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November 2019 = |
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Bridget St
John |
Ken Burns -
Country Music |
Jeff Kelly |
the Green
Pajamas |
Deniz tek & The
Godoys |
Sendelica |
Dr Strangely
Strange |
Opel |
Meadowsilver |
Kris
Needs book |
La
Grande Armee |
Kungens
Man |
Moon
Ra |
Andrew DR Abbott |
Crystal
Jacqueline |
The
Quietened Journey |
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BRIDGET
ST. JOHN - LIVE AT THE BETSEY TROTWOOD
(LP
on
Shagrat and Feeding Tube Records)
Imagine
hearing
Nico's dark, smoky voice but beautifully in tune
(and English) and you'll touch the melodic tip
of what's so gorgeous about Bridget St John.
Originally Bridget recorded for John Peel's
short-lived Dandelion label (1969-1972), which
promptly gave her the well-deserved label of
"chanteuse". Critical acclaim did not equal
commercial success however, and St John seemed
to vanish, only to re-emerge a few years later
in the New York City area of USA. Live
performances were sporadic during the early part
of the 21st century but many will
remember her wonderful set at Terrastock 6 in
Providence, RI during April 2006.
Fifty
years
since her debut ‘Ask Me No Questions’ – in fact,
almost 50 years to the day since the release of
her debut single - ‘Live at The Betsey Trotwood’
is a live recording of a February 2017 show by
Bridget St John at the eponymous London venue,
pressed on vinyl and released in an edition of
500 copies by Shagrat and Feeding Tube Records.
Bridget covers a lot of territory in her set –
classics like ‘Fly High’, ‘Lazarus’, and of
course ‘Ask Me No Questions’; covers of songs by
Joni Mitchell, Michael Chapman and Leonard
Cohen, and a handful of songs that were never
released during her Dandelion days, including
the set opener ‘Castaway.’ The song itself is a
window into Bridget’s personal psyche. Having
arrived in New York in 1976, St. John found
herself seeking a balance between the city’s
“intoxicating energy and the calm I need.”
Bridget’s
songs
have a natural calming effect on the listener
even today, thanks in no small part to her
trademark gentle fingerpicking and quivering
vibrato; but her delivery is engaging and her
knack for storytelling through song ensures the
audience remains spellbound throughout. ‘Live at
The Betsey Trotwood’ closes with two Bridget St.
John classics. ‘Ask Me No Questions’, the title
track from her first album, and a cover of
Leonard Cohen’s ‘Suzanne’.
The
selection
on offer here, whether her own songs or covers
of her contemporaries’, revolve around the
wonder of joyful experiences, the quest for
freedom, and the dangers of greed and corruption
- at one point she launches into her own
interpretation of ‘America the Beautiful’: alone
on stage, armed with just guitar and voice,
Bridget St John breathes new meaning into those
venerable old songs, whilst reminding listeners
of the power of music as a force to unite and
rebuild. And God knows we need some of that
right now.
(Phil
McMullen)
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VARIOUS
ARTISTS – COUNTRY MUSIC – A FILM BY KEN BURNS
(THE SOUNDTRACK)
(5
CD/Digital on SMG Records)
This
sprawling, epic set takes you on a twisting,
historic musical journey you’ll be glad you
took. Ken
Burns, one of our finest, if not the
finest documentarian, created the massive
eight-part documentary for public television,
with this, the accompanying five-disc companion
set. Burns
was admittedly not much into Country when he
first embarked on the project, a trait we both
shared. I’m
good for it in doses.
I put off watching for over a month,
until a friend convinced me it was essential.
He was right.
This
is the motherlode.
Spanning decades, the music – “three
chords and the truth” - shows incredible soul
and development.
And it’s all right here, from the
primordial soup of rural and multi-racial
influences to the sound of Nashville today, well
almost today. Although
the soundtrack album has, well, everything, what
I really hope you’ll do is seek out and watch
the documentary, even if you’re not into
Country. Now
why would a man in his right mind ask you to
invest that kind of time and effort if it’s not
your thing? Three
reasons: 1)
It’s questionable that I’m in my right mind at
best. 2)
Burns is a master storyteller, and the stories,
the warmth of the artists and industry insiders
who tell them, and the many amazing tales of
rags-to-riches to utter heartbreak will draw you
in and keep you wanting more, and finally, 3) So
much of the music herein would go on to
influence the music carbon-based life forms
would make from these humble origins to the
present.
Beginning
in the 1920s, we have Country’s first stars, The
Carter Family and Meridian Mississippi’s
yodeling “Singing Brakeman” Jimmie Rodgers, both
signed by Ralph Peer in Bristol, Tennessee
amazingly in the same week.
The story winds from mountain music to
singing cowboys of the 1930s, such as Gene Autry
and Sons of the Pioneers.
There’s Roy Acuff and the rise of
Nashville and the Grand Ole Opry.
And there’s one of my favorites, the
western swing of Bob Wills & His Texas
Playboys.
There’s
the dawn of bluegrass, with the instrumental
gymnastics of Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt, Earl
Scruggs and Ralph Stanley.
And Hank Williams, the “Hillbilly
Shakespeare,” understandably receives a lengthy
section of his own.
By the 1950s, in addition to Williams and
the rise of Honky Tonk music, we have Johnny
Cash and the other Sun Records breakthroughs.
Plus, there are the Everly Brothers, and
singing tale-spinners like Marty Robbins and
Lefty Frizzell.
More?
There’s the smooth, classic early 60s
“Nashville sound” crafted by Chet Atkins and
Fred Rose, including the unforgettable voices of
Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn and so many others.
There are hardscrabble, beaten down to
the depths of their soul artists like Merle
Haggard and George Jones.
The late ‘60s and early ‘70s country rock
sound is featured with The Byrds’ Sweetheart of
the Rodeo, Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris, and the
kinship between Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan,
featuring their duet on “Girl From the North
Country” from Cash’s TV show.
Still
more? There’s
the bluegrass revival kicked off by the Nitty
Gritty Dirt Band’s landmark “Will the Circle Be
Unbroken” album, and more recent pickers like
Ricky Skaggs and Vince Gill as keepers of the
flame. The
‘70s would also see unsung hero
singer-songwriters like Guy Clark and Townes Van
Zandt, along with Willie Nelson finally getting
his due. (Nelson’s
long, hard road to fame, plus the interviews
with this genuinely warm soul will have you
rooting for him when he finally strikes it big.)
I
especially enjoyed the interviews with some of
the Nashville Cats, Country’s version of the
Wrecking Crew. These
include Charlie McCoy, known for his harmonica
work, but who actually could and did play every
instrument under the sun, steel guitarist
extraordinaire Lloyd Green, and singing group
the Jordanaires.
The tales these folks tell!
I felt this segment could have made a
fine spin-off documentary series all its own.
Of
all the many wonderful interviews in the series,
special mention goes to Marty Stuart.
The erstwhile mandolin wunderkind’s
incredible font of knowledge and charismatic
presence as a raconteur do for director Ken
Burns essentially what Robbie Robertson’s
interviews did for Martin Scorcese in The Last
Waltz.
Nashville
itself is a star of the documentary, rising from
a sleepy southern town to the capital of a
juggernaut empire.
The Grand Ole Opry understandably serves
as a home base, and Country’s cathedral is a
dateline for endless fascinating tales.
Director
Burns chooses two subjects to return to again
and again through the saga, The Carter Family
and Johnny Cash.
Wise choices, as not only are their lives
intertwined, but the Carters, bedrock to the
genre, represent family, an essential ingredient
to Country, even if it’s a slightly
dysfunctional one, while Cash is the maverick,
tortured genius, fighting his demons while
having an insatiable palate for the greater
cultural world around him. Both
these themes would resurface again and again in
the person of other artists.
Likewise,
Burns chooses two songs as touchstones, the
Carters’ “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” and
Jimmie Rodgers’ “Muleskinner Blues.”
Both songs would be reworked again and
again over the years as new artists made them
their own while reinventing Country.
A
monumental work, well worth both watching and
listening.
(Mark
Feingold)
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JEFF
KELLY - BENEATH THE STARS,
ABOVE THE RIVER
THE GREEN
PAJAMAS – POISON IN THE RUSSIAN ROOM
(LPs
on Sugarbush
Records)
The
latest solo album by Jeff Kelly, the Green
Pajamas’ front, has been given a limited vinyl
reissue by Sugarbush Records. It takes the form
of a love letter to his beloved fado and
flamenco music, experienced during Jeff and his
wife Susanne’s recent travels to Spain and
Portugal (with a brief stop-over in England to
perform solo, along with Nick Saloman from the
Bevis Frond, at Phil McMullen’s birthday party
at Cleeve House, the Woolf II festival venue).
While not overtly traditional, these songs form
the soundtrack to strolls through hidden corners
of the Iberian peninsula,experiencing the rains
on the Douro River (‘River Rain 1’ and ‘2’,
‘Douro River Wind’), poor beggars in the streets
(‘Señor, Señor’), and slice-of-life reminisces
of the señora in a scanner station, drinking
beer under cathedral bells, or watching Romani
gypsy street scenes. It’s a musical travelogue
of a holiday that almost feels like you’re
accompanying the Kellys every step along their
journey.
From
the opening accordion and flamenco-styled
acoustic guitars, we are transported into the
title track lyric from ‘The Initial Kiss’, that
magnetic attraction for your new home for the
next few weeks. ‘Señor, Señor’ and ‘Moon Over
Granada’ pull out the full electric instrument
arsenal and are closest to the full Green Pajama
experience (complete with Kelly’s irresistible
penchant of earworm melodies)., and ‘Todo por la
Gitano’ revisits the swaying waltz-like cadence
of tracks like ‘Laura Petry’s Eyes’ (from
1990’s Portugal), with lilting “la la
la’s” of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Joan of Arc’ (both are
Kelly fascinations) and bullfight-like, mariachi
brass flourishes tossed in for extra atmospheric
impact.
Vampires
have always fascinated Kelly, and ‘The Lisbon
Vampire’ is another eerie addition to the canon,
while ‘Lily’ and ‘Kiss The Moon Hello’ also
float along the warm summer winds of flamenco
guitar accompaniment, the latter also evincing a
cinematic aura, like Cohen collaborating with
Ennio Morricone scoring a “tapas Western”!
‘Alleys of Music’ ends our musical holiday on a
nostalgic note, as we wander aimlessly through
the titular alleys accompanied by (presumably)
Susanne’s harmonies, muted brass embellishments,
and experience the surprise and wonder of what
lies undiscovered around the next corner. No
maps or tourist guides to assist us as we “get
lost in the alleys of Madrid”.
Fans
of both the Pajamas and Kelly’s distinctive solo
work will certainly hear much to enjoy in this
collection of musical snapshots of his vacation,
absorbing and regurgitating the musical
atmosphere encountered along the way. Somewhat
reminiscent of his 1997 Rosary and The House
of Jade concept album (included in Camera
Obscura’s Melancholy Sun box set in
1999), Kelly’s latest love letter is another
jewel in an ever-expanding and consistently
brilliant discography.
The
Green Pajamas originally released Poison In The
Russian Room in 2009. It’s a conceptual piece
split into two distinct parts, the first of
which highlights the more rocking’ side of the
band. ‘Any Way The Wind Blows’ is a gorgeously
constructed Jeff Kelly song notable for a
classic rolling Joe Ross bass line and some very
Spiritual (i.e. Randy California-esque) slide
and feedback guitar work from Jeff. ‘Cristina
Dancing’ has a flamenco feel – Jeff wrote it as
a tribute to Andalucian flamenco dancer Cristina
Hoyos - and again, some mesmerising guitar
sounds. ‘This Angel’s on Fire’ is one of the
strongest songs on here and to my mind would
have made a great choice for title track. ‘The
Queen of Broken Hearts’ (gorgeously sung by rock
goddess Laura Vanderpool) is yet another classic
Jeff Kelly number, up there with the similarly
titled ‘Queen of Sunshine’ (from the ‘Meagan’s
Bed’ album).
The second side forms a Pentangle-esque song
cycle of acid-tinged folk-rock, sub-titled 'In
Search of the Elusive Fairy Queen and Some
Pleasure Unknown’. ‘The Fairy Queen
I’ introduces some sublimely George Martin
inspired psychedelic effects, and ‘Who’s That
Calling’ has the quality of a film
soundtrack about it. You can almost see the rain
hitting the sidewalk and splashing the
flickering street lamplight into a million
fragments in the mind’s eye. The cycle closes
with the sublime ‘The Fairy Queen II’ – a song
you sense the Pajamas will be playing live for
the rest of their days - and the album closes
with a reprise of Eric Lichter’s ‘Poison in the
Russian Room’ from the first side of the record.
This is not only a bloody good album, but a
bloody good Green Pajamas album. And that’s
saying something.
(Jeff
Penczak
and Phil McMullen)
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DENIZ
TEK AND THE GODOYS – FAST FREIGHT
CD available on Career
Records
This rootsy, rock and roll trio comprising
Radio Birdman founder Tek and the punk rockin’
Godoy twins have previously recorded under the
Golden Breed and Last Of The Bad Men monikers.
The Godoys have also served as Tek’s touring
rhythm section for over 25 years. So they’re
obviously comfortable with each other in the
recording studio to the point that Fast
Freight was recorded in just two days,
directly to 8-track tape using vintage analog
equipment. Short and sweet (ten tracks whiz by
in an economically Ramonesian half hour), the
album is straight-ahead, balls to the wall,
pedal to the metal rawk, from the adrenaline
rush of ‘John Henry’s Hammer’, Tek’s
flame-throwing soloing on ‘Path of Most
Resistance’, and the hellbound train kept
a-rolling boogie of ‘When The Trouble Comes’ to
the chugging ‘Shanghai Cab’ and the
Motorhead-on-streriods punk blast of ‘Death Of
The Mood’. There’s even an honest-to-goodness
early Christmas track to get you in the spirit
in the snappy toe-tapping, pseudo-surfin’
instrumental ‘Truck For Christmas’.
As
expected,
the Godoy twins pack a shit-hot rhythmic wallop
and lay down a vicious bedrock for Tek to run
his six-string prowess around. You can almost
feel his fingers bleeding! Fans of prime ‘70s
Stones, vintage Stooges, and Mike Ness’s bad boy
bravura have another album to add to their
collection.
(Jeff Penczak)
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SENDELICA
– THE COSMONAUT YEARS VOLUMES 1-3
(LP/CD
on FRG Records)
Back
in the dim and distant past Sendelica embarked
on a Russian adventure (which thankfully
involved no dubious political connections, was
extremely fruitful and completely beyond
reproach) that resulted in the release of three
CD albums between 2007 and 2010 on the R.A.I.G
label. ‘The Cosmonaut Years’ reissues those
albums with bonus material on three volumes
available on vinyl and CD and for those fans
quick off the mark in a special bundled edition.
Volume
1 ‘Spaceman Bubblegum And Other Weird Tales From
The Mercury Mind’ kicks things off with a fine
collection of tracks both short and long. It’s a
varied listen taking in post punk energy
underpinned with urgent motorik grooves, cosmic
easy listening, bursts of experimental noise and
space rock across its contents. ‘Sunfazed’
floats perfectly in space on a laidback groove,
‘Spaceman Bubblegum’ touches on Public Image
Limited like basslines whilst launching into
extended space rock soloing and ‘It’s A Neu
Thing’ brings motoric urgency and repetition
with flashes of The Stranglers in a head shaking
epic that gets more frantic, occasionally jazzy
and unleashes outbursts of experimental noise.
‘Siren’ has perhaps the clearest signs of future
more blissful space explorations with its
languid beginnings and ascent into space rock
joy. ‘Indrid Cold’ weaves a range of moods
around a riff laden space jam that starts with a
Floydian twist and takes on heavier energy and a
touch of funk as it goes.
Volume
2 is entitled ‘The Girl From The Future Who Lit
Up The Sky With Golden Worlds’ and beyond the
Tyrannosaurus Rex like title once more gives us
a variety of listening pleasures. It opens with
the hard
rocking riffs of ‘Standing On the Edge’ and
moves onto ‘Manhole Of The Universe’ with its
dense, growling and indeed eventually high
flying solo demanding attention from the start.
‘Hazelnut’ takes the pace down, at least
briefly, starting as a lovely melodic drifting
piece of music until another guitar driven epic
emerges from the calm. ‘Dark Disko’ is an
infectious track that has strong hints of post
punk in the throbbing repetitive basslines and
stabbing guitar lines which takes us into an
edgy avant funk workout before ending as a space
rocker where that left field bass and rhythm
stubbornly hang on. ‘The Girl From The Future’
is kosmische inflected and rather beautiful with
waves of jangly echoing guitar and blissful
synths and percussion. We also get what must be
the title of the day and your reviewer is truly
grateful that word counts do not apply before
launching into ‘Several Species Of Furry Humans
Gathered Together In A Cave Grooving Like Groovy
Picts’. Now for anyone attending the Nth Dream
of Dr. Sardonicus Festivals each year at
Sendelica World Headquarters in Cardigan, this
description might appropriately describe the
Saturday night mayhem in the Cellar Bar after
too many pints of festival ale but for other
listeners this is almost 14 minutes of swirling,
murky, intensity with perhaps the first real
outing for Sendelica’s trademark sax sound. This
remarkable track seems at times structured and
at other times coruscating guitar noise and sax
work together to create a free improvisation
abandon and intensity.
The
final Volume ‘Streamadelica She Sighed As She
Hit Rewind On The Dream Mangler’ continues the
theme of extremes and diversity with the ambient
sound experiments of ‘Song Of The Seidr’, the
bouncy shapeshifting rock of ‘Dream Mangler’ and
the dramatic space/prog hybrid ‘Screaming and
Streaming Into The Starlit Nite’. Softer
psychedelic touches are found in ‘Carningli
(Hill of Angels) which bring to mind some of the
Fellowship of Hallucinatory Voyagers work and
the more pastoral elements of the ongoing
Cromlech Chronicles series. ‘Day Of The Locust’
at over 25 minutes is extraordinary and after a
jittery improvised feel at the beginning it
slowly but definitively hits its stride into a
heavy psych excursion that embraces a roaring
beauty taking us to an Acid Mothers Temple like
peak of almost unhinged, free ecstasy.
Taken
individually and collectively these three
volumes are a fascinating and highly enjoyable
dive into the Sendelica archive, setting out
many core influences which are used to great
effect to create a roadmap to the Sendelica
sound of today and at the same time hint at some
intriguing alternative routes that could have
led to pastures new. In many respects it’s the
sound of a band exploring directions and styles
and whilst at times quite ‘live’, openly and
indeed bravely experimental and occasionally
even raw in feel, there is the expected variety
of sound and mood from visceral to blissful and
all points in between delivered with
imagination, enthusiasm and panache. Highly
recommended for your listening pleasure and 100%
guaranteed not to tamper with any forthcoming
elections.
(Francis Comyn)
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DR
STRANGELY STRANGE - FITTING
PIECES TO THE JIGSAW
(book by Adrian
Whittaker)
Dublin in the early to mid 1960’s embodied a
weird mixture of age old tradition and the first
stirrings of some kind of counterculture. Into
this scene arrived a band called Dr Strangely
Strange. The band consisted of Ivan Pawle, Tim
Booth and Tim Goulding.
Dr Strangely Strange’s
early years sees them crossing paths with future
Incredible String Band members, the first part of the book has tales
of smoking such exotic combustibles as Afghani
Black, Red Leb and of trips out in countryside
after consuming tabs of LSD and of the bands
early days at Mount Street at Sandymount
Orphanage in Dublin with Orphan Annie aplace
where they met Tim Booth the last to join in the
fun and frolics.
Gary Moore
also arrives at various intervals. They make
friends with Phil Lynott, then lead singer with the Black Eagles. There are a few
tales about carrying a harmonium up and down to
various gigs; they are after all quite big
instruments. The two albums they went on to make
were firmly in the folk rock genre, with various
instruments such as guitar, bass, drums,
whistle, organ, harmonium, fiddle, synths and
glockenspiel.
After recording a high
quality demo tape, they duly sent a copy in to
Joe Boyd of Witchseason, he was probably on
their radar due to Licorice McKechnie of the
ISB, who also stayed at one of the orphanages at
the same time. He pondered for a few months and
eventually delayed signing the band for a while
but finally yielded to his gut feeling and so
they joined the likes of Heron
and the ISB
in falling under his stewardship.
The first album ‘Kip
Of The Serenes’ was issued on Island records in 1969, and was
released to some decent reviews. The band played
gigs at Les Cousins and various clubs, gradually
built up a fan base, playing the ever popular
college circuit. Peel Sessions duly followed,
then it was back in to the studio for second
album ‘Heavy
Petting’, which was released on Vertigo,
sandwiched between Paranoid and Very ‘Eavy Very
‘Umble In 1970 and sees Gary Moore playing lead
guitar and Dave Mattacks on drums. It has a
great, if somewhat impractical, sleeve designed
by Roger Dean.
Tim Goulding left the band and they were
bolstered for a while by the husband and wife
team of Gay
and Terry
Woods. There follows a horrendous tour of
the lowlands in Brussels, Belgium and Holland.
Back in Ireland things were very difficult what
with border controls and the troubles etc,
however they gradually integrate back into home
life and really that was that as far as albums
went for them. They did release an album
entitled Alternative Medicine in 1997 and Hux
records put out ‘Halcyon Days’ in 2007.
The book runs to over 300 pages with lots of
photographs, lyrics and ephemera and is a hugely
enjoyable read, with many great insights and
strange tales.
Online
sales by Wordery: Wordery
page
(Andrew
Young)
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OPEL - WICKER
HYMNS
(Future
Wizards records)
Opel have had a
stop-start career to date from 1994 to 1999 -
they operated as a four piece before going
quiet, and reconvening in 2017 releasing ‘The
Bough At Jacobs Rake’ and in 2019 ‘Sand And
Stone’, both on Reverb Worship. Primarily the
band is Warren
Wilson (Music) and Claire Colley (Vocals).
This is a limited edition
single sided 12” vinyl featuring a three song suite comprising of “Dance Of The Fire
Blower”, “The Witch” and “Mugwin’s Tune”. Female
led folk rock, labyrinthine snaking pearlescent
lead guitar smeared all over a strummed mesh of
acoustic guitar.
The
music is conceptual and very much inspired by
the British Folk Horror films of the late
'60's/early '70's - a few snippets of horror
film dialogue are evident.
I’m reminded of the great Simones, or
perhaps a little of Spirit with a hint of
Quicksilver; it’s quite trippy with added fuzz
tones appearing at the edges, as it develops and
runs its course. Well worth seeking it out.
(Andrew
Young)
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MEADOWSILVER
–
SINGLES
(CD
from www.millersounds.co.uk
)
Meadowsilver
consist
of Stephen Stannard, Grey Malkin and Gayle
Brogan who will probably be known to readers of
the Terrascope through bands such as The Rowan
Amber Mill, Widow’s Weeds and Pefkin, amongst
others.
This is a super little
artefact collecting some of the digital singles
that the band has released over the last year or
so. Gayle handles the vocals and has a lovely
voice, with Stephen and Grey playing all manner
of instruments. Mellotron, analogue synths,
piano, drums, electric guitar, mini moog,
harpsichord, organ and wind wrangling.
“Midsummers
Queen”
opens the proceedings, a spooky number with a
narcoleptic tune, belladonna and nightshade,
electric guitar, moog, synth, harpsichord and
church organ embroider a fine opening song.
“Fair Sapphire” follows with what i thought
sounded a lot like a hammered dulcimer an
instrument not listed. Gayle does have a nice
voice a purity of tone and really enunciates
clearly. The synths whir and what sounds like a
flute being played in another room.
“The
Coronation
Of The Herring Queen” is the second song
concerning female monarchs. A mesh of ebowed
guitar, analogue synth and much orchestral
wrangling result in a fine traditional sounding
song that sounds otherworldly, Gayle’s double
tracked voice and the added spectral flourishes
make it a joy. This excellent EP ends with “She
Casts Her Spell”, another impossibly beautiful,
gossamer light, folk song, sprinkled with their
magic. It’s also another edited single and when
the album arrives next year. I should think that
some of these songs will be included but in
longer versions, all the songs here hover around
the three to four minute mark.
(Andrew
Young)
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KRIS
NEEDS - JUST
A SHOT AWAY: 1969 REVISITED PART ONE JANUARY
TO JUNE
(New
Haven Publishing, paperback)
For
anybody to write about and encapsulate such a
culturally defining year as 1969 would be a
daunting task of almost Sisyphean dimensions. In
a way I’m not surprised that there have been so
few books already out there this year to mark
its milestone anniversary. So much happened not
least in the wonderful world of rock and roll!
If
anybody is fit for the job it has to be Kris
Needs. The one thing I truly admire about Kris
is his ability to have hung on to his passion
and enthusiasm for music after serving in the
sewer of British music industry for some five
decades as a writer, DJ and musician. Most
people would have hung up their pen or burnt out
in half that time. And if anyone is qualified to
write about those 365 days 50 years ago, it is
Kris: after all he was taking his first baby
steps into the biz that very year as a
Buckinghamshire school boy.
This
is a head-spinning piece of work so packed full
of detail that you have to read it slowly to
absorb all the fascinating facts, it contains.
The book opens with Hendrix on the Lulu TV show
and ends with Brian Jones leaving Kris’s beloved
Rolling Stones. In between is a rollercoaster
ride that may start off in the Home Counties at
the fag end of the 60s but zooms forward and
across continents as he fastidiously places
stuff in context and watches it develop. One of
the book’s most positive attributes is how Kris
pinpoints movements/genres nascent in that
momentous year and how they impacted decades
later. Thank God he has an encyclopaedic brain
that has a grip on not just rock in all its
kaleidoscopic forms but soul, jazz, rave
culture, electronic music, even disco.
Kris
sets his stall out by citing the three key
figures who got him going in all of this.
Central
to it all is John Peel whose DJing and
journalism had such a profound influence on all
of us. You don’t have much money when you are a
kid so Peel’s Top Gear and Night Ride shows were
a way of accessing all the amazing music coming
out back then for free!! A treasure trove of
underground sounds, there was really nothing
like them and aside from a few other maverick
jocks, the best the radio could offer once the
government scalped the pirate radio stations.
You just needed a pair of open ears and
willingness to absorb it all.
Kris
also cites his mentor and friend, Pete Frame who
of course launched Zigzag magazine that April.
Zigzag was the daddy of them all and to Kris’s
continuing amazement, I think he still has to
pinch himself that in 1977 Frame handed over the
editorship of the publication to him!
Just
as significant is sympathetic chemistry teacher,
Robin Pike who got Kris started off (with a
coach trip to the Albert Hall to see Hendrix
that January). Pike was also one of the founders
of the now-legendary Friars club which started
up in June 69 and soon became a home from home
for the young Needsy – am sure there will be a
lot more about the venue in Part 2.
The
book is not a conventional cultural history or a
diary but a very idiosyncratic take on the times
and all the better for it. Of course, those of
us who lived through that great year, will have
our own memories and defining moments. Living
250 miles up the motorway from the capital in a
backwater, I relied on the same sources and
started to form my own musical tastes on a diet
that included the Bonzos, Peter Green’s
Fleetwood Mac, Jethro Tull, the Idle Race, the
Liverpool Scene, and Moby Grape plus many of the
musicians Kris describes in his book.
Aware
of a lot of the music Kris disinters, and in
some cases a big fan, there are some obscure
nuggets I knew nothing about, for example, the
one concerning pianist Mike Taylor, contemporary
and friend of the likes of Pete Brown, Graham
Bond and Ginger Baker who drowned himself in the
Thames Estuary that spring.
For
those of you not around then and unaware of the
genesis of personalities who later became such
major figures in rock, this is fabulous place to
start digging and immersing yourselves in some
of the finest music the twentieth century
created. Kris thank God does not attempt to
re-write history, something which ruins so much
contemporary journalism.
Most
importantly buried in its pages is Kris’s
requiem for his soul mate and muse Helen Donlon
who passed away far too prematurely on 3rd
June 2018. The way he weaves his comments about
Barbet Schroeder filming More at Punta
Galera on the island of Ibiza and its Floydian
soundtrack back in 69, with a description of the
magical sunset he and Helen shared together in
the same location some 45 years later, makes for
a fitting and moving climax to the book.
Going
on this so far, I can’t wait for ‘Part 2: July
to December’ to appear.
(Nigel Cross)
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LA
GRANDE ARMÉE - LA GRANDE ARMÉE
(LP
on Riot
Season Records)
La
Grande Armée are from San Pedro de la Paz in
Chile and are an instrumental trio formed in
November 2017. The eagle eyes and bat like ears
of Andy, chef-proprietor of Riot Season Records
chanced across their self titled debut EP
released digitally by the band through a
Facebook post and its lucky for us all that he
did. Riot Season present us here with a remixed
and expanded version of that debut EP.
Opening
track ‘El Canto De Las Ballenas’ begins with an
ambient psychedelia where fluttering, echo
drenched guitars float over a solid beat before
the guitar takes on a heavier space rock tone
and the drums raise the energy levels.
‘La Tripa Intergalactica’ needs no
translation and indeed maintains the space rock
theme. It’s a strong track with a more urgent
momentum from the start based on heavier,
occasionally growling guitar, a driving rhythm
but with a prominent melody too. Its general
feel and sound has a strong progressive rock
edge as well as pushing all the space rock
buttons correctly to spark ignition. ‘Normandia’
returns to a more floating Floyd infused
psychedelia and a very Gilmour-esque guitar solo
grounded in blues rock but with wisely employed
spacey colours and touches. ‘Misiles Desde
Pyongyang’ is a rockier beast based on a heavy
drum pattern and a guitar solo that perhaps has
more of a seventies hard rock feel in its riff
and guitar solo but it’s a catchy thing that
occupies a little over four minutes very well.
To finish ‘Viaje Al Vacio’ takes a slightly
different path with a touch of jazz rock added
to the melody and hi-hat/rhythm albeit reaching
heavier terrain along the way.
La
Grande Armée are new to me and this record was
certainly an enjoyable listen from a very
promising new band, who sound confident in their
playing and direction. They wear their
influences well and I look forward to hearing
much more from them going forward. There’s a
strong nod to bands inhabiting this musical
territory such as Sendelica or Mt. Mountain and
for fans of those bands there are rewards to be
had from seeking out this fine record.
(Francis Comyn)
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KUNGENS
MÄN – HÅRT SOM BEN
(LP
on Riot
Season Records)
Kungens
Män’s last release ‘Chef’ received a somewhat
glowing review from this reviewer and it is one
of the year’s undisputed highlights. I was
therefore a little giddy at the news that a
second release was coming out this year and the
giddiness levels reached new heights with news
that they would tour the UK in early December
around its release. So was my giddiness
justified….
‘Hårt
Som Ben’ is the result of the band’s Spring road
trip into the woods of Varmland with two cars
filled with band and instruments. The resultant
recordings at the (somewhat ironically named)
Silence Studios are every bit as stunning as I
had hoped for. Title track ‘Hårt Som Ben’ sets a
high bar from the start with a rolling
repetitive riff over which we get some simply
stunning heavy psych guitar solo work that jumps
out of the speakers and grips the listener
without having to resort to flashy histrionics.
‘Måttanpassad
Minneslucka’
follows and completely changes the mood with a
kind of ambient avant funk using repeating
throbbing bass lines and creating an almost Eno
like precision soundscape and minimalism. It’s
relatively short and hugely hypnotic and could
be a canvas for a longer sound experiment live
or indeed on record. ‘Evigetern’ is more urgent
and sparse with a post rock minimalism centred
around drums and guitars but it builds up a fine
head of steam throughout its seven minutes.
‘Rose-Maries Bebis’ is quiet and ambient based
on a pulsing drone, small percussive colours and
occasional short bursts of atmospheric synth. It
has a certain desolation and indeed touch of
darkness in the soundscape created and it’s a
wonderfully haunting piece of music.
Finally we have the lengthy
‘Patriarkivet’ which is a stunning slow building
epic. It has a touch of eastern mystery in its
opening section which is maintained as the track
builds layers of melody and becomes more of an
overtly psychedelic excursion, getting more
intense and captivating as it begins to soar.
It’s a near perfect ending to this stunning
record.
This
is a superb record which highlights the many
shades of Kungens Män. As on the last record
‘Chef’ they essentially work with simple
ingredients but really know how to create
something very special from them. They manage
light and shade and the dynamics that help to
define a really great record and therefore
whilst it’s a record of huge contrasts in style
and mood it works together beautifully. I for
one cannot wait to see them live next month. Buy
the record and go see the live Kungens Män
experience if you can which I am sure will blow
you away.
(Francis Comyn)
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MOON
RÃ – MOON RÃ
(LP
on The
Weird Beard Records)
Moon
Rã are a five piece band hailing from Marseille.
This is their second release but the first
release I’ve had the pleasure to lend my ears
to. So what lunar pleasures are on offer?
‘Spy’s
Uniform’ sets us on our way with organ and
guitar which are indeed like covert coded
signals before
settling into a rockier piece with some dynamic
contrast from alternating melodic guitar figures
and heavy riffing in the chorus. It has roots in
70’s progressive and melodic hard rock with the
guitar and organ interplay and is a fine opening
to the record. ‘Burn In Burn Out’ has a sparse
and mysterious opening guitar melody with
touches of keyboard and percussive colouring
working around it before gradually hitting a
heavier repeating guitar and organ fuelled
prog/psych stride but again with plenty of light
and shade primarily through the use of
stop/start riffs and prog-like keyboards to add
variety to both mood and texture. ‘Snowpiercer’
emerges through a swirl of keyboard driven mists
as a much heavier psych rocker driven by the
momentum of solid drumming and with hard
Mugstar- like riffing before a brief acoustic
interlude signals a change in pace and feel
leading to some lovely spacey guitar soloing
underpinned by subtle keyboards. ‘Alkaid’ uses a
motorik rhythm to provide the launch pad for an
exploratory piece of music that has stabbing,
angular Television style riffing, keyboard
touches that borrow from Kosmische, jazz and
prog rock influences and heavy psych soloing
that has an occasionally slightly eastern feel.
It’s clever, great to listen to and in my view
the highlight of the album. ‘Dead Mustaine’ is a
shorter, hard riffing but also prog informed
track where guitar and organ interplay is once
again a prominent feature delivering sometimes
complex melodic moments. To finish ‘Remontada’
uses a rolling rhythm and sliding guitar to
create an almost jaunty opening before setting
into the heavy guitar and organ interplay around
the core riff which is a particular feature of
this record. As the track progresses things
begin to speed up and it takes on a degree of
space rock chaos before coming back to earth
with a howling dog to end proceedings (the only
vocals on this otherwise instrumental outing I
might add and I assume not from a regular band
member).
The
name ‘Moon Rã’ suggests travelling the astral
spaceways may be a big element of the band’s
musical style but over much of this record,
whilst there are moments of cosmic wanderings
space is not always the place. What we do have
is an interesting record of instrumental music
that takes root in a mixture of space, psych,
prog, art and jazz rock influences and cleverly
uses them to create a classic but also
contemporary sound where Deep Purple like guitar
and keyboard interplay can sit happily with the
modern heavy psych riffing of bands such as
Mugstar and a host of other melodic and
instrumental touches. This is a good thing and
this is a very good record from a band that
deserves your attention.
(Francis
Comyn)
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ANDREW
DR ABBOTT – DEAD IN CHELLOW DEAN
(LP
on Cardinal
Fuzz Records)
Andrew
Abbott is well known in West Yorkshire musical
circles as a gifted and imaginative guitarist
and composer whether in the noise rock duo,
‘That Fucking Tank’ or the experimental and yes,
often noisy, psych quartet ‘NOPE’. At the other
end of the spectrum his solo guitar outings are
grabbing growing (and indeed glowing) attention
in much the same way as his South Pennine
compatriot Dean McPhee does through a personal,
often introspective guitar style that is
innovative and drenched in imagery informed by
the culture and history of industrial and indeed
post industrial Bradford and the South Pennines
landscape on its doorstep. Andrew released a
very fine solo cassette in 2018 on the Bloxham
Tapes label entitled ‘Live on Daisy Hill’ and
‘Dead in Chellow Dean’ follows in its footsteps
and wonderfully so.
The
record is in essence a psycho-geographical
journey beginning with a lonesome porch-style
air of mystery and a mixture of natural sounds
and primitive percussive colours before a
country blues and raga informed guitar
instrumental, ‘Heaton Wild Woods’, begins the
journey proper. There are hints of many of the
solo guitar innovators that must surely provide
the foundations for Andrew’s guitar style and
influences and I can hear Jack Rose, Michael
Chapman, John Fahey and Steffen Basho-Junghans
amongst others singing loudly through his
strings. ‘Daisy Hill Return’ is very
Chapman-esque and has an intensity and strong
slide blues sound that gives it a spring in its
step and yet the music has a certain melancholy
at the same time. ‘The Ballad Of The Empty
Tortoise Shell Part 1’ is a brief and minimal
percussion interlude with a African feel before
‘Sunny Brow Cave’ with a tense and slightly off
kilter repeating melody that gives it an
unsettling and slightly disorientating feel
which is almost claustrophobic. ‘Interlude’ is
what it says on the tin and returns to the
natural sounds and themes of the opening before
the brisk canter of ‘Chellow Dean Top’ and the
light and shade of ‘Chellow Dean Bottom’ take us
back to the cinema of the solo guitar for
hypnotic, immersive and melodic tunes that evoke
to me the four seasons in the Pennine landscape
around Bradford through the light and shade,
wild beauty, changes in tempo and spaciousness
built into the music, This is widescreen and yet
personal and that’s quite a trick to pull off.
‘The Ballad Of The Empty Tortoise Shell’ is
reprised before the lengthy ‘Hill Top Mount
Retreat’ which is in turn dense, reflective and
maintains a dramatic quality through various
changes in tempo. ‘Outro’ completes the musical
cycle with a return to the lonesome and
reflective ambience of the introductory piece
and allows the listener to try and probably fail
to adequately describe the emotional journey
conveyed by the music which I would argue is
different every time depending on where you are,
what you are doing and how you feel.
This
is a wonderful record which is bleak, yet warm
and colourful, sad yet joyful. Like the area
that inspired the music it is quirky, diverse
and industrious with a strong sense of heritage,
place and stories to tell past and present. If
there was a flickering black and white archive
film about Bradford and its surroundings this
would be the perfect soundtrack as it would be
for any mental or physical journey through the
area today or tomorrow. Most highly recommended
indeed.
(Francis Comyn)
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CRYSTAL JACQUELINE –
A PRAYER FOR THE BIRDS
Mega Dodo LP/CD www.megadodo.bigcartel.com
This is Jacqueline’s
eighth album and her fifth for Mega Dodo. She is
a prolific artist who is also
a member of West Country’s The Honey Pot.
This album is very much
themed on nature and the countryside. Jacqueline
has also been joined by
Victoria Reyes who contributes vocals and also
some beautiful oboe, Lizzie
Wayne who contributes a little flute and Elaine
Lightfoot on vocals. I think
the band consists of guitar playing partner
Icarus Peel, bass player Andy
Budge, drummer Brian Rushbrooke and John Wyatt
keyboards.
Beginning with ‘The Edge
Of My Garden’, a perfumed garden where unicorn’s
dance. His is followed by an
early highlight in ‘White Horse Hill’,
I
just love Icarus Peel’s funky little compressed
guitar solo which enters the
fray during the latter stages of the track, it
also features some nice
percussion. ‘Dorsetshire Days’, a delightful
pastoral song with a light hazy
classical motif picked out on oboe. ’100 Years
Ago’ takes us back to simpler
times again decorated by oboe and flute. ’First
Light’, a soft slow opening
establishes the song embellished with a light
Indian drone, piano, guitar and
flute.
Side two of the album
starts with ‘Arise The Sun’, at the dawning of a
jungle morning, tropical birds
sing and for some reason I’m reminded of late
seventies Supertramp. As the song
progresses the guitars are turned up a notch,
the bass and drums kick in and
things turn a little rockier. ‘Mercy Rose’ is
another highlight; I saw her
perform this earlier this month and was
impressed with the way the vocals work
together. Title track ‘A Prayer For The Birds’,
a light folkish reverie, which
again has some fine understated guitar from Mr
Peel. My favourite song on the
album ‘Turn The Tide’, has a distinctly Fairport
Convention folk rock vibe
which turns a lot heavier as it progresses, with
some fine sympathetic bass
from Andy Budge. It also brings to mind the song
“The Lightning Tree” by vocal
group The Settlers. Penultimate song ‘Moth’, a
progressive rock song, which
sees Jacqueline deliver an impressive vocal, it
is has some lovely oboe
playing, some arcing fretless bass, stately
electric guitar melody all of which
dance around her vocal lines. It bleeds into
last track ‘Bird song’, a
continuation of all that’s gone before with a
little mandolin and flute thrown
in. I have heard a few of Jacqueline’s albums
and this one is my favourite and
certainly one of her finest to date.
(Andrew Young)
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THE QUIETENED JOURNEY – A YEAR IN
THE COUNTRY
(www.ayearinthecountry.co.uk
)
The last release of the
year in the series of excellent albums from A
Year In The Country, most of which
have been reviewed here. For this latest themed
album the subject is abandoned
and former railways, railway stations and roads.
Featuring a similar roster to
all of their releases this one sees Pulselovers
celebrating steam, speed and 3rd
class travel with Vert x’s Neil
Whitehead: bass and Dave Millsop: guitar. Sproatly
Smith with a horrific tale of a lady
killed in 1836 whilst walking drunk
along the track nr Sellack, the music is
suitably otherworldy. ‘Elm Grove
Portal’ by The
Seance is frightening
and does indeed sound like it emanates from a
tunnel, ending with a classical
motif. Widow’s
Weeds can always be
depended on to deliver the hauntological goods
and they deliver a great ‘The
Ghosts of Salzcraggie’ with added whistle from
Alan Davidson. The
Heartwood Institute duly arrive
with ‘The Solway Viaduct’, shimmering glacial
synths with plenty of bleeps and
squiggles, love the melody picked out with
plenty of space for more bleeps,
excellent. ‘The Beets At Wellingtonbridge’ by Depatterning warns of eating vegetables due to the high creosote
levels in the area.
Howlround upset the proceedings with ‘Thrown Open Wide’, rust, rust
and anguish. A
Year In The Country
restore order with ‘Silent Treasure’, a haunting
ode to an abandoned road on a
hill side, glacial and slow. Field
Line
Cartographer
deliver a superb
‘Ghosts Of The Wires’ about a pioneering test
line for overhead
electrification. Dom
Cooper and Zosia
Sztkowski investigate an old Roman road
close to devil’s bridge. Keith
Seatman creeps us out with ‘Along
The Valley Sidings’ set in the Meon Valley, a
terrific atmospheric piece that
includes the sounds of ghostly trains, of rotted
sleepers and derelict rusty
signs. The record finishes with Grey
Frequency’s ‘An Empty Platform’ about
Tumby Woodside an abandoned station
in Lincolnshire, with added field recordings
made at the site to record birds,
crumbling masonry and rust!
(Andrew Young)
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