The Twelve Days of Bowie

The Twelve Days of Bowie

This coming 8^th January would’ve been David Bowie’s 70^th Birthday. So, let’s shake the seasonal cobwebs away with a dubiously seasonally linked ‘Twelve Days of Bowie’ call to action. Starting Wednesday 28^th December finishing on the 8^th January post your twelve most favourite Bowie songs and tag ‘30Day David Bowie Song Challenge’ and #12DOB so others can find your posts. 28^th – 5^th can be a bubbling under selection, some of your faves in no particular order. 6^th -8^th post your 3,2,1 so the great man’s birthday itself will find the internet chocca with Bowie’s finest. Post video links if you wish, but say a little as to what the song means to you or why it’s such a favourite. Tell your Bowie loving friends, spread the word!

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Martha Wainwright – ‘Goodnight City’ a review

This is Martha Wainwright’s fourth album of original songs since and including her 2005 eponymous debut, and until now her career highlight has arguably been 2009’s album of Edith Piaf songs. As a fan since her early releases I’ve always longed for an album that carried the quality of the early EP’s ‘Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole’ title track. And at long last here it is. Made with her long-time producer, collaborator, husband and father of her children, Brad Alberta, her powerful voice is given free rein to pour from these songs in the fluid, languid way that more often than not has seemed at an arm’s length away.

Opener ‘Around The Bend’ is an end of year mixtape cert, an organic, high on drama and melody with a bitter sweet lyric killer of a song. There’s a tip of the hat to Patti Smith, but it stamps Martha Wainwrights personality as the indisputable core of this album, a point that is driven home with ‘Franci’, a mother’s love song to her child. This kind of song can easily be mawkish without effort but this song avoids these pitfalls, mainly as it is such a wonderful tune and lyrically avoids becoming to sugary, despite it repeated refrain ‘Everything about you is wonderful’.

‘Traveller’ is song about a friend who passed way from cancer, bandmate Thomas Bartlett’s brother and in particular how dead people stay with us after they’ve gone. It’s touching and fragile, but powerful and understated too. It’s a fine piece of crafted songwriting and carries the line ‘And you won the race and you were furthest from last’ without making you cringe. ‘Look Into My Eyes’ is a family composition with Martha’s aunt Anna McGarrigle and cousin Lily, it floats over a trickling synth hook and a French refrain, with jazz infused piano and saxophone. The album is both contemporary in that it sounds fresh but timeless in that it could have been written and recorded and any time in the last forty years or so, something that only the best music can claim to pull off. ‘Before The Children Came Along’ is an autobiographical love song about Martha and husband Brad. Vocally it is supreme, it encompasses jazz, folk, art rock leanings and vocal gymnastics without a sideways glance and just as you wait to see where it takes you next ‘Window’ returns us to Martha’s children, this time eldest son Archangelo, a song written in response to his jealousy at Martha’s brother Rufus’ song about his younger sibling, ‘Francis’. The song moves around on a winding uncertain path but is infused with focus and purpose.

‘Piano Music’ is a poem by author and poet Michael Ondaatje (‘The English Patient’) set to music by co-producer Bartlett. It’s faintly Brechtian and sparse, a brief interlude and a thing of heavy beauty. ‘Alexandria’ follows, written by Beth Orton, I’d love to say it’s subject matter was the broken haven in ‘The Walking Dead’ but I‘d be making that up, so I won’t. ‘So Down’ is a guitar, bass, drum laden melodramatic rock song, with a Bowieesque sax gluing everything together. It’s a change of feeling and style for the album, but the voice remains strong and impressive, and the track is somehow another album highlight, a powerful, torrent of song, that threaten to burst the banks yet never quite reaches a level of panic required to push it over the edge.

‘One Of Us’ starts with piano and powerful crystal voice, it is classic songsmith balladry in the vein of ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ and it has a drop dead spot on vocal. ‘Take the Reins’ is modern pop, over minimal beats, it has the ghostly feel of a latter-day Radiohead classic, and brings something completely different to the album, whilst meeting the quality set by all that’s preceded it. ‘Francis’ is the Rufus penned song for Martha’s youngest. It has Rufus’ stylings all over it, so much so you can almost hear him vocalising it. There is also a bonus track in some territories and it’s wonderful. A slow, smoky orchestral broody song, ‘Somehow’ is quite different in mood from much of the main album, but I wish it was on my UK CD, because it is splendid.

And there it is, the one of the albums of the year that I’ve always wanted Martha Wainwright to put out is finally here. There are few records this year to touch this, and with this she truly steps out of Rufus’ shadow and becomes the Wainwright sibling to be bettered. A great collection.

9/10

‘Lazarus' – Original Cast Recording (including the Most Recent Studio Recordings from David Bowie)

So here I sit on a Sunday, nearly 48 hours after my first chance to listen to what many are billing as the last new David Bowie studio recordings have been available for me to play from CD, and I still haven’t been able to listen. I mean, if I listen to them will I ever get to hear anything new and unheard from the man ever again? Maybe not, but then again maybe yes. We know there is Bowie stuff in the vaults, we know other songs were recorded for ‘Blackstar’, and a read of a Danny McCaslin interview in the current music monthlies confirm that there is at least one more mixed and mastered complete track that has not been swept up in this release and also that these tracks whilst recorded during the ‘Blackstar’ sessions with the same band were not necessarily the last ones recorded, hence I’m referring to them here as the Most Recent Studio Recordings from David Bowie as the packaging itself does, not the final or last etc. So, with that in mind I’m ready to listen. Bowie unleashed these three songs into the world via ‘Lazarus’ the musical first so that’s how I’m going to hear them first, cast recordings then onto Bowie’s ‘Blackstar’ band recordings.

 

‘No Plan’ at track six is the first to appear, sung by Sophia Anne Caruso. It sounds like a show tune, almost Disney Princess like, a song of aspiration for peace and calm outside of the realities of the world, to soothe and ease. ‘Killing A Little Time’ (tr.12) sung by Michael C. Hall is more recognisable as a song from the pen of Bowie, there’s anger and desire to be alone but in a far different way from ‘No Plan’. People will analyse the lyrics as more death song from Bowie, but remember these were written for ‘Lazarus’ the musical, purpose written to expand on the story being told, so the lines ‘I've got a handful of songs to sing, To sting your soul, To fuck you over’ might not be self-referencing, or maybe they’re knowingly double edged? ‘When I Met You’ (tr.18) is delivered by Hall again with Krystina Alabado, it displays plenty of Bowie-esque rock song construction traits and an intertwining lyric of the effect of one person on another in a life changing way. The three tracks here in Original Cast form have certainly got me wanting to hear the Bowie versions even more and stand up us great music in their own right.

The Bowie disc kicks off with ‘Lazarus’ itself, the only ‘Blackstar’ track that appears in the musical, so we’re already familiar with it and its creepy, sad and humbling video. The ‘By the time I got to New York, I was living like a king…’ line is already up there with some of my favourite Bowie moments, lyrically, aurally and visually. This is the same album version, a fantastic song and prepares the way after listening to the Cast Recordings for the Bowie ‘Blackstar’ band versions of the three songs above that follow in exactly the same order.  ‘Lazarus’ grinds to halt in its familiar way and ‘No Plan’ staggers in, here it’s shorn of its show tune stylings and sounds like it could’ve fitted into ‘Blackstar’ seamlessly, and more crushingly really sound like a message from beyond the grave from Bowie (I hate to draw that picture, it sounds too easy to say that, but that’s what it sounds like). How could lines like ‘Here, there's no music here, I'm lost in streams of sound, Here, am I nowhere now? No plan’ sound like anything else? A sister track to ‘Where Are We Now?’ though fuller and more fleshed out, after one listen its effect on me is more emotional than anything from ‘Blackstar’ on first listen, but then Bowie was still alive when I first played that album. ‘Killing A Little Time’ has already been written about as a nod to Bowie’s past (Ziggy type chiming guitar refrains etc.) and whilst that is there it’s also infused with the restless energy and spirit that informed ‘Blackstar’ to its roots. It’s far rockier than anything from that album, much more in line with the latter parts of ‘The Next Day’ album, but for me I would still have loved it to have been sequenced into ‘Blackstar’, it would definitely have complemented the album rather than jarred against it, perhaps at track 4 following ‘Lazarus’? Then ‘When I Met You’, (for now?) the last new Bowie song we may get to hear. Not cast here as a semi-duet, Bowie wrestles the vocal counterparts against his own deep in the mix backing vocals, it’s hard to see where this could have fit into ‘Blackstar’ though I’d still have liked it to form a part of a 10-track album. It’s thrilling, a little clunky, disordered, punky, untidy and all the more perfect for it. It’s a great affirmation that Bowie was creatively right back on it in his final years which make it all the sadder as we’d all’ve liked to see what might have happened next.

So, this final EP of four Bowie songs finishes, it is worthy of being a final offering, it’s strong and there’s no let up of the quality of the more recent Bowie recordings. I think ‘Blackstar’ would have been strengthened with the inclusion of these tracks, though perhaps made slightly more imperfect, but then that’s the charm of these songs by definition. They are great, but they can’t be perfect, because a full stop to Bowies life, career, music and creativity is hard to accept as perfect or faultless through the negative aspects of what those very words imply. But if you’ve enjoyed latter-day Bowie or simply clever, intuitive, finely crafted modern day alternative rock then you’ll love these songs. 

Pixies - 'Head Carrier' - a review

Thirty years since they formed, the Pixies release their sixth album proper, the second since reforming in 2004 and the first since then recorded as an album (2014’s ‘Indie Cindy’ was a collection of EP’s). Despite the stop and slow start nature of their career trajectory there is still a flow to their recordings, not least visibly as British designer Vaughan Oliver heads the design of their releases still. And there is a flow in the music too.

Still nurturing the bass heavy beats and highly influential style of indie rock that they did all those years ago, ‘Head Carrier’ opens with its title track which could have been lifted from almost any point of their recording life. Lyrically not as dense as earlier songs this still manages to carry off being a song about a guy who is beheaded by a three headed monster but who then carries his head six miles down to the river before dying. ‘Classic Masher’ attempts to be just that, it’s a foot stomper with a much simpler lyric and though original bassist Kim Deal has departed, replacement Paz Lenchantin reproduces her style and backing vocal ability easily (the Pixies only do female bassists with ebullient childlike backing vocals). ‘Baal’s Back’ is much more screamy Pixies, and to me is all the better for it. The Pixies have always stood out more when at their most challenging and noisy, but this soon gives way to the more ordered ‘Might As Well Be Gone’, promising a classic Pixies quiet loud quiet ploy however it stays quiet (well melodic anyway) even as the chorus kicks in. ‘Oona’ channels its inner ‘Monkey Gone to Heaven’ vibe carrying it off very nicely and underlines the intent of the band to try and outperform their own best, 1989’s ‘Doolittle’. They don’t carry it off it has to be said, but this collection sits there at least with the two albums that followed ‘Doolittle’ as the original incarnation never really managed to surpass that albums promise. ‘Talent’ is again more formula Pixies, it’s OK but it’s not standout.

The albums second half (side two?) kicks off with ‘Tenement Song’ and is the most mildly paced bit of music here so far. Like many of the songs so far it’s a piece of music about music, again, it’s not bad, but it doesn’t smell of classic either. And so it is with ‘Bel Esprit’. ‘All I Think About Now’ is the song that most steals from the band past here, which says something as its sung by the bands newest member and is basically a thank you letter to founding member Kim Deal. It’s a lovely tribute, and an album highlight. As is ‘Um Chagga Lagga’ the albums lead single. When I first heard this back in July I was little (shrug of the shoulders’ ‘OK…?’, but this track has grown on me, it’s a bit more mindless, heads down boogie, and benefits from not being overthought. The album reels to a rapid close with ‘Plaster of Paris’ and ‘All The Saints’. One a sprightly pop song and the other an interesting half song. And after 34 minutes the album is over. It doesn’t outstay it’s welcome, and in that sense it is a proper album in the classic sense of the art form.

On first listen, I was a little underwhelmed by ‘Head Carrier’, there seemed to be not enough memorable about it, and the band seemed too self-referential. A couple of listens later and without concentrating on it fully there seemed to be an approachable easy feel to things, the hooks were coming through. Sitting down and listening to it properly again I’m certainly more appreciative than I was on first listen. Though for me, ‘Indie Cindy’, the album that wasn’t an album was more the sound of a band pushing themselves to be relevant far more than ‘Head Carrier’ is, it’s still good, but not career defining and not the masterpiece that many long-time Pixies fans would’ve hoped for, not even really paving the way for a masterpiece next time out. But that is the joy and unpredictability of music, who’s to say that Pixies album number seven won’t be chock full of great tunes and crazy words? Here’s hoping.

7/10

The Divine Comedy – ‘Foreverland’ a belated review

Amazingly, this is the Divine Comedy’s 27^th year, and their eleven albums span 26 of those years. This is the first since 2010’s ‘Bang Goes the Knighthood’ although Neil Hannon has also put out a second Duckworth Lewis Method album and dabbled in opera and classical pieces in the intervening years. This though is a welcome return from Hannon in his main guise and is possibly the highest quality Divine Comedy release to date.

Everything you’d want is here, lascivious artwork, humorous history referencing lyrics, orchestral pop production and fabulous crooning. Other musicians are involved but Hannon has a go at everything himself too. The title track is a vocal arrangement masterpiece, a highlight, not just of this album but of the musical year. It’s a rich tale, almost a shanty of a pining for paradise, and the chorale refrain of ‘What are we looking for…’ is a true show stealer. The lead single ‘Catherine the Great’ is the best historical song since Boney M’s ‘Rasputin’, it ought to be on the national curriculum and has some great lyrics; “She had great hair, and a powerful gait, Catherine the Great” and “If I could touch but the hem of her dress, tell her a joke, bake her a cake, Catherine the Great” don’t get you then are paralysed from the brain down. ‘Funny Peculiar’ is classic call and response music hall pop, a duet with partner Cathy Davey and has a whistling solo. If I’ve not sold this too you yet, then you’re obviously not trying hard enough. ‘The Pact’ moves us effortlessly through the world of show tunes and ‘To The Rescue’ returns us to more straightforward pop band form whilst managing to namecheck Marilyn Monroe and Che Guevara in one line.

Second single ‘How Can You Leave Me On My Own’ puts some humour into loneliness, ‘When you leave I become a beer swilling, time killing moron, I surgically remove all the green food from my diet’. It’s jaunty and sad and features a donkey noise effect. It’s nowhere near the best song here but it’s still almost perfect. ‘I Joined the Foreign Legion to Forget’ is a bar song extraordinaire, and tackles the same subject from a different angle, running away to be alone and forget. When the album hits one of it’s few lesser songs the arrangements and musicality raise it above previous albums. ‘A Desperate Man’ is a story of a fugitive in a nun’s disguise set to a tango. ‘Other People’ is a very short song, opening with a vocal only as if drifting through time from a black and white movie before becoming awash in luscious strings then ending abruptly. The closer ‘The One Who Loves You’ is another soft pop belter and has the immortal line ‘Finding the one…who is with you besotted, Is like finding the lesser spotted dodo in Soho, so rare’.

This is the consummate Divine Comedy album, a summation of all the previous parts merged into a complete one. One of the albums of the year.

9/10

If you move quick and it may already be too late, you might be able to pick up the deluxe edition which includes ‘In May’, Hannon’s second involvement in operetta, in which he scores (and here sings) the words of Frank Alva Buecheler’s play in the form of letters from a son to father as he grapples with terminal cancer. It’s in stark contrast from the main album. It’s not without humour, but it is black humour and the tale is sad and tragic and often harrowing as hope is lost, sometimes rekindled and finally extinguished. It’s a tough listen because of the subject matter but it’s gripping and very good. Song cycles (as they’re often referred to) are often hard work and a struggle to get through, this one not so though, it’s tale draws you in and you desire to see how this plays out even through the setting of constant piano and string quartet and is sombre almost exclusively. It’d be a shame if this is only ever available only via this limited deluxe CD set as it deserves a much larger audience. 

DAVID BOWIE – ‘Who Can I Be Now?’ – The TDWS Box Set review

About a year ago, the first in a series of David Bowie box sets arrived on the shelves, ‘Five Years’, covering 1969 – 1973. It held six studio albums, four of them new remasters and two live Ziggy era albums, both available previously, as well as a sort rare 2003 mix of the ‘Ziggy Stardust’ album and a two-disc collection (Re:Call1) containing era curios and some genuine rarities. Within weeks Bowie was back with some of his most challenging, amazing music ever. A year later following the incredible ‘Blackstar’ and the passing of the great man himself, and volume 2 arrives. ‘Who Can I Be Now?’ covers 1974 – 1976 and houses three original albums, all masterpieces. There’s an alternative version of one of these albums, a 2010 mix of ‘StationToStation’, two previously available live albums of the era, one appearing twice (David Live, original mix and it’s 2005 Visconti mix) and ‘Re:Call2’ a largely superfluous collection of single edit hack jobs. And most notably, ‘The Gouster’, a previously unissued album. You what? Unreleased mid-seventies Bowie!!

So, what do we make of 'The Gouster' then, the real dangling carrot of the ‘Who Can I Be Now?’ set, a so called unreleased album from the mid 70's? Obviously that phrase is a little misleading, 'The Gouster' is basically a first draft of 'Young Americans' that was dumped and morphed into the latter following some recording sessions with John Lennon. There's nothing here that's previously unheard, so era hailing Holy Grails like 'Shilling The Rubes' remain just a tantalizing snippet accessible via YouTube or the murky world of bootlegs. A shame but let's judge this album on what it is, and the track listing is at least true to what was put together at the time. The album opens with the exquisite full length 'John, I'm Only Dancing (Again), it would have been a great album opener at the time, marrying Bowie's new direction tidily to his recent past. This track was first made available in 1979 as a standalone (12") single, the mastering here is smooth and respectful, no over the top pumping up of the volume with no subtlety. 'Somebody Up There Likes Me' we know from 'Young Americans' so what can you say, a Bowie classic of its era. Of greater note is 'It's Gonna Be Me' a track dropped from 'Young Americans' that waited for its debut until Rykodisc’s 1991 re-issue campaign. This is that first heard non strings version, and it is amazing (though I prefer the with strings version personally). To us mortals what you hear makes you think 'why was that dropped', it is stunning with a drop dead vocal, a career highlight if recorded by virtually anyone else, a consummate soul ballad yet for Bowie it's a cast off. Tony Visconti has suggested Bowie felt it was too personal for release at the time, listen from 4m10s to 5m16s and you'll understand what he means, Bowie is stripped bare and vocally bares his soul in one of the great moments of his whole recording career. If for nothing else, then 'The Gouster' is worth its resurrection here for simply giving this song it's long overdue place as a centerpiece of a fully-fledged Bowie album. 'Who Can I Be Now?' is another song that had to wait for the Rykodisc era to make itself publicly known. If it didn't follow 'It's Gonna Be Me' it'd surely be hailed as another moment of sublime delight, it's that good, a lost classic.

'The Gouster' then concludes with three 'Young Americans' staples. 'Can You Hear Me' was the soul ballad classic that survived the chop, here there is an alternate version with a different vocal getting a first official airing (though familiar via the world of bootlegs). It's chilling, I may had made a little tear hearing this for the first time at this quality on the 'The Gouster' today. It's a ‘Bowie is really gone’ moment. The familiarity of 'Young Americans' provides some light relief following this. We all know this song and the fact that it became the title track of the finished album is no bad thing despite the quality of what was left off. 'Right' brings 'The Gouster' to its belated conclusion, and again we have a different mix with a different vocal take.

In conclusion on the subject then, 'The Gouster' is and sounds complete as a Bowie album. Despite the inclusion of the disco 'John, I'm Only Dancing (Again)' it is a bit more one paced that 'Young Americans' turned out to be, soul ballads dominate and in that sense with it variety 'Young Americans' is more the classic album of the two. In this CD/digital age there would have been no issue, everything could have been released, but 20 mins per side was the order of the day in the mid 70's. There could have even been a great double album here, but what was is what is, 'Young Americans' is a deserved jewel in the Bowie canon, and now we can at least appreciate that 'The Gouster' would have been so too.

So what about the other ‘extra content’? ‘Re:Call2’ is pale distant cousin of last year’s collection. It’s a collection of ham-fisted single mixes that for the most part rips the soul out of its songs, just listen to the sacrilege committed to ‘Young Americans’. Completely unessential. The 2010 Harry Maslin remix of ‘StationToStation’ is better, the mixes play on the songs main hooks, elevate the vocals and reveal subtle detail. Originally put out as part of that year’s remaster/reissue deluxe set of the album, it’s a fun version, but again hardly essential. The live set ‘Nassau Coliseum ‘76’ was also part of that set. I enjoyed it at the time but have returned maybe once in the last six years, Id’ve liked to have heard a first official airing for one of the many soundboard sets that have made it onto bootleg over the years, some have much more interesting set lists. ‘David Live’ also presents as well as the original mix the 2005 Tony Visconti mix with some extra tracks. Some peoples favourite live Bowie album (not mine, ‘Stage’ always held a soft spot for me) is not really improved by this mix. The album had its character in its flawed performance and the 2005 mix smooths it over a bit for me, losing its main appeal. It’s not that it’s bad, it’s just not different enough, though on a plus side Mike Garson is perhaps a little more audible on keyboards in places, and the tracks that weren’t included on the original (but did appear on the Rykodisc re-masters/re-issues) are nice to have.

Then there are the three studio albums that are the building blocks of this collection. What can you say about ‘Diamond Dogs’, ‘Young Americans’ and ‘StationToStation’ that has not already been said many many times before? Not a lot. Each is a fantastic ten out of ten album in its own right, simply put, genius. Like much of this set they are in fresh remastered form here, despite many remasters already over the years. And the sound is full and respectful, never mishandling the legendary content though perhaps not adding much to the last versions to present themselves. But you know what, that’s secondary stuff, it is such great great music.

And so then, we now have the ‘Lazarus’ cast recordings to look forward to with three unheard tracks from Bowie’s ‘Blackstar’ sessions. There’s also ‘Bowie Legacy’ the inevitable seasonal hits compilation that was always going to appear this year, then onto next year as Bowie’s European Cannon will get the box set treatment and who knows what else? But for this set, it’s not quite the supreme thing that ‘Five Years’ was, the music it represents though is 10/10, ‘The Gouster’ is 9/10, its other ‘bonus’ content is 6/10. The booklet is nice, and simply because of the music it’s impossible to give the set a whole anything less than 9/10.   

David Bowie - 'The Gouster', the TDWS review.

So, what do we make of 'The Gouster' then, the real dangling carrot of the new ‘Who Can I Be Now?’ set, a so called unreleased album from the mid 70's? Obviously that phrase is a little misleading, 'The Gouster' is basically a first draft of 'Young Americans' that was dumped and morphed into the latter following some recording sessions with John Lennon. There's nothing here that's previously unheard, so era hailing Holy Grails like 'Shilling The Rubes' remain just a tantalizing snippet accessible via YouTube or the murky world of bootlegs. A shame but let's judge this album on what it is, and the track listing is at least true to what was put together at the time. The album opens with the exquisite full length 'John, I'm Only Dancing (Again), it would have been a great album opener at the time, marrying Bowie's new direction tidily to his recent past. This track was first made available in 1979 as a standalone (12") single, the mastering here is smooth and respectful, no over the top pumping up of the volume with no subtlety. 'Somebody Up There Likes Me' we know from 'Young Americans' so what can you say, a Bowie classic of its era. Of greater note is 'It's Gonna Be Me' a track dropped from 'Young Americans' that waited for its debut until Rykodisc’s 1991 re-issue campaign. This is that first heard non strings version, and it is amazing (though I prefer the with strings version personally). To us mortals what you hear makes you think 'why was that dropped', it is stunning with a drop dead vocal, a career highlight if recorded by virtually anyone else, a consummate soul ballad yet for Bowie it's a cast off. Tony Visconti has suggested Bowie felt it was too personal for release at the time, listen from 4m10s to 5m16s and you'll understand what he means, Bowie is stripped bare and vocally bares his soul in one of the great moments of his whole recording career. If for nothing else, then 'The Gouster' is worth its resurrection here for simply giving this song it's long overdue place as a centerpiece of a fully-fledged Bowie album. 'Who Can I Be Now?' is another song that had to wait for the Rykodisc era to make itself publicly known. If it didn't follow 'It's Gonna Be Me' it'd surely be hailed as another moment of sublime delight, it's that good, a lost classic.

'The Gouster' then concludes with three 'Young Americans' staples. 'Can You Hear Me' was the soul ballad classic that survived the chop, here there is an alternate version with a different vocal getting a first official airing (though familiar via the world of bootlegs). It's chilling, I may had made a little tear hearing this for the first time at this quality on the 'The Gouster' today. It's a ‘Bowie is really gone’ moment. The familiarity of 'Young Americans' provides some light relief following this. We all know this song and the fact that it became the title track of the finished album is no bad thing despite the quality of what was left off. 'Right' brings 'The Gouster' to its belated conclusion, and again we have a different mix with a different vocal take.

In conclusion then, 'The Gouster' is and sounds complete as a Bowie album. despite the inclusion of the disco 'John, I'm Only Dancing (Again)' it is a bit more one paced than 'Young Americans' turned out to be, soul ballads dominate and in that sense 'Young Americans' is more the classic album of the two. In this CD/digital age there would have been no issue, everything could have been released, but 20 mins per side was the order of the day in the mid 70's. There could have even been a great double album here, but what was is what is, 'Young Americans' is a deserved Jewel in the Bowie canon, and now we can at least appreciate that 'The Gouster' would have been so too.

9/10

This review will form part of a larger 'Who Can I Be Now?' box set review. 

Ed Harcourt - 'Furnaces' a review.

English singer songwriter and the son of a diplomat, Ed Harcourt has been releasing solo records since the year 2000, and with ‘Furnaces’ he releases perhaps his most fully realised album yet. Operating outside of the mainstream Harcourt has developed without commercial restrictions and has a loyal following, his music has been getting harder edged over the years and whilst this Flood produced cracker may not soundtrack the balmy summer days on national radio it demands your attention.

Mostly performed by Ed alone with some contributions from other musicians the album is one of those that opens with a short vocally assisted essentially instrumental piece, ‘Intro’. It’s elegiac. And soothing, a contrast to much of what is to follow. ‘The World Is on Fire’ sets the scene for what follows. The drums boom in underpinning echoed brooding vocals, fiery destruction, hopelessness, grim prophecy, the cold that follows the fiery destruction and perspective about our place in the scheme of things. A floaty icy synth props up the track, as fire and ice settle in as another theme. Ed as always had a way with a sweet pop melody and cosy love song, and that trait seems a million miles away from where he is now. ‘Loup Garou’ is a more guitar and percussion driven song follows and mythical themes are woven into Ed’s mindset (the Loup Garou is a French legend of a shape shifting human who is able to turn into a wolf at will). It’s a powerful, foreboding melodious track, classic heavy Ed Harcourt. Title track ‘Furnaces’ is a brass pinned driving on the beat rock track, the sound is cluttered, creating a sense of unease, even panic, a hymn to the destruction that big business brings to the natural world.

‘Occupational Hazard’ sees Ed hovering, almost victoriously over the destruction he leaves in the path of his life whilst warning potential victims to keep away. It’s uncannily like a classic turn of the century Depeche Mode track, and sparkles with it too.  ‘Nothing But A Bad Trip’ is an obvious ‘English Tom Waits’ moment that has littered Ed’s career, a comparison that is unfair to both of these inspirational individual artists. ‘Opened my mouth, The scream that came out was not even human, Got back on the horse, Rode away for a fix of destruction’ is the albums lyrical content boiled down to a hard core. Some comfort is offered in ‘You Give Me More Than Love’, as a lover is revered as a saviour who lines the path to better days with Augustan poetry. Yet the song is not wrapped in sugary sentiment in the way Ed has done with his sweetest love songs in the past, there’s still a heaviness, a danger present. ‘Dionysus’ describes battles with the demon alchohol, ‘Poor Dionysus, You drank yourself under the table again’ is a clever lyrical play linking Greek Mythology (essentially the God of Wine) with modern day drinking issues. The song has a soft piano melody that gets swept up but a thundery percussive orchestral swell as the battle is essentially depicted as hopeless.

‘There Is a Light Below’ is an odd upbeat song living above an almost drum and bass beat, with wonderful multi tracked vocals, but the mood is still not victorious, defiant maybe, but domineering and threatening. ‘The Last of Your Kind’ crashes in on a joyful melody, a modern Britpop anthem, and sings of hope in the moments before the end of the world as the last good man is left standing. Is Ed a Corbyn supporter? ‘Immoral’ though reduces hope from a personal level. ‘I will break your spirit’ I will break your heart, Put it back together, Then slowly pull it apart’ is offered as final solution, ‘Got a blind date with my death, I’m not a good man, who abides by virtue’ is the sort of fayre on offer here. It’s a great track, but short on relief. The album end with ‘Antartica’ as the singer retreats to the barren wasteland of ice in order to escape the misery and destruction of the world that pains him so. It is a call for the good, a new beginning, albeit one where withdrawing from the world into a desert of ice is the most promising solution on offer to the worlds maladies.

So this a heavy album, weighty at every turn, cramped with pain and fear. It’s also intricate, extremely well planned out, a crystal vision, a carer high point. Here’s hoping Ed Harcourt is making music for us for a much longer time to come. (Also out soon is Ed’s second collaboration with Sophie Ellis Bettor on her second post-modern LP.)

9/10

Dexys - 'Let The Record Show: Dexys Do Irish and Country Soul', a (belated) review.

‘Let The Record Show…’ was suitably announced on St. Patricks day this year and follows hot on the heels (four years, dwarfing the previous gap of 27 years) of the unanimously praised comeback LP ‘One Day I’m Going to Soar’. It’s only the seventh album from Kevin Rowland in the thirty-five years since and including the first and is the second comprised fully of cover versions. The first, 1999’s solo ‘My Beauty’ was explained by Kevin as being not a covers album, but an album of his take on some of his favourite songs. It was panned, reputably sold less than a thousand copies and remains out of print. This new album has also been proclaimed not an album of cover versions, but a loosely themed album of recordings of other people’s songs in Dexys own unique style. So should alarm bells be ringing? No way. ‘My Beauty’ had its charms and was unfairly panned, and this is quality throughout. But inspired? Let’s see…

At heart this an easy listening album, it’s pleasant and straightforwardly arranged, wonderfully crooned in places. It’s the sort of album that back in 1980 most Dexys (Midnight Runners) fans would have ran from. Yet, it is, as with most of Rowlands and Dexys recordings undeniably informed by punk, a movement with which Kevin flirted (The Killjoys) and which certainly enabled his unique vision and attitude a place in a business that previously wouldn’t have allowed him in. As always with Dexys personnel evolves album to album, ‘One Day…’s main collaborator, one-time Style Councillor Mick Talbot the most notable absentee, though Helen O’Hara, Kevin’s chief partner in crime from ‘Too Rye Aye’ through too ‘Don’t Stand Me Down’ makes an appearance and has performed on recent promotional activities with the band. At least three of the songs here were planned for an 84/85 Dexys album of the same title that never happened, so there is a passion and a belief in these songs that shines through.

Vocally when Kevin sings he nails it. But he doesn’t always sing through this album, some tracks having an almost spoken, certainly intoned vocal track. For me this simply doesn’t work. I want to hear Rowland sing, he's quite simply one of the most inspirational vocalists in popular music ever. So ok, he’s a much older man now (we all are) but does he do enough on this album? Opener ‘Women of Ireland’ is basically an instrumental. You can’t go wrong with the Bee Gee’s ‘To Love Somebody’ and Dexys lay down a great version here, covering both the intoned vocal in the verses and the crooned vocal in the chorus. Even some of the pop songs here date back much further though, ‘Smoke Gets in Your Eyes’ first appeared in 1933 and carries possibly the most soulful vocal here. Some of the Irish on the album goes back much further, some having roots in poetry and the 1700’s, though some comes from more modern sources such as Phil Coulter.

Other pop (Country/Soul) covers include Rod Stewart (‘You Wear It Well’), LeAnn Rimes (Diane Warrens ‘How Do I Live’), Joni Mitchell (‘Both Sides Now’) and Johnny Cash (’40 Shades of Green’). It’s a bit odd in fact to hear Dexys do a fairly straight guitar led version of a Rod Stewart song, but then again as someone who’s familiar with ‘My Beauty’ there’s nothing odd about Dexys when you expect the unexpected. ‘How Do I Live’ might also seem an odd choice but again remember on his previous ‘covers’ project we also got songs such as the George Benson and Whitney Houston classic ‘The Greatest Love of All’, ‘I believe the children are our future’ etc.

Also, not wishing to sound like a man who works in a hi-fi store, which I undoubtedly am, but if you do listen to this album you have to do so on a half decent system. A car stereo or MP3 simply doesn’t carry the feeling. Listening to it as I am writing this my previous grumbles about semi intoned vocals actually feel a little redundant. So sorry about that! The most soulful sounding track is without doubt ‘Grazing in The Grass’ a cover of a 1969 pop and R&B hit from Friends of Distinction, though the song typically has a fairly complicated backstory, coming from the late 60’s Jazz scene and reputably originally about the smoking of marijuana..

So in short, this a mixed bag. It generally works very well, but Dexys 2016 are fairly much an acquired taste, the days of chart topping anthems long gone (though this album did enter the UK charts at no.10), and it’s comforting to know or at least feel that nothing will come out under the name of Dexys that is in any way questionable as far as quality goes. Is it inspired? For me no, it’s not the joy ‘One Day I’m Going to Soar’ was, and as such I eagerly wait and hope for at least one more Dexys collection of originals. It is definitely worth investigating if you’ve ever had an interest in any of Rowlands earlier works. However, I am left a little confused by this strange mix of eclectic songs performed in a way that never threatens or challenges but yet that is still informed by punk and the past. And the packaging and vision is as always with Dexys superb too, a deluxe edition has a great film about the album and some interesting though superfluous instrumental and solo vocal versions of the songs. And it is Dexys, still making and releasing music in 2016. Which for me is enough anyway.

7/10

Cat's Eyes - Treasure House, a review

Not many bands can claim to have made their live debut at the Vatican in front of several eminent cardinals, performing as part of a mass at a ceremony there. In fact, quite possibly only Cat’s Eyes can claim this. Formed by the front man of The Horrors, Faris Badwan and his friend, vocalist (including opera), multi-instrumentalist and composer Rachel Zeffira in 2010, ‘Treasure House’ is their 2^nd album proper though it does follow on from last year’s well received ‘The Duke of Burgundy’ soundtrack.

The two began working together as a result of Badwan introducing Zeffira to the sound of 60’s girl groups and the production of Joe Meek amongst others, and this was evident on the first album, 2011’s ‘Cat’s Eyes’. These influences are if anything even more evident here, though boosted by an accompanying orchestral score reminiscent of Scott Walkers 60’s masterpieces. Though opener and title track ‘treasure House’ has a feel of the Syd Barrett’s about it, particularly in Badwan’s vocal. ‘Drag’ is a sweet sounding song with a typical Zeffira vocal that maybe describes the pairs relationship, ‘Oh the things we do when we’re together, If they ever knew they would keep us apart’. ‘Chameleon Queen’ is another bittersweet love song as Faris rejects his girls attempts at a reconciliation. A floating horn motif underpins the understated croon (Faris is not a crooner in the aforementioned Walker league but he’s pretty able here) though this lilting number is blown apart by the scorching 60’s beat proto punk of ‘Be Careful Where You Park Your Car’ and a perfect riposte from Zeffira from her mans rejections in the previous song. ‘Standoff’ with Badwan back on lead is the closest thing here to the Horrors and more modern sounding that what has preceded it though still with a knowing nod to the past. It’s urgent, spiky, a drum driven beat song that is the standoff of the situation described in the last two songs. The album is moving with pace, and Zeffira moves back to centre stage with ‘Everything Moves Towards the Sun’ as she looks back to her youth in Canada with an expression of a wish to share that part of her life with a friend or a partner. It’s pictorial, deft and slides the album towards its second half effortlessly and with consummate quality.

‘The Missing Hour’ finds Badwan back on lead, his developing croon growing in confidence. The background synths evoke bagpipes before the orchestration washes over the whole piece, a song about the clarity that the early hours can bring as night turns to day. ‘Girl in The Room’ finds Zeffira singing of lost beauty and past glories over a signature 60’s string arrangement and firmly strummed guitar. The following ‘We’ll Be Waiting’ suggest there is a loss of life on the way too, a hymnal organ sweeping in though there is comfort in the words ‘Don’t turn, don’t look around, Don’t turn away, We’ll be waiting for you’. The story continues on into ‘Names On the Mountains; as the departed pleads not to be forgotten, the rugged Canadian countryside is drawn again, though the organ that underpins this song is far jauntier than its predecessor even if it’s subject is not. The short lyric for the closing ‘Teardrops’ offers little hope, repeating in its twelve lines the couplet ‘Don’t you know, You’re Always on your own’ at the end of each short stanza. Zeffira handles this closing vocal too, the first time the album has carried a lead vocalist over from one track to another, suggesting maybe the story comes more from her that Badwan maybe?

There is a definite feel of a song cycle here, a life/love cycle, hard to pull a message out though for me it seems to be not to waste the time we are given here on earth and to follow your heart as you only get one shot at this thing called life. The eleven tracks here barely scrape past the thirty-five-minute mark, yet if you appreciate melancholy sixties pop and have stuck with the Horrors as their sound has changed over the course of four startling albums then I’d recommend you investigate ‘Treasure House’. It’s a gem.

8/10

Radiohead – ‘A Moon Shaped Pool’ a review.

So Radiohead, kings of the ‘we’ll do it our way’ album release technique dropped their new album at 7pm BST on Sunday 8^th May (ignoring the Google Play slip up earlier in the day) after a week that saw them make tracks one and two available with great video’s but little fuss and also saw them basically wipe themselves from the internet before doing so. At first glance I was a little uncertain of the albums running order as the songs were listed in alphabetical order, but it seems this is the running order and quite possibly some matter of fact statement from the band. A long time visual collaborator of the band, Stanley Donwood, has already described the album as ‘a work of art’ before it was even finished. As I sit here typing, producer Nigel Godrich has already gone online stating the making of the album was a very intense experience for him personally. But who cares about the hype, what about the music?

‘Burn The Witch’ debuted a week ago with a wonderful ‘Trumpton/Camberwick Green’ type video. Musically it’s very inviting, a string riff underpinning a song of subtle paranoia that general consensus seems to pin as being a comment on hysteria about mass immigration that has grown since 9/11 (‘This is a low flying panic attack, red crosses on wooden doors, we know where you live). The song builds to a mildly frenzied string driven climax then gives way to the much calmer sounds of ‘Daydreaming’. It’s soft, gentle and trance like, though the (at times heavily treated) vocal could reference relationship woes or the plain numbness of day to day life. The song finishes with a repeated phrase ‘Efil ym fo flah’ (Half of my life) which presses home the air of regret. This is a haunting piece with some strange noises and effects. I love it.

And then onto the stuff that we’ve not heard. ‘Decks Dark’ is another soft song, but Thom’s vocals are truly alive on this album in a way that recent Radiohead albums has been crying out for. Spacecraft’s, lies, and a darkness are referenced, I almost hear this song as a eulogy to David Bowie but that’s probably just me hearing that.  ‘Desert Island Disk’ slides in on a beat and a calming folk-like acoustic guitar refrain. The song seems to tell a tale of passing over to the afterlife, though the afterlife appears to be the aftermath of a relationship and that ‘Different types of love are possible’. Thom York has experienced the end of a long relationship/marriage and this seems to inform this song and maybe this is what gives the vocals an emotional connect that Radiohead songs have not always carried. ‘Ful Stop’ builds over syncopated beats and synth swirls with a driving bass and weaves a story of two friends or partners who have let each other down. The song shifts moods musically whilst always carrying the propelling beat in the same direction. The album is emerging as immaculately crafted and perceived despite its stop-start gestation.

‘Glass Eyes’ is one of the albums more obviously relationship based songs. ‘Hey it’s me, I just got off the train….And I’m wondering, should I turn around?’. Radiohead do often get accused of being ‘miserable’ by non-fans, and it is kind of undeniable, especially at times like this. But there is a beauty in this music too. This song as with most others here has the Radiohead signatures of treated electronics but there’s lush orchestration all over this album and some full on classic song writing too. Even as ‘identikit’ rolls in, sounding a bit more like the ambling Radiohead of some of their mid-career to later albums, there is a feel of craft and attention to the song that I’ve sometimes felt lacking. There’s a choir too, and the song develops into a guitar pinned groove, and all of this still dressed up with effects and quirkiness. ‘The Numbers’ opens with some ambient jazz noodling, some Mike Garson-esque keyboard and swiftly turns itself into a gently strummed ballad, and sounds like a love paean to mother earth, almost a hymn to the power of the planet blowing away the dodgy politics its inhabitants can display. In the middle a treated vocal morph into a wonderful orchestration takes the song to another level. If you heard ‘Spectre’, the bands rejected Bond theme and loved it then you will love this album, as the feel and craft of that song inhabit this album and take it further.

‘Present Tense’ is another song in the same vein. Fairly simple instrumentation is again led towards orchestration toward the songs climax, Thom’s vocals are beautifully multi-tracked in the backing, the song has a ghostly feel and again a hearty lament, ‘In you I’m lost, I won’t turn around when the penny drops…Or all this love will be in vain’. ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor Rich Man Poor Man Beggar Man Thief’ has simple keys over basic percussion and expands into to a heavier groove with some haunting guitar and silky orchestration. It’s modern, but it’s classic too. As with much of this lyrically it’s oblique, Radiohead have always been somewhat guarded, but again affairs of the heart and of the planet seem to be the focus. And then finally ‘True Love Waits’ arrives, the albums closer. A song now over twenty years old and first appearing on a Radiohead album back in 2001 on the bands mini live release, it now features layers of treated keyboard, and pulls at religious beliefs against human nature and open with the immense lyric ‘I’ll drown my beliefs, To have your babies, I’ll dress like your niece, And wash your swollen feet.’ What’s not too like?

If I was to be critical I could say this album is somewhat singular in pace, and repeats the same ideas in arrangement and song planning over and over again. But that is just nonsense, this is a fine Radiohead album that bridges the gap between many of their previous releases but has a level of relatable content and simple classic sounding songs that few Radiohead releases since the turn of the century have had. I’d agree that it is a work of art. If Thom Yorkes voice pulled you into the band in the first place you’ll love this, if you’ve felt the band have never reached the heights of their first three albums you’ll love this (let’s not forget that ‘In Rainbows’ was pretty spectacular too). This album is highly recommended and gives the band a triumphant validation that can hopefully propel them onto a new classic period, and hopefully a less than five year wait for the next one.

9/10

Rufus Wainwright – Take All My Loves – 9 Shakespeare Sonnets - A review

It’s not unusual for pop or rock stars to branch out into the world of classical music. Off the top of my head, Paul McCartney’s done it and Elvis Costello’s done it, and even a briefest of Google searches reveal many more (Roger Waters, Glen Danzig included). They probably don’t do it to appeal to existing fans though there will always be a number that take an interest. As a Costello fan I enjoyed ‘The Juliet Letters’ with the Brodsky Quartet and ‘For The Stars’, a collaboration with Anne Sofie von Otter but failed to investigate ‘Il Sogno’ from 2002 on Deutsche Grammophon. And so it is I approach Rufus Wainwright and his collaborative DG release of 9 of William Shakespeare’s sonnets.

Music mixes with spoken word here, and guests are aplenty, William Shatner, Helena Bonham Carter, Carrie Fisher, Florence Welch, Martha Wainwright and Anna Prohaska included. I’d be more looking forward to this if it was mainly Rufus and his own vocal interpretations, and if the subject was something other than the bard, I’m not at all a Shakespeare fan, a take on the great poets for instance would be more enticing for me. But still, open mind and all that and being a fan of Rufus since his very first album, I’m a gonna give it a go.

So, the spoken word bits are hard going for me. Fairly straight recital, sometimes over minimalist music backing, they just don’t stoke my fires. Carrie Fisher and William Shatner carry a little more interest than the others simply because I know them from films and TV that I have watched though this is not enough to really capture my attention as mind reaches for the Shakespeare off switch.

The music though is quality throughout and the songs mask the Shakespearean language a bit too. Everything is beautifully recorded and performed, and there is enough to link this to Rufus own work in rock and pop. His own first vocal contribution comes on track three, ‘Take All My Loves (Sonnet 40)’, and has a stirring almost Scott Walker-ish quasi experimental rock-classical approach to it.  As a rock and Rufus fan it’s great, it’d make a Rufus compilation even. Not sure what Shakespeare scholars would make of it. I’d expect reactions to run the range from sacrilege to inspired. The albums joint production with Marius De Vries also links the work to Rufus’ past, and gives things a solid grounding. ‘A Woman’s Face (Sonnet 20)’ the second track to feature the works other main vocal contributor Anna Prohaska is more appealing than the earlier take on Sonnet 43, it’s short and sombre and segues into ‘For Shame (Sonnet 10)’, a slightly more fairground ride of a production and less convincing for being so.

‘Unperfect Actor (Sonnet 23)’ features Rufus’s sister Martha and fellow classical and pop crossover performer, the classically trained Fiora Cutler. There a dramatic recitation as intro from Helena Bonham Carter but for me things really get going when the song, a pounding, heavy, rock based piece really kicks in. As a classical music ignoramus I’d like to think this is all a bit much for some of the Deutsche Grammophon bigwigs, but this album is delivering far more range and diversity than I was expecting. This track puts me in mind of Marc Almonds collaboration with John Harle on ‘The Tyburn Tree’, there are truly two worlds clashing here, and the effect is quite thrilling and in places very impressive.

I’m not a fan of Florence (and the Machine) Welch but her track ‘When In Disgrace with Fortune and Men’s Eyes (Sonnet 29)’ is an enthralling 3-minute diversion with 60’s pop and folk throwback beauty. It’s followed by what is essentially Captain Kirk reciting Shakespeare. If you’ve ever heard Mr Shatner ‘singing’ any of the pop classics that he has taken on, then you’ll know what to expect. Thankfully it’s soon blasted away by Anna Prohaska’s most dramatic and enticing piece yet on ‘Th’Expense of Spirit in a Waste of Shame (Sonnet 129)’, which squeezes into two minutes and forty-eight seconds the absolute essence of rock opera with some real actual opera.

‘All Dessen Müd’ dramatizes things even further with an opening German recital carried above a slightly jazz tempting under bed. The music carries on in fairly schizophrenic fashion on what is the most unhinged thing on the album, and it holds attention throughout it full eight and a half minutes. Rufus’ own final vocal contribution comes next on a reprise of ‘A Woman’s Face’, it’s a fairly standard Rufus Wainwright song, in fact, more memorable than a fair few of them. It’s sung as a gentle, slow building popular song with classical overtones merely hinted at. A final spoken word (in German) offering is presented with ‘Sonnet 87’ before the album closes with Anna Prohaska again with ‘Farewell (Sonnet 87)’, an intricate yet never quite ornate opera styled piece that radiates in its own lushness.

I may have approached this with some trepidation, yet having taken it all in it is fair to say it could be my favourite rock/classical crossover yet. The mix of highbrow with rock and popular music moods is carried off with unbelievable expertise. And as a devout non Shakespearean the balance of all of the albums elements leaves nothing overpowering, in fact there a sort of ‘what did I just listen to’ bewilderment (bewonderment?) that I love. It’s just about reverential, respectful, inventive and crazy enough to make the whole thing a success. 

PJ Harvey - The Hope Six Demolition Project, a review.

Anyone who’s taken notice will know that PJ Harvey’s latest album has had a fairly public gestation whilst managing to remain a thing of mystery too. Travels to Afghanistan and Kosovo with a photographer in tow has helped produce an album of songs painted by global politics, war and poverty that has already been preceded by a poetry and poems book (The Hollow of the Hand) and an unusual ‘watch as they record’ installation in London’s Somerset House involving an audience hidden by one-way glass. 

Following an increasingly singular and non-commercial path since 2000’s ‘Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea’ has not harmed PJ Harvey’s success. She’s a musician that produces art that the public seem to love to tap into. That album won the 2001 Mercury Music Prize and coming full circle her last album ‘Let England Shake’ (2011) made her the first to ever win a second Mercury Music award. The album kicks off with ‘The Community of Hope’, a song about a run down American suburb. If it’s pretty straightforward rock’n’roll, then the following ‘The Ministry of Defence’ is far more in your face, a pounding repeated full band riff, massed vocal choruses, paraphrasing from Linton Kwesi Johnson and dissonant saxophone wailing with a closing shot of ‘This is how the world will end’. It’s heavy, unflinching, a militaristic romp and very impressive. 

‘A Line in the Sand’ starts with a Tom Waits like resemblance of music and is a grim recollection of a visit to a refugee camp ‘’I saw people kill each other just to get there first’ tells you the impression the scene made on Harvey, and her belief that the future is there to achieve something good is where she draws her line in the sand. ‘Chain of Keys’ is built upon a bed of artillery drumming, flat baritone saxophones and a tale of a shattered old woman who has seen things that have broken her faith in everything. ‘River Anacostia’ (the river from Maryland into Washington) is a lower key simpler song built on a pulsing synth riff. There’s an underlying spiritual feel but no hope is offered, the message left is ‘What will become of us?’. ‘Near the Memorials to Vietnam and Lincoln’ takes us deeper in to Washington, a pretty simple anti rock song with a ghostly feel, it builds into a harsh hot and bothered abrupt finish. ‘The Orange Monkey’ explains the meat of the album, ‘I took a plane to a foreign land, and said, I’ll write down what I find’. 

‘Medicinals’ takes the uncompromising approach further. Sung almost in nursery rhyme style over a percussive sax bled under bed, it’s another song of loss and no hope. ‘The Ministry of Social Affairs’ starts on a sample of old blues which is seamlessly woven into the bands pounding marching music and contrasts a scene of broken, injured and sick people living within a major city and inhabiting the same streets as big money men that seem not to care about the poverty that walls their castles of prosperity. The song closes on dissonant saxophones grinding to a halt and is barely over before the jungle beat of ‘The Wheel’ crashes in, weeping for the lost children of a war torn country, ‘Now you see them, now you don’t, I heard it was twenty-eight thousand’ is as harsh a lyrical refrain you could want to hear in a rock and roll song. This is music that paints a very visual image. It’s a song that was its albums leadoff single. When an artist is given the freedom to create without the need to cater towards the hit parade then great things can happen. And that’s where PJ Harvey is, she follows her own path, bares her own soul, and people seem to love it. It’s why I love music, there’s no concession to product here, just creation, artistry and emotion. The closing ‘Dollar Dollar’ shows this perfectly. Harvey sings a tale of how she was left haunted by a beggar boy as she sped away in traffic unable to help despite the attention he garnered. 

What a great record. Musically there’s been little like it. It reminds me of late Bowie, with the stories it tells and the baritone saxes that dominate its mood, reminiscent of the great man’s comeback on ‘The Next Day’, even a sprinkling of ‘Scary Monsters’ guitars in places under the relentless percussive, almost drone like feel of this album. Not that Harvey’s aping anyone else on this record. This album is without apology a Polly Jean Harvey record par excellence. 

9/10