Terence Trent D'arby "Wildcard!" (2001)

Wildcard!
release date: Oct. 11, 2001
format: cd (2002 reissue)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,36]
producer: Sananda Maitreya [aka Terence Trent D'Arby]
label: Sananda Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "O Divina" - 5. "SRR-636" - 7. "Suga Free" - 8. "What Shall I Do?" (4 / 5) - 9. "Testify" - 12. "Ev'rythang" - 16. "Goodbye Diane"

5th studio album by Terence Trent D'Arby, or: Sananda Maitreya as he has now changed his name to. The album is also filed as "Terence Trent D'Arby's Wildcard!" and "Sananda Maitreya's Wildcard!" or even as "Terence Trent D'Arby's / Sananda Maitreya's Wildcard!". And I do understand the various titles involved. Fact is, the album cover comes in (at least) two different versions. On Sananda Maitreya's official homepage the album is referred to as "Wildcard! - The Jokers Edition" (a 2002 reissue). However, all editions of the album contain a small circle with both "his" names in it: the "Joker"[!].
Anyway, the music is fine, almost as usual. The 'hard rock' element he has excelled in on the predecessor Vibrator from 1995 is completely absent, instead it's a more mellow and soulful 'neo-soul' release consisting of 19 tracks. It has been released on several labels: Rock On, Universal and D'Arby / Sananda's own label Sananda Records. Both the 2001/02 releases contain 19 tracks but doesn't have identical track listing. The version I have come to know is the reissue containing the fine "What Shall I do?", and two other tracks omitted from the original album version. The original release was an album by Terence Trent D'Arby produced by Sananda Maitreya, which hints to TTD's decision to officially have his name changed to Sananda Francesco Maitreya. He has released another 6 studio albums since the release of this album, none of which I have come across. Since 2002 he lives in Milan, Italy.
Wildcard! may not be a masterpiece but it surely deserves much more recognition.
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]

<  show covers >

org. cover, 2001

inlay showing
both names

Terence Trent D'arby "Vibrator" (1995)

Vibrator
release date: Jun. 1, 1995
format: digital
[album rate: 2,5 / 5] [2,27]
producer: Terence Trent D'Arby
label: Columbia Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 3. "Holding on to You" (3,5 / 5) - 6. "We Don't Have That Much Time Together" - 8. "If You Go Before Me"

4th studio album by Terence Trent D'Arby continue its style from Symphony or Damn (1993), only it doesn't contain compositions on the same high level. It sounds and feels much like leftovers from his previous work. Together with Neither Fish Nor Flesh from '89, I find this his least interesting album, and the one that makes me think of Prince the most, and I'm not a fan of his. This is only just mediocre. This is one huge blend of styles: funk, soul , pop / rock, r&b, well even jazz is represented here making it fusion jazz rock. It seems he's almost trying to embrace all styles and genres, which can only lead to the style of... confusion [!].
[ allmusic.com 2,5 / 5, Select 1 / 5 stars ]

Terence Trent D'Arby "Symphony or Damn" (1993)

Symphony or Damn
release date: May 11, 1993
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,68]
producer: Terence Trent D'Arby
label: Columbia Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 2. "She Kissed Me" (4,5 / 5) (live - live) - 3. "Do You Love Me Like You Say?" - 4. "Baby Let Me Share My Love" (4 / 5) - 5. "Delicate" (feat. Des'ree) (4 / 5) - 6. "Neon Messiah" - 7. "Penelope Please" - 12. "Are You Happy?" - 14. "I Still Love You"

3rd studio album by Terence Trent D'Arby is a fine return to form. The style is closer to his great debut album, but also has a more hard rock profile, which makes me think of Lenny Kravitz as a younger (and lesser gifted) admirer of his.
D'Arby's struggles with an image of being over-ambitious doesn't come easy with tracks #1-9 labelled "Part I - Confrontation", and tracks #10-16: "Part II - Reconciliation". However, once again D'Arby shows his great musical skills by being credited as musical arranger, for handling lead and background vocals, as instrumentalist playing bass, clavinet, drums, acoustic and electric guitars, keyboards, percussion, for making drum programming, horn and string arrangements, sound effects, AND for producing the album. Aside from that he has composed all music on the album. Yes, he is enormously gifted, and (sadly) he points to that himself, BUT this is a fine album almost parring his great debut. I didn't come across this album until after 2005, but it really doesn't sound like being produced in '93. It has a big and vivid sound, and considering the seemingly absent attention that was attributed the album, it surprises me how good it is. It's a recommendable, almost essential r&b album of the 1990s.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5 stars ]

Terence Trent D'Arby "Neither Fish Nor Flesh..." (1989)

Neither Fish Nor Flesh...
release date: Oct. 23, 1989
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,46]
producer: Terence Trent D'Arby
label: CBS Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 3."It Feels So Good To Love Someone Like You" - 4. "To Know Someone Deeply Is To Know Someone Softly" (4 / 5) - 5. "I'll Be Alright" (4 / 5) (live) - 6. "Billy Don't Fall" (3,5 / 5)

2nd studio album by Terence Trent D'Arby with the full title Neither Fish Nor Flesh (A Soundtrack of Love, Faith, Hope & Destruction) is released 2½ years after his great debut. The style is less focused, and loans from funk rock folk and gospel. It doesn't contain the same great single hits as the debut, but it contains fine music. I don't recall hearing it upon its release, and frankly suspect that most radio stations and distributor links didn't want D'Arby at all. Critics were hard on D'Arby. Well, he hadn't made it easy to himself claiming that his debut was a more important album than Sgt. Pepper... by The Beatles, and generally just taking it for granted that everyone in touch with the music industry could tell he was a genius. Prior to the album release, a German producer, Frank Farian reissued the album Love on Time (1984) by the German band, The Touch, a band featuring Terence Trent D'Arby on vocals. He played in the band while serving the US army stationed in Frankfurt, and Farian took advantage of D'Arby's new-found international debut to reissue the album as Early Works against D'Arby's will. When Neither Fish Nor Flesh was released, many music critics called the new album over-ambitious, pretentious, and simply rejected D'Arby's persona. Apparently, and according to D'Arby he found himself and the record label with conflicting ideas about promotional aspects, which wasn't in favor of the album nor the artist behind it. Some time after the release, TTD referred to himself as Sananda Maitreya, a name he legally changed to in 2001. On his homepage referring to this album, he recalls: "We believe this is the project that literally killed ‘TTD’, and from whose molten ashes, began the life of Sananda."
[ allmusic.com 3,5 / 5, Rolling Stone 4 / 5 stars ]

Terence Trent D'Arby "Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D'Arby" (1987)

Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D'Arby [debut]
release date: Jul. 13, 1987
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,05]
producer: Martyn Ware, Terence Trent D'Arby, Howard Grey
label: Columbia Records - nationality: USA

Tracklist: 1. "If You All Get to Heaven" (4 / 5) - 2. "If You Let Me Stay" (4,5 / 5) - 3. "Wishing Well" (4 / 5) - 4. "I'll Never Turn My Back on You (Father's Words)" (3,5 / 5) - 5. "Dance Little Sister" (4 / 5) - 6. "Seven More Days" (4 / 5) (live) - 7. "Let's Go Forward" (3,5 / 5) - 8. "Rain" (3,5 / 5) - 9. "Sign Your Name" (4 / 5) - 10. "As Yet Untitled" (3 / 5) - 11. "Who's Lovin' You" (4 / 5) (live)

Studio debut album by Terence Trent D'Arby (born Terence Trent Howard). This is a fabulous debut album. D'Arby wrote, sang, played, arranged, and co-produced most tracks single-handedly. He is a multi-instrumentalist and has a singing voice that pars the best soul artists, and feels stronger, tighter and more intense than any contemporary r&b, soul, and pop / rock singer around. Stylistically, it's a huge blend of styles with rhythm & blues at the center of everything, and around that, D'Arby drags from especially soul, but also from pop / rock, blues, and vocal jazz with noticeable sources like Otis Redding, James Brown, Michael Jackson, Ray Charles, and Stevie Wonder. The album went straight to #1 in the UK and many other European countries, whereas it had a harder time in D'Arby's home country, the USA. To me, this is much better than Michael Jackson or Prince, perhaps because it contains more rock and soul influence - it's more hard hitting than most r&b releases, which may explain its difficulty in his home country. After this first great album, D'Arby strangely almost vanished from the public eye. Initially, I bought the album on cassette in '87, and only first in the 90s bought it on cd. The album is rightfully enlisted in "10001 Albums You Must Here Before You Die".
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5, Q Magazine 3 / 5 stars ]

Adrian Borland and The Citizens "Alexandria" (1989)

Alexandria [debut]
release date: 1989
format: vinyl (BIAS 125) / cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,16]
producer: Adrian Borland and Nick Robbins
label: Play It Again Sam - nationality: England, UK

Tracklist: 1. "Light the Sky" (4 / 5) - 2. "Rogue Beauty" (4 / 5) - 3. "Beneath the Big Wheel" - 4. "Community Call" (4 / 5) - 5. "No Ethereal" - 6. "Other Side of the World" - 7. "Crystalline" - 8. "Shadow of Your Grace" (4 / 5) - 9. "Weight of Stuff" - 10. "She's My Heroine" (4 / 5) - 11. "Deep Deep Blue"

The solo debut album by Adrian Borland after the disbandment of The Sound. The album was released under the name of Adrian Borland and The Citizens. It's more or less the sound of Adrian as we have come to know him from The Sound. He was THE driving force and songwriter of that band, and therefore his solo albums are closely related to the "old" musical universe. Maybe one could argue that he puts even more focus on the narrating element making the style a singer / songwriter release but still with traces of post-punk and alternative rock, however, he also expands his style to include more pop / rock tunes with plain chorus-based tracks, as in "Light the Sky", "Rogue Beauty", and "She's My Heroine". I think that both the record company and Adrian had hoped for more recognition when the album was launched, alas, it went more or less like the story of The Sound. He received good reviews but failed to gain more than a small devoted audience. The album was produced by Adrian and Nick Robbins (who also produced albums for The Sound) and Colvin Mayers the keyboardist of his old band also handles keyboards on this one.

[ collectors' item ]

Red House Painters "Songs for a Blue Guitar" (1996)

Songs for a Blue Guitar
release date: Jul. 23, 1996
format: digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,44]
producer: Mark Kozelek
label: Supreme Recordings - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Have You Forgotten" (alt. version) - 2. "Song for a Blue Guitar" - 3. "Make Like Paper" - 5. "Trailways" - 7. "Long Distance Runaround" (4 / 5) - 8. "All Mixed Up" - 9. "Revelation Big Sur" (4 / 5) - 10. "Silly Love Songs"

5th studio album by Red House Painters released on Supreme Recordings is basically a Mark Kozelek solo album, as he is the only musician on the album. The band had been on contract with British 4AD Records but after finishing this album the band was released from its contract (as 4AD wouldn't release it). Supreme Recordings (a sub-label of Island Records) eventually signed with the band and released the album. Three of the tracks here are cover versions by Yes (track #7), The Cars (track #8), and Wings (track #10).
It contains both very quiet and slow primarily acoustic tracks, as well as a few garage rock-styled or folk rock-oriented compositions that come close to the style of Neil Young with Crazy Horse, and I think the many soft and hard (unpolished) directions are the weakness of the album, but all in all, a fine album.
[ allmusic.com, Rolling Stone 3,5 / 5 stars ]

Kings of Leon "Youth & Young Manhood" (2003)

Youth & Young Manhood [debut]
release date: Jul. 22, 2003
format: cd (HMD27)
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,06]
producer: Ethan Johns
label: Handmedown Records / RCA Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Red Morning Light" - 2. "Happy Alone" - 3. "Wasted Time"

Studio album debut by Kings of Leon released on Handmedown and RCA. The genre is indie rock and garage rock revival in a special southern rock style pointing towards early Rolling Stones mixed with AC/DC, which also takes it to the harder end of the style.

I think, I first heard of the band when the songs "Ragoo" and "On Call" from their third album Because of the Times (2007) got some airplay on the national radio station DR P3 back in 2007, but I wasn't really hooked on their music until a year later with the album Only by the Night (2008) and especially tracks like "Sex on Fire" and "Revelry", which were played extensively on nationwide radio. After acquiring these two albums, I then got their latest Come Around Sundown (2010), which really made me change my mind about this band, as imho was the band's best. This subsequently made me check out their first two albums, as I was also curious about how they had initiated their career.

I have nothing against the various styles they manage to incorporate into their music on their later albums, but this first one is really far from that - and also far from my taste. It shows the band's early garage rock revival mix (which is style I enjoy) with southern rock, country rock, and hard rock ['ouch'] , and I can only say that the mixture leaves me rather unimpressed. Yes, they prove themselves as skilled instrumentalists, but that's also the only thing that shines through here.

Not recommended.

[ allmusic.com, Blender 3 / 5, Q Magazine, Rolling Stone 4 / 5 stars ]

Lisa Ekdahl "Med kroppen mot jorden" (1996)

Med kroppen mot jorden
release date: Mar. 1996
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,68]
producer: Janne Hansson, Lennart Karlsmyr [recorded by]
label: RCA Victor / BMG Sweden - nationality: Sweden

Track highlights: 1. "Inte kan ödet vara så hårt" - 2. "Himlen och jag" - 3. "Små onda djävlar" - 6. "Skäl att vara motvalls" - 9. "Hösten"

2nd solo album by Lisa Ekdahl is like her '94 debut album a collection of stripped-down compositions featuring Ekdahl's vocal and acoustic guitar together with a small handful of primary musicians: Kenny Håkansson on guitar, Patrik Boman on double bass, Bill Öhrström on congas, percussion & harmonica, and with Jörgen Ringkvist on drums. All songs are written and composed by Ekdahl and the album appears as the debut like mere studio recordings - the album has no producer credits, which also suggest that the album is recorded live in studio.
Stylistically, it follows closely on the path laid out on her fine debut and by that doesn't share common ground with her most recent collaboration with Peter Nordahl Trio When Did You Leave Heaven from 1995 and its vocal jazz standards. This is Swedish folk pop/ easy listening in a singer / songwriter universe with bonds to folk music and world music. It's like the second half of two solo albums that are closely related - her debut and this could nicely be fitted on a double album without pointing in various directions.
Nice and solid.

Tindersticks "The Something Rain" (2012)

The Something Rain
release date: Feb. 21, 2012
format: vinyl (LuckyDog10LP) / cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,94]
producer: Stuart A. Staples
label: Lucky Dog / City Slang - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Chocolate" - 2. "Show Me Everything" - 3. "This Fire of Autumn" (4 / 5) - 4. "A Night so Still" - 5. "Slippin' Shoes" - 6. "Medicine" - 7. "Frozen" (4,5 / 5) - 8. "Come Inside" - 9. "Goodbye Joe"

reviewed Mar. 16, 2012

9th studio album by Tindersticks released on Lucky Dog and City Slang shows the band continuing on the new paths that they sought out on the predecessor Falling Down a Mountain (Jan. 2010). Since then, new guitarist David Kitt has already left again, which now leave us with a more permanent quintet containing the three original members Staples, Fraser, Boulter, and the two newest members: Dan McKinna and Earl Harvin.

Finally, the band in its new configuration has succeeded in producing really well-crafted new material! It's not because they have been really poor, nor boring. It has only taken the band a few years after reorganising to establish a new favourable dynamic. At times the band has seemed as if stuck to a formula, trying hard to come up with new ideas without really being able to evolve artistically, and they have occasionally sounded like a mere copy of themselves. It has left a taste of something unsatisfying about their albums, although I have rediscovered their releases from 2003-10 and have had the pleasure to admit that they actually were better than my initial assumption had told me. 'They were so thoroughly original, so why did they stop making fascinating music?' was my thoughts after acquiring Waiting for the Moon in 2003, and the same sensation crept in with the two successive albums. There was like nothing... cool about these releases and an absence of a 'wow' experience! They then released the 5-CD box set, the massive Claire Denis Film Scores 1996-2009 album (2011), which is a bit of a demanding collected work of film music for Claire Denis. The best parts are Nénette et Boni and Trouble Every Day. As soundtracks, they all suffer from being made as accompaning material to something visual that is absent, and it may be a challenging experience listening through the music to films you haven't seen. The individual works also have a common ambient element, which does not always go hand in hand with Tindersticks - but that's just an opinion.

The Something Rain expands the band's repertoire in the most positive sense. It combines Tindersticks, as you have come to know them: the sophisticated and lighter grey-blue chamber pop, Stuart Staples' crooning, melancholic and deep vocals and then 'The Something' else: the embrace and inclusion of a strong bond to jazz.

It's the rediscovery of the aesthetically beautiful with a completely new fully formed jazz atmosphere, which is combined with the band's foremost qualities and in this way they open up to a music that simply tastes surprisingly new. And it's not just old wine in new bottles, but... Tindersticks vintage. Imho, this is one of the best releases of 2012.

Stuart Staples & Suzanne Osborne's
joint book-project "Singing Skies"

The front-cover is an excerpt from the joint book-project "Singing Skies" [review] consisting of song lyrics by Staples and screen printings by his wife, Suzanne Osborne [link], who made the series "A year in small paintings - Skies, Sep. 2010 - Sep. 2011".

Bob Mould "Modulate" (2002)

Modulate
release date: Mar. 12, 2002
format: digital
[album rate: 2,5 / 5] [2,32]
producer: Bob Mould
label: Granary Music - nationality: USA

Best track: 1. "180 Rain"

5th solo album by Bob Mould following 3½ years after The Last Dog and Pony Show (Aug. '98). After his proclaimed retirement as a musician and what may have been a low-point in his personal life, he took up music again. I guess, he may have realized how much it was a natural part in him.
Well, thanks for returning, Bob, but with this he has turned to electronic synth! Although, I really like the first song "180 Rain" [despite heavy use of vocoder], the overall impression is not good. Some tracks have fine ideas, drum sequences or synth loops but it's just... experiments, and nothing really seems finished. Shortly after this he released the album Long Playing Grooves under his pseudonym LoudBomb where he apparently goes further into electronic. But bottom line: this is his first album off... 'anything' - the first in a long series of mediocre or just lesser albums until he re-submerged in 2012 with the fine Silver Age.
[ allmusic.com 2 / 5 stars ]

Kings of Leon

~ ~ ~

Kings of Leon is an American quartet founded in Nashville, Tennessee, 1999. The band consists of three brothers and their cousin Matthew - (Anthony) Caleb Followill (b. 1982) lead vocalist & rhythm guitarist, (Cameron) Matthew Followill (b. 1984) on lead guitar & backing vocals, (Michael) Jared Followill (b. 1986) on bass & backing vocals, and (Ivan) Nathan Followill (b. 1979) on drums, percussion & backing vocals.

The band's music was originally a mixture of southern rock, blues rock, and country rock mixed with a certain amount of psychedelic rock, but the music has changed along the way towards clearer pop / rock and an alt. rock style on albums from around 2008 and onwards. As Americans, KOL enjoy greater popularity in Europe than in the US, e.g. the debut album peaked at number #133 on the national albums chart, whereas it peaked at number #3 in the UK (selling more than four times as many albums here), and although the band's second album made a fine entry as number #55 in the US, but again the it landed as a number #3 in Britain. Both their 2008 and 2010 studio albums topped the charts in the UK, as they did in several other countries worldwide, and despite having by now experienced two album releases, which both peaked at number #2 in the US (in 2010 and 2013) - both of these albums topped the charts in Britain as they did in a number of other European countries as well as in Australia - so after six studio albums (as of 2015), the band has yet to achieve the same success in their home country.

~ ~ ~

TV-2 "En dejlig torsdag" (1987)

En dejlig torsdag
release date: 1987
format: vinyl (450508 1) / digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,54]
producer: Greg Walsh
label: CBS Records - nationality: Denmark

6th studio album by Danish band TV-2 following the band's so far biggest success Rigtige mænd gider ikke høre mere vrøvl, and like that produced by Greg Walsh.
This time it's more obvious that band and producer attempts to reproduce what worked so well on their previous work; however, En dejlig torsdag doesn't quite deliver on the same level. Also, for the first time since the band's second album, the new album doesn't sell more albums than its predecessor, and this time only sells 50% of the '85 album.

Big Country "The Seer" (1986)

The Seer
release date: Jul. 14, 1986
format: vinyl (826 844-1) / cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,86]
producer: Robin Millar
label: Mercury Records - nationality: Scotland, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Look Away" (4 / 5) - 2. "The Seer" (feat. Kate Bush) (4 / 5) - 3. "Teacher" - 4. "I Walk the Hill" - 5. "Eiledon" (4 / 5) - 6. "One Great Thing" - 7. "Hold the Heart" - 8. "Remembrance Day" - 9. "Red Fox" - 10. "Sailor"

3rd studio album by Big Country following two years after Steeltown (Oct. 1984) introduces a somewhat softer sound, yet still builds on especially the style from the debut album. The album is produced by Robin Millar, who has been associated with more mainstream artists, and it's probably due to the shift from Lillywhite to Millar that I disliked the album in the '80s. Fact is, I sold my copy of the vinyl album because I never played it. Talk about being stupid! To me, and my ears back then, this was nothing but polished pop / rock, and I simply stopped following the band from here on. Nowadays, I don't understand my rejection, as I find that this more than pars Steeltown. It contains fine songs, and it's actually better produced - it's more varied with a broader sound - and it simply contains no fillers. I know, I didn't really appreciate the title track, and just found it boring. Now I see this as one of the absolute strongest tracks. Its complexity, verses and great chorus lines with a splendid contribution by Kate Bush whose singing voice really suits Adamson's guitar so perfectly. Actually, one may see the whole album as a fine bridge between contemporary pop / rock and celtic rock. Luckily, I have managed to get a second-hand copy of the original first issues.
Highly recommended.
[ allmusic.com 2,5 / 5, Kerrang! 3 / 5 stars ]

Gangway "Happy Ever After" (1992)

front cover: Balling & Johansen

Happy Ever After
release date: Sep. 17, 1992
format: cd (GENCD 187)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,62]
producer: Henrik Balling, Torben Johansen
label: Genlyd - nationality: Denmark

Track highlights: 1. "No Need to Be Afraid" - 2. "You and Yours" - 3. "Didn't I Make You Laugh" - 4. "Once in a While" - 6. "Never Say Goodbye" - 7. "Mountain Song" (official video) - 8. "Blessed by a Lesser God"

5th studio album by Gangway following 1½ years after The Quiet Boy Ate the Whole Cake (1991) sees the two main songwriters, Henrik Balling and Torben Johansen back in the producer seat. This is primarily synth-pop although, they have turned down a bit on the drum machines and on the electronic arrangements, so that it turns out like something in between their second and their third albums. It's more or less the same band as on the '91 album, although, percussionist Cai Bojsen-Møller has been included as full member now making the band a quartet again. Shortly after leaving Elektra Denmark, the band signed with Genlyd, which was by now economically secured under the stable wings of BMG Ariola. The front cover shows Henrik Balling and Torben Johansen (the two producers) with Cai Bojsen-Møller and Allan Jensen left on the back cover. Balling is credited as songwriter of the majority of the songs while three tracks are credited Johansen (tracks #2, #4, and #6), and "You and Yours" and "Once in a While" are not only two of his best songs ever but are also highlights of the album. As on predecessor, Jesper Siberg is credited 'sound design', which basically means that he filled in as both sound engineer and a type of assistant producer.

On a national scale, Happy Ever After was quite succesful and compared to its predecessor it was also better received by both the press and the public. The album eventually earned the band four Danish Grammy Awards in Feb. '93 for Band of the Year, Best Danish Rock Release, Best Music-Video (for "Mountain Song") and Best Songwriter (Henrik Balling). Furthermore, "Mountain Song" was a major national hit and in hindsight it stands as one of the band's most frequently played songs ever. The album itself sold twice as many copies as their so far most popular album Sitting in the Park and reached 50.000 sold albums in Denmark alone, securing the position as the band's best-selling album ever.

Personally, I don't find that Happy Ever After is a big leap forward - in fact, I find it more of a minor step in... another direction. At first, I saw it as a lesser album, as it doesn't contain a bunch of truly remarkable tracks, or: original takes like is found on the '91 album. Two to three fine songs all appearing to try to revitalise the spirit of Sitting in the Park (1986) doesn't quite save the album as something extraordinary; however, that was a first verdict, and it's certainly more straight-forward, more simplistic, and also a quite coherent whole. It's definitely more mainstream-shaped than the predecessor, and then it fully lives up to its title. Furthermore, it's without the ironic distance the band had carried with them in whatever direction they pursued on their first two albums out. Happy Ever After turns out as a real feel-good pop album without intentions to claim they play rock or indie pop. Imho, this is clearly bettering their '86 and '88 albums by being more coherent and better produced. It may not live up to what they sat out for on the debut, and it doesn't follow a path of trying something different, and it feels like a more secure choice than the predecessor with which they took on a new experimental approach. Having said that, and in retrospect Happy Ever After has come to stand as the band's musical peak and Gangway's most popular album. In my mind, it still comes second to their '91 album, but it's still highly recommended.

back cover: Boisen-Møller & Jensen

Sofia Karlsson "Svarta ballader (Sjunger Dan Andersson)" (2005)

Svarta ballader (Sjunger Dan Andersson)
release date: Feb. 12, 2005
format: cd (AMCD 756)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,62]
producer: Göran Petersson, Sigge Krantz & Sofia Karlsson
label: Amigo Musik - nationality: Sweden

2nd studio album by Swedish folk artist Sofia Karlsson is the collection of poems by Swedish poet Dan Andersson (1888-1920) - except track #10, written by Charles Baudelaire and translated by Andersson. All songs have musical arrangements by Karlsson.
The album falls close to her debut album with its older lyrical matter, although, the music seems more contemporary folk-founded.
Svarta ballader was Karlsson national breakthrough album - peaking at number #6 on the Swedish album charts list, which is a quite high position for a rather quiet folk-oriented release, and the album was met by critical acclaim and Karlsson was nominated and also won several prizes with the album.
Despite its quiet and rather simple compositions and arrangements, the album is a warm and fine release of traditional Swedish folk.

Sting "... Nothing Like the Sun" (1987)

... Nothing Like the Sun
release date: Oct. 5, 1987
format: vinyl 2 lp (393912-1) / cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,56]
producer: Sting, Hugh Padgham, Bryan Loren, Neil Dorfsman
label: A&M Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "The Lazarus Heart" - 2. "Be Still My Beating Heart" - 3. "Englishman in New York" (4 / 5) - 4. "History Will Teach Us Nothing" - 6. "Fragile" - 8. "Straight to My Heart" - 10. "Sister Moon" - 11. "Little Wing"

2nd solo studio album by Sting is like his first two album releases a double vinyl album, although, the playing time at approx. 55 mins. really doesn't opt for the necessity of two discs. The album is a slight move away from the jazz tone on the debut towards a more traditional pop / rock styled album.
At first, I found it a lesser album with the lack of great compositions, but in a way I think it's a more successful release than his solo debut as it's more of a whole, and the lyrical side is clearly bettering his first. After a few years I then considered this his best solo release. Some tracks, however, tend to linger in the same mood and seem like built on more or less the same matrix, which makes it appear as having a long playing time. Still, this is a solid good album, and imho, it's his last really good album as a solo artist.
[ allmusic.com, Rolling Stone 4,5 / 5 stars ]

Nena "Wenn alles richtig ist, dann stimmt was nich" (1998)

Wenn alles richtig ist, dann stimmt was nich
release date: Jul. 6, 1998
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,28]
producer: Philipp Palm, Lukas Hilbert, Tony Bruno
label: Polydor Records - nationality: Germany

5th solo studio album by Nena is stylistically one of her boldest pop / rock-founded albums with focus on rock unlike her more subtle story-telling and softer solo albums, and in that respect this one comes closer to her releases with the band Nena, only without the synthpop and (German) Neue Deutsche Welle elements that also characterized those albums. Despite being an interesting album clearly above the "mediocre", the album was more or less unnoticed in Germany, where it only reached number #42 on the national albums chart list.
I find it one of her better "mainstream" releases with several fine songs, although, it doesn't bring much new to the table.
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]

Chet Baker "My Funny Valentine [Essential Jazz Masters]" (2006)

My Funny Valentine [Essential Jazz Masters] (compilation)

release date: 2006

format: digital

[album rate: 3 / 5]

Compilation album by Chet Baker, which seems like a reissue but is filed as a 2006 album release, however, all tracks must have been recorded in the 1950s and/or 1960s, which is quite evident from the mono recordings. It features live sessions, hard bop jazz, as well as his romantic cool jazz ballads including one vocal jazz track, which sort of comprises all his styles but also makes it a very uneven compilation of songs.

The National "The National" (2001)

The National [debut]
release date: Jul. 3, 2001
format: digital (12 x File, MP3)
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,12]
producer: The National & Nick Lloyd
label: Brassland Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 2. "Cold Girl Fever" - 3. "The Perfect Song" - 4. "American Mary" - 9. "Watching You Well"

Studio album debut by Ohio-founded band The National consisting of lead vocalist Matt Berninger, lead guitarist Scott Devendorf, also backing vocals, bassist & rhythm guitarist Aaron Dessner, and drummer Bryan Devendorf [who fronts the album cover]. The album is released on newly-founded label Brassland, which amongst others include the band's bassist Aaron and his brother, Bryce Dessner as co-founders.
Musically, the album is labelled as alt. rock, americana, and indie rock. I have only come across this after listening to the band's fine third album Alligator (2005), and compared to that, this is more quieter and alt. folk-shaped making me think of American Music Club cloned with music from British jangle pop of the early to mid-1980s and perhaps early R.E.M. and a more recent American band like Grant Lee Buffalo. This isn't all bad, although, I don't find it as great as their later works and initially rejected it as a poor debut - which it's not. It's just not all that originally sounding.
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]

Grant-Lee Phillips "Nineteeneighties" (2006)

Nineteeneighties
release date: Jun. 27, 2006
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,62]
producer: Grant-Lee Phillips
label: Zoë Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 2. "Age of Consent" (New Order) - 3. "The Eternal" (Joy Division) - 7. "Under the Milky Way" (The Church) - 9. "So. Central Rain" (R.E.M.) - 10. "Boys Don't Cry" (The Cure) - 11. "Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me" (The Smiths) (4 / 5)

4th studio album by Grant-Lee Phillips as the follow-up to his so far best album Virginia Creeper (Feb. 2004) is a pure covers album. All tracks are Phillips' heavily altered versions of covers all from the 1980s, as indicated in the title. And it's not only altered music, it's transformed into an acoustic alt. folk and singer / songwriter style regardless the style or genre of the original song.
At first I found it too strange, and rejected it as over-the-hill, possibly because I'm very familiar with the originals, but then his versions definitely have something else to offer. They actually turn out more as new compositions regardless the lyrical and musical sources. When I first began listening to the individual songs as Phillips' own, they seem better 'cause they are no longer lingering in a post-punk period but are flourishing on a new set of terms. I like it - it's really good.
[ allmusic.com 3,5 / 5 stars ]

The Armoury Show "Waiting for the Floods" (1985)

Waiting for the Floods [debut]
release date: Sep. 1985
format: cd (2001)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,62]
producer: Nick Launay
label: Track Record - nationality: Scotland, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Castles in Spain" - 2. "Kyrie" (4 / 5) - 4. "We Can Be Brave Again" (4,5 / 5) - 5. "Higher Than the World" - 7. "Glory of Love" - 9. "Sleep City Sleep"

Studio album debut and only album by Scottish band The Armoury Show founded in '83 as an all-stars Scottish band by members from various successful UK acts, comprising lead vocalist Richard Jobson and bassist Russell Webb, both from legendary Scottish punk rock band Skids, together with two ex-members of Magazine: acclaimed guitarist John McGeoch - also from Magazine, Visage, and Siouxsie and the Banshees - and drummer John Doyle.
Musically, it's closer to the style of Skids with the addition of more complex arrangements, and the style is not easy to categorise. It's mostly new wave with bonds to a post-punk heritage that also connects this with Magazine and Siouxsie and the Banshees, but it's also a style with bonds to their contemporaries of Big Country and Simple Minds (listen to "Higher Than the World") as well as older acts like Thin Lizzy and Horslips.
The album was preceded by the two single releases of tracks #1 and #4 (both released in '84) and followed by the release of track #7. For reasons unknown, the first DC issue of the album (2001) was released with one track missing (track #A4. "Jungle of Cities") from the original vinyl and cassette issues.
Following the album release, both McGeoch and Doyle left the project with McGeoch joining Public Image Ltd. and the latter beginning a collaboration project with Pete Shelley of The Buzzcocks, while Webb and Jobson continued The Armoury Show with new replacements until '88 when the group finally disbanded before finishing a follow-up album. Instead, Jobson released these songs on his solo debut album Badman (1988).