Trollheart

This week's planned reviews

There's something of a progressive rock flavour to my choice of album reviews for this week (what a surprise!), with albums which, unlike last week's crop, you probably have never heard of. There's something for metalheads too, though. So with that in mind, here are the albums due for review over the course of this week:


Guardians by The Winter Tree
Music for sharks by Red Sand
Arrivals and departures by The Calm Blue Sea
Wolfsbane saves the world by Wolfsbane

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Quality over quantity, always.

Behind the mask --- Red Sand --- 2012 (Self-released)


Okay, so I made a mistake in announcing what albums were to be reviewed this week, but it's sort of understandable. I've been listening to “Music for sharks” for a few weeks now, and it's a damn fine album. Unfortunately, for our purposes here it's not eligible as it was actually released back in 2009, but from what I've heard from this band this album should be as good if not better. So apologies if you were expecting a review of “Music for sharks” --- I'm sure I'll get around to it in the new year. But for now, we're concentrating on albums released this year, so we're looking at their new one.

All of which probably means nothing to you. Red Sand, you ask? Who the hell are they, and why should I care? Essentially the solo project of one man, Simon Caron, who you're unlikely to have heard of unless you know the other bands he was involved in, such as Fenix and Ocean (yeah, thought not: me neither), who took a break from the music biz for some time but eventually returned to it and put together Red Sand in 2004, putting out their first album that year with four more following, the last being released in 2009, that aforementioned “Music for sharks”. This, then, is their fifth and latest album. Based in Canada, Red Sand have been receiving a lot of praise from those over there in the know about progressive rock, and look to have a pretty bright future if they, in common with many Canadian acts, can break out of the somewhat insular world of Canadian rock music and walk out onto the world stage.

Red Sand are a little unusual in that their albums are usually quite low in terms of track count. Their first three albums had only four (yeah, I said four!) songs each, though some of them were epics in fairness, with 2005's “Gentry” having one that was eighteen minutes and one that was nineteen, while “Human trafficking” had a sixteen and an eighteen. In fact, “Music for sharks”, although it had two extra tracks, so six in all, was the first album not to feature two songs over ten minutes long, having just the one, “Shark man”, which runs for just over sixteen. This one pushes that boundary even further, with six tracks but the longest of which is a mere (!) eleven minutes, with some quite short ones too.

“Zero of war” opens the album, with strong eastern elements in the melody, powerful guitars from Simon Caron and thundering percussion from Perry Angellino, a thick bassline from Matthieu Rosselin carrying the opening melody until vocalist Matthieu Lessand comes in with a strong vocal and then the keyboards that have characterised Red Sand for years and damned them --- unfairly --- as Fish-era Marillion rip-offs take control, and you can see why people say this about them. Like recently reviewed Mystery's links to Yes though, or even Big Big Train's protestations that they are not Genesis, these similarities, while striking, are surface, and if you dig below that veneer to the real music and heart of this band you'll find a lot more going on.

Again, there's Steve Rothery-like guitar in the piece, but then Simon has been influenced over his life by the work of the Marillion guitarist, as well as giants like Gilmour and Albert Collins, so something is bound to translate through into his own work. But listen for the subtle nuances in his playing, and though at first you might think you were listening to Steve, you can soon make out that this guy is a whole different kettle of fish (sorry!) and has his own style, which blends the influences of all his heroes into one overarching whole.

Truth to tell, over its eight and a half minute run there's not that much in the way of vocals on “Zero of war”, making them the more effective when they come back in near the end and you realise what an asset Matthieu Lessand is to Red Sand, and how well, and sparingly, they use him. But of course it's Caron's band, and his guitars and keyboards take centre stage most of the time, showing him to be a real virtuoso on both instruments.

The title track then is the longest, as mentioned, just under eleven and a half minutes, and opens with indeed a very Marillionesque chiming guitar, with some squealy keyboards backing and then we hear how Lessand sounds when he tones it down, his voice still strong and powerful but quite restrained. You can hear the French accent (should I say Canadian? I'm not sure which is more acceptable) leaking through, but his English is perfect and the end result is a sort of exotic blend of dialects and tones which makes his singing that much more effective. It's a slow start to the song, but there's plenty of time to change it up, as we're only in the third minute.

Big breakout guitar solo from Caron then, on the back of slow, steady drumbeats from Angellino, more Mark Kelly-style keys coming into the melody as it ramps up then falls back in the fifth minute, before Caron unleashes a second solo, very evocative and emotional, continuing into the seventh where it picks up the tempo a little, the percussion and bass changing to match Caron's lead. And still it goes on, into the eighth with no signs of stopping: certainly one of the longest guitar solos I've heard, falling finally to rippling piano and bass as we head into the ninth minute, and again it's clear that the vocal line on this song too is going to be sparse, in fact it's well into the ninth when Lessand comes back in on the back of the piano melody. He sings more strongly now as the song moves towards its final minutes and begins to wind down, ending on, you guessed it, another fine guitar solo, but this time evoking much more of Gilmour than Rothery, quite similar in small ways to the ending of “Comfortably numb”.

It's clear, as the album goes on, that Red Sand are primarily a vehicle for Simon Caron's guitar playing, and this is shown again in the short instrumental which he calls “Reflection”, a minute and a half of lovely laidback acoustic work, featuring him solo, and then “Memory of past” opens with a big growling synth then some sharp strummed guitar lines, the synth settling down to a nice soft piano which then takes over the song, joined by what sounds like a violin or cello, and with the song two minutes already into its five, you have to wonder if this is another instrumental? As the drums crash in and the electric guitar fires off, it seems obvious that it is, and the tempo rises slightly as Caron's guitar again takes over, the piano replaced by synthesiser lines now a good bit further down in the mix.

You could, perhaps, chide Caron for his overuse of the guitar, and it certainly is the star of just about every track, but then, when you hear him play you sort of understand why he gives so much time to his weapon of choice. I mean, he's good on keys too, but it's at the fretboard that he really shines, and really, it's hard to imagine getting tired of listening to his playing. That said, some variety might be nice, not to mention some more vocals. The Marillion influences come back on the rocky “Mask of liberty”, with an opening almost lifted out of “He knows you know”, but some nice choral vocals on the synth lift the song away from such comparisons as it develops.

Lessand emulates Magnum's Bob Catley as he breaks in with the vocal along a busy keyboard line and as another guitar solo hits, and for the first time I hear backing vocals here, though they could be his multi-tracked. Nice little carnival-style keyboard-driven melody about halfway through before the choral vocals come back in and the guitar chimes in workmanlike as the squeaky keys return, then a lovely mournful little guitar solo backed by bass brings the song home as slow, steady percussion joins in, then we're into the closer.

“Veil of insanity” features some nice violin and acoustic guitar, a slow, balladic feel to it, then a sort of incongruous hard guitar before piano takes over and Lessand's tortured vocal takes the song into new dimensions with a fine performance, perhaps his best on the album. It does however fade out a little too ineffectually, though strangely enough my copy has an unnamed seventh track on it which is a really nice instrumental, mostly led by keys and percussion. Whether that's meant to be part of the album, is a track from another, or is an extra I don't know. Not surprisingly, information on Red Sand is not exactly Wiki-friendly. I would like it if this were the closer though: it would make more sense.

TRACKLISTING

1. Zero of war
2. Behind the mask
3. Reflection
4. Memory of past
5. Mask of liberty
6. Veil of insanity

To be fair, I like “Music for sharks” better than this album. For one thing, the vocalist is better utilised there, although maybe that's because it's Matthieu Lessand's first outing with Red Sand. But the music just seems a little tighter on MFS than here. That's not to say this is not a great album; it certainly is, but with only six tracks to judge them on I think it was something of a mistake to have so much of it instrumental. The album is, essentially, an instrumental one with the odd vocal thrown in. A strange idea, but yet it does seem to work. I'll be watching closely for their next release, and having only listened to MFS up to now, I think I'll have to go back and catch up on their earlier work too.

Don't let the strangely cartoonish album sleeve fool you: these are some very serious musicians!

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Not as calm and collected as I would have wished to have been...
Arrivals and departures --- The Calm Blue Sea --- 2012 (Modern Outsider)


Here, once again, is a band I know nothing at all about, just liked the name and had a quick listen then decided to buy. What I can tell you, from their own website, is that they appear to be natives of Austin, Texas, but other than that their site falls into the fatal trap of assuming everyone who visits it knows who they are, like a Facebook page. I don't, and I can't get even a band resume or biog from their site, which I feel deserves pointing out. You're not superstars yet, gents! If you want people to find out about you, post some bloody information on your website!

I had to dig around on the web and came across a blog, which helpfully informed me that the band are a quintet, and that their names are Chris, Max, Steve, Noah and Jeff, but that's it. No surnames. Jesus guys, you may be a great band but tell someone who the **** you are! It's really frustrating, having to search so hard for this very basic information that anyone needs, whether they're going to buy your albums, go to your shows or write a review of you. Calm, calm, calm... (blue sea)...

Okay, well that didn't work. Going to their record label's website I get even further frustrated, as here they're trumpeted as a four-piece, named Chris Patin, Steve Bidwell (okay so far) and, er, Kyle Robarge? Taylor Wilkins?What the hell? What happened to Noah and Jeff? And Max? And where did these other guys come from?

Ah, me head hurts! Let's just listen to the music, shall we? Hopefully it'll calm me down.

The album, their second, has only eight tracks, and they're all instrumental. Well, mostly. Sort of. It opens with the title, nice soft piano with swirling synthy sounds behind, simple tune which lasts just over a minute and segues directly into “Samsara”, the piano getting a bit deeper and fuller but retaining the same basic melody. Somewhat similar to recently-reviewed band The Deadstation, there are vocals it would seem, but they're buried deep in the mix, quite echoey and distant, which I think is intentional, so as not to distract perhaps from the purity of the music. They also don't last too long, fading away as percussion hits in and guitar thrums in on the back of it, and the song appears to be slow and laidback but with a certain power of its own.

Piano certainly drives this track, though from the fragmented information I've managed to piece together I can't tell you who plays it, which is a pity. Good guitar work though from Chris Patin, as the tempo jumps and the song gets a good deal faster, mostly on the back of his fretwork and Bidwell's drumming. There's a big, unexpected, almost metal guitar ending to the song, falling back to the lone piano to take it out, and then we're into “We will never be as young as we are tonight”, which again opens on strong piano but this time backed almost immediately by guitar, and coming across as much heavier altogether. The song slows down then about halfway through, keyboards coming in to soften the sound and wispy, ethereal vocals drifting in like morning mist.

Then it all changes again as the guitar ramps up, putting the punch back into the track before it slips back on piano and bass to its conclusion. “Pont des mouton” comes in very slowly and quietly on chiming keyboard notes and soft guitar, then heavy percussion cuts in and the guitar gets a bit more snarly, getting again quite metal in the closing minutes of the track as it powers ahead. Some more fine guitar work here from Chris Patin. “Diaspora” then sort of revisits the theme of the opener, but with ghostly vocals added --- really not sure about this. I don't think it adds anything to the music, in fact I believe it detracts from it. Better if they just left this as instrumental. Nice languid tune though with sort of repeat pattern on the keyboard beneath the piano melody, almost like pizzicato strings in a way. Moving on into “Mary Ann Nichols” we have another soft piano melody with more echoed/faded vocals and some nice guitar lines, another slow song, quite laidback though again that's not true, as Patin fires up his guitar and pulls the whole thing off-course and into heavy metal/rock territory, changing the whole shape of the song, and not for the worse.

“Tesoro”, at least, starts as it means to go on, with big heavy guitar and pounding drums, a pulsating bass line and a nice driving rhythm that pretty much keeps constant throughout the song, and we end on “To approach the Vivian girls”, which is slow and lazy, downtempo and really rather beautiful, with some soft introspective guitar, some echoey, slow drumming and a nice piano line to it. It builds up about halfway with what sound like vocal harmonies and powerful guitar, and fades out quite nicely.

The problem reviewing instrumental albums has been mentioned by me here before, and yet this is not quite an instrumental outing, as there are some vocals, albeit sparse and even then not very discernible. The music can't be faulted, but I would definitely have preferred to have had some more information about the band before writing this, and I just could not find it. I'm not sure whether to take that as arrogance, that The Calm Blue Sea believe everyone knows who they are, or if it's a genuine oversight, though obviously I hope for the latter.

TRACKLISTING

1. Arrivals and departures
2. Samsara
3. We will never be as young as we are tonight
4. Pont des mouton
5. Diaspora
6. Mary Ann Nichols
7. Tesoro
8. To approach the Vivian girls

There are, of course, a lot of these bands around now, and you'd have to ask yourself what makes these guys stand out from the many others out there. I really don't have the answer; they may not be destined to be the biggest band in the world, even the biggest instrumental (or nearly instrumental) band, but I really like this album and I can see them doing well.

How well, only time will tell.

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Another great band passes by in virtual obscurity...
Guardians --- The Winter Tree --- 2012 (Self-released)


It's rare you come across an album like this by accident, so I'm grateful for the fortunate happenstance. Formerly known as Magus, The Winter Tree have only been in existence in this form since 2010, with this their second album, though they have had several under the name of Magus. They have also undergone lineup changes, though the driving force behind both bands, and founder of both, remains Andrew Laitres (who for some strange reason is also known as Andrew Robinson), multi-instrumentalist and composer. For the new band (or second incarnation of the old one, if you prefer) he has enlisted the aid of a husband and wife team, Mark Bond on guitars and vocals, and his wife Deb on keyboards.

The overall sense you get from this album is soft, gentle, pastoral, even acoustic. It's laidback music, though not always; soft-focus and mesmerising, with some amazing musical talent behind it. The opener, “Visions”, is a short instrumental, which features dramatic, ethereal keys and some fine guitar from Mark Bond, almost Gilmouresque at times, leading into the first real track, “Voice on the wind”, in which we get to hear that not only does Mark Bond play a fine guitar, he has a great voice too. With a funky, almost Alan Parsons-style melody and rhythm, it's punctuated by rippling piano almost reminiscent of the Doors on “Riders on the storm”. The guitar gets a bit harder and punchier, and Deb Bond's keyswork is at times quite Genesis-like, particularly in the arpeggios and runs.

“The sparrow” then has a long, atmospheric instrumental introduction, about two minutes of the six the song runs for, and when Bond's vocal comes in it's on the back of a solid piano line, the tune itself a little rustic and gentle, with some fine brass effects on the synth from Andrew, quite Van Der Graaf Generator in tone. Nice sort of uptempo folky feel to the song, taking us into the title track, which has shimmering keyboard effects and some bright piano from Deb Bond, almost vibraphone-like, then solid percussion cuts in and with some rising keyboard and some guitar touches this becomes the second instrumental, much more boppy and uptempo than the previous track. It fades out, leading into a lovely acoustic guitar opening for “Elune”, another folk-tinged gentle tune where again Bond's voice shines as the main light.

Beautiful violin or violin-effects on the synth add drama to the proceedings, with soft sprinklings of piano, the whole thing evoking a scene from “Lord of the Rings”. A superb little guitar solo from Bond sets the seal on the song, while “The woman and the dragon” is yet another instrumental, revisiting the very best of early to mid-seventies Genesis, but in a very good way, almost a tribute, with a sort of marching/breathing rhythm to the keyboards and soft but insistent piano very redolent of Banks at his best. There's a whistling keyboard and soft acoustic guitar intro to “Beautiful world”, a lovely little ballad where Mark Bond really comes into his own as a vocalist, his voice gently bitter yet without any rancour or recrimination as he talks to the earth and asks for forgiveness: ”Have we poisoned your waters/ And ruined your air/ We're just killing ourselves/ So many don't care.” The theme fits in perfectly with the organic nature of the music of The Winter Tree, and it's topped off by a searing guitar solo. Another long instrumental intro to the longest track on the album, “Good times”, led by Bond's classical guitar under which his wife's keyboards ripple and chirp like birds. As the drums punch in, backing vocals with a very Pink Floyd/Roger Waters feel join the song, but it continues to ride on the main guitar line.

Deb's keys set up quite an orchestral sound in the final minute, and her hubby comes back with again a guitar solo worthy of the great G himself, the album closing on “City of light”, an almost incongruously uptempo, thumping tune driven on solid keyboards and of course heavy percussion. Another instrumental, it features a very rock-and-roll guitar solo from Mark Bond, slowing down about halfway before kicking back into life again and taking off at full speed under Debs' trumpeting keys. It's an interesting, unexpected way to end the album, and while I think I might have liked to have heard more of Mark Bond's singing, The Winter Tree have crafted a fine album here that is probably going to remain quite obscure and unknown, which is a real pity.

TRACKLISTING

1. Visions
2. Voice on the wind
3. The sparrow
4. Guardians
5. Elune
6. The woman and the dragon
7. Beautiful world
8. Good times
9. City of light

(Footnote: This is the first album I've come across where there are no samples at all on YouTube. Not one. And due to legal complications I'm reluctant to make any more Yts myself, so the best I can do is direct you to some sound samples here Home or you could decide to buy the album from either of the links on that page.)

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Stick THIS in your stocking!!!!

He's makin' a list, checkin' it twice... ooh yeah, we're into the final runup to that favourite of department stores and advertising executives, for some the most important birthday of the year, for others a chance to get the family together and have a big fight. The month credit cards dread, and which trees live in fear of. That time of the year when you look despairingly at your budget and wonder if the kids would still believe in having an “imagination Christmas”?

Twenty-four days to go to the big one; Santa Claus is gearing up his sleigh, Rudolph is desperately trying to clean up his act again this year, and everyone from Argos to Boots, from Walmart to PC World have ideas for “the perfect Christmas gift”, but you know you're going to end up with either a voucher or some badly-needed socks and underwear, or maybe aftershave, the latter of which is even worse to receive if you're a guy! But here at Music Banter we all know what we're going to hope to get for Xmas, and whether it's hardcore punk, freestyle jazz, depressive suicidal black metal or progressive rock, we're all pointing to our favourite albums online and hoping our parents/friends/significant other/anyone who has money is watching, and taking note.

But this is a selection of albums nobody in their right mind is going to want to see in their stocking come Christmas morning!

I'm not talking about “Santa's Greatest Hits”, or “Now that's what I call Christmas”, or any of the other many, many compilations or collections of dubious Christmas songs that get churned out every year. They're bad enough, but hey, we all want to hear Christmas songs at the party, don't we? And there have been some decent ones down the years, from the perennial favourites like Slade's “Merry Xmas everybody”, Lennon's “Merry Xmas (War is over)” and Wham's “Last Christmas” to the downright awful, with songs like Mud's “It'll be lonely this Christmas”, Brenda Lee's “Rockin' around the Christmas tree” and, er, Wham's “Last Christmas”, to say nothing of timeless gems like Bing's “White Christmas” and Mathis's “When a child is born”. No, these songs all have their deserved place in the season, and Christmas without them would be like Christmas without Santa or the cold silence following the argument at the dinner table, or pretending to like that horrible pressie your aunt just gave you. Again. For the fourth Christmas in a row.

No, I'm talking here about artistes who make one-off Christmas albums; people who have no business doing so, some who in fact have no business making albums at all, and are only cashing in on the Christmas market in order to sell some units and beef up their already healthy bank balance. Albums with titles like “A [insert artiste name here] Christmas” or “Christmas with [insert artiste name here]”; albums that you know are either going to be filled with the artiste's interpretation of carols and Christmas songs, or which, even worse, are going to contain original Christmas songs, written by them (or for them) “especially for this festive season”. Ugh!

So anyway, these are not in order, as I would never have the time nor the stamina to listen to them enough to be able to rate them, but they are without question some of the worst Christmas albums ever recorded. They will in no way be the usual in-depth reviews I write --- you'll hear no mention of “a rippling keyboard melody backed up by growling guitar” --- and will in fact be very short, whimsical and satirical reviews, mostly focussing on the possible reasons why someone would record such a thing, apart from the obvious.

I'll be doing one a day, right up to Christmas Day, so no matter how awful that Christmas gift is, be thankful no-one thought to get you any of these turkeys!

Disclaimer: Oh come on! I shouldn't have to write this, should I? Oh very well then, my lawyers insist... This section is meant to be for fun only, so any jokes made here at the expense of any artiste should not be taken as overly critical of them. No insult or disrespect is intended, and please try to take everything said here with a pinch of reality (or cop-on, as we say here in Ireland) and in the spirit of Christmas.

And so.. on, Dasher! On, Prancer! On... er, the other ones! We've got twenty-five terrible albums to feature, and Christmas Day is fast approaching!

Now, few things in life are as scarily wholesome as the Waltons! The image George H.W. (no, I don't think it stands for “huge wank---”) Bush wanted America to emulate, they were for decades the most sickeningly sweet family on TV. I much preferred the Ingalls. But this is their album, and you're going to be subject to the full force of their “Mom and Apple Pie” (TM) brand of Americana on it.


A Waltons Christmas: Together again --- The Waltons (cast) --- 1999 (Page Music)


To get us “in the mood” (for slitting our wrists, perhaps?) we have the famous (or infamous, depending on how you remember it) theme from the show, followed by a spoken narrative about how great life was on Walton Mountain, where time always seemed to stand still and no-one hated anyone, on into some bluegrass on “Christmas time's a-comin'” --- yeah, we know, guys. There are no less than four “intros”, which are basically a minute or less of spoken material, and much of the rest is what you'd expect from the Waltons: hillbilly, thigh-slappin', toe-tappin', I'm-in-Hell country downhome uptempo tunes, with some Christmas favourites thrown in. But hold on, cos even those Xmas standards like “Sleigh ride”, “All I want for Christmas” and “Have yourself a merry little Christmas” are all dang-fired countryfied, y'all! Yeah, everything comes with a double-thick helping of country and bluegrass, making me almost wish I was listening to “Now that's what I call Christmas” --- yeah, that bad! Christ, we even get “John Boy” reading a poem! Shoot me now!

Ah, if you loved the Waltons, you'll love this. Probably. If, like me, their unpalatable, unreal over-niceness stuck in your throat, you're gonna think you've got a turkey bone lodged there if you are unlucky enough to have to listen to this. Me, I'm for headin' up that thar mountain trail with a loaded double-barreled and a few mean dogs: who's with me?

TRACKLISTING

1. Waltons theme
2. Earl Hamner's narrative
3. Christmas time's a-comin'
4. Intro to mama's applesauce cake
5. Mama's applesauce cake
6. Sleigh ride
7. Follow that star
8. That's what Christmas means to me
9. Intro to Have yourself a merry little Christmas
10. Have yourself a merry little Christmas
11. Intro to Snowmanland
12. Snowmanland
13. Twas the night before Christmas
14. Little drummer boy
15. Home for the holidays
16. Santa's big parade
17. Intro to All I want for Christmas
18. All I want for Christmas
19. Good night

PS Luckily for you good folks I was unable to track down any videos from this album, but on for the other albums, where I can, I'll feature one video. You have been sufficiently warned; click on future YouTubes at your own risk...

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This week's planned reviews
Ooh, we're into the last month! I'm so excited about Christmas! Not. When you get to my age there's little left to get excited about, other than that you wake up not dead every morning. But as we move into December and there are now only four weeks left to go in 2012, we're pushing ahead with our reviews of albums released this year, hoping to get through the lion's share of them.

Here's what we have for you this week, all going well... By the way, from now on I'm going to give a little information about each, just so you know what I'm rabbiting on about (sorry Big Ears, I know you have that phrase trademarked: my people will talk to your people)...

The calling by Neal Schon
Solo album from the Journey guitarist and driving force behind the AOR giants. Neal was also briefly in Santana before forming Journey.

Ouroboros by Status Minor
A totally unknown band, so far as I'm aware, outside of their native Finland, Status Minor have only been together since 2006 and released their debut in 2009, but have the talent to be one of the big progressive rock bands of this century. This is their second album.

Heresy and creed by Ten
A favourite band of mine, Ten released their first album in six years last year. Now, a year later, they have another. This one is far superior to "Stormwarning", which I reviewed a while back.

On the air tonight by Colin Blunstone
Most people will know Colin, if at all, as the voice behind such Alan Parsons Projects hits as "Old and wise" and the Zombies' mega-smash "She's not there". This is the first of his solo albums I've reviewed, though it's his twelfth overall.

As mentioned in the Journals Update thread last night, I missed the deadline to include

Wolfsbane save the world by Wolfsbane in last week's reviews, but it's going up tonight.

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This week's planned reviews

As I mentioned in last night's music journals update thread, I kind of overreached myself trying to review too many albums at once, and it's become a bit of a strain, so from this week I'm taking it down to four per week. To keep both journals current, two will appear here and two will be shorter reviews which will go into "Bitesize", though I'm not telling you which is which (mostly as I haven't decided myself yet!). So with that in mind, here are the albums due for review over the course of this week:


On the 13th day by Magnum
Intersection by Nanci Griffith
Focus X by Focus (Yeah, they're still around!)
Ghostory by School of Seven Bells

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Brothers in arms --- Dire Straits --- 1985 (Vertigo)


Although it would not prove to be their last album, "Brothers in arms" was such a monster success for Dire Straits that it essentially became almost both their comeback album and their swansong. The release of "On every street", six years later, and the subsequent breakup of the band, would almost pass off quietly, unnoticed as Mark and the boys faded from the public eye after ten years making great music. But this album would give them two massive hit singles, re-establish them as masters of their craft and technological innovators, and also turn out to be one of the all-time biggest selling albums in the world, ever, selling at the time of writing over thirty million copies, and turning nine times platinum. It was also one of the first albums to specifically target the emerging market in CD releases, pushing the CD factories into overdrive to cope with the massive demand for it.

Their previous studio effort, 1982's "Love over gold" was an odd beast. A beautiful album but possessing only a total of five tracks, one of which ran for over fourteen minutes. Although Dire Straits would never be considered to be a progressive rock band, there were definite progressive leanings on "Love over gold", particularly the mostly instrumental "Private investigations" and the epic "Telegraph Road". This album though would return them to their more basic rock leanings, while also allowing them to place a foot gingerly into the world of pop, and see them produce one of the first ever totally computer-animated videos for the huge hit single, "Money for nothing". Rough by today's standards, certainly, but back then we were in awe as to how the mouths of the cartoon characters moved in concert with the music. Amazing!

But to the album itself. It starts with the lazy, laidback guitar and keyboard of "So far away", before Knopfler's laconic vocal comes in and some fine slide guitar joins the proceedings. For an album which was to have such a huge impact, both on their career and on the music world in general, it's a deceptively slow start. Almost country in flavour, it's a relaxed little song with a hint of bitterness in the lyric, and would in fact be one of the five singles released from the album, doing reasonably well and hitting the number 20 spot, which would of course pale in comparison with the next track, the chartbusting "Money for nothing", which featured that video I spoke of earlier. Everyone knows the song by now, with its characteristic wail from Sting that opens it, as he pines for his MTV, then there's a buildup of percussion and synth, lots of busy keyswork in the background before Knopfler's heavily-miked guitar breaks through, almost talking, and the song takes off.

This was the only Dire Straits song to feature another artist, and Sting also got a co-writing credit, which again was unheard of for this band, where the lion's share of songwriting was taken by Knopfler. With a great bouncy beat, and that squawking, talking guitar plus its gentle poking of fun at the rock lifestyle (and thus themselves) --- "Shoulda learned to play the guitar/ Shoulda learned to play them drums.../That ain't workin'!/ That's the way you do it!" --- it proved an instant hit and powered right to the top of the charts, forever cementing itself in the group consciousness, and people who had never heard of Dire Straits were suddenly singing the song and thinking about buying if not the album then at least the single. It reminded me of when Foreigner hit the number one slot that same year with "I want to know what love is", and a week or so later I overheard two older women --- mothers, I would say, about forty or so: I would have been what, twenty-three? --- remark as the song came on the radio "Oh yes, I love that Foreigner!" People who would look at you as if you had two heads if you mentioned "Urgent", "Cold as Ice" "4" or even Lou Gramm loved the chart-topping single. And so people who would have maybe known of "Romeo and Juliet" and "Sultans of swing" danced and nodded and hummed "I want my, I want my, I want my MTV" gleefully. Thus are legends born, huh?

There's no doubting that "Money for nothing" was the massive hit single that drove the huge sales of this album, and rightly so as it's a great song, but we shouldn't lose sight of the other great tracks on the album, and there are numerous. Much of what was then the first side of the album was released as singles, as the label fought to capitalise on the success of the monster smash, and indeed with "Walk of life" they scored another. A rockalong, almost fifties style bopper with a big organ intro and then the whistling keyboard riff that would run through it and characterise its sound, it's a cool little song and again Knopfler delivers a fine performance, with some real rockabilly style guitar and something of an innovative dance in the video if I remember. For the time it became something of an anthem, an upbeat, happy, optimistic axiom: do the walk of life. It's placed well on the album, because after "Money for nothing" the last thing you want to hear is a substandard song, and this certainly keep the tempo and the energy going, and is a worthy successor to the behemoth.

Total film noir then in a complete change for "Your latest trick", with a bluesy sax intro from either Michael Brecker or Malcolm Duncan, don't know which as they both play on the album, backed by some melancholic digital piano by Alan Clark and some vibraphone adding a somewhat lonely and otherworldly touch, the tune sounding more like something you'd find on a Tom Waits album really. Then Mark Knopfler comes in with his trademark low, muttered almost disinterested vocal and you see how well it fits in to their sound. To some degree I think this serves as something of a sequel to their first original big hit "Sultans of swing", with its mention of the band and the landlord paying them off, but I could be wrong there. The vibraphone runs through the tune like a tiny ticking heartbeat, courtesy of Michael Mainieri, and we're into "Why worry", another slow song --- and I mean slow! --- in which Knopfler's almost lazy vocal on the previous song sounds positively pumped in comparison. It's carried mostly on acoustic guitar and what sounds like mandolin, with a nice little soft keyboard line playing behind it. It's a nice song, with a somewhat overoptimistic sentiment rather like Bobby McFerrin's "Don't worry be happy" which, while an admirable stance is a little less than realistic. I also find it's far too long, at over eight and a half minutes, and seems to go on forever. Nice backing vocals though it has to be said.

In many ways, the second side of the album, from track six to nine, is a concept of sorts, concentrating on mostly militaristic themes, and showing why the album is titled as it is. "Ride across the river" is the tale of revolutionaries in some South American country, maybe somewhere like Nicaragua, though it's never stated. Opening on tribal style drums and pan flute (synthesised I assume) it builds slowly against chiming keyboards and pulsating bass, with some great trumpet work from Randy Brecker (brother to Michael, the saxaphonist?) and horn from Dave Plews. There's both a sense of oppression and fiesta about it, the latter engendered by the great horn work of the two guys. You really get the sense of a band of rebels crossing a river at night, fearful for their lives but determined to prevail against the hated, nameless enemy. It's quite a long song, just under seven minutes, but unlike "Why worry" it doesn't seem overstretched. Whereas the famous Knopfler guitar is subdued and very much to the background in this song, it comes roaring to the front for "The man's too strong", built on a folky acoustic guitar melody with soft yet thumping drumwork. It's when the chorus comes in that the electric guitar blasts out and the drums get stronger, taking you quite by surprise the first time you hear it. Little in the way of keys or synth, though they're there in the background working away: this is primarily a showcase for Mark Knopfler's guitar expertise.

The song seems to concern the memories, or indeed confessions, during his capture and trial of a war criminal, and his realisation he has done wrong but shows little or no remorse for it. This is the life he chose to lead, and he does not regret it. The shortest track on the album then, "One world" comes in at short of four minutes and is probably the most uptempo on side two, and the most rocky and upbeat since "Walk of life" on side one. Again Knopfler's guitar is to the fore though it's helped out this time by Guy Fletcher's keys with some handclap drumbeats. Nice little bit of almost harpsichordal keys from Alan Clark, but the song is a little pedestrian when compared to some of the masterpieces that have preceded it. Luckily, the album ends strongly and with passion, on the title track.

With a haunting, atmospheric synth backdrop from Fletcher, Knopfler's signature guitar line slides in and he again almost mutters the vocal, not so much that you can't hear him but almost like a whispered prayer, as he bemoans the insanity of war: "There are so many different worlds/ So many different suns/ And we have just one world/ But we live in different ones." A beautiful accordion-like sound gives the song a very rustic feel which ties in with the lyric "One day you'll return to/ Your valleys and your farms" and Knopfler almost makes his guitar cry and wail, giving voice to the dispossessed, the bereaved and the wronged who fall on either side during conflicts, lost among the larger issues, the politics and the strategies. The song ends on a prayer: "But it's written in the starlight/ In every line on your palms/ We're fools to make war/ On our brothers in arms" and a sumptuous guitar solo, joined later by Fletcher's soaring organ to bring the album to a quite amazing close.

TRACKLISTING

1. So far away
2. Money for nothing
3. Walk of life
4. Your latest trick
5. Why worry
6. Ride across the river
7. The man's too strong
8. One world
9. Brothers in arms

It's easy to see why this album was such a huge seller. The honesty and simplicity in the lyrics, the mixture of toe-tapping melodies and mature songs, the messages and the warnings, the big hit singles and the songs that weren't released but can stand shoulder to shoulder with those that were --- and are in some cases even better --- all come together to create an album that really, any band would have been proud to have said farewell with. This was undoubtedly the high point of Dire Straits' career, and despite the fact that they hung around for another six years they would never come close to matching it. Perhaps deep down, Mark Knopfler, guiding light and driving force behind the band for so many years, realised this and decided it was time to call it a day.

If only he had done so with this album, it would have been a legacy to be justifiably proud of. As it is, it marks for me the end of a very successful career, with one small coda to come in 1991.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Big Ears

Tres Hombres and Fandango are ZZ Top's best albums in my view. I would go as far as to say Tres Hombres is one of the all-time great blues rock albums. It does not contain one single weak track. In the eighties, when the band started to use synthesizers, released Gimme All Your Loving and made pop videos, it was a shock from which I still haven't recovered and I don't think I will ever hear them in the same way again!

Unknown Soldier

I first saw ZZ Top on "The Tube on channel 4 in the early 1980s (I'm sure you remember The Tube) I was amazed with their boiler suits and beards! I then bought Eliminator and fell in love with the band. I loved the idea that here was a blues based rock band, playing with a more synth based sound, but in essence those songs were still the songs of rockers and the videos with stunning chicks and cars kind of proved that. I've always had a soft spot for ZZ Top no matter what they did.

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