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.

Labels, what are they good for?

What I really resent most about people sticking labels on you is that it cuts off all the other elements of what you are because it can only deal with black and white; the cartoon. Siouxsie Sioux
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/labels.html

What I really resent most about people sticking labels on you is that it cuts off all the other elements of what you are because it can only deal with black and white; the cartoon. Siouxsie Sioux
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/labels.html

 "What I really resent most about people sticking labels on you is that it cuts off all the other elements of what you are because it can only deal with black & white, the cartoon... Siouxsie Sioux

What I really resent most about people sticking labels on you is that it cuts off all the other elements of what you are because it can only deal with black and white; the cartoon. Siouxsie Sioux
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/s/siouxsiesi183818.html?src=t_labels

What I really resent most about people sticking labels on you is that it cuts off all the other elements of what you are because it can only deal with black and white; the cartoon. Siouxsie Sioux
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/labels.html

What I really resent most about people sticking labels on you is that it cuts off all the other elements of what you are because it can only deal with black and white; the cartoon. Siouxsie Sioux
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/labels.html

What I really resent most about people sticking labels on you is that it cuts off all the other elements of what you are because it can only deal with black and white; the cartoon. Siouxsie Sioux
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/labels.html

What I really resent most about people sticking labels on you is that it cuts off all the other elements of what you are because it can only deal with black and white; the cartoon. Siouxsie Sioux
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/labels.html

Last night there was the usual musical discussion in the bar and a friend announced "I like the 70's at least up to 1977, it all went wrong with punk".

Really? I was 13 in '77, he wasn't, so my musical wonder years were soundtracked at least partly by Punk, whatever that was. I was a Peel listener, not one of the 20 million who say they were listening the first time he played the Ramones, but not long after that. As with all new "movements" quality control was not always the big concern for punk bands, but Ramones, The Clash, and The Stranglers were great, and still are. But, are they a movement or just a bunch of bands who appeared at about the same time?

Punk quickly morphed into new wave, and I learned the term "Power Pop". The best definition of Power Pop I have seen is "a style of pop music characterized by a strong melody line, heavy use of guitars, and simple rhythm". Sounds like a lot of what was going on around 1978 to me. 

So three labels for much the same part of the musical landscape. Punk/New Wave/Power Pop was a varied mix of music, at least as much as what had gone before. The difference at the time was the labelling of different micro genres was vitally important, mostly to NME & Sounds but also to mark your tribe out from the "old farts" who listened to Yes, Genesis & Led Zeppelin.Over the years around the turn of the Eighties the music seemed to shift to accommodate the labels. The Mohican & bondage trousers end of punk turned into Oi!, the clue's in the name, with bands like Sham 69 & The Cockney Rejects leading the charge. New Wave splintered into most of the factions that ruled the early 80s, synthpop, goth, even some of the more banal U.S. "college" bands all grew out of New Wave. Power Pop headed by The Jam became the mainstream of guitar based pop, fusing elements from Nuggets style garage bands with Punk & Pub Rock.

On the iPod labels or genres, are part of the basic classification. I have 23 at the moment. The largest is alternative, a label that seems to cover Nirvana, Coldplay, Oasis & Arcade Fire making it pretty much useless as a way of defining what you will get when you press play. So, labels what are they good for? A way of sorting the wood from the trees, of feeling connected to your peers, or just another marketing tool? Personally I use them to find music that suits my mood, but I know that my inner librarian also wants to keep things in the right place, but after New Wave fractured into a hundred subsets that right place could have a dozen names.

I'll talk more about Power Pop another time but for now visit Pop Geek Heaven, Bruce Brodeen's resource site for anything with a jangly guitar and a catchy chorus.

The record sleeves on this post are a few of my favourites from the late 70's. Things I can still listen to now.

I Think I'll Make A Playlist or How I Learnt to Love Weird Stuff.

When I started taking music seriously in the mid/late 1970s money was at a minimum so I had my cassette recorder attached to the radio much as everyone else did. So my early listening was nearly all playlists, made up of tapes of stuff from Radio 1. Early on I got organised and had the contents of my tapes written down in exercise books so I could find a given song when it was required. The random nature of recording stuff off the radio meant that the tapes weren't planned and as I always had a fairly broad taste you could find Punk next to Prog next to Pop.

I think the broad taste came from early exposure to some slightly unusual choices of early records and most importantly the radio. Having a Dad who owned a TV shop meant I had a rather better stereo than many 12 year olds, but not much to play on it. My first (proper) single was nearly 'Bohemian Rhapsody' but John Menzies in Keynsham were out of stock so Mum came back with 10CC's 'Art for Arts Sake' for god's sake. My first L.P. was a copy of The Moody Blues 'In Search of the Lost Chord' that got left in our shop, I played it for a few weeks, failed to understand what was going on and moved onto my first album choice E.L.O's 'A New World Record'. Then the world shifted. I started listening to John Peel in the middle of 1977, and was hooked quickly. Received wisdom says he was playing punk and only punk then, well over the first year or so as well as the first play of the Sex Pistols album with the thrill of hearing 'God Save The Queen' then "banned" on the BBC, I heard him play Little Feat's 'Waiting for Columbus' which remains a favourite, Bob Marley's 'Babylon By Bus' folk, country, Viv Stanshall and Ivor Cutler.

At the same time I was listening to Alan Freeman on a Saturday afternoon. The Friday Rock Show Wiki has some show lists of Freeman's programmes as well and this is a typical one. I could have made that playlist. There was also on Radio 3 of all places a "popular" music show called Sounds Interesting (mmm nice!) hosted by Derek Jewell who introduced me to Joni Mitchell's 'Don Juan's Reckless Daughter', Weather Report's 'Mr Gone', and above all Steely Dan. Aja remains one of my top 5 albums and is as fresh now as when I first heard 'Home At Last' on Sounds Interesting in 1977.

So playlists were important then and important now. I have artist related ones and genre related ones, although these never seem to stay in the categories I tell them to, but the best playlists are still the ones with the unexpected meeting of songs such as Yes' 'Leave It' meshing perfectly with Abba's 'Dancing Queen' , try it you'll see I'm right.

I think Steve Jobs must have had similar early listening experiences to me, how else would he have come up with shuffle feature on iPods. Is it just me or does your iPod have a sixth sense when it comes to shuffling, mine never seems entirely random and often throws up music I wouldn't have picked but suits my mood exactly. Paranoid? Me?

John Wetton

I'm not often moved to write about a musician who has passed, but John Wetton was different.

At the start of the eighties some of my favourite musicians started forming bands together in some sort of fantasy rock group league. First Adrian Belew from Bowie's band & Talking Heads joined up with Bill Bruford, Tony Levin and a guitarist called Robert Fripp who I had never heard of, and then two of the lineup that made Drama, still my best loved Yes album, to form Asia with ELP's drummer and John Wetton.

John Wetton was a favourite by then. A hard driving bass player and a singer with a distinctive mid range voice. I heard him originally on U.K.'s Night After Night live album, worked back to the first U.K. album (where I found Bruford and especially Allan Holdsworth) and then earlier versions of King Crimson. Asia were different, more mainstream, the term AOR was just becoming one of abuse, but with enough substance to keep the music interesting. Built around Geoff Downes keyboard sounds, which were as much Buggles as Yes, Steve Howe's guitar solos were trimmed to keep you wanting more rather than looking at your watch, and Carl Palmer by and large kept out of the way.

In Downes, Wetton had the writing foil he needed to bring out the commercial aspect of his songs and make them hits. Short punchy anthems, the first album was full of them. John Wetton had been heading in this direction for a while, "As Long As You Want Me Here" on Night After Night, and his sole contribution to Wishbone Ash "That's That",and Downes contributions enabled him to create an album full of memorable hooks and tunes. Mike Stone's production and the business backing of John Kalodner and Geffen Records provided the mega seller that four muso's from the seventies would never have expected.

Lightning didn't strike twice and the second album was not as good, and in the end politics got in the way. The whole story is on Wikipedia fairly accurately. After Asia Wetton had a solo career that produced some great songs and a lot of good versions of his past triumphs. I saw the reformed Asia in 2009 and they were good, the voice was there and the bass playing was excellent. Wetton still had it right up to the end. The last picture I saw of him meeting Fripp was of a gaunt figure, who has sadly joined the ranks of the gone too soon. I will remember the powerhouse singer and bassist and play some his music tonight. What would I suggest to the person who has only just learnt his name or lost track in 1982?

Asia - "Asia" The whole album not a bad song on it. Heat Of the Moment might have been the hit but   there are stronger songs and performances.

John Wetton - "Live In Tokyo 1997" Some of his best interpretations of Crimson, U.K. and Asia along with the pick of his then current solo stuff, skip the solos though.

Wishbone Ash - "That's That" from Number The Brave, great metallic bass sound, Asia should have covered this.

John Wetton - "Raised in Captivity" His last studio album and probably one of his best

His whole discography is here explore it and find some lost gems along with songs that if you are of my generation will resonate with you

John Wetton 1949 - 2017 R.I.P.

Artist Choice Part One - Samantha James

In 2009 one of my discoveries was Samantha James. You can get the basic bio here. On the surface one of the stable of EDM artists that OM Records offer to the world, there is a certain something about the mix of her voice, the production, and the slightly hippy trippy lyrics that adds up to more than the sum of it's parts. So far her two albums Rise in 2007 & Subconscious from 2010 are at the top of my "played" count on the iPod. How come a fairly "traditional" fan took to something that seems a bit remote from my usual listening fare?

I think it is that "certain something" and the personal reaction to music I mentioned in "How Did I Miss This" previously. The arrangements often have an acoustic or slightly more organic element to them than run of  the mill Electronic Dance Music. There was an acoustic E.P. accompanying the Rise album where the songs stood up as well stripped back as they did with full "band". The lyrics on closer inspection are far deeper than they seem at first glance. The Subconscious album came out of the passing of her father from cancer, but it comes across as a very positive set of songs. Rise took a two years to complete and a couple of the songs have the feel of being worked over once too often, the acoustic version of 'Rain' is far superior to the album cut for instance. It does however contain two of her best songs, 'Rise' and 'Send It Out To The Universe'. So strong songwriting with thoughtful arrangements,  and a judicious use of collaborators, Brazilian singer/guitarist Celso Fonseca, and the Canadian J.B.Eckl who has collaborated with Carlos Santana in the past. Neither chosen for their big name pulling power but each adds to the songs they appear on. There are the inevitable remixes, Kaskade, & Eric Kupper, as well as others I have never heard of. The thoughtfulness in the process again comes through.

And after a single, 'Wings of Faith' in 2011 that was it, A couple of guest appearances on obscure albums crept out and her social media posts dwindled. I thought we may be left with two great albums as her legacy, but just recently the pace has picked up. A collaboration with Myon looks like bearing fruit in 2017 so this may be the time to investigate Samantha James.

Listening to her sent me off to other Downtempo and Nu-Jazz related artists like Late Night Alumni, Kyoto Jazz Massive and the Saint Germain Des Pres Cafe compilations. Try the playlist below as a starter and let me know what you think.

From Rise
Rise
I Found You
Enchanted Life
Send It Out To The Universe

From Rise Acoustic Sessions
Rain

Together As One (with Charles Webster)

From Subsconcious
Waves of Change
Veil
Subconscious
Illusions

Buy her music on Bandcamp
Twitter @samanthajames13
Online at Om Records There's another playlist and videos here

How Did I Miss This?

There's no logic behind the music you (or at least I) listen to. A friend tried to explain football to me once and why he supports Yeovil Town. I still don't get football, but I do get the feeling that you were meant to discover a team, or band, and follow them through thick & thin. This loyalty, borne of the hope that this is album is where they will find the spark again has been misplaced more than once. I went on buying Santana's albums long after it became obvious he didn't have another Moonflower to offer for instance.

But then there is the music that passes you by at the time and you only pick up on thirty or more years later; like Magazine.

I heard 'Shot by Both Sides' when John Peel played it, I watched them on Old Grey Whistle Test but the rest of their career came and went without me giving a second glance. Given that I liked a lot of bands from a similar part of the musical forest I don't know why. Then just a couple of months ago I saw their performance at the Electric Prom in 2009 on You Tube.This one in fact...

... and a few weeks later I have the excellent compilation 'Touch & Go', A BBC In Concert from 1978 and just downloaded today, 'Real Life and Thereafter' from the 2009 reunion tour.

The synth line in 'Definitive Gaze', Songs like 'Give Me Everything', Surely these would have struck the same chord then as they have now. I listen to a lot of music now that I was listening too in 1979/80 still and I must have heard them on the radio so why did I not pick up on this at the time? I had 30 years, I could have gone to the 2009 tour. What blinded me to the obvious quality of Howard Devoto's lyrics or Barry Adamson's bass playing for all this time? Who knows, anyway, found it now.

The question of course is what else is out there to find?  Artists I still don't get although I know I "should" like them include Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones and Leonard Cohen. At least with these I have tried, I have listened to their albums, looked for the point of entry that will connect me the millions who clearly hear something I don't.

That of course is the point of music, it is the intensely personal reaction to music, (or football) which makes the journey and the exploration worthwhile, and fills up the iPod with something to suit any mood or emotion.

Let's see what's out there...

It's the end of the year as we know it

So it took a while but I'm on track now, a post every week (or so) from now on...

It's traditional in music writing to have an end of the year round up of the songs/albums/artists that made an impression during the last 12 months. As by and large 2016 has been a real turkey of a year, deaths, politics and the demise of Teamrock have all left a sour taste in the mouth, but are we downhearted? Yes we are! So to add to the mood of gloom and futility these are the moments that brightened my corner of the forest.

Christine & The Queens - Chaleur Humaine:

So good I bought it twice. Once as a download after seeing "that" performance on Jools Holland, and again as a CD/DVD set on holiday in France when I realised how different the versions were. I know it has been out since 2014 in France but it was a 2016 release in the U.K. The mix of English & French lyrics, the melodies coupled to "hefty rhythm and bass line" and a sparkling production that only works on decent speakers or headphones. The Michael Jackson comparisons have more to do with dancing and trousers than the music which stands up without the sideshow. Best songs. Paradis Perdu, St Claude.


Bill Nelson - New Northern Dream:

A name you will hear a lot in this blog. I could just issue a blanket recommendation for all five albums Bill has released this year but this highlights the slightly whimsical dream pop aspect of his work with some of his best recent writing. Be Bop Deluxe fans who haven't encountered Bill since then should perhaps try the download only "Special Metal" as an easy starting point. Bill works in an almost stream of consciousness fashion and has maybe a dozen albums in waiting at any one time. Once you are hooked by this homespun beautiful music you will join those of us who rush to the computer to secure one of the 500 cds he presses of each release.


Fakear - Animal:

Fakear (a French DJ & producer) peppers his dance music with themes from flamenco to Africa & Asia. Rae Morris who sings on several of these pieces will be a huge star before long. The mix of influences and beats that is quite at home on the dance floor but also in the car or just for listening. Fakear who's maman calls him Théo Le Vigoureux says "I think we’re just beginning to see all the possibilities of electronic [music]" and this is the map of the new territory.




Other highlights..
ABC's The Lexicon Of Love 2, a sequel not dwarfed by it's predecessor
Robin Trower's Where Are You Going To, much improved on his last album
David Bowie's Blackstar, I'm still getting to grips with this and will report back

And the rest was all old stuff I discovered during the year, of which more anon.