I will get into all of the explanations why in my actual review, but suffice to say, I owe Marillion to not just write away while I listen for the first time. For this album, I am taking my time, absorbing every aspect, in every way I possibly can. I am also not listening to very much else while I am spending my time with this album.
I will be posting about this one, hopefully, by the end of this coming weekend.
Recently, their label Karisma Records was able to get the rights to the first three Wobbler releases for reissue. So, the obvious course of action to take is to buy the blasted things.
For those unfamiliar, Wobbler is a Norwegian progressive rock act. They are of the symphonic version of prog, so expect lengthy pieces that border on the classical side, rather than the jazz side. However, they draw from enough influences that they dabble in all aspects of prog. We get a little classical at times, and a little jazz at times. But, regardless of the exact version of prog, they are sticking to a 70s influence, and even try to stick to the vintage instruments of the time.
All of that being said, I am only really familiar with their two newest albums. Although all of their material is available on Apple Music, I never spent much time digging into the earlier albums. I do believe that the first two (one of which is what I am about to write about here) sticks even more true to the vintage ideals. The first two albums also feature a different lead vocalist and lead guitarist than the two albums I had previously.
So, how do these compare to the two newest albums? The band, according to the liner notes inside Hinterland, seems to feel that the first album shows a band that was still earning the ropes, a band that didn't know what to do in the studio. I have to say they are dead wrong. From their perspective it might be full of amateurish ideas and studio abilities, but to this listening, this is some fantastic music!
Vocally we are in the same territory that we were in with a lot of bands during the 90s and early 2000s. Borderline Fish/Gabriel style vocals. During this time period a lot of bands were doing that vocal style. That's not to say one will think this might be either of those gentlemen, but it is of that style. We aren't talking operatic heights of vocal acrobatics, its more about the emotion, with the exception of a portion of "Rubato Industry" where we definitely hit some high notes that would make King Diamond smile.
The bass and drumming. Holy smokes! Brilliant work on both accounts. This is a special part of Wobbler today, and it is great to hear it all here.
The only area that I would possibly say that they are correct about the amateurish side, would be in possibly being over-indulgent in their song writing. They might get carried away with passages and the amount of notes they throw in, but this is also what will endear them to many prog fans. Wobbler is a prog band for prog fans, no doubt about it at all.
4 songs. Well, really, 3 songs. "Serenade For 1652" is a short instrumental piece. Otherwise we have 3 long numbers that rock. Don't be fooled by the mellow start to "Clair Obscur." The gentle nature of the beginning does not last very long.
This is a fantastic record, one that deserves to be in the collection of any prog fan.
Are The Bronx the best band working in the US (or world) today? I'm not sure if they are the best, but one definitely has to add them into the discussion.
On top of all this, we have to pay attention to the lively and intense drumming. I was a little worried about the loss of original drummer Jorma Vik, but The Bronx have continued to prove that they know how important the drums have been to their sound. We aren't talking about groundbreaking drumming, but rather drumming that hits with fills at the perfect spots, while being incredibly flashy and tasty, and exactly what is needed. The drumming makes its presence, but never tries to over shadow anything else.
Songs like "White Shadow" and "Superbloom" are classic Bronx style tracks. While a song like "Watering the Well" gives us just a straight-up good time rock and roll tune. The Bronx never forgets they are here to rock the hell out of the room, and they do this almost non-stop.
They do step out a little bit with the song "Mexican Summer," almost to remind us of the bands alter-ego, Mariachi El Bronx. But we follow up this track with "New Lows" that quickly throws up back to The Bronx that we bought the album by.
"Jack of All Trades" is the type of thing that The Bronx do so well. A perfect mix of punk, new wave of British Heavy Metal, 70s hard rock, everything all mashed into one track. The riff is almost "Green Manalishi," but I am betting they first heard the Corrosion of Conformity version, then the Judas Priest, then eventually moved to Fleetwood Mac (yes, that was my original listening order, so what).
The final song, "Participation Trophy," isn't quite the punch I would hope them to end on, but the songwriting and riffing and switching is incredibly cool. I'm thinking this was the ending choice because they wanted to show off the writing and the killer groove. We aren't ending with a bang, but rather a "Yeah, watch what we can do here, and where we might be heading!"
As I said, are they the best current band? Not sure, but they deserve to be in the argument, and they definitely are one of the best current bands, and without a doubt one of the most consistent.
Edit: Yes, I stepped away from the other albums that were recently purchased. A favorite record store announced that they are shutting down business, and they are having a massive sale. So, I had to run up there and grab a few things I was hoping they still had. This is one of those purchases.
Are there many things better than cheap records? Finding great music for a few bucks here and there? Seriously, does it get much better than that?
Oh, sure, I guess if you don't collect records or music, then it probably isn't so great. Heck, at that point it is probably a pretty good waste of money, no matter how little you spend. I guess if you prefer gumballs, and that is your ideal purchase for a weekend, then $2.00 on a dusty piece of vinyl you might never listen to is a pretty big waste.
Nonetheless, for those of you who do like music, $2.00 of a great find it a wonderful way to spend your money.
So, in the spirit of celebrating cheap finds, why not take a little look at the wonderful finds from this past weekend?
The Nice - Elegy (1971)
I like Emerson Lake and Palmer, but that is as far as it goes. One of those bands that were always just shy of being great, in my opinion. Musicianship they are second to none. Brilliant as players, and that really can't be argued. Their songs, however, always fell just a little short. More flash than substance.
The Nice is Keith Emerson's band before he joined ELP. I have never really given them much of a try, so I decided to finally step into it with this. I believe I have seen some people prefer The Nice.
Caravan - Caravan and The New Symphonia (1974)
It's Caravan. It's a live Caravan album. I don't walk away from that. This was the most expensive item. Paid $10 for this one. I don't usually balk at buying Caravan, regardless of the price. It is usually a pretty rare day that one finds certain albums by them, so if you like them, grab them. I already know what to expect, so I know my money is safe with the material. One of the few prog bands that even in their "bad" years managed to turn out quality material.
King Crimson - U.S.A. (1975)
Similar to the Caravan. Live Crimson. I don't know as if Crimson are capable of turning out garbage. Even if the material isn't to your liking, the quality of everything under the hood is there.
You know, they're kind of like another ELP for me, though. I like Crimson. I don't love them. I like them. But, Crimson has more that I like than ELP. This covers some pretty great material, even at only 6 songs. I have the cassette. But, having the cassette only means I haven't listened to it in 30 years or so. 30 years???
Jukka Tolonen - Crossection (1975)
No idea. Looks Prog. It is on the Janus label, which means it is Prog. Reading up on the guy on Prog Archives it almost sounds like he is legendary, but even the band that spawned him is totally unknown to me, and they only have a few albums out. No, I don't remember their name, and I am not super interested in searching them out right now. In a couple of days when I listen to this thing I will comment on that stuff then.
I did check out a little of the band he came from (again, don't know the name off hand and I don't speak the language, so it totally didn't stick), and they are pretty fantastic.
Pretty Things - Savage Eye (1975)
This is a band I have been interested in for a few years, but never grabbed anything by for some reason. In fact, I haven't even really checked them out on a stream. I think I was always holding off until I got something by them. I believe they are a band that straddled almost every genre there is, but never fell into just one of them. Si, I grabbed it and am looking forward to this one. For some reason I kind of lump them mentally with Golden Earring.
So, these will all be spun over the week and I will write about them all as I get to them. I also grabbed a couple more today for only $0.50 a piece. Trevor Rabin's debut and the 80's damaged Renaissance album Time-Line, which features Ian Mosely from Marillion on drums!
Stay tuned for the excitement!!!
Today?
Oof. There is some decent stuff on here. Scared Straight's "Born to be Wild" works well enough. The two covers of "Cherry Bomb" and "Born to Lose" are also worthy covers.
Some tracks like "Super Freak" (Membranes) and "Tight Pants (El Nirvana) are not great but they are still pretty fun. The musicianship is pretty good, and it is just the lack of production that hurts these two, and with a little guidance, they probably could have pulled them off.
Slaughterhouse Five does a pretty killer version of "O Baby" by the mighty Status Quo. This one will get future listens. Great driving energy, and I would bet even Quo might have enjoyed this. Granted, there is that typical drum fill, probably stolen from Scott of Agent Orange.
But, then there is stuff like the absolutely horrific cover of "Back In The Saddle" by Sado Nation. Seriously, this is exactly what people who hate punk hate about punk. Absolute shit production, worse musicianship, and vocals that are nails on a chalkboard.
The version of "Taking Care of Business" is brilliant in its over-the-top early/mid-80s punk mentality of "speed over everything else." It definitely got a big smile out of me. I know 16 year old me would have been calling for this one from the pit. Up to this point, this one is my favorite on the album. One of those great punk bands that hide their true skill, but are insanely tight and tear the place apart.
I am not a fan of "Sunshine of Your Love," but Party Doll does a pretty cool cover. Nice drumming for sure! I can only imagine this one killed live. Great early Goth.
Hats off to V.O.A. for a decent turn on "Suffragette City." I expect some Bowie fans would hate this, but these guys find a groove in the song that I really haven't heard exploited before, and it really swings. Best way to describe it there, it swings.
So far, yeah, side two is a damn fine batch of songs.
Oh, next is Government Issue, so we know this will be solid. Then after that is No FX.
Hmmm, "Wild Blood" by Government isn't really working for me. Not bad, but the song itself is just OK.
How will No FX fair with "Iron Man," a song I am not a huge fan of? Well, they seem to be sticking pretty faithful. Even trying to hit the guitar tone, it seems. The drumming and vocals are pretty rough. I'll pass on this one. It gains a little steam as it goes, but not a whole lot. It is just making the wait for the next song that much worse.
Next up, however, is the very reason I grabbed this thing.
The Flower Leperds hand in their cover of "Jumping Jack Flash." I have their version on their LP, but since this is about 5 years prior, I am hoping it is a different version. The version on their LP is one of the single greatest covers ever recorded. Total attitude and fitting in perfect with the original song.
Yeah, still incredible amounts of "bad ass" for this version! Best song on this damn record. Pure punk meets trash bliss! Nice split channels for the guitars, and Marc Olson sounds wonderful. Jeff Wolfe is his typical cool ass self.
Plainwrap wins the album!!! Their cover of "It's A Small World" is absolutely brilliant! Absolutely brilliant in all regards! The drummer kills on this song!
So, yeah, a bit of a mixed bag. Only one absolutely horrid piece of music, the rest goes between good to almost great, with the Flower Leperds being the Flower Leperds.
The whole band had to be thinking that during the recording of "Its Up To Me and You," because Scott plays the hell out of that one fill. It is a great song, and the fill is lovely the first time, but Neil Peart needed to have a chat with Scott about overkilling a fill.
When I think of Agent Orange I think of skaters, Flipside magazine, and my continually goofing them up with The Effigies, for some reason. I think I had a comp. cassette back in the day that had both Agent Effigies on it, back to back, and I just always goofed them up.
In case you were wondering, Agent Orange does an admirable job of moving the music from their area (surf and psychedelic) and mixing it in with the 80s punk scene of the California area. There are also only four songs here, so there isn't a whole lot to say about it as far as depth. In fact, one song is a cover, two are instrumentals, and the first song is the lone original with vocals, but it has Scott and that damned drum fill. But, that is a good song, and the cover is killer.
They're from Placentia, California. Folks who are from California, is that in Orange County?
Thanks to Colleen for the tunes!
Black Flag, one of those bands I always had seriously mixed emotions about, but also a band that my own guitar playing was compared to more than once. That last fact always irked me, as they were definitely never an influence, but somehow I came across sounding like Ginn.
I should probably restate all of that. I was never a fan of Black Flag, until I found The First Four Years, which is all of the pre-Henry Rollins material. With that I got to hear the Keith Morris material, and that stuff I was a big fan of for sure. The band had a different approach at that point, a little more straight-forward and a little less of the noise style that guitarist Ginn would eventually create.
The song "Nervous Breakdown" (which is not on this release I am currently listening to) became one of the only cover songs I would attempt with a band. We had the verses down pretty good, but the chorus bit was a mess. I wonder if doing that one song would eventually influence more of my playing?
I have always liked Flag, I think my issue was I always felt they were overrated, and Rollins always bugged me. It didn't help that I went to see Dag Nasty when they opened for The Rollins Band at the Cubby Bear in Chicago one night. This was the first round of the Rollins Band. At this time they were a slow, prodding, horrible experiment gone horribly wrong. I remember the entire audience deciding to sit down, with some actually lying down on the floor. My memory one song was more or less one chord, slowly played, for about 20 minutes, all while Henry stood on stage yelling about something.
"Louie, Louie" just came on . . . crap . . . I just realized it was the Flag version that made me learn how to play the song and start doing it with a band . . . maybe I was a bigger fan than I thought I was .
My Greg Ginn comparisons would eventually fade once I stopped trying to create the ultimate punk band, something I never even got close to doing.
"Damaged II" is still such a killer song. That one I seriously love a whole bunch. It's that part when it kicks in, that bit is so great and helps cover up the "start-stop" main verses.
So, yeah, Flag is still cool. Still overrated, in my opinion, but cool stuff. Keith Morris era is still my favorite, and I still will take the Circle Jerks over Flag.
Off! VS Black Flag? That's a tough call. I think I have a little problem with Off! in that Morris is kind of doing a post-Morris Flag. They have more in common with Chavo/Dez/Rollins sounding Flag than they do Morris era Flag. Yes?
Thanks to Colleen for the tunes!
To be fair, it is probably the most "punk" and "hardcore" of them all. Pretty much a full speed ahead assault on the senses. But, it lacks the hooks of the rest of their material. For me it does, at least.
I also have to say, this one really is a great example of what I was talking about in the Frankenchrist post, in regards to the sound quality. Granted, I am spinning a very old pressing of the record, and it has been loved, but it is still without a doubt a rough recording. Purchasing this on a 2000 gram, limited edition slab of wax that was overseen by Jello himself is kind of pointless. A remix might be an interesting concept, but it would also ruin the charm of the album. Obviously made for nothing, and it benefits from that in regards to what this stuff is supposed to be.
You know, when I think about it, that is kind of the problem with a lot of punk these days. Or, with what passes for punk to the masses. It is too produced, too polished. It lacks the heart of the immediacy of something like this. This is really what punk was supposed to be about.
Dammit. I think I talked myself into liking this one a whole lot more all of a sudden. I'm going to start it over again. I'll be back.
Yeah, it might be my favorite of theirs after this listen. This is why I fell in love with Punk back around 1983 - 1984.
Thanks to Colleen for the tunes.
One of the biggest issues I always had was how to attack a review exactly. Does one talk about the songs? Talk about the influences and who the band sounds like? Should I take the time to address every single song? How about the musicianship? Do I pay the most attention to the playing, the writing, the A&R department and if their creation and/or suggestions are really working for the band?
I finally decided the answer is both "yes" and "no." But not for every record.
From now on, all I am going to do is write about whatever I feel like writing about. Some records will make me want to write about them, and what I write about is basically going to be stream of consciousness type of stuff. Somedays I will be technical, other times I am just going to sit and reminisce about the days of yore. Other times I will analyze every single song, other times I might not mention a single song title. I might also spend the whole time going on and on about the individual musicians.
Who knows? I sure don't.
Dead Kennedys - Frankenchrist (1985)
We can obviously also talk about censorship and banned albums and images.
Yes, this is the album that took Dead Kennedys from being one of the most important underground bands, to actually being a household name that even grandparents knew about (and were horrified by the name). All thanks to a poster of a bunch of willies painted by a man best known for creating an alien that gave people the willies.
At the time, I liked the album. But, my cassette was good enough. I grabbed cassettes mainly due to the ease of transport and car use. Plus, they were much easier to get out of the record stores with nobody noticing.
This copy is lacking the liner notes and aforementioned poster. The record looks like a punk album that came out in the 80s. I question any punk releases from the era that are in mint condition. We were punks, it wasn't about being anal with our records. I took care of them, but all my records and cassettes definitely looked like they were used.
Listening to it again, after many years without listening, I am actually very much enjoying this one. It isn't as blazing as Fresh Fruit, but the songs are definitely infective little creatures, with some killer hooks and grooves.
So, I did say that most of the new reviews are going to be stream of consciousness as I listen, and that is mostly true. But, there have to ...
