Tweet Tweet

Wednesday 31 October 2012

Marion - The Program


An album that was deserving of far greater plaudits. Marion's break up album , released almost without promotion or any great sentiment at the back end of 1998. Produced by former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr the album failed to chart in the UK,( i know thats not always the greatest indication of greatness) but the album did deserve to be listened to by a few more people than it actually did!

Iv blogged elsewhere about the band being back together , lets hope they come back with a killer record and some live gigs

The Smile
Miyako Hideaway (Full Length Mix)
Sparkle
Is That So?
What Are We Waiting For?
Strangers
The Powder Room Plan
The Program
All Of These Days
Comeback

Stone Roses - 2013

We are all having it yea?? 

For some reason im more relaxed about getting a ticket this year, maybe the 16 year wait meant 2012 was always going to be a massive event with a massive build up, the day came and went in a blur but was truly immense.... I think i'l actually enjoy this year a little bit more.. 


now all we need is a smith re-union right ?

Friday 19 October 2012

Ooberman - The Magic Treehouse



I had briefly heard of Ooberman in the mid 90's through the single Shorley Wall, I had passed them off as some scouse wierdo's... i shouldn't have been so hasty as this there debut album proves.

 From the opening track to the hidden delights at the end of Silver planet, Ooberman have managed to lay down life, love and all those things that keep the mind young in a 14 track musical treat. Special mention goes to the following tracks, which are a 'must listen' for anyone who has ever loved and been loved by someone special; Track 11) Amazing in Bed & 12) Shorley Wall. The latter was the first track to bring me to the attention of Ooberman and no doubt was for many others too. Further listening confirmed this band have what many other bands have lost..."The desire to write music on what truly matters in life after all the layers of corporate varnish have been stripped away. 'Sur la Plage' gives us the wonderful vocals of Sophia as does 'Shorley Wall', together with the kicking base line in 'Bees' and 'Sugar Bum' gives this album depth and variation as well as melodic menageries such as 'Roll me in Cotton' and 'Roro Blue'.

The whole album is a wonderful mix of musical enlightenment and honest lyrics, which leaves the listener feeling young again and with the feeling they have just discovered something very special. No record collection is complete without it.

Million Suns
Blossoms Falling
Sur La Plage
Roro Blue
Tears From A Willow
Bees
Sugar Bum
Roll Me In Cotton
Physics Disco
Magic Treehouse
Amazing In Bed
My Baby's Too Tall & Thin
Shorley Wall
Silver Planet


Thursday 18 October 2012

Wire - Pink flag



Like other punk bands Wire strived to re-focus rock from it's growing excesses, but they took that aesthetic a step further. Unlike other artists Wire's aim wasn't a return to rock's roots, but minimalism. Wire didn't approach music as a rock band, but as an art experiment. On Pink Flag, Wire eliminate every extraneous element resulting pure, angular music. While not musically accomplished (in fact, the band members admit they were barely competent technically), Pink Flag contains an astounding variety and depth of creative ideas.

While other punk bands (The Clash, The Sex Pistols, The Ramones, etc.) acheived notoriety with genuine angst and shock, Wire distinguished themselves through unpredictabilty and vocalist Colin Newman's sly, oft acerbic wit (while oft incomprehensible, he's always compelling). In a sense it seems Wire's limited musicianship actually works to their advantage; since they have limited tools the band is forced to rely soley on ideas and chemistry. The 21 songs on Pink Flag rarely exceed three minutes (most are 1-2 min in duration) and rarely conform to any standard notions of song structure.

With titles like "Field Day for the Sundays", "Three Girl Rhumba", "Ex Lion Tamer", and "Mannequin", many understandably view the songs as minimalist paintings tranformed into music. Arty as Wire can be at times, they're anything but pretentious. Pithy and snobbish as Wire might seem, Pink Flag is remarkably entertaining; it's intense, wryly witty, and at times undeniably funny. Wire's breadth of ideas is remarkable; they cover ground which includes proto-hardcore ("106 Beats That", "Different to Me"), tweaked power-pop ("Reuters", "Champs"), power-blues ("Lowdown"), and even spare texture experiments ("Strange"). "Mr. Suit" is the only marginal track... and it's still pretty enjoyable.

Some have argued that Pink Flag's songs are only fragments, but close analysis reveals Wire's brilliance; each song serves to convey it's ideas as expediently as possible and once this objective is reached it ends immediately. In his Rollingstone review Greil Marcus remarked about the lack of personality on Pink Flag ("You hear cleverness, wit, irony, but not personality."). While this might be accurate the lack of intimacy isn't a problem in the musical context and actually coincides well with Wire's aesthetic . One of the many things that makes Pink Flag unique is it's combination of emotional intensity and vaguely arty distance (which eventually became dominant in their later work). Wire's somewhat impersonal approach also makes Pink Flag transcendent; unlike many late 70s punk bands who focused on the sociopolitical climate, Pink Flag's more esoteric themes (both musical and lyrical) make it vital and relevant 25 years after it's release.

Pink Flag is proudly touted as a profound influence by artists as diverse as Big Black, Sonic Youth, The Minutemen, Elastica ...and REM (who covered a more straight-forward version of "Strange" on their album Document). Wire would later make other ambitious and noteworthy albums (most notably "Chairs Missing" and "154"), but never made another as seminal, ageless, and visionary as Pink Flag.


Reuters
Field Day For The Sundays
Three Girl Rhumba
Ex Lion Tamer
Lowdown
Start To Move
Brazil
It's So Obvious
Surgeon's Girl
Pink Flag
The Commercial
Straight Line
106 Beats That
Mr. Suit
Strange
Fragile
Mannequin
Different To Me
Champs
Feeling Called Love
1 2 X U
Options R


Saturday 13 October 2012

MC Tunes - The North At Its Heights


MC Tunes.....or Nicholas Lockett to his mum!!

 A genre-defining, time-defining album. Brought to everyone's attention by the synonymous track The Only Rhyme That Bites, listeners to the album were confronted with what can only be described as a blistering assault of hip-hop/rap and gritty reality.

Drugs, death, hard times, politics... all were given vicious-yet-poetic treatment, and all tracks leave such an impression at the time, that each will be forever embedded in your memory. The stark and brutal depiction that is My Own Worst Enemy might be the track that lives longest, though. Even more so than the popular and brilliant chart single tracks (T.O.R.T.B and Tunes Splits The Atom). The depth of feeling in his vocal performances are more than equalled by the song-writing and lyricism. 808 State provided the beats in their trademark understated brilliant fashion.

The Only Rhyme That Bites
This Ain’t No Fantasy
Dance Yourself To Death
Own Worst Enemy
The North At Its Heights
Tunes Splits The Atom
Mancunian Blues
The Sequel
Primary Rhyming
Dub At Its Heights

Sunday 7 October 2012

Lowgold - Just Backward Of Square


Few debut albums sound as lived-in as Lowgold's Just Backward Of Square, which has a depth of thought, a wealth of experience and an aching that most acts take decades to find. 

As it is, the four--who sound like they are straight out of America's Midwest but come from Poole, St Albans and South London--got it just-so first time round. By rights, their sombre road movie rock should be both demoralising and depressing; certainly, there's very little to smile about in lyrics like "make the most of today/for beauty dies young" ("Beauty Dies Young") and "my lungs may be bleeding/so I breathe in mercury/decay" ("Mercury"). But there's also a hint of hope and a glint of optimism in Darren Ford's voice as he sings these songs of introspection, and a positive and reassuring power to the dragging guitars and plodding bass. 

That there is hope in the darkest tunes is where the maturity and magic of Just Backward Of Square lies. 

Golden Ratio
Beauty Dies Young
Mercury
Out Of Reach
Back Here Again
Counterfeit
Never Alone
In Amber
Open The Airwaves
Less I Offer
Into The Void


Wednesday 3 October 2012

Thousand Yard stare - Live Bootleg EP


I don't often post up singles and EP's but il make an exception here.... This was a 10" 'bootleg' EP by Thousand Yard Stare,Recorded at London's ULU it given away free with the LP Hands On. Never quite understood how it was classed as a bootleg given it was an official release but hey its a treat as live the band were fantastic...  

Anyway lets get to the point

You think Blur invented britpop...... you are wrong my friends. Thousand Yard Stare were forerunners of the britpop scene by at least 3 years.... TYS as im going to call them were lumped in with the shoe gaze scene primarily because they came from the Thames Valley and supported bands such as Ride and Chapterhouse however listen to the debut album Hands On and see where the band were heading... its pure pop heaven strewn with English references, if they had come along 4 years later and drank in the good mixer its a fair bet you would have heard more than 2 albums. As mentioned earlier live the band were amazing so enjoy this, I still do and Buttermouth remains one of my all time top 10 singles.

Twice Times
Village End
Three Doors Down
Buttermouth