CD Odyssey Disc 1969: Lana Del Rey

Welcome back to the CD Odyssey. As we’ll be doing for the next 50 or so reviews, here’s a few records I recommend from the year corresponding to the review number.

• Townes Van Zandt, “Our Mother the Mountain” (Disc 236)
• The Beatles, “Abbey Road (Disc 441)
• Leonard Cohen, “Songs from a Room” (Disc 536)

On to a record that I missed upon its release eleven years ago, much to my chagrin now…

Disc 1969 is…Honeymoon

Artist: Lana Del Rey

Year of Release: 2015

What’s up with the Cover? If this is a honeymoon it looks like Lana is out on her own for this part of it. Maybe her partner wasn’t keen on taking the StarLine Cruise and slept in, or maybe they decided to take in a baseball game.

This may sound bad, but I’ve been happily married for a very long time, and there’s nothing wrong with a short stint at different events – gives you something to talk about when you meet up later.

How I Came To Know It: I came late to Lana Del Rey, not giving her more than a passing thought until around 2021. Since then I’ve been devouring her new records and going into her back catalogue with equal zeal. “Honeymoon” was the latter experience.

How It Stacks Up: I have six of Lana Del Rey’s nine studio albums. I don’t know them well enough to definitively rank them, but I was pretty damned impressed with “Honeymoon” and I’m placing it second.

Ratings: 4 stars

Lana Del Rey has a haunting voice that is like sunshine on a cold day, and on “Honeymoon” she pairs her instrument with a set of immersive, moody pop songs that cast a spell that gets more intense on each listen. It left me shaking my head at myself that I’d taken so long to come around to her sound.

Part of this slow seduction is the nature of Del Rey’s music. She sings in a high head voice that creates an otherworldly pop-Goth, drawing you siren-like to her music. These songs aren’t immediate bangers. There’s nary a guitar riff, not even a strum, and the result is a kind of background hum that doesn’t immediately draw your notice. You need to settle down and properly listen before this record will properly reach down inside of you.

Once you’re there, you can appreciate the ghostly, eerily sensual quality of the record. These sequences are like an art film romance, sexy and disconcerting at the same time. If you like your pop music mysterious and a little dangerous, then “Honeymoon” will suit you well.

The title track leads the record off with a starkly beautiful couple of bars of violin – or maybe a synthesizer mimicking a violin. It is hard to tell, and that straddling of the artificial and the deeply emotional is what gives “Honeymoon” a portion of its magic. The song is almost six minutes long, unfurling at a languorous pace, but by the time it is in full flight you’re sorry it has to end so soon.

Like a lot of the songs on the record, the unnamed object of Del Rey’s affections is dangerous, distant and hard to understand. Del Rey paints this dark character with splashes of imagery, tinted by the narrator’s ardor. Best lines:

“There are violets in your eyes
There are guns that blaze around you
There are roses in between my thighs
And fire that surrounds you”

Sexy stuff. Del Rey doubles down on this dangerous desire vibe throughout the record, following up the opener with the sultry sway of “Music to Watch Boys To” another crooner that shows off Del Rey’s high head voice as she sings a call and response of “I like you a lot” and “so I do what you want” leaving you the listener to wonder just what sacrifices are being made in the name of desire. And on it carries through the record, spinning you inward into the depths of human longing.

Later on the record, relationships sour. Tracks like “High by the Beach” are just as deeply introspective, but now they are about creating some distance from destructive influences. The song’s refrain seems to suggest that sometimes you don’t need to get out of your head, so much as you need to get deeper inside of it.

The final track of the record is a cover of the Animals’/Nina Simone’s “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood.” Del Rey does a fine job of it and given all the edgy characters she’s inhabited through the record, it feels a bit on the nose, and not necessary after all the high-quality originals. It’s good but there’s knowing nod to the listener that isn’t necessary. The record operates better in an air of mystery.

However, this is a minor quibble, and by the time you get to this point of the record you are well and truly under Del Rey’s spell. Maybe you need a bit of a landmark pop cover to come back from it, even, and in this regard even its somewhat awkward inclusion serves a purpose.

Best tracks: Honeymoon, Music to Watch Boys To, God Knows I Tried, High By the Beach, Freak, Art Deco, Salvatore

CD Odyssey Disc 1965: Lera Lynn

This next album review doesn’t have a concert component, but I did see this artist live eleven years ago in Nashville. You can read all about it back at Disc 792.

Disc 1965 is…Resistor

Artist: Lera Lynn

Year of Release: 2016

What’s up with the Cover? Angles and shapes, yo! Also Lera’s disembodied head in a circle.

I’m not sure what this cover is going for, but apart from an exploration of rudimentary geometry, it does not land it.

How I Came To Know It: By 2016 I was already three albums deep with Lera, so this was just me buying her latest release and hoping for the best.

How It Stacks Up: I have seven Lera Lynn albums, which I feel is a lot. Of those, I put “Resistor” in at #4, so right in the middle.

Ratings: 3 stars

“Resistor” finds Lera Lynn doubling down on the same “mood music to be murdered to” kind of vibe that worked for her so well on her 2014 record “The Avenues” as well as her contributions to the second season of “True Detective”. It’s a warm and sultry soak in cigarette smoke and whiskey neat.

Sounds alluring – but it doesn’t come easy. “Resistor” is a headphones album – better when you can immerse yourself in it without distraction. As driving albums go it is a forgettable bit of background hum, but if you give it your full attention without the roar of the engine competing with the low notes and it is instantly so much better.

These songs are lounge personified, and while there is a wall of sound quality to it, Lynn’s vocals have an ability to travel through without ever breaking the broader mood.

The opening track, “Shape Shifter” is a bit of a banger, up tempo and with the snap of a snare drum and syncopation that won’t show itself much for the rest of the record. This song is the one tune that throws its hip into the street and invites you to give the rest of the record a chance. It’s a wise opening choice, but don’t expect more of the same, as the remainder of the record will instead retreat into the deeper swells of sound.

These are songs that take their time, and if you’re in a hurry it is going to irritate you. Lynn’s purpose is not to show you vocal gymnastics, nor to hop from one musical concept to another. She’s here for the slow burn, the late-night confessions that come only after the second bottle of wine gets opened.

Lynn’s early records are much more country in style, and through the mist and mystery of her more urbanized self you can still pick out a western twang, particularly on songs like “For the Last Time” and “Slow Motion Countdown”.

The subtle reverberation of “Slow Motion Countdown” features the many and varied dangers of the night: the rattlesnake in the midnight desert out back, and the distant stare from a lover in the booth across from you, both cold-blooded and dangerous. It’s a song about fading love, but more than that, it is a song about the untethered danger of what comes next.

There are places where the whole thing is so atmospheric it almost collapses under the weight of its own coolness, and not every song has the bones to hold the groove on its own. Just a touch more balance toward that earlier twang would have been welcome, but Lynn won’t go back to simpler times any more than the complex and alluring characters she sings about.

In the end “Resistor” is a slow dance of a record that can go a couple of different ways. Awkward and a bit distant if you are only willing to put your hands on its hips and avoid eye contact; evocative and tactile when you embrace it close against you, and surrender to its perilous charms.

Best tracks: Shape Shifter, Cut + Burn, Run the Night, For the Last Time, Slow Motion Countdown

CD Odyssey Disc 1962: Neil Young

I made the mistake of trying to listen to this on my MP3 player after sorting for “album name” and got a mix of songs from Neil Young and the Offspring for my troubles. The CD in the car was far more reliable.

Disc 1962 is…Americana

Artist: Neil Young and Crazy Horse

Year of Release: 2012

What’s up with the Cover? What you see here is not the cover, but an artist’s rendering of turn of the century America on the inside fold of the CD jacket.

For the actual cover, Neil took a 1905 photo of Geronimo and some other First Nations and superimposed the faces of the band over top of them. Opinions no doubt vary on what Neil was intending here, but at minimum it could be triggering, and I’ve chosen to go in another direction. Forewarned, you can look it up elsewhere on the internet.

How I Came To Know It: This was just me giving Neil a chance based on previous positive experiences. I was learning around this time to be more discerning with which Neil Young albums were worth my time.

How It Stacks Up: Neil Young has released 45 albums over his long and illustrious career, but I don’t have all of ‘em and I don’t like all of ‘em. I have at one time or another owned (and reviewed) 23 albums. This is the last one left, and I rank it…21^st. So, not good.

Ratings: 2 stars

As this is the final Neil Young record in my collection, here is the full and exhaustive recap of all 23 (read them all here). Enjoy and/or seethe with disagreement as the mood strikes you:

1. Harvest: 5 stars (reviewed at Disc 1877)
2. Rust Never Sleeps: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 664)
3. On the Beach: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 579)
4. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 497)
5. After the Gold Rush: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 1450)
6. Hawks & Doves: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 188)
7. Prairie Wind: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 160)
8. Le Noise: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 403)
9. Hitchhiker: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 1158)
10. Chrome Dreams II: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 1196)
11. Harvest Moon: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 257)
12. Comes a Time*: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 883)
13. Homegrown: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 1604)
14. Freedom: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 1750)
15. Sleeps With Angels: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 20)
16. Ragged Glory: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 730)
17. Tonight’s the Night: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 422)
18. Self-Titled: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 435)
19. Everybody’s Rockin’: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 914)
20. America Stars ‘n’ Bars: 2 stars (reviewed at Disc 855)
21. Americana: 2 stars (reviewed right here)
22. Colorado: 2 stars (reviewed at Disc 1809)
23. A Letter Home: 1 star (reviewed at Disc 850)

·         *I was probably a bit harsh on “Comes a Time” at three stars, and it likely should be higher on the list, but a star laid is a star played…

Before we launch into “Americana” let the record above show that I’m not one of those “I only like his early stuff” jerks, and there have been plenty of records (well, five) that Neil put out after 2005 that are solid records.

But it is also true that later Neil has doubled down on doing whatever the hell he wants. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. On “Americana” it doesn’t.

“Americana” sees the return of Neil’s backing band Crazy Horse, whose presence is almost guaranteed to make a record grimier. When these folks get together with Neil everything tends to get drawn out a bit longer with a lot more reverb on the guitar.

Given that this record is a collection of re-imagined old classic American folk songs, I was hopeful that this would mean that some of the “lost” lyrics of standards like “Clementine” and “Oh Susannah” would make an appearance. Some of those lyrics make these old songs even darker and creepier than they already are. To some degree, this hope was rewarded, particularly on these two tracks.

However, Crazy Horse mostly used the extra time to “explore the space” with a lot of not very inventive jam-session style grooves that were equal parts self-indulgent and unimaginative.

The further I went into the record the more irritating this long, drawn-out “go nowhere” vibe became. If the song is going to be five plus minutes long, I want most of that time exploring the various lost stanzas of these classics, not a bunch of hot-boxed, blue haze studio wankery.

Whether you’re covering a song from two, twenty, or two hundred years ago, the unspoken rule of the exercise is well understood: make it original and do it well.

For most of this record, Neil and Crazy Horse only manage the first half of that social contract. Yes, these sound original, but they are mostly deliberately messy dive-bar renditions. If that’s what you want with your timeless folk classics, you might like – even love – this record. I thought it was just a lot of doubling down on an idea that was good for a couple of songs (both of which I’ve already mentioned) but not for a whole record that approaches a full hour of playing time.

“Tom Dula” is a particularly good example of the excess, with eight full minutes that go nowhere special and travel there in the loudest manner possible. The song features plenty of Neil Young’s exceptional guitar playing, but I kept waiting for the song to have a purpose, and it never did. Instead all the layers of improvisation just caked an otherwise interesting tale with a thick layer of sonic mud.

Half-way through the record you get a listless version of “Get a Job,” lurching like Frankenstein’s Monster through a song designed to be lively and full of jump. I found myself wishing this song had instead appeared on Neil’s 1983 rockabilly record “Everybody’s Rockin’.

As a fan of folk music history, there was a part of me that was just happy to have all these old songs, but then I realized that over the years I had many of them by other artists. A quick search of my music catalogue revealed many a gem (“Oh Susannah” – the Be Good Tanyas and the Byrds; “Gallow’s Pole” – Led Zeppelin; “This Land Is Your Land” – Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings; “Wayfarin’ Stranger” – Emmylou Harris; and “God Save the Queen” – Queen).

Young’s version of “Wayfarin’ Stranger” (where he finally tones it down) is pretty solid but he’s no Emmylou…

At the end of the otherwise brilliant version of “Clementine” you can hear a member of the band say, “I thought we shoulda gone back to the F sharp minor”. It’s the kind of conversation you might have with your buddies while jamming, but it isn’t something worth recording.

Which, sadly, is how I felt about large chunks of this record.

Best tracks: Oh Susannah, Clementine, Wayfarin’ Stranger

CD Odyssey Disc 1960: Bleached

Today we explore the bittersweet experience of what is likely a band’s last album. Technically this band is still active, but it has been seven years since their last full LP so hope is getting slim. Nevertheless, let’s live in the moment, where that moment is 2019.

Disc 1960 is…Don’t You Think You’ve Had Enough

Artist: Bleached

Year of Release: 2019

What’s up with the Cover? The ladies of Bleached looking sassy and dangerous. Likely ready for a party, although as this record explores, partying doesn’t always end well…

How I Came To Know It: I was already a Bleached fan through their first two albums. This was just me exploring their latest offering.

How It Stacks Up: I have three Bleached albums, which is all of them. Of those, “Don’t You Think You’ve Had Enough” comes in at #2, with a surprise nudging of “Ride Your Heart” in the process.

And since this is the final album in my collection here’s a recap:

1. Welcome the Worms: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 1218)
2. Don’t You Think You’ve Had Enough: 3 stars (reviewed right here)
3. Ride Your Heart: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 971)

Ratings: 3 stars but almost 4

“Don’t You Think You’ve Had Enough” sees sisters Jennifer and Jessica Clavin departing from their earlier fuzzy pop/punk sound toward a cleaner more pop-forward production. It isn’t bad, it’s just evolution. Bands are allowed to do that. If you miss the grittier sound of their previous two records, I have good news for you – both remain available and recorded.

The new sound has them much more aligned to Canadian band the Beaches. Like the Beaches’ Jordan Miller, Jennifer Clavin has a natural rock vocal, not as rich and deep as Miller, but featuring the same combination of rock star and playful pop icon. It had me thinking that the two bands would make a very good 1-2 punch on tour.

Bleached retains their traditional base of garage punk and Go-Gos/Shangri-Las fun on “Don’t You Think…” but also branch out into new territory. On previous reviews I noted their obvious love for Blondie, and that is again evident here, but it is more the later disco-adjacent Blondie. “Hard to Kill” in particular had me thinking of “Heart of Glass”. It isn’t a copy, just an homage, and they take the basic rolling disco rhythm in new directions that results in one of the better songs on the record.

Like a lot of the songs on “Don’t You Think You’ve Had Enough”, “Hard to Kill” explores unhealthy choices and struggles with sobriety in a way that feels on the surface like a party song, but on a closer listen reveals a darkness. There’s a price to be paid when you party this hard, and the record is a retrospective of excess and – not infrequently – regret.

We get a lot more of this as the record progresses, with most of the typical outcomes from an unhealthy relationship with drugs and/or alcohol: bad relationships, betrayed friends, calls to 911, and the inevitable apologies that are part of recovery. It’s been done many times by many rock and rollers before, but that doesn’t take anything away from Bleached, who approach the topic with unabashed honesty and a healthy dose of uncertainty of what comes next.

The album features plenty of pop record tricks, like hand claps and whistles all of which have been deployed on various records throughout the years for one reason: it works. True to form, these little flourishes add colour and texture to songs that aren’t complicated in construction and lend themselves to different treatments. There were a couple of places where one too many tricks and instrumental shifts had me feeling fidgety, but mostly I liked it even when it went too far.

Bleached have a natural ability to write a pop hook, and I admire that they add in elements of doo wop, disco and punk wherever they damned well feel to make it more interesting. There was a part of me that kept thinking other Bleached fans might balk at the adjustments, but I had no problem with the evolution of their sound. It didn’t make their sound any more innovative –likely it made it less so – but it generated a lot of novel approaches to songs that, in their bones, are just solid pop hits that deserve to show off a little.

Best tracks: Hard to Kill, I Get What I Need, Somebody Dial 911, Rebound City, Valley to LA

CD Odyssey Disc 1959: Einherjer

It seems like every time I roll a record by this next band fate has me taking a long drive. Last time it was “Norron” reviewed back in June when I went to Sidney to go shopping and this time once again out to Sidney, but this time to the airport. Maybe listening to Viking metal dares the universe to send you on a journey, although neither of mine involved sailing in a longship or looting a monastery.

Disc 1959 is…Dragons of the North XX

Artist: Einherjer

Year of Release: 2016 (remake of the 1996 record “Dragons of the North”)

What’s up with the Cover? A depiction of a carved figurehead, presumably on the front of a Viking longship because, well, that’s where they go.

Why did Vikings adorn the front of their ships with these carvings? Presumably because they are scary and to show they meant business.

How I Came To Know It: This is part of the “Ross Records” collection that I got from my buddy Ross when he left CD technology behind. I secured a whole bunch of Einherjer records at the time. Thanks, Ross!

How It Stacks Up: I have four Einherjer albums, and I like them all. I think “Dragons of the North XX” is my favourite, but then I don’t own the original “Dragons of the North” from 1996 and it is pretty great.

Ratings: 4 stars

I don’t know what possessed Einjerjer to re-record their entire 1996 classic folk/Viking metal album “Dragons of the North” twenty years later. I suppose if you make such a classic record in the genre there’s no harm in making it twice. As for me, I like this record plenty – both times in fact.

The two biggest differences you will encounter is the XX version leans a bit further into metal and away from folk than its predecessor and the vocals of Rune Bjelland and Audun Wold are replaced by guitarist and singer Frode Glesnes. I’m not sure who I prefer better, but Frode is the voice I know on all my other Einherjer records and I like the sound of him.

Glesnes will not blow the doors off any singing contest, but he delivers the melodic rasp and a sinister tone that these songs require. The lyrics – which are almost universally about groups of Vikings killing and plundering about the place, or the perspective of an individual Viking doing the same thing.

The title track leads us off with a folksy guitar riff and the heavy thump of long-time drummer Gerhard Storesund (aka Ulvar) setting the stage. The song is notably heavier and crunchier than the 1996 version, with the ominous pounding of Storesund’s reminding me favourably of Black Sabbath’s Bill Ward. The song has a pulse to it that makes you feel the pull of the oars of a Viking longship as it climbs its way up a river in search of the aforenoted killing and plundering.

The album’s other standout is “Forever Empire” which has the same dread-filled heaviness to it, offset by the record’s best guitar solos. While a few of the lesser solos on “Dragons…” feel uninspired, there are more than a few that pull you in with both tone and construction. They also provide a good foil to the drum-heavy groove. The combo is like the flashes of sword and human struggle that punctuate the moment when the rowing stops and the fighting starts.

Lyrically the stories aren’t always clear, but there is a common thread of mania to the characters Frode gives voice to. These characters are warlord conquerors; an occupation that doesn’t lend itself to humility and circumspection. I have a friend who likes to remind me that with their “if you die while fighting you go to Valhalla” mythology Vikings were essentially a death cult, and Einherjer – a band that is literally named after those dead warriors feasting in Odin’s hall – double down on the mindset that would create.

The result is music that transports you to the nexus of menace, dread, and glory, which is entirely appropriate to the subject matter. Listening to “Dragons of the North XX” is a modern sonic experience that interprets the manic exhilaration of the raiders, and by extension I also found myself contemplating the terror of seeing these raiders inexorably advancing up a river to your town.

Capturing both those experiences across a thousand years of history on a modern heavy metal record is an impressive feat. Making that same record resonate essentially twice twenty years apart even more so.

Best tracks: Dragons of the North, Forever Empire, Slaget Ved Hafrsfjord

CD Odyssey Disc 1952: Moon Tooth

Before we get into today’s review, a quick word of love for the recently departed Dolly Parton. I’ve been a Dolly fan since I measured my years in single digits. I even had a poster of her on my wall growing up.

I have always loved her music, but as years went by I also came to love the person. In addition to being one of country music’s greatest singer-songwriters, Dolly was the personification of grace, acceptance and love. The world will be a colder place in her absence, but I like to think that somewhere out there at some metaphysical version of “Two Doors Down” she’s ‘laughin’ and drinkin’ and havin’ a party.’

Heaven should be so lucky.

Disc 1952 is…Crux

Artist: Moon Tooth

Year of Release: 2019

What’s up with the Cover? It looks like a collapsed temple of some kind, although it has fallen apart in a remarkably symmetrical manner. I ascribe this to the power of the glowing rune etched on that big stone altar.

How I Came To Know It: The usual way – I read a review and decided to check it out. I recall the reviews others did for this record were fairly effusive in their praise. Mine will be less so.

How It Stacks Up: Moon Tooth have at least three studio albums that I know of, but I only have this one, so it can’t stack up.

Ratings: 2 stars

Something can be good and just not good for you. Therein lies the mystery that is Moon Tooth’s “Crux” and the lowly two stars you see assigned above. Could this band be better than two stars? Quite possibly yes, but not for me.

For those of you not familiar with Moon Tooth, they are a progressive metal band with a sound somewhere halfway between late-era Soundgarden and late-era Rush. That’s some solid parentage from a genre perspective, and given the many kind words I’ve expressed for both those bands, you’d expect some of that love to rub off.

Some does. Starting most notably with the drumming of Ray Marte, which for me is hands-down the best part of this record. Marte is a true technician in the Neil Peart style. While he isn’t the godlike talent that Peart is, he is damned fine at his craft, dealing out complicated rhythms that account for the lion’s share of the record’s frenetic energy.

Vocalist John Carbone edges more toward the deep thrum of Chris Cornell rather than the high-pitched peal of Geddy Lee. Like Peart on the drums, any comparison with Chris Cornell on vocals is bound to come up short, and Carbone is no exception. He has good tone, and great phrasing, but he isn’t going to blow any doors off. It’s solid, but not a star on its own.

The songs are proggy, so if you want some simple thumpers in 4/4 time you are going to be disappointed. This stuff jumps around rather unpredictably. Despite all the complexity the songs are surprisingly catchy, which is always the baseline for progressive rock. At the end of the day, it has to be listenable, and “Crux” is all of that.

But despite the thoughtful composition and the solid musicianship (the guitar and bass are also first-rate), I found it all a bit boring and emotionally unengaging. Worse, it tends to have a self-consciousness that makes the songs feel overblown. In this way it had me thinking of Them Crooked Vultures (reviewed way back at Disc 750) who are similarly technically gifted but left me empty. “Crux” has a better separation of sound than TCV, but it wasn’t enough to make up for something that felt more clever than heartfelt.

Is part of the problem that my range of interest in progressive metal a bit narrow? Undoubtedly, yes. This record is well constructed, well played and worth the price of admission for Marte’s drumming alone. If you are a big fan of progressive rock or metal, you should definitely check these guys out.

But at the end of the day I did not feel the feels, which for me is a dealbreaker. The songs have plenty of dynamic range, but I couldn’t really separate one from the other, and it felt like a series of well thought out musical experiments, as likely to have me staring quizzically as drawing me into a fist-pumping moment of triumph.

So I shall bid Moon Tooth a fond farewell; a puzzle I either couldn’t solve or that didn’t inspire me to try very hard, depending on how you want to see it.

Best tracks: Musketeers, Rhythm and Roar

CD Odyssey Disc 1951: Finsterforst

This next album comes to you slightly delayed, as I have been on a road trip to visit family. This particular road trip’s length calls for about eight albums worth of music, and tradition dictates Sheila gets to pick four and I pick the other four. We’ve been doing this for years and have established some etiquette to ensure we pick records we’ll both enjoy while driving.

This trip the albums were: Black Sabbath - Master of Reality, Boston – Boston, Grace Cummings – Storm Queen, Dick Dale – Mr. Eliminator, Frank Turner – Tape Deck Heart, U2 – All That You Can’t Leave Behind, Wailin’ Jennys – Firecracker, and Jennifer Warnes – Famous Blue Raincoat.

As for the CD Odyssey, it has decided to stick with more metal from the early 2010s.

Disc 1951 is…Rastlos

Artist: Finsterforst

Year of Release: 2012

What’s up with the Cover? An intrepid (and bedraggled) traveler looks out upon a craggy landscape of deep river valleys and majestic peaks.

This looks like it would be one hell of a day hike, and I hope that guy packed a lunch.

How I Came To Know It: This is one of my recently acquired Ross Records, aka albums that I picked up from my friend Ross when he got rid of his CD collection recently.

How It Stacks Up: I snagged a bunch of Finsterforst from Ross, and while the more detailed exploration across multiple listens have yielded mixed results, this is my favourite of the bunch so far. I rank it first or maybe even…forst!

Ratings: 4 stars

The experience of “Rastlos” is that of taking a long, warm, angry bath. You might get in ready to thrash and splash about but you’ll quickly find just lying there simmering with a low-key fury can be surprisingly therapeutic.

You’ll have time to make the adjustment, too. Like all Finsterforst albums, “Rastlos” is long – over 75 minutes of music, spread across a mere seven songs. It’s the kind of music that requires a bit of surrender to enjoy. Don’t meet it head-on, let it come at you like the tide, slow and inexorable, and submerge you.

“Rastlos” is Finsterforst’s third album, and for me the record where they finally get the mix of folk and metal right. It is a bit more black than death to my ear (although I am not and expert in the intricacies of these modern divisions). On previous records the folksy elements clashed with that heavy wall of sound, but here they thread a melodic structure that provides growth and transformation – something I absolutely need to survive songs that routinely surpass 10 minutes’ playing time.

“Rastlos” is the first record with Ollie Berlin taking over the death growl portion of the singing from departed vocalist Marco Schomas. When I reviewed 2009’s “…zum Tode hin” (Disc 1937) I wondered if switching the vocalist would turn the switch for me to liking this band better, and it turns out it has. Berlin’s growl is richer and more melodic and while I can’t say that’s a better experience for others, it was a better experience for me.

The folk elements of the arrangements are well timed as well, providing multiple palate cleanser moments within the epically long songs and keeping things as mysterious as they are aggressive. The guitar riffs are epic and not overused although they could have easily added more without complaint from me.

The songs also feature “clean” vocals courtesy of continuing band member Johannes Joseph, as we all as Viking-chant style chorus moments from a group of fellers called the “Black Forest Choir” which looks to be composed half of regular band members and half guests. All of this gives texture and layers to Finsterforst in a way I didn’t experience on their first two records.

Finsterforst are German and they sing in their native tongue, so I have no idea what they are going on about, but with the help of translation of the titles that range from “Nothing but Ashes (Nichts als Asche)” to “Rush of Flame (Flammenrausch)” I got the impression there was fire involved. I also got the sense of epic journeys across landscapes, but that could just be me projecting from the album cover.

As for the album title, it translates roughly as “restless” and “Rastlos” does have that quality. It isn’t a fidgety restlessness though, but more of a wanderlust and a vision that is big and broad and always reaching outward. These songs are expansive and variably evoked the ocean, fire, or even the thunder of heavy cavalry. Anything that rolls unhindered across a landscape. It makes the listener feel small, but still significant – a witness to something more powerful than yourself.

On earlier records it felt like Finsterforst was just going to go hard to goal and lose the plot along the way. By rounding out their sound and using the length of their songs as a feature to let them properly develop, they’ve landed on something special.

Make no mistake, though. This isn’t easily accessible stuff. It is heavy and intricate, and not friendly to the casual radio listener. But if you can surrender to the heaviness of “Rastlos” it will submerge you into soundscapes of subtlety and power that’ll make that initial shock and shortness of breath all worth it.

Best tracks: Nichts als Asche, Fremd, Stirbt Zuletzt, Ein Lichtstein

CD Odyssey Disc 1946: Killer Mike

Last week I bought my first El-P album. More about that when I roll it (randomly) but for now let’s talk about a magical time when El-P partnered up with a man who would become his long-time collaborator.

Disc 1946 is…R.A.P. Music

Artist: Killer Mike

Year of Release: 2012

What’s up with the Cover? Killer Mike, chillin’ in Adidas.

My amazing and talented fashion blogging partner Sheila also loves Adidas (as recently as today!) and I think she wears it better. Sure Killer Mike’s the better rapper of the two, but where is he when I need to know if my tie goes with my shirt? Off rappin’ somewhere…

How I Came To Know It: I came backwards to Killer Mike: after finding out he was one half of Run the Jewels I dug into his back catalogue as a solo artist. And here we are.

How It Stacks Up: I have five Killer Mike albums, and “R.A.P. Music” is the B.E.S.T. #1.

Ratings: 5 stars

Before “R.A.P. Music” you will encounter many a fine Killer Mike record but those early records are missing a secret weapon: El-P. A year later these two brilliant artists would fuse together to create Run the Jewels, and on “R.A.P. Music” you get an early offering of just how great a partnership it is going to be.

The infusion of El-P’s brilliant production, and his mastery of beat and rhythm elevates “R.A.P. Music” to another level and results in what is Killer Mike’s finest record.

When I say “finest” it doesn’t mean friendliest, though, and “R.A.P. Music” is a furious, sometimes downright challenging record, as Killer Mike takes no prisoners. If you are easily offended or if the occasional curse word makes you blush and cover your mouth and sputter a high-pitched “oh, my!” then this record is not for you. You have been warned.

OK, still with me? Because if you aren’t easily offended you will find yourself treated to one of the finest rap records made in this or any era. You don’t have to agree with what Killer Mike says, but getting inside the dark constellation of ideas and concepts that he explores on “R.A.P. Music” it is clear he’s not afraid of the sharp edges of the pulpit.

“Big Beast” is the introductory track to “R.A.P. Music”, an expletive-laced shot of energy where Mike makes clear what you can expect for the next 45 minutes and change. In it he describes his style:

“I don’t make dance music this is R.A.P.
Opposite all that sucker shit they play on TV”

Worth noting that that’s one of the few lines in the song you can quote in company.

As for his flow, Killer Mike has one of the best in the business, a ball of fury careening down a mountain, controlled just enough to make sure it hits every sensibility it encounters on the way. Often when you get someone flowing as fast as Mike does it comes off light and traipsing. Somehow Mike goes just as fast, but where every line drops as hard as a lead weight.

Helping considerably is the skill of El-P, who has an exceptional ability to reinvent very old beat structures into something new and futuristic.

“R.A.P. Music” has plenty of anger and thump throughout, but it also shows melodic variance that keeps you engaged, finding time for a song like “JoJo’s Chillin’” which feels more like a cross between Jackie Brown and Ocean’s Eleven.

As the record progresses Killer Mike also explores more of his youth and experiences. These individual vignettes of his life are just as compelling in their intimacy as his grand political statements. The range of emotion and experience is part of what makes the record better and better on repeat listens.

That range is not limited to the lyrics. On “Ghetto Gospel” the duo throw in echoes of church singing for good measure, showing that you can slip a little techno into your worship, mix in some relationship drama, thump out some of Killer Mike’s rap talent and have it all come out the other end bigger and better than any of its component parts.

There was a time when I would have said that El-P and Killer Mike first achieved perfection on the second Run the Jewels album, but that was before I knew about their pre-history. “R.A.P. Music” is all the things that make RTJ one of my favourite artists, only in the before times. Sure it would benefit from a bit more El-P on the mic, but all the ingredients of their awesomeness are here, and what’s more, it’s all for the first time.

For letting me experience the magic of El-P/Killer Mike all over again, but making me feel like it was the first time, I’m giving this record the full five stars.

Best tracks: all tracks

CD Odyssey Disc 1944: Courtney Marie Andrews

It’s another fine day as we look to an artist that I saw live just three months ago. This time we go back over ten years to early in her career.

Disc 1944 is…On My Page

Artist: Courtney Marie Andrews

Year of Release: 2013

What’s up with the Cover? A wistful looking lass (Andrews) decides if it is time to untie those heavy curtains. Probably depends on whether the light is hitting the TV funny.

At least that’s what determines curtain use at our place.

How I Came To Know It: I have been a fan of Andrews for about ten years now. “On My Page” is a re-release of an album even earlier than that, which I snapped up when I saw it in the record store.

How It Stacks Up: I have seven Courtney Marie Andrews records. “On My Page” is solidly in the middle. I’ll rank it #4

Ratings: 3 stars

Soft, understated, and emotionally powerful, “On My Page” is a record of a young Courtney Marie Andrews finding her voice. This is the flower of Andrews’ talent in the dawning light: a little fragile but full of beauty and promise.

With later records like “Loose Future” (2022) and “Valentine” (2026) (Disc 1915) you’ll hear me throw some occasional shade on all the production elements going on. Given how good those records are, you’d be justified to ask just what my problem is.

The answer is no problem at all, except that early records like “On My Page” have spoiled me with the pure Andrews experience - the undiluted stuff.

I could probably count on the fingers of one hand the number of singers that could break your heart with just their quaver, and Courtney Marie Andrews is one of them. Her vocals rise up through the arrangement with effortless power but yet always present as soft and vulnerable.

The opening track, “Woman of Many Colors” shows how aware Andrews is at using her instrument. The song starts at the highest point in the melody. It is sneaky hard to do what she does here and not come off pitchy, but it allows the song to immediately generate a restlessness. The lyrics double down on the effect with a clever turn on a coat of many colours, Andrews instead makes herself the patchwork of experience – living art.

In this early stage we have very limited arrangements, and while “Woman of Many Colors” has guitar, piano, some sort of shaker and (I think) a bass, it is all very subdued – more of a delivery system for the bird song of her voice as she shows you the artful joy of flitting from place to place and thought to thought.

This song is followed up by “This Time” which has more of a traditional anthem quality. Because of the nature of Andrews’ singing style she doesn’t need to belt it out to make you feel the feels. If anything, that slight hurt in the back of her throat is what makes you know how well she’s earned it as she delivers a refrain of “I ain’t goin’ back…this time.”

The songwriting on the album shows early and intense talent, and Andrews’ propensity for making private moments reflect as universal is already well developed, despite her still being in her early twenties when this record was recorded.

If there was a quibble, it would be that one of the records great assets – its quietness – can sometimes make it a bit harder to access. You get less hooks in the melodies and the instruments are often there more as a delivery vehicle for the poetry. This isn’t a bad thing, but it means to love the record that way it deserves to be loved requires you to bend your full attention to it and let the quiet moments slip into you.

There is also a similarity between the songs that later in the record can lead your mind to wander. A few years later, Andrews will have added just that extra amount of range and songwriting chops that take the concepts she’s trying out here and convert them into the masterpiece that is 2016’s “An Honest Life” (reviewed at Disc 1081). “On My Page” isn’t quite at that level, but all the ingredients are there, vibrant and on the verge of full bloom. It’s a prequel that is well worth the listen.

Best tracks: Woman of Many Colors, This Time, It Keeps Going, 500 Nights

CD Odyssey Disc 1932: Alestorm

I wore a skull & crossbones pirate tie to work today and while I think it was a random selection, it is also possible the album I’ve been listening to has been sending me subliminal messages.

Disc 1932 is…Back Through Time

Artist: Alestorm

Year of Release: 2011

What’s up with the Cover? Another fine bit of Alestorm artistry. Here we have our undead pirate, with a Viking helmet on the end of his bloody sword (this makes sense if you pay attention to the lyrics). We also have his oft-companion sidekick undead rat, drinking from a Viking horn and doing his best Marty McFly impersonation.

In the background a pirate ship emerges from a time portal. How do we know it’s a time portal and not just a very nasty sideways tornado? Again, the lyrics.

The pirates aboard launch a fiery broadside before they are even out of the rift which seems reckless when dealing with a space/time anomaly, but drunken pirates aren’t known for their circumspection.

How I Came To Know It: I originally passed over this record as one of Alestorm’s lesser efforts, but damn it if I didn’t want more pirate metal. And if you’ve got an itch for pirate metal old Alestorm records are how you scratch it.

How It Stacks Up: I have seven Alestorm records, which is all but their most recent (which I will at some point be remedying). I like them all, but I like some of them less than others. Sorting that out is literally what this section of the review is about, and I put “Back Through Time” at #6.

Ratings: 2 stars but almost 3

What would happen if a crew of quest-seekin’, rum drinkin’ pirates went back in time and did combat with Vikings and giant squids? This record would happen.

Yes, Alestorm returns for their third studio album, ready to conquer the waves or at least fire off some pirate metal music at high volume. Lead singer/songwriter Christopher Bowes and his merry crew of musicians know by this point they’ve got a winning formula and they’re not going to deviate from it very far.

As usual we have the frantic pace of power metal, laced with some traditional thump and a whole lot of growl and snarl, as the boys fire off one fast-paced metal banger after another. This being on the folk side of power metal, there are plenty of melodic structures suitable for hauling on a bowline or rowing a jolly boat. Infuse that with some electric guitar and a bit of double-bass drum suitable for throwing your neck out in a mosh pit and you have a good idea of what to expect.

Never let it be said that Alestorm have zero new ideas, however, and on “Back in Time” they keep things fresh by throwing in some time travel. The title track leads things off, a song that features their signature sound – a rollicking melody, jaunty keyboards, crunchy guitar and Bowes’ raspy ribald vocals. It is an admittedly weird mix and, if you’re new to Alestorm, not for everyone.

The song is about the battle between pirates and Vikings and while the idea is a fun one the lyrics are a bit forced with a chorus of:

“You put your faith in Odin and Thor
We put ours in cannons and whores.”

Um…sure.

There’s a lot more forced rhyme and theme-cramming where that comes from, and while this is common to any Alestorm record, I felt like “Back Through Time” could’ve done it better.

Lest you think, however, that Alestorm are not aware of a critic’s impending criticism, or charges that they can’t come up with anything new they literally write a song about it in “Scraping the Barrel”. Best (worst?) of many self-deprecating lines you’ll hear therein:

“Many have told us that we can’t go on
That one day we’ll run out of lyrics for songs
But when the time comes to write album four
We’ll scrape out the barrel once more.”

It’s not a great song and not a great quatrain either (the original quatrain just rolled over in its shallow grave at me even using the phrase) but there’s something to be said for being aware of what you’re doing and doubling down.

Before the album ends Alestorm visit yet more common ground with a song about rum called – you guessed it – “Rum”. This one is a banger, with a chorus that is mostly the shouting of the titular drink in unison, but done with such joyful abandon you will happily join in.

And that’s the not-so-secret formula to Alestorm’s success. They love what they do, they do it well, and most of all, it’s fun. Don’t expect to be musically challenged but do expect to sing along and tap your feet. If you feel embarrassed that they’ve won you over don’t be. You’ve plenty of company and there’s a barrel full of similar songs where these came from.

All that, and I didn’t even get to the giant squid.

Best tracks: Back Through Time, The Sunk’n Norwegian, Rum