FEATURE: Inspired By… Part Sixty-Seven: Neneh Cherry

FEATURE:

 

 

Inspired By…

PHOTO CREDIT: Juergen Teller

Part Sixty-Seven: Neneh Cherry

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THIS is quite nicely timed…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Andrew Benge/Redferns

as there is a new album, The Versions, where artists have taken a Neneh Cherry song and made it their own. I am including Cherry in this Inspired By…, and I will include the artists featured on the album in the playlist at the end. I am also including songs from other artists who have been inspired by the fabulous Neneh Cherry – including her own daughter, Mabel. Before adding in some biography, go and buy The Versions:

“Neneh Cherry has teamed up with some of today’s most exciting female artists for new album The Versions. The collaborative LP features covers from her expansive catalogue by an all female line-up of musicians, including Sia, Robyn, Anohni, Greentea Peng, Kelsey Lu, Sudan Archives, Tyson and others.

01_Robyn feat Mapei - Buffalo Stance

02_Sia - Manchild

03_Anohni - Woman

04_Greentea Peng - Buddy X

05_Jamilia Woods - Kootchi

06_TYSON - Sassy

07_Sudan Archives - Hearts

08_Seinabo Sey - Kisses On The Wind

09_Kelsey Lu – Manchild

10_Honey Dijon – Buddy X Rework”.

Before coming to a playlist of songs from artists influenced by Neneh Cherry, AllMusic provide some details about one of the greatest artists of all-time. Cherry is someone who will continue to influence artists and leave her mark in the history books:

“Neneh Cherry forged a groundbreaking mix of genres in the late '80s that pre-saged the emergence of alternative rap and trip-hop, and has gradually added to a discography filled with similarly unpredictable twists. The singer, songwriter, rapper, and producer got her start in the U.K. post-punk scene before she made a mainstream breakthrough as a solo artist with the global smash hit "Buffalo Stance," which sent her eclectic solo debut, Raw Like Sushi (1989), to the Top Ten of charts in several countries, and led to a Grammy nomination in the category of Best New Artist. Rather than follow the standard path of a commercial musician, Cherry opted instead to record solo albums every few years, and has assisted on material headlined by artists ranging from Peter Gabriel to Gorillaz. In the 2010s, she recorded a series of wildly creative albums, namely The Cherry Thing (2012), Blank Project (2014), and Broken Politics (2018), and in the following decade collaborated with younger artists on new versions of songs from earlier in her career, heard on The Versions (2022).

Born Neneh Mariann Karlsson on March 10, 1964, in Stockholm, Sweden, Neneh Cherry is the daughter of West African percussionist Ahmadu Jah and artist Moki Cherry. Raised by her mother and trumpeter stepfather Don Cherry in Stockholm and New York City, Cherry left school at age 14, and in 1980 relocated to London to sing with the post-punk group the Cherries. Following flings with the Slits and the Nails, she joined the experimental funk/post-punk outfit Rip Rig + Panic and appeared on the group's albums God (1981), I Am Cold (1982), and Attitude (1983). During this period, she also recorded with New Age Steppers and as one-third of the one-off group Raw Sex, Pure Energy. When Rip Rig + Panic broke up, Cherry remained with one of the spin-off groups, Float Up CP, and led them through Kill Me in the Morning (1985). The next year, she was featured on "Slow Train to Dawn," a single off the The's Infected.

In 1987, Cherry and fellow artist Cameron McVey (aka Booga Bear) became long-term creative and personal partners after they met as models for Ray Petri, creator of the Buffalo fashion house. Later that year, Cherry co-wrote and was featured on a B-side version of Morgan/McVey's Stock Aitken Waterman-produced "Looking Good Diving," titled "Looking Good Diving with the Wild Bunch." Signed to the Circa label, Cherry hit the U.K. singles chart as a solo artist in December 1988 with "Buffalo Stance," itself a revamped version of "Looking Good Diving with the Wild Bunch." The Bomb the Bass collaboration reached number three in the U.K. (and performed similarly well in several other territories). Furthermore, the song neatly forecast the eclectic fusion of pop smarts and knowing hip-hop energy showcased throughout the parent album, Raw Like Sushi. A number two (and eventually platinum) U.K. hit issued in June 1989, the LP featured executive production from McVey and additional input from the likes of Will Malone and Nellee Hooper, as well as Mushroom and 3D of Massive Attack. A pair of additional singles, "Manchild" and "Kisses on the Wind," followed "Buffalo Stance," as did a nomination for a Grammy in the category of Best New Artist (won by Milli Vanilli).

After she contributed to the benefit album Red Hot + Blue (with an interpretation of Cole Porter's "I've Got You Under My Skin") and Massive Attack's Blue Lines (as co-writer, arranger, and background vocalist on "Hymn of the Big Wheel"), Cherry returned with her second album, Homebrew, in 1992. A more subdued collection than Raw Like Sushi, the number 27 U.K. chart entry featured cameos from Gang Starr and Michael Stipe, and writing and production assistance from McVey, Jonny Dollar, and Geoff Barrow (pre-dating the latter's emergence with Portishead). Cherry returned to the charts in 1994 as Youssou N'Dour's duet partner on "7 Seconds," another global hit, but was otherwise on child-raising hiatus until 1996, when she resurfaced with Man, a number 16 U.K. hit containing "7 Seconds," an update of Marvin Gaye's "Trouble Man" (featuring piano from half-brother Eagle-Eye), and "Woman," an empowering response to James Brown's "It's a Man's Man's Man's World." A remix version of the album, simply titled Remixes, followed in 1998. Cherry prioritized family life well into the new millennium, raising her daughters Naima, Tyson, and Mabel, and cropped up with intermittent activity, including collaborations with Live's Edward Kowalczyk ("Walk Into This Room"), Peter Gabriel (OVO), and Gorillaz ("Kids with Gunz"), as well as recordings with her band cirKus.

Cherry returned in the 2010s with some of her most progressive recordings yet. For 2012's The Cherry Thing, she fronted the Thing, the experimental Scandinavian jazz trio whose founding mission was to play her stepfather's music. The album mixed originals with imaginative reworkings of songs initially recorded by the likes of Ornette Coleman, the Stooges, Suicide, and indeed, Don Cherry. In 2013, she collaborated with London duo RocketNumberNine on their album MeYouWeYou, and worked with them on her long-awaited fourth proper studio album, Blank Project. Produced by Kieran Hebden (aka Four Tet), the album was released in 2014 and consisted of originals written by Cherry with McVey and Paul Simm. Another set with Hebden on production, the meditative and undaunted Broken Politics, followed in 2018.

A 30th anniversary expanded reissue of Raw Like Sushi was released in 2020. The same year, the first verse of the album's "Buffalo Stance" was included in Dua Lipa's Club Future Nostalgia: The Remix Album (mixed by the Blessed Madonna), and Cherry co-wrote and appeared on the Avalanches' "Wherever You Go." Admiration for Cherry's first three solo albums continued to grow, and in 2022, Cherry partnered with ten artists -- ranging from daughter Tyson and Jamila Woods to Sia and Robyn -- to record The Versions, consisting of updates of highlights from Raw Like Sushi, Homebrew, and Man”.

One of the most loved and respected artists there is, it is no wonder that so many other artists have been compelled by Neneh Cherry’s music and have brought some of her essence and sound into their work. The new album, The Versions, is a fitting tribute and salute to the stunning music of Cherry. The playlist below is a collection of songs from those who I would say definitely draw influence from Neneh Cherry. It is clear that she is…

A true legend.

FEATURE: Spotlight: George Riley

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

PHOTO CREDIT: Dan Pipe

George Riley

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PLAYING Glastonbury…

pretty much as we speak, the wonderful George Riley is an artist that people need to clock and get involved with. A rising talent who is producing such wonderful music, every song she releases seems to surpass the previous one! I am going to come to her 2021 mixtape, interest rates, a tape, soon. It is something that everyone should listen to; hearing this wonderful young artist deliver such important, instantly brilliant, and original music. With new singles like Sacrifice proving Riley is a talent to watch closely, I wonder whether she has plans for an E.P. or album later in the year. Her time and exposure at Glastonbury will open her to new audiences and give her a career-high (so far) live experience. It must be a treat hearing Riley up close and personal! It is hard to genre-lise her music and describe which other artists she reminds me of. I think that is a good thing. Whilst she does put out important messages about race, the climate, greed, old love, and belonging, the music and vocals are so accessible. A stunning artist who will grace the music industry with her presence for decades more, go and follow her (social media links are below). I cannot see any interviews this year with Riley. Therefore, I will drop a few in from last year. Before that, this quickfire Fred Perry interview provided some background about Riley’s favourite music and upbringing. I have selected a few questions and answers that caught my eye:

“Name, where are you from?

George Riley, London, Shepherds Bush.

Describe your style in three words?

Express every day.

If you could spend an hour with anyone from history?

James Baldwin. Just wanna call him up and be like James, my man what the hell do we do!? A friend recommended me 'The Fire Next Time' which is a great short intro to his writing but if you really want to cry go read 'Tell Me How Long The Trains Been Gone'.

A song that defines the teenage you?

'Regulate' by Warren G or 'Doomsday' by the late MF DOOM. That’s summer teenage memories for real.

One record you would keep forever?

I hope I keep every record I have forever but defo 'Water No Get Enemy' by Fela Kuti, the classic.

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

'Hangin' On A String' by Loose Ends. Love to aunty dance any place, any time.

A song you wished you had written?

How Can You Mend A Broken Heart' by Al Green. Which I think was originally written by the Bee Gees, but it’s the Al Green version that really gets me going.

Best song to turn up loud?

'A Greater Love' by Yves Tumor”.

I want to come to an interview from CRACK. A truly memorable and brilliant lyricist, George Riley’s videos are equally arresting. Here is an artist that has all the raw talent and arsenal to go as far as she wants in music. It is really exciting to see it all unfold:

“The 23-year-old’s artistic subject matter often details society’s fractures and issues pertinent to her generation: the taxing nature of social media, the climate crisis, the grind to make ends meet. Songs like last year’s TRIXXX namechecks Geoffrey Chaucer over ominous, creeping production sitting somewhere between R&B and trip-hop: “Float toward paycheck/ Succeed need safety net,” she asserts. Her visuals are equally imaginative. In her newest video for Power, directed by fellow rising singer Joviale, Riley fashioned herself into a Hilton-esque socialite, complete with a bobbed wig, flashy sports car and miniature white dog, Coco. Moments later, the protagonist is a gleeful purple demon resembling a terranean Ursula. She bludgeons her former self to death; a visual representation of her ego taking over her.

It sounds dark, but Riley is bubbly when explaining her vision. She likes to present serious topics with “a bit of fun” and is eager to reflect the world around her playfully. “I get my inspiration everywhere really,” she beams. “I never studied music; I went down a more academic route because of my parents [her father is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Westminster]. I think that’s pushed me to be in different spaces and think about stuff outside of music. I journal a lot, so I don’t tend to think about lyric writing too much – it kind of comes out naturally.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Ivor Alice 

Power will feature on her upcoming project titled Interest Rates; a tape, due for release at the end of June. It’ll be the first complete body of work in her still minimal discography that began in 2019, with Herstory. Interest Rates, she tells me, is informed by a love for multiple genres – dub, jungle, alternative R&B – and produced with regular collaborator Oliver Palfreyman. The two met by chance at a festival a few years back, hitting it off over a shared love of the underground styles that have come to define their work together. Take Power’s percussion, glitchy with fluttering jungle beats, or the way Cleanse Me spends the majority of its three minutes muted and near-acapella, until Palfreyman’s gong-like synths spring in towards its close. “This is me wanting to show the breadth of sounds that have inspired me,” she says, “because I don’t subscribe to just one thing.”

Now, Riley sees her music as a chance to express her identity, ideas and above all, her independence. “If you’re Black or femme, there is turmoil in being an artist and marketing yourself, and then being on social media that’s subject to all of these politics,” she shares. “It feels like you have to do everything to subscribe to the norm – the colourism, sexism, all of that – to be liked and accepted. It’s not fun.” And in an industry that is so often mentally and financially draining, she wants to keep her creativity safe from outside pressure. “There’s obviously the tangible aspect of surviving off doing what you do. That’s important, but at the same time, you can’t put the onus on art as the only source that pays you – because right now it’s not paying me, but it’s definitely fun. I don’t ever want that feeling to go away”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Mathias Karl Gontard

Before coming to a review of interest rates, a tape, i-D spoke to the remarkable George Riley last year. A year that was still seeing restrictions because of the pandemic, the London-based artist was, perhaps, hoping that she could play more and deliver these incredible songs to her fans. I am glad she can make up for lost time. I love the final points of the interview:

“1. You can call her ‘Grandma George’

“I’m 23 but I honestly feel 83 — I’m very nostalgic. I don’t know what the right time [for me] is but this isn’t it. I’m not very internet. I hate everyone being all up in everyone else’s business… it’s not for me. I like books, good chat, good food, good music, an olive, a glass of wine. That’ll do me.”

2. Songwriting is her emotional outlet

“I’m super emotional and would be so lost without it. I’m very grateful to be able to make something and feel better -- feel relief and feel detached from it. I don’t know that I tell stories as such, not in the way that some of my favourite songwriters do, I just let whatever’s in my head come out and it sounds like that; a bit of a collage.”

3. You basically can’t pigeonhole her or her work

“It spans a lot of genres and I guess I’m nothing but an amalgamation of influences that is very mixed and eclectic. Oliver Palfreyman’s production is the same in that way. But if I had to answer I guess it’s quite ‘future’, quite ‘city’, quite ‘London’, quite ‘soulful’. And I can’t speak for anyone else but it makes me feel good.”
4. George reckons her music would be a good soundtrack for a sci-fi cult classic

“The Fifth Element… if there were more Black leads.”

5. She’s built an Afrofuturist world around her forthcoming mixtape

“The aesthetic is based quite heavily on The Fifth Element: great outfits, fabulous colours… a retro-futurist, Afrofuturist kinda vibe. This influencer type girl gets gifted tickets to Soho Moon (Soho House on the moon -- big coloniser energy). Anyway, she goes there and it’s awful. You have to level up into these skins like on Fortnite. I’ve not played, but I hear things. So yeah, they only cater to white people's hair, aesthetics, that kind of thing. But she has to stay to get the content, so she gets really pissed. She’s also mourning an ex, and promptly decides to return to Earth, rescinds her contract with the white influencer mafia and tries to figure out life on Earth. So… let me know if you hear that in the music!”.

I will end up with a positive review for interest rates, a tape. I first heard it very recently, but I was won over and invested the very moment I heard it. This review highlights the multiple strengths and layers of a release from an artist who is going to be a major influencer and star very soon:

“George Riley didn’t grow up around instruments or within a family of talented musicians. As a child, the West London native focused on academics leading her to study law. Her music however, is free of restrictions and is created within an emotional place. She uses songwriting as her platform to express her inner thoughts on relationships and the world we live in.

Riley entered the music scene with her 2019 single 'Herstory'. The track is dedicated to those at the crosshairs of racial injustice and sexism.

“My words are empty if you ain’t open”

Her debut album, ‘interest rates, a tape’, finds her having progressed even deeper within her craft. Musically, the project blends the experimental with the pace and rhythms of House and weightlessness of Free Jazz. Her deliberate directness makes the messages crystal clear, empowering some and challenging others to do better.

A standout track for me was ‘say yes’ a collaboration with London’s Joe Armon-Jones. This slow-paced track compliments Riley, as she urges her listeners to take control of their power. As the waterfalls of percussion and keys swing, so Riley moves between melody and spoken word.

"You just have to follow all your feelings,

not be afraid to feel things,

you don’t necessarily need meaning"

Following track 'poomplexed', features an upbeat DIY House percussion arrangement and layered rhythmic loops of harmony. it evolves into a work of pure Acid House, only to return to a diversity of sounds that give Riley the freedom to be daring and show a different side of herself. Despite the range of tempos Riley always dictates the terms and shows complete control.

On the devastatingly short 'hi, how are you?(..)' She shows spectacular poise as she considers rekindling an old love.

“I’ve been trying my best not to think about you”

Riley finds a way to make the listeners feel the weight of the situation by drawing out agonising notes that draw gut wrenching desire. She trusts us to be with her as she contemplates love and loss, leaving us at an emotional standstill.

Towards the project’s close, Riley delivers a rush of energy on 'money', a catchy track dedicated to the all mighty dollar. Its youthful exuberance showcases Riley can sway a crowd as much as she can captivate their hearts. Overall, 'interest rates, a tape' strikes a warm balance between meticulously crafted and playfully experimental. The album’s free-flowing nature feels like a rough sketch that ends up being a detailed portrait”.

Go and properly acquaint yourself with George Riley if you have not heard her music. A genuinely promising artist who is going to enjoy this very varied and busy career, it is going to be great seeing what the rest of this year holds in store. When it comes to new artists who have their own sound and are definitely worth exploring and standing by, the brilliant George Riley is…

ONE of our very best.

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Follow George Riley

INTERVIEW: Kate Bush and Me: Paul Mosley

INTERVIEW:

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1985

Kate Bush and Me: Paul Mosley

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I am hoping to…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Paul Mosley

get together a series of interview with people who are fans of Kate Bush. One reason is the fact she reached number one in the U.K. thanks to Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) featuring on Stranger Things. It has played an important part and, as she told Woman’s Hour earlier this week, it was a big honour for her. Now, award-winning singer-songwriter Paul Mosley discusses Kate Bush and tells me when he discovered her music and what she means to him. Mosley composes for puppet theatre and writes concept albums with his chamber/junk ensemble, the Red Meat Orchestra. It has been insightful and a pleasure to hear from a talented songwriter like Mosley. He shows his passion and love for Kate Bush here. You can check out Paul Mosely’s official website here; his Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. We all hope that Kate Bush will release new music. I guess we will hear news and get that long-awaited music…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1993/PHOTO CREDIT: John Stoddart/Getty Images

WHEN she is ready.

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Hi Paul. Can you tell me about the first time you heard Kate Bush’s music? Was it a particular song or album that captured you?

It was the cover art for Never for Ever that got me. I was eight, and it looked like Where the Wild Things Are - and turned out it sort of sounded like it too. I remember particularly loving Army Dreamers at the time; the spookiness of it.

What was it about Kate Bush that struck you? How did she differ to every other artist and album you were listening to at the time?

I was proper young, so I was listening to The Jungle Book soundtrack and my family’s records. I assume my sister Karen (ten years older than me) bought it when it came out (1980), but it was alongside The Beatles, Tony Christie, The South Pacific soundtrack. I listened to all of them pretty indiscriminately, but Never for Ever was like an adventure story, and I listened on (massive ‘70s) headphones to really get lost in it properly. It was quite a bit later before I formed any idea of Kate as a person – which I suppose is quite unusual as she is so striking and particular and amazing. But it was all about the world conjured up by that record for me for years.

Of course, there has been a lot of new celebration of Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) after it went to number one in the U.K. following its place on the Netflix series, Stranger Things. How did you feel when you heard the news? How important is it that an artist like Kate Bush (who is sixty-three) gets to number one in 2022?

I was genuinely quite moved. She was always such a massive part of my musical landscape. For years, I was used to her being cited as an influence by anybody else I liked who came along. So, to suddenly realise that young musicians now didn’t know of her was simultaneously a shock and brilliant, because now of course they all do.

“The Ninth Wave (the conceptual song cycle that makes up the B-side of ‘Hounds of Love’) was the THING for me. I’ve been writing concept albums ever since”.

Do you think you have incorporated bits of Kate Bush into your own music? Has she directly influenced how you write and create as an artist?

Absolutely. Loads. That expectation that we writers incorporate ‘strange’ sounds into ‘proper songs’. That specific form of storytelling that has a very theatrical sensibility without being musical theatre. The non-Rock instrumentation mixed in with a band line-up. The magpie’s eye for musical styles and arrangements - all a big part of what I want my own music to be.

Is it possible to select the Kate Bush album and songs that mean the most to you?

Although Never for Ever was my entry point, The Ninth Wave (the conceptual song cycle that makes up the B-side of Hounds of Love) was the THING for me. I’ve been writing concept albums ever since. I have to ration how often I listen to it now, because I always want it to be special and to really hear it. There are so many bits that are perfect to my mind: the choir on Hello Earth; “Look who’s here to see you”; “Dum dum deeya dum dooo”… All of it!  

Also, Love and Anger from The Sensual World is probably my number one specific Kate song.

I think that, in spite of her recent acclaim, Bush remains underrated. Many of her songs and albums are not overly well-known. Do you think that would change? What would you say to someone who wanted to explore Bush’s work more but was not sure where to start?

I think we will get more covers now, and hopefully that will shine a light on some other songs. This Woman’s Work is well-loved and already has that excellent Maxwell version, and there’s a beautiful instrumental by Brandee Younger & Dezron Douglas. Maybe that could become a standard; the way Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah did? Get Adele to do it!

In terms of starting point, I think I’d go with Hounds of Love, because you get the Hit! Hit! Hit! Hit! of Running Up That Hill, the title track, The Big Sky and Cloudbusting. Then you get the full-on mind-blowing masterpiece of The Ninth Wave. As a compilation, The Whole Story is excellent and definitely works for winning over a group of people on a car journey or something. But I like my Kate experience to be a one-to-one headphones thing and incorporate some of the quieter moments that grow on you over time. And I’d like to think somebody coming to her new would pick up on that about her and want to hear that side of her.

“There’s loads of ways to do it, but Kate’s way is right”.

Kate Bush means so many things to different people. What does she mean to you personally?

She’s fundamentally the real deal. Loads of people are, but when you think about the era she arrived in and the way she does everything on her own terms - amazing.  Musically, I think there still hasn’t been anyone else like her that I have heard. I am protective of her because what she’s doing is correct. That’s how you do it. There’s loads of ways to do it, but Kate’s way is right.

On 30th July, Kate Bush turns sixty-four. If you had a chance to buy her a birthday present, what would you get her?

Studio time?

One of my dreams is to interview her. If you were sat opposite her and were interviewing Bush, what is the first question you would ask?

I would be useless. I would be focusing on musical questions. I don’t really need to know anything personal about her. She is there in her work. Everything else is nothing to do with me, I think(?). So, I’d probably ask her about her current approach to writing and if she would please sing with me.

“So, yes, I hope so. And I do think she will. Keep believing!”.

It is impossible to predict, but what do you think will come next for Kate Bush? Do you think we might hear new music soon?

I really hope so. I loved 50 Words for Snow. The way her voice has changed, and her songwriting is getting more obtuse and leaning into Jazz more: very happy with all of those things. So, yes, I hope so. And I do think she will. Keep believing!

Finally, you can select anything Kate Bush-related. It can be a song, interview, or live performance. What shall we end the interview with?

Although even she doesn’t love the film, the video for Moments of Pleasure from The Line, the Cross and the Curve is wonderful. The visuals are simple (and, yes, of their time), but they fit the music and the story so well. And that vocal run - down and up - on the line “Spinning in the chair at Abbey Road” and “Every old sock meets an old shoe” and “Here come the hills of time” – shivers every time. Beautiful.

FEATURE: Waiting for That Day: George Michael at Fifty-Nine: The Playlist

FEATURE:

 

 

Waiting for That Day 

 George Michael at Fifty-Nine: The Playlist

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BECAUSE the much-missed George Michael…

would have been fifty-nine on 25th June, I wanted to put together a playlist with some of his best solo work. I have done George Michael playlists before but, for his birthday, I will take in a few deeper cuts. We sadly lost Michael in 2016. A new documentary, Freedom Uncut, was released on 22nd June. It is a film that covers a period of Michael's life and career following the release of his 1987 solo debut, Faith, then through the creation and release of his 1990 follow-up, Listen Without Prejudice, Vol.1. If you are a fan, then it is well worth seeing. To celebrate the iconic George Michael, this fifty-ninth birthday playlist contains some solo hits and deeper cuts. Before getting to it, I want to introduce AllMusic’s biography of the great man:

“George Michael was the biggest British pop star of the 1980s, spinning a series of infectiously catchy pop singles into global stardom that saw him sell over 100 million albums worldwide. Blessed with a fine voice and a knack for writing engaging melodies that worked well with dance-friendly rhythms, Michael became the rare teen sensation who matured into a respected star as an adult.

Michael was born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou on June 25, 1963 in the North London suburb of East Finchley; his father was a Greek Cypriot restaurant owner who changed his name from Kyriacos Panayiotou to Jack Michael when he immigrated to England in the 1950s. Michael's family relocated to Bushey, Hertfordshire when he was in his early teens, and he struck up a friendship with one of his new schoolmates, Andrew Ridgeley. Both Michael and Ridgeley were interested in music, and in 1979 they formed a ska band called the Executive; the group didn't go far, but it gave them a taste for the spotlight, so they took what they learned and in 1981 formed a pop duo called Wham! The early Wham! demos impressed executives at Innervision, an independent record label that signed the group to a contract. By 1982, Wham! had hit the U.K. pop charts with "Wham Rap" and "Young Guns (Go for It)," and scored an American record deal with Columbia.

Michael and Ridgeley soon discovered how unfavorable their deal with Innervision was, though, and they opted out of their contract by forfeiting all future royalties on material from their first album, Fantastic, to sign with Sony worldwide. The choice proved to be shrewd; Wham!'s second album, 1984's Make It Big, transformed them from British hitmakers to a genuine international sensation, as "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go," "Everything She Wants," "Careless Whisper," and "Freedom" became wildly successful in the U.K., Europe, and the United States. Wham! soon became one of the biggest new acts of the era, and in 1985 they became the first Western pop group to tour the People's Republic of China. But Michael displayed an ambition that went beyond Wham!'s new success, and the "Careless Whisper" single was released with the credit "Wham! Featuring George Michael," setting the stage for him to strike out on his own. In 1986, after Michael had released a proper solo single, "A Different Corner," Wham! announced their breakup and said farewell to their fans with a sold-out concert at London's Wembley Stadium.

Michael wasted no time making his mark, releasing his first solo album, Faith, in 1987. He produced and arranged the album, as well as writing the songs, and it managed to top Wham!'s phenomenal success, spawning a series of major hit singles (including "I Want Your Sex," "Father Figure," "Kissing a Fool," and the title track) and selling over 20 million copies worldwide. Michael promoted the album with a series of stylish, sexy music videos and a concert tour that found him playing 137 shows over the space of 16 months. Faith left no doubt that Michael was one of the new icons of pop music, and after recording successful duets with Elton John ("Wrap It Up" and "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me") and Aretha Franklin ("I Knew You Were There [Waiting for Me]"), he proved he had the respect of veteran acts as well as younger audiences.

However, Michael felt reined in by his image as a pop singer, and after taking a break, he released Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1 in 1990, a set that was noticeably more somber, sophisticated, and personal than his previous work. Presumably to put the focus on his music rather than his image, Michael refused to appear in any music videos for the album and declined to tour in support; the album fared well commercially, but not as well as Faith, and Michael began expressing dissatisfaction with Sony, declaring his contract was financially inequitable and creatively stifling. Michael sued Sony to end his contract, leading to a long and costly legal battle that ended in 1995, with Michael signing to the newly launched DreamWorks Records label in the United States and Virgin in the rest of the world. (During the interim, Michael released a live EP that included material he performed with the surviving members of Queen at the 1992 Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert.) In 1996, Michael finally released his third solo effort, Older, which followed in the more contemplative vein of Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1. While the album went platinum in the United States, it was considered a commercial disappointment considering the success of Michael's previous work, though it fared better in Europe and the U.K.

In 1998, Michael released Ladies and Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael, a two-disc anthology that featured solo material as well as recordings with Wham! It also included a new song, "Outside"; the song and its video were created in response to a widely publicized incident in which Michael was arrested by an undercover officer in Los Angeles for "performing a lewd act" in a public restroom. After the arrest made headlines, Michael publicly acknowledged his homosexuality, and in time it was revealed that the song "Jesus to a Child" from Older was written in tribute to his late partner Anselmo Feleppa, who died of AIDS-related illnesses in 1993. In 1999, Michael released an album of covers, Songs from the Last Century, which was released worldwide by Virgin after Michael parted ways with DreamWorks.

In 2002, Michael signed a new record deal with Polydor and released the single "Freeek," with a new album expected to follow. However, the subsequent full-length release, Patience, didn't arrive until 2004, and in a surprising move, it was issued not by Polydor, but the Sony-affiliated Epic label after Michael returned to the company he'd left nine years earlier. He told journalists that he expected it to be his final commercially released album, adding he hoped to release future material online, with any proceeds going to charity. A second two-disc collection, Twenty-Five, was issued in 2008 and Michael soon launched the Twenty-Five tour, playing North America for the first time in 17 years. Over the next five years, Michael toured regularly, starting the Symphonica tour in 2011. An orchestral pop show, it was captured on record by producer Phil Ramone, although Ramone died before the album could be released. Michael completed the album and issued it under the title Symphonica in March 2014; it reached number one in the U.K. and number 60 in the U.S. His next project was a documentary, Freedom, plus the announcement that he was working on new recordings, but he died before anything was released, succumbing to heart failure on Christmas Day in 2016.

The first posthumous George Michael project was an expanded 2017 reissue of Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1, which also featured his 1996 appearance on MTV Unplugged. In 2019, a romantic comedy called Last Christmas featured a selection of songs by Michael and Wham!, including the previously unreleased "This Is How (We Want You to Get High)”.

A legendary and adores artist that left us too young, it would have been interesting seeing what George Michael came up with next in terms of his music. What he did leave is a fantastic body of work. I have been a fan since childhood. I know that his music will be discovered, heard and loved for generations to come. It is clear, when it came to George Michael, he was…

AN artist like no other.

FEATURE: Groovelines: Maxi Priest – Close to You

FEATURE:

 

 

Groovelines

Maxi Priest – Close to You

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I want to include this song…

in Groovelines, as I think it remains underrated and dismissed a bit. Maxi Priest’s 1990 single, Close to You, is one that sounds amazing to this day. I have heard it so many times, yet I love it every time it appears. I am going to bring in a feature from Stereogum that looked at the song and its background. Released from the English artist’s fifth album, Bonafide (1990), the song reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, number two on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart and number seven in the U.K. Whilst not a pure Reggae song, it does have tinges of the genre. It is more of a Pop or R&B song. I do feel that it is a really interesting track that should be reappraised. A timeless track that is played a lot today and being discovered by new listeners, it was written by Max Elliott, Gary Benson and Winston Sela. The Bonafide album is also underrated and worth a listen. A definite classic of the early-1990s, Close to You is the sort of smooth, catchy and soulful R&B that you do not really hear much of now. We still have some songs like it, but I wonder why it is rarer. I am going to wrap up with my thoughts. Before then, Stereogum spotlighted Close to You as part of their series where they look deep inside number one songs:

“Close To You” isn’t anywhere near as anthemic as “Back To Life.” Instead, its breezy, improvisatory feel is key to its appeal. “Close To You” scans as a seduction song, and Priest delivers its chorus with a yearning intensity: “I just wanna be close to you and do all the things you want me to.” But on the verses, Priest describes a dangerous temptress: “She was a jezebel, Miss Brixton Queen/ Living her life like a bad sweet dream.” (Americans in the late ’80s and early ’90s loved pop songs about jezebels.) Priest is clearly very into this “devil woman” who spins around like a wheel on fire and walks the tightrope on love’s highwire. He keeps reminding himself that she’s bad news, but he’s drawn in anyway.

Those “Close To You” lyrics don’t exactly hold up to scrutiny. We don’t get a clear picture of this woman, and Priest certainly doesn’t sketch her out as a three-dimensional person. But I kind of like the silliness of the lyrics: “Her blood was hot, she burned so bright/ A neon sign there in the night/ It’s hard to say if I went too far/ My heart still bears a scar.” At any rate, the delivery matters more than the words. Priest sings hard on the chorus, and he half-raps the verses, which might come off as dancehall toasting if Priest had more patois in his voice. Priest sounds a bit like he’s arguing with himself in two different voices, and he also sounds a bit like he’s just making the song up as he goes along.

Recording “Close To You,” Priest returned to Jamaica and worked with a trio of veteran reggae producers: Sly Dunbar, Geoffrey Chung, and Handel Tucker. The track has some skank to it, but it’s definitely not a straight-up reggae song, and Priest knows it. In Fred Bronson’s Billboard Book Of Number 1 Hits, Priest says, “The song was originally more like soul than reggae. I used those producers to swing it back over. I think we got a nice balance between reggae, pop, and soul — it has all three of the elements in there.” He’s right. “Close To You” has a wind-in-your-hair weightlessness to it. The song isn’t hugely memorable, but when it’s on, it floats.

“Close To You” was a global hit, but it was bigger in the US than it was anywhere else. The song crossed radio formats — #2 R&B, #12 Adult Contemporary, #12 Dance Club Songs. That crossover appeal is presumably what took “Close To You” to the top of the Hot 100 for a week. Talking to Songfacts, Priest remembered hearing that he had the #1 song in America: “I was in tears as I called my brothers and sisters, reminiscing about our parents and my brother Osburn that we had lost, wishing they were around to share that news. I was just overwhelmed with joy.”

When “Close To You” topped the Hot 100, reggae hadn’t fully broken through on the American pop charts. UB40, a very different British reggae act, had taken “Red Red Wine” to #1 two years earlier, and a few other reggae-adjacent songs had topped the charts over the years — things like Eric Clapton’s version of “I Shot The Sheriff” or Blondie’s version of “The Tide Is High.” “Close To You” was a lot closer to the London dance-pop hits of the late ’80s — the hits from artists like Soul II Soul and Neneh Cherry and even Fine Young Cannibals. And maybe “Close To You” helped open things up for the Jamaican dancehall songs that would top the Hot 100 in the years ahead”.

I do love Close to You and the fact it was clearly influential and opened up things for others. It is radio friendly, but I also think that it has the potential to be remixed and covered by artists now. A universal and simple message that can be adapted and translated into multiple genres, Close to You is one of my favourite songs from the 1990s. Maxi Priest’s best-known song, it is great revisiting this song. Even if some people feel the song is a bit overrated or watered-down and not hugely important, I think Close to You is…

A true classic

FEATURE: A Change of Fortune: Kate Bush’s The Ninth Wave Reordered

FEATURE:

 

 

A Change of Fortune

 Kate Bush’s The Ninth Wave Reordered

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I have previously ranked…

 PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush

the tracks on Hounds of Love. That 1985 Kate Bush album is getting a lot of attention, as Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) reached number one because it featured on Stranger Things. Another Kate Bush song is featuring on Stranger Things soon. I suspect it may be Cloudbusting. It is no surprise that the album has shot up thew charts because of the association. I have ranked the tracks on The Ninth Wave but, because it is a suite that is chronological and follows a story, jumbling them up would skew the narrative and be a bit weird. I want to do so anyway, as there is a definite order of tracks in terms of quality that differs from the album’s running order. Before coming to this, the Kate Bush Encyclopedia brings us some information about one of Bush’s greatest artistic achievements:

“The suite consists of the following tracks:

And Dream of Sheep

Under Ice

Waking The Witch

Watching You Without Me

Jig Of Life

Hello Earth

The Morning Fog

Kate about 'The Ninth Wave'

The Ninth Wave was a film, that's how I thought of it. It's the idea of this person being in the water, how they've got there, we don't know. But the idea is that they've been on a ship and they've been washed over the side so they're alone in this water. And I find that horrific imagery, the thought of being completely alone in all this water. And they've got a life jacket with a little light so that if anyone should be traveling at night they'll see the light and know they're there. And they're absolutely terrified, and they're completely alone at the mercy of their imagination, which again I personally find such a terrifying thing, the power of ones own imagination being let loose on something like that. And the idea that they've got it in their head that they mustn't fall asleep, because if you fall asleep when you're in the water, I've heard that you roll over and so you drown, so they're trying to keep themselves awake. (Richard Skinner, 'Classic Albums interview: Hounds Of Love'. BBC Radio 1, 26 January 1992)”.

There are another couple of reasons why I wanted to feature The Ninth Wave. Apart from the fact it is from Hounds of Love, I think people gravitate towards the first side of the album and the hits. Not that many songs from The Ninth Wave are played regularly. When it comes to featuring songs from The Ninth Wave on T.V. and film. There is so much atmospheric potential, I wonder whether people will recognise the beauty of the songs and realise they can be broken up and used outside of the suite. I also think that there should be a cinematic portrayal of The Ninth Wave. Bush performed it during her Before the Dawn residency in 2014, but it would be interesting seeing The Ninth Wave played out, wither as a standalone film, or part of a longer film (maybe the third act). It would be wonderful to see it played out. I previous saw The Ninth Wave as a suite, where you could not break up the songs. Now, I see that each track has its own merit and strengths. Of course, they appear on the album as a story, so, as I say, rearranging them would be disjointed and random. I wanted to have a bit of fun and put the tracks in order of quality. I will start with the track of the seven that I think is the least good, working to the very best. Since I did my track order features (where I included Hounds of Love) my opinions have changed. Here is Hounds of Love’s The Ninth Wave reordered…

IN order of quality.

FEATURE: Renaissance Woman: The Return of Beyoncé: The Essential Mix

FEATURE:

 

 

Renaissance Woman

PHOTO CREDIT: Rafael Pavarotti for British Vogue 

The Return of Beyoncé: The Essential Mix

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I do sort of loathe the term ‘return’…

when applied to an artist that brings out new music after a gap. It is prevalent in the music press, and that word often accompanies an artist’s new song that comes maybe a matter of months after their last release. Maybe it will be a year or two. In any case, that is not a ‘return’. What it is, instead, is an artist doing their job, and not throwing out music every five minutes! Sure, if a band or artist releases new music after a couple of decades away, I think that we can say that this is a return. Aside from that, that word is liberally added to any track from artists who have not gone anywhere. I have used the word ironically in this feature, as Beyoncé has been working steadily through her career. Her next studio album, Renaissance (alternatively titled act i: RENAISSANCE), is out on 29th July. Since 2016’s Lemonade, Beyoncé has released music and been active. It is not like she has been in the wilderness and disappeared. That said, her upcoming seventh studio album does seem like a new chapter. Now in her forties, I think we are not going to hear something similar to Lemonade or her earlier work. That said, what with gun crime in the U.S., race issues and a world divided, Renaissance will have political elements, in addition to personal ones. The sound of a proud and iconic woman reborn. I am really looking forward to it! Ahead of its release next month, I want to celebrate the new album by compiling a collection of the best Beyoncé solo hits and deeper cuts. To show her evolution, sheer variety and talent as an artist. Before that, I want to introduce an article from Pitchfork and the news of Renaissance:

“Beyoncé is back. A new album, Renaissance, is out July 29, a product listing on her website confirms. The record is seemingly subtitled “Act I.” Tweets from streaming services alluded to the album after Beyoncé’s social media bios were updated with the title and date. In keeping with her trademark mysterious release strategies, no further information has been revealed, though an unverifiable tweet from the tireless fan account Beyoncé Legion suggests Renaissance is a 16-song album. Pitchfork has emailed Beyoncé’s publicist for comment and more information.

In a new British Vogue cover story unveiled shortly after the announcement, Edward Enninful, the editor-in-chief of British Vogue, described hearing the album in person: “Instantly, a wall of sound hits me,” Enninful wrote. “Soaring vocals and fierce beats combine and in a split second I’m transported back to the clubs of my youth. I want to get up and start throwing moves. It’s music I love to my core. Music that makes you rise, that turns your mind to cultures and subcultures, to our people past and present, music that will unite so many on the dance floor, music that touches your soul. As ever with Beyoncé, it is all about the intent. I sit back, after the wave, absorbing it all.”

The box set listing confirming Renaissance includes a CD, T-shirt, and a collectible box. The product image will update when campaign artwork is revealed. The box will include a 28-page booklet and mini poster. Yesterday (June 15), after Beyoncé’s profile pictures went blank, fans speculated that a graphic tweeted by her nonprofit, Beygood, cryptically signaled imminent music. In a montage of album covers, only one square showed an unexplained image: a gloved red hand, pointing towards the album cover to its left—Brandy’s B7. We now know that B7, Beyoncé’s seventh album, is Renaissance.

The new era of ceremonious Beyoncé releases began the night of December 13, 2013, when she surprised the world by suddenly releasing her self-titled visual album. One week before she released Lemonade, she shared a teaser trailer for its visual album counterpart; details weren’t revealed until the full album was released. Those albums were filled with star contributors who kept their work secret. Beyoncé featured Frank Ocean, Drake, Jay-Z, and Sia. Lemonade credited Kendrick Lamar, Jack White, the Weeknd, James Blake, Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig, and Father John Misty.

In the time since she released Lemonade, she has teamed with her husband Jay-Z on the 2018 album Everything Is Love. In 2019, she released Homecoming, a live album and concert film that documented her iconic headlining Coachella set. She appeared in the film and soundtrack of Disney’s update of The Lion King and executive produced the companion compilation The Lion King: The Gift. In 2020, she released another accompanying visual album, Black Is King.

Beyoncé kicked off 2021 with a milestone. When “Black Parade” won Best R&B Performance at the 2021 Grammy Awards, she set the record for most Grammys won by a female artist. The record was previously held by Alison Krauss.

At the end of that same year, Beyoncé released “Be Alive”—an Oscar-nominated contribution to the Venus and Serena Williams biopic King Richard. While the song didn’t win the Oscar (which went to Billie Eilish’s James Bond theme), Beyoncé opened the show with a performance of the song at the Compton tennis courts where the Williams sisters practiced as children. Blue Ivy joined her for the performance, which was secretly filmed one week in advance under the code name “Project Red”.

To mark the release of an album that has caused great excitement, below is a selection of the best Beyoncé songs. I can well imagine Renaissance being ranked alongside her very best albums. As her fans hold their breath in anticipation, it is a perfect opportunity to dive back into her solo catalogue (either for studio albums or soundtracks) from Beyoncé. There is no doubting the fact that she is…

A musical icon.

FEATURE: One for the Record Collection! Essential July Releases

FEATURE:

 

 

One for the Record Collection!

IN THIS PHOTO: beabadoobee/PHOTO CREDIT: Derek Bremner for DORK

Essential July Releases

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THERE are a variety of albums…

 IN THIS PHOTO: She & Him

scheduled for next month (though release dates can change between now and July) that people should investigate and pre-order. The first week of albums to look out for is 8th July. One I am very excited about is Katy J Pearson’s Sound of the Morning. This is an album people should get. One of Britain’s finest and most original young artists, her album is going to win a wave of positive reviews:

“If Pearson’s extracurricular activities in recent months have shown that she can dip a toe into a multitude of genres -providing guest vocals on Orlando Weeks’ recent album Hop Up; popping up with Yard Act for a collaboration at End of the Road festival; singing on trad-folk collective Broadside Hacks’ 2021 project Songs Without Authors - then second album Sound of the Morning takes that spirit and runs with it. It’s still Katy J Pearson (read: effortlessly charming, full of heart and helmed by that inimitable vocal), but it’s Katy J Pearson pushing herself musically and lyrically into new waters. Written and recorded in late 2021 after a self-prescribed period of down time spent walking, going on daily cold water swims and “just chillaxing massively”, even the credits on Sound of the Morning profess a new thirst for experimentation from the singer. Joining Return producer Ali Chant on desk duties this time was Speedy Wunderground head honcho Dan Carey, who worked with Pearson on some of the album’s grittier tracks.

The slithering bass riff that underpins ‘Alligator’, offsetting its cathartic chorus is a case in point. “I was in such a bad mood that day because I’d had this huge E.ON bill to pay which was £500. I was on the phone to my dad, like, ‘Dad! I’ve fucked it!’” she recalls. “I walked into the studio and just burst into tears, and Dan was like, ‘Let’s just write a song’. We started writing this really jangly thing and that became the start of ‘Alligator’.”Perhaps the biggest surprise, meanwhile, comes in the tense, Carey-produced ‘Confession’. Written after a conversation with her mum sparked by the #MeToo movement, it’s an anxious rattle of a song that’s both abstract and painfully timeless.

Yes, in this specific instance, “it was a very long time ago when it happened”, but as the song’s repetition seems to suggest, it was happening then, and it’s happening now and it will probably keep on happening. “When I listen to that song, it’s abstract but it feels very personal and strong to me and hopefully to the women around me. I think that song has so much anxiety and tension in it because every day, women are faced with triggering aspects of things that have happened to us -especially in music, I’ll be going to a gig and there’ll be some fucking creep there,” she explains. “It’s completely universal for so many of us, and I’m glad I’ve got a song that represents that because, as I’m getting older as a person and as a woman, I want to sing about this because I’m fucking angry. It’s nice to have an angry and anunnerving song on my album.”That Pearson decides to follow such a dark sonic moment with the sparse, traditional folk lilt of ‘The Hour’ (penned in its stripped back form, she chuckles, because the acrylic nails she was wearing at the time didn’t allow for anything more complex) is typical of Sound of the Morning. It’s an album that’s as comfortable revelling in the more laid-back, Real Estate-esque melodies of lead single ‘Talk Over Town’ -a track that attempts to make sense of her recent experiences, of “being Katy from Gloucester, but then being Katy J Pearson who’s this buzzy new artist” -as it is basking in the American indie pop of ‘Float’, penned with longtime pal Ollie Wilde of Pet Shimmers, or experimenting with the buoyant brass of ‘Howl’, in which Orlando repays the favour with a vocal guest spot.

The record ends with a cover of ‘Willow’s Song’ by Paul Giovanni, taken from the 1973 soundtrack of The Wicker Man. Reinterpreted with a krautrock inflection, it might not have been from her pen but it’s a strangely appropriate way to summarise Katy J Pearson’s appeal: someone who takes classic, timeless ideas and spins them into new forms. It also leaves the door tantalisingly open for what’s to come -as she says herself, “I think it’s really nice to finish the album on something that isn’t mine but is still this ending moment -it’s like it’s saying, ‘What is she going to do next?”.

The second one from 8th July that is worth some money is Laura Veirs’ Found Light. The legendary and iconic American songwriter is readying her twelfth studio album. I would strongly encourage even the slightest fan of Veirs’ work to pre-order Found Light. It is shaping up to be one of her best albums to date:

“Found Light may be Laura Veirs’ 12th studio LP, but it also, in many ways, feels like her debut. If 2020’s My Echo - written and mixed just prior to her 2019 split from her longtime husband, her longtime producer, and the father of her two sons - was her divorce album, Found Light is about what comes after.

Found Light is a liberating collection of inquisitive and surprisingly assured snapshots of healing and personal growth, and her very first release with co-production credits. Despite the sadness and suffering that prompted these 14 graceful wonders, the result is a testament to the inspiration of independence, to shaping new possibilities for yourself even after great loss. It is a reminder that we are always capable of something more”.

Skip ahead to 15th July, and there are some great albums due this week well worth some time and money. One is beabadoobee’s Beatopia. The London-based artist’s second album follows 2020’s Fake It Flowers. She has posted short clips of each of the tracks, and it sounds like she is really excited for people to hear an album that is going to be ranked alongside the best of this year. Definitely go and pre-order a magnificent album from a very special artist:

“Critically acclaimed Beabadoobee returns with her second studio album Beatopia (pronounced Bay-A-Toe-Pee-Uh). Due for release on Friday 15th July via Dirty Hit, Beatopia is a fantastical yet deeply personal world that was formed in the imagination of a 7 year old beabadoobee and has been carried with her ever since.

Housing Bea's most impressive work to date, Beatopia marks a huge progression, in 14 songs she traverses fuzzy rock, classic singer-songwriter, psychedelia, midwest emo and outright pop whilst remaining undeniably herself throughout”.

An album that has accrued a lot of attention and press the past couple of weeks, Lizzo’s Special is released on 15th July. Do ensure you pre-order the album, as Lizzo is one of the finest artists around. I think Special is going to be her best-reviewed album. One that every fan needs to get a hold of.

A tremendous British Pop talent, Mabel’s About Last Night... is out on 15th July. Maybe you are not a huge fan of her work, but I think that her album will change minds and showcase just what she is made of! Go and pre-order it if you like what you have heard from her so far:

“About Last Night… is Mabel’s second studio album by English singer and songwriter Mabel. Mabel worked with artists such as 24kGoldn, Lil Tecca, Jax Jones, Galantis, Joel Corry on this album. A candid, positive and important voice in contemporary pop, the Brit Award winner’s new music emerged not just in the wake of a startling few years in the public eye, but through the life-changing lens of the pandemic. Right at the beginning of lockdown, Mabel and her dogs moved back in with her parents, she threw herself into dance classes, and channelled everything she missed (close friends, the big night out, young love, feeling unafraid) into this brand-new musical chapter. As she continued work on the record in the UK, US and between various lockdowns, Mabel first teased what she had been working on with first single ‘Let Them Know’ – an unapologetic anthem about dressing up with nowhere to go, and projecting confidence for anyone who needs it. Recent single ‘Good Luck’ distilled influences of house, heartbreak and female solidarity into perfectly realised pop – and the empowering song you need, when getting ready to go to the party of ‘Overthinking’. Pulling all these strings and tying them together is Mabel herself, with much more on the project to be revealed soon”.

Before picking up on a few more albums, there is another one from 15th July that I would guide people in the direction of. Superorganism’s World Wide Pop is going to be a colourful, busy and bright album from a music collective that always produce such interesting work. Five years after they first put music out, I think they are creating their very best stuff. Do yourself a favour and pre-order an album that is going to be truly must-hear:

“When the first Superorganism music surfaced in 2017, the group’s in-your-face aesthetic — a post-everything mishmash of psychedelic indie pop and fizzy, funky electronica — quickly began to resonate with the likes of Frank Ocean, Vampire Weekend, Jehnny Beth, Gorillaz as well as finding them legions of fans across the world. Superorganism now return with their second album; entitled World Wide Pop, it is their first new music since 2018’s self-titled debut. Superorganism have mutated and are now based around the core of Orono, Harry, Tucan, B and Soul but World Wide Pop also brings in an international set of collaborators including Stephen Malkmus, CHAI, Pi Ja Ma, Dylan Cartlidge as well as legendary musician and actor Gen Hoshino.

Blasting back with thirteen tracks that strike a balance between artifice and earnestness, between sci-fi silliness and existential intensity, World Wide Pop is a showcase for Superorganism’s newly deepened understanding of each other’s interests and impulses, the kind of creative convergence you’d expect when online friends start spending time together IRL (their debut was completed before the whole band had ever been in the same room at the same time)”.

There are three more albums I want to highlight. Moving into 22nd July, and Jack White’s second album of the year, Entering Heaven Alive, is due. Following on from Fear of the Dawn – an album that was quite edgy, eerie, and wild in places –, Entering Heaven Alive is going to be different in terms of sound and mood. Maybe a more tranquil and reflective work. It will be interesting to see what he comes up with on his fifth solo studio album. Keeping it on 22nd July, She & Him Melt Away: A Tribute to Brian Wilson is an album that interests me. Released the month after Wilson turns eighty, it is one that I am looking forward to. I would urge others to pre-order an album paying tribute to one of the greatest songwriters ever:

“She and Him, the acclaimed twosome of M.Ward and Zooey Deschanel are known for the stylish arrangements, sophisticated interpretations, and sharply drawn originals they have perfected across their exceedingly fruitful six-album, 14-year collaboration. Now, with Melt Away: A Tribute to Brian Wilson, their seventh full-length release, the duo has crafted a love letter to 60’s-era Southern California-inspired pop that stands on its own as a defining musical achievement.

Produced by M.Ward and mixed by Tom Schick (Wilco, Norah Jones, Iron and Wine), Melt Away: A Tribute to Brian Wilson is the pair’s first in six years and features an abundance of smartly chosen Wilson / Beach Boys compositions, some universally beloved and others a little less familiar. All of them though, whether ingrained in your soul or hearing for the first time, share a flair for the dramatic. Ward and Deschanel bring their uncanny communal musical instincts to these pop-noir confections and re-imagine them for these times.

The inviting, twangy album opener, Brian Wilson and Mike Love’s “Darlin’,” (from the Beach Boys 1967 album Wild Honey) sets a high bar that She and Him meets throughout. The duo’s devoted take on “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” is especially revealing. Most wouldn’t consider touching the stone-cold classic, yet they lean into it with unabashed joy. Elsewhere, the band’s sublime version of Wilson’s mournful “Til I Die” is a three-minute and 22 second marvel. Deschanel’s spectacular vocal turn on the criminally overlooked Wilson solo cut “Melt Away” transforms the original’s lush, string-heavy treatment into a post-modern folk-pop gem. Other highlights include the surf-rock throwback “Do It Again,” featuring vocals from Brian Wilson himself (!) and the graceful “Please Let Me Wonder,” a long-treasured Wilson album cut. Finally, the Beach Boy’s timeless “Don’t Worry Baby” might be the album’s centerpiece and most affecting track. M.Ward’s earthy, laconic lead vocal layered over an exquisite arrangement feels organic and completely new – just like this album, a stunner in every way”.

There are actually two more albums I want to put your way. Sports Team’s Gulp! is an album that a lot of fans will be pre-ordering. They are one of our most exciting bands. It seems like they are on top form on their latest L.P.:

“Britain’s most exciting breakthrough band of recent years, Sports Team, release their second studio album Gulp!, via Island Records. The first taste of Gulp! came last night as Clara Amfo premiered the band’s new single ‘R Entertainment’ as her Hottest Record in the World on BBC Radio 1. Gulp! follows Sports Team’s 2020 Mercury Prize nominated debut album Deep Down Happy, which charted at #2 in the UK’s Official Charts, achieving the biggest vinyl sales for a debut British artist in 2020.

Signposting a bold and ambitious new era for the band, Sports Team explain that ‘R Entertainment’ explores “The packaging down of all human experience into entertainment, prompted by the infinite scroll through social feeds and the manic formlessness of the images we are hit with every day. Graphic news interrupted by ads for season 17 of The Bodyguard, news as a rubbernecking, passively waiting for the next drop of horror as we flick through recipes.”

Sports Team are Alex Rice (lead vocals), Rob Knaggs (rhythm guitar + vocals), Henry Young (lead guitar), Oli Dewdney (bass), Al Greenwood (drums) and Ben Mack (keyboard + percussion). Formed in 2016, the band released two EPs Winter Nets and Keep Walking! before sharing their debut album Deep Down Happy in June 2020 to widespread critical acclaim, praised by The Times for their “indomitable spirit and a refusal to take things too seriously” and The Guardian for their “sharply observational lyrics skewering the mores of suburbia”. Sports Team’s vivid vignettes of modern Britain and inspections of the follies, foibles and frustrations of youth have earned them an impassioned fanbase, a real community who come together at the band’s infamously electrifying live shows”.

I am going to end with the standout album from 29th July. Maggie Rogers’ Surrender is going to be sensational! I think it will receive some of the best reviews of the year. Go and pre-order a very special album that you really will want to hear:

“Grammy Award-nominated artist / producer / songwriter Maggie Rogers new album, Surrender, released via Polydor Records. Co-produced Kid Harpoon (Florence + the Machine, Harry Styles) and Rogers, Surrender is the follow-up to Heard It in a Past Life, Rogers’ massively beloved 2019 debut album, which entered Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart at No. 1 and debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. Praised by the likes of NPR, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, TIME Magazine, and many others, Heard It in a Past Life landed Rogers a nomination for Best New Artist and went on to amass over one billion combined global streams”.

There are other great albums out next month that I have missed and you may want to check out. It is up to you. I have chosen a few particularly good ones that I feel most people will want to get. The albums above just go to show what quality is coming our way…

THROUGHOUT July.

FEATURE: Never for Ever, Always in My Heart… Why I Keep Coming Back to Kate Bush’s Sublime 1980 Album

FEATURE:

 

 

Never for Ever, Always in My Heart…

Why I Keep Coming Back to Kate Bush’s Sublime 1980 Album

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AS there is still a lot of concentration…

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

on Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love, because Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) is a chart-topper, I wanted to move away from that album and look back to 1980’s Never for Ever. This is an album I have talked about generally; I have also looked at all the songs on their own. I have asked people on Twitter which albums of hers they feel is underrated. Certainly, Lionheart (1978) makes that list. I think that a hugely impressive album that never really gets a lot of depth and discussion is Never for Ever. Many people can identity its three biggest songs: Babooshka, Army Dreamers and Breathing. It is amazing to think that, only two years after Bush released two studio albums – her debut, The Kick Inside, and Lionheart – there was a sense of wondering whether she would return. A certain impatience and fickleness meant that, then (and now to an extent) artists really did get sidelined if they were not putting albums out regularly. Never for Ever was Bush's second foray into production (her first was for the On Stage E.P. the previous year). Her most personal album, she was producing alongside Jon Kelly and got to have more say and input. I think you can really hear the diversity and broadening sounds on her third album. After a hectic touring schedule with the previous year’s The Tour of Life, Bush’s first album of the 1980s was an artist intent on adopting more influence over her music.

As such, I think Never for Ever is one of her deepest and most rewarding albums. It is the beauty and warmth of some songs, coupled with such exceptional production work and compositional ambition on others that makes me really love Never for Ever. Definitely in my five favourite Bush studio albums, this is me making another pitch to people. I am going to end with more about why Never for Ever is such a treat. Before that, the Kate Bush Encyclopaedia collated interviews and press where Bush discussed Never for Ever. I have chosen a couple that are especially interesting and insightful:

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

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

Each song has a very different personality, and so much of the production was allowing the songs to speak with their own voices - not for them to be used purely as objects to decorate with "buttons and bows". Choosing sounds is so like trying to be psychic, seeing into the future, looking in the "crystal ball of arrangements", "scattering a little bit of stardust", to quote the immortal words of the Troggs. Every time a musical vision comes true, it's like having my feet tickled. When it works, it helps me to feel a bit braver. Of course, it doesn't always work, but experiments and ideas in a studio are never wasted; they will always find a place sometime.

I never really felt like a producer, I just felt closer to my loves - felt good, free, although a little raw, and sometimes paranoia would pop up. But when working with emotion, which is what music is, really, it can be so unpredictable - the human element, that fire. But all my friends, the Jons, and now you will make all the pieces of the Never For Ever jigsaw slot together, and It will be born and It will begin Breathing. (Kate Bush Club newsletter, September 1980)”.

An album that was hugely popular – Never for Ever was released in September 1980 -, Bush went on a record shop signing tour and, when she was at Oxford Street, crowds lined down the street! It reached number one in the U.K. and remained there for one week. Never for Ever was Bush's first to reach the top position on the U.K. album chart - also making her the first female British solo artist to achieve that status. Bush said in interviews how it was the first album to the point where she could sit back and appreciate it. She also was at the start of a progressive run of albums where, with each, Bush was building her sound. The reviews for the album have been a mixed of mixed and positive. From the iconic Babooshka opening the album to the beautiful tracks of Delius (Song of Summer) and Blow (Away for Bill), with her voice so entrancing; the beautiful and short segue of Night Scented Stock, to the more political closing tracks of Army Dreamers and Breathing, it is such an accomplished and broad album. It keeps that more light vocal register – except for Breathing -, but there are more shades and layers to it. The songwriting is more detailed, in respect of its characters and poetry. It is such a wonderful album I keep coming back to because it soothes me, but also makes me think. At eleven tracks, Never for Ever does not outstay its welcome. In fact, you wonder if there was a twelfth track planned that didn’t make it. I put the album on and feel better. As a load of new young fans are discovering Hounds of Love because of Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) charting high, I hope that Never for Ever reaches…

A new generation.

FEATURE: Revisiting… Anitta - Kisses

FEATURE:

 

 

Revisiting…

Anitta - Kisses

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THE mesmeric Larissa de Macedo Machado…

 PHOTO CREDIT: John Parra/Getty Images

is a Brazilian artist better known as Anitta. It is quite rare that an artist from South America is embraced into the mainstream. Still, the majority of artists that are most talked about and supported are from North America or Europe. An incredibly intoxicating and innovative artist, Annita’s eponymous album arrived in 2013. This year’s Versions of Me, perhaps her best album, was released to huge critical acclaim. A modern-day artist who mixes Latin, Pop and Reggaeton, I wanted to look at her previous album, 2019’s Kisses. It got some positive reviews upon its release, thought it did not get as much attention as it should have. I think that more people are exploring the album after hearing Versions of Me. Kisses is a really strong album that does not rely on the listener knowing about Anitta or loving the genres covered. It is an album that is instantly accessible and easy to enjoy. Sophisticated, sensual and hugely nuanced, one cannot easily define Kisses or put it into a pigeonhole. I am going to come onto a couple of positive reviews for one of 2019’s strongest albums. Kisses came out on 5th April, 2019 through Warner Brasil. It definitely elevated and augmented Annita’s name and amazing work. Pop Crush published extracts of an interview from Entertainment Tonight with Annita:

“The Brazilian singer dropped a new record on Friday (April 5) which features 10 tracks—and accompanying music videos!—and blends all her musical influences, including Mariah Carey and Ariana Grande. In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Anitta revealed why she thinks her album is "risky" and why she took her time with it.

“This album, I mean, I think it's the most risky [thing] I’ve ever done in my career,” she said. "I'm mixing the three languages that I speak, which is Spanish, Portuguese and English.”

The 26-year-old explained that the whole idea behind her new album was to show the world the different sides of her personality. "I'm a very complex person. I have different people inside me but it's still me,” she continued. “I wanted to show everyone that I can be...romantic one day, I can be sexy the other day, I can be crazy, I can be serious, I can be boss, I can be feminist, and I still don't lose my way to be, you know?”

Anitta also revealed that she worked on Kisses for over a year and that each track has a purpose. "All of the songs are really really good. None of the songs are just to fill the album, just to be there, just to play one more song,” she shared, adding that her collaboration with rapper Becky G was very important to her.

“I definitely wanted women from the Latin world to be with me on this album. I think it's important to [support] women," she said. "And to show everybody that when we are together, we are powerful, we are stronger, and [Becky] has the same thoughts in her mind, so that's why I invited her. I really like her”.

Although a couple of the reviews for Kisses were mixed or had constructive criticism, there were those who were more forthcoming of praise. I think it is a superb album that was deserving of its acclaim. This is what NME wrote in their review for a stunning album that draws you in from the opening track on:

“She’s also built enough of a UK fanbase to headline London’s 5,500-capacity Royal Albert Hall last summer, and ‘Kisses’ clearly has one eye on the post-‘Despacito’ English-language market. It features collaborations with Snoop Dogg, Rae Swemmurd’s Swae Lee and Swedish DJ Alesso, as well as Latin pop artists including Ludmilla and Prince Royce. Its 10 tracks – each of which has an accompanying video, Beyoncé-style – are sung in a mix of three different languages. Spanish, Portuguese and English. Anitta has described this as “the most risky [thing] I’ve ever done in my career”.

But thankfully, ‘Kisses’ still sounds and feels like a Latin pop album. The catchy Alesso-produced midtempo jam ‘Get to Know Me’ is the only track sung entirely in English, and Snoop Dogg’s guest verse on ‘Onda Differente’ is enjoyably jarring. “Anitta, Anitta, so glad to meet ya! / I’m big Snoop Dogg, and I’ll be the feature,” he raps, seemingly trying to remind Anitta – who’s previously worked with everyone from Major Lazer to J Balvin – how the whole musical collaboration thing works.

Elsewhere, ‘Kisses’ creates a sleek and cohesive blend of reggaeton bops – such as ‘Atención’ and ‘Tu Y To’ – and aromatic, trap-flecked cuts including ‘Rosa’ and ‘Poquito’. The English-language segments are rarely overdone and won’t cause language tutors Rosetta Stone any loss of business. “Bartender dame otro shot,” Anitta sings on ‘Sin Miedo’, which translates as “Bartender give me another shot” – in fairness, it’s a universal sentiment.

‘Kisses’ ends with its most musically surprising track, ‘Você Mentiu’, a languid, jazzy collaboration with Brazilian pop legend (and leading light of the Tropicália movement) Caetano Veloso. It’s another show of confidence from an album that has no need to break the 30-minute mark: lean and beat-driven; its 10 tracks canter by so infectiously that it’s no surprise Anitta feels like kissing herself”.

I am going to wrap things up in a minute. Idolator were among those who had a lot to say about an album that features ten brilliant songs - performed in English, Spanish and Portuguese. Kisses did reach four on the US Latin Pop Albums (Billboard) chart. I do think that it deserves a lot more success and coverage that it received in 2019. Its songs warrant greater airplay now:

“We do have some favorites, however. The Becky G-assisted “Banana” emerges as an instant highlight. Anticipation has been high for the duet since the “Mala Mia” collaborators first teased it. Vibrant and playful, the rip-roaring banger boasts a sing-along chorus and a video that is a literal work of art. With more than 7.5 million views in its first four days, it’s shaping up to be the album’s breakout hit.

The same could be said for streaming sensation “Poquito.” The trap-inspired, mid-tempo track has already amassed more than 1.8 million streams. On it, the “RIP” siren sings about being irresistible to a partner. “Poquito, it only takes a little bit. Just poquito, to get you hooked on all of this,” she coos. Featuring a guest verse from Rae Sremmurd rapper Swae Lee, it could introduce Anitta to a whole new audience. The slinky highlight pairs well with the Chris Marshall-assisted “Tu Y To.” That video features beachside views and plenty of sultry stares.

The seduction continues on “Rosa.” This emerges as a personal favorite with Anitta joining Prince Royce for a passionate fling. The compelling video brings the relationship to life. In it, they come together for a brief interlude amidst a sea of flowers. Later the New York-native watches as his lover serves serious looks in a room overflowing with red roses. Things get a little flirtier on the Alesso-assisted “Get To Know Me.” Over mellow production, the Brazilian goddess challenges a potential fling to earn her attention.

Empowering album opener “Atención” also demands attention. According to a translation on Billboard, it celebrates women. “This Anitta is full of attitude. She’s independent and likes to exalt other women,” the translation reads. “She preoccupies herself with social causes and believes that her vanity and beauty are in her attitude and way of being.” Those themes come across in the inclusive video, which encourages women to perform breast examinations. We stan a humanitarian legend!

If you’re in the mood for a club-ready banger, look no further than “Juego” or “Sin Miedo.” The latter features one of the album’s most danceable productions and guest appearances from Dj Luian and Mambo Kingz. Its video is a wild feast for the eyes. Rebellious and fun, the twists and turns keep you entertained from start to finish. The “Onda Diferente” visual is equally eye-popping. In it, Anitta and collaborator Ludmilla show out in skin-tight bodysuits.

That brings us to the album closer, “Você Mentiu.” Featuring vocals from Brazilian legend Caetano Veloso, the gentle offering is something of a sonic outlier. However, it effectively brings Kisses to a conclusion. And the accompanying video, a black-and-white interlude, works just as well. Lush with potential hits and arresting visuals, Anitta’s ambitious release is a winner from beginning to end. With any luck, it will put the superstar one step closer to global domination. Give the collection a spin below and let us know what you think”.

I only discovered Anitta’s music early last year. I think Versions of Me has brought her into the mainstream – almost a decade after her debut came out. Maybe Kisses was overlooked by some as she was at the start of that trajectory and was not known by a massive audience outside of her native Brazil. Kisses is an album that has very few weak moments and is made essential by Annita’s incredible vocals and personality. The wonderful Kisses still pops, sizzles and swings…

THREE years later.

FEATURE: Don’t Stop: The Legendary Mick Fleetwood at Seventy-Five

FEATURE:

 

 

Don’t Stop

The Legendary Mick Fleetwood at Seventy-Five

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AN iconic drummer…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Fleetwood performing with Fleetwood Mac in 2018

and a member of the legendary Fleetwood Mac, Mick Fleetwood turns seventy-five on 24th June. One of the band’s founders, he has been responsible for some of the best and most popular beats in music history. The backbone and driving force of songs like Don’t Stop (from Rumours) and Tusk (from Tusk). To celebrate his big birthday, I will end with a playlist featuring some of his best work with the band (and a couple with other artists). Before that, AllMusic have some biography about the great man:

“Mick Fleetwood anchored his namesake band Fleetwood Mac through thick and thin, seeing the group evolve from one of the pioneering British blues combos to the biggest pop/rock band in the world. Fleetwood may have never left his seat behind the drums in Fleetwood Mac but he did occasionally step away from the group. Notably, he released a pair of solo albums in the early 1980s: The Visitor, which was recorded in Ghana, and the slick, nervy pop LP I'm Not Me, which was credited to Mick Fleetwood's Zoo. He resumed his solo career in the 2000s with the Mick Fleetwood Blues Band, who released Blue Again! in 2008, and he once again returned to his solo career and his blues roots in 2020, when he organized a star-studded tribute to his late bandmate Peter Green.

After the supporting tour for 1979's Tusk, Fleetwood recorded his debut solo album, The Visitor, which was released in 1981 and displayed the drummer's interest in worldbeat. After the 1982 Mac album Mirage, Fleetwood cut a second solo record, 1983's I'm Not Me, which featured cameos from several Mac members. Fleetwood Mac subsequently went on hiatus until 1987, when Fleetwood's declaration of bankruptcy prompted the reunion LP Tango in the Night; even Lindsey Buckingham was persuaded to join in, albeit only in the studio.

Even as the band's classic '70s lineup splintered, Fleetwood kept versions of the band going throughout the '90s, without enjoying much commercial success until the full-fledged reunion on 1997's The Dance. Meanwhile, he also continued working on outside projects such as the Zoo, which issued Shakin' the Cage during the early '90s. Something Big (attributed to the Mick Fleetwood Band), a joint project with songwriter Todd Smallwood, was released in 2004 on Fleetwood's own label, TallMan Records. As Fleetwood Mac prepared to tour again in early 2009, the drummer issued yet another album, this one culled from a live performance by the Mick Fleetwood Blues Band. Entitled Blue Again!, the two-disc set featured the blues-based songs of Fleetwood Mac's early career while also devoting time to original material, with former Fleetwood Mac vocalist Rick Vito assuming frontman duties.

Fleetwood next went solo in 2020, when he organized a star-studded tribute to his old colleague Peter Green. The concert was released in 2021 as Celebrate the Music of Peter Green”.

The inspiring and incredible drummer for Fleetwood Mac, Mick Fleetwood has been so important regarding the success of the band. I don’t know if there are plans for the band to perform again or do anything together. One thinks that it is only a matter of time before there is a biopic about the band or their 1977 album, Rumours. Many happy returns to the sensational Mick Fleetwood. Here are a few great beats from…

A masterful drummer.

FEATURE: A Minor/Major Issue: Can a Music-Based Comedy Succeed and Be Profitable?

FEATURE:

 

 

A Minor/Major Issue

IN THIS PHOTO: American actor Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel)/PHOTO CREDIT: Ryan Pfluger for The New York Times

Can a Music-Based Comedy Succeed and Be Profitable?

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IT may seem like a strange question…

PHOTO CREDIT: Krists Luhaers/Unsplash 

but I have been thinking about an idea I have for a film that is music-based. Comedies in general have smaller budgets than other genres when it comes to the big screen. Fewer of them are released and, when they are, the reception is not as impassioned. There are lots of successful comedies, but how many come along that blow people away and get big box office receipts and this incredible status?! Very few spring to mind from the past couple of decades. Compare that to, say, horror films or action flicks, and there is a definite disparity. I have been looking at lists of the ‘best’ comedy films from the past twenty years, and there are not too many that are too recent. From Bridesmaids (2011) to Shaun of the Dead (2004), there are those that were incredibly well-received and stand as classics today. Apart from the iconic This Is Spinal Tap (1984), there are not that many music-based comedies. I am not including musicals in this. Instead, a film where music or a band is at the centre. Everyone loves music so, whether the soundtrack is heavy, and the plot revolves around music, or the film is about a particular artist, one would thing there’d be potential and a big audience. I think comedies are hard anyway, because it is a form that is so subjective. It is easy to convince people in action and drama because, to me, there is great promise to evoke the right emotions. Making people laugh is very hard! I have found that a lot of comedies from the past decade or so are either quite basic and streamlined or they are a little predictable and lacking anything special.

I have been looking around for recent music comedies. Maybe the best modern example is 2021’s Mixtape. That is an excellent film, yet it is a rarity in terms of its genre and success. I can’t really divulge details about my idea, suffice it to say, it shares some similarities with Mixtape. Humbling that it did do well in terms of reviews and reputations, I still wonder whether this is an area of cinema undervalued and under-explored. My film idea very much has actors like Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) in mind - so I could, hopefully, get a good cast. I think the issue of budget vs. box office is an issue. The film needs to be relatively inexpensive and make sure that it makes its money back. It is hard to balance ambition and scope with the realisation that comedies do not often do better than other types of films. Unless you have a franchise and popular Hollywood film on your hand that you know if going to be a big success, it is a gamble. Comedies are difficult to ‘get right’. Humour is a very subjective thing and, when it comes to impressing critics, there is this hard task of making them laugh and ensuring the film stays in the mind. There are not many comedies that can do that! I think the so-called ‘best’ comedies of this year are nothing spectacular. I cannot find too many music-based comedies from recent years, so there is this trepidation as to why that is. Is it difficult to sell to studios and get made? Is it a case of the critics not supporting it? Maybe the box office is going to be low and, as such, the film could lose money.

I am excited about an idea I have, yet I do know there is this risk and sense of stepping into a world that is not overly represented and familiar. I know there is a follow-up to This Is Spinal Tap planned. The original is a masterpiece, so that sequel is going to have a ready audience. Making a new comedy film that is very much about music and features it heavily is another matter! I feel few succeed in this area, and even the films that do well, they are not really mentioned as classics. If anyone knows films I am missing, then let me know. I think a good idea is worth holding onto and pushing as far as you can get it. Other types of films are easier to sell and get made, so it may take longer until there is any realistic way my film idea can even get to the early stages. I think the marriage of film, comedy and music is a wonderful thing! Combining these elements can fail and go wrong but, when it does go right, it can charm and wow audiences. Having a music-based comedy stay in the memory long after it is finished is quite a challenge – and yet it is not impossible and beyond the realms of possibility. I do hope that there is an audience around for these films, because I do not want to bail on my idea or let it die. To think that it could be made and find an audience…

WOULD be a dream.

FEATURE: Nothing But Good Vibrations: The Peerless Brian Wilson at Eighty: The Playlist

FEATURE:

 

 

Nothing But Good Vibrations

The Peerless Brian Wilson at Eighty: The Playlist

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ALTHOUGH there has been a lot…

PHOTO CREDIT: Harry Langdon/Getty Images

of attention around the fact Paul McCartney is eighty on Saturday (18th), we shouldn’t forget that one of Macca’s contemporaries, Brian Wilson, is the same age two days later. McCartney would be the first to say how influential Brian Wilson’s songwriting was to him during his time in The Beatles. Wilson has discussed how Rubber Soul was a real turning point for him and, in the mid-1960s, there was this friendly rivalry between the two geniuses. I am going to end with a collection of the best Brian Wilson songs (often co-writes, but the compositional brilliance belongs to Wilson). Before that, I think it is useful sourcing AllMusic’s biography of one of the greatest songwriters in history:

“Brian Wilson is arguably the greatest American composer of popular music in the rock era. As the founder of the Beach Boys, Wilson's songwriting captured the arc of innocence and turmoil that played out for those coming of age in the 1960s, quickly moving from the carefree fun of his early songs about cars, surfing, and teenage love to the complex self-inspection and vulnerability exhibited on his 1966 masterpiece Pet Sounds. Wilson's drive for experimentation only heightened as his music fell out of mainstream favor, but his art would also be influenced by his mental health struggles. Solo efforts like a self-titled 1988 album and 1995 Van Dyke Parks collaboration Orange Crate Art showed that Wilson still had a gift for songwriting, but his legacy remained defined by the "teenage symphonies to God" that he crafted for the Beach Boys. Along with projects centered around new material, Wilson returned to his earlier Beach Boys compositions frequently, embarking on tours where he played mostly selections from SMiLE or Pet Sounds, and revisiting some of his best-loved tunes in the form of solo piano instrumentals on his spare 2021 album At My Piano.

Wilson was born in 1942 and raised in Hawthorne, California. He formed the Beach Boys in 1961 alongside his two younger brothers, cousin Mike Love, and school friend Alan Jardine. Serving as the group's primary songwriter, Wilson combined the rock urgency of Chuck Berry with the harmonies of the Four Freshmen before expanding his musical imagination during the late '60s, during which time he experimented with new songwriting structures and production techniques. Wilson retreated from his dominance of the Beach Boys after 1967, yielding most of the control to his younger brother Carl. (He made sporadic contributions to their records, returning only briefly in the 1970s and 2010s, the latter as part of a special 50th anniversary tour and album.)

Following a long period of drug addiction, mental illness, and general isolation, Wilson issued his first solo album in 1988. Despite the promising lead single "Love and Mercy," commercial success proved elusive; ironically, the Beach Boys had recorded their own comeback record around the same time and wound up topping the charts with "Kokomo." Wilson attempted to find his footing with a second solo album, Sweet Insanity, which was rejected outright by Sire and permanently shelved.

The 1990s signaled a creative resurgence and coming to terms with his immense influence. It began with a reunion; he recorded the collaborative album Orange Crate Art with mid-'60s collaborator Van Dyke Parks -- it featured Parks' songwriting and Wilson's vocals. That same year, Wilson was the subject of a documentary feature, I Just Wasn't Made for These Times, for which he also recorded a full soundtrack. Following those releases was 1998's Imagination, which included several throwbacks to his lush Beach Boys productions of the 1960s; still, it failed to entice a wide commercial audience.

During his time with the Beach Boys, Wilson had often remained at home -- or in the studio -- while the rest of the group set out on tour. Things started to change in the early 2000s, when he began touring as a solo act (often accompanied by a large backing band) and released a pair of live titles: Live at the Roxy Theatre (2000) and Pet Sounds Live (2002). He also prepared a studio album, Gettin' in Over My Head, released in 2004. It was partially overshadowed by Wilson's next project: preparing the legendary Beach Boys record SMiLE for its live debut, as well as making new studio recordings of its songs. He debuted the new SMiLE at the Royal Festival Hall in London on February 20, 2004, and recorded it in the studio that April. Both the live and studio versions earned rapturous reviews, prompting Wilson to launch a full world tour in support of the Grammy-winning album. The seasonal effort What I Really Want for Christmas followed in October 2005.

Wilson began preparing another thematic work after he was commissioned by London's Southbank Centre to help kick off the venue's 2007 season. The result was That Lucky Old Sun, a concept album based on the Great American Songbook and including the participation of his SMiLE band as well as Van Dyke Parks. That Lucky Old Sun premiered at the Royal Festival Hall in September 2007 and was released as a studio album later that year. Wilson returned to the studio two years later, this time to put his own stamp on a number of George Gershwin covers. (At the request of Gershwin's estate, he also completed two piano compositions that were unfinished by Gershwin at the time of his death.) Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin was released in August 2010, marking Wilson's first album for the Disney-affiliated Pearl label. Wilson's second project for Pearl, In the Key of Disney, arrived the following year, and featured 11 classic Disney songs.

In 2012, Wilson officially reunited with the Beach Boys. (All four surviving members of the classic lineup had contributed to a track from Al Jardine's 2011 album, Postcard from California.) The group toured and recorded during the first half of 2012, and in June of that year released That's Why God Made the Radio, their first original album with Wilson in more than 15 years. The album debuted at number three on the Billboard charts and earned positive reviews. After the summer tour, however, Mike Love returned to touring the Beach Boys with only himself and Bruce Johnston as members of the classic lineup, leaving behind Wilson and Jardine.

By 2014, Wilson began recording as a solo act again, with songs that he had initially written for a Beach Boys album. Instead, he recruited guest stars for the venture, including She & Him's Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward, Fun.'s Nate Ruess, Kacey Musgraves, Capital Cities' Sebu Simonian, and former Beach Boys Al Jardine, David Marks, and Blondie Chaplin. (Musicians for the project featured classic session players such as Jim Keltner, Kenny Aronoff, Dean Parks, and Don Was.) The results appeared on Capitol in April 2015, under the title No Pier Pressure. The following year marked the 50th anniversary of the Beach Boys' landmark Pet Sounds album, and Wilson embarked on a world tour to commemorate the iconic LP. That summer also saw the release of a new live album and DVD from the No Pier Pressure tour under the title Brian Wilson and Friends. As the Pet Sounds tour spilled into 2017, with dates in Europe and the U.K. during the summer and a North American stint in September, Wilson also released a compilation that spanned his 30-year solo career. Arriving in late September on Warner, Playback: The Brian Wilson Anthology included picks from all of his nine solo records alongside two previously unreleased tracks, "Run James Run" and "Some Sweet Day." In mid-2019, he embarked on an extensive U.S. tour alongside the Zombies -- billed as Something Great from '68 -- during which Wilson played selections from two Beach Boys albums: Friends and Surf's Up. After a relatively quiet period, a documentary film, Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road, debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival in June 2021, receiving wider distribution that November. That month also brought At My Piano, a collection of gentle, solo piano renditions of some of Wilson's most celebrated compositions”.

To celebrate the eightieth birthday of Brian Wilson on 20th June, I wanted to compile a selection of some of his best songs. Everyone will have their own opinions but, with The Beach Boys, he was responsible for composing some of the most timeless tracks ever. I hope that there are articles written about Wilson to mark his birthday. There is so much respect and admiration out there for…

A treasured and much-loved person.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Dove Cameron

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

Dove Cameron

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ALTHOUGH she is not a brand-new artist…

Boyfriend, released earlier this year, announced Dove Cameron as a promising and growing artist on the scene. Maybe not the kind of artist I would normally recommend, the Washington-born Pop talent played a dual role as the eponymous characters in the Disney Channel comedy series, Liv and Maddie, for which she won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in Children's Programming. She is not the first artist to transition from T.V. to a Pop career. In fact, the likes of Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears have taken this route. Cameron is an artist who, when an E.P. does arrive, will make a big impact. I feel, on the strength of Boyfriend, she has a long future. Not just a teen Pop artist or someone for a precise demographic, her music is broad enough to appeal to those who love other genres – maybe slightly older listeners will connect and relate. I am going to bring in a couple of interviews relating to Boyfriend. Maybe, by the time, I publish this (I am writing it on 10th June), there will be another Dove Cameron song out. A tremendous queer artist who is a huge inspiration to many, there are going to be a lot of new fans flocking the way of Cameron. I want to start with a Women in Pop interview. They chatted with Dove Cameron after the release of the breakthrough single, Boyfriend:

“In February this year she launched a new era of music with the single ‘Boyfriend’. It is a stunningly good track that mixes moody electronic pop with smoky jazz and an orchestral grandeur that is breathtaking in its scope. Lyrically the song sees Cameron embracing her true self and falling for someone at a party, persuading them “I would be a better boyfriend than him…plus all my clothes would fit.” The song has become her first major solo chart hit, reaching the top 10 in the UK and the top 20 in Australia, a country that now streams her music on Spotify more than anywhere else in the world.

The video is appropriately cinematic and features Cameron, in a room of faceless dancers, locking eyes with a woman across the room. They are soon making out in a phone box, and an open top car speeding through a motorway tunnel. It is a rush to watch and it is dripping with dark, sensual imagery.

Cameron says of the single “In writing “Boyfriend,” I feel like I finally found my sound, my perspective and myself in a way I wasn’t sure I ever would.” There is definitely a confidence, a maturity and assurance in the way she proudly delivers ‘Boyfriend’, which augurs well for future releases. Cameron is definitely a supremely talented artist who is going to be so exciting to watch in the next few years. We recently caught up with her to find out more about ‘Boyfriend’ and this next chapter in her career.

Dove, we are such fans of your work and I really appreciate you joining us today.

I really appreciate your time. Truly, it's such an honour to be speaking to you. Thank you for taking the time.

How are you feeling about the release of the absolutely impeccable ‘Boyfriend’?

I'm feeling fucking phenomenal! It's really, really mind blowing. It’s highlighted where my imposter syndrome lives and the corners of my mind where I'm limiting myself and self hating saying ‘something like this is never gonna happen’. Things like that! It's really wild to experience this in a career at any point, but also just as a human being I'm kind of mind fucked. It's really interesting!

That's such a wonderful thing to hear from someone that just continues to do wonderful things. There's quite often this perception that pop stars are nonchalant about these things, ‘yeah, just drop that, yeah, that was pretty cool.’ And to hear you've got impostor syndrome, and you're wildly excited about ‘Boyfriend’s success is really inspiring.

I definitely think there's this sort of thing in celebrity culture that we should be chill about certain things, but I don't know one person that actually lives like that. Everybody's an extreme geek, a fan of other artists and everybody's like 12 years old, you know. It's so nice to be able to just share human moments with people on a massive scale. That's a mistake that people make with having a large scale level of communication with people is they hide more. Shouldn't we be more human if we're gonna have a big megaphone?

Beautiful! Lastly, before I have to leave you, we have ‘Boyfriend’ out and it's an amazing sound. Can you tell me what else you've got coming up, you mentioned an EP might be on the way?

I've said that a few times now, which I'm not sure the label’s happy with or not! I wrote this song called ‘Breakfast’, which I'm really excited about. I wrote it like three weeks ago. The label is pretty confident that's going to be my next release, which is so great because my dream is just to release music constantly and for it to be something I just wrote so it is still relevant to my life, and I'm not sick of it. I then have two movies coming out, I have this movie called Good Mourning with Machine Gun Kelly, Megan Fox and Pete Davidson and that should be really fun. And then I have a movie called Vengeance with BJ Novak, Ashton Kutcher and Issa Rae. And then hopefully I'm going to delve into my debut album and a pretty sizeable tour in the fall!”.

At twenty-six, there is an instant maturity to her music. Not as teen-focused one might thing, it will be interesting seeing how Dove Cameron’s music changes and evolves with each release. An E.P. will give listeners and fans a fuller impression of who she is as an artist and woman. A skilled and acclaimed actor, she is definitely making quick impressions. Official Charts also spoke with Dove Cameron. Whilst not her debut single, it is the one that has registered her highest chart position so far:

“Boyfriend is your first-ever Top 20 hit on the Official Charts. What kind of stuff were you listening to while making it?

Actually a lot of the influence for the Boyfriend instrumentation was taken from films. Growing up, I really identified with all these flamboyant, male villains. Even with female ones, they're so hyper-sexualised in the Male Gaze. F*ck that, why don't I relate to any of this? I had to grow up and find the right language around it [to subvert it].

It's such an obvious queer trope that we're rooting for the villain, but they're so much more interesting and multifaceted! A lot of these new songs are coming, sonically, from a villainous, darker point of view. Based around intrapersonal stories of my life, obviously.

Things are moving very quickly for you now. What does this mean for the EP? Maybe an album?

I was actually just in New York to meet with the label about this! Without giving too much away...we are in a new era. I am re-introducing myself. Look, I'm in the studio every day. I've posted more songs on TikTok. It could be an EP, it could be an album, it could be a string of singles leading in to an EP. I just want to say we have a f*ck tonne of music for you.

We also think it's important to point out, Dove, that commercial radio pop hits like this, from a queer female perspective, are sadly quite rare.

This song has honestly enriched my life in so many ways. I have so many more queer circles and feminine circles. They've gotten much larger and wider and deeper. It's such a treat to find myself in conversation with my favourite people, with my community! We should just be able to drop a big, sexy, one-night-only song the way straight artists can. It's so great to have a big pop banger with a sexual, queer content and people aren't up in arms about it”.

If you are not aware of Dove Cameron’s music or are not sure it is your vibe, I would urge some investigation. Boyfriend is her best-known song but, as the year progresses, there will be more from her. A superb young artist who is going to establish herself as a major name in music, it is exciting seeing her take these early steps. By the end of 2022, I predict Dove Cameron will be…

A global name.

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Follow Dove Cameron

FEATURE: For Those New to Kate Bush…The Best Starting Track: Them Heavy People

FEATURE:

 

 

For Those New to Kate Bush…

The Best Starting Track: Them Heavy People

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ABOUT a week ago…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1979/PHOTO CREDIT: David Redfern/Redferns/Getty Images

BBC Radio 6 Music put out a tweet asking which Kate Bush track is the best when it comes to starting out. For new fans of her work, there were a lot of different responses. It got me thinking. I may have sort of touched on this before, but I think one of the songs that got me started out is the one that I would recommend to others. I think that I will also use this feature to start a short run that I am going to write about Kate Bush’s debut album, The Kick Inside. One of the best songs on that album is Them Heavy People. I think, because of the ongoing success of Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) - which went to number one on the U.K. chart on 17th June -, this song has taken on a new life. For many people, this has been their starting point to Bush’s music. Even though that track has been out for nearly thirty-seven years, many younger listeners are listening to it new now! That is a little strange to me. It is played quite widely, but the fact it has featured on Stranger Things has brought it to life for so many. If someone was trying to navigate their way through her catalogue and wanted a song to begin with, it would be something from her debut album. I feel Them Heavy People is a perfect song to begin with. Not one of the singles from The Kick Inside – Wuthering Heights and The Man with the Child in His Eyes were the U.K. singles -, it is a great track that incorporates so many of her best qualities. It is accessible and catchy. It has a sense of intelligence and the philosophical, in addition to a having perfect placement on The Kick Inside.

I realise I have covered this song a few times but, as I was intrigued by that BBC Radio 6 Music question and the answers people provided – most of her back catalogue was covered -, it is a good time to bring it up. I will end with a little bit about Them Heavy People and why it means a lot to me. First, the Kate Bush Encyclopaedia provides an interview exert where Bush discussed the story behind the track:

“The idea for 'Heavy People' came when I was just sitting one day in my parents' house. I heard the phrase "Rolling the ball" in my head, and I thought that it would be a good way to start a song, so I ran in to the piano and played it and got the chords down. I then worked on it from there. It has lots of different people and ideas and things like that in it, and they came to me amazingly easily - it was a bit like 'Oh England', because in a way so much of it was what was happening at home at the time. My brother and my father were very much involved in talking about Gurdjieff and whirling Dervishes, and I was really getting into it, too. It was just like plucking out a bit of that and putting it into something that rhymed. And it happened so easily - in a way, too easily. I say that because normally it's difficult to get it all to happen at once, but sometimes it does, and that can seem sort of wrong. Usually you have to work hard for things to happen, but it seems that the better you get at them the more likely you are to do something that is good without any effort. And because of that it's always a surprise when something comes easily. I thought it was important not to be narrow-minded just because we talked about Gurdjieff. I knew that I didn't mean his system was the only way, and that was why it was important to include whirling Dervishes and Jesus, because they are strong, too. Anyway, in the long run, although somebody might be into all of them, it's really you that does it - they're just the vehicle to get you there.

I always felt that 'Heavy People' should be a single, but I just had a feeling that it shouldn't be a second single, although a lot of people wanted that. Maybe that's why I had the feeling - because it was to happen a little later, and in fact I never really liked the album version much because it should be quite loose, you know: it's a very human song. And I think, in fact, every time I do it, it gets even looser. I've danced and sung that song so many times now, but it's still like a hymn to me when I sing it. I do sometimes get bored with the actual words I'm singing, but the meaning I put into them is still a comfort. It's like a prayer, and it reminds me of direction. And it can't help but help me when I'm singing those words. Subconsciously they must go in. (Kate Bush Club newsletter number 3, November 1979)”.

Released as a single in Japan (where it reached number three; a live recording of this song was the lead track on the On Stage E.P., which reached number ten in the UK Singles Chart in 1979), I love the live versions of the song and the fact that Bush had affection for the song. Maybe she does not place it high among her best songs now but, in 1978, it is a song that she seemed to really enjoy performing. Track eleven of thirteen, it has quite a prominent place on The Kick Inside. Appearing just before Room for the Life – a track that I sometimes struggle to bond with -, it is an excellent track that means the listener is treated that far down the album. Them Heavy People is quite easy-going when it comes to the composition and vocal, but the lyrics do make you think and show how Bush was very different and original right from the off. I think people hearing Them Heavy People will then provoke investigation of its sister album. It is a tremendous song that should be explored more. I really love the track, as I remember seeing the video (a live version performed in 1979) when I was a child. I was awed by Bush’s performance and the strange sway and sensuality of the song. Rather than go for an obvious song, I would recommend Them Heavy People, as it is from the debut album and it is a good distillation of Bush’s early sounds. One of Kate Bush’s best tracks in my view, if you are new to her work, I would encourage you to listen to Them Heavy People. Once heard it is…

NEVER forgotten.

FEATURE: Revisiting… Arctic Monkeys - Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino

FEATURE:

 

 

Revisiting…

Arctic Monkeys - Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino

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IN this feature…

where I look back at great albums from the past five years that are underrated or under-played, it leads me to the latest album from Arctic Monkeys. Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino was released in May 2018. It was written by band frontman Alex Turner in 2016 on a Steinway Vertegrand piano in his Los Angeles home. A lot of critics were quite sniffy and critical of the sixth studio album by the Sheffield band. Some felt it was a departure from their Rock foundation; maybe a bit too weird or overly-gentle for an Arctic Monkeys release. I really love the album. I am going to end with a couple of positive reviews for the superb Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino. I have written about the album a couple of times before. Each time, I have sort of had to defend it against criticism and a reputation as not being a typical Arctic Monkeys album. Even so, there were a lot of positive reviews for the album. I think that, four years after its release, it remains undervalued and sort of placed low among the best albums from Arctic Monkeys. Taking inspiration from Lounge and Glam Rock, there is a mix of styles. It is a definite move away from the sound of the previous album, AM. That was released five years prior to Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino. Reaching number one in the U.K. and hitting the top ten in the U.S., the album was a big success. It is unfortunate that there were some mixed reviews for a mighty album that is really interesting.

If you have not heard Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, then spend some time exploring all the richness of a wonderful work. My personal favourite songs are American Sports and Four Out of Five. Featuring some of Alex Turner’s exceptional and poetic lyrics and wonderful compositions, everyone needs to hear Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino. This is what NME said in their review:

“Composed initially on a piano by Turner in his LA pad, these songs were given the go-ahead by guitarist Jamie Cook, who felt they were appropriate enough for the band to record. ‘Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino’, however, is as close as we’ve ever been to hearing an Alex Turner solo record, outside of his solo soundtrack for 2010 film Submarine. There’s a noticeable lack of workable choruses, several of the songs feature a leisurely pace that’s a far cry from most of the Monkeys’ material, and most of the 40-minute record is occupied by Turner’s crooning. From the opening drawl of “I just wanted to be one of the Strokes/now look at the mess you made me make”, it’s evident that he’s not just the architect of this lavish establishment – he’s the concierge, towel boy, bartender and everything in between.

That’s not to discredit the performances from the rest of the band. They’ve turned what might have resembled a spiritual sequel to Father John Misty’s moody 2016 album ‘Pure Comedy’ into a fleshed-out, Bowie-esque statement of excess and grandeur. Lavish strings populate ‘One Point Perspective’, and album closer ‘The Ultracheese’ is one of the band’s finest collective achievements to date – like ‘Que Sera, Sera’, but with a gorgeous guitar solo. Drummer Matt Helders, whose skills are a tad underused on this record, has found a place by experimenting on synths for several tracks, while bassist Nick O’Malley turns in another steady effort with fantastic harmony work and irresistible basslines. ‘Four Out Of Five’ will feel the most familiar, existing as a compromise between some of ‘Suck It And See’’s poppiest arrangements and the ‘70s West Coast vibe that dominated The Last Shadow Puppets’ last record ‘Everything You’ve Come To Expect’.

‘Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino’ will reward deep-diving listeners – in particular those with an interest in picking apart Turner’s densest and most self-aware lyrics to date. He dabbles with religion, (“emergency battery pack just in time for my weekly chat with God on videocall), technology (“my virtual reality mask is stuck on ‘Parliament Brawl’) and politics (“the leader of the free world reminds you of a wrestler wearing tight golden trunks”). There’s zingers on here too, and some of the best quips come when things get a bit silly – from Blade Runner references to illusions of “Jesus in the day spa” and self-deprecating moments of being “full of shite”. Plus, Turner manages to turn “who are you going to call, The Martini Police?” into a serviceable chorus on ‘The Star Treatment’. It’s a bloody miracle.

Even if it doesn’t feel like it immediately, the Monkeys’ DNA does inhabit these new songs. ‘Golden Trunks’ has as raw and brooding a riff as anything on ‘AM’, and there’s a distinct ‘Humbug’ feel to songs like ‘Science Fiction’ and ‘Batphone’. The Sheffield band’s journey has now taken them from “chip-shop rock’n’roll”, in Turner’s own words, to their very own ‘Pet Sounds’: the threads have been dangling for years, but Turner’s finally tied them together in a rather magnificent bow. Depending on where you’re sitting, this album will likely either be a bitter disappointment or a glorious step forward. But to where, exactly?

The album’s title is a fitting one: this record feels a lot like gazing into the night sky. At first it’s completely overwhelming – you’ll be trying to connect the scattered dots on this initially impenetrable listen, and maybe even despairing when it doesn’t all come together. But when the constellations show through, you’ll realise that it’s a product of searingly intelligent design”.

I will finish up with a review from The Guardian. There were a lot of three-star reviews. People a bit unconvinced or finding merit on some tracks. This review is a little more positive:

“Other artists have laboured the fame/space metaphor before; the Weeknd is only the most recent. Turner is, obliquely, dealing with being a “motherfucking starboy”, doing some work on himself, and writing about writing; his gift is such that he can carry this solo-album-under-another-name. Hilariously, the album opens with the line “I just wanted to be one of the Strokes”; a jawdropping admission from one of music’s best beaters-around-the-bush. Even better is Batphone’s imagined scent. “I launch my fragrance called ‘Integrity’,” intones Turner, eyebrow making a parabola. “I sell the fact that I can’t be bought.”

The Starboy analogy works because, just as AM fed rock through the west coast genres, this album feeds lounge music through it too. One Point Perspective starts with dink-dink-dink keys, whose vibes recall Dr Dre on Still DRE. There are breakbeats here and there, and subtle funk. The new ingredients, though, are soul and 60s film soundtracks. The vintage loveliness of Curtis Mayfield and his ilk hits you from the off on Star Treatment; retro keyboard sounds abound. The amazing Four Out of Five partially recycles Cook’s bejewelled riff from Do I Wanna Know? and elides it with the memory of Lou Reed’s Satellite of Love (“take it easy for a little while”). The album exists in a narrow bandwidth of sound but that strip reveals depths and textures over time.

Buried inside scenarios, allusions and lunar perspectives are disarming moments of what you might laughably call “realness” in the hall of mirrors that is art. “So I tried to write a song to make you blush,” sings Turner, “but I’ve a feeling that the whole thing may well just end up too clever for its own good, the way some science fiction does.” There is a risk that this atmospheric record, one that wrong-foots expectation, might not land well. But this voyage into themed purgatory – what one song calls the Ultracheese – is worth it”.

An exceptional album that is among the most underrated or 2018, I do wonder what Arctic Monkeys will do next. There are rumours that there is an album coming from them this year. That would be great news. I think people need to revisit Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino. A different sound to what a lot of fans are used to, go and listen to it. It is album that I have no hesitation…

POINTING people in the direction of.

INTERVIEW: Fable

INTERVIEW: 

Fable

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I was keen to interview…

the magnificent Fable, as her album, Shame, is out on 29th July via Naim Records. I ask the Devon-born artist about the album and the new single, Onion Brain. She also discusses the video for Shame’s title track, what it was like working on an album during a pandemic, her love of Kate Bush, her early life in Devon, in addition to why it is so important performing live and connecting with the crowds after a long time away (due to the pandemic). Shame currently appears on BBC Radio 6 Music’s playlist. Fable has also been championed by BBC Radio 6 Music broadcaster, Chris Hawkins (he called her a ‘Devon Queen’). A remarkable artist gaining support, traction and a lot of love, here is someone who is going to go a very long way! It has been a pleasure interviewing a majorly talented young artist whose upcoming debut album, Shame, is one that…

IN THIS PHOTO: The cover artwork for Fable’s debut album, Shame

EVERYONE should hear.

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Hi Fable. Your album, Shame, is out on 29th July. How does it feel knowing it will be out in the world soon? What was it like recording the album?

Hey! Thanks for your curiosity…

This is the first album I've ever released, so naturally I'm apprehensive about getting it out there, but super-excited for people to hear some of the more experimental, non-single tracks that I had a lot of fun creating with my producer, Jonas Persson - involving bicycle spokes and drumsticks. The first single, Thirsty, and album track, Unequal, were written and recorded on our first meeting. It was after that session that I knew we had a vibe together…and over the next year and a half, we sporadically created the album. I was lucky enough to work with some amazing musicians along the way, including Joel Cadbury (UNKLE) and Max Grunhard (Ibibio Sound Machine), who feature on the album. Joel absolutely understanding the assignment on future single, Swarm, bringing such a graceful vibe to the sessions.

There are different themes and sounds expressed throughout Shame. Did the tracks come together quite naturally, or were there songs that you wrote and didn’t make the cut?

There were a few tracks that didn't make it. The songwriting is more considered and not as freestyled as my earlier stuff. It's about that massive sense of shame we're all gonna feel if we don't bother to change the system. That's the theme expressed through a bunch of contrasting sonics. The album isn't a tightly-wound concept, but a spectrum of all my influences. Trip-Hop, Metal, Jazz, Pop, Lo-Fi, Funk, Classical - it's all in there. But the theme that runs through them all is my state of mind during the pandemic.

“It kinda calms me down and simplifies things in my head when I hear it”.

What was it like writing and creating music during the pandemic? Did the wider situation and uncertainty affect the way you approached the music and wrote?

I think it brought the collective consciousness into a more reflective state from a very reactive one. During that time, I was in full swing with getting the album written. I'd write the demos from my partner’s student accommodation in Wales. And between restrictions lifting, drives to London to get some time in the studio, writing demos with limited equipment in a cold Welsh cottage, I found a more amateur attitude to making music - which helped me get rid of my blocks and be totally focused on message and melody.

Is there a track from Shame that stands as a personal favourite or has a particularly personal connection?

It would have to be my new single, Onion Brain. It kinda calms me down and simplifies things in my head when I hear it. I don't sit around listening to my own music very much, but it's got this self-soothing effect and I'm glad it came into existence.

Can you tell me about Onion Brain and the story behind it?

Onion Brain came to be one of my personal favourite tracks on the album. The main theme is the acceptance of loss, and the inseparable relationship of life and death. I titled the track Onion Brain with a hint to the Buddhist idea that the suffering we perceive is caused by there being a sufferer; a noun. We believe ourselves to be nouns, static and separate. But as we peel away the layers, we realise we are but verbs - living, breathing, digesting our experience; always flowing and affected by the world around us.

The video for Shame’s title track is particularly memorable. What was it like working with director Matt Hutchings and filming the video?

I really love working with Matt: an all-round talented good egg. He's responsible for the Thirsty and Orbiting videos too; bringing his animation and CGI to the table to bear the weight of my ridiculous ideas. The whole video was a sixteen-hour shoot at Camberwell Studios in London. He always brings a talented crew with him, and we just have fun all day to a strict time schedule. His mum gets massive mum points for making a fair few of the cakes on set. I felt pretty sick by the end of that scene. It was in the contract that the cakes had to be eaten.

Your music has been lauded by the likes of NME and BBC Radio 6 Music. How important is it having that sort of support and acclaim under your belt at such an early stage?

Well. It's pretty astonishing if you ask me. I'm very pleased to announce Shame has been playlisted on BBC Radio 6 now, and I can't thank the station enough for championing a small independent artist like myself. It genuinely means the world as a working-class artist that's just come out the end of a penniless pandemic. It made the hard work feel recognised and worthwhile.

“She was also the first woman I saw on T.V. that actually looked like she was being her authentic self”.

Take me back to your early life living in Devon. What sort of music caught your ear and inspired you as a child and teenager?

Grace Jones, David Bowie, Kate Bush, Portishead. I loved my mum's record collection when I was a kid. I took a slightly more menacing stance as a teenager with my love of Ragga-Tech, Aphex Twin, and Nine Inch Nails. Amy Winehouse had a massive influence on my emotional connection to music, and the Radiohead influence is very traceable in my writing.

Like me, you have a love for a certain Kate Bush. What is it about her as an artist that resonates with you?

When I first encountered Kate Bush, I was three or four. And I remember I thought she looked like my mother. I loved her magical performances on Top of the Pops. Unpredictable and clumsily graceful, her music videos are a kind of performance art. She was also the first woman I saw on T.V. that actually looked like she was being her authentic self. I think people forget that, back at the time, she was the butt of jokes in a 'burn-the-crazed-witch-sexist-crush-free-spirits'-kinda-way. I heard Björk say something like that - which made me love her even more. I love the fact that she just refuses to submit to the industry's demands and has always kept the focus on her music.

Do you have any gigs or festivals lined up for this year? Where can we see you play?

For the album launch, I'll be playing three dates. From 29th July in Totnes, Bristol and London, then we're gonna explore some of the North! Very excited about the prospect of a German tour as well this year.

“So many strong, inspirational women coming through at the moment. I wish I had them around when I was growing up”.

You have already played some big gigs, including Glastonbury. How important is live performance and connection with the crowds?

Playing live is my favourite part of the job. I've played with a full band and at some pretty large venues, but this year I'm stripping it back to play some sticky club nights with just my drummer and the decks. I really enjoy being able to see individuals and vibe with them from the stage. I grew up doing the club circuit, and I think the bigger you get the further away you become from people…which is kinda sad.

Are there any particular new artists emerging that you would recommend or would particularly like to collaborate with?

I AM IN LOVE WITH BILLY NOMATES. Also loving Bristolhead, Grove. So many strong, inspirational women coming through at the moment. I wish I had them around when I was growing up.

Finally, and for being a good sport, you can pick a song to finish with and I will include it here.

It would be great for more people to see the video for Shame – we’re really proud of it, and it takes you on a journey!

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Follow Fable

FEATURE: The Kate Bush Interview Archive: 1984: Women of Rock

FEATURE:

 

 

The Kate Bush Interview Archive

1984: Women of Rock

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I wanted to head back to 1984…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush at Tyne Tees studios in 1981. Bush and Lyn Spencer with the Razzmatazz guests

for this part of The Kate Bush Interview Archive, as it was the year before Hounds of Love was released. With the ongoing chart success of Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) and the records she is breaking in 2022, it is interesting looking back before that song was released. Profiled By Women in Rock, this was an artist who was on the cusp of releasing her most successful album to date. I think that the years 1983 and 1984 were really intriguing, as Bush was recording Hounds of Love, but people didn’t really have an idea what was to come and how important this album would be. I have selected some exerts from the Women in Rock interview:

“Success initially greeted Kate Bush back in 1978, when she scored an immediate hit with her classic debut single Wuthering Heights. Over the next two years she became established as one of Britain's most creative musical forces, and by 1980 had enjoyed three consecutive chart-topping albums, besides proving herself a totally compelling live attraction. [Actually, the only one of those albums to "top" the charts was Never For Ever.]

Yet since then Kate seems to have almost vanished from the limelight, and when she released her fourth studio LP The Dreaming last year, it met with mixed response from both critics and fans. The record revealed diverse influences, including Irish and Australian tribal themes, and many felt that Kate had stepped out of her depth by endeavouring to be too "arty".

To tell the truth, when I first heard The Dreaming I was sadly unimpressed, having always been an admirer of her work, but more recently I've found myself getting into it. Now I'd rate it as the most inspiring Kate Bush offering to date.

"Quite a few people have found that it's grown on them after a while," she tells me. "It was certainly different from the things I'd done before, and the overall sound was more layered. THere's a lot of things you pick up on gradually. I find that an attractive quality, and on the whole, I was very pleased with the record."

Kate Bush originally started writing songs more than a decade ago, and was "discovered" when one of her early demo tapes found its way into the hand of Pink Floyd's Dave Gilmour. The guitarist was so impressed by the girl's potential that he invited her to do some more recording at London's Air Studios. Among the tunes she subsequently put down there were The Man With the Child in His Eyes and The Saxophone Song, both of which were later to surface on her first album.

When she was sixteen, with Gilmour's assistance Kate secured a deal with EMI Records. However, instead of rushing to release product, she decided to complete her schooling and continue writing more material. [Most accounts credit the decision to delay Kate's debut to EMI executives; also, Kate did not complete her schooling, exactly; she returned only briefly at the beginning of what would have been her final year of secondary school, in order to take "mock-A" level examinations.] Before long she was attending dance and mime classes, and had also begun to start gigging in her local Lewisham area with an outfit called The KT Bush Band.

By the middle of 1977 Kate was hard at work in the studios recording her debut LP, and in early 1978 Wuthering Heights emerged and shot straight up the charts. Music listeners were stunned by this nineteen-year-old lass's originality. The album The Kick Inside spawned another hit in The Man With the Child in His Eyes, and it seemed that Kate could do little wrong in the eyes of the public.

Her second platter, Lionheart, was issued towards the end of 1978, and it received rave reviews. Wow and Hammer Horror were the hit singles this time around. At this juncture Kate had resumed dance lessons and was preparing for her first major tour.

She took to the road in Europe and the UK in the spring of '79, playing a two-and-a-half-hour set every night. The exhausting show incorporated clever dance routines together with elaborate stage designs, and featured songs from both of Kate's albums. I attended one of her performances at London's Hammersmith Odeon, and was quite stunned by her complete professionalism.

A four-track EP from the Hammersmith dates was subsequently released in a neat gatefold sleeve, and contained a superb rendition of the tune James and the Cold Gun from the first album (what a scorching guitar solo!), along with live versions of Them Heavy People, Don't Push Your Foot on the Heartbrake, and L'Amour Looks Something Like You.

A videocassette, filmed at Hammersmith, has also been made available, and since its release it's remained a regular fixture in the Top Ten video charts.

Following the completion of her inaugural tour Kate took a well-earned break before starting work on her third album, Never For Ever, which came out in the autumn of 1980. The LP entered the UK charts at number one, and gave birth to three highly successful singles: Breathing, Babooshka and Army Dreamers.

At the end of 1980 Kate had come up with the seasonal December Will Be Magic Again, but it wasn't until the following summer that her fans were treated to fresh vinyl output in the form of the Sat In Your Lap single. (Heavy metal fans may be interested to know that ex-Rainbow and -Wild Horses bassist Jimmy Bain plays on this tune.) An album was expected to follow shortly afterwards, but this was not to be. In fact, it was a whole year before The Dreaming finally emerged.

However, as she explained in her record-company biog., Kate had not been idle during the two-year gap between albums. "Following the release of Never For Ever in September '80 I spent the rest of the year promoting the album," she explained. "After Christmas I had a short break and then started writing songs for The Dreaming.

"I wanted a big catalogue to choose from, so every evening I'd write a different song, using a piano, rhythm machines and synthesiser. The whole songwriting process was very spontaneous, and I ended up with about twenty songs, from which I chose ten for the album. I spent more time than ever trying to get the lyrics just right."

Due to the nature of the material, Kate had decided to produce the record herself, but evidently this added to the delay. She states: "I used a lot of different studios to get the songs sounding just how I wanted them to, and I spent weeks putting different textures onto these tracks."

After The Dreaming had been released, I was hoping for news of a tour from Kate, but alas no live dates have materialised. Her last live appearances were back in 1979 and I asked why she hadn't performed on stage since then.

"The main reason I haven't been able to do any gigs has been due to the time factor," Kate replies. "After the last tour, which basically revolved around the first two records, I didn't want to go back out until I had another two albums' worth of material. Never For Ever was the first of those, and then there was The Dreaming, but that took so much longer than I'd anticipated that I couldn't do a tour.

"And so now I'm doing another record, otherwise there would have been a two-year gap between albums, which is really much too long. [As it turned out, the gap grew to three full years before Hounds of Love was released.] Maybe if I'd managed to finish The Dreaming quicker, then I'd have done a tour. I wanted to, but the situation just didn't allow it."

Kate's comments on her four albums.

The Kick Inside: "That was a very important LP--it was my first, and was very successful, with the single (Wuthering Heights) on it. I think it was basically responsible for everything that's happened to me in the last five years.

"I was very young at the time, and listening back I think I sound young and fresh. I'm still very affectionate toward it. It was something I'd been waiting years to do, and I think there were some good songs on it-- The Kick Inside and Moving are probably my favourites."

Lionheart: "Looking back, I don't really think that Lionheart actually expressed the true phase I was in at the time, whereas all the others have. While the first LP consisted of material I'd written up to that point, I found that the time pressures prevented me from writing more fresh material for the second one.

"In fact, I only wrote three new songs-- Symphony in Blue, Fullhouse and Coffee Homeground-- and if you know that, then you can tell the difference in style. Basically, this album could have been a lot better."

Never For Ever: "For me, this was the first LP I'd made that I could sit back and listen to and really appreciate. I'm especially close to Never For Ever. It was the first step I'd taken in really controlling the sounds and being pleased with what was coming back.

"I was far more involved with the overall production, and so I had a lot more freedom and control, which was very rewarding. Favourite tracks? I guess I'd have to say Breathing and The Infant Kiss."

The Dreaming: "Again I'm very fond of this, because it's my latest, and because it represents total control, owing to the fact that I produced it by myself. It's the hardest thing I've ever done--it was even harder than touring! The whole experience was very worrying, very frightening, but at the same time very rewarding.

"It took a long time to do, but I think there are some very intense songs, and the ones I like best of all are Night of the Swallow, Houdini and Get Out [of My House]. All in all, I was very proud of this record".

After the release of The Dreaming in 1982, there was this critical reaction which wavered between curious and a little unsure. Bush was keeping busy in the couple of years after but, as she did not release a new album until 1985, more and more people asked if this was the end. As The Dreaming was quite mad, experimental and different to her first three albums, there were some who wondered whether Bush was ending her career. As wise minds knew, she was merely entering a new phase and announced herself as a producer and unique artist with a stunning set of songs that are still misunderstood to this day. Although the album has gained more following, some still seem reluctant to listen to it. The interview above is really interesting. It is clear Bush was looking ahead and, in 1984, entering a new phase and about to release her most acclaimed album. I may do a few more editions of The Kate Bush Interview Archive, as each one provides new insight and depth. It must have been crazy for her around 1984, as she was making Hounds of Love, but she also had to keep quiet about it. Where some felt she may be at the end of her career, Bush knew that this album that was forming would take it to new heights! As one of its key singles, Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God), tops charts and continues to reach new ears, I wanted to focus on an interview that was released the year before…

THAT stunning masterpiece.

FEATURE: Kendrick Lamar at Thirty-Five: His Greatest Tracks

FEATURE:

 

 

Kendrick Lamar at Thirty-Five

His Greatest Tracks

 __________

ON 17th June…

the wonderful and supremely talented Kendrick Lamar turns thirty-five. His latest album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, was released earlier in the year and received huge reviews. Maybe his best album to date, it shows that the Hip-Hop genius is always inspired and at his peak. To mark his upcoming thirty-fifth birthday, I wanted to include a career-spanning playlist of his best tracks so far. Prior to getting to that, AllMusic’s biography of Lamar will help fill in gaps for anyone unfamiliar with his work:

“Indisputably the most acclaimed rap artist of his generation, Kendrick Lamar is one of those rare MCs who has achieved critical and commercial success while earning the respect and support of those who inspired him. After several years of development, Lamar hit his creative and chart-topping stride in the 2010s. Good Kid, M.A.A.D City (2012), the Grammy-winning To Pimp a Butterfly (2015), and the Grammy- and Pulitzer Prize-winning DAMN. (2017), his three proper major-label albums, have displayed an unmatched mix of inventive wordplay and compelling conceptual narratives, examining internal conflict, flaunting success, and uplifting his community. The screenplay-level detail of Lamar's writing has been enriched by a collective of producers, instrumentalists, singers, and rappers, a high percentage of whom -- including inspirations Dr. Dre and MC Eiht, and contemporaries Sounwave and Jay Rock -- represent Lamar's native Los Angeles. Lamar's cinematic and collaborative inclinations inevitably attracted the mainstream film industry. Black Panther: The Album (2018) was the source of three of Lamar's Top Ten pop hits. In 2022 he delivered Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, his fifth studio album and what would be his last with Top Dawg Entertainment.

Compton, California native Kendrick Lamar Duckworth grew up immersed in hip-hop culture and surrounded by gang activity. As a youngster, he gradually discovered an aptitude for writing stories, poems, and lyrics, which naturally led to rapping. He made a name for himself as K. Dot. At the age of 16 in 2003, he issued his debut mixtape, The Hub City Threat: Minor of the Year. While it merely hinted at the potential of the then-teenager, it was impressive enough to catch the attention of Top Dawg Entertainment and led to a long-term association with the label that steadily propelled his career. Training Day, the Jay Rock collaboration No Sleep 'til NYC, and C4, issued from 2005 through 2009, likewise preceded Lamar's decision to go by his first and middle names. The last of the three was issued the same year he became part of Black Hippy, a group whose members -- including fellow TDE artists Ab-Soul, Jay Rock, and ScHoolboy Q -- frequently appeared on one another's mixtapes and albums.

The first tape credited to Kendrick Lamar was Overly Dedicated, released in September 2010. Also the rapper's first commercial release, it reached enough listeners to enter Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. After XXL magazine selected him for the 2011 Freshman Class feature, Lamar released his first official album, Section.80, that July, and crossed into the Billboard 200, reaching number 113. With deeper conceptual narratives and sharpened melodic hooks, as well as comparative multi-dimensional development from primary producer Sounwave, the set acted as a kind of warning flare for Lamar's mainstream rap dominance. In addition to the dozens of tracks he had appeared on by then, Lamar had the support of veteran West Coast stars as well. During a concert later in 2011, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and Game dubbed him "The New King of the West Coast," a notion Dre endorsed more significantly by signing Lamar to his Interscope-affiliated Aftermath label.

Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, Lamar's major-label debut, was released in October 2012 and entered the Billboard 200 at number two. Three of its singles -- "Swimming Pools (Drank)," "Poetic Justice," and "Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe" -- reached the Top Ten of Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart and went Top 40 pop. More significantly, the album showcased Lamar as an exceptional storyteller capable of making compelling concept albums. It led to Grammy nominations in four categories: Best New Artist, Album of the Year, Best Rap Album, and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration (for "Now or Never," a deluxe edition bonus cut featuring Mary J. Blige). Miguel's "How Many Drinks?" and A$AP Rocky's "Fuckin' Problems," two tracks on which Lamar made guest appearances, were nominated as well.

Rather than rest, Lamar remained active during 2013-2014, touring as well as appearing on tracks by the likes of Tame Impala, YG, and fellow Top Dawg affiliate SZA. The proud single "i" was released in September of the latter year, became Lamar's fourth Top 40 single, and won Grammys for Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song. Still rolling, he announced in early 2015 that his third album, To Pimp a Butterfly, would be out in March with tracks featuring Snoop Dogg, Bilal, Thundercat, and George Clinton. A technical error caused the digital version to be released eight days early, but the LP nonetheless topped the Billboard 200 with sales of 325,000 copies within its first week. It made numerous best-of lists at the end of the year and won the Grammy for Best Rap Album. The defiant and life-affirming "Alright," which was quickly adopted by the Black Lives Matter activist movement, along with another single, "These Walls," took awards for Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Song, and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. Riding high on his wins and a striking Grammy ceremony performance, Lamar followed up in March 2016 with untitled unmastered., consisting of demos recorded during the previous three years. Like the previous release, it debuted at number one, and seamlessly synthesized beatmaking and traditional musicianship from the likes of Sounwave, Terrace Martin, and Thundercat. Within a month, Lamar added to his ever-lengthening discography of featured appearances with his contribution to Beyoncé's "Freedom."

Led by "HUMBLE.," his first number one pop hit, DAMN. arrived in April 2017 and likewise entered the Billboard 200 at the top. Remarkably, all 14 of its songs entered the Hot 100, and it was certified multi-platinum within three months. Among the contributors were Rihanna and U2, but at this point, the supporting roles were beneficial more for the guest artists than they were for Lamar, whose artistic clout was unrivaled. Lamar snagged five more Grammys. DAMN. won Best Rap Album. "HUMBLE." took Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Song, and Best Video. Best Rap/Sung Performance went to "LOYALTY," the Rihanna collaboration. Another number one hit followed in February 2018. The soundtrack Black Panther: The Album featured Lamar on every track. "All the Stars" (with SZA), "King's Dead" (with Jay Rock and Future) and "Pray for Me" (with the Weeknd), its three singles, eventually hit the Top Ten. That April, DAMN. won the Pulitzer Prize for Music. It was the first time the judges recognized a work outside the genres of classical and jazz. Months later, "King's Dead" made Lamar a 13-time Grammy winner. The track took the award for Best Rap Performance. "All the Stars" alone was nominated in four categories, while Black Panther was up for Album of the Year. The film itself was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. After some time away from music that included an acting role on fifth season of the Starz network series Power, Lamar surfaced in 2021 on a series of songs with his cousin Baby Keem. Keem and Lamar's collaborative track "Family Ties," released in August of 2021, won Best Rap Performance at the 2022 Grammys. In February of 2022, Lamar performed at the Super Bowl LVI half time show alongside a crew of rap royalty that included Dr. Dre, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, Anderson .Paak, and Mary J. Blige. In April of that year he announced his fifth album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, would be arriving the next month. In May he released a new song, "The Heart, Pt. 5,” an installment in his ongoing series of The Heart singles that began in 2010. The accompanying video for the non-album track featured Lamar rapping as his face transformed into the likenesses of O.J. Simpson, Kobe Bryant, Nipsey Hussle, Kanye West, Will Smith, and Jussie Smollett, utilizing controversial deepfake technology. Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers was released in May of 2022 and featured guest appearances from Sampha, Kodak Black, Baby Keem, Portishead’s Beth Gibbons, and others”.

To celebrate the thirty-fifth birthday of the sensational Kendrick Lamar, the songs in the playlist below are, I think, the cream of the crop. He is headlining Glastonbury next week. It will be a chance for fans here to hear his new album performed live. If you are unfamiliar with the music of Lamar, then the playlist below…

SHOULD provide a good overview.

FEATURE: Songs of Solomon: Inside Studio 2… Imagining a Live, Stripped-Back Abbey Road Session from Kate Bush

FEATURE:

 

 

Songs of Solomon: Inside Studio 2…

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush at Abbey Road Studios in 1985/PHOTO CREDIT: Steve Rapport

Imagining a Live, Stripped-Back Abbey Road Session from Kate Bush

 __________

AFTER all the chart success…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Abbey Road Studio 2

of Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God), many are asking whether an album will follow. She has given her hit song to Stranger Things and, as there has been such a big reaction, I imagine it has given her a sense of the love out there for her! Whilst it seems like her 2014 residency, Before the Dawn, was the last time she will take to a big stage and perform a show of that scale, it is not to say she will never play live again. I think that there is an interesting possibility. I think I have written before about Kate Bush and her live performance of Under the Ivy (a B-side to Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God), from Abbey Road in 1986. She has recorded a few times at Abbey Road. This hallowed studio would provide her with plenty of space. Rather than having an audience there, maybe just her at a piano with a small selection of players. It would be a chance for her to perform some stripped-down versions of songs. Maybe, if she does release a new album, it could be featured. I also think that 2011’s 50 Words for Snow would sound beautiful played at Abbey Road Studios. Maybe taking a few songs from various albums and giving them a different treatment – similar to the way she reworked songs from The Sensual World and The Red Shoes for 2011’s Director’s Cut -, it could be a single concert that would satisfy fans. Of course, people would love to see her perform live - but, as her residency and 1979 The Tour of Life were massive productions, it is unlikely, at sixty-three, she will mount something like this again.

On 50 Words for Snow, Bush sort of took things back to the sound of The Kick Inside in a sense. That 1978 debut was mostly piano-based. That is not to say a potential new album would sound like her 2011 efforts. That said, it is also unlikely to go back to a more experimental sound. As much as anything, having a one-off gig would provide a bridge between the newfound success of Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) and any possible future projects. Maybe performing the Hounds of Love classic in a stripped-down style would be part of the set. I am not sure, were such a venture to be realised, how many songs there would be. Perhaps about twenty in total that covered most of her albums, or that included some rare songs or a cover or two. You never know with Kate Bush what she is planning and what is coming next. With every feature I write, I wonder if, by the time it has gone live, she has announced something or there is a bit of news coming through! When trying to keep on top of the success and progress of Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God), I have had to revise features because the song kept climbing up the charts! I get the sense that we are in a part of the year when something might be announced soon.

Also, Bush The Dreaming is forty in September. A more layered and wilder album, it is unlikely, were a live show to materialise, she would play songs from that album. Even so, you can see her taking some of the songs down and revisioning them. That would be cool! I think that the days of her performing on a big stage are gone, yet there is a possibility of something else. I can imagine her voice is still beautiful and has that lower register. Not as nerve-wracking a prospect as Before the Dawn, to imagine Studio 2 at Abbey Road, with Bush in the centre with her piano, is quite a vision! I cannot really envisage a dream setlist, because there are so many tracks that I would love to see played at a piano gig. Together with some orchestration, a small band and some guest singers, a single evening with Kate Bush at a studio that she knows well and could bond with in 2022 (or next year), you would get this remarkable set. I am not sure what is coming and whether the next thing we get is new music or a documentary etc. Bush has been busy with Stranger Things and ensuring that her song was used right. She is quite exacting. I can understand why she wanted to see the script and watch the placement of her song. Bush is at her most electric and spine-tingling when performing live, so it is understandable why some people are wondering whether she may do this again. I hope so. Having the iconic artist performing live from Abbey Road would be…

SUCH a treat.