|
|
||
 |
Reviews
Weekly Reviews For July 24, 2005 I am also Assistant Editor & reviewer
at MetalUK. I also contribute reviews to getreadytorock You will also find some reviews at spacerock.co.uk
|
 |
New Reviews
Ray Russell, as the liner bio (note: it's the same bio on all the reissue CDs with a couple of pages of album specific notes) says "...escaped decades of life-threatening proximity to superstardom...". He's worked with the great, the good and the downright dreadful. Namely, Judie Tzuke, Frankie Miller and Phil Collins, amongst a plethora of other artists such as Tina Turner, Gil Evans, Bryan Ferry and John Barry. He then headed off into TV land to write music for Dangerfield, A Bit Of A Do, Bergerac and loads of other programmes I also haven't seen. In 1973, along with Al Clare (vocals, keyboards), Jeff Watts (bass) and long standing cohort Alan Rushton (drums) he put together the dreadfully named Mouse for their one and only album. The record company also pulled 2 singles from the album, - 'We Can Make It' b/w 'It's Happening To Me and You' and 'All the Fallen Teen Angels' b/w 'Just Came Back'. On listening, it's easy to see why this didn't take off at the time. Regardless of the quality of musicians and songs (and both are high), there's no easy peg to hang this set of songs on. Tracks like 'Going Out Tonight' are typical blustering seventies hard rock, while material like 'East of the Sun' harks back to the psychedelic era just passed. One minute they're going all prog, the next minute they're doing Procul Harum impersonations (the Medicine Head cover, 'All The Fallen Teen-Angels'), then they're whapping you with the London Symphony Orchestra and not forgetting a piece of glorious fluff, 'We Can Make It', which should have been a hit single, especially in the chirpy musical world of 1973, I can only assume that long forgotten record label, Sovereign, didn't have the push to get it in the charts where it belonged. I found it all to be highly enjoyable, but then my medical history does point to schizophrenia! There are 4 bonus tracks, which are not attributed in any way, and as the writing credits are solely attributed to Ray Russell, unlike the group credits on the original album, you do wonder if they belong here. There are some excellent performances dotted about all over the
album and although I wouldn't have paid over £80 for an original
copy, as a footnote in seventies rock history, it's well worth checking
out.
But it's an interesting and entertaining field of one. The band leader hails his members as "...merry band of drunks, rejects and computer programmers". After a vain attempt to dominate the Irish wedding market in Boston, they had to lower themselves to playing bars and colleges, with their absence of hors d'oeuvres, but thanks to the wonders of technology, you can now have your very own Irish wedding at home! Please note this CD does not come with any fake American Irishmen, so you'll have to wear too much green, drink to much bad whiskey and feel up your first cousin, all by yourself. Which is what should happen to all 17th generation American Irishmen called Wachowski. Quite rightly, Los Diablos are trying to shoehorn themselves into that strange category called Americana, whch seems to mean anything with a hint of acoustic guitars that doesn't fit it any other category. A term so vague and lazy that I use it at least twice a month when reviewing acts. Lederman specialises in a slightly old fashioned storytelling medium, where most of the songs have a strong narrative quality to them and, praise be, acces to a rhyming dictionary. So you end up with some delightful couplets and alliteration. Tune in to 'Four In The Morning' and 'Silver Queen' for some exceptional examples. If you actually want a lazy comparison (and I certainly do), it's
a little bit Palace Music, a little bit Tom Waits without the irritation
factor, and a soupcon of Pogues, but with better teeth. This CD
was actually first released back in 2001, but has recently had a
debut European release, and there has been a subsequent US release.
But if you're looking for tales of drunks, tramps and thieves, with
some old fashioned joie de vivre, then this could be for you.
Towers Of London – F*** It
Up So that’s what happened to Andrew WK. He moved to London, put on a Dick Van Dyke accent and joined a Sex Pistols tribute band. Which isn’t an unreasonable thing to do, if musicianship is beyond you. Just make a very loud noise, use lots (and lots) of swearie words and hope someone will pay attention. Hey, Twisted Sister managed to make it work, so there’s no reason this lot won’t. Of course, it is noticeable that the b-side uses the same chords played slightly more slowly. And to think punks slag off Status Quo! You won’t play this more than half a dozen times, but for a very short time, your head will bob spasmodically and frenetically. Which makes this a thousand times better than anything Radiohead
will ever do.
The Pete York Percussion Band - Extension
345 Live Pete York was one of those talented but jobbing musicians who was always just on the periphery of mainstream success, blighted, perhaps, by friendships with more successful musicians. Formerly of the Spencer Davis Group and Hardin & York, with Eddie Hardin, the Percussion Band was formed in 1971 as a solo project, but only recorded one studio album, which was produced by one of the musicians alluded to above, Deep Purples Ian Paice. Live shows around that time, saw Paice and Deep Purple buddy, Jon Lord sitting in on live shows. One of these live sessions took place a few years down the line while Deep Purple were recording ‘Stormbringer’, a fraught process by all accounts. So, they were probably glad of the break when York called them in alongside Charlie McCracken and Ray Fenwick. One of the shows was recorded, and 31 years down the line, Purple Records have released it on CD> Anyone looking for sixties pop music or driving hard rock will be taken aback when the opener, ‘Points; from the studio album turns out to be an aggressive jazz instrumental with the Hammond of Jon Lord and the twin drums of York and Paice driving things into the avant-garde. If it’s not your thing, then the cover of The Rolling Stones' ‘Satisfaction’ may be more to your taste, although to 21st century ears, it’s a bit mike Flowers Pops. ‘Sombrero Sam’ is an album highlight, returning to the jazz instrumental format, but considerably more melodic than ‘Points’. Elsewhere, the brass section take front stage on ‘Moleshawk' , before we head off into the legendary drum battle that is 'Extension 345'. If you’re the kind of person who treats drum solos as an excuse to visit the toilet, then these 17 minutes may be too much, but don’t stray to far,, or you’ll miss some excellent work from Jon Lord. The album ends on a bit of an anti-climax with some poor covers of 'Jailhouse Rock'and 'Gimme Some Lovin', although the latter, again, features some excellent work from Jon Lord. Strange, that for a percussive heavy album, it was the keyboard player who really shone! Not one for casual fans of Deep Purple, but for fans of seventies
jazz rock i.e. me, there are some delightful moments here.
The Morrisons – Songs From
The South Of England Now I was in Torquay a few years ago, and used to frequent Paignton in the early nineties, and there was a singular lack of statues erected to “Torquay's finest band”, as they take delight in proclaiming themselves. Maybe it was different in the late eighties when the late John Peel gave airplay to their debut flexi single. Mind you, they split up the following year, so the airplay didn’t seem to do them much good. But here we are 17 years on, and from the original Morrisons line up Ian Churchward Phil Andrews and Dave Clifford are back together with Guy Bolt on drums, recording new material. But we’re here looking back, and they’ve managed to amass a 16 track retrospective. Not bad, for a band that managed 2 singles in their lifetime. It’s all very lo-fi, with hints of the fey, California sound that Belle & Sebastian were to put to good use later on. Naturally, being the mid-eighties, there’s far too much sub Byrdsian jangle, but they can’t be blamed for that, everyone was doing it at the time, even Primal Scream! The best tracks are the EP tracks, ‘Storm’, ‘Lament’
and ‘Travellin’ Boy’, which are the full, finished
article. With the rest being mainly demos, there’s only so
much rough and ready you can take at one sitting. But there is an
undeniable songwriting know-how at work on a lot of the numbers,
and some money and a decent producer could have seen them breaking
free of the C86 mundanity.
Soulwax – NY Excuse It’s a sad world when bands are reduced to sampling ‘Funky Town’ by Lipps Inc, officially one of the worst songs ever, but we’ll blame remixer Kawazaki for that, as the sample doesn’t appear on the lead edits of ‘NY Excuse’. Although he didn’t really have that much to work with as said track is fairly generic electro pop with all the right Kraftwerk bleeps and doodles appearing in the right places. The DFA remix is by far the best, layering some spacerock over the top, stripping away most of the incredibly annoying Nancy Whang vocals, and leaving a dub ridden and bleak sound, far superior to its parent track. Full marks to DFA, nul points to everyone else.
|
 |
|
|
