Happy Sad

Tim Buckley
1969

Almost twenty years ago I came across Jeff Buckley's incomparable Grace in a secondhand record shop in Manchester and it's been one of my favourite albums ever since. Inevitably, any fan of Jeff is going to want to hear more, and that is bound to lead to his father Tim. The result is that I now have quite a few more albums by Buckley Senior than by Buckley Junior; the irony is that, so far, I've never really connected with any of them. I quite like Sefronia (which includes "Dolphins", my favourite Tim Buckley song so far) but that's about it.

Happy Sad is from a few years earlier and I think the most I can say about it is, again, I quite like it. Not loads, just some. As a whole, is has a lazy, hazy late-summer, late-sixties feel which I find appealing. Although notionally "folky" and primarily based on acoustic instruments, it has electric touches here and there, and there's a jazzy influence hovering over most of the tracks too. It's only six songs long, although two of them are over 10 minutes long, so it isn't a short record.

If I had to choose a favourite, it would be "Love From Room 109 At The Islander (On Pacific Coast Highway)", which is a deliciously languorous, melancholic lament for a lost love. I also like the opener, "Strange Feelin'" which reminds me oddly of the "Stairway To Heaven" theme from A Matter Of Life And Death, while "Buzzin' Fly" has a nice little rhythm going. Unfortunately, "Gypsy Woman" is grossly over-indulgent and, at 12 minutes long, dominates and spoils the album for me.

All in all, another mixed bag as far as I'm concerned.

Shoot Speed / Kill Light

Primal Scream
XTRMNTR, 2000

Primal Scream are the chamaeleons of indie rock. Is there a band that can claim the same range, from blissed-out baggy on "Higher Than The Sun" and "Loaded" to brain-melting trance with "Swastika Eyes"? Probably not. Unfortunately, neither can Primal Scream. Their only musical successes are due to having the foresight or luck to choose capable collaborators, and the wisdom to then leave them alone to do what they do best. On their own, Primal Scream revert to a cartoon caricature of a "rock band", complete with parody "attitude", and playing bad rip-offs of early seventies Stones - apparently unaware that the Stones have reserved that right to themselves for many decades now.

I first heard "Shoot Speed / Kill Light" over a pint in The Jekyll & Hyde in Edinburgh, when my friend Keith fished a Walkman out of the depths of his coat and told me, "You'll love this." (Keith, a man with impeccable taste in music, never despaired of improving mine.) He didn't tell me who it was. My first impression was that it sounded like New Order abusing My Bloody Valentine in a Glasgow fetish dungeon. As it turned out, I wasn't far wrong. Recruited for the XTRMNTR album, MBV guitarist and sonic guru Kevin Shields was joined for this track by Bernard Sumner. Whither Primal Scream? I can't hear any evidence that they played on the track, nor are they missed.

The track is superb, a howling, screaming collision of krautrock, Hawkwind and techno, with a classic New Order bass line (presumably played by Mani. I suppose), gusts of patented squawling Shields guitar, topped off with a minimal, heavily processed, vocoder lyric that just recites the title over and over. It is utterly compelling, hypnotic and driven. It's also pretty much unlike anything else on the album.

The rest of XTRMNTR is patchy: "Swastika Eyes" is excellent (in both versions, although I prefer the Jagz Kooner mix), and "Blood Money" is a fun combination of John Barry, sub-Coltrane free jazz and Neu, but too much of the rest is just their default sub-Stones riffage played while doing a Stars In Their Eyes take on The Stooges or MC5. And Bobby Gillespie's voice is probably the most annoying in rock. Yes, even more than Bob Dylan's.


Back to the complete Best Tracks of the Noughties.

Hope There's Someone

Antony & The Johnsons
I Am A Bird Now (2005)

I heard this via a recommendation from an acquaintance. She'd discovered the album by accident (well before its Mercury Music Prize success), but despite being captivated by its unusual sound (Antony's voice is probably an acquired taste), she couldn't persuade any of her friends that it was any good; mostly they laughed at it. In desperation to find someone else who would appreciate it, and knowing my reputation as a man of catholic musical tastes, she almost forced the CD on me one day. Happily, I loved it too.

This is the first track and captures the atmosphere of the album as a whole; a mixture of hope and despair, fragility and strength, uncertainty and courage. It still sounds unlike anything else I can think of and the opposite of most pop or rock, containing only simple, sparse instrumentation. It sounds more like chamber music than pop. And Antony Hegarty's tremulous voice floats over it, also providing an eerie choir of backing vocals. Thought-provoking and beautiful.


Back to the complete Best Tracks of the Noughties.

Here's Little Richard

Little Richard
1957

So far, I've found the classic rock 'n' roll albums from the fifties to be somewhat disappointing. They're so obviously of their time; what sounded so different and revolutionary sixty years ago has been rendered mainstream by their very success and our over-familiarity with the material. Elvis's classic first album for RCA sounds very pedestrian to me, Buddy Holly's is scarcely less so and Fats Domino's This Is Fats is just a little boring.

So it's a delight to find that Here's Little Richard is excellent. The amount of energy he displays in most of the tracks is amazing and his voice is astonishing - and if it sounds so to me now, I can't begin to imagine how alien it sounded at the time. It's also good to find that, as well as the inevitable classics like "Tutti Frutti" and "Long Tall Sally", there are other good album tracks. "Baby" is raw, raucous R&B in which Little Richard sounds almost feminine. "Slippin' And Slidin'" is jumping, good time rock 'n' roll with a great sax solo. "Can't Believe You Wanna Leave" is slower but just as effective.

There's not a lot of variety; it's all fifties R&B and owes a lot to many, including Fats Domino. But Little Richard's energy is irrepressible and his voice is fantastic. Definitely a classic.

One Day Remains

Alter Bridge
2004

Last year, one of my most played albums was Blackbird, Alter Bridge's second album (I think accepted critical practice is to describe it as their "sophomore effort", but I eschew such pretension). On the strength of that, I decided to give this, their debut, a try. Given the reputation of Creed and Mark Tremonti, I had expected it to be full of pedal-to-the-metal, foot-on-the-monitor rawk; hair flying, guitars crunching, voices shrieking and solos shredding and squealing.

There's some of that in evidence, the title track being a particularly enjoyable example, while "Metalingus", unsurprisingly, has some nicely muscular guitar action. However, the album overall is mostly one of two speeds - full volume, albeit mid-paced, stadium-friendly rock like "Open Your Eyes", and hand-wringing balladry, such as "Broken Wings". Some of the songs combine both, using the classic template of a quiet start with loud chorus ("Shed My Skin" is probably my favourite of these).

Myles Kennedy has a classic rock voice that works better at lower registers than the excruciating screech of Bruce Dickenson or balls-in-a-vice squeak of Waxl, and therefore lends itself to the ballads. However, it does get a bit doomy and depressive at this speed ("In Loving Memory" in particular, which is no doubt heartfelt but also downright maudlin). Guitar work throughout is an exemplar demonstration of modern rock technique and feel, while particular mention should be made of the drumming which is outstanding throughout and has me thumping in time on my desk, leg, head or anything else close to hand.

On the whole, it's a good album, albeit not quite up to the standard of Blackbird. The songs aren't quite as memorable, the recording quality and production a touch muddier and the clichés slightly more in evidence.

A&E

Goldfrapp
Seventh Tree, 2008

This is a pretty, pastoral saunter through a sunlit woodland (although I could be influenced by the video here). Er, except isn't she singing about attempting to get someone's attention by committing suicide?

Still, as I have remarked on many occasions, I don't really understand lyrics. It's like trying to understand people: they just don't make sense half of the time, but maybe they're not supposed to.

I love the combination of gentle acoustic instrumentation and low-key electronic burble in the background. I love the slightly other-worldly feel ("pills at work"?). I love the way it builds up to the final chorus, the vulnerability in Alison's voice and the quiet ending. Just beautiful. Even if it is about something horrible.


Back to the complete Best Tracks of the Noughties

McLemore Avenue

Booker T & The M.G.s
1970

This is a bit of an oddity. An album consisting entirely of the songs from Abbey Road, all done as instrumentals (bar the fifteen words of "The End") and covered in a wonderfully cool and relaxed way. Nowadays it would be a tribute to a classic album, but since this was recorded barely six months after The Beatles released the original, this was perhaps a sign of a lack of inspiration?

It's organised as three medleys, not in the original order of songs at all, apart from "Something" which is for reason given its own track. It's lovely, smooth background music, beautifully played and gently funky, if occasionally a bit too lounge - probably because the organ is just that kind of sound - but no less enjoyable for that. If it lacks some of the brilliance and force of the originals, perhaps that's just an indication of how good the original album is.