One more time (Joe Jackson) (LP 2818 - 2820)

Joe Jackson  Look Sharp! (Vinyl, A&M Records, 1979) ****  

Joe Jackson  I'm The Man (Vinyl, A&M Records, 1979) **** 

Joe Jackson  Joe Jackson's Jumpin' Jive (Vinyl, A&M Records, 1981) *** 

Genre: New wave, pop

Places I remember: Secondhand shop (they have that secondhand shop musty smell intact)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Is She Really Going Out With Him? (Look Sharp)

Gear costume: I'm The Man (I'm The Man)

Active compensatory factors: Look Sharp was Joe's debut album. At the time he was kind of bracketed with Elvis Costello and Graham Parker as they seemed to have similar shiny new wave sounds.

Look Sharp spins by very pleasantly with some reggae-fied beats. The big hit was Is She Really Going Out With Him? but there are plenty of other really good songs on it - Got The Time (covered later by Anthrax), One More Time,  and Sunday Papers are all great fun.

His second album, I'm The Man, also came out in 1979, and it continues the post punk/new wave thrust of Look Sharp! 

The reggae influence is still present (Geraldine and John) and the Elvis Costello reference point is still there from the first track - On Your Radio, which establishes the like mindedness well. Hey, it's still 1979!

By 1981 Joe was trying out different styles. The Joe Jackson's Jumpin' Jive album is a set of covers of classic 1940's swing and jump blues songs. It's a labour of love that my dad would have enjoyed a lot.

Where do they all belong? An interesting set of artifacts from 1979-1981.

Lion sandwich (Isotope) (LP 2817)

Isotope  Illusion (Vinyl, Gull Records, 1975) ****  

Genre: Jazz rock 

Places I remember: Slow Boat Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Illusion

Gear costume: Lily Kong

Active compensatory factors: British jazz-rock outfit Isotope produced a great second album with new members joining guitarist Gary Boyle. In fact, it was their second album of 1974!

Most notably they included bassist Hugh Hopper from Soft Machine. He has quite a signature bass sound and this anchors the sound for Boyle and Laurence Scott on keyboards to shoot off in almost jam style improvisations.

The absence of vocals helps this become a terrific album, perfectly formed with shorter form jazz-rock songs.

Where do they all belong? An excellent example of jazz-rock at its best and another terrific album to mark student work by.

Backlit (Isis) (LP 2813 - 2816)

Isis  Oceanic (CD, Ipecac Recordings, 2002) ****  

Isis  Panopticon (CD, Ipecac Recordings, 2004) *****  

Isis  In the Absence of Truth (CD, Ipecac Recordings, 2006) ****  

Isis  Wavering Radiant (CD, Ipecac Recordings, 2009) ****  

Genre: Post-rock, post-metal, prog metal 

Places I remember: JB Hi Fi

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Dulcinea (In the Absence of Truth)

Gear costume: Stone To Wake A Serpent (Wavering Radiant)

Active compensatory factors: Keegan introduced me to Isis via a track from Panopticon and I was sold!

  

They are a post rock/ prog metal band from America (Boston to be precise). They were active from 1997 to 2010 and Oceanic was their second album.

I've never seen their first album (Celestial) and I'm not that keen because Oceanic is described as a much more musical album than their debut and Oceanic is pretty hard hitting!

I'm not a huge fan of the growly vocals but there is no way to distinguish actual words, so the vocals become just another layer of noise. Apparently Oceanic is a concept album but that goes way over my head.

I much prefer their third album Panopticon. Less vocals and lengthier instrumental passages with a really innovative drum sound and pattern.

On In the Absence of Truth the whole album becomes an organic entity without discernible songs. There are no individual tracks listed on the packaging at all. It's quite effective; Tool do the same sort of thing.

By this stage the vocals in their songs have become more distinct for the most part, and there are more ambient passages. All good signs as the band's sound continued to evolve with a more melodic approach.

The only slight niggle would be the length of these albums in the CD era. They could do with a bit of judicious trimming.

Their final album as Isis before breaking up was Wavering Radiant. It's another quality Isis album, but it doesn't break any new ground. It even has a return to the growly vocals like Oceanic. Maybe that's why the band felt they'd done everything they'd intended to, and the band had therefore run its course.

Where do they all belong? A great marking aid for me - this and especially Pelican CDs are great for sticking on to do my marking of student work by.

Baby did a bad bad thing (Chris Isaak) (LP 2810 - 2812)

Chris Isaak  Heart Shaped World (CD, Reprise Records, 1989) ***  

Chris Isaak  Forever Blue (CD, Reprise Records, 1995) ***  

Chris Isaak  Heart Shaped World (CD, Reprise Records, 1998) ***  

Genre: Rockabilly 

Places I remember: Kings Recording (Abu Dhabi)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing (Forever Blue)

Gear costume: Wicked Game (Heart Shaped World)

Active compensatory factors: These are albums number 3, 5 and 7 in his catalogue. I bought them all from my favourite music shop in Abu Dhabi - Kings Recording.

Heart Shaped World has Wicked Game on it. This was his big break through. The music video that accompanied it featured a topless Helena Christensen and a shirtless Isaak in the surf and on the beach. Ooo la la. It was huge on MTV at the time!

The basic template is well laid out - rockabilly hushed vocals over slowish tasteful guitars and brushed drums. It was a winner!!

Forever Blue is a bit more up tempo and has a bit more variety, so it's my favourite of the three. 

Speak Of The Devil is even more rocky, but Chris covers the same basic love gone wrong format as before. It's even verging on indie rock at times. Verging. This is still music with a rockabilly heart.

Where do they all belong? And that will do it for Chris Isaak. I don't feel I need any further investigation.

Starblind (Iron Maiden) (LP 2807 - 2809)

Iron Maiden  Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (CD, EMI Records, 1988) ****  

Iron Maiden  The Final Frontier (CD, EMI Records, 2010) ***  

Iron Maiden Somewhere Back In Time (The Best of: 1980 to 1989) (CD, EMI Records, 2008) *** 

Genre: Prog metal, heavy metal 

Places I remember: Virgin Megastore (Dubai); The Warehouse

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Only The Good Die Young (SS of a SS)

Gear costume: Moonchild, The Evil That Men Do (both SS of a SS); Run To The Hills (Somewhere Back In Time)

Active compensatory factors: I read about Seventh Son of a Seventh Son in Kerrang Magazine's article on the greatest albums in prog metal and decided to get a copy while living in the UAE.

Sure enough, it is more at the melodic prog metal end of the heavy metal continuum, and I enjoy listening to it still, although in some ways I've outgrown this kind of rock music.

The Final Frontier is back to bash crash metal and not as enjoyable. I can play SS of a SS LOUD and enjoy it immensely, but I find myself turning The Final Frontier down - not a good sign.

They always play with passion and vision though - it's never less than full throttle, and you have to admire that about them. Plus, the fact that they have parleyed this into a lengthy career is impressive. They are like AC/DC and Motorhead in that they don't mess with the formula much from album to album, and somehow they maintain a high consistency rate doing the same old same old with ongoing success.

Where do they all belong? I also have the compilation - Somewhere Back In Time (The Best of: 1980 to 1989) and that's a great place to start the journey of discovery if you are needing to find out what all the fuss is about.

Fields of sun (Iron Butterfly) (LP 2806)

Iron Butterfly  Live at The Galaxy, LA, July 1967 (Vinyl, Keyhole Records, 2014) ** 

Genre: Acid rock 

Places I remember: Amoeba Records (LA)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Evil Temptation

Gear costume: So-Lo

Active compensatory factors: I have previously covered three Iron Butterfly albums, including a live one. This live concert recording from 1967 has only two tracks from that official live album from 1970.

It was hard to turn down the chance to hear this one but I knew going in it was potentially going to be a disappointment. It's from 1967 after all and it's unofficial (i.e. a bootleg).

It features the first, original line-up of the band, performing their early singles and songs from their debut album Heavy which was released a little more than six months later (January 22, 1968). So, no In A Gadda Da Vida baby.

Given all that, it's groovy, in a late sixties heavily psychedelicised what-a-fearsome-racket kind of way. Sound wise it's a pretty good bootleg quality (amazing given it was recorded by an audience member with one microphone), with the vocals mixed low, but it doesn't detract from the enjoyment of this slice of history. It's very much of its time in all regards.

Where do they all belong? That's enough Iron Butterfly though.

Miasma (Intronaut) (LP 2805)

Intronaut  Valley of Smoke (Vinyl, Century Media, 2010) *** 

Genre: Prog metal 

Places I remember: Virgin Megastore (Dubai)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Valley of Smoke

Gear costume: Past Tense

Active compensatory factors: I went through a prog metal phase while living in the UAE. Amazingly, there were a lot of prog metal CDs available in the Virgin Megastore (Dubai Mall) and Kings Recording in Abu Dhabi.

Intronaut is a band from LA. That's important because they are not a dark metal band - there is a degree of Californian sunshine filtering through on occasion. Valley of Smoke, their third album, was one I bought and enjoyed in the Tiida on my way to work in Al Foah.

First track Elegy is a heavy introduction. The growly vocal style was popular for a while, thankfully they don't use this style of 'singing' too much on Valley of Smoke.

The sticker on the CD says - For fans of Mastodon and Baroness. To my ears they are much closer to Baroness and Isis than Mastodon. I prefer it when they adopt a more fluid, prog style that incorporates some jazzy moves - as in the two selections above.

Where do they all belong? I haven't seen any other Intronaut CDs around, not that I've been looking. One is enough for me, I think.

Love fallout (Interview) (LP 2804)

Interview Big Oceans (Vinyl, Virgin Records, 1978) **  

Genre: Pop rock, new wave

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Love Fallout (Not available on Spotify or YouTube)

Gear costume: Shipyards

Active compensatory factors: I heard Love Fallout on a Virgin sampler - the excellent double album Virginity. I enjoyed it as they reminded me of XTC (who I love) and it was on Virgin - a happening label in the late seventies.

So, I picked up the album, their debut, and was quite underwhelmed and disappointed. It wasn't like XTC at all!

The album doesn't contain any other catchy songs like Love Fallout and the band kind of petered out after a second album.

Where do they all belong? Another album that goes on the to-be-sold pile.