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The new Hold Steady album is out on May 3rd 7th or 8th in Australia. Have a listen below.

Their previous album was reviewed here

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Straight into it…… The Remote Part by Idlewild opens with, “You Held the Word in Your Arms” consisting of catchy chords and seemingly aiming for popularity. If that was the entire album I would have liked it but not been compelled to grace this website reviewing it. Catchy and popular alone can still mean a great album. Often, in music there seems to be a inclination to dismiss such albums as mainstream. I once used to agree but agree no longer.

The remote part is versatile in its tracks with a range of emotions contained within. The tracks, “I am  what I am not” and “A modern way of letting go” has a shitload of anger seemingly directed at someone. Crash bang thump sounds with touch of the frantic with  lead singer Roddy Womble moving between monotone delivery and some screaming. Very metalish if you had to throw a genre at it.

Whereas songs like, “Live in a Hiding Place” and “Tell me 10 words” are more gentle in their execution showing accoustic openings and self reflective lyrics .

Both of the above two tracks are immediately  followed by more crash bang thump but in a good way.  You could almost dismiss the album as a throwaway on first listen but if you give it a couple of spins when pissed off yourself one day then a different light is cast on the tracks. The cd kinda reminds me of a person, who on first meeting,  is all swagger and bravado but after a while you realise there is a soft and interesting side to them. There you have The Remote Part by Idlewild. No pretension whatsoever but still clever.

Most effective listened very loud and perfect for a cd that sounds cool at a party just before you put on The Best of the Carpenters.

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This one is a recent purchase for me . Although released in 2001 I picked it up second hand only a few months back.

Putting on the opening track, ¨New York, New York¨, makes you feel like getting in the car and cruising down the highway. Semi-acoustic guitar, coupled with rhythm and gusto that inspires to move things along. Ryan Adams has a great voice with a guttural sound that matches well with the gusto of the song.

A great opener for the cd. In researching the song I found out it had an interesting history as well but I will leave you to research that one.

When I heard the second track, ¨Firecracker¨,  I almost took the cd out of the player. Harmonica!! Surely only Bob Dylan or Neil Young play harmonica on their music. How dare someone else try that on me.

But….. I grew to like it and now it is one of my favourite tracks on ¨Gold¨. It comes in under three minutes but somehow it still manages to fit in a bridge before the last harmonica piece. Great!

And of course, the obligatory ballads ¨La Cienega Just Smiled¨ and ¨Sylvia Plath¨,together with Ryan’s voice tuned down to a smokey crawl really sealed the deal on this album for me.

Playing through the tracks many ranges and styles are scattered throughout. Gospel, Rock, Country and blues are styles that can be recognised after successive listens.

My recommendation, as mentioned above,  is to put this CD while in the car on a long drive and put it up loud.

Then, take it home late one night and give it another listen and its almost like two different albums when you do this. Most impressive and recommended.

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Ahhh, The Pursuit of Happiness. I remember as a teenager sitting in some dingy flat, just a stones throw from Henley Beach foreshore in Adelaide, glued to what ever music video was on at the time.

Lo and behold, “I’m an Adult Now” by “The Pursuit of Happiness” came on with its grungy guitars and power pop pretentions. It was one of those songs that I initially misheard the lyrics and assumed it was, “I’m on the dole now”. As my friends were mostly on the dole and I had been until recently it amused me greatly.

Shortly after this televisual experience , I went out and purchased their debut album entitled “Love Junk”.  There are 12 tracks groooved into its black vinyl and there is not one dud. How many times can you say that about an album or cd?  Even some of my favourite albums have a few songs that don’t warrant more then a couple of listens.  With “Love Junk” I can distinctly being able to play it end to end and stopping only to change the disc over to the other side. Even now, the album jumps out of me when I flick through my vinyl collection with its massive TPOH emblazoned on the cover. It’s an easy one to pull out of it’s anti-static sleeve and give it another listen.

From the opening track, “Hard to Laugh”, the album has short, sharp and sweet tracks. Layers of guitars, smashing drums and the unusual vocals of Canadian, Moe Berg. And of course the lyrics pulled me in, as I was originally listening to it in my teenage state of mind. 

“I’m an Adult Now” sounded it was singing for my generation of the time.  For, example Moe sings,

“Gotta get up and take on the world. When you’re an adult. It’s no cliche. It’s the truth.”

How true that line still is!!!

I had no idea how he managed to work in the lyrics into the tune and still make it sound catchy. Consciousness Raising as a social tool is one of the song titles!  The song and lyrics really do work a treat.  Beautiful White, Looking for Girls, Ten Fingers. I’m sure Moe was fixated on women, but in a nice way of course.  Check out She’s so young for a different side to the lyrics.

Listening to “Love Junk” even today some 20 years after it was released the album can still hold its own. Listen to it for the first time and it would be difficult to pick out this as a product of the late 80′s.
If you like Nada Surf , and I like them as well, then you would like the slightly less frantic, but still fantastic sounds of  The Pursuit of Happiness and their debut album. Buy it and listen.

*As an historical aside I attempted to purchase the follow up album on vinyl. Shock, horror it was not available in vinyl format. I only managed to get it in cassette tape version.  The vinyl run of my music buying was coming to an end. As a result of this vinyl interruption, my memory of the follow up is hazy. I no longer have the technology to play it still, but I’m pretty sure the follow up was not quite the same experience.

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Ray, Ray. Not the Ray as in everybody loves Raymond. But Ray as in Ray LaMontagne.

Do a google search for this guy and you will see some scruffy looking bloke sporting an unkempt beard. Buy this guys cd or legally download it and you’ll hear a whispery voice singing across a range of styles. This is a great album.  Really it is.

The opening track, Be Here now kicks off a subtle accoustic guitar with a piano that sounds like raindrops slowly dropping through the window and then into your stomach as his voice kicks in. Then, follow that up with “Empty” which has that same gentle guitar but with some strings thrown in to increase its emotional resonance.  The lyrics of Empty talk of stupidity and not realising what you have, with just a little bit of self indulgence thrown in for good measure.

You can Bring me flowers starts very similar to, “They did a bad bad thing”, from the Eyes Wide shut soundtrack. I say starts because Ray takes it to another level to make it sound like either a late night 60′s jazz film or perhaps a soundtrack song to some 60′s black detective show. He takes his voice down a sutble octave giving it such a sinister tone. Play that one loud.

Fave lyrics. Listen to Till the Sun turns black.

Did I mention its a great album? So…If you like whispery moody music like Nick Drake then Ray should be here to stay in your collection. Beard or no beard……..

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Damien Rice creates some disturbing and angry songs.  And I like it!!

The track, Elephant goes through a range of emotions that feel akin to the lifecyle of a single argument.  Calm Frustation, Angry Frustation, Screaming about the pointlessness of it to finally crying in grief and that grim determination to get the final point in.

Dogs starts to sound  more upbeat .

A song about a moment in time, growing up and admiring someone enough so that ,when that someone gets hurt, the pain splashes onto him. In the background you can her the raw sound of the fingers sliding over the fret accoustic guitar as the chords gently change.

Rootless Tree. Well!!! Just plain anger embellished with the F word.

Damien Rice has a great album here. He has a deep voice but with a great range to pull of the high anguished notes that are scattered through out the tracks. Its a mostly accoustic album as well so it appeals to me greatly. And a few piano based tracks really seal it for me.

A very good album with only 1 or 2 skips for some duds.  Like Split Enz used to sing, “Why don’t you give it a whirl?”

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Feel like discovering some music from the 60′s. Ok then.

I first heard of Leonard Cohen when Jennifer Warnes released a cover album of Leonard Cohen songs and had a minor hit with, First we take Manhatten. I purchased that single but soon preferred the B side which was Famous Blue Raincoat.

I ams sure that many fans of Cohen probably hate the notion of Jennifer Warnes attempting to sing his songs but it had the effect on me of wanting to know  more about Leonard Cohen. It eventually lead me to the debut effort of Leonard Cohen entitled, “Songs of Leonard Cohen”. Lucky the CD contained his songs else I would have been disappointed. It would have made a great musical joke if the album contained no songs at all.

The album was released in 1967 and features mostly accoustic guitar to the sound of Leonard’s unique voice.  The voice is deep and croaky but somehow it actually suits the gentle guitar. In many ways the guitar fades into the background as the verbosity of the lyrics with that voice carry you through.

“Hey, thats no way to say goodbye” and “One of us cannot be wrong” are highlights and truly are best listened to in gentle contemplation. I won’t quote the lyrics but encourage introduction to Cohen with these 2 tracks. Cohen was a poet prior to releasing music.

So Long Marianne is an exception to the accoustic set. Cohen starts to sound a bit Dylanesque. I like the lyrics and the melody but what is the deal with those background vocals. It basically leaves the song sounding clunky which is a tad disappointing

One other annoyance is the religious references peppered throughout some of the tunes. Not necessary but then, who am I to correct a great lyricist like him.

Some people find Leonard Cohen depressing or even morbid. Without knowing a lot about Nick Cave I get the feeling there might be some musical roots obtained from this album. Personally, I find songs manage to lift and deflate at the same time which probably can be attributed to the composers own diagnosed Bi-polar condition.

Overall its a good introduction to Leonard Cohen and back in 1967 it was everyones introduction as this album is his debut. I’d have to say that this intro is probably far better then my original intro which was the covers  album.

If you like Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel or even Karen Dalton then give Leonard Cohen a go.

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This is a great rock and roll album. I haven’t found anything like this in ages, good straightforward (on the face of it) noisy rock and roll. But not dumb rock and roll. The Hold Steady tell stories of drugs, booze and partying, having fun and the consequences.

Musically there are plenty of guitars, a keyboard that can played at a pretty frenetic pace and the drums driving through. They can change pace through a song, there is a lot more to this than a lot of ‘rock’ out there. They can settle back into anthemic choruses, and bring back it to a smaller sound when it is appropriate. The next song can be a lot of a smaller and intimate song, but with a bit of a punch underneath to maintain some strength.

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For me it’s not often that an album can start off from being disliked to being one of my all time favourites. As a Film by The Bank Holidays is one such album.

From the A capella opening track, “The Voice I hear when I alone” the album has a bright and airy feel. When you listen to the lyrics the songs become all the more captivating hooking you into the music. This is best done in quiet contemplation which lets the lyrics shine to the chirpy sound.

I call it jingle jangle pop primarily taken from The Byrds song which uses jingle jangle in its lyrics. (Turn, Turn, Turn)

Cheating, Cheating has a very much a Beatles sound to it as does Like a Piano. (Although both from different Beatle periods. ) Like a piano makes me laugh and wince all at the same time with the idea that a piano that falls on you can make you chest feel strange.

This Elated Height has clever lyrics and provides a nice link, I feel, to Cheating, Cheating. Folded in Half  starts off with male and the female voices lyrics before launching in the first verse which  has my favourite “relate to” lyric.

Its a great album where the songs have nice and short tracks. Perfect for this type of music but sometimes you almost wish they went just a little bit longer. But what the hey. Just play it the whole album all over again.

Highly recommended if you like jingle jangle airy guitar based music with lyrics that you listen out for

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