Records
Dig Out Your Soul
14/10/08 18:35
I approach each new album with hope and excitement and finally, tentatively, it appears the faith is some way toward being thanked with their new, seventh, album, Dig Out Your Soul. The last three records have left my CD player faster than I would like. I didn't feel there was enough in there to keep listening; this time it feels different. Could they finally, say it quietly, have made a mature album? I never minded that they lacked depth, that their lyrics were poor, it was the songs that mattered. I can go through an album being lyrically unfulfilled if the songs dazzle. This time, there is more to let in. As I have come to expect, the album starts off at a blistering pace - strident, confident opener Bag It Up; The Turning, with its gentle Dear Prudence outro and Waiting for the Rapture, Noel-sung with its Doors Five To One intro and Beatles Revolution cadence, grab the attention immediately. Noel is bullish about the inclusion of his vocals but often I'm keen to get past them to the real rock voice in the band, as evidenced on frenetic stomper single Shock of the Lightning and its crashing Zak Starkey drums. But now Liam writes songs too so that is the balance, the exchange. Noel's vocals for Liam's songs. They are like the parents arguing over the map in the car while Gem Archer and Andy Bell are the children in the back watching the front seat annoyance unfold.
And then something surprising happens - Liam writes the sweetest, most charming song on the album, I'm Outta Time. Where this came from is anyone's guess. His live vocals might be a mixture of shouting, sneering, whisky and cigarettes but no-one can say Liam doesn't turn in some of the great rock vocals when it comes to the permanent record. This song is a real heartbreaker. To be unkind you might call it a Lennon pastiche. There's no attempt made to hide this - the song contains an Lennon interview sample from 1980. It's his love song to John, which has been coming for years. Frankly, Lennon would have been proud to have written it. Noel should watch out; especially since his next vocal (Get Off Your) High Horse Lady, with its Give Peace A Chance backing, marks the album's first average track. But then, at the point in the album where the songs traditionally start to sag, comes Falling Down - the final Noel sung song of the record and all is forgiven, all is returned, all is rescued. One can only be staggered by its power and beauty. Then, as I am used to, the album veers off course somewhat with a couple of poor tracks. The songs have a satisfying groove but aren't memorable - as songwriters, Gem and Andy, both former guitarists in their bands, Heavy Stereo and Ride, respectively, aren't quite there yet. On any other band's album they would be creditable entries but with the standard so high on Oasis records they don't pass muster. Still, the songs themselves are listenable for the music alone - with three guitarists in the band and no recognised bassist, as each of the three musicians swaps bass duties around, this certainly makes for an unusual atmosphere even on the songs that try too hard. It's a relief the band are able to move forward at all - without Gem and Andy, both excellent musicians, to drive the band along Oasis would be stuck in the mire, as they were before 2000 with game but hugely limited band members.
Later track To Be Where There's Life might be melodically unmemorable but its sitar and bass driven hypnotic quality takes it home. With the previous band members it would have been a muddy dirge, this time they get dangerously close to a jam, no bad thing. Penultimate track The Nature of Reality is a skippable mess but the Tomorrow Never Knows reminiscent album closer, the Liam-penned Soldier On, takes the listener out on a high. Oasis have made a mature album. For any other British band, ok is good enough. I expect more, need more, demand more from Oasis. If they can build on it they might become the band I've always wanted them to be.
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Arcade Fire, Neon Bible
27/03/07 19:17
If I’d had to review it after one listen I imagine mine would have been somewhat like Rolling Stone legend David Fricke’s in tone. Reading his 3 1/2 star review, it’s certain to have been done after spending a mere 50 minutes in the company of this band. I confess that on first play I was under whelmed too. The songs didn’t leap out at me as debut Funeral’s had. I sat quietly after the first play and considered the nature of the modern music product versus the relative attention span of the listener. In eras gone by, albums were called ‘growers’. My parent’s generation might have fallen in love instantly with an album like Revolver but they would have to work hard at material like John Wesley Harding. Shouldn’t great albums, work that lasts, demand repeated plays? If you can get a full sense of an album on only one turn I’m not sure it’s going to last in the great pantheon of work. I appreciate Oasis. They are one of the great British bands of their time and I own each and every one of their releases but their albums have a puddle’s depth. And, aside from the first two, I have felt no desire to listen again to the rest of their discography.
In that spirit, I felt the calling of Neon Bible, an album that implores you to play it over and again. There can be nothing that affirms your love and passion for music more than a release that you sense holds great depth, a shining silver circle begging to be swallowed by a music system that does it justice. This is a dark album, a gothic record in the traditional sense, and it demands attention. I fell for Funeral after a Bowie recommendation but I had no right to expect such a grand leap forward for the follow up. It’s a sumptuous, lush, complex album. It crackles with indignant fire on 9/11 inspired track Antichrist Television Blues. For Ocean of Noise you float on a cloud above your bed as if you’ve woken up in a Michel Gondry film.
There’s a signature Arcade Fire sound: a crescendo of music, as a driving, determined song builds towards its zenith and explodes finally into release. It’s a joyous feeling when it happens and it’s never better demonstrated on No Cars Go, itself a reworked version of a track on their 2003 self-titled debut EP, and Keep The Car Running. Album closer My Body Is A Cage is a sombre, powerful, organ-laden triumph, a song that aches your heart and mind. There are few other bands currently able to pass such a musical current through your body. This collective and the mind-bending array of instruments they’re able to call upon have created an album of immeasurable beauty. It’s not only an album I don’t see beaten easily in the Album of the Year rush at 2007’s end but it’s a piece of art that may not be bettered in their careers.
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Concert for Bangladesh Deluxe Edition
28/10/05 19:32
When the Beatles finally creaked toward calling it a day in 1970 the reaction was to wonder if any of them would have a hit again (seems a ridiculous notion now, that they wouldn’t) - George was the first, with My Sweet Lord hitting number 1. Shortly after that his attention was diverted by the tragedy unfolding in Bangladesh, a part of the East India coast. The eastern part of Pakistan was struggling to become the separate state of Bangladesh and refugees by the thousand started their trip to make new lives. Torrential rains caused massive flooding and a humanitarian disaster threatened. Ravi told George and he recorded the song 'Bangladesh' to raise money and then decided to really have a go by putting on two concerts at Madison Square Garden, one afternoon performance (as is customary with Indian music) and an evening show.
The organisers didn't exactly have the best reputation... the music was produced by general nutter and now alleged murderer Phil Spector and the gig was produced by legendary crook, Stones manager, and cause of much of the Beatle break up, Allen Klein.
George spent 6 weeks calling friends and asking them to perform including all of the former Beatles. Paul refused no doubt because of the Klein participation and John said yes after George insisted Yoko didn't perform (smart man!). However following an argument with Yoko about it, John decided to pull out. Ringo of course said yes. As did friends Billy Presston, Leon Russell, Jim Keltner, Badfinger, Eric Clapton, Jesse Ed Davis and of course, the jokerman at any party, Bob Dylan. The concert was a huge success and raised £250,000. The real money came after from TV rights to show the gig (I had an ancient video copy, terrible quality, from one such American broadcast), a theatrical release and the soundtrack made a ton of money too. The incredible thing about the gig is that you can feel the fresh Beatle wounds on stage, even more so from the audience. Several songs were played from his newly released All Things Must Pass and a few Beatle George classics, played beautifully - Something, While My Guitar Gently Weeps and Here Comes the Sun. The latter, watch out, has a lovely moment at the start where George sees someone he knows at the front and lets out the sweetest smile. In short, this set is worth buying.
The packaging is exquisite, the concert (which begins with a wondrous Shankar performance) is superb and the extras are plentiful - documentaries, rehearsal and soundcheck footage, postcards, Apple window sticker, poster and a copy of the handwritten lyrics to Bangladesh. This was the first charity concert, the first and the most innocent, where rock stars stopped thinking about their profile for a day and just went ahead. Sure enough though, Dylan had a last minute wobble because of the presence of cameras and had to be coaxed onto the stage. George said that when he introduced him he wasn’t actually certain he’d come out to play. But he pulled himself together and put in a superb performance. Everyone did it for George, not for record sales. As for him... it makes me sad sometimes just to watch him. He was a beautiful man, totally at one with himself in a way the rest of the Beatles never were, and the world is a poorer place without him.
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