Review an Album

[Guest]

[AranD]

I wrote a review for Suede-Bloodsports a while back. Nowt special..

Britpop legends Suede have returned with sixth album ‘Bloodsports’ after over decade since their last release ‘A New Morning’.

Brett Anderson & co came in for criticism after that 2002 release and subsequently there has been a lengthy lay-off for the band.

On Bloodsports, though, they’ve gone some way to recapturing past glories. Their ten-track return is good- even if it doesn’t quite hit the heights of their self-titled debut, or the 1994 masterpiece ‘Dog Man Star’.

Their return is borne out of the band’s reluctance to rest on their laurels. Having reformed they could have relied on past glories, embarking on an extensive tour to merely roll out their hits and collect their cheques. It would have been a money spinner. It would have been the easy option.

Their return seems fitting; coming only a few weeks after major influence David Bowie had also released new material after a lengthy absence. The album opens with Barriers, a sweeping ode to the triumph of love over hardship. The song finds Anderson in a reflective mood, arguing that, ‘Love is not a weakness’ and questioning, ‘Will they love you, the way I loved you?’

Typically overblown choruses are abundance- ‘Snowblind’ and lead track ‘It starts and ends with you’ being just two. But they have varying degrees of impact.

Snowblind finds a swaggering Anderson declaring ‘We are too beautiful to really care what’s right.’ The menacing verses are some of the most exciting to be found on Bloodsports but are too short and end up being crowded by the chorus, making the whole song feel underdeveloped.

‘It starts and ends with you’ does not suffer the same problem. The song is unmistakably Suede, evoking the spirit of their early more youthful days. The copious amounts of drugs being taken may have subsided but Anderson’s characteristic exuberance still emanates from the speakers.

‘Sabotage’ shows off Brett’s vocal range, his voice teeming with mysticism in the opening verse before declaring ‘love is sabotage…Thy will be done’.

Hit Me’ is a weak point erring into self-parody, lyrics like ‘hit me with your majesty’ more akin to early 2000’s Suede than their earlier, altogether better, incarnation.

There is a noticeable change of pace as the album nears its conclusion. Rousing choruses are replaced by songs that build, songs that are given the space to develop which were perhaps lacking earlier on.

‘Sometimes I feel I’ll float away’ is eerie and sparse, whilst you sense real sorrow in the rasping voice of Anderson in the brilliant ‘Always’.

The highlight, though, is the chilling ballad ‘What are you not telling me?’ It’s a song steeped in hurt and betrayal- a song about a loss of trust, a loss of a confidant. ‘The mysteries of love are not for us, It’s the little things that are tearing us up’ Anderson shrieks, drowning in self-doubt.

The piano-led beginning sounds like it has been ripped straight from a horror soundtrack; the distortion and reverb create an atmospheric wonder that harks back to the epic ‘The Asphalt World’ from Dog Man Star.

With their sixth effort Suede have more than made up for the unsatisfactory way they bowed out last time. If this is to be their last release then the band- some approaching their 40s, some well into them- can walk away satisfied. Given the strength of Bloodsports, though, the boys may just find they want to prolong their Indian summer- and few would discourage them.

[mickilennial]

I wrote this in 2009/2010, wouldn't mind having a less biased mind take a look at it:

Whenever a great band dissolves out of nowhere, there must always come a infatuated fan to carry the torch., the idea of repeating what was done before you with little progression is a thing that is not uncommon in rock music’s history. Bands like Interpol, Where's Moo and countless others are called such things when it comes to continuing where the band that influenced them started. But what separates such flattering repetition and truly carrying the torch? This thought comes to mind often and we go back and listen to the dreamy, liquid and mesmerizing standard that was My Bloody Valentine. Shoegaze has hardly dispersed into nothing which this review should make painfully obvious. After 1991’s Loveless , the shoegaze powerhouse disappeared from the map. Now you wonder, where can I hear another Loveless? I will give you the answer with the subject matter of this review. Fleeting Joys’ second album, Occult Radiance.

Unlike their debut, the Fleeting Joys realize there is a difference from spot on imitation (although good imitation) and carrying the torch. Occult Radiance displays a similarity so much that some people on the internet had uploaded the album on share site’s as a My Bloody Valentine’s newest record. The prank, seemingly unnoticed at first is a brilliant marketing strategy by fans of Fleeting Joys. The album displays more emotion, more wailing and more gloom-esque beauty than the debut it is following. The album opens with You Are The Darkness and displays you what could be their Only Shallow. It’s accessible, but it wails and crunches through your ears like a droning banshee, it’s screams driving you in and not letting go. It’s beautiful in every meaning of the word. Through the albums progression you can see the flow going through and soon become very aware that you are not actually listening to Loveless. The shoegaze soon transforms back down to dream pop by the time you hear All Release and Don’t Go and it is fantastic. The album strikes never a dull moment for fans of dream pop & shoegaze. This is Fleeting Joys, this is shoegaze, this is potentially the legend of My Bloody Valentine.

This record is firmly fantastic, although dropping some punches by the second half of the record to some. But I don’t think so in any regard. This isn’t noise rock, it’s not supposed to grab you by your jaws and hit your face in with a sledgehammer. Though, I would like to hear a fusion of two in eventuality. Not on this record, however. Truly, if you are a fan of shoegaze, dream pop or hell just any type of music that makes you trapped in a gaze, this is for you. I’ve listened to this record on several occasions and it has not waned at all. It is such a crime that this band is so unknown in the music community and it would be a travesty if you don’t at least listen to Occult Radiance.

[hairymarx1]

Neil Young - Psychedelic Pill, 2012

The legacy of Neil Young's prolific and often distinguished output can be defined in terms of its unpredictability and variable quality. It's the idiosyncratic approach Young has to his art in which he feels compelled to follow his muse, that endears the man to many of his die-hard fans. Young's work, which is in equal parts brilliant and indifferent - frequently within the same album - would suggest that Neil Young is not a man who will compromise his art to anybody. The double album 'Psychedelic Pill' is no exception.

With the catchy self-referential up-tempo country-rock and hoe-down boogie 'Born In Ontario' Young returns to the territory of 1977's 'American Stars 'N' Bars'.

'Driftin' Back' is a 27 minute epic. Here Young references the solemnity and redemptive themes of arguably his supreme masterpiece, 'Tonight's The Night' while musically it resembles the underrated 'Broken Arrow'. But here - both thematically and musically - he is far less convincing. From the kind of acoustic and vocal harmony refrains that typified his work with Crosby, Stills and Nash, the song melts into the kind of distinctive electric guitar jam style of riff and harmony counterpoint that Young built much of his career on.

Young appears to be cynically using the song as a vehicle for the promotion of his recently published biography. He alludes to the lamenting of the passing of an era of pre-modernity before art had become commodified (Young used to 'dig Picasso' before the multinationals 'turned him into wallpaper'). With his reference to MP3s and hip-hop haircuts, Young's contradictory attitude nevertheless underlies a characteristic humour.

The track is let down by some heavy plodding drum work, unambitious chord progression and muddled production. But this is partly redeemed by the quieter and more subtle acid-rock passages that recall the greatness of the Grateful Dead.

One of the albums key stand-out tracks is another where Young returns to personal themes. The introspective 18 minute epic 'Ramada Inn', is a meditative tour de force which focuses on the trials and tribulations of life as seen through the lens of the onset of old age and alcoholism. Young's allegorical evocation of the rising of the sun is indicative of an optimistic future set against a nostalgic backdrop imbued by regret, joy and love.

With the country-rock of 'Twisted Road', Young name-checks Roy Orbison, Hank Williams, The Grateful Dead and Dylan's 'Like A Rolling Stone', but the track lacks inspiration. The sugar-coated lullaby of 'For The Love Of Man' recalls the mood of 'Sleeps With Angels' but lacks the latter's memorable melodies and emotional punch.

'She's Always Dancing' which resembles the tone of the classic 'Zuma', marks a magnificent return to form. Young's repeated refrain 'she likes to burn' is vocally delivered with increasing levels of intensity and pitch, his voice crackling with emotion.

The title track is a major disappointment, almost a rehash in terms of chord progression of 'Cinnamon Girl'. Pretentious and derivative, the song's heavy reverb is strangely reminiscent of a cross between Hawkwind's 'Silver Machine' and Status Quo's 'Pictures Of Matchstick Men'.

The album's masterpiece is the monumental 'Walk Like A Giant'. Capturing a mystical sense of the ordinary through the prism of metaphor, Young combines his trademark evocative, yet obscure lyricism, and fractured distorted guitar sound with Bad Seeds-style sledgehammer pounding drums and Weld-era noise collages. In echoing the classic 'Powderfinger', the song represents the essence of Young at his very best.

Overall, Psychedelic Pill is a 'mixed bag'. Only occasionally does Young's trademark transcendental-style guitar work and melodious song craft convincingly and emotionally engage. Had Young omitted the padding by producing a single album, Psychedelic Pill would have ranked alongside his other distinguished works and masterpieces - 'Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere', 'After The Goldrush', 'Harvest', 'Tonight's The Night', 'On The Beach', 'Zuma', 'Rust Never Sleeps' and 'Sleeps With Angels. As it is, the album feels slightly rushed and incomplete.