Leonard Cohen - "Songs From A Room" (1969)

One of my new hometown Montreal's pride is, of course, Leonard Cohen. He actually lived not so far from where I live, and still has his old apartment, according to local sources. Perhaps I have even passed by the apartment, or even himself, without being aware of it. Apparently he lives much of the year in California, according to the same sources, but still spends some time in his old hometown. It would be interesting to exchange a few words with him, for me anyway, maybe not for him. But I'm (perhaps fortunately) too much of a coward to dare to approach him, if I would see him. A cowardice we can rephrase to "respect for the privacy of others".

Songs From A Room was Cohen's second album. It has a relatively spartan sound compared to the debut album and later creations, which is also reflected in the minimalist cover. Apparently some of Cohen's friends criticized him for, what they believed, the over production of the first album (an opinion I don't share). So producer Bob Johnston saw it as his task to protect Cohen's song ideas from too many influences from surrounding musicians. The album was recorded in Nashville. In fact, Cohen began the recording in Hollywood the previous year with David Crosby as producer, something that obviously didn't work out.

The album opens with the classic Bird On A Wire, one of Cohen's best-known and most loved songs. It is followed by Story Of Isaac which has the biblical story of Isaac, whom God commanded to kill his son, as its theme. Cohen has said that it's a protest song against the Vietnam War that was going on at this time. My personal favorite is The Partisan, which is a cover of the French song La Complainte du Partisan, especially the French-singing female choir is beautiful.

Cohen lived for some years in the 60s on the Greek island of Hydra together with his then girlfriend, the Norweigan girl Marianne Ihlen. She was a great inspiration to Cohen, for example the classic So Long Marianne from the debut album is about her. Marianne is the woman who appears on the back of the cover, a photo from their room on Hydra. Bird On A Wire was also written on Hydra, inspired by birds that were sitting on the newly drawn telephone lines on the island.

Cohen is considered to be one of the singer songwriters who has had the greatest impact in the domain of popular music, along with Dylan and Paul Simon. He is more or less a living legend today. Songs From A Room is hard not to like. But sure, I wouldn't mind a bit more "produced" sound, after a while it can feel a little monotonous, maybe a little boring, with the sparse arrangements the album offers. Cohen began his artistic career as a poet and writer, so you can with a good conscience focus on the lyrics instead, if you find the melodies a bit dreary after a while.


Tracklist

Side A
1. Bird On A Wire 3:26
2. Story Of Isaac 3:35
3. A Bunch Of Lonesome Heroes 3:12
4. The Partisan 3:26
5. Seems So Long Ago, Nancy 3:39

Side B
1. The Old Revolution 4:46
2. The Butcher 3:17
3. You Know Who I Am 3:28
4. Lady Midnight 2:56
5. Tonight I Will Be Fine 3:47

KISS - "Hotter Than Hell" (1974)

Listening to this album is like hearing an echo from my childhood. KISS was my older brother's favorites the years before adolescence, which means the band is one of my first musical memories. I remember when my brother and three of his friends painted themselves and dressed up like the idols, grabbed their wooden fake guitars, rigged the "drum kit" on the ping-pong table, invited the neighborhood kids and mimed to KISS. The highlight was when the drummer took a few handfuls of 1-cent-a-piece candy and threw out over the audience. Personally, I had a broken camera and pretended to be a journalist to the band's chagrin. When they pretended to kick me off the stage my mom sreamed angrily from the stairs to "let Markus be!" which of course disturbed the concert experience.

Hotter Than Hell was the band's second album and was released only a half a year after the debut album. This was before KISS became the commercial product machine they later turned into, in my eyes they were still primarily a rock n'roll band in 1974. And overall it's a pretty good album. My old favorite songs Parasite, Goin' Blind, Comin' Home and Strange Ways are mixed with some not as good.

The album was recorded in Los Angeles with the same producers as on the first album. The band, where all the members were from New York, didn't like Los Angeles. And they seem not entirely happy with the finished result as they have in interviews been reluctant if they used the right producers. The idea was to capture and reproduce the band's heaviness and energy from live shows, but the question is whether they succeeded. And to add difficulties, the label Casablanca no longer had a contract with Warner Bros. regarding distribution, which thereby became problematic. As a consequence the album didn't sell as well as the people involved had hoped. 1977 it was awarded with a gold record, though, after 500,000 copies sold.

Of my four favorite songs no less than three are written by Ace (with the help of Paul on Comin' Home). However, he hadn't the self-confidence at the time to sing himself, and instead let the other band members do this. But he was a good songwriter, and of the members later simultaneously released solo albums, his is reagarded as the best by most people.

Over the years, Paul and especially Gene, have been regarded as "the bad guys", mainly concerning their treatment of Peter and Ace and their clear focus on the commercialization of the band with millions of products. Peter and Ace have often been seen as the heroes. At the same time, Peter and Ace had during many years relatively severe drug problems which affected their behavior and priorities, and they were certainly quite difficult to handle. In an interview Gene mentions, for example, how they had to be quick to record Aces parts early in the day before he passed out. So there are probably several angles concerning this part of the KISStory...

Hotter Than Hell is a pretty good album, and was created by a band that was still primarily a band. If you like to Glam / Rockn'roll / Metal from the 70's chances are you'll like this record. It's not as heavy as Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath from the same time, many of KISS' fans were children, so it's both lighter and more accessible, and sure enough, a little more superficial.


Tracklist

Side A
1. Got To Choose 3:54
2. Parasite 3:01
3. Goin' Blind 3:36
4. Hotter Than Hell 3:31
5. Let Me Go, Rock And Roll 2:14

Side B
1. All The Way 3:18
2. Watchin' You 3:43
3. Mainline 3:50
4. Comin' Home 2:37
5. Strange Ways 3:18

Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood - "Did You Ever?" (1971)

Nancy and Lee did many great songs together, but some of what they did could also be a bit cheesy and too much of a jokey country & western. On this album they treat you with quite a lot of the later, but fortunately enough the album also contains a few really cool creations.

This was the duo's second, and last, album together. Lee lived by this time in Sweden and three years had passed since the pair's first album.

In general I like Lee's solo albums better as they don't have the same glossy surface. But on side A you fortunately get the epic duet Arkansas Coal (Suite) where the couple goes a little more outside the box and offers a tragic story with death and a drama in the mines, in which Nancy is the daughter and Lee the father. This track is a nice break of the general smiley athmosphere on the album, with a different sound and structure and airier soundscapes.

Side B opens with the equally tragic Down From Dover sung by Dolly Parton in the original version. I've noticed that many people seem to like Parton's version better, personally I'm so used to hearing Nancy and Lee sing it, so I like this version best. The true highlight of the B-side is the song Big Red Balloon. A really cool song which is humorous without getting too humurous. Perhaps the highlight of the whole album.

Maybe Lee's departure in his big red balloon from his nagging wife was a mirror image of the reality. This was anyway Nancy and Lee's last album together. The album's last song Got It Together Again is interesting and a bit funny. A large part of it is a conversation between the couple, which in any case sounds like a pretty spontaneous and unrehearsed dialogue, where Nancy amongst other things wishes they could do to another album together. We also get to know that Lee is 42 years old and has two childdren. The song ends with Lee asking if Nancy is done and if he can go back to Sweden now, before he finishes with a Swedish "Hej då!" ("Goodbye!"),

The album was released the year after in the US, then named "Lee and Nancy Again" and with a different song order.

Tracklist

Side A
1. Did You Ever?
2. Toe tippy
3. Back On The Road
4. Arkansas Coal (Suite)
5. Congratulations

Side B
1. Down From Dover
2. Train Friendship
3. Paris Summer
4. Big Red Balloon
5. Got It Together Again

Sly & The Family Stone - "Stand!" (1969)

In 1969 they could make music. At least on the basis of Stand! which contains classics like the title track, I Want To Take You Higher, Sing A Simple Song, Everyday People and You Can Make It If You Try. A number of songs on one and the same album an artist could proudly present after a lifelong career.

This album was more difficult than you might expect to find. In Sweden I was looking a long time in various used record stores without success, it wasn't until last summer's relocation to Montreal I found it here instead. This was Sly & The Family Stone's fourth album and it's considered by many, including several of the band members, to be their career's peak. The band consisted at the time of the siblings Sylvester (Sly), Freddie and Rose Stone and a number of their friends. They are considered to be the first major American band with a mixed gender and ethnic setup.

It's really not much to argue about when it comes to the album, OK, the songs Don't Call Me Nigger, Whitey and Sex Machine are not really to my taste, a little bit too much of lengthy jams. But otherwise it's impossible to criticize the album. It's funky, souly, energetic and danceable. The melodies are really irresistible. Another groovy album for the musically and politically aware party. Music that in any case makes me happy and urges me to move my body (to my children's wild protests. Hey, I dance really cool!!!).

A few years later, the band released the album There's A Riot Goin' On, which is also really good. But in 1969 it started to go downhill on a personal level for many of the band members, especially Sly himself. Although the Stone siblings came from a church background, an intensive abuse of various drugs, mainly cocaine (and PCP, according to Wikipedia), started. Sly is said to have constantly carried around a violin case filled with drugs. This meant that the production rate was slowed down, the band missed gigs or interrupted them earlier than planned etc. Sly became increasingly difficult to deal with and he's had a rather troubled life until today. This also affected the relationships within the band in a negative way, and band members began after a while to be replaced.

But of this you notice nothing on Stand!. Definitely a recommendation. A classic.


Tracklist

Side A
1. Stand! 3:08
2. Do not Call Me Nigger, Whitey 5:58
3. Somebody's Watching You 3:20
4. Sing A Simple Song 3:56

Side B
1. Everyday People 2:21
2. Sex Machine 13:34
3. You Can Make It If You Try 3:37

Bakverk 80 (1979)

In his early teens, my brother was a punk rocker, and so a number of LPs with the Sex Pistols, The Clash, Crass and others found their way into our parental home. And Bakverk 80. An album where three different Swedish punk bands contribute - KSMB, Travolta Kids and Incest Brothers. Of these, the first mentioned band became the most famous, and their later album Rika Barn Leka Bäst many hold as one of the best Swedish albums ever made. But now it was 1979, and all three bands were at the beginnings of their careers. The label MNW recorded and released the album.

A few words on the title. Bakverk 80 means Pastry 80 or Cake 80. This is a play with the word Stålverk 80, which means Steelworks 80. This was a grand industrial project in northern Sweden that never became reality,

I will brag a little about my cousin Stefan, he was the lead singer and bassist of Incest Brothers, which means he is the family's celebrity. He then continued his musical career in the band Trekant and later Köttgrottorna, yes, the legendary Swedish punk band. That of course means that I can't be objective when I judge the contributions of Incest Brothers on the album, I can't do anything but to praise these songs. Blood is thicker than objective facts.

Personally, I have never been into punk rock, although as younger I enjoyed some of the Sex Pistols songs (I like The Clash, however, but have never felt that they belong to the punk genre). Therefore, Bakverk 80 isn't  really my bag. But it's an interesting historical document. They seem to be so angry. Angry at the system. Angry at the politicians. Angry at the average Joe. Angry at everything. It's fairly aggressive music, as punk rock usually is, I guess. It's also very politically aware. Although the punks distanced themselves from the Swedish progg (I think), which was a leftish political music genre in the 70s, very critical of the system, I see a lot of similarities. Both genres are extremly critical of the political system and the passivation of the population. There are also clear influences from the political left in the texts on Bakverk 80. So really, it's just the musical frame that's different. A bit simpler, more direct, more aggressive and shorter songs. But the message and the views are the same.

Incest Brothers' songs are the best. But someone else might think Travolta Kids' songs are the most interesting. That someone might notice a bit more melodic music, more interesting song ideas and a band that maybe was a little ahead of their companions in the art of songwriting. Perhaps he would like the song Titta På Den Här and even say it's the best song on the album? I don't agree of course. Incest Brothers rules.

Bakverk 80 is perhaps not an album I will play very often, I find punk rock too loud, too noisy and too angry. But the album is fun as a historical document. And since my cousin is involved, it will never leave my record collection.


Tracklist

Side A

KSMB
1. Bohman 2:19
2. ABAB 2:02
3. Hårding 1:52
4. Militärlåten 1:14
5. Förortsbarn 2:07
6. Jag Vill Dö 2:13
7. MUF 1:58

Travolta Kids
8. Sune 2:37
9. Tryck På Knappen 1:36
10. Tunnbrödsrulle 2:07

Side B

Travolta Kids
1. Nick Carter 1:38
2. Bli Polis 1:47
3. Bill Å Bull 1:27
4. Titta På Den Här 1:53

Incest Brothers
5. Lördagspunk 1:22
6. Discofnask 2:53
7. Oskyldig 1:56
8. Pubertetsproblem 2:19
9. Svensson 1:54
10. Arbetslös 2:10

Talking Heads - "Little Creatures" (1985)

I've had this album since my early teens, so it has been there a long time. Talking Heads is one of the bands that I generally appreciate more as an adult than as a teenager. Usually it's the opposite, the music I listened to in my teens is more difficult to listen as an adult. Maybe I wasn't quite ready for Talking Heads and their not always uncomplicated creations as the younger version of myself.

However, to Little Creatures I relate in much of the same way now as I did 30 years ago. Maybe it's because the record is one of the more accessible the band created. Gone are the sound walls from Remain in Light, no dark neurosis à la Fear of Music. Little Creatures is more of a pop album, yes, almost a party album. Indeed, next time I have a party, I will play this record, it's going to work just fine. And people will dance.

The sound is a return to the more simple production from the band's early albums. Yes, some songs could find a spot at 77, their first album. It's airy - bass, drums and guitar are in the center with various additional instruments here and there. But these never dominate, and as mentioned, we are far from the sound of e.g. Remain in Light. But fear not, as usual it sounds very much Talking Heads even though the record is quite different than the previous ones. The big difference is that there is quite happy and accesible music at Little Creatures. Where are all neurotic vibes? And this even though David Byrne has more or less written all music single handed. Maybe he was unusually happy.

This does not make Little Creatures a bad record. It's a good album with some Talking Heads classics as icing on the cake, I of course think of the opening and closing tracks - And She Was and Road To Nowhere. And She Was is a real pop gem that makes me think of REM's song Stand, and Road To Nowhere is one of my favorite songs with Talking Heads. In between those we are treated to a mixed bag where my highlight is Walk It Down while Television Man could perhaps be a little shorter. We should be thankful that Talking Heads avoided being lured into the typical 80's production. The sound of Little Creatures is timeless and it could have been produced today. It's nice with an album from the 80's that sounds good.

This is the record with Talking Heads that has sold most, so apprently it was of the taste of quite a few (a couple of millions). I have understood, though, that some hard core fans regard this album as the beginning of the downfall for Talking Heads. I don't agree. Sure, to be Talking Heads it's an unusually happy and easygoing album, but it's still a lot more challenging than Like A Virgin, Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go or Take On Me that were also played in 1985. Little Creatures, qualitative new wave pop for the savvy music lover.

Tracklist

Side A
1. And She Was 3:36
2. Give Me Back My Name 3:20
3. Creatures Of Love 4:12
4. The Lady Don't Mind 4:03
5. Perfect World 4:26

Side B
1. Stay Up Late 3:51
2. Walk It Down 4:42
3. Television Man 6:10
4. Road To Nowhere 4:19

Pink Floyd - "The Wall" (1979)

When I listen to The Wall I understand why it has never been one of my favorite albums with Pink Floyd. It's a two-minded, almost schizophrenic, experience to take part of this creation. You've got these beautiful harmonies, but with an obsessive insistence a minor chord always finds its way into the song and darkens it. Take a song like Mother, The Thin Ice, or really any song on the album - a beautiful melody but with a text that is sad, depressive and often aggressive. The hit Another Brick in the Wall has a really catchy chorus, where the bass and the guitar create a really nice groove. But then there are those children's voices that sing about the school's oppression ...

So it continues the whole album through. Now, there are many fine records with lyrics that have sad themes, but what colors The Wall is Roger Waters often aggressive, accusatory and desperate voice. It's not subtle, sad songs, it's pitch-dark anguish.

It strikes me how different The Wall is compared to everything Pink Floyd had previously created, yet it sounds very much Pink Floyd. Contradictory, yes, but true. We are far from Dark Side Of The Moon or Wish You Were Here, I guess the closest in sound is Animals. But The Wall is more desperate, harder, darker, more bombastic and lack songs that are over 5 minutes long. If Animals is a bitter reflection on our society, The Wall is Waters' self-therapy.

However, one can hear traces of Pink Floyd's earlier works. Take the druggy introduction to Empty Spaces, which could have been on a record like Wish You Were Here or why not More. Or the song Is There Anybody Out There? which I never liked, but that is far beyond what we usually describe as music. And when I hear the extremely bombastic Bring The Boys Back Home I come to think of Atom Heart Mother, with its choirs and orchestral arrangements.

The album was released in 1979, the film had its premiere in 1982 where the music to some extent is different (different mixes, Bob Geldof sings on some songs, etc.). The story in brief is a rock star's growing isolation from the outside world and his mental collapse. My new hometown Montreal has a part in The Wall. It was at a concert in this city that Roger Waters spat a person in the audience in the face, an event that was almost traumatic for Waters and got him thinking on his and the band's increasing isolation from their fans.

Many argue that The Wall is a solo album by Roger Waters, which there is some truth in. Gilmour is co-author of only three songs, and keyboardist Richard Wright quit the group during the recording (but was hired as a musician during the tour).

The Wall is described as a rock opera. I choose to call it a musical, and just like that it belongs to the same genre as Sound Of Music and Jesus Christ Superstar. As a musical (or rock opera), it has a lot of theatrical elements that lower the experience for me. I don't know if it's music I listen to, or a play I experience. I find it hard to distinguish between the film and the album. Is the album a soundtrack to the film, or was the film created on the basis of the album? I'm really two-minded about this album.


Tracklist

Side A
1. In The Flesh?
2. The Thin Ice
3. Another Brick in the Wall Part 1
4. The Happiest Days Of Our Lives
5. Another Brick in the Wall Part 2
6. Mother

Side B
1. Goodbye Blue Sky
2. Empty Space
3. Young Lust
4. One Of My Turns
5. Don't Leave Me Now
6. Another Brick in the Wall Part 3
7. Goodbye World Cruel World

Side C
1. Hey You
2. Is There Anybody Out There?
3. Nobody Home
4. Vera
5. Bring The Boys Back Home
6. Comfortably Numb

Side D
1. The Show Must Go On
2. In The Flesh
3. Run Like Hell
4. Waiting For The Worms
5. Stop
6. The Trial
7. Outside The Wall