Tag Archives: journalism

What I do……

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I’ve mentioned before that I write about music. In a way the internet has made it much more simple to produce articles. It’s way easier to do research. On the other hand there is something about the tone of pieces on the internet which I find very strange. Too much writing is not about the music anymore. I’m glad that some of the musicians feel the same. This from Donald Fagen of Steely Dan:

“I don’t like to visit the fan sites because there’s something creepy about the whole thing to me. I remember when I was a kid I was a big jazz fan and later on there were a few popular singers and groups I liked but I was always interested in the music; I never made a fetish out of their personal lives. I never really got that, you know? I appreciate whatever they do to keep the interest in the band and all that sort of thing but it’s really not part of my world.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

People are crazy, times are strange…….

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When I’m going through difficult times (like now) I tend to rely on music to get me through. One album that’s carrying me along at the moment is a Bob Dylan cd which has had a limited circulation. Although released as recently as 2001, it was only made for the Japanese market at the time that Dylan was about to tour there. Entitled Bob Dylan Live 1961-2000 – Thirty Nine Years of Great Concert Performances, it culls tracks, many that have not been on cd elsewhere, from all across his career.

 

So what’s on here?

Somebody Touched Me. Country gospel hymn recorded in 2000. His current set list could do with some of this kind of innovation to break it up a little.

Wade in the Water. More traditional gospel but this time recorded in 1961 – a long, long time before anyone was asking about his religious beliefs. Acoustic folk.

Handsome Molly. From 1962. The lyrics have echoes from something from Modern Times. Part of the Gaslight Tapes.

To Ramona. From 1965. Dylan works words like no-one else and this has him at his youthful best.

I Don’t Believe You. 1966. It used to sound like this…….. Dylan has gone electric and one of my favourite songs from the 1964 period is reworked and sent soaring.

Grand Coulee Dam. 1968. Recorded as a tribute to his mentor, Woody Guthrie.

Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door. 1974. One from an album that has been available forever. It was originally on “Before the Flood”. Along with the version on the “Hard to Handle” video performance this is my favourite of the live recordings of this classic track.

It Ain’t Me, Babe. Recorded during the filming of Renaldo and Clara and filled with all the ramshackle glory and energy that dominated the Rolling Thunder Revue.

Shelter From the Storm. 1976. Again commonly available on Hard Rain but let’s face it that’s an album you’re never going to need all of. This is one of the better moments from that album. I’d have gone for “I Threw it all Away” or “Idiot Wind” but this will do.

Dead Man, Dead Man. 1981. Everybody now realises that for an established artist to go on stage with a setlist made up entirely of new songs virtually never happens. We have realised too late that Dylan live during the Slow Train / Saved period was simply amazing. It’s time for a full release of one of those shows in the Bootleg Series. Until that happens, then a performance of this song from Shot of Love from the following tour will have to do. Very cool indeed.

Slow Train. 1987. Originally released on “Dylan and the Dead”, the live album from his tour with the Grateful Dead. No-one needs that whole album but this proves that if you dig deep enough there are golden nuggets even there.

Dignity. 1994. From “Unplugged” which is another album that you don’t really need. This song was originally left off “Oh Mercy”. Now for a song to be left off a Dylan album is the recipe for it to be regarded as a work of genius. For someone that his fans call a genius, they sure don’t trust his judgement. Indeed, this is a very good song but I’m not sure it would have added to the album. Great performance here.

Cold Irons Bound. 1997. The studio version was on “Time Out of Mind”. Here, it seems a little rootless but it is still a fine reading of this vital song.

Born in Time. 1998. “Under the Red Sky” is a neglected album which whilst some songs were under-realised,  is still a very worthwhile record which Dylan obviously rates. This is a fine performance of a great song.

Country Pie. 2000. Just proves that Dylan songs don’t have to be profound and mean something. Originally on “Nashville Skyline”, this song just argues for the virtues of country music. You don’t have to agree with him to enjoy hearing the old guy having fun for once.

Things have Changed. 2000. Classic song. Like on the 1979 album, Dylan is waiting on the last train. Like in 1980 he tells us what is going to happen if the Bible is right. But times as well as things have changed by now and so this time we gave him an award. The song deserves it. The live performance shows Dylan working out the truth in his own words.

This Japanese album is difficult to find. You can get all the songs on iTunes but only if you buy all their Dylan collection. I can only say that, even so, they are well worth seeking out.

Reason to Believe

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Music plays a fairly substantial part in my life in all kinds of shapes and forms. I listen to it, I write about it. Amongst the cds on fairly regular rotation over the last few days have been discs by Tom Scott, Danilo Perez, JD Souther, Rubicks and Mark Colby. A fair percentage of jazz mixed in there. All this while doing the final re-writes on my interview project with Richie Furay which has come together really well and about which various editors are proving very enthusiastic.

However, the album which has really been catching my attention today is an obscure disc by a band called Hearts and Flowers who had their moment in the sun in 1967-68 and are best remembered for being the second stopping point for Bernie Leadon. I think this was the second band of his illustrious career. He joined them for their second album “Of Horses, Children and Forgotten Women”. The band couldn’t decide whether they wanted to be The Byrds, early Simon & Garfunkel (think Wednesday Morning Three A.M.) or straight country. Folk-rock, then. Consequently, the albums are eclectic and a lot of fun with great harmonies and bags of energy and youthful enthusiasm. The songs include a cover of the Tim Hardin song I’ve used for the title of this journey entry, and bizarrely a version of “Two Little Boys” which was made famous a few years later here in the UK by wobble-board-playing Australian, Rolf Harris. Eclectic indeed.

Mostly the albums have been making me sit up and listen for all the right reasons but there are a couple of moments which have touched my funny bone. The guitar on the track “Now is the Time for Hearts & Flowers” and the backing vocals on “The View From Ward 3” (both on their first album) put me very much in mind of the vocals and guitar on that other forgotten classic of the ’60s “(Listen to) the Flower People” by the quite wonderful Spinal Tap. It’s hard to keep a straight face. I seem to have that clip from the rockumentary on regular playback in my head.

Seasons of Change

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So I’m in the midst of an interview project with Richie Furay (former vocalist with Buffalo Springfield and Poco). Sections of this will appear here and in Natural Progressions Magazine and Cross Rhythms magazine.

Received the new albums by Al Green and Walter Becker . I’ve done some promotional writing for these so I hope they live up to what I said!

The Merchant of Venice

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Well, back from 4 days in Stratford-Upon-Avon.

What can I say? The town is a mess. The unnecessary vigour to tear down the old theatre and replace it with a new one as now spread to the Bancroft Gardens. Every inch seems to have been dug over and turned to mud. Fences and scaffold surround everywhere in sight and I felt sorry for those who had travelled from France and Japan (seemed like the only two kind of tourists in evidence!) who had made a long journey and who were missing the old town at its best.

Continue reading →

Eagles have left the building!

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So I searched the broadsheets for an honest review but I found none. I didn’t want a good review but just a review that made me feel like the writer had actually been there. But I found none. If a solo artist continues to tour into his dotage, we applaud him (or her) for perseverance and call him the grand old man of rock or blues or some such. If a band does the same, we say that they’re only doing it for the money and we trot out the same old lines.
Now the Eagles (there is no question on this one!) are doing it for the money but not only for that. All those reviews that said they phoned in their performance and went through tired old licks are simply not true. Yes, these are the guys who recorded “Peaceful Easy Feeling” and “Take it Easy” on their first album but just writing the word “easy” over and over again doesn’t make a review just lazy journalism.
Anyway, I don’t think they’re going to worry too much about the critics and I really didn’t expect any positive write-ups so no-one’s truly disappointed.
I’d be the first to admit that when I saw the Eagles in 2006 at Twickenham, I was still impressed by their polish and professionalism and, oh, those harmonies and the manic Joe Walsh but, hey, I felt like I’d seen it all before and I genuinely didn’t know whether I’d be back to take it to the limit, one more time….. But these shows in 2008 see a band re-invigorated. Still polished, still a little too professional, still over-priced but with a whole bunch of new songs and new energy. This meant that when the harmonies were spot on, they were just a little more impressive. This meant that when Joe Walsh was manic (when isn’t Joe Walsh manic!), he was just a little funnier. This guy is 15 years sober but he’s still the funniest drunk in rock and that is some acting.
“Long Road Out of Eden” (the song) is a critique of U.S. overseas policy which you either agree with or you don’t but there’s no question in my mind that on Saturday it included the most wonderful guitar solo I’ve heard in a long time. Not over-indulgent, not over-long but just great music. And that’s why I came… the music. And on that score the Eagles were convincing. They were de-mob happy playing their last overseas date on this tour and that added just a little more energy, a little more mischief. So it was a good night but even on the lukewarm nights, it is passion I hear in the songwriting and in the delivery. And on that score the Eagles won!

Coming soon…..

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There are a number of album releases coming from artists that I enjoy and who I have interviewed or written journalistic material for in the past:

Walter Becker : Circus Money (June 10, 2008)

Al Green – Lay it Down (Blue Note – May 28th 2008)

 


Alice Cooper – Along Came a Spider (SPV – Autumn 2008)

 

Ladytron – Velocifero (June 3rd)

And first of all……….

John Foxx – a New Kind of Man (Live) (Metamatic – exclusively available from Townshend Records from 28th April 2008)

 

Searching for a deep album?

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An album I would heartily recommend to everyone is the 2007 release by Son Volt entitled “The Search”.

If you’re unfamiliar with the band, here is a little potted history.

The leader of the band is Jay Farrar. He was previously in Uncle Tupelo with Jeff Tweedy of Wilco. Uncle Tupelo were the inspiration for the whole alt-country / Americana movement and its Bible “No Depression” took its title from their material. When that band went their separate ways, Farrar formed Son Volt who debuted in 1995 with arguably their finest album, “Trace”. The sophomore release “straightaways” followed in 1997 and then there was “Wide Swing Tremolo” in ’98. By this time significant tensions had arisen amongst the four members and there seemed to be no more Son Volt material on the horizon. Farrar began to record and tour as a solo act. He released “Sebastopol” and “Terroir Blues” accompanied by an e.p. called “ThirdShiftGrottSlack” and a clutch of live albums.

The band reformed in 2004 to record a track for a benefit album “Por Vida” which was to raise funds for songwriter Alejandro Escovedo who had become seriously ill. The song was completed and released but on the verge of a new Son Volt album, Farrar sacked the remaining members of the band, reclaimed the name and formed a new Son Volt.

Not the most invigorating or promising turn of events then but the new band released 2005’s “Okemah and the Melody of Riot” and then the aforementioned “The Search” in 2007.

So what about this slightly ugly story would inspire someone to buy “The Search”. Well, Farrar is the consummate singer / songwriter and Son Volt gives him an electric arena to display the full range of emotions captured in his songs. The plus factor is that “The Search” is an astonishingly deep album as my title alluded. If you stray into your local cd emporium you’ll buy a 14 track cd with that title. A glance on ebay will show that the early copies of that cd came with two alternate E.P.s of the same title. If you go to iTunes you will find a further 8 tracks are available on the “deluxe edition”. The 22 tracks of the deluxe edition can also be found on vinyl on Sonvolt.com in a set entitled “On Chant and Strum”.

Most great songwriters write prolifically for a few years and then run out of that first storm of ideas and the songs become fewer and farther between. This doesn’t seem to have happened with Farrar. Of the 28 recordings that I’ve mentioned, that are associated with “The Search” project, nothing here sounds like filler. In fact the sweetness and beauty of some of the extras – “Coltrane Free”, “Acetone Angels”, “Bicycle Hotel” – have to be heard to be believed.

Do yourself a favour, buy “The Search”.

The Long Run to Long Road

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The Eagles are MY band. Like I grew up on this kind of music. So it’s nice to have them back around on their new album “Long Road Out of Eden” and preparing to do something more than just play the old songs when they tour here next month. I was offered free tickets for all their shows at the o2 arena so I’ll be taking in a few of those with a VIP pass (which is nice).
I’ve been listening to the album a lot as I’m preparing to write up a review in the next issue of Natural Progressions (subscriptions available here – drop me a line). One thing that struck me is the depth of the good writing here and not only from Don Henley which you might come to believe was the case if you follow the line of some of the reviews that are already out there. Henley’s finest moment is to be found on Waiting in the Weeds which is probably as good as this album gets but there are other highlights on offer too.
Amongst my favourites you will find the Joe Walsh song “Last Good Time in Town”. This song benefits from Joe’s worn and battered (and humorous) outlook on life and has great vocals, harmonies and guitar. Eagles at their finest. Another gem worth digging for is Larry McNally’s “I love to watch a woman dance” (a feeling I can understand!) which has a sensitive vocal from Glenn Frey. “Cause to dream sometimes, that’s the only way to go places you can’t get to any other way”. First became aware of McNally when he wrote that song “For My Wedding” which featured on Henley’s solo album.
Henley would have wanted this to be a solo album (he says). If he’d won the argument I think we’d be missing out on some great music.