Beautiful Belle

(Morning Star, 29 November 2008)

ALBUM: Belle and Sebastian - The BBC Sessions
(Jeepster)

THERE are those who fall upon every Belle and Sebastian record and hold it to their hearts as a thing of beauty.

These people will worship The BBC Sessions, which is packed full of the sort of magic that these Scottish indie swoonsters are known for from BBC radio sessions between 1996 and 2001.

From the alternative Lazy Line Painter Jane to four previously unreleased tracks featuring the since-departed Isobel Campbell, there's plenty to recommend this to completists.

As for those who have never seen the light, play The BBC Sessions softly and, all at once, you will know beauty. And if you don't, you don't deserve to.

Big challenge

(Morning Star, Saturday 29 November)

ALBUM: Recording the Impossible - Recording the Impossible
(SL)

RECORDING The Impossible has its drawbacks. Like Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music or The Beatles' Carnival Of Light, the "impossible" can sometimes be the unlistenable.

Headed by former Dawn Of The Replicants frontman Paul Vickers and art installer for Tate Liverpool Andy Currie, Recording The Impossible does call for all of the listener's patience.

From the melody void that is opener A Lumosonic Montage through Chan Lee Ping's tale of sexual pecadilloes in Popsex and onto the 45-second Main Theme, there really is a lot here that can be filed under challenging, but also in parts uniquely amusing.

James Yorkston - Tortoise Regrets Hare

(Muso's Guide, November 28, 2008)

Single review

If folk is alive and well, it’s been living in Fife, Scotland and very happy about it, thank you. Except that the quaint Scottish fishing villages grew too small, and lovely talents like King Creosote and this here James Yorkston much too big.

And so, the outside world gets to enjoy the artists formerly known as the Fence Collective - different all, but retaining the similarity of taletelling. These songwriters produce storybook songs with vivid characters, and lives, and loves, all every bit as real as your own.

This is the leader single of Yorkston’s fourth studio record When The Haar Rolls In. In Yorkston’s native East Neuk of Fife (and parts of northeast England), the haar is a damp mist that comes off the sea, concealing, enveloping and contorting reality. So it is that Yorkston’s former life as a local balladeer has melted away, darkened and obscured by the success which has befallen this softly-spoken, intelligent multi-instrumentalist.

‘Tortoise Regrets Hare’ is a sweet, soulful tune, with plenty to recommend it to those who have yet to find themselves bewitched. With all the care and attention of a lover, Yorkston coaxes gentle acoustic rhythms from his guitar, spinning yarns of such simplicity that listeners will be sure that they could have come up with them - except they didn’t, and James Yorkston has been the one to verbalise the dimmest of daydreams lurking just beyond the periphery of the imagination.

The vocals of Nancy Elizabeth offer a rich harmony, and the addition of violin and keyboards flesh out the simple melody into something really very lovely. Repeated listenings will only engender the deepest empathy, as it becomes apparent that there are only frets and regrets over relationships lost, and hearts broken.

Coming late to fame, Yorkston is the tortoise who struggled along. But with this record, he proves he really has won out - and what a victory lap this is.

Seal - Soul

(Muso's Guide, November 28, 2008)

Album

In the true meaning of the word, soul is under-represented in modern music. Soul which incorporated gospel and old-style rhythm and blues, belted out by Otis, or Sam Cooke, or Marvin Gaye - in true grandad style, they simply don’t make them like that anymore.

Seal Henry Samuel obviously agrees with that particular standpoint, because he’s only gone and released an album of soul covers. One would assume that these are desperate times in the Seal household, as the 2007 album System didn’t perform so well. In fact, the album that was touted as a “return to his dance roots” - and featured a nauseating duet with supermodel spouse Heidi Klum - has actually turned out to be one of Seal’s worst-performing in the US. So now he’s gone back to his soul roots, which is much better.

Lead single and album opener ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’ is one of the most breathtaking tracks in Sam Cooke’s canon, released back in the civil rights hotbed of 1964. On Soul, Seal’s version is a cascade of strings and honey-smooth vocals and he sings with all the grace of Cooke. The impassioned voice here elevates Seal, equalising him briefly with some of the greatest singers of all time who have committed this song to record - from Cooke to Franklin to Green to Redding.

On ‘I Can’t Stand The Rain’, it’s a slightly different story. The voice is still there, but something about the rendering is slightly uneasy. The steamy allure of Ann Peebles’ original seems to have gotten lost amid Seal’s neat, over-produced orchestration. Similarly, James Brown’s ‘It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World’ is diluted like Simon Quinlank’s weak lemon drink. Seal’s version is serviceable, and his voice is no less velveteen than before, but the unfettered drama and yearning of Brown in the original is replaced with perfect pitch and stern strings. The magic has been stripped out, which is pretty unforgivable. Through Al Green, Otis Redding and Curtis Mayfield, Seal continues his homage to the greats, but without the punch and performance that made them the greats, which is really a shame. Even Ben E. King’s standard anthem ‘Stand By Me’ isn’t safe from Seal’s well-meaning clutches.

At best the record is something of a genius marketing decision to be made around the festive period, and there really are a lot of amazing songs on show here - but, to be honest, one would be hard pushed to hear where Seal has made these songs any better than their iconic originals, or how he expected to. Come on, Seal - dig out your soul.

The Kills - Tape Song

(Muso's Guide, November 27 2008)

Single review

(Domino Records)

There is a market for everything. Salesmen will tell you that and, in 2008, everyone’s a salesman, baby. If you think you’re unique, unheard of, dizzyingly different, chances are the powers that be can shove you into an attractive package in less time than it takes to say “I hate myself and want to die”.

Step forward The Kills. British Moss-acolyte Jamie Hince took his priapic axe halfway to meet American Alison Mosshart’s squally blues banshee first time round in 2001 and it’s only gotten dirtier since then.

If you think such filthy guitar greatness evades capture, you’d be wrong. The very exciting and sometime cutting edge Kills quickly became a “blues duo in the mould of the White Stripes” for the uninitiated, and after the prickly Keep On Your Mean Side garnered them these and similar epithets, 2005’s No Wow was a concerted effort to escape what had gone before - the prepacked, homogenised boy/girl twosome template.

Revitalised and back on the block, the band’s third record Midnight Boom hit the airwaves about nine months ago now, and it’s been quite a year for the kids most likely to drop out and disappear. Kicking off with the habitual Kills drum machine sound, ‘Tape Song’ is nothing like a departure. Complete with a suitably jerky video, there’s a package up for grabs here. The two misfits, living the rock dream because they’re just too darned maverick to fit in anywhere else. What a sales pitch that old chestnut is.

Twangy guitars break the beat and Mosshart’s feline vocal stretching across the first four bars with a yowling intensity. Hince’s jabbing guitar gives shape to the beat, and from there it’s a small leap into the song - “Tape ain’t gonna fix it honey, it ain’t gonna stick to you”, presumably meaning it’s more sticky tape than the chromium sort.

There’s a degree of chaos in Mosshart’s work here. She is, as ever, a woman on the edge of the rock abyss, spitting and snarling every line like a character in a Chuck Palahniuk novel. Hince, in comparison, offers a completely methodical approach, dropping guitar stabs like breadcrumbs for Mosshart to pick up.

From the old days of VV and Hotel, The Kills have matured like a particularly pungent dairy product, and ‘Tape Song’ is the sound of a couple of skilled salesmen. With all the balls and rock’n'roll persona of Patti Smith, Mosshart is a frontwoman who compromises with no one - except Hince, whose Lou Reed-isms would be nauseating if they weren’t so damned spot on.

The Kills - outsider rock that sells like teen spirit.

Snow Patrol - A Hundred Million Suns

(Muso's Guide, November 27, 2008)

(POLYDOR)

Heavily accented vocals are a toughie. Who could deny affecting an oirish brogue when taking off ‘Fairytale Of New York’ a la McGowan? Or dusting off the Auchtermuchty burr for a closing time rendition of ‘(I’m Gonna Be) 500 Miles’ like the bespectacled Reid twins?

In truth, it’s not really Gary Lightbody’s fault that the Norn Iron accent is the least alluring of them all, as evinced by Neil Hannon. Why else would Ken Branagh have fought so hard to break free of its shackles? And so it is that listeners must listen to Lightbody’s “har nar brawn car” vowels before even thinking of the musical advances on this, the fifth album from the Celtic (Scots and NI) quintet.

A Hundred Million Suns comes off the back of 2006’s five times platinum Eyes Open, so the heat is truly on here. It seems that they start out where Eyes Open left off - with radio-friendly unit-shifting stadium rock. And who could blame them? There’s clearly a market for this stuff. The album opener, ‘If There’s A Rocket, Tie Me To It’, clearly works on the premise that elegiac is best. Chiming guitars guide the ear into an expertly woven soundscape of swooning choruses and bizarrely immature lyrics. The tale of young love - through shared pulses and spaces - boasts a naivety which causes blushes with every gauche step into a sixth former’s poetry journal. Here, as on the rest of the album, the band merrily plow Editors’ musical furrow, all big gestures and windmilling guitars.

On ‘Crack the Shutters’, Lightbody channels Ricky Ross from Deacon Blue, spouting romantic rhetoric against a surefire soundtrack hit. Leader single ‘Take Back The City’, all radio-friendly saturation play and top-tapping pop - is decidedly singable, but disjointed in the extreme. The chorus and verses are welded together like a messy cut’n’shut, jarring with each note. That doesn’t take away from its surefire ‘hit’ status, sure to be an anthem for the Wetherspoons generation as ‘A Design For Life’. ‘Lifeboats’ sees Lightbody-as-male-Dido, conducting his vocal as dispassionately as a man who is waiting for a bus. His words speak of emotion, but his tone speaks of the number 29.

It’s not that Snow Patrol haven’t tried to move on from Eyes Open. ‘The Golden Floor’ kicks off, unbelievably, with some sort of world music drumbeats, whilst ‘Please Just Take These Photos From My Hands’ has a nice line in pop which wouldn’t shame a self-regarding boyband these days. Lightbody’s voice is making the move into a richer, more mature territory, and it is great to hear. On ‘Lifeboats’, it is at times sonorous, and the journey to accomplished rock singer has taught him a few tricks. But by the same token, one would assume that they might have picked up some eloquent lyricism in all these years. Newsflash: they haven’t. Phrases like “surplus reprieve” and “cool your beans, son” are unfortunate, while the simile which likens “veins” to “great forest trees” is truly a new low in songwriting.

The truth in all of this is that Snow Patrol know that they found a terrific niche in Eyes Open and in Final Straw and they know better than anyone how foolish they would be to move away from that too soon at too high a speed. For the meantime, they’re basking in the light of A Hundred Million Suns. Let’s hope they lose that accent by the time the next record comes around.

A real belter

(Morning Star, Friday 07 November 2008)

ALBUM: Kaiser Chiefs - Off With Their Heads
(B-Unique)

THIS album is the Kaiser Chiefs' next step in their doctrine on the evolution of yob culture.

It's pretty much business as usual, with lead single Never Miss A Beat heralding the return of the biting refrain.

Elsewhere, the band's devotion to the pop hit is not lacking. Always Happens Like That smacks of Orange Juice's Rip It Up and all the loveliness that entails, unspoiled even by Lily Allen on backing vocals.

The only smarting doubt comes from the very thing that makes some of their best singles great - repetition. Kaiser Chiefs have made it their life's work to chant their songs out, leaving the whole album to sound for all the world like the nursery rhymes of modern Britain.

Winter-proof your car

(Bookshelf Boyfriend, November 2008)

'Tis the season for shopping and partying! But while you're living large, don't forget your little bug, parked outside in the cold. This is one gal pal who is invaluable on those Christmas shopping expeditions!

Remember that your car doesn't like being out in the freezing cold any more than you do - so do yourselves both a favour and follow this simple 10-point guide:


1 - Frost on your windscreen is a nuisance - if you want to get ahead, secure newspaper under the wiper blades overnight. The ice won't get a chance to form on the screen - and you can hop in and drive off (carefully!) the morning after. Prevention is better than cure!


2 - If you really need a cure, the best investment is a sturdy scraper - not a cashcard or CD case! There are also terrific de-icing sprays on the market. The one thing you must never do is put hot water near a frosted windscreen. Cracked screens are so not a good look and fixing them is pricey.


3 - Make sure your screen-wash is kept topped up with about 50/50 water and anti-freeze - read your manual or anti-freeze bottle for exact specifications. As with other car fluids, check your oil, particularly for consistency - the cold has a tendency to thicken it. The start of winter should see an oil and filter change, recommended every 3,000 miles.


4 - Don't forget the tyres. Check them for wear and replace if balding or badly worn. Make sure you keep the pressure topped up for proper vehicle control - the appropriate pressures will be in your manual. You should be checking them every four to six weeks, whatever the weather - and don't forget the spare!


5 - Keep an eye on your brake pads. If you're not sure, you should have your brakes professionally inspected, as good brakes are essential for icy weather. If they are worn out, they are a danger.


6 - Check every light is working as it should be - the darker evenings and general bad weather mean that your car is less likely to be seen, so give it the best chance you can.


7 - In the cold, the car battery works much harder to achieve the same effect - a bit like when you crank up the elevation on the treadmill! If the battery is more than three years old, replace it. Keep contacts free of corrosion, and look out for discharge. Don't forget to use gloves and eye protection when near battery acid.


8 - Don't let car washing fall by the wayside now it's chilly outside - salt from the grit they spread on the roads can cause corrosion if left on the car, so keep it clean! Make a trip to the carwash or grab a young nephew to help.


9 - Keep your petrol tank at least half full and you will help reduce moisture problems in the fuel system.


10 - Check the condition of the drive belts. Shiny, frayed or cracked belts should be replaced. For tips, see the owner's manual.

It may seem like a hassle, but check out these flashpoints before motoring and you won't be sorry. Give that four-wheeled filly a little bit of TLC and she'll pay you back with good service!

BLACK LIGHT BURNS - COVER YOUR HEART

(AU magazine November 2008)

(EDEL RECORDS)

In 2008, it’s safe to say the mass hallucination of numetal has passed, leaving fans rubbing their eyes as if waking from a trance. Former Limp Bizkit axeman Wes Borland, now of Black Light Burns, is one of them, but here he’s brought his industrial rock talents to other peoples’ songs. With the sole intention of paying homage to heroes, it’s a labour of love with some good renderings. Maybe ten years' time will see some diehards cover Limp Bizkit songs with the same devotion.

KUNG FU SUPER SOUNDS: UNRELEASED SHAW BROTHERS SOUNDTRACK - VARIOUS ARTISTS

(AU magazine November 2008)

(DE WOLFE MUSIC LIBRARY)

Anyone who has ever dreamed of starring in their own heavily-choreographed retro kung fu movie is looking at a must-have record. This collection of songs culled from just such a movie-making dynasty may sound a little offbeat, but the tracks on show here are each peerless filmic grooves to make you feel effortlessly cool, sounding like an evening round Quentin Tarantino’s gaff. Listening to The Four Assassins from 1975’s Horror House paints pictures of martial arts baddies on the prowl, while the spooky Old Dark House from 1978’s Heaven and Hell is drowning in intrigue. The cuts from the late 70s are more evocative, offering bold strokes of a time now shamefully forgotten in both music and cinema. Listen and learn.

REEMER - SNAKES AND LADDERS

(AU magazine November 2008)

(REACTION RECORDS)

Plunging straight into staccato guitars and angsty lyrics, opener 'Maniac' sees Reemer vocalist Dave Hunter worrying about “the little voices in my head”. Not quite knowing their own minds is a theme for this Scouting for Girls-meets-McFly Mancunian foursome, as 'Words' sees Hunter plaintively and repeatedly wail, “tell me what I’m s’posed to think” as if the voices can offer some direction. The singability of their choruses is impressive, but Reemer have really taken the ingenue train past 'guileless' and straight in to 'stupid'.

Real life: "Meningitis almost killed my daughter"

(Somerfield magazine, November 2008)