(# 415) The Strokes –
Comedown Machine (2013)
The first Strokes album, Is That It, was the product of a
youthful band showing off their ability to knock off three minute new wave-ish
gems. Clearly they do not what to be
accused of endlessly repeating the formula and have shown the urge to
grow. However, the most successful
tracks on this, All The Time, Partners In Crime and Happy Ending are those that
still remind me of that debut. The
problem appears to be here is that their sense of growth now seems be defined
by putting a modern twist on 80’s song structures. One Way Trigger appears to have been inspired
by A-ha, whilst Tap Out and Welcome To Japan both seem to contain strong New
Order touches and Chances contains fairly generic 80’s keyboard flourishes. Rather than looking to the past, perhaps the
band should trust their instincts and look to the future as they do on the
ballad which closes the album, Call It Fate Call It Karma.
(# 416) David Bowie –
The Next Day (2013)
Bowie, on the other hand, has reinvented his sound and image
so many times that I think he gets confused who he is/was. That’s why this album comes as such a
surprise. The lazy, amended version of
the “Heroes” album packaging suggests that the music would be very much in same
vein as that recorded in Berlin during the 70’s; instead what we have is a
confident set of, for Bowie, straight ahead rock songs set to typically
inscrutable lyrics. Tracks are of a
uniformly high quality, Bowie seemingly content to let the listener luxuriate in
this unexpected comeback. Then, just
before the end of the album, he unleashes the twin bombs of How Does The Grass
Grow? and (You Will) Set The World On Fire.
Both tracks, throwbacks to the catchy skewered rock on albums like
Lodger and Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) are positioned to take you
completely by surprise and keep you off balance. The message? Don’t count me out just yet.
(# 417) Sleep –
Dopesmoker (2003)
Sleep were one of the pioneers of what became known as
stoner rock. The album is called
Dopesmoker and, when originally released, consisted solely of the title track
which runs for 63 minutes and 34 seconds.
Or, put another way, 1 hour, three minutes and 34 seconds. Do I need to say anything else? If I was lazy – or stoned, dude – I’d leave
it at this. Actually, it’s an intricately
constructed piece of music which, as a photograph included in my reissue copy
of the album reveals, is no meandering jam.
My only complaint about it is that the main riff used to drive the piece
and as a form of interlocking device between its sections is fairly undistinguished
and this prevents the piece from scaling the heights that it really would have
otherwise. My reissue contains a second
track, a poor quality, probably audience recorded, 11 minute live performance
of Holy Mountain.
(# 418) Sound City –
Real To Reel (2013)
This is the soundtrack to Dave Grohl’s documentary about the
Sound City studios in California where, as a member of Nirvana, Nevermind
was recorded. To tell the history
of the studio Grohl invited musicians who had recorded there (and some others)
to record a new track with him, more or less on the spot within 24 hours. It’s a great concept but unfortunately, it
would appear that Grohl may have exercised too much control over the songwriting
process with just about every track sounding like the Foo Fighters. Only two tracks buck the trend. One is the final track, Mantra, where Grohl deals
with even the greater forces of Josh Homme and Trent Reznor. The other
is the absolutely brilliant rocker Cut Me Some Slack where the surviving
members of the final version of Nirvana – Grohl, Krist Noveselic and Pat Smear –
are joined by none other than Paul MacCartney.
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