Frownland

But I actually hate it.

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Trollheart

All right.
Kendrick Lamar - Damn

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Trollheart

Album Title: Bad Attitude
Artist: Meat Loaf
Year: 1984
Genre: Hard Rock
Position in Discography: 5 of 13 (ATOW)

Ask anyone, even those who hate him, to name a Meat Loaf album and I'll bet you my salary, which I don't get, that they'll say Bat Out Of Hell. Why not? It's his most iconic and famous and indeed successful album, and for many, the only time they've ever encountered the man. The album will be in the collection of a lot of people who don't collect his music, or even rock music, in the same way as you'll find Hotel California, Dark Side of the Moon and Simon and Garfunkel's Greatest Hits: it's regarded, rightly, as a classic. But what is the magic formula that created that classic? The combination of Meat Loaf's powerful, at times heart-wrenching singing, and the superb songwriting talent of his partner-in-crime, Jim Steinman. Together, the two were unstoppable.

But legal hassles drove this team apart, and for his last album Meat had been flying solo. Hadn't done too well either, crashing in flames with an album nobody liked, remembered or which sold in any significant numbers. This one, too, is written without the Big J, but he did gift Meat two songs he had previously written (one of which he had already released himself on his first solo album) while Meat, admitting he's a **** songwriter, farmed out the rest of the album to other writers, mostly Sarah Durkee and her husband Paul Jacobs, who are both veterans of Sesame Street (?) resulting in what could have been something of a disaster, but isn't.

It is, however, a very different Meat Loaf album. Gone are the epic eight or nine-minute songs, absent are the choirs and orchestras, and without Steinman aboard, say farewell to those heavy, seventy-words-to-a-bar lyrics focussing on the human condition. Much more a pop album (despite how Wiki characterises it) and one actually I would think more likely to have yielded hit singles, it did in fact return Meat to the charts with one of the songs, a shock for many people who probably thought he had long ago had one Big Mac too many and was now riding that famous motorbike down there with Satan on the back. To some extent, and strictly from a musical point of view, this was a leaner, meaner Meat Loaf, with shorter, snappier songs, whose lyrics were more rooted in the ordinary world, without any input from the singer himself, which was just as well given the fiasco of the previous album. You could almost – almost – describe this as a Meat Loaf album for people who don't like Meat Loaf. Were you to hear these tracks on the radio, other than Meat's voice being instantly recognisable by itself, you might be tempted not to believe it was him.

One thing that was, is and probably always will be synonymous with Meat Loaf though is motorbikes. And women. And there are both on the cover, cropping up in the lyrics too along the way, assuring you that though Steinman is not on board, this is still going to be one hell of a wild ride. And it is.


Bad Attitude
It's an explosive start as we launch into the title track, with an interesting duet provided by The Who's Roger Daltrey, and some superb guitar work from Bruce Kulick. Reminiscent, in my view, of “Dead Ringer For Love”, it's a typical Meat Loaf song about rebelling against authority, giving society the finger while you pop a wheelie down the freeway with your girl on the pillion, and in ways it's kind of hard to believe it's not a Steinman song, but it isn't. A good beginning, very positive and while I won't say the Big J is not missed, it's nowhere near the disappointment it could have been.

10/10


Modern Girl
Remember Clare Torry? No? Let me jog your memory: she's the one doing that amazing vocalise on Pink Floyd's “The Great Gig in the Sky”. Yeah, her. Well she's the next one to duet with the Meat on the hit single from this album, which envisions the changes in attitudes (!) and morals of the current world compared to the older times. Great hook in the chorus, another storming, stomping rocker and must have gone down really well on stage. Some Steinmanesque lyrics - “A broken down machine/Rusty with the guilty tears/Of fallen kings and queens.” Perhaps a bit laughable for someone so long in the business as Meat to be crying “Gimme the future!” but there you go.

10/10


Nowhere Fast
This one is a Steinman song, and you can really tell. Or can you? It's not as epic or as – some might say – overblown and bombastic as we've come to expect from His Steinmanship, in fact it flies along at a great rocky pace with a total absence of choirs or orchestras, and the lyric is relatively pedestrian for the man. Some fine almost new-wave drumming and synth leads the song into a kind of hybrid of AOR and new-wave/pop, with some fine orchestral hits on the synth that really drive the song. The first one on which Meat sings solo (and it's maybe odd cos it's the kind of song that lends itself to a duet, but I guess he can't share vocal duties all the time) though there are some fine backing vocals, though not from the usual suspects – no Katie Kissoon, Ellen Foley et al.

10/10


Surf's Up
And the next one is also a Steinman song, and this time it does show, even if you haven't heard his own version on Bad For Good, his first solo album. The energy and power in this passionate ballad, orchestra pounding while the piano keeps the motif and the guitar wails away shows that Meat can sometimes even out-Steinman Steinman. I mean, the original is good but it's nothing as good as this. You almost feel drained after trying to sing along with it, the way Steinman forces, as I've said before, so many words into every sentence, and yet makes it feel oh so right. ****ing fantastic, I think is the only possible comment here.

10/10


Piece of the Action
A deceptively slow start to what becomes a real hard-hitting rocker as Meat Loaf ponders “Is there any way in Hell to light/ A comet from a single spark?” Of course there is: rock and roll and true love, and the song pounds up into real life with bouncy orchestral hits again punching out the beat before it fades back to the slow tempo for the verse. Great song.

10/10


Jumpin' the Gun
Another duet, this time with Zee Carling. I have no idea who that is. The only Carling I know make lager. Anyway, it's boppy rock from the beginning, as Meat cries “No crime in havin' some fun!” Indeed. Great work from Kulick again, and the sound of a gun firing, while a little cliche, works more than it doesn't.

9/10


Cheatin' in Your Dreams
One of two songs written or co-written by John Parr. Remember “St. Elmo's Fire”? No? Sorry, John; I tried. A good mid-paced rocker which again tries to fool you into believing it's a ballad, with a gentle if bitter piano line leading the song in and a quiet vocal from Meat, till the chorus kicks in and he explodes (not literally, thankfully: imagine the mess!) into full fury as he accuses his lady of, well, cheating in her dreams. Hardly seems fair, does it? What happens in dreams and all that. Great hook in the chorus, almost bluesy with an infectious line going on, though it's kind of (kind of) ruined by the payoff line I feel. Still, great song. Nice sort of gospelly backing vocals take the song out.

10/10


The other Parr song, co-authored by someone called Julia Downes. Seems she has a lot of credits, including Yes, Roger Daltrey and Sheena Easton, but I don't know her. The song opens on what sounds very much like the atmospheric intro/outro to The Doors' “Riders on the Storm” and then bops along at a nice mid-pace. Great chorus again, and the melody kind of reminds me of Chris De Burgh's “The Ecstasy of Flight (I Love the Night)”. Shut up.

10/10


My favourite song on the album, and he keeps it till the end. The orchestral hits really come into their own here, the echoing voices certainly conjuring up the sound of those mythical monster women who lured mariners to their deaths in Greek tales. A good powerful rocker, it finds Meat in fine voice, ready to deal with the dilemma of knowing a woman is bad for him but having no power to resist her. Wonderful solo from Kulick, thundering percussion, great end to the album. Would rate it higher if it wasn't a mathematical impossibility.

10/10

Album Rating: 10/10

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Key

No new review? That's just a cop out.

Trollheart

Damn.

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Key

Nice.

Trollheart

Album Title: On the Beach
Artist: Chris Rea
Year: 1986
Genre: Rock/Soft Rock/Adult Contemporary
Position in Discography: 8 of 24 (ATOW)

Yeah, most of you don't even know or care who this guy is, but if you ever heard anything from him I'd be willing to bet it was either “Fool If You Think It's Over” or “I Can Hear Your Heartbeat”, though I wouldn't bet on either. At least I was, apparently, able to get Anteater into the music of Chris Rea, which I consider quite a feat, as Ant already has pretty impeccable music taste. If you heard Chris you would know his voice instantly: it has that deep, gravelly drawl that's so suited to the blues (which he loves and plays, though not so much here) and kind of puts you in mind of a cross between maybe Nick Cave and Bryan Ferry. Or maybe not. Anyway, he's occasionally troubled the charts but mostly he just puts out usually competent, occasionally excellent albums, and has been doing so now for forty years.

On the Beach
As laid back as it sounds, with a real lazy guitar sound driving it, some soft and lush synths, not a ballad but kind of mid-paced with a smooth funky edge to it, and a great way to start off the album. Some really nice Fender Rhodes (I think) there in the middle, and it also takes the song out. Just a really relaxed and unhurried song.

10/10

Little Blond Plaits
But immediately following this small opus we're into what I consider one of his worst songs. I just do not like this much at all, even given the nice slide guitar and flute on it. Don't know what it is about it. Slower than the opener, even more relaxed, but without the charm of the title track.

3/10

Giverny
Don't really expect this album ever to really rock out (and sometimes Rea does, but not really here, at least not much) so we have another slow to mid-paced song, but another of my favourites on the album. Great melody and beat to this, love his understated vocals, the little guitar licks, the sighing synths creating the backdrop, and especially the percussion kicking in with power at the end to meet the squealing guitar run to the end. Kind of a Supertramp feel to the piano too. Lovely.

10/10

Lucky Day
Ah, now this one I just don't like at all. Sort of a Caribbean feel to it, but comes across as a little forced to me. Very simple song, too simple. Sometimes simple works, here it does not, not for me anyway. Boo.

4/10

Just Passing Through
Very relaxing, with some sharp piano coming through at times, but overall just lazy and drifting and very much gives the impression conveyed by the title.


8/10

It's All Gone
One of the relatively more uptempo songs, I believe this was released as a single. A song that mourns the passing of things, things you've known from childhood, like shops that are closed down when you return to your home town, and how nothing stays the same. Bounces along with a deceptively light rhythm and ends in an extended vocal and synth break which eventually picks back up into the full tune and fades out.

10/10

Hello Friend
Given all the reflecting and looking back on this album, its basic theme, it's kind of odd that it's titled so frivolously as it is, but there you go. Another song of meeting people you haven't seen in a long time, reconnecting, things lost and the attempt to regain them, and how time slips away. Always came across to me as a fairly unremarkable little song, and I never really remember it. Nice piano lines.

6/10

Two Roads
Another slightly faster-paced song, which are very much in the minority on this chillback album, and this is pretty funky with great guitar work and a real sense of hope. Powerful, joyful brass really adds to the atmosphere.

9/10

Light of Hope
Although most of the album is, as mentioned, played at quite a slow, relaxed pace, this is what I would consider the first actual ballad, and it's been worth waiting for. Beautiful fretless bass married to sprinkly piano, an almost sotto voce vocal, and what sounds like (but isn't) orchestral backing. Some wonderfully effortless guitar work which shows what a great and underrated guitarist Rea is. Gorgeous.

10/10

Auf Immer Und Ewig
And another ballad, which for me closed the album, as the final three tracks are not on my original vinyl copy. This one is different from “Light of Hope” in that it has very few lyrics, just really one line, and then the title repeated in a whisper as the chorus, but it's the music that really makes it. Dreamy.

10/10

Freeway
Like I said, this is the first I'm hearing these three tracks, as they were added to the CD version whereas I bought the vinyl LP, so what do I think of them? Well, this one is deceptively soft and balladic. With a title like that I had expected a half-rocky thing about the open road, but no, it's quite the opposite. Like this one a lot actually. Sounds like it may be robbing a melody from Wired To the Moon there...

9/10

Bless Them All
A short little guitar instrumental (one of the few I can remember ever hearing on a Chris Rea album, possibly the only one?) which puts me very much in mind of Mark Knopfler. Yeah. Not bad but I could definitely live my life without it, and this album doesn't benefit from its addition.

5/10

Crack That Mould
Almost back to the days of Deltics for a dancy little number that really sounds like it belongs firmly in the seventies. Meh.

5/10

Album Rating:8/10

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Album Title: Caress of Steel
Artist: Rush
Year: 1975
Genre: Progressive Rock/Hard Rock/Progressive Metal
Position in Discography: 3 of 19 (ATOW)

It's always saddened and annoyed me that when people, including their fans, speak of Rush and their greatest albums they talk of, naturally, the likes of 2112, A Farewell to Kings and Hemispheres, and while those are all great albums and deserve the accolades they get, I feel this, their third album, tends to get left out in the cold. It received poor reviews on its release, and nobody seems to have thought much of changing that opinion in the forty-odd years since its first hit the shelves. And yet, it's a great example of Rush expanding beyond the somewhat limited trappings of the hard/blues rock that characterised their first album, and building on the more progressive feel of the second, and clearly points the way towards their masterpiece, which would be released only one year later.

As an album, it's pretty impressive, I feel, containing not one but two epics, one of which, foreshadowing 2112, takes up the entire second side of the album, and which in fact runs for just thirty seconds or so less than that more famous epic. The other tracks ain't bad either. I feel this should have been the album that finally set Rush on their way, but they would have to wait another year for that to happen.


Bastille Day
With their ties to France as Canadian natives, it's not such a stretch to see Rush interested in the famous storming of the notorious prison that kicked off the French Revolution and caused so many heads, literally, to roll. It's a good hard-rocking tune, with little if anything of the prog rock in it, but some lively rockin' guitar from Alex Lifeson as the song powers along, Geddy Lee's unmistakable screech perhaps reminiscent of another singer who tended to enjoy a whole lotta love, but in no way a rip-off of his style. Straight-forward song, which gives no indication of how the album is going to develop, but a good one to get going on.
8/10

I Think I'm Going Bald
I've never liked this song. I feel it's bloody silly, frivilous and too whimsical to be here. Still, what can you do? Another hard rocker, another powerful vocal performance from Geddy. I do like the main guitar riff, sort of reminds me of later Boston's “Rock and Roll Band”. Basically, everything about this song would be fine if it wasn't for the lyric.

3/10

Lakeside Park
A lovely semi-ballad, reflecting a well-known park where Neil Peart grew up, really conjures up the idea of lazy days, long, unhurried walks along the perimeter of the lake, perhaps feeding the ducks, the sun blazing down, and all right with the world. There's definitely a sense in the lyric of things disappearing, things lost, the idea that nothing lasts forever and eventually you have to leave everything behind, as he did. There's some hope in the lyric though, in the closing line: “Though it's just a memory, some memories last forever.” Three short guitar chords mark, perhaps, the end of the first part (though not first side) of the album. The short, straight-ahead simple rock tunes are over: we're about to enter epic territory.

9/10

The Necromancer
And so we do. The first of the two progressive rock suites that close the album, this is split into three almost equal sections, the first part mostly taken up by an introspective guitar intro, a dark, hollow narrator's voice, with the second part driven by a powerful display of fretwork from Lifeson. The third and final part sees the return of Prince By-Tor from the second album. I'll be honest: I do love it, but as an “epic” it leaves a lot to be desired, all of which is satisfied by the closer.

8/10

The Fountain of Lamneth
More what you'd call a “proper” suite, this is divided into six parts, and runs for just short of twenty minutes. After a pretty pastoral opener, the next part is basically Peart going crazy on the drums and Lee shouting words like “Learn! Live! Listen!” I like the bookending of the suite, with its starting in a gentle acoustic almost idyll (“In the Valley”), and ending with generally a reprise of this in the finale (“The Fountain”). In between there's some fine music, deep and thoughtful lyrics which muse on the human condition, choices, consequences, faith and belief, and as I say it all comes full circle in the end.

10/10

Album Rating: 9/10

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Frownland

You're right. I read a negative review when it came out 40 years ago and haven't looked back.

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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

Goofle

Kendrick Lamar - Good Kid, MAAd City

Garbage.

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