Barde (1977)

Local music today, from Montreal. Barde means bard, someone like Cacofonix, you know, in Asterix. The band formed in 1973, and today's album from 1977, was their record debut. They were six members in the band, originating from Quebec, Ireland and the US. Accordingly, they sing in Irish, French and English. The music they played was a mixture of Celtic, Scottish and Quebecain folk music. They made three albums, before they went their separate ways in 1983. They toured extensively and apparently their concerts were legendary, an explosion of ecstatic energy, where the use of dual Celtic fiddles was their hallmark.

Personally, I hadn't heard of Barde before I found this album in a record exchange. I bought it thinking it would be fun to expand my collection's number of albums with local music, as Montreal is my new hometown. And they say that you should learn about and embrace the local culture. The fact that the album cost 1-2 dollars made it quite easy.

I've always appreciated folk music from different parts of the world, but the Celtic / Scottish music has never been a special interest of mine, so I'm quite ignorant of the genre (I have some records with Dubliners and Relativity, but beyond that my collection is empty) . It's pretty fast-paced music, lots of violins, and as a former violinist I can find myself daydreaming about how it would have been if I had continued my violin career, and if I had found myself in a group of whiskey-fueled Irishmen. It would probably had been fun. The album offers both instrumental tunes and the ones with song, where the former are a majority. As mentioned, it's sung in three different languages. You'll hear only traditional instruments, without the interference of modern electronic ones (they appeared on the later albums, though). The opening song Jack McCann is written by the band, the other ones are traditional compositions.

An OK album, with a lot of energy and upbeat songs, and it might spin now and then on the turntable, when inspiration strikes. When it comes to this type of folk music, I personally appreciate a band like Fairport Convention more, where the traditional songs are spiced with a more modern sound. However, the lover of Keltish / Scottish / Quebecain music will appreciate this album a lot, no doubt.


Tracklist

Side A
1. Jack McCann 3:02
2. Julia Delaney 2:43
3. L'île Noire 3:35
4. La Queue De L'Hirondelle 3:30
5. Le Violin Accordé Comme Une Viole 2:17
6. Fanny Power 3:33

Side B
1. La Gigue The George Brabazon 1:38
2. Les Trois Hommes Noirs 5:28
3. La Suite Du Cap Breton 3:29
4. Banshee 3:57
5. P Stands For Paddy 4:54

Niels Jensen - "Rum" (1983)

Once in my teens, I heard a song on the radio I liked with the Swedish artist Niels Jensen. Some time later, I found Rum (=Room), in a shop in my hometown of Uppsala for maybe a dollar. The logical conclusion "a good song on the radio probably means a good LP" made me buy it, although of course I didn't know if the song I'd heard was the on the album. Sure, the price certainly also contributed to my purchase. Back home, I realized quickly that my logic was not fully developed. I had difficulties with the album.

The first time I encountered Niels Jensen was in the movie Sova Räv (Sleep Fox) which I saw on TV, during a summer break up in northern Sweden at my grandparents. As I recall, a pretty heavy movie, with absent parents and violent death. It made an impression on me. Otherwise, as an actor, Niels is probably better known in Sweden from the movie G - som i gemenskap (G - as in community, which in English I guess would be C - as in community). He's an artist with many talents, and as I understand it, it's primarily as a visual artist he has mostly created, although his ventures into acting and music perhaps is what most people in Sweden associate him with.

As a 15-year-old Niels got a hit with the song Mobbingbarn (Bullied/Bullying Children), and was just 19 when he made Rum. It's impressive in its own way, I could not as a 19 year-old nor a 40-year-old write music, much less something a record company would release. But the music is not really to my taste, not then nor today. The sound is very dated, it sounds way too much the 80s. No matter how good the songs might have been, the sound ruins the experience. As a teenager, I had also difficulties with Niels' southern accent and his somewhat unpolished singing voice. After as an adult having lived many years in southern Sweden, I am friends with dialect nowadays, but not with the voice.

Also, the album is loaded with anxieties and a neurotic atmosphere, which makes it painful to listen to. The opening lines on the album Mitt namn är Klaustro, jag har fobi, jag söker rum att leva i (My name is Klaustro, I have phobia, I'm looking for room to live in) immediately sets the tone of the record. The album cover and its (according to me) shitty sound enhances the feeling of angst. Now, all songs are not teenage anxiety filled, some you can sing along to and has quite catchy choruses, like Businessman for example. But it's then that 80's sound comes in and still makes it less than good. It's a rather theatrical alum, where Niels sings with passion, a bit like Van der Graaf Generator maybe (although there are many other things that separate them).

On Youtube I could only find videos from a classic Swedish music show from the 80s, Måndagsbörsen, where Niels sings some of the songs live. An interesting historical document, and since I obviously can sing along to most of the songs, I must have listened to the album quite a lot in my youth. I guess hadn't many albums to choose from.


Tracklist

Side A
1. Klaustro Von Fobi 3:28
2. Businessman 3:48
3. Paradis Nu 2:55
4. Iom Mig 3:30
5. Vargkvinna 4:15

Side B
1. Instant-Instant 4:18
2. Riktig Vän 3:45
3. Self-fish Saw-Fish 3:20
4. Julia 4:14
5. Rum 4:33

Cream - "Disraeli Gears" (1967)

Some blues and a lot of psychedelia, is a fitting description of Disraeli Gears. If you want a visual representation of the music, just look at the cover. I think it fits unusually well to the music. A fat psychedelic sound that compels the most rigid to expand their mind. Consider then that the songs are created by the super trio of Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce. Of course it can't be anything but good.

The album was recorded in just over three days, which with today's recording standads must be considered somewhat sensational. At the time it was more common for records to be recorded faster, but even then three days must have been considered a short time in the studio, especially for a famous band as Cream. This was the band's second album and was a clear departure from their blues-based roots. Outside Woman Blues and Take It Back on side B offer the most pure blues, which also happen to be the songs I like the least, the rest of the songs are dominated by a more psychedelic sound à la 1967. Sure, you can say that the sound is dated, but one can say that about a lot of great music from the past.

As I use the description "psychedelic" considering the music, I should clarify that the album doesn't belong to the genre e.g. Pink Floyd's mental excursions from this time, involving long, strange jams, mysterious sound effects or epic 10-minute suites, rather Disraeli Gears is blues-based psychedelic rock n' roll, guitar-bass-drums, with 3-minute songs you stamp your foot to. I found my copy here in Montreal for a cheap price, since the store owner claimed the album was a bit worn, which wasn't really true. It's in absolutely acceptable condition, maybe we have different ideas of what is acceptable quality.


Tracklist

Side A
1. Strange Brew 2:46
2. Sunshine Of Your Love 4:10
3. World Of Pain 3:03
4. Dance The Night Away 3:34
5. Blue Condition 3:29

Side B
1. Tales Of Brave Ulysses 2:46
2. Swlabr 2:32
3. We're Going Wrong 3:26
4. Outside Woman Blues 2:24
5. Take It Back 3:05
6. Mother's Lament 1:47

Brian Eno - "The Ship" (2016)

Eno has been around a while, first as a keyboardist in Roxy Music in the early '70s, then a solo career and great success as a producer. I don't know how many records he's participated on over the years in some form, but they are many. Somewhat surprising then that he this year creates one of the best and most interesting albums he's made during his career. According to a review I read, his 25th solo album.

The Ship has a connection with Sweden as the music began as a 3D sound installation in Stockholm. When Eno discovered that age had made his voice deeper, and that he therefore could sing deeper tones, The Ship turned into a stereo album, where Eno uses his "new", deeper voice in parts of the singing. The album consists of two songs, the title track, which clocks in at just over 21 minutes and the suite Fickle Sun, which consists of three parts, of which the first is just over 18 minutes, and the two remaining approximately three and five minutes.

Eno's installation The Ship in Switzerland

The title song has the Titanic as its theme, but it's not a dramatic tragedy that's being played, rather the song creates a picture of a ship that calmly flows through a dark fog on calm water. Deep synthesizers and various sound effects place the listener in a quiet, dark world. After several minutes, Eno starts singing, which almost resembles monks chanting. It's peaceful and beautiful. The song continues in a rather structureless shape, there is no verse-verse-chorus structure, but the song absolutely creates a comprehensive whole. During the second half of the song, Enos deep chanting is replaced by other forms of voices, both his own and others, which continue to create a dark, but pleasant atmosphere. The song The Ship is an impressive creation, despite a low tempo and not really a great variety, every minute is interesting and enjoyable.

The first part of Fickle Sun continues in one way within the same frame, it's Eno's voice together with the soundscape he creates with his musical instruments. The theme is World War I, and the song is a bit more dramatic, but just as good. Fickle Sun offers a bit more variety, where the song has somewhat more clearly a couple of different parts. Eno doesn't use the same deep voice, but more the one heard on earlier albums. Also this song lacks the verse-verse-chorus structure, instead it is a soundscape being created. I experience the atmosphere as fairly calm and pleasant, although there is a relatively large difference from the tranquility on The Ship, as there is more dissonance, and sometimes it feels like Eno paints a picture of one of the circles in Dante's inferno in Fickle Sun (I).

In the second part of Fickle Sun, you'll get a brittle piano playing in a classical Eno ambient manner, and Peter Serafinowicz reciting a text to it. The more minimalist sound is in contrast to the first part of the song. This part continues into the third and final part of the song, which is a cover of the Velvet Underground's I'm Set Free, a beautiful pop song in Eno's hands. The closure is very different from the rest of the album, but still somehow feels very right.

I guess this would be an ambient album, although it's not easy to define the music. Actually, I see it as a piece of art, which should be more experienced than defined. It's impressive that Eno manages to create something completely different from what he has previously done (at least of what I've heard with him), while at the same time it feels so naturally that it was he who made this album. He manages to combine his singing with his creation of soundscapes, so it actually is among the best he's ever done.


Tracklist

Side A
1. The Ship (Part 1) 13:45

Side B
1. The Ship (Part 2) 8:07

Side C
1. Fickle Sun (I) 18:03

Side D
1, Fickle Sun (II) 2:50
2. Fickle Sun (III) I'm Set Free 5:18

Brian Eno - "Small Craft On A Milk Sea" (2010)

I just bought this record a few weeks ago, the price was so attractive I couldn't resist (half the price of an already reduced price). It was the nice box containing the music on vinyl (on two records), CD (two discs, of which one consists of four bonus tracks), a digital download and a lithograph created by Eno. A beautiful box, even if it was a little dirty, and the download code had already been used (the staff in the shop? Was it a used item? The code too old?).

The album is a collaboration with Jon Hopkins and Leo Abrahams, and is based primarily on improvisations they'd done together, inspired by film soundtracks. Five of the songs were actually written for the film The Lovely Bones, but were rejeccted. On the album we hear the classic Eno, meaning his ambient creations. The initial songs are beautiful pieces one can recognize from his previous ambient records, such as Music For Films. Atmospheric, relatively formless and soothing. Then the record changes direction into a more action-packed and loud path, where rhythms, guitars, louder synthesizers dominate, before it returns to and finishes with calm, ambient pieces. It can be mentioned that the album is instrumental.

Personally I like the quieter and atmospheric pieces a lot better than the louder ones. I'm calmed by the mood the songs create, activities like emptying the dishwasher or cleaing the house suddenly become pleasant and invite you to reflection. The louder pieces have an opposite effect, I get stressed and they border too often to noise. But a musician might think they are more fun to play, what do I know.

In other words, I like half of the album, while I have a harder time with the other half. The sound is timeless and probably sounds as good today as in 30 years (and could have been recorded 30 years ago). People who like Eno and his ambient albums, probably like Small Craft On A Milk Sea. One could argue that the album is not really necessary if you have some of his previous records, as it is to some extent more of the same. Personally, I can sit for a while and listen to Eno's atmospheric pieces, but after a while I also need to do something else, since I can get a bit bored of simply listening to the relatively formless pieces of art. But whatever you do then, cleaning the house, yelling at the kids, smashing down a wall, it will be done with a sense of calm and thoughtfulness, thanks to the filter the ambient pieces puts on the reality. The louder pieces might intensify your rage, though.


Tracklist

Side A
1. Emerald and Lime 3:02
2. Complex Heaven 3:05
3. Small Craft On A Milk Sea 1:48
4. Flint March 1: 155

Side B
1. Horse 3:01
2. 2 Forms Of Anger 3:14
3. Bone Jump 2:22
4. Dust Shuffle 1:54

Side C
1. Paleosonic 4:25
2. Slow Ice, Old Moon 3:25
3. Lesser Heaven 3:20
4. Calcium Needles 3:24

Side D
1. Emerald and Stone 2:12
2. Written, Forgotten 3:55
3. Translate Anthropocene 7:54


Bonus songs on the second CD:
1. Surfacing 2:19
2. Square Chain 2:36
3. Bimini Twist 3:13
4. Ship Abandoned 3:45

Big Brother and the Holding Company - "Cheap Thrills" (1968)

Just the cover designed by Robert Crumb makes this album worth buying. It was actually to be the back of the cover, with a portrait of Janis on the front, but she thought it was such a cool picture that it became the cover. From the start, the band had thought a photo of themselves naked in a bed would be the cover, but the label thought for some reason differently.

Janis, yes, this was her big break when she became Janis Joplin with the whole world. This was the band's second album together with her, and the last, as she later began her solo career. Already then most people felt that she was the big star, and that the band was merely a backing band for her. Many also complained that the band members' musical skills left some to be desired. In other words, everyone was only waiting for her to embark on her own adventures. But they were still a band when Cheap Thrills was released.

The album starts with Bill Graham introducing the band to an audience's noise. Sound from an audience is continued to be heard on the album, and many thought it was a live album. But it was not, it was only sound added to create a live atmosphere. The last song Ball and Chain is the only one recorded live. Rest of the album was recorded in a studio New York. This became one of 1968 year's best selling albums.

When I was younger I didn't like Janis. At that time I didn't know that she was actually a member of a band a time of her career, she was so dominant in the listening experience. I thought her voice was too hoarse. And I wasn't, and have never been, a blues man of rank. Today, I have changed my opinion on Janis. Today, I think her voice expresses so much emotion. A unique voice. But it's not always working for me. Sometimes her voice, together with the band, becomes too loud and noisy. My wife usually complains when the album is spinning on the stereo, since it is so loud, and she lets out a sigh of relief when it's over. The album is a full of (Janis') feelings, which requires some emotional involvement of the listener. To sing with the passion she does have to tear hard on the vocal cords and make you emotionally drained. At least it feels that way when you hear her. It's not as if she sings half committed.

The best songs I think are the covers, which are also the songs that became the biggest hits and therefore the most well known. Summertime, Piece of My Heart and Ball and Chain. It's good stuff, the other songs are OK, but not at the same level. The sound on the album is pretty unpolished and noisy, in general. Everyone probably don't like Janis' voice, and since it dominates the album one should probably like it to appreciate the record. I have, thanks to the maturity my age has given me, learned to like Janis. I saw a documentary about her a few weeks ago. A tragic life story of a girl who suffered a lot from the surroundings. She got to be 27 years old before she died in her hotel room in 1970.


Tracklist

Side A
1. Combination of the Two 5:47
2. I Need a Man to Love 4:54
3. Summer Time 4:01
4. Piece of My Heart 4:15

Side B
1. Turtle Blues 4:22
2. Oh, SweetMary 4:16
3. Ball and Chain 9:02

Leonard Cohen - "Death of a Ladies' Man" (1977)

Some matchings are stranger and more surprising than others. Leonard Cohen and Phil Spector, for example. The thoughtful poet, often minimalist musician with the crazy Wall-of-sound-guns-nut producer. A match made in heaven? I think not.

The stories go somewhat apart how these two found each other, but they had in common that both careers had been a little stalled and needed fresh air. So they sat down and wrote a bunch of songs together, Cohen the words, Spector the music. And then into the studio, or rather three different studios, with musicians who apparently were among the best in the industry.

The recording was like the legends say they were with Spector, guns everywhere in the studio, Spector once aimed one at Cohen and cocked the hammer etc. A generally crazy atmosphere. According to Cohen, Spector was quite normal when they were alone, but the more people that came into the studio, the more insane Spector got.

Phil Spector

One day Spector disappeared with everything they had recorded, to complete the final mix. Cohen was not at all prepared for this, the song he'd recorded was just to support the musicians, he had meant to do the final song later. But that didn't matter, Spector had made up his mind, and nothing could be done.

Personally, I'm not too fond of this album. Maybe it's because I have listened to more of Cohen's earlier works, with a more simple sound, and have difficulties fusing Spector's Wall of Sound with Cohen. And the songs are not that great anyway, not at the same level with what Cohen did, both earlier and later. And I don't know, a song like Don't Go Home With Your Hard-On becomes too different when it comes to my idea of Cohen (yes, I know he'd written a song with giving me head on the unmade bed. But that was a beautiful song.). Although that is the song that I, to my horror, sometimes go anround humming. But the chorus sticks in the head. Fingerprints sounds like Cohen joined the Salvation Army and sings Country & Western with the saviors. Sure, kind of fun.

Sometimes it sounds a little Lee Hazlewood, which could be a compliment, but sorry, I don't fall for this album. Probably an important root for my suspicion is that I have a pretty solid idea of ​​how Cohen should sound. If someone else had made this album, I might have been a little more positive.

I would instead recommend Cohen's last work, You Want It Darker. He left us a short time ago, and my new, and his old hometown of Montreal, has been in mourning. He lived in a house near us, and one evening we walked there, lit a candle that contributed to the sea of ​​candles, flowers and other things people had put outside his door. All weekend after his funeral, people made pilgrimage there. A man's death brought known and unknown together, and created a temporary feeling of community.


Tracklist

Side A
1. True Love Leaves No Traces 4:26
2. Iodine 5:03
3. Paperthin 5:42 Hotel
4. Memories 5:59

Side B
1. Left a Woman Waiting 3:28
2. Do not Go Home With Your Hard-On 5:36
3. Fingerprints 2:58
4. Death of a Ladies' Man 9:19

Grateful Dead - "Wake of the Flood" (1973)

I had to search for a long time before I finally found this album in one of Montreal's stores for used vinyl. Some wear and tear, but the asked price was still relatively high, and no bargaining could be done. Early releases of Grateful Dead albums seem to be attractive. This was the band's sixth studio album, ninth including live albums, and the first one they released on their own label. Since the last studio album American Beauty, released three years earlier, the keyboardist / vocalist / harmonica player Ron "Pigpen" McKernan had died as a result of his alcohol use. Keith Godchaux was now the keyboardist (he had already been the band's keyboardist a few years, while Pigpen played the bongos, harmonica and sang). It gave the music a clearer direction towards jazz rather than blues, as when Pigpen was still in the band.

All Grateful Dead connoisseurs claim that it was the concerts that were magic, and that the studio albums never reached these heights. I would have liked to see Grateful Dead live, but now I haven't, so I haven't much to compare with. What I've heard many talk about are the concerts' magic, long jam sessions, something that is difficult to recreate in the studio. Personally, I think long blues jams can get a little boring and unfocused, so maybe just as well I never saw them. I really like many of their studio albums. Especially Wake of the Flood.

The two opening songs, Mississppi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo and Let Me Sing Your Blues Away, are not something I fall for. I hear nothing unique about them, any band could have done those. But then the wind turns, and that it does significantly. In my world, Row Jimmy is amongst the finest Grateful Dead ever created. A beautiful, quiet and melancholy song, with a text you don' t understand anything of. On Youtube I've seen live versions of the song that are even better, especially Garcia's two guitar solo parts he plays differently in different time periods. Just this song makes the LP worth buying. Many regards the following Stella Blue as one of the band's finest songs, and it's beautiful, even if it gets in the shadow of Row Jimmy.

Side B is groovy right through. Here Comes Sunshine slides towards the psychedelic genre in the chorus, while Eyes of the World is more up tempo, danceable and energetic. The epic closer, Weather Report Suite, is the only one Garcia / Hunter didn't write, instead Weir is the creator. A really good song that apparently evolved to an even more epic tune in later concerts. It is divided into three suites. The band had played almost all the songs in concerts for about six months before the recording started. In other words, they've had time to develop and test them in different versions.

I still have a deep-rooted image of the Grateful Dead as an über psychedelic band. None of the (studio) albums I have offer this kind of music, though. My albums range from the 60s to the 80s, and it's a lot of blues, country & western, prog, rock 'n' roll, and not so much psychedelia. Either my mental image is completely wrong, or it originates from the eminent book Electric Cool Aid Acid Test, which describes their concerts at the Mery Pranksters LSD events, or it's a side of the band that were more present during concerts. In any case, Wake of the Flood is a really good album, which I think many can like. Not psychedelia, more laid back rock, jazz, blues and maybe some soul.


Tracklist

Side A
1. Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo 5:45
2. Let Me Sing Your Blues Away 3:17
3. Row Jimmy 7:14
4. Stella Blue 6:26

Side B
1. Here Comes Sunshine 4:40
2, Eyes of the World 5:19
3. Weather Report Suite 12:53

David Crosby - "If I Could Only Remember My Name" (1971)

The people who join Crosby on this LP are like an allstar teams when it comes the psychedelic era. Jerry Garcia, Grace Slick, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Graham Nash, Jorma Kaukonen, Paul Kantner and others The risk with such an accumulation of musicians, all stars in their own, is that it becomes unfocused, too many ideas to put down on one album. This is not the case with Crosby's solo debut, though. Overall, the music has a clear direction and Crosby seems to have held a firm hand over the production and kept the other musicians in reasonably reins.

I like this album a lot better than Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's Déjà Vu, the album Crosby appeared on before the solo debut. Side A is filled with laid-back songs with great vocal harmonies and airy guitar playing. It's a little west coast rock over it. And you get the pleasure of hearing Garcia play guitar / steel guitar on the songs. The only weak song, according to me, is the long Cowboy Movie, it sounds more like a standard rock number you've heard a hundred of different versions of, difficult to hear something unique with it. Otherwise, just sit back, relax and enjoy the beauty Crosby creates with his harmonies and fellow musicians.

The B-side opens with What Are Their Names that sounds like a Jefferson Airplane song, and indeed both Slick and Kantner participate on the song. This song is a little loud compared to most other songs on the album. The following songs offer a greater beauty as Crosby is back in a calmer area, with fine guitar playing and beautiful harmonies, although I may find Traction In the Rain a bit boring. The last two numbers, Orleans and I'd Swear There Was Somebody Here, teach the listener about more advanced harmonies with their acappella. A calm album, with some exceptions, which offers somewhat fragile, beautiful songs that should suit most people. Unfortunately, it would take until 1989 before Crosby releases an album again, due to advanced drug problems. Given the beauty of his debut album, the world probably missed out on something.


Tracklist

Side A
1. Music Is Love 3:16
2. Movie Cowboy 8:02
3. Tamalpais High (At About 3) 3:29
4. Laughing 5:20

Side B
1. What Are Their Names 4:09
2. Traction In The Rain 3:40
3. Song With No Words (Tree With No Leaves) 5:53
4. Orleans 1:56
5. I'd Swear There Was Somebody Here 1:19

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - "Déjà Vu" (1970)

Sometimes it becomes difficult when you don't really fall for an album that's hailed as a masterpiece, which have high rankings on lists on the theme "Best records ever," an album everyone seem to love. You get the feeling that something is wrong with you, that your musical taste is too primitive and / or you don't understand the music, and to express something critical will make the whole (musical) world turn against you. When it comes to Déjà Vu, I'm facing this dilemma.

Déjà Vu was Crosby, Stills & Nash's second album, and they had extended the trio to a quartet with the incorporation of Neil Young. They brotherly share the music input, on each side each member contributes with one song, and on side A we also get a Joni Mitchell cover in the song Woodstock, and the B-side closes with a Stills / Young song. "Brotherly" can probably be discussed since the band members were not particularly good friends at the time of the recording, and rarely spent time together in the studio. Instead, most of the songs were individually recoreded by each member.

The album opens up with a really good Stills song, Carry On. An energetic song, a breath of fresh air and beautiful vocal harmonies. If it would continue in the same way, I would have been a part of the mass that celebrates the album. But the only other song I like on side A is Young's Helpless, even if it sounds a lot like Knocking On Heaven's Door. The rest is pretty boring. Some Country & Western and some standard rock 'n' roll, nothing above the ordinary. It's a little fun that Jerry Garcia plays steel guitar on Teach Your Children, though, even if the song is so-so.

The B-side is more even, the only song I really don't like Nash's Our House, but that doesn't mean I love the rest. The other songs are OK, but not more. The title song is a little different in that it doesn't have the same verse, verse, chorus structure. A little more loose at the edges and airy, in a positive way. 4 + 20 is nice, but certainly not better than what Stills made on his following solo album. Likewise, Young's Country Girl is perfectly OK, but he has also done much better songs on his own albums. The record ends with the somewhat bombastic Everybody I Love You, again, not bad, but not a spot on the music's absolute top.

In summary, Déjà Vu is quite an average album. Personally, I would not rank it high on my "Best albums ever" list, or bring it to a deserted island for that matter. I suspect that if four completely unknown guys made this album, it had not been hailed in the same way. But with these four musical giants at the controls, the album will automatically be raised to the skies, regardless of the result (within certain limits, of course). Alternatively, it's me that there's something wrong with.


Tracklist

Side A
1. Carry On 4:26
2. Teach Your Children 2:53
3. Almost Cut My Hair 4:31
4. Helpless 3:33
5. Woodstock 3:54

Side B
1. Déjà Vu 4:12
2. Out House 2:59
3. 4 + 20 2:04
4. Country Girl 5:11
5. Everybody I Love You 2:21

Stephen Stills (1970)

The younger generation may not know Stephen Stills, but he must be regarded as one of modern music history's more important figures. Most people know his name from years in Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills & Nash (& Young), but he has made lots of albums as a solo artist, also.

This self-titled album is his debut as a solo artist. On the record, he has his buddies Nash and Crosby, but other big names are also contributing. How about Hendrix, Clapton and Ringo Starr? Bigger authorities are hard to find. In fact, this is the only album where both Clapton and Hendrix play, and the whole album is dedicated to Hendrix since he died some time before the album was released. Stills is a multi-instrumentalist, and plays a bunch of different instruments on the record.

Side A is wicked. It starts off with the hit Love the One Your're With, which makes you want to move your hips. Then a string of great songs are lined up. Church (Part of Someone) offers a powerful sweeping gospel chorus that makes me want to go to church, on Old Times Good Times Hendrix plays the guitar which of course can't be anything but great, and on the closing number Go Back Home Clapton plays so the strings glow. A fantastic first side that offers everything from quiet, nice moments to furious, hard rock n 'roll.

But when you turn the record over, it's not as fun anymore. I don't know what happens, but it's not nearly as good. Not even the hit Sit Yourself Down turns me on. And To A Flame just feels cheezy, the long acoustic blues Black Queen is OK, I guess, but not something I can really get carried away by. Sure, there are some half good numbers, but on the whole, the B-side is of considerably lower quality, so I'll probably stick to the first side. And since that side is so exceptionally good, the album is worth a purchase.


Tracklist

Side A
1. Love the One You're With 3:04
2. Do for the Others 2:52
3. Church (Part of Someone) 4:05
4. Old Times Good Times 3:39
5. Go Back Home 5:54

Side B
1. Sit Yourself Down 3:05
2. To A Flame 3:08
3. Black Queen 5:26
4. Cherokee 3:23
5. We Are Not Helpless 4:20

Sex Pistols - "The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle" (1979)

Another trip back to my childhood. My older brother was a punk rocker for a few years in the early 80s, so some punk albums found their way to our house, I was probably around eight years old when I started hearing this record at home, making it one of the first musical experiences outside children albums that had any influence (KISS was first). I haven't listened to the album in over 30 years, so it's fascinating to see how more or less every riff and text line is still in my head, when I now hear the songs.

One can discuss how much a Sex Pistols album it is. The record is a soundtrack to the movie of the same name, where the manager Malcolm McLaren is in focus (I've read, I haven't seen the movie). Johnny Lydon (Johnny Rotten) had left the band when the album was created, so the songs in which he participates are demo recordings from 1976, from where his voice was taken and then the instrumental tracks were rerecorded. In other words, in many songs Lydon is not there. In fact, there are only eight tracks out of 24 where Cook, Jones, Lydon and Vicious play together.

It's a rather sprawling album. The band plays many covers in a punk version, some original songs, we get to hear Black Arabs do a disco medley of a bunch of Pistols songs, Anarchy in the UK is offered in a French street musician version, Malcolm McLaren sings / talks in some songs, the train robber Ronnie Biggs sings in some etc. A smorgasbord of musical creations. Is it good? Well, it's not that bad, actually.

When I was a child, the traditional song Friggin 'in the Riggin in a punk version was my favorite. When I read the text as an adult, I realize it might not be very child appropriate. But my English skills were limited at the time (luckliy enough). Today, I more appreciate the songs that are not played by the Pistols, Black Arabs disco medley is quite fun, as well as Anarchy in the UK in the French version. And still, I like Friggin 'in the Riggin, if you ignore the pubertal text. But it's a pretty catchy tune.

Overall, I like the album, even if it's not something I listen to today. A certain nostalgia probably affects the experience, but also the real punk songs on the album are quite accessible. There exists much more extreme and aggressive punk I find more difficult to appreciate. Songs like the title song, (I'm Not Your) Steppin  Stone or the classic Anarchy in the UK are pretty catchy. Not least, Cook's and Jones' songs Lonely Boy and the Silly Thing are really good, even if they probably shouldn't sort under the genre of "punk", according to me. A fun album to have in the collection.


Tracklist

Side A
1. God Save the Queen Symphony
2. Johnny B. Goode
3, Road Runner
4. Black Arabs
5. Anarchy in the UK

Side B
1. Substitute
2. Do not Give Me No Lip Child
3. (I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone
4. L'anarchie Pour le UK
5. Belsen Was A Gas
6. Belsen Vos A Gassa

Side C
1. Think Silly
2. My Way
3. I Wanna Be Me
4. Something Else
5. Rock Around The Clock
6. lonely Boy
7. No One Is Innocent

Side D
1. C'mon Everybody
2. EMI (Orch.)
3. The Great Rock 'N' Roll Swindle
4. Friggin 'In The Riggin'
5. You Need Hands
6. Who Killed Bambi

Second Coming (1970)

It starts so promising. A demi-psychedelic cover, images of no less than nine members where all dudes look just as hippie-like as groovy musicians did in 1970 (with the possible exception of the guy in karate outfit, although the bandana gives him a pretty cool look). If you then read which instruments are being used, it's still interesting - Hammond organ, a mass of different wind instruments and of course drums, bass and guitar. This could be something.

But when the album starts spinning there is a disappointment, the music is not what I was hoping for. Instead of druggy, psychedelic creations, I hear music that often approaches easy listening  and sometimes is rather cheezy. The last song, Jermiah Crane, sounds like it's taken from Jesus Christ Superstar. The idea for it is probably to be some kind of epic story, but it doesn't work for me. Here and there I find some beautiful things, the opening song Requim For A Rainy Day is OK, I guess, and Nobody Cares is actually a really groovy song. In other songs I hear certain parts which I like, before the music finds its way back to a more boring path.

In other words it's hidden grains of what could be. Several songs open with a really nice bass/drum groove, and you think this is good, but then the band looses it, it's like they don't really dare.

I know nothing about the band. They just made this eponymous album, and since there are later bands with the same name, a bunch of albums with the same name (with other artists) and a lot of people seem to be waiting for Jesus' return, some time is needed  to sort out the result in Google. And I'm not that interested in the band.

It's not a really bad album, but nothing I will listen to a lot in the future. I think the musicians are quite competent, but the songs are not interesting enough according to my taste. It's a lot of wind instruments used on the album, and I mean a lot, so if that is something you like, you might appreciate the album more than me.

Tracklist

Side A
1. Requim For A Rainy Day 4:03
2. Take Me Home 4:19
3. Nobody Cares 5:33
4. Landlubber 5:52

Side B
1. Roundhouse 3:34
2. It's Over 4: 47
3. Crane Jeremiah 10:53

James - "Stutter" (1986)

I really like James, ever since I bought my first tape with them during a trip to Southeast Asia in 1994-95. It was the album Seven, the cover looked so weird I couldn't resist it. The tape was then changed to a CD in Singapore, where my Walkman retired and a portable CD player was purchased. I'm sure my kids don't know what I'm talking about when these ancient machines are mentioned.

After Seven, I have over the years acquired not all, but most of, James' albums. However, I had no higher expectations for Stutter. Their first album, I thought. Inexperienced, no Brian Eno producing (which the band would have liked to) and, not least, 1986. That's right, 1986. Were there any good music produced at this time? Personally, I'm instinctively very suspicious of 80s productions, where good albums are the exception, and bad, synthish, cheap drum machine production is the norm.

But oh, how wrong I was. Stutter is a damn good album.

The band a lot later then 1986

It's a pretty crazy album, sprawling, unstructured, loud and full of youthful energy. And the typical 80's production? You see nothing of it, the production is exemplary timeless. The record takes the listener into the classic James territory, where the singer Tim Booth's characteristic voice competes with the band's frenetic playing. And the choruses are just as sweeping as James' choruses can be. This is an album you get pretty happy to hear. And what has become something of a hallmark regarding James' albums, everything ends with a quieter song. A concept that has lasted for 30 years.

I actually found the album here in Montreal, in one of the shops selling used vinyl. The owner seemed to be as surprised as me when he saw what I had found. It's not common to find James' albums over here.

A really good album that can be recommended. Fact is that I want to appoint Stutter to my favorite record with James, at least for now. Didn't think that when I bought it. Allmusic has written an unusually fun review of the record, which I quote as a conclusion:

This is shoddy, shameless chaos. Nothing more than a terribly produced tragic mess of rock-star baiting and deliberate discordance. An amazing debut.


Tracklist

Side A
1. Skullduggery 2:40
2. Scarecrow 2:57
3. So Many Ways 3:42
4. Right Hip 1:45
5. Johnny Yen 3:38
6. Summer Song 4:15

Side B
1. Really Hard 4:10
2. Billy's shirt 3:25
3. Why So Close 3:50
4. With Drawn 3:40
5. Black Hole 5:28

Lee Hazlewood - "This is Lee Hazlewood" (1967)

Another album by one of my favorite artists. This time without Nancy Sinatra, instead we hear Miss Suzi Jane Hokom on some of the songs, but mostly it's only Lee himself. I've never really understood Lee's releases. As usual, I already have all the songs on other albums by him, which is OK I guess, as this album is a compilation (I assume). There are some interesting things with This is Lee Hazlewood, we get to hear These Boots Are Made For Walkin' with Lee at the mic, and on Sand sings Miss Suzi Jane Hookom the parts that you're used to hear Nancy sing. Somewhat different versions than the classics, in other words.

This album has given me a little more headache than usual. Looking at Lee's official discography, this one is not included. However, it exists a very similar one, Lee Hazlewoodism - It's Cause And Cure, released the same year and where more than half of the songs are identical.

The back sides of the cover of both albums have the same content, although not the same layout, with a humorous text about the cause and cure. But on This is Lee Hazlewood, at least on my release, there is an error in the text. Instead of "The cure: Buy the damn album" it says "The cause: Buy the damn album". Things like that are always fun. You can see it on the right picture, at the bottom.

MGM has released both mentioned albums, but as I've understood the info on internet, This is Lee Hazlewood was only released in Norway and Germany. I can't swear I am absolutely right in this. On one site, someone claimed this was a unique Swedish release, and asked about 150 USD for it. So who knows.

Anyway, the music is really great. You seldom go wrong with Lee. A good selection of his earlier songs, where both black and tragic numbers are mixed with Lee's cool, dark humor. Tragic stories are told in a way you can't help smiling. The last song, My Baby Cried All Night Long. is a good example of this. The album can be recommended.


Tracklist

Side A
1. The Girls In Paris 2:31
2. Jose 4:32
3. Suzi Jane Is Back In Town 2:26
4. After Six 2:25
5. Dark In My Heart 2:03
6. The Nights 3:16
7. Home (I'm Home) 2:22

Side B
1. For One Moment 2:36
2. Sand 3:35
3. Move Around 3:04
4, These Boots Are Made For Walkin '3:09
5. So Long Babe 2:50
6. Bugles in the Afternoon 3:10
7. My Baby Cried All Night Long 3:13

Dr. John - "Gris-gris" (1968)

Dr. John, aka the Night Tripper. Or Mac Rebennack as his real name is. Gris-Gris was his debut album, a boiling keettle of psychedelic voodo blues, music that awakens the sleeping swamp spirits and attracts the undead from their hiding places.

Dr. John lived in New Orleans and was a sought after studio musician and producer. Trouble with drugs and the police (he had been a drug dealer, had run a brothel and spent a few years in prison) made him escape to Los Angeles. There, he joined a group of other musicians in exile from New Orleans, and managed to get by on occasional gigs.

Before starting the recording of Gris-Gris, it was thought that another New Orleans singer would take the the role of Dr. John, but in the end Mac Rebennack himself had to shoulder the responsibility, and maybe that was for the best, he has remained in this character until today. The inspiration for the character was Dr. John Montaine, an African magician Mac felt a spiritual closeness to. And perhaps we also should thank Sonny & Cher for Gris-Gris, it was leftover studio time from them which Dr. John could use.

The music then? Gris-Gris is not a record to be played a beautiful summer's day, when the sun is shining, the birds are singing and happy children play outside in freedom. But when darkness has fallen, humidity approaches 90%, the thunder rumbles somewhere nearby and everything, including yourself, feels hot and sweaty. Then it's time for Gris-Gris. It's psychedelic blues with a voodo ingredient, which at least I appreciate. Dr. John's growly voice is complimented by female choirs that contributes to the mystique. Suddenly you are in the deep South, where noone hears you scream.

When the album was released, it wasn't received with a lot of interest. But as the years have passed, the record has grown in esteem and is now hailed by many as a masterpiece. The spells have worked. On me too, because I like the album. Another one of my naive project of finding a used copy in the Montreal stores, of an older date. Impossible. In the end I had to get a reissue from Amazon. The album is played at your own risk. Who knows what's going to knock on the door.


Tracklist

Side A
1. Gris-Gris Gumbo Ya Ya 5:36
2. Danse Kalinda Ba Doom 3:39
3. Mama Roux 2:59
4. Performing Fambeaux 4:56

Side B
1. Croker Courtbullion 6:00
2. Jump Sturdy 2:20
3. Walk on Guilded Splinters 7:37

Ray LaMontagne - "Ouroboros" (2016)

Mr. LaMontagne is a new acquaintance in my life. I met him one spring day when I listened to the only internet radio station I sometimes use, Radio Paradise. I needed to lighten things up a little at work.

Ouroboros is a really groovy record, fuzzy and druggy without being too much. It's like a mix of Spiritualized, Pink Floyd and Beck. It's one of these albums you sometimes meet which have no weak tracks. Produced by none other than Jim James from My Morning Jacket, who also takes part with some singing and instrument playing. A total of eight songs, but the record describes itself as Part One and Part Two. And that's exactly the way it is, two consecutive sides that create a whole. I also have LaMontagne's previous record, Supernova. That's also a good record, but I think Ouroboros is even better.

So, not much more to say, get the album, inhale and float away. Modern psychedelia at its best. LaMontagne ends the entire album with the lines 'You never gonna hear this song on the radio'. I hope he's wrong.

Tracklist

Part One
1. Homecoming - 8:28
2. Hey, No Pressure - 6:34
3. The Changing Man - 4:13
4. While It Still Beats - 4:10

Part Two
1. In My Own Way - 6:36
2. Another Day - 3:05
3. A murmuration of Starlings - 2:33
4. Wouldn't It Make a Lovely Photograph - 3:58

David Bowie - "Heroes" (1977)

A summer has passed, and a longer stay in the motherland of Sweden paused the blogging for a while. But now the Canadian everyday routine is back, and so the blog starts again.

The thread running through the last posts has been recently deceased musicians, and Bowie is perhaps the greatest legend of them all. His passing spread shock waves throughout the world. Just like Lemmy and Prince, Bowie always went his own way without too much worries what others would think. This must be respected.

Heroes offers a pretty messy and noisy side A and a much calmer side B, more towards the ambient genre. I am fascinated that Bowie became such a huge artist as he did, for his music is not always easy to grasp. This very much applies to Heroes, which is the second part of Bowie's Berlin trilogy. On the album both Brian Eno and Robert Fripp participate, and with such a company it's not strange that the musical result becomes a challenge.

I'm not entirely fond of the A-side, it's a little too messy and loud for my taste. The obvious highlight is of course the title song, perhaps the highlight of Bowie's whole career. It is a song which in itself makes a record worth buying, and though I've heard it so many times I haven't grown tired of it. The other songs are not really my thing, though. Generally concerning Bowie, his voice always creats a sort of unpleasant neurotic feeling within me, so I don't really know how to handle the listening.

When you switch to side B, it gets more interesting. It's more experimental where Bowie, with the help of amongst others Eno, creates different instrumental soundscapes. Perhaps not music for the radio or the pre-parties, nonetheless of high quality and interesting. The album ends with a more "normal" song with voice, perhaps to bring the listener back to the reality again.

Although Bowie was / is popular amongst the masses, and even though Heroes is an album that has sold large quantities, I consider the record to be a challenge. It requires a lot of listenings to be fully understood, and I don't know if I've really understood it yet.


Tracklist

Side A
1. Beauty and the Beast 3:32
2. Joe the Lion 3:05
3. Heroes 6:07
4. Sons of the silt Age 3:15
5. Blackout 3:50

Side B
1. V-2 Schneider 3:10
2. Sense of Doubt 3:57
3. Moss Garden 5:03
4. Neuköln 4:34
5. The Secret Life of Arabia 3:46

Prince - "Sign o' the Times" (1987)

Many great artists have left us recently, and of these Prince's depart must have been the most unexpected. The spontaneous feeling when I heard the news was "can this really be true?". If I felt more emotionally affected by Lemmy's death, Prince's death was a more surreal event, in that it really came from nowhere.

Prince has not been a big part of my musical life as an adult. In my teenage years his records were played more regularly, but over the years they have increasingly ended up in a retired state in the record shelf. When I now listened to Sign o' the Times, it was the first time in maybe 20 years.

Sign o' the Times is considered by many to be his greatest work. Initially it was supposed to be a triple album, but the record company slimmed it down to "only" a double. It was Prince's first album after he got rid of the backing band The Revolution. In various lists in magazines and the internet on the topic "Best album ever", "Best album of the '80s" and so on, Sign o' the Times is ranked very high. This was not reflected in the sales numbers, though, that couldn't be compared to the sales of e.g. Purple Rain, although the critics already then loved the album.

I have the greatest respect for the Prince as an artist and musician, there are not many in the industry who can match him in knowledge. But his music is not really my thing. Sign o' the Times is a rather eclectic album with many different styles - funk, psychedelia, pop, ballads. But it's often a quite dry and minimalist production that is not really to my taste. Also, I have never been a funk guy, and then it can be difficult to love Prince's music.

On some of the songs we hear his alter ego from this time, Camille, where his voice is sped up and therefore considerably brighter / more feminine. My personal favorite on the album is The Cross, perhaps the least Prince-ish song on the album, which I guess proves that this is not really my thing anymore. If you only going to have one Prince album, this could however be the record to own. Here you get the most of what Prince had to offer.


Tracklist

Side A
1. Sign o' the Times 4:57
2. Play in the Sunshine 5:05
3. Housquake 4:42
4. The Ballad of Dorothy Parker 4:01

Side B
1. It 5:09
2. Starfish and Coffee 2:50
3. Slow Love 4:22
4. Hot Thing 5:39
5. Forever in My Life 3:30

Side C
1. U Got the Look 3:47
2. If I Was Your Girlfriend 5:01
3. Strange Relationship 4:01
4. I Could Never Take the Place of Yout Man 6:29

Side D
1. The Cross 4:48
2. It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night 9:01
3. Adore 6:30