Isaac Hayes - Black Moses (1971)

Black Moses was the fifth studio album by American soul artist Isaac Hayes. Released in 1971, this double album of mainly covers came on the back of Hayes highly successful soundtrack to the film Shaft and with its release helped to establish Hayes at the forefront of 70s progressive soul.

The first thing I notice about this album is its title Black Moses, which to me sounds like the name of a Kanye West album, while the album sleeve itself is quite cleverly designed folding out into a cross shape of Hayes himself dressed in robes wearing aviators. Hayes was clearly trying to make a bold artistic statement with the title and cover, but would the music match up with the illustrative intentions of the album. Well the answer to that is a definite yes, with Black Moses possessing some of the most elaborate and sophisticated soul music ever committed to record. The style of this album is what is known by many as symphonic soul, or progressive soul which became quite popular in the mid-70s with artists such as Hayes himself and Curtis Mayfield. This style of soul is heavily produced with layers and layers of sound placing a strong emphasis on instrumentation. The music on here is incredibly slick thanks to some highly skilled session players and does well to show off Hayes ability as a producer and arranger within the soul and R&B styles. In fact, one could be forgiven for thinking that this is what a soul record would sound like if composed by Bach of Beethoven. Hayes made a name for himself at Stax records in the 50s and 60s, playing on more Stax recordings than anyone else and he brings this experience to the fore on the album, with songs often stretched out to the 7-9 minute mark to allow for Hayes to explore and experiment with different sounds and song structures in what are well developed R&B jams and soul ballads. Hayes even goes as far as to experiment with spoken word in what appears to be early attempts at rapping.

There are fourteen tracks on Black Moses and it comes in at a staggering 93 minutes, meaning I could go on writing for ever if I was to chronicle each track, so I will just mention a few standouts for me from across the album. Most of the songs are covers, but have been arranged in such a way that the listener has a tough time recognising the original from Hayes version, such is the distinct way that Hayes has arranged the tracks to make them truly his own. The album kicks off with smooth versions of the Jackson 5 hit “Never Can Say Goodbye” and The Carpenters “They Long to Be Close to You” both of which are remarkably different from the more recognisable hit versions. “Part Time Love” is a funk epic coming in at around eight minutes, while “Going in Circles” is a symphonic soul track which encapsulates well the overall sound of the album. Other tracks worth a mention include “Never Gonna Give You Up” which the Black Keys covered on their 2010 album “Brothers”, “Good Love” which is a more up-tempo track, a rare thing amongst all the ballads and progressive symphonies on this album, and finally “Need to Belong to Someone”, a gospel infused track where Hayes plays up to the Moses idea, preaching from the river as it were.

In conclusion, Black Moses really is a symphony of soul and represented a major artistic statement by Hayes. It probably reprsented the zenith of his career and helped to preserve his place as a soul great amongst contemporaries such as Gaye, Wonder and Mayfield. There are a few criticisms I have of the album, notably around its length with many of the songs being a wee bit too long for idle listeners, maybe some thoughtful editing couldn’t have gone a miss, while at times the album can get dangerously close to becoming quite soppy, especially during some of the ballads. However, this is ok when you consider the ambitious nature of this album and the personality of the man on the cover, a man who was as big as the music he produced. 

B+

- Sam 

Sheep, Dog & Wolf - Egospect (2013)

Egospect is the debut album by twenty year old Wellington-based multi-instrumentalist and singer Daniel McBride, more commonly known as Sheep, Dog & Wolf. This album has to be one of the hardest I have ever reviewed, mainly because there is so much going on musically across the album and even within single tracks. McBride certainly knows no boundaries when it comes to musical composition and exploring different sounds and on this album he certainly goes all out to make a significant musical statement straight off the bat.

The sound of this album is quite hard to describe, but I will give it a go and describe the instrumentation side of things as alt-folk experimental jazz, while vocally McBride sounds like a mash up of Gregorian chant and early-70s Queen in what is a heavily layered kind of classical/opera vocal sound which also comes across like vocal exercises in small bursts of flourishes. I also here a bit of prog rock in the music, with Yes coming to mind in the vocals and King Crimson in the instrumentation. Aside from the theatrical vocals, it is the quality of the instrumentation and McBride’s quite breath-taking ability to play every instrument on this album which makes this album worth a listen. According to the liner notes of the CD, McBride plays electric and acoustic guitar, saxophone, drums, bass guitar, clarinet, violin, cello, euphonium and French horn, a list of instruments that appears like a min-orchestra of type and leaves one gasping as to how much music ability and talent it requires to play such a diverse array of instruments. Aside from the unique vocals and smorgasbord of instruments, what makes this album even more spectacular is how McBride recorded it pretty much in his bedroom, something which gives the music quite a low-fi sound and jagged appearance, which all in all suits the stylistic diversity of the music on here.

As for the tracks themselves, well the albums kicks off with the track “Breathe”, which does a good job in encompassing the overall sound of the album and all of the key elements which appear throughout. This track to my ears sound like alt-jazz set to Gregorian chant and builds up nicely from an instrumental section at the start into a gigantic climax with a multi-tracked vocal section, before a decrescendo in the second half. “Breathe” is followed by the standout track for me “Glare”, which has a bit of a neo-psychedelic feel to it but without losing the jazz and classical influences. Again this track is brilliant in building up to an enormous crescendo of vocals which sound as if they are going to burst through the speakers. “Problems/Canvas” is a folky sort of track which floats along in a low-key sort of way before out of nowhere those layered vocals return to push the song to another level and in yet another completely different direction. It is these sorts of twists and turns within tracks that in many ways makes Egospect the album that is it and such an intriguing album to listen to.

The middle of the album moves swiftly along with “Not Aquatic”, which is quite an experimental track that appears quite loose structurally, with McBride playing around with different textures, layers and song structure in general. At this point I think it is important to note the skill and ability of McBride as a composer willing to takes risks with different song structures and sounds within single tracks, ensuring that no single track sounds the same. “Ablutophobia” is another track that showcases little moments of stylistic diversity, moving from jazz to folk to classical all on one track, while “Nothing, Probably” is an acoustic folk track which allows the listener to have a breather from the intense nature of some of the other bigger sounding tracks on the album. This track also showcases McBride’s softer side and how he can also play the singer-songwriter role as well as the jazz composer extraordinaire. The album comes to an end with acoustic ballad “An Incomprehensive Catalogue” and finally the piece de resistance, title track “Egospect” which is like the “A Day in the Life” of the album. “Egospect” starts off with a chorus of vocals chants, before kicking in to another alt-folk prog-jazz track, finishing the album as it began with a diverse range of styles and sounds confined within the limits of a six minute composition.

Egospect is an amazingly complex album musically with some incredible instrumentation and vocals, while the composition and structure of the songs on display is incredible. This album really should not work as the music appears as a mash-up of several diverse styles incorporated together in combination with classical sounding vocals and topped off by the fact it was recorded in a bedroom. But amazingly, it does, keeping the listener intrigued about where a track will go next. A complex, unusual but clever debut by McBride, that showcases his musical abilities and ear for sound, making me very interested to see where he will go next on. 

A-

- Sam 

Coldplay - Ghost Stories (2014)

Coldplay have become a total enigma to me. How is it that a band who released three amazing albums back to back Parachutes, A Rush of Blood to the Head, and X & Y can slip up so badly musically, with their latest slip up Ghost Stories leading me to think whether there is any coming back for Coldplay.

Things started to go wrong for Coldplay on Viva La Vida which was really just Chris Martin buying into his own press that he was the new Bono and having an inner-self pretentious moment thinking he could record an arty album with an arty cover and get away with it. Things got even worse on their next album, the one with a silly name which was an absolute insult to the bands original fans and was recorded on the back of the success of Viva La Vida to appease those people who thought Viva La Vida was the bands first album. It was with this album that I was beginning to lose hope of hearing another decent Coldplay album, so it is fair to say that with this latest offering I had lowered my expectations of hearing anything special. And so I was proven right.

Ghost Stories is a sombre low key affair, partly inspired by Martin’s troubled relationship with Gwyneth Paltrow which we now know led to a breakup. It is less pop-oriented, with the stadium anthems that dotted the bands last two albums mostly absent, thank Jesus. The album begins with “Always in My Head”, a slow plod of a song which is an uninspiring bore to start the album. The signs are not good straight off the bad, but I keep going. Second song “Magic” is an improvement and has got somewhat of an urban soul vibe to it, Tracy Chapman immediately comes to mind on first listening, while “Ink”, a mid-tempo percussive pop track continues this theme with some nice harmonies thrown in for good measure.

A massive dip occurs in the middle of the album with “True Love” and then an absolute turd of a track “Midnight”. At this point words fail me, as Coldplay are at their very worst when they try and imitate other distinct styles as they have done with pop, dance and hip-hop. Here it seems they are trying to copy some obscure electro-pop act in what resembles the pretentiousness I have unfortunately come to associate with Coldplay. “Midnight” is followed by “Another’s Arms”, a pop/R&B track that has a very tinny drum part and a rather ghostly female backing vocalist in what is another laboured track that doesn’t really do anything. A song that is worth its salt finally comes in the form of “Oceans”, a haunting track that sounds like a lost Parachutes out-take. This is what Coldplay should sound like and when they are at their best, just Martin singing and strumming an acoustic guitar allowing the listener to just close their eyes and float away think “Spies”, think “Sparks”. “Oceans” is easily the best track on the album and represents the most Parachutes-sounding song Coldplay have recorded since, well, Parachutes. The album concludes with “A Sky full of Stars” which sees the band return to the stadium anthem sound of their last two albums, and closing track “O”, which is precisely my reaction to this album. Oh why Coldplay? Why? 

C

- Sam 

The Black Keys - Turn Blue (2014)

The Black Keys have done it again. Wow, they truly are on an amazing run of form musically and have completed a hat trick of fantastic albums with their latest release Turn Blue. This come on the back of two of their best records 2010s Brothers and 2011s El Camino. After changing things up musically on those last two albums, bringing in soul, pop, glam and R&B influences, a move which is fair to say alienated many of their traditional fan base which has been with them since their early blues rock days, the band have again changed things up on this album, which too my ears sounds unalike anything else they have done.

Turn Blue has to be the grooviest album the Keys have recorded yet and has to dance written all over it that is if you can take your eyes off the brilliantly mesmerising album cover. Turn Blue has a strong soul and R&B vibe across its eleven tracks, as well as a slightly subtle hip-hop influence, a stylistic direction that is largely thanks to Danger Mouse who is again producing. Danger Mouse’s influence on here is significant and he puts his production stamp across the whole album, dictating the musical sound and direction of many of the tracks. He gives the material a slickness that is far removed from the dirty blues rock of the early Keys albums, but it works well for the soul/R&B vibe the band have going on here. He also contributes to what is a psychedelic rock direction for the band on several tracks, with explosive guitars and wailing keyboards. This man certainly knows no bounds when it comes to production and there are definitely no boundaries on here. Dan Auerbach again is the showpiece, with all due respect to Patrick Carney’s powerful drumming, and it is his dirty energised guitar and falsetto vocals which dominate the tracks on the album much like as they did on El Camino. It is again these features of the Keys music which make it so good to listen to, music which at times sounds quite gorgeous like a good old 60s and 70s R&B, or soul track.

As for the tracks, well there are some goodies on here, some that are already surely up there with the bands best work. The album kicks off with the fantastic epic “Weight of Love” a psychedelic trip of blazing guitars and soulful vocals. This song is a great way to kick off the album, especially when it begins with two minutes of swirling Pink Floydish Dark Side of The Moon guitar before any vocals hit in. Definitely up there in the bands cannon. This is followed by “In Time” a psychedelic soul track that features Auerbach’s now trademark falsetto vocals and a pounding drum backbeat. Its more psychedelic rock on the title track “Turn Blue” which again retains the two styles most prominent on this album, soul and psychedelia and does it well, while “Fever” the first single, is more like the garage rock in a pop style seen on El Camino, but it still kicks some and is also now accompanied by a snappy video which features Auerbach playing a preacher in a church. “Year in Review” is another storming soul track with a massive rhythm section, complete also with female backing vocals that gives the song a modern Motown feel, one of the standout tracks on the album. This is followed by “Bullet in the Brain”, another psychedelic track which has a Cream feel to it and would have sounded good in 67. Then there is “It’s Up to You Now” which although has a rockabilly/Bo Diddley jam going on, is my least favourite track on here and strikes me as being a bit of a studio warm up track rather than an album track. Heading in to the back end of the album “Waiting on Words” is probably the most unalike Black Keys song of all time and is a bit of a slow pop ballad, which although pleasant enough does not really possess any notable redeeming features. “10 Lovers” on the other hand is another brilliant track that has been kidnapped by Danger Mouse and his production wizardry. This track features a pounding bass line, something that features strongly on this album more so than their other work. The album closes out with “In Our Prime” a Lennonesque track which concludes with a minute plus guitar solo, and heavy rock and roller “Gotta Get Away” featuring a slide guitar solo that would have made Elmore James proud.

So, in conclusion I believe this is quite a massive artistic statement by the Black Keys and showcases their diversity as a music act. They could go back to being a blues rock duo and I do hope one day they return to their roots, but I am not sure that would entirely fit in with what they are trying to achieve at the moment. Turn Blue is a very eclectic album full of surprises and very good moments and again represents another step forward for the band after two very good albums. Early reviews have been very positive from the hard to please music critic establishment and I have a slight gut feeling that in ten years or so people will look back at this period for the Black Keys and conclude that they were very much at the peak of their career as one of the twenty-first century’s great rock bands. 

A

- Sam 

Damon Albarn - Everyday Robots (2014)

For a man who has been in the music industry for over twenty years, it is quite surprising to find that Everyday Robots is Damon Albarn’s first solo album. Up until now, Albarn has had quite a varied career, a career which has seen him have great success with Blur and virtual band Gorillaz, while has also seen him work on one off collaborations such as the Good, the Bad & the Queen and Dr Dee. Such as the musical variety Albarn has explored in his career, it makes this first solo album all the more intriguing to see how the solo Damon Albarn measure’s up to the rest of his work.  

The sound of Everyday Robots I would say is a mash-up of Good, the Bad & the Queen and Gorillaz, although there are moments where you can hear Blur, as well as Albarn’s work with African musicians. Already some music critics have been labelling the sound of Everyday Robots as “sad-hop”, which after listening to the album, I can kind of see where they are coming from. Overall, there is a trip hop feel throughout, especially with the drum machine backbeat that drives a lot of the songs, however most of the songs tend to have more of a mellow melancholic vibe going on, while Albarn’s piano playing has a classical jazz feel to it in the mould of someone like Keith Jarrett. I would say that Everybody Robots is quite an atmospheric album with a strong focus on mood rather than melody on most of the songs. The music and lyrics come across as quite personal and introspective and it’s as if Albarn is opening himself up in a way he has never done before, giving us an insight into his very person, a person whom he has kept guarded over the years. As for personal, well it is pretty much just Albarn on his own singing and playing piano and guitar, although, aside from a small array of session players, Brian Eno makes an appearance, while the Leystone City Mission Choir sing backing vocals on a couple of the tracks.

As for the tracks themselves, well the album begins with title track “Everyday Robots”, which has a Plastic Beach-Gorillaz sound to it with a gentle piano part, strings, sound effects and a trip hop backbeat. This is followed by “Hostiles”, which returns by in large to the Good, the Bad & the Queen’s reflective melancholia all be it with a strong trip hop injection. “Hostiles” is not a stand out track by any means, and actually comes across as quite laboured and somewhat boring. Then there is one of the album’s standouts “Lonely Press Play”, which could even be one of Albarn’s best tracks in recent years. This one certainly has a film soundtrack kind of vibe to it with a kind of casual beauty in its piano lines and string flourishes. “Mr Tembo” is the only real up-tempo song on the record, and interestingly enough is about a baby elephant which Albarn met in Tanzania, leading to what is quite a playful but throwaway lyric. The song features Albarn on ukulele, a pounding bass line, and some great gospel-infused backing vocals from the mission choir in what is a very bubbly track that offers a nice break from the downbeat stuff.

The middle of the album kicks off with “The Selfish Giant” which has a folktronica feel in which Albarn delivers quite a soulful vocal. It also showcases Albarn’s gentle piano playing with a nice classical-jazzy solo in the middle. “You and Me” is the longest track on the album and is quite a moody affair almost like a short story with quite vivid lyrics as Albarn appears more as a narrator rather than singer, while “Hollow Ponds” is a very melancholic reflective track which sounds quite Nick Drake-like in mood and Ray Davies in lyrics. There is not much going on musically on this track, but it represents another tender moment which also features some nice French horn playing. The final few songs on the album begins with “Photographs” which is a standard trip hop track with quite a Massive Attack feel to it. This is followed by “The History of a Cheating Heart”, which is another track which doesn’t really go anywhere and that the album could have really done without. Finally, the album closes with “Heavy Seas of Love” that features Brian Eno on vocals and has a stellar chorus which I can just imagine becoming a sing-a-long fan favourite at festivals. This track is one of the album highlights and is an example of how good a pop writer Albarn can be when he chooses to be. And although Eno is not known for his singing, he does a nice job here adding a different dimension to proceedings with his rather dark eccentric vocals.

Overall, I feel Albarn has done a solid job with Everyday Robots without being outstanding. There are some very nice melancholic moments on the record, while his musicianship is a standout feature in the form of his piano playing especially. A couple of the songs do end up being a bit of a bore, while the presence of two short instrumentals is a blot on the album’s landscape, however these lesser moments are countered by some of Albarn’s best work in recent years. I would say Everyday Robots compares well to his work with Gorillaz and has shown that Albarn can go it alone and be just as successful musically. 

B+

- Sam