Malurt "Kold krig" (1980)

Kold krig [debut]

release date: Sep. 15, 1980

format: cd (1994 reissue, MdCD 6102)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,38]

producer: Flemming Ostermann

label: Medley Records - nationality: Denmark

Track highlights: 1. "Kanonføde" - 3. "Stormsoldater" - 4. "Friheden Station" - 5. "Lort nok" - 8. "Sidespring" - 9. "Ocean Island"

Studio album debut by Danish quintet Malurt consisting of lead vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter Michael Ehlert Falch, lead guitarist Peter Viskinde, bassist Dia Nielsen (aka Hans Andrias Hans Mariuarson Nielsen), keyboardist Henrik Littauer, and drummer Peter Mors. The album is co-produced by Flemming Rasmussen.

Stylewise, the band plays a simple uptempo rock with many stylistic influences going from other contemporary Danish acts like Gnags, Gasolin, C.V. Jørgensen, and American artists like John Mellencamp, The Knack, and especially Bruce Springsteen, but also melodic parts from the British punk rock and new wave scene and most obviously from The Clash.

Thematically, the songs are about anti-war, generation cleft issues, and free love, which all appear as somewhat dated issues pointing back to early 70s subjects, and that is partly resonated in the music, where you also find an influence from boogie and AOR-styles with traits from J.J. Cale, Doobie Brothers and Little Feat. So, yes, it's a huge mix of styles, which both comes out as a refreshing energetic boost and at the same time a simplistic and narrow form.

I recall being very fond of this very album and had it among my favourite Danish releases from that year, but in retrospect I find that it has dated more than other fine releases from this period.

org. vinyl cover

The Divine Comedy - Live

The Divine Comedy
[aka Neil Hannon]
(Live at the Palladium, London 2003) [full concert]

The Divine Comedy Live:

"Someone..." (in Lyon 2012)
"A Lady of a Certain Age" (2010?)
"Tonight We Fly" (at the Palladium, 2003)

~ ~ ~

And a wonderful cover of the Smiths: "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" [from the tribute album The Smiths Is Dead (1996). The rest is of no interest, a really poor tribute but thanks to Neil Hannon it has one great tune].

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.  .

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Aztec Camera "Love" (1987)

Love
release date: Nov. 1987
format: vinyl (WX128) / cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,02]
producer: various
label: WEA - nationality: Scotland, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Deep & Wide & Tall" (4 / 5) - 2. "How Men Are" (4 / 5) - 3. "Everybody Is a Number One" - 5. "Somewhere in My Heart" (4 / 5) (acoustic live) - 6. "Working in a Goldmine" (4,5 / 5) - 7. "One and One" - 9. "Killermont Street"

3rd studio album by Aztec Camera with several producers: Tommy LiPuma, Russ Titelman, Roddy Frame, David Frank, Michael Jonzun, and Rob Mounsey - with the latter producing a majority of the tracks together with Frame. The album is released three years after Knife (Sep. 1984) and it really is something else. Not only is the band reduced to Frame working with session musicians, which again points to the fact that Aztec Camera is a project name for Roddy Frame. Gone is the natural link to the post-punk period and the characteristic jazz feel. It's still jangle pop but here the pop element is underlined. Having said that, it's a brilliant transformation, and without doubt the band's cleanest mainstream album.
Critics were divided on this, as some saw it as a failure with its obvious commercial production and an attempt to satisfy a broader audience of the American market - and something it failed to reach.
At first, I thought of it as compilation album as I found it packed with great songs and nicely arranged compositions. The production sound is broad and glossy introducing sophisti-pop to the band's repertoire.
I really enjoy this, and think of it as the band's best commercial contribution, although, I'm reluctant to call it Aztec Camera's best, just slightly inferior to the successor, Stray from 1990. The album tops as the band's highest ranked studio release making it to number #10 on the UK albums chart list. I just think it's a wonderful and highly recommended album.
[ allmusic.com 2,5 / 5 stars ]

Modest Mouse "The Lonesome Crowded West" (1997)

The Lonesome Crowded West
release date: Nov. 18, 1997
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,36]
producer: Calvin Johnson with Isaac Brock and Scott Swayze
label: Up Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Teeth Like God's Shoeshine" - 2. "Heart Cooks Brain" - 3. "Convenient Parking" - 8. "Trailer Trash" - 13. "Polar Opposites" - 14. "Bankrupt on Selling"

2nd studio album by Modest Mouse is like the debut a rather lengthy album with a playing time above 73 mins. Also like the debut this is indie pop and alt. rock but it's also played in a more aggressive style of post-hardcore [punk rock] and not really in the lo-fi style of the debut, and then it shows much stronger emphasis on 'soft vs. hard' / 'slow vs. energetic' opposites, as a familiar trait of Pixies and The Breeders.
The Lonesome Crowded West has been lauded as the band's true breakthrough, and then others criticize it for its long playing time. It's clearly bettering the moody debut, although, I don't find it an earth-scattering unforgettable collection of songs. That said, Modest Mouse do experiment with content and matter, and sometimes the direction they explore seems like the deliberate wrong turn - just to have themselves discover what's at the end of that road - if anything.
It has taken me an unusual long time and persistent returns to this particular album to grasp its qualities. This is the closest Modest Mouse has been in making an album that has a tone that takes off in the spirit of Pixies' early albums. There's a strong blend of noise-pop / post-hardcore pieces and fragments of melody-lines and harmonies thrown in all over the album making it a strange, bumpy but appealing listen. It's not my favourite Modest Mouse album but I do find it the band's best among its first three full-length albums.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Rolling Stone 3,5 / 5 stars ]

Yves Montand "Le Paris de Montand" (1964)

Le Paris de Montand
release date: 1964
format: cd (1992 reissue)
[album rate: 4 / 5]
producer:
label: Columbia Records - nationality: France

Tracklist: 1. "Paris canaille" - 2. "La vie en rose" - 3. "Le Chevalier de Paris" - 4. "L'ame des Poetes" - 5. "Sous le ciel de Paris" - 6. "Les feuilles mortes" (Live at Olympia) - 7. "C'est si bon" - 8. "Sa jeunesse" - 9. "Mon manage a moi" - 10. "A Paris dans Chaque Faubourg" - 11. "Marie Marie" - 12. "A Paris"

Studio album by Yves Montand originally released in 1964 by CBS Records and re-issued in '92.
I'm a fan of Yves Montand (birthname: Ivo Livi), his music and the many movies he stars in. Not that I know all of his great catalog. I only own a double cd box containing this release alongside Chansons populaires de France (1956) and of the two, I must have heard the '64 release hundreds of times. What's so amazing about Montand is listening to how he gives life to each song. Maybe because he was such a great actor, he used his gift as impersonator when performing. And therefore you can still find many such live performances with Montand on UTube. I consider Yves Montand to be one of a few great male performers of the 1960s and '70s standards and vocal jazz which includes Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Bing Crosby, Nat 'King' Cole, Charles Aznavour, and Jacques Brel. The latter perhaps being his biggest contemporary idol, who wrote and composed many of the finest French chansons. Montand didn't compose great songs but had a natural gift of making songs his own.

org. 2 cd release (1992)

[ Another great live performance with Montand: "La bicyclette" ]

The Prodigy "Experience" (1992)

Experience [debut]
release date: Sep. 21, 1992
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,82]
producer: Liam Howlett
label: XL Recordings - nationality: England, UK

Tracklist: 1. "Jericho" - 2. "Music Reach (1/2/3/4)" - 3. "Wind It Up" (4 / 5) (official video) - 4. "Your Love (Remix)" (4,5 / 5) - 5. "Hyperspeed (G-Force Part 2)" - 6. "Charly (Trip Into Drum and Bass Version)" (4 / 5) (official video) - 7. "Out of Space" - 8. "Everybody in the Place (155 and Rising)" - 9. "Weather Experience" - 10. "Fire (Sunrise Version)" - 11. "Ruff in the Jungle Bizness" - 12. "Death of The Prodigy Dancers (Live)"

Studio debut album by The Prodigy. I only listened to the entire album after The Fat of the Land, and found it a difficult step back in time in 1997. I thought it was okay but didn't really like it a great deal for the first many years, and actually only in the late 2000s I have come to fancy this album as well. My initial verdict was 2,5 / 5 stars, I guess, whereas today, I think it's worth 4. "Jericho", "Wind It Up", "Your Love (Remix)", and "Charly" are great breakbeat tracks suited for a sweaty night at the disco.
After re-discovering the album, I am almost certain to have heard some of the tracks when watching a techno rave truck driving through a park at Copenhagen Carnival in the summer of 1992. The truck was full of young 'ravers' dancing away on the lorry while The Prodigy played at maximum volume. I recall being impressed by the music, which seemed to come from another planet.
[ allmusic.com 5 / 5, Record Collector 4 / 5, Q Magazine 3 / 5 stars ]

The Boys Next Door "The Birthday Party" (1980)

The Birthday Party

release date: Nov. 1980

format: digital

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,38]

producer: The Boys Next Door, Tony Cohen, Keith Glass

label: Missing Link Records - nationality: Australia

Track highlights: 1. "Mr. Clarinet" - 3. "The Hair Shirt" - 4. "Guilt Parade" - 6. "The Friend Catcher" - 10. "Happy Birthday"

2nd and final studio album following Door, Door (1979) by Australian The Boys Next Door - or: the debut album by The Birthday Party... Yes, seen from a music historical perspective, it's unfortunately common practice to tamper with the facts, and the album here is most often mentioned as the starting point and the debut for The Birthday Party. And in a way, it most certainly is - it was just released by The Boys Next Door BEFORE they made a decisive name change. The album was recorded in Australia in the Summer of '79 and completed Feb. '80, and only then did all five members of the band: Nick Cave, Rowland S. Howard, Mick Harvey, Tracy Pew, and Phill Calvert choose together to move to London, UK and here pursue the dream of making a living from making music, and at the same time they changed the band name to The Birthday Party - without changing the band's line-up. So in that way, yes, it is their first album together, only they still went by a different name.

Stylistically, The Birthday Party is a different and more raw release than Door, Door by the same band. The band was early inspired by The Stooges and the raw proto-punk style, and here they show both inspiration from the flourishing post-punk, art rock, new wave, as well as a much earlier experimental expression, as exemplified by Captain Beefheart of the late sixties. It's not yet art punk or no wave, which The Birthday Party later becomes an exponent of, and the compositions here still have traditional harmony structures.

The Birthday Party is a fine example of the creative scene that emerged from punk rock around 1980, and both album and band have been source of inspiration for countless artists since.

[ allmusic.com 4 / 5, Rolling Stone Album Guide 3,5 / 5 stars ]

Reissue debut by The Birthday Party

Marine Girls "Lazy Ways" (1983)

Lazy Ways

release date: Mar. 1983

format: digital (14 x File, MP3) (1987 reissue)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,76]

producer: Stuart Moxham

label: Cherry Red Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "A Place in the Sun" (official video) - 3. "Falling Again" - 4. "Love to Know" (4 / 5) - 5. "A Different Light" - 7. "Second Sight" - 8. "Don't Come Back" - 10. "Fever" - 12. "Lazy Ways"

2nd and final studio album by Marine Girls is the follow-up to Beach Party (1981). After releasing the debut, percussionist Gina Hartman left the band reduced to a trio. The album is produced by Young Marble Giants and The Gist-founder Stuart Moxham, and in many ways it signals great potential but when it finally came out, Marine Girls was a disbanded act with Tracey Thorn pursuing a solo career, she had already released her solo debut A Distant Shore (Aug. 1982) and founded Everything but the Girl with Ben Watt in the Spring / Summer of '82 - Lazy Ways was recorded in September '82.

Six songs are credited Thorn, seven are by Jane Fox, and one song (track #10) is a cover. The minimalist style remains intact but it's no longer a lo-fi product. Instead, it's acoustic indie pop with elements of jazz pop, and the album marks considerable sound improvement to that of the debut. One month after the release, the album peaked at number #4 on the UK Indie Charts, and the album became a minor hit, although, the band had ceased to exist. Apparently, Kurt Cobain included the album on his list counting his 50 top-favourite albums of all time, and it's not a strange note, as this album is such a unique manifest of musical originality and crystal clear talent. Where Beach Party appears as disguised potential, a first draft, Lazy Ways is the true gem to know of.

The front cover is from a photo of Tracey Thorn by Ben Watt.

Highly recommended.

[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]

Modest Mouse "This Is a Long Drive for Someone With Nothing to Think About" (1996)

This Is a Long Drive for Someone With Nothing to Think About [debut]
release date: Apr. 16, 1996
format: cd
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,18]
producer: Steve Wold
label: Up Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Dramamine" (4 / 5) - 2. "Breakthrough" - 3. "Custom Concern" - 7. "She Ionizes & Atomizes" - 12. "Ohio" - 13. "Exit Does Not Exist"

Studio album debut by Seattle-suburban trio Modest Mouse consisting of primary composer, vocalist and guitarist Isaac Brock, bassist Eric Judy and drummer Jeremiah Green.
The style is alt. rock and indie rock with strong bonds to artists like Pixies, The Breeders, Pavement and XTC, I think.
The album release was pretty much unnoticed but it has found its way to some critical acclaim in the aftermath and after the band experienced much greater success. It has a considerably long playing time with its sixteen tracks and a total running time of more than 76 minutes.
I have only come across the album after having found the band's fourth studio album Good News for People Who Love Bad News from 2004, but the '96 album doesn't move me to consider it other than a first rough draft, which seems obscured by the intention to release everything as is. It is; however, a collection of highly original pieces.
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5, Rolling Stone 3,5 / 5 stars ]

Bauhaus "She's in Parties" (1983) (single)

She's in Parties, 12'' single
release date: Apr. 1983
format: digital
[single rate: 4 / 5]

Tracklist: A) "She's in Parties" (4,5 / 5) - - B) 1. "Here's the Dub (Special Effects by Loonatik B. Drinks)" - 2. "Departure"

A single release by Bauhaus. The title track is from the forthcoming and final studio album Burning From the Inside (Jul. 1983), and it was another of my favourite tracks of the early 1980s gothic rock.

Warm Guns "Follow Your Heart or Fall / Lonely" (1983)

Follow Your Heart or Fall / Lonely
release date: 1983
format: vinyl / cd (1996 reissue)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,56]
producer: Nils Henriksen
label: Vertigo Records / CMC - nationality: Denmark

Track highlights: A) 1. "Bedtime Story" - 2. "I'm Just Blue" - 3. "Love Waits for No One" - 4. "The Girl's Not Happy" - 5. "Let's Go" - - B) 1. "Every Teardrop Means a Lot" - 5. "You Can't Make It Alone"

3rd and final studio album by Warm Guns following Italiano moderno (Apr. 1981) is produced by Danish producer Nils Henriksen who also pre-produced the band's previous album before sending all songs to England for final production, only this time everything remains produced in Sweet Silence Studios in Denmark. Lars Muhl on vocals and keyboards, and Lars Hybel on guitar are the only two remaining members from the formation of the band, and new members credited here are bassist Kaj Weber and drummer and percussionist Troels Møller. Furthermore, Pete Repete from Malurt is credited as keyboardist on the album. All songs are (as usual) written by Lars Muhl (Lars Hybel is co-composer on tracks #4, #5, and #8), and the style is developed from the predominant new wave on Italiano moderno with a stronger mainstream pop / rock sound. Compared to its predecessor, the sound is broader with the use of strings and a stronger focus on keyboards and vocal arrangements. The 1996 cd reissue on CMC Records comes with the truncated title: Follow Your Heart or Fall.
Like previous albums by Warm Guns this didn't attract much national interest, and I think Lars Muhl saw this as a final test - if this didn't make it, they might as well call it a day. On the following tour the band recorded the live album Hey-Hey-Hey (1984) at Roskilde Festival, which was intended to be the band's final live performance, but the band continued to play throughout 1983 and in the first half of '84 before finally splitting up. Lars Muhl began composing music for others and after experiencing success with the song "Ind til dig" (a hit in Norway for Sissel Kyrkjebø as "Inn til deg", in Denmark a hit for Lis Sørensen with "Ind til dig" - released as "One More Minute" on his debut album), and after taking part in the Danish 'Music for Africa' project, he initiated a successful solo career, which took its start with his solo debut album The Glorious Art of Breaking Little Girls' Hearts and Blowing Big Boys' Brains in 1986.
Initially, and back in the day, I remember seeing this one as a pretty decent album, which I used to play quite a lot. Time hasn't been that good to it though, and in retrospect I understand how they weren't perceived on par with British contemporaries, as the album comes close to British influences from how Elvis Costello and Squeeze handled their move from a more energetic version of new wave to a embrace a softer mainstream sound - eg. East Side Story by Squeeze and (the mix of) Get Happy!! (1980) and Trust (1981) by Costello. The album contains some good music, but imho, their '81 album outshines this one with a clear margin.

Blondie "Eat to the Beat" (1979)

Eat to the Beat
release date: Oct. 1979
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,66]
producer: Mike Chapman
label: Chrysalis Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Dreaming" (4 / 5) - 3. "Union City Blue" ( 4 / 5) - 4. "Shayla" - (3 / 5) - 7. "Die Young Stay Pretty" - 9. "Atomic" (4 / 5)

4th studio album by Blondie follows one year after Parallel Lines (Sep. 1978), which was the band's world-wide triumphant album with a style that put the band in a league of their own blending both new wave, pop, and disco. Once again, Mike Chapman is in the producer seat but the album is not as great as its predecessor. Yes, "Dreaming", "Union City Blue", and "Atomic" are great tracks, and the reggae-inspired "Die Young Stay Pretty" and a few others are fine, but the rest are mediocre compositions that don't come near the same quality. The title track (by Debbie Harry and bassist Nigel Harrison) sounds like Blondie laying out a blueprint for The Pretenders. Basically, here the band does what they did before Parallel Lines, trying hard to sound attractive to everyone, they get stuck in-between styles and genres being neither pure pop / rock nor edgy or alternative enough to be rock or new wave... entirely. Still, the band was extremely popular and the album ended up on top of the UK albums chart list, and the first single from the album "Dreaming" went to number #2 on the UK singles charts, however, "Atomic", the fourth single release from the album, Blondie made a real dance floor monster hit, which went all the way to the top of the UK singles lists as it did in many other countries.
Uneven but still recommended.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, Rolling Stone Album Guide 3,5 / 5 stars ]

Aztec Camera "Knife" (1984)

Knife
release date: Sep. 21, 1984
format: vinyl (WX8) / cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,66]
producer: Mark Knopfler
label: WEA international - nationality: Scotland, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Still on Fire" (4 / 5) - 2. "Just Like the USA" - 5. "All I Need Is Everything" (4 / 5) - 7. "The Birth of the True" (Roddy Frame live) - 8. "Knife" (4 / 5)

2nd studio album by Aztec Camera following 1½ years after High Land, Hard Rain (Apr. 1983) introduces a new sound, which may or may not be the result of working with Mark Knopfler as producer. Certainly, the frontman of Dire Straits signalled something completely different than one would - given the time of the release - normally, associate with Aztec Camera. The band was seen as a folk rock and jazz rock band emerging out of post punk, which was anything but mainstream, and with Knopfler... that didn't bring about big cheers amongst critics and fans - or, at least they were mildly bewildered by this unusual cocktail. Yes, the style is more embracing in terms of mainstream styles with a noticeable r&b and soul pop introduction to the bands' repertoire, but its still genuine jangle pop at the core, and Frame croons as good as ever. The members list has changed in so far that keyboardist Guy Fletcher has replaced Bernie Clark, who took part in the band on the debut, and Malcolm Ross has entered on guitar replacing Craig Gannon who joined the band after the debut, but who should go on to play with The Smiths. Several others contribute on the album and at times it seems difficult to pin out exactly who's in the band and who's just in a supporting role, but with Frame as the only consistent member. Also, Roddy Frame is here credited all songs and music. In fact, one could argue that Aztec Camera alone is his project. The inner sleeve of the vinyl issue reveals some of this ambiguity, with Frame (credited vocals, guitar) in a sole photo on one side featuring three band members blurred in the background, and then on the other page of the sleeve: three smaller photos showing these individually: David Ruffy (drums, backing vocals), Campbell Owens (bass, backing vocals), and Malcolm Ross (guitar, backing vocals). This gives you the impression that these four constitute the band - then what about Guy Fletcher, you may ask? He is mentioned by name in the credit list playing keyboards and for backing vocals, but with smaller letters indicating he's not in the band after all.
I think, many critics couldn't help noticing what they found as Knopfler's fingerprints, instead of accepting this as new pastures without compromising. Anyway, I found it (and still do) somewhat mixed, too unfocused, like without a clear direction, as in search of (and without a clear idea of) where to go next. Some songs are potent pop songs but others sound misplaced or perhaps unfinished. The sound, however, is nicely shaped - it's a well-crafted production. I just don't like the bold use of keyboards and brass on tracks like "Head Is Happy (Heart's Insane)", and "The Back Door to Heaven", although, that works more than just fine on the title track.
The album contains three great compositions (tracks #1, #5, and #8), some really fine ones, but it also contains a few fillers, which in the end makes it a bit incoherent. The album received mixed reviews but still reached position #14 on the national albums chart list, and it's nevertheless an album I always return to and consider a classic Aztec Camera album.
[ allmusic.com 3,5 / 5, Rolling Stone 2 / 5 stars ]

The Style Council "Speak Like a Child" (1983) (single)

Speak Like a Child, 7'' single
release date: Mar. 1983
format: vinyl (TSC1)
[single rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,62]
producer: Peter Wilson and Paul Weller
label: Polydor Records - nationality: England, UK

Tracklist: A) "Speak Like a Child" (4 / 5) - B) "Party Chambers" (3 / 5)

First single release by The Style Council. The A-side track could easily have been enlisted as a final single release by The Jam without sounding like something completely different when thinking of that band's final single "Beat Surrender". This is not the sophisti-pop style that The Style Council would become associated with, but it's more pure pop soul. Here the band officially only count Paul Weller and Mick Talbot with Zeke Manyika playing drums and Tracie Young singing backing vocals - both are credited as 'honorary councillors', basically meaning 'additional personnel'.
I purchased the single upon its release after hearing it on MTV and it really only made me ready to purchase the band's debut album as soon as it landed.

Blur "Think Tank" (2003)

Think Tank
release date: May 5, 2003
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,86]
producer: Ben Hillier and Blur
label: Parlophone - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 0. "Me, White Noise" (4 / 5) - 1. "Ambulance" - 2. "Out of Time" (4 / 5) (alt. live version) - 3. "Crazy Beat" - 4. "Good Song" - 5. "On the Way to the Club" - 7. "Caravan" - 10. "Sweet Song" - 11. "Jets" - 12. "Gene by Gene" - *13. "Battery in Your Leg"
*this video ends with the opening hidden track as some cd-issues put it at the end after a 1:20 minutes silence

7th (and so far final) studio album by Blur follows four full years after 13 (1999) is with new co-producer Ben Hillier. Also electronic musicians Norman Cook [Fatboy Slim] and William Orbit are credited for co-producing tracks on the album. On previous albums, guitarist Graham Coxon had always been adversary to Albarn's more experimental direction - here Coxon is near absent and only plays guitar on #13, as he was "excused" due to his alcoholism. Keyboards, programming and sound effects fill out the role of the traditional guitar on an album, which in a way turns out much more as an(other) Albarn-lead project.
It's both electronic, alt. rock and art pop, but it really comes out as a huge conglomerate with influences from hip hop, dub, jazz, Jamaican and African music. In that way it really consolidates Albarn's interest for mixing styles and genres as it's the first Blur album to be released after Albarn's project debut under the moniker Gorillaz.
I didn't pay the album much attention in 2003, neither a decade on, and I must confess that it's far from bad. In fact, it's like the majority of albums with Damon Albarn's signature: highly original with a certain amount of... genius about it. In the end, this is really such a great album, which still amazes me in terms of ingenuity and musical quality, and despite Parklife being the band's near-signature album of classic britpop, this one is just much more - it's daringly experimental without stylistic bonds, and at the same time really very coherent. To me it's easily my favourite album by Blur.
What I really like about it is the sense of a strict style without being able to point to any tracks proving that 'cause they're not alike, yet they constitute a common signature "matrix." And in that way it's also difficult to direct one's attention to obvious hits - I think the whole album is more of a conceptual album, which in other ways foresees Albarn's future solo-projects. At the time of the release I primarily regarded Blur as one of the genuine britpop bands that you could compare with Pulp, Oasis, and the like, but Blur is so much more than that, and with Blur (1997), 13 (1999) and Think Tank the band confirms the fact that I should've known back then - that Blur is / was a musical project of many styles a genres, and that the band should be much more lauded for its alt. rock releases than those associated with the early 1990s.
During the recording sessions for the album guitarist Graham Coxon left the band reduced to a trio. Coxon would not rejoin Blur again until 2009, and the band would remain on a hiatus in terms of recording new studio material.
Think Tank is easily Blur's best effort - ever. Highly recommended.

NB! All artwork and direction - including the front cover - is credited British artist officially known as Banksy.

[ allmusic.com 2 / 5, The Guardian, Q Magazine, Rolling Stone 4 / 5, Uncut 5 / 5 stars ]

The Stills-Young Band "Long May You Run" (1976)

Long May You Run
release date: Sep. 20, 1976
format: cd
[album rate: 2,5 / 5] [2,55]
producer: Stephen Stills, Neil Young and Don Gehman
label: Reprise, Warner;- nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Long May You Run" (3,5 / 5) - 3. "Midnight on the Bay" (3,5 / 5) - 6. "Let It Shine" - 8. "Fontainebleau"

Studio debut and only release as The Stills-Young Band. The album was apparently intended as a follow-up to Déjà vu from 1970, and more recently as the outcome of the CSNY 1974 live tour where the quartet played stadiums across the US from Spring to Autumn of '74. Several attempts were made to record new studio material, and in the end it became this: an amputated project featuring songs from only Stephen Stills and Neil Young.
The band is enlisted as: Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Joe Lala on percussion and backing vocals, Jerry Aiello on organ and piano, George 'Chocolate' Perry on bass and backing vocals, and with Joe Vitale on drums, flute and backing vocals.
Musically, it's in the tradition of Buffalo Springfield and the two principle band member's solo careers. The result is not convincing, and it really proves how Stills and Young had taken separate roads after the demise of Buffalo Springfield. Young was deeply into folk rock, in various shapes and with influences from rock and country, whereas Stills seems much more of a blues rock person with influences from roots rock and jazz, and here these two trends don't mix that well.
The best tracks are undoubtedly compositions by Young with the rest as mere fillers to add that Crosby, Nash, Stills & Young-feel... but without two members the result seems apparent.
[ allmusic.com 3 / 5 stars ]

Reptile Youth "Reptile Youth" (2012)

Reptile Youth
"Reptile Youth" (2012)

[debut album]

"Speeddance"

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Aztec Camera "High Land, Hard Rain" (1983)

High Land, Hard Rain [debut]
release date: Apr. 1983
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,78]
producer: John Brand, Bernie Clarke
label: Sire - nationality: Scotland, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Oblivious" (4 / 5) - 2. "The Boy Wonders" - 3. "Walk Out to Winter" - 5. "We Could Send Letters" - 6. "Pillar to Post" (4 / 5) - 9. "Back on Board"

Studio album debut by Scottish jangle pop band Aztec Camera, here consisting of composer Roddy Frame on vocals, guitar, and harmonica, backed by Bernie Clark on piano and organ, Campbell Owens on bass, and with Dave Ruffy on drums and percussion. Although, this is the band members while recording this album it's really a difficult issue as the list changed from year to year on a continuous basis. Aztec Camera was formed by Frame who is the only lasting member throughout its life-span. The style is rather new at the time of the release. The jangle pop emerged in the early post-punk era being influenced by new romantic and 1960s folk rock artists like The Byrds and The Walker Brothers - generally speaking, artists playing either acoustic-driven guitar music and / or in the style of baroque pop. Roddy Frame was the band's front figure and he also wrote all music and lyrics.
Unnoticed, the album made it as high as number #22 on the national album charts list, which may come to a surprise to a lot of people.
The track "Pillar to Post" was the most prominent track, at least at the time, due to its more new wave sources, and that was also the track that made me listen to the band. However, "Oblivious" is much more a track one will associate with the sound of Aztec Camera: the folk rock and jangle pop melancholy, which hints at both jazz as well as pop, and perhaps more than anything points to the creation of the later style of sophisti-pop. Back then, I would have handed it perhaps 3 / 5, today I'm in no doubt in handing the album 4 stars. It's quite original, but it also made way for many artists to come, e.g. Johnny Hates Jazz, Sade, Prefab Sprout, Swing Out Sisters, The Smiths, etc., and it helped shaping the sound of others incl. Everything But the Girl and The Go-Betweens.
Highly recommended.
[ allmusic.com 5 / 5, Uncut 4,5 / 5, Rolling Stone 4 / 5 stars ]

Tom Waits "Blue Valentine" (1978)

Blue Valentine
release date: Oct. 1978
format: cd (1990 reissue)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,06]
producer: Bones Howe
label: Elektra Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Somewhere (from 'West Side Story')" - 2. "Red Shoes by the Drugstore" - 3. "Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis" - 4. "Romeo Is Bleeding" (live) - 5. "$29.00" - 6. "Wrong Side of the Road" - 8. "Kentucky Avenue" - 10. "Blue Valentines"

6th studio album by Tom Waits following Foreign Affairs (1977) with the almost constant of one year in between releases and for the fifth time with Bones Howe in the producer seat.

Blue Valentine is one of his best known and at the same time one of his most celebrated albums from the 70s, and for a reason. On his previous albums, he was always this fixated persona as a kind of a drunken homeless sitting at the piano, and the arrangements were all jazz-oriented with the piano at the centre of the songs. On this, it's still vocal jazz, blues and singer / songwriter material, but it's the first time you encounter electric guitar on a Waits album - and he plays it himself. On the opening track, Waits is heard singing two roles: his usual deep, hoarse and rusty voice and then a brighter singing voice in response. The change lies in both form and content, with more focus on ballads with string-and-horn arrangements (not really chamber pop) in jazzy versions. On the content side, he has kind of left behind his heartbreak songs, always evaporating a special Bukowski / Kerouac vibe from the 50s and early 60s, and instead there is focus on a more contemporary everyday street life, and the general feeling is to meet a more dramatic songwriter and composer.

Waits and Bette Midler were never really an official couple, although they were often seen together from 1976 to '77, but in the spring / early summer of '77 he met his 'soul-mate' in a then young and unknown Rickie Lee Jones, who hung out at Waits' old venue, The Troubadour on the outskirts of Los Angeles. She may be thought of as the one he sings about in songs #2 and #4, while Waits and his chambermaid Chuck Weiss ["Chuck E's in Love"] on the other hand, are believed to be her source of inspiration for her acclaimed debut Rickie Lee Jones (Feb. 1979). During the spring and summer of '79, Waits and Rickie Lee were still dating, but their unhealthy lifestyles of drugs and alcohol took their toll, and Jones may have become heavily addicted to string substance abuse during this period, which ultimately led to Waits quitting their relationship in the Fall of '79.

It's quite difficult to pinpoint selected songs as this is an album with no weak tracks on it, and it's somewhat of a landmark in Waits' career after witnessing the new musical winds with the influx of new wave and punk rock, which involved a changed view of the music industry.

Blue Valentine is a great place to start if you're unfamiliar with this great modern musician.

[ allmusic.com, Classic Rock 3,5 / 5, Uncut 4 / 5, Record Mirror 4,5 / 5, Mojo 5 / 5 stars ]

The Call "Modern Romans" (1983)

Modern Romans
release date: 1983
format: vinyl / digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,52]
producer: Michael Been, The Call
label: Mercury Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "The Walls Came Down" - 2. "Turn a Blind Eye" - 4. "Modern Romans" - 5. "Back From the Front"

2nd studio album by Californian post-punk and new wave band The Call following their one year old debut The Call. The band consists of songwriter, lead vocalist and guitarist Michael Been, guitarist Tom Ferrier, bassist Greg Freeman and drummer and percussionist Scott Musick. Garth Hudson (The Band) plays additional synths and saxophone on the album.
Stylistically, the band plays a dark and energetic rock that may be described as predominantly post-punk. I acquired the album in the early 80s and played it quite frequently. The following albums by The Call were styled as more mainstream rock-productions, and although they gained more recognition, I only fell for this early release by the band.
[ allmusic.com 3 / 5 stars ]