Album Reviews – Page 49 – The Light Appears

Liz Phair – Soberish (2021)

Posted on August 12, 2021August 12, 2021 by Michael

In 2018, Liz Phair received her best reviews in 25 years with the re-release of her classic debut Exile in Guyville that also included the The Girly-Sound Tapes comprised of the lo-fi tracks she recorded around that time. The debut is an alt rock classic and the tapes were a fascinating look at the early songs, some of which would grow in stature on future albums. After completing a memoir in 2019, Phair returned to work with Exile’s producer Brad Wood on a new set of songs released as Soberish.

Many songs explore the world of dating as an adult. “Ba Ba Ba” is a standout pop track that speaks of wanting to tell a partner she feels safe with him before the music on the third verse ups the ante to make it a more thrilling ride. “Lonely Street” sees Phair more vulnerable as she switches to a falsetto in the chorus and tells a partner that “I’ve got friends to pick up the loose ends” before leaving another relationship with her “Good Side”.

Many of the themes on Soberish are ones that Phair’s fans from the 90s could certainly relate to however they are often pedestrian in either music or lyrics. On “In There” we’re told that her “confidence is shook, I don’t know where to look” and “Soul Sucker” doesn’t explain much more about a partner than what the title says. “Spanish Doors” succeeds on being a pretty good radio pop track and second single “Hey Lou” talks about Lou Reed getting high and talking shit about Warhol, making it one of the more memorable tracks of the early new year. Soberish hits just enough to keep fans engaged while Liz Phair manages to get a lot off her chest.

7/10

Album Reviews

Bob Dylan – Bringing It All Back Home (1965)

Posted on August 2, 2021August 2, 2021 by Michael

Bringing It All Back Home is the fifth Bob Dylan album and continues his departure away from focusing on mainly protest songs. Another Side of Bob Dylan released in 1964 presented more personal lyrics, here Dylan explores surreal imagery along with a touch of psychedelia thrown in. Controversially, the first side is devoted to electric songs played with a band while the second side is where longtime fans would find the mainly acoustic songs.

Dylan gives a nod to the beat poets with a blast of bluesy rock and roll on the opener “Subterranean Homesick Blues”. His first charting single in the US saw Dylan film a highly influential video for the track where he holds up cardboard cue cards with the lyrics written on them including the classic line, “Johnny’s in the basement, mixin’ up the medicine/I’m on the pavement, thinkin’ about the government”. “Maggie’s Farm” is a furious blast that was recorded in just one take as Dylan spits out the lyrics of working for little pay and no respect while you drive yourself insane.

The pace is slowed down on the love song “Love Minus Zero/No Limit” and the midtempo “She Belongs to Me” that speaks of a bohemian who is “an artist, she don’t look back/she can take the dark out of the nighttime and paint the daytime black”. Side one closes with the six plus minutes of “Bob Dylan’s 115^th Dream” that breaks down into guffaws before the surreal track talks of the discovery of America.

Side two opens with one of Dylan’s most beloved songs in “Mr. Tambourine Man” that was later taken to #1 in the US by The Byrds. Originally intended for the previous year’s Another Side of Bob Dylan, the song regularly features on best of lists and countless Dylan compilations. The acoustic side closes with two very different tracks – the first being the seven minute “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)”. The intense song is one that demands attention as Dylan tells us that “he not busy being born is busy dying” and that “I got nothing, Ma, to live up to”. Side two closes with “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue”, another track that is widely covered by other artists. Accompanied by the bass of Bill Lee, Dylan’s voice rises and falls with the music as he speaks about a love that is over or perhaps a goodbye to his younger self.

Dylan’s world was expanding during this time period as he met The Beatles for the first time, tried LSD, and in the summer of 1965 of would famously be booed at the Newport Folk Festival. Refusing to be just one type of songwriter that some want him to stay as, Dylan keeps growing and expanding his sound and lyrical inspiration. Bringing It All Back Home is another extraordinary album just three years and five albums into his then brief recording career.

10/10

Album Reviews

Wolf Alice – Blue Weekend (2021)

Posted on July 18, 2021 by Michael

When Glastonbury changed their format this year due to COVID, they broadcast several bands from different locations around the farm. London’s Wolf Alice was the first band to feature and pulled off a great set of music that explored all areas of alternative rock from the last 30 years. Blue Weekend is the band’s third album and sees them on the edge of becoming Britain’s biggest band with a sold out UK tour planned for early 2022.

First track “The Beach” is a quiet hum of a song about friendship that builds into a roar. “Smile” adds a healthy dose of fuzz guitar and menace that mixes Republica with Korn, a few songs later “Play The Hits” is a blast of punk blast noise. Several songs see the band play with only minimal elements such as “Safe From Heartbreak (if you never fall in love)” and “No Hard Feelings” that are mostly guitar and the vocals of Ellie Roswell but somehow sound bigger than those spare parts.

Where the album really shines is on second track “Delicious Things” where Roswell asks “a girl like me/would you believe/I’m in Los Angeles”. The inspiring track about living out your dreams in LA uses murmured Billie Eilish like vocals in the verses with a pop blast chorus that makes it one of the more memorable tracks of the year. It’s no coincidence that the band uses Coldplay producer Markus Dravs to elevate several tracks that will be anthems in concert. Roswell does not have the strongest voice but the use of backing vocals, double tracks and electronic swirls more than compensate when an emotional lift is needed. Touching on all different parts of alternative and pop, Wolf Alice have released a really great album.

8.5/10

Album Reviews

Japanese Breakfast – Jubilee (2021)

Posted on July 2, 2021 by Michael

Japanese Breakfast: Jubilee Album Review | Pitchfork

“After writing two albums and a book about grief, I feel very ready to embrace feeling” is what Japanese Breakfast’s Michelle Zauner told Pitchfork earlier this year when describing the Jubilee album released in June. And feeling she does on the first few songs that are a masterclass of alterna pop. “Paprika” uses a marching band drum, horns and a wonderous chorus where she exclaims “oh, it’s a rush!” “Be Sweet”, the first single, is another upbeat gem that asks “be sweet to me, baby”. “Kokomo, IN” is a misty eyed indie pop song along the lines of Camera Obscura that adds strings to provide a sense of longing with a tinge of country.

Those first three songs are near perfect so it’s hard for the rest of the album to match those heights but a few songs come close. “Sit” uses tension in the verses whereas “Savage Good Boy” uses humour to speak of the villians in the world who make far too much money. Not only has Michelle Zauner recently released this album, but the Korean-American also published her first memoir in April that is already a New York Times bestseller. An incredible body of work in just the first half of the year.

7.5/10

Album Reviews

Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago (2008)

Posted on June 27, 2021 by Michael

There is a great mythology around the first Bon Iver album, For Emma, Forever Ago. After watching his former band break up then contracting mono and a liver infection, Justin Vernon moved away from Raleigh, North Carolina and back home to Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Like a Jack Kerouac type figure, for several months Vernon stayed at his Dad’s cabin in the woods and worked on the songs that would form this debut album. The album was self released in 2007 then later re-released by Jagjaguwar in early 2008.

“Flume” is the track that turned Vernon’s music career around. Working with an acoustic guitar and experimenting with a falsetto for the first time, it opened up more possibilities to be vulnerable with an added effect of tracking his own vocals to sound like a choir. First single “Skinny Love” sees Vernon tell a partner “I told you to be patient….and I told you to be kind” in a relationship that doesn’t have a lot of weight to it. “What might have been lost” turns “The Wolves (Act I and II)” into a mantra of sorts. Both “Lump Sum” and “Blindsided” feature memorable guitar hooks while “For Emma” adds a nice addition of horns.

For Emma is mostly an acoustic album and one that is added to by the story surrounding it. It can feel claustrophobic at times but also celebratory as a young man works through the troubles in his life alone. Justin Vernon has gone on to work with James Blake, Kanye West and most recently with Taylor Swift while also curating a music festival in Wisconsin. A lot of that success started with this album that is included in Rolling Stone magazine’s most recent top 500 albums of all time. It is a lowkey standout album from the first decade of the 2000s.

8.5/10