Trollheart

Ah, Pulp! You gotta love 'em, dont'cha? What are they up to now, the worm wonders? This is one of their big, big hit singles, one of the best: “Common people”.

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Prominence and demise --- Winds --- 2007 (The End)


Winds, you say? A band called Winds? Interesting. I think. Tell me more.

Okay then. A progressive metal/neo-classical band from Norway, Winds have in their ranks a classical pianist, a neo-classical guitar virtuoso (it says here) and a black metal drummer. They have been togther since 1998, when they met up in more or less serindipitous circumstances, and have released four albums since then, of which “Prominence and demise” is their latest.

Influenced mainly by classical and ambient music, they mesh this with heavy metal and prog rock, in something the same way already-reviewed Adagio do. Opener “Universal creation array” starts with a nice little classical piano line, added to by some classical guitar before it bursts into a fully-fledged metal track, with some inspired vocals by Lars E. Si (who we'll just refer to as Lars from now on, for handiness' sake), and some excellent guitar work from Carl August Tidemann. The opening track is a long one, just over eight minutes, just about the longest on the album, though there are other tracks that come quite close.

“Distorted dimensions” is more openly metal than the previous track, not as intricate but still with some really nice piano from Andy Winter, while “The grand design” starts off in a very classical mode but then becomes a rock/metal cruncher, with drummer Hellhammer (yeah, that's his name, at least the one he goes by on the album!) keeping the pounding beat going. Lars executes some very impressive vocal work on this song, and there's a pretty damn badass solo from Tidemann too. My only minus here is the annoying addition of death vocals, courtesy (!) of Dan Swano: thanks Dan --- not!

There's a certain Black Sabbath feel to “When the dream of Paradise died”, but I have to admit I'm starting to lose interest, and this is only track four. It's technically perfect, yes, and different also, but I'm having a hard time distinguishing any real melody of memorable quality in the music. It's almost like some guys jamming or soundchecking. Maybe it's me, I don't know, but I can't see me humming any of these songs when I hit “stop” (which at the moment can't come soon enough, but let's give this album a chance, eh?)

“Fall and rise” has a nice classical guitar intro, then the classical guitar becomes electric guitar, but the piano behind both keeps going, and so far the melody is quite nice. The guitars here take on a recognisable Iron Maiden texture, and the melody itself sounds vaguely eastern-flavoured. Then it becomes a sort of metal boogie, and herein I believe lies the fundamental problem with Winds: they don't stick to one melody or beat for any of the songs --- the tracks drift from classical to metal to rock to prog to anything else in between, often within the same track, which makes it difficult to follow and also hard to appreciate.

In fairness, this seven-minute track has gone pretty quickly. I didn't feel it was dragged out or over-extended, but once it's over I can't remember how it went. This is the trouble: nothing leaves a lasting cohesive impression. The playing is flawless and very entrancing, but it's almost as if each musician is just showing off his talent, without giving any real thought as to how that meshes with the work of his bandmembers, which ends up in confused and muddied songs. “The darkest path” is a perfect example of this. I'm listening to it. I'm hearing great guitar solos, great classical piano, tremendous drumming, but it's over now and I can't remember how it went at all.

“Convictions and contradictions” reminds me of Threshold at times. It's a little more together than the previous tracks, but now we're seven tracks in on a nine-track album, and it's just too late. My opinion has been formed, and it's not good. Even the relative balladery of “When the cold wind blows” can't rescue this album. Unfortunately, it doesn't stay a ballad, and about two minutes into the almost seven-minute track it gets a little heavier, though in fairness not as manic as a lot of what has gone before. If I had to compare this to anything, it would be Edenbridge or Within Temptation, given the female backing vocals from Agnete M. Kirkevaag. I guess this is as close as Winds get to a ballad.

The closer (as if I could care at this point!) “The last line”, has a really nice violin intro, then the guitar bursts in and the song becomes another confused mess. As ever, there's the excellent individual performances: Tidemann is superb on the guitar, whether picking out gentle classical melodies or pushing it to the max with power-shredding that would make Yngwie Malmsteen jealous, Winter is a genius on the piano and keyboards, and Lars is a great vocalist. Hellhammer is, well, Hellhammer. But sadly all of these separate talents add up to less than the sum of their parts, resulting in a very disjointed and confusing album.

Perhaps I'm being unfair to Winds, if so I apologise, but this album did not stay in my memory once I had shut it off, and I always feel that at the very least you should be humming the last track to yourself as you put the album away, close the directory or whatever. Not only am I not doing that, I quite honestly don't think I'd be able to. I can't remember any of the tracks, and I could follow few of them in the first place.

If you want to hear great instrumentation, well-trained musicians and powerul passages of play, have a listen to this. But don't expect songs you can remember later on.

TRACKLISTING

1. Universal creation array
2. Distorted dimensions
3. The grand design
4. When the dream of Paradise died
5. Fall and rise
6. The darkest path
7. Convictions and contradictions
8. Where the cold winds blow
9. The last line

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Phil Collins has got a lot of stick (no pun intended) over the years --- and rightly so, as his music turns from prog rock to rock to pop and to, well, pap --- but this is undeniably a classic, from his early days, and the worm defies you to get it out of your head for at least a few hours!

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Random Track of the Day
Monday, October 17 2011
Let's start the new week off with some culture, shall we? Whaddya mean, is the track Motorhead?? No, I'm talking about classical music; as those of you who have perused my “Get the culture bug!” section will know, I have more than a passing interest in the old masters, and this is one of the best.

Wedding march --- Felix Mendelssohn --- from "A midsummer night's dream"


Ah yes! Guaranteed to send a chill into the heart of any dithering fiance, or any man who fears being asked the question, this is from Shakespeare's classic play “A midsummer night's dream”, set to music, and it's the famous “Wedding march”, which is the song played at just about every church wedding in the world. Betcha didn't know that! See, we educate as well as entertain here....

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It's one of those songs that you hear extracts of on the TV, but never know what song it is. The worm heard it in several shows, and eventually tracked it down, and here it is. Massive Attack, and “Teardrop”.

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Random Track of the Day
Tuesday, October 18 2011
After our dip into classical music for yesterday's RTOTD, it's back to rock for today's track. From an album already reviewed by me, it's Bon Jovi, with “All I want is everything”.

All I want is everything --- Bon Jovi --- from "These days" on Mercury


Those on the far side of the pond may not have heard this, as apparently it was only included on the UK and European releases. Bearing more than a passing similarity both in lyrical content and melody to Prince's “Sign o' the times”, it's a tough, dark song from a tough, dark album, the darkest and most mature album Bon Jovi have ever recorded.

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Recipe: take one pop princess, season lightly with sprinkles of rock star god, add dark, gothic rock poet/singer and place into oven. After some time, remove from oven and lif you have followed instructions precisely, you should have one of the most effective duets of the mid to late 1990s. When Nick Cave released his album “Murder ballads” in 1996, it was many an eyebrow that was raised at the inclusion of one Kylie Minogue on the fifth track, but as it turned out, “Where the wild roses grow” was a huge success, both for Cave (who probably could care less about such things) and for Kylie. In the case of the latter, it raised her profile beyond the somewhat limited pop/dance area she was known for, following on from her association with Michael Hutchence of INXS, under whose tutelage Kylie's own music had been starting to break out of those boundaries.
Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue --- Where the wild roses grow



The tale of a man who meets his lover by the river and kills her, in order that her great beauty be preserved and not fade, the song is based, according to Cave, on the old traditional song “Down in the willow garden”, and is replete with metaphors and images of death and decay, which would not normally be where you would expect to find she who found fame with such inoffensive ditties as “Hand on your heart”, “Devil you know”, “Can't get you out of my head” and of course “Spinning around”. Remembered, at that time, more for skintight supershort golden knickers than for dark morose songs about death, Kylie did herself no harm at all in teaming up with the Reaper of the music world, and the song, released as a single, did well all over the world, especially in her, and his, native Australia.

Nick Cave says he wrote the song specifically with her in mind, and had been trying for several years to write a song worthy of her. It was only when he penned this that he knew he had the song he could approach her to perform with him. She jumped at the chance, and the rest is history. It's probably unlikely that they will ever collaborate again, as Cave hates to repeat himself, and indeed Kylie has of late returned to the style of music that initially made her famous, dance and pop, but for a brief moment there, the marriage of, as it were, goddess and devil, took the world's breath away.

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I think perhaps those of us who maintain journals here should maybe pause for a moment and remember those who do a pretty thankless job, that allows us to, well, exist really. They are the mods, of course, those guys and girls who spend countless hours checking, editing and approving our many posts. Nothing we post can be seen by anyone else without their approval, and I'm sure it's a tough job.

I only hope my own rather numerous posts, articles, sections and reviews don't do too much to add to their burden, but I thank them for their efforts, as I believe we all should. No-one is paid for this job, it's done only for the love of music and the desire to help out, so join me in a hearty round of applause for the mods who approve our posts, and allow our journals to flourish, and next time you're --- like me --- grousing about how long it's taking to get your latest article approved, stop just for a moment and consider the tough job these people are doing.

If the worst we have to do is wait a little while before the world can read our wisdom, sure what hardship is that?

Thanks guys, and keep up the good work!

Trollheart

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Hi.

Trollheart

Having already tackled such features as solo artists, beginner's guides and full histories of bands and artistes, this is a new section I've been working on for some time now. I had many titles for it, but none seemed to fit, to encompass the ethos of what this section would be all about. Then recently I had cause to feature a song in the section “More than words” which made me think. That song was by Kevin Johnson, and is called “Rock and roll I gave you the best years of my life”. Though Johnson's song is about his failure to make it in the music biz, and those centred on in this section all most certainly have been successful in that business, the title just fit and I knew this was what I was going to call the feature.

So what's it about? Well, basically it's going to be a (probably quite occasional, due to the amount of work it will need) look at a particular artist, following their entire music career, from beginning to either end, or the present if they are still recording and gigging. If they've been in more than one band, I'll cover that. If they've done solo work, that'll be examined. Any collaborations with other bands or artistes, whether as a one-off or as part of that band, or as a team-up, will also come under the microscope, as will any live gigs they've taken part in, that have been committed to disc.

In short, I'm going to try to trace the path of the artist, from his or her musical beginnings, as far back as YouTube will allow, to where they are now. I'll be looking at how, if at all, they influenced the various bands they either started or joined, and indeed how those bands changed, if at all, after they left. A whole life in music, insofar as I can.

(Note: as in most of my larger features, this will be divided into two parts, primarily because of the restriction on the amount of images allowed, but also, in this case, to serve as a dividing line between the two sides of the artist's career, as you will see below.)

The first to step into the spotlight is that well-known stalwart of such bands as Thin Lizzy, Tygers of Pan-Tang and Whitesnake among others, almost as famous for his perm as for his fretwork, the one, the only,



Part I: Workin' for the Man

John James Sykes was born on July 25 1959 in Reading, and although his first band was Streetfighter, and he was later in John Sloman's Badlands, there appears to be no footage on YT of the former (not to mention how hard it is to avoid videos for the popular videogame!) and the latter keep getting confused with another band who also go by the name of Badlands. I don't know the music of either, so rather than end up putting up incorrect videos, or indeed referring to the wrong bands, I won't feature anything from either band here. It further appears that John Sloman's Badlands only ever recorded a demo tape, not any albums, so not surprising then that there exists no footage of them.

In a very real sense, then, Sykes' career began in earnest when he joined heavy metallers Tygers of Pan-Tang, although he got together with them only for their second album, after the far heavier and much more raw “Wild cat” (see my review many pages back) had come and gone. By 1981, the Tygers were being pushed by their label into a much more commercial, AOR direction, and John played guitar on what would be their last truly rock album, 1981's “Spellbound” (still far inferior to the rockin' “Wild cat”) and then on their follow-up to that, 1982's “Crazy nights”. Both albums are generally seen by Tygers fans as being indicative of the watering-down of the band, and after 1983's release, “The cage”, the Tygers effectively broke up, although they did reform later, but never regained the popularity they had had at the height of the eighties.



Sykes joined the Tygers after Jess Cox, lead singer on the debut, left the band in an acrimonious split, and he was drafted in to supplement founder member and guitarist Robb Weir, adding an extra dimension to the guitar parts on the album. “Tyger Bay” (below) is a good example of how he stamped his own identity on the Tygers' sound.


And the rather good “Running out of time” from “Crazy nights” has him in fine form.


John was then approached by the aforemenioned John Sloman, and asked to join his new band, John Sloman's Badlands, but although they cut a demo tape they did not stay together and broke up very quickly. He officially remained with the Tygers after the disintegration of Badlands, but he only contributed to two tracks on what would be their penultimate recording, actually my favourite of theirs after “Wild cat”, “The cage”. This is one of them, unfortunately not the one I wanted to feature, damn you, YouTube! It's the infinitely inferior cover, “Love potion no. 9”, but hey, Sykes is on fire on it!

The rest of the Tygers were reportedly annoyed at Sykes for “abandoning” them during the recording of “The cage”, as he went to audition for Ozzy Osbourne, in the sad light of the untimely death of Randy Rhoads in 1983. It was however a gig he did not succeed in winning, but his time away from the band meant that he was only able to play on two of the tracks that appeared on “The cage”, as mentioned.

After he parted company with the Tygers, John was approached by Phil Lynott, and joined Thin Lizzy as a replacement for Snowy White. He featured on the last studio album by the band, Phil Lynott's swansong, “Thunder and lightning”, on which he not only played guitar but also co-wrote the biggest hit single taken from that album, “Cold sweat”.


Sykes became a real favourite with Lizzy fans during the short time he was with them, from late 1982 to autumn 1983, when he toured with them on their final tour before they broke up, and he appears on the live album “Life/Live”, recorded during that tour. This also gave him the unmissable chance to play onstage with ex-Lizzy legends Gary Moore, Eric Bell and Brian Robertson. It seems not too much footage of the tour made it to YT, but here's Sykes at his best on “The sun goes down”, from the gig in the Regal Theatre.


After Lizzy broke up, John joined Brian Downey, Scott Gorham and Darren Wharton on Phil Lynott's solo tour of Europe, under the banner of “The Three Musketeers” (even though, including Sykes, there were five of them!) and after this ended, John Sykes, never a man to stand still for long, took up David Coverdale's offer to join Whitesnake, and although his first album with them, 1983's “Slide it in”, had original guitar on it by Micky Moody, when he left the band due to irreconcilable differences between he and Coverdale, Sykes was afforded the opportunity to redo the guitar tracks when the album was remixed and reissued for its US release.
Moderator cut: image removed

Sykes then toured with Whitesnake, cutting another album with them, 1987's self-titled, seen as the “rebirth” of the band after Coverdale's ego had led to his firing Cozy Powell, Colin Hodgkinson and Mel Galley, with Jon Lord having left to rejoin his old band Deep Purple. Neil Murray had come back, having left the band after 1981's “Saints and sinners”, and a new drummer and some “guest” keyboard players recorded the new album, which was spectacularly successful, due in no small part to Sykes' contribution, both on guitar and songwriting, of which he collaborated on the vast majority with Coverdale.


But there are few things as overbearingly huge, it would appear, as David Coverdale's ego, and once again he decided to dispense with everyone in the band, going on to record their next album, 1989's “Slip of the tongue”, with a whole new crew. Perhaps burned by his treatment at Coverdale's hands, and wanting to have his destiny in his own hands, Sykes decided it was time to form his own band.

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