A Day In The Life....

What do you write about when you don't really have any topics to discuss? I need to write something to keep a working daily blog valid after all. I was sent another CD to review but as it was some drum and bass racket I politely declined rather than ripping it to shreds verbally (after all who am I to judge the work of a drum and bass artist especially when I own zero Cd's in that genre and couldn't compare shit from gold)

The record currently on my player is "A Wizard, A True Star" by Todd Rundgren and the book in my line of sight this week is a biography of Charles Bukowski (poet and writer from the beat generation)a typical insight into the mind and life of another of the "suffer for your art" kinda guys, this has always been something I was never sure of. I like a warm bed and a hot bath before I go into the studio to record anything, the idea of having to stay up and destroy a million brain cells before I'm "ready" seems a bit too much of an effort. Either that or I've seen the abyss from the sidelines and never really fancied jumping in feet first. I'm all for being able to pull a riff out of the bag like Keith Richards but do I really want his morning wheezing cough? On the other hand I definitely could do without sliding into the Eric Clapton picture of health safe as milk play by numbers ball ache he calls music these days. Better to paddle your own canoe I guess, just be aware where the rocks and waterfalls are.

Load your spotify's and dig out the following nuggets....


1)Down Boy - Yeah,Yeah Yeahs

2)Since I Lost My Baby - The Temptations

3)Let Your Shoulder Fall - Matthew Jay

4)Life's A Gas - T-Rex

5)She Smiled Sweetly - The Rolling Stones

Re-Discovered Classics - End October...

Once again I'm throwing the gauntlet down for all of my merry men and women out there will Spotify to update their play lists with some of my favourite tracks that they might have missed before. Some are newer than others, some are dead and some are living..in my life I love you more....



You Don't Understand Me - The Raconteurs (from their 2ND album)

Cornerstone - Arctic Monkeys (yes you all probably all have this song already but its such a stone cold classic I couldn't take the risk of you not)

Past - Todd Rundgren (from his more recent album "Liars", slow 70s style Philly soul is what he does best, great production too)

Call My Name - Prince (no god babble or pointless funk jams, give him piano and a sympathetic band and he can still pull the goods from his royal purple behind)

Both Sides, Now - Joni Mitchell (a beautiful track originally from Clouds in 1969 but then re-recorded in 2000 an octave lower with an orchestra on the album of the same name) Both are amazing which is the proof of a great song that the arrangement and key can change and the song still hits the spot.

Are You Passionate? - Neil Young (a criminally underrated album post 9/11, Neil young playing his bluesiest since "This Notes For You")

Rock And Roll - The Velvet Underground (Lou Reed left the Velvet Underground for a solo career but in a classy act of kindness crammed his last album "Loaded" with a ton of "hits" and commercial tracks, here's one of his best.

Shapes Of Things - The Yardbirds (with Eric Clapton off with John Mayall the guitarist duties baton was picked up by Jeff Beck and thrown about a mile over the finish line.

A Kiss Before I Go - Ryan Adams (Here is the Gram Parsons influences coming to the forefront, a 4 star record from start to finish)

Soothe Me - Sam & Dave (Stax legends backed by Booker T and the Mg's, whats not to like?)

ZZZZZzzzzz....

With the weekend approaching rapidly (and a busy one at that) I try and grab as many quick cat naps and relaxed moments as possible, with the bus and train journeys too and from work and my trust ipod at hand I've managed to squeeze in some beauty sleep while keeping a third eye open on my phone and bag...

Here are 6 of the tracks currently drifting me off to the pleasant land of semi-nod....

1) A Case Of You - Prince ; Cover version of the Joni Mitchell classic, starts with the second verse and builds it up slowly. Easily the best track on the Joni Mitchell Covers album, effortless.

2) Saturday Sun - Nick Drake ; Even without his guitar, just playing piano and singing should still put Nick Drake up with the best of them...

3) Echoes - Pink Floyd ; Not for the faint hearted and definitely not for The Ramones fans, this track builds at a snails pace but when the harmony vocals drop in it makes you realise why they have sold a zillion copies...

4) Solid Air - John Martyn ; I actually love this song so much when I saw him play live at Shepherds Bush Empire and he DIDN'T play it I went looking for him and as he drove out of the back entrance banged on his car window, looking visibly freaked out (and pissed) his driver sensibly floored the accelerator leaving me clenched fist...listen to this title track about his friend Nick Drake and you'll understand why, its hypnotic.

5) Your A Big Girl Now - Bob Dylan ; This track from possibly his best work "Blood On The Tracks" just floats along with such loose precision and throw away lines that somehow still work because of the sentiment and bigger picture surrounding the songs and the album as a whole.

6) Drifting - Jimi Hendrix ; This track released after his death in 1970 is just another piece of evidence that as well as being the greatest guitar player ever to twang a stratocaster he was also an amazing songwriter and producer. In the same Curtis Mayfield guitar style as "Bold As Love" this song weaves in and out of the listeners speakers along with a vibraphone as a perfect complement.

Made him an offer he couldn't refuse?

Al Pacino set to play Phil Spector in new rock biopic.

This is the news that greeted me as I flicked on the news this morning. Al Pacino? Michael Corlenone? (The Godfather), Tony Montana? (Scarface), the Devil! (Devils Advocate) is now up for the roll of Rock and Roll pop producer and genius Phil Spector (currently serving 19 years to life for murder). It does sound a juicy plot that would have Hollywood rubbing their hands, a story of a teen genius, millionaire by 21, pioneer in the industry, number 1 records, rubbing shoulders with everyone from The Beatles to Elvis then to become a virtual recluse in his gothic mansion while his muse and then wife was kept under almost lock and key due to his growing jealousy and obsessive nature. The rock and roll Howard Hughes. But Al Pacino? You got to be kidding.

Al Pacino plays the tough guy rolls well. You believe him. Phil Spector was never a tough guy, he hung around with tough guys, paid big strong ex-cops to be his bodyguards, and he was always carrying a gun or two but would hope to never have to be in the situation where his bluff was called (in his teenage years his bluff was indeed called and the actions that happened mentally scarred him for the rest of his life)

Al Pacino likes to shout in his movies…he’s a shouter…Spector is petulant , he throws tantrums like a spoiled child when he doesn’t get is way…i.e. you want to leave his home after 8 hours of not doing anything (see his time with The Ramones for more details)

In the late 90s rock journalist and film maker Cameron Crowe wanted to make a definitive Phil Spector movie and even cast Tom Cruise in the lead but it fell apart as he could never get the 3rd act of the movie script to end with a satisfying conclusion. One fell into his lap with the eventual court case and imprisonment but I don’t think it was what he wanted when he first envisioned Phil’s comeback record with UK band Starsailor being the start of something wonderful to come.

Al Pacino is a wonderful actor, one of the best ever in my opinion but I think he would be drastically mis-cast as this role. I’m sure he is more than capable of pulling off a performance that wouldn’t be embarrassing but for a figure like Phil Spector a little more is needed. I would personally select Paul Reubens as a candidate. I know people will assume I’m joking but I think he would nail it. He is a great actor and has just enough of the madness within to be childish yet serious. His performance in “Blow” with Johnny Depp proved he was much more than just Pee Wee Herman. He might not be as bankable to the producers as a big name like Pacino but he’ll make the art needed and for someone like Spector it’s the art that matters.

The longest cab ride ever...

Thursday 7th October and thanks to a heads up by one of my mates I'd been lined up for some session playing for a group playing a gig in town. After acquiring the needed bass guitar (for it was that I was playing rather than the standard guitar I was used to)I proceeded to the venue and squinted my way through the set following notes and chords jotted down on a piece of A4 at my feet. The gig was fun, 5 songs and sorted. The journey home was a headache. In central London on week night a good hour after the last trains had vanished and carrying a very expensive Fender Jazz bass that wasn't mine I thought the safest option was the call Addison Lee cabs and get home. What they sent was someone who the CIA must have trained up in mind torture, every opinion more idiotic and pathetic than the last and although I would try and cut conversations short even trying "the phone off" by beeping and flicking through already read messages in a vain attempt to give him a clue but it seems this was a man on a mission. If I'd started this tale a bit sooner I would have combined his insanity into a new "sacred cows" page as the bands he mentioned as being his favourites were such dross as "Status Quo" (THE Quo! as he called them) and "Dire Straits" who also climb the ladder near the top of the worst bands, singers, guitarists of all time in my opinion. Music for people that don't like music... I would rather slice my member off with a rusty bread knife than sit through even a minute of anything off of "Brothers In Arms" or god help me a Mark Knopfler solo outing. As the insanity carried on and the wind started getting up in my sails I cut him short with a "what the fuck about Hendrix?"... (as his ramblings about guitars reached fever pitch) he casually brushed this away with "I never really understood why it needed to be so loud and so aggressive"....no mate and you never will. God how I hate people... after the revolution and the armies have everyone lined up against the wall I will distribute a ten point questionnaire a mark lower than 7 will result in immediate death. Tough rules for a safer Britain...hail biggus dickus!

Frazey Ford - Obadiah REVIEW

Frazey Ford – Obadiah

"Obadiah"is the début solo album from Canadian singer songwriter Frazey Ford. Once a member of Appalachian styled country song smiths The Be Good Tanyas she's now reinvented her sound to a smoother relaxed soul tinged flavour reminiscent of After The Gold rush/Harvest Era Neil Young (heard especially in the albums opener “Firecracker”) mixed with the best of southern soul.

Where as the Joni Mitchell comparisons are easy to make when describing Fords light vocals (especially when listening to the 3rd track “Bird Of Paradise”) I would personally think of her more as a anti folk Ronnie Spector or even Dolly Parton as her tones and vowels quivers under the arrangements at the end of the phase.

The album is a slow burner that works very well as a whole piece with other stand out tracks including the modern R&B flavoured “Blue Streak Mama” which flows without the typical synths and lazy drum machine beats you would come to expect from the lacklustre hits coming under the “soul” bracket at the moment. “Obadiah” is a mixed collections of styles that stop at each road across the map of American music, from country to soul to rock to folk. “Lost Together” is framed in a Gram Parsons/Emmylou Harris arrangement with the vocals snaking around each other that resolve perfectly on each chorus.

“Hey Little Mama” is another stand-out of the album that points the spotlight on Fords singing with minimal backing including brush played drums used to great effect. Other numbers on the second half of the 13 strong list include “Half In” and the UN-gospelly “The Gospel Song”. “Half In” with its “Time Out Of Mind” atmosphere and double bass anchoring the slow rhythm as the Hammond Organ weaves in and out the vocals with great results.

The obligatory Bob Dylan cover actually fits perfectly as a bookend to the songs included here. Her version of “One More Cup Of Coffee” although faithful to the original doesn't really bring anything new to the table (unlike The White Stripes version) if anything it gives the second half of the album an added boost from a songwriter of Dylan's pedigree.

"Obadiah" ends with “Mimi Song” a slow ballad which speaks of redemption and acceptance of someone leaving something precious behind (a child? A love? Another time?) Like John Martyn's arguably best work “Solid Air” “Obadiah” is a album best heard late at night and when it finishes you almost wake back into reality like a hypnotized stooge after being in another place for the last 60+ mins. A keeper and one to be troubling the best albums list's of this year.

Re-Discovered Classics - October

Re-discovered Classics.

Due to few angry hipsters out there that got their “ironic” Pac-Man underwear in a twist about my “lost classics” post I have re-named it Re-discovered classics now.
For those of you not in “the know” this is where I list some old and in some cases new-ish tracks that might have flown so low under the radar that they were missed altogether or simply just great songs you aren’t ever going to hear on XFM or see on
MTV…

Here’s my October List.

1)Berlin – Lou Reed ; This is the version from his first solo album “Lou Reed” as opposed to the version on the “Berlin” album a few years later. I’ve always preferred this version as it doesn’t sound quite as dark and murky as the re-make.

2)96 Tears – Question Mark and The Mysterians ; This garage rock nugget from the Cameo Parkway label was kept in limbo for years due to the ownership of the label not re-releasing any of the companies songs onto cd so the only way to hear this would have been if you owned it on vinyl or watched some grainy footage on YouTube. Its now available everywhere and is a great frat party classic with its cheap spooky sounding organ and straight 4/4 scratchy guitar riff.

3)Don’t Let Me In - Steely Dan ; This track is only available on a compilation of pre debut album tracks by Donald Fagan and Walter Becker called “Beginnings” while they were struggling songwriters pitching their work in New York. While the seeds of what was to come are evident the overall sound of it is more bluesy and innocent than the later sardonic high brow jazz infused pop classics they were to become famous for.

4)So Alive – Ryan Adams ; This is a prime example of a song that I’d catch hell from some Nike-Air wearing fringe telling me its not “lost” as it’s their favourite track ever, but it’s one that doesn’t get played enough and mentioned in the same breath as other tracks in the Ryan Adams catalogue where I actually would argue that it’s his finest moment and the best track on the “Rock N Roll” album. Great chiming Marr-esque guitars interweaving with each other on a wave of echo with Ryan Adams singing in his best Morrissey tenor, a definite main-stay in my DJ box.

5)You Needed More – The Sleepy Jackson ; The opening track from the 2nd album (no I’m not American and refuse to call it sophomore album!”…their 2nd album “Personality – One Was A Spider, One Was A Bird” . This track is full of the trademarks of front man, songwriter and chief Luke Steele's heroes, Phil Spector, Brian Wilson are all included in the reverb laden drums and shakers and the choral harmonies thickening up the hook and expanding the middle 8 into classic blissed out territories. Definitely don’t file next to your Cramps CDs…