Obviously this is quite different from Reign in Blood. It has been a long time for our thrashers. More “mature” lyric writing (“Americon”?), cleaner production, tighter playing, fast and precise solos, which are not all over the place is what struck me the first time I heard this.
Heed the Warning
I am sorry but, no. I do not like Slayer all that much in this avtar. I did not listen to Christ Illusion and God Hates Us All, and I have hardly listened to anything they did after Seasons in the Abyss not being much of a Slayer fan. I think it would be accurate to say that I am more of a Reign in Blood fan than a Slayer fan. Even more precisely I am a fan of “solos all over the place screeching their guts out without any conventional sense of scale or melody, heavily distorted almost beyond recognition” which is what was going on in Reign in Blood. Here they sound normal. The production is not muffled and does not add to the music (in a dirty black metallish sense) beyond being clean. The dirtiness is all gone. You can hear every note the guitar plays and each drum beat is thumped out in your face. Also, they have gone mid-tempo in some of the songs some of the time and on the whole are a lot slower now (which is not a bad thing per se).
The whole point being, I do not like Slayer being normal. The chord progressions are expected and do not jump out unexpectedly. Obviously I cannot expect them to be doing Reign in Blood all the time, the band does have to progress (why not?..er Motorhead?) but still. It all comes down to a question of choice; if you want thrash metal well done, here is one new album you can listen to. But if you want something new, look somewhere else. It is 2009 and this kind of music has been done to the death. But still in the end it is Slayer and they kick ass!!! There are some very good thrash riff headbangers on here, complete with “mature” themes to back them up, no more Satan!! Extremely well-executed (I would expect nor accept anything less from such wily veterans like King, Hanneman and Lombardo anyways), this is your destination for quality metal well done. Also when they go all slow, those parts are extremely well done, and those parts were actually the best part of the album. Tracks specially recommended are “Human Strain”, “Playing with Dolls”, and “Snuff” (which has my favourite all over the place guitar!!)
There you are. Not something I shall listen to much after some days, but well done for the regular fan and metal head. A nice package. Nothing new, but then what is?
-Baba T
Reign in Blood and yet more murderous SLAYER music reviews HERE
Headbanging METAL reviews HERE.
Lets face it. Pearl Jam had a great debut, one of the most successful in rock history, and it was well deserved. Ten, every friggin minute of it, is a goddarned classic. Starting from “Once, ‘pon a time !!” to the grand and drawn out conclusion of “Alive” down to the gritty “Porch”, it was huge. Huge. A true epic of modern rock. At least in my mind.
After that, what? Yes, sometimes Vitalogy seems almost as good as Ten. That was an album that really had some great songs. “Immortality”, “Nothingman”, “Better Man”, “Whipping”, to just mention a few, are right up there. Then we have Yield which has “Do the Evolution”, “Given to Fly”, “Wishlist” and the rest of the songs are adequate enough. But Vs? Binaural? Riot Act? Pearl Jam? No Code? Might have had some good songs, but on the whole, just about adequate and no more. From a band that made Ten you might expect something more than just “adequate”. Unfortunately, apart from Ten, Vitalogy and to some extent Yield, all the rest of the time, Pearl Jam has been putting out mostly some mediocre middle of the road albums. That is why, boys and girls, it is better to burn brightly and explode into nothingness rather than to fade away, which is what Pearl Jam has been doing all this decade. Fading Away. In fact if you ask an average Joe (like me) about Pearl Jam, chances are that you wont hear him completely diss the band, but nor would he exclaim excitedly, if you know what I mean.
I am not criticizing Pearl Jam for doing the same thing all the time. I am criticizing them for doing the same thing all the time in not a very noteworthy manner, to put it very mildly. You can play fast and loose all your life long because you know it is never gonna get old coz you got a guy with a mole on his face and an extremely ugly voice yelling about girls and wars. You can play bare to the bones stripped down punk rock if you can make it entertaining enough. You can play balls to the wall cock riffs all life long if they are ballsy enough. You cannot play music like Pearl Jam for more than two decades and expect people to take interest even if the vocalist has got one of the best voices that I have heard in rock music.
And so here we are. Almost 20 years down the line and we have Backspacer and if you ask me, I can put my neck out and say that this is the best album Pearl Jam has made this side of the century. This might be because it is the shortest album they have ever made, at 37 minutes, and that is a big plus. We had stuff like Riot Act and Binaural and the self title album (the lowest points of their career) which positively dragged, and when they ended you were glad that it was over.
Stupid muthafuckin' cover
You see, Pearl Jam got smart, trimmed and edited, produced some catchy riffs, did not try to be too grandiose, threw in a couple of Eddie heartbreakers and you have a crowd pleaser. And I am pleased. Of course, this album is not for long. In fact, by this time it has already been forgotten by most. It came up on everybody’s radar 3 months ago, the reviewers were glad that it was not bad and not too long and then it was over. Simply because apart from a few catchy tunes and some killer riffs, there is nothing else. However, what there is, is entertaining. Specially recommended for your ears are the tracks “Got Some” and “The Fixer” which have poppy and catchy tunes. Yes, that is correct. For this album, Pearl Jam threw the heavies out of the window and just tried to be upbeat and poppish. Well, they alternate the mood by being upbeat the first three tracks and then happily sad, you know, deliciously sad, on the slow ballad themed songs. And that ladies and genteelmen is all. A record with a short shelf life, but what else will you expect from this era of mediocrity and adequateness? Even wrestling is not exciting anymore, DX don’t make penis references coz its PG and I hardly think that even Stone Cold Steve Austin or the Rock could do anything about it.
2009 sucks.
-Baba T…….depressed with albums that do not suck and do not rock but just hang their fuckin asses butts in between.
Unless you are already grossed out by what PEARL JAM means, check out other PJ reviews HERE.
Other depressed GRUNGE music reviews HERE.
Whereas we find our heavy metallers always in a black mood, it is not so the case for the trippies. Pyschedelic rock has always been embodied with many colours, has had many hues (even black and white), at times it has had so many shades you forget what is happening and just step back and enjoy.
Modern Pyschedelia for you...
So it is 2009 and the Flaming Lips have come out with yet another album, and it is Pyschdelic Rock? With overdubs and echoes and other studio trickery? Erratic song structures which have no continuity? Lush soundscapes? Synths and vocoders and bullshit? And to top it all, it goes on for 70 minutes?
Well let me tell you I cannot keep awake that long. Nor do I remember what exactly happened in this album. It just came and went, lulling me into sleep, all I can say is that it was something good. This was one time when I went to sleep because..well not because of boredom. Because some music is meant to be listened to like that. By going to sleep. (Another example of this is Sigur Ros’s Agaetis B er….)
The Flaming Lips instead of creating any sort of songs (in the conventional sense) went for the old “come hither you trippers and let us paint a potrait for you” album, where the album is not meant to be listened to song by song, but rather as a whole, this album means to be an album, you cannot listen to one song alone, but you just listen to it and forget about the names of the songs and all the other shit. Just lay back, enjoy, go to sleep…..
The Pink Floyd (early era) comparisons are obvious. The sounds that pop out of this here record take you back to…… lets say “Pow R Toc H” from “Piper at the Gates of Dawn”, and something in Wayne Coyne’ s voice just, only just, a teeny-weeny bit, but still, captures Barrett’s madness and wistfulness (of all the damn adjectives I use that one. But what else do you say about a voice which recites “Moonshine, Washing Lines”?) which was suited to the Piper album and helps makes this trip into psychedelia land just that more trippier, stranger, darker.
Would I recommend it? Yeah, I would. I am not gonna listen to this album everyday, it has no catchy pop hooks or songs that are likely to keep going in my head all day long, this is no Pixies, it is meant to be pyschedelic and its all about the hues and the colours and sonicscapes. And yes, the picture has been painted well.
-Baba T
P.S-I am enjoying this album more and more after each repeated listen. I change my recommendation to one of “Highly Recommended”. Buy this shit.
P.P.S- Despite what I said about going to sleep, its not a peaceful, easy listening album. Some of the songs are absolutely abrasive and alienating at times. It is just that I feel very sleepy today, or you might go to sleep while listening to this but might wake up in between, or you might see bad dreams when they embark on a particularly acid trip in between like on “See the Leaves”.
LSD + Flaming Lips not enough? Check out our other PROGRESSIVE/ART/PSYCHEDELIC reviews.
But if you’d rather that they are ALTERNATIVE ROCK, go HERE for more ALT ROCK reviews.
More Flaming Lips HERE. (At the point of writing this, Embryonic is the only one, but this is for later)
There is a marriage at my place tomorrow. So today is the day, in Indian tradition, when people come over and sing marriage songs. Headache inducing marriage songs. They’re sung in a good natured manner and all, but it really isn’t stuff that I can listen to without thinking, “Oh god! The singer is completely off. The Dholak player is playing a bar ahead of the rest of the group”. Like that. And I, stuck in the adjacent room need an antidote.
A pretty good album, by Tool standards.
So I look at my latest musical haunts in my ‘My Music’ folder.
The Yellowjackets? Naah, too jazzy.
Victor Wooten? Not loud enough.
Tool? Yes, TOOL!!! Loud, abrasive and SPOT on, quite the antidote to wedding singers. And let me tell you, the first 10 minutes or so were like a brilliant Antacid.
Their latest album gets an absolutely rocking start with ‘Vicarious’. It’s a great song, with Porcupine Tree-esque Zeitgeisty lyrics. The great stuff continues with ‘Jambi’, which has Maynard James Keenan doing an Eddie Vedder impression of the highest order. Interesting Talk Box guitar solo too. This song is actually one of the very few songs on this album which have one member/instrument carrying the sound.
As far as individual member’s performances are concerned, they are certainly subtly changed in their roles compared to the last album. This album is less guitar and drum focussed than Lateralus, and hence more, shall we say, ‘democratic’ in it’s sound. The downside is that Danny Carey’s tribal drum stylings are sorely missed. But Adam Jones’ taking a step back has been brilliantly handled by bassist Justin Chancellor. He has a hyper-modern bass tone. He allows the steel and string-noise laden frequencies to color his sound. It’s a distinct tone, but it’s not something that I prefer personally. But I guess it works for Tool. Adam Jones’ performance is, sadly, not as towering as it was on Lateralus. 10,000 Days will always be compared with Lateralus, and will always have a hard act to follow. Like Porcupine Tree’s The Incident, like Metallica’s Load and like Dream Theater’s Awake, the follow up to the masterpiece is not as good.
If I were to point out an element that is missing from 10,000 Days, it’s got to be the hooks. Sure, the music is brilliantly packaged, conceptualised etc. etc., but except on certain extremely trippy songs (like ‘The Pot’ and ‘Vicarious’), the hooks are missing. Speaking of ‘The Pot’, that song has to have one of the sexiest beginnings of any song in this century. A fantastic song beginning to end. And a YAY to a totally spazzed out bass solo midway. So as you can see by now, it’s turning out to be a hit-and-miss affair by Tool standards. Mind you, if any other band were to come out with something like this, it would be way above anyone’s expectations. But sadly for 10,000 Days, this is Tool.
There is also the fact that the longest song here (‘Rosetta Stoned’) is also the most mediocre track. It’s too long, not interesting enough, and not full enough with M J Keenan’s lyrics to truly save it from sludgy forgettableness. Too many different riffs. Too much noise. Not enough music. The other weakness with 10,000 Days is exactly the same as Lateralus. It’s too long to be listened to in one sitting. And this is coming from someone who used to worship that most compact and easily listenable of bands, Dream Theater. It’s not the length per se, but the distortion that gets to me. But that could just be me.
Anyway, in the final totting up, its inevitable that this will be compared with Lateralus, and as expected (sadly), it falls short. Lateralus was a flawed classic, this is flawed, but just short of a classic. Nevertheless, by all objective accounts, this sounds right.
- El Bajista
For more TOOL Reviews, haul arse HERE.
For more PROGRESSIVE/ART/PSYCHEDELIC Reviews, haul arse HERE.
This is one album I don’t really have too much to say about. It’s not bad. Just that it’s not too long, and as a result I don’t have too much to say. I immediately liked the album between this and the first one (An Escalator to Christmas, 1999). Of course, I also LOVED the first album reviewed HERE. It was ambient, but more skewed towards the rock side of things. That means slightly higher tempos, PROPER percussion and slightly lesser by way of electronic noise. This one by comparison goes completely the other way, revelling in spooky whale song soundscapes over melted basslines and jazz percussion. Paradoxically, there are quite a few more ‘acoustic’ sounds scattered throughout the album, particularly the flute, which add an oriental flavour to such tracks as Cicadian Haze.
I’d say that for an ambient album, its pretty daring in places. For instance, ‘Politician’ basically consists of sounds of an old gramophone and a woman err….practicing self sufficiency. Infact, sometimes it’s so daring, that I have to ask whether this really is ambient music. I mean, the rythms are consistent and all, there is a big electronica influence, but I don’t find this neither trippily ambient nor blend-into-the-background fare. In short, it doesn’t really float my boat.
That said, ‘The Shadow of Twisted Hand Across my House’ is a fantastic track. The trumpet/sax solo at 3.10 is a flash of genius by Steven Wilson. You really don’t expect it. But it quickly reels you in. For god sakes, a Jazz solo in the middle of Ambient Electronica? Outrageous!! Yes, and brilliant. It sounds Xenochronic. For those who care, that means taking a musical part from one composition (say, the bassline from ‘Higher Ground’) and putting it in another (say, ‘Imagine’).
That’s about all I have to say. For those of you who are waiting for Porcupine Tree-esque, you won’t find that here. I mean, the tracks are heavily electronica based, but the personality is not nearly the same. The hooks are not there, just an ambient sort of consistency. I had massive expectations in the first place after hearing the first album, and sadly, this doesn’t quite sound right.
- El Bajista
For more I.E.M. reviews, click HERE.
For more PROGRESSIVE/ART/PSYCHEDELIC reviews, click HERE.
For more ELECTRONICA reviews, click HERE.
Ozzy...is not only Black Sabbath
The madmans solo debut. The Ozz coming into his own. The quintessential Ozzy aka Metal album.
As I have already stated in my Black Sabbath review, I am an Ozzy fan. I simply like his voice and personality and all that, its funny. I was reminded of him suddenly a few weeks ago when I was watching Monday Night RAW, where he was the guest host ( I am waiting for Rock to guest host RAW, man. Can’t wait) and he was quite good at it too. (Btw, if you did not watch, please check out the asshole Chris F Masters bouncing his boobies to the beats of Crazy Train. It was great!! The only time he has ever done anything entertaining. And he is sposed to be a sports entertainer)
Before this turns out to be review of Monday Night RAW, let me return to Ozzy and not soil this review of one of my favourite albums by being off topic. As I said, Ozzy has, according to me, a great voice, now after being bereft of the skills of Tony Iommi on the guitar, he needed a great guitarist. And look at his luck, who does he get? A guitarist who could put any other axeman on this earth to shame in his day (Yea, even all your John Petruccis, Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Vai etc etc..)
Randy Rhoads. The man responsible for the resurrection of the Ozzman’s career. Without him there might never have been “The Osbournes”. More importantly, without him we might never have had the privilege to hear brilliant songs like “Crazy Train” or “Mr Crowley”.
Those two tracks form the core of this hellraiser of an album. Just look at Randy’s guitar tone. Raw, in your face, classic and at times, classical. Awesome. He perfectly complements Ozzy, as the Ozzman just blazes away on this album. Except for the last three songs, the whole album is a stone cold classic. Ozzy’s lyrics are always fun to hear, the nice thing being, Ozzy stopped writing too much of Satan and just wrote what he wanted to without trying to be “evil” and “dark”.
Of course, if you come to an Ozzy solo album for listening to some really heavy shit….well just do not come then. This brand of metal is not heavy at all, but just hooky 80’s pop metal sorta, made great because it has Ozzy singing and Randy classical soloing. Iommi made Ozzy great because his heavy vacuum cleaner of a guitar, which just droned along, while Randy’s guitar just flies away sort of and is very light. Easy to get into. Even non-metal heads will like this stuff immensely.
Not much else that I want to say. There was a whole case filed against Ozzy for abetment of suicide, when some asshole listened to Suicide Solution and then killed himself, but who cares. He got off. The court said that the song did not contain subliminal messages. The boys parents had argued that Ozzy was guilty of inciting their kid to suicide because Suicide Solution has Ozzy chanting “Do it , Do it”. In McCollum et al. v. CBS, Inc., et al the court upheld the right to free speech and the said that the First Amendment…………..
Yea, that is what happens when you become a law student. I am truly sorry.
The album is totally kick arse. Has the nice ballad “Goodbye to Romance” and all which makes me feel senti at times. Check it out.
Baba T..not out of the habit of summarizing case laws.
For more BLACK SABBATH reviews, click HERE.
For more METAL reviews, click HERE.
But he owes a lot to this guy for that..
The high points of this genre, and Maiden, of course, is the melody plus the lead guitars, Now, when the rhythm gets faster and the bass can be heard clearly, the lead guitarists break out into the solo to give the songs their peak moment so to speak, and that is when the going gets really good. This sort of stuff, when done well can be really good and entertaining, the best example being “Hallowed Be Thy Name”. Of course, this can get very repetitive after a point of time, which is the reason that “The Number of the Beast” and “Powerslave” and the début is all that I listen to of Iron Maiden. As for getting their whole discography, I stopped after “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son” and picked up the latest two albums”Dance of Death” etc… and that is quite enough Maiden for me. My advice to you would be to pick up some compilation, or rather a live Maiden album, “Live After Death” would be good, and headbang for a good part of an hour. I assure you that is all the Maiden you need to get.
However, if you also want some individual albums, those of you who haven’t heard, all you newbies out there, to get into this brand of metal, get this album, cause it just might be the most consistently good NWOBHM album ever, “consistent” being the operative word here. It could have done with one more strong ballad, like on the opener, to make it more varied you know, but still it is ok.
Eddie lookin better than ever
Of course, this album saw the debut of Bruce Dickinson which meant that Iron Maiden started its epic and theatrical direction, Paul Di Anno was more suited to the punkish, sneery side. It also contains the best songs that Maiden ever did, i.e. it contains “Hallowed Be Thy Name”, which is one of the best metal songs, tight, well structured, excellent vocals, hits all the right spots, nice ominous intro, what else do you need. The live version is even better, but you also need the studio version. Another standout is the ballad “Children of the Damned” which has a neat chorus and a great rhythm section. Memorable. “Run to the Hills” is another fast one, faster than the others, which just blasts along, and of course, you all can remember “Run to the Hiiiiiiiiiilllsss, Run for youuuur Lieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeffffffff..” going in your head after you hear it.
Basically there is not much more I can write about Iron Maiden. Very successful they were, and many other bands imitated them, but obviously the originals will always be better. This sounds right, mostly because it has Hallowed be Thy Name. My recommendation, get “Live After Death”, that is the best Maiden album ever…but still the other stuff is strong, so while you are about it, check this out too.
Wow, I cant even count the number of times I contradicted myself in the above review. Fuck it, just download both of the albums, the debut and this one, all good stuff, and then get the live album. And that is quite enough of Iron Maiden for some time. Quite some time. At least for me.
And that is the bottomline. Here.
-Baba T..trying to make up for his prolonged absence
For more IRON MAIDEN reviews, click HERE.
For more METAL reviews, click HERE.
I AM BACK! Again.
Eddie the Mascot!!
Just when you think that I am gone for good and that you might not have to read my shit again, I am back.
Other commitments had forced me out of the reviewing business, for more than a month as you can see, I last was here on the 19th of last month.Anyways I am back with a review I am doing more to get into the way of things than anything else. All of you have heard this band and this album, and it is not as if Iron Maidens music varied or progressed a lot with time. They started from Point A, and will end at, more or less at Point A. They were more punkish in the beginning, went on to including some keyboards and tried to be more theatrical and epic later on. Their live concerts are good stuff, and have to be since their music is meant for concerts and head banging, and it’s the stuff that people can take their kids along too, these guys don’t swear, and are friendly too, do not wear make up to make themselves look like ghosts, etc etc..
Iron Maiden? You all know Iron Maiden! From England, started playing fun melodic fast metal with twin guitar attack in 1980 invented by their predecessors Judas Priest, and are still doing roughly the same stuff, which more properly came to be known as NWOBHM, the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, basically metal as described above, with a touch of punk, plus with a singer hitting all the very high notes, while dealing with all of the normal metal clichés in a fun sorta way. You know, death metal and doom metal are all “dark” and supposedly “dangerous”, and with growlers and grunters, the brand of metal which Iron Maiden popularized has “fairy” singers sort of, who go AAAAAAAAAAAA..the plus side..easy on the ears, minus side/plus side, you can understand what they are singing, which can be a drawback for some people who want serious lyrics, but a plus for people who get a laugh out of lyrics like “6-6-6 the Number of the Beast, Hell and fire was spawned to be released” etc. Also the album covers of these NWOBHM bands are all very colourful and cartoonish. You can see the devil quite clearly, unlike on all these black metal bands whose album covers are all dark and bare.
However, their debut, on which they have Paul Di Anno as the vocalist, is almost my favourite Iron Maiden album, The Number of the Beast might up there too, but some songs on here are just tad more memorable. The signature Iron Maiden sound started from here and it always nice to look at the origin, especially if you have heard what is to come after. Also, I can never forget the title track, specially the intro, when the guitars just come in with that memorable tune, which just keeps ringing in my head. “Remember Tomorrow” exploits the soft-lound dynamic well, and is quite the killer track on here.
For the début, Iron Maiden displayed an impressive variety, they are very spunkish and tight, if you know what I mean, raw sounding, Anno is a good mean singer with the punk streak. Except for “Charlotte the harlot” everything is fine and well, on here, and if apart from “Live After Death” I had to strongly recommend an Iron Maiden album, it would be this one, and not The Number of the Beast”. Sometime ago, I would have named the afore named, but I realized suddenly that too many of my favourite tracks are to found on the début.
So get this one if by chance you missed out on it. It is good. Sounds Right.
-Baba T..back from the depths of hell..
For more IRON MAIDEN reviews, click HERE.
For more METAL reviews, click HERE.
Random pic I found on google..early days....is Anno in there?
Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols – SEX PISTOLS – 1977
It came as a surprise to me when I realised, sifting through our reviews one fine day, we hadn’t done a single Punk band! I’ve only heard a little bit of it, and Baba T is a huge fan of the Punk aesthetic and ethic, so I set out to review the Pistols, and their only album ever.
The Pistols aren’t the first punk rock band, but they pulled massively in two different directions, compared to the Ramones. Firstly, they distilled all the lyrics down to the pure anarchist manifesto that is the sum of the lyrics of this album. Secondly, they added a bit more dynamics to the music and a little bit more technical proficiency in their instrumentalists. Only a bit. Except for Sid Vicious, of course, who couldn’t really play bass, yet is surely one of the greatest bassists of all time, if only for sheer attitude.
Doesn't get 'Punker' than this
No matter, Glen Matlock recorded these studio lines. They are just OK. As is the guitar playing(whoa, guitar solos!). As is the drumming. They are more proficient than the Ramones, but The Ramones really were about all four members there, whereas The Pistols reek of Johnny Rotten + 3 guys playing Punk Rock. Great as the Pistols are, I prefer The Ramones any day of the week.
The one thing that really strikes you about the Pistols though, is Johnny Rotten’s ’singing’. He sounds like he is barely tolerant of the establishment and is doing them a huge favour by pointing out that which is bleeding obvious to him. Brilliant.
I know the Sex Pistols were massively influential, but frankly I’m not sure how much their music had to do it. We all know about Malcolm Mclaren, who did a fantastic (if opportunistic) job of promoting the Sex Pistols as bonafide outlaws. And then there is Sid Vicious and that hooker chick he was dating whose name escapes me. See what I mean? Most of the stuff related to the Pistols that got a lot of attention is their behaviour than their music. I mean, the songs themselves aren’t too consistent. Of course, ‘God Save the Queen’ is an absolutely fantastic. ‘EMI’ is great too. But the real Anarchist manifesto here is ‘Anarchy in the UK’. Brilliant. But the other songs? I’m afraid they’re not too hot.
Punk Rock is music boiled down to its bare bones in all its glory. And this here is the only sort of a politics that bare-bones music could adjust itself to: anarchy. It’s fantastic as far as the big perspective is taken, looking at the Pistols as a response to stuffy middle class comfort. Despite the massive influence this album has had, I wish it had had a couple of other great songs. Four out of twelve isn’t enough. This doesn’t quite sound right.
- El Bajista
For more PUNK ROCK reviews, click HERE.
Despite their stunning, eclectic two-decade-old existence, only in recent times have I ‘discovered’ (and I use the term liberally) Clutch, and am yet to ‘discover’ a populace familiar with their works. That is unfortunate. Not merely because this Germantown, Maryland quartet has experimented with every modern (alongside some recent forays into more…conservative (and I use the term literally) avenues, nor because they completely redefined the claustrophobic template of monotony that Sleep’s Al Cisneros insisted on putting us through (Remember the disastrous
Somebody shoot me - El Bajista
‘Dopesmoker’?) that used to be the cognitive touchstone of Stoner Rock, and rendered it formless, free and flowing, transcending genre (funk, folk, bluegrass, blues, rock, metal and hard-core), nor because any band that Opeth claims as an influence, irrespective of how left-of-the-dial, is de facto respectable; but because the man (singer-lyricist-guitarist, Neil Fallon) who concocts a rant to the effect of, “Electric Hobo! So now you know not to clock the weeble-wobble-hot-rod-gang-revelator-big-bang!” has something to say that I want to listen to.“I always try to tell a story,” blurts Fallon, whilst acknowledging the free form lyrical approach that has come to distinguish Clutch. “I make up some kind of fiction and then act like I know what I’m talking about. I don’t really know about…UFOs or monster trucks, but I would rather tell a story instead of trying to sing about my life or how I feel.”
Clutch.....what a great name.
Consistent with their 1998-present turnaround-throwback to the blues-tinged-southern-rock-sensibilities, Strange Cousins from the West is…familiar, like whiskey stains and cigarette burns, yet, from a Clutch-centric perspective ground-breaking. The synthesis of the post-1998 southern-rock embrace with the lyrical randomness of Pure Rock Fury has finally arrived. So, on ‘Motherless Child’, expect aged-woman-slide guitar and a slight shuffle but no lyrical throwback (Essentially, nothing of the ilk of “I don’t have a mother, oh yeah, I don’t have a mother, oh yeah, I used to have one but she’s gone away”). Nonetheless, the content is much more personal than earlier works. “Sometimes I feel like a wandering dog.” Pause. Count. Cut to bridge. This, from the man whose erstwhile idea of a plausible refrain was, “Bang, bang, bang! Vamanos! Vamanos!” is a heart-wrenching confession. Follow-up, ‘50,000 Unstoppable Watts’ gets prima facie respect for being the heaviest, soggiest, deepest-pocket groove I’ve heard in the mainstream I 2009 (‘Minotaur’ off the record, comes a close second), and the pacing-shift is a mind-blowing memento to Pure Rock Fury. Funk lives, with ‘The Amazing Kresken’ and its Parliament-esque disco-funk bass-line. Two pieces off the record, although adequate, are evidently blatant attempts at appeasing old-school Clutch-lovers and seem incongruous with the generic palate that ‘Strange Cousins from the West’ mostly sets. ‘Abraham Lincoln’ (Classic R.C. vis-à-vis ‘I Have The Body of John Wilkes Booth’) and the furious, fire-and-brimstone vocal frenzy of ‘Freakonomics’, over guitarist Tim Sult’s hopped-up rendition of what, at heart is a classic boogie-woogie rhythm.
So the riffs remain sludgy, the solos remain improvised and the lyrics are as yet, little more than intelligent salad. What is definitive about the album is the no-nonsense statement of comfort it evinces from Clutch, and the obvious shift in technical dynamics. Many of the pieces carry one lead line from Sult and Fallon each, and the structuring of each and every song seems tailor-made for on-stage improvisation. With this album, Clutch officially achieves near-jam-band status. Infinitely more importantly, precious little is better than an album that rolls on like a single unit, evoking one uniform echo throughout, leaving no doubt as to the collective awareness of Clutch that they, themselves, have finally arrived. Admittedly, in Strange Cousins from the West the echo is that of crickets in the night and batter-fried chicken crackling, but precisely like those metaphors, it lasts through the night, and there is a hint underneath it all that you’re not the only one on your backyard porch.
- The Real Cock n’ Cola
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Think one part tenderized Blink 182, a half measure of a pre-mixed synth and punk melange, a sprinkling of some finely grated techno, a pinch of mainstream alternative, and some distortion to taste. Now, marinate in two parts of Boney M. “What is this Franken-sauerkraut-parfait ?”, you might ask, but strangely, it’s not as bad as you think. Although, I don’t think it’s healthy. And that’s ‘The Bravery’.
With an album titled ‘The Sun and The Moon’, you’d expect something grand and spectacular, but all you’ll find, is an attempt that just about reaches escape velocity. However, that isn’t the only consideration that is entertained when you hear about ‘The Sun and The Moon’. The title of the album has a two-fold meaning. Firstly, it is derived from the lyrics of not one, but two of the tracks (‘Angelina’ and ‘The Ocean’) on the album. And second, (Here’s the clincher !) because there’s a second disc/side to the album where all the tracks from the first have been recreated by ‘The Bravery’ with an techno-synth feel to it, but with the exact same lyrics, or rather, almost the same vocal tracks ! A brilliant concept applied to … not so brilliant music. Reviewing both versions together, would be doing injustice to both. So it’s the ‘Sunny’ side that’s getting the most of my attention here.
The first track is the ‘Intro’ and that effectively sets the tone and the mood recommended for the rest of the ‘Sun’ tracks. However, any hints as to the style must be disregarded. The next track is ‘Believe’ and is an obvious offspring of the ‘Intro’. This is one of the better songs in the album that builds a quick and radical treble overlaid on the stable but chewy bass line from the ‘Intro’. The lyrics are recombinant clichés, half of which are the titles of the tracks. Then again, the lyrics aren’t that bad in their chimerical form. This is a generalisation that holds true for almost the entire album. What keeps it all together is the way in which Sam Endicott and every other member of the band (Yes. Every member of the band is a backing vocalist.) bring out the vocals.
‘This is not the end’ sounds familiar, like something you’d have heard a long time ago. It’s all because of a very common and predictable bass line, except for the little frill at the end. What makes this song remain in your head for a while is perhaps the feel with which it is sung and the vaguely Coldplay-ish vocals-piano-violin blends. (After a while, it’s really difficult to ignore the violins, when they’re there,). Try to avoid the imagery of the title of the next track. It never fails to make one cringe, just like the song. The high fat content of the cheese, (which you would refer to as the lyrics) is the sort that’ll clog up your arteries, or ear canals in this case. I must point out that the ‘Moon’ version of ‘Every word is a knife in my ear’ is the absolute opposite. It is darker and sounds much better. It sounds great. Perhaps the reason for having a ‘Moon’ disc was so that it might eclipse and correct some of the unpleasantness that crops up in the original ‘Sun’ tracks. (The bonus tracks ‘Rat in the walls’ and ‘Faces’ (not faeces) are in there, for free, and it’s like most of what you get for free. The ‘Moon’ disc can’t and doesn’t try to correct those two.)
‘Above and below’ is nothing out of the ordinary but is worth a mention, especially the ‘Moon’ version, which is reminiscent of some ancient DOS games, Jazz Jackrabbit in particular. (No one forgets a green macho rabbit or a sexy one with a name like Eva Earlong. Ever.) Talking of sexy, ‘Angelina’ is a brisk song laden with emotion and some interesting combinations, with the ‘Moon’ version seeming like a toned down ‘Sun’ track. ‘Split me wide open’ is no different, minus the sexy. ‘Bad Sun’ is where you feel Boney M, smack, in your face. Then you just turn the other cheek and take a ‘Fistful of sand’. After a point you begin to accept this debauchery as something that you might actually engage in, just as people might pay from their own pockets to watch a horror-movie and crap the shit out of themselves. Strange place, this world, but very real, and real things happen.
The songs that really make you feel that this album is one that is worth it are ‘The Ocean’, ‘Time won’t let me go’ and ‘Tragedy bound’. ‘The Ocean’ and ‘Tragedy bound’ are soft guitar based songs with accompaniment that comes in later. The ‘Moon’ versions are synth based and stronger sounding but retain the feel of the original through the electronicity. ‘Time won’t let me go’ similarly, is gentle and powerful.
Any discernable solos in the album are only there perhaps for conformity in form. Nothing stands out above the mediocrity. The vocals are at the other end of the spectrum. It’s plain overdone. Much can be done with the human voice, but here, it’s just too much. Anyone would be reminded of Boney M. Not that all of Boney M is bad.
On the whole, you’ve got yourself an album that’s really not that bad. Some will love it, but no doubt, some won’t. There are people who like sauerkraut, limburger, durians, etc. And there are people who like ‘The Bravery’. There are dog people, there are cat people. There are ‘Sun’ people, there are ‘Moon’ people. If you do like ‘The Bravery’, don’t worry, you’re not alone, but you’re probably part of a minority. Their music has come up in movies, games, television series, etc., and even that is testament to the goodness there. That, you can’t deny. Here’s to an album that sounds right, but ‘The Bravery’ just needs some time to grow up.
- Braggadocio Al
For more ALTERNATIVE ROCK reviews, click HERE.
Muse. I’ve been loving them for the past week. I had high expectations from this, after their first album. This is also supposed to be one of their best to date. ‘New Born’ starts off with the lullaby like verse, having a keyboard-bass doodle. But that’s just foreplay. The real start to this album is the fantastic guitar riff. Matthew Bellamy has a real knack for unique (and relatively long) guitar riffs. Fantastic.
'Origin of Symmetry' : A nerdy as balls name
‘Bliss’ is another fantastic song, overlaid with disco-ish synth arpeggios and an interesting bass driven rhythm in the verses. ‘Bliss’ also has fantastic lyrics about envy, which really fits the desperately craving style of Matthew Bellamy’s singing. Seriously, the first two songs are so good, I would think it’s hard for this album to live up to it. And indeed, ‘Space Dementia’ isn’t as strong as the first two tracks. Still a good track, though I find the vocals way too affected, with too many Star Trek effects.
One thing that consistently surprised me was the extremely high quantity of bass and guitar hooks scattered throughout the album. Seriously. Real respect to Wolstenholme and Bellamy. Chris Wolstenholme’s distorted bass is a big part of Muse’s sound, completely eliminating the need for any rhythm guitar rubbish. Much appreciated.
This album is a massive leap over Showbiz, kicking Radiohead straight in their self-consciously intellectual wedding vegetables. Muse seem to be aware of the ridiculousness of what they are doing, and don’t seem to by trying too hard, while laying to waste (in a good way) classics like ‘Plug in Baby’. Speaking of which, that neoclassical sounding guitar doodle in the beginning is BRILLIANT. Classic.
The overall sound is incredibly varied throughout the album, from disco in ‘Bliss’, to Groove Metal in ‘Citizen Erased’ to symphonic rock err…all over. I’m quite tempted to classify Muse as Progressive by now, but I think I’ll give another couple of albums a chance before fully transferring them.
To point out the crap bits in this album, I’ll say that I find Matthew Bellamy’s dead cat screeching on many songs, particularly ‘Micro Cuts’ very annoying. In fact, I would go so far as to contend that Matthew Bellamy’s singing is my main problem with Muse. It works for a good 55-60 pc of the time, but 40pc annoying singing is just too much. Lighten up and drawl a little less, dude! The annoyance continues on ‘Screenager’, which is way too emo sounding for its own good. And the singing gets so annoying. By ‘Darkshines’, I was quite tired of this album. Its sad, frankly, because it was shaping up to be so strong, but ended up a bit limp-dicked because of such weak songs. Thankfully, ‘Feeling Good’ is a jazz/ R n’B like track, which I love.
If the world is fair, Muse should be reaching Metallica's post-Black Album heights in a couple of years.
At this point, I guess I should mention Matthew Bellamy’s keyboard playing too. It’s pretty good, and keyboards take up a large spectrum of Muse’s sound, making it denser and hotter and fuller sounding.
I’m becoming more and more fond of Muse, who bring grandiose theatrics when unwashed teens like Arctic Monkeys are dialing out the theatrics that are always welcome in music. There are some crap songs on this album, but just because the good material is so effing good, this just about sounds right.
- El Bajista
Glutton for punishment, eh? All MUSE reviews HERE.
More reviews of that most nebulous of genres – ALTERNATIVE ROCK – HERE.
The first time I heard of Muse is when I randomly searched for ‘distorted bass’ in YouTube. I know. Nerdy. Anyway, that way I stumbled upon Chris Wolstenholme and a live recording of ‘Bliss’. I was so struck by the band’s dramatic sound that I was compelled to YouTube them more and more. All of that kinda culminated into my exploring their discography. And this album.
Someday boys, you will be better than Radiohead.
This is Muse’s first album. They were knocked off as Radiohead impersonators, initially. With all due respect to Radiohead: Muse, you rock. Radiohead, you don’t. Muse have a certain theatrical grandiosity that recalls the heights of pomp and circumstance topped (indeed, pioneered) only by Queen, Peter Gabriel, Rick Wakeman and Keith Emerson. Speaking of the last two, Matthew Bellamy the guitar player is actually dominated by Matthew Bellamy the keyboardist in this album. And a not too shabby one at that. Even so, I find the tendency to arpeggiate every chord change and its mother a bit annoying.
Bellamy’s signature singing style sure is unique, but I find it annoying. As an aesthetic, it works for a few songs per album, but when a guy sounds like he is singing tragically in his death bed all the time, it’s not something I can appreciate 24/7. But yes, the high pitched gasps and yelps do have character.
Muse’s sound is big. BIG. It’s a four layer sandwich consisting of really full sounding bass, big guitars and heavy rock drums and layered keyboards that leaves not an inch of infinity free of all consuming pompous and pretentious sound.
I love it.
Of course, the danger of being OTT is always there. Indeed, Muse have arguably popped their ’shameless self indulgence’ cherry with the latest album, which has the self important title ‘The Resistance’ full of self importantly long tracks (15 minutes), self importantly titled ‘Exogenisis: Symphony’. But this album doesn’t betray many of those OTT fantasies. It’s still big sounding, but very much Radiohead inspired with compact songs never exceeding 5 minutes. The verses in ‘Cave’ are probably the most Radioheady sounding things in this album. The chorus displays Muse’s characteristic use of Western Classical sounding chord progressions. It’s probably the best song in this album, with Chris Wolstenholme laying down a great (distorted, as always) bassline.
At this point, I do think I’ve been glossing over the shitty stuff. Apart from the songs that I have mentioned, the rest are mostly average songs done by a band with character. Kinda like an average student who writes his exams only in Swahili. Or something. But on each one of them, you will see flashes or brilliance. Like the Spanish sounding chord changes in ‘Uno’ and the chorus of ‘Sober’.
If you think that I’m just being biased, then I wouldn’t blame you. I’m ever so slightly taken by ‘Bliss’ and ‘Plug in Baby’ which they released later, that I have been a little unbalanced here. To balance it out, I’ll say that while I have given Muse the benefit of the doubt here, this doesn’t generally sound right.
- El Bajista
Check out the review of the best MUSE album yet, HERE.
More ALTERNATIVE ROCK? Really? Go HERE.
Incredible Expanding Mindfuck. Say that to yourself again. Incredible Expanding Mindfuck. What kind of err..Mindfuck would have come up with such a cool name? Well, no less of a Mindfuck that Steven Wilson, founder and deceptively-normal-looking-musical-genius-leader of Porcupine Tree. This happens to be the most concentrated psychedelic project of this astonishingly prolific musician. Why did I choose to do this? Well, I did review The Incident and In Absentia and Fear of a Blank Planet as well as two Blackfield albums. This is turning out to be a bit of a Steven Wilson week. So, I thought I should go with the flow.
Let the name trip off your tongue
Right from the beginning, this strikes one as an extremely psychedelic album, drawing as much from the cosmic goo that is Syd Barrett’s music as it does from later Floyd and Zepplin (what with its bluesy guitar solos). Of course, the rock rhythm section is overlaid by some genuinely creepy noises that get into your head. If you scare easily, do not listen to ‘The Gospel according to I.E.M.’ from 6.20-7.30. Good lord Steven Wilson, what is wrong with you? What kind of paint thinner were you sniffing at when you composed this stuff? Whatever this is, it’s BRILLIANT. Stoners, you will love this stuff. Listen to this with the Windows Media Player ‘visualization’ on. Suicide fantasies guaranteed.
‘Last Will and Testament of Emma Peel’ is a tritone devil’s interval laden nightmare that would make Black Sabbath’s ‘evil’ riffs sound like nursery rhymes. Not only that, it’s overlaid by a drum solo. An echoey drum solo. In all honesty, I couldn’t sit through all of this unless sometime in the future, I’m stoned as a..err…stone. Which isn’t gonna happen anytime soon. So by the time I reached the third track, I had started questioning whether I truly could appreciate this music in this full capacity.
What’s worse is that the tracks are an average of 9 minutes long. And I had to sit through them. Stone sober. Stone aware of the itch in my bum. I kept getting the feeling, even when I was sitting writing this sentence that this really isn’t the way to listen to I.E.M.
The most ‘songlike’ track is ‘Deafman’ which builds up still a (surprise effing surprise) psychedelic keyboard solo. A really good one, admittedly. It builds and builds and builds and consumes your world and then slowly goes away, element by element, like receeding water. FANTASTIC!
**Bows respectfully**
In response to my earlier question about whether I can truly appreciate this, the answer is a no. But I can tell its good music. Anyone can. It’s colossally psychedelic and trippy. I’m becoming more and more convinced that Steven Wilson will be a Frank Zappa-ish figure (albeit less wacky and opinionated) in a few years. This does sound right.
- El Bajista
Mind not messed enough? Check out other I.E.M. reviews HERE.
Yes, this has an ELECTRONICA element. Check out those reviews HERE.
Steven Wilson’s home ground. Check out PROGRESSIVE/ART/PSYCHEDELIC reviews HERE.
Right. My second Blackfield album in two days rounds off their discography. This one is substantially different from the first album, in that it doesn’t sound as much like a bunch of Porcupine Tree outtakes. This is primarily because Aviv Geffen finally woke up and decided it was time to contribute.
More tea, Vicar?
One thing I’ve noticed about Blackfield is that they take garden variety chord-changes and keep them fresh, constantly fiddling about with arrangements, instruments etc. That’s just as well, because this second album is more ‘commercial’ sounding that Blackfield I. Think Third Eye Blind-ish guitars and Radiohead-like arrangements. Don’t take this as a criticism, just as an aesthetic chosen by the artists. There is notably lesser use of acoustic guitars (particularly the scratching sound made on the strings when strumming), and more electric guitars.
It was not until ‘Miss U’ that I first noticed that the song was being sung with an accent. I realized that this was the first time I was able to distinguish between the Wilson and Geffen!! The voices of Steven Wilson and Aviv Geffen (yes, he has the same name as Guns’ n’ Roses’ label) are VERY similar. Too similar, according to me. But the accent is welcome, as is Geffen’s greater role in this release, with ‘Miss U’ and ‘Where is my Love’ being standouts.
Compared to the music in the first album, this one is notably less ‘dramatic’ sounding, lacking the motifs that regularly punctuated the first album. This one focuses on smoother and less choppy arrangement. Again, this isn’t a criticism of either album, just an aesthetic. Its evidence of Blackfield wanting to move away from the heavy stylings of Porcupine Tree during its Fear of a Blank Planet era. In fact the distortion guitars are all but absent. Me? I much prefer the first album already.
What I have by way of a general criticism of Blackfield in general and Steven Wilson’s music in general: Its all wonderfully produced and all, but I miss music that is more ‘raw’ and less produced. And less gloomy. By means of further criticism, there are too many mid-tempo songs here.
It’s a good album, but the strings and pianos become hackneyed halfway through, and are not terribly innovative. Yes, that’s it. This album lacks innovation. Compared to the first Blackfield album, I find a curious dearth of attention grabbing innovation here. This is supposed to have proper ‘songs’ and not drone/ambient music. So some motifs are needed. On the other hand, while the first album had the necessary pluck, it had too much of Porcupine Tree in it. A frankenstien of these two albums, I think, would be great. That’s not happening, sadly, so I’ll have to say I prefer the first album. Though quite uninspiring, this generally sounds right.
- El Bajista
You want more of this BLACKFIELD doohickey? Go HERE.
PROGRESSIVE/ART/PSYCHEDELIC rubbish HERE.
I had very high expectations of this. Quite enamored with Steven Wilson’s genius in Fear of a Blank Planet and In Absentia, I couldn’t wait to try some of his other side projects like No Man, Bass Communion, Blackfield and of course, the very mysterious Incredible Expanding Mindfuck (that’s right- Mindfuck).
- The guy on the left is in only for Tax purposes.
Broadly, I’d say that the vibe here is very similar to Porcupine Tree except in a few places. Lots of acoustic guitars, a few well chosen keyboard notes and Steven Wilson’s unique voice. In fact, I was worried it sounded a little TOO much like PT. I realized that the way to look at this project is how is this NOT like Porcupine Tree? In many ways, a beginner wouldn’t be able to tell the difference at all.
The key difference lies in the absence of individual personalities of the PT band members rather than presence of the talents on this album. The unique drum sound of Gavin Harrison, for instance, is lacking. Even so, the similarity of Blackfield is so startlingly similar to Porcupine Tree, that one is tempted to conclude that there is no difference. Indeed, it ends up being a testament to how big Steven Wilson’s influence is on PT. The chord changes are classic Steven Wilson, as is the singing and as is the overall thickly produced sound.
The tracks that are clearly different from PT are the break-beat laden ‘Scars’ (complete with the ‘Amen break’- ruthlessly sampled to within an inch of its life) and ‘Pain’, which- no offence- sounds somewhat like a Def Leppard ballad in places. No bad thing that, for it mercifully shows a non-PT dominated side to Blackfield. Then there is the wonderfully upbeat-sounding-with-depressing-lyrics ‘The Hole in Me’.
As you can see, I’m quite concerned with the issue of how separate this project is from the Porcupine Tree. It’s an important distinction, I think, especially because most people will say, “just listen to the music”. Sure, it’s great. But frankly, I don’t see a Steven Wilson any different from the Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree. It robs Blackfield of a healthy chunk of originality.
Still not convinced? Ok. You will understand my point when you listen to the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Stadium Arcadium followed by guitarist John Frusciante’s The Emperyan. The music in the latter is particularly refreshing because you hear a different side to John Frusciante with the flashes of Mr. Sock-on-Cock intact. Though the music itself is great, I’m afraid there is simply too much Porcupine Tree here.
This album has many good moments and some great ones. But the truly awesome moments on this album come when the music stops sounding like Porcupine Tree redux and is allowed to have a musical personality of its own. In those moments, it sounds very right.
-El Bajista
You want more of this BLACKFIELD doohickey? Go HERE.
PROGRESSIVE/ART/PSYCHEDELIC rubbish HERE.
Right, now we have an odd left-of-center musician. Plays bass with electronica drawing from Jungle, Drum n Bass and- hold on to your sphincters- Jazz Fusion! How will this extremely curious mixture sound? I was intrigued, so I heard this, one of his latest albums.
I don’t know how Squarepusher manages it, but the sound of the instruments is suspiciously analogue. I mean, I know its electronica, but the drums sound a bit like Jojo Mayer, with a certain warmth that skins have. The bass is of course, an electric bass, as we all know about Squarepusher. Good shit. Just that the whole sound is like it’s coming from a real instrument and not being generated by ones and noughts gone wild.
Pretty ok album. Enough for me to hear more.
I’m fond of the sudden silences, especially in ‘Coathanger’, especially the seemingly random ones. There is also ‘Potential Govaner’, in which the volume reduces and increases in a crazy barrage of right-left channel playfulness that leaves my head spinning.
What I don’t like is the production. It’s very ‘dry’. There is no sign of echo/reverb/delay anywhere. After a while, it starts to sound like sandpaper. Only ‘Planet Gear’ breaks the monotony with some Beatle-esque keyboards.
Another surprise in this album is the Rock edge evident on several songs, like ‘Delta V’. The song is basically distorted bass all throughout. With liberal smattering of some really hardcore slapping and popping. It gets annoying after some time, though. By the three-quarter mark, I starting finding the distortion to be as palatable as buzzing mosquito. Further, another major problem with this album is the TOTAL lack of bottom end on many songs. The distorted bass- characteristically- robs the bass of crucial bottom end.
One of the biggest surprises on this album is ‘Duotone Moonbeam’, which sounds like a really nerdy sounding electronica/rave track, but is actually a Jazz song!! Quite. The last two-three songs, unlike the rest of the album, are smile inducing tracks, which kinda make you go ‘aww’ at the cuteness of the whole thing. ‘Yes Sequitur’ is especially highly recommended. Beautiful.
Uber-nerd rocks.
Despite the flaws on this, I’m intrigued. It doesn’t work all the time, but the sheer ambition needed to mix funk, rock, jazz fusion, jungle and drum n’ bass (whew) speaks for itself. If this were a spaceship, it would be Apollo 13. I will hear more of this stuff. Look on and wait. This sounds right.
- El Bajista
For more ELECTRONICA, haul arse HERE.
This is probably the best album by Swedish Bass giant Jonas Hellborg. The core trio here is Kofi Baker on Drums, Hellborg, and guitar phenom Shawn Lane, who sadly isn’t with us anymore. It’s mainly a fusion instrumental record, so I doubt if the Britney Spears fangirl/boy will take to this with open arms.
I must tell you that I’ll be dealing with the majority of the tracks here on an individual basis, because some of them are so WILDLY disparate, that they could very well be from entirely separate albums. Smack dab in the center of a solo album by bassist with a predilection for Indian classical music is a tempestuous 4 minute Piano solo!! Whodunnit? Either ways, it’s great.
Great album. But not for everyone.
Abstract Logic’s first track starts with a drum and horn intro which is massively reminiscent of Weather Report. Except that in the place of the immortal Jaco Pastorius, we have the soon-to-be-legendary Jonas Hellborg, who lets loose a heavy, grooving slap style that has become his signature. Though the first song ‘Serpents and Pigs’ starts off as a Weather Report redux, by the middle of the track it becomes a somewhat avant-garde rock trio thing, with Shawn Lane’s guitar flying high above a solid rhythm supplied by Hellborg and the drummer. It’s a memorable track.
There are several tracks here which are inflected with Indian classical scales. These are the ones that really stand out, ‘Rice with the Angels’ being the best one. It’s orgasmically good, with a beautiful hook that anchors the whole track down. Otherwise, the song is divided into intro-guitar solo-reprise intro- bass solo- reprise intro-drum solo-reprise intro. A simplistic format delivered with great panache by this trio.
I’m not especially fond of Hellborg’s tone. It works very (very) well for slapping and popping, when the thumps are really strong the pops have depth and no tinny-sound whatsoever. But in finger picked leads, it sounds extremely unclear and bogged down. If it were an animal, his sound would be an overweight hippo. When 8 months pregnant. Eergh. It’s a bit sad, because it is a notable detraction from a sonic documentary which is largely perfect in a non-commercial sort of way.
I’ve already mentioned the Piano solo. It’s turbulent and not terribly melodic, but virtuostic in a way that will make most rock keyboard ‘shredders’ look down and watch their penises shrink. I look at the next two tracks ‘Layla Attat’ and the title track as one track. The first is an unaccompanied bass solo and the second with accompaniment. I wouldn’t recommend either to anyone other that serious listeners. Being a bass-noob, I love it.
Lovely picture, great player. "Respec!"
By this time, we’ve had guitar solos, a bass solo and a piano solo. So what’s left? No prizes for guessing…..drum solo. It’s admirable that Hellborg doesn’t use a solo album as a platform to unleash his awesome bass chops, but gives other people full song length tracks to solo. A 6 minute drum solo, titled ‘Put a Shoe on the Other Foot’? A surefire recipe for commercial success, that!
The final track is the fantastic, if whimsically named ‘Throwing Elephants and Wrestling’. Really, Mr.Hellborg? Why not call it ‘Picking Gangrene off my Armpits’? ‘Incontinent Frying Pans in Venus’? Slightly ridiculous. Anyway, it’s a wonderful track, with Hellborg’s ear filling slap riff being particularly noteworthy in the heady mixture of Shawn Lane’s incendiary shredding, and Kofi Baker’s hard hitting drumming. Ginger Baker’s son has acquitted himself well.
This is merely my first exploration of Hellborg, a bassist who I’m starting to like very much, not only for his playing, but for his ability to get the perfect people to make a great album. Expect more Hellborg reviews from me. This, indeed, sounds right.
- El Bajista
For more HELLBORG (just one album at the time of writing this review), go HERE.
For more FUSION (also, only one album at date of publication), go HERE.
This is the bass shred guru’s second solo album. Among the welcome inclusions is a real drummer, than some computer manipulating noughts and zeros. That helps massively. So how does this album compare to the extremely average Compression? Read on.
Well, the first thing that struck me was the presence of kicking rhythms from the get go. The bass takes up space and all, but surprisingly, it’s not necessarily mixed as the main instrument. Even so it’s impressive, Sheehan obviously serves the song. Sadly, the songs themselves don’t come in too many flavours. This album is crying out for more variety with regard to dynamics. Also, too many songs start and stop suddenly.
I noticed by the third song, that Sheehan has a predilection for swirling and swinging basslines that take up multiple frequencies and leave space for yet more swirling and swinging solos. Ah! The solos. Sheehan has all the bases covered (no pun intended) when it comes to soloing, but they are not necessarily memorable. Even so, I like his tone quite a bit. It’s heavy and mechanical. Excellent and unique.
Coming, to the lyrics, though they really aren’t the main point of the album, they are terrible. Also, you can tell that Sheehan isn’t a singer. Not that he can’t carry a note; its just that the phrasing is quite lacking.
As far as individual songs are concerned, some songs kinda grow on you after some time, like “From the Backseat” and “Hope”, which is the only song with interesting chord changes. Other good songs are “Dreams of Discontent” and “Long Walk Home”, which sounds a bit like Santana playing bass. No bad thing, mind you.
My problem with this album is not with the playing. It’s that the chord changes and repetitive and unoriginal. Too many things start and stop suddenly. Too many things are repeated for 4 to 8 bars. The singing is average, the drums are so-so, as is the guitar playing. But the crucial question is this. Is Sheehan’s bass playing on this album memorable and great enough to save this to save this album from middle-of-the-road-ness? No. I’m afraid. No. Though there is a conscious attempt to serve songs-which is laudable-the songs themselves aren’t strong enough to stand on their own. Oh, and did I mention the songs start and stop suddenly too often? This does not sound right.
S-H-R-E-D
- El Bajista
For more HARD ROCK rubbish, click HERE.
We have a new occasional reviewer (yes another one). Please give a warm welcome, to The Real Cock n’ Cola. Err….yes. That’s his name. He brings opinionatedness (is that a word?) and his own musical knowledge and experience to thatdoesntsoundright. Enjoy.
You had better believe it. He is back. His mercurial wordplay sparkling, his June-born neverwhere-everything brimming over and the laughter you can almost hear in his voice (well, almost) cocked high. But then again, is he? Rather is it him, really? Sixty-seven albums, recordings and compilations later, folks I know, they insist on seeing the last century’s greatest troubadour as either of two avatars. Pre-1965/Pre-Bringing It All Back Home/Pre-Newport Folk Festival/Folk Bard and Post-The-Same/Electric Musician. Other folks I know, they say it all changed with 1967, after that fateful motorized mishap, following which John Wesley Harding and such materialized, with stoic contemplation of mundane comforts replacing all traces of social consciousness and spokesmanship (willing or otherwise) hitherto on display. Now I don’t know about them any more than I do about you, but what I do know is, show me someone who understands Bob Dylan, and I’ll show you Bob Dylan. Or, better still, show me someone who likes Bob Dylan in all his avatars, and I’ll show you a phoney. Me, I don’t care about stylistic changes much, or topical songwriting.
Where I stopped listening to Dylan was with Shot of Love. It was still excellent songwriting, and arrangements are arrangements, electric or not. I just lost it with the voice that Dylan had. See, Dylan had forsaken smoking, and he sounded, well, normal. Never a Caruso, Dylan had a voice of grit, gravel and gravity well beyond his years, and a rasp that sounded like he really, really meant things. Without a healthy layer of silt on his lungs, he sounded better, of course, but just not good enough. So, on ’Together Through Life’, the first remark springing is, ‘The Rasp is Back!’, and much, much more. Here is the intellectual critique of modern times in ‘Beyond Here Lies Nothing’. Here is the soulful, broken-hearted-ballad, ‘Life is Hard’ and of course, the romantic, wrathful, ‘Jolene’, with the topical, thematic approach that somehow still hasn’t won Dylan the inevitable Nobel laurel. One moment, though. This isn’t the voice I expected though, inasmuch it is not him, though unquestionably his. Truth be told, this is not as much passionate as it is plain phlegmatic. And, prejudice there is, but the overtone is still, very 1980 and thereon. Absent are the chords, the progressions of which may best be described as geometric. No trace of the uber-psychedelic Hammond-Fender-Rhodes-Vox arrangements. Where did the harp go? And why am I not smiling?
The only two pieces off this that will mean anything to me ever are ‘Beyond Here Lies Nothing’, with its wonderfully intricate underlying melody and the endless, endless ornamentation, sourced to David Hidalgo’s (of Los Lobos) accordion and the inimitable Mike Campbell (of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) on electric guitar, and the shamelessly danceable ‘Shake, Shake Mama’. ‘My Wife’s Hometown’ has its moments, but it does not transport me to the actual geography of it, nor does ‘Forgetful Heart’ impress or overwhelm me as did, say, ‘Don’t Think Twice (It’s Alright)’. The closing piece, ‘It’s All Good’ has a Chicago-shuffle-skiffle-bar rhythm section with lyrics both abstract and temporal, as only Dylan can provide, which is a relief. Irrespective of any and all other ‘transitions’, what Dylan has not lost is his ability to simply say things. “If you ever go to Austin, Fort Worth or San Antone, find the bar-rooms I got lost in and send my memories home’ croons he, on ‘If You Ever Go To Houston’, trumping introspection and poetic ability in one smooth typewriter stroke. He promptly destroys it with the silly sappiness of ‘This Dream of You’ with its opening blunder, “How long can I stay in this Nowhere Cafe before night turns to day.”
The upside of everything on ‘Together Through Life’ is the answer to The Band. Campbell and Hidalgo are resplendent, and Donnie Herron is a straight-up, back-up entity of solidity. It must be fulfilling for Dylan, to finally have three multi-instrumentalists supporting him, leaving him be to speculate and introspect unworried, especially considering Dylan’s touchstone, his voice is no longer the dominant force behind his music (though the literature still remains) and is better drowned down by electric washes and accordion licks than it would with a stripped-bare acoustic guitar and harp.
The record is not contrived, no. Nor is it unintelligent. What it is not is Bob Dylan, circa 1970 (substitute with era of preference). Be that as it may, it may still appeal to fanatics and men of poor taste and poorer information. I would consume it surely (classify in aforementioned segments as observed) but to recommend it is another question. The answer is not pleasing.
- The Real Cock n’ Cola
Electric or not, it’s still Folk Music. More of that, HERE.
