New Music - Album Reviews - July 2020
Rough and Rowdy Ways COLOMBIA
The 39th album from the poet and songwriter Bob Dylan
WHAT IS a seventy year old man to do in lockdown? Why not write and release a classic rock 'n roll album and get it to number one? They say timing is everything but this is some masterstroke. As everyone is in total or partial lockdown, Dylan drops a new album of genuinely great and thought provoking songs. It's his 39th and first of original material for 8 years and it has indeed hit number one in many countries but not quite his home country, where it narrowly missed out, hitting number 2.
This album is everything Dylan fans would have hoped for and matches the standards met by relatively recent classics such as 1997's Time Out Of Mine and 2006's Modern Times. Musically it veers between retrospective waltzy folk musings and harder blue workouts and though the album is ostensibly a double album, it is really a single, with the last song Murder Most Foul, a token treat to fans rather than an official track of the album.
Recent single I Contain Multitudes opens the album brilliantly, recalling Not Dark Yet but instead of that song's seriousness, he brings wry humour and namechecks various cultural artefacts such Indiana Jones and "those bad boys The Rolling Stones". It's effortlessly kicks the album off before the blues of False Prophet follows which with its lovely Blues guitar licks sounds like classic Dylan. Indeed it advises against, that semi-regular topic, not believing Dylan is anything other than human. We're then treated to two gentle waltzy songs before Black Rider where Dylan muses over the trappings and trips that can become of anyone on a long journey. Goodbye Jimmy Reed opens the second half with a charge and is probably the most fun Dylan has on the album, it's loose and free, not unlike his namechecked pals The Stones.
This is followed by another waltzy folky musing and a third blues number both of which didn't move me as much, repeating similar time signatures to before. However the closing track Key West (Philosopher Pirate) makes up for the slight dip, an epic 9-minute, which draws more parallels with Not Dark Yet, a song to listen to as the sun slowly goes down. A second album/CD/final side contains the aforementioned Murder Most Foul, a 17- minute recent single released as a gift from Dylan to the fans, in his words of "an unreleased song we recorded awhile back". It could be argued it is Dylan's greatest piece of poetry this century, as he touches on dozens and dozens of topics including first and foremost the assassination of JFK all over a single chord drone of guitar and violin. Whilst we might live in strange times, many have allowed ourselves to understand more about our community, our family even ourselves and Bob Dylan has done just that as he contemplates the push and pull of good and bad and the multitudes contained within.
Rating 8 / 10
RTJ4 BMG
Fourth album from hip hop powerhouse duo of Killer Mike and El-P
THE FORMATION of Run The Jewels was pure serendipity, with rapper Killer Mike - perhaps most famous for his Outkast cameos in the Noughties - and producer El-P meeting via a TV exec. Suffice to say, since their free downloadable self-titled debut smashed all expectations and they have been, along with Kendrick Lemar, keeping the golden age of hip hop alive and away, or at least a omnisprecient distraction from the watered down, tuneless likes of Drake et al.
Their fourth LP opens with the brutal yankee and the brave (ep. 4) with Killer Mike's up front rapping. It's quickly followed by DJ Premier dropping recent single ooh la la, while out of sight then brings the funk. holy calamafuck, great title but it sounded a bit tired. All is forgotten with the slow brooding goonies vs. E.T. and walking in snow arguably the best track here, with its superletive rapping and Killer Mike's "I can't breathe", being unexpectedly powerful, given this track was written last year. The subject of slavery continues with the standard (but now still necessary?) track of Pharrell Williams but JU$T just doesn't do it for me. The second side of the album continues at the same relentless pace, a throwback to Hip Hop albums from the Eighties - the Golden Age - when there was little room for filler, works in progress and skits; how many of those rap albums from the mid nineties would have been greater with a little trimming.
The album ends with two interesting closing tracks: pulling the pin features Mavis Staples and The Queen of The Stone Age's Josh Homme and slows things down before the closer A few words for the firing squad (radiation) brings things to a climax with it's brooding climbing bassline which recalls Joy Division's My Only Mistake. Overall a solid, enjoyable effort.
Rating 7 / 10
Neil Young
Homegrown Reprise
Legendary Canadian Singer/songwriter's lost album from the mid seventies is finally released
NEVER KNOWN to fail it says on the cover but if anything this album is about failing and about the fragility of love. This release is according to its author "the missing link between Harvest, Comes A Time, Old Ways and Harvest Moon" having been recorded in 1974 after On The Beach and Tonight's The Night, both of which have had their own 'release story'; the former was allowed to run out and be deleted on vinyl in the Eighties and was only released on CD in 2003, the latter was recorded in 1973 but its release was put off by almost 2 years.
The mid seventies is complicated for a Neil Young fan. He was so prolific, that like Prince a decade later, he could record entire albums only to shelve them if he didn't have a good feeling about them. So what's the album like? Well many of the songs sound like sketches. Neil Young himself commented that "it's really down" and you can see why, having recorded it not long after his breakup with Carrie Snodgrass and nowhere is this more obvious that on the opener Separate Ways. During the period June '74 to Jan '75, it is estimated he wrote around thirty songs - hot off the heals of a strong songwriting streak - and as he passed through the places he traveled he wrote: Florida, Kansas, Mexico. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the songs that have already been released are the strongest here including Love Is A Rose, A Star In Bethlehem and the title track which here is stripped back down from its original Crazy Horse number to its country roots, complete with new unheard extended intro. All three were originally released on American Stars 'N Bars in 1977. Of the completely new songs, perhaps Vacancy is the strongest, although I can't help but think it's a recycle of Word On A String from the previous year's Tonight's The Night given it's same use of chords.
Overall this album is what it is, a snapshot in the time of one of our greatest singer-songwriters, perhaps at his most prolific, where songs were just falling out of him. It is well sequenced and doesn't contain any filler although genuinely classic songs are on short supply. Is it better or as good as those two aforementioned classics? Definitely not and in that respect Young chose the right albums to release at the time.
Rating 7 / 10
Cee-Lo Green
...Is Thomas Calloway EASY EYE SOUND
Sixth solo album from Atlanta's finest, Goodie Mob member and front man of Gnarls Barkley
HE HAS never been away, but the general public would do well to wonder what Cee-Lo Green has been upto since Gnarls Barkley's huge hit Crazy in 2006 and his subsequent reignited solo career with the massive Bruno Mars penned Forget/F*** You which blew up a few years later in 2010. Well in short, he released a Christmas album in 2012 and then 2015's Heart Blanche to disappointing reviews.
However getting Cee-Lo Green to the this point was no mean feat though because he started his career as a rapper and as a member of so so hip hoppers The Goodie Mob. Being stoutly in appearance meant I accepted that such a fantastic talent probably wouldn't make it even when he released the superb I Am The Soul Machine in 2004. So when I drove over to pick up an ex and "Crazy" came on the radio I thought it was a soul diva singing it, forget Mr Calloway. But that song changed everything, for him, for Dangermouse its producer and for streaming; it was the first song to get to UK Number 1 on downloads alone. After such highs, perhaps a low was inevitable but Cee-Lo Green is now back with a new soul album - yes there are no poppy songs here, no playing around with synths - and he's enlisted The Black Key's Dan Auerbach as producer. The result? A fine modern soul record which wears its influences on its sleeve, namely Rhythm and Blues of James Brown, the soul of Stevie Wonder, even the roots of The Band. Each of the 12 songs is solid R&B in the traditional sense, there is gospel, soul, none more so than on You Gotta Do It All. There is a point on this song where Calloway grabs the song and soars to a place rarely reached. It is a wonderful moment, in an album full of them.
Rating 7 / 10
Paul Weller
On Sunset POLYDOR
The Modfather's 15th solo album and 4th in 5 years
TWO SIDES tend to make up most songwriter geniuses: you have the mellow folk Beck or colourful funk Beck, the electric Crazy Horse Neil Young or the harmonica assisted acoustic Neil Young, the serious sincere Dylan or the silly Christmas covers Dylan. Paul Weller is no different having started young, fronting the London Punk band The Jam in 1977, before breaking them up at their commercial peak and starting the soul pop of The Style Council just five years later. They lasted till the end of the Eighties where, after a short break he reemerged to start a successful solo career with his self titled debut in 1992. At this juncture he merged both styles to date and added secondary influences such as Traffic to bring himself upto date with the contempoary Britpop scene at the time as well as enlisting contemporary musicians such as Steve Craddock.
Like the other great British musical auteur - Damon Albarn - Paul Weller has never been one to rest on his laurels nor look back but his hunger to write music has gone up a level having since given up drinking several years ago and this is his 4th album in 5, a period of productivity that recalls Beck in the late Nineties and Ryan Adams in the Noughties. It is an impressive return to serious form. Recent albums have been better than his own Noughties slump where he just couldn't get anywhere near 1995's excellent Stanley Road but I felt they were somewhat over-hyped; there is, quite rightly you could say, a lot of love for Mr Weller after his band's The Jam and The Style Council.
What separates this from recent efforts, is it's effortlessness and its ambition. 7-minute opener Mirror Ball kicks things off with grand intentions as it slowly starts before the beat beats. We're then treated to 12 solid songs that are a little like a melting pot of his Style Council soul songs and his classic sounding solo career. All in all there is much to admire here and despite the odd mishap, it is an album that rewards repeated listens, much like the best of Mr Weller's career.
Rating 7 / 10
Haim
Women In Music Pt. III UNIVERSAL MUSIC
Third album from the Haim sisters and first since 2017's Something To Tell You
I'LL GET to the point. Where are the tunes? A slightly flippant opinion but I really enjoyed Haim when they first burst on the scene with their breezy catchy LA rock and since the days of Mozart and Bach, human beings have loved listening to memorable melodies, each a bit of aural bliss, each bringing a smile. Alas I am struggling to find them on this, Haim's third LP.
I found it consistently underwhelming where the pre-release singles - including the excellent Summer Girl - have all been tagged onto the end in a bid to sell the album rather than improve it; they're not part of the album and the contradictions on Wikipedia evidences this. For example, the recent single The Steps sounds like a recycle of the debut's Forever and The Wire with similar drum patterns and chords used.
Fans of the band will enjoy the album if they're not expecting too much but those wanting songs that match their debut - rather than it's disappointing follow up - will find it lacking. A number of songs are lyrically interesting but having recently listened to Fiona Apple's latest release, they sound quite low key by comparison. The album is sequenced well and there are no bad songs - I don't believe Haim are capable of a bad song - but there are many average ones here unfortunately. Gasoline is the closest they get to reached earlier peaks, alas the rest struggle to match it.
Rating 6 / 10
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever
Sideways to New Italy Sub Pop
Follow up to their great debut Hope Down
THE HOTTEST new rock band to emerge from Australia in recent years, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - or Rolling Blackouts CF for short! - started with great promise on the debut Hope Downs from two years ago, one of the albums of 2018. On their sophomore album, they haven't rewritten the rule book, choosing to stick with what they know but of course the question always is, does it live up to their electric debut? Afterall the sophomore slump is infamous, and music is not sparred, where artists can struggle to follow hit albums with something as good, sometimes on the third, sometimes on the second, as humorously referenced on Grandaddy's second album The Sophtware Slump.
Sadly in short the answer is no. I found myself searching just too hard for hooks, with many of the songs sounding quite similar. Their aforementioned debut was so good, it didn't matter that the voice was sometimes buried abit in the mix or that sometimes the lyrics didn't particularly mean anything. But here I thought about these things to such an extent that they were a distraction from the songs, most of which are just not on par with their debuts. They haven't suddenly turned into a bad band, they are still exciting and certainly the songs at the start of the album still draw that same excitement, songs such as Falling Thunder for example and so fans will still enjoy it, but I suspect not as much as before.
Rating 6 / 10
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