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Reviews
Weekly Reviews For September 25, 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
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New Reviews
Assisted by Rory G. - electric guitar, slide guitar, analog synthesizer and backing vocals, Steve Hixon - drums, percussion and backing vocals and Tom Calder - bass, vox organ and backing vocals, American Zen are using their beliefs and the medium of American mainstream rock to detail adolescent turmoil, the wrongs of organised religion and the government and a belief in family values. All good subject material and the songs sometimes live up their ambitions. It can be a bit rough and ready but it was recorded with a 4-Track recorder, so the glitches are forgivable. Almost live, the solos and backing vocals were recorded along with the other instrumentation. There are some interesting ideas here, and if they keep developing as musicians, American Zen could be a concept worth following.
With some fabulous horn arrangements and vocal harmonies, this
isn’t rooted in the past as so many reggae albums. Although
Odel shares his cultural home of St. Ann's parish with Bob Marley,
it’s that other hometown legend, Burning Spear, that Odel
seems to draw from most. Helped along by George "Fully"
Fullwood, Tony Chin and Jawge Hughes, Sr, Odel has put together
a band of sympathetic believers who drive the songs along.
Glyn Bailey - Toys From Balsa It might not be the best idea to highlight your past as as employee of a Member of Parliament. As someone who has worked at Westminster and Holyrood, it nearly caused me to hurl the CD out of the window in disgust. Which would have been a shame as this is a very engaging set of songs. Part David Bowie, part Ian McNabb in delivery, it's the lyrics that lift the songs from good to very good. With a skewed slant on life, it came as a relief to open the booklet and find the words there, as I wouldn’t wanted to have missed out on some of them! There are a few fillers and the 14 tracks could have been trimmed back to 10, but when there are delights like 'Sorry (She Went Down On Me But I Thought About You)', 'Yellow Rage' and 'Part Of Me' on offer, the minor quibbles remain just that, minor. There's something for everyone, or at least those interested in
plastic bags, cannibalism and Laurel & Hardy in heaven, just
some of the observations on offer. Dive in and enjoy.
Cats & Jammers - Propose Toast The band say they have been lingering in a state of obscurity since 1997, and on the basis of some of the songs here, it's easy to see why. Across this 17 track compilation CD there is enough rubbish to keep MTV2 afloat for weeks. But every couple of tracks or so, they stumble on to a minor gem that keeps you listening. It usually happens when they turn into a strange hybrid of the Buzzcocks and the Lemonheads. 'Get Your Ya-Ya's Out', 'Zodiac Girl' and 'Not Gay' show they had
the potential to be a great singles band, and there’s half
a dozen others you'll want to play again. Hopefully, they're on
a download site somewhere, so you can extract the pearls.
Liquid Blue - Supernova I hate the term "World Music". I mean, what the hell does it mean? Yes, you can attempt to fuse different rhythms, but you can’t manage to fit every different beat into one sound. Usually, it seems to involve middle class university dropouts mixing Western melodies to Middle Eastern percussion and dropping some hippy claptrap lyrics over the top. Rant over, because you'll probably find this CD filed away somewhere as "World Music". But, it is very nearly a fabulous fusion album. The San Diego based seven piece have chosen to mix their pop songs with Indian percussion, some Latin rhythms and some classic soul voices. Yes, the hippy claptrap is still there, but the songs are generally strong enough to carry it off. The one downside is the plethora of lead vocalists, which makes for a disjointed listening experience. Granted, the female singers are uniformly excellent, but drop the male singer, and get some continuity chapping, to help things flow. But there are some superb performances on the likes of 'Show Me
Love', 'Supernova', 'Real' and Rhythm of Love' (sadly not a Scorpions
cover:-), and this is a highly recommended release for the Afro
Celt Sound System fan in your orbit.
The Running Man - same Another archive release from Angel Air, highlighting the long and varied career of Ray Russell, a guitarist and composer who has spent the last four decades working with the likes of Gil Evans, John Barry, Tina Turner, Phil Spector, The Ronettes, Van Morrison, Art Garfunkel, Dionne Warwick, Bryan Ferry, Jack Bruce, Cat Stevens, Phil Collins, Alex Harvey, Mark Isham, Georgie Fame, Cliff Richard and Frankie Miller, to name but a few. Of course, he also had a stab at success with his own bands, and this particular piece of progressive rock was originally released back in 1972. If you had wanted to buy an original copy you'd have been looking at a 3 figure sum, and I'm not talking £, s, d! So, a CD copy is most welcome. There's an Atomic Rooster vibe to this album, which means it's going to score highly in my book, with Alan greed combining a Chris Farlowe bellow and Vincent Crane organ sound into one person. Some of the tracks are pushed along by a driving brass section and it helps lift what might otherwise have been commonplace prog into something considerably more satisfying. It's very much of its time, but as a historical artefact, it is
deserving of a place in your progtastic collection. It does come
with a bonus track, 'Spirit', but as is often the case, its provenance
ris undocumented. A thoroughly enjoyable CD, for those keen to investigate
the minutae of classic prog.
Zone Six - Live Wired 2004 Blimey! This was an unexpected delight. I'd been bemoaning the
absence of of any top notch space rock to cross my path recently,
then along came Zone Six to calm my trembling hands.
The Bravery – Unconditional Well I loathed their first couple of singles, but this is actually
rather good!
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