This arrived during the same soft section of the release schedule that gave me Killing Joke and one more yet to come. Completely opposite end of the musical spectrum from the industrialism of KJ. I was glad I played this first, you know, like foods and wines, you start light and work your way to heavy. I had not heard of Wooden Sky and can't recall how they popped up on my radar, but I am glad they did. It's the Canadian band's third album, so I decided to check some of their homegrown reviewers opinions and found a "love it or hate it" attitude, no middle ground. The positives hailed the band and record as one of the country's best in recent memory, praising the subtleties, lyrics, and overall beauty. The negatives compared it to waterboarding or a solo space travel excursion of seventy years, ie. predictable and bland. I understand the negatives' "boring" description as the first spin for the album was a complete, uninterrupted one. The first ten+ minutes were wonderful, the remaining twenty-eight were homogeneous, excluding the one doo-wop styled number, though it still retained some sameness in delivery. The positives took effect with shorter bites of the album, two or three tracks at a time, allowing for the tranquility and pastoral moods to shine, like this...
But it's not all quiet pieces. There are a couple that reminded me of a Neil Young or Tom Petty tune, electric guitars and whine. This was posted on YouTube two months ago and had 41 views when I found it...
Man, I love the Internet for just this kind of discovery...
The vocals are front and center, very pronounced and direct. You can hear the keyboard atmospherics on both videos. Fiddle, mandolin, banjo, cello all beg for an alt-country or folk classification but I find that hard to do. It's a collage of many things, just look at the various RIYLs I found for it; Fleet Foxes, The Jayhawks, The Avett Bros. and Ryan Adams.
Sorry, domestic readers, it's another import, but I did see a site from NY that will send you one for $15 and some change. I know I've already enlightened a couple of you to the band via FB, and I'm certain more of you will agree to the worthiness of your support for The Wooden Sky.
That right, hair metal fans, "The Final Countdown" and "Carrie" Europe. And you thought they went away twenty years ago...
Well, they did, and this Mad Rocker was bummed. Actually, I was disappointed that guitarist John Norum quit the band following the album Final Countdown. It was understandable since the first two Europe albums preceding FC were guitar-based prog rock. Final Countdown shifted the band's sound to more keyboards and a pop-metal style, something Norum described as "poodle rock." So off he went on his own solo career, releasing some excellent albums and contributing smoldering fret work to the likes of Glenn Hughes and Carmine Appice, and tribute albums to Alice Cooper, Ace Frehley and Phil Lynott. Europe replaced him and did two more albums before the grunge movement killed hair bands.
Rumors of a reunion were stoked by a turn-of-the-century concert but took four years to come to fruition. With Norum back in the band, I had to listen, but that's all I did. Wasn't moved to own it or the other two records issued in the following five years. But I made the effort to hear them. When word of "Bag Of Bones" leaked out, I investigated reviews from Sweden and Switzerland, finding the band was still intact and that the record had adopted more of a blues rock feel. This was underscored by the guest appearance of Joe Bonamassa, hardest working guitarist in the world, and the ever-present Kevin Shirley running the board. That was enough for me to make the buy.
This is the album's opening track. I like how this was cut with live footage of the band performing the song, with which they apparently open their shows, but with the actual studio version dubbed in.
Tell me that doesn't sound like Deep Purple/Uriah Heep/Whitesnake all rolled into one. This is the single (you can find the official video all over the web) but you know I have to select one of quality with three or four-digit views, not hundreds of thousands...
Joey Tempest writing and singing 'bout his life! So what if he's lost that higher register in his voice? The original version has a Kashmir-ish sense thrown in on top of a decidedly David Coverdale's Whitesnake sound. Hell, I had to check the credits to see if Coverdale was guesting! Track 3, if I didn't know better, could be Black Country Communion...
This is a Mad Rocker favorite for 2012 so far, getting a 9 on a 10-scale...well, that's if you completely dismiss the closing track, the obligatory metal ballad that, unfortunately, is blatantly awful. Not officially available domestically, but there is a place in North Carolina that'll send you a physical copy for less than $17. I found mine digitally for under $10.
"Ah, what the hell" I thought when I spotted this on the new release board. I was in a soft spot of the schedule and bought this for historical purposes. Killing Joke originated after punk started dying out. They mixed all sorts of musical styles into this thick, noisy, metal sludge which many credit as the beginnings of industrial rock. They used controversial visuals for posters, album covers and in backdrops of concert performances, dabbled in the occult and predicted the Apocalypse. Yep, that'll get you some press coverage. What drew me to them was using Conny Plank as their producer. Plank had been engineering or producing bands such as Scorpions, Jane, Can, Ultravox and early Eurythmics. I listened, but I still didn't like.....until the sixth album, "Brighter Than A Thousand Suns." The heaviness shifted to a dance-y goth sound, "darkwave" as some called it. Long time fans hated it, I loved it. More singing, too, not growling, puking noises. The next album slipped deeper into synthesizers, away from the dominating guitars, and I figured that was the end of them.
I moved to Florida in early '89 to open the Music 4 Less stores and only learned of KJ's continued existence from British tourists looking to buy new product. The next time Americans probably took notice was when the band sued Nirvana for copyright infringement, alleging "Come As You Are" was ripped from one of their songs. That probably led some to KJ's mid-nineties releases, though none charted to join "Brighter..."
Earlier, I mentioned "...all sorts of musical styles." Allow me to touch on that for a moment. Besides the inclusion of various members in industrial supergroups such as Pigface, Murder Inc. and Damage Manual, original member Jaz Coleman was involved with those "Symphonic Music of..." CD's that all Sound Shop/Music 4 Less people remember. He later worked with classical artists Nigel Kennedy and Vanessa-Mae. KJ bassist, Youth, worked with lots of bands you all know, such as Erasure, Bananarama, Crowded House, Art of Noise, and the Verve. This combined musical legacy is what led to purchasing "MMXII."
I had no idea they had been active this century. This is their fourth release of the past ten years. I was surprised that they were still creating new music thirty-some-odd years later. I'll let an English reviewer speak for the album, one he says is right up there with the band's finest..."MMXII (2012) is a devastating slab of industrial rock loosely based around the Mayan concept whereby the twenty-first of December 2012 will signify the end of time. Intelligently researched and politically charged throughout, MMXII delivers a ten-part suckerpunch in brutal fashion". Too brutal for my tastes anymore, except for two tracks in the middle of the release, one of which must be a single...
Singing, not retching. Give me a complete record of this and I'll add it to the vault. Here's a link to the other keeper track.
The entire time listening to "MMXII" made me think of an employee I had at M4L #2036. John H., this is right down your musical alleyway.
Fresh out of college and jobless thanks to the U.S. vs. AT&T antitrust case, I had returned home to begin a new employment search. Late one evening, my good friend, Steve M., called me from a local lodging facility where he worked as night manager, saying there was a guy our approximate age from Australia who had come to middle-of-nowhere Tennessee "...to see where God was made." Steve said the guy left him two cassettes to listen to, calling them his favorite band from home, and that I needed to hear them. (My fascination with all things Aussie came from the exchange program Rollins College had with the University of Sydney. Many of my classmates who went Down Under brought back the greatest stories, the biggest beer cans, and incredible music by unheard of names like Midnight Oil, Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons and Paul Kelly. I was accepted for the program my senior year, yet fate dealt a hand that did not allow it, but my love for the Aussie culture never wavered.) I had to go meet this obviously lost, wandering soul and hear the music he toted 10,000 miles for us to hear.
Steve told me the guy bought Lowenbrau to drink and I knew that would be a disappointment, so I rounded up a 6pk of cans that I believed he'd enjoy much more, Country Club 900. That's a story in itself! Anyway, the guy was indeed our age but sported a ZZ Top-type beard which made him look way older, and the "God" he had referenced earlier was Jack Daniels, produced right down the road in Lynchburg. Our new friend was a diamond miner in Western Australia who worked hundreds of miles from the nearest city. He'd work two or three weeks in a row and then get a week off, driving to Perth to secure his stash of "God" for the upcoming work weeks. How did our buddy end up in Tennessee for two days? He had taken his vacation solo and contracted to deliver an automobile for an elderly lady from Los Angeles to Miami. He had three weeks to make the journey and got to go wherever he wanted just as long as he made Miami on the end date. Wow... We kept him a day longer than he had scheduled, but I don't believe he felt inconvenienced. Stayed in touch via postal services for a couple of years afterward but that was it. If he only knew how he affected my musical being with those two cassette tapes...
...they were Cold Chisel's self-titled debut and "Breakfast at Sweethearts." From the very first song there was an energy and passion in the music that rang my bell. Two excellent singers, one sounding like a Bob Seger/John Fogerty hybrid and the other with a sweet, soulful voice, fiery guitar work, bangin' piano and a solid rhythm section. Barroom boogie, ballads, blues, reggae, rock...you name it, they could play it. And guess what? Their third album,"East," had just been released in the States. It went quintuple Platinum in Australia and actually charted on Billboard's Top 200 here. It's been voted the 3rd Greatest Rock Album of All-Time. Two years later saw the release of band's fourth studio album, "Circus Animals." At the time, I was the interim PD/MD of the local radio station, WBGY, owned by Wayne Newton's brother Jerry, and I stuck the single "Forever Now" into heavy rotation and its B-side, "When the War is Over," into light rotation. I reported both to the trade magazine, Radio & Records, and was the only station on our format panel to do so. Hey, I tried to help. At least Custom Sound sold a few copies. Anyway, those two songs did not truly reflect the anger of the complete album, much of it directed at the American record company that could not break the band in the States. The track "Bow River" still gives me goosebumps thirty years later. For me, these first four albums by Chisel rank right there with Led Zeppelin I - IV and Pink Floyd's "Dark Side..." through "The Wall."
There were a couple of live recordings and a fifth album, which was pieced together since the band members quit getting along with each other, and that was the end of that phase of Cold Chisel. Singer Jimmy Barnes went on to a very successful Hall-of-Fame solo career. Guitarist and second singer, Ian Moss, also had a #1 solo record. Keyboardist and primary songwriter (many consider him him Australia's best), Don Walker, penned songs for both Barnes and Moss and did his own thing called Catfish, also working with Tex Perkins of The Cruel Sea. Drummer Steven Prestwich joined Little River Band for the three years that John Farnham was the lead vocalist. Bassist Phil Small thumped around with a few bands, most notably Billy Thorpe, and played in both Barnes' and Moss' touring bands. Fourteen years after the breakup, Chisel got together for a forgettable record and a tour for another long-form video.
Another fourteen years pass and we get "No Plans." The band played a big one-nighter in 2009 and got together to rehearse, did some writing, etc., but had "no plans" for it otherwise. Riiiiight... I admit to being surprised at the news, alerted to the impending release by fellow Chisel fan, Greg A.. Released on my birthday, I had to impatiently wait a month before it hit my favorite shopping site. Five weeks and multiple spins later, I can safely declare this record to be a winner. I admit to having doubts due to the previous reunion disc, and on first spin I had a "meh" opinion till I reached track #7, the first to feature Moss on lead vocals. Maybe that's what it took to break my preconceived notion that I was destined for disappointment. Each spin thereafter revealed similarities to some of the band's finest works of thirty-something years ago. Produced by Kevin Shirley, rock's most in-demand knob-twister, the album's sound is as clean as anything Mark Opitz did for them back in the day. Barnes vocals are stronger than ever, simply amazing for anyone 56 years old with that growler/howler style. This song should/would/could be a hit worldwide...
There's another track called "Missing A Girl" that's also a smash hit in an alternate timeline. Unfortunately, the availability of "No Plans" content is difficult to find for us in America. This is a link to one of the boogie-woogie rockin' tracks. Here, Barnes comes off somewhat like a Dan McCafferty in his prime. The rest of it you domestics will have have to take my word for it.
For this long-time devoted fan, "No Plans" is a most welcome addition to the fold. Here it is nearly six weeks later and I'm just now taking it out of rotation. I'm not filing it away, though. It will stay out just in case...
This has been out a little over three months and I finally finished my three spins last week (hey, I bought the double disc, so sue me). The draw for moi was Jim James of My Morning Jacket. The other big name, Jay Farrar of Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt fame, has never clicked well for me. The remaining two guys I had no knowledge of, though I had seen Anders Parker's band name, Varnaline, somewhere back in the day. These guys were allowed to raid the Guthrie archives over the past few years, and essentially stumbled upon lyrics from the short time Guthrie lived in Los Angeles. Each man composed songs from the lyrics that spoke to him and recorded them together whenever schedules allowed. Process from start to finish? About five years. But fate has a way of aligning things and next month is the 100th anniversary of Guthrie's birth, so Happy Birthday, Woody!
If you are a fan of any of the aforementioned bands, enjoy folk/rock/alt-country/blues, or like songs with politics/protests/whiskey & "kokaine" in the lyrics, this is for you.
And one more...
The deluxe version is worth every extra penny paid for it. "Jake Walk Blues," "Dopefiend Robber," and "When I Get Home" stood out for me. Sure, there are a couple of tracks that I edited out to get to a single CD, but I'm still keeping the deleted tracks digitally.
Will New Multitudes receive Grammy consideration like previous Guthrie collaborations? I would not be surprised.
Got their last record a couple of years ago and though I didn't keep it in its entirety, was impressed enough to give this one a try a few weeks ago on its European release. Well, my friends, this is one of my favorites of the year so far. This is for you who like to sing along in the car, shower, karaoke bar, etc., a throwback to melodic pop full of "yeah, yeah, yeah's", "sha la la's" & "whoa, oh, oh"s." Multiple voices...tracked, layered, whatever you want to call it...but I was winged back to great British bands of yore like Queen, Sweet, City Boy and Charlie by them. Many of the UK reviews I read said the band had put an American stamp on the album.....wha' wha' what?! "Greatest Hits"was one of my top two choices for singles, so it looks as if I got it right. The official video hasn't debuted yet, but this will do just fine...
...an excellent song about lovers at the end of a relationship breaking up a "Deserted Island" music collection (you old farts like me out there starting screaming "Stuck In The Middle With You" at the intro, didn't you?). Smart lyrics, so it can still be done. Most likely the reason is seated next to the young singer, his dad. All the bios you'll find have the group listing Syd Barrett as an influence, but my guess is Pops must have been into XTC & Robyn Hitchcock, too.
The story behind the making of this album is the band came over to do a secret SXSW show last year and stayed in Texas a couple of months to record. I'm sure there's domestic influence on the song "Lost In Austin" but I don't hear a TX sauce all over the record. This is the other song I felt deserving of release, seen here two months before even coming to America. Ms. Rose is an artist in her own right and is reportedly a romantic interest of one of the boys...
"Radlands" came out here yesterday and will be the best $8 you'll spend this week.
Without checking to be certain, I believe this is the first #1 album for my music blog. I really, really wanted to like it. Never understood the popularity of the White Stripes but they struck a chord with my young staff @ Music 4 Less. Thought I would like the Raconteurs but they didn't click for me, either. Absolutely blown away by The Dead Weather but that's probably never going to happen again. Now Jack White is just plain ol' Jack White, musical icon to many of you under the age of forty. And yes, I bought it out of respect for his unique vision and the fact that I really, really wanted to like it...
I'd heard two songs before making the buy, appreciating one more than the other. They were wildly different and that's ultimately why I added it to the shopping cart. He performed the two tracks on SNL, one with an all-female band and the other with dudes. They are on his VEVO channel if you want to see them. I don't need to link things with three and four million views for you! He is taking both bands out on the road with him and if you have a ticket you will find out which one plays when you get there. That works for me.
As for the album, it's a mixed bag of styles, necessitating an unprecedented fourth spin immediately after the third. I NEVER hit replay on anything, but I really, really wanted to like this album... Saw one review describing a song as melding... "golden-era country, porno-soundtrack jazz, and dream-theatre pop
into something too sweet for words." As I said, a mixed bag of styles...and that's one track! I finally heard a bonafide winner at the halfway point in track #7, followed by another, and then the closer worked well. Half the album is "take it or leave it" and offsetting the three winners are three turds, which mostly involve White's untreated vocals. Run 'em through a processor and/or pair them with a female, but don't just "sing." Therein lies his weakest link. Musically, I believe the record is quite interesting. There is just enough noisy guitar to make the faithful happy, but I found the keyboards to be the pleasant surprise.
White has been quoted stating "the best albums take at least two or three listens..." Well, I gave "Blunderbuss" four, so it must not be a "best album."
More than seven years of professional radio experience and over twenty years in music retailing have provided many opportunities to introduce friends, family, co-workers and customers to great music in four different decades. Out of the biz now for more than five years, I still seek out new music to add to my enormous collection. Most in my age group gave up on finding new music years ago. To quote a line from Crack the Sky, "Why don't they make music for us anymore?" Well, they do, and I share my discoveries in a manner that is intended for those who know me, but can be appreciated by you who do not. I am not a reveiwer paid to have a piece available upon a recording's release, I write only after several listens and sometimes several weeks of spins. Feel free to comment, suggest, and enjoy!
