Album Reviews – Page 39 – The Light Appears

Bob Dylan – Nashville Skyline (1969)

Posted on March 5, 2023 by Michael

Following up John Wesley Harding, Bob Dylan continues to move in a country direction with Nashville Skyline. This is shown right away on the remake of his own song, “Girl From The North Country” with the man in black himself, Johnny Cash. The track shows Dylan’s country voice that he will use throughout the album. “One More Night” may be the most straight up country sounding song on the album, a lonesome and spiritual song taking place under the moon and stars.

50’s rockers influence the sound on “Peggy Day” and “To Be Alone With You” where Dylan sings, “they say the nighttime is the right time/to be with the one you love”. There are two standouts on Nashville Skyline, that don’t include Johnny Cash, the first is “I Threw It All Away”. A beautiful, melancholy melody carries the song, with organ tones just below the surface. Dylan sings “I must have been mad/I never knew what I had/Until I threw it all away”.

The second classic is one of his most popular, “Lay Lady Lay”. The almost mournful tune, sees Dylan use the lower register of his voice, creating a distinctly new sound. Drummer Kenny Buttrey uses both bongos and a cowbell for a unique drum pattern on the verses. The track has been covered numerous times and has a lot in common with the alt country sound of the 90s, including R.E.M’s Out of Time album. The song would be his last top ten hit.

Nashville Skyline is a unique album (thus far) in Bob Dylan’s catalogue. It sounds like he’s strumming out songs on a porch with producer Bob Johnston, guitarist Charlie McCoy, and Charlie Daniels on bass among others. Here he sounds free from being the voice of his generation which produces a lighter batch of songs, ones that sound effortless like closing track “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You”. At just 27 minutes, Nashville Skyline breezes along the country roads.

9/10

Album Reviews

Robert Forster – The Candle And The Flame (2023)

Posted on February 21, 2023 by Michael

The eighth solo album from former Go-Betweens front man, Robert Forster is a family affair. Faced with the news that wife Karen Baumler was diagnosed with Ovarian cancer, son Louis adds guitar/bass/percussion and daughter Loretta adds additional guitar on the home recorded tracks. What stands out immediately is the stellar guitar playing on song such as “It’s Only Poison” and the warm tones of “Go Free”.

Album highlight, “Tender Years” is a beautiful tribute to his wife where Forster sings, “Images of her are vivid/Her beauty has not withered”. “The Roads” is another acoustic track about the roads we travel that eventually lead back home. First song, “She’s a Fighter” just repeats the title over and over. The driving acoustic guitar adds tension in a fight where his wife is “fighting for good”. The Candle And The Flame is another classy, mature record from the elder statesman of the indie rock community.

7.5/10

Album Reviews

Leonard Cohen – Songs From A Room (1969)

Posted on February 13, 2023 by Michael

After an aborted session with David Crosby, Leonard Cohen turned to producer Bob Johnston for his second album, Songs From A Room. Starting with the classic, “Bird On The Wire”, the plaintive song adds strings to the background. Here Cohen opens up, for better or worse, as he sings, “If I have been unkind/I hope that you can just let it go by”. Several songs are biblical in nature and recall Bob Dylan on tracks such as “Story of Isaac” and “The Old Revolution”. With a touch of echo in the vocal, Cohen sings of an acquaintance who committed suicide at too young of an age on the haunting “Seems So Long Ago, Nancy”.

The songs on the sophomore album sound more stark and cold than than Cohen’s classic debut album from 1967. Whereas the cover of that album shows the singer in colour, here he is shown in black/white, just a shadow. The album warms up towards the end with “Lady Midnight” that adds an organ/keyboard in the background and closes with the simple folk pop sound of “Tonight Will Be Fine” that will have the listener nodding along as Leonard Cohen sings “and I know from your smile/That tonight will be fine…for awhile”.

7.5/10

Album Reviews

David Bowie – Pin-Ups (1973)

Posted on February 2, 2023 by Michael

Released 6 months after Aladdin Sane, David Bowie released the covers album Pin-Ups as a stop gap release for the record label. The album is mostly glammed up versions of R&B hits released in the 60s while Bowie was a teenager. On “See Emily Play” (Pink Floyd), Bowie and The Spiders from Mars (minus drummer Mick Woodmansey) add 90 seconds of psychedelia at the end. Of the two tracks originally by The Who, “I Can’t Explain” is the better one that Bowie turns into a slower, sleazy love song. “Sorrow” (The Merseys) is another highlight. The easy, laidback beat adds strings and horns as Bowie turns in a very good vocal performance.

The two tracks that sound the most like original Bowie songs is “Friday On My Mind” (The Easybeats) and The Kinks’ “Where Have All the Good Times Gone”. While Pin-Ups mostly feels like a quick, dashed off recording, it does open the listener to several tracks that may have been forgotten. In the age of streaming, downloading the originals would make for a cracking compilation playlist.

7/10

Album Reviews

Belle and Sebastian – Late Developers (2023)

Posted on January 29, 2023 by Michael

Belle and Sebastian have quickly followed up their 2022 release, A Bit of Previous with Late Developers released just 7 months later. “Juliet Naked” comes in immediately as the music starts. The band sound really confident, far away from awkward teenage glances as Stuart Murdoch sings of “prayers and pills, dusty nights in quivering hotels”. The sound immediately shifts on “Give a Little Time” where Sarah Martin takes over the vocals with chirpy handclaps and talk that “these are the best days”.

Martin takes over the vocals again on the funky “When You’re Not With Me” before the Passion Pit like synth track, “I Don’t Know What You See In Me”. The confidence of earlier songs disappear where Murdoch questions whether he is good enough. Martin and Murdoch then share vocal duties on the 60s folk sound of “Will I Tell You a Secret”. The album closes with the title track that adds horns and has a bit of a jam feel to start, nice keyboards and a bit of drumming.

Late Developers has a modern flair but includes what has always made Belle and Sebastian a cult favourite, including the album cover. Sarah Martin shines whenever she steps up to the mic. Stuart Murdoch adds several classic B&S lyrics like the “I wish I could be content with the football scores” line on “When We Were Very Young”. Cementing his nerdy/cool outsider status even into his 50s. Late Developers is a full band effort that rivals some of their music from the early 2000s.

8.5/10