FEATURE: Groovelines: Cher - Believe

FEATURE:

 

 

Groovelines

Cher - Believe

_________

I am covering this song for Groovelines…

as it is one of the music iconic of the 1990s. Perhaps Cher’s best-known track, Believe was released on 19th October, 1998. The lead single from the album of the same name (released on 22nd October, 1998), I wanted to go into detail about this incredible song. A chart-topping smash (including a number one in the U.K. and U.S.), it is one of those classics that even non-Cher fans love. It is noted for its Auto-Tune. Rather than use it as a vocal aid, instead it a device that adds this power and punch. In 1998, not many artists were playing with Auto-Tune. As NPR (incorrectly stating Believe was released on 22nd October, 1998 (that was the album date release; the song came out on 19th October) wrote in 2018, Cher sort of acted as a lead and inspiration for those who followed and used Auto-Tune:

“It could've easily been simply a gimmick; instead, Auto-Tune became a very prominent tool in a lot of pop, R&B and hip-hop production. There's a long history of artists using different vocal modifications, but in the past, producers aimed to keep those alterations disguised. Instead of using effects in hopes that the audience wouldn't notice — just to make a vocal a little cleaner, clearer and more on pitch — "Believe" brings the Auto-Tune front and center.

Auto-Tune sounds like digital stretching or flexing, as you hear a singer kind of slide up and down the register in a way that doesn't sound natural. And though the tactic is used seemingly arbitrarily in today's pop soundscape, the impetus for music's infatuation with Auto-Tune can be traced back to Cher's dance pop song from 20 years ago. The deliberate distortion of her vocals could have been perceived as a gimmick, but, decades later, the success behind "Believe" lives on”.

There are a couple of features that I am going to bring in that talk about the background to Believe and how this megahit was born (I would also recommend people check out this feature too). Apologies for any repetition and crossover, but I do think that each article offers something new and different. I will start with Stereogum’s article. Even if they are feel there were better Dance songs of the '90s, there is no denying that few came bigger than Cher’s Believe:

“In 1989, Cher released Heart Of Stone, the biggest album of her career to that point. Heart Of Stone is top-shelf late-’80s corporate rock. It went triple platinum, and it launched three singles into the top 10. The biggest of those hits was the Diane Warren belter “If I Could Turn Back Time,” which was the first time that Cher’s name ever really impressed itself into my kid brain. In the song’s video, Cher famously straddled cannons and danced across a battleship deck in an ass-tattoo-baring thong while sailors cheered her on. (“If I Could Turn Back Time” peaked at #3; it’s a 9.)

Cher went into another career lull after Heart Of Stone, and she didn’t land another top 10 hit for nearly a decade after “Just Like Jesse James” peaked at #8. (That one is a 7.) In the early ’90s, Cher came down with chronic fatigue syndrome, which made acting and recording difficult. So she made a couple of fitness videos and became an infomercial pitchwoman. That infomercial gig led to Christina Applegate clowning Cher on Saturday Night Live.

In 1998, Cher’s ex-husband Sonny Bono, who’d gone on to become a Republican Congressman, died in a skiing accident at the age of 62, and Cher gave a tearful eulogy at his funeral. At that point, Cher was not a terribly relevant pop artist. Her previous album, 1995’s It’s A Man’s World, bricked, and it only sent one single into the Hot 100. (“One By One” peaked at an anemic #52.) When Warner UK boss Rob Dickins got the idea that Cher should record a dance album, he signed her to the UK branch of the label, and the idea was that her next album would only come out in Europe. Cher herself wasn’t into the idea of a dance album, since she didn’t think the genre had any good songs. Dickins set out to find one.

The British songwriter Brian Higgins, who eventually founded the production group Xenomania and made UK hits with groups like the Sugababes and Girls Aloud, had started writing “Believe” years earlier, when he had a go-nowhere office job at a paper company in Sussex. Eventually, Higgins broke into the music business. He co-wrote and co-produced 1997’s “All I Wanna Do,” a UK hit for Kylie Minogue’s sister Dannii. On a visit to the Warner office, Higgins ran into Rob Dickins, who asked if he had any songs for Cher. Dickins sent a tape over, and a version of “Believe,” a song that Higgins had been tinkering with for years, caught Dickins’ attention.

After “Believe” hit, Rob Dickins told The New York Times what he’d heard in the song: “I thought: ‘Cher could do this chorus, especially the lyrics, with her private life the way it is. She’s gone through all these things.'” By that point, Brian Higgins had already enlisted a bunch of collaborators to work on “Believe,” and it already had four songwriters. Dickins loved the chorus but thought the verses were trash. He told Higgins that he was taking “Believe” away from him: “You’ve done no justice to your own song.” A bunch of other songwriters went to work on “Believe” before Dickins thought it was acceptable. By the time it reached #1, “Believe” had six songwriters — not including Cher, who’d changed at least one line herself but who went uncredited.

Another team that had submitted songs for the Cher album was the duo of Mark Taylor and Brian Rawling, two British producers who had also done some work with Dannii Minogue. For whatever reason, Dickins decided that the two of them should produce the bulk of Cher’s Believe album. She recorded a few tracks with big-deal house-music names Todd Terry and Junior Vasquez, but most of the album came from a few weeks of sessions in Taylor and Rawlings’ dumpy studio in Surrey. (Taylor and Rawlings’ work will appear in this column again.)

When both Rob Dickins and Cher were finally satisfied with “Believe,” it was a song about surviving a shitty breakup and imagining your life afterwards. Cher’s narrator sings the entire song to the person who’s left her. She’s crushed, not sure she’s strong enough to keep going, but she comes to a couple of big epiphanies. By the time the song is over, she’s gotten it together enough to move on: “I’ve had time to think it through/ And maybe I’m too good for you.” (Cher apparently wrote that line, and it’s the best line in the song.) She believes in life after love.

There’s a light sprinkling of guitar in “Believe,” but Taylor and Rawlings put together most of the track in the digital program Cubase, and virtually everything in there is electronic. The track shamelessly dials up the sound of cheesed-out Euro-house, and Cher commits to that style. Cher had been making records for decades before anyone could’ve even conceived of Auto-Tune, which weirdly makes her the perfect singer to bring that sound to the masses. Cher belts the hell out of the chorus, and her voice is deep and rich and distinctive. But for whatever reason, it sounds better when it’s been digitally diced into atoms.

Taylor and Rawlings tried out the zero effect Auto-Tune setting when they were messing around with Cher’s vocals in the studio late one night. They were afraid that she would reject that filter right away, but she loved it, even demanding that the duo delete her original vocal tracks. When Rob Dickins demanded that the effect be taken off of the vocals, Cher absolutely refused: “I said, ‘You can change that part of it, over my dead body!’ And that was the end of the discussion. I said to Mark before I left, ‘Don’t let anyone touch this track, or I’m going to rip your throat out.'” For a while, Taylor and Rawling lied about the Auto-Tune, claiming that they’d achieved that effect with a Digitech Talker vocoder pedal, but the truth eventually came out.

These days, we mostly remember “Believe” as the song that introduced that freaky Auto-Tune effect into the world. For that alone, “Believe” is hugely historically significant. I’d originally planned to include a chapter on “Believe” in my book, which comes out in November and highlights 20 pivotal #1 songs, but then I decided to devote that chapter to someone who pushed the whole Auto-Tune thing even further. The effect definitely lends a weird novelty to “Believe,” which is otherwise, I think, a pretty average Euro-dance track. It’s catchy, and I like the interplay between Cher’s grand belting and the swooshing robot sounds around her, but the song always sounded a little thin and brittle to me.

There were better dance tracks coming out in the late ’90s, but there weren’t any bigger ones. “Believe” went to #1 in the UK first, and when Warner decided to release the track in America, it took off just the same. When “Believe” reached #1 here, it followed three chart-toppers from literal teenage girls — Brandy, Britney Spears, Monica. Cher was almost as old as the three of them put together. Britney Spears had ended her debut album Baby One More Time with a cover of “The Beat Goes On,” a song that Sonny and Cher had released all the way back in 1967. Cher was a relic, a boomer icon. With “Believe,” she didn’t just compete with the new wave of teenage pop stars; she beat them. Billboard eventually named “Believe” the biggest hit of 1999. (As it happens, The Matrix opened in theaters while “Believe” sat at #1 in the US. The pre-Y2K zeitgeist was very into the idea of “what if everything real is really fake because technology?”)”.

Before getting to some reviews for Believe, The New York Times’ article from 1999 talks about this ‘resurrection’ of Cher. A legendary artist that many felt was past her very best, she proved everybody wrong! You look out to artists such as Kylie Minogue doing the same thing. They can remain relevant and contemporary decades after their beginnings. Believe arrived near the end of an incredible decade for music. An anthem that is still played widely to this day, it is interesting how it came to life and formed over time:

“Believe'' began nine years ago in a small flat in Sussex, England. Brian Higgins had returned home from his job selling advertising space for Reed, a paper company. He was 23, and trying to teach himself how to write songs. He sat at one of the keyboards in the far end of his bedroom, lifted his fingers to play a few chords and it happened. ''The lyrics and the melody just flowed out at the same time,'' he said. ''Normally you play a few chords, establish a melody and then start to apply a few lyrics. But this time, I promise you, the whole thing came out at once, which is really weird.''

Five years later Mr. Higgins's career began to blossom, and he started getting odd jobs with such pop stars as Diana Ross, Dannii Minogue and Pulp. Practically every time Mr. Higgins met with an artist, manager or record executive he played them his unborn dance song, ''Believe.'' But no one showed the slightest interest. Mr. Higgins knew the song wasn't perfect; the choruses were great but the verses were only skeletal. As he began gathering his own team of songwriters, he had them tinker with the verses every so often. But no matter what they did there were no takers.

In the meantime, Rob Dickins, president of London-based Warner Music U.K., had decided that the only thing Cher could do to make up for her last album, ''It's a Man's World,'' a set of rock ballads that sold disappointingly, was to focus on her gay audience with a high-energy dance record. Mr. Dickins, who would oversee the album, was in his 27th year with the company, and this would be his last project with Warner Brothers. He did not know it at the time, but he was on the verge of being dismissed.

''He said, 'I want you to make a dance album,' '' Cher said the other day in a telephone interview from Paris. ''I said I didn't want to. But I have that problem: If someone says I want you to do something and I'm not sure, I usually just say I don't want to do it.''

Cher said she was not interested in dance music anymore because it was not a genre with real songs. Mr. Dickins walked away, intent on finding real songs to disprove her argument. That was when luck intervened, and a chance encounter set the wheels in motion that would make Cher a pop star again. Mr. Higgins was visiting Warner Brothers to talk about the Minogue album he had worked on. As he waited outside the office of an executive who was on the phone, Mr. Dickins happened to walk downstairs and down the corridor, where he met Mr. Higgins.

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Mr. Dickins asked the songwriter if he would be interested in submitting a song or two for consideration for the Cher album. Three days later, a tape with 16 of Mr. Higgins's songs arrived. ''I lay on my bed and put the tape on and listened to every song,'' Mr. Dickins said. ''The ninth song was 'Believe.' I thought: 'Cher could do this chorus, especially the lyrics, with her private life the way it is. She's gone through all these things.' ''

Mr. Dickins called the songwriter the next day and asked him to complete ''Believe.'' ''About a week later he comes in with the finished song and it's terrible,'' Mr. Dickins said. ''I've got this great chorus and this terrible song. So I told him, 'We're taking it away from you.' He says, 'What do you mean?' I said, 'You've done no justice to your own song.' ''

Mr. Higgins handed over the song, admitting that he was probably too close to it. Meanwhile Mr. Dickins had found a song for the album called ''Dove l'Amore,'' which was written by Paul Barry and Mark Taylor, an English songwriting team. Cher visited their studio in a suburb west of London with the intention of recording only that song. She said she remembered the studio, called Metro, as ''this little dungeon of a place, the smallest studio I've ever been in in my life.'' Even Mr. Dickins had second thoughts about the place: ''I went down and saw Cher sitting in this horrible room on this horrible sofa and thought, 'What have I done to her?' '' But the chemistry was good.

When Mr. Dickins sent ''Believe'' to Metro studios a staff songwriter, Steve Torch, took a crack at the verses. Mr. Dickins was not happy with the result. ''I said, 'What is wrong with all you people? I've got a hit chorus and none of you can write a song,' '' he said.

Brian Rawling, the producer who runs Metro, begged for another chance and got it, handing the song to Mr. Barry, who kept hitting brick walls. ''I remember one version in particular that Cher didn't like,'' Mr. Barry said. ''My son had just been born and I was ecstatic. One lyric Cher said was total garbage. She said, 'You're too happy.' ''

Try, Try Again,

And Again and Again

It was during this time that Mr. Dickins was asked to leave his job at Warner Brothers as a result of a personality clash with Bob Daly, a chairman of Warner Brothers and Warner Music. That this album would be his last word at Warner Brothers was ''probably why I was so relentless with the song,'' Mr Dickins said.

(Last month, a fellow ad salesman and songwriting partner, Mark Scott, sued Mr. Higgins and Warner Music, saying he helped write ''Believe' in 1991.)

Finally Mr. Barry's partner, Mr. Taylor, turned in a version good enough to begin working on. The lyrics began to match the strength of the chorus. The first verse now ended: ''It's so sad that you're leaving/It takes time to believe it/But after all is said and done/You're going to be the lonely one.''

Mr. Barry began putting together the music, starting with a rough drum track he made on a computer program called Cubase, a crude keyboard melody and a bass line. He and Mr. Taylor remember trying to make a dance song that was a little different, with subtle melodies and quiet backing vocals tucked away; verses in the style of Lamont Dozier and soulful 80's funk touches influenced by Stevie Wonder and Prince.

But Mr. Dickins was still dissatisfied. He thought the eight-bar section of the song, known as the middle eight, before the final chorus which simply repeated the lyric ''I don't need you anymore,'' was too repetitive and didn't take the song anywhere. This time he was ignored. But Cher had a more pressing problem. She said the second verse was simply a repetition of the ''so sad that you're leaving'' sentiment expressed in the first one. ''I thought, 'You can be sad for one verse, but you can't be sad for two,' '' Cher said. ''That night I was lying there in my bathtub with my toe in that little faucet, playing around with the words, and it came out in one line. I thought, 'I've had time to see it through/Maybe I'm too good for you.' ''

But when the song was finished the verses still seemed lifeless, no matter how many different ways Cher sang them. And that was when luck smiled on ''Believe'' again.

One morning Cher turned on her television set and saw a program featuring a singer named Andrew Roachford, whose CD she instantly bought.

'We were tackling 'Believe' for the gazillionth time,'' she said. ''And I said: 'I'm so tired of doing this. Let's just put on this CD and listen to music and get away from this.' '' On one song the vocals were processed through a vocoder to sound mechanical. Cher remembers suggesting that they add something like that to ''Believe.''

In the interim a new voice-tuning program for Cubase had arrived in the studio, and Mr. Taylor decided to teach himself how to use it. He randomly chose two bars of ''Believe'' and looped it on the computer. In his tinkering, he came across the wavering, soulful, robotic vocal sound that is now the song's most loved and recognizable element. But he was afraid that if Cher heard it, she would object to his experimenting with her vocals. ''But something just snapped, and a couple of beers later we decided to play it for her, and she just freaked out,'' he said.

Victory

And a High-Five

That is, freaked out in a good way. ''We high-fived,'' Cher said. ''It was like some stupid 'Rocky' film.'' When Cher left the studio to begin filming ''Tea With Mussolini'' Mr. Taylor put together a quick mix of ''Believe'' and sent it to Cher and Mr. Dickins, who thought they had gotten carried away with the robotic sound.

''He said, 'Everyone loves that song but wants to change that part of it,' '' Cher said. ''I said, 'You can change that part of it, over my dead body!' And that was the end of the discussion. I said to Mark before I left, 'Don't let anyone touch this track, or I'm going to rip your throat out.' “

I will end with some reviews for Believe. The standout cut from the Believe album, there is no doubt, at the time in 1998 and years since, this titanic hit has resonated and resounded far and wide. Those who were too young to remember the song the first time around are discovering it now:

“Upon the release, Chuck Taylor from Billboard said that it is "the best darn thing that Cher has recorded in years". He added, "Some songs are so natural, so comfortably sung, that you wonder that somebody didn't think them up decades before. With this, you'll be whirling around the floor, tapping hard on the accelerator to "Believe," a simple ode to those feelings that we all search out and cling to. Cher is just a prize here; even her hardy detractors will be fighting the beat on this one." Music critic Robert Christgau highlighted "Believe" as the best song on the album. A reviewer from Entertainment Weekly described the song as "poptronica glaze, the soon-to-be club fave..." and noted Cher's voice as "unmistakable". Deborah Wilker from Knight Ridder said that "her electronically altered vocal" on "Believe" "is like nothing she's ever done."

Knight Ridder also described the song as "present-tense disco, with Cher an anthemic, Madonna manqué." New York Daily News described the song as a "club track so caffeinated, it not only microwaved her cold career to scorching-hot but gave dance music its biggest hit since the days of disco." They also noted the song's "killer hook and amazing beat." Neil Strauss from The New York Times wrote that "the verses are rich and bittersweet, with the added gimmick of breaking up Cher's voice through an effect that makes her sound robotic. And the choruses are catchy and uplifting, with Cher wailing, "Do you believe in life after love?" All of it bounces over a bed of 80s-style electronic pop. It is a song with a universal theme—a woman trying to convince herself that she can survive a breakup". Another editor, Jim Sullivan, noted the track as a "hooky, defiant, beat-fest of a song".

 “In 2019, Bill Lamb from About.com declared it as a "perfect piece of dance-pop", including it in his list of "Top 10 Pop Songs of 1999". AllMusic editor Joe Viglione called "Believe" a "pop masterpiece, one of the few songs to be able to break through the impenetrable wall of late 1990s fragmented radio to permeate the consciousness of the world at large." Another editor, Michael Gallucci, gave a lukewarm review, writing that the Believe album is an "endless, and personality-free, thump session". Stopera and Galindo from BuzzFeed noted it as "iconic", featuring it in their "The 101 Greatest Dance Songs of the '90s" in 2017. Damon Albarn, frontman of the bands Blur and Gorillaz, called the song "brilliant".

In 2014, Tom Ewing from Freaky Trigger wrote that "Believe" "is a record in the "I Will Survive" mode of embattled romantic defiance – a song to make people who've lost out in love feel like they're the winners." He added that "it's remarkable that it took someone until 1998 to come up with "do you believe in life after love?", and perhaps even more remarkable that it wasn't Jim Steinman, but the genius of the song is how aggressive and righteous Cher makes it sound." Bob Waliszewski of Plugged In said that Cher "musters self-confidence to deal with a failed romance". In 2018, Dave Fawbert from ShortList described "Believe" as a "really great pop song with, as ever, an absolute powerhouse vocal performance from Cher".

One of those songs that everybody knows and still holds weight to this day, there is no doubting how influential it was for artists coming through. If it does divide some people, Believe has ranked high in lists of the best songs from the '90s. Iconic Dance hits. As I said, it is played a lot today. It has endured and started this new wave of affection and recognition for Cher. In the same year Madonna had this renaissance with Ray of Light, Cher was modernising and changing her sound - and, with it, she was back in the spotlight. On 19th October, the world will mark twenty-five years of a song that has this great legacy. One simply cannot deny…

IT'S power and importance.

FEATURE: Sidetracked: A New BBC Sounds Podcast, and The Question About ‘Respectful Criticism’

FEATURE:

 

 

Sidetracked

PHOTO CREDIT: Sound On/Pexels

A New BBC Sounds Podcast, and The Question About ‘Respectful Criticism’

_________

I made a pledge that…

IN THIS PHOTO: Former BBC Radio 1 colleagues Nick Grimshaw and Annie Macmanus are hosting a new BBC podcast, Sidetracked/PHOTO CREDIT: Stephanie Sian-Smith for The Guardian

when I started this blog nearly twelve years ago, I would use it as a way of promoting great new music and being as positive as possible. I only review tracks from artists that I really like. I have had moral quandaries in the past when I have contributed to other websites. When reviewing an album that is perhaps not that good…having a bit of an underwhelmed attitude left me stressed. I think that it is important to be honest with music criticism. Music is subjective, so what one person likes, the other may not. One can debate the value and merit of music reviews on that point, though I feel it is important that music criticism continues. I always hated having to review an album I disliked! It is quite a slog listening to it but, not wanting to be cruel, having to express dislike made me wonder what that artist would think. Is it constructive giving that sort of feedback?! Would they take it too heart and get upset?! I keep things positive with reviews now, so I avoid artists and albums I really don’t want to cover. The radio game very much relies on positivity and keeping any negative views out of the way. Recently, broadcaster and D.J. Arielle Free was pulled off air and briefly suspended from her BBC Radio 1 show for criticising a track played on Charlie Hedges’ show. Live from Ibiza, Free was a special guest on Dance Anthems.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Arielle Free

Giving a new meaning to ‘free speech’, it seems that the BBC ethos and bottom line regarding expressing opinions about tracks is to keep it positive. Any negativity, it seems, is reserved for private. I can appreciate how stations would not want to offend artists and give themselves a bad reputation. After all, that station is playing that song – so why would they do that for a D.J. to slag it?! It is those in higher positions that are ultimately responsible for whom gets played on which station. I regularly listen to BBC Radio 6 Music and, through their schedule, they feature new tracks. I like most of those new songs, yet there are some I can’t stand. Of course, the remit is really the same here. Broadcasters are really obliged to be positive or not say anything at all. I feel for artists trying to get their stuff heard, so getting into a playlist is a big thing. It would seem a bit of a kick in the teeth if their song was highlighted as being bad by a broadcaster. There are singles review shows on some stations where guests can be a bit more free. BBC stations especially are keen for their talent not to express political views. It is about impartiality. When it comes to the music, it is very much about positivity. Even when it comes to older tracks, the vibe really does need to be positive. There have been cases when a broadcaster has had a slight dig or sighed after a song has been played. That is rare.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Freepik

This takes me to the point of this feature: a new BBC podcast, Sidetracked. Available on Sounds from 28th Septrember, it sees broadcaster and old friends Annie Macmanus (Annie Mac) and Nick Grimshaw (Grimmy/Grimmers) unite to have a fresh and almost no-holds-barred look at the week in music. It is a take on the new music and events coming about without the filter and restrictions imposed by their BBC Radio 1 (both used to work for the station). Mac does occasionally broadcast on BBC Radio 6 Music. Both still D.J. They have a great chemistry. With decades of radio experience between them, the podcast is a new venture. With the trailer launched yesterday (21st September), this is a podcast that I would recommend. Grimshaw and Macmanus spoke with The Guardian this week about their new venture and what one can expect:

“For both it’s a way of stepping back into radio without any of the usual restrictions. “Music has been work for such a long time so I like the idea of this being from the perspective of a fan,” says Macmanus. “All of the things I didn’t miss about having a radio show – being part of someone else’s agenda, the time involved, and all of the things that started feeling a bit too much – this is the opposite of that. It’s not attached to any network or any radio station specifically. We will talk about, say, Kate Bush. It’s not just youth music.”

“Hey, come on now,” laughs Grimshaw, “we’ve heard of Ice Spice!”

What would they talk about if they had to record an episode today? “It’s the Mercurys this week,” says Macmanus, “so something on that. But it could be anything: from Adele going off at a security guard at her gig, to Beyoncé becoming a mayor of Santa Clara, to Grimmy going to the Proms and having a re-evaluation of his whole life.”

Grimshaw is less specific: “All that stuff that my dad was like ‘it’s a waste of time’, that’s all I want to talk about. Just stuff.”

I witness how an episode could quickly spiral as Grimshaw suddenly remembers getting stuck in the BBC building’s revolving doors with soul newcomer Berwyn. This then leads to a whole section on getting stuck in places with musicians (Macmanus got stuck in a car park in Austria for two hours with Brazilian drum’n’bass legend DJ Marky), before winding up at A$AP Rocky. “He refused to go through the revolving doors and I love the phrase he used,” teases Grimshaw. “He said: ‘I don’t want to go through them because they’re corny.’ Isn’t that fab?” They start thinking about what other mundane things A$AP Rocky might not do. “This is what we’d investigate [in the podcast],” laughs Grimshaw.

“Really important stuff,” adds Macmanus.

The pair are chatty in the way long-term friends are, often finishing each other’s sentences, and while they refer to Sidetracked as indulgent, they’re also aware of the pitfalls of famous-people podcasts and how boring they can become when people just agree and think everything is amazing. “‘Oh, St Barts, eh, remember?’” Grimshaw says in a mock luvvie voice. “I think Annie is always honest, especially about music. Quite a lot of the time we don’t always have the same view. I’ll say: ‘I love this, don’t you?’ And Annie will be like: ‘Not really.’ That makes a good chat.”

“On Radio 1 we haven’t been allowed to … ” starts Macmanus, before remembering that they had a playlist to stick to and so positivity was key, but Grimshaw interrupts.

“I would do a flushing toilet sound over a song if I didn’t like it,” he says.

Macmanus adds: “What I hope will make people interested in the podcast is the transparency and the honesty. If you think something’s terrible you have to be able to say it, in a respectful way”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Artem Sherstnev/Pexels

I wanted to highlight the podcast, though there was also that thing about constructive criticism. I don’t think it is useful or necessary to attack an artist or pour acid on a song. Music is subjective. You can’t mandate a song is worthless or has no place on radio. That said, there is a rather bright veneer across stations. Tracks are always considered to be great! I don’t think all broadcasters across stations feel that. Some songs are a little weak or in need of improvement, yet they cannot have too much flexibility to express anything constructive. The case of Arielle Free recently proved stations do not tolerate one of their own – or guests even - dumping on a track. Even when it is warranted! It does seem a bit of a shame! I sort of think I could not be a broadcaster as I would not hold back in some cases. It is a tough line to follow. I think that it is vital people are open and honest when it comes to music. You do not need to be cruel at all. There is scope to point out anything that can be improved. Or say you don’t like a track. Radio is a great medium for music discovery, yet there is no real challenging or discussion around tracks. Broadcasters do need to be professional in that sense. Keep things respectful to the degree of not daring to annunciate any disapproval. Maybe there is some wiggle room, but there is less freedom and flexibility in that sense than there was decades ago. Perhaps, in a social media age, this is a good thing. I do like when people can challenge one another and have differing opinions on an artist or track.

 PHOTO CREDIT: drobotdean via Freepik

In terms of music news and events, again, the line is to leave the news to the news presenters and not really mention anything controversial in a show. Maybe if an uplifting news story comes around regarding music, then that can be integrated into a show at some juncture. There is so much new music around, it is impossible to like all of it! Indeed, reflecting what is written in the music media, it would be better and more honest if some of that was mirrored on radio. Again, without attacking an artist or being needlessly harsh, having that constructive approach. Stretch that to stories. Having a little more reign to debate or candid. Radio can be too restrictive and afraid of causing a storm. I do feel like there can be respectability with more balance and opposing views. A little more than mere niceness or skipping over something altogether. Such a powerful and influential medium, there are big music news stories and events that, at times, do need calling to attention and getting spotlighted. Maybe something controversial or troublesome, how often are broadcaster allowed to have their say?! Full respect and admiration to radio. It is such a precious medium. I am looking forward to seeing how Nick Grimshaw and Annie Macmanus develop the Sidetracked series and what comes up. Its pitch and prospects did get me thinking about the strictures regarding personal expression when it comes to a track or music story – particularly when it comes to offering anything less than glowing. A topic that could do with expanding and discussing more, is radio a little too constrained and sanitised?! Is it best to keep it that way?! What Sidetracked will provoke is…

PHOTO CREDIT: Shalom Osezua/Pexels

SOME interesting questions.

FEATURE: Vinylism: Coloured Editions, Supply Issues, Anniversary Reissues, and Keeping the Cost Down

FEATURE:

 

 

Vinylism

PHOTO CREDIT: ALTEREDSNAPS/Pexels

Coloured Editions, Supply Issues, Anniversary Reissues, and Keeping the Cost Down

_________

IT seems axiomatic to say…

 PHOTO CREDIT: cottonbro studio/Pexels

that vinyl is very much booming at the moment. There are issues getting enough of it out there. With limited numbers of plants that can make the product, there is also the issue of the supply chain and huge drawbacks affecting some big plants, I wonder what the future of the format looks like. With the environment and the climate catastrophe in the news, retailers and those who make and export vinyl also need to be wary about the carbon footprint they leave. There are a few things I want to talk about. There are supply fears together with the big costs of producing vinyl. Coupled and linked to that, there is this growing demand every year. It also seems like anniversary editions and a range of coloured vinyl might be overtaking and dominating when there are new artists and those who can only feasibly put out one vinyl run/colour that might be getting overlooked. Also, at a time when the vinyl demand and cost might cause bottleneck issues and long-term sustainability obstacles, could CDs and cassettes be more appealing and produced more cheaply in a range of colours and formats? Could, in an age where we need to think about the environment and cost, a new physical format be introduced? Let’s start with some admin, statistics and background. Every year, it is wonderful that we get to rejoice in the success of a physical music format! Digital music is more affordable, readily available and convenient and yet, year-in-year-out, vinyl especially is seeing increased sales. Whether that is legacy artists’ anniversary issues, or classic albums reaching a new demographic, or terrific albums by newer artists bought on vinyl, it does look good for the market. Like me, you will see artists and labels promoting a new vinyl release. Maybe a new album available in a range of colours – such as Kylie Minogue’s TENSION -, or there are bundle options where you can get a cassette, C.D. or vinyl, there are options for those who want something a bit more bespoke or standout. I love the classic black vinyl - though having choices does mean both supply/production challenges and more buying the format. I will come to an article from last year from The Guardian that questioned the necessity and worth of reissuing fifth anniversary editions of albums (and whether we will get to a stage where artists put out a one-year anniversary release!).

 PHOTO CREDIT: BMG

First, from last year, GRAMMY wrote about a vinyl shortage that was worrying the industry., Whilst I think there has been some progress and resolution, there are still supply problems and a relative shortness. I do wonder, against this appreciation of vinyl and the resultant booming sales, how manufacturers and even record shops can keep up with demand – and prioritise which albums they stock and whether a lot of the sales and options are online:

“How Is The Vinyl Shortage Affecting Record Stores?

Harvest Records' Capon says that at least half of his store's inventory is new vinyl, with about 30 percent used records and a mere 20 percent compact discs. Generally, stocking records isn't a problem. "Since the resurgence began, there are more records than ever being pressed," he observes. It's only when trying to stock specific titles that a problem arises.

"There don't seem to be any issues getting the new Harry Styles or Adele in whatever quantity you want," says Jim Henderson of California retailer Amoeba Music. "The problem affects particular titles," agrees Capon, adding that catalog albums are particularly affected by shortages."Say, Nirvana's Nevermind or The Smashing Pumpkins' Siamese Dream is gone right now, but in their place is something that was unavailable before.'"

But even when a certain title is ostensibly available, getting enough copies to meet consumer demand is not a given. Shipments to stores often include less than what was ordered. "We'll order 10 and get three," Capon says. When that happens enough times, a store buyer might decide to order more than he or she needs, just to get the desired number of records. "Sometimes that works out. But sometimes, ‘Oh, we got the full 25. Now what are we going to do?'" he continues.

PHOTO CREDIT: KoolShooters/Pexels

Larger retailers face the same obstacles, albeit on a larger scale. Amoeba often schedules pre-orders for upcoming, high-demand titles. "We'll have a commitment to get a certain amount of titles in to be able to feed that and still have plenty for the store," says Amoeba's Henderson. "Then there's the reality: when we open up the box, we got a percentage of what we were expecting to get. It's challenging when you think you're getting 90 of something and get 14 [instead]. Pressing plants simply can't produce enough records quickly enough – and in sufficient numbers – to meet demand.

Major music retailers like Amoeba Music offer a more diversified range of products including CDs and other merchandise, so they're less affected by vinyl shortages. New vinyl represents about 20 percent of the California chain's inventory, which offers a significant selection of used records and CDs. But the store isn't completely immune from the negative effects of having to tell a customer they don't have a given title.

"It affects us the way it would affect any retailer trying to get what people want into their hands," Henderson explains. "One of the challenges we face is finding a way to articulate that it's not for a lack of effort." He says that if a customer comes up empty-handed when looking for a specific vinyl record, they might infer that "maybe we're not trying to get that title, or that it's bad buying." To counter that misapprehension, Henderson says that Amoeba makes a point of using social media to announce when titles come back into stock.

Why Are Vinyl Records So Expensive?

Some of the perceived high cost of vinyl records can be explained by a combination of inflationary pressures and the passage of time. During vinyl's heyday in the 1970s and ‘80s, customary list price for a single-disc LP ranged from $5.98 to $8.98. Adjusting only for inflation, that $8.98 record that sold in 1982 can be expected to sell for $26.63 today.

But inflation doesn't explain away the cost differential. "A standard new record for a major artist can cost $45," says Kevin Smokler, co-director of the new documentary film Vinyl Nation. "It probably shouldn't cost $45; we're basically paying people the same way we did in 1975." He believes the disparity between consumer wages and prices "creates an unequal system [in which] people without access to resources are second class citizens. And we don't like that at all."

Some consumers agree with that sentiment. "There is a backlash happening," observes Harvest Records co-owner Mark Capon. "People don't want to pay $40 for a new Harry Styles record. They'll say, ‘I'm just going to stream it.'" He believes that when the prices soar to excessive levels, neither the consumer, retailer or record company wins. "New vinyl prices have gotten prohibitively expensive; if you're a working person with limited expendable income, you're getting priced out."

Alex Cushing asks a rhetorical yet relevant question. "What's the ceiling for a record for the consumer?" He notes that when he sees a black vinyl record with a $35 price tag, he grimaces. "But we grew up in a world of $9.99," he says. Younger record buyers may have entered the marketplace when vinyl sold for $22. "For them, $30 isn't a major increase."

Cushing emphasizes that quality can make or ruin the experience of buying a record. "$30, and you open the record and it's not great — and it's eight months later than you wanted it — then I'm not sure [you're] buying a second record."

Vinyl records are made of PVC (polyvinyl chloride), a petroleum-based plastic. And as Gar Ragland of Citizen Vinyl observes, petroleum-based products have been increasing in price. Since his plant opened in 2020, Ragland says that the price of PVC "has increased three times. We have had to pass that coast along, adjusting our price to our clients accordingly. And I imagine every other pressing plant has done the same." He notes that because of high demand, there has been relatively little resistance from record companies. "It's just the cost of doing business," he says.

In addition to the increasing cost of raw materials, "the real fluctuating cost is shipping and transportation," says Cushing. Acknowledging the current high price of petroleum (and derivative products like PVC), he emphasizes that "it's really nothing in relation to freight costs." Choosing his words carefully, he says, "that industry has seemed to allow itself the most leeway in supply-and-demand pricing."

Still, the issue is a complex one. While many manufacturing processes are partially or completely automated, the pressing of vinyl records remains a labor-intensive process with many manual steps. "The way we make records now is basically how we've been making records forever," says Vinyl Nation co-director Christopher Boone. "It hasn't really changed. It's focused on human beings at many different stages: cutting the lacquers, doing all the plating, actually pressing the records. And that costs money. Then, if you want really cool packaging, that too costs money."

What Does The Future Of Vinyl Look Like?

After a decade-plus without vinyl records, the resurgence that began in the early 21st century shows no sign of subsiding. "As we've spoken with our customers, there seems to be a lot of confidence that the reasons people are buying vinyl are real and sustainable," says United Record Pressing's Mark Michaels.

He notes that vinyl records are now seen as a complement to streaming and digital consumption, and the retail channels support that. "You're seeing a lot of titles sold in Target and Walmart," Michaels observes. "And they're having success. When those retailers get behind a title or category, the orders are enormous."

He acknowledges that the responsibility for filling those orders falls upon manufacturers like United. "If we're going to be a legitimate supply chain partner to the major labels, we better be able to turn large orders fast with service levels that are in line with what they need.

"I don't have a crystal ball," Michaels says. "But I'm a believer."

Alex Cushing acknowledges the challenges but expresses cautious optimism coupled with a sense of urgency. "We have a short window to fix the problems," he says. "And unfortunately, not all these problems are under our control, so I think there are some choppy waters out there. But I think the conditions look favorable."

Bryan Ekus makes note of market forces: "As long as [consumers] are willing to pay $30 for a black record, demand should continue." Amoeba's Henderson makes a similar observation from the retail perspective. "We are concerned that at a certain point, the price tag is going to be detrimental to the collectors," he says. "But the product is such a good product, and people are engaging with it in different ways, so I'd like to think that a few years from now, we'll see steadier fills and consistent access.

Mark Capon of Harvest Records emphasizes that vinyl records aren't a fad. "I think they'll be here for a long time," he says. "And I'm happy about that”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Mick Haupt/Pexels

There does appear to be this continued mixture of streaming and physical sales. People are still streaming a lot, yet the hunger for physical music has not declined. Indeed, I wonder whether there could be a riise in other physical formats as people have less disposable income or want to buy more albums on physical formats – and they feel vinyl is more of a treat when it comes to cost. Music Week reported in July how there is this encouraging appreciation and need for vinyl albums:

“Music Week’s analysis is based on exclusive market figures and sales data from the Official Charts Company and the BPI.

According to BPI data, the half-year results show that album equivalent sales (AES) reached 89,755,479 for the first six months.

The increase marks an acceleration of growth at a time when there had been concerns that a maturing streaming market like the UK might be experiencing a slower rate of increase.

The latest Goldman Sachs Music In The Air report underlined the lower rate of UK streaming growth in recent years.

But so far in 2023, streaming growth has surged into double digits again, with the half-year total for streaming equivalent albums (SEA) up 11.3% year-on-year to 79,241,502. That compares with annual growth of 8.7% at the mid-way point last year, and 8.2% for the full year in 2022.

The second quarter was the driver of growth with album equivalent sales (AES) up 11.1% year-on-year and streaming equivalent albums (SEA) up 12.7%. Physical sales actually increased 3.3% year-on-year in Q2, although that was largely down to CD sales being flat in the quarter. Vinyl was up 10.2% in the quarter.

According to the half-year figures, physical sales were flat – down just 0.3% to 7,795,714 – as growth in LPs offset the 5.8% decline in CD sales. For that six-month period, vinyl sales increased by 12.4% year-on-year to 2,714,642 units.

Despite some hype about the format, cassette sales have slipped back in 2023, down 18.2% year-on-year to 73,204 units. However, the format clearly has its uses, not least in helping Kylie Minogue to secure her first solo Top 10 single since 2010.

Sophie Jones, BPI CSO & interim CEO, said: “With demand for LPs up by over 12% across the first six months and CD sales showing signs of stabilising, the physical market is in encouraging shape considering the economic backdrop and the challenges facing the creative sector. It underlines the importance of continuing to push for growth and supporting talent around the country so that even more artists can benefit from the growth in streaming and vinyl.”

The physical market is in encouraging shape considering the economic backdrop and the challenges facing the creative sector

Sophie Jones

The sales performance by vinyl includes another successful year for Record Store Day. Vinyl revenue outperformed CD for the first time last year, according to ERA.

There has also been positive news for physical music sales with HMV’s plan to bring back its London flagship store.

The strong performance for vinyl was led by new releases by Lana Del Rey, Lewis Capaldi, Gorillaz, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Foo Fighters and Boygenius.

Lana Del Rey’s Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd (Polydor) moved 28,119 vinyl copies in the first six months of the year. The album is No.26 overall so far this year (78,213 sales).

Second place for vinyl sales went to Lewis Capaldi’s Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent (EMI) on 20,019 units.

IN THIS PHOTO: Lewis Capaldi/PHOTO CREDIT: Alexandra Gavillet

Catalogue consumption

The vinyl sales rankings are geared towards new and current releases. The Top 8 albums were released or reissued in 2023, with the exception of Taylor Swift’s Midnights (EMI), and even that is still a current release (from October 2022).

Vinyl perennials Rumours by Fleetwood Mac and The Dark Side Of The Moon by Pink Floyd make up the rest of the Top 10 sellers for the format so far this year.

In contrast, the overall albums sales rankings (covering all formats, including the dominant streaming consumption) have five catalogue titles in the Top 10 for the half-year. That includes the biggest-selling album of the first six months, The Weeknd’s 2021 collection The Highlights (Island/XO/Republic) on 210,533 sales.

The Weeknd is joined by other collections including Elton John’s 2017 release Diamonds (EMI/UMR) at No.5, Eminem’s Curtain Call – The Hits (Polydor) at No.7 and Fleetwood Mac’s 50 Years – Don’t Stop (Rhino) at No.9. The Elton John release received a boost from a legendary Glastonbury performance and new vinyl edition.

In the Official Charts Company’s half-year albums rankings, EMI-signed Lewis Capaldi has two entries in the Top 10: Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent at No.6 (136,987 sales for the half-year) and debut LP, Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent at No.10 (118,383 sales for the half-year) – the fifth catalogue title in the upper echelons.

Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent – the fastest-selling album of the year to date – is the biggest 2023 release so far. In the most recent chart, it rebounded 16-3 following Capaldi’s Glastonbury performance.

Other current releases in the half-year Top 10 are: Taylor Swift’s Midnights (No.2), Harry Styles’ Harry’s House (No.3), SZA’s SOS (No.4) and Ed Sheeran’s – (Subtract) at No.8.

For Nos.11-20 in the half-year albums rankings, nine out of 10 titles are catalogue releases including perennials and pre-2022 releases by Arctic Monkeys, Ed Sheeran (both Equals and Divide), ABBA, Oasis, Taylor Swift (1989 and Lover), Queen and Olivia Rodrigo. Pink’s Trustfall is the only 2023 release between 11-20.

For the half-year Top 20, it means that 70% of entries are catalogue titles – the same proportion for the overall Top 20 albums of 2022. The degree to which streaming subscribers are maxing out on old favourites is contributing to the absence of Top 100 breakthroughs, as catalogue crowds out new talent with 2023 debuts…

UK breakthroughs

The biggest UK debut breakthroughs for the first six months are UK rapper Clavish’s mixtape Rap Game Awful (Polydor) at No.68 (48,060) and Raye’s My 21st Century Blues (Human Re Sources/The Orchard) at No.97 (39,287).

Mimi Webb’s debut album Amelia (RCA) is at No.130 (33,581).

Raye’s UK No.1 single Escapism feat. 070 Shake is the second biggest of the first six months on 850,748 sales. It became The Orchard’s first No.1 single earlier this year.

PinkPantheress has also made a singles chart impact with Boy’s A Liar (Warner Records), which is at No.4 overall (730,466).

Messy In Heaven (Columbia) by Venbee & Goddard is at No.11 (541,204).

EMI’s global streaming star Mae Stephens is at No.50 for the first half of 2023 with debut single If We Ever Broke Up (273,608 sales).

Miley Cyrus’ Flowers (RCA) is the biggest single (1,248,655) of the year so far and the only track to pass a million sales in 2023.

Read about the ABBA catalogue campaign – winner at the Music Week Awards 2023”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Alina Vilchenko/Pexels

I want to conclude with a summary of where vinyl is now and what role cassettes, C.D.s and other possible formats could play. I think a lot of what is driving vinyl sales and appeal is that range of colours. People almost buying vinyl as a collector’s item. It can mean that many artists are having to do this to keep up with larger acts. Perhaps there is an element of the appearance of the vinyl swaying people more than the music. I have no doubt people love vinyl, though I am concerned people might be buying several copies/formats because of the look/coolness of it. Some superfans do it through love of an artist, mind. We want people to support as many artists – established and rising – as they can. Also, there are so many anniversary releases. I love a classic or revered album coming back, maybe with some extras or in a range of colours. It does mean that younger fans might be experiencing that album for the first time . With supply issues being a problem, is releasing a fifth anniversary edition of an album contributing to the problems out there?! The Guardian wrote about this last year:

“The remarkable resurgence of vinyl has been one of the biggest stories in the music industry of the past few years. The once-dead format has seen exponential sales growth, with 5.3m records being sold in the UK in 2021 – the highest volume since 1990, roughly when CD sales began to outpace other formats – and record sales in the US up 15.6% year-on-year in the first few weeks of 2023. This Saturday’s Record Store Day will see the usual yearly clamour for limited vinyl editions, with over 400 records by the likes of the 1975, Taylor Swift, Ellie Goulding and more set to go on sale.

Keen to make the most of a seemingly steady revenue stream, labels have begun increasing production on limited and deluxe repressings of popular albums. Anniversary reissues – once only common to recently remastered records, or albums several decades old – are now becoming popular for releases that are just five years old, such as Cardi B’s Invasion of Privacy, Phoebe Bridgers’ Stranger in the Alps, Lucy Dacus’ Historian and Idles’ Brutalism. They’ve all been repressed in coloured formats or with alternate sleeves in the past two years, often at a slightly increased price point to standard black discs.

 It’s in keeping with a frantically shortening nostalgia cycle that’s seen frenzied media coverage of supposed emo and “indie sleaze” revivals and music publications churning out cheap anniversary content – although these repressings seemingly offer little to the consumer other than a coloured disc. But Hannah Carlen and Ali Murphy – marketing directors for heavy-hitting indie conglomerate Secretly Group, which released Bridgers’ album – insist that fifth anniversary pressings allow artists to “give new fans something, and say ‘you’re welcome here too – you don’t have to be a day one fan’,” says Carlen.

Bridgers’ album hadn’t been repressed on coloured vinyl – demand for which vastly outstrips black vinyl – since 2019. In the intervening years, she broke through to the mainstream with her second album Punisher and found a swathe of new fans thanks to collaborations with Taylor Swift, SZA and Paul McCartney. Last year, it was rereleased in a run of 10,000 “galaxy-coloured” records. An anniversary “acknowledges that there’s been a lot of new fans over that span of time, and maybe they haven’t gotten access to something special, or when they’ve looked for it on eBay it’s $200,” says Carlen. (Original coloured pressings of Stranger have sold for upwards of £600 on the vinyl resale website Discogs.) “We don’t want to relegate people to a crazy inflated secondhand market.”

Lawrence Montgomery, managing director of Rough Trade record shops, concurs: anniversary pressings with alternate covers or vinyl colours, he says, are in tune with “demand from customers for unique vinyl pressings”.

PHOTO CREDIT: cottonbro studio/Pexels

“I think it’s about the reaction to streaming and digital consumerism,” he says. “Streaming is really good for vinyl sales because people can discover artists much more easily than they could in the past – when you then want to buy something to reaffirm your love of an artist, you want something more special.” During Covid, he says, many consumers began to use money they would have once spent on gig tickets on vinyl; at the same time, collectors have become “very savvy about finding what the best variant in the market is”.

In a crowded market, a limited edition repressing can also help a record get noticed by music shops with limited stock space. With a different barcode and catalogue number to a standard repressing, distributors can resolicit it for distribution. “The timeline of a record has changed so drastically,” says Ali Murphy. “Twenty years used to be the span of time in which people were celebrating a record, and now it’s got so much shorter, not only due to the quickness of everything coming out.”

IMAGE CREDIT: rawpixel.com via Freepik

For millennial music fans, the boom in anniversary content may feel like an exploitation of their recent youth. But Montgomery says that a younger contingent of fans is rivalling audiophiles and DJs as a significant market for vinyl, thanks to pop artists like Taylor Swift and Lana Del Rey, who turn their albums into collectibles through the release of multiple alternate album covers or disc colours, and #VinylTok, a TikTok tag that creators use to showcase their collections and obsess over special editions. “We’ve done really well this year with Boygenius, Lana Del Rey, Caroline Polachek, Taylor,” he says.

Although coloured vinyl reissues can combat the arguably overinflated secondhand market, some consumers have still perceived a sense of engineered scarcity with the most popular records. Ben Van Woerkom, a 26-year-old record collector from New Zealand, says that he’s felt fatigue seeing how many new variants and anniversary pressings are hitting the market. “I think we’re at a point where we’ll reach too [high a volume] of people talking about and obsessing over what’s best and what’s new,” he says. “People will give up on vinyl altogether – it’ll just implode. I’ve been feeling pretty pessimistic about it. I’m spending too much money trying to get the ‘ultimate collection’, or whatever”.

There are a lot of factors out there that dictate the continuation of vinyl love and climbing sales. New plants being feasible to build, existing ones able to produce vinyl quickly enough and there not being a bottleneck, whether anniversary editions and different-coloured vinyl getting in the way of albums by other artists, the cost of buying an album in the first place, whether the cost of living and environmental issues will limit sales and supply. We all want physical music to thrive and be readily available for decades to come. Modest by comparisons, C.D.s and cassettes are still being bought. As I have written about how we need portable devices to play cassettes. Coloured cassettes are available, though many are bought and not played. A cheaper alternative to vinyl – and not subject to as many production issues and delays -, perhaps there needs to be new focus on the benefit of cassettes. The same with C.D.s. If there are more portable devices and the cost can be kept down, then this could be a possible vinyl alternative. Costs dictate a lot of people’s buying habits, so having a physical format that is somewhere between £10-£12 is vital. I am not sure how possible it is to make C.D.s and cassettes more durable and less fragile – without modifying the design or incurring too much cost -; that would make it more appealing to people who rightly note how vinyl is pretty sturdy and tends to last a bit longer. Innovative projects like Green Vinyl Records are trying to make the format more environmentally responsible. I do wonder whether a new physical format could be invented that is less reliant on plastic. Can be produced more cleanly and, importantly, the cost is less than vinyl.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Swapnil Sharma/Pexels

I think I have speculated before but, back in the day, we had the MiniDisc. They are still about, though they were one of the physical format causalities (discontinued in 2013). Older technology like the iPod and MiniDisc that died because things were becoming more digital are strangely apt and relevant now. Not predictable back then, I think it is time to consider the possibility of either reviving a dead physical format – and making sure there was great artwork on the cover and the physical appeal was there – or considering a new one. So many people love vinyl as it is weighty and you get that big sleeve with the artwork. There is that cute tangible nature of cassettes and C.D.s. Coloured vinyl is eye-catching and interesting, whereas you also get the satisfaction of having the chance to build a collection. Making a physical format tiny might seem more streamlined and convenient, yet you lose something in terms of its physical ‘value’ – how appealing it and the fact that bigger seems better. There does need to be this long-term consideration. There are ways now artists can get maximise income from C.D.s; why there does seem to be this deeper connection with music on a physical format compared to streaming. The reality is vinyl supply cannot always catch up with demand. That issue may only intensify. There does need to be more thought given to making cassettes and C.D.s more appealing and portable devices reissue. Thinking about a new physical format that is ‘green’, portable (but not too tiny), affordable – the £10-£15 mark seems right – and, also, sustainable in terms of its toughness and physical appeal. The vinyl boom is the positive note to end on. How it is become more collectable and appealing to buyers of all ages. How this trend will continue (let’s hope) for years to come! With that news in mind, we can confidently both drop the mic and…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Anton H/Pexels

DROP the needle.

FEATURE: Reaching Out for This Woman’s Work: Kate Bush’s The Sensual World at Thirty-Four: The Interviews

FEATURE:

 

 

Reaching Out for This Woman’s Work

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1989/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari 

Kate Bush’s The Sensual World at Thirty-Four: The Interviews

_________

ONE of Kate Bush’s…

finest albums., The Sensual World, I feel, is one that is underplayed. Arriving on 17th October, 1989, it came four years after her masterpiece, Hounds of Love. I am going to do a few features on The Sensual World. It is an album where the major tracks such as This Woman’s Work and The Sensual World are played and know, and yet there are deeper cuts that are either unknown or virtually never played. Perhaps less recognisable than Hounds of Love in that sense, I think that The Sensual World is the album where Bush was opening up more. Revealing more of herself through the songs. An album wonderfully sequenced so the bigger songs – The Sensual World, Deeper Understanding and This Woman’s Work – are at the top, middle and bottom. Maybe tracks like Love and Anger and deeper cuts such as Never Be Mine are not as strong as other songs through the albums. I feel that Bush was trying to be a bit more personal and less oblique. More sensual and evocative, there is a whole new world created by her. With its own sound palette and this incredibly rich production throughout (by Bush), we get to bask in some magnificent singing. Bush’s voice sounding more mature and wide-ranging then ever. A cast of terrific musicians adding layers and nuance to each track. Featuring players such as Mick Karn, and a new addition of the Trio Bulgarka on three songs – they would reappear on the follow-up, 1993’s The Red Shoes -, The Sensual World is a classic! Reaching number two in the U.K. and doing well around the world (it got to forty-three in the U.S.), this album’s upcoming thirty-fourth anniversary should be celebrated.

In further features about the album, I will focus on particular songs, and get a sense of how The Sensual World has been received and how it endures. To start, there are some interview from 1989, where Bush was promoting her sixth studio album. At a time when things were changing for her – she was in a new relationship (as far as I confirm date-wise) with Danny McIntosh; Bush in her thirties -, this was an exciting stage of her career. I will bring in a couple of interviews. The first, with Steve Sutherland of Melody Maker, was published in October 1989:

“With her Sensual World LP being hailed as one of this year's best and the single of the same name still high in the charts <This was already untrue at the time this interview was published>, Kate Bush celebrates her triumphant return with Steve Sutherland.

An hour before she tells me I have a lovely energy and just about makes my year, she apologises for keeping me waiting. "I just had to have a fag," she says, dogging a butt in the ashtray. "I was just dying for one." for one."

Something isn't right here. I mean, I don't know who I thought Kate Bush would be when I walked into the downstairs room of Durrant's Hotel where she is drinking tea and, but I didn't think Kate Bush would smoke.

I think perhaps I was expecting her to be like Emma Thompson, a woman whose precocious talent has been critically downplayed because it springs from a privileged background rather than one of strife or suffering; a woman not so much other -worldly as cocooned from the weird old world for her own safety and sanity.

I think I still expected to meet a hippy nymph despite the evidence of my ears. Sitting in the foyer under the influence of her new LP, watching the first, solitary autumn leaf blow in off the street onto the Axminster, and reading symbolism into the American photographer asking for the price labels to be removed from the olde worlde mementoes on show in the Regency cabinets, I must have ignored the fact that only Prince has been more consistently intriguing <More? More ??>, more exuberantly experimental, more willing to take risks for the sake of pure music in the Eighties. Only the pneumatic Purple Rain pumped blood faster than Hounds of Love, only Around the World in a Day repatterned the embroidery of pop with the same haughty disregard for convention as The Sensual World, her seventh LP if you her seventh LP if you count the greatest hits compilation,

I think I thought Kate Bush would be Green and ozone-friendly--all ballet shoes and Laura Ashley frocks. The St. Michael's blouse and slacks, the tiny navy socks and no shoes, the Benson & Hedges freaked me out.

I think I thought of Kate Bush as a precious oasis in a tarnished world, a pearl cast before the swinish hordes. I guess I forgot Kate Bush is a genius.

"I think most people tend to think of me as the weird Wuthering Heights singer--that is definitely the image that's stuck with most people, which I find extraordinary because it's...so long ago."

She laughs and, when she laughs, her cheeks dimple like a Disney chipmunk.

"Extraordinary is a very good word, I think. I don't know why people are still keen on...I don't know why people bother with me."

Really?

"Really."

She's so small, it't extraordinary.

It took Kate Bush four years to make The Sensual World, and we've been given an hour to talk about it. Great.

I think about telling Kate how surprised I am she's so small, or how shocked I am she smokes, but time is not on my side so I decide, instead, to tell her how delighted I am that she's come to the conclusion that the past and the future aren't beyond changing. The album sounds so optimistic in an era when absolutely everything appears to be falling apart.

Kate naturally loves this interpretation, but the fact is that the album is certainly as loaded with dark and pessimistic images and ideas as it is with optimistic ones. In IED's opinion Sutherland has swotted up on what Kate has been saying recently, and is now rephrasing a lot of her own preferences in conversation with her, as though they were his own ideas rather than borrowed ones, precisely in order to ingratiate Kate. It works, and it may even be a good idea, since the other methods of engaging her in conversation have seldom produced great publishable material.

"Oh, thank you! Thank you so much! That's really how I wanted it to be but, talking to a lot of friends and that, they feel it's a dark album."

I didn't think that at all...

"Oh, great."

...I thought some of the situations were dark, but the way they're resolved is optimistic. <What about the way Heads, We're Dancing is "resolved"? What about the way Deeper Understanding is "resolved"? What about the way Never Be Mine is "resolved"?

"Oh, that's great. Thank you. Yes. That's really great. I'm so pleased you heard it like that. You see, for a lot of people it's so complicated to listen to, and that worries me, because I like the idea of people being able to listen to it easily and...uh...I don't want to confuse people but, for some people, it's very hard for them to even take it in, let alone sort of get anything out of it.

"I do think art should be simple, you see. It shouldn't be complicated, and I think, in some ways, this has come across a bit complicated." <This is one of Kate's "new" ideas--opinions which she has not really made prior to 1989, but which she has been repeating in multiple interviews since the release of the new album. IED finds it highly intriguing, because it is so vague and so patently at odds with the way her own art has always been--and continues to be--made.

Maybe that's because, for me, the album's about relationships--the relationship between language and emotion, the relationship between language and music, the relationship between emotion and music and how all this expresses, or more crucially fails to express, the relationship between people. And relationships, as we all know, are never ever easy”.

I would recommend people check out interviews Kate Bush was involved with around The Sensual World. I may have brought these in before, yet it is worth revisiting for this anniversary feature. I will end with an interview from Q. Conducted by Phil Sutcliffe, it was printed in November 1989. There are sections from the interview that caught my eye that I want to highlight:

“This time round, apart from dancing and running, the panacea was the garden at the house she and Del moved into three years ago in Eltham, Southeast London (brother Jay and family live next door; her parents' home still only half an hour away). "I sometimes I think I might as well just be a brain and a big pair of ears on legs, stuck in front of a mixing desk," she says. "But when I took that break from The Sensual World I really got into gardening. I mean, it's literally a very down-to-earth thing, isn't it? Real air. Away from the artificial light. Very therapeutic."

Another renewable source of inspiration has been exotic instrumentation, usually provided by a visit to Dublin and various members of the staunchly traditional folk troupe, The Chieftains, or by turning to brother Paddy (who specialised in making medieval instruments at the London College of Furniture and will knock out the odd koto or strumento de porco as and when). But for The Sensual World she's leavened the Celtic skirl with a bit of Balkan. She first heard the Trio Bulgarka in '86 and was suitably astonished. A year later it dawned on her that their full-throated harmonies might suit her songs. Connections were made through Joe Boyd of Hannibal Records, their UK label, and Kate flew out to Sofia for an entrancing experience of world music.

"They couldn't speak a word of English and I couldn't speak a word of Bulgarian," she says. "Everything went through translators and it didn't matter at all. Lovely working with women, and especially them, they're very affectionate. We tended to communicate through cuddles rather than words. In fact, we could get on perfectly well without the translators. At one point we were talking away in the studio when the translator walked in and we all shut up because she'd suddenly made us self-conscious about what we were doing." The Trio can be heard on three tracks, including the strikingly unlikely setting of Deeper Understanding, a very modern-world song about an alienated woman and her relationship with her computer.

"This is definitely my most personal, honest album," she says. "And I think it's my most *feminine* album, in that I feel maybe I'm not trying to prove something in terms of a woman in a man's world -- God, here we go!" She seems to be wary of provoking a heavy debate about feminism. "On The Dreaming and Hounds Of Love, particularly from a production standpoint, I wanted to get a lot more weight and power, which I felt was a very male attitude. In some cases it worked very well, but.. . perhaps this time I felt braver as a woman, not trying to do the things that men do in music."

The Fog is a brave song. It co-stars Kate's dad on spoken vocals intoning with fatherly/doctorly reassurance, "Just put your feet down child/'Cos you're all grown-up now".

"I started with the idea of a relationship in deep water and thought I could parallel that with learning to swim, the moment of letting go," she says. "When my dad was teaching me to swim he'd hold both my hands, then say, Now, let go. So I would, then he'd take two paces back and say, Right, swim to me, and I'd be, Oo-er, blub, blub, blerb. But I though it was such a beautiful image of the father and child, all wrapped up in the idea of really loving someone, but letting them go, because that's a part of real love, don't you think, the letting go?"

So it's personal about Kate and her father then. It sounds as though it might be personal about her and Del too.

"Yes, it does, doesn't it?" She laughs, really amused by her professionally evasive reply. "Have you ever watched Woody Allen being interviewed? Obviously his films are very personal and when the interviewer asks him the 'Has this happened to you then?' question, he's all.. ." She cowers back into her chair, crosses and uncrosses her legs, thrashes about like a speared fish. "Then he'll say, Uh, well, no, I'm just acting out a role. It's ironic, but it's much easier to speak about very personal things to lots of people through a song, a poem or a film than it is to confront the world with them through someone asking questions. Maybe you worry because it's going to be indirectly reported."

Kate Bush leads a quiet, fairly limited life so her options on subject matter my be relatively restricted. Although she has ventured into political issues with Breathing (nuclear war) and The Dreaming (Aborigine rights), she generally declares her own ignorance and refrains from writing songs that would only prove it. But she will often borrow a story and make it her own -- from books (Wuthering Heights, obviously, and Cloudbusting, from Peter Reich's memoir of his father called A Book Of Dreams), TV (Pull Out The Pin was inspired by a documentary about the Viet Cong), or films (the idea for Get Out Of My House came from The Shining).

However, it was a story told by an older friend that sowed the seeds for Heads We're Dancing, a near-disco piece about a night out with Hitler. "Years ago this friend of mine went to a dinner and spent the whole evening chatting to this fascinating guy, incredibly charming, witty, well-read, but never found out his name," she says. "The next day he asked someone else who'd been there who it was. 'Oh, didn't you know? That's Oppenheimer, the man who invented the atomic bomb.' My friend was horrified because he thought he should have given the guy hell, attacked him, he didn't know what.

"But the point was one moment this person is charming, then when you find out who he is, he's completely different. So I thought, Who's the worst person you could possibly meet in those circumstances? Hitler! And the story developed. A woman at a dance before the war and this guy comes up to her tossing a coin with this cocky chat-up line, Heads we're dancing. She doesn't recognise him until she sees his face in the paper later on and then she's devastated. She thinks that if she'd known she might have been able to *get* him and change the course of history. But he was a person who fooled a tremendous number of people and I don't think they can be blamed. It worries me a bit that this song could be received wrongly, though."

It could well be that the musically extended family and extended home of Kate Bush even embrace her feelings for her songs themselves. She has an intimacy with them, a distinctive candour about sensuality and sexuality to which her present album title track is something of a natural conclusion.

It passed more or less unnoticed in her early days that she was casually breaking taboos in every other song. Tricky items on her agenda included incest (brother and sister in The Kick Inside, woman and young boy in The Infant Kiss), homosexuality (Wow, Kashka From Baghdad) and period pains (Strange Phenomena, Kites [sic]). Her sympathetic, non-judgmental approach was probably one of the less obvious reasons why she appealed so strongly to both sexes, but she would occasionally remark that she was grateful the tabloids didn't read lyric sheets. Otherwise she could have been up to her neck in bishops and Mrs. Whitehouse demanding that the nation's children be protected from this filth.

In fact, the moment anyone other than a fan thinks they've spotted a hint of sex in her songs she becomes very hesitant. Once, when she was working on Breathing, an EMI executive walked in to be greeted by the hypnotic "out-in, out-in, out-in" chant. Taking a firm hold on the wrong end of the stick, he asked her how she could even dream of releasing this pornography. The possibility of such gross misunderstandings shakes her faith in the "purity" -- a favourite word -- of what she's doing. But not enough to make her back off.

"Don't you think Art is a tremendous sensual-sexual expression? I feel that energy often.. . the driving force is probably not the right way to put it," she says, still trying to skirt the fnaarr-fnaarr potential of the topic.

Whether or not her speculation about the nature of Art is on the money, she made her own experience of the creative process quite clear with the cover of Never For Ever. A cornucopia of fantastic and real, beautiful and vile creatures -- the products of her imagination -- is shown swirling our from beneath her skirt. At the time, thinking about this and the steamy, masturbatory atmosphere of many of the songs she wrote in her teens such as The Man With The Child In His Eyes and Saxophone Song, she said: "It's not such an open thing for women to be physically attracted to the male body and fantasise about it. I can't understand that because to me the male body is absolutely beautiful.. . Physical masturbation, it's a feeling so bottled up you have to relieve it, as if you were crying."

The Sensual World is a song that translates the old ache to a different level -- with the invaluable help of James Joyce. "I had a rhythm idea with a synth line I took home to work on one night," she says. "While I was playing it this repeated *Yes* came to me and made me think of Molly Bloom's speech right at the end of Ulysses -- which I *have* actually read all through! I went downstairs and read it again, this unending sentence punctuated with 'yeses', fantastic stuff, and it was uncanny, it fitted the rhythm of my song." (The last lines of Molly Bloom's great stream of consciousness read: "then he asked me would I yes to say yes my mountain flower and first I put my arms around him yes and drew him down to me so he could feel my breasts all perfume yes and his heart was going like mad and yes I said yes I will Yes.")

Although to Kate "it felt like it was meant to happen", when she applied through "official channels" (presumably the Joyce estate) for permission to use it, she was refused. But she wasn't to be deflected. "I tried to write it like Joyce," she says, smiling in self-mockery. "The rhythm at least I wanted to keep. Obviously I couldn't do his style. It became a song about Molly Bloom, the character, stepping out of the page -- black and white, two-dimensional, you see -- and into the real world, the sensual world. Touching things." She declaims exaggeratedly. "The grass underfoot! The mountain air! I know it sounds corny, but it's about the whole sensual experience, this wonderfully human thing. . ."

And lines like "his spark took life in my hand"?

"Yes, it is rather saucy. But not nearly as sexy as James Joyce." She looks concerned again. "I'd be really worried -- there's nothing I can do about it now because it's all part of the process -- but I would be worried if people felt this ambiguity between sensual and sexual”.

On 17th October, one of Kate Bush’s best albums turns thirty-four. The majestic and beautiful The Sensual World is one of the critical favourites. Out of her ten studio albums so far, it always comes in the top five – for the most part anyway! In 2022, SPIN ranked it fourth; Rough Trade placed it third this year; Pink News put it in fifth last year; in 2019, NME ranked it third; Far Out Magazine have it as third-best, whereas Stereogum placed The Sensual World in first in their feature from 2013. Maybe it is subjective or related to time. The Sensual World has aged very well. What we do know is how revered and loved the album is. From its divine title track to lesser-heard songs such as Rocket’s Tail, The Sensual World is…

A true classic.

FEATURE: The Digital Mixtape: Girl Group Deep Cuts

FEATURE:

 

 

The Digital Mixtape

IN THIS PHOTO: En Vogue in 1991

Girl Group Deep Cuts

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NOT related to any anniversary…

 IN THIS PHOTO: All Saints circa 1997

I have been getting back into music from girl groups. A term I have always hated, I am not sure how to rename and reframe the brilliant women whose Pop, Soul and R&B of the '90s and '00s were such a vital part of my musical education when I was a teenager. I am also a fan of those from back in the 1960s and 1970s. To me, we do not really have the same calibre and variety of girl groups. I guess K-Pop groups like BLACKPINK are modern examples. We have FLO in the U.K. The U.S.’s Fifth Harmony are on hiatus at the moment. So too are our Little Mix. The golden age, in my view, was from the late-1980s to early-'90s through to the early-'00s. Legends like TLC, En Vogue, Destiny’s Child, All Saints and, to a slightly lesser extent, Spice Girls released this anthemic and instantly catchy music. With incredible vocal harmonies, killer hooks, and that mix of uplifting tracks and more reflective ballads, we all know the hits from the greats. Whilst the albums are popular, how many of the deep cuts from girl groups does one hear?! Certainly, when you hear TLC or All Saints played, it is usually one of their bigger singles. As I have been exploring the ‘genre’ and, in the course of that, discovering the deep cuts that should be played more, I wanted to put a few into a playlist. Therefore, below is a selection of interesting and varied deep cuts and rarities from some of the best girl groups of all time. I hope that these songs lead you to the groups and their albums. They might not all be to your taste but, as you will hear, one cannot define and limit great girl groups…

TO their hits and chart-toppers.

FEATURE: Revisiting… Suki Waterhouse – I Can't Let Go

FEATURE:

 

 

Revisiting…

Suki Waterhouse – I Can't Let Go

_________

I am looking back…

at quite a few albums from last year for Revisiting… This feature is for albums from the past five years that either need some new attention or were underrated when they were released. Suki Waterhouse’s debut album, I Can’t Let Go, got critical love and attention - though I did not feel as many of the mainstream sites and papers reviewed it. So many of the songs should be played on the radio now. It is a great album that album with so many wonderful and memorable moments. I am going to finish with a couple of reviews for Waterhouse’s brilliant 2022 debut. Also check out the follow-up E.P., Milk Teeth. That compiled her non-album singles. I Can’t Let Go came out on 22nd April, 2022. You may recognise Waterhouse from the U.S. drama, Daisy Jones & The Six. The U.S.-based, U.K.-born actor and model is also one of the most interesting and promising artists around. I feel she stands out in a very busy, varied and competitive industry. I will move on soon. First, Rough Trade provide details about Suki Waterhouse’s I Can’t Let Go:

“Nowadays, voice memos, videos, and pictures chronicle our lives in real-time. We trace where we’ve been and reveal where we’re going. However, Suki Waterhouse catalogs the most intimate, formative, and significant moments of her life through songs. You might recognize her name or her work as singer, songwriter, actress but you’ll really get to know the multi-faceted artist through her music. Memories of unrequited love, fits of longing, instances of anxiety, and unfiltered snapshots interlock like puzzle pieces into a mosaic of well-worn country, ‘90s-style alternative, and unassuming pop. She writes the kind of tunes meant to be grafted onto dusty old vinyl from your favorite vintage record store, yet perfect for a sun-soaked festival stage. Her first album for Sub Pop, I Can’t Let Go, is a testament to her powers as a singer and songwriter.

In Suki’s words: “The album is called I Can’t Let Go because for years it felt like I was wearing heavy moments on my sleeve and it just didn’t make sense to do so anymore. There’s so much that I’ve never spoken about. Writing music has always been where it felt safe to do so. Every song for the record was a necessity. In many ways, I’ve been observing my life as an outsider, even when I’ve been on the inside. It’s like I was a visitor watching things happen.”

Growing up in London, Suki gravitated towards music’s magnetic pull. She listened to the likes of Alanis Morissette and Fiona Apple, and Oasis held a special place in her heart. She initially teased out this facet of her creativity with a series of singles, generating nearly 20 million total streams independently. Nylon hailed her debut track, “Brutally,” as “what a Lana Del Rey deep cut mixed with Joni Mitchell’s ‘Both Sides, Now’ would sound like.” In addition to raves from Garage, Vice and Lemonade Magazine, DUJOR put it best: “Suki Waterhouse’s music has swagger.” Suki is constantly consuming artists of all stripes, and, in the lead-up to making I Can’t Let Go, she was particularly drawn to the work of Sharon Van Etten, Valerie June, Garbage, Frazey Ford, Lou Doillon, and Lucinda Williams. After falling in love with Hiss Golden Messenger’s Terms of Surrender, she reached out to its producer Brad Cook (Bon Iver, War On Drugs, Snail Mail, Waxahatchee) to help define the sound of I Can’t Let Go. On I Can’t Let Go, Suki not only catalogs her life up to this point, but she also fulfills a lifelong ambition.

“When I’ve been stuck or feel out of touch with a sense of inner meaning and outer purpose, I’ve found both through searching my memories and finding those events buried in the shadowy areas of the psyche where they were ignored,” she says. “So many times of change in my life have required return visits—especially at the transitions through to the next stages. The album is an exploration of those moments when there is nothing left to lose. What is left and can’t be thrown away is the self”.

This great interview from Rolling Stone UK is worth a read. I am going to start with quoting from an interview between The Guardian and Suki Waterhouse from April 2022. I think that a lot of her fans are wondering whether there will be an E.P. coming before the end of this year – or whether she has plans for a second album next year. She is very much in demand across music and Hollywood right now. I think that the two compliment each other and work well when it comes to Waterhouse’s cinematic songs:

“ This is not a golden era for women writing love songs about men. With the exception of Lana Del Rey, the last decade of female-fronted pop has been defined by revenge anthems and breakup bangers, with “dump him” a common refrain. But Suki Waterhouse isn’t sold.

“I find the whole ‘dump him’ thing very toxic,” she whispers into her oat milk latte in a quiet nook of Notting Hill’s Electric cinema in west London. “I get it, but it’s important not to underestimate how incredible it is to be with somebody. And also how yummy and wonderful masculinity can be when it’s the good kind, when it’s warm and protecting … ” She pauses, smiling knowingly. “Anyway, let’s not go on that tangent!”

This week, Waterhouse is releasing her debut album, I Can’t Let Go, through Sub Pop. Produced by Brad Cook, the man Pitchfork called “indie’s secret weapon” (he has worked on albums by Bon Iver and the War on Drugs), it is 10 tracks of sweeping Americana, with heart-on-sleeve lyrics that land somewhere between Taylor Swift’s simplicity and Del Rey’s fatalism (“I believe in old-fashioned things / Imagining us,” she sings on the lead single, Melrose Meltdown).

PHOTO CREDIT: Dana Trippe

“So much of my life has been this weird blur,” says Waterhouse, running her hands through her hair – dishevelled but somehow still immaculate. I ask whether romance is the biggest force behind her songwriting. “It’s literally how I remember everything,” she says. “Who I was in love with at the time, how we broke up, and what happened after.”

Waterhouse has been in the public eye since she was 16, starting her career as a model in the late 2000s. For more than a decade she has been a fixture on runways and magazine covers, a bona fide “it girl”, regularly papped with her friends and fellow models Adwoa Aboah and Cara Delevingne. Then there’s the acting career, which has seen her appear in a mishmash of blockbuster romcoms (Love, Rosie), cult black comedies (Assassination Nation) and documentary-style TV series (the upcoming Daisy Jones & the Six). Throw in a photography exhibition here, an accessories brand there – not to mention a slew of high-profile relationships with the likes of Bradley Cooper, Diego Luna and, currently, the Batman himself, Robert Pattinson.

It is hard not to feel that this latest addition to her pop-cultural portfolio is a little … low stakes? “I’m really aware that it’s like: ‘Oh, you’ve done modelling, you’ve done acting, and now you’re gonna give me this album.’ I’m really wary of people just being like: ‘Fuck off!’” she admits. “I totally get it.”

Rather than manifesting a sudden burst of confidence, I Can’t Let Go came together like a photo album: snapshots of different times, places and people. The breathy acoustic track Slip was written during a trip to Montreal, where she went to work with a chef-cum-musician on the recommendation of someone she met on a night out; the reverb-heavy ballad My Mind was written during the pandemic in her west London flat, where building work meant the windows were blacked out for months; Melrose Meltdown was inspired not by the trip she took with a friend to Bhutan (“We were drinking too much and feeling a bit shit”), but by a text she read on the plane home. “She was showing me some messages and I was moved by her alcoholic ex-boyfriend, who’s really quite a good poet in a way.”

The album has a rose-tinted energy, with restrained backdrops that marry 60s girl-group sentiments with dreamy modern pop and lyrics that would be at home on early 2010s Tumblr – there’s plenty of “crying on your milk-white sheets” and getting “faded into oblivion”. It’s very two drinks into an evening, when emotions are generous and arise as if out of nowhere.

“I definitely approached it thinking quite cinematically,” she says, citing Thelma & Louise and Fruits of My Labor by the country singer Lucinda Williams as inspirations for her goal of making something that “sounds good in the middle of the desert”. Fittingly for the subject matter, the space they were meant to record in fell through and they ended up in a wedding hall, with Cook and members of Bon Iver bringing Waterhouse’s demos to life in a bridesmaids’ room crowded with makeup lights and “Live, Laugh, Love” cushions”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

Back in May 2022, Suki Waterhouse chatted with Atwood Magazine about her much anticipated debut. She was gearing up to hit the road appearing alongside the superb Father John Misty. I have a lot of love and respect for Waterhouse’s music. She is singular and distinct as a songwriter and vocalist. I hope to catch her on the road soon:

“It doesn’t really become about you, after a while,” she says of revisiting the past through songwriting and singing. “It’s also about finding a bliss within the good and the bad, (and) finding some kind of way that you’ve found some kind of peace within yourself.”

Waterhouse was inspired to continue putting pen to paper – and to hone in on a signature sound – through her friendship with Dave Sitek, famously of TV On The Radio. His eclectic influence left its mark on Waterhouse’s work. In past years honing her craft, she’d written with a wide cast of characters, but hadn’t quite found a driving influence.

It was a trip to famed Texas recording outpost Sonic Ranch with Sitek pre-pandemic that helped Waterhouse unlock even more of that creativity, working on demos, building bonfires and writing songs.

It was only a matter of time before she connected – via Sitek – with the producer of her debut LP, Brad Cook (you’ve heard his production work on albums by Hiss Golden Messenger and The War on Drugs).

Sitek had previously recorded with Cook via The Neverly Boys.

It was one song in particular by Hiss Golden Messenger – “Cat’s Eye Blue” – that had echoes of what Waterhouse wanted in her album, including “gentle pushes” and “drenched strings.”

Even without ever having met Cook before recording with him, Waterhouse felt things would work out – even if the recording process was delayed by the pandemic.

But the journey to getting the record out into the world wasn’t quite that simple once it was complete, either. Waterhouse didn’t have a label deal, and was ruminating on self-releasing it before landing with Sub Pop.

The multi-hyphenate Waterhouse kept the faith, though – it was right down there in her diary all along.

“If I was to show you the back of my diary pages…I always write down what I hope will happen as if it’s already happened,” Waterhouse says of yearning to sign with an outstanding record label.

Does she feel any pressure signing to a legendary label like the long-running Pacific Northwest stalwarts? Not exactly – gratitude is in no short supply.

“It’s such an amazing surprise and joy,” Waterhouse says. “It’s a new, exciting thing and it’s incredibly thrilling to me.”

The thrills, twists and turns aren’t in short supply, either – last fall, Waterhouse took the stage at two illustrious festivals (Atlanta rock hotspot Shaky Knees and the eclectic BottleRock Napa Valley), playing to the biggest crowds she’d ever seen – a long way from a high school assembly.

“You’re going out there and you’ve not done this before at all,” Waterhouse says with a laugh. She’s got plenty of support in her corner: She’s backed by an all-female band and gearing up for her biggest tour yet.

The tour in question? A cross-country jaunt supporting Father John Misty, one that essentially marks the most Waterhouse has seen of America. Stops include some of the country’s biggest venues: Try Red Rocks amphitheatre and Radio City Music Hall on for size, among others.

Bigger crowds present even bigger opportunities for Waterhouse, who’s ready to lean fully into the art of live performance.

“You can see this thing outside yourself and view it as an observer, and not just within yourself,” she says of taking the stage and delivering intensely personal tracks off I Can’t Let Go”.

I’ll round off with proof that I Can’t Let Go is an album worth investigating. It received some really positive reviews from critics. This is what The Line of Best Fit had to say when they sat down with the album. They focus on the remarkable storytelling that means you are immersed and pulled into these rich and sumptuous vignettes:

“Suki Waterhouse’s debut album is a shimmering soft-pop opus that revels in its self-indulgence, and shines all the more for it. Led by her soulful delivery and musically arranged only ever as much as it needs to be, ethereal atmosphere-weaving is the star quality of I Can’t Let Go.

Every vignette Waterhouse shares is simultaneously stripped-back and sumptuously deep, stunningly put together to focus on the storytelling. Each track is a tale in the same mode as the likes of Lana Del Rey’s Hollywood visions – an easy, seemingly obvious comparison, given the poetry of Waterhouse’s lyrics and the familiar, immersive sprawl of her musicality. It’s there in “Melrose Meltdown”’s polaroid moment of Malibu dreams in a metaphorical getaway car, “Wild Side”’s almost-but-not-quite idealism of a relationship’s moments of turmoil, “Put Me Through It”’s wistful stratospheric beauty.

But hone in closer, looking for specific points to draw comparison between Waterhouse and her contemporaries, the red threads fray a little – this is diaristic and personal on every level, and though comparisons are inevitable, they find themselves feeling defunct in the fact of the humanity that saturates I Can’t Let Go. Because as personal and sometimes painful as it is, it’s also really playful. Waterhouse explores her internal world with a wry smile here and there (“Bullshit On The Internet” is as self-awarely self-indulgent as you can get, and excellently, dreamily so), and isn’t really bothered if people are following, or enraptured, or enchanted. As striking and silky as the lyricism is, Waterhouse isn’t seeking poetic accolades for it, she’s just weaving her words to vocalise a state of being, and then the music to set it to.

Each moment deftly distinguishes itself from what came before, on an album that when you’re not listening to it, shimmers into a continuous ride of smooth, hazy undulations. There’s just enough of a line between cohesion and repetition that leaves I Can’t Let Go feeling like a world of its own without losing precision. “Devil I Know” is a standout, an early moment of sultry punctuation in basslines and hooks; “Slip” closes the album off like a segue into a synthy sunshine-pop, Jack Antonoff-esque production. Waterhouse isn’t just playful with her themes, she’s playful with her communication too.

If I Can’t Let Go does anything, it proves that Waterhouse deserves a spot in the romantic, Tumblr it-girl canon she firmly occupies as a model and an actress, as a musician. Her lyrics are snippets of beauty, her voice is intoxicating, her songwriting is immaculate. But, begrudgingly, I Can’t Let Go proves that Waterhouse may have no inclination to take up her spot in that canon, because this album isn’t for us to dissect and project – it’s a personal soundtrack, a mixtape of years that straddles the gorgeous and the gloomy sides”.

Finally, I will get to NME. Big fans of her work, they provided I Can’t Let Go a four-star review when they spent some time with it. No doubt one of the best albums of 2022 – and not just one of the best debuts -, I feel we all need to familiarise ourselves with such a beautiful and personal debut album. One from an artist you need to watch closely:

“I’m tired of keeping all my feelings to myself,” Suki Waterhouse sings on the glacial glow of ‘Put Me Through It’, but on her debut album, she doesn’t hold anything back. The Sub Pop-backed ‘I Can’t Let Go’ presents us with an intimate portrait of the British musician and actor’s life, coloured with a rush of intense and powerful emotions. Far from bottling things up or shying away from these internal sensations, it’s a record that lets its creator – and, by extension, us – feel everything.

Waterhouse’s first full-length effort embraces the peaks and troughs of life, turning even its ugly, dark sides into beautiful songs to help carry you through your own turmoil. ‘Melrose Meltdown’ morphs from a gracefully eerie opening to a dazzling piece of dusky, cinematic indie and tells a Hollywood-worthy story of romantic drama. “Welcome to my Melrose Meltdown / Nobody ever breaks up, we just break down,” she sighs over a minimal backing. “We really fucked it up / In diamonds and drugstores.” The sun-kissed strum of ‘Bullshit On The Internet’, in part, deals with seeing an ex photographed with a new partner and, thanks to social media, is relatable even if your old lovers’ new relationships aren’t racking up column inches in gossip mags.

There’s a strength and resilience to ‘I Can’t Let Go’ that comes from owning every angle of emotion and its creator letting herself take charge in situations that might lead to pain. “I’ma put some goddamn moves on you babe, I know you need it / Die a double death for you, death for your secrets,” she asserts on ‘Moves’, while the slinky ‘Devil I Know’ sees her knowingly sink into circumstances that are probably best avoided. “Back in hell, at least I’m comfortable,” Waterhouse shrugs on its chorus. “Hand to heart, I’m gonna stay faithful / To the devil I know.”

Throughout the album, the star drops hints at her influences – a tinge of Lana Del Rey and Mazzy Star there, a splash of Fiona Apple and Lucinda Williams there. Largely, though, the record twists those inspirations into her own brittle sound that complements the undercurrent of fragility running through the songs.

Like that line in ‘Put Me Through It’ suggests, Waterhouse was nervous to share her personal songwriting with the world. On her debut album, though, she overcomes that fear in impressive form – it might have taken six years to get here from her debut single, but ‘I Can’t Let Go’ was well worth the wait”.

A truly wonderful album from Suki Waterhouse, I Can’t Let Go is most definitely worth revisiting. A new single from this year,  To Love, suggests something might be in the works already when it comes to album two. After a starring role in Daisy Jones & The Six, I wonder if that new exposure and musical experience (the series relates to a fictional band who have been compared with Fleetwood Mac) impacts the sounds of her second album. I think that a Waterhouse album with a touch of Rumours or Tusk-era Fleetwood Mac would be so interesting! Whenever that does arrive, it is…

GOING to be essential listening.

FEATURE: Kate Bush’s Hammer Horror at Forty-Five: Inside Lionheart’s Unusual and Underrated Lead Single

FEATURE:

 

 

Kate Bush’s Hammer Horror at Forty-Five

Inside Lionheart’s Unusual and Underrated Lead Single

_________

THERE is a lot to discuss…

when it comes to the Kate Bush single, Hammer Horror. It turns forty-five on 27th October. Released as the lead single of her second album, Lionheart, it is a song about an actor who gets thrust into the lead role of The Hunchback of Notre Dame after the original actor dies in an accident on the film set. He is then guilt-ridden ends up being haunted by the ghost of the jealous original actor, who was a former friend. Thanks to the Kate Bush Encyclopedia ahead of time, as I will be quoting a bit from them for this anniversary feature. Even though it was a single that only reached forty-four (her lowest chart position to that date; the next single, Wow, got her back into the top twenty), she performed it all around the world. Whilst in Australia during a promotional tour, Kate Bush devised the dance routine for the song in her Melbourne hotel room. She performed the song on the television show, Countdown. Coffee Homeground, one of the three new songs she wrote for Lionheart, was the B-side. Many I speak to feel Hammer Horror was a good first single to release. I have no doubt the song works as a single though, as you have options like Wow, Symphony in Blue and Kashka from Baghdad to choose from, Hammer Horror seems like a risky first release. The parent album, Lionheart, turns forty-five on November. That was a chart smash. Although not as adored as 1978’s The Kick Inside, there is a lot to love and recommend on Kate Bush’s sophomore album.

I am going to go on in a second. Before getting to that, Kate Bush provides the full story when it comes to the inspiration behind one of her most important and underrated singles. One would have thought her popularity and momentum would have got Hammer Horror inro the top forty at the very least. Maybe audiences felt that the song was too much of a departure or was a little inaccessible (though they got Wuthering Heights to number one!):

“The song is not about, as many think, Hammer Horror films. It is about an actor and his friend. His friend is playing the lead in a production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, a part he's been reading all his life, waiting for the chance to play it. He's finally got the big break he's always wanted, and he is the star. After many rehearsals he dies accidentally, and the friend is asked to take the role over, which, because his own career is at stake, he does. The dead man comes back to haunt him because he doesn't want him to have the part, believing he's taken away the only chance he ever wanted in life. And the actor is saying, "Leave me alone, because it wasn't my fault - I have to take this part, but I'm wondering if it's the right thing to do because the ghost is not going to leave me alone and is really freaking me out. Every time I look round a corner he's there, he never disappears."

The song was inspired by seeing James Cagney playing the part of Lon Chaney playing the hunchback - he was an actor in an actor in an actor, rather like Chinese boxes, and that's what I was trying to create. (Kate Bush Club Newsletter, November 1979)”.

I say that Hammer Horror is one of Kate Bush’s most important singles, as it was the bridge between The Kick Inside and Lionheart. That being said, she was still discussing that debut album in some form when promoting Lionheart. In fact, the final single from The Kick Inside, Strange Phenomena, was released in Brazil on 1st June, 1979! If not one of her most loved singles, I do really like the video for Hammer Horror. Directed by Keef (Keith McMillan), the single did fare better in countries like Australia and Ireland. I wonder whether people here were expecting something different or were a little overloaded with The Kick Inside. Did Hammer Horror come out too soon?! There is a big argument to suggest EMI should have halted release of an album until 1979. Trying to capitalise on the attention around their Bush, I think that rush to get a new single and album out was a mistake that could have cost her dearly. A big reason why Bush was keen to produce her third studio album (with Jon Kelly), Never for Ever, in 1980. This is some of the critical reception of Hammer Horror:

“On Radio 1's Round Table on October 27, 1978 the single was reviewed by DJ's John Peel ("I didn't like the album at all and I'm not too enthused with this either") and Paul Gambaccini ("It doesn't grab me immediately as The Man With The Child In His Eyes"). Record Mirror's Ronnie Gurr opined: "Kate keeps up the formula and doesn't upset the fans... sounds like Joni Mitchell popping tabs with the LSO." In NME, Tony Parsons wrote: "Ominous post ELO orchestration with the unrequited lust of a broken affair viewed as living dead love-bites-back as in classic 50's British celluloid, a real nail biter, hypnotic and disconcerting".

Like pretty much every Kate Bush songs, the lyrics are compelling and original. It is hard to pinpoint why Hammer Horror didn’t resonate when it came out. Maybe there was a sense of sameness. Perhaps the public didn’t expect the first single from Bush’s second album a mere five months after The Man with the Child in His Eyes came out! The contrast between those two songs is quite stark. I wanted to highlight the opening lyrics of Hammer Horror as being especially interesting and vivid: “You stood in the belltower/But now you're gone/So who knows all the sights/Of Notre Dame?/They've got the stars for the gallant hearts/I'm the replacement for your part/But all I want to do is forget/You, friend”. There are a couple of features about Hammer Horror I want to focus in on before I conclude. Into the Pop Void shared their take in 2015:

“This was absolutely not how things were supposed to go – only a few months earlier the rather divisive Wuthering Heights had sailed to no.1, and even at the age of five I was aware of how polarising it was. My school playground was divided into those who pranced around doing Kate impressions at playtime and those who thought we were nutters. I suppose the risk with Wuthering Heights was that it’s strangeness would mean it ended up as a novelty record, and as we all know, novelty success isn’t often repeated. But when The Man With the Child In His Eyes followed it into the top 10, it looked like that pitfall had been successfully avoided.

And then came Hammer Horror.

I’m not sure what anyone really expected of a brand new Kate Bush single at this point, but apparently it wasn’t this. Opening with a fabulously dramatic string and piano pairing, it’s definitely something of a curiosity. The creeping, tentative verse gives way to a jagged, almost violent rock chorus and the whole thing veers wildly between the two styles, with Kate alternating her upper and lower registers like she’s got two heads. It may be a bit Rock Follies at times, but it’s a gift to interpretive dancers.

You could argue that it was just too strange to be a hit, but the follow-up, Wow – a song about theatrical luvvies containing pop’s best – and probably only – reference to the other use for Vaseline, went to no.14. For Kate, oddity was never a barrier to success, so I think Hammer Horror – despite its helpful just-before-Halloween release date (27th of October), was just a bit unlucky.

A lot of people tend to think that Lionheart, coming just nine months after The Kick Inside, was a bit rushed and lacking the depth and intricacy of its predecessor. I disagree with that: it’s overflowing with ideas, beautifully arranged and the most overtly theatrical of all her albums, which makes perfect sense given that 1979’s Tour of Life was already in the planning stages. I was too young to attend (“mummy, please can I go and see the screaming lady?”), but every bit of that strange, glorious energy was still in place when I went to the Before the Dawn show in 2014. Wept for most of it, couldn’t speak about it coherently for weeks afterwards. Still not sure I can.

Entered chart: 11/11/1978

Chart peak: 44

Weeks on chart: 6

Who could sing this today and have a hit? I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Lady Gaga belted this out on American Horror Story: Hotel”.

I am interested in a feature from Dreams of Orgonon from back in 2018. Christine Kelley made some interesting observations about Hammer Horror. A song I feel that people should revisit ahead of its forty-fifth anniversary on 27th October:

“There’s also an element of musical gender play at work in “Hammer Horror.” Bush chooses a male story with a masculine narrator and tells it through a feminine perspective with dashes of camp. This is where her “actor in an actor” fascination comes in. She’s telling someone’s story and embellishing it in radical ways. If Mick Jagger sang this track, it’d be him spitting autobiographically at Keith Richards, who would reply with some vicious chords in open D. Bush plays the actor as a frightened damsel, terrified of the stranger in the dark. She begins the song with a trembling “yooooouuu stoooood,” moving down her vocal range for a more playful “they’ve got the stars for the gallant hearts” (the most innocent confession of pissing oneself ever put on record), howl-belting out “HAMMER HOR-ROR” for the chorus, and lapsing into a more classically Bushian “are we really sure about this” in the post-chorus. It’s the most daring Bush vocal we’ve heard on this blog so far. No male artist would go this far in 1978.

What else do those vocals point to? I don’t know, umm, how about the fact that this is the most camp thing ever? Bush maintains some reverence for her Gothic source material, but not without a tongue-in-cheek performance. Her vocal for “Hammer Horror” is full-blown melodrama, containing, as Goth scholar Andi Harriman puts it, the Goth subculture’s commitment to dramaticism, or “transforming yourself into a different form of beauty.” Bush’s vocal range swerves up and down, covering C#6, Bb5, and descending to the lows of F#5 and F5. The song is absurdly eclectic and committed to its shtick, containing a licking guitar and a full-blown string section tensely opening the song and carrying the chorus. Musically, it’s full-blown hedonism. Visually, it’s another story altogether.

ART CREDIT: Lisa Kilanowski

I mean, look at that music video. Bush is dressed in black while dancing with a man (presumably dancer Stewart Avon-Arnold) and expressing nearly every note of the song with obsessive literalism. When she sings about a hand reaching out from the dark to grab her, sure enough she gurns at a mysterious hand. Indeed she gurns at everything in the music video — Bush will remain a world class gurner until she develops a more understated relationship with the camera (and thus many great GIFs were lost to the world). Until then, this is the standard for camp Bush videos. It is utterly absurd and completely delightful.

Now we’re discussing camp, we might as well discuss the real ghost haunting this essay: Goth rock. It’s uncontroversial to say that Kate Bush is not Goth. She’s too separate from the Goth subculture in terms of aesthetic, class, and musicality to claim to membership. However Bush is, as we noted earlier, not averse to engaging with the Gothic. She launched her career on it. Naturally there’s going to be some overlap with Goth rock.

One of the most surprising things about Bush is how she’ll often stumble on an aesthetic before anyone else and perform it in a way that sounds nothing like its more famous iterations. “Hammer Horror” was demoed in 1976 and released in 1978, when the Goth scene was beginning to cohere as a subculture. When it was released as a single in October, Joy Division had recently put out an EP, Siouxsie and the Banshees had cracked the Top Ten with “Hong Kong Garden,” The Cure had recorded but not yet released “Killing an Arab,” (yes much orientalism) and early iterations of Bauhaus were playing Northampton clubs. Goth wasn’t a salient cultural movement, but it was beginning to look like a separate scene from punk and even standard forms of post-punk (e.g. Gang of Four, Magazine). While this was going on, Bush had charted multiple times with three singles and two albums. She existed in a different sphere from Siouxsie and Peter Murphy. So why comment on the similarities at all?”.

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

It is weird and kind of cool that the two U.K. singles from Lionheart relate to the stage and performance. Film and theatre technically! Maybe Bush was feeling paranoid or like an actor in a game. Even if these are songs written before her debut came out, there is this subconscious indication that there was perhaps some dissatisfaction creeping in. I always thought that the album could have benefited from a third single. Symphony in Blue was released in Japan. Kashka from Baghdad wasn’t released at all. Crucially, all three of the new songs written for Lionheart – Symphony in Blue, Full House and Coffee Homeground – were used as A or B-sides. Important to ensure they got into the world. If the stage was at the centre of Wow, that is where Bush found herself the following year for her only tour, The Tour of Life. She would be able to bring to life Lionheart songs that were denied the chance to become singles. Hammer Horror, naturally, was part of the set. With wit, ghoulishness, paranoia, regret and some lovely wordplay (“I've got a hunch that you're following/To get your own back on me”) in the blend, I would like to see Hammer Horror get some love in the lead-up to its forty-fifth anniversary. Even if I consider it not to be a natural first single from a crucial second studio album, Kate Bush obviously felt something and had an intuition that it would be popular. Maybe EMI were more a driving force regarding the choice of the first single. I might have to scour the interview archives and see if Bush was asked about it. In any case, the genre blend of Glam Rock, Art Rock, and Baroque Pop expanded her musical palette from The Kick Inside and showed she was not an artist who could be easily labelled and predicted – something that would become more apparent with each subsequent album. The final track from the massively underappreciated Lionheart, I think that Hammer Horror needs…

SOME fresh love.

FEATURE: Second Spin: Jane Weaver - The Silver Globe

FEATURE:

 

 

Second Spin

Jane Weaver - The Silver Globe

_________

A terrific album…

that I would encourage people to buy and give a spin to, I think that Jane Weaver’s The Silver Globe is an underrated modern classic. Produced and written by Weaver, it was released on 20th October, 2014. The Liverpool-born artist is one of our most inventive and consistent. Her eleventh studio album, 2021’s Flock, proves that! Another acclaimed and hugely successful release. The Silver Globe would have been eligible for the Mercury Prize 2015, though it was not shortlisted. Without doubt one of 2014’s best, this seems like a real oversight! Receiving huge critical love, you don’t often hear songs from The Silver Globe played right across radio. I heard Mission Desire a week or so ago on BBC Radio 6 Music but, apart from that, it is quite rare. This is an album that shows why Jane Weaver is such a revered and respected songwriter and producer. I will come to some reviews for the album soon. There is a 2017 interview – when she was promoting Modern Kosmology - I will get to, where Weaver talks about the success of The Silver Globe. The Quietus did an in-depth interview with Weaver in 2014 in promotion of The Silver Globe. I have taken quite a lot from it, as I think it gives depth and background to this amazing album:

“In 1988, On The Silver Globe, a film by Polish director Andrzej Żuławski, was premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. The movie was based on a book written by Żuławski's granduncle, Jerzy, and told the story of a group of astronauts who leave Earth to start a new civilisation. Żuławski – who is perhaps best known for his 1981 horror flick Possession - began writing the screenplay for On The Silver Globe in 1975, but the Polish government at the time interpreted the tale as a thinly-veiled parable about the struggles against totalitarianism and shut down the project. The film – and a hastily cobbled together version at that – was only subsequently released after the communist regime had been overthrown.

The movie is also the source of inspiration for the title of Manchester-based musician Jane Weaver's sixth solo album, The Silver Globe. And like Żuławski's film, The Silver Globe has not had the easiest, or quickest, of gestations. However, Weaver may well have produced her masterpiece; The Silver Globe is a magnificent record fusing spaced-out prog rock, samba-specked electronica, Buck Rogers-style disco, Motorik beats, Aussie-style Krautrock, vintage synths and Weaver's celestial voice.

And while The Silver Globe is a concept album, the narrative always ensures that Weaver's elegant songwriting is central to the record's allure. Written and recorded sporadically over the intervening years since 2010's Fallen By Watchbird album, The Silver Globe also contains the accumulation of some seriously talented guest appearances – David Holmes produces two tracks, Damon Gough provides a noodly guitar solo on 'Don't Take My Soul', Aussie space-rockers Cybotron add sax to the epic 'Argent', while Suzanne Ciani's Buchla waves grace the opening title track.

Jane Weaver has been an ever-present figure on the Manchester music scene for over 20 years. Her first band, Kill Laura, released three singles on Rob Gretton's Manchester record label and her solo career was initially backed by early incarnations of Doves and Elbow. Married to producer and Finder Keepers label-owner Andy Votel, Weaver also runs Bird Records, a boutique imprint that has championed the likes of Cate Le Bon, Maxine Peake and Beth Jeans Houghton.

We meet at a cosy pub in Marple Bridge, a sleepy village tucked under the edge of the Peak District. And if The Silver Globe is complex, visionary and bursting with invention, its creator is the epitome of Northern pragmatism and dry humour. Jane talks about her frustrations with the music industry and how, rather than let her dissatisfaction contain her creativity, The Silver Globe became a the conduit for a freedom of artistic expression and the defining album of her stellar, if vastly underrated, career.

 I am imagining that The Silver Globe was an epic undertaking. When did you first begin to think about making the album and what was the initial inspiration?

Jane Weaver: I started writing the album about three-and-a-half years ago. I had just done a mini-soundtrack album at Eve Studios [in Manchester], which is a really amazing place. I did a sort of experimental, atmospheric, Morricone-inspired record in three days. I knew I loved the studio and that I wanted to do more experimental stuff. Due to certain restrictions – things going on in my life and financial constraints – I knew that when I started writing the new album, it wasn't going to be a three or four day recording stint, or the kind of thing I could do at home or even in a small studio. The things I was hearing made me realise the album would be an epic job. I quickly realised these songs were getting very complicated. That's why it has taken me so long to do because I wanted to work with different people and try different studios – and that's why it has taken three-and-a-half years.

The album title is taken from the film On The Silver Globe by Andrzej Żuławski. What was it about that piece of cinema that resonated with you so much?

JW: I don't know at what point I saw the film, On The Silver Globe, but I felt an immediate connection with it. On The Silver Globe is about a bunch of astronauts that go to another planet and start a new civilisation and it all got me thinking about a revolution and a post-apocalyptic theme. I was frustrated with what I was doing at the time and I was struggling. I felt I hated the music industry and the way it works. When I first started making music there was a certain process that was followed in general, but now there is this big free-for-all thing, which is amazing and I am not down on it at all, but it made me think about where everything will end up and questioning why I was making music as an artist. It was a 'What is the point?' moment: "Why am I spending all my money on this art project when I shouldn't really be as I have a family?"

So had did that trigger you to make your most ambitious album yet?

JW: I think I had just got to the point where I realised that you just have to see yourself as a painter, who is just painting and painting, and some of it is good and some of it is bad, and to just keep going. You have to do it for you and forget about the world outside. Also, since the last album, I had been getting bored with the singer-songwriter thing and the limitations in what was expected of me. I am in a brilliant position; I have a label and work in conjunction with Finders Keepers, and can basically do what I want, so why was I limiting myself? I'd almost brainwashed myself. That was part of the reason I tried to push myself further into doing more experimental stuff.

 You have worked with a number of collaborators on The Silver Globe. Were you writing song parts with specific people in mind?

JW: No. A lot of it was accidental. For example, I have known David [Holmes] for years, and I was going to LA anyway and it just so happened that David was living there. He asked me to visit him in this "amazing" studio he was working at. I haven't worked with a producer for years – I do a lot of it myself. I trusted David, gave him the demos and asked him to do what he wanted. I let him takeover – which I'd not really done before.

How did that feel?

JW: It's pretty weird; sometimes he would say "that's pretty bad" or "that doesn't really work" and I would be like [forces smile] "Okay David." But, it worked out for the best as I got great tracks out of it ['Arrows' and 'Stealing Gold'].

How often do you work on songs with Andy [Votel]?

JW: Now and then. We don't tend to sit down and write together - would probably argue as we would both think we are right. I respect and appreciate where Andy's strengths are. He is amazing at arranging and remixing and adding little flourishes to things – production-wise - that I wouldn't necessarily think of. When he heard 'Don't Take My Soul' he wanted to do something with the track and he got Damon [Gough], who I have always wanted to work with, to do a little guitar part. I let them get on with it – just gave them the song and left them alone in the studio.

The Silver Globe is very atmospheric and, to my ears, has a very cohesive aesthetic. What was your thought process in developing the feel of the album?

JW: At the time I was listening to a lot of Yoko Ono's Fly and Approximately Infinite Universe and I had this idea of getting a really kosmiche-sounding backing recording. I now have a band, so when I was hearing these songs I knew that a lot of them were one loop but with repeated for about ten minutes. I thought it would be amazing to go into the studio and record all the backing live. Other aspects were more spontaneous - I had Suzanne Ciani do some Buchla waves [on 'Cells'] and Andy also managed to contact Steve Maxwell from Cybotron to do a sax solo [on 'Argent']. Steve was in Australia and the whole thing was pretty crazy as I wanted a kind of connection with the club scene from the Mad Max movie.

Is a lot of your music inspired by films?

JW: It can be. I think with films, a lot of the stuff I watch is to do with Finders Keepers' soundtracks. It is through Andy's projects, where I will be sitting down to try and do my work and there will be a dreadful vampire film on in the background, which he is doing the soundtrack for. I'm forced to watch lots of lesbian vampire films at nine in the morning! I have to tell him to shut the curtains so the neighbours can't see in! I will say that a lot of film stuff that I like has come from that route and has just caught my eye. So, yeah, all the horrific soundtrack stuff is on the album.

Ultimately, The Silver Globe seems to end on a very upbeat note. My two favourite tracks are the closing 'If Only We Could Be In Love' and 'Your Time In This Life Is Just Temporary' that both feel very positive.

JW: They are positive. There a few doom moments on the record but there is a resolution, because there is a sense of that we are all only in this world for a few years and many tragic things happen – and have happened to me in my life where people have died – and it makes me think "What am I worried about?" in a kind of Zen moment. We have to crack on with it and stop moaning.

You have talked about The Silver Globe being your most ambitious album. Once an artist has unshackled themselves is there a danger of endless opportunities and being unable to focus on an end result?

JW: Absolutely - at various points I thought I was having a massive meltdown. It can be very hard to reign in. I was continually adding to the tracking of a song, but I would then have to go through all the keyboard tracks I'd done and pick the ones I wanted to keep. It can become a bit of a nightmare. But, all of this just takes time and I did want it to be right and I did want it to sound good”.

I will get to the 2017 interview, where Jane Weaver was talking about Modern Kosmology, and The Silver Globe’s success. The more I listen to The Silver Globe, the more that I get from it. Such a brilliant album with so many interesting sounds and songs, everyone needs to listen to it when they can:

“Two decades, several bands and six solo albums in is not normally the point at which an artist qualifies as an ‘overnight success’. Yet Jane Weaver managed this unusual achievement in 2014 following the release of her magnificent record The Silver Globe. Her previous solo work had explored psychedelic and electronic components in conjunction with stark folk, but the vivid technicolour of The Silver Globe brought her unique magpie vision to life in a striking and new way – and gained her a whole new following in the process.

With this year’s follow-up Modern Kosmology proving a bigger critical and commercial success, I managed to catch up with Jane Weaver ahead of a UK tour that brings her to The Cluny on Thursday 2nd November as part of the venue’s fifteenth anniversary celebrations.

Discussing the increased attention on her work following The Silver Globe, I asked Weaver if her rising status had taken her by surprise. “Yes, definitely! After The Silver Globe, I started getting more gig offers, and I was pretty overwhelmed by the warmth and support I suddenly got. To me it was so nice to know I was engaging with people, and most people are nice.”

Perhaps informed by this, Modern Kosmology arrived earlier this year, presenting a more direct, focused and confident state of intent. Considering the album’s genesis, Weaver notes, “I wanted to make some of the instrumentation clearer and more linear; I made the decision to not swamp everything in space echo (which I love). I suppose it made me feel more exposed, especially when it came to my voice: I like to experiment with different synths and textures, percussion and drum machines, so that [Modern Kosmology] sounded a bit crankier than the last record”.

The reviews for The Silver Globe were universally positive. As I said, it is a tragedy it was not put up for the Mercury Prize. Even if there was this acclaim, I find it rare that songs from the album are played today. The Arts Desk shared their opinions about a 2014 work of brilliance from the constantly inspired and consistent Jane Weaver:

“2014 has seen a fair few late lunges for the line in the race to be my best album of the year (a contest fought more for prestige and honour than hard cash in all honesty). I’m a mild-mannered sort, and hate disappointing the recording artists clearly hanging on my every word for validation, but Theo Parrish, Spectres and Craig Bratley will have to settle for commendations along with Goat, The War on Drugs, Peaking Lights and Klaus Johann Grobe this time.

Jane Weaver’s The Silver Globe has taken gold – and done so with clear distance between it and the rest of the pack.

Where the concept behind Weaver’s last album, 2010’s The Fallen By Watch Bird, spawned a book, the overwhelming sense with The Silver Globe is of something no less narrative-driven, but more visual, and not just because of the head nods to Polish film director Andrzej Żuławski (On the Silver Globe, Possession) and Chilean counterpart Alejandro Jodorowsky (The Holy Mountain). The sheer range of colours and textures in this narrative of personal discovery and artistic freedom are redolent of a beautiful, hand-stitched quilt of individual story songs sewn together to create a stunningly beautiful and audaciously ambitious allegory.

The urgent immediacy of (almost) opener "Argent" and its near neighbour "The Electric Mountain" have clear musical touchstones in Soundcarriers and Broadcast, but that’s only the background to the story being spun here. In "Cells" and "Stealing Gold", we are led by the hand into a beautiful, bucolic landscape where we find maypole melodies that leave us spinning with their intuitive inventiveness. That Weaver has been bold enough to split these with a song as knowingly route one as the irresistable "Mission Desire" without compromising the heft or weave of the whole, is testament to her wholeness of vision as much as her songwriting prowess.

If you like the sound of it, don’t stream it, buy it. Own the thing – have the artefact. It’s a work of art and one that will repay you in spades”.

I am going to finish off with a review from AllMusic. The Silver Globe is an album that has so much richness to it, I am not surprised many of the reviews were long and detailed. Nine years after its release, this fabulous work has lost none of its brilliance:

“Liverpool-born, Manchester-based indie folk artist Jane Weaver made an early recorded appearance as a solo artist on a 1998 split single alongside a pre-fame Doves and a pre-Finders Keepers Andy Votel. The two became a couple, and while Doves' star went on to shine the brightest commercially, Weaver's made a steady ascent. She released her debut full-length, Seven Day Smile, in 2006 on Bird Records, a Finders Keepers imprint co-run by the couple. While that record and its follow-up, Cherlokalate, represented tentative steps into psych folk, 2010's acclaimed Fallen by Watchbird furthered her interest in the mystical and the magical. Named in reference to Andrzej Żuławski's 1988 film On the Silver Globe, this offering finds Weaver playing to her strengths. On "Argent" she blends a hypnotic and repetitive Krautrock-inspired groove with otherworldly, pulsing synths -- displaying her obsession with the early electronic pioneer Suzanne Ciani and an affinity with the Ghost Box stable -- and provides multi-tracked vocals which nod to Laetitia Sadier's work with Stereolab. Elsewhere, the cavernous, rich vocal effects on "Arrows" alone are enough to get lost in, but add to the mix a steady, metronomic rhythm and a Twin Peaks-esque two-note bass motif and it has a timeless feel, even on repeated listens. The vinyl version of The Silver Globe hides "Arrows" away as the penultimate track; thankfully, however, the other formats place this highlight in an earlier position, directly after the Hawkwind-sampling "The Electric Mountain."

There's other material here that could feel overly twee in the hands of her contemporaries -- hear the cartoon disco of "Don't Take My Soul," for example -- but it's Weaver's assured tone which ensures that this isn't the case. Her main achievement here is the fact that she effortlessly distills aspects of both the early electronic/library music/hauntology craze, and her psych folk grounding, into one highly accessible album. This is no mean feat -- while these genres can prove to be notoriously esoteric and abstract, there are inventive moments here which wouldn't sound out of place on mainstream alternative radio. "If Only We Could Be in Love" will undoubtedly interest fans of Goldfrapp, and "Mission Desire" is the album's true earworm, but the gentle folk of "Stealing Gold" is filled with enough of Weaver's idiosyncrasies to entice anybody into her world. For listeners new to her music, The Silver Globe is as good a starting point as any, not only to her own rich canon, but also to the weird and wonderful niche genres that have inspired her”.

The fact that The Silver Globe was accessible and yet quite layered and complex at times meant that it received a wide audience - and it put Jane Weaver on the radar of those who may have missed her earlier work. The fact this was her sixth studio album and she seemed to hit a new peak proves what an amazing artist she is. Few have the consistency that she does. I am not sure whether there is a follow-up to 2021’s Flock. There was last year’s The Metallic Index (2022) by Fenella, with Peter Philipson & Raz Ullah – so we may have to wait a little longer. Perhaps less widely played or discussed as it was back in 2014, The Silver Globe is an accomplished and phenomenal album…

WORTH another listen.

FEATURE: Dr. Feelgood: The Physical and Psychological Nourishment and Benefits of Music

FEATURE:

 

 

Dr. Feelgood

PHOTO CREDIT: Keira Burton/Pexels

The Physical and Psychological Nourishment and Benefits of Music

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GIVEN what is going on…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Kelly/Pexels

in the world around us, it seems like every day is one where we have to absorb more bad news! Whether it is something coming from the news, or the weather being massively unpredictable, there is this constant stream of fear and struggle. That all sounds bleak, though I feel – as many do – music has incredible benefits in that regard. I will come to a new article that has piqued my interest. Before that, Harvard Health Publishing put out an article last year that highlighted the benefits music has on mental wellbeing and anxiety reduction:

“How can music impact our quality of life?

Recently, researchers looked at the impact of music interventions on health-related quality of life, and tried to answer the question about the best way to help make that shift toward release, relaxation, and rehabilitation. This recent systematic review and meta-analysis (a study of studies) showed that the use of music interventions (listening to music, singing, and music therapy) can create significant improvements in mental health, and smaller improvements in physical health–related quality of life. While the researchers found a positive impact on the psychological quality of

Science has proven that chronic, low-grade inflammation can turn into a silent killer that contributes to cardiovas­cular disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes and other conditions. Get simple tips to fight inflammation and stay healthy -- from Harvard Medical School experts.

Complexities of music

As complex human beings from a wide variety of cultures, with a variety of life experiences and mental and physical health needs, our connection with music is very personal. Our relationship with music can be a very beautiful, vulnerable, and often complicated dance that shifts from moment to moment based on our mood, preferences, social situation, and previous experiences. There are times where music can have a clear and immediate impact on our well-being:

There are other times when a board-certified music therapist can help you build that connection to music, and find the best intervention and "dose" that could positively impact your health and provide a form of healing.

How can music be used as a therapeutic tool?

Music therapy is an established health care profession that uses evidence-based music interventions to address therapeutic health care goals. Music therapy happens between a patient (and possibly their caregivers and/or family) and a board-certified music therapist who has completed an accredited undergraduate or graduate music therapy program.

Music therapists use both active (singing, instrument exploration, songwriting, movement, digital music creation, and more) and receptive (music listening, guided imagery with music, playlist creation, or music conversation and reminiscence) interventions, and create goals to improve health and well-being.

Some of those goals could include decreasing anxiety, shifting your mood, decreasing pain perception during cancer or other medical treatment, increasing expression, finding motivation, and many others. The approach to using music to achieve these kinds of goals — and to improving your quality of life in general — can shift from moment to moment, and a music therapist can help you find what works best for a particular situation”.

A lot of the benefit from music comes with selecting the right type. If you are sad, choosing music that is quite downbeat or slower could be more use than happy music. You can accept your feelings - and there is that companionship with the sound and tone. Of course, more uplifting songs can elevate mood and help you break out of a funk. Naturally, as a disclaimer that needs to be put in right away: music as therapy and medicine is no substitute for therapy and medication: merely an alternative and additional form of assistance. To be fair, music aides those with memory issues and conditions like dementia. Music can help people unlock memories and parts of their brain that you would imagine to be ravaged and inaccessible. I am fascinated to see whether, in years to come, music as a companion to talk therapy and medication, is used to treat those suffering from a range of psychological disorders. We know about the mental health benefits. That is crucial at a very stressful and strange time. So many people cannot get a referral for a GP or counselling because of long waiting lists. It is really tough for those in need to get all the help they require. Of course, once more, music is not the answer and way around that. Merely, it has this therapeutic and healing power that can provide, at least, some form of temporary balm and clarity. In some cases, listening to music can help people to make important decisions, eradicate severe stress, and also ease their depression. Your brain can be kept young with music. There is almost that miraculous impact music can have on elderly people living with degenerative illnesses. It is amazing and humbling that a simple tune can make such a difference on a human being!

 PHOTO CREDIT: Mikhail Nilov/Pexels

I am not sure whether we ever really think too about music’s physical benefits. Physical illness can be accompanied by physical issues. As someone with depression, anxiety and sleep issues, I often get aching muscles, headache, back pain and a sluggishness that is not really alienated or made better by medication. I have been thinking about this after an article in The Guardian asked that question: could we use music like medicine?. Prior to that, this Healthline article from 2020 explored and explained the way music can impact physical health:

“Music’s effects on the body

It can help your heart health

Music can make you want to move — and the benefits of dancing are well documented. Scientists also know that listening to music can alterTrusted Source your breath rate, your heart rate, and your blood pressure, depending on the music’s intensity and tempo.

It decreases fatigue

Anyone who has ever rolled down car windows and turned up the radio knows that music can be energizing. There’s solid science behind that lived experience.

In 2015, researchersTrusted Source at Shanghai University found that relaxing music helped reduce fatigue and maintain muscle endurance when people were engaged in a repetitive task.

Music therapy sessions also lessened fatigue in people receiving cancer treatments and raised the fatigue threshold for people engaged in demanding neuromuscular training, which leads us to the next big benefit.

It boosts exercise performance

Exercise enthusiasts have long known that music enhances their physical performance.

A 2020 research review confirms that working out with music improves your mood, helps your body exercise more efficiently, and cuts down on your awareness of exertion. Working out with music also leads to longer workoutsTrusted Source.

In clinical settings, athletes who listened to high-intensity, fast music during warmups were motivatedTrusted Source to perform better competitively.

You don’t have to be a world-class competitor to benefit: ResearchTrusted Source shows that syncing your workout to music can allow you to reach peak performance using less oxygen than if you did the same workout without the beat. Music acts as a metronome in your body, researchers said”.

That is all amazing to read. Hospital waiting times are rising, and GPs are struggling and not being supported by the Government. The figures make for alarming reading. More does need to be done, as the NHS is being betrayed (I would recommend this book by Dr. Julia Grace Patterson, that explains more the ways in which the NHS is being ignored; how vital the service is too). Whilst funding and commitment from the Government needs to happen to ensure that the NHS can avoid privatisation and huge problems, there is this amazing outlet – maybe ‘alternative medicine’ – that you get from music. Recently, David Robson asked (perhaps rhetorically) whether music can benefit physical health. It seems like the more research comes out, the more we can understand all the fascinating and hugely inspiring ways music can impact people dealing with a whole range of illnesses and complexities:

“The academic literature tends to distinguish “music medicine” from “music therapy”. The latter requires the participation of a trained expert and may involve playing an instrument, composing or improvising. Music medicine is far easier to roll out: it involves listening to recorded music and can be done by yourself.

As you might expect, the creative expression of music therapy produces the most consistent benefits, but multiple studies confirm that the mere act of listening can be an effective treatment for symptoms of depression, anxiety, insomnia and physical pain. Two trials have even found that a regular prescription of music can reduce the blood pressure of people with hypertension by 6mmHg. That’s enough to lower the risk of a stroke by 13%.

PHOTO CREDIT: Karolina Grabowska/Pexels

Music medicine may work its magic through a range of mechanisms. While it might seem obvious that happier tunes can get you out of a rut of negative thinking, many people who feel sad also benefit from listening to something melancholic. It’s possible that these pieces help us to accept our feelings without fighting them, which is often important for recovery. Depending on the track, we might feel a sense of connection with the artist’s expression of the emotions we are encountering, which could lead us to recognise the shared humanity in our suffering – a prerequisite for self-compassion – and allow us to find meaning in what we are experiencing.

At a physiological level, low-tempo tracks could help to entrain the electrical activity in the brain stem to slower rhythms, which can bring about a more tranquil mood and regulate other biological processes – such as heart rate and respiration. Repeating musical motifs, producing a buildup and release of tension, are also known to play with the brain’s prediction and reward circuitry. This can trigger the release of neurotransmitters such as dopamine and endogenous opioids, which ease both emotional and physical pain. At its most extreme, we may feel these neurochemical changes as musical frisson or “chills” – an intense aesthetic experience”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Cole Keister/Pexels

From increased sexual arousal and better sex, to the way music can provide physical therapy and rehabilitation, I think we will see a day soon where music, alongside conventional therapy and medication, is prescribed by doctors. The fact that music can be as beneficial for the body as the mind is really important! Often medications and therapies deal with one or the other. Music’s lack of limitations is truly wondrous! The more research that comes out, the more it can be harnessed and used in a targeted way. Whether that is providing moments of clarity and consign for those with Parkinson’s, to people suffering physical maladies, it is an area that warrants greater exploration and focus. 20th September was National Playlist Day. Music for Dementia provided a useful guide as to how to compile a playlist across various streaming platforms:

“Make a playlist

A playlist is a list of songs that you can store and play online using a service such as Spotify or YouTube. You can create different playlists for different occasions. For example, you might want to have a ‘Good morning’ playlist of cheerful songs to help your family member get up in the morning. You could also have playlists for getting washed, getting dressed, going out or relaxing towards the end of the day.

Have a look at our easy guides on how to make online playlists of favourite songs using these online streaming services:    

How to make a playlist on Spotify

How to make a playlist on YouTube

How to make a playlist on Apple Music

How to make a playlist on Google Play

How to make a playlist on Amazon Music

The Playlist for Life site also has some easy guides on how to create a playlist for someone living with dementia”.

It is really exciting seeing new research come out. It seems lately there have been quite a few findings. I feel a lot more of us are feeling the psychological and physical impact that the changing of the seasons and the tide of bad news is having. Degenerative illnesses are so upsetting for families and sufferers, so any breakthrough regarding music and its role in keeping memories alive is brilliant! The physical benefits - on the heart, head and whole body - is really inspiring and encouraging. The fact that Music as a subject is not going to be on school curriculums soon enough is extra heartbreaking when you understand how beneficial it can be for children. It is also a fantastic social lubricant and tool that was invaluable when i was a child in the 1990s. I will keep saying that one cannot see music as this magic elixir and cure for all know ills. It is, at the very best, a useful aide to medicine and physical/talk therapy…though it is a fascinating and constantly-evolving ally and curiously wide-ranging tool. I think all of us right now can appreciate the benefits music holds. You may need to chose the song carefully depending on your mood or need. Set some time aside, let the music play…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Freepix

AND reap its benefits!

FEATURE: Remastering… Hachette Job: Changing the Narrative Regarding Race, Gender and Value in Music

FEATURE:

Remastering…

IN THIS PHOTO: Jann Wenner, the founder of Rolling Stone and co-founder of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, has said female and Black artists aren’t “intellectual enough” to be interviewed for his new book, The Masters - his outdated and controversial comments caused backlash online and across music media/PHOTO CREDIT: Dana Scruggs for The New York Times

Hachette Job: Changing the Narrative Regarding Race, Gender and Value in Music

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THIS may be a generational thing…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Beyoncé has inspired artists across multiple genres and is undoubtedly one of the most important and influential artists of any generation/PHOTO CREDIT: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for TIDAL

but I still think there is a corner of the music industry who feels that superior and the most influential artists are white men. There is not as much credit and spotlight focused on Black artists and Black women especially. Look at festivals headliners and those given the most focus on music magazine covers. There is still this narrative that has existed for decades. It is one that we need to address and change. Maybe, in decades past, most of the more acclaimed music was being created by men. At a time when women are dominating music and so many include Black women are in a league of their own, any comment or perspective against that is jarring and flawed. I mention this, as Jann Wenner, the founder of Rolling Stone and co-founder of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, has stirred controversy regarding his new book, The Masters. It contains no women. No Black women. No Black men. The idea and impression, therefore, is that the most important artists - ‘the masters’ - and the best innovators are all white men. I can agree people like Paul McCartney and Bob Dylan instantly spring to mind. What about Joni Mitchell? Beyoncé seems obvious. Madonna. Kate Bush. Kendrick Lamar or JAY-Z. When it comes to women and women of colour, there are options out there. As there is still an issue in the music industry regarding race and gender inequality, it seems like an awful statement bringing out a book which highlights the extraordinary legacy of white male artists. NME explains the (understandable) furore and backlash Wenner has faced:

“Jann Wenner, the founder of Rolling Stone and co-founder of the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, has said female and black artists aren’t “intellectual enough” to be interviewed for his new book, The Masters.

Within the book, Wenner asks questions of seven “philosophers of rock”, notably all white men – Bono, Bob Dylan, the late Jerry Garcia, Mick Jagger, the late John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, and Pete Townshend.

In the introduction of the book, Wenner writes that women and artists of colour were not in his zeitgeist. He faced questions about this in an interview with David Marchese of The New York Times, and argued it wasn’t a “deliberate selection”.

“It was kind of intuitive over the years; it just fell together that way. The people had to meet a couple criteria, but it was just kind of my personal interest and love of them. Insofar as the women, just none of them were as articulate enough on this intellectual level,” he said.

PHOTO CREDIT: Bruce Glikas/Getty Images

Marchese countered this by asking, “You’re telling me Joni Mitchell is not articulate enough on an intellectual level?”

Wenner responded: “It’s not that they’re not creative geniuses. It’s not that they’re inarticulate, although, go have a deep conversation with Grace Slick or Janis Joplin. Please, be my guest. You know, Joni was not a philosopher of rock ’n’ roll. She didn’t, in my mind, meet that test. Not by her work, not by other interviews she did. The people I interviewed were the kind of philosophers of rock.

“Of Black artists — you know, Stevie Wonder, genius, right? I suppose when you use a word as broad as “masters,” the fault is using that word. Maybe Marvin Gaye, or Curtis Mayfield? I mean, they just didn’t articulate at that level.”

Marchese then questioned how Wenner could know that if he didn’t give those artists the chance to speak.

“Because I read interviews with them. I listen to their music. I mean, look at what Pete Townshend was writing about, or Jagger, or any of them. They were deep things about a particular generation, a particular spirit and a particular attitude about rock ’n’ roll. Not that the others weren’t, but these were the ones that could really articulate it”.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Bob Dylan and Wenner in 1995/PHOTO CREDIT: Anton Corbijn/Contour by Getty Images

Even though this is one man and one book, I think The Masters is systematic of an attitude that prevails. Also, it has a rather unfortunate title and connotation when you consider history and how the word ‘master’ has been employed – even though it is referencing masterful male artists. It has a gender-neutral possibility that means women could have been included. Yesterday, I am published a feature tomorrow that included songs from Black female artists. Incredible tracks from this year. I will expand on this in future and feature truly iconic Black artists. I want to divert slightly and bring part of an interview from The New York Times, where Jann Wenner was promoting The Masters. I have picked it up at the point where the lack of Black women (or women at all) was raised and challenged:

“You developed personal friendships with a lot of the people you interviewed in “The Masters.” I’m curious how you think those friendships helped the interviews, and are there any ways in which they hindered them?

By and large, they helped. Because the interviews I did, they’re not confrontational interviews. They’re not interviews with politicians or business executives. These are interviews with artists. They’re meant to be sympathetic, and they’re meant to elicit from the artist as deep as possible thinking that they’re willing to reveal. I think that the friendships were critical. I mean, the example of Mick Jagger — he just didn’t give interviews to anybody, and he still doesn’t. It’s because we were friends, I got him to do it. I had a particular kind of relationship with Bob Dylan. Jerry Garcia, we were old buddies from years ago. So, it really works. The only place it hurt was with Bruce. That was the interview I did for the book, not for the magazine. And my friendship with Bruce is very deep at this point. It makes it difficult to ask questions that you know the answers to. You’re trimming your sails to the friendship.

PHOTO CREDIT: Dana Scruggs for The New York Times

History will speak. This is also a history-will-speak kind of question. There are seven subjects in the new book; seven white guys. In the introduction, you acknowledge that performers of color and women performers are just not in your zeitgeist. Which to my mind is not plausible for Jann Wenner. Janis Joplin, Joni Mitchell, Stevie Nicks, Stevie Wonder, the list keeps going — not in your zeitgeist? What do you think is the deeper explanation for why you interviewed the subjects you interviewed and not other subjects?

Well, let me just. …

Carole King, Madonna. There are a million examples.

When I was referring to the zeitgeist, I was referring to Black performers, not to the female performers, OK? Just to get that accurate. The selection was not a deliberate selection. It was kind of intuitive over the years; it just fell together that way. The people had to meet a couple criteria, but it was just kind of my personal interest and love of them. Insofar as the women, just none of them were as articulate enough on this intellectual level.

Oh, stop it. You’re telling me Joni Mitchell is not articulate enough on an intellectual level?

Hold on a second.

PHOTO CREDIT: Hachette (Wenner said the subjects of his new book were the “philosophers of rock”)

I’ll let you rephrase that.

All right, thank you. It’s not that they’re not creative geniuses. It’s not that they’re inarticulate, although, go have a deep conversation with Grace Slick or Janis Joplin. Please, be my guest. You know, Joni was not a philosopher of rock ’n’ roll. She didn’t, in my mind, meet that test. Not by her work, not by other interviews she did. The people I interviewed were the kind of philosophers of rock.

Of Black artists — you know, Stevie Wonder, genius, right? I suppose when you use a word as broad as “masters,” the fault is using that word. Maybe Marvin Gaye, or Curtis Mayfield? I mean, they just didn’t articulate at that level.

How do you know if you didn’t give them a chance?

Because I read interviews with them. I listen to their music. I mean, look at what Pete Townshend was writing about, or Jagger, or any of them. They were deep things about a particular generation, a particular spirit and a particular attitude about rock ’n’ roll. Not that the others weren’t, but these were the ones that could really articulate it.

Don’t you think it’s actually more to do with your own interests as a fan and a listener than anything particular to the artists? I think the problem is when you start saying things like “they” or “these artists can’t.” Really, it’s a reflection of what you’re interested in more than any ability or inability on the part of these artists, isn’t it?

That was my No. 1 thing. The selection was intuitive. It was what I was interested in. You know, just for public relations sake, maybe I should have gone and found one Black and one woman artist to include here that didn’t measure up to that same historical standard, just to avert this kind of criticism. Which, I get it. I had a chance to do that. Maybe I’m old-fashioned and I don’t give a [expletive] or whatever. I wish in retrospect I could have interviewed Marvin Gaye. Maybe he’d have been the guy. Maybe Otis Redding, had he lived, would have been the guy”.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Labelle

There is more to Venner’s book and outdated attitudes than it being a bit controversial. You have to wonder what could have been had Black women decades ago had been given more opportunities ands exposure. What about the pioneering and influential Black men in music that he omitted? From Smokey Robinson springs to mind. Stevie Wonder is one of the most influential artists who has ever lived! Magazines like Rolling Stone were dominated by men in their ranks and on their covers. Think what would happen now is the music press still considered white men more relevant and only worthy of highlighting. To be fair, the industry still is racist and sexist, yet exposing troubling and problematic views that white men are superior regarding artistic endeavour has historical connotations outside of music. We get into seriously problematic political and social territory. The truth is that the music industry is so vibrant and inspiring right now largely because of women and women of colour. We do live at a time when there is stubborn progress regarding recognising that and rewarding it with equality and overdue acknowledgement. The Guardian published a feature that said Jan Wenner’s views are perhaps not quite as unusual as they seem – as in the music industry is still sexist and racist. In no way defending him, Craig Seymour writes that Wenner is exposing music’s bias when it comes to race, gender and artistic value:

“In 2020, I was a guest on the Who Cares About the Rock Hall? podcast, discussing why one of my  favourite bands, Labelle, should be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They were certainly deserving: they sang socially conscious songs from a Black woman’s perspective, espoused a philosophy that reflected the intersectional politics of Black feminists such as the Combahee River Collective, and sported a space-age look now celebrated as an expression of Black futurism.

The problem was that I didn’t know how to articulate Labelle’s significance in terms that made sense for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Labelle only had one big hit, Lady Marmalade, an ode to a Creole sex worker; the group’s most direct influence has been multiple covers of Lady Marmalade that have almost no connection with the group’s radical politics and style. I just didn’t see how I would be able to translate the group’s importance to the type of people who vote for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, meaning the mostly white men who historically have voted to induct artists who are white men, partly because of the way they’ve influenced other white men.

IN THIS PHOTO: Wenner in 1970/PHOTO CREDIT: Bettmann Archive

I thought about this podcast moment again when I read the comments of Rolling Stone magazine founder and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame co-founder Jann Wenner, in the New York Times. In his forthcoming book The Masters, Wenner compiles his interviews with seven rock musicians, all white men, “philosophers of rock,” as Wenner calls them. But Black musicians, he said, “just didn’t articulate at that level” and Joni Mitchell also “didn’t, in my mind, meet that test”. The likes of Mick Jagger and Pete Townshend expressed, he said, “deep things about a particular generation, a particular spirit and a particular attitude about rock’n’roll. Not that the others weren’t, but these were the ones that could really articulate it.”

He later apologised, saying “I totally understand the inflammatory nature of badly chosen words”, ones that “don’t reflect my appreciation and admiration for myriad totemic, world-changing artists”. But his earlier comments linger, confirming as they do the unspoken biases I have experienced in the world of music criticism since entering the field as a Black gay man in the 90s.

It does seem archaic publishing anything – whether a book, article or documentary – that discusses white men as being the most important artists. The true innovators. Excluding women comes at a moment where even thew Rock & Roll Hall of Fame – who have been called out for the lack of women nominated and inducted – still is dominated by male artists. You only need look at festivals headliners and the gender breakdown across radio playlists to see that male artist Are a go-to. Women being excluded and cast to the side. Things are starting to improve in some areas, though there needs to be a concerted and dedicated promise from the industry to improve visibility and bring about parity. It is always egregious and

“What’s needed at this moment isn’t just Wenner’s excoriation and ousting from the board of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, though that has happened. We need a complete rethinking of the criteria by which artists are deemed important, influential, and relevant, especially since many of the critics and editors who were trained by or influenced by Wenner are still working in journalism and book publishing.

IN THIS PHOTO: Wenner inaugurating the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame/PHOTO CREDIT: Rex Features

In 2004, critic Kelefa Sanneh attempted to address this issue in The Rap Against Rockism. He wrote: “Rockism means idolising the authentic old legend (or underground hero) while mocking the latest pop star; lionising punk while barely tolerating disco; loving the live show and hating the music video; extolling the growling performer while hating the lip-syncer.” Sanneh’s critique helped birth what some call “poptimism”, which, as critic Chris Richards describes it, “contends that all pop music deserves a thoughtful listen and a fair shake, that guilty pleasures are really just pleasures, that the music of an Ariana Grande can and should be taken as seriously as that of a U2.”

There is now a cadre of younger music writers devoted to documenting the true breadth of musical expression. The problem is that poptimism’s impulse to flatten the landscape fails to acknowledge how rocky the ground still is: how sexism and racism underpins the way many women and Black artists remain more embraced in the world of pop than rock. The only way to move the conversation forward – and reclaim any potential music criticism has to incite social change – is by fighting sexism and anti-Blackness with the same openness that Wenner revealed it. Otherwise, this whole controversy will just prove to be yet another moment of performative outrage that leaves the status quo unchecked”.

Maybe we still have too much of the ‘old guard’ holding way too much influence and their views and stubbornness hindering real progress. I really don’t think it is only that. I do agree with The Guardian that the industry has always been (and is now) sexist and racist. We all have a list of Black artists and Black women especially who are important, influential and vital. Great Black male artists doing phenomenal things and releasing music that is going to inspire people for decades to come. Maybe trying to articulate their merit and importance in terms of how bodies like the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame would understand it. There does need to be a reframing and redefining of importance and musical significance – taking it further away from white guys with guitars. One quote from Craig Seymour seems particularly timely: “The problem is that poptimism’s impulse to flatten the landscape fails to acknowledge how rocky the ground still is: how sexism and racism underpins the way many women and Black artists remain more embraced in the world of pop than rock”.

IN THIS PHOTO: The iconic genius Stevie Wonder/PHOTO CREDIT: Mike Coppola/Getty Images

When artists like Nova Twins, Bob Vylan and Corinne Bailey Rae are delivering some of the spikiest, most important and moving Rock/Rock-based music of the past couple of years, there are not many pages and articles dedicated to the modern Black queens of Rock. Black men who are modern legends and icons. It is vital we remember the legends. Though I feel certain genres are still perceived as white and being reserved for white men – Rock, Folk, Country, and even Rap are still having to answer a lot of uncomfortable questions without providing clear rationale. It is clear that things needs to change…though that eternal question remains: How do we do that?! New media is definitely shifting the narrative and is as open, embracing and diverse as it has ever been. It seems insane to think any right-minded journalist or author, when looking at music’s history and the pioneers, would only see white men. Look at modern music, and you can see the influence and impact that Black female and male artists of the past have had. How Black artists of today are inspiring so many others! Controversial and wrong-headed people like Jann Wenner, sadly, are not in a minority when they (intentionally or not) suggest that there are few women and Black men and women of note in music’s past. That sexism and racism is evident. Their mindsets and attitudes definitely are in…

 IMAGE CREDIT: Rolling Stone

NEED of retooling and remastering.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Nicki Wells

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

Nicki Wells

_________

I adore a singer whose voice…

takes you somewhere magical! The last time I felt that was earlier this year when boygenius released their debut album, the record. That real beauty in their harmonies! That perfect blend. Billie Eilish, too, has that sort of fabulous and dreamy voice that has emotion and layers too. Billie Marten, yeas ago, when she released her debut album, Writing of Blues and Yellows. Such incredibly evocative and unforgettable singers. Nicki Wells is someone who very much fits into that category. Even though I have only recently discovered her music, her voice buckles my knees! I am immersed in her music and helpless but to surrender to it. With phenomenal songwriting and compositions that are so nuanced and scenic – in the sense they inspires visions of nature and eye-catching scenery -, Wells is an artist that everyone needs to hear! Her sound would be perfect for huge stations like BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 6 Music – and she would fit seamlessly onto their playlist. I love what she is putting out into the world. The London-based artist is a sensation. I am going to come to some interviews and a review of her album, Ellipsis. Before that, here is some background to Nicki Wells and her magnificent music:

“From folky roots, chilled electronica, rich sonic soundscapes to Indian classical inflections. All of these multi-faceted layers amalgamate, to create a rich musical palette of original sound” – Gig Soup

Singer, songwriter and composer Nicki Wells followed her 1st class honours degree in Music touring as a featured vocalist in Nitin Sawhney’s band. She has performed in some of the world’s most prestigious venues from London’s Royal Albert Hall and Sydney Opera House to Glastonbury’s main Pyramid Stage. Her voice has contributed to a number of films including Andy Serkis’s Mowgli, Deepa Mehta’s Midnight’s Children, Renny Harlin’s The Legend of Hercules and was a major part of the scores of BBC Documentaries such as The Human Planet series. Her first solo album Ocean was released in 2018 under the pseudonym TURYA (Listen to TURYA on Spotify.)

As a Composer in her own right, Nicki scored for Tanika Gupta’s theatrical adaptation of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, Howard Brenton’s play Drawing the Line, receiving critical acclaim. She co-composed the score to Khyentse Norbu’s feature film Vara – A Blessing and has also composed five of contemporary dancer Aakash Odedra’s shows, which have featured in venues like Sadlers Wells, Royal Opera House and Edinburgh Fringe Festival, (winning the Amnesty International Award for the politically conscious show #JeSuis). Nicki also composed the score to documentary film maker Koen Suidgeest’s Girl Connected and then joined forces with renowned sitarist Anoushka Shankar to compose the score for upcoming documentary film about the Dalai Lama An Officer and His Holiness”.

With a great gig coming at Matthias Church, London on 29th November, I will make sure that I am there. One that cannot be missed! Go and book a ticket. You can buy Ellipsis now. I think songs from this album would work perfectly in T.V. and film. So atmospheric and engrossing are they, cuts such as Carry On and Warrior – a couple of my favourites – instantly fit in a particular scene/show in my mind. I am going to come to some personal insight from Nicki Wells. First, here is some background information about Ellipsis:

“Ellipsis, with its intertwining of Indian classical, Celtic folk, eastern European choral and western pop music, can undoubtedly credit its kaleidoscope of influences on Wells’ own fascinating heritage. Born in south London, she moved to a farm outside of Rome, Italy, when she was three years old, then to Himachal Pradesh, India – in the foothills of the Himalayas – three years later. Attending an international boarding school, Wells was surrounded by jungle and dramatic mountains, absorbing myriad languages and cultures away from the pervasive materialism of western society.

“Without question,” she responds, when asked whether her childhood has impacted her creative ethos. “I’m very used to movement and diverse ways of expressing myself. My work is definitely an amalgamation of all my experiences growing up; a combination of nature and nurture… where you live and how that shapes you, and what you take from life as you go through it.”

“There was always music around the house,” she recalls of her upbringing. Her English father, whose own troubadour nature led to a university friendship with folk icon Nick Drake, would play his favourites – Randy Newman, Bob Dylan – while her Swiss-French mother appreciated the intricate compositions of John Lennon and Kate Bush. Wells first began writing her own songs aged six, then, when the family moved to the Cotswolds when she was 10, got into Singer-Songwriters. “I wanted to be a singer,” she admits with a laugh. Aged 16, she was offered a choice between the renowned Brit School or the prestigious McDonald College in Sydney. Choosing Australia, she flew to the other side of the world, staying with family friends, and immersed herself in the city’s rich local music scene.

It was around this time that she stumbled upon the music of Nitin Sawhney. The British Asian artist has worked with the likes of Sir Paul McCartney, Pink Floyd, Jeff Beck and Sinead O’Connor, along with scoring the soundtracks to countless acclaimed films and TV series. “His melding of East and West made complete sense to me,” Wells says. This artistic appreciation was returned around the time when she studied at the Academy of Contemporary Music, where she was introduced to Sawhney by award-winning producer Pete “Boxsta” Martin. “Nitin came into the studio and I sang an ancient Sanskrit hymn,” she recalls. “He asked me to do a gig with him that ended up being 10 years of touring and all kinds of work… that was basically my university.”

It was Sawhney who produced Wells’ debut album, Ocean, which she released under the name TURYA, a project she began in 2015. “It’s derived from a Sanskrit word, turiya, which means the silence one experiences after sound,” she explains. “I was really interested in that concept: if you go to a performance and experience the ring of the instrument's final note, the sustained silence in between that and the applause is this thing, turiya, which you feel as a wave.” With Ocean, Wells dived into the elements: on the title track, her vocals rise and fall to mesmerising effect over soft ripples of piano. On opener “Rain”, electronic beats come into mingle with the more organic sounds: “I've walked for days alone/ And on my way, I found nothing,” she sings. “Heat of the sun, it burns/ Like those words, how they haunt me now.”

Ellipsis came into being when Wells moved from Greenwich, London to her mother’s home in the countryside during the pandemic. “It was actually great for our relationship, I think,” Wells, who is now based in Monmouth, Wales, says. “She really gave me the space and time to dive into my creative well. And I don’t think I’d have had that opportunity at any other point in my life. I definitely needed it.” Lockdown became a sort of “crazy, self-purging, creative period”, she recalls. “I wrote around 180 songs. Each day I’d go for a walk, and it’d be like catching these ideas with a net, going home and recording them.” Twelve of those songs made it on to Ellipsis, the first body of work Wells feels she has truly “given birth to” single handedly, one that asserts her coming into her own as an artist. “Every sound you hear was hand-crafted… it was like having my own chiselling tools, working on every detail”.

GuruViking · Ep46: Nicki Wells - Spirit And Song

Soul-baring and hugely enticing and fascinating, I am looking forward to seeing where Nicki Wells heads next. Ellipsis, in my mind, ranks alongside the best and most beautiful albums of this year. There are a few interviews from this year I want to bring in. It is useful, because we get to read different sides and aspects of Nicki Wells. She is a fascinating artist who will be playing huge stages very soon. Voice Mag spotlighted Wells prior to the release of Ellipsis. There are bits of the interview that particularly caught my eye. The more I learn about this majestic songwriter and her music, the more determined and resolved I am to explore more:

“A singer, a composer, a songwriter: Nicki Wells has worn many different kinds of hats in her career in music. A true citizen of the world, Nicki came to recognition working with Nitin Sawhney (who also produced her debut album OCEAN, which she released under the pseudonym TURYA), appearing on everything from TEDx talks to Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage with him. Nicki’s blend of Indian classical music, Western classical, Folk and Jazz, along with a myriad of other influences have resulted in her music being truly one-of-a-kind.

Ellipsis is Nicki Wells’ debut under her own name, and the freedom of creating it almost single-handedly during lockdown resulted in an album of self-reflection and self-empowerment. “I think in a way it's more genuine to who I am,” she tells me, “I gave birth to these songs by myself without any producer or other engineer.”

“It was intensely personal and I just needed to do it by myself. It’s an album of roaring into existence as an artist.” “It was spiritual work, the whole album: …It was rolling up your sleeves and getting your hands mucky with creativity.”

“I think the need to hear one’s own current is really important as an artist, and that’s what I was able to do, probably for the first time in my life, in 2020 when I moved out of London to my Mum’s. Because my life before that was always very very social, always on the move…. But it’s really important to sometimes just switch off the television and then hear what’s bubbling inside.”

“Now that this world is becoming more and more technology based, I want to be more and more a recluse. There’s an element of just wanting to have a simple life, a couple of chickens, have some animals, have some fruit trees, and try and live off the grid a little bit”, she says with a bit of a wistful smile. “But obviously we are part of this world where it’s all very necessary to be part of these social media apps and stuff. But as a creative it’s harder to hear what you need to say.”

Sanskrit is a language that Nicki incorporates into much of her music: Turya, the name under which she previously released music, is derived from the Sanskrit word for the silence after sound. With Ellipsis also having meanings of the space between the tangible elements, I asked Nicki what it was about this concept that drew her so much to it.

“I find that the silence between the sound, or the space between form, is as important as the form and sound, and I think that a lot of the time that is very much overlooked. Because as humans we’re always chasing the answer, this quick release, this quick fix.” “I think the process of something becoming what it is is much more interesting to me than the actual result.”

“It is the silence that is the canvas of the sound, and that’s what gives it its structure; like space gives pottery its structure. (Nicki also makes pots as her merch under the name TURYA) I’m very interested in the in-betweens, not just the black and white but the greys. That’s always the interplay of life: that we’re always living in the formless and form. An idea is initially formless until it becomes form. Whether it’s a pot or whether it’s a song, suddenly something is tangible. And I’m very interested in that interplay between formlessness and form; and I also would say that about ourselves: I’m not necessarily interested in myself as a form, but I'm more interested in deconstructing myself to be formless. That’s why I like to self-examine where I’m at, because we are all changing [and] morphing… at any given point, and so I really need to sometimes focus in on where I’m at, to see what can I give, what can I offer with where I am at now”.

Rather than source the entirety of 15 Questions’ interview with Nicki Wells, there are some particularly I wanted to highlight. I love what Wells says about spirituality. How her creative process works. So rich are the songs you hear on Ellipsis, I was interested to learn how things started and came together:

“Is there a preparation phase for your process? Do you require your tools to be laid out in a particular way, for example, do you need to do 'research' or create 'early versions'?

There is an element of having a certain environment that is conducive to the creative process. I can’t create with a lot of mess around. A messy environment also gives you a messy mind.

I like to have a minimal environment, that is uncluttered. During recording I’ll always light a candle for example, to have a little ritual and blow it out after the recording as a kind of thank you.

Do you have certain rituals to get you into the right mindset for creating? What role do certain foods or stimulants like coffee, lighting, scents, exercise or reading poetry play?

As I said above. And yes, lighting is so important too. For me, it has to be dim and cozy but if I’m writing during the day I like as much light as possible.

What do you start with? How difficult is that first line of text, the first note?

The music comes easier to me. I usually write the music first then words come. I try to stay very close to my initial feeling and try not to dilute it otherwise it becomes something else and can be scattered or distracted.

Of course there are many times where a song is completely different to how you first imagined it. I like the song to guide the way for me and I’ll try to listen carefully to the direction it wants to go.

When do the lyrics enter the picture? Where do they come from? Do lyrics need to grow together with the music or can they emerge from a place of their own?

Lyrics come after music for me. I like to read books, poetry which really inspire lyrics.

Sometimes I have watched a film and wrote a song about the same kind of narrative.

What makes lyrics good in your opinion? What are your own ambitions and challenges in this regard

Imagination, poetry, a play on words, humour and wit when appropriate and a feeling of not taking yourself so seriously. As you would converse with a friend, to have that informality, ease and gentility.

The best songwriters for me are the likes of Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell and Jeff Buckley.

Once you've started, how does the work gradually emerge?

By trusting the process, being concentrated and open to the creative flow.

Many writers have claimed that as soon as they enter into the process, certain aspects of the narrative are out of their hands. Do you like to keep strict control over the process or is there a sense of following things where they lead you?

Exactly the latter.

Often, while writing, new ideas and alternative roads will open themselves up, pulling and pushing the creator in a different direction. Does this happen to you, too, and how do you deal with it? What do you do with these ideas?

I go with it. Sometimes I try to go back and focus harder on the original feeling but if it’s not meant to be, then I allow myself to be swept with the creative tide and the song go where it needs to.

There are many descriptions of the creative state. How would you describe it for you personally? Is there an element of spirituality to what you do?

Everything is spiritual. The word spiritual itself has come with a lot of associations and concepts and that’s a problem. To me it’s about being part of a flow in an open and surrendered state and in that there will always be gifts, surprises and lessons along the way.

Spirituality is a way of being not a way of doing. If you are in that childlike curious, open yet focused state, quite frankly I think you’re there. And the creativity can flourish within that state”.

It is pleasing to discover that Nicki Wells is already in the process of making another album! I learned this when reading Charm Music Magazine’s interview with a stunning artist who has one of the most distinct and spellbinding voices in modern music. If you have not discovered Nicki Wells yet, then you really need to follow her:

“The album's imagery and allegorical lyrics have a way of evoking vivid imagery. How did you approach the process of crafting these lyrics and what do you hope listeners take away from the imagery you've created?

As a person I think very allegorically. Pretty much all of my songs derive from a vivid visual narrative. When I write songs, it’s often like watching a movie in my mind. I hope listeners draw out their own imagery from the lyrics, as they would from a novel. Everyone has their own unique interpretation of a narrative.

"Ellipsis" features a track with the same name that's purely instrumental. Can you share your perspective on how this track complements the rest of the album and what it represents?

Ellipsis was the symbol of (…) of the album. At the end of a sentence which invites contemplation or to allow that information to sink in. It is the last track of the album and wordless because by then I said everything I needed to say.

@nickiwellsmusic The Vinyl of my album Ellipsis are here and they are stunning! Head over to my bandcamp to get your own copy! #vinyl #album #ellipsis #newmusic #albumoutnow #fyp #fypシ #singer #songwriter ♬ original sound - Nicki Wells

If you had to choose only one song from the album, which one would it be and why?

I’d probably say You’re Alright Kid because that was a song I had written to my six year old self and it was very personal and emotional for me to write. It was a hug to my child self and an image of holding her hand walking together towards her future.

Looking ahead, you have an upcoming live show at St Matthias Church in London. How does performing live contribute to your artistic expression and what can your audience expect from this upcoming performance?

Performing live is a whole other dimension of being a creative and I am looking forward to bringing these songs alive in a live context. We have a very exciting band which includes a string quartet and since the album has strings throughout the record, it will be a magical experience to have them live. I hope the audience are taken deep into the world of Ellipsis and come out feeling fresh and empowered.

After the release of Ellipsis, what are your aspirations and plans for the future? Are there any themes or musical directions you're excited to explore in your upcoming projects?

Yes, absolutely! I am already getting started with the next album and I have also joined forces with my husband Tarq Bowen for a duo project we have started called Bowen Wells which we are excited to explore. It’s a different sound to my own original work, very fun, lively and more of an Americana folk-rock feel!”.

I will come to some reviews soon. I feel Ellipsis is an album that warranted some attention and press love from mainstream sources. The music is definitely strong and worthy enough to get under their radar. I hope that they do tune themselves Nicki Wells’ way in the future! With that London November gig coming up, I feel it will not be too long until she is demand in nations like the U.S. and Australia. I will get to a review of Ellipsis by York Calling. This is what they had to say about a diamond of an album:

“With her new album, Nicki combines classical influences from around the world. There are tastes of India, Celtic folk, and eastern European choral music alongside western pop and influences from Wells’ own heritage. Born in South London, she moved to rural Italy when she was three. Later, she found herself in the foothills of the Indian Himalayas. Her formal education then took her to Sydney, Australia before a return to the UK. This international upbringing has given Nicki an unusual and unique point of view which she brings to her music.

Nicki’s sound is influenced by a range of musicians, most notably the legend that is Nitin Sawhney who has worked with the likes of Sir Paul McCartney, Pink Floyd and Sinead O’Connor. Nitin would go on to produce Nicki’s first album Ocean released under the name TURYA.

Nicki’s new album Ellipsis is something of a re-announcement of her music and came about after she had moved from Greenwich in London to her mother’s home in the countryside during the coronavirus pandemic. It opens with Never Will. A delicate piano-led number, it’s a gentle and welcoming introduction to the album’s world. Nicki’s vocals are arrestingly soft. I found myself hanging on every word she sang.

Pavement keeps the piano but ramps up the atmosphere. It’s a dark and moody moment with beautifully descriptive lyrics that will haunt you. Carry On follows in much the same vein but introduces a hopefulness with its lyrical story. The Night brings with it acoustic guitar and ghostly harmonies. She Made You Feel Something is a beautifully textured track with ambient percussion and folksy vocals. The aforementioned Holy Smoke closes the first half of the album with an understated, memorable highlight.

The second half of the album opens with the contemplative Sidelines. Nicki’s vocals are particularly beautiful during its stripped back first verse. I Have Longed To Be Here is a beautifully rich and meditative track where Nicki’s eastern influences are worn proud. Silent One is slow-burning, unfolding over six and a half minutes. The natural romance of its journey makes it another highlight.

You’re Alright Kid is a track that’s touched with the nostalgia of youth mixed with the melancholy of adulthood. Warrior has an understated sense of triumph. It builds to a rousing crescendo which gives us the album’s emotional high point before title track Ellipsis closes the album with a pulsating final chapter that combines electronic and acoustic instrumentals to great effect.

Ellipsis is an ambitious effort from an artist who has been through it all. Nicki proves herself as a fiery and accomplished song writer with this collection. Its emotional story is second to none and she brings such a wonderfully unique tapestry of sounds across its twelve tracks. This is an album to switch off and get lost to”.

One more review before we come to an end. It has been a real pleasure discovering more about this terrific artist. That mixture of sounds and influences stands Nicki Wells out as a very promising and must-hear talent. Someone with a very bright and interesting future ahead:

“At the start of this review, I want to highlight just how difficult it is to effectively convey themes while still adopting a minimalist, sparse sound—almost as if to see what it is that can be done while still sticking to the very fundamentals of what has defined music for the last 3000 years. I’m glad to report that Nicki does it flawlessly on “Ellipsis”.

The album starts out with “Never Will”, a beautiful ballad with not much for Nicki to hide behind but the faint pianos in the background. As the song starts out, you are immediately drawn into the lush and dreamy soundscape with her voice filling up your ears in almost an ethereal fashion. As the song develops, you are introduced to the skilful harmonies, well-articulated themes, and the promise of these elements just getting better throughout the album.

And get better it does! With the mild percussion entering the scene on “Pavement”, the theme of minimal, less-is-more continues, only this time with a little more drive and panache, which is a welcome change indeed. As we “Carry On”, we are immediately transported to a slightly darker sound, with deep, rumbling orchestral drums in the background, as the song presents an almost angelic sound, as if it is conveyed from the heavens above itself.

The strings appear on the next song, “The Night”, while her vocals remain the centre stage of the entire performance—and deservedly so! I was left mesmerized as she effortlessly wafted between melodic ideas, chord progressions, and energy changes. Class act so far!

As we get near the middle of Ellipsis, “She Made You Feel Something”, is quite the passionate number, with the poignance to mean the message it truly tries to convey. As she delves into themes of heartbreak, and encouragement, the vocal harmonies take the cake on the song, with intricate and expressive layering that really strike chords in you; they definitely did so in me.

With “Holy Smoke”, the next song, the themes keep getting more melancholic and poignant, with the execution remaining as crisp and flawless as ever. I will take a minute here to comment that it is challenging to keep sound and emotional intensity unwavering throughout an album of this length, much less we have a story with themes that each of the individual songs establishes. This is the kind of album that really goes the extra mile to demonstrate how it is done, and I do not overstate it when I say that “Ellipsis” really is a master class in more ways than one.

A special mention from Ellipsis is “I Have Longed To Be Here”, the kind of song that delves really into vocal experimentation with its long, drawn-out notes as well as powerful, moving strings in the background, coupled with themes of wistfulness, melancholy, and unadulterated power. The harmony towards the end of this song is an easy 20/10 performance, with something about it really, really moving something in me”.

Go and listen to Ellipsis. Follow Nicki Wells on social media, and really embrace and explore an artist who is producing such wonderous and unforgettable music! Her production and engineering work on Ellipsis is incredible. I can see her being hired as a producer and engineer. At a time when few women in the industry are noted because of their technical skills – and studios still have a massive gender disparity -, it would be good to remember that producing and engineering are two essential levels of an album. Getting the sound right. Making sure all the music is perfect. Ensuring the songs are mixed properly and there is that flow through the album. Getting the sequencing right too…in addition to that communication with the musicians. Ensuring everything on the album sounds as good as it could possibly be. Such an important talent in the music industry, I felt compelled to spotlight and salute…

THIS magnificent human.

_____________

Follow Nicki Wells

Official:

https://www.nickiwells.com/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/nickiwells/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/nickiwellsmusic

TikTok:

https://www.tiktok.com/@nickiwellsmusic

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/0z6TVKyjgXLDIY0FSIIDUv?si=BH6R_nl1TcKfWjmE4XzdNQ

Bandcamp:

https://nickiwellsmusic.bandcamp.com/album/ellipsis

YouTube:

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

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/nickiwellsmusic/

FEATURE: But That Dream Is Your Enemy: Kate Bush’s Experiment IV at Thirty-Seven

FEATURE:

 

 

But That Dream Is Your Enemy

Kate Bush’s Experiment IV at Thirty-Seven

_________

I don’t have too much extra…

to add to previous features about Experiment IV. It is thirty-seven on 27th October, so I feel compelled to revisit it. Many Kate Bush fans might not know about this track. There have been some classics that never made it onto a studio album or were B-sides. I have argued before how Experiment IV would have sounded great on Hounds of Love. Even if Bush wrote Experiment IV too late in that respect, it would seem to fit nicely on the first side. Given that this song came out not long after Hounds of Love and yet does not receive the same sort of love and airplay is confusing. The track was a special single/addition to Bush’s greatest hits album, The Whole Story, It is usually the case that when an artist releases a greatest hits collection, there is a new track. Maybe a single or new song that didn’t fit onto a studio album. Normally they are not too much to write home about. I have always liked Experiment IV. Reaching number thirty-seven in the U.K. when it was released as a single, here is an extract from when Kate Bush posted to ger official website to discuss the song:

“This was written as an extra track for the compilation album The Whole Story and was released as the single. I was excited at the opportunity of directing the video and not having to appear in it other than in a minor role, especially as this song told a story that could be challenging to tell visually. I chose to film it in a very handsome old military hospital that was derelict at the time. It was a huge, labyrinthine hospital with incredibly long corridors, which was one reason for choosing it. Florence Nightingale had been involved in the design of the hospital. Not something she is well known for but she actually had a huge impact on hospital design that was pioneering and changed the way hospitals were designed from then on.

The video was an intense project and not a comfortable shoot, as you can imagine - a giant of a building, damp and full of shadows with no lighting or heating but it was like a dream to work with such a talented crew and cast with Dawn French, Hugh Laurie, Peter Vaughn and Richard Vernon in the starring roles. It was a strange and eerie feeling bringing parts of the hospital to life again. Not long after our work there it was converted into luxury apartments. I can imagine that some of those glamorous rooms have uninvited soldiers and nurses dropping by for a cup of tea and a Hobnob.

We had to create a recording studio for the video, so tape machines and outboard gear were recruited from my recording studio and the mixing console was very kindly lent to us by Abbey Road Studios. It was the desk the Beatles had used - me too, when we’d made the album Never For Ever in Studio Two. It was such a characterful desk that would’ve looked right at home in any vintage aircraft. Although it was a tough shoot it was a lot of fun and everyone worked so hard for such long hours. I was really pleased with the result. (KateBush.com, February 2019)”.

The Whole Story – which I shall write about closer to its anniversary in November – has two interesting facts. Apart from Experiment IV being the only new song on the collection, there is a new recording of Wuthering Heights. A new vocal. That was the B-side on the U.K. 7” release of Experiment IV. I have written before claiming the track is one of Kate Bush’s most underrated. It is definitely one that does not get a whole load of attention.

There are a few bits out there. This webpage has some interesting observations and details. It did seem like the music press were favourable towards Experiment IV in 1986. There is a lot of horror baked into the song’s sound and lyrics. The video – directed by Kate Bush – is quite frightening and intense. With images and screenshots that could be matched to Stranger Things or Aphex Twin’s video for Come to Daddy, it is definitely influential and iconic.

“Throughout the song the listener is fed snippets of exactly what has gone into creating this devastating sound – From the painful cries of mothers, To the terrifying scream... We recorded it and put it into our machine. The dark subject matter of both the lyrics and the video - sinister music that can harm and kill the listener, coupled with the strange technology the scientists use to create it (most hauntingly of all it’s never revealed why) - calls to mind the work of British sci-fi/horror writer Nigel Kneale, who frequently blended science and supernaturalism with anti-authoritarian undertones. In works such as Halloween III and The Woman in Black – and indeed John Carpenter’s homage to the work of Neale, Prince of Darkness – technology is presented as a quasi-magical force with severely sinister connotations.

Dawn French and Hugh Laurie provide a little comic relief as two scientists ensconced in the dubious research, and the reluctant Professor overseeing the research is named Jerry Coe; perhaps a reference to Jericho, the walls of which crumbled at the sound of the Israelites’ trumpets at the end of a war, as described in the biblical book of Joshua.

 The horrific effects of the scientists’ research is featured throughout the video, as various test-subjects are shown writhing around in straitjackets after hearing the sound. Finally, when the sound is 'unveiled', it appears as a spectral siren which suddenly takes on the form of a terrifying winged ghoul, which then proceeds to wreck havoc in the lab, slaughtering the scientists and test-subjects alike. The camera then assumes the role of the creature and pursues various scientists along the starkly lit and increasingly chaotic corridors of the facility, eventually tracking outside to reveal the rather apocalyptic aftermath of the incident – pre-empting ‘contagion horrors’ such as 28 Days Later etc. A cordoned-off vicinity around a music shop (revealed to be a front for the shady government project) – in which the shopkeeper is displaying copies of Experiment IV – is strewn with the bodies of the dead. Lastly, we see Ms Bush hitch-hiking on a nearby stretch of road and clambering into a van, but before she does, she turns to wink at us knowingly, suggesting this is only the beginning of her deadly mission… It could sing you to sleep, But that dream is your enemy! Incidentally, the sound of the helicopter heard at the end of the song as the military make a hasty retreat, is the very same helicopter sound heard in Pink Floyd's The Happiest Days of Our Lives from The Wall. Dave Gilmour and Kate are good friends.

Experiment IV is also notable for its hauntingly beautiful violin work courtesy of Nigel Kennedy, who at one point replicates Bernard Herrmann's famous stabbing strings from the shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho”.

Yes!#KateBush in her set for the video Experiment IV on the left, Vecna on the #StrangerThings set on the right. pic.twitter.com/jjZQXGEnDx

— FishPeople Kate Bush (@FishPeopleFC) June 17, 2022

In 2022, GQ noted how Stranger Things could have been inspired by Kate Bush’s video for Experiment IV. That Netflix show featured Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) and sent it to the top of the singles chart in the U.K. I think Experiment IV is influential in its impact on T.V. and music videos. I do really love the lyrics. This experiment being devised in a lab or secret location. Never mentioned whether this was a warfare device or torture machine, it is one that can produce sounds that kill people. A song that emphasises how Bush’s inspirations are never traditional or predictable! The lines of “But they told us/All they wanted/Was a sound that could kill someone/From a distance/So we go ahead/And the meters are over in the red/It's a mistake we've made” really stick in my mind. Bush’s vocal delivery summons up chills and beauty at the same time. Even though it was not ignored, Experiment IV does feel like a lesser-known and slightly overlooked part of her history. She was doubtful about a greatest hits album coming out. When it went to number one and was really popular, it appeared any cynicism was misplaced. I always wonder whether she had a view of doing something more with Experiment IV. There are so many of her songs that could be threaded together into a short film. Bush’s original video is great though, as shows such as Stranger Things seem to nod to it, a modern-day updating would be interesting. A song never performed live – except an appearance on Wogan around its release -, this is something I would love to see realised for the stage. On 26th October, the majestic and haunting Experiment IV is thirty-seven. I think people should check it out. Its video was banned by Top of The Pops because it was considered too violent. It was also nominated for the Best Concept Music Video at the 1988 Grammy Awards. This compelling and hugely interesting track – with its star-studded video – is one that should get…

A lot more attention.

FEATURE: Spotlight: Asha Gold

FEATURE:

 

 

Spotlight

Asha Gold

_________

A magnificent talent…

who everyone should know, I wanted to highlight Asha Gold. The London artist’s latest single, Cheap Wine, is terrific. There is a blend of Neo Soul and R&B. Mixing genres together but creating her own sound and sensation, this is an artist who has the talent and promise to remains in the industry for many years to come. I will get to some interviews from last year – as I could not find too many from this one – that gives you more of a picture about Asha Gold. I want to start with a track from 2021. Gold, like many artists, started to put together her first moves during the pandemic. Even if her debut single was released prior to that, when she was starting to develop and grow, that was the time the pandemic struck. An impossible time for a young artist trying to establish their name. I will start with a 2021 interview with Haste Magazine. They chatted with Gold around the time of the release of her single, Exes. They highlighted an amazing artist navigating the music industry as a woman of colour:

“The apple of tastemakers eyes, London’s Asha Gold is making her mark on the UK music industry with her silky smooth melodies and catchy contemporary beats. Named as one of BBC Asian Network’s Future Sounds 2021, Asha has been utilising her classical music background while championing her newer knowledge of the industry to produce her instantly recognisable tracks. We caught up with the rising star to discuss her latest single ‘Exes‘, and how she has, and continues to navigate the predominately white, male industry as a woman of colour.

While Asha’s music today combines a number of different sounds and sub-genres, her earliest musical memories lie in a different genre. From a young age Asha was surrounded by classical music and was encouraged to learn a number of instruments and delve further into it’s many avenues. She went on to explain to us a bit about her musical background and how it has impacted her as a musician today.

‘I started to learn piano at a really young age. That was my first experience of learning a skill and technique, and I later started signing and drums. And then I used to perform in groups and orchestras. That’s where I found my love of performing, at the end of a concert or a show that kind of post-performance high. It was only after I left school that I turned to writing and storytelling. I’m grateful for the classical background because it gave me the chance to understand the music, not just the lyrics but also the music behind a song. And discipline which is definitely important as an artist.‘

While many female artists like Asha have grown up surrounded by music, many womxn are made to feel out of place behind the musical scenes. In a predominantly white, male industry, womxn (and specifically womxn marginalised by gender or race) find it hard to solidify their space within the scene. We asked Asha if she has found many obstacles within this space and how she has overcome them.

‘Definitely, especially as a female artist when you are often in a room with male producers, or generally male dominated environments. What I love about having an orchestral background is that I feel like I can speak with more authority and a bit more confidence in those situations. Because I know what’s going on and I can back myself. I can understand a lot of the technical jargon. I’d love to continue honing those skills and learning something like guitar. I think the more self-sufficient you are as a female creative, the better.

People obviously look at me and know I’m an Anglo-Indian artist and that’s an important part of my artist project. But people sometimes try to project a certain type of marketable view – as in ‘play this up’, ‘do this’, ‘use it to play up your USP’. I’ve been asked so many times ‘what’s your USP?’, and I’m just not sure that white artists get asked the same question. There are a lot of white artists that are brilliant but occupy similar spaces, have similar sounds and collab with the same people. So that question raised a lot of doubt in me. But I realised that’s such a narrow question because in my eyes there’s lots of things that make every artist unique.

Now it’s more just increasing representation. I think things can be quite black and white without necessarily honing in on what is across that whole spectrum. It’s just important for me to exist in this space and be authentic to myself and to my relationship with my Indian heritage.’

While Asha’s music has obvious hints of R&B, her tracks are instantly recognisable as her own because of her mixes of different genres and sounds. So to confine Asha’s sound to just one genre or label would cut out so much of the work she has put in to create such unique work. So we asked her to sum up what her music means to her.

‘I would describe it as colourful. I’m very influenced by R&B and a lot of that genre can be quite indulgent. I’m not ashamed to bring in those pop influences and really mash all those kind of sounds. I love whacky percussion, I don’t want to resort to a snare you’ve heard a million times. So I think choosing left-field, slightly unique sounds, but then maybe a more familiar pop melody is really important in creating my sound’”.

I discovered Asha Gold earlier this year. I was not aware of her musical background. Someone who has come from a more Classic background into R&B, Pop Sugar spoke to her at the start of 2022 about that transition, in addition to why she is filming a content series with Pizza Express:

“POPSUGAR: Tell us a bit about how you got started in music.

Asha Gold: I actually came from a classical background in terms of my music. My main instruments were piano, percussion, and singing, but more so musical theatre as opposed to anything pop or R&B or contemporary. I spent all my time in school really playing in swing bands and orchestras, and then, I left school, and I realised that, actually, I'd never really explored the songwriting/storytelling part of music.

I started playing around with writing, and I really enjoyed it, but obviously, having not grown up trying to do that, I had no connections in the industry. It was a lot of emailing and cold-calling anybody that seemed relevant to what I was trying to do. Going for coffees and meeting up with my brother's girlfriend's cousin's boyfriend — anything like that, which I'm sure is the same for a lot of people.

PS: How did you get into classical music?

AG: It was my mum who really pushed me to start an instrument when I was quite young, I think because it teaches you a lot discipline and independence, and you have to really persevere when you're trying to nail a piece. I found piano quite lonely, because you're usually just practicing for exam, doing the exam, and repeating, and that's why I started drumming and doing percussion, because then I could play with other people. I really just fell in love with live music and live performance. Even though it's nothing like the live stuff that I do now, it's the exact same feeling [that you get] after a concert or after you've finished a symphony — there's a real postperformance buzz. Actually, I've recently rejoined an orchestra, because I was really missing it!

PHOTO CREDIT: James Robinson

PS: That sounds pretty impressive! How would you describe the music that you create now?

AG: I would describe it as colourful R&B with pop influence. I think a lot of the melody and vocal is quite pop, but I also love a bit of left-field production and wacky R&B.

PS: Along with music, you've also been working with PizzaExpress on its new Behind the Base series. What can you tell us about it?

AG: We recorded an episode of Behind the Base for Veganuary, and we made one of their vegan pepperoni pizzas. It's an amazing series because it highlights a mix of up-and-coming and already established artists. I've been watching the episodes, and it's so nice to get to know the artists in an informal environment. The series is in partnership with Nordoff Robbins, which is an incredible music therapy charity, and each episode takes place in the live Pizza Express space.

PS: Speaking of music therapy, how important has music been for your mental health in the past 12 months?

AG: It's a bit of a paradox because, on the one hand, the process of becoming an artist and trying to grow I found has taken a toll on my mental health. It's been taxing because of all the lockdowns and this massive emphasis on social media and TikTok and the constant, rapid creation of content.

I think trying to become a musician is tough, but at the same time, the reward is what keeps you going and what balances it out. Things like listening to a demo that I've created or having a brilliant session with a producer — they can be so cathartic and such a release, and they give you that confidence boost, like, "Yeah, I can write these songs." It's been massively important for my mental health to keep something creative going in and amongst all of the endless strategy and social content. The job description of a musician is completely different now.

Sometimes I wish I was born 20 years ago, and I was in the Adele era of walking into a bar and finding the next biggest thing, and then that being it. I'm not antisocial, but I think it's just about finding a way to make it work for you and doing something that's not going to suck the life out of you while you're doing it. It's about being authentic on those platforms as well”.

I like Fred Perry’s quickfire interview style. We get to learn more about Asha Gold here. Name-checking Beyoncé as a hero might mean (let’s hope) that the two get to work together one day. Let’s see how things work out in that regard! At the moment, there is no denying that Gold is a name to look out for:

“Describe your style in three words?

Confident, comfortable, changeable.

What’s the best gig you’ve ever been to?

I went to see Barney Artist on my own at Oslo in Hackney - the solidarity and positivity in that room was magical - I think London lacks that kind of energy sometimes. Barney was hilarious, dynamic, and open. Loyle Carner saw me with my phone out and thought I was taking a picture of him though, that was quite awkward.

If you could be on the line up with any two bands in history?

Anderson Paak and The Free Nationals and Rosalía - they own the stage as soon as they step onto it.

Which Subcultures have influenced you?

I spent years at school immersed in classical music playing percussion in orchestras, which demanded huge discipline and enabled me to develop my musicianship further than I ever could have imagined. To bring a classical symphony to life requires a delicate balance of precision, concentration, emotion and freedom.

If you could spend an hour with anyone from history?

Frida Kahlo. I study Spanish at uni, but I’d be a Frida fanatic even if I didn’t. In a conservative society, she broke all the rules, and she channelled the physical and psychological trauma that punctuated her life into her art.

Of all the venues you’ve been to, which is your favourite?

O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire - it’s my local so the dream is to play there one day.

Your greatest hero or heroine in music?

Beyoncé. She. Is. Everything.

19-year-old Londoner, Asha Gold is a self-driven R'n'B influenced artist whose debut 'Too Good' emerged in late 2019 to critical acclaim from the like of Clash and Earmilk with its personal take on the genre.

The first track you played on repeat?

'Survivor' by Destiny’s Child
Because I had a toothbrush when I was little that played it every time I brushed my teeth.

A song that defines the teenage you?

'Where is the Love?' - Black Eyed Peas
That song is so poignant it could have been written yesterday.

One record you would keep forever?

'Lemonade', Beyoncé”.

There is a beautiful interview from October last year that I want to end with. In December 2022, Asha Gold released her debut E.P., Maybe This Is Me Growing Up. Here is hoping that we get another album soon (or an album). In a brilliant FAULT interview – together with a stunning set of photos –, Gold was asked about making music during the pandemic and, at such a tough time, being recognised and receiving industry accolades:

“During the pandemic, Asha Gold releases many singles which catapulted her to being featured on the BBC network as “Future Sound of 2021”.

During a consistent summer filled with Festivals, Asha made her appearance on BBC Music Introducing at Glastonbury Festival 2022. As of September her new single “One of Kind” produced by Mitch Jones embodies self-love, being comfortable and confident on your own futher normalising that it’s ok to be with oneself.

As we currently bask in the religious celebration “Festival of Lights” joy, prosperity happiness and a triumph of good over evil, this Diwali – we’d like to highlight the Asian designers alongside the talent that is Asha Gold.

One of a kind is a track for setting boundaries and being by oneself are you an introvert? And what made you comfortable with spending time with yourself?

I wouldn’t say that I’m an introvert – I love socialising and I’m quite a chatty person, but I also definitely need me-time. I need at least one night a week just enjoying my own company, taking time over cooking a meal and winding down. “One of a Kind” encapsulates how I feel when I’m feeling myself and my most confidence. It’s the kind of song you can put in your headphones and walk down the street feeling like you can conquer the world.

PHOTO CREDIT: Marcelle Johnson

When and where was the first time you discovered your first Rnb artist, who was it and what was the song?

I think I started discovering a love for RnB music by listening to the radio on the way to school. Whenever my Mum drove me in we would listen to Capital FM, so I’d always know the mainstream hits word for word. I vividly remember hearing Beyoncé’s “Irreplaceable” on the radio, as well as Jordin Sparks / Chris Brown’s “No Air”. I was also an avid X Factor fan – I rarely missed a Saturday night episode when I was young and had X Factor pyjamas! I remember being enchanted by singers like Leona Lewis and Alexandra Burke and wanting to belt out ballads like they did.

Setting your decision in stone to become a singer-songwriter, how did your parents respond?

I first started my artist project when I left school and took a gap year, and I had never felt so high on life as those months of writing at the piano and making demos, getting coffees with whoever responded to my emails and DMs, singing at open mic nights and attending gigs solo to meet other musicians. Choosing a university in London was a big decision and it definitely reassured my parents that I would be pursuing music alongside a degree. I definitely considered pausing my studies, but I think uni gave me a lot of rich experiences that I could write about, and took the pressure off “making it” as an artist immediately. My parents have become more and more supportive over the past 3 years, as they see my hard work start to pay off and they witness how happy even the small wins can make me.

PHOTO CREDIT: Marcelle Johnson

You’ve released quite a few singles, Do you have a structured process for writing music or do you tend to let it flow?

Every studio session is different, but usually it’s the good songs that have come the most naturally or easily. I like to do everything in the room with the collaborator I’m with, so we’ll start with some chords, a sample, or a beat, and then I’ll brainstorm melodies and lyrics. I always voice note the first couple minutes because often the best melodies come to you straight away and then you can’t remember them if you don’t record them!

With many singles out on music platforms, when do you plan to release an album or EP , who do you plan on collaborating with?

My EP is coming out on December 2nd! It will encompass all the singles from this year, plus a couple of new, unheard tracks. It’s a body of work I’m really proud of and I can’t wait for everyone to hear it.

What fuels your passion as a singer songwriter?

It comes down to two main things: number one – my love for creating inventive, honest music that connects with listeners, and number two – my hope that someday I can influence positive change using my music and the platform I will have built by then. When I was at school and uni I played percussion / drums in orchestras and jazz bands, and nothing would compare to that nervous excitement when the orchestra plays that very first chord of the piece, and then that feeling of euphoria at the end of a concert. That post-performance buzz that I get from my gigs now is similar, and there’s really nothing like it.

PHOTO CREDIT: Marcelle Johnson

Being that you’re half British and half Asian how would you say that both cultures have shaped who you are as a person?

Being Anglo-Indian has meant my perception of my own identity has shifted and changed throughout my whole life through the process of figuring out what both aspects mean to me. At times I’ve felt disconnected to my Indian heritage, embarrassed even, and for most of my school years I just wanted to be white and blonde and that’s the honest truth. Music has helped me reconnect with this side of my identity, but I’m wary of industry folks who see my heritage as a point of ‘marketing’ – that feels inauthentic to me. I want to show other young girls with Asian heritage that you can become a popstar, even if there aren’t loads on the radio to listen to just yet. But I also want to be regarded as a great musician and performer, rather than labelled as “London’s Rising Asian RnB Pop Songstress”, because there are many of us”.

I think that the rest of this year and next will be exciting times for Asha Gold. With a string of distinct and incredible singles, together with an E.P., she has crafted this blossoming body of work that announces her as a major talent. Rather than label her and condemn having her compared to others or buried in a crowd, acknowledging Asha Gold as a singular artist with her own voice is the best approach. It will be exciting and intriguing to see what comes next from…

THIS wonderful artist.

___________

Follow Asha Gold

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/ashagoldmusic/

TikTok:

https://www.tiktok.com/@ashagoldmusic

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/ashagoldmusic

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/1sXQIRMGgEwmQktIO4XpWm

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/ashagoldmusic/

YouTube:

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

FEATURE: Them Too: After Dispatches’ Russell Brand Documentary, When Will the Music Industry Get Its Reckoning?

FEATURE:

 

 

Them Too

PHOTO CREDIT: Thirdman/Pexels

After Dispatches’ Russell Brand Documentary, When Will the Music Industry Get Its Reckoning?

_________

AS I am writing this…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Russell Brand/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images

(on Tuesday, 19th September, 2023), there is a police investigation against comedian Russell Brand. YouTube has suspended monetisation of his channel. He has had some charity gigs cancelled too. Women’s charities have also cut ties with him. The Channel 4 documentary, Russell Brand: In Plain Sight was aired on 16th September. The reaction was one of disgust and shock. With so many people suspecting that Brand was predatory and nasty, the revelations of the brave women who told their stories to Channel 4 left me gobsmacked. More allegations have since come to light. This is what The Guardian wrote for their review about the powerful documentary:

“As well as the allegations being known, by the time of broadcast Brand’s denial was also out there. On Friday night, Brand outed himself as the target of the investigation, releasing a video made for his millions of social media followers. He talked of “some very serious allegations that I absolutely refute”. Insisting that “the relationships I had were absolutely always consensual”, he speculated about “coordinated media attacks” with “another agenda at play”. This garnered him support from thousands of his existing followers, and new allies with an interest in self-identifying as brave media disruptors: several GB News presenters posted on social media appearing to take his side.

So with its allegations and the alleged perpetrator’s denial already known about, and even the culture-war battle lines around it already drawn, what currency does Russell Brand: In Plain Sight have? Plenty. As well as organising deeply harrowing testimony into a cogent narrative, the Dispatches film places the women’s claims into a wider context within the industry and our culture as a whole, pinpointing a collective culpability that resonates well beyond whatever one man might have done.

The allegations themselves are disturbing enough. Being able to see and hear the words spoken, even by anonymised interviewees filmed in silhouette or, in one case, replaced by an actor, lends every awful detail alleged a piercing immediacy.

Surrounding the interviews are the words of Brand himself, on stage, TV and radio. Even in the best-case scenario for Brand – the one in which all these specific, independent accusations turn out to be false – we view him as a sleazy, sexist creep because he has told us.

“Don’t be afraid of your own sexuality,” we see him tell a guest on his chatshow, in a clip dug up by Dispatches. “Do be a bit afraid of mine though.” During an interview on Conan O’Brien’s US talkshow, Brand told the host: “You don’t wanna be around when the laughter stops.” One old standup routine, joking about enjoying “them blowjobs where mascara runs a little bit”, spookily echos the exact words of one of the programme’s allegations.

The title In Plain Sight has been carefully chosen. Dispatches has found further evidence of Brand not hiding his misogyny, drawn from the same stint as a Radio 2 presenter that led to his biggest previous controversy in 2008, when he was fired for broadcasting crass voicemails he’d left for the actor Andrew Sachs. In retrospect, it is amazing Brand lasted as long as he did: Dispatches plays the audio of him making demeaning sexual remarks about his show’s female newsreader, and conducting an interview with a celebrity guest where he joked about sending his (named) female assistant to visit the star, stripped naked. The interviewee in question: Jimmy Savile.

Speaking to Dispatches, former BBC One controller Lorraine Heggessey boggles in retrospect at Brand’s broadcasts: “A predator, live on air on Radio 2.” Previous entertainment-industry exposes have largely concentrated on the 1970s and 80s; passing off the grim sexism of the late 00s as a distant bygone era is more difficult.

The warning about not ignoring red flags, and not indulging toxic behaviour to prioritise talent or fame, is a strong one, with acute relevance to a comedy world still riddled with misogyny: the only performer willing to be interviewed about the problem for Dispatches is Daniel Sloss, who is already known for including serious oratory about male violence in his standup routines. Why work still needs to be done – Brand is not the only comedian whose alleged behaviour is often described as an “open secret” in the industry – is summed up by a female Dispatches contributor, musing on women who might have embarked on a comedy career, met Russell Brand, then sought other employment. “Culturally, what are we missing?”.

That bafflement that the allegations took so long to come to light! This idea of Brand’s behaviour being in plain sight. One looks at some of the clips in that documentary and it is really disturbing. Someone who was given free pass and so many opportunities in spite of his abuse, grooming and assaults, let’s hope there is a reckoning where Brand is imprisoned and any other men in the entertainment industry who are similar to Brand (a police investigation has begun, so it is being handled by the authorities at the moment). The Times have written several pieces about Russell Brand. The findings in the Channel 4 come from a joint investigation by The Sunday Times, The Times and Dispatches. From articles where The Times talk about Brand’s followers almost as being in a cult, to a moving and disturbing interview, where a woman reveals Brand raped her. It chills the blood! I think that people should subscribe to The Times, as these articles accompany years of research and costs to bring all this evidence and testimony to light. It has taken so much hard work and dedication to ensure that Russell Brand’s string of assaults and rapes are brought to public attention. Many see this new movement and accusations as a part of the #MeToo movement. This is not something we have seen in Britain lately. We associate #MeToo more with the U.S. and powerful men in film like Harvey Weinstein being brought to justice and imprisoned. Many women came forward to discuss their experiences. Katy Perry (Brand’s ex-wife) and Dannii Minogue respectively called him controlling and a vile predator. It got me thinking about the music industry and how a #MeToo movement and Dispatches-style documentary has not come to light.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Dannii Minogue/PHOTO CREDIT: Pedron Alvarez/The Guardian

There are important and wonderful bodies and organisations in the U.K. that are designed to make women feel safer and ensure that are given a voice. I have mentioned Safe Gigs for Women and Safe Gigs Ireland. There is also the excellent Cactus City and the Independent Society for Musicians. These are essential organisations who are helping make the music industry safer for women. There is no doubt that, like comedy and the entertainment industry, there are many male predators. So many artists and those in the industry who have been accused of sexual crimes. Many others of harassment and stalking. Reading a recent feature by Laura Barton for The Guardian relating to her experience with a stalker made me realises the level and depth of harassment through the industry. From female journalists having their lives made hell, through to women being raped by high-profile artists, there is so much that needs tackling and addressing. Thinking about Dispatches and how it shone a light on the sexual crimes Russell Brand has been accused of – and, in my view, is undoubtedly guilty of -, I wonder when that is coming to music. For all we know, there might be an investigation taking place. Something that will form the part of a T.V. documentary.

PHOTO CREDIT: Brett Sayles/Pexels

The #MeToo movement never really reached music. There was a brief moment, yet it never materialised and spread internationally and sustained. After such an important investigation from Channel 4, The Sunday Times and The Times, many on social media looked to the music industry and some of the predatory men who are still working. If artists such as slowthai – who has pleaded not guilty to two counts of rape have been blocked from radio stations and are not performing whilst they await trial -, there are others, like Brand, in plain sight without restrictions. If anything, there is an even more massive problem of sexual assault and rape in the music industry. So many men who have committed crimes through the years but are still working. There is an epidemic and wave of sexual abuse happening right now. D.J. broadcaster and author Annie Mac and artist Rebecca Ferguson gave evidence to Misogyny In Music inquiry recently:

“Previous sessions in this inquiry took evidence from music festival organisers, music industry representatives, organisations that support women in music and academics.

The inquiry aims to uncover how attitudes can filter through to society, impacting attitudes towards and treatment of women and girls, including at live music events. MPs are exploring what steps can be taken to improve attitudes and treatment of women working in music.

Annie Macmanus, DJ, broadcaster and writer, was asked if the music industry needed to undergo the MeToo scrutiny that the film sector has received in recent years.

IN THIS PHOTO: Annie Mac/PHOTO CREDIT: Stephanie Sian-Smith

“There needs to be some sort of shift in women feeling like they're able to speak out without their careers being compromised,” she told MPs, referring to the music industry rather than the broadcast sector in which she has worked. “I don't know how that can happen. I feel like there are a lot of revelations that have not been exposed. It's infuriating the amount of women who just have stories of sexual assault, they just had to bury them and carry them, it's just unbelievable. So I do think if something were to happen, if one person were to speak that had enough profile where it got media attention, there could be a kind of tidal wave of it. Definitely.”

Rebecca Ferguson, a former X Factor contestant, has been vocal about her experience as a woman in the music industry. She has supplied written evidence to the inquiry.

Ferguson has called for a parliamentary inquiry into the way the music industry operates in the hope of “protecting artists” in the future. She met with former Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries to discuss her concerns.

IN THIS PHOTO: Rebecca Ferguson/PHOTO CREDIT: PA

Speaking to MPs today via video link, Rebecca Ferguson said the government has made progress on the issue of safeguarding.

“I would say so, yes,” she said. “I do think that the roundtable meetings that were set up did definitely improve the industry. I know that a lot of the labels, like Sony, for instance, set up things for people that were struggling with maybe mental health issues or people that were just genuinely struggling in the industry. They could go to somebody independently and Sony were paying for for them to receive help.

“So I do think it pushed the industry to do better. I don't know if it’s enough though. I know that CIISA [Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority] has been set up, and I was really vocal and tried to push that through and that’s going ahead, which is amazing. But I do think that there should be somebody, maybe from the [Department for Culture, Media & Sport] or someone from the government, that sits on top of that maybe a bit like Ofcom. I feel like it should be governed by government, because a lot of the funding for these regulators comes from the industry and it worries me about the amount of power that the industry has. So I think CIISA’s amazing, and I back that 100%, but I do think we should add one other layer of protection for that”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Alexander Krivitskiy/Pexels

When is this reckoning coming to the music industry?! With so many great but disconnected bodies and figures stating how there is this toxicity and problem in the industry, there has not been a massive investigation or movement. I know that Russell Brand is the figure in question regarding the Dispatches investigation, though it will lead to other men through comedy and entertainment being called out. The amazing and brave women who recalled their experiences – which must have bene hugely emotional and triggering – were called out by some on social media as being opportunist or liars. This is what women have to face when they say they have been sexually assaulted or raped. The fact is this: we all need to believe women! It does not matter who they are talking about and how popular that person is. Nobody should be beyond justice and untouchable. This messianic persona that Russel Brand has built up has seen people leaping to his defence. As Marina Hyde writes in The Guardian, we need to learn lessons from this. The same can very much be true of music. I asked on social media whether now is the time that we need to see this fight and joined-up campaign to bring predators in music to justice. Many women who have talked about their experiences are tired. They have told it so many times – to police, the media or people online – and are either not believe or do not get justice. I get that there is a fatigue and sense of hopelessness. At such a watershed moment, and with public figures like Annie Mac and Rebecca Ferguson detailing the extent of the problem that is growing like a virus through the industry, abusive artists need to be stopped.

Those who defended Russell Brand means that the women who have already bravely recounted their experiences have to deal with so much hate and doubt online. I know there is a risk that women who come forward against people In the industry face that. This year already has seen artists such as Rex Orange County (who has a sexual assault charge against him dropped), Jimmie Allen, and Anti-Flag's Justin Sane of abuse. One thing that has come about online following accusations against Russell Brand is this ‘innocent until proven guilty’ line. The fact is that he has been shown as guilty through the evidence found during Dispatches’ investigation. As campaigner Gina Martin highlighted, this line is employed to “quash healthy and warranted discussion, instead of how it should be used: only ever as a legal maxim during trial”. Like in the entertainment industry, there does need to be a way of women finding out who is unsafe, predatory and abusive before it goes to trial. Before they are abused and raped. There definitely needs to be action and a concerted and immediate plan to shame and out those in music who are abusers, in addition to ensuring women are safe and there is a way of flagging men in the industry who pose a danger.

 IN THIS PHOTO: D.J. Tim Westwood/PHOTO CREDIT: Lia Toby/PA

Like Russell Brand, there are these men in music who have been accused or assault and rape who are still working and have received no real limitation and reduction in their workload. D.J. Tim Westwood is perhaps one of the most high-profile men in music who is very much under the spotlight. It is clear that he is someone who should not still be being booked at events. And yet, someone who has been accused of sexual offences continues to work:

“A sixth report of sexual offences by the former Radio 1 DJ Tim Westwood is being investigated by police.

The Metropolitan Police said they are investigating six accusations of non-recent sexual offences which are alleged to have happened between 1982 and 2016.

It comes after the 65-year-old was questioned for a third time under police caution two weeks ago.

There has been no arrest.

Last year, BBC News and Guardian investigations uncovered multiple allegations from 18 women of serious sexual misconduct and abuse by Westwood. He denied those allegations.

In April 2022, several women accused Westwood, who also worked as a DJ on BBC Radio 1Xtra, of predatory and unwanted sexual behaviour and touching, in incidents between 1992 and 2017.

They also accused him of abusing his position in the music industry. Some of the women told us they encountered Westwood when they were under 18. One said that she was only 14 when Westwood first had sex with her.

He joined the BBC in 1994 but left in 2013 as part of scheduled changes.

Westwood then went on to present a Capital Xtra radio show but stepped down in April last year.

An external report, by KC Gemma White, looking at what the BBC did and did not know about Westwood's conduct during his two-decade employment with the corporation is due to be published this year”.

The truth is that there are many more men in the industry who are in plain sight; still operating and have careers in spite of assaulting and abusing women. There is this real breaking point where I don’t think that can be the case. As I said, there are a lot of great people working to make change and protect women. Whether it is an established #MeToo movement, a documentary where some women in the industry come forward – thus leading to change and accountability – or something else, there are too many men getting away with their crimes and the women they have abused feeling scared or worried - that, if they told police, they would not be believed. The statistic are shocking. A 2022 report showed that “New scorecards show under 1% of reported rapes lead to conviction – criminologist explains why England's justice system continues to fail. In England and Wales, more than 99% of rapes reported to police do not end in a conviction”. You can read the statistics when it comes to the prolificacy of rape and sexual assault.

If the last few days have been triggering with the #RussellBrand allegations, it’s worth noting the music industry has some resources 🧵

— Sean Adams (@seaninsound) September 18, 2023

I do feel it is only a matter of time before we see many men within music being spotlighted and accused of rape and sexual assault. We are in a time where women feel unsafe and unheard. Sexual assault also happens a lot at gigs and live music events. There does need to be a large-scale reaction that finds its way to the police and the government. Thanks to Rosamund Urwin, Charlotte Wace, and Paul Morgan-Bentley for their tireless and vital work for The Times. I think that the outcome of the investigations against Russell Brand will see a lot of positive change. This needs to happen in music. Things cannot go on like they have. There are countless victims that have been scarred and abused by men in the industry. Rather than – as has been the case on social media from a lot of people – doubt the validity of their stories, their motives for speaking now (and not when the attacks took place) and not going to the police, we all need to realise that these women face huge scrutiny and risks if they were fabricating things. The fact is they were not. Rather than call out these victims and question their stories, every one of us needs to…

 PHOTO CREDIT: cottonbro studio/Pexels

BELIEVE women.

FEATURE: The Digital Mixtape: Cuts from Incredible Black Female Artists in 2023

FEATURE:

 

 

The Digital Mixtape

IN THIS PHOTO: Corine Bailey Rae

Cuts from Incredible Black Female Artists in 2023

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THIS year has been an astonishing one…

for albums. Stronger than the past few years even, I wanted to include some of them here. In fact, this is a celebration of amazing Black female artists who have released sensational albums and singles. Spreading across multiple genres, these queens really should be on your radar. I hope I do not miss any obvious albums tracks and singles out - though I think I have covered most of them. Thanks to websites such as this, this, and this for guiding me to some wonderful albums and artists. Uniting some amazing sisters across the musical map, there are some legends sitting alongside newcomers. If you need a playlist to lift your mood, get you moving, make you think, calm you down or just leave you amazed, then I think that the below should fit your needs. Amazing songs from powerful and hugely talented Black women. Take a listen to these essential songs from…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Kamille

SOME music queens.

FEATURE: On the C-List: Do Radio Stations Need to Set Guidelines When It Comes to Who They Play and Who They ‘Cancel’?

FEATURE:

 

 

On the C-List

PHOTO CREDIT: Róisín Murphy

Do Radio Stations Need to Set Guidelines When It Comes to Who They Play and Who They ‘Cancel’?

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SOMEONE on my Twitter feed…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Pixabay/Pexels

trained my eye to an article from The Times that revolved around Róisín Murphy not being including on radio playlists for the likes of BBC Radio 6 Music for her views on puberty blockers and their impact on kids. It was perhaps not a fully informed comment she made, yet the upshot has been severe. Even though her new album, Hit Parade, has been met with acclaim, there is always a subtext or out-right statement. Reviewers love the music, yet they feel it is blighted or stained somehow. Below is the opening words from The Times’ article about Murphy and her being ‘cancelled’:

“A couple of weeks ago, Róisín Murphy posted concerns on a private Facebook page about puberty blockers. For those unfamiliar with Murphy, she’s a singer who has long supported the trans community, having performed at queer gigs such as Homobloc and Mighty Hoopla. On any reasonable interpretation, then, her post was an expression of concern for children, not bigotry. The backlash, though, was acute. “Trans allies” attacked her on social media and her name trended for days. A Guardian review of Murphy’s new album appeared under the headline “ugly stain”. The critic said that while she loved the music, she would “never” be able to hear it the same way again and sympathised with fans for whom the album was “DOA” (dead on arrival)”.

 

I cannot quote the whole article, as it is paywalled. It does seem that the BBC is refusing to play Róisín Murphy’s music at the moment. I don’t think she will be banned or has been cancelled. Her album is being reviewed, and she can still play live. It does appear that there is this temporary block at the moment. It does also seem that there are double standards when it comes to who is on a radio playlist and who is not. There is another article from The Times that highlights how a song that seemingly promotes violence against women has been included on a radio playlist – whilst Murphy’s music, which has no political message or controversy, is banned because of something she shared on a Facebook post (and then apologised for):

“The BBC has defended playing a song encouraging listeners to “kick” women with gender-critical views, while the singer Roisin Murphy battles for Friday’s No 1 spot after she criticised puberty blockers.

Listeners complained after BBC Radio 6 Music played They/Them by the band Dream Nails, which includes the lyrics “kick terfs all day, don’t break a sweat”. The term “terf” — trans-exclusionary radical feminist — is a pejorative term against women who oppose transgender people using female-only spaces.

The BBC dismissed objections to the song. A member of the complaints team said: “People will interpret songs with any element of nuance or ambiguity differently.”

The complaints came after 6 Music was accused of refusing to play songs by Murphy following her public criticism of puberty”.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Min An/Pexels

It does seem that a piling-on has happened which means radio stations like BBC Radio 6 Music have buckled. So many positive reviews for Hit Parade have come out, whereas they always have this warning or reservation saying that Murphy has been causing controversy and consternation. This is part of Laura Snapes’ review for Hit Parade:

“In the last two weeks, the sincerity of that expression has become compromised for many fans. A screenshot of Murphy decrying puberty blockers as “big pharma laughing all the way to the bank”, expressing concern about “mixed-up kids” and characterising “Terf” as a misogynist slur in a Facebook comment was circulated online. (A US study which followed 104 trans and non-binary youth over 12 months at a gender clinic found that those who received puberty blockers, gender-affirming hormones or both had 60% lower odds of depression and 73% lower odds of self-harm or suicidal thoughts. Puberty blockers have also long been used to stall precocious puberty in cisgender children. As of June, the NHS has paused their availability to young people outside exceptional circumstances and for research studies.) Murphy’s comments dismayed many within her vast LGBTQ+ fanbase, who she has embraced by performing at queer events such as Homobloc, NYC Downlow and Mighty Hoopla and aligning herself with drag culture. When she finally commented a week later, notably she didn’t apologise for her original assertion, only the division she had sowed, and claimed she had never targeted any particular demographic. (Also perhaps telling: Murphy has been her own manager for more than two years.) Naturally, the division only worsened, with some fans who felt betrayed cancelling their album preorders. Other supportive fans, and those with an interest in amplifying Murphy’s original views, as well as anti-cancel culture bandwagoners, made the hashtag #IStandWithRoisinMurphy trend on Twitter”.

I do wonder why there has been such a harsh punishment for Murphy. I have seen a lot of high-profile people in the industry – such as D.J. and label owner Pete Paphides – who have said that Twitter and social media is not the world. That there is a difference between a core on social media and general reaction in the wider hemisphere. It seems opinion from people there and pressure from social media has forced the hand of stations. Why has Róisín Murphy been handed quite a big punishment?! I do not agree with what she said about puberty blockers being given to mixed-up kids and this being pharma companies doing wrong. I think the subject and argument is more complex. Many people did take to social media to argue against her. That said, I have always been a fan of Murphy and her music. She has done exceptional on the album chart. Hit Parade has reached a heady position in spite of the fact that her label, Ninja Tune, stopped promotional duties. Maybe a sense of fans defying stations or merely showing their love, this whole debacle and tense situation needs resolving. I can understand how artists who have been accused of sexual assault or racism for example are taken off playlists. If we look historically, so many legendary artists who have committed crimes and assaults in the past are played and celebrated. There is no real consistency or explanation as to why stations feature those artists but ban Róisín Murphy. I don’t think an artist can be cancelled.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Oriel Frankie Ashcroft/Pexels

Her music exists in the wider world. It is radio stations removing her from playlists. Songs are played on stations that feature violence against women. There are tracks that seem to highlight very questionable messages and attitudes. That seems far worse than what Róisín Murphy has expressed, so you wonder whether BBC stations have been overly-cautious. If they continued to play her, would they be accused of supporting a perceived anti-trans agenda? This feeling that Murphy is anti-trans was refuted by her in an apology. She walked back her comment – which she did not need to do - and there is this genuine regret. After all of this, it has not made a difference. Many have said that this is a case of misogyny and sexism. That is hard to argue against! If it was a male artist, would they receive the same outcome?! In fact, as I have written before, Alice Cooper came out recently and said he feels trans people are engaging in a ‘fad’. He lost a cosmetics deal, though his music is still widely played. Compare the two situations and you find it hard to argue against the misogyny argument. What is clear is that there needs to be more love and respect given to the trans community. More artists talking about it and showing their support, rather than questioning or (maybe without meaning to) complex things. If they have concerns or a point, perhaps this is something that could be addressed in music. You might say that this is as bad as putting it on social media, though I think songs are a platform where you can talk about things like trans rights and children and it would be healthier and can lead to artists celebrating and promoting the trans community and defending their rights.

 PHOTO CREDIT: Andrea Piacquadio/Pexels

In general, it is all a bit of a mess where it seems like Róisín Murphy has been singled out. I am not sure when she will be reinstated on the playlists of BBC Radio stations such as BBC Radio 6 Music – who have championed her through the years, yet cannot forgive her for this. It is not the decision of D.J.s to exclude her music. These decisions come from station bosses. BBC Radio 6 Music’s Samantha Moy need to set guidelines or issue an explanation as to why Murphy has been taken off the playlists, and yet more problematic and seemingly dangerous artists remain. All radio stations need to do this. It does seem like singling someone out if the same standards are not applied to every artist. I can understand why stations would not play Murphy’s songs a few days after her post. Perhaps as a compromise or way of not getting too much hate. It has been nearly a month since she issued an apology - and, with a new album out, this is a time when she is losing out on air play. The fact Hit Parade has been met with universal acclaim and is one of 2023’s best demonstrates her importance, the faith and loyalty fans have, in addition to the fact that she has won new fans. My views about trans rights are very different to some other people. When it comes to artists, it is only fair those who criticise and attack the trans community should be banned or tackled. I hate the world ‘cancelled’, as it implies they will forever be banned. In terms of definition, Róisín Murphy’s intention of defending children and showing concern has been viewed by some as a slam against the trans community. Without Murphy being able to sort of plead her case, she has been taken off radio playlists.

 PHOTO CREDIT: drobotdean via Freepik

The trans community have enough to deal with in terms of ignorance and hatred. They are subjected to abuse and misunderstandings TERFs undermining them and showing vile attitudes. If anyone in music did that, then they should not be given a platform. Whilst Róisín Murphy’s Facebook post might not have been completely embracing and supportive or the trans community, neither was it an attack against them and their values – more of pharmaceutical companies and profiting. In any case, what should have been fixed with an apology has instead resulted in a ban across various stations. Will male artists get the same treatment?! Can stations explain why they are spinning tracks with very problematic and concerning messages?! There is a lot that needs to be answered. There needs to be discussion so that very important subjects such as trans rights are brought into the spotlight. So that there is better understanding and more positivity towards them at a time when thy are being abused and threatened. This situation around Róisín Murphy has brought a new wave of hatred and ignorance against the trans community. Definitely not what Murphy wanted. I am not going to get into a freedom of speech/censorship debate - as I don’t think it applies here -, though it is clear that there is misogyny and sexism at play. Let’s hope that Murphy is reinstated on radio playlist and the excellent Hit Parade is heard further and wider than it is at the moment - top five is pretty good going! Radio stations need to ask themselves some questions and explanation their rationale for banning some artists and including others. Otherwise, as we can see with Róisín Murphy, it appears that some artists are rather unfairly getting…

A raw deal.

FEATURE: In Search of Peter Pan: The Mystery, Legend and Privacy of Kate Bush

FEATURE:

 

 

In Search of Peter Pan

IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush received the Editors Award at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards at the Palladium, London, on 30th November, 2014/PHOTO CREDIT: Alan Davidson/Rex/Shutterstock 

The Mystery, Legend and Privacy of Kate Bush

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I have been having this discussion…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Trinity Mirror/Mirrorpik/Alamy

on social media regarding Kate Bush and how she releases music. There is almost something mystical and mythical. In terms of her modern promotion – everything from 2005’s Aerial onwards -, there has not been the big campaign trail. Probably something she did more in the earlier years, we do not get teaser videos, build-up or whispers of new music coming. We are all grateful that she is in communication with her fans, though some wonder whether her silence or the lack of updates signals a path towards retirement – or whether new music is being made and Bush is keeping quiet at the moment. I think we are used to artists posting everything on social media and knowing when an album comes out. We get surprise albums and ones dropped out of the blue. Most artists do not do this, as it is a little riskier and you wonder how beneficial and profitable that approach is. Those artists that have been around and we suspect might be working on something but we can’t be certain. Definitely, The Cure and Tom Waits are known for keeping a bit quiet. I think it all comes down to private life and whether an artist feels comfortable providing updates and engaging with fans about new music. I suspect that Kate Bush has written some new songs - though how are fans to know whether she will release an eleventh studio album or she is retiring?! I can appreciate it is frustrating. I was having another discussion about Before the Dawn and the fact the DVD has not be released. The live album is seven in November. Kate Bush confirmed that the set was recorded. In fact, four different performances of were actually captured. Two with an audience, and two performances on ‘dark’ nights where they could shoot close-ups. People who could not afford to go to London to see her will be deprived of seeing perhaps her last live outing. Is holding onto that DVD not putting the fans first?!

 PHOTO CREDIT: Patrick Lichfield

It is a hard balance when it comes to Kate Bush now. We all want new music and need to know that there is a sign and sense that something will come some day. Almost like searching for Peter Pan or this mythic figure in the wild (both of which she has written about!), how do we know whether this icon is going to grace us with more music?! I guess we cannot demand it. Bush does not do interviews without promoting something, so it that clash between respecting her privacy but also wondering what is happening. There have been no dates or any plans put forward for a new album. No sign that Before the Dawn will get any reissue or there will be a DVD release. If both of these things did happen, it would give fans access to a once-in-a-lifetime live experience. New material, even if it came with an announcement that this would be her last, would at least be something. I don’t know what the solution is. Wanting to keep private and work at her own pace, can expect more of Kate Bush?! After Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) went to number one last year and Bush spoke with Woman’s Hour, she did show her appreciation to the fans. Maybe that should have been the spark she needs to release a new album. So, will there be one?! There is this situation where we will never know until Bush makes an announcement one way or another. Will she ever say anything?

The fans have no right to demand anything but, as there has been a long pause between albums, I can appreciate some impatience. In fact, by December, it will have been her longest gap between albums. The Red Shoes was released in November 1993. Aerial came out in November 2005. That twelve-year gap will be surpassed soon. 50 Words for Snow arrived in November 2011. There have been updates from Kate Bush on her official website through the years. Reissues and stuff like that, yet nothing in the form of a single or album. She did release Lyra in 2007, though that was for the film, The Golden Compass. Maybe one day an announcement will go up and that will be that. Nobody knows whether Bush has firm plans to release another album, so it is quite painful for her fans. Just some inkling or tease would be enough! We know that is not how she operates! In any case, I can appreciate there is tension mixed with desire. Fans respect Bush enormously, so we could never be angry or demanding. That said, such is the new wave of affection for her – and a new generation of people are discovering her music -, one cannot help but understand there is a perfect opportunity and moment to release something. Most of Bush’s studio albums come out between September and November inclusive. Perhaps a new album this year might be out of the question. She would normally allow a couple of months between the announcement and the album coming out. I guess it is not out of the question. I suspect the moment has passed by.

Anyone who knows anything about Kate Bush can accept that she will not be on social media and we just have to wait. There is this sense that, now she has this new fandom and legacy, so many people want to hear something new. Before, Bush had a young son and wanted to focus on home. Now her son is twenty-five, there is less reason to delay. It is a very hard situation to resolve in that sense. Bush will be taking her time and is not on a deadline. She has her own label, Fish People, and would release an album through here. In a year where we are still talking about her previous work, maybe she wants to see out 2023 and plan something new for 2024. We can but hope something materialises in 2024. Maybe Bush’s rationale for a gap this large is that we have heard from her. Her music, even if it is a song from 1985, has been celebrated. As fans look back and see why she is such a genius, they also want something fresh. It is completely understandable if Kate Bush is not releasing any other albums. I guess the fans would like to know. Same goes for the DVD of Before the Dawn. In the drawer and collecting dust, is there not any chance this will come to light?! This fevered mix of excitement, appreciation, guessing and tension is very much there. We all want to see Kate Bush be happy. If that means no more music and coming away from the public eye, the fans can get behind that. I suspect she has not done yet with new music. It is that waiting and social media silence that is deafening. She is a private person. Not one to tease an album or play any sort of media game, she is delightfully old-fashioned and pure in that sense. Doing things on her terms. I suppose the fans are owed a general answer to the question: Is there going to be a new album in the coming years? As no interview is planned where someone can ask that, it is a case of waiting – nearly twelve years now as it happens. We would all allow the blessed Kate Bush to take her time, though all we ask is that she…

GIVE us a sign.

FEATURE: The Long and the Short of It: The Scottish Album of the Year 2023 Playlist

FEATURE:

 

 

The Long and the Short of It

The Scottish Album of the Year 2023 Playlist

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EARLIER this week…

IN THIS PHOTO: Becky Sikasa

the longlist for The Scottish Album of the Year was announced. When it comes to award ceremonies, there is not as much media coverage as there should be. I think it is vital that we shine a spotlight on the music coming out of nations like Scotland. With such a rich history of wonderful music, some future legends and established greats are in the running. If you have not heard of SAY and want to know more about how the shortlist process works, then below are all the details:

“Recognising an outstanding album from Scotland’s past which still inspires today.

• Winner announced in conjunction with The SAY Award Shortlist and the Sound of Young Scotland Award finalists.

• Winning album celebrated at The SAY Award 2023 Ceremony.

• Winner receives a bespoke art prize, created through The SAY Award Design Commission.

The Sound of Young Scotland Award

The Sound of Young Scotland Award – in association with Help Musicians, Youth Music Initiative and Youth Music – exists to drive Scottish music of the future; enabling a young and emerging artist to create their debut album.

• Winner chosen by a panel of previous SAY Award nominees.

• Winner announced at The SAY Award Ceremony.

• Winner given a performance slot to showcase at The SAY Award Ceremony 2024.

• Winner receives a funding package worth up to £8,000 to facilitate the creation of their debut album.

Applications for the Sound of Young Scotland Award 2023 open on Monday 24 July. More information (including eligibility criteria, selection process and application specifics) will be published in due course.

Key Dates

FRIDAY 30 JUNE – FRIDAY 21 JULY 2023

The SAY Award eligible albums submission period | Artists, industry professionals and music fans can submit eligible albums – for free – via sayaward.com

MONDAY 24 JULY – MONDAY 14 AUGUST 2023

The Sound of Young Scotland Award submission period | Young and emerging Scottish artists can apply to be considered for the Sound of Young Scotland Award 2023; offering a funding package worth up to £8,000 to facilitate the creation of their debut album

THURSDAY 14 SEPTEMBER 2023

The SAY Award Longlist Announcement | 20 outstanding Scottish albums will be announced as The SAY Award Longlist for 2023

MONDAY 2 OCTOBER – WEDNESDAY 4 OCTOBER 2023

The SAY Award Public Vote | 72-hour public vote at sayaward.com, securing one Longlisted album’s place in the Shortlist along with a guaranteed minimum prize of £1,000.

THURSDAY 5 OCTOBER 2023

The SAY Award Shortlist Announcement / The Sound of Young Scotland Award Finalists Announcement / Modern Scottish Classic Award Winner Announcement | 10 SAY Award Shortlisted albums, 5 Sound of Young Scotland Award Finalists and the winner of 2023’s Modern Scottish Classic Award are revealed three weeks ahead of The SAY Award Ceremony.

THURSDAY 26 OCTOBER 2023

The SAY Award Ceremony 2023 @ The Albert Halls, Stirling | Winner announcements, live performances and more”.

Last year produced an impressive shortlist. The winner, Fergus McCreadie’s Forest Floor, was a worthy winner. I am marking the longlist for this year’s SAY by putting together a playlist with a song from each of the twenty nominated albums. I think all deserve to win the award…but only one can. This year’s selection if another very strong and eclectic list! It is vital that more eyes are trained the way of Scotland. Below is just a portion of the magnificent music…

COMING out of Scotland.

FEATURE: It’s a Miracle: Culture Club’s Colour by Numbers at Forty

FEATURE:

 

 

It’s a Miracle

Culture Club’s Colour by Numbers at Forty

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ONE of the best albums of the '80s…

 PHOTO CREDIT: Ebet Roberts/Redferns

arrived on 10th October, 1983. Culture Club’s seconds studio album, Colour By Numbers, went to number one in the U.K. and two in the U.S. I want to mark the upcoming fortieth anniversary. In 2019, Classic Pop discussed the upbeat and colourful music and delivery at times bellied painful and serious lyrics. Maybe one reason why Colour By Numbers is so accessible is because the songs have this catchiness. There is quite a broad range of sounds through Colour By Numbers. One thing that is consistent is the quality of the songwriting. With Boy George captivating in every song, it is no wonder Colour By Numbers has endured and resonated with critics. I will come to a couple of reviews. In terms of features, there are a couple worth bringing in. I shall start with Classic Pop:

“As the nation reeled in shock when David Bowie draped his arm around Mick Ronson’s shoulder during his infamous Top Of The Pops performance of Starman in July 1972, a spark was ignited in 11-year-old viewer George O’Dowd, who recognised a kindred spirit in Bowie and made the decision to follow in the platform-soled footsteps of his idol.

Immersing himself in the glam rock, punk and New Romantic scenes, he reinvented himself as a flamboyant entity in his own right.

A decade later, George’s own appearance on the same show to perform Do You Really Want To Hurt Me elicited an equally controversial reaction to that of Bowie’s – and the charismatic singer of indeterminate gender was baptised pop’s hottest property.

Although the initial reaction to Boy George’s androgynous look had shifted between negative (he was crowned ‘Wally Of The Week’ by renowned TV critic Nina Myskow) and bewildered, his talent was undeniable and the soulful reggae of Do You Really Want To Hurt Me made Culture Club a global phenomenon.

As the band relentlessly promoted the song, getting back in the studio to work on new material was at the forefront of their minds. Do You Really Want To Hurt Me had proved third-time lucky for them, following the flop of their first two singles White Boy and I’m Afraid Of Me and, feeling that their debut album Kissing To Be Clever lacked anything else worthy of being a single, the band was concerned about the prospect of becoming a one-hit wonder.

One of the first new tracks they recorded, Time (Clock Of The Heart) was rush-released in November 1982 and alleviated those fears, giving them a second Top 10 hit.

A sublime slice of blue-eyed soul, the track served its purpose of keeping the band in the public eye – and the charts – while they crafted their second album amidst one of the most competitive times in music, with Wham!, Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet all vying for the attentions of Britain’s teenagers.

“With so many great bands around, people can forget about you really quickly – especially when you’re a new band,” George said at the time. “So for us, it’s important to just keep pushing the records out so that we don’t lose our momentum.”

Describing themselves as “an Irish transvestite, a Jew, a black man and an Anglo-Saxon”, the band’s name was an allusion to their differing ethnicities and it was the fusion of those different backgrounds and influences that gave them their signature sound.

With producer Steve Levine on hand to mould the varying styles into a cohesive sound, and support from powerhouse backing vocalist Helen Terry and keys player Phil Pickett among others, the sessions for the second album showed a marked progression from Kissing To Be Clever, which had been more a collection of demos recorded as the band found its identity than a body of work.

“This next album is going to prove that we’re very musical,” George said in an interview with The Tube in early 1983. “It’s a lot more mature and sophisticated than Kissing To Be Clever. We work very closely with Steve Levine, who is almost the fifth member of Culture Club. We all have the same idea of what we want the end result to be, which is essentially a well-structured pop song, and we have developed our own sound now. A lot of bands are wanting to work with Steve to achieve the ‘Culture Club sound’ but it’s not possible, because it’s a collaboration – it’s not a situation like a lot of bands who don’t know what they want to sound like, so the producer ends up taking over.

“Roy and Mikey love the new machines – the Fairlights, and the computers – while Jon and I prefer an acoustic sound, really rough and soulful. So we mix both to get a fine balance.”

Achieving that result had proved anything but smooth. “We’re very adult in our approach to the studio, but we fight a lot in the rehearsals,” George said. “There’s a lot of throwing coffee over each other and guitars being thrown, that sort of thing.”

Years later, an insight into the machinations of Culture Club at this time was revealed when a recording taken during the making of Victims, in which the band tore into each other, was leaked onto the internet. Finding it hilarious in retrospect, the argument was entitled Shirley Temple Moment and released as a track on the band’s 2002 career-retrospective boxset.

While Culture Club’s music was a collaborative effort, the song’s lyrics were strictly George’s domain. “I write all the lyrics,” he said. “I never sing anyone else’s lyrics – they all come from a very personal basis and are about what’s going on in my life, in my relationships at the time – they’re deeply personal.”

Although George and drummer Jon Moss’ relationship wasn’t public knowledge by this point, their tempestuous union was the basis for much of Culture Club’s material.

As millions of fans unwittingly sang along, their biggest hit, Karma Chameleon was a visceral depiction of a volatile relationship with lyrics such as: “I heard you say that my love was an addiction/ When we cling, our love is strong/When you go, you’re gone forever, you string along” and “Everyday is like survival, you’re my lover, not my rival”, a theme prevalent throughout the rest of the record.

On the surface, Colour By Numbers is a poppy, upbeat record fizzing with catchy melodies and sing-along choruses. Scrubbed free of its make-up of glossy production and soulful vocal stylings, it’s a tortured depiction of a dysfunctional relationship.

Following in the footsteps of Fleetwood Mac and ABBA, Culture Club turned their misery and melancholia into musical magic. Writing in his autobiography Take It Like A Man, George described the band’s output as: “Simple pop songs with blatant messages to the boy I loved – my pain was seeping into the songwriting.”

Preceded by No.2 hit Church Of The Poison Mind, and Karma Chameleon, which spent six weeks at No.1, Colour By Numbers was released in October 1983.

Critics praised the album’s mix of blue-eyed soul with pop, gospel, reggae and jazz, citing it as a huge musical progression from Culture Club’s debut, particularly on the epic ballad Victims (released as the third single in November 1983)”.

Before coming to some of the critical reviews for Colour By Numbers, there is a great feature from Albumism that discusses the impact and legacy of Colour By Numbers. They also discuss how Culture Club developed after their 1983 success. An undoubted classic, it has been certified triple platinum in the U.K. and quadruple platinum in the U.S. It was ranked number ninety-six on Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 Best Albums of the 1980s:

“Kissing to Be Clever was a critical and commercial triumph producing five charters overall. Out of those five singles, three of them—“Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?,” “Time (Clock of the Heart)” and “I’ll Tumble 4 Ya”—went on to become sizable singles on both sides of the Atlantic by the summer of 1983. At that junction, Culture Club had already begun work on their sophomore set, Colour By Numbers.

The group weren’t keen on their legacy resting on just one platinum record; their vision for Culture Club was much bigger than that. Particularly for O’Dowd, better known by his stage moniker Boy George, the quartet’s second outing was central to extending their longevity. O’Dowd had taken great care to incorporate a striking visual presence for himself and his bandmates; now, it was time to ensure the music continued to get that same attention to detail.

Culture Club once again enlisted the services of producer Steve Levine. Levine had worked closely with the band on Kissing to Be Clever and had a solid grasp of the outfit’s work ethic and creative autonomy. This element is core to Culture Club and Levine getting on the same page in relation to them flipping the heavier, funkier sonics of Kissing to Be Clever into something lighter and more melodically focused for Colour By Numbers.

This aural switch is immediately noticeable on the record’s opening piece—and second single—“Karma Chameleon.” The sprightly gem laden with catchy harmonica riffs (courtesy of Judd Lander) is beautifully understated on the whole, but still insistent with its irrepressible hook.

With exceptions issued to the sides “Miss Me Blind,” “Mister Man” and “Man-Shake”—the latter composition cast as a B-side to one of the LP’s eventual singles—much of the overt dance and reggae vibes were largely absent on the band’s sophomore collection. The awareness and intent in Culture Club’s usage or heightening of other music tones on Colour By Numbers is both striking and refreshing. Some of those tones include jazz-fusion (“Changing Every Day,” “Stormkeeper”), torch songs (“Black Money”) and classic soul (“Church of the Poison Mind”). All of them are expressively communicated by the superb playing of Craig, Hay and Moss with the additional augmentation of studio session musicians as needed.

What did stay unchanged were the lyrical thrusts of each song, with O’Dowd joined by his colleagues in the scripting of each track present on the long player. However, O’Dowd led as the primary songwriter in relation to setting the emotional mood for the compositions.

Much of O’Dowd’s tumultuous relationship with Jon Moss—then hidden from public view—supercharged nearly every cut on Colour By Numbers. Specifically, “Karma Chameleon,” “Black Money,” “Victims” and the title song (another alternate side to one of the project’s singles) possess a weighty romantic pathos partially masked by their impressive pop song structuring. Bringing the gravitas of the material home is O’Dowd’s soulful vocal delivery. On occasion, O’Dowd got some powerful support from the inimitable backing singer Helen Terry that yielded even more emotional energy to these already riveting pieces.

Released in early October of 1983, Colour By Numbers was a textbook critical, commercial and creative success. The LP in its entirety (as well as it singles) made Culture Club global ambassadors for the New Romantic guard overnight. Follow-ups were issued hastily in 1984 (Waking Up with the House on Fire) and 1986 (From Luxury to Heartache) before Culture Club disbanded acrimoniously to pursue separate career paths as has been well documented.

In the slipstream of their parting, Culture Club later embarked upon several (mostly) friendly reunions between 1998 and 2018. Don’t Mind If I Do (1999), their excellent fifth studio effort, was their first formal recording to result from their initial reunification. It preceded the 2003 reissue of Colour By Numbers that notably restored all of the B-sides from its corresponding singles onto the album proper for collectors.

And though the roots for their forthcoming sixth affair Life stretch back to their 2014 reformation, longtime fans eagerly anticipate yet another solid batch of pop-soul numbers from the group due for release in October this year. It’s a standard Culture Club set for themselves early on in their canon with Colour By Numbers. The album holds fast to a musical and lyrical timelessness that continues to thrive well past the era of its origin, something every recording artist often aspires to but doesn’t always achieve”.

I will finish off with a couple of reviews. I am going to start with AllMusic’s opinion on a New Wave classic. Produced by the legendary Steve Levine, key cuts like Karma Chameleon and Church of the Poison Mind are played regularly to this day. Colour By Numbers remains Culture Club’s defining statement. Boy George, Roy Hay, Mike Craig and Jon Moss created a masterpiece:

“Colour by Numbers was Culture Club's most successful album, and, undoubtedly, one of the most popular albums from the 1980s. Scoring no less than four U.S. hit singles (and five overseas), this set dominated the charts for a full year, both in the United States and in Europe. The songs were infectious, the videos were all over MTV, and the band was a media magnet. Boy George sounded as warm and soulful as ever, but one of the real stars on this set was backing vocalist Helen Terry, who really brought the house down on the album's unforgettable first single, "Church of the Poison Mind." This album also featured the band's biggest (and only number one) hit, the irresistibly catchy "Karma Chameleon," its more rock & roll Top Five follow-up "Miss Me Blind," and the fourth single (and big club hit), "It's a Miracle" (which also featured Helen Terry's unmistakable belting). Also here are "Victims," a big, dark, deep, and bombastic power ballad that was a huge hit overseas but never released in the U.S., and other soulful favorites such as "Black Money" and "That's the Way (I'm Only Trying to Help You)," where Boy George truly flexed his vocal muscles. In the 1980s music was, in many cases, flamboyant, fun, sexy, soulful, colorful, androgynous, and carefree, and this album captured that spirit perfectly. A must for any collector of 1980s music, and the artistic and commercial pinnacle of a band that still attracted new fans years later”.

I am going to end with a review from Rolling Stone. They reviewed Colour By Numbers in 2003 on its twentieth anniversary. Twenty years after that review, there is no doubt Culture Club’s second studio have survived the test of time:

“Culture Club's Colour by Numbers secures lead singer Boy George's place as a blue-eyed soul balladeer of the first rank. If he has yet to match the heights of the soul elite – the delicate refinement of Smokey Robinson or the rich gospel fervor of Gladys Knight, both of whom he sometimes resembles–Boy George is still artistically the real thing, a singer who continually and instinctively communicates passion in an era awash with cynical pseudosoul poseurs.

Colour by Numbers is by no means a weighty album. Like Kissing to Be Clever, Culture Club's second LP comes from the same school of trendy British pop that's produced ABC, Wham! U.K., Haircut One. Hundred and a dozen other brands of musical candy whose recipes blend synth-pop, Motown and third-world flavors. But unlike other albums of similar ilk, Colour by Numbers has gobs of emotion plastered as thickly as Boy George's makeup, and ten tunes that stick. And the band – drummer Jon Moss, keyboardist-guitarist Roy Hay and bassist Mikey Craig–cooks up a percolating brand of synth-pop that is more than just a quick, superficial ripoff.

Musically, "Karma Chameleon" recalls James Taylor's version of "Handy Man," though it's accelerated, synthed-up and frothed into a creamy sundae sprinkled with bluesy harmonica licks. The breezy pop-soul calypso "It's a Miracle" is one of several cuts in which Boy George faces off against backup singer Helen Terry. Theirs is a provocative match, rather like Michael Jackson and Aretha Franklin, in which Terry's scat-singing tough mama responds to Boy George's imploring vulnerability with maternal strength. In the hauntingly lovely "Black Money," the relationship between the two is at its deepest and most mysterious. Boy George's repeated question, "Do you deal in black money?" provokes a gospel-style interchange that implies at least two different dialogues–one between a boy and a woman (possibly a prostitute), the other between whites and blacks.

Other songs gloss Latin dance music ("Changing Every Day"), Latin-inflected light funk ("Church of the Poison Mind," in which Terry growls like Patti LaBelle in a huff) and calypso-flavored pop-funk ("Stormkeeper," "Miss Me Blind"). In "Victims," a sprawling, churchy ballad, light symphonic orchestration replaces the silky, synthesized textures of the rest of the album. "Feel like a child on a dark night/Wishing there was some kind of heaven," Boy George muses. Both the vocals and the arrangement suggest that he is probing a deeper spiritual realm than the usual masochistic romantic delirium of dreams, love and emotions–words that course obsessively through the songs.

The rollicking calypso "Mister Man" politicizes the dark night of the soul that Boy George begins to approach in "Victims." The unpredictable, potentially murderous "man" of the title is a generalized enough symbol of fear and desire to be taken as a white oppressor, a street hustler or any macho bully. But while Culture Club's "we are all races, all sexes, all musics" pose is honorable, it's ultimately quite shallow. Smatterings of soul, calypso and funk in synth-pop packaging do not add up to a very significant musical cross-fertilization. Happily, Colour by Numbers makes less of this pose than did Kissing to Be Clever.

When Culture Club first appeared on these shores last year, it was difficult to imagine that Boy George would quickly become a bona-fide pop star and fashion plate with a legion of female admirers. With his lipstick, dreadlocks and hieroglyphic shmattes, he looked like an overweight, teenage sissy desperately trying to grab people's attention. And when he pleaded, "Do you really want to hurt me?" one could imagine that plenty of guys would be sufficiently provoked by his coy androgyny to do exactly that. For unlike David Bowie in his transvestite period, Boy George was no icy alien parading at a safe emotional distance. Instead of concealing his "girlish" feelings, he flaunted them, putting his heart on the line along with his fantasies.

But with all its dripping sweetness, Boy George's singing also contains a rich undercurrent of humor. While his sob is genuine, he is also wise enough to recognize the silliness of such teenage languishing. And it's that sense of humor–Boy George's knowingly excessive romanticism, his graceful acceptance of his own klutziness, his irrepressible pleasure at the foolishness and fun of pop – that redeems Culture Club from any pretentiousness.

Whether you like the band or not, Culture Club is one pop group that matters”.

With album tracks as strong as the singles, the colourful, flamboyant and mesmeric Colour By Numbers is going to find new fans for decades to come. One of the all-time great albums, Colour By Numbers turns forty on 10th October. If you have not heard the album for a while, then go and make sure that you…

SPEND some time with it.

FEATURE: Right Then, Right Now: Fatboy Slim’s You've Come a Long Way, Baby at Twenty-Five

FEATURE:

 

 

Right Then, Right Now

Fatboy Slim’s You've Come a Long Way, Baby at Twenty-Five

_________

ONE of the most important and popular albums…

of the 1990s turns twenty-five on 19th October. A number one hit here and a big success in the U.S., Fatboy Slim’s (Norman Cook) second studio album, You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby, is one of those albums impossible to ignore. So epic and intricate, I love that there is bombast and House volume alongside intricate turns and twists. Details, colours and sensations mixing together in this feast for the senses! I want to highlight a couple of reviews to mark its upcoming, glorious twenty-fifth anniversary. I think that You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby is among the most celebrated albums of the 1990s. It arrived at a time when Big Beat music was ruling. Such an exciting time for British music, we had this incredible albums that were uniting people around clubs and dancefloors. Whilst some of the albums from that time sound dated, You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby still seems fresh and interesting. We do not really hear too many albums that have that blend of accessible House, Big Beat epicness and Techno joy. If we do, it does not hit as hard and endure as long as Fatboy Slim’s gold! I want to come to an article from Udiscovermusic.com. Earlier this year, they spotlighted an album that arrived on 19th October, 1998 - and made this instant and emphatic impression on the musical landscape:

“In the mid-to-late-1990s, Big Beat was dominating UK dance music, thanks to The Prodigy, The Chemical Brothers, and a Brighton-bred producer named Fatboy Slim who had begun tantalizing audiences with his sample-heavy, bombastic debut Better Living Through Chemistry. Each of these artists brought a little bit something different to Big Beat – a twist on acid house, techno, and rap breakbeats crammed into a traditional pop structure. But it was Fatboy Slim’s 1998 album, the massive, groundbreaking, discourse-shifting You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby, that cemented the sound as the world’s most exciting party.

With You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby, Fatboy Slim – born Norman Quentin Cook – blended ecstatic build-ups of the rave scene with the “guess the sample” playfulness of 90s rap. (At the time of the album’s release, websites like WhoSampled were still years away.) Some of the samples were relatively obvious. (“Praise You” nicked a guitar from “It’s a Small World” and an electric piano from Steve Miller Band.) Others were more obscure. (The iconic “funk soul brother” Lord Finesse sample was from the only release that ever bore the artist name Vinyl Dogs.) What united it all, however, was the overarching sense that Fatboy Slim was having tons of fun putting all this stuff together.

That extended to the videos that were created as part of the album. The Spike Jonze-directed clip for “Praise You” likely made You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby even more of a success in the United States, due to its constant airing on MTV. The one line script for “Gangster Trippin’”? “Blow stuff up.” Director Roman Coppola was happy to oblige. European Fatboy fans got an extra treat with the video for “Right Here, Right Now,” which referenced a beloved French children’s show from the late 1970s. (Not that you needed to know much to enjoy its hilarious race from the Big Bang to 1998.)

You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby was a hit in both the US and the UK, a huge step up in commercial success from Fatboy’s 1996 debut Better Living Through Chemistry. That 1996 album was more in thrall to dance music, with songs like “Everybody Needs a 303.” What made You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby such a different beast was the in-your-face vocal samples and a relentless focus on merging pop music and electronic music structures. It became a turning point for Fatboy and electronic music as a whole, culminating a few years later with an iconic 2002 concert in Brighton Beach, in which an estimated 250,000 fans came to see him spin records. You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby, though, is where everything started”.

There are a few things I want to throw in. Apologies if there is any repetition or overlapping. The Student Playlist celebrated and dissected a '90s classic for a feature marking twenty years of You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby (in 2018). This is an album that was almost ubiquitous when it came out. Accessible and yet not too commercial, you can see why so many other artists were influenced by it:

“By the mid-Nineties, off the back of his success as a member of The Housemartins (the band that spawned The Beautiful South), Norman Cook was an important figure in British underground and chart music, but who was absolutely not a celebrity. He had been the brains behind smash hits by the likes of Freak Power and Beats International, and was a resident DJ at the popular Big Beat Boutique in Brighton. The success of those club nights had spawned the Skint Records label, and Cook was then responsible for one of the imprint’s earliest successes with his debut Fatboy Slim album Better Living Through Chemistry in 1996. Label boss Damian Harris presently asked Cook to make an album that sounded like the music he played at post-Boutique after-parties – as Harris put it, “hip-hop at the wrong speed”.

One breakthrough that had signified the future for Fatboy Slim had been Cook’s totally wired remix of Wildchild’s ‘Renegade Master’ in 1997, which transformed the old-skool leanings of the original into something distinctively ‘big beat’, bringing the breakbeats and crazy vocal modulations typical of the sub-genre into the mainstream for the first time. He had done the same to Cornershop’s ‘Brimful Of Asha’, sending it to number one in the UK in remixed form at the start of 1998.

The Fatboy Slim guise seemed to be the vehicle that most suited Cook, though – one which gave him the freedom of his extensive and eclectic record collection. Recorded entirely on a beaten-up Atari ST computer, with just Creator software and a mass of floppy disks, You’ve Come A Long Way Baby seemed to entirely sum up Cook’s carefree, fun and DIY approach to music. It also allowed his personality to shine through in a way that Better Living Through Chemistry hadn’t, for all its hard-hitting consistency.

SUBSTANCE

It’s Cook’s brilliant eye for sampling, picking sonic material that could be both humorous and poignant, that makes You’ve Come A Long Way Baby such a compelling and refreshing listen. Vocal snippets looped and swooped around cut-up portions of old, obscure records from hip-hop, soul, gospel, funk, surf-pop and rock to create a fun, slightly scruffier and more accessible variant on the techno of the likes of Underworld and Orbital from earlier in the decade, and one which could appeal to the rock and pop mainstream. Thereby, Cook had hit upon an album with universal attraction, one which would appear in record collections alongside Oasis or Madonna and still make sense.

Strangely, for a record compiled in end-of-the-century Brighton, You’ve Come A Long Way Baby evokes a timeless and distinctly American sense of cool. Everything you need to know about the album is referenced in its packaging. The image on the back of the CD cover is of a lonely American desert highway stretching into the horizon; the vast musical galaxy from which the album is stitched together is seen in the stacks upon stacks of dusty vinyl on the inside cover; and of course, the front cover image of the obese, carefree young man taken at the 1983 Fat People’s Festival in Danville, Virginia – whose identity has never been revealed, despite lots of enquiries.

The American fixations are immediately apparent in ‘The Rockafeller Skank’, the album’s lead single released at the height of the World Cup summer of 1998, was nothing short of the most memorable pop song of that year. Based on a Northern Soul guitar sample (Just Brothers’ ‘Sliced Tomatoes’) and a chopped-up B-boy vocal, with a slowed-down and sped-up beat bridge in the middle, it’s a party-starter that stands for raw, undistilled fun even two decades later. It reached no.6, but each of its three subsequent singles registered a higher position in the UK Singles Chart over the next 12 months, marking the start of the success of its parent album. The deliriously loose, wrong-speed hip-hop of ‘Gangster Trippin’ took Fatboy Slim into the Top Three as You’ve Come A Long Way Baby entered the British Albums Chart at no.2 in late October, but it would be the following single that took it to the summit and then into the stratosphere.

Released in early January 1999, the bewitching ‘Praise You’ became Fatboy Slim’s signature song when it hit no.1, coupled with a superb award-winning budget video by Spike Jonze. Based around an a-cappella sample of Camille Yarbrough’s spiritual anthem ‘Take Yo’ Praise’ and set to a soulful, uplifting and beautifully simple piano figure, it became a gold-selling single in its own right, selling 400,000 copies. Around the same time You’ve Come A Long Way Baby took off properly, staying near the top of the British charts for most of the rest of 1999, vastly exceeding even the most optimistic projections for it.

One more single was released for good measure, with the transcendental, sweeping sense of occasion of ‘Right Here, Right Now’ hitting no.2 in April 1999. In its context as You’ve Come A Long Way Baby’s album opener, it’s a low-key house classic that soars and glides in its intensity before its beat drops. The magic comes with its repeated chant, that makes it seem like a mass exhortation to bliss, propaganda rather than mere pop. The spoken word segue that links it to ‘The Rockafeller Skank’ is still enjoyably silly!

But You’ve Come A Long Way Baby doesn’t begin and end with its four smash singles. The rest of the album is populated with maddeningly infectious juxtapositions of genres. ‘Soul Surfing’ is a hedonistic party starter; ‘Love Island’ is a rubbery house banger; while ‘Kalifornia’ and ‘You’re Not From Brighton’ strut and peacock with a sense of purpose. The delightfully gratuitous obscenity of ‘Fucking In Heaven’ gave the album a frisson of transgression for us as 12 year old fans at school. Again, while this wasn’t strictly groundbreaking in originality terms (DJ Shadow had already done all this on the massively influential …..Endtroducing in 1996), that’s really not the point – it’s the structuring, and the forcefulness of its execution, that’s so revelatory here”.

There is a special reissue coming in October to mark twenty-five years of a classic. In 2018, Long Live Vinyl wrote about You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby when a BMG reissued it as part of its Art of the Album series. I wanted to share some extracts from the feature:

“take yo’ praise

While other Fatboy tracks ring out with the dislocated rhymes of B-boys, the single Praise You is a far more seductive affair. Starting out with the intimate tones of 70s soul singer Camille Yarbrough as she near enough sings the name of the album, the song is another example of the record’s wicked way with obscure sounds of yore. A bar-room piano gets paired with the vocals, as baggy beats help to create a sound described by Vibe Magazine as “Manchester shambledelia”. Arguably, it’s the British influence which made the Fatboy Slim sound unique, a fact that often gets lost amidst all the very American vocal samples used on the record. The sound of the UK can be heard all over …Baby, from the horn-led climax to Praise You, which sounds like a marching Lonely Hearts Club band parading its way down Brighton Pier, to the updated glam-rock stomp of Build It Up – Tear It Down, making its way even onto unclassifiable B-sides such as Sho Nuff, which is built entirely around the soft-rock prance of a British telly jingle, no less.

Perhaps because of its dual-audio heritage, or the song’s ‘big beat with a big heart’ appeal, Praise You ended up a massive hit on both sides of the Atlantic, helping the album to go platinum in the US.

“It’s one of those tunes I’ll always have an affection for,” Cook admitted in the DJ Mag interview. “It’s the fact that the lyrics are so timeless, and one lyric fits all.”

Music site Thump recently suggested that Praise You “marked the pinnacle of big beat’s American crossover, and the genre’s zenith before its swift decline.” But that would be forgetting the majesty of next single Right Here, Right Now, a tune which sounds as epic today as it did 20 years ago. Like Praise You, the album opener is an anomaly of sorts on the LP, riding as it does on a swell of melodramatic strings. Its closest counterpart is the instrumental Love Island, which swoons near the end of the album with easy-listening strings beamed in straight from the 1950s.

The magic of Right Here, Right Now lies in the chant of its title. Once again, Cook reduces the human voice to another cog in the mix, with one voice turned into an indecipherable breakbeat section, and the other sloganeering somewhere in that grey area between pop and propaganda. Things reach an epic crescendo, before ending with a real-life phone-in as a Fatboy fanboy begs a US radio station for some “Rockafeller Skank”. From reverence to more British irreverence, all in under seven minutes.

So Why Try Harder?

Reverence, though, should be paid to the album, no matter how tongue-in-cheek things get. Consider its influence over the years, inspiring the likes of The Chemical Brothers to add more whimsy to their beats, and Basement Jaxx more unusual and in-your-face samples (as on 2001 single Where’s Your Head At). Newbies such as Mylo soon debuted with the cheeky house subversion of Destroy Rock & Roll, whose hit title track sampled an American preacher denouncing the 80s pop scene. Norman Cook no doubt approved.

Sample culture really did get a major boost from You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby, with fans taking as much delight in tracking down samples as from hearing them in the first place. Acts such as The Avalanches hit fame through such fervour, with their classic debut in 2000 not being a million miles away from the Fatboy sound. More recent counterparts, meanwhile, include acts such as Major Lazer, Duck Sauce and Skrillex, who raised similarly boisterous flags high on the 2010s dancefloor”.

I shall come to some reviews now. The vast majority of the ones I have come across are glowing. I want to begin with Entertainment Weekly’s take on You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby. They reviewed the album when it came out in 1998.

“What exactly is a DJ in 1998? Someone who spins at clubs and weddings – or an electronica act that stitches together bits of vintage records to form a new collage, which may be danceable? To Norman Cook, the British club-scene veteran who now records as Fatboy Slim, both definitions blend into an animated whole. “The Rockafeller Skank” – the Fatboy single released this summer and now on his second album, “You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby” – is Cook’s masterstroke of big-beat DJ culture. Underneath a looped vocal snippet from a rap record by Lord Finesse, Cook concocts a constantly morphing undercurrent – from spy-movie guitar to Zeppy drums to an eardrum-piercing squeal. It’s a block-rocking beat that deliciously subverts pop formula, in which lyrics change while the music remains the same.

Little on “Baby” is as extraordinary as that single, but it’s not as if Cook doesn’t try. Even on routine tracks, Cook adds splashy samples of rock guitars, electro-funk synths, or reggae licks – anything he can to pump…you…up. “Praise You,” the album’s other outright gem, lifts a languid snippet of soul-gospel singer (and kids’-book author) Camille Yarborough’s “Take Yo Praise” and makes it a techno mantra – Des’ree for the ecstasy crowd. Cook also loves to work soul oldies into his computer-generated raves: The riotous “Soul Surfing” is like a visit to a chitlin-circuit roadhouse along the Information Superhighway.

Other than the way it deftly blends obscure records, there’s nothing subtle about Fatboy Slim. “Baby” is clever, hectic, relentless – and very of its time. It’s music desperate to be noticed above the din of TV, movies, the Net, and the zillions of other records out there. Pop culture, meet your needy spawn”.

Similarly, NME had their say in 1998. I remember when You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby was released. I was in high school, and we all knew it was a big moment for music. Singles like The Rockerfella Skank and Right Here, Right Now were huge. There was this genuine feeling that music had peaked. Like something life-changing was with us. Of course, that might be the hyperbole that comes with youth. There is no denying the fact You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby was a hugely important release:

“A few short years ago, Quentin 'Norman' Cook was staring poverty, divorce and imminent nervous breakdown in the face. Despite a string of inspired chart-pop identities, the former Housemartin was out of luck and out of fashion. The solution, audaciously enough, was to reinvent himself once more, this time as the Noel Gallagher of '90s dance music.

No, really, hear me out. Both Norm and Noel share a Midas-like gift for populist sing-along anthems which tap directly into the national psyche. Both are bright sparks who have built their kingdoms on shamelessy dumb, angst-free hedonism. Take the analogy one step further and this second Fatboy album is surely the '(What's The Story) Morning Glory?' of big beat, right? Well, arguably, yes. After all, this is the huge, throbbing, timely pinnacle of a style which Cook himself pioneered and which can probably progress no further without imploding into self-parody.

It also contains at least two definitive late-'90s pop milestones - 'The Rockafeller Skank' and imminent 'Gangster Trippin' - plus a smattering of equally brazen candidates for immortality. Of course, the true test is what Cook delivers in addition to these platinum-plated hits. Even the Fatboy himself admits to being a singles specialist who generally loses it over the long haul. But here, for maybe the first time, he demonstrates commendable stamina. The best tracks don't aim to emulate the crowd-pleasers but veer off on their own tangents, like the belting '60s-meets-'90s rare groove of 'Soul Surfing' or the beatific 'Praise You', a melding of dreamy gospel and piano-powered beats with a warm 'Screamadelica' vibe. Magnificent.

Sure, there are throwaway one-liners like 'Fucking In Heaven' (loads of juvenile swearing set to a funky beat - genius!) plus functional club tracks like 'Build It Up, Tear It Down' (anyone remember SAW's 'Roadblock'?) but most are redeemed by Cook's saucy cheek and undeniable affection for his vintage source material. Crucially, there is an unforced and easy-going love of soul music evident here which contrasts starkly with the po-faced, anally 'authentic' checklist of cool references underpinning more 'serious' dance projects - the UNKLE album, say.

Ironically, the Fatboy even employs a DJ Shadow sample at one point, but he's equally likely to namecheck Pinky & Perky. This is not an album for old-skool trainerspotters. So has Norman Cook really made the '...Morning Glory' of big beat? He almost certainly doesn't care either way, which is entirely fitting, but you can't help suspecting he's too sussed to record a 'Be Here Now' for breakbeat kids. And even if the tides of fashion turn against his cheap-and-cheerful party style next week, you can be sure the Fatboy has the limitless joie de vivre and barefaced cheek to reinvent himself yet again, somewhere down the line. He's come a long way already, and this mighty album is his career peak to date. Check it out. Now.

8/10”.

I am going to wrap up with a 2010 review from the BBC. Not just a smash in its time, the magnificent You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby has inspired so many other artists and very much kept it alive. Songs from the album are played all across radio. It is a work of brilliance that will never lose any of its relevance and brilliance:

“Twelve years on from the release of this second album, some things have inevitably changed. A lifetime away from hard-partying origins, Norman Cook’s raised two kids, celebrated a celebrity marriage, reconciled a celebrity marriage, hit the bottle, beat the bottle and, when he had the time, released heady collections of genre-defining anthems. At times, Cook’s life has played out replete with typical DJ clichés. But his place in the dance music annals as Fatboy Slim has long been confirmed.

You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby set the quintessential tone for Fatboy’s future; an album rich with the booming, easy-on-the-ear potential that would soundtrack dancefloors for over a decade. Packing in rave reminiscences, loops, breaks and an endless array of choice samples, the formula wasn’t a complicated one, but it was one used to superlative effect.

Take the rabid commercial success of The Rockafeller Skank, the uplifting gospel-tinged Praise You and the explosive Gangster Trippin’ (each ably supported by memorable videos), and the Fatboy blueprint is clear. And the holy trinity can be seen as the catalyst for a career of stellar success. By hook (and it was often an incessantly catchy one) or design, this was also an album that lit the torch paper for Cook’s biggest criticism: that he was merely a musical magpie, pilfering the shiniest, choice cuts to make his own creations glisten.

Attempts to relegate Cook to a petty music thief was always a disrespectful low blow, and one that looked to undermine, instead of celebrate, a penchant for recycling and absorbing a glut of disparate styles under the inimitable (at the time) Fatboy banner. But with the benefit of retrospect, it’s clear You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby wasn’t an album in the collective sense, more of a sparkling showcase; a flattering production line of instant, accessible songs that delivered almost every time.

It’s easy to overlook the hedonistic energy of Love Island; the expletive-ridden simplicity of F***ing in Heaven – which delighted a generation of potty-mouthed teenagers – and the bristling, adrenalin drip of Right Here, Right Now, simply because there was always the potential and intent for each track to usurp what preceded.

Undeniably this is an album that’s aged, but it reflects the buoyant excitement of pre-millennial times. Whether it’s held up as a contemporary guilty pleasure or an increasingly fond classic, or whatever the context, You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby has never failed to immediately delight”.

On 19th October, we will celebrate twenty-five years of a classic. I am as fond of You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby now than I was when it came out and I was fifteen. Even though Fatboy Slim did not reach the same heights on subsequent albums, that is not to take anything away from the importance and legacy of his remarkable second album. Rather than cast our minds back and talk about You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby as a thing of the past or relevant to its time, we need to realise how important it is to this day. We need to embrace and salute this album…

RIGHT here, right now.