Monthly Archives: May 2010

OWSLEY – Owsley

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As well as being a member of The Semantics with Zak Starkey (who recorded just one album, which gathered an exclusively Japanese release), throughout the 90s, Will Owsley was a hard working session musician.  His extensive session work eventually funded a home studio, where he recorded this self-titled debut.  It first came to my attention back in 1999, when my friend Rich – a massive Jellyfish fan – raved about it.  I was immediately struck by its opening track’s marriage of punchy rhythms and power pop hooks.

That opening track, ‘Oh No The Radio’, is an almost perfect representation of the edgier end of the power pop spectrum.  Driven by its chiming guitars, it features pleasing key changes alongside some wonderful Beatle-inspired harmony vocals.  It’s a great example of the type of power pop Sugarbomb would become cult figures for at a similar time – it’s late 90s brilliance only equalled by Jason Falkner’s ‘Author Unknown’ (a fantastic track which opens his otherwise maddeningly inconsistent ‘Do You Still Feel’ album) and ‘Pretty Pictures’ by Blinker The Star (whose ‘August Everywhere’ featured a couple of power pop gems, but otherwise remained an ordinary – if well executed – indie-rock style release).  ‘Oh No The Radio’ ensures Owsley’s debut demands instant attention – a tongue in cheek lyric helping things along the way.  The Cars-esque rhythm guitars used during ‘I’m Alright’ display another all too obvious influence, but these in turn are contrasted by a rather rockier chorus.  Interestingly here, the chorus style is comparable to the best moments of Ty Tabor’s Jughead project, although this Owsley album was released some three years previously.

A re-recorded version of a Semantics track,‘The Sky Is Falling’ comes complete with a serious amount of layers and overdubs, it’s off-kilter qualities evoking ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ era Beatles and Jason Falkner’s stronger works.  Once again, it uses a vocal style which evokes Ty Tabor and while most of the track uses a very much a tried-and-tested formula, the end result is great.  ‘Sentimental Favorite’ takes things down a notch.  Owsley’s lead vocal is suitably heartfelt, but it’s the addition of the multi-tracked backing harmonies which give the track its real spirit.  The electric piano and altogether softer arrangement may call Crowded House to mind for some listeners, those more in the know will realise this is a dead ringer for those Christian power pop champions PFR (whose long-time producer Jimmie Lee Sloas would also work with Owsley at a later date).

Although comparisons are unavoidable, most of this album is far punchier than most of Jellyfish’s best work.  However, ‘Sonny Boy’ driven by a bouncy piano and a marching-on the-spot rhythm has a strong Ben Folds plays Jellyfish quality, which is likely to gain approval from anyone looking for power pop in a more purist form.  (it’s also worth noting here that Folds had been an original member of The Semantics; it’s likely Owsley recorded this as a homage to Ben’s late 90s musical direction).  Likewise, ‘Uncle John’s Farm’ also comes close to genre perfection with its fantastic use of staccato piano and harmony vocals.  Again, any Beatle-isms, Todd Rundgren or 10cc influences are hard to miss.  ‘Zavelow House’ steps things up with a slightly rockier edge. There are hints of Matthew Sweet here too; in fact, this album has been compared elsewhere to Matthew Sweet, but rather negatively.  That’s unfair to Owsley in the extreme: as much as I love Matthew Sweet, this album manages to remain so much more consistent than many of Sweet’s works, despite remaining somewhat derivative of other artists. ‘Zavelow House’ also employs a couple of retro synth solo which would make Greg Hawkes of The Cars proud. 

There are Beatles influences abound during the slow ‘Coming Up Roses’ (another track with roots in Owsley’s Semantics days).  The chiming guitars during the verses have a slightly discordant quality and vocally Owsley settles somewhere between a tuneful Lennon-ism and the aforementioned Ty Tabor.  A string break midway adds an extra layer, but there’s a feeling that despite some top notch ‘na na na’s, it’s all a little by-numbers.  Another reflective number, ‘Good Old Days’ works far better, with excellent use of acoustic guitar and harmony vocals – it’s another track which would have been perfectly suited to PFR and could fit snugly onto either of their ‘Great Lengths’ or ‘Goldie’s Last Day’ albums.

Rather surprisingly upon its release in 1999, this debut did not go unnoticed, as so many similar releases had previously – it received a Grammy nomination for “best engineered album”.  So many years later, it’s an enjoyable and surprisingly enduring album which deserves repeated listens.  Given the Grammy nomination and quality of the material on show, it surely deserves to be better known.  If you’re a power pop fan, Owsley’s debut certainly won’t give you any great musical surprises, but regardless of its by numbers nature it’s fab.   The belated follow-up album ‘The Hard Way’ (released in 2004) has its moments too.

Despite the feel-good nature of his arrangements, our story ends on a downbeat note: In April 2010, Will Owsley took his own life.   He was clearly a man with great potential and highly respected by other musicians.  If you own either of the Owsley discs, make sure you give them a spin every so often.  Make sure they get heard by others who may enjoy them and help keep Owsley’s memory alive.

May 2010

GODSTAR – Sleeper

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It’s hard not to compare the predominantly Aussie band Godstar’s full length CD ‘Sleeper’ to the mighty Lemonheads.  There are too many connections for those comparisons to be avoided.  Godstar are led by Smudge founders Tom Morgan (co-writer of some of ‘Come On Feel The Lemonheads) and Nic Dalton (sometime Lemonheads bassist).  Those Lemonheads connections are cemented further here, as chief Lemonhead Dando guests on drums, alongside Alison Galloway of ‘Alison’s Starting To Happen’ fame.  So, with all that in mind, you’ll obviously approach this album with a pre-conceived idea of what you’ll get…and you wouldn’t be wrong.

Chiming power pop guitars are much in evidence through ‘Single’, a Teenage Fanclub styled pop song; ‘Everything You Give Me Breaks’ is harder, with a slightly more interesting arrangement, almost like ‘Lick’-era Lemonheads delivered with an Aussie accent.  ‘Bad Bad Implications’ sees Alison on lead vocals and again, proves decent guitar driven pop; ‘Every Now And Again’ is acoustic, but the crashing noises at the end always make me think this is unfinished somehow.  The acoustic also leads ‘Forgotten Night’ which has a simple but pleasing 60s style electric twang as counterpart.

If you’re looking for harder edged punky style tunes, you get those too in the shape of ‘Little Bit About’ and ‘Ersatz’.  ‘Lie Down Forever’, for me, is this album’s greatest achievement, though; although still recognisable as a Morgan/Dalton composition, the jangly guitars are slightly louder, more shoegaze rock than indie pop.

If you like this kind of thing, it’ll probably never replace ‘It’s A Shame About Ray’ or ‘Come On Feel The Lemonheads’ in your affections, but it’s certainly more consistent than Dalton’s other project, Sneeze.  If you think this is for you, I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

October 2007

THE FLAMING LIPS w/STARDEATH AND WHITE DWARFS – The Dark Side of The Moon

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Pink Floyd’s 1973 album ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ requires no introduction.  It’s one of the world’s best selling albums and a genuine rock classic.  In 2009, indie/psych-pop darlings The Flaming Lips teamed up with Stardeath And White Dwarfs (a band featuring the nephew of The Lips’ frontman Wayne Coyne) to pay tribute to ‘DSOTM’ with a re-imagining of the almost omnipresent album.   The album features three songs performed by The Flaming Lips, two performed by Stardeath And White Dwarfs and four performed by both bands together.  Initially I was sceptical; I love Pink Floyd and ‘Dark Side’ (although I will tell you I still think ‘Wish You Were Here’ and ‘Animals’ are superior) and wasn’t really keen on the idea of someone else having a bash at paying “tribute” to a classic.  However, as a fan of The Flaming Lips, I realised I couldn’t just ignore it – curiosity would certainly get the better of me.

If the idea of a couple of whacked-out Syd Barrett obsessed bands tackling this album with an equal measure of spacey oddness and distorted ugliness isn’t enough to pique your interest, then you should also take note that all the famous spoken passages found within the grooves of ‘DSOTM’ are reproduced verbatim here and read by Henry Rollins.  ROLLINS!

Floyd songs + Flaming Lips + Rollins was enough to make me sit up and take notice (unlike the live version by Dream Theater which has also done the rounds).  You could say that this kind of deconstruction of a classic is disrespectful, but essentially it’s an interesting listen.  After all, it had plenty of scope for being awful and, as it is, it only really loses its way for a couple of tracks in the middle – and surprisingly, those are two of the three numbers performed by The Flaming Lips alone.

After the all too familiar heartbeat pulse sends us on our journey, things are thrown into near chaos.  Instead of atmospheric guitars and smooth harmony vocals, the version of ‘Breathe’ here is distorted and spiky.  A bass riff leads the piece; a riff which sounds like it was inspired by part of ‘Echoes’ (from Floyd’s 1971 ‘Meddle’ LP).  This becomes a little more obvious once aggressive guitar work appears – again heavily influenced by the same section of ‘Echoes’.  The vocal melodies are similar to the original version of ‘Breathe’ in places, but the delivery is weary and slightly ugly – in keeping with the new musical arrangement.  I’m not sure how they got this to work, but somehow it does.  At this point, however, it’s easy to imagine that most of the Floyd fans who’ve actually bothered to listen to this have likely turned it off.  Fact is, this release is far more for Flaming Lips fans, but that’s how it should be.   Pink Floyd’s original version of ‘On The Run’ stands as one of the great early pieces of electronica and was so ahead of its time.  Here, the musicians involved have deconstructed it and given it an almost disco rhythm (possibly a backhanded compliment to Scissor Sisters and their disco reworking of ‘Comfortably Numb’?).  Whatever, it’s great – even though it’s ‘On The Run’ in name only.

In another piece of odd futurism, the medley of chiming clocks and alarm bells which open Floyd’s version of ‘Time’ have been replaced with even more extreme sounding alarms and a loop of a man coughing.   When the opening riff comes in, there’s something about it which is both discordant and sinister.  In contrast, the vocal sections are treated lightness and feature some rather pleasing semi-acoustic guitars and slightly reverbed drums.  This is the first of two numbers performed by Stardeath without any Flaming Lips input, but all the same, it’s not hard to spot the huge influence Wayne Coyne and co have had over them during making of this album. After the distorted riff of ‘Breathe’ makes its reprise, the members of Stardeath take a back seat and the Flaming Lips perform as a solo band for the next three numbers.

Although during the later Floyd live shows Sam Brown and Durga McBroom do a fantastic job with ‘The Great Gig In The Sky’, it’s Clare Torry’s original performance which remains the definitive one and the version here does nothing to change that.  The female wail is handled by Peaches and with the amount of distortion and studio trickery used, the performance is so masked the voice could belong to anyone.  Disappointing to say the least – and this marks the first of this album’s two drastic misfires.  Similarly, ‘Money’ goes for broke in the ugly vocal department; all vocals are heavily treated and run through keyboards and other stuff to make them sound like Sparky’s Magic Piano.  If you also consider that ‘Money’s classic riff has been slowed down just enough to make it an uninspiring plod, this one gets the firm thumbs down. Henry Rollins making a cameo at the end makes it a little better, but generally it’s bad.

‘Us and Them’ represents the moment this version of ‘Dark Side’ most closely represents the original album – and even then, there are so many differences.  The main part of the song is driven by a keyboard drone, creating a blanket of atmosphere.  Wayne Coyne’s nasal vocal isn’t a match for Rick Wright’s georgous original performance; of course, it still maintains its own charm.  It almost feels like an unreleased Lips performance, one which could’ve been slotted among the looser aspects of their ‘Clouds Taste Metallic’ album from ’96.  Rollins makes a timely appearance to deliver the ‘Short, sharp shock’ speech (rather more aggressively than the man on the original release naturally) and that in turn brings us to the track’s key difference: there are no saxophones; all smooth sax breaks are represented by a slightly distorted jazz guitar.  While the fairly sparse arrangement works fine enough, it might have been nice for the Lips to have created something multi-layered here (especially when you know they’re capable of it).

As the end notes of ‘Us and Them’ fade into the instrumental of ‘Any Colour You Like’, we are treated to what could be this release’s greatest moment.  The funky flow of the original Floyd instrumental is still there, but there’s a new ingredient – new for this track, perhaps, but yet it feels like an old friend.  A distorted bass riff cuts through the rhythm and all becomes clear: the bass part here, once again, bears an uncanny resemblance to Roger Waters’s bass part during the mid section of the previously mentioned ‘Echoes’.  It’s a nice touch and surprisingly one which here feels very natural.  The fuzz bass works well with the sharp guitar work and the whole thing is driven by a superb drum rhythm.

Performed solely by Stardeath And White Dwarfs, ‘Brain Damage’ seems a little empty in comparison to the jam feeling of ‘Any Colour’, although the vocal here is respectful to Roger’s original performance and Stardeath frontman Dennis Coyne has a far less quirky voice than his Uncle Wayne.  Closing proceedings, the version of ‘Eclipse’ captures the grandiosity of the original album’s closing statement but adds many layers of fuzz guitar.  It’s surprising how much of this really sounds like a (fairly noisy) Flaming Lips vehicle once they’ve got their hands on it.

This isn’t the first time an attempt has been made to recreate ‘DSOTM’, of course.  Aside from the aforementioned Dream Theater live version issued via their fan club, in 2003 The Easy Star All-Stars released ‘Dub Side of The Moon’, a reggae re-interptation and in the 1990’s the Magna Carta record label issued ‘The Moon Revisited’, a collection of progressive rock bands (including Shadow Gallery and Fates Warning among others) peddling out the album’s songs in an enjoyable but workmanlike fashion.  The Flaming Lips et al could take the crown here for the best ‘Dark Side’ tribute so far.  The bones of the songs are indeed there, yet they’ve been brazen enough to cast aside any pomposity associated with the original album and make it their own.

May 2010

JEPP – Jepp

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Jepp

The 1990s were a great time for discovering new music.  Back in those days, there were hundreds of great albums in the bargain bins of London’s independent record shops and at record fairs.  Sometimes they’d be familiar after reading reviews, but mostly cheap albums were purchased because they looked interesting, or somehow seemed right – like they were produced by someone interesting or had decent guests, you know the sort of thing…  If you’re someone who has obsessively bought albums, you’ve certainly gone through similar rituals yourself.

This self titled album by Jepp received a favourable review in the UK’s Mojo Magazine at the time of its original release, a review which compared her to Rickie Lee Jones.  The reviewer also said that Jepp had a voice which would be an acquired taste.  It sounded like something worth hearing…and sure enough, with a lack of promotion, one appeared in a record fair bargain bin not long after.

There are flashes of music recalling Rickie Lee on this debut, but quite why the reviewer seemed so keen to draw comparisons is a bit odd, since there’s a far stronger one:  Jepp’s voluminous, vibrato filled vocal style owes a great debt to Grace Slick (albeit Grace bellowing rather loudly). ‘Bowling Night’ gets things underway with a marriage of 90’s style fuzz bass and 60’s style vibraphone.  The song is a snapshot of a life, a mother, her migraines and a job she hated.  Jepp’s voice soars to attention-grabbing levels, becomes absorbing and by the end of this, you’ll know whether you love her or hate her – it’s really that instant.  ‘Superglue Low’ has a more blues-rock feel, but as with most of the music on this album, it’s not quite so simple.  Over the low-tuned rhythms, Jepp’s voice is softer than on the opener, less impassioned, but often retaining a sharpness. Lyrically, it sounds like specific storytelling, but the messages seem fairly oblique.

‘Parsons Green’ is much gentler and it’s slightly jazzy acoustic work provides a nice contrast to the fuller sounding previous tracks.  One of the albums strongest moments, Jepp’s voice remains soft and intriguing; the vibes return and some soaring guitar work adds colour.  ‘Go Home Early’ makes great use of string sounds, a solid but simple drum rhythm and more vibraphones – and Jepp’s voice wanders into Grace Slick territory.  By this point, it becomes clear that the album’s great appeal and longevity lies in the care that’s gone into the arrangements and songcraft.  Jepp’s music has so many layers, its retro charm becomes enticing.  The haunting ‘Tiny Dancer’ pushes Jepp’s voice to its most extreme.  The Grace Slick-isms are at their most blatant with forced vibrato; the music is at its most spiky, altogether creating a slightly unsettling atmosphere. ‘The Guy I Like’ pulls together fuzzy electric guitar, great use of marimba and neo-calypso stylings, which at the outset make it sound like an aggressive cousin to Rickie Lee Jones’s ‘Ghetto of My Mind’ (so maybe that’s why that magazine review picked her as an obvious reference point?).  Again the musical layers are appealing – unlike lots of other tracks, the guitar is heavily featured.

Another softer track ‘Las Vegas’ sees the acoustic side of Jepp’s work make a return.  It resembles some of the quieter moments from Bree Sharp’s ‘More B.S.’ album (although Jepp’s debut was recorded some years before), while the acoustic jangle intro of ‘Orbit’ pulls us into album’s most accessible track – Jepp’s voice isn’t quite as hard here and it’s musically simpler.  It’s not without those layers, though, as electric guitars are used to created fuzz (but always sparingly) and beneath everything, the sound of the vibraphone provides a much welcome addition (if you find yourself really getting  into this album, you’ll understand that the vibraphones are key in giving it most of its retro coolness).

Many of those London record stores and their bargain bins are long gone; the record fairs gather dust and attract only the most faithful, but this Jepp album still shines.  It’s been many years since that very first listen, but in all honesty, it’s lost none of that spark.  It’s still unconventionally beautiful and surprisingly demanding on the listener for a singer-songwriter album in the pop/rock vein.  On the whole, this seems to be an album which has been largely overlooked. There’s very little about it, or Sara Jepp (or even her second album ‘7:11’) on the internet.  If you find a copy, do yourselves a favour and pick it up.  Provided Jepp’s quirky voice doesn’t turn you off – or else you aren’t too quick to write her off as an Alanis impersonator (as some, indeed, have in an amazing display of knee-jerk opinions, never taking time to spot that sixties coolness) – there are some great songs to be heard.

February 2010