Michael

Paul and Linda McCartney – Ram (Archive Collection – 2CD Edition) (2012)

Posted on July 3, 2025 by Michael

Like his first post Beatles album, Ram credited to Paul and Linda McCartney, was not well received upon release. Retrospective reviews have been far kinder and in some quarters its considered something of a classic. John Lennon heard it differently, with a few of the songs credited as being digs at McCartney’s former bandmate including first track “Too Many People” and it’s line, “too many people preaching practices”. With an echoey beginning and strong melody line, it’s a great opener.

“Ram On” is the same verse over and over again sung over a ukelele, it later appears as a reprise. “Dear Boy” sees McCartney appreciating his love for Linda with sly digs at her ex on how he did not appreciate what he had, it’s also one of the most Beatles sounding tracks. Both “Heart Of The Country” and closer “The Back Seat Of My Car” are terrific, breezy bits of music with no shortage of melodies.

At nearly six minutes, “Long Haired Lady” sees Linda take co-lead on a track that gets better as it goes on, the line “love is long” is repeated many times over. The highlight of the album is McCartney’s first solo #1 single in the US, “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey”. Separate songs stitched together by engineer Eirik Wangberg, the clever technique recalls past Beatles glories like the second half song suite of Abbey Road. It starts off as a dreamy track before getting more jaunty in the second half, it’s a remarkable slice of 70s pop rock. The entire album has a loose feel to it that really works, one where everything feels just fine.

The Archive Collection reissue from 2012 adds a further 8 songs to the original album including excellent first single post Beatles, “Another Day”. Describing an ordinary day for the rest of us, it’s similar in style to some of his past songs and British singles from The Kinks and blur. Bluesy B-side “Oh Woman, Oh Why” has a terrific guitar riff before giving way to a few more tuneful shorter tracks and the harder rocking 8-minute “Rode All Night”.

Ram – 9/10

Extras Disc – 7.5/10

Album Reviews

Matt Berninger – Get Sunk (2025)

Posted on June 30, 2025 by Michael

For his second solo album, The National’s singer Matt Berninger worked with producer/co-writer Sean O’Brien. The album is a mixture of mostly midtempo, atmospheric tracks with a bit of an electronic touch, some that sound like an elder indie rock stateman, and others that lean more country. “Little By Little” adds a bit of acoustic guitar and a little twang to the proceedings. “Nowhere Special” moves toward indie rock statesman with it’s stream of conscious lyrics.

Over guitars, “Bonnet of Pins” explores the Berninger favourite topic of a girl drinking at a party who’s character is further explored on the very good “Silver Jeep”. Like “Frozen Oranges”, first song “Inland Ocean” mentions Indiana and wanting to get away from everything. “I flew to Indiana to see a friend… wrap me up in your summer sheets”. On Get Sunk, Berninger is able to explore more lowkey songs whose sound don’t have to fill hockey arenas on a nightly basis.

7.5/10

Album Reviews

David Bowie – Low (1977)

Posted on June 22, 2025 by Michael

The recording of Low was yet another transition in the extraordinary life of David Bowie. Moving to Paris with Iggy Pop to escape drug addiction, the pair began work Pop’s solo album, The Idiot. Once that wrapped up, Bowie started work on Low with Tony Visconti and ambient wizard, Brian Eno. First recording in Paris before moving to Germany, this was the start on what has become known as the Berlin trilogy.

Split between two sides, the first side features mostly quick snappy rock songs with an avant garde bent. “Speed of Life” is the instrumental opener, a solid 70s rock song with guitars and synths working away in the background. Both “Breaking Glass” and “What In The World” has some great guitar work from Carlos Alomar. “Sound and Vision” was one of only two singles from the album, reaching top 3 in the UK. With an appearance from Mary Hopkins, the song has a bit of funk, recalling several tracks on the “Young Americans” album. “Always Crashing In The Same Car” sounds like the negative answer to Kraftwerk’s “Autobahn”, one where Bowie never gets out of the driveway, going around in circles while constantly making the same mistakes.

In contrast to the song fragments on side one, the second side sees lengthier soundscapes. “Warszawa” is a moody, oppressive piece named after the Polish city. Bowie plays all the instruments on “Weeping Wall” who’s synths and xylophone stay somewhat hopeful, never quote going down the dark/horror path they could before “Subterraneans” closes out the album. Conceived during the time of The Man Who Fell to Earth movie, synths are used like orchestral strings to draw out the cinematic feel of the track.

Listening to Low almost 50 year later, the the genre expanding sounds by a major selling artist makes it a seminal piece. Its influence can be felt throughout the next several decades of music, notably on bands like Joy Division right through to Radiohead’s Kid A and many of the cold wave artists that have expanded on it’s icy synth sounds. Changing styles once again, on the album Low, Bowie moved his musical ambitions from the soul of America to the cold concrete of Europe.

10/10

Album Reviews

Miki Berenyi Trio – Tripla (2025)

Posted on June 19, 2025 by Michael

After releasing a couple well received albums as Piroshka, Miki Berenyi returns as the Miki Berenyi Trio along with partner Kevin “Moose” McKillop and guitarist Oliver Cherer. Without an actual drummer in the band, the trio instead opts for programmed drums that on most tracks has a warm sound vs sounding electronic. Singing in a falsetto, “Kinch” takes the listener back to the 90s, sounding like Berenyi’s band Lush. “Big I Am” explores the Lush trope of taking a guy down a few pegs. “Vertigo” tells us to accept life and just breathe.

Tripla is bookended by the two best tracks. “8^th Deadly Sin” shows off some stellar shoegaze guitar riffing as Berenyi sings, “You can’t see what I see/I’m gonna have to spell it out”. Album closer “Ubique” is dreamier with a great beat, terrific vocals, and the line “Every deception breaks my heart”. Though it has a couple skippable tracks, Tripla is another fine late career turn from the former Lush singer.

7.5/10

Paper Chase

David Goggins – Can’t Hurt Me

Posted on June 15, 2025 by Michael

A few years ago, self-improvement book recommendations were crowding my algorithm – especially during COVID. One of the books that was always on those lists was David Goggins’ Can’t Hurt Me – Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds. Goggins starts the reader off talking about his upbringing where his entire family was mentally and physically abused by his father. Escaping with his mom to small town Indiana saw that abuse end but posed new challenges for a person of colour in a mostly white rural setting. As he became a young adult, Goggins was in a job he hated, overweight and going nowhere. A spur of the moment decision saw him start to train in order to join the Navy SEALS.

That is where the next part of the story really takes off. Goggins describes going through the grueling military hell week and all the fears that he had to overcome in order to do this (ex: afraid of the water). After completing hell week he then talks a lot about competing in ultra marathons and Iron Man competitions. A lot of these he decides to do spur of the moment without proper training. Because of the lack of training/planning, suffering through severe physical pain and injuries to finish the competition is a main part of the story.

While his story is extreme, it certainly is an interesting and often inspiring one. Most will not be rushing out tomorrow to run for 24 straight hours with no training on broken bones, nor should they. But he points out that people are able to push further than they originally thought possible. He talks of the 40% rule where people stop at only 40% of their physical capabilities while the elite push through this. He also talks about taking stock of how one did on certain challenges by completing an After Action Report.

Like everyone that people look up to or aspire to be, Goggins does have his limitations (broken marriages, terrible working relationships, etc) – but there are still parts of his mentality that can be incorporated into daily life. We’re all dealing with problems and our fair share of BS, but maybe we can keep pushing to get to another level of accomplishment. Goggins sure thinks we can. If you need an extra push, reading this book might be the push you need.

8/10