Hideaway

Michael Franks - Tiger in the Rain (1979) ***

Nominated by: GK

Music club: Wander to Wozza's

Playlist addition: Jardin Botanico

Michael Franks albums were an occasional seller when I worked at Marbecks Records in the Queen's Arcade during my holiday breaks. Not so much Tiger in the Rain (his fifth), but definitely his second and third albums The Art of Tea and Sleeping Gypsy - that smooth jazz sound was quite popular with the trendy white forty somethings who came into the shop. The Michael Franks records oozed adulthood!

Roger Marbeck filed all the spare records via labels - so he could find them easily and quickly know what was needed to be ordered from the reps when they visited. Made restocking shelves tricky though because you needed to know what label an artist was on to find them. It was easier the more you restocked which was one of my jobs.

If I close my eyes I can 'see' the shelf in the shop where all the Reprise albums were stored (including Franks) because I rifled through it often to file records, and find records for myself (I took my pay in records), but also there was something cool about that label (and Warner Bros.) so I loved to gaze at the various covers and play items on those labels in the shop when I had a chance.  

At the time I was a real music snob and Michael Franks records were about the uncoolest things I could think of in the years after punk rock exploded, so I only heard them when a customer requested one. He equaled 'meh' for me back then.

Fast forward 45 years and the music snob has departed and been (largely) replaced thanks to an eclectic music collection.

I can now appreciate Franks' music - smooth jazz vocals with a tropicana bent that is perfect for a blazing hot day in Central Hawke's Bay. Given that I'm generally not a fan of smooth jazz vocals with a tropicana bent, I didn't mind a lot of Tiger in the Rain. It's certainly a good antidote for the fast-paced pre-Christmas build-up as GK intended.

Still - he walks a tightrope between positive and negative for me. Some examples may shed light on that statement:

Positive - Jardin Botanico and the title track (light and breezy in a good way with nice melodies and a laid-back groove via strings, vibraphone and sax).

Negative - Underneath the Apple Tree (neither one thing nor the other so comes off as twee).

Maybe that 22-year-old me (from 1979) is still lurking in there somewhere. That said, the 68-year-old me was happy to play this three times in a row and enjoy it for what it is - smooth jazz vocals with a tropicana bent that is perfect for a blazing hot day.

Treasure

Aldous Harding - Designer (2019) ***

Nominated by: KS

Music club: Wander to Wozza's

Playlist addition: The Barrel

My musical antennae tingled when I saw Aldous Harding on Later...with Jools Holland some years ago. She seemed to be in her own world. I get that same feeling whenever I catch a performance of hers on TV (check out her version of The Barrel on Jimmy Fallon). She's a one off.

Although she's a kiwi, she seems to be from another planet when performing/playing/singing (she has a lot of different voices). Interestingly, she has previously collaborated with Fenne Lily who I chose for an AOTW recently. You can understand why - they are both singular indie-folk artists.

While I love that Fenne Lily album, I can't actually commit to Aldous. I have flirted with the idea of buying her albums, but something has held me back each time.

Highlights: Fixture Picture; Designer, The Barrel, Weight of the Planets (yes - the more up-tempo numbers, where she also experiments a bit with sound). Aside from those, Treasure is sung beautifully - I like the voice she uses on this song, and the simple piano accompaniment is sympathetic and effective.

I've often thought that I should listen to her albums more, so thanks for that Kevy!

 

No other love

Chuck Prophet - No Other Love (2002) ***

Nominated by: GK

Music club: Wander to Wozza's

Playlist addition: Summertime Thing

Chuck Prophet has been around for a while, starting out in a cow-punk band in the mid-eighties. I liked his stuff with Green on Red, much like I enjoyed other cow punks like Jason and The Scorchers (who tellingly cover a couple of Dylan songs superbly). I lost track of him in his solo years pretty much and then, bam, GK opts for Chuck's 2002 album - No Other Love.

Okay - a digression - regarding British folk and American folk. 

GK mentioned that he chose this following my Roy Harper selection and mentioned his proclivity for American folk acts. In a shock horror divergence of taste - I have a definite leaning towards the British variety and the Canadian variety (Bruce Cockburn, Neil Young, Joni, Gordy). Of course, I also love American folk artists like Joan Baez, Woody, and Dylan, but there is something earthy, tradition based (the medieval base), and authentic about British folk artists that I find particularly appealing. Some of my favourites - Steeleye Span, June Tabor, Martin Carthy, Shirley Collins, Nick Drake, Donovan, Billy Bragg, Ian Matthews, Strawbs, Al Stewart, Lindisfarne, The Waterboys and, yes - Roy Harper. 

Chuck Prophet? Is he a folk artist? Americana - yes (he seems to combine country, pop, electronica), Alt-country? Sure. But I wouldn't have put him in the folk, or even folk-rock genres.

I also find him very derivative. It's like he's put Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Nilsson, Tom Waits, Glen Campbell, and Kris Kristofferson (double helping of KK) into a blender. I hear the starts of loads of songs in his intros and in his vocal inflections.

Frinstance - I Bow Down to Every Woman I See - take some coconuts from Harry, mix in some ode to Bobby Joe and stir. Then add in some J. J. Cale style lopping beat - pop in the blender and bingo. It's no wonder GK loves this album.

Now I also love all of those influences, but the echoes tend to divide my attention. My ears prick up, pick away at the various strands, and bug me - where have I heard that before? That's How Much I Need Your Love's component parts are nagging away at me as I write.

Even the album title is slightly derivative of Gene Clark's seminal No Other. I guess it's a complment?

At times it sounds like the Everly brothers mixed in with some Highway 61 era Dylan. At times it's Chuck singing over the top of a Ennio Morricone soundtrack. At others it's like The Travelling Wilburys with Prophet doing the vocals. If Bob and Jeff need a new member Chuck Wilbury is their man.

The highlight for me is Summertime Thing. It evokes the summertime mood up brilliantly, tells a vague story in a laid back summer way, doesn't have anything that nags at me, is catchy, has some tasty pedal steel, and references The Beach Boys in a transparent fashion. 

I think I'll end there on a positive note. Chuck is good, but Chuck could be more original for my taste. Now, where's that Al Stewart album?

Hooked

Hello Sailor - Hello Sailor  (1977) *****

Nominated by: KS

Music club: Wander to Wozza's

Playlist addition: Blue Lady

At the time (1977), I was more a Split Enz/ Citizen Band fan (The Beatle influenced locals) than a dedicated follower of Hello Sailor (more in the Rolling Stones camp), so in my collection I only have this album and memories of seeing them at The Windsor Castle with Mike and Greg. Oh, and a bootleg cassette that Kevy's brother made at Westlake Girls.

 

This was the band's debut album and it distills all that is best about the band - Faces/Stones style guitar riff-a-ramas, attitude songs about the down and out underbelly of Auckland life, and in lead singer Graham Brazier they had a genuine rawk staaar. His vocals are immediately distinctive.

They were far from a one trick pony though as Dave McArtney and Harry Lyons were also talented singers, songwriters and musicians ('is' in Harry's case as he's still with us - McArtney and Brazier both died far too young). Ricky Ball (from Ticket - one of my favourite NZ bands) was also a key ingredient with his powerful drumming and Lisle Kinney added the meaty bass lines.

Interesting that Gutter Black (the lead off song on side one) has over 11 million listens on Spotify and Blue Lady only has 4 mill. Maybe that's because Gutter Black was featured in a NZ TV programme (Outrageous Fortune) but 7 million more plays? and Blue Lady is easily a better song.

The other songs are deeply ingrained in my musical consciousness. I've lived with these songs for a loooong time!

Five stars? Oh yes! A Nu Zild classic!

More of it

Leigh Nash - Blue on Blue (2006) ****

Nominated by: GK

Music club: Wander to Wozza's

Playlist addition: Along the Wall

I have a case of deja vu all over again with this album. I feel like I've heard it before as one of GK's nominations. A quick search of this blog indicates that neither Leigh Nash nor her old band (Sixpence None the Richer) have appeared. Maybe it's Little Birdy or Macy Gray I'm thinking of?

GK is sure keen on those types of singers and all power to him and all who sail in him. I'm not so much inclined, but that's also hunky dory. 

I think it's the vocal inflections Leigh Nash uses from time to time - that kind of almost helium delivery that tends to creep in. It makes me think she's quite young (thanks to that and the cover image) but in fact she's closing in on 50 these days.

This one is her debut and it's a strong one too. The first three tracks - Along the Wall, Nervous in the Light of Dawn, My Idea of Heaven - are crackers (as Kevy would say). Thanks to that start, I knew I'd enjoy the album, but would I love it (or list it)? Would I love the album enough to buy a physical copy?

The answer, ultimately, is - yes - dammit - I may even love this album! The more I heard it, the more I leaned in that direction. Between the Lines sealed it and meant that despite my reservations about the vocal inflections at times, I became a fanboy.

Do I love the album enough to buy a physical copy? That would be a no, I don't love it enough to buy a copy. That said, I fully enjoyed the experience and I can confirm that she turned me around the more I listened to it. Nice one GK.

Pianos and mushrooms

Voom - Something Good Is Happening (2025) ***

Nominated by: KS

Music club: Wander to Wozza's

Playlist addition: Crazy Feeling

I have Voom's previous album (Hello, Are You There?) which came out almost 20 years ago! Buzz Moller is the only original member left in a band that started in the early 1990s.

This latest album (only their third) is catchy and infectious as all get out for the most part. There are some weird moments that don't quite work as well (hello Nightmare Man, Pianos and Mushrooms).

I guess it's a bit hodge-podge, it must be said. Given the massive gap between albums, it's inevitable that some older material gets reworked. That's not ideal if the aim is a cohesive album that is recorded in one hit out, with the same musicians.

That said, it is what it is and, for the most part, this is a triumph in a lo-fi NZ number 8 fencing wire tradition.

Cold fact

Rodriguez - Searching for Sugar Man (2012) ***

Nominated by: GK

Music club: Wander to Wozza's

Playlist addition: Inner City Blues

I have the DVD of the film - Searching for Sugar Man. The basic idea is two South African super fans try to find out whether Rodriquez (who was a huge selling artist in SA) is alive and if so where he is. 

The soundtrack to the film is what we're all about here though. Here's an interesting idea for you (Schrödinger's cat style) - If Rodriguez was placed in a sealed box with his fate tied to the existence of Bob Dylan - could he also be considered to exist?

That is - if Bob didn't exist - would we ever have known about the existence of Rodriguez and myriads of other singer-songwriters. It's a dilly of a pickled paradox.

I'm not sure where the appeal for South Africans came from. Maybe in a country pretty much isolated from the rest of the world, they never heard any of Dylan's albums (or Neil Young, or James Taylor, or Cat Stevens).

Rodriguez's music is interesting - of its time (1970 - 1971) certainly, and his poetic sensibilities can be a tad off-putting at times but somehow his sincerity saves the day. So, although he sounds derivative, he also ends up sounding uniquely Rodriguez. It's another bizarre paradox.

The soundtrack is a combo of his two official albums, plus an unreleased third album, so it doesn't sound particularly cohesive and the stray moments where he mentions faggots are best skipped over. 

I tend to prefer the tracks from his 1970 debut - Cold Fact, even though it's not produced as well (another paradox).

Okay, back into that locked box for Sixto Rodriguez.

BTW - yes, he was alive and he was tracked down to his American home in Detroit. He passed away in 2023.