Judas Priest
British Steel 1980 An early chapter in the mammoth catalogue of the Judas Priest story, British Steel presents for the first time some of the most well known and favoured tracks by this classic band. DJs in rock venues the world over know how important it is to play Living After Midnight shortly after the clock tells the story, at least every now and then. But we don't get to that track straight away, one of the things about listening to early work is that we get all the stuff we don't know in between what we're listening for. A dualistic album experience happens sometimes, when we buy it for that song we already like. The cover shows a razor blade, engraved with the Judas Priest logo and British Steel underneath, a symbol of electric current underlines the words Judas Priest - steel, being a conductive composite, it makes a lot of sense. Metal music does that, its name is apt, that electrifying sensation of heavy metal makes us move and it allows us to forget the feelings of the moment. The faster and angrier it gets, the less catchy it gets, and Judas Priest sit nice and comfortably on the pleasant side of this type of music. Rapid Fire sounds a lot of fun to play on the guitar, the twin guitar sound performed by KK Downing and Glen Tipton is a key element of this rock n' roll, heavy metal sound. Perhaps now they have made some music, toured it around the world, their ability to create is just that little bit better, and they're letting us know. The drumming is also extremely powerful, and it makes the song happen as the rhythm pulls the riffs into their place even when the franticness of the sound makes it hard to distinguish where we're supposed to be on the tab sheet. Metal Gods sounds to me like what happens when we make art, something occurs once it is out there. We as artists cannot be held responsible for the interpretations others make of it, but we also see it, we find reflections of it, and people who openly talk about it can say things we never expected or even intended to hear. Letting go of it doesn't mean it doesn't make you think next time, and this song is something perhaps they wrote as a little reminder. We follow with a real classic, Breaking The Law. It is one of the most asked for tracks, one of the most easy to sing, play, and understand. We've all been angry and it is just about that feeling that makes us want to go and do something illegal. A call out to the inner anarchist in us that revels in the idea of it. For me, it's not a happy song, nor is it something I can actually identify with, but the lyrics make it easy to be in those shoes. It is a great piece of art, and perhaps lets us feel like we would for just a moment, so we can connect with our conscience. Who knows? That's what I get from it. We next get a short and angry number called Grinder, and perhaps this is what we get if we do actually break the law and rob a bank like what the music video to Breaking The Law suggests. They do it with their instruments though, so the metaphor perhaps is the money they made by selling millions of records.. Maybe being rich brings its new set of problems, a complete change in attitude to life would probably be required, everything we may have been brought up to hate suddenly looks totally different now, i.e. investments, shares, accountants, lawyers etc. Again, another famous name track with United, it's been played in football stadiums around the country, where ever the word United happens to be in the name. I can tell you there are many of them. It's a real sensation when the chorus kicks in, even if we don't really go for the sports scene. Many metal fans love football though, the two themes mix quite well it seems. The whole group element, cheering for the people who make you happy (hopefully), but where as a band don't have opposition as such, there are other bands who want to be number one at the same time as you. It's OK if you don't mind what number you are, but after my analysis of the first few tracks, I'd make a guess that they did mind. Band rivalry is something that is talked about a lot in the media, but I think most of it is for show. One more to go until Living after Midnight, and it's You Don't Have To Be Old To Be Wise, which is just a simple truth of life, it is experience that makes us wise and we get that by living life to the most we can. Once again it draws on matters of the conscience, and it shows that they don't have any regrets about what they have achieved, and they are on their own journey. The Rage, a song about anger, and about trying to take our mind off of it by any means other than the right one which is to face our pain and let it go. Facing pain and stopping the lies to ourselves is something that everyone does but I guess if they have got a career in Judas Priest, it's another level. Working hard for passion and art has its drawbacks as well as its benefits. The original album comes to a swift close with Steeler, a hard rock smash through of riffage and power chords, bashed together with some frankly fantastic drumming. It reminds us of those people who will take advantage of us and pretend to be our friends. Few and far between, but they do exist. Once we have the money ,we become a target I would suppose. We need to be wise if we are rich. Being wise is enough, for me. I hope to get there someday.
Ozric Tentacles
Arborescence Dovetail Records 1994 Classic space rock punchy rockster instrumental music that rips the silence open like a swirling firework dominates the core of what this band is all about. Their throws of thrash and psychedelic infused driving blues makes a funky rhythm the basis for manic and frantic musicianship that frills the desire to shake your head. Absolute grooves are crafted via the sheer force of continuation of rhythm despite the band's best efforts to spiral out of control. Astro-Cortex chucks everything at us, the whole force of the band creates a wall of sound that instantly makes us sit up and become aware of the depth and variation in the fluid music. Yog-Bar-Og takes a more paced route to the same destination. New sounds and interesting synths make a rich display of atmosphere which is being played with in its then infant days, as the power of the sound manipulation device had reached a clear new age. Traditional band members compete for airtime as the dominating synths create wave after wave of fresh perspective on the delicate and well scored sonics that underpin the frills and crashes produced by electronic additives. Not even the rarely heard vocalist is spared from the distorted effects of studio wizardry. The title track, Arborescence, is a much simpler piece again. A gentle keyboard melody accompanies some drifting dreamlike birdsong and guitars crisp the edges as they swoop in on the feathered wings of sound. Making room for peace but not giving space to silence, a gentle boat ride down a summer stream would be the perfect setting to this mysterious escape from the thrills of psychedelic space rock. Chunky bass sets the tone for something a little more dark wave with the onset of Al-Salooq, and sure enough, a paced digital melody cuts the break before a fun and playful eastern sounding frolic whisks us into the night of lantern light and colourful scenes. Within a handful of a few bars, a familiar guitar begins to strum the classic progressions Ozric Tentacles are known for, to accompany this variant of synthesised and tonic underscore. This mainly instrumental album is able to hold our attention and focus by the nature of being complex. Although the pace is regular and the keys seems to flow from one to the other with expert skill, so much attention is given to the things that go on behind the predictable nature rock music needs to have. Everything but the beat is totally unique to this band, and even by the time we reach the last few tracks, the sound is still fresh. We instantly know who this band is from their selections of tone and effect but what they produce is always new, original and recognisable are not easy to carry off, but this band do it well enough to still be making albums today.
:Of the Wand & The Moon
Nightimes Nightrhymes 1999 Heiðrunar Myrkrunar A crushed tone and slight compression on organic guitars and pianos marks the sombre element which cues the onset of whispered poetry, affirmations of self abstraction, and enchanting musings of lyrical strangeness. Violins begin to accompany the breeze, they push forward like a soft wind in the sail and gently glide us onward and deeper into this mysterious oceanic album. The word is ghostly, and it doesn't take long before we're given a tingle down the spine with some very poignant but indecipherable reverse lyrics. We can't make out what he whispers anyway, without really straining our ears. Maybe this is the idea, a mirror of the hidden voices that sneak in our subconscious wisdom while we're enjoying the big picture. As the album builds, more instruments and higher levels of waveform are applied to make a more wholesome and fulfilled sound. The build up likes to take its time over several tracks, and to what? Further distorting experiences of a dark and gloomy nature, that's what. Everything seems to get very odd. Luckily the familiar sounding strum of a folk guitar throws us a lifeline. This is atmosphere music, the clouds form and brew over steady frost bitten fields of human comparisons and crags. Before we can get totally lost, a haunting pipe melody grabs us by the hand and dances with us. It's sad, and the light is dim. Perhaps nearing the end of days, or the end of an era of prosperity, Raven Chant is a beautiful and emotional plea to some energy of divinity. Heard or not, heeded or not, the presence of this song is a gift by itself. The bird of change, it is asking for an alteration in life to allow the new waters to flow in. A totally different direction to the previous death metal work under the name of Saturnus, Danish composer Kim Larson has crafted a beautiful and tragically moving sound that might not tingle all the senses but it grabs us in the gut and takes us out of ourselves for a moment. Darkness in a beautiful package, or beauty in a package of darkness, what ever the case, it's worth the experience.
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Fleetwood Mac
Rumours Warner Brothers 1977 The eleventh album, made after a progression of leaps into stardom, and cut backs to the band, perhaps Rumours marks the pinnacle moment when everything came together. A disk of hit after hit, the moments between the songs themselves seem to be just right. It's not that it's formulated, or made to fit a narrow audience, that's the easy way to be loved. The professional way, the superstar way is to do something totally you, but do it so well that it defines itself. It takes a long time to get to this point, and eleven albums sounds about right. Second Hand News is the opening track, and if we think about it, unless we were there ourselves, it is always second hand. Making something new is to add something of our own. Maybe this opener uses the style of previous albums and shows us that the sound is still there. A simple rock n roll bass driven jumpy number, it's easy to relax into the album with happy stuff like this. Dreams just takes that edge from the razor and melts the ice a bit, feeling like a rainy day, mentions of thunder and disillusionment set the scene for an anti-ballad. We do love our sad songs, and when they're in the mix it makes the scope of the whole just that little bit wider. I think maybe when we are exposed to the human sadness like this, it helps to reassure listeners that these artists are for real. Marketeers and commercially minded people are nearly always fake happy, and shallow. Being able to artistically open our hearts and remain therapeutic is a skill. Some bluesy folk acoustic jingles sweep away the tears with a playful and childish melody of Never Going Back Again, and it can feel like a release from jail when we change the way we look at it. Yesterday's Gone brings the gear up again. If Dreams was reverse, this must be second. The optimism of effort and time combined makes good listening material. We're reminded that it's okay to feel sad about the past but not to lose hope about the future. The clutch comes down and now we are getting somewhere. Go Your Own Way makes us realise that walking in the footsteps of others may be easy but we don't get to be a leader, a pioneer, or anything unique. At some point we have to move into third and then fourth for the solo, and really make waves with what we want to do. When we have expended our energy, wait for the tide and then when the timing is right, do it all again. Following our own lead, our own thunder, is the good way to make sure we get as far out as we can with what we want to do. You know when the car is going so fast, on the motorway, and everything seems to change. A new kind of peaceful resonance sweeps over us and although we are going faster than we have been previously, the atmosphere is that of calm and ordered consideration. A graceful piano background makes the framework for some strummed steel and a gorgeous declaration of eternal love. It's a bit sad, too, as we just don't know quite what is going to happen between these two. It has a hint of last chapter about it. I guess things are not built to last forever no matter how many nails we bash into them, and we must continually make efforts to fix, amend, and restore when ever anything begins to show signs of entropy. These things happen, and many hands make light work, so when we're talking about a couple, then it can understandably get very hard wearing. The Chain is a reminder that once we have worked so hard then it's really tough to let go. You Make Loving Fun is that get well soon fix that says we mustn't forget that we are merely fools in the grand design of astronomy and love, so not to lose that extra something of your own that creates the unique glow we get when spending time with our loved ones. Watering ourselves down or stripping off the extras can make us a bit of a soft drink. OK for lunchtime I suppose, or if we are driving at 70mph. I think we've hit a turning somewhere, I definitely sense a B road with green fields as the album takes us on the slow and windy journey back home.
Pete Namlook and Tetsu Inoue
62 Eulengasse Fax +49-69/450464 1995 Abstract uses of the sampled pulse make a delicious recipe for echoes and verbs that swirl around melodic phrase like clouds of wave compression. Using the computer to manipulate sound and play with its deliverance onto the loudspeaker is the basis for all electronic music, and yet in this early beginning of the new era of synthetic music, many experimental themes were called upon to discover what these processes really could achieve. Pete Namlook and his companions through the stages of his career have been instrumental in the pioneering work involved with ambient. Taking steps up from masterminds such as Eno ,Tangerine Dream, and Vangelis, pushing limits further into the outfield with new powerful software and processors is always in the background, and modern artists continue this ascent today. Drawn out lounges of pushed and effected noise make melodious playthings of our auditory world. The album creates a new world for us, an in the way the notes and colourful expressions of them greet us and interact with us on the inside, we are brought to a peaceful and splendid place in which ghosts and living folk join together in our mental experience. It could well be a slice of heaven, on a CD. As the atmosphere shifts into a rhythmic and tribal area, wooden taps and insect replications merge with the cosmic feels from before, to join the two places of peace in a harmonious handshake, across time and space. This is an album to listen to in those tired and motionless states, where we wish to fill the silence, allow ourselves to travel in a daydream, or just do some work in a peaceful way that doesn't lead to stress. Timeless music for its time, can't tread on a classic album, sound, or a decent effort.
In The Woods
Omnio Misanthropy Records 1997 When composer and guitarist Tchort left Green Carnation to become a part of the Emperor family, the surviving members of that original death metal band went on to form the now acclaimed In The Woods. Omnio being their second studio release, having established their sound previously with Heart of the Ages, a melodic and folk based scoring supports frills of hard rock and speed metal licks which keep surprising us in regular crescendos. Mixing of male and female vocals give a dualistic delivery that manages to associate with a full spectrum of human feeling. The emotional element of this music cannot be denied. There is beauty and honour for the human condition, the exploration of passion and sensation is revelled in, the journey of life is depicted within the sound of the guitar and drum. A leading guitar slices with avant garde accuracy as a melodic and dirge like grip of music overtakes the pulses of driven rhythm. Truly music for the heart, the sensational elements keep growing, and the progression takes us into the heights of something quite enjoyable, intense, and dearly beloved. There's nothing particularly scary or deathly about the sound, which is an unusual blessing as it gives us hardcore fans a chance to experience the sound without having our brains washed by the depression brigade. The epic power and sheer forward drive that qualifies this music to be in this genre is met with a glittering magic, similar to something from a musical or a film soundtrack. Gothic crunches of distorted guitars mean we get to move our body to the swelling of the rock n roll, the synaesthetic appreciation of the melodic guitar gives the colour of sound so many flavours. Quality drumming with remarkable use of double kick, smash perhaps are toned down in the mix more than usual for this type of thing, the main stage is taken up by the vocals. It's all drama and show, with lots of genuine feels to give it credibility.
Queen 1
Legacy Album Review EMI A rock n roll debut revels on the turntable as the stylus of the day would run its sensitive pinprick over the slight abstractions of the otherwise flat surfaced vinyl recording. Keep Yourself Alive rings true for all of us, as we are living beings with needs, and these always come first. Before they were famous, they didn't forget this vital truth about remembering who we really are. A classic guitar lick which sounds so familiar to many others, we just know what we're getting and it's a real treat. The mood turns down a tone, and the balladeering tones of Doing All Right suggest a tender edge to the otherwise hardened and happy living cutting side of their sceptre. A musical score and compositional flow builds into something much more meaty once the initial yoke has been poured. The mood remains but the outward push is that of passion and fire. Anyone who likes the delivery of Meatloaf from the slightly later era, will really understand where this track is coming from, and going to. A feedback loop starts the next track, only for a moment, but it tells us that the introspectiveness is over. Lyrics about an outlaw and a drumbeat to match the sound of galloping horses mean a much more metal feel can be heard growing from its acorn. Solo fills and fast paced word delivery with wailing key-bends to compliment choruses, a gear change after the centre section and repetitions of curiously haunting passages of new but familiar wordings, everything meets in the middle of our mind and says enjoy. We're given a demonstration of some miraculous musicianship over the next few bars, as vocals and piano key work harmoniously yet independently to produce a really stunning display of sound. All directions of our audible sensitivities are tested as the short and snappy number rockets past, making way for Liar. Acknowledging the human side and establishing a clear message of no one is perfect, the song pours with affirmations of personal desire to improve self and no longer be a slave to certain vices. It also says a clear and absolute statement that they are on the right side of humanity, and anyone who says otherwise is indeed a liar. Who ever knows the story of Queen will be able to tell which of them managed to undertake this vital journey. I think they all did, in their own way. When The Night Comes Down, a brief melodic interphase ensures that we're not too far into the clouds that we've forgotten that we're here to express feelings for all and not just about our personal demons. An artist is able to merge the two together quite often, and Queen as a band have done this well with a lot of their work. Again the heat is turned up and only after a few dreary moments of catering for the sullen, the music takes a motorised sense of pace once more. Revs of guitar fuelled engines of rock n roll sweep past like trees on the motorway of sound. We're going faster than those guys, this is Queen in the early days, doing it like no one else before. Bohemian Rhapsody may be the most famous and internationally played track of theirs, thanks to the classic Wayne's World film, but this album and its finisher, the Seven Seas of Rhye, perhaps make this one of the most in need of rebalancing. So here it is, Queen 1.
Ulrich Schnauss
Far Away Trains Passing By City Centre Offices Music 2001 Dreamy synthesised electro beats pulsate like many joining rivers in a bath of reverb. Tiny steps forward in echo, warmth from slight variable distortions give the final layer, and the drive is underway. The music doesn't stop at the distant trains, the passive and abstract psychology of each track hits home in our very core, like the wheels crushing the steel railings, wavering the earth in slow but meaningful micro-quakes, harmless to the sturdiness of architecture, but chaotic to the stillness on the waters. The first album from the German sound engineering magician sets the scene for all later work, and as a foundation, the stone is perfectly set. The shimmering flesh of the abstract and moving pieces become gently washed with sampled vocal lines and effected poetry. It all slides into our ears and lays itself in our mind like little lost loving memories. With an absoluteness to the music sitting within clouds of imaginings, it can be taken in as a whole, or listened with other things, and most importantly, we can move from one listening phase to another. There's no real story telling involved, and the album doesn't need to be absorbed like a theatrical performance, but if we choose to give ourselves its full attention, there will be no disappointments. So many electro albums need us to really dig our heels in and listen in order to appreciate the work involved, but the pleasantness of Schnauss is instantly rewarding and once we know it, we can recognise his music anywhere.
Nirvana
Bleach Sub Pop 1989 Debut albums rarely do as well as this one, and after only two months of work in the Seattle studio, and countless gigs and a few weeks of strict rehearsing, Nirvana crept onto the main stream market with a defining yet stand-alone sounding release. Grunge made punk look old fashioned, and in the process reinvented the feeling of angst for a new generation. Heavy, dirty, slightly out of focus riffs slapped like first coat paint over steady drumming emulates that ramshackle yet determined fire that keeps us going while everything is changing around us. Kurt Cobain, famous for his suspicious suicide and an unstoppable teen spirit, had been out of luck and when finding a deal with Sub Pop open to him and the band, decided to rework the Nirvana sound to satisfy their doomy grunge direction. This is perhaps why the other work by this band is not quite so discordant. Lyrics which are reportedly written in moments of high emotion only hours before the release make the energy something very precise. Unfiltered moments of frustration are what make grunge work. Opening with bass and melody, the droning Cobain begins the vocals within moments of the first bar. A chorus with a question, a statement, and a complaining attitude make it instantly accessible to anyone who is having trouble with getting on with life. Emotional immaturity but with intense passion for integrity, makes a dualistic mirror in the forward motion of the music. No Recess! It's hard work making music, and for a big production. There is no playtime when there is work to be done, but with “Love Buzz” it all comes together as we see that work and play are the same thing. We are adults now, and we do what we enjoy, which is of course productive and pleasurable in one. Even in the boring bits, a small reminder that this is a musicians prerogative is enough to keep the energy adequate. It is on tour when the real work begins, and for the time being, during the making of this album, such a thing was still a fantasy for the low key young adults with a band. They'd have done shows, and big ones, but touring the world is a different job entirely. The knowing of what is on the horizon would no doubt have been in the essence of the song writing, that eager awaiting which holds the fingers to the fretboard in the times of little faith. A distinguished album, with over a million sold on initial release, Bleach makes Nirvana who they are, with continual guide from this to that, as we listen to their whole career, and then that of Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters, who clearly has carried the torch for his friend since those days.
Osamu Kitajima
Benzaiten 1974 Since learning to play multiple instruments as a child, and making a small living from writing jingles for television adverts, Osamu Kitajima moved to Britain and became exposed to the folk acid rock scene. Having been a great period for music, after the huge blossom of sounds which began in the 1960s, by 1970 a well established alternative scene had been formed. Fusion of Japanese technicalities of form with a backbone made of traditional folk timings, Benzaiten pays homage to the mythical god of music and water with the same name. Japanese folklore contains many wonderful beings which represent nature, and for me the link between music and water being one of a divine nature rings true. Previous to Benzaiten, Osamu had released an album under the name “Justin Heathcliff”, wishing to sound as British as possible, following influence from The Beatles, Tyrannosaurus Rex and Syd Barrett. This album is now a collectors classic, as the talented Japanese man reissued his real name to front his later material. The music itself is almost mantra like in its maximum and has qualities of breezing air when at its minimum. The instruments, especially the percussion section, give the sound a feeling of the Japanese culture but in the way it is produced, the safety zone Is always within reach. Briging new sounds and musical devices, scales, modes and so forth, into popular music requires a bit of bridge building. Osamu Kitajima managed this with his work. Many have been influenced by the oriental and eastern sounding direction that we were given forty years ago, and every genre of music almost has found a use for at least something from this type and period of sound. The live performances of this album would have been a true pleasure to witness, and listen to. Lucky we have the recording of the studio work, as the rareness of this sort of thing means not everyone will be given the chance to enjoy. |
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