TAPESTRY
Carole King
The remarkable thing about Tapestry is that it sounds like Carole King has done an album of cover versions of soul standards but put her own languid twist on all of them. Then you have to remember that she wrote them all in the first place.
1001 Albums That You Must Hear Before You Die (tick!) reckons that King sits in the same space as Simon and Garfunkel, as essential listening for the young lonely student struggling to cope with the world after slipping the apron strings. King seems a more mature proposition to me. The album cover suggests she's established herself in the world.
I Feel the Earth Move
So Far Away
It's Too Late
Home Again
Beautiful
Way Over Yonder
You've Got a Friend
Where You Lead
Will You Love Me Tomorrow?
Smackwater Jack
Tapestry
(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman
THE YES ALBUM
Yes
The Yes Album? Possibly the most can't-be-arsed album title ever. However, it does have a ring of the definitive about it and you can apply that description to the content. There's some career defining stuff on this, not least the opening 'Yours Is No Disgrace'. From the opening DUH-DUH-DUUH-DUH! to the slightly awkward lyrics "Caesars Palace, morning glory, silly human race" and Anderson's delicately layered vocal, it all comes together quite nicely. Peter Banks has been booted out and Steve Howe is in and I think you can tell the difference in the guitar work. It's well over nine minutes long, so they're certainly making an effort.
The unfortunately named '(The) Clap' (the 'The' was dropped on later issues - wonder why?) is an entirely different proposition, short and undoubtedly folky. Basically Howe showing off. It appears to have been recorded live. Ooo, ooo! Starship Trooper is broken down into 3 movements. 'Life Seeker', 'Disillusion' and 'Wurm' (undoubtedly umlauted). This one definitely sits in the middle bit of the Genesis/Yes Venn diagram, those cascading guitar notes could just as easily be Hackett. Howe is off again when we get to the Disillusion part. Wurm is a very satisfying progression of semi-improvised chords that Howe had in his back pocket when he arrived from the poorly named 'Bodast' (thanks Wikipedia).
Only two parts in the marvellous 'I've Seen All Good People'. This could be Anderson's best vocal performance (although 'Wondrous Stories' probably beats it). "Don't surround yourself with yourself, move on back to squares". Totally meaningless but also truly poetic (well I think so anyway). Second movement is boogie-woogie influenced with Squire's warbling bass driving it along. Yes at their best. 'A Venture' is more theatrical and goes a bit 'Jazz Club toward the end. The fourth long track, 'Perpetual Change' doesn't quite reach the heights of the others for me. It's a bit disjointed and tends too much towards the jazz-blues neck of the woods.
Dull cover to go with the dull title. Kaye's foot is in plaster because they had just been in a car accident outside Basingstoke, which for non-British readers, roughly approximates to our version of Nashville. OK?
https://andysrockodysseys.blogspot.com/2015/11/yes-silly-human-race.html
Yours Is No Disgrace
Clap
Starship Trooper
a. "Life Seeker"
b. "Disillusion"
c. "Würm"
I've Seen All Good People"
a. "Your Move"
b. "All Good People"
A Venture
Perpetual Change
Released 2nd February 1976
A TRICK OF THE TAIL
Genesis
And so, Peter Gabriel throws his musical differences out of his pram and Genesis become a four piece with Collins taking over the vocals. It's interesting I think how close their two voices are. Makes you wonder if Collins was influenced by Gabriel in his singing style. The first thing you notice about post-PG Genesis is that the sound is much more commercial and there does seem to be more harmony (not in the musical sense) between vocals and music. The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway is notable for Gabriel almost fighting with the melodies as he develops his grand vision. Here, Collins is much happier to work with his bandmates.
The material feels more like a set of 'proper songs' too. The opening 'Dance On A Volcano' is a case in point. There is actually a 'hook' in the music. It still lapses into a fair amount of complicated messing about though. 'Entanglement' is a lovely piece, it reminds me of Yes' 'Wondrous Stories'. I always loved the lyric "With your consent we will experiment further still". I found 'Squonk' intriguing as a kid. I assume the rodent-like figure on the album cover was the eponymous creature. It has some woofer-challenging bass-work at the start and another memorable lyric "All in all we are a very dying race".
There's a couple of songs I'd term 'pleasant but unremarkable' in 'Mad Man Moon' and 'Ripples', although I do still like the latter in particular a lot. My favourite on this album is 'Robbery, Assault and Battery'. In the vein of 'Get Em Out By Friday' and 'The Battle of Epping Forest' it's a story song complete with voice characterizations. Our anti-hero cat-burglar gets caught in the act by a security guard, but escapes by claiming to be the cleaner and then shooting his captor. The police rock up and try to talk him out, but he shoots one of them as well, then makes his escape via the roof, taunting the police that even if they get him, he'll just pay the bail and be free. Plenty of vicarious youthful pleasure at hearing a bit of swearing in the lyric "He's leaving via the roof, the bastard's got away". The middle section is a bit odd, Tony Banks seems to have been asked to come up with something complicated and unrelated to the rest of it. They finish off with some baffling layered vocal on the theme of "you've done me wrong, it's the same old song".
Another story for the title track, this time a creature leaves his City of Gold and visits the human race, who promptly catch him and make him take them to his home city. Luckily he makes his escape before they get there. It's piano led with a good catchy chorus.
Finally we get 'Los Endos' which is something of an overture for the rest of the album (an 'Underture' I guess. The Who did one of them on the aforementioned Tommy). I was always fascinated by the Hogarthian artwork on this album, featuring various characters from the songs, it was very satisfying trying to match the characters to the songs.
https://andysrockodysseys.blogspot.com/2015/01/genesis-activate-your-prayer-capsule.html
Dance on a Volcano
Entangled
Squonk
Mad Man Moon
Robbery, Assault and Battery
Ripples...
A Trick of the Tail
Los Endos
Entangled
Squonk
Mad Man Moon
Robbery, Assault and Battery
Ripples...
A Trick of the Tail
Los Endos
FACE VALUE
Phil Collins
Some unexpectedly odd choices on this. He has a go at his own interpretation of Behind The Lines, last spotted opening up Genesis' last album Duke. The soul/funk twist is fine, but I relistened to the original and it can't match it for majesty and sheer-overblownedness.
He also has a go at The Beatles' 'Tomorrow Never Knows', which seems completely out of character, and insufficiently different to make it interesting. Quite a lot of tapes being run backwards in the background apparently.
Of course there's his opening drumfest of 'In The Air Tonight' as well. Any drummer wanting to give the impression that they know what they are doing will trot out the famous break. Even a monkey can do it.
It's quite hard to find the cover with his original ugly mug on it these days, the 2016 remaster with his even-more-lived-in phizog tends to turn up.
In the Air Tonight
This Must Be Love
Behind the Lines
The Roof Is Leaking
Droned
Hand in Hand
I Missed Again
You Know What I Mean
Thunder and Lightning
I'm Not Moving
If Leaving Me Is Easy
Tomorrow Never Knows
Over the Rainbow
MOVING PICTURES
Rush
Ah. Clever. Can you see how they've played with the double meaning of the title on the album cover? You get a degree of cerebralness from Rush. It's a strong start to the album too. 'Tom Sawyer' and 'Red Barchetta' are two of the three Rush tracks that the layman rock fan can name. This is peak Rush I'd say, nasal and drummy. 'The Camera Eye' is broken into two parts (of course) while 'Witch Hunt' is apparently part three of a four song sequence, 'Fear', spread across 4 separate albums. Like I say, Rush are not "entry level" rock.
Tom Sawyer
Red Barchetta
YYZ
Limelight
The Camera Eye
Witch Hunt
Vital Signs
Released: February 1981
Brian Eno and David Byrne
My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts is one of those albums that you frequently hear in interviews and conversations about music. At least it is in the ones I listen to. It's clearly considered to be groundbreaking and it's easy to see why, although an album as reputedly influential as this always requires a little more research to avoid the risk of accusing earlier music of following its path. But you can trace a clear straight line from this through the fashion for 'World Music' in the mid to late eighties and the sampling explosion of the nineties all the way through to ambient, Gorillaz-style mucking about and the retro-grooving of the likes of Daft Punk. It's fresh as a daisy too.
This could have been newly minted last week and people would still be saying how great it is. It's not particularly recognizable as a David Byrne project however, especially if you consider what he was doing in his day job. It's mainly credited to Eno but it's hard to say where the balance lies. There are Talking Heads-ish moments and the odd (always odd) Byrne vocal, but the overriding theme, if any, is the plundering of musical styles from the remoter corners of the world. It's divided into tracks and each has it's own character, but it also feels like a single piece of work. Its not linear, but its not disjointed either, pleasant and challenging all at once. Its weird, clever and eye-opening, and as someone who would claim that he's never quite got what all the fuss is about Eno, it definitely provides an explanation.
https://andysrockodysseys.blogspot.com/2018/10/talking-heads-and-david-byrne-making.html
America Is Waiting
Mea Culpa
Regiment
Help Me Somebody
The Jezebel Spirit
Very Very Hungry
Moonlight In Glory
The Carrier
A Secret Life
Come With Us
MEAN BUSINESS
The Firm
No, not the makers of 1987 novelty hit Star Trekkin' but the second and final album by what I suppose we must call a supergroup consisting of Paul Rodgers, Jimmy Page, Chris Slade and jobbing bassist Tony Franklin. This one flopped and dealt the death knell to the project. It's not utterly awful, but it is very derivative of their respective former bands. It's a rubbish name for a supergroup too.
Fortune Hunter
Cadillac
All the King's Horses
Live in Peace
Tear Down the Walls
Dreaming
Free to Live
Spirit of Love
BALANCE OF POWER
ELO
What is it with rock groups who had a good reputation for interesting packaging and artwork and the mid-eighties? I refer you to Yes's Big Generator and this. Both awful and clearly the result of someone on the corporate side being given the pictures job.
Of couse the actual musical content is fine. Quite good actually. However the more I listen to the second track, 'So Serious' the more convinced I became that it was a rip-off of Limahl's Neverending Story theme tune. So much so that I began to suspect that Lynne might have produced it, so I checked, and of course it was Giorgio Moroder. So I think I have to accuse Jeff of unashamedly wearing his current influences on his sleeve again. But, it's a great pop song. Only the truly churlish couldn't enjoy it.
'Getting To The Point' is a rousing soft-rock anthem complete with saxophone-led middle eight. Cheesy synths of the Christopher Cross variety introduce 'Secret Lives'. It is light as a feather, well constructed and just a little soulless. Same with 'Is It Alright'. ELO were always about polish, but they've overdone the Mr. Sheen here. 'Without Someone' is all muted sounds and whispered vocals. It's nice, but very much by-the-numbers. 'Calling America' was the first single. I vaguely remember it. I was a dedicated Radio 1 listener at this time and I think ELO had fallen out of favour with even them, but it is really good. You could date it to the nearest week by the sound, but it is hard to dislike.'Endless Lies' is an intentional Orbison tribute. Just like 'Jumping Biz' and 'Classical Gas' on the first album, they'd have trouble denying it and Lynne may have already have forged the links with Orbison that led to their collaboration on his fabulous 'Mystery Girl' album.
They broke up after this. Lynne subsequently enagaging in all that Wilbury nonsense, but the closing song 'Send It' is a fitting sign-off. Probably the most ELOish on the album. But you can't keep a good band down and there are two more comebacks to cover in the next 30 years.
https://andysrockodysseys.blogspot.com/2016/03/electric-light-orchestra.html
Side 1
Heaven Only Knows
So Serious
Getting To The Point
Secret Lives
Is It Alright
Side 2
Sorrow About To Fall
Without Someone
Calling America
Endless Lies
Send It
KING OF AMERICA
Elvis Costello
Highly regarded, but I reckon Armed Forces would still edge it for me. I like sharp, spiky Elvis over the cultured, controlled version. It is still a masterpiece though, benefitting from a T-Bone Burnett production job when he was at the height of his powers. His take on 'Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood' is particularly memorable. It's a great cover photo too.
Brilliant Mistake
Lovable
Our Little Angel
Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
Glitter Gulch
Indoor Fireworks
Little Palaces
I'll Wear It Proudly
American Without Tears
Eisenhower Blues
Poisoned Rose
The Big Light
Jack of All Parades
Suit of Lights
Sleep of the Just
INNUENDO
Queen
When the title track came out as the lead single it really felt that Queen had finally tipped over the edge of rock ludicrousness. Listening to it now, I'm much more sympathetic to the fact that they probably didn't give a flying fuck at this point what anybody else thought and were just going to throw everything they could at it. At the time the wider world didn't know that Freddie Mercury was dying, so maybe that was weirdly liberating for them too. Anyway, 'Innuendo' the song is a rather perverse pleasure now. Apparently it's something of a tribute from Taylor to 'Kashmir' and the unexpected Spanish guitar part is none other than Steve Howe.
It's also got 'I'm Going Slightly Mad', which also, in hindsight seems a fairly transparent commentary on Freddie's illness. "It finally happened" he sings, like he knew the life of rock and roll excess would take it's toll in one way or another. It features quite a lot of those euphemisms for being, well, slightly mad or stupid that were all the rage at around that time. One card short of a deck, not the sharpest knife in the drawer, one sandwich short of a picnic. In an odd way it dates the song.
They take another shot at 'Breakthru' with 'Headlong'. These heavy rock-and-roll-by-numbers songs have turned up throughout their studio album career as their go-to musical polyfilla. In fact it heralds a sequence of very middling songs on this album. The vinyl version released in 2015 was put out as a double and you'd have to say that if they'd not had the freedom that CD offered to expand the track list at the time they might have been a bit more selective on what they decided to include in the final cut. Even the stronger ones, like 'The Hitman' only really amount to fairly standard poodle-rock that Motley Crue or Warrant would happily add to their setlist.
'These Are The Days Of Our Lives' and 'The Show Must Go On' are the only others that really stand out, mainly for the same reasons as 'I'm Going Slightly Mad'. There's an obvious poignancy when you know the background. I like the conversational tone of 'These Are The Days...' and the defiance of 'The Show Must Go On' can't be denied.
Fred popped his clogs not long after this was released. I remember it well. It was a shock for the casual Queen observer. I had a look back at the lineup for the tribute concert and it's noticeable that it was dominated by the heavy rock end of the musical spectrum. Queen were always characterized that way, but, having now listened to most of their albums from start to finish they do seem a much more complex proposition than Metallica, Def Leppard, Extreme and Guns n Roses. Oddly Spinal Tap seem like the performers who most captured the essence of what Queen and Freddie Mercury were really all about.
https://andysrockodysseys.blogspot.com/2019/07/queen.html
Innuendo
I'm Going Slightly Mad
Headlong
I Can't Live Without You
Don't Try So Hard
Ride The Wild Wind
All God's People
These Are The Days Of Our Lives
Delilah
The Hitman
Bijou
The Show Must Go On
MURDER BALLADS
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds
Where do you go after you've established yourself as the doomiest of rock stars? As always there are two choices, double down on the doom or head off in a different direction. Nick Cave almost finds a third way, by focussing on songs about violent death, whilst roping in the sparkliest pop star of the age. I'm not entirely convinced that Kylie was aware of the content of songs like 'Stagger Lee' when she signed in (presumably) blood, but it turned out to be a triumph. Even if Cave may have regretted that 'Where The Wild Roses Grow' did not fully reflect the pitch-blackness of the rest of the material and attracted the more adventurous Kylie fans. Let's face it, it would have done them good. Not sure what they would have made of Dylan's 'Death Is Not The End' featuring their heroine, Polly Harvey and Shane McGowan as a closing shot.
Song of Joy
Stagger Lee
Henry Lee
Lovely Creature
Where the Wild Roses Grow
The Curse of Millhaven
The Kindness of Strangers
Crow Jane
O'Malley's Bar
Death Is Not the End
COME FIND YOURSELF
Fun Lovin' Criminals
Huey Morgan is the height of respectability these days. A regular on BBC Radio 2 alongside Steve Wright, Jeremy Vine and Tony Blackburn. If he ever plays 'Scooby Snacks' on his show (I doubt it, there are rules about that sort of thing, that only Michael Ball seems able to get around) he'd have to play the radio edit and therefore pretty much an entirely different song.
This is diverse and quite a blast. Going from trancey rap like 'I Can't Get With That' through covers of songs like 'We Have All The Time In The World' and even half-stealing the riff from Smoke On the Water on 'Bombin' The L'
The Fun Lovin' Criminal
Passive/Aggressive
The Grave and the Constant
Scooby Snacks
Smoke 'Em
Bombin' the L
I Can't Get with That
King of New York
We Have All the Time in the World
Bear Hug
Come Find Yourself
Crime and Punishment
Methadonia
Released 24th February 2006
CORINNE BAILEY RAE
Corinne Bailey Rae
Weird that this was released in February. It's all sunshine and light breezes. Maybe that was the point, people need to be able to look forward to gentler times. It's drowsy and soothing and includes a song called 'Choux Pastry Heart'. There are slow beats and muted brass instruments and the mega-hit of 'Put Your Records On', which may be safely entered into the Greatest Number 2's Hall Of Fame. The culprit who kept her off the top? That brazen hussey Ciccone with her rather irritating 'Sorry'.
Like a Star
Enchantment
Put Your Records On
Till It Happens to You
Trouble Sleeping
Call Me When You Get This
Choux Pastry Heart
Breathless
I'd Like To
Butterfly
Seasons Change
LIVE AT THE HAMMERSMITH ODEON 1975
Brice Springsteen and the E Street Band
Here comes Bruce, slender of bicep and woolly of hat. In fact the love of chapeaux extends across the band, although the others go for wide brimmed fedoras and 10-gallons and come across like a gang of Harlem pimps (I quite fancy Clarence's white cuban heels though). Clemons and Miami Steve are even sporting buttonholes. Gary Tallent opts out, letting his lustrous long locks flow free. The Bruce titfer proves a bit of a pain cos it's so big, being as it is somewhere between a Bob Marley and Dr Seuss's Cat. It keeps falling over his eyes in '10th Avenue Freeze Out'.
He starts with Thunder Road, just him and Roy Bittan on piano, all bathed in blue light. Once the band come on they get right into it and sound terrific. It strikes you that in 10th Avenue Freeze Out, the line "and the Big Man joined the band" raises nary a cry from the audience. Some of the stagecraft is a bit odd. On 'Spirit In the Night' he crawls on his belly off the stage into a little gap (this is during the making love with Crazy Janey bit), then his curly, hobbity head re-emerges. He forgets he left his hat on the mic stand and he starts to fret about where it is, for a moment you worry that he's so distracted he's going to start a fruitless search down the side of the stage.
'Lost In The Flood' is a great performance and is followed by 'She's The One'. The audience try to clap along to the opening harmonica solo, only to find out the rhythm is a lot more complex than they thought. 'Born To Run' crops up in the middle of the set, instead of the encore standby it is today. Bruce gives it some verbal at the start of The E Street Shuffle, checks that everyone in the audience is feeling OK and admits he's never been to England before. 'It's Hard To Be A Saint' is a guitar-wrangling, piano-hammering joy.
They enter into the realms of freeform jazz in the 16 minute 'Kitty's Back' which features extended solos from Federici on the organ, Bittan on the piano and Clemons on sax. The camerawork is particularly uninspiring, just a steady shot of whichever one of them is doing their thing at the time. In fact the camera position on Clemons is such that it often looks like he's blowing straight into the microphone.They really tear it up for the closer of the main set, 'Rosalita', which was the standard finisher then. There's plenty of energy and Bruce introduces the band.
It's one of the great appeals to me of the E-Street Band that they really do appear to be A Band, in that they are a collection of individual talents that contribute to the whole.The Professor, Mighty Max, Miami Steve, Big Man and the Boss do sound like a Marvel mash-up though. The encore includes a full on Detroit Medley and Bruce on his own at the joanna with 'For You'. They finish with a spirited 'Quarter To Three' and on the (almost) final note the hat drops over the eyes again, he peeks out, launches into it again and loses the headgear in the process. Incidentally, Bruce is also baggy of pants and sparse of beard. He's never been able to grow a decent one and there have been some minimalist tufty atrocities down the years.
This was issued as part of the 30th Anniversary edition of Born to Run. In the sleeve notes Springsteen admits not looking at the footage for 30 years and remembers it as being a bit of a mess. It's not and he acknowledges his error, putting it down to mixed emotions around the attendant publicity around the concert at the time.
This was issued as part of the 30th Anniversary edition of Born to Run. In the sleeve notes Springsteen admits not looking at the footage for 30 years and remembers it as being a bit of a mess. It's not and he acknowledges his error, putting it down to mixed emotions around the attendant publicity around the concert at the time.
https://andysrockodysseys.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-bruce-apocrypha.html
Thunder Road
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
Spirit in the Night
Lost in the Flood
She's the One
Born to Run
The E Street Shuffle/Havin' a Party
It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City
Backstreets
Kitty's Back
Jungleland
Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)
Detroit Medley
For You
Quarter to Three/Closing Credits
THE KING OF LIMBS
Radiohead
I'm afraid I'm of the school that thinks 'Creep' is a banging tune and finds Radiohead quite hard work the rest of the time. But I'm willing to learn and I'm quite tempted to make them the next main project when I'm free of Elton's clammy clutches.
However, I reckon no-one would advise the sceptical to start here. Mainly instrumental and consisting of loops and samples. I wouldn't be surprised if it's a grower in the long run, but with Radiohead the rule to start at the very beginning might be strong advice indeed. Pablo Honey, The Bends and OK Computer are much more likely to get you on board.
Bloom
Morning Mr Magpie
Little by Little
Feral
Lotus Flower
Codex
Give Up the Ghost
Separator
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