Posted in Album Reviews

The Last Dinner Party – From The Pyre (2025)

Posted on by Michael

Last October, London band, The Last Dinner Party, returned with their second album – From The Pyre. The initial recordings got derailed when producer James Ford was diagnosed with leukemia who’s hopefully doing better after a tough 2025. The band then worked with another big name producer in Markus Drays. The album manages to avoid the dreaded sophomore jinx with several terrific songs including the soft rock opener “Agnus Dei” that manages to rhyme “Ohio” with “Disembowelled” plus the driving thunder chorus of “Second Best”.

The album shares similarities with their debut in that the five ladies are theatrical in nature, mixing 70s soft rock with harder edges. Single, “This Is The Killer Speaking” is jaunty, with a flash of style. The album closes with a few strong tracks including the slower “Sail Away” that sees singer Abigail Morris sing defiantly that “I would take my ship/Have no one else on it” before “The Scythe” picks up the pace. From The Pyre does an excellent job of picking up where the debut left off and offering up a better distillation of their sound.

8/10

Posted in Album Reviews

The Doors – L.A. Woman (1971)

Posted on by Michael

The last album by The Doors to have Jim Morrison appear was L.A. Woman.  Released in 1971, the album is a bluesy affair with songs like the John Lee Hooker cover, “Crawling King Snake” plus the originals “Cars Hiss By My Window” and “Been Down So Long”. “The Wasp (Texas Radio and the Big Beat)” takes that sound in a slightly more experimental direction led by the stomping beat of John Densmore and the organ of Ray Manzerek.

First track “The Changeling” really gets things moving with a funky bass line.  The band wanted it as a single and it really should have been, instead it appears on the B-side to “Riders On The Storm”. “Hyacinth House” opens with a solid guitar riff from Robby Krieger as Morrison later sings, “I need a brand new friend who doesn’t bother me”.  It’s an all together lighter affair, compared to the darker elements of the album. The single “Lover Her Madly” was one of the band’s highest charting US singles, it is played with joy – a bit of a tambourine and an organ that breaks through midway through.

At almost eight minutes, the title track plays like a jam with Morrison really shining with evocative lyrics, a goodbye to the city he would soon leave. “Well, I just got into town about an hour ago…Just another lost angel/City of night…Drive through your suburbs/Into your blues…Cops in cars, the topless bars/Never saw a woman so alone… Mr. Mojo Risin” to name just a few. An FM radio album track staple for years to come.

The album finally closes with another moody classic, “Riders On The Storm”. The rainfall sounds mixing with lyrics about a killer hitchhiker oozes the underbelly of the era.  A chugging bassline with jazzy psychedelic Rhodes piano as Morrison tells a woman that “you gotta love your man” and to “Take him by the hand/Make him understand”.  More sinister than loving, it was the last song that all four members would appear on before the untimely death of Morrison on July 3, 1971. After a couple of critically middling albums, the original version of The Doors went out with two classics with Morrison Hotel and L.A. Woman, regaining the greatness first heard on the debut.

9/10

Posted in Album Reviews

Tears For Fears – The Hurting (Expanded Version) (1999)

Posted on by Michael

Formed from the ashes of first band Graduate, Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith teamed up again for Tears For Fears in 1981. Whereas other British synth bands would fit neatly into the new romantic era, Tears For Fears songs were filled with heavy emotions based partly on the work of author Arthur Janov (primal therapy) and deep seeded scars from childhood traumas. There is a black and white starkness to their first record, 1983’s The Hurting but it is also warmed up by various instrumental effects that give it a pop sheen.

This is shown impressively on first single “Mad World”. A top three hit in the UK, it’s an emotional song with Smith’s beautiful, soft vocals in the first verse that turn more forceful in the chorus as he sings “I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad/The dreams in which I’m dying/Are the best I’ve ever had”.  The pace really picks up in the second verse, where the song written by Orzabal in his Bath apartment would fit in well on the darker corners of the dancefloor.

The duo both sing the title track where the vocals give it a bit of a pop feel even as they sing, “learn to cry like a baby/Then the hurting won’t come back”. “Pale Shelter” was an earlier single re-recorded for the album, the standout song warmed up by an acoustic guitar. The chorus of “Suffer The Children” about the innocence of kids needing to be loved blasts out of the speakers. Third single “Change” was a world wide hit and for many, their introduction to the band. The distinctive keyboard running throughout the track made for a memorable initiation into their world, one with the pre chorus line of “It’s all too late” providing a lyrical hook.

It’s remarkable that an album of such lyrical depth and emotion became a mainstream hit. Such was the sound of the album that it was impossible to deny the hooks. “Mad World” would turn up again years later in a haunting version on the Donnie Darko soundtrack, this time sending the song to the top of the charts. The expanded version adds alternate versions of the singles + “The Way You Are (Extended Version)”.  The Hurting is an album that can fit into any era and today still sounds just as relevant as ever.

9/10

Posted in Album Reviews

Dry Cleaning – Secret Love (2025)

Posted on by Michael

Having worked with producer John Parish in the past, for their third full length album, South London’s Dry Cleaning brought in Cate le Bon to help record Secret Love. The band used demos already recorded at Jeff Tweedy’s The Loft studio + a spot in Dublin as a basis for the album. The post punk sound is enhanced by singer Florence Shaw’s mostly talk/sung vocals. This style adds a comically deadpan vibe as she sings that “designing cruise ships is my pastime” and that she “simply must have experiences” on single “Hit My Head All Day”, a track where the the sound of breathing is used as percussion.

The mostly instrumental beds are well played behind Florence with a saxophone added on the very good “Let Me Grow And You’ll See The Fruit” and the bass clarinet that meets, mournful icy synths on “I Need You”.  The 4AD Records band leaves the listener with the light and bright sounds of “Joy”. There’s a lot to like about Secret Love, an album that continues the band’s upward trajectory, a wildly intriguing band.  

8/10

Posted in Album Reviews

The Cars – Move Like This (2011)

Posted on by Michael

Band leader Ric Ocasek of The Cars said it would never happen but in 2010/2011 four-fifths of the original band regrouped to record the final album – Move Like This. Missing bassist/co-vocalist Benjamin Orr who passed away in 2000, the band produced half the tracks on their own and half with producer Jacknife Lee. The snappy, 10 track album takes in many of their hallmark sounds, starting with the plinky plonk keyboard of “Blue Tip”, Ocasek with the spry vocals and catchy chorus.

The drums of David Robinson mix well with the keyboards of Greg Hawkes on “Too Late”,Hawkes later creates a Moby-like soundscape on the dramatic “Take Another Look”. A couple of tracks dip back into the 80s with mixed results, better are the songs that mix modern guitar sounds with their classic Cars’ sound like “It’s Only”. The single “Sad Song” puts the guitars of Elliot Easton up front on a track that sounds like a brighter take on Interpol.  Their 80s swansong Door to Door left the group with a bit of a sour note but Move Like This was a sleek update on their classic guitar/keyboard sound.

7/10