Category: Album Reviews

Posted in Album Reviews

Pink Floyd – A Saucerful Of Secrets (1968)

Posted on by Michael

On just their second album released in 1968, Pink Floyd already had to shake up the band.  With Syd Barrett’s mental state further deteriorating, they brought in guitarist David Gilmour.  Barrett’s last track with the band appears as the last song on the album, “Jugband Blues”.  Pink Floyd retained some of the whimsy from their first album on tracks like “Remember a Day” written/sung by keyboardist Richard Wright with solid drumming from producer Norman Smith.

“Let There Be More Light” starts off the album with a heavy guitar riff and psychedelia floating around on a song about UFOs. Hushed vocals almost sound secretive. Similarly, “Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun” has Waters basing the lyrics on Chinese poetry, delivered in a serious deadpan manner.  The mysteriously atmospheric track is the heart of the record and features all five members of Pink Floyd.  At 11 minutes, the title track’s collage of sound misses the mark.  With a handful of very good songs, the sophomore release of A Saucerful of Secrets is more than just a curiosity in the Pink Floyd collection.

7.5/10

Posted in Album Reviews

Paul Simon – Seven Psalms (2023)

Posted on by Michael

At the age of 81, Paul Simon released his fifteenth studio album – the meditative Seven Psalms. Seven songs appear as one musical suite with a running time of 33 minutes. Bells chiming to open “The Lord” is one of the few sounds to be heard other than acoustic guitar, as Simon sings “Tears and flowers dry over time”. He casts his heaven bound doubts on “Your Forgiveness” where he is “hoping the gates won’t be closed”.

“My Professional Opinion” sounds more like a typical Paul Simon song. A bit more jaunty and upbeat with some funny observations that he “heard two cows in conversation/one called the other one a name”.  Like the end of many tracks here, Simon then reverts back to the lyrics/tune of “The Lord”. Wife Edie Brickell appears on two tracks, sounding angelic on the final track “Wait” where she sings that “heaven is beautiful/it’s almost like home”.

Seven Psalms was named as Uncut’s second best album of the year, an amazing feat for the octogerian. The album has also received near universal acclaim in its reviews.  It is an album that is not designed to have on the background while running errands but for quiet contemplation.  A fine album that listeners a lot younger than 80 can return to from time to time.

7.5/10

Posted in Album Reviews

Yo La Tengo – And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out (2000)

Posted on by Michael

Released in 2000, the ninth studio album from trio Yo La Tengo is more ambient take on their indie rock sound.  Muffled beats with a clattering of plates introduces the album on “Everyday”.  The song has a darker, colder Joy Division like sound that cover the lyrics – “I hear Kate Moss talk, she talks to me/She’s looking for a new beginning every day”.  Sung by drummer Georgia Hubley, she also takes the vocals on “Tears Are In Your Eyes” where she talks to a friend suffering from depression and reminds them, “Darkness always turns into the dawn”.

Sweetness pervades “Our Way to Fall”, memories of meeting a girl for the first time over a musical bed led by a 70s organ. The sound then later appears on instrumental “Tired Hippo”.  “Last Days of Disco” sees guitarist Ira Kaplan sing of letting himself go at a dance party. The dissociative lyrics of second single “Saturday” has a drumbeat that almost sounds like a hiss then clatters at other moments.  “Cherry Chapstick” sees the band go back to it’s roots of slightly buried vocals and crashes of guitars.

First single, “You Can Have it All” is a standout cover of a George McCrae sung with lots of “b aba babas” giving it an airy and cheery sound. “Madeleine” is a nice, easy going track that appears late in the album before closing with the 17 minute quiet epic “Night Falls on Hoboken”. In the intervening years since it was recorded, many publications sung the praises of And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out as a notable release of the 2000s.  It’s an unsuspecting album with many layers of dark and cold then warm and funny.  What’s remarkable, is that it keeps giving and never lags with great songs spread throughout.

8/10  

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Bob Dylan – Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973)

Posted on by Michael

The seventies brought on a first for Bob Dylan – he recorded a soundtrack album for a film.  In 1973 he released the OST for Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid. Assembling an incredible band including Roger McGuinn (guitar), Jim Keltner (drums), Booker T Jones (bass), and the return of Bruce Langhorne on acoustic guitar. Being a soundtrack, several of the tracks are acoustic guitar instrumentals including the laid back “River Theme”, a good old romp of “Turkey Chase”, and the bongo lead “Cantina Theme (Workin’ For The Law)”.

The most popular track here is the classic “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”.  The spiritual song takes some themes from Dylan’s sixties period and updates the sound for the seventies. “Mama, put my guns in the ground/I can’t shoot them anymore”. The powerful song hit the top ten in several countries and has been covered several times including by Guns N’ Roses.  On the album, the song is followed by “Final Theme” that sounds like an extended coda. While spreading his wings further to try new things, this soundtrack has top notch playing by expert musicians on simple but pleasant songs.

6.5/10

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David Bowie – Re:Call 1 (2015)

Posted on by Michael

David Bowie started released boxsets split up by eras starting with Five Years (1969-1973) that was released in 2015 and has continued with four more sets since then. One of the selling points of the  boxes is the inclusion of compilations which mop up stray singles, alternate mixes, B-sides, etc. Re:Call 1 is a double disc affair that includes the classic “Space Oddity” in two of the first three tracks. The first in mono and the second version sung in Italian. B-side “Conversation Piece” is a psychedelic folk song about a shy boy to nervous to talk to others – “I’m a thinker/Not a talker/No one to talk to anyway”.

“Holy Holy” appears twice and is a good bit of nonsensical fun. Both “Moonage Daydream” and “Hang On To Yourself” appear in Arnold Corn versions, a band that Bowie put together as a lead up to Ziggy Stardust. The versions differ from their more familiar album versions by being slowed/stripped down takes – the former losing it’s glam/metal stomp and the latter sounding like a track from the late 50s.

“John, I’m Only Dancing” also appears twice, in its single edit and the sax version which adds a touch of that horn to great effect.  A Chuck Berry cover of “Round and Round” appears with Bowie doing his best Mick Jagger impression. The whole set is closed off with impressive B-side “Velvet Goldmine”. The track left off albums, possibly due to its risqué nature is a stomper before it slows with its piano chorus.  While there are a few skippable moments, Re:Call 1 is a terrific collection of odds and sods from Bowie’s first phase.

8/10