The Style Council – General Introduction

The Core Style Councilors - Mick Talbot, Dee C. Lee, Steve White And Paul Weller

The Core Style Councilors - Mick Talbot, Dee C. Lee, Steve White And Paul Weller

Paul Weller quit The Jam at the height of its fame in 1982, and he changed direction as markedly as he could by forming The Style Council. He went from fronting a power trio to becoming a member of a jazz-pop quartet. The change was marked, but not that abrupt – the final Jam album (“The Gift”, 1982), some A-sides like “Beat Surrender” and several late-period B-sides (many of which are found on the “Extras” compilation) show us that the sound of The Style Council was a natural destination to arrive at for someone who loved jazz, soul and Motown as much as good old rock & roll.

He made a deliberate attempt to avoid being placed on the epicenter of it all by bringing a keyboard player in, and letting him have an equal creative role. The one he chose, though, made many fans roll their eyes in disbelief – Mick Talbot had been a member of The Merton Parkas, one of the worst Mod-revival bands of the late ‘70s. Talbot was treated as an equal by Weller all the way through, even when it was evident that Paul had not brought a McCartney (or even an Entwistle) along for the ride.

Paul Weller & Mick Talbot

Paul Weller & Mick Talbot

The remaining councilors were to be singer Dee C. Lee (who was to eventually marry Weller) and drummer Steve White. He remains one of Paul’s most loyal collaborators to this day. Incidentally, he is the older brother of Alan, the drummer for Oasis during their glory days. Continue reading

YouTube Launches A Partner Program For Musicians In The United States

Musicians Wanted

The power of viral video is something that can’t be downplayed. We all know that careers like Suzan Boyle’s or Justin Bieber’s would never have happened without it, nor would a musician like Butch Walker have played live with Taylor Swift at the Grammy Awards weren’t it for the exposure that YouTube implies.

Aware that people are more willing than ever to join in the action, YouTube has just released a partner program. Named “Musicians Wanted” it was announced at SXSW, and for the time being it is open only to those in American soil. Obviously, that is something which is bound to change over time provided it catches on – something not that implausible or unthinkable.

So, those of you who make original music and live in the States can learn more about it here. The rest of us will have to sit back and wait… but I bet that not for long.

Green (REM) – Album Review

The cover of “Green” (R.E.M’s major label debut) is meant to be stared at for a while. Then, if you close your eyes the negative image you will see will be all green. I must admit it never worked out like that for me. Who knows, maybe you need the assistance of a Mr. Tambourine Man for the trick to be done!

The cover of “Green” (R.E.M’s major label debut) is meant to be stared at for a while. Then, if you close your eyes the negative image you will see will be all green. I must admit it never worked out like that for me. Who knows, maybe you need the assistance of a Mr. Tambourine Man for the trick to be done!

Transition albums necessarily fall into any of two categories. They either capture an artist in a completely unsure frame, or they convey a graceful broadening of horizons that results in a mixture of old and new sounds in a way seeming entirely natural.

I seem to believe that most transition albums fall in the former category, whereas I can count on one hand those who do deliver something as enticing as what the artist always has to offer. One of the few examples of “successful” transition albums to me is XTC’s “English Settlement”, an album that I find so intoxicating that I have listened to it a trillion times, and will have to do so a trillion times more before feeling I am capable of expressing its every nuance.

And right besides that album by the unique British art rockers I have to place “Green”, the first album R.E.M was to release for Warner. The year was 1988, and the band had signed with the major record label looking for broader promotion. By that point they had the right qualifications, of course – hits like “The One I Love” and “It’s the End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” were just the tip of the iceberg.

“Green” was to mark a series of firsts for the band. To begin with, three songs were to feature Buck’s mandolin prominently on the mix, and they all three worked more than fine, with the first of them (“You Are The Everything”) announcing a change of tack that was to led to an artistic renaissance for the Athens’ band. Secondly, Stipe changed his MO – he began writing songs in situ, as the others were throwing musical ideas around. Many songs’ lyrics were to have a cumulative effect such as the biting “I Remember California” in which Michael sings “I recall it wasn’t fair, recollect it wasn’t fair, remembering it wasn’t fair” in order to express bottled feeling with an unparalleled precision. The same approach was employed on “World Leader Pretend” (“I demand a rematch, decree a stalemate, I divine my deeper motives” – note the alliterations in both examples), and that is not counting the many enumerations are mirrored structures like the first line of every verse in “Pop Song 89”, an aptly-named tune that presaged some (far more radical) poppier moments that were to come such as “Shiny Happy People”. Continue reading

The Latest YouTube Viral Hit Is Here: “My Mom’s On Facebook”

“My Mom’s On Facebook” is the most recent viral success found on YouTube. In little more than one day it managed to score 145,000 views. Created by LA comedy group Back Of The Class, it is a frankly hilarious hair metal anthem that groups together the horrors every young person who befriends his parents on Facebook has to endure, culminating in the hysterical line “It’s getting to the point I have to switch back to MySpace”.

Check it for yourself:

MusicVault – Rating Albums Old & New Using Twitter

MusicVault

Name: MusicVault:
URL: http://www.musicvault.fm

Recent events have shown us that Twitter can make or break any movie. Upon seeing theatrical release, “Bruno” was slammed by twitterers and died an instant death. Conversely, movies like “Inglorious Bastards” and “District 9” were lauded on the micro-blogging universe and became that kind of picture you can’t miss unless you want to stop being invited to top parties.

Now, does Twitter have the same strength when it comes to music? Well, it looks like we are about to find it out. This brand-new service lets people tweet out the name of any album they have just listened to along with a rating. These are then aggregated on the site, and you can quickly learn which albums are universally praised. You do also get to see the most active users at a glance, and you can obviously start following them right there and then.

It is interesting to point out that once you are on the site you can choose to see either the best-rated discs or the worst-rated albums ever. It seems somebody who holds a grudge against Mike Oldfield is around – he gave “Music Of The Spheres” an overall score of 1 %, whereas his rating for “The Millennium Bell” was 2 %. There was also someone who gave Oasis’ “Heathen Chemistry” an overall score of 30 %. And I swear it wasn’t me! Continue reading

The Best Of The Best Of ChatRoulette: Merton, The Impromptu Piano Player

As many of you probably know, one of the latest Internet crazes is a messaging service named ChatRoulette. Created by a 17-year old Russian, it is a webcam-based chat in which you are placed face to face with an utter stranger. You can chat with the person if you like his/her looks, or you can hit a button to skip that person and come across someone new.

The big (and nefarious) thrill of it all is that you might come across girls who will show you their charms just for the fun of it, and also boys who have no qualms jacking off onscreen. That is why this IM service is called “ChatRoulette” – as in Russian Roulette, the “dangerous” element is what makes it all so thrilling.

Fortunately, there are also people who do something funny and clever. And this pianist steals the show. Named Merton, he is an impromptu performer in the truest sense of the word. Just watch the video I have embedded for you below. And note that he has a YouTube channel – I hope he adds more videos soon.

Without a shadow of a doubt, this guy is the best excuse you can have for trying out ChatRoulette. Or is it? ; )

Grace (Jeff Buckley) – Album Review (Part 2)

Read the first part of the review here. It mostly revolves around “Hallelujah” and “Last Goodbye”.

Any person who has to analyze “Grace” will necessarily have to split the review in (at least) two parts, since both “Last Goodbye” and “Hallelujah” deserve a major treatment. As a matter of fact, a Guardian critic even stated that “Hallelujah” was positioning itself as the most discussed song ever in the history of music. Looks like I made an (involuntary) contribution in part 1 of the review.

But there are other things going on in Buckley’s debut, and while the two classics elevate the album the disc would fall after heightening pretty quickly if it weren’t for some songs that are found on the second side. The few songs I don’t think that much of are all segregated on the first side, after “Last Goodbye”.

The second side is far more cogent, as it has “Lover, You  Should’ve Come Over”, “Corpus Christi Carol”, “Dream Brother” and “Eternal Life”. “Lover You Should’ve Come Over” in particular is revered by fans, and a poll I came across recently did amaze me because it was voted the second best song on the album after a knock-out tournament that saw “Last Goodbye” dropped from the running order after the second bout. The song is easy to like, with its backing vocals that match the excellence of the lead. Along with “Mojo Pin” and “Dream Brother” it is the best exponent of the dream-like mood the disc creates. That mood is difficult to define, actually. You listen to these songs and your head sort of goes up in the clouds, but at the same time you couldn’t keep a foot more firmly planted on reality. It is the strangest ethereal sensation I have ever felt, and I think the appeal of Jeff’s music lies there – in some place between what is here and what lies somewhere else.

And what we have here and what lies beyond this life is the theme par excellence of the disc, of course. “Corpus Christi Carol” is one of the clearest examples, with Jeff singing the Middle English Rhyme about a falcon who takes the loved one of a singer away. The singer goes after the falcon, and then he arrives at a chamber in which his beloved lies next to a bleeding knight and a tomb with Christ’s body in it. It is hard not to notice that the Carol has seven stanzas (like the Deadly Sins), and that Christ name is used in the final one only. Continue reading

Grace (Jeff Buckley) – Album Review (Part 1)

Jeff Buckley's Debut, "Grace" Came Out In 1994. While The Original Reception Was Tepid At Best, It Would Eventually Sell Over Million Copies Worldwide.

"Grace" (Jeff Buckley's Debut Album) Came Out In 1994. While The Original Reception Was Tepid At Best, It Would Eventually Sell Over 2 Million Copies Worldwide.

“Grace” was to be Jeff Buckley’s one and only “proper” album. It was not that successful when it first came out (1994), but the early demise of Jeff brought a lot of notoriety to it – a notoriety that it actually deserved the first time around. The music is quite hard to classify, and that might have been the reason why the buying public was not that keen on it when it was released. The only was to describe Buckley’s music is by making a multiple reference, with the gentleman that defined his music as “folk/pop-rock with a slight Goth touch” coming near the mark. If that label is a bit hard to get around even today, imagine what it must have been like in the mid-90s when genres like Grunge were the order of the day. Jeff was clearly ahead of the curve.

The first track is not really a great song, but it is a great way to start the album with its alternation between dreams (as represented by the lulling verses) and reality (as portrayed in the increasingly-loud choruses). The disc on the whole has an incredibly oneiric quality, and that is why such a song works perfectly as an album opener. The song is left to interpretation, with Buckley himself having explicitly linked it to heroin at least once.

The album itself does not hit a high note until “Last Goodbye” comes around (track number 3). I have already talked about the song in the general introduction, and there is nothing to add except maybe saying that it captures the humanity of Jeff’s voice like nothing else. The song gained a lot of notoriety upon being used in Cameron Crowe’s film “Vanilla Sky”, too. I don’t know how many of you are aware that “Vanilla Sky” is actually a remake of a Spanish film named “Abre Los Ojos” – the Spanish version gets the nod when it comes to storytelling, but Crowe’s version (as you would imagine) is unbeatable musically. Continue reading

The Fox (Elton John) – Album Review

Elton John Issued "The Fox" In 1981, At A Time In Which His Original Band Was Coming Together Again. Dee Murray And Nigel Olsson Were Already Back And Davey Johnstone Was To Join In The Action Again In "Too Low For Zero" (1983)

Elton John Issued "The Fox" In 1981, At A Time In Which His Original Band Was Coming Together Again. Dee Murray And Nigel Olsson Were Already Back And Davey Johnstone Was To Rejoin Them For "Too Low For Zero" (1983).

To my mind, Elton did only release two “truly” essential albums in the ‘80s. Obviously, “Too Low For Zero” (1983) was one of them – the album saw him reunited with Bernie and his classic band in full for the first time, and many successful singles were released – “I’m Still Standing”, “Kiss The Bride” and “I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues”. The other album I hold in true esteem from that period, though, did not produce any radio hit. I suppose that is the reason it is always neglected on “Best Of” packages, while other (inferior) albums from the ‘80s at least have one or two cuts in. I am talking about “The Fox”, issued in 1981 after “21 At 33” and the tepid “Victim Of Love”.

The previous disc saw Elton reunited with both Dee Murray and Nigel Olsson, and they were carried into this release and into succeeding albums. Guitars were to be handled by Ritchie Zito (who you might know for his work as a producer for bands like Cheap Trick, Heart and Poison), and lyrics were penned both by Gary Osborne and Bernie Taupin. One track (“Elton’s Song”) was co-written with Tom Robinson – the song was banned in some countries on grounds of homosexuality. Well, the video was just that little too explicit, wouldn’t you say?

The disc also marked Chris Thomas’ first collaboration with Elton. Thomas was to occupy the producer’s chair for a considerable number of records, effectively becoming the second main shaper of John’s sound after Gus Dudgeon. Continue reading

Feeder – Share Your Music On Facebook

Feeder

Name: Feeder
URL:  http://www.feeder.fm

I have already covered some services that let you share your music on Twitter, and now I feel it is only fair to have a look at the other side and see what can be done on Facebook, the mammoth of a social network that has had such an impact that a movie is going to be made about it. Starring Jesse Eisenberg (the guy from Zombieland) as Mark Zuckerberg and Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker (the one who co-founded Napster) it is either going to be highly enlightening or an absolute mishmash, but one thing is for certain: everybody is going to watch it.

So, as a way to highlight some music-sharing capabilities of the network I have chosen to cover some apps and tool. This is the first I will introduce you to. Named Feedr, it will let you take a song and have it automatically posted on your Facebook profile. This will be certainly interesting for those who want to promote their own work. Continue reading