Aug. 3rd: Trying to talk over the sound of rushing blood

Karine Polwart- Scribbled In Chalk (2006, Spit & Polish)

I don't know why it's taken me this long to  listen to this album: I bought it years ago, I've seen Karine Polwart live about 3 times for various reasons, I knew I had this somewhere, and every time I thought 'you have to listen to that CD' but..didn't. Now she's come to my attention again as part of the Burns Unit 'folk supergroup' and I finally got off my arse and gave this album a shot.

Polwart was the lead singer of Scots folk band Malinky, and has collaborated with various other folky people- the Battlefield Band, Lau, etc etc.Scribbled In Chalk is her second album, after 2004's Faultlines. She has a lovely, unmistakeably Scottish voice. The words that come to me listening to this are 'accessible folk'. In fact I'm wondering whether I'd categorise this as folk at all- but everyone else seems to be, so I guess I must be the odd one out. To me almost every track here could fit right in on the playlists of modern commercial radio, particularly Radio 2. The album is very much in the 'radio-friendly female singersongwriter' mould, albeit with the occasional bit of piano accordion. If you like Emma Pollock, or King Creosote's major label outings, you'll like this. Intelligent, adult pop-rock, basically. 'Hole In The Heart' and 'Baleerie Baloo'-about a Scots missionary killed at Auchwitz- are particular standouts, but it's all of a pretty high standard. 'Terminal Star' has a really great string arrangement, as does the aforementioned 'Hole...'
I really can't knock this; there are other albums which move me, excite me, make me dance,whatever, more, but Scribbled In Chalk is a really nice listen, especially if you like distinctive voices.

July 14th: In love with second best

Barenaked Ladies- Maybe You Should Drive (1994,Sire)

We're back to the 'bought in a French record shop secondhand' pile... I love, love, love BNL's début album Gordon. There's not a dud on it, and it's full of genuinely affecting, well written songs- the big hit, 'If I Had A Million Dollars' isn't even in the top 5. 'Be My Yoko Ono', 'The Flag', 'Wrap Your Arms Around Me', 'Brian Wilson', 'What A Good Boy', etc etc are all excellent, and haven't dated at all (if you overlook the occasional Milli Vanilli reference). Unfortunately, the band have never really bettered it. They have had  moments of occasional brilliance since- 'Break Your Heart' from 1996's Born On A Pirate Ship, for example- but have never had an another album with such a run of good songs.
I bought  Maybe You Should Drive expecting Gordon mk. 2. It just didn't happn.There is nothing which touches me to the degree that 'Blame It On Me' does...there is, more seriously, a serious lack of memorable tunes.  With the exception of 'A', I can't see myself being able to hum any of this album by this time next week.
It's not a complete damp squib;'Everything Old Is New Again' is a good example of Steven Page's talent for writing about tragic relationships; 'Great Provider''s production has stood the test of time well.

Generally, the whole album just feels slightly empty. The inclusion of preppy pop songs like 'A'(complete with archetypal crap key change!) or 'Jane' jars with me...which is odd, because BNL are after all basically a pop band. 
I'm guessing mine is a minority opinion, but honestly, buy Gordon or Born On A Pirate Ship instead. They're less obviously commercial and the quality of song is far higher.
I really like BNL. I just don't get this.

Dec. 20th: I read a magazine that said, 'by 17, your life is at an end'

Charlotte Gainsbourg-5:55 (Because Music, 2006)

Charlotte Gainsbourg is the daughter of Serge and Jane Birkin. Her first recording was called 'Lemon Incest'. A duet with her father. Cue controversy. 5:55 is her first LP as an adult, and is mostly written by Gainsbourg fans Air, with input from Neil Hannon,Jarvis Cocker, and Nigel Godrich, amongst others. All but one track is in English.
If Gainsbourg was attempting to make something distinct from the work of her parents, she pretty much fails: she sings with the same enunciated delivery as her mother, and the songs sound like Serge album tracks, particularly the swirling string arrangements. It makes the listening experience slightly unnerving; the material is unknown but also feels very familiar. This could easily have been released in 1971.
That's not to say the album is a failure. It's a pretty good album, particulary the single 'Songs That We Sing'. It's perfectly competent; I just can't shake the feeling that I'm listening to a Jane 'n' Serge duets album from the 70s.I really can't,

Dec. 15th: The police always come late, if they come at all

Tracy Chapman- Tracy Chapman ( Elektra, 1988)

This was another 'going cheap in a French record shop' buy, which I mainly bought for 'Talkin' Bout A Revolution' and 'Fast Car'. Those two songs have been overplayed to the point where the meaning was lost to me, but listening properly to the lyrics for the first time reminds how good Chapman actually is. The folk influences are more obvious to me over a whole album, and it's clear that 'Talkin'...' and 'Fast Car' aren't even the best songs on the LP. That honour probably goes to either 'For My Lover' or the frankly un-nerving unaccompanied 'Behind The Wall' which relates a domestic violence situation through the eyes of the couple's neighbour. Utterly despairing but absolutely beautiful. This album was something of a pleasant surprise.

Dec. 14th: How do I know you feel it? How do I know it's true?

The Blue Nile-Hats (Linn Records, 1989)

The Blue Nile are a not-terribly-prolific (4 albums in nearly 30 years) Scottish band, who so impressed a non-record-releasing hifi company with their songs that they set up a label in order to release their music.

I love two Blue Nile songs- debut single 'I Love This  Life', which is bloody impossible to find in any kind of physical format; it's on a 2004 single currently going for silly money on eBay but that's it- and 'The Downtown Lights', which is on this LP. I've never actually managed to listen all the way through.

On first listen the album is exceedingly 80s. It's almost entirely electronic and chockablock with synths but hasn't dated badly at all. TDW is still brilliant and definitely the best thing here, but  there are songs of similar quality galore; 'Over The Hillside', 'Headlights On The Parade'...

With over half the songs being more than 5 minutes long, this isn't a particularly instant or commercial album, and it requires concentration, but it is a rewarding listen. A couple of uptempos break up any possible monotony; Paul Buchanan's voice tends to sound mournful no matter what he sings.

This got huge critical acclaim when it came out (e.g. 5 star Q magazine review) and I'd probably agree with that. For an album which came out an eternity ago in music terms, it bears up to scrutiny very well

Dec. 13th: A string of pearls goes on forever

 Les Rita Mitsouko- Variety (English Version) (Because Music, 2007)

Les Rita Mitsouko were one of the biggest alternative bands in France of the 80s; a duo of Fred Chichin and Catherine Ringer who first formed and played in various Parisian art spaces in the early 80s. They were active until Chichin died of cancer in 2007-this was the last album credited to the band, an English version of their previous 2007 album Variéty.

I am a big Catherine Ringer fan- more as a musician than as an occasional porn star, admittedly. To me, she's the French version of Annie Lennox: she has a strong, distinctive voice and personality, and just generally kicks ass. The English version of Variety doesn't do her justice, and isn't really a fitting legacy for Fred.

Musically, both versions aren't the best work LRM ever did. A bit heavy on the soft-rock, nowhere near as interesting as some of their earlier work. There are some great songs on the album though: 'Ding Dang Dong' and 'Ma Vielle Ville' particularly, I love- in the original language. Variety was the first LRM album recorded in an English version,and it shows. Lyrically it's somewhat lacking. 'Ding Dang Dong' becomes a straightforward party tune with no real emotion depth; 'Ma Vielle Ville' (retitled 'Paris (France)') changes from talking about homesickness and memory to what appears to be a musical advert for the Paris tourist board.  Also, in my view Ringer just sounds better in French, like she actually means what she's singing.

Variety isn't a bad album,but it's not particularly good either. The French original is much better, as the musical shortfalls are compensated for by the lyrics. If you were to get one, I'd get that, preferably. Or even better, get Catherine Ringer Chante Les Rita Mitsouko and More à La Cigale, her post-Fred live CD of LRM songs and appropriate covers. It contains all of the good songs on Variéty, in French, and with much more energy than on disc

Dec. 11th: Somehow, I smothered rainbows

Sebastien Tellier-L'Incroyable Vérité (Record Makers, 2001)

Sebastien Tellier reminds me of Rasputin. A French Rasputin admittedly, but still. I've just realised. I've never really 'got' his music, apart from 'La Ritournelle', his best-known song. He's French (the name might be a clue...), he's a friend of Air and he makes Air-ish music, and the occasional Eurovision entry. L'Incroyable Vérité (The Incredible Truth) is a mostly instrumental album of almost stereotypically French moody noodling. It's grouped into loose 'trilogies', has an arty cover and is probably aiming to be profound; listening to it all the way through brings to mind Elton John's 'Funeral For A Friend', except about 4 times as long, with some bossa nova trumpet. I'm predisposed against this sort of thing because personally, I hate pointless noodling. And that's what this album sounds like to me: It doesn't go anywhere and doesn't really suit active listening. Maybe I should have an arty dinner party and stick it on in the background, it might work better there. The one surprising thing about this record is the scream at the end; somebody gives birth about 7/8ths of the way through,loudly. That was unexpected.
Overall: meh. C'est mood music à la francaise, something Air and many others do better than this.

Dec, 8th: I was lonely 'til I found the reason; the reason was me

Felt- Stains On A Decade (Cherry Red,2003)

This was another indie-fresher-you-have-to-hear-this purchase, on the same day as the Pastels CD, and again,  one which sounds much better 4 years down the line.  Felt were effectively the project of one man, Lawrence (no surname was ever given on their record sleeves), who released 10 albums and 10 singles in 10 years, then disbanded. Possibly the 1980s' definitive cult indie band, they released on both Cherry Red and Creation, moving back to Cherry Red after Creation were unable to release their final album until 1990, which would have messed up the 10 year masterplan. Stains On A Decade is a compilation of their singles and B-sides from both labels, which handily traces the changing styles of the band on one CD, from baroque pop to acid-jazz inflected pieces via jangly indie. It includes Primitive Painters, featuring Cocteau Twins' Elizabeth Frazer, probably the band's most well-known track, Penelope Tree, Ballad Of The Band and many others.
Stuart Murdoch of Belle & Sebastian is a Felt fan, and it's possible to hear similarities between his and Lawrence's vocal styles- and the 'one man's band' idea which applied initially to both B&S and Felt.
Stains On A Decade is a pretty much essential buy for anyone interested in 80s indie or fey, intricate pop in general.

Dec. 4th: And all for no reason, just one piece of lead

Johnny Cash- American IV: The Man Comes Around (American, 2002)

The fourth of Cash's collaborations with Rick Rubin, The Man Comes Around is a mix of carefully chosen covers,  a couple of originals and some re-recordings of  older Cash songs (1957's 'Streets Of Laredo', 'Sam Hall'). The title track is a new song which came from a dream Johnny had involving the Book Of Revelations, the four horses of the Apocalypse and Queen Elizabeth II, as you do. Of the covers, some of the most potentially disastrous work best: here 'Danny Boy 'is almost enough to make you forget the myriad heinous Daniel O' Donnell (and sub-Daniel O' Donnell...) versions; just Cash and a pipe organ, and nothing else. 'Bridge Over Troubled Water,' featuring Fiona Apple doesn't quite match the original but almost, nearly makes it.

'I Hung My Head', from Sting's original, shows Cash's talent as a storyteller; the tension is racheted up to an emotional climax, where you almost feel as much for the criminal as for the victim.

The CD's crowning achievement, however, is the cover of Nine Inch Nails' 'Hurt'. Given Cash's history of addiction, it's one song he's entitled to sing, and he injects an affecting pathos into a song already full of pain and self-disgust. It's enough to put anyone off drugs for life.

Dec. 3rd: If I wish upon a star, take you just the way you are

The Pastels-Up For A Bit With... (Fire Records, 1991/2002)


The Pastels are Scottish indie legends, a cult band who've operated under the radar for various labels and with various lineups since 1982. This record, originally released in 1986, has one of the earlier incarnations.
It's been in my collection for a few years, since I came up to Glasgow Uni as a Fresher and someone said 'you like Belle & Sebastian? You have to buy these records', of which Up For A Bit...was one. I listened the first track with my fresher's ears and thought 'dear God, the production's all sludgy' and put it away. I was wrong. I finally got to see the Pastels live on Friday night and they were great. Up For A Bit... includes Pastels classics like 'Crawl Babies', 'Get 'Round Town' and the brilliant 'Baby Honey'. The band are typical of c86, 'shamblepop' indie, accompanying Stephen Pastel (né McRobbie)'s laid-back vocals. The production is of its time but there are some great songs, and the album is a good introduction to the Pastels' fairly large and wideranging (it now includes film soundtracks, remix album and other projects) work.

Dec.1st: I dig the Stones, you dig 'Sheer Heart Attack'

Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan- Sunday at Devil Dirt (US Edition) (Fontana 2008)

I'm a big Belle & Sebastian fan; however I'm a post-Isobel Campbell B&S fan. I first came across the band on 2003's Dear Catastrope Waitress, after Campbell had left, and I personally don't think the band are any poorer without her. I've always found her voice too light for my tastes-and I found the one solo album I own, The Green Fields of Foreverland, slightly too sugary and twee.
However, the combo of Campbell with ex-Screaming Tree Mark Lanegan offered something unexpected and original, and their first collaboration, Ballad Of The Broken Seas (2006) was a pleasant surprise. Sparse, dusty Americana, two disparate voices which somehow complemented each other.
....Devil Dirt is essentially, more of the same, with an expanded sound (organs; a gospel choir and jazz-bar piano outro on 'Back Burner'). Anyone hoping to hear lots of Isobel will be disappointed; the majority of leads are sung by Lanegan, Campbell mostly having a background role of arranger,backing vocalist and songwriter (all songs but one are her originals). On the Fontana edition, several bonus tracks are added, many of which were added to a subsequent EP in the UK, and these bonus tracks are some of the strongest songs on the record, particularly the comparitively danceable 'Hang On'.
Overall, ...Devil Dirt seems a weaker album than Ballads of The Broken Sea, possibly because the partnership's element of surprise  has worn off. In parts it seems more like a Mark Lanegan solo effort than a collaboration.