Dvorak - The Wild Dove
Haydn - Symphony No.91
Holmboe - Lagerkvist Songs (partial)
Holmboe - Contrasti
Nordentoft - Doruntine
Rachmaninov - Six Songs, op.38
Schumann - Piano Sonata No.2
Vivaldi - Longe mala, umbrae, terrores (Away with woes, shadows, terrors), RV 629
Well, pop music didn't dominate in September quite as much as it did in August, although I think I listened to most of these works late in the month.
The highlight of the month would have to be the Rachmaninov songs. The last collection that the composer wrote, they differ from previous sets in being all for the one voice (soprano) and so they have a certain unity - although I wouldn't think they represent a "song cycle".
They are also very good, with a real sensitivity to the words being set. That's true of most of Rachmaninov's songs - at least, that's the impression I get from the recording I've been working through, with 7 different singers and Iain Burnside as the pianist. It's been a real discovery of new repertoire, a different side of Rachmaninov that I didn't know, and it's been clear that a lot of work went into the recording project precisely because they wanted people to get to know this music. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who is curious.
Saturday, 17 October 2015
Saturday, 10 October 2015
Popular Music - September 2015
Tori Amos - From the Choirgirl Hotel
Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel...
David Bowie - Scary Monsters
Kate Bush - 50 Words for Snow
Delirious? - World Service
george - Unity
David Gray - White Ladder
Nik Kershaw
Joni Mitchell - For the Roses
Katie Noonan and the Captains - Emperor's Box
Pearl Jam - Vs
Something for Kate - Leave Your Soul to Science
Talk Talk - It's My Life
Tears for Fears - Raoul and the Kings of Spain
Thrice - Beggars
I'm actually slightly surprised the list for September is this long. My main memory of the month is undertaking "phase 2" of the Nik Kershaw discography, complete with 2 albums I bought in August to complete the set.
Speaking of a second phase makes sense because there was a gap of about a decade between Nik's last 1980s album and the arrival of 15 Minutes. In the intervening period he focused on work as a songwriter for others. Whatever he was doing, in my opinion it resulted in probably the best album of Kershaw's career.
For one thing, I'm impressed by the ambition and grandeur of the songs. There are several 6-minute efforts, and while length isn't everything, it's a sign that Kershaw is prepared to let the material breathe. It's also the album where he succeeds at having a more rock-oriented sound. On other albums, I typically feel the tracks where he attempts to move from pop to rock are among the weakest, but here they are a real strength.
And then there are the lyrics. Nik's concerns have changed just a little since the 1980s, with some more positive, domestic thoughts, but that strain of disillusionment with the world still crops up and on 15 Minutes it generates some sharply witty numbers.
Released a couple of years later, To Be Frank initially felt like a bit of a disappointment to me, with only a few songs standing out. I think this month is when I finally paid attention to it properly, and I've realised that it's intentionally a more relaxed, less ambitious album than its predecessor. Having a bit of a smile is actually the point in some tracks. It's lighter pop, but still fairly good pop.
Much the same can be said for You've Got To Laugh, although this time around there are a couple of genuine clunkers. I was initially put off by the album because the first song is one of them (whereas on every other one of Nik's albums, the first song is one of the best). Later on, "Loud, Confident and Wrong" is a badly judged attack on George W. Bush - not badly judged in terms of politics, but executed in an unsubtle way that ends up sounding like a schoolyard taunt. In both cases it feels like Kershaw's sense of humour has misfired. Elsewhere, though, there are some pretty strong pop songs, and "She Could Be The One" is genuinely warm-hearted.
The most recent album (and other new purchase) is Ei8ht, with a bunch of comments about the number 8 in the booklet... unfortunately the one that has a musical aspect is completely wrong, which is rather embarrassing. In terms of the music, there is pretty well a direct correlation between track number and quality. The opening "These Tears" is as good a pop song as Kershaw's ever done. "The Sky's The Limit" was the single, and while it does have a distinctly sentimental tone he makes it work. The next couple of tracks aren't classics but are enjoyable, and then things start to fall away a bit. By the time we get to "Stuff" and "Rock of Ages" the lyrics are embarrassingly uninspired.
If that last review sounds oddly familiar, it's because it's very similar to my thoughts on Kershaw's last 1980s album, The Works. There are some definite parallels between the two phases of his career, with 4 albums each at this stage. Although the gaps between albums are longer in the second phase, they do have quite a bit of stylistic similarity and form a group distinct from the 1980s albums. Most of Kershaw's stylistic development (such as it is) seems to have occurred in the 1990s.
And in each group, it feels to me like there's a falling off in quality towards the end. Which is a shame, as I'd prefer a sense that a musician I like is developing rather than running out of ways to do much the same thing. But there are still some rewards even on the weaker albums, and every one of them would definitely contribute something to my Nik Kershaw mixtape.
Okay, iTunes playlist. But I'm going to plan it just like a mixtape.
Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel...
David Bowie - Scary Monsters
Kate Bush - 50 Words for Snow
Delirious? - World Service
george - Unity
David Gray - White Ladder
Nik Kershaw
- 15 Minutes
- To Be Frank
- You've Got To Laugh
- Ei8ht
Joni Mitchell - For the Roses
Katie Noonan and the Captains - Emperor's Box
Pearl Jam - Vs
Something for Kate - Leave Your Soul to Science
Talk Talk - It's My Life
Tears for Fears - Raoul and the Kings of Spain
Thrice - Beggars
I'm actually slightly surprised the list for September is this long. My main memory of the month is undertaking "phase 2" of the Nik Kershaw discography, complete with 2 albums I bought in August to complete the set.
Speaking of a second phase makes sense because there was a gap of about a decade between Nik's last 1980s album and the arrival of 15 Minutes. In the intervening period he focused on work as a songwriter for others. Whatever he was doing, in my opinion it resulted in probably the best album of Kershaw's career.
For one thing, I'm impressed by the ambition and grandeur of the songs. There are several 6-minute efforts, and while length isn't everything, it's a sign that Kershaw is prepared to let the material breathe. It's also the album where he succeeds at having a more rock-oriented sound. On other albums, I typically feel the tracks where he attempts to move from pop to rock are among the weakest, but here they are a real strength.
And then there are the lyrics. Nik's concerns have changed just a little since the 1980s, with some more positive, domestic thoughts, but that strain of disillusionment with the world still crops up and on 15 Minutes it generates some sharply witty numbers.
Released a couple of years later, To Be Frank initially felt like a bit of a disappointment to me, with only a few songs standing out. I think this month is when I finally paid attention to it properly, and I've realised that it's intentionally a more relaxed, less ambitious album than its predecessor. Having a bit of a smile is actually the point in some tracks. It's lighter pop, but still fairly good pop.
Much the same can be said for You've Got To Laugh, although this time around there are a couple of genuine clunkers. I was initially put off by the album because the first song is one of them (whereas on every other one of Nik's albums, the first song is one of the best). Later on, "Loud, Confident and Wrong" is a badly judged attack on George W. Bush - not badly judged in terms of politics, but executed in an unsubtle way that ends up sounding like a schoolyard taunt. In both cases it feels like Kershaw's sense of humour has misfired. Elsewhere, though, there are some pretty strong pop songs, and "She Could Be The One" is genuinely warm-hearted.
The most recent album (and other new purchase) is Ei8ht, with a bunch of comments about the number 8 in the booklet... unfortunately the one that has a musical aspect is completely wrong, which is rather embarrassing. In terms of the music, there is pretty well a direct correlation between track number and quality. The opening "These Tears" is as good a pop song as Kershaw's ever done. "The Sky's The Limit" was the single, and while it does have a distinctly sentimental tone he makes it work. The next couple of tracks aren't classics but are enjoyable, and then things start to fall away a bit. By the time we get to "Stuff" and "Rock of Ages" the lyrics are embarrassingly uninspired.
If that last review sounds oddly familiar, it's because it's very similar to my thoughts on Kershaw's last 1980s album, The Works. There are some definite parallels between the two phases of his career, with 4 albums each at this stage. Although the gaps between albums are longer in the second phase, they do have quite a bit of stylistic similarity and form a group distinct from the 1980s albums. Most of Kershaw's stylistic development (such as it is) seems to have occurred in the 1990s.
And in each group, it feels to me like there's a falling off in quality towards the end. Which is a shame, as I'd prefer a sense that a musician I like is developing rather than running out of ways to do much the same thing. But there are still some rewards even on the weaker albums, and every one of them would definitely contribute something to my Nik Kershaw mixtape.
Okay, iTunes playlist. But I'm going to plan it just like a mixtape.
Sunday, 4 October 2015
Classical Music - August 2015
Brahms - String Quintet No.2
Snider - Penelope
Was that really it?
Yes. That was really it.
Snider - Penelope
Was that really it?
Yes. That was really it.
Sunday, 20 September 2015
Popular Music - August 2015
Tori Amos
James Blake - Overgrown
Incubus - If Not Now, When?
Nik Kershaw
John Mayer - Heavier Things
Joni Mitchell - For the Roses
Katie Noonan and the Captains - Emperor's Box
Radiohead - The King of Limbs
Sting - The Dream of the Blue Turtles
Talk Talk - The Colour of Spring
Wilco - Star Wars
The revival of my interest in pop music led to another purchase, Wendy Matthews' Cafe Naturale. I also finally unearthed something I purchased very cheaply a while ago, the Baby Animals' self-titled debut album.
A small rant: the latter is a re-release with their second album (not yet listened to), and is missing one track compared to the original CD release. Why? Why do record companies do things like that? It makes absolutely no sense to perform that kind of alteration.
However, what really needs to be talked about is the fierce revival of my interest in Nik Kershaw. The interest has always been there, in fact he was one of the very first musicians that I became a fan of at a young age. I still remember listening to "Wouldn't It Be Good" and thinking how much I liked it. It's perhaps the first time I ever heard a song and thought it was clever.
It was also very successful. What's striking about listening to that song, though, and to Human Racing as a whole is how unlikely that success was in some ways. Sure, Nik Kershaw had the looks to be a pop idol in 1984, but his music was quirky and unconventional by the standards of mainstream pop. When there aren't surprising harmonic or rhythmic twists, there are things like background yelps or chipmunk voices.
And lyrically, the album is highly dystopian. The songs are filled with people dissatisfied with their lot, dreaming of a better life, suspicious of authority, or just giving up on the world. Opening track "Dancing Girls"starts with: Cold and lonely and tired and bored, just like the day before.
I don't remember enough about what was going on in 1984 culturally to know whether this tapped into the zeitgeist (other than being aware that it was the era of Thatcher in Kershaw's native UK), but listening to Human Racing now it's slightly surprising that something like this was rather popular.
The Riddle was released only 9 months later and is basically more of the same, only better - probably the best of his 1980s albums (yes, did you even know there were albums after the 1980s?). Whereas on Human Racing it's clear that the singles are the strongest songs, The Riddle is a lot more consistent. There are fewer attempts at being quirky just for the sake of it, and more of Kershaw's innovations are at the service of the song. (Note: the first 95 seconds of this video are NOT part of the song, which is a strange decision given that they edited out about 96 seconds of the original music to create this single.)
Thematically, it's much the same, although this time there's perhaps more of an emphasis on people that are not just disillusioned but delusional, and a more overt concern for the environment (hard to miss with a song called "Save the Whale", but "Roses" is also along those lines).
When Radio Musicola followed a couple of years later, Kershaw was also producing. The album is just a little grander, with longer songs; on the first 2 albums, at least half of the songs are under 4 minutes, whereas on Radio Musicola half the songs are over 5 minutes.
The degree to which it succeeds is... just a tiny, tiny bit variable. The album was nowhere as big a success as its predecessors, and personally I'm not sure whether the singles were chosen well (although any of the longer tracks would inevitably have been edited down). The only song I ever saw on music shows was "Nobody Knows", which is a song I'd describe as pretty good but not memorable, which is a description for a couple of others as well. And yet, there are also wonderful moments. One I'm always amazed by is the bridge of "Life Goes On", a miracle of compression where on 2 occasions Kershaw makes the end of one line into the start of the next one, both lyrically and musically.
And then, in 1989 came The Works. Kershaw went to America to make his 4th album, and it ends up sounding exactly like what you would expect when a quirky Englishman goes to America to make an album. Everything is smoothed and flattened and made nice, and frequently rather dull.
It's not all bad. The opening track (and first single) "One Step Ahead" is a fine example of Kershaw's qualities, with seamless harmonic changes.
But things go downhill after that. The music is always reasonably competent, and frequently displays his gift for melody, but rarely does it have distinctive qualities - for me "Cowboys & Indians" is probably the only other track that I'd label as something only Kershaw could have done.
And the lyrics... well the lyrics get pretty bad, frankly. "Elisabeth's Eyes" is a very sweet song with a nice sentimental melody, but it's also the most inappropriately jaunty song about being on death row you've ever heard. The absolute nadir is "Don't Ask Me", an uninspired list of random lines which are supposedly things that Nik would like to know, but doesn't. Let's just take a look at the second verse, shall we?
The origin of species
The date of Waterloo
Oppenheimer's shoe size
And the latitude of Timbuktu
The square root of thrity-eight
Why they call he-goats billy
The weight of Colonel Sanders
And the whereabouts of Chile
When he sings in the chorus "I just don't know what to do", it sounds like a sincere confession of his helplessness as he witnessed what was emerging from the recording sessions. The album deservedly bombed, and Nik retreated to writing songs for other people for about a decade...
- Strange Little Girls
- Abnormally Attracted to Sin
- Unrepentant Geraldines
James Blake - Overgrown
Incubus - If Not Now, When?
Nik Kershaw
- Human Racing
- The Riddle
- Radio Musicola
- The Works
John Mayer - Heavier Things
Joni Mitchell - For the Roses
Katie Noonan and the Captains - Emperor's Box
Radiohead - The King of Limbs
Sting - The Dream of the Blue Turtles
Talk Talk - The Colour of Spring
Wilco - Star Wars
The revival of my interest in pop music led to another purchase, Wendy Matthews' Cafe Naturale. I also finally unearthed something I purchased very cheaply a while ago, the Baby Animals' self-titled debut album.
A small rant: the latter is a re-release with their second album (not yet listened to), and is missing one track compared to the original CD release. Why? Why do record companies do things like that? It makes absolutely no sense to perform that kind of alteration.
However, what really needs to be talked about is the fierce revival of my interest in Nik Kershaw. The interest has always been there, in fact he was one of the very first musicians that I became a fan of at a young age. I still remember listening to "Wouldn't It Be Good" and thinking how much I liked it. It's perhaps the first time I ever heard a song and thought it was clever.
It was also very successful. What's striking about listening to that song, though, and to Human Racing as a whole is how unlikely that success was in some ways. Sure, Nik Kershaw had the looks to be a pop idol in 1984, but his music was quirky and unconventional by the standards of mainstream pop. When there aren't surprising harmonic or rhythmic twists, there are things like background yelps or chipmunk voices.
And lyrically, the album is highly dystopian. The songs are filled with people dissatisfied with their lot, dreaming of a better life, suspicious of authority, or just giving up on the world. Opening track "Dancing Girls"starts with: Cold and lonely and tired and bored, just like the day before.
I don't remember enough about what was going on in 1984 culturally to know whether this tapped into the zeitgeist (other than being aware that it was the era of Thatcher in Kershaw's native UK), but listening to Human Racing now it's slightly surprising that something like this was rather popular.
The Riddle was released only 9 months later and is basically more of the same, only better - probably the best of his 1980s albums (yes, did you even know there were albums after the 1980s?). Whereas on Human Racing it's clear that the singles are the strongest songs, The Riddle is a lot more consistent. There are fewer attempts at being quirky just for the sake of it, and more of Kershaw's innovations are at the service of the song. (Note: the first 95 seconds of this video are NOT part of the song, which is a strange decision given that they edited out about 96 seconds of the original music to create this single.)
Thematically, it's much the same, although this time there's perhaps more of an emphasis on people that are not just disillusioned but delusional, and a more overt concern for the environment (hard to miss with a song called "Save the Whale", but "Roses" is also along those lines).
When Radio Musicola followed a couple of years later, Kershaw was also producing. The album is just a little grander, with longer songs; on the first 2 albums, at least half of the songs are under 4 minutes, whereas on Radio Musicola half the songs are over 5 minutes.
The degree to which it succeeds is... just a tiny, tiny bit variable. The album was nowhere as big a success as its predecessors, and personally I'm not sure whether the singles were chosen well (although any of the longer tracks would inevitably have been edited down). The only song I ever saw on music shows was "Nobody Knows", which is a song I'd describe as pretty good but not memorable, which is a description for a couple of others as well. And yet, there are also wonderful moments. One I'm always amazed by is the bridge of "Life Goes On", a miracle of compression where on 2 occasions Kershaw makes the end of one line into the start of the next one, both lyrically and musically.
And then, in 1989 came The Works. Kershaw went to America to make his 4th album, and it ends up sounding exactly like what you would expect when a quirky Englishman goes to America to make an album. Everything is smoothed and flattened and made nice, and frequently rather dull.
It's not all bad. The opening track (and first single) "One Step Ahead" is a fine example of Kershaw's qualities, with seamless harmonic changes.
But things go downhill after that. The music is always reasonably competent, and frequently displays his gift for melody, but rarely does it have distinctive qualities - for me "Cowboys & Indians" is probably the only other track that I'd label as something only Kershaw could have done.
And the lyrics... well the lyrics get pretty bad, frankly. "Elisabeth's Eyes" is a very sweet song with a nice sentimental melody, but it's also the most inappropriately jaunty song about being on death row you've ever heard. The absolute nadir is "Don't Ask Me", an uninspired list of random lines which are supposedly things that Nik would like to know, but doesn't. Let's just take a look at the second verse, shall we?
The origin of species
The date of Waterloo
Oppenheimer's shoe size
And the latitude of Timbuktu
The square root of thrity-eight
Why they call he-goats billy
The weight of Colonel Sanders
And the whereabouts of Chile
When he sings in the chorus "I just don't know what to do", it sounds like a sincere confession of his helplessness as he witnessed what was emerging from the recording sessions. The album deservedly bombed, and Nik retreated to writing songs for other people for about a decade...
Tuesday, 15 September 2015
Classical Music - July 2015
Bach, J.S - Wo soll ich fliehen hin (Where shall I flee)
Beethoven - Piano Trio No.7 (op.97)
Chopin
Haydn - Symphonies 85, 91 and 97
Haydn - 6 String Quartets, Op.76 (the 'Erdődy' quartets)
Holmboe - Sonatina for oboe and piano
Janacek - Violin Sonata
Schubert - Piano Sonata in B, D.575
Schumann - Humoreske in B flat
Shostakovich - String Quartet No.12
Sibelius - Pohjola's Daughter
Szymanowski - Fantasy for piano, op.14
Vine - String Quartet No.4
The shift in my listening in July towards popular music is shown by the shortness of this list compared to the classical lists for May and June. It should be pointed out, though, that those lists were sometimes inflated by listening to many smaller works. Most of the entries for this month are relatively substantial pieces.
The Beethoven piano trio, often known as the 'Archduke', was definitely a highlight. I think it was one of those pieces I knew about without having necessarily ever heard it. I was glad to make its acquaintance and will be reaching for it again when I want a bit of sunshine in my Beethoven.
Vine's string quartet is also worth a mention, because when I first listened to the Goldner Quartet's recording of the quartets it was No.3 that jumped out and grabbed me by the throat. Now, however, as I listen to each quartet quite separately from its fellows, I have found No.4 quite impressive as well. I have Vine's symphonies on my shopping list (and at some point I need to choose a recording of his completely fantastic first piano sonata, which is how I knew of him in the first place).
But the most substantial thing on this list is the entry for Haydn's op.76 quartets, which I inevitably listened to in full before lending the CDs to a friend. Some of the first classical music I ever bought on my own instead of listening to my father's record collection. First purchased on cassette, and then upgraded many years later. Still some very fine music indeed.
Beethoven - Piano Trio No.7 (op.97)
Chopin
- 4 Mazurkas, op.33
- 3 Waltzes, op.34
- Variation for 'Hexameron'
Haydn - Symphonies 85, 91 and 97
Haydn - 6 String Quartets, Op.76 (the 'Erdődy' quartets)
Holmboe - Sonatina for oboe and piano
Janacek - Violin Sonata
Schubert - Piano Sonata in B, D.575
Schumann - Humoreske in B flat
Shostakovich - String Quartet No.12
Sibelius - Pohjola's Daughter
Szymanowski - Fantasy for piano, op.14
Vine - String Quartet No.4
The shift in my listening in July towards popular music is shown by the shortness of this list compared to the classical lists for May and June. It should be pointed out, though, that those lists were sometimes inflated by listening to many smaller works. Most of the entries for this month are relatively substantial pieces.
The Beethoven piano trio, often known as the 'Archduke', was definitely a highlight. I think it was one of those pieces I knew about without having necessarily ever heard it. I was glad to make its acquaintance and will be reaching for it again when I want a bit of sunshine in my Beethoven.
Vine's string quartet is also worth a mention, because when I first listened to the Goldner Quartet's recording of the quartets it was No.3 that jumped out and grabbed me by the throat. Now, however, as I listen to each quartet quite separately from its fellows, I have found No.4 quite impressive as well. I have Vine's symphonies on my shopping list (and at some point I need to choose a recording of his completely fantastic first piano sonata, which is how I knew of him in the first place).
But the most substantial thing on this list is the entry for Haydn's op.76 quartets, which I inevitably listened to in full before lending the CDs to a friend. Some of the first classical music I ever bought on my own instead of listening to my father's record collection. First purchased on cassette, and then upgraded many years later. Still some very fine music indeed.
Wednesday, 9 September 2015
Popular Music - July 2015
Tori Amos
Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel...
Bat for Lashes - Two Suns
James Blake - Overgrown
David Bowie - "Heroes"
dc Talk - Jesus Freak
Gomez - In Our Gun
Patty Griffin - Downtown Church
Incubus - Make Yourself
Incubus - If Not Now, When?
Level 42 - Running In The Family
Wendy Matthews - The Witness Tree
Wendy Matthews - Ghosts
Joni Mitchell - Don Juan's Reckless Daughter
Katie Noonan and the Captains - Emperor's Box
Seal - Seal (II)
Sting - ...Nothing Like the Sun
Megan Washington - There There
At some point in July, my listening shifted strongly in favour of popular music over classical. Most of the time I'm not quite sure why these pendulum shifts occur. This time, I did have a bit of a sense that I was slightly tired of working through so much classical music, but also a sense that it was time to consciously freshen the popular music listening.
And so you see on this list some albums I hadn't listened to for quite a long time, and also some that I'd never heard before. James Blake's Overgrown was a new purchase. The album is of course a couple of years old, but in fact James Blake has been hovering on my radar since around 2011, the time of his first full album (he's also released a considerable number of EPs). At some point I was introduced to his version of a song called "Limit To Your Love" and it held my attention.
However, when I tried the first album during July (and not, I think, for the first time) I didn't find it very satisfying. It was too fragmentary - too many of the songs felt like sketches, not fully formed ideas. It was perhaps telling that "Limit To Your Love" was a cover. The impression I came away with was that Blake had production skills in abundance, and the ability to use them to match his plaintive voice, but was lacking as a songwriter.
When I listened to Overgrown for the first time, it was immediately apparent that his songwriting skills had improved considerably. While in truth some tracks still rely more on atmospherics than anything else, and the song structures tend to be fairly simple, they do actually sound like complete songs rather than undeveloped ideas. And the other strengths are still there - Blake's voice is haunting, and he knows how to shape the rest of the music to enhance that quality. It only took that one listen to add Overgrown to my shopping list and duly purchase it the next time I was near a CD shop (yes, I know I am quaint).
The other brand new entry here is Incubus' If Not Now, When?. I purchased the album in April on my travels, partly for the sheer novelty of where I bought it from (along with several other discs I've yet to listen to), but also because I quite liked the other 2 Incubus albums I already owned.
Subsequently, and before listening to the album, I read some fairly negative things about it. And I understand why the reviews were not positive, yet at the same time I think the reviews were a bit wrong. What we have here is yet another example of a music act deciding to do something different, and not taking all of its 'native' audience with it.
Because essentially, Incubus is known as an alternative rock band, with even a dash of metal, and If Not Now, When? is an album with a strong pop or adult contemporary flavour. There are plenty of signs that the band were well aware of what they were doing, consciously keeping the songs simple. The album also has a very warm, relaxed and intensely melodic feel to it. None of these are qualities you're likely to expect from an "alternative metal" band.
It's worth mentioning that there is some precedent for warm, happy-sounding songs on Incubus albums. But nevertheless If Not Now, When? takes that aspect of the band a lot further.
The shock of the different sound is heightened by the order of the songs, because it seems entirely intentional that the simpler songs come first. That's one of the the more intriguing things about the record. The opening title track is a slow, grand number with a soaring melody line, and it's followed by "Promises, Promises", which is about as blatant a singalong pop song as you could wish for.
"Friends and Lovers" comes next and is equally unthreatening apart from one verse where the music underneath changes. From there the album darkens by degrees - it could never be said to become truly dark, but the shift in tone to something a little closer to "regular" Incubus is clear and was remarked on in many reviews (usually along the lines of how some tracks in the second half saved the album from total disaster).
But is the album even a partial disaster? I would say no. It's true that some of the lyrics end up being a little too trite, but in musical terms the warm, relaxed, open-hearted approach works so long as you let it. So long as you don't demand that Incubus deliver the same thing that they previously delivered. But of course many people do demand that. The name of their favourite artist is a brand, with expectations attached.
For me, though, after a few listens it actually became really enjoyable to put some music on and relax into it. As much as anything, listening to the album became about enjoying Brandon Boyd's voice, which is a pretty magnificent instrument by the standards of male rock/pop singers.
- Boys for Pele
- Scarlet's Walk
- Unrepentant Geraldines
- Bliss (single)
Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel...
Bat for Lashes - Two Suns
James Blake - Overgrown
David Bowie - "Heroes"
dc Talk - Jesus Freak
Gomez - In Our Gun
Patty Griffin - Downtown Church
Incubus - Make Yourself
Incubus - If Not Now, When?
Level 42 - Running In The Family
Wendy Matthews - The Witness Tree
Wendy Matthews - Ghosts
Joni Mitchell - Don Juan's Reckless Daughter
Katie Noonan and the Captains - Emperor's Box
Seal - Seal (II)
Sting - ...Nothing Like the Sun
Megan Washington - There There
At some point in July, my listening shifted strongly in favour of popular music over classical. Most of the time I'm not quite sure why these pendulum shifts occur. This time, I did have a bit of a sense that I was slightly tired of working through so much classical music, but also a sense that it was time to consciously freshen the popular music listening.
And so you see on this list some albums I hadn't listened to for quite a long time, and also some that I'd never heard before. James Blake's Overgrown was a new purchase. The album is of course a couple of years old, but in fact James Blake has been hovering on my radar since around 2011, the time of his first full album (he's also released a considerable number of EPs). At some point I was introduced to his version of a song called "Limit To Your Love" and it held my attention.
However, when I tried the first album during July (and not, I think, for the first time) I didn't find it very satisfying. It was too fragmentary - too many of the songs felt like sketches, not fully formed ideas. It was perhaps telling that "Limit To Your Love" was a cover. The impression I came away with was that Blake had production skills in abundance, and the ability to use them to match his plaintive voice, but was lacking as a songwriter.
When I listened to Overgrown for the first time, it was immediately apparent that his songwriting skills had improved considerably. While in truth some tracks still rely more on atmospherics than anything else, and the song structures tend to be fairly simple, they do actually sound like complete songs rather than undeveloped ideas. And the other strengths are still there - Blake's voice is haunting, and he knows how to shape the rest of the music to enhance that quality. It only took that one listen to add Overgrown to my shopping list and duly purchase it the next time I was near a CD shop (yes, I know I am quaint).
The other brand new entry here is Incubus' If Not Now, When?. I purchased the album in April on my travels, partly for the sheer novelty of where I bought it from (along with several other discs I've yet to listen to), but also because I quite liked the other 2 Incubus albums I already owned.
Subsequently, and before listening to the album, I read some fairly negative things about it. And I understand why the reviews were not positive, yet at the same time I think the reviews were a bit wrong. What we have here is yet another example of a music act deciding to do something different, and not taking all of its 'native' audience with it.
Because essentially, Incubus is known as an alternative rock band, with even a dash of metal, and If Not Now, When? is an album with a strong pop or adult contemporary flavour. There are plenty of signs that the band were well aware of what they were doing, consciously keeping the songs simple. The album also has a very warm, relaxed and intensely melodic feel to it. None of these are qualities you're likely to expect from an "alternative metal" band.
It's worth mentioning that there is some precedent for warm, happy-sounding songs on Incubus albums. But nevertheless If Not Now, When? takes that aspect of the band a lot further.
The shock of the different sound is heightened by the order of the songs, because it seems entirely intentional that the simpler songs come first. That's one of the the more intriguing things about the record. The opening title track is a slow, grand number with a soaring melody line, and it's followed by "Promises, Promises", which is about as blatant a singalong pop song as you could wish for.
"Friends and Lovers" comes next and is equally unthreatening apart from one verse where the music underneath changes. From there the album darkens by degrees - it could never be said to become truly dark, but the shift in tone to something a little closer to "regular" Incubus is clear and was remarked on in many reviews (usually along the lines of how some tracks in the second half saved the album from total disaster).
But is the album even a partial disaster? I would say no. It's true that some of the lyrics end up being a little too trite, but in musical terms the warm, relaxed, open-hearted approach works so long as you let it. So long as you don't demand that Incubus deliver the same thing that they previously delivered. But of course many people do demand that. The name of their favourite artist is a brand, with expectations attached.
For me, though, after a few listens it actually became really enjoyable to put some music on and relax into it. As much as anything, listening to the album became about enjoying Brandon Boyd's voice, which is a pretty magnificent instrument by the standards of male rock/pop singers.
Sunday, 9 August 2015
Classical Music - June 2015
Bach, J.S.
Brahms - Piano Trio No.3
Bridge
Dvorak - The Golden Spinning Wheel
Faure - Violin Sonata No.2
Haumann - Blomster fra de kejserlige haver (Flowers from the Imperial Gardens)
Haydn - Symphonies 82, 92, 95, 100 and 102
Holmboe
Koppel - Four Love Songs from Song of Solomon
Koppel - Epitaph
Mortensen - Sonata for Oboe and Piano
Nielsen - Piano Trio
Nordentoft - Three Studies for Brass Quintet
Nørgård - Spell
Nørholm - From the Merry Life of a Spy
Rovsing Olsen - Two Lagerkvist Songs
Schubert - Piano Sonatas in A minor and E flat D.537 and 568
Schubert - Symphony No.5
Schumann - Carnaval
Schumann - Symphonic Etudes
Shostakovich - String Quartet No.3
Shostakovich - 24 Preludes and Fugues
Sibelius
Vine - String Quartet No.3
Whitwell
There's no rush with any of this...
The things I specifically want to mention in amongst this bounty are twofold.
The first is my first encounter with the music of Per Nørgård, his piece Spell for piano trio (apparently there's actually an original version with clarinet rather than violin, but the 'regular' piano trio version appears to be popular). I've no idea how it relates to the rest of his work, but on the basis of this one piece I definitely want to hear more. I found it riveting, with all the best potential of minimalism without the boredom I experience in some cases. I enjoyed it so much the first time that I played the CD again straight away.
The other thing to highlight is the music of Sally Whitwell. I believe she's recorded 3 albums of other composers' piano music (focusing on, ahem, minimalists), but now has an album of her own music. This recording is actually dominated by vocal and choral works (and also has some other instrumental groupings), but Whitwell's clear, crystalline piano playing is a feature throughout. The idiom is thoroughly tonal, and I suppose it would be labelled as "light" classical, but it is none the worse for that. It is highly enjoyable.
Here's a sample. Literally in the first case.
- Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott (A mighty fortress is our God)
- Herr Christ, der einige Gottesshon (Lord Christ, the only Son of God)
- Das neugeborne Kindelein (The newborn little child)
- Violin Concerto
- Piano Trios 5 and 6 (op.70)
- Violin Sonata No.9 (two versions)
- String Quartet No.16
Brahms - Piano Trio No.3
Bridge
- Berceuse (instrumental piece - orchestral version)
- Berceuse (song)
- Chant d'espérance (Song of Hope)
- Serenade (orchestral version)
- Adoration
- The Pageant of London
- Where She Lies Asleep
- Love Went A-Riding
- Thy Hand In Mine
- Mantle of Blue
- Blow Out, You Bugles
- 2 Songs of Rabindranath Tagore (orchestral versions)
- A Royal Night of Variety
- Scherzo No.2
- Etudes, op.25
- Nocturnes, opp. 27 and 32
- 4 Mazurkas, op.30
- Impromptu No.1
Dvorak - The Golden Spinning Wheel
Faure - Violin Sonata No.2
Haumann - Blomster fra de kejserlige haver (Flowers from the Imperial Gardens)
Haydn - Symphonies 82, 92, 95, 100 and 102
Holmboe
- Concertos 3 (for clarinet), 6 (for violin), 9 (for violin and viola), 12 (for trombone) and 13 (for oboe and viola)
- Epilog
- Piano Suite
- Small piano pieces
- Two Sarvig Psalms
- Speravi in Domino
- Simeon's Song of Praise
- Arrangement of Ólavur Riddararós
Koppel - Four Love Songs from Song of Solomon
Koppel - Epitaph
Mortensen - Sonata for Oboe and Piano
Nielsen - Piano Trio
Nordentoft - Three Studies for Brass Quintet
Nørgård - Spell
Nørholm - From the Merry Life of a Spy
Rovsing Olsen - Two Lagerkvist Songs
Schubert - Piano Sonatas in A minor and E flat D.537 and 568
Schubert - Symphony No.5
Schumann - Carnaval
Schumann - Symphonic Etudes
Shostakovich - String Quartet No.3
Shostakovich - 24 Preludes and Fugues
Sibelius
- Symphony No.2
- The Dryad
- Dance-Intermezzo
Vine - String Quartet No.3
Whitwell
- Loopy Lady
- The Birds
- Some World Far From Ours
- In the Deep Heart's Core
- Warm Where Snowflakes Lie
- Flatworm's Heaven
- A Hundred Thousand Birds
- Echo
- Flying
- She Walks In Beauty
- Starlight Steeple
- To Your Shore
- Winter Love
- Road Trip
- The Insomnia Waltz
There's no rush with any of this...
The things I specifically want to mention in amongst this bounty are twofold.
The first is my first encounter with the music of Per Nørgård, his piece Spell for piano trio (apparently there's actually an original version with clarinet rather than violin, but the 'regular' piano trio version appears to be popular). I've no idea how it relates to the rest of his work, but on the basis of this one piece I definitely want to hear more. I found it riveting, with all the best potential of minimalism without the boredom I experience in some cases. I enjoyed it so much the first time that I played the CD again straight away.
The other thing to highlight is the music of Sally Whitwell. I believe she's recorded 3 albums of other composers' piano music (focusing on, ahem, minimalists), but now has an album of her own music. This recording is actually dominated by vocal and choral works (and also has some other instrumental groupings), but Whitwell's clear, crystalline piano playing is a feature throughout. The idiom is thoroughly tonal, and I suppose it would be labelled as "light" classical, but it is none the worse for that. It is highly enjoyable.
Here's a sample. Literally in the first case.
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