate truth: ‘Did they write their own songs? Do they have their own opinions? Did they really make that decision?’” Everyone from Joni Mitchell to Björk has complained of the same scepticism.

Aitchison’s DIY ethos has been there since she started playing raves at 15. Her parents would drive her from their home in Bishop’s Stortford to Hackney warehouses, where she shrieked about dinosaur sex in a peroxide wig while they waited to drive her home. “Playing in those more underground environments, and being exposed to fashion and LGBTQ+ culture – that was the first time I felt truly inspired to my core,” she says. “It was like I’d opened Pandora’s box.” She was signed by Atlantic Records off the back of those shows, and her early releases revamped a gothic pop that had lain dormant since the 1980s (think Shakespears Sister and Depeche Mode). Prior to the pandemic, she had mooted a tour of her 2013 debut album, True Romance. “It was one of the first things I really got stuck into – a lot of experimentation and figuring things out as they went along,” she explains. “Kind of a similar time to now.”

How I’m Feeling Now already has one important legacy. Aitchison says she has been surprised by how fast her label have moved to get it out, and plans to release two more albums this year. Next time around, if they stall, she’s got this ace in her pocket to remind them that anything is possible: “No, guys, remember when we did that album in six weeks? No rules – let’s go”.

There was a raff of effusive reviews for how I’m feeling now! One only need to listen to a song or two to realise why it was revered and respected by so many. This is what CLASH wrote in their review:

“Her humanoid vocals on ‘Detonate’ are reminiscent of Kate Bush’s ‘Deeper Understanding’ from her ‘Directors Cut’ album, and explore the romance of the robotic - alien yet strangely familiar. This track resonates hard though its lyrical vulnerability accompanied by lighter production. Its classic warped auto-tune is ever-present but dialled down to be an overall more accessible pop song. ‘Detonate’s’ tight lyricism contrasts with the repetitive lyrics of ‘7 years’, which feels rushed in places, “Oh yeah, it's really, really, really, really nice / And now I never, ever, ever think twice” leaving moments which fall flat.

‘party 4 u’ is a moment of respite amongst the brilliant chaos, allowing us to take a breath, while ‘c2.0’ (co-written by lawless Estonian rapper Tommy Cash) sounds like a laptop overheating and my hairdryer exploding all at once. The album peaks and troughs, the single tracks standing out while others can be glossed over more easily, yet throughout the abrasive jolting and glitching, one thing remains constant, a solid pop chorus with catchy melodies.

The album closes with 'visions': a brilliant illustration of A. G. Cook's genius all too reminiscent of leaving a sweaty club as the sun comes up. The heavy beats and sirens evoke a memory which usually I do not intend to remember, yet in lockdown circumstances, leaves me pining for it once again, and therefore wanting more of the album itself. As her opening line of the album states “I just wanna go real hard” accompanied by a sense of impending doom, I sigh and think to myself: me too Charli, me too.

‘how i’m feeling now’ is essentially a series of android love letters; to her relationship (and how it has grown throughout lockdown), to her fans (whom she has involved every step of the way), her friends and contributors, and to herself, as she has opened up about mental health during the lockdown, and the fear of how to continue once it is over, with lyrics pondering whether she is deserving of love. This directly contrasts with boasting her rarity as a ‘pink diamond’ in the first track.

Charli starts and ends with hard disorienting club bangers, leaving the middle of the album space to expose her tenderness and vulnerability while still retaining her futuristic, unpredictable sound and penchant for an irresistible pop hook”.

To finish off, I want to quote from CRACK. Every review had its own perspective and reasons for loving how I’m feeling now. Here is CRACK’s take:

“On Charli XCX’s self-described quarantine album how i’m feeling now, her field of view has never been more vast. Drawing from UK garage, trap, bubblegum pop and well-after-midnight techno, XCX’s fourth full-length interrogates, questions and opens up space within what might otherwise feel like the most claustrophobic period in many of our lives.

A product of conversations with fans online, written and produced through broadcasts and in collaboration with a range of artists including Mechatok, A.G. Cook and Dylan Brady of 100 gecs, how i’m feeling now is full of love songs, but it’s not a love letter to any one person or place. Streets, parks, and sidewalks have become battlegrounds, and our increasingly interior lives are mediated by the pressure to share them with those in our vicinity. Now, our experiences of this period are characterised by who we see: the people we live with by choice or coincidence, the people we work with, those we’d love to see, but can’t or won’t. how i’m feeling now is an album about longing, loneliness, and what comes next.

Whereas Pop 2, Number 1 Angel, and Charli leaned heavily into a curated pick-n-mix of guest stars and cameos, how i’m feeling now returns to Charli XCX alone, with the artist playing her own supporting cast. On c2.0 she flips Click off of Charli into something more interstellar, more dissociative, and more breathlessly dizzying than the original. Stripped of traded verses with guest vocalists, how i’m feeling now hones in on Charli XCX’s voice and songwriting at its most tender and reflective.

Here, Charli XCX has taken on a formidable task. The album is, by definition, an archive of both quarantine conditions and of, well, how she feels within them. What’s incredible is how effective of an archive it is. The album’s extended outro captures the feeling of blurry looks across a crowded dancefloor, but also the restless nostalgia of not knowing when we’ll share these intimate moments again”.

Go and get Charli XCX’s fourth studio album. I am not sure what she has planned in terms of new music and whether we may get another album in the next year or so. After such a busy 2019 and 2020, she is more than justified in taking things a bit easy for a while! Rather than how I’m feeling now being the sound of lockdown and the start of the pandemic, it is an emotive and honest album from an artist combing some deep truths with incredible hooks and compositional moments. Experimental Pop at its very best and freshest! Hear for yourself and go and get…

 

THE epic how I’m feeling now.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Yves Tumor

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

Yves Tumor

___________

THERE are quite…

a few interesting aspects to Yves Tumor. Their name might be Sean Bowie – I will pop in an interview where Tumor is asked about mystery around their name. The last year or so has been busy for Tumour. The Asympototical World EP was released last month. It followed from the 2020 album, Heaven to a Tortured Mind – one of the best-reviewed and best-loved albums of the year. I discovered Tumor when their second album, Serpent Music, was released in 2017. The first interview that I want to bring in from around that time is from Pitchfork. The first question did concern the mystique around Yves Tumor – and what the real name of the musical wonder was:  

“Why don’t you want people to know your name?

I don’t keep anything from people—the people who should know my name and where I live know those things. But as far as journalists and bloggers, I may fabricate things at times. I’m not trying to be like Burial or anything, but I don’t really like people to be involved in my personal life unless they are very close to me and I’ve known them for a long time, just out of respect.

Being online so much, I’ve noticed that people who post a lot of stuff about themselves grow a fanbase out of the constant show that they are putting online, and then their fanbase starts to feel like they know this person personally even though they’ve never met them. It’s happened to my friends who have put themselves out there intensely. Sometimes the fans cross the line and take advantage of this connection, and it becomes super unsettling, and it’s hard to reverse. So I just started to draw back the things I say about myself online, so they don’t have a chance to cross that line.

How did you start making music?

I started playing instruments when I was about 17 in Knoxville, where I was brought up. I got a bass guitar for Christmas and I taught myself corny classic rock: Nirvana, Jimi Hendrix, Zeppelin. Then I started teaching myself acoustic and electric guitar. My grades were so bad my parents took my guitars and bass away, so I just taught myself how to play keyboard. So, in a way, they helped me out in a huge way by doing that. I started making electronic music, and people started to notice my stuff on the internet. I made my first shitty record on GarageBand. It was pretty nasty.

To some extent, though, it seems like you made a leap from noise with Serpent Music. Hearing you say your first instrument was a bass guitar makes so much sense now, because there’s such a groove and rhythm to some of this newer work.

It’s in my DNA. My father is obsessed with Motown, so I’ve always had funky, groovy shit in my ears, probably before I even knew what music was—this shit was being blasted to me in the womb. It’s always been around me, and I still listen to a lot of sexy, sensual music, even while I like listening to harsh, disgusting shit as well.

What’s your general perspective on the world right now?

We’re doomed. That’s it. The world is over. [laughs] Sorry to laugh. But I don’t want people to be happy or sad when they listen. I just want them to be hopeful.

But you just said the world is over. What should people be hopeful about?

A happy ending. And when I say happy ending, I mean that if there is a meteor that’s going to destroy the earth, at least there’s the most beautiful sunset the world has ever seen right before it crushes us. Maybe my album is that sunset”.

There are some great interviews out there with Yves Tumor. Normally, when I do these features, I would provide some biography and background to the artist. Not that much in the way of personal detail – real name, where they live etc. – is known about Tumor. In many ways, the music that they produce is the closest bond…the most honest and personal connection. Perhaps knowing too much about Tumor would strip some of the mystery of the artist and the power in the music. Tumour uses gender-neutral and he/him pronouns (I will use ‘they/them’) - something that is quite rare I find. The New York Times spoke to Tumor when they were promoting the album, Heaven to a Tortured Mind:

“Mixing it up with the audience is part of the Yves Tumor proposition. Bowie, who uses both gender-neutral and he/him pronouns, is a master of anarchic energy with plenty of stories about bloodying fans’ noses at shows. (They never seemed to mind.) The Yves Tumor sound has frequently shifted since Bowie started releasing albums in 2015, encompassing cacophonous electronic noise and smoky rhythm & blues. Some of the music has been so confrontational, it’s even caused its creator some concern: They said they find “Hope in Suffering (Escaping Oblivion & Overcoming Powerlessness),” a 2018 track that begins with what sounds like a gathering swarm of bees before collapsing into machine-gun blasts and a demonic voice, almost too “terrifying” to listen to.

The latest Yves Tumor album, “Heaven to a Tortured Mind,” which was released on Friday, veers closer to standard pop. It’s an album of (relatively) approachable tracks about the common push and pull of the heart, blending tart psychedelia and maximal glam rock. Though earlier work relied on software and samples, here Bowie mostly used live instrumentation. They produced the album along with Justin Raisen, known for a deft hand with both big pop refrains and fuzzy guitar grit in work for Kim Gordon, Angel Olsen and Sky Ferreira. A number of notable vocalists turn up for steamy duets, including the progressive cellist Kelsey Lu and Julia Cumming of the Brooklyn indie band Sunflower Bean. As an artist committed to mystique, Bowie doesn’t share much about their upbringing. They were born in Miami and grew up in Knoxville, Tenn., and figured out how to play the guitar as a teenager by riffing on Nirvana and Green Day songs. After Bowie’s parents confiscated the instrument over poor grades, the young musician learned keys on the family piano, honed a sense of rhythm that came from being raised on Motown and Jimi Hendrix, and started to make amateur recordings in the basement. After a brief stint in college, Bowie moved to Los Angeles and fell in with artists like the queer punk rapper Mykki Blanco, who took them on tour. Bowie started releasing music under various monikers, but Yves Tumor stuck, and the project’s early music, which patched together field recordings, harsh noise and slinky funk, attracted a devoted .audience”.

I am going to finish by bringing it right up to date with The Asympototical World EP. So soon after a remarkable and heartfelt album, Tumor followed it with another remarkable work. Go and get the E.P. if you have not done so already:

“Ground-breaking artist Yves Tumor continues to unlock the perception of reality with a psychedelically bent off-kilter rock offering, The Asymptotical World EP on WARP. The boundary smashing 6 song EP is the next era from the pop auteur and first release from Yves Tumor following the critically acclaimed 2020 album Heaven To a Tortured Mind. Yves Tumor continues to manipulate the genre terrain by challenging mainstream music constraints further and shifting the boundaries of contemporary art and culture in a boundlessly visceral and authentic sonic signature. The Asymptotical World EP (co-produced and engineered by longstanding collaborator Yves Rothman) includes the massive single, “Jackie”, also co-written/produced by Chris Greatti (Yungblud, Poppy). “Jackie” is a punctuated tale of connection in a fever dream realm featuring emotive guitars over an upbeat drum pattern, evoking the volatile magnetism between lovers”. It is another amazing work from one of the most original and consistent artists around. One almost expects something genius and game-changing with every release. That would be unfair, yet Tumor delivers that sort of excellence! It will be interesting to see how Tumor’s music translates to the stage. I have not seen them play. Hearing The Asympototical World EP is bound to be a hugely moving and unforgettable experience! “.

Before closing things, there are a couple of positive reviews for The Asympototical World EP that are worth mentioning. This is what Pitchfork had to say when they reviewed the latest work of brilliance from Yves Tumor:

“Throughout the record, Tumor eases ever more deeply into the role of prismatic bandleader, shifting readily from tone to tone while sustaining a core sense of authority. The lovelorn wail of “Jackie” calcifies into “Secrecy”’s bitterly cool asides, which then evaporate as unsure sighs on “...And Loyalty Is a Nuisance Child.” Across Asymptotical World’s six songs, Tumor plays a roster of characters gripped in various turmoils, acting them out in different postures, from sweltering and vulnerable to icy and impenetrable. At the EP’s molten center is a guest appearance from the industrial noise duo NAKED, whose vocalist Agnes Gryczkowska streaks “Tuck” with glimpses of body horror. “I didn’t die for you,” she insists, “I feel myself/Growing big and hard inside you.” Her voice lifts in a conspiratorial whisper amid scattered, buried beats; it’s the only track on the EP that doesn’t foreground the rhythm section in the mix, and as such it feels boneless, amoebic, like it could at any point open its body and swallow its listener. That is the steady promise of Tumor’s work, and its constant threat: that its strange, inverted intimacy might spill into the listener and turn the self alien. When you recognize the shape of a song but can’t fix its innards, can’t place its emotional register among your catalog of acceptable feelings, what does it do to you? What might meet you there? The Asymptotical World’s motions are recognizable; they come in familiar skin. Under the skin, something ill-fitting thrashes, trying to escape itself, inviting anyone in sight to do the same”.

The second review that caught my eye was from Loud and Quiet. They were definitely struck by the intimacy and potency of The Asympototical World EP:

“At the end of the 1990s, a new genre emerged as the long Britpop tail reached its lowest point. Bands like My Vitriol, with their sharp guitar sound and impressive songwriting, shaped what was briefly (and ironically, for the most part) called “nu-gaze”, creating a unique and never-heard-before soundscape shaking up the stale panorama. Nu-gaze is a peculiar starting point, but it is exactly where Yves Tumor places themselves with new six-track EP The Asymptotical World. A serpent-like artist, constantly changing their skin, Tumor and longtime collaborator Yves Rothman move forward from the soul-inflected sound that informed their previous release, this time seducing listeners and thrusting them out into a parallel reality. In this new, disquieting place, we hear a creature sing to a supposedly significant other, but it’s hard to tell if their words are sweet or menacing: “Hey, little Jackie / When you wake up / Do you think of me? / I said hey, Jackie, baby / When you rest your mind / Do you think of me?” Is it a love-wish or writing on the wall for something more sinister? Tumor’s vocal and delivery are so on point, the sound so intense it tears the skin, that it’s impossible not to wish of being the addressee of their verses. As ‘Secrecy Is Incredibly Important to the Both of Them’ knee-dips into hypnagogic pop, it takes the record into a Prince-meets-Ariel-Pink scenario, giving rise to the following ‘Tuck’, featuring NAKED, which reaches the peak of this eerie climax. Literally, “asymptotical” means “not falling together” or “intersecting  at infinity”. And it’s a world forever moving away from our reality the one Yves Tumor builds in this EP. It feels inevitable that we’ll forever try to reach, touch – or escape it”.

I shall wrap up here. The amazing Yves Tumor is someone that you need to get involved with. They are creating music that is so unlike anything else around! It is so easy to become enveloped in and engrossed by this sonic spell. There is no doubt that Yves Tumor is an artist who will be releasing the finest music…

FOR a very long time.

____________

Follow Yves Tumor  

PHOTO CREDIT: Paul Kooiker

Official:

https://yves-tumor.warp.net/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/yvestumor

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/yvestumor/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/yvestumor/

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/0qu422H5MOoQxGjd4IzHbS

Bandcamp:

https://yves-tumor.bandcamp.com/music

FEATURE: Modern Heroines: Part Sixty: Hannah Peel

FEATURE:

 

 

Modern Heroines

Part Sixty: Hannah Peel

___________

WHAT better time…

to celebrate a hugely influential and important woman in music than just after her latest album has been nominated for the Mercury Prize! You can read more about it here. Fir Wave is the latest album from Hannah Peel. The Irish artist, music producer, Emmy-nominated composer and BBC Radio 3 broadcaster is one of the most impressive and distinct musicians in the world. Peel released Fir Wave on her own label, My Own Pleasure Records. I am going to come to that album. I will bring in a couple of reviews. Before I come to some reviews, there are a couple of interviews that are worth bringing together. When The Guardian spotlighted Peel earlier in the year, we get to know how she started out and what she has accomplished in her career so far:

“Paul McCartney knew Hannah Peel’s talent before the world did. He hands out pin-badges at every degree ceremony at Liverpool’s Institute for Performing Arts, which he co-founded, and where Peel studied music. In 2007, her graduation year, she’d been chosen to compose something to accompany each student walking on stage.

Peel had been advised to do a fanfare of trumpets, but refused; she wrote a minimalist miniature for vibraphone and marimba instead. “My principal hated it,” she says, laughing down the Zoom line. “But when I crossed the stage and shook Paul McCartney’s hand, he whispered in my ear, ‘I really like your music. Well done!’”

Fast-forward 14 years and Peel has built an intricate and impressive career. Her name is probably most recognisable as one of the presenters of Radio 3’s late-evening show Night Tracks, on weeknights. The show caused controversy when it launched in September 2019, replacing three broadcasts of the station’s beloved experimental programme, Late Junction. Though Night Tracks contains more classical music, Peel preserves the spirit of Late Junction, with thrilling juxtapositions of artists. One night, you get Rachmaninov followed by Texan multimedia artist Akira Rabelais, the next, it’ll be Benjamin Britten alongside Brazilian experimentalist Vic Bang.

Peel is also one of our most exciting crossover composers. Her brilliant new album, Fir Wave – finished over lockdown – explores and develops sounds from a recording by BBC Radiophonic Workshop composers Delia Derbyshire and Brian Hodgson. Her musicbox-heavy score for Game of Thrones: The Last Watch, got an Emmy nomination last summer, while her eerie soundtrack for TV thriller The Deceived won critical acclaim. She’s Paul Weller’s orchestral arranger (she’s been working on his forthcoming LP: “he’s just fab”), and collaborated on a micro-opera about dating in lockdown, Close, with librettist Stella Feehily.

She’s also recently been elected to the board of the Ivors Academy, the largest campaigning association for professional musicians in Europe, and is particularly vocal about the place for women in music. “All the TV and film jobs I’ve done have been directed by women,” she says, talking from her writing room at home in Bangor, Northern Ireland (she bought a five-bedroom house here in 2018 for the price of a tiny one-bed in London). “It feels like the women getting into power are going, ‘Right, I’m going to employ another female composer’, but we have to remind ourselves the number of female composers [in film] is something ridiculous. It’s gone down this year from 6% to 4%. We need to know why.

Peel was born in Craigavon, Northern Ireland, in 1985. The Troubles had a big effect on her family: her mum’s from Enniskillen, she explains, where the Remembrance Sunday bomb exploded in 1987, killing 11 people. “We arrived in Enniskillen the day after and I remember seeing our car on the TV news, going round the roundabout.” On her sixth birthday she was airlifted from a Belfast street when another bomb went off; people in the police in her family lost limbs. “I grew up with this sense of transition all the time and awareness that things are never stable. All that history that stays with you.”

When she was eight, her family moved to Barnsley, South Yorkshire, with her father’s work in food manufacturing (that is where Peel acquired her lilting Yorkshire accent). The area was still suffering from the loss of coal mining, but free brass instruments were being given out in schools, and Peel began learning the cornet and trombone. “There was a real sense that you had to get your kids involved in the music from the place they were from, otherwise there’s no kind of hope. Then there came this beautiful time later in the 1990s, where lottery money was helping young people play and learn and go on tours.” A lot of that infrastructure has now gone, she says”.

Hannah Peel has had such a busy and eclectic career! I love the inspiration behind Fir Wave. I love all of Peel’s albums – especially 2017’s Mary Casio: Journey to Cassiopeia -, though Fir Waves seems to be this new peak. It is no wonder it has been given a Mercury Prize nod! The circumstances behind Fir Wave’s recording is different to her other albums – I guess, in so small part, because of the pandemic. In this interview with The Quietus, she discussed hesitation before making the album; the restlessness of Fir Waves may have stemmed from those doubts and fears:

“It perhaps speaks to the nature of the times that Hannah Peel’s newest album had a somewhat different gestation to much of the work that has made up the many highs of her pleasingly non-conformist career. Film scores, super-groups, brass bands, working with bona fide musical national treasures – even the potential disaster of picking up with yours truly for our Chalkhill Blue collaboration. But Fir Wave comes out of a more singular enterprise, starting life as a project based on the re-interpretation of the library music label KPM’s 1972 album KPM 1000 series: Electrosonic, which featured one of Peel’s heroes in Delia Derbyshire.

“At first I was reluctant to do it,” Hannah told me from her home in Northern Ireland. “There was so much going on and I just wasn’t sure about making a record with no audience. But then I thought about the idea of re-working and referring to Delia Derbyshire and Electrosonic and I thought actually it could be really cool, so I went with it… So there was this interesting process, a kind of preciousness, because I didn’t mean it to be an album, for it to be listened to like that. It’s supposed to be licensed, like library music. But when I finished it, they said they loved it and that if I wanted to release it, they would happily help organise it.”

"In the last year or so, I felt like I listened to so much music, especially in this field, that had this quality of stillness, a kind of quiet, a sense of the present moment, and I just started thinking about what I would want to hear when we come out of all this. I started to think about colour, and shape. I wanted to write something that had energy, that you could dance to. Something that replicated the energy of the culture that emerged after the two world wars.”

That restless energy is there in every synth line and drum loop across Fir Wave, as it has become ingrained through the music that makes up Hannah’s whole career – a career built on boundless imaginative instinct married to a supreme technical gift which has created a back catalogue that seems immune to standing still. Her Baker’s Dozen selection reveals just that instinct, and more besides of a fascinating artist and her influences. It reads to me like a document worthy of someone dedicated to resisting boundaries – half applied, practical text, the bricks and mortar of influence, of discovery, of learning – half personal reminiscence. Wonder and wave form. Science and magic. Memory and metronome”.

I know that Hannah Peel is going to inspire a lot of people around the world. She already does. Her work gets better and more amazing with each release. Fir Wave has won huge acclaim. This is what Loud and Quiet wrote in their review:

“Listen to enough of Hannah Peel and it won’t take long for ripples of Delia Derbyshire to interfere with the transmission. Familiar to many for her charmed folk in The Magnetic North, her more recent solo ventures are recognised for their electronic currents, reinterpreting genre and pairing unlikely musical forms.

Like Derbyshire, whose residency inside the BBC’s hallowed Radiophonic Workshop helped pioneer an influential blueprint for British electronic music, Peel’s appetite for unearthly, space-age frequencies has long been subject to comparison. A courageous, classically trained multi-instrumentalist and composer, Peel’s acclaimed 2017 album Mary Casio: Journey to Cassiopeia launched a colliery brass band into orbit and piloted an analogue-inspired space odyssey resembling of Derbyshire’s own passage through the cosmos.

Now with feet firmly back on the ground, it seems fitting that her new album continues to fantasize over both her and Derbyshire’s shared sensibilities, for the first-time paying homage to the late composer and the immortal gravity of her work. Courtesy of KPM’s specialist library of archival music, Fir Wave recycles a fascinating history of electronic music by repurposing retired sounds into cutting-edge new models.

Drawn to the circular pattern of Earth’s ecological cycles, by generating and resampling her own digital instruments, Peel injects new life into the experimental sounds of the early 1970s. As tectonic shivers pulsate and shift between Fir Wave’s transforming environments, fragments extracted from Derbyshire and the Radiophonic Workshop are barely recognisable behind Peel’s fantasia production style. More powerful than lyrics, each track communicates its own panorama. Rolling landscapes spill uncontrollably from ‘Patterned Formation’ and the aptly-titled ‘Ecovocative’, with each sprawling terrain trailing beyond the horizons of human comprehension. Standalone single ‘Emergence In Nature’ dips into Jon Hopkins’ skittering and off-kilter electronica; it’s a rare moment of clarity for an album that, at times, sounds as unfathomable as life itself”.

Just before wrapping up, I am keen to draw from the CLASH review of Fir Wave. They were immersed and impressed by one of the finest albums of this year (Fir Wave was released in March):

“There’s so much to unpack in Hannah Peel’s work, that pulling upon one thread can lead to entire worlds falling out of her sonic cupboard. New album ‘Fir Wave’ is a case in point – dipping into the past (the work of Delia Derbyshire and library crucible KPM are honoured), there’s also a carefree wandering into the future, a sense of grappling with the unknown.

Cross-referencing everything from the Earth’s ecological cycles to Japanese art, this array of detail shouldn’t distract from the sheer sonic beauty Hannah Peel conjures on her new album. ‘Wind Shadow’ is a synth balm, while the more propulsive, techno-edged ‘Emergence In Nature’ retains its organic sheen amid its percussive pirouettes.

‘Patterned Formation’ dips into early 70s synth incarnations, recalling at times Brian Eno’s early solo work. ‘Carbon Cycle’ meanwhile finds Hannah Peel relishing in fragmented elements of degraded sound, applying an orchestral swoop to her arcane digitalism.

A record that feels exquisitely unified, ‘Fir Wave’ is a tightly bound song cycle. Each mood is distinct, but Hannah Peel is able to let them overlap, resulting in rich and evocative elements of nuance. The pun-tastic ‘Ecovocative’ for example radiates in a beatific glow, something that contrast with the sparsity which opens the adjacent title track; nothing is permanent in her world, but equally nothing is ever truly discarded.

Ending with the gossamer undulations of synthetic sound that ripple through ‘Reaction Diffusion’, we’re put in mind of those early Kraftwerk experiments, or even Harmonia’s recordings. A piece in which contrary states are allowed to communicate, the pulsating bedrock of ‘Reaction Diffusion’ underpins hazy layers of sound that glow with a metallic sheen. It’s beautiful and immersive, but also foreboding; a piece whose majesty is attached to no small degree of mystery.

Having won international acclaim for her work on Game Of Thrones: The Last Watch documentary, Hannah Peel has responded by moving inwards, by finessing and doubling down on the instincts that drive her. ‘Fir Wave’ is a subtle triumph, a record whose innate beauty dissipates to reveal complex aesthetic machinery, while never fully revealing its secrets”.

I have ended this feature with a playlist featuring some of Peel’s best work. She is an incredible artist, composer and all-round talent. There is no telling how far she can go and what she can achieve. One of the most inspiring people in music, she is a definite innovator and pioneer.  The music world is very fortunate to have her…

IN their midst.

FEATURE: The Pull and the Push of It All: Kate Bush’s Reaching Out

FEATURE:

 

 

The Pull and the Push of It All

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a promotional photo for The Sensual World (1989) 

Kate Bush’s Reaching Out

___________

WHEN it comes to albums…

from Kate Bush that I do not listen to as much as I should do, The Sensual World is near the top of the list. Released in October 1989, it was the follow-up to Hounds of Love (1985). I think that The Sensual World is quite different to its predecessor. Perhaps with fewer sparks and tracks with big choruses (such The Big Sky), there is that sensuality, maturity, beauty and grace that runs through the album. Alongside the less personal/love-based and more fantastical songs (such as Heads We're Dancing and Deeper Understanding), there are tracks where one looks inside Bush’s heart. Even if she would say they are not specifically about her, one feels that several of the songs have personal relevance. Hounds of Love boasted moments like this (such as the title track and Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God), though The Sensual World cuts deeper in my view. There are some truly arresting songs that hit hard – the closing song, This Woman’s Work is a prime example. A song that I overlooked and have reconnected with recently is Reaching Out. The first side of The Sensual World is fantastic! Opening with the title track and closing with Heads We’re Dancing (a song about a woman who unwittingly and unknowingly dances with Hitler), it is brilliant balanced and packed with quality. After Love and Anger and The Fog comes Reaching Out. The penultimate song on the first side, one rarely hears it played on the radio. To me, it is one of the highlights from The Sensual World.

I really love the lyrics and vocal performance from Bush. With some mandolin (from her brother, Paddy) and strings adding something special and lush to Reaching Out, this is a song that leaves an impression. Before diving into the lyrics more, the Kate Bush Encyclopaedia published an article where we get Bush’s recollections regarding the song’s inception:

“That was really quick, really straightforward. A walk in the park did that one for me. I really needed one more song to kind of lift the album. I was a bit worried that it was all sort of dark and down. I'd been getting into walks at that time, and just came back and sat at the piano and wrote it, words and all. I had this lovely conversation with someone around the time I was about to start writing it. They were talking about this star that exploded. I thought it was such fantastic imagery. The song was taking the whole idea of how we cling onto things that change - we're always trying to not let things change. I thought it was such a lovely image of people reaching up for a star, and this star explodes. Where's it gone? It seemed to sum it all up really. That's kind of about how you can't hold on to anything because everything is always changing and we all have such a terrible need to hold onto stuff and to keep it exactly how it is, because this is nice and we don't want it to change.

But sometimes even if things aren't nice, people don't want them to change. And things do. Just look at the natural balance of things: how if you reach out for something, chances are it will pull away. And when things reach out for you, the chances are you will pull away. You know everything ebbs and flows, and you know the moon is full and then it's gone: it's just the balance of things. (...) We did a really straightforward treatment on the track; did the piano to a clicktrack, got Charlie Morgan [Elton john's drummer] to come in and do the drums, Del did the bass, and Michael Nyman came in to do the strings. I told him it had to have a sense of uplifting, and I really like his stuff - the rawness of his strings. It's a bit like a fuzzbox touch - quite 'punk'. I find that very attractive - he wrote it very quickly. I was very pleased. (Tony Horkins, 'What Katie Did Next'. International Musician, December 1989)

Yes, you can't help but reach out and touch certain things even if you think they might hurt. When children reach out to touch parents it's a lottery as to whether they'll get a clip round the ears or a cuddle. ('Love, Trust and Hitler'. Tracks (UK), November 1989)”.

It is interesting that it came to her quite easily and written quite quickly! There are so many wonderful images and hard truths through the song. I always associate Bush with being someone who has all her material worked out before coming into the studio – this is not entirely true. She has conceived songs during recording (and at random moments). Even though there is emotion and depth to Reaching Out, I feel lifted listening to the song.

The lyrics are sublime! They start with lines that make you think and imagine: “See how the child reaches out instinctively/To feel how the fire will feel/See how the man reaches out instinctively/For what he cannot have”. Whilst, as I said, it is not about Bush specifically, she would have been thinking about her life and situation. Some of the lines through Reaching Out are truly poetic and remarkable: “See how the flower leans instinctively toward the light/See how the heart reaches out instinctively/For no reason but to touch”. It not a surprise that Bush’s lyrics are so good. I feel many people associate her with the voice and original nature of her music – maybe overlooking how incredible, immersive, varied and creative her lyrics are. She can write something fanciful or gothic…switching to the heartfelt or heartbreaking. Reaching Out is a sensational song that is one of many jewels on The Sensual World. There is an interview excerpt (from the one quoted above) where she talks about using real musicians alongside machines/technology. Maybe some associate Hounds of Love with being all about drum machines and the Fairlight CMI. In fact, a cast of musicians and natural sounds are as evident and important. That is the case with The Sensual World:

“Kate's always used a wide variety of musicians on her records, but drummer Stuart Elliot seems to have been there from the beginning, even though he sometimes shares the drum stool with Charlie Morgan. 

"He's the only one that's worked on every album - he's lovely to work with. I think it's good to keep that long term relationship. He's so easy to work with because he knows what I'm like. Occasionally I even ask him to use cymbals on a track now! He's been through that whole stage where I just couldn't handle cymbals or hi hats. Now that I'm actually using them again he can't cope.

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in an outtake from the cover shoot of The Sensual World/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush 

"I always found them something that we used too much. I felt they were leant on too much. It held the music down in such a specific way. They're very marked. Not using them is just a way of opening up the music, I think. I learnt a lot from it. It's always been, 'this is the drum kit, so let's use it.' I always found that extraordinary. But I think now that I've taken that break from it, I see it very differently."

Even though both Stuart and Charlie get to contribute on most tracks, The Sensual World features more programmed drums than earlier recordings.

"We replace a lot, but there's a lot that's still there. We used the Fairlight for the drums this time, and because the quality was so much better we could keep them all. It's just the last album, with the Linn patterns, they had to be much more disguised because they sounded like a Linn machine. We had much more finished drum tracks to work with - that caused some problems. They were so good that I didn't want to get in and replace them at an early stage like on the last album. I had to be quite brutal and get drummers to just get in there and throw bits of the Fairlight away, just to give it different levels. On the next track, Heads We're Dancing, it was all based around the Fairlight pattern that Del did, which is the basis of the whole song. The only thing I think we replaced was the snare."

Why bother?

"Because I think it gives it a human feel, even though he's got to stay in with the machine. There's still a certain amount of movement, and there's all this human energy. I even believe that the sounds a drummer makes can be part of the track - they all make sounds, sing along while they're playing, grunting ... It puts air in there. It's nice to get someone else's input as well.

"I like to use real musicians - it's so exciting. Machines are great but you can get such great feedback from people when they think they're working on something intimate. Things you'd never think of. Like Mick Karns' bass on Heads We're Dancing puts such a different feel to the song. I was really impressed with Mick -his energy. He's very distinctive - so many people admire him because he stays in that unorthodox area, he doesn't come into the commercial world - he just does his thing”.

Reaching Out is a fantastic song that boasts great drumming from Charlie Morgan and bass from Del Palmer. From its stirring, inspiring, thoughtful and emotive lyrics to Kate Bush’s gorgeous vocal (both lead and backing) and the rich production, Reaching Out is a track one…

SHOULD check out now.