This album was released very early in 2014 and has stayed with me throughout the year. Mary Chapin Carpenter has been an award winning songwriter and artist for many years and has produced many excellent albums since her debut Hometown Girl in 1987.
When I heard she was going to release an album of her songs with an orchestral treatment, my first thought was 'would it work'. Joni Mitchell has successfully released such albums but did Mary have the emotion, songs and voice to be able to make her own statement as Joni did with her albums. The answer is a resounding Yes.
Here Mary discusses how she approached the project.
Backed by a 63 piece orchestra and a choir, Mary has matched Joni for beauty, intensity, emotion and delicacy. She may not have the seductive voice of Joni but I honestly think she could not have done any better with the material or the treatments of the songs.
pic courtesy of Billboard
Mary's style has been to produce songs of Country, pop, rock and ballads and she is a Grammy Award winning artist. She has handpicked a selection of songs from the breadth of her career in this orchestral format.
photo courtesy of haysport.com
Many of Mary's songs are based on storytelling and the orchestral treatments of the music add a certain gravitas and depth to the songs.
photo courtesy of thebluegrasssituation.com
This is one of those albums where I don't want to say too much. I just want to let you discover the music for yourself. If it encourages you to go and investigate the music of Mary Chapin Carpenter then I have done my job.
Mary has performed throughout the year all over the world in support of the album with an orchestra in the various destinations.
For me, the most moving moment of the album is the final track Goodnight America.
I always knew that I might have a live album on the list of my Albums of 2014 when I found out that Danny & The Champions Of The World were due to release a live album of the Stay True Tour.
Live albums have always had a historic reputation in the music world. Whether they are produced to record a historic event such as Woodstock or used to run out an artists contract or to showcase up and coming artists to larger labels, such as KISS ALIVE, every music lover will always have their favourite Live album.
For many years, my favourite album has been Jeff Buckley's Live At Sin E. Away from the production of Grace - Live At Sin E is just Jeff and his Telecaster. Showcasing his songwriting talent and that incredible voice Sin E is a model of simplicity.
It was my favourite until I heard Live Champs. This is now my favourite live album.
I have been lucky enough to see Danny & The Champs live twice while touring his latest album StayTrue. And twice they have been totally electrifying.
Danny Wilson has to be one of the most honest performers in music today. Totally self effacing and engaging, he has the audience in the palm of his hand from the first song, which on the latest tours has been (Never Stop Building That) Old Space Rocket - the opening track of Stay True.
Danny has built an excellent band around him in the form the Champions Of The World (The Champs). Guitarist Paul Lush, Bass player Chris Clarke, Drummer Steve Brookes, Pedal Steel Player Henry Senior & Keyboardist/Saxophonist Free Jazz Jeff provide the meat to Danny's bones and are the best live band I've seen in many a year - comparable to Springsteen's E Street Band in my humble opinion.
With Stay True, Danny & The Champs have definitely found their sound and the live interpretations are just stunning. Now when I see a live gig, I do not want perfect recreations of the recorded music. What's the point of that? Stay in and play the record if that's what you want.
Many of the songs on Live Champs have been extended and it breathes new life into the recorded songs. On a record, the band is constricted to probably a maximum of 5 minutes a song but live they have they opportunity to explore the music to a much greater extent and they take full advantage of it.
The album sounds like it has been taken straight from the desk with very little production added at a later date. Again, that's how I like my live recordings with buzzes, clicks, feedback and mistakes.
Spread over two discs Live Champs captures Danny & The Champs at the top of their game. As a document of the tour, it is perfect. And the new songs that have been premiered live since this recording indicate that Danny is now riding on the crest of this new interest and optimism in his music. And they are VERY GOOD indeed.
Danny is a very funny guy and his banter with the audience comes across as both honest and reciprocal.
The older songs such as Henry The Van get a great response and with new treatments in this format it's like hearing the older songs for the first time.
Live Champs though belongs to guitarist Paul Lush. On the record Paul is very much a team player and his guitar work is sympathetic within the production. Live though, Paul is a different animal and takes the opportunity to showcase his sublime guitar work on the earlier mentioned guitar solos. He is never sounds flashy and never sounds boring. Very much in the mould of Steve Van Zandt or Nils Lofgren in the E Street Band.
Three of the tracks on the album Colonel & The King, Other Days and Restless Feet clock in at 12 minutes long and they are totally magnificent in their scope and magic. Exactly what I want from alive album.
By the time the band get to the final track, These Days, the crowd are really up for it and when Danny forgets the words, you can feel the love in the room as the band launch into their last song of the show and encourage a lot of audience participation. And Danny's last words on the album? - 'Let's have a beer' - and we did, cos that's the guy he is.
If you only invest in one live album this year - Live Champs should be the one. So go and put it on your Christmas list, right now. And make sure you get to a show when he releases the new album in 2015.
Good Luck Mountain are a band based around former Tandy man, Mike Ferrio.
Back in 2012, Good Luck Mountain released their debut album. This was an album steeped in sadness as it was the first release since the untimely death of Drew Glackin, Mike's friend from Tandy. The first half of the album seems to revolve around death, grief and sadness while the second half is about life and renewal. Indeed, the album was a new direction for Mike and he builds on this in his second Good Luck Mountain album, Too.
Good Luck Mountain 1 ended with the 6 minute almost cathartic, The Perfect Circle.
Too opens up with an electronic bleep and builds into the plaintive and atmospheric Morning Moon, an acoustic guitar and piano instrumental track which is a gentle intro into what beautiful music is to come.
White Calico Flower follows this gentle opener and is another 6 minute epic based around an acoustic guitar and piano with some gorgeous harmonies and some lovely violin flourishes near the end. Mike almost breathes out the words backed with female harmonies. It's like a happier continuation of The Perfect Circle. Mike is definitely in a happier place now.
Birdsong opens the next track World Turns, which is based around an insistent piano motif and more female harmonies.
The first track released from the album comes up next in the shape of Apollo. This introduces some tasty electric guitar into the mix and has a Byrds feel bringing some uptempo sunshine to the party.
Mike's delicate vocals usher in the next track Indian Summer, you can almost feel the heat as the brushed drums mix with the acoustic guitar and violins and yet again those lovely harmony vocals.A very sultry track indeed.
Much as the first GLM album, this album looks as if it was designed to be listened to on vinyl and to emphasize this the next track is almost a closer to side 1 - Maps (interlude) is 20 seconds of gentle electronica before Maps Of The Moon opens up what may be side 2 on a vinyl record. This track again uses the brushed drums but with a more spirited piano and violin backing.
The Seawall is a 7 minute epic that starts with a bass line and builds into a song of persistent drums, feedback guitars and whispered vocals. Very atmospheric and reminiscent of REM in some of their more experimental moments.
Another epic 6 minute slice of Americana comes next in the form of Angels. It's a song based around acoustic instrumentation and summons the ghost of The Band. With soaring violin and tremendous droning harmonies.
1.44 minutes of acoustic instrumental sweetness in the form of The Blue precedes the next track Out Of TheBlue, one of the most simple songs on the album but utterly beguiling.
Then we're back to where we started with Morning Moon (Reprise) closing what has to be one of the surprises of 2014.
Too is one of those albums that need to be listened to in one sitting - but what a joy it is - totally unexpected and all the better for it.
Firstly, let me say that 2014 has been an excellent year for me in music terms - there have been some special albums out this year. My selections can be seen here.
But one album this year has not let me go from the first listen.
I was aware of Simone Felice from the work with his brothers (The Felice Brothers) and I'd heard a couple of tracks from his first solo album.
But nothing prepared me for Strangers. I love it when an album comes out of nowhere and grabs me so hard that it's hard to resist. And that is exactly what has happened with Strangers. Right from the first listen I was enchanted. I kept going back to it time & time again as it's beauty & scope gradually sank in. Simone has approched the album as a storyteller - which is interesting seeing as he's a published author. In fact, Simone really is an interesting story himself - he wrote in The Guardian about it and it can be read here.
I have been so impressed at how Simone & fellow co-producer David Baron have created an album of such filmic and widescreen beauty with such simple instrumentation.
It is an album of emotional beauty and is almost gospel like in places.
Strangers kicks off with the uptempo Molly O, which is the only real UP song on the whole record. Right from song one - the words grab your attention - poetic, enticing you in, thought provoking.
'Good trips and bad trips we're still gonna hold our lips to the chalice,
The album was recorded in Sun Mountain Studios near his home in the Catskills Mountains near Woodstock in New York.
Simone - ''It’s really about, you know, the realisation that we can be so in love with someone, or so in love with an idea, or friends, or people in our lives,” he said.
Simone - “Some of it was lonely, just me and my producer David. And then some of it we got to bring in a proper band, my brothers and The Lumineers and some good friends. So it was really just a special experience. Surrounded by a lot of talent and a lot of love.”
I was privileged to be there in Treorci for the last gig by Ray 'Chopper' Cooper with Oysterband. It was a very emotional performance/evening as Ray said his final goodbye to his days with Oysterband. Ray had joined the Oysters for their 1998 album Ride and had become an integral part of the band with his multi-instrumental & vocal skills.
So that day came in Treorci in February 2013 when Ray left the Oysterband - I even got to shake the man's hand and wish him well on his solo career. And made him promise to come back to Wales!
Ray had already released one solo album - Tales of Love, War & Death by Hanging back in 2010 and I was intrigued to see which direction Ray would go on his second solo outing.
Oysterband have gone on to release my favourite album of their whole career this year (without Ray).
But the key question has to be, has Ray's decision to leave the band to realise his own vision been justified?
I can answer with a resounding YES. Now we have two stunning albums from the Oysterband camp this year.
Ray has produced an album worthy of his Oysterband history and marks the beginning of what should be an impressive and rewarding solo career. It is not Ray Cooper (ex Oysterband) - it is NOW Ray Cooper.
Ray has picked the perfect time to present his solo album, Palace Of Tears to the world. The album has a beautiful autumnal feel which probably has as much to do with recording in his Scandinavian home - complete with the area's aching melancholia. And Ray has not put his head in the sand as far as subject matter is concerned.
For example, the album's opening track, A Line In The Sand, deals with conflict in the Middle East and is even more poignant today with what is happening in the Middle Eastern countries.
It is a plaintive ballad that begins with solo piano and is joined by intertwining violins. It sets up the tone of the rest of the album perfectly.
'So the black snake will wind through the valleys, through bones and empty farms and poppyfields'
Ray has produced the album himself with executive production and mixing by his replacement in Oysterband, the rather excellent Al Scott. Ray plays the majority of the instruments on the album including Cello, guitar, kantele, mandolin, harmonium & bass guitar. Keyboards are by Gustav Andersson, Jenny Tidman & Patrik Andersson on violins and harmony vocals by another excellent female singer Rowan Godel.
The title track Palace Of Tears is another poignant song which deals with the building in which East/West Germans met their family and loved ones in the Cold War. It's a very moving track with a a piano and orchestra.
'Now the checkpoints are demolished, the city has survived, the losers and the winners just get on with their lives'.
Ray, whose home in now in Sweden has also looked to his local landscapes and history. A product of this is Destroying Angel with Ray's trademark Cello playing and includes strings and tuned percussion.
'Is it me that brings corruption to this quiet wooded glade?'
My favourite song on the album is Tears Of Isis, which features the lovely harmony vocals of Rowan Godel and has acoustic guitar, piano, and tuned percussion and bells. While working on the album, Ray was keen to point out he was using instruments that were Scandinavian based such as the Kantele - and they bring a unique sound to much of the album, together with the harmonium he purchased. The song is about looking back into our past and being aware of your hertiage and your ancestors.
'And I'd like to meet all of my fathers and mothers, All the way back through the shadows of time.'
Ray with Al Scott
Ray has done a splendid job of producing an album of depth and interest. He has kept the production minimal and tasteful, keeping with the majority of the reflective songs on the album. It is an album that looks back as well as forward and promises much in his new solo career.
So then Ray, it's time to keep your promise and head on down to Wales so we can hear the songs live.
all photos of Ray courtesy of Ray's Facebook page & website
I hate to compare musicians to other musicians but sometimes it's just inevitable.
Last year, John Fullbright quietly released one of the albums of the year with 'From The Ground Up'
The young man from Oklahoma produced a debut of sublime songs and played the majority of the instruments himself including guitars, piano & organ. The album garnered much critical acclaim and gained some heavyweight fans including Whispering Bob Harris who featured many of the songs from the album on his radio shows. And it resulted in a Grammy nomination.
So, I was as surprised as the rest of the music fraternity when John announced he had album number 2 ready to go midway through 2014. Was it a case of having too many songs from the Ground album or was he riding the surge of creativity? Thankfully, it's the latter.
I've made the comparison with Jackson Browne and I think it's a good one. If you look at Jackson's first few album, you have the same kind of wistful observations - a young man so cynical and seemingly downtrodden but always with hope in his eyes and his soul. It's captured perfectly with the song The One That Lives Too Far. Close your eyes and you can almost hear Jackson Browne singing it.
Having toured both the US and Europe extensively in support of his debut album, it's evident that John has honed his skills and his voice is even stronger on this album.
John keeps to the same template of using the acoustic guitar and piano to build his songs.
The production keeps the album simple and lets the songs breathe. When the song requires just a guitar or piano, that's exactly what it gets. When it requires a broader palette, then John expands his sound with electric guitar, organ and keyboards.
photo courtesy of The Standard
The album's second track, When You're Here is an almost gospel tinged piano ballad that would not seem out of place on a Jackson Browne, Neil Young or even Elton John album. The piano rises and falls and is joined by some beautiful Wurlitzer and subtle electric guitar. It really IS that good. It proves that John is not just a troubled troubadour peddling his wares - there is depth to this man.
photo courtesy of Folkradio.co.uk
There are two longer songs on the album which sum up the whole approach and strength of this sophomore album from John. The first is All That You Know. It's just John and a rather lovely electric piano motif, the song is almost Hymnic. If you heard it in a church service, you wouldn't be surprised but it has such a quiet strength and power it just captivates right from the start.
photo courtesy of MPR/ Nate Ryan
The other blockbuster track on the album is the 7.33 minute High Road. It's John at his absolute best singing about love and redemption - it's Springsteenesque in it's intensity and highlight's John's pleading, almost breaking vocals. It's probably the best vocal performance on the whole album.
The album finishes with just John on his piano.
I don't want to give too much away to take away from the joys of this album. Suffice to say that if you bought From The Ground Up then you've probably already got this album but if you haven't, then go out now and invest in one of the best talents to come out from America for a long time.
Anyone who has read deeper into this blog will know that I'm partial to a bit of Prog Rock.
This year I became reacquainted with a band who have been making quality Prog for 30+years.
The band is IQ.
While I was having a pre-gig drink at The Duke Of Wellington in Cardiff city centre prior to the Rick Wakeman Journey concert earlier in the year - my gigging Padwan, Craig and I, got talking to some Norwegian fans who had a couple of days before seen the IQ Launch gig for their new album. They raved about it saying how good it was and how it was the best thing IQ had released in years. So when I got home I ordered the CD.
Formed back in 1981 by guitarist Mike Holmes & Keyboard player Martin Orford the band have released 11 Studio albums plus other live and compilation albums and have been producing quality music from day one.
Back in January 2013 - the band took the opportunity to re-release a 30th anniversary version of their debut album Tales From The Lush Attic. It proved to be a remarkable version, like a Renaissance masterpiece being restored & cleaned and presented like the day it was produced.
This is a short video of the Anniversary version - just click on the link.
Initially owing a lot to Gabriel-era Genesis in their stage work, the band then released their second album The Wake - judged by many fans to be their best early work.
Photo Courtesy of Progshine.net
I then lost track of the band until their 1997 album Subterranea, a classic double Prog outing.
Like most classic Prog outfits, the band have had their fair share of personnel changes and their last album was 2009s Frequency.
But, this year, they have come back with the almost original line up - only difference now being the latest replacement of original Keyboard player Orford with Neil Durant.
The almost original IQ are back with a new album The Road Of Bones - and by God it's a beauty.
Firstly, lets's kick off by saying that if you find yourself interested, make sure you get the 2 disc version.
The Road Of Bones has been released in differing formats and for the couple of pounds difference, the 2 disc version gives you an whole albums worth of extra material, all of which is worthy of inclusion on the 1 disc release.
There's even a 3 disc vinyl release coming up for those who want an even more inclusive experience.
Here's a video of guitarist/producer Michael Holmes talking about The Road Of Bones.
The 7.24 minute album opener, From The Outside In, sets the tone for the rest of the album with dynamic guitars and keyboards set to a pounding bass & drum with the vocals of Peter Nicholls soaring and swooping over the change in tempo and typical Prog musical palette. They sound like a heavier version of Lamb-era Genesis on this track.
Indeed, the whole album is probably IQ's heaviest set but it adds more drama and dynamics to their sound. I can't wait to hear this album on vinyl - and yes, it's on order.
The next track is the majestic title track, The Road Of Bones - it's 8 minutes of cinematic Prog about a serial killer in a USA Midwestern town. If this sounds kind of out there, you're right, it's about the road that the killer builds with the bones of his victims but the track is superb. Peter Nicholls doesn't write lyrics about Prog staples such as Elves and Dragons.
photo courtesy of The Progmeister
Next up on this 5 track album is the 19 minute Without Walls. Being the centrepiece of the album, you would expect it to be Epic. And it is. Starting off as a quiet, almost ballad-like piece of music, it soon breaks into a different beast altogether, with some blistering heavier guitar work, before it heads off into many different paths and sounds - being intense and delicate in the same song - exactly like a good Prog classic should, before the Genesis-like resolution which sounds as if it could have come from Wind & Wuthering.
After the drama of Without Walls we are treated to a lovely song called Oceans, which is IQ at their most tender but halfway through the drama returns again as Peter Nicholls raises the bar on his vocal performance and gives some beautiful soaring vocals before the peace returns again.
The album closes with another epic, Until The End - here's a very short clip.
As I said earlier, you should really be buying the 2 Disc version. This includes tracks which really do not fit in with the dark feel of the initial album. But the quality is just as good as Disc 1.
It starts with Knucklehead. Which was due to go onto the album until the very last minute and has a militaristic beat which sounds like a march. It's dense and heavy, you can see why it could have fit easily onto the Disc 1.
1312 Overture is a Mellotron driven instrumental piece which chugs along nicely and has lots of keyboard sounds and textures to listen decipher .
The 12 minute Constellations is the next track up and begins with some keyboard and rhythmic interplay which cuts across your speakers with swathes of Mellotron adding the dramatic Prog effect. It is very Genesis of the Wind & Wuthering era - it is probably the most tuneful song on both Discs and is lighter in feel, which is probably why it didn't make it onto the initial album. But is no less dramatic and moving.
The more delicate moments continue with the next track, Fall & Rise, which has some lovely keyboard and acoustic guitar touches within it's 7 minutes.
The driving rhythms last throughout the next track, Ten Million Demons with it's sound affected vocals and keyboard heavy structure.
Disc 2 ends with the 11 minute Hardcore which is more in keeping with the music on Disc 2 with it's sweeping delicate themes and acoustic guitar passages.
If you feel that you've neglected some Prog Rock leanings in the past, or if you feel you'd like to see what the generation of bands that followed YES, GENESIS etc have achieved, then this may well be the album that reignites your interest in the genre. It's Prog at its very best - so go and invest - but make sure you get the 2 Disc version - It's Worth It.
By the way - Prog is made for headphones - so get yourself a decent pair and let the music take you far, far away.
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