THIN LIZZY – Thin Lizzy

Posted on November 5, 2010 by Real Gone

Thin Lizzy’s debut LP is a curious affair. The original group, comprised of Phil Lynott (vocals/bass), Eric Bell (guitar) and Brian Downey (drums) were supposedly conceived as a power trio – a hard rock format which had gained popularity in the late 60s with the likes of Cream – yet very little from their 1971 self-titled offering reflects that. It’s not weak, by any means, but overall it’s more ‘trio’ than ‘power’ and musically, much of it bears little resemblance to the band Lizzy would later become.

Despite most of the material not sounding much like classic Lizzy, it’s clear, even here, that Lynott is a charismatic frontman, an emotive vocalist and superb bassist. All of which are qualities which have a strong presence during ‘Honesty Is No Excuse’, a mid paced, soulful number. Lynott’s vocal delivery sounds like a man making an honest plea, with his voice almost cracking on the longer notes. While his bass work on this track is never flash, it’s got warmth, pinning the song down but never becoming intrusive. ‘Eire’ and ‘The Continuing Saga of The Aging Orphan’ are very fragile: ‘Eire’ features some simple bass playing from Lynott, while colourful guitar flourishes from Bell push what would’ve been a simple folk tale into folk-rock territory. During ‘Aging Orphan’, Bell and Downey are reduced to little more than backing for Lynott’s vocal, which is full of sadness.

‘Ray-Gun’ and ‘Look What The Wind Blew In’ are outright rockers, which are surprisingly enjoyable. ‘Ray-Gun’ showcases bluesy electric work from Eric Bell. The main groove is provided by his wah-wah riff, over which Lynott plays an incredibly funky bass. It’s one of the only moments where the three guys get close to the typical power trio style. ‘Look What The Wind Blew In’ feels simpler; it has a looser groove which ends up feeling a little messy, especially on the chorus, where Lynott chooses a smooth vocal style which doesn’t suit the tune…and then uses that to sing something which doesn’t really scan properly. ‘Return of the Farmer’s Son’ also demonstrates the band’s rock side. Brian Downey’s drum fills are excellent; Phil’s bass and vocals are aggressive and Eric’s blues-rock soloing gives the piece a decent edge. If Lizzy had looked towards this blues-rock style more instead of concentrating on a non-specific blend of psych, folk and blues, this would have been a very different record indeed. (Although, it clearly didn’t always work: ‘Remembering Part 1’ attempts to get tough, but ends up rather muddled).

‘Diddy Levine’ is a track that showcases the range of styles played by the original three-piece line-up in just over seven minutes. The verses are wordy and wistful, there are acoustic folk stylings, but as the song progresses, a hard rock riff develops. While there’s nothing wrong here, its folk elements aren’t as good as some of the album’s other gentler moments and any attempt to rock out doesn’t match the excitement generated by ‘Return of the Farmer’s Son’.

Thin Lizzy followed their debut with ‘Shades of a Blue Orphanage’, an album which showcased Lizzy’s growing confidence. That confidence manifested itself in a set of songs which showcase a slightly broader set of influences. As a result, the album feels rather unfocused. This second album also sold poorly. However, by the beginning of 1973, with two non-charting albums to their name, Thin Lizzy’s fortunes were about to change.

[A remastered version of ‘Thin Lizzy’ features bonus tracks culled from the Irish ‘New Day’ EP and another non-album single, ‘The Farmer’. Also included are overdubbed and remixed versions of four of the debuts songs – all of which were previously available on the 1979 Decca compilation ‘The Continuing Saga of the Ageing Orphans’.]

January 2010

HOCKEY NIGHT – Keep Guessin’

Posted on November 3, 2010 by Real Gone

Listening to this second album by Hockey Night, it seems almost inconceivable it was released on Lookout! Records, a label best associated with punk bands. The slack-vocalled indie rock cool found within these album’s grooves is far more in keeping with Matador Records – and in particular the latter-day works of Pavement. The influences here are really strong, not just musically; Paul Sprangers’s vocal is a dead ringer for Stephen Malkmus.

I’d like to spend more time than I have time choosing musical moments which stand out, but the truth is, these guys have no originality in their sound; there’s nothing here you’ll ever listen to and say ‘oh yeah, that’s the Hockey Night sound’, as everything sounds so much like ‘Brighten The Corners’/’Terror Twilight’ era Pavement. The comparisons are unavoidable, so much so, I have moments listening to this album where I forget it isn’t them.
If you can get past that, surprisingly, ‘Keep Guessin’’ has charm.

‘For Guys’ Eyes Only’ has a sunny feel, ‘Tubin’ has some decent, but quite twee guitar work and and what sounds like a trumpet overdub, and ‘Grim Break’ has a certain pleasure in its discordance. There are elements within ‘Cooperation’ which are stand out a little more. There guitars are faster and slightly more garage rock during the first half of the song, complete with occasional handclaps. I’d hoped it would present something which would break away from the rest of the Pavement-obsessed material; but during the second half, things slow slightly, the guitars change to longer notes with slight vibrato and the bits where it gets very slack are so clearly influenced by material like ‘Transport is Arranged’.

On the whole, most of the songs on ‘Keep Guessin’’ could’ve fit in with Pavement’s ‘Terror Twilight’ material and the influences are so obvious. Being a big Pavement fan, I should hate this record in principle. Yet somehow, despite its largely plagiarised faux slackness, there’s a lot here to love.

January 2010

THE GENUINE FAKES – The Striped Album

Posted on November 1, 2010 by Real Gone

The Genuine Fakes are four guys from Sweden who share a love of skinny ties, moustaches, classic power pop and 90s indie-rock. In 2008 they were featured on ‘Beautiful Escape: The Songs of The Posies Revisited’, a sprawling triple-disc Posies tribute album containing a whole bunch of artistes you’ve likely never heard of, bar Ken Stringfellow, Joe Skyward and Jon Auer (that’s not at all arrogant to contribute tracks to a tribute release for your own band, is it chaps? [/sarchasm]).

For their debut full-length ‘The Striped Album’, The Genuine Fakes have created something which fuses that love of The Posies with Fountains of Wayne and a touch of Weezer, ensuring a listen which is not short on memorable hooks.

After an intro name-checking the band (an approach which reminded me of Mike Viola’s release with The Major Labels, at least in concept if not delivery), ‘The Promise’ lays most of The Genuine Fakes’ cards on the table straight away. The guitars create a wall of sound which is very Posies influenced; during the verses, Joey Fake’s crystal clear, slightly sugary vocal gets time in the spotlight, coupled with Morty Fake’s lively bass. If there’s anything which sets The Genuine Fakes apart from their similar sounding influences and contemporaries here, it’s the accompaniment from Tommy Fake, whose organ work has a slightly old fashioned quality. ‘Something New’ follows suit featuring huge jangly guitars, upfront bass and slabs of organ. Under a busy arrangement, it’s worth keeping a close ear on Morty – his bass work is very intricate, providing The Genuine Fakes with a necessary quirkiness under their otherwise fairly unrelenting wall of sound approach.

‘When Reality Hits You’ is a little simpler. A big drum sound drum sound drives the verses, but it’s the hooky chorus which aims to pull you in with multi-layered backing vocals which occasionally hint at ELO (never fashionable, I know, but power pop wouldn’t be the same without them!). Vocally, the call and response style chorus of ‘I Don’t Want It’ provides a standout moment – it certainly highlights the band’s knack for hooks, even if their arrangements can be a little full on.

After a typically crashy intro, ‘C’mon Linda’ has a spiky quality where Johnny Fake’s drumming is uncomplicated, but works well against Joey’s accompanying chords. The verses, in this respect, seem quite spacious compared to some of the band’s material, but once with multi-tracked rhythm guitars kick in on the chorus and bridge sections, they revert back to their not-so-subtle approach. As you may expect, the end result is still rather more Posies-meets-Weezer than Jellyfish or Silver Sun, but it’s certainly one of the band’s best numbers. The sugary qualities and unashamed woo-hoo’s present throughout ‘Star’ really drive home the classic power pop influences in The Genuine Fakes’ sound. The chorus harmonies are tight, the drums are solid (occasionally the cymbals are a little overdone, but there are enough layers and hooks here to distract you from those) and the swirls of keyboards have a sense of urgency.

‘Whatever Comes Your Way’ – the six minute epic which closes the album – captures The Genuine Fakes in a slightly more restrained mood. The jangly elements are still up front, but it’s all a little more relaxed (at least to begin with). For the closing instrumental part of the song, the crashing cymbals make their timely return, coupled with chiming guitars and another slab of organ (For those paying attention, you’ll spot this as being the same piece of music which provides ‘The Genuine Fakes’ intro). If there’s a slight downside to ‘The Striped Album’, it would be the lack of variety within the material – most of it comes at full pelt with little respite from the chiming guitars and crashing drums. However, listening to each song individually, there are absolutely no weak numbers here.

If the promise of catchy hooks thrown against a wall of sound is just not enough for you, ‘The Striped Album’ also includes a brilliant cover tune: Beyoncé’s ‘Irreplaceable’ appears in a great power pop arrangement. Morty Fake’s bouncy, upfront bassline provides a musical high point, while the vocals on the chorus are superb, making for a very infectious performance – and one which runs rings around the empty, mechanical approach of the original.

If you’re a fan of Fountains of Wayne, The Posies, ‘Be a Girl and ‘Bagsy Me’ era Wannadies or other similar types of jangly pop/rock, check out The Genuine Fakes – despite its lack of subtleties, ‘The Striped Album’ should appeal.

October 2010

UB40 – Signing Off

Posted on October 29, 2010 by Real Gone

In most people’s minds, UB40 represent the most easy listening aspect of reggae music. Often derided for being lightweight, they were once a band with a serious edge and strong political bias. It’s sometimes hard to believe they would have once been contemporaries of The Clash and Steel Pulse, but back in the early 80s, they were eight men from Birmingham delivering a serious message. In September 1980, UB40 released their debut album, ‘Signing Off’, a hard-hitting mix of politics and classic style reggae, faultlessly produced by Bob Lamb with Ray ‘Pablo’ Falconer.

Its intense political stance is present from the opening track, ‘Tyler’ (arguably one of the angriest songs the band has written), concerning the mistrial of Gary Tyler, a young black youth sentenced to life in prison – a sentence given after an appeal was made against his original death sentence. Most of UB40’s tougher elements are present in this song: Earl Falconer’s bass line is uncompromising and upfront, Brian Travers’ sax carries weight without losing any soulfulness, Ali Campbell’s vocal performance brings a great amount of passion and Robin Campbell’s rhythm guitar parts are suitably spiky. During the song’s mid section, Jim Brown lays down a marching drum rhythm, while Norman Hassan joins on percussion (in this case, I’m sure it involves milk bottles) while Earl and Robin’s bass and guitar parts incorporate dub reggae elements. If Astro, their second vocalist and sometime trumpet wielding Rastafarian, had a lead part here, all of UB40’s best strengths would have been on show. All in all, ‘Tyler’ is a very impressive opening number.

Also home to equally powerful political messages, ‘Burden of Shame’ is another bitterly angry piece concerning Britain being supportive of colonizing and ‘Little By Little’ carries a heavy handed message of rich versus poor – which was almost certainly a swipe at the then new Tory government helping fill the bellies and pockets of the rich. During this track, Jim Brown’s drum part provides a high point with excellent use of hi-hat and a groove which compliments Earl Falconer’s bass very well. (Interestingly, despite being a reasonable drummer, Brown chose to use drum machines and programming in the studio from 1984 onward, a technique he would favour through the rest of that decade and beyond).

Perhaps the album’s best known track, ‘Food For Thought’ provides a good example of where UB40 stood musically in the early part of their career. Ali Campbell’s vocals are natural sounding and distinctive, but it’s the combination of solid bass playing from Earl Falconer and a memorable sax arrangement by Brian Travers which give it lasting appeal. Once again, it’s a piece with another hard-hitting message; in this case, concerning suffering caused by famine. ‘King’ (released as a double A-side with ‘Food For Thought’) features a heavyweight message about racial equality; musically the piece’s main musical refrain comes from Brian Travers on the sax, but most of its sharper-edged moments come from Mickey Virtue’s staccato keyboard work.

The album’s intense politics are balanced out by some lighter material. During a cover of Randy Newman’s ‘I Think It’s Going To Rain Today’, UB40 reggae chops give the song a new bouce to which it is well suited and Ali’s vocal is one of his best here. ’12 Bar’ has a light and summery feel – influenced by the late sixties reggae and ska released on the Trojan record label – during which Astro lends some vocal assistance, though his delivery is almost incomprehensible.

There are also three instrumentals featured: ‘25%’ hits upon a slow groove by Jim Brown and Earl Falconer but it’s most memorable feature, once again, is the sax playing a simple but effective tune. Likewise, ‘Adella’ focuses on Travers’s sax, but it’s a little gentler than the other instrumentals. The sax has a bit more of an easy listening tone, but if you can listen beyond that, you’ll spot Virtue’s echoing keyboard rhythms adding depth and Falconer’s bass work has a great flow. Lastly, the title cut provides a decent mix of Norman Hassan’s percussion and an almost dub style bass line by Falconer. It’s a fantastic end piece for the album and once you’ve included a unobtrusive keyboard solo by Mickey Virtue, a sax solo by Travers and a guitar solo by Robin Campbell – with an unexpected jazz tone – it becomes a great showcase for each of the musicians.

Original pressings of the LP came with a bonus 12” single (the three songs from which are included on all CD pressings as bonus tracks). One of the tracks, ‘Reefer Madness’, is a fun but otherwise forgettable instrumental. However, the other two tracks are indispensable. A cover of Billie Holliday’s ‘Strange Fruit’ is given a well-structured reggae makeover, while ‘Madam Medusa’ (another original UB40 composition) combines scathing anti-Thatcher lyrics with elements of dub music and features fantastic vocal performances from both Ali and Astro.

A 2010 re-issue of ‘Signing Off’ contains a bonus CD featuring the three tracks from the original bonus 12”, plus 12” versions of ‘The Earth Dies Screaming’, ‘My Way of Thinking’ and ‘Dream A Lie’, all of which were featured on the 1985 compilation ‘The UB40 File’. Also included are the 12” version of ‘I Think It’s Going To Rain Today’ plus previously unavailable BBC sessions recorded for John Peel and Kid Jensen. A bonus DVD features each of the 1980 promotional clips for the singles releases, plus a ‘Top of the Pops’ appearance and the complete ‘Rock Goes To College’ set (both recorded for the BBC and available for the first time as part of a sell-through release).

UB40 followed ‘Signing Off’ the following year with ‘Present Arms’, an album which gained them increased popularity through the angry hit ‘One In Ten’. In many ways, it’s a better album than ‘Signing Off’ since it has a tighter structure – the well-crafted songs aren’t padded out by instrumental numbers (a companion release ‘Present Arms In Dub’ was also issued in 1981, which featured excellent dub reconstructions of the album, which further highlighted UB40 as being a really tight musical unit). For those wishing to check out the band at their most edgy, ‘Present Arms’ is also an essential purchase.

It’s become easy to sneer at UB40. Four years into their career, they took the easy route and recorded an album featuring cover versions of (mostly) old reggae hits. This would make them even more popular, and from that point on, their albums became more commercial. While their albums released during the remainder of the 1980s would occasionally feature songs with social and political messages, there was an increasing focus on feel-good pop-reggae with hummable tunes. Despite these later faults, it needs to be remembered that ‘Signing Off’ is a fantastic debut album, even though couple of the instrumental numbers feel rather like filler material. It is, perhaps, one of the most important debut releases by a British band.

[A 2008 release, ‘Live at The Venue’, recorded a few months before the release of ‘Signing Off’, is also essential listening for fans of UB40’s earliest work]

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UPDATE: A message from UB40 drummer Jim Brown written in November 2010 to Real Gone, explaining the change in drum sound:

“OK. Let’s put this one to rest. I know I get some stick for using machines, but it’s a bit like shooting the messenger.

The reason I used machines in the second half of the eighties and onwards was simple. That’s where the music went. Reggae didn’t stop in the seventies. It continued to develop. As studio sequencing developed it was adopted very quickly by Jamaican producers. From the eighties onwards almost everything made in JA was made that way. Classic reggae tunes like John Holt’s Roumers of war, most of the output of crooners like Berris Hammond and all of Stevie and Cleevey’s output [which dominated reggae for years and gave birth to dancehall].

We didn’t stop listening to reggae when we started the band. And we weren’t a nostalgia band just sticking to one era. I was just doing what my heroes were doing. Never felt like cheating because I had to reproduce the sound live, and I’m not a machine. So, in a way, I was making my own life harder having to reproduce a machine style. Every other reggae record used machines, so why shouldn’t we? We were following the development of the music, just like we did in the seventies.”

March 2010/October 2010

STRANGEWAYS – Perfect World

Posted on October 27, 2010 by Real Gone

When the news came in early 2010 that vocalist Terry Brock was to re-join Strangeways, AOR fans were given a rather good reason to get excited. Brock’s previous releases with the band (1987’s ‘Native Sons’ and 1989’s ‘Walk In The Fire’) are considered cult classics and are maybe two of the finest examples of the genre (Kerrang! Magazine, in fact, voted the former one of the greatest AOR albums of all time, back when they cared about such things). After Brock’s departure, Strangeways carried on, with guitarist Ian Stewart taking on the role of vocalist in addition to his usual guitar based duties.

The next Strangeways releases (1994’s ‘And The Horse’ and 1997’s ‘Any Day Now’) moved away from the classic sounding AOR of the Brock years, opting for a voyage further into pomp and prog, with Stewart’s wandering guitar work becoming far more of a feature. Although the change in direction alienated some of the previous Strangeways fans, both albums are great in their field. Another album, ‘Gravitational Pull’ followed at the turn of the millennium, but still, most fans hankered after that “classic” approach to song writing and the stadium rock sound at which Strangeways had excelled in the late 80s.

In theory, Brock’s return should have brought with it a great album, especially considering the strength of his 2010 solo release ‘Diamond Blue’. Sadly, with ‘Perfect World’, this isn’t the case. Some of the songs may be well constructed, but the album is so poorly recorded it makes it really hard to tell. The vocals are okay, but the rest of the band sound like they’re in another room. The drums are so quiet they barely exist, while Ian Stewart’s guitar work sounds almost woolly. Imagine something which sounds like you’re listening to your stereo while wearing ear-plugs. Even through great speakers it’s a sonic disaster…

Attempting to pick out any separation between the instruments is almost impossible, but it sounds as if the atmospheric ‘Crackin’ Up Baby’ finishes with a corker of a guitar solo (the kind Stewart filled the later Strangeways albums with), but it sounds like it was recorded underwater. ‘Liberty’ features a reasonably big chorus and a good performance from Brock, but the end result is compressed to absolute fuck. In ‘One More Day’ you have what should have been a classic mid-paced power ballad, but the (lack of) production values means it’s reduced to a plodding mess. As for the rockier numbers ‘Movin’ On’ and ‘Bushfire’, they’re no better. ‘Bushfire’ in particular is the audio equivalent of wading through treacle for a particularly uninspiring six minutes. It’s all fuzzy noise and no edge.

Faced with such an appalling audio experience, as a listener, you’ll find any decent moments to be heard are almost completely lost in the swamp and attempting to pick out many standout moments seems like a waste of time. As one of the cult classic melodic rock bands, Strangeways deserves much better treatment than this. And frankly, being one of the best known AOR/melodic rock labels, Frontiers Records really needs to stop releasing demo quality material and passing it off as a finished product.

If you wanted a return to ‘Native Sons’ and ‘Walk In The Fire’ territory, honestly, you won’t get that here. Pick up Terry Brock’s ‘Diamond Blue’ instead: not only does it feature great songs, but it features a production value approximating something this kind of rock music deserves.

October 2010