Tuesday 12 March 2013

11 March 2013 (Day 70) – Labour Day Blues

Today is Labour Day, a public holiday which celebrates our attainment of an 8 hour working day. As I was struggling to think up a theme for today’s post, “M” suggested I spend my day listening to some of my more bolshie records.

I had two reasons for rejecting “M” otherwise sensible suggestion.  First, today marks something like the eighth day in a row in which Melbourne has had a maximum temperature greater than 32 degrees Celsius.  Now I don’t know about you, but the last thing I want to do on a bright hot sunny day is to listen to well-meaning songs that lecture me about unions, workers, revolutions, socialist utopias or the futility of war, Margaret Thatcher, George W Bush or Ronnie Reagan.  I could probably let some politically charged reggae slip by if I concentrated on the riddim alone but I’d definitely don't tend to listen to Billy Bragg, early Dylan, The (International) Noise Conspiracy, the Dead Kennedys, Atari Teenage Riot, Laibach or the Ani DiFranco’s/Utah Phillips album of union songs among others on days like this.
Instead, these are days for keeping cool, drinking beer, napping or eating.   And as things have turned out we have a family birthday celebration to attend.  After a nap, “M” and I go to the venue and we spend the afternoon eating, drinking beer or cider and standing in front of a very powerful air conditioning unit. Very nice.  And just to underscore my point, our hosts do not play any background music with the sound of all the guests drinking, laughing and chatting providing the soundtrack.

In any case, my other reason for the lack of bolshie music is that I wanted to play through the two downloaded albums I purchased yesterday starting with:
(185) The J Geils Band – Monkey Island

This was the first time the J Geils Band strayed from the tried and true hard rockin’ R&B of their previous eight albums.  Originally credited to Geils, it is quite a diverse collection of musical styles that I suspect the band has disowned as I’ve never seen a CD copy.  This is a pity as there is much to admire.  The opener Surrender and Somebody play to their traditional strength.  The title track takes a bizarre cabaret band type intro and merges it with a mid tempo tune to form an unlikely 9 minute epic. I’m Falling is a solid ballad whilst I Do appears to anticipate the direction the band would ultimately take into Centrefold and brief world domination.  But the best was kept for last.  Wreckage is a ballad that would have served as a fitting epitaph for any number of bands, as Peter Wolf looks back wistfully over a life or career (take your choice) and the “wreckage along the way” before the song ultimately disappears in a welter of guitars just a notch or two short of heavy metal.
(186) Grace Jones – Slave To The Rhythm

I was extremely nervous when I played this album.  When I wanted to buy a CD copy last year, I was put off by consumer comments which indicated the record company had made a number of changes to the original release including a change to the running order, alterations of individual track lengths and the removal of track linking material.  Fortunately these were retained in my download version which preserves the intriguing concept.  This was a remix album before the term had been invented, comprising essentially eight radically different versions of the same tune including operatic, funk and acapella versions all linked via an interview.  The complete official version is arguably Jones’ greatest ever recording but the whole album is also a testament to Trevor Horn’s amazing production, one of the few from the 80s that still holds true today.
(187) Van Dyke Parks – Song Cycle

This is one of those albums that provoke a definitive reaction of love or hate from anyone who hears it.  I’m not quite sure why because it delivers exactly what the title promises – a group of songs designed to be performed together as one half hour piece of music.  The tracks share a pastoral theme and sounds like the Incredible String Band with touches of early lush Randy Newman instrumentation and Brian Wilson inspired psychedelic madness thrown in.  Additionally the entire piece appears to start and end mid track as if to imply that this is something that has floated in and out of someone’s consciousness.  It is a very demanding listen but one well suited for a hot day, especially if you are on the fringes of dozing off.  You have been warned.
(188) Van Halen – Self Titled

Very few debut albums and careers started off with such a blast as Van Halen’s.  It starts off with  Runnin’ With The Devil a slow burning tune into the short instrumental Eruption which is effectively the introduction for the double barrelled assault of their inspired cover of The Kinks’ You Really Got Me and Ain’t Talkin’  ‘Bout Love.  The remainder of the album approaches but doesn’t transcend this specular opening. Atomic Punk is a fun homage to an imaginary hard rock superhero and David Lee Roth asserts himself on a cover of bluesman John Brim’s Ice Cream Man that predicts the approach he was to take in the early part of his solo career.  As on any of their albums, the highlight is of, course, Eddie Van Halen’s guitar work

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