Spotlight

David Kilgour and The Heavy Eights - Bobbie's a Girl (2019) ****

Nominated by: K Simms

Music club: Wander to Wozza's

Playlist addition:  Ngapara

A bit of a conundrum this one. I have probably listened to this more than any other Wander To Wozza Music Club album and every time I had a different reaction.

Sometimes I loved it, sometimes it frustrated me, sometimes it annoyed me, sometimes it brightened my mood, sometimes I found it gloomy. I tried it quiet in the background like Kevy suggested and that didn't help. I tried it loud and that didn't really help either.

A dilly of a pickle.

In the end I'd have to say I liked it a lot, but it felt like it was kind of unfinished as an album and that's part of its charm. A bit like Paul McCartney's first solo album. It has snippets of interesting tunes, fully realized songs with vocals, and what sound like jam sessions left to marinate.

It's quite the schizophrenic brew.

The other thing is that its style is hard to pin down. It isn't ambient (although at times it tries to be), it isn't alt pop (although...), it isn't acoustic, it isn't rock guitar.

I found that defining it by what it isn't was a source of frustration rather than a strength.

Then I'd play it again and it would all make sense and be coherent. Weird.

I like the experimentation and variety but I'd also have liked it if he'd settled on it being an instrumental album in an ambient vein.

I recently bought a copy of Courtney Barnett's End Of The Day, an ambient, guitar fired, album. It's great and I listen to it a lot too. It feels like Dave Kilgour has a similar album inside him and this is a tentative stab at something in that direction.

Although I won't be buying a copy, it's a fascinating album Kev. So glad I heard it. Thanks for recommending it. I never would have heard it otherwise.

The devil you know (JJ Grey)

J J Grey & Mofro - Orange Blossoms (2008) ***

Nominated by: The Big G

Music club: Wander to Wozza's

Playlist addition:  Ybor City, Orange Blossoms

I hadn't heard of JJ and his band prior to GK's nomination. A quick Google search reveals that this is their fourth album and the sound is a combination of southern rock, soul, and blues. Wikipedia calls it swamp rock but I have no idea what that means.

The JJ Grey figure is the head honcho - i.e. lead singer and guitarist, a.k.a. John Higginbotham.

Before I get stuck in to Orange Blossoms - a slight diversion:

Repetition in music is a given. 

Chord structures repeat, choruses repeat, phrases repeat, chord structures repeat, choruses repeat, phrases repeat, chord structures repeat, choruses repeat, phrases repeat, chord structures repeat, choruses repeat, phrases repeat, chord structures repeat, choruses repeat, phrases repeat...

A lot of repetition can become riveting, too much can become boring. It's sometimes a fine line.

Paul McCartney is a genius. He has a song called Rinse The Raindrops that goes for just over 10 minutes. It has two verses (8 lines in total) that repeat throughout that 10 minutes and I love it.

Neil Young, another genius, can also get away with major repetition on the lengthy T-bone (the entire lyric is 'Got mashed potatoes; ain't got no T-bone').

And so, on to this week's selection.

Orange Blossoms, the album, gets off to a good start - there's the terrific cover and then the title song. JJ and band get into a nice funky groove and stay there with good effect. 

I really like the use of horns. Fat Freddy's Drop use them in the same way - to provide colour and sonic texture to their extended grooves. Fat Freddy's Drop also use repetition as a weapon. 

For me, FFD get into deeper funkier grooves which allows them the time and space to repeat phrases and they are judicious in its use of repetition - as in, they know instinctively when to stop and vary things. Like Macca and Neil, they never become boring.

Over the length of this album, and I admit I struggled to get past it, JJ Grey and Mofro suffer from comparison to FFD. The grooves are not as deep, the space is not quite there, the repetition is not judiciously employed.

Worst offenders feature in the mid album slump of On Fire, Move it on, Higher You Climb, Dew Drops. I just found the repeated riff and lyrics a bit boring in each of those.

That would be my central complaint, but it's also way too long as an album. 

On the positive side, there was also plenty I liked: the more up tempo Ybor City is great with its Nutbush City Limits steal (needed more tracks like that one); JJ's singing is easy on the ear, the lead guitar and slide guitar work is excellent, and that Hammond B3 organ sound gets me every time!

It occurs to me that we may listen to some of these albums in a very different context. I can see you both grooving to this as you work from home - the repetition would not be an impediment in that context. Actually, you may not be aware of it, or else it is a positive feature for you in that you don't need to concentrate on lyrics, just let the sounds wash around you.

I listened to the album mostly on my hour commute so I focus on the songs comparatively closely I suspect (btw, I know it's a long album because I needed one and a half journeys to get through it all).

 So, it's a three star effort from me - a set of songs played well, but JJ et al are not in the flawed genius league IMHO.