PETER GABRIEL has finally revealed the release date and the different
formats (CD/vinyl/Blu-ray) for his (only) 10th LP in 46 years. It’ll land in
time for Xmas on December 1st.
Press statement: “12 tracks of grace, gravity and great beauty that provide welcome confirmation of not only Peter’s ongoing ability to write stop-you-in-your-tracks songs but also of that thrilling voice, still perfectly, delightfully intact. Throughout the album the intelligent and thoughtful – often thought-provoking – songs tackle life and the universe.
Our connection to the world around us – ‘I’m just a part of everything’ Peter sings on title track i/o – is a recurring motif, but so too the passing of time, mortality and grief, alongside such themes as injustice, surveillance and the roots of terrorism. But this is not a solemn record. While reflective, the mood is never despondent; i/o is musically adventurous, often joyous and ultimately full of hope, topped off as it is, by the rousingly optimistic closing song, Live and Let Live.”
Gabriel already shared 10 tracks out of 12. Play them all here.
As already announced, eternal iconic rock stars THE ROLLING STONES canned
a new longplayer, and baptized it HACKNEY DIAMONDS. It’s their 24th British and
26th American album. It lands on 20 October. Their first proper LP in 13 years, since
the release of A Bigger Bang.
Ahead of it, the 3 Stones shared
two stellar tasters (so far).
– ANGRY –
A classic Keef-riff rocker,
with classic Jagger vocals
and a classic Stones chorus.
– SWEET SOUNDS OF HEAVEN –
An instant blues-rock-ballad classic with impassioned Jagger vocals and
sky-scraping gospel delirium caused by Lady Gaga‘s fantastic vocality.
Legendary American magazine (print/website) Rolling Stone put
their review of the LP online yesterday.
It reads as follows (shortened by TUTV).
“A collection of bangers, old-school division) that nobody in their right mind had a right to expect in 2023, ‘Hackney Diamonds’ isn’t just another new Stones album, but a vibrant and cohesive record — the first Stones album in ages you’ll want to crank more than once before filing away.
“Whether it’s a first-time Stones producer (Andrew Watt), bits of technological wizardry, or simply a desire to remind us why we cared about them in the first place, they haven’t sounded this brisk and focused in what feels like a half century. Keith Richards’ and Ron Wood’s guitars are crisp and uncluttered, with most of the slovenly strumming of the past banished. Depending on the song, Mick Jagger sounds snappish, peeved, needy, or insouciant, with lyrics and a more pronounced British accent to match: In the sputtery single “Angry,” he spits out, “It hasn’t rained in a month, the river’s run dry/We haven’t made love, and I wanna know why.” Not exactly rock poetry, true, but he also hasn’t sounded this engaged with the songs since the heyday of the cassette. “Depending on You” could have been one of those draggy ballads that have made their way onto later Stones albums, but Jagger wails as if he wants the whole world to hear him.
When all of those elements come together, a fountain of musical youth miraculously emerges. Toward the end of “Live by the Sword,” one of two tracks they made with drummer Charlie Watts before his passing in 2021, Jagger snarls as the guitars tear it up around him, and you’d hardly think it was the 21st century. With Watt burnishing their sound just enough, songs that could have easily been rote feel revitalized.
Steve Jordan, the longtime X-Pensive Winos member who has taken Watts’ place on the road, plays on the majority of the record. Jordan hits his kit harder than Watts ever did, but his contributions aren’t as jarring as they could have been.
What you won’t find much of here is the late-in-life introspection heard on recent records by some of the Stones’ peers. We’ve arrived at a fascinating period in rock history, when aging boomer rockers aren’t just dragging themselves onstage but continuing to write songs — uncharted territory for them and us. In a first for that generation, we get to hear what‘s on the minds of Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Paul McCartney, Paul Simon, or Judy Collins as they approach or enter their eighties — in songs that confront mortality, look back over tumultuous lives or recent history, and occasionally rant about the state of the planet or politics.
Norman Blake (vocals/guitar/co-songwriter) about the LP: “The songs are definitely personal. You’re getting older, you’re going into the cupboard getting the black suit out more often. Thoughts of mortality and the idea of the light must have been playing on our minds a lot. These new songs are reflective of how I’m feeling now, coming out of that period. They’re fairly optimistic, there’s an acceptance of a situation and all of the experience that comes with that acceptance. When we write, it’s a reflection of our lives, which are pretty ordinary. We’re not extraordinary people, and normal people get older. There’s a lot to write about in the mundane. I love reading Raymond Carver. Very often there’s not a lot that happens in those stories, but they speak to lived experience.”
MOJO (British music monthly) says: “Free for over three decades now from the typical creative trials and headaches of bands who try to reinvent their sound with each new album, Teenage Fanclub have shrewdly stuck with tweaking their winning formula: strummy guitar-led songs, high in melodic content, charting their emotional weather. The years have proven that the deceptive simplicity of their music only increases its potency, working hand-in-hand with their long commitment to the healing powers of brotherhood and melody.” Score: 4/5.
TUTV: Another collection of lazy tunes for lazy moments. If you’re not a fanatical
TF fan (like me) it’s hard to know if these new easygoing songs are old or new ones. Teenage Fanclub musings sound very alike, but before you realize it, you’re whistling
or humming along. And that says a lot about these Scottish veterans.
SINGLES/CLIPS: Back To The Light / Tired of Being Alone / Foreign Land
“Our starting point was the concept of an ending — death, or the end of a friendship or relationship. Every song comes from a story, or an idea one of us has had that we’ve all expanded on and made its own world. Maybe it’s our nature, but we kept feeling that the album title was ultimately open to a lot more interpretation. The end of a thing or a time can mean a stop, but it can also mean a beginning, and what happens after one thing ends might pale in comparison to what it becomes next.”
(Press photo)
MOJO (British music monthly mag): “End feels like the soundtrack to life, placing you as
the main character as the band crafts dynamic instrumentals that melt like gold and shine
just as bright for their best album in recent memory.”
TUTV: With EITS it’s always dreamtime. On END the band paint an imagery world,
in which everybody can create their own world. Every listener will see different images popping up in his mind. Another symphonic soundtrack for a movie of your choice.
I’m sure Scottish post-punk orchestra Mogwai have all EITS records.
The Texan country icon WILLIE NELSON
celebrated his 90th birthday last April.
And last Friday, the imperishable songsmith star released his 151st LP, yes 151.
I guess this must be a Guinness World Record (note to myself: look it up). His very
first LP, titled …And Then I Wrote appeared in 1962. That means that, the new one included, Nelson released 2,5 albums a year in his career. One wonders how he still
had the time to love so many girls.
Anyway. The new LP is titled BLUEGRASS. It features
12 bluegrass interpretations of 12 of his own classics.
It’s Sunday, the day my ears want to recover from the noise
they had to endure all week long. Enter Willie Nelson.
The seasoned psych-folk-pop-rock ramblers THE CORAL released 2 new albums .
Main album SEA OF MIRRORS and only vinyl LP Holy Joe’s Island Medicine Show,
with James and Ian Skelly’s grandad a.k.a The Great Muriarty back into the fold for
the narrated post-script to one of The Coral’s most successful albums to date, Coral Island.
The Guardian (British newspaper): “The Merseysiders have concocted a twangy, dreamlike folk-rock sonic voyage through Britain in decay… The songs are routinely populated by drifters, dreamers and others left behind by society. The songs are routinely populated by drifters, dreamers and others left behind by society… The songs are routinely populated by drifters, dreamers and others left behind by society. It all adds up to quite a voyage: the Merseysiders’ most fully realised set of songs since their debut.” Score: 4/5.
TUTV: For me, and countless music fans out there,
music evokes aural activity, feelings, and images
on your movie-screen in your mind. And it all happens
here too, of course, while listening to Sea Of Mirrors.
What do I hear?
A non-stop sequence of reflective pop fantasies, of tantalizing tunes with
a laid-back resonance and of meditative musings that cause a welcome,
lazy state of mind.
Blissfully feelgood vocality, with a melancholic timbre, everywhere.
Gently weeping strings. A seamless sonic marriage of acoustic and electric guitars.
It’s vintage The Coral as we know them, but even more yearning for romanticism than before. So they left their island and travelled to their fictional Western reality where all
sorts of misfits try to survive. Americana, the Liverpool way.
What do I see?
A pub in Liverpool in a yet-to-be-made movie directed by iconic filmmaker Serge Leone, where an ensemble of troubadours entertain, with Charles Bronson on harmonica, the drunk barflies, the lonely, the lost gringos, the hurt souls, and the broken-hearted. For some weird reason, everybody looks like they’re keeping each other company for comfort since forever.
What do I feel?
The little kid in me who watched
cowboy movies with the whole family.
In a glorious state of relaxation.
Like an on-cloud-nine Coral fan.
Singles/clips: That’s Where She Belongs / The Sinner / Oceans Apart
The stirring Throwing Muses legend KRISTIN HERSH has her new solo LP,
titled CLEAR POUND ROAD out. Order info here. She will tour the UK/IRE
and AUS next Fall/Winter. All dates here.
Fire Records: “Kristin Hersh’s new album is a cinematic road trip; a series of personal
vignettes from a fiercely independent auteur, sitting plush with layers of all-consuming
strings and mellotron. It’s a watershed moment in a career overflowing with creative firsts
and inspirational thinking; an elegant piece of personal reportage, a home movie caught in time.”
Kristin Hersh: “Sweeter, sadder, and somehow no less alive. Some records demand
to be made. And you know this is the case when the songs function as systems in a body.
I octavized an acoustic baritone as the skeleton, cellos are the lungs, a Nashville-strung
Collings and glockenspiel were the fingertips feeling around in this weird-ass dark space,
and drums are always your heart, of course… but the vocals are a strange narrator here.
A narrator lost in the story, of all things, more like eyes.”
TUTV: For me, and countless music fans out there,
music evokes aural activity, feelings, and images
on your movie-screen in your mind. And it happens
too, of course, while listening to Clear Pound Road.
What do I hear?
Krautrock dynamics with an acoustic guitar and a mellow cello.
Song by song, the repetitive/rotating rhythms have a magnetic power.
10 intro/outro-spective sparks glowing, like the lights on the LP’s cover. Hersh‘s voice is singular, a bit hoarser than before, think Marianne Faithfull.
I love both voices
What do I see?
Images of her solo concert in Belgium last year.
I didn’t hear one noise/word from the crowd – except for the enthusiastic
applause between songs – during the whole show. Hersh‘s music and
vocals make people silent. She sung/played like troubadours do.
Poetry in motion. And her green eyes are magnets.
(Belgium, 2022)
What do I feel?
Intimate heart-and-soul satisfaction.
Zen-like tranquility and peace
Stirring sedateness.
Singles:Dandelion / Ms Haha / Constance Street
– DANDELION –
– MS HAHA –
“Mr Bones is my man and Ms Haha is me, ripped
off from a Truman Capote story. So heavy. Love is
goofy gravity.”
– CONSTANCE STREET –
“I lived on Constance Street in New Orleans when that song’s story happened.
Buying slips in the Irish Channel/broken prince in fluorescent camo is a very
Southern day. I was born a hick and I guess I’ll always be one.”
The everlasting mega-iconic rock legends THE ROLLING STONES are quite a phenomena.
Mick Jagger is 80, Keef Richards turns 80 in December and Ron Wood is 76 and they look in absolute great shape. But it’s not only about their cool, healty looks at that age, they’re still terrifically active, like I witnessed last year when they played for 75.000 in Brussels on their umpteenth tour.
And now new music is coming up. HACKNEY DIAMONDS is their 24th British
and 26th American album. It arrives on 20 October. It’s their first proper LP.
in 23 years, since the release of A Bigger Bang.
For more info, watch the very satisfied stones on
the American Fallon talkshow last night chatting
about the brand-new LP.
The first single got his premiere yesterday too.
ANGRY is a classic Keef-riff rocker,
with classic Jagger vocals and a
classic chorus. They are immortal.
Don’t get angry with me
I never caused you no pain
Please just forget about me
Cancel out my name
Please never write to me
I love you just the same
I hear a melody ringing in my brain
Just keep the memories
Don’t have to be ashamed
The stirring Throwing Muses legend KRISTIN HERSH has her new solo LP,
titled CLEAR POUND ROAD on 8 September. Pre-order info here. She will
tour the UK/IRE and AUS next Fall/Winter. All dates here.
Fire Records: “Kristin Hersh’s new album is a cinematic road trip; a series of personal
vignettes from a fiercely independent auteur, sitting plush with layers of all-consuming
strings and mellotron. It’s a watershed moment in a career overflowing with creative firsts
and inspirational thinking; an elegant piece of personal reportage, a home movie caught in time.”
Kristin Hersh: “Sweeter, sadder, and somehow no less alive. Some records demand
to be made. And you know this is the case when the songs function as systems in a body.
I octavized an acoustic baritone as the skeleton, cellos are the lungs, a Nashville-strung Collings and glockenspiel were the fingertips feeling around in this weird-ass dark space, and drums are always your heart, of course… but the vocals are a strange narrator here. A narrator lost
in the story, of all things, more like eyes.”
Three singles (so far)
came our ears’ way.
– DANDELION –
Fragile and romantic. Marianne Faithful.
Acoustic melancholia with weeping violins.
– MS HAHA – “Mr Bones is my man and Ms Haha is me, ripped
off from a Truman Capote story. So heavy. Love is
goofy gravity.”
Not really sure what Hersh is talking/singing about
here, but I do love the song’s subtle, catchy groove.
– CONSTANCE STREET –
“I lived on Constance Street in New Orleans when that song’s story happened.
Buying slips in the Irish Channel/broken prince in fluorescent camo is a very
Southern day. I was born a hick and I guess I’ll always be one.”
It’s not the first time that I think that Hersh
loves Bob Dylan‘s enigmatic imagery, and uses
it too in her own poetic storytelling way.
It’s a discography-spanning set that includes tracks from ‘Psychocandy’, ‘Darklands’, ‘Automatic’, ‘Honey’s Dead’, ‘Stoned and Dethroned’, ‘Munki’ and ‘Damage and Joy’.
The band already shared a first taster with Sometimes Always
featuring great Scottish voice Isobel Campbell (former Belle
and Sebastian vocalist).
