More Summer Ear Candy for 2009
You know the score on this by now!
It's been a reasonable haul these last few months with some storming releases, Tori's album being one of the main ones, of course. There was also my annual spend at the mighty Cob Records in Porthmadog (see elsewhere for gushing details on that!)
Tori Amos - Abnormally Attracted to Sin
As you know by now, I'm a sucker for Tori and I'd been looking forward to this album after the last couple of excellent albums which had slowly been getting better and better with each release. On this one, I think Amos is holding ground as this album took me a few listens to get into, much like when "...Pele" came out. That's fine though as it means you can get some rewarding stuff from repeated listens.
The sound of the songs on this album is slightly less guitary that on "ADP" and there's plenty of electronica alongside Amos' trademark piano stylings. I think that by now, you kind of know what you're going to get from a Tori Amos album and all the boxes get ticked on this album. There are some interesting departures on here with things like the very Zeppish stylings on "String Black Vine". There's even the obligatory singalong tune with the catchy "500 Miles". Other stand-outs include "Not Dying Today" and "Startling". Again, you get the feeling that she could do a bit of editing on the album and drop a song or two, but then again, you can never acuse Amos of underdelivering and letting the quality suffer too much.
The accompanying DVD of film clips for each song is not something you'll be watching every night, but it's interesting enough, even when your better half constantly has to make remarks of the "what the hell is she doing now?!" :D It's interesting enough, but I think that the songs are string enough to not really need too much visual assistance.
I don't know if this an album to win over a new-comer to the world of Tori Amos, but it's a strong collection of songs, all immaculately produced and delivered only as Ms Amos can deliver a song. I personally think it's great (I would though, wouldn't I?), but not quite as good as "American Doll Posse". That said, I'm looking forward to the September Manchester gig for my every-two-year Amos live fix!
Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs - Under the Covers Vol2
Now then, now then! The sequel to "Volume 1" finally sees the light of day and, on reflection, blasts it's older sibling out of the water with an excellent selection of material. Sweet and Hoffs take their band on a great journey on this album and perform the songs as faithfully as they can to the originals for the most part. For example; Sweet on "All the Young Dudes" plays right to the script and even puts 'Unter's ad-libs in there.
I think that the selection of material on here is just great. Versions of "Bell-Bottom Blues", "Willin'" and "Maggie May" just sound great and there's hardly a duff cut on here. The closest you could get to a duff one is possibly a take on Lennon's "Gimme The Truth", which gets a bit shouty towards the end, but apart from this, the album doesn't put a foot wrong. Current favourites on here are the aforementioned "Willin'" and "Beware of Darkness", but it's all good stuff.
I know that I like this album as I've just not stopped playing it since it arrived a few weeks back. It just eases out of the stereo and gets right under your skin and never lets you go. Whatever they didn't quite get right on the first album they've fixed now as this is perfect and I cannot wait to see if they make a Vol3. If they do, I'll be buying it straight away, as I love this album!
Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown
Green Day continue with the format of "American Idiot" with this new album and present the listener with a long concept piece. It's another big slice of work and not a bad chunk of rock and roll. There's some catchy stuff on here that you'd expect from Green Day, but I do think that, unlike "American Idiot", this album does start to loose steam slightly near the end and tails off slightly. But other than that, it's another stellar Punky-Prog-athon!
Rick Wakeman - The Six Wives of Henry VIII
It's always good to grab a little Wake-Up and this album from 1973 is a good album to start with if you're going to listen to the Poobah. There's a great mix of styles on here and it's all seemingly played with great ease and panache. There are some lovely themes on here and they all play out nicely as the album progresses. It's all timed well too and never outstays it's welcome.
Rick Wakeman - The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table
Now then, this is the album that cemmented The Proglord's reputation as a complete nutter, although that was probably more to do with the infamous live show set on ice at Wembley in the middle ages. Also, you cannot argue with the title. You couldn't have got more epic if you tried!
As for the music, I think that this is one of my favourites of the solo Wakeman canon (although I've not come close to hearing all of them). It's epic stuff with some great pieces. It's hard to argue with the theme itself and pieces like "Merlin the Magician" are both beautiful and manic. Again, it's all performed with seeming ease and lots of feeling. The band are all star players and the passages with vocals soar over the music.
Grand stuff... ALL HAIL THE POOBAH!
Iron Maiden - Flight 666
So, another bloody live Maiden album to fork out for? Well, actually, this is not a proper live album, but a "Soundtrack Album" for the movie which just happens to be made up of live tracks recorded in various places on the tour that feature in the movie of the same name. Ah bollocks, yes, it is another Maiden Live Album to go with the others on the shelf.
Well, it's not an essential purchase, but it's always a pleasure to hear the old classics that make up the set list on this album. You get stuff like "Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner" and "Heaven and Waaaaaaaaiiiiit" which is good and the band are sounding fantastic. Nicko's right foot sounds incredible and Bruce seems to sound better than ever.
The thing is though, that you'll listen to it for a week and then consign it to the shelf. This is because, as good as this sounds, you may as well get your head kicked in by the movie itself. The film is a fantastic piece of work and I'd much rather spend two hours watching that than listening to this album. If you're going to buy one or the other, buy the DVD of the film.
Belinda Carlisle - Heaven on Earth (Special Edition)
Lord knows why this has been given the re-release treatment after all these years, but it's nice to know that it has, especially since this new version of this 1987 album has been re-released with a bonus DVD disk featuring the "Belinda Live!" film from way back when which, as far as I know, never got a DVD release. But more of that in a minute.
The album itself is a classic of late 80's rockish-pop with some great songs on it like "Circle in the Sand", "I Get Weak" and the ever-green "Heaven is a Place on Earth". There are some other overlooked songs on there to like the fierce "Nobody Owns Me" and a suprisingly palatable stab at Cream's "I Feel Free". There are some moments on the album which treaten to lower the listen into Tiffany Territory, "We Can Change" being an example, but the slickness of the production and the strong songs keep it all ticking over. There are quite a few Go-Go-ish moments, which give the album a bit of poke too.
Listening back to this now after all this time is great and brings back nice memories of walking home from school through the Heaton Mersey Bowl with the Walkman on. The material still sounds good now, even if it can come across as a bit dated.
The DVD is a welcome addition to the set and is a fun watch. The film itself is an atmospheric piece and shows Bel with a strong band kicking out the hits. This a pretty polished piece and looks great, even if the quality of the film has not been remastered (seemingly) for this release. Still, it's good to watch again after all these years!
Go-Go's - God Bless the Go-Go's
A stonking collection of tunes from the ladies with material that shows off the various band member's individual strengths. It's all jolly stuff with plenty of rocking moments balanced by a slowy or two. It's not exactly as engaging as "Beauty and the Beat", but then again, not much matches that particular release. This one is pretty good, but I think I prefered the "Valley of the Go-Gos" album to this.
Jon Anderson - Olias of Sunhillow
I remember this from GPM's record collection with it's lovely paintings on the LP sleeve and it's concept of some bloke who builds a space-ship and trippy music with it's made-up language. It all seemed pretty mad back then and I'm glad to say that it's all seems pretty mad now. Unfortunatley, the paintings have not made it to this CD version of the album, but the music is all still there. Listening back to it now, it does still seem to hold up, mainly due to the fact that it all sounds pretty new-age and all that. There are parts that could have been made by some of the dancey-types that are around now. So it's all good!
Voice of the Beehive - Let It Bee
The debut album from the band and a collection of quirky and jangly songs. This one includes the incredibly catchy and old favourite of mine "Don't Call Me Baby" which I'll always hold a special thing for deep down inside. The rest of the material is pretty good too with a good variety of tuneage going on including the lovely "Oh Love". I suppose it's all slightly Bangles-y in it's own way, but little more off-the-wall.
She and Him - Vol 1
A collection of jazzy, country-ish and sometimes 60s girl-groupish songs from Zooey Deschanel and her pal. This was a surprise when I first heard it, as I wasn't expecting much since ZD is known more for her acting (Anita in "Almost Famous", of course!). But I took it all back when I got three or four songs in and I found that I was really loving it. Deschanel's voice is really quite lovely and her songs are engaging. There's even a lovely run-through of The Beatles' "I Should Have Known Better", which is really quite sexy in it's own way. It's a good album and you could do a lot worse, if you fancy trying something different out, than having a go at this.
Carly Simon - Greatest Hits Live
Again, I saw this cheap and couldn't resist replacing my old TDK-ed tape copy that I made years ago after borrowing this from a school pal, which happened because I'd seen a TV broadcast of the gig and it was pretty great. It was filmed by a lake or something or other and really seemed like a nice day out... anyway! The music sounds good and the band sounds top-form performing classics like "Nobody Does It Better", "You're So Vain" and "Coming Around Again".
I don't think this is something I'd recommend anyone to run out and buy and there's probably better releases to go and get if you want to have in introduction to the work of Carly Simon, but I just always liked the sound of this one, and for a couple of quid, how could I refuse?!
Todd Rundgren - Something/Anything?
This is one of those albums that crops up on "best of" lists now and again and I'd heard a few songs (two on the Sid n Susie album) before, so I thought I'd give it a go. Produced and mostly performed by Rundgren himself, this double album is packed-full of decent material, including the last of the four sides which makes up a suite of sorts of a particularly un-hinged nature. The songs are all quite poppy in their own early 70's way but still sound pretty fresh after 35-odd years. Songs like "It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference" and "Couldn't I Just Tell You" really get under the skin (there's a lot of that on this page, isn't there?) and keep you humming the hooks for hours and considering they make up just part of a double album, the listening experience doesn't drag or outstay it's welcome.
Linda Ronstadt - The Capital Years
I'd heard the song "Willin'" on the Sid n Susie album and I'd also got fond memories of the song as it appears in the Director's Cut of the great movie "The Abyss", so I decided to seek out a copy of it and have a listen to some Linda Ronstadt, as you do. This album seemed like a good bet as it's a double disk set which features Ronstadt's first four albums for a very low price, including "Heart Like A Wheel" which (as the liner notes and Wikipedia tells me) is supposedly one of her finest collections and the one which really sent her career to stratospheric levels.
Over the course of the four albums, you get a great selection of songs, a lot of which have been recorded by others and as the albums proceed, you hear a lot of experimentation in different sounds and styles until the whole thing falls nicely together on the final "Heart Like a Wheel", which does seem to stand head-and-shoulders above the other collections. It's on this album that you get "Willin'", but there are also great versions of songs like "You Can Close Your Eyes" and the big hit "You're No Good".
Ms Ronstadt's voice sounds pretty great and very versatile over the albums and even though the production does vary a bit in quality across the different albums, it all retains a certain charm. You can hear how her style and voice has influenced other artists. There were times, for example, that I could hear some Maria McKee material from seventeen years later. I liked most of it, even though the album I'll play again will be "Heart Like a Wheel"... It's not bad stuff!
Dan Reed - An Evening With Dan Reed
A lovely and intimate recording of an acoustic show by the Fonky Mr Reed. This is a limited release thing which is intended to preceed the forthcoming album and, as such, has performances of some of the material that is going to be on that album. It's all laid back stuff and sounds great, whetting the appetite nicely for the real thing. Songs like "On Your Side" and "Coming Up For Air" are sensitively performed here in Reed's own style and serve to get one in the mood for the forthcoming album and make you wonder what the hell was going through his mind when he burnt his filofax, split up the Network and went off around the world.
Speaking of The Network, the other half of the album has performances of some old favourites from his old band. "Rainbow Child" and "Ritual" get the crowd going whilst heartfelt performances of "Salt of Joy" (Hurrah!), "Long Way to Go" and "Stronger than Steel" sound perfect and as fresh as ever. Real crowd-pleasers.
This album is not essential, but a worthy addition to the Dan Reed section of the CD collection!
Rob Zombie - Educated Horses
It sounds like a Rob Zombie album, what else can I say? I'd had this for ages on (cough) MP3 and saw it for a quid so I thought I'd get it and complete the collection. It's not exactly an essential purchase and you know exactly what it's going to sound like before you hear it, but it's OK. If things were different though, I'd go and buy a copy of "Astro-Creep 2000" instead of this.
Steel Panther - Feel the Steel
After trogging around for years on the LA scene under various names, Steel Panther finally release an album on a major label to an unsuspecting world. This spoof Hair Metal band takes every cliche from it's favourite influences and amps them up in this great fun selection of totally filthy songs. The album opens with "Death To All But Metal" and never lets up with the humour or filth. With song titles like "Asian Hooker" and "Party All Day (F*ck All Night)", you know the kind of thing that you're going to get here.
Some of these songs have been released before on the Metal Shop EP "Hole Patrol" that was available a few years back and was popular with the contributors to the Metal Sludge forums on which they were heftily plugged at the time. But then again, it's always fun to hear classics like "Stripper Girl", "Hell's On Fire" and "Fat Girl" which have been re-recorded to (I think) but don't have the spoken intro bits, which is a shame. Especially as the album lacks the EP's "...here to rock your f*cking balls off duuuuude!" intro! The band have also changed their names for this release. Michael Diamond is now Michael Starr, for example.
The music on here is actually really good and if you were to change the lyrics, then this would hold up against anything that Poison or Ratt could come up with these days. The band obviously know their stuff when it comes to Hair Metal as the album is so daft and funny, but only takes the piss without being nasty to the genre it belongs in (if that makes sense!)
So, if you can put up with lyrics like "Come on little baby, suck my balls all night..." or "my heeeart belongs to you, but my cock is community property" set to classic hair metal backing, then this is for you. I think it's hilarious and I'd totally recommend this to anyone who has more than one Lynch Mob album on their CD shelves...
Hardline - Leaving the End Open
After a classic debut, a long break followed by a very forgetable return album and then one of the worst live albums I've ever heard, Johnny Gioeli and Josh Ramos return with what is an excellent slab of modern AOR. Kicking straight into "Voices", the album has a great mix of slow numbers and good hard rockers. There's some great songs on here to grab the listener. There is a wider range of stuff on here than just the like-Journey-but-heavier approach of "Double Eclipse". The opener (aforementioned "Voices") sets the tone with an almost progressive feel. The album continues with the strong mid-paced "Falling Free" with it's excellent chorus, whilst ballads like "In This Moment" give Gioeli more than ample room to stretch his impressive vocal talents. The closing title track is worth the price of purchase alone.
I think that on this record, Mr Gioeli has let his vocals develop more and he's not just going for the notes all the time and sounding strained. He sounds fantastic. The rest of the band are all tight, with some excellent performances. The drums sound great, with some tasty work going on during the songs.
As you can tell, I'm quite taken with this platter. It's not possibly quite as good as "Double Eclipse", but it's a totally worthy follow-up. I was surprised when I first played it, but delighted that the band (in whatever form they are appearing nowadays, Gioeli is the only "classic line-up" member left) are still capable of producing excellent music.
Spinal Tap - Back From The Dead
It's not hard to like The Tap really, and this album is no exception. Sure, it's got a load of stuff that they've rerecorded from the original movie soundtrack and some of the stuff that they've put on here (including several different "Jazz Odysseys") is a little hard to take more than once, but what with the extra DVD and the stupid Stonehenge packaging, it's all jolly stuff. I suppose that if you're given the choice, you could just have the original soundtrack and buy the rereleased DVD that is out soon, but if you like your Tap a little more than you should, then this is a reasonable investment, although I must say that I waited to get it until it only cost a couple of quid :)
Cob Shopping
It's always good to go and spend an hour or so in Cob. So here's the ones purchased there during June's camping trip to North Wales. Gotta love it!
Tommy Bolin - Teaser
A storming slice of funk rock from Purple's ill-fated guitarist. It's all snappy stuff and you can't help but get swept up by it. The sheer funk of it pushes the songs along and the album is over before you know it. The band (including some songs featuring the mighty Jeff Porcaro on the drums) is great and the guitar playing is obviously great.
King's X - Gretchen Goes to Nebraska
A classic album here and one made by a band way ahead of their time. This album was released in 1989 and manages to almost invent Grunge on the first song alone! The harmonies could be straight from Alice In Chains and some of the riffing could be by Pearl Jam and these bands wouldn't do anything significant for another couple of years before this. That said, there's still some good non-grungey hard-rocking going on here with great performances from the band. Tabor's vocals cut across the whole lot with excellent backing from his two band mates. This is classic stuff and I shall be digging my other King's X LPs out at some point!
Randy Newman - Harps and Angels
I got this mainly for the recording of the lovely "Feels Like Home", which is a favourite and I wanted to hear it performed by it's writer. It's great, of course. The rest of the album os pretty good, but not something I'd put on every day of the week.
Caroline LaVelle - Spirit
A collection of ambient and erm... "chilled out" music from Loreena's Chellist. This was co-produced by William Orbit and it all sounds like stuff that could have been on Madonna's "Ray of Light", but without some of the dancier moments. It's all OK and nice for something to have on in the background whilst you're working.
Bettye LaVette - Scene Of The Crime
Soul legend LaVette is backed up by the Drive-by Truckers on this rip-roaring album of songs which all sound amazing and so tight and soulful (that's two "souls" in one sentence... Soulful, get it? Right!) Anyhot, Mr KFK recommended this release and he was right on the money as this album never gets tired, even if LaVette's voice can get a bit on the scratchy side at times, but this is OK since the sound of the band is just so great and swings the music along. A storming album and no mistaking!
Porcupine Tree - Stars Die
A 2-CD box set of early Porcupine Tree stuff from the Delerium era. Personally, I like some of this stuff better than some of the stuff that they started to produce later on for some reason, even if some of it does sound like it was recorded in Steve Wilson's bedroom, which it probably was, without a full band. Still, the material has a certain charm, even on the material which is a little more experimental and abstract. It's good stuff though and it sounded great when I was sat on the campsite quietly spinning it as the sun was going down as I sat and enjoyed the atmosphere and a beer.
Soundtracks Corner
For some reason, I've managed to find a few soundtracks in drop-ins to the local "chari-dee" shops, so here's what I found.
John Barry - Dances With Wolves (OST)
A typlically lush and sweeping (and in this case, Oscar winning) score for Kevin Costner's epic Western by the great John Barry. This has all Barry's trademarks in it and is actually quite a stirring listen, even without the movie to accompany it. I loved the film and listening to the music brings back the great memories of watching the movie waaaay back in 1990... back IN THE DAY!
Captain Corelli's Mandolin (OST)
Brace yourself for Nick Cage and his suspect Italian accent! This CD has Stephen Warbeck's score as well as some other cuts such as one of the Italian soldiers singing their Verdi songs. It's OK, but not a repeat listener like the Dances... soundtrack, but for 50p, whatever. ...And yes, there is some Mandolin on there!
Black Hawk Down - OST
Hans Zimmer's score for Ridley Scott's movie is a typically varied affair and there's lots going on with orchestras appearing with de-tuned guitars, drum machines and chanting and all manner of other sounds to create a very rich soundtrack. It's all pretty varied stuff too, so it keeps you listening the first time through just to see what happens next. With contributions by Lisa Gerrard (making another Scott/Zimmer appearance after "Gladiator") and Joe Strummer, this is an interesting listen... Even if it is pretty noisy at times, just like the film.
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© 2006 Graham T. Ebbrell