Strange beauty

Ed Harcourt - El Magnifico  (2024) ***

Nominated by: Lew

Music club: MNAC

MNAC playlist addition: Seraphina

Full disclosure here: while I like this album, I don't get it like Lew does. I like Ed's voice, but for some reason, I don't love it.

I'm also not very clued up on his career. The only album of his that I own is Lustre, which I like, but it didn't prompt me to search out others by him.

In a curious tilt for me, I appreciate the quieter, slower numbers more than the up-tempo ones on El Magnifico. Repeat listens drew me more and more towards songs like Seraphina (with a Hallelujah resonance), The Violence Of The Rose, Ghost Ship, My Heart Can't Keep Up With Mind (again with a Leonard Cohen-esque vibe to my ears), At The Dead End Of The World.

There are more, in fact these quiet ones vastly outnumber the faster ones. 

Death, grief, ghosts. The whole album has a moody, sad, lonely feel to it, but it's not a depressing listening experience. I don't know his personal history, but he must have lost some friends and family along the way. Seraphina must be drawing on something personal, right?

Lyrically speaking, I find myself nonplussed at some points and intrigued at others - often in the same song.

Seraphina is a case in point - Fly to the moon in a row boat/ and they'll cheer your fall = nonplussed reaction. What is he on about? Fly to the moon in a rowboat?? I can't grasp hold of that.

But then he produces a great sequence - Dancing like narcissists trapped in a carnival's/ Looking glass/ Smash it all up seven years of bad luck will disappear/ Into the past.

He obviously is very talented, and so, I feel slightly disloyal not being able to engage with it like Lew obviously does. Probably because of my limited exposure to him and I bet the rest of MNAC have seen him perform a few times and have formed an attachment that I can't.

Never mind, even if feeling late to the party, I still really enjoyed the experience of playing this album on my commute.

Thanks for sharing it Lew.

Last man down

Last Man Down  - State House Kid (1985) ***

Nominated by: Kevy

Music club: Wander to Wozza's

Playlist addition:  Edmond's Sure To Rise

I can hear GK's voice already - comedy songs are tricky. These songs by Ross Mullins are as Kevy says - 'witty and poignant sketches of New Zealand urban life'.

The problem with witty (a.k.a. comedy) songs is that you run the danger of producing limited shelf-life songs that outwear their welcome after a couple of listens.

Ross is cunning though. He marries these vignettes of Kiwi life to cool jazzy laid-back grooves. So, he almost gets away with it. 

Given it was done in 1985, it almost seems to be celebrating/ commemorating a kiwi way of life that had already passed on by 1985. The rugby, racing, and beer side of NZ's culture and talk of TABs, Dawn Raids, Edmond's cookbooks, and anachronisms like Foodtown, RSAs are certainly passé in 2024. Just saying. 

That past culture may be quaint in many ways (Kiwiana), but there is also a whiff of unpleasantness about it too - an underbelly of NZ society if you will. Racism (casual and otherwise) and a male dominated perspective are two aspects of that culture.

I mention it because while Last Man Down like the quaint aspects, it does bring to mind a lot of other stuff. Again, just sayin'.

Favourite tracks: I enjoyed the Steely Dan-ish instrumentation on opener Uncles, and the lyrics to that one also holds up more than elsewhere; the aforesaid Edmond's Sure To Rise is fun; Featherston - where he channels Tim Finn's vocal style; and The Bay is fine too - some lovely sax work from somebody.

I definitely prefer him when he plays it straight.

The bits I wasn't so hot on: the smoking references annoy me (they always have - I can't help it. This is an idiosyncrasy peculiar to me alone I suspect). It feels like every song has a reference to smoking, fags or roll yer owns. Yuck.

I also don't tend to enjoy songs that use very young girls as protagonists. Goal Attack and State House Kid focus on young girls and it feels a bit pervy and icky.

The unrelenting referencing to Kiwiana, place names etc became too much at times. I'll again be alone in this nagging feeling, I'm sure. One or two local references on a Kiwi album seems judicious. Five or so references per song is a bit try hard and a bit jarring.

Those are minor quibbles. The strengths (the music) outweigh the negatives. Almost.

Lost Indian

Chris Rodrigues & Abby The Spoon Lady - Working On Wall Street (2017) **

Nominated by: GK

Music club: Wander to Wozza's

Playlist addition:  Lost Indian

With stripped back instrumentation comes increased scrutiny of the component parts. There are five things to comment on for this album: Chris' guitar, his harmonica, his singing, his songs and Abby's percussion.

One of those components was really good, three were okayish, and one was plain annoying.

First the positive - the guitar and, at times, the harmonica. The boy can play and could carry off a really good instrumental guitar album à la Leo Kottke. I would have given a much higher rating if he had stuck to that blueprint.

The okay - his vocals and, at times, harmonica. It's a passable delivery but he doesn't appeal to me that much. The hoedown style of Boil Them Cabbage Down, Lost John etc does not appeal at all. 

The songs are sometimes interesting, but often repetitive (Angels In Heaven just goes on and on). 

The negative - Abby and her annoying spoons often got in the way of my enjoyment. I found myself enjoying the starts to some songs, but then Abby enters. Maybe live, in the flesh so to speak, it might be wildly exciting as Noel Crombie's cameo on spoons was once per gig, but she appears on every track. 

If I came across this on a trip on the London Underground, I would definitely throw some coins into the open guitar case (I always do with guitarists who are any good), and I would stop for a song, maybe two because it would be quite a spectacle (although the no teeth thing would be a downer). but then I'd move on - nodding away to the rhythmic strains on my way to the trains.

Best moments: Lost Indian; Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down (even though it goes on a bit, the change of pace is welcome).

In green

Taylor Green - In Green (2024) ***

Nominated by: Kevy

Music club: Wander to Wozza's

Playlist addition:  Pot Shot

Something new for WTWMC - a jazz rock outing from Auckland drummer - Taylor Green and it's an EP!

Extended Plays (EPs) fall somewhere between a single and an album. Typically, in the old days, they would have two songs a side and come in a hard cover sleeve (unlike singles that had a super cheap paper sleeve).

There has been a resurgence of interest in EPs of late. Ringo Starr has released a few and indicated that this is what he'll be doing from now on. Same same from our hero Micky Dolenz (his latest is an EP of REM covers).

I can see why gentlemen of a certain age don't have a huge amount of time and energy to devote to a whole album, and newbies like young Taylor see it as an interim measure to get product out there I guess. This EP is his debut.

It has five songs (and a fragment of a sixth - not sure the point of Fly Away that has snippets from the five tunes and a boarding announcement).

You certainly hear his confidence and ability during the EP's 20 minutes. He plays in a very fluid, modern style suited to acid jazz acts from the UK.

The musicians around him, clearly, all know what they doing. 

The Steely Dan brand has been lobbed around in the WTWM clubrooms of late and it's easy to image Becker/Fagen lyrics accompanying Let's Just Talk and Catch.

Got to say: I'm not that fond of this kind of jazz vocalising. For me, the music stands alone well enough and the Gayle Moran (Return To Forever) style of vocals is an acquired taste.

Favourite tracks: Pot Shot, Catch, Magnetic (Nathan Haines on soprano sax is a standout).

A great left field selection from Kevy - good to see the club including a variety of genres.

Easter lily

Ichiko Aoba - Windswept Adan (2023) ***

Nominated by: Tom 

Music club: MNAC

MNAC playlist addition: Dawn In The Adan

You wait for ages and then two ambient records in a row come along!

I struggled to engage with Ichiko for the most part. I tried a variety of listening situations (commute/working/relaxing), but aside from Dawn In The Adam which had a bit of prog meat on its bones, most of the songs glided past me like beautiful butterflies but they didn't leave me much to grab onto.

Listening to songs sung in a foreign language is a lovely thing though, and so, even if I had no clue as to the meaning, I enjoyed the sound of the lyrics, and aimed to use my imagination.

A couple of the songs reminded me of Yoko and specifically her song Who Has The Wind - that gentle, fragile sound. Yoko also sings in Japanese on some songs with the same lovely affectation as Ichiko.

Apart from that I caught glimpses of other Japanese ambient composers like Haruomi Hosono, and bands/musicians working the prog end of the spectrum like Stomu Yamashta - which I much prefer.

Pleasant on the ear, but not an album I'll come back to again.

(Find a) reason to believe

Rod Stewart - Every Picture Tells A Story (1971) *****

Nominated by: GK

Music club: Wander to Wozza's

Playlist addition:  Mandolin Wind

Rod is an interesting character. I have albums featuring him from Steampacket, The Jeff Beck Group, Faces and of course - solo.

From maybe the greatest year in music came his third solo album (although all the Faces appear on it - cheeky). Every Picture Tells A Story is a classic from a classic year. It's a masterpiece and easily his best album. 

It's not a long one - only 8 songs in total.

Why do I love it?

• It's folk rock innit
• There's brilliant use of the mandolin (by Lindisfarne's Ray Jackson)
• The whole thing is fresh, immediate and suitably unpolished - almost sloppy (That's All Right)
• Rod's singing is at its peak - soulful on Seems Like A Long Time, raucous on the title track, introspective on Mandolin Wind, folky on his peerless version of Reason To Believe, eerily sensitive on Dylan's Tomorrow Is A Long Time, Faces' style rock (I Know) I'm Losing You
• His writing definitely peaked - Mandolin Wind (his best ever song), and co-writes on Every Picture and Maggie May

Ah, Maggie May.

That's the one that did it for me in 1971. 

The single was huge obviously, for him and for us. At the time I wasn't aware of Steampacket, Jeff Beck or The Faces (Small Faces yes but I didn't realise the connection to The Faces in 1971). Nor did I know he'd already had two solo albums released. 

Maggie May came out of nowhere!!

And it hit with a wallop and a half. Debauchery! Randy scouse git fersure! Right there on our radios. Oooo er.

I was buying singles in 1971 but I couldn't buy everything. Instead, there was a compilation that solved my problem.

Solid Gold Hits Vols 1, 2 and 3 have assumed iconic status in my collection. 

That's 60 songs on 3 albums! Value for hard earned cash right there, even if they truncated some of the songs and the high fidelity suffers a tad because of all those closely packed grooves.

As a music obsessed teenager, I couldn't have cared less.

I do dig them out for a listen from time to time and get that nostalgic glow all over again. Simple times.

Maggie May is there, kicking off side 2 without the nifty intro - I remember getting a shock when I eventually bought the album and Maggie May was different. Famously the song has no chorus. Rod forgot to write one! Doesn't matter a jot.

So, five stars all the way for this one GK.

The face of fashion

Chris Knox - Seizure (1989) ****

Nominated by: Kevy

Music club: Wander to Wozza's

Playlist addition:  And I Will Cry

Can you judge a record by its cover? #679,

Chris has gone for a look that embellishes the title - Seizure. Rather than taking something away from someone, he's more alluding to a sudden attack - especially a stroke or an epileptic fit. It's not a pleasant experience. Something Chris has intimate experience of, having suffered a stroke in 2009 and he's been an epileptic throughout his life. 

The cover is all fractured lettering/typography, disturbing image, yellow and black and shards of white. Again - not a pleasant image.

So, all up - when the needle hits the black circle I'm not expecting soothing ambient piano music a la George Winston or soft rock like The Eagles and Fleetwood Mac.

I've always had a soft spot for Chris Knox, even though I've never bought much of his catalogue - just a Toy Love single and of course, Not Given Lightly is a stone-cold classic on various compilations of NZ's greatest songs. No Tall Dwarfs, no solo albums - I've just checked and he's had 10 solo albums from 1981 until 2008. That stroke has obviously affected his output.

So, to Seizure. It's pretty much what the cover and title prepare you for - jagged edges of heavily distorted guitar, rough tribal sounding beats, cheaply processed vocals - everything lo-fi to the max. And it's great! 

Lo-fi aesthetics means it sounds fine in a car, on a phone, or on the music room stereo.

You certainly don't want to listen to this album if you have a headache or you are experiencing a bright sunny happy day, but otherwise if you are brave enough - it's great.

Really great. Not Given Lightly is very much the outlier on the album - sonically as well as musically, it sounds like it belongs on a single, distinct and separated from the album.

It's such an ear worm of a song. Maybe it's the repeated hearings over the years but it's the only song on the album I remember as I'm brushing my teeth, ironing a shirt, driving the car...

Musically, the other songs reminded me of heaps of punk bands, many of which were inspirational to Chris Knox, I'm sure. 

I heard echoes of The Butthole Surfers and surf punk; British bands like The Buzzcocks; American punk bands like The Dead Kennedys, Nirvana (Bleach is also from 1989), and especially Wall Of Voodoo. I also heard metal influences like early Anthrax, Slayer and Napalm Death (Scum came out in 1987 - yellow, black and white are also used on that cover).

Chris seems to throw all of these influences in a blender and emerges with Seizure.

As I listened, I did wonder how many of those influences Kev would listen to as a matter of choice.

Favourite song: And I will Cry

Least favourite song: Uncle Tom's Cabin - doesn't work for me at all. By listen three I skipped it.

Thanks Kevy - your bravery is rewarded! Almost a five star one for me (had to deduct a point for Uncle Tom's Cabin).

Right - now to read GK's impressions and see how much we agree.