Random Review #13 2011 July For Kings - Swim

C4S5CD78 I can vividly remember where I was when I first heard July For Kings, I was in a Footlocker, in a shopping mall in Orlando Florida. As you can imagine I was trying to buy a pair of trainers, a right of passage for all England tourists in Orlando. I once had the misfortune of flying direct to Orlando from Newcastle, most of the passengers flew out wearing their football shirts, (mostly Newcastle and Sunderland) and returned 2 weeks later, looking like, sun burnt, bloated Eninem clones in basketball tops and brand new sneakers! The British abroad is a whole other blog so lets get back to the music.

I heard July For Kings in the shop a video was playing and whilst I was trying on trainers I was transfixed by the tune Normal Life a slice of American Rock with a great chorus, it talk about having a fast car and a pretty wife and painted a picture everything that is good about life in America. After leaving the shop I headed to the nearest music shop to purchase July For Kings Swim and wasn't disappointed with the rest of the album.

I love America rock, and I even like English rock that sounds like America rock, Lifehouse, Daughtry, Goo Goo Dolls, Dishwalla, Matchbox Twenty the list could go but I won't I'll get back to album in hand. July For Kings. I believe they were dropped after this album and have played about releasing mini albums and singer Joe Hedges has released a solo album but nothing has matched this album.

The album starts properly with Normal Life and then Girlfriend which are typical slices of soft rock, killer choruses tight guitars flying around the the chorus and lyrics that paint a picture of somebody having a great life. The album is two are three tracks long and a couple just fall into a standard formula, quiet opening with acoustic strumming behind the vocals, builds to chorus and then electric guitars clashng round the middle of the song then finish back with the acoustic moments. Having said that New Black Car is great and I have know idea why July For Kings never got the success they deserved.

Music is like this isn't as popular as it is in the States but the following is growing, people are starting to realise that good tunes can't be kept down.

Mark 7/10

January Music Purchases

I thought I hadn't really bought much music in January so I had a look, 11 albums and a music DVD! So instead of just buying I'm going to write down what I buy and monitor it over the year. So here are my buys for the month;

John Legend and The Seeds - Wake Up two stars of the new worlds of soul rework classic soul protest songs, excellent stuff.
Janelle Monae - The Archandroid cool nu soul for one of the hottest acts in the US at the minute worth checking out.
The Czars - Goodbye - Sorry I Made You Cry & The Ugly People Vs The Beautiful People Very late to the party on this one as they have already split up, discovered after buying John Grants solo album. Great Americana if that's what it's called and an brilliant cover of Tim Buckley's Song To the Siren, which is as good as This Mortals Coils bar setting version.
Gomez - Liquid Skin bought for £1 and fills a gap in my Gomez collection, good solid album from the boys that brought us Whipping Piccadilly
Neil Young - Le Noise Latest release from the man they call Old Shakey, not my favourite Neil Young album by a long shot, great reviews but struggling to find anything to make me play it again.
Ray Lamontagne & The Pariah Dogs - God Willin' & The Creek Don't Rise Rays 4 album and it's good not as good as Trouble or When The Sun Turns Black but good all the same.
Rumer - Seasons Of My Soul Very Radio 2 and I suspect every household will have a copy by the end of the year, a little bit of Dusty and a little bit of Karen Carpenter, a lot of original talent!

Cinematic Orchestra Ma Fleur and Live At The Royal Albert Hall discovered whilst listening to advert for Sky Atlantic, great music with some stunning guess vocalists Patrick Watson and Lou Rhodes to name but two. To Build A Home is on a loop at the minute can't get enough of it!
Smoke Fairies - Through Low Light and Trees make that 12 albums as just found this one! Bought it at the gig last Sunday, sounds like Clannad singing Gothic hymns sounds strange, it is a little bit but in a very special way.

Crosby Still Nash & Young Deja Vu Haven't watch it yet but should be good.

Twitter #Masterpieces

I have just finished a week of picking my masterpiece albums on Twitter. The like to the blog is
 Masterpieces go and take a look and if you want to get involved start thinking about them now it's a tough gig!

The premise is to pick 5 albums that you believe should be and deserve to be playing from start to finish. Each day announcing on Twitter your daily choice.

My five choices were;

Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago


The Blue Nile Hats



Talk Talk - Laughing Stock

Dakota Suite - Navigators Yard

Radiohead - The Bends

2.  

I love all of these albums but the hardest thing was leaving some albums out, it was like picking your favourite child!

I'm already thinking about my next five it I get a chance as some of the CD's that I left out ain't speaking to me now!!

If you want to follow me on Twitter @andy_brown4430

Random Review #12 The Delgados - Universal Audio

C3S2CD7 When I picked this CD off the rack I could not remember what The Delgados sounded like, I had bought this CD about 6 or 7 years ago and played it once or twice before filing it. I haven't played it since, and this is where this exercise is really helpful as it is forcing me to listen to music I don't remember.

Saying that I have played it again and now know why it has stayed on the rack untouched buy human hand, for me it's just such a 'grey' album, I'm sitting here trying to get animated about this album but can't either to be nasty or nice about it. It doesn't move me in anyway and that's the problem.

The music is jangly indie pop, with vocals being shared between and male and female vocalist, I should look up their names but really I can't be bothered. The songs are ok and inoffensive and that's the problem for me, they just wash over me and leave me wondering if I have listened to the album or not and nothing sticks with me.

This might be somebody else's favourite album but it ain't mine. I must have bought it blind on the back of a review as I can't find one song that would make me buy it.

Picking random CD's from my collection was a way to force me to reconnect and rediscover some of my music, I'm 12 reviews in now and it has done actually that, but it's also made me realise that I have CD's I don't play for a reason and have no reason to keep them. I have 2 that are going free to a good home when I have a few more I'll list and if people want them they can have them.

I'm sorry to say this but The Delgados you are out of here!

Mark 2/10

Gig #2 2011 Band Of Horses Newcastle Academy

Great gig from Band of Horses who played for around 1hr 45 minutes covering material from all 3 albums. my favourite was There Is a Ghost from the Cease To Begin album and Factory from their latest offering Infinite Arms. They opened with a brand new song and then were in top gear very quickly for what turned out to be their first gig in 3 months.

It has taken me a few days to right this as gig was spoilt a bit firstly by an Australian guy who was so drunk he had know idea where he was (well it was Australia Day) and then 2 really drunk guys who shouts HORSES on a loop through out all the songs even when the band were reduced to two for a stripped down acoustic song, just idiots!

Band Of Horses were supported by 2 bands Goldheart Assembly who were young and keen but not sure we'll ever hear from again. The highlight of their set was a cover of Tom Waits -Clap Hands, and Mojave 3 who were great. They only played for about 35 minutes but seemed classy and confident. I need to go and investigate the band and suspect they will be in my purchased in February.

So a good gig, but will it be in my top 5 at the end of the year.....unlikely.

Random Review #11 Prefab Sprout - Steve McQueen

C6S1CD10 It’s with great pride and delight that my random selector has picked this CD. For those that don’t know I from Newcastle in the North East of England, Prefab Sprout are from the North East and this album was released on the Kitchenware Record Label which is a local label that is still in existing and boasts Editors as one of their main acts. So here is my review of the local guys who made it.

Prefab Sprout hit the music scene in the 1980’s and would go on to have commercial success worldwide with From Langley Park to Memphis, singing about Hotdogs and Jumping Frogs! This was their second album and although they would have more commercial success with FLPTM and later release Jordan the Comeback this is by far my favourite Prefab Sprout album.

I remember Prefab Sprout being on all the early evening chat shows playing (plugging) When Love Breaks Down and if I remember rightly it was re-released as a single a couple of times before having some chart success. The album was released to critical acclaim and listening to it again some 26 years on it still stands up to that praise. Although the production is very eighties (crisp with the snare high in the mix) what you can’t get away from is the stunning quality of the song writing. Although opening track Faron Young is good the album moves up a gear. I think tracks 2 through to 5 are simply stunning and I would put that those 5 tracks up against any other 4 consecutive tracks on any album I own. Bonny, Appetite, When Love Breaks Down, and Goodbye Lucille #1, make amazing listening, great tunes, great melodies and lyrics that we can all relate t to. Although When Love Breaks down was the hit single, Goodbye Lucille #1 is my favourite it appears to be an ode to a broken heart played out in a call and response manner with Wendy Smith (The female vocalist) singing Oh Johnny Johnny repeatedly, and Paddy McAloon singer and songwriter and of the band kind of sympathising with the young guy who has been dumped (by Lucille I assume) whilst basically telling him to get over it! “You’re not the first, though It hurts” and “why don’t you join the Foreign Legion” kind of say yeah I know you have been dumped it’s sad but hell it’s happened to us all! Saying that the lines “Life’s not complete, ‘til your hearts missed a beat, and you’ll never make it up, or turn back the clock” Is just beautiful and in two lines describes that moment we all fall love and how we feel when we are dumped and you wish it had never happened (or at least that what it means to me!!)

After track 5 the album is still good but doesn’t match the first half of the album, other than Desire As which has the great line “ I have six things on my mind, you’re no longer one of them” which is kind of saying yeah I’m over you and I’m telling you so.

Paddy McAloon continues to record to this day to great reviews and I think at one point suffered temporary blindness for nearly a year

If you like Crowded House there will be lots to like here and with a swell in my chest I can say this is a great album from a great North East band

Mark 8/10

Gig #1 2011 The Smoke Fairies The Sage Gateshead

My first gig of the year saw me buying a ticket on the back of a recommendation from Classic Rock magazine that this band was one to watch in 2011. So I bought a ticket for £9 (bargain) and wandered down to The Sage to see what all the hype was about.

The support for the night was Sea of Bees, quirky looking like an American from the 70's transported to the stage from an episode of the Partridge Family! Although the music was not to my taste I found Sea of Bees engaging and passionate about what they are doing and that is enough for me. Next up was Jonny and Lucy a folk duo, Jonny from Newcastle and Lucy from Kent although OK, they seems unprofessional, "we made a set list but we left it in the dressing room", "I forget the CDs if you want to by one give the money and we'll post it" "what time is it, have we got time for another" really pissed me off. 1000's of bands would give their right arm to have a chance like this and to not do the best you can is just a waste!

So Smoke Fairies, famous endorsements aside (Jack White likes them!) Smoke Fairies were unlike anything I have heard before, at times they sounded like a Gothic Clannad, and other tracks lead me to think of Midlake with medieval overtones however all of these references are unfare as what they have is a unique sound.

They played for a hour and finished with a Killing Joke cover, stamped with their own style all over it!

I expect great things for Smoke Fairies and expect to hear a lot more of them and look out for their album Through Low Light and Trees this could be the start of something big.