Another eclectic round-up for your delectation from Alan Dearling
Beth Gibbons – Lives OutGrown
Intimate and intense. Beth is still breathy, gloriously dark, sometimes melodic. An aural overload of an album. You need quite a hi-fi music set-up to handle the fidelity of the loud parts. The photos of the album cover, like the music itself are often too-far-out, too-far-out of focus. But challenging and fuzzy!
‘Too afraid to be free’ is dense and apocalyptic, an example of Beth’s essential fragility. In terms of the overall impression, the outlook that this album offers, think Nick Drake fronting Portishead and Massive Attack. ‘Floating on a moment’ provides shadows of Nico along with thundering drum-beats. Defiantly tribal, with more than a hint of sacrifice. It’s often a heavy musical trip, with the track titles offering a sense of the foreboding: ‘Burden of Life’, ‘Lost Changes’, ‘Beyond the Sun’ – darkness, loss and disembodiment. Beth’s vocals on ‘Lost Changes’ echo the backing vocals, layer upon layer of sounds, with a touch of Pink Floyd’s more melancholic moments… “Hey you, over there.” The dark abyss at the edge of Floyd’s ‘Heart of the Sun’. Enter into the ‘Heart of Darkness’, it is disturbing, hauntological, a tad frightening, with Beth, harmoniums, violins and field recordings cataloguing the loss of faith…and a sense of searing loss and regret.
Beth Gibbons ‘Lost Changes’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXRJWVvSGIs
Philip Glass – songs from Liquid Days
Totally missed this when it was released, but discovered it through a trawl of music connecting Phil Glass with film and music scores, and music initially linked to Laurie Anderson. Philip says of it: “I had not until this last year worked with the song form as such. Writing the song cycle ‘Songs from Liquid Days’ became for me truly a voyage of discovery…the words come first…the people I asked – Paul Simon, Suzanne Vega , David Byrne and Laurie Anderson – are, I feel, not only outstanding songwriters on their own but also lyricists whose poetry reflects individual styles and approaches to songwriting.”
It’s redolent of the musical repetitions which Glass and Michael Nyman often employ, but being a strange mix of choral, classical and opera work, with the likes of Linda Ronstadt, Douglas Perry, The Roches and Bernard Fowler taking centre stage. Weird and beguiling with plenty of swirling, soaring and memorable themes. It was conceived in 1983 and recorded in 1985. Freddy Stidean for AllMusic, wrote that, “‘Songs From Liquid Days’ became Philip Glass’s most popular and successful recording,” and concluded that, “Songs From Liquid Days may be their [the minimalist composers’] single greatest achievement.” Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63jdHUsK1Ro
Laurie Anderson – Amelia
This, to my mind, is a remarkable piece of musical historical art. Apparently the words used in ‘Amelia’ are, according to Laurie Anderson, “… inspired by her pilot diaries, the telegrams she wrote to her husband, and my idea of what a woman flying around the world might think about.” It was first premiered at Carnegie Hall in 2000, but the updated piece has only just been released. It’s really breath-taking. Sonic story-telling at its finest.
“I am hungry, I am hot”, Laurie intones with Amelia’s inner voice. It’s a musical diary of a sky-trip into immortality. “Flying at night…” Laurie whispers elegiacally… “I always knew I wanted to fly.”
“Stopped in a village for a dictionary…did you know that the word for woman is Mary? Imagine a whole country of Marys.”
Anohni joins Laurie on many of the writing and vocal duties. Overall, this album picks up on some of the themes and sounds and zeitgeist of Laurie’s best known work, ‘Big Science’. It’s transcendent as well as sad. Celebratory too with the foreboding of Amelia’s disappearance:
In ‘The Wrong Way’: “Wind blowing the wrong way…25 hundred miles of open ocean… July 2nd 1937: …50/50 chances of finding Howland Island…” Bleakly, gloriously, beautiful. “Can’t hear you…My plane was shiny like a lucky dime.”
From Laurie Anderson’s official site: “ ‘Amelia’ is Laurie Anderson’s first new album since 2018’s Grammy-winning ‘Landfall.’ It comprises twenty-two tracks about renowned female aviator Amelia Earhart’s tragic last flight. She is joined on the album by Filharmonie Brno, conducted by Dennis Russell Davies, and Anohni, Gabriel Cabezas, Rob Moose, Ryan Kelly, Martha Mooke, Marc Ribot, Tony Scherr, Nadia Sirota, and Kenny Wolleson.”
‘Fly into the Sun’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jBCI_LT1fI
Steve Kilbey – Bespoke Wheels and Winged Heels
The image on the cover says a lot: the gambler, the well-turned out, yet slightly dishevelled pale rider, the outsider. It’s yet another testament to the prolific output of Australian Kilbey. It’s an anthology of 20 songs from his solo career. He is also the front-man, writer with The Church. It’s for you if you like well-crafted songs, with plenty of nice time-changes, easy to sing along choruses. His voice moves through light to dark. From Americana to Floyd-mode, which he does very well indeed in the track, ‘Keeper’. In ‘Limbo’, “Lucifer does not want your soul” presents Eastern-sounds, great percussion and prophetic vocal ramblings. In ‘Wolfe’ and ‘A Love Letter from Sydney’, we have Steve in his delightful ‘softer’ mode. The latter is a pleasant instrumental, which moves into a collision course with the next track, ‘Lorelei’, which is much darker. The album brings together songs from a 40 year career, Kilbey having recorded over 100 albums. It won’t change your life, but it is well worth checking out. For nothing else to experience the incredibly diverse range of sounds that he has experimented with. ‘Heliotrope’, a kaleidoscope offering some memorable sounds and musical ideas.
At his prodigious best, Steve Kilbey is a masterful musical magus.
‘Wolfe’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeXVw2qRKsU
Lines of Silence – The Long Way Home
This new album from Lines of Silence offers a next chapter, a new excursion in the evolution of this electronica outfit. The current line-up is David Little on guitars, keyboards and synths; Dave Clarkson with more synths and loops, drum programming and bass guitar, together with Amaury Cambuzat on percussion and more. It’s a powerful ‘trip’, exploring the possibilities offered by 2024 musical combustibles: dance, space-rock, kosmiche electronica. At times this provides its audience opportunities to jump-up-and down, to sway to pounding drums, insistent beats and echoes of Kraftwerk. That’s how ‘The Long Way Home’ kicks off and book-ends with a brief reprise of the dance-style in ‘Back Home’. In between, ‘Tzip Tzap’ continues the Hi NRG, then ‘Phantom Galaxy’ moves off into more spacey, mysterious psychedelic realms. Plenty of guitar wow-wah and sustain with a drum insertion dividing up the tune. ‘Coastliner’ is something of an inter-stellar interlude with added harmonium sounds.
‘A Stranger Shore’ picks up the tempo, and the beats – more reminiscent of Tangerine Dream, with circular rhythms – imagine a new ‘Apocalypse Now’ helicopter ride! And then it’s time for the long almost symphonic piece, ‘Withens Clough’. Slowly developing drones, contemplative trippy sounds, we are going deeper and deeper into the cosmos. It could easily be a new soundtrack for the ‘2001, Space Odyssey’ film. Great sonics, piano plinkings, tinklings, loops and repetitions, guitar wow-wows and even a bit of Spaghetti western thrown into the mix. Overall, I imagine the title and album, ‘The Long Way Home’, as one long(ish) Space Adventure Trip! The Long Way Home’: https://www.analoguetrash.com/video/lines-of-silence-the-long-way-home-amaury-cambuzats-la-route-des-choux-edit
Electric Hero – Another Time
The promo info tells us that, “Electric Hero is the nom de plume of bass player and producer, Chris Clarke”, perhaps best-known for ‘Champion of the World’. Chris says: “With the intention of a fresh start, I assembled a group of younger musicians to come along for the ride including my nephew, Elliott, on drums, guitar maestro, Jamie Alex Pope, with Celina Liesegang and Steve Huddleston on backing vocal duties.”
The result offers lots of very wordy songs in styles ranging from Stealers Wheel through The Smiths to, and perhaps especially, Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds. Chis is a regular host at London’s Betsey Trotwood music venue pub. Much of it sounds very Cockney, very English indeed, with plenty of catchy songs and harks back to the early to mid-1970s pub rock scene, before punk caused its erosion and in many ways, destruction. ‘Brother O Brother’ offers some nice time changes and is a rockier enterprise and is almost a US chain-gang works’ song. Solid and workman-like. Probably it will sell a fair few copies when Chris performs and hosts at the Betsey. Website: https://electrichero.co.uk/
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Wild God
The ecstatic waves of adulation and adoration for this new Nick Cave offering have been resonating across the internet and media. The publicity included worldwide ‘Listening Parties’. I’ve now organised myself and listened to the entire album through a couple of times. My initial reaction still remains – there is too much bombast, it’s full of a lot of pomp, even a bit twee at times – as in the opening track: ‘Never Mind’, “All the king’s horses…couldn’t put him together again.” Thankfully there are examples of better lyrics and more darkness, and wry humour. As in ‘Wild God’ with its, “…rape and pillage in the retirement village.” It’s better, but much of the Bad Seeds’ playing seems to have been swamped with a gospel choir of ladies and many layers of production symphonies.
The old dark Nick of murder ballads infamy is still in there too, and the frantic, impassioned, frenetic vocals. ‘Frogs in the Sunday Rain’ is a good tune, but seems to have borrowed heavily from ‘Morning Dew’ with an added dash of ‘Hey Joe’. ‘Joy’ is more sparse and it’s something of a relief to move into more sombre territories with Nick’s talking songs which offer a greater degree of Cave’s ethereal ‘weirdness’ on ‘Conversion’ and ‘Final Rescue Attempt’. ‘Cinnamon Horses’ is obliquely sad and mournful, and ‘Long Dark Night’ brings a touch of Springsteen balladry to the proceedings. ‘Wild God’ as an album is a tad messy, with some strong, powerful moments.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPGdLRI95N4
Gandalf Murphy and The Slambovian Circus of Dreams – A Good Thief Tips His Hat
Described pretty accurately as the ‘Hillbilly Pink Floyd’. This album has only recently received its first ever release in the UK, 25 years after its original release in America. Much of it has Gandalf singing in a gruff American voice. But it’s the songs as well as the supremely crafted arrangements that are the real stars. Complete ear-worms. ‘Silent Revolution’ cites Jimi, Kurt and Janis and their shared dreams. They epitomise and eulogise the real “some kind of loony” in the song. This is just so well-crafted and crafty, melodic, reminiscent of the finest musical products from Jim Croce, the Beatles and David Bowie. In fact, ‘Alice in Space’ could easily be a lost outtake from the Beatles’ White Album. ‘Good Thief’ channels their inner Bowie.
“We never fit in, anyway” they sing on ‘Never Fit’, and Gandalf and the Circus is a kaleidoscope melange of much of the best of all musical styles: punk, classical, pop, rock, hillbilly, psychedelia. Earlier in 2024 they completed a hugely successful tour in the UK. Wonderful stuff! Live in 2024: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYpzRhqNq70