Thåström "Dom som skiner" (2021)

Dom som skiner

release date: Nov. 12, 2021

format: vinyl (gatefold clear vinyl - LTD.) / digital (9 x File, MP3)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,08]

producer: Niklas Hellberg, Sanken Sandqvist, Thåström

label: Razzia Records - nationality: Sweden

Track highlights: 1. "Södra Korset" (4,5 / 5) - 2. "Papperstunna väggar" - 3. "Isbergen" - 4. "Stora långa gatan" (4 / 5) - 5. "Toledo" - 6. "Dom du behöver" - 7. "Dom som skiner" - 8. "Gyttjebrottaren" - 9. "Mamma"

10th studio album as soloist from Swedish Thåström following more than four years after the fine Centralmassivet (Sep. 2017) also on Razzia, and also with Niklas Hellberg and Thåström as primary instrumentalists. On this, they are supported by Thåström's stable collaborator Sanken Sandqvist, who already featured on releases by Imperiet back in the late 80s, he took part in Thåström's first two solo albums, and he was co-composer on a some tracks with the experimental Thåström-Hellberg-led project Peace, Love & Pitbulls in the 90s. Sandqvist is here co-composer on a single song but he is like Hellberg and Thåström credited as co-arranger on all nine compositions. Apart from that, the album feature Swedish (sibling-)duo First Aid Kit, who lends vocals on three tracks (#1, #3, and #8) and Titiyo (track #2). Four years is a long time in between releases but that doesn't mean that Thåström has been inactive since 2017. In May 2020 he released the live-album Klockan två på natten, öppet fönster....

Dom som skiner follows nicely on the path laid out with Centralmassivet without sounding like a second chapter. It seems as if Thåström has found his own niche in the alternative rock genre. It's a place where he understands to blend input from various stiles he has previously been touching in cleaner output. He has released albums of hard industrial rock and he has explored electronic music - both in Peace, Love & Pitbulls, as solo artist as well as in the project Sällskapet, and then he has released troubadour-albums focusing more on lyrics, but with his most recent two albums it seems as if he has found an expression that balances lyrics and an original musical output with elements, or just glimpses of industrial rock and electronica. And it functions on a higher level. The album is with its 'only' nine tracks quite traditionally adapted the vinyl format with a total running length of approx. 43 minutes, but what's truly remarkable about the album is, once again, Thåström's gift to write songs with more than just a message, with something to ponder about and still maintain the ability to make highly original and harmony-driven music.

The album is btw. only Thåström's second solo album together with Kärlek är för dom (2009), which doesn't show Thåström himself on the front cover. Here, it's fronted by the modern classic photo "Den vite clownen" [The White Clown] (1978) by Swedish photographer Hans Gedda. Apart from that, the album artwork (back, inside and vinyl labels) are replications of details from works by Danish-Israelian artist Tal R (aka Tal Shlomo Rosenzweig).

Highly recommended.

[ Gaffa.dk 6 / 6, Aftonbladet 4 / 5 stars ]

2021 Favourite releases: 1. Mogwai As the Love Continues - 2. Thåström Dom som skiner - 3. Lisa Gerrard & Jules Maxwell Burn

BEST OF 2003:Sun Kil Moon "Ghosts of the Great Highway" (2003)

2018 reissue

Ghosts of the Great Highway [debut]
release date: Nov. 4, 2003
format: 2 lp vinyl (2018 reissue - gatefold) / 2 cd (2007 reissue)
[album rate: 4,5 / 5] [4,65]
producer: Mark Kozelek
label: Rough Trade / Caldo Verde - nationality: USA

Tracklist: 1. "Glenn Tipton" (4 / 5) - 2. "Carry Me Ohio" (5 / 5) (acoustic live) - 3. "Salvador Sanchez" (5 / 5) (live) - 4. "Last Tide" (4 / 5) - 5. "Floating" (4 / 5) - 6. "Gentle Moon" (5 / 5) (live) - 7. "Lily and Parrots" (4 / 5) - 8. "Duk Koo Kim" (5 / 5) (live) - 9. "Sí, Paloma" (4 / 5) - 10. "Pancho Villa" (4 / 5) - *11. "Gentle Moon" (acoustic)

*Bonus track on 2018 vinyl issue - The 2007 2 cd issue contains 6 bonus tracks.

Studio album debut by Sun Kil Moon originally released on Jetset Records (reissued in 2007 as a double cd containing 6 bonus tracks issued on Kozelek's own label Caldo Verde Records and reissued in 2018 by Caldo Verde in the US and by Rough Trade in the UK). The album follows 2½ years after the Kozelek-led band Red House Painters' final album Old Ramon (Apr. 2001).

This is gentle, voluminous music only requiring ears that will find... joy. "Mark Kozelek & Co." you could call it, since Kozelek was founder, singer, composer, guitarist and bandleader of Red House Painters before Sun Kil Moon, and his solo albums are hard to distinguish from both bands' releases. Despite the fact that Kozelek wrote both music and lyrics, this album stands out, however, being the most electrified indie folk rock of "his" albums so far. Apart from Kozelek the band consists of two bassists, Jerry Vessel (former bassist of Red House Painters) and Geoff Stanfield, as well as two drummers, Anthony Koutsos (former drummer of Red House Painters) and Tim Mooney. Guitarist Phil Carney of Red House Painters is not credited on the album but he would join Sun Kil Moon on a later point, although only for live performances.

Mark must have a certain fascination for boxing, it appears. The band name Sun Kil Moon is a direct reference to the Korean boxer, Sung-Kil Moon, and three of the tracks on this album are named after boxers who faced untimely deaths - the "ghosts of the great highway", presumably. Salvador Sanchez was a Mexican boxer who died in a car crash in 1982; "Duk Koo Kim" [an absolutely amazing track lasting 14:30 min.] is the moniker [real name is Kim Deuk-Gu] of the Korean boxer who died after a knock-out in a title match against Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini that put him in a coma in 1982 - a sad story of tragic deaths, which had serious effects on both Mancini and Kim's mother; and Pancho Villa [aka Francisco Guilledo] died after a tooth extraction in 1925. The two tracks "Salvador Sanchez" and "Pancho Villa" have the exact same lyrics and song structure but the first is with electric guitar and the latter is only with acoustic guitar. Although, most music by 'Kozelek & Co.' normally is quiet folk-oriented music, he is influenced or inspired by heavy metal and hard rock. The track "Glen Tipton" is simply named after the guitarist of the British heavy metal band, Judas Priest, and his earlier solo debut album What's Next to the Moon (Feb. 2001) only features Kozelek's musical adaptations of AC/DC songs (insofar, he has only kept the lyrics but completely altered the music).

Musically, this is indie rock and folk rock with a fine balance of swirling electric guitar-arrangements as well as subtle and gentle parts with strings and acoustic instrumentation. Sometimes it's raw energy that may be influenced by Neil Young with Crazy Horse without plagiarism, other times it's more in the domain of Simon & Garfunkel or Nick Drake, sometimes to Spanish composer Andrés Segovia; but most of all, it's without confining bonds to others with a highly original style embracing it all.

I really enjoy his more quiet acoustic guitar folk-based releases but they do have a tendency to sound a bit much alike - this one, however, is simply out of this world altogether fantabulous.

Imho, this is no less than the best album of a decade and naturally a highly recommend listen.

[ allmusic.com, Pitchfork, Uncut 4 / 5, 👎Rolling Stone 3,5 / 5, 👉Sputnikmusic 5 / 5 stars ]

2003 Favourite releases: 1. Sun Kil Moon Ghosts of the Great Highway - 2. Rufus Wainwright Want One - 3. Bo Kaspers Orkester Vilka tror vi att vi är

Zucchero Sugar Fornaciari "Blue's" (1987)

Blue's
release date: Jun. 15, 1987
formats: cd (2004 remaster)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,82]
produced by: Corrado Rustici
label: Polydor / Universal - nationality: Italy

Track highlights: 2. "Con le mani" (4 / 5) - 3. "Pippo" - 4. "Dune mosse" - 5. "Bambino io, bambino tu" - 6. "Non ti sopporto più" (4 / 5) - 7. "Senza una donna" (5 / 5) - 9. "Hey Man" - 10. "Solo una sana e consapevole libidine salva il giovane dallo stress e dall'Azione Cattolica" (org. video) - 11. "Hai scelto me"

4th studio album by Zucchero follows one year after Rispetto and is released under the name of 'Zucchero Sugar Fornaciari'. Most songs are written and composed solely by Zucchero - only tracks #2, #5 & #9 are co-written by Gino Paoli, track#4 is written with Marco Figliè, and track #5 is co-composed with Albino Mammoliti and Raymond Jones. The album was already in late '87 issued in a Christmas version ['versione natalizia'] with a different front cover but with the same original tracklist. However, the optical issues featured two bonus tracks (tracks #8 & #12).
Blue's continues very much in the style of his '86 album with an even stronger presence of a blues rock ingredient. I just think this has several songs of higher quality, and it basically sounds like a "best of" compilation, which I initially mistook it for. The album is Zucchero's first of ten [10!] consecutive studio albums to top the Italian album charts, and it's his first to have en entry outside of Italy. The album peaked at number #43 in the Netherlands and as number #18 in Switzerland where it sold Platinum.
Two singles where released from the album: track #2 and #7 peaking at number #27 and #17 respectively; however, "Senza una donna" would become his first number #1 single-hit and best-selling single ever, when it was re-recorded with Paul Young and released as single in '91. It's also included on Zucchero's first compilation album Zucchero from '90 as well as Paul Young's compilation From Time to Time (1991) and that version of the song is one of of the top-3 best-selling Italian songs ever released.
Note: The front cover is the photography "7th Day Adventists" (aka 'Male Voice Choir Seventh Day Adventists Church Holoway, London') by Neal Slavin taken from his book "Britons" (1986).
This is really Zucchero on top of his career with brilliant songwriting and tight pop soul and blues, and it comes close to the style of Joe Cocker and Paul Young, "only" difference is that Zucchero is an artist, who writes his own material.
I think, this is his clearly best album so far.
Highly recommended.

The Beautiful South "Quench" (1998)

Quench
release date: Oct. 12, 1998
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,38]
producer: Jon Kelly and Paul Heaton
label: Mercury Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "How Long's a Tear Take to Dry?" (live) - 3. "Big Coin" (live) - 4. "Dumb" - 5. "Perfect 10" - 9. "Window Shopping for Blinds" - 12. "Losing Things"

6th studio album by The Beautiful South originally released on Go! Discs and for the 4th consecutive time with Jon Kelly in the producer seat. Stylistically, this band doesn't evolve much or incorporate new ideas to its repertoire, and nevertheless they continue to come up with interesting songs about life in general. It's not lyrics about major global issues but the never-ending works and re-works on human conditions involving relationships between men and women. The album peaked at #1 on the national album charts list like its predecessor following the band's first best of album Carry on up the Charts from '94, which was its first album to reach the highest position in the UK. The single "Perfect 10" featuring Paul Weller on additional guitar was the best fairing single of the album reaching #2 on the singles chart list. I find the album quite nice and really good - kind of "solid". It's well-played and cleverly arranged, I just think that the band tend to have put itself in the middle of everything: not really pressing anyone's toes, nor coming up with great new ideas. It's a bit... "so what!?" I miss the edgy lyrics, the energetic jangle pop elements, and something else but niceness. The small narratives about standardised normality are, however, sheer uplifting irony, which makes it anything but boring.
The front cover depicting a boxer is an artwork by Scottish painter Peter Howson.
[ allmusic.com 3 / 5 stars ]

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".

Talk Talk "Give It Up" (1986) (single)

Give It Up, 7'' single

release date: May 1986

format: vinyl

[single rate: 4 / 5] [3,92]

producer: Tim Friese-Greene

label: EMI - nationality: England, UK

Tracklist: A) "Give It Up" - - B) "It's Getting Late in the Evening"

Single release taken from the album The Colour of Spring (Feb. 1986) - the third of four singles from the album and succeeding the single "Living in Another World" (Mar. 1986) and preceeding "I Don't Believe in You" (Nov. 1986).

The Beautiful South "Miaow" (1994)

org. cover

Miaow
release date: Mar. 1994
format: cd
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,12]
producer: Jon Kelly, The Beautiful South
label: Go! Discs - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Hold on to What?" - 2. "Good as Gold (Stupid as Mud)" - 4. "Everybody's Talkin' " - 6. "Worthless Lie" - 7. "Hooligans Don't Fall in Love"

4th studio album by The Beautiful South and the first to feature new vocalist Jacqui [Jacqueline] Abbott who replaced Briana Corrigan. Jacqui would stay in the band for four studio albums before leaving in 2000 to concentrate on her family. The style hasn't changed much, although, it has become even less jangle pop influenced, but social and moral issues remain central themes to the song writing. It's an album without the stronger tracks one will find on the band's first two albums, and it leaves me with a sensation without immediate appeal, and as such: very much like its predecessor 0898, a fine release without much greatness. Norman Cook (former member of The Housemartins) is credited for programming on "Hooligans Don't Fall in Love". Best faring single from the album is strangely the 1960s Fred Neil classic "Everybody's Talkin' ", which seems a bit off, style-wise, I think.
The initial prints of the album was marked with a front cover by German artist Michael Sowa (google search), which was seen as an insult by the giant HMV, who argued that the cover art was mocking its trademark, and a new front cover was made (also by Sowa).
[ another wonderful Sowa art: "Autobahnsau" => 'Highway pig' ].
[ allmusic.com 3 / 5 stars ]

<  alt. cover >

alt. cover

Talk Talk "The Colour of Spring" (1986)

The Colour of Spring
release date: Feb. 17, 1986
format: vinyl / cd (2003 remaster)
[album rate: 4,5 / 5] [4,52]
producer: Tim Friese-Greene
label: EMI Records - nationality: England, UK

Tracklist: 1. "Happiness Is Easy" (4,5 / 5) - 2. "I Don't Believe in You" (4,5 / 5) - 3. "Life's What You Make It" (5 / 5) - 4. "April 5th" (4,5 / 5) - 5. "Living in Another World" (4 / 5) - 6. "Give It Up" - 7. "Chameleon Day" - 8. "Time It's Time" (5 / 5)

3rd studio album by Talk Talk and the band's major commercial breakthrough as well as critically acclaimed album. The trio remains the same, only with the fourth unofficial member, Tim Friese-Greene in a more dominant role as the band's (unaccredited) keyboardist, who has co-written all tracks together with Mark Hollis. The sound and style has changed to an undefinable mix of art pop, chamber pop, and synthpop albeit with less focus on synths and a tentative addition of 'progressiveness' without being traditional progressive pop or pop / rock but basically foreshadowing what would later be labelled post rock - something that should materialise even further on the band's fourth album Spirit of Eden (1988) - an album many misinterpreted as a bit odd at first, but something that wasn't understood and fully recognised until after Sigur Rós, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and Mogwai had distilled that style about a decade later.
The Colour of Spring is quite naturally included in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die", although, it remains the only by Talk Talk on that list.
The album was the first that I purchased by Talk Talk, and at the time I found it fine and a bit complex for my liking at the age of 21, but I have always enjoyed it, and over the years, only increasingly more. The single release of "Life's What You Make It" became an international hit, and it is a great track, however, throughout the years, I have always loved the end-track "Time It's Time" the most, and I have never felt that its playing time of 8:15 mins. ever was one second too long. In fact, I've always thought and wished that it should be longer.
Nowadays, I consider this album a modern masterpiece that I shall never tire of. Some day it may even replace The Smiths and their masterpiece on my personal year-best-album-list. But really, this isn't even the best album from Talk Talk, imho.
My vinyl pressing is by French Pathé Marconi (sub-label of EMI), and the cd is a 2003 remaster released by EMI.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Q Magazine 4 / 5 stars ]

1986 Favourite releases: 1. The Smiths The Queen Is Dead - 2. Talk Talk The Colour of Spring - 3. R.E.M. Lifes Rich Pageant

2003 remaster

Talk Talk "Life's What You Make It" (1985) (single)

Life's What You Make It, 7'' single

release date: Dec.? 1985

format: vinyl

[single rate: 4 / 5] [4,12]

producer: Tim Friese-Greene

label: EMI - nationality: England, UK

Tracklist: A) "Life's What You Make It" (5 / 5) - - B) "It's Getting Late in the Evening"

Single release by Talk Talk taken from the forthcoming third album The Colour of Spring (Mar. 1986). The single was first issued in Australia and New Zealand in late '85 and then later, close to the album release, in the rest of the world. Only the title track is found on the album, and both tracks are credited Mark Hollis and Tim Friese-Greene. This is the first of four singles to be released from the '86 album, and it was the best-charting of these four peaking at number #16 on the national singles chart.

As all the albums by Talk Talk, the cover is made by James Marsh.

The Beautiful South "Choke" (1989)

Choke
release date: Oct. 1990
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,72]
producer: Mike Hedges, The Beautiful South
label: Go! Discs - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Tonight I Fancy Myself" (4 / 5) - 3. "Let Love Speak Up Itself" - 4. "Should've Kept My Eyes Shut" - 5. "I've Come for My Award" - 8. "A Little Time" (4,5 / 5) (live) - 9. "Mother's Pride"

2nd studio album by The Beautiful South now with Briana Corrigan (featured as backing vocalist on the debut) as full member making the band a sextet (symbolised by the cover art). The style is more or less the same as on the debut. Only downside to another fine album is the production side of it. I mean, playing with piano, brass, horns and strings as in a sophisti-pop, chamber pop universe doesn't require much to make it warm and ambient-sounding - it just sounds a bit like a first take and as a single-layered production. And yes, the texts play a major part, I know, which is why I find it clearly above the average.
[ allmusic.com 3,5 / 5 stars ]

The The "Infected" (1986)

Infected

release date: Nov. 17, 1986

format: vinyl (EPC 26770) / cd (reissue)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,02]

producer: Matt Johnson with W. Livesey, R. Mosimann, G. Langan

label: Some Bizarre / Epic - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Infected" - 2. "Out of the Blue (Into the Fire)" - 3. "Heartland" (4 / 5) - 4. "Angels of Deception" (4,5 / 5) - 5. "Sweet Bird of Truth" (4 / 5) - 6. "Slow Train to Dawn" (feat. Neneh Cherry) (4 / 5) - 7. "Twilight of a Champion" - 8. "The Mercy Beat"

2nd studio album by The The follows three years after Soul Mining (Oct. 1983) and it's like that originally released by Some Bizzare / Epic. It's produced by Matt Johnson and Warne Livesey (4 tracks), Matt Johnson and Roli Mosimann (2 tracks), and Gary Langan (2 tracks). All compositions are credited Johnson except one (track #7, "Twilight of a Champion") co-composed by Mosimann.

Stylistically, this continues the style laid out on the predecessor, only adding more synths and more complex arrangements and by being even better produced. Where the '83 album was introspective Infected is the wry outlook on contemporary Britain where Thatcherism implies rough economic times for the working class, and the Tory politics led to years with striking miners and the Falkland War. Johnson is by no means a fan of Thatcher nor does he hide his left-wing sympathies but he does with conviction. Best examples of his more direct political songs are the title song and "Heartland". Other songs deal with personal struggles, such as "Out of the Blue (Into the Fire)", where Johnson speaks openly about male lust, and "Slow Train to Dawn", a song about the consequences of two individuals in a relationship growing each separate way. Despite dealing with personal matters, the album is a near conceptual one where different themes may be applyied to that of a society and the aspect of new-colonialism. In this way and at a first glance, Johnson deals with politics and personal matters, but he also reflects on our very existence when greed, ignorance and disrespect show the ugly sides of human nature. It's an album of relations: on a personal level between partners in a relationship, it's about the political elite versus the people of a country, and it's about the everpresent Western exploitation of developing countries.

Johnson hadn't followed album releases with live tours and had no wish in starting now, but he was also fully aware that the label would want some promotion in order to sell the album, so he and manager Stevo came up with the idea of a film about the album, and to that purpose they needed to shoot a music video for each song on the album, where Tim Pope is director on most videos. Films were shot in the UK, in New York, and most problematic, several videos were shot in the Peruvian jungle amidst a political uproar.

Infected is my all-time favourite by Matt Johnson. It doesn't contain any weak tracks, and what's so remarkable about it is Johnson's strength in both writing great lyrics, often with critical view on political and moral issues, as well as composing complex pop songs that really swing. The album is enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".

Highly recommended.

[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5 stars ]

Antony and the Johnsons "The Crying Light" (2009)

The Crying Light
release date: Jan. 20, 2009
format: digital (10 x File, FLAC)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,82]
producer: Antony Hegarty
label Secretly Canadian - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Her Eyes Are Underneath the Ground" (4 / 5) - 2. "Epilepsy Is Dancing" (4 / 5) - 3. "One Dove" - 4. "Kiss My Name" (4 / 5) - 6. "Another World" - 7. "Daylight and the Sun" - 9. "Dust and Water" - 10. "Everglade"

3rd studio album by Antony and the Johnsons is yet another strong release. Stylistically, it's like a new chapter to the brilliant I Am a Bird Now (2005), only, there's a more subtle tone or obscure sentiment giong on here as a turn to a more lyrical content.

The album has been met by positive reviews and it's perhaps seen as the band's peak. I only find that it contains a few fillers without the same high quality, but perhaps I just don't get the intimate message, and then tracks #1, #2, and #4 are still all worth this album.
The front cover features a 1977 photograph by Naoya Ikegami of iconic butoh dancer Kazuo Ohno.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Pitchfork 8,6 / 10, Los Angeles Times, Uncut, 👍NME 4 / 5, Spin 3,5 / 5 stars ]

Antony and the Johnsons "I Am a Bird Now" (2005)

I Am a Bird Now
release date: Feb. 1, 2005
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,06]
producer: Antony Hegarty
label: Secretly Canadian - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Hope There's Someone" (5 / 5) (live) - 2. "My Lady Story" (4,5 / 5) (live) - 3. "For Today I Am a Bouy" (4 / 5) (live) - 4. "Man Is the Baby" (4 / 5) (live) - 5. "You Are My Sister" (4 / 5) - 7. "Fistful of Love" - 8. "Spiralling" - 10. "Bird Gerhl" (4 / 5) (live)

2nd studio album by Antony and the Johnsons follows five whole years after the promissing debut, and like that, this is written, composed and produced by Antony Hegarty.
The style is much stronger and solidified on this compared to the first one out - the end result is a marvellous improvement to a fine debut as the album simply contains a wide range of great compositions. It features several well-renowned artists such as: Rufus Wainwright (track #6), Devandra Banhart (tracks #5 and #8), Boy George (track #5), and Lou Reed (track #7) - the latter has often played at live concerts featuring guest appearance by Antony.
The album release was five years under its way but considering the small attention that was attributed the debut, this album took a remarkable step into the limelight. I Am a Bird Now won the British music award The Mercury Prize ahead of artists such as Bloc Party, Coldplay, Kaiser Chiefs, and M.I.A. to mention but a few, which secured the album the biggest jump ever seen on the British album chart list, going from an initial position as number #135 to number #16 in the period of one week only.
It's a great and modern classic album and in retrospect it's also the best from Antony and the Johnsons. The front cover features an iconic photograph titled "Candy on her deathbed" of [Andy Warhol star] Candy Darling by Peter Hujar.
Highly recommendable.
[ allmusic.com, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, Q Magazine 4 / 5, 👍Pitchfork 8,6 / 10 stars ]

The Beautiful South "Welcome to The Beautiful South" (1989)

org. vinyl cover

Welcome to The Beautiful South [debut]
release date: Oct. 1989
format: vinyl (AGOLP 16) / cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,68]
producer: Mike Hedges, The Beautiful South
label: Go! Discs - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Song for Whoever" (4 / 5) (live) - 3. "From Under the Covers" - 4. "I'll Sail This Ship Alone" - 7. "You Keep It All In" - 9. "Oh Blackpool"

Studio debut album by The Beautiful South consisting of the two former members of The Housemartins Paul Heaton and Dave Hemingway with Dave Rotheray on guitar, Sean Welch on bass, and with Dave Stead on drums fulfilling the quintet. Hemingway formerly played drums but here, together with Heaton, he is one of the band's two leading vocalists. Also keyboardist Damon Butcher took part as studio musician - a role he would stick to with the band's forthcoming albums without ever becoming a full member. Brianna Corrigan (vocals) contribute on this, she would become a full member on the following two albums. The style is a mix of pop soul and pop / rock mostly referred to as sophisti-pop. Some tracks are closer to the style of The Housemartins but the majority of songs are build on piano and brass instead of guitars. Where Heaton and Hemmingway's former band seemed trapped within a 'pop' frame, having had fine successes playing more traditional love songs, The Beautiful South are more social- and political-minded.
The front cover art by Czech photographer Jan Saudek was apparently too strong for the British retail chain Woolworths, who refused to sell the album until an alternative cover was made. Knowing a little about the founding humour of the band, the alternative cover depicts a stuffed toy rabbit and a teddy bear, which of course should not be able to disturb anyone. The "Fluffy Toy Cover" was issued a few months later - still in '89. Also an alternative cover featured on the North American first issue, which only featured the photo of the smoking man by Saudek.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5 stars ]

< alternate covers >

  

alt. censored cover

  

North American alt. cover

Big Brother & The Holding Company "Cheap Thrills" (1968)

Cheap Thrills

release date: Aug. 12, 1968
format: cd (1999 remaster) / vinyl (2012 remaster - gatefold)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,92]
producer: John Simon
label: Columbia / Music On Vinyl - nationality: USA

Key track: 4. "Piece of My Heart" (5 / 5)

2nd studio album by Big Brother & The Holding Company follows one year after the self-titled debut (Aug. 1967), and this is a different breed and what appears as a live album. In reality, it's instead the band's second studio release. Cheap Thrills is the band's most famous release and its last featuring Janis Joplin. The band members credited here are vocalist Janis Joplin, bassist & guitarist Peter Albin, bassist, guitarist & vocalist Sam Andrew, bassist & guitarist James Gurley, and pianist and drummer David Getz. Additionally, producer John Simon is also credited on piano. Compared to the uneven debut, which unfortunately wasn't given the time nor the effort the material asked for, Cheap Thrills is considerably better arranged and produced.
The album has gained iconic status primarily for the band's and in particular Joplin's performance, and it's part of numerous best-of-lists, including Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, Rolling Stone Top 100 Albums of the Last 20 Years, and "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".
Note: The cover art by 'Underground' cartoonist Robert Crumb is just as legendary as the musical content. The front cover here is a copy of the 2012 remaster, which replicates the original US cover.
[ allmusic.com 5 / 5 stars ]

Debbie Harry "Kookoo" (1981)

Kookoo [debut]
release date: Aug. 8, 1981
format: vinyl (CHR 1347) / digital
[album rate: 2,5 / 5] [2,72]
producer: Nile Rodgers, Bernard Edwards
label: Chrysalis - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Jump Jump" - 2. "The Jam Was Moving" - 3. "Chrome" - 4. "Surrender" - 6. "Backfired"

Studio album debut by Blondie vocalist Deborah Ann Harry released under her stage moniker Debbie Harry. The style is rather different from what one might expect. The simplistic uptempo new wave has been exchanged with a more funky form carried out by the three prominent members of the American disco band Chic, songwriter / guitarist and producer Nile Rodgers and songwriter / bassist and producer Bernard Edwards and drummer Tony Thompson. The guest trio contributes with a disco and dance pop style and Rodgers and Edwards are the primary songwriters on four of the albums ten tracks and they are co-writers on two. The remaining four songs are written by Harry and Chris Stein with whom she mostly writes material for Blondie and who also contribute as guitarist on the album. Two of the songs (tracks #8 and #10) are credited all four main songwriters.
The two Chic songwriters are credited a vast number of classics within the world of disco, and they later on contributed with their [magic] qualities on Diana (e.g. "I'm Coming Out") by Diana Ross, "Let's Dance" (title song) by David Bowie and Madonna's Like a Virgin album - all that is part of the highs of modern popular music, but here the result is not good. Harry and Stein's punchy new wave style, their admiration for reggae and funk in a simplistic form collide with the much more orchestrated and varied sounds and shapes of disco. Or: that's how it sounds like 'cause what really lacks here is a bunch a good songs. In fact, there's hardly any. The production sound is fine, though, and initial parts of songs are truly far from bad, but the overall picture is bland and it leaves me kinda thinking "was that it?"
The best thing about the album, which puts it on the shelve among classic albums, is actually the front cover artwork made by Swiss artist H.R. Giger.
I acquired the album at some point in the mid-80s just because it was a solo album by Harry but never played it much, as I soon found it lesser album with little connection to the music by Blondie.
[ allmusic.com 1,5 / 5 Rolling Stone 2 / 5 stars ]

Grace Jones "Island Life" (1985)

Island Life (compilation)
release date: Dec. 1985
format: vinyl (207 472) / digital
[album rate: 4 / 5]
producer: Alex Sadkin, Chris Blackwell, Tom Moulton, Trevor Horn
label: Island Records - nationality: Jamaica / USA

Compilation album by Jamaican-American artists Grace Jones with songs recorded from 1977-85.

[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]

Talk Talk "The Party's Over" (1982)

The Party's Over [debut]
release date: Jul. 1982
format: vinyl / cassette / vinyl (reissue) / cd (1997 remaster)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,67]
producer: Colin Thurston
label: EMI Records - nationality: England, UK

Tracklist: 1. "Talk Talk" (3,5 / 5) - 2. "It's So Serious" (3,5 / 5) - 3. "Today" (4 / 5) - 4. "The Party's Over" (4 / 5) - 5. "Hate" (3,5 / 5) - 6. "Have You Heard the News?" (3,5 / 5) - 7. "Mirror Man" (3,5 / 5) - 8. "Another Word" (4 / 5) - 9. "Candy" (3,5 / 5)

Studio debut album by London-based Talk Talk consisting of vocalist, as well as primary lyricist and musical composer, Mark Hollis, Simon Brenner on keyboards, Paul Webb on bass and with Lee Harris on drums. The music is synthpop, new wave, new romantic, and what I believe is art pop.
Talk Talk is one of a long list of new romantic bands of the early 1980s, but as many others, they are quite unique and highly original in style. I find that they have parts of Japan, parts of Human League, bits of Duran Duran [whom they were then seen as mere pale imitators of], but they also carry something as 'ordinary' as a touch of classic pop / rock, and with that pointing to the 1970s and Roxy Music, and on the other hand they also bring about a more futuristic sound, which may put them aside OMD. And yes, many bands and artists of this period blended styles and inputs in an attempt to stay on the right course with equal amounts of pop and synths.
In retrospect, there's no doubt that Talk Talk was one of a few artists who literally constructed the path of music to come, a pioneering band who has influenced music like few of the aforementioned. Only Japan with its influence on new romantic and synthpop, and OMD with its original sound in between experimental and pop have had such impact on popular music on the same scale. Talk Talk didn't do it with this album alone. With this they made a strong first album, and they put their name on the list of bands to look out for.
I didn't appreciate this as much then. Actually, I didn't listen to the full album until I got around to purchase a copy on cassette in 1989. Although, I knew the band well from its single releases and more fully from the international breakthrough The Colour of Spring (1986), I wasn't quite ready for the synthpop without the post-punk element in the early 80s, and there really are no punk references here. Years later, this would apply for sophisti-pop, but that style wasn't labeled then.
Listening to this today, I find it refreshing in a way only original and timeless music survives, and knowing what they would later come up with only adds to the admiration. The album contains no weak tracks. Apart from the original vinyl, a cassette issue, and a 1987 cd-issue, I have a 1997 remastered edition of the album, but to be frank, apart from more dynamics, which in many cases sound too forced, I don't find the remaster bettering the original mastering, which still sounds just mighty fine.
The front cover is by artist James Marsh [Album Cover interview - wikipedia] who would remain the artist behind all of the band's albums and single releases throughout the entire life-span of Talk Talk.
Recommended.
[ allmusic.com 3,5 / 5 stars ]

1997 remaster

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My collection of Talk Talk albums

XTC "English Settlement" (1982)

English Settlement
release date: Feb. 12, 1982
format: vinyl 2 lp (embossed cover - V2223) / cd (2001 remaster)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,06]
producer: Hugh Padgham & XTC
label: Virgin Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: A) 1. "Runaways" - 2. "Ball and Chain" (4 / 5) - 3. "Senses Working Overtime" (4,5 / 5) - 4. "Jason and the Argonauts" - - B) 1. "No Thugs in Our House" (4 / 5) - 7. "All of a Sudden (It's Too Late)" - - C) 1. "Melt the Guns" - 3. "It's Nearly Africa" - - D) 1. "Fly on the Wall" (4 / 5) - 2. "Down in the Cockpit" - 3. "English Roundabout" (4 / 5) - 4. "Snowman"

5th studio album by XTC produced by Hugh Padgham and the band is XTC's critically acclaimed conceptual double album.
Commercially, the band never succeeded like contemporaries like U2 and The Jam, but they were the critics' and other bands' darlings, and with this, Partridge / Moulding was a duo in the songwriters' super-league. At this point their music had changed from fast energetic new wave outbursts, and experimental art pop, to more lyrics-based tracks in an art pop, pop / rock style, and it had become more jangle pop. The album was soon seen as a cornerstone of new stylistic progression on the contemporary European pop / rock scene because undoubtedly, they played perfectly unnoticed by the broad American audience.
Personally, the music didn't sink in until some years after but it's one of Britain's musical jewels of the early 1980s. I find that it's one of those rare albums that keep adding new dimensions to "its shape". Actually, it doesn't even sound dated, and that's a huge accomplishment, and I think it has to do with the band's unique original sound. In a sense it's rather homogeneously crafted, but it's also extremely varied and ambitious - and in a way, opposite the tightness of Black Sea. To me, this is their absolute best and it's a highly recommendable listen.
[ allmusic.com, Q Magazine 4 / 5 stars, Pitchfork 100 / 100 ]

[ collectors' item - 1st issue with embossed cover ]

Dead Kennedys "Frankenchrist" (1985)

Frankenchrist
release date: Oct. 1985
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,78]
producer: Jello Biafra
label: Alternative Tentacles - nationality: USA

Tracklist: 1. "Soup Is Good Food" (4,5 / 5) - 2. "Hellnation" (3 / 5) - 3. "This Could Be Anywhere (This Could Be Everywhere)" - 4. "A Growing Boy Needs His Lunch" - 5. "Chicken Farm" (3,5 / 5) - 6. "Jock-O-Rama (Invasion of the Beef Patrol)" (4,5 / 5) - 7. "Goons of Hazzard" (3,5 / 5) - 8. "M.T.V. - Get Off the Air" (4 / 5) - 9. "At My Job" (3 / 5) - 10. "Stars and Stripes of Corruption" (3 / 5)

3rd studio album release by Dead Kennedys. The album was more than three years on its way, and fans began to wonder if they had split. It was a difficult time to keep releasing punk rock material as punk had been declared "dead" before 1980 when they released the debut album, but DK definitely had a special status with their political statements. Musically, the album shows a new side to their punk-style. This is not the high speed hardcore punk but a more subdued punk rock clone of rockabilly and surf rock with focus on Biafra's narration (just listen to "Jock-O-Rama (Invasion of the Beef Patrol" or "M.T.V. - Get Off the Air"), and several tracks have a long playing time, which is quite contrary to the style of hardcore punk. With the album, they show that they still have much to say, and it may not be as great as the '82 album release but some of the tracks are exceptionally great songwriting pinning down all American values. And the cover art photo is hilarious with all its subtle references. The vinyl album was released with the art poster "Penis Landscape" [org. poster] (or: "Landscape XX") by Swiss artist H. R. Giger, which led to a controversy with a lawsuit and a trial against the band that ultimately led to the disbandment, although they released one more studio album and despite the fact that they were freed from all charges. So, in a way, Dead Kennedys lost to moral majority.
[ allmusic.com 3,5 / 5 stars ]