GENERAL:
JENNIFER CUTTING'S OCEAN ORCHESTRA: Ocean - Songs For The Night Sea Journey CD
Described as "a global orchestra of Celtic, symphonic and electronic musicians exploring the rich symbolism of water and its themes of transition, transformation and traditional music. Heavenly female vocals, harps, pipes, fiddle, accordion and other traditional instruments fuse with keyboards, bass, drums and electric guitar for a song cycle that moves from lush, ethereal soundscapes to energising tunesets and majestic artsong". My take on it is that it's simply breathtaking in its beauty and richness, full of exoticism but also simplicity, the sumptuous keys and synths and strings standing next to the familiarity of guitars, harp, whistle and more, held together by the most fluid of rhythm sections while the icing on the cake is provided by three main female vocalists, including a guest appearance from Maddy Prior. In terms of songs, and the occasional instrumental, the quality is staggering as the sheer emotion and beauty of the songs stands head and shoulders above anything else in this vein, with tracks that could have fitted in anything from "Titanic" through "Lord Of The Rings" to "Robin Of Sherwood" - you get the drift? Yes, this is an album that makes the likes of Clannad sound like second-raters, so incredibly constructed, played and arranged that forty-four minutes goes by in the blink of an eye, while all you're left with at the end, is an overwhelming desire to put the whole thing on again. Transcending any categorisation, this is symphonic-orchestral-folk-olde worlde music and song at a wide-eyed quality level that you simply can't fault. No matter what you're into - prog, electronic, folk, Heavenly Vocals, whatever - if you want something where songs and female voices and rich arrangements and gorgeously melodic instrumentation stand side by side in shining splendour, you simply have to get this album!
BOB DYLAN - V/A TRIBUTE: Listen To Bob Dylan DBLCD
Personal opinion: Bob Dylan? Amazing songwriter - unrivalled!! Singer? Sorry, but that voice is not for me. Always something I've lamented as he's written songs that can rightfully be classed as legendary. But I've never been able to listen to them before. Sound familiar to you? Well, your prayers have just been answered with this fantastic CD.
21 tracks by artists known and not so known - but every one of them playing their version of the chosen track and every one providing a track that both remains faithful to the sound, structure and spirit of the song while at the same time sounding wholly original.
You won't find anything weird or fast or over the top on here - it's all far too tasty for that. No sireee, this is quality with a capital Q.
From electric to acoustic and all points in between, there are some incredible versions going on here. As soon as the second track on disc one do the hairs stand up on the back of your neck as Anberlin provide a rousing Feeder-esque rock-pop take on 'Like A Rolling Stone', having been preceded by a rollocking version of 'Don't Think Twice It's Alright' from Steel Train, only then for theirs to be eclipsed by Roark who provide a masterful 'Mr Tambourine Man' with Verlaine-like vocals leading the way above jangly guitar riffing, driving rhythms and sounding for all the world like a cross between Tom Petty and Deacon Blue, but just superb - and this is only the beginning.
To do a track by track rundown here would just bore you rigid as it would be superlative after superlative, but on CD1, other highpoints of a CD that is one big highpoint, include the gorgeously tender rendition of 'Blowin In The Wind' from House Of Fools, a passionate acoustic reading of 'Girl Of The North Country' with sitar accompaniment to add an extra psychedelic touch, courtesy of As Tall As Lions and Jason Mraz sounding more like a decade of sixties class singers ending the CD with a seriously searing acoustic rendition of 'A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall'.
CD 2 begins in fine style with a rousing rendition of 'Rainy Day Women #12 & 35' that's pure party music and you never knew being so stoned could be so lively, while a couple of tracks later the awfully named I Can Make A Mess Like Nobody's Business put matters right with a harmonious, anthemic electro-acoustic reading of 'Positively 4th Street', sounding more like an Americanised McGuinness Flint but just superb, a track to make you smile. On the other hand, 'Just Like A Woman' from Something Corporate, with its slowly building mix of guitars and pianos while at the same time remaining tender, brings a lump to your throat, just as it should be. The star of 2005, James Blunt, delivers a typically passionate lone acoustic reading of 'I Want You', actually managing to slow down the original even more, but ending up with a song totally in keeping with the feel of his best selling 2005 album. So it goes, highlight after highlight, great song and great performances - a disc to be treasured.
As a tribute to Dylan it's both unrivalled, magical and something you'll be enjoying forever, so, Dylan fan or not, as a lover of great songs sung to perfection, you have to own this - it's as simple as that!!
EMBROOKS: Yellow Glass Perspections CD
Wish the sixties had never gone? Still playing those Who & Byrds albums? Pining for the Paisley shirt? Aching for another "Austin Powers" movie? Well, the soundtrack to your life has just arrived in the form of this smoking brew of potent songs from a band that the sixties never had. I think they're a UK band - Christ, if they're not, then they sound more English than most sixties bands - and the album is just SO evocative, you'll be swaying and frugging till the early hours. Every track could be a lost sixties classic - with that trademark guitar sound so in tact, the vocals spot on and the style of composition just awesome - but infused with the clarity of production that the sixties bands could only dream of having. One blast of this and you'll be putting your psychedelic sixties flares on, lighting up the joss stix and drawling "peace, man" to every passer by as you raise peace signs and shimmy wide-eyed to the solid and driving jangly guitars, forceful rhythm section and deliciously accurate lead and harmony vocals that this album offers - all its influences from Who, Byrds and every other classic sixties guitar band, worn unashamedly on their sleeves, while track after amazing track comes into being, a dozen of the best that are unbelievably excellent. Possibly the best sixties psychedelic song album never made, it's nothing short of genius.
AL STEWART: Time Passages - Recorded Live CD
Going back in the annals of time to when this guy was hot stuff, it was very often the case that for him, as for many of similar seventies song-based artists, the stuff that they did for Radio sessions often eclipsed that of the original studio albums from which the tracks were first heard - and this gem is absolutely no exception. A radio broadcast - which if my memory serves me well was actually issued on vinyl only as a radio promo in the States - from a gig in Chicago in 1978, this is vintage Al Stewart in every sense of the word. Across a selection of his finest songs at the time - the embarrassing, the vacuous and the plainly boring being totally absent here - he and the band (that includes no less than three guitarists and three keyboard players) provide a performance that, rarely for an Al Stewart album, is positively sizzling, if not red hot on occasion. But even the beefy band can't do any wrong when it comes to injecting pure emotion into a song as extraordinarily timeless as 'Time Passages' while 'Roads To Moscow' becomes an even greater dynamic experience than on any previously heard version. Above all this, Al Stewart gives a most passionate vocal performance, delivering every line with every inch of the emotion in which the songs were written. Maybe not THE definitive Al Stewart album, it's certainly THE definitive live Al Stewart album and, especially at this bargain price, one that no fan of the unique singer-songwriter should miss.
GUITAR MUSIC/GREAT GUITARISTS:
HEAT FROM A DEADSTAR: EP
Just four instrumental tracks in ten minutes but they manage to make their mark. The first one is les than two minutes long, but there's a wickedly stoner groove going on here as huge wedges of rumbling bass and crunching drums introduce a searing guitar riff as it all suddenly drops back to chiming guitars, wobbling bass and tight, slow drums, only to build slowly then erupt once more just before the end - it took longer to write the review!!! The next track is introduced by drums that sound like they were recorded in a garage and this immense sounding, growling, bowel-rumbling electric bass, as in comes this sea of chiming guitars alternating with tasty riffing and soaring guitar chords that really set things on fire as the track rises up and then suddenly ends. The two further tracks tell a similar tale as they move from monstrous slabs of Kraut-stoner riffing to chiming searing almost Fripp-Belew like guitar chording amid an undertow of rumbling, beefy bass and those oil-can drums. Superb stuff, but next time needs better production, especially the drums, and more of it, please.
V/A: Visions Of An Inner Mounting Apocalypse - A Fusion Guitar Tribute to Mahavishnu Orchestra CD
Concentrating on the classic early-mid seventies version of the Mahavishnu Orchestra, guitarist Jeff Richman has re-arranged a set of classic tracks for the basic band of himself plus Vinnie Colaiuta on drums, Kai Eckhardt on bass and Mitchell Forman on keyboards, a line-up that's pretty good in itself. But, as the heart of the beast, he's also managed to bring in guest guitarists for each track so that you also get astonishing lead guitar duties from Steve Lukather, Mike Stern, Steve Morse, Jimmy Herring, Frank Gambale, Warren Haynes, David Fiuczynski, Greg Howe & John Abercrombie along with several guest appearances from original Mahavishnu Orchestra violinist Jerry Goodman.
The one thing that all the tracks have in common is a freshness of sound - staying faithful to the structure, the classic compositions have, nevertheless, received a fantastic contemporary makeover so that they sound vibrant and alive, if anything much more "open" than you'd expect. There's no real attempt to match McLaughlin's pace of guitar play and instead the guitarists have opted to go more for sheer feeling and passion so that the compositions sound more overtly melodic than the originals. Steve Morse comes close with a fiery performance on 'Celestial Terrestrial Commuters' while Jimmy Herring positively makes the guitar sing on the classic 'Meeting Of The Spirits' giving the track a whole new energy compared to the quite slow original. The duet of Greg Howe and Jerry Goodman on 'Dance Of Maya' is nothing short of stunning as the two musicians fly upwards and onwards to exciting effect.
From start to finish, this is an album of passionate playing of vintage compositions, and giving them a whole new, justifiable and 100% successful contemporary fusion guitar makeover.
CARL WEINGARTEN; Local Journeys CD
This guy has to be one of THE most expressive guitarists on the planet. One day, when it's all far too late, the world will cotton onto this and kick themselves for wondering how on earth they could have missed out on such an emotive player's career. He plays and composes with such love and creation, you get the feeling that the term "guitar god" is the only one that fits. I mean to say, you only have to listen to the opening track - the five minute 'SleepTalk' - on this new studio album, to see what I mean. It opens with the most gorgeous dobro lead and when that combines with a soaring, slowly heaven-bound electric lead, while underneath shuffles a river of electric bass courtesy of the impeccable Michael Manring and drums, and in the background a gorgeous cello texture completes the picture. Immediately you are hooked into a heady and beautiful world of melody, magic and atmospehere. The average length of track is around five minutes across the eleven offerings, and this is just perfect for expressing the ideas and musical delivery. 'Gravity Steps' starts with almost Sandy Bull-esque raga like guitars and ethnic percussion before the twisting lead guitar and snake-like bass join the proceedings to provide a strong and languid melodic dual-lead, while assorted guitar and percussive textures shine all around as the bass moves upfront and the whole effect is once again busy and relaxed at the same time. 'Local Journeys' begins with floating acoustic and electric guitars as the electric bas moves in and provides the lead melody while the guitars chime and the percussion picks up the pace. This then moves into a seriously great and smooth lead guitar line while the other guitar layers strum all around, as the bass and percussion play a vital role both in terms of melody and rhythm, another searingly beautiful electric guitar solo taking centre stage. The two and a half minute 'Rendezvous' slows things down as a highly atmospheric and lazy slice of bass-acoustic guitar-electric guitar melodic flow, ensues. The five minute 'Café Timba' is a prime example of economy - it's another quite languid and melodic compositions where things slowly flow, build and there are plenty of layers in evidence, but what they do is keep it simple which means that the effect as the bass throbs, the lead electric guitar flies, the percussion shuffles and the atmospheric guitars, is hypnotically spectacular as the music sinks inside, filling you with joy, while at the same time possessing a necessary edge that keeps it strong and tight. Superb stuff. 'How Many Doors' opens with the percussion rhythm as the bass wells up from below and a highly charged, emotive lead guitar flies in and glides to the stars amid a shuffling throb of bass and percussion. It has a curiously eastern, almost Mediterranean feel, as you almost feel the heat it both provides and reflects. 5 further tracks continue in similar musical and mood flavours, without one less than riveting second on the entire album. If ever a guitar album could be described as ultimately tasty and prove to be the sort of album that you'd play now and for years to come, then this is that album. A complete and total triumph from one of the finest guitarists on the planet.
INDUSTRIAL:
LYCIA: Empty Space CD
Studio album from 2003 that sounds a lot like a brooding industrial answer to Cocteau Twins with that trademark sound of chiming, echoed and sustained guitars swirling around the mix above chunky rhythms. The compositions are a mix of instrumental, flowing undercurrents of hushed male vocal and Heavenly female vocal, pretty well shared out with the instrumentals in a slight lead.. Quite dark yet deeply atmospheric, it's all quite solid and heady, giving out what you put in.
NOISE UNIT: Voyeur CD
First new studio album for 8 years which sees the renewed collaboration of Delerium's Rhys Fulber & Decree's Chris Peterson on an album of 9 tracks that can't fail to blow you away. The opening, near eight minute, 'Illicit Dreams' is simply breathtaking. A pretty well instrumental assault (a few vocals are either buried in the mix or treated to sound like another layer of instrumentation), this is a full-on attack of synths, drums, programming, guitars, electronics, bass and more synths but with so many layers and a production that brings them all into sharp focus, while at the same time providing this sea of sound through which a blaze of flowing synths provide a soaring framework over the solid, lurching, driving and huge-sounding rhythmic flow. The sound of real industrial electronic bombast, this is thinking man's EBM to a tee and is one of the finest tracks of its kind that I've heard in a long, long time - could be a contender for industrial music track on 2005 - yes, it really is THAT hot. After this, you'd think it couldn't get any better, so what they do to prove you wrong, is to go into a driving world of industrial drum 'n' bass, mix it up with orchestral-sounding industrial bliss while around the beats are assembled whispered voices, keyboard backdrops that hang suspended, driving bass undercurrents all amid a seriously high-flying string synth canvas a the composition builds and rises to awesome extent, being far more substantial than its five and a half minute running time, might suggest. Then the seven minute Surveillance' proceeds to go even further away from the opener, with no less a consistency and level of enjoyment, I hasten to add, but here you get shuddering, echoed, resonant and deep layers of bass and electronic rhythms that just pulse away to awesomely huge sounding extent, while all around, the more blissful layers of ambient synths and strings go to create a musical landscape that, when played as a whole, will leave you jaw-dropped and breathless, but then just as you think you've got the measure of it, the thing explodes in a hailstorm of thunderous electro-percussive beats and over this awesome rhythmic strength, the string synths and throbbing electronic layers continue to flow, the effect being quite breathtaking. Most of what follows is similar to the opener as beds of solid rhythmic strength are used as the foundations for acres of electronics, synths, samples, keys, programms and treatments, with the whole thing rolling along quite unstoppably - not that at any time do you want to - as you are completely caught up in what can only be described as the most breathtaking, addictive, enjoyable and ultimately musically satisfying sonic maelstroms that you'll ever have sat through.
ROTERSAND: Welcome To Goodbye CD
The sound of EBM in 2005 is a mix of everything from trance through industrial rock as pounding beats, swathes of electronic backdrops and rhythms, stomach-churning bass and acres of high-flying electronic leads amid a sea of fuzz guitars and thick bass, all combine to provide a searing driving mass of rhythmic addiction, all tempered with a great sense of dynamics in arrangements that are still as much listenable as they are danceable. Song structures take on a hue that is more akin to current bands such as the excellent VNV Nation, Seabound and more. Vocals are superb, full of feeling, delivered with malice and menace, never overdone and always conveying the mood of the piece. If you like your industrial music on the forceful electronic side then this serves up a feast.
JAZZ-ROCK/FUSION:
CARLO MEZZANOTTE & SYNTAXIS: Cieli Diversi CD
Italian jazz-rock with a decidedly "Canterbury" feel, mostly in the rhythm section and guitar work, while the keyboard player tends to be the more "Italian" side of the fence, stylistically speaking. The instrumental compositions exhibit energy and vitality, as a set of intricately composed and well played compositions comes to life. As you might expect, the music twists and turns but always with the eye on what makes this sort of fusion the sort that you genuinely want to play. The whole point about the "Canterbury" fusion outfits was the way they mixed musical dexterity with compositions that flowed and held your attention, as opposed to much of the American eighties output and, to a degree, most of the Euro mainland output, that put playing before composing. This manages to walk that line with success, so that, while it does stray into occasional soloing blind alleys on the odd occasion, it is kept tight and driving, the guitar work in particular recalling a mix of John Goodsall & Phil Miller, while th rhythm section is firm and chunky, more Brand X than Hatfields. The piano and keyboards/synth work is the only area where, again on the odd occasion, the "cheese" factor comes into play, but overall, 95% of this works a treat and you can't argue with that.
OM TRIO: Globalpositioningrecord CD
Instrumental from bass, drums and keyboards/synths, with a guest electric guitarist on 3 of the 14 tracks. For those of you at this point who are thinking 'Nice-yawn-ELP-yawn", let me tell you that you are completely on the wrong track. It's actually incredibly non-progressive sounding. The drummer sounds like he should be in Can while the keys/synths player could have been off any number of seventies albums that utilized this style of and sound of keys/electronics. The whole thing swings and has a real groove about it, preferring to have you swaying and dancing rather than sitting there in wrapt attention - although you can do that as well. It's actually one of the most addictive albums of its kind that I've come across in ages - the rhythms get you for a start, but as to its musical identity - it straddles a line between Krautrock, fusion, prog-rock and all done with a seventies flavour for sure, so that bands such as Suntreader, Keith Tippett and a guitar-free Isotope come to mind, not to mention the Canterbury stalwarts such as Hatfields & Mole (without guitars of course). But then, on a track like the six minute 'Tor S' they'll suddenly introduce a delicious Hammond organ lead that'll tthrow you completely as to where this album's really at. I've not heard its like in years and years - and this is a feast of keyboards and rhythms in what is more meodic fusion than anything but will have an appeal to a wide cross section of music fans.
OZONE QUARTET: Live At Local 506 CD
Recorded in 2000, this remains the only live document of a truly fantastic instrumental band who manage to make the line-up of electric guitar-electric violin-Chapman Stick-drums sound like it really should have been the way forward. The sound quality and performance are exceptional - that's for sure - and anyone who was into the likes of Curved Air, Mahavishnu Orchestra, King Crimson, Caravan and Wolf will get off on this band's music. With the ensemble work to the fore, the band vary between strident fusion and sinuous prog, but always with melodies flowing as the central core of what this music is all about. There's a definite passion to the playing and there's no point at which your brain switches off a they maintain a great sense of dynamics in the arrangements, so that you get a couple of storming tracks such as 'Dragonfly' and 'Mutoid Man' then a relative rest as the gorgeous strains of 'Flood' ring out and that wonderfully fluid violin just transports you to another dimension, before the main riff and rhythm kick back in, the guitar takes the role of backdrop and the muscle begins to flex as the band go all solid and lead into a searing guitar solo that takes you even higher. As a well crafted set of compositions it manages to make the amalgam of melodic prog and fiery fusion work impeccably and, of its kind, is one of the best you'll hear.
V/A: Visions Of An Inner Mounting Apocalypse - A Fusion Guitar Tribute to Mahavishnu Orchestra CD
Concentrating on the classic early-mid seventies version of the Mahavishnu Orchestra, guitarist Jeff Richman has re-arranged a set of classic tracks for the basic band of himself plus Vinnie Colaiuta on drums, Kai Eckhardt on bass and Mitchell Forman on keyboards, a line-up that's pretty good in itself. But, as the heart of the beast, he's also managed to bring in guest guitarists for each track so that you also get astonishing lead guitar duties from Steve Lukather, Mike Stern, Steve Morse, Jimmy Herring, Frank Gambale, Warren Haynes, David Fiuczynski, Greg Howe & John Abercrombie along with several guest appearances from original Mahavishnu Orchestra violinist Jerry Goodman.
The one thing that all the tracks have in common is a freshness of sound - staying faithful to the structure, the classic compositions have, nevertheless, received a fantastic contemporary makeover so that they sound vibrant and alive, if anything much more "open" than you'd expect. There's no real attempt to match McLaughlin's pace of guitar play and instead the guitarists have opted to go more for sheer feeling and passion so that the compositions sound more overtly melodic than the originals. Steve Morse comes close with a fiery performance on 'Celestial Terrestrial Commuters' while Jimmy Herring positively makes the guitar sing on the classic 'Meeting Of The Spirits' giving the track a whole new energy compared to the quite slow original. The duet of Greg Howe and Jerry Goodman on 'Dance Of Maya' is nothing short of stunning as the two musicians fly upwards and onwards to exciting effect.
From start to finish, this is an album of passionate playing of vintage compositions, and giving them a whole new, justifiable and 100% successful contemporary fusion guitar makeover.
