First Impressions 3: Tin Machine II

Tin Machine (1991)

[First impressions of albums bought in my September 2021 spree]

This was not the US cover

I've always had a bit of soft spot for Tin Machine, ever since I saw their live promo film in the cinema as a supporting feature to some film and really liked it (although the girl I was with was deeply unimpressed). At the time, it was a very deliberate break with Bowie's tradition and of course I bought that first album straight away. So I suppose it tells you everything you need to know about the extent of my alleged soft spot that I didn't buy Tin Machine II until (ahem) thirty years later. Was it worth the wait?

Well, I'd hate to leave my single reader in suspense, so let me say straight away: no. It's never going to be one of my favourite albums; it's not even one going to be one of my favourite albums of 1991.

Still, it's not a total loss. It's got the same feeling as too many of Bowie's later albums, of trying a bit too hard to get something new, pulling seemingly disparate elements together without quite making them gel, and forgetting the tunes, but there's plenty of interesting moments. I could do with fewer of Reeves Gabrels' "far out" (i.e. tuneless) solos, but the rhythm section is rock solid and it's all very cleanly produced. I do find the juxtaposition of straight-ahead rock and Bowie's unique, very mannered phrasing a little jarring, but it's interesting to note that when Hunt Sales sings (e.g. on "Stateside"), it fits the style of music better but instantly becomes more generic

Any standout tracks on first listen? "Amlapura" strikes me the most, more for being a decent Bowie track instead of a Bowie-playing-at-rock track. "Sorry" works well as an overall performance, with the various parts coming together well. I'm sure other tracks will emerge when (if?) I listen to the album more, as there's plenty of interesting moments. Absolutely non-essential but nice to have all the same.

First Impressions 2: I Can't Believe You're Gone

The Webb Brothers (2000)

[First impressions of albums bought in my September 2021 spree]

I didn't realise this was a single when I bought it, but at least it's a nice easy way into my first impressions series, with only three songs to concentrate on.

My first impression is that it is heavily reminiscent of Jason Falkner's Can You Still Feel?, that  kind of sophisticated post-Jellyfish power-pop that is so often gets critical adulation and little sales. It's got a great chorus melody, some nicely hook-y arrangement and a well-though out structure. I'd listen to it again. The acoustic version of "I Can't Believe You're Gone" is the third track here and is in some respects nicer for being less overblown, but the song stands up to the two different treatments well.

"Blame It On Yourself", the second track here, separating the two different versions of the single, is clear B-side fodder, a slightly weaker track that nevertheless makes me want to go and listen to the source album Maroon - which I suppose is the point!

First Impressions 1: The Seeds of Love

Tears for Fears (1989)

[First impressions of albums bought in my September 2021 spree]

The cover has not aged
as well as the music

The first album I'm listening to for my first impressions of those I bought during my outing yesterday, and already I'm cheating. I know this album very well. It's a sumptuous, warm bath of a record, a miracle of late-eighties record production that I have enjoyed for decades and find myself returning to again and again.

This is the 2020 remaster, so, given that I know it well, I have to restrict my first impressions to what differences I can hear. I'd say it's mixed slightly louder, which is a little surprising given that the loudness wars are over, but thankfully, on an album so full of dynamics, there's no evidence of these being sacrificed. The songs are full of little touches that are sounding clearer, I think. There's power and weight in the bass at the beginning of "Woman in Chains", followed by a surrounding cloud of ambience as the track gets going. "Badman's Song" ebbs and flows through its mood changes as gloriously as ever, and I am reminded again what a good singer Roland Orzabal is.

I didn't really need to do a first impressions of this album, of course, but I having somehow failed to buy this before now, I wanted to hear it properly through my system at home. It sounds great.

Shopping: 18 September 2021

Brian and I were wondering how long we've been visiting Berwick Street for our music fix, and neither of us can really remember. But, looking back in my archives, I can see that I was bemoaning the loss of record shops almost ten years ago, so clearly we had been coming some time before that!

Still, so what if what used to be a trawl through the myriad secondhand music emporia has long ago become an excuse to meet and catch up over a few pints, with a little shopping in between? We had a great time, marvelled at how busy Soho is these days, and even brought home a few albums.

There was nothing in particular I wanted (with one exception) and no plan, so what I have consists of covers, artists or titles that caught my eye at that moment - and all for a smidge over £50!

The View From Half Way Down by Andy Bell (2020)

I loved Ride, and Hurricane #1 produced several of my favourite singles of the Nineties. It's always pained me that such a great guitarist was reduced to plodding away on bass in some obscure pub-rock band, just to pay the bills. So when I saw this album on display in Sister Ray as one the "best albums of 2020", I couldn't resist.

Pleasure by Feist (2017)

Have heard the name but not the music, was cheap.

Rabbit Fur Coat by Jenny Lewis with The Watson Twins (2005)

This album rings a bell from back in the day when I actually read the music press, so thought I'd have a punt.

My Pain and Sadness is More Sad and Painful Than Yours by McLusky (2003)

I bought this entirely on the strength of the title and primarily to amuse K, who listens to lots of songs with depressing titles all in lower case (as it is on this album cover), as exemplified by the Spotify playlist idk. However, this probably isn't her type of music: Wikipedia tells me that McLusky are a "post-hardcore band", and although I have to admit to not being quite sure what this means, I'm pretty certain it's not acoustic. Although acoustic guitars would be very post-hardcore.

Looks even better in the cardboard

Summer 08 by Metronomy (2016)

Bought purely on the strength of a very attractive embossed cover.

Slanted and Enchanted by Pavement (1992)

Brian and I used to do a version of "Trigger Cut" with our band, but I've never owned the album until now.

Bankrupt! by Phoenix (2013)

I have several Phoenix albums, although none I like as much as their debut, United. This deluxe, limited edition version might be worth a bit more than I paid for it.

Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star by Sonic Youth (1994)

I've been meaning to get into Sonic Youth since I was a student. I might have left it a bit late.

Amazing Grace by Spiritualized (2003)

My interest in Spiritualized was piqued by the amusing autobiography of their former bass player Will Carruthers. Need any other reason to purchase? Not me.

The Seeds Of Love by Tears for Fears (1989)

This is the one album I was looking for, although I didn't remember that until I actually saw it on the counter at Sister Ray for £2.99. I suspect this disk actually came from a deluxe reissue, but since I don't care about the extra material, I am just happy to have what is a superb album at a good price.

Tin Machine II by Tin Machine (1991)

At first I was amazed to find this long out-of-print album available, and thought perhaps I'd bagged myself a bit of a rarity. However, on closer examination, it turns out to be a 2020 reissue from a Dutch label called Music On CD. Hardly essential listening, but I've always had a soft spot for Bowie's hard rock, "I'm just the lead singer of the band" phase.

Poses by Rufus Wainwright (2001)

A bargain at £2? No idea, but I like most of his other stuff.

I Can't Believe You're Gone by The Webb Brothers (2000) 

I've just re-ripped their album Beyond The Biosphere and this has a cool cover. Turns out it's a single, though, so teensy bit annoyed at myself.

Challah recipe

Four-plait challah

 Making challah was one of the reasons I started making bread by hand, after having had a bread machine for six months or so. However, I struggled for ages, not so much with the form but with the taste, which was always a bit bland - like normal white bread in a challah shape. I persisted with complicated recipes that required me to separate egg yolks and whites, for some reason, and also in the belief that real challah has honey in it. None of these were very satisfactory, so eventually I gave up.

I was inspired again years later by my nephew, who was making bread - and challah - and so this time I went and found a much simpler recipe. I've adapted it slightly; I'm not one for lots of experimentation, and once something works I stick with it, but I found this still wasn't giving me quite what I wanted. What I have done is to combine a technique from other breads of creating a starter the day before, to allow the initial batter to ferment a little and add some taste and texture. It seems to work quite well.

Thursday: the starter

On Thursday, ideally in the morning but in the evening if you forget (I do, often), make a simple starter.

Ingredients

• 125g strong white flour
• ¼ tsp (approx 1g) dried yeast
• 150g lukewarm water

Method

1. Mix the flour and yeast together.
2. Add the water and mix well to a smooth batter.
3. Cover and leave until Friday morning. If you want to have a peek a few hours later, you'll see it bubbling nicely.
4. Optional: give it another good mix on Thursday evening.

Friday: the bread

On Friday morning, make the bread, which should be enough time to be ready for kiddush in the evening.

Ingredients

• 375g strong white flour (plus a little more for the work surface)
• 7g dried yeast
• 60g caster sugar
• 1 whole egg and 1 yolk (plus another for an egg wash)
• 45ml sunflower oil (plus approx another 15ml for kneading etc)
• 10g salt (or a little less if you prefer)
• 50g lukewarm water (plus a little more if needed)

Method

1. Mix the flour, yeast and sugar together in a large bowl.
2. Make a well in the middle of ingredients and pour in the starter from yesterday.
3. Gently combine the starter with the flour, keeping it in the well in middle, to make a sponge. You're trying to get the batter a little thicker but still leave dry ingredients round the edge.
4. Leave the sponge for about half an hour.
5. Mix the remaining ingredients (egg, oil, salt and water) in a jug.
6. Add the wet ingredients to the sponge and mix it all together into a dough. It should be firm but not too dry, so add a little more water if needed.

Here's where my laziness creeps in. If you prefer (some people say it gives a better result), you could now just knead the dough for 10 minutes. Kneading dough for ten minutes is a pain, so here's what I do:

1. Shape the dough into a rough ball, cover the bowl and leave the dough for 10 minutes.
2. Put a little oil on the work surface, take the dough out of the bowl, wipe the bowl clean and oil it.
3. Knead the dough for about 30 seconds and put it back in the bowl.
4. Cover and leave for 10 minutes.
5. Knead again for 30 seconds, then back in the bowl.
• You might want a bit more oil on the work surface if necessary to stop it sticking too much.
6. Cover and leave for 10 minutes.
7. Knead again for 30 seconds, back in the bowl.
8. Cover and leave for 30 minutes.
9. Knead again for 30 seconds.

Then the process is the same:

1. Cover the dough and leave to rise. The time varies, and the recipes usually say "until doubled in size", although I have a hard time telling what "doubled" is, so usually I just leave it for about an hour.
2. Put some flour on the work surface.
3. Take the dough out, press the air out and make it into a rough ball again.
4. Divide the dough into 2 pieces, as equal as you can (you can weigh them if you want).

Each of these pieces will become a challah, so do the following instructions for each:

1. Get a baking tray out, and cover it with baking parchment.
2. Divide the dough into 4 pieces, weighing if you want to be precise.
3. Press each piece into a rough rectangle, then roll it gently into a sausage shape.
4. Lay each piece out on the work surface, so that one end of each piece is joined together and the other ends are fanned out.
5. Gently dust the pieces with flour.
6. Plait the pieces.
• There are lots of ways of plaiting and the best thing to do is watch a video - there's loads out there!
• I usually do a four-plait challah, as shown in the picture at the top, as it's easy to split the dough into four pieces.
• You can also do round challahs for Rosh Hashanah, as shown below.
7. Put the challah on the tray and cover.
8. Leave the challah to rise.
9. Heat the oven up to 180C (fan).
10. Prepare an egg wash with a beaten egg
11. Immediately before you put the bread in the oven, gently brush the egg wash over the bread.
12. Bake in the oven for about 30 mins, until golden and firm on the bottom.

Two round challahs, one coiled (left) and one plaited (right)

Honey Cake recipe

Honey cake is a traditional item for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and I've made one for probably the last ten years or so. In simpler times I would make two every year: one for the home and one to take into work, as it's always been popular with my colleagues and I still get comments about it even though the last time I was actually able to provide some to them was September 2019!

The recipe I use is from my wife's mum, and she's not sure where it came from but it looks very similar to Flo Greenberg's; it doesn't really matter of course, as this is now our family recipe! One of the odd things is that this doesn't actually taste of honey much - the ginger and spices are much more obvious. I haven't tried it without honey to see what difference it makes, but I've used various different types of honey and that definitely makes no difference!

I rarely bake cakes, and I only make this once a year, which means it has taken a long time to refine my method. One thing I have learned is that although you can use an electric mixer to cream the eggs and sugar, after that you should mix all the ingredients together by hand.

Ingredients

• 12 oz (340g) plain flour
• 1 tsp (generous) baking powder
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• ½ tsp mixed spice
• 6 oz (170g) caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 8 oz (227g) clear/runny honey (plus about 60-70g for glazing)
• 2 tbsp oil
• ¼ pint (142 ml) warm water

Method

1. Prepare a floured and greased (or lined) tin -  I use a 2lb loaf tin - and turn on the oven to 160C (fan).
2. Mix the dry ingredients together, apart from the sugar.
3. Cream the sugar and eggs, using an electric mixer.
4. Add the honey, oil and water to the egg mixture, mixing gently by hand.
5. In a new bowl, alternate adding the dry and wet mixtures, mixing well but gently, by hand.
6. Pour the combined mixture into the tin and put in the oven.
7. Bake for about 60-70 mins, until it's done (i.e. the usual test: a knife or skewer comes out clean).
8. Gently heat 60-70g more honey until it's very runny (in a bowl over water) and brush it onto the top of the hot cake straight after it comes out of the oven.
9. Leave in the tin for about half an hour before taking it out and allowing to cool on a rack.
   

Watching - August 2021

Paddington 2 (2017)

The best thing about this hugely enjoyable film is Hugh Grant's gloriously over-the-top luvvie villain, but even without that it's a very funny film. Brought in the whole family.

Apollo 11 (2019)

The NASA footage is amazing, not least because it reminds you how incredibly complex the whole undertaking was. Seeing the shots of the rows and rows of people at consoles at Launch Control in Florida really brought that home to me, and of course that was merely the tip of the iceberg. However, it's a big of a slog as a documentary, and the dramatic music is a bit intrusive (all a bit too Truman Show for me) but well worth seeing.

Florence Foster Jenkins (2016)

Very amusing. I watched this because Mark Kermode said it was one of Hugh Grant's best roles, and he's good, but it's Meryl Streep who stands out.

A Very English Scandal (2018)

I knew very little about the Jeremy Thorpe scandal before this. It was a good watch, but would have been better as a 1½-2 hour film rather than three hours, even when watched with breaks. Hugh Grant is very good but still obviously Hugh Grant (maybe I just know his films too well), and so was Ben Wilshaw, but together they made an odd casting decision - and not just because it's hard to forget that Wilshaw also plays Paddington. The events depicted cover almost twenty years, but Grant always looks to be in his fifties while Wilshaw in his twenties. In real life they were about eleven years apart and Thorpe was always considered young and active for a politician. Still, you can't fault the effort put into the production and I enjoyed it.

Music and Lyrics (2007)

I'll watch Drew Barrymore in most things, but here I think she and Hugh Grant (yes, August has become a bit of a Grant-fest, I'm afraid) make a good and believable couple - and certainly he is preferable to Adam Sandler. The film is sweet, light and fluffy, like a good cake - not exactly good for you, but enjoyable nonetheless.

Yesterday (2019)

An intriguing concept turned into Curtis-by-numbers. Very much like About Time, it takes a really great premise and then squashes it under a conventional romcom, while abandoning any internal consistency when it becomes inconvenient. I enjoyed it and there were plenty of laugh-out-loud jokes, but the original concept, of a man who can't find success despite having all these astonishing songs, would have been more believable and interesting, and knowing that Curtis ripped off someone else's story leaves a bit of a bad taste in the mouth.

Blinded by the Light (2019)

Oddly, 2019 saw two British films featuring pop music and Asian lead characters (although in Yesterday, this isn't a plot point), so I thought I'd watch this one too. On the surface, it has less appeal for me, as Springsteen - whose music is the inspiration for the story - has never really done it for me. Mostly this is because lyrics don't matter much to me, and so it's only Springsteen's most musical - dare I say, poppiest - moments that I enjoy. But by linking the words to the events, the film gave me a better appreciation for them and for what Bruce means to people. The film itself is moving and well-made coming-of-age story, and of the two films, this is the better. 

A Beautiful Mind (2001)

Ron Howard's award-winning film illustrates the dilemma of making movies based on a real lives: what do you change in the name of dramatisation? John Nash, the Nobel laureate mathematician at the centre of the story, was still alive when this was released, and it must have been odd for him knowing that this version of events would become what he'd be known for in the popular imagination. I can understand why the changes (and simplifications) were made: they increase the drama and make the narrative more understandable, while still being true to the spirit of his life, and as a standalone film it works very well. However, I was disappointed to find out after I'd watched it how much it differs from Nash's real life.

The Imitation Game (2014)

Also full of "dramatic licence", as the fantastic visualisation and analysis at Information Is Beautiful makes clear - somewhere between 17% and 42% accurate, depending on how strict you want to be. Of course, some simplification is necessary in order to tell the story in two hours. But there are dozens of unnecessary changes that feel like they've been made in order to fit the pre-existing Hollywood template of "lone genius saves the world". So although the film was well-made, I knew enough of the subject to know that it was highly inaccurate while I was watching it and this spoiled it for me. Cumberbatch was good though.