Friday May 05, 2006

Harry Chapin - storyteller

Years ago when I commuted twice a week around the M25, Harry's music would feature on my play list. We bought his best cd Greatest stories live to replace the worn out cassette tape ages ago and recently I have been playing it again. As the title suggests a lot if not all of his music are stories about people. Sadly his life was cut short by an auto accident in 1981. Interestingly there are two prominent web sites dedicated to him one by his family and another just as good. Here is the first and here is the here second A lot of his lyrics are also available on this web site.

Favourites of mine are:

W.O.L.D a short track ( for him) of his about a D.J. who has been on and off the 'air' as a disc jockey who is now separated from his wife and kids - mainly because of his love for the job. He is hoping his wife will take him back but she has found someone with a regular job...

I wanna learn a love song. This story is about him as a young man who meets a married woman who wants to learn to play guitar and sing. Her husband is always playing stud poker in another room when Harry comes over to teach her. Of course it goes much farther than learning to play and singing songs...

Mr Tanner a really good track this one. A local man who has a clothes cleaning shop also sings as he does his job. His friends pester him to spend all his savings on doing a show in the city. Eventually he caves in and does the show. It goes terribly wrong after he gets scathing critical writeups in newspapers. He never sings again afterwards except late and night and then very quietley. From the track the lyrics:

Music was his life, it was not his livelihood,
and it made him feel so happy and it made him feel so good.
And he sang from his heart and he sang from his soul.
He did not know how well he sang; It just made him whole.

A better place to be, about a security guard in a steelworks who meets a glamourous girl one night and she comes back to his home and stays the night. The next morning while he pops out for breakfast she leaves, leaving a note: 'It's time that I moved on..' The song starts with the guard telling the story to his local barmaid. At the end there is a happy ending as they get together as a couple.

Cats in the cradle is his best known song I expect. It is about a father who has no time for his son. his son repeats the words as he admires his father ...

He'd say, "I'm gonna be like you, dad.
You know I'm gonna be like you."

The son grows up and he follows his father's behaviour and at the end of the song the retired father rings his son up only to find the son has no time to meet his dad who then realises his son has grown up just like him

Taxi, a track again about a couple who meet by chance in a taxi cab. They were once lovers he wanting to be a pilot, her wanting to be an actress. He is now a taxi driver, I think its left to our imagination what she is now doing. Initially she does not realise who he is but soon does. They chat and she gives him an enormous tip for the ride. The last few lines are excellent.

For a two fifty fare, she said
"Harry, keep the change."
Well another man might have been angry,
And another man might have been hurt,
But another man never would have let her go...
I stashed the bill in my shirt. 

30,000 pounds of bananas is a fun track following a truck full of the said goods heading to a town. As the rookie driver reaches the town he goes too fast and crashes the truck. Harry on the live album does a few finishes of the track much to the amusement of the audience.

Last but not least the track the shortest story touches on Harry's passion for world poverty and its effects. Its a sad tale of a baby born who only lives a short while before succuming to starvation:

It is twenty days today, Mama does not hold me anymore;
I open my mouth but I am too weak to cry.
Above me a bird slowly crawls across the sky;
why is there nothing now to do but die?

He did a lot of work for charities relating to world problems like this when he was alive. Anybody know of other albums by him worth a punt?

Thursday April 13, 2006

Nick Drake - past masters.

Amazing that nowadays he is more popular than when he was still alive. He produced three albums in my very humble opinion Bryter later is the best. It has a very dark sombre picture of him with his guitar on its front cover. If you listen carefully to the lyrics they are very clever and carefully crafted. I also have his album Pink Moon which although good is not as excellent as this CD.

The album starts with an intrumental track named Introduction a gentle guitar piece with a string accompaniment.

Hazy Jane II, a fast number with brass intruments in the background.

The best track ever The chime of the city clock comes next which is an awsome track again with string accompaniment.

One of these things first comes next, with a piano alonside a nice guitar track. Hazy Jane 1 comes next the first half which comes after the second part!

The title track Bryter later then follows, a nice guitar and flute piece.

Fly is next with a viola and harpsichord alongside his voice.

Poor boy has some excellent background vocals.

The next track is Northern Sky my second favourite track of his with John Cale playing the celeste, piano and organ. The way the track seems to gain intensity with the clever keyboard playing is stunning. The final track Sunday back with the flute again a lovely instrumental. Very mournful song.

So a very talented musician R.I.P. Nick

Friday March 17, 2006

John (and Beverley) Martyn

The first album from this guy I don't have but I have a few others with him on his own or with his wife who has a fantastic voice. Stormbringer is described as a "pace setting acoustic rock adventure, with folks guitars filled out with pounding drums, piano and bass". I don't think there is a bad track on the album. The title track is memorable, as is the fourth "Sweet Honesty" written and sung by Beverley. "The ocean" is another haunting track sung by her but written by him. The final track "Would you believe Me?" is the first of many tracks that has John doing his classic Crooning singing style seen in many later albums. The next album I have is Road to ruin again with both artists. It is another good album with tracks from both artists. "Auntie Aviator is a favourite sung by Beverley. "Give us a ring" is a lovely duet with both of them singing. "Sorry to be so long" and "Say what you can" are uptempo numbers with Beverley singing with great piano riffs. The title track is sung by John and is a number that is a slow then fast section again with a great piano line.

On his own I have one album Sapphire and a compilation called Sweet little mysteries. The former album is good but I miss her voice alongside his music. The title track is good, and "Fisherman's dream" is a favourite of mine and generally I enjoy listening to the rest of the tracks but they lack the subtle simplicity of his earlier stuff.

He is still making music and performing but has split from his wife and also lost a leg in a motorbike accident. If you know other albums of his that you would recommend I would like to hear of them.

Wednesday March 08, 2006

Past masters 24 Caret Purple

I have been scanning the cd collection at home and getting slightly bored with the cd's I am playing on a regular basis I am pulling out ones I seem to be ignoring. Some of them are rubbish but some are really good, this is the first of a series where I will go over these albums as I re-discover them.

24 Carat Purple by Deep Purple. It is a 'best of' from the band. It has some classic tracks on it but the thing I liked about them was the punch each instrument/artist had in the music. A quote on this point is "Purple became the monster of individual contribution". A really throbbing bass line. Amazingly strong vocals. Great keyboards riffs and of course excellent guitar playing. The tracks...

Woman from Tokyo; a very listenable track nothing spectacular but with several sections, each different.

Fireball; starting with what sounds like one of the bands vacumn cleaners! Great keyboards on this track.

Strange kind of Woman, this is the track where Gillian uses his powerful voice to 'mirror' the notes coming out the guitar at considerable risk to his health.

Never before - a nice bassy track.

Black night - one of the best from the band.

Speed King, an excruciating painful start of the track (missed off in some performances) then a real rock'n roll track with great lyrics.

Smoke on the Water. Every wannabe guitar player could play the opening bars to this track. It is a story about when the band went to a recording session and I think the place burnt down. Anyone can play the opening bit but the way the drums, then the bass comes and finally the keyboards is just amazing. To be played LOUDLY.

Child in time, a gentle keyboard introduction, temporarily hides a strong vocal set.

All in all a monster album.

Thursday January 12, 2006

Old favourites

Every so often I think of the music I used to listen too. I took a strange route to the music I listen to know, Heavy Rock, then Progressive, Soul/Funk and then the stuff I have been writing about over the last year . The problem I find is the names of the bands are becoming fuzzy and I wanted to remember the progressive stuff. As usual a Google did the business. I set a benchmark that any site should have Van der Graf Generator and Tangerine Dream in the band listings to be worth looking through their A-Z lists.

These folks fitted the benchmark.

So who did I find?

The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown, Amon Duul III, Fairport Convention, Gentle Giant, Gong- Pierre Moerlen's, Matching Mole, Henry Cow, Barclay James Harvest, Camel, Rundgren, Todd Pendragon, Pentangle, Weather Report; I just about remember them.

Caravan, the crazy titles of their albums had to be carefully rehearsed and I remember "Cunning Stunts" "If I Could Do It Again I'd Do It All Over You" "The Land of Grey And Pink" "Waterloo Lily" "For Girls Who Grow Plump In The Night", I bought several of these.

Deep Purple, strangly my favourite album of theirs is a compilation called "24 carat purple" that I still have but I used to have others of theirs too.

Emerson, Lake and Palmer another favourite, "Brain Salad Surgery " and "Welcome Back My Friends to the Show That Never Ends"

Jarre, Jean Michel with albums of Oxygene and Equinoxe

Parson's Project, Alan " Tales of Mystery and Imagination ", "I Robot", Pyramid" and "Turn of a Friendly Card"

Supertramp "Crime of the Century ", "Crisis? What Crisis?" and "Even in the Quietest Moments"

Tangerine Dream "Cyclone" and "Force Majeure".

Traffic [UK] "Mr. Fantasy (67)", "Traffic (68)", "Last Exit (69)", "Best Of (69)", "John Barleycorn Must Die (70)", "Welcome To The Canteen (71)", "The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys (71)", "Shoot Out At the Fantasy Factory (73)", "On the Road (73)", "When The Eagle Flies (74)", "Smiling Phases (91) ".

Uriah Heep "Very 'Eavy ... Very 'Umble (70)", "Salisbury (71)" and "Look At Yourself"

Van der Graaf Generator "The Least We Can Do is Wave to Each Other (70)" and "H to He Who Am the Only One"

There were also some really odd names bands like Capability Brown, Khazad Doom, Mad curry, Pork pie.

Bands I did not find:

Dr feelgood, Hawkwind and Little Feat (although these are not really progressive bands...

Must look at some other sites soon. Wether I re-purchase any of these again - well that remains to be seen.

Friday December 09, 2005

Ian Dury

Ian Dury ( not forgetting his Blockheads. I remember the first time I heard the album New boots and panties (NBAP). This album is not for the faint hearted and it caused offence to many who did not understand what the words really meant. He died a few years ago of cancer having performed fairly recently before his death when clearly very ill. He suffered from the after effects ofPolio having had the illness as a child. I loved the name of the record label; his albums were sold under stiff records. The later albums like Do it yourself with the varied wallpaper style album covers (can't remember how many different types there were) were not as good as NBAP but still original. Somewhere up in the attic is my original copy of the album that I really must get it on CD soon.

Wednesday November 30, 2005

Jools Holland live and on cd

Last week we went to see Jools Holland and his Rhythm and Blues band in Reading at the Hexagon venue. It was the second time we had seen him there and it was a very good show. The band played for about two hours and before they came on there was a support act. He had some guests; Marc Almond from Soft Cell (brief) fame who did his two hits with Jools and his band. Two folks from his new album also appeared Ruby Turner and Solomon Burke. Solomon is infirm and he was wheeled onto the stage in a big throne type chair. Jool's brother also played in the band and took over on the piano when his brother did a track when he played a guitar. It would be remiss of me to mention Sam Brown who usually appears with Jools she is an excellent singer such a powerful voice. Two things I also like about the way the show pans out; each musician get a chance to go the the middle of the stage and do a sort of solo piece even the guys who are not the lead trombone, trumpet etc. Jools also mentions each of their names after they do their solo. The other thing I like is they are all clearly really enjoying themselves. The band came back for two encores pretty good given the time they had already played. But of course the star of the show is Jools himself, he is amazing on the piano. Years of practice maybe but he a unique talent.

So onto the cd's the latest, called Swinging the Blues Dancing the Ska has the guests Ruby Turner and Solomon Burke singing some tracks. Its not a bad album but I think his best are the ones where each track on the cd has a special guest. To my knowledge he did three of these. The first has for instance, Sting, George Harrison, Paul Weller, Joe Strummer, Sterophonics, Suggs ( from Madness) Mark Knopfler, Van Morrison, Steve Winwood, Mick Hucknall ( Simply Red), Eric clapton and of course Sam Brown. The second cd of friends features Norah Jones, Edwin Starr, Bryan Ferry, Dionna Warwick, Tom jones, Chrissie Hyde ( Pretenders), Sterophonics, Ray Davies, Marianne Faithfull, George Benson and Bono. The third has Smokey Robinson, Steve Earle, Nick Cave, Eric Clapton, Peter Gabriel, Ringo Star, Paul Rogers, Kirsty MacColl. In all three cd's I have only listed the more well known artists. Each cd has at least twenty tracks - excellent value. So even if you do not like the big band sound I would recommend having a listen.

Wednesday November 16, 2005

One old one new - Two new Neil Young Cd's

While visiting friends over the last couple of months two new Neil Young albums have got our attention:

On the Beach which is an old album but only just released on CD.

Prairie wind which is the latest album of his after his recent illness. This album is not so immediate for me but after listening to it several times it is now a firm favourite. Neither are his best but worth looking out for anyway.

Monday October 31, 2005

Coors [sic] blimey and more cheese gromit?

The new Corrs CD Home is out. I like a lot of their stuff but some of their albums are a bit sporadic. Recently they have also gone all hi-tech with their music using synths and all that. This album takes them back to their roots and has some really nice traditional music (with their words) tracks. A couple are actually sung in Gaelic which is interesting. The other album of theirs which I also like is their Unplugged one.

Brilliant new film featuring the plastercine folks Wallace and Grommit. Don't want to spoil your fun if you have not seen it but do watch closely there are so many carefully hidden funny bits, so subtle. To give you an example of the humor Wallace ends up naked at one point and Gromit chucks a cardboax box over his owner to hide his privates. The box has a sticker on it Warning may contain nuts. I think this film can be watched many times and you would spot little bits like that you had missed before. Xmas present list I think...

Wednesday October 26, 2005

Pink Floyd

An excellent band with a long history dominated by two members both of whom have now left. In the early years Syd Barrett left and no one really knows what has happened to him. Much later on Roger Waters left and the band reformed with Rick Wright rejoining after a brief spell away. David Gilmour replaced Barrett when the bands future was in doubt. If you want to listen to their early stuff I would recommend the excellent Relics album which gives a very good taste of their music during that era. For me the best album is Dark Side of the Moon (with Barrett making a cameo performance in speaking the words at the end - "there is no dark side of the moon, matter of fact it is all dark..") Wish you were here, Meddle, and then much later on The Divison Bell are also good. There will be much grumbling on my short list here but I will be honest and say I am not keen on the Waters dominated years of The Wall and so on. The Animals album is ok and was advertised if I remember rightly with a floating plastic pig that slipped of its rope holding it down. The cover of Wish you were here was taken by a firework factory with a man shaking hands with another man on fire. I wish I could have seen them live; they did a show with Waters earlier this year for charity I think but I would like to see a full evening set. Two live albums are good Ummagumma and Pulse.

Friday September 30, 2005

New cd's from the the Rolling Stones and the Beautiful South

The Rolling Stones have released a new album ABiggerBang. Don't buy it unless you need a new mug mat. I don't think there is one decent track on it. Sad but true.

The Beautiful South album Golddiggas - Headnodders and Pholk songs is not a new album - I have only just been aware of it. It is a album of cover versions of other songs from other artists. This is a complete departure from their normal music. It is actually quite good, the tracks I like the best are You're The one that I want - yes the Olivia Newton and John Travolta track from the film Grease, Livin' Thing - ELO, Don't fear the Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult, with a latin music style, This old skin - The Hepplebaums; there is some doubt that band even exists. Also Till I can't take it anymore - Brook Benton and Blitkrieg Bop - Ramones. To be honest the other tracks are also good these just stand out as excellent. There is even a cover version of Don't stop moving - S club7 , much better than the original. Each of them is much more than just a respin, the band have really tried to do something new with the music/lyrics.

Friday July 22, 2005

The Rolling Stones - still rolling after all these years

Years ago I just used know the Rolling Stones 'current' stuff which at that time was Singles like "Brown Sugar" and the like. It was only when my wife's scratched LP collection joined mine that I learnt of their other stuff. The band are not I think the cleverest Rock'n Roll band going or one that is technically the best. But the combination of band members characters, their respective talents and their history makes them the best all round band. There are a few of their albums I consider awsome with all good tracks and here they are:

Sticky Fingers, with the Andy Warhol album cover features great tracks like "Wild Horses", "Can you hear me knocking" ( long instrumental at the end of it) , "I got the blues", " Sister morphine" and "Dead Flowers".

Exile on Main Street, good car CD this for long journey is all good but "Tumbling dice", "Sweet Virginia", "Let it Loose" are exceptional.

It's only Rock'n Roll, starts brilliantly with "If you can't rock me", the title track - (play loud in private) are my favourites.

Let it Bleed, again an awsome title track, "You got the silver", "You can't always get what you want" and "Gimmie shelter",

Beggar Banquet, "Sympathy for the devil", "Jigsaw puzzle (one for me!) and "Street Fighting man"

THe compilations are not bad "Forty licks" being the better one I think. The live albums although interesting bear little of the power and stage presence the band really has so buy a DVD and it'l be a better experience. The 'Stripped' album is ok with an excellent version of "Angie" on it with "Wild horses" too.

Of course I know I have missed off many of their excellent tracks and for me seeing them live in Sheffield a few years ago was brilliant. Given how old they are they all were very much moving around and Jagger especially not standing still for one minute. Keith Richards with his laughter "lines" it is amazing he still lives - he told a funny story with Ron Wood during an interview ( totally fabricated of course). When playing in Frankfurt he slipped and fell over on a frankfurter sausage and of course when they played in Hamburg he slipped on a hamburger.. Ron Wood is an excellent artist I saw some of his stuff hanging up in Drury Lane Theatre. Jagger has done some good stuff in his solo career and his "Dancing in the street" with Bowie was brilliant. Must see them again soon.

Thursday June 02, 2005

Fleetwood Mac

Fleetwood Mac must be one of my favourite bands from yesteryear. I think a lot of people don't realise how far they go back and the original line up is now long forgotten as is the music they produced. I am not so keen on the original stuff but there are some classic tracks when Peter Green was with them. Albatross, Black magic woman etc. But the band's re-emergence in 1975 with the line up then including Christine Mcvie, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks is one of popular all time comebacks I reckon. The comeback album with memorable tracks on it like Rhiannon, Landslide is brilliant. The thing about the line up is you have so many great musicians and writers. All made contributions and their marriage problems were to influence the band afterwards. Rumours has to be the best album. This was recorded during that turbulent era. I think all the tracks are excellent. An album that does not get so much attention is "Tusk". A double album, it would have made an awsome single one. "What makes you think you are the one", "Not that funny", "I know I'm not wrong" and the title track are highlights. ( Annoyingly my copy jumps in the car on the title track). Mirage is not a bad album . The lesser known album "Time" is ok but without Stevie Nicks and Behind the Mask has some decent stuff on it.

After a period of not playing together the CD and the DVD of the live show "The dance" was eagerly anticipated. Once the band got warmed up they were back as of old. A track I had not heard of before "Silver Springs" is excellent and at the end with the marching band they do a rousing rendition of "Don't stop" a single I bought for the college jukebox many years ago. The last album without Christine McVie is average. My brother in law saw them live, not so long ago and said they were very good. Mick Fleetwood still looks as crazy as he did all those years ago!

Friday May 27, 2005

Devils and dust

Bruce's new album is here . I think it is a bit like his Nebraska

The album is good and the title track is awsome and builds UP as it goes on - very clever. I find myself best liking the even numbered tracks which are the faster tracks. I think this is a late night album after a meal, a few too many glasses of wine just before going to bed ! The version we purchased has a companion DVD that we have not watched yet. So apart from the title track my favourites are; All the way home, Long time coming, Maria's bed, (sounded like a Ronnie Lane track) Leah and All I am thinkin' about.

PS the album has a parental guidance for the track called 'Reno'. There's plenty of talent in Bruce still it seems.

Friday May 06, 2005

Pulp, Nick Cave and a new CD from the Stereophonics

While shopping at the local superstore they had cd's on sale. Five pounds for "Pulp hits". As I liked most of the tracks I had heard from Pulp I decided to gamble the fiver. I don't think there is more than one bad track on the album. I liken the words as depicting teenage years and the things you spot and feel during those years. "Babies", "Razzmatazz", "Lipgloss", "Do you remember the first time", "Underwear", "Somethings changed", "This is hardcore", "Trees" and the best for me "Last day of the miner's strike".

I had heard of Nick Cave and I remember hearing a really good spooky track at my wife's cousins late one night. So another fiver was gambled. The album is called "The best of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds". It has to be said Cave's early stuff is not going to be everyone's taste but I found that spooky track on the cd. It is called "Red right hand". It is as I remembered it, an awsome track, the line "you are one microscopic cog of his catasptrophic plan " is brilliant. His newer stuff is a little mainstream and I am sure Nick Cave early music fans will be less impressed with his change of style. But these ballads are not bad at all. These are "Nobody's baby now", "(Are you) the one I've been waiting for" and "The weeping song".

Finally the new Stereophonics album . The album "Language. Sex, Violence. Other?" is not so immediate as their other albums but it is not bad. Tracks that I like best are "Superman" and "Devil" (where the vocalists well known gravelly voice comes out best) and "pedalpusher". The rest of the tracks are ok but the album is not one of their best.