Les Sewing Sisters' new album will be released on July 23rd and we will do our live streaming show on July 30th!
Bill Drummond is a Scottish Jack-of-all-trades, which means he's a writer, A&R at Warner Brothers Records, conceptional artist, record producer, manager & producer of Echo & the Bunnymen, and a member of KLF. Recently he is on a world tour where he will produce 25 paintings by the year 2025. Oh, and he also made a solo album, "The Man" in 1989.
For someone who has almost a DADA-like approach to art and business, making this album comes as a surprise. 12 extremely well-crafted and produced songs that have a country-leaning but something twisted-like in its performance. A strong Scottish accent, at times it reminds me of Bob Dylan's "Nashville Skyline," only that it is suspicious that such an out-there artist like Dylan would make a 'straight' country album in Nashville. With songs like "Julian Cope is Dead," one suspects a tongue deep in the cheek, but on the other hand, it is a gorgeous album. A trebly solid electric guitar and lovely steel guitar throughout the album make it both a toe-tapper as well as a profound listening experience.
The front and back of the album cover are so dull that one has to make it into an artistic statement of some sort. Still, the performance and the quality of the songs are remarkable. They can be looked at as some kind of 'art performance.' Still, I think in actuality, they are very straightforward works of beautiful melodies and, of course, being Drummond, understanding what makes a pop song work. For sure, an essential album to have in one's collection of crazed rock n' roll managers, such as Joe Meek and Malcolm McLaren (who one can make comparisons with Drummond). If you see this album in the bins, get it.
I like it but don't love Jefferson Airplane. I'm very fond of vital voices within the band, mostly Marty Balin with a side dish of Grace Slick. Their 1969 album, "Volunteers," is the Hippie Revolution's height, and I like it for that reason. Although I do have to say that there is also another voice on this album that I adore. It's Nicky Hopkins piano playing throughout the record. It's an interesting road that leads Nicky from being the piano player of the British Invasion to the heart of the San Francisco Hippie scene. His playing is lyrical, and at times I just listen to his keyboard work and not listen to the rest of the music. Which is an odd thing to do, but the joy of hearing the piano among the guitars, drums, and voices is really the essential part of the music.
"Hey Fredrick" is Grace magic. Her voice soars, the guitars (Paul Kanter and especially Kaukonen) twang with intensity, jazzy bass by Jack Cassidy, and Nicky's piano underpin the music as like adding salted butter to a slice of warm french bread. Eight minutes or so of bliss. The great thing about the Airplane is that they have the folk music aesthetic as a foundation, but it can lead to free-form jazzy rock with no fear of falling off the ledge. So yes, I don't love everything they do, but when they hit the spot, it's a bullseye.
PAUL JONES - COME INTO MY MUSIC BOX, 1969 (COLUMBIA)
There are so many great singers from the British Invasion era, but my favorite voice from those times is Paul Jones. Brian Jones had the good taste to think of Paul being the vocalist before approaching Mick Jagger for the Rolling Stones. Instead, Paul Jones ended up being the lead singer in the band, Manfred Mann. His work with that band is exceptional. The Manns were unique because they were basically Jazz musicians who did pop but thought out their arrangements in the school of jazz or rhythm n' blues. They did the best cover versions of Bob Dylan's music as well. The band could be crass in their commercial taste, but always with the sophistication of a master musician. At the height of the swinging 60s, Jones left Manfred Mann to become an actor and solo artist. Although his solo career has its peaks and lows, the one thing that never failed him was his voice. He can sing the alphabet, and he would bring out the complexities of joy, despair, and love within the letters. If one has to choose his best solo work, it would be 1969's "Come Into My Music Box."
The album title is a very descriptive approach to the music on this record. We have everything from "Aquarius" (from the ultimate 60s musical "Hair") to The Band's "The Weight." It is like Jones wanted to express all his love on one LP. The album, in a manner, is a compilation, due that are five separate producers (John Burgess Norman Newell, Peter Asher, Mort Shuman, and Paul Jones), including Tony Visconti making the arrangement and conducting on the song "Pick Up In The Morning." Listening to this 52-year old album, it is clearly a record to define the end of the 1960s.
Paul Jones's solo either had a blues obsession, but he can also portray himself as a West End musical singer. "I'm Here To Nudge Your Mind" and "Aquarius" come off as a groovy version of the mainstream world of theater. There are traces of early Bowie, which suggests that David followed Paul Jones's presence in the pop world. By chance or design, Paul covers my two favorite songs from the 60s. Donovan's "Celeste" and Procol Harum's "Homburg." "Celeste" suits Jones's voice, and he does take a Donovan baroque Folkie song into a theatrical song piece. "Hamburg" in Paul's world becomes a baroque psychedelic pop masterpiece. Using filters on the vocals can be seen as overkill. Still, it is powerfully effective when it kicks into his voice with echo.
"Come Into My Music Box" is very much a variety show set on the LP format. It's a series of puzzles that fits perfectly together. In theory, this could have been a disaster. Still, the choice of songs and the genius of Paul Jones's approach to his material is a superb listening experience.
In a crazed lockdown period in my life (and ongoing, of course), I randomly found Declan McKenna's album "Zero" on the streaming station, as well as seeing his video of his song "Beautiful Faces." Everything is shit, yet hearing a proto-type glam artist in 2020 brought me hope and salvation. What more can we ask from music or an artist?
Not knowing anything about McKenna, I was drawn to what to me is, a suburbian glam rock style that has traces of classic Blur thrown in the mix. McKenna and company recorded in Nashville, and it is probably the most unlikely Nashville album ever made. Keep in mind, I'm a Californian, so anything outside the state is a bit of a mystery to me. Every song on "Zero" has a catchy hook and a beautiful build-up to the chorus. If there were still hit singles being made and processed through the music business, then "Beautiful Faces" would be that song. Instantly aware that is a classic song in the lines of Mott and Bowie's "All The Young Dudes." As I write, the earworm chorus is stuck in my brain, and I feel it won't leave me until sudden death.
The rest of the album is as strong as "Beautiful Faces," especially after repeated listens. I rarely fall in love with a contemporary pop sound, and maybe this is a retro-world. Nevertheless, Declan McKenna is an artist that can go anywhere from this on with "Zero."
I'm looking forward to the adventure, but meanwhile, I'm going to play this album a few times a day, for nothing else but to see the world in a better and bright light.
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