sed in Tel Aviv and London, first got in touch a few months ago, and her music, shamefully, got lost in my rather overcrowded inbox. I’d like to rectify that now.
She has recently finished recording an album’s worth of material in her bedroom – despite the fact that this sounds
d Drum’ are simply stunning. Proof yet again that the phrase ‘pop music’ is being reclaimed from the teeny-boppers and can be applied to outstanding music. This track is one of the best I have heard this year. The track can be bought for $1 (or more) from her bandcamp page
Given events over many years in her home country, the powerful anti-war song ‘Soldier’ shows how s
‘You will go and you’ll find you’ve been fooled
Following all of their rules
We’re the same on both sides of the line
How did they turned you so blind?’
Finally, ‘Piano 1976’ is quiet, beautiful and unsettling, in the best possible way. Watch out for that saxophone…
Johnny Cash died in 2003, and his final six albums, known as the American Recordings are being reissued on vinyl on May 11. I’m proud (smug) that I already own all of these on vinyl anyway, but if you don’t, then you need to get your hands on this. The Vinyl Box Set comprises: American Recordings, American Recordings II: Unchained, American Recordings III: Solitary Man, American Recordings IV: The Man Comes Around, American Recordings V: A Hundred Highways and American Recordings VI: Ain’t No Grave. The albums were originally released between 1994 and 2010.
Undoubtedly the most famous song from this period is his masterly reworking of Nine Inch Nails’ song ‘Hurt.’ NiN’s Trent Reznor has accepted that the song belongs to Cash now, and Bono called this the greatest video ever. He may be pretty close to being right.
The tracklistings for the albums, featuring some of the greatest songs of the last century is as follows:
American Recordings
Side 1
1. Delia’s Gone [02:18]
2. Let The Train Blow The Whistle [02:16]
3. The Beast In Me [02:46]
4. Drive On [02:24]
5. Why Me Lord [02:21]
6. Thirteen [02:30]
7. Oh, Bury Me Not
8. (Introduction: A Cowboy’s Prayer) [03:53]
Side 2
1. Bird On A Wire [04:02]
2. Tennessee Stud [02:55]
3. Down There By The Train [05:35]
4. Redemption [03:04]
5. Like A Soldier [02:50]
6. The Man Who Couldn’t Cry [05:01]
American II: Unchained
Side 1
1. Rowboat [03:43]
2. Sea Of Heartbreak [02:43]
3. Rusty Cage [02:48]
4. The One Rose (That’s Left In My Heart) [02:26]
5. Country Boy [02:31]
6. Memories Are Made Of This [02:19]
7. Spiritual [05:07]
Side 2
1. The Kneeling Drunkard’s Plea [02:31]
2. Southern Accents [04:41]
3. Mean Eyed Cat [02:33]
4. Meet Me In Heaven [03:22]
5. I Never Picked Cotton [02:39]
6. Unchained [02:52]
7. I’ve Been Everywhere [03:17]
American III: Solitary Man
Side 1
1. I Won’t Back Down [02:08]
2. Solitary Man [02:24]
3. That Lucky Old Sun (Just Rolls Around Heaven All Day) [02:34]
4. One [03:52]
5. Nobody [03:13]
6. I See A Darkness [03:42]
7. The Mercy Seat [04:34]
Side 2
1. Would You Lay With Me (In A Field Of Stone) [02:40]
2. Field Of Diamonds [03:15]
3. Before My Time [02:54]
4. Country Trash [01:47]
5. Mary Of The Wild Moor [02:31]
6. I’m Leavin’ Now [03:06]
7. Wayfaring Stranger [03:20]
American IV: The Man Comes Around [2LP]
Side 1
1. The Man Comes Around [04:26]
2. Hurt [03:36]
3. Give My Love To Rose [03:27]
Side 2
1. Bridge Over Troubled Water [03:54]
2. I Hung My Head [03:53]
3. First Time Ever I Saw Your Face [03:52]
4. Personal Jesus [03:19]
Side 3
1. In My Life [02:57]
2. Sam Hall [02:39]
3. Danny Boy [03:18]
4. Desperado [03:12]
Side 4
1. I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry [03:02]
2. Tear Stained Letter [03:39]
3. Streets Of Laredo [03:33]
4. We’ll Meet Again [02:58]
American V: A Hundred Highways
Side 1
1. Help Me [02:51]
2. God’s Gonna Cut You Down [02:38]
3. Like The 309 [04:34]
4. If You Could Read My Mind [04:29]
5. Further On Up The Road [03:25]
6. On The Evening Train [04:17]
Side 2
1. I Came To Believe [03:45]
2. Love’s Been Good To Me [03:18]
3. A Legend In My Time [02:37]
4. Rose Of My Heart [03:18]
5. Four Strong Winds [04:34]
6. I’m Free From The Chain Gang Now [03:00]
American Recordings VI: Ain’t No Grave
1. Ain’t No Grave [02:53]
2. Redemption Day [04:22]
3. For The Good Times [03:21]
4. I Corinthians 15:55 [03:37]
5. Can’t Help But Wonder Where I’m Bound [03:26]
Side 2
1. Satisfied Mind [02:48]
2. I Don’t Hurt Anymore [02:45]
3. Cool Water [02:53]
4. Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream [03:14]
5. Aloha Oe [02:59]
On paper, the proposition of this album is more than a little odd, I grant you: it’s described as being not quite a concept album about a boy who shares his birthday with Jesus Christ (presumably December 25?) and is eventually driven mad with jealousy.
Now hopefully, that hasn’t put you off – and if it has, more fool you, because this is an absolutely brilliant album. First released last year, the album has been repackaged with extra tracks and is now out again on Moshi Moshi.
And although this trio hail from London, it’s quite clear that it it’s the likes of leftfield 90s American acts in the vein of Pavement, Yo La Tengo and Low (in their less slow moments) who cast a welcome shadow over this album. That’s meant as a
compliment; not least in an era when so many bands just serve up indie-by-numbers that make independent imply overly dependant on what has gone before. Because over the course of songs like ‘Great Minds Think Alike, All Brains Taste The Same’ (if Hannibal Lecter was a songwriter, eh?) ‘Lofts’ and ‘A Whole New Shape’ a fantastic piece of work is unveiled, that never loses its way over the course of a whopping great seventeen tracks. A record that I wanted to listen again as soon as it had finished.
Once again, Deborah Arnott and her partner in crime Clare Neilson have served up a fantastic album. Following from their two previous albums, High Bright Morning and Maudy Tree, the Edinburgh duo have returned with another fantastic album.
Pigeonholed variously (and rather lazily) in with bluegrass and Americana, this album shows that they are continuing to evolve as songwriters. In that time, Clare Neilson as also become a mother and all credit to her that ‘Little Stranger’, one of four songs she contributes to the album, manages to be affecting without being trite about the joys of motherhood. It’s also an upbeat number, which makes a change when so many people of either sex seem to think that the jo
Given the album’s title, it’s an album that owes as much to Scotland as it does to any American influences; with the legendary ex-Delgados’ drummer Paul Savage in the producer’s seat (who has also produced the likes of Arab Strap, Franz Ferdinand and Mogwai), and affecting photography of Leith in the accompanying booklet. And it’s always great to hear Scottish bands singing in their own accents.
As well as the aforementioned ‘Little Stranger’ other highlights include ‘This Is A Story’ which sounds like a song The Proclaimers would kill to have written and ‘King Of My Apple Tree’, the latter the album’s opener. It’s so nakedly personal that I can’t help but assume it’s about a personal experience, and it raises the question about whether this is about a present or past relationship? That is, of course, a hypothetical question and yet it’s another demonstration of how emotionally affecting (as opposed to emotionally affected) Blueflint’s records are.
Blueflint have scored a hat-trick of brilliant albums. However long the next one takes, six months or a decade, I’ll be waiting.
First things first: I know next to nothing about Boxing.
This much I know about The Artisans: The Artisans are a Teesside and Tyneside based band, are fronted by Kevin McGrother,with the Thompson Twins – Nick (lead guitar) and Steve (drums), and Karen Forster (bass). They’re shortly to release their debut single ‘However Much I Love You, I Love Lloyd Honeyghan More’ as a free download through their website.
The video for the single features two famous boxers – Lloyd Honeyghan himself and Glenn McCrory. It also includes scenes shot at The Lynn (London) and Headland (Hartlepool) Boxing Clubs, a female chicken called Alan (who looks rather confused, it must be said) and a soon-to-be-demolished Hartlepool house decorated with 75,000 beer cans. Though 17 Seconds has been teetotal for many years, it acknowledges the effort that the latter must have taken.
It’s a great tune, very much in the spirit of c-81 and c-86, and it deserves to be played very loud, very often. Ahead of that free download, please enjoy the video responsibly:
They are having a single release party at the Mining Institute in Newcastle on the 25th April, where they’ll be joined by Glasgow’s Randolph’s Leap (who have been featured on 17 Seconds before) and ‘local band’ Slow Decades.
‘t a new name to me, I must confess that this was the first time I’d really sat down and listened to a Seasick Steve album closely. It’s his seventh album, and one that was recorded in his front room.
There’s definitely a blues-americana feeling to most of the proceedings, and I think the up-tempo numbers on here work a lot better than the ballads which are nice enough, i
Barracuda ’86’ comes on like ZZ Top jamming with Queens of the Stone Age, and album opener ‘Roy’s Gang’ (probably the best song on this album by a er, country mile) has more in common with the likes of Jack White and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club than Americana as it’s normally understood.
Without wishing to make the album sound uneven (because
it isn’t), these tracks and ‘Bring It On’ are stronger and perhaps where newcomers like me are best to start. It still makes for a fun listen, overall.
m young Scotsman Aaron Fyfe is definitely a grower. Over the last couple of months since the album dropped on the doormat here, it’s had quite a few plays. No mean feat for
re enough to make most writers groan when they can’t actually hear the bloody things when listening, it’s absolutely the case here. Sure, they might be a bit electronica and use some samples fro
