Friday, October 23, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
Bruxelles
Bruxelles in a picture
Originally uploaded by Southcoasting
- Jaques Brel - Bruxelles mp3 (thanks fillessourires)
Sunday, October 11, 2009
The Great Park - The Wife
'The Wife' is the new album from Stephen Burch, a.k.a. the Great Park a favourite of this blog, and one of the best new releases of the year. If only people would hear it, it would be sure to appear in many end-of-the-year 'best of 2009' lists in the blogsphere.
After the excellent Time Zone compilation of last year, drawing on albums such as 'I Do Wrong' (available for a short-time as a free download from the Great Park website) and the excellent 'We could have, we should have, we didn't', the new album 'The Wife' is both a continuation and a departure. Self-produced as ever, and pressed initially in very small quantities it is available only through the Great Park's own Woodland Recordings website in a unique hand-stencilled cover, and a photo and lyric sheet.
The Wife continues with the themes established on previous TGP releases - alientation, fear, flight - but it feels like a more confident album, fleshed out with some excellent instrumentation, in particular the beautiful violin-playing from Martha Rose which gives the whole album a warmth and the songs a sense of inter-connectedness. The lyrics are also strong; and so are all of the songs.
The opening track The Royal Canal plays on a theme later repeated in Suit of Stones, "I went down to the Royal Canal, intent to throw in my towel..." and its beautiful melancholy washed over the listener with its repeated refrain "...and I miss you with all of my heart". You Are Better Than This takes up with a sad story of a man who has left his wife, and in doing so believes rightly or wrongly that he is setting her free. The next song You Belong To Me You Do brings some lighter relief, a serious yet humorous tale of an affair with a married woman "I take off his clothes to get to you underneath", and this is followed by The Woods Were Full of Them, another song of fear and persecution which no-one does better than The Great Park. Then there's Careless Man, a bitter conversational love song with its brilliant terrible accusatory line
"oh careless man, it's a terrible damage you do,there's nothing like a woman to bring out the worst in you".
All of the songs are strong on this album, as are the arrangements with some lovely guitar playing and Martha Rose's sympathetic violin a real treat. However, my two favourites songs are the longest, mini-epics each one.
The Hills Are Alive was recorded in Ireland almost a year ago, and previously released last Xmas on a very limited EP. From the very beginning you know this is one of those great persecution songs, where something unforgiving is after the singer and will not let him alone. From the very first it does not relent, it's refrain of
"Where are you gonna run to? Where you gonna hide this time?"
echoing after each verse. The song's ten minutes are peppered with a mixture of strange characters who drift in and out of the story and poignant images drawn from a semi-urban semi-rural world, both strange and yet strangely familiar. As the tension builds, it is clear the singer is running not from just these strange and frightening shadows, but mostly he is running from the thoughts inside of himself ("the Englishman down in my blood, the shame and the scorn..."). It's a marvellous powerful and frightening song, that for ten whole minutes won't relent. A classic indeed that deserved to be heard again, by more than the lucky few.
And as if one classic wasn't enough, the Wife dredges up another in the almost eight brilliant minutes of Dig A Whole For Everyone. The harsh opening rhythms immediately differentiates this song from the others on the album. The singing is pointed, and accusatory. Resonant bass strumming immediately lines up in time with a heartbeat, the flow of blood, some primeval sense of pace. However, this is not song of running or fear but of hatred and revenge. It sets its sights at the whole world, in inspired lyricism - typified by the final verse:
"The heartless thoughtless cold remorseless mindlessspineless gang of crookswell, I've lost my best friend and they just couldn't care less.What they wanted, they just took...common thieves and hooded crows!We'll dig a hole for every one."
Great essential original stuff. You really won't hear another album like it this year.
Buy 'The Wife' from The Great Park website, and while you're there download some of the free live recordings from the current endless tour of Germany.
And if you're in Berlin, make sure you check Stephen out (he's almost certain to be playing somewhere).
Oh, and say hello.
Stephen Burch, playing with Laurence Collyer of the Diamond Family Archive
Friday, August 21, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
Hanging on the line
2nd Flickr Brighton Group outdoor flash exhibition occurred on Saturday 15th August 2009, two hours at the Pavillion Gardens, 2 hours on the beach (see pic), and then on to the pub. Very nice day indeed.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Monday, July 27, 2009
Tea with the Queen
Funny to see a ticket for the concert I worked at back in the latter half the 1980 pouring fizzy drinks into cardboard buckets, while catching occasional glimpses of the Quo and the Alarm... this was in a cafe near Wembley stadium on sunday.
Friday, July 03, 2009
Kristin McClement - The Wild Grips
Live in Newcastle at the Star & Shadow. Lovely. Review of her music to come but for now...
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Poppies
in the fields above Falmer in East Sussex
mp3 Teardrop Explodes - Poppies in the Field (from one of my favourite teenage albums, Kilimanjaro - thanks to Death wears white socks)
mp3 Teardrop Explodes - Poppies in the Field (from one of my favourite teenage albums, Kilimanjaro - thanks to Death wears white socks)
Friday, June 05, 2009
Don't say goodbye to your friends
It's funny how these things happen. No planning, just picking up tracks from my recently added list that for some reason appealed, not really listening, and then once they're all together and in some sort of sound order, the theme stands out clear as day. If you believe Tarot cards, this must be what reading tarot is like.
Tracklisting:
- Go! Team, friendship update
- Radiohead, bodysnatchers
- Lily Allen, not fair
- Jens Lekman, If I could cry
- Marmalade, mess around
- Gillian McPherson, Muff the Gong
- David Dondero, You shouldn't leave a love alone too long mp3
- Beta Band, Dry the rain
- Fairport Convention, Tale in Hard Time
- Duncan Browne, ninepence worth of walking mp3
- Cocoon, take off
- Bonnie Prince Billy, Less of me
- Neil Young, Walk on
- Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Into your arms
- Super Furry Animals, back on a roll
- Tunng, woodcat
- Big Mehr and friends, Talking to no-one
- Three Degrees, when will I see you again
- Wave Pictures, I love you like a madman mp3
- Morrissey, The more you ignore me
It's in two parts, mp3s coming in two large zip files:
Part 1 http://www.mediafire.com/?nnzihunjb0l
Part 2 http://www.mediafire.com/?wjieymy03mm
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