Archive for the ‘CLASSIC ALBUMS’ Category

LLOYD COLE and the COMMOTIONS – ” Collected Recordings 1983-1989 “

Posted: December 18, 2016 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Lloyd Cole is working on new box set and a follow up to this year’s Lloyd Cole and the Commotions box – Collected Recordings 1983-1989 – with a similar set that focuses on his solo work issued the 1990s.

The singer-songwriter told his fans via Facebook yesterday that he has “started work listening to almost 30 year old cassettes for box set #2 – first four solo albums + lost fifth + lots of demos… including 2 from 1988 in Glasgow with Blair [Cowan].”

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Cole had a very productive first half of the nineties; Lloyd Cole, the highly regarded first solo album was issued in 1990 and followed in 1991 by Don’t Get Weird On Me Babe which saw Lloyd Cole broaden his canvas with some lushly orchestrated songs on side one. 1993’s pithily titled Bad Vibes arguably contained a career highlight (So You’d Like To Save The World) but that did nothing to help Cole’s downward spiralling commercial fortunes, something acknowledged by album closer Can’t Get Arrested. Like Lovers Do was a welcome top thirty UK hit from 1995’s Love Story but this ultimately proved to be something of a ‘blip’. LC would release no further long-players until the new millennium with the The Negatives band/album.

Lloyd Cole’s indicates that this box will include a “lost fifth” album which presumably would/should have been issued between 1995 and 2000. Instead we had to make do with 1998’s The Collection.

There were some great singles in this period such as She’s A Girl and I’m A Man, Downtown, Baby, and Morning Is Broken. However, a look at the chart positions (when they did chart) is rather depressing since LC didn’t have any top 40 hits in the UK at all in the 1990s apart, from the aforementioned Like Lovers Do (and even that ‘hit’ peaked at a modest #24).

Lloyd promises ‘lots of demos’ on the new box and we really must applaud his openness in terms of sharing his plans with fans, to the extent that he’s even posted a previously unreleased demo of Lloyd Cole album track A Long Way Down on SoundCloud. You can listen to this below.

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With the albums remastered, the unreleased album and demos fans can look forward to at least a six-CD box set. If Lloyd chooses to echo Collected Recordings set and include a DVD of promo videos and TV appearances that will add a seventh disc. It’s probably unlikely that the economics of this project would allow it to go beyond that, but nothing is obviously confirmed at this early stage.

There is clearly no release date at this early stage, but hopefully this project might reach fruition towards the end of next year.

BOB DYLAN – Bootleg Series Vol 1-3 to be reissued as a vinyl box set

Posted: December 18, 2016 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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5LP collection coming in Jan 2017
The first in Sony’s long running Bob Dylan ‘Bootleg Series’ releases – 1991’s Volumes 1-3 – is to be reissue on vinyl for the first time in 25 years.

The 58 tracks (when span the period 1961-1991) will be pressed on 180g vinyl and come accompanied by a 36-page booklet.

Most retailers (see below) look to be settling on a mid-£50 price point which isn’t too bad, although Amazon UK seem to be way off the mark at present with their price-tag.

The 5LP vinyl edition of The Bootleg Series Vols 1-3 will be released on 27 January 2017.

OF MONTREAL – ” Its Different For Girls “

Posted: December 18, 2016 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Of Montreal’s  new record, Innocence Reaches, released in August , leader Kevin Barnes continues his pattern of “artistic flirtatiousness” as they go from funk (“My Fair Lady”) to garage rock (“Les Chants De Maldoror”) to glam (“Chaos Arpeggiating”). At the same time, they praise Barnes’ “knack for supple, indelible melody, as well as his love of pomp, melodrama and lavish flourishes of texture and verse.”

That eclecticism has long been a part of their appeal, and Barnes admitted in a press release that he was drawing from opposite ends of the pop spectrum this time around. “Forever I’ve been detached from current music. I got into this bubble of only being in some other time period. I came up picking apart bands like the Beach Boys, the Beatles, and symphonic pieces. But last year, I was hearing Jack Ü, Chairlift, Arca, and others, thinking about low end and sound collage. It was an extra layer to geek out on.”

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Innocence Reaches is Of Montreal’s 14th studio album.

‘Innocence Reaches’ Track Listing

1. “Let’s Relate”
2. “It’s Different for Girls”
3. “Gratuitous Abysses”
4. “My Fair Lady”
5. “Les Chants De Maldoror”
6. “A Sport and a Pastime”
7. “Ambassador Bridge”
8. “Def Pacts (end declk)”
9. “Chaos Arpeggiating”
10. “Nursing Slopes”
11. “Trashed Exes”
12. “Chap Pilot”

 

JENNY HVAL – ” Blood Bitch ” Best Albums Of 2016

Posted: December 18, 2016 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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<em>Blood Bitch</em> by Jenny Hval

Blood Bitch is all about vampires and period blood, but it’s also an innovative piece of art that extends beyond the realm of music. Jenny Hval has always honored the taboo in her work by giving voice to topics not easily traversed in the mainstream, and she does it with unconventional pop sensibilities and hooks. “Conceptual Romance” might be one of the finest examples, but there are moments throughout this album that illustrate Hval as an artist who’s constantly thinking about what comes next — an avant-gardist in the truest sense.

Jenny Hval has never shied away from the taboo. That much was clear on the opening track to 2013’s Innocence Is Kinky, where the Norwegian avant-pop artist utters “That night, I watched people fucking on my computer,” placing special emphasis on the verb. Hval keeps intellectualizing the body on the still atmospheric but considerably poppier album Blood Bitch, which throbs with references to menstrual blood, vampires and ‘70s horror films, subjects that repeatedly get woven together in a dreamy stream of consciousness.

The haunted, organ-laced “The Plague” absurdly instructs, “keep that birth under control!” after Hval washes the Pill down with a gulp of rosé. And album single “Female Vampire” breathlessly captures two women’s flows synching up (“When I’m near you become someone else… Here it comes”). Set against noise producer Lasse Marhaug and Hval’s pensive yet buoyant soundscape.

WAREHOUSE – ” Super Low ” Best Albums Of 2016

Posted: December 18, 2016 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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if there was a competition for the vocal of the year in 2016 Elaine Edenfield would already be dancing off down the aisle, arms raised to the sky,  The lead voice in Warehouse’s suitably dynamic indie-rock beast of a record, “Super Low”, Edenfield’s turn here is a miraculous effort, simmering above the rock-solid back-drop of twin guitars and percussion, and armed with the ability to breathe fire in the blink of a scorched eye. A beautiful collection of sprawling, jazzy, and jangley post-punk that paints a reflective and colorful sonic background behind the vocalist’s oscillating poetics. Couple that with the band’s ability to pen righteous hooks that add even greater weight to such aesthetics , the result is one of the boldest records in the American indie-rock frame.

Primal, precious, and consistently invigorating, Warehouse are the kind of band that to hear them once is to pin all your hopes and dreams upon them; a rabid and rousing unraveling.  ‘Super Low’ was “largely written in a notorious punk house that was torn down to build a parking garage” and the record comes wrapped in such new-world vexations, melding punk aesthetics with something endearingly humane.

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Warehouse is Alex, Ben, Doug, Elaine, Josh

EMMA RUTH RUNDLE – ” Marked For Death “

Posted: December 18, 2016 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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This is a record that decisively indicates what’s to be found within then duly delivers with a thundering, fearsome bout of heavyweight indie rock. Marked for death? You better damn well believe it.

Something like Cat Power battling her way through the heaviest of thunderstorms, the new record is a marked stride forward in to the abyss from her 2014 ‘Some Heavy Ocean’ LP, the eight tracks on ‘Marked For Death’ positively burn with intensity, even before you dig in to the wildly striking set of lyrics that accompany these dramatic compositions. Indicative of the soaring, stifling nature of the record as a whole, the opening, and title, track stands as one of the year’s most ominous tracks; “Who else is going to love someone like you that’s marked for death?” Emma Ruth Rundle bellows with all the fiery ferocity of someone who sees the world a little differently to most. A monumental effort not for the weary-hearted; but a monumental effort all the same.

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Emma Ruth Rundle lives in Los Angeles and participates in music (Marriages, Red Sparowes, The Nocturnes – but alone) and visual/video art. Managed by Sargent House.

OKKERVIL RIVER – ” Away “

Posted: December 18, 2016 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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2016 was the year that I suddenly felt much older than I often assume myself to be . Thankfully, such fears found a soundtrack in the beautiful new album from Okkervil River, and one that stands as Will Sheff’s best collection of songs for at least a decade or, perhaps, ever.

Happening almost by accident, after Sheff had taken himself away from the humdrum of daily life, to reflect both on the changing shape of his band, as well as the passing of his Grandfather, ‘Away’ feels markedly significant from the outset; clutching at memories from his own life, while shaping his worries and consternations about death and ageing, and the living we all have to do in-between, in to a narrative that flips between both something embracing and complex, with unbridled will. Rousing, delicate, beautiful, and haunted, ‘Away’ carries all the drama that we’ve come to know and love throughout Okkervil River’s lifetime and adorns it with a striking sense of humanity; like pumping warm blood into limbs we were just thinking might well hang cold for the rest of our days. It turns out, however, that there’s life in them yet.

TOM VERLAINE – ” Pull Down The Future ” Live 1981-2001

Posted: December 18, 2016 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Covering two decades of live performances, this two-disc comp, put together a few years back by a superfan, captures Tom Verlaine at his best (away from Television, that is). I don’t think I’d call any of his solo records complete masterpieces (though a handful come close), but the guy always brought his A-game to the stage. If you’re only familiar with his Television work, “Pull Down The Future” is an excellent place to start further explorations – it’s basically guitar heaven. Tom’s unmistakeable tone shines and shimmers, even on some of the more lo-fi recordings here. The band backing him on the 1980s tracks ain’t half bad either – Fred Smith from Television, Jay Dee Dougherty from the Patti Smith Group and Jimmy Rip (guitarist on too many things to name).
For variety’s sake, there are a few departures from the electric-guitar-centric vibe – a solo acoustic rendition of “Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain” and the weird, 13-minute synth drone of “Days On The Mountain.” There’s also a really remarkable version of “Swim” that showcases just how great a vocalist Verlaine can be – not something he’s called out for all that much. I think I once read someone referring to him as “the Christopher Walken of rock” and that makes sense in a weird way. But mainly you’ll be vibing to such six-string workouts as “Miss Emily,” “Breaking In My Heart,” “Persia” and plenty others. Almost all of the songs come from Tom’s solo records, with one big exception – the 22-minute “Marquee Moon” blowout that appropriately closes the whole thing out.

Tom Verlaine: Pull Down The Future [Live 1981-2001]

 

FORTH WANDERERS – ” Tough Love “

Posted: December 18, 2016 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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They’re from Philadelphia. They recently signed to Father/Daughter Records, and all of them are in high school. I think the lead singer just graduated, which is so weird to me because the lyrics are so mature. The way that that [singer Ava Trilling] expresses her experiences are so huge within themselves. Because, you know, young people know what love is, too. It’s very impressive that she can connect to a listener that way. Her voice is very captivating, it sounds like it’s just always on the point of breaking. Crying, kind of.

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Forth Wanderers are

Ben Guterl – guitar
Ava Trilling – vocals
Duke Greene – guitar
Noah Schifrin – bass
Zach Lorelli – drums

FIELD MUSIC – ” Episodic ” Best Albums Of 2016

Posted: December 18, 2016 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Episodic it might well be, but there’s a crushing sense of wholesomeness that makes this brilliant new record from Field Mouse such an emphatic and rewarding listen. Recorded in Philadelphia with Hop Along’s Joe Reinhart, and featuring guest turns from a host of heart-rock heroes, including Sadie Dupuis, Allison Crutchfield, and Joseph D’Agostino of Cymbals Eat Guitars, the ten track collection is perhaps one of the year’s strongest sets; in that it every second feels integral to the one that follows and the one that precedes, like removing one single brick could make the whole thing crumble to pieces.

Rachel Browne’s voice has always been a tool of formidable prowess, and it simply lets loose here, powering headlong through a series of songs that flip between heavyweight indie rock and ferocious pop-punk chant-alongs. Borrowing inspiration from all of those aforementioned guest stars, ‘Episodic’ is a melodic marvel and, while it’s been somewhat (unfairly) overlooked by the bigger names, it marks Field Mouse out as a chief operator in that big, bold world of left-field American indie rock that offers such a rewarding hand-to-hold in a year, and an age, when such things feel so fleeting. In short, a vital record from an ever-vital band.

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