CD Odyssey Disc 1501: Run the Jewels

I was home later than expected today, having been stuck in a traffic jam for about an hour. This was unpleasant, but it was made better having a good record to listen to.

Disc 1501 is…. Run the Jewels 4

Artist: Run the Jewels

Year of Release: 2020

What’s up with the Cover? The usual Run the Jewels symbol of the two finger point and the sideways fist. They’ve kept with the metallic theme from RTJ3, although these hands look less refined – like maybe in a post-apocalyptic future we rediscover the technology for making metal hands, but no longer have the precision machine tools to craft them as intricately as “the ancients”. Metal hands! Coming to a future near you. Or not.

How I Came To Know It: I’m an avowed fan of RTJ, and this was just me buying their latest album when it came out.

How It Stacks Up: I have four Run the Jewels albums, which is all of them. Of those four, RTJ 4 comes in at #2, bumping the also-awesome RTJ3 down one spot in the process.

Ratings: 4 stars but almost 5

It was a hard task to match the excellence of their previous three records, but damn it if Run the Jewels didn’t pull it off.

So much of modern rap is about stealing a hook and rinsing and repeating it. Run the Jewels are a throwback to the golden era of rap where all you needed was a sick beat, great rhymes, and a killer flow. As a duo, El-P and Killer Mike actually do that one better, providing two killer flows.

Like a lot of people, I was initially drawn to “Ooh La La.” The song’s hook is more of a hook converted into a beat itself. It has a sweet sample of Nice N’ Smooth from when they were guesting on the Gang Starr track “DWYCK”. “DWYCK” is one of my favourite rap songs of all time, but Run the Jewels are not content to sit on a single sample, they turn it into a new groove all its own and buoyed by some creative and compelling rhymes the song quickly unfolds into a fresh modern rap classic.

Here and throughout the record, each DJ has his own distinct but complementary style. El-P skating his rhymes over the top of the beat like a water spider, and Killer Mike thumping his flow down like an extra bass drum. While I have more of Killer Mike’s solo work in my collection, when it comes to Run the Jewels I cannot pick a favour. They are both at the top of their game, and the combination of their sound is better than anything either of them does in their solo career.

As for sick beats, RTJ4 has plenty to offer. Alongside these, the boys do a dizzying array of samples and soundscapes, all layered one on top of the other so intricately it would make Public Enemy proud (they even throw out a reference to early PE on “Out of Sight” with “my motherfuckin’ Uzi weighs a ton”. Unlike Public Enemy’s frantic energy, RTJ always feels like they are sinking further and further into the pocket, yet they never lose momentum in the process.

The songs vary between tracks on social justice and “we rap better than you”. Despite these being very traditional themes, the album feels fresh and powerful. RTJ breathe life and electricity into both, leaving you feeling both thoughtful and cool as fuck.

The whole record is under 40 minutes, with the vast majority of the tracks under three and a half minutes. Within each of those three and a half minutes El-P and Killer Mike cram a shit-ton of incredible rhymes, paying homage to past greats while simultaneously securing their place among them.

Best tracks: Yankee and the Brave (Ep. 4), Ooh La La, Out of Sight, Holy Calamafuck, JU$T, Never Look Back, the Ground Below

CD Odyssey Disc 1500: Sabaton

This next review has bonus content! Yes, you read that right, lucky readers! In addition to a regular album review, I’m also reviewing my first ever “single” purchased digitally, by the same band as a handy add-on.

I did roll the main album randomly, but not the add-on, which I am including under the rarely used Rule #5.

Disc 1500 is…. Coat of Arms (plus bonus content of the single “Bismark”)

Artist: Sabaton

Year of Release: 2010 (Coat of Arms), 2019 (Bismark)

What’s up with the Cover? Say one thing about Sabaton, they love a dramatic album cover. This one is (fittingly) a coat of arms. Here we have an eagle d'or displayed, wings elevated. That’s the fancy heraldry talk for it anyway.

How I Came To Know It: This is a relatively early album from Sabaton but it is new to me, as I have been digging through their back catalogue from most recent back. I would have bought this one within the last six months or so, likely through Amazon (ugh) because I couldn’t order it through my local record shop or Bandcamp. Sabaton does let you purchase through Bandcamp, but only digitally.

My first encounter with Sabaton was the song “Bismark” which I am reviewing today as well.

How It Stacks Up: I now have eight Sabaton albums and I’m on the lookout for one more to round out my collection. Of the eight I do have, “Coat of Arms” comes in sixth place. “Bismark” does not stack up as it is only a single. It is here for your additional interest and enjoyment.

Ratings: 3 stars

“Coat of Arms” is Sabaton’s fifth major release, but their first to chart (albeit barely) outside of Sabaton’s native Sweden, introducing multiple other European countries to their majesty and might.

Majesty and might is what you’ll get on this record, and a hefty dose of both. Sabaton is all about soaring anthemic metal tunes, with simple but well played riffs and the heavy thump of European power metal at its finest.

This stuff is not for everyone. If you are more of a floor starer, or couch sitter when you listen to your metal, you will be disappointed. But if you like to get excited, pump your fist, and sing along then this is very likely to be in your wheelhouse. These tunes are loaded with power chords played with gusto and front man Joakim Broden’s big and booming voice lifting you up like a soccer chant.

One again we have Sabaton’s preoccupation with stories of warfare on full display. At this stage of their career they are all in on battle tunes. If you like to hear songs about battles, you’ll get plenty here, with 9 of 10 tracks about exactly that. “Coat of Arms” takes the theme one step further, where all nine of those songs are about events from one war (World War Two). I’ll mention just a few of my favourites (songs, not events).

Sabaton often feels most inspired when telling of noble efforts where one side is overwhelmed but stands tall in often tragic circumstances. “Uprising” is about the Polish uprising in 1944 in Warsaw, crushed by the German army after Russian troops refused to advance to their aid. The heavy thud of the song gives it an air of inexorability while also capturing the unquenchable spirit of Poles who fought against such steep odds.

Another favourite is “Aces in Exile” the story about all the airmen from conquered countries (including the aforementioned Poland) flying in the Battle of Britain against the German Luftwaffe. The soaring quality had me thinking favourably of Iron Maiden’s similarly themed “Aces High”. “Aces High” is the better song, and Broden does not have the chops of Bruce Dickinson, but “Aces in Exile” is still a glorious tribute to a group of men who had lost everything, but still found a way to fight on against tyranny.

I was a bit disappointed in “Midway”, partly because it is there are so many intriguing tales of individual heroism and twists of fortune in the battle. It was made for song, but while the guitar riffs are as solid as ever, it falls victim to Sabaton’s Achilles’ heel: literalism.

These guys love military history, but it sometimes feels like an A&E biography, rather than an artistic representation. They like to tell a story from a “just the facts, ma’am” approach. As a result on “Midway” you get hackneyed lyrics like:

“Send them over the waves
Our sentinels
They report in the news
Position of our foes.

“The battlefield’s been chosen tactically in advance
Time to alert our fighters
We’re soon in range.”

Yeesh. I love this band, but that is terrible.

The final song, “Metal Ripper” is surprisingly not about war at all. It is Sabaton’s (distantly) second favourite theme: heavy metal music and how fucking great it is. The song is a glorious riff fest, festooned with references to a rogue’s gallery of seminal metal songs by other bands. You’ve got the bell tolling, highways to hell, blood on your face (you big disgrace) and a bunch more that I don’t have time to mention and/or didn’t catch. It is a love letter to Sabaton’s musical heroes and influences. It is a bit hokey, but I loved every minute of it and the song is an undeniable earworm.

My remastered copy of the record also includes instrumental versions of both “Coat of Arms” and “Metal Ripper.” I’m not sure why anyone would want that as bonus material. I did not.

That said, I had a great time listening the original 10 tracks. Sabaton have their faults, but they are very happy to wear them on their sleeve for all to see. They like big anthems, big riffs and the mixed heroism and tragedy of war. It isn’t something most people want a full record of, but if you happen to like them, you like them a lot.

Bonus Content: ‘Bismarck’ the single

I think "what's up with the cover" is obvious here, so let's move on to the song, shall we?

Given all these World War Two songs, it seemed the right time to throw in this track. My first ever digital album download was Jens Lekman and Annika Norlin’s “Correspondence” and "Bismarck" was my first ever digital download of a single. For whatever reason, it’s been Swedish musicians inspiring me to try new things.

I’ve always had a fascination with naval warfare (see “Midway” above) and as a boy the story of the Bismarck always filled me with awe from the first day I was introduced to it (via “Sink The Bismarck” by country singer Johnny Horton).

For years (and on limited resources) I tried to buy all the models I’d need to recreate the encounter between the Bismarck and the Hood but after many years I only ever had the Bismarck and the Prince of Wales (no Prinz Eugen, and no Hood). I even ended up painting the Bismarck with the hull markings of her sister ship, the Tirpitz, by mistake. D’oh!

Anyway, Sabaton does a good job of capturing the awe and power of the Bismarck. Johnny Horton’s song tells the story better, but I’ll give Sabaton the edge for the riff which is full of bombastic awesomeness.

Best tracks: Coat of Arms, Uprising, The Final Solution, Aces in Exile, Metal Ripper and of course…Bismarck!

CD Odyssey Disc 1499: The White Stripes

Despite a responsible Sunday evening and good night’s sleep I’m feeling Monday today a bit harder than usual. Fortunately, I have a week of fun ahead to restore my vitality.

Disc 1499 is…. Icky Thump

Artist: The White Stripes

Year of Release: 2007

What’s up with the Cover? This cover is proof-positive the White Stripes went out at the top. Their first album features them in t-shirts. Eight years later (to the day – both their first and last record were released on June 15) they’re rocking some serious beadwork. These glorious outfits look like they weight a ton, with a cost to match.

And if you’re wondering, yes I would wear Meg’s hat and no, I would not be caught dead in Jack’s.

How I Came To Know It: Like most people with ears in the mid-oughts, I loved the White Stripes. I bought this when it came out. I probably heard the title track before I did, and that wouldn’t have hurt.

How It Stacks Up: I have six White Stripes albums, which is all of them. Competition among those records is tough, and brilliant as it is, “Icky Thump” can only manage to land at #4.

Ratings: 4 stars

What can you say about the last album from a band that reinvented rock and roll, that blazed a path for those that would follow that was so hot and furious you’d be crazy to try to imitate them? I’d like to go back in time and beg them to reconsider, but since that’s an impossibility I’ll just applaud in appreciation of a band that accomplishes what few ever do: go out on top.

While many bands this far into their career are already recycling old concepts, the White Stripes were continuing to stretch their already unique brand of rock into new and fascinating ways.

Yes, Jack White’s guitar is still front and centre, knocking out grimy, dirty riffs with equal parts ferocity and perfect timing. White has always been a revelation on guitar with his genius for understanding what makes the blues the blues, but then playing them from a wholly different perspective. You’d be hard pressed to say it is anything other than rock and blues, but it just feels gloriously different when he does it. And all that reverb and under-growl has allowed him to do it all the while with nary a bass in the mix.

The record starts with a classic thumper in the title track. The White Stripes have plenty of these classic grooves in their repertoire, but “Icky Thump” is easily one of the best. It’s got it all: crazy call-and-answer guitar, an irresistible riff and White’s electric vocal performance. Hell, I even enjoyed the thump of Meg’s drums on this one. It is so easy to listen to, it always feels like it ends too early, and it was all I could do to not just go back and play it again immediately.

Fortunately the record has plenty more where that came from, including “You Don’t Know What Love Is”, “Bone Broke” and “Little Cream Soda” all of which grab and shake you by your earholes and make you like it.

Atop this ferocity the band has added a playful light alter ego of sound that gives the album a lot of dynamic range as well as a cool-down vibe for when you need it. My favourite of the bunch is “300 M.P.H. Torrential Downpour Blues” which has an easy-going pick pattern layered with a second easy going pick pattern. Then, right when you’re about to let out a heavy sigh and take a sip of iced tea, you spill your drink all over yourself as Jack fires some crazed feedback-ridden guitar hell at you. It sounds like the blues on bath salts, but he successfully twists it into something dark and beautiful.

The White Stripes often limit themselves to guitar, drum and vocals but on Icky Thump they have a couple of tracks that feature bagpipes. They aren’t my favourite tracks, and Meg White’s banter near the end of “St. Andrew (the Battle is in the Air)” annoyed me, but they still manage to make the experience work, at least to that point. Even the self-indulgent “Rag and Bone” is generally a good time, if for no other reason than the insistent and energized rhythm of the tune. Also, Jack features this time, and he’s notably better at idle banter than Meg.

Because of the furious genius of his guitar work and innovative production, Jack White’s lyrics often get short shrift, but there are plenty of places on Icky Thump where he displays his wry wit and talent for a turn of phrase. My favourite for this is the album’s final track, “Effect and Cause” where White turns the usual concept on its head to remonstrate someone’s spurious logic. It loses something sitting stale on the page, but I encourage you to give the song a listen and revel in the intermingling of metaphor and barroom philosophy.

The record gets a bit too cute for its own good in places, but it always does so in a way that makes you know the White Stripes are in on the joke. Also, they always manage to pull it off at the last second.

Jack White would go on to many more successful projects, including three albums in each of the Raconteurs, the Dead Weather, and as a solo artist. He hadn’t lost his touch with the White Stripes in 2007, he was just ready to move on. Fortunately he left us one hell of a parting gift.

Best tracks: Icky Thump, You Don’t Know What Love Is (You Just Do What You’re Told), 300 M.P.H. Torrential Downpour Blues, Little Cream Soda, I’m Slowly Turning Into You, A Martyr For My Love For You, Effect and Cause

CD Odyssey Disc 1498: Torres

I took the day off today, and while it started with a less pleasant experience (going to the dentist) it is all good from here. I plan to get some tacos from my favourite taco joint, buy some new music, and then meet up with a friend for drinks.

Upon further review, even the dentist was fine; I love that fresh feeling after having my teeth cleaned.

Disc 1498 is…. Thirstier

Artist: Torres

Year of Release: 2021

What’s up with the Cover? Mackenzie Scott (aka Torres) reclines with her guitar between her legs. This cover reminded me of Liz Phair’s 2003 self-titled release although Liz is displaying a bit more wanton abandon, whereas Torres is going for “sexy, but also chill”. Sorry about the generic Liz Phair link – I haven’t reviewed that record yet.

How I Came To Know It: I was already a fan, so this was just me buying her latest when it came out and hoping for the best.

How It Stacks Up: When I last reviewed Torres I only had two of her albums and they were pretty much in a dead heat of awesome. Now I have four, with “Thirstier” in a two way tied with “Three Futures” for the top. The two albums are so different it is hard to separate them or pick one over the other. However, since you didn’t come here to read my equivocations, I’ll put this one in at #2. Tomorrow I may flip it, but that’s a decision for a future me.

Ratings: 4 stars

With each successive album Torres pushes her style and boundaries further. She’s a fearless innovator and – unlike some innovators – still ends up with songs that are beautiful and powerful. Note to songwriters: your song can be as new and different as you like, but it still has to be good.

After pressing the limits of electronica on her last couple of albums, Torres goes more traditional on “Thirstier”. Not quite radio friendly rock/pop, mind you. You can still expect atypical melodic structures and bending the use of traditional instruments to create novel soundscapes. What you can see is Torres taking more traditional forms and seeing what she can create within them. Think about someone locking themselves in a small white room, but then going apeshit painting colours and shapes all over the walls

After a couple of albums that were both erotic and dark, “Thirstier” is a markedly happier record. On “Don’t Go Puttin Wishes in My Head” and “Hug from a Dinosaur” I was left with the distinct impression that Torres has found love.

On “Don’t Go Puttin Wishes in My Head” the narrator lays the choice bare for her lover: if we’re staying together then get that ring on my finger and be quick about it. The upbeat driving club-feel of the tune tells you she gets a favourable answer from her ultimatum. On “Hug from a Dinosaur” she is positively giddy with love with lines like:

“What comprises all this joy I feel and where was it before?
Ancient and eternal and surreal as a hug from a dinosaur.”

The image is a bit cutesy, but that’s love in full flower, isn’t it? Full of pet names, playful hugs, and impromptu kitchen dancing.

“Hug from a Dinosaur” and “Are You Sleepwalking?” also show off Torres’ Camaro rock side, dropping in that fuzzy guitar sound that I appreciate in bands like Ex Hex and Tacocat. I appreciate it here as well, and both tracks are standout headbangers.

Despite the slightly poppier influences, the raw sexual side of Torres is still reflected on this record. “Drive Me” is a slow burner about taking your time in the bedroom, applying the driving imagery of 10 and 2 to other activities that might result in your hands being in those positions. Nudge-nudge, wink-wink, say no more (although Torres says plenty more).

And there is still sadness to go around as well. “Big Leap” is a heartbreaking tune about premature loss. The single guitar plucks away hauntingly as Torres sets the scene with:

“I was on my way to see you on the 14^th
The morning you fell thirty feet
Your body broken on concrete
Across the country in the Georgia heat.”

The song also features one of Torres’ best vocals performances on the record, showcasing her husky low range and sweet head voice in one song.

As is her nature, Torres drops a bit of electronica into the mix, this time with “Kiss the Corner”. I don’t love electronica, but Torres manages to make me appreciate it at least like it a bit, which is no mean feat.

On the title track she pulls all of the albums influences together. The song has soft introspective sections, where Torres’ vocals hold centre stage, plus a B section that rocks out with anthemic thump. The range and interest of the record, combined with her innovative use of rock traditions had me thinking favourably of St. Vincent and Liz Phair. Those are two of my favourite artists, and with the consistently great work Torres is putting out, she is fast putting herself on the same list.

Best tracks: Are You Sleepwalking?, Don’t Go Puttin Wishes in my Head, Drive Me, Big Leap, Hug From a Dinosaur, Thirstier

CD Odyssey Disc 1497: Belle and Sebastian

I’ve had a spell of bad luck on my album rolls of late, making the decision to give away or sell three of the last eight albums I’ve reviewed, including this next one.

Disc 1497 is…. How to Solve Our Human Problems

Artist: Belle and Sebastian

Year of Release: 2017/2018

What’s up with the Cover? I believe it is a bunch of fans who got a chance to be on the cover, which is pretty neat for the fans, but doesn’t really do it for me in terms of cover art.

How I Came To Know It: I have been a Belle and Sebastian fan for years, so this was just me buying their latest and hoping for the best.

How It Stacks Up: I have eight Belle and Sebastian albums and “How to Solve Our Human Problems” comes in at #8; a well-deserved last place finish.

Ratings: 2 stars

Long-time readers will be familiar with my assertion that the vast majority of double albums should have been a single album with half the songs left on the studio floor. With “How to Solve Our Human Problems” Belle and Sebastian have created a sub-genre of this: a full-length album that should have been a single EP.

This makes some sense, given this record was originally released as three separate EPs, before later being amalgamated into a single LP. I thought I was exceedingly clever for holding out for the combined release, but in the end all I did was subject myself to three times the annoyance.

I expect a certain level of saccharine pixie pop from a Belle and Sebastian record, but this experience is usually enriched by first rate melodies and lyrics. On “Human Problems” you get all the empty bounce without the usual gravitas and emotional honesty that makes their work meaningful and relatable.

The album has a clear seventies throwback quality, but not the good part of the seventies. Think the worst of seventies AM radio pop, played in your parent’s station wagon on a stretch of road where the aerial is only capable picking up one station. Like that road trip, you can choose to swap over to FM seventies radio. The record has that covered as well, with dreamy, stoner jams from the FM side of the dial, but once again…the worst the genre has to offer. Guitar solos played inside stormwater culverts, and arrangements so saturated they struggle to make a choice and stick with it.

The album’s low point is “Everything is Now,” a boring anthem that goes nowhere and takes its time getting there. That doesn’t dissuade the band however, who include two different versions. Part One features one of the most soporific organ noodles I have ever heard.

Finally, two-thirds of the way through we reach the third EP section of the album, which stirred me from my slumber to provide some late-record joy. This doesn’t happen until song #11, and I admit that by then I was not in the mood to be amused. Nevertheless, “Poor Boy” kicks off what was once “Volume 3” with a funky groove I cannot deny.

Still intent on their own destruction, Belle and Sebastian immediately follow up that momentum with Part Two of “Everything is Now”. Enough time had passed, that the horror of Part One was now just a bitter “did I eat too much garlic?” taste in my mouth, but its return immediately regurgitated all of the unpleasantness of the original experience. Is “Part Two” better than Part One? Yes, it is, but not sufficiently better for me to enjoy the experience.

“Too Many Tears” follows. It is overblown with a lot of musical concepts, but the horns are infectious give the tune a nice anthemic quality. Following that we have “This is an Everlasting Song” which gets the band doing what they do best: wan and thoughtful melodies that trip along dreamily.  The record ends with “Best Friend,” a great tune with the whimsical narrative quality you’d expect on earlier records like “The Life Pursuit.” (Reviewed at Disc 603). This is the Belle and Sebastian I have grown to love; music to make an indie romance film to. Unfortunately, Vol. 3 came to me two volumes too late to fully recover from the earlier failures.

It felt like Belle and Sebastian was trying to recapture the glory of their early EP days. Those early EPs were combined in 2005 into a single album called “Push Barman to Open Old Wounds” (reviewed at Disc 1242) and the result is brilliant. I heartily recommend that incarnation of the experience. As for “How to Solve Our Human Problems” I recommend the oppositive experience: find yourself a copy of the lovely Volume 3, and give the first two-thirds of the compilation a wide berth.

Best tracks: Poor Boy, Too Many Tears, This is an Everlasting Song, Best Friend

CD Odyssey Disc 1496: The Growlers

Apologies for the delay in posting, gentle readers. I had a very busy week and have only finally found the time this morning.

Disc 1496 is…. Natural Affair

Artist: The Growlers

Year of Release: 2019

What’s up with the Cover? It’s a house party! This house party looks pretty awesome and I imagine I was invited by some friend but don’t know anyone there. The extrovert in me wants to talk to everyone in this photo.

Admittedly this party has at least two too many kids at it. I’d probably brave talking first to the woman on the couch (yeah, she’s got one of the kids, but he appears to be sleeping). Or wait…is that a toddler breastfeeding? And is everyone staring? It appears I’ve walked into this party of strangers at an awkward moment.

I like to think my arrival breaks any tension as people welcome the distraction of a gregarious stranger. I proceed to talk to everyone at the party – even the woman on the couch who looks like she’s got a story or two to tell. OK, maybe not that guy with the kid sitting on the chair, but definitely his partner in green. They’ll have to leave early, because of the kid. Around that time I might be getting tired, and his departure will free up that chair near the kitchen (where I will have spent the majority of the evening). I’ll take a load off and then maybe see who is still out on the deck before calling a cab home.

All in all, it was a magical imaginary evening.

How I Came To Know It: I have been a Growlers fan since I first discovered them looking for a fun live event in San Francisco (see previous entries to see how that turned out).

How It Stacks Up: I now have three Growlers albums. Of those three, “Natural Affair” does come in third. At the Olympics, that’s a bronze!

Ratings: 3 stars but almost 4

The Growlers’ music is the soundtrack to every cool party that went well into the wee morning hours, but where nothing bad happened. Sure there will be heartfelt testimonials and soul-baring confessions near the end, but no tears and a whole lot of love.

“Natural Affair” is the band’s latest record, and it once again captures that compelling mix of musical influences that they have dubbed “beach goth”. The band has even doubled down on that moniker, forming a label with the same title.

Beach Goth is hard to define, but it mixes eighties emo music, yacht rock, sixties surfer guitar and disco. “Natural Affair” doubles down on the amount of disco. You could argue that the drums are mostly seventies soul, but the line between that and disco is thin, and definitely gets crossed here.

The Growlers don’t make dance music so much as they make tunes with a groove. You’ll want to sway and even throw a lazily bent arm in the air from time to time, but you can dance along safely without risk of spilling your drink. Songs like “Social Man” and “Foghorn Town” are prime examples, with an easy flow that will make your backbone slide. I didn’t really pay close attention to the lyrics, but I know these tunes left me feeling something between chill and funky.

Lead singer Brooks Nielson is a big part of this magic. He somehow manages to sing in a style that sounds like his head voice is coming out of the back of his throat. It makes his tone both rich and ethereal, which aren’t two things that usually go together. “Shadow Woman” exemplify his ability to sound like he’s wandering through a song, with a sneaky sense of timing that always draws you back to the groove going on underneath.

I found it hard to focus on the lyrics of this record, but I think it was just because the structure of the songs was more interesting. They are mood pieces more than anything, and the Growlers know how to make hopeful music but with a lot of minor chords. There is comfort in these tunes, but it is the complicated comfort of late nights and contemplation.

It doesn’t always work, and usually it is when they reach for unlikely metaphors where they lose me. “Pulp of Youth” and “Coinstar” are musically solid, but their titular expressions were used in a way that felt added on, rather than organic. Also, I kept mishearing “coinstar” as “coin slot” which was, you know, quite a different metaphor indeed.

That said, when circumstances trap you with one album for an entire week, you quickly find out if that album has staying power. “Natural Affair” had plenty of chances to bore me, but it never happened. If anything I appreciated the record a little bit more on every listen. I would start people interested in the Growlers with the superior “Chinese Fountain” (reviewed back at Disc 1091) but if you did hear “Natural Affair” first I’m confident you’d still have a good time.

Best tracks: Natural Affair, Social Man, Foghorn Town, Shadow Woman, Truly, Stupid Things

CD Odyssey Disc 1495: Bob Dylan

With the completion of this next review, I’ve only got two Bob Dylan albums in my collection that remain to be rolled. What two are they, you eagerly inquire? Just calm down and take this one album at a time, just like I do.

Disc 1495 is…. Desire

Artist: Bob Dylan

Year of Release: 1976

What’s up with the Cover? Bob out for a stroll in the woods. Bob is rocking his fur collared coat, an improperly applied necktie and the hideously ugly hippy that was his constant companion back in this era. Presumably no one was brave enough to tell Bob that it makes him look like an old western prospector.

How I Came To Know It: I have had this for a long time and goes back to a time many years ago where I was fleshing out my Bob Dylan collection.

How It Stacks Up: I have 19 Bob Dylan albums and unsurprisingly, many are of the excellent variety. This is true of “Desire” but it can still only land at #12, beaten out by the narrowest of margins by “Time Out of Mind”.

Ratings: 4 stars

“Desire” is another great Bob Dylan record, released at the height of his ability, although that’s hardly descriptive, since Dylan was a good 15 years into his brilliant career by this time. Dylan’s storytelling talent is on full display throughout the record, along with a penchant for making those stories very long. If you are a DJ in need of a bathroom break, “Desire” is a good place to find the song for the occasion.

Given that the length of many of these songs were not radio friendly (bathroom breaks notwithstanding) it isn’t surprising that the singles didn’t do as well as many of Dylan’s previous records. However, if there was a ‘hit’ it would the first song, “Hurricane.”

“Hurricane” follows in the tradition of earlier Dylan songs about racial justice, notably 1964’s “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll.” This time Dylan tackles the dubious conviction of black boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter for murder. It isn’t often a song can right the scales of justice, but when Carter was finally released in 1985, I like to think that the attention Dylan had given the case ten years earlier had a positive impact.

More than this, “Hurricane” is an amazing song, with an urgent, angry cadence that packs not just the facts of the case into its eight and half minutes of awesome, but the emotion of the experience as well.

Later on the record, Dylan writes another monster ballad with “Joey” this time about an actual criminal, Joe Gallo, a mafioso who had been shot to death a few years earlier. This time the song is a lot kinder to Gallo’s legacy than his actual biography, but I prefer to take this song as a fictionalized (and fanciful) account of the character, rather than a detailed historic record of the actual man.

Whatever the case, Dylan scorns the paltry 8:34 that it took to tell Rubin Carter’s story, going well over 11 minutes to tell his tale. In place of the frantic pace of “Hurricane” Dylan opts for a mournful dirge, which is just as effective…but longer.

Lyrically, my favourite tune is “Isis” a song about a strange treasure adventure that has Dylan’s wry humour on full display. There are so many great lines in this song, but my favourite verse is:

“The wind it was howlin' and the snow was outrageous
We chopped through the night and we chopped through the dawn
When he died I was hopin' that it wasn't contagious
But I made up my mind that I had to go on”

Emmylou Harris provides background vocals on six of the record’s nine songs and her high, sweet quaver is a well-suited companion to Dylan’s nasal tone. She makes every song she’s on better. This is never more true than on “One More Cup of Coffee” where her loose harmonies provide the extra haunt to a song set in a desolate western scene where bad things have not happened yet, but their arrival is imminent.

Not everything hits this level of quality. “Black Diamond Bay” is another seven-minute plus behemoth, but on this one I just wanted the song over rather than wondering what was going to happen next. And “Romance in Durango” is yet another in the long line of musicians wanting to throw Spanish themes into their music. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t, and here it doesn’t. Dylan is a gifted songwriter, but the way he sings here seems affected and pulled me out of whatever romance I was supposed to be feeling.

“Desire” is one of those albums I often pass over when I want to listen to some Dylan, but when I do pick it for a spin, I’m always pleasantly surprised. It was lovely to spend a couple of days with it once again.

Best tracks: Hurricane, Isis, One More Cup of Coffee, Oh Sister, Joey

CD Odyssey Disc 1494: Evan Greer

For the first time in my life, I’ve discovered the joy of running. I knew it was actual joy when I went for my run yesterday despite not having my Walkman for musical accompaniment, and still had a good time. I got my listens in on this next album in the car and on today’s run, so it’s all golden.

Disc 1494 is…. Spotify is Surveillance

Artist: Evan Greer

Year of Release: 2021

What’s up with the Cover? This is your brain on streaming services. Not the joy of a record blowing you back into your leather armchair. Not the dancing musical notes the denote the sound of your favourite song whirling about you. Instead, a bunch of data tendrils, broadcasting music in, and user data out.

How I Came To Know It: I read a review and decided to give it a listen. The review was lukewarm, but I liked it more than the reviewers. This record is not available on CD or vinyl. It was available on cassette (wtf?) but since this isn’t 1984, and since cassettes are the fucking worst, I opted for digital download.

How It Stacks Up: This is my only Evan Greer album so there is nothing to stack up against.

Ratings: 4 stars

Some people just have a knack for emotional anthems, and Evan Greer is one of those people. In their case, these anthems take the form of post-punk flavoured pop music, the songs are either intensely personal or intensely political, but they are always…intense.

On the intensely personal side, Greer does pretty much the best version I’ve heard of the “how COVID makes me feel” theme. A lot of artists wrote songs while experiencing lockdown (and the total inability to tour or perform for audiences). Greer puts words and music to the experience that are hard to hear at times, but also inspiring. On “Back Row” they experience the loss of live music as a fan, extrapolating that isolation to the deeper loss of basic human contact:

“I regret every single show
That I spent in the back row
Talking shit on my phone
Behind a table all alone
Every party that I skipped
Every friend I lost touch with
But when the crowd would sing along
It felt like we belonged”

And on “Willing to Wait” they tackle the ‘hunker down’ experience we all felt as we sat through lockdowns and social restrictions, gutting it out and waiting for it to end. Evan Greer put the pandemic’s darkest hours to good use. “Back Row” is a lighter in the air sing-along and “Willing to Wait” is a slow dance where you cling to your partner or just hug yourself, as individual mood and circumstance allows. Both are future COVID classics.

On the political front, Greer wears their opinions on their sleeve, tackling politics, sexual identity and even the architecture of the internet. On “Surveillance Capitalism” they even go after the streaming industry. Well, kind of - the more so if you factor in the album title. Since this is a music blog let’s apply the music lens to these lines from the song:

“Once consent was manufactured
Now it’s harvested for clicks
Algorithms make decisions
Filter bubbles make us sick”

Whether your pretend friend is Alexa, Siri or Hey Google, you have the power to turn off that voice recognition and manually pick the songs you want to listen to. Like in olden times, you could dig through your records or scroll through your tunes to find ones that appeal to you, and not just those that might be top of mind. Maybe you could even (gasp!) build your own playlist from music you discover for yourself or through friends. If you need some good old fashioned human recommendations, you’re already in the right place!

But I digress. The record ends with a cover of John Prine’s “Angel From Montgomery”, which Greer has retitled “Punk Rock Angel from Montgomery.” Given this is a cover (and really punk-adjacent rather than punk if I’m splitting hairs) I’m not sure why they renamed the tune. I found this attempt to retitle the tune irksome, but I did love the cover. Not the classic Bonnie Raitt version, but still pretty dope.

“Spotify is Surveillance” is an EP and is all over in 22 minutes, leaving me wanting more. You might agree with some of what they have to say, and you might not, but the record is a good one either way.

Best tracks: Back Row, Willing to Wait, Punk Rock Angel from Montgomery