Unknown Soldier

You're now using your own links to defeat your own argument If you look again, HC had the same amount of success in the UK album chart as did both the debut album and Candy O. Strangely enough, I think that both "It's Not the Night" and "Why Can't I Have You" as two of the best songs on that album. The title track though, is one of the great album closers in the history of rock and ends a truly classic album. I've still got the original vinyl copy of this album and it came in a great gatefold cover full of great artwork and pictures and the inner sleeve had the lyrics. As far as I'm concerned though the Shake it Up album is probably my personal favourite.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Trollheart

To quote one of my new sections, shut up!
Ah, maybe I'm wrong but the perception from the general public is that that album made the Cars and brought them to a wider audience. Ask anyone not in the know to name a Cars song and dollars'll get you donuts they'll pick one off Heartbeat, more than likely "Drive". Go on! Do it NOW!

Those two you mention, as I said in the review, not my favourites. I find tracks 1-6 just about perfect, then it dips until the closer, but as you say, one of THE closing tracks of any rock album really. Just perfect.

(Why are you still here? Why aren't you out interviewing strangers about their favourite Cars song? Pounding what?)

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Trollheart

Hah! Thought I'd forgotten about this section, didn't you? Well, truth to tell, I wanted to feature it more, but there's a lot of research has to go into it, and what with my tributes to Dio and Gary Moore, not to mention my “Stranger in a strange land” section, I really haven't been able to put the time aside to do another one. But it's an intriguing notion, that not every star who goes solo makes it, no matter how famous he or she has been with their band. Success in a band situation does not necessarily guarantee that you'll find fame if you decide to strike out on your own.

Many do of course: music history is littered with examples of people who have either left their band or, in some cases, managed to carry on a successful solo career within the band. But as we learned in the case of our first study, El DeBarge, it's not always the case. There can indeed often be something of a backlash by your fans, especially if you desert, as they see it, the band to go find fame on your own terms. Sometimes the fans you had hoped to take with you, on whom you had intended, at least initially, to build your fanbase, are not interested.

It should be noted that, though by and large I'll try to concentrate on people whose careers totally nosedived, or never got off the ground in the first place, I'll also be looking at those who may have started with a hit or two, but who after that just faded away. To qualify as a successful solo artist in my opinion you have to have consistent success; that interest has to continue and perhaps even grow after the initial “novelty factor” has worn off.

And so we come to the example of one James “Midge” Ure, known of course to one and all simply as Midge Ure. Having found considerable success --- some might even say stardom --- in the eighties with new wave/electronic pop band Ultravox, Midge decided in 1985 to go it alone. No-one would have blamed him: this was the year, after all, that he became one of the two most famous men on the planet when he and Sir Bob Geldof (though at the time he was just plain ol' Bob; the knighthood came later) organised what is still the biggest and most ambitious charity concert ever, and raised awareness of the desperate plight of famine-struck African countries when they hosted Live Aid.

Although Geldof was seen as the main mover and shaker behind that enterprise, everyone acknowledged that it was a dual effort and Midge Ure's name was spoken of in the same breath as Sir Bob's. Good time then to launch your solo career, you would think, on the heady pulsing waves of goodwill engendered by Live Aid. Bob thought so too, and look what happened to him, though this is not his story (we may feature him some time in the future).


Midge's solo career kicked off well, in fairness, with both an album that peaked at number two, and a single that reached number one as “If I was” raced straight to the top of the charts. Even at that, though, this was the only single to chart from that album, and would in fact be the last time any of his material would get into the top twenty, either albums or singles. Like one massive supernova sunburst, Midge blazed and then faded down to a dull red dot, more or less forgotten about, in terms of solo material.


Perhaps it was the fractured, somewhat directionless style of Midge's solo career that did for him, as his albums by and large are not terrible, and certainly deserve to have garnered more attention than they did. But in 1986 he decided to get Ultravox back together and they released an album, “U-Vox”, which did okay but failed to recapture the past glories and successes of their earlier career. Disillusioned with the reformation, Midge disbanded Ultravox and decided to return to the solo life. However, by now three years had passed, and his second solo album, “Answers to nothing” became pretty much that. Despite a small hit single in the track “Dear god” and a duet with Kate Bush on “Sister and brother”, the album failed to capture any real interest.



Following what could really only be characterised as a failure, the next album would not come until 1991, another three years, and would do even less well, yielding no hit singles at all and failing to hit the charts, just barely scraping into the top forty.



No doubt totally disheartened by the failure of his third album, Midge would then make the further mistake of waiting another five years before unleashing his fourth effort. Although this album would completely fail to chart (his first solo album that never even got into the charts) it would see some later success as the single from it, “Breathe”, would be featured in a TV ad and become a subsequent and retrospective hit, but the rest of the album would sink without a trace. His next new musical output would consist of a soundtrack, all instrumental, to the film “Went to Coney Island on a mission from God --- back by five.” I know nothing about either the movie or the soundtrack, and can find no videos of it, so I can't pass judgement, but naturally it did nothing in the charts. In fairness though, soundtracks rarely do, unless they're from well-known and popular films, or the product of some superstar.


Midge's last proper album then came in 2001, again causing not a ripple in the charts. “Move me” failed to do that, and never entered the top forty on either side of the ocean. It again yielded no singles, and despite being reissued as an extended edition five years later, again failed to chart. This was a repeat of a trick tried by the label with his first, and most (only) successful album, “The Gift”, which was released in extended format in 1996, eleven years after its original release. This time, however, no-one seemed interested. Whereas “The gift” had gone to number two originally in 1985, the reissue didn't chart at all. Undeterred, they've tried it a third time, with his second and third albums, “Pure” and “Breathe” both re-released in a double pack in 2009. One more time, guys: it won't work. No chart position.

Of course, after 2004 Midge hooked back up with Bob and they began badgering the world's governments to share the wealth a little, and created Live 8, a sort of revisiting of Live Aid, aimed at ending world poverty and hunger. Doctorates and honours followed, and it would be remiss of us to point out that, though he may not have been a successful solo artist, Midge Ure has done more in his life to help the needy and the deserving, and bring great causes to the world's attention, than most multi-platinum artistes you could mention. So in no way has his career been a waste of time, or a failure. Even now, he is an ambassador for Save The Children, a worthy and deserved honour if ever there was one.

But looking purely at his musical achievements, outside of Ultravox, he had the one hit single and the one hit album, and despite releasing four more (six, if you count the soundtrack and a covers album released in 2008) never managed to really capitalise on his initial success, and like water draining down a plughole it quickly leaked away. Nobody seemed to want to hear what he had to say with his music, though thankfully people listened --- and did something --- when he spoke about more important matters.

You definitely have to give him credit for all he's done, and possibly he might not have been in a position to have done much of any of it had he not been known outside of the band. So perhaps though he did not exactly have a glittering musical solo career, it became a means to a much greater end.

You really can't fault that.

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Trollheart

(Note: as I explained in the first feature in this series, many of you may think the albums I feature here are good, or even great. Some of you may have them in your collection. Hell, some of them may now be in MY collection! But I'm approaching this from the standpoint of my teenage self, when I was into metal and rock and really had no time for pop music. Back then, these are the albums I would have never considered listening to, never mind buying. Now, I want to look at them in a little depth and see if they are as bad as I had made them out to be, thirty or so years ago. Please don't take offence; this is just one person's view, and a naive, somewhat conceited one at that, considering how little I actually knew about music at the time.)

All the above notwithstanding, I always hated the Pet Shop Boys. There was something about them that just seemed the antithesis to a rock band --- a rock band being far from what they were of course --- and they fitted in with the glut of what one of my workmates caustically termed "Puff bands": the likes of Thompson Twins, Fiction Factory, A Flock of Seagulls (though I liked them), Human League and Dead or Alive. Bands who seemed to have little or no soul in their music, whose output did not excite or interest me and who, rather annoyingly to the young teenage me, were storming the charts every time they released a single or album, while my own favourite bands were lucky to appear once on "Top of the Pops". Not that I wanted to see Maiden or Marillion or Blackfoot or Genesis in the charts: to me, at the time, the charts were the worst place you could be. They meant you had most likely written something that was a "sellout", that you had turned from your core fanbase and were busy pandering to the masses. I know, I know: stupid, but when we're young...

But my brother loved Pet Shop Boys, and bought all their albums. And he was not the type to listen, as I did, secluded in my bedroom with headphones on, happy to have my music to myself. No. He kept trying to get me into the band. But the more I heard --- mostly if not exclusvely through the charts --- the more I hated them. When this album came out I pointed to the cover and say AH! AH! Look! They're not even interested in their music! Tennant is YAWNING! Oh dear...

Anyway, the music of PSB has never spoken to me, though like probably most people of my age I have the melody for songs like "West end girls", "Left to my own devices", "Opportunities" and a dozen others ingrained on my consciousness from overplay on the radio and television. Doesn't mean I like them, or have come to like them, but in total fairness I have to admit I have never once listened to an album by these guys all the way through. And that therefore is what I intend to do in this section. Trying to look at the album with a dispassionate eye, I'm going to review it and see if I can discover if I've been missing out on great music (or even good music) all these years, or if I was right in the first place to give Pet Shop Boys a wide berth.

Actually --- Pet Shop Boys --- 1987 (Parlophone)


The first time I heard Neil Tennant sing I knew I had heard that voice before. In fact, when "West end girls" hit the charts I was convinced it was ... Al Stewart. Even now, I find it hard to tell the difference. I've thrown in an Al Stewart song below so you can decide if I'm raving mad or not, but for me the two are virtually inseparable, other than by time of course: Stewart had all his big hits in the 70s while PSB only got going a decade later. At any rate, in case you don't know, Pet Shop Boys are a duo, consisting of the aforementioned Tennant and keyboard player Chris Lowe. Tennant does all the lead vocals, also plays keyboards and some guitar, though most of their music is digitally sequenced and played back onstage via banks of computers hooked to synthesisers. They seem to profess a lack of interest in and dislike of rock music, making their own sound very electronic, dancy, new-wave and club-orientated. This is another reason why I personally have no time for their music: any band who says they don't like rock music has, in my opinion, no business being a band.

But to the album, which became one of their most successful and spawned four top ten singles, taking them to number 2 in the UK albums charts and outside the top 20 in the USA. This is an increase in popularity for them on their debut, "Please", which hit number 3 in the UK, but a major failure for them in the US, where the debut had kicked in at number 7. Though they would continue to do very well on this side of the water, with most if not all of their albums reaching the top 5, the USA seems done with them. After an initial flurry of interest for "Please", which pushed it into the top ten there, there's been a steady decrease in chart positions over the years, with a small amount of ground being made up on the last two albums, but nothing like the success they would have wanted to have. Hey, maybe you Americans have better taste than us after all!

A big rolling drumbeat, a piano glissando straight out of ABBA's "Dancing queen" and then we're into bongo-type beats and a trance-y rhythm with the sounds of traffic, crickets and then Neil Tennant's voice basically speaks the opening lines before adding a little musicality into his voice. Chris Lowe's synths swell now in the background and "One more chance" is underway, lots of little bits of synthage going on as various sequenced parts take their turn fitting in, and a funky bassline merges with the conga percussion. The chorus brings at least some sort of tune, with keys sounding a little like strings in places, then halfway through it appears to just repeat, with a not-too-bad synthy bridge before it goes back to the chorus. Very dancy, very electronica, very upbeat and very Pet Shop Boys. Way too long though at five and a half minutes, but then, that's dance music's very raison d'etre, isn't it? Extended mixes, remixes, and so on.

The next one I know, as it was a hit and features the vocals of fifties legend Dusty Springfield --- indeed, her presence on the song sparked something of a mini-revival in her career. "What have I done to deserve this" is another dancy tune, perhaps more in the Human League/ Giorgio Moroder style than the previous, and I do have to say that the professional vox of Springfield lend the tune a sense of class it would possibly never have otherwise. Tennant does his (to me) annoying usual on this: talking his vocal part --- not all the time, but a lot of it. Matching Dusty's style of music it's quite soulful and relaxed in places, and Lowe's keyboards do a good job. Touches of the great Annie Lennox in there too. "Shopping" starts off on a big bassy synth, then handclap beats as it takes a new-wave turn, quite Depeche Mode or even New Order in feel, tinges of Visage also discernable buried somewhere in the melody. Vocoders abound (how I hate them) and big bright bubbly synths, and it's a little slower than the other tracks to date.

As vacuous as this song is, "Rent", one of the four hit singles, has at least something to say, speaking about the relationship between a toyboy/kept woman or man (PSB apparently keep their lyrical content deliberately vague in terms of gender so that they can't be accused of promoting a pro-gay agenda) and it's pleasant enough. Nice synth lines, but hell, what else can you say about this band? Everything's driven on keys and sequenced sections. They say Tennant plays occasional guitar, but I ain't heard it yet. Again, I find this song, after the initial idea is expounded, just to keep repeating itself, and it seems to be a failing common to a lot of their songs. Nice little trumpeting synth at the end, then we're into "Hit music". With an almost Art of Noise intro on the synthesiser, it has a nice bassy synthline going through it also, and Tennant is on form on the vocals. Nice unexpectedly slow, langourous instrumental ending too.

For some odd reason, Ennio Moricone is credited as helping to compose "It couldn't happen here", I really don't know why, although the song does have a very dramatic, cinematic atmosphere and you could see it being used as a soundtrack --- which of course it was: they released a film themselves with this title. It's quite progressive rock in a weird way, swirling synths, slow pounding drums and a full orchestra. I must admit I like this, the first track on the album yet that I have expressed any preference for. Pity this sort of music was in the minority for the Pet Shop Boys. Very effective, quite moving in its own way. Then there's the big hit single, "It's a sin", which bops along nicely and has some nice trumpeting keyboards, is quite catchy and was a song you just couldn't avoid when it was in the charts. Kind of hits out at the Church as an institution I think, though perhaps a little more subtly than it could have done. There's certainly a similarity in the way the song is constructed to Cat Stevens' "Wild world", so much so that Jonathan King took them to court over it, claiming they copied the then-retired singer's hit song from the seventies, but he lost the case.

A little more restrained, but still using samples and vocoders, "I want to wake up" has touches of Kylie in it, a driving beat and banks of synthesisers as ever; we're three tracks from the end and I have yet to hear anything I could recognise as a guitar. There is something familiar about the melody on this song, though for the life of me I can't place it. That takes us to their last single released off the album, "Heart". With an annoying sampled voice synth opening, it's a slower song than the last one, and was another to get to the top for the Pet Shop Boys. That driving bass is there as is the handclap percussion, and no doubt it went down well in the clubs, but not my sort of thing at all. A description that could be applied to pretty much all of this album really: no surprise there. There's a completely pointless false ending about ten seconds before the end --- why? Who knows? The album then closes on "King's Cross", a slow, moody ballad with bassy synth and swirling synth and, well, synths all over the place. For what it is it's quite nice, restrained and atmospheric with a hint of ambient about it, and a better closer than I might have expected.

TRACKLISTING

1. One more chance
2. What have I done to deserve this
3. Shopping
4. Rent
5. Hit music
6. It couldn't happen here
7. It's a sin
8. I want to wake up
9. Heart
10. King's Cross

There were, and continue to be, many things about Pet Shop Boys that don't sit well with me. To my mind, they were never a band, just a money-making machine that reached its goal through the medium of music. You could say that this could apply to any band, and at its heart yes that may be true, but I would argue that primarily most bands play to have their music heard and appreciated, and if that makes money then all the better. Of course, everyone has to support themselves and it'd be a true idiot that played and didn't want to get paid for their performances, but in the case of PSB it seems to be the be-all and end-all of their intentions. Even their fans, when they debate apparently argue over which track on the new album is likely to be the biggest hit single, and thereby bring in the most revenue to the band. Never mind the quality, seems to be the mantra, how much is it going to make? Seems like all their fans may as well be accountants for all the interest they have in the songs actually being good, just listenable or well-written.

Although this may be anecdotal, I do recall hearing once that Neil Tennant, while working for UK pop rag "Smash hits" opined that all these bands he was reviewing and interviewing weren't so special, that he didn't see how hard it could be to write a pop song, and that given the chance he could do as well, or better. Then he had the opportunity to form PSB and away they went. Their popularity initiallly seemed based on their almost static performances: Lowe would stand behind the keyboard barely moving (not surprising as we now know most of their music was sequenced and probably just took a push of a button or a flick of a mouse to playback) and Tennant stood around looking bored and singing mostly in a monotone with a pained scowl on his face. Oh yeah: rock and roll. This attitude to music has never gone down well in my book. A band should be excited about, or at least interested in their music, but Pet Shop Boys never seemed to be. Their only real interest ever appeared to be how much money they could make, perhaps enshrined in their 1986 hit "Opportunities (Let's make lots of money)" rather than how they could create the best music they were capable of.

No, after listening to this, and being reminded of how much I pretty much despised the Pet Shop Boys and all they stood for, I look upon "Actually" no more kindly now than I did when my brother was trying to force-feed me this pretentious, vacuous, empty souless pap. If you like it, fair enough, but my own personal musical tastes are never going to slip sufficiently that I would be tempted to buy any of the albums from this poseur duo.

Actually: a true example of an album from Hell.

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Engine

I actually love the Pet Shop Boys album, 'Actually', you dick.
Once I convinced my parents to buy me a dual-cassette stereo in the late 80s, two of the songs that I grabbed from the pop radio stations and put on my first mixtape were 'What Have I Done to Deserve This' and 'It's a Sin'. It wasn't too many years ago that I finally bought the 'Actually' CD and I still love it.

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Like an arrow,
I was only passing through.

Trollheart

Seventh son of a seventh son --- Iron Maiden --- 1988 (EMI)


Sowing the seeds of progressive metal that would later come to almost dominate their music, this album was the first Iron Maiden one to feature keyboards, and also the first to include songwriting by Bruce Dickinson, since "Powerslave". Of course, Steve Harris as ever has his hand in all but one. It contains some epic stuff: "Moonchild", "The evil men do" and "Only the good die young" are all great metal tracks with a real sense of the growing commerciality Maiden were becoming famous for, with the closer being their second-longest track at the time, after the thirteen-minute-plus "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" from "Powerslave".

It's the only, to date, concept album from the band, although to be honest I don't really see it as a full concept album. Bruce Dickinson agrees. "We almost did [something great]," he said. "It was only half a concept album. There was no attempt to see it all the way through, like we really should have done. 'Seventh Son...' has no story. It's about good and evil, heaven and hell, but isn't every Iron Maiden record?"* Indeed. Adrian Smith was unimpressed, and took his leave. Great album, but the cracks were beginning to show...

TRACKLISTING

1. Moonchild
2. Infinite dreams
3. Can I play with madness?
4. The evil that men do
5. Seventh son of a seventh son
6. The prophecy
7. The clairvoyant
8. Only the good die young

* = Direct quote taken from Wikipedia article: Seventh Son of a Seventh Son - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Trollheart

Hey, I can't be responsible for your crap taste in music, man!
Also, see the disclaimer at the start. I mentioned that I might be pissing some people off, that readers might think I was being unreasonably harsh on a particular album/band/artiste, but that it was and is just my opinion, and nobody should get their knickers in a twist over it.

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Trollheart

Looking for something a little different, I got this idea from the movie channel TCM, an ad they had for the movie "300", and the music they used as background. The music just fitted perfectly, and although I can't claim that linkage as my own, I'll be displaying it here just to show how well it does complement the movie. But the idea here is to relate a major moment from history, and to back it with music that seems either appropriate in lyrical or title terms, or that evokes the spirit of the story through the music itself. I have no idea how regular or indeed occasional this series will be, given all the other stuff I have to do, but while the idea was fresh in my head I wanted to get it down on the computer screen and up on the journal. So here's the first one, a story most if not all of you will know, with my own observations and comments and as I said, music I feel lends itself to the story and relates well to it.

The Battle of Thermopylae --- Greece ---480 BC


Xerxes

If you didn't see the movie "300" or know of the story, here it is: it begins with the emperor Xerxes, ruler of Persia, who reigned over pretty much most of the world at that time. Xerxes (519-465 BC), also known as Xerxes the Great (name pronounced "zerk-sees") was the son of Darius I, against whom the Athenians and Spartans had repulsed the first invasion of Greece, most famously at the battle of Marathon (490 BC). After his father's death, Xerxes made it his business to succeed when Darius had failed, and in 483 BC he began laying plans. His army was massive, estimated at around a hundred thousand men (although ancient writings speak of a million men; unlikely at best) and believed unstoppable. However, he had reckoned without the Spartans.

The Spartans

From the very first years of their lives, Spartans were taught the ways of war and combat. They were brought up in a strictly and often brutal military environment; many did not even survive the first year of basic training, and it was not at all unusual for boys to die by the hundreds, the Spartans' way of weeding out the weaklings and ensuring only the best of the best made it into the proper army. Boys gven their first shield by their mothers were apparently advised "With this or on it", meaning you either came back victorious from a battle or you did not, and were carried home as a fallen hero on your shield. Life in the Spartan training camps was hard. Male children were taken from their mothers at age seven and pressed into service. There was little food so the only way to survive was to steal it, however if you were caught the instructors would beat you mercilessly. A tough regime certainly, but there's no denying that it made strong, devoted men and powerful, committed warriors out of those who survived.

Spartans lived, breathed and ate and drank war. They knew their weapons inside out and backwards, and the greatest of all honours was to die in battle, defending your country, or city-state as it was then. Word of an approaching Spartan army would often cause mass hysteria and the opposing army would fall over themselves to surrender, even if the enemy's force was much smaller than their own. They were Spartans, after all! Miliitary service did not end until age sixty --- assuming you lived that long --- and so in every sense you can say that the army was a Spartan's life. Spartans were great believers in equality and shunned displays of ostentation, so that their houses were always very sparsely furnished, just the most functional of items with absolutely no room for luxury or comfort, hence the word spartan passing into common usage as a synonym for something that is bare-bones.

The Spartans' arch enemies were the Athenians, and yet when Darius marched on Greece they banded together in an alliance of necessity to withstand the Persian ruler. So too did they stand against his son when he attempted a second invasion of their country.

"None shall pass"

The original plan was to block the approaching emperor's progress at a narrow pass called the Vale of Tempe, in Thessaly, however it soon became apparent this was not closed off and that the pass could be sidestepped by Xerxes taking his army instead through another one, the Saratoporo Pass. With this in mind, the Greek army retreated to the pass at Thermopylae, deciding to make their stand here. They also setup a naval blockade at the nearby port of Artemisium, hoping to thereby cut off Xerxes's progress completely. About seven thousand men, then, made a valiant last stand against an army which could have been anything from twelve to forty times its size, over a period of seven days before falling. Three of these days were days of battle, when the Spartan king Leonidas fought with incredible courage against an overwhelming force. As is often the case in such situations though, there is a weak link and this was a traitor who went to the Persian emperor and revealed to him an alternative path by which he could outflank the defenders and come up behind them.

When word of this betrayal reached Leonidas he was furious but knew the game was up. Spartans however did not surrender, and as noted before, they believed there was no greater honour than to die in battle. And so Leonidas, wishing to save as many lives as possible (and, one would suppose, add to the already depleted defences of his city-state for the later battles) but being a Spartan himself and knowing his men would die before running away, dismissed the vast bulk of his forces and with a few hundred other allies his three hundred Spartans held the pass for another day before finally being overrun.

Aftermath and place in history

Although the attempt to block Xerxes failed at the last, the Battle at Thermopylae has gone down in history as a great victory, that so few could stand against so many for so long, even if they fell in the end, as surely they must have done. In common with other "lost causes" like the Alamo, the Charge of the Light Brigade and Custer's Last Stand, it is seen not as a defeat (although it certainly was) but more in the light of a valiant and heroic last stand against overwhelming odds. Rather like the way perhaps Dunkirk is now viewed: that could be seen as the BEF running away from Hitler, but has been recorded by historians as the miraculous rescue of thousands of soldiers would otherwise would have been killed or taken prisoner. Sometimes, to paraphrase Machiavelli, the ends do not justify the means, and the intent of the action is more important than the outcome. Leonidas knew he had to hold the pass, if only to buy time for the defences in Sparta and Athens to be shored up, or the cities evacuated if necessary, and he was proud and glad to be able to give his life in that cause. We can assume from what we know of Spartan life that it would never have crossed his mind to try to escape, or to surrender or plead for his life, or that of his men. In his eyes, as in those of all Spartans, there was no decision to be made. There was only defence of the motherland, combat, and death if necessary.

What Thermopylae does show us though is how canny and experienced a tactician Leonidas and his fellow general Themistocles were, They knew the one point where they could make their stand, they knew the place they could resist the much larger army, and due to the narrowness of the pass, Xerxes's superior numbers meant very little, because the Persian army could only send so many troops into the pass at a time. There was no way to rush it, as no doubt they would have done on an open battlefield, where the odds would have been so in the Persian ruler's favour that you would expect him to overrun the Spartans and their allies. But here, in Thermopylae, Leonidas and Themistocles were on "their turf". They had, literally, the high ground and the upper hand, and it was Xerxes who was at a disadvantage. Had the Greeks not been betrayed, who can say what might have happened? His army battered by attrition, perhaps the Persian king might have deemed the loss too great and the effort not worth it and retreated. His supplies were running low, and he may not have been able to wait the defenders out. It could have worked.

The Battle of Thermopylae has gone down in history as one of the great examples of courage under incredible pressure and of a smaller force facing without fear or hesitation a much larger one. Of course, the terrain figured hugely in the effort to throw back or at least hold the Persian army, but without the unwavering, steely courage and valour of the Spartans and their allies, this would have meant nothing. It's one thing to be told to hold a pass because it's strategically important, quite another to give your life in that defence.

It's interesting to note that the name "Thermopylae" means "hot gates" in Greek, and was supposed to be one of the entrances to Hades, the Greek equivalent of Hell. No doubt, as they tried over seven days to overwhelm the small Greek force in the pass, the Persian army came to believe this was indeed what it was. After the Battle of Thermopylae the Persian army surged forward but were in the end defeated by the Greek alliance, and their attempt to invade Greece was never again attempted. After the battle a commemorative stone was erected at the tomb of the dead defenders, bearing the inscription: Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by, that here obedient to their laws we lie.

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Trollheart

Hail --- Eden Shadow --- 2012 (White Knight)


As I mentioned some time before, I generally don't review --- even listen to --- EPs as a rule. I prefer full albums, though on occasion I do come across one I really like. That's the case with "Hail", the debut offering from instrumental (at least on this recording) progressive metal quartet Eden Shadow. The band have only been together a short time, though the musical ideas have apparently been flitting around creator and guitarist/vocalist (?) Ryan Elliot's head since he was in school. There are only four tracks on the album, though in fairness two of them are over seven minutes long, with one clocking in at eight and a half. Even at that, you're still only looking at less than a half hour of music here. So, is it worth shelling out for?

Well...

"Submerged" starts us off, with some little touches on the keys and then some effects before Elliot's guitar blasts in and the keys take on a synthy, wailing flavour, while heavy percussion from Tom Burgess is joined by solid piano from Rob Reed, and a steady bass courtesy of Alex Broben. It's a heavy opener, with a definite grounding in progressive metal and some fine guitar work from Elliot, a sort of dramatic, urgent tone running through the melody, the sound kind of putting me in mind of the likes of Shadow Gallery. In the fourth minute the tune takes a subtle directional shift off the back of double banks of keyboards, then slows down again before kicking up for the finale, ending with some fine guitar histrionics from Ryan Elliot and taking us into the title track, which is one of those longer songs I spoke of, this one coming in at just under the seven and a half minute mark. It opens with atmospheric, sweeping keys and a busy bassline with a sort of eastern tinge to the guitar as it comes in; sort of touches of "Kashmir" there.

Some grinding guitar meshes with punchy organ as Reed and Elliot joust, then it seems Reed has won as the keys wail off into the distance solo, some choral vocal effects washing over the melody before Elliot returns, guitar in hand, for a rematch. A great solo by him beats out the keyboard man this time, and the rhythm section look on, keeping the beat and steadying the ship as the combat continues. Reed's frothy organ is not to be denied, and it piles back in as Elliot rips off some lavish riffs, the two again going head to head, then a truce is called as everything drops back and the opening melody returns. Guitar fades back while on the back of either choral synth vocals or possibly human ones Reed runs off a bubbling keyboard solo as the tempo slows down and the song heads into its final minute. Keys pretty much take over now, rippling vibes or marimba or something leading out the ending in a kind of psychedelic outro.

Soft synth and piano lead in "Run away with me", which has the most commercial sound of the four tracks on the album, and features what are definitely human vocals, even if they just run some vocalise in the background. This song is so catchy it's really crying out for a proper vocal line, but what vocals there are are buried deep in the mix, so they come across as distant and lost in the music. Pity, because if they were pushed up just a bit and cleaned up, made more discernible, Eden Shadow could have some airplay with this. As it is it's a great song, the keyboard and organ parts are great, but I feel it's an opportunity missed. Of course, they may want to stay as a purely instrumental band, and that's fine, but if so why introduce vocals of any sort at all? Odd. Bands like And So I Watch You From Afar have made a career of being just instrumental, and they never --- as far as I have heard --- use any vocals.

The EP closes on "Forest dance", the longest of the four tracks at just under the eight and a half minute mark. Little nature sounds are swiftly joined by a jangly guitar and dancing bass, with a sense of celtic music somewhat, then the synth sighs in and takes the melody to another level. Some more backing vocals, sort of reminds me of mid-seventies Floyd in tone, and a nice little guitar line moves the song along, Elliot's fretwork getting a little harder as it reaches the three minute mark then stepping back and allowing some introspective work to come through. Nice rolling, chiming effects on the synth (could be samples; they're mentioned) and then some sprightly piano as the guitar gets a bit higher and more forceful, though yet restrained in an odd kind of way. Some very proggy keyboards lead the song out as Elliot fires off a last volley on the guitar before we leave the forest and the album comes to a close.

TRACKLISTING

1. Submerged
2. Hail
3. Run away with me
4. Forest dance

Whether Eden Shadow retain their mostly instrumental style once their first full album is released, or whether they decide to expand on the limited vocals that characterise "Run away with me", it's clear they have a massive amount of talent and should easily establish themselves at the forefront of the progressive metal movement. I'll be watching carefully to see how they develop, but one thing is certain: we have not heard the last of this promising new band.

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Shades of a blue orphanage --- Thin Lizzy --- 1972 (Decca)


Too often Lizzy get categorised and judged by their later albums, your "Jailbreaks", your "Johnny the Foxes", your "Renegades", and while those albums are all excellent and deserve all the praise they get, and have rightly taken their place in music history, we sometimes forget that Lizzy did not start out like a pumping, strutting metal band that took over the world and burst the charts open for heavy metal, introducing even Irish trad music to headbangers with a gleeful abandon and disregard for the rules of genres. Their first three albums are much more dour, staid affairs, more closely rooted in the blues traditions of the deep south than the screaming metal of bands like AC/DC or Van Halen. Time to take a trip back then, forty years into the past, and check out their second release.

You can see by the album cover that it's not quite going to be a riproaring fretfest and chock-full of hit singles and memorable hooks. The sleeve is blue, the title is blue, the music ...? Well, let's see. This was before later guitar gods like Scott Gorham, Brian Robertson and Gary Moore made their mark on Lizzy's music, and before the band's first hit single, the seminal "Whiskey in the jar". In fact, the album was pretty much slated on its release, and nobody really would have given these three lads from Ireland any chance whatever of making the big time.

If they wanted to make an instant impression, that's not achieved by either the drum-heavy opening nor the title to "The rise and dear demise of the funky nomadic tribes", the only track on the album not exclusively written by mainman Phil Lynott. With jazz and blues influences aplenty, and more than a little psychedelia in there, it's over seven minutes long, perhaps a brave move, perhaps a foolish one on your second album, considering the debut had not exactly set the world on fire. Mainstay of the band, drummer Brian Downey takes command while Eric Bell shows his prowess on the guitar, very much a blues performance as compared to later finger-burning efforts by Moore, Gorham et al. To their previous lineup Lizzy added Irish musician Clodagh Simonds on keyboards, although she doesn't feature, or seem to, on the opener, and it ends as it began, with a big drum solo from Downey.

A bit repetitive, I believe if I was listening to this album for the first time I would not be too encouraged to go that much further, but things change with "Buffalo gal", a more upbeat, together song with a certain pop sensibility about it, more of a melody and indeed I can even hear similarities to "Whiskey" in there, whether intentional or not I don't know. Now for the first time you can hear Simonds' keyboards and they do add an extra dimension to the music, filling it out when it seems a little sparse. This track is the first time I think you can hear the quality of Phil Lynott's voice, which definitely stands out above the somewhat pedestrian music, despite some pretty nice licks from Eric Bell. Lynott's bass playing, too, comes into its own here. I have to say though the impression of Elvis on "I don't want to forget how to jive" is painful, and the song itself something of a rockabilly embarrassment, notwithstanding the sprightly piano from Simonds. Thankfully it's very short, and we move on into "Sarah".

Now this is not the song that appeared later on "Black Rose", but rather a touching piano-led tribute to his grandmother, who brought him up and is often forgotten in the Phil Lynott story. His mother, Philomena gets all the plaudits, referring to "My Phil", but it's a sometimes forgotten fact that she didn't want to look after him as a child, and sent him away to his granny. This song is a moving and emotional thank you from the young Irish lad to his gran, and while the production on the vocal (or the vocal itself) is muddy and echoey, it's still a great song. I'd like to have heard it re-recorded with today's techniques. Carried on folky acoustic guitar that later changes to electric, "Brought down" is a good rocker with a melancholy tone, and some fine expressive guitar from Bell. "Babyface" is something of a non-entity, going past without making any impression on me.

"Chatting today" has a nice Spanish guitar vibe to it, and one of the best vocals from Lynott since "Buffalo gal", and it hops along at a nice brisk pace, while "Call the police" is very seventies funk with a hard grinding edge, but doesn't really do it for me. The title track then closes the album on a lovely slow blues number, tying with the opener for the place of longest track. Beautiful mellotron and keys from Clodagh Simonds lay down a lovely, bittersweet atmosphere that surrounds and suffuses the song. This is so good that it stands head and shoulders above anything else on the album, and if anything is an indication of the talent in Thin Lizzy that was just waiting to take the world by storm, this is it. A beautiful and emotional closer, and a song that hints at greater success to come for a band who were to soon leave the orphanage behind and be adopted by millions of rock and heavy metal fans.

TRACKLISTING

1. The rise and dear demise of the funky nomadic tribes
2. Buffalo gal
3. I don't want to forget how to jive
4. Sarah
5. Brought down
6. Baby face
7. Chatting today
8. Call the police
9. Shades of a blue orphanage

As a marker for future generations, "Shades of a blue orphanage" doesn't really stand out. There are few I believe who, even back then, would have thought it possible this band could rise to stardom, let alone superstardom. The seed is there, sporadically, but as an album this almost detracts from Lizzy's better qualities rather than showcase them. With the exception of the closer and title track and perhaps "Buffalo gal" and "Chatting today", most of what you hear on this album is fairly low-grade, and would not set anyone's heart racing, even diehard blues fans.

Even so, this was the album that would lead to "Vagabonds of the western world" the following year, which, though the song would not appear on it, would be synchronous with the release of what would be their first big hit and a song that, though a traditional Irish one, would become their signature tune. After that, while their rise to fame would not exactly be meteoric, 1976's "Jailbreak" would be their commercial breakthrough, turning them into household names, albeit with two new guitarists to replace the departed Bell, who would leave after "Vagabonds", ironically missing out on hitting the big time with Lizzy. From a trio of guys who looked less than likely to make a splash in the record biz, Lizzy would in four short years have the world at their feet.

Not bad for three orphans from Ireland, eh?

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