Toronto punk band PUP have promised (or threatened, depending how you look at it) that “Morbid Stuff” follow-up “The Unraveling Of Pup The Band” is “not just the next PUP record, but the *most* PUP record.” Based on what we’ve heard up to this point, they’re not lying: “Waiting,” “Robot Writes a LoveSong,” “Matilda” and “Totally Fine” see the band at their funniest and most poignant, as well as their most anthemic. Even when a song is written from the perspective of an old guitar dying from neglect or a machine that can’t stand the strain of falling in love, each song blows its subject matter up so it sounds like whatever’s happening is the end of the world. The sheer amount of energy coming off every chorus tells us we have no choice but to jump along as it all comes crashing down around us. All things considered, there are worse ways to go out than singing PUP at the top of your lungs.
PUP follow 2020’s great “This Place Sucks Ass” EP with a new two-song single, “Waiting” / “Kill Something,” produced by Interpol/National collaborator Peter Katis. “‘Waiting’ came about by smashing the heaviest riff Nestor could write with the simplest, most uplifting chorus I could write, just to see what would happen,” singer/guitarist Stefan Babcock said. “The results were very quintessentially PUP, in that the song is a flurry of darkness and anger through the joyous lens of four guys just happy to be here, four guys who don’t take themselves seriously enough to make music that doesn’t feel like fun, regardless of the subject matter.” Meanwhile, “Kill Something” is about Stefan’s dog Moose, who — according to a press release — “loves to destroy his favourite things, and then is sad that those things are destroyed.” “Waiting” does indeed nail that heavy-meets-catchy formula that PUP does so well, while “Kill Something” is a little slower and murkier, in a Pinkerton kind of way.
Pup continue to get heavier and heavier with each passing year while painting a vivid picture with their lyrics. “And in the church basement, With my anarchist leanings, I’m only there to see you” is a great line.
They say no one listens to albums anymore, it’s important to expand that life cycle in the name of content. A few weeks back Johnny Marr had unveiled plans to slowly rollout his new LP in EP-sized doses, and now Beach House are doing the same, releasing new album “Once Twice Melody” on February 18th, but not before a string of four digital chapters that begins today (November 10th) with four new songs, including the title track and the wildly magical “Superstar.”
After four years in the wilderness, this week saw the return of one of indie music’s most intriguing bands, Beach House. The duo of Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally this week confirmed details of their self-produced new album, “Once Twice Melody“, which will be released in February via Sub Pop, as well a slew of dates on both sides of the Atlantic.
Beach House formed seventeen years ago in 2004, when the newly graduated pair met on the music scene of Baltimore,Maryland. The pair began making music with almost deliberate limitations, using just an Organ, programmed drumbeats and slide-guitar to create a sound that wasn’t quite like anything I’d ever heard before. They stuck largely to those rules for both their 2016 self-titled debut and the 2008 follow-up Devotion, both released via Car Park Records.
While the band were already causing quite the buzz on internet messages boards (remember them!) at the time, their big break came in 2010, when they teamed up with both Sub Pop (US) and Bella Union (UK) for the release of their acclaimed album, “Teen Dream“. Although not exactly a chart sensation, the album took the band to a whole new level, impressing everyone from Pitchfork to musical power-couple Jay-Z & Beyonce, who were spotted at their shows. The band would go on to far greater chart success with both 2012’s “Bloom” and 2015’s “Depression Cherry“, which went top twenty on both sides of the Atlantic. Although their more recent offerings haven’t quite hit those heights, they’ve continued to be both critical darlings, and a much loved fixture of the alternative scene.
What Beach House possess as a band is a certain alchemy, an ability to take the simplest musical ingredients and turn them into audio-gold. They went from lo-fi beginnings, early single Master Of None while utterly delightful does sound a bit like it was recorded underwater, through to the most luxuriant neo-psychedelic sounds of songs like Lazuli or Wild. Beach House have never been a band afraid of stretching their sound, yet they’ve also never been one that lose any element of who they are, or what makes them so uniquely brilliant.
A welcome return for Beach House is a reason to be very cheerful, and thankfully they feel just the same, as Alex recently told Rolling Stone, “I think I’m going to weep when I’m in a crowd of people, shoulder-to-shoulder, hearing loud sound coming from astage”. A band who love music, every bit as much as you love them – now that’s something worth cherishing.
Acclaimed dream pop duo Beach House follow the excellent ‘7’ with their first double album, self-produced entirely by the band. Set for release almost four years after the psychedelic-leaning ‘7’, ‘Once Twice Melody’ hears Alex Scally and Victoria Legrand bringing in a live string section. We haven’t been given too much info on the press release, bar there’s eighteen tracks within, and Alan Moulder and Dave Fridmann are among those who have mixed it. Given it’s a double, we reckon there’s going to be plenty of their most adventurous sounds, trialling of new genres, and influences we’ve never heard in their music before.
On 2CD, 2LP, and a limited box set ft. a pair of gold/clear records, white faux leather with gold foil details, a 32-page booklet, and two pull-out posters. An 18 song double album and we are releasing it in 4 Chapters over the next 4 months. The first chapter hit earlier today at midnight, and the rest of “Once Twice Melody‘s” 18 tracks will be released monthly
As mentioned, Beach House will be sharing songs from their upcoming new album “Once Twice Melody” in monthly “chapters.” The first chapter has just dropped with the album’s opening four songs and you can watch the animated music videos for them below.
Things begin with the stunning title track that mixes low-fi electronics with baroque touches and a stirring string section. You can hear echos of Broadcast, Stereolab and Spacemen 3 (whose Sonic Boom produced their last album, 7). The hand-drawn animated lyric video, directed by Annapurna Kumar, is great too.
From there, it’s the pulsing, kaleidoscopic “Superstar” (video by Nicholas Law), the neon dread of “Pink Funeral” (full of strings right out of a horror film and a video by Scott Kiernan), and the melting arpeggiations of “Through Me” (with a video by San Charoenchai). The visuals for all four song are fantastic, very different, but majorly psychedelic.
“Once Twice Melody” is out February 18th via Sub PopRecords. You can preorder it on Gold and Silver edition vinyl and cassette; “Depression Cherry” also just got reissued on vinyl. Grab that along with the new album and others on cassette, and black and colour vinyl.
This latest effort from Beach House is the Baltimore dream-pop duo’s eighth studio album, and follows 2018’s “7″. It’s the first Beach House album to be produced entirely by themselves, and was recorded at Pachyderm studio in Cannon Falls, Minnesota; United Studio in Los Angeles; and Apple Orchard Studios in Baltimore. It was mixed by Alan Moulder with additional mixing by Caesar Edmunds, Trevor Spencer, and Dave Fridmann.
Shauf’s ability to weave a narrative into a song or album remains almost unmatched, and although I agree that these songs are a little underbaked individually,
Whether or not it’s the intention of the creator, art can show us the rawest version of ourselves. It can peel back the layers and have us looking deeper in the mirror, past the imperfections of our reflection. Such was the case with Saskatchewan-born musician Andy Shauf and his 2020 album “The Neon Skyline”. For his fifth record, the prolific storyteller built a concept album around a local bar and a group of friends. His detailed writing created a world that was fictional yet lifelike—a commonplace background fleshed out with the too-familiar cringe scenario of encountering an ex on a night out. But chatting with Shauf it’s clear that he’s still navigating his own role within these lyrics. “I hope that people don’t think I’m narrating as myself—it’s essentially just me processing certain things and using my own lens as the filter for a reaction,” he says. “It’s me picturing myself in those shoes.”
A few weeks ago, Shauf released the follow-up to “Skyline”, which is an extension of that world. Written during the same period, “Wilds” is a batch of songs that Shauf escaped into in order to return to the concept on “Skyline”. Whereas the latter gave us a detailed look at the tension of running into an ex lover, “Wilds” is a bit less specifically focused. It both zooms in on the character of the ex, Judy, and gives a deeper context for why the main relationship from “Skyline” failed. Released the same week it was announced, “Wilds” is rawer and off the cuff. It was recorded on a small tape machine in Shauf’s Toronto studio. The vocals are fuzzier and the arrangements are less ambitious.
But it’s not only the lo-fi compositions from “Wilds” that give us the sense that Shauf is peeling back the layers a bit. This nine-track album is closing out a period that Shauf describes as “feeling pretty lost.” And it wasn’t his initial plan to expose the similarities between this narrative’s chaos and his own life. He sounds secure but still a little apprehensive of the intense vulnerability. “With a year and a half to think on, I came to the conclusion that “Skyline” wasn’t really how I wanted to leave that period of my life.” I comment that his tone suggests he’s in a much better place. “I’ve had a lot of time over this lockdown period to think and assess how my life’s been going,” he says. “I’ve started in a new direction. It’s positive. Coinciding with this release of “Wilds” and feeling like it’s time to put some of this shit behind.”
Pleased to announce that my new 9-song collection called “Wilds” is out digitally this Friday Sept 24th on ANTI- / Arts & Crafts. The album was recorded around the same time as “The Neon Skyline” and mostly direct to tape, showing new songs in their original form.
Released September 24th, 2021
A collection of 9 songs written and recorded by Andy Shauf between March and May of 2018.
Having stated in the recent box set “Think I’m Going Weird review that 1966 was a hugely important year in UK music, along comes Box Of Pin-Ups. This new 3CD set which puts forward a case for 1965 perhaps being of equal merit, offering a bright array of different sounds. Merseybeat, which had been the driving force in the UK for the early part of the 1960s, was more or less over and done at this stage, with The Beatles having moved well away from their roots by the time of Rubber Soul, their second album of 1965. This left a great number of acts who needed to piece together a new attitude in order to survive.
In addition rhythm & blues rave-ups had become a powerful force on the live circuit and US soul had also made a big impact. The mods, who with speed-fuelled energy filled the all-night clubs, also wanted edgy bands that reflected their fast moving lifestyle of ever-changing sharp fashions, scooters, pep pills and violence. Up and down the country fledgling outfits modified their approach by the day, as falling “behind the time” was tantamount to resigning oneself to the dreaded cabaret circuit. Even some pretty middle of the road pop music had give some ground to the now sound if they wanted to cut it in the wilder mid-60s. All this activity ended up instigating some exciting times and a selection of it is captured on this new collection.
As far as starting things with a bang goes, “Box Of Pin-ups” opening salvo of The Pretty Things’ “Midnight To Six Man”, an alternate take of “What’cha Gonna Do About It” by The Small Faces and The Eyes’ snotty majesty on I’m Rowed Out is hard to beat. The Pretties and The Faces of occupied positions as premier r&b punk hoodlums and mod fashion plates respectively, something that is borne out by Midnight To Six, one of the great moments of rock & roll attitude and the sawing pop art feedback antics on a wild take of What’cha Gonna Do About It. The Pretties also crop up later on disc three with an exuberant “Get A Buzz”. Ealing’s own The Eyes were also important in their own way, perfecting a sound that would be retrospectively termed freakbeat on “I’m Rowed Out“.
Donovan’s work tends to polarise attitudes, but his Hey Gyp (Dig The Slowness) surely must have influenced a young MarcBolan and Lulu & The Luvvers’ sparky soul number Surprise Surprise follows on with a bundle of youth vim. Belfast band The Wheels’ rough and ready version of garage standard Gloria speeds gloriously towards its dénouement and beat veterans Brian Poole & The Tremeloes attempt to jump into the future in similar style with their take on The Strangeloves’ I Want Candy. The Poets, from Glasgow, furnish us with a genuine cool 1965 classic in That’s The Way It’s Got To Be, with the dramatic and energetic “Unto Us” by The New Breed, a Hampstead group previously know as Thee (featured on disc two of this set with the poppy There You Go!), also impressing. Then a young Ron Wood pilots The Birds to freak heaven on a mean and moody “Next In Line”, full of chilled guitar brutality and fluid drums.
Paul Jones was near the end of his stint in Manfred Mann by EP track “Tired Of Trying, Bored Of Lying, Scared Of Dying”, but this is a tough and enjoyable slice of blues with a nice rolling piano sound and great guitar fuzz. Dave Berry weaves a more measured web on an alluring This Strange Effect, written by The Kinks’ Ray Davies and there are early sightings of Elton John and Rod Stewart. The former features in recognisable vocal fashion on Bluesology’s soul-flecked “Come Back Baby” and Rod on a solo “Why Does It Go On”. Brian Auger had previous with Rod The Mod and his Trinity and their Fool Killer positively reek (in a good way) of exciting and hot dance all-nighters
Vashti (Bunyan) is now better-known for Just Another Diamond Day, but Some Things Just Stick In Your Mind is ice-cool folk pop and The Searches jangle as only they knew how on I’ll Be Doggone. It is a shame that not long after this they were left behind by the changing times, despite their obvious performing talents. A busy r&b number called “Done Me Wrong” by The Couriers is enjoyably frantic and mod band The Frays contribute a punchy “Keep Me Covered“, with their singer eventually going on to front Canadian new wave band Battered Wives. The punky lurch of Glenn Athens & The Trojans’ Let Me Show You How” is a real bolt of pure 1960s sneering attitude, it is an absolute gem. This disc concludes with the crunchy rave-up of I’mLeaving by The Mark Four, who would soon mutate into The Creation and The Syndicats’ much heard but still fab “Crawdaddy Simone”.
Disc two Of Box Of Pin-Ups begins with the garagey rumble of The Yardbirds “Evil Hearted You” and Coventry freakbeat kingpins The Sorrows with “No No No“. Mod heroes The Action bring Land Of One Thousand Dances vividly to life and “I Can’t Get Any Joy” by Rolling Stones proteges The End packs a neat pop punch. The Hollies often showed they had all the tools to be major players, when they finally managed to assert themselves as self-contained unit not dependent on outside writers. “Their Put Yourself In My Place” is the kind of beat pop nugget The Beatles had specialised in, but has a charm and gusto of its own.
The Afex hailed from Dagenham, but were sadly not due any real success with only a couple of singles by them emerged. However their freewheeling, youthful-sounding “Too Many Things” is a tonne of fun and the echo-laden with slightly surf drums You Got What I Want by Boys Blue is chaotic enough to start a riot of its own. Having checked in with Ron Wood on disc one, brother Art’s band The Artwoods strut into view here with the cool r&b of “She Knows What To Do”. The Graham Bond Organisation follow in a similar mode with Neighbour Neighbour and while it is very tempting to mention a certain contemporary garage rocker when talking about The Downliners Sect, I won’t and will just say their “Leader Of The Sect” is simply enjoyable silliness of the first order.
I’m a big fan of Zoot Money’s Big Roll Band and brassy, live feel of I’ll Go Crazy is the perfect fit for the keyboard Lord of Looning. Harrow’s Bo Street Runners had a brush with success when they won a Ready Steady Go TV competition to find the new Beatles. With that weight on their shoulders they didn’t have much chance, but their “Get Out Of My Way” is a decent and fast tune with a marked soul influence. Having mentioned Marc Bolan earlier, the bopping elf is present on this disc with the 1965 single version of “The Wizard“, which shuffles along enigmatically and even though The Uprooted were in truth an amateur school band, they sound pretty cool and sharp on “It’s Just You“.
Diamond Girl by The Kingpins is a real powder-keg of 60s punk excitement and The Ugly’s were an early vehicle for Brum rock & roll legend Steve Gibbons. They are represented here by “It’s Alright”, a proto-psych pop breeze. A fast version of the Chuck Berry standard Don’t Lie To Me by Four + One featured one Keith Hopkins aka Keith West and it’s fun to hear The Moody Blues in pure soul mode on “And My Baby’s Gone“. The bluesy beat of Reelin’ And Rockin’ by The In-sect seems slightly anachronistic but is still quite good and “There You Go” by Thee finishes off this section of Box Of Pin-Ups.
The third and final part of this set ensues with The Animals’ tough as nuts “It’s My Life” – if you wanted the hard-boiled North East attitude in one addictive musical hit, here it is. The ultra fuzz of Jump And Dance by The Carnaby has been often compiled, but in order to give as clear a picture of 1965 as possible I suppose a few familiar items have to be included. An excellent Bring It To Jerome, a Joe Meek production by David John & The Mood, acts here as the perfect prelude to The Pretty Things’ fine Get The Buzz. Breakneck r&b is also the order of the day on The Primitives’ You Said.
A more ornate pop approach is displayed on Robb Storme & The Whispers’ Where Is My Girl and John Bryant’s gleaming sound “Tell Me What You See”. But of course St Albans’ favourite sons The Zombies were masters at that game and their piece included on Box Of Pin-Ups “Tell Her No” is as smooth a slice of mid-60s pop that one could imagine. Of course The Hollies were no slouches in that particular field either. Their second contribution “I’ve Got A Way Of My Own” is a real charmer of rough harp blowing and harmony vocals and James Royal & The Hawks’ Doug Sahm cover “She’s About A Mover” follows with a solid dance groove.
The moody, sorrowful blues of “I Found Out” by The Cops ‘N’ Robbers overflows with lowkey menace and Leatherhead combo The Silence, soon to become psychedelic act John’s Children, inject the lo-fi sound of Forgive Me If I’m Wrong with a churning but agreeable fuzz. A rough audio quality also marks Arthur Brown with The Diamonds’ “You Don’t Know”, but even so it underlines Art’s prowess as a soul shouter. The Sheffields’ Plenty Of Love is lively and explosive and we find ourselves back firmly in rhythm & blues rave-up country with The Betterdays’ hard driving “Honey What’s Wrong” and the organ glide of “Stupidity” by Guy Darrell. This set reaches its finale with The Kinks’ peerless “Where Have All The Good Times Gone”, which is a hell of an evocative way to go out on
Box Of Pin-Ups is, for the vast majority of its running time at least, an invigorating and entrancing listen which reflects the rapidly changing times it documents. This set comes with the usual very thorough sleeve notes that give you the full S.P. on each of the acts famous or obscure and the whole thing is pretty well packaged. 1965 seemed to me to mark the end of beat and the beginning of something new in UK music – a voyage of adventure was ahead and among the 92 tracks here you can hear the storm approaching. But even at this stage of development, there is much to delight.
“On “Imposter“, multi-platinum selling Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-inducted recording artist and songwriter Dave Gahan, along with long time musical partner Soulsavers (Rich Machin), take listeners on a personal journey of 12 meticulously chosen reimagined songs from across genres and time periods, including selections from Neil Young, Bob Dylan, PJ Harvey, Charlie Chaplin, Cat Power and Mark Lanegan, among others. “When I listen to other people’s voices and songs — more importantly the way they sing them and interpret the words — I feel at home,” Gahan confesses. “I identify with it. It comforts me more than anything else. There’s not one performer on the record who I haven’t been moved by. I know we made something special, and I hope other people feel that and it takes them on a little kind of trip — especially people who love music and have for years.”
It comes after the pair recently shared the song, ‘The Dark End Of The Street‘ from the forthcoming album, which was originally written by Chips Moman and Dan Penn in 1966, and has been covered by Aretha Franklin, Dolly Parton, Elvis Costello and Frank Black over the years.
Recorded at the legendary Shangri-La Studio in Malibu, these versions of songs you know & some you may not, range from sparce to lush, sombre to joyful. The choices and the sequencing were deliberate & meaningful. It shines a light on the enduring strength of poignant lyrics and well executed melodies.
Imposter is a reflection of Dave’s life, a story told by others, but in his own distinct voice.
“Living among uncertainty can make you forget that certainty is everywhere, all around us. Courtney Barnett’s first two albums told stories of the tiny splinters that pull on the very fabric of the world: The way panic attacks and unmoored comments and unsightly, unseemly vistas can make knots and tears that are impossible not to fixate on. Her third album steps back, takes a breath, takes a beat, asks you not to fixate on the little things.
It’s quieter and smaller than you might expect from Courtney. If you don’t like it — although you probably will — it’s no big deal; just give it another go tomorrow. “Things Take Time, Take Time”is finely woven, soft to the touch; spanning 10 wide-eyed, open-hearted vignettes, it traces the gentle arc of a life, forgoing pithy detail in favour of generous scene setting and graceful character development.
It’s an object of beauty made for everyday use and, like most things of that ilk, a lot of work went into it, emotionally and physically. My new song If I Don’t Hear From You Tonight is out now! The video clip was directed by Claire Marie Vogel and filmed in Landers. Thanks to Stella Mozgawa and Cate Le Bon who played on this song and appear in the video clip.
Things Take Time, Take Time is an assured leap forward for Barnett; a breakthrough really. This is Barnett at her most relaxed, creative and joyful. An exquisite look at the intimate, private world created by Barnett and her producer Stella Mozgawa (Warpaint, Sharon Van Etten, Kurt Vile). It’s consequently her most beautiful and intimate record to date.
the new album ‘Things Take Time, Take Time’ released 12th November 2021
Early next year, Jethro Tull will release “The Zealot Gene“, their first studio album in over 18 years. The album began to take shape as early as 2017 and was intended to be released in 2020 before the pandemic intervened. The album is said to explore themes of Biblical storytelling, as Ian Anderson explains: “While I have a spot of genuine fondness for the pomp and fairytale story-telling of the Holy Book, I still feel the need to question and draw sometimes unholy parallels from the text. The good, the bad, and the downright ugly rear their heads throughout, but are punctuated with elements of love, respect, and tenderness.”
Looking back on the earth-shaking disruption of the Coronavirus pandemic… It was so sudden”, says Anderson. “Amidst the concerns and warnings of the scientific community and a few more enlightened politicians, we all retreated in disbelief to our homes to wait out the storm.”
You can preview ‘Shoshana Sleeping’ from the album
“The Zealot Gene” is available across a number of formats. The 2CD+blu-ray edition offers a bonus disc of demos and a blu-ray which features a 5.1 surround sound mix(by Jakko Jakszyk). Sleeve notes include an interview with Ian Anderson conducted by Tim Bowness.
The 2LP vinyl edition includes a large format art book and comes with a CD of the album, while a deluxe box set also contains the booklet along with three white vinyl LPs (one is exclusive and contains demos) along with two CDs and the 5.1 blu-ray. This also includes a turntable slipmat and a hand-numbered print.
Kelley Stoltz has shared “Umbrella,” a bonus track from the 20th anniversary expanded edition of his defining album “AntiqueGlow“, due November 19th, 2021 via Third Man Records. Stream the track HERE, and watch its accompanying video,
Limited-edition silver indie store exclusive vinyl and limited-edition “rainy nights” UK exclusive vinyl will be available on release day. Join Stoltz in celebrating the album’s release with a show at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall o
Third Man Records is proud to announce the 20th anniversary expanded edition of Kelley Stoltz’s defining album Antique Glow, Join Stoltz in celebrating the album’s release with a show at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall on November 19, featuring support from Vetiver and Almond Joy. Originally self-released in minuscule vinyl-only quantities in 2001, “AntiqueGlow” has served not only as a template for the length of Kelley Stoltz’s twenty-plus year career, but has also served as a compass for other Anglophile, TASCAM 388 home recording acolytes.
Original copies featured Stoltz’s clever, wry and fanciful hand-painted adornments overtop reclaimed thrift store LP jackets, ThirdMan’s release here utilizes some of those original unused images for a die-cut sleeve that ultimately gives the listener six different possible album covers. The songs are by-and-large masterpieces of bedroom pop magic. From the whispering “Here Comes the Sun”-adjacent acoustic underpinnings of album opener “Perpetual Night” through the fuzz-threaded leads of “Are You Electric?” Stoltz’s inspirations are impeccable and clear. Sixties Davies British Invasion through 80’s British Bunnymen post-punk, with appropriate off-shoots into West Coast American pop-psych, Velvets-indebted hooliganism and Drake/CSNY acoustic attenuations, the end result is pure joy.
On the expanded version, standout tracks previously relegated to an Australian tour-only CD (like the breathlessly cinematic “OldPictures”) see their first-ever vinyl and digital release while there’s an additional 10 songs from the Antique Glow-era seeing their first ever release in any format. The cutting room floor quality here is second-to-none, Stoltz clearly gifted with the curse of writing too many indelible songs, so the newly released “Too Beck” (originally cast off by Kelley because he thought “it sounded too much like Beck”) and “Umbrella” stand firm as some of the best, most timeless music Stoltz has ever released… a full two decades after he recorded them! With all instruments and vocals performed by Stoltz, the singularity of vision here is impeccably clear and executed.
About Kelley Stoltz: Born and raised in suburban Detroit, Kelley Stoltz hopped off to NYC in the mid-Nineties with the mild task of sorting fan mail for Jeff Buckley. There, Stoltz recorded his debut album The Past Was Faster, which was barely released before the label declared bankruptcy and all copies were locked away in a government warehouse. Kelley truly came into his own upon his arrival to San Francisco. Landing a job at the classic neighbourhood record store Grooves and hunkered down in his apartment in the Mission with his trusty Tascam 388. Playing all the instruments himself, the end result of Antique Glow was a DIY bedroom masterpiece. With the initial self-released vinyl pressing of 300 copies each featured a thrift store LP jacket hand-painted with some clever, wry or fanciful adornments by Stoltz himself, the record took on a life of its own…ultimately finding its way into the hands of John Peel and earning Kelley a record deal with Sub Pop. From there, Stoltz’s prodigious output has never wavered. Through the intervening 11 full-length solo albums and a wide smattering of singles, side-projects etc, not to mention various production duties and even a spell as hired-gun axeman for Kelley’s childhood heroes Echo and the Bunnymen.
It’s November 1971, and Elton John is everywhere. Three of his albums have appeared in U.S. record stores within the current calendar year, and as the year winds down, another arrives.“Madman Across the Water” is the boldest of the lot, seeking to be all things to all listeners as a display of confidence rather than overreach.
John’s eponymous second album (and stateside debut) was a substantial success a year earlier, followed in Europe by the country-leaning—and less commercial—”Tumbleweed Connection”, which would not reach the Atlantic’s west side for several months.
The soundtrack Friends fulfilled a pre-breakthrough commitment and soon disappeared, and the “live set 11-17-70″tried to grab a piece of the action bootleggers were getting with copies of the show’s initial radio broadcast. Three records, but none offering a real follow-through on his initial commercial success. Easy as it might be to justify in that context, a fourth album was a lot to ask the marketplace to digest, let alone support.
“Madman” reset what had become a scattershot career path. Packed with personality and infectious melodic energy, it expanded the variety and ambition of John’s material with complicated, bravura compositions unlike what anyone else offered, establishing the singular sonic identity that would become a trademark Elton John calling card for years to come.
“Madman” takes no chances with the listener’s affections; it isn’t two bars old when its first irresistible moment arrives, in the fluid piano trickle that lays the groundwork for “Tiny Dancer.” Welcoming and airy, it is a seminal pop contrivance, and the album’s greatest achievement. Gus Dudgeon’s production (with an arrangement by Paul Buckmaster) tastefully mixes the homespun with the formal, initially combining pop and country in a manner decades ahead of its time. The string section that emerges near the three-minute mark adds to that mix as it propels the song’s hook, a potent complement to the ascending drama of John’s piano line, and the final building block of an ingenious, gorgeous sonic assembly. The song fully defines John’s vocal prowess: lively, full of character and naturally theatrical, but not in a way that overpowers any moment. Level headed or outlandish, he is always convincing.
Enticing as its structure may be, its stature owes at least as much to lyricist Bernie Taupin. One of the best pieces ever written about life inside the music industry, it seamlessly combines romance and everyday charm. Full of details John sells with brio, it captures life on the road more evocatively in just over six minutes than “Almost Famous” did in a full-length film. “Tiny Dancer” represents the best of the John-Taupin partnership: lyrics built for enthusiastic delivery, and a performance that knocks them into the cheap seats. John is dynamite, Taupin his all-important fuse.
Despite its more fanciful nature, “Levon” shares similar qualities, starting with an inviting piano opening that heralds a rich melodic backdrop. John rides a grand, swelling chorus hook to its peak, still telling a story even when he’s shouting. The song would be a catchy, conventional rock number were its close powered by a guitar solo, but strings make for a more robust set piece, adding gravity and drama.
Anyone can cover “Tiny Dancer”—the composition possesses a universal appeal any competent vocalist can wrangle with appropriate conviction. “Levon,” on the other hand, is signature work. Offbeat and more than a little peculiar, the story of a balloon salesman and the son who wants out of their shared life requires someone who can handle the surreal with conviction, a quality John possesses in spades. Any cover is more echo than interpretation; everybody can tell that this is his song.
The earnest “Razor Face” seems straightforward enough, alloying electric guitar with a guest organ turn by Rick Wakeman to form a rock backbone, but it’s a restless piece. Toward its end, an unheralded accordion lands front and center for an extended solo, trading licks with an electric guitar through the playout. It’s an odd sort of sonic urgency, more like noodling than cohesive design.
The A-side closes with the title track, which nearly exceeds its boundaries. Its synthesizer-fattened design is something of a sonic yard sale, but orderly—not so much cluttered as intentionally overloaded. Almost too subtle to fit in, yet still decorative, is acoustic guitar gilding provided by Davey Johnstone, appearing on his first project with John in what would become a long and fruitful collaboration.
The set’s longest song, “Indian Sunset,” would be a more difficult sale today: a first-person narrative of a Native American staring down the end of his time. Forged with blustery sincerity and a touch of clunky imagery, there is nevertheless richness to its theatrical contemplations, fueling a social consciousness exercise appropriate to its time
Half a century later, it’s easy to forget a time before Elton John was embedded in popular culture and large pieces of his life were an open book. When “Madman” was new, John had not yet come out (first as bisexual, later as gay), so a key undercurrent of “All the Nasties” went undetected. Critics, particularly in England, had been rough on John, and he responded with a song that was a mixture of self-pity and defiance, wondering at its outset, “If it came to pass/That they should ask/What would I tell them.” At that point, no one knew. The song is defined by intensity; an amalgamation of a gospel invocation with an operatic choir swells toward the end, but never escapes melancholy.
In its wake, the stripped-down album closer “Goodbye” sounds lonely and lost. Likely unknown to John at the time, it also served as a wistful send-off to a method he had employed to that point in his career. With his next album, John would move toward band-driven recordings created outside of traditional studios, helping to narrow the gap between his studio and stage dynamics. Nevertheless, the language with which Madman was filled would rear its head frequently, with expanded vocabulary, in years to come. It would prove the first in a lengthy string of classic albums, a building block of a golden era in one of popular music’s great careers.
Chime School is the project of San Francisco musician Andy Pastalaniec. Endlessly charmed by 80s indie and its 60s forbearers (and any record with a 12-string guitar), Andy cut his teeth as a drummer with SLR labelmate Odd Hope in their early group Pink Films; later with shoegazers Cruel Summer, and currently with indiepop outfit Seablite. But it wasn’t until he was gifted a cassette 4-track portastudio “almost as a dare,” that he came out from behind the kit to write and record his own material.
Aptly named for its autodidact roots, Chime School pays homage to the formative jangle of The Byrds by way of early Primal Scream and The Springfields; the production and pop sensibility of the Biff Bang Pow and The Razorcuts; and the spirit of great singles labels like Creation, Postcard and Sarah. From the dreamy album opener “Wait Your Turn” to the driving jangle of “DeadSaturdays” and the lush, epic “Gone Too Fast” we can see that we’re in the presence of a very talented writer indeed, someone with a lifetime’s worth of pop fandom just waiting to burst out in song.
It’s challenging to take familiar musical forms and make them feel fresh and new, but Andy has tackled the task with aplomb on this assured debut. Featuring future classic singles like “It’s True” and “Taking Time To Tell You” it’s certain to catch the ears of indiepop fans, for sure, but will also be a balm for anyone in love with melodic, classic guitar pop.
The Fat Angel Sings 