A blog of albums ... old and new .... that are particular favourites of mine but that not everyone has heard. Yes ... there will be the odd popular album appearing on the blog but I am going to try and concentrate on some newer and rather more obscure albums for your listening pleasure
"History repeats the old conceits, the glib replies, the same defeats" may possibly be one of the best couplets to start an album ever. Having previously released a country music album "Almost Blue", Costello went back to the album before, "Trust", and developed some of the ideas he had experimented with and produced, for me, his best album. And that is saying something, for Mr Costello has produced some of the finest music of the last 35 years. Jam-packed with classic songs, his lyrical dexterity is plainly in evidence here but The Attractions had never been, and never were, better.
They could easily have called themselves The Black Beatles, or The Black Zombies, such is this band's devotion to the sound of "The British Invasion". They are actually from New Jersey and this is the third (and so far latest) excellent album by them. As far as unabashedly retro albums with no real aspirations towards originality go, Softly Towards the Light is a damn good time. The Black Hollies have been paying close attention to the works of the Beatles, the Kinks, the 13th Floor Elevators, Creation, etc, and suffice to say, that attention has paid off. If you were to try and sneak any song off Softly Towards the Light into an all-mod play list, it’s doubtful anyone would notice the subterfuge. What’s more, you can truly pick any song off this record, and your choice would have no effect on the ruse, so completely homogenous is this album. There are miles of fuzzy guitar and an ostensibly endless supply of psychedelic keys. In case it’s not clear yet, the 60’s worship is thorough and complete.
Blonde on Blonde were spawned in 1967 out of a Welsh blues-rock band called the Cellar Set and took their name from the then-new Bob Dylan album of that title. Though decidedly guitar-based in their sound, the band's music also used psychedelic pop arrangements that gave it an almost orchestral majesty which, when coupled with sitar, lute, harpsichord and other unusual keyboards — as well as a tabla — gave them an appealingly exotic sound. Their live performances were frequently divided, à la Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, into acoustic and electric sets, in order to show off their full range. Unfortunately, this excellent album failed to sell any better than their prior releases, however, and the group broke up in 1972, shortly after its release.
Few periods in music are viewed with the contempt that is held for the early ‘80s. We witnessed the death of disco and punk. New wave suddenly meant A Flock of Seagulls instead of XTC or Talking Heads. Middle of the Road music (MOR) ruled the radio waves with acts such as Olivia Newton-John, Sheena Easton, and Kenny Rogers.
But in 1982, one of the finest albums of all time was released. ABC’s The Lexicon of Love was like disco done right, with one eye on the theatre stage (the album cover states that rather obviously) and another on the dance floor. Trevor Horn made his name producing this record, creating a lush landscape that no one previously considered him capable of doing, based on his work with Yes and the Buggles.
Yes .. the album is shamelessly over the top, but not in a gaudy way (unlike, say, Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s Welcome to the Pleasuredome, also produced by Horn). It is a classic example of right place, right time for all concerned. ABC would go on to experiment with rock, house, and Motown with mixed results, to put it mildly. But The Lexicon of Love still holds its own, and still sounds bloody great today
Incidentally, the theatrical aspect of this album went a stage further - the band made a short film - Mantrap - which used the songs from this album to tell the story of a Martin Fry doppelganger form eastern Europe (well, it WAS 1982) who may ... or may not ... replace him. Very hard to come by now but very enjoyable, not least for the theme song ... surprisingly called "Theme from "Mantrap""
The Look Of Love
Date Stamp
Valentine's Day
Poison Arrow
and a bonus track, which is not actually on the album
What happens when you grow up listening to Hank Williams and The Beatles? Well, you start making albums that sit easily in both the country music camp and with mainstream rock / folk fans. Even though you have probably never heard of him, Slaid Cleaves has made many fine albums over the years but, for me, this is his piece de resistance.
He has a talent for drawing pictures with words, of people down on their luck, the lovelorn and the lost, yet presents them in wide screen. You know these people; you've passed them on the street, seen them sitting in bars, it may even be you!. There's the tale of love gone astray down at the "Horseshoe Lounge," the worn-down soul pleading for "One Good Year," and the tale of Sandy Gray, a proud Canadian logger who ends up eating "Breakfast in Hell."
Cleaves may be likened to some of his heroes, but Broke Down shows he stands on his own
Robin Trower never really got the accolades due to him at the time when he was at his peak. It is only now that he is really recognised as one of the true greats of the guitar. Part of this is down to the negative impressions he created in the mind of many. Criticism that he imitated Hendrix is largely unfair – Trower played blues rock with a force and style that he made his own. And even so, he always admitted his debt to Hendrix, though that admission is regarded by some as a heresy rather than adopting the old maxim that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Yet scant mention is ever made of the enormous contribution Trower made to the sound of Procul Harum, his former band
Assisted by former Harum bandmate, Matthew Fisher, as producer and with Beatle's engineer Geoff Emerick also assisting, this is THE finest guitar album of the Seventies
Too Rolling Stoned
Little Bit of Sympathy
In This Place
and, of course, the brilliantly chilling title track
At the outset, I am quite prepared to accept that this band is an acquired taste, but it is a taste I came to love fairly quickly. When sorting this into my collection (for, as a true geek, I categorise all of my albums), I decided after much thought to file it in the section marked "The Decemberists meet The Flaming Lips in a Rumanian tavern" - a little-used category, it has to be said .... indeed, this is the only album in it so far!
This, in itself, is a surprise, as this is the THIRTIETH (yep!) album by the band under this and other guises. Hailing from Seatlle, Washington, Death By Misadventure, is built around the epic song cycle, starting with The Fall of
the Queen Bee. This peculiar assortment of songs takes place in her
colony and includes the ultimate death of The Queen and her court by
decadent misadventure. This is, of course, a fictional work, and any resemblance
to real people living, dead or otherwise, is completely intentional.
As I said, an album you have to live with a while, but one that pays real dividends with repeated listens
