The Archivist Volume 2: Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel (car)

I could have picked several of Peter Gabriel's album to include in the blog - and I may return to him later - but the one Peter Gabriel album I keep returning to is his 1977 debut solo album - Peter Gabriel - also know as Car or just 1.

Peter left Genesis after The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway tour in 1974/5. 

Apparently the writing was on the wall throughout the recording process of Lamb as it became obvious that it was very much Gabriel's project - a similar situation to that of Roger Waters in Pink Floyd with The Wall and also other factors.

As the major lyricist and very much the visual centrepiece of the band, Peter was seen as the artistic driving force behind Genesis.

So, it came as no surprise that Peter chose Bob Ezrin as producer. Bob is the man behind such albums as Destroyer by Kiss, Berlin by Lou Reed & 6 of Alice Copper's classic 1970s output.

 You can see the attraction of Bob to Peter and Peter to Bob. It's a very dramatic album with multiple variations of music contained within it.

I would call it Grandiose. 

And this is what I love about Peter's debut, the variety of the songs he presents. Never again would Peter achieve such variation - because from his second album to the present day Peter has chosen a Sound or Mood which represented his vision on every later album.

(Let's call it Car) opens with the very odd sounding Moribund the Burgemeister. It's opening drum pattern points to many of Peter's future works. But it's as bold an opening to an album, especially a debut, as you'll ever hear. In fact, if it had appeared on The Lamb, you wouldn't have looked twice with it's strange sounding noises and vocals.

I remember first hearing the second track and first single from the album, Solsbury Hill and absolutely loving it from the first time I heard it back in 1977. I loved it's pastoral feel and acoustic based drive. Again we hear the almost african inspired rhythms. It is obviously autobiographical in nature regarding his departure from Genesis and was the first Gabriel music that people had heard since his departure. The single was a big hit for Peter and he still performs it to this day. He has to!!

The second single to be released from the album is the outright rock song Modern Love - you can almost hear Alice Cooper singing this song - very much a Bob Ezrin production. You can imagine the record company executives in the background shouting that this song must be a single.

And who the hell would expect a barber's shop quartet version opening of a song called Excuse Me. It's very much Music Hall and very English - just adding to the oddness with Banjo, whistles & tuba. By now you have no idea where this album is going to go next.

Humdrum is more like the Gabriel we know these days but with many dramatic variations within one song - everything but the kitchen sink is thrown in there. While listening to these songs on the album it brings to mind The Beatles' Let It Be - not for the songs but for it's Phil Spector production - many felt it was over produced but the quality of the songs is undeniable. I would love to hear a stripped down version of this album - but then it wouldn't be the album I love.

This would have been the end of side 1

Side 2 opened up with a bang with the uptempo Slowburn - again another song that has been 'Cooperised' to the hilt by the production - but one which in another form could easily have come from The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway - apart from Solsbury Hill, this is my favorite song on the album.

Waiting For The Big One is a big, bluesy song that to me is the one glaring misstep on the album. I can see why Peter would have wanted it on there, he has a strong, blusey voice - but if it were me in the production chair, it would have gone. But you can't have a go at the boy for trying.

I said the album was dramatic and next up is the epitome of Drama on the album, the over the top Down The Dolce Vita - complete with Wagnerian orchestral flourishes and over the top guitar histrionics - remember, this album came out the same year as A Bat Out Of Hell and this track has a very similar feel. 

The final track is the epic Here Comes The Flood. Peter himself has said that he believes this song to be over-produced. But bear in mind the context of the whole album - it's all out drama - and I think the song fits in well with the whole album, especially as a closer, but I can see his point. He performs this track these days with just a piano accompaniment and you can still feel it's power.

The album is very much an album of it's time but it's sheer bravura and creativity are enough to carry it though. As a first solo album it is a brave attempt to show that he could move on from Genesis. It's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination - it could have done with a toned down production - but hey, this was the 1970s where anything goes, if only today's artists could be as brave.

Peter's next album (Scratch), produced by King Crimson's Robert Fripp was a tough listen and contained no major hit singles but by the time his third album (Melt) was released, people had become accustomed to his vision and Melt became the biggest album of his career up to that point on it's release, spawning the huge single Games Without Frontiers - and he continues to push the boundaries to this day. 

But he still plays Solsbury Hill.

http://petergabriel.com/latest/

The Archivist: ABBA - Arrival

I know what you're thinking? Why is an Americana, Folk, Prog loving roughneck picking an album by those Swedish Mega Purveyors of Pop to grace The Archivist section of my blog?

Simple - next to The Beatles, ABBA are probably the best writers of a perfect pop song.

Back in 1976, the teenage Macwood was already a fan of the Super Swedes.

They had already released 3 hit albums and had 5 hit singles in the UK before Arrival really sealed the deal.

The album opens with the non-single and now very non pc 'When I Kissed The Teacher' - and it's a killer track.

As with most ABBA albums, there is a mixture of awful bubblegum pop and some of the best songwriting ever to be released on an adoring public.

Arrival contains some of ABBA's best singles. Back when ABBA were starting to get huge - the release of EVERY single was an event. You had to be there at the time to realise what a big deal it was - the radio built up the release for months before the event - playing snippets from the song.

It was from this album that indications of the boys Bjorn & Benny's musical future really started to blossom. They were born to write musicals and it is an enigma that they haven't done more work in this field. Songs such as My Love, My Life can easily be the stuff of musicals. 

It also contains an instrumental title track. Covered by Mike Oldfield, no less.

And, it contains one of the more identifiable songs ever released. A song which has grown to be almost as big as the band. And I dare you not to sing along. The staple of every Wedding Disco since 1976.

So, go out and get a copy - don't feel the shame - just accept the fact that it is probably one of the most imperfect pop albums ever to hit the turntable.

http://www.abbasite.com/

The Archivist Volume 2: Billy Bragg - Don't Try This At Home

Stephen William Bragg. Billy Bragg. The Bard Of Barking.

However you know him - you cannot ignore him.

With a musical palette born out of the Punk Movement of the mid 1970,s Billy Bragg has been releasing LPs since 1983, with his first release Life's A Riot With Spy Vs Spy.

An acquired taste right from the off, there was no mistaking where Billy came from in Barking in Essex, as he became the epitome of the travelling troubadour - one man and his electric guitar.

His first album had at least 3 bona fide classics on it - The Milk Of Human Kindness, A New England & The Man In The Iron Mask and would indicate the No Compromise quality of his work to this day.

Everyone has probably heard A New England - because of the Kirsty MacColl cover, so here's another less well known track from that debut album.

Billy released 5 albums up to the release of Don't Try This At Home in 1991. All were a mixture of songs relating to his highly political socialist views and songs of love - often unrequited. 

These albums gave birth to a wealth of absolutely classic songwriting such as Levi Stubbs Tears, Greetings To The New Brunette, St Swithin's Day, It Says Here, Waiting For The Great Leap Forward... I could go on and on.

Billy is man who is never afraid of saying what he believes and observes and he uses his songs to try to galvanise people to think of and question what is going on around them - to me he has been as important to my generation of music lovers as Bob Dylan was back in the 1960s.

Billy had been honing his craft up to 1991 but with Don't Try This At Home, for me, Billy finally produced the album he had been capable of all along.

Every track is an absolute gem - and it's a double too, which Billy insisted at the time it was released, was to be the cost of a single album.

It opens with the brilliantly uplifting Accident Waiting To Happen. "Your life has lost it's dignity, it's beauty and it's passion, you're an accident waiting to happen" - the man's a poet.

In contrast, the next track is the gorgeously plaintive, Moving The Goalposts.

And that is the beauty of this album - it's full of contrasts. It's very English (British) - and tells what was/is important to the majority of the people listening at the time, or even now.

By 1991, Billy was getting some important exposure in the music world and was highly regarded by many contemporary songwriters and perhaps oddly enough, especially over the pond in the USA. He even garnered the considerable talents of Michael Stipe & Peter Buck from REM on his song he wrote with Peter Buck, You Woke Up The Neighbourhood.

Mother Of The Bride is another example of Billy at his upbeat best and includes folk instrumentation which points the way to some of his later work. Billy is never scared to try unusual musical presentations of his songs.

The album also contains one of my favourite songs of all time Sexuality, which is about the reaction to the AIDS scaremongering at the time. Co written by Johnny Marr of The Smiths and featuring the vocal talents of Kirsty MacColl, it also gave Billy one of his biggest single hits. And produced one of the best videos of all time too.

This is the album of a man at the top of his game - with such a breadth of songwriting skills and couplets to die for. He has gone on to produce some brilliant work . Yes, his vocals are an acquired taste but I doubt you'll find a better album with such variety in songs and musical presentation. So go on and dive into Don't Try This At Home and wallow in it's musical delights - of which there are many.

If you only know Billy by his singles then it's time to investigate further because he has produced some excellent work since this landmark album, which I'll let you discover for yourself.

Twitter - @billybragg

http://www.billybragg.co.uk/

The Archivist Volume 2: Asia - Asia

Who would have thought it?

1980 - Bass guitar & vocalist John Wetton had been writing tunes with guitarist Steve Howe who had left YES. Then ex ELP drummer Carl Palmer and former YES/Buggles keyboard player Geoff Downes joined the new band ASIA.

Yes, who would have thought that the guys with such a Prog heritage would come up with one of the most tuneful and hit laden rock albums of the 80s? And I loved it!

Nobody expected this group of now aging rock musicians to reinvent themselves as an early 80s super-group.

The eponymous debut album by ASIA became of of the best selling albums of the 80s and revitalised AOR in the USA.

pic courtesy of chartstats.com

The critics hated the album but the public supported it and ASIA went on to sell over 10 million copies. It was kicked off by the single Heat Of The Moment.

The album came with a Roger Dean cover and gave birth to 7 singles.

photo courtesy of blogs.eltiempo.com

pic courtesy of eil.com

The 'Classic' Line up of Wetton - Howe - Downes - Palmer - went on to release their next album in 1983 - ALPHA. 

Alpha contained 2 great hit singles.

This remained the last album completed by the classic line up until PHOENIX was released in 2008.

ASIA has, over the years, had 20 different members in the band and released 14 albums. But has never matched the sales figures of the debut release.

Their latest album - GRAVITAS was released this year by the classic line up minus Steve Howe who has retired from the band to concentrate on YES & other projects making way for young guitarist Sam Coulson.

Twitter - @asiageoff  @arkangel2605 @ELP_carl @SamCoulson87

http://originalasia.com/

The Archivist Volume 2: Keith Urban - Defying Gravity

I've always liked a bit of Country ever since enjoying the Eagles, Poco, etc back in the 1970s.

I'm no way a connoisseur of Country music and I don't know a lot about it but I've come to appreciate what I like over the past 10 years or so. 

One of the artists that has caught my ears has been one Keith Urban. 

Keith was born in New Zealand and raised in Australia but I had no idea when I first heard him sing. He sounds like an American. He first came to live in Nashville in 1992 and his career has taken off to stratospheric heights.

I first picked up on Keith with his Golden Roads album in the mid 2000s and worked my way backwards through his albums.

By the time Defying Gravity came out in 2009, Keith had 9 number 1 singles but Defying Gravity was his first number 1 Billboard 200 album.

Lead off single was the very catchy Sweet Thing.

pic courtesy of Billboard

Keith's songs are very melodic and stick to their Country roots in terms of instrumentation and themes.

Defying Gravity certainly has that Nashville polish to the production but it soothes as well as rocks out.

Since 2001, Keith has won more than 30 CMT, ACM & Grammy Awards.

For me, Defying Gravity is his most consistent album in terms of songwriting and performance which has recently been matched by his 2013 release Fuse.

In 2011, Keith signed up as a mentor for the Australian version of The Voice.

And in 2012 he became a judge on American Idol which he resigned for the 2013 series.

2013s Fuse and has a template very similar to that of Defying Gravity and is well worth investigating.

Keith has yet to bring his Light The Fuse Tour to the UK - but I live in hope.

So, if you want to investigate a bit of Country Music, you could do a lot worse than starting with Defying Gravity to show what the latest Nashville Sound is all about.

pic courtesy of New York Times

Twitter - @KeithUrban

http://www.keithurban.net/

The Archivist Volume 2: Mike Oldfield - Ommadawn - 40 Years Old Today - Reposted (21/10/15)

The first 'REAL' LP I bought was in 1973. It was Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield.

To say it changed my life was an understatement. 

I first heard TB when a friend's brother had played it - he was several years older than us - and I was enchanted. Up until then I had been listening to my brother's records of Beatles & Beach Boys etc - brilliant but 1960s. I had then bought the pop singles by the likes of T Rex, Slade and all of the other early 70s hit makers.

I had managed to get a few albums on tape by recording other friends brothers/sisters lps such as Yes, Caravan & The Moody Blues (couldn't afford my own then) but Tubular Bells was my first proper LP.

It opened up so many possibilities of what music could be. Only later did I find out how it had been 'assembled' by Mike.

When the follow up album, Hergest Ridge was released in 1974 - I had saved enough to buy it. I wallowed in it's pastoral beauty and played it to death. Literally wore it out.

Although it had a real slating on it's release, I've always loved it.

Mike Oldfield - Hergest Ridge (excerpt)

Then came news that Mike Oldfield was working on his next album and this one was rumoured by some people who had heard working sections as being as good, if not better than Tubular Bells. By God I was SO excited.

Mike by now had a home and recording studio near Hergest Ridge and recorded the album there in this countryside hideaway.

Ommadawn had its official UK release on October 21st 1975 - I made my mother buy me the album for my birthday in early December, as soon as it was released. She wrapped it up and placed it in her wardrobe ready for my birthday. But the temptation became too much and I used to unwrap the album on regular occasions and play it on my headphones so she couldn't hear it. I'm sure she knew. But she never let on.

 On his previous two albums, Mike had played most of the instruments himself but with Ommadawn, Mike had introduced quite a few additional musicians including his brother Terry on Flute, Paddy Maloney and the drummers Jabula to help him realise his vision. 

Ommadawn is often described as being one of the first mainstream albums to introduce a version of  what went on to become 'World Music'.

Whatever you call it, I call it sublime. It is by far my favourite Mike Oldfield album.

Mike Oldfield Ommadawn - unreleased mix

Unfortunately I cannot share it on here due to Youtube copyright agreements but I have tried to include some live versions and excerpts to show you what a majestic and moving piece of music it is. 

It has a certain Celtic sound and the African drumming at the end of side one fits in perfectly with the Celtic sounds of woodwind and guitars.

Ommadawn Live

There is even a single - On Horseback - a twee sounding affair that is tagged on to the end of side two with Mike on vocals - very odd but spookily kind of charming.

Mike Oldfield - On Horseback

Mike Oldfield discussing Ommadawn

The album was re-released in 2010 and included an outstanding 5.1 remix of the album as well as various outtakes of material recorded in preparation of the album which gives a great insight into how the finished music appears from the bare bones of the demos.

Like a lot of Mike's music, Ommadawn has been remixed and reinterpreted by other musicians.

Ommadawn Remix

A cover of Ommadawn using Two Pianos

And in this year where Ommdawn reaches 40 - Mike is planning an Ommadawn 2 - or, as he puts it A New Ommadawn.

And I, among many, can't wait to hear it

http://www.mikeoldfieldofficial.com/

http://tubular.net/discography/Ommadawn

The Archivist Volume 2: YES - Going For The One

TO CELEBRATE THE 10,000TH VIEW OF THE BLOG - ( A BIG THANK YOU EVERYONE WHO HAS TUNED IN ) - SOMETHING VERY SPECIAL TO ME - I THOUGHT I'D TREAT YOU ALL TO MY FAVOURITE ALBUM BY MY FAVOURITE BAND.

Picture if you will music lovers, an 11 year old boy attending his first day at Grammar School. It was like Tom Brown's Schooldays, with prefects that looked liked men and people nicking your cap and throwing it in the stream and cutting your tie with a scissors. The first day I sat down at my desk in my form room and saw those magical words hat had been carved on the desks  -CSNY - ELP & YES. What were these? School Houses? Magical Passwords? Thus began my journey into the world of Prog and YES. My brother, 12 years older than myself, had been my route into music. The Beach Boys, The Beatles, The Association etc. So I had no older siblings to pass on the magical musical knowledge that had been the way since cavemen first beat a bone on a rock.

 I had to find my own path.

My introduction to YES was the Fragile album. Those complicated songs, those technically brilliant musical passages, that extremely high Accrington accented voice. Then, as I hit Grammar school, in 1972 came Close To The Edge. THE Prog Rock album of all time. My friend's brother had a copy (I couldn't afford albums then) so I taped it (remember that!!) and played it to death!!!

I was smitten, I was hooked, I fell in love. And it's been like a marriage ever since. We've had our ups and downs, we've had our extra marital musical affairs but YES and I have always gone back to each other. 

I've ALWAYS bought every Yes album ever since - on the first day of release - without even hearing them.

Jon Anderson always said that YES music was bigger than the band. He's right. With personnel changes galore over the years, the band has changed both in personal and musical ways but the music will live on.

So, why have I chosen to highlight Going For The One.

Well, a few reasons really.

Following the overblown and fractured beauty that was 1973s Tales Of Topographic Oceans (aka the album that killed Prog) - keyboard maestro Rick Wakeman decided that enough was enough and jumped ship. This brought in Swiss keyboard player Patrick Moraz for the follow up album Relayer in 1974.

Relayer was a magnificent beast. Full of unrelenting rhythms and sometimes jazz oriented sounds and phrases, it as the polar opposite of Topographic Oceans. Perhaps that was what the band needed. But following the Relayer album and tour the YES boys decided it was time to follow their individual paths and each member produced a solo album.

Moraz then left the band.

I used to subscribe to the music magazine Melody Maker and I remember as if it were yesterday walking up to the papershop early on that December morning, sun shining, and looking in amazement at the headline when the newsagent handed over the copy. I almost burst out crying. "Wakeman Rejoins Yes". I rushed home and must have reread the article over and over again as it described how YES were in Mountain Studios in Montreux working on what was going to be their new album Going For The One.

So I waited months until the first notes of the title track were heard - I think on The Old Grey Whistle Test. 

The release must be put into context. The album was released at the height of Punk in the UK in July 1977. 

The band had been renergised by the new music happening in the UK.

When have you ever heard a YES album begin with, One Two Three Four??

The opening title track was a burst of energy with Steve Howe's wailing slide guitars and Jon Andesron's lyrics finally coming down to earth to sing about, of all things, sport.

The album went straight to number 1 in the UK. So much for Punk sweeping away the old guard. 

With a new cover designer, Hipgnosis rather than the usual Roger Dean (and one which Wakeman entitled Going For The Bum) - it was a new chapter for the band.

The band even had a hit single with the delicate Wonderous Stories their first single release since 1971's Roundabout.

The reception by the fans was one of absolute joy. This was the classic YES line up, back on the top of their game and releasing what is often quoted as the album of their career.

Following the 3 song Relayer - Going For The One gives us 5 songs and includes the crown jewel of the entire YES catalogue - the mighty AWAKEN. This was the track that enticed Wakey to rejoin the band. It is a tour de force and includes everything a YES fan could ask for. 

By the way, the church organ from Vevey cathedral which Rick Wakeman plays was recorded over the phone line - thought you'd like to know that.

I remember the review for the album. either in Sounds or Melody Maker and the journo pointed out that his girlfriend, who had never been a YES fan, even cried at the end of Awaken when she first heard it. Yes, it is that moving- especially live.

I've actually worn out two vinyl copies of the album and bought at least 3 copies of the CD.

The album is also part of the current 3 Albums tour which is coming to the UK in May, with new vocalist Jon Davison. And it's gong to be a gem of a tour and I'll be there.

So once again a big Thank You to everyone who has felt like reading a page or two of the blog. I never thought I'd get 100 views, let alone 10,000. I hope it's opened up some old music for you to investigate and shown you some new music to search out and some artists who are worthy of your time to see live. 

Mac

Twitter - @yesofficial 

http://www.yesworld.com/