Unknown Soldier

From their golden period of the mid 70s to the mid 80s this was easily the weakest album they did but it still has some good stuff.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Trollheart

Sometimes it's just fun to take a chance on an album. I've often done this before, buying one on a whim. Like a small child in a sweet shop that's excited but doesn't know quite what he wants --- everything looks tasty but is it good for you? --- or a magpie, I'm attracted to shiny things. It's either going to be the title of the album, the name of the artiste or indeed the cover art that attracts me, but usually I check further to see what genre this music belongs to, because a really cool cover could hide a band or artiste I do not want to hear. But now I'm going to start taking chances, especially since I signed up for Spotify, which allows me to experience these albums without actually having to pay for them. I've decided that every week (he says hopefully) I'll just grab something off either Spotify or one of my online music vendors that I like the look or sound of, and try it out. Whether it's good bad or indifferent I'll review it here and let you know what I thought of it. Could end up being something really cool, could be meh, could be god why did I even think that would be good, but it's all, as they say, in the roll of the dice. At the end of the review I'll score the album with two dice (original, huh?), in a manner I'll explain at the end.

And yes, before any smartarse comments and says so, it's pretty much an extension of "The Meat Grinder", just widened beyond the scope of heavy metal. But these won't necessarily focus on the bands per se and then the album, as in that other section: these will be a review of the album with information back on the band. Of course, the album may end up getting me into the band, or making me stay a million miles away from them, but we'll see.

Anyhoo, the first sparkly thing that caught my eye was this.

All the little lights --- Passenger --- 2012 (Nettwerk)


What was it about it that caught my eye? Well, you can see from the album cover it's a really nice colourful one, quite simple and yet at first glance can be taken as two separate things: a sort of forest scene at night with the sun going down, or a galactic nebula in space. I believe it is the former, but either seem to fit. Then there's the band name: Passenger. Immediately this brought to my mind the Mostly Autumn album of almost the same name, and wheels began turning. Maybe it's something similar, I thought? Progressive rock? Though with my luck it'll be hip-hop or punk! Finally, the title --- "All the little lights" --- not only ties in well with the cover but gives a sense of nature and simplicity that appealed to me. So I racked it up on Spotify and began to play it.

Now, in a departure from my usual method of reviewing I'm not going to do this track-by-track, but more like the reviews in "Bitesize", though a little more comprehensive than those. I'll be breaking the review up into things like first impressions, likes, dislikes, sound and overall satisfaction (or disappointment) with the album.

First impressions: A lovely celtic feel and atmosphere, very laid back and gentle. The vocal from Mike Rosenberg, who is basically all that remains of Passenger these days, is a little off-putting; it's the accent, it's very harsh. Kind of reminds me of yer man from The Lightning Seeds, but I think I'll get used to it. Lovely instrumentation, including violin and acoustic guitar, and though Rosenberg is essentially a solo act he does recruit an Australian band to help him on the album. There's a sense of melancholy and loss in the music, and certainly sounds quite folky at times. Opener "Things that stop you dreaming" is a great introduction to this artiste, and it gets better as it goes along.

Likes: Celtic/folky instruments, soft gentle sound, backing vocals, simple lyrics that still say a lot

Dislikes: Singer's voice --- not really though: it just takes a little getting used to. I'm used to it by about the third track.

Development of album: Nice upbeat country-style tempo on "Staring at the stars". Love the line "All our girfriends are long gone/ We watch too much internet porn/ Who needs love when you've got silicon and strap-ons?" with a real bleak message in the boppy music. The uptempo continues in the title track, with some really nice vibra- or xylophone work and something of a Beautiful South vibe to it. Slowing things back down a little then, with a sort of marching beat is "Circles", with lovely violin and some heavy hollow drumming, while "Keep on walking" recalls some traditional ballads and ups the tempo again. Lovely waltz-style ballad in "Life's for the living" with some cool trumpets and a great sense of determination, standing against the darkness of despair in "Holes", with a great building chorus and fine backing vocals. Excellent closer in the hilariously right-on "I hate". Love it, just puts the seal on a great album by a band I had never heard of before, but intend to check out more now.


Overall sound: Very gentle, laidback with a dark thread of sadness and bitterness running through it. Can also kick up the tempo but the down-to-earth honesty remains in the lyrics. Everyman music at its best.

Reminds me of: A gentler Waterboys, Deacon Blue, bits of David Gray

Favourite track(s): "Holes", "Things that stop you dreaming", "Staring at the stars", "Keep on walking" --- pretty much all of it really.

Least favourite track(s): There's nothing on this album I don't like.

Overall effect on me: Really loved this album, would more than likely seek out further examples of Passenger's work. I listened to this on Spotify but I loved it so much I'm now off to buy it.

TRACKLISTING

1. Things that stop you dreaming
2. Let her go
3. Staring at the stars
4. All the little lights
5. The wrong direction
6. Circles
7. Keep on walking
8. Patient love
9. Life's for the living
10. Holes
11. Feather on the Clyde
12. I hate (live)


So here's how the rating system works. Two dice, obviously one to six, one being the lowest rating, six the highest. The first dice is just an expression of how much I enjoyed, or didn't enjoy the album, but the second one is the more important. It refers to how familiar or not I am with this genre or subgenre. If it's one I hate(d), didn't know of or had little experience with, it'll be a high score. So for something I've never heard or listened to before it could be a four to a six, whereas if it's something I know well it'll be down in the one or two region. This means that in order to get a really high value, like ten or more, the album has to be not only excellent but something I was not well-versed in beforehand. Using that logic, the best a, say, prog rock album I've never heard before but end up thinking is amazing can get is maybe seven (six for die one but only one for die 2), whereas an album that I end up loving but comes from a genre I'm not familiar with, something totally new or surprising to me, could get six on die one and five or six on die two, total eleven to twelve.

I'm hoping this system properly rates my attempts to perhaps break into new genres or subgenres, and how successful or otherwise I am in that endeavour. Anyway, based on the above my rating for this album runs like this:

Die one: How did I enjoy this? Loved it. Not a bad track. Got to get a five, if only because I'm going to reserve sixes for totally out-of-this-world albums and though this was excellent there are a very few small niggles. Also I don't want to rush into awarding sixes right at the start. So for this



Die two: How unfamiliar was I with this genre? Well, I have heard some folk and acoustic rock, and while I'm not entirely sure where this falls in terms of genres, I couldn't honestly say it was new to me, so let's give it a three, as it's not the sort of stuff I always listen to.


Therefore, total rating for this album: rolling the dice I've come up with

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Dancing down the stony road --- Chris Rea -- 2002 (Edel)


What would you do if you were diagnosed with a major life-threatening disease, and then beat it, getting a second chance at life? For Chris Rea, this question was put to him in 2001, when he was told he was suffering from pancreatic cancer, and was in very real danger of dying. Spending six months at home recovering after successful treatments, Rea says that he began to re-evaluate his life, and his work. He had become known for pop/rock anthems such as "Stainsby girls", "Auberge", "Wired to the moon" and of course "Fool (if you think it's over)", made more successful by Elkie Brooks. But his first love had always been the blues, and when he came face-to-face with his own fragile mortality, and realised once and for all how short life is, he decided to forget about the charts and rock music and concentrate on making albums of blues music.

One of these efforts was Herculean to say the least: an eleven-disc box set of blues-inspired songs, containing artwork all created by him. But prior to that he released his first album since recovering from his illness. In 2002 he returned for the first time to his blues roots, with an album of original material inspired by his blues heroes. I haven't heard all his albums, though I do have a lot of them, and I've yet to take the plunge and purchase "Blue guitars", but this definitely ranks for me right up there with his very best, like "Dancing with strangers", "Wired to the moon" and "King of the beach". It's different, certainly, but at its heart it's the Chris Rea we know and love.

His familiar but normally only sporadically-used slide guitar is the first thing you hear, very Delta blues in sound on the opener "Easy rider", and it's almost a minute before muted percussion and bass hit in, then Chris's voice --- which listening to this you immediately realise was born to sing the blues --- comes in with some fine harmonica deepening the blues feel and some serious work on the slide, piano thumping in and the whole thing comes to a powerful climax in the fourth minute of the five the song runs for, then sort of tailing away at the end. More wild slide in the title track, with the addition of banjo and what sounds like a jew's harp but probably isn't. It's another slowburner with a certain sense of bluegrass about it, and some of the most heartfelt lyrics: "Me and Katy/ We go dancin' down that stony road/ To see her laughin' through the pain/ Such a heavy load."

The tempo kicks up then for "Dancing my blues away" with some top-notch accordion courtesy of Ed Hession, a real flavour of bands like The Waterboys or the Hooters in it, very celtic feel about it, then "Catfish girl" keeps things upbeat while still pulling back on the throttle a little. More bluegrass style to this, with chunky banjo and some honky-tonk piano, some more cool harmonica but possibly could have a better end considering how it builds up; slight disappointment I feel. Banjo and harmonica take the lead for "Burning feet", and it's a pretty low-key song that yet smoulders, Rea's voice matching the mood of the song perfectly. Trilling piano leads in "Slowdance", with a great thumping bassline, as Rea recalls when he first heard the blues. A wah-wah pedal on the guitar adds a smoky feel to the song and when it explodes in the last minute the guitar goes into overdrive, almost screaming for mercy.

There's a super little slide guitar instrumental in the appropriately-named "Segway", which is essentially a continuation of "Slowdance" to take us into "Mississippi", --- the second of his songs to bear the title --- with an appropriate shimmy on the harmonica then marching drums followed by strident banjo joined by Chicago blues guitar and for a minute I think I've put on a Rory Gallagher album by accident. Till Chris starts singing of course. The song pounds along like a parade, a joyful celebration and return to the hometown (though of course Rea is an Englishman; still, he's not the only one to profess a love for and an affinity with the USA). The banjo keeps up a constant melody throughout the song and is supplemented by the guitar with dashes of harmonica all over the place. Big, loud and proud is how you'd have to describe this song.

By contrast, "So lonely" is a droning dirge almost entirely on the slide guitar, with very little in the way of a lyric to be honest, and a little below par. It is however quite short and the first disc ends on a stunner, the six-minute "Heading for the city", a real anthem that starts off on simple guitar with separate notes on the piano before the melody begins to establish itself as Rea comes in on the vocal, the lyrical content somewhat similar to "Looking for a rainbow" off "The road to Hell". The piano actually develops into quite a Supertramp style before the tune ramps up on the back of organ and rising guitar, boogeying along nicely as the tempo picks up, a big guitar and organ finish to take us to the midway point through this two-disc set.

A humming little bass and gospel-style piano take us into disc two as "Ride on" sweeps in on the wings of sultry slide guitar, and Gerry Moore's banjo comes in to add its own country/bluegrass flavour to the song, one of the standouts on either disc. Sadly, things take a serious turn for the worse with the truly awful "When the good lord talked to Jesus", which is just dour and depressing, almost acoustic with dark vocal from Rea, and not a bad idea but it gets overplayed and stretched out to breaking point. Mind you it seems to be about parental abuse so I guess the tone suits the lyrical subject matter, but damn it's depressing and I'm glad when it's over. Still, this is supposed to be the blues so what ya gonna do?

Luckily that's the last low point on an album that, to be fair, it has to be said has very few. "Qualified" trips along on a bluesy harmonica and piano line, while there's joyful gospel in "Sun is rising", which opens on sultry slide and again almost acoustic in its barebones style before the piano and percussion cut in as the song takes a serious upswing, like a sort of "darkest before the dawn" idea. Thick, swirling organ comes in to ride along beside the happy piano and joyful guitar with harmonica jumping on for the trip too, and the song is a real example of going almost from one extreme to another, ending far different to the way it began. Also another standout. Great little ballad then in "Some day my peace will come", soft piano and trilling banjo in almost a mandolin-style and an impassioned vocal from Chris as organ builds in the background, with a real sense of loss and regret in the slowburn "Got to be moving on" before Chris reaffirms his decision to change his life perhaps in "Ain't going down this way", a real swinger with great guitar and a rhythm that just makes you want to move.

If you take the two discs as one work, then the closer for the whole thing perhaps bookends the two sides of his musical career, his music if you like pre-cancer and that which he explored after surviving the tumour. If you look at it as two albums, the first one closed powerfully while the second is more understated, more like gently closing a door on a sleeping child than slamming it shut. But before that we've got two more tracks to go, and "Changing times" is just a nice, uptempo fun rocker with a great Gallagheresque guitar riff running through it, while "The hustler" has a great country vibe about it with a generous dollop of "Roadhouse blues" and really does punch above its weight. To be fair the closer isn't bad. It's a nice relaxing ballad in the mould of "Seabird" from his "Deltics" album, but it just seems to sort of break the blues theme of the album, and nods back, as I say, to his earlier material. Nothing wrong with that, but given that he's already decided not to record any more of that sort of music, it's odd to say the least that he includes such a song on the album, and indeed, the last track on it.

TRACKLISTING

Disc 1
1. Easy rider
2. Stony road
3. Dancing my blues away
4. Catfish girl
5. Burning feet
6. Slowdance
7. Segway
8. Mississippi
9. So lonely
10. Heading for the city

Disc 2
1. Ride on
2. When the good lord talked to Jesus
3. Qualified
4. Sun is rising
5. Someday my peace will come
6. Got to be moving on
7. Ain't going down this way
8. Changing times
9. The hustler
10. Give that girl a diamond

In 2005 Chris Rea decided, and announced, that he would no longer record under his own name. He was not going to retire from music, per se, but would continue to write, record and tour under the name of the band he had put together, Memphis Fireflies. He also created a fictional band called The Delmonts under whose name he toured his 2007 release, "The return of the Fabulous Hofner Bluenotes". But Chris Rea, as a solo artiste, would appear to have called it a day. You can't blame him, with shocking, lifechanging news like that: it's a wonder indeed that he didn't hang up his guitar completely.

On the basis of this album, some of his finest and most personal work to date, I'm damn glad he didn't.

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Brothers in Arms
Although Rory was without doubt the focus of every live show, every album, every interview he participated in, and was pretty much an undisputed king of the blues, some of that was down, as he would say himself, to the talent he found to support his guitar playing, the boys who played in his band. Some of these were only with him for an album or two, but by and large once Rory found someone who fitted, clicked and "got" his music, he did his best to have them stick with him. Other artistes play or played with various lineups behind them, but Rory is pretty much known for at least one mainstay of his band. Here I'll be looking at the men who went into battle with him, standing shoulder to shoulder with the guitar god on stage, and helping create the sound that was uniquely his.


Gerry McAvoy
Position: Bass player
Joined: 1970
Left: 1991
First album played on: "Rory Gallagher", 1970
Final album played on: "Fresh evidence", 1990
Born: 1951

If anyone could be said to be Rory's lieutenant, his right hand man, then Gerry was that man. The dependable, steady heartbeat of so much of Rory's music, it's almost impossible to think of the man from Ballyshannon going onstage without his trusted deputy, to tweak the analogy slightly. Gerry's bass work will be familiar to anyone who's heard any of Rory's albums, and his presence onstage, strong and steady, reliable and reassuring, a constant and unchanging facet of Rory's live performances. He hooked up with Rory in 1970, just after the breakup of Taste, as the young Rory was looking to put together another power trio, and the two just seemed made for each other, musically. Gerry was so in tune with what Rory was playing that the two of them shared what Rory called "musical ESP". Brought up on the same blues influences as his bandleader, Gerry also opted for Fender as his guitar of choice, and played in his first band with Brendan O'Neill, who would later join him in the band with Rory.

Coming from Rory's neck of the woods (although Rory's family moved out of Northern Ireland when he was eight years old) Gerry had the same sort of experience of "The Troubles" and like Rory he was anxious to return to his homeland whenever they could, even if it worried him a little more than it seemed to trouble Rory, who really didn't give it a thought, even when bombs went off during (but not at) a gig! A story is told by Rory of one night when eleven bombs went off in Belfast, near where he was playing a gig, just before midnight. Assuming this to be a case of "twelve bombs at twelve", and knowing the IRA to be heavy into certain types of symbolism, Rory checked via "contacts" in the city and was assured "Don't worry: the next bomb won't go off where you are!"

Gerry left Rory in 1991, after what would be the last album the bluesman would ever record, 1990's "Fresh evidence", and went to join Nine Below Zero. When Rory died he organised tribute concerts to honour his fallen friend and bandleader, and has done much to keep Rory's memory alive. Gerry had two solo albums, the last of which was only released in 2010, though they seem to have been unremarked by the world, making the title of the last one either prophetic or philosophical: "Can't win 'em all!" He has also written his biography, detaiing his time with Rory both in the studio and on the road. In 2011 he left NBZ and hooked up again with drummer Ted McKenna, with whom he had recorded two of Rory's best (in my opinion) albums, "Top priority" and "Photo finish", as well as the live album "Stagestruck", and guitarist Marcel Scherpenzeel, whom he descibes on their website as "the closest guitarist to Rory you will ever hear" to form Band of Friends, playing the music of the departed legend and keeping his legacy alive.

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"Instead of the cross, the albatross about my neck was hung!" --- Samuel Taylor Coleridge, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"
And so we are given the image of an unwieldy, unwelcome weight hung upon us, a symbol of something we have done wrong, a constant reminder of our sin. Coleridge's Ancient Mariner was so punished by his shipmates in the epic poem because he had shot the albatross out of the sky, and this was believed an unlucky thing to do (certainly was for the albatross!), as so it proved for the luckless sailors, whose ship became becalmed and they were stranded in unfamiliar waters.

I don't honestly know whether or not this is the first instance of the albatross being seen as a symbol of misfortune, a harbinger of ill tidings, but it's certainly the most celebrated. After this the albatross definitely earned a bad reputation, and this has carried on through to the non-maritime world. It's why I called this section after the seabird, and as I explained in the first outing it can without question apply to bands and their musical output. Many bands, or artistes, have one big hit single and though they capture the imagination of the world with it, they are unable to emulate such global success again. This does not mean they do not have hits, or record albums, but in the mind of the general record-buyer they only see that one single, that one hit, and to them that's all the band, or artiste, ever did. In the rather closed or certainly uninformed minds of these people that band or artiste becomes a one-hit-wonder, when in reality nothing could be further from the truth.

But the tag sticks, the perception persists and it's hard to convince people otherwise. And so the albatross of their big hit single, hung around their necks like the grisly trophy of the Ancient Mariner, threatens to drag them down into the watery grave of musical obscurity and push them into the straits of fading memory. So I'm here to remind you all that just because an artiste had one big hit single and you didn't check out the rest of their work, that doesn't mean they didn't have any. They in all likelihood got on just fine without you. But for those who want to know, these are the stories of the singles that should not have defined these artistes, but almost invariably did.


Take on me
a-ha
Released September 16 1985
From the album "Hunting high and low"
Backed with "Love is reason"
Chart position: 2 (UK) 1 (USA) --- first chart success (of only two) for a-ha in the States

Considering how much a part of pop history it now is, and how it paved the way for a-ha to stardom, it's interesting to note that "Take on me", their first released single, took three attempts at the charts in the UK before it hit the big time. Beginning life as a song called "Lesson one", the song was released first (under its new title) in 1984 but flopped. At the end of the year a remixed version was again put out but again failed to make any impact. It was only when Warner Bros decided to stump up for a kickass video to accompany the third release of the single that it began to make waves. Clubs picked up on its dancy, pumping synthpop rhythms, Harkett's mellifluous voice and MTV promoted the hell out of the (then) cutting-edge video, so that in September of 1985 it raced up the charts to the number two position, setting the US alight the following month. Finally, a-ha had arrived.

But though they certainly had other hits (most from this album) and one of them was a number one in the UK, it's maddening that if you ask anyone to name one of a-ha's songs --- not even hits, just songs --- ninety-nine percent of people will mention "Take on me". It just made that big an impression. I suppose being at the time by a band who had come from nowhere it was always going to stay in the public consciousness, but despite having a record that got to the top ("The sun always shines on TV") and penning the theme song to one of the Bond movies later in life, a-ha will it seems always be remembered for this one single. Not that it's a bad song: I love it. I just know that the band recorded material that was so much better over the course of their career. In fact, as set out in my "Taking centre stage" feature a few years ago, a-ha had eleven albums and although they always did well in their native Norway, few if any made an impression over here after "Stay on these roads", their third.

And so most people, who aren't fans or don't have much in the way of musical knowledge, will think a-ha had the one hit and that was it. Oh yeah, and the other one, the number one: can't remember what it was called --- something about TV? I suppose it should really stand as a testament to the enduring popularity of the song that though it charted marginally lower than their biggest hit, it's still remembered in favour of it. It's certainly been covered enough times: over twenty that I know of, and will always feature in those "best pop songs from the 80s" compliation albums. Unlike the hapless mariner in Coleridge's story, sometimes the albatross doesn't fall from your neck and sink down in to the sea, even after you've reached home port and hung up your sailing boots for good.

First impressions, it would seem, do last. Sometimes longer than the ones who made them originally.

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Taking the long way --- Dixie Chicks --- 2006 (Columbia Nashville)


I've said before I'm not a huge Country fan. There are bands and artistes I like, some I'd listen to and some I would not consider giving my time to. That said, sometimes music crosses boundaries and takes on a new importance, almost universal. The treatment the Dixie Chicks received from some sides of the US audience in the wake of their condemnation of the Iraq War in 2003 has always rankled with me. As a matter of history, it's usually been musicians who tend to stand up, in one way or another, for what is right. Given that most of the bands in the Country and Western scene would tend to hail from what is known as "The Bible Belt", itself overwhelmingly Republican and conservative, it is seldom really that a Country artist will take a political stand, especially against a sitting president, for fear of not only alienating their audience but of engineering a serious drop in record and ticket sales.

So these three country gals from Texas --- the biggest state to take on when you're going Bush-bashing --- stood up proudly and declared their opposition to the invasion of Iraq, which was about to start. As a result, their records were burned, their gigs boycotted and one of them received death threats. The fact that they were right in the end was and has been wasted on the voiciferous American Right, who roundly castigated them for daring to speak out about the president, labelling them unpatriotic and traitors. I'm sure if there had been some way that they could have classed them as "enemy noncombatants" and shipped them off to Guantanemo they would. Even in the wake of a somewhat lame apology by Natalie Maines, who had made the comment at a gig in London, their critics were not appeased and it looked bad for the Dixie Chicks. Country radio in the US refused to play their records, people tried to return CDs and they were booed at award ceremonies. Natalie even needed a bodyguard at one point!

But they came storming back three years later, and perhaps people who were now able to see that the war would not be over in a matter of months, and despite Bush's assurances that there would be no American casualties saw the hollowness of that statement, and as WMDs stubbornly and embarrassingly refused to be found, realised that, you know, maybe there was something in what these brave women had said, after all. This, their first album since that incident, shot to the top of the Country and indeed the Billboard mainstream chart too, and eventually won five Grammy awards. If anything, it proved that the controversy, while no doubt scary, worrying and unwelcome at the time, had propelled the Dixie Chicks into the limelight and opened up their music to fans beyond the Country genre. They now considered themselves less Country artistes, they said, and more "part of the big rock'n'roll family".

The opener which is as close to the title track as you're going to get opens with a strummed acoustic guitar as Natalie Maines sings the vocal, then it cuts loose and becomes something of a redemption song in ways. It's got good pace to it, singing of experiences in life and on the road, with the telling line "I could never follow" running through the song. Nice bit of violin from Martie Maguire while Emily Robinson handles the guitars with aplomb. Mind you, these girls are multi-talented, and all play at least two instruments, in the case of Martie that's the omnichord and her lovely voice, whereas the other two play more than three or four each. There's a great sense of vindication and triumph about the song, and it leads into "Easy silence", a slower, piano-led piece with a yearning vocal kind of more folk-tinged and even alt-rock in there too.

Some good acoustic guitar from the Heartbreakers' Mike Campbell and mourning violin from Martie, a vocal from Natalie that almost embraces a very slow rap style; think a slower version of The Script and you're close. Lovely violin solo then everything drops back for solo piano and Natalie's soft vocal before the song builds back up again on the back of Emily's guitar. Addressing what has become known in Dixie Chicks folklore now as "The Incident", the next song up is called "Not ready to make nice", and the lyric reaffirms, despite Natalie's public apology, the girls' committment to the sentiments they expressed that night in 2003. She sings "I'm still mad as hell/ Too late to make it right/ Probably wouldn't if I could..." --- oh yeah, these ladies are still fuming quietly about their treatment both from the American public and the Country music world in general, few if any of whom supported their stand. In fact, it was left to people like Springsteen and Madonna to stand by their side and express their support. It's obviously left a bad taste in their mouths, as the final lines in the song sigh "I'm still waiting..."

More uptempo and almost poppish is "Everybody knows", with male backing vocals for the first time, from Dan Wilson. There are some notable guests on the album: Mike Campbell has already been mentioned, and he's joined by Benmont Tench, Bonnie Raitt and John Mayer, legends all. Whether they're there to lend support to the Dixie Chicks' "comeback" or are just fans I don't know, but it's nice to see that there are people in the rock world ready to help out. It's a good song if a shade generic, with some great steel guitar courtesy of Lloyd Maines, father of Natalie and himself a Grammy-winning musician and producer. There's a real sense of punch and power to the ballad "Bitter end", quite a Nanci Griffith vibe I feel personally, with some fine violin from Martie and piano under the fingers of Tench. "Lullaby" is a simple little low-key song mostly on guitar with omnichord from Natalie adding little swirly flourishes in the background, and indeed a soft lulling vocal from her.

It all kicks off then for "Lubbock or leave it", with a big fast bluegrass rhythm and stomping drums, a bit of rockabilly thrown in and it's good fun with some cool banjo licks from Emily --- almost a solo really --- while "Silent house" is more in almost slow southern rock territory, a big slow grinder with more great banjo and what sounds like synthwork but may be actual human backing vocals. Partially written by Sheryl Crow, "Favourite year" actually has quite a bit of Tom Petty in it, so I'm a little surprised Campbell isn't involved in the writing. A nice mid-paced almost acoustic ballad, it has some gentle little piano and organ lines in it presumably from Benmont Tench again, and some sweet vocal harmonies from the girls. More southern rock, faster this time in "Voice inside my head", some lovely sitar this time from Emily Robinson, pedal steel from Natalie's old man, a real heavy country feel to it.

Slick little acoustic guitar to start off the shuffling "I like it" with jazzy organ and digital piano from Tench, goes all sort of soul/funk with some doo-wop and horns getting in on the act. Not that sure about this one to be honest: I think it's trying to cram too many diverse influences and sounds into the one song and it all gets a bit messy. A much better one is the stripped-down "Baby hold on", a real Faith Hill sort of song, with acoustic guitar and soft percussion, a wistful vocal from Natalie and some powerful piano coming in with great vocal harmonies from the other two ladies. Fine guitar solo from John Mayer near the end just adds the icing on top of the cake, and we head into "So hard" with a mid-paced rocker with folky overtones, with Natalie again referring perhaps to "The Incident" when she sings "Sometimes I don't have the energy/ To prove everybody wrong"

The album then closes on "I hope", which says everything about what the Dixie Chicks stand for: "I don't wanna hear nothing about killing/ And that it's God's wish" with an appropriately gospel slant and a strange mixture of Springsteen, Simon and old-style blues, some smoky organ work from Benmont Tench and really quite an understated little track to wind up an album which has a lot to say, crackles at times with anger and recrimination and regret, not for what was said but for how shortsightedly it was received, but in the end reverberates with a sort of acceptance and understanding, if not forgiveness, and embodies the worldview and outlook of these three girls from Texas in the closing track of this, their "comeback" album. And what a comeback.

TRACKLISTING

1. The long way around
2. Easy silence
3. Not ready to make nice
4. Everybody knows
5. Bitter end
6. Lullaby
7. Lubbock or leave it
8. Silent house
9. Favourite year
10. Voice inside my head
11. I like it
12. Baby hold on
13. So hard
14. I hope

At a time when none of their contemporaries dared say what so many people --- within and outside the music world --- thought and feared about the war to be visited upon us by the greedy and the stupid, the Dixie Chicks were one of the few who were prepared to stand up and say what they thought, to take a stand against this madness, to declare themselves ashamed of their president. As reward, they were villified, pilloried and received death threats. Three years later, with the war well in swing on two fronts and showing no signs of coming anywhere close to an end, and Bush halfway through his second term, they came back with an album that showed that they had not forgotten those who had cursed and deserted them.

But in the dark cloud there was a shining silver lining, for on the back of the admittedly adverse but nevertheless worldwide publicity their stand received, they made new fans and crossed over genres, leaving the often traditional and fundamentalist Country sphere trailing in their wake. Their album smashed all previous records for their work and brought their music to a whole new generation of fans. They'll probably never be indoctrinated into the Country Music Hall of Fame, but their courage and determination not to back down has shown us that there's honesty and truth and a desire to do the right thing, even deep in the heart of Texas.

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Unknown Soldier

As you know I've always thought a-ha as the best pop band ever (I'm not much of a pop fan) their first album is a classic BUT I can't stand "Take on Me" it was the song that branded them a teenybopper band.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Trollheart

I'd actually disagree with that. "Hunting high and low" for me, really has highs and lows, but it's not until "Scoundrel days" (review coming!) that they really hit their stride: the variation on that album and the at times rock flavour that comes through was seldom if ever matched. "Stay on these roads" was I always felt a weak followup, and the only one that comes close in my estimation is the superb "Analogue". The rest of their albums have seriously bright spots certainly, but each one seems to be let down by one or two below-par tracks, particularly on "Memorial Beach".

And I love "Take on me", despite its history and what it made the band become in the eyes of so many...

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Unknown Soldier

I think the first and third albums are similiar in many ways but the debut gets the edge. Now I disagree with you, as I think nearly every song on the debut is special. The second album is great as well and different, it has a much more moodier feel and showed a different type of singing from Morten.

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Metal Wars

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Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Trollheart

The next day --- David Bowie --- 2013 (Columbia)

Well, we've featured one legend in our first review of an album from this year, so perhaps fitting to continue that trend and look at an album which really looked like it would never be. Everyone, myself included, believed Bowie finished when he released his last album, "Reality" ten years previous to this. An intensely private man, it was just naturally assumed that the Thin White Duke had retired, and who would blame him, after a star-studded career spanning five decades (six now) and over twenty albums, many of them becoming icons in the world of rock, tons of hit singles and almost reinventing music single-handedly? Surely the guy must be tired, approaching his sixties?

But little did we know that for the last two years Bowie had been secretly working on a new album, a comeback album that would show any critics that he was far from finished, and delight his fans with new material and a fresh approach. Criticism has been levelled at the artwork for the cover, and though I've read the explanations I do have to agree mostly: sure, it "subverts" the classic album "Heroes", as Tony Visconti, producer and spokesman for Bowie points out, but still, it does look ... what's the word? Oh yeah. Crap.

Happily though, what's under the cover bears no resemblance to the artwork, and this album brims with freshness, energy and a new purpose. The title track kicks it off, with an uptempo rocker which sort of reminds me from the off of "Diamond dogs", with its striding, swaggering rhythm and its somewhat dark lyric --- "Here I am, not quite dead/ My body left to rot in a hollow tree" --- and some screaming guitar, Bowie's vocal rising and almost desperate as he recounts the story of apparently the capture and trial of some unnamed despot, lyrically similar to Dire Strait's "The man's too strong". There's great energy in the song, almost a carnival atmosphere, a joyous celebration of liberation, while "Dirty boys" is just, well, dirty. Thick, sleazy baritone sax from Steve Elson and snarling guitars in an almost Waitsesque discordant melody; much slower than the opener, smoky and grinding with Bowie at his bad-boy best.

The tempo then picks up for "Stars are out tonight", a boppy, almost pop song with a great hook, a driving bass line from Gail-Ann Dorsey and some sparkling piano almost sprinkled over the tune. Rising strings orchestration helps to build the atmosphere as Bowie blurs the line between the stars in the sky and celebrities --- "We will never be rid of these stars/ But I hope they live forever". But it's the krautrock of "Love is lost" that for me takes the prize as standout --- and there are many contenders here. The deep, moody feel of it contrasts starkly with the previous track, and indeed most of the others so far. A droning synth leads the melody with great basswork again from Dorsey, and snapping, growling guitar cutting in from time to time courtesy of Gerry Leonard. I think Bowie himself plays the keyboard here, and it certainly holds court over everything else, its powerful, insistent almost church-organ sound anchoring the melody. The only complaint I have about this song is that it's not longer; at just under four minutes it seems over far too quickly.

Another contender comes in the shape of the first ballad, and indeed the lead single released off the album. With a beautiful, wistful laidback feeling recalling the classic "Life on Mars" and "Five years", it's a beautiful piece of music with a slow, dreamy feel and Bowie's voice almost cracking with emotion as he asks the question that titles the song, "Where are we now?" Bass this time supplied by Tony Levin, it's understated but certainly experienced, and the orchestration is just lovely, with some fine piano from Henry Hey adding a delicate touch to the song. Just superb. Many of the songs on this album are written as if Bowie is looking through someone else's eyes, seeing the world from their viewpoint, and "Valentine's day" is certainly one such, with the chilling opening line "Valentine told me who's to go" in the tale of a high school gunman. A tricky subject to tackle, given recent events, but Bowie was never one to play it safe or shy from controversy, and the clever title could confuse many (as it did me initially) into thinking the song was a love song written for February 14th.

It's a mid-paced rocker with understated guitar and a calm vocal for the most part from Bowie, the guitar getting a little more histrionic near the end, the tempo kicking up then for "If you can see me", with an almost rushed vocal, the song quite frenetic in its composition, sounding a little like an arabic chant or something at the opening, then throwing in some almost progressive rock influences (reminds me of Arena at their best), not too much in the way of pausing in the vocal. The melody too stays pretty constant, not changing too much until the middle eighth leading to the chorus. It's not one of my favourites, and truth to tell there are songs on this album I'm not totally gone on; it's not perfect, but it's a whole lot better than a lot of albums I've heard recently. The good definitely outweighs the bad in my opinion.

Seeing through the eyes of another again, Bowie this time inhabits the body of a soldier as he bemoans his fate, wishing he were at home. "I'd rather be high" couldn't have a more simple title and will certainly appeal to a section of the younger listenership, who would agree wholeheartedly with his sentiments, but even at that, there's more of a message in the song than just the wish to be stoned. As Bowie sings he talks about "Training these guns on those men in the sand", and while I originally believed this to be a reference to soldiers in Iraq or Afghanistan, Visconti has confirmed it's actually a soldier in World War II that he's singing about. No matter: it's probably a sentiment universal to those who have to put themselves in harm's way. Great military drumbeat from Zachary Allford, and a sitar-style guitar riff running through the song, taking us into "Boss of me", with the return of that dirty baritone sax from the second track. It's a little jazzy for my tastes, but not a bad song. Much better though is "Dancing out in space", where Bowie revisits his sixties persona, allying it to an eighties britpop rhythm and melody, a very busy song with elements even of country in there, reminds me a little of the Waterboys or even Bon Jovi at times. Yeah, sue me, you don't own my head!

Maybe David Byrne is a better comparison; it's sort of hard to make it though because there's quite a lot going on as I said in this track and it kind of changes as it goes along. Great little track though, and it's followed by "How does the grass grow", which comes in on distorted guitar and borrows just a little from the main riff in Floyd's "Echoes", with a kind of staccato rhythm for the verses then an almost Elton John feel in the la-la-la-la chorus. Great bit of guitar there from Gerry Leonard, kind of crashing through the melody. Things stay mostly fast for the rock-and-roll, almost "Rebel rebel" intro to "You will set the world on fire", with some great vocal harmonies and a hook to die for. One more beautiful ballad before we close, with the gospel "You feel so lonely you could die", a real triumph for Bowie, almost spiritually uplifting in its power, and again a sense of "Five years" in the melody I find. One of his most arresting vocal performances on this song, and I love the way he doesn't have to make every line rhyme with the previous: real poets or lyricists don't feel that need. If the lines are good enough and evoke the right feelings and images, why should they have to rhyme?

Wonderful performance by Janice Pendarvis on the backing vocals, really makes the song come alive. We close then on the dark, doomy, almost claustrophobic "Heat", a slice of musical dystopia on which Bowie is backed by minimal instrumentation and makes his voice the main instrument, almost crying the vocal, the band mirroring his melancholia in the melody that backs him. The song virtually screams in torture at you, like some inmate of an asylum trying to break out of their cell by sheer force of will. It's a bleak, angry, desolate and powerful ending to the album, taking you by surprise after the uplifting nature of the previous track.

TRACKLISTING

1. The next day
2. Dirty boys
3. The stars are out tonight
4. Love is lost
5. Where are we now?
6. Valentine's day
7. If you can see me
8.I'd rather be high
9. Boss of me
10. Dancing out in space
11. How does the grass grow?
12. You will set the world on fire
13. You feel so lonely you could die
14. Heat

I admit, this album took a little getting into, but each time I spun it I got to like it more and more. There are still tracks on it that don't appeal to me, but as I said they're very much in the minority. It's also great value, from a purely financial point of view, with fourteen tracks, and more if you buy the special editions. There are some great classic Bowie moments on the album, some new influences and some great imagery, but then, you'd expect nothing less from this man, would you?

It's certainly been worth a ten year wait, and while I'm not one of those who could point to Bowie's Berlin period and tell you all about it, or own all his albums, I know enough about him to know that this album is going to rank right up there with the best he has done in his long and successful career. Like the twelfth track says, this album is quite likely to set the world on fire, and even if it doesn't, there's one inescapable conclusion that nobody can miss: the Thin White Duke is back.

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