Album Review: Bob Mould – Body of Song

After the rather strange dance experiment of 2002’s Modulate, 2005's Body of Song was billed as Bob Mould’s ‘return to rock’.  It opens with the reasonably heavy Circles which has a decent tune, but (Shine Your) Light Love Hope and I Am Vision, I Am Sound hark back to Modulate with their dance beats and vocodered, auto-tuned to death vocals.  Really quite jarring.

Thankfully the rest of the album improves on this.  Underneath Days has a strong guitar riff and real passion in the vocals along with impassioned rockers like Paralyzed and Best Thing.  Elsewhere, Days of Rain introduces an ‘adult-oriented’, relaxed, mid-paced sound which really suits Mould, and it’s replicated on High Fidelity and Missing You.  It’s the type of thing Paul Westerberg manages quite well.

Penultimate track Gauze of Friendship is the most emotional track, all busted relationships and sepia-described memories, with a fine guitar solo thrown in for good measure.  The album concludes on a very strong note with the parched, downbeat rocker Beating Heart The Prize, possibly the most anthemic track here and yet another blinding guitar solo.

It’s not the most cohesive album Bob Mould has put his name to but, dance-pop experiments aside, is a good collection of songs.

Album Review: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Your Funeral... My Trial

Your Funeral... My Trial was Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' second album of 1986.  At this point Cave had discovered the Hammond organ, and he uses it to great effect on 3 fairly slow tracks (the Your Funeral side).  Opener Sad Waters, sees Cave duetting with himself (singing and speaking) on a deep, mellifluous ballad, far from his usual fire and brimstone.  The title track is a very early version of the 'Nick Cave brooding ballad', inventing a genre of its own.  Finally, the creepy, unsettling Stranger Than Kindness, darkens the mood, with restrained, rumbling guitar lines and the merest hint of organ.

The rest of album is more standard issue Cave and the Bad Seeds; the death march of The Carny, the zaniness of Hard On For Love and the epic finale of Tim Rose's Long Time Man.   While Jack's Shadow is very much a quintessential Cave track, special mention must go to She Fell Away which takes an early Johnny Cash groove to feature not only xylophone courtesy of Mick Harvey, but also Thomas Wydler on fire extinguisher!

Concert Review: The National, Live at the Marquee, Cork

Review for www.meg.ie

http://www.meg.ie/the-national-live-at-the-marquee-cork/

Album Review: Lloyd Cole | Standards

Review for www.meg.ie

http://www.meg.ie/lloyd-cole-standards/

Album Review: Stuart A. Staples - Leaving Songs

Stuart A Staples released his second solo album in 2006, while Tindersticks were on hiatus.  It’s not dramatically different from Tindersticks, but it is far more realized than his first solo album.  Opening song Old Friends No. 1 commences with a classic Staples line: “It's not that I don't love you, or are tired of your ways, I want you to know” while the music acts as a throwback to their Tindersticks II era sound.

Which Way The Wind has a full brass and sweeping string section but the rest of the album is mainly sparser and low-key, which allows Staples’ voice to breathe, sounding even more careworn and weary than usual.  There Is A Path is softened by female vocals but what’s more distinctive here are the little steel guitar touches on This Road Is Long countrifying things before a jaded-sounding Maria McKee joins him on a wonderful duet.  One More Time and later This Old Town have a similar feel, again with steel guitar.

He also duets with Llasa de Sela on That Leaving Feeling, which has a really sunny, optimistic feel to it, helped in no small way by mariachi horns.  But overall, if you like Tindersticks, this will be familiar ground, and you’ll love it.

Album Review: The Lemonheads

After 10 years in which Evan Dando did little else apart from releasing one solo album, the Lemonheads returned in 2006.  Dando was joined by members of the Descendents as his band, as opposed to original Lemonheads. 

The album has a punkier feel than other latter day albums.  Opening track Black Gown barrels out of the blocks with a kind of harder feel, though Dando still turns in a typically goofy lyric “if it ain’t fixed, don’t break it”.  It’s all over in 2 minutes.  Similarly fast, rough ‘n’ ready Pittsburgh and Rule of Three speed along on riffs which sound like they are about come unstuck yet don’t, married to some great melodies.

Let’s Just Laugh shakes off an ominous opening to get into a classic Lemonheads groove with a hint of REM.  The latter half of the album sags a little as Dando and co run out of steam but the opening six tracks are an adrenalized version of classic Lemonheads.

Album Review: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Kicking Against The Pricks

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds released a cover album in 1986, quite early into their career.  The album had the effect of broadening their range, in terms of the type of material found here, but also indicating their influences.

Many of the tracks here fit very neatly into the “Cave moody ballad” box.  Tracks such as Muddy Water and the Johnny Cash song The Singer are full of smouldering attitude.  Others, such as Long Black Veil and the gospel Jesus Met The Woman At The Well have an almost jaunty feel to them.

Elsewhere, Sleeping Annaleah is like a fairground in a nightmare, Hey Joe features a ridiculously doomy vocal from Cave and creepy arrangement, while The Velvet Underground’s All Tomorrow’s Parties is probably the liveliest thing here, driven by a pounding rhythm section.

Nick Cave also tries his hand at crooning, with mixed results.  By The Time I Get To Phoenix fares pretty well here, as a fairly straight version.  On the other hand they really camp it up for Something’s Gotten Hold Of My Heart, which proves to be a little beyond Cave’s range.  However, his misshapen, almost cretinous vocal works really well on this version, making it arguably the best track on an album which, though it doesn’t work at times, at other times fascinates.