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Dark angel --- The Reasoning --- 2008 (Comet)


This band have an impressive pedigree, with ex-members of both Magenta and Karnataka in the band, and the mighty Steve Rothery of Marillion legend guesting on their first album. This is their second, and it's the first time I've heard from them. The Reasoning have only been together since 2005, but to date have released five albums --- well, four, if you consider one was an acoustic offering --- with their last hitting the shelves last year. They are somewhat unique in that they employ no less than three vocalists (take that, Von Hertzen Brothers!) and so are able to create some mesmeric vocal harmonies on the music they produce.

The album opens on quite an It Bites style keyboard and guitar melody as the title tracks kicks it off, but then harder guitars and orchestral keyboards amp up the drama, with some nice piano sprinkled across the tune. This settles down into a nice acoustic guitar piece, very early Marillion indeed, which is then taken up by electric guitar, and it's two minutes into the track before we hear any vocals, the first coming from Rachel Cohen, joined then by one of the guys, either guitarist Dylan Thompson or keyboard man Gareth Jones, the overall sound very pleasing on the ears. Strangely enough, Rachel's voice reminds me of Leslie Dowdall from Irish band In Tua Nua, same sort of warm restrained quality that can surely break out in anger or passion when required. Nice almost acapella vocal harmony to finish and we're into "Sharp sea".

Not surprisingly this has some nice rolling waves, thunder and wind sound effects before it gets going, and in fairness they take up almost a minute of the seven and a half run before low synth comes in and then hard guitar from Thompson blasts across the melody. Again it's over two minutes before Rachel's voice enters the fray, and again it's on the back of laidback acoustic guitar. Other vocals join and supplement hers, while the guitar gets tougher and the percussion ramps up. There's some lovely wailing keyboard which reminds me of Arena at their best and some fine guitar from Thompson with a great little solo, quite Gilmouresque. The vocal harmonies work particularly well here. A lovely solitary guitar chord ushers in "How far to fall" and this appears to be the first ballad. Interestingly, it's one of the guys who takes vocal duties here, the song itself swaying along on a sort of bluesy/waltzy rhythm with some snarling guitar that doesn't seem at all out of place.

It kicks up the tempo about halfway through, leading to an excellent keyboard solo from Gareth Jones and some fine piano too, then it relapses back into ballad territory and takes us into "Serenity", a short, less than two minute workout on acoustic guitar and mandolin for Dylan Thompson, adding in some nice piano licks and running to some sort of backing track I can't quite make out, some report or something. I think it may be NASA, something to do with the moon? Not sure. Anyway it's a nice little almost-instrumental and goes into "Call me God?", which is a heavier, more dramatic piece than anything since the opener, with snarling keyboards and chiming guitar then breaking into an almost heavy metal chugalong as we hear the first and perhaps only vocals from Gareth Jones, who is one hell of a good singer himself. Great choral vocals backing a really rocking track with a lot of power and energy and bringing in Rachel on the second verse where she then harmonises with Gareth. "In the future" then seems to be another ballad, though from what I've heard of this band the song could easily change direction. It's Dylan back on vocals with Gareth harmonising. Lovely chingly guitar and what surely must be mellotron?

Sort of stayed the same but I don't think I'd class it as a ballad, as such. Some very neoclassical piano fooled me into thinking "Absolute zero" was one, but I don't feel it going that way, more mid-paced really, and with Dylan this time harmonising with Rachel and I think Gareth. Some lovely synth work and a rising guitar line with a beautiful little almost Spanish guitar solo, though unfortunately it doesn't last long. Boo. "Breaking the fourth wall" though does seem to be heading down the ballad road, with a lovely duet between Rachel and Dylan, gorgeous piano and some really strong guitar, but the main strength of this song is the powerful double harmony of the two leads. One of the best tracks on the album for me. The closer then is the epic, over nine minutes and it starts on chimy, almost ominous piano and ticking percussion, with slightly heavier piano joining the melody and some sound effects. Heavy guitar then blows everything away as the drums really kick in, and "A musing dream" gets started. Upbeat keyboards and staccato drumming with again over two minutes before the vocals come in.

It's Dylan Thompson with little touches from Rachel, the tempo of the song increasing and settling into an upbeat tone with guitar and squealy keys leading the melody. Rachel takes over the main vocal about six minutes in, on the back of rather nice acoustic guitar and some trumpeting low keyboard from Gareth, what could be harmonica and then a soaring laidback little guitar solo as the song approaches its end. Well into the seventh minute then it picks up again and gets faster, the guitar again leading the attack alongside some dextrous keyboard work from Gareth Jones. There's a good vocal harmony to end but then it rather abruptly and disappointingly just comes to an end, which I feel weighs against it, and sadly colours my final impression of the whole album.

TRACKLISTING

1. Dark angel
2. Sharp sea
3. How far to fall
4. Serenity
5. Call me God?
6. In the future
7. Absolute zero
8. Breaking the fourth wall
9. A musing dream

If The Reasoning remind me of any other band it's Touchstone, and I was very impressed by them. They haven't been around too long in relative terms, but what they lack in longevity they've more than made up for in output. Having heard this album I'm more than ready to hear more of their material, and believe they could be only a short step away from taking the crown as one of the best new prog rock artistes of the last five or so years. Their multi-vocal approach definitely gives them an edge, and unlike many other bands of this ilk (Touchstone included) they don't seem to make the possible mistake --- at least, on this album --- of trying to write songs that are too long and complicated, with "A musing dream" a mere (!) nine minutes and change.

Playing to their strengths: always a good way for a band to ensure they go far. And on the basis of this album, I see the future for The Reasoning being quite bright indeed, and expect they will in fact go far.

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Generations --- Journey --- 2005 (Sanctuary)


The second and last album to feature "Steve Number Two", Generations is a fine Journey album that suffers from a few bad tracks but overall is one of the best I've heard. It also is the one which affords every bandmember a chance to sing, though as usual the Schon/Cain songwriting partnership rules the roost, apart from two songs which Steve Augeri writes. The Perry fanboys will tell you it didn't sound the same, but for my money Augeri was almost a clone of the original vocalist to the point where I found it hard to remember it wasn't Perry singing. But then, maybe that's just me. Nevertheless of the later Journey albums I found this to be one of the best, and the release of "Eclipse" in 2011 has not changed that view.

You couldn't really have a better start than "Faith in the heartland", with swirling synth from Cain and then slowly rising guitar courtesy of Schon before he really breaks through and percussion from Deen Castronovo powers in with a a big yell from Augeri and a solo from Neal as the song takes off. A big punchy rocker, it's far removed from the "limp" ballads Journey have sometimes become unfairly typecast as producing, although I like those ballads, which is why I rate "Arrival" as my alltime favourite Journey album. Stirring vocal harmonies and chugging guitar make this song a great introduction to a really good album. Things keep rocking then with "The place in your heart", with great guitar and thundering drums, a real sense of urgency and desperation in it. A great screaming solo from Neal Schon too.

We hear Deen Castronovo for the first time singing on "A better life", and to be fair he's not half bad: maybe they should let him sing more. It's more a mid-paced song than the previous two, and then Jonathan Cain tries his hand in what is more or less the title track, the burning "Every generation". With a nearly breathless vocal and sliding guitars, solid percussion and later some really rock-and-roll piano from the man, it's a great title track with a message that reaches out across the years and down into history. It's Steve Augeri's turn to try his hand at songwriting now, and "Butterfly" is a nice little piano ballad, though in fairness it's nothing the Cain/Schon combination could not have written between them, or even separately. Still, a good first effort, and his second isn't bad either. It follows directly on the heels of this, and though he's joined in the writing by Tommy De Rossi it's a brilliant little rocker, full of drama and energy with a great keyboard riff from Cain running through it. Maybe a little repetitive if I'm honest but otherwise very impressive.

Cain shows us how it's done next with one of his many ballads, and "Knowing that you love me" has that laidback lazy guitar Neal Schon can get such a handle on, with a swaying waltzy rhythm and one of those choruses with more hooks than a fishing tackle box, stuffed with emotion and heartfelt feeling. I do admit, that when Journey shine the brightest is in their carefully crafted ballads, and this is up with the best of them. Back rocking then with the anti-war "Out of harm's way", a small sense of the classic "Separate ways (Worlds apart)" to some degree, but it has great drama and energy in it. Sadly this is where the album begins to slide badly, as the next three tracks are I feel very much below par, kicking off with "In self-defense", where even the added writing talents of alumnus Steve Perry can't save this song. The vocals of Neal Schon certainly don't help; honestly, it's like something Motorhead or Tank would write. Not quite as bad is "Better together", but with a disjointed guitar performance from Schon it just comes across as a cross between Kiss and Bon Jovi.

That leaves us with the crapweed in the bouquet, the truly awful "Gone crazy", on which you'd have to think Journey have done just that. WIth, I should add, Ross Vallory on vocals. He really should stick to playing the bass. What is it about this album? Was there an unspoken agreement that everyone would get a turn singing? I mean, I've heard Tico Torres sing for Bon Jovi and he's bad, but Vallory is pretty damn close to that bad. The song's also terrible, so nothing much to report here. Good guitar work from Schon but it's not my bag at all. It's all over the place and just not the sort of thing I expect from these guys. At least the album ends well though, on a lovely soft dreamy ballad. "Beyond the clouds" does its best to recover the earlier quality that shines through this album and mostly succeeds. It's just a pity that not only are there three bad tracks on it, but Journey have seen fit to group them together, which only serves to thrust their poor quality into the light, rather than allow them pass by unremarked.

TRACKLISTING

1. Faith in the heartland
2. The place in your heart
3. A better life
4. Every generation
5, Butterfly (She flies alone)
6. Believe
7. Knowing that you love me
8. Out of harm's way
9. In self-defense
10. Better together
11. Gone crazy
12. Beyond the clouds

Despite the rough bunch near the end, this is still a very strong Journey album, and it's an interesting experiment, to allow everybody sing, though I doubt they allowed Ross Vallory another turn! After this Steve Augeri cried off with a throat infection and had to be replaced on Journey's world tour, whereafter he was replaced by Arnel Pineda, and a new chapter began in the band's history. For my money though, this was the last truly great Journey album, despite the unkind remarks above. It followed on directly from my alltime favourite (which surprises many people) "Arrival" and was in its turn followed by "Revelation", the first to feature the new singer and later by "Eclipse", much praised but not by me.

In many ways, an era ended with the departure of Steve Augeri, just as it did with his predecessor, and personally I feel Journey lost something with the exit of both vocalists. Pineda has proved a capable replacement, but I've just always had this feeling that Journey would never be the same without either of the Steves, and for me, this is where the journey, to a great extent, ended.

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incorporating


Well, it’s a new year and time to try new things, eh? The first time I’ve ever done this, merging two sections, but I couldn’t decide which this album should go under, so in the end I thought why not do both, as it fits the one as well as it does the other?

Most people here will laugh at the idea of listening to Train. I thought at first that was just a sense of elitism, maybe ignorance, and truth to tell I enjoyed their “Save me San Francisco” album. But this one is a whole different kettle of fish. I was so surprised by how poor and generic it is that for a moment I had to check to make sure I hadn’t thrown on an album by The Script or Imagine Dragons by accident. It’s so far removed from SMSF that it really doesn’t seem possible that this could be the same band. And there’s only three years between them!

Anyway, we’ll go with the first part and get that out of the way. So what is good about this album? Well, basically two songs:
The hilarious “50 ways to say goodbye”, which really does sound like something Robbie Williams would write

and the touching and rather surprising “When the fog rolls in”

Other than that it’s pretty lowgrade material, like the opener “This’ll be my year”

The very annoying “Drive by”

The total rip-off of Madonna’s “La isla bonita” that goes under the title of “Mermaid”

not to mention the title track, which somehow hip-hops up “Hotel California”. Eh???


And that’s more or less the way it goes. It’s not the worst album I’ve ever heard but compared to “Save me San Francisco” it’s a big big disappointment.

But as I say, there are two quite excellent tracks on it, notable for two very different reasons, and I’m now going to explore these in the second part of this feature, as I look deeply into the lyric on both songs.
50 ways to say goodbye (Train) from "California 37", 2012
Music and Lyrics by Pat Monahan, Espen Lind and Amund Bjorklund
This is just a fun song, and in some ways it’s not so unique but it does evoke that awkward moment when someone meets you who doesn’t know you’ve broken up with your girl asks where is she and you struggle for an answer that won’t paint you in a bad light. The singer here decides to go with the story that his girlfriend died, and comes up with a laundry list of possibilities , each funnier and more unbelievable than the last. I mean, come on: listen to this. “She dried up in the desert/ Drowned in a hot tub /Danced to death at an east side night club..”

No it’s not the most insightful songwriting ever committed to paper, but some of the excuses offered just have to make you smile --- stop taking notes! Nobody is going to believe any of these! Well, maybe that one…

”My heart is paralyzed,
My head was oversized,
I'll take the high road like I should.
You said it's meant to be,
That it's not you, it's me:
You're leaving now for my own good.

That's cool, but if my friends ask where you are I'm gonna say

She went down in an airplane
Fried getting suntanned.
Fell in a cement mixer full of quicksand.
Help me, help me, I'm no good at goodbyes!
She met a shark under water,
Fell and no one caught her.
I returned everything I ever bought her.
Help me, help me, I'm all out of lies
And ways to say you died.

My pride still feels the sting;
You were my everything.
Some day I'll find a love like yours (a love like yours).
She'll think I'm Superman,
Not super minivan:
How could you leave on Yom Kippur?

That's cool, but if my friends ask where you are I'm gonna say

She was caught in a mudslide
Eaten by a lion.
Got run over by a crappy purple Scion.
Help me, help me, I'm no good at goodbyes!
She dried up in the desert,
Drowned in a hot tub,
Danced to death at an east side night club.
Help me, help me, I'm all out of lies
And ways to say you died.

I wanna live a thousand lives with you.
I wanna be the one you're dying to love...
But you don't want to.

That's cool, but if my friends ask where you are I'm gonna say
That's cool, but if my friends ask where you are I'm gonna say

She went down in an airplane,
Fried getting suntanned.
Fell in a cement mixer full of quicksand.
Help me, help me, I'm no good at goodbyes!
She met a shark under water,
Fell and no one caught her.
I returned everything I ever bought her.
Help me, help me, I'm all out of lies.

She was caught in a mudslide,
Eaten by a lion.
Got run over by a crappy purple Scion.
Help me, help me, I'm no good at goodbyes!
She dried up in the desert,
Drowned in a hot tub,
Danced to death at an east side night club.
Help me, help me, I'm all out of lies
And ways to say you died.”

And while that’s pretty damn funny, if perhaps slightly morbid, the other decent song on the album is a heartfelt and moving love song that pays tribute to what it’s like to break up a relationship.

When the fog rolls in (Train) from "California 37", 2012
Music and Lyrics by Pat Monahan and Gregg Wattenberg

This song says everything we dread about the ending of a relationship. It’s all the little things --- will she be there when I stop by to pick up my things or can I get away without having to talk to her? Will there be another man? Am I strong enough not to fold and go back to her? Some great and insightful lines: ”Friends become lovers/ And lovers lose friends” really encapsulates that moment of fear when you wonder if it’s worth taking the extra step and falling in love --- or admitting your love for --- your friend. Will it change the way she sees you? Of course it will. Will it lead to a better, or a worse relationship and when or if it ends, will you, can you still be friends? ”In through the kitchen/Where we used to laugh;/ Smells of your cooking: /Sounds of the past.” That’s a fantastic little line there. The little things you’ll remember when the relationship is over, the simple, everyday things you’ll miss.

The song also looks, rather atypically, and very briefly, at both sides of the story: ”Ooh ooh ooh, I'm losing you/ Ooh ooh ooh, you're losing me too.” And then the final moment, when there’s no more thinking about the past or putting it off: ”I take a deep breath with my hand on the door /Afraid 'cause I'm not gonna see you anymore.”

A truly lovely song with one of the best lyrics I’ve heard in a very long time. And the more surprising, given that it comes amid such other generic trash on what is a pretty low-par and very disappointing album.

Driving over the bridge to give you my keys
I know you don't love me,
I know it ain't easy.
Friends become lovers
And lovers lose friends:
That's when the fog rolls in.
Ooh ooh ooh, I'm losing you.
Ooh ooh ooh, you're losing me, too.

In through the kitchen
Where we used to laugh;
Smells of your cooking:
Sounds of the past.
Somehow we got older,
The air just got colder:
That's when the fog rolls in.
Ooh ooh ooh, I'm losing you.
Ooh ooh ooh, you're losing me too.

So much for sewing up.
So this is growing up.
Everything's going up for sale.
The fog kept on rolling in,
Time came to sink or swim:
They say it's better to try and fail
And we tried like hell.

I take a deep breath with my hand on the door,
Afraid 'cause I'm not gonna see you anymore.
These were our tender years, this was our street:
All of our stoplights and all our concrete.
Now it's all somebody else's to take
Until the fog rolls in.

Ooh ooh ooh and now we're through.

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Nothing lasts forever. Footballers retire, film stars realise the party is over and it's time to go, and authors write their last book. So too with bands. No band will ever stay on the road or in the studio till they die. At some point they realise that the moment has arrived to call time and wind things up. Sometimes this is a conscious, unanimous decision, as in the examples of REM and a-ha --- going out, as the former noted on their final live farewell album, on a high note, and sometimes it's circumstances making it impossible for the band to continue, whether through the passing of members, such as Queen and Lizzy (don't talk to me about Paul Rodgers!) or a general dissatisfaction among the band, a point where they just decide that's it, time to go.

Often this can lead to some pretty startling revelations, if you know where to look, both in the studio and onstage, as years or even decades of being together and perhaps putting up with one another's foibles and idiosyncrasies come to a head, tempers fray and barriers long erected and solid come crashing down. In the last moments before they metaphorically or literally leave the stage, a whole lot can be read into the final product of a band who have been together for a long time.

In this section I'm going to be looking at the point where certain bands ended their career, whether deliberately or of necessity, or for any other reason. Although most bands do and did perform final gigs after announcing their disbanding, I will be tending to shy from using any last live albums in this feature. Why? Because on stage a band can marshall all their greatest hits, put on one last great show and really make the final days, weeks or months seem like they're turning back the clock. They can forget their differences and play as one unit, and feed off the energy, response and adoration of their fans. They're on home territory, and masters of their own domain.

But in the studio, where they're perhaps crafting an album they may not want to do, have any interest in, or even wish they weren't being forced to do, that's when the cracks begin to show. When there's nowhere to hide and all you have is the other people in the band and the sound engineers and producers, day in day out, trying things and recording and re-recording, having arguments and throwing tantrums until the damn thing is finally done, that's when you can really see the effects of the strain of finally bidding goodbye to the life these people have lived for, in some cases, three or four decades. Whether that pressure comes through or not in the final output --- or indeed, whether it even exists or not --- is probably the final test of and tribute to the band's professionalism.

I'd like to kick this new section off by looking at the last album to be released by my alltime favourite band, and the effect it had on them, their fans, and their legacy, as well as the reasons leading up to it that resulted in the final salvo being fired by a band who had held sway over the realms of progressive rock for nigh-on forty years.

Calling all stations --- Genesis --- 1997 (Virgin)

The album that spelled the end for Genesis, intoducing a new frontman and vocalist. But was it too little too late? After Phil Collins' departure the previous year, the remaining two members of the band auditioned many replacements for his job as vocalist. There seemed little or no possibility that either of them would take up those duties themselves, as Collins had on the exit of Peter Gabriel in the mid-seventies. Neither Tony Banks nor Mike Rutherford had ever sang on any Genesis albums, other than backup, and even with solo careers each of them had opted to draft in vocalists to interpret their music, so whether it is just that they have terrible or unsuited singing voices, or they don't wish to be front and centre, neither of these legends wished to be the new Genesis singer. So they ended up settling on ex-Stiltskin man Ray Wilson. Perhaps an odd choice: though Stiltskin had had a number one hit single nobody outside of their genre would have really been aware of them, and certainly nobody within the progressive rock circle. But perhaps it was time for a fresh approach? Genesis had after all been accused of turning stale and safe, though their last album had been in my opinion anything but. Nevertheless it is a fact that they had strayed far from their signature sound and were, like pretenders to their throne Marillion, moving further away from the progressive rock that had made their name and into more commercial, soft-rock territory. Perhaps an angry young man could change all that?

I had my doubts, like everyone. It wasn't too much of a stretch when Collins took over --- after all, he had already been part of the band. But this was a newcomer, and more, someone I didn't know. Ray who? But even at that, it was a new Genesis album, after six years of waiting and wondering and hoping, so I was prepared to give it a chance. I was one of those, after all, who accepted Steve Hogarth into Marillion after Fish left, and John Payne into Asia. Never prejudge, say I, till you've at least given the guy a chance. Maybe this would turn out to be just what Genesis needed, and Wilson could lead them if not back to the glory days then at least on to better things? Maybe it was, after all, time to shake things up in a band who had seen no major changes since 1977, when Steve Hackett left to pursue his own solo career?

And you know, it starts off very promising, with a big snarling guitar from Mike Rutherford, thumping drums and then the familiar low keys of Tony Banks, and a few moments later we get to hear the voice of the "new boy". To my mind, Ray Wilson reminded me of Paul Carrack on the Mike and the Mechanics albums, which was not a bad thing. It's a slowburner, the title track, with a lot of drama and a certain ominous flavour to it, and retaining much of the expected Genesis sound. Not a pop song, that's for sure. Very expressive, very effective and Wilson seems to be up to the job without a doubt. Well, maybe this won't be so bad. Little drum-pads like we heard on the big hit "Mama" off the self-titled 1983 album. Great drumwork from Nick D'Virgilio, he of Spock's Beard, and a slick little guitar solo from Mike, just in case we forgot how good he is on the frets.

So I'm starting to think this might work, but then we get "Congo". Oh dear! It's as if Tony and Mike decided to go the Peter Gabriel route, but with nothing of the sensitivity or knowledge of African music that their erstwhile bandmate has. This is like someone just said "Let's write an African-sounding record. How do we do that? Oh, some congo drums, some chants, some marimbas, you know." Yeah, I know. And this is what resulted. Dear god, the difference between this and the opener! I wouldn't even expect to hear this on the fourth or fifth Mike and the Mechanics album, and I had long lost interest in them by then. Terrible: even Rutherford's growling guitar can't pull this back on track. And this was what they chose to release as a single from the album! Hoisted on your own petard, or what? But there's a tantalising sense of the album this could have been, as some of the tracks really up the quality, like "Shipwrecked", up next, with a lovely laidback guitar and soft rolling piano, a real ballad although again I would have to say more in the Mike and the Mechanics mould than what you would expect to hear from Genesis.

It does however get the nasty taste of "Congo" out of the mouth, with its opening effect of a radio being tuned then the acoustic guitar opening before Banks' solid keys join the melody and it drifts along on a nice mid-paced rhythm. Wilson's vocal definitely suits this song, much more than it did the previous in my opinion. This was also a single, and I can understand why, though it would have reinforced in many people's minds the view that Genesis were becoming more AOR than prog rock. Then again, that ship (hah!) had sailed a long time ago. It's miles better than anything else on the album though, which is a sad indictment of the final Genesis recording. Driven mostly on lush keyboards with a nice guitar backing it's an example of what latter-day Genesis could do when they put their minds to it, though of course it's light-years removed from the likes of "One for the vine" or even "Burning rope". Those days, I'm afraid, are long gone.

One of the longer tracks is up next, and "Alien afternoon" has a lingering sense of the ghost of Phil Collins about it somehow, although he doesn't seem to have been involved in the writing. It opens with a swirling, atmospheric synth that puts me in mind of the start of a-ha's "Cry wolf", then quickly devolves into a kind of "That's all" slowed down, with some sort of attempt at reggae in there somewhere. It's a decent song, not the worst, with some nice deep backing vocals, and Wilson sounding at times like Glen Tilbrook. Yeah, I know. Nice synth passages from Tony Banks, the guitar a lot more restrained than in the previous songs. Strange lyric, don't quite understand it, and it rambles on for nearly eight minutes. Not sure if that's a good idea; it seems a little overstretched. I could see it finishing in six minutes and the rest just seems kind of tacked on. Another ballad is next, one of only three on which Ray Wilson helps out on the songwriting, and to be fair it's not bad, but at this stage in Genesis' career I'm afraid "not bad" is just not acceptable. The fans deserve more, and sad to say on this album they do not get it.

"Not about us" is a nice little acoustic number on which Rutherford gets to shine, and Wilson handles the vocal really well. I feel sorry for him in a way, as he was obviously coming into what must have seemed to him a huge opportunity to raise his profile and really show what he was capable of, and after one album and a lacklustre tour it was all over. The more I listen to this album though the more I hear Mike and the Mechanics, which tells its own story. There's very little to compare this to "We can't dance" or even "Invisible touch". I really like Wilson's voice and it's a pity he didn't get more of a shot at this because I think he was a decent fit for Genesis, but it seems the fans weren't prepared to accept any successor to Collins: if Genesis wanted to make a case for continuing without their longtime member and frontman they needed to produce an album that would blow the fans away and show they could make it without the bald one. This album was not it, and they would only get one chance.

It kind of starts to nosedive from here on in. "If that's what you need" is another ballad, has a nice keyboard line leading it and a very competent vocal, with some nice little guitar touches from Rutherford, but it's standing with one foot over the precipice at this point and trying very hard not to look down; we all know how that's going to end. "The dividing line" gets things rocking again with some nice basswork from I guess Rutherford, and a sprightly keyboard line from Banks, with D'Virgilio bashing the skins with real purpose, but after the introductory instrumental which kinds of harks back to the 1983 album in places the song just fails to live up to its promise. It's almost as if Wilson is driving the band to be tougher, harder, more aggressive and rockier, but they're finding it hard to change. We're back mostly in ballad territory, though with a harder edge than the previous slow songs, for "Uncertain weather", with perhaps one of Wilson's finest vocal performances, dripping with emotion, but then we get "Small talk", which is, well, how can I say this without being unkind? I can't. So I'll be unkind. It's crap. Terrible. One of the worst Genesis tracks I've ever heard, and I've sat through the entire "Abacab" album! God, just get me out of here!

Another dark ballad then in "There must be some other way", which does retain some of the old Genesis style, and gears up then getting a bit tougher as it goes along. Another faultless vocal from Wilson, edging into Plant territory at times, though I feel the extended keyboard solo near the end is just going over the same ground as "Fading lights", the closing track from "We can't dance" (how funny is that? When I went to hit the "W" for the album title I hit the £ sign instead! Freudian slip?); the vocal even comes back after it to the fade, just like that song. Running out of ideas? But it's not the closer, that's reserved for the utterly forgettable "One man's fool", which after hearing the album several times still slips by me. Not good. The horns are just annoying. It does pick up near the end but then it just kind of fades out quite disappointingly.

TRACKLISTING

1. Calling all stations
2. Congo
3. Shipwrecked
4. Alien afternoon
5. Not about us
6. If that's what you need
7. The dividing line
8. Uncertain weather
9. Small talk
10. There must be some other way
11. One man's fool

And disappointing is the only way I can describe this album. It's not the worst Genesis album ever --- "Abacab" will always hold that dubious honour --- but for the final Genesis album it falls far short. It's not that it's a bad album. There are some really good tracks on it, but it's beaten into the ground by "We can't dance" in terms of consistency and considering it was the album on which Genesis were making a very difficult transition from one frontman who had been with them twenty years to another who had just joined, it was surely of vital importance that they made sure it was a stormer. This was their chance to leave behind, in the nicest possible way, the legacy of Phil Collins forever and prove they could make it without him. In that I think they utterly failed.

And it's not down to the singer. They didn't choose the wrong vocalist in Ray Wilson. He's damn good, though to be fair nobody was ever going to replace Collins unless somehow Peter Gabriel had rejoined, and that's about as likely as me getting into hardcore jazz! But he did a very good job. It's just that the songs on this album weren't up to the standard we had come to expect from Genesis over the years, and you can only work with what you've got. They didn't even let him write much --- three of the eleven here have his input, although one of them is the abysmal "Small talk" --- so he hadn't any real chance to impact upon the process other than through his voice.

Disappointing sales, reduced demand for concert tickets and, let's be honest, probably embarrassment led to the guys telling Wilson that he was no longer required. They weren't firing him as such, but the band was breaking up. Mind you, the return of Phil Collins with the other two to the stage in 2007 for a one-off tour started the rumour mill going, and while there has been no announcement of a new album this is always a possibility. I think it would be a step backwards personally, but the Wilson idea seems to have had its day and been discarded, though he still tours with his own band performing Genesis songs.

After a career spanning forty-four years, fifteen studio albums and various lineup changes, this has so far been the terminus for the Genesis express. Maybe a new album will be forthcoming, but after now fourteen years you would have to say hope is fading. Sadly, if this is to be the end of the Genesis story, it's not the triumph that it should have been, and after four and a half decades in the business one of the world's biggest and most successful progressive rock bands go out not with a bang, not quite with a whimper, but with a sort of annoyed little moan.

Calling all stations? Puts me more in mind of a song by Chris de Burgh: Transmission ends.
Over. And almost certainly Out.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Trollheart

(Note: This is the "lost review" which was published during Metal Month in October of last year, but somehow vanished from my journal. Seems a shame to waste it so, although Metal Month is but a fading memory now, here's the original review.)
Heartwork --- Carcass --- 1993 (Earache)

Is there really a term "melodic death metal"? The two seem incompatible somehow, and yet, after listening to In Flames I would wonder. There's certainly a world --- a galaxy --- of difference between "Sounds from a playground fading" and "Heretic", for example. So can the sub-genre be split even further, subdivided into other sounds and influences? Well yes of course it can: death metal already encompasses elements of technical, progressive, doom, and of course goregrind, deathgrind and any other grind you care to mention, to say nothing of deathcore and even death'n'roll! So melodic death metal doesn't seem that much a stretch.

I'm taking a listen to this album for one reason only really: I love the cool sleeve designed by HR Giger. Now that may seem shallow and simplistic, but you know, I don't have the time (nor the inclination) to listen to every band's full discography, and unlike The Batlord and Unknown Soldier I don't know all of these bands intimately already, so I'm sort of puddle-hopping here, not quite throwing a dart at a board but certainly making guesses, sometimes educated sometimes not, at what might be the best example of a particular artiste's work, what's considered their seminal album, or on occasions, just the one that is likely to make my ears bleed the least.

This one comes recommended, so I'm willing to give it a go. It's all quite tasteful really for the opener, "Buried dreams", with decent chugging guitar work that stays on the road rather than careening madly over the edge and into the abyss, but then when the vocals come in, well, let's just say they're a little disappointing. Still, I'm sort of getting used, or immune perhaps, to death vocals so it doesn't turn me off when Jeff Walker spits and growls the lyric at me. I'm trying to listen to the music. And it's pretty good really. "Carnal forge" is a lot faster and confused, with the vocal totally indecipherable to me. But then a really nice guitar solo cuts through the confusion and the track takes on a different identity, before plunging back into the maelstrom it emerged briefly from.

"No love lost" could I suppose be said to characterise my own relationship with death metal, definitely not a genre I could ever see myself getting into. Again it's got good guitar parts and some fine shredding from Michael Arnott, but not too much else to recommend it, from my girly point of view. The vocals certainly don't help. The title track then seems to want to compete for the fastest, hardest opening of a track I've yet heard, and still it settles down to some really good fretwork before Walker comes in to snarl all over it again. Nice double guitar attack near the end but it doesn't last for more than a few seconds.

I guess I could see the "melodic" side of this if it wasn't for the roaring and screaming of Jeff Walker, because the two guitarists are really good, Jeff can play the bass and the drummer is certainly competent (sorry but that's all I can ever say about drummers: I couldn't tell you who's a great one and who's a bad one). Even so, it's again sort of sliding by without making too much of an impression on me, as "Embodiment" slips into "This mortal coil" and on into "Arbeit macht fleish" without any real difference making itself apparent to me. I believe, unless I miss my guess, that the title of that last one is German for "Freedom through labour" and is at the entrance to the notorious Nazi concentration camp, Auschwitz. Other than that, I have no interest in this track. Or most of the others that came before it.

Nor, in all likelihood, the ones to follow, of which there are three. "Blind bleeding the blind" (see what they did there?) at least has some interesting stop/start guitar and some pretty slick solos, and slows down from the breakneck speed of the last few songs, while "Doctrinal expletives" doesn't leave too much to the imagination, and the album closes on perhaps a rather appropriate track entitled "Death certificate", which certainly has a lot of power and ends the album with a final karate chop to the neck, though for me it's more being put out of my misery really.

TRACKLISTING

1. Buried dreams
2. Carnal forge
3. No love lost
4. Heartwork
5. Embodiment
6. This mortal coil
7. Arbeit macht fleisch
8. Blind bleeding the blind
9. Doctrinal expletives
10. Death certificate

It's a struggle to see how this kind of music can qualify as melodic under any criteria you care to mention, though it can't be denied the guitar work is at times quite superb. But unlike In Flames, there are few hooks here and less real melody, with every track just pounding along as fast as is humanly possible and Jeff Walker screeching and snarling over the whole thing. Never gonna get this, never.

I know, I know! Go put your lipstick on and shave your legs. Well to be honest I'd be happier doing that than listening to this kind of metal any longer than I have to. It's not quite torture but it's certainly not my idea of enjoyment either.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Anteater

Aw man, that's a great review: too bad we didn't get to see it last year. That being said, I don't think Carcass would be considered that representative of melodic death metal in the modern sense because they don't use any clean singing: the melodies are in the guitar harmonies, but that normally isn't enough of a qualification.

That being said, if you want to hear examples of melodic death metal that actually do go into great "melodic" territory, you should check out any of the following records:


Solution .45 - For Aeons Past


Soilwork - The Living Infinite


Edge Of Sanity - Crimson

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Anteater's 21 Fav Albums Of 2020

Anteater's Daily Tune Roulette

Trollheart

People round here know me --- correctly, mostly --- as an avid prog head, sometime metal head and a rocker in general, but there are a lot of genres I don’t subscribe to. The guys are trying to help me address this by assisting me in my soon-to-begin exploration of the world of jazz, and reggae is on the cards somewhere too, possibly soul, who knows? But one genre I have pretty much very little time at all for is the generic pop or chart music, particularly what passes for “r’n’b” these days. To me, it is really the lowest common denominator when it comes to music. It’s basically throwaway, wallpaper music with about as much thought put into it as a Steven Segal movie.

I’m a great one for slagging off pop/chart music, but with this being a new year and all, and having been mightily impressed with the debut album from Chvrches, I’ve decided to dedicate a spot to reviewing pop albums. Mostly new ones, though they won’t always be. I’ll try to review them with my usual lack of bias, but will be mentioning what I thought of the artiste (if anything) prior to hearing the new album and how, if at all, my opinion of them changes after that.


Britney Jean --- Britney Spears --- 2013 (RCA)

And who better to start with than a lady who made her mark on the charts with poppy, bland little dance songs but who looked great in a school uniform? After seven albums Britney is now more a musical corporate entity than just a singer, and she’s certainly been down the “bad celeb” route, none of which particularly interests me. What I want to know is, is this, her eighth album in fourteen years, any good? To be fair, I’ve never heard a Britney album up to now, but who could not be familiar with her hits. I said HITS! Yes, I know I used that joke before. Yes I know it’s annoying. Yes I know I’m still doing it.

But what are her albums like? I’ve pointed out before that sometimes the hit singles are not the real measure of the person. Labels will of course release the catchiest songs off an album with the hope that they will become hits, get into the charts or at least garner some airplay for the artiste. But often hiding away on the album are some pretty excellent tracks which would never be released, and may show a whole different side to the performer.

Or not.

Hey, if The Batlord can listen to Britney then so can I, huh? The opening track doesn’t impress me from the start, with its staggered synth and the autotune seeming to be used on her voice. “Alien” moves at a sort of mid-pace, and it’s co-written with William Orbit, so I guess I can hear his trance-y sound here. Give her her due, she has a hand in writing every song here, so you’ve got to admire that. I actually think I’ve heard this song before. Meh, it’s okay. I do find again the amount of people involved in an album like this a bit ridiculous. Including producers, engineers, photographers etc there are over sixty people credited here! “Work bitch” is an annoying eurodance song with plenty of synth and that thumping beat that always turns me off trance music. Bleh.

She sings well, there’s no doubt about that, and this is one of those songs that, despite my initial dislike of it, I can see bouncing around in my head for hours after finishing this review. Damn it! This was the first single, or so I’m told. “Perfume” is slower, with again synth backing and piano, a song on which Britney exercises the more passionate side of her voice, the yearning tone we’ve heard in the likes of “I’m not a girl, not yet a woman”, sort of a bitter revenge type song. Wiki calls this a power ballad, eighties-influenced. It’s not. It’s nothing close to that. I wouldn’t even call it a ballad. Nice track though. Think I’ll end up with this in my head too later on.

Featuring a guest vocal from Will.i.am (why can’t he just call himself William?) “It should be easy” typifies the kind of pop I hate: autotune, bouncing piano and synth, empty vacuous trash. And I mean that in the best possible way. No I don’t. This is bloody awful. This is the kind of crap I would regularly hear pouring from my neighbour’s bedroom on a hot summer afternoon and wish her teenage daughter would listen to some real music as I turned up my own metal or rock. Sigh. On we go. Another guest is rapper T.I who lends his voice to “Tik tik boom”, on which Britney’s voice is certainly sexy on a sort of half-rap in a mid-paced tune with some nice keys, but I really don’t have time for rappers sorry. He certainly sounds good at what he does, this T.I chap, but it’s not for me. Mercifully it’s not a long song and we’re on to the next one, which is called “Body ache” and is another dance number.

So far, this album is exemplifying pretty much everything I hate about the charts, dance and pop music. It all just sounds empty to me, soulless. Well, not all of it. But a lot of it. Too much squawking synth, not enough guitar. Possibly not any guitar, or if there is any there I can’t hear it, drowned out by the mutliple banks of Korgs, Moogs and whatever else. “Till it’s gone” features that “ay-ay-ay” thing I hate in pop vocals, where they stretch out each word to infinity. It’s yet another electro/dance number, and bar the second and third track so far I’m hearing little to recommend this album to me at this point. The autotune is as ever very annoying, as are the bouncing, growling, farting synths.

I suppose I should be grateful that at least the songs are all short, with only one over four minutes. It could be so much worse. But even so it’s pretty bad. I’m in the same frame of mind as I was when reviewing Kylie’s “Aphrodite” album. After one decent single I was crushed by how bad the rest of it was. This is turning out the same. Generic pop pap, nothing to so far change my mind, either about Britney nor about pop music itself. A slower, slightly menacing track is “Passenger”, with a much better vocal from Britney and even some guitar coming through. Sort of reminds me of Imagine Dragons or someone like that. “Chillin’ with you” features a duet with her sister, Jamie Lynn, who apparently has chosen the country music route for her bid for fame, and has at least some nice acoustic guitar driving it. Balladic certainly, it features drum machines but slower than has been the case up to now until the chorus when it speeds up a little, kind of ruins it.

The closer then is “Don’t cry”, with a western feel to it, whistling intro and acoustic guitar then some really nice basswork taking us into a kind of anthemic ballad that finishes the album much more strongly than I had been expecting. Actually, the last three tracks greatly improved the overall quality of the songs on the album but we’re still left with a midsection of pretty mediocre tracks after a reasonably good beginning. To use an old football metaphor, the forwards are good and the defenders know what they’re doing but the midfield needs a lot of work.

TRACKLISTING

1. Alien
2. Work bitch
3. Perfume
4, It should be easy
5. Tik tik boom
6. Bodyache
7. Till it’s gone
8. Passenger
9. Chillin’ with you
10. Don’t cry

They say this is a concept album. I don’t see it. I’ve read the overview and I still don’t understand it. What I do know is this is a pretty formulaic album that falls back on the usual tricks of bringing in songwriters, producers and guest vocalists that pop music seems to revel in. I still can’t get my head around why one album needs so many personnel? But to be fair, if what resulted was a masterpiece, a classic, then I would accept it. This is not, in my opinion, a masterpiece. But then, maybe it wasn’t intended to be.

I know, as I say, little of the vagaries of pop music, but the albums I’ve listened to all seem to follow the same basic formula, the formula that seems to bring them chart success, so maybe that’s all Britney Spears is doing here. Gotta eat, after all. And buy clothes. Lots of clothes. Still, it’s not for me and has done nothing to change my mind about pop music. Perhaps next time? But as far as Britney is concerned, I’d have to say, baby, don’t hit me one more time...

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Powerstars

Getting into new genres, huh? Hm...perhaps I should tie you to a chair and attempt to convince you the validity of funk/rap rock. >

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Isbjørn

Trollheart, next thing you do is review Justin Bieber's Believe. No, that was not a request, it was an order.

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Trollheart

Not while there's breath in my perfectly formed body!
Not while there's breath in my perfectly formed body!

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018