Released: 3rd March 1996
MASTER OF PUPPETS
Metallica
I can't get enough of the title track, which is a good thing because the rest of the album is not all that different. I was concerned at one point in 'The Thing That Should Not Be' that Hetfield was singing "In Mordor, In madness, you dwell" and they were just another Tolkien-obsessed metal band after all, but it's 'Immortal", so just bad pronunciation. Phew.
Battery
Master of Puppets
The Thing That Should Not Be
Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
Released 4th March 1991
PEGGY SUICIDE
Julian Cope
Here's how unfamous I am. The number of degrees of separation that I have with Julian Cope is 4, AND I GREW UP IN THE SAME TOWN AS HIM! Just so you know, my parents knew the parents of his guitarist Donald Skinner who co-wrote some of the songs on here. It's diverse. I think by this time he was fancying himself as the British Lou Reed.
Mrs R.O. has also just come into the home office and informed me she has this on vinyl, a revelation on a par with learning that she owns a copy of Combat Rock
Pristeen
Double Vegetation
East Easy Rider
Promised Land
Hanging Out & Hung Up on the Line
Safesurfer
If You Loved Me at All
Drive, She Said
Soldier Blue
You...
Not Raving But Drowning
Head
Leperskin
Beautiful Love
Western Front 1992 CE
Hung Up & Hanging Out to Dry
The American Lite
Las Vegas Basement
Released 4th March 2011
BUILD A ROCKET BOYS!
Elbow
I've just spent a pleasant hour taking care of my mental health by painting a picture and listening to this. I'm no Guy Garvey enthusiast, but the calm centredness of the whole experience has it's time and place, and this was it.
Garvey is most beloved of the slightly overweight middle-aged man demographic proving we all gravitate to what we know.
The Birds
Lippy Kids
With Love
Neat Little Rows
Jesus Is a Rochdale Girl
The Night Will Always Win
High Ideals
The River
Open Arms
The Birds (Reprise)
Dear Friends
Released 5th March 1986
GUITAR TOWN
Steve Earle
Steve Earle is instantly recognizable. His vocal register is just about unique and he hits his guitar with a certain intensity that is all his own. I haven't ever investigated him in detail, but his first three albums, this, Exit 0 and Copperhead Road are clear classics of the late eighties tendency to rock/country crossovers.
The 2002 remaster included a bonus of a live version of Springsteen's 'State Trooper'. The original is sparse, desperate and haunting, Earle makes it far more threatening.
Guitar Town
Goodbye's All We've Got Left
Hillbilly Highway
Good Ol' Boy (Gettin' Tough)
My Old Friend the Blues
Someday
Think It Over
Fearless Heart
Little Rock 'n' Roller
Down the Road
State Trooper (Bonus Track)
Released 6th March 1971
BRYTER LATER
Nick Drake
Richard Thompson has a song about the likes of Nick Drake and Jeff Buckley. It's called 'Now That I Am Dead' and starts "Now that I am dead, my agent finally said, he wanted to have lunch with me". Not sure what it is about gentle but tormented singer songwriters that require them to shuffle off the mortal coil before anyone takes notice, but there is a pattern.
Introduction
Hazey Jane II
At the Chime of a City Clock
One of These Things First
Hazey Jane I
Bryter Layter
Fly
Poor Boy
Northern Sky
Sunday
Released 7th March 2011
COLLAPSE INTO NOW (2011)
REM
And so we come to the end of REM's long and winding road. This has a lot more immediacy than Accelerate and the second track, 'All The Best', despite being rather noisy and frantic sounds much more like they're 'feeling it'. UBerlin (reaching for the character map for the umlauted U is a step too far for me) harks back to their heyday of Green and Out Of Time with it's tuneful plucked guitar and Stipe's throbbing vocal delivery. For a second you think they've employed a colliery brass band at the start of 'Oh My Heart', but its dropped immediately for a gentle folky, almost singalong song. Really very touching. "Mother and father;I stand beside you; The good of this world; Might help see me through; This place needs me here to start; This place is the beat of my heart".
This is supposedly REMs swansong, and you can feel in the tone that they seem to be pouring themselves into it body and soul, especially Stipe. That's coupled with a greater sense of control. 'Mine Smell Like Honey' - a title that makes the mind not so much boggle as fall into willful ignorance - is a case in point, it's knitted together so tightly. Loved 'Walk It Back' and 'Alligator_Aviator_Autopilot_Antimatter' is stupidly enjoyable and they draft in someone called 'Peaches' for the vocal. Never heard of her (Canadian performance artists are not my strong suit) but she adds something.
Not sure about 'Me, Marlon Brando, Marlon Brando and I'. It's fine, but the title is a lot to live up to. And finally 'Blue' in which Patti Smith makes her return (and it could be a companion piece to 'E-Bow the Letter'). Stipe recites the lyrics while she creates atmosphere in the background. It does unexpectedly reprise the opening track 'Discoverer' for no apparent reason though. It's a fitting end to it all, brilliant and odd.
So in an industry in which returns to form are more common than establishing form, this truly does represent a r.t.f. Possibly their best. A shame it's allegedly their last, but REM are a band of sufficient gravitas that they are sure to reform for Gary Barlow's posthumous tribute concert.
Discoverer
All the Best
Überlin
Oh My Heart
It Happened Today
Every Day Is Yours to Win
Mine Smell Like Honey
Walk It Back
Alligator_Aviator_Autopilot_Antimatter
That Someone Is You
Me, Marlon Brando, Marlon Brando and I
Blue
Released 12th March 1996
BLACK LOVE (1996)
The Afghan Whigs
Opener is 'Crime Scene Part 1' (there's never a part II is there? I think this is one of the most heinous crimes committed by rock stars in the name of art, and yes I'm looking at YOU, George 'Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1' Michael) which starts with a church organ before breaking into more conventional territory. This REALLY reminds me of what little I know of the Smashing Pumpkins (basically 'Tonight, Tonight'). 'My Enemy' is more punky, with jabby guitars. I suspect that they heavily influence bands of which I know less than the SP's such as My Chemical Romance. The problem is, I'm 46 now, I don't have all this angst any more so it just sounds like juvenile whining to me. 'Blame etc' is quite interesting, funky guitar and extensive use of the wah-wah pedal. 'Step Into The Light' is calm and gentle. They finally resist the urge to crank it up halfway through. You know I'm no fan of bad language so 'MelonFarmer' references in 'Honky's Ladder' made me purse my lips in disapproval.
I liked 'Night By Candlelight' which incorporates some strings to augment the guitars. Maybe a little bit Nick Cave-ish? I think Dulli's voice is a weakness, there's not much light and shade in it really (well, plenty of shade I guess) and his default position is strained anger. Good bit of free-form piano at the end of 'Bulletproof'.
Closing sing, 'Faded' is over 8 minutes long, so I settle myself in. There's an interesting guitar sound that you can't quite decide really is a guitar or a girl's voice. It was a good ending to what I think is the best album of theirs I've heard so far, despite all the gripes above.
This is a much more musically diverse album than the first two, Wikipedia goes on about how they incorporate soul and funk influences and I've found it hard to see it up to now but this does at least hint at it. Just searched for the album cover using just the search terms 'Black Love' on Google. That was a mistake. Quick! Clear the browsing history!
Crime Scene Part One
My Enemy
Double Day
Blame, Etc.
Step into the Light
Going to Town
Honky's Ladder
Night by Candlelight
Bulletproof
Summer's Kiss
Faded
Released 8th March 1996
MERCURY FALLING
Sting
I'm beginning to get a bit fed up with him now. Can't wait for the lute, when things will hopefully go off in a new direction. I think his voice is his greatest strength and weakness. It's so distinctive that it can only be him, but that also means everything is a bit samey. This doesn't seem to break any new ground. However, on the positive side, the second track 'I Hung My Head' has a Springsteen-ish feel to it with Clemons-Sax and Bittan-Keyboards noises.
He makes us all feel inadequate again by singing in a foreign language - French this time on 'La Belle Dame Sans Regrets'. There's a bit of gospel, country and jazz (natch) along the way.
No great breakthroughs with the cover art either. Sting-as-The-Thinker, or maybe he's just having one of his 'bad heads'.
The Hounds of Winter
I Hung My Head
Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot
I Was Brought to My Senses
You Still Touch Me
I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying
All Four Seasons
Twenty Five to Midnight
La Belle Dame Sans Regrets
Valparaiso
Lithium Sunset
Released 12th March 1991
OUT OF TIME
REM
"Hey. Can't find nuttin' on the radio". Thus begins what I am guessing is their most commercially successful album. I checked it and Automatic For The People on Wikipedia and both entries claimed that the album in question had sold over 18 million copies, which seems a little oddly symmetrical. Surely people don't just make this stuff up?
Writing this has taken me a while and I've listened to the album a lot. That was no hardship. 'Radio Song' features pauses and a rather freeform rap near the end. Stipe's delivery is quite laid back really.
We all know 'Losing My Religion' and I guess we all think we understand what it means, someone is driving the storyteller crazy. It has a funny structure really, no chorus as such, just verses piling in one after the other. There's the odd plucked bridge over the "that was just a dream line" as the song takes a little pause, but then the band pick it up again for the second half before closing it out with a kind of winding down clockwork ending. Genius.
For all the mainstream success of this album, some of it is quite off the beaten track. Take 'Low' and the two semi-instrumentals, 'Endgame' and 'Belong'. 'Low' is pretty much just Stipe and a muted bass. 'Endgame' has a hint of Genesis about it with a nice elaborate guitar line accompanied by a flute and some pizzicato violin. The vocal is restricted to Stipe going la-di-da, but it's all rather wonderful.
'Belong' is actually quite lyrically rich and comes across almost like a beat poem with Stipe speaking the words over the tune. All three are compelling in different ways. Of the rest, there are the hits 'Real Wild Heaven' and 'Shiny Happy People'. I daresay the latter is ironic and is actually about hating relentlessly upbeat folks, but it is so well done you might as well take it at face value. The B52's Kate Pierson belts out her bit with gusto.
The last 4 tracks are probably less well known. 'Half A World Away' has a sad tone and my literal mind has decided it's about being separated from a loved one. I didn't care for 'Texarkana' which strays dangerously into U2 pomp-rock territory. The little bass guitar breaks are just about OK. 'Country Feedback' has echoes of the earlier 'Low' and could even be a reprise. And finally, 'Me In Honey' where Kate is back, warbling in the background. Otherwise it's a bit boring, rather like the artwork. Come on chaps, up your packaging game..
Radio Song
Losing My Religion
Low
Near Wild Heaven
Endgame
Shiny Happy People
Belong
Half a World Away
Texarkana
Country Feedback
Me in Honey
Released 14th March 2011
THE MOST INCREDIBLE THING
Tennant/Lowe
McCartney did an oratorio, Gorillaz attempted an opera and nearly every bugger with a decent chart career has had a musical made out of their work, but only the Pet Shop Boys would have a go at a ballet. It's based on a Hans Christian Anderson story about a magical clock which gets trumped as the Most Incredible Thing by increasingly moral and abstract ideas. Obviously I haven't seen it, but the music suggests that they probably pulled it off. It's recognisably PSB's despite the slightly coy billing and some of it seems derived from their other work. Check out 'The Winner' in particular.
Prologue
The Grind
The Challenge
Help Me
Risk
Physical Jerks
The Competition
The Meeting
The Clock 1/2/3
The Clock 4/5/6
The Clock 7/8/9
The Clock 10/11/12
The Winner
Destruction
Back to the Grind
The Miracle – Ceremony
The Miracle – Revolution
The Miracle – Resurrection
The Miracle – Colour and Light
The Miracle – The Meeting (Reprise)
The Wedding
Released 16th March 1981
FACE DANCES
The Who
I mentioned earlier that I remember Face Dances as being available from Tamworth record library, and I did borrow it, probably on the strength of 'You Better You Bet', which is something of a classic in my view. The Who really were yesterday's news by now, but the opening track of this album was a bone fide hit and still gets regular airplay today. There's lots to like about it, including Daltrey's rather arch delivery - love the indignation he injects into some of the"you'd better!"s. He's not keen on the habits of his partner's mutt either. It is also one of several songs to namecheck T-Rex, and I'm sure this was the subject of a question on the Mike Read hosted Pop Quiz - what links these songs? (Although it could have been a similar one around mentioning Top Of The Pops (Rezillos, Boomtown Rats). Anyway, off hand I can only think of two other songs that mention T-Rex, which are 'All The Young Dudes' by Bowie/Hoople and 'Cool In The Kaftan' by B.A.Robertson. The intro is quite unexpected, there's a single dull pain note which makes you wonder if it's the right song, but it soon sorts itself out.
'Don't Let Go The Coat' has a folky, Byrds feel to it with the 'jangley guitar' sound so beloved by unnumbered indie bands a few years later. Next they try their hand at a bit of punk/new wave with 'Cache Cache'. The more jagged stuff is interspersed with a lower tempo chorus. Not sure what all the stuff about "there ain't no bears in there" is about though.What shall we try next - how about a bit of Alice Cooper? OK.Here's a little number called 'The Quiet One'. It really is heavy metal - and quite a good example. Not sure who is on vocal, but it's not Daltrey. I'd guess Entwistle. By now it's clear that The Who are determined to play around and have a go at whatever takes their fancy with this album, next they sound a bit like The Police with some reggae/calypso stylings on 'Did You Steal My Money?'. 'How Can You Do It Alone' is a bit of an odd one. The closest I can compare it to is 'Parklife' as it features Rodge wandering around encountering various characters and asking them the titular question. It's quite enjoyable but a bit pointless. They come right back to the heavier rock sound with 'You'. Both this and 'The Quiet One' were Entwistle compositions, so he obviously was leaning toward this kind of music at the time. They finish with 'Another Tricky Day' which may have later influenced the likes of Pearl Jam.
This features Kenney Jones as Moon's replacement and the cover has portraits of all four members in various styles, some of which I think are a bit too cruel regarding the Townshend hooter.
You Better You Bet
Don't Let Go the Coat
Cache Cache
The Quiet One
Did You Steal My Money
How Can You Do It Alone
Daily Records
You
Another Tricky Day
Released 19th March 1971
AQUALUNG
Jethro Tull
Jethro Tull vehemently deny that this is a concept album, so, as a public service let me offer some pointers to any bands starting out as to how to avoid this kind of confusion.
1. Do not include references to characters that appear in more than one song.
2. Do not have those characters interacting with each other
3. Do not give titles to each side of your album, this can be misconstrued as an indication that there is an underlying theme.
4. Do not thematically link the songs on each side so that they reinforce the misapprehension that the listener might suffer from point 3.
5. Do not ply your trade in the early seventies when concept albums were the done thing (admittedly this is quite an easy one to avoid in 2021).
6. Do not follow up your album with another one which does all of these things again and which you say is a parody of a concept album.
By following these simple steps, embarrassment can be easily avoided. Unfortunately JT make every one of these schoolboy errors. However, why they should disown the CA tag is beyond me. Is it a kind of inverted snobbery on Anderson's part - "We're not up ourselves like everyone else"? Even if it wasn't intended, there's no shame in admitting that you wanted a degree of coherence to feature in the album as a whole is there?
One thing that sets Tull apart from their contemporaries is an earthiness bordering on the obscene. The title track itself is a tale of a rather unsavoury down-and-out and is followed by 'Cross-Eyed Mary' about a schoolgirl prostitute. Later on 'Locomotive Breath' pulls no punches as the deconstruction of a man's life is told through the metaphor of a runaway train. They also do a nice line in whimsical balladry with 'Slipstream', 'Mother Goose' and 'Wond'ring Aloud'. Musically I'd say that the Anderson's flute makes way for Barre's guitar, which, despite being Tull's USP, is a good thing, and Anderson still manages to fit in a good blow on 'My God'. The chuggy guitar scratching on 'Hymn 43' is particularly good.
Aqualung
Cross-Eyed Mary
Cheap Day Return
Mother Goose
Wond'ring Aloud
Up To Me
My God
Hymn 43
Slipstream
Locomotive Breath
Wind-Up
Released 21st March 1976 (recorded 1954-1956)
THE SUN SESSIONS
Elvis Presley
Not actually available on Spotify, but there's a playlist which consists of what I assume are the relevant recordings plus loads of demos and alternate versions. These are interesting because they sometimes feature in-studio conversation, and the contrast between the rather diffident Elvis laughing ingratiatingly with those he's working with, and then the full-on confidence of what he then launches into is stark.
That's All Right (Mama)
Blue Moon of Kentucky
I Don't Care if the Sun Don't Shine
Good Rockin' Tonight
Milk Cow Blues Boogie
You're a Heartbreaker
I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone
Baby Let's Play House
Mystery Train
I Forgot to Remember to Forget
I'll Never Let You Go (Little Darlin')
I Love You Because
Tryin' to Get to You
Blue Moon
Just Because
I Love You Because
Released 24th March 1986
DIRTY WORK
The Rolling Stones
You come across all kinds of stuff getting pushed your way if you keep putting the same words into a Google search, and recently my searches have featured the words 'Stones' and 'Rolling' quite frequently. Thus I happened on this Ultimate Classic Rock site: (http://ultimateclassicrock.com/rolling-stones-album.../...) with a rundown of all 25 Stones albums ranked in order. Guess what is at number 25? Mind you, they put Exile On Main Street at number 1 and I reckon there are at least two or three that are better than that.
Anyway, even before I've listened to it all, it seems that the opening 'One Hit (To The Body)' was good enough for Neil Young to lift wholesale and recycle four years later for 'Rockin' In The Free World', so it can't be all bad can it? It's reputation for being a Stones stinker seems to be built on tensions between Jagger and Richards at the time. Jagger had released his solo 'She's The Boss' album (a rather good effort from what I recall) and Richards thought he should be making more effort for the team.
'Fight' lives up to it's name and is a bit of a raucous clatter. 'Harlem Shuffle' had some kind of Roger Rabbit/Ralph Bakshi video, which papered over the cracks of a pretty weak song to curry favour with MTV. And they do make quite a lot of bad calls on this, not least handing lead vocals to Keith on this album's reggae outing 'Too Rude'. At risk of mangling my proverbs, why keep a reggae dog like Jagger and then bark yourself? It's overproduced too. The cleanliness of Tattoo You was not much of a problem because the material was good, but in the mid-eighties, producers and their shiny new toys sometimes swamped the essence of the band, and the Stones are suffering here. Songs like 'Back To Zero' and the title track are toothless, and that's a BIG problem. "It's beginning to make me angry" sings Mick on 'Dirty Work', but you're not entirely convinced he's anything more than moderately nonplussed, and the song almost completely falls apart at the end. They absently trot through a blues number with 'Had It With You' and then Keith puts us out of our misery with 'Sleep Tonight'. So yes. Certainly the worst since Beggars Banquet.
The early albums are hard to compare with it, they're so different and not really designed as a single offering. Even the artwork has an air of can't-be-arsedness about it. One and a half listens and I'm moving on. I'm certain Steel Wheels will represent the fabled 'return to form'.
One Hit (To the Body)
Fight
Harlem Shuffle
Hold Back
Too Rude
Winning Ugly
Back to Zero
Dirty Work
Had It with You
Sleep Tonight
Key to the Highway
Released 24th March 1986
PLEASE
Pet Shop Boys
Don't expect me to go on about the merits of the Fairlight vs the Moog, I have no idea. This is clear evidence that the Pet Shop Boys sprang fully formed from the forehead of the god of electro-pop. Side 1 is effectively a 'Best of Pop' for 1986. 'West End Girls', 'Opportunities', 'Love Comes Quickly', 'Suburbia' - it's all pretty much perfect stuff. The opening track is 'Two Divided by Zero', which nods immediately to Kraftwerk with the repeated spoken refrain. We all know the farty keyboard sound of WEG and the lyrics are probably imprinted on everyone's brain who was there at the time. Never quite sure about "From Lake Geneva to the Finland Station" though? I think my favourite track is 'Opportunities' which has complex and interesting changes of pace. They're also much more political than you might expect and are spot on in capturing the mood of the mid-eighties. Side 2 is less familiar. Highlights are 'Violence' with backing vocals reminiscent of Floyd's 'Great Gig' and 'I Want A Lover' which reminded me of 'Spacer' by Sheila B Devotion.
Two Divided by Zero
West End Girls
Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)
Love Comes Quickly
Suburbia
Opportunities (reprise)
Tonight Is Forever
Violence
I Want a Lover
Later Tonight
Why Don't We Live Together?
Released: 25th March 1976
WINGS AT THE SPEED OF SOUND
Wings
As soon as you consider it for a moment, Wings become a puzzling proposition. Are they the current incarnation of Paul McCartney's solo career, or a full blown band in their own right? Or are they even a 'family' act, essentially a way of involving Mrs McCartney in the day job? Both Wikipedia and Spotify struggle with it and variously bill the albums as being by Paul McCartney, Wings or Paul McCartney and Wings. In fact on Spotify you have to search both McCartney and Wings separately. Back To The Egg is not listed under Macca's name, and nor is this, but Band On The Run and Wings Over America are. It seems to arise from him simply not clearly positioning himself in the whole scenario - is he a Springsteen-like 'Boss' with a stranglehold on all the artistic decisions, or more of a Gilmour - basically the artistic heart but only in the sense that he's one of the vital organs. It doesn't help when he keeps handing frontman duties to his possibly subordinate bandmates, as he did a couple of times on Venus And Mars and does again here. Laine, McCulloch, drummer English and even Linda all get a bash. The trouble with all this is that the album only really comes alive when McCartney is singing. He's on the two big hit records. 'Let 'Em In' has it's homely roll-call, I'm sure that there are vast swathes of the internet devoted to the true identities of Uncles Ernie and Ian and Auntie Gin, so I'll steer clear. For me it really is a call back to some of those Beatles records like 'When I'm Sixty-Four' - a kind of English council house vignette. The most likely explanation is that he chose names that fit the music. And then there's 'Silly Love Songs'. A riposte to his fiercest critic? The problem with the song is that it does cross the line between romantic and pathetic puppy dog devotion.
However, any accusation that Paul is solely a peddler of soppy pap, can be challenged by the excellent and rather dark 'Beware My Love'. It's especially good because with someone else's vocal it might be quite an ordinary song. The two closing songs are the jaunty 'San Ferry Anne', one for the flute lovers, and 'Warm And Beautiful' an onomatopoeia of a song. (Look, I was taught the word in school and I like it, so just allow me to use it once - I could say it does what it says on the tin but I'd like to think I'm not that dull). Of the rest, 'Winko Junko', sung by McCulloch is interesting for the emerging guitar riff which suggests that Jacko wasn't always content to actually pay to acquire McCartney's inspiration. Linda's song is 'Cook Of The House', which starts in the shower of course. It's a pedestrian blues whose only purpose seems to be to reinforce gender stereotypes (perhaps I'm being overzealous with my 21st Century libtard attitudes).
Laine does a couple, 'Time To Hide' and 'The Note You Never Wrote' and Joe English gets 'Must Do Something About It. But my point remains, they all manage to draw the sting from songs that, if McCartney had taken the lead, might have been very different. Maybe he was making concessions to hold everything together. I can see the intention of the cover art - to give an impression of a big act coming to a theatre near you - but ultimately it's a bit boring.
Let Em In
The Note You Never Wrote
She's My Baby
Beware My Love
Winko Junko
Silly Love Songs
Cook Of The House
Time To Hide
Must Do Something About It
San Ferry Anne
Warm And Beautiful
Released 26th March 1976
JAILBREAK
Thin Lizzy
The flaw in the lyrics of the title track have been well documented before I ever got here, possibly by Peter Kay. "Tonight there's gonna be a jailbreak, somewhere in this town", the exact location of said escape, probably being quite predictable in fact.
With Thin Lizzy, you know what you're getting, buzzing guitars and drums and Lynott's slightly adenoidal vocals. There's also 'The Boys Are Back In Town'. What would advertising account managers for any given lager have done without it?
Jailbreak
Angel from the Coast
Running Back
Romeo and the Lonely Girl
Warriors
The Boys Are Back in Town
Fight or Fall
Cowboy Song
Emerald
Released 26th March 2001
GORILLAZ
Gorillaz
The idea of a virtual band is not new I'm sure. There must be other examples, although things like the Rutles don't count. Anyway, the main mover here is Damon 'Blur' Albarn, about whom I have mixed feelings. I own Parklife but never listen to it. It was just something you did in the mid-nineties. I'm not mad-keen on his estuary English delivery either. However his worst excesses do tend to get buried in the Gorillaz project. 'Re-hash' is a reasonably pleasant, mildly psychedelic track with an acoustic guitar loop and a bit of sitar in the background. Reminded me of something you might hear on Sesame Street. He's in full flow on the second track '5/4' with that kind of petulant 10-year-old voice he does. I can't really figure out much of what he is saying. Next we get distracted-Damon on 'Tomorrow Comes Today', then high pitched trancey Damon on 'New Genius (Brother)'. But this isn't all about him. The melodies are OK, but there is overuse of drum loops.
'Clint Eastwood' may be the best known track off this one. I find it a bit dull really. The rap is done by 'Del The Funky Homosapien'. Hmm. I'm guessing that's an alias. More repetitiveness and Albarnisms on 'Man Research (Clapper)'. 'Punk' is more fun, but Albarn still sounds like he's taking the mickey. Scritchy-scratchy bollix on 'Sound Check (Gravity)'. I tend to look up lyrics these days, I'm doing this at the same time as REM and you do need a songsheet for them, but Gorillaz lyrics are laughably sparse. Here is the entire contribution for 'Double Bass': "All of which makes me anxious; At times unbearably so", which is almost inaudibly uttered by Albarn halfway through. So you have to put a lot of it in the instrumental category. There's some nice twiddly keyboard stuff on it (DB) though.
Have I mentioned that one of our kids primary school teachers was Suzy B from The Cookie Crew? (Now Miss Banfield). Almost certainly, I'd mention something like that at the drop of a hat. Anyway, I'm reminded because the next track is 'Rock The House' (not the Cookies' late eighties era-defining 'Rock Da House'). Anyway, this is a De La Soul type piece of laid back hip-hop with brass stabs and all that. Quite good. '19-2000' is that one with the "Get the cool shoe-shine" lyric that they always used to use over those countdown list shows in the '90s that tried to convince us that Spangles, Spacehoppers and the three-day week were indicative of a happier age.'Latin Simone (Que Pasa Contigo)' drafts in some clapped out, probably Cuban, torch singer for a reasonably hideous mash-up. Getting fed up by the time we get to 'Starshine', although 'Slow Country' has a nice piano refrain, which is unfortunately ruined by Albarn's Kevin-the-teenager singing. UH! SO UNFAIR!
We finish with 'M1-A1'. "Hello. Is anyone there" we hear in the background? Well to be honest I'm only still here out of a sense of duty. The guitar rock builds and this is the Blurriest track of them all, which isn't necessarily a recommendation. Oh, and whilst on the subject of Kevin The Teenager.....
Re-Hash
5/4
Tomorrow Comes Today
New Genious (Brother)[a]
Clint Eastwood
Man Research (Clapper)
Punk
Sound Check (Gravity)
Double Bass
Rock the House
19-2000
Latin Simone (¿Qué Pasa Contigo?)
Starshine
Slow Country
M1 A1
Released: 31st March 1976
PRESENCE
Led Zeppelin
Presence - sounds like the latest fragrance from Calvin Klein, but I don't think the odour of patchouli oil and sweaty, hairy men from Wolverhampton would sell.
Only seven tracks this time, more prog accusations are inevitable. It's not helped that they sound a lot like Rush in the opening track, 'Achilles Last Stand'. Couple that with Greek mythology theme, frenetic drums and bass (although certainly not Drum 'n' Bass) and twiddly guitar bits and they really don't have a leg to stand on. OK, I'm being a bit harsh, I actually quite enjoyed it. 'For Your Life' seems to be about drugs. It's a bit dull if I'm honest. Same with 'Royal Orleans'. It feels like they are going through their paces with not a lot of oomph. Throughout Plant seems like he's been reined in, Page and Jones stick to reasonably simple guitar riffs and leave the fancy stuff for the breaks and Bonham thumps away. Noel Gallagher is often accused of being a straight Beatles rip-off merchant, but the intro to 'Nobody's Fault But Mine' reveals he's not averse to a bit of plagiarism from Zep as well. It could be the intro to 'What's The Story Morning Glory'. You can hear where Guns n Roses got some of their ideas too. 'Candy Store Rock' and 'Hots On For Nowhere' are more examples of blues-tinged rock. We finish with 'Tea For One', a slow, doleful blues that goes on and on and on.
Apparently the album was not that well received, and I can see why. It's fine, but doesn't have any fireworks or stone cold classics. Artwork - pictures of people 'interacting' (WP's word) with a 2001-style black obelisk that is supposed to represent the band.
Achilles Last Stand
For Your Life
Royal Orleans
Nobody's Fault but Mine
Candy Store Rock
Hots On for Nowhere
Tea for One
Released 31st March 1986
PARADE - MUSIC FROM THE MOTION PICTURE 'UNDER THE CHERRY MOON'
Prince And The Revolution
It's taken me quite a while to getting round to this one. This is because I'm sort of committed now to watching any movie of which an album is the soundtrack, but 'Under The Cherry Moon' held no attraction for me at all. It doesn't have a good rep, and picked up a few golden raspberries along the way. However it does have some points of interest. It's the first big-screen outing for Kristin Scott Thomas, and although she was nominated for Worst Supporting Actress and Worst New Star, she does really come out of it fairly unscathed. It's Prince's directorial debut and, whilst it's hardly Danny Boyle, I'd say the direction isn't particularly poor. Story and dialogue are the real culprits here.
Prince clearly decided he wanted to capture an air of fifties Hollywood star vehicle, so it's all filmed in black and white and the sound is very crisp. In fact, it looks pretty good, which is not to say that it's Roman Holiday, nor that he is the new Audrey Hepburn. Prince is Christopher Tracy, one of a pair of gatecrashing gigolos ligging around the south of France and wearing their hats in the bath. However I'm afraid 'Christopher Tracy' is not the name of a high-heeled, bolero-wearing sex machine, but possibly the BBC's Oslo correspondent. His mate is 'Tricky' played by Jerome Benton just continuing where he left off in Purple Rain.
They target rich shipping heiress Kristin at one of her soirees, but Christopher falls for her, naturally. Steven Berkhoff does his usual thing as her father (clearly just trousering the paycheck) and Francesca Annis sits about being cougar-ish. I lost interest halfway through, but it's all fairly standard forbidden love and final tragedy stuff. Christopher gets shot in the end, but true to the B&W movie cultural norms, not a speck of blood soils his all white suit and overcoat combo.
One big problem is the music. All of which is great, of course, but it just imposes itself all over the movie. It looks like a classic movie, but suddenly there's a sequence where Prince is dancing on top of a piano to 'Girls And Boys' or snogging Kristin in a car to 'Kiss'. For it to work properly it really needs an orchestral soundtrack. Mountains plays over the end credits and is, I think, the actual music video, although still in monochrome.
There is a lot of memorable tracks on the album. 'Girls And Boys' is a fine example of parping bass saxophone on a par with Vanessa Paradis' 'Joe Le Taxi'. I seem to remember that back in my student days we forged some kind of link between 'Anotherloverholenyohead' and veteran end-of-the-pier comic Tom O'Connor, but I can't remember how we got there.
And of course there's 'Kiss', a rare song in that two very different versions have maintained pretty much equal currency down the years. Prince's is delicate and fragile, Tom Jones' is forthright and muscular. For my money, Prince edges it for being just that bit more interesting.
One final thing about the movie, it boasts a direct cinematic link to The Beatles movies. Victor Spinetti puts in an appearance as one of 'The Jaded Three'.
Christopher Tracy's Parade
New Position
I Wonder U
Under The Cherry Moon
Girls And Boys
Life Can Be So Nice
Venus De Milo
Mountains
Do U Lie?
Kiss
Anotherloverholenyohead
Sometimes It Snows In April
Disposable Heroes
Leper Messiah
Orion
Damage, Inc.
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