Roxy Music-Stranded (1973)

Track List:
1. Street Life
2. Just Like You
3. Amazona
4. Psalm
5. Serenade
6. A Song For Europe
7. Mother of Pearl
8. Sunset

Best Track: A Song For Europe

Pure unadulterated style and class.

The departure of keyboardist and all round synth maestro Brian Eno from Roxy Music after their second album didn't affect the quality of the group too much. Bryan Ferry was always the leader and songwriter of the band and so Roxy Music only really lost some of Eno's chilly electronics from their future work however. This departure allowed Bryan to stretch his legs a bit more, and so the more stylish and cleaner album Stranded emerged.

The opener Street Life is the song that is the most similar to Roxy's previous two albums. It re-creates the spirit of Do The Strand and Re-make/Re-model with it's storm of harsh synth and strong guitar riffing from Phil Manzenera. The second track Just Like You changes the atmosphere completely and immediately. The lush piano ballad nature and Ferry's sweet vocal falsetto blend together seamlessly with it's slightly regretful themed lyrics. This is the best example of the quieter more pop-rock oriented side of Roxy.

Amazona decides to throw that out the door; Ferry swaps sweet for steamy in a another inspired example of his delicious vocal croon. The squelchy synths complete that Brazilian rainforest altmosphere, before Manzanera chucks in a searing squealing solo. Psalm keeps the eclectic nature of the record going with the song being of a religious nature. It is more or less a psalm, funnily enough. Now who could've guessed that? The song's mostly a vocal workout for Ferry but Eddie Jobson relays Eno's work as he creates a nice synth fuzz after one of Ferry's wails. A decent rocker comes after as the song Serenade, with Andy Mackay backing the heavier guitars and drums with his saxophone blurts.

The magnum opus of the album is the mournful A Song For Europe. The tone is downbeat and melancholic, echoing the work of Lou Reed's Berlin released a few months prior. But Ferry is a much better singer than Reed and it shows here; Ferry manages to croon in both English and French I believe in this song, keeping true to the song's European flavour. The piano work here is astounding and Mackay delivers another of his signature sax solo's to superb effect. Ferry's outro whistling seals the deal, a trick he would use again in a few years with the song Jealous Guy.

Mother of Pearl is a dangerous multi segmented song, beginning with a minute and a half of hard edged insane art rock, with Ferry literally going wild with him imitating a person's conscience at a party. Manzanera's answers with a quick and blistering solo before the song quickly takes a left turn, becoming a "post party" style piano ballad. Assumedly the "Mother of Pearl" is a prostitute, which makes Ferry's fading outro of "oh mother of pearl/I wouldn't trade you for another girl" all the more ironic considering his taste in women. (Just look at the album cover!) The final song Sunset is an effective song for letting off all the tension built up by the emotional extremes of the album. It's a touch mellow and a bit bland but it more or less fills it's brief of ending the album on a more subtle note.

With so much consistency throughout this record and of course it's stylish art rock leanings it would be hard to not give this a 15. In fact it probably would get one if Sunset and Psalm were perhaps two minutes shorter each, so that these two songs remained completely interesting throughout. But the fact is there are no bad songs here, and so Ferry, Manzenera, Mackay and co. will get themselves a high 14. And this isn't even Roxy's best album!

14/15

Brian Eno-Another Green World (1975)

Track Listing:
1. Sky Saw
2. Over Fire Island
3. St. Elmo's Fire
4. In Dark Trees
5. The Big Ship
6. I'll Come Running
7. Another Green World
8. Sombre Reptiles
9. Little Fishes
10. Golden Hours
11. Becalmed
12. Zawinul/Lava
13. Everything Merges With The Night
14. Spirits Drifting

Best Track: St Elmo's Fire

Ambient doesn't always have to be soporific

The one and only synth God Brian Eno shed a lot of his art/glam rock history with arguably the first ever ambient album. And for good measure he keeps enough pop-rock sensibility in it to keep the album interesting, as you shall see.

The opener Sky Saw is an enjoyable synth workout with an 'in you face' swinging synth immediately slashing against the listeners ears. As the song goes on more quieter synth melodies fizz beneath the main slashing but it combines nicely. This track isn't ambeint but it's a nice throwback to Eno's synth experimentation with Roxy Music. And of course he does more as this album goes on. Over Fire Island clunks along with a minimalist bass line that holds Eno's mad shaky synths from falling out of the song. St Elmo's Fire is in another league though, with Eno singing in a poetic and fairy tale like style that is so damn attractive to the ears (In the bluuuuueeee August mooooooon...) And then Eno's old pal Mr Robert Fripp delivers a flowing guitar solo that is so easy and relaxed contrasting with the rhythmic synths and gentle percussion like colours in a painting.

The percussion is used again on In Dark Trees, which is the first real exploration into the ambient style. But despite it's simplicity it is still rather interesting and not at all boring either. The Big Ship continues to proves that point, with an almost harsh organ like background underpinning the slow build of the song to a higher synth melody that just ripples over that organ. Eno reverts back to a nice pop ditty in I'll Come Running to change the atmosphere a little. The lyrics are also fairy tale like; not making a lot of sense but at the same time being very addictive and sweet sounding. Fripp delivers his second brilliant solo which rides nicely on Eno's piano wave. And then Eno harmonises his own voice in a lovely echoey "ohohohohohoh" over a poetic "I'll come running to tie your shoes" a number of times. Pop mastery in a nutshell.

Another Green World has a deceiving guitar like synth fuzz over it that keeps it interesting, whilst Sombre Reptiles has a scaley buzzing percussion that certainly fits that reptile theme. And who would have guessed it, it has a sombre tone. Not obvious at all, but the fact is it combines the relaxing elements of ambient music with enough interesting musical artiness to keep the listener on their toes. Little Fishes is yet another example of this with little synth swirls and an almost flute like synth wash behind the swirls. Golden Hours features Eno's echoey vocal harmonies again that gives it an almost creepy "late night" effect. Some more weird but so memorable lyrics (Perhaaappsss my brain has turned to sand.../Perhaps my brains are old and scrambled...) dominate before Fripp delivers a third sonic gift to us. A plucky piece of guitar noodling that sounds electronically treated becomes his third great solo. And then a little viola outro gets us on our way to the next song. Smart lad this Eno was.

Becalmed is the most "ambient" and purely calming track on the album (I wonder why...). This could put someone to sleep, but no not from boredom. Eno wouldn't allow that. No, he prefers lullabying people to sleep with his soothing synths that sound like they could have been strings but instead have drowned in a sea of electronic beauty. Some limpid piano I believe softly coo's the song to end. Zawinul/Lava's skinny intro of a slow piano melody and later synth droplets keep the listener close to falling asleep but a few delicate percussion flicks and soft synth wails keep the listener from totally losing conciousness. Everything Merges With The Night is the last pop rock song on the album presenting Eno singing in a reflective and almost mournful style. But it doesn't feel sad at all, no the sparkling synth and piano interplay keeps it in a reasonably calm but postive atmosphere. More synth waves keep coming with a few bass bumps keeping it from floating away on it's cloudlike lightness. Spirit's Drifting ends the album appropriately. This is the type of album where a low key and stylish ending is needed, and the song delivers with a slightly throbbing synth soundscape. Quiet but pleasant, the song casually fades way into Eno's synth night, ending the album well.

In terms of pure synth innovation this album would easily be highly rated. Add to the fact that it effectively started the whole ambient genre and that it had a small collection of synthy pop rock songs to boot, it's really hard not to give this album the highest rating. The only reason it gets a 14 is the fact that it could have done with one or two more of those pop songs like St Elmo's Fire and Golden Hours, which are the highlights of the album. The more ambient leaning material here is still quality though, and certainly this is a great album to start with when listening to Eno's solo records.

14/15 (God how many water comparisons did I make in that review...) ;)

Genesis-Invisible Touch (1986)

Track Listing:
1. Invisible Touch
2. Tonight, Tonight, Tonight
3. Land of Confusion
4. In Too Deep
5. Anything She Does
6. Domino
7. Throwing It All Away
8. The Brazilian

Best Track: In Too Deep

Well it was "good" for 1986 at least...

Like most of the original wave of early 70's Prog bands Genesis started to change their sound to a more commercial and pop-rock orientated style as the 1980's went on. Although generally by doing this they become more commercially successful they also tended to make poorer quality records. Occasionaly one of these pop records would turn out alright (Yes with 90125 and Genesis itself with Genesis), but most of the time these albums turned out below average. Invisible Touch is one of these albums.

Good old Phil Collins, the once legendary drummer turned vocalist who recently started having a "successful" solo career pens the first track Invisible Touch. This isn't a highlight for Phil; calypso style synths over an oh so boring drumbeat make things bad to start with, but then the vocals come in and it turns to shit. Phil can sing but here his voice has a very sharp feel that doesn't sit well. Certainly the cheesy lyrics didn't help, but he wrote them so he has no real excuse. Tonight, Tonight, Tonight has a computer like synth bleeping that keeps on coming back and Phil's vocals are once again poor. Rutherford delivers a decent guitar riff towards the end but that's too little too late on a pop song that goes for 9 minutes.

Land of Confusion turns the tables quite well though. Here Rutherford gets plenty of work with more riffing over a beat like synth line from Banks that actually works. And Phil's vocals actually fit in well with the political anti-Thatcher-Gorbachev-Reagan theme. A far cry from the veiled metaphor dominated social commentary of Selling England By The Pound but they don't have Peter Gabriel now so I guess this is alright. In Too Deep shows some vocal subtlety from Phil which is pretty shocking compared to the first couple of songs. The atmospheric keys and subtle guitar ripples blend in well with the romantic feel. That lovely keyboard passage about 3 and half minutes can melt many a'stony heart or mind. It's an achievement at least, and it's the piece de resistance of the album.

Funky brass in Anything She Does breaks that subtle feel of the last song though. The brass almost reminds me of Sledgehammer from Peter Gabriel's 1986 album So, but Phil lacks Pete's ability to change pitch quickly. It's a pity that Pete had to leave Genesis; certainly putting him as vocalist and lyricist and letting Phil focus on his drumming would work well. Maybe sack Banks too; his synthy shrieks are can be really grating on the ears.

Domino is a 10 minute song that almost seems like a throwback to the Prog years on first glance, but in reality it's just another long synth dominated pop-rock meddle. Not all of it's bad; the part where Phil cooly recites his vocals through a synth cloud feels quite deep, but then the shrieky farts return and Phil loses his vocal calmness. This repeats a few times thoughout the song, with not a lot of variation which really make me lose interest in this song, despite the fact it isn't that bad. Throwing It Away is quite a nice pop ditty that comes out in quite a sincere manner from Phil. Rutherford does have a knack of writing quite lovely pop love ballads that aren't too saccharine ala Your Own Special Way, and this is another example of that school. Even Phil's cooing comes out well, which is a good thing I guess. You'd reckon that would be enough, but instead an ugly sounding instrumental called The Brazilian is tagged on at the end. The main synth melody of the song has a steamy (Brazilian?) style about it but most of the other synth parts are messy jerk offs that are really just poor quality padding. A pop-rock band doing instrumentals? Or an old Prog band trying to reconnect itself somewhat with it's glory days where mainstream success wasn't be all and end all?

The main saving grace of Invisible Touch is that despite the muddled synths and badly applied vocals on some of the tracks all of them are least listenable to an extent. There's nothing truly horrendous here, but Genesis would change that in the next few albums. And at least there are a smattering of good songs here. After all these guys still had some talent left after all didn't they?

8/15

Blur-Modern Life is Rubbish (1993)

Track Listing:

1. For Tomorrow

2. Advert

3. Colin Zeal

4. Pressure on Julian

5. Star Shaped

6. Blue Jeans

7. Chemical World

8. Intermission

9. Sunday Sunday

10. Oily Water

11. Miss America

12. Villa Rosie

13. Coping

14. Turn It Up

15. Popscene

16. Resigned

17. Commercial Break

18. When The Cows Come Home

19. Peach

Best Track: For Tomorrow

90's Life is Rubbish more like...

The "Britpop" scene of the 90's almost felt like a backlash to the Grunge explosion at the start of that decade, and certainly revisiting the style of The Beatles (in the case of Oasis) and The Kinks/Jam (in the case of Blur) felt like a welcome contrast to the musical movement going on across the Atlantic. Modern Life is Rubbish really feels like the vanguard of the Britpop explosion, paving the way for both Blur and Oasis to release even huger albums.

Modern Life is undoubtably a subtle tip of the hat to The Kinks, especially The Village Green Preservation Society. Blur also added a touch of The Jam's attitude and blended it all into a 90's pop atmosphere. This mixture provides the album opener For Tomorrow with it's guitar pop buzz and it's chorus that's reminscent of the 60's. It's incredibly simple but it's also very addictive; who thought singing la-la-lala-la could make the centerpoint of a great song? Not me for one, but Albarn, Coxon, James and Rowntree certainly had the right idea.

Advert is punk meets The Kinks (ahem...The Jam?) and Colin Zeal is a slightly annoying but plausible attempt at creating a song like David Watts or Mr Clean. Pressure on Julian is a small improvement on that format with a nice swirling vocal hook from Albarn. (Pressure on Julliiiaaaaannn...) The stronger drumbeat on Star Shaped bangs down under Albarn's high pitched harmonies providing a solid combo that carries the song well. Blue Jeans has that very mellow 90's dreampop effect around it with something that sounds like an organ echoing below an easy and sweet acoustic guitar sound.

Chemical World describes the not-quite-perfect English suburban dream that Britpop was always so fond of. (The landlord said she's out in a week/What a shame she was just getting comfy) And then Coxon provides a guitar swirl that sounds like it's been chemically affected or something. Perhaps this is just a another subtle nod to their 60's influences (this one being psychedelia), but this feels original and fitting. Intermission is a bit of pointless filler that is still listenable with it's light piano before heading into a distorted guitar and bass cloud. Sunday Sunday has a pumping brassy funk about it while Oily Water has a choppy guitar and fuzzy bass interplay that gives me images of The Bends-era Radiohead, two years before they even released it! The whole song isn't completely satisfying; distorting Albarn's vocals doesn't come out very well and the guitar/bass interplay becomes a little bit tired as the song wears on. But it's not offensive in any way, which is kind of a signature sign of Britpop I guess. (And also one of it's greatest strengths)

The mellow, dreamy sound of Blue Jeans is touched on again in the song Miss America. The Blur boys seem to be giving across this high/stoned vibe with the lazy guitar flushes and light percussion, which works despite it kind of going agianst the theme of the album. Think of it as another tribute to the psychedelia of Barrett-era Pink Floyd and the like. In fact this song might have worked alright with Syd singing come to think of it... Villa Rosie has nice guitar spirals that turn into stronger riffing leading into Albarn's so English 'singalong' vocals. Coping has a punk throwback intro before moving into better suited guitar pop-rock. The shuddering synths provide a nice diversion to the guitar dominated sound, without totally blocking out the guitars. This time however, the "la la la la" outro trick isn't quite as melodic and attractive.

Turn It Up continues the Britpop formula, but it's a less memorable version compared to earlier tracks. Horns and grungey guitars are combined on Popscene to decent effect, but the horns feel wanky and overblown. They block out a nice keyboard melody below them which is a pity. Toning down the horns may have been the way to go, but you can't fault these guys to much for wanting to add a little diversity. Resigned is a laidback album closer that keeps the style of the album right to the end. And then of course there is the guitar workout of Commercial Break that probably should have been cut off from the album. The version that I have also includes the easy going English countryside funk of When The Cows Come Home and a peach of song, interestingly also called Peach! A relaxing 'early evening' synthy background surrounds Coxon's lassez faire guitar fuzz. To be honest, Peach is quite an excellent album finisher as well. It could of and should have easily found a spot on the album proper over the Commercial Break and Intermission ditties.

It's a bit too long, a bit too repetitive and a bit too British (That's not a bad thing) but ultimately Modern Life fills it's brief well. It's a pity that not many bands can make pop-rock like they did nowadays.

12/15

David Bowie-The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars (1972)

Track Listing:
1. Five Years
2. Soul Love
3. Moonage Daydream
4. Starman
5. It Ain't Easy
6. Lady Stardust
7. Star
8. Hang on to Yourself
9. Ziggy Stardust
10. Suffragette City
11. Rock & Roll Suicide

Best Track: Ziggy Stardust, perhaps Starman

Glam Rock's only meaningful gift to society

Many consider this album to be Bowie's piece de resistance; honestly almost everyone does. At least everyone who only owns this and maybe a Bowie greatest hit collection, but the point still stands that this album represents Bowie's best quality album on the more commercial side of things. And commercial Bowie isn't bad at all, pre-1983 that is.

But Ziggy is certainly a very weird album. Which is bascially what you expect from Bowie. Anyway Five Years kicks things off, with a solid drumbeat and heavy piano chords backing through it. It's quite a lumbering song but Bowie's vocal style keeps it interesting. The story in this song and the whole album in general is a bit hard to follow at times, but it doesn't really matter too much. Everyone gets the general gist of it being the story of an alien rockstar who lives his famous life to the full (as in sex, drugs and rock'n'roll) and eventually dies a rockstar death at the end. Was Bowie trying to parody rockers like Hendrix and Jim Morrison? I'm not sure this was the original plan but hey it fits in.

Back to the songs; Soul Love is a nice acoustic twanger that gets a bit harder as it goes on. Moonage Daydream brings in some nice flute parts which gives the song a folky feel which harkens back to Bowie's 60's material. Starman is the big hit with it's flowing acoustic guitar melodies and a slightly funky bassline behind it in the verses, before hitting the string and hook filled chorus and then he hammers that down with a lovely electric guitar solo with more string backing. All this over Bowie's slightly quivering vocal stylings. Quality for you.

It Ain't Easy is a Led Zeppelin-esque rocker that doesn't quite hit the mark as Bowie lacks Robert Plant's vocal shriek. Lady Stardust makes up for it though; it's a lovely soulful piano ballad that is a lot more suited to Bowie. Star and Hang On To Yourself are both your a-typical glam rock songs but they are both listenable and catchy. It keeps the concept of the album going as it portrays Ziggy turning into that rockstar that he always was meant to be. Neither are that memorable though, but that's more to do with the excellent songs surrounding them rather than these two being bad.
Ziggy Stardust on the other hand is an album, hell, career highlight. The start sets the scene beautifully, with a heavy "sex, drugs and rock'n'roll" guitar riff before entering a chunky bassline that sets a base for Bowie's alien singing delivery. Like the song says this is Ziggy making love with his ego, and that boozy and sex-filled style bursts throughout the music and lyrics here. It almost seems like Ziggy is real! If only...

Suffragette City is a funky stomper that continues Ziggy's spiral into rock excess. His swansong, Rock & Roll Suicide, ends his life in a more settled and less uncontrollable style from the songs before it, and yet that makes it all the better. The "Your not alone" screeching (Assumedly from Ziggy to Lady Stardust but don't quote me on that) really closes up the emotional journey of his life strongly yet a touch poignantly at the same time. Bowie sure knew how to make this guy seem real, that's for sure.

Although the Musical Chameleon would move on from the glam era within only two albums or so, Ziggy Stardust still holds up as strong as ever. Certainly, Bowie would never be able to match the theatricality of this record for the rest of his career, and that just makes this album all the better.

14/15