Album Reviews – Page 71 – The Light Appears

Neil Diamond – The Very Best Of (2011)

Posted on September 15, 2014 by Michael

Buying a greatest hits package for Neil Diamond is harder than one might think. Over the years, most have been littered with live versions or re-recorded versions of key tracks. So the search went on for many years. Now, usually I’d eschew Best Of collections in order to go straight to the actual albums but some artists lack a sure fire 5-star album. While boasting an arm’s length list of classic songs, you’re not going to see a Neil Diamond album in any Top 100 Greatest Albums lists.

The first half of The Very Best Of Neil Diamondis a nearly flawless collection of pop, folk, and singer-songwriter stories. The run of tracks from “Cherry, Cherry”, “I AM… I Said”, “Sweet Caroline”, and “Cracklin’ Rosie” is sublime; 60s and 70s pop does not get any better than this. The dizzying heights continue as “I’m a Believer” and “Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon” appear soon after. One of the few new tracks to this writer is the Robbie Robertson produced “A Beautiful Noise” which, as the lyrics say, “has a beautiful beat”.

The pacing/order of the tracks for the most part works like a charm. Many slower tracks such as “Love On The Rocks” are surrounded with their more upbeat brothers so there is hardly a letdown… almost. The album sags right at the midway point when “Song Sung Blue”, “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” and “Hello Again” take some of the air out. After that, the album is a bit hit and miss and isn’t fully redeemed until the one two punch of “Kentucky Woman” followed by “Shilo”.

Back in the 90s, the movie Pulp Fiction suddenly made Neil Diamond cool again. Brooklyn born Diamond is so beloved that there is not even a sniff of irony in Boston fans singing “Sweet Caroline” during Red Sox home games (even if that tradition is getting a bit tiresome). While there is some schmaltziness that appears here and there, for the most part this is all well- crafted, life-affirming perfection.

9/10

Album Reviews

Lykki Li – I Never Learn (2014)

Posted on September 14, 2014September 15, 2014 by Michael

In 2008, Swedish born Lykki Li put out one of my favourite albums of the year with Youth Novels. The synth pop tracks fit in perfectly with Robyn and Sally Shapiro. Wounded Rhymes followed in 2011 and was rougher around the edges, a bit more angry and seemed to signal a new direction. I Never Learn is Li’s third and takes another turn in her career. The bright eyed pop songs are gone as are much of the harder edges of more recent times. With the help of Bjorn Yttling of Peter Bjorn and John, this collection of songs is far more grandiose than what’s come before.

The title track, and first song, sets the bar high. It’s one of the more stripped down tracks with mostly just an acoustic guitar but still sounds heavenly with the addition of strings and “ahhhhs” that appear midway through. “Love Me Like I’m Not Made of Stone” is raw with Li’s most pained vocal, her voice straining in the chorus as she sings the title. You can literally hear her heartbreaking as she sings.

“Gunshot” gets a smack in the arm with the chorus but sounds like it could be sung by any new pop starlet that the music industry endlessly pumps out. The titles of “Never Gonna Love Again” and “Heart of Steel” say all you need to know and would fit in with any Diane Warren track written in the last 25 years. While impeccably produced and better in small doses, I Never Learn can be a hard slog when swallowed whole.

6/10

Album Reviews

Lana Del Rey – Ultraviolence (2014)

Posted on September 1, 2014 by Michael

In 2012, Lana Del Rey shot to stardom (or maybe just infamy) off her first single, “Video Games”. From out of nowhere, everyone seemed to have an opinion on her. From Del Rey’s love it or hate it appearance on Saturday Night Live (I loved it), her much talked about past, a massive amount of remixes and a clutch of singles that eventually lead to very mixed reviews of her major label debut, Born To Die. Right from the start I loved the singles but stayed away from the debut after the reviews started to come out. I ended up buying Born To Die several months later and thought much of it was brilliant and as a whole, hung together quite well. Now Ms. Del Rey is back a sophomore effort, Ultraviolence.

There isn’t much variation throughout. The music is a bit 60s, a bit Portishead, a bit cinematic, etc. The vocals are all deadpan, played straight and without much feeling. The first third of the album, including the title track, all slip by without much notice. “Brooklyn Baby” doesn’t sound much different from what came before but what sets it apart is the lyrics and how they are sung – “you say I’m like the ice I freeze, I’m churning out novels like Beat poetry on amphetamines”, the one word Brooklyn accent in the second chorus, and the “da da da”s along to the guitar. Single “West Coast” follows and hits a bit harder both musically and vocally than anything else on the album before the beautifully lush chorus.

Lana Del Rey is not as good a singer as Adele and the music here isn’t anywhere near as classic sounding as say, Dusty in Memphis. Where Del Rey shines when her ultra-cool stories border on the ridiculous and are sung with a wink. It’s hard not to smile while listening to tracks like “Money Power and Glory”, “Fucked My Way To The Top” and especially bonus track “Florida Keys” where she’s slinging drugs in Miami. That’s the Del Rey that I like, far too cool and completely over the top, unfortunately there isn’t enough of that here. While Ultraviolence is ultimately not quite as consistent as Born To Die, there are still a handful of songs that shine and are ready made to be remixed over and over again.

7/10

Album Reviews

Marissa Nadler – July (2014)

Posted on August 31, 2014August 31, 2014 by Michael

I had never heard of Marissa Nadler before seeing her album review on Pitchfork way back in early February. What initially struck me about it was the stark album cover, a mostly black cover with a woman standing in front of a window. I wrote the name down and ordered it after I kept hearing about how good the album is… but then didn’t get around to actually listening to it for a couple more months. Why do I even have a blog?

July is Nadler’s sixth album and it is mostly as stark as that album cover. Acoustic guitar is the main accompaniment to Nadler’s country-like singing tones which at times can swoop like Patsy Cline. There is desolate yet dreamy atmosphere throughout, a trend which gets acknowledged in the title of “Was It a Dream”. “I’ve Got Your Name” could soundtrack a David Lynch movie scene – “Riding back to Massachusetts, couldn’t even see from snow, the road was studded in Christmas trees”. A deep regret of a past relationship comes through in both “Anyone Else” and “Holiday In”.

Records that sound like this are usually tailor made for summer evenings, sitting in backyards and staring at empty fields. July is different; it feels like it was recorded for winter nights, even if the title thinks differently. The backing vocals in “Drive” sound like a Northern wind blowing right through the song. As I sit here on this Labour Day weekend, the traditional end to summer where everyone clears out to their cabins, the empty town in “Dead City Emily” rings true. It’s hard to be a sleeper of a record when every publication has name checked it, but as the nights get colder and duvets start getting pulled out of the closet, Marissa Nadler’s July is a special one to have on your record player and clasped close to your chest.

9/10

Album Reviews

First Aid Kit – Stay Gold (2014)

Posted on August 25, 2014 by Michael

“And the only man you ever loved, you thought was going to marry you, died in a car accident when he was only 22, and then you just decided love wasn’t for you” The touching lyric from First Aid Kit’s 2012 single “Blue” shows the poignancy of the young Söderberg sisters. Old souls, wise beyond their years and every other similar cliché can be thrown their way. Still just 24 and 21 years old, Johanna and Klara are already veterans of the music industry – having had #1 records in their native Sweden, performed with Fleet Foxes, rubbed shoulders with Connor Oberst and Jack White – Stay Gold is their third album in four years.

There is a 70s country slickness to much of Stay Gold. The core band on most songs, the sisters along with Benkt Söderberg on bass and Niclas Lindström on drums, is often augmented with an arm’s length list of string and guitar players. This never dilutes the songs or drowns them in syrup; instead they add a classic feel to tales of escape, looking over New York City, and road weariness. The galloping drums and quick wordplay of “My Silver Lining” gets the album moving right away and later on the harmonies shine through brightly on “Waitress Song”. The title track’s vulnerable chorus is a knockout – “What if our hard work ends in despair, what if the road won’t take me there, oh I wish for once we could stay gold”

While the tracks take on a more personal feel than past efforts, they contain a universality that are easily relatable. “Now I can’t believe that it’s been five years, since we both stood here looking out at this city, with minds so bold and thoughts so clear”. On their first release for Columbia Records, Johanna and Klara absolutely stay gold throughout.

8.5/10