Songs I Love #3 Radio Bombay Bicycle Club - Leaving Blues

This is from one of my albums of 2010 Flaws, I think this track is just heartbreaking and sums up that moment when you know a relationship is over but you haven't broken up yet......

Now your back's to the road
The waiting's everything you know
I'm sure you know that I'm leaving

Riding home everyday
Sure in a cinematic way
Breathing the smoke of the train
Keep the thought of you aflame
I'm sure you know that I'm leaving

Curse God for my regret
I miss you indefinite
Not once did I think that
Love would stay til I come back

Now your back's to the road
The waiting's everything you know
I'm sure you know that I'm leaving

Random Review #74 Cherry Poppin' Daddies - Zoot Suit Riot The Swingin' Hits Of The

C9S2CD9 Picked by@spurssimon follow his life in music year by year (amongst other things) at the great blog rumbles and grumbles which is linked at the right hand side of the blog.

Due to my High Fidelity style reshuffle of my music collection this pick takes me into the Blues section of my music and an album I confess that I have hardly listened to. As I have explained  before once I start to get into a certain genre of music part of the joy for me is the research and discovery of the different sub-sections of music within the genre, and where it all evolved from. Blues has lots of sub sections, piano blues, guitar blues, harmonica blues to name three instrument led sections, but then you can split guitar blues into Chicago, Memphis and Texas if you want to go by Geography. I could go on forever but you get the idea. I got into the Cherry Poppin’ Daddies via a great guitarist called Ronnie Earl (see review dated 20th February 2011) who led me to discover a band called Roomful of Blues, they played what is called swing blues, upbeat high tempo, music heavy on brass and delivered by bands, dressed to the nines, in baggy (Zoot) suits, shirts and ties and the odd fedora hat. The music comes originally from the likes of Cab Calloway who most will remember singing Minnie the Moocher in the film The Blues Brothers. Loving Roomful of Blues made me want to find more music of this ilk and I discovered the Cherry Poppin’ Daddies in a blues magazine.

This album is a greatest hits, but doesn’t mention which part of their career it covers or when it was released. I think it was packaged together for the UK market when swing dancing was becoming popular and doesn’t even have a picture of the band and you get the idea it was pulled together in a hurry. There are 7 members of The CPD’s however there is an additional 29 musicians on this album including a  9 piece brass section classed The First Church Of Sinatra who play on Come Back To Me.

Most of the tracks are as mentioned up tempo danceable songs that are full of innuendo, Shake Your Lovemaker, Here Comes The Snake, and Dr. Bones, give you an idea of what I mean! I don’t know why I’m trying to explain this they are called the Cherry Poppin’ Daddies, what more do you need to know!! Saying that Drunk Daddy addresses alcohol abuse and domestic violent, all be it in a very crude way......

“Drunk Daddy broke my fingers

Drunk Daddy kicked my head

Drunk Daddy smashed my Sister

Turned my whole world red”

The album is a bit to samey for me tracks merge from one to another without really making an impact, I much prefer the band I mentioned previously Roomful Of Blues, that for me have much more variety to their music and a bit more style. I can’t hate this album but I also can’t imagine playing it again this side of 2020.

Mark 5/10

Songs I Love #2 - The Waterboys - Whole Of The Moon

 

I discovered The Waterboys when I was 18 and they were a revelation to me, this song was the pinnacle of their commercial success and at the time I had 7" and 12" versions bought to get the different b-sides and also Mike Scott used to write little messages on run out bit of the vinyl and I needed to make sure I had all the messages!. I used to contribute to a Waterboys fanzine (anybody remember them?). Whole Of The Moon still makes me sit up when I hear it and I never get bored of listening to it.

 

 

I pictured a rainbow
you held it in your hands
I had flashes
but you saw the plan
I wandered out in the world for years
while you just stayed in your room
I saw the crescent
you saw the whole of the moon!
The whole of the moon!

You were there at the turnstiles
with the wind at your heels
You stretched for the stars
and you know how it feels
To reach too high
too far
Too soon
you saw the whole of the moon!

I was grounded
while you filled the skies
I was dumbfounded by truth
you cut through lies
I saw the rain-dirty valley
you saw Brigadoon
I saw the crescent
you saw the whole of the moon!

I spoke about wings
you just flew
I wondered, I guessed, and I tried
you just knew
I sighed
but you swooned
I saw the crescent
you saw the whole of the moon!
The whole of the moon!

With a torch in your pocket
and the wind at your heels
You climbed on the ladder
and you know how it feels
To GET too high
too far
Too soon
you saw the whole of the moon!
The whole of the moon!

Unicorns and cannonballs,
palaces and piers,
Trumpets, towers, and tenements,
wide oceans full of tears,
Flags, rags, ferry boats,
scimitars and scarves,
Every precious dream and vision
underneath the stars

You climbed on the ladder
with the wind in your sails
You came like a comet
blazing your trail
Too high
too far
Too soon
you saw the whole of the moon!

Songs I Love #1 - Justin Currie - The Fight To Be Human

 

I don't feel like this all the time but can't pretend that over the last few years I haven't had my moments. I think that Justin Currie is a modern day poet and I think the lyrics to this song prove this.

I'm not a master of what I survey
To death and disaster I am a slave
But I am the author of the words that I say
But why do I bother; it's all trash anyway.

I try to be truthful- or I think that I try
I may not be useful but at least I'm alive.
And millions of letters spill into the hive
And all of them worthless
Except for this line:

I hate the world they gave me,
I hate the world they gave me

I stand on a mountain of pitiful prose
My mind is a fountain that pointlessly flows
They give you a trophy if you make the kids scream
But it's such a joke to me; how insipid I've been.

I hate the world they gave me,
I hate the world they gave me

I dig into my past now; I dig into my wrist
To recapture the last time I felt the knife twist
And I kick at the shackles, And I heave at the chains
But I am the governor Of my empty domain

I hate the world they gave me
I hate the world they gave me

And dead and diseased they prey on my mind
And after they leave me, I drink til I'm blind…
I once had a refuge in music and wine but now I am deaf to
The word on the line

I cling to my records I cling to my fates
That fool in the mirror has taken my place
And the funniest funerals; the saddest of births
Are all an excuse to indulge in my thirst.

I hate the world they gave me,
I hate the world they gave me

My body's a riot; my mind's the police
I feed myself lies to enforce some peace
Tell people I love them; shake idiot's hands
And sometimes I hug them as custom demands

I used to believe in the goodness of man
But not anymore since I became one of them
So I hoodwinked my woman and bought her a ring
But like the fight to be human- it don't mean anything.
Like the fight to be human, it don't mean anything.

Girls gather around me and pick at my seams
Like death in the family docking my dreams
And I'm fitting to watch them infinite plays
I wish I had done something good for the race

Poisonous postings singing songs in the streets
The government's boasting of catching the cheats
I cringe into my collar and drink into my shoes
As cheerleaders holler which color I use

I step up to the plate yeah with a match for a bat
And strike at a lightning set fire to my hair
And I won't be dragooned by the whitest and worst
In a shoot for the moon and shoot myself first

And the harder it gets now the softer I sing
Cause the fight to be human don't mean anything
Yeah the fight to be human; it don't mean anything

Random Review #73 David Ford -Songs For The Road

C2S7CD12 picked by Judith Falla (via Facebook) an ex work colleague with a love of animal and Bruce Springsteen, and a person so laid back I think she only ever see’s the sky!

I have blogged about Ford twice before, reviewing Easyworld – Kill The Last Romantic (24th May) and also I posted a video of Ford playing State Of The Union on 19th February which I still think is incredibly clever.

This is Fords second album and as I listened to it today I realised it’s  the one I play the least (he has released three) and like the other 2 is a mixture of love songs, (some very bittersweet) and state of the nation addresses (Requiem) Ford has an ability to deliver a love songs either in the very traditional manner(Decimate and Song For The Road) and sometimes in a very honest real life way very few people write about (Go To Hell and Nobody Tells Me What I Do). For all his anger Ford writes some of the most beautiful love songs I have ever heard, and his lyrics often sum up things I wish I had said to people over the years but never had the eloquence to think never mind say!

This album is short 9 tracks (10 including the ‘hidden track’ which I get onto later) but Go To Hell, and Song For The Road has 2 of my favourite Ford tracks. Song For The Road is a road trip of a song, documenting Fords musical travels and his love someone and in my opinion is one of the best songs he has ever written. Whilst singing about his travels, “I’ll Tip My Hat To The Angel Of The North” he sings about missing someone whilst being away. One of the video’s I have posted below is a live version of this song from some American TV show, and the camera cuts away to a girl in the audience about 2 minutes into the songs, as Ford sings, “ But for this evening I will play back every message that that you sent, so I had sleep to the sound of your voice” a gorgeous line that I suspect melts hearts everywhere, well the girl in the video has a single tear falling down her face. Now the cynics out there will say it was all staged but if you have ever seen Ford live you will understand the emotion that he can bring to the stage.

His live shows are amazing whether playing with a band or solo, filled with humour and stories of ‘how he nearly made it in the music business’ He has just written a book of the same title, (I’m waiting for it to arrive in the post) which I suspect will be a brilliant read.

I can’t finish writing without mentioning the ‘hidden track’ from reading my blog you may or may not know that I’m not a lover of the hidden track, pointless and pretentious is how I have described them. This has one and although I haven’t changed my opinion of the idea of hidden track this is Ford covering The Smiths There Is A Light That Never Goes Out, accompanied by only a piano it is achingly beautiful, and truthfully deserves to written about or listed, not hidden away on an album.

Ford is one of those songwriters that deserves to be know but I suspect is destined to play small venues full of loyal fans for the rest of him career. I hope not but that’s the way of the world.....

Mark 9/10  

                              

Random Review #72 Low - The Great Destroyer

C3S10CD15 I know so little about Low I have had to do some research prior to writing this review. I knew they have been going a long time, but didn’t realise how long, (1993) and I thought they were from Minneapolis, I was wrong, Minnesota!(hey I was close, well maybe not geographically) I thought that that 2 of the band were married to each other, (I was right), I didn’t know they were Mormons, so maybe all of them are married to each other (sorry cheap joke).

What I do know is they make a great noise, I would have called it Lo-Fi but I’m not sure if that is the right term for it. To me it’s that dark music that is strangely gloomy whilst being uplifting if you know what I mean. This is their 8^th album and seen by many as their most accessible, with fully formed tunes which have structure and form. In some music magazines it was seen as a crossover that with give them access to a mainstream rock audience, and I can see why, however I don’t think it deviated too much from the original sound of Low.

Monkey, California, and Everybody’s Song lead off the album and are drenched in effect pedal noise whilst delivering infectious hooks that demand you to sing along, (although from personal experience singing the line ‘Tonight The Monkey Dies’ out loud with your headphones on will get you strange looks any City never mind Newcastle!) This album can be dark in places (Walk into The Sea) but I never come away feeling depressed after listening to this album.

I couldn’t write about Low without mentioning their Christmas record strangely enough called Christmas. I have a lot of Christmas records (most quite left of centre) but this is one of my favourites, 4 original songs and 4 covers, all are broken down and given a Low work over and it’s a really special album.

I pick up Low’s music when I see it cheap but that’s a reflection of my buying habits rather than Low’s music but if you want something a little on the dark side then Low might be the band for you.

Mark 7/10

Random Review #71 Emiliana Torrini - Me And Armani

C6S3CD13 I saw North East hopefuls Let’s Buy Happiness advertised recently ‘for lovers of Scandinavian female vocals’ and although I found this a bit bizarre I understood exactly what they meant by the description. That quirky clipped English accent delivered in a sing-song manner.

I have no idea how I found out about Emiliana Torrini, but I ended up going to see her at The Sage Gateshead and bought this album at the concert. The gig was great Emiliana had that charm that is infectious and you can't help but like. Her stories were funny even when not that funny such was the delivery. Suffice to say I was taken enough with the artist and the music to buy the album.

I think this is Torrini’s second album, and although I haven’t got round to buying anymore of her music this is no indictment of Torrini’s music this is a really great album.

The style of the music changes from track to track, we have bits of reggae, (Me and Armani) power pop, (Jungle Drums) ballads, (Bleeder) and in Gun a real dark ominous song that if Nick Cave sang would sit perfectly on this murder ballads album. It’s hard not to compare the vocals with Bjork but that’s unfair on Torrini as she deserves to be listened to for her own music without comparison.

The album seems perfect for when the sun shines it is full of optimism and it feels like the sunshine beams out of this record, Torrini has been quiet for a while so I’m off find out what she’s is up to and when she’s got some new music coming out.