To purchase any of the cds click on the link
  Through the cold and snow the postman delivered a little bit of English sunshine through our door this week, the new album from the lovely O’Hooley and Tidow. In 2010 we were lucky enough to receive their album ‘Silent June’ to take us through the summer and now we have their new collection called ‘The Fragile’ to accompany us through the snow.
It’s a really beautiful English album. I know it probably isn’t very pc to say that but it just oozes Britishness, from their vocals to the piano to the subject matter, and I for one love that!
The Tallest Tree is almost a follow up to my friend Stevie’s song with The Beach Boys ‘Little Bird’ The wiseness of the bird sung of with great glee, a wonderfully boyant catchy number!
Teardrop is a gem of an acapella number.
Gentleman Jack stands out for me. As I listened to it for the first time I was immediately picturing Nan in her army outfit on the London Streets from ‘Tipping The Velvet’. I think their music and the works of Sarah Waters go rather hand in hand.
The highlight of the whole album I think is the beautiful harmonic moment in ‘Little Boy Blue’, being a lover of great harmony that bit does it for me!
If you haven’t checked out their music yet, you really must! It really is like nothing else that’s out there at the moment, totally timeless music!
Thanks again ladies!
And don’t forget the girls are on tour at the moment. See here for the tour schedule. Definitely one, not to miss.
 This is the 17th album by Ani! An amazing feat in this day and age where people seem to take an age to come out with a rather average album! Thankfully for us this is far from average, it put me in mind of the full on anger Alanis Morissette jagged little pill but also crossed with the beautiful lushness and drifting melancholy of Ingrid Chavez ‘A Flutter and some words’.
What grabbed me about the album is it is so of the moment! She even remarks on a campaign very close to my heart, high street shops! And the use it or lose it notion which those who have read my blog will know I have been heavily involved with here in Enfield.
To keep the protest theme she even has the best protest singer on the block join her on one of the tracks, none other than Pete Seeger! Who is now in his 90th year. It’s an angry up to date commentary on America as it is in 2012.
Cashier no 9
2011
  What a breath of fresh air this album is! Sounding both modern and retro. There are shades of Brian Wilson for all to hear, great melodic pop, with wonderful building melodies that just get into your mind and won’t leave, nor would I want them to.
I have listened to this a lot this week, each time I pop my itunes on I am drawn to select this album. Standout tracks are Good Bye Friend, The lighthouse Will Lead You Out, Velvet Wrist but to be honest they are all great!
Vetiver
2011
  Glorious summer music - as I sit and listen to this the smoke of next door’s barbecue wafts around me… and this must be the ideal companion to summer sunshine. The album has a very California feel, more melancholy than the previous album Cashier No 9 but there are similarities. Both hark back to a happier time in music before drum machines took over. In amongst the melancholy you are suddenly awakened from your lull with the classic pop of ride, ride, ride, which I think could be a great radio hit!
This is wonderful soft guitar , great vocals, an album I know will become a great soundtrack to this summer!
I Break Horses
Hearts
2011
  More lovely mellow tunes from The Bella Union dare I say it Stable J, I Break Horses, Maria Lindén, hails from Sweden. Her music puts me in the mind of ‘This Mortal Coil’ and ‘Even as We Speak’ beautiful vocals and mellow music. ‘Empty Bottles’ reminds me for some reason of ‘This Mortal Coils’ version of the classic Gene Clark song ‘With Tomorrow’ which is one of my all time fav’s.
Lindén has a sultry voice, the vocals are almost whispered and beautifully complimented by effects-laden guitars and drum patterns and features remixes from the Chemical Brothers, The Fuck Buttons and Star Slinger.
A beautiful timeless album!
Neil Young and the Harvesters
2011
This 12 track live album, ‘A Treasure’ includes recordings during Neil’s 1984 and 1985 U.S. Neil had no album out at this time. Young’s alongside Neil Young onstage are some of the greatest artists in the history of country music, including the late, Ben Keith on steel and slide guitar and Rufus Thibodeaux on fiddle, along Spooner Oldham and Hargus “Pig” Robbins on piano, Tim Drummond and Joe Allen on bass, and Karl Himmel on drums, among many others.
‘A Treasure’ is Young’s first release since last year’s Grammy- and Juno Award-winning album ‘Le Noise’.
This was an interesting time in Neil’s career, he was facing criticism and lawsuits from his then record company for exploring a more traditionally country sound. “You can call me erratic,” Young said when asked at the time about his tendency toward musical shape shifting, “but I’ve been consistent about it, consistently erratic.” Always celebrated for his musical versatility, ‘A Treasure’, is akin to a sonic time capsule, instantly transporting the listener to the time and place when it was made. “I love this record,” Young says. “I hadn’t heard these takes in 25 years but when we unearthed them co-producer Ben Keith said, ‘This is a treasure.’”
As I sit here and type this review on a glorious sunny day, I am thrilled to hear a live 80s take on the Buffalo Springfield classic ‘Flying On The Ground Is Wrong’ brilliant stuff! Motor City could have been written last week! And there is a blinding version of “are you ready for the country’ which makes me want to line ‘harvest up as soon as this has finished ;-).
If you weren’t sure whether to get this cd, don’t hesitate it’s classic Neil!
Paul Simon
2011
  Having been a big fan of Simm and Garf since the late 80s, as I put on Paul Simons latest offering, his 12th solo album, it is as though I am being greeted by an old friend. That familiar voice so unaltered unlike his counterparts that have reached the same age as he. The album is full of Simon’s wisdom still totally on the money, his sharp intelligence leaves it’s mark on each song.
With some music you can read and have it on in the back ground but I always find with Paul Simon you are drawn to the words, keen to know what his thoughts are, at this time in our lives. It’s a great album; Love is an eternal, scared light reminds me a lot of Boy in The bubble, more for the words than the music. A bouncy little number. ‘A lot of the album touches upon mortality, none more so than the aptly named ‘afterlife’. When death does come knocking in The Afterlife, rather than bringing an end to earthly trials, it presents a bureaucratic chore where "you’ve got to fill out a form first, then you wait in the line." Even such deities as Buddha, Moses and Gene Vincent must endure this process: the ultimate joke. Dazzling Blue is a beautiful song, ‘Maybe love's an accident, or destiny is true. But you and I were born beneath a star of dazzling blue.
Dazzling blue lovely plucking guitar and harmonies, an ode to his wife.
A classic really! Nuff said!
 I just love the Fleet Foxes, they exude that timeless quality so infrequently found in today's music, they also have that wonderful look, which always reminds me of that other out of time band ' The Band'.
So much has been written about this hotly anticipated album. Robin Pecknold has really put his heart and soul into this, lost a relationship in the process... but is it worth it? Absolutely, they have come up with a classic album - a classic already and I have only had the songs in my possession for one day. I have played it over and over again as I have sat in the glorious April sunshine. I won't review this album track by track as really it needs to be viewed or should I say heard as a whole. It kicks off with a brilliant song 'Montezuma', most of the songs on this album are hugely introspective. This one sets the theme, talking of loneliness and immortality, it starts off rather starkly, just Robin and a guitar, then those wondrous beautiful harmonies take the song onto a whole other level... You can really hear all the inspirations that Robin has, the guy has GREAT taste... This is from the press release that comes with the album, you will see here why this album is worth buying before you even hear a track!
Robin had this to say: 'I think this music draws influence and inspiration from popular music and folk rock of the mid ‘60s to the early ‘70s, folks like Peter Paul and Mary, John Jacob Niles, Bob Dylan, The Byrds, Neil Young, CSN, Judee Sill, Ennio Morricone, West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, The Zombies, <em>SMiLE</em>-era Brian Wilson, Roy Harper, Van Morrison, John Fahey, Robbie Basho, The Trees Community, Duncan Browne, the Electric Prunes, Trees, Pete Seeger, and Sagittarius, among many others. I'd say it's a synthesis of folk rock, traditional folk, and psychedelic pop, with an emphasis on group vocal harmonies. <em>Astral Weeks </em>was a big inspiration on this album, if not always in sound then in approach. The raw emotion in Van Morrison's vocals and the trance-like nature of the arrangements were very inspiring for this album!'
You can certainly hear the influences of albums such as 'Astral Weeks', never more so than on the 8 minute opus 'The Shrine/An Argument' which starts off as a folk song, then coming to a stering end with brass woodwind and strings...
The main theme of the album is getting older, the trials of life and finding out who you are.. but we are left with great optimisum!
The album is out May 2nd, they appeared on Jools last night and sounded amazing, catch the repeat on Friday.
California Feeling
Stephen Kalinich and Friends
2011
 23 of Stevie’s wonderful words are put together on this eclectic cd! The poet and lyricist, best known for his work with The Beach Boys, inspiring Dennis to have his first compositions on an album - Little Bird and Be Still. Two timeless classics that are given a lovely reworking on this cd, Little Bird is brought right up to date sung by Carnie and Wendy Wilson and produced by Carnies husband Rob Bonfiglio who also appears later on the cd with Stevie on “Never Before America’ . The cd starts with a beautiful instrumental introduction that gets the album off to a peaceful start, you are then back on the sun kissed shores of California with the Honeys making a vibrant glorious version of ‘California Feeling’. The second outing of this song, in as Many years, Al Jardine did a wonderful folksy’ version on his ‘Postcards from California’ album last year.
‘Ocean’ was recorded whilst Stevie was living in Brighton with a young chap called Paul Steel whose haunting vocal really sends this song to another level. ‘111 Cresmont Road’ hears Stevie on sparkling from, the other highlights of this brilliant collection are ‘Contemplating Life’ sung by Dan Knutson, sounding very much like Richard Ashcroft - this being far from a bad thing…
Probyn Gregory from the Brian Wilson band gives a beautiful delicate reading of the fairly recently unearthed Dennis Wilson classic, ‘A Time to live in dreams’; Dennis’s son sings the beautiful ballad ‘Touch Your Skin’ one of my favourites. One of Stevie’s most known poems ‘The Magic Hand’ is given a beautiful reading by none other than Stacey Keach! He reads it with feeling and you really get caught up with the words, great musical backing on this track by Sarah Al Mulla. The whole album takes us on a great journey through the mind and wisdom of Stephen Kalinich.
I highly recommend it to all… The words will linger in your hearts and minds forever! Mark Linet and Alan Boyd have produced this album and a great job they have done too!
k d lang and Siss Boom Bang
2011
 The new album arrived yesterday. Having loved k d lang since first setting eyes on her on that infamous Vanity Fair cover, I have followed her career avidly, seen her live often and loved each and every musical offering that she has given. So it was with keen enthusiasm that I popped this one on. Well let me tell you that right from the start she doesn’t dissapoint! This is the first time k d has had her own band since the days of the Reclines, and they sound brilliant!
K d starts off all slow sassy and very sexy with ‘I Confess’ then it suddenly changes its tempo and is a jazzy little rocker. Great piano, and guitar, a real number for dancing too!
‘A Sleep With No Dreaming’, a slow sultry number k d’s voice sores on this one, lovely brushed drum sound, bass guitar, a slow sexy one, lovely lyrics ‘you’re the only dream I understand’ asleep with no dreaming’.
‘The Waters Edge’ all the songs seem to be paean to a deeply fulfilling love. This one in partcular, another slow number with a deep bass guitar, I am already singing along to this one.
‘Perfect World’ this is the one that was a freebie a couple of weeks ago and I’m not surprised they used this as the taster as it’s a really great catchy pop song.
To date, ‘Sugar Buzz’ I think is my favourite track on the album, a slow start with the band showing us what they are made of. Then, k d chimes in and sounds very slow and sexy once again! It’s a stop and starter; you can hear the smirk on her face as she sings this one! Lyrics ‘can’t get enough can’t get enough’ give you the gist of this track!
‘Sing It Loud’ not sure what this song is about but I am taking my own personal slant on it - k d coming out, very brave all those years ago – is k d suggesting that others should do the same? I don’t know but I hope so, this has a great banjo introduction.
‘Inglewood’, lovely guitar based, another slow number k d seems to have softened her voice on this album, and has used a great inflection that sounds brilliant.
‘Habit of Mind’, the banjo makes another welcome appearance and there is a definite country twang evocotive of her early country albums.
‘Heaven’is a rather sublime cover of this classic talking heads song,
The album’s closing track is ‘Sorrow Nevermore’ and the banjo makes an appearance again, keeping the song bubbling along. A great lively melody sees the album to its close.
Tony Bennett said ‘she is the best singer of her generation’. He certainly has a point, k d can turn her voice to many vocal styles…
This album will become a firm favourite.
 So the new cd from REM… what to expect. I have loved REM since Green came out in the early 90s when I worked in Guernsey, you would hear that and Out of Time blasting from lots of the staff rooms as we passed them by on our way to the beach… Then for my 21st I got given ‘Automatic For The People’ and like most people of my age it has become a big part of the soundtrack of my life.
So it was and always is with great anticipation that I cycled into town to buy the new REM cd. I know the press have slated their last few albums but I have to disagree, they are still making brilliant music maybe just not quite a brilliant as Automoatic.. but really.. who else is? And also what an album Automatic was and it would take a lot to achieve higher success than that.
So to take this album track by track. Discover is a blasting introduction, great guitar intro and pounding drum that really gets you Michael Stipe pounds out some great vocals. I must confess All The Best does sound very similar to Discoverer but it has some great guitar in there and they seem to be enjoying themselves. My fav from the start was Uberlin, it is a slow more ‘Eletrolite’ kind of song. Must be really annoying for bands to have their new songs compaired to old ones, but all the same, this is the flavour of this song. All my heart has that lovely Peter Buck Mandoline that we know so well from ‘Out of time’ it’s a plantive song and jogs along quite nicely but nothing really to write home about. ‘It happened today’ - this one has a lovely backing vocal from Mike Mills as well as that mandoline again. The final soaring harmonies are wonderful and I am back to ’92 again on that beach! ‘Everyday is yours to win’ I think this is my second fav on the album, really lovely slow guitar and Michael’s vocals lure you in. The vocal tag at the end with Mike Mills and Michael Stipe exchanging vocals is lovely and you hear the influence of Brian Wilson within this song. ‘Mine Smell like honey’ this is the one that catches me the least. Just a bit of a blur of noise really. ‘Alligator Aviator Autopliot Antimater’ is a lively number with a great femail vocal provided by Patti Smith who also appeared on their brilliant album ‘New Adventures In Hi-Fil’. ‘That Someone is You’ this is another raging guitar song with Michael really enjoying the vocals. ‘Me Marlon Brando and I’, nice slow number. ‘Blue’ this sounds just like a re-working of ‘low’ from ‘Out of time’ Michael speaking the words it gets going towards the end though. Lovely backing vocals by Patti Smith.
I would recommend the album to buy.
ps Michael I love the beard!
 Thousands are a Seattle duo comprising of Kristian Garrard and Luke Bergman. Their music is purely acoustic guitar, harmonium and vocals but by listening to this you forget that the only accompaniment is an acoustic guitar. The music is, as always with Bella Union bands very melodic, some have compaired them to Simon and Garfunkel which I can see, it does have that 60's feel to it. They are great friends with Bella Union gems the wonderful Fleet Foxes, who helped to get these guys noticed but i am sure they will make it on their own strengths if this album is anything to go by!
 'A Dream before sleep' is the great opening track to this album, very 60's inspired, a wonderful psychadelic sound, swirling keyboards. There is a heck of a lot going on here, a joy to listen to this album with headphones as you get introduced to more of the layers. This album has an almost Wilsonian feel to it. The band herald from Denmark, but I have to say listening to this album I would never have guessed that, it's pure 60's Americanna but with a modern feel, really catchy pop songs.. My standout track so far is 'Time Stretcher' it has these great pounding drums that really blast out at you. 'The Universe is a women' has another great intro that mellows into a rocking melodic number, the lead singers voice reminds me a little of the chap from Supertramp.. that great high voice.
2011
 This is another great cd from the folks at Bella Union. They seem to have tapped into a great vein in music, making pure sounding melodic music in a time still sadly donated to good looking boy bands. Maybe I know is a great pop song, which really gets into your head. Reading about Alessi on the Bella Union website it states that she signed her first record contract aged just 17, and when asked who she would like as her producer she said she dreamed of working with Mike Mogis of Bright Eyes and a few months later, you got it, she was enscounced in a recording studio in Omaha with Mr Mogis. Alessi has a beautiful emotive sexy voice, very unusual, on the song 'Blanket' you are lost in the soul of her voice. I love the soft beginning to 'The Fever' with a beautiful harp setting the mood of the track. The album features some great piano and string accompaniment. It really is a new yet old sound.... if you know what I mean. Also on a purely asthetic note I just love the cover.
Silent June
O'Hooley and Tidow
2010
This is a really great album. It put me in the mind of my favourite release of last year which was Peter Broderick's 'How are They', which is another piano based album. But the piano sound on here is very distinctive. The voices combine into a beautiful harmony, it's a bit of a dichotomy really as it evokes the aforementioned and also Nick Drake in places but it is also a very individual sound. I love the imagery both within the music but also their image, the old fashioned butch clothes look great! I highly recommend this album! We will be featuring O'Hooley and Tidow as future 'celebs and will be giving away a signed copy of this cd so watch this space.
Home
Peter Broderick
2008
This music has such an ethereal quality to it, the first track 'Games' is very reminisent of Brian Wilsons' spiratuale opening of the Smile album, beautiful harmonies that draw you in. The album is sparse in a peaceful way, lots of beautifully clean guitar and piano chords. Peter has a lovely soothing voice, its another one of those autumnal albums, its for cold winter nights where you draw the curtains have a glass of wine and read, with this lulling you with calm...
'Made The Harbor' is the debut release from American folk trio Mountain Man. The band is actually made up of three girls who met at college. The album is mainly accapella with the occasional guitar. The album has a wonderful feel to it.
I am reading a book by Joan Didion at the moment of the struggles of people crossing America to California in the 1800s and I have to say this album is making a rather wonderful soundtrack for me for that book! I can imagine that this could be the kind of music that they would have listened to but somehow it also managed to fit our times as well.
Crush
Abe Vigoda
2010
We are transported back to the 80s with this one. It reminds me a lot of the Cure and the lead singer sounds like a cross between Bowie and Robert Smith, great wild guitars and Depeche Mode esq keyboards. This really is a smorgasbord of 80s styles with a 2010 twist. In fact listening to 'Dream of my Love' I can even hear some Gary Numan in there.
I think this will be a real grower.
 Just loved this from my first play of the album! Right up my street, very reminiscent of Rufus Wainwright and John Grant - both of whom I love!
Wonderful piano playing and the songs really travel well. What starts off as a simple vocal suddenly twists into something completely different! We are told on the sleeve notes that the album was made all in one day! This makes sense as it is as if we are spying once again in the studio and listening to the artist play out what's in his inner self. Playing a guitar and piano with whispered vocals in places.
This album will become a firm favourite of mine and I intend to check out the rest of his work as well!
Lisbon
The Walkmen
2010
I think this one will be one of those albums that gets right under your skin. The lead singer Hamilton Leithauser has a voice that reminds me of the lead singer of Starsailer, they have a great guitar sound that evokes the days of the surf guitar!
The song Stranded includes a great horn section accompanied by emotive vocals. The standout tracks for me are ‘Woe Is Me' and ‘Angela Surf City'.
I look forward to getting to know this album and the band a lot more!
Department of Eagles
2010
This album comprises of songs left from a side project from a chap called Daniel Rossen - his main focus being on the harmonic band 'Grizzly Bear'.
This cd is really for the hard core fans of Grizzly Bear as it is a work in progress for them on the road to forming that more cohesive band.
It’s a great peek into how they got there! Like being a fly on the wall in the studio where they recorded the tracks.
wavves
2010
Wavves comprises of Nathan Williams who writes the songs and is the main honcho. He is assisted by Stephen Pope on the bass and Billy Hayes on drums.
I had no idea what to expect when I popped this onto my computer - gone are the days of popping it onto a turntable - though this album is made for that kind of era.
It reminds me of the Nuggets garage bands of the 60s in its raw enthusiasm.
Williams mentions Nirvana's ‘Nevermind’ as his influence and you can see that here, a great indie rock fest, pop it on and turn it up
 Well the story goes that the Gershwin family asked Brian Wilson to complete two of George Gershwin's unfinished songs, and also to lend his style to some of the classics, so here we have this wonderful happy music, Brian sounds on fine form, his wonderful band are, as ever, brilliant, The classical tracks sound wonderful, arranged by Paul Mertens, it is a very catchy album, I think the emotional quality in Brian's voice really brings out the best in 'I loves you Porgy' and 'Someone to watch over me' It starts out with a lovely vocal prelude of 'Rhapsody in Blue' which is also the closing coda of the album as well, just a hint of what would have been a wonderful full track, Brian's mother said he was able to hum that track aged four! so its most appropriate that at age 66 hewas able to finally put it out there on record! I think the album will be a firm favourite, and also introduce people who maybe don't know either Brian Wilson or George Gershwin to their music.
 This is such a different type of music for me! I really like it, I think it will be a grower, the closest album I can think of to compare it with would be the Beth Gibbons, Rustin Man album of a few years ago. The music is like poetry, spoken word but complemented by a musical backing.... I was walking along a beach on a gorgeous summers day last week, and had this on my ipod, the music actually made me long for the autumn! it has that sultry windswept kind of feel to it. Lovely deep and thoughtful music that sends you on an inner thoughtful journey! All the songs seem to flow into each other. If you are not aware of Ingrid's music, you will know one of her biggest songs ' Justify my love' by Madonna, she also appeared in the film 'Graffiti Bridge 'with the wonder that is Prince. I highly recommend this album especially as the Doors once said 'Summers almost gone.
Well, it has been a VERY long time coming, but yesterday (June 29th) we were finally able to download this great album from former 'Beach Boy Al Jardine.... Some of the songs are familiar to Beach Boys Fans, such as California Feelin' which features lyrics by our great friend Stephen John Kalinich, It is great to hear this old classic from the vaults get a 2010 makeover, Al has the perfect voice for it and it flows wonderfully into 'Looking Down The Coast' another one from the 70's that hardcore fans had on boots but sounds wonderful here! The title track has guest vocals from ex Beach Boy Glen Campbell, he sounds great as well! The album is full of great guest vocals, the ghost of Carl Wilson appears on 'Don't Fight The Sea' which is a great
rocker with those famous Beach Boy harmonies present, Brian Wilson is on here, as are David Crosby & Stephen Stills. My standout track is the classic from the Holland album 'A California Saga' which features a wonderful guest vocal from none other than Neil Young. Stephen gets another great moment on the album when the actor Alec Baldwin really brings
Stephen's beautiful poem 'Tide Pool Interlude' to life, Alex reads it with great emotion and sincerity! (see the 'youtube' clip to the left) all in all a great album! a little sunshine from California on a rainy London day!
click on the cover to buy - only available on itunes.
Lustre
Ed Harcourt
2010
I first heard of Ed Harcourt way back in 2000 when he released his wonderful version of the lost Brian Wilson classic 'Still I Dream Of It'. He has such a wonderful emotive voice that he really brought that song to life whereas the original was merely a forgotten demo.
Since then I have bought all of his cds and never been disappointed, such wonderful songs such as 'Something In My Eye', 'Bittersweet Me' 'Music Box' and my favourite 'This Ones For You' have held my attention.
So it was with keen anticipation that I popped his latest album 'Lustre' onto my ipod... Well, it has been on continuous play since then! I love it, it opens with the lovely title track 'Lustre' which has great orchestration as does all the album. Ed is always great with lyrics, he uses little heard words and phrases, he seems an introspective chap and evokes the great singer songwriters of the past and refers to himself as a Troubadour, in the vein of Tim Buckley.
The stand out tracks for me are the title track, 'Haywired' and I just can't get the 'Church Of No Religion' out of my head! 'Do As I Say Not As I Do' is a great catchy number as well. Someone said it evoked the Beach Boys... maybe due to its great melody? 'Killed by the morning' is a lovely melancholy paean to love, with lovely imagery in the lyrics... 'A Secret Society' is a great rocker of a number with a great hook. 'When The Lost Don't Want To Be Found' - lovely piano on this one, also there are some beautiful harmonies throughout the album.
I look forward to getting to know this album very well and add it to the sound track of my life as I have his previous works! Thanks Ed!
It has been widely reported that this album was written during the illness and then sad loss of Rufus's Mother Kate McGarrigle. Therefore the album is very melancholy, but that is how I love Rufus, It is also a change in style from the great orchestrations of the 'Want' albums it is simply Rufus's wonderful voice and piano. Therefore the songs have to stand up for themselves, with a lesser artist this would not work, but of course with such a great songwriter as Rufus you know you are in for a treat. Having seen him in concert many many times, he is one of those artists whose voice needs to be heard live, once I saw him sing 'Over the Rainbow' at the Royal Festival Hall' this was way before the 'Judy concerts', ie was at a family concert; his Mother was on the Piano and his voice just filled the hall and gave me goosebumps....
This is an album that you need to get to know....
I received my preview copy of this wonderful cd on Saturday and today is Tuesday. No other music has graced my ipod or stereo since….. I just love it. I knew I would; all the key ingredients were there, John Grant’s beautiful dreamy baritone voice and Midlake as the backing band. John Grant was in a group called ‘The Czars’ who made some great albums but unfortunately their music slipped through the net somehow! They have a keen cult following, which included the band Midlake; who heard John’s voice and fell in love with it. So they made it their mission to share his great music with others. The music on this album - ‘Queen of Denmark’ grabs you from the very first track, which may well be my favourite. ‘TC & the Honeybear’, John said of this song that it is all about the love of his life Charlie. The song is sad as it deals with their break-up but also uplifting somehow. All the songs on the album are very autobiographical, ‘I Wanna Go To Marz’ was the first track I heard, it was zipping around the internet in the form of a ‘youtube’ preview and it caught me immediately. The lyrics are a bit strange until you realise he wrote it about his childhood sweet shop. He wanted the song to be a ‘gateway back to his childhood and innocence’, the song is very evocative of ‘Angelo Badalamenti’ music in Twin Peaks which adds another wonderful dimension to it. 'Where Dreams go to die' has a great melody, and some very dark lyrics, which were a slight shock to begin with 'Sigourney Weaver' a cool song throwing lots of movie references in. 'Chicken Bones', this is the one that is in my head all the time, very catchy! there is a lot of talk of space and aliens on this album. 'J C Hates Faggots' is a song about growing up in a religious family... and knowing you are gay and therefore against all their believes, it is therefore unsurprisingly quite a harsh song! very 70's in feel as is most of the album. The other songs on the album are about relationships, be it with his family or boyfriends or friends. He manages to articulate what a lot of us feel. I really got a sense of where John is at right now! He has had a tough ten years but seems to be coming out of the other side. I love the intimacy of the songs. You get lost in his world. They are very catchy; I have had them buzzing around inside my head constantly and long for a lovely spring day where I can walk through London listening to them! The album is just great! I know it will become part of the soundtrack of my life as his other albums have. ‘Queen of Denmark’ is out on 10 April on the Bella Union label.
The Czars were formed in 1994 with John Grant as the lead singer. John possess one of the most wonderful voices in popular music today! It is so deep and emotive!
John was the core of the band, the members themselves tended to fluctuate and sadly they finally split up a few years ago but not before putting out a kind of retrospective in the form of the great album ’Sorry I Made You Cry’. On this album John covers such classics as ‘Angel Eyes’, ‘For Emily Whenever I May Find Her’ (the only person to come close to Art Garfunkel's vocals), ‘Where The Boys Are’ and lots more. He makes all these songs his own; the main highlight for me is his wonderful rendition of ‘Song To A Siren’ a beautiful Tim Buckley song.
The cool thing, or should I say one of the cool things about this album is that he doesn’t change the lyrics to accommodate the fact that he is gay and singing about a man. This gives the songs a whole new meaning and a wonderful one at that!
It is very sad that the Czars didn’t have the success they so deserved but the good news is that John has been recording, his new album with the great new group ‘Midlake’. It is due out next month and I for one can’t wait to hear what the two of them will sound like together.
I know one thing for sure…. It's going to be magic!
Pacific Ocean Blue / Bambu
Dennis Wilson
1977 - Re-mastered plus bonus disc 2008
I first discovered this classic in my local second hand record store - ‘Memory Lane Records’. It was a magical shop, to be found right at the bottom of Bridge Street in Northampton.
I first got into to the Beach Boys music, when I was seven and still have a huge passion for their music. I managed to pick up nearly all their albums in this great little shop but now sadly it's no longer there. I remember the day I brought this it was on the 20th April 1988; yes that is how sad I am when it comes to music. I remember it was a steal at £2.99.(goes for well over fifty quid now on ebay) As soon as I got home, I popped it on my turn table and was just blown away, not the usual sound of a Beach Boy record at all instead a feast of moody melancholy emotional, sexy music, it had everything. I can even remember my Dad coming in as the final track played to ask what it was!? let me tell you that NEVER happened…
So the record... Firstly the cover, who was this hairy beast of a man on the cover? He didn’t resemble any of the young men on the pictures I had of the Beach Boys! it was such a cool cover, and it opens out into a great picture of Dennis, inside are some great photos taken by his then wife Karen Lamb.
So to the music; such a varied album. 'River Song' kick starts the album, great piano. Dennis taught himself the piano. When I met one of his wives years later - Barbara Wilson, she said Dennis would love to have her sit next to him whilst he played to her. What a lovely notion, the music that came from this man is such a contrast to the life he lead, a real dichotomy. this opening song sets the theme to the album, a real ecological album way before it was cool, mind you I don't think Dennis ever really strived to be cool, I think it just came naturally for him, this song also features the Alexander Hamilton's Double Rock Baptist Choir which Brian was also to use that year with the 'That same song' video shoot' Its such a great start to the album... Carl is also on there, though they weren't allowed to admit the other Beach Boys were on there due to contracts.
My favourite songs on the album are 'Thoughts Of You'; gives me goose bumps every time. also the track 'Time' another moody gem he wrote with his wife Karen Lamb another immediate favourite 'Rainbows' now has gained even more of a special place for me as I am friends with the chap that wrote the wonderful lyrics, Stevie Kalinich, a great poet from California, who befriended the group in the late 60’s and wrote the lyrics for the first Dennis song to grace a Beach Boy album ‘Little Bird’ on the 'Friends' album.
Stevie had this to say about Dennis:
‘I love 'Rainbows' it is one of my favourites and I clearly remember the day I wrote it in the yard when Dennis was with me. I was inspired. I remember the exact moment.
I wish that Dennis was around I would have a thousand more songs and once he heard a line or a melody idea he would hop on it. They generated out of the instant instant moment.’
David Sandler who worked with Brian Wilson in the early 70's had this to say about Dennis:
“I think Dennis was the original rock romantic, first as a drummer fresh off the surf to the latter day brooding and unpredictable man whom every woman wanted . All guys wanted to be able to smoke a cigarette like Dennis and probably a few other things as well. Danger was not far away from him and this gave him a forbidden bad boy brand of beauty, a rugged rebelliousness that appeals. the the Beach Boy accapella song about James Dean seems to me a real prophecy of Dennis's life. As James Dean died in his element, a car, so did Denny die in the ocean, his spiritual home.”
It took 30 years for this album to get a decent release, it was released last year as a deluxe package to rave reviews and included a wonderful bonus cd. If you haven't heard it - go and check it out today, you won’t regret it!
How can we host a lesbian site and not include a review of this wonderful album.
Elsewhere you will find my ‘blog’ on my discovery of k d, but for now let's look at the wonderful album 'Ingénue'…
It was released in 1992 - seems such a long time ago now. I heard of it through the Vanity Fair article and I must admit was driven to buy it mainly due to the knowledge that k d was a lesbian at a time when few women were out. I wanted to know more about this lady and what her music was like.
On my first listen to the album I fell in love with her. Her voice was so soothing and sexy with the added allure was the knowledge that these love songs were written by a lady for a lady, something I had never known before. I am sure there were many songs out there already but this was the one for my generation.
I played it over and over - my favourite song being 'Wash Me Clean’, just such a sexy song. k d lang called it her stalker album as she was in love with a woman who didn’t feel the same. I guess we have all been there.
I love to put this album on late at night and just wallow in its sublime melancholy. If you like this album then check out ‘Shadowlands’, more of a country album but wonderful music especially the title track, 'Oh & One' of my favourite songs of all time is her version of ‘The Air That I Breath’ from the drag album - another hidden gem of and album from k d.
You may see a pattern growing here, all my musical favourites are linked with such great memories. I find that I pop a cd on and I am right back to where I was when it came out.
This one takes me back to Guernsey, sitting on a gorgeous sandy beach listening to a-ha's latest. They took a bit of a break after this album - which is such a shame as I rate this amongst their best offerings. I grew up on 'Take on Me' and 'The Sun Always Shines', this is when I think a-ha came into their own on this album.
They always said they were influenced by The Doors and I think you can really see and hear this on 'Memorial Beach'. I remember doing a compilation tape years ago for a friend who was a real music snob - I popped on ‘Cold as Stone’, I didn’t put who it was by. Well the next day in the pub he was enthusing about this great track with all the cord changes, needless to say he was rather devastated when I told him who it was by, his street cred gone forever!
A-ha are having yet another come back special this year. I like their new album but for me they should really stick to the rock & roll.
Standout tracks: the aforementioned 'Cold as Stone', 'Angel', 'Dark is the Night' and the title track 'Memorial Beach'.
Ok so at last something up to date.
I got into the Fleet Foxes as they mentioned that Brian Wilson was a major influence. So I thought I had best give them a go.
A great summer cd and all the hype was right on the money. I feel it is a timeless album - it certainly doesn’t sound like a record made in 2008. Some great harmonies, kind of reminds me of 'The Band'; but that might just be due to the look of the band. Great hairy guys who look like they were lost in a time bubble for 30 years.
The first time I listened to this album I reached straight for my copy of David Crosby’s ‘If Only I Could Remember my Name’. It evoked that kind of sound for me, the band themselves call their music “baroque harmonic pop jams" - sounds about right to me.
It is the sort of album in this age of the shuffle that once you have heard one track you just have to listen to the whole album.
Also check out the great ep that preceded this to wet our appetite. 'Sun King' also a novelty as none of the songs on this ep appeared on the album!
Standout tracks for me are: 'Ragged Wood', 'Mykenos' and 'White Winter Hymenal'.
Another lost classic to be found in my cd collection is this lost album from the late great Gene Clark.
One of the main songwriters in the group "The Byrd's", he was promised fame and fortune as a solo artist so quit the band at the height of their fame, something sadly he lived to regret. He made some wonderful solo albums but this one has to be the standout of anyone’s career let alone Gene’s.
David Geffen signed Gene to his Asylum records in 1974, Gene arrived with the basic demo tracks that he had conceived whilst sat at a friend's house looking at the pacific ocean, with his guitar and notebook by his side.
The album cost a fortune to make and alas didn’t make the charts - it was to be his only album for Asylum but what an album!
The songs are a real mish mash of country rock, folk, soul, choral gospel poetry, just sublime. It is said that Gene was a man of few words which is strange as he wrote the most beautiful lyrics I have ever heard!
Standout tracks - well all of them really but especially 'Silver Raven' 'Some Misunderstanding' and 'Lady Of The North'
Poses
Rufus Wainwright
2001
Rufus Wainwright - people don’t seem to have any middle ground with him! You either love him or loath him as they say. I fall into the former category and it is mainly due to this album.
I read about him when his first album came out but didn’t buy it for some reason not sure why as he had a helping hand from van Dyke Parks who co wrote the 'Smile' album with Brian Wilson in 1967. So with this knowledge I bought 'Poses'.
As I sit and listen to it as I write this, it feels like an old friend but it wasn’t always like that. When I first put it on I thought what is this?? He had been compared to Jeff Buckley who I love but I couldn't see the comparison at all but as with all things after a few listens I was hooked. I didn’t listen to anything else for weeks!
'Tower of Learning' made me yearn to feel such love and is now one of my all time favourites. I do lean towards the more melancholy songs. 'Poses' is just sublime, the imagery is so unique such a moody song too. ' California' makes me laugh when he talks of Bea Arthur. I heard Rufus say in an interview once that he met her once and told her of his notion that when he first moved to California he would watch the 'Golden Girls' and would think of her as his grandma; to which she rather waspishly turned to him and said ‘I’m not your grandma’ and walked off.
'One Man Guy' is a far better version than even his dad made of the song he wrote and he admitted it too. So this is lovely plain simple Rufus melodies, after this it all got a bit operatic. Still wonderful, but this to me is the best of his albums.
Standout tracks: 'Tower of Learning', 'Poses', 'Evil Angel' and 'Grey Gardens'.
Just watched ‘classic albums’ on BBC4 featuring this album. A real insight into how they conceived it.
I remember buying ‘The Doors’, it was 1st August 1991. I was taken to see the movie by my friend Bob. I was blown away by the life Jim led, albeit for a short time but my god the guy crammed so much into that short spell, so much more than most of us would ever dream of. After that I was hooked.
Looking at my list of records (OCD) I see that in that month of August ’91 I went out and bought each and every album that they recorded. I was 18, I read the book ‘No One Here Gets Out Alive’ - I devoured all the books that were mentioned in there that had influenced Jim. ‘The Outsiders’,’ Kerouac’, ‘Nietzsche ‘ and of course Huxley’s 'Doors of Perception'.
I moved to Guernsey about that time and was living alone for the first time. Jim was a huge influence on me, I wanted to ‘Break On Through To The Other Side’. I didn’t want to lead this boring life my parents had, I wanted to be an individual, who made a difference, as he had done. In fact a lot of people I met during that time were into that same trip, the hotel I worked had a lot of European people working there in between their college terms.
The thing about 'The Doors' is they are a draw to intellect. I love my music and I think the music I love is actually of intellectual quality, especially 'The Doors'. There is so much heritage to be found in their music, a song isn’t just a song it’s a saga! There is the whole history of life in those lyrics, the obvious choice for this statement is ‘The End’, I mean he based it on a Greek tragedy! How many other pop songs can you think of that are written with that kind of imagery? It was shocking then and I believe still is today. I know that I wouldn’t be the person I am today had I not had the privilege to make this music an integral part of my life!
Standout tracks: 'Crystal Ship' - ‘before you slip into unconsciousness I'de like to have another kiss’', ‘The End’ and of course ‘Break On Through’.
Let's face it you can’t pick out any one track in particular as the best, as they are all superb and take one track away and the jigsaw misses a piece.
Great quote at the end of the program John Densmore casually said ‘Magic comes through you, you don’t own it’
There is such a special sound to a 'Tim Buckley' album. Nothing comes close to replicating his sound but more than just the sound there is a feeling, which is probably summed up best in the first song on this album ‘Strange Feeling’. It's moody emotional, he sings with such deep emotion, you can immediately sense how he is feeling, this is one of those albums.
Like ‘Astral Weeks’ if one of the songs from this album starts to play on an ipod shuffle you just have to listen to the whole album.
My favourite track on here is ‘Buzzin Fly’, this immediately sends me back to summer days sitting in the garden with my family on a hot summer day without a care in the world and this wonderful music floating out into the air. It’s that kind of song, love from room 109 a lot has been written about that song as they did the perfect take but someone left a button off so there was all this fuzzing sound. So someone had the genius plan to put the sound of the sea to hide it, I think it sounds all the better for it.
To close the album is ‘Dream Letter’ a song written about his son Jeff. Jeff later returned the favour with ‘Dream Brother’ but that’s a whole other review.
Tim went off on a bit of a wild ride after this album, some of it good, some of it a bit too out there for me but one thing is for sure no one has ever come close to his sound - not to my mind anyway.
Standout tracks: ‘Strange Feelin’', 'Buzzin Fly’ and 'Dream Letter'.
Grace
Jeff Buckley
1994
I first bought this album the month it came out, it was 1994 - I was working in Leeds,
I love Tim Buckley’s music and had seen in mojo his son had an album out so ambled down to HMV and bought it. I didn’t listen to anything else for months, the music got under my skin, its such an emotional album once again, just what I love.
The songs he wrote blended so well with the covers, I hadn’t heard 'Lilac Wine' before but this version gives me goose bumps and takes me back to times when I have felt like that.
Much has been made since of Jeff’s version of 'Hallelujah', but imagine hearing it then - it was such a different sound to anything on that musical landscape at that time. We were in the midst of grunge, Nirvana was playing in all the other rooms in the staff block I lived in. But gradually my friends were drawn to this wonderful cd I had discovered.
As with all great music it has taken some time to get this album into the zeitgeist but it is here to stay. You can hear Jeff’s heritage in most of today’s music. I don’t believe we would have had a 'Coldplay', 'Keane', 'Radiohead' if Jeff hadn’t paved the way.
The day he died my girlfriend called me up to say he was on MTV, I charged into the sport's bar to see what I expected to be his next release, imagine my horror when they announced he had drowned! I couldn’t believe it, this wonderful talent, lost!
His mother has since released a lot of his session recordings but to me this is it, this is his legacy. Buy it today and let it get under your skin - this album is a grower.
Standout tracks: 'Lilac Wine', 'Lover Should’ve Come Over', 'Hallelujah', 'Dream Brother' - well all of them really!
Mirmama
Eddi Reader and the Patron Saints of Imperfection
1992
I am finding it really difficult to decide which Eddi Reader cd to review. I love them all so much but I have settled on 'Mirmama' as it was her first solo (even though it is titled with the patron saints of imperfection).
This album holds such a special place in my heart, I was living in Leeds. I had just met up with people who have since become life long firm friends and this was the soundtrack of that time whenever I put it on, I am right back in that staff block with people knocking on my door to take me out and get drunk in Leeds.
Glorious autumn days with Eddi’s voice forever in the background! It is a great folk kind of album - covers one of my favourite Fred Neil songs, 'Dolphins', 'Honeychild' written by Eddi herself as are the bulk of the songs on here.
The album is just of a certain time or place; it was free and flowed each song complimenting the other.
Loudon Wainwright’s ‘Swimming Song’ gets a great playful cover on here, Steve Earles 'My Old Friend The Blues' closes the album in a quite moody way.
Standout tracks to me: 'What You Do With What You've Got' (great lyrics), 'Honeychild', 'Dolphins'.
I was given this on cassette as a present for Christmas in 1982! I was ten years old. Little did I know at the time the path this gift would set me upon.
I had loved the Beach Boys since 1979, Terry Wogan used to play them a lot on his radio show. I would dart upstairs and tape them on one of those mono tape recorders, and sit and listen to them whilst playing with my lego :¬))
This album is often voted the best ever. Why is this you might ask? Well, it was one of the first conceptual albums - a vast departure from all the earlier Beach Boys albums. The 'Today' albums b side gave a glimpse of what was to come with its wonderful ballads but this was it; Brian’s heart on vinyl.
Brian Wilson met Tony Asher at a party and asked him how he fancied being his latest lyricist. The two would sit at Brian’s piano (pre sandbox) and Brian would play the chords and explain to Tony what he wanted the song to be about.
The rest of the Beach Boys were on tour in Japan. Upon their return Brian played them his tracks - it is very famous how Mike Love responded and let us just say here it wasn’t all that positive.
Brian used instruments in a different way on this album and he also used unusual sounds to get the effects he wanted and of course the album closes with his dogs Banana and Louie barking as a train heads off into the blue yonder.
This album is often cited as musicians main influence - Paul McCartney said 'God Only Knows' is his all time favourite song and George Martin had this to say: 'Without Pet Sounds, Sgt. Pepper wouldn't have happened!'
'Sgt. Pepper' was an attempt to equal 'Pet Sounds'.
Standout tracks, all of them - but of course, 'God Only Knows', 'Wouldn’t It Be Nice', 'Let’s Go Away for a while' and the sublimely moving 'Caroline No'!
Years later when Brian came over here to tour this album; I got the huge honour of presenting him and his wife with flowers! Life is full of such wonderful twists isn't it!
Sunflower
The Beach Boys
1970
The 'Sunflower' album was the Beach Boys 13th album release and their first on the Reprise label, after many legal battles with capital.
It is sadly their least selling album which is ironic as it is the best group effort they put out - all the band members put their ten cents worth on here.
The standout tracks were by Dennis, who had started to apply his talents on the 'Friends' album of 1968 but here he excelled himself with one of the most romantic songs ever written ‘Forever’ written for his then wife Barbara. A wonderful ballad with Dennis on lead and Big Brother Brian on the back ground vocals, lyrics such as ‘if every word I said could make you smile I'd talk forever’ 'This Whole World' a short but wonderful Brian Wilson number. 'Add Some Music' to your day, which was released as a single and when you see Brian on tour these days he always announces this with great modesty!! As the song with the best lyrics ever! There is even a 'Smile' lost track at the close the wonderful ‘Cool Cool Water’ which they preformed wonderfully on the Mike Douglas Show - see the clip on here.
Standout tracks - 'Forever', 'This Whole World' 'All I Wanna Do', 'Tears in the Morning', 'It’s About Time', 'Slip on Through'.
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Fleet Foxes
