Trollheart

Keeping it all electronic and synthy for another day, the worm remembers 1979, when the likes of Gary Numan were just getting started. This is his first major hit, with Tubeway army, resampled a while back but this is the original, “Are friends electric”? You know, the worm still doesn't know the answer to that question... I suppose it depends on who your friends are!

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Trollheart

Shiver me timbers! So the good ship “Hunka Junk” has been repaired, and it's time to climb on board and set sail once again to the shores of undiscovered music, to see what gems we can bring back for you landlubbers.

(Which is my way of saying that it's time once again for “Trollheart's Treasure Chest” --- so why didn't you just say that? --- Ah, by the ghost of Blackbeard, ye'll walk the plank fer that, ye scurvy dog! Yeah, yeah, get some help....)

In any event, here we are again with another three examples of music I believe needs to be heard by more people. As ever you can check any of them out by heading over to the Soundclick page at SoundClick - Free MP3 music download and much, much more., but to be fair, these are the best (in my opinion, of course) while there are some real dogs out there.


A Drive on Lynn
I have no idea what the name means: I'm assuming “Lynn” is perhaps a highway in the artiste's hometown? I hope so, as otherwise they're advocating running some poor girl over! There's zero information about the band/artiste, which is a pity, but they really seem to have it together, with great vocal harmonies, a good lead singer and some cool guitar. Very AOR. Sadly, they only have --- or have only put up --- the one song, but it's a killer, see below.
SoundClick artist: A Drive on Lynn - .....rock with a softer edge.
Genre AOR
Nationality American (Newbury Park)
Gold Papercut memory

Pity there's no more from them: I'll keep an eye on the page and see if they upload any more songs, and if so I'll return and edit this page. Sounds like they could have a very bright future, if only anyone knew about them!


A flash in the pan
For some reason, you can only get to the picture of these guys by clicking an “Over 18” link, but I see nothing mature about their page that couldn't be viewed by anyone under that age. Anyway, these guys again have no information about themselves, but are another undiscovered gem with only the one song on the page. Great sax, great guitars, great keys, elements of Roxy Music. Good band. Check them out.

SoundClick artist: A Flash In The Pan - page with MP3 music downloads
Genre Rock
Nationality American (Thousand Oaks, California)
Gold Rocker


A Glimpse of Death
Hard rock, heavy metal outfit from Ohio. Kind of in the style of Metallica, with deep, clear vocals and growling guitars. No doubt these guys have spent many an hour in someone's garage with plenty of beer and cigarettes, playin' it loud!
SoundClick artist: A Glimpse Of Death - page with MP3 music downloads
Genre Heavy metal
Nationality American (Millersburg, Ohio)
Gold Hungry (great acapella start!), My life
Silver Complex vortex, Prayer

So that's the Treasure Chest closed for another while. More unsigned, unknown artistes soon. If you have a struggling band, or are a performer and want to get your music featured here, it's not the NME but I do get a lot of views, so you could do worse. Email me or post a comment and let me know where your music can be heard --- it has to be freely available, as I'm not going to pay for download music I don't even know, nor ask my readers to --- and if it's good enough we'll give it a whirl.

Until we meet again then, this is Captain Trollheart, sailing off into the sunset to the strains of “Papercut memory” from A Drive on Lynn. Oooh yeah!

(Disclaimer: Trollheart is not a captain, has never captained or even sailed a boat, and is not recognised by the Ships and Captains Guild.)

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NSW

Well...does the worm listen to any soul music? I always see alot of pop, metal, and lyrical stuff in here, but not alot of soul or blues (unless I've missed it!).

And, I don't know if worms have ears...the one in your picture doesn't, but he does have eyebrows hovering above his little worm head which I find slightly creepy.

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Trollheart

Well, in response to nonsubmissivewife's request, I must admit the worm is not a huge soul fan, (nor am I sure he has ears) but he does listen to requests.
And so how about this? Gladys Knight and the Pips, from their heyday, with a great soul classic, "Midnight train to Georgia"?

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Glorious fool --- John Martyn --- 1981 (WEA)


John Martyn. The very name conjures up words like “unequalled”, “perfect”, “original” and certainly, like this album's title “glorious”. About as feted as a musician can be, among his peers, critics and fans alike, the world lost a great talent when he died in 2009, but thankfully he left behind him a wealth of music that stands as his legacy and reminds us all of how massive a talent he was. I suppose I could have chosen any of his albums to review, but this one hit a chord with me when I listened to it for the first time, so this is the one I decided to go with. Whichever it had been, there really is no such thing as a bad John Martyn album, but I find this one just a little bit special.

It opens on the ballad “Couldn't love you more”, and immediately you're struck not only by Martyn's distinctive yet understated voice, but also his superlative eye for songwriting. The track is graced

with a guest spot by the legendary Eric Clapton, but such a figure is Martyn that, great though it is to have Slowland on the song, your attention is not drawn away from the dazzling vocals of John Martyn, and it certainly does not become a Clapton song. Backing vocals also contributed by Phil Collins, in addition to his drumming gig. It's a lovely, lazy, smooth ballad with a very simple message, in the same way most of Martyn's songs are crafted.

“Amsterdam” kicks up the tempo and pace a little, with great keyboards from Max Middleton, and Collins enjoying himself on a vocoder. An upbeat mix of jazz and blues, it's a step away from what will become the overarching theme of this album, slow, graceful, at times unbearably beautiful love songs. In places on this track Martyn manages a fairly good Tom Waits impression!

The cool, smooth vibe is soon re-established for “Hold on my heart”, with again great and distinctive backing vocals by Phil Collins, and a really nice line in bass courtesy of Alan Thomson. A truly lovely flugel horn solo by Dick Cutthell really adds to the mood of this song, making it, if such a thing were possible, even smoother. “Perfect hustler” brings a caribbean feel to the album, with some great precussion by Danny Cummings and again that oh-so-cool bass from Thomson. Martyn's voice rises above it all, like a flame jumping from the fire into the night air. And is he having fun!

The longest track then, “Hearts and keys”, a seven and a half minute blues ballad, takes slow and lazy to new dimensions, but in a very good way. It's almost an ambient track, with slow, atmospheric drumming (if you can imagine such a thing), moaning bass and evocative keyboards, Martyn almost drawling the vocal. Amazingly, you realise seven and a half minutes have passed, and the next track is the title one.

It's another low-key ballad, with that excellent bass again leading the way. Never heard an album where bass guitar was used so well, and shaped the mood of the songs so much. A sort of a “scat” vocal from Martyn, very jazz-like, and at times almost inaudible as he seems to be singing into his chest, but that just falls in with the overall mood of the song.

After all these smooth ballads it's a bit of a shock to the system when “Never say never” kicks in, with its opening lines ”Shut up!” repeated, then the heavy drums and Martyn's much more animated vocal taking the song into higher levels. “Pascanel (Get back home)” is a slower, but more forceful ballad, with Martyn taking no chances people are not going to hear him. Some superb guitar from him on this track as well, then we're into “Didn't do that”, the last of the, shall we say, faster tracks on the album.

With a very jazzy beat and a fast tempo, it features a tongue-twisting vocal from Martyn that he handles with the ease of the consummate professional. Dick Cuthell cuts loose with some very fine and jazzy trumpet that helps carry the song, The album closes on two more ballads, and there is a wealth of quality to choose from here --- an embarrassment of riches, so to speak --- but “Please fall in love with me” comes very close to taking the plaudits for standout track. At over six minutes long it's the second-longest track on the album, and is a very low-key and laidback ballad, with again a very simple message.

The drums do a lot to set the mood here, keeping what we would have to call a very Phil Collins beat (it is him, after all), similar to “In the air tonight” (the quiet part, before the big finish) and taking the song gently along, till he hits them a little harder and the track gets a little louder, a little more insistent and to be totally fair, a little more reminscent of Collins' masterpiece. None of this is surprising, as Collins had only released his debut solo album a few months earlier, and was probably still experimenting with his own individual sound.

And one more flawless ballad to end on, the utterly beautiful “Don't you go”, with haunting piano by Collins, and impassioned and heartbreaking vocals by Martyn as he puts every iota of his being into the tragic and forlorn figure presented in the lyric.

To some, the often hard-to-hear singing might colour reception to this album, but anything that's worth listening to is worth the effort, so just make sure if you're going to spin this album that you're in a quiet room, preferably alone or with your SO, lights low and volume up --- not too high: this isn't an album you need to play loud, but just nudge the volume up a notch so that you can make out all the vocals and lyrics --- and close your eyes and just drift away on the mellifluous voice that gave us such classics as “May you never”, “Solid air” and of course “Sweet little mystery”. You couldn't be in better hands.

John, the world is a little darker and colder without you in it. May you rest in peace, and to quote your own lyric: May you never make your bed out in the cold.

TRACKLISTING

1. Couldn't love you more
2. Amsterdam
3. Hold on to my heart
4. Perfect hustler
5. Hearts and keys
6. Glorious fool
7. Never say never
8. Pascanel (Get back home)
9. Didn't do that
10. Please fall in love with me
11. Don't you go

Suggested further listening: “The apprentice”, “Solid air”, “Grace and danger”, “Stormbringer”, “Bless the weather”, “Piece by piece”, “One world”.... the list goes on. And on.

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Trollheart

Random Track of the Day
Wednesday, September 21 2011
Back for some rockin' today, with a short-lived offshoot from the Alan Parsons Project, who called themselves Keats. Makes it murder trying to find them on Google: keep getting poetry links! Keats were Ian Bairnson, Colin Blunstone, David Paton, Stuart Elliott and Pete Bardens, most or all of whom have contributed at one time or another to the APP on various albums (you'll know Colin Blunstone's voice from the hit “Old and wise”).

They just released the one album, it being self-titled. It's a good effort, but in fairness it's so close to the style and themes of the APP that you would kind of wonder why they bothered? This at any rate is from that album, a rocky little number entitled “Fight to win”.

Fight to win --- Keats --- from "Keats" on EMI



As I say, there's nothing wrong with the track, but you could very easily hear it on an Alan Parsons album. The standard melody and beat prevalent in much of Parsons' work is there, and though Blunstone does a good job on the vocals, it's nothing to write home about. For completist APP fans only.

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Never a big fan of Michael Jackson, there are nevertheless one or two of the King of Pop's tunes that the worm likes, and it's hard to resist the raw emotional power of “Earth song”.

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Hurricane town --- Stampede --- 1983 (Polydor)


Trollheart leans back in his rocking chair (which really rocks!) and remembers a time before t'internet and itunes, when you bought albums based on radio airplay, recommendations from friends, or a review in Kerrang! That magazine was the touchstone for us metallers back then: if you wanted to know if such-and-such an album was any good, you looked for it to be covered in the pages of the fabled tome and read the opinion of Mick Wall, Malcolm Dome or any of the other writers. Their reviews were usually spot-on, and based on their assessment, you either sought out that album at your local record shop, or you passed on it.

“Hurricane town” was one of those Kerrang! recommended to me. I had no idea who Stampede were, but I liked the things the reviewer was saying about them, so off I went into town, clutching my hard-earned five pounds ninety-nine pence and brought the album home with me. I was delighted to find that, after just one spin, I heartily agreed with Mr. Dome, or whoever had reviewed it.

From the opening guitar chords of “I've been told”, I knew this was going to be a good album. The song was catchy, punchy and had all the right elements. Vocalist Rueben Archer was something of a find, and perfectly complemented by guitarist Lawrence Archer (yes, they are related: Lawrence is Rueben's stepson). It's a gutsy, bouncy rocker and it sets the tone for the rest of the album. No shredding here, but then none is needed. It's not that sort of album.

A great guitar solo nonetheless fades out the track, bringing in “Love letters”, and the quality is maintained. Even though the opener is a stronger song in my opinion, this is a good slice of AOR hard rock, chugging guitar and solid drums. The vocals are clear and pure, never subsumed in the mix, and the backing vocals just as good. There's no keyboard player credited, but I'm sure I can clearly hear keys on this track at least, unless someone is using a synth guitar...

“Casino junkie” is the first point where I feel the quality drops slightly. It's deep, growly and pondering, with a sort of feedback guitar intro, then a Thin Lizzy-ish melody that promptly breaks down into a sort of blues break, then back to the Lizzyesque sound, and again back to blues. It kind of feels like it doesn't know what it wants to be, straddling the two styles. It's not as immediately accessible as the prior two tracks, I feel, but it's a temporary aberration, as “The other side” re-establishes the equilibrium and we're back on track with another great singalong melody and a powerful performance from all concerned.

To be honest, that's about it as far as bad tracks go. “Casino junkie” is the only bump in a road that otherwise leads to a great album and a pretty flawless execution. You would think these guys had been at this for years, instead of it being their debut album. Well, they had an EP released the previous year, but this is their first full release.

The next track would be the standout, if it wasn't for one other. “Turning in circles” has a great hook, great guitar work and the sort of melody bands who have been going for much longer than Stampede would probably kill for. This is an album of great songs generally, and they just keep coming. A real achievement, considering their youth and inexperience.The title track is also the longest on the album, almost seven minutes, showing that Stampede can also write epics.

Oh, there are definitely keyboards of some sort in there! If I had the time, I'd take the boat across the river to my vinyl vault and look for the actual record, but I think Cerberus has to be walked, so he'd be a bit snappy! Anyway, “Hurricane town” comes in on a spacy, atmospheric intro with sounds of wind and classy guitar, then develops into a great rocker telling the story of people who have to abandon their homes when a hurricane hits. Some of Lawrence Archer's best guitar work is evident here; halfway through the song slows down and against that wind sound he pulls off a fantastic solo, reminiscent of the great Gary Moore in his heyday. There's a note of hope at the end, as Rueben sings ”Maybe one day survivors would return/ Rebuild this town called Hurricane/ Now the lesson's learned.”

The last two tracks are both contenders for best track! “The runner” is perhaps the fastest, rockiest of the tracks on this album, with yet another great melody, spellbinding drumming and finger-burning fretboard work, but I honestly think the closer edges it. “Mexico” is a power-rocker to take us to the end of what has been a blindingly brilliant album. Taking as its theme the fight for Mexican independence, it's carried on a driving beat that puts you in mind of horses galloping into battle, its only low point being that the production seems to fall down here, especially on the chorus, where the vocals come right up and then fall away, as if the singer is moving away from the mike. Pity. But it's a very powerful closer, and definitely gets my vote as standout track on the album.

Although they had had previous experience in other bands, like Lautrec, Lionheart and Wild Horses, this was Stampede's first effort as a band, and I think it's an amazing effort. Unfortunately it was not any sort of commercial success, and as a result Stampede broke up shortly afterwards due to medical problems suffered by Rueben. They recently reformed though and have a new album out, which I have yet to hear. I've been waiting a long time to hear more Stampede, so expect a review of it at some point.

For now, I would strongly urge you to familiarise yourself with “Hurricane town”, as I have this sneaking feeling that we have not in any way heard the last of Stampede!

TRACKLISTING

1. I've been told
2. Love letters
3. Casino junkie
4. The other side
5. Turning in circles
6. Hurricane town
7. Girl
8. The runner
9. Mexico

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Trollheart

Random Track of the Day
Thursday, September 22 2011
Now this is random! Normally something I would reserve for my “Weird sh*t I like” slot (and may still do so!), this is the soundtrack to one of the cleverest movies in a long time, Tim Burton's “The nightmare before Christmas”. Okay, so Christmas is a little way off yet (93 shopping days, for those interested!) but the random-o-meter doesn't take such things into account. This is what it picked out, and this is what we play.

Making Christmas --- Danny Elfman and the citizens of Halloween Town --- from "The nightmare before Christmas soundtrack" on Walt Disney


Don't you really hate Danny Elfman? Not only is he a fantastic composer, an accomplished musician, but he can sing too! As he does here, taking the part of Jack Skellington in the movie, in a cutely macabre little ditty called “Making Christmas”. If you haven't seen the movie, do yourself a favour and rent it. It's really worth it, and it could change your mind about Christmas...

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NSW

Yay! The worm picked a fab song! A classic of course, and one of the best to sing along with.

Speaking of singing along, here's a clip from one of my fave TV shows featuring a karaoke version of this song:

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