Michael

blur – Live at Wembley Stadium (2024)

Posted on September 15, 2024 by Michael

With little build up in 2023, blur released their 10^th studio album The Ballad of Darren. What did have a lot of buildup and massive fanfare was the band’s return to performing live highlighted by two massive shows at Wembley Stadium on July 8^th and 9^th. It’s the second of these, the Sunday concert that the band released to a wider audience in 2024 including a 2CD version.

The setlist does a stellar job of capturing most of the band’s highlights with roughly half the tracks coming from 1993’s Modern Life is Rubbish and 94’s mega selling Parklife. The energy gets amped up on a blistering take on the band’s fourth single, “Popscene” with Graham Coxon’s guitar acting as a buzzsaw. One of the finest moments of the concert appears when Damon Albarn sings about heroin that originally flew over most people’s heads on “Beetlebum”, a UK #1 single from their self titled album from the mid 90s. This leads into the atmospheric “Trimm Trabb” that has as crisp guitar line and one of the best vocals from Albarn on the disc before it segues into early album favourite “Villa Rosie”. An emotional take on “Under the Westway” closes out disc one. Sublime.

Since it’s a Sunday gig, the foursome pull out a spirited take on “Sunday Sunday” before performing the song that caused so much controversy for the band, “Country House”. It was the one that amped up the Britpop wars with rivals Oasis but appears here as a throwaway track. Better is the Phil Daniels sung “Parklife” that seems to be in double time as the crowd receives it with bounding enthusiasm. A classy take on “To the End” with bassist Alex James holding down the low end gives the crowd a rest before “Advert” once again amps up the energy. An extended drum intro from Dave Rowntree on “Song 2” follows that sees Albarn later exclaim, “I don’t usually quote James Brown but I FEEL GOOD!”. The main set closes with a take on album track favourite “This Is a Low” that ends in a swirl of feedback.

In the encore, the keyboard riff of “Girls and Boys” blasts in from seemingly out of nowhere before the band pulls out all the punches including a gospel choir for a stadium singalong to one of their finest singles, “Tender”. New song “The Narcissist” fits in nicely with their already legendary classics before the customary closing track, “The Universal” brings it all to an end. After the weekend, Albarn noted that the band were nervous for Saturday’s gig but once that was over and performed well, the band were able to let loose for Sunday night. The live album keeps all it’s flaws in tacked, including Albarn forgetting words and missing cues at times. However, the discs capture the energy on an enthusiastic performance that sounds like an absolute blast for all involved.

8/10

Album Reviews

Travis – L.A. Times (2024)

Posted on September 9, 2024 by Michael

For their 10^th studio album, Glaswegian mainstays Travis worked with producer Tony Hoffer whose impressive resume includes Beck, Metric, and Belle & Sebastian. Bringing in famous friends, “Raze the Bar” is a catchy midtempo track with a poptastic chorus that features mates Chris Martin and Brandon Flowers. “Home” is a good modern indie rocker that gives the kids a run for their money while “Gaslight” adds some horns on a track that could have been on their mid 90s debut.

The title track sees singer and main songwriter Fran Healy deliver biting criticism of society with a talk/rap style of vocal. Best is second single “Bus” that has a 60s vibe shot through present day Glasgow, a bit melancholy and utterly brilliant. Even with Healy living in sunny L.A., the band still retains their damp Scottish attitude with blasts of sunlight streaming through.

7.5/10

Album Reviews

David Bowie – Young Americans (1975)

Posted on September 4, 2024 by Michael

For several years in the early 70s, David Bowie was putting out British glam rock. He took a sudden artistic turn in 1975 with the release of the soul/funk of Young Americans. Working with guitarist Carlos Alomar for the first time + saxophonist David Sanborn, backup singers Luther Vandross and Ava Cherry – Bowie teamed up with producer Tony Visconti and Harry Maslin to record in the US for the first time.

With the aforementioned talent behind him, the musicianship on the album is top notch. The title track immediately has a loose vibe and a killer chorus by the R+B back up singers. The new Philadelphia sound brims with energy on the plastic soul hit. “Win” is a late-night soul atmospheric jam before the gritty funk of “Fascination” that was based on a Vandross track. Two of the final tracks include UK mate John Lennon. The first on an impassioned though not entirely successful cover of The Beatles’ “Across the Universe”. The second is the blockbuster, “Fame”.

“Fame” was Bowie’s first number one single in the US. The funk groove lays a bed on which Bowie singles on the ills of being famous. It’s a classic track that helped usher in an era of rock stars incorporating US funk sounds (The Rolling Stones, Elton John, Rod Stewart, etc). Young Americans is an interesting diversion on Bowie’s albums. Not all of it works but his genuine interest to record this music results in a couple of classic Bowie tracks and a few other good ones.

7.5/10

Album Reviews

Camera Obscura – Look to the East, Look to the West (2024)

Posted on August 8, 2024 by Michael

After the sad passing of keyboard player Carey Lander in 2015, Glasgow’s Camera Obscura went on a hiatus. Songwriter Tracyanne Campbell released the excellent Tracyanne & Danny album in 2018. Her main band has now returned with Look to the East, Look to the West – their first album since Desire Lines over 10 years ago. The new album sees the classic songwriting the band is known for. They ease into the new album with the quiet sounds of “Liberty Print” before the dream beat kicks it up as Tracyanne sings, “I thought about the time he called me up/And asked if I loved him, I wanted to hang up”.

Album highlight “Big Love” pushes the guitar to the fore on a country song that incorporates a steel guitar. New member Donna Maciocia gets a co-writing credit on the feisty anthem “We’re Going to Make It In A Man’s World” where they tell the manager to “take your report, shove it right down your throat”. The album closes with several sweet tunes including “Pop Goes Pop” and the title track.

The album runs the gamut of indie pop, country, and 50s sounds. A few of the tracks don’t quite hit the mark but then songs like “Sugar Almond” sees Tracyanne sing about missing Lander with just a piano accompaniment that tugs at the heartstrings. It’s a welcome return from a fine Scottish indie pop band.

7.5/10

Album Reviews

The Kinks – Lola Versus Powerman and The Moneygoround Part One (2CD Deluxe) (2020)

Posted on July 31, 2024 by Michael

For their eighth studio album Lola Versus Powerman and The Moneygoround Part One, The Kinks led by Ray Davies released a loose concept album based on the music industry. From dreaming of being rock stars on the country sounds of “The Contenders” (before the guitar and piano get cranked up) right to the Southern Rock vibe of “Got To Be Free” when our man says goodbye to show business. In between is an eclectic group of songs including the old ragtime feel of “Denmark Street” and the jauntiness of “The Moneygoround”.

It’s the band’s first album of the 70s and a few of the songs crank up the power rock guitar that would be heard throughout that decade. Dave Davies’ dirty guitar riff powers “Rats” and the expert bass work of John Dalton underlays the driving sound of “Powerman”. “Apeman” rings just as true now as it did back then with its themes of over population, inflation, and crazy politicians. The catchy song went top 5 in the UK. Both Ray and Dave Davies have standout tracks on the album. “Strangers” is a midtempo track from Dave about a close friend that died from a drug overdose. The heartfelt song contains the tearjerker line, “strangers on this road we are on/we are not two, we are one”.

One of the best rock songs of the 70s also appears in the gender bending hit, “Lola”. Another heartfelt song, this time about meeting a transvestite (transgender?) in a bar and dancing all night with the lady but knowing something is different. “Well I’m not dumb but I can’t understand/Why she walks like a woman and talks like a man” as the guy tries to figure things out. The single propelled the band back into the charts. While overall the general conceit of the album being the troubles of being a rock star can be hard to relate to at times, there are several truly great songs here that it is hard to resist.

In 2020 the deluxe edition added alternate and remix versions of most of the songs found on the original album. The mono single of “Lola” switches the drink of choice to “cherry cola” while later a live version with a choir and orchestra strip the song of all it’s charm. One of the four version of “Apeman” to appear is an alternate stereo version that sounds like the band jamming to great effect. At the end of the disc, two songs from Ray Davies appearing on TV are added in “Marathon” and “Got to Be Free”. These have a distant, dreamy sound and standout among some of the hard rock tracks.

Lola Versus Powerman and The Moneygoround, Part One – 9/10

Extras – 7/10