I’m not entirely sure where I stand on my adaption of Troy’s
statement about TV spin off series. I’m
not sure whether to take it on face value as a legitimate statement or as an
ironic comment as the writers of The Simpsons clearly intended. After all the solo album does have a checked
history with numerous examples of musicians, confined by their sidemen status
within a band dominated by others, or forced to fend for themselves after a
break up, seeking to stretch out and prove they can write songs. In some cases they also try to prove they can
sing.
This doesn’t include acts whose solo careers effectively
continued the agenda set by the bands they originally dominated. But when you think about it, there hasn’t
been that many who have been able to sustain a lengthy solo career apart from John
Lennon, Paul McCartney, Neil Young, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Sting, Eric Clapton,
Paul Simon, and a small number of others.
(And even then, all of these acts have recorded more than the odd below
par effort.) Whilst some lower profile acts have established completely
satisfying solo careers – Richard Thompson, Mark Lanegan, Robert Plant, David
Byrne, Ed Kuepper, Bob Mould, Peter Gabriel, Paul Weller, Brian Eno among them –
almost all suffer the same terrible fate accorded to those who generally haven’t
succeeded such as Chris Cornell, David Gilmour, Roger Waters, Jimmy Page and
many others by having fans who secretly wish that they all return to their
original bands. A lot of this wishing is
in vain for those like Gilmour and Waters from bands that appear to be
irretrievably broken but it doesn’t stop them trading on their former glories. Ultimately there are a tremendous number of others
such as Cornell, Perry Farrell, Mick Jagger and Shane MacGowan who have reactivated
or returned to their bands. There are
even those who now have it their way by having a solo career and version 2.0 of
the band such as Bryan Ferry (& Roxy Music), Donald Fagen (& Steely Dan),
John Lydon via Public Image Limited (& The Sex Pistols), Frank
Black/Francis (& the Pixies) and many others. Just about the only act I can think of whose
fans don’t want to see re-established in their former band is Bjork and even
The Sugarcubes reformed for a gig last year.
The emphasis here is on the phrase “sideman status” and the strike
rate here is not great. Sure, there’s George
Harrison’s spectacular initial success with All Things Must Pass and Dave Grohl’s
first Foo Fighters record (essentially a solo album until morphing into a
legitimate band with subsequent releases). There have also been some unexpected
delights; Izzy Stradlin’s first couple of post Guns n’ Roses albums are fine
rockin’ affairs, the first Tom Tom Club album from the Talking Heads rhythm
section, some of the albums by former members of The Replacements who aren’t
Paul Westerberg and Ringo Starr’s Ringo but there aren’t many others that hit
me off the top of my head. All I can recall are acts that didn’t work –
Keith Moon (I have his Two Sides Of The Moon and I’m still too scared to play
it), most of the remaining albums issued by the former members of Talking Heads
or Guns n’ Roses, a number of the solo Pearl Jam albums, Dave Navarro’s album,
some from members of the Wu-Tang Clan collective and a great many more that
fortunately haven’t made their way into my collection.
What seems to have bound today’s limited listening was that
the albums concerned are from artists who have made their name within a much
broader context;
(152) Steve Cropper –
Dedicated. A Tribute To The 5 Royales
Cropper has made his name and immense reputation by being
part of the in house team that providing a lot of the musical backing for many
of the hits that emerged from the Stax soul label in Memphis in the 1960s. On many of those hits he played with Donald “Duck”
Dunn with whom he also played in the legendary instrumental combo Booker T And The
MGs as well as in The Blues Brothers Band.
This is one of a small number of albums released under his name and the
most recent. It is a wonderful tribute
to the 5 Royales, one of the very first “soul” groups in the 1950s. For the album Cropper was assisted by 5 star
talent on most tracks, usually through the provision of vocals. Highlights include Thirty Second Lover (with magnificent
support from Steve Winwood), Dedicated To The One I love (with Winwood and
Lucinda Williams – what a combination!) and Come On And Save Me (with Dylan
LeBlanc and Sharon Jones). Other guests
include Bettye LaVette, B.B.King, Buddy Miller, Dan Penn and Brian May. Cropper’s guitar playing is as sharp and
incisive as ever and is best heard on his instrumental version of Think.
(153) The
Nightwatchman – One Man Revolution
The Nightwatchman is Tom Morello, guitarist with Rage
Against The Machine, Audioslave and so to be temporary member of Bruce
Springsteen’s E Street Band. This was
his first album under this guise and it is a largely acoustic collection of socially
and politically aware tunes. Song titles
such as Let Freedom Ring, Battle Hymns and No One Left are highly reminiscent of
“Little” Steve Van Zandt’s solo albums and are married to a musical attack not
to dissimilar to Springsteen’s solo albums.
On Flesh Shapes The Day, Morello lets out howls that are straight off
the Nebraska album. (Little wonder that
he’ll be Van Zandt’s temporary stand in during the next couple of months.) The
Road I Must Travel sounds like a homage to Billy Bragg. None of this is to imply that Morello is
simply ripping off these influences. See
it more as a comment on the relative scarcity of socially aware acoustic based
sing songwriters in today’s scene.
No comments:
Post a Comment