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Scarlet and other stories --- All About Eve --- 1989 (Mercury)

After the excellent self-titled debut from this band, I was really looking forward to their follow-up, which appeared in 1989, a mere year later. But this is a far different album to the debut. It's far darker, heavier and well, less accessible than “All About Eve” was. Since it's starring in this slot, you can probably work out that I didn't like it.

Unfortunately, for me it was a real disappointment, though it starts out well, with the opener “Road to your soul”, which keeps up the quality and songwriting from the debut.


As indeed does “Dream now”


But then you get “Gold and silver”


Not to mention the title track


Followed quickly by “December”


Now, I know there were personal issues clouding the making of this album, hence its dark tone, but really, this sounds like the band just weren't trying! When you end up with tracks the likes of “Tuesday's child”


“Hard Spaniard”


and the closer, “The pearl fishermen”


you just can't help but be disappointed, when you compare the albums. I'm not saying this is a terrible album, but after the excellent debut it's a huge let-down, and I can really only say I like (or at least, don't hate!) the first two tracks. It's just not what I expected, and I was really sorry I bought it, which doesn't happen very often.

One clear indicator that you're not going to enjoy an album is when your attention starts to wander, songs and tracks slip by unnoticed, and before you know it the album is over, and you haven't really heard it. This is how it was first time I listened to “Scarlet and other stories” --- after the first two tracks I began to slowly and increasingly lose interest, till by the end I really couldn't care. This, sadly, is how I again feel, having listened to the album through again. My opinion has not changed.

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Let's finish up Sunday evening and bring the week to a close with some nice relaxing instrumentals, eh?

Starting off with prog-rock band Arena, and a great track from their album “The visitor”, here's “Elea”.


More prog from Mostly Autumn, from the album “Passengers”, a great little track called “Distant train”.


And to finish up, a great little piece from an album previously reviewed by me, Savatage's “The wake of Magellan”, this is “The storm”. Enjoy!

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Today the worm feels like heading down to Echo Beach and taking the rays. Unfortunately, this is Ireland, and it's pissing rain! No matter: still a great song from Martha and the Muffins...

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Random Track of the Day
Monday, September 19 2011

Another Monday, another week begun, and a totally inappropriate (perhaps) track for Random Track of the Day, it's the Moody Blues from “Sur la mer”, and “Here comes the weekend”. I'm not trying to rub it in, honest!

Here comes the weekend --- The Moody Blues --- from "Sur la mer" on Polydor



Really makes you wish it was Friday huh? A good, boppy and lively track from the Moodies, with more than a hint of “Gemini dream” in there! Lots of cool sax, which is never bad, and although I'm an on/off Moody Blues fan (check my review of their “Every good boy deserves favour” album on the very first “Spinning the wheel”), this one I like!

Again, apologies to those of you who are only starting your working week, but blame the random—meter, not me!

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Night castle --- Trans-Siberian Orchestra --- 2009 (Lava)


Essentially a side-project, and then the continuation of Savatage, Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO) have carved themselves out a name for accomplished blend of classical, symphonic rock music and metal that somehow meshes to become something which is more than the sum of its parts. Created by producer Paul O'Neill, with ex-Savatage members Jon Olivia and Al Pitrelli, TSO have to date sold over eight million albums and as many concert tickets.

This is their fifth album, and to date, their most recent, released in 2009. It's a double album, so there's a lot to get through. Let's get started then, shall we? If you're sitting comfortably, we'll begin. Actually, I don't care whether or not you're sitting comfortably: I have a job to do, you know!

It starts with a reworking of Verdi's “Requiem”, which they title “Night enchanted”, with lots of keyboards and choral voices, and of course guitars. It's really impressive to hear heavy metal and classical mixed together so well, and working one off the other. It gets very quiet and restrained in the middle then, with a female vocal and another classical piece, which I know but can't place, then back to the “Requiem”. The choir is really powerful and expressive, and adds a real punch to the music. And this is only track one!

Next up is a quiet piano-driven ballad called “Childhood dreams”, with strong solo male vocal from Jay Pierce, joined by guitar, but there's an unnecessarily forceful moment in the song which detracts from the pure beauty of it. Pity. It should have been a tender ballad but feels a little forced. Tim Hockenberry does a great impression of Joe Cocker on “Sparks”, a straight rock song with no classical leanings, while “The Mountain” is a brilliant fusion of Grieg's “Hall of the Mountain King” and Holst's “Mars, the bringer of war” from the “Planets suite”. This was previously featured under another title on the Savatage album “Hall of the Mountain King.”

There are a huge number of people involved in this album, so it's hard to pick out individual performances or comment on the guitar playing of one or the keyboard skills of another, and as the album is a double I won't be going through every track, though I will try to mention most if not all of them, even if in passing. Rather than pick out musical contributions then, I intend to review this on the basis of its entireity, and how the songs and pieces fit together. So far, I'm damn impressed, I can tell you!

The title track is next, and it's the closest to material from Savatage's “The wake of Magellan” that I've heard on this album so far, with “The safest way into tomorrow” another male vocal ballad, Jay Pierce again. The guy has a very operatic voice, enunciating every word and sounding very cultured indeed, like one of those three tenors or something. Great guitar work in this too. “Mozart and memories” is an excellent reworking of Mozart's Symphony No. 25, and “Another way to die” is another rocker, again in the style of “Magellan”. Spellbinding piano solo on this one, then we're into “Toccata --- Carpimus Noctern”, another great reworking of a classical piece. I first heard Bach's “Toccata and fugue” when Sky interpreted it on their “Sky 2” album, and I loved it, but this gives it real teeth and claws!

“The lion's roar” interprets the traditional Irish ballad “The minstrel boy”, with just trumpet for about a minute and a half, then the drums and guitar blast in to take the rest of the track, with keyboards cutting in too, the whole thing getting a little funky without losing its basic rock core. “Dreams we conceive” is an organ and piano-led ballad, Jeff Scott Soto this time taking vocal duties, stabbing guitars soon taking it up a notch to end up a real power ballad, one of the best tracks on the album so far, to these ears.

“Mother and son” is forty seconds of talk between I guess a Vietnamese or possibly Japanese mother and her child, as there is then the sound of an aircraft flying overhead, then the first disc comes to a close with the longest track on it, “There was a life”, with yet another vocalist, this time Tim Evan. It's another power ballad, with a lovely piiano melody running through it that closes the “first act” in fine style. (Goddamn it, this could qualify as best track too! Good complaint, I guess).

And so on to disc two we go.

An instrumental gets us under way, “Moonlight and madness” is pure classical at first, great piano work (though don't ask me from who, as there are so many talented people involved with this project!) then rock guitar cuts in and the piece becomes a pure rock tune, then we have “Time floats on”, another mid-paced ballad with some nice classical piano but otherwise a rock song, and on to the longest track on the entire two discs.

At almost eleven minutes, “Epiphany” is a powerful song that go through several changes, starting off balladic but soon getting more powerful, with a lot of anger at injustice in the lyric. Another powerful vocal from Rob Evan, and a melody section near the end very reminscent of “Wake of Magellan” again. “Bach lullaby” is a lovely forty seconds of marimba or vibraphone, or something similar, very gentle as the title suggests, then there's the first female vocal, by Jennifer Cella, in “Father, Son and Holy Ghost”, a song which starts off slowly and gently but soon Cella is able to show off her considerable vocal talents as the song gets heavier and more intense.And she stays with us for “Remnants of a lullaby”, carried on a gentle acoustic guitar line.

There's a short return for Jeff Scott Soto then, for “The safest way to tomorrow (reprise)”, then “Embers” is a nice little acoustic guitar instrumental, with a certain echo of “Horizon” from Genesis' “Foxtrot” album, then another female voice on “Child of the night”. This time it's Alexa Goddard, with an interpretation of another classical tune I know, but can't place. Lovely voice indeed. Tim Hockenberry makes his second and final appearance on the ballad “Believe” (it's really quite incredible how like Cocker he sounds!), with a great guitar solo.

“Nutrocker” features the legendary Greg Lake on bass, and then there's a superb version of Carl Orff's famous “O fortuna” (although here it's credited as “Carmina Burana”: rookie mistake. “Carmina Burana” is the whole hymn, whereas the well-known part (think --- oh God no! --- “The X Factor” --- or if you're older like me, the “Old Spice” ad from the eighties) is called “O fortuna”, which is what we get here, though the slip on the title is easily forgivable due to the excellent job the band make of the piece.

And things wrap up with another instrumental, the almost prog-rock flavoured “Tracers”, bringing the curtain down on one incredible musical experience.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra, despite having no connection to Russia, certainly live up to their name. This is a huge, sprawling masterpiece, replete with great singers, musicians and choirs, an album full of ideas and concepts, and doing a very good job of melding classical music with rock and metal. Hopefully, TSO will open up the world of classical music to perhaps some of the younger generation, who have not yet had that pleasure, and they will be able to broaden their musical horizons. In every way that could possibly count, there is only one word that truly encompasses this album, and this band, and is progressive.

Oh yeah: I really liked it, in case you didn't realise!

TRACKLISTING

DISC 1
1. Night enchanted
2. Childhood dreams
3. Sparks
4. The Mountain
5. Night castle
6. The safest way into tomorrow
7. Mozart and memories
8. Another way you can die
9. Toccata – Carpimus Noctern
10. The lion's roar
11. Dreams we conceive
12. Mother and son
13. There was a life

DISC 2

1. Moonlight and madness
2. Time floats on
3. Epiphany
4. Bach lullaby
5. Father, Son and Holy Ghost
6. Remnants of a lullaby
7. The safest way into tomorrow (reprise)
8. Embers
9. Child of the night
10. Believe
11. Nutrocker
12. Carmina Burana
13. Tracers

Suggested further listening: Well, I haven't heard any other of their albums, but I intend to listen to them all. So “Beethoven's last night”, “The lost Christmas Eve”, “Christmas attic” and “Christmas Eve and other stories” are all on the list. You might want to check out Orff's “Carmina Burana” too, though don't expect it all to be like “O fortuna”! Perhaps some Mozart...

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One thing the recent rounds of Random Track of the Day has done is reminded me that there is some excellent classical music out there. And let's face it: without classical music there would be no rock, no metal, no punk, no rap, no hip-hop, no country, no pop … no music at all. If it wasn't for the pioneers of music sitting down at pianos and working with orchestras more than four hundred years ago, and more, who knows how music might have gone, or if it would even have become popular? Classical music allowed the ordinary folk to enjoy the wonders of music, and laid the groundwork for everything that has come after.

So, this section is going to feature some of the best, well-known and least-known classical music that I know of. I'm no classical buff, but I know my Mozarts from my Mendelssohns, and I can tell a Chopin from a Grieg, so sit back and have a listen, and those of you who know no more of classical than Beethoven's fifth symphony or the theme to “The Onedin Line”, or anything you've heard on telly or in the movies, or indeed any piece of classical that has been sampled by modern artistes, may learn something here, and perhaps even gain an appreciation for the oldest known form of popular musical expression.

Music, maestro, please!

We start off with something just about everyone will know, but where do you know it from? You've heard it in movies, on TV ads, perhaps even in videogames. It's called “Mars, the bringer of war”, and it's the opening movement from Gustav Holst's (1874-1924) “Planets suite”. It conveys brilliantly and in no uncertain fashion the dark power and hostile stance of not only the planet Mars, but the Roman god of war, after which it is named. It starts low, gets louder as it goes and builds to a pretty deafening crescendo to the end, so be warned if you have your amp/speakers up high!



After that, something to calm down. How about some nice piano? Ludwig von Beethoven (1770-1827), with another piece you'll have heard, even if you didn't know who it was. It's called “Piano sonata no. 14 in C Sharp Minor”, but it's better known by the name “Moonlight sonata.”



Let's get things moving again with a bit of ballet (how often do you hear anyone say that??) --- This is the waltz from “Sleeping Beauty”, Ballet Suite Op 66, by Pyotr Illyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893).



Now how about a nice violin concerto? Here's Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), with Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Minor.



And to finish things off, everyone knows “William Tell overture”, by Gioachino Antonio Rossini (1792-1868). This is the finale, the bit we all know.



Okay, so none of those particular pieces will have surprised you, and many if not all you will have known of, if not actually heard, but I thought it might be best to just ease you in gently (those of you who are lacking in your knowledge and appreciation of classical music, that is) with some old favourites. As the section grows, I'll add more obscure and less well-known, but equally brilliant and noteworthy compositions and extracts.

So, if after that all you're doing is humming the “Lone Ranger” theme, that's not a bad start!

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NSW

Love this song, and love the Earworm section of this journal!

Also, props for featuring the Buffy theme song earlier too!

Oh...and "Summertime"...

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Trollheart

Thanks as always for the kind comments, nsw: anything I can do to make your day a little easier...

Any suggestions, I'm sure the worm will be happy to listen (hey, do worms even have ears?)

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Random Track of the Day
Tuesday, September 20 2011

Something totally different for Tuesday, as September heads towards a close, and people speak in hushed whispers about Christmas (shut UP!), it's a track from the excellent “Blue is the colour”, the only album I ever listened to by The Beautiful South. True story: I bought this album from one of those dodgy geezas who call at your door with a holdall full of CDs, but I was very glad I did, as it's a great album.

Blackbird on the wire --- The Beautiful South --- from "Blue is the colour" on Go! Discs


Without doubt, one of the best tracks on a really great album, “Blackbird on the wire” is probably one of the least dark tracks on the album, whose overall tone is very melancholic. It's a lovely little ballad, with gorgeous piano from Damon Butcher and just the right amount of guitar, not too much, not too little, along with impassioned singing from --- well, I'm not sure, as the Beautiful South have two vocalists, but it's probably Paul Heaton, as he seems to have been the driving force behind the album.

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Empire --- Kasabian --- 2006 (BMG)


So what's all this about Kasabian then? What do you mean, I'm coming to the party a little late? I'm a busy man, you know! But I've heard a lot about these guys --- some people giving them the kiss of death and proclaiming them to be the future of rock'n'roll --- but I've heard nothing from them. Time to put that right. Let's see if these upstarts can measure up to the hype.

This is their second album, and by all accounts sold over a million copies, so it should be good, right? Well, opener and title track doesn't exactly blow me away, in fact I'm sort of left wondering what the fuss is about. Good catchy song, yes, but I've certainly heard better rock songs. Well, it's only the first track, so let's see if it gets any better....

Oh yeah, this is a lot better! “Shoot the runner” is powerful, catchy and an instant hit with me. Much more cohesive as a track than “Empire”, this has quality stamped all over it. Could have something to do with the fact that lead guitar has been switched from Chris Karloff on the opener to Sergio Pizzorno for this, and it does show. Kind of reminscent of Gary Glitter's “Rock and roll (part one)” in its beat, it's an infectious beat and melody, and the vocals are a little less shouted and more sung this time by Tom Meighan. Great synth work from Pizzorno too. Better, guys, better. Now let's keep it up, eh? “Last trip (in flight)” has a great little bass line carrying the track, and some great backing vocals, though there's a certain punky vibe to the song, kind of similar to Lostprophets, whose album I reviewed a while back. Not bad though.

Pizzorno takes over lead vocals for “Me plus one” and also does guitar, though I think I prefer the vocals of the mainman: Meighan just has a voice that's better suited to this kind of music. As a result, the track is a little bland, a shade forgettable, but a worthy effort, not the last we'll hear from him on this album. The song has a nice little keyboard run which gives it an eastern feel, then we're into “Sun rise light flies”, with Meighan back on vocals and Pizzorno where he is at his most effective, working that guitar. Organ helps the track along, and some nice solid synthwork too, which really, prior to the keyboards breaking in, the song was lacking.

The oddly-named “Apnoea” is just confusing noise really, then Pizzorno is back on vocals for “By my side”, which has some nice guitar and bass, but fails to impress really. A good synth passage about a minute from the end does its best to rescue the song, but it's not enough. Not a bad track, per se, but not a standout by any means, and once it's faded into the background I can't even remember how it went, whereas the melody for “Shoot the runner” is still loping through my head. But so far, that's not only the best, but the only good track I can speak about on this album. Let's see what develops as head into the concluding part of “Empire”.

It's still Pizzorno on vocals as “Stuntman” gets going, but right away this song impresses me. It's got a very cohesive feel, which a lot of the other tracks didn't --- they felt confused, fragmented, half-finished ideas. This is very tight, and works very well, and I have to say Pizzorno does well on the vocals here. I shouldn't be too hard on Karloff either, as I see that on this and the previous track, as well as the title one, in addition to playing guitar he also handles keyboards, synth and omnichord. Talented guy! You can certainly hear his influence on this song, no doubt about that. Second good track I've heard so far.

“Seek and destroy” is a clear, straight-ahead rock song with good use of the keys, and what sounds like drum machines (though drummer Ian Matthews will probably angrily set me straight, if he should ever read this review: yeah, about as likely as me getting six numbers on the Euromillions tonight!), but it's a catchy, almost new-wave song in the mould of Depeche Mode or Tubeway Army, and it shows how good a vocalist Meighan is compared to his guitarist. Speaking of Pizzorno, “British Legion” is his last turn on the mike, and it's a nice little guitar ballad, a nice changedown in pace with some lovely piano too, and a good vocal performance in fairness.

The album closes on “The doberman”, the longest song on the album. It's quite epic, featuring something of a drum solo halfway through and then a mariachi-style keyboard run against choral backing vocals, building up the intensity and managing to finish the album off on a high note.

So, am I blown away? Absolutely not. But am I bored and do I think this album is rubbish? Not quite. There are good moments on it, certainly, and some decent tracks, but it does amaze me that this sold as many copies as it did and made these guys virtually superstars. I would have forgiven the naivete and confusion of ideas if this were their debut album, but it's their second, and Kasabian really should have had it together by now. Not a terrible album, but in no way a classic.

In the end, all I can say is I'm glad I listened to it, so that I could hear what all the hype was about and decide myself if it was deserved (it's not, in my opinion), but this is one album I'll be putting away after this review and it's unlikely to come out again.

Well, maybe to hear “Shoot the runner” a few times, but that's about it.

TRACKLISTING

1. Empire
2. Shoot the runner
3. Last trip (in flight)
4. Me plus one
5. Sun rise light flies
6. Apnoea
7. By my side
8. Stuntman
9. Seek and destroy
10. British Legion
11. The doberman

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