Tuesday, 31 December 2013
123 Blind Man's Zoo - 10,000 Maniacs
Purchased : 20 May 1989
Tracks : Eat For Two / Please Forgive Us / The Big Parade / Trouble Me / You Happy Puppet / Headstrong / Poison In The Well / Dust Bowl / The Lion's Share / Hateful Hate / Jubilee
It was an absolute no brainer that I would purchase this from one of the Manchester stores as soon as it came out. Shortly afterwards I saw them at Manchester Free Trade Hall, one of my first drives into the big city, made unnecessarily fraught by my not knowing how to use the de-mister properly. Parking up was also a bit of a problem as there was a big Barry McGuigan fight in the city on the same night. The policeman I asked for advice recognised me from Spotland. The gig was great and a few weeks later it was broadcast on ITV; so far it hasn't surfaced on youtube.
"Eat For Two" was inspired by Natalie Merchant's own anxieties when 15 over a broken condom during sex with a 22 year old "boyfriend" as revealed in an interview in The Guardian. I must confess to being pretty shocked ; at this time I was very prone to thinking along that madonna / whore axis and I had Natalie very much in the former category. Despite opening with a very spiky one-note guitar riff from Robert Buck it blossoms out into a typically warm folk-pop song with a mournful melody. Natalie's empathy with the impending teenage mum is obvious and is complemented by Drew's piano and Jevetta Steele's backing vocals. It was my favourite single of 1989 though not a hit ( a disconnect that would become all too common in the coming decade ) .
Whereas "Eat For Two" would fit easily on "In My Tribe" , "Please Forgive Us" is the first evidence of this LP's shift away from personal topics to taking more obvious political stances. The lyric is an extended apology, presumably to Nicaragua from liberal-minded America, for the Contragate scandal which is fine except that it's clumsily expressed -"the billets were bought by us, it was dollars that paid them" and barely attached to Robert Buck's music. an all-purpose jangle that doesn't go anywhere. It's simply boring and a bit of a shock that they could produce something so uninspiring.
"The Big Parade " is a bit better, a fairly literal account of a young man visiting the Vietnam memorial in Washington DC where his father's name is inscribed. It's set to an appropriately funereal dirge with rich Hammond chords from Drew and parade ground drumming from Jerome Augustyniak for which he got the co-writing credit. It's still a case of "less words , more tune" please.
"Trouble Me" was the lead single and a respectable hit in the States though not here. Essentially it carries the same message as Bridge Over Troubled Water but it's set to such a pallid light funk-pop backing and insipid tune that the line "let me send you off to sleep" acquires an unintended meaning. The video with a beaming Natalie spending quality time with her granny ( the rest of the band are conspicuously absent ) highlights the problem many have with her - that self-conscious "worthiness" that informs much of her work.
"You Happy Puppet" at least allows for some ambiguity. It could be addressed to the politically unaware consumer or someone who doesn't realise they're in a manipulative relationship. Musically it's a close cousin to "What's The Matter Here " with Natalie fitting her words round a circular jangle in the same way and there's a nice acoustic guitar solo from Buck.
Side One closes with "Headstrong" where Merchant stridently declares that she won't be changed by anything her lover says or does. The sentiment is matched by her vocal tone and the uncompromising guitar squall and pounding rock drums reminiscent of Peter Gabriel. Again it's hampered by the lack of a good tune.
Thankfully Side Two is stronger by some distance. "Poison In The Well" addresses the issue of water pollution and the complacency of the water companies involved. While it's still over-wordy it has a good driving riff , brisk drumming and a decent tune.
Then they pull out an absolute cracker. "Dust Bowl " is a contender for their ( or anybody's really ) best song ever. Drew and Augustyniak sit it out and with only minimal bass it's just Merchant singing over Buck's delicate guitar riff. The lyric looking at poverty from a mother's point of view cuts deep and Merchant's vocal balancing anger and tenderness is a masterpiece of control.
"The Lion's Share " seems to be about an African dictator fleecing his people; there were plenty to choose from in 1989. It has an attractive tune and arrangement but it's very close to being a mellowed-out "Don't Talk ".
The last two tracks are more ambitious. The clumsily-titled "Hateful Hate " begins with a portentous little overture from Drew before the drums kick in and power a diatribe about the West's rape of Africa packing slavery, missionary activity colonialism and ivory poaching into its four and a half minutes. The attack is relentless and bolstered by a cast of string players in the latter half of the song to add to its nightmarish quality. It's one of those songs that you don't always want to listen to but have to admire for its ferocity.
"Jubilee" is a Merchant solo composition and as with "Verdi Cries" on the previous LP she drops the rest of the band and brings in some guest players to accompany her on a slow dark tale of a mentally disturbed church janitor who burns down the building on seeing some inter-racial dancing. She has the sense to vary the arrangement with each verse , a bit of harpsichord here , a bit of cello there, but even so it's a tad too long at six minutes. The last verse with its screeching strings is genuinely frightening and a stark conclusion to the LP.
It was always a tall ask for this to match "In My Tribe" ( although its best tracks do ) and I don't want to give the impression that it's a bad record. It's a good album that doesn't reach the same heights as its predecessor ( commercially it outperformed IMT ) and consequently doesn't get played as much.
Monday, 30 December 2013
122 Eponymous - REM
Purchased : April 1989
Tracks : Radio Free Europe / Gardening At Night / Talk About The Passion / So. Central Rain / Rockville / Can't Get There From Here / Driver 8 / Romance / Fall On Me / The One I Love / Finest Worksong / It's the End Of The World
This was the next purchase from Britannia. You may have noticed above that there was a bit of a gap since the last one and there is a story behind that. After umming and aahing throughout 1988, in January 1989 I bought my first car, an ex-army left hand drive Vauxhall Chevette estate for £550. Coming home from its first away trip to Doncaster in early February I crashed it in Barnsley where I mistook a green light signifying the end of a pedestrianized period for the way ahead and cut straight across another vehicle as our road actually swung sharply left. In mitigation the road markings were a little worn at that point as well. As I'd only bought fire, third party and theft insurance I had to pay half the purchase price again to get it repaired which put me briefly into an overdraft situation so LP buying had to stop for a short while. As a nice postscript my two companions Carl and Sean who didn't know each other before that day bonded over the trauma and were friends for years afterwards.
OK, on to REM. This is the first chapter in a story that only ended fairly recently and so another landmark purchase. I think I first heard the odd track on David Jensen in the early eighties but they really came to my attention in 1984 when a guy in my Hall of Residence called Mike Hughes started raving about them particularly after their gig at the Refectory that spring. Mike was a Stalinist NME reader who liked whatever they told him was good and vice versa ( When I first came across Marcello Carlin on Popular I thought it might be Mike writing under a pseudonym ). After he'd trashed Talk Talk I wasn't going to listen to any of his recommendations and the following year Andy Kershaw arrived on Whistle Test and included them in his list of bands you should hear. So now there were two barriers to appreciating REM. What changed were the two 1987 singles "It's The End Of The World As We Know It" and "The One I Love " which I heard on The Chart Show and loved and it was on the strength of those that this was purchased.
"Eponymous" is a sort of "Greatest Hits" ( if they'd had any ) album marking the end of their association with IRS after five albums and their signing for Warners in a big bucks deal. Ironically they were just beginning to break through to a bigger audience as well; "The One I Love " was their first flirtation with the British charts. The break seems to have been amicable enough; it's clear from the sleeve that the band were willing participants in this exercise although Warners can't have been too thrilled that it was released just a month before the band's first album on their label. The tracks are roughly in chronological order so you can follow their progress from student peddlers of wilfully obtuse Americana to stadium rockers in waiting.
I have a decision to make now on writing about early REM. I bought Marcus Gray's It Crawled From The South in 1992, an exhaustive tome which manfully attempts to get to the heart of all the band's music up to that point even where the band themselves claimed that the "lyrics" were phonetic nonsense. I'd sooner the blog was "all my own work" but then it seems pigheaded to ignore such a useful source of insight. Let's see how we go.
The album starts right at the beginning of their career with the original version of "Radio Free Europe" as released on the independent label Hib-Tone in 1981 making it the US equivalent of New Rose. Some took it as a protest about the tyrannical conservatism of US rock radio but it's actually a quizzical song about the radio station set up during the Cold War to broadcast propaganda to the Eastern Bloc. Michael Stipe's lyrics are usually elliptical and this one's full of non-seqiteurs although you could argue that it represents the babble of a radio station that was always getting jammed. The influence of English New Wave is apparent in the music with Mike Mills's pulsing bass and Bill Berry's crisp drumming making it sound like an early Cure song although Stipe's mumbled diction isn't really comparable to anyone else.
"Gardening at Night" was the lead track on their first release for IRS the "Chronic Town" EP in 1982. The first few bars sound like New Order's Ceremony but abruptly Peter Buck's guitar switches to a melodic Byrdsian riff and REM's trademark sound is born. It's driven along by Berry's punchy drumming save for two quiet passages when he marks time with rimshots. Berry has said it was inspired by another member using the phrase as a euphemism for needing a leak when they were driving. There are a number of different interpretations to the song but I think it's a general metaphor for a hopeless undertaking and the mournful melody supports that.
"Talk About the Passion" is from their debut LP "Murmur" and like many of their early songs it has only one repeating verse for hypnotic effect. It's a mid-paced jangly pop song with a fat bassline and hummed backing vocals from Mills and in the latter half of the song some cello and violin to fill out the sound. The words , relatively clear here , seem to be expressing doubt about the liberal conscience shared by all four members- "Not everyone can carry the weight of the world".
The next two tracks are from second LP "Reckoning". "So. Central Rain" is a chiming folk-pop song beefed up by Berry's powerful drumming. It's a break-up song with Stipe mumbling through the verses before an agonised cry of "I'm Sorry" by way of a chorus. The coda with Stipe wailing wordlessly over violent keyboard stabs emphasises the turmoil at the heart of the song.
"( Don't Go Back To ) Rockville" is untypical of their early work in its lyrical simplicity. It's an unambiguous plea from Mike Mills ( though Stipe sings it ) to a female student in Athens not to return to her home town. Although a little mean-minded in parts "You'll wind up in some factory " the naked honesty is palpable and it's set to a lilting country rock backing with a rousing chorus. It's just a shame it's not been a hit for anyone as it would be so easy to substitute "Rochdale" into the title and sing it at any ex-manager or unpopular ex-player we came across.
"Can't Get There From Here " was a single release from their third and most demanding album "Fables Of The Reconstruction". The lyrics are a daunting challenge with cryptic references to band friends and places but the general message seems to be Athens is a good place to sort your head out. The chorus has overlapping lines with Stipe singing the title while Mills confidently asserts "I've been there I know the way". The music admits some new influences with Buck playing some clipped funk guitar in the verses and the horns in the chorus suggesting Stax.
Side Two commences with "Driver 8", also from "Fables" and an absolute belter. Buck lays down one of his best ever riffs to lead into a train song that drips with Southern Gothic atmosphere. On one level it's just an impressionistic poem about the sights to be seen from a locomotive cab ( shades of Jimmy Webb at his best ) but the music infuses it with palpable dread. What exactly is the driver taking a break from and where's the destination ? One of their very best songs.
I can't say that about "Romance", originally a Murmur outtake but re-recorded in 1986 for the forgotten film Made In Heaven. The pounding drums and angular bassline on the verses are reminiscent of Drums and Wires era XTC and while the chorus is more recognisably REM it's not one of their strongest. This is also one of their songs where the band's claim that the lyrics have no meaning rings most true.
"Fall On Me" is the only track from fourth album "Life's Rich Pageant". When they played it on Unplugged in 1991 Stipe introduced it as his personal favourite and he's not far wrong. It's almost a duet between Stipe and Mills with the latter singing a counter-melody during the second verse and taking over the bridge. It started out as a song about acid rain and then became about aggressive capitalism -"Buy the sky and sell the sky " generally. The chorus is anthemic with Berry's drums punching the title home.
The album concludes with the three singles from their final IRS album "Document" which saw them start to post serious sales figures. "The One I Love " made their first mark on the UK singles chart reaching number 51 at the tail end of 1987 ( and 16 on re-release in 1991 ). The band have mentioned 10cc in interviews and this song reverses the message of I'm Not In Love ; where Stewart's feeble denials emphasised how deep he was in , Stipe's coldly drawled "a simple prop to occupy my time" destroys the idea that the song is any sort of dedication as if Buck's incendiary churning guitar wasn't evidence enough.
"Finest Worksong" actually got one place higher in the UK although it's nowhere near as familiar a song. It's heavily indebted to the Velvet Underground built around a circular guitar figure that mirrors the grind of the average working day. Stipe always keeps his politics close to his chest but the line "Throw Thoreau and rearrange " suggests he's not advocating just dropping out as a solution.
"It's The End Of The World As We Know It ( And I Feel Fine ) " is their update on Subterranean Homesick Blues with a parade of stream of consciousness images and phrases delivered at breakneck speed by Stipe with the aid of Mills before a killer of a chorus. Different interpretations abound but I tend to favour it being a pre-Coupland critique of the MTV generation and its political apathy. From Berry's introductory drum roll to the false ending it's the most exciting song in their repertoire and a great way to finish off a superb compilation.
Tuesday, 24 December 2013
121 Julia Fordham - Julia Fordham
Purchased : January 1989
Tracks : Happy Ever After / The Comfort Of Strangers / Few Too Many / Invisible War / My Lover's Keeper / Cocooned / Where Does The Time Go / Woman Of The 80s / The Other Woman / Behind Closed Doors / Unconditional Love
Actually I must have told a lie on the last post as this one came from Britannia as well so it must have been a buy one get two half price offer.
Here we have another forgotten female singer-songwriter from the late eighties. This is an entirely self-written album though there's a huge cast list of supporting musicians, a fair few of whom were on Infected including David Palmer though he's only on one track. Julia herself served time as a backing singer for Mari Wilson and Kim Wilde before cutting a solo deal with Circa Records. This was her debut LP released in the summer of 1988.
This was largely bought on the strength of the Top 40 hit "Happy Ever After" which kicks off proceedings. It's an interesting song that slips from personal to political dissatisfaction ( over apartheid ) halfway through and the sound gradually fills up aided by Grant Mitchell's crisp production. It's a percussion-driven track with a similar tempo to Terence Trent D'Arby's Sign Your Name and Peter Gabriel's Biko is another obvious influence. I don't have the technical vocabulary to describe Julia's deep and rich voice ; it's probably closer to a jazz voice than pop. She actually drops out of the song towards the end allowing Afrodisiak to chant it to a close.
The single that preceded it was "The Comfort Of Strangers" which has an interesting confessional lyric about looking for casual sex. Unfortunately it's set to the blandest , formulaic, late 80s pop arrangement this side of Climie Fisher. Julia's vocal style isn't exactly suited to the subject matter either. With no real hook it wasn't a hit. Bowie sideman Carlos Alomar adds some interest with his intricate guitar work but it's not enough.
The same problem is even more evident on "Few Too Many" which sets lyrics like "My appetite for anger is really ravenous" to a soporific supper club arrangement , all languid fretless bass and tasteful percussion, worthy of Sade at her most boring.
"Invisible War" is much much better, a piano ballad with mature lyrics about a failing relationship. It has a strong mournful melody and Julia sings it with beautiful control.
"My Lover's Keeper" is a very busy piece of pop funk with Palmer's firm drumming and Luis Jardim's chattering percussion keeping it moving. While I was writing that last sentence I was struggling to think who it reminded me of and I realise now it's Living In A Box particularly the chorus with its blaring brass. Underneath the bluster it's not a very strong song with Julia's lyrics back of an envelope standard.
"Cocooned" is languid and jazzy with the piano wandering about while Julia emotes fretfully about whether her relationship is cutting her off from the world. It's not very well expressed and the tune's forgettable.
"Where Does The Time Go ?" fell one place short of the Top 40 in February 1989. The title is self-explanatory ( and repeated often enough for near-hit status ) but the rhymes are a bit chocolate box - "reasons/ seasons", "worrying/hurrying" . The music is glossy but vapid; the main interest is in how much guest vocalist John O'Kane sounds like Michael McDonald (a lot ).
The most talked about track - at least at the time - follows next. When it comes to making a rod for your own back , titling a song on your debut LP "Woman Of The 80s" takes some beating and I seem to recall it being brought up in a number of her subsequent reviews. As a feminist anthem it falls somewhere between I Am Woman and Sheena Easton's Modern Girl ; Julia asserts that she won't call her man but admits that she misses him. Musically it's more of that jittery Living In A Box pop-funk ) , spunky but lacking any pop hooks. Hence. as the follow-up single to "Happy Ever After" it flopped.
"The Other Woman" is a downbeat rumination on being someone's mistress that sounds vaguely like Alison Moyet's All Cried Out without the big chorus. Ghosts from earlier in the decade , former Belle Starr Clare Hirst on sax and Julia's former employer Mari Wilson on backing vocals help out but in neither case is their contribution very noticeable.
"Behind Closed Doors " is another piano ballad but it re-uses the melody from "Woman Of The 80s and ends just as it seems to be building.
"Unconditional Love" re-locates that pop-funk sound to close out the LP. The song takes second place to the groove and mainly consists of a rather bludgeoning chant of the title.
Well, two good tracks out of eleven isn't enough for me so my interest in Julia ended here. She hung around long enough to chalk up a Top 20 hit with the forgettable "(Love Moves ) In Mysterious Ways" in 1992 but like many other artists of this period she was buried by Britpop ( arguably a more effective scouring agent than punk), and hasn't troubled the charts since.
Sunday, 22 December 2013
120 Infected -The The
Purchased : January 1989
Tracks : Infected / Out Of The Blue / Heartland / Angels of Deception / Sweet Bird Of Truth / Slow Train To Dawn / Twilight Of A Champion / The Mercy Beat
This one also came from Britannia probably in a 2 for 1 offer with the Nanci Griffith LP which must have struck someone there as an unusual combination.
I had been interested in The The since 1981 through their association with the Some Bizarre label but didn't actually hear anything until the "Uncertain Smile" single in late 82 which was played to death on David Jensen but didn't make the Top 40. On the strength of that and subsequent singles I bought the "Soul Mining" LP on cassette in 1984 but was rather disappointed and sold it to a guy at university ( a mod with catholic tastes called Ricky Back ) a year later when I was running out of money ; hence its non-appearance on this blog. However I liked all four singles released from this one and though the other tracks didn't have instant appeal when the whole LP was broadcast in video form on Channel 4 over Christmas 1986 ( I had to wrestle the TV away from a grumpy Helen to see it ) I still wanted the LP. This was another instance of catching up on those LPs released during my dole period.
The The has always been a pseudonym for Matt Johnson and whoever he's wanted to work with at the time. Although "Soul Mining" was largely a personal album this one is highly political , indeed probably the most politicised LP on a major label (Some Bizarre licenced it to Epic) of the decade. Johnson made a video for every track hence the Channel 4 special.
The title track was the third single from the LP in autumn 1986 and reached number 48, a creditable performance given a daytime radio ban for the inclusion of the word "scrotum". It's a densely layered track which could be about AIDS but seems to me to be more concerned with rampant consumerism - "I can't give you up till I've got more than enough", "Endow me with the gifts of the man made world". Johnson growls his way through the verses , the first of which contains the self-referential line " my aching little soul has started burning blue" ( Johnson released the album Burning Blue Soul under his own name in 1982) , with almost suffocating self-loathing then Tessa Niles and former Orange Juice drummer Zeke Manyika arrive to sugar the pill for the chorus. The whole song is anchored to a sledgehammer beat provided by former ABC drummer David Palmer , a big presence throughout the album and a doomy Blancmange-like bassline from Dan Brown ( not I think the Da Vinci Code guy ). Guy Barker's trumpet solo does owe a little to the synth break from Nutbush City Limits but it works.
"Out Of The Blue" cranks up the self-laceration to its highest notch with Johnson detailing a particularly squalid encounter with a prostitute. The first half of the song is semi-spoken with Johnson not making any attempt to fit his words into what structure is provided by the isolated Ry Cooder guitar chords and unresolving Depeche Mode synth lines. Palmer comes in half way through to give the song some backbone as Johnson gets into the act with a cumbersome mantra. Only in the final minute or so do we get some melody with Niles's brief verse and a grandiose but simple keyboard phrase. The video, which saw Johnson cavorting with a wobbly-bottomed whore was one of the more memorable of the octet.
Then comes "Heartland" , the first bona fide hit, where Johnson takes on Paul Weller's mantle ( without any faux-soul affectations ) to deliver a state-of-the-nation address. To the accompaniment of doom-laden strings and doleful piano courtesy of future Marillion singer Steve Hogarth , Johnson exposes the underbelly of Thatcher's Britain and its subservience to the USA. Janice Long, not someone I normally had much time for, bravely gave it a spin on daytime R1 ( despite the clearly enunciated "piss-stinking" in the first verse ) during the programme covering that summer's royal wedding ( Andrew and Fergie ) and drew a predictable chorus of complaints. Despite its head-on politics it's probably the most accessible song on the LP with a killer chorus where Niles's presence is again crucial.
"Angels of Deception " continues the theme of encroaching American cultural imperialism but it's not as good a song. The first verse is an extended Wild West metaphor set to a prowling swamp blues that approximates Tom Waits before Palmer kicks in for a rather ungainly chorus where The Croquets (who ?) replace Niles. The rest of the song doesn't really hang together musically culminating in a boring chant of the title.
Side Two commences with the leadoff single "Sweet Bird Of Truth" a cheery tale of a merc or spook going down in a plane over the Middle East where he's done his nefarious business. By an unhappy coincidence it came out just as the Americans bombed Libya. Palmer's not present here yielding to an uncompromising drum machine which along with the subject matter is predicative of the sound Sisters of Mercy Mark II would unleash the following year. Japanese singer Anna Domino helps out on the chorus but it was never a chart contender. (Actually it was a minor hit on re-release the following year ).
"Slow Train To Dawn" brings forward Neneh Cherry half way between Rip Rig and Panic and solo fame. The video had a game Neneh in a very unflattering pose tied to a railway line with her nipples poking through a tight sweater. She gets a generous helping of the song, a duet between a couple who no longer want each other waiting for the night to end.
This bleak vignette is set to a stomping Northern soul beat with blaring horns but lacks the strong chorus that might have got it into the Top 40.
"Twilight Of A Champion" gives a co-writing credit to Swans drummer Roland Mosiman for the music and duly points towards Nine Inch Nails and their ilk with its stuttering electro-funk and Gothic keyboards. On top of that you have ZTT also-ran Andrew Poppy's blasting brass arrangement and a jazz rhythm for the first verse. Underneath all that the song itself, a long suicide note from a self-hating business tycoon gets a little lost and it's an exhausting listen.
"The Mercy Beat" is another challenging listen at seven minutes long with frequent changes of musical setting and little in the way of a tune. Art of Noise's Anne Dudley and Gary Langan help out here and Palmer never lets up. Johnson spins a Nick Cave -ish yarn of wrestling with the devil but the final two minutes when his vocal drops out and an extended coda of punchy brass, Cure-ish circular guitar riff and jittery keyboards plays out the album are the best.
"Infected" did the trick in terms of lifting Johnson's profile and ensuring his next single went straight into the Top 20. For me I think if you've got the singles you don't really need the rest; it would be his next LP with a starry new collaborator that really hit the spot.
Thursday, 19 December 2013
119 Lone Star State Of Mind - Nanci Griffith
Purchased : January 1989
Tracks : Lone Star State Of Mind / Cold Hearts Closed Minds / From A Distance / Beacon Street / Nickel Dreams / Sing One For Sister / Ford Econoline / Trouble In The Fields / Love In A Memory / Let It Shine On Me / There's A Light Beyond These Woods ( Mary Margaret )
This was the next purchase from Britannia.
This is another one from the back of the cupboard. It was bought largely on the strength of Annie Nightingale giving "From A Distance" repeat spins and a review in Q ( which I'd now started buying, though irregularly at first ) which suggested she was more folk than country and western. In fact that was more a reflection of her past work ; on this her fifth album she was moving towards conventional country music in search of higher dollar returns. She's aided here by a long list of session names that mean absolutely nothing to me apart from Russ Kunkel who was the main drummer on Tapestry.
"Lone Star State Of Mind" is a song about the call of home and an old love actually written by three guys. Listening to the banjo and pedal steel hammering away it's hard for a non-afficianado to see what distinguishes this from the work of Tammy Wynette or Reba McEntire but Nanci certainly has a very warm and melodious voice
"Cold Hearts Closed Minds" is the first of Nanci's own songs telling her guy she's leaving Chicago - and him - because big city competitiveness is not the life she wants to live. It's a blunt message but the point is pushed aside by the soporific setting.
"From A Distance" follows , the Julie Gold song since marred by two dreadful hit versions courtesy of Cliff Richard and Bette Midler. The overtly Christian sentiments are still there in this version of course but Nanci wins through on conviction and it's nicely paced too with the beat picking up for the second verse when bombs and diseases are mentioned and then dropping back for the third. I'm not sure it needs Mac McAnally's backing vocals but they don't wreck it.
"Beacon Street" is another of Nanci's own songs. This time she's the one who's been left, stranded in a cold town and kept awake by noisy trains. It's more folk than country, a slow acoustic lament with some nice understated mandolin work from Mark O' Connor.
"Nickel Dreams" is a Dolly Parton-esque tale of a small time performer ( or possibly a prostitute ) who isn't going to realise her dreams. The warmth of Nanci's vocal compensates for the rather clichéd lyrics.
"Sing One For Sister " is full-on country as Nanci reminisces about family sing songs to the accompaniment of fiddles, banjos, pedal steel the lot. It's not my thing really.
"Ford Econoline" is another Nanci song but this time a third person tale of a woman who drives away from an abusive husband to make it big as a singer. It's a banjo-driven uptempo country strum with Nanci's vocal upfront but the instrumental break when the steel guitar and fiddle break loose is the most interesting feature.
After the jollity of the preceding couple of tracks "Trouble In the Fields", a co-write with Rick West acknowledges the hardship faced by small farmers in the Reagan era and connects it with the Great Depression. The defiant chorus about staying on the farm may seem unrealistic but it's hard to question Nanci's sincerity.
Nanci's "Love In A Memory" is another third person tale of a separated blue collar couple each holding some precious recollection of their time together. She's a singer (again) and he works on the New Jersey Turnpike ( echoes of Simon and Garfunkel ). At its heart it's a Carole King piano ballad and rather bland and uninspiring.
"Let It Shine On Me " is a soporific Christian anthem written by one Paul Kennerley which relies on some nice guitar work to keep the listener awake.
The album concludes with Nanci's "There's A Light Beyond These Woods ( Mary Margaret )" a touching and beautifully sung account of childhood friends with different lives that would have benefitted from a more interesting arrangement.
I was very disappointed with this when I bought it and haven't played it very much . Now it seems a little more appealing but still doesn't tempt me to explore Nanci's work any further. This album is her high watermark commercially ; though she's had some critical plaudits for later LPs she's never quite broken through.
Tuesday, 27 August 2013
118 If You Want To Defeat Your Enemy Sing His Song -The Icicle Works
Purchased : 13 January 1989
Tracks : / Hope Springs Eternal / Travelling Chest / Sweet Thursday / Up Here In The North Of England / Who Do You Want For Your Love / When You Were Mine / Evangeline / Truck Driver's Lament / Understanding Jane /Walking With A Mountain
This was purchased from Soundsearch for £4.50.
So we move into the last year of the eighties. As far as the UK singles chart goes, out of the period where I was giving it my full attention ( 1973 to roughly 1995 ) 1989 was the absolute nadir, a parade of useless charity records and mechanical so-called "pop" from the SAW stable crowned by the success of Jive Bunny. The singles I did rate usually peaked in the forties and fifties. It brought home to me that musically there was now a generation gap; what I liked and what "the kids" were buying would rarely be the same again . In terms of the charts this was exacerbated by a continuing decline in singles sales which made the Woolworth's demographic proportionally more significant. It seemed very bizarre that a middle aged sweaty loudmouth whose working career began on f**king steam trains had more of a finger on the pulse of youth than me but so it was.
On the flip side this did leave more room for catching up on older records such as this one which was nearly two years old. This was the Liverpool trio's third album, produced by yet-to-be Lightning Seed Ian Broudie and they were still trying vainly to chalk up another Top 40 hit to follow 1984's "Love Is A Wonderful Colour "; I'm wondering if they hold the record for the most attempts to follow a solitary significant hit. They were further hampered by acquiring an unwanted champion in the now ( post-Relax ban ) seriously uncool DJ Mike Read. In 1986 a kiss and tell tabloid story revealed that he liked to make love to their ( glaringly unsuitable you'd have thought ) music and every subsequent review of their records for the next year or so contained some reference to Mike Read bonking. Their failed follow-ups varied in quality but one in particular "Understanding Jane" from summer 1986 had caught my ear and it was that that drove this purchase. It might also have been a factor that I was getting a little too fond of a pub mate's girlfriend who was called Jane at this point in time.
I must admit I haven't listened to this for a long time so it will be a journey of re-discovery to some extent.
The album kicks off with the wryly-titled "Hope Springs Eternal". It's a would-be anthem calling for optimism in the face of adversity with a decent lyric but musically it's a bit ponderous and brings you right up against the central problem with their music. Ian McNabb as ever sounds like Julian Cope attempting Scott Walker and not quite making it ; if any one factor put a glass ceiling in the way of the band's prospects that was probably it but I guess when you write all the songs you call the shots as to who sings them.
"Travelling Chest" is a Big Country-ish mock heroic song about returning to your love after a dangerous enterprise although there's a seemingly incongruous reference to a picket line in the second verse. There's military drumming, banjos and massed acoustic guitars to fill out the sound. There's a similarity to the Associates' Party Fears Two in the galloping rhythm and more than a hint of Winner Takes It All in the main melody. Again its McNabb's voice that lets it down ; my wife in passing thought it was David Essex which tells you a lot.
"Sweet Thursday" pilfers the oscillating guitar sound from How Soon Is Now but uses it to good effect on a string-laden epic about a girl in danger of being left on a shelf. It might even have given them that second hit if chosen as a single.
"Up Here In The North Of England" is a state-of-the-city meditation about Liverpool prompted in some way by a student's query ( shades of Common People ) . It's fun picking out all the allusions to things like Boys From The Blackstuff and Michael Heseltine which also include a staggeringly glib reference to Heysel -"we're folklore in Turin" ( never mind , retribution's just round the corner, boys ) . The only one that stumped me initially was the name check to Pete Townshend apparently because he was fronting the government's anti-heroin campaign. Once you've done that though the musical attractions are limited with the slow grind not leading up to any real chorus though the coda is impressive.
The first few bars of "Who Do You Want For Your Love" ( another single ) with the prodding strings sound very like fellow Scousers Echo and the Bunnymen but it settles into a sturdy pop song demanding a girl makes up her mind. Broudie helps out on guitar and big piano chords underpin the chorus and again there's no obvious reason for its failure other than McNabb's unwavering boom.
"When You Were Mine " utilises a lot of strings to bolster a rather indifferent song about moving on from a past relationship and ends up sounding like a Bunnymen B-side ( circa Ocean Rain ) .
"Evangeline" is a ( not very scary ) urban legend tale about picking up a girl hitchhiker in the American South. It was one of three singles from the LP which peaked, with remarkable consistency, at numbers 52, 53 and 54. It sounds like U2's tubthumper I Will Follow ( even including glockenspiel flourishes ) slowed down a bit. It also features unobtrusive backing vocals from nineties dance diva Alison Limerick.
"Truck Driver's Lament" is a dodgy song about a self-pitying old guy coming onto a young girl he's just picked up. The verses are a grind with Chris Layhe's bass splodging away before a passable chorus and a pretty good guitar solo. Hank Williams pops up again in the lyric.
It almost segues into the one I was waiting for. " Understanding Jane" is a terrific pop song about unrequited love framed by what sounds like a great long lost Sex Pistols backing track ( perhaps they were influenced by all the "ten years on" retrospection going on that summer ). McNabb actually copes quite well with the pace and it is their best song. A re-mixed version was released to promote a post-split retrospective in '92 but didn't chart.
That leaves "Walking With A Mountain" which largely drops the guitars in favour of synths and electronic percussion for an unfocussed ballad that sounds a bit like mid-80s Human League without the girls. It's not wholly successful but was worth a go.
This is actually a slightly better LP than I remembered although I'm still disinclined to buy any of their other LPs. The original trio made just one more LP before Layhe and Sharrock quit, ( the latter becoming a much-in demand drummer for hire who is currently in Beady Eye after being the last in the long line of Oasis sticksmen ) and Beggar's Banquet took the opportunity to drop them. McNabb released one more album under the group name then became a modest-selling solo artist finally squeezing into the Top 40 again ( just ) with his last single in 2005.
Friday, 23 August 2013
117 In My Tribe - 10,000 Maniacs
Purchased : 28 December 1988
Tracks : What's The Matter Here ? / Hey Jack Kerouac / Like The Weather / Cherry Tree / The Painted Desert / Don't Talk / Peace Train / Gun Shy / My Sister Rose / A Campfire Song / City Of Angels / Verdi Cries
This was bought from W H Smith's in Rochdale though I'm not quite sure what I was doing there as it wasn't a match day.
It feels like we've come to a watershed here. After discussing my sister's final gifts we now come to an LP, one of my all-time favourites , which points towards many subsequent purchases. In a way this was my first LP of the nineties.
This was something of a speculative purchase. The band had lurked around the edges of my consciousness for a while before I saw them doing "Don't Talk " on Channel 4's Earsay
( a late night Whistle Test -type rock show that came in for vituperative abuse in Record Mirror 's TV column despite featuring many bands who got good reviews elsewhere in the magazine ) and was moderately interested. I then read , again in Record Mirror, a review of a UK gig which really sold the band to me saying something like "Natalie Merchant sings about the subjects others don't dare to even think about". And so I thought this was worth a punt.
This LP was released at the tail end of summer 1987 and was their second for a major label. The first had received a fair bit of critical acclaim but little in the way of sales. This one was recorded after the departure of one of their guitarists ( and co-writer of the first LP ) John Lombardo. He wasn't replaced and "In My Tribe " is a more collaborative effort with a cleaner sound cannily produced by Sixties survivor Peter Asher . It's also helped by less mannered singing from Merchant. Here the songs are everything; only one track has a guitar solo. The band impress through versatility rather than virtuosity. Shamefully it's never charted in the UK but broke through in the States ( number 37 ) where it's been a college rock favourite ever since.
"What's The Matter Here ?" is a co-write with guitarist Robert Buck. It's a song about child abuse from the point of view of a suspicious neighbour whose self righteousness ( a perennial accusation made against Merchant ) - " Get this through that I don't approve", "Answer me and take your time" - is balanced out by the obvious compassion for the boy and the confession of cowardice in the song's pay-off. Buck works hard to fit a wordy lyric into place opting for a circular jangly riff to accompany the vocal. Although it softened over time Merchant's keening vocal style , somewhere between kd lang and Stevie Nicks is still something of an acquired taste ( my US pen friend finds it an impenetrable barrier ) and it's well exercised here. The song was a minor hit as a single in the USA.
"Hey Jack Kerouac" is an upbeat but wistful song about the Beat writers and their legacy which has me at something of a disadvantage as I haven't read anything by them not even On The Road . Merchant has never been self-conscious about her bookishness and each writer is addressed familiarly by their first name. Allen Ginsburg apparently took exception to this and the blunt reference to his interest in young boys and actually tackled her about it receiving the disingenuous answer that he was included because his name scanned. It's very tight musically with the rhythm section giving it a real pop kick.
"Like The Weather " was their first hit in the States reaching number 68 helped by a video which introduced Merchant's idiosyncratic dancing to the wider public . It's a Merchant solo composition written from the point of view of a housewife with Seasonal Affective Disorder who can barely rouse herself from bed. The subject matter is in contrast to the upbeat African-tinged music with Jerome Augustyniak's drums the lead instrument and a killer chorus.
"Cherry Tree" is the only song I'm aware of to tackle the subject of adult illiteracy.It's an immensely warm song from Dennis Drew's organ to Merchant's heartfelt vocal really getting under the skin of the protagonist torn between the desire to access the world of knowledge and the shame of admitting her deficiency.
"The Painted Desert " ( a co-write with Augustyniak ) seems like a more personal song about a relationship failing to sustain itself by letter after one party has moved away and found a new friend. It's slower than its predecessors with sad organ chords and Merchant's vocal aches with wounded loss.
The side ends on a high with possibly their greatest song "Don't Talk " where Merchant adopts the persona of the battered wife confronting her partner's alcohol-fuelled abuse. The verses seethe with pent-up rage with Steve Gustafson's melodic bass line duelling with Augustyniak's aggressive drumming and Buck's angry guitar blasts while Merchant drills through the man's excuses with merciless insight. The urgent chorus provides a melodic sweetener without letting go of the bone and then Buck is finally let off the leash to close it out with a mournful solo. I have to admit there is a similarity to Go Your Own Way in the song's structure but as that's a personal fave too I can overlook the debt.
"Peace Train" is a cover of the Cat Stevens song and no longer appears on U.S. CDs of the album, the band pulling it in the wake of his support for the Salman Rushdie fatwa and consequent concerns about where he might direct the royalties. It's a largely faithful cover driven along by Augustyniak's percussion skills and Merchant recapturing the spirit of late 60s idealism that its author lost somewhere along the way.
"Gun Shy" follows on quite naturally with Merchant casting herself as the peacenik sister of a young man who wants to join the army. It's folk-rock at its best with Drew's warm and woozy organ chords complimenting Merchant's achingly sad vocal.
She stays in the sibling role for "My Sister Rose" the happiest song on the album as Merchant dissects an Italian-American wedding to a cha-cha rhythm although there's an undercurrent of sadness at the loss of her companion to married life.
"A Campfire Song" is a moral fable , timely in the year of Wall Street, with a simple "greed is bad" message although the natural metaphors suggest there's also an eco-theme. The ringing guitars and gorgeous folk-rock melody suggest The Byrds or maybe someone else. And lo and behold there's another voice coming in on the middle eight and one Michael Stipe Esq. makes his first appearance in our story. ( When I saw them in Manchester six months on from here Merchant picked a guy from the audience to do Stipe's bit and his singing was so bad it removed any suspicion that he was a stooge).
"City Of Angels" is the nearest this album gets to a duff track. It's a protest song about the homeless people of Los Angeles with an excess of laboured irony around the city's name. An unattractive hectoring tone also creeps into Merchant's voice as the song progresses. The languid pace and guitar work suggest a Cocteau Twins influence. It's actually OK ; it just doesn't shine in this exalted company.
That leaves the astonishing "Verdi Cries" ( a big favourite with Stipe who re-wrote it as Nightswimming a few years later ) which is effectively a Merchant solo recording , her voice and piano accompanied only by some guest string players. If anyone can listen to this beautifully played and sung litany of dearly -held childhood holiday memories with its pregnant pauses without welling up they've already died. The older you are the more you feel this extraordinary ( especially given Merchant was only 23 when she wrote it ) song.
There's nothing better than an album which exceeds all your expectations. This is definitely one of my Desert Island Discs. It blew away any last vestiges of anti-American prejudice in my record-buying for good ( as you'll see ). That none of its participants have ever done anything quite as good since doesn't really matter.
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