Goodbye good fortune

Street Talk - Battleground of Fun  (1980) ****

Nominated by: KS

Music club: Wander to Wozza's

Playlist addition: Lonely at the Top

It's a curious thing - how listening to blues albums/songs/artists always cheers me up. What is that about? Here's my theory:

The blues is not about wallowing in misery and suffering! Oh No. It's about overcoming hurt, dealing with failures, moving on despite calamities and down times. It's about hope, belief that things will improve, faith in the process and it's about the human spirit and for some, a higher presence.

It's about the little guy at the bottom staring up to the top, saving goodbye to good fortune (for a while), getting blood out of a stone, living without a loved one, leaving town because the future looks bleak. Basically, and perversely, it's about a battleground of fun!

Street Talk suffered from being an early eighties band who struggled to replicate their high energy, blues based live approach in the studio. I can attest to the difference as I saw them a few times back in the day (and even one memorable gig where guitar hero Hammond Gamble was joined by Sam Hunt and Gary McCormick for an alcohol-soaked evening at the Govett Brewster in New Plymouth). They ripped it up live with Hammond Gamble playing the axe hero role brilliantly.

I first heard Street Talk on Radio Hauraki in the mid-seventies. Barry Jenkins, a.k.a. Dr Rock, played a recording of Hammond Gamble and the boys playing a wonderful live in Albert Park version of Crossroads. A new guitar hero had arrived.

Their first album was unduly influenced by their producer Kim Fowley, an American pop Svengali/legend. Their second is better, produced by fellow New Zealander - Bruce Lynch. While truer to their bluesy beginnings, it still didn't match the excitement of Street Talk live.

That said there are plenty of belters on this album and it's tough to choose one highlight from Leaving The Country, What Happened to Lucy, Lonely at the Top, Blood Out of a Stones, and Goodbye Good Fortune.

Note all of the songs are of that standard but there isn't a duff track either. Given it's 1980 Stuart Pearce employs some synths but I'd much prefer he stuck to piano/organ.

Great choice by KS. Brought a smile to my dial all week (and it was a tough week at Maple Grove with Jacky's horse having to be put down).

Hung up

Dear Nora - Mountain Rock (2004) ***

Nominated by: Alex

Music club: MNAC

MNAC playlist addition:  You Are A Bear (For A New Friend)

I'm trying to resist the obvious impulse to retitle the band as Flaming Nora. It's not without merits, but suffice to say I struggled to play this album three times without skipping ahead. It seems a very long album as well which also made it tricky to navigate. 'Seems', because many of the tracks are under a minute. Maybe they are draft sketches? Whatever the purpose, they flit by quickly without embedding themselves deeply in my consciousness, but that also paradoxically stretches the album out so there are 17 songs.

Dear Nora is really Katy Davidson and the band is her plus others in various guises/formations. She's the main musician/vocalist on this album.

The subject matter seems to be fairly bleak throughout (I don't know the back story) and the music (anti-folk) is deliberately (?)/ suitably austere and discordant at times which suits the purpose but I may have mentioned before that 'I'm a daaay person'. I prefer feel good moods rather than being confronted by negativity so this all added to the challenge of replaying Mountain Rock.

She gets a bonus point for the hilarious album title. This is not monolithic heavy metal by any means! I also like the way some songs are short and to the point like You Are a Bear. She doesn't faff around until Love Song to My Friends.

All up - I wouldn't buy a physical copy of it and I probably will not have a repeat listen, but as with all of our AOT fortnight albums, I'm glad I heard it/ was introduced to it because I never would have listened to it otherwise. So, thanks, Alex!

Rolling on

Peter Wolf - A Cure for Loneliness (2016) ***

Nominated by: GK

Music club: Wander to Wozza's

Playlist addition: Rolling On

Peter Wolf was the voice of the J Geils Band (John Geils being their lead guitarist) until the early eighties. So he has a very recognisable voice, which comes in handy, but can also be a problem if he sings rock songs (like the Rolling Stones sounding 'live' track - Wastin' Time) or a bluegrass version of Love Stinks because it's easy to compare him to his time with J Geils et al.

Sensibly, he takes on Americana shapes throughout this album, with loping drumbeats, acoustic guitars, fiddle, pedal steel, harmonica (not by Magic Dick though), mandolin, and lap steel guitar all contributing to a very non-rock tapestry for his easy vocals.

Rolling On is a great opener and the rest of the album's next seven songs are all pretty good. But then the end of the album kind of unravels thanks to another live song - a country tonk version of J Geil's Band's hit Love Stinks and then Mr. Mistake. Those songs are the kind of songs I know GK loves, but it riles up the flow and ambience too much for me, especially as it's followed by two weepy songs - Tragedy and Stranger.

All up - a very pleasant listening experience and good to hear him in another genre with that smooth delivery.

I know it's not forever

There's A Tuesday - Blush   (2025) ****

Nominated by: KS

Music club: Wander to Wozza's

Playlist addition: Margo

There's A Tuesday are on to something mighty fine with Blush even if the cover of the album and the band name are not great.. 

Band names sidebar - it's a tricky thing naming a band or these days naming yourself as a solo artist. It needs to be a catchy name, original, and it should encapsulate your sound/genre for recognition and sales (in this case the genre is indie rock like The Beths). Some examples of names that sum up the correct approach: The Rolling Stones; Raspberries; Th'Dudes; Hello Sailor...

So, There's A Tuesday to me sounds like a post rock band like Explosions in the Sky and that's not indie rock and that's therefore a potential barrier.

Cover image sidebar - what is going on here? A sleeping dog and a tiger mural? Some reference to let sleeping dogs lie or Life of Pi? Whatever - it doesn't scream indie rock of the quality of Blush. 

That brings me to the band members and the vocalist. The fab foursome is Nat Hutton and Minnie Robberds (both on guitar and vocals), Joel Becker (bass) and Gus Murray (drums). Minnie's vocals in particular are spectacular. At times she sounds like Elizabeth Stokes but the music isn't as spiky as that other fab foursome - The Beths. The Tuesdays (a better name) lean towards synth-pop as well which was pretty cool most of the time.

The album was best experienced by me this week as a kind of background sound while I marked and did some lesson planning. Not too many songs stood out even though I played the album every day. However, Margo and The City were two standouts.

Excellent introduction KS - another Kiwi gem with Minnie Robberds emerging as a star in the making.

Your new place

Racing Mount Pleasant - Racing Mount Pleasant (2025) ****

Nominated by: Lew

Music club: MNAC

MNAC playlist addition: Call it Easy

This album is a surprise in some ways and kind of annoying in others ways. 

First the good news - the album floats by with some lovely ambient infused ethereal sounds that are beguiling and intriguing. It's unusual and mysterious - that's code for - I often have no idea what's going on during these songs but I do know that the little moments of judicious alto and tenor sax are beautifully played and incorporated into the mix.

I played the album about a dozen times and every time I heard new little sounds that registered where I hadn't heard them before. I suspect this will continue to be the case until the end of days.

The length is a bit problematic for me. I had the sense that I needed to listen to the whole album uninterrupted, but I never could quite get there so, annoyingly, I feel I haven't been able to do the lads in Racing Mount Pleasant justice.

That said, I did love a lot of what they were producing. The other MNACers will no doubt find plenty of antecedents but to me it sounded pretty fresh and original (I did note some Silent Alliance style vocals during one song which was exciting).

That's pretty much it - I really enjoyed it and it fitted many listening contexts, so thanks Lew - sorry I don't sound more musically knowledgeable, but I know what I like!

Mississippi delta.

Bobbie Gentry - Ode to Billie Joe (1967) ****

Nominated by: GK

Music club: Wander to Wozza's

Playlist addition: Ode to Billie Joe

No surprise that this was a GK pick - I've known for a loooong time about his admiration for Bobbie Gentry. Only surprising that he's taken so long to get to it.

What an amazing year 1967 was. The year of Sgt. Pepper also saw the debut of a number of stellar artists: The Doors; Cat Stevens; Al Green; Procol Harum; David Bowie; Van Morrison; Arlo Guthrie; Jimi Hendrix; The Grateful Dead; The Velvet Underground; Pink Floyd; the mighty mighty Cowsills...and Bobbie Gentry!!

The mention of each one of those iconic artists immediately conjures up their signature sound. Bobbie Gentry is no exception. Her heavily accented Chickasaw County, Mississippi delivery immediately came to my mind when GK advanced Ode to Billie Joe as his AOTW.

One further sidebar: while at University I was drawn to the southern gothic world of Flannery O'Connor. I couldn't get enough of her short stories and novels.

Bobbie Gentry must have been a fan as well because each of the songs on her debut has a whiff of southern gothic about it. That helps give the album a thematic unity and the sparse instrumentation is perfect for these songs. Given all the first-person narratives it also feels autobiographical, which figures as Bobbie wrote all the songs (sings all the lead vocals and plays some appropriate acoustic guitar).

The key songs on the album are Mississippi Delta, Chickasaw County Child, Papa Won't You Let Me Go to Town With You and Ode to Billie Joe. Given that Ode was a huge single and it's placed last means that anticipation builds right through the album.

The song itself is a marvel of brilliant storytelling. It hints and teases and is so economical in approach, with loads of brilliant details that evoke all sorts of images. It's one of those rare songs that I never get tired of hearing, even though I've heard it hundreds of times.

For the most part the other songs complement those four standouts well and the only one that I skipped after the second listen was Bugs. I'm also not crazy about Lazy Willie.

Instrumentally, the album has a great sparse sound with some judicious use of harp, horns and violin. Having James Burton on the album doesn't hurt either. As for Bobbie - I don't think she ever sounded as raw and as authentic as she did here.

Awesome. 1967 eh? What a year!

We made it

Six60 - Right Here Right Now (2026) ***,

Nominated by: KS

Music club: Wander to Wozza's

Playlist addition: We Made It

Six60 is a pop rock band from Aotearoa. They are a big deal in NZ with the younger crowd, plus Kevy and mos probs GK as well! Previously, I have had them pegged as a boy band but they are actually four musicians - Matiu Walters (lead vocals, guitar), Ji Fraser (lead guitar), Chris Mac (drums, bass guitar), and Marlon Gerbes (guitar, bass guitar, synths).

Matiu has a sweet R&B delivery that is a bit like Bruno Mars at times (opening track Don't Talk is a case in point). While I really like that opening song, overall, I tend to prefer the jazzier, more experimental style of Fat Freddy's Drop to the pop-oriented approach of Six60.

Six60's debut album is a pretty straight-forward pop/rock album. After that they embraced synth-pop and now they've changed tack completely.

They have definitely embraced reggae as a genre on Right Here Right Now and that gives a sameness to the songs. Depends on your p.o.v. whether that's a weakness or a strength. As I said, I prefer the more varied approach from similar Nu Zild bands like L.A.B, Fat Freddy's Drop, and Katchafire.

Highlights for me all come early - Don't Talk, We Are Kings and Hurricane would be the three standouts for me. Plus, Father's Eyes is catchy and deals with anger and violence (like Red Mist) but presents things as a cautionary tale which feels like an important message for the band's audience. 

The lowlights - Red Mist - I have a problem with a jaunty style being used to create a very mixed picture of domestic violence. The male character is almost presented in heroic terms before we get to the line about using his fists. I skipped this one each time. Same Dirt - the drum sound immediately turned me off, and I found the lyrics a little trite.  

A mixed bag for me then, but the positives outweigh the negative - hence the three stars/ pretty fine rating.