Category: Album Reviews

Posted in Album Reviews

Simon & Garfunkel – Bridge Over Troubled Water (1970)

Posted on by Michael

The last Simon & Garfunkel studio album came out in 1970, just under six years after their debut. Once again working with producer Roy Halee, the album starts off with the iconic title track.  A dramatic opening sounds almost like a Christmas carol in its hymn like devotion. Art Garfunkel’s performance soars as strings and cymbals crashing come up to meet him. This is pop music at its highest form.

Beyond the title track, the next two songs were also singles.  “El Condo Pasa (If I Could)” has a folky, Spanish feel that hit #1 in several countries. A memorable drumbeat opens “Cecilia”. The infectious track will eventually end up on many party playlists and remains one of the duo’s most popular songs. At the opposite end of the spectrum, “The Boxer” has a softer drumbeat where Paul Simon sings “lie la lie”, that acts as a hook but was originally in the song as filler. The epic track follows the story of a boy who leaves home, “seeking out the poorer quarters, where the ragged people go” before becoming the boxer.

“So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright” came about when Garfunkel asked to have a song written about the famous architect.  A laid-back tune that can double as an allusion to Garfunkel having studied to be an architect in his earlier days.  One of the duo’s most popular album tracks appears on the second half of the album, “The Only Living Boy in New York” is one of the most emotionally charged songs in the catalogue. Simon sings “Tom, get your plane right on time/I know your part’ll go fine”, a direct comment that Garfunkel was off filming a movie in Mexico, leaving Simon behind in NY.  The use of an echo chamber for their voices takes the song to a celestial level. The album winds down with a live cover of “Wake Up Little Susie” before finishing with just Simon and his guitar singing, “Song for the Asking”

The debate rages on as to which the critics think is their masterpiece, this or 1968’s Bookends. The public voted with their wallets. With four of their most well-known songs, Simon and Garfunkel went out with a bang as Bridge Over Troubled Waters would go on to be the duo’s most popular album with approximately 25 million units sold.  A truly great album that deserves a spot in every record collection.

10/10

Posted in Album Reviews

Interpol – The Other Side of Make-Believe (2022)

Posted on by Michael

For their seventh studio album, the three members of Interpol enlisted legendary producer Flood with Alan Moulder to help sculpt the album. “Toni” is both the first track and first single from the album. A moody piece of piano driven music where Paul Banks sings that “the aim is now perfection always”. Drummer Sam Fogarino shines on both “Into the Night” and “Renegade Hearts” which also adds female vocals to great effect.

Songs such as “Fables” are more sparse sounding before a bigger voice emerges in the chorus. Several of the songs are built around a Daniel Kessler guitar riff such as the cinematic “Big Shot City” and “Gran Hotel” where Banks sing about the streets of Cozumel.  It’s hard to discern what Flood added to the process as the album sounds like Interpol. The Other Side of Make-Believe sticks to mostly stylized midtempo sounds and lacks a fierce bite that would add much needed passion to the recording.

6.5/10

Posted in Album Reviews

Madonna – True Blue (1986)

Posted on by Michael

The third Madonna album released in June 1986 cemented her as an 80s superstar, right up there with Prince and Michael Jackson.  True Blue contained 5 hit singles and went to number one across the world.  A staggering achievement for the still 27-year-old who was fresh into a marriage to actor Sean Penn.  Even with all the tabloid headlines and endless distractions, the determined popstar co-wrote and produced every track on the album along with Stephen Bray and Patrick Leonard.

True Blue opens with the unmistakable string arrangement of “Papa Don’t Preach”. The controversial song about a woman opening up to her dad and deciding what she wants to do with an unplanned pregnancy regardless of what others think.  The tumbling drums of “Open Your Heart” open up the infectious dance pop track. Ballad “Live to Tell” from the Sean Penn movie At Close Range was the album’s opening single and went to #1 in several countries. A touching vocal performance is most effective in the bridge when the music fades and Madonna’s voice comes back in. 

The title track is an upbeat 50sish pop track is a lighthearted romp that sees Madonna happily sing, “I searched the whole world for someone like you”. The #3 US single was sadly left off the Immaculate Collection hits collection released a few years later.  Final single, “La Isla Bonita” started as an instrumental for Michael Jackson that was turned down before Madonna turned it into a Latin flavoured, slightly melancholic track that recalls time spent on the tropical paradise of San Pedro.

What makes True Blue a step up from Like a Virgin is the quality of its album tracks.  Songs like “Where’s the Party” and “Jimmy Jimmy” are not such a drastic departure from the more famous singles.  These songs are as good as pop music gets in the 1980s and continued Madonna’s successful run of singles.

9.5/10

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Suede – Autofiction (2022)

Posted on by Michael

In the 1990s, Suede brought much glamour to the Britpop scene. The band eschewed the lad culture of some of their contemporaries and often times made sweeping grand gestures. After 2002’s A New Morning, the band went on hiatus before releasing Bloodsports 11 years later. Since then, Suede Mach II has released three further albums including the latest Autofiction which by singer Brett Anderson’s accounts, is the band’s punk rock album.

The album starts with single, “She Still Leads Me On” and a scratchy guitar riff courtesy of Richard Oakes. Anderson manages to make a song about his mother anthemic with the line, “But I loved her with my last breath…”  “15 Again” blisters like a much younger band.  A couple of songs adopt a talk/singing style such as “Personality Disorder” and “Shadow Self”. Bass and drums powers “Black Ice” that is a bit more ramshackle than the band typically sounds as Anderson sings, “we’re on the black ice with no headlights”.

In typical Suede fashion, the word “petrol” appears a few times in the lyrics, but Anderson often paints beautiful images such as the “brief pale light on the bedroom walls” on “Personality Disorder”. A couple of songs such as “It’s Always the Quiet Ones” gets darker and takes on a bit of a goth feel but still bangs out a skyward reaching chorus. Produced by longtime associate Ed Buller, Autofiction is another fine addition to the Suede catalogue on an album that rocks harder than most other 30-year-old bands can muster.

8/10

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Liam Gallagher – C’mon You Know (2022)

Posted on by Michael

In the fall of 2021, Oasis released several recorded versions of their legendary Knebworth shows from the mid 90s.  The gigs have been regarded as era defining for the Britpop generation. Around the same time last year, singer Liam Gallagher announced his own set of solo shows at the same venue, both of which quickly sold out. Just a week before the Knebworth concerts were to take place in early June of this year, Liam dropped his third solo album, C’mon You Know.

Again, working with writer/producer Andrew Wyatt, Gallagher has released a varied album with a string section showing up on nearly half the tracks.  The album starts with a children choir singing a few lines from “More Power” that recalls The Rolling Stones classic “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”. The volume gets turned up on several tracks including the bluesy guitar riffing of “Diamond in the Dark” and the drums/handclaps of the title track.

The Dave Grohl co-write “Everything Electric” sees Gallagher sneer through the lines, “I don’t hate you/But I despise that feeling/There’s nothing left for me here”. “Better Days” explodes with it’s Chemical Brothers electronic beats, an update on the sound that his brother did so well with 25 years before.  Gallagher gets the sole writing credit on “World’s In Need” that has a jamboree, country feel complete with harmonica. 

The production from Wyatt and others, is top notch as little flourishes add texture to the tracks such as the dub reggae breakdown of “I’m Fee”.  One of the finest songs on the album was co-written with Ezra Koenig from Vampire Weekend. The Beatlesque “Moscow Rules” is a phrase from the cold war and in the song, the strings hit a crescendo in the chorus as Gallagher sings “I think you’re never alone, even at home”.  It’s a fine vocal performance in a hidden gem of a song. Looking at recent setlists, Liam Gallagher spotlights the hits of Oasis, but he should be making more room for the excellent songs of C’mon You Know.

8.5/10