MARCH 2012 PLAYLIST

The arrival of springtime brings with it a tidalwave of new music. Unfortunately as the land has turned to green once more and we've basked in some unusually early warmth, you need to shovel past the mass of summer festival pitching bland indie and club fodder to get to the good stuff but seek and you shall find. March has thrown up some exciting releases from, amongst others, a positively blooming Andrew Bird and an increasingly impressive Norah Jones. We've also found time to remember Earl Scruggs and Billy Strange on their passing and mix it in amongst our sumptuous stew of Rock, Folk, Blues, Jazz, Reggae and Soul from throughout the eras.

(I Know) I'm Losing You - ROD STEWART (from the album 'Every Picture Tells A Story', it seems incredible that his standards should fall so low by the end of the 70s, never to return either. What a shame too because Rod Stewart in the late 60s, early 70s, hungry for success but crucially hanging out with the right crowd, living and breathing the music, delivered an awe inspiring spell of creativity both solo and with The Faces; some essential British Rock albums that could effortlessly visit Folk, Soul and Blues, often on the same track) / Better Get Hit In Yo' Soul - CHARLES MINGUS / Primitive Girl - M. WARD (a taster from the forthcoming album seems to predict a comfortable maturity and passage towards a status as one of the pivotal singer-songwriters of this period in music)/ We Take Care Of Our Own - BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN (just like Neil Young with his 'Living With War' collection, it always seems to be the old guard who can sum up the times we live in most concisely and here the Boss is doing just that)/ Happy Pills - NORAH JONES / How Come - LITTLE BARRIE / Phantasmagoria Blues - MARK LANEGAN BAND / Ease Your Pain - JACKIE DeSHANNON / Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah - BOB B. SOXX & THE BLUE JEANS (an early Phil Spector production on which the distorted guitar solo of Billy Strange is an outstanding feature)/ Some Velvet Morning - NANCY SINATRA & LEE HAZLEWOOD (Billy Strange really made a mark with his magical psychedelic arrangement on this classic track)/ A Little Less Conversation - ELVIS PRESLEY (Billy Strange co-wrote this tune with Mac Davis for the film 'Live A Little Love A Little' and it's definitely one of the great tracks from Elvis's all too brief late 60s second wind)/ I Can't See Nobody - BEE GEES / Since You Broke My Heart - MASCOTS / You Got It - ETTA JAMES / In The Middle Of The Game (Don't Change The Play) - BETTY WRIGHT & THE ROOTS / Know It To See It - THE WEATHER STATION / Anyhow - LEONARD COHEN / The Nodder - SOFT MACHINE / Papa De Da Da - CHRIS BARBER AND HIS JAZZ BAND / I Won't Hurt You - THEE OH SEES / Hold It To The Fire - WHITE RABBITS / Standing Alone - THE WILDEBEESTS / 1941 - HARRY NILSSON / Love Is A Tricky Thing - JULIE FEENEY / Foggy Mountain Special - LESTER FLATT & EARL SCRUGGS (Earl Scruggs was a genius Banjo player whose thumb and three fingers on his right hand picked out Bluegrass tunes with impossible speed and intricacy and the man was no musical conservative either, losing some of his long standing audience at the age of 50 in the early 70s as he experimented with electrifed sound, a man whose sad departure this month came at the age of 88) / Bang Bang Bang - EILEN JEWELL / Danse Carribe - ANDREW BIRD / Too Far Gone - DONNIE ELBERT (I've been watching the Ronnie Wood show on TV and it's really a great show, actually built around his radio show but that's one of the enticing things as you're treated to fantastic shots of music fans just getting off on listening to music as the records play. One artist Ronnie exposed me to was Donnie Elbert and a quick skim through his back catalogue reveals quite an important, under the radar soul dude with an impossible high pitched voice, although that's not quite the case on this track) / Remember Me - JODIE MARIE / Ten Commandments - PRINCE BUSTER / Ice Cream Man - TOM WAITS / Those Days Have Gone - TRAFFIC SOUND / Move On Alone - JETHRO TULL / Home Again - MICHAEL KIWANUKA / Day Is Done - BRAD MEHLDAU / Roundalay - OSCAR PETERSON TRIO / Chocolate - TINDERSTICKS (I'll leave you with one of the greatest story songs to appear in recent times, from the new Tindersticks album. It needs following through to the end where you get the same kind of unexpected conclusion that worked so well on the Velvet Underground track 'The Gift')

Eclectic Warrior March 2012

LEONARD COHEN - Old Ideas

If you're inclined to call Cohen's music depressing because of it's ultra mellow sound then I'm probably not addressing you with this text. If you appreciate music on such a shallow, upbeat and fluffy of subject matter equates to good while slow, occasionally mournful and broad of content means bad, level then there's no hope for you anyway. I'd take songwriting with depth any day of the week over tossed off formulaic anthems built around a beat. Leonard has made a career out of taking his time with albums and won an adoring following who appreciate the care and attention to detail. He's given us a catalogue that, whilst generally slow, heavy duty and occasionally ponderous in tone, pushes the same emotional reflexes sparked by all the best poetry, drama and literature; heartache, familiarity, suspense, regret, humour, love, sorrow and wonder. That said, it's a hard sell to convince a non believer to kill the cliche when the opening track here deals with Leonard's own mortality. He meditates on "going home without my sorrow, going home sometime tomorrow, going home without this costume that I wore". It's a gorgeous opener and while clearly not a joyous subject matter, Leonard appears to have a resigned smile on his face and even sounds prepared to welcome the release of his "burden".

The sound on that opening number utilises a couple of other contentious elements around Leonard's production methods over the past 25 or so years. Firstly there's that keyboard and rhythm that some have likened to the cheapest Casio device with dialled-in presets you'd buy for an 8 year old. I will admit that there have been odd tracks over that period where that insult isn't a million miles away from fact but, in his defence, he's made a joke of the mechanical absurdity of it in concert (just check his exquisite comic timing and dry sense of fun on the 'Live In London' film) and I can't think of a single track that suffers from such a bold arrangement decision. I'd bet he's always known exactly what he's doing; presenting the composers own versions of his songs in such basic, budget friendly settings so to leave room for re-interpretation and fleshing out by others. It's worked too, just look what eventually happened to 'Hallelujah', both stripped back and vamped up by different performers resulting in both critical and commercial success. Besides, look back at his earliest recordings and it becomes clear that Leonard has always done this; those almost toneless nylon guitar strings on his first records also sounding like the instrument of a novice.

He's also been questioned over his more frequent use of female vocalists on albums, a tendency that has stepped up a little on the last three records. It's not uncommon for Leonard's ladies to take a whole verse without his participation while the man himself delivers in a style increasingly akin to a growling mantra. Again though, I'd argue that he has always done this and it often suits Leonard's core subject matter perfectly. Aside from the obvious benefit of a contrasting vocal texture to Leonard's low rasp limited in scale, the man loves to dig around the nuts and bolts of male and female co-existence. Here too I'd refer you back to his earliest recordings; think about 'So Long Marianne', a soothing female presence is never too far from Cohen's work, or indeed life! He simply knows how to play to his strengths, which in a couplet is lyrical composition, whilst retaining a keen awareness of his own musical limitations.

Still this album will stand out in the long run as a major part of his catalogue (a fairly cheap bit of praise really for if you look at his back catalogue it emerges that Cohen has never really suffered any real dip in form) because of a section of songs in the middle that more than any time since the 1970s recall his gentle guitar strumming sound. It's subtle at first, 'Darkness' introduces the section acoustically before opening out with keys and drums into a devastating study on living through end times. Next track and Leonard may be singing over soft electric keys but it's with a flare that recalls some of the drunken characterisation he brought to the table on 'New Skin For The Old Ceremony'. That song, 'Anyhow', is dripping with delightfully desperate lines like "even though you have to hate me could you hate me less?" Still it stands as a mere warm up for the knock out blow that is 'Crazy To Love You', a song on which he sings like he did right back at the start of his career over nothing more than a picked acoustic guitar pattern. In doing so is he trying to bring his catalogue full circle? If that is the case kudos must be handed out for his ability to still construct songs of such class and quality. Maybe this is what is meant by 'Old Ideas'? With Leonard Cohen the only idea you need to take on is to appreciate the substance of the songwriting and understand that the performance is always honest, without pretence. It's applicable to every single record he's ever made and this is indeed one of the finest.

Listen to the whole album here:

Leonard Cohen – Old Ideas

FEBRUARY 2012 PLAYLIST

February 2012 will be remembered as the month in which the music world lost Whitney Houston but two other lesser known, but no less worthy of mention, talents also passed and they bookend this months playlist:

Beware Of Young Girls - DORY PREVIN (Dory was married to Andre Previn who left her for Mia Farrow and the entire episode was laid bare in this devastatingly brilliant bitter ode, one of the finest moments in the career of a singer-songwriter who passed earlier this month) / Chem-Farmer - THEE OH SEES / Going Down To Liverpool - THE BANGLES / Slippin' Shoes - TINDERSTICKS (Stuart Staples has an incredible knack of coming up with at least one timeless moment of smoky pop perfection on every album, a tune that sounds like it must have been around for decades crafted by a master songsmith like Lee Hazlewood or Nilsson, not something brand new surely! On their latest album this is the one) / Just Like Everyone Else - FIELD MUSIC (I hear so much in Field Music that tells me they're listening to all the right stuff in the Prog field and there's so many elements to their sound that push the right buttons with me. On their latest effort it's Pink Floyd that shine through more than anyone else but somehow, it's not all gelling for me just yet. It's almost as if they're trying to squeeze in too much, good ideas are visited and then abandoned almost immediately as if fearing that the repeating of a hook for more than 20 seconds would represent some form of stagnation. But the best Prog always built it's musical journeys up around recurring themes and when Pink Floyd were at their best they were never short of a great pop moment or two. That's what I want to hear a little more of from Field Music, some cohesion to the experimentalism and with an almost out-and-out hit single-alike moment like this, there's still signs that they're worth sticking with for the long haul) / If I Had A Ticket - PHIL JONES & THE UNKNOWN BLUES / Venus - ANAIS MITCHELL (After the triumph that was 'Hadestown' this new release arrived with high expectations. Initially it's an album that doesn't grab the attention in quite the same way as the preceding Folk-Opera but given a little time, it slowly appears to be an album of some real class) / You'll Be Sorry - KITTY DAISY & LEWIS (I tried to book Kitty Daisy & Lewis to play a gig in Essex in February 2012, negotiations didn't even get going, no fees were discussed, their people just said "no". Still, you've got to love them) / Hollywould - BETTY WRIGHT & THE ROOTS / Problems - THE EVERLY BROTHERS (Here's a tip when pouring through musics back pages; look a bit closer at the years when nothing was supposed to have happened. In 1960 Rock'n'Roll had apparently died and the sixties hadn't really got started but, there were still plenty of great albums being released. 'The Fabulous Style Of The Everly Brothers' is one such album, the harmonious siblings never sounded so vital) / Go Your Way My Love - ANNE BRIGGS & BERT JANSCH / It Don't Bother Me - BERT JANSCH / A Woman Like You (Live) - PENTANGLE (A trio of fine Bert Jansch moments, it's not that I'm still mourning his passing exactly but more that the celebration of his lifes work isn't going to be over for me in a short space of time; don't be too surprised if Bert crops up a lot more in my playlists this year)/ Willow's Song - MAGNET (From the film 'The Wicker Man')/ Whispers Of Winter - JANE WEAVER / Handel-Harty 'The Water Music' Suite (a) Andante Espressivo (b) Allegro Deciso - HERBERT VON KARAJAN & BERLIN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA / Jackie-ing - THELONIOUS MONK / Nobody Loves You Like Me - ETTA JAMES / Monte Adentro - MONGO SANTAMARIA / Contusion - ZOE RAHMAN / Good Morning Blues - BILLY VERA & JUDY CLAY / Bleeding Muddy Water - MARK LANEGAN BAND / Crazy To Love You - LEONARD COHEN (For the first time in years Leonard has recorded a song that properly recalls his nylon string-strumming bedsit years sound and it's a rather fine thing too) / That's Where I'm Going - EILEN JEWELL / Love Can Fall A Long Way Down - THE BEAU BRUMMELS / Be There In Bells - THE PINES / Blood & Fire - NINEY (PJ Harvey fans take note of this one) / Makes You Beautiful - JACKIE DeSHANNON / Glove - FAMILY / Get It While You Can - HOWARD TATE (Not the original soul classic on Verve but still a beautiful piano version from a 1990s comeback album of the sadly departed Tate's signature moment)

http://open.spotify.com/user/definitelysound/playlist/1aqVUKq4MqVFUj8lO2lLor

NEW BREW 2012 #1 - WALK OFF THE EARTH, Somebody That I Used To Know

When it comes to the term Indie Band over the last five years or so I've normally lost interest before I've even heard a note. That is when it comes to UK Indie, that's certainly not been the case worldwide with the US in particular producing some great stuff just below, and occasionally alongside, the radar in the current period. Walk Off The Earth are a Canadian five piece writing some decent tunes of their own and seen below covering the Goyte song 'Somebody That I Used To Know'. It's a brilliant little film, featuring the whole band playing and singing around one guitar becoming one of those online hits that makes you realise what a wonderful attention grabbing tool for the real talent out there the internet really is. You can read a new interview with the band on the essential Vinyl District website at; http://www.thevinyldistrict.com/cleveland/2012/02/walk-off-the-earth-the-tvd-interview/

JANUARY 2012 PLAYLIST

In which the Essex Boy puts on his alter ego as the Eclectic Warrior...because this is how I like it...great music is just that whether it was recorded at the start of the last week or the dawn of the 20th century; from a 2 minute pop blast or a 20 minute orchestral excursion; a funky soul stomper proves the groove as does a raw blues pot boiler; wild excitement can be found from bop-head jazzers to primal garage rockers; brilliant songwriting can be found in old-age and new world folk and yessirr...most of all...when I'm listening to a track I don't necessarily want to hear exactly the same type of tune next up, I like a surprise but reserve the right to just occasionally yearn for the most utterly predictable tune to follow...the immediate thrill can sit side by side with lengthier, challenging pieces because I have an ear and an attention span and finally...I love to hear things I haven't heard before but this does not mean that I can't enjoy a few totally familiar big hit songs thrown into the mix as well...that's how I enjoy my music, maybe some of you can live with it that way too...

In the January 2012 Elclectic Warrior playlist we have:
Flying Saucer - LITTLE WALTER, Tell Mama - ETTA JAMES (arguably the late great Etta's best 45 on Chess), Please Love Me - B.B. KING, All I Got, SAUNDRA MALLETT, Au Font Du Lac - FEUFOLLET, Baby Don't You Know - KITTY DAISY & LEWIS, Throwin My Money Away - ROSCO GORDON (listen carefully to the offbeat left hand playing on Roscos piano, did this man invent Reggae?), Kool On - THE ROOTS, Closing Time - PIETA BROWN, Fare Thee Well Miss Carousel - TOWNES VAN ZANDT, Chickasaw County Child - BOBBIE GENTRY, Virgo Clowns - VAN MORRISON (for a man with a curmudgeonly reputation, no one does joyfulness quite like Van, hear him here singing of laughter filling the room without a trace of irony, wonderful stuff from a strangely overlooked album), Que Pasa (Trio Version) - HORACE SILVER, Spy (The Simonsound Remix) - LAURA J MARTIN, London Town - THE PRETTY THINGS, You Was Me - JONNY (a brilliant Scot-Welsh union from Gorkys Zygotic Mynci and Teenage Fanclub main men that maybe should have made an appearance in my top 20 albums of 2011), Little Girl Little Boy - ODYSSEY, Excerpt From A Teenage Opera - KEITH WEST, Dirty Harry - GORILLAZ (a brace of hit tunes with sing-a-long chorus parts that really work), Committed - ROY HARPER, The House Carpenter - CLARENCE ASHLEY (as found on the Harry Smith Anthology of American Folk Music), Rosary - MARISSA NADLER, The Snows - PENTANGLE (the legacy of Bert Jansch continues to linger and the thing about listening to lots of Pentangle is, their own varied tastes will push you back to artists like our next track...), Better Git It In Your Soul - CHARLES MINGUS, Old Stack O Lee Blues - SIDNEY BECHET (you'll be surprised to find how many of those early Jazz standards were nailed the best, with simple effortless clarity, by the wonderful Sidney Bechet), I'm Still Here - TOM WAITS (I've a feeling that 2012 might be a big Tom Waits year for me, I was drawn back to the beauty of this track after hearing David Gilmour talking about it on Desert Island Discs), Schubert: String Quartet No.12 in C minor D.703 'Quartettsatz' Allegro assai - HAGEN QUARTETT

http://open.spotify.com/user/definitelysound/playlist/1By8XiBZGoY4I5EoGnRHG6

2011 MUSIC TV PLAYLIST

I'm a little late off the blocks with this one I know but it's a fine hour and a half of music TV (well at least it is if you have any time for the Essex Boy Review albums of the year feature!) It includes my favourite live TV music moment of the year; the McCoy Tyner over-run on a live edition of Later with Jools Holland. It's not just the fact that McCoy obliviously grooved on past his allotted time, prompting some unmissable on screen flapping by the ever awkward host Jools. It also struck a blow for music lovers because the same edition of the show featured the gormless spray-can attitude of Liam Gallagher's Beady Eye; but there's nothing more rock'n'roll in my book than a performer getting so far into his music that he seems to completely forget he's on TV. If, on the other hand, McCoy did it on purpose to save the viewers from more Elbow, well that's pretty cool as well. Was this the moment Jazz wrestled back the reigns of credible cool from Rock for the first time since the late 60s?

ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2011 No.1 - RAPHAEL SAADIQ, Stone Rollin'

Because there is no finer thing than Psychedelic Soul and this album is that very thing par  excellence. Raphael Saadiq's album is a hip-shakin' treat, provin' the groove to take you higher and keep you there but there's more. This is a record dressed in a coat of many colours. There are shades of R&B both old and new, harmonica arriving direct from the Delta Blues and pastoral melotron flutes floating down from the dippy-hippy Laurel Canyon. There's echoes of Motown and the flowing funky moves of James Brown. And the song 'Day Dreams' is from a different place entirely, somewhere between jaunty '50s vocal pop and vaudeville. Above all though this is a great Soul album from a prolifically talented songwriter, performer and multiple-instrumentalist; possibly the best we've seen since Prince. He's made the best album of 2011 so don't wait around any longer, get listening.

Free music - Stone Rollin'