The Sex Pistols-Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols (1977)

Track Listing:
1. Holidays in the Sun
2. Bodies
3. No Feelings
4. Liar
5. God Save The Queen
6. Problems
7. Seventeen
8. Anarchy in the UK
9. Submission
10. Pretty Vacant
11. New York
12. EMI

Best Track: Anarchy in the UK

Attitude over music? Not in my books lads

The Sex Pistols are given the crown of the best punk band (at least for the class of '77 bands) more by historical influence then for anything that they actually made. The Clash, undersevedly receive the second spot despite them being more eclectic and political, The Jam had a better songwriter in Paul Weller and a much greater respect for their forefathers, The Buzzcocks effectively invented pop-punk, The Damned had a much better vocalist and The Ramones melodically easily trumped the Pistols. So really what made them so special to receive the "greatest" tag? Perhaps one would say their only studio LP, Never Mind The Bollocks..., would answer this question. And well, in my eyes without doubt it did answer it at the very least.

Holidays in The Sun kicks us off, with a riff that sounds eerily similar to The Jam's In The City. It isn't the worst riff to copy but it immediately gives off the odour of these guys having not much creative ability. Lydon's vocals come across in a whiny tone that isn't used strongly here. Bodies uses his cockney whine to better effect, with the all out agression marrying nicely with his remarkably descriptive tales of abortion and saying fuck over 6 times. The opening line (She was a girl from Birmingham/She just had an abortion) sets the scene with perfect clarity for those who were confused about the Pistols were! No Feelings has quite a bland guitar line, but the No Feeling hook is gripping and yet again Lydon whines along with the overall pace of the rhythm section quite energetically. So the vocals so far haven't been bad, if anything they are very appropriate with the style and attitude of punk.

I can't say that for the guitarwork though, which is really a major problem for the whole record. Take the track Liar for example. The problem isn't with the solo, which is interesting enough in a pacy snappy kind of way, it's with the main riffs of the songs. The're all very samey, straight forward and lacking any real attraction melodically. And with a rhythm section that is only half decent (with the decent bit being Cook's steady drumming, certainly not Sid Vicious' bass playing, if you can call it playing), this means that there is really puts a lot of pressure on Lydon to do a good vocal job, otherwise it'll all fall to shit. The rant against the Royals being God Save The Queen straddles this line between half decent punk and amateurish bollocks, with a somewhat effective riff having a showdown with Lydons shrieks. But the middle section is simply noise and unintelligible Lydon aristocracy bashing, before an ok (yes only ok) outgoing hook of "No Future....for you" leading out the song. Problems has a decent riff, which is only really enhanced by some surpisingly nimble drumming from Cook. The real problem here is that Lydon completely messes up the main hook of the song, turning it into an ugly slur that could only be memorable to perhaps some inebriates, which was the main punk audience really.

Seventeen is an unmemorable run-of-the-mill gritty punk rush, but then we get the Pistol's calling card Anarchy in the UK. Well for once Jones delivers a strong riff that pushs the song along with energy, whilst Lydon's vibrating wailing really hits, especially when he goes on about the MPLA and IRA. And of course who can not be perked up by the outgoing cry of "I wanna beeee innnn anarchyyyyy..."? This is perhaps the best this band ever got working as a band, rather then as individuals. If someone wanted a song that perhaps defined the Pistols best than this would fit in nicely.

Submission gets points for being a bit weird, with all the rubbery sound making that jars nicely with perhaps Sid's only decent bassline. (Or was this one of the songs that Matlock played on? If so then Mr Vicious did shit-fucking all musically!) The riffing is perhaps at it's best with guitar hero favourite Pretty Vacant, which is solid enough in the vocals department as well. New York is another example though of the bland riffing I mentioned before, and with little else to latch on to how can I really like this song? Lydon raging about porno-faggots? Nope. My reaction is exactly the same for EMI.

So what do I say? Pretty bollocks would be apt, but there is enough mildly interesting material here and certainly this album doesn't lack in attitude. A second album woud've been interesting; simply to see if the band would progress or stick to their classic "destroy everything" punk schtick. Or maybe they would've drifted down more into a post-punk/noise rock path like Lydon's next band Public Image Limited, which in my eyes is significantly superior to the Pistols. But anyway the fact is the Pistols had their brief moment in the sun, and they did have influence for many punk bands that came after. Despite this I can only really give this record a weak 7.

7/15

Emerson Lake & Palmer-Pictures At An Exhibition (1971)

Track Lisiting:
1. Promenade
2. The Gnome
3. Promenade
4. The Sage
5. The Old Castle
6. Blues Variation
7. Promenade
8. The Hut of Baba Yaga
9. The Curse of Baba Yaga
10. The Hut of Baba Yaga (Pt2)
11. The Great Gates of Kiev/The End
12. Nutrocker

Best Track: Blues Variation or The Great Gates of Kiev


Proof that classical and rock are compatible


One of Prog Rock's greatest achievements was to mix more classical/jazz elements from music into the more blues dominated rock style. Pictures At An Exhibition is perhaps the greatest example of this, as it is an adapted version of Mussorgsky's Pictures At An Exhibition. Keith Emerson, Greg Lake and Carl Palmer were all virtuoso musicians in terms of skill, so the playing wouldn't be a problem. But would the "rocking" up of the classical sound and the addition of lyrics butcher the original piece's charm? This was the risk ELP took in 1971.

The recurring theme of Promenade gets us going, with Emerson doing the honours with his organs, giving the starting atmosphere a heavy medieval ambience. The Gnome immediately jumps back into a more conventional ELP sound with massive drum rolls from Palmer breaking up Emerson's screeching keyboards and Lake's bass thudding. Then Emerson gets his Moog going, which throws another curveball into the sound. Forget medieval, the atmosphere has jumped into a futuristic setting. This particular part is very similar to the many keyboard suites in Tarkus, but the rapid change in mood really hits and would perhaps shock a listener unacquainted with ELP's previous work.

Promenade returns, with Lake providing some soothing vocals to return us to a more intimate feeling. But don't get too calm, Emerson decides to burst out in The Sage with some synthy blasts, before Lake takes control again with some more intimate acoustic guitar work and mournful lyrics. Reflecting on the human race in a classical-orientated piece? Interesting, and not at all boring or too pretentious.

One forgets this is a live album until you hear the applause at the start of The Old Castle. Emerson decides to amaze everyone with some of the weirdest sounds you've ever heard from a keyboard; sharp twitchy wailing that the crowd loves. The drums hit in providing a beat for Emerson to solo around, with some superb flexible playing shown. Blues Variation reverts away from the classical and instead gives as an organ-led rocker, that is funnily enough bluesy. Who would have guessed hey? As per standard Emerson makes up for the lack of a lead guitarist with some hard organ funk with chunky basslines beneath keeping him from doing something too crazy. But that doesn't work; Emerson blasts everyone away with a Moog synth explosion at the end, finishing the song with a metaphorical bang. (And hearing problems)

The next Promenade is features very heavy almost metallic drumming from Palmer. One feels the theme is getting a bit tiresome, but they are trying to keep true to the original as much as possible in terms of form. Squeeling organs slash through The Hut of Baba Yaga, before the craziness hits in with a wah-wah sounding synth workout from Emerson blurting its way around in The Curse of Baba Yaga. Being a keyboardist myself it's hard not to listen in awe at Emerson's skills. Lake is back on the vocals again, though this time it's a harsh shout rather than a soothing whisper. The drumming and keyboard interplay is again quality, which manifests itself more in the second part of The Hut of Baba Yaga. The Great Gates of Kiev features much better voice parts from Lake, providing a stirring vocal grace against Emerson's dense organ background. The ending drumroll is spectacular and quite epic as well. Also the part where one of the three asks, "Do you want some more music?" Pretty cool uplifting stuff. Nutrocker is a nice fun piece thats diffuses some of the emotional musical extremes from the earlier songs. Granted it's not quite as satisfying as the others and the solos aren't as good, but it certainly ain't the worst closer to go out on. The roaring crowd testifies this.

Honestly despite my liking of this album not everyone will like what ELP did to this classical piece. Some would argue that the solos get overblown, and others may say it gets a bit repetitive. But overall I'm very pleased with this album. Certainly if you are interested at all in some top notch keyboard work then this album may be one to have a good listen to.

12/15

The Police-Synchronicity (1983)

Track Listing:
1. Synchronicity I
2. Walking In Your Footsteps
3. O My God
4. Miss Gradenko
5. Synchronicity II
6. Every Breath You Take
7. King of Pain
8. Wrapped Around Your Finger
9. Tea In The Sahara
10. Murder By Numbers

Best Track: Every Breath You Take

Another reason why 'adult contemporary" and "quality" don't quite mix

The New Wave era was pretty much in it's twilight years by 1983, and so many bands went in different directions away from the original scene they sprung from. Some got even more diverse (Elvis Costello), others tried to shed their roots (Dire Straits) and a number went into either very mainstream synth pop (most of your New Romantics) or adult contemporary. The Police went mostly in the direction of the latter, shedding any of their reggae/punk/whatever ideas of their earlier, superior albums and insteading fashioning themselves as an adult contemp pop group. Commercially it was very successful; but in terms of quality and legacy it wasn't a great choice.

The opener is Synchronicity I, a mid tempo slightly funky number. Sting's vocals are well done, but the lack of a good melody to latch on to here means it's pretty uninspiring. I can almost say the exact same thing about Walking In Your Footsteps, except even Sting's vocals are pretty boring, bar a decent falsetto in the middle. The drumming does sound reminiscent of some world music, but it's very uniform and unchanging, grabbing your attention only briefly. O My God is yet another uninteresting track, although the slightly slappy bass line melody provides something to listen to. But everything else is very average; even the introduction of a sax does little to the lack of energy here.

These are all below average songs, but none of them are truely horrendous. Mother decides to buck that trend and start a stampede of absolute bollocks. The vocals are simply ugly; Summers is trying to sound desperate but in the end it comes out like he is trying way to hard. Copeland, who's drumming is normally superb (on previous albums), is barely heard. In fact the backing music to Summer's hideous wailings is just terrible, with a melody that sounds out of tune. Perhaps it was a delibrate ploy, but seriously what was going through their heads when they were writing that song?

Sting takes the vocals back for Miss Gradenko, which is apparantly a song about a romance in a communist nation. It's pretty poor, but at least it's short. The sequel to the opener, Synchronicity II, is kept together by a rocking guitar riff from Summers. Maybe you should stick to guitar playing instead of vocals old boy? Finally we get a song of good quality with Every Breath You Take. All the instruments blend together well, especially the guitar and bass. Sting's vocals come out sincerely and strongly, and lyrically the song is also the best on the album. Honestly who cannot identify just a little with the song? The outro with the echoey backing vocals finishes the song in the same, slightly creepy yet romantic style. Another single King of Pain has a decent jaunty synth line, which along with the snappy guitar solo makes this alright. The 80's feel is undenieably present, but it doesn't become offensive unlike earlier tracks.

Wrapped Around Your Finger has a menacing atmosphere which re-creates the strengths of Every Breath, without the melodic power of the former. Nonetheless it is one of the better songs here. The intimate Tea in the Sahara sounds like a good Phil Collins ballad, could be taken as a compliment or an insult. It's tiresome but it the soft bass thud provides adequate interest for the ears. Murder by Numbers is hampered by it's annoying hooks and Sting's cliched lyrics. The guitar work is vaguely interesting, but it lacks the ability to grab you. All in all it's a pretty weak way to finish the album.

It surprises me little that there was a lot of tension between the members of the band during the recording of Synchronicity, which is reflected in the material on the album. The few good cuts, especially Every Breath, keep the album out of the bad section but there's enough fluff here to give it a pretty poor score. Not the way you really want to go out guys...

7/15

Mumford & Sons-Sigh No More (2009)

Track Listing:
1. Sigh No More
2. The Cave
3. Winter Winds
4. Roll Away Your Stone
5. White Blank Page
6. I Gave You All
7. Little Lion Man
8. Timshel
9. Thistle & Weeds
10. Awake My Soul
11. Dust Bowl Dance
12. After The Storm

Best Track: The Cave

Folky insights blended with pop nous

Folk pop/rock has never really been my strongpoint in musical terms. Not because I dislike it as such more because I've never had that much time for it. The only real folk album in my collection is Van Morrison's Astral Weeks, which is considered to be one of the very best ever folk rock albums and to be honest I was a little underwhelmed by it. And so when all the hype about Mumford and Sons started picking up recently I was a little wary. Which is mostly why I've waited until now to review it.

The album opener and title track was a real splash of cold water in the face, if you'll excuse the metaphor. The song slowly builds up nicely with lead vocalist Marcus Mumford giving a nice roaring finish to the song. Starting off strong is good in my books, and The Cave continues this with a quiet acoustic guitar melody that counterpoints the rather strong uplifting lyrics, before the twangy banjo hits in to keep up that folk image. How could anyone not feel inspired and strong after that powerful final chorus, by the way? The Cave represents a good balance between the calm and the storm in musical terms. Winter Winds has a nice rolling banjo sound and a heavy and yet steady drumbeat, before the song peaks with a rollicking trumpet lead final chorus. It's enough to melt even the coldest hearted metalhead to enjoy this rural folk sound, and even the pop sensibilities of this record wouldn't put many people off as it has a very down to earth and rootsy style.

Roll Away Your Stone is your par-for-course folk-pop song, but White Blank Page starts off as a slow ballad with Mumford opting for an almost whiny tone to an ex lover, before the song starts to rise into a faster tempo interspaced with a Celtic sounding violin solo that reminds me of The Corrs. I Gave You All is quite a personal acoustic strummer that gives it an intimate style. The wonderful bass rolls of Little Lion Man underpin some great lyrics which uses swearing in a glamorous style that goes against the normal feeling of swearing in a song. The next song Timshel reminds me a lot of some of those later Pink Floyd acoustic ballads, without the darkness associated with the Floydians. Thistle and Weeds features some quality melancholic piano from Ben Lovett, which mixes nicely with the harsh vocal pleadings of Mumford ("IIIIII will hoooolllllldddd on!").

Awake My Soul's best feature is a brilliant vocal hook outro which makes attaches itself to the country banjo twang in a pleasant manner. Dust Bowl Dance is an interesting anomaly on this album in that it contains the hardest rocking part in the whole record. The song starts steadily, with soft piano chords and a little banjo, before the vocals go harsh and reasonate with religious overtones which makes it dark and brooding. And then the song bursts into raw chaos with pumping electric guitars, heavy piano chords, zooping bass and thumping metallic drums. Just before it starts to stick out too much, the storm of sound drops off back into the style of the intro. This Folk stuff isn't too bad then hey? The finale After the Storm fills it's brief to the letter; it represents an island of calm after the heavy storm of Dust Bowl Dance. The death fearing lyrics are quite fascinating, as they start off dark and scared before ending in an uplifting and life loving manner. For this album it represents an appropriate way to finish the record off.

And so yet again the hype that is given to bands that I have doubts about is well deserved. The pop sensibilites here keep it accessible and yet it sounds as if it was made in an English meadow such us it's natural and un-processed nature. My only hope is that Mumford & Sons can project this excellent album's quality in to future work, but I'm sure if they stay in that meadow they'll be alright.

13/15

The Kaiser Chiefs-Employment (2005)

Track Listing:
1. Everyday I Love You Less and Less
2. I Predict a Riot
3. Modern Way
4. Na Na Na Naa
5. You Can Have It All
6. Oh My God
7. Born To Be Dancer
8. Saturday Night
9. What Did I Ever Give You?
10. Time Honoured Tradition
11. Caroline, Yes

Best Track: You Can Have It All


Oh my God, yet another British pop-rock group!


The Kaiser Chiefs represented an interesting combination when they appeared on the music scene in 2005. Their musical style was one of quite different styles; one part representing the tongue-in-cheek hook filled Britpop of Blur, another coming across as a throwback to the early punk days with aggressive fast songs with a third being the synth drenched New Wave of the early '80's. Combining these three styles into a cohesive record would not be easy, but neither impossible.

The threeway combo is immediately manifested in the jumpy opener Everyday I Love You Less And Less, with a synth riff hammering through a hook laden song that is easy to get caught replaying in your head over and over. The formula is repeated again in I Predict A Riot, with vocalist Ricky Wilson shouting out "I Predict a Riot" in a heady British drawl. Add a pint of typical English tongue-in-cheek humour and some great flicky drumming and you get an even more catchy song. Modern Way has lyrics that are a brilliant throwback to Blur's Modern Life is Rubbish with lyrics about escaping modern life and how it's affecting people's brains. This isn't an original lyrical idea, as of course they were emulating Blur who in turn emulated The Kinks, but the point still stands that the lyrics are well crafted and contain a solid balance of realist views on our comtemporary scene and a touch of dark humour. Sounds like a British sitcom to me!

Na Na Na Naa bursts out as a ball of pure musical fun. Firstly how could you not love that hook? So simple and easy but yet very addictive. Pump in a quick and loud solo from Andrew White and some flashy drums and you end up with something that the charts and the critics will love. You Can Have It All has a sweet synth opening from Baines who seems to be channeling his inner Yes (specifically their virtuoso keyboardist Rick Wakeman). The song has a happy rolling nature that counterpoints the more wild songs before it, with lovely Beatle-esque harmonies and soft chainsaw guitars. Their first single Oh My God is another humourous take on modern life with nice chorus with the bass, guitar and vocals all linking together perfectly to make a heavy almost metal like hook. The last chorus is great really fits this view, doing so in a way that is memorable and can also be headbanged to. Even for the non metalheads like myself!

Born To Be A Dancer is a poorer attempt at Everyday, with the hook being a bit cluttered and the guitar parts being a bit average. However it does have a nice synth line. Saturday Night is a disappointing attempt trying to be an American Pop-punk group. The verses are horrid, and the chorus isn't too much better. The guitar solo works nicely but it only goes for a short time meaning that it can't save the song. What Did I Ever Give You has a cool creepy keyboard riff that complements Wilson's vocals that remind me of Roger Waters during the verses for some strange reason. The pre chorus uses some echoey harmonies effectively which leads into the typical catchy pop rock chorus. And there's even a little organ flourish before the last chorus for any Ray Manzerak lovers out there. (Including me of course)

Time Honoured Tradition has an old fashioned music hall verse with a chorus being nothing but a collection of "oh ohs" and weird shrieks latching on to some good rhythm guitar playing and percussion. Caroline, Yes is a cheeky little Beach Boys reference but the song is still very British. Boozy synths and vocals that remind me of tired men at the pub (that have great harmonies.) A clashing keyboard and guitar musical standoff is the peak of the song, but the "wooo owooo owooo ooo" outro is a pretty touch to finish the song.

In short it's to hard to find many faults on Employment but occasionaly the punkier elements can get grating on the ears and ruin the song. All the same this album remains a funny and danceable indie pop-rock keeper that has enough melodies and hooks to keep you interested for ages.


13/15

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