CD
OF THE WEEK
MOUNTAIN
MIRRORS - Lunar Ecstasy
Back in the mists of 2002 we were well taken with Jeff Sanders' Mountain Mirrors
and his "Voices" EP. Well, good as that was, nothing prepared us
for something this good. fair enough, Jeff tried to warn us, describing this
as "inspirational Zen Rock soundscapes, blending Led Zeppelin, Black
Sabbath and Beatles influences with down tempo grooves, dank guitar work and
otherworldy imagery". I mean, yeah right! But in the immortal words of
Janice from Friends, "oh my God"! It is that good.
There's still a huge space rock influence on display, but Jeff has absorbed
the 21st century and mixed things up to a point where you have to cast aside
the conventions of musical boundaries and start listening afresh. The opening
track doesn't really give sufficient warning of what to expect merely hinting
at post rock via Anathema.
It's really on the second titular track, that things really start to take
off combining Tricky type trip hop and Pink Floyd, building up to a Hawkwind
riff before rounding off with a stellar violin solo! "Your Sacred Space"
heads back into introspective mode, an acoustic yet powerful lament that leads
us into the dystopian futuristic nightmare of "Apparition". Fortunately,
it's only a brief visit to an instrumental nightmare before Jeff invites to
experience the infinite on "Where The Green Meets The Blue", another
acoustic track, but one a million miles away from "Your Sacred Space",
beating in time to our hearts and passions.
"Afterlife" is the most beautiful moment on the CD, benefitting
immensely from the sympathetic orchestration of Derek Devore, and if they're
ever looking for someone to score a remake of "Casablanca", this
tugs at more than enough heartstrings. "Last Resort" stirs things
up a bit, being a piece of pure blissed out psych straight out of Tintern
Abbey, and those seeking a look back at where Jeff started should start here.
"Agent Orange" sees Free City Media man Nick Bensen guesting on
a reflective yet menacing number which could easily have come from the mind
of Roger Waters circa "The Final Cut". "Rain" plays us
out, a simple yet engaging solo guitar, ending a fabulous 30 minute trip.
This will prove itself a highlight of this or any other year.
MARSHAN - Kings Thursday On The Friday Street (Casket)
Damn and blast it to hell. Why doesn't anyone tell me anything these days.
I thought we were supposed to be communication intensive? So why I am only
just finding out about Marshan. Not only are they phat stoner bastards, but
the come from the same country as me. Gits. If it hadn't been for their fabulous
"Daze of the Underground" Hawkwind tribute contribution, "Hurry
On Sundown", they might well have passed me by.
This 6 track album has rarely left the decks of doom round our way since it's
arrival. The CD is delightfully divided into Side A and Side B (both of which
play at 33rpm). Nice touch. From track 1 ("Purple Demon Blues")
to the end, a mere and equally delightful 30 minutes later, this is an absolute
peach.
Where Marshan have the edge over some of their contemporaries, is the blurring
of the edge between stoner and jam bands. A Grateful Dead oriented Kyuss if
you will. With some Karma To Burn thrown in for good measure.
Highlight of highlights is the charmingly titled "Mutton Chop Hop"
where they jumble up stoner, jam and that cricket theme from the BBC in the
seventies into an absolutely mesmerising pot pourri. More more more! Hurry
up with the forthcoming "Songs from Southern and Baseline". I need
it now in deep down and dirty stylee!
PESKY – An Effort To Do Good
You know where you are when there's a couple of Magnetic Fields covers on a
CD. You're looking at words like brooding, intimate, bittersweet and sentimental.
If Peskys own efforts don't match up to the work of Mr Merritt, then it's not
through lack of effort.
You also have to admire their bravery, especially tackling "No One Will
Ever Love You " from "69 Love Songs", a seminal song and album,
but to to their credit, they give it a fair go with their own twist on indie
and new-wave, but with added on harmonies and an even more twisted take on the
subject matter, following the path trodden by the likes of the Modern Lovers.
There are hints of XTC like wistfulness surrounding their own material, of which
" "Building Houses" is a melodic standout, as is the near power
ballad, "In Our Heads" which finishes off an always interesting CD.
In an innovative move, if you go to their website at http://www.closed-system.com/pesky.html
and download the raw tracks to have a play with.
THE PETER MALICK GROUP feat Norah Jones - New York City
Blues guitarist Peter Malick has been round the block a few times having released
his first album as a 16 year old member of Listening way back in 1968, on Vanguard
Records. He went on to play backup with legendary blues performers such as John
Lee Hooker, Otis Spann, and Muddy Waters. In the early seventies he joined the
James Montgomery Band and appeared on two of the group's albums, before a 20
year gap from the music business. He recorded the albums "Wrong Side of
My Life" in 1998 and "Sons of the Jet Age" in 2000 and in 2001
he won a W.C. Handy Award for his work on the final Otis Spann album "Last
Call" won him a W.C. Handy Award for historic album of the year. You would
think that was remarkable enough a comeback for anyone, but not Peter.
H walks into a New York bar one night, hears a young woman singing, is blown
away by her voice, invites her to play a couple of shows with him, and they
record an EP mixing up Malick originals with covers of Sam Maghett's "All
Your Love" and Bob Dylan's "Heart Of Mine". Nobody paid much
attention at the time, but a couple of years down the line and several million
sales later that girl has grown up to become Norah Jones. The material has been
out a couple of times in the US, but now it's arrived over here.
Strangely enough, the style Malick adopted for these recordings is the same
blend of light blues, country, pop with a smidgeon of jazz that has taken Jones
to multi platinum success. You go figure. So who can begrudge him for trying
to cash in now. And unlike some other singers who have their past dragged up
to embarassing effect, virtually all of these tracks would fit quite snugly
on her ensuing solo release, so it's well worth picking up if you were drawn
into her world.
ICED EARTH - The Glorious Burden
I was never really drawn into the world of Iced Earth until the release of "Something
Wicked This Way Comes", and then only by the extended "Something Wicked"
trilogy which closed the album. heresy to some, but their earlier stylings just
sounded like a poor mans Iron maiden. But "Something Wicked.." managed
to add some melody to the equation, and it suddenly started to makes sense.
Iced Earth is the property of guitarist Jon Schaffer who formed the band (then
known as Purgatory) waaaaay back in 1984. Yes, you read that right, 1984, although
their debut release as Iced Earth wasn't recorded until 1990. Since then there
have been constant line up changes which have affected their development, and
an increasingly frosty relationship with their record company of 10 years. It
looked as though things had settled down with the 7 year tenure of vocalist
Matthew Barlow. However, his departure and the end of their deal with Century
Media left things looking a bit shaky. Enter SPV records and Tim Owens, or The
Artist Formerly Known As Ripper, as he shall be known form now on.
Fresh out of Judas Priest after the inevitable return of Rob Halford, TAFKAR
originally signed on to record the album, but has now pledged himself full time.
This is a good thing. For TAFKAR is an astonishingly good singer. I was not
one of the naysayers who poo poohed his Priest output, and he had developed
into an excellent frontman. So, we have TAFKAR and we have a concept album.
Stop running, and come back now. Yes, this is a concept album. Blame September
11. It's what caused Matt Barlow to leave the band and look for a greater purpose
in life, and it's what prompted Jon Schaffer to write the album.
The songs are about war throughout history from Attila The Hun to World War
1, and all points inbetween. And CD2 is a song trilogy about the Battle Of Gettysburg.
Which is manna from heaven for a history buff like me. Some will take issue
with the uber patriotism on display, but I'm not American so cannot pass judgement
on how that act of savagery affected a nation. To be fair, starting the album
with "The Star Spangled Banner" is a bit much, but then I'm from the
cynical Old World.
The songs hit new heights for Iced Earth, especially "Attila" which
takes bombastic to a whole new height, and "Gettysburg" quite rightly
takes pride of place on a disc all of it's own. This is pure heavy metal, augmented
rather than diminshed by the plethora of additional instrumentation and orchestration.
Here's hoping Jon and TAFKAR manage to gell on stage, because this release could
catapult them to the top of the metal tree.
Notes - The European release has a laughingly entitled bonus track in the shape
of "When The Eagle Cries" (unplugged), whereas the single US CD shuffles
the running order, drops "Waterloo" and adds in "The Devil To
Pay", "Hold At All Costs" and "High Water Mark". So
you end up with one less track in total on the European version which has the
'bonus' track. But if you buy the US 2CD version you get all the tracks from
the European edition and the US edition. Still with me? Great album, shite marketing
strategy.
Reviews
for 25 January 2004