ROBERT URBAN “Rock Widow”

If you haven’t heard Robert’s music before the 5 minute opener ‘You Don’t Wanna Know’ is as good a place as any to start. The supplicatory vocal, the subtle acoustic guitar and percussion, a cathartic, challenging ballad sensitively and beautifully played and arranged. ‘Compulsion’ asks some big questions (Don’t listen if you’re not into thought provoking lyrics but then again- why would you not be?) and is a rockier number with some nimble drumming from Anthony DeMarco and flowing electric guitar licks from Robert. An excellent sax player Peter Farrell is introduced on ‘My Silent Friend’ (which he also wrote) and also plays on the catchy ‘Burning Heart’ but mostly this is the work of an extraordinarily talented and passionate New York multi-instrumentalist and composer- this passion is encapsulated perfectly on ‘No Love in Sight’ where Robert manages to deliver his serious message with a touch of sardonic humour- Farrell’s honky-tonk piano and the cell phone fight are ingenuous touches. The masterpiece of the album for me though is ‘Ode to Central Park’ on which Robert does everything- guitars, organ, synths you name it- a very intense and personal statement- the lyrics are once again brilliant and the ‘orchestral’ arrangement is most apposite. ‘Waiting for Rome to Fall’ begins with a piece of Sprechstimme by Wolfgang Busch (who does a little ‘eins, zwei, drei, veir’ and appears periodically throughout the piece as well!) and this is the nearest Robert comes to a full band with two backing musicians (who also co-compose) and a ‘gospel choir vocalist’ to create a quite ‘funky’ soul-like ambience that includes a memorable one-liner ‘Revolutions come and go, but diamonds are forever’- quite! I hadn’t realised just how similar Robert’s voice is to Jack Bruce’s and hearing a splendid ‘unplugged’ version of one of my favourite Bruce-Brown compositions ‘Deserted Cities of the Heart’ led to make other connections between the vocal styles of Bruce and Urban. Intriguingly there are interpretations of two Charles Ives numbers on this album the first of which is the all too short ‘The Cage’ with some half spoken half sung lyrics in the finest jazz ‘skat’ (is that the correct term or is that a card game?) tradition- think Hatfield and the North for a nearest ‘rock’ equivalent- seriously! I did a little research on Ives and crave your indulgence for a moment. Ives was one of a line of composers ranging from Louis Gottschalk and Stephen Foster to Aaron Copland that put American classical music on the worldwide map. The larger than life Ives (1874-1954) was also one of the most enigmatic. Harold Schonberg in ‘The Lives of the Great Composers’ (A must read!) expresses the opinion that ‘So advanced was his (Ives’) idiom, so convulsively dissonant and complicated, so full of unusual textures and devices, that hardly anybody could grasp its significance’. So well done to Robert for even attempting this! Anyway, the second Ives ‘tune’ is ‘Serenity’, a haunting psalm. The penultimate track ‘The Boys from Paradise’ is another of my favourite Urban compositions so far. It tells the unsettling tale of Bobby who is ‘locked inside his music box’. The amazing thing about this track is that it has such a full sound and yet it is only Robert playing! ‘Rock Widow’ is a triumph of composition, arrangement and playing that should put Robert Urban on the map as one of the foremost singer/ songwriters in the U.S. and beyond. Highly recommended. Contact:
(Urban Productions UP9926)
(reviewed by Phil Jackson)

BIG BLOCK 454. That's A Nice Hat / Strange Ululations:Songs From The Film Fistula!

Post industrial experimentation music - where's my steel tipped seal club (and no that isn't a typo).

Like a talented Sir Millard MuIch (or whatever daft way he wants to be known this week), BB454 are attempting to bring a user friendly interface to the world of 'difficult' music. Although frankly, if I ever find out what a "Fistula!" actually is, you will be on the receiving end of an almighty beating. Unless that happens to be your thing. In which case you won't

Influenced by the usual signposts (Zappa, Bartok, Captain Beefheart, Faust, B&Q, Eno (both, probably), Syd Barret and the Residents, BB454 at least know what a melody line is, unlike most of the above (Zappa excluded. He know what one was, he just didn't want to use it). "Warm water, cold milk, I name this child Acker Bilk" - the man would have been proud of that.

"Hillman Imp Owners' Club Initiation March" - I liked that, as I did "Black Man's Toothpaste" through to "There is no such thing as a clean polo neck". Fistula! fun. On "...Hat", "Eating Soap Alone" was an ambient delight, with nice vocals and a free jazz sax solo.

I used to work in Manchester until someone tried to blow me up. "..Acker Bilk" could almost be an Enrique Iglesias track if you turned your head sideways and tired really, really hard to project. But with a mad rock and roll bit.

BB45 are mastered by no-one, beholden to none, and wending their own path through the byways of music. And that is good.

PASSENGER - 2 track promo

The latest Swedish metal juggernaut, Passenger (awful name) feature Anders Friden from In Flames and Niclas Engelin from Gardenia amongst their ranks.

Now it's hard to judge a band on two tracks, but this manages to veer from the inspirational to the linkinparkional in the space of of seconds. It's almost as though this is the result of a hideous metal genetic engineering project. Hmm, what was the biggest selling rock album of the century so far. Right, so we need some shouty vocals mixed with some melodic vocals, chuck in a hook or two, a bit of blastbeat, and some chuggin riffs for the old schoolers.

And monstrous or no, there are moments, especially on "Carnival Diaries" when it all becomes very, very good. Whether it will provoke me into the full ceedee remains to be seen, but it's promising

LYNYRD SKYNYRD - Vicious Cycle

Well they ripped the roof off the SECC and blew Deep Purple off stage a couple of weeks back, but can they put some of the 90s recording mistakes behind them, and carry southern rock on into the 21st Century? Well, the answer has to be a resounding Hell, Yeaaaaahhh!!!!!!!!!

This album is fabulous, the best since "Nuthin' Fancy". And i tlooks like the American public agrees, awith the band having their their biggest radio hit in 25 years, “Red White and Blue”, closely followed by the #30 Billboard album chart debut.

This, their first new studio album in four years, marks a turning point for the band, who sound more fired up than they have in a long, long time. Which should make their co-headlining the “Party Of A Lifetime” Tour with Sammy Hagar, a show to remember. This is also the first release since the death of Leon Wilkeson in July 2001 and the band pays tribute to Leon with a tune called “Mad Hatter” remembering all the tragedies he survived, and how his nine lives finally ran out.

Over here, we find the flag waving patriotism and family values sickly sweet, but put your old world 'ironic' values to one side, and there's nothing too wrong with looking after your loved ones. Even Skynyrd sound war weary on a couple of tracks but reserve their right to look out for their own.

The CD kicks off with crackling at the start of "That's How I Like It", fuelling the old time feeling with its bluesy guitar and "Pick 'Em Up" features some fabulous shared vocals betwwen Johnny Van Zant and Rickey Medlocke - more please next time! Cool to see some writing credits for Tom Hambridge (who has worked with Susan Tedeschi) and Kevin Bowe, who as well as sterling work with his band, The Okemah Prophets, has also done some fine work with the awesome Shannon Curfmann. It shows that LS are finally reeling in some quality writers to work with them.

Tucked away as a bonus track is a vibrant remake of "Gimme Back My Bullets", featuring Kid Rock, which adds nothing of value, but must have been a hell of a tip for Kid! There's nary a dud track on the CD with highlight s high and lowlights absent, with special commendations to "The Way" and "All Funked Up", prime slabs of southern rock and roll, the way mama used to cook it:-)