Trollheart

Some albums are excellent, some are really dire, and then there are the ones in the middle. You don't hate it but you don't love it. You might play it the odd time, but you're not going to be that pushed. It's in your record collection, you wouldn't get rid of it, but it will probably be a long time before, if ever, you listen to it all the way through again.

Welcome to “Meh...”, the new section where I'll be reviewing albums that did not impress me, but nevertheless are not bad enough to qualify for the “Nice song, shame about the album!” section, and which are unlikely to ever make it to the “Last Chance Saloon”. These are the albums I know I was not blown away by, but weren't so bad that I'd never listen to them again. At best, I might lift a track here or there for a playlist, but that's about it. Prepare to be underwhelmed as we delve into my barrel of mediocrity, not quite scraping the bottom...

The power and the myth --- House of Lords --- 2004 (Frontiers)


This was an album I had high hopes for. Don't ask me why: I had never heard of the band before, but something about it just piqued my interest and I decided to give it a try. While not awful by any means, it nevertheless did not exactly send me searching avidly for the rest of their catalogue. It is in fact their fourth of, to date, eight studio albums, but even the appearance of Dream Theater's Derek Shernihan and the lovely Robin Beck could not lift this album above the realm of the ordinary for me.

It opens with “Today”, nice humming synth and lovely little picked classical guitar, the synth getting louder and more insistent until it's joined by electric guitar and drums, and the song gets going. The vocals of James Christian, who also plays lead guitar, swing between a sort of Nickelback growl and a generic AOR style, but effective and also very clear. Nice guitar solo too.

It's an impressive opener, but then “All is gone” seems to be a fairly generic rock song, nice idea but undeveloped, with an almost Free-like melody, failry predictable and a bit of a disappointment after the first track. “Am I the only one” has a nice oriental feel to the keyboard opening, then slips into a sort of semi-ballad style, understated, not bad. It goes along nicely, but then ends very badly, quite unexpectedly. It's followed by a hard rocker, “Living in silence”, but this goes from prog rock to almost heavy metal: hard to place this band, whom I had taken as being a progressive rock band at heart, but find now to be more straddling AOR and hard rock with, it has to be said, not too much confidence on either side. A balancing act that constantly looks in danger of failing, sending the guys tumbling through the air and down to the ground.

The title track, then, comes over all prog-rock, a powerful instrumental with organs, keyboards, synth and rumbling drums, wailing guitars and warbling keys going at it hammer and tongs. This then runs into the eastern-favoured, Zep-like “The Rapture”, which gives way to the gentle, almost acoustic “The man who I am” (bad grammar too!), probably one of the best tracks on the album with its softly keening synth and its laidback guitar, Christian singing the best I've heard him so far. I believe Shernihan's expertly-crafted keyboards are what makes this song so good. Then we're into “Bitter sweet euphoria”, a mid-paced rocker with busy guitars and a nice solo, but then “Mind trip” falls over into hard rock/almost-punk territory, and it just doesn't work for me. Just sounds a little too confused.

Closer “Child of rage” mimicks Guns 'n' Roses' version of Dylan's “Knockin' on Heaven's door” with its opening, but it settles into a nice little ballad with country leanings, great acoustic guitar and organ taking the melody until the electric guitar kicks in as the chorus hits. Very much in the style of Bon Jovi, Poison or indeed the aforementioned G'n'R, a kind of “cowboy ballad”, the sort that tends to be popular with heavy rock bands, and to be fair, they do a good job on it, and it's a very decent closer.

But there are too many low points and nothing special enough about this album to earn it any proper points. Not, as I said at the introduction, a bad album by any means, but nothing great either. And so it earns the dubious honour of being the first album into the “Meh” pile. I don't doubt there'll be plenty more.

TRACKLISTING

1. Today
2. All is gone
3. Am I the only one
4. Living in silence
5. The power and the myth
6. The Rapture
7. The man who I am
8. Bitter sweet euphoria
9. Mind trip
10. Child of rage

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Trollheart

Cool song from Aerosmith today, with tongue firmly in cheek, this is “Dude (Looks like a lady)”!

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Trollheart

Random Track of the Day
Thursday, November 10 2011
Something very different today. From my collection the random-o-meter has picked out this from Bruce Springsteen, from one of his early albums, this is the ostensible title track to the 1973 album “The wild, the innocent and the E Street shuffle”.

The E Street shuffle --- Bruce Springsteen --- from "The wild, the innocent and the E Street shuffle" on Columbia


Not by any means typical of the type of song Springsteen would some become famous for, and connected with, this is a mixture of blues, soul, jazz and rock, but this sort of “story of the streets” would resonate through his later work, even as his music turned to harder-edged rock, particularly albums like “Born to run” and “Darkness on the edge of town”.

(Note: after searching for a long time for the right candidate, Trollheart finally has an assistant to help run this section, and you'll meet Stacey-Lynn tomorrow. From then on, she will take over "Random Track of the Day" and be responsible for it. There will be a makeover of the section, which again will be guided by and under the creative influence of Stacey-Lynn. Ah, some help at last! )

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Been a while since we had any instrumental tracks round here. Let's remedy that right now...

A masterclass in guitar here from the one and only Mike Oldfield, from “Tubular Bells II”, this is “Blue saloon”.


A lovely relaxing soundscape from John Williams' Sky, which goes under the name of “Sahara”.


And to close, an interesting little piece from Asia, taken from the second volume of rarities and previously unreleased material that went under the banner of “Archiva”, this is “Armenia”.

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Hi everyone! I'm Stacey-Lynn, and I'll be taking over this section from today. Poor old Trollheart was so inundated with work, trying to keep all those plates spinning, as it were, the grey hairs are beginning to outnumber the black on his head! No such problems for me, as you can see!

I've given the section a little makeover, do let me know what you think of it if you want to. When Troll began this section it was his intention to talk a little about each track, but trying to do that every single day, as well as keep all the other sections going (don't like that worm --- eeew!) he just wasn't able to fulfil that promise. I'll be doing my best from now on to speak about the tracks randomly selected each day. Comments are of course as always invited.

Okay, that's my little introduction over. Enjoy the track, and hope you enjoy the new-look Random Track of the Day feature!

Friday, November 11 2011
Beaujolais --- The Alan Parsons Project --- from "Stereotomy" on Arista

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Hi again, Stacey-Lynn back with today's random selection from Trollheart's Music Library. Today it's the Moody Blues again: not one of Troll's favourite bands, though I don't mind them too much. Not sure I'd listen to a full album, though. Mind you, that Justin Hayward's a bit of all right! Well, he was, when he was younger. Oooh! Coming over all flushed now, better concentrate on the task at hand...

Saturday, November 12 2011
Dr. Livingston, I presume? --- The Moody Blues --- from "In search of the lost chord" on Deram

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Time for some good ol' rock and roll! Many of you will know this from the soundtrack to the movie “An American werewolf in London”, but the more savvy among you will also know that this is one of the dozens of hits that Creedence Clearwater Revival had in the seventies. It's one of their most famous, and is of course “Bad moon rising”.

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Hot fuss --- The Killers --- 2004 (Lizard King)


I first heard the Killers when I saw a video for “All these things that I've done”, loved it and wanted to hear more. But kind of like when I first heard “Ashes” by Embrace, I found that listening to their other tracks didn't seem to measure up to this great single. Over time though, I've heard more than a few tracks in playlists, though I have as yet to listen to the album all the way through, which is a situation I am now going to remedy. Having heard probably about half of the album via playlists, I think I can be reasonably confident that this will be an album I'm going to enjoy, and recommend.

Of course, you probably know it already. It has after all sold over seven million copies, spawned four hit singles, and seems never to be off the radio. But for anyone who hasn't heard it, these are my impressions, for what they're worth. First though, a little background. Far from being an overnight sensation, the Killers, based out of America's adult Disneyland, Las Vegas, were largely ignored by the music press and the public when they released their first single from this, their debut album, and it wasn't until the release of the second single, “Mr. Brightside”, that they clicked, and people began listening to, then buying, their records, and fame and success followed. The album subsequently hit the number one spot, as did the two after it.

“Jenny was a friend of mine” is the opening track, and apparently it's part of a “murder trilogy”. Not too sure what's going on there, but the first part is on a rarities compilation, this is the second, and “Midnight show” is the finale. Seems a bit odd to do that --- I mean, why not have the trilogy all on the one album, or at least on “standard” ones? Anyway, “Jenny” is a good powerful rocker, with great keyboard work from lead vocalist and main songwriter Brandon Flowers, with some good guitar licks from Dave Keuning. Very full keyboard sound making it almost a techno song, but heavy for all that. It leads into “Mr. Brightside”, the song that started it all for them.

Good fast rhythm with cool piano and great dirty guitar, the song of a jealous boyfriend who knows his girl is cheating on him, it's sung with real venom and passion by Flowers, touch of Blondie in there, very catchy, and easy to see how it captured the imagination and attention of record-buyers when it was released as a single. Lots of energy in the song. A little slower then is “Smile like you mean it”, yet another single, led by some jangly guitar, great riffs and fine vocals from Flowers. Some very new-wave style keys adding a real mid-eighties flavour, then a great guitar riff reminiscent of the Edge at his best.

Things speed back up then for “Somebody told me”, guitar-led with a great hook and some interesting lyrical ideas: ”Somebody told me/ That you had a boyfriend/ Who looked like a girlfriend/ That I had...” Very boppy, good rocker, which leads into the song that started it all for me, “All these things that I've done”. You've more than likely heard it. Starts off on echoey keys and organ and an almost gospel intro, then gets going with solid drumming and a great guitar riff to take the song into its main melody. Halfway through it slows down for the by-now-famous refrain ”I've got soul/ But I'm not a soldier”, helped out by the Sweet Inspirations Gospel Choir. Personally I still see this as the best track on the album, and nothing they've done has come close, though there have been some good songs.

Sharp guitar then introduces “Andy, you're a star”, a slower, bluesy tune kind of in the style of REM with a flavour of Nick Cave too. Peppy synth leads the way for “On top”, a mid-paced tune which sounds like the Cars jamming with U2. “Change your mind” is a breezy, upbeat song which resonates with hope and optimism, keyboards and guitar working in perfect harmony to create a mutli-layered sound and carry the song along. Brandon Flowers has quite a unique voice, and it's used to good effect on this track.

“Believe me Natalie” comes in on a low, keyboard and synth intro, with drums then crashing in and guitar riffing, and some nice brass or synth-brass near the end, then the murder trilogy concludes with “Midnight show”, a fast, almost frenetic track with lots of guitar, desperation and frustration in the lyric, finishing with a nice synthy keyboard run.

The album closes on the slowburner “Everything will be alright”, the vocal kind of warped, as if being routed through some sort of effect, slow organ and clicking, minimal percussion providing a low-key ending to an album that began so powerfully and, in its own way, ends that way too.

As a debut album, it's certainly up there with the better ones. I'm still not a hundred percent sure that I would go out and buy another of the Killers' albums, but I'm glad I listened to this all the way through for once. A rewarding experience, without doubt.

TRACKLISTING

1. Jenny was a friend of mine
2. Mr. Brightside
3. Smile like you mean it
4. Somebody told me
5. All these things I've done
6. Andy, you're a star
7. On top
8. Change your mind
9. Believe me Natalie
10. Midnight show
11. Everything will be alright

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Some songs just have that iconic opening riff, don't they? Like this one, from the then-mighty Joe Jackson (again, the worm asks, what happened to this guy?) and one of his big, big hits. It's “Steppin' out” (always leave the “g” out...).

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You could hardly have two more disparate and diametrically opposed artistes, in music style, lifestyle, age and outlook, and the idea of them ever performing a duet would have been unthinkable before 2001, but everyone was amazed at the Grammys that year when notoriously bigoted rapper Eminem appeared onstage with gay icon Elton John and they performed Eminem's “Stan”.

Itself a sampling of the basic melody from Dido's massive hit “Thank you”, the song concerns a letter written from an obsessed fan to Eminem, angry that he is not getting any reply, and by the time Eminem gets to write back to him the eponymous Stan has taken his own life and that of his girlfriend in despair, thinking no-one cares about him.

Eminem and Elton John --- Stan



Originally a number one hit for Eminem when performed with the abovementioned Dido, the song really came to life as explained above when he was accompanied by Elton John at the 2001 Grammys. The fact that so much of Eminem's music is slanted towards a very homophobic view, coupled with the violent imagery in the song is perhaps all the more reason it was a surprise to see someone who, though something of a maverick and a rebel in his day, never advocated anyone killing another human being, or gloried in violence and misogynism, even if only through his lyrics.

Laying, for the most part, to rest the spectre of anti-gay sentiment and the backlash from the gay community (most of whom could be potential customers!), “Stan” is quite a unique achievement, making several statements all at once. Certainly something that would not be seen as a marriage made in Heaven, it turned out to be less of a mismatch than might have been reasonably expected.

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