When I look back at today’s listening, I realise that every
act I played is on the touring circuit today and have been in existence for at
least 25 years. For this reason I regard
them as heritage acts. I don’t intend this to be a derogatory term implying an
act now well past its prime. Indeed two
of the artists here are producing music as every bit as vital as those works for
which they’ll be forever remembered. Instead
I see the term as suggesting these are acts which today have a tangible connection
back to, and thus can evoke, a particular time and place in music history.
I’ve never had a problem with acts pursuing a lengthy
career. After all, most of the forms of
music I like are no more that 60-80 years of age and in some fields, especially
rock, I think the rule book as to what’s appropriate is still evolving as the
industry changes. (Although I do wish on
occasion that 60+ year old heavy metal rockers stop wearing spandex.) In any
case, slagging off a band as being too old in the tooth was basically one of
the early record industry predatory practices.
Industry pioneers saw rock and roll primarily as something that could
only appeal to a) teenagers with disposable incomes who, b) they could exploit
through promoting a never ending parade of sweet, young and easily exploitable (financially and sexually) things before c) they got wise
to the world and d) their supposed limited shelf life of popularity ended.
Whilst it is true that some acts, then and now, have had
short spans of popularity, a fortunate few have, for varying reasons, been
carried along by the fans of their generation for lengthy and ultimately
profitable careers. In many instances, a
number of these acts are seen as survivors in having overcoming exploitative
record and publishing contracts, substance abuse problems, possible personality
conflicts (for bands obviously) and periods of either record company or audience
indifference. Indeed the great bulk of
these acts have learnt to survive without needing to be wholly dependent, if at
all, on a record company. These are the
acts that have learnt there is far more money to be had by ignoring record companies and their mantra of the record – release –
tour every x years or so by going on the road every year and recording only occasionally. After all, the whole point of being a musician
is to play music publicly and far greater money can be reasonably expected to
be generated that way as well. Put
another way they have learnt the simplest lesson of all – that the recording of
music and the releasing of albums is something that should be subservient to
the act of playing live and not the other way round. And if the band has some form of world wide
following, there will always be any number of places in the world were a
healthy concert turn out can be guaranteed in any given year. No doubt it is this realisation that has resulted
in so many bands reforming over the last 5 years or so.
The growth of internet has also been a factor as many acts
have also realised that they can record and release music to the hard core fans
without even needing a record company.
If a self produced album takes off via this way of marketing so much the
better as the record companies can then fight amongst themselves for the privilege
of promoting and distributing the
recording, which is probably what they should have been limited to doing in the
first place. (How the record industry
ever convinced acts that it was their own
responsibility to finance records, videos, etc – in other words, take most of
the financial risk – is a book I’d love to read. I mean, if a Hollywood studio botches the selection, production
or advertising of a blockbuster, does it demand its lead actors to repay their
fees?) The real canny acts, such as Pearl Jam or Metallica, also make
recordings of all their live shows for internet sale as aural souvenirs and as
a means of overcoming bootleggers.
And so onto my first act;
(# 315) The Meters –
Fire On The Bayou (1975)
The Meters reformed in 1989 and during the 90’s renamed
themselves as The Funky Meters. This is
easily the best of the 5 Meters albums I bought recently, a sophisticated mix
of New Orleans sounds and a no frills Allen Toussaint production. Instrumentals have been largely ditched except
for the lengthy and largely featureless jazz/music of Middle Of The Road (the title
really says it all), the album’s sole low point. The rest of the album, with Cyril Neville joining
Art Neville in the band, contains the smooth funky sounds of what ultimately
evolved into the mighty Neville Brothers.
The title track (destined to be reworded as the title track of a Neville
Brothers album), Out In The Country,
Liar and Mardi Gras Mambo all stand out.
(# 316) The Meters –
Kickback (recorded 1975/6; released 2000)
Although a sticker on the jewel case spruikes this as “the
great lost Meters album”, the liner notes appear to point out that this is a
compilation of previously unrealised tracks recorded around the time of Fire On
The Bayou and its successor Trick Bag.
With the exception of the seriously funky He Bite Me, a case probably
could not be made for the inclusion of any of the original tracks on these
albums. The area of greatest interest here
is the raft of cover versions that have been included. The Beatles Come Together has a nicely judged
Rolling Stones Black And Blue era feel to it, as is Honky Tonk Women. A “Rock And Roll Medley” including Rockin’
Pheumonia is fun, Hank Williams Jambalaya is extremely funky and Love The One
You’re In is fine depending on how you view the lyrics. (I think the lyric is meant to mean "love thy neighbour" but it literally sounds like "fxxk" thy neighbour".) A full length version of Neil Young’s Down By
The River is more problematical. The
slickness here rather puts it at odds with the rawness of its author’s
interpretations.
(# 317) Bob Dylan –
Tempest (2012)
Bob’s voice these days is increasingly sounding more like
Tom Waits’ than his own. I can only
image the strain it’s placed under by these incredibly wordy songs. (The gruesome vocal start to Pay In Blood in particular
almost defies description.) Having said that, this is probably Bob’s best album
since Oh Mercy! in terms of matching his songs to music and overall production values.
Duguesne Whistle, Soon After Midnight and Pay In Blood all have brilliant
melodies and performances to match.
Scarlet Town is a superior ballad, Early Roman Kings is effectively a
rewrite of Mannish Boy and Tin Angel sounds like a cheap crime novel gloriously
put to music. Unfortunately the title track, about the Titanic, is probably a
bit too long to sustain either the story or the music.
(# 318) Robert Plant
And The Strange Sensation – Mighty Rearranger (2005)
This is a glorious album in which Plant, for the first time,
was truly able to reconcile his interests in new world music against his hard
rock past. The epitome of this is Tin
Pan Alley, easily the high water mark of his solo career which achieves the
perfect 50/50 balance. The title track
has some nice rockabilly touches whilst Another Tribe and Let The Four Winds
Blow are wonderfully constructed. Unbelievably, the successor, Band Of Joy is
even better which makes his decision to largely forego tracks from either album
in favour of reworked Zep numbers at his recent going here all the more mystifying.
(# 319) The
Charlatans – “Live It Like You Love It” (2002)
Easily the most underrated of all the Britpop bands, and
just about the only one that hasn’t broken up at some stage, The Charlatans have
carved out an impressive catalogue with their version of British alternative rock. I see them as a sort of Oasis wrapped up in dense
keyboards. This is their live album
which is aptly subtitled “The Best Of The Charlatans Live”. None of the versions here stray too much from
their studio originals but with tracks such as Love Is The Key, The Only one I
know, Impossible and North Country Boy there really is no need to do so. A magnificent version of Sproston Green from
the first album caps things off nicely. 
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