A Distant Shore

 

In 1982, the music scene diverged. Grandmaster Flash brought us hip hop with The Message, new wave synth pop conquered the charts, The Pogues brought us their version of Irish music, The Smiths were a big hit with their melancholy and Primal Scream were working on a new sound. 

But one album stands out from the crowd in retrospect. Tracey Thorn, who some people knew from the Marine Girls, an English post-punk band, released her debut album. 

She had already written some of her own songs back then, which she didn't want to release with the Marine Girls and only recorded with herself on guitar and a few overdubs. Basically, they are very personal love songs in which she used her expressive voice to prevent them from coming across as cheesy. 

Whenever I was looking for an album that contained calm and great songs, I regularly turned to this one. Even today, the album is still convincing and gave me an idea of what this voice is capable of. And anyone who dares to cover Velvet's Femme Fatale without failing can't be bad.

Tracey Thorn - Small Town Girl

Tracey Thorn - Femme Fatale

Tracey Thorn - New Opened Eyes

Uncollected Noise

 

When I was recently clearing out my inbox of adverts for new records, I came across the announcement of a new album by Galaxie 500. A band from Boston that was active at the end of the 80s and released a little masterpiece with On Fire. The synthesis of the slightly distorted strummed electric guitars, Wareham's soft vocals, which lead into a high head voice and the accentuating drums, represents something unique in its form. The melancholic tone underpins the sound perfectly. I've always liked this high school sound, reminiscent of Johnathan Richman and the Velvet Underground, ever since this record was recommended to me by the owner of my local record shop

After the band split up three decades ago, Galaxie 500 are releasing a double album with outtakes and other unreleased material in a few weeks. With the songs now released, they show that power-pop and jangly guitars are also part of their repertoire. 

Maybe it's just sentimental to hear this music again, but why shouldn't good music be heard? Even if it only makes you listen to and enjoy the old albums again.

AR Kane

 

Last week I grabbed AR Kane's debut album 69 from 1988 out of my rack to listen to it once again. While listening to this record I thought it will be a good idea to write about this underrated band. A few days ago Adam made a superb piece of writing about them and with his 40 Minutes Of AR Kane the most is said. I discovered this record in our local record shop and and was fascinated by the cover. The plate cover is emerging as also on white background a dark circle in the middle of which we can faintly make out the number 69, which is shaped like two dark, undulating spirals. Inner-case's intricate shading shows the blue background and more clearly six-figure as a pregnant woman and nine-figure as a man, both swimming, in harmonious movements. After a few minutes watching the cover I bought this record without listening to any sons because I thought artist, that are able to create a cover like this couldn't make a bad record. When I came home I put the record on the turntable and started to listen. It seldom happened that I was so confused about what I heard. Not that I didn't liked what I heard but I was unprepared about the facets of their music. It started with a jazzy scat intro on Crazy Blue to turn into one the best pop songs of this era (they described it as dreampop later). Rudy Tambala once joked years later that AR Kane sound like a band with a bit of Velvet Underground and a bit of Cocteau Twins, Miles Davis and Joni Mitchel. And this describes their sound very good. A lot of everything good and always the ability to combine their influences with a massive pop attitude. An outstanding band and an outstanding album and the blueprint for a new generation in music.

AR Kane - Crazy Blue

AR Kane - Suicide Kiss

AR Kane - Baby Milk Snatcher

Their roots are certainly on bands like JAMC and noisy feedbacked guitar sounds. Best shown on their debut single.

AR Kane - When You're Sad (Long Version) 

Back To Normal Life

 

Since today, public life in my hometown has moved back towards normality. The incidences have fallen so far that it is again possible to meet in groups also in a pub. Of course not without the government having ordered regulations for this. So visits to a pubs and beergardens are only allowed to those who can show a negative vaccination test. For this reason, the public test centers cannot save themselves from an unusually high rush. Yesterday after work I managed a date for testing today and so in the late afternoon I will be able to meet some friends personally to those I had only contact via chat or Zoom. Hopefully this will be a few steps into normality. Today some songs I found on a sampler that was played often in times when me and mates met in a pub.

Pretenders - Brass In Pocket

Tom Robinson Band - 2-4-6-8 Motorway

Dr. John - Right Place Wrong Time

Ramones - Blitzkrieg Bop

Little Feat - Dixie Chicken

Velvet Underground - Sweet Jane

Dr. Feelgood - Milk and Alcohol

Monday's Long Song

 

Damage Control by New York based duo The Vacant Lots was released earlier this month and didn't made it on my year-end list just because it was no regular album. It is a compilation of various EP's they made during the last years and well worth to be checked out because their own definition of droning, psychedelic sound that includes the best of Spaceman 3, JAMC, VU and sometimes Echo and the Bunnymen was one of the freshest ones I listened to this year. They don't definite this genre new of course but holding the flag of drone music high is not the worst thing in days like these.

Monday's Long Song

1974 Lou Reed released Rock 'n' Roll Animal one of the first albums I bought from my own money. It was before I realized that most of the songs originally were by the Velvet Underground. I was fascinated by Lou Reed's voice and the heavy sound of his band. Compared to the originals he destroys the beauty of his greatest songs by turning them into a cliché of heavy metal mutations. After a few albums by Reed which were always over-ambitious and like suits which were a few numbers too big he finally returned again as the old, animal and degenerated Velvet Underground singer as a real Rock 'n' Roll animal, unpredictable and wild.

Lou Reed - Heroin

Hong Kong Garden

I was not the one who bought singles in former times but when I visited my local record shop back in 1978 this single came appeared when I searched the newest incoming records. It was in these days when almost every week another great song was released but it was hard to get the singles at my hometown. Hong Kong Garden was one of these singles I bought without any listening to it - just because the cover fascinated me. Siouxsie Sioux and the Banshees was one of the hottest bands in 1978 and they still are one of those artists from the punk era that stood the test of time for me. I don't know how much I listened to this song but I still get goose bumps when I listen to it after all these years.

Siouxsie and the Banshees - Hong Kong Garden

A few weeks later they released their debut album The Scream a manifest in punk/pre-post punk. Learned a lot by Velvet Underground and obscure Krautrock they made one of the sounds of they year. This record is still a classic and worth to be played today.

Metal Postcard
Suburban Relapse

Say Sue Me - Reprise

Almost two weeks ago Robster introduced us to Say Sue Me a band from Korea that plays probably one of the best jangly sounds in Asia. I liked what I heard from them and a few days ago I read the news that they release an EP for RSD covering a lot of songs from rock history in their unique sound. I expected everything but not that they covered Blondie with Dreaming, a great song from the new wave era. It is easy to cover this song but breath new life into this song is great. It is like Debbie Harry singing with the Reid Brothers. Awesome.

That they know the history you can see it by listening to  a great cover by The Velvet Underground:

And the Beach Boys

From The In-Box

The Telescopes are a band that is active since more than 30 years with different settings but always lead by Stephan Lawry. It is a bit of a psychedelic experience on The Desert In Your Heart and sometimes it reminds me to Velvet Underground playing in a very slow way. Totally different is Silent Water when they add rhythm and an acoustic guitar to their sound. I listened to various psychedelic bands this year but The Telescopes are far better than the average.



From the big reservoir of fantastic Scottish bands The Decrees held up the flag of power-pop with indie-rock influences. It is the sound of a bygone era and they are much inspired by Big Country. They show that this kind of music will never die.



Jenn Vix is another new artist to me. Based in Rhode Island she impressed me with an unique voice and some good songs. It is a combination of crunchy guitars, simple melodies and discreet beats. Her songs have a blackly mood but somehow in a powerful, sexy and catchy way.

39 Clocks

Back from the festival in Mannheim with burning feet and too less sleep but filled with lots of new experiences. I have to admit that a lot of bands were inspired by Velvet Underground and making their very own sound. Nevertheless they name this band as a main inspiration. This brings me back to a German band from the early 80's that was influenced by the Velvets. They didn't made it great but there were a few records back in the early 80's that I listened often to. 39 Clocks are named as the German Velvets but this ain't true. They based their songs on the weird sound of the Velvets and tried to make their very unique sound of it. Sadly they are forgotten during the last decades but their sound is still fresh and and the hight of the times when they released it. Something weird and wonderful I used to listen to at that time.

Enjoy.

Old Vine In New Bottles

While a perfect cover can change a song almost beyond recognition, sometimes it takes just a few taps of the chisel, as it were, to turn a great song into a perfect one. Cowboy Junkies didn't actually made radical changes to two classics by Velvet Underground and Neil Young. They adopted the essentials and the spirit of these songs. Reduced to a sleepy, almost narcotized pace they stripped the songs to a minimum. The result are two timeless cover versions. 

Cowboy Junkies - Powderfinger

A.R.Kane

It was a long time since I featured A.R.Kane, a British musical duo formed almost 30 years ago. Their forgotten album 69 is still a favorite of mine.I found it in my collection a few days ago and I listened to it from the start to the end. It's like a spacey trip to another planet. Influenced by various artists like Miles Davis, Velvet Underground and a bit of Cocteau Twins they made a record that is still worth to listen.

Enjoy.

Hallelujah

It's a song released almost 40 years ago by Leonard Cohen. I really like it in the original version. Many years later John Cale made a cover of this song released on a tribute CD to Mr. Cohen. I have ever had a close affinity to him from his early days playing with Velvet Underground. And he made some great record the years after splitting the band. I think this song is like a rock in the days long gone by.

Enjoy!

John  Cale - Hallelujah

Lou Reed 1942 - 2013

In the news I heard that Lou Reed died today. A half year ago he had a liver transplantation and I suppose that he didn't get well since them. I don't think that it is necessary to tell you about him, his life and work. For me he was a person that accompanied me for decades. I loved to hear his distinctive deadpan voice and the development of the so called Ostrich guitar. One more great artist left us forever.

R.I.P. Lou

Lou Reed - Temporary Thing

Sweet Jane

It's a classic from Velvet Underground. Many tried and many failed. For me it is the ultimate version of this song. Played by some Americans in country style. The whole record from the Cowboy Junkies is amazing. Recorded in a old church where they could fill the space. Give them a chance and listen.