Midlake – A Bridge To Far – Album Review

 Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com 

Harp – Albion – Album Review

 Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com 

Midlake – For The Sake of Bethel Woods – Album Review

 Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com 

A Musical Preview of 2022

 Article for www.nomoreworkhorse.com https://nomoreworkhorse.com/2021/12/31/a-musical-preview-of-2022/

E.B. The Younger – To Each His Own – Album Review

Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com

https://nomoreworkhorse.com/2019/02/21/e-b-the-younger-to-each-his-own-album-review/

Two Medicine – Astropsychosis – Album Review

Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com

https://nomoreworkhorse.com/2018/10/26/two-medicine-astropsychosis-album-review/

BNQT - Volume 1

So it seems the soft-rock mid-70s are well and truly back, with bands like Midlake, Fleet Foxes etc, but not only that we have a supergroup in the shape of BNQT.  It's really a project led by Midlake's Eric Pulido, Jason Lytle from Grandaddy, Ben Bridwell from Band of Horses and, a little incongruously, Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand and Fran Healy of Travis.  With each singer being given 2 songs each this could have come across an incoherent mess but, anchored by Midlake as the backing band it gels together well.  Pulido opens up with the propulsive, catchy Restart.  Bridwell's relaxed, borderline cheesy Unlikely Force follows.  It's like something ripped straight out of Crosby Stills and Nash's 70s songbook and it works really well, Bridwell singing "you and me make such an unlikely force" with gorgeous harmonies from the other singers.  The track is so evocative you'll feel your trousers flaring and your hair growing longer.  100 Million Miles has the cosmic essence of Lytle's band Grandaddy with strings to give it added grace.  Healy's Mind of A Man is takes a heavy spoonful of Fleetwood Mac's Rumours with a tempo and atmosphere that conjures up that band's Dreams.  Kapranos sounds a bit out of place on the oddly titled Hey Banana, neither gelling totally with the band nor sounding particularly distinct.  That's not to say the track doesn't work, it just comes up short in comparison to what precedes it.  The poppy and upbeat Real Love is more of a band effort, featuring what sounds like all singers.  In fact the second half of the album is less impressive than the first, Lytle's plodding Failing at Feeling is practically MOR, while the Stones-lite of Healy's L.A. On My Mind, Bridwell's foul-mouthed yet chirpy Tara and Kapranos' slow-burning keyboard don't really ignite.

Definitely recommended for fans of Midlake, or any of the bands referenced above.

Top 10 posts of 2015

Here's a rundown on the most popular posts of 2015:

10 Smashing Pumpkins - Machina/The Machines of God

http://sacredcowpats.blogspot.ie/2015/04/album-review-smashing-pumpkins.html

9 Elliott Smith - New Moon

http://sacredcowpats.blogspot.ie/2015/11/album-review-elliott-smith-new-moon.html

8 Midlake - The Courage of Others

http://sacredcowpats.blogspot.ie/2015/08/midlake-courage-of-others.html

7 Midlake - The Trials of Van Occupanther

http://sacredcowpats.blogspot.ie/2015/06/album-review-midlake-trials-of-van.html

5 Songs: Ohia

http://sacredcowpats.blogspot.ie/2015/11/album-review-songs-ohia.html

5 Midlake - Antiphon

http://sacredcowpats.blogspot.ie/2015/05/midlake-antiphon.html

4 Adam Bryanbaum Wiltzie - Travels In Constant

http://nomoreworkhorse.com/2015/05/15/adam-bryanbaum-wiltzie-travels-in-constant-vol-24-ep-review/

3 Mark Eitzel - Caught In A Trap And I Can't Back Out 'Cause I Love You Too Much Baby

http://sacredcowpats.blogspot.ie/2015/07/album-review-mark-eitzel-caught-in-trap.html

2 The Posies - Frosting On The Beater

http://sacredcowpats.blogspot.ie/2015/08/album-review-posies-frosting-on-beater.html

1 Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell

http://sacredcowpats.blogspot.ie/2015/06/album-review-sufjan-stevens-carrie-and.html

Midlake - The Courage of Others

2010's The Courage of Others is the follow up to the critically acclaimed Trials of Van Occupanther, and it's even mellower than its predecessor.  Soft, folk-rock abounds, beginning with Acts of Man and continuing through tracks such as Winter Dies and Small Mountain.  Standard rock instruments are joined by flute, recorder, dulcimer, autoharp and even bassoon!   The slightly heavier guitars of Core of Nature are a welcome interruption to the soporific atmosphere.

But at its core this album proclaims its love for seventies soft rock like Crosby Stills and Nash (Fortune, Children of the Grounds), Blue Oyster Cult (Rulers, Ruling All Things, The Horn) and Fleetwood Mac (the title track).  It's not all hoary old dinosaur music, Bring Down could be early Radiohead wearing flower garlands, and there's enough variety with the guitar playing to prevent Midlake from being total retreads, the Marr-like picking on closing track In The Ground being a fine example of this.

The album suffers a little from lack of variety, it's a little one-paced.  Although the musicianship, playing and the overall sound of the album is excellent, the odd burst of noise here and there wouldn't go astray.

Album Review: Midlake - The Trials of Van Occupanther

Midlake's second album, released in 2006 was the one that really put the band on the map.  It opens with the piano of the incredibly catchy Roscoe.  It's an unashamedly classic rock sounding track, like Crosby, Stills and Nash rolled together with Fleetwood Mac.  That's not to say it's easy listening, singer Tim Smith and Eric Pulido both chime in with some scorching guitar licks on the track while Smith sings about "stonecutters made them from stones chosen specially for you and I."  It's probably the strongest song on the album but the rest is far from filler.

A couple of tracks in, Head Home has a hugely catchy piano riff with some great b*ll*x lyrics about a girl who "she reads Leviathan... I think I'll head home" and a fine guitar solo too.  In This Camp starts as a kind of lazy strum yet builds well, almost reaching similar heights, with some more fine guitar work.  Some of the more mellow moments work well also, We Gathered In Spring overcomes some rather cheesy keyboards to deliver another killer, if more laid-back chorus.

Other tracks such as the country-rock Bandits and the title track have that early seventies feel to them, and drift along pleasantly, with the occasional flute thrown in, narrowly avoiding pastiche.  One or two tracks don't work so well.  Branches drags a little, while It Covers The Hillside is a bit too happy cheese for comfort, but they don't distract from the overall feel of the album.  If you ever wanted to hear an early seventies soft-rock album updated for the 21st century, this is your album.  I guess it really IS ok to listen to Fleetwood Mac and embrace the melodies, and admit that Blue Oyster Cult's Don't Fear The Reaper really IS a good song.

Midlake - Antiphon

After years of deep suspicion and resistance to Midlake, primarily due to their very beardy, early seventies aesthetic, I’m afraid I have succumbed.  My resistance has been crushed by the monumentally catchy yet really great The Old and The Young.  Appearing three tracks into the album, on first listen it sounds like a seventies throwback, but then you start noticing modern touches such as the pulsing keyboards here and there.  None of this overshadows a genuinely majestic singalong melody, even the flutes midsong work a treat.

The danger with a song as strong as this is that it relegates the rest of the album to support act status.  This is far from the case here.  Previous singer Tim Smith quit the band after 2010’s The Courage of Others, so guitarist Eric Pulido has stepped up to the mark.  His vocals really suit the music here, leading with title track Antiphon, which strides triumphantly from the speakers, proclaiming "Antiphon! Antiphon!". 

The album is stuffed full of great melodies, Provider has a kind of seventies singalong melody with medieval allusions in the lyrics - "onward forth into a land unknown, swords were drawn upon the road."  It's awful b*ll*x, but it works well in the context of the song.  The album divides neatly in two by the appearance of proggy instrumental Vale, and this leads nicely into the folky Aurora Gone, featuring another fine Pulido vocal.  Ages, later in the album, again has that medieval, almost psychedelic feel to it, while also showcasing some great guitar work, and The Weight has a lovely, wordless singalong chorus.

A fine, fine album showing this band can survive Smith's departure without losing much.