These are the latest Tape Reviews
People of Earth. Greetings.
... heres the deal, the Vorlons entered my space capsule and metamorphosed me into a rock n roll space alien type being thinggy (ex human) to act as a sentinel for the arrival of the Vogon Constructor fleet, I am now stuck up here in space bored out of my mega cosmic time traveling mind. To relieve the tedium I started communicating telepathically with the INTERNET via the somnambulistic fingers of everybodys favourite former workplace bullying victim. During the day I superimpose myself on his consciousness while he drives around East Anglia in his shiny silver company car and at night, I review my human surrogates taste in music for you my beloved readers. There are 10 spaces in the car cassette case, hence 10 reviews....( I hope you like them)
= new review - not necessarily a newly released tape.OTHER PAGES:-
loads!!!!!!!
Manic Street Preachers - This is My Truth Tell Me Yours
Manic Street Preachers - This is my Truth Tell Me YoursI really really really really like the Manics, and although I have never met them myself have seen them interviewed many times on TV and they come across really well like good blokes. I have seen them a couple of times at Small venues and they are great live. What I like best about them is that they have had no special favours, or help from anyone, but they have achieved success purely off their own hard work and talents. That said, I feel a bit guilty about my feelings towards this tape. It would be unfair of me to describe it as "Nothing Special" or " musical wallpaper", but I find myself putting it on and 63 minutes later noticing it has finished. Its a bit like Peter Davison as Dr. Who. You know, you'd watch out of loyalty, but did you really enjoy it????
For me what I think this tape lacks is SPARK. I loved the Manics first 3 albums as I identified with their anger and loved the raw power of their playing, but bands have to move on / things change/ people change and for me this tape and its predecessor Everything Must Go have lacked something for me. I guess part of the problem is that they used to feel like they were "my" band and now anyone who is anyone likes them (or at least claims to)
Musically the songs are all well played and performed. The tape starts with The Everlasting which is OK, nice melody, carries on with If You Tolerate this which once again is OK,carries on with a really nice melodic song called You stole the Sun from my Heartwhich I like, Tender and Tired is ok as is Be Natural which has an opening which is like a revelation, and Nobody Loved you is a great track with a clever lyric hook and great backing vocals that sound like Roger Taylor from Queen. My 2 fave tracks are I'm Not working which, yes, is fantastic, one of the Manics best ever tracks and SYMM which is by the far the best track on the tape. But there you go, maybe it is just me. SYMM is a very bleak black track so maybe I'm the one whose out of touch.
All tracks are well played and I like the way James sings.
review date 280500
All the above taken into consideration I spent the early part of this week singing The Everlasting and If you tolerate this... to myself, so as you can see , the songs on this tape are by no means crap or rubbish at all.update 100600
Genesis - Three Sides Live
Genesis's post Abacab peace offering live album.Released as three live sides in the States with a side of the Studio tracks that made up the 3x3 EP released in the UK (plus a few other tracks) while in the UK it was released as four sides of live tracks the fourth side being made up of "out takes" from the Seconds Out live album (featuring the extraordinary talents of the legendary Steve Hackett on guitar). The live album sort of covers the period in Genesis's career from "Wind and Wuthering" through Steves departure, "And then there were 3", "Duke" and "Abacab". I find, as is common with these four albums there are highlights and low lights and this is one to listen to with one hand hovering over the fast forward button. Highlights for me on this album include the live version of Abacab, which is really cool, much better than the ploddy wooden jam on the studio album with some really great soaring guitar solos from Mike Rutherford. I like this song- I always have. (am not too sure about the rest of Abacab but will talk about this another day!)
Another highlight is the live version of "Fountain of Salmacis" (feat Steve Hackett) the original track coming from the first Genesis album Phil Collins and Steve played on - Nursery Cryme. A fab song based upon the classical story about the encounter between Hermaphrodites and a mystical fountain nymph. (what happens? - ha ha - you'll have to get the album or ask me nicely!) A great live version of this fab song. Phil Collins singing is really good in this. Theres also a live version of "IT" (from the Lamb) which I much prefer as a standalone song because I've always felt it feels like it was sort of grafted onto the end of Lamb and doesn't really fit in with the rest of the album. This version is great and it leads on to a musical hint at the fab Watcher of the Skies - not the whole song - just the beginning and end sections , but it really is a fab song.
Another great , and I feel underated song is "Duchess" off of Duke. This is a great song about success and the perils of fame and rejection. There is a live section which starts with Behind the Lines and then onto Duchess as per the original album. This really is Genesis at their best, pounding drums, great melody and bass parts and yes Phils singing is really ace. I know now that he has become a v. successful solo artist in his own right plus has left Genesis, it is v fashionable to slag him off, but he is/ was a great rock vocalist and frontman and his singing on these Duke tracks is great. They are his own. Following P. Gabriel was a very hard act but "The Cage" , which is for me the highlight of this album is an excellent example of Phils talent in taking a Gabriel song and making it his.
The Cage is a veritable orgy of Genesis brilliance. To start with it is a great great brilliant song full of lots of imagery , great lyrics, melody etc Genesis fans have a special way of requesting this song by double clapping in a particular way (which is featured on this tape) and all over the world we double clap in this way when we want to hear this song. Tony Banks's playing is fantastic on this track and what is great is the way the band members are all playing so well together letting each other have their moment. There is a medley at the end of this song that I find intoxicating - one minute we are trapped under New York in a cage in the catacombs - next minute we are talking to an old man (Father Tiresius - hope this is spelt ok) who is telling us there is more Earth than sea (Cinema Show) and just as this is sinking in we are catapulted back to NYC for an encounter with the cruely twisted and deformed Slippermen. This is so fab and finishes up with the revelation of the "Afterglow" which I have always prefered live. So there are some truly great Genesis live performances on this tape. Review Date 26-01-2000
Pete Townshend - Another Scoop
Pete Townshend is the greatest song writer ever bornand much has been written in the past about the high quality and standard of his demos. (= demonstration tapes a songwriter makes to play his songs to other musicians). He has always been interested in getting hold of the best recording equipment to use at home as soon as possible and this is obvious from the quality of the tracks on this tape. Another Scoop is the second collection of demos commercially released by Pete and what is great about this tape and its predecessor (Scoop) is the way songs from all of the periods of Petes career have been jumbled up, one minute theres a demo for a classic WHO single from the 60s e.g. Pictures of Lily, the next theres a bang up to date new song Pete has recorded that has never been released at all before. These are demo tapes, i.e the first time the song has been recorded and what is great about them is they capture the songs with all their rough edges, sometimes dodgy lyrics and more importantly they catch the spontaneity and JOY a song writer feels when he/ she has just written a song they feel is great.
Demos of the following classic WHO songs are included on this compilation Pictures of Lily, Kids are alright, Call me Lightning,La La Lies,Substitute, Happy Jack. Pinball Wizard as well as the more "recent" you Better you Bet and the luscious "Don't Let go the coat" with its brilliantly warm sounding melodic harmonies. I love this song. The Who was a big lumbering powerful juggernaut of a band and in some cases the "quietness" and personal nature of some of these songs was lost between the demo and the WHO version. The other band members were broadly quite lucky in a way in that Pete presented them with largely finished songs for them to maybe changes parts to, but he'd done most of the hard work. In other bands I imagine there are more gaps in the demos whereas in the Who it appears the band members were largely able to listen to all the demos first and pick and choose their favourite tracks to record. The high quality of Petes demos was confirmed in the recent "Classic Albums - Whos Next " TV programme where his demo backing track for Won't Get Fooled was lifted from the demo to the final Who version. Petes home recording of parts of Quadrophenia and the Tommy film soundtrack also backs this up.
Amongst the new tracks on the album are three featuring the excellent string arrangements by Petes father in law that we are familiar with from Street in the City on the "Rough Mix" Ronnie Lane collaboration album. In Streets Mr Astley (sorry have forgotten his christian name) made the accompanying strings sound like the ebb and flow of people in a busy London street, the black cabs and the red buses and also like the old crashing Fleet Street printing presses. On this album he creates the feeling of a huge river Buddha is crossing in the track "the Ferry man" which feels very majestic with a part sung part narrated vocal track from PT and in Praying the Game (not a particular favourite ) there is another great accompanying string arrangement."Football Fugue" is an unusual track once again with the same string accompaniment which is sort of a mix of an anti football hooliganism song mixed up with images of an orchestra talking about the cellist being fouled and the conductor must be blind. Its a strange mix which I'm not entirely sure works as a concept but it sounds good.
A complete contrast is "Driftin Blues" which I think was recorded at the "Townshend kitchen table" just Pete and his acoustic guitar. A great unaccompanied blues song, just Pete and his guitar with some great lyrics - a great one to sing at work when you are feeling worthless beaten defeated demotivated and demoralised. Petes family life also intrudes into this tape in the form of the Viscious interlude when he interupts recording a demo to tell one of his children off.Its quite funny.
There are some great instrumentals on this tape - never previously released - Prelude #556 and also Baroque Ippanese which I think was named in tribute to the victims of a ship sinking and it is a very majestic evocative song which conjures up images of a large sailing boat racing through the waves, the sails flapping, dolphins darting on front of the bow blazing sun making rainbows in the bow waves.etc Theres a great acoustic version of Pete singing Begin the Beguine which is a great performance from him, sung with a lot of feeling, Pete says this was one of Meher Babas favourite songs, Theres also the demo of "Christmas " from the Tommy album which I really like as this has always been one of my favourite Tommy tracks.
See how I am skipping backwards and forwards through Petes career ? This is what is so great about this tape. It encourages you to look at Petes songs and his career as a whole rather than in isolated album sized chunks. A song I have fallen desperately in love with is "Never Ask Me" This is a track that was submitted to Frank Sinatra for him to record but he never did (DOH !) although to be fair to Frankie it probably wasn't him who chose not to record the song, probably was his producer at the time Quincy Jones. What the heck does Quincy Jones know about selecting songs for multi million selling albums anyhow?!!! next you'll be telling me he produced one of the top selling albums of all time e.g Thriller.Its a great song with great lyrics and a fab melody . oh and the guitar solos great too. Another brill song is the Shout which is one of the best songs Townshend has ever written. A gently drifting reflective sort of song. The sort of song you'd play at the end of a great gig as a way of sending people home with a smile in their hearts. 2 other highlights are Cat Snatch and Ask Yourself both from Petes abandoned "Siege" project which might have been the Whos album after Its hard. Cat Snatch has a repeating underlying hypnotic bass rhtyhm / part that remind me of a track called Marakesh that was on the WOMAD album that Petes Ascension 2 track was on, but it is different from it . Ask Yourself has a great echoey feel to it with great noise build ups and tension which are resolved and a series of confused feelings type questions. I've really not described it very well at all but it is very good and features a really nice gentle lead out. Which is where I will sign off. More Pete info is available on www.petetownshend.com. I am sometimes in the sites chat room - maybe our minds will touch one day.Review date 26-01-2000
More... I really didn't describe some of the above tracks very well so I forced the surrogate to listen to the tape today so I could listen in.The Shout is a drum machine/ acoustic guitar type of feel with great Pete lyrics about lost love and a nice sort of open loose feel to it. Lovely. Ask Yourself is quite a musically over whelming song. Layers of notes are thrown at the listener erm .... its a bit like,,,, imagine if you were pushing your way down through a busy street against a flow of people you know like Bury St Edmunds on Market Day or say Oxford Street (in London) and your pushing against these "strangers" who are all actually yourself and they are shouting questions at you (the songs lyrics) and you have to get to the end of the street, you have brief respites from the pressure of the crowd when you get in into a door way for a while. but basically that is what this song is all about - I think.
I forgot to mention - Kids Are Alright - there is a really great tape drop in on this version emphasising the home recording aspect of this demo which I think is really great. Holly like Ivy is another great song, Girl in a suitcase is a bit dubious but also very easy to sing along to and I forgot to mention Brooklyn Kids which is a sad, chilling song about a rich girl in New York and a poor kid from the streets who chats her up , but its a bit nasty as the song ends with him in a prison cell - "pick up didn't go quite as he planned " ie. there is an implied rape. A well written though chilling song. This song also features the excellent talents of Petes father in law who creates an image of skyscrapers, Central park etc. His name is TED ASTLEY - I have looked it up. He is a very talented chap.
This album was released in 1987 and was proceeded by "Scoop". Imagine if you had say a favourite painter or a playwright and you were able to look through their sketch books and note books to look at their creative process. Thats what these albums are like. Pete writes funny self mocking notes on the albums inlay about the songs, how and where they were recorded and the whole effect of the "package (!)" is very uplifting, Rumour control has it that Scoop 3 is in preparation can't wait.... Review Update 28-01-2000
Update : I SPOKE TO PETE TOWNSHEND TODAY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 24-02-2000
The chat board on the official site has shut and I have opened one on www.ukmajortom.demon.co.uk/theshout.html 25-03-2000
Babylon 5 - music by Christopher Franke
Babylon 5 - music by Christopher Franke"The Babylon Project
was our last best hope for Peace
....... it failed !
and so it begins, the opening narrative of, what was in my opinion, the greatest TV series ever made. Babylon 5 is a sci-fi series set on a space station in and around the year 2260.
Nothing is what it seems. Although in the first series it appears to be a Star Trek series, mysteries abound, there are hints and accusations, politics and fights between the various alien races living on the station and questions such as
"how, why and where did Babylon 4 disappear to?"
"why was the original station captain Jeff Sinclair chosen by one of the alien races - the Minbari - over all other candidates?"
"why did the Minbari surrender at the end of the Earth v. Minbari war just when they were about to win easily?"
"what does Ambassador Kosh (the Vorlon (= they made me)) look like???" if you listen carefully you can hear him at the end of track one.etc etc.
you'll have to watch the series's and see ! There are 5 the first three were great (3rd is the best one), the fourth one starts great and sort of tails off and the fifth is OK, but ends up being a sort of prelude for "Crusade " - the follow on series, which was dropped by the studios after the first series.
As well as the fab stories, excellent acting and amazing special effects one of the highlights of the series is the music (see I got there in the end) which was written by Christopher Franke (ex of Tangerine Dream). The music is powerful stuff lots of strong climax and loud strident bits as well as the more quieter sections. Some of the pieces are very atmospheric. I'm not sure if it works for me, cos what he has done is link together the various short musical themes in the first 3 series into 4 long pieces called Chrysalis, Mind War, Parliament of Dreams and The Geometry of Shadows. All are very good pieces but the problem for me, as per all soundtrack albums is that they tend to rely on the visual and when its not there,its a bit empty. I will need to listen to this some more. I think also I would have liked the music from series 3 played straight as it is (with narration) rather than being "cut up" and amalgamated into Geometry of Shadows, but hey ! thats just my opinion!. A "must" for Bab5 fans but non Bab5 fans might like it, but I'm not sure. more info on www.babylon5.com
review date 290500
Radiohead - Kid A
..... I am having a strange day today .... I have listened to "Kid A" for the first time ever and I don't think I have achieved sufficient "beauty" to be able to listen to it again.
it is quiet and introspective . It is unlike the previous 3 Radiohead albums in that there are no loud bangs and crashes. It is mellow. It is like the music of someone recovering from a mental breakdown, maybe someone recovering from the techo-overload "hell" of OK Computer. Part of me wants to explore and learn from these songs and part of me never wants to listen to these songs again inorder to retain the sense of mystery and excitement I am feeling .
The packaging is reminiscent of 2001 A Space Odyssey at the end where Dave Bowman is flying across the surface of the super aliens home planet at the end of the starjump, you know the landscape flying towards you, fields, mountains, skyscrapers,people with no shadows, half written illegible messages, stalactites and stalactmites, sensory overload leading to a crash.......review date 081000
Oasis - Standing on the Shoulders of Giants
this is a really great CD that my human pet got in the bargain bin at WHSmiths for only £6.99 = Bargain!
Broadly - Oasis would appear to be "out of favour" generally with the masses although they are still selling tickets/ CDs tapes etc. All bands peak and trough in popularity and while Oasis aren't as popular now as they were after Morning Glory chances are their popularity will rise again if they keep producing tapes of this high quality. Its a bit like Queen - in 1975 they were extremely popular & they carried on releasing records but their popularity seemed to be diminishing and then they release the Works in 84 and with Live Aid their popularity grew again. Same thing could happen with Oasis.
The front cover of this tape features a panoramic view over Manhattan Island (a deliberate attempt to appeal to the US market?) and on the nearest skyscraper in the foreground on the roof are five figures - Oasis?- what surely not?- Oasis admitting that skyscrapers are bigger than them? What is strange is that it is night on either side of the tape cover picture and the lights are on in the skyscrapers but in the middle the Suns shining - though not in the street below. Oh I get it - Oasis are so great that they make the Sun come out at night??
I have got to know this tape in stages as I have heard the 3 singles before - Go Let it Out, Who Feels Love and Sunday Morning Call, plus I have heard Gas Panic and F***in in the Bushes from the live double CD Familiar to Millions This is a very "Oasis" sounding CD, slightly Beatles derivative in places but not as badly as Be Here Now.The opening track is a brilliant kicking opener - featuring the speech of the Isle of Wight festival organiser swearing at the crowd for breaking the fences down (man). Its got a really good kicking drum beat with a great melodic hook (and makes a good instrumental opener on Familiar to Millions. Theres also a good guitar solo part and some really great female backing vocals to this track which sort of lift it.
"Go Let it Out" - is a "typical" Oasis sounding track. Liam is a brilliant singer and it has a nice drum beat and acoustic guitar opening with a really good bass hook. Very typical "Noel" lyrics not meaning much when you analyse them but good and easy to sing along to. Theres a little bit of Strawberry Fields type backing sounds to this a Liam was on a bus in the vid (like Magical Mystery Tour). I like this track though. "Who Feels Love" is another great track - a fave of mine on this tape. Its starts with an Indian type feel - backward guitar - "turn off your mind relax and go downstream"- but theres some really nice harmonies in this song and Liam gives a really really great performance in this song. Both in the harmonies and in the chorus his voice "steps out" and he is on his own. I like the bass hook after the chorus end which is quite simply INSPIRED. Its a bit of a hippy trippy feel for an Oasis song but it shows that they can do different things. Once again lyrics don't mean much but once again extremely sing-able-along.
"Put yer money where your mouth is" is a good ROCKER which is about .....?it has a really good "Ah" type vocal section. Its does kick and I like it for that. Its sounds like a fire alarm going off. "Little James" is Liams first recorded sing. Its a touching song about a father singing to his son (Lennon). Its got a nice feel to it although I'm not sure about the "it won't be long before everyone is gone" lines - i.e. dead?? It has a really nice recordery sounding bit and chorus.
review date 010601 - this review to be completed......The Cult - Pure Cult
The Cult - Pure Cult,, for rockers, ravers, lovers and sinners scrubbers, losers, bankers and boozers....I have to be very carefully how I spell "Pure Cult" cos by accident I may write a rude word, you know, puke. Yes well thats the only rude word I can think of. This is a sort of "greatest hits" compilation of the Cults career (another £7 Our Price special I'm afraid). Its a great album of Rock n Roll. ROCK 'N' ROLL featuring such classics as She Sells Sanctuary (... by the shea shore) Rain, Love, Spirit Walker, Revolu-shan etc.
What makes a good band good, a great band great and a legendary band legendary? A ha. The secret every record company exec wants to know. I, MajorTom knows. Its all to do with cheese you know. The Cult are a great great band who should be legendary but somehow it never happened (wrong sort of cheese lads). Maybe it was the frequent line up changes that stymied them. Ian Astbury (vocals), Billy Duffy (guitar) and Jamie Stewart (bass & keyboards) are listed as permanent members, but there have been no less than 3 other bass players, 3 other keyboard players and, get this, seven different drummers !! including my favourite Mark Brzeqzdndiazsfwezzzpfwewzzbqyqxzcxczkkapfsenaki from Big Country. Ian Astbusy has a great rock and roll voice. A sort of combination of Freddie Mercury, Jim Morrison and with the odd Robert Plant style "baby baby baby"s thrown in during songs like Love Removal Machine. Billy Duffy is a guitar demigod. A great guitarist. Billy and Ian seem to dominate the band in that its just their two faces on the back of the CD with no Jamie.Somehow the combination of Ian and Billy have not powered the Cult into U2 mega star status when at one time 1984-1985 ish they had similar numbers of fans at least in the UK, The Cult give the impression of being a band that trail blazed their way across the states on massive stadium tours and maybe they did/have but when you get people to name great British bands I doubt they will appear on the list in the top 20/30/40. (more another time)20-03-2000
REM - Automatic for the People
REM's classic album, Automatic for the People spawned 4 to 5 hit singles ; Drive, Sidewinder, Everybody Hurts, Man on the moon and I think Nightswimming was also released as a single. We have only just started listening to this tape and the singles are dominating the album for me at the moment. I find with REM songs that they don't "hit" immediately but tend to gradually grow with repeated listening on me, so no doubt if I update this review, in say a couple of months, I will talk a lot more about the other seven tracks on this brilliant tape. I write this in an extreme mood of bias towards REM. I love their music an awful lot, they are my favourite American band (closely followed by the Mavs, ZZ Top and of course - the BackStreet Boys = only kidding !!!!). This is a great album
Everybody Hurts is a great classic and its in my favourite time signature too. Theres nothing I like more at the end of the day than to come "home" and listen to something in 6/8. This track has unfortunately been overplayed by moronic radio DJs so its one of those songs that when it starts I sort of groan inwardly thinking oh no not this song again. It starts simple with a picked chord. I like this songs straight forward direct message of comfort and consolation from Stipe (makes a change for me to understand what he is singing about !) and the way this song builds up with the string accompaniment getting louder and louder to the end. It is a sign of the power of this song that it can overcome the "inward grown" factor and make me enjoy it everytime I hear it
Another great great song is Drive I don't really understand what this is aboot, but sometimes understanding is not really what REM is about. It is an unassuming song, which starts quite quietly with a really nice acoustic part and Stipes lyrics echoing in places - ( I like the tick (tick) tock (tock) echo - a nice touch). The lead guitar 6 notes that come in loud are some of the greatest six notes in musical history, giving a great kick to this song taking it from something quiet, slow & slightly contemplative to a swirling powerful anthem. I would buy this tape just for Drive and Everybody Hurts.
Sidewinder and Man in the moon are once again, great singles although I get a bit irritated by their wordiness sometimes and to be honest have not really understood what Sidewinders apparent cryptic meaning is (if there is one). I find Stipes obscurity a bit annoying sometimes, but that said, I do love his singing style and I've seen him interviewed and he comes across as a nice solid sort of bloke.
Nightswimming is lovely , full of images to me about the subject with a nice flowing piano part (like the river). A sort of song about a "private" moment that is being shared with friends/ someone special. A nice relaxed feel to this song.
thats it, theres a comet coming this way I really want to see, more another time - majortom
review date 150500
Page and Plant - Walking into Clarksdale
Page and Plant - Walking Into ClarksdaleI hate Page and Plant and I think Led Zep are CRAP !!
(not really :-))
Some monsters are very scary and dangerous like the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park that you wish would have bitten off the heads of those bratty American kids in the film (they survive unfortunately) and some monsters are terrfingly beautiful and worthy of worship (you know like King Kong - not sure on the beautiful bit!) Walking into Clarksdale is a "monster" album of the latter sort. Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and two very talented musicians - Charlie Jones (bass) and Michael Lee (Drums) have made a monster of an album that grows and grows with repeated listening. It is truly magnificent and brilliant. This tape will obviously appeal to Zep fans but also I think non Zep fans will like it
There are twelve tracks on this tape - all new. The album starts with Shining in the light which has a great chorus, well sung by Robert with some really good strong - jang jang jang - type chords from Jimmy Page at the start of the chorus. Some nice strings as well.The electric guitar sound at the start sounds a bit "muddy" on the first couple of strums but it picks up. A good opening number. Theres some great acoustic guitar playing on this track which I love.
A highlight for me is Most High. Page and Plant have an excellent knack of playing a Moroccan/ Egyptian/ North African type groove thing which doesn't sound at all lame or contrived but sounds brilliant with excellent instrumentation & North African instruments accompanying the band. A great drumming rhythm throughout. A true rock classic which keeps getting turned up louder and louder everytime I hear it. It swirls me away and in my mind picture I am racing across the Sahara touching every grain of sand as I go. What I like about this track is the way you can help Robert out at the end of the song with a couple of well placed "baby-baby-baby-baby-baby-baby"s if you are for example, bored and stuck in a traffic jam on the M25......... again
I suppose my favourite track is Blue Train.When I first listened to it, I was stuck on the M25 - (W. Europes largest car-park) - in the pouring rain, hemmed in by lorry drivers (add your comments about lorry drivers here ............)
By a coincidence - or maybe it isn't ?- the windscreen wipers on the car were perfectly timed to the beat of this song and it basically tied in with how I was feeling at the time.The bass work on this track is lovely. Roberts singing is excellent and it builds to a great powerful climax with brilliant playing throughout. I have had to make some difficult decisions recently and this song perfectly encapsulates my mood and some of the confusion I have been feeling. It is too beautiful for words. Listen to it. Its slightly melancholy as the title suggests.
There are some strange lyrics on this album. The slightly thrashy "ill formed" final track on this tape - Sons of Freedom talks about Robert getting so scared, he wet the bed - yeah right - rock God R.Plant wetting the bed ..... and in Burning up it sounds like he's burning up ....... like a bonking mule??????
When I was a child is a gentle song,very nicely played by all and excellently sung. Robert has a really fab voice and there are great lyrics in this song with child like imagery. When the World was young is another true classic rock song with great lyrics. I also love Please Read the Letter which for some reason makes me think it has a sort of late 60s (1967-8) sort of feel to it. Its good. A bit poppy. Nice
Walking into Clarksdale has a sort of "incongrous" feel to it. It feels a bit clumsy and once again - great lyrics from Robert who was obviously eating the right sort of cheese when it came to writing the lyrics for this fab album. You know, probably a nice mature cheddar. Theres a really good climbing arpeggio type opening riff before the sort of incongrous bit. Nice bass beating out the sound of the train on the tracks. The tension builds up in the verse to be resolved by Jimmys once strummed chords. The lyrics sort of tie in with how I feel right now "sad to be leaving...."
House of Love is another great track with a superb "swampy" riff from Jimmy, and once again magnificent drumming. A great rock track that is instantly likeable.
Heart in your hand is another nice track. A slow one. Jimmy plays very open chords that sound like the American prairies. Great lyrics from Robert about lost love and regret.
Upon a golden horse is my favourite track. Its a real stormbringer of a song. Jimmys chords are magnificent and powerful and conjure up images of a massive storm over the North Sea smashing through the sea defences and flooding the land (the Fens). For me, its an important image. Time to move on. The track starts with a decending bass "scale" which as a teaser to this tracks magnificence. There is a very special way that string players play, which you only hear on Led Zep albums. I imagine that Robert Plant keeps them freeze dried in a special capsule he wears on his necklace to release them out to the world on special magnificent occasions as on this track. They are here in full force - the magnificent Led Zep string players - adding to this tracks brilliance. Robert is singing for his life as the waves crash in....
you know sometimes the right album comes along at the right time and it means more to you than it really should. Well this is one of those albums for me. Its a pivotal album for me, just as Radiohead the Bends was when I was being bullied at work . It is magnificent. Very highly recommended. I can't stop listening to it !!!!( I have seen them live a couple of times and they are brill) review date 160500
I keep forgetting to mention, an excellent Page & Plant/ Led Zep web site is at www.linwood.demon.co.uk updated 110600U2 - All That You Can't Leave Behind....
I have just listened to this tape for the first time ever. I love U2's music & so will listen to this tape many many times & will no doubt fall in love with the tracks. My initial impressions are favourable. It is a nice melodic album with 3 tracks that really kick - New York, Beautiful Day and Elevation. I have heard the first 3 tracks (Beautiful Day, Stuck in a Moment, Elevation) before so instantly liked these when I heard them this time, although to be honest I didn't particularly like Stuck in a Moment the first couple of times I heard it as I didn't like the "steppy" chorus but I like it now. The other tracks are nice and melodic. I need to listen to them much more. I look forward to "exploring" this tapes music in more detail over the coming months. My current fave track is Elevation. review date 120301
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Live Long and Prosper from Major Tom
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