tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78278810489694338822024-03-19T20:37:36.515-07:00Gigging ForeverGigs and music, mostly. And curry. And exercise.James Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12259324114219505127noreply@blogger.comBlogger74125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7827881048969433882.post-65563152638810879262023-12-24T15:27:00.000-08:002023-12-24T15:27:09.859-08:00Gig review - Sault, Drumsheds London 14th December 2023<p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Well, where to start with this? 7 days before this gig, Sault was just a mysterious studio collective of unknown musicians helmed by top producer Inflo (co-creator of fantastic albums by Little Simz, Michael Kiwanuka, Jungle and Adele(!)) who had released quite a number of albums since 2019, ranging from progressive R&B concept albums to choral and orchestral works, all released with zero information and minimal artwork. But on Saturday 9th of December, Sault fans were informed via one extremely brief Instagram post that on that Monday morning, we would be able to buy tickets for something called “Acts of Faith” that would be happening on Thursday 14th. </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Somewhere around 3000 tickets for this event sold out in seconds with absolutely no idea of what it would entail - would it be a gig? How would that work with an anonymous band? Maybe a live stream of some sort? Or just some kind of elaborate prank? Luckily for Sault, thousands of us were willing to take that leap and that is why I found myself heading to a closed down IKEA building in Tottenham to see what would happen.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">—-</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">On arriving at the venue I get myself into a fairly lengthy and slowly moving queue, cursing the presumably incompetent security at this ramshackle venue, but the reason for our slow progress becomes clear when I step in through one of the former loading bays and find myself in a labyrinth of industrial filing boxes, which kicks us out suddenly into a grimy, dated apartment where two actors are sitting watching TV and looking bored, before we exit through their fridge and into a metal tunnel, climbing up towards a bright white light which turns out to be a shiny mirror maze room - all glass and lights except for some exotic plants and copies of the band’s albums in Perspex boxes on plinths. This eventually leads us up a ramp through a huge concrete circle and that’s where we are “born” into the gig venue itself.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">I should mention that Drumsheds is actually a sort of mega-club; the entire floor of what used to be the IKEA warehouse, normally hosting 15,000 clubbers in one massive open space. The reason for only 3,000 tickets being sold becomes immediately apparent, as the whole venue has basically become the performance area - elaborate sets and structures throughout referencing album names and art; two stages in opposite corners of the cavernous room set up for a large choir and an orchestra; tall viewing platforms on each side, and in the middle of the room, a sealed Perspex capsule with a band set-up inside, surrounded by amphitheatre bench seating.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">This is clearly going to be the place to be, so I grab one of the last available seats and wait a good 20 minutes chatting to a fellow fan before being asked to move by security, who let us into the secret that this isn’t actually a real stage and that this isn’t where the show is going to be happening at all. Skeptically, I move away like a good obedient gig-goer, albeit cursing under my breath, especially since the next time I look the security guys are cordoning off this area and only letting people with wristbands in (Chris Martin and Dua Lipa don’t want to hang out with me? Their loss…)</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">But now what? Whether this is or isn’t where the band are going to be, I now need to find somewhere else to stand, so after wandering the entire circuit of this enormous space a couple of times, I decide that this orchestra set-up is almost certainly not fake, and plonk myself directly in front of it and and wait for something to happen…</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">—-</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">I don’t have long to wait by the orchestra before something happens over to my right - on a raised platform I’ve not even noticed until now, a set of Japanese -looking percussion instruments are being set up, and then out comes a guy (possibly Joji Hirota?) who proceeds to whack the heck out of them for 20 minutes to gee up the crowd. The support is as conventional as everything else so far, then… </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Eventually the members of the orchestra quietly take their seats in my tiny corner of the venue, dressed in matching outfits with matching silver streaks in their hair (yes, even the bald double bass player) and start proceedings proper with the title track from 2022’s “Air” album, a sort of contemporary orchestral work recalling everything from David Axelrod to Mike Oldfield’s “Orchestral Tubular Bells”. And then suddenly from the opposite corner of the warehouse, the choir springs into life and my part of the audience spin around to see what’s going on over there. This aural and visual ping pong continues throughout this first part of the set (though thanks to the immaculately mixed sound we can hear everything perfectly balanced wherever we are in the venue) and then suddenly we realise there’s a third area between the orchestra and choir where dancers have started coming out and along an extended stage into the middle - starting like a fashion show catwalk and then introducing all sorts of dance from expressive, lyrical movement to terrifying law enforcement-styled pursuits.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">So far, there’s no sign of Sault, whoever or whatever they are - but at the end of “Time is Precious” one of the people on the catwalk stage, veiled in an enormous hat with impressive dangly bits, starts singing to an enormous cheer; marking the first obvious appearance tonight of anyone connected to Sault - as even through the disguise, those closer to the stage recognise Cleo Sol, widely believed to be the voice of many of Sault’s songs (plus the fact that she’s married to Inflo is perhaps a bit of a giveaway :D)</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Twenty minutes into this mammoth gig and things take a turn into what the setlist in front of the conductor calls the “Africa section”, with a group of drummers and percussionists starting up on a stage that’s now become visible tucked in a corner behind the catwalk, as dancers in bright costumes explode out into the audience for a real celebration of rhythm. And as if we hadn’t already had enough variety, when the Africa section is done, up pops London rapper Little Simz kicking the shit out of her Inflo-produced track “Fear No Man” whilst hidden under a silver balaclava (this is all getting a bit Masked Singer, isn’t it?) followed by Tamil musician Ganavya, the only singer this evening not in disguise, who performs what starts as a beautiful piano and voice cover of Monsoon’s 1982 hit “Ever So Lonely” and then morphs into something of her own making whilst trying to get the crowd involved a little bit of light singalong (“I heard there are a lot of you who can sing out there!”), which doesn’t work out too well because nobody seems to know the song and frankly we’re all a bit too dumbstruck. </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Then the orchestra starts up again behind me playing “Gods Will”, so I spin around to watch that, but at the same time the perspex capsule in that central VIP area from which I’d been so rudely ejected earlier lights up like a spaceship - here we go, I think, Sault are going to start playing in that box and I’m going to become overwhelmed with rage that I’m not 100m over thataway - but wait, what’s going on? The capsule, I can see from the video feed across the room, has hollow walls which are now filling up with a smoke screen so that it’s impossible to see anything that may or may not be happening in there.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">And then, up starts a proper sounding band for the first time this evening, but I can tell it’s not coming from anywhere near that capsule … wait - what’s that in the wall between the choir and the stage behind the catwalk? Oh, it’s a massive semi-transparent light box in which we can now see silhouettes of some musicians and a vocalist… making the people in that VIP area now some of the furthest people away from the action. Thank you security for saving me from my worst gig fear, and I apologise for mentally cursing you out for the last hour! </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">——</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Now that we know where the stage is and where the band are, things start to feel a bit more like a regular gig, but only a bit. Another cryptic Instagram post a couple of weeks before the gig talked about a “new unreleased album live for the first and only time” and so that’s what they proceed to play next: a brand new 9-song album entitled “Acts of Faith”, which on this showing would slot in very nicely alongside the band’s other progressive R&B concept albums but will never get the chance to, because it’s seemingly confirmed after the show that “first and only time” actually meant that nobody will ever be hearing this music again after tonight. It’s hard to imagine just how much most artists would love to have the luxury of discarding an entire album of this quality after a single airing but it seems these guys can churn this stuff out in their sleep?</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">The “Acts of Faith” set sees the band playing in the big light box alongside lots more dancers, who start out as human swans - and there are occasional forays onto the stage from Cleo Sol (in a variety of disguises). This bit of the gig ends with her belting out a rousing song called “Pray for Me” which everyone present agrees will be a highlight of the new album when it comes out (probably a good job they don’t announce there and then that nobody is ever hearing it again…)</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">And finally, 90 minutes after the show started, it’s time for the crowd-pleasing encore of “hits” from across the band’s catalogue (except that with 19 songs over 75 minutes it’s longer than some bands’ headline sets.) This also sees various members of the band leaving the confines of their privacy box at times, with a small band setup on the main stage for a couple of songs (with all the performers in ski masks, naturally) as well as more dancers, Brazilian drummers and guest appearances from not-terribly well disguised musicians like Jack Peñate, Michael Kiwanuka, Kid Sister, Little Simz again and rapper Chronnix. The is-it-isn’t-it-a-stage capsule actually gets used for some extra band action at one point, and they even find time to appear on another previously unnoticed mini-stage up in the wall of the warehouse for half a song - seriously, hadn’t they spent enough money on this event yet? </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Cleo even spontaneously breaks protocol at one point and pops out of the light box to ask if we’re all having a good time and tell us how much fun she’s having, in the only audience interaction we get all night. Things are getting dangerously close to being fun and exhilarating rather than mysterious and cryptic -not sure how to feel about this!</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">But after an epic “best of” set, and with fan favourite “Wildfires” bringing everything to a close, the lights finally come up and this completely unrepeatable experiences draws to a close, and I am genuinely caught by confused surprise at the realisation that I now have to go and catch a train to go home. A more immersive gig I will likely never see: the use of the space to confound typical gig-going behaviours, the creative ways of obscuring the band’s identities, the hundreds of supporting dancers and musicians, the numerous clues and puzzles hidden in the set design; oh and the fantastic music, some of which we are the only people who will ever hear - it’s a lot to take in but it’s easily the best thing I’ve seen this year and quite possibly over time will go down as the thing I was most lucky to be a part of. </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 22px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;"></span><br /></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;">For a debut gig, it’s not a bad effort. ;)</span> </p>James Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12259324114219505127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7827881048969433882.post-23323169510088593472020-12-11T11:16:00.005-08:002020-12-29T10:15:31.998-08:00The Divine Comedy's "The Booklovers" - A detailed runthrough...<p><i>(This blog is just basically now my dumping ground for Divine Comedy-related lists, isn't it?)</i></p><p><i><br /></i>I recently had cause to be posting a load of background information about "The Booklovers" onto a forum, and I thought, wouldn't it be interesting to have a complete list of all the authors mentioned, who they are, what the little speech samples say, and what they're referring to?</p><p>And then I found that a lot of the job had been done by <a href="https://www.ashortsite.com/songs/?keyword=promenade03">Ashortsite.com</a> - a fantastic start there by Alphi and various other helpers. I have copied a lot of that text to use as a basis so thanks Alphi for making such a great jumping off point available!</p><p>It just remained then for me to fill in the gaps by listening 37 times to the song very loudly on headphones, Googling the authors' names (how did it always seem to know which one I was looking for next, is everyone playing this game?) and making some of my own deductions! <i>(Still very proud of my Daniel Defoe sleuth work...)</i> Thanks also to a few members of the SHTV forum for their corrections and additions!</p><p>It may also be interesting to know that some of the voices are Neil, some are samples from films and TV shows, and some of them are other people who visited the studio whilst "Promenade" was being recorded. Apparently Neil would hand visitors a list of names and ask them to choose a couple to impersonate in whatever way they saw fit!</p><p>Here we go then, buckle up...</p><p><b><u>The Booklovers</u></b></p><p><i>"This book deals with epiphenomenalism, which has to do with consciousness as a mere accessory of physiological processes whose presence or absence... makes no difference... whatever are you doing?" - </i>The opening sample is from the 1957 film "Funny Face", where Audrey Hepburn is trying to sell someone a book - a direct influence on the reason this song came to be, as mentioned by Neil in his new liner notes for Promenade!</p><ul style="margin-top: 0cm;" type="square">
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Aphra
Behn</b> (“Hello” in a hoarse voice) (England, 1640-1689) is said to
be the first female novelist.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Miguel
De Cervantes</b> (“Donkey”) (Spain, 1547-1616) wrote <i>Don
Quixote</i>, where the hero’s sidekick Sancho Panza rides a donkey instead
of a horse. Presumably the joke here is that most British people pronounce
Don Quixote as “Donkey Oaty” <span face=""Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol-ext; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji";">😉</span><o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Daniel
Defoe</b> (“it’s a Crisp ‘N Dry day!”) (England, 1660-1731)
wrote <i>Robinson Crusoe</i>, where the hero christens his companion Friday, because it’s the day they meet. Crisp ‘N Dry is a British brand of
cooking oil – with a famous advertising catchphrase claiming to make any
day into a “Fry day” ….! (torturous, but oh so funny)<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Samuel
Richardson </b>(“Hello?”) (England, 1689-1761), a novelist best known for
3 epistolary novels.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Henry
Fielding</b> (“tittle tattle, tittle tattle”) (England, 1707-1754)
wrote <i>Tom Jones</i>, a novel of a gossipy style (i.e
tittle-tattle). The corresponding extract is said to be taken from the
film of the same name with Albert Finney.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Lawrence
Sterne</b> (“Helloooohhh…”) (Britain, 1713-1768) wrote <i>Tristram
Shandy</i>, a novel displaying much bawdy humour, hence the Leslie
Phillips-style “Hello…”.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Mary
Wollstonecraft</b> (“Vindicated!”) (Britain, 1759-1797) was one of
the first feminists and wrote <i>A Vindication of the Rights of Women</i>.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Jane
Austen</b> (“Here I am!” in a posh girly voice) (England, 1775-1817) Austen’s
heroines are somewhat perky and childish.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Sir
Walter Scott</b> (“We’re all doomed” in a Scottish accent) (Scotland,
1771-1832) inspired Private Fraser in the sitcom <i>Dad’s Army</i>, another
Scot, whose catchphrase was indeed “We’re all doomed!”<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Leo
Tolstoy </b>(“Yes!”) (Russia, 1862-1910) a Russian writer who is regarded
as one of the greatest authors of all time.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Honore
de Balzac</b> (“oui!”) (France, 1799-1850) A French novelist and
playwright. <o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Edgar
Allan Poe</b> (*horror movie scream*) (US, 1809-1849) wrote
short-stories in the fantasy / horror genre <o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Charlotte</b> (“hello?”)
England, 1816-1855), <b>Emily</b> (“hello?”) (England,
1818-1848) and <b>Anne Brontë</b> (“hello?” in a deep man’s
voice) (England, 1820-1849). It has been suggested that this is a
reference to the fact that they used male pseudonyms to publish their
works initially, but Neil confirmed in a 1999 interview that he just thought
it was funny and unexpected to have the third voice be a man! <i>One of
the female voices was recorded by Alice Lemon of The Catchers, who were
recording at The Church studio at the same time.</i><o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Nikolai
Gogol</b> <span style="color: red;">(“Vas chi”??) </span>(Russia, 1809-1852)
A Russian novelist, short story writer and playwright. No idea what “vas
chi” refers to, any ideas?<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Gustave
Flaubert </b>(“Oui?”) (France, 1821-1880) A French novelist, and the
leading exponent of literary realism.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>William
Makepeace Thackeray </b>(“Call me William Makepeace Thackeray”) (England, 1811-1863)
Known for Vanity Fair. Presumably a joke on the standard phrase “Call me Jim”
etc.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Nathaniel
Hawthorne</b> (“The Letter A”) (US, 1804-1864) wrote <i>The
Scarlet Letter</i>, where the heroine stitches a red A for adultery on her
clothes.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Herman
Melville</b> (“Ahoooooy theeeere!”) US, 1819-1891) wrote sea stories,
such as <i>Moby Dick</i>.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Charles
Dickens</b> (“London is so beautiful at this time of year…”) (Britain,
1812-1870) wrote many novels which took place in London. The sample comes
from Michael Palin playing Cardinal Richelieu in an episode of <i>Monty
Python</i> (Series 1, Episode 3 – “Court Scene” sketch)<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Anthony
Trollope </b>(“good e-good-e-goo-goo-good-evening”) (England, 1815-1882)
was an English novelist and civil servant. Not sure why the voice stammers
his introduction, but he did apparently die from a fit of the giggles, so
maybe that’s why? (Another Monty Python quote, apparently, from Series 1 episode 6.)<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Fyodor
Dostoevsky </b>(“Here come the sleepers…”) (1821-1881, Russia). Novelist
and journalist. A quote from his piece “The Adolescent”: “Some sleepers
have intelligent faces even in sleep, while other faces, even intelligent
ones, become very stupid in sleep and therefore ridiculous. I don't know
what makes that happen; I only want to say that a laughing man, like a
sleeping one, most often knows nothing about his face.” <o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Mark
Twain</b> (“I can’t even spell Mississippi!”) (US, 1835-1910) wrote
stories about the Mississippi river including <i>Huckleberry Finn</i>.
Mississippi is also a notoriously difficult word to spell. <i>The voice
playing Mark Twain is Ben Wardle, an A&R man who wanted to sign Neil
at the time.</i><o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>George
Eliot</b> (“George reads German?”) (Britain, 1819-1880) this is a
sample from the film <i>A Room with a View</i>, which as we all know,
Neil was obsessed with. The movie quote does not actually relate to George Eliot, but a character in the film. <o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Emile
Zola</b> (“J’accuse!”) (France, 1840-1902) wrote <i>J’accuse!</i> a
letter in support of Jewish colonel Dreyfus against anti-Semites.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Henry
James</b> (“Howdy, Miss Wharton!”) (British of American origin,
1843-1916) He and <b>Edith Wharton</b> (US, 1862-1937) (“Well hello, Mr
James!”), mentioned later in the song, were lovers.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Thomas
Hardy</b> (“Ooo-arrrhhh!”) (Britain, 1840-1928) wrote stories set in the
fictional British county of Wessex, meant to be in the West Country, hence
the accent.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Joseph
Conrad</b> (“I’m a bloody boring writer”) (British of Polish origin,
1857-1924) was an impressionist writer. Evidently whoever picked this
voice to record wasn’t much of a fan!<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Katherine
Mansfield</b> (*pathetic cough*) (Britain, 1888-1923) died of TB.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>DH
Lawrence</b> (“Never heard of it”) (Britain, 1885-1930) wrote highly
controversial novels with emancipated heroines. Some were even censored
(for instance, <i>Lady Chatterley’s Lover</i>). Thus, people who had
read him might deny having ever heard of him. This is a sample from the
film <i>A Room with a View, based on a novel by EM Forster. </i><o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>EM
Forster</b> (*sighing*“Never heard of it”) (Britain, 1879-1970) This
is yet another sample from the movie <i>A Room with a View (</i>different
from the one before). Presumably a little joke, as everyone who was paying
attention would know by now that Neil was obsessed with Forster.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>James
Joyce</b> (“Hello there” in an Irish accent) (Ireland, 1882-1941) Irish
novelist, short story writer, poet, teacher, and literary critic. Author of "Ulysses", a novel in which everything happens on one day. Neil was trying to read this novel whilst writing "Promenade", which gave him the idea for the album's central concept.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Virginia
Woolf</b> (“I’m losing my mind!”) (Britain, 1882-1941) suffered from
mental health issues and ultimately committed suicide.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Marcel
Proust</b> (“Je ne m’en souviens plus” = “I don’t remember it any more”) (France,
1871-1922) wrote <i>Remembrance of Things Past</i>. Good joke,
someone! <o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>F
Scott Fitzgerald</b> (“baaah bababa baaaah”) (US, 1896-1940) wrote ‘<a href="https://www.ashortsite.com/songs/?keyword=liberation03">Bernice Bobs
Her Hair</a>’.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Ernest
Hemingway </b><i>(<b>“</b></i>That’s ‘Papa’ to you, son”) (US, 1899-1961) A
recently worked out connection, the 2020 mix makes this quote much clearer and now seems to be a clear reference to Hemingway’s nickname of “Papa”. <i>(Previous attempts you can find online
say “I forgot the ether”, which doesn’t make much sense.)</i><b><o:p></o:p></b></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Herman
Hesse</b> (“Oh es ist so häßlich” = “oh, it’s so ugly”) (Switzerland,
1899-1961) Presumably a play on the similar sound between “Hesse” and the first syllable of “häßlich”.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Evelyn
Waugh</b> (“Whooooaaarrrr!”) (Britain, 1903-1966) A wordplay on his
name.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>William
Faulkner</b> (“Tu connais William Faulkner?” = “Do you know William
Faulkner?”) (US, 1897-1962) – this is a sample taken from the movie <i>Breathless
(A Bout de Souffle)</i>, which pops up again later, and also in “When the
Lights Go Out All Over Europe”.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Anaïs
Nin</b> (“The strand of pearls”) (US, 1903-1977) She wrote erotic
books, but it’s not exactly clear what the pearls refer to.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Ford
Madox Ford</b> (“Any colour as long as it’s black”) (Britain,
1873-1939). A joke on the famous quote from car-maker Henry Ford. <o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Jean-Paul
Sartre</b> (“Let's go to the Dôme, Simone!”) France, 1905-1980)
and <b>Simone de Beauvoir</b> (“C'est exact, present” = “That’s
right, here!”) (France, 1908-1986) were a famous couple of intellectuals.
Le Dôme was a bar in Paris frequented by many writers it seems.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Albert
Camus</b> (“The beach… the beach!”) (France, 1913-1960) wrote <i>The
Outsider</i>, where the protagonist kills a man on a beach.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Franz
Kafka</b> (“WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?”) (Czechoslovakia, 1883-1924)
wrote paranoiac works like <i>The Trial</i>. The sample is perhaps
taken from the film with Harold Pinter.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Thomas
Mann</b> (“Mam”) (Germany, 1875-1955). Mam/Mann? With bad
handwriting, it works…!<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Graham
Greene</b> (“Call me Pinkie, lovely…”) (Britain, 1904-1991) Greene wrote <i>Brighton
Rock</i>, a novel which was adapted into a film with Richard Attenborough
as Pinkie. The sample is taken from the film.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Jack
Kerouac</b> (“Me car’s broken down!” in a Yorkshire accent) (US, 1922-1969)
The amusing accent is quite a juxtaposition with his book “On The Road”,
the story of a road trip across the US. <o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>William
S. Burroughs</b> (“Woowwwwww!”) (US, 1914-1997) took LSD and wrote
some quite hallucinatory stuff.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Sir
Kingsley Amis</b> (*cough*) (Britain, 1922-1995) Not sure if there is any significance to the cough!.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Doris
Lessing</b> (“I hate men!”) (Britain, 1919-2013) is a feminist
writer. I can recall in the 1990s feminists (particularly female comedians)
having a reputation for hating men, so this was probably amusing at the
time...<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Vladimir
Nabokov</b> (“Hello, little girl…”) (British of Russian origin,
1899-1977) wrote <i>Lolita</i>, where the protagonist is obsessed with a
young girl.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>William Golding</b> (“Achtung, Busby!”) (Britain, 1911-1993) wrote Lord of
The Flies, which describes how a group of young boys beached on a desert
island regress to a tribal and violent stage. One of the protagonists is
called Busby, and the joke is a reference to the album <i>Achtung
Baby</i> by U2 (1991).<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>JG
Ballard</b> (“Instrument binnacle”) (Britain, 1930-2009) wrote <i>Crash</i>.
“Instrument binnacle” is an expression Ballard uses for a car’s dashboard.
<i>This is another line recorded by Ben Wardle</i>.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Richard
Brautigan </b>(“How are you doing?”) (US, 1935-1984) an American novelist,
poet, and short story writer. His work often clinically and
surrealistically employs black comedy, parody, and satire, with
emotionally blunt prose describing pastoral American life intertwining
with technological progress.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Milan
Kundera </b>(“I don’t do interviews”) (Czech Republic, 1929- ) A quick
Google suggests that plenty of interviews have been done with the author
of “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” so not sure what this is about…<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Ivy
Compton Burnett </b>(“Hello…”) (Britain, 1884-1969) An author of several
novels consisting mainly of dialogue and focusing on family life among the
late Victorian or Edwardian upper middle class.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Paul
Theroux </b>(“Have a nice day!”) (US, 1941-) A travel writer, whose best-known
work is The Great Railway Bazaar. The quote is presumably some Brit’s dig
at the perceived fake cheerfulness of Americans!<b><o:p></o:p></b></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Günter
Grass</b> (“I’ve found snails!”) (Germany, 1927-2015) A novelist,
poet and playwright. Snails… in the grass… get it? <span face=""Segoe UI Emoji",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol-ext; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: "Segoe UI Emoji";">😉</span><o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Gore
Vidal</b> (“Oh, it makes me mad…”)(US, 1925-2012) Another sample
taken from Monty Python, in a sketch from series 1, episode 3, where John
Cleese is dressed as a chef, hitting a table with a meat cleaver (quite… gory?). Also Vidal was known for getting worked up about various causes. </li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>John
Updike</b> (“Run rabbit, run rabbit, run run run”) (US, 1932-2009)
wrote “<i>Rabbit, Run”</i>. A novel whose title is presumably based
on the wartime song “Run Rabbit run”, whose rhythm is used in the quote
here.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Kazuo
Ishiguro</b> (“Ah so, old chap!”) (British writer, born in Japan in
1954) wrote <i>The Remains of the Day</i>, where the main character
is a butler in a country house. A juxtaposition between a Japanese-sounding
expression (from Japanese ā sō, interjection signaling attention or
understanding in conversation), and an English one, which might be used by
people in country houses.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Malcolm
Bradbury </b>(<b>“</b>Stroke John Steinbeck, stroke JD Salinger”)
(Britain, 1932-2000) I can’t find any particular connection between these
3 authors, so my strong guess here is that Neil had all 3 written on his list
to choose between (i.e. “Malcolm Bradbury / John Steinbeck / JD Salinger”)
and whoever picked that line decided to read them exactly like that.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Iain
Banks</b> (“Too orangey for crows!”) (Scotland, 1954-2013) One of
Banks’s most famous books is called <i>The Crow Road</i>. The sample is a
reference to an advert for Kia-Ora orange squash, which starred… animated
crows.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Dame
AS Byatt</b> (“Nine tenths of the law, you know…”) (born in Britain
in 1936) wrote <i>Possession</i>. A reference to the legal proverb
“Possession is nine-tenths of the law”. <o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Martin
Amis</b> (*Grunt*) (born in the UK, 1949) Presumably a reference to the
vulgar behaviour of the characters in many of his books. <o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Brett
Easton Ellis</b> (*blood-curdling scream*) (born in the US in 1964) -
wrote <i>American Psycho</i>. <o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Umberto
Eco</b> (“I don’t understand this either”) (Italy, 1932-2016) wrote
books which are considered quite hard to understand.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Gabriel
García Marquez</b> (“Mi casa, tu casa” = “My house is your house”) (Colombia,
1927-2014). Presumably this was the only Spanish phrase that whoever
recorded this voice could remember…<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Roddy
Doyle</b> (“Ha ha ha!”) (born in Ireland in 1958) wrote <i>Paddy
Clarke, Ha Ha Ha</i>.<o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b>Salman
Rushdie</b> (“Names that will live forever…”) (born in India in 1947). It
seems that this quote is not specifically related to Salman Rushdie, but a
general comment to wrap up the song. It most likely again relates again to
“A Bout de Souffle”, where the film’s heroine is interviewing a journalist
and they discuss how artists become immortal once their works are famous.
(as once again referenced in “When The Lights Go Out…”!). This is yet another Monty Python sample, from series 1, episode 6. </li>
</ul><p>So now you know.</p><p>Please feel free to leave any corrections in the comments below!</p>James Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12259324114219505127noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7827881048969433882.post-26302534910852677522020-10-16T09:37:00.020-07:002020-12-16T14:13:14.118-08:00What's missing from the Divine Comedy's new boxset? (Extra tracks for "Venus, Cupid, Folly & Time")<p><i>Hello! What have we here? </i></p><p><i>A young reader... to what do I owe this pleasant surprise? </i></p><p><i>How may I be of service this dark and wintry night? Ahh, I see. You wish me to look into the boxset. </i></p><p><i>Your boxset! After demos... B-sides... half finished doodles..</i></p><p><i>After your last badly recorded dance music pastiche...</i></p><p><i>Okay, my pretty.</i></p><p><i>Just cross my social media with shares, and I'll see what I can do.</i></p><p><i>Wait! The fog is lifting...</i></p><p>-----</p><p>*ahem*</p><p>Sorry for that, I don't know what came over me. I'm just in a bit of a Neil Hannon zone right now, having spent the last week listening to the man's every recorded note, and what a wonderful experience it has been. But hold on, is it really every note?</p><p>Well, yeah, pretty much - I have counted precisely 6 original songs* officially released under the name The Divine Comedy which don't appear on the set in any form whatsoever. And there are probably good reasons for those (he recently explained how much he hated one of them, for example...)</p><p>But, having bought the boxset and enjoyed the wonderful new mastering, packaging and bonus tracks, can you retire all those old CD singles and promo discs? That depends on your level of collector-OCD, I guess. But here's a chronological list of everything** previously officially released***, that doesn't appear on the boxset in that exact form. And to make it more fun, I've organised them into Bonus Discs so that, if you so desire, you can burn your own CDs and slot them into the boxset yourself (assuming you own all the tracks - actually even I don't have more than 95% of them... yet.)</p><p><i>* "Soul Destroyer", "I Am", "Too Young to Die", "This Side of Paradise", "Oscar the Hypno-Dog" and "Don't Mention the War"</i></p><p><i>** ok, by "everything", I mean "everything I am aware of", please feel free to let me know if I missed something... but please be nice about it.</i></p><p><i>*** I've included things only released on promo CDs, just to mess with you and make collecting them all extra-hard, because that's the kind of person I am.</i></p><p><i>-----</i></p><p><b><u>Liberation "Disc 3"</u></b></p><p><u>Live at La Cigale 6-11-1993 (French Promo CD):</u></p><p style="text-align: left;">1. Bernice Bobs Her Hair (live)</p><p style="text-align: left;"><i>2. Three Sisters (live)</i> <i>(is on the bonus disc but should live here really</i>)</p><p style="text-align: left;">3. I Was Born Yesterday (live)</p><p style="text-align: left;">4. Your Daddy's Car (live)</p><p style="text-align: left;">5. Life's What You make It (live)</p><p style="text-align: left;">6. Europe By Train (live)</p><p style="text-align: left;">7. Lucy (live)</p><p style="text-align: left;">8. Jackie (live - Jacques Brel cover)</p><p style="text-align: left;"><i>---</i></p><p>9. Hate My Way (Throwing Muses cover- from "Indulgence No. 1")</p><p>10. Untitled Melody (original mix) (Edwyn Collins cover - from "Indulgence No. 1") - <i>it has been suggested by readers that the version on the boxset is a remix!</i></p><p>11. Europe by Train (Traveller's Companion mix) (from "Indulgence No. 1")</p><p>12. Bleak Landscape (home demo 1993 - from "A Secret History - Rarities" CD)</p><p>13. Moon River (Henry Mancini cover, home demo 1991 - from "A Secret History - Rarities" CD)</p><p></p><p>14. Soul Destroyer (Studio Demo, Bonbridge 1989 – from “A Secret History – Rarities” CD)</p><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><p><b><u>Promenade “Disc 3”</u></b></p><p><u>1994 live tracks from the Secret History "Rarities" CD</u></p><p>1. A Drinking Song (live in Dublin)</p><p>2. Bernice Bobs Her Hair (live in London)</p><p>3. The Booklovers (live in Paris)</p><p>4. The Model (live in Dusseldorf)</p><p><br /></p><p><u>Indulgence Number 2 (7" EP, live in April 1994)</u></p><p>5. A Drinking Song (live)</p><p>6. Tonight We Fly (live)</p><p><i>( "When the Lights Go Out" on the Liberation bonus disc seems to be from this release)</i></p><p><b><u><br /></u></b></p><p><u>A Promenade Companion (bonus CD from initial pressing of "Promenade"</u></p><p>7. Don't Look Down (acoustic)</p><p>8. Queen of the South (acoustic)</p><p>9.Your Daddy's Car (acoustic)</p><p>10. I Was Born Yesterday (acoustic<u>) </u></p><p><b><u><br /></u></b></p><p></p><p>11. The Booklovers (instrumental, from 2006 BMG promo sampler)</p><p><b><u><br /></u></b></p><p><b><u><br /></u></b></p><p><b><u>Casanova “Disc 3”</u></b></p><p>1. There is a Light That Never Goes Out (The Smiths cover, from "The Smiths is Dead" compilation album)</p><p>2. Your Daddy's Car (Mark Radcliffe Session, 29/04/1996 - from "Becoming More Like Alfie" CD single</p><p>3. The Dogs and the Horses (NYC acoustic, September 1994) - from "Becoming More Like Alfie" CD single</p><p><br /></p><p><u>September Sound Session August 1996:</u></p><p>4. A Woman of the World ("band version") - (from "Frog Princess" CD single)</p><p>5. Tonight We Fly ("band version") - (from "Frog Princess" CD single)</p><p>6. Through a Long and Sleepless Night (live in the studio) - (from "Volume 17" compilation CD)</p><p><br /></p><p>7. Neptune's Daughter (live at Newcastle Riverside, 13/10/1996 - from "Frog Princess" CD single</p><p>8. Songs of Love (alternate “pre-mix” – from a Setanta promo sampler CD) </p><p><br /></p><p><u>Live in London 13-Nov-1996, From BBC Promo CD "The Mix 144"</u></p><p>9. Something for the Weekend (live London 13-11-1996, “The Mix 144” BBC promo CD)</p><p>10. Becoming More Like Alfie (live London 13-11-1996, “The Mix 144” BBC promo CD)</p><p>11. A Woman of the World (live London 13-11-1996, “The Mix 144” BBC promo CD)</p><p>12. The Frog Princess (live London 13-11-1996, “The Mix 144” BBC promo CD)</p><p><i>I'm open to suggestions that this doesn't belong here, being a radio show, but hey, it was pressed on a real CD which some people apparently own!</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p></p><p>13. Comme Beaucoup De Messieurs (alternate version, from promo CD)</p><p>14. Something Before the Weekend (from CD single) - <i>possibly a different version to the one on the boxset?</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><b><u>A Short Album About Love "Discs 3&4"</u></b></p><p><u>Live at Shepherds' Bush Empire, 20th October 1996</u></p><p><i>Ok, so here's my idea: between the soundtrack of the new DVD, the "Everybody Knows" CD singles and the "Rarities" CD, you can now assemble all but one track from the real concert into a stunning live album. (the tracks on ASAAL itself were recorded in rehearsal, with vocals mostly from studio overdubs, as admitted by Neil in the liner notes...)</i></p><p><i>This does mean including some tracks which actually ARE included in the boxset, but I think it's worth it...</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i>1.Bath (from the "Everybody Knows" CD single) - actually on the ASAAL bonus disc but using this version allows it to seamlessly flow into...</i></p><p>2. Tonight We Fly (from the "Everybody Knows" CD Single)</p><p>3. Middle Class Heroes (from the "Everybody Knows" CD Single)</p><p><i>4. Your Daddy's Car (from the "Everybody Knows" CD Single) - actually on the ASAAL bonus disc but lives here</i></p><p><i>"Becoming More Like Alfie" goes here in the setlist but has only ever been released on an impossibly rare promo VHS so good luck tracking that down...</i></p><p><i>5. Johnny Mathis' Feet (from the "Everybody Knows" CD single) - actually on the ASAAL bonus disc but lives here</i></p><p><i>6. Europe By Train (from the "Everybody Knows" CD single) - actually on the Liberation bonus disc but lives here</i></p><p>7. The Frog Princess (from "A Secret History – Rarities” CD)</p><p><i>--- (interval) ---</i></p><p>8. In Pursuit of Happiness (actual live version, from the "A Short Film DVD")</p><p>9. Everybody Knows (Except You) (actual live version, from the "A Short Film DVD")</p><p>10. Someone (actual live version, from the "A Short Film DVD")</p><p>11. Timewatching (actual live version, from the "A Short Film DVD")</p><p>12. If… (actual live version, from the "A Short Film DVD")</p><p>13. If I Were You (actual live version, from the "A Short Film DVD")</p><p>14. I’m All You Need (actual live version, from the "A Short Film DVD")</p><p><i>15. Make it Easy On Yourself (from the "Everybody Knows" CD single) - actually on the ASAAL bonus disc but lives here)</i></p><p><i>--- encore 1 ---</i></p><p><i>16. A Drinking Song</i> <i>(from the "Everybody Knows" CD single) - actually on the Promenade bonus disc but lives here</i></p><p>17. Something for the Weekend - (from the "Everybody Knows.." CD single)</p><p><i>--- encore 2 ---</i></p><p>18. The Dogs and The Horses - (from the “A Short Film" DVD)</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><b><u>Fin de Siecle "disc 3"</u></b></p><p>1. Generation Sex (home demo) - (from "A Secret History - Rarities" CD)</p><p>2. Time Lapse (Michael Nyman Cover - from "Generation Sex" CD1)</p><p>3. Chasing Sheep Is Best Left to Shepherds (Michael Nyman Cover - from "Generation Sex" CD2)</p><p>4. Miranda (Michael Nyman Cover - from "Certainty of Chance" CD1)</p><p>5. Knowing the Ropes (Michael Nyman Cover - from "Certainty of Chance" CD2)</p><p>6. The Heart of Rock and Roll (acoustic version of "Sweden" with different lyrics - from National Express cassingle)</p><p>7. Going Downhill Fast (acoustic version - from "National Express" CD1)</p><p>8. Radioactivity (Kraftwerk cover - from "National Express" CD1)</p><p>9. Famous (Magnetic Fields cover - from "National Express" CD2)</p><p>10. Commuter Love (live in London 1998) - from "Secret History" Rarities CD)</p><p>11. National Express (live "somewhere in a large field" in 1999 - from "Secret History" Rarities CD)</p><p>12. Life on Mars (David Bowie cover - live with Yann Tiersen in Rennes 1998 - from "Secret History" Rarities CD)</p><p>13. Generation Sex (“Katie Puckrik version”) – (from the original retail CD of “Fin De Siecle”)</p><p>14. Certainty of Chance (“Neil’s monologue version”) - (from the original retail CD of “Fin De Siecle”)</p><p>15. Here Comes the Flood (instrumental, from 2006 BMG promo sampler)</p><p>16. Lucy (live at Eurorockeenes de Belfort festival, 5th July 1998 - from the CD "Les Eurockéennes de Belfort 100 %")</p><p>17. I've Been to a Marvellous Party [Trouser Enthusiasts Formaldehyde Spritzer Mix] (I've Been to a Marvellous Party 12")</p><p>18. I've Been to a Marvellous Party [Sharp South Park Remix] (I've Been to a Marvellous Party 12")</p><p>19. I've Been to a Marvellous Party [Floorgazm Remix] (I've Been to a Marvellous Party 12")</p><p>20. I've Been to a Marvellous Party [Pink Noise Mix] (I've Been to a Marvellous Party 12")</p><p></p><p><i>(I put the remixes last so you don't have to listen to them ;) )</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><b><u>A Secret History Bonus Disc, aka "what do you have against this period, Neil?"</u></b></p><p>1. Europop (live at the Bowlie weekender 24/04/1999, from Gin-Soaked Boy cassingle)</p><p>2. Songs of Love (Phil Thornalley remix) (from Gin-soaked Boy CD 1)</p><p>3. I Am (with Brian Eno) (from Gin-soaked Boy CD 1)</p><p>4. The Pop Singer's Fear of the Pollen Count ('99 version) (from "A Secret History")</p><p>5. Your Daddy's Car ('99 remix)(from "A Secret History")</p><p>6. Too Young to Die (from "A Secret History")</p><p>7. Eric the Gardener (acoustic version, from Pop-Singer's Fear CD 1)</p><p>8. This Side of Paradise (from Pop-Singer's Fear CD 2)</p><p>9. Vapour Trail (Ride cover, from Pop-Singer's Fear CD 2)</p><p></p><p>10. Jackie (Jacques Brel cover, from Pop-Singer's Fear cassingle)</p><p><br /></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><b><u>Regeneration "Disc 3"</u></b></p><p>1. Love What You Do (Deadly Avenger Mix) (from "Love What You Do" CD1)</p><p>2. Edward The Confessor (alternate version) (from "Regeneration" Japanese CD) <i>The version on the boxset is confirmed to be the "official B-side", not this version.</i></p><p><br /></p><p><u>Live at Oxford Brookes University, 21/03/2001 (from "Bad Ambassador" CD and 7" singles)</u></p><p>2. Bad Ambassador (live)</p><p>3. Pictures of Matchstick Men (live - Status Quo cover)</p><p>4. Sweden (live)</p><p>5. Life on Earth (live)</p><p><br /></p><p>6. Les Jours Tristes (Yann Tiersen featuring Neil Hannon) (from "Perfect Lovesong" CD1)</p><p>7. Thinking The Unthinkable (finished version, from "Perfect Lovesong" CD2) </p><p>8. Oh Yeah (Roxy Music cover, from "Perfect Lovesong" CD2)</p><p>9. Perfect Lovesong (iMonster's Perfect Lovebirds mix) (from "Perfect Lovesong" DVD Single)</p><p>10. Bad Ambassador (acoustic - Stratford Upon Avon, 02/02/2001) - (from "Re:Regeneration" promo CD)</p><p>11. Generation Sex (live - Dublin Temple Bar 22/01/2001) - (from "Re:Regeneration" promo CD) <i>This is a really terrible version, Neil sounds SO bored ;)</i></p><p>12. The Power of Love (Frankie Goes to Hollywood cover - live Dublin 20/11/2001) - (from "Fan Club CD #1")</p><p>13. Geronimo (live Dublin 20/11/2001) (from "Fan Club CD #1")</p><p></p><p>14. Love What You Do “Radio Edit” (from French promo CD, actually a remix with added percussion)</p><p>15. Regeneration (Acoustic - Oui FM Session) (from French 3-track promo CD called "Regeneration")</p><p><i>16-19. "Love What You Do", "Timestretched", "Perfect Lovesong" and "Lost Property" (instrumentals - from unknown promo CD) - I have now heard these and they sound great, but not sure how "officially released" they are...</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><b><u>Absent Friends "Disc 3"</u></b></p><p>1. Come Home Billy Bird (demo version) - (from "Come Home Billy Bird" CD1)</p><p>2. All Things (original version) - (from "Come Home Billy Bird" 7" single and the "Absent Friends Companion" CD) <i>With the daft computerised voices ...!</i></p><p>3. Something for the Weekend (live Ken Bruce Radio 2 session - 30/03/2004) - (from Absent Friends CD2)</p><p>4. Absent Friends (live Ken Bruce Radio 2 session - 30/03/2004) - (from Absent Friends CD2)</p><p>5. Anthem for Bored Youth (final version) - (from "Absent Friends" 7" and the "Absent Friends Companion" CD)</p><p>6. No One Knows (Queens of the Stone Age cover - live Dublin 02/05/2004) - (from "Bavarian EP" Digital single)</p><p>7. Three Sisters (live Dublin 02/05/2004) - (from "Bavarian EP" Digital Single)</p><p>8. Our Mutual Friend (acoustic demo 2003) - (from "Bavarian EP" Digital Single)</p><p>9. Do You Realize? (Flaming Lips cover, Rehearsal, London 2004) - (from "Fan Club CD #2)</p><p>10. Going Downhill Fast (live, London 16/06/2004) - (from "Fan Club CD #2)</p><p>11. Lucy (live, London 16/06/2004) - (from "Fan Club CD #2)</p><p>12. I Hold Your Hand in Mine (live, London, 16/06/2004) (MySpace exclusive track)</p><p><i>13. The Wreck of the Beautiful (early idea, circulating mp3, not sure if officially released?)</i></p><p></p><p>14. Our Mutual Friend (Home demo) (from "To Die a Virgin" CD2) </p><p>15. When the Lights Go Out All Over Europe (Live, Haldern Festival, August 2004) (from the compilation CD "Vollmilch 2004 - Ein Wochenende am Niederrhein")</p><p>16. Our Mutual Friend (live on the TV Show "Other Voices", December 2004 -from the compilation CD "Other Voices 3"</p><p>17. October (U2 Cover - Today FM live recording) - from ("Even Better Than The Real Thing, Volume 3" compilation, 2005)</p><p>18. Three Cheers For Pooh, Cottleston Pie, Piglet Ho (from the "Colours are Brighter" kids' CD, 2006)</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><b><u>Victo</u></b><b><u>ry for the Comic Muse "Disc 3"</u></b></p><p>1. Elaine (Demo version) - from "Diva Lady" 7" and digital singles</p><p>2. Births, Deaths and Marriages (final version) - from "Diva Lady" CD 2</p><p>3. Diva Lady (Black Holes demo) (from "Diva Lady" digital single)</p><p>4. Diva Lady (finished demo) (from "Diva Lady" digital single)</p><p>5. To Die a Virgin (live, London 06/07/2006) - (from "To Die a Virgin" Digital Single)</p><p>6. A Lady of a Certain Age (live, from the Basement, credited to Neil Hannon) (from "From the Basement" compilation DVD, 2008)</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><b><u>“Others” EP</u></b></p><p>1. At The Indie Disco (Mk1) – (from the Indie Disco digital single)</p><p>2. Napoleon Complex (original demo) – (from the “Bang Goes the Knighthood” iTunes deluxe edition) - <i>the boxset has a different demo</i></p><p>3. On the Barge (from the Indie Disco digital single) -<i> the boxset has a different demo</i></p><p>4. Time to Pretend (live - MGMT Cover) - (from the compilation "Dermot O'Leary Presents the Saturday Sessions, 2010)</p><p><u><br /></u></p><p><u>From "Oscar the Hypno-Dog" Various Artists charity album (2012)</u></p><p>5. One Ear Up One Ear Down (<i>ok, not TECHNICALLY credited to TDC but since the demo is on the boxset I think this one counts...)</i></p><p>6. Oscar the Hypno-Dog</p><p><br /></p><p>7. Don’t Mention the War (from the ”Modern Love” soundtrack, 2019)</p><p><br /></p><p>------</p><p><br /></p><p>So there you have it! A veritable treasure trove of live, acoustic and remixed tracks, covers, and a teeny tiny number of originals. </p><p>Now, if you really want to, you can also take these entire previously released CDs, and try to somehow jam them in your boxset, too- but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it...</p><p><br /></p><p><b><u>Absent Friends “Instrumentals”</u></b></p><p>•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The Wreck of the Beautiful (instrumental, from promo CDR)</p><p>•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Sticks & Stones (instrumental, from promo CDR)</p><p>•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Leaving Today (instrumental, from promo CDR)</p><p>•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Come Home Billy Bird (instrumental, from promo CDR)</p><p>•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>My Imaginary Friend (instrumental, from promo CDR)</p><p>•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Absent Friends (instrumental, from promo CDR)</p><p>•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Our Mutual Friend (instrumental, from promo CDR)</p><p>•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The Happy Goth (instrumental, from promo CDR)</p><p>•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Freedom Road (instrumental, from promo CDR)</p><p>•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Charmed Life (instrumental, from promo CDR)</p><p><b><u><br /></u></b></p><p><b><u>Live at the Palladium, 26th April 2004 (DVD)</u></b></p><p>01 Absent Friends</p><p>02 In Pursuit Of Happiness</p><p>03 Becoming More Like Alfie</p><p>04 Sticks & Stones</p><p>05 Leaving Today</p><p>06 Come Home Billy Bird</p><p>07 The Certainty Of Chance</p><p>08 When The Lights Go Out All Over Europe</p><p>09 No One Knows</p><p>10 National Express</p><p>11 Generation Sex</p><p>12 Songs Of Love</p><p>13 The Happy Goth</p><p>14 Our Mutual Friend</p><p>15 Three Sisters</p><p>16 Charmed Life</p><p>17 Tonight We Fly</p><p>18 Something For The Weekend</p><p></p><p>19 Sunrise</p><p><b><u><br /></u></b></p><p><br /></p><p><b><u>“Victory for the Comic Muse” instrumentals</u></b></p><p><br /></p><p>•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>To Die A Virgin (instrumental, from promo CDR)</p><p>•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Mother Dear (instrumental, from promo CDR)</p><p>•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Diva Lady (instrumental, from promo CDR)</p><p>•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The Light Of Day (instrumental, from promo CDR)</p><p>•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Party Fears Two (instrumental, from promo CDR)</p><p>•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World (instrumental, from promo CDR)</p><p>•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The Plough (instrumental, from promo CDR)</p><p>•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Snowball In Negative (instrumental, from promo CDR)</p><p><br /></p><p><b><u>Live at the cite de la Musique, Paris, September 2008 (bonus CD from "Bang Goes the Knighthood")</u></b></p><p>1: Amsterdam (Jacques Brel cover)</p><p>2: L'Amour Est Bleu (Andre Plopp, Pierre Cour cover)</p><p>3: Poupée De Cire Poupée De Son (Serge Gainsbourg cover)</p><p>4: Les Playboys (Jacques Dutronc, Jacques Lanzmann cover)</p><p>5: The Songs That We Sing (written by Jarvis Cocker, Jean-Benoît Dunckel, Neil Hannon, Nicolas Godin)</p><p>6: Les Copains D'Abord (Georges Brassens cover)</p><p>7: Anita Pettersen (Vincent Delerm cover)</p><p>8: Joe Le Taxi (Franck Langolff, Étienne Roda-Gil cover)</p><p>9: Je Changerais D'Avis (Ennio Morricone, Ghigo De Chiara, Maurizio Costanzo cover)</p><div><br /></div><p><b><u>Live at Somerset House, 17th July 2010 (Live at Somerset House Live album)</u></b></p><p>1-1 The Complete Banker 4:51</p><p>1-2 Assume The Perpendicular 4:01</p><p>1-3 Everybody Knows (Except You) 4:00</p><p>1-4 Your Daddy's Car 3:27</p><p>1-5 The Pop Singers Fear Of The Pollen Count 3:43</p><p>1-6 National Express 4:02</p><p>1-7 If... 5:01</p><p>1-8 Neapolitan Girl 3:08</p><p>1-9 Becoming More Like Alfie 2:55</p><p>2-1 Snowball In Negative 4:38</p><p>2-2 At The Indie Disco 4:14</p><p>2-3 Time To Pretend 4:24</p><p>2-4 Geronimo 2:02</p><p>2-5 Don't Look Down 5:17</p><p>2-6 A Lady Of Certain Age 5:18</p><p>2-7 Songs Of Love 6:07</p><p>2-8 When A Man Cries 4:19</p><p>2-9 Have You Ever Been In Love 3:14</p><p>2-10 Our Mutual Friend 4:35</p><p>2-11 Tonight We Fly 4:43</p><p>2-12 Can You Stand Upon One Leg 4:30</p><p>2-13 I Like 5:13</p><p>2-14 Jiggery Pokery 4:15</p><p>2-15 Down In The Street Below</p><p><br /></p><p><b><u>"In May" (bonus CD from "Foreverland" - 2016)</u></b></p><p>2-1 6th Of December 3:54</p><p>2-2 11th Of December 4:18</p><p>2-3 13th Of December 2:39</p><p>2-4 23rd Of December 3:01</p><p>2-5 3rd Of January 4:13</p><p>2-6 13th Of January 1:43</p><p>2-7 15th Of January 2:00</p><p>2-8 30th Of January 3:35</p><p>2-9 7th Of February 2:15</p><p>2-10 22nd Of February 3:51</p><p>2-11 8th Of March 3:12</p><p>2-12 27th Of March 1:09</p><p>2-13 4th Of April 3:35</p><p>2-14 4th Of April (Midnight) 2:36</p><p>2-15 3rd Of May 4:18</p><p>2-16 10th Of May 2:19</p><p>2-17 21st Of May 3:14</p><p>2-18 28th Of May 1:09</p><p>2-19 31st Of May 3:22</p><p><br /></p><p><b><u>"Loose Cannon" live album, 2017</u></b></p><p><br /></p><p>1. How Can You Leave Me On My Own [Live Europe 2016/2017] </p><p>2. Napoleon Complex [Live Europe 2016/2017] </p><p>3. Catherine The Great [Live Europe 2016/2017] </p><p>4. Bad Ambassador [Live Europe 2016/2017] </p><p>5. To The Rescue [Live Europe 2016/2017] </p><p>6. The Complete Banker [Live Europe 2016/2017] </p><p>7. Bang Goes The Knighthood [Live Europe 2016/2017] </p><p>8. Generation Sex [Live Europe 2016/2017] </p><p>9. Our Mutual Friend [Live Europe 2016/2017] </p><p>10. Funny Peculiar [Live Europe 2016/2017] </p><p>11. A Lady Of A Certain Age [Live Europe 2016/2017]</p><p>12. At The Indie Disco [Live Europe 2016/2017]</p><p>13. I Like [Live Europe 2016/2017] </p><p>14. National Express [Live Europe 2016/2017] </p><p>15. Assume The Perpendicular [Live Europe 2016/2017] </p><p>16. A Drinking Song [Live Europe 2016/2017] </p><p>17. Tonight We Fly [Live Europe 2016/2017] </p><p><br /></p><p><b><u>"Swallows and Amazons - the Original Piano Demos" - bonus disc from Office Politics, 2019</u></b></p><p>1 Whistle For A Wind 06:04</p><p>2 The Swallow 06:21</p><p>3 The Conquering Heroes 04:23</p><p>4 Fighting Swallow 01:15</p><p>5 The Amazon Pirates 03:42</p><p>6 The Parley 03:49</p><p>7 Better Drowned Than Duffers 03:25</p><p>8 Let's Make The Best Of It 04:00</p><p>9 Navy Stroke 03:00</p><p>10 Like Robinson Crusoe 03:48</p><p>11 Titty's Dream 04:10</p><p>12 Conquering Heroes, Victory Chorus 01:55</p><p>13 The Black Spot 03:22</p><p>14 The Parley - Flint's Apology 03:26</p><p>15 Swallows And Amazons Forever 02:57</p><p>----</p><p><br /></p><p>Still not enough for you? How about these "Bonus bonus discs" of tracks not released under the name of "The Divine Comedy", but which contain Neil's voice, or composition, or both? <i>Obviously I am not really suggesting most of these should have been included, but hey, it was fun to compile this list! (and by "fun" I mean "hard and time-consuming"...)</i></p><p><br /></p><p><b><u>"Neil Hannon and Friends" bonus Discs:</u></b></p><p>1. Oh Yeah (Ash live, featuring Neil Hannon) (from "Hot Press" Promo CD, 1998)</p><p>2. Need Your Love So Bad (Elvis Da Costa and Pinchers, featuring Neil Hannon on vocals) (CD single, 1998)</p><p>3. No Regrets (Robbie Williams featuring Neil Tennant and Neil Hannon on vocals) (from "I've Been Expecting You", 1998)</p><p>4. All Mine (Portishead cover by Tom Jones and The Divine Comedy) (from Tom Jones' "Reload" album, 1999) <i>Features the whole Divine Comedy band</i></p><p>5. The Case Continues (Ute Lemper, written by Neil Hannon and Joby Talbot) (from the album "Punishing Kiss", 2000) <i>Features the whole Divine Comedy band</i></p><p>6. Tango Ballad (Kurt Weil cover, vocals by Ute Lemper and Neil Hannon) (from the album "Punishing Kiss", 2000) <i>Features the whole Divine Comedy band</i></p><p>7. Split (Ute Lemper and Neil Hannon, written by Neil Hannon and Joby Talbot) (from the album "Punishing Kiss", 2000) <i>Features the whole Divine Comedy band</i></p><p>8. You Were Meant for Me (Ute Lemper, written by Neil Hannon and Joby Talbot) (from the album "Punishing Kiss", 2000) <i>Features the whole Divine Comedy band</i></p><p>9. The Good Life (Sacha Distel cover, credited to Neil Hannon) (from the Gangster No. 1 soundtrack, 2000)</p><p>10. The Dead Only Quickly (The 6ths, vocals by Neil Nannon) (from The 6ths album "Hyacinths and Thistles", 2000)</p><p>11. Les Jours Tristes (studio vocal version, written by Neil Hannon and Yann Tiersen) (from Yann Tiersen's "L'absente", 2001) </p><p>12. So Long and Thanks for All the Fish (written by Joby Talbot, vocals by Neil Hannon) (from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy soundtrack, 2005)</p><p>13. Vote Beeblebrox (written by Joby Talbot, vocals by Neil Hannon) (from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy soundtrack, 2005)</p><p>14. Home (performed by Jane Birkin, from her album "Fictions", 2006.) <i>Writing credited to "The Divine Comedy" - a demo version is on the boxset.</i></p><p>15. The Songs That We Sing (performed by Charlotte Gainsbourg, written by Air/ Jarvis Cocker / Neil Hannon, Neil also plays guitar and Joby Talbot arranged the strings) (from the Charlotte Gainsbourg album "5:55", 2006)</p><p>16. Aliens (written by Matt Lunson, vocals by Neil Hannon) (from "The Cake Sale" project, 2006)</p><p>17. Song for Ten (written by Murray Gold, vocals by Neil Hannon) (from "Doctor Who Original TV Soundtrack, 2006)</p><p>18. Love Don't Roam (written by Murray Gold, vocals by Neil Hannon) (from "Doctor Who Original TV Soundtrack, 2006)</p><p>19. Favourite Song (Vincert Delerm featuring Neil Hannon) (from Vincent Delerm's album "Les piqûres d'araignée, 2006)</p><p>20. Somewhere Between Waking and Sleeping (by Air, vocals and lyrics by Neil Hannon) (from Air's album "Pocket Symphony", 2007)</p><p>21. Our Love Goes Deeper Than This (Duke Special, vocals by Neil Hannon and Romeo Stodart) (From Duke Special's album "Songs from the Deep Forest", 2007)</p><p>22. Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes (Duke Special, featuring Neil on vocals) (From Duke Special CD single "Freewheel", 2007)</p><p>23. Cluster Bomb (Pugwash, vocals by Pugwash and Neil Hannon) (from Pugwash album "Eleven Modern Antiquities, 2008) <i>Neil actually does backing vocals and plays on most of this album, but this is the only one to credit him with "vocals".</i></p><p>24.Perfection as a Hipster (written by Stuart Murdoch, vocals by Neil Hannon) (from "God Help the Girl", 2009)</p><p>25. Pay Later (EG, written by EG and Neil Hannon, Neil plays guitar and does backing vocals) (from the EG album "Adventure Man", 2009)</p><p>26. If You Run (EG, written by EG and Neil Hannon, Neil plays guitar and does backing vocals) (from the EG album "Adventure Man", 2009)</p><p>27. Cathy (Rodrigo Leão & Cinema Ensemble, featuring Neil Hannon), (from the Rodrigo Leão & Cinema Ensemble album "A Mãe", 2009)</p><p>28. Wanda, Darling of the Jockey Club (by Duke Special, written by Neil Hannon) (from Duke Special's album "The Silent World of Hector Mann", 2010)</p><p>29. Mess (Ben Folds featuring Neil Hannon - live in Boston, 2007) (From Ben Folds "Fifty-Five Vault" collection, 2011)</p><p>30. What Becomes of the Broken Hearted (Pugwash, featuring Neil Hannon and Matt Berry) (from "The Shortest Night" Charity CD, 2012)</p><p>31. Smile (Charlie Chaplin cover by Scott Matthew featuring Neil Hannon on vocals) (from Scott Matthew album "Unlearned", 2013)</p><p>32. My Beautiful Monster (Coque Malla featuring Neil Hannon on vocals) (from Coque Malla live album "Irreptible", 2018)</p><p>33. Absent Friends (Coque Malla featuring Neil Hannon on vocals) (from Coque Malla live DVD "Irreptible", 2018)</p><p>34. With a Little Help from My Friends (Lisa Hannigan, Jerry Fish, Gavin Glass, Paddy Casey, Rhob Cunningham, Cathy Davey, Mundy, Valerie Francis, Neil Hannon) (From "Loves Vinyl EP07", 2019)</p><p>------------</p><p><br /></p><p>Alright then, in the words of General Lafayette, What did I miss?</p>James Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12259324114219505127noreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7827881048969433882.post-68165142799327509552015-02-11T15:26:00.003-08:002015-02-12T10:34:50.792-08:00Gigging Forever Awards 2014: Part 6 (The 'Funny Music' edition)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Okay, this is really it, I promise. I've held you captive here so long at this fictional awards ceremony that Earl's Court itself has become fictional (Yes, it saw its last ever gig this year and the demolition men moved in shortly after...) Go, read, and then fly and be free, my pretties...<br>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">(but don't forget to check out all the previous parts before you go.)</span><br>
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<a href="http://giggingforever.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/gigging-forever-awards-2014-part-one.html" target="_blank">Part 1</a><br>
<a href="http://giggingforever.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/gigging-forever-awards-2014-part-two.html" target="_blank">Part 2</a><br>
<a href="http://giggingforever.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/gigging-forever-awards-2014-part-three.html" target="_blank">Part 3 (The moany edition)</a><br>
<a href="http://giggingforever.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/gigging-forever-awards-2014-part-four.html" target="_blank">Part 4</a><br>
<a href="http://giggingforever.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/gigging-forever-awards-part-5.html" target="_blank">Part 5</a><br>
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This time around, we are dedicating our attention to 'Funny Music' - music that is never going to get played on mainstream radio, music that your mates have never heard of, music that strives to go where nobody has gone before, music which last year I would probably have called 'Prog' but I'm so sick of the bloody word that I've nicked an alternative expression from 'Funny Music' Pioneer Matt Stevens which says it far better, especially since none of the albums below really fall into that increasingly narrow bracket, yes, what's that, you'd like me to shut up and get on with it? Oh, alright then.<br>
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<b><u>The "How to Run a Record Label" Award (part 1)</u></b><br>
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So last year I had something to say about how a couple of my mates had started up a record label and released a couple of albums largely played on my more of my mates (don't worry about going to read it cause that's pretty much exactly what I said), and I cunningly separated those albums out from the rest of the countdown so that I didn't have to rate them and upset anyone.<br>
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This year, I actually got involved (in the smallest possible way) in helping out with said record label, so I feel even less like I ought to rave about them this time around but, dammit, they've only gone and released some of the finest and most interesting music of the year.<br>
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For that reason, I can't possibly award them Record Label of the Year, however, I could direct you to "Prog" magazine's critics end of year lists, of which no fewer than 7 contained one or more BEM albums (even though 3 out of 4 of them aren't really Prog.)<br>
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I could direct you to the times raw and noisy rock band Trojan Horse got airplay on BBC6 music, to the time celebrity Waterloo Road acting Mark Benton gave The Fierce and The Dead a namecheck on Twitter, or to the many, many times that snooker legend Steve Davis has bigged up BEM acts on his Radio show or in the press. I could even direct you to Norman Wisdom impersonator Simon Godfrey and his 'Letters from America' magazine column, his beautifully personal 'Motherland' acoustic album, or his legendary Facebook statuses, each eagerly awaited by his army of followers, but your lives would probably never be the same again.<br>
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I suppose I could even mention that instrumental masterpiece album 'Bloody Marvels' by Emmett Elvin (which, frankly, sounds like Michael Nyman, Anthony Phillips, Stephane Grappelli and King Crimson decided to take some 'shrooms and have a jam) beat out competition from Pink Floyd, Steve Hackett, The Enid and Yes in a public poll in which over 500 fans of interesting music voted.<br>
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I could do all that, but I'd better not.<br>
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<b><u>The "How to Run a Record Label" award (Part 2)</u></b><br>
<b><u><br></u></b>
I'm fairly convinced that if Kscope didn't already exist, I would have tried to set them up by now. The type of label that's a mark of quality, that makes you sit up and think "Well, it's on Kscope, it must be good." (Even if you don't get it - sorry Gazpacho.) A label where even the artwork looks reassuringly expensive (and I'm not just saying that because senior artwork designer <a href="http://www.braceforimpact.co.uk/" target="_blank">Scott Robinson</a> was in my class at school.)<br>
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The kind of label that doesn't just release the same old safe-sounding stuff over and over again, but encourages acts who want to take a risk with their music and create weird mixes of genres that shouldn't work, like Shoegaze and Prog, Metal and Indie, Celtic and Doom, ok you get the idea. Perhaps Kscope has a reputation as a Prog label, but if you examine its output, certainly in 2014, you won't be finding any 'Supper's Ready' rip-offs, and hobbits remain distinctly unbothered.<br>
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In fact, a sense of musical adventure and willingness to push the boundaries is really all the above-displayed albums have in common, which is probably why Kscope released more albums that were serious contenders for my 'Best of the Year' list this year than any other label.<br>
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From 'Distant Satellites' , the latest in a trilogy of epic, widescreen, emotionally draining albums from Anathema, which saw them experimenting with a few different sounds this time around to an admittedly mixed reception, to 'Magnolia', The Pineapple Thief's most recent collection of catchy but edgy alternative rock tunes with strings, quality album after quality album tumbled out of their stable this year, encouraging me to check out all kinds of things based largely on the Kscope reputation of quality.<br>
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There was even a collection of cover versions from some guy called Steven Wilson, which showed promise (I reckon he might go places in 2015), and an album from a new duo called Se Delan which someone else on the internet (Femme Metal Webzine, to be exact) described as not being "out of place in a David Lynch movie", so I won't bother trying to come up with anything more descriptive than that.<br>
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But there were two Kscope albums this year which really got me going in all the right places, and we shall call them (for these are their names)...<br>
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<b><u>North Atlantic Oscillation: The Third Day</u></b><br>
<b><u><br></u></b>
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Last year, Sam Healy's 'SAND' side-project raced up the rankings even as I was writing my list, so it's hardly surprising that I was eagerly awaiting what the band had in store next. And from the first few notes of opener 'Great Plains II', off I went on yet another voyage of discovery; from the drum'n'bass meets Porcupine Tree sound of 'Elsewhere' to the horror movie 'tron of 'A Nice Little Place' , all the way through to the wonderfully uplifting penultimate track 'Dust' and closer 'When To Stop', which is accompanied by what sounds like someone bouncing Christmas Tree baubles on a glockenspiel.<br>
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Along the way, there's the mighty instrumental 'Penrose' which (if you'll allow me a little Genesis ultra-geekery here) sounds much like Tony Banks' 'Charm' would have sounded if he'd invited Phil Collins along to play Duke-era toms all over it and got Steve Hackett back in to do some of his patented scratchy guitar in the background.<br>
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Plus, the cover looks a lot like one of the bizarre objects you're expected to decipher and open in iPad game 'The Room', which is never a bad thing.<br>
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<b><u>Engineers - Always Returning</u></b><br>
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I once picked up Engineers' first album in a charity shop for a quid, brought it home, listened to it, and thought "Yeah, that's alright," and promptly forgot all about it.<br>
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Imagine my surprise, then, when my mate Tim brought their new album round for a double date and I ended up asking it to move in with me. Everything about this album is exactly what I wanted to hear in 2014, the warmth and cosiness of the sound (analogue loveliness FTW), the dream-state it invokes from start to finish, the echo-ey, reverby, space-y wonder that is '<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MxRgFAWjMo" target="_blank">Fight or Flight</a>', the mix of sequenced bass parts and real drums, the close harmony vocal wonder of 'Drive Your Car', the fact that it sounds bloody marvellous reverberating around in my new kitchen, you name it. There are even a couple of instrumentals, one of which ('Smoke and Mirrors') accidentally sounds a bit like 'Poor Leno' by Royksopp, which is a mighty fine thing.<br>
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I *think* I might even love it more than NAO, but it's ok, there are no winners and losers this time around, everyone on Kscope gets a gold star this year. It's just that a couple of albums are a fair bit more equal than others...<br>
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<b><u>The 'Best Funny Music album that isn't on BEM or Kscope', yes I really am running out of inspiration now award</u></b><br>
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Ok, let's not pretend that my two favourite labels have the monopoly on all the interesting music this year... Here's a few others:<br>
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<u>Matt Stevens: Lucid</u><br>
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<a href="http://www.cherryred.co.uk/images/MATT%20STEVENS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.cherryred.co.uk/images/MATT%20STEVENS.jpg" height="320" width="320"></a></div>
<b><u><br></u></b>
I <a href="http://giggingforever.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/album-review-matt-stevens-lucid.html" target="_blank">reviewed this</a> before it was even out, you know.<br>
<br>
<b><u><br></u></b>
<u>Tim Bowness: Abandoned Dancehall Dreams</u><br>
<b><u><br></u></b>
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<br>
Good on Tim for deciding he didn't want to be '<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MxRgFAWjMo" target="_blank">The Warm-up Man Forever</a>', sticking two fingers up to old Chuckletrousers and putting out this material which could have been a No-Man album all by himself. Well worth a listen. And then another one.<br>
<br>
<br>
<u>Knifeworld: The Unravelling</u><br>
<b><u><br></u></b>
<b><u><br></u></b>
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<b><u><br></u></b>
<br>
I'm still not sure whether I love Knifeworld or am just terrified by them, but this year's album put me the closest to the former camp that I've ever been, so they must be doing something right.<br>
<br>
<br>
<u>Lazuli: Tant que l'Herbe est Grasse</u><br>
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<br>
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<br>
French world-rock music made by Medieval biker blacksmiths - it's all in French, which you might think would be an issue if you can't speak it, but to be honest, I can and I'm none the wiser really, so I wouldn't sweat it. Just sit back and groove to the Gabriel-esque rock, and try not to crap your pants when Fish suddenly pops in and starts singing in Scottish. And GO SEE THIS BAND LIVE, because they are in the top 5 live acts I have ever seen, and I don't say that kind of thing lightly unless I've just had 5 bottles of Big Big Train Chocolate Porter.<br>
<br>
<i>And the winner is... Matt Stevens. Obviously. </i></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><i><br></i></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><i><br></i>
<u><b>The "Completely Sodding Bonkers" Award</b></u><br>
<br>
<br>
<u>Ashley Reaks - Compassion Fatigue</u><br>
<u><br></u>
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<br>
An album where the first song is in the key of A and is one minute long, the second is in B, and is two minutes long, and so on. It's probably lucky that an octave only contains 8 notes otherwise I'd still be listening to it now...<br>
<br>
Actually, that sounds ridiculous but it works surprisingly well, with the first couple of short tracks being punchy and fierce and the later ones being allowed to stretch out in a groovy sort of way. Some of the lyrics are off-the-scale weird and frankly slightly scary, but who cares about such things when the music rocks?<br>
<br>
Just don't look at that album cover too close to bedtime and give yourself nightmares, will you?<br>
<br>
<br>
<b><u>Most "Better Than It Had Any Right To Be" Album</u></b><br>
<br>
A hotly contested category this year...<br>
<br>
<i>And the nominees are...</i><br>
<br>
<u>Manic Street Preachers: Futurology</u><br>
<u><br></u>
<u><br></u>
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<u><br></u>
<u><br></u>
I lost track of the Manics several albums ago, as they seemed to be releasing one every few hours - so much so that I had this album on my Spotify 'To Check out' list for about 4 months before I could be bothered to even listen to it for free. More fool me - this is a fine return to form with nice short, punchy songs, a bit of Kraftwerk influence and some guest vocalists.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<u>Pain of Salvation: Falling Home</u><br>
<u><br></u>
<br>
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<u><br></u>
<br>
An acoustic album with some reworkings of their old songs in jazz/rockabilly/country stylee, a Circus-music sounding version of 'Stress' and a comedy cover version of Dio's 'Holy Diver'. Sounds rubbish, doesn't it?<br>
<br>
NO. NO IT DOESN'T. It's amazing. Bad luck in Eurovision this year, though, Daniel... :(<br>
<br>
<br>
<u>Pink Floyd: The Endless River</u><br>
<br>
<br>
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<br>
<br>
Yeah, the cover is a bit self-help book / inspirational Facebook meme, isn't it? And the idea of a bunch of leftover fragments from The Division Bell sessions cobbled together isn't exactly inspiring. And no 68-year-old man should use the word 'Diss' in any kind of song lyric.<br>
<br>
But, bugger me, this is lovely. Mostly soothing, chilled and gentle, recalling 'Shine On' and other more ambient moments of the Floyd's history, it rocks gently when required, and showcases the beautiful sound of Rick Wright's organ and piano in one last fitting tribute, which, let's be honest, was the whole point here.<br>
<br>
<br>
<i>And the winner is.... Pink Floyd. It's their last chance, so it'd be churlish not to.</i><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<b><u>My Actual Top 16 Albums of the Year</u></b><br>
<b><u><br></u></b>
Oh come on, it had to happen in the end, didn't it? We've had all the messing about and silly categories, trying to shoehorn in as much music as I can possibly claim to have liked in one year... but here's the real deal - the best of the best of the best. (Sir)<br>
<br>
In no special order:<br>
<br>
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<br>
That is to say...<br>
<br>
Emmett Elvin, Jimi Goodwin, Snarky Puppy, I Break Horses<br>
Engineers, Owen Pallett, iamamiwhoami, St Lucia<br>
Todd Terje, Royksopp & Robyn, SOHN, Temples<br>
First Aid Kit, Sia, North Atlantic Oscillation, Matt Stevens<br>
<br>
Cheers to all of the above, and indeed everyone I've mentioned during this 6 part epic, for making my 2014 so pleasurable. <span style="font-size: xx-small;">Apart from the people I was slagging off, obviously. You can all sod off.</span><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<b><u>And another thing,,,</u></b><br>
<br>
If you want to get an idea of why I'm a bit fed up with the whole Prog scene, you could do worse than click <a href="http://m.wikihow.com/Enjoy-Progressive-Rock" target="_blank">this link</a> and have a gander at this well-intentioned but unfortunately unintentionally hilarious Wikihow article about "How to Enjoy Progressive Rock". It seems to start from the premise that most normal people will find Prog far too complicated for their tiny little minds, which pisses me off right from the start, and then moves on to assuming that the best way to get into Prog is to listen to ALL OF THE GENESIS and then stick your head out of the cave and see what else is going on.<br>
<br>
Here's a sample picture:<br>
<br>
<br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br>
Quite why 'Duke' makes this woman pull a face like Kryten's spare head in the Red Dwarf IV episode 'DNA', I'm not entirely sure.<br>
<br>
Sample text: "<i>Pay no attention to the people who say you need drugs to enjoy and create progressive rock.</i>"<br>
<br>
Right-oh.</div>
James Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12259324114219505127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7827881048969433882.post-47131813963868583752015-01-29T02:22:00.000-08:002015-01-29T04:44:01.973-08:00Gigging Forever Awards 2014: Part Five<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Oh good, you're back... I thought you might have nipped off in the back of that limo with All Saints and Robbie Williams.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><u>The ‘Less Is More’ Award</u></b><br />
<br />
This year's outstanding achievement award for "Less is More"ing goes to Röyksopp. Evidently inspired by me moaning at them last year to ruddy well get on with their new album, they went and gave us two – or one and an EP, at least.<br />
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<br />
<br />
Summer's 'Do It Again' EP with Robyn was mostly a success – with the exhilarating <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btBSxtKzF6Q" target="_blank">title track</a>, the sombre 9 minute electro-sax-fest that was opener 'Monument' and the insanely dirty 'Sayit', in which Robyn has phone sex with the speaking clock (“I. WANT. YOU.” “I want you too…” "WOMAAAAAN") – that’s at least a 60% strike rate.<br />
<br />
By the time winter rolled around, though, they’d also released “The Inevitable End”, which will supposedly be their final full length album – and maybe it’s just as well. Two less-good remixes of tracks from the ‘Do It Again’ EP, both A and B-sides of last year’s (admittedly excellent) ‘Running to the Sea’ single, and a brace of frankly slightly dull, slow, sombre tracks like ‘You Know I Have to Go’ and ‘Thank You’.<br />
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<br />
<br />
Still, with the uplifting ‘<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8XCUbGAILo" target="_blank">Running to the Sea</a>’, the dark and gritty ‘Skulls’, the chillsome ‘Sordid Affair’, and ‘Save Me’, which recalls all the things I liked about Royksopp in the first place, there’s still enough to enjoy – but perhaps they have the right idea sticking to EPs and singles from now on.<br />
<br />
P.S. Nobody is going to convince me that you hadn't just heard Guru Josh's ‘<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzy2dgEUOhY" target="_blank">Infinity</a>’ when you wrote ‘<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weWfX5I--SQ" target="_blank">I Had This Thing’</a>, Röyksopp. But it can be our little secret.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<u><b>Most Random Old Band Discovery</b></u><br />
<br />
<br />
<u>James & Karin</u><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
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<br />
<br />
“<i>You know there’s a band called James and Karin, right?</i>”, said Karin’s friend Kit one day.<br />
<br />
Um, no, no we didn't, but now we do. I wouldn't normally make such a thing out of this, but for there to be a psych-y folk duo recording children's songs in the 70's, with the same names as me and my girlfriend (not the two names you most often see together), basically blew my mind. They were also a Swenglish couple who achieved some fame in Sweden in the 70’s with such children's classics as ‘Jag är ett Litet Brev’ (I am a Little Letter) and 'Älgarna demonstrerar' (The Elks Are Demonstrating). Watch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yr74afjWiUU" target="_blank">this</a> if you want to improve your Swedish. But don't blame me if it never gets out of your head.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><u>Best electro-R&B album</u></b><br />
<br />
<i>The nominees:</i><br />
<br />
-<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><u>Little Dragon: Nabuma Rubberband</u><br />
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<br />
<br />
<br />
-<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><u>Sohn: Tremors</u><br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
<br />
I learned a new term whilst researching this category: PBR&B. PBR stands for Pabst Blue Ribbon, a type of beer apparently beloved of US beard-having hipsters who are too white for proper Urban music and prefer it distilled with a spot of electro or indie stuff. I don't know, don't ask me, I don't make this crap up.<br />
<br />
Anyway, I like both these albums for a similar reason – they're both laid back and cool, but make my genius sensors stand up on end by mixing this effortlessly chilled vibe with some more exciting sounds. In Sohn's case, skittering electronica and beats are layered over the top of what could be depressing ballads like '<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6zv_5zGEso" target="_blank">Bloodflows</a>' to make something completely unique, and that's not to mention the syncopated computerised barbershop of ‘The Wheel’.<br />
<br />
And Little Dragon obviously get props just for being Swedish, but quite apart from that, they've got some seriously dirty and funky beats to lay under the smooth, soulful vocals of their wonderful vocalist whose name I may or may not get around to looking up once I get off this plane. (It's Yukimi Nagano, by the way...)<br />
<br />
But just, seriously, listen to ‘<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7KCRvB_DUE" target="_blank">Underbart</a>’. This is my music, right here.<br />
<br />
<br />
<i>And the winner is: I think Sohn, but only just. See, I didn’t let the Scandinavians win *all* the awards.</i><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><u>Best pun or other wordplay-based joke in a track title:</u></b><br />
<br />
<br />
<u>Todd Terje: Inspector Norse</u><br />
<u><br /></u>
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<u><br /></u>
<u><br /></u>
<u>Trojan Horse - Juraspsyche Park</u><br />
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<br />
<br />
<u>Emmett Elvin - Nocturine</u><br />
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<br />
<u>Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott - Costa del Sombre</u><br />
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<br />
<br />
<i>And the winner is:</i> <i>Todd Terje – Inspector Norse...</i><br />
<br />
...mostly because it gives me a chance to mention the album ‘It’s Album Time’, which is easily the best space-disco/dance/whateveritis album of the year. Dancefloor fillers like ‘Strandbar’ and ‘<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUOIvT9hzD8" target="_blank">Delorean Dynamite</a>’ rub shoulders with funky stuff like ‘<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7xi_AS6FaE" target="_blank">Svensk Sås</a>’, where a samba-lounge track is built up by using only layers upon layers of vocal samples, and the dangerously-close-to-prog polyrhythms of ‘Alfonso Muskedunder’. Plus, Brian Ferry pops up for good measure to do a very laid-back but surprisingly touching cover of ‘Johnny and Mary’.<br />
<br />
<i>(Don't worry, the other albums may crop up again next time...)</i><br />
<br />
<br />
<b><u>The "I really should have listened to this sooner" award</u></b><br />
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<br />
<u>-Beck: Morning Phase</u><br />
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<br />
<br />
<u>-Robert Plant: Lullaby and... The Ceaseless Roar</u><br />
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<br />
<br />
<u>-Tin Spirits: Scorch</u><br />
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<br />
I listened to all of these on Spotify as part of a quick check before I started writing this, to make sure I hadn't missed out anything potentially awesome. I evidently had – all three of these are worthy of anyone's investigation but especially mine.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><u>Best album that was actually from 2013 but I discovered it in 2014 and actually it's not technically even available in this country yet, so perhaps it's actually from 2015</u></b><br />
<br />
<u>-St Lucia: When the Night</u><br />
<u><br /></u>
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<br />
<u><br /></u>
You know how last year I chose CHVRCHES as my number 2 album? Someone contacted me to basically say “PAH! CHVRCHES? If you thought that was good, you obviously missed St. Lucia!”<br />
<br />
They were damn right: electronic-based pop music from South Africa via Brooklyn, with the shimmery sound of summer in the Caribbean, real drums and guitar, and soaring, uplifting tunes to make you feel alive. Also the only artist I can remember name-checking Phil Collins as an influence in the last 20 years. Yes, this is a good thing.<br />
<br />
Just, just… listen to '<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsgqoB7vd2E" target="_blank">Elevate</a>'. Best single of the last 10 years? And then if you find that too simple, there’s the epic ‘<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzTIVB41YCw" target="_blank">Too Close</a>’.<br />
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By the way, they were also the best live band I saw in 2014. Just FYI.<br />
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<br />
<i>Next time: Some 'funny music'. Cause, you know, all this stuff is just soooo mainstream.</i></div>
James Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12259324114219505127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7827881048969433882.post-48640567334076770262015-01-24T02:46:00.002-08:002015-01-24T03:02:29.330-08:00Gigging Forever Awards 2014: Part Four<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
And so we return to our fictional awards ceremony - please make sure you pick up your goody bag containing Parts <a href="http://giggingforever.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/gigging-forever-awards-2014-part-one.html" target="_blank">One</a>, <a href="http://giggingforever.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/gigging-forever-awards-2014-part-two.html" target="_blank">Two</a> and <a href="http://giggingforever.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/gigging-forever-awards-2014-part-three.html" target="_blank">Three</a> on the way back to your table.<br>
<br>
Actually, there's an awful lot of this “normal music” stuff to work our way through this year, so if you could maybe manage to get through this epic lot without going to powder your nose again, then next time we can finish up with some "funny music" which I know is what you're all waiting for.<br>
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Alright, rock on, Chessington...<br>
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<br>
<u><b>Best album that Karin says I’m not allowed to call Swedish Country because then nobody will want to listen to it, but it’s made by Swedes and it’s sort-of-kind-of country-ish and yeah look it’s just a load of good songs really isn’t it?</b></u><br>
<br>
The nominees:<br>
<br>
<u>- First Aid Kit: Stay Gold</u><br>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d0/Small_Gold_Album_-_First_Aid_Kit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d0/Small_Gold_Album_-_First_Aid_Kit.jpg" height="320" width="320"></a></div>
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<br>
A surprisingly unchallenging category to judge this year - if you wanted a load of gorgeous songs in a sort of folky-country-indie hipster-ish style sung in close harmony by two sisters from Stockholm, there was really only one place to go. A bit more polished and “American-sounding” than previously and with some string arrangements to melt your heart, this was the year they finally broke through their own previously set high standards and into the British consciousness. But Karin would probably like you to know that she was there first, alright?<br>
<br>
And I would probably like you to know that I didn't cry during '<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKmit_uQrSQ" target="_blank">Cedar Lane</a>' when we saw them live, but it wouldn't be true.<br>
<br>
<br>
<i>And the winner is: Um...</i><br>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsEllbt8rD6M0E0IPbyCM40APiAD-m6VDgAicGWVgL_JD-2k1VHxNxBImTVXXN548PP9mY3FdlCNCKXw93VnwwfnDGE7TrntNtayFv8baw-O3dwBkGtFma-2rcJX7lP0oyw6c7aBAI_m4/s1600/first+aid.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsEllbt8rD6M0E0IPbyCM40APiAD-m6VDgAicGWVgL_JD-2k1VHxNxBImTVXXN548PP9mY3FdlCNCKXw93VnwwfnDGE7TrntNtayFv8baw-O3dwBkGtFma-2rcJX7lP0oyw6c7aBAI_m4/s1600/first+aid.jpg" height="300" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yes, I stood this close to them. I like to think we had a little "moment".</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br>
<br>
<b><u>Best combination of beats and violins on an album:</u></b><br>
<br>
<i>The nominees:</i><br>
<br>
<u>Clean Bandit – New Eyes</u><br>
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“<i>So, you think electronic music is boring? You think it’s stupid? You think it’s repetitive?</i>” drones the ultra-annoying voiceover at the start of track 1, '<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rd0cT7Dnpt8" target="_blank">Mozart’s House</a>'. No, I don't actually, but I do think this track which thinks it's oh-so-clever by mixing dubstep beats and rapping about Italian musical terms with a violin motif from Mozart’s String Quartet number 21 is more irritating than fibreglass underpants.<br>
<br>
Much better are the tracks which try less hard, like the straight-ahead "pop classics with a touch of strings", '<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40nFOYGVJtY" target="_blank">Extraordinary</a>' and '<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-M1AtrxztU" target="_blank">Rather Be'</a> (aka the 6 seconds of music that you know from M&S’s Christmas adverts.) But who cares what I think? They’re really going places with da kidz, innit.<br>
<br>
<br>
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br>
<u>- Owen Pallett: In Conflict</u><br>
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<br>
This is more like it. If I said this sounded like 90's alternative music crossed with 80's synth-pop, you'd probably say “that's a very lazy comparison”, and when you'd finished saying that, you’d probably also say “that sounds shit.” Add in a proper massive orchestra (which announces its intention to impress from the first second of the first track) and lyrics about not having children in case you eat them (?!), and you'd imagine a right old hodge podge.<br>
<br>
But dammit, it works. It doesn't sound like anything else I've heard this year (or, possibly ever), and although he's not the world’s most flashy singer, his understated delivery is the perfect foil to the synth drums and brass of the dramatic material. But don't just take my word for it, put thine ears to good use and get thee to YouTube to check out '<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr_SbrFIuKA" target="_blank">Song for Five and Six</a>', '<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BJDbL2KBuM" target="_blank">In Conflict</a>', and '<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdx7JymXc_A" target="_blank">Sky Behind the Flag</a>'. See? Told you.<br>
<br>
<i><br></i>
<i>And the winner is… Owen Pallett. Not even close.</i><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<b><u>Best album by the frontperson of a now presumably defunct band (<i>although A-ha have annoyingly announced a gig since I started writing this, but let’s ignore that for now</i>)</u></b><br>
<br>
<i><br></i>
<i>The nominees:</i><br>
<br>
<br>
<u>- Morten Harket: Brother</u><br>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6oi16QVeh63x2my_IwpamOwa7f6NiNlKXu39JeWM67F0_otiQWCm7oFKImMQzrYFSaG2hFHhzzRRCl8Lydi73Zfu29jTDuDD4Oyv8H1LKUYZN-ydPx2Hfm1rJIY-MeQKo-KtB7S-kJD0/s1600/brother.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6oi16QVeh63x2my_IwpamOwa7f6NiNlKXu39JeWM67F0_otiQWCm7oFKImMQzrYFSaG2hFHhzzRRCl8Lydi73Zfu29jTDuDD4Oyv8H1LKUYZN-ydPx2Hfm1rJIY-MeQKo-KtB7S-kJD0/s1600/brother.jpg" height="320" width="320"></a></div>
<br>
<br>
I'm fairly sure this album was written and recorded by a giant computer into which someone has programmed the secret formula for getting onto the Radio 2 playlist. Still, '<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eH18BfzJik" target="_blank">Whispering Heart</a>' is very good in a Keane-y/ Coldplay-y epic-y kind of way.<br>
<br>
<br>
<u>- Nina Persson: Animal Heart</u><br>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3cG8YWSznQmo_jnCvxgcx738MrQa9jDImo3Uy3e52OXOlh-udtZBBUKOKdC1-tk-BGUe2nngq2J1uY-9_oqqizA5H1bmLuHKEDj45tXAAWw3KawGhLgKeppB9TJ9nsaPoAV2765WrmS4/s1600/nina+persson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3cG8YWSznQmo_jnCvxgcx738MrQa9jDImo3Uy3e52OXOlh-udtZBBUKOKdC1-tk-BGUe2nngq2J1uY-9_oqqizA5H1bmLuHKEDj45tXAAWw3KawGhLgKeppB9TJ9nsaPoAV2765WrmS4/s1600/nina+persson.jpg" height="320" width="320"></a></div>
<br>
<br>
It’s a bit like the Cardigans but less twee. Actually, that just means it's a bit like the later Cardigans albums from when most people had stopped listening to them. I only bought this because my Swedish teacher mentioned that it was coming out, and they're from Karin’s hometown, and, yeah I dunno. Can you tell that, although I like it, I don't really have much to say about this album? Shall I stop now? Alrighty then. Here's the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWoSNQ86vgI" target="_blank">title track</a>.<br>
<br>
<br>
<u>- Jimi Goodwin: Odludek</u><br>
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<br>
<br>
I can't say I saw this one coming, mostly because I wasn't really paying attention. I've loved Doves since their first album, and kept up with what they were doing for a good 10 years – but it was only when this was announced that I suddenly realised they hadn't done anything for ages. Given that this album has been such a critical success and Jimi's now touring on his own to rave reviews, and that the “other two” have started a new band without the slightest hint of bitterness (oh no), I think this album is a fine contender for this category, which is just as well since I couldn't think of another one to put it in.<br>
<br>
The music is all over the place, which is a fine thing, from the Phil-Spector produces the Manics (mit extra cool brass!) sound of ‘Terracotta Warrior’ to the none-more-Doves groovy melancholy of ‘Didsbury Girl’ and the rave’n’bass-tastic ‘<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhfpngD_BxM" target="_blank">Live Like a River</a>’. And that’s just the first three tracks. Let’s not even get into the fake-gameshow theme meets frankly mental psychedelic circus of ‘<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9ESmzUA7LU" target="_blank">Man v Dingo</a>’… the mind boggles.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<i>And the winner is… Jimi Goodwin. Doves who?</i><br>
<br>
<br>
<u><b>Best 2014 Mercury Prize-nominee that I had actually heard before it got nominated, yes really, honest, so there</b></u><br>
<br>
<u>- East India Youth: Total Strife Forever</u><br>
<br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj22Nvah2cE-lh6qG8AOWuxN196BkQg8YsTaMj5u6tlTh19-tGb7h5oEznzvgrzqjG54qSqI6lNPCgzKaI1Rk_z0B78Vaikrr8xSiyt-9cjTUC-RQgzQGCQpA8-3Fv4R2-woOcjumyRoI8/s1600/East_India_Youth_-_Total_Strife_Forever.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj22Nvah2cE-lh6qG8AOWuxN196BkQg8YsTaMj5u6tlTh19-tGb7h5oEznzvgrzqjG54qSqI6lNPCgzKaI1Rk_z0B78Vaikrr8xSiyt-9cjTUC-RQgzQGCQpA8-3Fv4R2-woOcjumyRoI8/s1600/East_India_Youth_-_Total_Strife_Forever.jpg" height="320" width="320"></a></div>
<br>
<br>
This was an actually useful Amazon recommendation. (<i>Hey, Amazon, here's a recommendation, would you like to pay some tax? LOOK AT ME SATIRING, EH?</i>)<br>
<br>
An interesting mix of frantic, nervous, and sometimes minimalist electronica (opener '<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_WPP03DDOI" target="_blank">Glitter Recession</a>', and the 'Total Strife Forever' suite) with some more conventional synth-y, shoegazey songs with echoey vocals like the lovely '<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeMmpfZhNoc" target="_blank">Dripping Down</a>', this album didn't win the Mercury Prize, but it does win an award here today, which I'm sure will serve as reassurance to William Doyle (aka East India Youth) that he's on the right tracks.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<u><b>The "Look, let’s not be too clever about this" award </b></u><br>
<br>
Let's be honest, sometimes you don’t want to listen to a 3-disc concept album about how Hannibal got the runs on his way across the Alps, or have your brain violated by clever-clever virtuoso playing – and it's at moments like this that you need some bloody good pop music.<br>
<br>
<u>The nominees:</u><br>
<br>
<u>- Foxes: Glorious</u><br>
<br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv6EGqIzPTbWT4wmbRVjNJYPWnntwA68qXlWkdBfSD3T-M1XGcbSlhspg1FyFaRtMvUE6GjT_NFVjwcJKOZfRwsJsrIvoFXjVD1Lpuuss3bCz2scZBOhxXr6iZqw7URimWFOc8UUMe6IQ/s1600/Foxes_-_Glorious_(Deluxe).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv6EGqIzPTbWT4wmbRVjNJYPWnntwA68qXlWkdBfSD3T-M1XGcbSlhspg1FyFaRtMvUE6GjT_NFVjwcJKOZfRwsJsrIvoFXjVD1Lpuuss3bCz2scZBOhxXr6iZqw7URimWFOc8UUMe6IQ/s1600/Foxes_-_Glorious_(Deluxe).png" height="320" width="320"></a></div>
<br>
<br>
'<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8p7-baF9w8" target="_blank">Glorious'</a> / '<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qklYTlTSeJc" target="_blank">Holding on to Heaven</a>'<br>
<br>
<br>
<u>- Katy B: Little Red</u><br>
<br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br>
<br>
'<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDE2OMZtExY" target="_blank">5am</a>' / '<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOboa27SHDE" target="_blank">Crying for No Reason</a>'<br>
<br>
<br>
<u>- Sia: 1,000 Forms of Fear</u><br>
<br>
<br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBhNMG6ZAx27l1amKKzvjloJPw2PlqQv1P47mc_ksj4XeZ7Ug-GZIkkaa8sEyPo5fk8tYRu17VIi54HleC_ndvSDvgWDorY-UNJgNSiG7rwuzGCjIy2lRqOixFpCpLHnO8EbcByR5mO6s/s1600/Sia_-_1000_Forms_of_Fear_(Official_Album_Cover).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBhNMG6ZAx27l1amKKzvjloJPw2PlqQv1P47mc_ksj4XeZ7Ug-GZIkkaa8sEyPo5fk8tYRu17VIi54HleC_ndvSDvgWDorY-UNJgNSiG7rwuzGCjIy2lRqOixFpCpLHnO8EbcByR5mO6s/s1600/Sia_-_1000_Forms_of_Fear_(Official_Album_Cover).png" height="320" width="320"></a></div>
<br>
<br>
<br>
'<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vjPBrBU-TM" target="_blank">Chandelier</a>' / '<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VznorLuugTU" target="_blank">Burn the Pages</a>'<br>
<br>
<br>
<u>- MØ: No Mythologies to Follow</u><br>
<br>
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<br>
<br>
<br>
'<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LG3fD7ONSJY" target="_blank">Maiden</a>' / '<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtXMqKfX_mY" target="_blank">Red in the Grey</a>'<br>
<br>
But hold on, just because you fancy some of the fizzy stuff, it doesn't mean you have to settle for Wand Erection or Spitney Drears – there's some incredibly well written, well performed and excitingly produced stuff out there. From Dr. Who guest star Foxes (yes I nearly missed her, too), with her straight-ahead mix of intelligent uptempo stuff and ballads, to Katy B's more urban take on electro-pop, via MØ, who is “The Danish Robyn” (or so the "You must buy this cos we say so” card in HMV would have had me believe) – with an R&B tinge to her infectiously catchy tunes.<br>
<br>
But this year was Sia's year – she's come a long way from being a guest vocalist on the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfThSLQ0Cos" target="_blank">first Zero7 album</a> - and this was the year that she stopped giving her monster smash hits away to people like Rihanna, David Guetta and Beyonce and stepped up to take her rightful props with the stunning ‘Chandelier’ and another 9 tracks of equal hit potential. She even had Shia LeBoeuf in her video, which was fairly brave of her.<br>
<br>
<br>
<i>And the winner is… Sia. But give ‘em all a try.</i><br>
<br>
Actually it’s just occurred to me that these are all female artists. Either men completely suck at making good pop music or I have some kind of issue...<br>
<br>
<br>
<u>“Nicest” Album of the year</u><br>
<br>
Of course, when you do need a rest from having your ears assaulted by stuff that's so out there, it's in there again, you don't have to head to the pop music shelf - you could do worse than checking out one of these.<br>
<div>
<br></div>
<br>
<u>- Ben Watt: Hendra</u><br>
<br>
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<br>
<br>
<u>- Elbow: The Take-off and Landing of Everything</u><br>
<br>
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<br>
<br>
<u>- M83: You and the Night</u><br>
<br>
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<br>
<br>
<br>
I'm sure Elbow and their fans won't thank me for calling them 'nice' but this year's album was a bit less grandiose and epic than the last couple (the amazing '<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nghmOMdL4fM" target="_blank">Charge</a>' aside), which worked in their favour, and M83's soundtrack to 'You and the Night', whilst not the barnstorming follow up to 'Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming' which I'd like them to hurry up, stop dreaming and make, did indeed calm my frazzled nerves at various times of stress this year.<br>
<br>
But it's with Everything but the Girl’s Ben Watt that the title of "Nice" artist of the year should rest. Quiet, soothing, gentle acoustic led songs, it's a lovely album, but it chiefly wins for the very reason that it means I have an excuse to post this photo of David Gilmour playing live with Ben this year whilst my friend Tim and I stared open mouthed in the front row. I know, I’m a git.<br>
<div>
<br></div>
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<br>
<br>
<b><u><br></u></b>
<b><u>Okay, I can see you're getting restless now, go and take a quick break and we'll be back soon with the last few clumsily worded categories...</u></b><br>
<br></div>
James Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12259324114219505127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7827881048969433882.post-79101562839587173852015-01-14T12:08:00.001-08:002015-01-14T12:08:53.198-08:00Gigging Forever Awards 2014: Part Three (The Moany edition)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Welcome back to Earl's Court, where you join us for part three of our annual awards ceremony, hope you've got your hard hats on, don't mind the demolition men... No, Sam Fox, we're good thanks...<br />
<br />
<i>(Don't tell me you missed <a href="http://giggingforever.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/gigging-forever-awards-2014-part-one.html" target="_blank">Part One</a> and <a href="http://giggingforever.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/gigging-forever-awards-2014-part-two.html" target="_blank">Part Two</a>, did you? Well, definitely don't tell me that now, because I just made sure you didn't.)</i><br />
<br />
Ok, it's time to dole out some musical "Razzies" for the stuff that just really didn't hit the spot this year - I think it's only fair in the interests of balance, and let's be honest, praising stuff isn't as much fun to read or write.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><u>The "I Don't Get It" award</u></b><br />
<br />
<b>The nominees:</b><br />
<br />
<u>- Gazpacho: Demon</u><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<br />
<u>- D'Angelo: Black Messiah</u><br />
<br />
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<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/01/D'Angelo_-_Black_Messiah_Album_Cover.jpg/220px-D'Angelo_-_Black_Messiah_Album_Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/01/D'Angelo_-_Black_Messiah_Album_Cover.jpg/220px-D'Angelo_-_Black_Messiah_Album_Cover.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
Both of these come highly recommended by people I trust. Like, seriously raving and drooling about them. Neither are in a genre that I know I hate, so neither could be said to be "not aimed at me". 'Black Messiah' was only released just before Christmas and already it is the number 2 top rated album of 2014 on RateYourMusic. 'Demon' is at number 46, by the way, which is pretty good for an album on KScope.<br />
<br />
I accept, therefore, that there is something pretty ruddy awesome about both these albums. It's just that apparently, whatever it is, I was innoculated against it sometime in my childhood. Those damn vaccinations...<br />
<br />
I. Just. Don't. Get. It.<br />
<br />
Feel free to enlighten me, please.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b><u>Most utterly, soul destroyingly pointless compilation</u></b><br />
<br />
<u>-Queen: Queen Forever</u> (or "Queef Forever", as I just accidentally typed, perhaps appropriately...)<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/81/QueenForever.jpg/220px-QueenForever.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/81/QueenForever.jpg/220px-QueenForever.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<i>"Hey guys, I've just found this unreleased song from 'The Works', shall we put it on the remaster as a bonus track? What's that? You think we could milk a lot more money out of it? Have we got anything else to put it together with? A rubbish duet with Michael Jackson, yeah that'll do. Anything else? No? How about we remix one of Freddie's old dance tracks as a ballad? Ok, great, that'll make a good EP. What's that? Nobody would buy a 3-song EP? I suppose we'd better fill up the remainder of 2 CDs with a selection of album tracks and hits chosen by a blindfolded marmoset and randomised in a concrete mixer. Sweet. Do it."</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
If ever there was an argument for illegal downloading...<br />
<br />
<u>-Genesis: R-Kive</u><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/3f/R-Kive.jpg/220px-R-Kive.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/3f/R-Kive.jpg/220px-R-Kive.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
1. Shit name ("the kind of pun a 5-year old would come up with", says Karin. "It's not even an actual pun", says I.)<br />
2. Shit album cover<br />
3. Shit selection of previously unreleased material (i.e., um, nothing.)<br />
4. Just a completely bizarre idea. Who listens to a CD which contains both "The Knife" and "I Can't Dance"? Who wants to hear both "Solsbury Hill" and "Over My Shoulder"? Oh, I know who. Genesis fans. Who already have all this stuff. Several times.<br />
<br />
<i>And the winner is... Genesis. For sheer brazen cheek. (See, there's a face on the front, which has got cheeks! That's a better pun than "R-Kive".)</i><br />
<br />
<br />
<b><u>Worst Album Art</u></b><br />
<br />
The nominees:<br />
<br />
<u>Corvus Stone - II</u><br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_UvCdF8jzmpH8FAgK15jSJ-JmiIvnjal8gJAwyu-Aq-jrX8k2xSU3jmV6eaSmwYwoY2osr6FG-4VG_KYuWvZ3QWnfZmjea1yMbXs82msMtrv0VIogkNC0PpVbcnEr0P2rKAKEZEPjgJU/s1600/corvus+stone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_UvCdF8jzmpH8FAgK15jSJ-JmiIvnjal8gJAwyu-Aq-jrX8k2xSU3jmV6eaSmwYwoY2osr6FG-4VG_KYuWvZ3QWnfZmjea1yMbXs82msMtrv0VIogkNC0PpVbcnEr0P2rKAKEZEPjgJU/s1600/corvus+stone.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
I've never heard this album, by the way. I can't think why I'm not that inclined to check it out. I like the way they stole the woman-turns-into-crow thing from Kate Bush, but I'm not sure they really nailed the tone in quite the same way that she did.<br />
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<br />
<u>United Progressive Fraternity - Fall in Love with the World</u><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeI_2raXSrOm-RKmCrPVPlW9iMDTw7v73AFGWvGYNkPt5i97AuvwP7R21Dn553t3JYU1npCvoOpPWo7D9UiK9kKQR_IuQ-Fl3lNyRLXAPBYs66PX1eJRr4mYWdPi3bJbIVw9ZJlaxSwwI/s1600/upp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeI_2raXSrOm-RKmCrPVPlW9iMDTw7v73AFGWvGYNkPt5i97AuvwP7R21Dn553t3JYU1npCvoOpPWo7D9UiK9kKQR_IuQ-Fl3lNyRLXAPBYs66PX1eJRr4mYWdPi3bJbIVw9ZJlaxSwwI/s1600/upp.jpg" height="291" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />
I think a rainbow unicorn just took a wizz in my eyes...<br />
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<br />
<u>Schnauser - Protein for Everyone</u><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGf8BUhAlb86rE0NSiTLlQk2i95ldzXClqwCKbaPxnDBwwDBytAUzy5em4WcIC3YJkynLiatyQ5k85nto7kwBM1NNCHxxcsWGwGiHgI8xx0VQohEIj54cH28xAjUZE02UPB17RP9r8Cfo/s1600/Protein.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGf8BUhAlb86rE0NSiTLlQk2i95ldzXClqwCKbaPxnDBwwDBytAUzy5em4WcIC3YJkynLiatyQ5k85nto7kwBM1NNCHxxcsWGwGiHgI8xx0VQohEIj54cH28xAjUZE02UPB17RP9r8Cfo/s1600/Protein.jpg" height="287" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />
Something about this just makes me feel very ill. Meat doesn't belong under a hat. It's a bit like the mixture of the Dolmio Puppets and a real spag bol. I accept that it must happen, but it doesn't mean I want to look at it.<br />
<br />
(The music, by the way, is actually pretty cool...)<br />
<br />
<i>And the winner is... I don't know, my eyes are irrevocably damaged so I can't read what's on the card.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>I've got the URL for Steve Hackett's new album ready for a quick CTRL-V into next year's awards, by the way.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfsrOALOYB3hR-5QYG_tx-bHhkvUuzIhSuYq3ZzCsoPdAhyXZIyTYY-cTS6IwHsRYygk05MIfc_R_wgg-ZOW0Xv6dC724I8w8mh0G37Ropa1RX7Fzy3dwbTro2nm3RpCqnL1ztGCgta7A/s1600/wolf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfsrOALOYB3hR-5QYG_tx-bHhkvUuzIhSuYq3ZzCsoPdAhyXZIyTYY-cTS6IwHsRYygk05MIfc_R_wgg-ZOW0Xv6dC724I8w8mh0G37Ropa1RX7Fzy3dwbTro2nm3RpCqnL1ztGCgta7A/s1600/wolf.jpg" height="319" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b><u>The "Please, for the love of God, just make it stop" award</u></b></div>
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<i>(Aka the one in which I lose most of my regular readership)</i></div>
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<b>The nominees:</b><br />
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<u>- Yes: Heaven and Earth</u></div>
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<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/95/Heaven_and_Earth_Yes_Dean.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/95/Heaven_and_Earth_Yes_Dean.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
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No.<br />
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<i>(I'm pretty sure nobody's ever made that joke before...)</i><br />
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<br />
<u>- Mike Oldfield: Man on the Rocks</u><br />
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<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b6/ManOnTheRocks.jpg/220px-ManOnTheRocks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b6/ManOnTheRocks.jpg/220px-ManOnTheRocks.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
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<br />
I know we've already had this, but look, <a href="http://giggingforever.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/album-review-mike-oldfield-man-on-rocks.html" target="_blank">it was just so terrible</a> it's worth pointing out again. </div>
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- <u>Transatlantic - Kaleidoscope</u><br />
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<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5e/Transatlantic_Kaleidoscope.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5e/Transatlantic_Kaleidoscope.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
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Today, for the first time ever, having pre-ordered the deluxe edition, I actually managed to listen to the whole of this album in one go - purely for the purposes of writing this. I hope you appreciate it. Here are the notes I made, which I can't even be bothered to make into real sentences, that's how much I want my time back:<br />
<br />
<i>liked TA but this is same old same old, stupid growly voices, WHY? Don't let Pete sing. Just not very good songs, sorry. Black as the sky is kind of cool but it is basically Devil's Got my Throat from Snow so it ought to be</i></div>
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Look at that, I didn't even want to waste another full stop on it.<br />
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<u>- IQ - The Road of Bones</u></div>
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<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/03/The_Road_Of_Bones_Album_Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/03/The_Road_Of_Bones_Album_Cover.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
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Today, for the several hundredth time since it came out, I did not listen to this album. In fact, I tried to listen to it once when it did come out, and it didn't go very well, so I try to avoid it whenever possible. To mangle a saying from my friend James Allen, when people make suggestions for things for him to listen to: "But I've already heard an IQ album."<br />
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<br />
<u>- Opeth - Pale Communion</u></div>
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<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/44/Opeth_Pale_Communion_album_artwork.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/44/Opeth_Pale_Communion_album_artwork.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
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I'm sorry, Sweden. I've let you down. I tried and failed to get engaged by this. It just sounded like more of the last album, and I wasn't that excited about that one. I shall go henceforth and give myself numerous lashings with an <i>ornäsbjörk</i> twig.<br />
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<br />
<u>- Just basically all Prog</u><br />
<br />
Ok, I don't know what it is, either I'm "growing out of" it, or it's stuck in a horrible rut in 9/8, or I'm just in a bad mood with the world in general, but me and Prog are not getting along this year. We've had our differences in the past and made it work, having that counselling session with Big Big Train last year certainly patched things up for a while, and that Lazuli/Moon Safari gig just before Christmas was a wonderfully illicit thrill, but I think for the sake of everyone, especially the kids, me and Prog are going to have to go our separate ways.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj46BQ7rR-LGrd58UO4EpJ2fitHtfWiDyHJNFzwq0oodgkq8isQy9yvpXtVaaQr-JTMk4A2-zdBRO3hLa-uL-4B6BhVLzHJmRoOEKzfiStRhkWwpfPB4P8XBplGwpEaiKVcOccbR9qPbqo/s1600/marillion.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj46BQ7rR-LGrd58UO4EpJ2fitHtfWiDyHJNFzwq0oodgkq8isQy9yvpXtVaaQr-JTMk4A2-zdBRO3hLa-uL-4B6BhVLzHJmRoOEKzfiStRhkWwpfPB4P8XBplGwpEaiKVcOccbR9qPbqo/s1600/marillion.png" height="320" width="316" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Pleeeease come back, we can change...."</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<br />
No, I'm sorry, that's my final decision. I'm not buying any more Prog albums. I'm just going to buy music from artists who push the boundaries, make interesting and innovative albums which demand a bit of thought from the listener - artists who aren't afraid to do different things with chords, rhythms and sounds, take on different influences from the whole world of music, maybe use some interesting instrumentation, who aren't constrained by things like song length, don't follow prescribed formulas, and who take me on a journey, maybe even tell me a story. Yes, that's right, progressive music.<br />
<br />
<i>P.S. For the love of all that is good and holy, can we stop calling everything Prog this and Prog that? Prog Curry? Prog Cruise? Prog Avocado? Are Sparks Prog? Is Nirvana? Are the Cheeky Girls? What are the most Prog words? How about which Christmas Carols have the most Prog in them? (Two genuine forum threads I read this year.)</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>This cushion, is that Prog? What's the most Prog fish in my aquarium? Oops, hold on, I think I may have just had a particularly Proggy bowel movement...</i><br />
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<br />
Next time: Some more stuff that I actually did like. I promise.<br />
<br /></div>
James Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12259324114219505127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7827881048969433882.post-60264783032785043822015-01-11T09:54:00.001-08:002015-01-11T09:54:09.027-08:00Gigging Forever Awards 2014: Part Two<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Ok, back again to resume our fictitious awards ceremony - <a href="http://giggingforever.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/gigging-forever-awards-2014-part-one.html">head back to part one</a> if you missed it, before taking your seat over there between Jarvis Cocker getting ready to disrupt someone's inappropriate performance and a coked-up record label exec.<br />
<br />
(Yes that was probably the last time I watched the Brit Awards...)<br />
<br />
<b><u>Best album by a Swedish dark-Electronica-based band whose name starts with I</u></b><br />
<br />
<b>The Nominees: </b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<u>iamamiwhoami: Blue</u><br />
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<a href="http://media.tumblr.com/64daf02d6fea78c1b971d4bf6f3edb49/tumblr_inline_n9sd85OpEy1sk8304.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://media.tumblr.com/64daf02d6fea78c1b971d4bf6f3edb49/tumblr_inline_n9sd85OpEy1sk8304.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Iamamiwhoami have become quite a fixture in my end of year lists (of which this is self-evidently not one), and I'd pencilled in this latest instalment of their monthly multimedia moody-electro-pop extravaganza for obvious winner of this hard fought category - and with the quality of music on offer here, it should have been... but who knew there was such strong competition on the way?<br />
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Actually this is the first time I've done the whole "buy each track as a single as it comes out" thing, and what it's meant is that, as an album, this feels very uneven to me now - the first track "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRazgMj_cfE" target="_blank">Fountain</a>" was lovely when it came out in January, but I've heard it so many times now that the weird breathy, whisper-y section in the middle makes me want to throw <i>kanelbullar</i> at Jonna Lee's head, whilst the last track "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyZU9ptzy68" target="_blank">Shadowshow</a>" I can barely remember yet. </div>
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In the middle, though, there's the stunning "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJxXYHQIF40" target="_blank">Hunting for Pearls</a>" which has just the right balance of dark and light to keep you coming back time and again, the gorgeously upflifting "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKbunk6ZMmA" target="_blank">Blue Blue</a>", and the Brazilian electro-carnival chaos that is "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0COlNTizwo" target="_blank">Ripple</a>". What the hell "Tap Your Glass" is all about though, I have no idea. I'll just have a look at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r46Wcr58mCc" target="_blank">the video</a>... no, no, none the wiser. </div>
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I will say, this year's videos (one per song, making an ongoing narrative which someone, somewhere can probably understand) are the best so far- the weird furry monsters seem to have disappeared, to be replaced by lots of dancing about near water, celebrating nature and being chased by creepy figures dressed in block body stockings. I'm all for that. </div>
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<br />
<u>I Break Horses - Chiaroscuro</u><br />
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<a href="http://static.tumblr.com/a929f69b77ebad45e6b695a7f7592676/thg84nv/ZYen535ci/tumblr_static_9yu5dsw4buw4c40wk40kgkos8.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://static.tumblr.com/a929f69b77ebad45e6b695a7f7592676/thg84nv/ZYen535ci/tumblr_static_9yu5dsw4buw4c40wk40kgkos8.png" height="301" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
A new band to me late in 2013 thanks to their stunning support slot for Sigur Ros, Maria Lindén and Fredrik Balck really stepped up a gear from their shoegaze-y debut this year with this bleak, dark, other synonym for dark, moody second album. From the frenetic and nervous "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWmYpjWHT8E" target="_blank">Faith</a>" (Track of the year?) to the haunting futuristic film-noir soundtrack "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEj9ySRvtSM" target="_blank">Medicine Brush</a>", via the just ruddy-bloody gorgeous "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxlGaL807l0" target="_blank">Denial</a>" and "Weigh True Words", this album is very nearly perfect. I do pretend it finishes before the last track, though, sorry<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">. </span></div>
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<br />
<i>Winner: I Break Horses. Ultimately, I just like things a little bleak and depressing- and damn it, Iamamiwhoami, you just got a tiny bit too nice, cheerful and major key this year, with your sunny beach videos and Latin American carnival vibes. Still love ya, though. </i></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b><u>The Best Mike Oldfield album of 2014</u></b><br /><br /><b>The nominees:</b></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /><u>Mike Oldfield: Man on the Rocks</u></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b6/ManOnTheRocks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b6/ManOnTheRocks.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Nah. Just no, no and no again. With a side order of "NOOOOOOO!!!!" (See why <a href="http://giggingforever.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/album-review-mike-oldfield-man-on-rocks.html" target="_blank">here</a>.)</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><u>Rob Reed: Sanctuary</u></span><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span>
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<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51j8%2B4oylpL._SX300_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51j8%2B4oylpL._SX300_.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Oh now, this is much more like it - this actually sounds like a Mike Oldfield album. In fact it sounds like all the Mike Oldfield albums put into a salad spinner. In fact I don't think this is an album at all, I think it's an elaborate puzzle - the first person to work out which Mike Oldfield track each 30 seconds of music here is based on wins a trip over Hergest Ridge on horseback. </span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">I want to hate this album with every fibre of my being for being so blatant... And yet, and yet. It's annoyingly well done, and there are some great tunes. (Even if they are basically by Mike Oldfield- run through a note-randomiser). </span><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><br /></span>
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">Although, I just re watched<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rc87QuiRRy0" target="_blank"> this video</a> in which Rob Reed smashes up a record exec's office for not taking his album seriously, so now I'm quite fine with hating it - also those A&R guys at table 12 are looking a bit miffed so let's move on...</span></div>
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<u>Matt Berry: Music for Insomniacs</u></div>
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<a href="http://www.themattberry.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/AJX321-packshot-300x300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.themattberry.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/AJX321-packshot-300x300.jpg" /></a></div>
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Yes, the guy from "Toast of London". Yes, he's made an album of eerie synth and chanting vocal music, upon which he plays everything, Oldfield-stylee, and Yes, it was largely created when he was trying and failing to sleep. Yes, I CAN hear you, Clem Fandango.<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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Now, I'm not going to pretend this is hugely innovative either, but it is weird and it doesn't obviously follow a pattern that I can discern, and it also has the decency to sound like Jean-Michel Jarre and Tangerine Dream at the same time as Tubular Bells, so for that reason I'm in. </div>
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<br />
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>Winner: Matt Berry. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wgxLWjRZEw" target="_blank">YEEEESSSSSS</a>.</i> </div>
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<b><u>Best retro-60's/early 70's psych/Canterbury- type rock album</u></b> </div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>The nominees:</b><br />
<br />
<u>Temples - Sun Structures</u><br />
<u><br /></u>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/58/Temples_-_Sun_Structures.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/58/Temples_-_Sun_Structures.png" /></a></div>
<u><br /></u></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Brought here to you from the summer of '68 by means of some freaky musical teleportation device, here come Temples with their brand of fuzzy, sunny, hazy sounding psychedelic rock tunes - and oh, what tunes they are, it's physically impossible to be unhappy whilst listening to this album, and believe me I've tried. Here you go, here's '<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99U9-zRHXf0" target="_blank">Keep in The Dark</a>', and '<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0pc1bFUbLo" target="_blank">Mesmerise</a>' which aren't necessarily my faves, but look, they've got videos which tell you exactly what you think about the band without having to try too hard. Sweet. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<u>Syd Arthur - Sound Mirror</u><br />
<u><br /></u>
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<a href="https://f1.bcbits.com/img/a3158168592_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://f1.bcbits.com/img/a3158168592_2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<u><br /></u>
<u><br /></u>
Skipping on a few years to 1970, let's imagine we're in Canterbury (no, not the Canterbury where my parents went to university which apparently didn't contain ANY of the amazing music I know to have been happening there, I mean the one where people went out and saw bands and got into the whole scene, man...) - and here come a fresh faced new prospect, Syd Arthur, with their somewhat harder, rockier, less fuzzy and "peace and love" approach to the turn of the decade. With twisting time-signatures and interesting chords, they may be onto something - something that should maybe get a name beginning with P, can't think what now. It's happening though, and it's here.<br />
<br />
Check out '<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwH5_ovqhLE" target="_blank">Garden of Time</a>' here, cause it's on YouTube and everything, which makes it rather easier to do so...</div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>Winner: Very close, but Temples just win out here. Tune after tune after tune of top summery smashes. Mind you, I've not tried listening to it in winter, it might sound awful...</i></div>
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<br />
Tune in next time for more made-up and hastily decided-upon awards...</div>
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James Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12259324114219505127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7827881048969433882.post-51076353114080199142015-01-09T16:26:00.001-08:002015-01-09T16:41:24.452-08:00Gigging Forever Awards 2014: Part One<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Gosh, hello. It's been a while, hasn't it? I only finished writing last year's end of year list about 6 weeks ago, and yet somehow here we are again, trying to whittle down all the hundreds of albums that were released last year into a list which maintains the right balance of street cred, interest to my usual target audience, and actual truth.<br>
<br>
Except that we're not doing a list, are we? It doesn't say "The Year in Music", like it did the last couple of years, the words "Top 20" are nowhere to be seen, and everyone knows awards have nothing to do with ranking things in order of merit - just look at the Brit Awards.<br>
<br>
So here we are, the first annual Gigging Forever Awards. Not a list. In any way. Oh no. And if you look very closely, you will find that that goddamn "P" word doesn't appear anywhere. AT ALL!<br>
<br>
<br>
<b><u>Best "Sort-of-Jazz but not really in that chin-strokey, turtleneck sweater wearing-y way" Album</u></b><br>
<br>
<b>The Nominees:</b><br>
<u><br></u>
<u>Snarky Puppy: We Like It Here</u><br>
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<a href="http://f1.bcbits.com/img/a0768053330_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://f1.bcbits.com/img/a0768053330_2.jpg" height="320" width="320"></a></div>
<br>
Epic Jazz/rock fusion workout, written and recorded in just a few days in front of a live studio audience (yes, just like Cheers), with a drummer who arrived straight off a plane and sat down and played. Mind-blowing. Get the CD/DVD edition and marvel at just how well these guys can play and find out who gets money waved in their face.<br>
<br>
<u>Go Go Penguin: V2.0</u><br>
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<br>
It's like Drum'N'Bass music, but played with real drums and bass. And piano. So, it's like Drum'N'Bass'N'Piano then, I suppose. Well, some of it anyway. Some of it is more brooding, dark, jazzy, cinematic (yes, I said cinematic, deal with it). And one of the tracks is called "Garden Dog Barbecue", which frankly, can't be argued with.<br>
<br>
<br>
<i>And the winner is..... Snarky Puppy. I'm unlikely to see a YouTube video which makes me spend $20 before it's even finished playing <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Qo1NFwMhBA" target="_blank">like this one did</a> any time soon...</i><br>
<i><br></i>
<br>
<br>
<b><u>Best album by a band containing at least one member who kneed my girlfriend in the head whilst stagediving at a gig this year and broke her glasses which are still bloody wonky I'll have you know...</u></b><br>
<br>
Not much competition in this category this year, to be fair...<br>
<br>
<u>Trojan Horse: World Turned Upside Down</u><br>
<u><br></u>
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<br>
<br>
Damn shame, it's a really great album, full of rollicking, noisy instrumental craziness and one of the finest albums of what Matt Stevens calls "funny music" to come out this year, but unfortunately it's dead to this household now. Them's the rules. (Also the CD comes in the most elaborate packaging ever seen on an album by a band signed to a label run by from a bloke's landing in East London, FACT.)<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<u><b>Best album by one of Peter Gabriel's current backing singers</b></u><br>
<br>
<b>The nominees:</b><br>
<br>
<u>Jennie Abrahamson: Gemini Gemini</u><br>
<u><br></u>
<br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://jennieabrahamson.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Gemini_Gemini-299x299.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://jennieabrahamson.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Gemini_Gemini-299x299.jpg"></a></div>
<br>
<u>Linnea Olsson: Breaking and Shaking</u><br>
<u><br></u>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.linneaolsson.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Linnea_cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.linneaolsson.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Linnea_cover.jpg" height="320" width="320"></a></div>
<br>
<br>
Do I have to choose? Don't make me choose... they're both crammed full of interesting songs with inventive mixes of instrumentation and sound (xylophones, cellos, electronica), they both showcase the wonderful expressive voices of their creators, they're both Swedish, which as most people now know is pretty much mandatory in order to get my attention, and they both have some interesting lyrics (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFUczo9bZfg">Jennie is deeply concerned about war</a>, where Linnea is at least partly more worried about ill-advisedly seducing an inappropriate work colleague in a way that makes the listener come over a bit unnecessary, or perhaps that's just me.. - maybe just as well that song isn't on Youtube so you'll have to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLpH0TWF7R0">listen to the title track</a> instead..)<br>
<br>
I call it a draw.<br>
<br>
<br>
<b><i>More categories coming soon/when I can be bothered to do some more typing...</i></b><br>
<br></div>
James Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12259324114219505127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7827881048969433882.post-2242740109465398302014-07-02T11:14:00.001-07:002014-07-03T00:42:08.991-07:007th June 2014: Gary Chandler and Martin Orford - Paul's House, Eastleigh<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This entry should not exist. I'd basically decided to quietly slip away from doing gig reviews, after realising that I was rapidly losing my lifelong love of live events, due to either typing witty observations on my phone throughout the whole thing, or sitting trying desperately to make sure I didn't forget a single thought that occurred to me - usually by means of silent 'My Aunt Went to Paris...' type games, going round and round in my head and driving myself doolally. (<i>You know, "My Aunt went to Paris and she brought back a blistering guitar solo, some angular riffing, a Rickenbacker twelve string fretless Moog, a glare from McChuckletrousers..."</i>)<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
BUT! But, but... When I started this thing up 3 years ago, and people started to read it and not want to jab their eyes out with a rusty set of compasses afterwards, people would ask me whether I thought I could really go somewhere with it (and they didn't just mean to Lydney). And I would say:<br />
<br />
"<i>Well, imaginary reader, the best I am hoping for is that, some day, someone will like my word-spewage enough to invite me along to something just to review it, and that they might even let me in for free.</i>"</div>
<div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiED2IgpnS9wI1R2uCK3_LU06U8w8M94hYwonQuv3_ecB7WKty2LO-l3uJTrhW7VtmA2nHTUrkieHy8IAXc4F0VasB2lLJNyPZTIHJdGd65PjYiGhyP620TWR5ozSlFXvAq2hIuIwY_ZOQ/s1600/guestlist3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiED2IgpnS9wI1R2uCK3_LU06U8w8M94hYwonQuv3_ecB7WKty2LO-l3uJTrhW7VtmA2nHTUrkieHy8IAXc4F0VasB2lLJNyPZTIHJdGd65PjYiGhyP620TWR5ozSlFXvAq2hIuIwY_ZOQ/s1600/guestlist3.png" height="187" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My name IS down, and I AM coming in!</td></tr>
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<div>
That, dear friends, is what finally happened, when Paul (he of the famous '<a href="http://giggingforever.blogspot.fr/2013/03/2nd-march-2013-in-hats-paul-house.html" target="_blank">Twats in Hats</a>' gig at his legendary abode) messaged me to ask if I'd come down and review the night in exchange for a free ticket. Apparently my review of the previous gig went down rather well - who'd a thunk it? Plus, the England/Italy match is on, and I'm really concerned that Phil Neville's commentary is going to put me into a coma if I don't ENGLAND HAVE JUST SCOOOOOOOOOOOORED!!! oh there was a brief moment where he sounded like he was mildly interested, but it's passed now.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Sorry, ahem, anyway, it is thus that I find myself on a train heading down to Eastleigh, where I'm very kindly collected from the station by "Prog Rock Matt" - my most frequent accidental gig buddy, tube-whilst-going-to-other-gig buddy, giving-me-lift-in-minus-17-degrees buddy, but first time actual gig buddy. Arriving at the bachelor pad par excellence, I'm pleased to note that nothing has changed - it's still a space age shag pad-cum-mini Brixton Academy that would have been the stuff of teenage Gigging Forever's dreams, and Paul actually lives here for real. Like all the time. Plus, I even get to sign the wall of fame, which is nearly as good as the ticket-fest in the bathroom.<br />
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<div>
<br />
Since the last visit, Paul's become a friend too, so we have a good old chat about how we both nearly died running the London Marathon, what other house gigs might be on the potential calendar, and Cher Lloyd (it's an ok subject to broach on a second visit), but then eventually, two chaps wander over to the instruments down in what probably used to be the living room, in front of the Damien Hirst-painting back wall, and introduce themselves.</div>
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<div>
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<div>
Gary Chandler and Martin "Widge" Orford are proper musicians from the South Coast prog scene and bandmates in Jadis, whose accessible, prog-tinged rock understandably makes up a large portion of this evening's music. There's also plenty of time for stuff from Widge's other former band, IQ, and neither are any strangers to playing on other people's albums either, so we know we're in safe hands when they embark on their set of songs which also includes material from their solo albums, and carefully selected covers.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Gary sings with a powerful rock voice and plays both acoustic and electric guitars (much to the enjoyment of Paul's neighbours, I'm sure), as well as having a proper rockstar mane of hair to toss about at key moments. Widge plays keyboards, flute and cittern (look it up), and sings in a slightly softer but no less powerful fashion, eschewing the mane in favour of a leather waistcoat over checked shirt combo.<br />
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<div>
The odd couple of prog, they may be, but they captivate the room for a full two hours (apparently the longest they've ever played?), kicking off with an instrumental medley of Jadis hits, to which the audience supply the lyrics, before moving on to 'Across the Water', which has some wonderful close harmony vocals and gets the first massive round of applause of the evening - are there really only 40 people here? It's a great song, actually, and I'm prompted to think that even prog music sounds like "actual songs" when stripped down like this, well, until Widge breaks out the widdly-widdly keyboard solo, anyway, before Gary lets rip with a full electric guitar break. "<i>How are the neighbours about all this?</i>", he says when they're done. Er, bit late to be worrying about that now, mate.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Onto some of Martin's songs, and there's a 3-minute abridged version of 'The Last Human Gateway', which Martin sings just as well as IQ vocalist Pete Nicholls, followed by a short piano piece called 'Prelude' from his solo album 'The Old Road', at the end of which Gary looks over at us and says '<i>He's alright, innee?'. </i>The night's first cover comes in the shape of a Genesis song, which is never going to get any complaint from me, or, presumably, the bloke in the 'Seconds Out' T-shirt over to my right - even though it is a "BAD GENESIS" song, from the time when neither reverse mohawk-guy nor perma-dye mullet guy were in the band, and Phil Collins had whipped the razor out. Still, 'Many Too Many' is one of my favourite G-songs, and they do a cracking rendition, so full marks from the assembled jury.<br />
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"<i>That was a song by One Direction", </i>says Gary - to which one of my increasingly inebriated fellow audience members up in the kitchen replies: "<i>Oh, I thought it was Lady Gaga!</i>", a little exchange which sums up both the increasingly relaxed atmosphere in the room and the average prog fan's idea of music newer than 1980. You have to hand it to anyone willing to come and play in such a small and intimate venue to a crowd of people raised on gigs at The Peel, where constant shouting out and trying desperately to be more amusing than the people on stage was pretty much <i>de rigeur, </i>but bloody hell there are a few times when I want to go and shove a slice of pizza in some people's massive gobs, and tell them to knock it off and just let the poor musicians play.<br />
<br />
Anyway, they do a cracking job of carrying on, despite the court jesters in the gallery and the choir of enthusiastic Jadis <strike>stalkers</strike> fans on the sofa singing louder than the amplified voices of the band (and, admittedly, they're not bad at all actually, prompting Gary to ask at one point where they learned to sing like that...) - so on we go with 'More than Meets the Eye', which is preceded by a very bizarre and confusing story about a nun which ends with the immortal question "<i>Is a cucumber a fruit?"</i>. There's some lovely flute action from Martin and "<i>na na na</i>" vocals from Gary, which recall the opening of some really long prog song by a posh English band whose name escapes me right now. I don't recall the original being accompanied by the sound of 10 people who can't work out how to turn off the beeping sounds on their cameras, though, so that's a nice bonus.<br />
<br />
Up next, out comes the Cittern, a sort of large medieval guitar thing, which reminds me of my favourite 2011 London riots joke:<br />
<br />
<i>"I just saw some guys in Medieval outfits running towards Hampton Court. I think they were going luting..."</i><br />
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We get a lovely guided tour with a little unaccompanied piece which could easily be from the time when the instrument was popular, so I close my eyes and drift off into minstrel days. Also, opening them again and being reminded of the leather waistcoat and cittern combo makes the image of Widge as the long lost "Troubador" member of the Village People somewhat difficult to shift. But still, here's a nice singalong cover of Supertramp's 'Give a Little Bit' which gets everyone (oh yes, including old grumpy guts here) singing along at neighbour-bothering volumes, and then the lovely 'Speak my Name' from IQ's 'Subterranea' magnum opus, which prompts me to wonder whether I wouldn't have liked IQ even more if Martin had done all the singing in the first place.<br />
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And so it continues, with more Jadis songs, a couple more covers ('Your Own Special Way' and 'Here Comes The Flood' going down an absolute storm), and even 'Ray of Hope' from Martin's 'The Old Road' which is perhaps my favourite thing that he ever released. Any chance of a follow-up, Widge? Then, towards the end of the set, audience member impressions of Zippy and George from as yet Operation Yewtree-untarnished psychedelic kids' TV classic "Rainbow" reach fever pitch for some reason, prompting the band to roll out their apparently legendary rendition of the theme song - accompanied by singing/shouting/raucous laughter which is all the more worrying now that someone has opened the back door to prevent sweat running down the walls on this lovely summer's evening. And just as I'm feeling smug at the thought that I might be the only person here who was still a child when Rainbow came off the air, we reach the end - a lovely singalong double-whammy of Crowded House's 'Weather With You' and Floyd classic 'Comfortably Numb', with far more electric guitar solo than is customary inside a suburban semi.<br />
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A cracking evening's entertainment which is enjoyed muchly by all, as is the after party, with sausage rolls and cheese on cocktail sticks, and sandwiches - no jelly, but copious amounts of cold beer on this lovely summer's evening in Paul's garden, which like everything else at his house is completely, outrageously fabulous and OTT.<br />
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Soon, however, it's time to leave to bid our host farewell and catch the last train back to South West London, which for some reason I can't fathom on a Saturday night, is full of drunk, sweaty, overexcited students yelling and laughing much too loudly all the way back. Actually, it's just like I never left.</div>
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James Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12259324114219505127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7827881048969433882.post-30223913712862421102014-03-14T05:41:00.000-07:002014-03-14T06:18:23.927-07:00Album Review - Simon Godfrey: Motherland<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Songs. Lovely, lovely songs. Do you like songs? Of course you do, what a silly question.<br />
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But hold on, maybe it isn't - do you insist that every song has to contain a guitar / keyboard / theremin solo for it to be any good? Do you think '<i>Wind and Wuthering</i>' is the beginning of the end of Genesis because it has 'Your Own Special Way' on it? Do you listen to Radio 2 and tut at the playlist, and post things on Facebook about how 'complicated' music doesn't get the playtime you think it deserves (as if it ever did?)<br />
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Oh, ok, you don't. Good, come on in then, and settle down for something rather marvellous.<br />
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I reckon most people reading this will have a good idea of who Simon Godfrey is, if only because of me banging on about <b>Tinyfish</b>, the band he fronts, but he's been around on the circuit for *cough* years - as part of 80's progpop-supergroup-in-the-making <b>Freefall</b>, in folky-acoustic band <b>Men Are Dead</b>, under the ridiculously inventive electronic-rock guise of <b>Shineback</b>, and also as a regular at open mic night and acoustic slots, performing his catchy but deceptively complex songs around the pubs, clubs, and toilets of London.<br />
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It's this last persona that provides the best clue as to the content of 'Motherland', the first album to be released under his own name and by far the most personal thing he's put out to date - although it's certainly in the same postcode as the more straightforward moments of Tinyfish's output, like 'The June Jar', which also appears here in acoustic format, like an old familiar friend wearing a jaunty new hat.<br />
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It's one of 3 songs from Simon's other projects to be given a makeover, including opener 'Faultlines' - a powerful-but-painful highlight from last year's Shineback album, here given the stripped back treatment and a new, slightly folk-ish arrangement, and that's on top of the ambient noise-y intro which kicks off the album in expectation-buggering fashion.<br />
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Actually, let's chat about expectations - Simon's been very forthcoming about the genesis of this album right from the start, and here's an extract from the accompanying press release:<br />
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"<i>This is a travel record, made between two countries on a laptop, some stringed instruments, a USB keyboard and one tiny microphone. This is NOT a production. It's personal, close, natural - and deliberately so."</i><br />
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This, and various bits about it being an acoustic album, to expect bum notes and to think of these as home demos, sets the bar of expectation pretty low - so much so that I was basically expecting an iPhone recording of him sitting on the sofa in front of 'Homes Under the Hammer', mumbling and playing the spoons. If these are also your fears (and, frankly, that does sound like the stuff of nightmares), then you'll be happy to hear that he's dramatically downplaying just how good this is. The scamp.<br />
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Yes, it's an acoustic album, but it's not sparse - there's a lovely full sound, with chiming acoustic guitars, the odd bit of percussion, some subtle keyboards, blues-y harmonica on 'Tearing Up The Room', and some wonderful multi-tracked and processed backing vocals here and there, such as the gorgeous "<i>oooh, ooohs</i>" which back up the gentle melody of 'The Inaccurate Man'. If this is not a production, I'd like to hear what he can do when he really goes for it. (<a href="http://giggingforever.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/album-review-shineback-rise-up.html" target="_blank">Oh wait, I already did...</a>)<br />
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But what about the songs, James, the songs? What are they like? Oh, ok, sorry. Well, they're like songs. With choruses, and verses, and middle eights. And lyrics - some of which are by longtime writing partner and Tinyfish spoken word maestro Rob Ramsay, but most of which are by Simon himself and deal with a theme that's extremely personal to him at the moment - moving on, loss, and leaving things behind. *sob* (Ok, you can stop feeling sorry for him now, he's buggering off to live in the US with his lovely, prog-fanatic fiancee.)<br />
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This is no 'Face Value'-esque angry and bitter divorce record, though - no, in fact the more subdued numbers like 'The Inaccurate Man', and 'Sally Won't Remember', are beautiful and uplifting in their own way, and are, oddly for me, some of my favourites after a few listens. And when the lyrics do contain a touch of the angry, such as on 'God Help Me If I'm Wrong', there's still a rollicking, toe tapping tune to go along with it.<br />
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Two tracks I'd like to single out here, though - firstly 'Dust and Wires', which is perhaps the catchiest "new" song here, and encapsulates everything there is to love about Simon's songwriting. And then the closing 'Motherland', which is a moody instrumental piece with a touch of the Matt Stevens about it - until Rob pops up to offer a brief spoken word interlude with some thoughts which neatly tie up the album's concept.<br />
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"<i>With everything we've seen, and everything we've done placed before us one last time,</i><br />
<i>We are judged purely on what we leave behind</i>."<br />
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If this is Simon's parting gift to the UK, as the barely audible strains of the National Anthem suggest, I put it to you that we judge him favourably. (Or 'favorably' as he'll probably have to start spelling it now.)<br />
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<b>Rating: </b>4/5<br />
<b>Buy Immediately: </b>Faultlines / Dust and Wires / Tearing Up The Room /The Inaccurate Man / Sally Won't Remember / Motherland<br />
<b>Listen to: </b>Everything else - as one glorious whole.<br />
<b>Destroy: </b>Your preconceptions before hitting 'Play'.<br />
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<i><b>Motherland</b> by Simon Godfrey is released by Bad Elephant Music today! Like, right now. Head over to the <a href="http://music.badelephant.co.uk/album/motherland" target="_blank">BEM Bandcamp site</a> to listen, download, pre-order a CD, or preferably all three.</i></div>
James Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12259324114219505127noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7827881048969433882.post-57306300356735311492014-03-10T02:22:00.003-07:002014-03-12T02:17:53.627-07:00Album Review - Mike Oldfield: Man on the Rocks<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Let's get a couple of things straight before we start, shall we?<br />
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I've mentioned before how Mike Oldfield was my first musical love, and also how this awakening took place during the late 80's, when as well as symphonic masterpieces like 'Ommadawn' and 'Incantations' that I had the joy of being able to discover all at once, there were also new albums like 'Islands' and 'Earth Moving' to purchase, get confused by and then see for what they were – shimmering, Atari ST-produced monuments to chart pop music which still managed to retain some of the sense of adventure from his previous work. (See 'Far Country' for a perfect example – guitar solo by Adrian Belew, prog fans!)<br />
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Also, a cursory glance at my end of year lists since I started this blog will reveal that I'm not some hobbit-bothering pretentious anti-philistine who proclaims that anything resembling a proper song, or with any vaguely modern sounds is to be feared and backed into a corner and poked with a stick.<br />
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So - having said all that... this album's not very good, is it? Allow me to explain, as we go through the album chronologically from the good to the "meh" to the "I think I'm just going to put something else on now". <br />
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Opener 'Sailing' didn't do anything for me at first – probably something to do with the video, which just puts me in mind of someone who's brought their tragically hip rocker boyfriend home to meet their dad, who then insists on getting out his guitar and "jamming on a few numbers". But a week staying with my parents and the Radio 2 playlist gradually drummed it into me to the point where I woke up humming it one day, so it's probably quite a good song. In fact I would say that the first 3 songs are all pretty good in a 'Moonlight Shadow' / 'Crime of Passion' kind of a way, and worth listening to – the title track in particular managing to summon up something approaching emotion.<br />
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It's with track 4, 'Castaway' where things start to drop off, and you first start to notice all the niggles which then annoy you for the rest of the album. Firstly, the lyrics aren't brilliant, and in fact consist largely of repeating the song title over and over again – perhaps it's in case you've forgotten what it's called and accidentally click on it to play it again. Also, some of the guitar solos don't sound like that long was spent on them, which used to be charming in the Tubular Bells days, but now just sounds a bit like someone who lives in the Bahamas and wants to get back outside to the veranda and stare at the sea.<br />
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'Minutes' is basically just 'Sailing' again with a different chorus - it's one thing doing 'Man in the Rain' 15 years after 'Moonlight Shadow' but maybe leave it a bit more than 20 minutes next time, eh? And 'Nuclear' is perhaps the worst lyrical offender:<br />
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“<i>Standing on the edge of the crater, like the prophets once said.</i><br />
<i>And the ashes are all cold now, No more bullets and the embers are dead</i>.”<br />
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Gee thanks, Adrian Mole. Still, although Luke Spiller's vocals are kind of generic in a Max Bacon sort of a way, he's a good singer and does his best at trying to imbue some feeling into what he's given, like a man trying to wring some emotion out of the Argos catalogue.<br />
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'Chariots' starts promisingly, with some chugga-chugga sounds, a nice guitar riff, and a fat old groove from Leland Sklar on the bass, and in fact proves the last good song on the album, for my money. “<i>Chariots to carry us home</i>'” is a bit of a naff rhyme, but it's better than “<i>You are omnipotent when you're innocent</i>” I suppose. 'Following the Angels', though, is where things start to really go off the rails (or, hit the rocks, eh? Hahaha!) There's a promising start with a nice melody and a couple of interesting chords, but it then turns into 7 minutes of the exact same chord progression, melody and, mostly, lyrics going round and round and round with the addition here and there of a half arsed guitar solo and some gospel choir vocals to try and make you think something new's happening. But it's not. And you know it.<br />
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'Irene' is one of the most generic, cookie cutter, two chord 'Blues Rock' songs I've ever heard, even with its plastic horns, and should be torched into oblivion. And then there's 'I Give Myself Away', which I have never made it all the way through until just now, due to the first minute making me lose the will to live, and should probably be retitled 'I Wish I Had Given This Album Away'.<br />
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So, I make that four good songs. And none of them are even half as passionate or interesting as 'To France', 'North Point', 'Holy', 'Heaven's Open' or even 'Man in the Rain'.<br />
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After my first disappointing listen, I went and looked at the reviews which Mike's PR lady asked people to post on Amazon, and surprisingly they were all 5-star, aside from a few which dared to offer the alternative opinion that perhaps this album wasn't the best thing ever. After each and every one of those, someone else had posted a comment insisting that they go and listen to the bonus disc of instrumentals, as if some 'Songs of Distant Earth'-esque instrumental masterpiece would emerge once the vocals had been taken off. So I'm listening to that right now on Spotify. It sounds like an album of backing tracks to not very interesting songs. (<i>Although, dammit, I just got to 'Castaway' and it's infinitely better without the non-lyrics. Damn you, Mike for spoiling my pithy ending sentence.</i>)<br />
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<b>Rating:</b> 2/5<br />
<b>Buy:</b> Man on the Rocks / Chariots / Castaway (Instrumental)<br />
<b>Stream:</b> Sailing / Moonshine<br />
<b>Destroy, with whatever comes to hand:</b> Nuclear / Irene / I Give Myself Away<br />
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James Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12259324114219505127noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7827881048969433882.post-63681841996745096332014-03-08T14:33:00.001-08:002014-03-08T14:33:55.026-08:00Album Review - Matt Stevens: Lucid<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Last summer, I saw Matt play live down at the Peel where, a bit like a substitute teacher, he was covering for Simon Godfrey - in fact, very much like a substitute teacher, in that he had a beard and a cardigan, and refused to play by the rules, even his own.<br />
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Having taken the guitar loops to their illogical conclusion with a Mahavishnu Orchestra cover, and then gone on an insane odyssey of self exploration and guitar abuse in his 30 minute set, which went down an absolute storm (and not just because he was sandwiched between two bands which were, er, 'not aimed at me'), he afterwards appeared to be decidely not ok. Backing this up with social media posts which suggested that he was worried about some of the dark places he'd gone in his set, it's therefore probably not surprising to find that 'Lucid' breaks some pretty serious new ground, and that, in his words, it's “<i>inspired by a bit of a dark time</i>.”<br />
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Matt is one of the most visually exciting performers I've ever seen, and his live looping acoustic sets are always the stuff of wonder, as I've mentioned a couple of times before. I can't say I've always been in the mood for putting on his solo CDs at home, however all that changed with the release of 'Relic', which introduced some exciting new aspects to the acoustic looping sound - and 'Lucid' takes it several steps further, round the corner, down the street, hops on a bus and thumbs you a lift to Mind Blown central.<br />
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Opener 'Oxymoron' is a pretty good statement of intent, kicking things off with a nu-Crimson-esque driving riff over some heavy drumming from The Fierce and the Dead's Stuart Marshall, with barely recognisable violin playing from Chrissie Caulfield and some screeching electric guitar from the main man himself. The chiming guitar patterns of 'Flow' introduce some familiarity, but with a different twist brought along by TFATD bandmate Kev Feazey's percussive programming loops, and 'Unsettled' actually isn't a million miles away from their work on the day job.<br />
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'The Other Side' brings with it the most acoustic guitar we've heard so far, and is also the most cheerful thing on the album, with a jaunty little 'chorus' (as much as an instrumental album has any choruses), played by Matt's guitar and Knifeworld's Charlie Cawood on pipa, which is apparently a type of Chinese stringed instrument. See, it's educational, too, this album. And then we come to 'The Ascent', a real 'Larks' Tongues in Aspic' moment, as befitting a track which manages to persuade legendary ex-Crimson drummer Pat Mastelotto to pop in and have a whack at everything in sight – and not only that, but that insane noise which sounds like a frantic Fripp-esque guitar solo turns out to be a widdly-widdly fest from Frost* main man Jem Godfrey on keyboards, as well.<br />
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By this point, even if you're enjoying the album, your head is probably spinning and you feel like nails are being driven into your cranium (or maybe that's just my hangover), so it's just as well that 'Coulrophobia' (fear of clowns: useful to know for your next pub quiz) is up next to soothe you with its gentle vibraphone over chiming piano motifs, as supplied by Chrome Hoof's Emmett Elvin. And then there's 'KEA', which is one of only two guitar-only tracks, starting out all Steve Howe before heading off somewhere a bit Oldfield-y and taking a left turn into Fripp-riff (Friff?) Parkway, and then 'Street and Circus' which is probably the most traditional Matt Stevens solo album track you'll find here, with its furiously strummed motif giving way every so often to echoey, spooky sustained notes and finally a looped and layered playout.<br />
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Right, are you nicely chilled out? Jolly good – because here comes one of the best things you're likely to hear this year, and coincidentally the one thing you already can hear, on Soundcloud...<br />
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My friend Tim described this track as “<i>A volcano erupting in slow motion</i>”, which I wish I'd thought of, frankly, but it's spot on. Explosive and powerful, but subdued and stately, 'The Bridge' doesn't give away its treasures in a couple of minutes like most of the tracks here – rather it takes its time creating a scene of epic devastation, pausing for acoustic reflection in the middle to set up one of the most beautiful repeated chord patterns since 'Shadow of the Hierophant' or the end of 'Gates of Delirium'. And then, just when you feel all comfy and cosy, it wallops you over the head, bringing the full on post-rock assault to massacre the motif until you can't take it any more, at which point everything breaks down gradually into noise before returning for an ear-buggering coda when you least expect it. It's pretty much the album in microcosm, and it's the highlight of Matt's career to date.<br />
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Wisely, he doesn't really attempt to follow this, but final track 'A Boy' is just as good in a different way – a gentle acoustic guitar lullaby, it's recorded in a way that puts you right there in the room with him, the visceral and physical experience of his live sets finally making it to record. (At least that's my explanation for why you can hear him breathing all the way through, and I'm sticking to it.)<br />
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Make no mistake – a nice little acoustic album for background listening, this certainly is not. Powerful, challenging, and daring, it might not be what you expect from Matt (although expecting the unexpected is always a good idea) - but it's certainly a statement you can't ignore, and it's the best thing he's put his name on. (So far).<br />
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<b>Rating:</b> 4/5<br />
<b>Buy:</b> Oxymoron / Flow / The Other Side / The Ascent / The Bridge<br />
<b>Stream:</b> All of the rest of it. And then buy the whole thing.<br />
<b>Avoid:</b> Nothing, of course...<br />
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<b>'Lucid'</b> by Matt Stevens is released by Esoteric Antenna on March 31st. <a href="https://www.burningshed.com/store/guitarists/product/111/5458/" target="_blank">Preorder it here</a>.<br />
</div>
James Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12259324114219505127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7827881048969433882.post-91508454216726287212014-03-02T11:59:00.000-08:002014-03-02T11:59:59.893-08:002013: The Year in "Normal" Music - Top 20 Albums (10-1)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b><u>Previously on Gigging Forever:</u></b><br />
<br />
Way back in January (you know, when it was the time to do end of year lists), we had:<br />
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<i><a href="http://giggingforever.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/2013-year-in-prog-albums-intro-bem.html" target="_blank">Top 10 Progressive Rock Albums (Part One)</a> (including an intro to my End of Year Lists)</i><br />
<i><a href="http://giggingforever.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/2013-year-in-prog-albums-numbers-7-5.html" target="_blank">Top 10 Progressive Rock Albums (Part Two)</a></i><br />
<i><a href="http://giggingforever.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/2013-year-in-prog-albums-iii-as-sure-as.html" target="_blank">Top 10 Progressive Rock Albums (Part Three)</a></i><br />
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Then everybody stopped reading, because it was February, but we carried on regardless with:<br />
<br />
<i><a href="http://giggingforever.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/2013-year-in-normal-music-tracks_31.html" target="_blank">Some totally awesome single tracks</a></i><br />
<i><a href="http://giggingforever.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/2013-year-in-normal-music-top-20-albums.html" target="_blank">Top 10 "Normal" Albums (Part 1: Numbers 20-11)</a> (including various excuses for writing lists in February)</i><br />
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I am aware that it is now March. I would apologise for still ploughing on with this mammoth music-wank, but I'm not actually sorry. So, here are the ten albums which totally blew my mind in 2013 - and in case you forgot, I bought 70 new albums this year, so a place here really is a guarantee of... well, me liking it, I suppose.<br />
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<i>Spotify playlist at the end, as usual.</i><br />
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<u><b>10. Cut Copy: Free Your Mind</b></u><br />
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Ahh, see, Cut Copy know what their duty as Australians is (unlike Midnight Juggernauts, last time).<br />
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Done with remaking the 80's (via New Order) in hands-aloft, sunshine-drenched fashion, they've now moved onto doing the same for the early 90s. What will they be doing in 2020? - Urban Cookie Collective knockoffs, maybe...<br />
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Anyway, this is another killer collection of proper songs and tunes mashed up with actual dance beats, and obscure spoken word samples (this time suggesting that we've infiltrated into some kind of cult), but now the beats sound more like Primal Scream and early Moby. 'Let Me Show You Love' even threatens to take us to a proper rave, for goodness' sake, before changing its mind abruptly, and 'Take Me Higher' has definitely shared a taxi home with the Stone Roses at some point.<br />
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It doesn't quite hit the highest highs of the previous 2 albums (some of my favourite music of all time), and vocalist Dan Whitford's voice becomes ever more of an acquired taste with every passing year, plus song number 2 ('We Are Explorers'), whilst a good song, for some reason nearly kills the album's momentum stone dead - BUT there's no denying the quality music on offer here, and even a second-tier Cut Copy album is still worthy of a top 10 spot.<br />
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<b>Key Tracks</b>: Free Your Mind / Let Me Show You Love / Into the Desert... Footsteps / Meet Me in a House of Love<br />
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<u><b>9. Daft Punk- Random Access Memories</b></u><br />
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I know, I know what you're thinking. You want to gouge out your own eardrums with an ice cream scoop every time 'Get Lucky' comes on the radio now, don't you? But look, I haven't even put it on my key tracks below... Maybe there's some other great music on offer here?<br />
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Let's get the obvious out of the way - there's some good, funky, radio friendly stuff here like 'Lose Yourself to Dance', 'Give Life Back to Music', 'Instant Crush' and, yes, that one even your mother is whistling in the kitchen right now - all of which are great examples of their exquisitely fulfilled ambition to create an album of dance music using computerised voices but real instruments, provided by legendary session musicians who've played with everyone from Dire Straits, Phil Collins and Sting to Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson and Herbie Hancock.<br />
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But more than that, there are some mind-blowingly inventive tracks, like 'Giorgio by Moroder', where our eponymous hero recounts his path to music stardom over a gradually building and eventually furiously jamming electro-rock backing, with real orchestral flourishes, and 'Contact', which sounds like the soundtrack to a shuttle launch in the year 3000. And then there's 'Touch', the emotional core of the album, where the robot voices of the album's "Computers make human music" concept find a recollection of human contact, as the underwater-sounding vocals clear up into the most touching vocal performance on the album, a sort of Air-meets-Bohemian Rhapsody mini-epic. And any song that's written and sung by the man who wrote 'Rainy Days and Mondays' is absolutely fine by me.<br />
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So, hang on, why isn't this album higher up the list? Well, I have to say there are some tracks which just tick none of the boxes - namely 'Game of Love', a rather tedious "Vocoder voice sings dull ballad" track (again, track 2 - WHY?), and 'Doing It Right', which is just utter pants in every possible way. Still, on the whole it's just as good as 'Discovery', albeit in an extremely different way, and well worth a listen for anyone with a mind open to inventive music. Some of it's even a bit prog, but shhh, don't tell anyone.<br />
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<b>Key Tracks</b>: Giorgio By Moroder / Touch / Beyond / Contact<br />
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<u><b>8: Goldfrapp - Tales of Us</b></u><br />
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Did I mention that I was at the live premiere of this album, weeks before it came out?<a href="http://giggingforever.blogspot.fr/2013/07/17th-july-2013-goldfrapp-and-rcnm.html" target="_blank"> Oh, yes, yes I did.</a> As you were.<br />
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As it turns out, my initial impressions weren't wrong - a much more mellow affair than any of its predecessors and with nary a beat or a bleep anywhere other than on black sheep 'Thea' (the one they didn't do live). This time out, Goldfrapp is all about cinematic, storytelling songs with heartbreaking melodies, soaring strings, menacing piano, hypnotic acoustic bass, and, if we're honest, not an awful lot of percussion at all.<br />
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As if John Barry had reimagined 'Felt Mountain', you're out of luck if you fancy a boogie, but if you're after an album to make you feel all warm and snug on a cold winter's evening, you've come to the right place. Or will have. If you buy it. Or listen to it. Or someone sends it to you on Spotify and you feel like you ought to play it out of politeness.<br />
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<b>Key Tracks: </b> Jo / Drew / Thea / Clay<br />
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<b><u>7: Jon Hopkins - Immunity</u></b><br />
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There's a favourite school of thought amongst prog rock fans that "our" music is somehow superior because it "takes you on a journey", which is, in the best cases, quite true (and in the worst cases, true, but the journey takes you round the back of the Slough Trading Estate in a clapped out Ford Transit.)<br />
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But it would be daft to suggest that this doesn't happen in other music, and here comes Jon Hopkins to prove this point. Where prog takes you on a journey to a mythical kingdom, a Scottish river, or the hedgerows of Wiltshire, 'Immunity''s trip is far more down to earth; starting with the sound of a door opening and someone grabbing their keys and heading out, before hitting a scuzzy nightclub, a seedy alleyway where they may or may not get into a punch-up, the night bus home, that bit of the night where they keep waking up as the alcohol breaks down in their system and they want to die, and then on to a lovely beach in the sun in the Balearics, before their plane crashes in a giant fireball (Or, that's my interpretation of it anyway, and I know that's how I end every one of my nights out.)<br />
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What's the music like? Well, it almost defies description, but it's basically the exact middle point between ambient music and dubstep. In fact if you removed the beats you would have a beautiful ambient album worthy of Eno or Jarre, or one of those fellas. As it is, you have a beautiful ambient album with thudding, hypnotic dub beats over the top of it, and all sorts of scratchy, glitchy percussive sounds that sound like someone rattling prison chains or shuffling their feet over a carpet made of Brillo pads. It probably shouldn't work. But, by Jove, it totally does.<br />
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<b>Key Tracks:</b> Open Eye Signal / Collider / Sun Harmonics / but really, listen to the whole thing - it's a trip (man)<br />
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<b><u>6: Pet Shop Boys - Electric</u></b><br />
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Ok, I know I said last year's album was really good and it made some of you want to vomit down your sleeves. But this, really, honestly. Trust me.<br />
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With last year's gig (<a href="http://giggingforever.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/18th-june-2013-pet-shop-boys-jon.html" target="_blank">oh, did I mention that?</a>) very clearly setting out the band's intention to reclaim their rightful spot as a pioneering dance/electro outfit, the album had a lot to live up to - but preview track 'Axis' immediately put any niggling doubts to rest, with its relentless beats and rousing chants of "Electric Energy, Electric Energy". More proper, uplifting dance music, including tracks based on themes by Purcell ('Love is a Bourgeois Construct') and Bruce Springsteen covers ('The Last to Die') and fewer schmaltzy ballads, thank god - this is meant for moving to and not chilling out to.<br />
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And 'Thursday' is such a good tune, it even makes Example sound tolerable.<br />
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<b>Key Tracks: </b>Axis / Love is a Bourgeois Construct / Laughing in the Evening / Thursday / Vocal<br />
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<b><u>5: Arcade Fire - Reflektor </u></b><br />
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Look! A proper guitar-based rock album! Or is it?<br />
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"<i>Do you like rock and roll music? Cos I don't know if I do anymore...", </i>mumbles Win Butler at the start of 'Normal Person', perhaps giving a little glimpse into the thought processes of how to follow up two of the biggest rock albums of the century in 'Neon Bible' and 'The Suburbs'.<br />
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The answer seems to have been twofold - firstly bring in James "LCD Soundsystem" Murphy to dance them up a bit here and there, most successfully on the opening title track and the penultimate song 'Afterlife' (one of the most darkly uplifting things I heard all year). And secondly, go and record in Haiti and Jamaica and soak up a bit of the influence there (I would try to tell you which tracks those are but I'm sure I'd only make myself sound extremely ignorant... maybe 'Here Comes the Nighttime?')<br />
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The 'new-ish' stuff here is probably the most effective, with a couple of less exciting straightforward rock songs elsewhere, and perhaps the whole thing is a bit too much in one sitting, but it *is* spread over two discs with a little 'do-be-do-be-do-be-do-be' ascending sound at the end of disc 1, as if you were turning over a cassette, so you have to give them props for that.<br />
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<b>Key Tracks:</b> Reflektor / We Exist / Joan of Arc / Hey Orpheus / Afterlife<br />
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<b><u>4: Public Service Broadcasting - Inform - Educate - Entertain</u></b><br />
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It's a brilliantly simple idea - take some audio clips from old public domain news and documentary footage, which are sometimes amusing ("<i>He's the kind of a guy that made the automobile people think up hydraulic brakes!") </i>sometimes touching ("<i>Why climb Everest? Because it is there...")</i>, and sometimes downright bizarre (<i>"Out of the past and into your future comes this news - and the news is.... pleats!"), </i>stick it over some hypnotic beats, or driving guitar riffs, throw in as much banjo as humanly possible, and go out on tour playing in front of a load of TV sets showing said footage. It was certainly jolly effective when I <a href="http://giggingforever.blogspot.fr/2013/01/21st-december-2012-invisible-public.html" target="_blank">saw the show just over a year ago</a> (OH NO, HE DIDN'T!)...<br />
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<i>"I'm sorry, I was telling these people to shut up talking, what I mean is this..."</i><br />
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The question, though, is this... would it work for a whole album, shorn of the visuals? Luckily, Mr. Willgoose, esq. (possibly not his real name) knows exactly what he is doing, from the very clever title track - a kind of overture to the whole album and introducing its themes (hmm, sounds a bit prog), to the soaring and guitar-driven 'Spitfire', to the banjo hoedown in the middle of 'ROYGBIV', and then onto the dark electronica of 'Night Mail', in which the classic 1930's film about the mail train is given the early-Porcupine Tree treatment with beats and loops aplenty (but fewer LSD references.)<br />
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And if there is a better pairing of my interests in 2013 <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCnj0HrEt9M" target="_blank">than this wonderful video</a> where the band performed 'Signal 30' in front of screens showing the season's Formula 1 highlights, then you'd better keep it away from me in case I leave Karin for it.<br />
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<b>Key Tracks:</b> Spitfire / Signal 30 / Night Mail / ROYGBIV / Everest<br />
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<b><u>3: Everything Everything - Arc</u></b><br />
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<i>"It's good to see the art of being able to play your instruments is coming back into fashion..", </i>said my friend Simon after we went to see Everything Everything back in October (don't worry, no link, I didn't have time to review it.)<br />
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He had a point - if there's one thing you can say about EE (the band) it's that they are tight as a badger's perm. (If there's one thing you can say about EE (the phone network), by the way, it's that they are shit.)<br />
It'd be easy to dismiss at least some the sound on offer here as production trickery: impossible-sounding basslines which are both funky and jerky all at once (e.g. 'Kemosabe'), uber-compressed real drum parts which turn on a microsecond with the rest of the band running along behind ('Feet For Hands'), and falsetto, breathy vocals which you can only imagine had to be recorded one word at a time to give the singer's bollocks a rest ('Torso of the Week').<br />
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It's not for nothing that Simon also compared them to the Cardiacs, with this strange blend of shiny, but glitchy production and all-over-the-place, several-songs-in-one, challenging indie-rock (whatever that means). But then there's the more simple beauty of the "string quartet meets thumping toms" of 'Duet'. And 'Undrowned' is easily the best song ever to be based on the tune of 'See Saw Margery Daw'.<br />
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God knows what any of the lyrics mean, though. (Or, come to think of it, what they even are.)<br />
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<b>Key Tracks: </b>Cough Cough / Kemosabe / Duet / Undrowned / Armourland<br />
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<b><u>2: Chvrches - The Bones of What You Believe</u></b><br />
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I've expressed this opinion elsewhere and nobody seemed to agree with me (or, more accurately, they just ignored me and hoped I would go away, as usual) - but I can't escape the feeling that someone involved in Chvrches heard M83's 'Hurry Up, We're Dreaming' album, and thought "<i>There should be more music in the world like this</i>." Which I am totally on board with, by the way. There definitely should. But go on, have a listen to M83's '<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX3k_QDnzHE" target="_blank">Midnight City</a>' and then Chvrches' '<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mTRvJ9fugM" target="_blank">The Mother We Share</a>' and tell me they're not at least related by marriage.<br />
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If nothing else, these two superb albums are definitely drinking from the same 80's flavoured Kool-Aid with its huge synth sounds and drum pads, echoey vocals, giant but somehow sparse production and massive, massive tunes like 'We Sink'. Where Chvrches score highly on the "extra ingredient" front is with frontwoman Lauren Mayberry's confident yet somehow fragile vocals, which are extremely easy on the ear and provide an interesting contrast to the bombastic synth parts and thumping percussion of something like 'Lies'.<br />
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And that's not to say that things fall apart when Lauren steps away from the mic like on 'Under the Tide', either, leaving Martin Doherty to keep us entertained, his vocals providing a nice contrast when up front, a well as some distinctly Anthony Gonzalez-esque backing vocals elsewhere (oh no, there I go again...).<br />
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In summary, what we have here is a fantastic album of great pop songs with a huge sound which is almost tailored to my tastes, and when they darken things down a notch, with the distinctly creepy 'Science/Visions', there's a hint at even more exciting things down the line.<br />
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<b>Key Tracks:</b> The Mother We Share / We Sink / Tether / Lies / Science/Visions<br />
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<b><u>1: Iamamiwhoami - Bounty</u></b><br />
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Ok, this is a massive cheat. Even massiver than the number one on my prog albums list. Yes, the songs on this album dribbled out as teasing and mysterious Youtube videos over the course of 2010-2011, with nobody knowing who was behind them to start with (guesses ranging from Christina Aguilera to Bjork), before Swedish geniuses Jonna Lee and Claes Björklund stepped up for their rightful props.<br />
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But it's not until now that they've been available to buy on CD/DVD as one cohesive album with accompanying videos, each song having a one-letter title spelling out the title 'Bounty' (except that there are 2 "U"s for some reason, and then there are two extra songs on the end called ";John" (no, the semicolon isn't a typo) and "Clump", because why not?). This is therefore an album that came out in 2013, and it's therefore officially the best (according to me.)<br />
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I explained <a href="http://giggingforever.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/2012-year-in-albums.html" target="_blank">last year</a> (when I was robbing them of their rightful number 1 spot for first "proper" album 'Kin') how iamamiwhoami are quite beyond description, and then tried to describe them anyway. Dark, glacial, synth and beat-heavy, not afraid of weird off-kilter rhythms and the odd funny time signature - they're a bit like a less mental version of The Knife, or a more mumbly and slightly more tuneful Fever Ray.<br />
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'B' is a grand but mysterious opening, befitting its origins as anonymous internet video, but it's with 'O' that the sequencers, moaning and industrial machinery sounds kick in, and one of the year's (ok, 2010's) most massive tracks is born. If nothing else until 'Y' and its two lengthily named follow-ups is quite as darkly uplifting, that's not to belittle the rest of the songs on offer here, but the highlights of this album as listed below would be career bests for most acts and these are the first few songs they ever released - all of which bodes well for this year's "Series 3", which is <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/iamamiwhoami" target="_blank">already 2 songs in on Youtube</a> at the time of writing and just as marvellous as ever.<br />
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Looks like Jonna had better polish up her giant furry coat and her acceptance speech for the first back-to-back GF album of the year victory in the "not prog" category.<br />
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<b>Key Tracks:</b> B / O / U2 / Y / ;John / Clump<br />
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<i><b><u>Epilogue:</u></b></i><br />
<i><br /></i>
So there we have it. Two months on, I've finally managed to whittle down the vast array of musical riches which crossed my earholes in 2013 down to 30 albums, and 25 other tracks. And people say there's no good new music any more. My wallet certainly wishes there wasn't.<br />
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Congratulations and thank you very much, if you've made it this far, and double thanks if you actually read some of the words and didn't just scroll down through the pretty pictures. I hope you found something new that you liked.<br />
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James Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12259324114219505127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7827881048969433882.post-10577479112805181462014-02-09T15:14:00.001-08:002014-02-09T15:37:14.386-08:002013: The Year in "Normal" Music - Top 20 Albums (20-11)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>Following on from <a href="http://giggingforever.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/2013-year-in-normal-music-tracks_31.html" target="_blank">"the best tracks from 2013" that weren't prog and weren't on one of my favourite albums of 2013 because I didn't like all the tracks or the album doesn't exist yet or something like that, yeah</a></i><br />
<u><br /></u>
<u>Top five reasons why it is still totally ok to do 'End of Year' lists in the middle of February:</u><br />
<br />
1. 'Best of ' lists are still the best thing in the world, even when they're late<br />
2. If you do your 'best of the year' list in December, it doesn't give a fair chance to those Johnny-come-lateleys who release their albums in Q4<br />
3. It's been so long since everyone else's that you've forgotten what they picked<br />
4. I don't have much else to write about, music-wise, and the other option is that I write about marathon training, and NOBODY wants that<br />
5. Because I have put waaaaaay too much effort into this not to<br />
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For all of these reasons, and especially number 5... here we are - my top 20 albums of 2013 (that aren't prog. Except some of them. Maybe.) <br />
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Oh, and a Spotify playlist at the bottom, as usual.<br />
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<u><b>20: Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest</b></u><br />
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I can never decide whether Boards of Canada's music is quite futuristic, in a very bleak, post-apocalyptic way, or whether it's extremely retro, offering a grim, depressing, monochromatic, 70's view of the world; a place where kids with long hair wear flares and climb inside electricity substations, or fly kites near pylons, to the accompaniment of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.<br />
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Either way, their music always pleases, soothes and terrifies in equal measure, and this year's instalment is no different - although as my picks below demonstrate, I do like them most when they give me something to hum.<br />
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<b>Key Tracks</b>: Palace Posy / Nothing Is Real<br />
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<u><b>19. Summer Camp - Summer Camp</b></u><br />
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I know there's not much competition since Ike and Tina Turner went all quiet, but Summer Camp are definitely my favourite husband and wife pop duo. Since catching them live supporting Saint Etienne, I've bought everything they've done, which is as much down to their charming stage and Twitter presence as the fun music - everything about the pair of them just makes me want to squeeze their little cheeks and say "awwwwww...."<br />
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And that includes their latest album, which could best be described (or most lazily, anyway) as 'summery indie-synthpop' - the best example of which being 'Fresh' with its wistful string loop, and nostalgic lyrics. You might call them a tiny bit twee, but then lead vocalist Elizabeth Sankey would probably just have some sassy Cher-from-Clueless comeback, so why bother? Just sit back and enjoy some fine tunes with deceptively melancholy lyrics - that and the wonderfully positive ending thought... "<i>It's not how much you love / It's how much you are loved..."</i><br />
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Bless.<br />
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<b>Key Tracks</b>: Fresh / Pink Summer<br />
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<u><b>18: V V Brown - Samson And Delilah</b></u><br />
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I'd never heard of V V Brown until one day Popjustice wrote <a href="http://www.popjustice.com/briefing/one-of-the-albums-of-the-year-is-released-today/119639/" target="_blank">this astounding blog</a> about why her new album, was, you know, pretty good; so I decided to give it a punt, given that Popjustice is/are rarely wrong about anything, even if you don't always agree with him/them. That, and the fact that it was partly produced by Dave Okumo from The Invisible, who are probably the most amazing band ever to play at Tooting Tram and Social.<br />
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Sadly for our purposes, it isn't on Spotify, so you can't hear it along with the rest of the tracks here, but suffice to say that I was not disappointed - with extremely dark, dirty, intelligent electronic music backing up V V's astoundingly good voice (unusual in all the best ways - both when she sings and raps, yes raps, as on the exhilarating 'Igneous' ). You can, however, check out this performance of '<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSkOEDHIAx4" target="_blank">The Apple</a>' on Jools Holland here and discover why it would be a good thing to have Grace Jones fronting Depeche Mode.<br />
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Key Tracks: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1W9RHIp-hc" target="_blank">Samson</a> / I Can Give You More / Igneous / <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Erw0XvaZ2zo" target="_blank">The Apple</a> / Ghosts<br />
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<u><b>17. Hejira: Prayer Before Birth </b></u><br />
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I slightly imagine that Hejira don't actually want anyone to hear this album - which would fit nicely with the extremely mysterious, aloof image I got from <a href="http://giggingforever.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/21st-december-2012-invisible-public.html" target="_blank">seeing them live</a> just over a year ago. Quite hard to find any information about, this band seem to exist solely in reviews and <a href="http://hejira.bandcamp.com/releases" target="_blank">a Bandcamp page</a> upon which you can find a number of extremely experimental, almost improvised tracks called 'The Dust of Dreams', Vols 1-12.<br />
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Still, bad luck, guys, I have heard it - and it has to rank as the most profoundly inventive thing I bought all year (although looking at some of my other choices later on, you might think that's not too hard.)<br />
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It's dark and brooding for the most part (no surprises there), but there are very few electronic influences for once, on this list. Instead, this mini masterpiece is full of soft, echoey vocals, with male and female in unison (an effect I've certainly not heard before), plenty of ethereal guitars, and rolling toms with softly swishing cymbals, rather than a full kit blasting out constantly - and then you get a track like 'Echoes' which builds up from extremely minimal beginnings to enormous flourishes of menacing brass.<br />
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Almost impossible to describe, I suggest you just listen to it.<br />
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<b>Key tracks:</b> Litmus Test / Know / Echoes / Pinter / Gypsy of the Soul<br />
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<b><u>16. Little Boots: Nocturnes</u></b><br />
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Last time Victoria "Little Boots" Hesketh had an album out, she was signed to a major label, had a major producer and major budget, and it sounded like it. 'New in Town' was a gigantic glitzy, glam pop anthem which also somehow managed to rock, and was a justified hit.<br />
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Now it's 4 years later, and shorn of all the major-ness I mentioned above, she's actually all the better for it. This time around, she's produced an album of wonderfully catchy minimal dance-pop, recalling Saint Etienne, Giorgio Moroder and Kylie in equal measures. Tunes a-plenty, a sparser, house-ish production and a much greater sense of what she's all about as an artist in her own right, this is an extremely welcome return. Now, if she could just arrange a repeat of that London gig that I had to miss due to work, I'd be ever so grateful...<br />
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<b>Key tracks:</b> Broken Record / Shake / Strangers / Satellite<br />
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<b><u>15. The Duckworth Lews Method - Sticky Wickets</u></b><br />
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Who'd have thought the world needed one album full of songs with lyrics about cricket, let alone two?<br />
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Yes, it's another dose of utter daftness from Messrs Hannon and Walsh, with songs about the under-appreciation of umpires, the modernisation of the game, poor fielding positions and, well, sex (under the guise of vague cricket metaphors). There are songs which sound delightfully like ELO ('Third Man', or 'Turd Man', as Thomas would have it), songs which sound quite like The Divine Comedy of old ('Boom Boom Afridi'), songs with spoken word cameos from Daniel Radcliffe and Stephen Fry, and a song with lyrics taken from a Wikipedia page, set to what appears to be an outtake from David Bowie's Labyrinth soundtrack ('Line and Length'). Not that I'm complaining.<br />
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However, even within the confines of a silly album about cricket, the optimum daftness quotient is exceeded a little towards the end with a giant singalong from some cricket supporters and a final song which consists of various celebrities repeating two silly words and a sensible one, again and again over an increasingly annoying tune. ('Nudging and Nurdling')<br />
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I prefer to think that the album ends with the genuinely amusing 'Mystery Man', a nice enough song which then turns into an end-credits/score card type thing with voiceover from Matt Berry and would be a fine end to this cricket saga. Plus, that way, the last thing you hear is "<i>Zero. Trod on wicket</i>."<br />
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<b>Key Tracks:</b> Boom Boom Afridi / Third Man / Line and Length/ Out in The Middle<br />
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<b><u>14. Disclosure: Settle</u></b><br />
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We have a saying in my circle of gig buddies when we think something is rubbish... "It's not aimed at me."<br />
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This really ought to be the very definition of "not aimed at me" - I mean, look at these guys, do they look like they make music that a 35 year old should enjoy? Meh, sod it. This is possibly the most exciting straight house/dance music I've heard since the first Basement Jaxx album, with guest vocalists (Eliza Doolittle, Jessie Ware, London Grammar) and samples aplenty- that and massive grooves that bang on and on way beyond where they should still be interesting. I suspect none of it is as edgy as I think it is, but I surprised myself with how much I enjoyed this, especially my favourite gym track of the year, 'White Noise'.<br />
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Maybe you will enjoy it too. (But I would suggest that it is probably "not aimed at" most of my regular readers.)<br />
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<b>Key Tracks:</b> Latch / White Noise / Voices / You & Me<br />
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<b><u>13. Sigur Ros: Kveikur</u></b><br />
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The epic beauty of Sigur Ros has taken quite a lengthy and roundabout route to my ears. I've been sort of vaguely aware for many years that they make this kind of "good Coldplay" anthemic stuff that's so beloved of TV producers putting together sports highlights packages, but upon picking up some old albums cheaply, I also found that they appeared to be fronted by a cat with a piano on its tail, so I've been somewhat conflicted for a while.<br />
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Anyway, this year, something happened and the whole thing finally clicked, especially Jonsi's bonkers vocals; helped in large part by an absolutely phenomenal, mind-blowing gig at Wembley Arena (not helped by Wembley Arena itself, mind, which is probably the worst music venue in London these days.)<br />
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This time out, to my mostly untrained ears, there is a slightly darker, heavier sound, with some beats here and there; proper tunes also crop up now and again, and there are just enough dollops of the standard "epic, uplifting" stuff, like 'Stormur', to get the easily-scared through the more challenging moments.<br />
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<b>Key Tracks:</b> Brennisteinn / Isjaki / Stormur<br />
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<u><b>12. Phoenix: Bankrupt!</b></u><br />
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These funky soft rock revivalists hit the moderate-time in France back at the turn of the millennium with an extremely slick pair of albums, before turning briefly into the French Strokes, and then smashing through in the US (although oddly not here) by adding a soupcon of edgy synth and beats for their last album 'Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix'.<br />
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All 3 of these previous incarnations come crashing together here, with even more emphasis on the indietronica this time around but, crucially, with 'un grand sac' of catchy tunes, something that wasn't always the case on its predecessor. And then there's the small matter of the 7-minute mostly instrumental title track, with pulsing synths recalling Pink Floyd's 'On the Run', overlaid with harpsichord and speaker-destroying bass pedals. (Sorry, I said no prog, didn't I?)<br />
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Parisian cool via LA chic; why the heck they decided to turn their hotel room fruitbowl into an album cover, though, I will never know.<br />
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<b>Key Tracks:</b> Entertainment / The Real Thing / Bankrupt / Oblique City<br />
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<u><b>11. Midnight Juggernauts: Uncanny Valley</b></u><br />
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Don't Australians know they're meant to be cheery? Midnight Juggernauts have never quite understood this rule, as even in their most upbeat, funky moments like 2007's 'Shadows', they still managed to use up the world's supply of minor chords. Perhaps they've been hanging out in Scandinavia. Or even Russia via India as the mock-USSR video and sitar opening of 'Melodiya' would suggest.<br />
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Elsewhere, it's business as per the last couple of albums; minor key but deceptively uplifting and hypnotic beats, mumbly lyrics about circumnavigating the earth, 'Beach Boys-on-downers' harmony vocals, and echoey, 80's Tony Banks-esque synth solos over rollicking basslines and funky drum patterns. An Antipodean riddle within an electro-pop mystery, wrapped up in an 'hands-in-the-air' enigma.<br />
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<b>Key Tracks</b>: HCL/ Ballad of the War Machine/ Streets of Babylon / Systematic / Melodiya<br />
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<i>Next time: Go on, guess. What do you think will be next time?</i><br />
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James Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12259324114219505127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7827881048969433882.post-39086217102682273412014-01-31T12:48:00.001-08:002014-01-31T16:16:35.341-08:002013: The Year in "Normal" Music - Tracks<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Um, I've just realised it's nearly February, and everyone knows you can't do "Best of Last Year" lists in February. I might as well still have my Christmas tree festering in the corner.<br />
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For that reason, and also because I feel like I am writing this list for the sole interest of about 5 people on my Twitter feed (hello Jake, Richey, Moray, Tim, um... others) - here is my somewhat abridged "Best of 2013 in Normal music" roundup. By "Abridged", I mean I'm just going to give you a list, a load of album art and a few comments, because, let's face it, most times that's all anyone looks at on these things. And by "normal" I mean, relatively mainstream - things that people outside my tiny world of gig friends might have heard of, things with samples and distorted guitars and enough electronic percussion to give the hardened progger an aneurysm on the spot.<br />
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But before we actually get to the top 20 albums - here's a randomly ordered list of odd tracks from albums which didn't make the main list, either because I didn't necessarily like all of the songs, I didn't really get to know them well enough, or they just plain don't exist yet (which makes things slightly tricky.) And at the end there's a handy Spotify playlist of them all.<br />
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<u><b>Gigging Forever's "Top Tracks of 2013 which weren't on my top 20 albums for some reason"</b></u><br />
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YtX4V6dNuA" target="_blank">Chrome Hoof: Knopheria</a> (from the album Chrome Black Gold) - Massive disco-Knifeworld smash, like the Cardiacs meet the Scissor Sisters. I've not heard any more of this album and suspect the rest may be a bit less mental than this, but hope not, for the sake of all that is wonderful in this world.<br />
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I Break Horses: Faith (single) - Icy, deliberately obtuse, menacing, hypnotic electro track with a killer tune. The album is already one to watch in 2014.<br />
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Jennie Abrahamson: Phoenix (single) - Lovely Swedish electronica/singer-songwriter stuff from Peter Gabriel's latest backing singer - and what a voice. Some wonderfully squelchy keyboard bass too, and someone in a polar bear costume on the cover. What more could you want?<br />
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Haim: Forever (from the album 'Days are Gone') - This was probably better <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw3p3rsGgGg" target="_blank">live on Jools Holland</a> where I first heard it, trading the slightly overproduced sheen of the album for a healthy dose of New York punk attitude but still a fun tune from a good album nonetheless.<br />
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Bastille: Pompeii (from the album 'Bad Blood'). A song. That was quite good. Sung by a man. With some nice close harmony vocals and chanting choral effects. Will that do?<br />
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Jon Hopkins and Natasha Khan: Garden's Heart (from the OST 'How I Live Now') - Way less bizarre than you'd expect from the Mercury Prize-nominated sound pioneer and the bonkers frontlady of Bat For Lashes, but just as beautiful.<br />
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Delphic: Baiya (from the album 'Collections') - Yeah, the album was a bit dodgy, or at least misunderstood because it no longer sounded like New Order, but at least this was a superb single.<br />
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Depeche Mode: Angel (from the album 'Delta Machine') - Menacing and dark. Cracking live. Not entirely convinced about the rest of the tracks, though...<br />
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Teagan & Sara: Closer (from the album Heartthrob)- In which the indie duo get a makeover from Greg Kurstin and turn into a fun pop band with kick-arse attitude. If you like this, you'll probably like the whole album. Which I did. And do.<br />
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Jagwar Ma: Let Her Go (from the album Howling) - Summery, cheery, shimmery, jangly, spangly, chimmery, jummery, okay that'll do now. This year's only tip from my friend Mark - who went and got himself a girlfriend, the fool. Possibly the most guitarry and least electronic sounding song I've chosen in my entire list.<br />
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Moby: Saints (from the album 'The Innocents') - Say, Moby, can you make us a song that sounds exactly like 'Unfinished Sympathy' by Massive Attack? You can? Great! Do you have anything original, or even just better, to fill up the rest of the album? You don't? Oh dear.<br />
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Röyksopp featuring Susanne Sundfør: Ice Machine (from the mix album 'Late Night Tales') - A wonderful Depeche Mode cover with just the right amount of Nordic melancholy and analog synth wonder. I've actually never heard the original and not convinced I want to now...<br />
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Röyksopp (again) featuring Susanne Sundfør (again): Running to the Sea (single) - One of only 2 original tracks the R-men released this year - but there should be music AND a tour in 2014 and I'm staking my entire happiness on it. No pressure, guys. (Oh, and if you feel like bringing Susanne along on the road, I wouldn't complain.)<br />
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Rob & Chloe Alper - Juno (from the OST 'Maniac'). Chloe (ex of the much-missed Pure Reason Revolution) released a lovely song <a href="https://soundcloud.com/chloe-alper" target="_blank">on Soundcloud</a> about a year ago, and then promptly took it down. I miss that song. This isn't it, but it's still good. Not sure who this Rob guy is, but apparently he can write a decent song.<br />
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Austra: Home (from the album 'Home') - Austra's Katie Stelmanis has rather a strange, deep, almost bleating voice - and I'm not sure yet whether I like it - however this album is full of very interesting, even peculiar music. I picked the most electronic, upbeat number of course. I'm so predictable.<br />
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Porcelain Raft: It Ain't Over (from the album 'Permanent Signal') - Ooh, they've woken up a bit. If last year's album was like a soak in a hot bath, this is perhaps more like gently jogging through a field on a summer's day, tossing dandelions around your head in soft focus.<br />
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M83 featuring Susanne Sundfør (again): Oblivion (from the OST 'Oblivion') - Ok, Susanne, stop hanging out with the boys and get on with your new album, will you? Come to that, M83, you're quite possibly my favourite current band so can you pull your finger out on the proper follow-up to 'Hurry Up, We're Dreaming' so that I can rightfully award it the 'Album of the Year' spot it was so cruelly robbed of in 2011?<br />
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This soundtrack nonsense is all very well when you can make songs this downright life-affirming, with majestic strings and thumping percussion underpinning the vocal performance of Susanne's life, but it's a bit of a shame to find the rest of the album just filled up with variations on the theme... Merci and Tak!<br />
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The Feeling: Blue Murder (from the album 'Boy Cried Wolf') - A more mature sound on this whole album has attracted some rave reviews in respected quarters, but it's still growing on me at the moment. Still, this opener is a pretty good statement of intent.<br />
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Emiliana Torrini : Speed of Dark (from the album 'Tookah') - A most intriguing album of soft, largely acoustic, breathy songs underpinned by gentle beats and chilled electronica. And then there's this banging mama of a tune which wakes you up in the middle. My second favourite Icelandic album of the year, and would have made the main list if there weren't already so much on it.<br />
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Foals: Prelude... Inhaler (from the album 'Holy Fire') - More bands should put an instrumental piece as track 1 before their first song, it's a largely dying art. Anyway, I lied, perhaps this little pair of tracks is the most guitarry thing here, albeit underwritten by some Stone-Roses ish drum patterns and odd distorted keyboards. A very promising start which isn't quite matched by the entire album (not yet, anyway. Maybe there's still time.)<br />
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Empire of the Sun: Lux...DNA (from the album 'Ice on the Dune') - Oh look, an instrumental piece leading into the first track proper. I told you more bands should do that. This second album didn't quite hit the highs of their legendarily good first effort (a modern classic of electro-pop) from a few years back, but in any other year it would have been on the main list for sure. It's not my fault there were so many who did better. Please don't stab me with your pointy hat.<br />
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MGMT: Mystery Disease (from the album 'MGMT') - Having pretty much abandoned the kind of breezy indie-synth-pop that made their name, MGMT have settled into a more minor key, obtuse prospect which doesn't always hit the mark, but when it works, such as with this menacing number where what sound like tiny Casio keyboards doodle over a hypnotic drum beat, it works.<br />
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SOHN: Bloodflows (single)- An extremely late entry thanks to whoever was picking the music before last week's I Break Horses gig, this sounded absolutely immense over the PA and is similarly engaging at home - a sort of gentle R&B number to start with, the track soon builds up with skittering beats and synths to become something totally different by the end. An exciting discovery.<br />
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<i>Next time: The big one. 20 cracking albums from 2013. </i></div>
James Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12259324114219505127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7827881048969433882.post-70025933680234164862014-01-19T13:07:00.000-08:002014-01-19T13:40:44.645-08:002013: The Year in Prog Albums - iii) As Sure as Eggs Is Numbers 4-1<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>(Continued from <a href="http://giggingforever.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/2013-year-in-prog-albums-intro-bem.html" target="_blank">Part One</a> and <a href="http://giggingforever.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/2013-year-in-prog-albums-numbers-7-5.html" target="_blank">Part Two</a>)</i><br />
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Ok, it's time to get down to business with my favourite 4 "prog" albums of 2013.<br />
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But before we do...<br />
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There's one album that hasn't quite made the cut- here's what and why and where.<br />
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<i>Regal Worm: Use and Ornament</i><br />
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My crikey, this is mental. A mix of Canterbury-esque sounds, seriously obscure Swedish prog and, well, just noise and bonkers stuff, Regal Worm churned out its muddy little cast right at the end of the year and is frankly still in the processing queue whilst I decide whether it's the best thing in the world or utterly terrifying. Why not go and make up your own mind, <a href="http://regalworm.bandcamp.com/album/use-and-ornament" target="_blank">with some free samples on Bandcamp</a>, or Spotify? There's everything from 'Apple Witch', which is almost a song, to '6.17pm - The Aunt Turns into an Ant', which is 26 minutes to horrify every Genesis fan in the land expecting another 'Supper's Ready' rip-off. One thing's for sure - you may never be the same again.<br />
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Current favourite track: Apple Witch<br />
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<u>4. Steven Wilson: The Raven That Refused to Sing</u><br />
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Ok, here we go… “<i>BURN THE HERETIC! How can he possibly claim that any of the remaining three albums are better than this? What does he know, he likes the Pet Shop Boys.</i>.”<br />
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Actually, I’m not claiming that anything is better than anything – I believe I carefully covered my arse with a flameproof tarpaulin on that one right back at the start. There’s no denying that this is the most technically accomplished album of the year, with musicianship beyond reproach, extremely complex and challenging material which always comes off perfectly, and audiophile recording standards (no great surprise since Alan Parsons produced it.)<br />
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So, why isn't this higher up? Well, it's mostly because, although there's a very impressive technical display of Crimson/jazzy prog-fusion that drives along big numbers 'Luminol' and 'Holy Drinker', they don't bring joy to my heart or, to be honest, make any kind of emotional impact at all. In fact, the main enjoyment I get from ‘Luminol’ is singing “<i>Yeeees, Yeeeees</i>” along to various sections in reverence to its ‘Drama’-worship.<br />
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But wait - in amongst all the jazz-prog wankery there's an extremely moving core - Drive Home is simply the most gorgeous tune Wilson's ever committed to ones and zeros, and that guitar solo is either nails on a chalkboard or a lovely shoulder massage from a lady in a Bangalore hotel spa, depending on your point of view. (Just as a really non-specific example of something good, you understand.)<br />
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Title track 'The Raven That Refused to Sing' is an absolute highlight of his career; grand, majestic and touching - and don't expect to stand near me at a gig during this song without getting cried on. And then there’s 'The Watchmaker', which is easily the best homage to Genesis' "Trespass" album that anyone's ever written - a fine thing in my book.<br />
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Key Tracks: Drive Home / The Watchmaker / The Raven That Refused to Sing<br />
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<u>3. Moon Safari: Himlabacken Vol. 1</u><br />
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If ‘The Raven’ can be criticised for a lack of joy, I could almost believe that <a href="http://moonsafari.bandcamp.com/album/himlabacken-vol-1" target="_blank">Moon Safari</a> created this album as the antidote- in fact Moon Safari are in many ways the anti-Steven Wilson, with their cheery Beach Boys and Queen-esque vocal harmonies, major-key hard-rocking instrumental freakouts, and red stage attire (ok, that’s just one of them.)<br />
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On closer inspection, though, something is rotten in the state of Skellefteå, as underneath those tunes lies a dark heart of melancholy, exemplified by ‘Too Young To Say Goodbye’, whose music alone catches your breath, making you laugh out loud at how wonderful the world is, whilst having you jauntily singing “<i>You don’t have a heart but you could easily break mine…</i>”<br />
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In fact, they even poke fun at their perhaps undeserved sickly-sweet reputation on ‘Sugar Band’:<br />
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<i>“Come to Candyland, meet the Sugar Band, sweet and saccharine are we / Ride our unicorns, blow our summer horns, in our cotton candy dreams…”</i><br />
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Having said that, ‘Mega Moon’ seems to be a song about stealing the moon to give to a loved one, and ‘My Little Man’ is most definitely a funny little song about Pontus Åkesson’s son, so perhaps the “too cheerful” brigade have a point. Still, Moon Safari have been my discovery of the year since their Peel gig in the summer – if we were awarding album of the year based on how much I enjoyed someone’s live show, this would walk it. As it stands, it’s an extremely fine album and has single-handedly reminded me why I love traditional Progressive Rock so much, although I would be far more into it as a genre if everyone could write music as joyous and downright life-affirming as the hard-drinking Swedes from the land where the sun never rises. (except for when it does, and doesn’t go down again. Until winter. Ahh, you know what I mean.)<br />
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Key Tracks: Too Young to Say Goodbye / Mega Moon / Sugar Band<br />
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<u>2. Sand : Sand</u><br />
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Earlier this year, I came across a band called <a href="http://www.naoband.com/" target="_blank">North Atlantic Oscillation</a>, who I subsequently found to be one of the most exciting new acts around at the moment – echoey vocals, distorted guitars, dance sensibilities but with a rock core. Unfortunately they didn’t release an album this year so I thought this list was destined to be NAO-less, until the band’s Sam Healy thoughtfully slipped out this side project under the name of <a href="http://www.sandtheband.com/" target="_blank">SAND</a> in the dying months of 2013.<br />
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The longer it takes me to write this list, the more I end up listening to all the entries and the more their ranking changes – and nowhere is this more apparent than here, with this quite unassuming little album having started out somewhere around the number 8 or 9 position, and gradually worming its way up to here – the second best prog album of 2013. Actually, let’s be honest, this isn’t a prog album at all, is it? It’s on Kscope and that’s the only prog thing about it. It’s more what I’d call a ‘mood album’ – at first it’s hard to pinpoint specific songs or moments that are drawing you in, but over the course of the album, it locks you into a particular mood which makes you rather pleased with the state of the universe and keeps you coming back for more. Like a drug, but with nice side effects like being pleasant to people and wanting to hug everyone.<br />
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In truth, it’s not that far removed from North Atlantic Oscillation, albeit with much less guitar – it’s kind of like NAO crossed with M83, minus the beats. Which is alright by me. The first couple of tracks are bombastic and exhilarating in a somehow quite low-key way, and track 3, ' Destroyer' seems slightly less exciting on first glimpse but gradually reveals itself to be a slow burning epic as the album gets more plays – a simple ballad building up to a swirling fairgroundish ending. Elsewhere, ‘Astray’ moves from a sombre, quiet start with gentle throbbing piano underpinned by cello, to an explosive, joyous middle section with frenetic beats, before an ambient spacey section with beeps and bloops, which subsequently bludgeons you over the head with fragmented, unexpected drum and guitar stabs – and all of this within 5 minutes. Plus, 'On a Spent Sea' is a pretty good instrumental cover version of ‘No Surprises’.<br />
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If most of the albums in this list are fine examples of artists who are still making ‘Prog Rock’, then this (along with Shineback) is probably my favourite example of where real progressive music is heading – and I’m most definitely along for the ride. As my friend Tim is fond of asking, where would we be without Sand, indeed?<br />
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Key Tracks: Life's Too Easy/ Destroyer / Astray/ A Pill to Keep the Plane from Crashing<br />
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<u>1. Big Big Train: English Electric: Full Power</u><br />
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Oooooooh, this is kind of a cheat, isn’t it? They’ve pulled a sly one here. Yes, readers of <a href="http://giggingforever.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/2012-year-in-albums-part-two.html" target="_blank">last year’s list</a> will know how I felt about ‘English Electric, Part 1’, so you’ll probably imagine the anticipation round my way when Greg’s next package landed on my doorstep.<br />
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And you’ll also probably understand that my expectations were impossible to fulfill, and that whilst ‘English Electric, Part 2’ is a fine, fine album, it was perhaps less immediate by itself than EE1, having for whatever reason the slight feel of an add-on or bonus disc - which would probably have left it languishing around my bottom end. I mean, the bottom end of my list.<br />
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And I can only imagine that crisis talks were held at Big Big Towers about what they were going to do about this sorry state of affairs, although… although… did they know what they were doing all along? Yes, there’s always been an intention to release Parts 1&2 as a glorious whole, with reorganized tracks and cherry sprinkles and bluebirds singing over the white cliffs of Winchester- but how much difference would that make? It’s still largely the same collection of songs, isn’t it?<br />
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But they’ve only gone and bloody done it. Yes, if ever there was a case for continuing to listen to full albums, and album sequencing not being as much of a lost art as winding up slack cassette tapes with an HB pencil, this is it.<br />
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The songs from EE1 are the stuff of legend, so no more need be said about them here, save for the fact that playing musical chairs with them thankfully hasn’t dimmed their impact. And perhaps the most exciting thing about this lovingly manufactured breezeblock of a double-CD is Disc 1, Track 1- ‘Make Some Noise’, subject of BBT’s <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKe1FdztHGM" target="_blank">first promo video</a> and also of the first mini-backlash from bellends who say things like “not enough going on in the music for me…”. There are notes, there are drum beats, and there are words – what more do you want? A joyous celebration of what it means to be in a band and to want to entertain people, it’s the perfect mission statement for the next 2 hours of unremittingly top-quality music.<br />
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In fact, I completely failed to identify this last year, but David Longdon (whose song this is, along with many of the other favourites of mine here) has to be by far the most important addition to BBT in recent years, not only in terms of finally giving the band a vocalist that doesn’t make me want to gouge my ears out with a rusty spoon, but especially by providing a more traditionally song-based foil for the full-on prog that Greg does so well. In fact this balance is exactly what makes EE:FP so successful – sort of like when you eat a whole bag of Cadbury’s Buttons and feel a bit sick, so you have to eat some Monster Munch to soak them up. Yes, exactly like that.<br />
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Hence, for every ‘Seen Better Days’, with its 7/8 clattering piano patterns and massed choral vocals (a great big melting fistful of Buttons), there’s a ‘Leopards’, which quite apart from being basically this year’s ‘Uncle Jack’ only with fewer yellowhammers and more dangerous felines, is a motorway-services sized bag of Monster Munch. And then there’s ‘The Lovers’, which is is all beautiful flute passages and threatens to out-Trespass ‘The Watchmaker’ before adding some Gabriel-esque percussion into the mix and then heading off into a fusion instrumental workout, finally ending up with some triumphant mellotron choir, proving that even the worst prog clichés can still be effective when used sparingly. (Monster Munch. With a confusing hint of Buttons.)<br />
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Every new song of this year’s batch sits comfortably amongst its older siblings, but ‘East Coast Racer’ was the immediate standout of ‘EE2’, with its absolutely spine-chilling, glacial piano opening from Danny Manners (who’s much more prominent in general this year), before the eponymous locomotive takes flight with chugging strings and triumphant brass pushing her off down the mainline, and Messrs D’Virgilio, Spawton, Manners, Poole and Gregory stoking the rhythmic fires. And then there’s ‘The Permanent Way’ which proves that all the best albums need to have a reprise of the main themes at the end (‘Duke’, ‘Band on the Run’, ‘Jazz’, okay maybe not Jazz…)<br />
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In summary, English Electric: Full Power is quite probably the most important Progressive Rock album of the 21st century. Reverential of the past when necessary, innovative when desired, and reclaiming a place in modern music for brass bands and banjos, it’s the perfect argument for filling a double CD to bursting point. I wouldn’t want to give up a second. <br />
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I will have to take your first answer next time though, chaps.<br />
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Key tracks (that aren't recycled from last year, tut tut): East Coast Racer / Leopards / The Lovers / Seen Better Days / Make Some Noise<br />
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<u><b>Spotify User? Why not play all my top tracks except the ones which aren't on Spotify (and a few bonus ones which didn't quite make the cut...)</b></u><br />
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<i>Next time: Some albums that wouldn't be seen dead within 20 feet of a Mellotron.</i></div>
James Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12259324114219505127noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7827881048969433882.post-19545453127157665302014-01-18T13:32:00.000-08:002014-01-19T13:41:13.238-08:002013: The Year in Prog Albums - Phase 2: Numbers 7-5<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>Continued from <a href="http://giggingforever.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/2013-year-in-prog-albums-intro-bem.html" target="_blank">Part One</a> (due to getting a bit overexcited and typing an entire thesis on why prog is still, like, awesome...)</i><br />
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<u>7. Mr. So & So: Truth, Lies and Half Lies </u><br />
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Rock, rock, rock. RAWWWWK. There are times when you just want your music to get down and dirty, and not to sound like either Yes or Porcupine Tree – and it’s at such times that you need to catch <a href="http://www.mrsoandso.com/" target="_blank">Mr. So & So</a> live, like I did, and rejoice in their straight ahead, no-nonsense approach to creating great, enjoyable music. Built around obvious frontpeople Dave Foster and Charlotte Evans, they’re almost a less metal version of Touchstone, with (dare I say it?) better tunes. Throughout, there are gigantic riffs, proper choruses and great male/female harmony vocals which is always a plus in my book – plus there are proper, old-fashioned rock and roll guitar solos out the wazoo.<br />
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And just when you’re thinking this all sounds incredibly dumb and heartless, there’s the touching ‘Looking Glass’, in which Charlotte shows a rather raw and vulnerable side, and the gut-wrenching ‘You’re Coming Home’ which caused even hardened proggers at the gig to come over a little unnecessary and “have something in their eye”.<br />
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Also, ‘Apophis’ sounds absolutely brilliant when you’re taking off in a plane (thanks BA for enabling me to find that out.)<br />
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Key tracks: Paperchase / Apophis / You’re Coming Home<br />
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<u>6. Riverside: Shine of New Generation Slaves</u><br />
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Poland is a pretty grim and depressing place, isn’t it? I mean, I’ve never been there, but I have all the <a href="http://riversideband.pl/en/" target="_blank">Riverside</a> albums, so I’m just assuming, given how unremittingly minor key and bleak of outlook their songs are. Still, sometimes you’re just in the mood to wallow in self-pity like an emo teenager, even when you’re on the wrong side of 34, so for that reason it’s always nice to have Riverside back.<br />
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Again, I’ve not really studied the lyrics in any great depth, but there’s a picture of what looks like Canary Wharf tube station on the front, with hollow-eyed people going down an escalator (or perhaps up, backwards), so I’m going to assume it’s a concept album about mean old city people, the evils of money, and the drudgery of being a corporate drone (popular theme this year…).<br />
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If The Tangent’s soundtrack to corporate drudgery is a cacophony of Stravinsky-esque mind-buggery, Riverside’s sticks with the tried and tested formula of being a bit like Porcupine Tree, with acoustic guitar dark-strummy ballads like ‘The Depth of Self Delusion’ which is this year’s ‘Conceiving You’ (and nearly as good), and catchy metal riffs like ‘Celebrity Touch’, which is hopefully about Moby’s <a href="http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Matthew+Wright's+column%3A+Moby+Trick%3B+Star's+party+piece+is+a+shocker.-a062398439" target="_blank">favourite party game</a>, and confirms the old adage that what makes a riff 73% more awesome is to play it on an additional guitar the second time around. They also go for the old “Pink Floyd Rulez” tack on ‘Escalator Shine’, something which is taken to extremes on the bonus disc of spacey instrumentals which is well worth an extra few quid of anyone’s money.<br />
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But, just when you think they’ve got nothing new to say, along comes ‘Feel Like Falling’, which is basically a really excellent pop song. And it’s in a major key. And Mariusz yalls “C’mon!” before the guitar solo. Maybe there’s a chink of light in that Polish sky after all…<br />
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Key tracks: Celebrity Touch / Feel Like Falling / Escalator Shrine<br />
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<u>5. Big Big Train - English Electric Part 2 </u><br />
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<br />
GF: Greg, David, is that your final answer?<br />
BBT: Erm, hang on…<br />
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<br />
<u>Oh, alright then... 5. Sound of Contact: Dimensionaut</u><br />
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Oh lord, another concept album for me to not understand. Now, I have to admit that I was somewhat unfair to <a href="http://www.soundofcontact.com/" target="_blank">Sound of Contact</a> when I saw them live earlier this year – my main impression being that Simon Collins was trying a bit too hard to be his dad, and that they weren’t as much fun to watch as Beardfish. But then again, Cirque de Soleil aren’t as much fun to watch as Beardfish.<br />
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Anyway, I picked up this album with trepidation, and blow me, if it doesn’t turn out to be one of the finest things released in a long time. So, just how much does it sound like a Genesis album, then? Well, there’s no getting away from the fact that Simon’s voice is exceptionally similar to his dad’s - which is hopefully natural and not an affectation - and Sound of Contact / Cosmic Distance, with its rolling toms, is probably the track I accused of ripping off Duke’s Travels at the gig, but it’s a stonkingly good album opening when it kicks into the first real song ‘Pale Blue Dot’, just the first of many “proper” songs with tunes and choruses, but definite prog sensibilities, like ‘Remote View’ and ‘Omega Point’. Admittedly, it does drag a little in the latter stages with some less interesting ballads like ‘Closer to You’, but it’s rescued at the end by closer ‘Mobius Slip’ which is probably the darkest, heaviest thing on the album and factually the longest.<br />
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So, yeah, pretty much exactly like a post-Duke Genesis album then – in fact I sometimes like to try to imagine that it is their new album, as I sit, friendless and alone at home with my copy of Armando Gallo’s ‘I Know What I Like’. Some of the songs are easier to do this with than others; Phil-led Genesis were never as heavy as some of the sections of ‘Mobius Slip’, for instance, but just imagine if they could get back together and produce something of this quality. It’d easily be their best for, ooh, 17 years.<br />
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Key Tracks: Cosmic Distance…Pale Blue Dot / Omega Point / Mobius Slip<br />
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<i><a href="http://bit.ly/1cJgUGb" target="_blank">Next time: Some more albums</a>. In some sort of order. </i></div>
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James Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12259324114219505127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7827881048969433882.post-37402945212222239802014-01-16T15:26:00.000-08:002014-01-18T14:01:39.625-08:002013: The Year in Prog Albums - Part One (Overture / BEM / Numbers 10-8)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
If you've met up with me at all over the last 3 years, the chances are one of the following things happened:<br />
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a) I babbled incoherently like a teenage girl, and wouldn't shut up for hours because I was so happy so see another human being<br />
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b) I was moody and monosyllabic, then eventually started moaning at you about how miserable I am without an office to go to, before weeping into the first of many pints and then making a tit of myself at a gig, or insulting a snooker player.<br />
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Yes, working from home is a weird old experience, after the initial thrill of doing spreadsheets in your jogging bottoms, and emptying the dishwasher whilst pretending to listen to conference calls wears off. But if there's one thing it's good for, it's listening to music, so thank goodness that's something that I can just about tolerate.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoczvZDdpHuVWkVmx-dyOAc9mUS1jnyPH_-XTETBeapviXY4f-RaNy4P-pc-vXzSRxY3EshzI5bjzud-BBnjhX1QfhFBoxbqA31-g6i_1Xx1iYy7DmTj9Y4H3LaKeFUxM6YPmUZmU4A8k/s1600/home-worker.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoczvZDdpHuVWkVmx-dyOAc9mUS1jnyPH_-XTETBeapviXY4f-RaNy4P-pc-vXzSRxY3EshzI5bjzud-BBnjhX1QfhFBoxbqA31-g6i_1Xx1iYy7DmTj9Y4H3LaKeFUxM6YPmUZmU4A8k/s1600/home-worker.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I'm fairly sure that this is not an Occupational Health approved workstation.</td></tr>
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Anyway, all of this is a very long-winded way of saying that I bought a lot of new albums this year - and by that I mean 70. 70 brand new albums - and that's not even counting the old crap I bought for a quid in a charity shop.<br />
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It also means that, <a href="http://giggingforever.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/2012-year-in-albums-part-two.html" target="_blank">as last year</a>, I need to divide my list in two along the vague lines of "<i>music which is considered ok to listen to by people who only listen to prog oh no wait they're really eclectic because they also listen to prog metal</i>", and "other stuff." And because Santa told me you've been good this year, you can have your "prog-ish" list first - but if I get a quarter of the hits on the "<i>definitely not prog stop trying to claim that everything good is prog for the love of god</i>" list, I will come round your house and personally read every word of it through your letterbox, so be warned. Actually, that sounds like a good way to get myself out of the house doesn't it?<br />
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But before we even get that far...<br />
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<b><u>Naughty Elephants Squirt Water</u></b><br />
<b><u><br /></u></b>
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This year, a few of my mates got together and set up a record label, then released two albums which were written, recorded, produced and played on largely by more of my mates. Despite the reputation they seem to have somehow acquired for being a "prog" label, neither of the albums they've released so far actually fit neatly into my "prog" / "not prog" list, so perhaps they're just more of a "good" / "interesting" record label.<br />
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Both of these albums are excellent examples of pushing the boundaries of music - one puts me through the emotional wringer whilst making me want to jump up around at a 90's rave, and the other taxes the grey matter, demands some serious headbanging and makes me feel much hipper to post-rock music than I really am.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Guitars and rock and stuff.</td></tr>
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My problem is that I am too close to these albums to stack them up against your Stevie McChuckletrousers and yer Snoopy Biggie Trainy Trains - I think they are both superb and that everybody should buy them, but I genuinely can't think about them objectively.<br />
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For that reason, and assuming that you are't allergic to intelligent pop-dance type music with progressive sensibilities and some killer hooks, I will tell you to go and read my <a href="http://giggingforever.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/album-review-shineback-rise-up.html" target="_blank">sort-of-review of the Shineback album here</a>, if you dare. It's destined to become a classic of electro-prog, mark my words.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not so much with the guitars and rock and stuff.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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And I will end this completely unbiased section with the suggestion that if you like the sound of an album firmly rooted in the challenging, instrumental rock category, whose title track starts with a kind of thrash-metal riff accompanied by cheesy handclaps, which is interrupted when you least expect it by some chiming guitars and the world's most cheerful tune played on a Glockenspiel, and then gives way to a disco drum and bass section before eventually coming to an abrupt, mind-blowing ending, then you ought to get yourself over to Bandcamp now and have a listen to some of <a href="http://music.badelephant.co.uk/album/spooky-action" target="_blank">The Fierce and the Dead's 'Spooky Action'</a> album. It really does contain all this and everything else you can imagine besides - including a track which sounds like a Gamelan orchestra recorded in the Wookey Hole Caves ('Intermission 3') - no, I'm really not making this up.<br />
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<br />
<u>Gigging Forever's Top 10 Prog albums of 2013</u><br />
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Right, now we've got that out of the way so that I don't have to offend any of my mates by judging them against each other, let's take a look at what we have left. 10 albums - yes, these are all I actually feel like endorsing in the Prog category this year. But what albums they are, no sympathy votes or barrel-scraping this year - these are all certified great buys, guaranteed or your money back*.<br />
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In some ways it seems silly to try to rank them at all, but non-existent rules are still rules. I fully expect some sternly raised eyebrows at the order here, but you know what, whilst I can appreciate that some things may be better produced, or more expensively recorded than others, if they don't make me feel quite as happy to be alive as others then all that's not worth a Squonk's tear in a Siberian Khatru. Or something.<br />
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*<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Money may not actually be refunded</span><br />
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<u>10. Maschine - Rubidium</u><br />
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Yeah, I know that's an, um, interesting cover, isn't it? What you can't see is that there's a sticker on the front of my copy which proclaims <a href="http://www.maschineuk.com/" target="_blank">Maschine</a> (under their old name of Concrete Lake) to have been voted the best new band of 2011, which perhaps sums up why this, their first available recording, didn't quite make the splash I'd expected after that year’s triumphant Summer's End performance.<br />
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It may also be because it's an incredibly complex and inventive album, with more crazy ideas per song than an entire episode of Sherlock - taking several cues from the Pain of Salvation album after which they used to be named, but also reminding me of ‘Six’ by Mansun, aka the bonkers and brilliant album that killed their Britpop career.<br />
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At times, it doesn’t quite work – as with ‘Cubixstro’ which starts out in astounding fashion with some fine playing from everyone, but especially Dan ‘Funky Fingers’ Mash on the bass. But then by the time you’ve reached the last 3 minutes, with its repeated refrain petering out gradually like someone falling down a comedy well, you’ve basically forgotten what you liked so much about the first 5.<br />
<br />
‘Invincible’ gets it right, though, with soft, breathy vocals from frontman and guitar genius Luke Machin recalling Prefab Sprout’s Paddy McAloon (this is A Good Thing), some lovely flute, and proper tunes with gorgeous harmonies from keyboard player Georgia Lewis. And then it goes a bit mental for 3 minutes as everyone indulges their inner Dream Theater or Jaco Pastorius – but you know what? It’s absolutely perfect. More like this please.<br />
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Key tracks: Cubixstro / Invincible / Venga<br />
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<u>9. The Tangent: Le Sacre du Travail (The Rite of Work)</u><br />
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I’ve got to be honest with you, I had a bit of a struggle with this album to start with – in fact I’m not sure we aren’t still slugging it out with pistols at dawn to determine the ultimate victor. Still, being a tribute to Stravinsky’s ‘Rite of Spring’, it’s only fitting that people should be confused, challenged and downright terrified on first listening, and Andy Tillison, aka <a href="http://www.thetangent.org/" target="_blank">The Tangent</a>, manages to achieve this quite successfully with the first couple of ‘movements’ (cos it’s a proper symphony thing innit?) such as when a somewhat depressing monologue recalling the ridiculousness and futility of the daily ritual interrupts what initially promises to be quite a standard Tangent instrumental piece in the shape of ‘1st Movement: Coming Up on the Hour (Overture)’ (Andy - quick tip, you’ll never get on Radio 2 unless you make your song titles a bit more catchy…)<br />
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‘2nd Movement: Morning Journey & The Arrival’ doesn’t exactly encourage toe tapping or an easy listen either, being the most obviously recognizable example of Andy’s original intention to remake Stravinsky’s original – with some orchestral and sometimes slightly dissonant sections rubbing quavers with much more upbeat, catchy motifs including the “It all just looks like birdshit” section, as I like to call it (featuring the vocal stylings of the superlative David Longdon from Big Big Train – I wonder if they’ll make an appearance here in a bit?). Still, no refrain here outstays its welcome, in fact you’re hard pushed to find one that so much as takes its shoes off and asks for a cuppa, which is another reason for the lack of immediacy – hang on a minute, perhaps the Maschine influence has rubbed off on Mr Tillison…<br />
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Things get easier as we go, though, with the positively hit-single like ‘Evening TV’ rounding things up, but ‘3rd Movement: Afternoon Malaise’ is probably the most successful long piece for me, or at least the first to welcome me in and show me the secrets under its mattress, anyway – with the decently-proportioned 'Steve Wright' section being a lovely, warm and fuzzy post-lunch aural blanket in keeping with its subject matter and one of the few hooks to keep you humming away as you head home from your dreary toil like the corporate drone that you are, go on, hum away on the train to forget the pointlessness of your existence… Oh, looks like the album’s finally won.<br />
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Key Tracks: 4th Movement: Afternoon Malaise / 5th Movement : Evening TV<br />
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<u>8. Cosmograf: The Man Left in Space</u><br />
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I have to admit that I wasn’t going to buy this album; for the simple reason that I had this idea that it was going to be a terribly amateurish one-man-and-a-laptop affair. So imagine my surprise to be coerced into giving it a shot by the lovely Nellie at <a href="http://www.themerchdesk.com/shop/" target="_blank">The Merch Desk</a> (quarterly plug over) only to find various members of Big Big Train and Spock's Beard adding their not inconsiderable talents to the mix, not to mention Luke Ma(s)chin(e), Lee Abraham, Matt Stevens (oh, you don't say) and Robert "I'm not scary, honest" Ramsay.<br />
<br />
As you might imagine, the whole thing sounds great, but it would be nothing if the material was pants - and thank goodness, Robin (he who is <a href="http://www.cosmograf.com/" target="_blank">Cosmograf</a>) knows how to write a tune or two - with killer riffs and choruses all over, and that's to say nothing of the more ambient, spacey tracks such as the gorgeous 'The Vacuum That I Fly Through'. Key achievement is perhaps track 2- ‘Aspire, Achieve’, which sets its stall out right from the start with brooding acoustic guitar and soulful vocals, which are suddenly obliterated by a monster electric guitar riff and furious drumming, reminding you of Steven Wilson and that band of his before he went all serious. Oh, alright then, before he went even more serious.<br />
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It’s the second concept album on our list this year, being the story of, um, a man left in space… accompanied by a lobotomised female version of Kryten from Red Dwarf, or something. Sorry, regular readers will remember that I am hopeless at paying attention to stories and lyrics when there are tunes as good as ‘The Man Left in Space’ on offer – but even for the verbally challenged like me, the mood of isolation and desperation is intrinsic to the music itself and makes this an emotionally affecting listen throughout.<br />
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Key tracks: Aspire, Achieve / The Vacuum That I Fly Through / The Man Left in Space<br />
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<br />
<i>Next time: <a href="http://giggingforever.blogspot.fr/2014/01/2013-year-in-prog-albums-numbers-7-5.html" target="_blank">Numbers 7-5</a>. Or maybe I'll do numbers 6, 3 and 4, just to confuse you. Bet you can't wait.</i></div>
James Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12259324114219505127noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7827881048969433882.post-42213977381033344852014-01-12T04:25:00.001-08:002014-01-12T07:08:10.427-08:0011th January 2014: The Fierce and the Dead / Thumpermonkey - New Cross
Inn, London<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Ladies and gentlemen, I have failed you. I've just checked and it has been at least a year since I wrote anything about Matt Stevens, which is both sad and slightly worrying. What if I've fallen out of man-crush with the Giant Cuddly One?<br>
<br>
Fear not- the love which has far too often spoken its name is still as strong as ever, on tonight's showing; as I bring you my first gushing tribute to The Fierce and the Dead, the band Matt plays in when he's not doing things to an acoustic guitar which are probably illegal in 37 states.<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"These are small, and those are far away..."</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Tonight's gig in New Cross is a bit of a bastard to get to - hardly surprising since it is in the London area on a weekend (gee, thanks, TFL.) It's therefore heartening to see the place rammed when I arrive, with people who've come all the way from Catford and Stroud- rock on.<br>
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Unfortunately my travel woes cause me to miss all but the last song of the <a href="http://mayorsofmiyazaki.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank">Mayors of Miyazaki's</a> set - but what I do hear reminds me a bit of Everything Everything. And the Cardiacs, surprisingly enough for a band playing a gig with bands from the sort of Knifeworld scene. Oh look, there's Kavus. Mind you, Kavus is everywhere, as he should be for the good of our planet, a bit like Nitrogen.<br>
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The New Cross Inn is a pretty cool venue - it's basically a pub with a largely empty floor space and no regular tables and chairs, although there are a few outdoor picnic tables at the back, in case anyone's brought a hamper and fancies a scotch egg or two. Actually the need for a sit down is much less necessary than usual as tonight's crowd is definitely younger than the usual prog rabble, although two guys near me as I wait are having a conversation about Stonehenge so perhaps it's not so different. A couple play pool in the corner all through the night, and over the other side there is a lady in a little black dress, wearing a long blonde wig with bits of tinsel in it. I like this place.<br>
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The Fierce and the Dead finish setting up and start off a pretty funky jam which may or may not be the start of the set; but apparently not, as they soon give up on this and kick off with opening track 'Part 4' from the new album 'Spooky Action'.<br>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://music.badelephant.co.uk/album/spooky-action" target="_blank">Buy. Buy album. Buy album NOW!</a></td></tr>
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Ah yes, standard Stevens loopy, jangling guitar riff... Except- hang on a beard-wearing minute- it's electric. And Matt's not even playing it. Yes, without hearing them it would be easy to imagine that the Fierce and Dead might be a kind of full-band version of Matt's solo acoustic looping albums. Perhaps the opening deliberately plays on this for as long as it takes to lull the unsuspecting listener into a false sense of security, before smashing them over the head with a grungey riff which gives way to spacey sounds and feedbacky, distorted guitar.<br>
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In truth, it's fair to say that TFATD (as all the hip kids call them) bear little relation to Matt's solo stuff - his contribution here being largely more "soundscapes" and "what the bloody hell was that noise?" than "rhythm and loops", leaving Steve Cleaton to play a lot of the recognisable chiming guitar patterns. In fact, anyone from the little prog community that's taken Matt's solo looping work to its heart so warmly might be forgiven for assuming that it's very much Matt's band and all the others in it merely players- but nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, Mr. Stevens is quite some way from the loopy-dancing, pedal stomping, guitar trashing dervish of his solo sets, taking a side stage role and never hogging the limelight, which means there's plenty of eye-capacity to enjoy everyone else on stage.<br>
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Or, indeed, off-stage, as bassist and geographical frontman Kev Feazey abandons his microphone and jumps down the few centimetres off the platform at a few points to rock out down the front and watch what the rest of the band are up to. Pretty cool idea - especially since he's not actually using the microphone. Yep, The Fierce and the Dead are an instrumental rock band - get over it. Rather an instrumental band than one with a shit vocalist.<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I insert this picture here for no reason at all.</td></tr>
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Anyway, who needs a singer at all? Certainly not me: all I demand is a tight and entertaining rhythm section, and this band deliver in spades - Kev being a mesmerising bass player, who sets up some fearsome grooves in amongst all the distorted, noisy bits everyone else is bashing out. He even manages to sound like a squelchy bassoon on 'Let's Start a Cult', the surprisingly chirpy little number which starts with the kind of "wah waaaaah" riff that ought to accompany someone falling down some stairs, goes through a deceptively catchy and rocking dual guitar solo, and ends up in a kind of stoppy-starty Knifeworld-ish exploration before coming to a close in a blaze of feedback and distortion which recalls My Bloody Valentine.<br>
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The other half of the rhythm section, drummer Stuart Marshall, is no less essential to the set - in fact he's possibly the closest thing I've found to Tinyfish's Leon Camfield out in the wild - an extremely visual drummer, commanding your attention and making you marvel at just how hard he can hit everything in sight in such a short space of time. And he doesn't just deal splendidly with the stop-start, time-sig shifting nature of much of tonight's music, no, he drives it forwards, making it possible for the songs to turn on a dime, and for Tinsel-wig woman to dance her little dress off like a gogo dancer for the entire set.<br>
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And she's actually not the only one - there's also long hair rock guy in front of me who sways from side to side in time to the music, meaning that his head is only in my way 50% of the time, which is actually a perfect solution which should probably be adopted by all gig goers henceforth. Yes, I made some comment on Facebook before this gig about the probable lack of toe-tapping and chorus humming, and yet by the time they arrive at 'Chief', I am indeed grooving along to the beat - not as musically as Kavus, mind you, who finds some kind of impossible syncopated off-beat to clap along to.<br>
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It's all over far too quickly, which is probably because they've written the setlist on a dolls-house sized post-it-note, but the set finishes up with an absolutely blistering 666...6, by which time my <i>digiti pedis</i> are most assuredly moving about in a way that could be described in some alliterative fashion which slips my mind right now. Well, until the rollicking 6/8 pattern that drives the song along breaks down into an echoey, comtemplative section anyway. Tinsel lady is a tad confused - but never mind, they're soon back with a giant riff which wraps things up rather nicely, thank you very much, and then they're on their way.<br>
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As must I be, before too long, but there's just time to berate Matt for not playing longer (something which will be rectified at their Camden Barfly gig on Feb 2nd - stick it in your diaries), catch up with frequent gig buddy Alison, who's been hiding in a corner, and visit the gents to find out what the Mr Men look like when you've taken LSD.<br>
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I also stick about to see my second helping of Thumpermonkey, who are great and supremely engaging to watch again, if only for the sight of their back-to-back guitar duelling stance at the end of the first number, which is wonderfully at odds with their seemingly deliberately low key appearance. Yes, some of the band look like a little like maths teachers, but then that's perhaps fitting, since it seems that some of the music was possibly worked out using quadratic equations.<br>
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There are heavy riffs and time signature changes, alternating with catchy, funky sections, some vocals which are almost like rapping, and choruses which go "Put it right back where you found it". Whatever you say, guys. Then there's a song about body modification ("YEAH!" shouts someone) - "Seven seconds of Firth of Fifth" from Rael on the keyboards, (whose name is apparently not Graham), and just as I have to get going, the singer launches into a remarkably Sherlock-esque spoken word narrative containing the immortal words "<i>When we were introduced to each other it became quite clear that we were at the institute of incendiary morphology for quite different reasons.</i>"<br>
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Bonkers, brilliant, bloody difficult to get your head around, that's Thumpermonkey.<br>
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But I will leave you with my favourite image of the evening, which is the sight of our friend in the dress coming to the end of her rapturous dancing to TFATD, looking about, not quite knowing what to do, heading over to the nearest table, taking off her wig, giving his thinning scalp a good old scratch, sighing and picking up his pint of bitter for a gigantic swig.</div>
James Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12259324114219505127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7827881048969433882.post-37052468442297036012014-01-02T15:38:00.000-08:002014-01-02T16:56:43.835-08:00Happy New Friday<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Well, good golly gosh and crikey.<br />
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One minute I'm in the middle of telling you about my fun and not at all boozy weekend at the Summer's End Festival, and the next, Christmas and New Year have been and gone and we're all flopping about in the post-festive period, shoveling in the last of the leftover food we don't actually want, and idly playing with our new toys like those guys from Wall-E.<br />
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I'm a bit crap, really, aren't I? It's even taken me 5 days just to write this much, which explains why the previous paragraph doesn't make much sense - I have to keep changing the days in it. Fear not, though... plans are afoot to bring you as much wordy goodness as your eyeballs can consume. (Probably more, if we're honest.)<br />
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Firstly, I've just bought a dedicated blogging laptop so that I don't feel I'm depriving Karin of her Spider Solitaire every time I want to write something - although I'm not using it yet because it has Windows 8 on it and I'm extremely scared.<br />
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And secondly, I've quit my job so that I can spend more time writing. No, don't worry, I'm not that deluded - I have actually accepted another, hopefully less demanding one, no need to send the intervention people round.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Darling, we are only telling you this because we will always love and support you,<br />
but that top really doesn't go with the jeans... "</td></tr>
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There are various gigs booked in already for 2014, and a couple of trips, so I shouldn't be short of things to write too much about. But before all of that...<br />
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<b><i><u>I've Got a Little List</u></i></b><br />
<b><i><u><br /></u></i></b>
Me and 2013 have some distinctly unfinished business to take care of - yes, it'll soon be time for the annual Gigging Forever page of album covers and associated waffle with accompanying meaningless ranking. This year I've been putting a lot more thought into it (i.e. some) and making sure I play every new album I bought this year once through, making some notes.<br />
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Unfortunately, I bought 65 new albums this year so it's taking a while. I'm just about at 'T' though, so hopefully the first part will be ready soon. As with last year, the "Prog" list pretty much writes itself, but aside from that, there are 50-odd albums of assorted other interesting music to go through, making a list that makes me sound just the right combination of young and cool, whilst not being blatant lies. Not as easy as you'd think.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Obviously this won't be on it. Or will it?<br />
Is it post-retro-ironic to like this now? Help...</td></tr>
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I've also got notes to write up from some of the best gigs I've ever been to, so there'll be a bit of a gig-round-up of the year type thing. Featuring this...<br />
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And this...<br />
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And, er, probably not this.<br />
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<b><i><u>Radio GaGa</u></i></b><br />
<b><i><u><br /></u></i></b>
Just before Christmas, I popped over to deepest darkest Stratford (as much as one can pop anywhere for TWELVE SODDING HOURS), to visit my good friend David and provide witty repartee as special guest for his end of year review podcasts. In-between all the music, we talked about why Robert Ramsay should join Daft Punk, why David should probably have invited Karin instead of me, and what is my "pooing album of the year." You'd be criminally insane to miss it.<br />
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Now, I don't like to break the magic of radio, but although we pretend they're recorded on various days over the festive period, we actually sat there all day recording all 3 epic shows back to back, which you can probably tell by the fact that my input is pretty much reduced to snarky comments by the end of the last one. My point is, anyway, that if I can sit there on David's landing doing that all day, the least you can do is go and take a listen - and there is clearly no finer collection of progressive music anywhere on the web (that's progressive and not just Prog, since I insisted on putting some of my electro-bollocks on the playlist, too.)<br />
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<br />
<a href="http://www.thedividingline.com/podcasts/european-perspective/" target="_blank">The European Perspective End of Year Review - click here or look for it on iTunes...</a><br />
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<b><i><u>Been Around the World and I, I, I...</u></i></b><br />
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For some inexplicable reason (or possibly because I paid my sister to bump my Facebook post), my travel blog got quite a lot of attention over the holiday period, and became something of a viral hit. As in a hit with people who were stuck in with the flu and had nothing better to do.<br />
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Anyway, literally 6 people liked my comment that I should carry on with it, and as everyone knows, that's basically a binding contract, so I'll be putting some time into that at some point as well. There'll be stuff like this:<br />
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And this....<br />
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And, er, this...<br />
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In the meantime, if you've not seen it yet, <a href="http://flyingallnight.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">why not go and have a quick look</a>. And then continue having a look for as long as it takes to read it all.<br />
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<b><i><u>Run, Forrest, Run</u></i></b><br />
<b><i><u><br /></u></i></b>
Last but not least, I know how much everyone enjoyed it <a href="http://giggingforever.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Exercise" target="_blank">when I used to write about training</a> for a 10k race - so much so that I've signed up for the London Marathon. So I'll be sure to:<br />
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a) bore you with that, and<br />
b) beg for more money for the Cure Parkinson's Trust<br />
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Happy new Year!<br />
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James Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12259324114219505127noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7827881048969433882.post-18992753771398483602013-10-13T05:18:00.002-07:002013-10-14T05:53:03.907-07:005th October 2013: Summer's End Festival, Day Two - Lydney, Gloucestershire<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">For some reason I can't quite place (perhaps see <a href="http://giggingforever.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/4th-october-2013-summers-end-festival.html" target="_blank">yesterday</a>), I wake up feeling a bit worse than I would like - it's one of those 'manflu or hangover?' moments. Still, there's only one way to decide - a 7km run usually sorts out the men from the boys, and so it proves today, as I do circuits round Lydney and power past people in festival T-shirts on their way to or from breakfast. Hello, and sorry, if I nearly mowed you down in my wake - or, more likely, tutted loudly as I dodged round you on the pavement.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Nicely de-beered, there's just time for a quick breakfast at one of Lydney's many caffs, this time it's the Bridge Cafe (where somehow I manage to avoid getting fired) whose BLT is heartily recommended, as is their Chocolate Tiffin, which they even wrap up for me in a little bit of foil to take away, as if they were packing their only child off to prog camp.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Doors are a little late, setting the tone for the rest of the day, but soon enough I catch up with my fellow giggers again and we're inside, waiting for...</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><u>Silhouette</u></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">...who are young and vibrant enough to look like they'll be worth a watch, apart from having someone's Grandad on bass. As it happens, they're good fun, and can certainly play, but put a lot of effort into a set which manages to tick every box on the 'prog cliche' bingo card before the end of the first song. Guitar/keyboard duel - check... Quiet bit... bass pedals and mellotron choir - check... Keyboard player plays a solo with one hand in the air- HOUSE!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The second song is called 'Far Away' and unfortunately I start to wish that that's exactly where I was, and perhaps so do the band, after the singer shouts "ARE YOU READY?!!" to stony silence from the crowd. As the set progresses, he starts to have some tuning issues and it's at this point that I reach the critical "I would rather be outside" point, so I take a little breather out by the war memorial, where I'm gradually joined by more and more people - each time the door opens, another unfortunately missed note echoing out into the Forest of Dean air and making the assembled throng wince.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">They even have a song called 'Grendel Dreams'...<br />
Photo: James Allen</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Still, a decent sized crowd enjoy the whole set, and it's not easy to open a festival, so full marks for trying. Trying is something that...</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><u><a href="http://www.jumprock.co.uk/Home.html" target="_blank">Jump</a></u></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">... don't really have to do at all, entertaining the room for over an hour without doing anything more flashy than playing a load of songs. SONGS! At a prog festival -whatever next? Actually Jump profess to being bemused as to why they keep being asked to play at prog related events, and I can see their point, their highly melodic, storytelling material being more on the Mike Rutherford end of the prog songwriting scale than Mike Portnoy. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Having said that, although magnetic front man John Dexter-Jones is a visually a good cross between "MORRISSEY!" (c James Allen, 2013) and Billy Bragg, his mannerisms and poignant story-telling (see 'Bethesda') certainly recall Fish at his more angry moments, and there's a touch of Steve Thorne here and there in the material. Actually, the entire band are spot on, giving the music room to breathe instead of slathering it in overblown solos and other trimmings, but it's John who's the clear focal point, prowling up and down the stage staring menacingly at members of the crowd or freaking out with every limb of his body during 'Get Used to the Taste'.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Never knowingly uncontroversial, he even tells a fine Princess Di story near the end of the set, before we're all encouraged to become windscreen wipers for 'Staring at the Rain', which is a mighty excellent song even if we do all look like tits. The set's over way too quickly, but it's been the most refreshing hour of the weekend so far.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">'Tom Sawyer' starts playing on the PA, presumably in case we have prog withdrawal symptoms, and I simultaneously scare and impress Rick and Rob with my note-perfect Geddy Lee impersonation. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">"<i>Are you starting a Bee Gees tribute?"</i>, says Rob.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Back outside, via Nellie, who is now selling Jump CDs (which come highly recommended), I break out the emergency tiffin, which attracts all the killer wasps left in Lydney, causing me to freak out and take a bite out of the foil along with the biscuit-y goodness. But there's no time to worry about that, because...</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Overhead</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">... have just taken to the stage, with their hybrid of heavy-ish riffs, space rock and Jethro Tull-style flute-prog. Actually I'm really impressed by the way the lead singer plays flute with such attack and percussive-ness - not as impressed as I am by the fact that they have John Peel from the 70's on the drums, though.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">They've come all the way from Finland today, and wow the crowd with their interesting material, their enthusiasm and their array of bizarre equipment, including what Rob suggests might be a Tricorder, which the singer brandishes about in the middle of the second song, pointing it here and there, in a confused fashion, like a man looking for the source of a radiation leak. Neither of us can figure out what he's actually doing, but it's entertaining to watch anyway.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: James Allen</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Sadly my feet start complaining towards the end of the band's set, so I drag some willing accomplices off in search of food, thereby missing Overhead's cover of '21st Century Schizoid Man', which by all accounts is mind-blowingly good. Not so smug about that lengthy run now.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Still...</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Curry</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">...is fun, and we have the Kings Tandoori Restaurant to ourselves for the majority of our meal, largely because it's not actually open yet - we've just wandered in through a side door they've accidentally left open, and they're too polite to send us packing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">What's less fun is the 20-odd minute loop of Daft Punk's 'Get Lucky' which they use to try to get rid of us like Guantanamo noise torture. When this stops, we all breathe a shared sigh of relief, until a Kenny G CD goes on. "PUT DAFT PUNK BACK ON!", nobody has the guts to shout. Still, the food is delicious, even if all the biryanis come with a free omelette on top for no obvious reason.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mmm, a curry and a fry-up all at once!<br />
Photo: James Allen</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">We make it back to the hall to find that the Big Big Train draught beer is all gone, which is clearly the crisis of the weekend - but never mind, there are still some bottles left, and we're in plenty of time for...</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ravens and Lullabies</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">...or, Oliver Wakeman and Gordon Giltrap, as they're otherwise known. (Or Oliver Wakeman and his prog-metal stand-up comedy show, with a bemused guy looking slightly like Snuffleuphagus from Sesame Street, quietly strumming some acoustic guitar in the corner.)</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: James Allen</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It's an interesting, and very varied show - with a 'first half' consisting mostly of some proper 'rawwwk' material from Oliver's albums, and why not, when you've got Threshold's rhythm section on hand to provide all your awesomeness-related needs? There's also the small matter of Arena vocalist Paul Manzi, who belts out numbers in proper rock god mode when required (including one about "Elizabethan Pirates...") and then manages to sound quite like Phil Collins on the 'Follow You Follow Me'- esque 'Anyone Can Fly'. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: James Allen</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Eventually, Gordon Giltrap is allowed to speak, thanks the band for letting him come along under the 'Care in the Community' programme, and introduces a few tracks from his solo career, including the excellent 'Roots' from his 'Fear of the Dark' album. There's then a very interesting solo looping instrumental, which he describes as "a cross between Boyzone and Mike Oldfield", with 'keyboard' and 'bass' parts building up from the guitar, followed by some Oldfield-esque solos, true to his word. There's no cover of 'Father and Son', though, so not sure where the Boyzone bit comes in. He doesn't even do a comedy Father Ted accent.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">So far, so engaging. But then, things take a bit of a turn. Oliver comes back on, and the two of them start on an acoustic set of songs from the 'Ravens and Lullabies' album, which sounds like a nice idea on paper but in reality is so ridiculously mellow that there's no option but to slide into the nearest comfy chair in the bar and get a spot of shut eye. Eventually I find myself at a table with 5 or 6 of my best gig buddies, all 'sort-of-listening' to the chillout sounds whilst having a chat about how amazing Lazuli are going to be, why Internet forums are dying a death, and why being a primary school teacher is, like, well easy. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcO8H0SVg4DoAasalPUN3Go0-OabysYUzgLjJC5qvCUFuHf6iXlImuOg__4VbIijO0og_HUwcHi2Ibyle6akkAwmXsKTw5dfbPJ_PDtOdCT8hCu0EcHG_cV2YNbW5LdL5NJKjMz9CjcNA/s1600/giltrapwakeman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcO8H0SVg4DoAasalPUN3Go0-OabysYUzgLjJC5qvCUFuHf6iXlImuOg__4VbIijO0og_HUwcHi2Ibyle6akkAwmXsKTw5dfbPJ_PDtOdCT8hCu0EcHG_cV2YNbW5LdL5NJKjMz9CjcNA/s400/giltrapwakeman.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: James Allen</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">When the rest of the band do eventually come back on, and with the gig nudging over the two-hour mark, it's hard to summon up the requisite effort to move from my comfy position, but I eventually manage it when they announce the final song, which turns out to be the bona fide top 40 hit single 'Heart Song', which is actually a cracking piece of music, and leads me to believe that I might be far more of a Gordon Giltrap fan than an Oliver Wakeman fan. Even if Oli does really, really, look, sound, and tell bad jokes like his dad.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9qC8u1yKjiKGgBqjcvzYsEFaE4f61UCL38vT6Sf_zoSf6VilBCDYNIkjyuGdmg_WhEbl-Iao3lgFL5ERuTcbGJAiisX0J4PL56iBvSe1SRl-_q2U0iITfoozXrt9cdF646ju0tzDkpDA/s1600/oliver.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9qC8u1yKjiKGgBqjcvzYsEFaE4f61UCL38vT6Sf_zoSf6VilBCDYNIkjyuGdmg_WhEbl-Iao3lgFL5ERuTcbGJAiisX0J4PL56iBvSe1SRl-_q2U0iITfoozXrt9cdF646ju0tzDkpDA/s400/oliver.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: James Allen</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">With the set concluded, and the day now running over an hour behind, co-organiser Lambsie takes to the mike to announce that there'll be a break before the next band, and they're not going to kick us out but could we possibly get away from the stage so that they can set up? A request which is studiously ignored by all the slightly scary Giltrap fans in matching 2005 Tour T-Shirts, who hang about getting in the way until it's apparent that Gordon has gone, at which point they disappear as swiftly as they arrived, completely missing...</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Lazuli</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">... which is probably the biggest case in history of 'Your Loss', as anyone knows who was at Summer's End in 2011, or the Night of the Prog Festival in 2012, or, in fact, anywhere in the world where 5 men dressed as medieval-futuristic blacksmiths took to the stage and kicked seven shades of shit out of your very soul.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3-pfjIefizkTi-d7uHoL827iZ2ic16PJt2_ap8GsqM6M5gzMvWlR5HjLJhPuNANZ_TJs4KPBVauTT0aaGheXNRrodt6TUB7ijVTT0O2jbwTUpRFSqfMhtb60sVdjpWValTOvW9UD27PQ/s1600/lazuli1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3-pfjIefizkTi-d7uHoL827iZ2ic16PJt2_ap8GsqM6M5gzMvWlR5HjLJhPuNANZ_TJs4KPBVauTT0aaGheXNRrodt6TUB7ijVTT0O2jbwTUpRFSqfMhtb60sVdjpWValTOvW9UD27PQ/s400/lazuli1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All Lazuli Photos by 'Cambot' James Allen</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In fact, it's probably fair to say that my entire attendance at this weekend is down to my fundamental need never to ever miss a single note these guys play in this country - and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Taking to the stage to the sound of distorted French Horn isn't your typical opening, and first song 'L'arbre' builds into a massive bass drum and marimba rhythm from percussionist Vincent Barnavol, whilst guitarist </span>Gédéric<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Byar strums moodily, and Leode player Claude Leonetti (who invented the instrument after an accident left him unable to play a normal guitar), comes over all Shankar with some eastern-sounding guitar/violin screeching. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">As if they didn't already seem interesting enough, they don't have a bass player in the conventional sense - no, they leave this job to be performed by Keyboard player Romain Thorel, who apparently doesn't have enough to do just playing synth lines, so splits his brain (and his keyboard) in half, churning out thunderous and funky basslines with his left hand seemingly on autopilot. He also has his keyboard at the jauntiest angle I've ever seen on stage, which makes it fascinatingly easy to watch what his fingers are doing at all times. (Hang on, maybe that's the idea -what a bighead.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Singer Dominique Leonetti, though, is one of the real stars of the band, with note-perfect and spine-chilling vocals cutting right through the world-rock sound his colleagues are hammering out with alarming ease. His English may be limited, as he constantly reminds us, apologising throughout, but he's a mesmerising frontman, acting out every word with his body, to the extent that nobody cares what he's on about (which is handy, since even those of us with a reasonable grasp of French are struggling.)</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpvzH8zJkZqiCULMxz3zn3e80ZLKHnXkmdiGS2Tk0egVXW4PpiJ24vZ0obujQ4G6D5085_TF5lR6sQnMLHMJaWwsq3rjXg45eU3gYGqgHftX5IwnYoWhvhHHxHxvo2-WlZncNhMlVY36w/s1600/lazulilight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpvzH8zJkZqiCULMxz3zn3e80ZLKHnXkmdiGS2Tk0egVXW4PpiJ24vZ0obujQ4G6D5085_TF5lR6sQnMLHMJaWwsq3rjXg45eU3gYGqgHftX5IwnYoWhvhHHxHxvo2-WlZncNhMlVY36w/s400/lazulilight.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">With nobody able to figure out a word of what's going on, the set relies even more than usual on the music, and by golly does it work. Someone tells me on Sunday they've never seen a room full of prog fans dancing before, but there's something so primal, so fundamentally electric about every song, that you just can't help but want to move - even if you really shouldn't. Grooves build up under heavy rock riffs, with influences from all over the world, and even a touch of skittery electronica, and the band are so perfectly tight you would swear they were miming if you couldn't feel the vibrations from the drum kit in your chest with every beat. Added to that, they're one of the most exciting bands that you will ever watch - feeling every note, being completely in sync with one another and sharing little sneaky grins across the stage when they think nobody's looking.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Song after amazing song goes by, including the incredible 'On Nous Ment Comme On Respire', where Dominique tries some Gabriel-esque stage trickery with a little hand-held light (an effect which works once the lighting guy figures out what he's trying to do), and 'Quinze Heures Quarante' which goes on a little improv excursion. It certainly isn't twenty to 4 by the time they're done. Then there's a brand new song, which is so much of a work in progress that </span>Gédéric<span style="font-family: inherit;"> needs a screwdriver with which to play his guitar - and then comes the most technical display we've seen so far, as Romain is allowed a keyboard solo, which takes a turn from Chopin-esque piano brilliance to a drum n'bass left hand accompaniment to some curiously Frost*y glitchy synth trickery.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUx72xm06CcujsO-3aJXGdPkaze3J9Hc3praeueRww1Rg9rnLgFWFiDFOIlKNxHarEXz2ac0WVVp7ESFDW3pItuZOR0zqPUVTBckZUi-MF7rZ39gzj_NYA6B_ZReAKlAvbyLcuyjqbjCA/s1600/lazulikeys.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUx72xm06CcujsO-3aJXGdPkaze3J9Hc3praeueRww1Rg9rnLgFWFiDFOIlKNxHarEXz2ac0WVVp7ESFDW3pItuZOR0zqPUVTBckZUi-MF7rZ39gzj_NYA6B_ZReAKlAvbyLcuyjqbjCA/s400/lazulikeys.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It's a good job there's no curfew, as it means the band get to play their full set, which goes on way past midnight, before coming to a close with the superlative 'Naif' at around 12:30. But wait, they've had a quick chat with Lambsie and there's just time for one more little thing - with a bit of "To me, to you...", the marimba gets shunted out to centre stage, and the entire band take their places around it to perform a little ditty called '9 Hands Around The Marimba', in which they all manage to play the same instrument at once. This must be quite a feat of coordination, especially since they all build in plenty of time to poke each other with the beaters when they're not playing, or slap each other on the arse. Ahh, those crazy French.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">With the gig over, the hall starts to empty out, and a few people step up to try to have a chat with the brave members of the band who've stepped down off the stage into the pit of tired and emotional music fans. This works to varying degrees, until a couple of us get really brave and crack out the school-level French. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">"<i>Ahhh, everyone here speaks French</i>!", says Dominique, in French, after I try to tell him how "<i>magnifique</i>" they are. "<i>Oui, un peu</i>...", I say, with crushing false modesty, before going on to explain how he should stop apologising for his English because none of us care. "<i>Everybody understands the language of music..</i>.", I finish up, with more deep philosophy than my beer intake would suggest possible. "<i>Ahh, you are most welcome to come again!</i>", he smiles as I shake his hand and bid him farewell, smug mode well and truly activated.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It's now nearly 1am, the hall is nearly empty and I suddenly realise that nobody is there to witness my Gallic awesomeness, so I hop back across the road to the Bates Motel and try to sleep, the sound of 5 Frenchmen making a wonderful racket swirling round and round in my head.</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Next time: I discover that "dere's more to Lydney dan dis", yodel my head off to Focus, see some Big Big Train songs live, and get propositioned in a restaurant toilet.</b></span></i></div>
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James Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12259324114219505127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7827881048969433882.post-66390313161350550352013-10-10T11:53:00.000-07:002013-10-10T11:58:43.295-07:004th October 2013: Summer's End Festival Day One- Lydney, Gloucestershire<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Cripes, it's been a long time since I wrote a gig review. It's also been a long time since anyone used the word 'Cripes', but we'll ignore that for now. I wonder if I can still do it, let's see...<br />
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Angular riffing... spectacular fashion... heart-rending melodies... (chronic overuse of brackets)... Yep, still got it. Ok, it's time for:<br />
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It's Friday night, and I'm heading down to 'Sort-of-Wales', as I describe it to anyone who asks. 'Sort-of-Wales' in that to get there, you have to go to Wales, turn right, and drive for 10 minutes - that's Welsh enough for me.<br />
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Summer may be ending, but someone has forgotten to tell Freyr, the Norse god of weather - as bright evening sunshine lights up my entire journey down to the Forest of Dean. Luckily though, the organisers did remember to inform Stellr, the Norse god of cheap lager, who's turned up as he does, year upon year, to drink his entire yearly allowance of alcohol before most of us have had breakfast. (And discharge even more over other people's shoes.)<br />
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Not that I can talk, really. My Friday evening will have to be summed up thus, I'm afraid...<br />
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<i>Right, I'm here, oh look, Unto Us are playing, cool, I liked them last time I saw them. Huw's got a good voice hasn't he? I'm a bit thirsty, perhaps I'll go and get a... </i><br />
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<i>....wait...</i><br />
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<i> they have the Big Big Train <a href="http://www.boxsteambrewery.co.uk/" target="_blank">beer</a> ! I HAVE to try some of that. Ooh, looks chocolatey. Not my normal tipple but let's give it a... oh yes. Oh yes oh yes, that's lovely. Mmmmm - oh, hang on, there's a band on...</i><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigJ64lD1Ydvo_AYqPsmjxZe5dlMjYFK2NljGbxPxhW5VG0x9DGBRNdFmvFDJR5pyTgmt1VgYBUSurUCyKw_mhYr5kOBF_SQfj8Furd_OYutu3HLJNDrgBbz8ywGNdI54l6y4tMYoQIIK8/s1600/IMG_2579.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigJ64lD1Ydvo_AYqPsmjxZe5dlMjYFK2NljGbxPxhW5VG0x9DGBRNdFmvFDJR5pyTgmt1VgYBUSurUCyKw_mhYr5kOBF_SQfj8Furd_OYutu3HLJNDrgBbz8ywGNdI54l6y4tMYoQIIK8/s400/IMG_2579.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Mmmm, everything looks better through a pint of Big Big Train..</i>.</td></tr>
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<i>Yeah, they're still pretty good. They should probably make an album for people to buy. Oh they're done, now where are my friends? Ah, look, there's Rob from Tinyfish... and Rob from the Tinyfish forum... And Rick, and Chris... I really have a lot of single-syllabled friends, don't I? Another beer? Well, go on then, why not... It's Friday night - better let my remaining hair down...</i><br />
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<i>Oh, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haze_(band)" target="_blank">Haze</a> have started... pretty similar set to the other week at The Peel, except that one of them's wearing a wizard's hat. Sure, why not, it is a prog festival. I'm going to get that opening song with its 'fiddly-diddly-dee' motif stuck in my head for ANOTHER 3 weeks, aren't I? ... erm, hang on, why has the second flautist got a baby strapped to her front? No, I'm imagining things, aren't I? Nobody is that desperate for childcare. Oh, no, she really has. Ok.</i><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Come to think of it, why stop at two flautists? May as well get another one in training...<br />Photo: James Allen</i></td></tr>
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<i>... My beer's empty, where's the bar, oh look there's Rob again...just have a quick chat, oh, Haze have finished. Well, that was fun. Think I'll just go out to the foyer and take a look at the <a href="http://www.themerchdesk.com/" target="_blank">merch</a> on sale, oh hi Nellie, what's that, you'd like to remove the entire contents of my wallet? Sure, why not?</i><br />
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<i>Aha, <a href="http://www.sylvan.de/website/sylvan/cms/en/home.php?lang=EN" target="_blank">Sylvan </a>have started, sounding pretty good, let's go and have a look... via the lovely people at the bar, of course...</i><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAAmqrtTv-CG2HtIgJaLHI-VtRtc9i2Y6YD1mu92cVsdLOwscAbMvxGpLAxgqA17097cwHP0TVYkAxXUVorXFh2famAvDX5iIq1qOPtcany8ox6XXR68IVA5uIhBJY4BQ6MDH2MdCcmxQ/s1600/sylvan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAAmqrtTv-CG2HtIgJaLHI-VtRtc9i2Y6YD1mu92cVsdLOwscAbMvxGpLAxgqA17097cwHP0TVYkAxXUVorXFh2famAvDX5iIq1qOPtcany8ox6XXR68IVA5uIhBJY4BQ6MDH2MdCcmxQ/s400/sylvan.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Photo: James Allen</i></td></tr>
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<i>.. Yeah, I like this! Heavy-ish but melodic, good fun music, really tight band, oooh what's this, another giant <a href="http://progrock.co.uk/index.html" target="_blank">merch table</a> right next to where I'm standing? Just have a quick browse through the CDs between songs... OH MY GOD THIS IS PROG MUSIC SHOPPING HEAVEN, I must have this... and this... and these... ok that'll do... these please...HOW MUCH??!!!? But that's all the money I brought with me - oh well, there's a cashpoint at Tesco's... really shouldn't come to this stall when I'm hammered, will I never learn?</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Ooh, another really good Sylvan song, I'm going to have to check them out when I... wow, I'm hungry. I don't think I've ever been so hungry in my entire life... must... leave... now.... find food... what's that, Rob? You want to make sure I don't fall under a bus? Probably a good idea (not that there are any buses round here except the special prog bus...) SHIT. It's 11:30. Nothing's going to be open, is it... WHY DO I DO THIS EVERY YEAR?? DAMN YOU LYDNEY, Y U NO HAVE FACILITIES... - ah! The curry place! That's open! Thank you kind sir, yes I would love one of your fine curries - what's that? No, I think I'd better take it away and get back to the band, actually... erm, do you have a fork? Cheers!</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Right, back at the venue, there must be somewhere I can sit and eat this and still watch the band... orrrr, not. Actually this really smells, should probably go outside somewhere.... mind you, my hotel's just over the road isn't it... I'll eat this and come back... LOVELY, WONDERFUL, LIFE-GIVING CURRY.... ahhhhh, sweet nectar of the gods.... wow, I'm full. And drunk. And tired... might just sit down for a minzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjaO3NXT2vTjI6MsF9_hq3SnlIp_qNkDhKuqlRpTiM3ZcFDIRWjNbcLugR5fsWMGQak52s64RajHIm2E-PA1412JZXF3UWKY2RuiiVw3DcxRUJK2zh1PvgiKkQoIoCLgoMtk4yQpwYd1Q/s1600/sylvan+end.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjaO3NXT2vTjI6MsF9_hq3SnlIp_qNkDhKuqlRpTiM3ZcFDIRWjNbcLugR5fsWMGQak52s64RajHIm2E-PA1412JZXF3UWKY2RuiiVw3DcxRUJK2zh1PvgiKkQoIoCLgoMtk4yQpwYd1Q/s400/sylvan+end.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>"Thank you, you've been a wonderful audience - especially you, drunk-shopping-curry-guy..."</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Next time: I drink less beer, and pay some actual attention to bands including the mighty Lazuli, and the 'differently-mighty' Gordon Giltrap.</div>
James Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12259324114219505127noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7827881048969433882.post-53765768069334502382013-09-07T15:51:00.001-07:002013-09-08T01:22:42.109-07:0015th August 2013 - Dream Theater 'Dream Theater' Album playback: Angel
Studios, London<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Is there anything worse than trying to write something under duress, pressure, obligation or blunt force trauma to the head? Some of the above are responsible for this post, as "someone" has been nibbling away at me for the last few weeks like a belligerent rabbit at a particularly offensive carrot.<br>
<br>
"<i>When's the review coming out?</i>"<br>
"<i>What do you mean you're not doing one</i>?"<br>
"<i>You reviewed the sodding Pet Shop Boys?</i>"<br>
<br>
So, fine, here we go, but don't blame me if I write this in the style of a petulant teenager hacking his way through an essay on Henry VIII.<br>
<br>
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<br>
<br>
It's early August, as it is at least once a year, and I get a text from my some time co-host of the <a href="http://www.deadnobodies.net/" target="_blank">Dead Nobodies podcast</a>.<br>
<br>
"<i>Do you like Dream Theater?" </i>A question, like most posed by Bob, to which I'm not entirely sure of the required answer, so I decide to go with the truth.<br>
<br>
"Not specially, if I'm honest. Have tried a couple of times to get into them."<br>
<br>
"<i>So, not enough to be a plus 1 at a new album playback at Angel Studios on Thursday?"</i><br>
<i><br></i>
A previously unawoken love for the lords of overblown Prog-Metal apparently overcomes me.<br>
<br>
"Wow, I would actually love to go to that!" - (and drink the free beer and eat the free Pringles and maybe bump into a celeb or two.)<br>
<br>
It's for this reason that on a Thursday evening I find myself heading down past the Islington Screen on the Green...<br>
<br>
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<br>
<br>
...and meet Bob in The Bull, a typical swanky Islington beererie in which I make my mark as a giant girl by going straight for a pint of Hoegaarden. "You don't hang about, do you?", says Bob, sarcastically. Or maybe that's just his voice.<br>
<br>
Doors are at 5:45, and we have to be in by 6 due to a strict lockdown, so I down my MAN BREW, and we head across to Angel Studios, an actual proper place where real artists record albums which normal people buy -fairly exciting in itself, and the pictures up the stairs speak to its history: Annie Lennox, Porcupine Tree, Cockneys vs Zombies... Actually I am guessing at what the pictures are because, before we are allowed up the stairs all bags are confiscated and placed in the cloakroom - along with all mobile phones. I'm fairly sure it's some kind of infringement of basic human rights to deprive the modern man of his smartphone, but sadly I lack the quickness of thought or bare-faced obvious lying skills to claim not to have one.<br>
<br>
This presents rather an issue for writing down any impressions of the album itself (which one might uncharitably suggest is intentional), so bear that in mind as you make your way through the rest of this. What it does mean, though, is neither of us can Tweet, or check each other in (or out), or brag to anyone not in the room about how awesome our lives are, so instead we grab a free beer from the table in the side room, a handful of Pringles, and sit down for a good old chinwag about what to do with the podcast, amongst other top secret plans for world domination. Then we go and get another beer. And another. And maybe a couple more<br>
<br>
At some point, which feels like about 10pm, a record company lackey comes out and apologises that the band have been a bit delayed, so to just help ourselves to some free beer and snacks. Way ahead of you, mate. What band? Time ticks by and beers keep coming, and eventually, when I'm just about to lose vision in my left eye, in slope James La Brie, John Petrucci and Jordan Rudess of Dream Theater, who say hi and wave to us all before heading over to a little side area to pose for some photos with the hardcore fans.<br>
<br>
It's quite amusing actually (not really giving two flying hoots at the best of times, let alone sat amongst the growing bottle bank under my chair) - watching people nervously queuing up, getting things ready to sign , watching the band plaster on the best smiles they can muster for each new person who wants their photo taken... by the official photographer only, natch. Photos available for download tomorrow. Oh, there's Bob, making friends with Jordan by namedropping our mutual friend Mr. J Godfrey, Esquire.<br>
<br>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTL1dJBaIXVw2loRJ2CpCPkfhZsE7AWEd3ZhXC4NABvv2EnmqOp0GK7PkUXwVtOmcWHqUbShBjuXbyb4YoDCtdvZnMq1OSXYW3W3H22p3f0TukBDnVMuIuhHffYX7PdVm5kKt0brWT1LE/s1600/bert+dt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTL1dJBaIXVw2loRJ2CpCPkfhZsE7AWEd3ZhXC4NABvv2EnmqOp0GK7PkUXwVtOmcWHqUbShBjuXbyb4YoDCtdvZnMq1OSXYW3W3H22p3f0TukBDnVMuIuhHffYX7PdVm5kKt0brWT1LE/s640/bert+dt.jpg" width="640"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of these people is not in a rock band.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br>
"Was it everything you ever dreamed it would be?", I say to him as he sits back down.<br>
<br>
"<i>And more..."</i>, he probably says.<br>
<br>
When the queue disperses, out they come to answer some pithy and completely unexpected questions from Prog Magazine editor Jerry Ewing, such as '<i>How did you approach this album going into it with new drummer Mike Mangini?</i>', and '<i>Why was it time to do a self-titled album?</i>' - to which the band trot out the usual '<i>We wanted to say, this is really us, this album defines us</i>' response, which should really be retired after 30-odd years in service from bands the world over. C'mon, someone just say '<i>We couldn't be arsed to think of a title. It saved us 5 grand in consultancy fees.'</i><br>
<br>
Then there are a few fan questions, which seem to get answered to a greater or lesser degree depending on how stupid the band think they are, and eventually, with a collection of empty Beck's bottles rapidly approaching double figures under my seat, the album gets put on.<br>
<br>
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<br>
<br>
And here's where this review really comes unstuck, because here's all I can remember:<br>
<br>
- It seems AMAZING. Like, literally the best thing I have ever heard. Mind you, so does the busker playing 'Another Brick in the Wall' at the tube station on the way home. And the Aqua song which pops up on shuffle on my phone on the train. And the sound of the fox mewling in the street outside my flat at 3am. Beer = FUN!<br>
<br>
- It's notably more melodic than previous Dream Theater music I've checked out, a bit less emphasis on histrionic fretwankery and epileptic drum seizures. Not that that's saying an awful lot.<br>
<br>
- We're listening to it in 5.1, which is pretty cool. It doesn't strike me as being a particularly adventurous mix but there are a couple of moments, especially near the beginning of the first track, (which we'll say is called 'Track One', really defining the essence of opening an album) where there's a giant swoosh of sound from front to back of the room like an especially flamboyant jet engine taking off, with toms rolling all about the room, passing the 'ohmigod' test.<br>
<br>
- There's a point towards the end of the final track where I lean over to Bob and start singing <i>'High vibration, go on...' , </i>but he doesn't seem amused.<br>
<br>
Here's my hot off the press Twitter review:<br>
<br>
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Which is high praise indeed. I'll probably buy it. Which is even higher praise, for a Dream Theater album. But don't take my word for it. Wait for someone to hear it sober - seems unlikely that applies to anyone in the room tonight, mind you.<br>
<br>
Apart from perhaps the band, who sit in the row behind us trying not to look uncomfortable whilst watching a room full of pissheads attempting to make sense of their latest magnum opus. Jordan Rudess shuts his eyes and taps his feet, earnestly - either really getting into the music or trying desperately to hold in one too many lagers.<br>
<br>
Talking of which, in the middle of the album (which will therefore be the best part, everyone) I decide I have no choice but to get up and run down the corridor for a wee, which I attempt to do as quickly as possible so not to offend the band. Finishing up and starting to do up my flies, I turn around and there's James LaBrie.<br>
<br>
"<i>Hey!</i>", he says.<br>
<br>
"Hello!", I say, as cheerily as you can when the lead singer of the world's biggest Prog Metal band has probably just seen your knob.<br>
<br></div>
James Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12259324114219505127noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7827881048969433882.post-31754891646631056922013-08-28T05:09:00.001-07:002013-08-28T05:10:31.849-07:0025th August 2013: Damian Wilson Acoustic Session- The Old Crown,Weybridge<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I think it's been a little while since I raved about something to such an extent that you wondered if I'd been brainwashed into some kind of cult, hasn't it? Allow me to indulge myself just a little, then...<br />
<br />
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<br />
See this man? See his majestic mane and his pogonophobe-baiting face furniture? I imagine he went to his 6th form careers advisor and got the diagnosis of 'Rock Musician' without even taking the test. And rock musician he is, having fronted the prog-metal band Threshold, the prog-metal band Headspace, and starred in the West End production of prog-metal musical 'Les Miserables'.<br />
<br />
He's actually a rather big deal amongst those who know their prog-metal, having headlined some massive festival shows and toured around the globe with the aforementioned bands, as well as his acoustic Iron Maiden tribute 'Maiden uniteD' and guest spots with Ayreon and Rick Wakeman. I'm therefore extremely surprised to find that he's playing a low-key acoustic session at a pub just down the road from me, so with nothing much to do on a Sunday evening except watch 'Spinal Tap' again, and with gig buddy Tim 'Mouse' Lawrie in tow, we bundle into the Prog Passat and head on over to check out what on earth is going on. This may prove to be one of the finest decisions of all time.<br />
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<br />
Further research reveals that tonight is the first of a number of small acoustic sessions warming up for a <a href="http://www.damian-wilson.net/dates.html" target="_blank">proper acoustic tour later this year</a>, and given the lack of promotion anywhere, I'm half expecting to be able to sit and eat a roast dinner whilst occasionally glancing across an empty pub at a man in the corner apologetically strumming away.<br />
<br />
Well, it isn't quite like that, as the pub is already absolutely rammed when we arrive, although nobody seems to be remotely interested in getting close to 'THE VOICE', and are either hanging about at the bar, in the garden, or in the back room watching England picking up the Ashes. The giant, Aussie-baiting TV screen in the back room is presumably the reason why Damian and his guitarist are crammed into a tiny nook the size of a Weetabix packet behind the front door - so we take our spots in the 5 square feet between him and the bar, and find ourselves rubbing shoulders with a few hardcore fans, one of whom has travelled all the way down from Glasgow and rather sweetly brings Damian cups of tea all evening for his poor ickle wickle throat. (Presumably. Or maybe he just really, really likes tea.)<br />
<br />
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<br />
Eventually, it's about time to get started, and off he goes, completely unamplified, and accompanied to start with only by his guitar and that of fellow guitarist Brian Willoughby who quietly gets on with his backing job with a minimum of fuss. This part of the gig is pretty much what I expect - a selection of cracking acoustic songs, like 'Naked', 'Moment of Your Doubt', with its touching local backstory, and 'Homegrown', a song in which he talks to God about growing his own pot. As you do.<br />
<br />
I'm absolutely hopeless at describing music at the best of times, but especially when it comes to a man with a guitar playing some songs. I think that's the best I can do - they're good, old-fashioned melodic songs, with choruses and all, ranging from quiet and introspective to good time singalongs. How I've missed out on this catalogue of tunes for so long, I have no idea.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gather round, children, and I shall tell you a story...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Both my previous Damian gig experiences involved him singing a metal set for a festival crowd, so I know how powerfully this man can sing; and he doesn't disappoint this evening, belting out the high notes with pitch perfect accuracy. What's more, I'm so close that his voice sends visible seismic ripples through my arm flab and I can smell the Timotei in his hair - it's an experience I'm never likely to forget. However, even this vocal colossus can't keep quiet a whole pub of people who can't see him, so he's constantly having to ask for quiet, something which would spoil some of the more emotional numbers if we weren't down at the front getting an up close and extremely personal masterclass in singer-songwritering. He's joined on quite a few numbers by his brother Paul, who adds some beautiful close harmonies, troubling the spine department on a worrying number of occasions.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And if you can't get to the front, never fear, there's always out in the street.<br />
But don't worry, Damian won't ignore you...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
It's just about getting to be time for a mid-gig break when one of the chatterers from the bar seems to be pushing his way up to the front to make trouble but, no, he just wants to ask Damian if he can do something about the fact that nobody apart from me can hear. A mighty fine idea, which leads to us all ousting the last cricket stragglers from the backroom and setting up camp right down the other end of the pub, where the gig resumes 20 minutes later, with me perching on a table down the front and Tim hiding in a little hobbit hole behind the artists.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglGSfYlJB4u0VvepV-E7gVHM525ADF8pQafdqi0a4RV0eKkiHaCl3rfxcDpCwwQOMftOxU3E5XtqFU18nLEpD8HCOimq9uImhP0YoNX_rwzG97Va1dGhT4BCwYL6ZBY3Nu7GcniiDHg9Q/s1600/IMG_2122.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglGSfYlJB4u0VvepV-E7gVHM525ADF8pQafdqi0a4RV0eKkiHaCl3rfxcDpCwwQOMftOxU3E5XtqFU18nLEpD8HCOimq9uImhP0YoNX_rwzG97Va1dGhT4BCwYL6ZBY3Nu7GcniiDHg9Q/s400/IMG_2122.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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It's at this point that this gig shifts up more gears than Concorde taking off round a Grand Prix track. (Or something that makes sense.) With the crowd a little more spread out and able to engage with the performers, it soon becomes apparent that everyone in the pub was here for the gig all along - tables upon tables of people having a wonderful time and creating a two-way appreciation between audience and band. I suppose it doesn't hurt that everyone, and I mean everyone (apart from the 5 or 6 of us 'fans') appears to be a member of the Wilson family, or friends thereof. There's a third brother, who sings along louder than anyone, and heckles in all the right places, and there's Uncle Tony, and then there are Damian's sons, who get sent around with a pint pot to collect a few coppers for the poor starving artistes, and are suitably embarrassed when songs are dedicated to them and claim never to have heard them (but still look mighty proud of their Dad when they think nobody's watching.)<br />
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As we settle down, and Damian, Paul, and Brian whip through an impressive number of songs, including the jolly 'Let's Start a Commune', the roots-y 'Subway' (which prompts a good-natured brotherly argument about the lyrics) and even a wonderful cover of Depeche Mode's 'Somebody', I suddenly get this sense of being at something extremely special. The room is full of people who've obviously been there for Damian throughout his career and watched him go from strength to strength, and they're all genuinely happy to be there, proud of him and his songs - with the whole room singing along at various points, aunties and cousins and all.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSh07PJhCQyS_6TQBK5OEk3yWcA4oGq8rKXxuPfjzrYkPahMlMaRfKXH1yNga-W4k1kpnlLBvCccujSCzOvhZ6UWyxW4xwz1PBcfnkwRSH41UKp2POWpHJm55E7o_m1DFMBXw7qFVjeuQ/s1600/IMG_2128.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSh07PJhCQyS_6TQBK5OEk3yWcA4oGq8rKXxuPfjzrYkPahMlMaRfKXH1yNga-W4k1kpnlLBvCccujSCzOvhZ6UWyxW4xwz1PBcfnkwRSH41UKp2POWpHJm55E7o_m1DFMBXw7qFVjeuQ/s400/IMG_2128.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Erm, you've forgotten a verse...</td></tr>
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Mind you, he has a knack for writing songs that have you singing along even though you've never heard them before, which I catch myself doing by the second chorus of most of them, carried away on an exhilarating wave of a whole room of people having the time of their lives. I suddenly think that this must be what it's like at a folk gig in an Irish pub, not that I've ever been to one. Or to Ireland.<br />
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This instant familiarity is rather handy for guitarist Brian, who's been happily playing along all night until Damian suddenly announces him.<br />
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"<i>This is Brian, by the way. He's never played with me ever before, and he's never heard any of these songs before in his life. He was in the Strawbs, you know."</i><br />
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Let's just have a moment's silence for a man who turns up to play a gig without any rehearsal or knowledge of the songs being played other than looking at the other guy's fingers, shall we?<br />
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*MOMENT*</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOeAAfJ6acv4Pjpt8GQiXiJuGcxZbdJ_8vMIQz1RRNjlo6z5E4lVaTilqrXvu_CjrURFkZsS6pPdIZLwuFF-l36RpYUkRGGezC5_2PmxhizGkZNOkE9aE_l67-wgecnaotL8vDGSWqqt0/s1600/IMG_2126.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOeAAfJ6acv4Pjpt8GQiXiJuGcxZbdJ_8vMIQz1RRNjlo6z5E4lVaTilqrXvu_CjrURFkZsS6pPdIZLwuFF-l36RpYUkRGGezC5_2PmxhizGkZNOkE9aE_l67-wgecnaotL8vDGSWqqt0/s400/IMG_2126.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase 'Sight Reading', doesn't it?</td></tr>
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Eventually they seem to come to the end of what's on the setlist and start repeating some of the songs they played in the nook earlier, which nobody minds. It's half past ten (two and a half hours after the gig started), but there are no signs of either audience or band being ready to go home. So now it's Request Time. Various attendees shout out their favourite songs, which Damian comes up with various reasons not to play - 'Array of Lights' is too Christmassy, for instance, but 'Wedding Song' does eventually get played for the couple over by the door celebrating their anniversary. It's quite a lump-in-throat moment, until someone's phone starts ringing over the last chords, luckily prompting more guffaws than tuts. </div>
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Perhaps the most touching moment of familial bonding this evening, though, comes with a rousing rendition of the Scottish folk tune 'Mingulay Boat Song' during which Damian invites his father up to sing a verse, followed by Paul, and Damian himself, and then Uncle Tony is summoned to have a go but lets the side down so the whole pub takes over the chorus for a good few minutes. I feel simultaneously like I'm part of some wonderful new family and a gatecrasher who's extremely lucky not to have been noticed.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuNVVSkiER4WUHP3fEYTz-mUtm-p9znILR4lmdO-32wCV1ykaaFvqPVidH5QBlCVLfxjTNoMv5sxD_3v5OzPoK1NaX6VERARYU5KiqA76E2LenJjhxhYGb6YZKj5n6Ph_DJyNj90kD-3M/s1600/IMG_2135.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuNVVSkiER4WUHP3fEYTz-mUtm-p9znILR4lmdO-32wCV1ykaaFvqPVidH5QBlCVLfxjTNoMv5sxD_3v5OzPoK1NaX6VERARYU5KiqA76E2LenJjhxhYGb6YZKj5n6Ph_DJyNj90kD-3M/s400/IMG_2135.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);">As if the mood has become rather too sentimental, the evening just degenerates from here into insanity </span>- there's a wonderful acoustic cover of Iron Maiden's 'The Evil That Men Do', during which everyone in the crowd gets their turn to scream out the chorus, including Damian's poor dad, then the landlady requests a Cat Stevens song so we eventually get 'The First Cut is the Deepest' after many attempts to ignore the post-it shoved under his nose.<br />
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There's even time for a reprise of 'Fable' which includes the fan-authored alternative lyrics:</div>
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<i>"She's got legs like a table,</i></div>
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<i>she's mentally unstable,</i></div>
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<i>Completely disabled..."</i></div>
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<br />
But still nobody's ready for home, so then Damian starts going completely bonkers, making his way into the middle of the room to stand on a stool and belt out 'Satisfaction', before running about the place screeching for a rendition of Otis Redding's 'Hard to Handle' (which, despite Paul and my best guesses, is in fact not the theme tune from the BBC snooker coverage.)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji6VHRndtZPJBbXC2FfCzKqDJmvK81OlXn-HQ525KnR5U4N-eN369YfbjE8TgIprWmHZfaQ8zqW_2LNrNFr-uaQmG4XkNuMPsMeKr-OoM9Ec8W4gdKY6goLV6GPAKbeoWygBLHffWhQtU/s1600/IMG_2143.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji6VHRndtZPJBbXC2FfCzKqDJmvK81OlXn-HQ525KnR5U4N-eN369YfbjE8TgIprWmHZfaQ8zqW_2LNrNFr-uaQmG4XkNuMPsMeKr-OoM9Ec8W4gdKY6goLV6GPAKbeoWygBLHffWhQtU/s400/IMG_2143.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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One more touching family moment as he reprises 'When I Leave This Land' and actually makes his son pay attention this time (and I swear I spot the odd sneaky tear round about the place), and then at getting on for midnight, there's a seemingly inevitable finale of 'Johnny B. Goode', which has the entire place singing and raising their glasses to a fine, fine evening which I've been privileged to spend in the company of such warm and fun-loving people.</div>
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As the pub empties out and only the hardcore fans remain, Tim and I hang about to thank the artists for such a wonderful evening, and I start chatting to the other fans, explaining how privileged I feel to have been here on this unique and special evening, never to be repeated.</div>
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<i>"Oh, that? Yeah, that was a pretty normal Damian Wilson gig."</i></div>
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Pfft, whatever. I reckon there was something special going on here tonight. Even if it was just Timotei and Tea.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOpvV9oLLzi0BN3laft9aqE42NEDKTjfmIiT677rCsQRnmp30WwPTLOXBQR9tamTPp60pAZUXVH-Psr7BH_b7jF-eWncvfTlxFIv4-CSvt9LDGUgPBX3HVPpN9ZDaf1LPFHbUEBBXJnUw/s1600/IMG_2141.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOpvV9oLLzi0BN3laft9aqE42NEDKTjfmIiT677rCsQRnmp30WwPTLOXBQR9tamTPp60pAZUXVH-Psr7BH_b7jF-eWncvfTlxFIv4-CSvt9LDGUgPBX3HVPpN9ZDaf1LPFHbUEBBXJnUw/s400/IMG_2141.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>I strongly suggest you try to catch Damian's acoustic tour at a venue near you- starting TODAY, yes TODAY, <a href="http://www.tdock.co.uk/" target="_blank">on a floating boat on the Thames near Vauxhall</a>. I will see you there...</i></div>
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James Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12259324114219505127noreply@blogger.com0