Posted in Album Reviews

Sharon Van Etten – Are We There (2014)

Posted on by Michael

41JN5La3wwL__AA160_A few months ago when the Winnipeg Folk Fest line-up was announced, keen music fans immediately jumped for joy at seeing the name Sharon Van Etten listed to play the Big Blue @ Night stage. Since releasing her debut in 2009, the New Jersey born, Brooklyn based musician has been busy touring and putting out an album once every two years. 2012 proved to be a breakout year for the confessional singer songwriter as the Tramp album received wide spread acclaim.

Self-produced album, Are We There, continues Van Etten’s style of very emotional and raw lyrics over spare instrumentation. If you cynically rearrange the song titles of the last three songs, you discover a theme that runs through the album – “I Know” “Every Time The Sun Comes Up” “Nothing Will Change”. The lyrics can be bleak and this hits a fever pitch on the six minute “Your Love Is Killing Me”. “Break my legs so I won’t run to you, cut my tongue so I can’t talk to you, burn my skin so I can’t feel you…” When reading the lyrics, it can feel like listening to your actress friend dramatically telling you about a recent break-up… that you can’t relate to at all.

But if you sit and only half listen to that friend and start to hear the rain hitting the window pane, the cat scratching the door, distant laughter from down the hallway, and start thinking about your own life, suddenly the world starts to open up. The strings on album opener “Afraid of Nothing” are a bit more dramatic the fifth time around and “Taking Chances” is a classy take on 80s adult R&B. “I Know” contains the best vocal on the album, as Van Etten’s voice swoops and cracks along to just a piano. Somewhere Carole King is nodding approval. Are We There closes with “Every Time The Sun Comes Up” which lets in a little smile with the lines – “people say I’m a one hit wonder, but what happens when I have two? I washed your dishes but I shit your bathroom”.

Somehow it wasn’t until reading the lyrics then discarding them that the album came alive. Snippets started to shine through. “A couple years later when I saw you making western moves… you always believed in me and I always believed in you”. Van Etten lays everything bare on Are We There; even while showing much vulnerability, it’s her power and strength that you will remember.

8/10

Posted in Album Reviews

The Doors – Strange Days (1967)

Posted on by Michael

51rq15fR+sL__SP160,160,0,T_About ten months after their landmark self-titled debut landed on store shelves, The Doors followed it up with Strange Days. As noted in virtually all writings of the album, most of the songs had been written around the same time as The Doors but had been passed over. The two singles that appear here need no introduction and will be familiar to anyone with access to FM radio – “Love Me Two Times” and “People Are Strange”.

The title track starts things off with swirling keyboards, including a moog synthesizer played by one Jim Morrison. This leads into “You’re Lost Little Girl”. It’s one of those tracks that proves why Greatest Hits don’t always tell the full story. The haunting little pop song with a beautiful vocal by Morrison has been lodged in my head for days. “Unhappy Girl” and “My Eyes Have Seen You” are pure psychedelic confection. The disc is broken up halfway through with the ugly spoken word track “Horse Latitudes”. And try as it might, eleven minute album closer “When the Music’s Over” doesn’t quite reach the mesmerizing heights of “The End”.

While the debut is rightly regarded as the classic in The Doors cannon, Strange Days is only a half-step behind. While not a smash hit at the time, it has since gone on to have sold over 9 million copies. 1967 was one of the greatest years in rock history, and this is just one more reason why.

8.5/10

Posted in Album Reviews

Simple Minds – Life In A Day (1979)

Posted on by Michael

51fSCyuvUoL__SP160,160,0,T_The story of Simple Minds is generally regarded by most as a story of two halves. The trendy, cool sound of their first five albums before their spiky/angular sound gave way to 80s arena rock bombast. Truth is, I love the massive 80s hits of “Sanctify Yourself” and “Alive and Kicking”. I was always curious about their earlier sound so last year picked up the Simple Minds X5 album pack that collects their first five discs (includes Sons and Fascination/Sister Feelings Call double as well as bonus tracks).

The first release from the Glaswegians was Life In A Day released in the post punk world of 1979. There is a giddy rush to first track, “Someone”. The slight rest before the chorus amps its impact and you can picture the band jumping up and down while playing the track in pubs around the UK. That rush is continued with the handclaps in “Sad Affair”. Non charting single “Chelsea Girl” takes the foot off the gas with a cascading keyboard line from Michael MacNeill. A key song in their early live shows, the track slows to just bass and background cymbals for the final minute while the chorus is sung over and over again. The title track, and lone charting single, features the synthesizer more upfront and has Kerr really going for it in the vocal. Is this a precursor to what would come in the 80s?

The album generally gets middling reviews and the band themselves aren’t overly fond of it. Jim Kerr has expressed disappointment in some of John Leckie’s (!!) production which does make the band sound more like a really good bar band rather than young world beaters. However, to these ears much of it fits in very nicely with classic tracks from that era such as Squeeze’s “Cool For Cats” and the horn driven punk of X-Ray Spex. There was plenty more to come from Simple Minds in future years but this was a damn fine start.

8/10