The Road, the acclaimed novel by Cormac McCarthy, was originally published in 2006. The plot takes place in a burned-out America and follows “Papa” and his young son as they head out in search of the coast. Steering clear of the burned out walking corpses; the two deal with freezing weather, marauders, lack of food, and little warmth. They find tins of food along the way as they carry all their belongings in a shopping cart, searching for that elusive coast on a taped together map.
McCarthy is a master of making the entire endeavor intense and foreboding as the two wander across the country side. There is a sense of dread throughout but the reader will root for the two to make it to their seaside paradise. The Road won several awards including The Pulitzer Prize for fiction. It was later made into a movie and is listed as one of the best books of the 21st Century by the New York Times.
Closing the chapter on the Erotica/SEX book era, Madonna continued into the 90s with a gaggle of co-songwriters/producers/arrangers on 1994’s Bedtime Stories. Initially working with producer Shep Pettibone, Madonna decided to move in an R+B/New Jack Swing direction with several producers including mega producers Babyface, Dallas Austin, and Brit Nelle Hooper.
The album starts off promising with “Survival” a decent track with this new sound before the acoustic guitar driven single, “Secret” appears. A simple but effective beat creates a groove and while the chorus is also simple, the “mmmm, something’s coming over me” was easy for 20 somethings to sing on a drunken dancefloor. However, the nifty bass work from Meshell Ndegeocello cannot save the inane lyrics of “I’d Rather Be Your Lover”, better is the pop fun of “Don’t Stop”
Nellee Hooper lays down laid back grooves on several tracks including “Sanctuary” that contains a Herbie Hancock sample. Intriguingly, Bjork co-writes “Bedtime Story”, a throbbing beat that sees Madonna’s vocals float over top. The song points to the future sound that Madonna will carry on with on the Ray of Light album.
The two other single released from Bedtime Stories are “Human Nature” and “Take a Bow”. The former is a response to the backlash that followed the SEX book. The slinky number barely scraped into the US top 50. Far better is album closer, “Take a Bow”. A true collaboration with Babyface sees them co-write/producer together where he also handles the background vocals.
The bittersweet ballad sees Madonna say goodbye to a relationship where she’s “always been in love with you” before the stinging lyric “the show is over say goodbye” appears a few lines later. The lush production makes the song one of Madonna’s very best on an album that is warmer in sound than Erotica but doesn’t have enough truly great songs on it to make it a really good album. A 30th Anniversary edition is due for release in late November.
In the last year, all the big Britpop bands have released albums and/or performed massive concerts – Oasis, blur, and Pulp have all participated. Suede is the next band up from that early 90s period and in interviews to promote their newest album, Antidepressants, singer Brett Anderson has called out his peers and remarked that his band’s return is a continuation of releasing new and vital music; not a nostalgia act.
First song and single, “Disintegrate” is indeed vital. A throbbing beat creates a dark tension with hard hitting guitars on a track that Anderson has called a “dark celebration of your own demise” as he sings – “come down and disintegrate with me”. The drumming of Simon Gilbert is a highlight throughout, particularly on songs like “The Sound And The Summer” and tribute to Anderson’s son on “Sweet Kid”. The title track sees Anderson talk/sing like Fontaines D.C. when he says, “I’m on antidepressants, I just lie awake”.
There is a dark theme running throughout the album but still moves beyond the shadows. “Dancing With The Europeans” is a melodically catchy song and “Trance State” adds synths effects for more atmosphere. There is a warmth to the slower “June Rain”. While Anderson needlessly calls out other bands that are performing far bigger shows, Antidepressants is another solid release from the band well into their second phase.
The follow-up to his very successful book, Sapiens, Yuval Noah Harari looks to the “History of Tomorrow” in his book Homo Deus. Released in 2016 the book explores what has happened over the last several decades. Hunger, wars, and disease have become more manageable for most people/countries. As noted, most people are more likely to die of overeating than being malnourished. The book then looks to what may happen in the future – the continued rise of AI, new ideals, the importance of “dataism”, not to mention the rise of new god humans to replace Homo Sapiens.
While it was published 9 years ago, much of it is still relevant today and it’s fascinating to read in the midst of all the changes happening in the world in just the last 9 months. The book talks a lot about AI and the super-rich using technology to increase their wealth and life expectancy, leaving most of the world behind to suffer as their jobs are replaced by computers and are left with little meaning. It’s certainly a dystopian view. As he notes, Harari tells his ideas of the future to a colleague who’s reply is that she hopes she’s dead before all this happens. It was exactly what I thought as I was reading the passage.
While many others don’t agree with his view, as noted in various reviews, Home Deus is a fascinating look into the future. It’s one that will surely get the reader to think about what this will all actually look like and what he/she wants to leave behind for the next generation. It’s hard to fathom what happens tomorrow, but in a lot of ways, tomorrow is already here.
The premier singing group to come out of the Motown label and one of the greatest groups of the 1960s, The Supremes success is blistering. Led by singer Diana Ross and with main songwriting team of Brian Holland-Lamont Dozier-Edward Holland Jr writing for them, the trio scored a staggering 12 #1 hit songs in the US. Released in 2005, Gold is a two-disc album containing all the hit singles plus a few B-sides and album tracks in near chronological order but with a few changes.
Most of the hits are on the first disc that covers the main period of the trio that also included back-up singers Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson. “Where Did Our Love Go” was their first number one single, you can hear the yearning in Ross’ vocals over a stomping beat, the chorus doesn’t appear until after the fourth verse. The horns light up “Baby Love” where Ross pleads, “Don’t throw our love away/Please don’t do me this way”. A strut and quiet confidence shines through on “Come See About Me” where Ross pushes everyone away as she waits for her boy to “come see about me”.
Perhaps the greatest 1-2 punch on any greatest hits album comes towards the end of disc one, starting with the much covered, “You Keep Me Hanging On”. A staggering song from the Holland-Dozier-Holland team with Ross expressing quiet fury and anger over a pitter-patter beat, where the back-up vocalists shine as well. Ross cuts through with the line – “why don’t you be a man about it/and set me free?”. This is followed up with the influential drumbeat of “You Can’t Hurry Love”. An expressive vocal as the woman waits for her man – yearning but in a happy, chirpy way. Both songs are highlights of music that came out in the 60s.
Disc two is where changes really start to happen. It opens with the very good “Reflections” single, the first to be credited to Diana Ross and the Supremes and their last release with the mighty Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting team. Their last number one single appears next in “Someday We’ll Be Together”, the song only features Diana Ross on the track and unusually has producer Johnny Bristol heard shouting instructions on how to sing the song. Another terrific song whose vocals sound like they could have appeared on an R+B track from the 90s.
Leaving behind the usual love songs – “Love Child” was an earlier #1 single written by The Clan, a team of writers at Motown. The tracks talks of the main character growing up in a broken home and not wanting to follow up in those footsteps. This was later followed up by the single, “I’m Livin’ In Shame” where the woman leaves home, moves away to college and tries to erase the embarrassment of her well intentioned Mother while growing up. The group returns to their roots with “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me” sung with The Temptations, Ross’ vocals mixing with Eddie Kendricks is pure honey on the #2 hit.
Further line-up changes in the 70s including Diana Ross leaving the group for a successful solo career and Florence Ballard no longer in the band. New member Jean Terrell takes over the lead vocals on the upbeat groover “Stoned Love” – it’s a banger! Other late period highlights include the Smokey Robinson written “Floy Joy” and “Nathan Jones” that sees the new trio singing in unison. “Up the Ladder to the Roof” hit the top ten with Terrell back on lead vocals, the pop funk is a cool track with some religious overtones.
It is certainly the massive hit singles that are the most ear catching in The Supremes catalogue but there are a few other tracks that are worth further inspection. “Run, Run, Run” barely scraped into the top 100 but sounds like a long lost Northern Soul floor filler with it’s banging piano. More commercially successful is the top ten hit, “Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart” that is another one for the dancefloor. Surprisingly only hitting #5 in the US, “My World Is Empty Without You” is more somber, and hits a bit deeper than some of their other songs, the more elegant womanly version of The Rolling Stones “Paint It Black”.
Having already written about many of the 40 songs on the Gold album, it still leaves out several #1 hit songs. Special mention to the legendary Mary Wilson who kept The Supremes going for so long and was its longest serving member through their many changes. The powerful group has inspired countless girl groups, rock bands, and pop acts. It is impossible to say enough about their status in the world of music in a short blog post. Music simply doesn’t get better than this.
The Light Appears 