Willie Nile: Places I Have Never Been - 1991

By

Ten years since his previous release, Willie Nile was back, and what a corker of an album he gave us.

From the very first notes of the title track, with its total killer of a riff, you feel you are in for a treat. The track is another Nile track that puts me in mind of other songs/artists/bands. Here, there is something of nineties BritPop band Sleeper about it, especially on the chorus and its descending guitar line. Nile's vocal even sounds vaguely like Louise Wener's. Sorry Willie!

More fine riffage is found on Rite Of Spring, another one that sounds very nineties in its retro-jangly guitar sound. Once more, its lyrics are great, the riffs are great and the song is irresistibly catchy. I can't get enough of this one. Excellent stuff. Oh, and the sound is so much better on this album. Nile is reaching a peak with this superb release. This is further exemplified by another copper-bottomed rousing number in Heaven Help The Lonely that finds our Willie doing his best Bono - listen to that "woo-woo" vocal refrain. So very Bono, isn't it?

Tom Petty has always been an influence and that is certainly the case on the effervescent rock of Café Memphis, a track that has some very Dylanesque lyrics. It will be very boring to hear me say that this is another excellent track but it's the plain truth of it. 

Can it get any better? You betcha! What a wonderful rock mid-pacer Yesterday's Dreams is. Willie just had something with songs like this. Check out that violin in the backing too. There's something a bit Waterboys about this. That Celtic feel.

Everybody Needs A Hammer is just an infectious serving of country hoedown/rockabilly fun. It has that get up and dance Cajun vibe to it. Renegades is also top notch but in a different way - packed full of uplifting, intriguing lyrics and another melody that just grabs you by the balls and keeps its grip firm. I can't stress enough just what a great song this is. it is a problem when reviewing albums that I really like, I just have to praise everything.

The Byrds meet new wave on the poppy jangle of Don't Die. Breakdown is not the Tom Petty song from 1976 but it actually sounds like it could be from Petty anyway, with its electric/acoustic backing. Time for another Willie classic? Comin' right up - Children Of Paradise. This puts me in mind of Bruce Springsteen's slew of tracks that he rejected from his sessions for the River in 1979-80. 

Are you saving the best for last, Willie? It seems like it when I hear the attractive refrain of That's Enough For Me. Just brilliant stuff. Enough said. A quality album all over. Every track. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Joni Mitchell: Don Juan's Reckless Daughter - 1977

By
Image
  This was a somewhat sprawling, very experimental acquired taste of a double album here from Joni. It was made so, to a great extent, by the side long and possibly indulgent (only in places, I might add) of  Paprika Plains , which is probably eight or so minutes too long, at sixteen of them. I love the superb rock drums and clarinet bit fourteen minutes in though! Knock eight minutes off and you have a great track. Mitchell said of it - "....the Improvisational, the spontaneous aspect of this creative process – still as a poet – is to set words to the music, which is a hammer and chisel process. Sometimes it flows, but a lot of times it's blocked by concept. And if you're writing free consciousness – which I do once in a while just to remind myself that I can, you know, because I'm fitting little pieces of this puzzle together – the end result must flow as if it was spoken for the first time...." Ok, now I get it, Joni 😕 Other than this, the music largely contin
View Full Post »

The Beatles: My Top Ten Singles

By
Image
As with my "Red Album" review, before progressing to the album, a little background for you.... I have always had a strange relationship with The Beatles. On the one hand, aged about five, I owned a plastic Beatles guitar, so they were the first musical memory I had, along with a vague knowledge of Elvis. A lot of their output was easy for a young child to sing - the puerile "she loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah" was probably the first I learnt, to the frustration of my parents, who hated me saying "yeah" instead of "yes" . The accursed Yellow Submarine was number one in primary school playgrounds all over the country. In the mid sixties, The Beatles were simply everywhere, even for five-six year old kids like me. On the other hand, as the years went by and I started to develop a musical taste, I found the edgy, bad boy, rebellious appeal of The Rolling Stones far more attractive. Even at eight or nine, I viewed The Beatles as "goody-goodies&
View Full Post »

The Complete Motown Singles Collection Vol. 2: 1962

By
Image
This compilation is not jam-packed full of typically Motown material, as the subsequent volume are, but it is crammed with early sixties diner/fairground/milk bar atmosphere - part soul, part r 'n' b, part gospel, part rock 'n' roll, part doo-wop. As soon as I started listening to disc one and found it was just a real pleasure - each track was vibrant and so evocative. The Beatles will have loved listening to this material in the early sixties and the influence on their first two albums in particular is clear to hear. There is some jazz on here too, as Berry Gordy liked his jazz and was keen to release it on his label and blues too, from the excellent Singin' Sammy Ward (surely Van Morrison must have been listening to him - check out Part Time Love ).  The big hitters, however, are very much Mary Wells, The Marvelettes, The Contours and a young (Little) Stevie Wonder, appearing here with his first single and two more. We got a second cheesy single from would-be croo
View Full Post »

The Cure: Three Imaginary Boys - 1979

By
Image
I never really got into The Cure. I knew a few singles and I think I saw them live, sharing the bill with Wire, but I can't quite remember.  Their seemingly impenetrable brand of dark-clad post punk just wasn't really my thing. I much preferred the energy and fist-pumping of punk. However I have delved into quite a bit of their stuff here.  Anyway, this was their debut album, from May 1979, and, although it went unnoticed by me at the time, it stands as one of the full-on post punk trail blazers - stabbing guitar riffs, rubbery bass lines, metronomic drums and a vocal full of ennui. Their temperamental, precious singer Robert Smith was never happy with the album, apparently, and it was compiled without his consent. That sort of added to the intrigue that surrounded this mysterious group. Their music, however, was often more listenable than one may have imagined .  There  is also an appealing rough and ready sound to this album. I should have give it more attention back in 1979,
View Full Post »

Mary Wells: The Definitive Collection

By
Image
Mary  Wells was one of the first artists to be successful on the Motown label and she laid huge foundations for groups like Diana Ross & The Supremes and Martha & The Vandellas to follow.  Mary had a strong and versatile voice and her biggest hit, My Guy , is by no means representative of her material overall. She also, perhaps unadvisedly, left Motown in 1964-65 over a contract dispute and her career never recovered, which was a crying shame.  I have covered this compilation plus a few extra tracks that I have as well. I'll begin with the gritty bluesy upbeat soul of  Bye Bye Baby  as this is a song that finds Mary's voice far more growly, earthy and robust than it was on a love song like  My Guy . Tragically, this throaty voice contributed to her early death, aged just 49.  My Guy  is an all-time classic, of course, full of great brass and a totally irresistible rhythm. I love that bass-vocal interplay bit at the end.  Some early rarities are  Guarantee (For A Lifetim
View Full Post »

The Cure: Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me - 1987

By
Image
What's this? A double album? Had The Cure gone all prog rock? For me, and probably many others, a double album of The Cure may seem a little off-putting. However, this offering contains easily enough variety to offset that, although it is still too damn long (I'm just not a fan of double albums).  It is, though, The Cure's most carefree and enjoyable album, by far.  The Kiss  is thumping and robust while  Catch  is plaintively melodic.  If Only   Tonight We Could Sleep  is an Eastern-influenced slow number complete with sitar, as if George Harrison and his mates had come into the studio.  Why Can't I Be You?  is a Love Cats-ish jaunty, brassy number and  How Beautiful Are You  is full of blaring horns and saxophones. Is this really The Cure? Why,  Hot Hot Hot !!!  even finds them going deliciously funky.  The Snakepit  is catchy and Smiths-esque in that mid-late eighties jangly guitar style.  Icing Sugar  sounds like early Roxy Music in places, with its saxophone sound.
View Full Post »

Paul Weller: Paul Weller - 1992

By
Image
Paul Weller, in The Jam, The Style Council and as a solo artist has been a big part of my life since 1977. Does his seemingly unpredictable, sometimes unduly taciturn personality (as far as I can gather, I may be wrong) appeal to me? No, not particularly. Does he as a songwriter, performer and musician gain my total admiration and respect? Absolutely 100%.  I have so much time for all his work, and that is what matters the most, as I'm sure he himself would agree. It's about the music. I like his innate sense of style too, along with his somewhat surprising sensitivity as expressed in some of his lyrics. He is a complex, driven man, nobody's lip servant, and that is what helps to make him a great artist.   Here's his excellent debut album - one that probably still remains my favourite of his solo releases. After a nearly four year hiatus  following the failure of The Style Council’s venture into house music with 1989’s  Modernism: A New Decade  and the subsequent split
View Full Post »

Madonna: True Blue - 1986

By
Image
  By 1986,  Madonna  was a mega-star and this was a megastar's album, packed full of hit singles (five), like a  Michael Jackson  offering.  Like  Prince  albums at the time, the album, musically, was drenched in keyboard riffs and electronic programmed  rhythms, something that always irritated me somewhat. It was a time in music that didn't really appeal to me, not being a programmed sound fan. That said, though, the songs are all so overflowing with hooks that it sort of gets forgotten, even by me. The album doesn't stick to one style, and shows Madonna's increasing willingness to delve into various genres and influences in her songs. Within its basic pop framework it is actually quite a creative album.  Papa Don't Preach  was an anti-abortionists' dream, as Madonna defiantly told grumpy old Papa that she had made up her mind and she was going to keep her baby. As with all her hit singles by now, it was supremely hooky and, of course, it was extremely popular
View Full Post »

Talking Heads: More Songs About Buildings And Food - 1978

By
Image
  This, Talking Heads' second album ,  was somewhat similar in style and conception to the band’s well-received debut album from the year before, but with subtle differences. There was a slightly more perceivable danceability to the music compared to the starkness of the debut album. Bassist Tina Weymouth and drummer Chris Frantz are more to the fore. Notably, ex Roxy Music member Brian Eno was now the producer.  Highlights  are the short, frenetic opener  Thank You For Sending Me An Angel , with its invigorating drum intro and Byrne’s soaring vocal, the heady and funky  Warning Sign  (again featuring a great drum intro), the energetic  The Girls Want To Be With The Girls  and the somewhat hyper (again!), breathless funky rock of  Stay Hungry . The roots of some of the Remain In Light material can be heard on this track's fade out.  Also very enjoyable is the fabulously funky guitar intro to   With  Our Lov e  - and the superb backing bass too.  The Good Thing  has a catchy voc
View Full Post »

Fairport Convention: Liege And Lief - 1969

By
Image
  Fairport Convention ’s most “folk rock” album , from 1969, in that it used traditional British and Celtic ballads (in the way that Steeleye Span were to subsequently do) far more on this album than on the previous three, which did, of course, have their folky moments, but also had blues rock influences and had several Bob Dylan covers floating around.   This album was ground-breaking, though, it led the way for the likes of Steeleye Span (who would soon feature Ashley Hutchings from Fairport), Pentangle and Fotheringay (who would feature Fairport’s vocalist Sandy Denny).  From the first track, the rousing  Come All Ye , this is very much folk rock all the way - fiddles, drums and electric guitars merging perfectly, topped off by  Sandy Denny ’s soaring voice. It also has some excellent rock guitar bits on it.  Reynardine  is beautiful - a haunting vocal against a stark, atmospheric guitar and keyboard and lone cymbal backing.   Matty Groves   is a traditional, tragic ballad concernin
View Full Post »