Thursday, August 25, 2022

The Jujubes - Raging Moon

A bit of googling reveals that jujubes are “the edible berrylike fruit of a Eurasian plant, formerly taken as a cure for coughs”, which ain’t yer typical Midnight Moonshine moniker for a blues outfit.  Appropriately so, because if Siouxsie Sioux had ever had a notion to make a stripped back blues album, it might have turned out something like Raging Moon.  And this is a good thing.
I’m kidding, right?  Well yeah, a bit.  I mean, vocalist Nikki Brooks doesn’t sound doomy and Gothic like ol’ Siouxsie.  But her cooing voice does have a slightly unsettling undertone, in keeping with the trio’s edgy, off-kilter blues sound.
The Jujubes get down and get with it.

They’re so minimalist that the other two geezers don’t even have surnames.*  There’s Sandy, who plays guitar.  And there’s Pete, who plays harmonica and guitar.  But together The Jujubes make a damn good job of producing something fresh and interesting with so little.  The opening ‘Wang Dang Doodle’ is a case in point, delivered without the heft of Howlin’ Wolf or Koko Taylor but with a constant air of tension, starting with guitar that’s rhythmically picked at, later gatecrashed by some slashing chords – although every time it sounds like letting go, they pull it back and keep you guessing, right down to the unorthodox sounding percussion.  They swing a bit more on ‘You Ain’t So Bad’, with some quivering toots of harp and nimble exchanges of guitar breaks, and Brooks cutting loose vocally, but it still feels like someone trying out a blues set in a dingy CBGBs circa 1975.
‘True Religion’ goes back to Lead Belly and probably beyond, but here sounds like it’s been reimagined somewhere outlandishly European, like Albania maybe, with Brooks crooning edgily against a backdrop of intermingled guitars.  Her voice is then given a muted effect on ‘The Last Thing’, over a nagging, hypnotic rhythm and a throbbing deep down riff from one of the guitars, with interjections of a familiar sounding, spiky guitar motif.  The overall effect is like blood dripping off the edge of a gleaming knife.  Or something.
‘High Fever Blues’ comes with a near-whispered a cappella intro, progressing with sparse acoustic strumming and some ghostly twangs of slide, before some nifty, steely guitar breaks turn it into something that Bukka White might recognise.  Bessie Smith’s ‘Devil’s Gonna Get You’, meanwhile, is tense and urgent with a thudding percussive beat that eventually bursts into a boom-shta-ta-shtum rhythm overlaid by squawking harp and some deeply discordant guitar, while Brooks gets decidedly agitated at the mic.
She goes back to slow and stealthy on the macabre-sounding ‘Make Me Cry’, to the accompaniment of shivering, twanging, prickling guitars.  But the closing ‘Something More’ feels like there’s a break in the clouds, with some simple but lovely acoustic strumming, and wafts of slide guitar notes carried in on the breeze to join Brooks’ swooning vocal.
I wonder what blues traditionalists will make of all this.  Some of the stuff here feels old and bluesy enough to have been exhumed from a shallow grave at a Mississippi crossroads.  But at the same time it’s all imbued with a very modern, knowing sense of direction.  Raging Moon is a confident, very well executed album, which caught me unawares.  But you know the score now, dear reader.  The Jujubes deserve your attention - and I mean right now.
 
Raging Moon
 is released on 17 September, and can be ordered here.

*Actually this isn't true at all.  They're called Sandy Michie and Pete Sim.  But I didn't have that info when I first wrote the review - and anyway, it was a good line!  And guesting on percussion was a fella called OC Thomas, by the way.

Friday, August 19, 2022

Walter Trout - Ride

Tom-toms roll, a harmonica moans, and a tense, reined-in guitar riff arrives, beefed up by B3 organ.  The opening track ‘Ghosts’ has barely started, and already Walter Trout and his gang have conjured up an ominous, storm-clouds-approaching mood.  Add in an intriguing lyric about the power of memory, delivered with an air of anxiety by old Walt, and a splintering, pained guitar solo, and you’ve got a pretty lip-smacking appetiser.
It's scarcely a surprise that Trout can lay down the gauntlet with an opener this good.  Ride is his thirtieth solo album, fer cryin’ out loud, and his previous effort Ordinary Madness showed him in
Walter Trout having a ball on a photo-shoot
Pic by Alex Solca
top form.  And having come out of the blocks strong, Trout still manages to kick things up a notch or three, with ‘Ride’ itself.  Yep, there are tongue-in-cheek harp blasts (can you play harmonica with your tongue in your cheek?) mimicking a train whistle, and an impatiently clacking railroad rhythm.  But any sense of cliché is overwhelmed by the rollicking delivery, equal parts Allmans and Bob Seger.  The music is bright and engaging, but the evocative lyric about the train that rattled past his childhood home is darker, reflecting on the promise of escape it offered from a violent step-father.  There’s a cracking Trout solo too, the arrangement slipping and sliding neatly around it.
That Bob Seger echo is a handy reference point.  Just as there were more sides to Seger’s songwriting than his rock’n’roll core, so Trout isn’t restricted to the blues-rocking guitar honcho persona that many would attach to him.  Sure, ‘Waiting For the Dawn’ may be a classic slow blues, but the sense of night fears and isolation goes beyond his “lover being gone”, and Trout’s playing is similarly imaginative, bordering on jazzy at times with its precision, changes of pace, and pure tone.  And ‘Follow You  Back Home’ is a slowie of a different hue, a shimmering ballad with a lovely melody, carried more by Teddy Andreadis’ piano than any Trout guitar work, until he embarks on some subtle soloing.
‘The Fertile Soil’ takes a different tack altogether, with a West Coast vibe, a sweeter vocal embellished with harmonies, plus gentler harp from the wonderfully nicknamed ‘Zig Zag’ Andreadis to go with his tinkling piano and swirls of organ, and Trout’s acoustic guitar.  All in all it makes for an interesting diversion from the blues mainstream.  And the closing ‘Destiny’ is a melting love song recalling Walter’s first encounter with wife Marie, with lyrical guitar lines over chocolate box keys.
But there’s plenty good rockin’ tonight too, in different flavours.  There’s the strutting rhythm of ‘High Is Low’, with Trout singing in rasping, agitated fashion about “living in a time when forgiveness hurts our pride”, matched by a squealing, urgent solo.  There’s the brooding, gutsy ‘Better Days Ahead’, spattered with discordant, near-wailing guitar work to go with an even more angsty vocal.  There’s ‘Hey Mama’, opening with tense, ringing guitar chords, before easing off over more rolling toms as it creates a sense of dynamics to go with another meditation on Trout’s troubled childhood.  It’s a simple but potent song, that gets its hooks into you and won’t let go.  And by way of outright rockin’n’rollin’ there’s the straight-up, horn-infused Chuck Berry-ism of ‘Leave It All Behind’, doubling up on the fun quotient with some rapped out lyrics and a good-time guitar solo.
Trout delivers the goods on guitar with a deal of panache at times.  But it’s also striking that his distinctive voice is by no means one-dimensional, as he flexes it to match the needs of particular songs.  Oh yeah, and the dovetailing contribution of ivory-rippler and harp-tootler Andreadis isn’t to be sniffed at either.  All said and done, Ride demonstrates that at 70 years old, Walter Trout’s musical mojo is still strong, baby.
 
Ride
 is released by Provogue Records on 19 August.

Thursday, August 18, 2022

Shemekia Copeland - Done Come Too Far

I won’t lie.  There are times when I find listening to Shemekia Copeland hard work.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m firmly in her camp when it comes to the social issues highlighted in many of her songs – with the input of her manager and lyricist John Hahn.  But sometimes it can all seem a bit earnest, her delivery a bit declamatory.  And she also has an occasional fondness for vocal vibrato that I don’t share.  But for all that, Shemekia Copeland is still an artist who demands attention.
Shemekia Copeland brings some sunshine with her smile
Pic by Victoria Smith
There are several songs here that continue her focus on civil rights and the black American experience.  The opening ‘Too Far To Be Gone’ rides in on a heavy, insistent riff, while Copeland references inspirations such as Rosetta Parks in a forceful, positive vocal that speaks of continuing unity and resolve.  There’s a strong bridge, and Sonny Landreth contributes some trademark slide guitar.  Later, the title track ‘Done Come Too Far’ shares a similar tag line, but is a more sombre affair.  Here the focus is less on inspirations of the past than the need for grim determination in the face of continuing challenges, over solemnly steely, twanging guitar and with added resonance from the brooding voice of Cedric Burnside.
Meanwhile ‘The Talk’ is a powerful illustration of those challenges, a dramatic monologue in which a mother tutors her son in how to cope with life-threatening provocation, summed up in the lines “As sure as you’re black, there’s a target on your back”.  Copeland’s vocal is emotive, although for me she doesn’t need to lean on a shaking, warbling vibrato to convey the emotion.  As compensation though, there’s some excellent, edgy guitar work from Will Kimbrough – not one of the North Mississippi Kimbrough clan – who also co-writes most of the material with Hahn.  ‘Gullah Geechee’ is a more stripped back tune, all handclaps, moaned backing vocals, and African gourd banjo as it adds a historical perspective by harking back to earlier experiences of slavery.
Other serious subjects get an airing in the form of ‘Why Why Why’, a soulful but rootsy ballad expressing the confusion of a victim of infidelity, with excellent weeping slide from Kimbrough.  ‘The Dolls Are Sleeping’ is a slice of dark storytelling about child abuse, put over by little more than Copeland’s voice and acoustic guitar from Oliver Wood.  But the best song in this vein is perhaps ‘Pink Turns To Red’, a brisk and coherent track that tackles the subject of mass shootings with urgency, strong imagery, and more quality slide colourings from Kimbrough.
This is all weighty stuff, and Copeland and her team evidently recognise the need for a spoonful of sugar to help it go down.  So ‘Fried Catfish And Bibles’ is three minutes of zydeco-dressed fun, and ‘Fell In Love With A Honky’ is a comical salute to interracial relationships that’s a rattling country tune right down to its fiddle and pedal steel guitar.  ‘Dumb It Down’, an eye-rolling pop at social media influencers, is lightly funky and relaxed but its bright chorus sounds derivative, and there ain’t much else to grab the attention beyond some low-key burbling sax.
The album closes strongly though, with ‘Nobody But You’, a song by her bluesman father Johnny.  It’s a stop-time riffing, bump’n’grinding blues delivered with woozily behind-the-beat drums from Pete Abbott, lolloping bass from Lex Price, and stinging guitar from Kimbrough.  Oh yeah, and Copeland confidently explores all the vocal angles the song has to offer.
Done Come Too Far is a tough listen at times, from a lyrical perspective.  But Copeland and Hahn deserve credit for tackling big issues.  And the album also works musically, thanks to Will Kimbrough’s songwriting and production.  All in all, Done Come Too Far is another impressive outing from one of the most significant contemporary blues artists out there.
 
Done Come Too Far
 is released by Alligator Records on 19 August.

Thursday, August 11, 2022

Bernie Marsden - Trios

And so we come to the third album in Bernie Marsden’s Inspirations series.  Following the Kings and Chess albums, Trios is something of a leap in style, as Bernie pays tribute to a bundle of “power trios” who might reasonably be filed under the heading of blues-rock.  The outfits in question are all big names, and though several of the titles are familiar, the selection isn’t stuffed with signature songs.
For my money Bernie feels more at home on this collection of (largely) down’n’dirty material than on the previous two albums, right from the fuzzed-up entry of the heavy rockin’ ‘Black Cat Moan’.  
What have you got in the case, Bernie?
Pic by Alan Bambrough
With the late Jimmy Copley crunching away on drums, this is a genuine power trio sound given to a song which, like the similarly weighty ‘Going Down’, came from the pen of Memphis maven Don Nix.
There’s similar heft to the Mountain track ‘Never In My Life’, which hoves into view with a spiral staircase of a riff, some wailing, quivering guitar breaks, and an unusually gutsy Marsden vocal.  A new one on me, it registers because of the qualities mentioned above, but the melody and lyrics are pretty humdrum.  Rick Derringer’s ‘Rock And Roll Hoochie Koo’ is a more familiar tune, and a stronger one, which Bernie and co lay into like a punch bag, Bernie slipping in some harmonised guitar here and there on the riff for variety, and unleashing a blizzard of notes during his solo.  But this is still one of the moments that leaves me wondering, what’s the point?  Edgar Winter reprised the song on his recent Brother Johnny tribute album, and I ask myself how much value there really is in Bernie putting his take out there.
The following ‘Same Old Story’ is even more of a rock’n’roller.  A deep-ish Rory Gallagher cut, it still kicks like a mule, a driving affair with David Levy’s bass pumping away in fine style.   And Marsden demonstrates a real affinity with the Gallagher sound, cracking out three very Rory-like solos in the course of four minutes, right down to the piercing tone, and even having a bash at a signature Rory “sing-along-a-Strat” passage for good measure.  One might ask if this degree of imitation has any real value beyond paying tribute, but curiously I’d suggest that here it draws attention to Rory’s singular musical nature.
In more subdued mode, Peter Green’s slowish ‘Driftin’ Blues’ is a subtler affair, with a halting riff over simple drums and bass, and Marsden delivering an exquisite solo with plenty of dynamics, and a gritty vocal that also comes over with feeling.  Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Driftin’’ is less successful though.  Bernie’s guitar work is plenty interesting, and if he doesn’t attempt to replicate Jimi’s sound he still manages to suggest his hazy tone.  But unfortunately Bernie can’t match Jimi’s peculiarly dreamy vocal.
Contrastingly, his singing stands up very well in comparison with Jimmy Dewar on Robin Trower’s ‘Too Rolling Stoned', which comes over with lots of drive and guts, right from the thrumming bass and wah-wah guitar of its intro to its edgy, wiry, slowed down coda.  And ‘Outside Woman Blues’ is another success, capturing the spirit of Cream without feeling slavish, with bouts of guitar tone suggestive of Randy Bachman on ‘American Woman’.
They get kinda funky once, on the James Gang’s aptly titled ‘Funk #49’, a familiar enough tune but one that still arrives like an old friend one doesn’t see enough of, with Jimmy Copley chucking in some powerfully funky, kit-rolling drum sallies, while Bernie’s occasionally double-tracked vocals are a tad cleaner than Joe Walsh’s distinctive voice.
I could live without ‘Spanish Castle Magic’, never one of my go-to Hendrix songs, and to close there’s a fun but corny take on Cozy Powell’s ‘Na Na Na’.  But on the whole Trios hangs together pretty well, considering its origins in the work of diverse hands.  I’m still not sure it adds much to the sum of rockin’ knowledge, but it’s enjoyable all the same.  And now for some originals please, Mr Marsden!
 
Trios
 is out now on Conquest Music, and can be ordered here.

Monday, August 8, 2022

Mickey Jupp - Up Snakes, Down Ladders

The story goes that this collection of 16 tracks hasn’t so much been released as wrestled from the reluctant mitts of so-called pub rocker Mickey Jupp for public consumption.  Jupp, the fella who wrote ‘Down At The Doctors’ for Dr Feelgood, has been living at arm’s length from the music biz for 40 years, in the wonderfully named Cumbrian hamlet of Boot.  But that hasn’t stopped him writing songs – it just required some arm-twisting on the part of Conquest Music label boss Alan Bambrough for this selection to see the light of day.
Fun can come in different shapes, weights and measures, and this little box of delights consists
Mickey Jupp takes a well-earned break from recording
Pic by Alan Bambrough
of a light and breezy, shuffling and two-stepping, short and sweet smorgasbord of Nick Lowe-ish rock’n’roll, blues and country.  The whole shebang was written, performed and produced by Jupp himself, closeted away in Boot, and sounds as relaxed as can be from start to finish.
The opening track, ‘I’d Love To Boogie’, is a shakin’n’rattling bit of jump blues/rockabilly, in which the hero can see a cutie standing there across the room, but can’t get her on the dance floor because the bar is propping him up.  Amphetamine-fuelled Feelgood R'n'B it’s not, but it’s still an irresistible turn from a worldly-wise, seasoned songsmith.  And it’s funny, too.
Jupp’s piano playing is to the fore there, and on many of the tracks that follow, chiming away on the simple but effective aching country of ‘Why Don’t You Don’t’, supplemented by injections of accordion; rinky-dink on the strolling ‘Learning To Swim’ another “too much drinking” song with a neat lyrical twist; leading on the stop-time riff of the perhaps over-subtle ‘Bad News Can Travel Slow’, notwithstanding its cleverly phrased title line; and trilling away on the Delbert McClinton-like rock’n’roll of the brief but entertaining ‘I Beg Your Pardon? (You Heard)’.
A few of these tunes, in fact, aren’t so much short and sweet as concise to the point of being abrupt.  The snappy ‘Get Hot’, given a semi-zydeco vibe by some shots of accordion, and infused with typically spot-on harmonies, certainly doesn’t outstay its welcome.  And the yearning but witty ‘Lonely Boy’, which feels like it could do with a touch more muscle despite stirrings of electric guitar, comes to a sudden and less than dramatic conclusion.
Over the piece Up Snakes, Down Ladders may not quite match the musical sophistication of Geraint Watkins’ similarly rootsy 2019 album Rush Of Blood.  But Jupp still has the savvy to pull off the trick of making the laid back title track sound both spare and lush at the same time.  And the same is true on the vaguely Latin-feeling ‘Man In The Mirror’, a reflective (duh) tune with an intriguing lyric about loneliness, and a subtle mix of acoustic guitar, piano, and whispers of organ.
Another plus is that just about every song is perked up by some kind of lyrical conceit.  ‘Like You Don’t Love Him’ is the story of a properly smitten fella observing the object of his affections in a shallow relationship with another guy, and wishing it was him, set to a great melody, with warm, smoochy piano chords and flutters of organ.  ‘I Threw Myself At You (And Missed)’, meanwhile, is a great tagline for a languid bit of country fit for a place on the soundtrack to some offbeat Coen Brothers movie.  And ‘The Ballad Of Tutford Darnell’ is a nudge-and-a-wink, if slightly corny, bit of loping autobiography.
‘The Blues Ain’t What It Used To Be’, muses Jupp, on a nifty, clip-clopping country-meets-blues eulogy for simpler times.  But Up Snakes, Down Ladders is roots music that displays timeless qualities – sharp songs, great musical feel, and heart.

Up Snakes, Down Ladders is out now on Conquest Music, and can be ordered here.

Saturday, August 6, 2022

Gimme 5 - The Starlite Campbell Band take us on a musical odyssey

As their recently released album Starlite Campbell Band Live! demonstrates, Suzy Starlite and Simon Campbell can do a classic British rock sound with the best of 'em.  But these musical nomads, currently living in Portugal, have interests and inspirations that range far and wide.  So let's join their Gimme 5 magical mystery tour as they share 5 songs that have clicked with them
lately, 5 key influences, and 5 guests - well, six, because they cheated - who they'd love to invite to a long lunch.  Start the engines, Suzy and Simon!

Gimme 5 songs, old or new, that have been on your radar recently.

The Same by The Smile:  Simon has loved and devotedly followed Radiohead ever since he heard ‘Creep’. We think they are the most important band around right now as they continue to push musical boundaries and really love the collaboration with Nigel Godrich as a producer. The
The Starlite Campbell Band perform a rock'n'roll mind-meld!
Pic by Dario Leonetti

Smile is the latest side project from Messrs Yorke and Greenwood from the band and we saw them live early in July in Lisbon. It was a masterclass in modern rock music, the star of the show being the drummer Tom Skinner. But, it's not just the music. Yorke’s lyrics are always poignant but this particular track really speaks the language of 2022.

A Minha Menina by Os Mutantes:  “Suzy is always off-piste with her music tastes and since being in Portugal has been investigating the music of our new adopted home. Os Mutantes are Brazilian, but of course sing in Portuguese, albeit the Brazilian version. The album was released in 1968 and feels very much a part of the psychedelic scene, but with a wonderful Latin twist and fabulous fuzz guitar.

Flowers of Neptune 6 by The Flaming Lips:  Simon saw the Flaming Lips at Glastonbury a few years ago and became aware of them through the album Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots and later when Wayne Coyne featured as guest vocalist with The Chemical Brothers’ ‘Golden Path’. Flowers of Neptune 6 is from the album American Head which is totally wonderful, and we love Coyne’s broken vocal and childlike lyrics, both of which convey insightful messages. The production is wonderful, in parts Beatle-esque but still rooted in their chaotic Oklahoma sound. He likes dinosaurs and spaceships and that's good enough for us.

That's The Way It Is (live version) by Daniel Lanois & Heavy Sun:  We talk more about Lanois later, but this particular track was written for the Amazon video game Red Dead Redemption 2 and is just outstanding. We love the general vibe, guitar and vocal sensitivity of the Hammond, the falsetto vocal - basically everything.

I Believe In You by Talk Talk:  Talk Talk always give waves of ‘80s nostalgia with their big hits ‘Life's What You Make It’ and ‘Living in Another World’.  But to us, its the album Spirit of Eden that really defines the band. It was engineered by our good friend Phill Brown who has worked with an amazing array of artists from Led Zeppelin to Bob Marley. Phill’s excellent book Are We
Still Rolling
? details the torturous recording process plus a plethora of fabulous anecdotes from his life as a premier league studio hound. The atmosphere, instrumentation and vocals on this track are totally spellbinding.

Gimme 5 artists or bands who have had a big influence on your work.

Daniel Lanois:  “We fell in love with Lanois through his production of Bob Dylan's masterpiece Oh Mercy and quickly found the other records in the trilogy: Yellow Moon (Neville Brothers) and his first solo album Acadie. All three were recorded in New Orleans using fabulous local musicians plus the wonderful talents of our friend Malcolm Burn along with Mark Howard and Brian Eno, plus Larry Mullen Jr and Adam Clayton of U2. Over the years we have followed him
Bowie - A shape-shifting musical influence
with a passion, and the rockumentary ‘Here Is What Is’ is a great favourite of ours. Lanois has produced some monster albums, working with a stellar array of artists from U2 to Robbie Robertson, Peter Gabriel to Sinéad O'Connor, but it's his collaboration with Willie Nelson and Emmylou Harris that really floats our boat. He works with Brian Blade, who along with Vinnie Colaiuta is one of our favourite drummers. The fact that he is a songwriter, vocalist, guitarist, producer and engineer provides a deep connection with Simon who plays our vinyl copies of Acadie and Oh Mercy before every session he records  - just to set the standard. ‘Nuff said.

Nigel Godrich:  “Godrich is Radiohead’s producer and works also on Tom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood's side projects. We just love his production sensibilities making complex music very accessible and appears to be very much a part of the creative process. But he is much more than just Radiohead. The From the Basement series of live performances is totally amazing, taking its inspiration and vibe from The Old Grey Whistle Test. Outstanding."

Jimmy Page:  Simon says, I was born on January 9th, the same date, but not the same year as Page, and feel a real connection with his playing and production. He is a very ‘British’ guitar player, a bit sloppy - not as clean and refined as some of his American counterparts. Zeppelin III was my first introduction after an older boy at school who didn’t care for the music gave it to me. Of course, I voraciously consumed all the albums and using a reel-to-reel tape machine to slow them down, learned every track. Houses of the Holy and Zeppelin I have remained my favourites and are on regular rotation in our studio. It was these that made me want to learn how to write, arrange and produce records. To this day his slightly crunchy guitar sound always sounds great to me and made me dislike the muddy overdriven sounds of many ‘modern’ guitar players. Take a listen to our new album Starlite Campbell Band Live! and youll see what I mean.

David Bowie:  Suzy says, “Who can’t love his style, avant-garde thinking, intelligence, and his constant pushing of musical boundaries. Like most artists, he was of course a musical magpie picking up musical ideas from the likes of Scott Walker and Jacques Brel. He also surrounded himself with great musicians, primarily guitarists such as Ronson, Fripp, Alomar, Slick, Belew, Rogers and Gabrels plus of course legendary producers Eno and Visconti. My all-time favourite ‘Bowie’ rhythm section is the combination of George Murray and Dennis Davis. Simon and I cried when we first heard ‘Where Are We Now’ as it was clear - to us - he was dying.

Scott Walker:  “This enigmatic, mysterious, troublesome genius has been so influential to vast swathes of modern music. He always lurks in the British psyche with his magnificent early Walker Brothers hits, but it's his solo material that really strikes home. The later material can be a very tricky listen but totally worth it. 

Music loving movie man Quentin Tarantino celebrates lunch invite
Gimme 5 guests you’d love to invite to your ideal long lunch.

"Of course, as a couple, we would always invite six as five is awkward so we popped in an extra chair at the table."

David Byrne:  “Byrne is of the most intelligent musicians out there and sure would be an engaging guest adding some zing to this fabulous group of people. His fabulous book How Music Works is on its second read in the Starlite Campbell house and we never tire of the groundbreaking Stop Making Sense, critically acclaimed as one of the greatest rock movies ever made.

Tom Yorke:  “This activist, eclectic musician and visual artist would complement the other guests around the table. Witty, articulate and a very unique way of looking at the world.

Annie Leibovitz:  “What can you say about this legendary photographer? Is it the picture she took of Ono and Lennon five hours before he was tragically murdered, or the controversy that surrounds her shots of Queen Elizabeth II, Miley Cyrus and LeBron James? In any event, we think she would make a fascinating addition to the cocktail of guests.

Quentin Tarantino:  “Our favourite music director and lover of music. All his movies have magnificent eclectic soundtracks and we particularly love Urge Overkill’s version of ‘Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon’, Chuck Berry’s ‘You Never Can Tell’ and The Statler Brothers' version of ‘Flowers On The Wall’. Were sure we would be a riveting guest.

Laurie Anderson:  “Is one of the most renowned and daring creative pioneers and is bound to really make a fabulous guest. Visual artist, composer, poet, photographer, filmmaker, electronics whiz, vocalist and instrumentalist.

Pedro Abrunhosa:  “We met Pedro at his studio in Porto last year not knowing he was one of Portugal's biggest artists. We really hit it off and a few weeks ago we went to stay with him. He again is a fabulous singer, songwriter, poet, philosopher, musician and composer. He founded Porto’s jazz school and has been immensely influential in the modern music culture of Portugal.  He is well read and has tremendous gravitas. The man has his own library - that says it all. [
Not being remotely familiar with Pedro Abrunhosa myself, I've dug out his track 'Se Eu Fosse Um Dia O tea Olhar' by way of introduction.  Nice piano!]

Just one track – pick one of your tracks that you’d share with a new listener to introduce your music.

“We’d go for the track ‘Lay It Out On Me’, from our album The Language Of Curiosity.  We wrote and recorded the drums, bass and guitar whilst we were living in Germany. The grand piano was tracked at Rockfield Studios in Monmouth, Wales when we were in the UK on tour, two weeks before the first lockdown. Rockfield is famous for being the world’s first residential recording studio and also where Queen recorded Bohemian Rhapsody’, and many other monster bands have worked there including Black Sabbath, Oasis, Robert Plant et al.  For our session, Simon asked Jonny Henderson to play three versions of the song - busy, medium and sparse. We chose the sparse version which gives the track a very desolate and intimate feel. Although principally a love song, the lyric has a sense of hopelessness and brokenness and the very melodic and clean guitar adds to the atmosphere. ‘Lay It Out On Me’ has space, a naked vulnerability and we think that it's one of the best recordings we have made, and defines much that the Starlite Campbell Band were in 2021.

_

Lay It Out On Me - Starlite/Campbell 2021

I wrote you letters, parchment to hold
You brought suspicion, or so I am told
Love is a picture, to paint and to see
Lay it out on me
 
Walk in the forest, there’s nothing to fear
I am so right, when you are so near
Love is an anger, a sign, a decree
Lay it out on me
 
Walk through the water, just in and not on
Swim in the ocean, bask in the sun
I gave you my all, your love is my plea
Lay it out on me

Starlite Campbell Band Live! is out now on Supertone Records, and can be ordered here.

Wednesday, August 3, 2022

When Rivers Meet - Flying Free Tour Live

Right down to its rather prosaic title, Flying Free Tour Live comes over like a rough and ready, off the cuff, unvarnished document of When Rivers Meet in performance.  Sonically it's pretty raw, sounding too ambient at times, a bit unbalanced at others.  It also feels very much “in the moment”, right down to Grace Bond having an unfortunately timed fit of the giggles during the sensitive acoustic number ‘Don’t Tell Me Goodbye’.  So for those who caught them on this tour it will doubtless be a great memento.  But how does it sound to someone, like me, who wasn’t able to make any of these shows?
Heads down, no nonsense, not quite mindless boogie
Pic by Paul May
Well, there’s no denying the visceral thrill of the opening ‘Did I Break The Law’, as the tension built by the churning guitar, the whomping, metronomic kick drum, and low-pitched verse, is met by a whooping crowd.  Then with a shout of “Here we go!” Grace Bond braces all concerned for her hollered, wordless chorus.  It’s one of their best songs, and makes for an electric opening.
The following ‘Walking On The Wire’ is less of an out and out belter, but still captures some of the key elements of their repertoire, with a riff that could be out of Jimmy Page’s ‘Slide Guitar 101’ course, aided and abetted by pounding drums, and embellished by intriguing slide mandolin breaks and a chant-along chorus.  There’s more of this kinda thing on the likes of ‘Free Man’, which is all about the grinding slide riff, and the ‘Nobody’s Fault But Mine’ stylings of ‘Lost & Found’, with its stop-time riffing and the urgent vocal from Grace Bond on the chorus, while Roger Inniss emulates the elastic bass of Adam Bowers from the Saving Grace studio version.  Meanwhile the slide grind of ‘Innocence Of Youth’ suggests Aaron Bond has listened to ‘In My Time Of Dying’ more than a few times, and if it feels a bit stop-start and disjointed that doesn’t stop the crowd getting all riled up by it.
But if this is their “go to” foundational style, it’s some of their other leanings that give them satisfying range.  There’s a disarming, retro feel to the excellent harmonies on ‘My Babe Says That He Loves Me’.  The aforementioned ‘Don’t Tell Me Goodbye’ is Americana, via the Moptops’ ‘Don’t Let Me Down’ perhaps, simple but delivered with feeling and more convincing harmonies, and inspires some wistful singing along.  But ‘Bury My Body’ is even better, a seriously good song in a folkie vein – notwithstanding the ill-advised wobbly whistling on the intro – that’s one of the absolute highlights on offer.  Drummer James Fox switches instruments to provide delicate keyboard backing on ‘Tomorrow’, which is perhaps less subtle than on the studio version.  The crowd lap it up though, with at least one fella whooping his appreciation – though if I’d been there “in the moment” I might have been thinking “STFU, dude”.  Bah, humbug.
Down the stretch they could be stronger.  ‘Kissing The Sky’ starts off hinting at funk with its twanging bass, then jolts along in stop-start fashion, encompassing a tasty slice of slide mandolin – or is it violin?  ‘Want Your Love’ is also a bit thin, in spite of the punkish edge to the guitar intro and Grace Bond’s “blues’n’twos” fiddle break.  But I reckon different song choices would have landed some stronger punches.
Still, while Dylan and Hendrix might well give each other knowing looks over the riff to ‘Testify’, the moaning, Yardbirds-like backing vocals are still a nice twist, and Grace Bond’s vocal is satisfyingly explosive to bring down the curtain.
When Rivers Meet have certainly flown free over the last couple of years, winning fans and garnering awards.  But I do start to wonder: is that bare-bones Zep sound they lean on enough to let them soar higher; or do they need to strengthen their musical wings to avoid falling to earth?  Meantime, Flying Free Tour Live is an enjoyable souvenir of where they are right now – and Grace Bond’s voice continues to be something to behold.
 
Flying Free Tour Live
 is out now on One Road Records, and can be ordered here.