Let's talk about music...

[stevieannie]

I got some music for Christmas. As in CDs, which I have mentioned in my Christmas entry, I think. Some of them are so great that it's really worth talking about in a little more detail.

James Blunt, "Back to Bedlam". He's had a couple of top ten singles, I gather, and if you've heard a guitar-led, melodic male singer-songwriter with a *really* interesting voice on the radio recently, then the odds are pretty good that it's been James Blunt. I adored his single "You're Beautiful", and Tim bought me the CD. (Actually, I bought it for him as well - we're very in step with each other sometimes!) I love really good singer-songwriters, but it's a genre that can vary from wonderful to truly, TRULY abysmal. When I worked in the Library at Cecil Sharp House, we were always getting sent demo CDs by people who should never have been allowed near a microphone. If I have to hear one more dirge-like, minor-key (usually A-minor, why challenge oneself, after all?) gothic and doggerel-based rant about someone's failed love life, I may vomit. Really. But when singer-songwriters are good, they can be *very* good. So: James Blunt. The songs on this album are introspective, but they've got incredibly good hooks (particularly the album-version of "You're Beautiful" which has the line, "You could see I was, ****ing High", which has a wonderful falsetto/head/chest swoop on one note. Wow, I wish *I* could do that! The final two tracks on the album are credited to Lt. J.L. Blunt (Lifeguards), and yes, he did active service in Iraq. I'm a pacifist, mostly, and I heartily wish we weren't involved in Iraq. I don't believe it's our war, and I think that Westerners should have kept their political noses out of the whole situation. However, the last track, "No Bravery", is one of the few things that has actually sunk home about why we *are* there, and the fact that, whatever the politics that dragged us in, our soldiers are desperately trying to help *people* not a regime. It's a great example of music making me think twice, where a mere news report would not. The bass playing across the whole album is awe-inspiring, and the riffs/hooks on acoustic guitar just climb into your brain and refuse to get back out. I love it, and it has taken up permanent residence in our CD changer in the kitchen :-)

Karine Polwart: Faultines. Another singer-songwriter!!! Gasp! But another wonderful one. If some unintelligent sap hasn't already christened her "The Scottish Kate Rusby", then they will soon, I'm sure. The songs are good and solid, although veering a little more towards the "inpenetrably introspective" than James Blunt. ("Azaleas? What's the deal with Azaleas?"), but the stand out thing on this album are the arrangements and standards of musicianship. I only recognise one name on the album credits, which is fairly rare for me. (For the truly curious, the name I know is the electro-harpist - Corrina Hewat.) She obviously has a good knowledge of traditional music and arrangement and elements of it creep in all over the place, whilst she has no fear of turning convention on it's head. I particularly like the totally jazzy upright bass on the first track, "Only One Way", and the weird, driving rhythms and synchronised bass/rhythm guitarwork on "Azalea Flower". I love hearing the melodeon and harp working together with a real 'Poozies' kind of vibe going on. The stand out track, lyrically, is probably "The Sun's Coming Over the Hill", which is an upbeat little number about widowhood, alcoholism, drug abuse and hope. It's right up there with "Captain Torres" by James Keelaghan as a depressing but truly beautiful and well written song. It's beautifully produced with a clear, honest sound to it that I love. Plus, it's got a melodeon on it - what's not to love?

Nizlopi: Half These Songs Are About You. I don't follow the music charts, so I was gobsmacked to discover that "The JCB Song" had actually made it to No. 1 for a couple of weeks before Christmas. I first heard this track when bedlamhouse pointed at the video animation a few months back. It was an incredibly simple song, written from the viewpoint of a dyslexic 5 year old who loves his Dad, and who's Dad obviously loves him. It made me cry. Mostly because I also have a son with a condition that makes his learning difficult, and whose Dad adores him. The song just... oozes the simple adoration of the son for the father. It's impossible not to be affected by it. The melody line is plain and unadorned, and the rhythm of the JCB shines through. I can't think of any other song which I wish I had written more. The rest of the album is similarly honest, and although I think that it would have benefitted from another main voice alongside the one that is already there, it's a breath of fresh air. Once again, very rhythmically interesting. Slight peeve? No lyrics. I like to read lyrics whilst I listen to the album the first few times - gives me a handle on the songs. So I'm a little peeved that I don't have them here :-(

Comments

[unclechristo.livejournal.com]

I met Karine P in Edinburgh some years ago where she was supporting Vikki Clayton who I was playing with on the Fringe. She was a really nice easygoing down to earth person. More power to her.

[stevieannie.livejournal.com]

I saw her on the BBC Folk Music Awards this year, and was really impressed by both her performance, and her apparent lack of ego, despite sweeping the board and looking like she needed a carrier bag for all the awards :-)

It's a *cracking* album. The bass is bed-wettingly good, in particular.

[unclechristo.livejournal.com]

remind me to reduce the bass on my spare room stereo when you visit my house :-)

[pbristow.livejournal.com]

Oops! It says : "Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('bedlamhouse') in entry."

=:o}

[stevieannie.livejournal.com]

Ooops! Fixed it, thankyou :-)

[folkmew.livejournal.com]

I thought Kate Rusby was Scottish?? Or am I just one of the unintelligent saps? (grin) (I see the contact address on her page is Sheffield... hmm... dunno why I thought she was Scottish and the actual CDs are in storage we only have mp3s rats)

What we particularly like about Rusby is the arrangements. (Ed and I are determined to pick up her version of Drowned Lovers someday) Course, the first album of hers we got had Richard Thompson and a bunch of other names we knew on it so I suppose not too surprising.

We love the JCB song. I didn't realize dyslexia had anything to do with it, I just thought it was a lovely song about a boy and his Dad. scs_11 actually put me onto it. Is the rest of the album also good?

[stevieannie.livejournal.com]

Kate Rusby is from Barnsley in Yorkshire. Yorkshire people are even more proud than Scottish people :-) I highly recommend picking up her very first album, which she did with Kathryn Roberts:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00000IISD/103-4315777-0155807?v=glance&n=5174

It was way before she became a "name" and the arrangements are just so *sweet* and lovely and... it's one of my favourite albums - Kathryn's version of "Ned on the Hill" is just wonderful :-)

I say "unintelligent saps" because there is a tendency in the music press over here to compare *every* female folk musician to Kate, just because she's a big name. Everyone is "the next Kate Rusby" or "a Welsh Kate Rusby" or "an accordian playing Kate Rusby" (the last one is true - poor girl's name is Belinda Jones and she sounds NOTHING like Kate).

The JCB song caught my imagination so much I went to the website and looked for more details: the Luke of "My name's Luke, I'm 5 and my dad's Bruce Lee..." is actually Luke Concannon, the singer. He's dyslexic and as a result *hated* school where he was routinely bullied by both fellow pupils and teachers who didn't understand his disability. Every now and then, his Dad would decide that Luke needed a "mental health day" and would write him a sick note for school, and take him out to work with him, and he'd ride for hours in the JCB, just being *so* grateful to be with Dad, who loved him so much, instead of at school which he hated.

The rest of the album is...interesting. I've not listened as closely to it as to others, because of the absence of lyrics (weird, huh?). It's certainly pleasant listening, but it'll take more concentrated listening yet, I suspect.

[andpuff.livejournal.com]

I heard the James Blunt CD in a hotel restaurant in Dumfries. Even filtered through the sounds blaring down from the dance floor up above (I swear it was a clogger's wedding!) and the loud arguing of the Italian couple two tables over, I thought it was amazing. I asked the (adorable) waiter who it was and almost bought a copy when we got back to Glasgow but ended up getting a book to read on the plane instead.

I STILL don't have it but you've definitely convinced me that I need to get and soon.