KraKen's Rock

Live Review: Kings of Leon in Johannesburg

2011-12-22T05:52:00.000-08:00

It’s been far too long since we have had some fresh and exciting rock band visit us in Johannesburg. Sure we had U2 and Coldplay, but the last of the more edgy rock bands will have been Oasis or Muse.

Needless to say I snapped up tickets when the Kings of Leon show was announced only to end up waiting half a year when they postponed it to 29 October 2011. It was well worth the wait though.

Supporting Acts:

The Black Hotels

I have seen these guys before, and blogged about them before (check my first Parlotones review). They have come a long way since then and sounded much better this evening. One thing that was clear this evening was that the opening bands were at least given a great sound system for the stadium and came across very well from a sonic point of view (Springbok Nude Girls sounded appalling opening for U2 in the same venue).

Shadowclub

There is a lot of hype around Shadowclub in local media, with their debut album ‘Guns and Money’ recently released. I can understand why – they have a great hard rocking sound going on. They are a power trio who have some great songs and excellent music ability.

Die Heuwels Fantasties

This band put on a good show, but for me at least were over-shadowed by The Shadow Club (no pun intended). But I could see that conversely, for a lot of the audience, this was the best SA band on show tonight.

Kings of Leon:

With all the media stories about a Caleb meltdown, I really did not know what to expect. What we got was a real rocker of a show!

The stage was quite simple, but really effective, with some split screens and lights set up that worked extremely well, never detracting from the music or the performance.

The bulk of the material came from ‘Only by the night’, but they threw in some earlier songs, the second song they played being ‘Taper Jean Girl’.

The audience was amazing, singing along to a lot of the songs: ‘Crawl’, ‘Closer’, ‘Revelry’ and then almost drowning out the band with ‘Sex On Fire’.

I have found that now since seeing them played live, the songs off ‘Come around sundown’ work better for me. It was not initially an album that had the same impact with me as ‘Aha Shake Heartbreak’ or ‘Only by the night’, but now it is making more sense.

The band trooped off the stage after ‘Sex On Fire’, only to come back with a blistering encore that included a stunning ‘Use somebody’. Audience participation on this song was even more lusty that ‘Sex On Fire’. They closed out with a spectacular fireworks show.

Kings of Leon put on an under-stated, solid rocking show. They have a great bunch of stadium filling songs to choose from. The pace changed variously throughout the show, and it was good to see how well their slower songs carried in the live context.

I can’t wait until they come again!

December 2011 Update

2011-12-22T05:44:00.000-08:00

It’s been some time since my last update, but that just means that I now have more to blog about.

New Music (to me):

I got the new Feist Album – Metals. This is really good, a combination of rootsey, poppy songs that reel you in.

I also obtained Kate Bush’s - Directors Cut. This is a real bargain, three albums for roughly the price of one. It includes The Red Shoes, remastered, which I never owned before. I find it a great album with some high credibility guest artists. Then there is the Sensual World album. Including this is great for me since I only ever had it on vinyl. The third CD is re-workings of songs from these two albums that provides some fresh takes on songs.

Also recently acquired is the new Felice Brothers – Celebration,

Florida. This band goes from strength to strength. Their sound evolves and they definitely do not get stuck in a rut. My favourite track thus far is Ponzi.

Then of course there is the new Bon Iver album called Bon Iver- get it, it is truly awesome. He has also expanded his soundscape in very positive ways.

Other:

Check out www.justmusic.co.za this is another good website for reading about music news.

For some end of year lists, check these out:

http://www.uncut.co.uk/blog/index.php?blog=6&title=

http://www.nme.com/list/50-best-albums-of-2011/255135/page/5

One good for a laugh:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2011/12/14/143699630/the-20-unhappiest-people-you-meet-in-the-comments-sections-of-year-end-lists

Summary July 2011

2011-07-15T02:37:00.000-07:00

It's been too long since I have updated my blog.

As a summary I will mention various topics.

1) New(ish) music:

The Robert Plant - Band of Joy album is brilliant.

Paul Weller's - Wake up the Nation is also good.

The new Bon Iver - Bon Iver is beautiful.

2) Discoveries:

The Pitchfork website is good reading - pitchfork.com

Wolfgangs Vault is an amazing website for watching and listening to an incredible variety of live recordings for free - wolfgangsvault.com. There are also Ipod and Android apps that can be used to access this on your mobile devices. Extremely cool!

3) Live concerts:

I saw the Parlotones again at Teatro at Monte Casino recently. They have a revamped live show. There are a variety of props, dancers who remind me of the zombies from Pinball of the Dead (had my flipper fingers twitching), and more polished songs. It was an enjoyable experience. There are some pictures at the beginning of this posting.

I saw U2 live in Johannesburg. I had a seat way out at the top of the stadium, but it was still and excellent show. A stunning experience. Opening acts were Springbok Nude Girls (the sound quality was appalling it was difficult to recognise even their most famous songs), and Miriam and Amadou (also suffering from poor sound quality).

I have tickets for Kings of Leon who were already meant to have come, but due to injury were not able to make it. Apparently they will honour the tickets in October. I can't wait.

4) Deaths:

Since my last posting, three of my heroes have sadly passed away: Ronnie James Dio, Gary Moore and Clarence Clemons. I believe that you can hear Clarence on Lady Gaga's The Edge of Glory.

Live review: The Parlotones at Monte Casino September 10 2010

2010-09-11T10:44:00.000-07:00

Venue: Monte Casino

You may have noticed that I tend to moan about the sound at the Dome in Northgate. This was one reason why I passed up the opportunity to see The Parlotones there recently.

Monte Casino however, I approached with an open mind. The only other show that I had seen there had been Cats, and apart from everything else, the sound was actually quite good.

On Friday 10/09, parking was easy to find, there were no big queues, and arriving at the event was a pretty stress-free occasion.

Opening Act: The Black Hotels

What do The Black Hotels sound like? They came across as a non-intrusive band playing songs in the key of Joy Division, New order, Lightning Seeds, A Flock of Seagulls and Cat Stevens. They came out in a 1 4 formation..... sorry still struggling to come down from the soccer world cup. I know that it is September already, but the high from the South African Soccer World Cup 2010 is a very difficult thing to get over. The additional guitarist on the right wing seemed to me to be a little superfluous and the keyboard sound a little high in the mix.

Overall though, quite a nice band, good songs, good sound thanks to the venue, and lots of potential. A bit more work on their stage show and they could be great.

The Act: The Parlotones

The lights dimmed, a couple of guys came on stage strumming guitars and we heard singing. Looking around we spotted Kahn jitterbugging down the aisle with drummer Neil Pauw singing about building ladders to the moon looking like a this was an incredibly funny prank. They made their way to the stage, Neil slapping a tambourine to keep time, and the show got under-way. Their formation is 33 3 1, with the Kwa Zulu Natal Youth Orchestra also in attendance. The Parlotones are in their home strip, black skinny jeans, black shirts and red ties (OK I promise - last soccer reference) at the start of their world tour. Next stop USA.

The sound is awesome, the songs with the KZNYO sound wonderful and I started to wonder why these seats felt so claustrophobic, the venue felt so hot and uncomfortable and I felt so trapped in the venue during Cats. This part was closed with an incredible duet with Axene singing the title track from 'Stardust Galaxies'.

After a few songs, they ditched the youngsters, Kahn strapped on a Gibson SG (mint condish) and they started to rock out, warning us that it would get a lot louder. It got louder, still the sound was great and the songs kept coming. The greatest chorus of course – Push Me To The Floor!!!! These guys have a whole lot of fun with their songs and the sold out crowd joined in whole-heartedly.

In terms of the show, there was great on-stage banter, very witty quips flying with no condescension to the audience. Kahn's energy was infectious, with each song delivered perfectly accompanied by leaping and dancing in his worryingly tight jeans. He is a great entertainer!

If you have not seen them live yet, make the effort, these guys put on a fantastic show! They are up there with the likes of Foto Na Dans and Wonderboom. A great South African rock band that we should all be proud of!

The day after, I feel great, my ears are still ringing and I am annoying my better half by screaming out Push Me To the Floor at random intervals.

March 2010 round up

2010-03-28T07:34:00.000-07:00

Wow, the first quarter of 2010 gone and my blogging is so infrequent.

Two things I can report on are: Kelly Clarkson and also the BLK JKS.

Kelly Clarkson Live at the Coca Cola Dome

OK, I know that this is a rock blog, so what's with Kelly Clarkson? Well this year is not looking strong on the live music in South Africa front when it comes to international acts.....

Another point working against this is the Dome. I have yet to hear a show there where the sound can be described as at the very least good. Every one I have seen there is always abysmal.

Back to the show - the opener was SA Idols 2009 co-winner Jason Hartman and his band. The poor guy has his one chance to play in front of tens of thousands of people and it sounded like he had not even had a sound check. His voice was way down in the mix and everything sounded tinny. I suspect that he and his band are actually pretty good, but who could tell.

After AC/DC's 'You shook me all night long' blasting out the PA, Kelly Clarkson bounded onto the stage. Again the quality of the sound was rubbish, but certainly better than that of Jason.

Kelly actually rocked out and I was amazed by the strength and power of her voice. She also seems determined to build up some rock credibility. Between songs in which she part covered Kings of Leons 'Use somebody', she references current influences (such as KoL) and also at some stage gave us a fantastic cover of the Black Keys. All the while the audience were totally loving her.

KC turned out to be an entertaining, talented and endearing performer!

The BLK JKS - After Robots

Another revelation for me this year has been the BLK JKS. I had heard a bit about them on the blogosphere and have been looking out for their CD 'After Robots' for a while, not really knowing what to expect. I had heard that they were a South African Rock band from the townships, which intrigued me.

Listening to the CD, I was enthralled. From the cutting guitar solo on the first track all the way to the last track, these guys have laid down some great rock songs. To my ear, their influences range from Journey, Santana, Sakhile, Springbok Nude Girls (our South African rock bands like to rock with Trumpets sometimes) to Hendrix and Wolfmother. These guys have integrated a great sonic experience into their sound.

In my view they are the saviours of SA rock music right now. An offering to make us all proud!

Now I just have to try and track them down for a live performance.

2009 Wrap up

2010-01-06T01:40:00.000-08:00

2009 has been an interesting year in terms of music.

Most magazines and web-sites are treating the close of 2009 as the time to review the decade.

Have a look at what NME magazine rate as the greatest albums of the decade here:

http://www.nme.com/list/albums-of-the-decade/158049

and while you are there also have a look at their greatest tracks of the decade.

Rolling Stone magazine have an opinion too:

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/31248017/100_best_albums_of_the_decade/

As well as Uncut magazine:

http://www.uncut.co.uk/music/uncut/special_features/13805

Lists like this are all over the www. I cannot even begin to compile a list as I have not been exposed to much of the new music mentioned.

My find of 2009 was Them Crooked Vultures. The band line up of Josh Homme, Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones represents a few of my favourite bands. Homme is a collaborator par excellance, and the high hopes that I had for this album were met. These guys have the personalities and musical skills to make this kind of collaboration work! I love it.

November update

2009-11-26T00:09:00.000-08:00

There is a lot going on these days that is exciting in terms of music releases.

Digital remastering

In terms of digital remastering, there has been a tremendous amount of activity. The Beatles back catalogue has been released. I bought Abbey Road and love it. Black Sabbath are systematically releasing their old albums and I can't wait to get my hands on them.

I have read that Fleetwood Mac are also looking at some remastering. My guilty pleasure album of all time is Tusk, and I would love to hear a digitally remastered version.

Listening list

As previously commented, I have been listening to The Fray - The Fray. This is a great album. The sound is that of somewhere between Coldplay and Snow Patrol, but with a bit of a better edge to it.

I have also heard the Muse album The Resistance and really love it. This band is one incredible, bombastic and creative unit! The album is a frenzy of creative work, with lots of nods in the direction of Queen and our old classical composers. I would love to see Muse live again.

An old album that I have just discovered is that of the Eels - Souljacker. It is full of really great material. I am definitely going to have to catch up on their back catalogue.

The new Arctic Monkeys album - Humbug, has always appealed to me considering the link to Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age, Eagles of Death Metal - two of my favourite bands). I can report that it is a real gem.

Coming up

I have read that there is a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers release called The Live Anthology. I can't wait to get my hands on this. I have always enjoyed the 'Pack up the Plantations' live album, and have heard that this is way better.

September update

2009-09-05T06:58:00.000-07:00

OK, I have been guilty of not blogging for a quite a while now, and I do apologise. The reasons are many, from losing my broadband connection, to being pre-occupied with all the new developments in my life, to hearing that Noel Gallagher's blog (oasisinet) was voted the best celebrity blog recently.

The last point has had me re-assessing my blog after examing that of Gallagher. It has been hard for me to decide how best to format my blog. I am still pondering this, but in the meantime the music news that has me talking has been that Noel Gallagher has officially left Oasis. Also the new Muse album is out this month as well the new one from the Arctic Monkeys. This is all pretty exciting stuff in my view.

My only recent music purchase has been that of the new The Fray album, called The Fray. I like it a lot and hope to provide more on why I do soon.

Please keep checking and I should have a few more updates coming.

Album Review: Fall Out Boy - Folie a deux

2009-09-05T06:49:00.000-07:00

I can understand that there may be a lot of reasons why people do not like Fall Out Boy:

Patrick Stump’s nasally whine of a voice.

Pete Wentz’s manic midgetness.

The woah oah oah oah’s that haunt every second song as either a bridge or a chorus (or is that actually every song?).

Their habit of giving their songs long and meaningless names.

The fact that this band, who named themselves after a sub-character in the Simpson’s TV series now have a member who has actually married a real life Simpson.

Moving onto this album and still considering things not to like:

No lyric sheets for those non woah oah oah oah moments.

The song names are all written in their mirror images on the back of the cd. i.e. you need a mirror to read them (coupled with the fact that they are still as irritatingly named as above).

The fact that the band seem so successful when you just know that there are many, many better bands out there who are not as successful.

So then what about the album, all things considered being equal?

Stump is actually not whiny all the time this time. The music is rather good. The songs are strong. They only use woah oah oah oah in three songs.

Surprisingly this album is actually quite good. The songs work and Stump sings really well with the band picking up some likable grooves that have started to showcase some of their influences too. It is almost as if this is the first time they are revealing something of their true identity through their songs.

My conclusion: if you have always liked FOB, you will love this. If you have never heard FOB before, listen to only this album, you make like it. If you have heard FOB before and hated them, give this one a try it’s actually quite good.

Festival Review: Coke Zero Fest 09 in Johannesburg 10 April 2009

2009-04-19T08:47:00.000-07:00

The Coke Zero Fest '09 has finally come and gone. This time it was a real roller-coaster all along the way for me. It seems that it probably was for the organisers too.

I blogged previously on my battle to actually get tickets, and then still missing out on a belatedly introduced bulk ticket discount. At the time, the international bands announced had not really convinced me that I was doing the right thing, but I was hoping for some exciting last minute additions - little did I know.

Closer to the time the venue changed: this worried me a lot (I was at the Metallica Coke Fest where it all went horribly wrong with the Venue and related logistics). Regardless I remained committed to go. Then the big news - two of the international bands had cancelled: Bullet for my Valentine and Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. I suppose most ticket-holders were pretty panicked after this, and this with only two days to go!

What kept me committed to going was Oasis and Foto Na Dans.

The Venue

The day arrived and we hit the road. Surprisingly 15 minutes from my house! Parking was laid out in amongst a bunch of non-indigenous Seringa trees, not a good sign in my view, but I resolutely put my plant snobbery aside and headed for the entrance.

The next surprise came in the form of the size of the 'Golden Circle'. It was huge. This meant that someone without a Golden Circle ticket was not going to get anywhere near the stage - like me.

The rest of the layout looked pretty good. Food stalls, beer and drink tents and various other places were pretty well laid out and there were strategically placed boards giving directions too. There were plenty of mobile vendors wandering around with various offerings too. There were even some attractively dressed 'cancer girls' strolling around enticing people to try starting a new habit - smoking.

I found a spot to set up, and just then the first band started up. This was it, great weather the whole day and night ahead of me and nine bands to go.

The Performances

Up first were One Day Remains.

These guys had it all when it came to doling out some ripping and shredding hard rock. The sound was great, and the songs were good. They put on a good show with the lead singer every now and then letting rip with some vocal effects sounding like a distraught Uru'khai who had just discovered that the rest of his horde had abandoned him in the mountains. I liked it.

Next came Foto Na Dans.

The first song did not sound too good, I think due to maybe the sound mix. But from the second song in these young Afrikaners with big hair rocked out fantastically. This really is a band to get to know if you haven't bothered yet. Their songs are carefully crafted and brilliant. At times they came close to sounding like Muse, with a trumpet. The trumpet playing was excellent and at this stage the sound mix was spot on. The lead singer - Le-Roi Nel also came close to matching Jared Leto from last year's Fest with his swearing, and this mostly in Afrikaans! A brilliant stunning performance!

A surprise to me was the next band: Evolver.

I was not aware that they were going to be playing. Thank goodness that they did, they put on a great show. Every song was well executed and most of them a lot of fun. There was one really bad song right in the middle there somewhere, but when they got around to punching a hole in Saturday night they could do no wrong.

Dirty Skirts followed Evolver and were probably, on the day, the weakest of the local bands. They are probably not the best suited band for big venues. I am not sure what exactly was wrong, but to me they did not come across very well. However, I did notice a lot of people in the distant outside zone from the Golden Circle really enjoying their show - especially when it came to their more well known songs.

While roadies prepared the stage for the next band I took a stroll around. The venue had really filled up. One of the good things about the venue was the previously maligned Seringa trees. These were not only in the parking area, but also inside the venue. People were showing great appreciation for the shade that they offered. It looked like a great crowd, with not as much black being worn as in previous years.

I headed back in time to take in Cassette.

These guys, and a girl, were definitely the most engaging with the audience, even stopping their show to record a video of the audience voicing their disapproval of the last minute cancellations. Apparently you can find a link to it on their web-site. Their entire show was terrific. They have the songs, a lead singer who knows how to work the crowd and the musicianship to bring it all together. I looked around during some of the songs and the audience were jumping up and down and singing along with abandon - just what you expect at a rock festival!

Next up were the local head-liners Zebra and Giraffe.

After the performances from Foto Na Dans, Evolver and Cassette these guys had a tough job. They definitely had the best sound thus far. Louder and cleaner, the music came across very well. Like a well-oiled machine the band hit the audience with one perfectly executed song after another. Their music was really good. The only problem was the lack of a 'performance'. To me at least, it seemed that they were just standing there playing song after song as well as they could. They could have been doing it in their bedrooms. A great band with great songs, but not much of a stage show unfortunately.

As I reflected after Zebra and Giraffe, I felt really excited by the standard of the local bands. If the festival had ended here, I would have felt like this had been close to value for money already. That's how strong our local bands are these days. You have got to go and check them out!

Next came the International Acts, with Panic at the Disco kicking things off.

I was probably the least excited about hearing this band of all the acts, local and international, on the line-up. This opinion was based on what I had heard of their music over the years on the radio. However, this is definitely a band that comes across really well Live. They are all very proficient musicians, and also have the looks to get the younger girls going completely crazy. Much has been said about the recent change of direction, but as a live set-list their songs formed a cohesive high impact set of fun songs. They really got the party going as the first group to play after the sun had set finishing of with a cover of the classic 'Shout' also covered by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers on one of my favourite Live albums 'Pack up the Plantations'.

Now the time had come for the biggest bands and first up was Snow Patrol.

I have always considered them as a little boring, although I never denied the power of 'Chasing Cars'. They kicked off with sheer power. They were definitely the loudest band of the night, and the sound was incredible. Unassuming and direct, the band gave us hit after hit. Songs that had struck me as boring before came to life in the live show context. Again I looked around, the entire audience were grooving along to their show with absolute joy. They brought a mellowish but still joyous groove to the day that was thoroughly enjoyable. Gary Lightbody has a very cool way with the crowd and the sea of people jumping up and down to their songs were in the palm of his hand. At the end of their show, I for one, was elated.

Finally the waiting was over, it was time for Oasis.

They were exactly what they are - a world famous rock band with a solid set of songs and a surly reputation to go with it. Their stage show was similar to that of Zebra and Giraffe, but somehow in their case it worked. As we all know, Liam hardly ever talks, and Noel sings better than him. Every now and then Noel would say something that is probably humorous in Manchester and then gaze at the crowd as if scientifically measuring the comment's impact.

A lot of their set was made up of songs from their new album. My guess is that its not been a best-seller in South Africa, but the songs were in fact really good - I may go out and buy it now. Plenty of the older songs were also played and it was at this staged when I secretly thanked Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and Bullet for my Valentine for not turning up. Oasis played a really long set, and it was great.

I think that they had some concerns about how well they were coming across since when the first chords of 'Wonderwall' came out and the crowd exploded with joy Liam commented 'Oh there you are'. Nothing like a bit of the Gallagher sarcasm coming through. They also took stabs at Bafana Bafana and our accents, but who's keeping track.

'Don't look back in Anger', and their traditional sign off of 'I am the Walrus' came too quickly.

Going home

Tired but happy I wandered though the parking field searching for my car. Each clump of Seringa's looked very much like every other clump. Eventually I found it, and then had flashbacks to the Metallica Coke Fest where the traffic organisation was so bad it took and hour and a half just to get out of the venue. This was the same - shocking.

I got home only to discover that something in the the field had punctured one of my tyres. A small price to pay I suppose even if it was a side wall puncture that could not be repaired.

Concert Review: Old Mutual Bassline Jazz Club Revisited Emmerentia Dam 01/03/09

2009-03-02T10:27:00.000-08:00

Through word of mouth, we had heard that there was going to be some Jazz at Emmerentia on Sunday 01/03/09 starting at noon. So we got all our stuff together and headed out not really knowing what to expect.

Upon arrival it started looking a bit worrying. There were no crowds, parking was easy to find and tickets were suspiciously cheap. We found a comfortable spot under some trees and settled down to wait. There was a nice area for the kids to mess around, the sound from the stage (recorded music) sounded good and the weather was looking great (bright sunny skies as only Johannesburg can deliver).

Some digging around revealed the setlist (the only copy available taped to an officials desk):

Sam Mtukudzi

Sandile Ziqubu

Paul Hanmer

Oliver Mtukudzi

Vusi Mahlasela.

Sam Mtukudzi came on and played a short and enjoyable set as a one man act (voice and guitar). Carrying on the tradition from his dad Oliver, he accompanied himself on guitar singing soulful, beautiful songs. It was apparent at this stage that the sound system made available for this gig was awesome. Lots of people were also starting to arrive.

Sandile Ziqubu came on with his tenor saxophone and laid down some great grooves. The mix was, in my opinion, not the greatest, but he got a nice African fusion type of sound going and set the stage for the heavy-weights.

Next up was Paul Hanmer the pianist/keyboardist. In his band were the living legends Barry van Zyl, McCoy Mrubata, and Andre Abrahamse. They got straight into two numbers the second of which was ‘Strandloper’, with McCoy stepping in with some of the smoothest and most soulful sax that I have ever heard. For the next few numbers the audience were completely mesmerised by the virtuosity they were experiencing. The band finished off their all too short set with ‘The Life’ which was another revelation. The rhythm section set into a ruthless groove that was taking no prisoners. We saw Mrubata stepping up to the mike to hypnotise the audience and convince them that there was no better place in the world to be at that moment. Paul Hanmer suddenly seemed trapped too, his right hand tapping out what seemed like a frantic morse-code probably begging to be released from the awesome groove being laid down by van Zyl and Abrahamse, while his left hand danced on the keyboard like a dervish. It was over all too soon. By now the venue was pretty full.

Following Paul Hanmer was Oliver Mtukudzi, another living legend. He came on with a full band and his usual, strong repertoire. They delivered another fantastic set- what an incredible band! The music was bright and cheery and had the crowd dancing at the front of the stage. To close his set, his son Sam (no not son of Sam) took his guitar mid-song releasing the aging Oliver to bust some moves. One moment he writhed like a cobra as it hypnotises its prey, and the next made some of the most agile limbed moves that I have seen from a man that age, in celebration of the music they could share across the generation.

Last up was Vusi Mahlasela. Mahlasela’s songs are the most recognisable due to generous radio play. This set had the crowd singing along all the way. Some issues came up in terms of the sound in this session, including a complete cut in sound mid-song in the beginning and some mixing problems later on, but it was still an enjoyable set.

So, not a bad day out for a sunny Sunday afternoon. The crowd was great. Strictly speaking only Sandile Ziqubu and Paul Hanmer are what I would call jazz, but the rest of the performers were still extremely enjoyable.

It was a true ‘rainbow-nation’ type of audience, and a line-up of musicians that should have every South African and Zimbabwean (for the Mtukudzis) proud of the musical talents that exist in their countries.

Great Venue, great organisation, great PA, great weather, great musicians and great performances, what more could one ask for?

February update

2009-03-02T10:25:00.000-08:00

Well February has come and gone. It was a busy month for me, and in fact an inordinate amount of time was spent trying to buy tickets for the CokeZero Festival scheduled in Johannesburg for the 10^th of April.

In all honesty, I am not that enthused by the line-up, but generally this is the only chance that I get to see some international acts, so what can I do but go?

This time the international acts are Bullet for my Valentine, Panic at the Disco, Snow Patrol and, as head-liners, Oasis. Pretty slim pickings in my view, with only Oasis being of any real interest to me. Even then, I must admit that I have never really ‘got’ the hype around Oasis. I don’t own a single CD of theirs, and have listened to their singles on the radio with only a passing interest. My hope is that you have to see them ‘Live’ to really get them, therefore I am going along to the concert with an open mind.

As for the other international bands? Let’s wait and see on the day.

Why, though, did I spend an inordinately long time in buying tickets? Firstly, the ticket vendor’s (computicket) web-site refused to accept my credit card (I don’t have a problem like this on most other web-sites). That meant that I had to go to a Computicket to buy a ticket. Finding one proved difficult, apparently they are all hosted inside Checkers super-markets now. Therefore I had to find a Checkers that I felt safe going to. This was easier said than done. Eventually I found one less sleazy than all the rest and went inside. The ticket vending part triples up as the cigarette booth and also something to do with paying utility bills as well as something about Telkom. The one I went to had three unmarked queues and of course I stood in the wrong two first. But now I have the tickets and I am ready for the festival. To add insult to injury, I found out this week that they are now offering discounts on tickets based on volume. I bought three at the time and paid the full price…..

What seem most attractive to me are the local acts. There the line-up is looking strong. We will be treated to Dirty Skirts, Foto na Dans and Zebra & Giraffe among others. These are bands that I truly want to see. I can’t wait.

Classic Albums Revisited 4: Talking Heads - Remain in Light

2009-01-23T10:07:00.000-08:00

I am not the world’s biggest Talking Heads fan, although listening to this album recently has made me question why not.

I have owned and listened to ‘Fear Of Music’, ‘Remain in Light’, ‘Speaking in Tongues’, ‘Stop Making Sense’ and ‘Naked’ for decades, and anyone who knows me will know that I cite ‘Naked’ as one of my favourite albums ever. Before getting into this review, I can strongly recommend ‘Naked’ as an album that always cheers me up and gets the legs jiggling due to the infectious vibe. The guitar on ‘Naked’ is nothing short of awesome, and part of this is due to contributions from Johnny Marr on a lot of the songs – sublime.

But not to get side-tracked too much let’s get back to ‘Remain in Light’. This album came out in 1980 and I first heard it in 1986. I was actually exposed to both ‘Remain in Light’ and ‘Fear of Music’ at the same time, and my preference in those days was for ‘Fear of Music’ due the really funny lyrics (in a dark and paranoid kind of way). Now in the 2000’s, my preference has moved to ‘Remain in Light’. As we go through it song-by-song I hope to clarify why.

Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)

This song launches the album like a statement of intent. It explodes out of your loudspeakers, immediately demanding attention and then settles into the polyrythmic groove that pervades throughout this album. Driving and intense, it seems to say – ‘You will party hard here’. A strong hint of the truly demented guitar theme that carries through most of this album is given here.

Crosseyed and Painless

This is another epic groove that won’t let go. Both this and the first song are intense deliveries from Talking Heads and Eno high-tech (in those days) groove machine. West meets Africa, with a bit of the East thrown in too and it just sounds so great.

The Great Curve

To me this is the very best song on this album. If I had to pick a song that should be included in the space capsule that is sent off into space with the hope that some alien race would find it and listen to it, I think that this is as good a representation of the human race as you are going to get. Again West meets Africa meets East, and thrown in for good measure is the best example of demented electric guitar that you are ever going to get (stating to the aliens that we are cool and funky, but don’t think that you can mess with us). Byrne explains what the world is about in the lyrics- ‘the world moves on a woman’s hips’ providing the aliens with some clues to understanding human procreation. There are two guitar solos that really rock out in this song (the song clocks in at six minutes and twenty six seconds – the longest on this album).

When I get around to completing my application to join the Sith (as Darth Kraken of course), my Light Sabre will sound like this electric guitar. The guest guitarist on this album is the famous Adrian Belew.

Influences from all over the world are encapsulated in this songs except for maybe those nasal resonators from the Mongolian Steppes.

Once in a Lifetime

Most people should recognise this one. This was the single I think, and also appears on ‘Stop Making Sense’ the live album that most people with a vague interest in Talking Heads seem to have. Great lyrics – ‘Well, how did I get here?’.

Houses in Motion

Aha – this is where the Mongolian Nasal Resonators kick in (more than likely actually Belew in another manifestation of demented guitar). Byrne (or his protagonist), I think is looking for a new place to stay, while the musical accompaniment suggests a swamp somewhere in a hot sweaty equatorial region. Great call and response from Byrne too.

Seen and Not Seen

There is some weird stuff going on here. Mainly to do with the lyrics, I still don’t get them but apparently you can change your face if you try hard enough. In the days of vinyl, the second side of this album contrasted a lot with the first side in terms of pace. The first side is fast, funky and somewhat frenetic. The second side slowing down a lot. This makes way for time to reflect on the lyrics and wander at all the wrongs in this world.

Listening Wind

A sinister offering with a slowed down pace, but actually welcome at this stage due to the intensity of the previous songs on this album. This is a beautiful song with a threatening undercurrent via the lyrics.

The Overload

At six minutes The Overload can seem to go on for too long. That was always my impression in my youth. Now, however, I marvel at it’s mind-altering capabilities. This is a song capable of picking up your thoughts and carrying them all over the place, usually leaving me in reverie so deep I often fail to notice that the album has ended.

In conclusion, to me, the relevance of this album has grown phenomenally over time. The soundscape is fantastic and it could only sound better if someone picked up the masters and brought out a re-mastered CD version (I have that for ‘Naked’ and it sounds brilliant). The band with Brian Eno were onto some cutting edge stuff in the studio that probably needed 2000’s type technology to be fully realised. It’s not Rock in the face of distinct categorisation, but listen to ’The Great Curve’ and you will realise that there are legions of so-called rock guitarists who will never be able to solo like that! I love this album!

December 2008 update

2008-12-30T10:25:00.000-08:00

In South Africa, quality radio programming is a problem. Maybe it’s because we live in such a culturally diverse country, but radio station wise, it is very difficult to tune into some good quality rock.

This does not always have to be a huge issue since I now have my Squeezebox ( see www.slimdevices.com) and can therefore tune into radio stations around the world via the internet at home. The huge issue relates to what to listen to when I am driving.

I have blogged before on the college radio station UJFM that can be picked up in the Johannesburg area, and they have been a bit of a life-saver in this regard. You cannot begin to describe my joy in turning on the radio at 6:45 a.m. on my way to work and hearing the new AC/DC, Kings of Leon, Killers or Metallica song. Sometimes even an old classic comes on that leaves me overjoyed. This radio station can really be a life-saver sometimes.

There are slots in their programming where it all goes horribly wrong for me. They do have times that they play more of the commercial type industry bubble-gum. They also have some DJ’s who are abysmal. Some of these guys cannot even pronounce the street names around Johannesburg when providing traffic updates. That kind of makes the whole point of a traffic update redundant.

But on the whole, this is still a great station to listen to when looking for some good rock music.

A few weeks ago I even entered a competition on a Sunday afternoon whereby I won the new Kings of Leon album – how cool is that? For the record, it is a very good album. I had my reservations about this album and that is why I had not already bought it, but it certainly holds up as a strong offering from a really talented band.

Other news for December is that most magazines on the web have got their ‘Best of 2008’ lists out. Have a browse on NME.com (there is even a blog on NME.com that tries to compile results from all over), rollingstone.com and popmatters.com for a view on what people are rating for the year. For a South African flavour check out www.isolation.tv for Lloyd Gedye’s best of 2008 summary. My favourite South African rock offering is the new one (EP only unfortunately) from Foto Na Dans. They are an incredible band doing very fresh stuff. In terms of my favourites for 2008, what is new to me may even actually be a couple of years old.

What I can commit to however, is that the greatest musical experience I had this year was seeing Muse live in Johannesburg! Truly truly incredible. I am not sure that I will ever get to see something like this in South Africa again.

In terms of albums, Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago is my recommendation for 2008 in terms of what I have heard of all the offerings out there, which probably is not much.

The best music related DVD that I bought this year is Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers – Runnin’ Down a Dream by Peter Bogdanovich.

Albums that I listened to a lot this year regardless of when they were released are:

Rodriguez – ‘Cold Fact’,

Radiohead – ‘In Rainbows’,

Muse – ‘HAARP’,

AC/DC – ‘Black Ice’.

All in all I thought that 2008 has been a great year for music! Let’s see what 2009 has to offer….

CD Review: Robert Plant and Alison Krauss - Raising Sand

2008-12-02T10:41:00.000-08:00

As an avid Led Zeppelin fan, I have tried to follow the careers of it’s members over the years. I have bought albums such as ‘Honeydrippers’, ‘Outrider’, ‘Walking into Clarksdale’ and ‘Manic Nirvana’ amongst others. And I must say that none have ever been as satisfying as the tremendous back-catalogue that Led Zeppelin have.

Also, I have a couple of Alison Krauss and Union Station (AKUS) albums which are enjoyable blue-grass offerings. Therefore this specific musical partnering appealed to me the moment I heard of it. Of course I was a little anxious, as I have felt let down by Robert Plant before, but as the rave reviews came in, I felt more and more confident that this would be a worthwhile purchase. But I was a little concerned that I would be getting a full CD’s worth of ‘Battle of Evermore’ style keening. While a fantastic song in the context of the Led Zeppelin album, I had my doubts about this being bearable for a whole albums worth of songs (I have enough issues with some of the neighbourhood cats on my garden wall).

My next problem was finding it at a decent price in South Africa. It seemed to be priced at least 10% higher than any other current/chart CD in the shops that I visited, and that offended my principles of the moment (hee hee). Then I noticed recently that it was going for half-price in on-line retail shops like Amazon, and my mind was made up. That’s the story on why I took so long to buy it!

The first good news is that it is not as I imagined – namely not ‘Battle of Evermore’ keening throughout. While Robert and Alison do sing together on a lot of the songs, there are just as many where Robert takes the lead, or Alison takes the lead with the other performing backing only. This means that there is plenty of variety. Another point is that the pace is rather slow. There are one or two up-beat songs, but it is largely a pretty laid-back album.

What comes through though is a pair of voices that nearly perfectly compliment each other, a solid bunch of musos backing this all up, and the production standards of T-Bone Burnett. I would say that the music is dreamy, smooth, beautiful, down to earth and warm. Overall, if one wanted to classify it, I suppose that one could say ‘Country’.

Making a reappearance from Plant is ‘Please Read The Letter’, that also appeared on ‘Walking into Clarksdale’, and I suppose that people are still not reading his letters. Since you’re asking, I will say that I prefer this version of the song but I really wish someone would read the damn letter now. The overall feeling about this album is that Plant sounds a lot better than he has for a while. Not everything is highly original. Songs are covered, the style is old, but amazingly it is one of the freshest sounding offerings that I have heard this year. I hope that they do another one!

CD Review: The Felice Brothers - The Felice Brothers

2008-12-02T10:35:00.000-08:00

Amidst all the genre definitions of music, there is a constant striving in the music industry to pigeon-hole bands and their musical styles. One that I have become increasingly attracted to is that that has been labeled variously alt.country, Americana, or even alternative rock. Maybe I have confused a few of them together where in reality they should be considered more distinctly, but what I am talking about is music by the likes of Wilco, Golden Smog and more recently Okkervil River and The Felice Brothers amongst others. What seems to define this music for me is that real instruments are used, influences can be detected from Bob Dylan and The Band to Tom Petty, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash and the blues. The music is earthy, rootsey and heart-felt.

The Felice Brothers have two albums out. This one called ‘The Felice Brothers’ and is their second, apart from one song on their first (which I love) I have not heard that one. Based on my enjoyment of their second, I will certainly try to dig out their first. This can be a challenge in South Africa as shops here are pretty dismal, and ordering online has become more and more risky whereby shipments are frequently lost.

‘The Felice Brothers’ is in fact a very varied album. This was a refreshing discovery for me as I had the expectation that they would put out an album full of very similar sounding songs. This is not the case. Sure the vocalists have pretty distinctive sounds, and there is a general trend of a basic format carrying each song. But the pace changes a lot from song to song, the vocalists seems to change too (there are no liner notes so I don’t know this for sure, but if it is the same guy singing every song, he sure can change a lot), and they bring in some pretty different instrumentation from song to song too. Again without liner notes I can’t be 100% clear on who is playing what on each specific song, but on some the is the presence of brass, others include the accordion, while others can be pretty stripped down too. But my point here is that The Felice Brothers have managed to keep the entire album refreshingly different.

The anecdotal nature of the songs also draw the listener in from song to song. In each, one is also drawn into considering the protagonist. This multi-layered song writing requires a lot of talent and skill, and this band is certainly not short on that. What this results in is that you can listen to this album time after time and it reveals itself to you a little more each time.

The band is not afraid to start the album off on a pretty subdued note with the exquisite ‘Little Ann’, subsequently taking the listener on a roller-coaster ride with many changes of pace. One of the main ingredients that I look for in a great album is that of the fun element, and you can hear that this band really enjoys what they do. This is highlighted in some of the more bar-room brawl type songs that they deliver which bring a smile to my face every time. These songs come across as raunchy and rollicking, but such is the nature of this album, that you can expect a complete change of pace at any time.

If you’re looking for some real music by a band that loves what they do – I strongly recommend this one.

November 2008 summary

2008-12-02T10:33:00.000-08:00

While the postings on this blog may not reflect it, November has been a rather busy month for me in terms of my music activities.

Amidst the financial crises around the world, and the subsequent tightening of belts by consumers, I have been out shopping. I have purchased the following albums and found them very enjoyable (I hope to provide more in-depth or detailed assessments soon):

The Felice Brothers – The Felice Brothers,

Robert Plant and Alison Krauss – Raising Sand,

Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago,

MGMT – Oracular Spectacular, and

Okkervil River – The Stand Ins.

I also got the chance to visit the excellent Roughtrade store in East London, and can report that they have a really cool shop there including, by today’s standards, a huge vinyl selection, as well quite a different categorization system for their CD’s. Check out their web-site here www.roughtrade.com where you can shop online. Also very cool there are the in-house compilation CD’s that they put together. These are great samplers of specific themes, or genres – normally 2 CD’s for about 11 GBP. You can also check out their top ten list for 2008.

Other exciting things about November have been the appearance of the new Kings of Leon album. I have not heard it yet, but love the single. As well as the great reviews of Metallica’s latest which , I am ashamed to admit, I have not yet heard either. Some members in my household are also wildly anticipating the release of the new FOB album. Then the biggest buzz around has got to be that Guns ‘n Roses have finally released their ‘Chinese Democracy’ album after 15 years in the making. I have heard snippets, and all I will say right now is that what I heard sounded ‘OK’.

In December, I will try to compile some lists such as my best purchases of 2008. Songs that I have most enjoyed in 2008 etc. If you have any best of 2008 music comments to make, please do not hesistate!

CD Review: AC/DC - Black Ice

2008-11-06T08:13:00.000-08:00

In nature some animals imprint. This normally occurs at birth and is a method for improving their chances of survival. For example a new born duck imprints on the first duck-like moving thing it sees, and learns to follow this in convoy style (or so is my limited understanding from Microsoft Encarta). Why am I explaining this?

Well, the first truly cool music I heard was AC/DC. Up until then it had always been stuff like ABBA, Boney M, etc that never really moved me. The moment that George brought his AC/DC albums to school I was intrigued. Once I heard it on a decent sound system - it had imprinted. Therefore I’ll be honest from the outset here – there was no way that I was not going to like this album. I have always believed that AC/DC are the greatest band around, I love Angus’ guitar playing style, and their songs always cheer me up!

There have been some mediocre albums, but over the years, every album has had great songs to offer with new ways of saying the same thing offered, and also new things to say. So, I don’t think that I am like the Robert De Niro Rolling Stones fan in ‘The Fan’ in that I can admit to being a bit more realistic in my expectations of the band.

I do however imagine AC/DC sitting in their well-deserved lap of luxury, being stumped and agonizing over how to keep things fresh and vital after so many years. And my view is that I wish that they would not do that. Get in the studio, make a whole lot of hard driving boogie rock and roll, add lyrics about all the rude jokes and innuendos that you can think of and take it from there – what could be easier? Keep it greasy and menacing with lots of sinister sounding backing vocals. The guitar should be razor sharp, slicing through the clutter that invades my day and the riffing should massage my brain in the way that a physiotherapist would treat your lower back (i.e. not too gently, but it feels great when it stops). The thing is, in my view, AC/DC fans probably are not looking for something that’s too different, as long as it rocks, and gives them a new excuse to pump some seminal AC/DC out of their stereos. They have done enormous bell gongs, and cannons firing, and I suppose it is difficult to top that in the 2000’s? I, of course, would like cannons on every album, but am prepared to admit that they may come across as overused to other none cannon preferring listeners (at least they’re included on most of the live albums). In addition, most of my experiences with AC/DC albums have resulted in some type of damage – AC/DC ‘Live’ resulted in me accidentally breaking the volume button on my car stereo, ‘Back in Black’ broke some speakers, you get the idea. This has sort of become an expectation too….. in short I want to be Thunderstruck! That looks easy enough…….

So, what have they done with ‘Black Ice’?

Well, I’ve listened to it in the car on the way home from the shop, I listened to it twice on the stereo at home and I have listened to it again driving to work and back (it’s an extremely listenable album).

They have made another AC/DC album – that’s what. It’s all in here: the straight ahead AC/DC style boogie rockers, the various innuendoes, the fantastic Young brother’s guitar sound, the rock solid and booming rhythm section and the high spirits. Also, they have slowed things down on a couple of songs, and offered some new things like some that almost sound like Pop songs. To me there is no shock and horror related to this (the slowing down that is), I have always enjoyed songs like ‘Ride On’ and ‘Night Prowler’ and have believed that this element of their oeuvre has been neglected on the last few albums. Even the most classic of their albums such as ‘Highway to Hell’ includes tracks such as ‘Touch too Much’ or ‘Love Hungry Man’ which in my view are pretty ‘light’.

They have also not remained impervious to the world around them. Both lyrically and musically, the 2000’s have had an influence. For example ‘Anything Goes’ and ‘War machine can be musically linked to offerings by younger bands such as the Killers and The Raconteurs (the guitar reminds me a lot of ‘Born in the USA’ era Springsteen). However, there have always been moments when AC/DC have displayed a lighter touch.
On ‘Rock 'n' Roll Dream’ Johnson sounds like a cloth capped version of Grace Slick, Stevie Nicks and the Wilson sisters all rolled into one. Maybe he has believed that all this time, he doesn’t do slow (the last slow AC/DC songs coming from Bon Scott). Well here he does, and it comes across well.

My Favourite track thus far: ‘She Likes Rock ‘n’ Roll’.

But, essentially, the question is: ‘Is this a good album’ i.e. ‘Is this as good as Highway to Hell or Back in Black’? The answer is not as easy. When I first heard those albums I was still in my teens. They resonated with my life at the time. How do I look at ‘Black Ice’: from the point of view of a teenage boy and the minimal baggage that comes with that, or from the point of view of a middle-aged male? While I believe that I am more in touch with my inner teenager than most, I will stick to the middle-aged view for the sake of honesty. After all the ‘boys’ in the band are even older than me, so let’s say that we have all ‘moved on a bit’. The sound and the music are great, what may be missing is the same level of humour in the lyrics that I have come to know and love. In that sense I think that this is a good album certainly better than “Fly on the Wall’ and ‘Flick of the Switch’, probably somewhere between ‘For those about to Rock’ and ‘Stiff Upper Lip’. I will say this: if you like AC/DC, you will like this album!

From a teenaged kid’s point of view amongst the clutter of itunes, ipods, MTV, hormones and insecurity, I don’t think that we will get an opinion on the album as a whole, and that is how the band want us to view it – a complete album.

In a career and history where the band has received so much from Rock and Roll, it is refreshing to see how much they are prepared to give back. I don’t think that they ‘need’ to make albums anymore, and that said, if they were only doing this to keep out of the way of the wife and kids at home it probably would have sounded terrible. But they have been dead serious about this and it shows. I believe that this is the underlying lesson relating to this band – it is not all about taking only, to succeed you also need to give, and these guys do so with all of their collective hearts and two big balls each too.

October 2008 Update

2008-10-12T10:38:00.000-07:00

I have recently made some new discoveries and will hopefully post in more detail on them in the future. But just to keep everybody updated, here are few few things worth a mention.

Endless Boogie: I recently became aware of a band called Endless Boogie via a sampler in Uncut magazine. They really rock! These guys sound something like ZZTop and AC/DC with a lot of their own flavour in there too.

Rodriguez: We grew up to Rodriguez's 'Cold Fact' album being a part of the ambient sound in 70's suburban South Africa. It comes as a surprise that the rest of the world (apart from maybe Australia) had not paid this American artist much attention. It seems that now about 30 years later awareness has been raised. Give it a listen you will be amazed at how fresh it sounds, and how relevant the lyrics still are.

The Hold Steady: I bought the new album recently 'Stay Positive', and it sounds fantastic.

Also: I just can't wait for the new AC/DC album. By all acounts so far it sounds like it is good. I have only heard the single 'Rock 'n Roll Train' thus far and while that is a fine song I really hope that the rest of the album is good.

DVD Review: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Runnin' Down A Dream

2008-10-12T10:30:00.000-07:00

As mentioned in an earlier posting, I was determined to get hold of a copy of the Peter Bogdanovic movie called ‘Runnin’ Down A Dream’. This is a movie he made about the life and times of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

Well, I eventually bought it, risking my hard earned cash on the South African Postal service by ordering it from Amazon (I looked everywhere in South Africa and could not find the DVD). After two and a half weeks it arrived.

The version that I bought consists of the movie spanning two separate DVD’s, a live home-coming concert DVD, and a CD of some live rarities. The movie itself is about four hours long, the length of which has created a bit of controversy in itself.

The Movie

The movie is in fact a revelation. I had my doubts about a movie of this length, but as explained in the liner notes, so much footage from over the years existed that the actual material available was just too good to omit (we also have a theory on the KraKen Rock that Tom’s slow speaking style also dragged things on a bit). It seems that since the band started, there was always someone around with some form of video camera device. For me, living in South Africa all my life, who had only ever seen the video of ‘Don’t come around here no more’ in terms of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers visual offerings, the time spanning footage was the revelation. There are visuals of the band performing in their early years, interviews spanning all the years, and some shots of the band backing up Bob Dylan. For me this was a pure visual feast.

Then there is the actual story (a movie should have some kind of story to it). Narrated by various people involved with the band, including most members of the band, it is riveting. After sitting down and watching the first discs about two hours worth of the movie, we seriously considered putting the second disc in straight away. It is a really enjoyable, informative documentary. The only criticism that I had at the end was that of – ‘why didn’t they explain more about various points’, and of course the answer to that is that four hours was already too long.

The story spans the formation of the starting bands in Gainesville, the quick demise of Mudcrutch (including where the name came from), the early days and the fact that like so many other bands they had to first break it in the UK before their home country would even take notice. Then it tracks the change of band members over the years, their relationships with other prominent artists (Stevie Nicks and Bob Dylan for example), as well as Tom’s Traveling Wilburys experience. The message that I felt prevailed from this movie is that, often you are only given one chance to do something – at these times, do not mess up., and don’t forget that dogged determination. If you don’t have it – you will fail.

In amongst all of this there are some really great moments, and I think that every person will find their own, whether it be a shot of Dave Grohl hammering away at the drums in a rare live performance, or the expressions on various faces during a drug bust in a German airport.

I would say – well worth a watch.

The live DVD

The live DVD is of a concert at the University of Florida in Gainesville in 2006. The guys are starting to look a bit old, and to me it seems to get off to a bit of a slow start. However, after about three songs in it picks up. My favourite parts are when Stevie Nicks joins them on stage. Viewers of the movie will understand her ongoing wish to be in the Heartbreakers, and with this in mind it is great to see her enthusiasm on stage.

Another thought that strikes me every time I watch Live Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers DVD’s is how astoundingly good Mike Campbell is. He is in every sense of the word a virtuoso (scary hairdo though).

The CD

The CD is only nine tracks long and offers live songs from the very early days to more recent times, mainly culled from live TV appearances such as Top of the Pops, The Old Grey Whistle test and Saturday Night Live. The last track is a sound check of a Hank Williams song that they had never done before (apparently) – hard to believe. Dave Grohl appears on the drums for the SNL performance, and if you had watched the movie, you would know how much that meant to him.

Interestingly the old songs sound just as great today, and the new songs sound fresh and strong.

Conclusion

I am glad that I bought this package. It is quite literally hours of entertainment.

There are amazing insights into the recording industry, as well as insights into the band and their friends. A statement not to be taken lightly when you count people like Bob Dylan and George Harrison among your friends.

If you like Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, buy it. If you don’t, borrow it, and you may find that you do like them afterwards.

Book: Mark Oliver Everett - Things the Grandchildren should know

2008-10-12T10:19:00.000-07:00

I never intended this blog to include book reviews. I have read several Rock biographies and autobiographies, but a book review is something completely different to an album review. What I have decided to do is briefly mention a good Rock related book if I come across one.

This brings me to mentioning an excellent Rock related book that I have just finished reading.

Recently Amazon lured me into recommendations that were Eels related, and brought my attention to a book called ‘Things my grandchildren should know’ by Mark Oliver Everett. Usually this author goes by the shortened name of E and fronts the band called the Eels. This book is his first autobiography, published in 2008 and therefore pretty much current. It takes us through his childhood, teens and struggles in life and the music industry up to today, and all I can say is that things have been pretty tough so far.

The book is well written in very direct prose that uses the actual story to capture the reader, and not necessarily other more subtle literary devices. It works for me and as the cliché goes ‘I could not put it down’.

The over-riding message that I got out of it is that one must never give up. When other people are trying to guide you in certain directions - stick to your principles. Over and over again one hears tales of how the record label does not like the new album and wants certain changes made. This book describes several of these incidents and how E handled them. The music industry is really tough and it takes a lot of dogged determination to succeed. I think that that is an excellent message for young people starting out in the industry to understand.

Of course, the his struggles in the music industry are described against the backdrop of the terrible struggles E has faced throughout his personal life too. The message about perseverance and determination is even more important in this context. There is never the feeling that E is saying ‘don’t bother me with your problems as mine have been so much worse’, the inherent message is more that life can be challenging, and as an individual one should remain true to oneself if there is to be any hope of rising above it all.

This is a well written, thought provoking book. Everyone should read it as it helps to put life into perspective.

On another note, please take time to check out the Eels website. It is definitely one of the best I have ever seen, and also makes some rare recordings available.

http://www.eelstheband.com/

Classic albums revisited 3: Lou Reed - Transformer

2008-09-15T12:18:00.000-07:00

As the stream of thoughts, memories and recollections go, I was reminded by the offering from The Killers – ‘Tranquilize’, that I had purchased a re-mastered version of Lou Reed’s – ‘Transformer’ last year and not really paid it much attention. I am so familiar with the original album, I don’t think I felt any urgency in checking this CD out properly. I have listened to it a couple of times now, so let’s revisit it as one of the all-time classic albums out there. The question being – does it still stand up today?

About the album

Lou Reed had already achieved cult status with his work with the Velvet Underground by the time he went solo. His first solo outing was received with mixed reviews, and seemed to carry over a lot of songs from the Velvets days. I loved it, but what can I say, I belong to the school of thought that ‘Reed can do no wrong’. Sad I know, but at least I’m consistent. But, back to ‘Transformer’, and enter some side-kicks for the album, no less than David Bowie and Mick Ronson (a Spider from Mars). A lot is said about whose album ‘Transformer’ really is, for example the argument goes that Reed would never have been able to have done it by himself. The question is asked: why did Ronson not get more writing and playing credits, and further: how involved was Bowie really? My view is that this was a collaboration. It brought out the best in all the artists involved, and this is what made it a classic in the first place.

Ronson alone was a master. Originally from Hull in the UK, he made a couple of attempts at breaking into the music scene in London before returning to Hull and taking on some type of job maintaining local parks. Apparently he was out applying whitewashing to a football pitch when he got the call from Bowie to try out for the Spiders (there’s probably more to the story than this as they did not have mobile phones in those days). The rest is Rock and Roll history.

One common thread that appears when reading about Ronson (who has sadly recently succumbed to cancer) is his humility. Apart from the ‘Transformer’ album, and his work with Bowie, Ronson has made numerous other contributions, as well as a few solo albums and also some work with Ian Hunter (I have a vinyl copy of ‘Slaughter on 10^th Avenue’ that stands the test of time very well). On ‘Transformer’ he went about writing, arranging and playing several instruments on most of the songs.

Throughout rock history there are characters like Ronson who have transformed the sound of rock in an era, almost while nobody was looking, i.e. operating underneath the radar. Today we have the likes of Johnny Marr. Famous for his work in The Smiths of course, but then also responsible for a lot of non-credited work on some the The The albums, and, did you know, he also played on Talking Heads’ ‘Naked’ (my favourite Talking Heads album without a doubt). Another is Bernard Butler who has the ability to do the same as Ronson. This is probably the subject matter for an entire other posting, as I am digressing from the album review, but if you have other examples of this phenomenon please leave a comment and I will try to compile a more comprehensive posting at a later date.

So, looking at what the album has to offer, we start off with –

Vicious

What a cool song! Witty and swaggering it has the ability to put a smile on my face every time. Come to think of it, there are a few tracks on this album that do that.

Andy’s Chest

The Andy being none other than Andy Warhol – a key character in Reed’s past Velvet Underground history. The lyrics are great ‘… a hairy minded pink bare bear…’.

Perfect Day

Recently revived to help raise money for a charity cause, as well as appearing on the ‘Trainspotting’ soundtrack, this song grows from strength to strength. Dwelling on the simple pleasures in life that are made only more pleasurable by sharing them with a special person in you life, this is a joyful life affirming song that gets stronger with every listen. Ronson on piano apparently, and the symphonic swells dare anybody not to sing along to the majestic chorus.

Hangin’ ‘Round

‘You keep hangin’ ‘round me and I’m not so glad you found me ….’ go the lyrics. Reed a master of the message, gets it across with ease every time. This song also lays a blueprint on how to be cool.

Walk on the wild side

I suppose most people have heard this song. Without a doubt, this is Reed’s most popular song ever. At four minutes 15 seconds long, my view has always been - why so short? When in fact, this is longer than most of the other songs on the album. I can never get enough of it. Reed apparently could. Listen to the Reed live album ‘Take No Prisoners’. The audience constantly heckle him for not playing it, and when he does, it is pure vitriol.

Make Up

In the days before Emos and Goths, Reed and Bowie were at the forefront of ‘Glam Rock’ which introduced the world to Rock ‘n Roll androgyny and males wearing make up. This song however is more a ‘fly on the wall account’ of someone transforming themselves with make up. Still fresh and highly listenable as a song.

Satellite of Love

Wacky weird lyrics take us ‘way up to Mars’. A great song with Bowie clearly having a lot of fun on the backing vocals. A lot can be said for music that sounds like fun was had in the making.

Wagon wheel

Another set of weird and whacky lyrics, but with another motivational theme laced with something nasty. Partly containing some good advice and then some advice that should probably be ignored. The music is nice and rocked up thanks to some great riffing from Ronson.

New York Telephone Conversation

‘I was sleeping gently napping when I heard the phone, who is on the other end talking, am I even home?’ this is a really short song, but biting and incisive in the multi dimensional way only Reed can be.

I’m So Free

Reed dead-pans his way through this song, with the famous backing vocalists offsetting this with joyful abandon. It works really well and seems to have influenced a lot of other artists over the years. I'm developing a theory that Reed is sometimes sarcastic!

Goodnight Ladies

A cabaret style song that probably astounded the audience. Considering that the entire album is rather astounding when compared to Velvet Underground material (although it was always pretty weird too) and then the first solo album, this track is then not so astounding. Reed’s offerings to the women in his life have always seemed to me to be quite bipolar. One moment the misogynist, the next the adorer of everything that is feminine, his songs swing from one side to the other like a pendulum. This one however, seems to me to place the pendulum firmly in the middle. The main point seems to be that behind the scenes (off the stage) life goes on at a pretty mundane pace.

So what is the verdict about the ‘Transformer’ album 36 years later? I recently read a review by music critic Emily Mackay (on NME.com) where she discusses the point of rock music. One that she mentions is that ‘great rock affirms life’. This album does that for me. In my view the album as presented above is still engaging and refreshing. It remains a collaborative effort that brings out the best in all involved. The sound is that of off-beat, weird but funky rock music. Loose and unhurried, the album sounds fun to me.

Do I recommend buying the CD? The songs sound great, and at the end there are interesting demo (acoustic) versions of ‘Perfect day’ and ‘Hangin’ ‘round’. These turn out to be very interesting in terms of offering a view on what the album could have been like had Bowie and Ronson not arrived. Better? No, but not worse either! Lou Reed can do no wrong – but I think that I said that already.

CD Review: The Killers - Sawdust

2008-09-08T11:30:00.000-07:00

This album was released as a type of B-sides, rarities and remixes collection. As in my Eels posting in June, you will know that I can be quite partial to this type of release, if, of course, the band has the depth to support it. The Killers as such can be considered a fairly new band. Formed in 2002, and with only two albums to their name before releasing ‘Sawdust’ I think its safe to call them a young band. Bands like the Eels, Pixies and others had a lot of ‘real’ albums out before their B-sides releases surfaced, so I was a bit suspicious about this release at first – how can they sustain a full length (17 song strong) release of this nature?

First I must mention that my motivation for buying it was two-fold. One, I am a huge Lou Reed fan, bordering on the completist in his case. Reed is in fact the only artist that brings out the completist tendencies in me, I have however balked at buying ‘Metal Machine Music’ so I suppose I am not a real completist. Nevertheless his appearance on the first track of ‘Sawdust’, on a song called ‘Tranquilize’ was reason enough for me to buy the album. The second reason was that it was going for a slashed price in my local Musica store. Was I disappointed? No way and here’s why.

‘Tranquilize’ is an awesome song. Lou Reed is brilliant and his and Brandon’s voices work extremely well together. Another stand-out track for me, which may bother purists, but which I put down to pure fun is the Jacques Lu Cont’s remix of ‘Mr. Brightside’. Why mess with perfection you might ask – my answer is that when it’s done this tastefully, let’s have a little fun and enjoy the moment. Another interesting, and for me, thoroughly enjoyable track, is the Dire Straits cover ‘Romeo and Juliet’. A lot can be said about the paucity of the 1980’s era popular music offerings. But when one examines the key influences on a band like The Killers and hears how they have managed to distil, and make their own, certain key moments of that era (think Soft Cell and A Flock of Seagulls, these leap out at me when I listen to ‘Sawdust’), you realise that it was not all bad. Here though the take on ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is pretty straight forward but rather enjoyable.

Another cover on this album is that of Joy Division’s ‘Shadowplay’. The pitch of Brandon’s voice was never going to match that of Ian Curtis, and it is refreshing to hear that he does it ‘his way’. Hopefully this cover will turn a younger generation onto the brilliance of Joy Division.

Then there is another cover, a few more original songs, and, to me, not a single bum track. I particularly like ‘Leave the Bourbon on the shelf’ with the world weary line ‘Leave the Bourbon on the shelf and I’ll drink it by myself’. Excellent rhyming, and in my view up there with the originality of Hank Williams. Apparently this song is the first part of a Murder Trilogy. You can find the details on Wikipedia.

This album is well worth purchasing, you will not be disappointed, it is definitely a hidden treasure.

September update

2008-09-08T11:23:00.000-07:00

Well, August has come and gone without me posting a single thing. I apologise to my numerous readers. There are reasons for the slowness of pace in August, none of them very pleasant, and I will not be going into them here.

I have not been idle, however, and have been doing a lot of reading, listening and playing around with my new toy. Having recently acquired a Squeezebox, I can only rave. What a really cool device for bringing your computer-residing music collection back into you hifi (check the following link - http://www.slimdevices.com) I love it. I also spent a lot of time re-discovering Fleetwood Mac which traced my involvement from being too young to understand that it was not considered cool to really dig them (my favourite album at the age of 11 was ‘Tusk’), to being slightly embarrassed that I was the only guy in my peer group into ‘Mirage’ and ‘Tango in the Night’, to now understanding that its OK to have the occasional guilty pleasure as long as no-one else is harmed.

Uncut magazine is polling their readers for their favourite Pink Floyd song, use this link

http://www.uncut.co.uk/news/pink_floyd/news/12126 to go there and nominate yours.

There is also some good news out there. First AC/DC have completed their new album and it is due out soon. It is called 'Black Ice', and the first single from it is called 'Rock 'n Roll Train'. I was fortunate enough to hear it this morning on UJFM on the way to work, and it definitely improved my Monday for me a lot.

Secondly, Metallica are also ready with their new album called 'Death Magnetic'. It have not heard it yet, but review on my favourite music web-sites are good. Admittedly after 'St. Anger' I remain sceptical, especially since I noticed on Uncut's web-site they give it four stars and going back to their review of 'St. Anger' I saw that they gave that one four stars too. I'll decide for myself, and let you guys know what I think.

DVD Review: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - High Grass Dogs

2008-07-27T10:56:00.000-07:00

Considering the age of this DVD, I suppose it is a bit late to be reviewing it now. But then, maybe, like me, you look at it in the shop every time you go in, wondering whether to buy it or not. Hopefully this can help you to make a decision.

I have always really enjoyed Tom Petty’s music. My vinyl collection includes ‘Damn the Torpedoes’, ‘Southern Accents’, ‘Let me up…’ and ‘Pack up the Plantation’. ‘Full Moon Fever’ was, in fact, the first CD I ever owned – a gift from my darling. As mentioned in a previous posting, I believe the ‘Pack up the Plantation’ album to be one of the best live concert documents out there. So I thought – let me try this DVD. It is mostly a collection of newer songs by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and I could get some idea of how good they are.

The packaging is a bit sparse, with not much information given. The audio quality is excellent , although at times I thought that the audience ‘sound’ was mixed down a bit too much, losing that live feel to a degree. The visual quality is also very good with evidence here that very careful planning had taken place. In terms of extras on the DVD, there are none. You can choose between 5.1 surround sound or normal stereo, and there is a menu to select individual songs, but that’s it! My only complaint is the repeated zooming in on Tom's moccasins and Howie Epstein’s boots – what is that all about? This was the last night at a series of Fillmore concerts which allowed the band to settle into the venue, polish their songs, and the director to plan the best visual coverage, and it shows.

I can report that the most recent album’s songs covered are pretty good. Some of the older songs included are ‘Jammin’ Me’ and a set from ‘Full Moon Fever’ such as ‘Free Fallin’’ and ‘Runnin’ Down A Dream’ (old Tom likes his apostrophes). There is a quieter acoustic section in the middle of the DVD that seems to go on for possibly one song too long, but then all is back on track with the Heart-breakers rocking out again including a fairly raucous encore. The band, as ever, do the job with sparkling proficiency. It is no wonder that Bob Dylan waylaid this band once to use as his backing on a tour. My view is that essentially this is a live band – they make all their studio recorded songs sound so much better live. This is why I love ‘Pack up the Plantation’ so much.

There are some funny moments too, where TP fluffs the beginning of ‘Even the losers’ a few times and tries desperately not to laugh for the next few bars once he finally gets it right. I think that Tom must have been watching this when he thought of the name for the DVD.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers have been described as being ‘so normal they are strange’, and it is this basic unpretentious approach to their music and their performance that draws one in. There are no bombastic theatrics or posturing, and yet most of the full 90 minutes of this DVD go by in a blink of an eye. Leaving you wondering how a band can be so good live. Petty and Mike Campbell trades licks and solos effortlessly and smoothly throughout, with the result being some really enthralling guitar work. My conclusion is that, yes I’m glad I bought the DVD, no mistake there. I will probably never see a band like this live in South Africa and this is certainly the next best thing.

I have heard that there is a new DVD set out that documents the life of Tom Petty over two DVD’s , and then also includes a third live DVD and a live CD, called ‘Runnin’ Down a Dream’. This is definitely on my wish-list!

2008-09-02

Having re-read this a few times, and also watched the DVD a few times more, I have a couple of points to add.

Firstly the visual quality is not that great, but its OK.

Secondly, I never even mentioned the guest appearance of legendary Bo Diddley for a rendition of 'Mona'. This is especially poignant now that the great man has passed away. The whole band was glowing with excitement backing him on the song.

Thirdly, since this recording was made, Howie Epstein has also passed away. The facts behind this are a tragic tale, and while watching the DVD it is really sad to see how much he clearly enjoyed being up there and performing, and then too, how well he complemented Tom Petty on vocals throughout.

Great Song Lyrics Collected

2008-07-06T12:01:00.000-07:00

I would like to keep this post running as a collection point for people's favourite or most evocative song lyrics. Please add a comment stating which song lyrics especially appeal to you, and what the reason is. I will constantly update the post with the best comments.

As an example, one of my most favourite phrases in a song (simply for the imagery that it conjures) is Iggy Pop’s ‘Lust for Life’ where he sings ‘…dance like you’re hypnotising chickens…’.

Another of my favourite lyricists is Nick Cave. I’ll provide some more concrete details, but some that immediately come to mind are ‘The Carny’, ‘The Weeping Song’ and ‘When I get home’.

Then for pure fun phrasing and rhyming, I would have to have AC/DC up there at the top of the list. Even some of their less musically brilliant songs are saved by a great turn of phrase and innuendo such as ‘Mistress for Christmas’, ‘Money Talks’ or ‘Big Balls’.

Hopefully this has provided an indication of what I am looking for, please mention the song name, the band, some snippets of the lyrics and why they are important to you.

June 10, 2008

OK I have a comment from 'Bluedaisy' relating to:

The Doors (i.e. Jim Morrison) with 'Child's fragile eggshell mind', pretty cool.

I have come up with a few more too:

Lloyd Cole in 'My Bag' says 'I'm your Yes Man, yes Ma'am I'm your Yes Man' which for some strange reason really appeals to me (the whole song is a roller-coaster of witticisms).

The Hold Steady in 'Party Pit' say '..gonna walk around and drink some more..' which relates to the introspective 'what am I doing at this party' part of me.

Eels in 'Novocaine for the soul' say '... Jesus and His lawyer are coming back..', very clever lyrics indeed.

Keep them coming guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Classic albums revisited 2: AC/DC - Back in Black

2008-07-06T11:58:00.000-07:00

I clearly remember how I got into AC/DC. I always knew about them, as one of my class-mates in primary school was a big fan. He had the early albums and was always going on about ‘Big Balls’ and ‘Whole Lotta Rosie’. In fact I remember one day when George brought in his record player (the kind in a box whose lid becomes the speaker) so that we could hear some of it. Well to be honest, I was not immediately impressed (probably something to do with the sound quality).

It was only later, in high school, when an exchange teacher from the US took it upon himself to warn us against the dangers of ‘Satanic music’, using AC/DC’s ‘Highway to Hell’ as his prime example (he had spotted it in one of the kids bag). This tirade renewed my interest in the band. Not necessarily due to the satanic link, but rather due to the edginess and rebelliousness I suppose. Needless to say, I really got into ‘Highway to Hell’, and then when ‘Back in Black’ came out I was completely hooked (thank you so much Mr. Waters).

It became a soundtrack to those formative high-school years with the driving hard rock encouraging one to keep going, persist and see the humorous side to the day-to-day drudge. It was our primary party album for a long time.

Recently I bought the CD version in a fit of nostalgia and thought I could provide my insights into how it has held up over the years.

‘Back in Black’ is particularly significant to the band as it was their first album with new lead singer Brian Johnson after the tragic passing away of Bon Scott. They had just achieved spectacular sales and success with the Scott album ‘Highway to Hell’ when he died. The band decided to carry on, and immediately started auditions for a new singer. Within the year the new album was out, and must have been viewed as ‘make-or-break’ by the band. Fortunately it was even bigger than ‘Highway to Hell’. Part a dedication to Scott, part a proving ground for Johnson, and part a proving ground for the rest of the bands abilities, it had a lot to live up to, and it is testimony to the collective band that they managed to pull it off so well. I also believe that this has been their most successful album ever.

Hitting ‘play’ let’s have a look at what we’ve got:

Hells Bells

Whenever I hear bells, anywhere, I am always reminded of this song. A meticulous (although obviously demented too) Quasimodo steps up and starts hammering away at an enormous bell. Then it’s the chiming guitars and the rest is history. In the context of the AC/DC fan-base getting their hands on the new album, putting it on and then getting their first hearing of the new lead singer, this is an excellent showcase.

Shoot To Thrill

These days, I think people are less able to identify the use of similes, metaphors and parodies in songs. This one for example would definitely confuse most people with regards to the message it seems to give.

The music is great Chuck Berry times a 1000 riffing, also echoing some hard hitting types of counter-pointal shots. I love it but then so would Julius Malema.

What Do You Do For Money Honey

Gold-diggers have a special place in rock history, and here AC/DC in their most philanthropic of moods try to warn us about them.

Given the Dog a Bone

Dog lovers to the core, these guys don’t hold back when it comes to some of their very personal revelatory types of experiences. Musically this is probably my least favourite song on the album.

Let me put my love into you

'Let me put my love into you, Babe' pleads the cloth capped Johnson. Showcasing the more sensitive side of the band, this song is also an excellent vehicle for the type of lyrics that never cease to amuse. I am going to be starting a post next whereby I gather my, and my readers favourite lyrics to songs, and this may well be on there. They don’t ever say ‘please’, but at least they are asking for permission! I love Angus’ guitar work on this track, especially during the ‘don’t you struggle, don’t you fight, cause it’s your turn tonight’ part, his guitar solos breaking down into manic giggles.

Back in Black

Hmm – I can still recite the lyrics word for word even after 20 years. That’s either very embarrassing or else proof that the human brain is capable of phenomenal feats. Although I must confess that I have listened to it pretty regularly over those 20 years. Who knew that ‘Back’ can be pronounced with 4 syllables?

You Shook Me All Night Long

This is one of my favourite tracks of all time. Another one whose lyrics I can recite word for word. Come to think of it, I think that we always used to play side 2 before side 1 in those good old vinyl days. I think that this song was key in defining my vision of the perfect woman (sad I know, how wrong I was). The guitar solo on this song is still as fresh and original as ever. If you believe in the ‘Pick of Destiny’, this solo would seem to prove the legend.

Have a Drink On Me

Seen as the tribute song to Bon Scott who died after a heavy night of drinking, I find the lyrics a little below what the guys have consistently proven themselves capable of. However it has always been a great song for playing at the heart of some hard partying, often leading to the arrival of a fresh round, so it can’t be all wrong.

Shake a leg

Another track from the band that makes it feel alright to be a guy. Can be interpreted as a call to some rampant head-banging (‘shake your head’), but obviously is not. This is a slower paced song that is still energetic and hard-hitting musically. The actual sound that the band managed to capture in this song is everything that is great about AC/DC – the guitar tones, the thundering drums and Brian’s seemingly shredded vocal chords.

Rock and Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution

Proving that the band has always had a strong leaning towards environmental awareness, here they tackle some pretty weighty subject matter. In it they also prophetically predict the overall fortune of the band. It’s really uncanny listening to it 28 years later. It’s a great way to end the album and also alerts us to the possibility of pronouncing ‘Rock’ using 3 syllables. If you close your eyes and listen very carefully you can hear that Angus is smiling all the way through this song.

Well, in review, it is amazing how well this album has stood the test of time. Sure it does not sound as ‘heavy’ as it did in the day, but if anything this is a good thing. The band owes a lot to Chuck Berry, and considering this, I suppose that Mr. Berry sounded pretty ‘heavy’ when he first came out. The lyrics are still fresh and entertaining although ‘Have a Drink On Me’ does start to sound a bit dated, and Angus Young’s guitar work still far surpasses what most guitarists are capable of to this day. Anyway, I’m off to gain a better understanding of what ‘American thighs’ are…….

CD Review: Breeders - Battle mountain

2008-06-23T10:52:00.000-07:00

What with the recent spate of power outages that have seemed to affect my street only lately, and the fact that I have been out of the country for a week, my music blogging has suffered a bit. As a travel tip, I can say that when landing in Rome it is not advised to speak to anybody about taxi’s while still in the terminal – you get whisked away to unscrupulous taxi services who then charge the earth. Go outside to the official taxi rank, choose a taxi that looks official, and expect to pay about 40 Euros to get from the airport to the city centre of Rome.

Now, on to the CD Review!

My first impression of this album is that it is Lo-Fi. Meaning that things are stripped pretty much to the bone. It sounds like the Breeders are using old and worn out guitars, drums, amps, tape, bass guitars and Kim Deal’s lungs. Not that this is a bad thing, if the songs are strong.

When the Pixies reunited in 2004 I was a little worried. No matter how much one wants more and more of a good thing – in this case a new Pixies album, there is a lot to be said for quitting while you are winning too. My worrying caused me to avidly scan every little snippet I could find to try to determine whether they were recording again, and if so how it was going. In the end they only managed a couple of songs, which I have not heard as I have never managed to figure out Itunes (they don’t seem to service South Africa), which was the only place that they were released. At the time Frank Black commented that they had had problems getting Kim out of her house and into a recording environment. As always there was probably more to the situation than meets the eye, because she has clearly been channelling energy into the Breeders.

Battle Mountain is an album that I believe belongs in a context. It does not play that well in my car where the low-end is lost to the rumblings of the road (and most of the album is pretty much low-end). You can’t play it with the kids around as they consider it boring, and you probably could not play it with guests around as it might be considered too gloomy/moody. So my dilemma is that it sounds like a good album and what I hear I like, but in my natural surroundings the response to it by the co-inhabitants is cool (a bit like Grinderman’s excellent offering). So maybe the context for the album is sneaking off to a nice quiet place with a pair of good head-phones!

Let me try that out before continuing with the review……

Hmmm, this only goes to show how dangerous first impressions can be. The album is definitely fairly low-key in the sense of an un-hurried and simplified type of offering. But that does not mean it is not exciting. There are great songs on this album, my favourite being ‘Istanbul’ which displays how to create something that is complex and fun with a minimum of technology. The single ‘We’re Gonna Rise’ is also strong, while ‘It’s the Love’ is another strong favourite of mine.

This is also one track in German and one in Spanish, I have no idea what they are about, but I really like the German one. All the way through the bass playing is really good.

Listening to this album reminds me of bands like The Breeders (Doh!), Pixies (Doh!), PJ Harvey (not a band I know), and Throwing Muses. If you like these bands, and want some music that comes across as warm and cosy, you will enjoy this album.

CD Review: Eels – Useless Trinkets B - Sides, Soundtracks, Rarities and Unreleased

2008-06-07T00:46:00.000-07:00

Compilations of B-sides can be a risky purchase if there is not some underlying level of consistent talent relating to the band or artist concerned.

I have always been more of an album guy, buying an album rather than a single with the view that singles are generally the tip of the ice-berg and one needs to assess the artists entire offering before coming to hasty conclusions.

What this tends to mean though, is that I generally snap up B side and rarity compilations of bands as it is generally guaranteed that I would not have heard the songs before.

Some of my favourite albums are thus The Pixies’ ‘B sides’ and Nick Caves ‘B sides and rarities’. Nick Cave’s offering is a sheer extravaganza, sprawling over three CD’s, containing one highlight after the next. It drives home everything that can be good about this type of compilation, such as finally getting versions of songs that have only appeared on movie soundtracks, or getting a glimpse of the artist when they are just relaxing and having some fun in the studio. Often these types of compilations include cover versions, which provide further insights into a band or artist with regards to their influences. Further, these compilations also often include stripped down or reworked versions of well known songs, which also provides food for thought where the listener can imagine how things are probably turning out in a parallel universe (I could not resist this ‘Eels type reference’). All in all compilations like this are normally the best way to really get to know a band.

Back to the Eels though and I must state up front that they have been one of my favourite bands for a very long time. The main member of the Eels is an individual known as E (His real name is Mark Everett, but he had two childhood friends who were also called Mark so they started using surnames, eventually shortening them to initials only). Oddly enough I missed the whole ‘Beautiful Freak’ period (their debut album) and only became aware of them through their next album ‘Electro-shock blues’ which created a huge positive impression on me. Since then I have been following their progress pretty closely and therefore became aware of the dual releases in 2008 of both a Greatest Hits and the B sides and rarities compilation. I have not checked out the greatest hits album yet as they are both very expensive in South Africa, and my thinking was that I probably have most of those songs. Therefore I decided to spend my hard-earned cash on the rarities album. Expensive though it is, I must point out that it consists of two CD’s and a DVD, as well as a fairly substantial set of liner notes with entries by E himself. Each CD has 25 songs on it with the DVD containing six songs too, so that totals to 56 songs by the Eels that I have not owned before.

Justification I suppose, unless they are all throw-away junk songs…..

But let me start with the DVD. The DVD contains six songs from the Eels’ 2006 Lollapalooza performance. As I understand it, the live Eels band can take on many configurations, this one being pretty stripped down with only 4 people on stage. However, the performances are satisfyingly off-beat and fun with my favourite being a great version of their early song ‘Not Ready Yet’ which includes an extended jam with E handing over his guitar to the 'security' guy at one stage to carry on with the riffing. Sound and image quality are good and the only complaint I have is that the six songs are over too soon.

Next are the CD’s. After three listens, I can report that there are no tracks that have me reaching for the skip button. That in itself is saying something about the consistency of this compilation considering that there are 50 tracks. There are great live and alternative versions of familiar songs such as ‘Novocaine for the soul’, ‘I Like Birds’, ‘My Beloved Monster’, and ‘Hospital food’ to name a few. Then there are some really weird offerings such as ‘Waltz of the Naked Clowns’ and ‘Jelly Dancers’. The firm favourite for now is the Moog Cookbook remix of ‘Novocaine For The Soul’. Also worth a mention is the fact that this compilation includes two covers of Prince songs, which one would not naturally associate as an influence on the Eels, but it all makes sense now (both actually coming from the same album ‘Sign O the Times’). But then who can be impervious to the influence of the Royal Purple Funkmaster?

Overall there is never a dull moment on this set of CD’s and as I hoped, it really does provide some deeper insight into E (I think it is time to order his autobiography from Amazon). They remain one of my favourite bands and hopefully there is a lot more where this comes from (I wonder if I should try to send a note to E warning him of the hazards of smoking those huge cigars he often pictured enjoying before he splutters out).

CD Review: Lucky Dube - The Best of Lucky Dube

2008-05-21T11:12:00.000-07:00

Over the years, I have been privileged enough to witness some brilliant South African music live.

Having recently purchased the Lucky Dube – 'The Best Of' CD, I was struck by a big dose of nostalgia. I have been fortunate enough to witness live performances from seminal bands such as Sakhile, Stimela and Juluka. In fact, Sakhile’s show was the only time I have experienced my hair standing on end as a result of the collective band member’s musical virtuosity. Over the years I have been fortunate enough to see myriad bands come, some stay and others go, some brilliant and some rather average. I have been to concerts by Hotline where a young PJ Powers belted out Led Zeppelin covers accompanied by an awesome Alistair Coakley. I have seen Brenda and the Big Dudes dole out the soulful and funky, and then also witnessed the rise and (in some cases) fall of bands such as No Friends of Harry, Cinema, The Helicopters, Little Sister, Psycho Reptiles, Petit Cheval, Tananas, Dog detachment, Tribe after tribe, Seether (as Saron Gas), Wonderboom, Prime Circle, Henry Ate, the list goes on and on. Some were really good, other just OK and others really bad. What bothers me though is the lack of continuity and permanence of good bands and artists in South Africa. I think that there are probably numerous and complicated reasons for this (one being that people don’t go out and buy their albums), but what is sad is that we have this problem at all.

So it is even sadder when we have such seriously talented artists like Lucky Dube, who has been a relatively successful counterpoint to the inconsistency by becoming hugely popular throughout the world, and especially Africa, and releasing album after album of quality reggae music, who are cut down in their prime by mindless criminals. He has not been the only one, sadly there is a long list of highly talented musicians who have lost their lives to crime in South Africa.

It only takes one listen to this CD to realise that here was a hugely talented individual, surrounded by an extremely talented set of musicians, producing quality music time after time. The reasons for his continuous success is also obvious when you listen to the songs and realise just how good the musicians were, how much care was taken with the production of the songs and how much thought went into his lyrics. These songs are so much a part of South Africa’s radio airwaves that it is hard to understand why some of Dube’s underlying messages of Peace and Social Consciousness have not seeped into our ailing national psyche. Every home should have a copy of this CD, play it loud in your home and in your car, quote the lyrics to each other so that hopefully this contributes to South Africa becoming the beautiful nation that we all want so badly.

CD Review: Shack - Time Machine The Best of Shack

2008-05-13T22:23:00.000-07:00

Shack is a band that everybody should know about, but they probably don’t. Consisting mainly of Michael and John Head, brothers from Liverpool, the rest of the line-up has kept changing over the years. Members trace their roots back to The Pale Fountains and The Strands. Read about them on Wikipedia here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shack_%28Band%29 The Head brothers apparently have a bit of an obsession with Arthur Lee and the band Love that comes through in their own writing. In fact when Arthur Lee visited the UK they performed the role of his backing band.

Shack consistently produces quality albums that contain beautiful songs. More often than not, these songs are about everyday occurrences with the skill of the Head brothers being that of holding up a mirror for their listeners to use to look at themselves. My first experience of Shack was when I got hold of the ‘HMS Fable’ album. This album on its own should convert anybody into a Shack fan. Each and every song is a killer. Michael and John, on Vocals/Rhythm and Vocals/Lead respectively, sing and strum away in some of the most evocative songs I had heard for a long time. My favourite song on this album is ‘Daniella’ which I don’t think is the obvious choice but really appeals to me. I next got the album ‘The corner of Miles and Gil’, although ‘Here’s Tom with the weather’ came out between these two albums, which in my view was not as good as ‘Fable’, but still a very strong offering.

Next for me has been ‘Time Machine’: the to-date Best Of offering. As with most Greatest Hits compilations, there is always going to be some debate as to which songs make it onto the CD (I for one cannot understand how Neil Young could release a single CD Greatest Hits compilation, he has enough hits to fill at least 3 CD’s). I think that in Shack’s case, this can be even more heated than usual. This is because their songs work on such a personal level, meaning different things to different people. I just love the track ‘Cup of Tea’.

As always, as it is a ‘Best Of’ compilation, one has to view the offering in terms of completeness as well. In other words, if viewed as a ‘Time Machine’ it must include tracks from all stages of their career in order to be able to transport the listener back in time. From this perspective this is an excellent collection that enables the listener to hear the evolution of the band as they grow from strength to strength. This is not to say that the earlier tracks are not good – they are indeed very good. What changes though is the production quality and the growing use of other elements to further enhance their sounds, such as a strings section (maybe what changed was the budget available to the band when entering the recording studio).

The two songs on here that are most recent do not come from any of the already released albums, and therefore could be seen as providing a view into what is still to come from this great band. I must admit, while they are not bad songs, they do seem a bit too conventional in my view.

Overall, this is a nice snapshot of a very good band that manages to help the listener to identify the beauty in their everyday surroundings. The songs always leave me with my mood improved and uplifted. The message from the band seems to be that: no matter what terrible things happen in your life there is also a lot of beauty around if you look hard enough. If you like this their other albums are sure to blow your mind, I recommend ‘HMS Fable’ first and then move on from there, you will not be disappointed.

April 2008 what's on the player

2008-05-07T07:50:00.000-07:00

The April roundup is a bit delayed, and I blame this excellent web-site: http://www.starwarsorigami.com/. It combines two things I really enjoy, star wars and origami. Have a look, I know it won’t appeal to all rockers out there but maybe some of you will appreciate it.

Back to the music though, and I can report that I finally got the Radiohead CD out of my player although I must admit that I do miss it. I must also point out that I have been listening to Muse HAARP a lot, but will not include it in my summary as my previous posting is dedicated to it.

The summary for the month therefore is as follows:

Paramore – Riot!

Imagine Avril Lavigne as a musically talented individual who can write good songs and sing well. This gets you to imagining what Hayley Williams from Paramore is like. Only she is even better than that. The Paramore album is full of strong rocking tracks that only grow with repeated listening.

Breaking Benjamin - Phobia

In my opinion this is a silly name for a band – it sounds like a boy band. But then, I don’t know, maybe they named it after two obscure blues legends….

However the album really rocks. It is on the heavier side of American type rock with good lyrics and a great overall sound.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – Pack up the Plantation: Live.

Listening to Muse – ‘HAARP’ got me thinking about my favourite live albums, which then led me to dusting off my vinyl copy of ‘Pack up the Plantation’ (actually my vinyl does not have much dust on it). I wonder if there is a digitally remastered version of this recording out there – I will have to do some research.

This album, however, is an awesome concert document. Sound quality, crowd participation and band performance are all very strong, and the guest appearance of Stevie Nicks is also truly splendid, especially on the track ‘Insider’.

Queens of the Stone Age – Lullabies to Paralyze
Josh Homme of the Queens of the Stone Age (QOTSA) is a truly talented individual, with, a little paradoxically, one of his major strengths being the ability to collaborate. This has lead to great collaborations in his series of ‘Desert Sessions’ albums where he gathers together friends and colleagues (Polly Jean Harvey to name one) and takes them off into the desert somewhere to jam and record. I have got sessions 7&8 and 9&10 and they both rock. Also in his collaboration work, he has recorded with the band Eagles of Death Metal. This is another band with a slightly misleading name. The music is not of the genre death metal – I believe that it is meant to sound like, conceptually, what death metal would sound like if The Eagles played it. I can report that their interpretation of this is some really groovy, funky and skanky sounding boogie rock, with some of the nastiest (and funniest) lyrics around.

Josh Homme is the main member of QOTSA and what underscores all of his projects is the amount of fun he seems to have in doing them. ‘Lullabies to Paralyze’ continues on that theme, with the whole album capturing a unique sound, with plenty of attention to detail given to the tone of guitar sounds. There are immediately lovable songs such as ‘Burn the Witch’ and ‘Little Sister’, as well as songs that really grow with each listen such as ‘Everybody knows that you are insane’.

I love this album, and will try to get hold of their new one too as soon as I can afford it.

CD Review: Muse - HAARP

2008-04-25T10:32:00.000-07:00

Following on from my much documented Muse euphoria (after seeing them live in March), I ordered the HAARP package. This package is based on two live concerts that Muse held in the new Wembley stadium over two days in June 2007. The CD captures the one day while the DVD is of the other day. Fortunately for me it did actually arrive and I have been listening to/watching it ever since. It is described as a live CD that includes a bonus DVD, but to me I view it as the other way round i.e. a live DVD with a live CD to accompany it (there are more songs on the DVD than there are on the CD).

Separating them out, let’s take a look at the CD first. If I consider what makes a live album great, it is very difficult to pinpoint one single thing. Obviously there are some factors that have to be good, such as song selection and recording quality. But the truly great ones capture something extra. In the case of AC/DC’s ‘If you want blood..’ there is a raw energy and excitement that make the album crackle with energy. The crowd chanting ‘Angus, Angus, Angus’, and Angus himself giving it his all as solo after solo sneaks in and boogie woogies all round your head, cannot be equalled. Then there is Iron Maiden’s ‘Live after death’ with Bruce Dickinson exhorting the crowd to ‘scream for me Long Beach’, a now classic quote. Others such as the Eels’ ‘Oh what a beautiful morning’, Talking Heads’ ‘Stop making sense’, Little Feat’s ‘ Waiting for Columbus’, Tom Petty and the Heartbreaker’s ‘Pack up the plantations’, Nick Cave’s wall of sound on ‘The abattoir blues tour’ and Lynyrd Skynyrd’s ‘One more from the road’ have something special that makes them great. There are also some weird anomalies such as Lou Reed’s ‘Take no prisoners’ where the level of self, and audience,-loathing makes this a one of a kind too, but that is the exception rather than the rule. In each case it may be a different factor but in the end it is all about what the artists choose to reveal to their audiences, and the fun that they have playing their music (except for Lou).

On this CD, sound quality is really good, with the live mix coming across well. The track-listing covers all aspects of their career so far and my only beef is that there is no ‘Feelin’ Good’ on the CD. In terms of the ‘something extra’ discussed above, the band give it their all with an energy that is infectious. While not much dialogue takes place with the audience, there are enough quips and ‘thank yous’ to ‘Wemberley’ to keep this alive and energetic. What is astounding is the way that the band sound better with every song. Towards the end, Matt’s voice sounds stronger than when he started.

The DVD however is what makes this package worthwhile in my opinion, especially if you have been to a Muse concert. It functions as a perfect document of what a Muse concert is like and had my daughter and me reminiscing all the way as we recognised elements of the concert we had experienced in Johannesburg. Here the track-listing is far more comprehensive than the CD, covering 6 more songs (including Feelin’ good). As a bonus DVD, this far exceeds expectations. The sound and visual quality is of the highest standard, hence my comment about it being the actual item in the package with the CD as a bonus. Their concerts in general are grandiose, high energy, affairs, and in the case of these Wembley showings even more so. The energy and spectacle is thrillingly captured in this format. Musicianship is flawless with Muse the band delivering like a well-oiled machine.

In terms of extras, there is not much. There is a ‘making of’ type documentary that is interesting enough, but what would have been nice are some interviews with the band members, and a photo gallery. This brings me to the one thing that I would raise as a criticism. This is definitely not a band that gets very involved with their audience. They keep to themselves. Ultimately I suppose that their interaction is more at the emotional level, and at this they are very good. They manage to generate excitement, elation and euphoria with their craft. This to me is preferable to singers or bands who hold long one-way conversations with their audiences and then deliver an average performance. But, some insights into the band members and what they are like as people would have been very welcome.

Well I don’t want this blog to become a Muse blog in general and therefore will have to get over the band at some stage.

Don’t forget, your comments are most welcome.

CD Review: Bob Dylan - Modern Times

2008-04-16T08:28:00.000-07:00

CD Review: Bob Dylan – Modern Times

In my explorations in the World Wide Web I have noticed that this album caused some controversy on its release in 2006. Several authoritative publications rated it as a 10/10 or full marks on whatever scale they use, and then very vocal commentators disagreed with that saying that it is not ‘Blond on blond’ or ‘Highway …’. This interested me and I decided that I should form my own opinion. The first thing that you should know is that up until now, I have never owned or heard a full Bob Dylan album – there I said it. Of course I have heard most of the most famous songs, and who does not totally enjoy Hendrix’s version of ‘All along the Watchtower’, but I have no prior experience of a Dylan album. Why I make this point is that, hopefully this will mean that I can provide a view on the album without having any pre-conceived ideas, and also make no comparison to prior work.

Although I must mention that the CD sleeve tells one almost nothing, I have determined that the band on the album is the same that has been touring with Dylan recently and the album was produced by Dylan himself.

In my mind, the antecedents of this album seem to align themselves for the production of a gem. Namely, there is no external pressure on Dylan to produce a best seller or hit single, I don’t think that he needs the money and his last two albums have been hailed as a return to form. Therefore he can go into the studio for the right reasons, to have fun recording a new album with nothing to prove.

So, what is the album like?

The answer is that it rocks! This bunch of old guys, lead by main old guy, Bob Dylan, lay down some funky grooves. The drum and bass section are rock solid. Every song bounces along on some of the coolest rhythm tracks one can imagine. The rest of the band is even better. Then Dylan adds more lyrics to each song than one can believe possible. He just keeps going and he’s got a lot to say. I always thought that his voice would start to grate after a couple of songs into any album, but in a strange way he manages to keep things fresh each time.

The question is: what does he sing about at such length? And interestingly, apart from a couple of barbed political numbers (which are thought-provoking and insightful), the story is the same as any guy has – guy meets girl, guy falls in love with girl, girl frustrates the hell out of guy. Listening to this album is like having a real heart-to-heart discussion on life with your most beloved Uncle. Here he is at 70 odd years, and still describing with such vivid clarity what you have been through, and what you can expect to go through for the next half of your life too. It is encouraging and empathetic in a way that leaves me motivated and glad to be alive and in a relationship. This may sound as if males may get more out of the songs than females, but what I would say is that if you as a female wonder what guys talk about – have a listen to this, you may gain some insights. I know I am generalising dangerously here. You are welcome to disagree; this is only my opinion

As I mentioned, there is not much information on the sleeve notes so I don’t see any song-writing credits. However I recognise some of these songs such as ‘Rollin’ and Tumblin’’ and ‘When the Levee breaks’, but I am pretty sure the lyrics are largely his own. My personal favourite track is ‘Rollin’ and Tumblin’’ closely followed by ‘Nettie Moore’. Dylan can pull rhymes out of thin air with nonchalant ease. His craft in this area is awesome to behold (sonically that is). Every song is strong and of high quality both musically and in terms of the lyrics – they have already become old friends to me and I can’t help smiling when each song starts and I anticipate what he is going to be singing about. Dylan is one witty guy who really loves music and still has a lot to say. The love of music is very tangible and this is why I like the album so much. In recording this album, Dylan also performs a very important role in an ‘oral history’ type of way by updating some near-traditional old songs, polishing them up and delivering them to generations who may never have heard them. Hopefully this will encourage people, especially other musicians, to examine their roots from time to time.

The band sounds comfortable and un-hurried. Dylan has taken some time to get into a studio, gather his thoughts and deliver a carefully prepared package of songs for his audience. My interpretation of the message is that people should stick together, enjoy life and don’t forget to stop and laugh at yourself every now and then.

I think that I should explore some of Dylan’s back-catalogue.

Or would that destroy the impression I now have?

Please add comments if you have them, they are most welcome.

Classic albums revisited 1: Iron Maiden – Killers

2008-04-05T01:51:00.000-07:00

Sometimes one has such great memories of albums. Due to possibly a relationship one is in (or just been dumped out of) or a group of friends one is hanging out with or even doing something else that one really enjoys (like work !!@@&&??? – I’ve heard that it happens????). Certain albums take on a special significance and become beacons in your past that highlight certain episodes of your life. So far in my life, there are many. Iron Maiden’s ‘Killers’ is one of them. In revisiting these albums I hope to test them for durability and determine whether they really were as good as I thought that they were at the time.

I stumbled across the Iron Maiden website recently (http://www.ironmaiden.com/) while following a news item relating to the fact that they will soon be releasing a Greatest (early) Hits album, and it instantly got the memories going. By the way the Greatest Hits album will be free for three listens or something like that…. I still have a few of their albums in their original vinyl format, I was a big fan in my teens, and when I saw the digital download section on the website, with digitally remastered versions of their early albums – I could not resist. I also saw them live in Johannesburg once with Blaze Bayley on lead vocals, it was pretty good.

My copy of ‘Killers’ is shot and, being my favourite Maiden album in those days, it was my immediate first choice for a download.

Listening to it now, I think my copy back in those days was probably shot right from the beginning. These remasters are crystal clear and have detail that I’ve never noticed before. That is rather a good start to revisiting the album, I would say.

Tracks
The Ides of March
A terrific instrumental opener to the album. Searing guitar soloing screams out, beware a killer set of tracks coming up, beware, beware (sorry William S)! Drums roll on from on high and the portends are there, get ready for some uplifting rock music that will transport to the grimy underworld of serial killers, madmen and bad thing worshippers.

This moves straight into Wrathchild. What a great name for a song. Paul Dianno kicks in on the vocals and Steve Harris seems out to bludgeon the wrathchild with his bass guitar. The great thing about this album is that the songs are carried on a platform of drumming and very melodic bass with the guitarists peeling off solo after solo. Throughout the songs the power chords are incidental. Wow what a formula!

Next is Murders in the Rue Morgue. Poor misunderstood Paul gets into a frenzied case of mistaken identity while in Paris. The whole situation is exacerbated due to the fact that he can’t speak French. Please don’t arrest him gendarmes, he has 8 more tracks to sing, and what about the real killer who has gone free. Oh, I got carried away again, this happened in my teens too. These songs have always done that to me, whisking me away in a fury of duelling screaming axe work, rampant drumming and a galloping bass-line.

Three tracks in and I can’t believe that I have deprived myself of this for so long. What’s next: Another Life. I love the guitar work jumping from structure to structure in the song, and the tone is really cool.

Another life is followed by Genghis Khan another stormer of a tune. This is Genghis with his mind set on mayhem. On his horse storming through the steppes looking for people to slash, slash and slash (he would probably kill me for spelling his name wrong, let me check….). By the way this one is an instrumental – pretty evocative though….

Up next is Innocent Exile starting with Harris on bass causing everyone to question why he didn’t just get a normal guitar and deal out the punishment like we know he can. Ah, I know the bass is more punishing! This is a really cool song to headbang along to, not to mention annoying poser air-guitaring.

The title track Killers brings on some of the most unremorseful killer lyrics I have heard, it’s really fun stuff like ‘oh my God, what have I done? Ooh yea, I’ve done it again’. Starting off ominously, Harris bass foundation is slashed and stabbed at in violent intervals by Dianno yelping and the guitars cutting. I love this stuff. Dianno’s voice is great and the twin guitar attack will kill you if you let it.

After Killers come The Prodigal Son which is one of the slower mellower tracks on the album. I’ve heard that if you play it backwards you can hear Dianno sing ‘the Devils got hold of my soul and he won’t let me be’. Oh, wait a minute, you don’t even have to play it backward to hear him say that.

Purgatory is up next, and that’s probably where I will end up when I’m punished for my corny jokes. The bass echoes the rabid riffing of the guitar attack and rock classics don’t get much better than this, ‘please take me away, take me away, so far way’ go the lyrics, with all the instruments chiming along.

I’m exhausted from moshing in the lounge while trying not to crack my darling’s latest pottery creation, and there are two more songs to go starting with Twilight Zone. Dare I say the weakest track on the album, in my opinion.

Finally shattered, sweating and slightly embarrassed (the kids just don’t understand) we hit Drifter. One guitar starts, the bass joins in the next guitar starts, Dianno and the drums kick in and we have another killer track (OK I waited long enough to use that as a pun, so let me). This has some of my favourite guitar work ever, and the bass is just as good. Dianno exhorting everyone to sing along. Where has he been the last ten tracks, why does he think I’m so hoarse?

OK, I loved this album then, and I still do! It is a real classic. In addition who can deny the brilliance of the album artwork? It is possible that this album was over-shadowed by the ‘Number of the Beast’ album, the arrival of Bruce Dickinson, and the over-whelming momentum gathered due to their spectacular live shows.

March 2008 What's on the player

2008-04-02T10:39:00.000-07:00

OK – I did this for February, and here is the March roundup. This is a brief take on what my opinion is on a few albums that I have been listening to recently i.e. the current albums rotating through my player.

Radiohead – In Rainbows

I had this on frequent rotation in February, and still cannot bring myself to remove it from the CD player. I really like this album!

Muse – Black Holes and Revelations

As in my previous posting where I reported on seeing Muse live at the My Coke Fest, I mentioned that I had the Black Holes and Revelations album (my only Muse album) on heavy rotation for the remainder of that weekend, and up until now as well. It is a strong offering that survives repeated listening with ease. At the concert they also played ‘Feelin’ Good’ which really impressed me and I hope to get a copy of that soon. Speaking of which I have ordered a copy of HAARP from Amazon and I expect it to arrive this week (if it arrives at all – over Xmas I ordered some CD’s and books from Amazon that never arrived, some South African Customs employees family members are now grooving to Robert Plant and Alison Krauss’s new album while reading the complete Michelle Paver ‘Chronicles of Ancient Darkness’ series, and I can’t bring myself to buy it all again – so I still haven’t heard the afore-mentioned album). I will provide my thoughts on HAARP in time.

Pearl Jam – Rearviewmirror

This was my first ever digital download of an album bought through the OD service. I must say, I still much prefer buying the physical CD’s. When it comes to Pearl Jam there is even more reason to buy the CD as their packaging is often quite different and fun. Well, what I find interesting about this one is that I seemed to have mellowed a bit since buying it. It has always been an album of two discs, and by that I mean that the first is the ‘heavy’ one and the second more ‘mellow’. When I first got the album I preferred the first disc, now I am tending more towards the second. My view is that the second discs songs are stronger.

Scars (Gary Moore) – Scars

This album is quite a curiosity. It is Gary Moore’s version of the power trio and it works very well. I believe that Mr. Moore should be much more successful than he is – not that he is struggling, but it could be even better. Perhaps he has been missing a constant creative partner much in the way Jagger - Richards or Page - Plant were writing teams. I recently listened to some of his early eighties output and found it quite cringe-worthy. I would call it Cheese-rock i.e. cheesy rock. But compare that to his work with Thin Lizzy, then to his Blues-era material and then to Scars and you can forgive him for that. Scars influences to me are Cream era Clapton, Hendrix and even, now that I think about it, more modern bands such as …..Muse. It is a solid album with strong songs, excellent guitar, and Moore’s vocals sounding strong. I wish he would do another Scars project. By the way one of my favourite DVD’s for a long time has to be ‘Gary Moore and friends – A tribute to Phil Lynott’, if you can get a copy of that grab it I guarantee you will love it. Something else worth mention is the StratPack DVD. This DVD contains a host of very average performances, until Mr. Moore takes the stage. Wow he outclasses everybody else with his version of ‘Red House’.

Review: My Coke Fest 08 in Johannesburg 21 March 2008

2008-03-23T11:56:00.000-07:00

This weekend I was able to get to the My Coke Fest 08 held at the New Market Racetrack near Johannesburg. It is billed as the biggest Rock Festival held in South Africa, with a line-up of:

Local bands -

Lonehill Estate
Crash Car Burn
Wonderboom
Prime Circle

International bands -

30 Seconds to Mars
Kaiser Chiefs
Good Charlotte
Chris Cornell
Muse
Korn

The Venue

The stage looked pretty good, with two video screens on either side and a big one behind the stage. The sound was also actually OK. I have been to quite a few big festivals in South Africa, and often it is the sound that disappoints.

Facilities were also pretty good. Two years ago I attended this same festival at another venue, and I believe that people nearly died from dehydration. This time, apart from being allowed to bring in 1 litre of water each, it was very easy to buy drinks too. Parking was fine and everything very well organised.

The Shows
I arrived in time for the last few songs in Wonderboom's set. They are one of my all time favourite SA bands, and I was disappointed to have missed most of their set (my GPS had issues with the exact location of the venue). Regardless - what I heard was great, with them finishing off with their excellent cover of Rabbitt's 'Charlie'.

Next up was Prime Circle - I have seen them several times and they definitely improve every time. Live their blend of AOR and MOR comes across heavier, rockier and fun. On stage with them was an additional guitarist from the Nudies. It was a quick set of 5 songs only and then the wait for the International bands was over!

30 Seconds to Mars came on amidst a huge girlie scream. Jared Leto looked the picture perfect emo rocker. They screamed and shrieked through a fairly solid set, with Leto spending quite some time between songs chatting to the crowd. Apparently 4 tracks from their last album were recorded in SA. At one stage Leto moved out into the crowd to try for some more interactive stuff, but this was cut short by what seemed to be a power failure (I thought that maybe he had been mugged - this is Johannesburg after all). After a couple of minutes they were all back on stage and completed their set.

Next came Kaiser Chiefs, to me like a refreshing burst of sunlight after the doom, gloom, shrieking and wailing of 30 Seconds. They kicked off with 'Every day I love you less and less', and contrasted completely with 30 Seconds. Strong, witty and melodic tunes seemed to suddenly turn the party on! The crowd were singing along, and the number of songs they could play that everybody recognised were surprising to me considering that they only have two albums out. Ricky Wilson impressed with some astounding one-legged dancing! One song was introduced as a new one - either called 'History' or 'Memory' which gives an inclination that album number 3 will be just as good as the last two.

Considering the paucity of good international acts venturing into South Africa, it was incredible to witness an act as slick as this laying the party down so effectively - for me, I could not believe it was happening. I'm not sure how things sounded on the stage to the band, but I had a concern that crowd participation was not what they were used to, but looking around me, the crowd were certainly having a good time. The Chiefs finished off their set as the sun set.

After a longish wait, Good Charlotte came on. They went down extremely well with the younger element in the crowd, but I heard quite a few derogatory comments coming from the Korn faithfuls. Their brand of radio friendly pop had the crowd singing along, and it was quite amusing to hear all the guys in the open air latrines singing: 'Girls don't like boys, they...'.

Joel was effusive about the country, and the crowd. He also dedicated The Cures 'Love Song' to his new born baby daughter (I prefer the Cure version).

After GC came Chris Cornell. Another complete contrast when compared to the act before. No funny hats, no twiddly poking at keyboard keys and not much chit chat. What we got was intense guitar riffing, rock solid sounds, extremely strong songs and The Voice. This was good hard rocking with solo songs alongside Temple of the Dog, Soundgarden and Audioslave songs. Cornell is, without a doubt, a rock god. His backing band delivered an immense sound and Cornell was on fine form. In the middle of the set he invited a local guy on stage (called Gareth) to play along on an acoustic track. This set was definitely over too soon, but the sense of anticipation for the next group carried me through with euphoria levels maintained.

After a longish break, and my witnessing some amusing altercations between the Vice Squad and underage drinkers, the next act came on - Muse.

Chris, Dom and Matt came on stage and transformed the evening! I don't believe that they had their full lighting set with them as I saw no lasers, but they had enough. Song after song was delivered with a flourish, and there was no reason to doubt the judges who saw fit to proclaim Muse the best live band in the world. Witness Matt doing knee slides across the stage while peeling off blistering guitar solos. Matt's fingers flying across the piano keyboard, guitar slung across his back - only to leap up and peel off some huge demolishing riffage.

The crowd were stunned. I heard grown men singing along word for word in high keening voices (I cast about for my BB gun as I momentarily thought the cats were on the garden wall again), and just as what I thought must have been the best live performance of a song ended, the next one started and bettered the previous one. I can't remember how many songs were played and how long the set lasted, but I remember thinking as they sang '..time is running out...' that yes indeed it was. We would have to wait a very long time here in South Africa before seeing something as awesome as this again.

After an inordinately long break, Korn came on (I amused myself visualising them in a fluster after a late start to their make-up application routine - maybe there was a bit of a bust up over who stole Munky's mascara). Eventually they made it on stage and looked dressed to kill - literally. Davis in his skirt of course, with me hoping not to catch a glimpse of what was going on under there, as he lept up and down on-stage. The sound was truly mind numbing, and I don't think SA has witnessed anything as formidable as this ever before. Everything was there including the bag-pipes, and the crowd lapped it up.

Overall, Muse came out tops for me, then Chris Cornell, the Kaiser Chiefs and then Korn.

The biggest rock festival in SA, and probably the only one this year - it was all over too soon!

CD Review: The Goo Goo Dolls - Greatest Hits Volume One The Singles

2008-03-14T08:58:00.000-07:00

While always a big fan of the ‘Dizzy up the girl’ album, I had never heard anything else from the Goo Goo Dolls, and was not sure on where they stood in my personal ranking of great bands. I think I placed them in that twilight area of mediocre type American rock bands along with Matchbox 20, Collective Soul and Counting Crows i.e. bands that are capable of some very good moments, but also, of far more very average moments.

The Goo Goo Dolls always struck me as a bit different in the sense that they at least had a more distinctive sound, using less traditional open-tuning on their guitars, and the distinctive vocals of John Rzeznik. Tunes like Slide, Broadway and of course Iris came across as very satisfying. Another aspect in the make-up that has impressed me has been the absence of media hype. John Rzeznik keeps a relatively low profile and the Dolls seem to be happy to carry on with their mission, which to me seems to be that of putting out solid ballad type rock.

So then, the question is – how great is a Greatest Hits album from the Goo Goo Dolls? They have stamped it as Volume One (the singles), which must imply that they expect plenty more Hits in the years to come. Of the 14 tracks, 5 are from ‘Dizzy up the girl’ but it must be mentioned that ‘Name’ is in the form of a new version, and 'Feel the Silence' is a remix (and also not from Dizzy...). This does then push the balance over whether to decide to buy the album rather than just stick with ‘Dizzy up the girl’. My question is, however, why not tag on the original versions of both those songs too, for the completists? Sure it’s great to have a new version of ‘Name’ – but it’s not the ‘Name’ that was the single, was it?

OK, I got a bit side-tracked there. How good is the album? It’s got all the best bits of ‘Dizzy up the girl’, and then the best of the rest too, so to me it’s pretty good. This compilation is evidence of a master song crafter and acts as an impressive display of his wares. Great to sing along to as well, who can resist the ‘..there’s a young man sitting in an old man’s bar…’ of ‘Broadway’, or ‘…Oh May, do you wanna get married…’ of ‘Slide’, or even the ‘da na na na da na na na da daa…’ of ‘Iris’ (you know what I mean)?

If you don’t have anything by the Goo Goo Dolls already, this is a good place to start. If you already have all their albums, then maybe don’t bother. Here’s hoping that they can give us another as good as this one at the end of the next decade!

February 2008 what's on the Jukebox

2008-03-07T08:28:00.000-08:00

This is a brief take on what I have been listening to recently and what I think of them i.e. my opinion on the current CD’s rotating through my player.

Jeff Buckley – Grace
I suppose that this does not need much explanation. For me it certainly speaks for itself. I absolutely love this album and can listen to it over and over again, gaining a new appreciation each time. It is no wonder that an author based a whole novel on this album (I read about this in a magazine once, but forget the name of the author, if I can find it I will update this post).

Radiohead – In Rainbows
I hope to post an entire separate review on Radiohead with the aim of selecting my favourite Radiohead album. But so far this one is up there with The Bends, OK Computer and Amnesiac. I am not sure how I am actually going to pick a single ‘winner’ as each album, to me, is so refreshingly different to the last. But let’s take one step at a time. Needless to say I have been listening to In Rainbows repeatedly over the past few months, and keep coming back for more.

Jeff Buckley – Mystery White Boy
I bought both Jeff Buckley albums as a combined double CD pack from Sony BMG. Their premise is to cut down on packaging, therefore bringing the music to the listener cheaper than usual. What they do is package the CD’s in a cardboard ‘slider’ pack, and refer the purchaser to their web-site http://www.musicmadesimple.info/ for details such as liner notes etc. This has not really worked for me as of the two packs I purchased, one was not on their web-site, and the other had no information up-loaded. Anyway, back to the actual album. Like Grace this is also a stunning album. It is a set of recordings of Buckley performing live. What amazes me is how he manages to reproduce the incredible vocal acrobatics done in the studio on stage too. Most of the tracks from Grace are here with only a few ‘new’ songs, but this album is well worth a listen.

Ted Nugent – Craveman
I got this in a bargain bin. The Nuge was with me all through my teenage years, and I felt a strong twinge of nostalgia when I saw the CD lying there all price-slashed. After all it was he who helped me through those troubled teenage years with songs and expressions such as ‘My love is like a tire iron’, ‘when in doubt I whip it out’ and of course ‘pretend my face is a maserati’. I have not paid much attention to the Nuge since then, and on hearing Penetrator in my twenties, was not that impressed. However, Craveman is actually quite a good album. The words in some of the songs are difficult to hear (but then so are they for most Radiohead songs these days), but the sound is great. I like it.

Midlake – The Trials of Van Occupanther
OK it’s quite a leap from Ted Nugent to Midlake, but it works for me. The more I listen to this album, the more I like it. From the opening notes through to the end, this band creates a comforting and warm atmosphere. It’s like having an old friend over when you can open a bottle of wine and catch up on the latest news. I find that there are some key albums that I have come across in my life that I return to time and again, and get something new and positive from each time. This is one of them. The sound is rich and full-bodied, somewhere between the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac, but completely their own. Apparently this is a bit of a concept album with all the songs relating to a central theme or thread - something about a guy stuck inside a papier-mache panther mask I think. Believe me it works! I really hope that they can match this in the future.

DVD Review: Eric Clapton - Crossroads guitar festival 2007 (DVD)

2008-02-27T10:31:00.000-08:00

Well I’ve managed to get hold of the new Crossroads DVD. A few years ago I bought the first one, and have got endless hours of enjoyment out of it both directly and indirectly. By indirectly I mean that there were some performers that I had never heard of before. Subsequently I have followed up on their studio recordings, with really good results. Examples of this are both John Mayer and Jonny Lang - what talented young axe-meisters they are, with voices to go with their axe wielding!

Crossroads, for the uninitiated, is a concert hosted by none other than Eric Clapton himself, in order to raise funds for his rehabilitation centre based in Antigua. According to Mr. Clapton he calls all his favourite guitarists and invites them to attend. Apparently most respond in the affirmative.

The first crossroads DVD based on a concert in Texas in 2004 was excellent. The quality of performances and the calibre of artists featured was extremely high. While some performances were ultimately a little too esoteric for my tastes, these numbered only about 3 tracks. The rest pure bliss! We had brilliant performances as already mentioned from both John Mayer and Jonny Lang. My favourite on this two disc set was without a doubt Robert Cray. Then there were special moments such as EC teaming up with JJ Cale himself. Not to mention an on form Joe Walsh wearing the loudest pair of shoes that I have ever seen (he probably needs them in the Rocky Mountains as an aid to being found should he get lost), as well as BB King, Robert Randolph and Steve Vai. In addition we have Santana, who were joined onstage by EC demonstrating how in touch with his funky side he can be. Country music also had representation from the brilliant Vince Gill as well as members of AKUS. The DVD set ends with ZZ Top masterfully ripping the crowd up with two of their classic songs (La Grange and Tush). If you don’t have it, there is a big gap in your life.

However, this is a review of the second crossroads DVD, recorded in 2007 from a similarly themed concert based in Chicago. I was surprised to find the DVD in a local shop so soon after being released, and naturally snapped it up. This time the line-up is fairly different. Regulars are John Mayer, Robert Randolph, Vince Gill, Jimmie Vaughan, the highly talented Robert Cray and Doyle Bramhall II, but for the rest - a new cast. Also, this concert had a compere (or MC) in the form of the great Bill Murray. In fact he starts the DVD sessions with his own unaccompanied rendition of ‘Gloria’. Considering the line-up for the rest of the day, you cannot underestimate how brave that was. Halfway through the song EC rushes onstage with his guitar to, I think, save Bill (or on second thoughts maybe the song).

The first disc is actually only OK. There are some revelations that I have noted for following up, namely the really cool sounding Derek Trucks, as well as his wife Susan Tedeschi, and an awesome Sonny Landreth. But Doyle Bramhall II, while onto a conceptually good thing of having two drummers onstage with him, fails to rock out as expected. Robert Cray is in my opinion too understated, seeming to prefer to take the backseat while he and his band support the likes of Jimmie Vaughan, Hubert Sumlin and BB King. Vince Gill puts in a strong performance and then we are onto Sheryl Crow and Willie Nelson with what I would call fairly shambled performances.

On a more poignant note is the presence of Johnny Winters. He has apparently been rescued from some Svengali type career arrangement, close to complete collapse, and he has slowly been trying to rebuild his career, life and health. That he is able to perform at all is therefore a blessing.

So a little worried about the wisdom of having spent all this money on the DVD, I slotted the second disc in. John Mayer kicks it off – and how! These are really good performances of a couple of tracks from Continuum and they really rock live. Next up we have Los Lobos. On the previous Crossroads DVD we had some of them performing, namely David Hidalgo and backing band which was basically a low-light for me. So seeing Los Lobos coming up did not have me that excited. Well suffice it to say, the whole is a whole lot better than its individual components. They delivered a fine set.

Up next is Jeff Beck. Wow, what a revelation! Not only in terms of Jeff with his utter mastery of the electric guitar, but also relating to band member Tal Wilkenfeld on bass guitar. This lady really can play. To see the respect and enjoyment in Jeff Beck’s eyes as she takes the bass solos during parts of the songs is to understand how amazingly talented she is. Beck is followed by EC himself with, like Bramhall, two drummers. His backing band included both Derek Trucks and Doyle Bramhall II on guitar, and the sound is fantastic. EC is then joined by Robbie Robertson for a couple of songs, and then, as the highlight of the entire DVD as far as I am concerned, he is joined by Steve Winwood. First they do ‘Presence of the Lord’ and ‘Can’t find my way home’ before EC leaves the stage with Winwood carrying on without him – this, to be honest, is compelling viewing and listening, if only for these five songs, it is worth getting hold of this DVD.

Steve Winwood is followed by Buddy Guy who closes the show by bringing the house down. His performance is funky and menacing (or maybe it’s just his band that looks menacing – watch the DVD you will see what I mean, his guitarist is so big he looks like he is playing an Ukelele and the drummer is even bigger…) as he closes off with ‘Sweet Home Chicago’.

Recommended Radio Station in Johannesburg

2008-02-24T09:34:00.000-08:00

Okay, You may or may not know, but traffic in Johannesburg (that's the biggest city in South Africa in case you don't know) has become something of a nightmare. Without much in the way of alternative safe public transport systems, this leaves you sitting in your car for fairly long periods of time. Not a problem if you have some decent rock music to listen to during the ordeal. But sometimes things go wrong i.e. your CD player is empty, you have listened to Radioheads 'In Rainbows' twice already during this trip or some type of malfunction takes place. This should not be a big problem, as there is always the radio. Having travelled to a lot of the big cities in the world, I have found that you can always tune into something rocking on the radio.

Not here in Johannesburg! Or at least not until recently......

It was not always like this. A decade ago 5FM played some good rock music. Even earlier than that they played some excellent rock music. We had the likes of Chris Prior, Rafe Lavine and Barney Simon laying down some brilliant sessions. Rafe did the Heavy Rock late at night. A classmate of mine reported that he had to do pushups all night to try and keep awake waiting for Rafes show to start (it did not show - he was the skinniest guy I knew). Well those days are gone. 5FM now is strictly Pop and Hip hop, I suppose their target market likes it... Then we have 94.7 or Highveld radio, they seem to specialise in Wimp-rock. And that's about it for Rock music.

There are of course some good stations, but just not delivering the rock I need. Classic FM delivers a quality classical music format. Kaya FM delivers solidly in the Soul and RnB categories (http://www.kayafm.co.za/frontpage.php) . But that is generally not what I want.

Well ...... now we have UJFM. This is the local 'College radio' station. The DJs are kids from the University and the music is mainly Rock. Their accents tend to be great, the punchline for the station is 'Your Noise of Choice' but when they say it it comes out ' Your Norz of Chorz'. Even better, there are not many advertisements. In an hour you could hear anything from Slipknot, to Snow Patrol. In fact it was the first place that I heard the excellent Wolfmother single 'Woman'. On top of this they have a solid representation of local music too.

All is not rosy, as their signal is not that strong, and I tend to lose it for the part of my trip to and from work that passes through a dip, but such is the lack of quality rock on any other station, I sometimes prefer to listen to something like the Queens of the Stone Age's 'Little Sister' through an exreme static hiss rather than change that dial. Check out more about the station at this website: http://www.ujfm.co.za/

DVD Review: David Gilmour -Remember That Night Live at the Royal Albert Hall (DVD)

2008-02-22T23:31:00.000-08:00

Well at face value this DVD looks like it has lot of potential. First of all David Gilmour takes on his new Album 'On an Island' and decides to play it live in it's entirety. Next he assembles most of the musicians who played on 'On an Island': Richard Wright, Phil Manzanera, Jon Carlin, Guy Pratt, Steve DiStanislao, and Dick Parry. Then he even rounds up special guests: David Crosby, Graham Nash, David Bowie and Robert Wyatt. This almost sounds too good to be true, even in danger of becoming overblown and stultified when considering the big names involved. Things can go horribly wrong with so many big egos involved in a project like this...... so do they?

Not at all - the individuals involved gather around Gilmour as true team members and seem to get on with the business of professional entertainment! The DVD pack that I purchased consists of two discs. The first is the concert DVD. This disc include an entire performance of the 'On an Island' Album which is excellent. The band look relaxed and as if they are enjoying themselves - and the sound is excellent. In fact the concert recording audio and visual are of the highest quality. What about the content? Well 'On an Island' is a pretty relaxed album that made it to 1 in the UK charts, so if you liked that, what's not to like. Then in addition Gilmour also performs some tracks by his usual band, maybe you have heard of them 'Pink Floyd'? Here a broad period is covered from early Syd Barret PF era recordings such as 'Arnold Layne' (done with Bowie on vocals) to later classics such as 'High Hopes'. Also included are some relative 'obscurities' such as 'Fat Old Sun' and 'Dark Globe' amongst others.

All in all one could not ask for more - this disc is excellent.

So still not sure whether to buy the DVD package or not? Check out disc 2 'Bonus Features'!

This disc includes several other (non Royal Albert Hall) live performances, and several Documentaries. The quality of these live recordings varies, but the must haves on this disc are the documentaries. You get to join the tour and travel around with the band through Europe and a little on the USA west coast. You get to see the environment in which Gilmour works with intriguing looks at his house-boat based recording studio nestled somewhere on the Thames, and you get a view of Gilmour and some of the band Jamming in a barn in the middle of nowhere (I think). In addition, a reasonable amount is revealed here relating to Gilmour as an individual. My interpretation: someone with a sense of humour, but also very firm on who is right or wrong in any situation. Another key factor: never compromise on quality! This comes through in the entire DVD package - content is strong on both discs, the packaging is great and in my view value for money too.

Overall recommendation: Buy it!

Introduction

2008-02-21T10:44:00.000-08:00

This blog is about music reviews.

I will provide my subjective view on new purchases that I make in the realm of popular music in both the CD and DVD formats. In addition, if I am lucky enough to attend any live concerts or festivals I will also be providing feedback on these.

What will also be fun will be to rank certain categories. For example, my top 5 greatest bands of all time, my top 5 favourite up and coming bands etc.