When We Were Beautiful And Young

 

Last week Mick Harvey, former co-founder of the Birthday Party and member of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds announced a new album after almost a decade. His latest sign of life was when he released a couple of months ago a cover version of Marlene Dietrich's A Suitcase in Berlin which will also appear on his new album. I liked this version but forgot to write about it. Now he released When We Were Beautiful And Young another song from this album. And it one of those songs that you listen once and repeat it several times. The track is ethereal and haunting – a powerful reflection of the past delivered with moving grace and presence. The arrangements recall something from Burt Bacharach with a touch of Tindersticks: dramatic and melodic, the lyrics evocative and reflective. Weeping, sweeping strings augment the dramatic scenery and makes me looking forward to the full album.

What Happened To A Former Indie-Rock Band?

 

20 years ago a Sheffield based band appeared with thrilling guitar sound with a mixture of post-punk and garage rock on the scene. Arctic Monkeys and their debut album reached very high places in the charts and many called them the next big thing in music. I have to admit that I liked a few of their songs but they didn't really fascinated me. Now they returned with their seventh album The Car and they got a lot of critical acclaim. That made me starting listening to them once again. And after listening to this album I am not sure what I should think about this album. Is it a masterpiece of brit-pop and great songwriting or just another arty album showing their abilities in songwriting and ending in a Coldplay-like disaster? There are songs on this album, written and arranged well like I Ain't Quite Where I Think I Am but overproduced where Alex Turner can't decide if he plays a guitar like Mick Ronson or if he would wallow in a wah-wah-sound. On the other hand he tries to be a crooner like Elvis Costello trying to play an Bacharach-song. All in all every song was heard before in better quality. Sadly I am disappointed by this album. But this is only my opinion - maybe other people would like this one.

Ghost Box

The news that New York based band SUSS is going to release a new album made to listen to their debut album released one year ago. The music is hard to describe but ambient country music comes very close to it. The quintet is led by Bob Holmes a multi-instrumentalist and member of a cowpunk band called Rubber Rodeo. All the members of the band had worked with different artists like B 52's, Lydia Lunch, David Bowie, John Cale, Burt Bacharach and many others. SUSS once asked What would it sound like if Brian Eno had produced the Western film scores of Ennio Morricone? Certainly like SUSS but I can also hear a bit of Boards of Canada in their music. The songs are quiet and slow but showing great musicians doing a fantastic job.

The Return Of A Giant

There are only a few voices during the last decades that I could listen to to mostly every time and made a relaxed feeling to me. One was Kevin Rowland and the other was Marc Almond. Both were the ones that made me feel like every word of suffering came true out of their mouth. I always listened to him from the early days of Soft Cell until now. And I have to say I am pleased that he released a new album after long time. It is a record filled with classic songs from the last 30 years. He covered them in his very unique sound and arranged with strings and sometimes horns. Based on the Bacharach sound it is a record that is timeless and I am sure this record will be played at my place often. It shows all the quality Marc has as a crooner. Never thought that anyone could make a cover of Still I'm Sad by The Yardbirds. It is like a journey back in the early 60's when great vocalists were the next big thing. Of course totally retro but if you're in the mood for this, I am sure you can enjoy this.

Marc Almond - Still I'm Sad
Marc Almond - How Can I Be Sure
Marc Almond - I Know You Love Me Not

Thanksgiving

Just came back from an invitation to a traditional thanksgiving diner. The boss of my brother in law Ed invited us to his family and some friends. My god - how much to eat - from starters over the turkey to dessert. All tasty but so much to eat. Now we go out to grab a beer and watch the European League.

Enjoy

Burt Bacharach & Elvis Costello - What the world needs now is love