A Presonal Trawl Through The Music Year

›› Blog Of The Year 2009

›› On This Page 2006 | 2007

2008: Working On A Cocktail Called…….Credit crunch blues…

As the year went on, every time I walked into a high street CD retailer I got more and more depressed. By October the main 'high street' players Zavvi & HMV had reduced their rack space for CD’s to about 10 – 15 %. (As I write this, I read in The Times that Zavvi are in the financial shit! – just gone to publish this and they are now in administration) I know it’s all about sales and profit but surly if you are not supplying the required goods, you can’t sell them. I might not have the biggest private collection of CD’s but it is fairly large. But now it seems I have a larger selection than most of the high street re sellers.

It seems people of my generation and a couple past have wanted to own a physical copy of the music. In the last few years people have grown up without this need. Personally the thought of just having a track to listen to on a phone seems just ridiculous and expensive. But I suspect the greedy record companies, this is just what they want. Download a track - loose it - download it again! I accept things move on and there are people out there still nostalgic for the wax cylinder days! But their must be a market for a dedicated high street music re seller? On a recent trip to the new Westfield Centre in London (the biggest in London) I was surprised to find only ONE shop, a not so big HMV, with less than 25% floor space dedicated to CD's. Yet there were row upon row of shops selling phones & shoes. Seems the general public would rather brows for shoes & phones than brows the CD racks! People are prepared to spend their disposable cash on these relatively expensive items but not £5 on a music CD's! The up and coming generations obviously don’t want physical copies of music, compounded with competition from DVD's, games, camera phones that take rubbish photos and even worse videos of people falling off skate boards - see You Tube – more of that later… But on the optimistic side, I would like to think that in a few years when the recession has passed, someone will spot a gap in the market and return the CD racks to the high street.

The remaining Fopp outlets are still well worth a visit. On a couple of occasions this year managed to pick up The Kinks (Sanctuary) back catalogue for £3.00 ea and on another occasion, The Yello, Cat Power & The Magnetic Fields back cat for £5.00 ea.

Live Events 2008

1st gig of the year for me was the NME Big Gig at the O2. The sound was just like listening to your hi fi at full volume from the house next door. This may have been due to the fact that we had some of the ‘exclusive’ pre release seats – at 90 degrees to the stage 150 foot from the ground! BUT that aside The Cribs were still over rated live – even with the help of the wonderful Johnny Marr. It’s the third time I’ve seen them and I feel they are still better on CD. The Klaxons, Bloc Party, Kaiser Chiefs & Manic Street Preachers made the event well worth while. Ricky Wilson still managed to find his way through the crowd to the sound mixing desk mid set. Bloc Party sounded more like The Klaxons on Flux. The Manics arrived on stage accompanied by a 12 piece Scottish pipe band, Tom from the Enemy helped the Manics out on You Love Us & Cerys Mathews helped out on Your Love Alone Is Not Enough. The biggest surprise was their interpretation of Rianna’s Umbrella!

Rubbish phone camera pics by James White

Before the gig we managed to gate crash the red carpet for the awards that took place before hand – more by chance than planning! Managed to shout some abuse at Mani & Bobby Gillespie, Kate Nash, Lightspeed Champion, Billy Bragg, Various Klaxons, Ricky & Peanut from the Kaisers & The Cribs & Johnny Marr. Of course all the pictures taken were as blurry as …… camera phones ehaaa… they could have a billion megapixels and the pics would still look crap. Thinking of starting a web site www.blurrypicsofpopstarsandcelebs.com Has anybody ever seen a good picture taken on one?

A rainy Saturday night in March saw the last date of the European leg of Neil Young’s Chrome Dreams tour at Hammersmith Apollo. Only seen him once before back in 2003 on the Greendale tour. Then he played solo for 2 ½ hours mostly new material from the soon to be released Greendale album. The latest tour again comprised of 2 sets. The 1st solo acoustic and a 2nd set with his band. But this time was mostly a ‘Greatest hits’ set plus the few unrecorded songs which he’s been playing live for a number of years and 3 from the current Chrome Dreams 2 album. I never thought I would ever see him play Na na hey hey (into the black) live. The place erupted!

The stage was filled with retro equipment – lighting and amps plus Eric Johnson painting at an easel behind the band. This was one of my top 10 gigs ever.

A week later, what is becoming a regular pilgrimage to Oxford to see Van Morrison. Just a one off gig to promote Keep It Simple. Too many songs off the new album in one sitting, but still a great gig.

A long gap before the next gig at the end of August. R.E.M. at Twickenham RFU Stadium. Don’t know how we did it but it was the only sunny day of the summer! First up the Guillemots. Familiar with most of their material so it was good to see them live at last – even if it was from about a quarter of a mile away. Next up The Editors (Ian Curtis backed by Hank Marvin on helium) The second time I’d seen them and still enjoy them. I seem to be one of the few people that liked their last album. Then the Mighty R.E.M. – been waiting nearly 20 years to see them live. They did not disappoint. A set of 28 songs from most of their albums. A large chunk of Accelerate plus a lot of the familiar hits.




The ghost Of Fran Heeley

Then came October – gigs galore! The 1st sat in that month the rain was coming down horizontally as we lined up to get into the Pyramid centre in Portsmouth to see Travis. Managed to get a pitch against the crush bar at the front – not a band where crowd surfing is a common occurrence – still managed to get some very blurry pics of Fran and the band! Promoting Ode To J. Smith, one of the highlights was Fran & Andy’s cover of I Kissed A Girl. (see You tube)

Next gig was meant to be the following Monday - The Hold Steady again at the Pyramid – but they postponed – more later.

So the following Saturday – to the Roundhouse in London for Elbow – Guy Garvey is not only one of the best writers but one of the best front men around at the moment. This gig sold out before they won the Mercury prize. Managed to again lean against the front crush bar and managed to get more blurry pics! The set was mainly culled from The seldom seen Kid – surprisingly nothing from Cast Of Thousands. Accompanied by a string quartet the main set ended with a superb version of One Day Like This.

The following Thursday to Wembley Arena for the London return of Oasis. Despite it’s recent refurbishment compared to the O2 it’s a bit dated. Noel Gallagher said after seeing Led Zeppelin at the O2 he won’t play there as it is too corporate! – Strange, the day of the gig they announced a gig at Wembley stadium for summer 2009 – probably the most corporate venue in the UK!

Of all the bands I have seen over the last 38 years they definitely have the most boisterous fans. This is the second time I have seen them live – the first time in 2005 at the Southampton Rose Bowl – The seats on the side of the arena were never used for sitting on and a majority of the crowd sang every lyric from every song drowning out Liam’s voice. Beer – hopefully not urine – rained over everybody’s heads at regular intervals! It was an enjoyable event if it wasn’t my favourite of the year.

Funny how preconceptions can cloud your judgment. At the beginning of the year the name Vampire Weekend kept cropping up in the music press. I kept thinking to my self -Do I really want to listen to a goth metal band? How wrong can you be! The lazy way to explain their sound is Paul Simons’ Gracelands. But don’t let that put you off if you still have to discover them for yourself.

The next October gig was at the Forum in London for the sell out residency of Vampire Weekend. With only one albums worth of material to play it was never going to be a long set. From the minute they hit the stage the crowd were right behind them – singing along and responding to Ezra Koenig’s requests for participation. Joined for 3 songs by a string quartet, the set was over in a little over an hour – even allowing for 3 new songs and a Fleetwood Mac cover, but what quality, leaving the audience wanting more.
 
Postponed from October the rescheduled tour from The Hold Steady reached the Portsmouth Wedgwood rooms on 14th December. A Great gig, the only mistake was by my gang standing at the front in the middle. Could not hear the vocals due to being behind the PA speakers! But the very animated Craig Finn made up for this oversight with a performance of such energy it was hardly noticeable. They hit the stage as if they were a coiled spring that had just been released. The 20 song set was taken mostly from their last two albums. Hopefully will be able to get to see them again soon.


    

Photos courtesy of James White's phone camera

Last gig of the year it was back to the O2 and risk vertigo and nose bleeds for the final night of Wayne Rooney’s best mates, The Stereophonics tour. A greatest hits show plus a few well known album tracks. A good fun gig which ended with my favourite Dekota.

 
Albums for the year.

Vampire Weekend - was released at the beginning of the year and therefore was probably played the most.
Mystery Jets, Twenty One – Largley overlooked but produced 3 of the best pop singles of the year, Young Love, Half In Love With Elizabeth & Two Doors Down.
Late Of The Pier – Fantasy Black Channel.
The Hold Steady – Stay Positive.
Black Kids – Partie Traumatic.
R.E.M. – Accelerate.
Bon Iver – For Emma Forever Ago
Lightspeed Champion – Falling Off The Lavender Bridge.
Santogold - Santogold
Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid – Deserved Mercury prize winner
The Last Shadow Puppets – The Age Of The Understatement
Neon Neon – Stainless Style
Glasvegas – Glasvegas/ A Snowflake Fell…– The proclaimers vs. Jesus & Mary chain
TV On The Radio – Dear Science
Bloc Party – Intimacy
Paul Weller – 22 Dreams
The Fireman – Electric Arguments – Without a doubt the best McCartney album since…Band on the run..Let it be…

Great Albums Completely Overlooked Demanding Attention!


Kathry Williams & Neil MacColl - Two
Grace Jones – Hurricane – OK so we had to wait nearly 20 years 3 years longer than Guns & Roses!
Weezer – Weezer (Red)
Leila – Blood Looms & Blooms
Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – Cardinology
We Are Scientists – Brain Thrust Mastery
Pete & The Pirates – Little Death
Chris Difford – The Last Temptation Of Chris
Elvis Costello – Momofuku - In April’s issue of Word magazine he underlines the fact that there is no new material due for immanent release (see 2007 below) – on May 5th Momofuku appears! His most rocking and accessible album since When I was cruel and probably the most played by me of his resent output. Recorded in California in Jan Feb 2008 – so what was the big secret? The only printed review I read wasn’t until the October’s issue of Uncut. – they gave it 4/5.

Reissues.


Nick Lowe’s Jesus of cool and Dennis Wilson’s Pacific Ocean Blue were 2 of the most missed albums to finally get a welcome re issue on CD. Both sound as contempory as anything recorded this year.
The Clash – Live At Shea Stadium
Buzzcocks – A Different Kind Of Tension
The Groundhogs – Hogwash
Neil Young – Sugar Mountain
Paul Weller – At The BBC

Stand Out Tracks Of The Year

Glasvegas – Geraldine, Daddy’s Gone
Elbow – Grounds For Divorce, One Day Like This
Elvis Costello – No Hiding Place
R.E.M. – Supernatural Superserious, I’m Gonna DJ
The Courteeners – Not 19 Forever
Vampire Weekend – Oxford Comma, Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa, A - Punk
Ryan Adams – Born into a light
Chairlift - Bruses

Albums that didn’t quiet reach the parts…

Oasis – Dig Out Your Soul
The Fratellis – Here We Stand
Get Cape Wear Cape Fly
Kaiser Chiefs – Off With Their Heads

A bit of light reading?

Never seem to get much time for reading books, too many distractions at home. Only when on a ‘beach’ holidays. This year managed to get through Paul Weller – The Changing Man, By Paolo Hewitt, a balanced portrayal that caused a rift between the writer and artist. Highlighting many of his less well known songs accompanied by sketches of what was occurring in Weller’s life at the time. Complicated Shadow (Elvis Costello) Graham Thompson. Probably dismissed by Elvis as a complete work of fiction but some of the gigs of his that I have attended over the years were covered so it can not be all fiction! Hammer of the Gods (Led Zeppelin) Stephen Davis. Best line ‘Let our red snapper see your red snapper’ Best story, the one where Bonzo meets Elvis. - & Ronnie – Ronnie Wood, already outdated – if you have been following is story in the UK tabloids this year!

Already lined up for next year – Mass unemployment, Paul Weller at the O2, Deflation, Morrissey at Brixton Academy & Franz Ferdinand at Hammersmith Apollo. Albums – if they are still able to buy them – from: Franz Ferdinand, Morrissey, Bon Iver, Antony & The Johnsons, U2, Lisa Hannigan, The Prodigy, Secret Machines, Lilly Allen, Arctic Monkeys, Kasabian, klaxons, The View, Bruce Springsteen, Howling Bells, Gorillaz…and possibly, Super Furry Animals & Teenage Fanclub….’till next year…..

Julian White ©1995 - 2009

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2007 - The Good The Bad & The Health & Safty!

The gallows album – Orchestra of wolves is not something I listen to on a daily basis. I find this genre of rock music (‘shouty rock’ as I have baptised it) has a similar affect on me to red wine. Although I like the smell and taste of red wine it just gives me a blinding headache! Gallows - just listening to it - gives me a sour throat! Put Enter Shakari in that category as well. Oh and another thing – doesn’t matter how many tats Frank Carter (coolest person of the year according to the NME cool list) gets, there is no disguising the fact the he is still ginger!

One of the best musical events that did not include music for me was …while on holiday in Antigua flew over to Montserrat for a day in a 12 seat “transit”. Interesting and depressing place. The volcano is still erupting and the remains of the population can only live in the top third of the island. 100’s of very expensive houses just deserted on the edge of the exclusion zone. Saw the deserted Air Studios and Sir George Martins deserted house. He is still raising money for the locals through charity auctions etc.. Here is the point of the story….. Just got back to the tiny airport and checked in for the flight back to Antigua – who walks in…. Sir George and Giles Martin. They had been there to open a new Centre and museum that he had raised the funds for. What can you say to a living legend? All Bev noticed was the huge diamond in Sir Georges wife’s’ engagement ring! All I could think of saying to Giles was – what the fuck were you thinking of with Kula Shaker!

Surprise best gigs of the year – Prince at the O2. Just before the gig one of those little incidents that make life worth while… At the official merchandise stand saw an album that I had herd of but never seen - N.E.W.S - Great, I’ll get a copy – ‘Copy of N.E.W.S please’ – “Sorry can’t sell you a copy until after the gig” – mmmm must be some sort of copyright embargo or something… “Health & Safety mate” …. ‘Errr.. OK … elaborate’ – “Well the CD could be snapped and used as a weapon” ‘What a way to go – stabbed to death by a prince CD!’ … The story gets better – upon entry to the arena guess what – you get presented with the new Prince CD Planet Earth! ‘What about health & safety?’ I tell him. The guy handing out the CD’s looks confused, I look confused.. Still managed to get a copy of N.E.W.S at another stall!

I’m surprised because of health & safety, seat belts aren’t required for the seats we had! Must have been 60 feet up with a 40 degree slope. The people in front of us could stand up and we still had a good view! The stage was in the centre of the arena, so no one had a bad view. I last saw him in 1988 on the Lovesexy tour at Wembley Arena. It was a similar set up to that. The sound was OK but the gig was probably one of the best arena gigs I’ve been to. He teased the crowd by starting songs – waited for the cheer of approval and then stopped – ‘You don’t wanna hear that one – I have so many hits’ then started another song and did the same again! He did manage to do a few all the way through! Biggest omission was the latest single Guitar. Best songs Strange Relationship, Take Me with U & It Always Snows in April.

A week later I was back at the O2 to see the final gig of the Bigger Bang tour by the Rolling Stones. The Enemy opened up. I was familiar with all the songs they did as they have made one of the albums of the year. Ironically they have sold more copies of their debut than the Stones have of their last album in the UK. However about 17000 of the 21000 audience never saw them! Deciding to stay in the bars – or probably the average age of a Stones fan being a little older than an Enemy fan, taking longer than expected to climb the 100’s of stairs to their seats! Best Stones song of the night – I Can Hear You Knocking.

Another great gig – Ryan Adams at the Hammersmith Apollo in November. Played for two and a half hours running through tracks from most of his back catalogue. Not saying much for the first two thirds of the show between tracks, he suddenly burst into banter and you can’t seem to shut him up! Even from the back row of the balcony he makes the place seem like a small club.

One week in July and bit of gig frenzy for me and Bev. Elvis Costello/Allan Tousaint at the Tower of London. Costello seemed to be suffering from some sort of respiratory problem sighting the ‘hot air’ being emitted from the Live Earth gig at Wembly a few miles away at the same time for this condition. Hopefully this was not his last gig in the UK (see below).

Damian Rice in Reading and Guilfest at the following week end. The Hold Steady’s set and Dub Pistols featuring Terry Hall & Lynval Golding doing Gangsters were among the highlights of Guilfest for me. Also good value, Toots and the Maytals, Jimmy Cliff & The Magic Numbers. Squeeze were a little disappointing due to Glenn Tilbrook suffering from a throat infection. But Chris Difford managed to keep his songs sweet.

           

Guilfest Photos.

Other great gigs of the year – The Killers at Brighton Centre, Loudon Wainwright III at The Dome, Manic Street Preachers, Travis & Damien Rice In Reading, Van Morrison in Oxford, Super Furry Animals in Southampton & The Who at Wembly Arena.
Last gig of the year for me..Kaiser Chiefs at the Brighton Centre - Really good. They remind me of Early Faces. Good time Rock 'n' Roll band - no political agenda - no silly attitude - just good tunes with a large element of fun - sadly lacking in too many bands today.

Elvis Dead?

Talking of Elvis – (One of my all time favourite artists) In December’s Mojo he says he has no plans or interest to play the UK again. Sighting a bad Glastonbury in 2005 & a bad experience at the BBC in 2006. He also says he has no further plans to issue any more albums! I hope this is not true. I can understand his frustration at record companies – (see the full article). He seems to dislike MP3’s – as I do – (although he says he has 18000 songs on his iPod - 3000 more than me!) but surly releasing and selling CD’s via web sites and at gigs – although not in the UK - independently must be the way forward for him? What about Starbucks?? Hopefully it’s just a middle age strop and by this time next year hell will have forgotten all about it – maybe!



Was this the last sighting of Elvis on a British stage?

Once again the Technics/Murcury prize was a catalogue of missed opportunities. The Hours, The Good The Bad & The Queen, Gruff Rhys, Jarvis Cocker, The Fratellis, Manic Street Preachers & Biffy Clyro all must have slipped the minds of the selection panel! At least The Klaxons came through to win!

So how much did you pay for the Radiohead album? How much do you know how to pay before you hear it? Do you judge by their track record? I figure you must start from the price you would expect to pay in your local supermarket - £9.75. Subtract the average markup that resellers make, say 25%. Subtract the distribution cost 5%, Then the manufacturing cost, 10%, The marketing cost 15% the record company profit, 15%. So £2.85 then! Sounds about right for a rubbish quality mp3 download album. OK so how much did I actually pay ..£40.00 for the box set – yeah they saw me coming!
 
Don't Stop The Press 2

Build ‘em up to knock ‘em down – the music press have been doing this for 40 years plus. But the cycle seems to have speeded up. As I mentioned last year the cycle for new bands has gone into overdrive. This seems to be a further extension of that cycle. Back in the late 60’s early ‘70’s the music press would at least let a band get the 2nd album out. This year The NME had Jack Peňate, The Twang, to name but 2 – as cover stars - before they even had albums out. The debut came out and…. crash! OK they might have been causing a big noise live - but come on – lets get the 1st album out to get a full picture of a new artist before they are crucified!
 
Seems the NME can not let it lie - Re ignited it's feud with Morrissey. I'm fully behind Morrissey on this one - as were most of the correspondents the following week in NME. I don't know the man and all I can do is read and hear the interviews he gives and listen to the records. I read the interview By Tim Jones and I feel he saw a chance to make a name for himself and stitched Mozzer up. Bet when Jones was studying for his degree (Media studies & binge drinking - I guess) he would never make a splash as big as this - TWAT.

(Seems this story will run for a while - After the NME printed the interview, Morrissey started proceedings to sue the paper for defamation of character. Also according the The Times Friday 7th March 2008 while running an article about the imminent demise of the printed version of the NME, it was claimed - on the Morrissey Blog - The NME decided to take revenge on Morrissey for refusing to headline the Big Gig at the O2 on Feb 28th 2008 - Headlined by The Manic Street Preachers)

Obituary:

Although we had only been friends for a couple of years, Fopp was into his 27th year. Born in Scotland in 1981 and moving to England in the last few years, Fopp OD’d on Music Zone and was laid to rest in HMV. Fopp leaves 7 offspring In Edinburgh, Glasgow (2 Locations), Manchester, Nottingham, Cambridge & London.

I have managed to make a couple of visits to the re opened London branch, thankfully it is still the same. (a large selection of back catalogue at £1, £3 & £5). Hopefully more branches may re open at some stage.

Where to buy CD’s other than the usual top 40 that the supermarkets, Virgin (now Zavvi) and HMV have to offer? All they want to do now is sell rubbish mobile phones, games console's, cheap MP3 players & novelty DVD box sets!! So, I use Amazon Market Place. One of the Market place vendors, Caiman seems one of the best. Out of the 40 – 50 purchases I’ve made this year from them, all have been top rate. Good prices and international delivery within 10 days! Not as convenient as Fopp though!

The other places I’ve re discovered are a few second hand shops. Mainly Ben’s Collectibles in Guildford and Rock Box in Camberley. Good selections of second hand CD’s from £3 to £5.

The only other cheap place I discovered but not recommended was Thailand. Went there for a couple of weeks in December. I Couldn’t believe the scale of piracy for CD’s DVD’s. I only spotted the usual top 40 artists albums for sale. Price about £1.00. The only good thing is that it is denying the likes of The Eagles & James Blunt from amassing even larger fortunes! Oh, by the way – if you get caught bringing them back to the UK, Customs can confiscate them!

Gadgit of the year – no contest the iPod iTouch – not the rip off iPhone. Can’t wait for the 160 Gb version in about 2 years time!

 
Albums
 
What are my favourite Albums of the year? In no particular order..

The Hold Steady – Boy & Girls In America – Yes it came out in the US in ’06 but never reached these shores until March this year.
 The Good The Bad & The Queen – Damon Albarn’s latest venture.
Gruff Rhys – Candy Lion & Super Furry Animals – Hey Venus! – Some of the best pop music to come out of Wales this year…apart from The Manic Street Preachers – Send Away The Tigers.
The Shins – Wincing The Night Away – Portland (OR) based band’s 3rd album hits the spot.
The Hours – Narcissus Road – Debut album of the year from Joe Strummer’s band members. Sadly ignored by every end of year poll.
Arcade Fire – Neon Bible – 2nd full album from Montréal’s finest, Includes re record of No Cars Go from their debut EP.
Editors – An End Has A Start – Not a critics favourite – someone even compared it to Coldplay ???
Battles – Mirrored – Debut long player. A slice of delicious Post Rock noise from New York combo, succeeds to be different!
Biffy Clyro – Puzzle – Scottish bands 4th album heads for Muse territory.
The Bees – Octopus – Isle Of Weight’s 2nd favourite sons (1st Level 42!) 3rd album of cod reggae, Soul & pop.
Radiohead – In Rainbow – Already enough written about this.
Beirut – The Flying Club Cup - Arcade Fire’s prodigy!
Klaxons – Myths Of The Near Future - Deserving Mercury winner & NME album of the year.
The Enemy – We’ll Live And Die In This Town - 2007 version of The Jam – Listen to ’40 Days & 40 Nights’ and disagree!
Holy Fuck – Holy Fuck – A brilliant clash of Can & Neu with a 21st century twist.
The White Stripes - Icky Thump - Jack finds a new chord!

Other great albums that I’ve enjoyed this year worth checking out from :Patrick Wolf, The Pigeon Detectives, Kate Nash, Ian Brown, Maps, Babyshambles, Richard Hawley, The Go! Team, Bright Eyes, The Cribs, Bjork, New Young Pony Club, Cold War Kids, Bloc Party, Kaiser Chiefs, Art Brut, Modest Mouse, Ash, The Coral, Gogol Borello, The View, Arctic Monkey, Ryan Adams.

The only real disappointing albums that I’ve herd are from Foo Fighters, Turin Breaks, Interpol, Cornelious, Stereophonics & Queens Of The Stonage! But that is just me OK.

What about older artists..

Many people seem to dismiss older bands and artists with nothing more to contribute. Well that might be true for the likes of Rod, Elton, et el.. BUT there have been some albums worth checking out by Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Robert Wyatt, Nick Low, Loudon Wainwright III, Lucinda Williams, Ry Cooder & Julian Cope.
 
Tracks Of The Year..

The Editors - Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors
Klaxons - Golden Skans
White Stripes - Icky Thump
Battles - Atlas
Arcade Fire - No Cars Go
Super Furry Animals - Carbon Dating
Manic Street Preachers - Your Love Alone Is Not Enough
The Hours - Ali In The Jungle
Jack Penate - Spit At Stars
The Hold Steady - Chips Ahoy!
Kaiser Chiefs - Ruby
Joni Mitchell - Shine
Bright Eyes - I Must Belong Somewhere
Maximo Park - Girls Who Play Guitars

Most Annoying Tracks Of The Year..

Feist - 123456
Rihanna - Umbrella

Already looking forward to next year. Hopefully new albums from Foals, Glasvegas, The Teenagers, The Ting Tings, Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong, XX Teens, Plus new product from old favourites: Coldplay, U2, Teenage Fanclub, Morrissey, R.E.M. Doves, Get Cape Wear Cape Fly. Gigs already booked for Van Morrison, Neil Young & The NME Big Gig at the O2,

'till next year......
 
Julian White ©1995 - 2009

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2006 - Tails Of An Unconventional Pentagenarian!

This is not going to be a regular blog – just a few personal observations on the last year in popular music.

Let me state here, I am not a writer, (I’m a CNC Programmer/Miller if anybody is that interested) I am just a music fan, have been for about 48 years plus! I now buy and listen to between 350 and 450 CD’s a year and try to go to at least one gig a month. On those points alone I feel I have the right to pass some judgment on the music year!

Yes, I still buy CD’s. I consider downloads in the UK a rip off. For dodgy sound quality, no packaging, no disk for backup and no delivery cost or shop staff to pay, at 80 Pence per track I don’t consider them good value for money.

Most of the new popular CD’s are available for between £8 & £9 and back catalogue between £3 & £5 in ‘real’ shops! OK you don’t get some of the rubbish tracks – but with no rubbish tracks you don’t get the full picture!

I’m not against downloading and I don’t agree with illegal file sharing, I just think the price should reflect the points I have just made. The only downloads I make are the legal free ones mostly from official artist sites. I think downloads are the 21st century equivalent of the compact cassette. Hopefully it will co-exist alongside CD’s or DVD music for a few years to come.

People may realise that the humble CD was not such a bad idea when people start loosing their music by theft or hardware malfunction. These collections may have cost punters thousands of pounds. Try claiming for these on you insurance. Despite all the best intentions, people will not back up regularly. I don’t think, despite screaming tabloid headlines, that the CD is about to die out. That aside, where will the next generation of collectibles come from?

 
Don’t Stop The Press

Back in the early 1980’s, the NME & MM end of year lists would see Bunny Wailer, Marvin Gaye, Black Uhuru, Defunkt sitting next to Kraftwerk, The Fall, The Undertones, U2, The Specials. In the early 90’s you had Public Enemy, Dream warriers, Prince along side Sonic Youth, Teenage Fanclub & Julian Cope. Even in 1999 you had Missy Elloitt, Eminem & Sizzla squeezed next to Flaming Lips, Beck & Pavement, a real mix of genres. This year the only black artist in the NME list is Gnarls Barkley! I can’t believe that there are no black artists or other genres in music at the moment that would appeal to a mainly white audience. The only magazine attempting to widen its audiences musical horizons seem to be Mojo with its World, Urban, Blues and Jazz lists.

The NME seem obsessed to the exclusion of virtually everything else with new guitar bands of white boys and girls. Six weeks in the NME for a band is a long time! A few good gigs – a couple of great downloads on MySpace – a recording contract – an album – a cash in tour – Next Band Please…. It might be good for the listener, but is it any good for the artist. Dose it matter?

Another observation, more than other years, the NME lists for 2006 seems a little odd. Albums that were championed throughout the year including Peter, Bjorn and John, Dirty Pretty Things, Razorlight, Mystery Jets, Primal Scream, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and The Fratellis were no where to be seen. Although the dreadful Lily Allen & My Chemical Romance did! (NME did like these 2 albums – I just think they are rubbish). Two albums off the top of my head that were given lukewarm reviews at the time - Bob Dylan & The Gossip, made the list. (6 weeks is a long time in the NME!)

 
Albums

I find it hard pinning any one album down to be best of the year. In six months time my opinion will probably change. But at this moment, if push came to shove I would have to place Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly – Tales Of A Bohemian Teenager at #1. From bedroom to debut album of quality. Yes MySpace played a part here.

These ones were probably played the most in the car or on the hi-fi over the course of the last year and I can highly recommend. As you can probably tell from the list, I am a sucker for Pop with the rough edges still intact!

The Strokes – First Impressions Of Earth, Great gigs to support the album.
Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Think…. – Any one over 40 miles outside of Sheffield would probably find the lyrical content a bit confusing. Outside of the UK virtually unintelligible!
The Kooks – Inside In/Inside Out – Best Pop/Rock hooks of the year.
Mystery Jets – Making Dens – Ell pie island’s best export! And one of the members is over 50!
The Fratellis – Costello Music – Scottish band of the year – and noting to do with Elvis!
Kathryn Williams – Leave To Remain – Still Britain’s best kept secret! – Best album to date. Lily Allen eat yr fuckin’ heart out!
Guillemots – Through The Windowpane – Multinational bands debut masterpiece.
Peter Bjorn & John – Writers Block – Scandinavians 1st International release.
Morrissey – Ringleader Of The Tormentors – The rejuvenation continues.
Razorlight – Razorlight – Best Pop/Rock hooks #2!
James Dean Bradfield – The Great Western – The manics solo outing that works
The Killers – Sams Town – contains the best single of the year.
Dirty Pretty Things – What the 2nd Libertines album should have been like.
Kasabian – Empire – 2nd album builds on the success of their 1st.
Muse – Black Holes & Revelations - Bigger than Zeppelin & Queen squeezed together in a mini cooper!
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Show Your Bones – Second proper album from US Punk/Pop trio.
 



Albums new to me – but on first listen will be played a lot in the next few weeks – Midlake, CSS, Jarvis Cocker, Howling Bells

Albums that deserve attention, but seem to have been ignored by the media. Badly Drawn Boy – Born In The UK, The Sleepy Jackson – Personality, Babybird – Between My Ears There’s Nothing But Music, Elton John – The Captain & The Kid, Soledad Brothers – The Hardest Walk, Grandaddy – Just Like The Fambly Cat, The Dears – Gang Of Loosers, Two Gallants – What The Toll Tells, My Latest Novel – Wolves, Graham Coxon – Love Travels At Illegal Speeds.

Other albums that seem to fall into my category of ‘OK, but didn’t live up to the hype’ The Automatic – Not Accepted Anywhere, iForward Russia! – Give Me A Wall, The Young Knives – Voices Of Animals And Men, The Gossip – Standing In The Way Of Control, The Vines – Vision Valley, The Futureheads – News & Tributes, Tapes ‘N Tapes – The Loon

Disappointing albums – It seems strange, but I find more words to write about albums I don’t like, than to ones I do like. Ys – Johanna Newsom. I can understand why the critics are wetting themselves over this one, but to me, after about the first 6 minutes (I probably have the attention span of a newt) I was craving for a change of pace or direction. It has all the elements required to be a classic album – Production from Steve Albini – and arrangements from Van Dyke Parks not forgetting the words & voice from Johanna. Over the coming years it will be looked back as a landmark album – but lets be honest – it’s DULL! Not for me. Would make a good single!

The other big disappointing album for me was Nicky Wire – I Killed The Zeitgeist. Sorry it was just his voice. He is not by any stretch of the imagination a vocalist. There are some vocal styles that although not considered singers in the traditional sense – (Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Mark Lanegan, Leonard Cohen, Louis Armstrong) - still make a great sound. I wanted to like this album. He should have got someone else to do the vocals – maybe James Dean Bradfield!

Beck – The Information - another disappointment – it all sounds great on paper, but to the ears – no tunes. I’ve listened to this about 5 times and there is nothing to make me want to hear it again – for about 10 years!

Re Issues

Despite the large amount of new material I have bought, it probably only makes up about 25% of the total for the year. One large collection that I am working on is the Frank Zappa/Mothers set. This was inspired after reading his biog by Barry Miles. I knew very little about the man before reading this volume. I only had a handful of his albums. This has now swelled to 55! There is just a handful of ‘You Can’t Do That On Stage…’ sets to complete the collection.

Zappa is another of the ‘Classic’ artists like Neil Young, Elvis Costello, Van Morrison, The Rolling Stones who have made loads of albums. They may not be ‘vital’ anymore, but most of their albums usually contain tracks well worth seeking out.

As I have mentioned elsewhere in this article, with re issue prices from around £3 in the UK, an obscure album from one of the above artists is well worth checking out.

Talking of Neil Young, the first instalment of his ‘Archive Series’ has just bee released. ‘Live at the Fillmore East 1970’. The original Crazy Horse line up, well worth a listen. It seems the multi CD box set format for the set has been ditched in favour of single CD re issues. But that may change!
 
Mr £50 Man at Fopp

In the UK there is a rapidly expanding CD/DVD/Book store chain – Fopp. So far this year they have extracted probably £100’s out of me by selling back catalogue albums at sensible prices. I have managed to buy most of the back catalogue for Yes (up to Fragile & Close to the edge) The Early XTC Back Cat. Sparks, The Cure (Not The Deluxe Editions), Soft Machine plus loads of CD’s to fill the gaps in artist collections. They have just started selling some of the double Deluxe re issue for £10 instead of the typical £20!

Fopp seem to have found a vain in the music buying public that Virgin & HMV missed. Not selling the usual ‘Greatest Hits’ at knock down prices in the hope that a punter will then spend £17.00 on back catalogue albums – though that must work to some extent. Fopp seem to have gone the whole hog and sell the back catalogue at knock down prices for limited a time. Long may it continue.
 
Tracks Of My Year

Too many to mention, but off the top of my balding head…

The Killers – When You’re Young
Badly Drawn Boy – One Last Dance
The Fratellis – Chealsea Dagger
Kasabian – Shoot The Runner
Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly – A Tree
Neil Young – After the Garden
Flaming Lips – It Over Takes Me
Peter Bjorn & John – Young Folks
Muse – Starlight
Hot Chip – Over & Over

 
Get Ticket. Go Gig. Live!

The most complete gig for me was Flaming Lips/Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly At The Brighton Centre. Sam Duckworth and his laptop – Reminds me of a young Badly Drawn Boy or Billy Bragg. As for Wayne Coyne – Great entrance – inside a large balloon surfing over the heads of the audience. Really like the Brighton Centre. Never been to a bad gig there. The sound is nearly always spot on, and if you like sitting, always get a good view.

The other most memorable gigs – Teenage Fanclub (One of my personal all time favourite top 10 bands) performing Bandwagonesque at the Forum in London. Joined by their original drummer and producer for the event on what was probably the hottest day of the year.

Madonna at Wembley Arena, The Strokes In Brighton, Morrissey at Alexandra Palace, The NME Tour with Arctic Monkeys/Maximo Park/Mystry Jets/We Are Scientists in Portsmouth, Paul Weller In Brighton, Bob Dylan in Bournemouth (Yes. I forced Bev my partner to stand through another 2 hours of his Bobness!) & Kasabian at the tiny Social Club in Orlando & in Brighton with The Fratellis.

The Kasabian gigs were like seeing two bands. Only 3 weeks apart. The stage in Brighton was larger than the whole club in Orlando. In the US they travelled with a bus & a UHaul trailer. In the UK 5 massive trucks!

The only annoying aspect of gig going in the UK is that most of the popular events are sold out within minutes. I had to resort to eBay for the NME, Strokes & Madonna Gigs. Although it would be very difficult to stop this, the technology is there to improve the situation.

I think that too many fringe workers within the industry are making money from selling on tickets to dodgy characters. The promoters know pretty much what gigs will sell out.

My suggestion is: A registration period for these gigs, so all the people that want tickets can register. Names, postcodes etc. can be checked to stop multiple applications, then the applicant can be invited to but the tickets after a lottery. Plus a proper returns policy. It may not be ideal, but at least it will be a fair.

2007

Looking forward to new material from Travis, Editors, Super Furry Animals, Doves, Klaxons, The Rakes, Kaiser Chiefs, Bloc Party, Arctic Monkeys, The Horrors, The View, Franz Ferdinand, Greenday & Windows Vista to name a few. A few gigs already booked – Badly Drawn Boy, Ricky Gervais and The Killers.

If you made it this far without losing the will to live, and you want to make any comments, email or post on the forum page.
 
Julian White ©1995 - 2009