MELOMANIA dips into the past for seven reissues this week
It's going to be noisy - but do not miss the start.
LABI SIFFRE - Crying Laughing Loving Lying [LP](Demon/AMPED)
English singer Labi Siffre released several albums in the early Seventies that are strangely overlooked. In the ongoing union of British Folk (of the Sixties) to the lighter side of Prog (in the Seventies,) Siffre seems to be omitted. Gifted with a beautiful and moving upper-range voice, when Siffre hangs on a note it pulls emotion from you. In the mostly a capella opener “Saved,” Siffre tells his story and simultaneously the fear of telling his story. Once his guitar (and the lush background instruments enter,) these mostly Folk-ish songs are soothing. Wordless choruses (“Cannock Chase” where strings almost drown him out) and simple lyrics do not even hold back the power of his songs. The Loudon Wainwright III-esque “Fool Me A Good Night” and the funky “Gimme Some More” point out Siffre’s connection to both Joan Armatrading and Tracy Chapman (in the interview below, Siffre actually expresses a wish to write a song without rhyme.) The delicate fingerpicking of the title cut led to his biggest UK success. Like so many Folky Pop songs of the early Seventies, its simplicity gives the singer the opportunity to inject the personality of their voice. Siffre’s beautiful “My Song” (sampled by Kanye West on “Graduation”) is the summation of production and Siffre’s performance creating both a lump-in-your-throat moment and a beautiful, hopeful denouement. While the lyrics of “My Song” are not anything revolutionary, Siffre’s delivery of them means everything. The refrain (which opens the song) is never sung the same way twice. Each iteration gives you a deeper appreciation of both Siffre’s habit of writing and working around a relationship. Even when Siffre builds up with “I wonder - if you know - what it means” and dovetails “to find your dreams come true,” he is pulling the strings on our hearts. It is a ballad at heart but performed as if love is most appreciated if one puts it into everything they do. Astonishing. One that should have been covered 10,000 times. “Crying” as an album makes an excellent first album to explore this singer/songwriter who never saw his music released here in the US until the Eighties.
JEFFREY SILVERSTEIN - You Become The Mountain [LP](Arrowhawk/Redeye)
The best meditative music can be that which does not announce that as its function. Portland singer/songwriter Jeffrey Silverstein mixes American Primitive style guitar work (multi-tracked at that) with a more wispy Bill Callahan-style croon and environmental sounds. However, the formula is never what you think it will be. “A Dog’s Age” opens with arpeggios unfolding but a coarse speed-picked single note in the background. Silverstein enters like a poet offering Ram Dass-style musings (from Jon Kabat-Zinn) on the nature of the album’s title. “Easy Rider” drifts into memory bliss with a beautiful steel guitar slide before morphing into an actual song. Silverstein slowly develops his parts and slips in with the chorused-out urging to “ride on, Easy Rider.” Before you think it is all hippie platitudes, Silverstein opens the vault on a delightful Country song, “Bernard.” With its chugging bass and driftwood acoustics, Silverstein channels David Berman and unwraps a track that could have been on “American Water.” Equal parts instrumental drift and singer/songwriter observation, Silverstein is truly on to something. “Mountain” is like more relaxing Freak Folk where the journey is everything.
UNSANE [LP](Lamb Unlimited)
Coming out of Eighties America torn apart by Thrash, Punk, and Post-Punk, the Big Black/AmRep squall of Unsane is largely a reflection of the decade’s fascination with noise and dissonance. Produced by Sonic Youth producer Wharton Tiers, this trio was far more interested in their searing riffs being heard than any words. Singer/guitarist Chris Spencer lets his distorted, muscular riffs speak louder than his dystopic radio transmission voice. While a lot of groups were cataloging the “American wasteland” with this abrasive whirlwind RAWK, Unsane could actually swing a little. Drummer Charlie Ondras could be brutal and still give a track like “Bath” far more than just neck slams on the 1 and 3. Bass player Pete Shore is the chaos factor, he drowns “Maggot” in the thrill of low-register AmRep-style plunge and punch. However, his precision on “Cracked Up” keeps you feeling like you are being pushed down a staircase again and again. When Unsane locks together on the menacing Melvins-like “Slag” or the damaged Bluesy destruction of “Exterminator,” they lose the Metal-like need to get heads to bang and instead assault you with Birthday Party-ish precision and Gallon Drunk-ish gutter squall.
THE RABBITS [LP](Mesh Key JPN)
About two clicks below the weird upfront noise bursts of Boredoms, Japan’s Rabbits made a noisy Punk album that is forward-thinking. “Baachan no Baajin de Ittemiyou” sells itself as a “Metal Mix” and delivers. However, the echoed vocals and pogo-ready tracks are actually somewhat undermined for the majority of the track to better allow its scratching guitar solo to slice through better. That is not to say Rabbits are out to comfort. “Kako Otoko” gallops along like DEVO playing a chromatic metal riff. “Bye Bye” actually rolls out a lengthy pre-verse guitar solo that is as much Magazine as it is Minutemen. Punk is the main mission of Syoichi Miyazawa’s band. They shred through the lightning-fast “Meiken Bataakenkum Gou Den” but keep it in a weird Beefheart-ian universe thanks to its up-down beat and some harmonica. “Wa, Wa, Wa” approaches Pere Ubu-esque intensity but Miyazawa adds ooooh-ing harmonies to the huge build. The Rabbits wind up being more Post-Punk emulating Chrome and those noisy bands who (wisely) knew their music still needed kick.
SAURON - Demo 84 [LP/CD/CS](Dark Archives SWE)
As Europe received its own wave of Heavy Metal, this demo from 1984 shows a lot of the direction that Sweden is still taking today. Sauron wields tough riffs that actually have more in common with The Runaways than Girlschool. A different beat behind “A Lover In Black” and it could be Los Angeles Glam. With its female vocals and tough guitar parts, Sauron rips into the Maiden-esque “On My Way To Heaven” and drives home its Dio-ian chorus. “Send It Back” is clearly their first epic. With its synth opening (how many Metal albums open like this now,) dark guitars and the pounding bass lead you deeper into a neat variation on the typical Eighties metal rhythm and a tricky tempo switch. Finally, their Judas Priest-ian thrust appears on the closer “Stormchild” where they gallop through the verses toward a thrilling chromatic build. Now, is the sound quality the best? Also, note it is a “demo” - so some twists and turns could have used a better take. However, this is the sound that so many bands try to recapture today. While they play faster and scream louder, “Demo ‘84” shows that Sauron could have as well.
THE HATED - Best Piece of Shit, Vol.4 [LP](Numero/Secretly/AMPED)
Numero Group’s ongoing commitment to excavating DC/Midwest/Detroit area Punk from the Eighties unearths the thrilling Annapolis band The Hated. Their buzzsaw Husker Du-ish guitars and vocals may ring a little too familiar at first, but beneath the surface, The Hated were simply following their inspiration’s need to encapsulate adolescent angst. The acoustic cuts are enthralling (and make a great place to start,) “Got A Gun” is an amphetamine howl that sticks with you after its 33 seconds. While “Waiting” is a three-minute epic. Blistering and melodic, the pained howl is not just perfect for mid-Eighties self-exploration but this generation of young unsatisfied punks. As a band, “Words Come Back” starts slapdash (they were recording by the hour, so they were hurrying) but gels mightily around an atypical melodious bass part. “Somewhere” quickly bangs out its rising riff and then settles into big rock strums that cannot prepare you for the Mould-ian missile attack. As is typical to The Hated, each track is short but packed with numerous changes and musical ideas. So, yeah it does sound like Husker Du, but the fact remains that The Hated was taking that sound 180 degrees in their own direction.
THE FALL - Live at Al’s Bar, Los Angeles, CA, 4th July 1981 [CD](Cog Sinister)
During the next few weeks, we will be examining numerous live performances from the Cog Sinister box “The Fall Take America.” As most Fall shows go, typically they get better the closer they spin toward chaos.
The tape quality really emphasizes the menace of “Dragnet”/”Grotesque” era Fall. Listen as their assault plows into “Impression of J Temperance.” The organ’s eerieness and the overwhelming bassline are competing with the blistering snare work. As dense as it is on “Hex Enduction Hour,” The Fall literally “march” it right into a tense version of “Totally Wired” where their enthusiasm starts to build. “Leave The Capitol” is punchy and MES starts to snarl as he sings. “Hip Priest” is developing into their means of taking control of the crowd. It is hard to tell what the assembled think about its lengthy drone ratcheting up the tension. When they return to the frenetic with the new single “Lie Dream of A Casino Soul,” it feels like MES is carrying the weight now. His lyrical delivery (which may just be clearer on the tape) is angry and melodic.
On their second American tour, The Fall seems to have increased the consistency of their shows by actually withdrawing from working the crowd. Their drive on “Slags, Slates, Etc.” is expertly countered by the atonal drone of “C’N’C-s Mithering” and Smith’s Burroughsian imagery. “Printhead” is punchy and threatening to tear at the edges. The best song of the set is the pummeling demonic rockabilly of “Jawbone and the Air Rifle.” The band sounds excited to play it, and that carries over the audience especially when it masterfully careens into the slower part. As the set is officially ending, The Fall have reached ramming speed - so they send them home with a brutal lengthy “No Xmas for John Quays” where MES’s voice gets tangled in microphone feedback.
Months before recording “Hex Enduction Hour,” The Fall’s best songs seem to emerge from their enthusiasm here. Elsewhere, they show a live confidence that is either growing out of playing shows before new crowds or their “indifference” toward the audience bettering their interplay.
Well, another week, another list of several different styles and pursuits in music for you. Enjoy. Listen again. Share as you wish.
NEW RELEASES lovingly compiled for you from this very week!
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