FEATURE: Shortlists: Creating a Single, All-Inclusive Music Award Show in the U.K.

FEATURE:

 

 

Shortlists

IN THIS PHOTO: Wet Leg, who won the Breakthrough Artist, and British Group awards at the recent BRITs/PHOTO CREDIT: Diana King for Billboard

Creating a Single, All-Inclusive Music Award Show in the U.K.

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I will cast my mind…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Charli XCX/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

back a couple of weeks or so. This month has seen big award ceremonies in the U.S. and U.K. The GRAMMYs in America, and the BRITs here celebrated the best and brightest in music. A couple of things were highlighted at the BRITs. Whilst the GRAMMYs were more diverse and gender-equal than previous years, the BRITs struggled to respond to criticism that their Artist of the Year category featured no women. Also, being held on a Saturday night, it did not pull enough younger viewers away from other options. A lot shorter than the GRAMMYs, I think it lacks the authority of the U.S. ceremony. In terms of the number of categories and the general pull of the event, the BRITs seems less important. I want to suggest a move when it comes to combining the music award shows we have in the U.K. Writing in The Guardian Alexis Petridis discussed Harry Styles’ triumphant night. He also made a point that, as a lot of his audience are teens, they were probably not tuned in to the BRITs and watching him scoop four awards:

“Without wishing to sound hopelessly unpatriotic, the Brits is an awards ceremony that exists in the shadow of the Grammys. It almost invariably takes place a week or so after the US Recording Academy doles out its gongs in a ceremony that’s bigger, more star-studded and with more impact than the Brits can ever hope for, not least because the public seem to have rather more investment in who wins. Declining interest in the Brits is something you suspect even its organisers are aware of: you can detect an urge to drum up more attention in this year’s decision to shift the ceremony from midweek to a Saturday for the first time.

And sometimes, the US awards just foreshadow what’s going to happen at the Brits: from the moment Harry Styles snatched the album of the year Grammy from under Beyoncé’s nose, you somehow knew he was going to sweep the board in London. And so it proved.

He went home with virtually everything bar the onstage Autocue: best artist, best album, best song and best pop/R&B act. For good measure, his chief collaborator Kid Harpoon got best songwriter: there was always the chance the British Phonographic Industry gave it to him for his work on acclaimed US singer-songwriter Maggie Rogers’ second album rather than the multimillion-selling, No 1-in-27-countries Harry’s House, but you wouldn’t bank on it.

How moving the Brits to a Saturday was supposed to lure its target market away from social media and on-demand streaming – or indeed just going out with their mates – is an intriguing question. You rather got the feeling that most of this years’ viewers might have been old enough to remember the days when the Brits seemed to give Annie Lennox an award every year, and that they might have spent the evening asking “who’s that?” whenever 2023’s stars appeared. Which can’t possibly be the Brits’ desired effect”.

I disagree with those who say that award ceremonies are pointless. There is merit in recognising merit. I don’t think ceremonies are corporate or they only recognise the most commercial artists. Saluting brilliant artists, albums and songs is important. I think a problem here is that we have a few on the calendar that could be rolled into one. One reason why the GRAMMYS succeeds is because it has a lot of categories. You are covering the spread and, by and large, there are not too many notable omissions. The BRITs have been criticised for having a category that lumps in Pop and R&B without including R&B. The Mercury Prize solely salutes the best album from a U.K. or Irish artist from the past year. I guess it is good to have award ceremonies like that, and NME’s annual bash. I just feel like there could be one that covers everything. Including most genres, several album prizes (including best debut), E.P., film soundtrack, music video, breakthrough artist, icon, best live tour, and so forth. It would rival the GRAMMYs in terms of its completeness and, hopefully, be more inclusive when it comes to gender and genre. I know each award ceremony has their own identity and vibe, but there is scope to have a one-stop British award night that recognises all the best and brightest. Maybe it is hard to completely win teen audiences, but something can be worked out.

I get the feeling the likes of the BRITs will continue to slip when it comes to things like gender equality and recognising genres like R&B. So many artists get missed from award ceremonies, so broadening the categories in terms of the number shortlisted would be a god idea. Rather than five or so artists being shortlisted, having seven-nine in each category would mean less exclusion. When it comes to albums, there is too much to choose from to be quite narrow and stingy! I think that, if you have a genderless category like Artist of the year, widening that to seven or eight shortlisted and ensuring that there are women included eliminates the problem the BRITs created. As much as anything, it would allow for musical performances and a night to rival the GRAMMYS. It is a shame that there is backlash against any award ceremony, because they are meant to be celebrations. Maybe one held in the spring at the Eventim Apollo that is longer and more inclusive than the likes of the BRITs, NME, and other award ceremonies would solve a lot of issues. It would be interesting to see! Whatever the solution, criticisms and genuine concerns need to be taken on board. Ensuring women are not excluded, that genres are not lumped together as an afterthought, and having a diverse range of categories is essential. Let’s hope that one way or another, next year’s award ceremonies here…

ARE free from exclusion.

FEATURE: To Have and to Hold: Madonna’s Ray of Light at Twenty-Five

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To Have and to Hold

Madonna’s Ray of Light at Twenty-Five

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EVEN though I have written about Madonna…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Frank Micelotta/Getty Images

a few times through the last month or so, it is worth coming back to her music, as there is a very special album that turns twenty-five soon. In fact, that anniversary occurs on 22nd February. The seventh studio album by Madonna, Ray of Light was a departure in terms of sound and aesthetic. 1994’s Bedtime Stories had House and Club elements, but Ray of Light was much more radical in terms of its reinventions and evolutions. More Techno-Pop at heart than anything she had done before, it also brought in Ambient, Trip-Hop, Psychedelic music, and Middle Eastern influences. In terms of her vocal performances and range, this was at its peak. Mysticism and spirituality were big themes and guides throughout due to Madonna embracing Kabbalah, whilst also studying Hinduism and Buddhism. There was a different direction planned for Madonna’s album. She started work with producers Babyface and Patrick Leonard (who she had collaborated before). Seeking something different and fresh, she hooked up with William Orbit. Even though the recording sessions were the longest she had experienced and there were hardware issues – because Orbit’s tech was breaking down quite a bit -, the collaboration was perfect. Orbit helped bring something to Madonna’s music that had never been there before. I am going to get to a couple of reviews for Ray of Light. There are plenty of features that have been written about this incredible work. Forward-thinking and career-redeeming in a way (as many had written Madonna off or felt Bedtime Stories was not up to standard), this was the Queen of Pop proving why she had that title.

I remember getting the album when it reached the U.K. in March (the 22nd February first release was in Japan). I was – and still am – a huge Madonna fan, and I had heard singles such as Frozen before I bought the album. Such a rewarding listen, Ray of Light had echoes of her earlier work, but this was an album that very much fitted into 1998. Madonna couldn’t very well repeat what she did before and stay fresh and typically original. Ray of Light, to me, is her most important work. Remarkable that, fifteen years after her eponymous debut, Madonna was reaching these amazing highs. It is not only the bigger songs like Ray of Light and Frozen that linger in the memory. There is plenty of intrigue, magic and wonder in Drowned World / Substitute for Love, Skin, and To Have and Not to Hold. It is an album that, twenty-five years after its release, still sounds utterly vibrant, vital and relevant. As Madonna is going on tour very soon, let’s hope that there are songs from Ray of Light included in her set! I want to start by taking some bits of a feature from The Quietus. Lucy O'Brien wrote about Ray of Light for its twentieth anniversary in 2018:

“In February 1998 Madonna’s new album was literally a ray of light in stodgy UK charts made moribund by the Britpop comedown (Oasis’ Be Here Now, Stereophonics et al), and industry hits like the Titanic soundtrack. In the US it wasn’t much better, with Celine Dion and Garth Brooks at the top. The only other women on the album chart were Spice Girls, All Saints and Aqua, so unsurprisingly Madonna saw off the competition with aplomb. With its icy electronica and pulsing beats, Ray Of Light appeared as the pick-me-up for rave generation. It marked Madonna’s maturity as an artist, brought the MOJO demographic on board, and signalled to the world that a so-called pop bimbo can break down the barriers of that pop/rock divide.

However, it hadn’t been an easy journey, and despite its sunny title the album is a voyage into the darkness and terror of grief. Like Dark Side Of The Moon, it is an elegiac study of ego, mental disintegration and the fear of death. Pink Floyd’s epic drew on ‘70s psychoanalysis, R D Laing and the divided self, while Ray Of Light captures the 90s zeitgeist with its references to Kabbalah and the subconscious. Dark Side uses the sun and moon as symbols of life and death, while Ray Of Light revolves around the duality of sea and sky. Both albums require the listener to go the whole journey to get the full effect.

The album came at a crucial time for Madonna. After the high octane success of the 1980s, her 1990s were testing and difficult. Slut-shamed over her Sex book and the Erotica album, Madonna engaged in angry attention-seeking exercises like saying “fuck” 13 times on Late Show with David Letterman. She had lost confidence, and the tentative R&B of 1994’s Bedtime Stories felt like marking time. Veering off into musical theatre with the Evita project took her into safe MOR territory, but, ironically, rather than turning her into a 1980s pop has-been, those strenuous theatrical songs sung with a full orchestra gave her voice depth and tone. By then Madonna was in her late 30s and re-evaluating life, casting around for answers in study of Yogic philosophy. The birth of her daughter Lourdes in 1996 knocked out some of that infamous ego, so that when she returned to the studio in 1997 for the Ray Of Light sessions she had discovered a more intense, personal voice than the so-called “Minnie Mouse on helium” of earlier years.

Ray Of Light was created in old school prog rock fashion – with mainly one producer, over a period of months, in an intensively collaborative process. “She produced me producing her,” said William Orbit. Recorded in a modest studio in an unfashionable part of LA, the album was intentionally un-industry. Early sessions with Babyface were shelved, and Madonna’s longtime producer arranger Pat Leonard was sidelined in favour of an awkward English eccentric whose hardware kept breaking down. Although Orbit’s perceived amateurism made her nervous, Madonna knew from his dancefloor remix of 1990’s ‘Justify My Love’ that he could create the futuristic tone she craved. With Bass-O-Matic’s Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Bass (named after a Pink Floyd album), and the rave anthem ‘In The Realm Of The Senses’, Orbit had already declared an interest. Kabbalah and new motherhood opened Madonna’s mind, but it was the alchemy between her and Orbit – his trippy underground vibe and her willingness to experiment, that triggered her transformation of consciousness. With Ray Of Light they created the sonic space and musical textures for the sparse poetry that’s embedded in her songwriting. Previous hit-driven albums, with the exception of moments on Like A Prayer and Erotica, hadn’t allowed room for that potential to emerge. For the first time she could express herself in-depth.

Madonna did her background reading – everything from JG Ballard to Anne Sexton to Shakespeare’s sonnets were inspirations here – and did lengthy songwriting sessions with Leonard and Rick Nowells (“her lyric writing was poetic and intelligent,” the latter says, “she knows how to channel a song”) before she set foot in the studio. Once there, little Lourdes was installed in a playroom, and Madonna focused on the tracks that would eventually piece together a story. “I traded fame for love/ Some things cannot be bought… Now I find/ I’ve changed my mind,” she sang on opening track ‘Drowned World/Subsitute for Love’. The apocalyptic dreamscape of JG Ballard’s Drowned Worlds sets the tone. From there she moves into ‘Swim’, a low-slung electro song where Madonna delves into the religious themes of her pop past as the Sin-eater, carrying “these sins on my back”. ‘Ray of Light’ then provides a giddy moment of reawakening, with Orbit pushing her to sing a semitone higher than her comfort zone in order to stretch out that sense of hedonist abandon. This is the song, with its accompanying Jonas Akerlund video – all speeding lights, winking urbanscapes and fast motion skies – that relaunched her career, that married techno beats to cranked-up oscillators and wall-of-sound pop, and begged the question, did Madonna neck a zesty pinger?”.

I will move on to a feature from Rolling Stone. Rob Sheffield looked at Ray of Light twenty years down the line. Although he hints at some minor flaws, this album was hugely important in terms of Madonna’s career and the wider music world. It remains so enormously influential to this date. You know so many artists who have taken the album to heart:

“By all rights, Ray of Light should have been a pretentious disaster. Yet it turned out to be a new peak, setting Ms. Ciccone off on a glorious four-year run: the 1999 single “Beautiful Stranger,” the 2000 album Music, the 2001 Drowned World Tour. If you’re the kind of fan who reveres her as a musician first, not a celebrity, this was the hot streak of her life. You could compare it to Elvis Presley’s mature phase with the ’68 Comeback Special and From Elvis in Memphis. Except at 42, Elvis was dead, while Madonna was just gearing up for her next phase, where she discovered Kabbalah, converted to Judaism and started asking people to call her “Esther.” Never say she isn’t ecumenical.

Ray of Light is easily the most intense pop album ever made by a 39-year-old – Madonna spends these songs celebrating her newborn daughter, mourning her long-lost mother and reckoning with her messed-up adult self. She also contemplates her newfound Lilith Fair–era consciousness, going off about karma and yoga. As she explained in Billboard, “I feel like I’ve been enlightened, and that it’s my responsibility to share what I’ve learned so far with the world.” Ominous words from any pop star, let alone this one. But she made it feel mighty real. (Like another album we all loved in 1998: Hello Nasty, a spiritual manifesto from the opening act on her first tour, the Beastie Boys.) Even those of us who’d devoted our lives to worshipping Madonna weren’t prepared for an album this great.

Strange as it seems now, people back then were mildly obsessive about the idea of Madonna being “over.” Predicting the end of her career was a weirdly popular Nineties fad, like swing dancing or psychic hotlines. The semi-monthly “is she finally done?” debate kicked up every time she did something ridiculous, which she did all the damn time, from her poetic musings in the Sex book (“My pussy is the temple of learning”) to her erotic thriller Body of Evidence, where she played a serial killer who specialized in humping men to death. The U.K. music mag Melody Maker, for its 1992 year-in-review issue, polled experts on the year’s big question: Has Madonna turned into a pathetic exhibitionist? The wisest answer came from (of all people) Right Said Fred’s lead singer: “Being an exhibitionist is only pathetic when nobody’s watching you”.

The goth power ballad “Frozen” was the first hit, but “Ray of Light” was the one that really summed up the new Madonna in one big kundalini disco rush. It came from the same place as the Talking Heads’ similarly titled Remain in Light, about how the world moves on a woman’s hips. The album’s premise was trip-hop, as we called it then – the moody electro-funk sound perfected by Massive Attack, whose mind-freak opus Mezzanine dropped around the same time. (She’d worked with them in 1995 – a bluer-than-blue cover of Marvin Gaye’s “I Want You.”) I interviewed Massive Attack in March 1998, right after Ray came out, and naively asked if they’d noticed how much it sounded like them. Yes, in fact, they noticed. As Daddy G cheerfully told me, “I put on that first track and said, ‘Here we go again”.

I will round off with a couple of reviews. SLANT discussed a bit of background. It is amazing what was happening in Madonna’s life leading up to the release of Ray of Light. Few people would have expected anything like they heard in 1998! It was a revelation of an album. With masterpieces on it that ranked alongside her career-best, I don’t think there have been many other albums like it since. Ray of Light is enormously influential, yet Madonna seems to have hit a peak:

“Madonna’s Ray of Light marked the singer’s return to pop music after a four-year detour that took her from Argentina to motherhood to spiritual reawakening. After reuniting with longtime songwriting partner Patrick Leonard—who played a key role in many of Madonna’s biggest hits in the 1980s and whose contributions to this, her eighth album, are often overlooked—Madonna called on U.K. electronica whiz William Orbit to assemble a batch of songs that nimbly married electronic music with pop.

With “Frozen,” the album’s first single, Madonna, Leonard, and Orbit crafted a pop masterpiece on the level of “Like a Prayer.” The lyrics are uncomplicated but the statement is profound in its clarity: “You only see what your eyes want to see.” Madonna and Leonard’s bewitching melody and cinematic string arrangement is pumped up by Orbit’s expressive drum fills and pulsating electronic effects. Tracks like the frenetic “Skin” and “Shanti/Ashtangi,” a Yoga techno prayer only Madonna could pull off, are similarly lacquered with a bubbly electronic sheen.

For all the studio gimmicks, however, live guitars and percussion play a prominent role throughout. Orbit’s cycles of analog synths and electric guitar licks perfectly supplement the elasticity of Madonna’s then-newly-trained vocal cords. The title track finds the singer in a celebratory tech-frenzy. Whether it was an epiphany of the spiritual or sonic kind (Ray of Light marked a dance-rooted homecoming for the pop star), her elation was unmistakable: “Quicker than a ray of light, I’m flying…And I feel like I just got home!”

Though she’s made an entire career out of revealing herself, Madonna hadn’t been this emotionally candid since Like a Prayer. Layered with vocal samples and buoyant drum n’ bass beats, “Drowned World,” the title of which was inspired by J. G. Ballard’s apocalyptic novel of the same name, sums up much of Madonna’s personal tribulations with fame: “I got exactly what I asked for/Running, rushing back for more…And now I find, I’ve changed my mind.” “Mer Girl,” the album’s final track, is a surreal meditation on mortality and the death of the newly dubbed Ethereal Girl’s mother: “The earth took me in her arms/Leaves covered my face/Ants marched across my back.” Ray of Light was a rebirth, the sound of a queen, sitting on her throne, taking inventory of her icy, empty fortress—and not liking what she saw one bit”.

I’ll end with part of the review from Pitchfork. I have been reading various reviews for Ray of Light. Everyone highlights different aspects of the album and Madonna when they heap praise. I love the fact that Ray of Light connects me to my teenage self – when I first heard the album -, but it also sounds so great and striking today. I am learning so much about the album twenty-five years later:

“Orbit’s work throughout gives Ray of Light a unified tonal consistency, a kind of cohesion that masterworks are made of. He has a light touch with techno textures, both relaxed (flashes of acoustic guitar ground some of the most digitized moments) and danceable—after all, it can’t be a Madonna album if it can’t work in the club. “Drowned World/Substitute for Love” opens the album with bleary sound effects that pulse like the sound of sonar. This submerged quality of sound will become the bleary canvas for the album’s philosophical manifesto, as clear a declaration as can be imagined of the new Madonna that we will meet on the album. Here, she not just embodies her reinvention, as she had done with previous creative shifts, but goes ahead and describes it in full detail. There is no missing the point.

In the hangover from the hedonism that was her early ’90s era, Madonna gave birth to her first child, Lourdes and had begun to embrace yoga and the Jewish mystical practice of Kabbalah. Gone is the wry kinkiness and, at least according to her, the addiction to the spotlight, replaced with wisdom and patience and a powerful maternal instinct. “I traveled ’round the world, looking for a home/I found myself in crowded rooms, feeling so alone,” she sings on “Drowned World.” “Now I find I’ve changed my mind/This is my religion.” It is a moving song, arguably the album’s best. In the music video, as she says these last words, she is seen smiling and hugging a toddler who has her back to the camera, a girl we assume to be Lourdes. Maybe those pulsating beats that open the album evoke not so much a world under the sea, but a child’s heartbeat heard through amniotic fluid, or even the sound of this new version of Madonna being gestated. Whatever they mean to you, Madonna, once more likely to embrace a near-naked man in one of her clips, manifests as a publically doting mother right before our eyes.

PHOTO CREDIT: Mario Testino

Reinvention, thanks to the template that Madonna set, is almost a cliché ritual in pop, like a motion that must be gone through for every star who needs a hook upon which to hang their new album. So too is self-discovery: How many times have you heard an artist claim that this album, the newest one, is her or his “most personal one yet”? But on Ray of Light, Madonna is so all-in committed to her metamorphosis that it’s hard not to believe her. “Nothing Really Matters” is a Buddhist-lite song about living in the moment and discarding the selfish motives of stardom. Even the notable love songs on the album, like the transcendent “The Power of Good-Bye,” are about turning away from the chaotic romantic entanglements that once characterized her public life and lyrics. “You were my lesson I had to learn,” she sings, as if all the turmoil she sang of on past albums had just melted away.

With what’s happened to the culture since, it’s easy to bemoan Madonna opening up the floodgates of this airy, sacred lifestyle: Ray of Light has to be in some ways to blame for Goop and the countless other millionaire celebrities—everyone from Jessica Alba to Dr. Oz—who preach the gospel of wholeness and wellness, sanctimonious and Instagram spirituality. And yet, on Ray of Light, Madonna sounds so confident and alluringly in control of her powers, you might be able to overlook the more dubious moments, like “Shanti/Ashtangi,” in which she recites a hymn in Sanskrit over a techno-pop beat.

Madonna had recently taken voice lessons for her role in the musical Evita and, as she put it about her work prior to improving her technique, “There was a whole piece of my voice I wasn’t using. And I was going to make the most of it.” Her newly trained voice explodes out of the speakers on the title track, the character of her upper register suddenly like crystal. Though “Ray of Light” is “a mystical look at the universe and how small we are,” it’s also just one of the strangest songs in history to ever become a radio smash, a sugar-high piece of acid-club psychedelia. She also exposes a certain vulnerability that had not been on display in the heady days of Erotica. “Mer Girl,” which closes the album, is a tender psalm about the death of her mom. It ends the album on a remarkably reflective and unresolved note, while also pointing to the reason Madonna has needed to be so many different people across her life to begin with: “I ran and I ran,” she sings. “I’m still running away.”

Madonna played a large role in reopening mainstream American music to the club sounds of Europe in ways that have reverberated since. You can hear Ray of Light in artists as disparate as Britney, who worked with Orbit years after Madonna on “Alien,” to the adventurous producer and vocalist Grimes, who called Ray of Light a “masterpiece.” It is important, in 2017, to reveal something serious about yourself and the world through your work if you are a pop artist, and much of this can be traced back to Ray of Light, not to mention Janet Jackson and George Michael, who in the years before also made ambitious and weighty records”.

One of the best albums of the 1990s, it is also one of the most important in Madonna’s career. On 22nd February, Ray of Light is twenty-five. Fans around the world will celebrate and remember an album that refreshed a music scene that was being dominated by predictable Pop. Sure, there were innovative albums outside of that but, as someone seen as a Pop artist, Madonna shook things up. Ray of Light is credited for bringing Electronica music into global pop culture. Another typical revolution from…

A music maverick.

FEATURE: Revisiting… Charli XCX - CRASH

FEATURE:

 

 

Revisiting…

Charli XCX - CRASH

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IN the last of my Revisiting…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Emily Lipson

features that nods to great albums from last year, I want to mention Charli XCX’s amazing CRASH. Released in March, it was the fifth album from the Pop pioneer. Whilst it got some great reviews, there were some that were more mixed. CRASH should have been nominated for more awards. It has been decidedly missing from nominations and further kudos. One of the absolute best albums from last year, CRASH is a stunning work from an artist who keeps on growing stronger. Songs such as Baby and Good Ones are among the best of Charli XCX. In fact, the whole album is remarkable. I will get to a couple of the positive reviews for the stunning CRASH. There are interviews worth bringing in. There are a couple of interviews that I want to bring in first. Rolling Stone spotlighted and spoke with the amazing Charli XCX early last year:

“A strong narrative around Charli XCX has been that she’s too forward-thinking to win, something of an underdog. The fact that hyperpop crystallised as a genre during the pandemic is partly why the world finally caught up to her. She’s considered the figurehead of this sound of the 2020s. “I think hyper-pop becoming this word that people can umbrella a lot of artists under is definitely a familiarisation of a certain type of sound, which before was seen as quite uncontainable,” Aitchison explains. “You couldn’t put these artists on a playlist because they didn’t really sound like anything and now with that genre title, it makes certain sounds and artists easier to digest for people who maybe weren’t accessing that kind of sound on their own without the guidance of a Spotify playlist. I think that makes certain things about my project a bit easier to understand.”

The messaging of that project alienated a proportion of potential listeners, too. Her lyrics are about partying until oblivion and loving and hating yourself in violent doses; medicating your stress with hedonism. It has, at times, elevated the superficial and sybaritic to an art form, which is why it’s beloved by so many. She made music for people who liked to have a nihilistic laugh, who embraced working hard and playing harder during the grind of late-capitalism. If you can’t beat them, join them and be the best, says Charli XCX (a Leo, if astrology means anything to you). In other words, it’s just not that deep.

Her persona, like her sense of humour, is at turns flat, sexy and dissociative. But her uneasy lyrics draw red circles around her own flaws: she is frequently hardest on herself. In an age of empowerment feminism, this brash self-adoration and self-loathing wasn’t easily digestible. She was too dominant, multi-faceted and flippant to be your typical British female mainstream pop star or to be universally loved by the masses. At a moment in which “dissociative feminism” is being discussed as a trend on the internet, celebrity is having a deranged avant-garde moment with artful staged paparazzi shoots, performative love and unhinged interviews, and shitposting online is the norm, it would seem that the culture is in step with Charli XCX.

Aitchison herself is against the idea that celebrities should be accessible and “real”, the mode of celebrity culture in the 2010s, crucially in full force while she was navigating the bulk of her pop career. “I enjoy that early-2000s era of celebrity where Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan are just being iconic and being these otherworldly figures,” she says. “It’s the same with musicians, to be honest. I want my favourite musicians to shock and surprise me and annoy me and completely flip my brain. I don’t want to feel safe with the work that they provide me. I want to be constantly kept on my toes and not be able to see what’s coming next from them.” For her, that’s Kanye West, Yung Lean, Tommy Cash and her collaborator Caroline Polachek. “I think that’s what makes a great public figure, celebrity, artist, musician, performer, whatever: to not be able to predict what happens next. That’s the fun of celebrity, I suppose.”

“It’s hard for me to not sit on this call with you and destroy everything I’ve built because I’m feeling really reckless. It’s actually really a challenge in self-control, press, at the moment”

For Aitchison to enjoy her new album, she had to surprise herself. The insular, fast-paced construction of how i’m feeling now informed its follow-up: “I knew I had to turn it up to high-octane, ten, pop-star level for it to feel fresh for myself.” Crash should have existed first: ‘New Shapes’, ‘Good Ones’, ‘Every Rule’ and ‘Twice’ were written, at least in part, before the previous album began but the pandemic halted it. She knew she wanted to put her own money into this big, impressive pop album and not being able to travel to collaborate with pop producers or put on her biggest tour yet made the entire venture redundant.

By September or October 2020, a few months after how i’m feeling now was finished and released, Crash became her focus. “This album was originally going to be called Sorry If I Hurt You and I liked that title because that sentence is both past, present and future,” she says. “You can say that sentence to someone as if you hurt them in the past or as if you’re going to hurt them or if you’re about to do it right there and then.”

Of all tenses, the album is most indebted to the past. While making it, she listened to Control by Janet Jackson and songs by Cameo (though generally doesn’t consume music while in creation mode because it is a distraction). Inspiration for her retro bombshell look came from watching live performance videos of Madonna, 80s interior design and movies like Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!. You can see the research in the campiness of her humping her own gravestone in the video for ‘Good Ones’ or the bouffant hair with deadness between the eyes on the single covers: the visuals are equally indebted to sexploitation films, Elvira and Pat Benatar”.

Even though CRASH reached number one in the U.K. and was voted as one of the best albums of 2022 by many sites and publications, I still don’t think it got all the credit it deserved. Such a remarkably strong and accomplished album. In October, NME spoke with an artist who was reflecting on her most successful album to date. She had also ended a five-album deal with Atlantic Records. It seems, very much so, that her future is firmly in her hands:

“Compared with her previous releases, this year’s ‘Crash’ – her first Number One album in the UK – marked a tonal shift for an artist who has simultaneously rejected and courted the mainstream over the course of her decade-plus career. As Charli notes to NME: “I don’t feel like I’ve had a very traditional trajectory…”

As a teenager, the Essex-raised artist took out a loan from her parents to fund the recording of her unreleased promo debut ‘14’, which remains a fun, scrappy listen. Her debut album proper, 2013’s ‘True Romance’, combined a clear love of clean pop melody with an eclectic ear for subversion, sampling the likes of Gold Panda and Blood Orange. Just when mainstream stardom seemed as if it could be beckoning, she veered the other way with the uneven, pop-punk influenced ‘Sucker’ in 2015. Here, Rita Ora guest spots and mega-hits like ‘Boom Clap’ jostled side-by-side with yé-yé songs about wanking (‘Body of My Own’).

Instead, recalling the cartoonish, mechanicised funk production of Janet Jackson’s 1986 classic ‘Control’, and touching on themes of creative independence along the way, ‘Crash’ ended up feeling like the quintessential Charli album. “What you want, I ain’t got it,” she sang on ‘New Shapes’, seeming to briefly allude to her non-traditional career trajectory alongside Christine and the Queens and Caroline Polachek; two similiar artists who interchangeably infiltrate and move away from mainstream pop.

PHOTO CREDIT: Terrence O’Connor 

On the chart-bothering ‘Used To Know Me’, which heavily samples from Robin S’s ‘90s house hit ‘Show Me Love’ Charli meshes together her undeniable ear for a pop banger with more complicated musings that seem to hint at the space she now occupies as an artist. “You say I’m turning evil, I say I’m turning pure.” Why does she think this internal creative grappling stems from? “There’s this subconscious resistance that I just can’t undo,” she replies. “I just can’t fully let go of the reins.”

Charli offers up the theory that her music contains an integral sense of “push and pull”, continually tugging her between two distinct worlds. As well as striving to be “the mainstream Pop Girl,” there’s also an impulse pulling her towards the “deep end, and doing something a bit more left. I think that’s always going to be a battle that I have,” she points out, “but I also think that it’s that tension that makes me make the music that I make.”

“I like playing games with pop music. Pop music has never just been as simple as being a pop star and releasing music. In a way I would love it – if it was just that for me – but then I think I would be a more boring artist who will probably be forgotten. I enjoy the nuances of this fucked up industry and game-playing and all of these strings that happen behind the scenes… I’m enjoying that element of pop music. I enjoy poking fun at it, I enjoy buying into it, believing it, rejecting it, being a mess, and the chaos within it”.

I am going to wrap up with a couple of reviews for the magnificent CRASH. DIY had their say in an excellent and insightful review. Even though Charli XCX is a very modern and innovative artist, her final album with Atlantic was her looking back in some ways. Playing with expectations and the formats of Pop. As a result, I think that CRASH should get a tonne of respect. So many people are going to be intrigued to see where the mighty Charli XCX goes next. Her sixth album is going to the most speculated of her career:

“It’s a bold move to tease an album’s release with an image of your own gravestone on Instagram, but then again not every pop star is like Charli XCX. From her breakthrough in the early ’10s and hits ‘I Love It’ and ‘Break The Rules’, to her influential hyper-pop innovation and love for experimentation in projects like ‘Pop 2’ right through to her landmark lockdown album ‘how i’m feeling now’, Charli’s been a pioneering tour-de-force of the pop world for nearly a decade. Now her fifth full-length ‘CRASH’ arrives, and Charli is ready to add to her legacy of boundary-pushing records.

For album number 5, Charli has placed a tongue-in-cheek emphasis on this record being the end of an era in her career, as well as a new beginning. The aforementioned gravestone was part of a winking nod to ‘CRASH’ being “the fifth and final album in my record deal…”. She’s been filling her social media with lighthearted ‘tips’ for new artists (“tip for new artists: it only gets worse” one reads, “tip for new artists: suffer in silence” states another),and has been embracing a deal-with-the-devil motif. “I’m exploring what it means to be a pop star on a major label in a not very current way,” she’s previously explained. “And that’s really fun to me.” Welcoming us to her “new chapter [that] embraces all that my life has to offer in today’s world - fame, glamour, inner demons and global hits”, this may be her final record in her contract, but Charli was never not going to go out with a bang, opting for yet another album that delivers something exciting and unexpected. Moving away from the hyper-pop that has characterised her most recent releases, ‘CRASH’ delivers a sublime slice of punchy power-pop helmed by an all-star lineup of producers including AG Cook, The 1975’s George Daniel, and Ariel Reichstaid (the latter having previously worked on the singer’s debut ‘True Romance’). ‘CRASH’ is glistening with influences ranging from Janet Jackson to Cyndi Lauper, and fist-pumping power-pop tropes that shone throughout the best of the ‘80s.

The record kicks in with thumping drums as Charli sings how it “ended all so legendary” over twinkling synths on the opening title track. The nostalgic pop influences quickly seep in, further highlighted by its guitar-solo finale. Elsewhere, previously released singles, such as the iconic Caroline Polachek and Christine and the Queens featuring ‘New Shapes’ and the ‘September’-sampling Rina Sawayama collab ‘Beg For You’, shine brightly, while the pounding and anthemic ‘Good Ones’ stands as one of the best from Charli’s back-catalogue. But at no time does Charli lose her forward-thinking pop flair either.

The dramatic ‘Move Me’ and ‘Lightning’ reinvent what pop and dance ballads should be, while ‘Constant Repeat’ is a refreshing slice of pure pop that shimmers as Charli sings about a relationship that could’ve been (“you could’ve had a bad girl by your side”). Dynamic strings open up the sleek, sexy bop ‘Baby’, and ‘Every Rule’ explores falling in love under tricky circumstances over dreamy synths. ‘Used To Know Me’ is a dance-floor ready club-pop number, while infectious ear worm ‘Yuck’ sings about simping hard (“that boy’s so mushy, sending me flowers, I’m just trying to get lucky”). ‘Twice’, which Charli originally premiered in a livestream concert back in March 2021, brings a close to the 12-track record on a shimmering note as she sings about living in the moment (“All the things I love are gonna leave me, one day you’re never gonna be there / I tell myself to take it easy, don’t think twice about it”).

‘CRASH’ may be closing a chapter for Charli but it is in no way a swan song. Instead, she once again explores new ventures, crafting a pop album that celebrates the old classics as well as the new, and cements her status as a true pop trailblazer”.

I will finish off with the review from The Line of Best Fit. Such a varied, confident, fascinating album that pleased existing fans but brought new ones onboard, CRASH really should have got a lot more love from some that it did. That is the nature of music, I guess. Some will miss out on the true strength of an album. In any case, CRASH is one of the best from 2022. One that people should take some time and revisit:

“Fearlessly tackling a spectrum of gritty, experimental instrumentals, the Cambridge-born singer has grown accustomed to having her vocals warped, skewered and scattered over everything from trilled hi-hats and ricocheting breakbeats to ghoulish harsh noise, with no sounds off-limits. Sure, her relationship with commercial music has coexisted alongside these leftfield explorations, but it’s her outings alongside the likes of PC Music head honcho A. G. Cook, cult favourites 100 gecs, and the late, great SOPHIE which have come to define her catalogue of late. Going back to basics for her fifth album was therefore something which few envisaged, but the decision makes perfect sense – Crash is nothing short of a victory lap.

Every bit as effervescent as its pandemic-induced predecessor, how i’m feeling now, Crash is the culmination of several years of work. Recorded partially pre-COVID, its lyrics span multiple relationships, and its personnel includes Oneohtrix Point Never – whose contributions here predate his record-breaking work on The Weeknd’s Dawn FM – as well as True Romance producers Ariel Rechtshaid and Justin Raisen. Elsewhere, chart mainstay Digital Farm Animals, most notable for his recent work with YouTuber-turned-popstar KSI, injects some good old-fashioned UKG flavour into the Rina Sawayama-assisted “Beg for You”, and Cook resurfaces on the atypically mellow offering “Every Rule”, in which Charli achingly grapples with the moral dilemma of breaking off an existing relationship in order to pursue somebody new.

Nods to the sounds of yesteryear crop up a few times over the course of the LP: the bubbly duet “Beg for You” manages to stitch together elements of throwback songs by September and Milk Inc. and simultaneously play to its two singers’ strengths, while “Used to Know Me” finds Charli celebrating her independence over a reworked version of Robin S’s evergreen floorfiller “Show Me Love”. Having recently revisited Stromae’s “Alors On Danse” on the Saweetie-assisted mega-hit “OUT OUT” with Jax Jones and Joel Corry, she’s clearly got the bug for Eurodance, and has no problem repurposing these universally familiar melodies for a 2022 audience; a challenging task which she recently described as striking a balance between “nostalgia” and “pure futurism”.

At the same time, she’s just as comfortable dabbling in the kind of cheeky, funk-inflected earworm primed for TikTok; the hilarious “Yuck” finds her aghast at a love interest’s cringeworthy displays of affection, however well-intentioned they may be, and the recent single “Baby” is a vibrant assertion of her sexuality, decorated with fast-paced guitar licks. With live instruments present throughout, these arrangements stand in stark contrast to how i’m feeling now’s electronics – here, the meandering electric guitar lines at the end of title track “Crash” and the flamenco-esque flourishes on the late entry “Lightning” are a real treat, crossing over into a hybrid soundscape entirely absent from her last album. Where that was detached and synthetic, this is connected and organic; a celebration of hope, love and spontaneity as both her catalogue and the world at large inch closer to some semblance of their old ways”.

A wonderful album from one of our very finest artists, there is nobody in music like Charli XCX. After the success of CRASH, it will be curious seeing what direction she takes. I think she could appear in films and broaden her career. When it comes to album six, maybe something more stripped-back, or she may explore new genres. Whatever she does, it will be fantastic! If you have not experienced CRASH, then go and check it out…

AS soon as you can.

FEATURE: The Digital Mixtape: Yoko Ono at Ninety: A Selection of Her Great Work

FEATURE:

 

 

The Digital Mixtape

Yoko Ono at Ninety: A Selection of Her Great Work

_________

I think that Yoko Ono…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Yoko Ono with John Lennon

is one of the truly great artists. I apply that to music and her actual art. Such a truly important and pioneering human, she turns ninety on 18th February. Not only is she crucial in the story of The Beatles but, as part of the Plastic Ono Band (with John Lennon), she is an amazing talent. A peace activist and someone who has worked tirelessly to preserve the memory of John Lennon, she is someone we should all cherish. A spectacular person, I wanted to mark her upcoming ninetieth birthday with a playlist of some of her great work. These are either songs she has written or features her on vocals. Before getting there, AllMusic provide biography about the great Yoko Ono:

“Throughout her lengthy career as a multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist, Yoko Ono remained a visionary. Before her romantic and creative partnership with John Lennon, she was an established figure in the world of avant-garde art and music. A classically trained vocalist and pianist, Ono worked with John Cage and LaMonte Young in the early '60s and had connections to the Fluxus art movement. When she and Lennon began making music together in the late '60s, she challenged him to become a more experimental and autobiographical artist. Meanwhile, her music blended rock, jazz, and the avant-garde with the same boundary-breaking attitude of her work in other art forms, ranging from the free jazz influences of 1970's Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band to 1971's more structured Fly to the subversively feminist use of glam, funk, and pop on 1973's Feeling the Space and Approximately Infinite Universe. Her '80s output spanned 1981's Season of Glass, her brilliantly harrowing response to Lennon's murder, to 1985's idealistic Starpeace. During the '80s and '90s, the importance of Ono's work as a forward-thinking musician was increasingly realized. Artists such as Elvis Costello, the B-52's, and Sonic Youth covered her songs, while 1992's Onobox made her music more widely available. In later years, Ono refused to rest on her laurels, and 1995's Rising was just as confrontational as her earlier music. Along with her success as a dance artist in the 2000s and 2010s, she collaborated with younger musicians such as tUnE-yArDs, ?uestlove, and her son Sean Lennon on albums like Take Me to the Land of Hell. Ono also continued to be a tireless advocate for peace and the environment, and helped keep Lennon's memory alive with memorials includeng Strawberry Fields and the Imagine Peace Tower.

Yoko Ono was born February 18, 1933, into a wealthy Japanese family in Tokyo. Her childhood was somewhat lonely and isolated; her father, a banker and onetime classical pianist, was transferred to San Francisco a few weeks before she was born, and her socialite mother was often busy throwing elaborate parties. She didn't meet her father until age two, when the family moved to San Francisco. However, they returned to Tokyo three years later to avoid the anti-Japanese backlash that was beginning in the United States in response to Japan's growing military expansionism. Ono was educated at the Gakushuin School, the most exclusive private school in Japan (the Emperor's sons were her classmates). She began classical piano lessons at age four, and began lessons in lieder singing at 14.

In 1945, her mother took the family to the countryside to escape Tokyo, in time to survive the massive Allied bombing of the city; however, rich city dwellers were unwelcome, and the Ono children were often forced to beg for food.

After the war, Ono's family moved to Scarsdale, New York. She remained in Tokyo and became the first woman to enroll in Gakushuin's philosophy department, but dropped out after a couple of semesters. Ono joined her family in the States in 1952, where she attended Sarah Lawrence College. While studying music with André Singer, she became fascinated with the work of 12-tone composers such as Arnold Schoenberg and Alban Berg. When Ono wanted to go further afield with her music, Singer familiarized her with the work of avant-garde artists like Henry Cowell and John Cage. During this time, she also began dating Juilliard student Toshi Ichiyanagi, who shared her interests and became her husband in 1956. The couple moved to Manhattan in 1957, and Ono made ends meet by teaching Japanese art and music at the Japan Society, among other sporadic jobs (she'd rejected her parents' wealth and the attendant lifestyle). The couple's Chambers Street loft soon became a hot spot in the nascent downtown New York art scene. From December 1960 to June 1961, Ono frequently staged "happenings" (sometimes in partnership with minimalist composer LaMonte Young) that featured music, poetry, and other performance, and John Cage used the loft space to teach classes in experimental composition. During this time, Ono debuted interactive, conceptual pieces such as Painting to Be Stepped On, a blank canvas that became a finished work of art once viewers walked on it. This work was included in her first solo show, which was held at George Maciunas' AG Gallery in July 1961. That November, Ono performed at the Carnegie Recital Hall, an event that featured a miked-up toilet flushing at various points throughout the show. Following her separation from Ichiyanagi that year, in March 1962 Ono returned to Japan, where the couple divorced. After a brief institutionalization for depression, in November 1962 she married American jazz musician and film producer Anthony Cox.

Once the couple returned to New York, Ono resumed her art career to considerable attention from the avant-garde community. By this time, Maciunas had become the leader of the Fluxus art movement, whose philosophies were compatible with (and influenced by) Ono's, prizing abstraction and audience interaction. Though Maciunas invited her to be a part of the Fluxus group, Ono preferred to remain independent. In 1964, she published Grapefruit, a collection of creative prompts and instructional pieces that was hailed as a landmark in conceptual art. That year, she also debuted Cut Piece, in which Ono invited audience members to cut off pieces of her clothing, at Kyoto, Japan's Yamaichi Concert Hall. She later performed the piece at the Carnegie Recital Hall in early 1965 and again at the following year's Destruction in Art Symposium in London, an event at which she was the only female artist to perform and one of two female speakers.

Cut Piece helped make her a sensation in the London art world, and in November 1966, she staged an exhibition at the famed Indica Gallery, which was ardently patronized by John Lennon. Lennon was impressed by her work, particularly a piece where the viewer was required to climb a ladder and hold up a magnifying glass to read a small inscription on the ceiling that said "Yes!" The two read each other's writings, and Lennon financed an exhibition in which Ono painted various everyday objects white and cut them in half. In the meantime, Ono and Cox had begun making experimental films, usually centered on the repetition of simple movements; their fourth effort, Bottoms, consisted of 365 close-ups of nude buttocks. Ono also sang in concert with pioneering free jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman at the Royal Albert Hall. Ono and Lennon began their relationship early in 1967, and recorded the highly experimental Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins -- which was released in late 1968 -- soon after.

Ono and Cox divorced on February 2, 1969, and she married John Lennon in Gibraltar on March 20, 1969. The couple used the publicity surrounding their honeymoon to hold "Bed-Ins for Peace" in Amsterdam and Montreal (the latter of which produced the single "Give Peace a Chance"). Lennon was also inspired by Ono to make more personal music such as "The Ballad of John and Yoko," and the pair formed the Plastic Ono Band. The group's debut album, Live Peace in Toronto 1969, was recorded at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival festival and included performances by Eric Clapton and Klaus Voorman on a collection of rock standards and avant-garde pieces featuring Ono's freeform vocalizations. The second Lennon/Ono album, Unfinished Music No. 2: Life with the Lions, appeared not long after their wedding; it spotlighted Ono's cathartic vocals and addressed her first of several miscarriages. It was quickly followed by The Wedding Album, one side of which featured more Ono improv, the other of which consisted of couple calling each other's names. Over the next few years, Lennon and Ono continued their peace activism, and entered primal-scream therapy with Dr. Arthur Janov, which influenced both of their individual careers. In 1970, they each recorded an album backed by the Plastic Ono Band; Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band was the more experimental of the two, incorporating free jazz elements as well as performances from Ornette Coleman and Ringo Starr. Ono followed it in 1971 with the double-LP Fly, which mixed boundary-pushing tracks with more conventionally structured songs. The album included the song "Don't Worry, Kyoko (Mummy's Only Looking for Her Hand in the Snow)," a tribute to her daughter Kyoko, of whom Cox had won custody and disappeared with in 1971 (Ono did not see Kyoko again until 1998). In September 1971, Ono and Lennon moved to New York City. Inspired by their involvement with activists such as Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, the pair released the protest-song album Some Time in New York City in 1972; at the time, it was roasted for the simplicity of its sentiments. Ono returned in 1973 with two of her strongest solo statements, the intense, explicitly feminist Feeling the Space and the more varied Approximately Infinite Universe, both of which featured less musical involvement from Lennon. Exhausted by their constant time together and their battles with U.S. immigration over Lennon's threatened deportation, the couple split up for a year and a half toward the end of 1973. Ono recorded a more accessible album, A Story, in 1974, but it was shelved and remained unavailable for two decades. Ono and Lennon reunited in early 1975, and their son Sean Taro Ono Lennon was born on John's birthday, October 9. Lennon dropped out of show business for several years to raise his son, while Ono took charge of his business affairs.

Although she contributed some of her most accessible songs to Lennon's 1980 comeback album, Double Fantasy, she did not return to solo recording until after his assassination on December 8, 1980. The harrowing, grief-stricken Season of Glass was released the following year to highly complimentary reviews, while the single "Walking on Thin Ice (For John)" became her first charting hit, reaching number 58 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1981. Ono followed it in 1982 with the more hopeful, pop-oriented It's Alright (I See Rainbows), and had some airplay with the single "Never Say Goodbye." In 1984, Milk and Honey, her final album with Lennon, was released, and balanced her more polished studio work with his demos and rehearsal recordings. With 1985's Starpeace, Ono responded to President Ronald Reagan's "Star Wars" missile defense system. Working with producer Bill Laswell and other downtown New York scenesters, Ono scored another charting hit with "Hell in Paradise," which peaked at number 26 on the Billboard Hot 100. That year also saw the dedication of the Strawberry Fields memorial to Lennon in Manhattan's Central Park, the construction and maintenance of which Ono funded.

In the '90s, Ono returned to visual art, creating installations and also exploring photography. Meanwhile, interest in her previous work led to several retrospectives over the course of the decade. Her reputation as a musician capable of bridging the pop and experimental worlds also began to grow, thanks to an interview with writer Mark Kemp for the magazine Option as well as the 1992 release of Onobox, a remastered box set of Ono's albums as well as 1974's lost album A Story. In 1994, her off-Broadway musical New York Rock, which was inspired by her life with Lennon and revisited many of her songs, premiered. Ono reworked several of the show's new songs for 1995's Rising, a harsh, experimental album featuring her son Sean and Ima, her band at the time. The following year's Rising Mixes EP included contributions from Cibo Matto, Ween, and Thurston Moore.

In 2001, Blueprint for a Sunrise, which echoed the feminist concepts of Feeling the Space and included other remixes of songs from Rising, arrived. In 2003, Ono began working with dance artists on remixes of her best-known songs, a move that brought her some of her greatest chart success. That April, she scored her first number one with "Walking on Thin Ice (Remixes)," which featured interpretations of the song by Pet Shop Boys, Danny Tenaglia, and Felix da Housecat and reached number one on Billboard's Dance/Club Play chart. She repeated this feat with singles such as 2004's "Everyman ... Everywoman …," 2008's "No No No," and the following year's "I'm Not Getting Enough," racking up five number ones during the decade. Along with reissues of several of her albums courtesy of V2, in 2007 Ono released Yes, I'm a Witch Too, a collection of her songs reimagined by collaborators including Cat Power, the Flaming Lips, DJ Spooky, Jason Pierce, and many others. In 2009, Ono re-formed the Plastic Ono Band with Sean and added collaborators such as Yuka Honda from Cibo Matto and members of Cornelius; she released the album Between My Head and the Sky on Sean's Chimera imprint. That year, she also created the exhibit "John Lennon: The New York City Years," which included music, photographs, and personal items, for the N.Y.C. Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Annex. During the 2000s, Ono was also involved with founding several Lennon memorials, including the John Lennon Museum in Saitama, Saitama, Japan and the Imagine Peace Tower, which projects a beam of light into the sky from an island outside of Reykjavik, Iceland each year from October 9 to December 8.

In the 2010s, Ono was busier than ever with music and visual arts projects. She continued to chart as a dance artist with 2011's "Move on Fast," 2012's "Hold Me (Featuring Dave Audé) and 2014's "Angel" among her number one hits on Billboard's Dance Club Songs chart. For 2012's improvisatory YOKOKIMTHURSTON, she teamed with Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore. That year, she also founded the environmental activism group Artists Against Fracking. In 2013 -- the year of Ono's 80th birthday -- she published Acorn, a sequel to Grapefruit's collection of conceptual prompts, and launched Half-a-Wind Show, a career-spanning retrospective, at Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt. She also released Take Me to the Land of Hell, which featured production by Sean Lennon as well as cameos by tUnE-yArDs, ?uestlove, and the Beastie Boys' Ad-Rock and Mike D. Yes, I'm a Witch Too appeared in 2016 and included covers and remixes by Sparks, Ebony Bones, Death Cab for Cutie, and Danny Tenaglia, among others. That year, "Skylanding," Ono's first permanent art installation in the United States, was installed in Chicago's Jackson Park. In 2017, Ono received a songwriting credit for her work on Lennon's "Imagine" from the National Music Publishers Association. She included a new version of "Imagine" on her 2018 album Warzone, a collection of stripped-down reinterpretations of songs from her entire body of work”.

Looking ahead to an important birthday for someone who has helped change music and the world, I hope that people come together and mark her ninetieth on 18th February. For years, she was blamed for breaking up The Beatles – and she received the most hateful abuse. She did no such thing. She was an inspiring and essential presence who actually inspired some iconic songs. I think that the legendary Yoko Ono should get…

ALL the love she deserves.

 

FEATURE: Kate Bush’s The Kick Inside at Forty-Five: Imagining a 1978 Version of the Icon on the Screen

FEATURE:

 

 

Kate Bush’s The Kick Inside at Forty-Five

PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz 

Imagining a 1978 Version of the Icon on the Screen

_________

THIS may be an odd tie-in…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz

and it is something I have asked before, but I keep thinking about bringing Kate Bush to the small or big screen. Whilst there will never be a biopic – as I don’t think she would allow it -, I have been thinking about Kate Bush in 1978 and the music scene she entered. In a year when there was Punk sitting alongside Pop and Disco, there was a lot of great stuff around. Her debut album, The Kick Inside, came out on 17th February, 1978. Forty-five years after the album was released, and we do not really know quite what it was like in the studio (AIR, London), and the scenes and sights between the musicians and Bush. I don’t think any photos exist of Bush in the studio or anything where we get to hear or so the creation of The Kick Inside. That is a real shame! What we do have is the interviews and promotion from 1978. Her debut album is a magnificent beauty that reveals new layers every time you hear it. I am curious what it was like for Kate Bush when The Kick Inside came out. Maybe rubbing shoulders with other artists. Traveling around the world and experiencing something hugely moving and exciting. As far as I know, there has never been a representation of Kate Bush on T.V. or film. In my mind, it would be a filmic representation. Not a biopic or anything specifically about Kate Bush, having a 1978-set film where Bush ‘appears’ would be a bit of a dream.

It would be a compromise where Bush would not have her life and story told and be up there for all to see, but it would give people a chance to experience what it was like in 1978. Around the time of the release of The Kick Inside, Kate Bush was a new commodity in music. Her name and music would explode very soon. She performed on shows like Top of the Pops, went to countries such as Japan, and she was promoting her music far and wide. Bush would be hesitant really to have someone play her or having her story told in a false way. As there has really been no filmic interpretation of her brought to life, there is a definite demand. An actress would play her and do the speaking voice but, for live performances, it would be Bush’s original vocal. It need only be a brief ‘cameo’, but I think about bands like Blondie being around at the same time. Whether a true version of events where Bush appears as a small part of a film centered around 1978 or something fictionalised where there is more fantasy and creative license, the possibilities are tantalising. Having such a great sense of humour, Bush would be up for it. So long as it is respectful. We have heard Bush’s music in films, and there has been the odd documentary made about her through the years. In terms of anything that leans towards a biopic, perhaps that has been shot down firmly. I am not sure. I am guessing filmmakers have raised the ideas, but Bush might find it weird to see someone else play her for a full film.

The Kick Inside is the album that started things. It introduced Kate Bush to the world. I feel it would be interesting to have some sort of filmic representation of Bush. I don’t know if we will ever see her on film again, in terms of music videos. Whether we will ever get another documentary has yet to be seen. Given the increase in her fanbase and the fact a younger generation have discovered her music, there is that need to make people aware of Bush’s entire oeuvre. Going back to The Kick Inside is essential. Forty-five on 17th, it will be a moment to celebrate. Such a remarkable and stunning debut, it still has this incredible pull. Like nothing else I have ever heard, I often think about Kate Bush and 1978. It was such a hectic year for her. She was promoting all over the world and barely had a moment to rest. Though we have photographs and T.V. performances, in terms of images and audio from the recording of The Kick Inside, that is something that alludes us. Thinking about her in the studio or back at her family home at East Wickham Farm. Maybe backstage at a T.V. performance or interaction with fellow musicians, there is this world that is fascinating but has yet to be brought to life. As the world prepares to mark forty-five years of Kate Bush’s debut, I hope that there are plans in the future to bring that time…

ONTO the small or big screen.

FEATURE: Recognising the Importance of Women in Music: The BRITs As An Example of How Award Shows and the Industry Need to Change

FEATURE:

 

 

Recognising the Importance of Women in Music

 IN THIS PHOTO: Rina Sawayama/PHOTO CREDIT: Chloe Sheppard for Vanity Fair

The BRITs As An Example of How Award Shows and the Industry Need to Change

_________

THIS is the final time I will mention this…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Beyoncé

as the 2023 BRIT Awards will take place on Saturday, 11th February. With performances from the likes Harry Styles, Wet Leg and Lewis Capaldi, it is going to be a big evening. I know people have talked about inequality at award ceremonies before, but it warrants repeating. It is not necessarily the case that every award show is culpable. Even though there were some oversights and controversial winners at the GRAMMYs recently, artists like Beyoncé triumphed. The Mercury Prize, as I have said, is more balanced than most. It is not just a BRITs issue. One of the problems this year has been that, when they dispended with gender-specific categories, the idea was for more inclusiveness and less division. A single category that included women and non-binary artists, what has happened instead is that the Artist of the Year category has all men in it. One thing about the five artists nominated is that they are all very much keyed to a narrow demographic. I think, in terms of audience, Central Cee, George Ezra, Fred Again.., Stomrzy and Harry Styles probably appeal to the BBC Radio 1 audience. Even if the sounds vary between artists, why do they limit the category to five artists?! Surely making it broader still would avoid clear sexism. I am not picking on the BRITs and shaming them! As the ceremony is on Saturday, it will reveal a problem that is evident in one of the biggest award ceremonies.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Florence Welch of Florence + The Machine/PHOTO CREDIT: Sergione Infuso/Corbis/Getty Images

The GRAMMYS showed that they are able to instil equality. In terms of eligibility, artists such as Rina Sawayama, Charli XCX, Mabel, RAYE, Florence + The Machine, Little Simz, Self Esteem, and Holly Humberstone are good choices. Definitely Rina Sawayama, Charli XCX and Florence + The Machine released far stronger work last year than Fred Again... or even Stormzy. You have to wonder what the selection criteria is! In a recent interview – which the BBC reported on - All Saints’ Shaznay Lewis questioned the all-male Artist of the Year category at this year’s BRITs:

“Singer Shaznay Lewis has said it "does not feel right that female artists have suffered" as a result of category changes at the Brit Awards.

Best male and best female have been merged into one best artist category to allow non-binary acts to compete.

However, the shortlist for this year's best artist prize is all-male.

Lewis, who won two Brits as a member of All Saints, welcomed the awards body's intentions, but said: "Progressive ideas should benefit everyone."

Writing in the Radio Times, she said: "How can that be the case if we do not acknowledge female artists, who are symbols of empowerment to millions of young aspiring women?"

The singer and songwriter described the category change as a "welcome and wonderful step" for recognising talent regardless of an artist's gender.

However, she continued: "If the Brits are meant to be accolades for all, how can we persist with a category that this year has excluded half of the population, women? I'm hoping it won't be the case in 2024."

IN THIS PHOTO: Shaznay Lewis/PHOTO CREDIT: Olivia Rose

Harry Styles, who won record of the year at Sunday's Grammys, is the favourite to win artist of the year at the Brits

Adele was the first winner of the newly-titled artist of the year category in 2022, following the release of her fourth album 30.

She said in her acceptance speech: "I understand why the name of this award has changed but I really love being a woman and being a female artist. I'm really proud of us."

This year, the best artist nominees are Fred Again, Central Cee, George Ezra, Stormzy and Harry Styles.

Female artists such as Charli XCX and Florence + The Machine missed out, although acts like Wet Leg, Nova Twins and Cat Burns are recognised in other categories.

Lewis said: "Women, predictably, have suffered as a result [of merging the categories]. It does not feel right."

She questioned why women faced being "disregarded and excluded", and asked whether it was because female artists were not seen as "equally bankable" by the music industry”.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Harry Styles/PHOTO CREDIT: Rafael Pavarotti for DAZED

It is worrying that, even though there is a plethora and embarrassment of riches when it comes to tremendous women across multiple genres, there is this sexism that means they miss out. I don’t think we can call it anything else! Some might say the five male artists vying for Artist of the Year are more commercial and popular. That is not true. Whereas someone like Harry Styles deserves his place in the award shortlist, I question the other four. George Ezra is definitely popular, but in terms of his quality and worth, there are far stronger female artists. Objectively so. Artists such as Charli XCX have won far bigger reviews and are stronger as artists. The same could be said of Florence + The Machine. The Mercury-winning Little Simz is a more spectacular and daring artist than Stormzy. It seems there is no real logic or quality control. I think the argument is complex. Fewer women are signed to labels compared to men. Many high-profile female artists like Dua Lipa have not put out new music recently. That said, more than enough women who have released tremendous music in the past year have been denied! In defence of the BRITs, women are represented in other Brits categories - female duo Wet Leg have four nominations, while Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and Lizzo outnumber the men on the Best International Artist shortlist. Before rounding off, the BBC recently examined the BRITs controversy. Music correspondent Mark Savage looked closer at gender imbalance in a very important BRITS category:

“Clearly my fellow voters didn't agree with all those choices. They felt George Ezra's cuddly singalongs were better than Charli XCX's scorching glitch-pop. And maybe they're right. Both artists had a number one album last year, but George's Gold Rush Kid sold about four times as many as Charli's Crash.

The problem, I think, is more complicated than voters simply being sexist.

IN THIS PHOTO: Charli XCX/PHOTO CREDIT: The New York Times

If you look at the nominations as a whole, they've picked brilliant, cutting-edge female acts in several categories. Post-punk duo Nova Twins are up for best group, jungle producer Nia Archives is a rising star nominee and Charli XCX even gets a look-in for best pop act. So it's not like voters are unaware of their music.

What the best artist shortlist reveals is a wider systemic issue. Only 20% of the artists signed to a major UK record label are female, so they're already at a disadvantage.

And, with a few notable exceptions, it still feels like labels don't know how to develop female acts once they reach a certain level. How did Mabel go from best female in 2020 to zero nominations in 2022? Her album was good, but badly promoted. No wonder she quit to work with Dua Lipa's former managers a month after it was released.

The sad fact is that voters have a very small pool of female artists to choose from, and in a year when big stars like Adele and Dua Lipa were busy on tour, they went for male acts instead. (The Brits don't regularly reveal the make-up of the voting academy but in 2017, they said 48% of the 1,200 members were women).

Hopefully, headlines about this shortlist will shake things up, but I suspect they won't. Execs will be sitting back, safe in the knowledge that next year's Brit Awards will encompass new releases from Little Simz, Dua Lipa, Arlo Parks and Flo that will just about disguise the industry's lack of female representation for another 12 months”.

Let’s hope that the attention following Saturday’s ceremony brings about more discussion. I don’t think it is good enough to say women were not included for Best New Artist because bigger artists were not touring or releasing new music. This is patently not true. Plenty of women signed to labels who released music were eligible but were cast aside. The brilliant Self Esteem and Rina Sawayama alone could have been there! In fact, you could have had all women in the category without compromising one bit – though you would have got sexist complaints and outcry, sadly! Disrespecting so many artists who make the industry what it is, let’s hope things start to change right across the board…

WITHOUT any excuses.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Camilla George

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

Camilla George

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I have not spent much time…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Steve Funkyfeet

spotlighting band leaders, Jazz musicians and saxophonists. Happily, when it comes to the remarkable Camilla George, all three are covered! One of the most inventive and inspiring musicians you will ever hear, I wanted to spend some time delving into her music and career. Mixing together West African grooves with the distinct and multifarious sounds of the London Jazz scene, Camilla George is a musician everyone should tune into. I want to bring in a few features/interviews with her, so that we can learn more about this world-class talent. First, from her website, here is some background and biography:

“Camilla George is a visionary saxophonist, composer, bandleader and innovator. Her strong cultural roots and love of fusing African and Western Music has informed her own unique style, a key reason why she is a firm fixture on the new London Jazz scene, alongside peers such as Nubya Garcia and Shabaka Hutchings.

Her music is a hypnotising blend of Afrofuturism, hip hop and jazz, with a politically minded subtext that has a powerful connection to her Nigerian identity, lineage and heritage, reflecting African history, culture and slavery.

Her forthcoming third studio album, ‘Ibio Ibio’, is a tribute to her tribe the Ibibio people of South Eastern Coastal Nigeria. The album features an incredible lineup, including Daniel Casimir, Sarah Tandy, Winton Clifford, Renato Paris, Sheila Maurice-Grey, Rosie Turton, Shirley Tetteh, hip hop drummer, Daru Jones, Birmingham based rapper, Lady Sanity and Sam Jones.

Born in Eket, Nigeria, Camilla has been interested in music from an early age and particularly in the fusion of African and Western music. She grew up listening to Fela Kuti, as well as Jackie McLean and Charlie Parker. She began playing the saxophone aged 11 years old, when she won a music contest where the prize awarded her saxophone lessons.

Camilla went on to study with many jazz greats such as saxophone giant, Jean Toussaint (of Art Blakey fame), Julian Siegal and Martin Speake at Trinity College of Music where she gained a Masters in Jazz Performance, as well as being awarded The Archer Scholarship for Outstanding Performance in 2011.

In 2009, she joined award-winning band Jazz Jamaica and performed with special guest, Ernest Ranglin at Ronnie Scott’s jazz club. In 2013 Jazz Jamaica was nominated for a MOBO award for Jazz Performance. They continue to perform extensively all over the world.

In 2014, Camilla formed her own critically acclaimed project showcasing the stars of the new UK Jazz Scene. Dubbed “The Golden Girl of Jazz” by The Evening Standard, Camilla’s debut album, ‘Isang’ (pronounced E-SANG which means ‘journey’ in Ibibio her native language) received huge critical acclaim.

Her follow up album, ‘The People Could Fly’ which was released in September 2018, featuring special guest Omar, as well as in hugely respected guitarist Shirley Tetteh, gained substantial critical acclaim with 4 star reviews from the Financial Times and Jazzwise to name a few. The album and Camilla was featured on several key playlists such as State of Jazz, and Camilla was the poster girl for Tidal’s British Jazz playlist. The album looked at tales that slaves passed onto their children through generations and, whilst full of sorrow, was essentially a story of hope for black people and mankind that we can one day live together in harmony.

Camilla’s band has gigged solidly, being fortunate to support Courtney Pine’s album launch featuring Omar at The Barbican, as well as performing at Love Supreme (where Camilla took part in a panel discussion with Kamasi Washington) and the Cheltenham Jazz Festival. Camilla’s band also supported Dee Dee Bridgewater at The Cadogan Hall for the 2017 London Jazz festival. Dee Dee was so impressed she remarked, “The world is safe because we have Camilla!”

As part of the EFG London Jazz festival Camilla performed at the Purcell room, which was described by Jazz Journal as “A truly memorable concert…Jazz superstars in the making” with the London Jazz Review speaking of “the mature and imaginative compositions combined with some sublime saxophone solos”.

Also as part of the EFG London Jazz festival, Camilla performed at King’s Place to a very appreciative audience, a show that was broadcast live on BBC Radio 3.

Camilla has been nominated for an Urban Music Award for Best Jazz artist in 2017 and 2018 and nominated for a Jazz FM award for Best Instrumentalist 2019. She has performed in the Jazz Re:freshed showcase for SXSW, which was filmed at Abbey Road studios in 2021, as well as the Jazzahead showcase in 2021 and reached the final in the DC Jazz Prix in 2021.

Most recently, she was awarded the PRS Foundation Momentum Award which funded the completion of her third studio album, ‘Ibio Ibio’, to be released in September 2022 on Ever Records/!K7 Music”.

Before coming to some more recent press, I want to highlight an interview form Reverb. They spoke with the Jazz sensation in 2021. It seems like music – and particularly Jazz – was part of Camilla George’s household from a very young age. Her family background and growing up is fascinating and rich with vivid sounds, scents and scenes:

“Every Saturday when Camilla George was growing up, she’d sit with her dad and listen to his record collection. "That was jazz time," she says. "He’d be like, ‘This is Cannonball, I went to see him, this is what he played and we’re going to listen to it now. This is Sonny Stitt, I prefer him on alto,’ – I don’t have a preference, I think he’s sick on both, but my dad preferred him on alto. We listened to Jackie McLean, it was such an education."

After her father passed away, George inherited his vinyl collection, which she keeps in pride of place in his original leather record case in her London apartment. Born in Nigeria, George moved to London as an infant and was obsessed with the saxophone from a young age, waiting impatiently for the chance to get her hands on one.

She’s a protégé of the Tomorrow’s Warriors jazz education programme run by Gary Crosby, completed her Masters at Trinity College of Music, has performed with Jazz Jamaica, Courtney Pine’s Venus Warriors, and toured with Pee Wee Ellis. As part of the BBC’s Jazz 625 television special, she shared the stage with Joshua Redman and Jean Toussaint.

"It was fantastic to be involved in that," she says, "because that was really like going back to the old days of how you learn, older players taking you under their wing, giving you advice. Joshua Redman gave me his email address after that, and we corresponded. I just thought, ‘My gosh, this is Joshua Redman!’ So cool."

What’s the inspiration behind Ibio-Ibio?

It’s basically an homage to where I was born and our tribe, the Ibibio people. It explores things, like our creation myth, that are important to the culture of the Ibibio people. I’ve loved doing the research for it, I’ve learned even more about my roots.

They have the gods Abassi and his wife Atai, it’s quite similar to the Bible in that they created a pair of humans in their own image. Those are stories that I was told when I was young.

How is this filtering into your music?

There are some things that are parallel, not similar, to The People Could Fly, with Afrobeat grooves—I’ve been looking into High Life beats. There’s this particular Gahu High Life beat, that’s Ghanaian, it’s got that vibe. There’s one tune that’s quite straight-ahead jazz, I’ve got some stuff that’s more on the hip-hop side.

I have been very lucky to be working with a Birmingham-based rapper called Lady Sanity. We toured together with Pee Wee Ellis, and then we did another thing with Carleen Anderson, and I think she’s amazing. She’s featured on two of the pieces. It’s going to be produced by a drummer who I also met on the Pee Wee Ellis tour, called Daru Jones, who’s done more of the hip-hop stuff.

There’s definitely a hip-hop element, an Afrobeat element, and a jazz vibe, so it’s a mish-mash of styles. But I believe in it, I think it’s going to be an exciting album.

You mentioned you’re a lifelong hip-hop fan, is this melding of styles part of what defines the new London jazz scene right now?

I do think there is a part of that which is true. When you talk about London jazz, our scene was created partly by the Warriors. Most of us came up through the Warriors. The Warriors were so appealing for people who come from different backgrounds. When they talk about the London scene having all of this stuff, it’s because of that—because we were in an environment where it was okay to show our African heritage or our Caribbean heritage, or wherever we happened to come from in the world.

That organisation fostered that and I think that’s why there is this melting pot of different influences in the London jazz scene because it’s all the different people that have come through this loving environment, the family that is Tomorrow’s Warriors. Those people on that scene, Nubya [Garcia], Femi [Koleoso], Shabaka [Hutchings], every single one of them came through the Warriors in some shape or form”.

It is quite a tough time for musicians everywhere. I think, as maybe the Jazz scene is smaller than a lot of other genres, the reality is different for musicians here. In November, The Guardian spoke with six Jazz musicians about making a living out of their passion. They chatted with Camilla George about her experiences as a Jazz artist living in London:

“In many ways, Camilla George exemplifies the diverse musical identity of the London jazz scene. She learned to play the saxophone as an 11-year-old, thanks to subsidised lessons at school, and went on to train in the grassroots jazz workshop Tomorrow’s Warriors, before playing in tutor Gary Crosby’s Jazz Jamaica group and creating improvised music inspired by her Nigerian heritage.

“Tomorrow’s Warriors created a safe space for kids from different backgrounds to learn together for free,” George says. “It brought together an unexpected mix of people, which has resulted in music that draws proudly on our own cultures. Not many people felt comfortable doing that before.”

Contemporaries on the London scene, such as Garcia and drummer Moses Boyd, have also been trained by Tomorrow’s Warriors and George can see the impact today. “When I was at music school at Trinity Laban, I was the only Black person and the only woman on my course,” she says. “Now, when I go to pick the strongest players for my band, often there are more women than men, and that’s testament to the fact that my contemporaries are showing kids that they can pick up an instrument and the Warriors are training them.”

Having just released her third album, the Afrobeat-inflected Ibio-Ibio, and with a forthcoming headline show during the London jazz festival, George’s star as a bandleader is beginning to ascend. “It feels as if there’s a real demand for this music now,” she says. “I was mobbed on my first gig back from Covid at Ronnie Scott’s, people were so excited. I’m really enjoying it, but I’m also finding it hard. We’ve had these two years where we got used to a different pace of life, so it is a bit of a culture shock to be back.”

With her calendar packed, George is looking forward to Christmas and the prospect of writing new material. “I’m going to retreat to my childhood bedroom,” she says. “All I’ll have is my keyboard and time to come up with something!”.

I am going to end with a recent interview from Jazzwise. Ibio-Ibio came out last September, but it is an album that should be played widely now. I worry that a lot of sensational Jazz is restricted to specialist radio stations and broader-minded ones like BBC Radio 6 Music. Such an incredible and long-lasting sound, Camilla George’s music warrants as wide an audience as is possible:

“Her 2022 return, Ibio-Ibio, continues her interest in strong narratives, in an album that celebrates her people, the Ibibio, who hail from the Awka Ibom state of coastal Nigeria (George was born in the town of Eket, before her father, between jobs as a tailor, was deported by the authorities, forcing the family to return to the UK).

But the biggest change, as George sees it, is more practical: discovering the joy (and increasingly, the pain) of international touring. After spending years on the UK circuit, her next goal was to break into Europe. She went even further: her first gig outside the UK was at Blue Note Beijing. “It’s like Pokémon, I wanted to get that one,” she says about the Tokyo branch of the Blue Note franchise, a dream gig vanquished by the pandemic.

As a return to an adjusted normal continues, George is articulate about the issues facing her peer group of working musicians. For starters, she has plans to perform in France in the near future, but hasn’t yet been able get her A1 forms returned from HMRC. With payment conditional on the forms being filled out, and a 20% tax slapped on those earnings, it makes the prospect of a handful of French gigs in the autumn – two dates at Paris’ Le Duc des Lombards in September – more fraught than fun. “There are certain artists I was touring Europe with who aren’t able to call me now, because it’s too much paperwork, and it’s too expensive to have me on the gig,” she adds. “That’s a real shame, because, if you lose a gig for playing reasons? Okay, fair enough, you accept that. But to lose it because of Brexit is quite annoying.”

She sees the problems past her own loss of income, though. George, who describes the UK “notoriously hard” for touring musicians, confirms it’s an even less appealing prospect post-Brexit. “Prominent musicians who were touring just won’t do a London gig. Or if they do, it’s just one, because there’s no money in it. And that’s such a shame, that we’re not getting to see the level of musicianship that [mainland] Europe sees.” Touring Europe brings George into contact with some of her favourite musicians – China Moses, Theo Croker, and even her idol Kenny Garrett – but there are repercussions back home for those not regularly travelling to the continent. “It’s creating a division in terms of access, and being able to hear that standard of playing.”

There’s an irony to such divides in a jazz world which currently seems particularly closely knit, thanks to the increasing presence of social media in the music making process. It’s a leveller for sure, bringing never-before imagined collaborations across continents, but its use is certainly skewed towards the younger generation. And, even as the youth-focused discourse around jazz in the UK slowly loses its energy – every description of the ‘UK jazz scene’ seems wrapped in obligatory scare quotes – George reveals the tensions that still exist between generations and groups.

What’s creating those tensions? George words her response carefully.

“I think when you scratch the surface, actually, it’s a racial thing. I think the people that are doing it don’t realise it. But all the musicians they’re ragging on are generally black. Usually, they’re black and female. Often, the criticisms they’re laying are because they don’t rate the Afrobeat thing that people are doing. But it’s very sad, because the music originated from Africa; it came from enslaved black Americans who were actually Africans. I don’t think [Afrobeat is] as far away from jazz as they think it is.”

Ibio-Ibio is a pleasant-sounding album that sees George bend more into a Roy Hargrove-esque soundworld than her previously bop-adjacent releases. Yet the subject matter behind the sounds is far from Hargrove’s mellifluous earfood. George draws heavily from traumatic stories – the more uncomfortable parts of her community’s history (many of which involve their complex relationship with the slave trade) punctuate the album, with the appearance of Birmingham rapper Sanity providing lyrical focus, just in case you forget track titles like ‘Journey Across The Sea’ or ‘The Long Juju Slave Route of Arochokwu’. How does George find so much hope through traumatic subjects?

“It’s an interesting one, because with my previous album, I remember one person saying ‘oh, it’s too happy’. But the point of the album is that you have to find hope in adversity, because if you don’t, you can’t learn anything, and we don’t grow”.

I have spent a lot of time with Pop artists and TikTok stars the past couple of months. I have not really broadened and looked at artists in other scenes and parts of the music globe. I am glad to have spent time investigating the magnificent music of Camilla George. She is one of the leader lights and players in the London Jazz scene. Go and check out her music and follow George on social media. Someone who has evolved as a composer and musician through the years, this is an exciting time for Camilla George. Do yourself a favour and lose yourself…

IN her world.

___________

Follow Camilla George

Official:

https://www.camillageorge.com/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/cammyg1/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/camilla_sax

Bandcamp:

https://camillageorge.bandcamp.com/

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/6gIw9VQPs8SI1XRYhSwYWH?si=7bkuiv9_Q0WlL7CoMsPYzA

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/camillageorgeband/

FEATURE: No Need to Prove Yourself: Radiohead’s Incredible Pablo Honey at Thirty

FEATURE:

 

 

No Need to Prove Yourself

Radiohead’s Incredible Pablo Honey at Thirty

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ALTHOUGH few…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Bob Berg/Getty Images

would rank it among their favourite Radiohead albums, the band’s debut, Pablo Honey, is a very important one. It introduced the soon-to-be-legendary band to the world. Even if the likes of Creep (the debut single) outweigh and surpass most of the songs on the album, I think Pablo Honey remains underrated. Gaining mostly three-star reviews, most people highlight strengths but point out that there are weaker tracks – and the fact Radiohead would take a massive leap very soon with their 1995 follow-up, The Bends. Released in the U.K. on 22nd February, 1993, I wanted to mark its upcoming thirtieth anniversary. Released in the U.S. on 20th April, Pablo Honey was produced by Sean Slade, Paul Q. Kolderie and Radiohead's co-manager Chris Hufford. It is an album with an interesting background. Rolling Stone compiled a feature in 2018 that listed ten things that you might not know about Pablo Honey. Radiohead formed whilst they were studying at Abingdon School in Oxfordshire. They signed a record deal with EMI in 1991. A year later, they released their Drill EP. Even if that E.P. did not get a lot of attention, things would change soon enough for the band. Despite the fact Radiohead did not have much recording experience, Pablo Honey was recorded in three weeks at Chipping Norton Recording Studios in Oxfordshire. After Creep received big airplay and gained popularity, other singles like Stop Whispering soon became better known. Determined to get their music heard and stand out, they embarked on seriously hefty promotion across the U.S., supporting PJ Harvey, and Belly in the process.

Pablo Honey reached twenty-two on the U.K. album chart, and it was met with some positivity here and in the U.S. I think one of the things a lot of reviewers noted is that it was not as distinct as the material the band would release for The Bends. Maybe a little underdeveloped or light on standouts, Pablo Honey has gained more love and kindness in retrospective examinations. It seems unlikely the band themselves will mark Pablo Honey’s thirtieth, as they have always felt it is not up there with their best work. Regardless, it is an important album in the history of music. Radiohead would come on leaps and bounds from The Bends onwards. One of the most progressive and influential bands of their generation, you can hear and feel promise and that ambition on their 1993 debut. I think the album is a lot stronger than it gets credit for. At a time when Britpop was exploding and there was this change in the music scene, maybe Radiohead stood outside of that. They seemed more influenced by U.S. bands such as Nirvana. Their influence set would change soon after, and the songwriting and performances strengthened and expanded on The Bends.

Although Radiohead are not massive fans of their debut album, Pablo Honey definitely caught the attention of the press. As a fairly unknown quantity, Rolling Stone found some glimmers that were well worth watching out for:

“FLASHING A SONG called “Creep” as a musical ID takes cheek, but then, everything about these Brits is unabashed. On their debut, the swagger affected by every arch-Anglo since the Kinks is already in full effect. Three guitars (and bass) and a singer whose narcissistic angst rivals Morrissey’s (“I will not control myself!” Thom Yorke screams on “Vegetable,” and on “Prove Yourself” he mourns, “I’m better off dead”), these five Oxford lads come on extreme. What elevates them to fab charm is not only the feedback and strumming fury of their guitarwork — and the dynamism of their whisper-to-a-scream song structures — which recall the Who by way of the early Jam, but the way their solid melodies and sing-along choruses resonate pop appeal.

On “Blow Out” they savage a bossa-nova intro with sheer noise; “Thinking About You” is bitter folk with acoustic guitars soundly pummeled; and the rest of “Pablo Honey” is equally surprising. If they don’t implode from attitude overload, Radiohead warrant watching”.

I think about some great British bands who released debuts in the 1990s. Think about Blur and the fact 1991’s Leisure was met with mixed reception. They definitely got more ambitious and improved quickly enough. The debut album is difficult, and it takes a while for bands to establish their identities and get into the groove. Too often ignored or cast aside when it comes to Radiohead’s history and great work, Pablo Honey definitely should be celebrated! It is thirty on 22nd February, and it will be a day when fans can remember where they were when they heard the album for the first time. In their 2021 feature, FAR OUT revisited a lost treasure:

“This brings us to our story today, the strange, debut studio outing by Radiohead — 1993’s Pablo Honey. Just like its successor, it often gets overlooked by fans and critics alike, as there are almost no flecks of the sonic majesty that the band would go on to cultivate throughout their career. However, this is our point exactly. Every artist has to start somewhere. The Beatles didn’t start their career with Sgt. Pepper‘s or Pink Floyd with The Dark Side of the Moon, instead, it was a steady build-up to a period of brilliance (regardless of what Beatles fans may tell you).

Whilst Pablo Honey is certainly dated in retrospect, and it features Radiohead’s most contentious song for both fans and the band as the lead single, it also has moments of sheer brilliance and is a reflection of Radiohead at their rawest, like an ore needing to be refined. For the Hegelian types out there, in the timeline of Radiohead’s existence, it is also important.

Although few and far between, there exist within it sonic indicators of the direction in which the band were travelling and the audio sensibilities that they intended to follow. As if by a smokescreen provided by ‘Creep’, and although unaware of it at the time, the band were able to brilliantly carve out their next massive step towards greatness, The Bends.

Pablo Honey opener ‘You’ is an atmospheric piece of guitar work that was the first example of guitarist Jonny Greenwood‘s virtuosity and penchant for a meaty riff. The song is a meandering piece of music that is highly underrated within the group’s extensive back catalogue. Furthermore, about halfway through when frontman Thom Yorke wails “My”, drenched in melisma, we are provided with the first indication of his incredible vocal range.

‘How Do You?’ is two minutes of ’90s guitar music, there’s not much else to be said about it, apart from the fact that it also contains some of Greenwood’s earworm guitar work. The next track, ‘Stop Whispering’ can be taken as a rudimentary indicator of the ’90s rock balladry that the band would perfect on The Bends with the likes of ‘Fake Plastic Trees’ and ‘High and Dry’. A melodic piece, it could quite easily have fit on the soundtrack for any coming of age movie of the era. ‘Thinking About You’ is more of the same, a take on R.E.M.’s style that is perhaps one of the album’s more forgettable moments.

Then halfway through the album, track six, we get the second single and one of its standouts, ‘Anyone Can Play Guitar’. Whilst unbelievably dated, it is a ’90s alt-rock classic, with one of the most catchy choruses Radiohead have ever penned. The chorus line: “I want to be in a band when I get to heaven” couldn’t be more ’90s if it tried. Additionally, Greenwood and Ed O’Brien brilliantly dovetail on their six-strings, providing another taste of what was in store in the not too distant future.

A mixed bag, Pablo Honey is always worth a revisit, only if just for the highlights. If you want to hear the band at their rawest, this is the album for you. Often overlooked, the highlights are brilliant when taken in the context of the era. It is not a groundbreaking album by any stretch of the imagination, but actually, when you compare it to the work of a lot of the guitar bands today, it contains way more forward-thinking ideas and compositional techniques than we get from the majority of the guitar bands who make it on to the main stage at the likes of the Reading and Leeds Festivals”.

I am excited that we will get to mark thirty years of Radiohead’s debut album, Pablo Honey. Containing some incredible songs, it was a definite steppingstone. They put out the My Iron Lung E.P. in 1994. In such a short time, they released something that was closer to the peaks many associate them with. Perhaps a little inexperience means Pablo Honey will always have to fight for attention, but it has no need to prove itself. It is a fine and historically important album. The start of one of music’s greatest careers. As there are whispers that Radiohead are getting back into the studio to record new material, I hope that they take a moment to look back thirty years to…

THE brilliant Pablo Honey.

FEATURE: Put Yourself in Her Shoes: Treating Women in Music with More Respect

FEATURE:

 

 

Put Yourself in Her Shoes

PHOTO CREDIT: Anthony Tran/Unsplash

Treating Women in Music with More Respect

_________

THIS is not related to any particular event…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Ben White/Unsplash

or bit of news, but I am thinking ahead to International Women’s Day. The theme for 2023 is DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality. International Women's Day 2023 will focus on how technology and education in the digital age can help the empowerment of women and girls across the world. That happens on 8th March. It is a very important date in the calendar. I have written about misogyny in music and how there needs to be a #MeToo-style movement. I shall come to that in a minute. The past couple of weeks have really struck me. I have read about some horrifying experiences women have gone through. Whether it is sexism, abuse or misogyny, it is something that is extremely toxic and troubling. There needs to be conversations in the music industry around this. It can take the form of abusive or sexual messages, sexism at festivals and lacking opportunities, or a general lack of respect. Prior to that, I want to widen things out and look at two stories that concern misogyny and abuse outside of music. Michelle Williams recently spoke with The Guardian in promotion of the new film, The Fablemans. The subject of #MeToo arose, as did equal pay:

“Yet in 2017, she had evolved sufficiently to effect real-world change by speaking out. Williams had learned that while she was reportedly paid $1,000 for her reshoot work on Ridley Scott’s All the Money in the World (they had to hastily swap Kevin Spacey for Christopher Plummer), her co-star, Mark Wahlberg, received $1.5m. She blew the whistle on the discrepancy and said it had left her “paralysed in feelings of futility”. The case kickstarted Hollywood’s pay parity revolution.

PHOTO CREDIT: Sofia Sanchez & Mauro Mongiello/Trunk Archive

On Fosse/Verdon, Williams made the same as her co-star, Sam Rockwell. Does it feel good or bad to have money now? For the first time in our conversation, she stalls. “It’s a hard question. It’s something I’d have to reckon with before I really know how to talk about it.”

She also edges around specifics on #MeToo. But when I say I’m surprised more people weren’t brought down, she has the look of someone who knows where the skeletons are buried. “Maybe there’s still hope for that.”

What she will say is that she sees the fruits of the movement all the time. “Boy, oh boy, do I ever!” she says when I ask if the young actors on The Fabelmans were more confident than she used to be. “I did not possess any grace or calm, nor did any of my contemporaries. I was raised in the 80s. Selfhood wasn’t put into young women. And now it is. I get to see it in my own daughter and I can’t take my eyes off her. It is a glorious miracle to behold that I never thought I would witness in my lifetime.”

When Williams talks about Matilda, rather than about being her mother, she speaks slightly differently. She speeds up. Concerns over exact expression are overtaken by enthusiasm. “I thought I would have to teach my daughter how to subvert herself and crawl underneath the system to keep herself safe. And, instead, the system has exploded and these young people act with compassion, integrity and righteousness.

“I have the chills talking about it. These girls aren’t prey. These girls are already victorious. I love to sit back and watch them in the world and know that it is safer and more inclined in their direction than it was for me”.

Hollywood had an awakening and reckoning with #MeToo, and there has been definite progress. Whilst there are still cases of misogyny and sexual assault on sets and in the industry, there does seem to have been development. On issues like equal pay, I still think there is a disparity between men and women. I am not sure why, but the idea that male actors are a bigger pull. Not to deviate too much but, also, I was shocked reading about Emily Atack’s experiences of sexual harassment and abuse online. A new documentary, Asking for It?, sees actress and comedian Atack discuss her experiences of receiving online sexual harassment. She also heard from women in all walks of life who shared their experiences too. It is a upsetting but essential documentary that should, let’s hope, lead to changes in terms of behaviour, attitude and the way social media sites monitor sexual graphic messages and photos. Atack spoke with The Times about how things escalated during lockdown:

“But then came the pandemic lockdown and a surge in the volume of explicit and extreme messaging flooding her DMs. “It made me feel ten times more isolated, vulnerable and alone. Because all of a sudden I was looking around me, thinking, ‘I’ve got no one to protect me here. I’ve got no one to laugh about it with, even.’ I got really down about it.”

The onslaught, she says, made her feel “lonely, disgusting, embarrassed, ashamed, violated. It feels like sexual assault — and I have been sexually assaulted, so I know what that feels like. I feel like I’m being sexually assaulted hundreds of times a day.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Robert Wilson

But, she continues, “There were so many other things going on. People were dying. People were in care homes having to wave at loved ones through windows. I didn’t feel I could come out and say, ‘Can you stop sending me pictures of your dick?’ So I bottled it up.”

The campaign group End Violence Against Women reports that one in five women has experienced online harassment and abuse, while a June 2022 report by the Victims’ Commissioner reported that one in four women has experienced cyberflashing — being sent sexual images, aka dick pics, without consent.

Ask your girlfriend. Ask your sister. Ask — horrifyingly — your teenage daughter. Research by Professor Jessica Ringrose from University College London found that 76 per cent of girls aged 12-18 had been sent unsolicited nude images of boys or men. (And that study was carried out in 2020, before the pandemic intensified online harassment many times over.)

Ask a woman in her teens or twenties or thirties if a man has slid into her DMs and asked her to send him videos. Ask if she’s ever had an image sent to her phone via AirDrop by a stranger sitting nearby on the bus. Ask if she’s ever got chatting to a guy on a dating app, given him her number and suddenly been deluged with pictures of his penis — without even having gone on a date. The answer will almost certainly be yes.

PHOTO CREDIT: Robert Wilson

If you’re over 40, however, you might well be blithely unaware of the extent of the issue. Less because, as members of my fortysomething book club commented the other night when I did a straw poll on the subject, “Nobody wants to AirDrop their dick to a middle-aged woman,” and more, I believe, because our demographic — too old to be digital natives, or even confidently to know how to turn on their AirDrop facility — simply spends far less of their life online. Those female friends over 40 with prominent public and social media profiles — and who are therefore more digitally accessible — are, in fact, bombarded with images and abuse.

Even armed with evidence of how widespread the problem is, Atack admits she was still plagued by feelings of shame and self-blame. “Is it because I posed in a bikini? Is it because I get my cleavage out on Instagram and talk about my sex life on stage? Am I part of the problem?”

This is the starting point for Atack’s upcoming BBC documentary, Emily Atack: Asking for It?, an impressively honest and personal exploration of the harassment and abuse she is subjected to, how it has affected her — and other women who experience similar — and an attempt to understand what motivates the men behind it.

Today, sitting across a table from me, sipping coffee and cradling her teacup cavalier spaniel, Penny, in her lap, she admits to nervousness about how it will be received. Will the public understand the complicated conundrum she is attempting to unpick? Will they grasp the internalised misogyny that makes victims blame themselves?

“I think I will always slightly feel like it’s my fault,” admits Atack. “Always. I’m working on it as hard as I can. But when something is ingrained in you from such a young age, it’s hard to unravel all that”.

These are not isolated incidences outside of music. Whilst most men condemn the actions of the few, there is still this disturbing reality that women all around the world have to go through such horrifying, demeaning and vile days. Ones where they are attacked, threatened and harassed. I cannot tell you how many tweets I have seen that relate to artists receiving sexual messages, being the victim of harassment and sexual assault, misogyny or sexism. Whilst there was a sort of #MeToo movement in music at one point, I don’t think anything as concrete and visible as the one in Hollywood has taken place. Musicians like Catherine Anne Davies (The Anchoress) have been victim of harassing and abusive messages. She is not alone in this. In October, Phoebe Bridgers featured in Teen Vogue. Although women are now at the forefront of Rock and Pop, I still feel there is this struggle of recognition and equality. Women still not being given the same platform, respect and opportunities as their male counterparts:

“Bridgers is part of a legacy of artists — including Sinead O’Connor and Fiona Apple (who became a Bridgers collaborator) in the 1990s, the Chicks in the 2000s, and countless others into the 2010s and today — who joined the music industry, looked around at the world and those running it and thought, This isn’t good enough. Alongside Bridgers, those  speaking out for what they believe in, especially when it comes to abortion access, include Megan Thee Stallion, Billie Eilish, Lizzo, and Olivia Rodrigo.

Paramore’s Hayley Williams, another Bridgers collaborator, was one of the few women in rock permitted to succeed in the 2000s; she has since criticized their hit “Misery Business” for contributing to a “‘cool girl’ religion,” “feeding into a lie that I’d bought into, just like so many other teenagers — and many adults — before me.” Like Williams, Bridgers has taken up the mantle in a movement to provide emotionally complicated music that is detached from the misogyny the genre was built on, and to make space to talk about different types of pain. Bridgers’ vulnerability is a key feature of her music and lyrics, earning comparisons to her icon, Elliott Smith.

PHOTO CREDIT: Chloe Horseman

Having been let down by the musicians who came before, many of whom were white, male, and straight — and some of whom took advantage of their younger, female fanbase — she and her peers feel a sense of responsibility to create better industry conditions than the ones they endured. “I’ll bite the hand that feeds me,” Bridgers, Dacus, and Julien Baker harmonize on the 2018 boygenius EP.

Today, rock and alternative are dominated by women-led, genderqueer, and LGBTQ+ artists from a diversity of backgrounds, from Mitski and Pom Pom Squad to Snail Mail and Black Belt Eagle Scout. They represent stories and experiences previously disregarded and ignored in rock music, overtaking tales of men hurting women and blaming them for it.

“It's just sad that we've been forced to identify with white boys…. I think it shows you how desperate we've all been for any f**king representation,” Bridgers says. “I also think, at the heart of it, it's just wanting to be understood.”

The arrival of the #MeToo movement in fall 2017 — and its long horseshoe around to misogynistic backlash — coincided with Bridgers’ arrival in the spotlight. That September, her debut album Stranger in the Alps dropped. The album's best-known song, “Motion Sickness,” is about her relationship with musician Ryan Adams, an indie diss track concealed in a deceptively light, lilting groove. As Bridgers later told The New York Times, she met Adams when she was around 20 years old and Adams was around 40. “You were in a band when I was born,” she sings. (In a statement to the Times via a lawyer, Adams called their relationship “a brief, consensual fling.”).

PHOTO CREDIT: Chloe Horseman

The newspaper spoke to multiple women about Adams and his alleged “pattern of manipulative behavior in which [he] dangled career opportunities while simultaneously pursuing female artists for sex.” Bridgers claims that after she broke it off with Adams, he “became evasive about releasing the music they had recorded together and rescinded the offer to open his upcoming concerts,” according to the Times. (Through his lawyer, Adams denied the allegations in the Times report, calling the accusations “extremely serious and outlandish.” Adams also denied withholding her songs.)

Bridgers and I trade names back and forth of celebrities we’ve long heard murmurs about, then turn to the biggest #MeToo story of 2022: the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard case. Not long after the trial ended, Bridgers liked a tweet that supported Heard, who made accusations of abuse against Depp in a high-profile, polarizing trial. (Ultimately, a jury found that Heard was liable for three counts of defamation, and Depp liable for one of three counts in Heard’s countersuit.) Across the internet, people mocked Heard and her allegations of abuse against Depp, and many celebrities liked Depp’s post-trial “comeback” posts on Instagram.

“I think that there's been this falsehood — and I think queer people are included in this — of having to be the perfect victim, or the perfect survivor, or the perfect representation for your marginalized community," Bridgers says. "If Amber Heard exhibited any neurotic behavior, it was held against her. Then Johnny Depp, out of his mouth, admitted some of the most violent, crazy shit in court, and it's somehow like, people aren't surprised?”

The giddy public consumption of the trial was troubling, Bridgers continues. “That whole situation was so upsetting to me, that it was treated like a fandom war. Laughing at someone crying in court? It was disgusting.”

This is something Bridgers seems stuck on: What does accountability or justice actually look like in a society that continuously diminishes survivor narratives? “It can feel insular, like the rest of the world doesn't care about the same morals as us,” Bridgers says. She notes that, like Depp (who lost a libel case in the UK after the court found that a newspaper’s printed allegations that he was a “wife beater” were substantially true), many powerful men accused of abuse continue their lucrative careers.

PHOTO CREDIT: Chloe Horseman

“I mean, is [cancel culture] real? Who's lost their job politically? One huge offender is in jail for actual sex crimes, and then anything short of that is, maybe, they lose a couple friends or lose a couple jobs,” she says. “Then five years later, they're like, ‘Sorry, sorry, sorry.’ And they come back, but they never apologize — they never go away.”

Bridgers is grateful for the solidarity she’s found with friends and others in the industry, as well as other survivors, but she won’t forget the cost. “It sucks that I trauma-bonded with a lot of my friends first,” Bridgers says. “We didn't get to come from a place of joy; we had to connect on something so dark.”

Like many of her fans, Bridgers came up at a moment of reckoning over who holds power in the music industry — and the culture at large — and how they get to wield it. That’s why Bridgers takes her celebrity so seriously. Yes, she’s a musician who’s pouring her heart out onstage as fans sing (or sob) along. But she’s concerned with making sure everybody is passing the mic — and that it doesn’t stop with her.

“I'm selling me,” she points out. “If I post a link to my friend's GoFundMe, maybe two people will donate to it. But if I'm like, ‘Hey, I will trade you this piece of myself for this’ — I do it all the time with songs…. It’s a lighthearted way to draw attention to something that's dire. As a musician, I have no power to draw anybody's attention to something in any other way”.

Sorry if it does seem like a random assortment of interviews and information, but I was affected by recent cases of women in the public eye who have been recipients of misogyny and sexual harassment. Emily Atack’s words and what she has gone through. I have been thinking about that, but also ahead to International Women’s Day. The fact that, even now, there is still so much work to do. Yes, the fact that so many incredible women have broken through and created incredible music that has inspired change and this need for recognition and evolution. Those who speak up when it comes to harassment and abuse. Those who fight against sexism at labels, festivals, at award shows, and every other corner of the industry. We are seeing small steps in terms of representation and parity, but there is a disparity and gulf still. I think women are leading music and deserve a lot more than they get. Every day, I read about an artist who has received aa disturbing or patronising email. Someone who has not been paid as much as a male artist for a similar gig. Festivals not balancing their line-ups. Women revealing upsetting messages they have received. Others who don’t feel seen or heard. I think it all comes down to respect. The fact is that women in music (and throughout society) have to have endure things that men do not. Whether that is them being overlooked or inundated with sexual messages, it has to change. The damage this does is devastating, and it means that the industry will suffer! Even though there is a wave of terrific new female artists, so many are leaving music or finding that they will struggle in so many different ways. I hope that there is change very soon. When it comes to women throughout music, they should be shown…

NOTHING but respect.

FEATURE: The Digital Mixtape: Great Songs of Love and Passion from 2022

FEATURE:

 

 

The Digital Mixtape

IN THIS PHOTO: Rihanna/PHOTO CREDIT: Christopher Polk/NBC via Getty Images 

Great Songs of Love and Passion from 2022

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I am doing a few …

 PHOTO CREDIT: Dan Gold/Unsplash

Valentine’s Day-themed playlists ahead of the big day on the 14th. The power of a romantic song remains strong to this day. Whether new examples can match the classics is yet to be seen, but I have put together songs from last year that are either romantic in nature or have a slightly steamier edge to them. A contemporary mix of Valentine’s Day-appropriate cuts, I hope there is something in the mix that takes your fancy. I know there will be a lot o celebration on Valentine’s Day, but there are many who do not mark it or, like me, are single. Regardless, I think that there were some great songs from last year where the feelings of the heart are definitely at the front. Whatever you are doing on 14th February, I hope that you…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Jonathan Borba/Unsplash

HAVE a good day.

FEATURE: Kate Bush’s The Kick Inside at Forty-Five: On the Promotional Trail

FEATURE:

 

 

Kate Bush’s The Kick Inside at Forty-Five

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush photographed in a London hotel room in October 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Steve Emberton

On the Promotional Trail

_________

AS 17th February marks…

the forty-fifth anniversary of Kate Bush’s debut album, The Kick Inside, I am dedicating quite a few features to the album. It is my favourite of all-time, so it has that very special place in my heart. As I have said many times before, 1978 was a manic year for Bush. She released Wuthering Heights, her debut single, on 20th January. There was pretty much no let-up when it came to the work Bush put in to promote her first album. I can understand how excited she was to release a debut album, though she must have been exhausted come Christmas! That relief at being home with the family to rest and reflect on 1978. Even so, Bush managed to achieve so much that year. Not only did she release a debut album that was a huge chart success, gained a lot of positive reviews and put her firmly on the map. She performed live around the world in promotion of the album (some T.V. performances for the most part), and there was a lot of mystery around who Bush really was. From the start, Kate Bush got labelled as someone who was quite witch-like and strange. Too many people got caught up with Wuthering Heights and assuming that was who Kate Bush was. I don’t think too many understood her music or really got to know the real her. Even though Bush had these different musical personas and voices, a lot of interviews with her were quite samey and predictable. I might have covered these before but, as I am very interested in the vast promotional trail of 1978, I want to bring in a few interview from the year.

Going from country to country to talk about The Kick Inside, the magnificent Kate Bush hardly let her foot off of the gas! There are some interesting interviews that are worth sourcing. First, in March, Bush was featured in Sounds. Donna McAllister spoke with an artist who was taking people by surprise. With Wuthering Heights delivering this debut single smash, it was an exciting time to know more about a hugely talented artist:

“SOULFUL, SENSITIVE, salubrious. So why all the fuss about Kate Bush's age? Is it the fact that you don't usually get such cohesive intelligence from 19 year old females? Is it that 'child' prodigies are out of our mode? Or is it simply the fact that the journalists are getting older? It wasn't that long ago that the charts were brimmed from 1 to 10 with teen-aged stars. It may seem that only yesterday she was your average unknown person, but in fact, Kate has been developing her unique talents on rinky-dink second hand pianos since she was the ripe old age of 14. Recently she moved into a three storey flat in Lewisham, which is owned by her general practioner daddy-o, and whose other two storeys are occupied by her two older brothers.

The story is not at all as overnight as it seems to be, it was in fact two years ago that Pink Floyd's Dave Gilmour bopped around to Kates' flat with a Revox -- goal in mind to get some of Kates tunes published. She wasn't, at the time, considered a singer but Gilmour, who is genuinely interested in giving undiscovered talent a shot-in-the-arm (with his Unicorn organization) felt that the bubbling under songs should have the opportunity to be heard. They recorded about 15 songs per tape, and took them around to various record companies. The unanimous opinion, then, was 'non-commerical', and after all . . . it's not creative unless it sells, 'eh?

How Kate and Gilmour hooked up is rather a vague 'girlfriends'- boyfriends'- girlfriends friend' sort of rigamaroll, but the fact is that he never did lose interest in her er . . . talents, and decided that the only way to reach a record company's goldlined pocket was to produce finished product. Which is exactly what they did. Gilmour put up the money, and Kate went into Air studios complete with a band, and laid down the three tracks she and Dave both felt were best. This is the tape which eventually landed Kate her contract with EMI Records.

Despite the fact that she has been already wrongly built (no pun intended) in the media to be a mere child, she is surprisingly aware of what is going on around her, and is accepting the entire shindig with a pleased air of disbelief.

"They keep telling me the chart numbers, and I just kind of say 'Wow' (she sweeps her arms) . . . it's not really like it's happening. I've always been on the outside, watching albums I like go up the charts, and feeling pleased that they are doing well, but it's hard to relate to the fact that it's now happening to me..."

'WUTHERING Heights', Kate's self-penned song, inspired by the book of the same title, is literally catapaulting up the UK charts, and looks as though it will be one of those classic world-wide smasheroonies, though it has yet to be released in most other countries. She recently took her first air-bourne flight to Germany for a television appearance, as the single, apparently, has been chosen as whatever the German equivalent of 'pick-of-the-week' might be.

"It was mind blowing," she said euphorically, in reference to flying, "I really want to do more of that . . ." Wonder how she'll feel about in in two years time.

She writes songs about love, people, relationships and life . . . sincerely and emotionally, but without prostituting her talents by whining about broken hearts.

"If you're writing a song, assuming people are going to listen, then you have a responsibility to those people. It's important to give them a positive message, something that can advise or help is far more effective than having a wank and being self-pitiful. That's really negative. My friends and brothers have been really helpful to me, providing me with stimulating conversation and ideas I can really sink my teeth into."

For as long as she can remember she has been toying around with the piano, much, I reckoned, to her parent's chargrin. Can you imagine living with a nine-year-old who insisted on battering away on said instrument, wailing away at the top of her lungs in accompaniment?

"Well, they weren't very encouraging in the beginning, they thought it was a lot of noise. When I first started, my voice was terrible, but the voice is an instrument to a singer, and the only way to improve it is to practice. I have had no formal vocal training, though there was a guy that I used to see for half-an-hour once a week, and he would advise me on things like breathing properly, which is very important to voice control. He'd say things like 'Does that hurt? Well, then sing more from here (motions to diaphram) than from your throat.' I don't like the idea of 'formal' training, it has far too many rules and conventions that are later hard to break out of . . ."

IT IS QUITE obvious from the cover of 'The Kick Inside', her debut album, that Ms. Bush is Orientally influenced, but apparently it was not meant to take on such an oriental feel.

"I think it went a bit over the top, actually. We had the kite, and as there is a song on the album by that name, and as the kite is traditionally oriental, we painted the dragon on. But I think the lettering was just a bit too much. No matter. On the whole I was surprised at the amount of control I actually had with the album production. Though I didn't choose the musicians," (Andrew Powell, producer and arranger did). "I thought they were terrific.

"I was lucky to be able to express myself as much as I did, especially with this being a debut album. Andrew was really into working together, rather than pushing everyone around. I basically chose which tracks went on, put harmonies where I wanted them . . . I was there throughout the entire mix. I feel that's very important. Ideally, I would like to learn enough of the technical side of things to be able to produce my own stuff eventually."

Kate has a habit of gesturing constantly with her hands, and often expressing herself with unspellable sounds and grimaces. Though this make tape transcriptions difficult, it does accentuate something which is very much a part of her, 'movement expression'. She has studied under the inimitable Lindsay Kemp, mime artiste, an experience shared with Kate's favourite musician, David Bowie.

"I admire actresses and actors terribly and think it's an amazing craft. But singing and performing your songs should be the same thing. At this point I would rather develop my music and expressing it physically, as opposed to having a script. I think I'm much better off as a wailer. . ."

She is, indeed a beautiful woman. Carved ivory, with nary a nick. So obviously there is no way she can avoid becoming the target for sexist minds. Although she does not advocate this reaction, she's not flustered by it. After all, it is a compliment.

"As long as it does not interfere with my progress as a singer/songwriter, it doesn't matter. I just wish people would think of that first, I would be foolish to think that people don't look. I suppose in some ways it helps to get more people to listen . . .”.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush photographed in a London hotel room in October 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Steve Emberton

I want to take it to October 1978. Bush sat down with Tim Lott of Record Mirror. Right at the top of the article, it is highlighted how human and grounded Bush is. Rather than being a prima donna and someone who is all about stardom, Bush is a proper musician who is here for the music – rather than making money and seeking fame. It is refreshing how grounded Kate Bush has been. Since the start, she has differed and distinguished herself from so many other artists:

“The rock and roll business usually brings up its fair share of prima donnas, ready to grab what they can and cast off their friends and roots. The hit singles and fame happened very quickly for KATE BUSH but she remains a human being.

Enough of her flesh, her bones, her erogenous zones. Physical obsession has become redundant. Kate Bush is, as she never tires of emphasising, a member of the human race, not a musical hybrid of the girlie mag fantasy woman. She's clinging onto that humanity with obsessional determination despite her circumstances sliding further and further away from that "normality" she holds desperately and dearly.

Her abnormality has never been more apparent than in this setting: a L100 at night, two floor leather-and-flowers suite at the Montcalm Hotel, Marble Arch.

She has just been interviewed by "Ritz" and "Vogue". Attended by two press officers, she is, despite her protestations, a star, a true star, by virtue of her immense success, her pink skin and her Page 3 curves.

A number one single (an international hit) a number one album and immense publicity: Kate Bush is a phenomenon. The fate that befalls such animals - arrogance, self-indulgence, mania - has yet to manifest its symptoms, partially because this particular phenomenon is dedicated to the preservation of her personal reality.

Nervous

"I'm not really aware of being subjected to any starmaking machine."

She tap her fingers on the chrome and glass table in the only nervous gesture she possesses.

"I know that might sound odd, but I've really no idea about it. The record company thought this hotel would be practical. I thought it would be nice. It's quite a trip for me to be here.

"I didn't walk in here and say 'where are the flowers? Where is my champagne?'

"I hope I haven't become a prima donna yet. I really mean that. I really, really resent that a lot.

"It's nice if you're on the road that you should have somewhere nice to sleep. But I'm not into the 'Oh, Dahling!' bit, and everybody having a Rolls Royce."

It sounds almost defensive, but one subject that Bush is totally convincing about is how critical she considers her grasp on her own situation.

She has reached a point already of being such a valuable property to EMI Records that she is at the point of being able to control her immediate destiny.

The interviews she does are her own choice - "I want to get into as many areas as I can. So I did the fashion magazines and "Vegetarian" and "The Sun". I'm testing the water.

She says that she is, quote, into people. People, of course, reciprocate, and therein lies the danger. A surfeit of attention killed Janis Joplin and, more lately, put Ply Styrene into a mental home.

"I have some person principles I stick by, though they are pretty free. They don't just apply to the press. They are my way of living.

"I have tried to avoid an 'image'. If you have an image you intend to maintain, it's going to be very difficult, because you're going to get holes in your image. I may be that animal 'Kate Bush' a bit when I'm offstage, but mostly, I'm me."

Kate spends most of her time with a smile on her face that look straight at you, but she looks away and almost shutters for a moment.

"The things I don't like doing is... is... going to these sort of parties that you hear about. I don't go to parties. I find that sort of thing very unhealthy. In fact I find them disgusting."

She pronounces the word 'parties' like you or I might pronounce some vile disease or weird sin.

"It's not me. I'm basically a quiet person. When I get the time, I like to go home. I clean up the flat - which is a mess, because I'm never there. And I get some friends around that maybe I haven't seen for a long time.

"It's not a question of insulating myself. This is something that is extremely important to me - I'm very much a human being, and I don't want to lose that.

"You don't have to believe all the sycophants. I am aware that in my position I am both vulnerable and very powerful. People are always trying to grab a piece of your pie. But it can only be down to you to get yourself out of... er... a vulnerability situation."

This tiny vision is both unusual and predictable; the first because she is so damn scientific, the second because she is so blatantly optimistic.

She takes a relentlessly practical approach to her career - "I have to look at it in a realistic way" - and admits that she trusts no-one at all. On the other hand she believes like many before her, that she can have her cake and eat it, that she can be a star and not a star, that she can somehow escape the pre-requisite of her job - to give, and give, and still give, at the expense of, at the very least, a part of her personality.

"People might call me it, but I'm not a star," she says, and I think she almost believes it. "I'm just a person who writes songs that, at the moment, people happen to like.

"They might not like anything on the next album: in which case I'll still be the same."

Except that she'll be a failed star. Kate has yet to reach the point of acceptance that things will never be the same. Her family, her friends will inevitably take second place and some will disappear. The blue-print is there, and inescapable.

Or maybe I'm wrong, and Kate has more strength of mind than I dare hope. Maybe. She is certainly convinced, and that's half the battle.

"You don't have to make yourself an island. In your head, you know what you are”.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush shot the U.S. cover of The Kick Inside/PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz

There is one more interview I want to get to. The Music Journal’s Robert Henschen interviewed Bush in December. A U.S. publication, maybe the audience was not as large or aware of Bush as in other countries. Even though The Kick Inside was not a success in America, it is wonderful that she was being discussed there! Concluding an itinerant and hectic year, I wonder how she feels about that time now:

“Released in the U.S. several months ago, Kate's album The Kick In-side has not achieved overwhelming success in the States as of yet, but that may soon change. The album has been reissued with a new album cover, and impressive AOR radio support has been building for Kate's remarkable music. Almost every cut on the debut record is equal to, or even better than, Wuthering Heights . There's an impish quality to Kate's singing on the quasi-reggae Room For the Life, she almost sounds like a munchkin on Oh To Be in Love, her voice soaring above the wicked witch's guardsman...And she reveals more dramatic profiles on the near-jazz Saxophone Song or the serious, moving Man With the Child in His Eyes .

This latter piece, about the relationship developed between a young girl and an older man, is a showcase for the singer's subtle and sensitive imagery. "She sees this man as an all-consuming figure," explains Kate. "He's wise, yet he retains a certain innocent quality. The song tells how his eyes give away his 'inner light'. He's a very real character to the girl, but nobody else knows whether he really exists."

Appearances on European television programs like Top of the Pops, Saturday Night at the Mill and Tonight helped launch Bush, still new to performing, into a sudden spotlight...and more than a little controversy. Her act is a sensual combination of dance and dramatic vocal presentations, her body not exactly hidden in a flesh-colored body stocking, and some viewers apparently found Kate to be erotically shocking or in bad taste. Even Kate cringes at the thought of those first, unpracticed attempts at visual communication. She has since learned to handle live performing more effectively, touring England to widespread acclaim. <This is not a reference to her Tour of Life, but to earlier promotional tours abroad.> Ms. Bush is something stunningly different to see...as well as hear.

With or without the sensationalism surrounding her good looks and offbeat performing style, Kate writes music of incredible depth. Just as her dawning public image comes up displaying the physical woman, so do her amazing lyrics bespeak 100% twentieth-century female. Seldom, if ever, has the feminine standpoint been more boldly and beautifully stated, and songs like Room For the Life, Strange Phenomena or Feel It penetrate directly to new depths of corporeal and spiritual realization.

Some of the poetry herein is unexpurgated and erotic; other portions take an inanimate pose to evoke new feelings from the listener.

For instance, Kate creates a flying feeling for Kite, a song that exhibits her songwriting knack for approaching a subject in some refreshingly original way: "In the song the character starts to feel that he is rooted to the ground, but there is a force pulling him up to the sky. A voice calls out, 'Come up and be a kite,' and he is drawn up to the sky and takes the form and texture of a kite. Suddenly he's flying 'like a feather on the wind,' and for a while he enjoys it, but the longing for home and the security of the ground overtake these feelings." Just as Kate becomes Cathy Earnshaw in Wuthering Heights she assumes the role of a young sister in The Kick Inside (inspired by the traditional folk song Lucy Wan ) who, after a tragically incestuous relationship with her own brother, leaves this incredibly sad and hopeful farewell note. Intriguing song-poem ideas.

How did Kate Bush learn to write brilliant songs of such unnerving emotionalism and intelligence at such an early age? "I just grew up with music all around me. When I was about eleven I just started poking around at the piano and started making up little songs. I never played Beatle songs or anything like that. I was always just exploring the instrument. Then, when I was fourteen, I started taking it seriously and I began to treat the words to the songs as poetry. I'd always been keen on poetry at school and it was lovely to put the poems together with the music.

"I have two older brothers and they were very keen on musical instruments. One day, along comes this friend of my brother's <Ricky Hopper>. He worked in the record business himself, and thought he might be able to make contacts. Well, he knew Pink Floyd from Cambridge, and he asked Dave Gilmour down to hear me. Since then, I've been singing, playing and writing until we made the album." Originally the album was to be released in late 1977, but it kept getting delayed, and finally appeared on Harvest in early '78. Now The Kick Inside has come out a second time on EMI-America, distributed by Capitol, and Kate Bush is finally available throughout North America.

Shortly after her phenomenal success with Wuthering Heights, Kate celebrated her financial windfall by picking up a $13,000 Steinway baby grand. "I feel as though I've built up a real relationship with the piano. It's almost like a person. If I haven't got a particular idea I just sit down and play chords, and then the chords almost dictate what the song should be about because they have their own moods." Kate may be working on new songs for another album, but she seems content to let her career evolve without outside interference or commercial pressures: "I'm really not sure how I'm going to develop from now...what direction my music will take. I just want to carry on exploring”.

I will leave it there. I am always excited to re-read Kate Bush interviews, and 1978 has a fair few of them. In terms of the places she visited and the promotion undertaken, few artists had such a busy start to their careers! Testament to her passion and stamina, Bush was always professional and interesting in interviews. A truly magical debut album, The Kick Inside certainly garnered world-wide interest. People wanted to know more about Kate Bush. Nobody like her had come into music. No wonder there were some perplexed, awed and dumbstruck interviewers! There are many other great 1978 interviews. I have selected a few of my favourite to mark the upcoming forty-fifth anniversary…

OF the spectacular The Kick Inside.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Samara Joy

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

 PHOTO CREDIT: Meredith Truax

Samara Joy

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AS she won the GRAMMY…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Meredith Truax

for Best New Artist on Sunday, I could not ignore the truly phenomenal and wonderful Samara Joy (Samara McLendon). I have known about her music for a while but, as I have been pretty busy, I have not got around to featuring her yet. I am glad I get to spend time with an amazing musician. The Bronx-born twenty-three-year-old Jazz artist won the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition in 2019, and she was named Best New Artist by Jazz Times for 2021. Samara Joy, her debut, album came out in 2021. She followed that with last year’s Linger Awhile. Samara Joy also won the Best Jazz Vocal Album GRAMMY for Linger Awhile. It is definitely one of the most remarkable and powerful albums of last year. The incredible and soul-shaking vocals are truly unforgettable! It is a shame that, like many Jazz artists, Samara Joy’s music has only been reviewed by Jazz publications. Maybe there are one or two more mainstream publications that have reviewed it, but Linger Awhile did not get a spread of reviews from outside of the Jazz community. I will come to one of the reviews at the end, as it is clear that Samara Joy double GRAMMY win will change things! Not only will it open more eyes to her brilliant music. I hope that it will mean more people explore Jazz. As a New Artist winner at the GRAMMYs, more and more people will explore her music.

I want to bring in a few interviews with Samara Joy. Even though she has not been singing Jazz for that long, she really has established herself as one of the most important and remarkable voices in the genre. It was a real achievement winning Best New Artist at the GRAMMYs. Nominated alongside Anitta, Domi & JD Beck, Latto, Måneskin, Molly Tuttle, Muni Long, Omar Apollo, Tobe Nwigwe, and Wet Leg, the competition weas diverse and fierce! I’ll start with an interview from W Magazine from January, who wrote about Samara Joy being nominated for GRAMMYs. I love how the news was broken to her:

“When the nominations were first announced, Joy says she was on an Amtrak train returning to New York from D.C. “My family and the label team texted me around 12:30 p.m.: ‘You got nominated.’ I totally forgot,” the musician recalls with a laugh. “It’s not like I wasn’t watching it on purpose—I just wasn’t thinking about it.” Despite her nonstop touring, recording, and releasing Linger Awhile in the same year, Joy evokes a calm kind of composure, which she attributes to her close-knit family.

“Making sure that I’m always talking to [my family] keeps me grounded—FaceTiming with them all the time and keeping them in front of me. Because with everything that’s happening, it is easy to lose track of that,” she says. “The days keep going by, and my time with them—in person, at least—is lost.”

Her bond with her relatives is far more than just familial, as her lineage closely aligns with her chosen career path. Joy’s paternal grandparents, Elder Goldwire and Ruth McLendon, founded the Philadelphia gospel group The Savettes. And her father, Antonio McLendon, is a bassist and singer who toured with the late gospel singer Andraé Crouch, plus has worked with Gladys Knight, Patti LaBelle, and Donna Summer, among others (Joy’s last name is McLendon). She learned from her father that her grandmother started the mobile church ministry in Philadelphia. “They rented a van, and my grandparents, my dad, and his siblings would ride around, pick a corner, and just have church. My aunts and uncles would sing, and my grandmother or grandfather would preach.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Meredith Truax

Surprisingly, Joy didn’t start out singing right away. “My mom said I was very quiet when I was young—I only [ever] talked or was loud when I cried,” she recalls. Being surrounded by music, however, Joy soon realized the church, music, it was all a part of her. She decided it was time to sing, and began participating in choirs during middle school and musical theater in high school. During that time, Joy became a worship leader at her church for the next two years, which she says was crucial to her development as an artist and musician.

“All of a sudden to be put in the position of [having] to lead a song and lead a set of music—it was new to me,” she says. “People were coming up to me, like, ‘You sound good, but don’t blink when you’re up there; we can tell [that] you’re nervous.’ I was forced to get out of my comfort zone. It’s like, ‘You accepted this opportunity, and now you have to work at it. You have to develop this confidence and get away from the shyness.’”

While taking home a Grammy at the upcoming 65th ceremony would undoubtedly be a feather in her cap, for Joy, accolades are not the endgame. “This will be a long journey that, hopefully, lasts for a while,” she says. “Thinking about all this stuff now is overwhelming. I’m not going to get a big head about it because I’m aware of all the things I want to improve. And I always want to be like that. I want to celebrate the wins, but also think about what I can do to move forward, elevate, get better, learn, and just be a better artist and a better person. I’m not necessarily reaching for one mountaintop moment”.

NPR profiled the incredible Samara Joy earlier this month. An artist who, with Linger Awhile, has created one of the most soulfully beautiful and engrossing albums I have heard in years, she is primed for superstardom:

“Awards-season campaigning is more of an Oscars thing, but Joy's cheerful ubiquity, and the unforced glow of her ability, have conspired to make her perhaps the closest thing to a frontrunner in this year's best new artist race. Which is remarkable, given that Samara Joy sings jazz and songbook standards in a straight-ahead style that was last broadly popular in the 1950s and early '60s. Unlike late 20th-century platinum torchbearers Harry Connick Jr. and Diana Krall, she's finding mainstream success at a moment of extreme atomization in the music business, let alone pop culture at large. So her breakout moment comes with an inevitable burden of accountability for the art form.

"I feel it, and I understand it," Joy says about that weight on her shoulders, speaking recently from her apartment in Upper Manhattan's Washington Heights neighborhood. Name-checking some influences, starting with Betty Carter and Sarah Vaughan, she points out that those affinities come with a natural point of departure. "I couldn't do this without that foundation that they've laid," she says. "But I am 23, and I'm singing jazz in 2023, and I come from a different background than all of those artists. So I think that carrying on the tradition is progressing as you grow, and not being in a singular box."

So it's worth restating one of the more startling talking points around Samara Joy: She's only been singing jazz for the last five years. After dipping a toe into the tradition at Fordham High School for the Arts, she received a full baptism at Purchase College, whose Jazz Studies faculty includes noted players like trumpeter Jon Faddis and drummer Kenny Washington. "Everybody was really supportive, but I still had this feeling like, 'I don't know if I belong,' " Joy now recalls. "Because I didn't have this preconceived notion of what it's supposed to sound like. But as it turns out, that allowed me to be a sponge and just soak everything in."

Her father, Antonio McLendon, is a singer and bassist who toured for years with gospel star Andraé Crouch, extending the legacy of his parents — Elder Goldwire and Ruth McLendon, who sang in the lauded Philadelphia group The Savettes. (A highlight of the Ardmore Music Hall show was a cameo by Elder Goldwire McLendon, who is 92.) While this was the tradition into which Samara was born, Antonio didn't balk at her musical pivot. "When she came into contact with jazz, she immediately developed a respect for it," he says. "I've watched her study for hours, puzzling over things: 'How does Ella Fitzgerald scat like that?' I would hear her in the middle of the night practicing horn lines, because she learned that's something Ella would do."

Considering Joy's familial foundation in gospel, soul and R&B, it's striking that her Grammy-nominated album, Linger Awhile, hews so faithfully to straight-ahead acoustic jazz. Even within those parameters, there's no cover of, say, a Lauryn Hill or Stevie Wonder song. This speaks to Joy's relationship with the jazz canon, which is still in the act of formation. But it also capitalizes on what you might call a market opportunity. Jazz hasn't been hurting for exceptional vocal talent lately, but all of the artists who broke through to a mainstream audience within the last dozen years — Gregory Porter, esperanza spalding, Cécile McLorin Salvant, José James, Jazzmeia Horn — have moved on from a traditional mode, delving into other forms and approaches. Joy has stepped all the way in to fill the void.

Joy could go that route if she so chooses, just as she's begun to alter the public dimensions of her style. This week, as part of a best new artist tie-in with Spotify, she released a luxuriously intimate cover of Adele's blockbuster ballad "Someone Like You" — backed only by Shedrick Mitchell on organ, just as she'd been at the outset of "O Holy Night" in Ardmore. Joy's performance on the track is a study in gradual build and unguarded emotional connection, and it's a testament to her supreme self-confidence that she had the nerve to tackle the song.

She's scheduled to perform at the Grammy Premiere Ceremony on Sunday, and what happens beyond that is a matter of conjecture. For the whole spectrum of her fan base, which is probably about to get bigger and broader, this feels like a pivotal moment. Joy sees it, purely and simply, as a blessing. "The goal is to be as true to myself as I can be," she says, "while continuing to grow and stretch the boundaries of what I think I can do”.

Before getting to a review for Linger Awhile, I want to finish with an interview from Forbes. It is a fascinating and deep read. Here, Sage Bava (she is a nomadic artist with unique music that falls into the R&B and dark Folk categories) – talks with Samara Joy about her start and songs that influenced her:

“Sage Bava: I can't believe that you said you only started singing jazz when you were 18. I saw that in an NPR interview. And I know that you were probably singing since you were born with all of these different genres. What was that like to find jazz at 18?

Joy: Towards the end of high school, I was a part of a jazz band. It was an elective more than it was a part of the curriculum and everything. The teacher over the band program asked me if I wanted to sing a couple of songs for the jazz band. So I agreed. I was like, "I don't really know anything about this, but I love to sing." Like you said, I've been surrounded by singers and musicians all my life through my family and through their influences. But it was time to go to college, and I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I wasn't sure if music would have been a stable choice for me to pursue. And I love gospel, I love R&B, I love soul, maybe I could see myself in those genres. But still I hadn't found something that I felt like I could do, where I could tell my story in a unique way. We all have our own voices, and so I can't copy anybody or imitate anybody as much as I would like. So I auditioned. I was in this program, and we were required to apply at the end of our high school career for six state schools. SUNY Purchase was one of the schools that I chose, and I auditioned, I saw they had a wonderful jazz voice program, I knew two jazz songs and I used that one to audition and get in. And the head of the Conservatory at the time, his name is Pete Malinverni, he was really kind to me during the audition and the whole process. He emailed me later on saying, "Thank you so much for your audition, we would love for you to be a part of this program." And I was like, "I don't know. The next four years determine the rest of my life, and I have to make the right choice, or else everything's doomed from here." At least that's the way that it felt. It turned out to be the best decision for me. So that's how it happened.

Baltin: Was there that one song early on for you where you realized that it had relevance and that you could make it speak to you in 2021, 2020?

Joy: That's a good question. One of the songs from that assignment that we ended up choosing was Nancy Wilson, singing "Save Your Love For Me," with Cannonball Adderley. And I remember listening to her and of course it's a beautiful song on its own. But when you hear the original recording versus hers, which are years apart, you're like, "Yeah, it really depends on who the interpreter is. It brings the song off paper and brings it to life." And so that's why it's fun with jazz. Of course we sing the melody, but then the second or third chorus of us singing it, we experiment with it and we add changes or we change the phrasing up. So it's not exactly as written. Because if we sing it exactly as written, there's nothing more being done about it to make it contemporary at all. So you take the good foundation of a song, but then you put it in the hands of a Nancy Wilson or Sarah Vaughan and it comes to life. It's the same song, but they bring it to life in different ways and add their own emotional fuel to connect with the audience and make it real.

Bava: I'd love to know what artists right now, in the contemporary space, that you love, whether they be singer/songwriters or in jazz.

Joy: Well, I definitely have a lot of love for Cécile McLorin Salvant and Jazzmeia Horn, who I both have the pleasure of knowing personally or at least getting to know personally. But I admire both of their approaches to jazz and approaches to expressing themselves through their own music, through standards, but also through their original compositions and their arrangements. They're the whole package as far as artists go. I admire their artistry, their musicianship, their performance style, the way that they are, the way that they present themselves, everything”.

I will end with a review for the stunning Linger Awhile. I think that it is one of the best albums from last year. It is clear that, after a double GRAMMY win, Samara Joy is going to be a major festival name. Her music will be picked up by people who may not have heard it until now. Jazz Wise were full of praise for Samara Joy’s spectacular second studio album:

“Released last year on Whirlwind, Samara Joy McLendon's debut album announced the arrival of a remarkable new talent, a vocalist who possessed timing, timbral richness and emotional power in abundance.

On this follow-up album, released on the iconic Verve label, the winner of the 2019 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition pays homage to one of her most important touchstones on opener ‘Can’t Get Out Of This Mood’, which Vaughan recorded in 1950 with George Treadwell and his All Stars. Containing echoes of the version recorded by the great Carmen McRae on her 1957 album After Glow, ‘Guess Who I Saw Today’ is a standout. In addition to dusting down ‘Social Call’, written by Gigi Gryce with lyrics by vocalese legend Jon Hendricks, the singer presents two stunning additions to the genre in the shape of Fats Navarro's ‘Nostalgia (The Day I Knew)’ plus ‘I'm Confessin’ (That I Love You)’, the latter based on Lester Young's solo from the album Lester Young with the Oscar Peterson Trio recorded in NYC exactly 70 years earlier in 1952. With outstanding support from guitarist Pasquale Grasso, pianist Ben Paterson, bassist David Wong and drummer Kenny Washington, the title track – first recorded almost 100 years ago in 1923 by Bailey's Lucky Seven – blazes like an exploding star. Augmented by horns (trumpeter Terell Stafford, trombonist Donavan Austin, tenorist Kendrick McCallister), there's a wondrous take on Monk's ‘Round Midnight’ (in the version with lyrics by Hendricks) while, accompanied solely by Grasso, the singer's incredibly beautiful timbre is heard to best effect in the Gershwins’ ‘Someone To Watch Over Me’, which brings this staggeringly fine album to a close”.

With one of the most unforgettable voices in music, everyone needs to hear and experience the music of Samara Joy! It is going to be exciting seeing where she goes next and how she follows Linger Awhile. Although her style is rooted in Jazz of the 1950s and before, there is this contemporary edge and diversity that will appeal to a wide audience. This wonderful musician will have such…

A busy year!

____________

Follow Samara Joy

PHOTO CREDIT: Scott Rossi for The New York Times

Official:

https://www.samarajoy.com/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/samarajoysings/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/SamaraJoy99

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/5LkbTSqXfMBjFSGi9LOGjq

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUe1VdaF0Nfz1Gho3SWWb8A

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/samarajoymclendon

INTERVIEW: Collette Cooper

INTERVIEW:

PHOTO CREDIT: Blake Ezra

Collette Cooper

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FOR this interview…

PHOTO CREDIT: Rankin

I have been speaking with the amazing Collette Cooper. Cooper is multi-talented singer, writer, performer and critically acclaimed artist who has been championed by BBC Introducing, BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 6 Music, Soho Radio, and Jazz FM. Her inspirations go back as far as Bessie Smith, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Nina Simone, Kurt Weill, Billie Holiday and Mozart. Cooper discusses her stunning recent album, Darkside of Christmas, and her starring role in Tomorrow May Be My Last: The Janis Joplin Story. The hugely acclaimed show channels the true essence of the 1960s legend. It soon starts a residency at the Old Red Lion Theatre in Angel, London (between 14th February and 6th May). I would urge people to grab a ticket, as it is an experience you will not want to miss out on! The brilliant and mesmeric artist also reveals whether we will get new material this year. It has been a huge pleasure know more about…

THE fantastic Collette Cooper.

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Hi Collette. How are you? What has your 2023 been like so far?

Literally, on another-level busy (laughs). We started rehearsals for the show again (Tomorrow May Be My Last: The Janis Joplin Story), which opens on the 14th of February in the Old Red Lion Theatre in Angel. Then we plan to take it to the West End later in the year, so it is very much about the play this year. So, yeah, pretty full-on, but great at the same time.

You had quite a busy 2022. What were your personal highlights?

My favourite things to do are to walk on the heath with my lovely dog, Billy, and my partner, Mike. But highlights? I guess. I’ve got so many highlights. Personal highlights. We won our netball league finals (laughs). However, I’ve got a dodgy knee, so I sat on the bench a lot. I have to mention too Matthews Dukes’ Jukes Cordialities, who sponsored our netball team. I had quite a good year actually. I loved doing the Christmas album (Darkside of Christmas). That was great. Working with such amazing musicians. Ray Winstone being the star of the album, really. That was brilliant. I voiced a great children’s book called The Heavy Bag, which is a beautiful story by Sarah Surgey. It’s about children coming to terms with death, and how to teach them about that. It's a really beautiful book. I loved voicing that. Recording the book for Amazon, and the money going to the children of Ukraine.

Also, performing at the Roundhouse alongside Chrissie Hynde, Bob Geldof and other amazing musician to raise money for Ukraine. That was a real highlight, definitely, to be asked to do that. Such a huge audience. And, again, the play and winning that great award, which was brilliant. And the album and recording at Abbey Road. Working with Rankin, the photographer, who did the album cover. I was on the front cover of Darkus Magazine as well, which and I’d never been on the front cover of a magazine before, so that was really special. And they had their own little award ceremony, and the awarded me Best Musician of the Year. It’s really kind of them to give me an award, so that was really lovely. Performing our Christmas concert in the most beautiful chapel with thirteen incredible musicians.

I really loved your Darkside of Christmas album from December! Do you have a favourite song from the album at all? What was it like recording it?

A lot of blood, sweat tears….and snow went into that album! (Laughs). Do I have a favourite song from the album? (Pondering). I like them all for different reasons. I loved Silent Night, because I loved our version on there, and Rochard Harwood is an amazing, amazing cellist. He’s the principal cellist for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and so it was a real honour to work with him on that because it was just me and him. And the most amazing gospel choir, Kings Voices. For all different reasons I love Santa Baby; it’s a fun song, really fun to perform. Quite poignant…and kind of done in an ironic way, I guess. Ain’t Necessarily So. I love how we mix that with Carol of the Bells (a popular Christmas carol which is based on the Ukrainian song called Shchedryk (Ukrainian: Щедрик). The song uses the original melody from Shchedryk, written by the Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych in 1914). I came up with that idea a couple of years ago. I wanted to record that, but I wanted to do it so differently, and I thought that this was a perfect way to do this as different as possible.

I loved performing It’s a Wonderful World with Liam Stevens, who’s an incredible pianist and great fun to work with. I loved that for so many reasons, because it was literally an old out of tune piano, you know? And we were in the studio and, anyway, and I just said “Oooh, shall we just ‘ave a go?”. And we literally, in one take, recorded it. And that’s how it sounds. With all its flaws. We just did it there and then. Very spontaneous. I love it for those reasons, and because me and Liam always crack up laughing.

“I never say that I am a ‘Jazz singer’ or a ’Blues singer’. I don’t put myself into any box. I don’t think I like to define my vocals by any genre“

Yeah, and I guess when you’ve heard the songs over and over a million times (chuckles) it’s nice to maybe leave it until this year, this Christmas, when you can have a fresh listen to it with fresh ears. I think definitely Ray Winston’s voice was the highlight for me. Him reciting the poem that I had written. And I just think…he made it really magical. So I guess, you know, the songs that he performed on like Silent Night and Darkside of Christmas. I think they’re the standout ones for me as well.

Before we look ahead, take me to the start. When did music come into your life? Which artists and albums inspired you when you were growing up?

Well, I’m a really huge fan of Bessie Smith. I my dad introduced me to her when I was really, really little. And she just blew me away. I loved her rawness. I loved her rawness and her ballsiness. And her truth. And her power. And…her distinctive vocals. And she just really had an affect on me. And I loved all the greats, you know: Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Big Mama Thornton, Sister Rosetta Tharpe. I really love those guys. You know, the Bluesy guys. I think I’m really influenced by Blues and Jazz, so I’ve never classed myself. I never say that I am a ‘Jazz singer’ or a ’Blues singer’. I don’t put myself into any box. I don’t think I like to define my vocals by any genre. So I like to sing what I like to sing, but I’m definitely influenced by Blues ands Jazz, that’s for sure.

I loved Johnny Cash, David Bowie, Kate Bush when I was all little. I have a really eclectic taste. I’m a huge fan of Mozart. I LOVE Mozart. Yeah, I’d say I’m influenced by many, many great artists, and I admire all those guys.

Obviously, Janis Joplin is a huge inspiration. You have starred as her in the play, Tomorrow May Be My Last: The Janis Joplin Story. What is it about Joplin and her life that speaks to you?

It’s funny you say that about Janis Joplin, because I didn’t know much about her before I started the play. It was mentioned in a couple of reviews that I was like Janis Joplin-meets-Edith Piaf. And really weirdly, neither of those amazing artists were my influences. I knew a lot more about Edith Piaf, in the sense that my dad played a lot more Edith Piaf around the house. So maybe my subconscious…maybe she got into my DNA somehow somewhere. But Janis Joplin. I knew (Me and) Bobby McGee, Piece of My Heart. But I really didn’t know much about her. So I was always surprised when they said, you know, “You’re like Janis Joplin-meets-Edith Piaf”.

“And, so what attracted me to her life when I started doing the research is because she was just such an open, honest, lovely, beautiful soul. A real pioneer for women in music. And politically. You know, she was a pioneer”

Anyway, to cut a long story short, a West End producer came to see my show at the 100 Club back in 2018, and he said to me that you’d be great doing a one-woman show. Maybe of Edith Piaf. Or of Janis Joplin. And I thought, well I’m not going to do Edith Piaf with all that French I’ve got to learn. Forget that (laughs). So I thought, Janis Joplin, okay. I did research on her and I realised we had more in common than I ever realised. There were a lot of parallels between us and the fact that she absolutely adored Bessie Smith. Which was like a sign.

I read every book. I watched every documentary. I grew my hair. I wanted to be a bit more voluptuous like her. She had a beautiful, voluptuous figure. I was this skinny little thing. So, I was able to put on some weight and kind of mould myself into her whilst doing the play. Because the play. It is a play, first of all, driven by music. She tells a story backstage in her dressing room. It’s set in a Woodstock-style festival. And, so what attracted me to her life when I started doing the research is because she was just such an open, honest, lovely, beautiful soul. A real pioneer for women in music. And politically. You know, she was a pioneer  She came from a very backward kind of town, and she had to fight to get out of there. She was ahead of her time, and she was an old soul. She was deeply bullied growing up, and she, you know, felt very unloved. She was just a misfit, and felt very…like she didn’t fit in. I felt like that growing up at times. So I related, you know, quite a lot. I felt that we had a lot of similarities. So, I’m really enjoying playing her. But it’s like a marathon every night. I say this: Janis Joplin could not play Janis Joplin every night. It’s full-on (laughs), so I’m going to be knackered at the end of it. But it’s enjoyable and it’s going to worth it.

PHOTO CREDIT: Robin Pope

I understand the play is restarting, and it has been nominated for an Offie Award! What was your reaction when you heard the news? What has the reception been like from the audiences that have watched the play?

Yeah, it’s starting up again for three months. We start on February the 14th until May the 6th. And then we have a break; and then we aim to go into the West End, finding a suitable theatre. Yeah, we were thrilled. You know, when you work so hard on  something and you literally put blood, sweat and tears into it, which we did. And it’s gone through a lot of changes. I wrote the treatment in 2018. Started developing it, started doing all the research in 2019. Did the first read-through in March 2020 before we went into lockdown. And then we performed it for as small audience just as we were coming out of the first lockdown. When we could perform it with an audience of the third of its capacity with masks. So we used that to develop it. It went through a lot of changes, and developing it to a point where I wanted. I got the script to where I wanted it, and performed it. Premiered at the Old Red Lion Theatre in Angel, which is a legendary theatre! It’s an amazing theatre. It’s one of the oldest theatres in London. You know, it’s an incredible theatre. Perfect space for it to grow. The band have been with us from day one. Incredible musicians. I mean, they make me sound good, let’s put it that way (laughs).

“ It is a sad story, but there’s a lot of hope in there”

They are absolutely brilliant. So when we heard the news we’d been nominated for five Off West End Awards (Offies), and we won the Standing Ovation Award, it was just brilliant. It’s just nice to be recognised for your hard work. But you know, more than ever what was so important was the audience reaction. And how it moved them. And it was really nice that we touched so many people on so many levels and they really enjoyed it. It’s a really uplifting play. It’s a sad story, you know. It is a sad story, but there’s a lot of hope in there. There’s a lot of messages in there. So, yes, we’re very, very, very, very pleased about that.

I know climate change is a cause dear to your heart. You performed for the late Vivienne Westwood’s Cool Earth charity. A few high-profile musicians and actors are becoming involved in this fight and talking about climate change. How important do you think this is with regards engaging people and affecting action?

It couldn’t be more important, relevant than today. We’ve just got to try and do our bit. It’s beyond recycling. It’s our carbon footprint. Trying our best to become a vegan. I’m a vegan. I have been because I’m a huge animal lover. Another thing that is close to my heart is animal rights. And we’ve got to try and do our best. Do anything we can do to help save the planet. Less clothes. Less washing. Less buying. Don’t need to collect a lot of things. We need to downsize. We need to get rid of stuff. Recycle, recycle, recycle. It’s really important. Just little things you can be aware of. Just turning off the lights even (laughs). Using less water. Just trying to use less.

This year is shaping up to be a remarkable and fascinating one for emerging artists. Are there are any particular artists you would recommend we check out?

Luca Manning. They are amazing.

Might we get a Collette Cooper E.P. or album this year? Is there any new music in the works?

Yes, there’s definitely going to be new music this year once I finish my play in May. I’m actually releasing the title song of the play, Tomorrow May Be My Last, in March, which we recorded last year but didn’t officially release it. 2nd March that will come out.

Finally, you can pick any song you like to finish. It can be an old favourite or a new song. What should we play?

Me and Bobby McGee by Janis Joplin.

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Follow Collette Cooper

PHOTO CREDIT: Blake Ezra

Official:

https://www.collettecooper.com/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/collettecooper/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/collettecooper

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/65g0WFB1tb25Y3BzvES5eq

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@collettecoopervevo3118

Bandcamp:

https://collettecooper.bandcamp.com/

FEATURE: Revisiting… Harry Styles – Harry’s House

FEATURE:

 

 

Revisiting…

Harry Styles – Harry’s House

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WHETHER a great album overlooked…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Lillie Eiger

or a terrific album that people might not know about now – or it is not played widely -, I wanted to use at least the next couple of Revisiting… features to explore some of the best of last year. As I say, there were albums overlooked that are worthy of praise. Some that were not given their dues but are definitely stronger than that. The third group is strong albums that were acclaimed but maybe not everyone has heard of. Maybe some people feel Harry Styles is a niche taste or a Pop artist that is reserved for a certain demographic. That is definitely true with a lot of boyband alumni. Styles was a member of One Direction and, unlike many who have been part of a boyband (who were mainly aimed at younger listeners), Styles is a very mature and eclectic artists whose debut album, Harry Styles, only hinted at what potential he had. 2019’s Fine Line was a real step up. An award-winning and acclaimed album, this was followed by his third. Nominated for, among other things, the Mercury Prize, it is by far the most revered and fine example of Styles’ Pop craft and huge diversity. Taking in a range of styles and influences, Harry’s House was released on 20th May, 2022. With, again, songs co-written by Styles, Harry’s House was named as one of the best albums of last year. It won the GRAMMY for Album of the Year last night (6th February).

I do get the feeling that, as his music is still not as widely played as it should be, many may have missed out. He gets love here from heavyweights such as BBC Radio 1 and 2 but, perhaps, some of the more alternative stations still do not play music they consider too commercial. Harry Styles’ music is much broader and more appealing than you got with One Direction (even though they were stronger than many of their peers). Developing as a very strong and distinct solo artist, Harry’s House was worthy of its positive reviews and award nods. I am going to finish with a couple of the positive reviews for this incredible work. First, I want to quote parts of a very deep and fascinating interview from Better Homes and Garden, where we get background to Harry’s House, and an insight into the fact that, although he is a huge name, he is very grounded and ego-free:

“Two years on, Styles and I are meeting because that album, titled Harry's House, is about to be announced to the world. (Styles actually finished it before he finally held his much-delayed Fine Line tour in September 2021, the first full indoor arena concert run in the U.S. since COVID hit.) The day before we meet, I listened to the album in a room at Sony's London headquarters under the watchful eye of a company executive. Only a handful of people knew then about its existence, and, overwhelmed by the pressure of secrecy, I briefly freaked out when I found myself audibly humming one of the songs on the train home. Harry's House is, as you can probably guess, about home. Not just home in the sense of a physical space—though there are plenty of references to kitchens and "sitting in the garden" and "maple syrup, coffee, pancakes for two"—but also to home "in terms of a headspace or mental well-being," as Styles put it. "It sounds like the biggest, and the most fun, but it's by far the most intimate," he said of the album.

PHOTO CREDIT: Tim Walker

At this point, Styles and I were sitting with a coffee on a patch of grass outside the pool, and I had begun to realize that I had kept him in the cold water way, way too long. He was visibly shaking. "Two lengths was too much," he agreed. I think we were both trying to show off—me, nonchalance to a popular heartthrob, and him, hardiness to another committed cold water swimmer. I became worried I had incapacitated him, something that would get me into great trouble, as a member of his team reminded me by text later, as he was due to perform at Coachella in a few weeks. "If you killed me, it would make for a good story," Styles said, eager to see the sunny side. We set off in search of heat.

Almost anyone who meets Styles will tell you how polite, breezy he is. Few interviews go by without mentioning his charm. Indeed, it is hard not to describe his boyish enthusiasm in the same campy, knowing cheesiness that enlivens his songs ("strawberries on a summer evenin'" or the exquisitely saccharine, "If I was a bluebird, I would fly to you; you be the spoon, dip you in honey so I can be sticking to you," from "Daylight" on Harry's House). Styles is teddy bears on your teenage bed, perfect handwriting on thank you cards, picked flowers on Sunday morning, puppies running on fresh-cut grass, Grandma's favorite homemade cake. At points, he is almost daffily nice, too attentive, as if held in the throes of a decade-long bout of imposter syndrome (he confirmed that he does, sometimes, expect that someone will tap him on the shoulder and say, "The jig is up. You're done now"). Surely a mask, you are thinking. No one that fancied can be that sweet. I asked Styles this myself: Is he actually pleasant, normal, sane? "My producer keeps asking me when I'm going to have my big breakdown," he said, laughing. "The most honest version I can think of is, I didn't grow up in poverty by any means, but we didn't have much money, and I had an expectation of what I could achieve in life. I feel like everything else has been a bonus, and I am so lucky."

Styles told me that he sees Harry's House as a similar watershed. "Finally, it doesn't feel like my life is over if this album isn't a commercial success," he said. "You've never felt that way before?" I asked. He said, "Honestly, I don't think I have." With his first album, he explained, he was terrified to make fun music, "because I'd come out of the band, and it was like, if I want to be taken seriously as a musician, then I can't make fun music." He called it "bowling with the bumpers up, playing it safe." While the second album was "freer," he became concerned with making "really big songs," an objective he now questions. Now his goals are, on the surface, smaller but, to him, far greater: "I just want to make stuff that is right, that is fun, in terms of the process, that I can be proud of for a long time, that my friends can be proud of, that my family can be proud of, that my kids will be proud of one day," he said. We hugged goodbye, and he set off through North London on foot—a sex symbol, a fashion darling, a very modern rock star, weaving his way back home”.

I want to end up with reviews for Harry’s House. AllMusic had some interesting things to say about one of the best albums of last year. Styles’ most complex and memorable album to date, it is the real first peak of his solo career. I think that the songs from Styles’ third studio album should be played more widely now. It is a hugely rewarding body of work:  

“Welcome to Harry's House, where host Harry Styles will join you for a drink (or more), lend a comforting ear, and make you breakfast the next day. His third full-length, the smooth set is his most consistent and immediately accessible to date, a craveable experience that comforts with warmth, familiarity, and just enough emotion to make his enviable lifestyle relatable. Once again helmed by Kid Harpoon and Tyler Johnson, the '70s-inspired pop production is a pure Los Angeles vibe, touching down everywhere from hip Hollywood haunts to contemplative Laurel Canyon overlooks. That throwback spirit echoes the work of similarly nostalgic contemporaries like Mark Ronson, Tame Impala, and Bruno Mars, especially on tracks like "Music for a Sushi Restaurant," where joyous horns, thumping bass, and explosive energy are matched by skibbity-boop-bap scat playfulness, and the slowly unfolding "Daylight," which bursts to life with clashing drums, buzzing guitars, and swirling harmonies. "Late Night Talking" is a massive hit-in-waiting, a breezy, synth-heavy dose of fresh love and big promises, while the surprising "Satellite" puts a beautifully evocative spin on getting high with one of the best payoffs on the entire album.

Throughout, Styles' charisma is matched by equally alluring production, whether he's charming pants off to the bedroom digi-funk of the horny "Cinema," a John Mayer-featuring highlight that channels Random Access Memories; getting drunk on the good stuff while paying homage to McCartney/Wings on "Grapejuice"; or ramping up the energy on the funky "Daydreaming," which pairs a perfectly executed sample of the "padiya pa pa pa pa pa" from the Brothers Johnson's "Ain't We Funkin' Now" with rousing horns and Pino Palladino's elastic bass. Even on the chart-topping single "As It Was," Styles' bittersweet ruminations on change and growth are masked by driving synths and a propulsive beat. In the softer wing of Harry's House, a trio of tender, guitar-plucked tracks connects the artist to the listener, as if Harry was having a chat with a fan on the sofa. The hazy "Little Freak" drips with bittersweet longing, while the Blood Orange-backed "Matilda" reveals a deeply personal tale of a hard-knock youth, and "Boyfriends" finds Ben Harper on guitar as Styles offers a shoulder to cry on for anyone wronged by a lackluster partner. Beyond the catchy melodies, lines of white powder, and sweaty sheets, he subtly reveals himself in these vulnerable moments, continuing his maturation from boy band survivor to one of the biggest stars of his class. While predecessor Fine Line was all belting dramatics and showmanship fit for the grand stage, Harry's House is what happens when Styles steps out of the spotlight to live his life. And despite the fact that there's nothing as immortal as "Watermelon Sugar" to be found, this album, as a whole, has solid bones and is sturdy enough to last”.

The final thing I will source is DIY’s take on the excellent Harry’s House. I think I heard singles like As It Was when they came out. It is only fairly recently that I have sat down with the whole album. Harry’s House got to number one both here and in the U.S. Rolling Stone placed Harry’s House fifth in their list of the best albums of 2022:

“Please come inside my most intimate space,” invited an early teaser for ‘Harry’s House’, as if to hint that Harry Styles’ third solo album might be the one in which the global superstar gives a little more of his day-to-day existence into song. For while we know a lot of facts about Harry the human - he’s grown from boy to man in the public eye, after all - we don’t actually really know very much about him either. Even the most cursory questions are often answered with a shrug; his much-referenced 2014 “not that important” response [brushed off in answer to whether he’d like a potential partner to be female] applied to just about everything. Harry Styles is Mr. Ambiguity.

And, at first glance, maybe on ‘Harry’s House’ we are learning something. We’re surely not supposed to take giant leaps with ‘Cinema’ and its refrain “I bring the pop / You got, you got the cinema”. Similarly, all at HSHQ knew precisely whose Wikipedia entry was about to be checked on once the couplet “Leave America / Two kids follow her” was deciphered in single ‘As It Was’. Moreover, we also hear of sneaking away in hotel rooms with “the one that got away” (‘Love Of My Life’), a regrettable hookup (‘Little Freak’) and, in ‘Keep Driving’, a long list of oddly-specific scenarios, from an amorous breakfast (“Maple syrup / Coffee / Pancakes for two / Hash brown / Egg yolk / I will always love you”) to whatever “Cocaine / Side boob / Choke her with a sea view” happens to be.

Yet, as ever, while with one hand he’s exploring vivid lyrical micro-vignettes (‘Matilda’ is a gorgeous, bittersweet third-person tale and, perhaps, where the theme of ‘Harry’s House’ could have begun), he’s still obfuscating with the other. From the off, Harry switches the narrative enough to question all that follows: “I don’t want you to get lost / I don’t want you to go broke”, for example, becomes “I’m not going to get lost / I’m not going to go broke” on opener ‘Music For A Sushi Restaurant’. ‘Grapejuice’ could just as easily be a tale of falling in love with a person as with a bottle of vino (“There’s just no getting through / Without you / A bottle of rouge / Just me and you”), and in context, ‘Boyfriends’ - of which much was made following its Coachella debut - could merely be Harry throwing mud at himself. In essence, he’s probably begging never to be a lyricist who’s deciphered forensically.

Where his 2017 self-titled debut saw Harry begin to carve out his solo voice, and ‘Fine Line’ two years later showcased him flexing his big studio wings, in ‘Harry’s House’ lives a songwriter confident enough in both to start playing with convention. Hooks are frequently courtesy of instrumentals (see ‘Daylight’, or the clanging, near-industrial guitar loop of ‘Grapejuice’) or barely-there vocals (‘Daydreaming’). Samples are used as percussion (‘Satellite’, which also echoes its thematic ‘spiralling out’ with a cacophonous mid-point climax) or, in the case of closer ‘Love Of My Life’, looped to smartly echo the pulse of a dancefloor and contradict the song’s otherwise soft acoustic guitar and piano. And it’s only when ‘As It Was’ - itself one of the most straightforward numbers on the record - kicks in that he gets close to belting anything out. He might be a natural born pop performer of the highest order, but Harry Styles is also not scared of being secondary to the song; a lesson it’s taken many others far longer to learn”.

If you have not heard Harry’s House or not investigated Harry Styles’ solo work, then I would encourage you to spend time doing so. Even though he is a major artist who could be considered mainstream, his latest album has that depth and inventiveness that stands it out from pack. It got a lot of love last year, but I do feel that some missed out on a terrific album. If you have not heard it yet – or not spun it for a while -, then go and investigated Harry’s House…

AS soon as possible.

FEATURE: The Artist Formerly Known As… If I Was Your Girlfriend: Exploring the Upcoming Cancelled Prince Album, Camille

FEATURE:

 

 

The Artist Formerly Known As…

PHOTO CREDIT: Jeff Katz/The Prince Estate

If I Was Your Girlfriend: Exploring the Upcoming Cancelled Prince Album, Camille

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A fascinating feature…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Jeff Katz/Alamy/Warner Brothers/Everett Collection

was published by The Conversation last month. In June, the world will mark what would have been Prince’s sixty-fifth birthday. The legend left the world in 2016. It was such a shock to hear. Such a tragic and humungous loss, it took from the world one of the greatest innovators in music. Someone always pushing boundaries and transforming himself, Prince’s influence is enormous. He will inspire artists for generations to come. As Prince was so prolific and productive, he has an archive of unreleased material in a vault. Managed and handled by his estate, we have seen albums and songs released pretty steadily since 2016. An album that was cancelled in 1987 but will now see the light of day is Camille. Many artists have alter egos. That is no different with Prince. What makes Camille so special and important is the fact that it is Prince switching genders. The Conversation argues that Prince’s Camille character fits into the “wider narrative and rediscovery of the hidden histories of queer and trans people”. Pop has always featured gender-bending and artists subverting gender stereotypes:

“Pop has long been a rich space for subverting gendered stereotypes and Prince consistently challenged the rigidity of binary gender roles. At once hyper-masculine and delicately feminine, he cuts a distinctive and enigmatic figure within queer pop history.

Now, a cancelled 1987 album that explores all these elements is finally about to see the light of day.

The tracklist and songs that make up this lost release have been available in various guises for several decades, some existing on compilations, albums, and unofficial leaks. We have analysed all the available evidence and musical fragments ahead of their much anticipated reunion to present the most accurate picture possible of this elusive work.

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here to introduce Camille.

The story of Camille fits into the wider narrative and rediscovery of the hidden histories of queer and trans people, mapping the blank spaces where they were erased from history. Many examples spring to mind, but perhaps soul singer Jackie Shane’s slow rediscovery over the past decade is a perfect example of the treasure trove of music and figures that have been obscured from music history. When shared, these histories can empower marginalised groups within broader society. Imagine the potential impact had Camille been released and received as a queer persona in 1987. What would have happened if “His Royal Badness” had been “Her” four decades ago?

In many ways it is futile to speculate around lost impact. Yet it is worth reflecting on what it would have meant to have an artist of colour – who was also a bastion of male sexuality – playing with gender, femininity and sexuality. Would it have pushed further aspects of queerness into popular culture? After all, Prince was a mainstream megastar, selling millions upon millions of records throughout the 1980s.

Conversely, imagine pop without the gender-bending and provocatively queer moments that we now hold up as legendary. What would our history be if we lost David Bowie and Mick Ronson’s shocking “oral guitar solo”, the winking audacity of the I Want to Break Free video, Frankie telling us to “relax”, or Lil Nas X offering the devil a lapdance? Camille should have been among this list of cultural touchstone moments that make up our collective conception of popular music.

If I Was Your Girlfriend is one of the songs which survived and made it on to Sign ‘O’ The Times, and in some early releases is even credited to Camille. The song is perhaps where the combination of lyrics and artificial vocal manipulation are most striking. Opening with six bars of falsetto sighs and screams, the song introduces us to a more vulnerable Camille. This vulnerability soon gives way to something more urgent.

The meaning of “girlfriend” is as ambiguous as we have come to expect from Prince. The opening verses describe our narrator and the addressee doing arguably platonic activities, like choosing outfits and swapping stories about those who have wronged them. It is not long, however, until Camille sings of the sexual gratification that might result from such closeness and promises of long baths and kisses “down there, where it counts” soon follow.

The shifting perspectives of the narrator make it difficult to work out who is being addressed and who does the addressing in this song. Camille makes reference early on to having been the former “man” of the person she sings to and suggestions of children occur in the spoken section. Yet her pleas to girlfriend status make up the majority of the song. All elements are sung in Camille’s distinctive timbre. Jumping between male and female signifiers throughout, Camille could be said to occupy an ambiguous space here, leaving us little in the way of explanation”.

I think The Conversation do a brilliant job discussing Camille and why it is so significant. Contextualising Camille into Prince’s discography and queer/gender-switching albums and history, I wanted to bring the article to people who may have missed it, but also think about what could have been if it had been released. In 1986, Prince released Parade through Paisley Park/Warner Bros. This was a golden run for Prince. In 1987, he would put out the imperial and all-conquering Sign o' the Times. If Camille was released in the same year, would it have been too much of a departure. Even though songs like If I Was your Girlfriend did make it onto Sign o' the Times, it would have been fascinating having Camille in the world in 1987. Look at the best albums from the year, and there is nothing like it around. Containing strong material and revealing this new and fascinating persona, I don’t think it would have alienated fans. How would critics react to Prince as Camille? Whilst artists of the time were changing personas and reinventing themselves – Madonna being the most famous example -, would Prince’s perhaps more radical shift have been embraced? I feel Camille would have been well-received and got praise, but maybe 1987 was the wrong year to release it, considering the fact Sign o' the Times is so different in scope and themes compared to Camille.

It is brilliant that Camille will see the light of the day. It is a shame that Prince will never get to see it or tour it. I feel it will be his finest posthumous release to date. At a time when transphobia and discussions around gender identity swirl and are making headlines in music, it will be empowering and timely. Not many artists of today gender-switch or create these alter egos that are so different to themselves. There are debates as to whether there is acceptance and understanding of trans and queer artists. Whilst things are more open and there has been progression, I think there is still this discrimination and prejudice. When Sam Smith recently released a video of their latest single, the fact that it was steamy and risqué provoked more complaint and backlash than it would against other artists. Smith identifies as non-binary, and he has received transphobia abuse. I feel having an album like Camille in the world will open up conversations and break some barriers. Inspire other artists who might be hesitant about experimenting with gender to come out and release similar albums. The masterful Prince is still inspiring people nearly seven years since he died. I am not sure what would have become of Prince’s career trajectory if Camille did come out in 1987. I think it would have bene a brilliant sister to Sign o' the Times. Fitting into that purple patch and golden period, it definitely would have gained a lot of press and fan interest. Whether Camille was scrapped back then because of potential criticism or issues, I am not too sure. We are all very grateful that this lost masterpiece will finally…

ARRIVE in the world.

FEATURE: Revisiting… Lady Wray - Piece of Me

FEATURE:

 

 

Revisiting…

Lady Wray - Piece of Me

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AN album I have heard discussed…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Sesse Lind

on social media a lot the past few months but not really played much on the radio, Lady Wray’s third studio album, Piece of Me, is one that everyone should hear! I have featured a few great R&B albums from last year in Revisiting…, as I think the genre is still underrated and warrants greater exposure. Lady Wray is the moniker of Californian-born Nicole Monique Wray. Her debut album, Make It Hot, came out in 1998. She then returned in 2016 with the sublime Queen Alone. I think that Piece of Me might be her finest work yet. Before getting to some positive reviews for an album that, whilst acclaimed, has not been shared and played as much as it should, I want to get to some interviews. Released on 28th January of last year, Piece of Me made an early bid for album of the year. Just over a year later, it still making impressions. Rated R&B spoke with Lady Wray last January about one of her most personal albums yet:

“Where Queen Alone brought triumph, Piece of Me brings healing. “I wanted to give people something from me so that they can feel like, ‘Wow, everything’s gonna be okay. We’re gonna take this ride together,” she explains.

“At the end of the day, what we want as normal human beings in this pandemic world is something we can hold onto and enjoy. I didn’t know at the time that that’s what I was doing. Now, looking back on it and listening to the songs off the album and the journey, that’s exactly what happened organically.”

On Piece of Me, Wray opens up about some of her real-life experiences hoping that people who listen will find comfort in hearing relatable stories. “I just kind of gave everybody my life. I’m praying that it hits hard and people can take a piece of this and say, ‘Wow, I understand. I’m here with her. And, get it.'”

“Through It All” is about embracing the imperfections of a relationship. She sings in the first verse, “We don’t always get it right / We’re not even perfect friends / I hate when people love pretend.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Mike Colletta

The gospel-inspired “Beauty in the Fire,” which features her father Kenneth Wray Sr., is an uplifting tune that sends a gentle reminder to hang on to any light you come across during difficult times.

“Under the Sun” is the epitome of a feel-good anthem, as Wray sings about the joys of summer. She previously told Rated R&B, “When I first heard the production, I immediately thought of warm weather and partying with my friends — just letting go and having a good time.”

Then, there’s “Where Were You,” a confrontational tune directed at those who only show up when things are going well. She sings in the chorus, “(Where were you) When I was just sleeping in cars? / (Where were you) When I should’ve been reaching for stars?”

In our interview with Lady Wray, the Virginia native talks more about Piece of Me, shares how motherhood changed her world, and how she views herself today as an artist.

Piece of Me is your second album as Lady Wray. In the past, we saw you as Nicole Wray make attempts to release a follow-up to Make It Hot. However, in multiple instances, it didn’t pan out. How does it feel now to be able to reach a proper sophomore album?

I think that is why today it feels really good to be able to stay consistent — to be able to work with musicians and producers that believe in me to the point where we’re writing and releasing albums for my fans. I’m still out here moving and shaking and trying to stay above waters and trying to give people something new. It’s been a long ride. I’m just happy that I’m still here and to be able to pump out music.

You were first introduced to the world as Nicole Wray. You later changed your stage name to Lady Wray. Do you see those as two separate identities or an evolution of one to the other?

I’m still Nicole Wray — 1998 or 2022. I just took on the name Lady Wray because I was in a group called Lady, and I liked what we were doing. I love that live sound. I was like, “What if I just put Wray on the end of it?” I’m older and wiser. But I’m still that girl that was eager and believed when people were like, “You can’t. You’re not going to be this.” I didn’t want to let go of dreaming. As a kid, I would look at the magazines, look at Mariah Carey and Mary J. Blige, and hope one day to do music. Nicole Wray and Lady Wray are the same person.

You’re now a wife and a mother. Did either influence the direction of Piece of Me?

When we first started this journey of this new album [a few years back], I had no idea that I was about to be a mother. This album was kind of done in stages. When I went to the beautiful city of Rhinebeck, New York, to work with Leon [Michaels], I was about seven months pregnant. We had a great time. We jammed. He had some records. We put the mic up, we talked and we ate. It was like a family gathering in the same breath. I just started singing and writing about things that were on my mind. When I came to New York to finish the album, the pandemic was going on.

What impact or impression do you want Piece of Me to make on listeners?

I want people to realize that we’re in this together. We’re going through this pandemic together. I’m a mom. I’m a wife. I get up in the morning with my bonnet on. I’m making some pancakes for my daughter. I might be listening to Anita Baker. I’m not just on the stage all the time. I’m doing real f**king shit. I want people to hear these songs and not feel like I’m singing songs from the moon. I’m singing to you. I want people to feel great about what’s happening in the journey that they’re about to embark on, whether it be confusing. We can all do this together”.

Looking back at February, Bandcamp sat down with an artist who, almost twenty-five years since her debut album came out, was still surprising and releasing music of the highest order. Piece of Me is a wonderful album that people need to have in their lives. I heard it first last year but, the more I hear it, the more I discover (and love):

“When Wray cut the title track in 2018, she was eight months pregnant, and therefore unsure of how her next album would come together. “I had all these hormones, and a lot of stuff was happening around me,” she says. “Families have ups and downs, and one of my friends had a lot of drama going on, and I was just like, ‘I’m not going to deal with this.’” To those who wanted a piece of Wray, she said, “I hope you get the piece you need”—and turned that into a lyric.

Then positive feedback for “Piece of Me”—and by extension, Wray’s vulnerability—began flooding in. Her husband’s best friend’s wife, who Wray had just met, texted her: “I’m on my way to work, and I’m bawling.” A fan in New York, in the midst of a divorce and custody battle for their child, felt seen. So did Wray, for that matter.

“Let’s be relatable,” she says. “Let’s sing about something that everybody can understand. I’m about to be a mom. I have real life happening before me. And I’m not the only one going through that in this world.”

Wray invited two family members to join her on Piece of Me on songs that eye the horizon. On “Beauty in the Fire,” inspired by the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery and Rayshard Brooks in Wray’s current homebase of Atlanta, her father recites a King James Bible verse (“Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: This shall be the portion of their cup.”) The song is a ballad honoring perseverance, and Wray couldn’t think of a better testament to survival than Kenneth Wray Sr.—former church singer, recovered drug addict, and just-retired welder. “I see people today that are just getting started in that fire,” Wray told her dad. “I want you to be part of this, because I’m proud of you.”

“Melody” honors (and features) Wray’s three-year-old daughter; her mother’s voice literally lights up and flutters at the mention of her name. “I know every new mom feels like this,” Wray says, “but for me, it’s always been about career. Career is number one, number two, number three. Back in the day I could have had kids, but it was taboo: Don’t get tattoos, and don’t have children. I’d just like to say that you can be a working mom and have it be glorified. You got Cardi B, you have Summer Walker. Lauryn Hill had Zion by Miseducation.”

But in order to move forward with her life completely, Piece of Me also had to help Wray find closure. In 2019, after filming a “where are they now” interview for BET, Wray headed to the studio the next day to record the song ”Where Were You.” Over scuzzy guitars, Wray flashes back to that period of boardroom meetings, where she was surrounded by the adults with whom she entrusted her future.

“I worked with many great producers and songwriters who gave me the courage to be amongst this industry, take the torch and keep going,” Wray says. “But—and I’m not going to name any names—I felt like a lot of the people I worked with didn’t understand that I was a young girl, who had dreams like maybe they had dreams. It really woke me up, to know that I can’t trust everyone and that not everyone is going to be my friend. I was thinking back to when I was 16, 17, coming into the business and getting a record deal right out of high school and remembering all the people who said they believed in me, but just dropped the ball.”

To all that, she sings, “Just a thought/ Should have invested in me, but you’re not smart.” For longtime followers trying to piece together where happened to Nicole Wray, that lyric is long-awaited confirmation that she and Lady Wray are one and the same. As for the singer-songwriter herself, it’s the final word on her past, merged with a sound that is finally hers”.

Among those who spent time with Piece of Me were The Guardian. Maybe one of those albums that passed people by, they actually reviewed it in December. A case of discovering a gem after they should have done. I think a lot of people were guilty of that. Lady Wray is an artist that warrants much more attention and love:

“Never mind just the albums we missed this year, Lady Wray has had a career of them. The American singer was the first artist that Missy Elliott signed to her label, The Goldmind Inc, back in 1997. But after a promising start – including guesting on Elliott’s gamechanging debut Supa Dupa Fly – Wray’s second album got scrapped. Subsequent signings to hip-hop heavyweight labels Roc-A-Fella, then Def Jam ended in another shelved release. In 2012, she formed a duo with British vocalist Terri Walker, who quit during their album tour. Now this, Wray’s sublime third solo turn, has been sparsely covered.

It’s a true crime. Piece of Me is classy retro-soul shot through with the gospel of her southern churchgoing childhood and the delicious boom-bap thwack of 90s R&B – where Mary J Blige meets Bill Withers. Through It All is a roll-the-windows-down head-nodder of the highest order; a song so sweetly triumphant and glowy that they should install it in sunrise alarm clocks. And her formerly homeless father features on more dramatic, redemptive Beauty in the Fire. None of it is overblown, the production still raw enough to crackle off the vinyl.

Piece of Me is an album in the classic sense: it’s got range. It might have been the one Wray has always wanted to make, but it’s also one she could only have written now, steeped as it is in experience, familial warmth and overcoming heartbreak. Next time, for album four, hopefully we’ll be ready for all of her”.

I am going to round up in a minute. AllMusic had their say about an album that is among the very best of last year. The mighty Lady Wray is someone who, I hope, will continue putting out albums. She is sensational. Produced by Leon Michels and Thomas Brenneck, most of Piece of Me was recorded at Michels' home studio. Ensure that you do not miss out on this remarkable album:

“Nicole Wray has been making music beside Leon Michels and his crew dating back to six songs she co-wrote for Lee Fields' 2012 album Faithful Man. In addition to the self-titled album by Wray and Terri Walker's short-lived Lady, and Wray's first Lady Wray LP, Queen Alone, she has been part of Michels' productions for Charles Bradley and El Michels Affair, and also co-wrote and fronted an effervescent '83-ish boogie throwback under the punning group alias Synthia. Wray's lengthy route to Piece of Me began in 2019, the year of Synthia's appearance, with the release of the chin-up, tear-stained title song, backed by another ballad, the alluring "Come On In." When Piece of Me was released -- in January 2022 -- two-thirds of it had been released physically on 7" and/or digitally, making its arrival somewhat anti-climactic, but it ultimately adds up to a satisfying Queen Alone follow-up that's somehow both a little darker and more welcoming. This is all original material that doesn't stray all that far from Queen Alone, coming across like muscular, expertly detailed revamps of deep Curtom, Invictus, and Atlantic sides from the late '60s and early '70s. (On that note, it should be said that "Games People Play" is not a Spinners cover, if similar in its resignation.) Wray again balances the ups and downs -- the most romantic scenes are not picture perfect, while the turbulent moments are tempered by a sense of optimism. The set peaks sweetly on "Through It All," made unforgettable for its chorus -- Wray's voice is pitched up to a coo -- and seduces most potently with the slow-twisting "Joy & Pain." The previously unheard cuts aren't throw-ins. "I Do," a somewhat regal and dubwise opener, sets the album's poised tone with Wray declaring that "nothing can trouble these waters." "Where Were You" stings and seethes, though she remains composed despite her distress. The remaining two contain the album's featured appearances, with Wray's father imparting wisdom on the resolute "Beauty in the Fire" and her daughter speaking on the eponymous acoustic lullaby "Melody”.

An album that gained some plaudits last year, I do feel that many missed Lady Wray’s third studio album, Piece of Me. It is a wonderful work from a legendary artist. I am looking forward to seeing what comes this year. Starting off 2022 with this mesmeric album, Lady Wray definitely gave us a treat! She is someone that everyone should discover and listen, as she is such…

A majestic artist.

FEATURE: Speak to Me: Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon at Fifty

FEATURE:

 

 

Speak to Me

Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon at Fifty

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ONE of the most important…

and acclaimed albums in music history, Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon turns fifty on 1st March. Released in the U.S. on that date, it was released in the U.K. on 16th March. The eighth studio album by the band, The Dark Side of the Moon was conceived as a concept album that would focus on the pressures faced by the band during their arduous lifestyle, and partly deal with the apparent mental health problems of former band member Syd Barrett (he departed the group in 1968). It is definitely one of the most atmospheric and best records ever released. I first heard it as a child, and it was like nothing else I had ever discovered. I am going to come to features and reviews for the mighty and ageless The Dark Side of the Moon. If you are a big fan of the band and the album, there is a fiftieth anniversary edition that you can pre-order:

“One of the most iconic and influential albums ever, Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side Of The Moon celebrates its 50th Anniversary.

The album was partly developed during live performances, and the band premiered an early version of the suite at London’s Rainbow Theatre several months before recording began. ‘The Dark Side Of The Moon’ is the eighth studio album by Pink Floyd, originally released in March 1973.  The new material was recorded in 1972 and 1973 at EMI Studios (now Abbey Road Studios) in London. The iconic sleeve, which depicts a prism spectrum, was designed by Storm Thorgerson of Hipgnosis and drawn by George Hardie. ‘The Dark Side Of The Moon’ has sold over 50 million copies worldwide.

The new deluxe box set includes CD and gatefold vinyl of the newly remastered studio album and Blu-Ray + DVD audio featuring the original 5.1 mix and remastered stereo versions.  The set also includes additional new Blu-ray disc of Atmos mix plus CD and LP of ‘The Dark Side Of The Moon - Live At Wembley Empire Pool, London, 1974”.

I want to go into a feature from Louder Sound that charts and documents the making of one of the finest albums ever. Still so remarkably evocative and moving to this day, I would urge people to read the entire article. By all accounts, an album as huge and almost as cinematic as The Dark Side of the Moon had quite a modest start:

“The album's story starts in a poky studio in west London in 1971, when the band embarked upon 12 days in a rehearsal room at Decca Studios in Broadhurst Gardens, West Hampstead, London. They were working on a suite of music under the title Eclipse – which would, in due course, evolve into Dark Side Of The Moon.

"It began in a little rehearsal room in London," said David Gilmour of the album's early days. "We had quite a few pieces of music, some of which were left over from previous things."

"I think we had already started improvising around some pieces at Broadhurst Gardens," confirms Roger Waters. "After I had written a couple of the lyrics for the songs, I suddenly thought, I know what would be good: to make a whole record about the different pressures that apply in modern life."

The album slowly began to take shape. By the time 1972 rolled around, rehearsals had moved to the Rolling Stones’ rehearsal facility; a disused Victorian warehouse at 47 Bermondsey Street, South London. A grand enough setting for a creative project which would eventually come to eclipse Floyd's previous output in terms of both its scale and ambition. "We started with the idea of what the album was going to be about: the stresses and strains on our lives," says Nick Mason.

"We were there for a little while, writing pieces of music and jamming," adds Gilmour. "It was a very dark room."

Two weeks later, Pink Floyd began a 16-date UK tour at The Dome, Brighton, which included the first live performance of Eclipse, now renamed Dark Side Of The Moon – A Piece For Assorted Lunatics. Naturally, the band decided their new material required an ambitious, demanding new stage set up to match. However, it was a move their technical teams weren't quite ready for yet. The performance was cut short midway through Money due to tech problems.

"In those days we didn’t understand how to separate power sufficiently between sound and lights," explains former Floyd roadie Mick Kluczynski. "It was the very first show any band had done with a lighting rig that was powerful enough to make a difference. So we had this wonderful situation where the fans were actually inside the auditorium, and we had [sound engineers] Bill Kelsey and Dave Martin at either side of the stage screaming at each other in front of the crowd, having an argument."

"A pulsating bass beat, pre-recorded, pounded around the hall’s speaker system. A voice declared Chapter five, verses 15 to 17 from the Book Of Athenians," wrote former NME journalist Tony Stewart at the time. "The organ built up; suddenly it soared, like a jumbo jet leaving Heathrow; the lights, just behind the equipment, rose like an elevator. Floyd were on stage playing a medium-paced piece… The Floyd inventiveness had returned, and it astounded the capacity house… The number broke down thirty minutes through."

Not to be deterred, Floyd continued on their tour well into February, playing Dark Side Of The Moon in a nascent stage of completion by this point. "The actual song, Eclipse, wasn’t performed live until Bristol Colston Hall, on February 5," says Waters. "I can remember one afternoon rolling up and saying: “I’ve written an ending.” Which was what’s now called Eclipse, or Dark Side. So that's when we started performing the piece called Eclipse. It probably did have Brain Damage, but it didn’t have ‘All that you touch, all that you see, all that you taste.’

"It was a hell of a good way to develop a record," says Mason. "You really get familiar with it; you learn the pieces you like and what you don’t like. And it’s quite interesting for the audience to hear a piece developed. If people saw it four times it would have been very different each time."

However, as February drew to a close, work on the recording of DSOTM was derailed by the obligation to record Obscured By Clouds, the soundtrack to the film La Vallée, followed by sporadic touring. The sessions eventually resumed at Abbey Road studios in May. Working titles for existing songs included Travel (eventually Breathe), Religion (The Great Gig In The Sky) and Lunatic (Brain Damage).

"Recording was lengthy but not fraught, not agonised over at all," says Mason of the sessions. "We were working really well as a band."

"I was definitely less dominant than I later became," agrees Waters. "We were pulling together pretty cohesively. Dave sang Breathe much better than I could have. His voice suited the song. I don’t remember any ego problems about who sang what at that point. There was a balance."

This balance, and the ease the band felt with one another, was reflected in the finished product. A harmonious record which flowed from beginning to end, it captured a rare snapshot of a band working at the peak of their creativity. Though it was a complex body of work, much of its success came from its deceptive lyrical simplicity. "Roger tried, definitely, in his lyrics, to make them very simple, straightforward, and easy to understand," says Gilmour. "Partly because people read things into other lyrics that weren’t there”.

On 1st March, there will be celebration of an album that has more than its fair share of classics songs. From Money to The Great Gig in the Sky, to Speak to Me and Brain Damage, it is a work of genius. Two years later, Pink Floyd would releasee an album that, perhaps, is even more revered and better-reviewed than The Dark Side of the Moon: the immense and wonderful Wish You Were Here. Albumism had this to say about the 1973 work of wonder:

“Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon is nothing short of a psychedelic eargasm to the nth degree. Some rock groups make history, others become a part of it. With The Dark Side of the Moon, they transcended the history books and came to reside among the stars, as well as in the hearts and minds of avid fans and listeners.

The Dark Side of the Moon encapsulates the early ‘70s; it's a mixture of mind-bending rhythms, lucid lyrics and probing vibes. It spawned a following unlike anything ever seen before for an album. While groups like The Beatles and Led Zeppelin had concertgoers mesmerized, Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon took on a mystique of its own.

Inspired by their preceding live performances and recordings, the album explores themes of greed, conflict, the passage of time, and mental illness. Original lead singer and guitarist Syd Barrett had started to suffer from the latter, which compelled his bandmates to remove him from the band and replace him with David Gilmour five years earlier in 1968, which greatly influenced bassist/vocalist Roger Waters’ songwriting on both The Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here (1975).

Upon its March 1, 1973 release, the album smashed all kinds of records, remaining on the charts for an unprecedented 741 weeks. Two singles were released from the album, "Money" and "Us and Them," with "Money" becoming their first legitimate hit single. The theme of money was prevalent in music throughout the end of the ‘60s and the early ‘70s, with The O'Jays’ "For the Love of Money" and The Beatles’ "You Never Give Me Your Money" hitting on the insidious quality of money. Regarding The Beatles, "Us and Them" definitely has a similar tone and notes to "Sun King" (from 1969’s Abbey Road), which also has a dreamy, kaleidoscope feel.

The ten tracks featured on The Dark Side of the Moon are cohesive, like the spokes of a wheel. This particular combination of songs is a musical ethos that has kept spinning in the audio universe, propelled by its brilliance. Opening track "Speak to Me" is really only complete when followed by "Breathe," and so it is with all of the tracks on the album. Individually they all have different tones and meanings. "The Great Gig in the Sky" is about coming to terms with the afterlife. It's a serious song, elevated by the song that proceeds it, "Time," which riffs on the passage of time.

On the 45th anniversary of this abiding classic, put your headphones on, relax and lift off. Better yet, go to a Pink Floyd laser light show with The Dark Side of the Moon as the soundtrack, and you’ll be transported to another world”.

There are a couple of reviews I want to come to before wrapping things up. Rolling Stone reviewed The Dark Side of the Moon when it came out in 1973. I can only imagine how stunning it must have been to hear the album from the first time. It still has this incredible pulls and sense of majesty that blows the mind wide open:

“ONE OF BRITAIN’S most successful and long lived avant-garde rock bands, Pink Floyd emerged relatively unsullied from the mire of mid-Sixties British psychedelic music as early experimenters with outer space concepts. Although that phase of the band’s development was of short duration, Pink Floyd have from that time been the pop scene’s preeminent techno-rockers: four musicians with a command of electronic instruments who wield an arsenal of sound effects with authority and finesse. While Pink Floyd’s albums were hardly hot tickets in the shops, they began to attract an enormous following through their US tours. They have more recently developed a musical style capable of sustaining their dazzling and potentially overwhelming sonic wizardry.

The Dark Side of the Moon is Pink Floyd’s ninth album and is a single extended piece rather than, a collection of songs. It seems to deal primarily with the fleetingness and depravity of human life, hardly the commonplace subject matter of rock. “Time” (“The time is gone the song is over”), “Money” (“Share it fairly but don’t take a slice of my pie”). And “Us And Them” (“Forward he cried from the rear”) might be viewed as the keys to understanding the meaning (if indeed there is any definite meaning) of The Dark Side of the Moon.

Even though this is a concept album, a number of the cuts can stand on their own. “Time” is a fine country-tinged rocker with a powerful guitar solo by David Gilmour and “Money” is broadly and satirically played with appropriately raunchy sax playing by Dick Parry, who also contributes a wonderfully-stated, breathy solo to “Us And Them.” The non-vocal “On The Run” is a standout with footsteps racing from side to side successfully eluding any number of odd malevolent rumbles and explosions only to be killed off by the clock’s ticking that leads into “Time.” Throughout the album the band lays down a solid framework which they embellish with synthesizers, sound effects and spoken voice tapes. The sound is lush and multi-layered while remaining clear and well-structured.

There are a few weak spots. David Gilmour’s vocals are sometimes weak and lackluster and “The Great Gig in the Sky” (which closes the first side) probably could have been shortened or dispensed with, but these are really minor quibbles. The Dark Side of the Moon is a fine album with a textural and conceptual richness that not only invites, but demands involvement. There is a certain grandeur here that exceeds mere musical melodramatics and is rarely attempted in rock. The Dark Side of the Moon has flash-the true flash that comes from the excellence of a superb performance”.

I will actually leave it there. I would encourage everyone to experience The Dark Side of the Moon in full ahead of its fiftieth anniversary on 1st March. Even if some argue Pink Floyd have released better albums, there are few as important and influential as The Dark Side of the Moon. Seek out the album, play it loud and let it take you away. There is no doubt that it is one of the greatest albums…

EVER released.

FEATURE: The Digital Mixtape: GRAMMY Nominees 2023

FEATURE:

 

 

The Digital Mixtape

IN THIS PHOTO: Beyoncé

GRAMMY Nominees 2023

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EVERY music award ceremony…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Harry Styles/PHOTO CREDIT: Helene Marie Pambrun

creates some sort of controversy or division. People arguing names that are not including and debating those that are. The GRAMMYs are no exception. Taking place tomorrow (5th February), it could be a big night for Beyoncé. I am going to include parts of an article from The Guardian. They also made their predictions when it comes to the big categories. With so many categories to get through, it will definitely be a long night! That said, it is an award show that spreads across genres and fields so that it recognises a wide range of people in the recording industry. I will end with a playlist featuring some of the artists who have been nominated this year. First, The Guardian wrote about some of the performances and logistics of the GRAMMYs. It will be a big night tomorrow:

“It’s days before the curtain rises on the 65th annual Grammy awards ceremony and producer Ben Winston is putting the finishing touches on the production.

“I was doing the table plans last night, which is always a funny thing,” Winston said during a brief respite in between his obligations at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. “It’s like a bar mitzvah or a wedding, only you’re plotting where people like Beyoncé, Adele and the Rock are going to sit. Who’s Cardi B gonna be next to? It’s really fun.”

Because of myriad logistical considerations, Winston, the mastermind of the production alongside producing partner Raj Kapoor, calls it one of the hardest shows in television to put together.

IN THIS PHOTO: Lizzo/PHOTO CREDIT: AB+DM

“You’ve got 19 performers or so – and all of them are A-list with dancers, choirs, orchestras – and then how to work out how to build Harry Styles’s set in three minutes, which then has to clear the way for Lizzo’s set,” he said.

According to Winston, work doesn’t begin until after the nominations are released in November, which is when artists begin to commit. This year, all eyes are on Beyoncé as she could become the most awarded artist in Grammy history with nine nominations this year, with Kendrick Lamar, Adele and Brandi Carlile all competing in multiple categories.

“From the day the nominations are announced, that gives us eight weeks to put this together,” says Winston, adding with a laugh: “A school play wouldn’t even be made in eight weeks.”

This year’s performers reflect the strong commercial slate of nominees after a year of blockbuster records, major comebacks and sold-out tours. Styles is slated to sing his song As It Was, the longest-running No 1 song by a UK act in the history of the US charts, and the fourth-longest in general. Bad Bunny, the world’s most streamed artist whose Un Verano Sin Ti became the first Spanish-language album of the year nominee, is also set to take the stage. Joining them include the likes of Mary J Blige, Sam Smith and Brandi Carlile.

Tributes include Kacey Musgraves honoring the late Loretta Lynn, while the rapper Quavo will take part in a performance for his late Migos counterpart Takeoff as well. There will also be a salute to the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, curated by LL Cool J and featuring a who’s who of the genre’s brightest stars and innovators, among them Missy Elliott, Busta Rhymes, Big Boi and DJ Jazzy Jeff”.

To mark the GRAMMYs tomorrow, below is a playlist featuring songs from many of the artists nominated. You can see who is nominated in each category and make your own predictions. Whatever your tastes and predictions, it is likely to be a big (and potentially historic) occasion. It is a night where we celebrate…

SOME phenomenal music.

FEATURE: A Diamond Kite: Kate Bush’s The Kick Inside at Forty-Five: Imagining an Expanded Edition

FEATURE:

 

 

A Diamond Kite

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in an outtake from the cover shoot of The Kick Inside/PHOTO CREDIT: Jay Myrdal

Kate Bush’s The Kick Inside at Forty-Five: Imagining an Expanded Edition

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ON 17th February…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz

Kate Bush’s debut album, The Kick Inside, turns forty-five. It is an album I am going to keep on writing about because, with every passing year, I discover something new about it. One of the things I have suggested or hoped for is an expanded or anniversary edition. It may be too late this year but, as it is such an important debut, surely there is scope and demand for a new release? The Kick Inside has been remastered before, but it still consists of the thirteen tracks from the 1978 original. Bush is someone who does not put out unused or unreleased material. That said, there is curiosity about the start of Bush’s career and that period leading to The Kick Inside. I know there are early recordings that are in demo form, but there are also photos and other things that mark a very important time in the career of one of the greatest artists ever. I have been thinking about this because, recently, Madonna announced she was embarking on a greatest hits world tour to promote her single, Holiday, which is forty this year. I suspect that there will be anniversary reissue of her eponymous debut album (which is forty in July), and there will be other bits too. As it stands, the two singles from The Kick Inside, Wuthering Heights and The Man with the Child in His Eyes, have not yet been remastered to HD.

A 4K rendering of each of these videos would be a compromise at least, plus the same for the video for the Japanese single, Them Heavy People. My last feature about this idea led me to talking about Kate Bush’s lack of retrospection. It would not be a case of every demo and early recording coming onto a new release. She herself cannot deny that her music has reached new fans recently, and any special release will be met with affection and respect. Of course, anything she was not happy with would not be included, but a vinyl reissue with six or seven unreleased tracks, plus special linear notes with a bit of history about the album. I don’t think there exists any photos from inside the studio when The Kick Inside was being recorded. Perhaps there are in Bush’s possession, but one of the great tragedies is the lack of visual documentation concerning the making of the album. We do have some great songs that are exceptional in terms of their beauty and quality. The forty-fifth anniversary of The Kick Inside is a big thing. After all these years, it is an album that still connects with people and holds this very special power. It is wonderful as it is but, of all Kate Bush albums, I feel this is the one that really deserves opening up and building on. Rather than raid the archives and go against the wishes of Bush, it would be an affectionate exploration of a classic album.

I know it was a hard task cutting down all the songs Bush had and just focusing on ones for the album. Producer Andrew Powell selected those that fit together. That is not to say songs left behind lacked quality. As I have said many times, Bush had already written songs like Wow (which would appear on the 1978 follow-up, Lionheart). This is what Bush said when it came to picking the thirteen songs that would form her debut album:

“There are thirteen tracks on this album. When we were getting it together, one of the most important things that was on all our mind was, that because there were so many, we wanted to try and get as much variation as we could. To a certain extent, the actual songs allowed this because of the tempo changes, but there were certain songs that had to have a funky rhythm and there were others that had to be very subtle. I was very greatly helped by my producer and arranger Andrew Powell, who really is quite incredible at tuning in to my songs. We made sure that there was one of the tracks, just me and the piano, to, again, give the variation. We've got a rock 'n' roll number in there, which again was important. And all the others there are just really the moods of the songs set with instruments, which for me is the most important thing, because you can so often get a beautiful song, but the arrangements can completely spoil it - they have to really work together. (Self Portrait, 1978)”.

I do like the fact there were certain specifications and dynamic considerations when it came to The Kick Inside. You can hear there had been a lot of thought regarding the flow and overall sound. If there was a new release – that would not necessarily tie to an anniversary; it would be simply to celebrate The Kick Inside’s importance – a new vinyl or C.D. could have a hand-picked selection of songs either recorded shortly before 1977/1978 or some slightly older ones. Also, in terms of photos, there are press images from when Bush was promoting The Kick Inside, alongside ones taken by her brother John Carder Bush from years earlier. Some would say all Bush albums are worthy or expanded editions, and I would agree. If there was only one that could be re-released to vinyl, C.D. (and even cassette), then the majestic The Kick Inside should be it. I wanted to expand on the feature I previously published about a Deluxe or anniversary edition. Having a clearer story and wider impression of The Kick Inside (forty-five on 17th February), would be a much-needed salute to…

A phenomenal introduction.

FEATURE: Take Two… A Return to Florence Pugh and Her Debut Album

FEATURE:

 

 

Take Two…

PHOTO CREDIT: Liz Collins for ELLE

A Return to Florence Pugh and Her Debut Album

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RATHER than redo or edit…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Amy Sussman/Getty Images

the post I did recently regarding Florence Pugh, I am going to provide a second take. When I was writing last year, there was talk and speculation that Pugh would release a debut studio album. She has recorded videos to YouTube years ago and, when you read interviews, it is clear that music is a passion of Pugh’s. She did reveal in an interview back in 2020 that her favourite song is Southern Sun by Boy & Bear. I have always imagined Pugh in a music biopic. As I said recently, playing Debbie Harry in a Blondie film – a subject I do go on about! – would be some superb casting. I have more to say on Pugh’s potential musical direction and actors stepping into music. First, PAPER recently wrote about Pugh’s desire to release an album later this year:

“Florence Pugh is dropping new music for her next movie project.

Pugh recently appeared on an episode of Vogue's The Run-Through podcast to discuss her favorite roles and upcoming projects. Amidst filming for Dune: Part Two, the 27-year-old actress shared that she's also been working on original music that will be featured in the upcoming comedy-drama A Good Person, written and directed by her ex, 47-year-old Garden State actor Zach Braff.

"I’ve actually got music being released this year," Pugh revealed in response to a question about upcoming projects. "I wrote music for [A Good Person] and that’s been a whole exciting experience that I’ve been desperate to do for years."

Pugh plays the film's young protagonist, Allison, who has her whole world turned upside down suddenly and unexpectedly, and eventually finds friendship with her father-in-law, played by Morgan Freeman. The Dune actress explains the film's script motivated her to get back into music.

“[Music] is one of those things that can mean so much to you, and the less you do it the less confidence you have and you end up losing your heart in it,” Pugh said. "For years I was so scared of how to do it. And eventually, this opportunity arose and I read Zach's script and I said 'I've been inspired to write a song.' And we put them in the movie."

Braff and Pugh started dating in 2019, but broke up quietly in 2022. The former couple has spoken highly of each other in interviews, with Braff telling Entertainment Weekly of the experience, "There's not a single thing Florence did that isn't correct, in my brain as the one who wrote it."

Pugh is no stranger to music: she once recorded Youtube covers under the moniker Flossie Rose, and also appeared on a 2021 song with her musician brother Tony Sebastian. And it's not the first time Pugh is releasing music for a film, having recently collaborated with co-star Harry Styles on a tune in the recent Don't Worry Darling.

A Good Person stars Florence Pugh, Morgan Freeman, Molly Shannon, Alex Wolff, Chinaza Uche, and more. The film is scheduled to be released in the United States on March 24”.

I am particularly compelled by Florence Pugh and music. For a lot of actors, music is actually their biggest passion. There is no shortage of cross-pollination when it comes to actors making their own albums. In turn, many artists go into films. As one of the world’s best actors, I feel Pugh’s album is going to be truly commanding, striking and versatile. She is someone who has this incredible range. A natural ability to step into any role and own it, I do feel her musical approach will be similar. I have said before how it can be tough for a well-known actor to release an album. There is an expectation and, perhaps, judgment aimed their way that you would not get for a new artist. Maybe people expect something terrific or a disaster. As actors like Paddy Considine have shown (he fronts the band Riding the Low), if you have that passion and commitment, you can be as successful in a music career as your acting one. I do like the fact that there are these great actors that bring their skills and natural ability to music. I think there are a lot of ‘hidden artists’ in film. Those that have a great singing voice or musicianship that we have not seen.

 PHOTO CREDIT: J. Crew/ELLE

Many actors sing in films, but is rarely progresses beyond that. I think that Pugh’s debut album is going to be mostly original numbers, as opposed a collection of her favourite songs done her way. I did speculate as to what genres and styles will be covered. The reason I am writing once more about Florence Pugh is that I think a truly magnificent album will come about. I am not sure whether it will be followed by a lot of other releases, but I see no reason why there shouldn’t be a series of other albums. There is always something different and special hearing an album from someone we primarily associate with acting. Although Florence Pugh’s recording and love of music pre-dates her acting career, most associate it with her film work. You will definitely hear the passion come through on her debut. It is as-yet-untitled, but we will hear more news regarding the title and the songs that will appear. Not only will it be exciting for Florence Pugh fans. It will be intriguing for all music fans to hear what comes from the acclaimed and remarkable actor. Whilst there is a lot of anticipation regarding known musicians and anticipation around their albums, I feel that Florence Pugh’s debut will be among the best…

OF the year.