Omission (John Frusciante) (LP 269)

John Frusciante Shadows Collide With People (Digital download - original release 2004) ****

Genre: American pop/rock

Places I remember: This is Tom's current choice for MNAC  

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Song To Sing When I'm Lonely




Gear costume: Regret, This Cold, Time Goes Back, Omission

Active compensatory factors: Known principally as the guitarist in Red Hot Chili Peppers, John Frusciante has also had a prolific solo career (twelve albums since 1994, this one is the first of three in 2004 alone). I don't own any of them, nor have I heard any of them, so Tom's current Monday Night Album Club choice is a welcome one.

The spectre of RHCP looms large as Frusciante is obviously a key ingredient to their sound - there are echoes all through this (very very very) long record. Chad Smith and Flea also make appearances to good effect.

Those RHCP sounds are immediately apparent in opener Carvel with it's repetition motifs and there are Under The Bridge style sound shapes at times (Song To Sing..). 

Along the way, the electronic treatments add some prog depth to the enterprise (although I could cheerfully live without 23 Go In To End, O O Ghost 27 and Failure 33 Object which feel like indulgences) and then, of course, there's the distinctive rock guitar by Frusciante (Second Walk being a fine example of his innovative style).

Something I wasn't expecting was how good the vocals would be - either by side kick Josh Klinghoffer or Frusciante.

Overall, this is an easy album to like. There is a warmth and comfort that permeates throughout (except for those pesky electronic experiments). So much so that Song To Sing When I'm Lonely actually works as a perk me up!

My only slight problem is with the length. Self-editing (less is more) is a concept that many musicians struggle with and Frusciante is no exception.  

Those indulgences I spoke of also break up the flow of the album. I'd cut them (even though they're possibly Tom's favourite tracks) and a few others to make a killer single album.

Where do they all belong? If you're a RHCP fan but haven't listened to Frusciante generally, or this album specifically - you're in for a treat.

Caesar rock (Paul McCartney) (LP 268)

Paul McCartney Egypt Station (CD - Capitol, 2018) ***

Genre: Beatle style pop 

Places I remember: HMV east Croyden  

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Confidante




Gear costume: I Don't Know, Caesar Rock (where Macca returns to his best Ram voice) 

Active compensatory factors: Because it's so new , and my thoughts are still developing, I'm going to bullet point my response to this one - Macca's new album that has been out for about a week.

• It's not as lived in as late period Joni Mitchell, but his older age vocal style is something that takes a little getting used to. Interestingly, I didn't notice it during his live concert last year in Auckland.
• Lyrics to some of the songs are a little off putting: fer instance Happy With You's allusion to his old smoking jazz cigarettes and getting stoned habits is blunt and unnecessary.
• The latest attempts to write a Give Peace A Chance song of the people (People Want Peace, Despite Repeated Warnings) are exactly like all his others* - icky. *Notable exception - Give Ireland Back To The Irish that is full blooded and super catchy!
• I Don't Know and Confidante are peaks - each builds nicely and the lyrics are on point and heartfelt. Caesar Rock is a peak late on.
• His piano playing is a strength he returns to for a few songs.
• Yuh You isn't as embarrassing as I was expecting, just not that great - Macca aims to be au courant from time to time, when in fact his best songs these days hark back to Wings' best moments (and there were heaps of those).
• Come On To Me IS cringe worthy - both a terrible lyric and a bad look with Macca asking some dodgy questions. Not sure what Nancy will make of this one.
• Side Two (from track 9 onwards) feels weaker - in that some songs get lost in the lead up to another medley of half finished songs (always a fun activity for Macca). That's me saying the album is too long.
• The falsetto used for Hand In Hand isn't terrific but musically it's a lovely song. Then we have a second falsetto during Dominoes - I'm not a fan of falsetto vocals.
• Back In Brazil is catchy and a bit of light relief. But still inconsequential.
• I really wanted to love this album - instead it has some songs I like but, at this moment in time, when all is said and done, in the long run, on the whole, at the end of the day, I won't be playing it as much as I do Ram, or Band on the Run, or McCartney, Red Rose Speedway, Driving Rain, Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, or even Wildlife. 

Where do they all belong? Our Paulie gets kudos for still caring enough to tour and release new albums deep into his seventies. He doesn't need to - he has nothing to prove, so he obviously still loves to do both things. Good on ya , Paul!

Hoochie Coochie Man (Willie Dixon) (LP 267)

Eric Clapton From The Cradle (CD - Reprise Records, 1994) ****

Genre: Blues  

Places I remember: Record store in Salisbury. Bought a few weeks ago while on holiday there. 

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Hoochie Coochie Man




Gear costume: Third Degree/ Reconsider Baby/ Driftin'

Active compensatory factors: I owned this a few years ago and in a rash moment of madness, I flicked it off. I know it was rash and mad because I've gone to my CD racks a few times to find it and it ain't there! Doh!!

While on holiday recently, in Salisbury before school started, I saw a copy, cheap, in a second hand record shop. Bam! Right there.

It's as good as I remember it, too. Slowhand returned to the blues for this outing and it's all the better for having a cohesive focus on that art form to which he's so adept. 

Where do they all belong? Good companion piece to the giant slaying Unplugged album.

I can't hold on much longer (The Four Tops) (LP 266)

The Four Tops Night Lights Harmony (Vinyl - ABC Records, 1975) ***

Genre: Soul  

Places I remember: Second hand book and record shop Caterham-on-the-hill 

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Seven Lonely Nights




Gear costume: Is This The Price?
  



Active compensatory factors: Quite rightly, Levi Stubbs and The Four Tops are lauded throughout the music world as soul brother titans and genius singers. 

Tragically, their ABC material is somehow largely forgotten about because of the amazing stuff they did on Motown, but, I for one, love the ABC albums. 

Warning: if you click on Seven Lonely Nights it will be with you forever! A great great song and a real ear worm.

Where do they all belong? This one is the third of the ABC albums I know and love - after Keeper Of The Castle and Meeting Of The Minds. I'm ashamed to say that I sold it off at one stage (it is the least solid of the three) but luckily I found a replacement copy last week up the hill from where I live in Caterham. Phew!

On the death of the waters (Shearwater) (LP 265)

Shearwater Rook (CD - Matador, 2008) ****

Genre:  American indie rock

Places I remember:  JB HiFi (Palmerston North)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Rooks




Gear costume:  Snow Leopard

Active compensatory factors: Before buying it, I hummed and harred over this CD for ages. It was in the bargain bin section right at the back of JB HiFi.

Whenever I visited my youngest daughter in Palmerston North, I'd inevitably consider the CD as a purchase.

I eventually took a punt on it for three reasons - the cover, which is amazing, looked like they were a mysterious prog band and the label, Matador, sounded like an exotic prog label. Third - the price: it had the potential to be a bargain.

I often find myself emotionally bound to record labels and will track down bands purely based on the fact that they recorded for a specific label: Apple; Mandrill; Grunt; Nemperor. Matador sounded cool so...

In this mistaken way, believing it was a progtastic band, I fell in love with the album before I heard a note.

The sound that greeted me was hard to categorise - part prog, yes, but Radiohead/Bon Iver style indie pop/rock at times, folk and psychedelia, with aspects that I ordinarily wouldn't particularly go for - falsetto vocals, jarring sections, bleak lyrics and dissonance mixed with things I most definitely do go for - warped arrangements, tunes, wondrous vocals, interesting lyrics and vision.

This is intelligent song writing, although I have no idea what he's on about at times, the feel is obvious.

Take this from On the Death of the Waters - 

the moon rises
the moon sags
over the rolling waves
and your hands on the balcony
as a spine
pricks the world
and the shudder, deep, is unheard 

and, seemingly, in Leviathan, Bound -

The silver shoals
of the light in the deep
brush the glittering skein
where the great, dark body writhes
and the trembling jaw
the unfathoming sounds
of leviathan, bound
as his heart, though weakening
still is racing
still is racing, alone

Thinking about it, comparing yourself to a monster from the sea is hugely effective, but on the surface it's not the sort of thing found in your average pop song, is it?

It's not all bleak, although even in moments of optimism there is a rider:

From one of my favourite tracks, The Snow Leopard:

Well, I’ve had enough,
wasting my body, my life
I’ll come away, come away from the shallows
But can this sullen child,
as bound as the ox that I ride,
climb to the heart of the white wind,
singing, high,
and blow
through my frozen eyes?

I'd like to say, Yes - you can!!

As for the music - it's thoughtful, well constructed and well considered music that sometimes could come across to some as cold, but that's the idea surely, accompanying lyrics that are pretty desperate at times (Rooks is not a pretty picture of the psyche under examination).

All up, the enigmatic quality on offer in these songs just makes me want to delve again and again into Shearwater. 

Where do they all belong? Like Radiohead - Shearwater repays the effort.