Alt J - "An Awesome Wave" (2012)

Time to leave my recent theme with lightly dressed women and passable music. Today's theme is a really groovy album which currently is played a lot in my home, a new favorite in the collection. Alt J is a British bands and An Awesome Wave was their debut album.

I got the band recommended by a neighbour who also handed me the album (on CD) for a few weeks loan. The experience was so positive that I made sure to get the LP as a Christmas gift this year. Alt J is described as an indie rock band, or an alternative band. That might be the case, I don't really know how to sound to earn a label like that. But in any case it's music with a twist. Not least because the singer Joe Newman has a somewhat odd voice.

I hear a lot of progressive influences on the album. For example, the a capella following the intro. It is like hearing Gentle Giant in the 2010s. I really like this a cappella even though allmusic.com seems to hate it. Sometimes the music is described as art rock, but I experience that genre often as a bit more "difficult" than Alt J. Although there are many songs that are quite different from normal commercial radio songs on An Awesome Wave, they are far from difficult. Quite the opposite, I find the LP very welcoming, bright and friendly. Alt J seems to be a laid back and relaxed bunch of dudes, not difficult and depressed suicide candidates. When one enters An Awesome Wave, you enter into a nice dreamy but mostly uptempo world.

Alt J has managed the feat to create an album that is high quality and interesting throughout, and it's easy to sit and listen to it without getting bored. If Kate Bush was a man, and a member of a rock band, I think it could sound like this.

Can be mentioned that the drummer Thom Green has an 80% deafness due to a genetic desease he's suffering from. At any time he faces total deafness, I read in an interview with him. And if someone is wondering, it's the Ganges delta on the cover.

I absolutely recommend the album, both to those who only listen to the commercial radio and to those who claim they are musical connoisseurs of a higher rank. An Awesome Wave is an album I think everyone can appreciate.


Tracklist

Side A
1. Intro
2. Interlude
3. Tesselate
4. Breezeblocks
5. Interlude
6. Something Good
7. Dissolve Me

Side B
1. Matilda
2. MS
3. Fitzpleasure
4. Interlude
5. Bloodflood
6. Taro

Playboy Record Artists (1977)

Let me say right away that this is trash. And not in the way as a music genre. Sure, it's a matter of taste what music you like, and maybe someone gets upset when I call this album trash. But I do it again. It's trash.

So why do I have it in my collection? Guess once. Right. I thought it would be cool to own an album from the label Playboy Records. Especially as it has the Playboy Bunny in the "O". And because I thought the label was cool, I had a hope that the music would be just as cool. But I was wrong. That the record also cost about 3 dollars of course facilitated the purchase (as usual).

Playboy Records was of course linked to Hugh Hefner's empire, but nowhere near as successful as his other products. The artists they had on the label wasn't particularly popular, the music they focused on - soft rock ballads and country & western - wasn't particularly popular. And just as written on this blog one expects maybe something more challenging and provoking from an album that Playboy released. But no, instead many record buyers probably, just like me, became quite disappointed in the content. The most challenging with this LP is coping to listen to it straight through. Not one naked woman in sight.

The music on the album is - yes! - soft rock ballads and country & western. None of these genres is a favorite of mine, and I find actually not a single good song on the album (OK, the song Runaway is listenable, originally sung by Del Shannon in 1961). The artists are also completely unfamiliar to me - Barbi Benton, Mickey Gilley, Charlie Kulis and so on. And that same names appear on many songs I guess shows that the width of artists was probably not that great.

But still, I think it's a bit fun with an album from Playboy Records, so I'll probably keep it. It's only released in Sweden which, as a Swede, also makes me want to keep it. Got to support you home country. Playboy Records doesn't exist anymore, anyone surprised?


Tracklist

Side A
1. Barbi Brenton - Is not That Just The Way (That Life Goes Down) 2:55
2. Mickey Gilley - Bring It Home To Me 2:20
3. Current - Classica's Love Song (Part I) 3:06
4. Wynn Stewart - Lonely Rain 2:45
5. Hamilton, Joe Frank & Dennison -Don't Fight The Hands (That Need You) 3:05
6. Mickey Gilley & Barbi Benton - Let's Sing A Song Together 2:08

Side B
1. Mickey Gilley & Barbi Benton - Role You Like A Wheel 2:09
2. Barbi Benton - The Teddy Bear Song 2:54
3. Hamilton, Joe Frank & Dennison - Now That I've Got You 3:38
4. Charlie Kulis - Runaway 2:48
5. Mickey Gilley - Honky Tonk Wine 2:30
6. Debbie Campbell - Please Tell Him That I Said Hello 3:11

Exitos Del Verano ("Summer Hits") (1976)

This morning it was -17 C. At night there will be -32. January darkness. We need to brighten ourselves with the sun, beaches and lightly dressed girls. Maybe life will be a little easier then. Or not. Looking at my last post, a new trend can be seen - LP covers as substitutes for porn magazines (or websites). Perhaps I should have a blog solely dedicated to such covers? It would certainly increase the number of readers.

I found this album in a second hand shop in Uppsala, Sweden, and I bought it only because I thought the cover felt quite bizarre. The price was around 3 USD which of course made the purchase easier. If you open the fold-out cover you'll find a number of vacation pictures from Spain with information on where they were taken, mostly Baleares and Costa Brava. This made me think this was some kind of promotional LP for Spain, perhaps issued by the Spanish tourism authority. Therefore it felt quite strange to see a couple of almost naked girls on the cover. But it was released in 1976 and I thought perhaps it was entirely appropriate and politically correct that authorities at the time did things like that.

I don't still think the Spanish tourism authority released this album, instead the hot girls of course are put there to attract buyers. Which obviously worked in my case. Why there are photos from Spanish tourist resorts on the inside I don't know, maybe the authorities sponsored the album. Exitos Del Verano seems to be a series of albums with covers of hits, many with album covers in the same style as today's. Why change a winning formula?

The music? There are a number of covers, summer hits if you should believe the cover, where my home country Sweden is represented by ABBA and the song Fernando. Most songs can be put in the trash can, but some nice tracks can be found. Fly Robin Fly by the German band Silver Convention is cool and groovy 70s disco (number 1 on a number of lists 1975). And I like the powerful Tornero by the Italian band I Santo California from 1974. The B-side's opening track La Ramona is also enjoyable, maybe not good, but funny. I don't know this song, and it is difficult to find information about it online. The only thing I manage to find is that a comedian by the name of Fernando Esteso had a hit with a song by that name, so maybe it's that one.

Again, these are covers, which generally doesn't sound as good as the originals. This is true also for this LP. I therefore see no reason to buy this album for the music, it's better to acquire the original songs. The only reason to buy the album would be for the cover, I suppose. But personally, I of course appreciate the record for its songs, just as I like the articles in Playboy.

Imagine my surprise when I noticed that it was sold on ebay for around 50 USD. Which brings me a lot of releif as I can also argue that this is a financial investment, which apparently has paid off quite well.

The Youtube links below are to the original songs, I didn't find this record's cover versions.


Tracklist

Side A
1. Bye, Bye Fraulein 4:04
2. Fly Robin Fly 5:32
3. Volare 2:49
4. Echame A Mi La Culpa 3:35
5. Save Your Kisses for Me 3:54
6. Quiero 2:50

Side B
1. La Romana 3:36
2. Viva America 3:55
3. Tornero 4:09
4. Paloma Blanca 3:16
5. Fernando 4:12
6. Abrazame 3:45