18 months after she released her last solo album, Kristin Hersh returns with her band Throwing Muses for the cleverly titled Midnight Concessions. The album takes on a southern gothic, swamp like feel where the air is thick and heavy. Along with her usual bandmates, David Narcizo on drums and Bernard Georges on bass, the cello of Pete Harvey plays a big role on the album. Songs like the darkly atmospheric “Theremini” have the strings play a prominent role.
“Summer of Love” sees Hersh push the guitar into the forefront as she sings, “finally life as it should have been” which is in contrast to “South Coast” where she sings, “Go down without a fight/No dawn without a light”. On the second half of the album, “Sally’s Beauty” has a hazy, almost eerie feel whereas “Albatross” is more immediate and in the listener’s face where she implores us to “just survive”. While affecting in some spots, there is not enough of those moments on Moonlight Concessions to really make it a great record.
The last album that British trio The Police recorded is the one that sent them into the stratosphere. Released in 1983, Synchronicity is one of the classic albums of the 80s, with the chiseled jawlines of the band members appearing in videos, posters, magazines around the world. The album recorded at AIR studios in Montserrat by producer Hugh Padghan was fraught with infighting and the band recording their parts in separate rooms. In contrast to these well known stories, in interviews included in the CD booklet, the band is highly complimentary to what each member brought to the sound of the album.
Arguably one of the most backloaded albums in the history of rock music, Synchronicity starts with the tension of the title track (part I); a bit new wave, scientific, and a lot of energy. Carl Jung’s theory of synchronicity is never far away from Sting’s lyrical inspiration. “Walking In Your Footsteps” switches the sound to African percussion courtesy of drummer Stewart Copeland while singer/bass player Sting sings of the extinct dinosaurs. With Sting taking writing credits for most of the tracks on the album, Andy Summers is the writer on “Mother”, the most decisive track on the album. A screeching bit of a post punk that is at odds with the radio friendly sounds of the rest of the album.
The first side closes with part II of the title track that was released as a single and the best true rock moment on the album. “Synchronicity II” tells of a man living an anxiety ridden suburban existence that is juxtaposed with the image of a monster rising out of a Scottish lake. The next track is rated as one of the most played radio songs ever recorded. While on first listen, “Every Breath You Take” is a song of love, it is on repeated listens that the sinister side of a stalker emerges. Andy Summer’s guitar helps power the song that is one of the signature songs of the 80s.
Two more big hits follow on songs that would go top ten around the world. The piano driven tension on “King of Pain” is as unsettling as Sting’s lyrics about “a black spot on the sun today” and a “black hat caught in a high tree top”. “Wrapped Around Your Finger” is another song about control that makes many mythological references. The album closes with the tender band favourite, “Tea In The Sahara” while the CD version of the original album closes with the comparatively slight, “Murder By Numbers” which also appears here.
The second disc in this collection is a mix of B-sides, unreleased tracks, and live versions. A bit of a mix bag, the songs included are not exclusive to the Synchronicity era with songs like “Message In A Bottle” and “Walking On The Moon” appearing in live versions. The B-sides included are more straight up rock songs including Andy Summers’ “Truth Hits Everybody (remix)” with a terrific rumbling bass. Best are the backing track versions for “Roxanne” and “Every Breath You Take” that punches up the piano not as noticeable on the regular version.
After writing about such musical artists as Paul McCartney and Paul Simon, experienced rock and roll author Peter Ames Carlin turned his attention to R.E.M. for the biography, The Name Of This Band IS R.E.M. released in late 2024. Covering the band’s history from childhood to their first concert in an old converted church in Athens GA and later onto superstardom. The band had a quick rise in the music world from bar band to capturing Rolling Stone magazine’s album of the year in 1983 for their first release, Murmur. They stayed at indie label IRS Records through the mid-80s before switching to Warner Brothers Records. The band was soon on a collision course with rock supremacy as albums such as Out Of Time and Automatic For The People topped the charts around the world.
Throughout the book, Carlin emphasis what a great bunch of guys the band is even as they navigate the murky world of the music business and fame. A few casualties appear along the way including their former manager Jefferson Holt who has been virtually erased from their story. Other stories include those around them that tried to get R.E.M. to go for a more commercial sound or at least produce a video that MTV would actually show as they steadily accumulated album sales. The band also grappled with fickle early fans who were not happy as Michael Stipe’s singing voice could actually be heard above the music and not lost in an ocean of mumbles as they moved away from some of their more underground music philosophies. While the members of R.E.M. did not participate in the book, they did not block Carlin from interviewing various friends and associates. It’s a fascinating account of one America’s truly great rock and roll bands.
Unlike some of their 90s peers, Welsh legends Manic Street Preachers have continuously been putting out music this century. Their latest, Critical Thinking, sees the band to continue working with longtime co-producer David Eringa. Bassist Nicky Wire takes over the lead vocals on three tracks including the single, “Hiding In Plain Sight” that adds female vocals on the chorus, with Wire singing “I wanna be in love/With the man I used to be/In a decade I felt free”. He also handles the vocals on the opening title track with talk/sing style that matches the driving bass and drums combo.
Singer/guitarist James Dean Bradfield contributes lyrics to three songs including the chiming guitars on “Brushstrokes Of A Reunion” about his deceased Mother. The band is at it’s peak when it settles into the usual force of the band’s music with Wire’s lyrics and Bradfield singing. This includes the letter to Morrissey on “Dear Stephen” with a plea not to destroy his legacy with his political leanings with a reminder that “it’s so easy to hate/It takes guts to be kind/To paraphrase one of your heartbreak lines”.
“People Ruin Paintings” namechecks several greats including Rothko and Pollock on a song that is not about protestors destroying works of art though it is hard not to get that imagery out of your head while listening to the track. “Decline and Fall” is the highlight of the album. The band Squeeze get a co-writing credit due to partial use of their song “Cool For Cats”. It’s tuneful driving song, tailor made for BBC radio adult alternative stations about the tiny joys that can still be found even as the world declines. On their 15th album, Manic Street Preachers continue to put out thought provoking songs that are thrilling to hear.
The last to be published in the A Song Of Ice and Fire series, George R. R. Martin’s fifth book of the series, A Dance With Dragons was a best seller upon release in 2011. At over 1,000 pages, the book is a brick and picks up the stories of Jon Snow at the wall, Dany Targaryen and her dragons, Tyrion Lannister travelling to reach her, Ramsay Bolton continuing his diabolically evil ways, and Stannis Baratheon marching south to try and claim the kingdom.…. Among several other plotlines.
It’s a dense book with much detail. It’s another awe-inspiring display of fantasy writing that creates not just one new world but several. With many plotlines going at ones, the book changes focus with every chapter. Like the other books, readers can lose track of one storyline while visiting several others. This was particularly true when reading about Jon Snow and his seemingly endless cast of characters.
When the book is good, it’s amazing particularly the clever words of Tyrion and the far too short supply of Arya Stark moments, a favourite character. Fans still await the last two books in the series to close out the characters that have thrilled both book and TV audiences.
The Light Appears 