FOUR TET
THERE IS LOVE IN YOU
2010 – DOMINO
Produced By KIERAN HEBDEN
1. Angel Echoes
2. Love Cry
3. Circling
4. Pablo’s Heart
5. Sing
6. This Unfolds
7. Reversing
8. Plastic People
9. She Just Likes To Fight
Four Tet sounds like it could be the name of a jazz combo, but it’s actually the stage name of British electronic musician Kieran Hebden. He started out with the post-rock band Fridge at the age of fifteen, a band he still plays with. As Four Tet, he allows himself a different outlet musically. There Is Love In You is the fifth Four Tet release, and became his highest charting album until 2020’s Sixteen Oceans. It almost sounds like electronic folk music…but it’s still danceable, and never lets you forget that it is, in fact, electronic music. But the best thing about this disc is that throughout, Four Tet never tries too hard. The music is uncluttered and spacious, precise yet with room for the imagination to be a part of it.
“Love Cry” was the lead single here, and at just over nine minutes, serves as the centerpiece. “Angel Echoes” and “Sing” are also fine tracks, the latter working well even though the intro sounds like it may have been recorded in error. But he still makes it all turn out in the end. This music is far from the mainstream, but he’s prolific enough and open minded enough to keep things fresh…eleven solo and six Fridge releases in under 30 years counts as very hard working these days. If you’d like to try some electronic music that won’t beat your face in with its message of dance, Four Tet may be a good place for you to start. This album, even if you’re not a fan, deserves at least a listen.
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ELVIS COSTELLO & THE ATTRACTIONS
ARMED FORCES
1979 – COLUMBIA
Produced By NICK LOWE
1. Accidents Will Happen
2. Senior Service
3. Oliver’s Army
4. Big Boys
5. Green Shirt
6. Party Girl
7. Goon Squad
8. Busy Bodies
9. Sunday’s Best
10. Moods For Moderns
11. Chemistry Class
12. Two Little Hitlers
13. (What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding?
1. Tiny Steps
2. Busy Bodies (Alternate Version)
3. Talking In The Dark
4. Big Boys (Alternate Version)
5. Clean Money
6. Wednesday Week
7. My Funny Valentine
8. Accidents Will Happen (Live)
9. Mystery Dance (Live)
10. Goon Squad (Live)
11. Party Girl (Live)
12. Stranger In The House (Live)
13. Alison (Live)
14. Lipstick Vogue (Live)
15. Watching The Detectives (Live)
16. You Belong To Me (Live)
17. Chemistry Class (Live Solo)
Elvis Costello’s third album shows continued musical growth from his first two (My Aim Is True and This Year’s Model), and proved that he was, without a doubt, here to stay. The first album to share credit with his band, The Attractions, Costello proves to be a formidable writer, as well as having the smarts to include “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding”, which was written by the album’s producer Nick Lowe, and which became the biggest hit here (it was not on the UK version). Also of note are “Oliver’s Army” and “Accidents Will Happen”, plus “Green Shirt” and “Senior Service”. It’s another perfect record from Elvis, a must have for sure.
This version is a 2 disc 2002 reissue. It contains the entire original album, with the second disc consisting of some interesting outtakes, and nine tracks from a 1978 concert held at Hollywood High (three of which had been included as a bonus EP with the original album). The live portion contains songs from all three of his albums at the time, including this one, and makes for a fun experience with a nicely enthusiastic crowd. Thirty tracks in all is a lot to digest, but the first disc is more than worth it on its own, and the second disc won’t bore you with inferior throwaway recordings like a lot of bonus material does. Either way…whether it’s just the one or both discs, it’s a great one to have.
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BUDDY GUY
BUDDY’S BADDEST: THE BEST OF BUDDY GUY
1999 – SILVERTONE
Produced By JOHN PORTER, EDDIE KRAMER, BUDDY GUY & DAVID Z
1. Damn Right, I’ve Got The Blues
2. Five Long Years
3. Mustang Sally
4. Rememberin’ Stevie
5. She’s A Superstar
6. Feels Like Rain
7. She’s Nineteen Years Old
8. I Smell Trouble
9. Someone Else Is Steppin’ In (Slippin’ Out, Slippin’ In)
10. My Time After Awhile
11. Midnight Train (Feat. Jonny Lang)
12. Miss Ida B
13. Need Your Love So Bad
14. Innocent Man / Mannish Boy / Backdoor Man
The first thing that you need to know about this compilation album is this: the career of Buddy Guy goes all the way back to the 1950’s, and includes a period of time when he was the central figure of the blues revival of the 1960’s. This compilation fails to mention that…so in that way, it’s more than a bit misleading. With that said, Buddy’s Baddest actually covers this blues legend’s first of two decades with Silvertone Records, from 1991 through 1998. For Buddy Guy, this was a huge decade. 1991’s Damn Right, I’ve Got The Blues came after ten years of silence, the recording of which was encouraged and helped along by Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Mark Knopfler, and became the first of three consecutive Grammy winners for Best Blues Album.
And for good reason. This best of culls from his four 90’s albums with Silvertone, and showcases Guy simply smoking on the guitar. If you love the blues, then this is a must have. This features “Damn Right”, a fine version of “Mustang Sally” with Jeff Beck, “Midnight Train” with Jonny Lang, and many more tracks that feature Guy simply burning on the guitar. Remember…this guy played Woodstock, and inspired most of your guitar heroes from the sixties and seventies. And here, even later in his career, and after an extended hiatus…he does not disappoint. Buddy Guy is simply one of the greatest, and quite possibly the most solid bridge between traditional blues and the blues side of rock. Which makes this, and him, simply vital. Long live Buddy Guy!
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FischmanRockMonster, JazzMeister, Bluesboy,ClassicalMasterProfile Land of Enchantment
Damn Right I Got the Blues was my gateway into the genre when I was first expanding my appreciation beyond just rock.
I got to see Buddy at a wrong side of the tracks dive club in East Boston just after he released the album im '91. He was already 55 at the time (I was 27) so I didn't have much in the way of expectations. I still got there early so I could secure a table up front right next to the stagand.....
SCORCHER!
The man was on fire! Both instrumentality and vocally. Insane!
One of my best concert memories ever. A most vivid memory that will always be with me. Puts a big ass smile on my face just thinking about it.
Opener was a guy named John Campbell, a sort of sparse roots/blues guy you might take a liking to if you aren't already familiar with him.
Damn Right I Got the Blues was my gateway into the genre when I was first expanding my appreciation beyond just rock.
I got to see Buddy at a wrong side of the tracks dive club in East Boston just after he released the album im '91. He was already 55 at the time (I was 27) so I didn't have much in the way of expectations. I still got there early so I could secure a table up front right next to the stagand.....
SCORCHER!
The man was on fire! Both instrumentality and vocally. Insane!
One of my best concert memories ever. A most vivid memory that will always be with me. Puts a big ass smile on my face just thinking about it.
Opener was a guy named John Campbell, a sort of sparse roots/blues guy you might take a liking to if you aren't already familiar with him.
Buddy Guy gets lost in the shuffle far too often. VERY important bridge between blues and rock, and one of the greatest players of his day. Damn Right really is a fantastic album! _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
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AMADOU & MARIAM
SOU NI TILE
1998 – TINDER
NO PRODUCTION CREDIT
1. Je Pense A Toi
2. Combattants
3. Mouna
4. Pauvre Type
5. Dogons
6. Baara
7. Dounia
8. A Radio Mogo
9. Djandjola
10. On Se Donne La Main
11. Mon Amour, Ma Cherie
12. A Chacun So Probleme
13. Teree La Sebin
14. Toubala Kono
15. C’est La Vie
Pretty much since the death of Bob Marley, Western record companies have been on the prowl for the next big thing in world music. One of these finds is the team of blind singers Amadou Bagayoko and Mariam Doumbia from Mali. Having been singing together since the mid 1970’s, they have progressed steadily over the years into an internationally known act. After a series of five cassette albums in the early 1990’s, the duo moved to Paris and recorded their first album outside of Africa, the stunning Sou Ni Tile. This was a minor hit in France, and it would take another five years and three more albums before they attained successful sales in the rest of Europe.
Sou Ni Tile marks the beginning of the modern and much more polished era for this duo. The opener, “Je Pense A Toi”, is an absolute winner, and should have been more of a hit than it was. The better Amadou & Mariam tracks have always been the more upbeat ones, and that’s certainly the case here. Sou Ni Tile serves as a fine introduction to the music of Mali, and to this curious and talented du that would soon be playing Lollapalooza and opening for bands like Coldplay and Blur. Their later albums, Dimanche A Bamako, Welcome To Mali and Folila are better known, but this one is just as good. Amadou & Mariam are special talents, and are more than worth checking out.
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XTC
DRUMS AND WIRES
1979 – VIRGIN
Produced By STEVE LILLYWHITE
1. Making Plans For Nigel
2. Helicopter
3. Day In Day Out
4. When You’re Near Me I Have Difficulty
5. Ten Feet Tall
6. Roads Girdle The Globe
7. Life Begins At The Hop
8. Chain Of Command
9. Limelight
10. Real By Reel
11. Millions
12. That Is The Way
13. Outside World
14. Scissor Man
15. Complicated Game
I remember that when I bought this, I was familiar with XTC mainly through their hits like “Dear God”, and “Mayor Of Simpleton”. And I remember that this became a whole new band to me as soon as I heard “Making Plans For Nigel” and “Helicopter”. Drums And Wires, their third album, came out in 1979, years before I knew that they even existed. This introduced me to the quirky, and much more fun early side of XTC…but also the beginning of their move towards a more calm approach to songwriting, particularly from Colin Moulding. And Partridge was still pretty out there, but there is a maturing happening here that would reap huge rewards in years to come.
But don’t get me wrong…Drums And Wires is a blast. There are hooks here for DAYS. This is not the original 1979 version…it’s a 1991 reissue that brings the US and UK versions together. Meaning that two of the albums best tracks are together for the first time…Partridge’s wonderfully lyrically adept “When You’re Near Me I Have Difficulty”, and Moulding’s endlessly catchy “Life Begins At The Hop”. This is not my favorite XTC record (that would be the sadly underrated Nonsuch from 1992), but it does rate a close second. And that’s saying a lot, as XTC was one of the greatest bands of their time. This is one you have to hear!
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ZZ TOP
ELIMINATOR
1982 – WARNER BROS.
Produced By BILL HAM
1. Gimme All Your Lovin’
2. Got Me Under Pressure
3. Sharp Dressed Man
4. I Need You Tonight
5. I Got The Six
6. Legs
7. Thug
8. TV Dinners
9. Dirty Dog
10. If I Could Only Flag Her Down
11. Bad Girl
On their previous album, El Loco, ZZ Top had befriended a musical guru named Linden Hudson. Hudson introduced the band to synthesizers, and the transformation of this blues boogie band into a hit machine was started. Eliminator is their eight album, and ushers in a brave new approach for them. The addition of newer technology into their Texas boogie sound proved to be huge…along with their embrace of MTV, big beards, fuzzy spinning guitars, and a 1933 custom made Ford coupe…ZZ Top went from fading classic rockers to more popular than ever before overnight. At the center of it all were some pretty damned terrific songs, without which none of their new found promotional gimmicks would have worked.
The hits were massive. “Gimme All Your Lovin’”, “Legs”, “Sharp Dressed Man” and “Got Me Under Pressure” made ZZ Top household names with kids whose parents had been rocking to them more than a decade before. There was nobody on MTV in 1983 who was more fun than ZZ Top. And even the non-hits were pretty good. They played seventies boogie, with eighties synths, hot women and a cool car with videos that portrayed the everyday loser kid as a sudden winner…and you could dance to it. After a pair of albums with decreasing popularity and their style of music becoming quickly uncool, Eliminator made ZZ Top the ultimate musical comeback kids. And it’s still fun to this day. Indeed!
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THE FRAY
HOW TO SAVE A LIFE
2005 – EPIC
Produced By AARON JOHNSON & MIKE FLYNN
1. She Is
2. Over My Head (Cable Car)
3. How To Save A Life
4. All At Once
5. Fall Away
6. Heaven Forbid
7. Look After You
8. Hundred
9. Vienna
10. Dead Wrong
11. Little House
12. Trust Me
The Fray showed up out of nowhere (Denver) in 2005 with the release of their debut album, How To Save A Life. Another in a line of bands like Keane and Coldplay, the main instrument of The Fray is the piano. Of those three bands, The Fray is the one most likely to put you to sleep. They were formed in a religious setting, but they are not a Christian band. This album was a huge success, thanks to the first two singles. “Over My Head (Cable Car)” and especially the title track kept The Fray at or near the top of the charts for a considerable amount of time. Although marketed as alternative rock, this album barely rocks at all. At times, it feels stagnant and uninspired…but it also sold a gazillion copies. But so did that song by Snow Patrol…
Aside from the pair of hits, the best songs here are “All At Once” and “Look After You”. “Dead Wrong” is about as hard as these guys rock. Other than these songs, you’ll be hard pressed to find much else worth turning up. It’s a whole lot of piano, and they might remind you of The Cranberries without the magic of Delores O’Riordan. The second album was almost as big a hit, but they stopped being noticed with their third and fourth releases. And four albums in almost twenty years (none since 2014) isn’t going to keep an audience, especially when the music does little to hold your attention. If you must have the hits, they’re here. Otherwise, very average stuff.
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BLUE OYSTER CULT
TYRANNY AND MUTATION
1973 – COLUMBIA
Produced By MURRAY KRUGMAN & SANDY PEARLMAN
1. The Red & The Black
2. O.D.’d On Life Itself
3. Hot Rails To Hell
4. 7 Screaming Diz-Busters
5. Baby Ice Dog
6. Wings Wetted Down
7. Teen Archer
8. Mistress Of The Salmon Salt (Quicklime Girl)
Blue Oyster Cult has been going steadily since 1967, but their entire career has been fueled by basically three songs. At the time of their second album, Tyranny And Mutation, none of those songs had happened yet…but the band was surviving on the strength of a rabid…cult…following, and the fact that they were loved by critics and certain literary folk. Patti Smith was so much a fan of them that she contributed lyrics for “Baby Ice Dog”, and music journalist and critic Sandy Pearlman wrote for them and produced this album. And they were quite likeable, even without hits…how could you not love a band in the seventies that had a song called “7 Screaming Diz-Busters”?
This album is actually one of their best all-around works. Led by guitarists Eric Bloom and Donald “Buck Dharma” Roeser, BOC were heavy and smart, and could kick out a rocker as well as anyone. The first four tracks, in particular, are as good as anything they’ve ever done since. In their history, Tyranny And Mutation has long been overshadowed by “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper”, “Godzilla” and “Burnin’ For You”. Those songs are all great, and are all that the casual fan needs to know about this band. But if you’re a fan of heavy seventies rock, then you should really give this record a shot. It wasn’t a hit…you’ll never hear it on the radio, but it’s also mostly as good as anything from its time. This is their most consistent album, which makes it, overall, their best.
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