Mark Fry, Dreaming with Alice (Sunbeam Records, 2006 re-issue, originally released 1972)

About a month ago I reviewed Shooting the Moon, the second album by the intriguing English musician Mark Fry. Part of what makes Mark Fry so intriguing is that his sophomore effort followed a mere thirty-six years after his debut, Dreaming with Alice. Fry was studying art in Italy in 1972, and a friend set him up in a recoding studio in Rome to cut an album with a handful of musician friends whose names Fry has long since forgotten. The original LP never got released outside of Italy, but somehow the album's reputation spread by word of mouth, and for fans of psychedelic folk the album is considered a classic. Bootleg versions popped up all over the place, and copies of the original release have sold for over $2000 at auction. Fry, meanwhile, tried unsuccessfully to get a record deal back home in England, and has spent most of his life between traveling and making a living selling his paintings in France. While he had long stopped pursuing music professionally, he enthusiastically lent his support and participation when Sunbeam Records re-issued Dreaming with Alice in 2006. Thirty-four years after its recording, it was officially released outside of Italy for the very first time.

After listening to Dreaming with Alice, it's not hard to figure out why the album appeals so strongly to a specific group of music listeners. Fry's style on this recording evokes performers like Donovan and Syd Barrett, with all the hippie mysticism and other accessories (legal and otherwise) which that implies. But if you're into psychedelic music, especially with acoustic guitars, then you'll find much to like on Dreaming with Alice. The music is as dreamlike and trance-inducing as the album's title implies, but it is also quite melodic. The title song is unique in that its nine verses are not played together, but with one verse at a time prefacing each of the other tracks. The playing, considering it was done in an inferior studio (the soundproofing was so poor they couldn't use drums), is remarkably solid and tight as well. The highlight for me is a six-minute song called "The Witch," a steady, determined jam that makes as good a use of the sitar in a rock context as any song outside of "Norwegian Wood."

Dreaming with Alice probably won't please everybody. For reasons both good and bad, hippie music doesn't quite have universal appeal, or even as broad an audience it had when this album was made. But this album is an excellent example of its genre, worthy of the cult reputation it has garnered. As for Mark Fry, he has as remarkable a story as any singer I'm aware of, and his copious liner notes are as fascinating as the music is. I have no idea how often he goes back to Wonderland to visit Alice these days, but as long as he brings some good music back with him I'm OK with it.

Overall grade: A-

reviewed by Scott

Love or Money (2001)

Love or Money is a British look, through film, at the age old question of whether one should marry for love or money. This has been going on for eons, and Jane Austen wrote about it plenty, so why not make a film about it. Apparently this film is kind of obscure (I can't even find the movie poster for it), but you never know what you can find on the shelf at your public library.

Daniel is having trouble finding a suitable bride, so after a souring experience, he decides to go on a game/reality television show. Worse than ABC's "The Bachelor," the show requires you to marry a bride that you've never seen before (but voted for by some TV audience), and then make a marriage work for six months. Why would anyone subject themselves to this test of "Wedding Survivor?" Well, after the half a year, if you're still hitched, and can answer a set of questions correctly about your mate, you get a little bonus consisting of two cars, a nice house, and a million pounds (which, with the exchange rate, is quite a bit of dough these days).

The ironic thing is that Daniel hardly needs the cash as his family is some type of ice cream mogul in England. He marries Samantha, a down on her luck physical therapist who sees this as her way out of her current financial situation. She also has a few surprises of her own that Daniel must learn to cope with as the film progresses.

In summary, Love or Money is somewhat offbeat. While the pretense of a game show to settle this complex issue is hardly realistic, but it does frame this age old question that does come up in our society more times than many would admit. If you're not sure which is more important, than checking out this film might stimulate some thought.

Overall Grade: B

Reviewed by Jonas

Mark Fry, Shooting the Moon (Bourdidlebaby, 2008)

In 1972, a English teenager studying art in Italy named Mark Fry brought his guitar into a recording studio and cut an album. Heavy on the reverb and chock full of cryptic imagery, Dreaming With Alice never got released outside of Italy and seemed destined for utter obscurity. And yet, for fans of psychedelic folk music, finding a copy of this album is like discovering the Lost Ark. The fact that information on the album, plus a couple of recordings off of it, can be easily obtained with a simple Google search indicates that at least a few people think Dreaming With Alice is worth remembering. As for Fry, he's been hanging out mainly in France, doing more painting than anything else. But I guess he decided that thirty-six years was enough time to keep his fans waiting for a follow-up. Fry's sophomore effort, called Shooting the Moon, came out earlier this year.

Shooting the Moon places Fry squarely in the singer-songwriter genre. The music focuses on Fry and his guitar, with mostly light accompaniment. It does not have the hypnotic dreaminess of its predecessor. After hearing a couple of tracks off Dreaming with Alice (hear them for yourself here), I decided that there was something unique and strangely compelling about the sound of that album which the more mundane new recording could have used. I was struck, however, by a comment I read in a review of the first album about Fry possessing an "honest likeability" that makes the songs work. If anything remains unchanged for Fry all these years later, it's that there's something endearing about the guy. The lyrics sound like the work of a man who's been a bit down on his luck romantically, but Fry comes across as refreshingly real and believable, and you find yourself rooting for him. Fry's songs are unassuming and unpretentious, and it almost feels when you listen to Shooting the Moon like he's sitting next to you at a bar discussing life over a few drinks.

I like Shooting the Moon for the most part. Like I've said about several albums I've reviewed though, I'm worried that whatever chances the album may have for a commercial breakthrough are likely to be undone, ironically and unfortunately, by the album's consistency. Every song is pretty good, but there's no great standout track that can force its way onto the radio or people's hard drives. Still, if you like honest, down-to-earth songwriting, Shooting the Moon has plenty to recommend it.

Overall grade: B

reviewed by Scott

Radiohead, In Rainbows (TBD Records, 2008)

I've never really been sure what to make of Radiohead. They were originally presented as the British answer to Seattle grunge when "Creep" hit MTV in 1993, but their ambitions were bigger than that. Influenced by the art rock of the seventies but remaining firmly grounded in the present, the band has created its own unique style that defies any sort of categorization. Nobody else sounds like Radiohead, it's not clear that anybody else would even know how to sound like them, and they like it that way. When they brought in Nigel Godrich to co-produce their recordings with them, starting with their third album OK Computer in 1997, Radiohead became the most talked about current band in rock. They have now held that distinction for over a decade. I never really jumped on the bandwagon, though. I'd hear individual songs on the radio and wonder what the big deal was. Their songs aren't the kind that will grab the attention of somebody only casually listening.

Of course, that's the wrong way to listen to Radiohead. Their albums are meant to be listened to as a whole, without any distractions, because the appeal of Radiohead comes from their sonic textures and superlative production standards. Simply put, nobody in rock is making better-produced recordings than Radiohead. When you consider what The Beatles accomplished with four-track analog equipment, it's a rather embarrassing commentary on the state of the music industry that with all the technological advances of the last forty years, only Radiohead has managed to advance the art of recording rock music any further. But they have advanced it.

Radiohead's new album In Rainbows will not get officially released until the end of the year, but it has been available online as a download for over a month now. The music has a little bit of everything. "Bodysnatchers" features the driving guitars that were conspicuously absent from a couple of Radiohead's more recent albums. "All I Need" is backed by electronics, while "Faust Arp" features some orchestration coupled with a pair of acoustic guitars. The soulful "Reckoner" is driven by a great sounding, heavily echoed drum track. And as always, all the songs are topped off by the eerie voice of Thom Yorke. The sound of In Rainbows lives up to the high standards that Radiohead have set for themselves. People who like to listen closely for the little details, or who appreciate what goes into producing a record, will find lots of sonic treats here.

Still, I can't escape my initial hang-ups with the band. The whole of In Rainbows is far greater than the sum of the individual parts, but I think part of the reason for that is that the individual tracks are only OK on their own. Radiohead are unquestionably elite recording artists, but I'm not so sure that they're elite songmakers. If you ask me to come up with a particularly noteworthy lyric or melody line, I don't think I could do it.

So on one hand, In Rainbows is another feast for the ears from the band that currently defines the state of the art of rock recording. On the other hand, if you're looking for a great song rather than a great recording, this might not be the best place to start.

Overall grade: B+

reviewed by Scott

Mark Knopfler, Kill To Get Crimson (Warner Brothers, 2007)

A struggling tattoo artist reflects on how his true love entered his life. An actor returns to his hometown, only to meet with disappointment and a lot of gossip. An aspiring rock star makes big promises to his lady. A boxer recalls learning how to dance in secondary school. A man has his passion for painting stymied at every corner. A woman falls for a gypsy tinker and accepts the lifestyle that comes with him.

These are the quirky characters which populate the songs of Kill to Get Crimson, the new album from Mark Knopfler. Knopfler has always been a storyteller at heart. In most of his best songs, from "Sultans of Swing" off the first Dire Straits album nearly thirty years ago to the present, Knopfler sings from the perspectives of people quite different from himself. Sometimes he sings with a lot of sentimentality, other times he sings with tongue planted firmly in cheek. Kill to Get Crimson leans a bit more in the latter direction than most of his work.

Musically, Knopfler has more or less abandoned the harder rock and extended guitar solos of his now distant past for a more rustic and folksy approach that suits this batch of songs well. Kill to Get Crimson does sound different from Knopfler's recent solo work, though, in the sense that he breaks from his usual set of chord progressions. The melodies and structure of the songs on the album have a strong Celtic feel to them, to a greater degree even than on a number of songs off of his previous albums that have featured Irish instrumentation. As a result, the new album is refreshingly less predictable than its immediate predecessors.

I've often made the criticism, when discussing Mark Knopfler's solo work, that he's gotten too laid back for his own good. And yes, that still applies to Kill to Get Crimson. This album features some of Knopfler's best songwriting in a while, though, particularly on "True Love Will Never Fade" and "Secondary Waltz." The fans who've stuck around will certainly be pleased with it.

Overall grade: B+

reviewed by Scott

J. R. R. Tolkien, The Children of Húrin (Houghton Mifflin, 2007)

J.R.R. Tolkien wrote many volumes of stories about the early history of Middle Earth, of which only a fraction had been published at the time of his death in 1973. His son Christopher, now in his eighties, took control of his writings, and over the years has made much of Tolkien's left-over work available to the public. Most of the short stories concerning elves, men, and higher entities that created the world Tolkien used as the setting for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings were compiled by Christopher Tolkien and published as The Silmarillion in 1977, but a handful of stories were long enough to stand alone as novels. One of these stories, The Children of Húrin, has been edited and organized into a presentable format, and was published for the first time in 2007.

The story is set at a time when the power of the evil entity Morgoth, of whom Sauron was a servant, was in ascendancy in Middle Earth. Húrin is a powerful warrior, called into action to lead his men into a great battle against the forces of Morgoth. To say that the battle goes poorly would be a considerable understatement. Húrin survives the battle, but is taken prisoner. He defies Morgoth's torments, but Morgoth curses him by making him see the world through his eyes, including the various misfortunes that beset Húrin's family as he is kept a powerless captive.

From this point, the story focuses on Húrin's son, Túrin. Húrin's first daughter Urwen died young, and his other daughter Niënor does not play a major role until the final few chapters. Like his father, Túrin grows into a formidable warrior of no small repute, but ill fortune follows him everywhere he tries to go. His friends include both elves and humans, but invariably his relationships are twisted into something negative. His bitterest rival and nemesis is the wingless dragon Glaurung, a powerful ally of Morgoth. Glaurung causes much death and destruction to those who would be Túrin's allies, leading to a climactic encounter and the final dramatic revelations.

While Tolkien tried to emulate the heroic Nordic and Anglo-Saxon narratives with The Lord of the Rings, The Children of Húrin owes just as much to classical and Shakespearean tragedy. Pride, envy, and anger regularly affect the actions of Túrin or those around him, with the results invariably proving fatal to somebody. Even Túrin's triumphant moments prove horribly pyrrhic. The characters in this story are all more like Boromir, the good soldier whose desire for power undoes him, than the other members of the Fellowship in The Lord of the Rings whose nobility of spirit makes the defeat of Sauron possible. That Tolkien makes their endeavors less successful is a reflection of the same philosophy which underlies his famous trilogy, namely that you can't overcome great evil in a lasting and meaningful way while still allowing yourself to be influenced by its enticements.

My technical complaint with The Children of Húrin stems from the chapters being titled too explicitly. For example, the chapter called "The Death of Beleg" tells you that Túrin's dearest friend meets his end before you get to read about it. Far too much information is given away in this fashion, and given the nature of the story, any hope by the reader that an upturn in Túrin's fortunes can be sustained is squashed in advance. Otherwise, the writing is pure J. R. R. Tolkien, although you have to be the kind of fan that finds his digressions into elf-lore and the deep history of Middle Earth fascinating to appreciate this book. If you're not familiar with his writings, definitely read The Hobbit and especially The Lord of the Rings first. Tolkien fans who liked The Silmarillion will like this just as much, unless they're overly partial to the "happily ever after" kind of ending.

Overall grade: B+

reviewed by Scott

Roachford, Word of Mouth (Peppermint Jam, 2006)

Twenty years ago, English singer/songwriter/keyboardist Andrew Roachford and his band Roachford nearly changed the world. Well, the idea of combining funk and soul with aggressive hard rock was certainly a good one, and the band executed the idea flawlessly on their self-titled debut album. There was a slight obstacle in their way, though, in the form of formatted radio. The classic opening single "Cuddly Toy (Feel for Me)" turned a few heads (like mine) when the video made MTV, but it was too black for rock radio to pick it up and too rock to crack black radio. Despite favorable press and healthy sales in Europe, Roachford disappeared quickly in the United States. The buzz the band had generated wasn't even enough to get the band's second album Get Ready released in this country. The third album Permanent Shade of Blue did get a release here, but was packaged with a live EP for the price of two compact discs. So only the handful of people who remembered Roachford and still cared enough to fork over $30 for one album of new material heard the album. I suppose this was better than not getting the record released here at all, but it certainly didn't result in a whole lot of chart action. And that was the last time Roachford sold any new music in the United States.

The 1998 album Feel remains Roachford's strongest to date, but the band had begun to disintegrate. While it was always kind of blurry, the distinction between Andrew Roachford the singer and Roachford the musical entity more or less vanished at this point. Feel also marked a change in Roachford's musical direction. While containing the definitive Roachford rocker in "How Could I? (Insecurity)," the album also featured some ballads and an increased reliance on acoustic guitars. After a 2000 compilation The Roachford Files tied up the remaining loose ends, Andrew Roachford returned in 2003 with a scaled-back solo album called Heart of the Matter Vol. 1. Featuring sparse arrangements consisting almost exclusively of Roachford's vocals and keyboards plus a drum machine, this album veered strongly in the direction of contemporary R&B.

I periodically check Roachford's website to find out if something new is going on, and that's how I found out about Word of Mouth. Roachford has brought back the full band sound with a new core of backing musicians. Stylistically, there is a little bit of everything on Word of Mouth, from rock to pop to ballads to hard funk to disco to classic soul. Roachford channels influences as diverse as Marvin Gaye and George Michael, and continues his pattern of taking ideas from many sources and creating something distinct out of it. It may be tough for a given listener to like every track as a result, but Roachford can still be very, very good when he wants to be. "It's Alright" will definitely please fans of the early Roachford sound. The gospel-tinged "Tomorrow" is first-rate soul. "Work It Out" is an impassioned plea for harmony. "Pop Muzak," a collaboration with Turkish-German DJ/producer Mousse T., has a catchy chorus that compels the listener to sing along. The essential funk of "Shake It!" pretty much speaks for itself.

Andrew Roachford has been a lot of things over the course of his career, but he's never been dull. Circumstances have made it difficult to keep up with him -- hell, it would have been impossible without the Internet -- but Word of Mouth proves that he's still worth following twenty years after he first came to my attention.

Overall grade: A-

reviewed by Scott

Children of Men (2006)

Children of Men is a futuristic look at society two decades into the future. It stars Clive Owen.

This film takes place in the year 2027. Rather than things being so technologically advanced, the writers chose to have their technology circa 2010, because at that point the world fell apart- literally. The entire planet is in turmoil with anarchy prevalent everywhere except for Great Britian. “Jolly Good!” for the Brits, as theirs is the only country left. As if this wasn’t enough of a problem, on top of that, no one has been able to have a baby in almost twenty years. While the infertility specialists must be busy working on the problem, the other issue of the day is that England has been overrun with illegal aliens, called “fugees,” short for fugitives in the film.

While this is a cautionary, and apocalyptic look at mankind’s future, there is much unexplained here. Why is the world in anarchy, and the fugitives in England? What is the reason for worldwide infertility? And why is one women appearing to carry her pregnancy to term? Even at the end, I’m unsettled and wondering why raise so many questions without answers (kind of like a Senator Chucky Schumer Sunday press conference...).

While Children of Men has some intriguing visual imagery, including the futuristic cars designed to look beat up and old, the story is clearly lacking here. I feel like this movie was very half baked and too far from the mainstream to appeal to a mass audience.

Overall Grade: C

Miss Potter (2006)

Before Harry Potter was all the rage, Beatrix Potter, author of the Peter Rabbit Tales, was THE Potter. In fact, a short century ago, she was developing into the most popular children’s author of all time. In the film Miss Potter, Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor ably help recreate this fascinating tale.

Beatrix Potter (Renee Zellweger) comes from a well to do British family. Rather than getting married as society and family expected of a proper young lady, she spends her time coming up with stories and watercolor illustrations to accompany them. After selling some of her images to greeting card companies, she pitches her idea to a book publisher. The two senior brothers of the publisher push her off on their "new to the business" little brother Norman Warne (Ewan McGregor) to basically get him out of their way. What results is a series of books with worldwide sales that would make even JK Rowling proud.

The other side of the plot shows us the romance between the author and her publisher in 1902. Needless to say, the world was a much different place back then. Seeing the courtship, from a bygone era, complete with chaperon, and with letters, not phone calls and instant messages puts our current era of instant communications into a new focus. Miss Potter also touches on the author’s devotion to the Lake District of England, and its eventual preservation through her land purchases and bequests after her death.

Miss Potter is not only a delightful film, but it is also great insight into a very popular author. Renee Zellweger, with her British accent still ready to go after Bridget Jones's Diary (and its forgettable sequel), does a great job with the role. Miss Potter is a pleasant look into both this popular author, and England at the turn of the century for all ages.

Overall Grade: A-

Watherson: Carthy, Holy Heathens and the Old Green Man (Topic Records, 2006)

Norma Waterson was renowned for being part of the English family folk group The Watersons when she married guitarist Martin Carthy. Carthy had built up a large reputation in folk circles as a solo artist, in duets with legendary English fiddler Dave Swarbrick, and as a member of the folk/rock outfit Steeleye Span. (From a pop perspective, his claim to fame is that he taught Paul Simon how to play "Scarborough Fair" when Simon lived in London for a year in the early sixties.) The Watersons regrouped in 1972 after a brief hiatus with Carthy joining them, and Waterson and Carthy have been musical as well as romantic partners ever since. For the past decade, that has meant performing as the group Waterson: Carthy with their fiddling daughter Eliza Carthy and more recently with accordionist Tim van Eyken. Their latest project, called Holy Heathens and the Old Green Man, compiles secular and religious traditional English songs celebrating Christmas and the New Year. The vocal group The Devil's Interval joins Waterson: Carthy for many of the pieces, providing extra punch to some big, sing-along choruses.

Holy Heathens and the Old Green Man largely succeeds because of the fun, celebratory feel of many of the songs. While the harmonies in the group sing-a-longs could have been tighter, they do convey to the listener the sense of being at a feast in an old hall during the holiday season. None of the material would be immediately obvious to a pop music fan, although a few of the melodies are structured similarly to "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen." Martin Carthy's voice unfortunately shows some wear, but Waterson's distinctively jovial voice remains firmly intact and carries much of the album. The quieter material on the album is dominated by a pair of songs sung by Eliza, "Jack Frost" and the gospel song "Gloryland." Eliza continues to ably balance her fine solo career with her work with her parents, and shines in both contexts.

The music of Waterson: Carthy is unrepentantly traditional. Fans of old English folk songs, especially the Christmas carols, will enjoy Holy Heathens and the Old Green Man. Given how the same Christmas songs tend to get played over and over again starting earlier in November every year, whether they're any good or not, Waterson: Carthy breath some life into a wholly stagnant genre ironically by resurrecting older material that actually has some quality to it.

Overall grade: B

Richard Thompson, Sweet Warrior (Shout Factory, 2007)

Few people familiar with the music of Richard Thompson would dispute that he is not only one of rock's elite songwriters, but also one of its masters of both the acoustic and electric guitar. And yet, despite forty years of high-quality music under his belt, Thompson remains a well-kept secret. His determination to maintain a low profile has probably cost him a sizable amount of fame and fortune, but I'm sure he'd argue that it's also kept his music fresh. Thompson has kept busy well into his fifties as well, as he marks his third straight year with a new album out with his release of Sweet Warrior.

Sweet Warrior marks a return for Thompson to a full-band, electric sound after a couple of albums of mellower material. Like most Richard Thompson albums, most of the songs on Sweet Warrior revolve around love gone wrong, with some social commentary thrown into boot. Thompson doesn't normally get overtly political, but he makes an exception with the song "Dad's Gonna Kill Me," sung from the perspective of a British soldier fearing for his life in Baghdad. "Nobody loves me here," the soldier keeps repeating, conveying a convincing sense of constant despair. Musically, most of the album treads on fairly familiar ground; the lively rocker "Bad Monkey," for example, will remind long-time fans of "Tear-Stained Letter." "Francesca" provides a welcome change of pace, though, as Thompson shows he can handle a Jamaican rhythm. My favorite track is "Johnny's Far Away," in which Thompson sets a traditional-feeling song of infidelity to an edgy rock beat in a jig rhythm.

Sweet Warrior is par for the course, by Richard Thompson's standards. On one hand, this means that his fans will find plenty of songs to their liking, and plenty of cool guitar parts to try (generally without success, in my case) to figure out how to play. On the other hand, there's no real stand-out track likely to win Thompson many new fans, the way that songs like "I Feel So Good" and the classic "1952 Vincent Black Lightning" off the album Rumor and Sigh first grabbed my attention back in 1991. But if you're curious to hear what Richard Thompson sounds like, Sweet Warrior is a perfectly good place to start; just don't expect to stop there.

Overall grade: B+

Paul McCartney, Memory Almost Full (Hear Music, 2007)

While Paul McCartney's legacy and vital contributions to the music of the rock era are utterly indisputable, his recent musical offerings have mostly fallen through the cracks. In the case of his 1995 CD Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, this was particularly unfortunate. Paul didn't try to impress anybody but himself and just had fun with the music instead, and the result was one of his two or three strongest post-Beatles efforts. With his new CD Memory Almost Full, Paul is making much more of an effort to make another dent in the charts, aiming for more accessibility with the music and promoting the album more aggressively than he's promoted anything in quite some time. Regrettably, much of the new album lacks any genuine inspiration.

In many of the songs on Memory Almost Full, Paul reflects either on the distant past or on his shrinking future. In "Ever Present Past," Paul wonders where the time went. Paul continues to wax nostalgic in the three-song medley (yes, he's already been there and done that) of "Vintage Clothes," "That Was Me," and "Feet In The Clouds" but the psychedelia of the first part, the funk of the second part, and the synthesized orchestration and vocals in the third part just sound forced. He gets very sentimental in the penultimate song "The End of the End," reflecting on how he'd like his passing to be acknowledged when the time comes. I'm not sure the sentiments he expresses in this song are particularly profound, but mortality remains a subject few performers address, so he at least deserves some credit for trying.

Otherwise, nothing in Memory Almost Full really struck me as being noteworthy. It sounds like Paul is trying too hard to get people's attention, when he really has no need to.

Overall grade: C+

Porcupine Tree, Fear of a Blank Planet (Atlantic, 2007)

Porcupine Tree started out as a fictitious band, created by Steve Wilson as a joke between him and a friend. Wilson fabricated an elaborate history and discography, and recorded some songs in his basement that were attributed to the band. Ironically, the music developed enough of a following that Wilson started recording full-length albums under the Porcupine Tree name. Demand for concert dates followed, and by the end of 1993 Porcupine Tree had become a quite real quartet, of whom Wilson (guitars, keyboards, vocals), Richard Barbieri (keyboards), and Colin Edwin (bass) are still members. (Current drummer Gavin Harrison joined in 2002.) The band has devoted their career to taking the progressive "art rock" of the late sixties and early seventies and re-shaping it as something more aggressive and contemporary. They continue with this purpose on their ninth studio release, Fear of a Blank Planet.

The concept behind Fear of a Blank Planet focuses on a couple of themes that were common in the music of the nineties, namely teenage disillusionment leading to violence, and feeling empty in spite of/because of the plethora of cheap amusements that are readily available. On one hand, Wilson doesn't break any new ground here -- he basically takes Pearl Jam's "Jeremy" and puts him in a mall. However, while the problems discussed here have been overshadowed in recent years by 9/11 and the Iraq War, they have not gone away; the horrible events at Virginia Tech make that plain enough. The nineties may seem idyllic compared to now, but they really weren't, and the situation certainly hasn't changed for the better. So I certainly can't fault Wilson for drawing attention to issues that have been overlooked for too long.

Musically, Fear of a Blank Planet consists of seven extended pieces. Two clock in at just over five minutes, three run seven minutes, and the marathon piece "Anesthetize" runs seventeen minutes. Wilson and his band wear their prog influences on their sleeves, even bringing in Alex Lifeson of Rush and Robert Fripp of King Crimson for guest appearances. I found the music a bit less interesting here than on the previous Porcupine Tree albums In Absentia and Deadwing, largely because their formula hasn't really developed a whole lot. Other than a bit of orchestration, the album sounds and feels just like the other Porcupine Tree albums I have. Then again, if the worst thing you can say about a Porcupine Tree album is that it sounds like other Porcupine Tree albums, you're really not saying anything negative. Wilson writes well-structured songs, and the band is equally adept at playing carefully constructed, sophisticated pieces and at rocking very hard.

Fans of Porcupine Tree will certainly want to add Fear of a Blank Planet to their collection. While I'd more strongly recommend Deadwing than this album to people who don't know Porcupine Tree, fans of prog looking for something new or anybody interested in intelligent hard rock will find much to like in any of their CD's.

Overall grade: B

Gomez, How We Operate (ATO Records, 2006)

Gomez have now been a part of the British indie-rock scene for a full decade. They released a live album called Out West and a compilation album Five Men In a Hut since their previous studio album Split The Difference came out in 2004, before returning with new material on their 2006 release How We Operate. The new album is not quite as quirky as some of their past work, consisting largely of straightforward guitar rock. This has drawn some criticism from long-time fans, but as a recent convert I'm still impressed by the overall quality of their writing and musicality.

The band is fairly unique by today's standards in that it boasts three capable singers in Ian Ball, Tom Gray, and Ben Ottewell. All three also play guitar, with bassist Paul Blackburn and drummer Olly Peacock filling out the band's sound. Each singer contributes some good songs to How We Operate. Most of the songs deal with the ups and downs of relationships. Often this is done with some humor; Gray sings of a "Girlshapedlovedrug" that messes with his mind, while on "Cry On Demand," Ball laments getting into trouble with his girlfriend because what happened in Vegas didn't stay there. But like I said when reviewing Five Men In A Hut, Gomez reaches a different level when the husky-voiced Ottewell sings lead. This is especially true on the brilliant title song, and the hard-rocking "Tear Your Love Apart."

I've still really just scratched the surface with Gomez, but so far I've found lots to like. How We Operate suggests that the band are still at the top of their game ten years in, and that they'll likely have plenty to offer in the future.

Overall grade: A-

Gomez, "Five Men In A Hut (A's B's and Rarities, 1998-2004)" (Hut Recordings, 2006)

Gomez are a five-piece band that hails from Southport, England. Their lineup of singer/guitarists Ian Ball, Tom Gray, and Ben Ottewell, plus bassist Paul Blackburn and drummer Olly Peacock, has remained constant since the band's inception in 1996. The band has a very quirky, eclectic sound, bouncing from indie rock to folk to psychedelic to electronic. Having only heard a couple of their songs, I figured their compilation two-CD set Five Men in a Hut (A's B's and Rarities: 1998-2004) would serve as a good introduction to the band.

While I'm not completely certain in hindsight that Five Men In A Hut is the best place to start with Gomez, I was certainly intrigued with what I heard. Gomez combines a strong sense of melody with lyrics of considerable depth and a healthy dose of whimsy. They're also extraordinarily rare among current rock bands in that they have three capable singers. While I think Ottewell's husky tenor clearly overshadows the other two, the contrasting voices and the personalities behind them provided enough diversity to sustain my interest through most of the two and a half hours of music on this album.

There were plenty of highlights for me. "Ping One Down" is catchy, upbeat electronica, and "Sweet Virginia" is a lightly orchestrated extended waltz with a very singable chorus. The most remarkable song on the album is "We Haven't Turned Around," a song about a person who wants to control everything regardless of the consequences. The song was recorded, curiously, in 1999; if it had been done in 2003 or later, it would be easy to make a guess about whom the song was written about. (And if that's not creepy enough, the video was shot in the immediate vicinity of what would become Ground Zero.) Predictably, I guess, the songs I most liked tuned out to be the "A's," or their singles. Only about a third of the songs on Five Men in a Hut appeared on the previous studio albums. While the remainder of this collection reflects the band's experimental and goofy side -- for example, the highly ironic "Dire Tribe" is a silly romp about trying all sorts of pharmaceuticals, legal and otherwise -- there are reasons why some of the "Rarities" are rare.

So while I'd strongly recommend checking Gomez out, I'm not sure yet if you'd be best served starting with Five Men In A Hut or one of their regular albums. I'm going to be moving on to their latest studio album How We Operate, from last year, as I already know two or three songs from the others because of Five Men in a Hut.

Overall grade: B+

J. J. Cale and Eric Clapton, The Road To Escondido (Reprise, 2006)

Eric Clapton's fondness for the songs of JJ Cale has been evident ever since Clapton covered Cale's "After Midnight" on his 1970 debut solo LP. Cale, a Tulsa native, has been playing his distinctively laid-back, bluesy rock since the sixties. While he owes most of his following to Clapton covering "After Midnight" and then later "Cocaine," his approach and general sound influenced the early recordings of Dire Straits even more so than Clapton. At this stage in his long career, Clapton seems to be taking the time to perform with some of his idols and influences whom he hadn't sat down enough with in the past. He made a pretty good collaborative album with B. B. King, called Riding with the King, which came out in 2000. Now Clapton has gotten together with Cale for a new studio album, called The Road to Escondido.

While I mostly liked Riding with the King, I felt that Clapton seemed so determined not to dominate the proceedings that he didn't take the spotlight enough, especially with his guitar playing. A very similar criticism can be made here of The Road to Escondido. Most of the songs on this album are written by Cale, and consequently most of the album reflects Cale's style more than Clapton's. Clapton largely follows Cale's lead here, to the point where it's very hard to tell at points who is singing lead and who is doing which guitar solo. Even on some of the album's strong tracks like the opening song "Danger," it's not clear what Clapton brings to the song that Cale couldn't have done himself.

Having said that, The Road to Escondido has plenty of good moments, including "Danger" and the sing-along closer "Ride the River." Fans of laid back, front porch blues will like the record, although I'd still recommend Dion's 2006 CD Bronx in Blue to them more enthusiastically. Ironically, the album works to the extent that it does on the strengths of J. J. Cale more than Eric Clapton. The album could only have benefited if Clapton had asserted himself a bit more.

Overall grade: B-

The Rolling Stones: Truth And Lies (Eagle Media, 2006)

The Rolling Stones: Truth and Lies, an alleged documentary covering the history of one of the world's most celebrated rock bands, does not contain a single second of The Rolling Stones' music.

There. Now that I've said everything you really need to know about the DVD, the only people still reading this review are those with enough morbid curiosity to wonder just how bad it could get. Obviously the producers did not have the participation or cooperation of the band; on the bright side, I guess that means that Mick and the lads can't be blamed for this debacle. Instead, The Rolling Stones: Truth and Lies relies on news reels concerning the band, plus stock footage that generally has nothing to do with The Rolling Stones. Commentary is provided by David Hepworth, Chris Welch, Pamela Church Gibson, and Paul Gambaccini. The commentators try their best to place the Stones' music and image in a cultural and historical context, but given no actual performance footage to support them, their statements feel hollow. Outside of the commentary, most of the documentary revolves around the various times the Stones made the news. The narration is completely unimaginative; when not discussing a particular wedding or drug bust, the narrator dryly mentions the chart placing of each album, without going into any depth about the music contained therein. The DVD also tries to adhere rigidly to a year-by-year chronology -- except when an awkward edit jumps the story several years ahead in the blink of an eye. There were several of these that I could pick out on just one viewing, but the most embarrassing of these was the abrupt jump from the middle of 1964 to the release of the album Aftermath in 1966. In case you didn't know, "Satisfaction" came out in 1965.

The only moment of insight comes from Gambaccini recalling an encounter he had with Mick Taylor, who replaced Brian Jones as the Stones' second guitarist in 1969 and left the band in 1974, to be replaced by Ronnie Wood. Standing by himself outside a concert hall after a show while the rest of the band partied inside, Taylor lamented to Gambaccini that partying just wasn't his scene. One of England's top young blues guitarists when he joined the band, Taylor was an excellent fit musically for the band and made significant contributions to some of the Stones' best music. He was just too low key to stick around long, though, and Gambaccini's description of Taylor provides depth and even evokes sympathy for the band's most overlooked member.

Otherwise, The Rolling Stones: Truth and Lies has nothing to offer anybody already familiar with the band's story. People curious about The Rolling Stones would be better served by searching out 25x5, a documentary I saw on PBS a few years back which did have the band's active involvement. Of course, you could always just let the music speak for itself. That would certainly be better than sitting through a documentary in which the music doesn't speak at all.

Overall grade: D-

Reprinted with permission from The Green Man Review
Copyright 2007 The Green Man Review

Atomic Rooster - Devil's Answer (1995)

The liner notes for this collection of Atomic Rooster tracks namecheck Vivian Stanshell (Bonzo Dog Band) and Bob Calvert (Hawkwind), although not for musical similarity but rather because Vincent Crane, the driving force behind the band also spent time in and out of sanitoria for a variety of mental health issues. Musically, Atomic Rooster has little in common with either the Bonzos or Hawkwind, but, as these tracks show, it has a lot to recommend it.

Crane and another founding Rooster, Carl Palmer (later of Emerson, Lake and Palmer) were both in The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, where Crane's work can be heard on the hit "Fire", before forming Atomic Rooster. Crane was an organ maestro and did much of the songwriting, as well as handling vocal chores. With a drummer and a guitar player (and sometimes a vocalist) to round out the lineup, they produced some dense, jazzy but very heavy music. The sound bears similarities to other organ driven heavy bands of the time, notably Uriah Heep.

The tracks on this collection were recorded between 1970 and 1981 for various BBC radio programs, so they differ from the album tracks, but are not "live" tracks in the conventional sense. And some of them are very good indeed. The hit single, "Devil's Answer" is still a powerful rocker, and the dark lyrical sensibility of "Save Me" and "Seven Lonely Streets" are haunting, packing a visceral blast of nihilism into a heavy bass groove (played by Crane's left hand) and soaring interweaving guitar and organ solos.

Fans of the seventies organ jam sound will certainly enjoy this CD, as will fans of early heavy rock - Atomic Rooster would not look out of place sitting on a shelf next to Blue Cheer, Budgie or perhaps even Vanilla Fudge.

Overall Grade: B

The Beatles, Love (Apple, 2006)

George Harrison and Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté were close friends, stemming from their mutual interest in motor racing. At some point they discussed the possibility of putting on a Cirque du Soleil production choreographed to the music of The Beatles, beginning the process that eventually led to the premiere of the show Love in June 2006 at the Mirage in Las Vegas. Dominic Champagne was brought in to direct the show, and naturally, Beatles' producer George Martin was asked to oversee the music. Told to assemble an hour and a half of sounds from whatever Beatles recordings he felt were appropriate, and encouraged to be as experimental as he could, Martin recruited his son Giles to help him dive through the most legendary, important, and valuable master recordings on the planet and create the right combination of songs -- or the right combination of combinations of songs -- to fit the stage show. As Giles Martin describes in the liner notes to the soundtrack CD of Love, it felt at times like he was "painting a moustache on the Mona Lisa."

Love consists of 26 tracks, all altered in some way from the original recordings. Some songs are simply remixed, some have either the vocal or the instrumental tracks isolated, and some are sped up or slowed down to tie in with other recordings. The only new recording is an orchestral arrangement scored by George Martin to accompany the acoustic demo version of George Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" that was first released on The Beatles Anthology Vol. 3. A few of the alterations are particularly inspired, most notably the combination of George's vocal on "Within You Without You" with Ringo's drum track on "Tomorrow Never Knows," and the guitar track on "Blackbird" slowed down to lead perfectly into "Yesterday." Unfortunately, no video footage of the actual show is included, making it difficult to place the songs in any sort of context.

Is Love an essential addition to the Beatles' canon? No, not really. Like the Anthology sets, it provides some insights into how The Beatles worked in the studio. The different takes on the originally released material will generate considerable interest among the band's fans, especially the many completists who have to have everything, and should meet with the general approval of most of them. But like the Anthology sets, the novelty and curiosity will wear off after a few listens. Love has some fun moments, but I'm still going to go back to the original albums when I need a Beatles fix.

Overall grade: B

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