Take the Trip

  • Artist: All Them Witches
  • Title: Lightning At The Door
  • Released: 2013, re-released 2015
  • Format: 180g Vinyl + Digital Download (FLAC)
  • Genre: Psych Rock
  • Beverage of Choice: Sazerac

Another example of music having immediate impact and a long-lasting impression on me; in 2015 I attended a show at my favorite small venue, The Belly Up in Solana Beach. Headlined by The Sword (possibly a review subject in future as I love their music and have all their albums), the opener slot was given to ATW and I was floored by their authentic sound, cohesiveness, 70’s throwback looks and amazing groove. They played a short set that threatened to blow the other acts off the stage and I could have listened to them all night.

Originally a quartet and now a three-piece, ATW are Nashville-based with a stoner rock aesthetic but their sound is definitely their own; bluesy, heavy, powerful and yet intimate. Their style will be familiar to those of you who grew up listening to 70’s heavy rock bands and other artists that took an experimental route and widened the narrow confines of what was expected from musicians at the time; bands like The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Sabbath, Ten Years After, Hendrix as well as blues practitioners like Junior Kimbrough and Dr. John. Familiar, but not without surprises; ATW pay respect to the past but are firmly anchored in the present with a sound and aesthetic totally their own, they are truly creative in process as well as end-result.

As you engage with this album, note how absolutely tight the playing is with ridiculous levels of talent and craftsmanship on display. The songs are beautifully constructed in a way to take you out of your current state of being and float you onto another planet entirely; emotionally resonant and satisfying in the way they resolve and echo around a theme. This is music built on contrasts; light/shadow, soft/loud and twists and turns. Also pay attention to the consistently excellent drumming of Robby Staebler; just like John Bonham did for Led Zep, while being the driving force for the music, Staebler provides space for the band to play into; not just keeping time but constructing a framework for creative expression and movement. At the risk of being redundant, listen to the percussion!

The album opens with a slow atmospheric build on “Funeral for a Great Drunken Bird” , a chugging tempo and riff and then lead guitar breaks out and sets the tone for the next hour of aural pleasure.

“When God Comes Back” is very reminiscent of Zeppelin’s own “Black Dog” cut on ‘Led Zeppelin IV’ with a call and response structure; the a cappella vocal line and then absolutely huge riff in reply will have you nodding your head and tapping your toes right away. Thereafter the chord progressions and echoey vocals take some unexpected turns leading to a Black Sabbath-style solo to close the track the way it started. If you at all like rock music, this is going to make you smile.

All Them Witches’ sound is unusually well-suited to vinyl (especially the excellent heavy-weight re-release on New West Records) but I realize that most (if not all) of you will listen to a digital stream and it’s not a problem; the ambiance will still present itself like a sonic comforter wrapped around your head inducing feelings of bliss and, if you let it, an altered state of mind.

My favorite track on the album is “The Marriage of Coyote Women“. Bluesy, supremely heavy and atmospheric. The selection and mix of instruments is perfect; bass and harmonica lead out to guitar weaving through the layers along with electric piano (unfortunately keyboardist Jonathan Draper left the group in October 2018 and I miss his sound-shaping and phrasing on ATW’s later albums.) Regardless of my preferences, every track on this album offers its own rewards; “Swallowed by the Sea” is hypnotic with a massive, crushing riff; “Charles William” mixes traditional folk lines with freak-out heavy rock; “The Death of Coyote Woman” picks up the refrain from “Marriage” and explores further songlines in a Hendrix-like manner, soothing and pounding, resonating and lulling to an extended fugue-like instrumental conclusion (listening to the interplay between guitar, drums and bass is a music lesson at the highest level). “Romany Dagger” is another track with a traditional/folksy feel similar to some of the explorations from The Beatles and Led Zeppelin with great depth and breadth of musical skill stamping the band’s signature all over the song. The album ends, fittingly, with an all-out instrumental stomp on “Surface to Air Whistle” demonstrating yet again the tightness and paradoxical looseness of the band; add a great mix and remarkable musicianship for an exceptional offering.

All Them Witches offer a new generation of rock-lovers (and some of us veterans) an homage to the past while staying current and relevant. Catch them live if you can, especially in a smaller venue where you can get close and immersed in the incredible energy, soul and sheer joy to be found in great music played well.

Heavy and Blue

  • Artist: Buddy Guy
  • Title: Sweet Tea
  • Released: 2001
  • Format: CD
  • Genre: Blues
  • Beverage of Choice: Crown Royal

The first thing Buddy Guy wants us to know on this seriously heavy blues album is that he’s a ‘very old man’. Well, he was 64 years old at the time the recording was done and is still going strong 19 years later so I’m not sure what he thinks about his age now! What I can tell you in his stead is that I’ve had the privilege and pleasure of seeing Buddy live several times and he never really ages. Two of those shows were at his own ‘Legends‘ blues club downtown Chicago on Wabash. It’s always a party at Legends but, when Buddy is in town, it’s an absolutely blast. He’s not just a great bluesman but a fantastic showman and entertainer as well with a naughty twinkle in his eye and a swagger all of his own.

Sometimes this showmanship has translated to his recorded music being , to my ear, over-produced in the studio, losing some of the raw, direct and unfiltered power of his guitar shredding prowess. Buddy is, however, a legend and he proves it on this record of electric blues covers and specifically his idiosyncratic takes of Junior Kimbrough songs.

“Done Got Old” is the most intimate, up-close vocal recording Buddy has ever made; simple acoustic guitar blues riff and zero-effects voice make for an affecting and plaintive tug on the heart. Listen carefully for breaths, lip-smacks and apparent weariness in his delivery. Buddy complains about being old and used-up and then spends the next hour or so entirely disabusing us of any such notion.

“Baby Please Don’t Leave Me” is given a massive, fuzzy guitar treatment with Buddy’s voice soaring and wailing from a distance; the overall effect is searing. Some overdubs here on the guitar solos only enhance the depth and incredible ‘heaviness’ of the sound – my favorite Buddy Guy cover song of all time.

The rest of this amazing album follows suit; a solid foundation of drums, bass and rhythm provide Buddy a platform to show off his virtuoso blues skills. The guitar roars, wails, spits, snarls, howls, weeps, gnashes it’s teeth and totally dominates the set. This is as close to experiencing Buddy live as you can get without actually being there. In concert, he wanders about the club, saying hi to folks between explosions of hugely satisfying guitar solos and when I listen to Sweet Tea I can see him strut his stuff in my mind.

Lyrically, this album is all about ‘the ladies’. Buddy has an eye for the fairer sex and centers much of the album around his relationships with women. He implores his girl to ‘stay all night’ and not leave him even though he’s ‘done got old’ and she has ‘the devil in her’. He’s a ‘tramp’ so he’s ‘gotta try’ the girl while asking her ‘who’s been fooling you’ and warning her ‘it’s a jungle out there’. The blues philosophy is to keep it simple and let the music do the talking so don’t look for any intellectual symbolism here, just connect to the emotions on display; heartbreak, desire, world-weariness, pride and sorrow.

“I Gotta Try You Girl” is another Junior Kimbrough cover that blows the roof off the club. A slow fade up on the band playing live in the studio and then guitar licks, perfectly phrased and paced, burst across the soundscape – 12 minutes of blues heaven. All credit to the producer/engineer on the album, Dennis Herring, for letting Buddy and his music speak for themselves; it seems the approach was “mike him up and let him play, we’ll fix it in post”. I appreciate this so much, it lets the immediacy, intimacy and live feel of the music bust out of the studio and into your ears without any lipstick or eye shadow needed; select some good headphones for this one and crank it up loud for an hour of Buddy Guy as he should always be heard.

Buddy is on tour this year starting at the end of February and hitting 40 venues across the USA and Canada. If you haven’t yet seen the man, the legend, up close, take the opportunity to do it now if you can – after all he’s “done got old”.

Trumpeting Change

  • Artist: The Waterboys
  • Title: This is the Sea
  • Released: 1985
  • Format: Original Vinyl + 2004 Remastered CD
  • Genre: Alternative Rock
  • Beverage of Choice: Hendricks Gin and Tonic

Smack-dab in the middle of a decade often derided as musically bereft of value, among the Howard Jones, Kenny G, Michael Bolton, Falco and David Hasselhoff offerings, there was some great music to be heard. A surprising mix of old and new talent released classic albums in 1985 (Tears for Fears’ “Songs From the Big Chair”, Eurythmics’ “Be Yourself Tonight”, Dire Straits’ “Brothers in Arms” and Kate Bush’s “Hounds of Love” come to mind) and this masterclass in sonic layering should be numbered among them.

The Waterboys, founded by (and really inseparable from) Mike Scott had released two albums (“The Waterboys” – 1983 and “A Pagan Place” – 1984) to some critical acclaim but not a huge amount of public success. I’d bought both albums on vinyl as they were released and found them to be musically interesting, soulful and uplifting but somewhat inconsistent in tone and pacing. This album changed all of that; the last hurrah of Scott’s ‘Big Music’ phase, “This is the Sea” is grand in scope and elegiac in content, heralding not only a change in direction for the band but also their country, relationships and souls.

Mike Scott’s artistic control over the project results in an aural landscape that is immediately recognizable and distinctive (somewhat like Phil Spector’s ‘Wall of Sound’). Layer upon layer of instrument, vocals and background create a dense tapestry upon which to weave threads of lyrical silver and gold; ‘poetic’ is often over-used when it comes to popular art but there is no other description for this work. Rich symbolism (“The Whole of the Moon“), spiritual introspection (“Spirit“) and political comment (“Old England“) characterizes this record’s great beauty and connects directly to my soul.

This is a piano-driven set with a wide variety of brass, strings, percussion and electronic instruments making up the sonic layers, leaving very few spaces in the music. It all works together, bringing Scott’s vocals into relief against the backdrop of sound. To my ears, he sometimes sounds like Bono, high register ‘whoo-hoo’s and a Celtic intonation here and there (although Scott is, well, Scots, and Bono is from Ireland). Just listening to the trumpet intro to the album on “Don’t Bang the Drum” lifts my mood and makes me smile now, knowing the joy and satisfaction to come.

A quick note on the recordings: my original 35 year old vinyl has held up pretty well (with the inevitable pops and crackles) but I recommend the CD Remaster as the mix has been clarified and the aural landscape better painted and navigated for the listener. Playing through a set of large speakers lets one experience the full grand scale of the music with a high and wide sound stage but listening through good headphones will provide the nuance and subtle background shading and changes to full effect. Try both!

There are a number of small flourishes and subtle touches that enliven the songs and make them even more satisfying (listen closely to the fills on “The Whole of the Moon”) and Scott’s passionate vocals are doubled and backed to create a choir-like effect; trumpets ring and cascade to a background of “la la la’s” that caress the ear and then rise through the mix. The overall effect is joyful and uplifting.

I defy you to listen to “Trumpets” without being moved by lyrics and music. A simple driving rhythm of piano and free-flowing sax with layers of synth (I’m guessing xylophone patch) and vocal layers create a wonderful connection to the singer and his emotions. I would give a lot to be able to write poetry (and music) that resonate with so much warmth, directness and depth of feeling.

Listen for all the small gifts and surprises contained in this album, you won’t regret the time spent, I promise you.

“And to be with you
Is to find myself in the best of dreams”.

Crazy Talented

  • Artist: Joan Osborne
  • Title: Relish
  • Released: 1995
  • Format: CD
  • Genre: Folk/Pop/Rock
  • Beverage of Choice: Top Shelf Margarita

It’s not often that I remember exactly where I was or what I was doing the first time I hear a particular song or record. In this case however I can easily recall and picture the circumstances; I’d flown from Johannesburg to Cape Town in late 1995 to meet with my business colleagues and, after a long day in the office, one of the team offered me a ride to my hotel. As he started up the car, the first track on this album, “St. Teresa“, spun up on CD really loud, and I was totally blown away by Joan Osborne‘s presence. She was right there in the car with us, singing directly to my mind and heart. I asked him to stop at a local music store and bought the album right there and then.

This is unusual for me as I normally spend time considering alternatives before I spend money on (yet another) record. I’ve never regretted the purchase though as the music has repaid the cost in many multiples of pleasure over the past twenty-five years. The other notable thing that made the event unusual is that in 1995 I had Alanis Morissette’s “Jagged Little Pill” , Tricky’s “Maxinquaye”, PJ Harvey’s “To Bring You My Love” and Smashing Pumpkin’s “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” on heavy rotation along with the regular metal, rock, blues and alternative CDs that were always playing on the car and home systems. (Remember, CDs were still a thing, no streaming yet!) I had mentally written off Relish as ‘pop’ (i.e. beneath contempt) due to the success of arguably the least interesting song on the album “One of Us“. Undeniably catchy, the song charted at #1 in many countries and #2 on the Billboard Mainstream Top 40. Well, I was wrong and not for the first (or last time) when it comes to the record.

The album ended up being nominated for Album of the Year as well as Best New Artist for Osborne. All for a very good reason; she is an amazing talent. As part of a seasoned songwriting team, at 33 years old, Osborne had a strong hand in directing her own artistic vision. And, that voice. Only a handful of female vocalists leap out from a recording like she does; Aretha, Adele, Amy Winehouse and Janis Joplin come to mind when I hear her sing and, in my opinion, Osborne holds her own in such illustrious company.

A lot of credit for the overall quality of the album must go to producer Rick Chertoff; the arrangements are extremely satisfying with great musical cohesion and clarity. The mix is clear and crisp with an overall tightness and balance that enhances the listening experience without calling attention to itself. Instrumentation includes mandolin, sax, harmonica, electric piano, acoustic and electric guitar, my beloved Hammond organ, percussion and fiddle – all the right ingredients for a set that has such an eclectic mix of styles. (Compare “Dracula Moon”, “Lumina” and “Spider Web”).

Osborn also clearly benefited from a core team of session musicians that were all recognized and at the top of their game. Eric Bazilian (who wrote “One of Us”) and Rob Hyman were both members of the Hooters, Mark Egan had contributed to hundreds of recordings by playing bass and trumpet, and Andy Kravitz on drums is also a multi Grammy-winning artist. This core group co-wrote most of the songs with Osborne; there are two covers on the album (Dylan’s “Man in the Long Black Coat” and Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Help Me“) and they serve to highlight Osborne and the group’s range and musical dexterity.

Now to my favorite song in all of Osborne’s catalog, and it’s one that she wrote solo – “Crazy Baby”. At 6:33 it’s not only the longest song on the set but, in my opinion, the most tightly focused on her voice as an instrument. Her passionate delivery keens and moans, pleading with the subject (lover/friend/self?) to ‘hold on tight’; it soars and flexes, wrapping itself around the wonderful combination and phrasing of electric piano and guitar. I’ve probably played this song a few hundred times and I get goosebumps every time I hear Osborne’s voice get ragged in the ultimate chorus singing ‘the light, the light’ over and over, urging a broken and desperate listener to keep it together for one more night.

Invest an hour in this album and it will repay you with an honest, soulful and satisfying musicality that is becoming harder and harder to find in these digital times.

Perfect Percussion

  • Artist: Ben Harper
  • Title: Fight For Your Mind
  • Released: 1995
  • Format: 180g Vinyl (Double Album)
  • Genre: Singer Songwriter/Folk Rock/Rock
  • Beverage of Choice: Voodoo Ranger Imperial IPA

Los Angeles native Ben Harper personifies the cool associated with the world’s entertainment hub. On the other hand, his humility and lyrical openness nullify the negative aspects of that association, putting him, artistically and musically , in a class of his own.

Nowadays Harper is phenomenally successful, with a large fan base and recognizable brand. His body of work encompasses a quarter-century of consistent effort and critical acclaim. But, in 1995, he was just another singer-songwriter trying to break into an industry that typically looks first to marketability and only then to talent. Turns out, talent wins every time – look no further for evidence than Ben’s multiple Grammy awards.

Harper’s sophomore release is arguably his most focused, consistent and intense. At it’s core, ‘Fight for Your Mind’ is a percussive marvel, built on tabla, tambourine, snare, cymbal, bells and groove. Adding piano for space, and, one of my favorite instruments, Hammond organ, (on “By My Side“), only adds to the distinctive sound and energy of the record. Harper is a virtuoso on lap steel, his favorite weapon being an original hand-made Weissenborn from the 1920’s. In my opinion, you can experience one of his most brilliant and effective solos on “God Fearing Man“.

Harper’s deceptively simple acoustic guitar riffs were the inspiration for me purchasing a Taylor 610 CE and a learning to (note by note) timidly reconstruct the intro to “Power of the Gospel“, “Another Lonely Day” and “Number Three” (from the followup album ‘Will to Live’). The guitar is a counterpoint to percussion but, at times, is also used as a percussive instrument adding to the tight rhythms of the record.

Lyrically, Harper explores themes ranging from simple introspection to social consciousness and ultimately an overall spiritually pervades his work. Some of his most directly personal work reference his relationship to God, faith and reverence (“Ground on Down” is a prime example).

Harper’s vocal delivery is at first restrained, even hushed at times, and then, by multiples unleashed with emotion unchecked, his voice sometimes cracking with the sheer intensity of delivery. (Check out “Please Bleed” on ‘Live from Mars’ and “Fight For Your Mind”). I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t claim to any operatic aspirations (in a recent interview Harper said (paraphrased) that “he would be thrown off American Idol immediately”) but his delivery works perfectly in context of the range and tonality of his voice. The authenticity, emotional intensity and passion of his vision punch through the recording wall on this album.

The arrangements and spacial depth on these songs provide a perfect backdrop to the vocals- forward mix on the album. Perversely, my favorite track has no percussion at all but replaces all the riffs with strings and unfiltered vocal. It’s now incumbent on you to listen and figure out which song it is; comment below and the first correct response wins. And, if you’re wrong, you still win because you’ve just listened to a modern classic. ‘Fight For Your Mind’ is best experienced through a good set of bass-rich speakers at full volume.

Love and Loss

  • Artist: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
  • Title: Ghosteen
  • Released: 2019
  • Format: FLAC Digital
  • Genre: Alternative
  • Beverage of Choice: Coffee

Nick Cave has been recording for almost as long as I’ve been listening to music although I only discovered the distinctive tonality and resonance of his songs in 1996 with the release of ‘Murder Ballads’. His long career has been marked by a singular vision of poetic experimentation with exquisite artistry and lush arrangement on some songs (‘Straight to You‘ from Henry’s Dream) to profane and raucous chaos on others (‘No Pussy Blues‘ on the Grinderman album.

Cave is primarily a poet, painting word pictures and draping them in chorus and melody. Sometimes jagged and inaccessible, sometimes direct and, I dare say it, danceable; once you’ve heard a Nick Cave song, you’ll always be able to identify his work in future.

Ghosteen represents not so much a change in direction but more of a sharpening and focusing of Cave’s aesthetic, vulnerability on display. The common themes he has explored over the years (religion, love, death, violence, loss) are all to be found in this latest release but ‘on steroids’ , intensely personal, emotionally draining and wrapped in the context of the unexpected and sudden death of Arthur Cave, Nick’s 15-year-old son in 2015.

These are love songs poured out from a broken heart, braided through with loss and longing. The arrangements are sparse (spacey/ethereal keyboards, piano, muted percussion) yet at the same time lush and achingly beautiful with Cave’s usually gruff baritone softened, ranging wider and higher than previously heard and harmonizing with choir-like background vocals.

Now this may all sound kinda depressing and overwrought; but I found the opposite to be true; I am stirred by his authenticity and aesthetic and take solace in his using even the most difficult events and circumstances in his life to connect to an audience. Even in his pain, there is hope for the future. “Sometimes a little bit of faith can go a long, long way”.

Carve out an hour or so in your busy life, plug in a good set of headphones to your phone/tablet/device of choice and truly connect to this music, it won’t leave you wanting.

Start here!

I don’t know anything about music. In my line you don’t have to.

— Elvis Presley.

My love affair with music is now in its fifth decade. Not just listening to tunes but thinking about, reading about, discussing and collecting music is a major part of who I am. As a music ‘consumer’ for so long it’s a new and somewhat scary notion that I could contribute to the experience and knowledge of others (music lovers or those simply bored enough to read this blog) through written reviews.

The intention of this blog is to connect you with music that has been meaningful to me in some way, resonated with my soul and increased my understanding of what it is to be human.

There is no rating system implied in the records I’ll select for review. In fact, some of the albums I love the most will not be represented here because either they’ve been reviewed so many times (Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors and the entire Beatles catalog) or I have nothing to add to the conversation around them as they’ve been reviewed by folks much smarter than me (this ain’t no Pitchfork). However, I reserve the right to break my own rules; it’s my party and I’ll act like a fool if I want.

You’ll find a fairly wide variety of musical genres included, from introspective singer/songwriter to straightforward pop/rock, from loud and obnoxious/anti-social metal all the way to classical and jazz.

As I write these entries, I’ll be thinking about a particular person I know that would benefit from listening to the record in review. It’ll remain my secret as to who that person is but, regardless, what I’d love for you to do is listen to these records in their entirety, end-to-end on whatever medium you prefer ( I guess Spotify, Amazon or Apple will be the most-used); engage with the music even if you hate it at first listen. I’ve missed (or delayed by years) many opportunities to discover a new favorite by dismissing music based on the genre or artist due to my own likes and dislikes. For example, I couldn’t even get through my first listen to Bjork’s “Debut” released in 1993. But something drew me back to the music and, after several spins (on CD) I started to appreciate her vision, aesthetic and artistry. I’ve listened to that record countless times and I now own and love all of Bjork’s albums.

This journey may meander and loop back on itself, I apologize in advance. By the end of it I truly hope that I might have influenced just ONE of you to change their mind or take a chance and experience a record, falling in love with it the way I have.

Comments are welcome! If my opinion irks you, keep it civil and I’ll do my best to respond.

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