The four member band from Leeds saw their debut zip to #2 in the UK charts when released in January. Their groove based political rants take in the spirit of the No Wave Movement of early NY as well as the pop of Art Brut and politics of Sleaford Mods. The title track comments on the state of the youth before giving out some free band advice. The chorus uses punk rock harmonies that make it pop. The peppy, “Witness (Can I Get A?)” flies by at just 82 seconds but manages to declare, “I’m suing your God for the ice on my step/stepped outside, nearly broke my neck”
A number of songs take a laid back, bass groove and ride it such the “bababa” laden “Land of the Blind”. “Tall Poppies”, the longest track here, is a character study of the handsomest lad in the village who lives and dies there. “Pour Another” is a joyous tune of drinking while the world burns before ending on “100% Endurance”. The final highlight that sees the band questioning life, saying that “it’s all pointless” before asking for “some of that good stuff, that human spirit”. On The Overload, Yard Act are able to mix their politics with humour and on the final three tracks, a wealth of human emotion.
The third album by The Doors, Waiting For The Sun, was released in July 1968. After using up many of their original song ideas for the first two albums, the band was forced to write new ones. One holdover from older Jim Morrison ideas was second single, “Hello, I Love You”. The track that bears a resemblance to The Kinks’ hit, “All Day and All of the Night” went to #1 in the US and is a staple on classic rock radio. The driving pop of that second single was in stark contrast to “The Unknown Solider”. The first single released from the album was an anti-war song describing a solider being shot in the head while those at home merely read about the news over breakfast.
Several fine album tracks appear on side one including “Love Street” that rolls along like a hazy summer day, Ray Manzarek’s piano keeps the song moving. “Wintertime Love” feels like an updated take a song from the 1800s as Morrison sings, “winter’s so cold this year, you are so warm, my wintertime love to be”. Darker is “Not To Touch The Earth” which was originally a piece of a 17 minute recording for the album. The song takes in the more sinister side of California where the “dead president’s corpse in the driver’s car/the engine runs on glue and tar”. John Densmore’s hard drumming and the swirling keyboard make the surreal track disorientating.
Side two starts with the flamenco style guitar of “Spanish Caravan” and ends with the proto metal track “Five to One” that has a buried Robbie Krieger guitar solo. The songs in between are all fine but are less memorable than their side one brothers. While Waiting For the Sun ranks critically as one of the lesser albums from The Doors, it was their only #1 US album, staying there for four weeks. Casual fans can likely take a miss here but there are still several solid moments to keep the deeper listener satisfied.
Adam Granduciel spent 3 years working on The War On Drugs’ fifth LP released in October of 2021, I Don’t Live Here Anymore. Working with co-producer Shawn Everett, Granduciel logged many miles between New York and LA with various sessions taking place in both cities. The album mixes synths with the anthemic 80s rock of Springsteen and Petty. “Harmonia’s Dream” pushes the synths up in the mix where the “summer comes and rain gets in”. Granduciel sings “And I need your kiss/like I’m dressed in morning mist” on the energetic “Wasted”.
Perhaps capturing the feeling of bouncing between cities, the title track sings “I don’t live here anymore/but I got no place to go”. Members of the band Lucious sing on the chorus and lift the track into one of the highlights. Leaving the lushness of other tracks, first single “Living Proof” is a straightforward track with mostly just guitar and piano that adds a more naked vulnerability.
On “Change”, Granduciel wonders if he was “maybe born on the wrong day”. It’s not just the lyric itself but the way the words hang there while the music continues. There are a few dips on I Don’t Live Here Anymore, and a bit too much gloss in places where a more minimal sound would have been welcomed. What is transparent, is the overall longing and searching in the lyrics that makes the album a place where even the adults are still trying to figure things out.
The third full length album released by Melbourne’s Courney Barnett last November was an intimate affair. Working with just Stella Mozgawa from the band Warpaint, the two played all the instruments plus co-produced. In typical Barnett style, first single “Rae Street” makes the mundane of observing life through a window sound interesting all while riding a mid tempo groove. “Sunfair Sundown” catches the same trick, a really catchy track that adds a chiming guitar while she tells another, “I don’t want you to be alone”.
“Before You Gotta Go” is a sweet song about leaving on a good note after breaking up. “Take It Day By Day” has a solid bass sound on a song about keeping at it with the added motivation of adding handclaps. The album ends on a slower note where Barnett sings “but I’m the same kid, always laughing”. On that track and others, Barnett wrings a lot of emotion out of her deadpan singing voice.
Some of the songs on Things Take Time, Take Time could use a bit more polish and at just 34 minutes, this feels more like a stop gap EP rather than a full length. However, what Courtney Barnett and Stella Mozgawa have created is a brisk batch of catchy songs that can sound tossed off and great at the same time.
Music documentaries was a crowded marketplace in 2021. The most anticipated being Peter Jackson’s magnificent reworking of The Beatles Let It Be documentary, Get Back. The Velvet Underground and Sparks both had well received screen time. Bill Simmons introduced his Music Box series with Woodstock ’99 that detailed the lack of peace and love that thousands of Nu Metal fans inflicted on the festival.
In November, an antidote to all the critics bemoaning the state of youth culture in the Woodstock doc came out as nostalgia hit the mid-90s with the 25 year anniversary of Oasis’ famous Knebworth gigs. In 1996, 250,000 fans gathered in a field to celebrate one of the peak happenings of the Britpop era. The first two discs on this edition captures the setlist in order, mixing in recordings on both nights. It’s an astonishing run through the hits, album tracks, and B-sides taken mostly from the first two Oasis albums.
Opener “Columbia” catches the band in full rock and roll psychedelia before a guitar scrawl announces the arrival of could have been single, “Acquiesce”. Noel Gallagher implores the crowd to jump as the band launches into the previous year’s number two single, “Roll With It”. An impassioned version of Definitely Maybe’s classic album track “Slide Away” sees Liam Gallagher add vulnerability while mixing a punk snarl with a rock n roll stance.
Having been released as singles within the year, “Wonderwall” and a harder rock version of “Don’t Look Back in Anger” are treated as pop songs vs the reverential treatment they would receive in later years. Sandwiched between the two tracks, is classic B-side “The Masterplan” with harmonica accompaniment that nearly eclipses its more famous ballad song mates. In a quirk of timing, the band debuts two new songs towards the end of the concert from the Be Here Now album that would be released a year later. John Squire adds a massive guitar solo to “Champagne Supernova” before the band closes with their cover of The Beatles’ “I Am The Walrus”.
The Knebworth shows catch the band at their apex of the Mach II line-up with Guigsy on bass, Bonehead on guitar and Alan White on drums. As Noel later describes, Liam is at the peak of his powers in both voice and fashion. What the band delivers over and over again across the two discs is the sound of youth culture – being on the dole, drinking, listening to music, living your life, and living forever. This line-up would carry on for one more album but it was never quite the same after Knebworth for both the band and its fans.
The DVD documentary of the weekend mixes in fans speaking of their experiences along with the concert performances. The stories are interesting but may not hold up to repeated listening. For many fans that were not there, it will be easy to see their own stories told on the screen. One particular highlight being the lad that asks Liam for his tambourine half way through the show, then Liam finding him at the end to give it to him.
While in the voiceovers, Noel is in full curmudgeon mode, that moment is a reminder of what the band meant to its fans and the love that poured back and forth. The young faces in the crowd singing every word back to the band with many dancing with abandon, looking more like a rave than a rock concert. It’s a wonderful document that cements Knebworth 1996 back to a time that no longer exists.
![Waiting for the Sun (40th Anniversary Mixes) [Expanded]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81T5Hv8DfuL._AC_UY218_.jpg)
![Oasis - Knebworth 1996 [Blu-ray]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81TosYPav2L._AC_UY218_.jpg)
The Light Appears 