Howling At The Moon - The Punk Panther's Album Reviews

After a long-time sufferation of Cale confusion, I have finally sorted out the difference between ex-Velvet Underground Welshman John Cale and Oklahoma-born country bluesman J. J. Cale. I have reviewed albums by both of them, but it is the ones by the blueser that I prefer, by far.   This was his 1971 debut album. Call Me The Breeze ain't nothin' like Lynyrd Skynyrd's now more famous cover of it, no sir. It rolls and rocks in laid-back country style, a style that Eric Clapton would make a mid-end of the seventies career out of too. An interesting piece of trivia is that apparently it was recorded with an early type of drum machine, giving it that disinctive homemade feel. Indeed the whole album carries that ambience, a bit like Bonne Raitt's debut from the same year. The tracks are all relatively short and downhome in their vibe, only two of them top three minutes.  Even more sleepy is the slow country blues of Call T he Doctor and Don't Go To Stangers doesn't b...

I am not too familiar with the post-Velvet Underground work of Welsh musician John Cale (not to be confused with blueser J.J. Cale). It is said that this 1973 album is his most accessible, and possibly his best. I'm not sure I agree with the accessibility thing, however. I find it most obscure.  It is said to be influenced by The Beach Boys late sixties/early seventies work, along with that of Procol Harum. It definitely has that clever, artiness about it, both lyrically and in its heavy orchestration. Literary and historical references abound too. There is a bit of Al Stewart about it in that respect. It is all a bit too proggy for my liking, though. I have classified it as prog, because it doesn't convince me that it is either rock or folk. So, prog it has to be then. The album suffers a little from a bit from a murky production, but it is a thought-provoking piece of work.  Child's Christmas In Wales is an odd opener, as it is so seasonally relevant. Although it is not a...

Donny Hathaway's final album,  is, on the surface, a strange, concept-ish mix of orchestral instrumental (I Love The Lord, He Heard My Cry), jaunty, funky-jazz instrumental (Valdez In The Country), gritty Blaxploitation brass soul-funk (The Slums - best track on the album - and Come Little Children), smooth late night soul (I Know It's You), classic gospel soul (I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know) and Broadway-style show fare (Magdelena). Love, Love, Love and Lord Help Me are both gospelly goodies too.  It is a Sgt. Pepper-ish chocolate box of an album that requires several listens (they work too, as its considerable hidden depths get revealed) and it clearly stands out as his most adventurous piece of work, taking soul music to another level in Stevie Wonder fashion.  I can certainly see its appeal and why it is rated as his meisterwerk , but it has a surprising lack of cohesion, for me, as it flits from one style to another with each song. This somewhat nit-picking g...

The group's third album was a good one and it was notable for featuring Davey Johnstone on guitar, who would join Elton John's band later the same year. The album begins with the very Simon & Garfunkel-ish the Bridge At Knaresborough Town, an atmospheric, haunting folk song that brings to mind Scarborough Fair as well as The Byrds' He Was A Friend Of Mine. We get what sounds like a sitar solo on here, mid-song.   White Snow Dove is what is by now archetypal Magna Carta - an harmonious, folky, acoustic offering enhanced by some flute and Elizabethan-sounding keyboards. Parliament Hill is a marvellous serving of rhythmic early seventies groovy UK folk. Love it, even though parts of its rhythm are decidedly Mrs. Robinson. It still has its own identity. I first heard it on a compilation of UK folky numbers.  Wayfaring is a soft number notable for one of those lovely warm basslines. Down Along Up is also very folky, but more upbeat and breezy. It has a most winsome ba...

The band's seeming desire to bring Indian music to the forefront of our collective consciousness and merge it with psychedelic freakouts and prog rock was to be admired. After all, their heart was in the right place, but it also was done without any hint of irony and therefore it all sounds like a period piece, something from a hippy museum, gathering dust. The potential that a track like Notting Hill Gate had shown was, to a certain extent, thrown away on parts of this album. I have to say that I much prefer the group's debut to this one. I feel that they had something there but by this one they had probably taken too many drugs.... The band's second album kicks off with the ludicrously-pompous and über-haughty Jesus, Buddha, Moses, Guaranga . In many way this is mock-classical early seventies prog rock at its worst but it is saved by its psychedelic chutzpah and excellent percussion sound.  The proggy vibes were a lot more apparent on this album than they had been on its...

Released only six months after the beautifully industrial post punk strains of  The Idiot ,  Iggy Pop  was back with  David Bowie  again, this time adding the  Sales  brothers,  Tony  and  Hunt , on bass and drums, who would go on to form  Tin Machine  with Bowie.  There were still dark themes running through the album, but it is considered more of an Iggy Pop creation than a Bowie one. The Idiot had been seen as a Bowie album with Pop on guest vocals. Furthermore, this album is far more rock-oriented and "in your face" than the previous one. The sound, like on The Idiot, remains scratchy and gritty (words that often get used in describing the songs on both albums), but it sort of suits both the albums.  The cover is a departure from the monochrome one of The Idiot which featured a demented-looking Pop. This time we were greeted with a smiling, healthy-looking Pop appearing not unlike Liverpool's  Kenny Dalglish ...