Blue Moon Playlist Review Club - Season 2 - Episode 27 - Out on blue 6 - Gone Too Soon (pg 438)

RobMCFC said:
I saw Dare supporting Europe at the Apollo, so that's a good comparison.

The Decemberists are an interesting band. The album that this track is from is not their best (IMO) - Give The Crane Wife a listen.
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Listening to that now, to take a break from The Fatima Mansions.
Really like the sound. Read up on the band. Really like this quote from Meloy, the lead singer, in the NME after the 2016 elections;

“For good or ill, the US is in the hands of idiots,” said Meloy. “I’m telling myself that this is a stress test on democracy. My great hope is that democracy will survive it, and if it doesn’t then it wasn’t really well-built to begin with. I guess we’ll see where it goes with from there. I think it’s a similar experience over there with the Brexit debacle.”

Liking what I’m hearing so far.
 
Done the first 4 tracks a few times now.Not heard of any of the four before.
A complete surprise sound wise not what I was expecting.
Sadly none of the four were my cup of tea.
In fact the first song annoyed me with the David Gilmour sounding guitar.lol
The Decemberist was the pick of the bunch for me but not sure if I will follow up in them for further listening.
 
For me it's a game of two halves Jeff. Unfortunately the first half is Middlesbrough 8 City 1 territory. The tracks by Dare and The Blessing did absolutely nothing for me. Hated the vocals on both and the Dare stuff is a genre of rock/pop music that loads of people love but I will never understand personally. What was good though was The Blessings mention of Managua which, I assume, caused Yo Mama by Frank Zappa to spring up on the subsequent autoplay list. I know hard core Zappa fans might not be that keen on Sheik Yerbouti but I quite like it.

Onto Howlin Rain, when I think of Californian psychedelic rock my first thoughts go to Love and whilst this is hardly Arthurly it's decent enough and what's not to love about a bit of Hammond organ? It makes any day a better one.

The Decemberists track I enjoyed, good telling of the Rusalka story and I enjoyed the two parts which I thought worked well together.

Not sure why Paul Kelly is embarrassed about his first album (is it as simple as the Coloured Girls name being viewed as inappropriate?) had a quick listen on YT Music and thought it was alright. He could easily have sounded like a bit of a tool with his 'time of the assassins' refrain but I reckon he (just about) gets away with it.

Definitely got better as we went through imo, 3 and 4 were my favourites but thought 5 was ok too.
 
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threespires said:
For me it's a game of two halves Jeff. Unfortunately the first half is Middlesbrough 8 City 1 territory. The tracks by Dare and The Blessing did absolutely nothing for me. Hated the vocals on both and the Dare stuff is a genre of rock/pop music that loads of people love but I will never understand personally. What was good though was The Blessings mention of Managua which, I assume, caused Yo Mama by Frank Zappa to spring up on the subsequent autoplay list. I know hard core Zappa fans might not be that keen on Sheik Yerbouti but I quite like it.

Onto Howlin Wind, when I think of Californian psychedelic rock my first thoughts go to Love and whilst this is hardly Arthurly it's decent enough and what's not to love about a bit of Hammond organ? It makes any day a better one.

The Decemberists track I enjoyed, good telling of the Rusalka story and I enjoyed the two parts which I thought worked well together.

Not sure why Paul Kelly is embarrassed about his first album (is it as simple as the Coloured Girls name being viewed as inappropriate?) had a quick listen on YT Music and thought it was alright. He could easily have sounded like a bit of a tool with his 'time of the assassins' refrain but I reckon he (just about) gets away with it.

Definitely got better as we went through imo, 3 and 4 were my favourites but thought 5 was ok too.
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Amen to the Hammond organ comment.

AOR/American rock or whatever you want to call it is not my favourite genre these days, but there are certainly some tracks that I can never tire of listening to and “Under the Sun” is one of them. We all like different stuff and I don’t know why somebody would choose to listen to Happy Monday’s or The Stone Roses than Dare or Bon Jovi but there you go :)

I think “The Coloured Girls” band name might be something to do with PK’s embarrassment.

Judging by the comments, it looks like The Decemberists are coming out top of this list.

Thanks for listening and reviewing.
 
RobMCFC said:
Judging by the comments, it looks like The Decemberists are coming out top of this list.

Thanks for listening and reviewing.
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No, thank you. I'd heard the name The Decemberists but as with lots of bands I'd not got round to listening to anything by them but now thanks to you I'm enjoying listening to their quite eclectic back catalogue, by the look of it they are good fun live too.
 
RobMCFC said:
RobMCFC – Playlist #1 – Dramatic & Moody

I’ve named my first playlist for this thread Dramatic & Moody.

Regular visitors to the music threads will know that my favourite genre is Americana, but as we’ve already had an Americana-themed playlist, I thought I’d go with something a little different.

The songs in this playlist all feature either dramatic musical changes and left turns or some moody atmospherics. The final song on the playlist is not available on Spotify (in the UK at least) so the YouTube video is included below.
  1. “Under the Sun” – Dare (1988)
  2. “Back From Managua” – The Blessing (1991)
  3. “Phantom in the Valley” – Hownlin’ Rain (2012)
  4. “Rusalka, Rusalka / The Wild Rushes” – The Decemberists (2018)
  5. “The Execution” – Paul Kelly (1986)
1. “Under the Sun” – Dare (1988)

Back in my early 20s, I did volunteer work for Radio Cavell, Oldham’s hospital radio station. I was down in the studio setting up for my show one day when I came across a signed vinyl LP by some band that I’d never heard of. It turned out that the band was Dare, a bunch of guys from Failsworth and Oldham, who were trying to make it big in the world of rock. Lead singer Darren Wharton had played keyboards in Thin Lizzy and Dare’s keyboard player was none other than Brian Cox – future TV physicist!

I love “Under the Sun” – it’s a real moody piece with guitarist Vinny Burns delivering a Comfortably Numb-esque solo.

2. “Back From Managua” – The Blessing (1991)

The Blessing had a minor radio hit in 1991 with “Highway 5”. I was on the plane to Lanzarote that summer (my first ever plane trip), reading that month’s issue of Q magazine when I came across a review of their debut album, Prince of the Deep Water. In truth, there’s a fair amount of throwaway soul/rock songs on there, but mixed in amongst them are 4 or 5 superb performances, many of which are truly atmospheric.

“Back From Managua” starts with Spanish-style guitar, finishes with pounding jungle drums and features a goosebump-inducing acceleration as the strings rise up about half-way through.


3. “Phantom in the Valley” – Howlin’ Rain (2012)

This is more of a traditional rock song from a Californian classic rock outfit, so what gets it into this list? Well, first there’s face-melting Hammond solo part-way through and then there’s the mind-boggling change of style at the end. But somehow, it just works.


4. “Rusalka, Rusalka / The Wild Rushes” – The Decemberists (2018)

In Slavic folklore, a “Rusalka” is a malicious spirit, typically feminine, who lures men into the water to their deaths. This song by The Decemberists features a brooding build-up, full of menace before exploding into life and culminating in stirring, dramatic strings. A whole story in one song.

5. “The Execution” – Paul Kelly (1986)

Whilst I’d heard of Paul Kelly, I’d never listened to his music until an Australian colleague lent me a few CDs. An Australian Springsteen is probably as a good a description as any, but whilst Kelly has written a few stirring anthems, it’s his character studies in which he presents everyday people that are his true calling card.

That said, this song is unlike anything else in his repertoire ….. and I only heard it for the first time about four months ago. For some bonkers reason, his breakthrough album, Gossip, is not available on Spotify and you can’t get it on CD via Amazon! Fortunately, it is on YouTube and this album track, which features astounding guitar work from Kelly’s late guitarist, Steve Connelly, and an impassioned vocal (partly sung on French by Kelly) is the “must-listen” track to round out this playlist.

“Voici le temps des assassins”, Kelly sings – starting with a whisper and ends up screaming it. It means “This is the time for murderers”. Nice.



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Didn't know any of the songs.

Dare are a band I've always meant to check out but never got round to. Quite like the track and the solo is Gilmouresque but not mad on Wharton's voice.

The Blessing track is my favourite of the bunch; shame you say the album is patchy.

Howlin' Rain song is enjoable.

Not a fan of The Decemnerists one.

Kelly ok.
 
OB1 said:
The Blessing track is my favourite of the bunch; shame you say the album is patchy.
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“Highway 5”, “Hurricane Room”, “Back From Managua” and “I Want You” and “Delta Rain” are all worth a listen from that album. A couple more are OK, but at least half of it isn’t great.
 
Does this change at midnight? I planned to write up tomorrow so this will probably be a rush job.

Not generally a fan of the genre represented, whatever that is although there is always an exception to the rule. When it comes to portentous or dramatic sounding rock I lean towards BOC.

I found the first four tracks, once I’d got over the shock, to be OK but no more. Dare I found a bit sixth form…

Only listened to the Paul Kelly once, from what I remember it was the most interesting but whenever I’m on YouTube I tend to get sidetracked by golf tuition and fails videos. I will listen again though.

I do find myself having high hopes for MES playlist
 
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