MELOMANIA brings you a humble dose of Psychedelia, Pop and tries out a listening journal.
Please say "Hi!" to your Mom for us - tell her we said "Happy Mother's Day!"
First of all, my apologies for missing last week. As you may be aware, there is entirety too much music out there. Most of the reasoning that goes into assembling and drawing these releases together is to save your valuable time with only the best of what is offered. However, a new trend is developing where the pre-release singles are becoming the best of what the entire album has to offer (we affectionately call it the "trailer effect" - still sounds like a misunderstanding just waiting to happen.)
There is no "ranking system" in play, but we can tell you that at least two or three releases rise to the top of the "immediate listen" list on Thursday night 11PM. The problem developing from this phenomenon is that it may be setting expectations too high. So, expect the writing to take a different turn. From this development, we hope to encourage more listening and will try keeping a bit of a "musical journal" that is derived from the regular cycle of enjoyment for the week. Most of all, we hope you will continue to read, listen and let us know what you think. Thank you.
Various Artists - HIDDEN WATERS: STRANGE AND SUBLIME SOUNDS OF RIO DE JANEIRO [2LP](Mr. Bongo UK)
Brazilian Music is not only very popular in esoteric circles, it also covers a lot of ground. This 20-song compilation puts together the most palatable tracks that do not necessarily sound like MPB or even traditional music outright. On a label renowned for great singles and comps, “Hidden Waters” takes a huge amount of chances. “Saudade” by Ana Frango Elétrico and “Cliche” by Pedro Fonte are both slow burners that open the album. Fonte’s subtle changes in his song are the ones that best whet the appetite and provide the initial taste leaving you ready for the next course. Kassin’s slick, Disco/Jazz wonder “Relax” follows to send it skyward with precision rhythms and Steely Dan-esque changes. “Hidden Waters” is a series of songs that need to regularly heat up and cool back down to maintain their spell. Ava Rocha’s percussion-led incantations, and Thiago Nassif’s twisted Synth-led banger “Soar Estranho” lead you in an entirely new direction. “Mulato” by Negro Leo is Os Mutantes taken to the next level with wild effects, leaving you feeling like it is circling your head. Lê Almeida’s lo-fi Psych Rock, Joana Querioz’s clarinet/vocals/effects composition, and the rolling Indie Rock/Funk of Troá take “Hidden Waters” far off the beaten path. However, they help to make the head-turning traditional rhythms within the more typical tracks (the Grateful Dead-ish Ovo ou Bicho) truly stand out.
MELTYBRAINS? - You [LP(Strange Brew IRE)
After spending time with this enchanting but weird new Dublin group, we cannot tell you what a Meltybrain is - but your brain will feel melted after “You” wraps up. A heady brew of Musik Kosmiche, Residents, robot funk, and druggy Kraftwerk (those altered voices throughout,) Meltybrains? could join all of those cutting-edge types at Rocket Recordings (very similar intent to Rubber Oh.) “You” is a strange brand of SynthPop that is minimal and squelchy. For instance, “Ease That Mind” is clearly intended to be wispy cloud-driven Pop. However, they take the long extended ending to roll through a myriad of subtle melodic and rhythmic toying. The driving “Journey To/From The Meltyworld” could be their TV theme, but this is a fully new Psychedelic experience that could be the whole show and you did not know it. Tracks flow into and out of each other, ideas do the same within the tracks themselves. Most “songs” know no true organization (more “Space Ghetto”-like peaks and valleys and the dub/Hip-Hop-infused “Bitten By The System” please) make “You” a bit like a fevered dream/concept album.
PHOTON BAND - Pure Photonic Matter, Vol. 2 [CD](Darla/AMPED)
Pop usually benefits from being clear and shimmering. Former Lilys member Art DeFuria’s Pure Pop actually works better in its dense four-track lo-fi style mix. “I Was Free, I Was Fried” is a fist-pumping Glam rocker whose overdriven guitar lick sounds straight out of post-Dolls Seventies Los Angeles. “What’s A Body To Do?” has a load of lysergic fun with its strikes and lengthy fade-in before snapping into a wah-wah-driven Power Pop. The Who-like punch of “Out of My Head” boasts a memorable Garage-style verse before morphing into its own sparkling 1966 radio song (with an amazing solo.) DeFuria may be paying tribute to his idols, but mixing the Kinks’ wisecracking lyrics with a Jimi Hendrix-style Psychedelic Pop (“Set It Free (The Energy)”) is truly brilliant. “When I Fall Out Of The Sky” is equally massive guitar Pop bounced down to make it crunchy, and keep the harmonies crisp. However, the real secret weapon is that subdued guitar solo that matches the bittersweet lyrics so perfectly. With its weird interludes, sincere balladry, and wise organization, “Pure Photonic” is a classic Pop/Rock homage to DeFuria’s musical and emotional inspirations.
STATUES - Black Arcs Rising [LP](Lövely SWE)
Too many bands try too damn hard to arouse emotion from their audience. For all the screaming, hollering, yelling, howling, and yowling to connect - it really depends upon the thrust behind it. Sweden’s Statues revive that wild mercury sound of Japandroids mixed with the muscular Pop focus of classic Stranglers (no organ, though), and 1985-era Hüsker Dü. For instance, “Chemicals” translates a 16-to-the-bar Post-Punk formula into an arena-ready scissor-kick to the sky. While they reminisce about the glory of what once was, the pre-chorus chords beautifully color the haze of memory and then set up the knockout punch of a chorus. Later, in the album, Statues build up a major head of steam on the triptych “Meteorology,” “Dead of Summer,” and “Epochalypse.” Each song by itself feels like an adrenaline shot of Nineties Alt. Radio (that bridge on “Dead of Summer” literally sounds like their amps are catching on fire.) Played together, it feels like their last will and testament. Way to put it all on tape and leave it all on the floor, Statües!
LISTENING JOURNAL FOR THE WEEK
OCEAN COLOUR SCENE - Moseley Shoals (Demon/Edsel/AMPED)
As a listener known for diving headfirst into Britpop and never wanting to get out, Birmingham's OCS continues to mesmerize post-RSD. "Moseley Shoals" generally hits like an album out of time. Where Blur presents a unified image on each album, Pulp possesses varying guises of the same slick, artful but flawed character and Oasis thankfully sets out for shimmering hooks that swing for the fences, OCS is only content when deriving from the past like flipping channels on an old TV. "Moseley" dares to both sound like the Sixties music it admires (The Cat Stevens-meets-Pink Floyd vibe of the underrated "The Downstream" continues to impress) and yet turn it on its ear ("The Riverboat Song" and its swaying post-Madchester chorus and those winding chords on the howling "The Day We Caught The Train.") With that, you can see how it was pulling BritPop in a completely different direction while the big three were still developing their next albums. The question of whether it is/is not BritPop is still up for grabs. After all, it plays best as a record truly out of its time.
RAINBOW - Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow/Rising DLX/Long Live Rock N'Roll/Down To Earth (Polydor UK)
Thanks to the "Guardians of The Galaxy 3" soundtrack, the Graham Bonnet-sung "Since You Been Gone" 1979 single from Ritchie Blackmore's post-Deep Purple band Rainbow caught a little fire last week. So, we willingly dove back into the early catalog.
One thing is clear through most of the early catalog, Ritchie Blackmore consistently needs a band that grows with his phenomenal guitar work. Fortunately, Blackmore found the vocalist that matched his prowess immediately in Ronnie James Dio. However, one only needs to compare Dio's Elf-mates as the band on 1975's debut and the sizzling 1976 "Rising."
That is not to say that the debut is underwhelming. "Rainbow" does take a few chances. The stomper "Man on The Silver Mountain" remains a Hard Rock standard mostly because of how well Dio and Blackmore accent each other. The underrated "Self Portrait" and the moody "The Temple of The King" are stellar and somewhat forward-looking. (Blackmore's solo on "Self Portrait" is a real beauty of construction.) However, Rainbow's Achilles Heel of trying to have a hit rears its ugly head on the boogie crowd-pleaser "If You Don't Like Rock N'Roll" and the Quatermass cover "Black Sheep of The Family" (which was turned down by Deep Purple) that Blackmore wanted simply does not fit the band's acumen - except Blackmore's slide playing.
Unsatisfied with the sound of "Rainbow," Blackmore and Dio went back to the drawing board for 1976's "Rising" enlisting drummer Cozy Powell, future Dio bassist Jimmy Bain, and keyboardist Tony Carey. Almost immediately, "Tarot Woman" leaps out with a pre-NWOBHM gallop and Dio shows his vocal range on the Zeppelin-esque "Run With The Wolf." However, if anyone is truly giving power to "Rising" it is drummer Cozy Powell. His stops on the Celtic opening of "Starstruck" make its change to revamped boogie work wonderfully. Dio's presentation is on point with both a bluesy rasp and his trademark pushes on emphasis words. Blackmore's solos are fresh and melodic so they stand out from his blazing riffage (even though none of the three different mixes truly allow for this.) Listen to how Powell's thunder kicks the epic "Stargazer" into high gear and then his tom fill matches every note of Blackmore's (and Bain's) descending lick. Bain and Carey both prove to be very able and creative, but "Rising" is Blackmore's show. For example, Blackmore turns over most of the thrilling opener "Tarot Woman" to them, but late in the track his solo opens minimally and builds to a perfect way to rejoin and push them to the big finish. While the power ballad ("Do You Close Your Eyes") is a little overwrought, "Rising" deserves its place among pre-NWOBHM standards.
With more personnel changes, Dio, Blackmore, and Powell remained the core of the unit for 1978's "Long Live Rock N'Roll." Unlike "Rising," "Long Live" anticipates the AOR-friendly version of Heavy Metal that is forthcoming. The title track (one of Rainbow's best) is the crowd-pleaser they were always searching for. By their third album, Rainbow knows how to do a lot with a little. The Van Halen-esque stomp "L.A. Connection" manages to feel both loose and bluesy, yet airtight (even that weird post-chorus Jimmy Page-ian extension.) "Gates of Babylon" tries to repeat the Zeppelin-esque Eastern-flavored stomp of "Stargazer." "Sensitive To Light" tries to get the boogie right - but both fall short of "Rising" standards. However, the amazing "Kill the King" exceeds the driving gallop, stops, and dramatic thunder of anything on "Rising." In the end, where "Rising" succeeded was in channeling Led Zeppelin. "Long Live" simply sounds too much like Zep in places - but several of those instrumental passages ("Lady of the Lake") are stellar. In the end, the "sword and sorcery" epics proved too much for Blackmore and Dio to continue.
When what almost looked like a Deep Purple Mark II reunion came into view (Ian Gillan was asked to sing but declined, and Roger Glover returned as producer and bassist,) "Down To Earth" begins the commercial ascension of Rainbow. Convinced that a shimmering Hard Rock focus could make hits, Blackmore brought in Marbles' singer Graham Bonnet for 1979's "Down To Earth." With its KISS-like Dionysian thrust and Glover's more massive production, "No Time To Lose" and "Danger Zone" was far more straight-ahead Rock than usual. In hindsight, it is too easy to dismiss its pristine production and Seventies Metalloid drive against the Dio years. Like the best parts of "Long Live Rock N'Roll," "Down To Earth" fits into the same advances that Judas Priest was making with "British Steel" and AC/DC with "Highway To Hell." However, Blackmore saw the future was arena rock and most importantly that sounding American was the key to universal acceptance ("Bad Girl.") So, "Down To Earth" produced a pair of UK Top Ten singles in the good time "Destroyer"-ready rocker "All Night Long" and their cover of Russ Ballard's "Since You Been Gone" - the ultimate hooky AOR track that carved their path to Album Rock radio success in the Eighties.
We sincerely hope that this was time well spent. We thank you for reading, listening, subscribing, and most of all supporting the artists listed here. Thank you.
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