That’ll be more of me then…

Two more from my reviews archive today. Both of these I stand by, though the second is probably the most bile strewn review I’ve ever written. Firstly, though, the never-ending majesty of Doves.

DOVES

Put on the headphones, unleash the rain and treat yourself to a truckload of euphoric melancholia as Some Cities sucks you in.

Anyone who has ever witnessed Doves live will vouch that onstage they produce a joyful racket, on a good night transcending their recorded output and achieving something truly beguiling. Their stunning debut, ‘Lost Souls’, was followed by 2002’s ‘The Last Broadcast’, an album that was never less than good but which failed to capture the widescreen sound of which this band are capable. With ‘Some Cities’, Doves come good on their early promise. Lead single, ‘Black And White Town’ careers along with a momentum so ferocious that it drops us smack into the next track before anything can get too familiar.

Never ones to allow genre boundaries to get in the way of a good tune, at times ‘Some Cities’ sounds like Doves have ripped off any number of little ideas, and yet the sum of these parts is ultimately unlike anything I’ve heard in ages. ‘The Storm’ opens with an electronically tinkered vocal and develops into the kind of atmospheric beauty that could soundtrack a million late night drives. This nocturnal claustrophobia dominates much of the record, before collapsing in on itself for the ethereal, and oddly serene, closing track ‘Ambition’.

The lyrics tackle changing relationships, attitudes and places, in most cases not changes for the better. Fear, anguish and battling the worst have always been key lyrical concerns for Doves, but they do it with more conviction than most. When I heard ‘I tried to sleep alone, but I couldn’t do it’, on ‘The Cedar Room’ over five years ago, I believed every word. On this evidence, life hasn’t got much more carefree.

Some Cities is on Heavenly.

Originally published in Word Magazine, 2005

***

BILLY CORGAN

Now somewhat less smashing, Billy Corgan returns with The Future Embrace, an album dogged by the past.

It’s rare when a successful band crumbles for the lead singer to subsequently achieve similar success on their own. Going on this evidence, it seems unlikely that Billy Corgan will buck this trend. Where the scope of the Smashing Pumpkins’ music enthralled, the heavy, over-bearing production of this effort ensures that any half-decent songwriting is buried beneath turgid rhythms and distorted drums.

Tracks flow by with such scant regard for the listener’s enjoyment that the tedium begins to annoy. The Eighties sounds that are being so successfully plundered by the likes of The Killers and Goldfrapp are all over this record, and yet someone appears to have forgotten to add anything new to proceedings. It’s a shame that one of the album’s few highlights, ‘Strayz’, is the closing track, as I suspect most people will have got bored some time prior to its fragile melody gracing the speakers. Stripped of the dense noise that suffocates the majority of the album, ‘Strayz’ finds Corgan at his most refreshingly simple, his voice working with the music rather than against it.

The greatest disappointment of the whole affair is the much vaunted collaboration with Robert Smith. At least William Shatner has the good grace to admit he’s taking the piss when he does his covers; Corgan’s attempt at ‘To Love Somebody’ sounds like the Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang doing a Depeche Mode tune at the local karaoke night. You have been warned.

Originally published in Word Magazine, 2005

An attempt to get more visitors by mentioning Bad Lieutenant again…

While I’m bunging up various reviews, here’s an extended version of my recent review of the Bad Lieutenant album that was supposed to go on the Clash website but, for some reason, the small version from the magazine appeared instead.

BAD LIEUTENANT

Never Cry Another Tear

TRIPLE ECHO

New Order having dribbled to a drawn out, petulant and depressing conclusion, Bernard Sumner now finds himself fronting the less excitingly named, Bad Lieutenant. Completing the group are Phil Cunningham, ex-Marion and latter day New Order guitarist, and newcomer Jake Evans, described by Sumner as “a gifted new singer and guitar player.” Sounding like a tuneful Danny from Embrace singing like Jimi from Doves, his presence is not breathtaking, but he provides an interesting counterpoint to one of the most recognisable voices in modern music.

The album is, largely speaking, a collection of mid-paced adult contemporary rock, perfectly suited to Bernard’s drunk-tramp-with-burnt-feet dancing style. The slightly tiresome acoustic chugging favoured by Sumner dominates proceedings, but ‘Never Cry Another Tear’ gets interesting when it deviates from this pattern. ‘Dynamo’ features an outrageous plundering of The Who’s ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’, with a repeated jittery electronic sound that must only just be on the legally deniable side of original songwriting.

While oh-so-very Radio 2, ‘Runaway’ is a rather charmingly pristine pop song, which would likely be a chart-shagging behemoth were it sung by the lispy one in Take That. Album closer, ‘Head Into Tomorrow’, is a stirring, everything and the kitchen sink, indie anthem sung by Evans and a surprisingly decent way to bow out.

Sumner is notoriously crap at lyrics and, were this album used for a drinking game based around hackneyed clichés, everyone would be absolutely smashed within minutes. In a so bad it’s borderline genius fashion, ‘Poisonous Intent’ actually contains the phrase “so hit the road, Jack!”

‘Never Cry Another Tear’ is a pleasant enough listen, with just enough little hooks to keep things interesting. Sadly, the one Hook that might make it truly worthwhile is nowhere to be seen.

6/10

Written in August 2009

A self-indulgent way to pass the time

Hello, dear readers. The end of the decade best of list is proving tougher to finalise than I thought it would be, so that’ll have to wait just a little longer. As part of this process, I’ve been revisiting some of the reviews I’ve written over the past six or so years and thought it might be interesting to post them here and see if I was on the money, wide of the mark or simply babbling incoherently. I should say before I start this, I’m not overly thrilled with all of these and they will be the original texts as I submitted them to the magazines, and so any bits that got subbed by my erstwhile reviews editors will still be here.

To kick off, a review of Supergrass’ best of, from 2004. I’m in the middle of doing a piece about their charming new extra-curricular project, The Hot Rats, so I thought I’d drop this one out there.

 

SUPERGRASS – SUPERGRASS IS 10

(Parlophone)

The grammatically correct but aesthetically depressing title aside, this particular retrospective is something of an unknown history. After their tumultuous arrival in the midst of Brtipop, Supergrass’ star has appeared, through no fault of their own, to have been on the blink. Seemingly rather keen to point out that it wasn’t all cavorting on bikes and bendy-legged Muppets videos, this set gamely attempts to represent both sides of the ‘Grass. .

The soul of Britpop hasn’t lost any of its vigour when it reappears on a fair wedge of tunes culled from the band’s debut, ‘I Should Coco’, a spirit that is reprised on tracks from their underrated and notably under-bought last album, ‘Life On Other Planets’. There is a slight feel, however, of being down the indie-disco and the dreaded fear that Shed Seven might pop up at any time is never far from your mind. Where this record really strikes gold is in highlighting the band’s knack for contemplative, melodic acoustic tunes such as ‘Late In The Day’ and the glorious ‘It’s Not Me’. The parent album of this pair, ‘In It For The Money’, remains their finest achievement and is as deserving of the moniker ‘The Best Of Supergrass’ as this particular compilation.

Hugely enjoyable current single, *Kiss Of Life* comes on like a cross between The Charlatans and T-Rex with added silly noises, while other obligatory new track, *Bullet* offers a heavier sound but manages to forget to add a melody. Where they go next is unknown, but what they’ve already done bears some repeating.

VERDICT: Enjoyable nostalgia, but all you need is their superlative second album.

KEY TRACKS: Grace, Going Out, It’s Not Me

Originally published in Word Magazine 2004

***

I largely stand by this, five years on, although there’s a slightly snide reference to Shed Seven there that’s helping nobody.

The other one for today is simply proof that I’ve always known what I was talking about.

ELBOW

Leaders Of The Free World finds Elbow delivering a work of global majesty.

Beardy, Mancunian melancholia is an integral part of the modern music scene. Where previously local rivals such as Doves have stolen a march on them, Elbow have set about fulfilling the promise that was so clear on their first two albums. Initially purveyors of more muted, atmospheric efforts, this time out the band seem far more confident of their sizeable talents

Mostly set in the urban wilds of Manchester, the brief global view attempted in the title track proves to be a remarkably successful – now say this quietly – ‘political song.’ The beauty of lines such as, “passing the gun from father to feckless son,” in neither being too blatant nor too pious ensures that the ham-fisted, vacuous efforts of many before them are not repeated in this gem of a tune.

The album maintains its quality throughout, two of the latter songs amongst the best things I’ve heard all year. ‘The Everthere’ employs similarly muted percussion to that of Blur’s charming, ‘Out Of Time’ and is one of frontman Guy Garvey’s finest vocal performances on the record. This is only surpassed by ‘Great Expectations,’ which tells the tale of an imaginary wedding on the last bus home between our man and a hitherto unknown young lady, for which “a call-girl with yesterday eyes was our witness.”

Such endearingly well-imagined lyrics are typical of ‘Leaders Of The Free World’, an album that comes good on Elbow’s previous hints at greatness and which will surely rank amongst the finest releases of the year come December.

Leaders Of The Free World is on V2

Originally published in Word Magazine 2005

***

What can I say? I was playing the vinyl of this the other night, having just listened to the deluxe edition of ‘Asleep In The Back’ and was reminded that they’ve always been great, it just took the public a while to pick up on that fact. The rather lovely Jude Rogers, who was my reviews editor at the time, was part of the judging team who gave the Mercury Music Prize to them for ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’ and she later told me that after falling in love with their fourth album, she was reminded of me banging on about how great they were and that I was right all along. Quite so!

A reasonably concise update

It wouldn’t be the same if this blog didn’t just grind to a halt for a month or so every now and then, would it? I’d originally intended to rest it for a week or two while I delved into the Beatles remasters but a week leads to a fortnight, a fortnight to a month and, well, you know how it is. Quite a month, mind, including the live return of one of my all-time favourite bands, Massive Attack. If the new songs played on that drab night in Sheffield are anything to go by, the new album will be everything people have hoped for and a little bit more. There’s one new track, (I have no idea about the title, I’m afraid) sung by Horace Andy which may well be one of the best things they’ve ever done. The ‘Splitting The Atom’ EP emerged last weekend as a digital download and it’s a pretty impressive quartet of new material. The lolloping title track belies the fact that Damon Albarn has been involved this time around, while ‘Pray For Rain’, featuring vocals from TV On The Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe, has a wonderful gear change about four minutes in which elevates it to ‘special’ status. You can sample it for yourself over at Spotify, purchase it as a high-quality FLAC download from 7Digital or even shell out £20 for a spangly vinyl edition from those Monkey-box-set-making-types over at The Vinyl Factory.

Beatles expenditure limited the funds for new music last month, but a few splendid things snuck though, such as the latest offering from Richard Hawley, ‘Truelove’s Gutter’, which is a muso’s dream and the very definition of a ‘headphones album’. Coming off the back of the really rather polished ‘Lady’s Bridge’, (hmm, that sounds slightly wrong) an album with only eight songs, two of which scrape the ten minute mark, it’s an absolute delight to listen to and it may well be his best. ‘Remorse Code’ is a remarkable beast, languidly atmospheric and beautifully recorded. ‘Open Up Your Door’ may have spent some time with ‘The Ocean’ from ‘Coles Corner’, mind. There is meant to be a deluxe double vinyl edition with free CD and signed photo springing up at some point but, with every additional week’s delay, I wouldn’t hold your breath.

The NME has a new editor in the shape of Krissi Murison and she’s already made a few changes. Icky changes, largely speaking. Making me actually wish Conor McNicholas hadn’t left after all kind of changes. The most unforgiveable change is the removal of Mark Beaumont’s weekly column, which was as good a reason as any to shell out £2.30 a week. Thankfully, Peter Robinson Vs has been retained, tucked away at the back now, or I may have had to have said goodbye. Again. Oh, who am I trying to kid. Still, it’s a shame as Beaumont was a witty and acerbic observer of the music scene, something the NME was always good at and I’m not sure how that hole will be filled.

The Radiohead deluxe editions for the latter half of their EMI tenure proved to be delightful additions to the collection, containing some splendid B sides which I’d never previously spent any time with and selected visual highlights from this wonderful, wonderful Later… special.

Put aside an hour and treat yourself. It’s really rather special. While I’m talking about all things Yorke, if you’ve not yet sampled the two tracks recently released as a (bloody expensive) heavyweight vinyl 12” single, you’re truly missing out. Click here to sample ‘FeelingPulledApartByHorses’ and ‘The Hollow Earth’, the latter track being one of the finest things I’ve heard all year. It’s in the same, slightly skittery vein as ‘The Eraser’, with a nagging hook and a thumping beat. It’s almost worth the insane amount the 12” costs. £10, by the way.

I’ve been ploughing through my record collection for the last few weeks, attempting to assemble a list of some kind ready for the launch of the previously trailed, ‘Just Played – Albums Of The Decade’ feature, which will be arriving fairly soon now. It’s been lovely to be reminded of albums like Daft Punk’s ‘Discovery’ and Air’s ‘10 000Hz Legend’, alongside Teenage Fanclub’s ‘Howdy’ and Rufus Wainwright’s ‘Poses’. There are some absolute certs for the final list, but it’s been interesting to realise some of the records I’d totally forgotten about that are thoroughly deserving of a place. More on that soon.

Oh, and there were those remasters I briefly mentioned at the start. I haven’t got an awful lot to add to the millions of column inches offered up over the last six weeks (and largely bought by me) so I’ll not say much. (On the other hand, recent convert, Dan of teatunes, says plenty here) Suffice to say, the more expensive of the box sets, ‘The Beatles In Mono’, is an absolute delight, with the sound punchy and remarkably clear. I feel obliged to inform you that you haven’t heard ‘Rubber Soul’ until you’ve heard the mono mix at a fair old volume – it’s a rather special moment. The packaging is wonderful and a serious step up from the fold-out card things used for the stereo reissues. As for the more widely available stereo mixes, I found that box a slight anti-climax, what with it arriving four days after the mono box had had its chance to seduce me. That said, it’s still a beguiling collection of music and those albums only available in stereo sound pretty impressive to these ears. I’ve certainly never liked ‘Abbey Road’ more than I do now. I love their catalogue now more than I ever previously have, but that’s probably no great surprise. For anyone who takes their music listening seriously, you really should get at least one of these boxes, if you haven’t already, as they are the definitive versions. Sod the money, on this occasion. Buy a few less takeaways or £40 games and treat yourself.

Oh, and if you’ve still not heard the new Maps album, sort yourself out, eh?

Coming Soon

The Importance Of Being Idols

As amusing as I find the idea of Oasis limping along as they are, I think it’s safe to say that the departure of the weekend of the band’s creative (stop sniggering) force, Noel, marks the end of one of the great Britpop bands and, thus, one of the best bands of recent years. They were never hugely original, frequently unable to put together a complete album of great songs and prone to more gaffes than Carol Thatcher watching reruns of The Black & White Minstrel show, but still they meant so much to so many. I’ll confess that, while they’ve never been close to being my favourite band, I’ve always had a lot of time for them. It seems slightly weird that in 2009 you have to justify your liking of Oasis in the same way you might need to if you had a penchant for vegetarianism or paedophilia. In 1994 they were the name to drop and in 1995 pretty much everyone got caught up in the infamous chart battle with Blur, and yet here we are, fourteen years down the line, with Oasis still hugely popular and yet critically precarious. I bought the deluxe, over-priced, same stuff on multiple formats, box of their last album, ‘Dig Out Your Soul’, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s a good record. A few shite tracks, but a few that make you thump the air and unashamedly bawl along to nonsensical lyrics that read like something that’s been translated on one of those free internet search engines from English, into German, and then back again. But then who expected anything else? That’s what you get when it comes to Oasis albums and most of us have learnt not only to accept that, but to cherry-pick the best bits each time and continue to enjoy the moments when Noel gets it oh so very right. ‘Falling Down’, from that last album, is a monster of a song, partly harking back to his work with Chemical Brothers, partly representing a change in listening habits from Gallagher senior.

As so many ever so slightly annoying cultural commentators have been saying all weekend, Oasis captured a certain time and, as a result, occupy a small space in the hearts of many. Certainly, a listen to ‘Definitely Maybe’ or ‘(What’s The Story) Morning Glory?‘ shorn of 90s context is pretty much impossible. Those songs evoke a time, an attitude and a type of music that for many was thoroughly enjoyable. Even ‘Be Here Now’ is still something I have fond memories of, to the extent that out of all of the recent vinyl reissues, the one I plumped down the cash for was this behemoth of a record. It receives almost as little love as the songs have audible basslines but it nevertheless contains forgotten belters like ‘I Hope, I Think, I Know’ and ‘Don’t Go Away’. Even ‘Magic Pie’ would be great if it had its last three minutes surgically excised. This willingness to see the good in everything is a prerequisite for any non-rabidly obsessive Oasis fans and it has kept us on side through the dark days – ‘Heathen Chemistry’ – and the very, very dark days – ‘Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants’ – so that when rather better records such as ‘Don’t Believe The Truth’ come along, they don’t go unnoticed.

Having said all of this, what I loved most about Oasis was their approach to singles. Noel’s purple patch was undoubtedly across the first two albums and so he was naively happy to toss away great songs as b sides, resulting in some great moments getting tucked away behind chart-shagging monsters like ‘Wonderwall’ and ‘Some Might Say‘. Indeed, one of my all-time favourite Oasis songs snuck out on that latter single. I know what you’re thinking. You reckon I’m going to say it’s ‘Acquiesce’. It’s not. It’s ‘Talk Tonight’, an acoustic number with no fanfare, no big production and no snarling Liam. Noel’s voice is absolutely perfect, the understated sound is quite beautiful and it never grows old. Its appearance on ‘Stop The Clocks’ would suggest that it’s more popular than I had assumed, but it still strikes me as a bit of an overlooked gem.

Perhaps the most famous example of the band chucking away a classic as a b-side was ‘The Masterplan‘, which didn’t even appear on most of the formats of ”Wonderwall’. So bizarrely quietly  was this song snuck into the world, that it appeared as track 4 on the CD single. As history records, this monumental screw up was subsequently acknowledged and it gave rise to the rather wonderful b side collection of the same name. Noticeably, this is also a Noel vocal, but it couldn’t be much further removed from ‘Talk Tonight’ in terms of both delivery and production. This one is much more epic, suggesting that Noel even knew at the time how good it was, possibly even eclipsing the song whose CD it was simply intended to pad out. It has since been awarded its deserved place in their canon, but I still remember the day I played the CD single through in full and realised exactly what I had bought. It’s a beautifully stirring song and a further example of just how good Oasis could be when they weren’t desperately trying to rock like mad bastards.

Not that they couldn’t rock like mad bastards. ‘Definitely Maybe’ is a great album. The most consistently strong set of songs of their entire career, it took them straight to number one back in 1994 and is the one album of theirs which even rock snobs allow themselves to listen to. ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Star’, ‘Columbia‘ and ‘Slide Away‘ are all wonderful, life-affirming, bloody huge songs. None of them singles. And what singles they were. ‘Supersonic‘, ‘Shakermaker’, ‘Cigarettes & Alcohol’ and the almost unfeasibly good, ‘Live Forever’. While ‘Shakermaker’ was hardly rock gold, it’s still a decent sing-a-long tune, which isn’t too bad when you think that it was probably weakest release in an incredibly strong run of great singles that lasted from ‘Supersonic’ right the way through to ‘Go Let It Out’.

Two singles stand above the rest for me. The first, perhaps predictably, is the never again released, ‘Whatever‘, which ended up costing Noel a fair few quid in songwriting royalties due to a more than passing resemblance to Neil Innes‘ ‘How Sweet To Be An Idiot’. Hence, its subsequent failure to appear on any compilations. At over six minutes long and with the London Session Orchestra going flat out for its duration, ‘Whatever’ is not an understated piece. It captures the youthful exuberance of early Oasis perfectly and yet clearly hints at the much bigger things to come from the band’s next album, ‘(What’s The Story) Morning Glory?‘ The other single is far less popular and may strike some as an odd choice. ‘Sunday Morning Call’ was the third and final single to be lifted from the 2000 album, ‘Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants’. The group’s nadir, this album was under-cooked, poorly written and severely lacking in oomph. ‘Go Let It Out’ was a fine lead single, but things tailed off pretty quickly thereafter. Apart from this track. Sung by Noel (spotting a pattern are we?) and very much mid-paced, it’s a charmingly understated cousin of ‘Talk Tonight’, only with more instruments, a bigger budget and a comedown the size of the DFS sale warehouse. I’m sure that, at the time of its original release, I clung to it slightly as a brief highlight amongst some turgid, chugging rock, but that lustre has not been lost and it remains one of my favourite Oasis tracks. If these post makes you do nothing else, at least allow yourself four and a half minutes to reevaluate that track.

Recently, Oasis had shown signs of a creative recovery with ‘Lyla‘ and ‘The Importance Of Being Idle’ from ‘Don’t Believe The Truth’ and the aforementioned ‘Falling Down’ from ‘Dig Out Your Soul’, with that last album being a pretty consistent listen from start to finish. Having said that, the oft talked of Noel solo album was something I was keen to hear. It would seem that such a thing is rather more likely after this weekend’s showdown. As many have said, it’s more than a little likely that five years from now, solo careers fully out of the system, a reunion tour will magically occur and the Gallagher brothers will record together once more, but even so it’s still worth a moment reflecting on what was great about Oasis. There was much to sneer at, plenty to listen to only the once, but there was also a great deal to love.

 

EDIT – 01/09/09 A quick update to the original post in order to include this rather amusing video:

Be There There Later

Radiohead are playing Reading Festival tonight and it will be live on BBC3. I am, it must be said, quite excited about the prospect of watching one of the greatest bands of modern times doing their thing from the comfort of my warm and dry living room. To whet the appetite, Sky Arts have been showing a Dave Fanning interview with the band from 2008, the ‘OK Computer’ tour documentary, ‘Meeting People Is Easy’, a set from Eurockeenes 2003 and the episode of ‘From The Basement’ upon which the band featured on a near constant loop. All of which are bloody great and if you’ve not had a chance to watch the Dave Fanning interview, do so before it disappears. Thom and Ed are in good form and Fanning asks some quite decent questions which, in turn, prompt some quite decent answers. ‘Meeting People Is Easy’ appears in an edited form, but it still riveting viewing and ‘From The Basement’ features some wonderful renditions of tunes from the last two albums. In addition to all of this, VH1 are repeating the ‘In Rainbows – From The Basement’ show, which can be purchased from iTunes, tonight at 10pm. One to Sky + whilst watching the live show on BBC3. Make sure you have an ornament of choice identified in advance to look at whenever Bowman appears on screen. Don’t want to upset yourself just before seeing what should be a pretty impressive set.

Here’s some bits and bobs from Ver Tube to enjoy:

On the subject of the greatest bands of recent times, if I really want to conform to expectations, I suppose I should take a moment to deride people for caring about Noel leaving Oasis. But, I care. And they were, more often than not, a great group. I shall dwell further on the topic tomorrow. I shall leave you with one of their finer tunes.

A Further Order Of Bad Lieutenant

Yesterday’s brief mention of the Bad Lieutenant album appears to have attracted the attention of the lovely people over at the New Order Online forums, who did a splendid job of pointing out all of the bloody irritating errors on the bonus discs of the New Order reissues that came out last year, resulting in the imminent appearance of corrected CDs. Ever the shameless publicity whore, it struck me that it might be worth going into a little more detail today. In terms of writing my review, I’ve got as far as my detailed notes for each track so I thought I might share some observations with those curious to know more.

1. Sink Or Swim

The lead off single and the one that everyone’s already heard. It’s one of the best tracks on the album, containing as it does the trademark hunched acoustic Sumner strum, a typically smooth vocal performance and an easy to remember refrain in, “what you doing, with that stupid little girl?” That said, beginning a theme that lasts for much of the album, it’s about a minute too long with a brief middle eight that doesn’t add an awful lot and then plenty of repetition until somebody finally remembers that they have to end the song. A reasonably decent opener, nonetheless.

2. Twist Of Fate

For those wishing to play Barney’s Bullshit Bingo with his famously clichéd lyrics, things really get going from here on in. I’ll provide my favourites in bold at the end of each song comment. Musically, it’s all rather lolloping. The chorus doesn’t have much to recommend it, although the verses are a little more curious in nature and there are some nice harmonies peppered across the track. The pace is a little monotonous and nothing much seems to happen which, once again, leads me to question why it needs to go on for quite as long as it does.

“head in a spin” “blink of an eye”

3. Summer Days On Holiday

Ok, I’ll forgive the repetition of ‘day’ in the title, even though it is bloody annoying. A fairly lively beat, which upon closer inspection on headphones appears to distort in rather ungainly fashion at times, gets things underway, with Bernard’s voice given an effect that sounds a little bit like what might have been considered a ‘futuristic’ sound in 1993. Thankfully, it doesn’t detract from the stock Sumner sound. Where this track really gets going is the wailed refrain of “sunshine on me” in the chorus, provided by Jake Evans, and sounding not unlike the chorus refrain from ‘Rise’, a track on Doves‘ debut album, ‘Lost Souls’. In fact, the plucked guitar sounds that accompany that part of the track also nod to the early work of everybody’s favourite Mancunian band named after birds. Lots of guitar-wanking goes on in the last minute or so, along with a brief, stuttering computer noise breakdown that is ever so slightly embarrassing. Too long again! Still the Doves-y bit’s good.

“wind of change” “whiskey bar”

4. This Is Home

A slightly more awkward and angular introduction got my hopes up but then soon after the usual acoustic chug kicks in and all is much as it was. There’s a nice little retro drum sound and vocal duties are shared between Barney and Jake to reasonably decent effect. If the quirky sounds from the start had had a little more prominence in the rest of the song I’d have enjoyed it more but it’s pleasant enough none the less. Once again, Jake’s offerings have a bit of a bit like Doves feel to them, which is no bad thing in my book. It does chug away for almost five minutes though and it really could have put its feet up around the three minute mark.

“I’m gonna open your eyes” “build you a ladder to the clear blue air” “higher than a bird can fly”

5. Runaway

A gentle, floaty opening with plucked acoustic guitar and drifting electronic sounds, with a keyboard that sounds quite like a piano soon emerging also. It’s polished, it’s poppy and it’s very Radio 2. Get your lighters out for this one. Musically, it keeps on building and has a real sense of propulsion to it, without actually being all that fast. The drum sound is a little cheesy and it doesn’t take a huge stretch of the imagination to conjure the idea of this being sung by an ex-boyband member striving for success in the adult contemporary market, but that’s not to say it’s not a decent song. The piano sound takes prominence again towards the end and is all rather charming. One of the album’s highlights, ‘Runaway’, doesn’t really follow the chuggy acoustic, mid-paced drumbeat formula that seems to have been established by the initial four tracks and is all the better for it.

“I know it’s hard but you can’t run away”

6. Running Out Of Luck

This song uses the word ‘baby’ quite a lot. In my mind, that’s a very Bernard Sumner thing to do. Largely unremarkable, this track is another mid-paced plodder that doesn’t really go anywhere. There’s the odd nice ploddy piano sound, a couple of random bleepy bits and even what I’m fairly certain was a harpsichord. These bits are all lovely, but sadly not enough to save proceedings. Some abnormally raucous guitar kicks in around the three and a half minute mark but doesn’t really add anything. At just over five minutes, it’s the second longest track on the album but with no real justification for it. On my notes, I’ve written ‘feat of endurance’, which seems a little harsh now, but you get the idea.

“dreams have turned to dust” “shoot as straight as an arrow” “right there by your side” “like a shadow in your footsteps I would follow”

7. Dynamo

In which Bad Lieutenant listen to digital radio station Planet Rock for half an hour and then offer up a loving pastiche, largely based around The Who’s ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’. Not only is there a fluttering, bleepy noise that loops around in the background that sounds so scarily similar to the aforementioned Who track that it must only just be on the legally deniable side of original songwriting, but there are even some faux-Moony drum fills. All of which makes it bloody enjoyable. I can’t really remember the Bad Lieutenant bits, but everyone loves ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’, so what’s not to like? All of that said, despite having my tongue firmly in my cheek, the more lively drums actually work an awful lot better than the monotonous chug found elsewhere and suddenly you start to wonder what might have been. Not only is there a “yeah yeah yeah” refrain in this, but also a “doo doo doo doo doo” refrain. That takes some bollocks. Throwaway rock pastiche, particularly the ending, but good smiley fun.

“what you gonna do about it?” “this is your chance to shine”

8. Poisonous Intent

Synth bursts that wouldn’t have displeased the Pet Shop Boys in the middle of the eighties seem to be the order of the day here. Some very light, tinny computerised drums tinker away in the background and contribute to the very dated sound on this track. Opening line, “Hey bad man, what you gonna do when you can’t go back to the life you knew,” sets the tone and Barney sounds almost annoyed at this person, at one point even saying they’re “full of shit.” There’s something strange about hearing him swear. It’s like Huw Edwards opening the news with, “Evening, wankers!” Stil, even with the dated sound, this a pretty strong song, only let down by the toe curling lyrical brainfart that occurs two thirds of the way through the track and which can be found in bold below.

“so hit the road jack!” (Honestly! I wouldn’t lie to you.)

9. Shine Like The Sun

And then, completely without warning, the album turns into an Embrace record for the final two songs. This track, with Jake on vocals, sounds uncannily like the McNamara brothers’ ‘Out Of Nothing‘ era, at times reminding me of the mood of ‘Ashes‘. Now, I do have a soft spot for the odd Embrace tune, but as a business model in 2009, it’s probably not the safest move. It’s also a bloody weird to the album, Barney’s vocals simply disappearing after track 8. Don’t worry, the lyrics don’t improve in his vocal absence. The ending has a more classic rock feel and reminds me of something, I just can’t quite think what. It’s pleasant enough indie, but were this the summer of 1996, it would have gone straight into the chart at No.37 with a bullet, just next to The Supernaturals.

“we shine like the sun” “going where the wind blows”

10. Head Into Tomorrow

To continue the Doves comparison, the weird echoed voices off the start of ‘Words‘, from ‘The Last Broadcast‘, seem to put in an appearance during the slightly noodly but endearingly contemplative guitar strum at the start of this, before the vocal kicks in around the fifty second mark, again sounding quite like Danny from Embrace. With a ‘Strawberry Fields’ organ thrown in for good measure and a chorus that would be hard done by if not described as ‘anthemic’, this track is actually a rather charming way to wrap things up. This one is slowly growing on me and, dare I say it, Jake’s appearances are amongst the most enjoyable moments on this record. Barney may well be spot on when he says that Jake is “a gifted new singer.”

“watching rivers roll into the sea”

 

So, there you go. I’m not quite up the double-figures number of listens I do before writing a final review, but hopefully it gives those keen to know an idea of what the album sounds like. I know some people have noticed longer tracklistings on certain sites, but this is what’s on the promo. Apparently, there will be 12 and 14 track releases, but these tracks were added too late for the promos. Something to hang on in there for. No doubt many will disagree in the fullness of time with things I’ve written, but these are my thoughts and I stand by them. For now, at least! It’s a good but not great record. I wanted it to be better but I’m glad that it’s still not bad at all. It may yet charm me further.

In The Rain Of The Midlands

Received the Bad Lieutenant album, ‘Never Cry Another Tear’, on Saturday but it’s really struggling to grab my attention in any meaningful way. In terms of New Order offshoots, it’s more Electronic than Monaco, but I wouldn’t want to give anyone false hope. A few tracks are sung by Jake Evans, who Bernard seems to think has a pretty impressive voice. He’s not bad. He sounds like Danny from Embrace but sings like Jimi from Doves, if that makes any sense. Essentially, imagine Danny from Embrace but less honking, more tuneful and able to convey some emotions. There you go. The ten songs pootle along nicely enough, allowing the occasional wince at some Sumner-Gold when it comes to the lyrics. To be fair, it did occasionally evince hideous memories of Barney’s drunk tramp with burnt feet dancing, but I’m not sure that’s a review that anybody wants.

Thankfully, the rest of this week’s listening has been bloody brilliant. The live recordings of Blur at Hyde Park have finally arrived and don’t sound too terrible, despite Live Here Now’s best efforts to go for monaural dustbin production values. Still, at least they’re here.

Like a new Massive Attack song, ‘Splitting The Atom’, which received its first play from the over-excitable Zane Lowe last night. I don’t think it would be an overstatement to say that it’s outrageously good and has the nerve to sound wonderful immediately and yet also suggest it could be a grower. The beat simply lollops along from start to finish as Daddy G, 3D and Horace Andy drift in and out at different points. It was recorded with Damon Albarn and there’s a hint of the languid musical leanings of non-Blur Albarn work of old. It’s hard to know what to say about it really, as it doesn’t conform to any sound from their previous records. This is, naturally, a good thing. Some of 3D’s vocal part does sound as intense as it did on ‘False Flags’ from the ‘Collected‘ album, while the sound of Daddy G again on a Massive Attack record is just wonderful. Provided you’re reading this within seven days of August 25th, you can click here and play it in reasonable quality, otherwise you’ll need to listen to it in Myspace quality. Which is to say, low quality.

I’m continuing to thoroughly enjoy the recently mentioned Pete Molinari EP, along with the new albums from Maps and Trashcan Sinatras, both of which I’ll endeavour to do proper reviews of shortly. In addition, Lily Allen’s rather splendid, ‘It’s Not Me, It’s You’ has been receiving another batch of repeat plays of late. It may well be the pop album of the year. Obviously, you can hear it via Spotify, but here’s a link to four ‘bonus’ tracks of hers that I’m rather fond of. Two remixes, and two covers. All that and she provided great entertainment as the lunchtime guest on TMS on Saturday, even if one numpty at The Observer didn’t quite get the right end of the stick, suggesting that Aggers‘ conduct was somehow pervy.

 

Perhaps most enjoyable of all though, has been the arrival of Sleepling States into my ears. I noticed that both Norm and Boomkat were fussing over the new album, ‘In The Gardens Of The North’, in last week’s reviews and so off I trundled to Spotify for a quick listen. After two songs I had the album ordered and after a couple more the previous album was in my shopping cart also. It may comes as no surprise to find that, the new album at least, is on Bella Union – do they ever get it wrong? – and it has appeared in the seven remaining record shops in the UK this very week. Markland Starkie (above) is apparently the man behind it all, not that I imagine such information in anyway helps you understand the music further. Both albums are worth your time and money, but ‘In The Gardens Of The North’ is a collection of absolutely beautiful music. Instruments seem to just drift in out of nowhere, often returning there with minimal fuss, songs meandering along in a slightly awkward, utterly captivating fashion. Clearly Starkie likes his slightly odd noises and some well placed drones only add to the overall atmosphere. The vocals, often layered and slightly fragile, are as much a part of the soundscape as the musical backdrop itself and everything combines to provide a hugely intimate listen. The phrase ‘headphone album’ gets bandied about a lot. It’s certainly true on this occasion. Not my most eloquent review, but should that have piqued your interest, the following pleasures are available to you:

‘In The Gardens Of North’ – latest album

‘There The Open Spaces’ – last album

‘Old vs New EP’ – 5 tracks from last year

If You Still Need Convincing…

Both are from Pete Molinari’s new EP, out today. Buy it by clicking below and get a free bonus download EP.