The Rocker
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New Reviews
LINDA FINKLE| RICK RAY BAND | MARILLION | NICKELBACK | ALICIA
KEYS | THE STILLS
The Stills - Changes Are No Good
While I agree with the sentiment of the song, it seems to slightly
underwhelm. They're going for the big emotive Doves / Starsailor
thing, but it just falls shy. Much better is the band demo of 'Let's
Roll' which accompanies this. Underplayed, vaguely progressive in
it's structure, and a real treat. Alicia Keys - If I Ain't Got You
For a while there it seemed as if Alicia was losing the place a
bit, but this powerful, classic r'n'b ballad brings her right back
on track. If you're going to buy one version of the single, make
it the one with the reggae mix of 'You Don't Know My Name' - equally
inspired. Nickelback - Feelin' Way Too Damn
Good
What is that people have against Nickelback? Or should I say what
is that music journalists have against Nickelback? The punters seem
to be perfectly happy with their retro classic guitar rock, catchy
melodies, and way with a chorus. Not the best track on the 'The
Long Road', but excellent nonetheless with a mid tempo romp through
some well performed cliches. Marillion - You're Gone
And a big hurrah for Marillion beating the boy bands at their own
game, 'street teaming' a single into the Top 10 after hunnerds of
years way from the upper echelons of the charts. They've tried to
update their sound slightly with a mix of samples and loops, but
without straying too far away from the classic post Fish sound.
It's still in the vein of the 'Afraid Of Sunlight' album, and if
it wasn't for the name, I'm sure they'd be getting plenty of that
all important BBC Radio 2 airplay. On the standard single release
(there's 3 versions in keeping with the beat the charts approach),
you also get 'The Damage', which is atypical of Marillion, dabbling
as it does in psychedelia, rather than prog, but quite delightful.
AN EXPRESS TO OBLIVION- SURELY NOT?
A FEATURE ON THE RICK RAY BAND and in particular
their latest release ‘Night of the Living Deadicated’.
Rick Ray’s release rate has slowed in recent years but he still
produces a respectable quota of recordings, each one eagerly awaited
by this reviewer. One must remember that Rick is no longer working
‘solo’ (Reeds player Rick Schultz has been a constant companion)
but with a band that has enjoyed some prestigious supporting roles
with the likes of Robin Trower and Frank Marino, by a happy coincidence
two of Rick’s musical heroes. Getting to know Rick Ray it never
ceases to amaze me the breadth of his musical tastes and inspirations.
Take the sixth of the eleven cuts on the latest Rick Ray Band album
‘Night of the Living Deadicated’ (Rick does like his plays on words!).
I e-mailed Rick to say how much ‘Days of the Watchmen’ reminded
me of Brian Auger’s Oblivion Express. It turns out that Rick spent
a youthful summer jamming to Jack Mills’ ‘licks’ on their ‘Closer
to It’ album. I referred Rick to earlier Oblivion Express albums,
especially their eponymous 1970 RCA debut featuring the remarkable
Glaswegian guitarist Jim Mullen. The man also shares my appreciation
for oft ignored classic albums like George Harrison’s ‘All Things
Must Pass’ (How often do you hear songs like ‘Isn’t It A Pity?’-
incidentally one of Clapton’s favourite Harrison songs) played on
the radio? Anyway, I digress.
There is a breadth in Rick’s music that is born of contemplation,
of experience, of listening, of the very uncompromising approach
that some cannot accept. Rick’s views are clear- what you see is
what you get-and you don’t have to agree with every one of his deep
convictions to appreciate the passion and power of the man’s music.
Detractors very often miss the point, remarking there is a similarity
in many of Rick’s songs- sure, there are connections!- but surely
this is what has contributed to the distinctiveness of Rick’s ‘sound’
and his ‘message’. The production is sometimes criticised- but what
is important, capturing those all important inspirational moments
or ‘doing something to death’ in a misguided quest for perfection,
whatever that is? We are all too familiar with overproduced, musically
inane and lyrically shallow records nowadays- the charts are full
of them! Let’s not waste any more time on the critics though. Suffice
to say that what they need to do is to listen and- keep on listening!
They’ll get there in the end.
The Rick Ray Band’s 2003 recordings were well received by most,
enjoying lots of internet radio play and half of their current set
is drawn from ‘Into the Hands of Sinners’ and ‘Out of the Mists
of Obscurity’.
Keith Emerson is another inspiration for Rick (‘Emerson, Lake and
Powell’ being a particular favourite) and ‘Fanfare for the Common
Man’ opened the band’s set in a recent gig.
As for the present, a Phil Nock composition, ‘It’s Time’ opens ‘The
Night of the Living Deadicated’. It’s a heartfelt, agonising heavy
rocker- ‘It’s time for me to grow up. It’s time for me to shut up’
(Ouch!) A sense of desperation permeates the song as reality hits
and the artist reluctantly accepts the need to change. Rick Shultz
helps out with the composition and makes an early appearance on
the album. His prominent role continues on ‘The Casualty Score’
where he does a nice ‘question, answer’ with Rick before the latter
goes off on one of those mesmerising solos he is famous for. Rick
Ray’s lyrics are, as always, thought provoking and deal with the
deception, dishonesty and pointless sacrifice of war, a recurring
theme in his music. On’ Zero’, Rick takes over the vocal duties,
sounding more and more like John Lennon. His guitar work is subtle
and fluid as it is on the next song, contender for the strongest
on a great album- ‘Containment’. It has one of the cleverest lyrics
I’ve heard in a long time as the urn, can, jar, dish, box, plate,
pack, bag, case and bowl allow Rick to ingenuously explore themes
like TV brainwashing, the tobacco industry and Hollywood.
The band flex its muscles on the 10 minute ‘I Was Wondering’. I’m
not so sure about Gary Wood’s singing here but his bass playing
is wondrous, the first whole group composition on the album. The
song is a lengthy and chilling sequel to ‘The Casualty Score’ as
the old adage of ‘What man learns from history is that man learns
nothing from history’ is proved apposite once again, man stumbling
lemming like along the well trodden path of war to ultimate self
destruction. Not comfortable listening but as I implied earlier
if you want to exist exclusively in the ‘comfort zone’ then music
like this is not for you. The virtuosity of Wood and Ray’s playing
is a marvel. Anyway, the 10 minutes passes very quickly before we’re
into the tremendous ’Day of the Watchman’, referring to the return
of Christ and bearing heavy rhythmic similarities to Auger’s more
progressive works as I mentioned earlier. ‘The Civilised War’, the
last of a trilogy of tracks with Wood on vocals and the longest
track on the album at 12 minutes begins with a ‘killer’ guitar riff,
harks back to Rick’s ‘solo’ album ‘Atomic Soldiers’ and features
some of the strongest playing on the album with each band member
‘pulling out all the stops’ and a lengthy ‘question and answer’
session between the two Ricks about half way through, some stirring
drumming from Sam P J Glorioso and very confident playing from Rick
Schultz. The song concludes (lyrically) with the chilling thought
‘Lucifer cheers and screams for more’.
‘The Ugly Puppet’s Head’ deals with so called ‘puppet rulers’ who
are, of course, in the pockets of the ‘puppet masters’. This does
not make them any less of a threat or any less responsible for the
evil they do.
There are two short instrumental tracks, an eerie strings/ organ
piece ‘Nuclear Casket’ that could have developed into much more
and ‘Calm Before the Storm’, a lovely multi layered acoustic guitar
piece. ‘Wired Wrong’ concludes the album, has Phil Noch’s on vocals
again and features a recurring theme in Rick’s work confirming what
many of us already suspect- that the people who have wreaked death
and destruction on our planet are not like other, decent people
who, in Rick’s words, ‘Only want peace, know love is important and
life is fragile’. There’s another blistering guitar break, of course!
All in all a powerful, at times explosive album with challenging
and intense lyrics and rich musical themes as you’d expect. Rick’s
guitar playing is at times mesmerising in its fluidity, at others
restrained and mystical on the more reflective numbers. ‘Night of
the Living Deadicated’ is a rich and rewarding listening experience,
a creative exorcism perhaps where the Rick Ray Band ‘come together’
as never before. It’s maybe not appropriate to single out musical
contributions but Gary Wood’s bass playing on numbers like ‘I Was
Wondering’ and ‘The Civilized’ war is nothing short of astonishing.
My only complaint was that there were so many words to take in that
I felt I needed a lyric sheet and Rick duly obliged.
This helped increase my understanding and appreciation of the music.
If you want a romantic and sentimentalised view of the world and
prefer some of those corny old war movies to a real movie that depicts
the horror and uncomfortably dark reality of human nature then forget
it. On the other hand, if what I have said here and elsewhere about
Rick’s music intrigues you please check out this CD in particular
and others in his vast repertoire of releases. Agree or disagree
you will find a deeper meaning there- and that’s guaranteed.
If you want to read more or discuss Rick’s music please e-mail me
at phil7jackson@madasafish.com Rick
Ray website
CDs also available from The
Rocker-
Linda Finkle - Piece Of Me
From stockbroking to a 9/11 influenced retro pop-folk quasi concept
album may seem an unlikely step but one that Linda Finkle has made
with ease.
Hers' is a simplistic style that harks back to the direct pre Dylan
style of Joan Baez and her ilk. Fortunately she has a distinctive
voice that compensates for a, sometimes unsympathetic backing.
For the 'un-American' amongst us, the subject matter is a bit conceited,
as Americas self-involvement is frightening to say the least. However
there are enough songs of universal interest for the rest of us.
Those songs are from a time when it was OK to believe that things
were going to get better and that Moms' apple pie was always going
to be there. Feelgood music from the old school. See "Beautiful
Day" for a perfect example of what I'm on about.
