Anniversary Albums: Edition Twenty-Three - The Beatles "Revolver" (1966)

This week on anniversary albums we took a look at The Beatles classic album "Revolver". Released in 1966, "Revolver" changed understandings around how a pop record could sound, and what could be done in the studio when making pop music. "Revolver" is generally considered to be one of the greatest albums ever recorded. 

The Beatles - Revolver

Tracks Played 

- Taxman 

- Eleanor Rigby 

- Love You To

- She Said She Said 

- Tomorrow Never Knows 

- Doctor Robert 

- Sam 

Anniversary Albums: Edition Ten - The Doors 'L.A. Woman'

Celebrating 45 years exactly today, this week’s anniversary album is The Doors 1971 masterpiece L.A. Woman.

L.A. Woman was the Los Angeles psychedelic rock groups 6th studio release, and the last full-length album to feature singer Jim Morrison. Morrison would die from an alleged heroin overdose three months after the albums release.

This album nearly did not happen, as leading up to the recording of it the band were blacklisted on the radio in the States, their record contract was at an end, and Morrison was facing charges of profanity and indecent exposure. 

Musically speaking, L.A. Woman continued down the blues rock path that pursued on the previous record Morrison Hotel.

This was a back to basics rock and roll sound, something a lot of acts at the time were pursuing as the flower power/psychedelic movement was wrapping up.

The band even hired bass player Jerry Scheff and rhythm guitarist Marc Benno to round out their sound. Gone were the long psychedelic pieces and in were more jam-based groove tracks such as Been Down So Long and Crawling King Snake.

So often the centrepiece of Doors records, Morrison’s song-writing still managed to have a chance to shine, despite an overall back to basic aesthetic where extended lyrical passages were not always welcome.

Two tracks in particular stood out in this regard, The W.A.S.P. Radio Texas, which is based on a poem Morrison wrote, and the seven minute epic Riders On The Storm, the last track the band would record together.

On its release, L.A. Woman was met with positive reviews with Rolling Stone in particular calling it the bands best album. Meanwhile, it made it to number nine in the States. However, the band never got the chance to tour the record as Morrison had moved to Paris where he passed away three months after its release.

L.A. Woman’s legacy holds up well all these years later, and it remains a fan favorite. The album as a whole is also highly regarded by critics, with many saying it represents a successful connection between the blues and the Doors mystifying psychedelic rock sound.

Author of the Complete Guide To The Music Of The Doors Peter K Hogan labelled the album a fitting swansong for Morrison, who was pleased to have finally recorded a blues-oriented album. 

- Sam 

Tracks of the Week 5: 7/3 - 13/3

Sup listeneaders/readisteners! Now onto the fifth straight week of new music tracks, having fun with this series, hope you’re enjoying hearing these tracks too. Yet again, it was a pretty varied & interesting seven days, it seems as if the more attention and effort you put into searching for new tunes, the better gems you’ll find. As is the case with this week.

Average Rap Band – “Fly Casual”

Tom Scott’s current project Average Rap Band is in the process of releasing their next effort El Sol, and dropped this track in advance yesterday. Along with the earlier promotional video, the visuals in “Fly Casual” are packed with 1980s/1990s nostalgic aesthetics – including neon-clad rollerbladers, 32-bit video games, TV advertisements and old school hip hop videos. The track itself, feeling like an alternative R&B/hip hop fusion, aims for a mellow, chilled vibe and pretty much nails it. 3.5/5

Flatbush ZOMBiES – “R.I.P.C.D.”

FINALLY! 3001: A Laced Odyssey is here, the debut LP by Flatbush Zombies after years of mixtapes from the Brooklyn collective. It’s something of a coincidence to see a track titled “R.I.P.C.D.” seeing as Kanye West tweeted about the “death” of CDs a few days ago. Though I often consider the so-called ‘demise’ of physical formats from a collector’s POV, there is another dimension as well – how it affects musicians, as Eric Arc Elliott says on the hook “RIP to the CD, can’t even play my hits / Cause new computer shit without the means to play the shit”. Potential line of the week from Meechy Darko as well – “My semi-automatic will splatter a nigga like Jackson Pollock”. 4/5

Joey Bada$$ – “Brooklyn’s Own”

March 9 marked the 19-year anniversary of the death of Notorious B.I.G., the undisputed king of Brooklyn. Joey Bada$$, who would have been just 2 years old when Biggie died, dropped this track as a way of tribute, another teaser for what I can only assume to be a new project following B4.DA.$$. In comparison to the tougher, aggressive & confident track “Ready”, this sees Joey back in his comfort zone – jazzy, laid-back beats with a catchy hook, straight out of the Digable Planets/A Tribe Called Quest playbook. 3.5/5

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – “Gamma Knife”

GAMMA! Aussie psych-rock outfit King Gizzard’s next full-length Nonagon Infinity is due next month. “Gamma Knife” bursts with electrified walls of psychedelic guitars, barking “uhhrrrwooo” vocals and a slightly manic rhythm section. It’s like Pink Floyd’s “Let There Be More Light” amped up by several more notches – maybe even up to 11. Syd Barrett would’ve definitely been tripping out to this, front & centre – facepaint, cult robe and everything. 4/5

PJ Harvey – “The Community of Hope”

Alt-rock/folk-rock queen PJ Harvey’s The Hope Six Demolition Project isn’t far away – about a month to be exact, a short space of time considering the 5-year gap after Let England Shake. It packs quite a bit in for a 2:24 track – strong guitar & rhythm sections accompanied by forceful yet melodic vocals from Harvey and backup singers on the chorus. It’s slated to be the opener on the new album, detailing a small township or community negatively affected by government and corporate development projects, ironically called “The Community of Hope”. Will be interesting to see how this concept plays out through the rest of the album. 4/5

 - Karl

The Arcs - Yours, Dreamily - 2015

Dan Auerbach is quite an interesting guy. When he is not fronting one of the biggest bands on the planet the Black Keys, he is producing for other artists, recording with hip hop artists, and now he is releasing the first album under his new side project the Arcs, “Yours, Dreamily”.

Music fans have had a taste of the likely sound of this album for a while, with pre-released tracks “Stay in My Corner”, “Put a Flower in Your Pocket”, and “Outta My Mind”. And, right from the get go these tracks hinted at a swirling blusey/soulful record to come. But, has the actual album delivered on the early promise of those tracks?

Well, overall, I would say yes. In terms of the “new’ tracks which were not put out into the music sphere pre-release, most of them do stack up and see Auerbach and his band, a band that includes the very talented Lee Michels from El Michel’s Affair and Truth & Soul Records on drums exploring different blusey, psychedelic and soulful sounds. Although similar in nature to recent Black Key’s records such as “Brothers” and “Turn Blue”, there is still a lot going on in these new bunch of tracks that shows Auerbach is willing to experiment with what is quickly becoming his stock-standard mix of soul, blues and psychedelia.

“Pistol Made of Bones” is a southern stomper complete with horns, a barking dog and plenty of swagger, while on “Cold Companion”, Auerbach heads into what I would describe as progressive blues territory, with the backing vocals sounding very 70's progressive rock-like. I say that in a good way of course. “The Arc” is a grungy blues rocker, not to dissimilar to the material seen on Auerbach’s debut solo album. And, although not as good as some of the more psychedelic moments on “Yours, Dreamily”, it does its job as the sort of token stadium rocker track on the album nicely. On “Nature’s Child”, Auerbach and the band have a John Lennon moment circa early-70's, which is pleasant enough without being amazing, while “Velvet Ditch” has a smooth, contemporary R&B feel to it, as well as featuring two funky sax and guitar solos. The album then moves to its finale with one of the standout tracks “Chains of Love”, which has some stellar female backing vocals and an infectious rhythmic groove to boot. A great track, and very different to Auerbach’s more traditional material. The album then winds down with tracks such as the simplistically sweet R&B of “Rosie (Ooh la la)”, and album closer “Searching the Blue” which is a very nice Stax-sounding soul ballad.

On the whole, this is not unusual territory for Auerbach, but at the same time this is definitely not a Black Keys replica album by any stretch. The added presence of other musicians I would say gave the tracks more groove, and allowed Auerbach to play around more with different textures and rhythms. Something he might be more limited to with the Black Keys. On listening to this album you can certainly hear Auerbach playing with new sounds and musical ideas, and “Yours, Dreamily”, all in all really is a very solid contemporary, but at the same time authentic soul record. Well worth a listen I would say. 

B+

- Sam 

The Moons - Mindwaves (2014)

Mindwaves is the third studio album by relatively unknown British band The Moons, a band I stumbled upon quite by accident when I heard one of my favourite British musicians Paul Weller sing on a track off their last album Fables of History. After releasing two very, very good albums, where they have explored everything from baroque pop to mod pop, the band have decided to go down a more experimental psychedelic rock route with Mindwaves, all be it, with mixed results.

The overall sound of Mindwaves is high on psychedelic’s and the band experiment with tone, layers of sound, as well as what are often quite complex rhythms at times. There is an explosion of sonic guitars, ferocious drums, and synths coming at the listener from all directions as if like Rick Wakeman had infiltrated proceedings. While the seed that sows the sound all together is the now trademark Moons sound of double-tracked pop vocals. So, this all sounds very intriguing to potential listeners like myself, but how does the music actually stack up on the record?

Well the album does not start well in its quest to impress me, with a pointless instrumental called “Luna Intro” arghhhhhhhh!!! I hate one minute instrumentals. Luckily though next track “Society” is a psychedelic rocker with a harder edge to it than has been seen on previous Moon albums, while “Body Snatchers” is an experimental Kasabian-like neo-psychedelic number, which pushes things along nicely. “Fever” is next, and apart from the songs intro sounding like the intro to the Black Keys “Howling For You”, this song really takes the album up a gear with its Sgt Pepper synths, psychedelic guitar and interesting chord changes. One of the album highlights for sure. “Vertigo” I would describe as being a kind of psychedelic dance track, with its sick drum pattern and buzzy psych sounds. Songs like this show how much more the band are experimenting on this record and their willingness I guess to try new things without feeling the need to settle on any particular formula for recording. “All in My Mind” does not set the world alight, but “Heart and Soul” definitely does and for my mind is the best track on the album. It kicks off with a glam rock guitar riff, think Slade, think T Rex and pounds its way to an epic finale. This is glam pop at its best, and it is literally music to my ears. “You Can’t Slow Me Down” is basic filler, while “Sometimes” is a bore, but thankfully the energy and attitude comes back with “Time’s Not Forever”, and “Rage and Romance”, the latter which contains a wonderfully surprising violin solo and a moment which I would describe as being the albums Frank Zappa moment. Finally, the album comes to an end with the six minute ballad “On the Moon”. Here the band were setting themselves up for that big anthemic finale, you know, the moment at festivals where everyone puts their ciggie lighters in the air. However, in actual fact, this song is a massive disappointment and plods along as if the band are simply trying to use up the last bit of space on the record.

So, all in all, in summing up the album, I would say that Mindwaves is not as good as their last release which in my mind was a super album, with there being some good songs on here sprinkled in amongst some lesser tracks. The band clearly go for a more experimental sound on this release which I applaud them for, and move away from the baroque pop and psychedelic pop of their first two albums, but, in the end, I was kind of expecting something more out of all of it as a result. In conclusion then not a great disappointment, but in no way a towering achievement either.

B 

- 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 

Jimi Hendrix - Axis: Bold as Love (1967)

Axis: Bold As Love was the second studio album that Jimi Hendrix released with the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Released at the end of 1967, it was definitely a more psychedelic rock sounding album in comparison to the more blues rock oriented Are You Experienced, while it was on this album where Hendrix began to utilise and experiment more with studio techniques and effects. Axis: Bold As Love was quite a pioneering album in this regard, with Hendrix drawing on the expertise of in demand studio engineer Eddie Kramer in utilising as many studio techniques as possible in an attempt to experiment with sound and song structure. Throughout this album you hear amongst other things backward guitar, fading, guitar feedback and stereophonic phasing. As well as these techniques this album was also significant in that it was one of the first albums which featured the wah-wah pedal for guitar, a new toy that Eric Clapton and Hendrix were beginning to use and what would become standard amongst rock guitarists in the years ahead.

Musically speaking, Axis is by in large a psychedelic rock album and contains heavily distorted guitar, quite out there lyrics about things as diverse as castles made of sand and travelling by dragonfly, and as I have mentioned the heavy use of studio production techniques. There is the odd exception to this psychedelic formula stylistically speaking such as the R&B influenced “Wait Until Tomorrow”, but even when Hendrix diverges stylistically into other areas these songs still tend to have a psychedelic touch to them. Hendrix guitar playing is the driving force throughout this album, although he tends to veer away from guitar hero like solos for a more rhythmic and melodic style of playing which locked  in with the drums and bass and allowed the use of studio trickery to take the listener on a journey. One of the limitations of having only three band members and only one guitarist is that sometimes the sound can feel a bit empty with the instruments often sounding isolated or exposed. This often means more work for the individual players in the band, or for the players to play their instrument slightly differently, something I feel Hendrix does quite well on this album with his playing appearing almost as a lead rhythm style in order to fill out the sound. It also helps to have a good rhythm section of which the Experience did in the form of Mitch Mitchell (drums) and Noel Redding (bass) who combined nicely to give the songs a rich thickness to them. Mitchell in particular shines on this album especially in his ability to move between different styles of drumming such as jazz on “Up from the Skies”, R&B on “Wait Until Tomorrow” and finally wild heavy rock on “You Got Me Floating”.

Stand out tracks for me on this album include the heavy rock of “Spanish Castle Magic”, the sweet psychedelia of “Little Wing” and the soulful rock of album closer “Bold as Love”, one of my favourite Hendrix songs and definitely one of his best. Despite the presence of some clearly stronger, overall this album flows nicely together as a coherent whole and unlike many albums lacks any filler of significance which disrupts the listener. Even on really good albums you still on occasion can come across a couple of tracks which feel out of place or that get a reaction from the listener in the form of what were they thinking here, but on Axis this is not the case with this album being a nice listen throughout.

Axis: Bold As Love is a great little 60s psychedelic rock album that established Hendrix as a major figure in 60s rock. I say little because it is quite short, running in at around thirty-odd minutes, but also because it is often overlooked in the Hendrix cannon in favour of his debut album and his studio masterpiece Electric Ladyland. This I feel is unjust as this album holds up very well alongside these two other works and was also a significant moment in Hendrix’s career as it was on this album where the world first saw a first major glimpse of Hendrix the creator, composer, and studio innovator. It was also a revolutionary album for the time in its use of studio technology and how sound-wise it definitely channelled the cultural atmosphere of the period in the form of psychedelia and the Summer of Love. Finally in summing up this album I would say it does a good job in showing what you can do with three musicians and a studio and also how you don’t need a cast of millions to record good music, and record good music they did.

A

- Sam

The Doors - L.A. Woman (1971)

L.A. Woman was The Doors sixth studio album and their final album with Jim Morrison. Released in 1971, L.A. Woman is very much a back to basics/return to roots album, a road that many bands were going down during the years 1969 to 1972 almost as a response to the somewhat out of control nature of 60s psychedelic music, not to mention an opportunity to revisit past influences. Although the bands brand of psychedelic rock which they had become notable for remains across this album, the music on here takes in other styles as well ranging from funk on “The Changeling” to blues rock on tracks such as “Been Down So Long” and the slithery hypnotic “Crawling King Snake”.

L.A. Woman for me captures the band at their musical best and contains many of their greatest songs. Fans and critics alike respond glowingly to the material on their debut album and so they should with tracks such as “Light My Fire” and “Break on Through”, but some of the tracks on L.A. Woman are right up there with those songs and others in the bands catalogue. Just some of the tracks that standout on this album include the psychedelic dance of “Love Her Madly”, the moody jazz like psychedelia of “Riders On The Storm” a magnum opus like moment if ever there was one, and the raunchy driving rock of title track “L.A. Woman” where Morrison croons about the city he loves. Even Morrison’s spoken word poetry gets an airing on “The WASP”, an amazing psychedelic stomp that combines the sounds of bluesy organ and marching drums with Morrison’s take on 1950s Mexican border blaster radio stations; an experimental piece for them, but a good one at that.

L.A. Woman does a fantastic job in showcasing the quintessential Doors sound and provides a snapshot of all the key elements of what makes a Doors album. There’s the masterful playing of Ray Manzarek (R.I.P) whose keyboard playing is the centre of the band’s sound and is what gives the songs that classic eerie psychedelic feeling that often has the effect of taking you the listener to another place and the songs to another dimension. There’s also Robbie Krieger’s guitar playing a style almost Spanish like in parts with his carefully crafted solos and subtle rhythm playing, he is a man who plays for the song not himself and boy does it sound good.

And then of course there is Morrison, by this stage a troubled soul battling with addiction although you wouldn’t know on listening as he croons, speaks, and swaggers his way through the album. His vocal style of Sinatra meets Elvis meets Delta blues man lends itself so well to The Doors style of psychedelic rock, not to mention his own diverse lyrical influence on the songs, lyrics that include themes ranging from king snakes to Greek gods. If there is any album that best exemplifies why Morrison was one of the greatest singers in rock it surely is this one. The unfortunate sub-context to this albums release was the fact that Morrison would die roughly three months after the album’s release in July 1971. Had he lived the future of the band was have also been possibly up in the air as they had cancelled the tour in support of the album after only two dates when Morrison suffered a breakdown on stage, while by the time of the album’s release Morrison had left America for France, seemingly for good.

For me L.A. Woman is along with their self titled debut The Doors best album, it best represents the band’s sound, while it is also consistent throughout in terms of the songs on display. It showcases all of the bands styles from jazz to blues to psychedelia and probably most notably marks the final point in Jim Morrison’s musical journey with the band and his final musical statement. A must have album for any Doors fan and anybody into psychedelic rock of the late-60s period.

 

A

 

- Sam