Songs for troubling times.

I can be a bit of a miserable git at times, and this is definitely one of those times. Music has always been my main go to for overcoming the melancholy. So what am I listening to as the world goes down the tubes?

Elbow/Sarah Brightman  - One Day Like This

I am a fan of Elbow, but this song always seemed tailor made for Sarah. A bit of a shame it appeared on the album where she ditched her regular producer making Dreamchaser her weakest album for a long time. Far better live, although too short. Elbow still do it best. Sarah tackles Barclay James Harvest's Hymn on her most recent album, and while I'm not the least bit religious that has all the uplifting qualities this could have done. 

Samantha James - Send It Out To The Universe

I have finally tracked down the 2CD editions of both of her albums and this still stands out as one of my favourite songs by one of my favourite singers. My friend Angela describes this as woo, woo stuff. Guilty as charged.

Over The Rhine  - Latter Days

This may sound like me wallowing in the gloom, and who's to say I'm not good at that. The words have always spoken to me, listen to them it is in fact one of the most uplifting songs I know. There are some great live versions on Archive.org with extended piano intros by Linford. It ends up sounding like a Chopin piano étude.

Van Morrison - Bright Side Of The Road

I bought Into The Music when it came out and this song can still raise mood and start a smile whenever I hear it. If it doesn't do the same for you perhaps check your pulse. The version of Philosophers Stone is also worth hearing but not a patch on this.

The other thing that I listen to a lot is the radio, but frankly I can't do too much news at the moment so podcasts and old comedy are what I'm listening to currently. Recommendations to follow.

Elbow Bristol Canons Marsh Amphitheatre June 29th 2019

Elbow have been touring festivals around Europe and have been playing mostly fairly short sets of fan favourites. The weather turned out kind for this outdoor show, part of the Bristol Sounds series being held on the waterfront in the city centre, probably to the relief of bands, promoters and audience.

Elbow are one of the best current mainstream live bands, the songs take on new dimensions in performance compared to their sometimes slightly antiseptic studio albums. The three songs from the Little Fictions album are good examples. The title song and ‘Kindling’ particularly have matured nicely over the last couple of years in concert, compared to their (to me) occasionally disappointing original recordings.This was a fan pleasing set with nearly all their best audience participation numbers as well as a new song that appears to be called Empires. Guy Garvey is the supreme frontman of his generation, holding the audience, not all of whom seemed to be regular concertgoers, in the songs and through a tale of a band night out involving bass player Pete Turner and copious amounts of beer. The fact that despite conspicuous success and doubtless its trappings he remains firmly connected to his audience speaks volumes for the man and his band.  

The set list is published here, and built to the three big "joining in" songs, ‘Lippy Kids’ (my personal favourite Elbow song), the inevitable ‘One Day Like This’ and ‘Grounds For Divorce’. And then they were gone, the 11pm curfew meant no encore, but we got what we came for, the songs, which are of such a consistent high quality that they can still step back fifteen years and find songs worthy of an airing.So why did the people to my right have to keep chatting through the quiet bits? My Sad Captains was particuarly affected. Surely they paid the same ticket price we did, so why not LISTEN!

Support was from Another Sky who were not helped by the usual bottom of the bill sound problems. A Google of their appearances at SXSW and on Later suggests this was not their best night. Villagers are never going to be my new favourite band, they just seem to lack bite, and frankly the Flugelhorn moments had me diving for the beer bus. Anyway we were there to see Elbow who delivered as they always do. A new song suggests a new album, and they have recorded shows on the last few tours so hopefully a nice CD/DVD live box set will appear at some point.

It's been a year since...

Time for an end of the year round up, and it's also a year since I started the blog. Thank you for reading, and it seems people are (if I believe Google's figures), so what have I discovered in 2017, in case you care.

 

Disappointment of the year... 

Elbow - Little Fictions. Has not stood up well to repeated plays, certainly nowhere near the album that "The Take Off and Landing of Everything" was.

Best of the year...

One problem here is that I seem to have bought very little new music in 2017 so this list is almost self selecting.

Sparks - Hippopotamus. There is no such thing as a bad Sparks album, only degrees of wonderfulness. This one is among the best, up there with "Exotic Creatures of the Deep" and "Number One In Heaven" If you don't know Sparks this is the perfect album to try. The combination of good tunes and a sense of humour is irresistable for me.

Black Country Communion - BCCIV The quintessential rock band come back after the quarreling surrounding "Afterglow". This is as good as BCC 2. Glenn Hughes voice is working well, and the simpler arrangements make for an album that wins the best music to sit in a queue on the M6 to award.

Kim Seviour -  Recovery Is Learning Kim's singing was always the best thing about Touchstone. With better material she is now flying. As a fellow ME sufferer I get the title song and the cover. Call To Action is the song to try if you haven't heard the album. John Mitchell provides his signature "modern Prog" production, which means it sounds like the Lonely Robot album, no bad thing. And she is a local.

Bill Nelson - Tripping The Light Fantastic A Bill Nelson live album would be great in itself, but that it documents a show where he played many of my favourites 'I Always Knew You Would Find Me', 'The Raindrop Collector', 'Gloria Mundae' amongst them makes it doubly so.

Nolwenn Leroy - Gemme. A new purchase at the very end of the year. After the diversions in Celtic music this is her best "Pop"album since Histores Naturelles. Nolwenn will be part of a post on French Music that is in development hell at present. Watch this space.

And the rest is old stuff.

I caught up with Lonely Robot's "Please Come Home" through listening to Kim's album. Pop enough to have tunes, Prog enough to challenge the listener.  Seeing Over The Rhine live in April was a highlight and sent me back to the albums yet again. Ozric Tentacles most recent live album appeared on Bandcamp. I love them, but recognise that you might not. More good music for long car journeys though, and I do plenty of them. I found London Grammar's first album "If You Wait" and should really catch up with the next one. 

Oh and 2017 was the year I rediscovered Jazz. You have been warned...

Elbow at Newport Centre 10th March 2017

Elbow's studio albums can sound a little antiseptic at times, however on stage they are a different prospect altogether. Tonight's show at the local swimming pool in Newport was a very different affair from the last time I saw them on The Take Off & Landing of Everything tour. That show matched the album's mood of quiet reflection with it's acoustic segment and orchestral backing. This time the evening reflected the celebratory feel of  much of 'Little Fictions' lyrics. Stand in drummer Alex Reeves' more muscular style, Pete Turner playing more bass guitar than I have seen him do previously, and the strings cut back to two violins sparingly gave a feel of a band renewed by their life experiences rather than worn down by them.

I joined the Elbow party with their 'career defining' ™ appearance at Glastonbury and quickly worked my way back through their catalogue. It was good to hear Great Expectations from 2005's 'Leaders Of The Free World' tonight, with over half the new album played and the rest spread across the previous three records.

Craig Potter was on percussion for the opening songs. Opener 'Gentle Storm', as has been pointed out in several reviews, almost has a club feel to it. Pete Turner switched between Fender Jazz & Jaguar basses, and seemed to have fairly constant tuning problems, keyboards were on a riser at the back with the drums in a corner stage left.  Of the new songs 'Kindling' and 'Magnificent (She Says)' stood out for me, but with a set list that included songs from at least five albums there was something for everyone. Elbow know their audience and in Guy Garvey have one of the outstanding frontmen, conducting the sing along, and creating an atmosphere of good cheer. My favourite of the audience participation numbers, 'Lippy Kids', was as good as I have heard. And then there is 'One Day Like This', restored to it's rightful place as show closer leaving room for encores of 'Kindling', 'My Sad Captains' and an exuberant 'Grounds For Divorce'. A great show.

Less great was the venue, while I understand the desire to play smaller places this 2000 capacity Badminton Court was crammed and with quite a low stage those of a lesser stature, me, were left struggling to see what was going on. Can't tell you a thing about what guitars Mark Potter was playing. Comments on Twitter suggest I wasn't the only one with this issue. The burger beforehand was one of the culinary experiences of my life, and it was noticeable that no more were served once ours had come out.


Support act C Duncan, came over as a mix of fellow Scots Aztec Camera circa 1983, and Fleet Foxes, a favourite on 6 Music apparently, he must work better on record. Mostly Harmless to coin a phrase.

Despite the slight reservations about the venue a genuinely great gig. Elbow are one of the preeminent live acts of the moment. When I saw them in 2014 there was a hint that shows were being recorded. All I can say is build a live album boys.

Buy Little Fictions at your music outlet of choice.

C Duncan's music is available on his Bandcamp page a listen to some samples suggests he is a subject for further investigation.