The Album Review Club - Week #194 (page 1303) - Ants From Up There - Black Country, New Road

I’ve never been one to focus too much on lyrics, unless of course they are totally banal aka The Streets ;)

How’s everyone getting on with this weeks pick, which I believe is the first selection not to be sung in the King’s English? Personally I’m finding it a bit repetitive, and whilst I’m enjoying the overall delta vibe, it’s a tough listen. Assouf is my current fave, probably because the guitar with a bit of wah is a bit different. I wish they’d let rip with a bit more musical virtuosity to mix it up a bit… on the the third listen.
 
GornikDaze said:
I’ve never been one to focus too much on lyrics, unless of course they are totally banal aka The Streets ;)

How’s everyone getting on with this weeks pick, which I believe is the first selection not to be sung in the King’s English? Personally I’m finding it a bit repetitive, and whilst I’m enjoying the overall delta vibe, it’s a tough listen. Assouf is my current fave, probably because the guitar with a bit of wah is a bit different. I wish they’d let rip with a bit more musical virtuosity to mix it up a bit… on the the third listen.
Click to expand...
I'm treating it like it's an instrumental album. I wish I knew what he was singing as I think it would help make it feel less samey but I like his voice. I don't find it a tough listen - it's easy to listen to but it does all sound similar
 
GornikDaze said:
I’ve never been one to focus too much on lyrics, unless of course they are totally banal aka The Streets ;)

How’s everyone getting on with this weeks pick, which I believe is the first selection not to be sung in the King’s
English? Personally I’m finding it a bit repetitive, and whilst I’m enjoying the overall delta vibe, it’s a tough listen. Assouf is my current fave, probably because the guitar with a bit of wah is a bit different. I wish they’d let rip with a bit more musical virtuosity to mix it up a bit… on the the third listen.
Click to expand...

I did occur to re that I might have gone too far with the combination of both the language and the nature of the groove.

The other in my final two shortlist was Mdou Moctar's second latest album Funeral For Justice which I reckon would be in yours and others wheelhouse. Have a listen when you're done with this, @Out on blue 6 's description a few posts back is quite apt I think.

I ultimately went with this pick as it's what got me diving down this musical rat hole and when I'm in the mood it's very hypnotic - but I think I knew Funeral for Justice would score higher. I'm a self destructive fool!
 
Aman Iman - Tinariwen

You can’t really go wrong with this album. Once you accept the vocals in a foreign language and go with the flow, it’s easy to get lost in the rhythms and melodies on offer. Most of the songs have a groove that you’d associate with African music, but the prominence of the guitar gives it a little more fizz.

The production is unfussy and lets the natural sound of the instruments shine. Looking on the album’s Wikipedia page, it seems that we have the regular array of guitars on offer, but it wouldn’t surprise me if there’s a few other-worldly strings strapped to sticks here.

The sound of the drums is natural, and the bass creates a liquid groove over which the guitars do their thing. The sound of those strings being plucked is so pleasing - it’s not unlike blues but without the regular scales that we’re used to listening to. It’s wonderful to hear natural talent and performance unfettered by modern gimmicks. This is the best use of technology in music, using state-of-the-art equipment to capture the sound of a band really going for it in a natural environment.

There are few, if any, weak tracks here, but I enjoyed the opener, “Cler Achel”, which is as good an advert for the album that you’ll get, and the closer “Izarharh Tenere” is a lovely slower piece. “”Ahimana” is hypntotic – it starts off with the vocalist sounding like he’s struggling to swallow some thick porridge, but it seen settles into a hypnotic groove with a local choir providing the backing. The bass and wah-wah on “Assouf” are particularly good.

A great choice from @threespires, clearly assisted by @Coatigan, and a comfortable 8/10.
 
RobMCFC said:
Aman Iman - Tinariwen

You can’t really go wrong with this album. Once you accept the vocals in a foreign language and go with the flow, it’s easy to get lost in the rhythms and melodies on offer. Most of the songs have a groove that you’d associate with African music, but the prominence of the guitar gives it a little more fizz.

The production is unfussy and lets the natural sound of the instruments shine. Looking on the album’s Wikipedia page, it seems that we have the regular array of guitars on offer, but it wouldn’t surprise me if there’s a few other-worldly strings strapped to sticks here.

The sound of the drums is natural, and the bass creates a liquid groove over which the guitars do their thing. The sound of those strings being plucked is so pleasing - it’s not unlike blues but without the regular scales that we’re used to listening to. It’s wonderful to hear natural talent and performance unfettered by modern gimmicks. This is the best use of technology in music, using state-of-the-art equipment to capture the sound of a band really going for it in a natural environment.

There are few, if any, weak tracks here, but I enjoyed the opener, “Cler Achel”, which is as good an advert for the album that you’ll get, and the closer “Izarharh Tenere” is a lovely slower piece. “”Ahimana” is hypntotic – it starts off with the vocalist sounding like he’s struggling to swallow some thick porridge, but it seen settles into a hypnotic groove with a local choir providing the backing. The bass and wah-wah on “Assouf” are particularly good.

A great choice from @threespires, clearly assisted by @Coatigan, and a comfortable 8/10.
Click to expand...
When you say state of the art equipment, electric guitars and amps, wired to their jeep battery ;).
 
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First listen this morning on what turned out to be quite a serene drive into work. No doubt aided by this album.
The groove was there all the way through and that perhaps meant that I missed out on much of the variety across the tracks.
I did ponder on the trance almost dance nature of it but also did think about the singing....
RobMCFC said:
it starts off with the vocalist sounding like he’s struggling to swallow some thick porridge
Click to expand...
I thought that perhaps some of the vocals were not as smooth as the overall vibe. I'm sure this will be a grower though.
 
I'll start off by giving this a 10. Why?
Because this particular album, is My - Sule Skerry.

To paraphrase Bimbo, for those that don't get or remember the reference, it is an album that means something particular to me. It is of a time, of a place, and of a journey. It invokes specific memories, visuals, a sense of pace and mood, and a story.

None of which spires could have known obviously, and had he picked any of their other 14 albums, I would have skipped the story, and just focused on the music. However given it is this specific one he happened to have picked, why the hell not include it!

This nomination comes almost exactly 20 years since I first heard this album. Or rather, some version of this album. In this context, with this scenery

The cars give a sense of scale, and that was how I first heard this album, in one of those cars.

The how why where, is not really imprtant, the mood is. They were really into their Raï music there at that particular time. I don't particularly dislike it per se, it is an entertaining enough form of music with some merit I guess, but pretty much everywhere I went seem to play bloody (Cheb) Khaled. If you don't know wtf I'm on about, think of that 'Desert Rose Ilehie-lei' song Sting did with (Cheb) Mami, when they were trying to push Raï to sell in the west, and Sting was doing, well what Sting always does, exploring shit. Imagine that. Everywhere! Cafes, shops, the lot. All the time!

So this particular journey, the long bus to the starting point, also played Khaled. By starting point, I mean the end of the road. Like, literally. The road physically just ended, not at a destination, or a car park or a point or junction. Just stopped, as if it had ran out. There, you got picked up by a 4x4, and away you go. Cross your heart and hope for the best, your man would maybe say his bismillah, and off you went into the total unknown.

Once in the car, there was very little, if any, chat. The driver dude spoke no english. Any pidgin arabic I might have attempted, would have been pointless anyway, as he was a proud Berber and would likely not have engaged. I would love to see a bird's eye view of how they drove, and what directions they took. Ther was no satnav back then. There were definitely no roads. Or tracks. And if there were, they soon disappeared with the shifting sands. They also seemed to defy physics, how a car can get up, and down a dune like that, you wouldn't think possible. As far as I could see, he had no compas anywhere visible. Or map. He just drove, and seemed to know where he was going. How, still can't work that out. They did travel in a group, of sorts, as you could at times see the other cars that set off with you in the distance, heading in roughly the same direction. But they would also disappear out of view for ages, and till they suddenly reappeared behind a dune, I would think, here we go, we are lost.

To get to the point, shortly after setting off, the driver put on the car cd player (fuck all radio to catch there). And it was, you guessed it, this album. Or some version of it. Pleasantly surprised it wasn't Khaled, started to embrace the tunes, the pace, and the scenery.

My love for the desert rock scene of the US already was well established at that point, so the more I took this in, the more I liked it and was intrigued. As pointed out, while it felt very of its context, and foreign to me, that familiarity was actually very comforting, in said context.

At one point I tried to engage, and jokingly pointed at the speaker, did an impression of air guitar riffing, and asked 'Brant Björk'? Suggesting, in my mind, that the guitar sounded like Brant's. He gave me a thumbs up. Without even glancing sideways at me. Unable to work out whether that was a polite shut the fuck up thumbs up or not, I said no more. When the album ended, he opened his glove compartment and pointed at CDs, assuming he was offering to change it. Mostly because I was enjoying it, and partly because I was worried one of them might be bloody Khaled, I shook my head and spun my forefinger, he got the message, and played it again. I used the chance to ask the name of the band together with rotating hand gesture, but fucked if I understood what he said. Partly, because well as seen from the clues round, it is a complex name anyway. And partly as wore his shawl wrapped around tlhis face. Which, as I learned, is actually pretty damn useful. Particularly when you have your window wide open so you can stick your arm out which h seemed the obligatory way to drive. Despite sand flying in your face (gives a whole new meaning to the album having grit), and the wind actually being hotter than what the temperature of the car might be. But whatever, I'm not one to fuss, I was more busy trying not to scrape my scalp on the rusty metal on the car soffit poking through the torn leather lining anyway! I didn't catch the name, but wasn't going to chance asking him to repeat it, so embraced the mystery, and carried on enjoying it. I don't know how many times we played the album on repeat, but it was a long journey and definitely more than 3. Didn't mind one bit though, in fact, the more I listened to it, the more I felt I liked it.

Eventually, our destination, an oasis, started to appear in the distance. Not the band, an actual one.

When we got there, I got out of the car, thanked him, and waved goodbye. As I was walking away, he shouted me over to his wide open window, arm still hanging out. Assuming I left something in the car, I went back. He proceeded to eject the cd, and hand it over to me through the window. No case, no sleeve or booklet with it, just, there, a burning hot cd out the player into your hands, in the middle of the fucking desert. I tried to offer him money for it, but could tell it was risking offending him, so I bowed my head gracefully, and that was that. Off he drove back, and I wrapped the cd in a spare t-shirt to stop it getting scratched (or melted), and popped it into my backpack.

The oasis had a tuareg campsite where we stayed. And had tea, and food with them etc. The bread was baked straight in the sand covered by ashes from the fire for the cold bight - yep, 'it had grit'! And the experience of the album and the groove and simplistic melody that got stuck in my head, was only further enhanced by the setting. Particularly when they played the drums and rhythms and chanting, and women did their rapid R-L-L-ing thing. All became a real mood in its own right, reflective of a pace and place. And a part of me kept thinking, what a gem that will be to take back to the UK!

Back in the UK, I still had no fucking clue what the band were called. It was a home-burnt cd, and all it said on it was 'Sony'. Fml. And back then, you couldn't just shezam this shit on a misic match app. Google obviously did exist, but I was hitting nothing.

But, I enjoyed listening to it regardless, played the cd for my circle of friends who were all into Kyuss and that branch of music. We had some right good times with it, and drunken discussions when questioned, what if it really IS Brant Bjork on the guitar, how would you ever know otherwise. What if the thumbs up was actually a 'gued guess'. Etc.

A couple of years later, amongst the pages of a brochure for a 'roots music' festival, I saw a picture (the same one off the album cover as we now know it) of a shaggy bunch in the desert. And read the description. Thought, here we go, maybe, just maybe. Heart racing, rushed straight to town to a music shop. Virgin (remember them?) didn't have it. A local small music shop did. They also had one of those headphones screwed to the wall, where you could scan a cd barcode and get a 30 second preview of key songs. I stuck them on, and, oh the joy. Bought it, got tickets to the gig, and loved it. Brought back the menories, grit and all. Saw them live again as they do tend to come here every so often.

Anyway, that's that. Re the music. Brought back some great memories, forced me to dig up old pictures that my kids have never actually seen. So thanks for that, truly. One day I'll do an attic tidy and try find the actual cd.

The rest has kind of been said already. Adding western instruments to middle eastern music (or vice versa) was nothing new. Page and Plant did it a few years earlier with their own trip to the desert, on the No Quarter project. Really well too! Sting did it. These guys flipped it. I like it, works well, adds the familiar that belfry says our brains reward. It creates a mood, which I find lingers. The singing, the lyrics meanung nothing, all that I take as part of it all. Was more than happy to listen to it again, and enjoyed the week.
 
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Coatigan said:
I'll start off by giving this a 10. Why?
Because this particular album, is My Sule Skerry.

To paraphrase Bimbo, for those that don't get or remember the reference, it is an album that means something particular to me. It is of a time, of a place, and of a journey. It invokes specific memories, visuals, a sense of pace and mood, and a story.

None of which spires could have known obviously, and had he picked any of their other 14 albums, I would have skipped the story, and just focused on the music. However given it is this specific one he happened to have picked, why the hell not include it!

This nomination comes almost exactly 20 years since I first heard this album. Or rather, some version of this album. In this context, with this scenery:

View attachment 161285

The cars give a sense of scale, and that was how I first heard this album, in one of those cars.

The how why where, is not really imprtant, the mood is. They were really into their Raï music there at that particular time. I don't particularly dislike it per se, it is an entertaining enough form of music with some merit I guess, but pretty much everywhere I went seem to play bloody (Cheb) Khaled. If you don't know wtf I'm on about, think of that 'Desert Rose Ilehie-lei' song Sting did with (Cheb) Mami, when they were trying to push Raï to sell in the west, and Sting was doing, well what Sting always does, exploring shit. Imagine that. Everywhere! Cafes, shops, the lot. All the time!

So this particular journey, the long bus to the starting point, also played Khaled. By starting point, I mean the end of the road. Like, literally. The road physically just ended, not at a destination, or a car park or a point or junction. Just stopped, as if it had ran out. There, you got picked up by a 4x4, and away you go. Cross your heart and hope for the best, your man would maybe say his bismillah, and off you went into the total unknown.

View attachment 161287

Once in the car, there was very little, if any, chat. The driver dude spoke no english. Any pidgin arabic I might have attempted, would have been pointless anyway, as he was a proud Berber and would likely not have engaged. I would love to see a bird's eye view of how they drove, and what directions they took. Ther was no satnav back then. There were definitely no roads. Or tracks. And if there were, they soon disappeared with the shifting sands. As far as I coukd see, he had no compas anywhere visible. Or map. He just drove, and seemed to know where he was going. How, still can't work that out. They did travel in a group, of sorts, as you could at times see the other cars that set off with you in the distance, heading in roughly the same direction. But they would also disappear out of view for ages, and till they suddenly reappeared behind a dune, I would think, here we go, we are lost.

View attachment 161289

To get to the point, shortly after setting off, the driver put on the car cd player (fuck all radio to catch there). And it was, you guessed it, this album. Or some version of it. Pleasantly surprised it wasn't Khaled, started to embrace the tunes, the pace, and the scenery.

My love for the desert rock scene of the US already was well established at that point, so the more I took this in, the more I liked it and was intrigued. As pointed out, while it felt very of its context, and foreign to me, that familiarity was actually very comforting, in said context.

At one point I tried to engage, and jokingly pointed at the speaker, did an impression of air guitar riffing, and asked 'Brant Björk'? Suggesting, in my mind, that the guitar sounded like Brant's. He gave me a thumbs up. Without even glancing sideways at me. Unable to work out whether that was a polite shut the fuck up thumbs up or not, I said no more. When the album ended, he opened his glove compartment and pointed at CDs, assuming he was offering to change it. Mostly because I was enjoying it, and partly because I was worried one of them might be bloody Khaled, I shook my head and spun my forefinger, he got the message, and played it again. I used the chance to ask the name of the band together with rotating hand gesture, but fucked if I understood what he said. Partly, because well as seen from the clues round, it is a complex name anyway. And partly as wore his shawl wrapped around tlhis face. Which, as I learned, is actually pretty damn useful. Particularly when you have your window wide open so you can stick your arm out which h seemed the obligatory way to drive. Despite sand flying in your face (gives a whole new meaning to the album having grit), and the wind actually being hotter than what the temperature of the car might be. But whatever, I'm not one to fuss, I was more busy trying not to scrape my scalp on the rusty metal on the car soffit poking through the torn leather lining anyway! I didn't catch the name, but wasn't going to chance asking him to repeat it, so embraced the mystery, and carried on enjoying it. I don't know how many times we played the album on repeat, but it was a long journey and definitely more than 3. Didn't mind one bit though, in fact, the more I listened to it, the more I felt I liked it.

Eventually, our destination, an oasis, started to appear in the distance. Not the band, an actual one.


View attachment 161291

When we got there, I got out of the car, thanked him, and waved goodbye. As I was walking away, he shouted me over to his wide open window, arm still hanging out. Assuming I left something in the car, I went back. He proceeded to eject the cd, and hand it over to me through the window. No case, no sleeve or booklet with it, just, there, a burning hot cd out the player into your hands, in the middle of the fucking desert. I tried to offer him money for it, but could tell it was risking offending him, so I bowed my head gracefully, and that was that. Off he drove back, and I wrapped the cd in a spare t-shirt to stop it getting scratched (or melted), and popped it into my backpack.

The oasis had a tuareg campsite where we stayed. And had tea, and food with them etc. The bread was baked straight in the sand covered by ashes from the fire for the cold bight - yep, 'it had grit'! And the experience of the album and the groove and simplistic melody that got stuck in my head, was only further enhanced by the setting. Particularly when they played the drums and rhythms and chanting, and women did their rapid R-L-L-ing thing. All became a real mood in its own right, reflective of a pace and place. And a part of me kept thinking, what a gem that will be to take back to the UK!

View attachment 161295



Back in the UK, I still had no fucking clue what the band were called. It was a home-burnt cd, and all it said on it was 'Sony'. Fml. And back then, you couldn't just shezam this shit on a misic match app. Google obviously did exist, but I was hitting nothing.

But, I enjoyed listening to it regardless, played the cd for my circle of friends who were all into Kyuss and that branch of music. We had some right good times with it, and drunken discussions when questioned, what if it really IS Brant Bjork on the guitar, how would you ever know otherwise. What if the thumbs up was actually a 'gued guess'. Etc.

A couple of years later, amongst the pages of a brochure for a 'roots music' festival, I saw a picture (the same one off the album cover as we now know it) of a shaggy bunch in the desert. And read the description. Thought, here we go, maybe, just maybe. Heart racing, rushed straight to town to a music shop. Virgin (remember them?) didn't have it. A local small music shop did. They also had one of those headphones screwed to the wall, where you could scan a cd barcode and get a 30 second preview of key songs. I stuck them on, and, oh the joy. Bought it, got tickets to the gig, and loved it. Brought back the menories, grit and all. Saw them live again as they do tend to come here every so often.

Anyway, that's that. Re the music. Brought back some great memories, forced me to dig up old pictures that my kids have never actually seen. So thanks for that, truly. One day I'll do an attic tidy and try find the actual cd.

The rest has kind of been said already. Adding western instruments to middle eastern music (or vice versa) was nothing new. Page and Plant did it a few years earlier with their own trip to the desert, on the No Quarter project. Really well too! Sting did it. These guys flipped it. I like it, works well, adds the familiar that belfry says our brains reward. It creates a mood, which I find lingers. The singing, the lyrics meanung nothing, all that I take as part of it all. Was more than happy to listen to it again, and enjoyed the week.
Click to expand...
Fantastic story that. I can imagine that your search for who the band was could have gone on for years - could still have been going on now! So to find it relatively quickly was very lucky.
 
RobMCFC said:
Fantastic story that. I can imagine that your search for who the band was could have gone on for years - could still have been going on now! So to find it relatively quickly was very lucky.
Click to expand...
Oh indeed. I had almost accepted it too, that it was forever just going to be 'that sony band' and a total one off. Pure chance and my general having fingers in a few musical pies that I spotted it and followed it up. Incidentally the same week of that roots festival, discovered a fun Klezmer Jazz band called Moishe's Bagel, for a tangential niche mention-recommendation for any braves out there.

I was torn between including the story or just the album review, but thought too much of a coincidence not to. Maybe broke from convention by including images, but then, a thousand words and all, and with this one did think it worthwhile for something maybe more unfamiliar to most.
 
LGWIO said:
First listen this morning on what turned out to be quite a serene drive into work. No doubt aided by this album.
The groove was there all the way through and that perhaps meant that I missed out on much of the variety across the tracks.
I did ponder on the trance almost dance nature of it but also did think about the singing....

I thought that perhaps some of the vocals were not as smooth as the overall vibe. I'm sure this will be a grower though.
Click to expand...

I'm not a great one for dance music, less still the stuff that takes pharmaceutical enhancement as a mandatory part of the scene, but I do like a certain type of groove and this stuff and related is really in that sweet spot for me. I've tried some desert ambient and organic trance and the likes of Desert Dwellers and Kalya Scintilla but it just doesn't have the same effect.
 
Coatigan said:
I was torn between including the story or just the album review, but thought too much of a coincidence not to. Maybe broke from convention by including images, but then, a thousand words and all, and with this one did think it worthwhile for something maybe more unfamiliar to most.
Click to expand...
You were absolutely right to include it all in your post. Even if you hadn't have discussed it with threespires before the selection, anybody who has a story that closely tied to an artist or album under review should not be too shy in telling us about it.

I'll remind you of the driving force behind this thread, as listed on post #1:-

However, it got me thinking: given that some of us spend a lot of time on the thread, wouldn't it be nice if we were reviewing and commenting on albums that meant something to us? Even better, we could get an insight into why an album means so much to the person who selected it.

I would suggest that even with the quality of some of the stories people have told on this thread over the years, yours is the best yet, so I hope as many of our members read it as they can.
 
Coatigan said:
I'll start off by giving this a 10. Why?
Because this particular album, is My - Sule Skerry.

To paraphrase Bimbo, for those that don't get or remember the reference, it is an album that means something particular to me. It is of a time, of a place, and of a journey. It invokes specific memories, visuals, a sense of pace and mood, and a story.

None of which spires could have known obviously, and had he picked any of their other 14 albums, I would have skipped the story, and just focused on the music. However given it is this specific one he happened to have picked, why the hell not include it!

This nomination comes almost exactly 20 years since I first heard this album. Or rather, some version of this album. In this context, with this scenery:

View attachment 161285

The cars give a sense of scale, and that was how I first heard this album, in one of those cars.

The how why where, is not really imprtant, the mood is. They were really into their Raï music there at that particular time. I don't particularly dislike it per se, it is an entertaining enough form of music with some merit I guess, but pretty much everywhere I went seem to play bloody (Cheb) Khaled. If you don't know wtf I'm on about, think of that 'Desert Rose Ilehie-lei' song Sting did with (Cheb) Mami, when they were trying to push Raï to sell in the west, and Sting was doing, well what Sting always does, exploring shit. Imagine that. Everywhere! Cafes, shops, the lot. All the time!

So this particular journey, the long bus to the starting point, also played Khaled. By starting point, I mean the end of the road. Like, literally. The road physically just ended, not at a destination, or a car park or a point or junction. Just stopped, as if it had ran out. There, you got picked up by a 4x4, and away you go. Cross your heart and hope for the best, your man would maybe say his bismillah, and off you went into the total unknown.

View attachment 161287

Once in the car, there was very little, if any, chat. The driver dude spoke no english. Any pidgin arabic I might have attempted, would have been pointless anyway, as he was a proud Berber and would likely not have engaged. I would love to see a bird's eye view of how they drove, and what directions they took. Ther was no satnav back then. There were definitely no roads. Or tracks. And if there were, they soon disappeared with the shifting sands. They also seemed to defy physics, how a car can get up, and down a dune like that, you wouldn't think possible. As far as I could see, he had no compas anywhere visible. Or map. He just drove, and seemed to know where he was going. How, still can't work that out. They did travel in a group, of sorts, as you could at times see the other cars that set off with you in the distance, heading in roughly the same direction. But they would also disappear out of view for ages, and till they suddenly reappeared behind a dune, I would think, here we go, we are lost.

View attachment 161289

To get to the point, shortly after setting off, the driver put on the car cd player (fuck all radio to catch there). And it was, you guessed it, this album. Or some version of it. Pleasantly surprised it wasn't Khaled, started to embrace the tunes, the pace, and the scenery.

My love for the desert rock scene of the US already was well established at that point, so the more I took this in, the more I liked it and was intrigued. As pointed out, while it felt very of its context, and foreign to me, that familiarity was actually very comforting, in said context.

At one point I tried to engage, and jokingly pointed at the speaker, did an impression of air guitar riffing, and asked 'Brant Björk'? Suggesting, in my mind, that the guitar sounded like Brant's. He gave me a thumbs up. Without even glancing sideways at me. Unable to work out whether that was a polite shut the fuck up thumbs up or not, I said no more. When the album ended, he opened his glove compartment and pointed at CDs, assuming he was offering to change it. Mostly because I was enjoying it, and partly because I was worried one of them might be bloody Khaled, I shook my head and spun my forefinger, he got the message, and played it again. I used the chance to ask the name of the band together with rotating hand gesture, but fucked if I understood what he said. Partly, because well as seen from the clues round, it is a complex name anyway. And partly as wore his shawl wrapped around tlhis face. Which, as I learned, is actually pretty damn useful. Particularly when you have your window wide open so you can stick your arm out which h seemed the obligatory way to drive. Despite sand flying in your face (gives a whole new meaning to the album having grit), and the wind actually being hotter than what the temperature of the car might be. But whatever, I'm not one to fuss, I was more busy trying not to scrape my scalp on the rusty metal on the car soffit poking through the torn leather lining anyway! I didn't catch the name, but wasn't going to chance asking him to repeat it, so embraced the mystery, and carried on enjoying it. I don't know how many times we played the album on repeat, but it was a long journey and definitely more than 3. Didn't mind one bit though, in fact, the more I listened to it, the more I felt I liked it.

Eventually, our destination, an oasis, started to appear in the distance. Not the band, an actual one.


View attachment 161291

When we got there, I got out of the car, thanked him, and waved goodbye. As I was walking away, he shouted me over to his wide open window, arm still hanging out. Assuming I left something in the car, I went back. He proceeded to eject the cd, and hand it over to me through the window. No case, no sleeve or booklet with it, just, there, a burning hot cd out the player into your hands, in the middle of the fucking desert. I tried to offer him money for it, but could tell it was risking offending him, so I bowed my head gracefully, and that was that. Off he drove back, and I wrapped the cd in a spare t-shirt to stop it getting scratched (or melted), and popped it into my backpack.

The oasis had a tuareg campsite where we stayed. And had tea, and food with them etc. The bread was baked straight in the sand covered by ashes from the fire for the cold bight - yep, 'it had grit'! And the experience of the album and the groove and simplistic melody that got stuck in my head, was only further enhanced by the setting. Particularly when they played the drums and rhythms and chanting, and women did their rapid R-L-L-ing thing. All became a real mood in its own right, reflective of a pace and place. And a part of me kept thinking, what a gem that will be to take back to the UK!

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Back in the UK, I still had no fucking clue what the band were called. It was a home-burnt cd, and all it said on it was 'Sony'. Fml. And back then, you couldn't just shezam this shit on a misic match app. Google obviously did exist, but I was hitting nothing.

But, I enjoyed listening to it regardless, played the cd for my circle of friends who were all into Kyuss and that branch of music. We had some right good times with it, and drunken discussions when questioned, what if it really IS Brant Bjork on the guitar, how would you ever know otherwise. What if the thumbs up was actually a 'gued guess'. Etc.

A couple of years later, amongst the pages of a brochure for a 'roots music' festival, I saw a picture (the same one off the album cover as we now know it) of a shaggy bunch in the desert. And read the description. Thought, here we go, maybe, just maybe. Heart racing, rushed straight to town to a music shop. Virgin (remember them?) didn't have it. A local small music shop did. They also had one of those headphones screwed to the wall, where you could scan a cd barcode and get a 30 second preview of key songs. I stuck them on, and, oh the joy. Bought it, got tickets to the gig, and loved it. Brought back the menories, grit and all. Saw them live again as they do tend to come here every so often.

Anyway, that's that. Re the music. Brought back some great memories, forced me to dig up old pictures that my kids have never actually seen. So thanks for that, truly. One day I'll do an attic tidy and try find the actual cd.

The rest has kind of been said already. Adding western instruments to middle eastern music (or vice versa) was nothing new. Page and Plant did it a few years earlier with their own trip to the desert, on the No Quarter project. Really well too! Sting did it. These guys flipped it. I like it, works well, adds the familiar that belfry says our brains reward. It creates a mood, which I find lingers. The singing, the lyrics meanung nothing, all that I take as part of it all. Was more than happy to listen to it again, and enjoyed the week.
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Fantastic story and I have to say in many ways it feels more like your nomination than mine; but I don't say that in churlish way because that was really the point of this pick that these threads are a great place for people to share 'their' music with other people to discover and enjoy and I've been a happy beneficiary of this.

Your point about how chuffed you were to, by chance, find out who they were is a nod to a bygone era and I do think that is something that we've lost. It's great that it's so much easier now to "find" things but things are that much more special when they are hard won. Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius are out of fashion these days and I don't think the world is better for it!

btw - for a moment I was tempted to simply respond to your post with "I don't think I ever told you about the time I did the IT for a Berber travel outfit and one week they were short of drivers..."
 
threespires said:
Fantastic story and I have to say in many ways it feels more like your nomination than mine; but I don't say that in churlish way because that was really the point of this pick that these threads are a great place for people to share 'their' music with other people to discover and enjoy and I've been a happy beneficiary of this.

Your point about how chuffed you were to, by chance, find out who they were is a nod to a bygone era and I do think that is something that we've lost. It's great that it's so much easier now to "find" things but things are that much more special when they are hard won. Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius are out of fashion these days and I don't think the world is better for it!

btw - for a moment I was tempted to simply respond to your post with "I don't think I ever told you about the time I did the IT for a Berber travel outfit and one week they were short of drivers..."
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While I do giggle at the running joke obscure roles you sometimes counter with, there is indeed a part of me that believes every one of them and thinks they could well be true.

'But what if it Was really Brant Bjork?'

'What if spires really did teach by the river...'

The what ifs, there is something magical in them.
 
RobMCFC said:
You were absolutely right to include it all in your post. Even if you hadn't have discussed it with threespires before the selection, anybody who has a story that closely tied to an artist or album under review should not be too shy in telling us about it.

I'll remind you of the driving force behind this thread, as listed on post #1:-

However, it got me thinking: given that some of us spend a lot of time on the thread, wouldn't it be nice if we were reviewing and commenting on albums that meant something to us? Even better, we could get an insight into why an album means so much to the person who selected it.

I would suggest that even with the quality of some of the stories people have told on this thread over the years, yours is the best yet, so I hope as many of our members read it as they can.
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Just for clarity we hadn't discussed this nomination in advance and the first time @Coatigan would have been aware of this choice was when he put 2 and 2 together after my comment on his and Belfrey's discussion on the day of nomination.

I agree his story is 100% what this thread is all about. Even if this under scores The Streets and Serpent Boy, it will have been more than worth it to find out about it.
 
threespires said:
Just for clarity we hadn't discussed this nomination in advance and the first time @Coatigan would have been aware of this choice was when he put 2 and 2 together after my comment on his and Belfrey's discussion on the day of nomination.

I agree his story is 100% what this thread is all about. Even if this under scores The Streets and Serpent Boy, it will have been more than worth it to find out about it.
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Plus while we have had pre nomination early guesses before, it may have been the first time someone posted a cloaked clue to the nominator ahead of it!

Even once I thought I twigged the band though, there was still an intrigue to which album it would be. As noted, with 14 to pick from (and I would have liked any, probably). As soon as the Zabba (the man) clue dropped, I thought here we go.
 
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