In the last year, all the big Britpop bands have released albums and/or performed massive concerts – Oasis, blur, and Pulp have all participated. Suede is the next band up from that early 90s period and in interviews to promote their newest album, Antidepressants, singer Brett Anderson has called out his peers and remarked that his band’s return is a continuation of releasing new and vital music; not a nostalgia act.
First song and single, “Disintegrate” is indeed vital. A throbbing beat creates a dark tension with hard hitting guitars on a track that Anderson has called a “dark celebration of your own demise” as he sings – “come down and disintegrate with me”. The drumming of Simon Gilbert is a highlight throughout, particularly on songs like “The Sound And The Summer” and tribute to Anderson’s son on “Sweet Kid”. The title track sees Anderson talk/sing like Fontaines D.C. when he says, “I’m on antidepressants, I just lie awake”.
There is a dark theme running throughout the album but still moves beyond the shadows. “Dancing With The Europeans” is a melodically catchy song and “Trance State” adds synths effects for more atmosphere. There is a warmth to the slower “June Rain”. While Anderson needlessly calls out other bands that are performing far bigger shows, Antidepressants is another solid release from the band well into their second phase.
The premier singing group to come out of the Motown label and one of the greatest groups of the 1960s, The Supremes success is blistering. Led by singer Diana Ross and with main songwriting team of Brian Holland-Lamont Dozier-Edward Holland Jr writing for them, the trio scored a staggering 12 #1 hit songs in the US. Released in 2005, Gold is a two-disc album containing all the hit singles plus a few B-sides and album tracks in near chronological order but with a few changes.
Most of the hits are on the first disc that covers the main period of the trio that also included back-up singers Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson. “Where Did Our Love Go” was their first number one single, you can hear the yearning in Ross’ vocals over a stomping beat, the chorus doesn’t appear until after the fourth verse. The horns light up “Baby Love” where Ross pleads, “Don’t throw our love away/Please don’t do me this way”. A strut and quiet confidence shines through on “Come See About Me” where Ross pushes everyone away as she waits for her boy to “come see about me”.
Perhaps the greatest 1-2 punch on any greatest hits album comes towards the end of disc one, starting with the much covered, “You Keep Me Hanging On”. A staggering song from the Holland-Dozier-Holland team with Ross expressing quiet fury and anger over a pitter-patter beat, where the back-up vocalists shine as well. Ross cuts through with the line – “why don’t you be a man about it/and set me free?”. This is followed up with the influential drumbeat of “You Can’t Hurry Love”. An expressive vocal as the woman waits for her man – yearning but in a happy, chirpy way. Both songs are highlights of music that came out in the 60s.
Disc two is where changes really start to happen. It opens with the very good “Reflections” single, the first to be credited to Diana Ross and the Supremes and their last release with the mighty Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting team. Their last number one single appears next in “Someday We’ll Be Together”, the song only features Diana Ross on the track and unusually has producer Johnny Bristol heard shouting instructions on how to sing the song. Another terrific song whose vocals sound like they could have appeared on an R+B track from the 90s.
Leaving behind the usual love songs – “Love Child” was an earlier #1 single written by The Clan, a team of writers at Motown. The tracks talks of the main character growing up in a broken home and not wanting to follow up in those footsteps. This was later followed up by the single, “I’m Livin’ In Shame” where the woman leaves home, moves away to college and tries to erase the embarrassment of her well intentioned Mother while growing up. The group returns to their roots with “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me” sung with The Temptations, Ross’ vocals mixing with Eddie Kendricks is pure honey on the #2 hit.
Further line-up changes in the 70s including Diana Ross leaving the group for a successful solo career and Florence Ballard no longer in the band. New member Jean Terrell takes over the lead vocals on the upbeat groover “Stoned Love” – it’s a banger! Other late period highlights include the Smokey Robinson written “Floy Joy” and “Nathan Jones” that sees the new trio singing in unison. “Up the Ladder to the Roof” hit the top ten with Terrell back on lead vocals, the pop funk is a cool track with some religious overtones.
It is certainly the massive hit singles that are the most ear catching in The Supremes catalogue but there are a few other tracks that are worth further inspection. “Run, Run, Run” barely scraped into the top 100 but sounds like a long lost Northern Soul floor filler with it’s banging piano. More commercially successful is the top ten hit, “Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart” that is another one for the dancefloor. Surprisingly only hitting #5 in the US, “My World Is Empty Without You” is more somber, and hits a bit deeper than some of their other songs, the more elegant womanly version of The Rolling Stones “Paint It Black”.
Having already written about many of the 40 songs on the Gold album, it still leaves out several #1 hit songs. Special mention to the legendary Mary Wilson who kept The Supremes going for so long and was its longest serving member through their many changes. The powerful group has inspired countless girl groups, rock bands, and pop acts. It is impossible to say enough about their status in the world of music in a short blog post. Music simply doesn’t get better than this.
The Clearing is London’s Wolf Alice fourth album and second in a row to hit #1 in the UK. Produced by Greg Kurstin, the introspective album bounces around in styles with indie rock, country and 70s singer-songwriter styles all making appearances. First track “Thorns” captures the theme of the album – “I must be a narcissist/God knows that I can’t resist/To make a song and dance about it”. First single “Bloom Baby Bloom” pops with its piano and handclaps, where Ellie Roswell vocals are inspired by the rock sound of Axl Rose.
The middle of the album mellows things out with a few ballads among the laid-back grooves of tracks like “Passenger Seat”. Things pick up again towards the end of The Clearing when drummer Joel Amey takes over the vocals on a track that ironically sounds like female lead Wet Leg about living the nomad life of a touring musician. Roswell returns for highlight single, “The Sofa” where she hopes “I can accept the wild thing in me”. While a few songs slow the pace, The Clearing is another fine batch of songs from the eclectic band.
In David Bowie’s boxset that was released in 2017, A New Career In A New Town 1977-1982, it includes an exclusive “Heroes” EP to the set. Made up of four tracks – It features the English/German version of the song “Heroes/”Helden” + the English/French version “Heroes”/”Heros” along with the single length versions in those two languages.
The language variations add a different flavour to the classic song. The German version sounds harsher, more angry whereas the French version sounds a bit more desperate. More of a curiosity, it is interesting to hear “Heroes” four different ways when the listener needs a kick of something different.
Just nine months after David Bowie released his groundbreaking Low album in January of 1977, he then released the second in the Berlin trilogy of albums, “Heroes”. Keeping the same personnel but adding Robert Fripp on guitar, Bowie continued to work with Brian Eno and producer Tony Visconti. The album follows a similar strategy to Low in that side one is composed of songs with vocals and side two is mostly instrumental.
The songs on side one veer from fairly regular structures to Avant Garde/experimental sounds, often within the same track. Second single “Beauty and the Beast” has dissonant sounds at times but that also obscures the funky dance beat underneath. Distorted, scratchy guitars appear on “Joe the Lion” on a track where Bowie switches to talk singing for parts of the track. “Blackout” could be about a New York blackout or about Bowie passing out in the studio but he also sings the romantic line, “kiss you in the rain” several times over.
Side two starts with “V-2 Schneider” named in tribute to Kraftwerk member Florian Schneider on the rather catchy track before the darker and foreboding sounds of “Sense of Doubt” appears. Two more instrumentals including the Japanese influenced “Moss Garden” appear before Bowie starts singing again on “The Secret Life of Arabia”, complete with handclaps in the desert.
The album is most notable for its legendary title track, the first single taken from the album that was not a hit upon release but has gone onto be one of the great anthems of all time. Originally said to be based on Bowie seeing a Berlin couple kiss by the Berlin Wall, another story is that Visconti was seen stealing a kiss from a back up singer while he was still married. The lyrics are stuff of legend – “I will be king… and you, you will be queen”, the dreamlike image of “I wish you could swim, like the dolphins, like dolphins can swim” and of course, “we can be heroes just for one day”. The album itself is challenging, filled with startling imagery including its iconic cover art, all which make it one of the most intriguing and celebrated albums of the 1970s.
The Light Appears 