Talk Talk Talk Talk
One of those typical eighties bands, with lots of songs that are carved in the brains of those who grew up in the eighties: Such a Shame, It's My Life, Dum Dum Girl, Life's What You Make It... Mark Hollis was your typical weirdo, a somewhat unworldly guy who penned the most beautiful songs and sometimes accompanied them by funny videos. I don't mind at all hearing one of his songs on the radio every now and then, but a whole album of them (being it a Best Of or anything else), is just a tad too much. A good album, but I hardly ever listen to it.
Talking Heads Gosh, well, it was a bit hard choosing between all those good Talking Heads albums, and I read a lot of good things about this live double album, so I got this. But I wasn't really convinced. I mean, it's a good live album, the band plays tight, there's enough variation, you even got some famous people playing and singing along (Adrian Belew, Nona Hendryx), but the album never begged to be played again. Good, but not much more than that.
Anyone who went through their teenage years in the eighties must remember David Byrne moving around spastically on stage in his big white suit. At least, that's the first that comes to my mind when thinking of the Talking Heads and Stop Making Sense. Unfortunately, I've heard most of the songs on this album way too often, and I've had an overdose of His Weirdness David Byrne, and I can't listen to this anymore without being irritated. It's a good album, of course, and Psycho Killer is only one of the many classics on this live recording. So, four stars, because I'm benevolent, and for old times' sake.
The Tall Dwarfs Weird music. Lo-fi avant la lettre, an album worth getting alone for the artwork, with soup cans all over the cover and a scary two-headed monster on the back, and a typical Flying Nun insert with more weird artwork, lyrics, and letters of the 'critics' (= fans). Canned Music is some sort of D.I.Y. record, recorded at home, sometimes experimental and completely strange, sometimes going back to pure pop music. It takes a while to get into the album, to get used to all the extraordinary instruments, structures and the bare sound, but once you are past that, there are gems to discover. Opener Canopener is one of those highly strange songs, just a tape of someone talking and a simple melody. Beauty on the other hand is a pure pop song, with an intensity reminding me of the early Chills... and of course there are parallels between the Tall Dwarfs and the Chills. This Room Is Wrong is another chilling pop song, repetitive and entrancing. Walking Home is again more experimental, very sober and simple. Turning Brown and Torn in Two has one of the strangest beats I've ever heard, hypnotizing and dark, with a beautiful vocal line over it. Woman has a wonderful contrast between a raw and brutal guitar, and a beautiful and melodious one. A raw and simple song with just those guitars and vocals. Shade for Today is a magnificent closer, a pure and simple and short acoustic song with supercooled vocals which make me shiver all over. And then it's over before you know it. An album asking a bit of effort to get into it, but once you are there, you are rewarded handsomely.
More weird music. More weird and beautiful artwork. This album has more of a consisent sound throughout the album than Canned Music had, and was recorded in a real studio and not at home, but the Tall Dwarfs still are as strange and obstinate and funny and self-willed as they wre back in 1983. Dogma starts out very strange with Lurlene Bayliss. It took me a while to realize that this actually was Chris Knox, I thought it was some stuff they taped somewhere, and put it over some strange noises. But slowly I started to hear the New Zealand accent, and started to realize that maybe it was Chris Knox... did some research and yes. I read that most people hate this 'song', but I like it. The human beatbox, all the strange noises, the screeching (guitar?)... it all adds to the atmosphere. Waltz of the Good Husband is a jangling waltz with a very sinister atmosphere, reminding me of the score of the Italian series La Piovra. The Slide is the classic of this album, a song with very dark lyrics and more than beautiful guitarwork. Cant is yet another pure and simple song with lyrics full of wisdom, and nothing more than some percusion, vocals, a dulcimer (!!) and some organs. The song ends with a bunch of feedback to go right into Dog, another highlight on this album with sarcastically funny lyrics, lots of guitars (even an inaudible one) which make this a long, hypnotic and very danceable piece of music. Brilliant. After all this noise, the closer Missed Again treats us to beautiful acoustic guitars, a splendid melody and endearing unison vocals. Wish we had more time/To get across all of the things that we've missed/But we'll leave them for some other day. I just love simple and beautiful and truthful lyrics like this.
TC Matic Back in the eighties I used to like T.C. Matic and Arno, but now I have outgrown this. T.C. Matic's third album Choco comes with a few very strong singles, sparse in instrumentation, with Arno's typical 'European' lyrics (a mix of different languages), Jean-Marie Aerts' efficient guitar-playing and a very strong rhythm section (If You Wanna Dance, Dance If You Don't Don't, Ha Ha, and Putain Putain, one of the best T.C. Matic songs ever), but the other songs on this album don't reach this standard of quality. They have added new elements to their music (a bit of world music for example), and the slow and threatening L'amour n'est pas avec moi and the noisy but spacey Being Somebody Else definitely are worth listening to, but other than that I don't find many songs worth mentioning here.
The Tea Party Where to begin with this? Maybe with some key words: strong vocals, varied instrumentation, eastern influences, emotionally heavy... not to mention The Doors and Led Zeppelin. What I like about this album as that it is intense, strong and dark. And that is what I also don't like about this album, because it's so intense and dark that listening to it tends to bring me down. This band has discovered the wealth of Asian and African music and instruments, and introduces a plethora of exotic sounds on The Edges of Twilight, going from the obvious sitar and djembe to more unfamiliar instruments like the santoor, sarod, hurdy-gurdy, saz and much more. Absolute highlight of this album is Sister Awake, with a gentle intro with acoustic guitars, sitar and restrained vocals, lots of tempo changes going from occidentally hurried to orientally relaxed. This is one of the tracks with the most influences from all over the world, in rhythm and instrumentation as well as in vocals. Another one is The Bazaar, a pulsating rhythm mixed with frantic guitars, evocations of the Middle-East and convinced vocals. Or Correspondences, slow and remorseful and with a tearing vocal (does it teeeeeaaaaaaar you apart... my love). Or Fire in the Head, the rocking opener that doesn't want to reveal yet how eclectic and varied this album will become. Or that beautiful and gentle instrumental track The Badger. The album weakens a bit when it goes towards the end, but Shadows on the Mountainside is a beautiful acoustic track, Drawing Down the Moon has beautiful bluesy guitars, So Alone is very intense, and Walk Me Home is a haunting closer with lots of tempo changes. The Edges of Twilight isn't exactly innovative or original as it too often harks back to its predecessors, the echos of Led Zeppelin and The Doors tend to be too loud too often, but it's a beautiful album to listen to when you are down and want to wallow in that mood.
Ted and the Tall Tops You want obscure? You got it. I just can't find any information on this, but Ted and the Tall Tops is a fun band with a fun mini-album. I must have heard Crazy Date for the first time on Dutch VPRO radio on Wednesday afternoon with Fons Dellen and Lotje IJzermans (names carved in my brains), and found this in the excellent record store Music Man in Gent (now Music Mania and not so excellent anymore IMHO). Dirty rock/rockabilly/blues/country (if you want a reference: think Omar and the Howlers), with hilarious lyrics and vocals, this song always has me laughing out loud, silly but funny. Honky Tonic Ramblin Man is almost pure country... at least it's country with a good sense of humour. Bad Boy is what Elvis Presley could have sounded like if he hadn't been in touch with Colonel Tom Parker and lots of unhealthy substances. Trouble Maker is dirty and insane rockabily, Lose Your Money is the song where Ted and the Tall Tops come closest to a normal rock & roll song. Gulp Coast Saturday Night isn't as crazy as its title, offers a bluesy harmonica and a don't mess with my tu-tu accordeon and also, just like Lose Your Money, sounds rather normal, whatever that may be. This must be one of the most obscure and crazy items in my collection.
Texas According to Steve Aldrich on the AMG All Music Guide Southside is filled with "Intelligent, tuneful adult pop with terrific female vocals and bluesy slide guitar work". And since I'm slightly miffed (understatement) at the U-turn Texas made later on, abandoning their mix of blues, folk, R&B and soul for plain, commercial, mainstream pop music, I won't write a longer review. My opinion on this band now stands in the way of an unbiased review, let alone any listening pleasure. I Don't Want a Lover is one hell of a good song though.
That Petrol Emotion After hearing the singles It's a Good Thing (from debut album Manic Pop Thrill) and Big Decision it was time to discover what That Petrol Emotion really stood for. And even though Bablle didn't exactly sound like I expected, it turned out to be a good investment. Apart from their American lead singer Steve Mack, That Petrol Emotion is a band from Londonderry with their roots in The Undertones. But where Feargal Sharkey streamlined his superb voice in slick pop, the O'Neill brothers stayed left of the centre with powerful and politically inspired pop music with a razor-edge. It didn't sound as I expected: more pop than punk, a bit polished sometimes considering Babble was produced by Roli Mosimann, member of industrial band Swans. His approach is most obvious in the closing track Creeping to the Cross, a song about religious hypocrisy. It's driven by an intense rhythm section and a looped vocal sample - and has that very recognizable Roli Mosimann sound. Some of the tracks where That Petrol Emotion are at their best on this album, are the ones where they move away the farthest from their usual punkish sound: that very infectious single with the you gotta agitate, educate, organize rap Big Decision, the very eerie Inside and the sinister and slowly creeping For What It's Worth. But guitar and drum explosions like the opening song Swamp, the melodious Belly Bugs or the very frantic Split! are definitely well worth mentioning too. With only a few minus points (an unusually uninspired Static or the rather superfluous Chester Burnette), Babble is one of the best hidden secrets of the eighties from a band that definitely deserved more than obscurity.
The The Nice connection between this record an the one from That Petrol Emotion: both are produced by Roli Mosimann. And there are similarities in the sound, most noticably in the drums, which are prominent in the mix and sound short and sharp. Infected is an intense and grim album, with evocations of the state the U.K. was in in the mid-eighties, explicit lyrics about the filthy bodily functions and a discomforting look in the mind of Matt Johnson. The album starts out deceivingly jolly with the title track, a hefty lovesong that is at odds with the rest of the album. The startlingly beautiful Out of the Blue (Into the Fire) is one of the highlights of the album, a beautiful melody that contrasts sharply with Johnson's candid vocals: the lyrics aren't really explicit, but they way he sings them makes you feel uneasy. The song ends with a beautiful and softening vocal by Tessa Niles, enhanced by the strings. This highlight is followed right by the next, the politically engaged Heartland. It's a song that defies description, how the hell can you describe a song which manages to combine lyrics about England's blue blooded baby's, how it's become the 51st State of the U.S.A., a catchy melody, fantastic backing vocals and a jazzy piano solo à la Uncertain Smile? Angels of Deception is more proof that politically inspired doesn't necessarily mean boring, it's a song with punching drums, yet another great backing choir, and desperately convinced vocals by that characteristic Matt Johnson voice. Sweet Bird of Truth is one of the most discomforting songs on the album, about a GI in a plane on its way to bomb Arabia, heavily relying on percussion, a saxophone, Johnson's intense vocals and contrasting innocent backing vocals by Anna Domino. The absolute highlight on Infected for me is Slow Train to Dawn, a lively duet with Neneh Cherry (then still unknown), with beautiful guitars, a dominating rhythm track, and again a striking contrast between a the voices. Despite its menacing atmosphere, Twilight of Champions is one of the least interesting tracks of the album, in which Johnson loses track of the song and melody in favour of effects and fragmentation. But that moment of weakness is immediately set right by the dazzlingly beautiful intro of The Mercy Beat, yet another amazingly intense song with yet again the emphasis on a strong rhythm track and the contrast between Johnson's mean and vicious voice and the beautiful backing vocals. A song that makes my flesh creep, and a strong closer of a strong and very intense album.
Matt Johnson has nice little friends: Johnny Marr plays guitar throughout this album, and Sinéad O'Connor sings on Kingdom of Rain. But, even though Mind Bomb is supposed to be better than Infected, I can't get into it, despite the presence of Johnny Marr. Mind Bomb sounds less polished, more natural and open, is very intense, but it doesn't grab me like Infected does. It's no suprise that The Beat(en) Generation, that very catchy song with Johnny at his Marrest, is the song that stands out for me, and proves once again that political engagement doesn't necessarily stand in the way of a good song. Kingdom of Rain is another highlight, mainly because of the beautiful part-singing of Matt Johnson and Sinéad O'Connor in one of the most beautiful melodies of the album. Apart from that, the album just doesn't click with me. I didn't listen to it a lot when I bought it, because it didn't appeal to me then, and after listening to it for 2 days now, it still leaves me icecold. Shame, since I like Infected so much.
Theatre of HateCan't remember why i bought this, never liked this, don't want to listen to this again. This review gets the 'shortest review of this site' award, if that's of any comfort.
Theraphy? Even though this album isn't bad at all, I just tend to listen to the singles of it, plus a few other songs that attract my attention. I've probably not been paying enough attention, but quite a few songs on Troublegum sound too similar to me. The ones that stand out are first and foremost Nowhere, that energetic song with a superb guitar line and an utterly singable chorus, a song which makes my 6-year old song bounce around the house. Die Laughing is another highlight, another typically noisy but catchy song with a chorus that gets stuck in your brains. Isolation is a dangerous choice cover, but Therapy? pulls it off very well and mould this Joy Division song in something of their own with a possessed rhythm and passionate vocals. Screamager is another clear and open song with a great riff, Unbeliever is a completely different song with a melancholy and sad feel to it. But other than that, Troublegum is ruined for me by too much guitar noise and not enough variety. Or I may just get too old for this.
Therapy? have changed a fair bit since Troublegum, turned away from the short and fast punkish songs, added musical and lyrical depth to their songs, added some more variety in the instrumentation, but unfortunately it's all lost on me. Again, I tend to listen only to the singles of this album, plus a few more other songs that appeal to me. Other than that, I use the skip-button a lot. The album is dark and intense, and I cannot seem to get into it. The song I like most is Stories, one of the few songs that sounds as if it could have been a song on Troublegum, a song with a fierce rhythm and a catchy chorus (and yes, happy people have no stories!). A close runner-up is Diane, a cover of that beautiful Hüsker Dü song. It's just Andy Cairns' vocal and a beautiful string arrangement, the perfect example that less is more. But far too often the songs are ruined by far-fetched and long intros (Misery), vocals that ruin the perfectly built-up atmosphere (Moment of Clarity), or too much gloom and doom and angst. Fortunately there's Loose to cheer us up a bit, but it's not enough to save the album.
Thin White Rope Again I can't remember why I got this, but it must have to do with a song that got played on VPRO radio on Wednesday afternoon. Thin White Rope plays a sort of dark American 60's folk music, with the characteristic snarling voice of Guy Kyser, vaguely reminding of Grreen on Red, the Violent Femmes, Alex Chilton, the Dream Syndicate, the Gun Club and Jeffey Lee Pierce. There's lots of great songs on this album, but nothing that really stands out for me. Maybe the B-side of the album is better than the A-side, and Astronomy does stand out a bit. Good music, but nothing really earthshaking.
Timbuk 3 Who doesn't remember that funny and sarcastic hit single The Future's So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades? That song by the couple Pat MacDonald and Barbara K sounds a bit like a novelty, but at the same time it gives a pretty good indication of the sound of this album. The lyrics are more grim and dark throughout the album than the hilarious lyrics of The Future's So Bright... suggest, but as far as the sound is concerned, you get a good impression. Greetings from Timbuk 3 is a sober and sparsely instrumented album on which beautiful harmonies, a beatbox and acoustic and electric guitars predominate. The beautiful melodies and deliberate lyrics always keep this folk (with a touch of country) interesting. Highlights are the very bitter yet melodious Just Another Movie, Facts About Cats with all its metaphors, the bouncing Cheap Black and White, the very sober folk song I Love You in the Strangest Way, and Life Is Hard which comes as quite a disenchantment after The Future's So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades with equally sarcastic but much more bitter lyrics and a darker sound. A solid debut.
Toad the Wet Sprocket Tool
3 Libras by A Perfect Circle, with Tool's Maynard James Keenan on vocals, was a song that I got to know at the end of 2000 on a compilation a friend made for me. Tool's Sober was also on that compilation, but it was 3 Libras that completely knocked me off my feet. The least that you could say was that I was intrigued. Much to my surprise, I came across Undertow and Aenima when I was browsing through a friend's music collection, and borrowed the CD's from him. And Aenima just clicked with me. So when I returned the albums to my friend, I got my own copy of Aenima. And it's hard to explain why I like this music so much, as it's so complicated, with so many layers and layers, both instrumentally and lyrically. It's powerful, dark, experimental, loud, ferocious at times. But at the same time it's music that has this positive vibe for me, it lifts me up, it stimulates me, wakes me up, makes me dance, makes me cry, makes me feel that I'm alive. Tool succeed very well in misleading both their followers and haters with songtitles as Stinkfist or Hooker with a Penis, aggressive performances and often evasive interviews, but underneath all this, their message is one of hope and positivity, and an urge to the young kids to discover themselves, to discover everything for themselves rather than to be told by other people what everything means and stands for, and to question everything in life. Aenima is a meticulously crafted CD both in music as in packaging, and shows the band pays attention to every detail. Stinkfist immediately indicates what intensity Aenima holds, what a tight unit this band is, and what expertise they have as musicians and songwriters. The song is fierce and chilling, but warm and emotional at the same time. Eulogy starts very quietly and subdued, but becomes one of the most intense songs on the album. H on the other hand starts out very gloomy and heavy, but becomes soft and intense, and goes back and forth between scorching intensity and deceiving lightness. Useful Idiot is a very short intermediate piece and flows right into Forty Six & 2 with yet again brilliant guitarwork and insanely intense vocals, one of the highlights of the album. Message to Harry Manback is a bizarre beautiful piano song with a discomforting message on an answering machine. Hooker with a Penis is loud and ferocious and intense with a terrifying MJK, a song with a completely different message thhan the title suggests. Intermission with its circus music sounds surprising between the power of Hooker with a Penis and the restrained intensity of Jimmy. Die Eier von Satan must sound pretty scary to people who don't understand German, but in fact it's just a chanted recipe for a pastry with some weird ingredients. Pushit is the masterpiece on the album for me, a song that's built up perfectly, with dazzlingly beautiful guitarwork and vocals. Goosebumps, always. Cesaro Summability is a harrowing cry of a baby, leading straight into the yet again very intense, almost aggressive title track with apocalyptic imagery. (-) Ions sounds like a very scary thunderstorm, I can't play this with my kids around because it scares them witless. Closer Third Eye is so good that it leaves you craving for more, even though this album is almost 78 minutes long. It's a 13 minutes long epic with another dead hero Billy Hicks, swirling guitar work, the tight bass and drums tandem, and MJK's voice going back and forth between quiet and melancholic and screaming and raging.
Is Tool metal? Not for me. Is Tool nu-metal? Not for me. Is Tool prog-rock? Not for me. Is Tool a religion? Not for me. Tool is Tool, and as such matters a lot to me.
Think for yourself, question authority. Oh yes, I like this message more than just a mere fuck authority. Anyway, this one actually is still on my 'to get' list. When it was released, I didn't have a DVD-player yet, and I didn't want to buy the version with the video. Now that I have a DVD-player, money's a bit tight and I wanted a few other things first. So I'm still going with the MP3's, ooh naughty girl. Now THE masterpiece on Salival for me is the cover of Led Zeppelin's No Quarter, a cover as haunting and mysterious and powerful as the original. Goosebumps all over. This cover also made me re-discover the Led Zeppelin catalogue, good thing. Other than that, this album with live material and unreleased studio material offers the very strange and repetitive L.A.M.C., with the sound from an automated answering machine over a very industrial track, a hidden track deceptively called Maynard's Dick but showing a more poppy side of Tool, and an alternate take on Message to Harry Manback II with the voice on the answering machine more prominent and violins instead of piano. Of the live tracks, Third Eye and Pushit definitely are most impressive, the first with swirling guitars and unleashed drums and a ferocious and impressive Maynard James Keenan, the latter approached from a different angle and slowly building up to an inescapable climax, combining heartrending melancholy in the vocals with chilling guitar lashes. And I guess this is what makes Tool hit home so much with me: the combination of the ferocious music with the melancholy in the vocals and lyrics (as in Third Eye's I miss you soooo much, which never fails to make me shiver or cry). Part of Me is tight and powerful, Merkaba starts out with a beautiful guitar line and then combines a powerful riff with aching melancholy. You Lied of Justin Chancellor's band Peach is a weird, trippy metal freak out.
This beautifully packaged CD seems, despite the 5 year long gap between the two CD's, to be the natural successor to Aenima, when they are played right after each other, they seem to fade into each other. And just like with Aenima, it takes a while before you can fathom Lateralus, this isn't exactly easy-listening. And I doubt whether I will ever fathom everything on this album, as I still haven't managed to get into the last few tracks. Opener The Grudge is typical (ack!) Tool, with that pounding bass, ferocious guitars and vocals. Eon Blue Apocalypse is a dreamy and eerie interlude leading straight into The Patient, a song with a climaxing chorus and with somewhat more accessible lyrics and word games with the patient and patience that always strike me. Mantra is yet another intermediate piece, this time creepy and spine-chilling, followed by the leading single Schism, a song that struck a chord with quite a few people (including me) with that powerful bass-line and the I know the pieces fit lyrics. And it was just great to hear this almost 7 minutes long song played during prime-time on the radio. What follows is the apogee of Lateralus, the duo Parabol/Parabola, the first a slow and haunting mantra, subtle and delicate, the second a far more powerful reprise with dazzlingly beautiful harmonies. Both with beautiful and poignant lyrics and vocals. Ticks and Leeches is the heaviest track on Lateralus, with an overwhelming anger. Lateralis is another one of those typical Tool tracks, driven by an energetic rhythm section and with a powerful chorus. Disposition marks the beginning of a shift in sound towards the end of Lateralus, with spacy guitars, bongos and a soft and gentle Maynard James Keenan. It almost unnoticeably goes over into its counterpart Reflection, a song with more body because of the bass and the guitars and more pronounced vocals, but oriental sounding instruments keep it floating about. Triad combines loud guitars with ethereal vocals and is an elusive piece of music, while Faaip de Oiad is a song like a scary little monster. Lateralus is a challenging listen, but isn't that just what makes it even more worthwhile?
The Tragically Hip An album I bought after exploring and liking Music @ Work, and because it holds that one old Hip song that I knew, Courage. And this immediately is one of the highlights of the album, with beautiful guitars and vocals. The dark lyrics (Courage, my word, it didn't come, it doesn't matter, courage, it couldn't come at a worse time) set the tone for the rest of the album, with songs about incest, disappearing hockey players, bodies in trunks of cars, and unrequited love. At the Hundredth Meridian probably is the best song on the album, a driven song with a great guitar riff and an intriguing Gordon Downie. Close contenders are Loaded in the Trunk of a Car, a compelling song with creepy lyrics, and Gordon Downie screaming in Billy Corgan-ish fashion Let me out!! at the end, Fifty Mission Cap, the song about the aforementioned disappeared hockey player, and the only acoustic song on the album, Wheat Kings, again very dark and very intense. Interesting are also Pigeon Camera, a restrained song with delicate guitar-playing, the title track Fully Completely with an intense chorus, the loud The Wherewithal, and the closing track Eldorado, once again restrained and composed. A dark, intelligent, intense album.
A live recording of very high quality. The first thing that strikes me when I listen to this, is how beautiful the lead guitar sounds in Fully Completely. In fact, whereas live recordings often sound muddled, this one sounds open and clear, none of the instruments sound drowned in the mix. And moreover it's not only the sound quality that is good, this is a very good concert. Dynamic, intense, loud and brutal at times, but never negligent or sloppy. And even without seeing him in action, you can tell that Gordon Downie is a first-class entertainer. Highlights are New Orleans Is Sinking, Fully Completely and Last of the Unplucked Gems.
Even though it heavily brings me back to my own personal 'dark ages', I like this album very much. It all started with the video of that single My Music @ Work (even though I seldomly judge songs on their videos), catchy though quite repetitive, lifted above average by the vocals of Gordon Downie. There are some average songs on this album (Putting Down, the Completists, Train Overnight), but they are compensated by some insanely good songs. One of them is Tiger the Lion which remarkably balances on the verge of either being excellent or being irritating, but for me it's saved by its scorching intensity, its intelligent lyrics, and a few beautiful guitar and vocal effects. It's immediately followed by another highlight, Lake Fever, beautifully restrained at the start but slowly starting to shower you with drums, pianos and backing vocals. Another beauty is Stay with lots of melancholy both in the music and in the vocals. Downie's vocals again add something special to the heavy rocker The Bastard, and give it an unexpected sadness, to which the guitars at times add an extra touch of melancholy. Freak Turbulence is pretty straight, but still interesting. Sharks radiates an uncomfortable sadness for me, and at the same time a saddening beauty, and exactly the same goes for Toronto #4, one of the absolute highlights of this album. It's followed immediately by a song with the same qualities as Tiger the Lion, one of those songs balancing on the verge of either being excellent or irritating, wild Mountain Honey. The guitarwork is amazingly beautiful, but here the vocals of Gordon Downie tend to irritate at times. But the beauty of the guitars tends to dominate, and once more this is a scorchingly intense song. More restrained beauty in the poignant song The Bear, with bitter lyrics about love going wrong (it was all over for you and what's-his-name), a song that chills me to the bone. The album is closed by the poignant As I Wind Down the Pines, the only acoustic song on this album, and sheer and pure beauty. Comparisons with R.E.M. and especially U2 urge themselves upon us, but The Tragically Hip clearly hss its own identity and sound.
Travis Found this for a reasonable price in a second hand shop in London, and after hearing so much good things about Travis and especially this album, decided to try it out. But despite this should really be my cup of tea, perfect pop with even a few echos of my beloved Neil Finn, it never clicked, and I hardly ever listened to this album. They have a few great songs, like Turn, Why Does It Always Rain on Me? and Driftwood, but The Man Who passes me by completely, doesn't thrill me, doesn't hold my attention. Too quiet, no magic, no songs that grab me, in two words: background music.
The Triffids Brilliant debut album starting out with the lush Red Pony, with a simple but effective violin arrangement, open and clear production, and vague echos of The Doors. Branded is similarly simple but a tad louder with brutal guitars, an energetic rhythm and a chaotic ending. My Baby Thinks She's a Train is as good as its title, with a beautiful guitar line, fascinating rhythm, vocals at turns restrained and melancholic and with total abandon. My baby thinks she's a train/She don't know the difference between pleasure and pain. The song ends with a beautiful twang. Rosevel is folk/country with a strange beginning and an abrupt ending, and again a beautiful violin. The Dylan cover I Am a Lonesome Hobo leans on jangling guitars and a heavy rhythm. The Triffids have successfully made this song their own, it fits in perfectly with their own catalogue. A highlight, immediately followed by another called Place in the Sun. Let's not talk about love/That is just something you feel/For a dog or a cat, bitter lyrics about unhappy love, alienation and isolation incorporated in a sunny and happy song. Plaything is pure country, simple and endearing. Old Ghostrider is more country, but more pert and funny, with guitars and drums reminding of trotting horses and bullets whizzing by and salloons and cowboys. Hanging Shed is much darker yet very melodic. Hell of a Summer is yet another highlight, with jangling guitars, dry drums, and evocative lyrics about scorching hot Australian summer days. Nothing Can Take Your Place is endearing, sung in a sing-song voice by Alsy MacDonald, and a nice ending of an excellent album.
The shock of You Don't Miss Your Water (Till Your Well Runs Dry) didn't put me off enough to prevent me from buying this mini-album three weeks later. And it wasn't until I got Raining Pleasure (yet another shock, since after noise and country, this showed the folky side of the Triffids), that I really fell fully and completely for The Triffids. I must have played this mini-album hundreds of times, there are notes and Dutch translations on the accompanying lyric sheet, and the record itself creaks badly. The album was recorded during the night, because studio time is cheaper then. The Lighthouse Keepers are thanked on the album, and I remember their singer saying in an interview that their album Tales of the Unexpected was also recorded at night, and that that was why she sounded so sleepy on it. Jesus Calling is the most folky song on the album, with exalted irony and lots of biblical imagery in the lyrics, a song that makes me laugh and cry at the same time. Embedded is a beautiful song about love that inevetably goes wrong. The Triffids' interpretation of the blues traditional St James Infirmary is eerie, spine-chilling, sober and open with piano, resounding drums and a spaghetti-western harmonica. Everybody Has to Eat leans on bitterly funny, very evocative lyrics, and is followed by the just as much evocative Ballad of Jack Frost, a short and powerful song with beautiful violins, that waltzes away in the night. Property Is Condemned is the darkest song on the mini-album, building up the tension slowly with an organ, barking dogs, a squealing guitar, banging drums, and vocals and lyrics slowly going to a bitter climax. Last song is the title track Raining Pleasure with a young and innocent Jill Birt on vocals, only backed up by an acoustic guitar, a bass, a violin arrangement and bells. The song evokes images of wide and arid landscapes, isolation and longing.
My first acquaintance with the Australian band The Triffids was the song Field of Glass, that I first heard on the Dutch VPRO radio, and I found this EP during a holiday in England. The music is dark, loud, intense, with bitter lyrics, swirling guitars, a beautiful organ, convinced and unleashed vocals. The three songs were recorded (mostly) live for a BBC radio 1 John Peel Session, and sound very tight with a scorching intensity (the picture on the sleeve seems very appropriate). Title track Field of Glass is a 9 minute long epic with rhythm changes, the typical combination of a spooky organ, swirling guitars, and alternating restrained and almost hysterical vocals. Both Bright Lights Big City and Monkey on My Back are passionate tracks with unsettling and dark lyrics. For me this EP was the start of yet another obsession with yet another Australian band.
6 weeks after I bought Field of Glass, I found this maxi-single at Music Man. And good lord, what a shock it was. After the dark and loud songs on Field of Glass, I was startled to hear country music, with a pedal steel and what have you. It took me quite a while to adjust, but in the end it worked out (but not until I got the mini-album Raining Pleasure). 'Evil' Graham Lee joined the band as of this moment, and he is the one providing the steel guitars on this William Bell cover and the B-side Convent Walls, a more upbeat song (at least musically) with beautiful backing vocals. Beautiful Waste is a track dating back to 1983, with beautiful cello, viola and trumpet, and a melancholic David McComb. This maxi-single also features an instrumental version of You Don't Miss Your Water.
In the end I would have all the tracks on this compilation album on their original albums, but at the time I got this, I was very pleased with it, as I had never heard excellent songs like Hell of a Summer or My Baby Thinks She's a Train before. Love in Bright Landscapes is a good starting point if you want to get to know The Triffids, or if you only know the later and slightly more well-known material and want to find out what they were up to when they were younger.
Maxi-single of that painfully beautiful Wide Open Road, with 3 bonus tracks: a live version of Time of Weakness, a sober and repetitive song, Dear Miss Lonely Hearts, a song that seems to hark back to the early days of The Triffids (the Treeless Plain era), and the same goes for Native Bride. Both tracks are upbeat, and feature Rob McComb on violin. No dates are mentioned on the sleeve, but I've got the feeling these might be early tracks.
Not only does this album evoke images of a scorched and dry Australian outback lashed by a merciless sun, for me it also evokes images of afternoons in a dark and cool room, locking out the sun during those hot days after I graduated from highschool. Together with The Church's Seance, I bought this to reward myself for my good marks. Marc Mijlemans wrote for Humo that this record had the power to change lives, and it sure had a big effect on mine. David McComb writes and sings with passion, sadness, anger, resignation, rage about everything that goes wrong in the world, but especially in relationships with women. The openers The Seabirds and Estuary Bed are like twin-songs, connected by the water. In The Seabirds a man is left by his wife, goes to the beach and calls out to the birds Take me now, I'm not longer afraid to die. Even more than The Seabirds, Estuary Bed is a country song, beautiful melancholic country music with steel guitars. Chickenkiller is louder and rockier, another song about a man who's left by his wife, loses control and starts shooting at the birds. In Tarrilup Bridge the roles are reversed, Jill Birt sings a bitter song on how I packed my bag/Left a note on the fridge/And I drove off the end of the Tarrilup Bridge. Lonely Stretch gives scaring images of how you can get lost with your car in the desolate desert, and lost in the desolate desert of love. Wide Open Road, that beautiful single, leads us once again in a wide, open, desolate, desperate desert, where love is lost and no hope remains. A slow, haunting, magnificent song. The atmosphere is fiery in Life of Crime, a creeping song about forbidden and secret love. The atmosphere lightens up with Personal Things, in which McComb comes the closest to a regular pop song. But it's only musically that the atmosphere lightens up, the lyrics are bitter and triste as ever. Some secrets of love you take to your bed and there's some that you take to your grave. Well I took mine to a new address, where I took my rest, at the end of the day. The pièce de résistance on this album is Stolen Property, a song that reminds me of Field of Glass, even though it sounds much more refined. It's mainly comparable in intensity and in structure, but it's slower, more restrained, and the lyrics are much more sad. The album is closed off by another song sung by Jill Birt, Tender Is the Night (The Long Fidelity), and it seems appropriate to have her quiet and soft voice see us off, so we can go in peace. This album is a classic that should be in the collection of every music lover.
Music reduced to its essence. In the Pines was recorded on an eight track tape machine in a shearing shed 600kms south-east of Perth, Western Australia, April 14-18 1986. It seems to be a bit more cheerful than the usual Triffids albums, even though opener Suntrapper has dark lyrics with references to older Triffids songs. In the Pines is the old traditional that later got a lot of airplay in the version by Nirvana (called Where Did You Sleep Last Night), a sober version with a mandolin and steel guitar. Kathy Knows thrives on a dirty guitar, a driven rhythm track and spooky backing vocals. 25 to 5 is a very short, acoustic, melodic song, followed by one of the most touching songs for me on the album, Do You Want Me Near You?. A gorgeous guitar and organ intro, a soft rhythm, Alsy MacDonald's drawling and endearing voice singing open-hearted lyrics, a most beautiful backing choir, and last but not least a perfectly built-up guitar-solo. This reminds me a bit of David Lovering's La La Love You for the Pixies, it's equally touching. Side one closes with a cover of Bill Anderson's classic Once a Day by 'Evil' Graham Lee and his 'Evil Choir' (the Hatter and Wills families), an old-fashioned party song. Opener of side 2 Just Might Fade Away sounds spooky and spacey, Better Off This Way is delightfully melodic with unusual percussion (a broom on a watertank), and ends with a great country twang. Only One Life is elementary and acoustic and over before you know it, followed by the driven and slightly mad Keep Your Eyes on the Hole. Next are two reference points: One Soul Less on Your Fiery List also turns up as Hometown Farewell Kiss on the next album Calenture, so we can compare the lo-fi and orchestral versions. I still haven't found out which version I like most. Born Sandy Devotional (Edit) is the title track of the previous album, that actually didn't appear on that album. It has the melody of another Triffids song that I can't find right now (and that will bug me til I found it). Love and Affection sounds cavernous, ends abruptly and hence makes the album end abruptly too. And I can't resist to cite the liner notes here, with a typical brutal Triffids comment: To all the SCUMBAGS and the SUPERDAGS - you know who you are and your days are numbered.
Found this for a nice price at Bilbo, and couldn't resist it as I didn't have any of the early Triffids songs on CD. Furthermore, this CD offers 3 extra tracks that are not on the vinyl version, so it was all the more worth its money. Love in Bright Landscapes is a good starting point if you want to get to know The Triffids, or if you only know the later and slightly more well-known material and want to find out what they were up to when they were younger.
Three tracks recorded for the John Peel Show on BBC Radio One on 5th May 1985 in a Special metallic Finish Limited Edition Sleeve. All three tracks are from the Born Sandy Devotional album, and are played with a full line-up, with a special mention for Graham Lee (the 'Evil' has been dropped) on steel guitar and a small backing choir. The songs sound enthusiastic, convinced and energetic, with a David McComb in fine form. Life of Crime is as languishing as on the album, Chicken Killer is slightly more straightforward and basic. Lonely Stretch is built up perfectly with lots of tension, a glorious organ, a stunning rhythm section and a David McComb who gives himself entirely over to the song.
The first CD I ever bought. Calenture (Tropical fever or delirium suffered by sailors after long periods away from land, who imagine the seas to be green fields and desire to leap into them) is the first Triffids album on a major record label (Island), the first album to sound really orchestral and grand and sumptuous, produced by Gil Norton (who also worked with Echo and the Bunnymen, the Pixies, Throwing Muses...). Calenture may well be the masterpiece of the Triffids, where David McComb's forlorn lyrics are embedded in magnificent and grand pieces of music. The album opens with one of the strongest tracks, Bury Me Deep in Love, an orchestral lovesong sounding deceptively romantic, with lots of biblical imagery and an icecold undertone. More coldness paired with madness in Kelly's Blues, desolation and hopelessness to extremes, a bloodcurdling song. It's followed by the sweet guitar intro of A Trick of the Light, which seems to be the theme song of Calenture with the mirage of love. But this time the chilling lyrics are disguised by an innocent sounding song. Hometown Farewell Kiss is the orchestral and elaborate version of the skeletal structure One Soul Less on Your Fiery List on the woolshed-album In the Pines. Both versions are equally effective. Unmade Love is yet another chilling song with pounding drums and a guitar that cuts through you like a knife. At first glance a very basic song, but when you listen more closely, it's full of beautiful details. Open for You is a typical Jill Birt song, soft and tender, but surprisingly David McComb takes care of the lead vocal, and Birt does the backing vocals. Holy Water sounds energetic and happy, with only a pin-prick of shipwreck and death. Blinder by the Hour is a poignant lovesong that stays far away from sentimentality, majestic and magnificent and beautiful. Vagabond Holes on the other hand is angry and desperate, with a fiery guitar, dry drums, a hefty bassline and a passionate, bitter and intense McComb. The lyrics become especially meaningful in the light of McComb's death in 1999. What comes next is the most funny song of the album, Jerdacuttup Man, about a man who took a ten minute nap and woke up ten thousand years later under glass in the British museum. These lyrics are bitterly funny, a different take on the onmipresent theme of failure in love and life. The title track Calenture is a short instrumental track, followed by one of the most beautiful songs on the album, Save What You Can with its touching piano intro, a beautiful ballad with a heavenly string and piano arrangement. I'll repeat the words I wrote for Born Sandy Devotional: this album is a classic that should be in the collection of every music lover.
The last full CD by the Triffids, and unfortunately not their best. But one thing is for sure: the good songs make up for the bad ones. The Black Swan (after a short story by Thomas Mann) was produced by Stephen Street (who worked with the Smiths, Blur...), and sounds less majestic and more 'to the point' (in search of a better word, compact?) than Calenture. The album starts out with Too Hot to Move, Too Hot to Think, a song evoking images of emptiness, boredom and idleness, provoked by the benumbing heat. It blends in perfectly with American Sailors, a very short and evocative song. Next is Falling Over You, in which the Triffids experiment with rap à la LL Cool J in I Need Love. Some think this experiment isn't successful, I love it. It has a weird melancholy, and the chorus is just gorgeous. It is followed by another highlight, one of the more well-known songs of the album, Goodbye Little Boy, a wry pop song sung by Jill Birt with her innocent voice. This stream of good songs is interrupted by Bottle of Love, a song that is rather funny, but also easily forgotten. The Spinning Top Song is another experiment, with a heavy beat, crashing guitars, lots of synthesizers, a frantic chorus and a McComb who spits out the words. Some people hate it, I love it. Butterflies Into Worms is a jazzy song with a great double bass, but as also in the following songs, I'm not so fond of the Spanish touch with Rita Menendez on backing vocals. The Clown Prince has a circus atmosphere with its background sounds, rhythm and accordian, but again I don't like the contribution of Rita Menendez. Good Fortune Rose is a song written and performed by Jill Birt, poignant as ever. Another highlight. New Years Greetings is a song in the tradition of Save What You Can on Calenture, and always moves me to tears. It has a breath-taking melody, well-crafted and poignant lyrics, and is filled with splendid little details that almost make my heart stop beating. A classic. One Mechanic Town is more rocking (and rolling), but fails to impress me after the beauty of New Year's Greetings. Black-Eyed Susan also ends up in the category 'too light to stick into the mind', but with closer Fairytale Love the level picks up again, even though the song borders on sentimentality. The good songs outweigh the bad on The Black Swan, but the album doesn't have the constant quality of Calenture or Born Sandy Devotional.
One of the last vinyl albums I bought when I already had a CD-player, and consequently hardly listened to it. But there undoubtedly is another reason for that: I wasn't too impressed with this live recording. It sounds so majorly different from the live performances that I've seen, and I couldn't (and can't) connect with it. A good example is Lonely Stetch that completely lacks the built-up tension of the album version, or even from the live version at the John Peel BBC studios. There are a few highlights though, including Jill Birt's Raining Pleasure, a very elementary Sure the Girl I Love (an obscure cover), Wide Open Road to some extent (it sure is hard to screw that one), the Dylan-cover Billy, and the Neville Brothers cover (and live staple) How Could I Help But Love You. It's striking that these highlights all are songs that aren't swamped in a surplus of instruments.
Tröckener Kecks Tasty dry cookies from Holland. Eén op één miljoen / Betaalde liefde are two albums that appeared on vinyl, and were then put on CD together. Melodic punk, hefty powerpop, with some additions here and there to provide for the much needed diversity. Because if there's one minus point about this album, then it's that it sounds too uniform. That may also be caused by putting together two albums (even though it's good for the purse of the fans), the strength of the Tröckener Kecks may lie in a short album with 10 terse songs. How charming Rick de Leeuw's slipshod style of singing may be, after a while it gets to be a bit boring or irritating even. Nevertheless, there are plenty of good or even excellent songs on this album. My favourite is Nu of nooit, a solid duet with Fréderique Spigt with a glorious chorus. Achter glas is another highlight, a creeping and creepy song about a whore who dies in a fire and who haunts her last client. Naar de top is a song with textual hidden meanings about football, featuring the notorious Belgian football commentator Rik De Saedeleer. The songs providing that much needed variety are Vannacht, another slowly creeping song with beautiful guitars, Tango aan de zee with a beautiful guitar dancing around the song, Mijn laatste beer with a sad atmosphere, the heartbreaking Kom terug Rosa and especially Go to the Mosk with Hans Dulfer on saxophone.
TuxedomoonAn album that doesn't click with me. I can't remember why I bought it, I do remember that I didn't listen to it very often as I didn't like it. Now I listened to it again, while cleaning out the aquarium, and still I can't do anything with it. This is supposed to be the most accessible, the 'easiest' Tuxedomoon album, but I don't get it. It sounds too distant for me, and I don't like the voices. Maybe I'm just dumb.
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