The Tragically Hip "Now For Plan A"

 

The Tragically Hip was one of the first bands I championed after moving back to Orlando in 1989 to start the Music 4 Less chain.  MCA Records was very supportive of our efforts to get the retail store off the ground and The Hip was one of their projects.  The first three albums, "Up To Here," "Road Apples" and "Fully Completely" are legendary in my book.  Two of those were million-sellers in their home country of Canada but the best we could do here in the US was #170 on the Billboard 200.  For whatever reason, none of The Hip's subsequent albums reached the same level of greatness for me, but four of them charted higher domestically than the previous benchmark of #170...that is, until now.  "Plan A" peaked at #129 shortly after its release last October and #3 in Canada, which is sort of a let down as they hit #1 with five of the eight full-lengths of the past fifteen years.  Did I mention that they are in the Canadian Music Hall Of Fame, or anything about the Juno Awards they've won, which number in the teens?  Yep, they are the real deal.   

 

I bought "Plan A" about two weeks after it came out and just took it out of the rotation last week.  It's a brief 39 minutes across eleven tracks that hark back to those landmark early recordings.  A killer opening track... 



When I went back to cull my notes, no less than three times did I have "awesome first song" dictated.  Twice I had said the second song could be Robin Zander and Cheap Trick.  From there I noted the overall electricity of the record that had been missing for the past ten years, just a good ol' fashioned kick-ass rock 'n' roll album.  For many years, I saw The Hip compared to R.E.M. and I even called vocalist/songwriter Gordon Downie Canada's answer to Michael Stipe.  During the spins of "Plan A," I found myself relating the record more to Midnight Oil than R.E.M..  My god, Downie has morphed into Peter Garrett...not a bad thing at all! 

Here is the latest official video off the album.  Bizarre, to say the least.  It's a six-minute video for a 2:27 song...



I'm not going to attempt to figure out the Mexican setting...  The lovely lady on accompanying vocals is the grossly underrated Sarah Harmer, whom I discovered about a dozen years ago through fellow Canadians, Blue Rodeo.  I suggest you seek out some of her solo efforts. 

Plenty of great music comes from north of our border, and the Mad Rocker wildly approves "Now For Plan A."

The Dandelion War "We Were Always Loyal To Lost Causes"

 

Sampled this on a couple of occasions and even with at least ten or twelve other records in front of it, bought the damn thing anyway.  I enjoy these ethereal, atmospheric-styled albums which excel when experienced in a dark, quiet environment, however, that excludes my usual listening room.  So after a couple of spins in the car, I seek out the proper ambiance for the third and decisive play, after which I head to the Internet to see what I can find out about the band and record.  Here is a selection of the many affirmatory observations I found: 

"experimental indie tracks with startling accomplishment and jaw-dropping beauty" "masterpiece of gradual layering" "euphoric wave of music" "crafted progression...breathtaking...blissful"  "Complex but utterly euphoric" "spacey melodies and hypnotizing rhythms" "haunting vocals adjust in volume along with the music to create a lush auditory wonderland" "If there was music in outer space...";"epic, emotional ambient rock" "glacial elegance, buoyed by ghostly vocals, with a warm wash of background harmonies and the occasional peal of bells" "layers of beautiful guitar and distant synthesizers arrive before swooping vocals" "Prepare to be soothed, to be crushed, to be inspired."

I suppose one could say many of these same things about Sigur Ros or Explosions In The Sky, and though I appreciate their music, I own zero full-lengths of either.  Radiohead?  I have one.  What I jotted down for this album was very early R.E.M., mostly for the jangly guitar and maybe the vocals-as-an-instrument buried in the mix, ie. Michael Stipe-like moaned, unintelligible lyrics.  Since DW is from Oakland, CA, I believe I heard fellow Californians, Dredg, but only if they were full of Quaaludes.  There's just not enough substance in these songs to make me want to sit through the entire album again.  This is a live version of one of the three keeper tracks...



Just seems wrong that this was outdoors in the daylight...

Thirty years ago, I would have probably loved this record, but I do not get melted into a chair anymore.  Those of you who do, enjoy...

Get Well Soon "The Scarlet Beast O' Seven Heads"

 

If you read the post from a week ago, you learned of my loose parameters for keeping an entire record.  I stumbled onto this one-man band about two years ago and whittled down the double CD into a savable sixty minutes, just like the Psychedelic Pill.  This time around, even with extra content, the record clocks in around 72 minutes, but it wouldn't have mattered anyway...I would have kept it all no matter the length. 

 

If you bothered to click the link above, I'm sorry to rehash parts of that review, but some of my notes for "Scarlet Beast..." mention the same names; Bowie, Sylvian, Gane.  Then there is that "folk" designation again.  I heard a smidgen of it on this album, at one point dictating, "this could be a German Decemberists."  The hint would really be in the varied instrumentation represented on SBO'SH.  Here are the other names that welled up from the music wing of my cerebral catacombs while listening to this record over the past five weeks; Mark Almond, Edwyn Collins, Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream, OMD, Yello, Double, Human League, David Byrne & Morrissey.  I saw one international reviewer label Get Well Soon as “the bastard child of Radiohead and Bright Eyes."  I can hear that.  A few of the other artists I saw mentioned in reviews included Pink Floyd, Depeche Mode, Prefab Sprout (!) and Triumvirat.  OK, I'll give them those, too.  I summed it all up as this, "70's-era cinematic, multi-genre, electronic, baroque folk."  You may have heard me giggle as I wrote that.  Here was another reviewer's synopsis: "all sorts of glorious nonsense set to lilting melodies and with spiralling choral or electronic backgrounds."  That works, too.

 

When I wrote "cinematic,"  I had no idea that the following video existed.  But first, let me point out the title of the album comes from the book of Revelations, so you religulous persons might be offended...

  

Now that, my friends, is what music video should be about.  With so much happening for your eyes, the music itself gets overshadowed.  Go back and play it again, but this time close your eyes or turn away from your screen.  One more spin and for days you'll sing, "Hold tight, get a grip, the whole world is going to Hell."

As I mentioned before, GWS is the brainchild of one 30-year-old multi-instrumentalist with a lot of time on his hands.  He'll flesh out the recording with a few extra humans and certainly he needs others to help when he does his little mini-tours or promo appearances.  Just to set the record straight, here I would normally embed an example which would be taken from the current album, but in this case, I could only find a live rendition of the same song from above...and it didn't do it justice.  So this is from the support tour for the debut album in 2008...



I know, the crowd shots weren't flattering.  In no way, shape or form is this music suitable for the outdoor festival circuit, especially in the daylight.  I could see it on one of the tented stages at Bonnaroo after sundown, though.  Ideally, it belongs in a concert hall.

Disc #2 of SBO'SH is only 18 minutes long and consists of five Lessons, all easily made in a home studio with a couple of synths.  The music and Deity-like electronic voice are straight out of the 70's.  Cat Steven's "Monad's Anthem" from "Numbers" is the song that popped into my head, similar with its spiritual overtones. 

I absolutely love this album but good luck trying to find it in the USA.  Only this week have I noticed the prices dropping on the imports, now $13 inclusive from the UK.  Pretty sure that's for the single disc version, and really, that's enough.  The album is too damn smart for 98% of Americans and it's a shame that only a fraction of the remaining 2% will hear it.  JK, you would love it, and maybe a loyal reader in San Diego, too.  Hope you obtain a copy...  

Chris Thomas King "Bona Fide"

 

Yes, you know who he is.  He played the blues singer in George Clooney's band of escaped convicts in "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"  Imagine that, a real life musician.  He was also featured in the concert film, Down From The Mountain, that was inspired by the movie. Any association with T-Bone Burnett is a good thing.  He also appeared in the movie, "Ray," in which he played blues artist Lowell Fulsom.  I knew him as Chris Thomas and absolutely loved his 1990 album called "Cry Of The Prophets."  A few short years later, Thomas started employing hip-hop and rap into his blues music, but it wasn't as well received as the rap-metal hybrid that had begun around the same time.  His major label was less than fond of the stylistic change, so he eventually released what many considered one of the most overlooked releases of the decade, "21st Century Blues...From da 'Hood," on essentially a New Age record label...probably the major reason for it to fly under the radar.  I tried to understand it, but it didn't work for me.  Somewhere along the line, he added "King" to his name for the obvious blues references.  Sure, he's sold some records and won a Grammy, but "King"?  C'mon...

 

Can't argue with the man's musical vision.  He was years ahead of everybody in the hip-hop blues movement (I have a forthcoming post on a female take on the genre) and now he's deep into digital delivery of music and very aware of how the majors still manipulate the charts by buying their own songs to make them rank higher.  It's too bad his music isn't as astute.  "Bona Fide" isn't easy to find as it's relegated to digital services only, and that's no great loss, either.  I'm keeping just this one track. 

 

Too bad there's nothing else remotely close to being that good on the album...

Neil Young & Crazy Horse "Psychedelic Pill"

Allow me to begin with a point of reference:  I own zero Neil Young solo albums and just one Crazy Horse record, Ragged Glory.  My wife owns more than that.  There, I said it and admit it.  Longtime Young fans just left the blog...  I will tell you, though, that I have a substantial number of individual tracks, both solo and with the Horse.  I just can't seem to enjoy an entire full-length. 

 

Oddly enough, "Psych Pill" would be a full-length keeper under my normal parameters, which are loosely based around an album containing a minimum positive content of approximately 60%.  I'm going to retain almost 70% of this album.  The problem lies in the fact that Pill is a double CD, 88 minutes worth, and all of it won't fit on one single disc.  I save physical discs of complete keepers and it's really a pain in the ass to rotate the library when adding something new.  There are plenty of examples in my collection of two 36-minute album keepers on one CD just to conserve space.  Plus, there is the financial aspect of the transaction in which I can buy 70% of the album for a third of the price of the set (hey, I'm still a numbers guy at heart, so shoot me...I'll be damned if I'm going to put a second disc in the vault under those circumstances).  For those of you who may actually give a shit, that translates into three tracks @ 60 minutes total time.  Yep, that's right, three long-ass songs.  Here is one...

 

I was stunned that there was an actual official video for this, all 17 minutes worth.  The math nerds among you are getting crazed, realizing that the average length for the other two songs to wit I refer is now 21 1/2 minutes.  But alas, numbers geeks, one of the remaining two songs clocks in at a shorter time than the one above!  That's right, kids, the opening track for this album is 27:37, and no, it's not five songs rammed together into one.  It's a single vibe like the one above, and believe it or not, it doesn't get old.  I honestly didn't believe it myself, but while I was on the initial spin, I first looked at the track time and it was at a little more than seven minutes...cooking right along.  Next peek was around the sixteen-minute mark.  Couldn't believe nine minutes had passed.  Still did not get tedious over the remaining eleven.  These "monoliths," as one review deemed them, are the Neil Young & Crazy Horse I love.  The other, much shorter tracks were labeled "palette cleansers" by the same reviewer, and they quickly found their way into the recycle bin. 

Back in the ol' Mad Rocker days at WPRK, those seventeen-minute puppies would have given me ample time to run over to Beans and grab a burger & fries to satisfy the munchies.  I'll plead the fifth on what I could have done with 27+.................

Vargas Blues Band & Company

 

Scanning through the new releases back before Christmas, I was drawn to this by the "Company" listed down the side.  That is a helluva lot of good company to keep.  So why are they hanging with this Vargas guy?  Made the educated guess that he's a guitarist.  Hmmm, the "company" includes guitarists, bassists, singers, drummers, keyboardists, even a producer.  I had no idea what to expect.  This is how the record opens...



 

Now how about that?  There's Carmine Appice on drums and the singer is a guy who was in a bad 80's hair band called Rough Cutt.  Pat Travers is credited on guitar but isn't in the video.  More on that in a minute.  Track #2 features the unmistakable voice of Jack Bruce in a tune that gets a tad tedious towards its conclusion.  Next is one of my favorite songs of the past 30+ years, Parisienne Walkways, co-written by Gary Moore and Phil Lynott.  Don't believe the originators will ever be topped, but this was a serviceable cover.

 

This is track #4 and now the brain finally kicked in.  Junior Wells was credited on this song and the Junior Wells I know has been dead some fifteen years.  I have no idea who that cat is singing on this live take from three weeks ago but I'm positive it isn't Jr. Wells.  Time to start the research...

This album proved to be the most difficult to investigate in the history of this blog.  Easy enough to find Javier Vargas.  The dude is a big deal in his home country of Spain with approximately twenty full-lengths to his credit, most of which, if not all, are on Warner Bros..   I also found that he has worked with many of these guys in the "company" before.  Then I discover that many of these songs are found in his earlier works.  Wait a minute.......well, sonuvabitch, it looks like all these songs are lifted from his past works.  The track that features Chris Rea appears to come from a 2006 release called "Chris Rea & Friends," so VBB is the "friend/company." 

Only reason I'm embedding another video is because the guest vocalist here has a new record coming next month and the great BKP has sent me a pre-release copy...



I'll get to Mr. Allman's "Turquoise" in a few weeks. 

The only method of purchase in America for VBB & Company is via download for $12.  It's not for the blues purists like BKP, but if you enjoy blues/rock a la Jonny Lang or maybe latter-day SRV, you will find this quite pleasurable.

I loved it.

Robbie Williams "Take The Crown"



It was May of 1999 when Robbie Williams' "The Ego Has Landed" was dropped into my lap with a heavy push from Capitol Records.  Lord knows the last thing I thought I needed in Orlando, home of BSB and N-Stink, was a solo record from a British boy-band member.  Williams' first two albums had been smash hits in Europe and the label had created "...Ego..." by culling the best from both into a US-only release trying desperately to break him in America.  They had me at "US-only," as I knew my I-Drive tourist clientele would snap this up in a hurry to take home even though most of them already owned both of the parent records.  I didn't care if my limited local customers liked it...they weren't my focus, contrary to what the label had wished for.  But play the CD in-store I did, and singalongs would erupt throughout the aisles in a multitude of foreign accents.  And you know what?  I actually liked it!  The boy had some good pop tunes, a formidable voice and some serious swagger.  Shortly thereafter, my Capitol rep informed me of a show being hastily scheduled for Hard Rock Live since the #1 market in America for the album was Orlando (no shit, Sherlock).  My group of stores in the tourist corridor were selling it hand over fist.  From what I recall, the show wasn't part of a concert tour, just a promotional jaunt to introduce RW to major markets.  So with little build up, the show was announced and ticket sales didn't happen.  The label runs a promo with Music 4 Less...buy a copy of "The Ego...," get a free ticket to the concert.  Well, the Brits were soiling their undies when I handed them their free ticket along with each copy sold, and many bought several so their entire group could go.  They couldn't believe they were getting to see their biggest pop star of the moment in a venue smaller than Wembley Stadium.  I asked the rep if it was OK to keep a couple of tickets for myself as I was finding the record to be very catchy and was getting caught up in the buzzing energy of RW's international fans.  "Oh, no, I'll put you on the guest list," he replied, so I gave away each of the couple hundred actual tickets provided. 

Some of you can probably guess what happened...

I grab my lovely missus, who actually liked the record (pure proof that it was a pop gem), and head to Universal property.  Outside the venue is a mad house.  The huge marquee is touting the show and the Redcoats are actually running to the ticket windows.  I inquired as to the guest list but it had yet to arrive according to the box office attendant, but the Capitol rep had been spotted and it was sure to hit the window momentarily.  "Sold Out" soon flashes on the electronic billboard and the ticket windows begin to close.  No guest list.  Slowly heating to a boil, knowing I held stacks of tickets in my hand just days earlier, I plead with the box office, telling them my predicament, to no avail.  Loudly proclaiming my intent on murdering one Capitol Records employee, the crowd behind the walls begins a roar and I give up, temples visibly throbbing with steam hissing from my ears, and go back to where my wife was waiting.  "Let's go home..." and we start the long walk back around the lake.  "Wait!" comes a voice from behind.  A woman in my age category is hustling to catch us.  It turns out she's the box office manager.  The attendant had told her what was going on and she took it upon herself to personally escort us inside as her guests, not Capitol's.  Believe me, I wrote and called every contact I had at Hard Rock Corp. to offer my gratitude and to praise this woman for her excellent customer service.  The concert was outstanding.  Williams realized that 98% of the crowd was European and gave a helluva performance anyway, knowingly preaching to the choir and not the domestics he was in the country to develop.  As we exited with the jubilant crowd, I spotted the offending label rep smiling and mingling within it.  I work my way toward him, getting close enough to tap him on the shoulder.  "Hey, Mad, how did you like the show?" he asks.  "Great!" I replied, "but no thanks to you.  Only by the good graces of the Hard Rock did I get in because YOU FORGOT TO PUT ME ON THE GODDAMN GUEST LIST AFTER ALL THE PROMOTION I'VE DONE FOR YOU!  DON'T YOU EVER SET FOOT IN MY STORE OR STORES AGAIN!"  Then, with a very evil grin, I say, "Have a nice evening," and turned to walk away.  Ignoring his pleas for me to stop, I raise a single-finger wave and continued on my way.  I must admit that I thoroughly enjoyed ignoring him for the following couple of weeks, took the RW CD off sale at all my stores, threatened to trespass him from the mall when he showed up unannounced one day and reminded him of our recorded video surveillance if he opted to show when I was off.  Needless to say, once I released him from the dog house, he was very generous with whatever I requested...  Story finished. 

I've been a fan of RW since, owning six of his seven domestically released albums.  I'd venture a guess that's more than 99% of all Americans.  Always had an edgy pop sound with lyrics worthy of the infamous "explicit" labels.  The "Swing..." album was a joy.  "Rudebox" was dance floor fodder.  He scored slightly with two of the subsequent albums and has barely sniffed any other chart here since.  For that matter, I not sure all of his releases were made available in the USA.  From what I gather, "Take The Crown" isn't.  I'm not surprised.  All my foreign readers, however, will be.  "...Crown" debuted at #1 in six European countries and is still in the Top 10 in five of them, now two months later.  The first single, "Candy," has 26.5 million views on his official VEVO channel.  Damn if I need to show it to you. 

The album is loaded with radio-ready singles, but that sums up my problem with it, they are safely commercial...cliched and predictable.  Sure, he takes a sweet pop tune and tells someone to "...go fuck yourself," and another track laments the "shit on the radio," yet he has crafted approximately 35 minutes of the same four-letter descriptive.  If you do the math, and I purchased the version of the album with two bonus songs, that leaves eighteen minutes of retainable music, which includes one of the extra tunes.  This is one of the keepers and I suspect a future single.  He did a three-night stand at this venue, and trust me, he struggled on at least one of the nights performing this song.  Not this one, though...



...well, not as much. 

It has to irk him to some degree to be based in Los Angeles and not be able to crack the market here again.  On the positive side, the paparazzi probably leave him alone.  And with an estimated worth north of $140 mil, he really shouldn't care.

Let's start the New Year with a pair of live albums...

Allow me to thank BKP for donating these.  He's known me long enough to know I rarely purchase concert performances, audio only.

 

I had actually planned to buy this one based on my approval of Steven Wilson's live DVD from a few weeks ago.  BKP also sent the band's "Signify (Expanded Version)" from the mid-90's, which I believe was when this configuration of PT debuted.  I had not gone back quite that far in the catalog when I first discovered the band ten years ago.  I played this live CD through once and thought.....meh.  Gave Signify a spin and went back to Twisted Octane for another cycle.  Then it dawned on me...Porcupine Tree HAS run its course, as it has been rumored.  Now I hear the rehashed riffs and themes, and in this concert recording, that's indifference in Wilson's voice, not an off night.  The first hour of the show from Chicago is basically a Hard Rock Classic Albums Live version of the last (and, God forbid, final) album, "The Incident."  I'll just go back to play the studio version.  Hour two was better, but not by much.  One nice segueing of a couple of favorites but overall uninspiring. 

 

My heart is saddened that this chapter of Wilson's creativity may be closing, as is his work in Blackfield, according to reports.  Lord knows he needs to slam the book shut on Storm Corrosion.  I anxiously await his next solo project, "The Raven That Refused To Sing (and other stories)," which arrives in late February.  Trust me, it will go straight to the front of the line, even if I have fifteen other records in front of it.  I also plan on asking...no, telling...Mrs. Rocker to buy me a ticket to his concert in St. Pete in April as my birthday gift.  Correct, that's A ticket...there is absolutely zero chance she would go with me. 

 

 

I honestly had no plans at all to buy this.  The other mini-reunions had been so.....Porcupine Tree-like.  Where BKP said it sucked, that Page had phoned it in, I was pleasantly surprised once I got past the opening three songs.  I turned it off after those first fifteen minutes, nearly junking the whole project without further review.  Somewhere on Facebook, I commented as such on a post, and my old M4L buddy, Doxey, chimed in and said it truly improved after the quarter-hour warm up.  And he was right.  I'll give it a 7 on a 10 scale.