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.

Victorian brickwork (Big Big Train) (LP 264)

Big Big Train Merchants Of Light (CD - RSK Entertainment/ English Electric Recordings, 2018) ***

Genre: Prog rock   

Places I remember: FOPP (London)  

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Swan Hunter




Gear costume: Folklore 

Active compensatory factors: I have a soft spot for Big Big Train. Their blend of folk, rock, with prog tendencies is right down my musical alley (boy).

The vaguely Gabriel-esque vocals by David Longdon (visually, the least likely rock star on the planet) are excellent and there are enough musical subtleties going on via Rachel Hall's input to provide BBT with their own tasteful, unique sound.

This is a double live (I love double live's as you know) and the band use the best of their recent performances at the Cadogan Hall (London) for a wide ranging setting out of their impressive stall.

Where do they all belong? It's very English and so BBT suits my present circumstances perfectly. It was on high rotate in the Purdmobile as we explored Hampshire recently! 

Let it bleed (Goat) (LP 263)

Goat World Music (Download - Released 2012) ****

Genre: Hmmm - Swedish alt prog?  

Places I remember: MNAC entry from Eleri Stedman 

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Golden Dawn
  



Gear costume:  Run To Your Mama, Det som aldrig förändras / Diarabi

Active compensatory factors: Funnily enough, I was round at Tom's gaff recently with Lew and the rest of the Kirkhams and Lew said to me, away from Tom's hearing, that he was struggling with Goat. When I came to leave Tom said, out of Lew's hearing, that he was loving Goat and thought I would too.

Too funny!

My prog background has certainly came in handy when listening to Goat, that's for sure. More King Crimson and Gentle Giant than say Steven Wilson, Goat make a great noise!

The eastern (rock) sounds of Diarabi kick off the set beautifully before barking mad (in a good way) collisions of instruments propel the album in all sorts of directions (maybe why Lew is struggling - just when you get a bead on Goat they lurch off in another direction). 

Goathead is a case in point - after a great racket comes, of all things, some very tasteful acoustic guitar!!

My favs are the more mainstream prog sounds on offer here as listed above, rather than the challenging vocals of Goatman and Goathead. But they are also great!

Most of the songs benefit from brevity - nothing outstays its welcome and the final song is not a second too short at 7 plus minutes. Go figure. 

Where do they all belong? Definitely in that wonderful 70's experimental prog milieu.

Let it burn (Blackberry Smoke) (LP 262)

Blackberry Smoke Like An Arrow (CD - 3 Legged Records, 2016) ****

Genre: American pop/rock 

Places I remember: HMV East Croydon 

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Waiting For The Thunder  (lead track and first single off the album)




Gear costume: Let It Burn

Active compensatory factors: My first taste of Blackberry Smoke was Later...with Jools Holland and the song Let It Burn. 

Being a sucker for down home southern flavoured rock, I was captivated from the off. 

There are hints of The Allman Brothers, Zac Brown Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd along the way but only that - hints. There are enough distinctive edges to make Blackberry Smoke stand alone (love the name too - very evocative and rootsy).

Bottom line: Charlie Starr has one of rock's great voices and he gets mean support from his bros.

Where do they all belong? This was also my first purchase from HMV, well - this, and three other Blackberry Smoke albums. For some reason none of them are available in NZ, so I splurged!

When all is said and done (ABBA) (LP 261)

ABBA The Visitors (Youtube, released 1981) **

Genre: Scandinavian pop 

Places I remember: MNAC selection by Tommo 

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: One Of Us




Active compensatory factors: Tommo's selection meant that the barrier was broken - I'd never listened to an album by the poptastic Swedish outfit before, until now.

Their last album, then, is my first - nearly 40 years after it was released.

How come? I hear you ask. In no particular order - the light vocals (no Grace Slick moves within cooee); the strings (and distinct lack of guitars); the synths (and distinct lack of guitars).

The verdict? I didn't mind the good bits: Giorgio Moroder-isms of The Visitors; One Of Us is effortlessly catchy; 

But the worst moments are pretty dire: I Let The Music Speak is a saccharine meh; the lightweight pop of much of the rest does nothing for me. 

I tried Tom, but there is no reformed ABBA fan lurking deep down in the psyche.

Where do they all belong? This is a one off - won't be tracking back through the catalogue. Sorry.

Alive and well and living in (LP 260)

Jethro Tull Benefit (Vinyl and CD - Chrysalis, 1970) ****

Genre: Progressive rock  

Places I remember: The vinyl came from the RCA record club in 1971. I loved the RCA record club. I'd pore over the booklet, read up in my music magazines and save hard. Then I'd wait for the magic parcel to arrive in the post. Heady days!

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: With You There To Help Me




Gear costume: To Cry You A Song

Active compensatory factors: Benefit has grown on me over the years. In my early days it was over-shadowed by the greatness of Aqualung. But it's an album I keep coming back to more and more as the years drift by.

For me, it's the first Jethro Tull phase 2 album, thanks to the guitars of Anderson and the wonderful Martin Lancelot Barre. His distinctive lead guitar is all over this album and that's a very good thing from my pov.

The album easily drags me back to my bedroom at 18 Korma Avenue, Royal Oak, Auckland, NZ.

First track With You There To Help Me gets things off to a great start. I love its variety before it develops into a great flute/guitar duel before it's done and exits via some deserved applause.

Nothing To Say has plenty to say ('Every morning pressure forming all around my eyes. Ceilings crash, the walls collapse, broken by the lies') and includes a lovely guitar riff. The acoustic guitar bed and electric overlay is a winning formula throughout.

Third track, Alive and Well and Living In,  has a more laid back vocal but after Barre enters it lifts the track to another level. Then John Evan contributes some distinctive John Evan piano.

Son provides variety and contributes via a heavily treated Anderson vocal and some brutal guitar stabs. That continues with the first song on side two - Martin Barre's To Cry You A Song.

Inside is another varied track with a great shuffling beat and easy Anderson vocal.

Play In Time features backward/speed up freak out shenanigans and another great Barre riff.

Final track, Sossity, You're A Woman is a great hum along to finish us off.

Where do they all belong? As I say, the great JT phase two starts here with their third album.