National Health: National Health - 1978

 

An utterly culturally incongruous release here from 1978 - some “Canterbury scene” keyboard-dominated, spacey and jazzy prog eight or nine years too late. It went down like a lead balloon at the time but has garnered considerable critical kudos since. It would have been fine in 1973, mind. 

There are bucketloads of jazzy female vocals (from one Amanda Parsons) on the lengthy, keyboard-driven rock of Tenemos Roads (shown on the CD rear cover as Thermos Roads) and also on the beguiling, beautifully jazzy and laid-back Brujo. Both these tracks are chock full of seriously good instrumental soloing. Admittedly the "la-la-la" - and sometimes scat-style  - airy backing vocals are a little irritating, but that is a small gripe, really as the music is so good that it doesn't matter so much. It genuinely rocks in a most innovative, almost avant-jazz style. 

Borogroves (Excerpt From Part Two) features some fine funky guitar and a seriously rubbery bass line. Borogroves Part One gives us some spacey keyboards along with excellent chunky riffage. Indeed they (the keyboards) abound throughout the album as do those breezy backing vocals. The fifteen minute avant-garde and experimental Elephants is very Pink Floyd-esque in places with hints of Can and Neu! too. 

In conclusion, National Health were like a more accessible, jazzy ELP, both grandiose and beautiful. They bring to mind the two great Italian seventies proggies Le Orme and Banco Del Mutuo Soccoro. I can highly recommend them as a most interesting "forgotten" oddity.

Secondary, 2 of 12

Popular posts from this blog

The Style Council: The Cost Of Loving - 1987

Image
After  the high point that was the politically-motivated Our Favourite Shop from 1985, two years later the Style Council were back with a shorter album of more polished, professional-sounding soul-funk-pop, tapping into what was now starting to be called “R 'n' B” - laid back, synth-drummy late night US-influenced radio soul.  The album was much less instant and “in your face” than its predecessor, tending to wash over you somewhat. Don't let that put you off, though, there was still some good material on here.  The two singles from the album, the soulful   Waiting   and the even more relaxing and very appealing  It Didn't Matter  are probably the unsurprisingly twin high spots.  The stark and pointed   A Woman's Song   and also   Fairy Tales   both show that Weller had not quite lost his political edge, but overall, it seemed as if he wanted to drop the political opinionating and just chill out, man. The plain orange cover seemed to exemplify that feeling too. Brig
View Full Post »

Roxy Music: Roxy Music - 1972

Image
  "Is this a recording session or a cocktail party?" - Dr. Simon Puxley Like Bryan Ferry's old friend Dr. Simon Puxley, I have always found this debut album from a band that I have loved since 1972 extremely hard to categorise, or indeed analyse, because it was just so very unique.   It was recorded in early 1972 at a time when music was populated by interpreters of the blues like Led Zeppelin, Free and The Rolling Stones, prog rock, folk rock, socially aware soul artists like Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield and, of course, glam rock.  It has to be said, however, that Roxy were as much of an influence on subsequent glam rock as it had been on them.  Into this musical zeitgeist,  Roxy Music  came from, well, nowhere, seemingly.  The opening track,  Re-Make Re-Model ,   was a fantastic start, with all the individual Roxy members taking solos in Bryan Ferry’s ode to a car number plate ( CPL 593H ). This track just sort of summed up what early Roxy were all about - exciting,
View Full Post »

Meat Loaf: Back Into Hell: Bat Out Of Hell II - 1993

Image
  Good Lord above, I had missed  Meat Loaf . After two great albums in  Bat Out Of Hell  and  Dead Ringer  and a proxy album in madcap composer  Jim Steinman 's  Bad For Good , there had only been three underwhelming albums since 1981 as poor old Meat floundered without Steinman's pseudo-operatic and magnificent, glorious input. It was all back as it should be here, though, with long songs full of the grandiose, semi-ludicrous bombast that had been missing. Only Meat Loaf and Steinman could pull this sort of thing off. Humour, yearning, lusty sexuality all wrapped up in over-the-top theatricality. You either like it or you don't.   Beginning with some typically Steinman-arranged piano, the lengthy build up to   I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)   leaves the listener in no doubt that, after all those fallow years, Meat Loaf and Steinman were back - and how. The song is, like  For Crying Out Loud  from the original  Bat Out Of Hell  album, a number in two
View Full Post »

Golden Earring: Moontan - 1973

Image
This was Dutch rockers Golden Earring's ninth album (yes, ninth!). It is, thus far, the only one I am familiar with. Certain records instantly bring up a certain time in my memory bank. Radar Love by Golden Earring is one of those. Whenever I hear it, it is the autumn of 1973 again and what a track it was too. More of that later. In the meantime, we have an album to discuss. I remember the album, as is so often the case, from idly flicking through sleeves in record shops on a Saturday morning (I loved the sexy cover, of course) but it is only now that I have come to pay it due respectful attention. It's a good album. Containing only six songs, it is a strange hybrid of riffy, driving rock, ambient prog passages and all out poppy rock. That is not to say that it is not enjoyable, however, and several listens have found me really getting into it. Seventies Dutch bands - Golden Earring or Focus? It's got to be Barry Hay and his mates.... Beginning with a fine piece of wah-wah-
View Full Post »

John Mellencamp: Scarecrow - 1985

Image
From 1985, this was  John Mellencamp 's powerful blue collar statement. It was arguably his finest album although there is a paper-thin difference between it and  Uh-Huh . This one probably just edges it due to slightly more variety, musically, in the compositions. It plays as a pretty cohesive album.   Rain On The Scarecrow  is a brooding and blistering protest song in support of Mid-Western farmers. The crackly old  Grandma's Theme  is pretty superfluous but I guess it sort of leads into the power of  Small Town ,  which  is classic Mellencamp - I don't really need to say that it has great riffs, acoustic and electric guitars in tandem, social comment and a killer vocal. This was what he was all about and I'm buying into it, that's for sure - I'd forgotten just how good some of this stuff was.  Minutes To Memories   is blue-collar rock by numbers, but it is still a fine track, with a strong vocal and hook. Mellencamp spits out his invective against the system
View Full Post »

Phil Spector: Phil Spector's Greatest Hits

Image
An essential collection of early 60s rock 'n' roll Heaven here. No question about it.   The classics simply don’t stop.  Ronnie Spector ’s timeless voice on  Be My Baby   and  Baby I Love You   still sends shivers down my spine and always will. Then there is  Darlene Love ’s vocal on  He’s A Rebel  and  LaLa Brook s on  Da Doo Ron Ron  and  Then He Kissed Me .   The Righteous Brothers '  You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'  and  Unchained Melody .  The bottom line is that these are simply some of the best pure pop records you will ever hear. Is there a better intro than that on  Baby I Love You  - and when  Ronnie 's  "whoh-oh"  comes in, I am almost in tears every time. Not quite, but you know what I mean. Just wonderful. One of the best records ever made. Period.   There’s more -  Uptown ,  Not Too Young To Get Married ,  He’s Sure The Boy I Love , Do I Love You,  There’s No Other Like My Baby ,  The Best Part Of Breaking Up  and  Ronnie 's heart
View Full Post »

Miles Davis: Sketches Of Spain - 1960

Image
This was an interesting project and makes for a satisfying listen, either in full, or dipping into it. Despite its obvious worth, I I have to admit to preferring Rodrigo's original Spanish guitar composition of the lead-off music, which was just so atmospheric. Davis's interpretation is undoubtedly a fine one too, I'm not disputing that in any way. This is a landmark, high stature album. There is still plenty to get enthused about on here, though, notably the flamenco meets jazz pastiche of Will O' The Wisp - building on A Kind Of Blue's Flamenco Sketches - and the very Spanish classical influences of The Pan Piper. Both of these are comparatively shorter numbers, but are nonetheless appealing for it. The second of the album's lengthy twin bookends - which began with the sixteen-minute Concierto D'Aranjuez - was Gil Evan's subtly grandiose Solea. Get a load of the infectiously rhythmic trumpet and drums bit around 2:17 onwards - seriously good music. I&#
View Full Post »

Humble Pie: Eat It - 1973

Image
It was the seventies, so what did everyone release? Exactly. A double album. This was the Pie's double header. I won't go into a track-by-track analysis, (double albums tend to have that effect on me!) but suffice to say the album is Humble Pie's best-sounding one thus far, full of deep, warm bass and a lot of Steve Marriott's afore-mentioned soulful instincts coming to the fore. It is not as blatantly heavy as Smokin', featuring a bit more subtlety and craftsmanship on many of the songs.  As always with their albums, they start well, with two bluesy boogie rockers in  Get Down To It  and the superbly-titled  Good Booze And Bad Women  before going soulful on the slow-pace rock/soul ballad  Is It For Love?  These are followed by the top notch riffing of  Drugstore Cowboy , which features a beautifully rumbling bassline, and the impressive flinty blues rock of  Black Coffee . The descriptions of these songs are probably enough to give an accurate flavour of the album&
View Full Post »

Nazareth: Hair Of The Dog - 1975

Image
This was the last in the run of four excellent  Nazareth  albums in the seventies. It was their most successful, commercially.  Originally, it was to be titled "son of a bitch", after the hook line on the title track, but US censors objected to that, puritanically. Even the track itself had its title changed in the same way.   Deep Purple 's  Roger Glover  was no longer on production duties, but the sound is pretty much the same - hard rock but with an ear for a killer pop chorus and elements of folk here and there. Overall, though, it is more heavy and less pop-rock than their previous offerings.  Hair Of The Dog   is a magnificent opener, kicking off with a Honky Tonk Women cowbell before a big, chunky riff and Dan McCafferty's gravelly voice arrive. The chorus -  "now you're messin' with a son of a bitch"  is irresistible.  Miss Misery  is a classic, industrial-strength heavy rocker, with  Deep Purple -esque guitar and a soaring vocal.   Guilty  i
View Full Post »

Paul Weller: 66 - 2024

Image
Paul Weller was once  described as a "spokesman for a generation", bristling with a cynical, youthful ire, singing of "youth explosion" and "golden faces under twenty-five". Life is a drink and you get drunk when you're young, he told us, joyfully. He even scathingly referred to a man who was now "bald and fat" - finished, basically. Weller's "young and full of ideas" world didn't need the old or the experienced. It was for the young and that was it. Well, guess what, the years have passed (I should know, I'm 65 as I write this) and Weller has named his album in wryly amusing Adele style "66", referencing his now venerable age. He now speaks (on A Glimpse Of You) of finding a peaceful old wooden bench to sit on for reflection as he shuffles through a gloriously blooming garden in May, contemplating his mortality in true Bob Dylan fashion. He is now a spokesman for the realistic, sensitive and appreciative old.
View Full Post »