Archive for the ‘CLASSIC ALBUMS’ Category

PATTI SMITH GROUP – ” Depravity ” Live at WBAI Studios 28th May 1975

Posted: December 11, 2014 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Live at WBAI studio, New York May 28th, 1975. With Ivan Kral, Lenny Kaye and Richard Sohl, the original line up of the Patti Smith Group they helped make this a truly historic night. This recording is perfect! Everything you wanna hear and everything that’s missing in music today, is captured on this disc. The spontaneity, improv and language packaged all together with the sound…it is utter perfection! This may not be hardcore, metal, or punk by the masses definition, but for me it doesn’t get any more honest than Patti Smith. Another excellent live album now available on Amazon.

PATTI SMITH – ” Dreaming Of The Prophet ” Live Broadcast 27th December 1975

Posted: December 11, 2014 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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This engrossing live broadcast captures Patti Smith at a pivotal moment in her career. Her stunningly original debut, ‘Horses’, had been released just a few weeks earlier. Although the record has since become a landmark release, and widely cited as one of Rock music’s greatest albums,  at the time Patti Smith was still performing in small clubs such as New York City’s 400-capacity Bottom Line, located at 15, West Fourth Street, and venue for this very gig. One of a string of seven sell-out performances Smith gave at this legendary Greenwich Village club in December 1975, they were intended as warm-ups for her first major tour of the USA, planned to begin in early 1976. In 1975 the group expanded to include second guitarist Ivan Kral and drummer Jay Dee Daugherty. The Patti Smith Group was signed to Arista Records by label supremo Clive Davis, allegedly on a recommendation from Lou Reed. Another ex-Velvet, John Cale, was bought in to produce ‘Horses’ at New York’s Electric Ladyland Studios. The sessions began in August 1975 and were completed the following month. Despite the records release being just a few months prior to this gig, the set features an eclectic mixture of material, opening with some quite extraordinary poetry recitals. From ‘Horses’ versions of Redono Beach, Free Money, Birdland and a medley of Land and Patti’s interpretation of Van Morrisons Gloria are included. Gloria was also issued as a single in 1976 together with a live version of The Who’s My Generation, a number that also closes this performance. The set also features two songs that would feature on 1976’s ‘Radio Ethiopia’, Ain’t It Strange and Pumping My Heart. Looking further ahead, both Privilege (Set Me Free) and Space Monkey remained unreleased until 1978’s ‘Easter’. There are also acknowledgements of Patti’s disparate musical influences in the shape of covers of the Velvets Pale Blue Eyes, Time Is On My Side, written by Jerry Ragovoy but immortalized by The Rolling Stones, and the perennial garage band classic Louie Louie. This is available through Amazon now.

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ALVVAYS – ” Adult Diversion ” Best Albums Of 2014

Posted: December 7, 2014 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Alvvays are a Canadian Band with one of 2014 best pop records, with its gorgeous sunny weather feel and jangle guitar, the eponymous debut album from Canadian indie band Alvvays (don’t be fooled, you just pronounce it as Always) is full of C86-sounding jangles and emotional hooks. a particularly poppy and energetic sound, they’re the perfect antidote to the miserable weather outside. There’s a real air of Camera Obscura and to some extent She & Him about Alvvays and there’s no doubt in my mind that these guys will soon emerge from the underground.”

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The lenses in their glasses are real, they know who all the bands pictured on their Tumblr actually are, and they have made one of the most jangle-filled and impressive debut albums of 2014 so far. The band started as a solo project for Molly Rankin, the daughter of famous Celtic musician John Morris Rankin, who died in a road accident when Molly was just 12 years old. But Alvvays don’t focus on the morbid; instead they offer a diary-like insight into their lives. “Alcoholism, depression and parties and relationships seem to always exist in whatever I write,” Rankin said in a recent interview. After picking up Molly’s best friend, keys player and childhood neighbour Kerri Maclellan plus bandmates Alec O’Hanley, Brian Murphy and Phil MacIsaac along the way, the Toronto group worked on their debut album with Holy Fuck’s Graham Walsh and producer John Agnello as well as fellow Canadian Chad VanGaalen at his excellently named Yoko Eno studio in Calgary. Together they elicit the twinkly thrills of C86-era indie, The Magnetic Fields, Pavement or, if you prefer, Best Coast. The band Alvvays most often resemble, however, is 4AD’s Camera Obscura. ‘Archie, Marry Me’ is by far the best song on this album – a bona fide hit

It’s full of sun-bleached summer jams like ‘Adult Diversion’, a tale of obsessively following a loved one from afar, and the Phil Spector-esque ‘Party Police’. The spectral ‘Red Planet’ concludes the album with the sound of waves lapping against the shore, set against a woozy synthesizer as Rankin sings, “I waited out here for you, but that was just delusional.” It’s a stunning end to a great debut record laced with melancholy and beautiful moments.

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COURTSHIP RITUAL – ” Pith “

Posted: December 4, 2014 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Courtship Ritual’s sound is intimate and stripped-down and insinuating, to the point where I think the most obvious reference point is the xx. But even if the band is working from similar elements — electronic beats, hushed vocals, warmly dubby basslines  they’re deploying those elements differently. Singer Monica Salazar has a little bit of acid in her voice, a clipped full-throated alto with just a hint of sneer to it. She never whispers or sighs, and she always sounds tough. The lyrics haven’t left a deep impression on me yet, but they’re elusive and evocative; the first one that comes to mind is “you’re a handsome beast just like your mother.” I don’t know whether Salazar or her bandmate Jared Olmsted is responsible for the band’s basslines, but those basslines have some real muscle to them. Pith was available as a limited-edition cassette before it was a readily available download, but it’s the rare album from the cassette underground that I’d describe as being accessible and pleasant. You could use these songs to sell cars, and you could pipe them into a clothing boutique without disturbing the atmosphere. But even at their calmest and lightest, there’s a fundamental intensity to these songs, and that’s a big part of the reasons they stand

ALVVAYS – ” Adult Diversion “

Posted: December 4, 2014 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Alvvays self-titled debut album arrived in a blur of hype, for whatever reason they were accepted by certain incredibly hip corners of the world as the saviours of guitar music. They should by all accounts have had no chance at breaking through into mainstream success, but on this short but perfectly formed collections of songs they not only lived up to expectations, but blew them out of the water.

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The Canadian five-piece, fronted by the stunning voice and superb lyrics of Molly Rankin, crashed through thirty-three minutes of stunning pop-songs, not least the best single of the year “Archie, Marry Me”. Three minutes of reverb heavy guitars, tumbling bass and Molly pleading with her loved one to forget all the nonsense that goes with it and just marry her for the old fashioned reason of being hopelessly in love…it’s perfect!

Musically accomplished, lyrically intriguing, wonderfully produced and perfectly paced, if you thought there wasn’t any more room in the market for another great pop-tinged guitar band, one listen to this stunning album will change your mind.

SUN KIL MOON – ” Benji ” Best Albums Of 2014

Posted: December 2, 2014 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Sun Kil Moon album titled  “Benji” on  Caldo Verde Records

There are 5,287 words of lyrics on this album, the delivery of which sounds at first stream-of-conscious, but clearly isn’t: Themes double back on themselves after long digressions, while details about family and friends crop up in multiple places, the whole thing coming off like an epic poem some enterprising comp-lit major might compare to Ulysses. But then the music is disarmingly straightforward: On most of the songs, it’s as swollen and sluggish as rain clouds. Harmonies and double-tracked vocals, pianos and light drums.

Mark Kozelek in the twenty-first century has insights as compelling as those he gave us in the late twentieth century, and an indication of an enduring creative figure is surely that ability to translate perception into a new – but no less vital – language.  but few would deny its winter-sharp clarity. On “Benji“, Kozelek is at least as piercing and persuasive as in his best output over the last two decades.

Benji was truly out on its own in 2014. At the heart of the album was a stunning breed of open-book lyricism, mundanities like Postal Service reunion shows or ordering crab cakes appear in the same libretto as death by accident fire and first sexual experiences. All these chronicles exist against Mark Kozelek’s backdrop of keeping guitars and sprawling instrumentation. Simultaneously one of the year’s most gut-wrenching and and most liberating LPs,

WILCO – ” Alpha Mike Foxtrot ” Rare Tracks 1994-2014 Box Set

Posted: November 30, 2014 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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In the book that accompanies Alpha Mike Foxtrot: Rare Tracks 1994-2014, a four-disc collection of rare and non-LP recordings by Wilco, the former Reprise Records publicist Bill Bentley admits that no less a legend than Doug Sahm thought he was making a mistake when, after Uncle Tupelo abruptly and acrimoniously broke up, Bentley opted to work with Jeff Tweedy’s new band rather than Son Volt, Jar Farrar’s post-UT project. “Come on, Bentley, you gotta go with the other guy,” Sahm said, “he’s gonna happen.” Which was certainly the conventional wisdom when Wilco and Son Volt  both launched in 1994 , Most fans seemed certain that Farrar was going to go on to a brilliant career on his own, and Tweedy’s band would be a fine but lesser commodity.

But those bets were off after Wilco released their ambitious, game-changing second album, “Being There”, in 1996, and in the years that followed, it became clear that Tweedy was the stronger songwriter, With a more imaginative sonic visionary, and a keener judge of collaborators than he’d had the chance to show in Uncle Tupelo. Two decades on from their debut, Wilco have created a large and impressively diverse body of work, and Alpha Mike Foxtrot is a massive odds-and-sods collection, bringing together 77 tracks from singles, promo releases, movie soundtracks, bonus discs, and downloads from Wilco’s website.

Alpha Mike Foxtrot plays like an alternate history of Wilco, and most of what’s here is every bit as satisfying as what the band delivered on its first eight studio albums, if more idiosyncratic; it traces the evolution of the band from early solo cassette demos Tweedy cut in his living room to extended workouts from the line-up that solidified after the release of “A Ghost Is Born”, as Wilco grew from a spirited alt-country combo to a rock band as adventurous and eager to innovate as it was engaging and tuneful (Tweedy’s simple but powerful way with a melody is the surest unifying factor that holds these songs together). And the plentiful live tracks here demonstrate how willing Tweedy and his bandmates have been to give their songs new shapes on-stage (a ten-minute live recording of “Spiders [Kidsmoke]” is a tremendous showcase for Nels Cline’s stellar guitar work), and there’s a fistful of studio tracks that didn’t fit on an album but sound splendid in this context, especially the Replacements-styled “Student Loan Stereo,” the soulful “The Thanks I Get,” and the faux-live pop/rocker “The Good Part.” In the strictest sense, nothing on Alpha Mike Foxtrot is unreleased, but there’s a lot here that’s never been available for general public consumption, and while the sheer bulk of this set means it’s most likely to be heard by hardcore fans, anyone with a genuine interest in Wilco will find a lot of great music that fell between the cracks on this set, as well as a fascinating map of the many roads Wilco did and didn’t take.

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Chronologically ordered, the 77 songs clock in at 4 hours and 40 minutes and there’s much to enjoy. The live version of ‘Impossible Germany’ is mind blowing with the Television style duelling guitars and Nels Cline’s staggering extended guitar solo, it’s better than the studio version. Most of the covers (Big Star, Steely Dan, Buffalo Springfield, etc.) remain faithful to the originals and their guitar heavy cover of the Gram Parsons written ‘One Hundred Years from Now’ is the best recording of the song I’ve heard. Full marks to Tweedy for his falsetto on the third verse of ‘I Shall Be Released’ (funny but cool!) and the memory of the late multi-instrumentalist Jay Bennett lives on with many of his co-writes and playing featuring on Discs 2 & 3. The alternative versions though interesting are never better than the originals but what this collection does highlight, much like the ‘Kicking in Television’ live album, is what a well drilled and impressive live act Wilco are.

Wilco are one of those bands that are always around and always releasing quality music. Whether it be through the Wilco name or through one of the band’s many side projects, there is no doubting the sheer amount of talent in the Wilco camp. In celebration of their 20th birthday, the band have decided to release a massive 77-song collection of rarities, alternative takes, and live tracks that are bound to be essential for any big Wilco fan. And, considering they are so popular that they have their own annual festival, that’s a good amount of people!

STEVE GUNN – ” Way Out Weather “

Posted: November 29, 2014 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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It’s hard to imagine that a singer songwriter that I like has to make ten albums before I discover him (or her). Steve Gunn was originally one of Kurt Vile’s Violators but left to follow his own path. There’s not too much information about him but this list of influences says a lot: Michael Chapman, La Monte Young, Indian music, John Fahey, Jack Rose, Robbie Basho, and Sandy Bull.

What makes Gunn interesting is how he has one foot firmly in the singer songwriter style but with a nagging need to keep his other foot in meanderings and reverie. His atmosphere isn’t an arty atmosphere, it’s not created by strange effects boxes, it’s built in, it’s natural for him to play it this way. He repeats rather than enhances his ideas and is probably more comfortable with instrumental music and may wonder sometimes if a track really needs a vocal. For example, the breaks are longer than they would normally be for a straightforward singer songwriter, the intros too, they are twice as long as one might expect. When you look at his influences you can see why, with reference to drones and artists that are renowned for their instrumental acoustic picking skills.

Gunn’s songs are often an electric picking journey, not of immense skill or through years of practising technique but more simply constantly knocking at the door of an idea until a door opens. He knows there’s something in there, something worthy and he keeps it alive where perhaps others might look for more of a hook or more musical difficulty. But Gunn finds the mood first and that’s what makes him different –

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You can’t quite fit him into a style and not being able to pin him down keeps his music interesting – you can’t quite see where it’s all going even though you think you know. He’s not exactly unpredictable more unwilling to let you know what he’s up to next and with the influences he has, you can imagine that he must love the period in music when his inspired mentors could make albums like this to the joy of an open minded public. You can’t quite imagine too many record labels these days longing for Indie folk blues from Philadelphia, inspired by English Folk with a leaning towards Portugese and Indian tradition.

Gunn has managed to make three albums this year, Melodies for A Savage Fix with Mike Ganglof and Cantos De Lisboa with Mike Cooper. Mike Ganglof is the violinist from West Virginia’s Pelt. The drone concept features heavily and draws influence from the Indian Ragas as mentioned in Gunn’s influences, it’s here that you hear why Gunn’s solo album is not quite as straight forward as it might seem. The other album with English Folk legend, Mike Cooper is inspired by Portugese Fado and moody guitar improvisation from Gunn and Mike Cooper’s slide playing, again explains why Way Out Weather is where it is and what makes the album sit a step away from albums that might be deemed similar in style.

EX HEX – ” Rips ” Best Albums Of 2014

Posted: November 29, 2014 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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We’re supposed to be talking best albums, but let’s talk about  this band live we saw Ex Hex back at Field Day holy hotshit guitar rock, Batman! We’ve never seen a band have so much fun on stage, and with only the “Hold and Cold” single to their name earlier in the year when I first heard this band, But then Rips hit the record store and all of the energy and excitement that we saw in this band was pumping through our speakers, only this time more guitars, more harmonies — In fact more guitar monies! It was a rock n’ roll miracle time and earned Rips a spot in my heavy rotation on the Ipod. Spearheaded by indie vet and certified guitar-goddess Mary Timony, Rips is bubblegum-punk as objet d’art, a glitzy, glamorous take on the alienation inherent in the best power-pop.

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Ex Hex make some of the most endlessly repeat-listenable should-be-hits of recent years. From the hurtling clang of Beast; to How You Got That Girl’s gleaming, twirling chorus; to New Kid, with its whiplashing pickslides and turbo-booster solo – these songs will be echoing in your ears long after Rips’ lean, mean 35 mins are over, and very welcome they will be there, too.” Ex Hex, the strutty, glammy trio fronted by indie rock vet Mary Timony, made  for fans of their style of late-’70s riffy powerpop, 

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WARPAINT – ” Warpaint ” Best Albums Of 2014

Posted: November 29, 2014 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Atmosphere is Warpaint’s stock in trade. Each of their songs, no matter how intricately written, is bathed in a chilly glow. The ambiance is intoxicating. But after the effects-laden trip of their debut album The Fool, Warpaint allowed some of that hallucinatory mist to dissipate on their sophomore, self-titled album. It’s still an enchanting and beautiful piece of music, but the Los Angeles quartet hones in on some of the finer details of their melodies, be it on the intricate, folky sound of “Keep It Healthy,” the sparse and beat-driven approach of “Hi,” or the haunting synth-throbs of “Biggy.” In context, the change in the band’s sound that has occurred over the past four years has been a gradual and minimal one, but on Warpaint, a little goes a long way.

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