Uprooting - Pet_Sounds' deeper exploration of folk in its various forms
 

After a prolonged absence, I have returned, and as I dislike metal and don't feel like posting in the Lyric Without Music Daily Review, I thought it was time to start a new journal chronicling my recent folk craze. Hopefully this will be a way for me to discover some new bands and learn more about a genre whose depths I have merely skimmed the surface of.

EDIT: I'll try to post an album review once a week, and a song review in between, starting with some reviews of 1960s folk rock, a genre I know somewhat. Here are some of my bands and songs or albums I'll be looking at:

The Mamas and the Papas - California Dreamin'
The Beatles - Rubber Soul
Bob Dylan - Like a Rolling Stone
The Byrds - Fifth Dimension
Buffalo Springfield - For What It's Worth
Simon & Garfunkel - Bookends
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Down on the Corner
Crosby, Stills & Nash - Crosby, Stills & Nash

Traditional folk, too? Because I'd like to see your take on The Dubliners or Silly Wizard.

I'll certainly be looking at traditional folk, and I'll do a write-up on those two for you.

On the origins of this journal
 

My tolerance of folk began as a result of my parents listening to such singer-songwriters as Gordon Lightfoot and John Denver. While it faded somewhat when I was on my recent psychedelia craze, during the past few months my passion has been rekindled. It was these guys, and this song in particular, that did it.

I should clarify. I've liked S&G for a long time now, but only recently did they make me think "Man, I want to find more like them." The starting place was obvious…

…The Byrds. Not owning any of their albums on CD (my iPod bit the dust recently and music streaming sites don't work on my device), I had to resort to YouTube. I haven't had the time to listen to an entire album yet, but I already knew their biggest hit: Mr. Tambourine Man.

Listening to this song is like taking a shower - you have to let the music flow over you. I hadn't heard it in a long time. The moment that jangly guitar intro began, I was entranced. The harmonies are spot on, and the lyrics, though repetitive, evoke an escape so well that you feel like you have been on the tambourine man's "magic swirling ship". Jim (soon to be Roger) McGuinn's voice has a nasal quality that stands out just enough from the blend to make the words crisp and clear, yet not enough to sidestage the rest of the band. Overall, this is near-perfect and possibly my favourite cover song of all time. Of course Bob Dylan's brilliant songwriting deserves some of that credit, but The Byrds' version so eclipses his that you would barely know they were the same song. This is one of the few instances where I give most of the credit to the performers over the writer - Dylan's song is good, but The Byrds' trimmed it and shaped it into a masterpiece.

I've decided that once I'm through with those four albums and a few songs, I'm going to try folk metal.

*gulp*

After all, Trollheart is doing Metal Month II, and if there is going to be any subgenre of metal I can get into (there have been none so far) it will be this. However, I know nothing about the genre and will likely need a recommendation.

I hope you all realize what a stretch this is for me….

The Mamas and the Papas - California Dreamin'
 

"All the leaves are brown, and the sky is grey.
I've been for a walk on a winter's day…."

Stop. Right. There.

Let me explain a few things. I am from Canada. Not way up in the wilderness, but about as far north as you can get while still being considered Southern Ontario (sorry, non-North Americans, don't know if you can picture this). Our 2013-14 winter lasted about six months - the longest in my lifetime. It's not supposed to snow in temparatures below about -5 degrees Celsius, but we got blizzards in -20. The no parking sign on my street corner was buried, thanks to snow both from the sky and kicked up by our ****ty clearing service, which sometimes doesn't get the street plowed until 1:00 pm. If, in your winter, there are still leaves on the trees, regardless of colour, and if you can manage to get out for a walk, you are lucky. Having said that, I can relate to this song right now. Yes, now, when our short summer has given up the ghost.

Autumn is my favourite season. I love the crisp feeling in the air, the fall colours, and the easier sleeping temperatures. In fact, I dislike sunshine and heat, and am quite happy on an overcast, 15-degree day. But I am shaking in my fur-lined moccasins right now at the thought of another winter like last year's being potentially only a couple months away. And this one is supposed to be even worse.


California Dreamin' is an old favourite. The harmonies are immaculate, the lyrics are emotive, and The Mamas' and the Papas' voices are pleasing to the ears. The meaning isn't overly cryptic - it seems to be about a homesick musician who is pining for his hometown of Los Angeles - until the last verse, when it is implied that the narrator could leave if it wasn't for "her". I'm not going to attempt an analysis of the lyrics. That's been done before by wiser minds than mine. I'm happy simply to listen to and enjoy this gorgeous song without dissecting it.

Try any of these ten Folk/Pagan Metal albums.

Forefather - Steadfast
Manegarm - Vargstenen
Manegarm - Vredens Tid
Manegarm - Dodsfard
Gallowbraid - Ashen Eidolon
Ensiferum - Ensiferum
Ensiferum - Iron
Equilibrium - Sagas
Bran Barr - Sidh
Catuvolcus - Gergovia

Ensiferum's eponymous debut is neat, but it features harsh vocals that might be a turnoff if you're not into extreme metal.

I see you´ve started with some absolute classics of '60s folk rock, Pet Sounds. Bookends is a beautifully written and beautifully put-together album, and the same is true of the songs you chose; California Dreamin´and Mr. Tamborine Man. TBH, i prefer Dylan´s original though; it sounds a lot harsher, but that just makes it sound more heartfelt to me, and I love the way Dylan just piles up the surreal lyrics until they seem to have an unstoppable momentum of their own. To my knowledge, no one else had dared do that at the time.

I´m looking forward to your reviews of the other albums you listed in your OP, and also to learning something about folk metal, which l know nothing about.

i notice that - Beatles apart - you don´t have much from outside North America on your list, so I thought I might invite you to listen to these guys. i think you may like their sound: http://www.musicbanter.com/country-f...pentangle.html

Thanks for the recs, mythsofmetal, Briks, and Lisna. I'll check 'em out.

The Beatles - Rubber Soul
 

Asked a girl what she wanted to be
She said, "Baby, can't you see
I want to be famous, a star on the screen
But you can do something in between….

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ubber_Soul.jpg

The Beatles - Rubber Soul

It's difficult to write a review of an album you already know the lyrics of by heart. That's how much I listened to this album about a year ago, when I was first getting into the Beatles. However, it never struck me as "great". Merely solid. There's not a song I dislike on it, which is more than I can say of almost any Beatles album, but there really are only two tracks I love - fewer than any other post-Help! album. I'm doing my best to look at Rubber Soul with fresh eyes, but this review will likely be short. (Large cheer!)*

The album opens with Drive My Car, a sing-along rocker that sounds very much like their early work musically. However, the lyrics are witty and somewhat risque at times, and the sound has a certain… edge to it. With this song and the album's accompanying single, Day Tripper/We Can Work It Out, they were making a statement which is apparent from even the album cover. This is different.

Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) is next. It was the first Beatles song I ever fell in love with, and possesses the most gorgeous melody John Lennon ever wrote. George Harrison's subtle sitar work throughout augments the lyrics about a failed love affair, which ends in the narrator sleeping in the bath (without the girl) and possibly burning down her apartment. All in just over two minutes.

Paul follows it up with You Won't See Me, which is a typical McCartney song - melodic, smooth, and cheerful, despite being about failed romance. Honestly, I think John would have sung this better, perhaps giving it an edge.

The first Beatles original written about a subject other than love is next in Nowhere Man. It's a nice little tune and has ethereal harmonies, but to me, the guitar playing sounds sloppy. Knowing absolutely nothing about guitar, I can't say whether this is true or not, but it's enough to lower it from very good to average for me.

Think For Yourself is George's first song on the album. This is one of my favourites on the album and one of his most underrated, if you ask me. It's not obviously about love, but it could certainly be taken as such.

The Word feels like a rough version of "All You Need Is Love", with its hippy lyrics.It really doesn't do anything for me. I don't skip it, but I find it bland, except for the instrumentation, which is quite funky.

Paul returns to the scene with Michelle, which won a Grammy. God knows why. I can't say it's anything special. Still a decent track though, and it has neat guitar lines.

Next up, Ringo makes his first (and only) appearance as lead vocalist on the album with What Goes On. The writing credit reads Lennon-McCartney-Starkey! Despite my best efforts not to like it, I find it impossible not to tap my foot.

Girl is a song that has grown on me over time. There was a time when I hated Lennon's sharp intake of breath in the chorus. Now I enjoy every second of it. I don't love this track per se, but it's definitely one of the best on the album.

I'm Looking Through You is very similar to "You Won't See Me". Paul seems to have two types of songs: cheerful, like this one, and sad, like "The Long and Winding Road. I think that if this song was slowed down and sung with Lennon's agony, it would have been a classic. As it is, this is the only track on the album I'd consider skipping. But I haven't.

Next is a song I absolutely adore: In My Life, in which John Lennon shows his sentimental side in a bittersweet love song. It's got a subtly odd drum part from Ringo, a melodic lead guitar hook, perfect harmonies, and a double-speed Baroque piano solo from George Martin. This tune is the centrepiece of the album for me.

Wait is next. It's a solid track with catchy hooks and crisp harmonies. The lyrics are nothing special, but it's worth noting that it was written during the Help! sessions earlier in the year.

George gets another track in If I Needed Someone, a pretty piece of filler with some lyrical glitches such as, "Hang your number on my wall and maybe you will get a call from me, if I needed someone." It's a throwaway to be honest, but still worth listening to for the harmonies and guitar.

The album ends with Run For Your Life, a song which Lennon regrettd writing. The lyrics are very un-Beatley - the narrator threatens to kill his girl if she cheats - but it's different enough to have an appeal. John's vocal is excellent. Choosing this track as the closer was obviously a statement.

If Revolver was "the end of the beginning", then Rubber Soul was the beginning of the end of the beginning. It was a bridge between eras for the Beatles, the only album where all the lyrics have a deeper meaning than "yeah yeah yeah" but still make sense. Overall, it's a solid album with some filler, but no bad songs, and manages to be more than the sum of its parts. I'll give it a 3.5/5.



*Help! I'm turning into Trollheart! :shycouch:

You really should check out the Byrds discography, one of the richest in terms of material from that period, even though I don't really like country as some of their later stuff is.

I've actually got Fifth Dimension scheduled for my next review. Their country stuff is quite good, in my opinion, though it doesn't stand up to their earlier work.

Yeah, I think the first six Byrds albums are all quite good, and three of them are great. I'm surprised you haven't listened to Pentangle before, but if you're into them, Fairport Convention are sort of similar and also really good (like Pentangle, they're well-known, but I don't know what you have and haven't heard).

Prior to you and Lisna mentioning Pentangle and Fairport Convention, I'd never heard of either! I think it's because I'm Canadian - neither band seems to have broken through up here back in the day. Plus, we have a weird rule about one in four songs played on the radio having to be Canadian, which results in a lot of Canadian bands being famous within Canada and nowhere else, and bands from other countries not making it at all. For example, I started a thread on BNL recently that got no replies at all.

Bob Dylan - Like a Rolling Stone
 

Once upon a time, you dressed so fine
You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you…

What is there to say about this song that hasn't already been said? It was named the greatest song of all time by Rolling Stone magazine and is the most famous song by one of America's greatest songwriters. "Like a Rolling Stone" is an epic - Bob Dylan's "Piano Man" or "Stairway to Heaven".

It's overrated. I like the song, don't get me wrong, but I wouldn't call it Dylan's masterpiece. The instrumentation is excellent, and the lyrics good, with the exception of a couple lines about Siamese cats. I love Bob Dylan's music, but most of the time, I prefer covers of his songs, because I don't have to hear him sing. His voice gets on my nerves more than usual in this song. It's one reason why Highway 61 Revisited is not a frequent listen. Two discs of that voice, no matter how good the lyrics are, is just too much. But back on topic.

"Like a Rolling Stone" a good song with a clever rhyme scheme and biting lyrics. But by the last chorus, it's over. I'm not wanting it to continue. Despite all that, I still like it enough to give it a 3.5/5.

Coming soon…

Metal Month II has arrived. As you probably already know, I'm not a fan of hard rock or metal in general. In fact, I don't actively listen to anything harder than The Who. That's about to change. I'm going to interrupt my beautiful flow of '60s folk rock for the sake of trying folk metal. In fact, metalhead Briks has even recommended an album: the Brazilian Celtic metal band Tuatha de Danann's Trova di Danu. So watch this space!

What in creation ever motivated me to do this? :eek:

No worries, that Tuatha de Danann album is really soft and accessible for folk metal. You should check out Danzig's self-titled debut, too. It's not folk metal, but a really neat kind of blues metal sung by top-notch rock and roll vocalist Glenn "Evil Elvis" Danzig.

Tuatha de Danann - Trova di Danu
 

This was a huge leap for me. Before listening to this, I hadn't heard any metal, unless you count Rush or Led Zeppelin. And I must say, I enjoyed it. Trova di Danu is a Celtic metal album, apparently, and I could certainly hear the Celtic influences. The flute playing was excellent and definitely my favourite thing about the album. It's an instrument that could be used a lot more with rock instrumentation. I was pleasantly surprised by the vocal harmonies, too, which I wasn't expecting. Overall, I enjoyed it except for the screaming. I don't know enough about metal to give Trova di Danu a drawn-out review, but because I will likely listen to it again at some point in the future when I'm feeling particularly angry, and recommend it to anyone interested in exploring folk metal, it gets a 6/10.

The Byrds - "Fifth Dimension"
 

I've been letting this slide a bit lately. For those who were anxiously awaiting an update, I present….


Fantastic album. Love the classic '60s twelve-string guitar work. The Byrds are lauded for their harmonies, and they were never more evident than in "Eight Miles High", which is the strongest track, and the Byrds' best original song, in my opinion. The only beef I have is with Jim McGuinn's voice. It has a nasal quality that is nice as a novelty on a couple songs, but begins to grate on me over the course of an entire album. Ultimately, Fifth Dimension will be a part of my regular rotation for the forseeable future.

Favourite tracks: Eight Miles High, Mr. Spaceman, Hey Joe (which is a nice change from the Leaves' and Jimi's versions!)

Shout-outs go to Neapolitan, who responded to my request for a Byrds recommendation, and to Unknown Soldier, who recommended the Byrds, albeit after I'd already decided to check them out. Thanks to both of you guys.

I think I'm going to break free of my schedule and just write mini-reviews of folk albums of a wide variety. I've been in a musical slump lately, but there's an ace up my sleeve….

Wait, wait, wait. Are you saying that you'd never heard The Byrds before? They should be one of your favourite bands..! I'm going to check that album out, as I've heard Mr. Tambourine Man and love the jingle-jangly guitars.

Nay, I checked them out when I started this journal. I first listened to this album a couple months ago, but never felt like writing a review. They quickly became one of my favourites.

It looks like you already have a lot on your musical plate but I just can't resist throwing out a few of my all-time favorites for you to check out. Hopefully you haven't heard any of them yet.

Fred Neil - Fred Neil (1966)

Fotheringay - Fotheringay (1970)

Linda Perhacs - Parallelograms (1970)

Dando Shaft ‎– An Evening With Dando Shaft (1970)

So much music... so little time. :)

I'll check them out. Cheers, Psy-Fi.