Mike Oldfield - "Crises" (1983)

Crises was Oldfield's eighth album. Like many others, I'm a little skeptical of the records he created after the 3-4 first ones. I found Crises some time ago in a local record store, rather cheap and have always thought Moonlight Shadow was one of the best pop hits of the 80's, so why not? But the skepticism remains.

I have a North American press where side A consists of six, in the context, quite available pop songs, of which Moonlight Shadow finishes the side. Except the short Taurus 3, all songs have song, in normal verse-chorus structure. On In High Places, Jon Anderson sings, otherwise it's Maggie Reilly who does most of the singing, and Roger Chapman on one song. To be 80's pop, it's okay, though it's never been a favorite niche of mine. Moonlight Shadow is undoubtedly the best track of the side, and generally I like the songs where Maggie Reilly sings best. She has a nice voice. But overall, a rather uninteresting musical experience, but still preferable to Wham! or Samantha Fox if you must listen to  80's pop.

For me, Oldfield has always been more of an instrumentalist who creats music outside the usual frames, often works that occupy a whole side of the albums. That's Crises' side B (on the North American press), which consists of the title song. Could have been interesting, but is not on the same level as eg Ommadawn in quality. It's more synthesizers, for which maybe the 80's is to blame. I miss Oldfield's more organic sound from the earlier albums, it gets a bit washed out here. In addition, he sings on some parts, with a not too successful result. Had been better to adhere to an only instrumental sound. One recognizes the harmonies, the guitars, etc., and it sounds undoubtedly Oldfield. But it is quite boring.

If you like Oldfield's instrumental works, I think it's better to stick to his first 3-4 classic albums. If one prefers 80's pop, maybe side A can be appreciated.


Tracklist

Side A
1. "Mistake"
2. "In High Places"
3. "Foreign Affair"
4. "Taurus 3"
5. "Shadow on the Wall"
6. "Moonlight Shadow"

Side B
1. "Crises"

Supertramp - "Crime of the Century" (1974)

Until 7-8 years ago, I was quite negative towards Supertramp. I had not really heard anything with them, and thought they were a cheesy, super commercial, disco band, who performed songs for the 70's dance floor. Maybe a little like Boney M. It was probably the name that gave me the idea, I thought it sounded like a disco name.

Oh, so wrong I was, and so much good music I missed. Crime of the Century was the third album by the band and their breakthrough, the music is often defined as prog and / or artrock, and i.e. got the 28th spot on Rolling Stone's list of best prog albums of the time. Definitions is a difficult science, and personally I wouldn't put the label 'prog' on this album. Qualitative pop / rock, I think describes it well enough.

The album has consistently good songs, Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson officially share the composing, even though they worked quite individually in reality. The songs often consist of parts that differ quite clearly from each other, but therefore you get a nice variation. They wander a bit like a creek, a little to the left, a little to the right, but undoubtedly the same creek all the time. It is by no means messy, every song has a clear wholeness. The album offers lots of sweeping choruses, and the songs are generally quite epic, what that ever means. I'm a sucker for these things, so I fall for the album.

It has a clear 70s sound, but it still feels fresh. Lots of piano and nice singing gives me Elton John vibes, did he sound like this in the 70s? It is said that he did some groovy stuff then, I haven't heard it, am quite negative against Elton John's music. Have apparently not learned the lesson.


Tracklist

Side A
1. School 5:35
2. Bloody Well Right 4:32
3. Hide In Your Shell 6:49
4. Asylum 6:45

Side B
1. Dreamer 3:31
2. Rudy 7:17
3. If Everyone Was Listening 4:04
4. Crime of the Century 5:30

Marillion - "Clutching At Straws" (1987)

One of my military service buddies sometimes played Marillion in the barracks, and often claimed it was the world's most underrated band. It became one of few lessons I brought home with me from my year in the military. Marillion was a pretty unknown band for me, but I liked what I heard and in the collection there are now a bunch of Marillion albums, almost all on CD (purchased in the 90's, vinyl was out in the cold).

Marillion was one of prog's fan bearers in the 80's, and only that fact deserve them respect. Compared with eg Rush, another prog metal band also active then, Marillion is more in the same niche as Genesis, while Rush is harder, more metal. Before I got to know Marillion a bit better, I thought they were a heavy metal band in the same spirit as Iron Maiden. Mostly because I saw the band name sprayed on walls, and only metal heads did that.

Clutching At Straws was their fourth album, and the last the singer Fish participated in. It's like several of their records, a conceptual album. It's about Torch, who sings in a band and has serious alcohol problems. It's a good album. I'm childishly fond of bombastic choruses, and epic, winding songs. Marillion offers all that without being ashamed. Only the chorus in Slàinte Mhath is worth a purchase of the record, and Marillion's albums are found cheaply, sadly underestimated as they are.

Rocky, progressive music, more accessible than much of 70's prog, that's Clutching At Straws. The music has a more modern touch than prog's earlier incarnations, and Marillion generated regular hits, so it's not difficult music.


Tracklist

Side A
1. "Hotel Hobbies" - 3:35
2. "Warm Wet Circles" - 4:25
3. "That Time of the Night" - 6:00
4. "Just for the Record" - 3:09
5. "White Russian" - 6: 27

Side B
1. "Incommunicado" - 5:16
2. "Torch Song" - 4:05
3. "Slàinte Mhath" - 4:44 "
4. "Sugar Mice" - 5:46
5. "The Last Straw" - 5:58

Mike Oldfield - "Hergest Ridge" (1974)

Oldfield's second album after the monster debut Tubular Bells. Hergest Ridge entered as no. 1 in England, but shortly after got knocked down by no other than Tubular Bells. Very few artists have managed to do this to themselves. I got the record in my teens, so it's been with me a while. It's quite associated with my teenage years, it's rarely spinning on the turntable nowadays.

The album consists of two long songs, Hergest Ridge part 1 & 2, one on each side. Logic and clear. Instrumental for the most part, with some choir here and there. At the end of side A, the choir goes to a bit of exaggeration, it becomes very bombastic, otherwise it's OK. Hergest Ridge continues in many ways what was started on Tubular Bells, but is no copy. It's a pretty good album, but yet, it's something that makes it not enter my deeper layers. Maybe I heard it too much during my teens, maybe it's a bit too close to some kind of new age music that I'm generally quite skeptical of.

There is of course a lot of guitar, often layer on layer through different effects, but various other instruments also contribute, multi instrumentalist as he is. Often a fairly calm mood and sometimes a bit gloomy. The music often takes new turns and directions, moods change, which helps keep your interest up. He is certainly a skilled and creative musician, but still, the album has a hard time to really capture my interest. It's too gentle, as if the music goes through a kindness filter. It never gets mean or challenging, I miss surprises.

By the way, Hergest Ridge is a hill on the border between England and Wales, close to where Oldfield lived at the time. If you want to hear this record, maybe Spotify works. On youtube you can't find Oldfield's music in its original form.


Tracklist

Side A
1. Hergest Ridge (Part 1) 21:29

Side B
1. Hergest Ridge (Part 2) 18:45

Lee Hazlewood - "20th Century Lee" (1976)

Lee, the friend of Sweden, with another solo album, who knows what number it would be on this one (maybe the 21st). During this time he lived in Sweden and worked with, besides his music, quite a lot of TV programs, often with the director Torbjörn Axelsson. The record was released only in Sweden and Germany, and is therefore somewhat of a rarity from an international perspective. Because of his move to Sweden, Lee largely disappeared from the international music scene for a number of years, but in Sweden, I think he was given quite a lot of attention. Personally, however, I was too young in 1976 to have my own own experience and memories of this.

The album is not one of his better, but is neither one of his more boring ones. An average in his catalog. All songs except one, The Fool (first performed in 1955 by Sanford Clark), are covers. The selection leans quite a lot towards country & western, which isn't always to my taste. Unlike Lee's earlier, more psychedelic country & western, here often the dark, odd touch is missing which gave many of those songs a special quality. At the same time you'll find a few really good songs on the album. On the first side, That's How I Got To Memphis and In A Young Girl's Mind, create the highlights of this side, and in themselves worth a purchase. What raises these songs above the others is the beautiful female choir, a trick Lee has used quite often during his career, almost always with a fantastic result.

When you turn the record over, you start off with the classic Indian Summer (L'été Indien) in Lee's version. His dark voice, together with Björn J:son Lindh's flute, create a song dripping of the 70's. But all the way he goes in Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On, as he makes it sound like we're in a 70's porn movie. Lee's voice is often deep, but it's rarely I've heard it this deep. It's hard to really take a song like this seriously, I couldn't help laughing a few times. The album's perhaps most bizarre song is the closing number, Brev Från Lillan, where Lee sings in Swedish. Again, it's hard to really take it seriously, although it might be an honest attempt to charm the Swedes. His Swedish is not easy to understand, though. It can be mentioned that on the A-side Lee also sings in Spanish, on the song An Old Lullaby, so the record is filled with language experiments. Another good song from side B is Crazy Mama, with some nice guitar soloing using the wahwah. Probably it's Janne Schaffer, a famous Swedish guitarist, who does it, although some others are also credited as guitarists on the album, so I'm not sure.

With its limited release, and a bunch of Swedish musicians participating, which is fun for me as a Swede, it's a pretty cool album to have in the shelf. Musically it's mixed, some highs, but also some lows.


Tracklist
Side A
1. Long Haired Country Boy 2:41
2. That's How I Got To Memphis 3:02
3. In A Young Girl's Mind 3:47
4. The Ballad Of Lucy Jordan 4:40
5. An Old Lullaby 3:39
6. The Fool 2:48

Side B
1. Indian Summer (L'eté Indien) 5:11
2. My Girl Bill 3:03
3. Crazy Mama 2:29
4. Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On 4:46
5. To Ramona 2:46
6. Brev Från Lillan 2:19

Tommy James And The Shondells - "I Think We're Alone Now" (1967)

I have some later albums with Tommy James, which are much more fun than today's theme. The title track opens the album, and it's a good song, a classic. But the rest of the record is not to my taste. Lightweight, well behaved, cheesy bubbelgum pop, which in my ears is very outdated. I like Tommy James later when he / they had ventured further into the psychedelia, Crimson & Clover is probably the most well known song from that era, but they weren't there yet. Here you'll find quite plain songs that don't challenge in any way, it's created for mass airing via the commercial US radio. The variation is not great, the sound is exactly the same and many of the songs sound like versions of each other. The songs are short, which is good.

The album was produced by Bo Gentry and Ritchie Cordell, and the latter has written the vast majority of the songs. Among the songs he hasn't written, is the cover California Sun, which is actually quite fun. Maybe the most interesting thing about the record is the cover. I didn't think much about it, but read online that it was considered too controversial, and was changed after the first release to a picture of the band instead. The controversy being the two pairs of footsteps first go next to each other, but at the end are standing opposite each other! Naughty, naughty. Apparently, this was too much for the public in the US at the time, although it was a rather subtle hint in my eyes.

Another interesting thing about the record is that it is released on Roulette, a company which, according to Tommy James and many others, was run by the Italian mafia. The company was notorious for not paying the artists' royalties, and Tommy James claims that the company owed him and the band 30-40 million dollars. In 1989, the company was sold to Rhino and EMI, who subsequently paid royalties to various artists, including Tommy James, although it wasn't the sums he had previously mentioned.

In other words, a record that is fun to have in the collection for reasons other than the music.


Tracklist

Side A
1. I Think We're Alone Now 2:08
2. Trust Each Other In Love 2:08
3. What I Would Give To See Your Face Again 3: 15
4. Baby Let Me Down 1: 43
5. Let's Be Lovers 2:18
6. Run, Run, Baby, Run 2:18

Side B
1. Mirage 2:30
2. I Like The Way 2:42
3. California Sun 2:59
4. (Baby, Baby) I Can not Take It No More 2:17
5. Gone, Gone, Gone 2:13
6. Shout 1:50

Olympic Souvenir (1980)
Олимпийский Сувенир

I was very interested in sports as a child, and the Olympic Games were always a highlight, just like World Cup competitions. Four years between each Olympics felt like an eternity, which made them even more special. As a child, four years is a long time, and for each Olympic Games I was in many ways a totally new person. My clearest memory of the summer Olympics in Moscow 1980, was the closing ceremony when Misja, as the mascot was called, shed a tear. I found it incredibly sad and almost shed a tear myself. The Olympics was over and the next one was so far away, Misja's grief tripled my own. But quite fast, life was as usual. The US boycotted the Moscow Olympics, which made it a little different.

The record is a double album with a mix of classical music, primarily on the first record, and folk music from the Soviet Union, which is mostly found on the second record. I think the second record is the most interesting. I have always been interested in folk music from different parts of the world and find it much more appealing than the classical music, which is a mix of orchestras, choirs and operas. Often loud and bombastic. For some reason, Bach has also found his way into the album. No, the folk music is more fun, one of the favorites is a song from Georgia, which is a dull and gloomy song, in the same spirit as Kate Bush's Hello Earth's choir parts (which actually is a song borrowed from Georgia, with a made up text, you should listen to it!). Since all songs are sung in Russian (I think), both the classical songs and the folk music, everything feels like Russian communist propaganda. This is probably reinforced by the absurdly suspicious relationship I, and probably most Swedes, had to the Soviet Union in the 80s. Even though I today realize that it is unlikely that the greatness of communism and the glory of the Soviet Union are the themes of the songs, the feeling remains.

The reason I have the record is that it's another one saved from my parents' collection, when it was on its way to the bin or the local flea market. Not because I'm so interested in Russian music, but the album itself seemed so odd that I'd like to see it in my possession. I guess my dad got the record when he visited the Soviet Union on behalf of the job at the time of the Olympics. I have seen it sold online relatively expensive, which is always pleasing. And since I will never play it again, after the survey for this blog post, it will be pristine condition also in 100 years. My great grandchildren will be delighted.