Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Unknown Mortal Orchestra II (2013)

Unknown Mortal Orchestra are an American-New Zealand indie, psychedelic, alternative band which was started by ex-Mint Chicks singer Ruban Neilson in 2010. Neilson is accompanied on this venture by Jacob Portrait on bass and Greg Rogove on drums. And, after a solid debut in 2011 with their self-titled first album, the band has gone from strength to strength on their second outing, 2013s Unknown Mortal Orchestra II.

The band’s sound is what I would describe as being trippy neo-indie pscyhedelia, which comes right in the middle of a psychedelic rock/pop revival that seems to be in vogue these days. Although this album is not just about psychedelic music, and the music seems to go in all sorts of directions with funk, soul, prog rock and folk just some of the styles that have a heavy presence on the record, while a steady hip hop backbeat appears on most of the tracks as well. With quite an eclectic mix of styles, it is probably also suitable that the production of the album is quite lo-fi overall, something which brings to the fore the wonderful pop melodies, multi-layered psychedelic sounds and melancholic tones in Neilson’s falsetto vocals. Aside from his great vocals, Neilson’s guitar playing is also a strong feature on this album and although he is in no way a virtuoso, he does manage to mix his playing up between a more delicate textured style of playing, with a heavily distorted attack and the occasional baroque sounding flourishes.

As for the tracks themselves, well the album starts off brilliantly with “From the Sun”, a song which has an indie folk feel to it initially with some acoustic finger picking, before moving into a psychedelic pop track setting the tone for the direction of the rest of the album. This is followed by “Swim and Sleep” another psychedelic pop track which this time showcases Neilson’s diverse guitar playing with a baroque sounding guitar motif. The triple-whammy of great songs to start the album ends with one of the album’s best tracks in “So Good at Being in Trouble” which has a prog-rock undertone to it and as a song just floats along effortlessly allowing the listener to get lost in its melancholic beauty.

Things change direction again on “One at a Time” which has a bit of a funky feel to it with its heavily distorted funky guitar riff and drums, and sounds as if it could easily have been a demo for an early Funkadelic album or something similar. And, then its back again to psychedelia on the next track “The Opposite of Afternoon” which has more of a jam feel to it compared to the other tracks on the album with an extended instrumental break during the second half of the track. It is then at this point that the album begins to drift a little bit with a couple of lengthy psychedelic tracks which appear to just fill space more than anything in “Monki” and “No Need for a Leader”. This slight lul in the album is followed by the totally unnecessary token one minute instrumental “Dawn”. It is fair to say I have never understood why artists decide to include on albums totally pointless short instrumentals like this one, as they don’t add anything musically, while leaving the listener confused as to what they are hearing as they reach for the skip button. Luckily this slight drop in the middle of the album is not permanent and the album ends on a high with the psychedelic riff lade track “Faded in the Morning” which wouldn’t have sounded out of place in 1967, and finally album closer and candidate for song of the album “Secret Xtians” which has a very infectious groove especially in the bass and drum parts.

Overall, in conclusion I would say this album is a fantastic psychedelic pop album and betters the group’s first up effort which in itself was a great album. The tracks here are groovy and melodic, and combine psychedelic pop with other styles such as folk and even classical brilliantly in a blender of musical goodness. Unknown Mortal Orchestra II is perfect listening material for summer, but would also do very nicely as a tonic through the cold winter months. Definitely one of the albums of 2013, and I cannot wait to see where they go to next. 

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- Sam 

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, or Farce?

This week sees the twenty-ninth induction of artists into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with the hall paying tribute to Peter Gabriel, Hall & Oates, Kiss, Nirvana, Linda Ronstadt, Cat Stevens, and the E Street Band. The Hall of Fame itself had its first inductions in 1986 and for the most part has remained a novel enough concept in honouring musicians from the last sixty odd years since the birth of rock and roll in the 1950s. Artists become eligible for induction twenty-five years after the release of their debut album and slowly but surely each year has seen more deserving acts added to the halls impressive roster of musicians. However, it is my view that the Hall of Fame and those people behind it have turned it into a farce, and it seems to my eyes that the hall and the decision making process around inductions has become all about politics, money and egos in the music industry and not artistry, legacy and recognising those who are truly deserving of the honour the hall professes to place on people.

This view of mine comes in light of the controversy around Kiss’s induction this year, with the lead up to the ceremony being over-shadowed by a disagreement between the hall and founding Kiss members Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley over the induction process and namely the issue of who gets inducted and who doesn’t. This comes after the hall decided to only induct the four original members of Kiss and none of the other past and present members. This issue alone led to a wider internal disagreement between Simmons and Stanley and other founding members Ace Frehley and Peter Criss around who should be allowed to perform on the night, with Stanley and Simmons refusing to perform with them as they are no longer in the band even though their onstage characters are replicated by the two other current members. The end result is that Kiss will not perform and this farce within a farce which seemingly involved Kiss airing their dirty laundry in public has overshadowed the entire class of 2014, reducing the other inductees to a side show.

However the issue for me is not Kiss here. You can debate the merits of whether Kiss are deserving of an induction or not, of which I would argue that they are despite many viewing them to be just a novelty act. No, this is just a side show for much deeper issues in the whole Rock and Roll Hall of Fame process. Overall, I find the Hall of Fame’s induction and selection process extremely odd, for starters how some bands have their entire line-ups past and present inducted while others like Kiss are not afforded that privilege. A notable example from a recent ceremony was the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 2012, whose latest guitar recruit Josh Klinghoffer was inducted with the rest of the band despite having only joined the band in 2009 and played on just one album. Now yes it may be ridiculous to induct all members of a band especially if they have had constant line-up changes and have amassed over the years a membership that amounts to the size of a symphony orchestra, but the problem is the inconsistency around this when it comes to the induction process. In order to avoid future Kiss like incidents, of which I should note is not the first controversy surrounding this rock hall, the powers that be should simply decide we will either induct this particular incarnation of a group, or we will induct the entire list of members. This will clean up the issue of membership once and for all and will at least lead to some consistency in selection of which there is none at the moment.

The second issue I have with the hall’s induction process is how they select who gets to be inducted in the first place, something which is done largely behind closed doors by industry insiders. Although in recent years they have opened up a public ballot if only just to appease vocal Rush and Kiss fans who have been screaming for their acts to be inducted for years, ironically leading to those bands inductions in the process. The bias towards American acts to my mind is clear to see in this process, with around 77% of the inductees being from the US, something which you could argue has led to less deserving American acts being inducted ahead of more deserving British acts. Genres is also an interesting issue when it comes to selection, not just in regards to who gets in but also who doesn’t. How artists like Madonna and Donna Summer get into a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is confusing to say the least with all due respect to them, because unless I have missed something mainstream pop and disco is not rock and roll. The equivalent of their induction in to this sanctity of rock would be if Queen and Run DMC were inducted into the country music hall of fame, it just would never happen. Yes rock and roll as a music and as an idea has branched out to encompass and often influence many styles within popular music, especially when you consider its own origins in the blues. However, I do feel that with many of the acts that have been inducted that are not rock and roll like Madonna, is simply a result of the induction committee trying to be all things to all people, with many of the decisions also coming down to the simple fact of records sold rather than artistry, influence and the simple fact of whether it is rock and roll, or not. In line with this, there is the simple fact of how whole entire genres within the rock pantheon have been largely overlooked for induction including progressive rock, glam rock, folk rock, indie rock, new wave and metal, while also how many influential cult artists that weren’t necessarily successful commercial speaking but had a massive lasting influence including Nick Drake, Warren Zevon and Harry Nilsson have been passed over for induction. With this the case, one would have to say in the words of the Sex Pistols this really is a piss stain.

I used to think the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame meant something and I still do think the idea has immense merit in honouring the greats of music who are deserving of recognition for the joy they have given us. But now I feel it has got completely out of hand and has lost its true focus and core identity as a music institution.  It seems now they just induct anyone willy-nilly each year with no rhyme or reason to their decision making, except at what appears to be a focus on name names and commercial success. How much more rock and roll can you get. Until the Hall of Fame sorts its selection process out I will not take them seriously as an institution, while each year I will continue to gasp in amazement at how this latest inductee is deemed to be rock and roll enough and deserving of induction. Not to mention how we will continue to have years like this year where the people doing the inducting can’t even please the people they are inducting. What a joke that is. 

- Sam 

Dexys Midnight Runners - Searching for the Young Soul Rebels (1980)

Searching for the Young Soul Rebels was the 1980 debut album by Birmingham pop-soul band Dexys Midnight Runners. Dexys Midnight Runners, or Dexys for short, on first glance were quite an interesting group and not really a typical 80s band. For starters, they only released three albums during the first half of the decade before separating and then returning again in 2003. Secondly, they played an unusually quirky variant of soul music which in itself was quite unusual for the time in a period dominated by synth pop and new wave acts. And finally their original eight year existence included a revolving door of musicians coming and going like flies in what was seemingly a real life Spinal Tap situation. On paper their line-up appears like that of a philharmonic orchestra with the bands overall membership during this time aside from constant feature and band leader singer-songwriter Kevin Rowland coming to a grand total of thirty-seven members in eight years. Although the lifespan of a Dexys member wasn’t long, especially if you were a trumpeter or saxophonist, the constant line-up changes didn’t prevent them from making quality music and in particular a smashing debut album.

Searching for the Young Soul Rebels would be one of the more distinctive sounding albums of the 80s, a sound which I would describe as pop-soul. This sound is centred on a full horn section which forms the base of most of the tracks on the album and drives these songs along at full tilt. The soulfulness of the horns and organ combine nicely with the pop-punk aggression in Kevin Rowland’s vocals and the backing rhythm section which gives the overall album an intense edge much like that of punk rock. Rowland is clearly the creative force in the band, hence his survival while others have perished, and it is his slightly campish extravagant pop vocals which amazingly fit right in with this massive horn sound. His voice is not your typical soothing soul voice full of range and power think Aretha, think Otis, his style is more quirky and playful and certainly not conventional in a soul sense, which in many respects is the perfect fit for the bands quite extravagant and may I say loud sound. This combination just shouldn’t work, a kind of British brass band horn sound with soul undertones and a quirky pop singer, but it does somehow and it works very well. One influence that can definitely be heard on here is that of Northern soul – a music and dance movement that came out of the north of England in the late-60s, and although this movement isn’t directly aligned to the Dexys, it does share the soul influence of Stax and Motown and an overall ethos that involves producing music that you can dance to.

Throughout the album the music tends to stick to an up-tempo horn driven Motown style of pop-soul with songs like “Tell Me When My Light Turns Green” and “Seven Days Too Long”, the pop song on the album with a very catchy chorus. The band also indulge in what sounds like reggae on “Geno” especially with its bass line and horn parts, a great song which to me even sounds like a pre-curser to the likes of New Zealand’s own Fat Freddy’s Drop and the Black Seeds. Although most of the tracks have an up-tempo feel, there are occasional moments which contain a more down-beat jazz soul vibe, notably during “I’m Just Looking” and “Keep It”. These songs do a good job in just breaking up the intensity of the horn-infused dance tracks and allow the listener to sit and take a breather for a moment, that is if they have been up and dancing as expected.

Searching for the Young Soul Rebels although not a big hit was very well received by critics and many still consider it to be one of the best debuts album of all time. Allmusic described Rowland as having “the unexpected but perfect voice to capture a time and moment in the UK, the return of soul to English rock music at the dawn of Thatcherism”, heavy praise indeed. This sort of sentiment I feel fits perfectly with this album as it was unusual to see a band playing this kind of music, not to mention it was their own personal take on soul and not just a copy of music which had for a while till that point gone out of fashion in England. This album to me is a very interesting and distinctive album and stands apart from other albums of the time as a musical avenue of quirkiness and eccentricity within what was a growing conservatism in the music industry. I can think of only people like Ian Dury who were doing things of a similar ilk at the time in the UK, in an industry which in the past was full of eccentric songwriters such as Lennon, Davies, Bowie and Mercury.  Although it wasn’t a revolutionary album musically and didn’t contribute to any musical movement as such, it achieved what it set out at the time and that was to bring soul back to British music and attract new young soul rebels to welcome in the new soul vision as Rowland boldly proclaims on the albums closing track “There, There, My Dear”. In a decade full of inconsistent returns album wise, this one stands out as one of the best, proving also that there was a lot more musically to this thirty-seven strong band than just Eileen (referring to their hit single “Come on Eileen”). 

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- Sam 

Various Artists - Bossa Nova and the Rise of Brazilian Music in the 1960s (2011)

I am not a huge fan of music compilations. To me “best ofs” or “greatest hits” are often not true representations of an artist’s back catalogue and I find they tend to gloss over a lot of the lesser known and often obscure material that you can find when exploring the original studio releases. However I found myself being pleasantly surprised on listening to this particular compilation of Brazilian bossa nova music.

Bossa Nova and the Rise of Brazilian Music in the 1960s is a two disc compilation of early bossa nova music, a style of music which fused together jazz and samba and that emerged in Brazil in the 1950s. Released on the Soul Jazz Records label, a British label which specialises in releasing mainly compilations of non-western styles of music such as reggae, Latin, and Afro-Cuban, this brilliant compilation offers a good introduction to the origins of bossa nova not just in sound but also visually and historically. The CD package comes with a published booklet complete with some amazing photographs and a well written history of the rise of bossa nova and its social significance in Brazil at the time. As someone who knows very little about original bossa nova but whom is a big fan of the fusion bossa nova that Stan Getz recorded in the early 60s, on reading this booklet I quickly became aware that bossa nova was more than just music and in many ways represented an age of developing modernism and idealism in Brazilian society during the late 50s and early 60s, particularly amongst the youth of the country. Bossa nova was seen to represent everything modern, sophisticated and cool in Brazil at the time and became associated with urbanisation, apartment living and consumer lifestyles. Not something you usually associate with traditional non-western styles of music, but certainly in describing the wider cultural significance of bossa nova it makes you think how cool it would have been to be there at the time.

In terms of the music itself, one of the good things about not knowing most of the artists on here – I was familiar with Sergio Mendes, as well as Joao Gilberto is that I had no pre-conceived expectations of what the music was going to be like, or of the artists themselves. Therefore I could just relax and enjoy the music for what it was as I went through the thirty-four tracks, a good number when a compilation is dealing with an entire genre. The tracks are a mixture of lively fiesta numbers, as well as the more rhythmic jazzier instrumentals and I must say all and all I wasn’t disappointed as I was taken through a broad sweep of the more popular people in bossa nova of the day. Just some of the artists whose sounds I was attracted to more included Elis Regina, Baden Powell and Vinicius de Moraes, Dom Um Romao, and finally Tama Trio but with this said I couldn’t pick a favourite as there was just so much which appealed.

In an ideal world compilations should be designed and packaged to introduce people to the artist or music in question and therefore should offer a broad sample of music which is representative of the entire body of work. Bossa Nova and the Rise of Brazilian Music in the 1960s does a very good job at this and doesn’t just focus on a small section of the performers who were around during the early stages of bossa nova. The fact the music was also accompanied by a very well presented companion to the period and the music itself made it that much better to. Bossa Nova and the Rise of Brazilian Music in the 1960s I feel is a true representation of early bossa nova and is a good one at that, making it one of the better compilations I have listened to.

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- Sam 

Al Green - Let's Stay Together (1972)

To me Al Green was almost the forgotten soul great of the 1970s era. Often overlooked, or indeed simply standing in the shadows of the big names that one associates with 70s soul and R&B such as Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, James Brown and the like. However, if one decided to sit down and listen to Green’s 1972 album Let’s Stay Together, that person would quickly realise that this man deserves to be put alongside his contemporaries in the pantheon of soul.

Let’s Stay Together was the album where (if you would excuse the pun) Al Green got it together musically, releasing a beautifully crafted soul record that would turn out as one of the great vocal albums of the decade. Green’s vocals are the most impressive thing about this record, with the reverend showing off both his dexterity and range as a vocalist. Across the record Green offers to the listener a mixture of crooning, scatting, shouting, falsetto, and some of the funkiest growls you are likely to here. He simply had it all and could change his vocal style depending on the demands of the song and what was commanded by each performance he gave.

In terms of the overall sound of the record, well it was nothing but pure soul – nothing more and nothing less – and aside from Green’s stellar vocals, much of this can be owed to the brilliant session musicians whose playing gave Green a template and base to allow his vocals to shine through. The backing on here musically speaking was mostly in the mould of the southern soul, or Stax Records sound of the 60s and 70s, and it would come as no surprise that the musicians themselves were all from Memphis. The players on this record were members of the session band the Hi Rhythm Section, accompanied also by the Memphis Horns, as well as a trio of backing singers. The sound they produced across the album was very much groove based with more of a rhythm and blues flavour than say the more pop-oriented sound that came out of Motown. There is a strong rhythmic element to the tracks, while the amazing horn section give many of the songs a sense of personality to go with Green’s raw voice.

So what of the songs themselves, well the album opens with Green’s most well-known song the title track “Let’s Stay Together”, a beautiful soul ballad which never gets old and is quite different in that it provided a nice gentle start to the album, something that was not often the norm for a southern soul record. The guts of the album really starts on track three with “So You’re Leaving” which is an R&B groove-laden love song, whose infectious drum beat and pounding horns is everything that makes a great soul track. This is definitely one of the more instrumentally pleasing songs on the album. This is followed by another groovy track “What Is This feeling” which also includes some nice falsetto backing vocals from backing singers Charles Chalmers and the Rhodes Sisters, Donna and Sandra. Side one then comes to an end with “Old Time Lovin”, a soul ballad that brings a bit of gospel to proceedings.

Side two then begins with the funky “I’ve Never Found a Girl”, which as a more up-tempo song is a nice way to break up the slower ballads. I would describe this track as one of the more dance-based tracks on the album that you can really get on down to, while it also features a brilliant horn part. This is followed by a cover of the Bee Gees “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart” which stretches to over six minutes and in my opinion betters the original, especially in terms of its arrangement and overall feel. Greens vocal phrasing on this track is superb, while his delivery comes across as heartfelt and right from the soul ensuring this is one of the album highlights. The album then concludes with the bright and breezy “Judy” and finally the southern soulful blues of “It Ain’t No Fun to Me”, showing that Green could sing the up-tempo blues numbers just as well as the ballads.

Let’s Stay Together as an album is a wonderful mix of soul balladry and funky rhythm and blues, blending nicely between these styles throughout. Green’s vocals abilities stand out right across the album, while he is well accompanied by some incredibly talented Memphis session players who’s playing give the recordings an authentic southern rhythm and blues feel. Let’s Stay Together is nothing short of being a brilliant soul record and represents to me what good soul music is all about. It projects feelings of joy, sadness and happiness, while connects with the body of the listener whether that be in the form of a foot tap, dance, or an emotional response inside. That to me is what music is all about and so I thank you Reverend Green.

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- Sam