Trollheart

Sunday, November 13 2011

Evening star --- Tyr ---from "The Lay of Thrym" on Napalm

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Possibly appropriate, given that most of you will by now be feeling the creeping effects of the “Monday blues”, not exactly looking forward to heading into work for another week --- unless you're a beer tester or bikini inspector! --- to hit you with another selection of blues tracks. This time out, I'm going to concentrate on current artistes, blues tracks lifted from albums that are not blues-dedicated, but nevertheless have at least one good blues song on them.

You may not agree with all of my choices, but I'd like to try to show that the blues can emcompass so many different styles and eras, and that it is, in the end, universal and eternal. Hopefully some, if not all, of the below will go some way towards demonstrating this.

Start off with this, from the great Led Zep, track from the album “Presence” called “Tea for one”. Just listen to that Jimmy Page make his guitar wail!


Someone who's often overlooked in this genre but who has a genuine love of the blues is Chris Rea. Here's “Easy rider”.


Perhaps this wouldn't be considered blues per se, but I think it gives a real blues feel. It's Joe Cocker, with “Night calls”.


I feel the same can be said about this one from Marillion. From the album “Radiation”, a great little track called “Born to run”.


And a fragile little song from Prefab Sprout, from “Jordan: the comeback”. It's called “One of the broken”.


Title track to Bon Jovi's Richie Sambora's debut solo album, “Stranger in this town”.


Of course we'd have to have one of the prime exponents of the blues of this era! Here's Rory, with a great version of John Lee Hooker's “Wanted blues”.


And not far behind him, Gary Moore, with the last studio track recorded by him before his untimely death this year, this is “Trouble ain't far behind”.


Steve Earle certainly knows how to sing the blues. Here he is with one of his earlier songs, “It's all up to you”.


And another Steve, this time the late, sadly-missed Stevie Ray Vaughan, with “Tin Pan Alley”.

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Monday November 14 2011
Under the bridge --- Red Hot Chili Peppers --- from "Blood sugar sex magik" on Warner Bros

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Ah, a new week, and a few days closer to Christmas! Yes, you can say it now without people going “Shut up! That's ages away!” Be here faster than a turbocharged snail I know... Anyway, today's Earworm comes from Pat Benatar, one of the first ladies of eighties rock, with her big hit “Love is a battlefield”.

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Recently I had cause to go through my journal stem to stern, in order to catalogue what I had written, so as not to end up repeating myself, and also to create a record of what I'm writing that can be referenced easily.

While doing so, I noticed a few YouTube videos I had linked to were no longer there. Now, there are of course many reasons why YT would remove videos, none of which I have any control over. I replaced any I found no longer worked, with videos from alternative sources wherever possible.

The point is that had I not gone through the journal I would not have known about these missing videos, and someone clicking on one would have been disappointed, perhaps directing curses in my direction! I don't want anyone having hassle reading through my journal; it's meant to be fun, a diversion, interesting and informative, not a source of frustration.

So I'm sending out a general appeal now to my readers, especially the newer ones who may only be starting at the early pages: if you see any videos not working, or referenced incorrectly, or indeed any errors of any sort, or have problems with the journal, please email me or post and let me know. If it's a video missing/not working, I'd appreciate it if you could include the following information: page number and/or date, section (eg album review, Daily Earworm, Weird sh*t I like etc) and as much information about the video as it will give you, the title if possible or if not then which it was in the sequence --- first, second, third etc. Any help like that would be great.

I'm doing my best to maintain a hopefully interesting and diverse journal, and any little problems like this need to be dealt with, but I can't deal with them if I don't know they exist, so I'm relying on you guys.

Thanks for listening.

Trollheart

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Let's have some more of those cool TV themes, eh? Starting off with the theme from one of my very favourite shows, the excellent “Sons of Anarchy”.


Another great show on at the moment, this is the guitar-heavy theme to “Boardwalk empire”.


An oldie but goodie, as they used to say, this is Mark Snow's theme to “The X-Files”.


Some of the best themes are also the shortest. Check out “Criminal minds”.


Or this one: classical music and Alan B'Stard. What more could you ask?


A great crime series with a menacing, if short, theme, it's “Dark blue”.


Another of my favourite shows, sadly over now, the hilarious and at the same time incredibly insightful comedy “Red Dwarf”.


And who doesn't like “The Sopranos”? Well, me, up until recently, when I got into it. All that time wasted...


The original and best, classic “Star Trek”, complete with warps and warbles. Bossa-nova has never sounded so good!


And to finish things up for this time, my very favourite sci-fi --- indeed, favourite show of any kind! --- “Babylon 5”, and the superlative theme from season three. Hey guys! This is Christopher Franke, ex Tangerine Dream, you know!

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Dry county --- Blackfoot --- from "Marauder" on Atco
Tuesday, November 15 2011

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Who remembers Scissor Sisters? Once they seemed like they were going to be huge, then they seemed to disappear from sight, haven't heard much from them since their initial hits, of which this is certainly one, this is “Laura”.

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Forever autumn --- Lake of Tears --- 1999 (Black Mark)


Lake of Tears are, apparently, something of an enigma. Beginning in the early 90s as a black/doom metal band, this four-piece from Sweden scored critical success with their second album, 1995's “Headstone”, which was an all-out doom/gothic metal album, but then for their third recording, 1997's “A crimson cosmos”, they evolved progressive metal and psychadelic styles into their music, weaving in fantasy and mythological imagery to their songs. Much more melodic than doom metal, this was followed two years later by their fourth offering, which seemed to eschew the original influences entirely and is a far more laid-back, introspective album with hardly a whisper of black metal anywhere.

This is immediately apparent from the opening track, “So fell autumn rain”, with its mournful cello intro, picked up by piano and then crashing guitars, but keeping very melodic as the keyboards slide in, the vocal initially very low in the mix, almost an afterthought but still clearly audible and discernible. For the verses, vocalist Daniel Brennare kicks it up slightly so that you can hear him better, but it's the music that really carries the track: it could almost work as an instrumental. The intensely melancholic nature of the album is due to the fact that it's dedicated to the memory of Juha Saarinen, whom I have to assume is some relation to keyboard player Christian, though I can't confirm who he/she was.

“Hold on tight” opens on acoustic guitar, then the electric screams in and the song picks up, still mid-paced, almost a cruncher, but in the mould of a very heavy ballad with growling then crying guitars from Magnus Sahlgren, slipping back into the acoustic variety for the low-key ending. The title track then is another with an acoustic opening --- there's very little evidence of Lake of Tears' previous life as a doom metal band here --- and another ballad, with some very nice keys and introspective guitar. Brennare's vocals are clear and clean on this track, and you no longer have to strain to hear him. More beautiful cello here really adds an extra layer to the song, thanks to Henriette Schack.

The first real time the guys rock out on this album then is when “Pagan wish” hits, a mid-paced heavy rocker, with solid guitar from Sahlgren and swirly organ from Saarinen, then “Otherwheres” is a beautifully piano-constructed instrumental with slowly fading in acoustic guitar, with some nice sound effects --- rain, thunder, children laughing in the distance --- and some truly lovely and dramatic strings with choral vocals, to take us into “The Homecoming”, where Bo Hulpheres' flute makes its entrance and the song is another slow-paced rocker, nice keys in the background, almost unnoticed and an impassioned vocal from Brennare, measured drumbeats from Johan Oudhuis keeping the pace perfectly.

Another mid-pacer is “Come night I reign”, which you would probably expect to be a thrash rocker, but it's not: in fact, just about nothing on this album is headbanging material. It's mostly slow or mid-paced, often acoustic or partially acoustic, and indeed the best description of the music on this album would have to be “introspective”, as it certainly makes you think about things, like your own mortality. Lots of lyrics about death, sorrow, loss and loneliness. Christian Saarinen's keyboards almost seem to be crying on this track.

The enigmatically titled “Demon you/Lily Anne” again starts with deep, mournful cello, then Brennare lets loose with perhaps his most powerful vocal performance on the album, and even the music speeds up just a little tiny bit in response, the guitars heavier, the drums a little louder, even Saarinen seems to be stabbing the keys with a little more fervour. And then we're into the closer, the longest track on the album by a considerable way, clocking in at just over eight minutes.

“To blossom blue” kicks in with nice guitar, heavy drums and accordion --- yes, you read that right: accordion! --- with lush keyboards drifting around the melody like a ghost haunting the song. But the song is really a showcase and vehicle for Magnus Sahlgren's expressive and at times almost unbearably emotional guitar work, some of his best on the album. The final word is, though, reserved for Schack's sorrowful cello, and “Forever autumn” ends as it began.

Unless you're in a very depressed mood already I wouldn't look too closely into the lyrical content, as this is not a happy album, nor is it meant to be. But neither is it a typical doom metal album. It's hard to pin this down: it has elements of prog rock and prog metal, certainly, ambient music in there, classical, straight-ahead rock and even some folk elements. One thing it is not in any way is predictable, and even if you're a fan of Lake of Tears and think you've heard everything from them, this album will most certainly change your mind about them.

If, like me, you're just getting into the band, “Forever autumn” is likely to come as a very pleasant surprise.

TRACKLISTING

1. So fell autumn rain
2. Hold on tight
3. Forever autumn
4. Pagan wish
5. Otherwheres
6. The Homecoming
7. Come night I reign
8. Demon you/Lily Anne
9. To blossom blue

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The worm has dug out a good one today, a real classic from the great John Lennon, this is “(Just like) Starting over)”. Enjoy!

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