Birthday Boy. . . . .

Happy Birthday Angus Young, AC/DC livewire, 55 years young today!

The Verve Urban Hymns - An Inspired 90's Classic

I was about to begin by labelling this album a modern classic. That was before realising it is over thirteen years since it was released! How time gets away. Regardless, this is a record that will forever stand the test of time. It is one of the last albums to revolve around four big single releases, and has been met with unanimous critical praise ever since. It was awarded the Brit Award for Best Album Of The Year in 1998, was the first ever inductee into the Q Classic Album Hall Of Fame, and was voted the 16th Greatest Album Of All Time by Q Magazine. It is a career defining moment for songwriter Richard Ashcroft, who reunited the band in 2008 to headline Glastonbury. When you're short of a record that you know everybody will like, Urban Hymns is always a great choice - triumphant and upstanding in any company. A landmark in 90's Popular Culture that, in my opinion, shits all over Oasis. A genuine British masterpiece.

Bitter Sweet Symphony - to this day The Verve's most successful single - is an instant classic if ever I've heard one. Performed by the Andrew Loog Oldham Orchestra, and written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, the score to this track stood alone untouched for years before Richard Ashcroft got his creative mitts on it and wrote a lyric. The finished product is definitely a contender for single of the 90's. If that wasn't enough of a ass-kicking opening, the album rolls into Sonnet, another of the four big singles, and one of the outstanding examples of Ashcroft's songwriting on Urban Hymns. The Rolling People is Zeppy in many ways, perhaps with an element of U2 ala the Achtung Baby era. If that isn't enough of a comparison to wet the lips, I suggest you take up crown green bowls. The Drugs Don't Work is a somewhat melancholy, moralistic rant from former junkie Ashcroft, but an endearing message cannot fail to creep through. Four songs in and you know you've definitely got some record on your hands.

Catching The Butterfly is, again, reminiscent of the industrial sounds used on U2's Achtung Baby, Neon Wilderness an immersing, spacial jam written by guitarist Nick McCabe, and Space And Time an atmospheric, wistful ballad centered on Ashcroft's superb vocal. Weeping Willow is a deep and emotive, Radiohead-esque groove that leads brilliantly into the album highlight, Lucky Man. I was fifteen years old when I became obsessed with this amazing single - I vividly remember being immersed in some History Coursework on Native Indians when I first heard it, and it opened up another dimension in my mind. A magical achievement, both from a songwriting and recording perspective. I have performed this song hundreds, if not thousands of times for live audiences, and it never fails to be one of the best received of all live tracks - simply because of its stature. A song that, long after The Verve are forgotten, will still be an enduring part of the woodwork.

Just when you're wondering where this record can possibly go after a stormer like Lucky Man, this band pull out another piece of musical treasure. One Day, a sublime, experimental ballad shows the delicacy and poetics involved in Ashcroft's songwriting: "One day baby we will dance again under fiery skies/One day maybe you will love again, love that never dies." Immense depth of feeling from such a young musician. This Time is a bare but intriguing funk, Velvet Morning an acoustic/slide guitar led lament, and Come On a crashing, Led Zep inspired thumper to close one of Popular Music's most important and ground-breaking albums.

I'm not a admirer of Richard Ashcroft and his 'Liam Gallagher attitude'. He is an extremely arrogant and egotistical, self-celebrating idiot a lot of the time. However, his contribution to this record in particular (since his solo career came nowhere near reaching these dizzy heights) is memorable and everlasting. It is also worth mentioning that the rest of the band were equally as essential to this creation: Simon Jones (bass), Peter Salisbury (drums), Nick McCabe (lead guitar), and Simon Tong (guitar/keyboards). I hope that Urban Hymns sits snugly on every music lovers' shelf, and is dusted off occasionally as a reminder that there was something worth caring about in the 1990's. It was, of course, Liam that snarled: "Is it my imagination or have we finally found something worth living for?" The answer, back in 1997, was yes: Urban Hymns.

JJ Cale Shades and The Tulsa Sound

Earlier this month I posted a blog advertising Quicksilver Music - a new independent record shop in Southport. It was in there that I happened to wander one day shortly after Christmas when Shades by JJ Cale was playing over the speakers. I knew instantly that I had to have it. It just had something about it. Made the record shop seem cooler than ever. The owner, Dave, who I have mentioned before, often spots me coming and puts something on that he thinks I'll like. Then he leaves the case on the counter - bait, so to speak, for the vulnerable record collector. This one got swallowed whole.

All of a sudden I could hear where Mark Knopfler got his inspiration, particularly for Dire Straits. I could hear why Clapton champions this man more than most. I could see why JJ Cale - a hider from the limelight and conscious avoider of Rock star 'celebrity' - is such a cult hero. Heralded as the 'creator' of the Tulsa Sound, Cale has single-handedly pioneered a genre that fuses Country, Blues, Rockabilly and Jazz. Clapton is chiefly responsible for Cale's cult status, having made two of Cale's songs - Cocaine and After Midnight - huge hits for himself in the 70's. Admirers also include Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Brian Ferry. His laid back sound is very compelling, and I feel there is no better example than this stunning album, Shades.

So, to the highlights. If I'm honest there are no low lights. This is a remarkably consistent record. It opens with the groovy Carry On, demonstrating Cale's insistence on understated vocals and shuffle rhythm. It is a killer hook, leading into the equally hypnotising Deep Dark Dungeon, another characteristically short but captivating novella of a song. Wish I Had Not Said That is a lighter shuffle with a particularly stripped back sound, Pack My Jack a stereotypical, smoky-bar, post-midnight blues instrumental, and If You Leave Her a somewhat funky, wah-wah infused jaunt. Mama Don't is an infectious, clever lyric riding over a jilted twelve-bar blues: "Mama don't allow no guitar playin' round here/No Mama don't allow no guitar playin' round here/I don't care what Mama don't allow/Gonna play my guitar anyhow/No Mama don't allow no guitar playin' in here." Cale runs through his band list of instruments throughout the song, building up to an intense finale.

Runaround is Cale's Jazz soaked Blues in which his lyrics, about a woman giving him the 'runaround', hark back to the blues men of old. What Do You Expect is lively, Love Has Been Gone a nod to Cale's Country influences, and the album's final track, Cloudy Day, a moody but adorable, Albatross style instrumental in which guitar and saxophone duel beautifully. A staggering end to a great record. In 2005 JJ Cale released a DVD called To Tulsa And Back - a career spanning documentary that gives a great insight into this reclusive legend and his wonderful musical achievements. He is a must-discover artist for any music fan, and there is no better way to do it than with this album, Shades.

Van Morrison Moondance, Live Disaster / Recording Master

In unusual fashion I'm going to begin by slagging Van Morrison off. Big Time. He is one selfish mother-fucker. FACT. And now I've got you wondering. Well, let me take you back to 1999. I was sixteen years old, heavily into music, and about to venture into booking my first ever gig. There was an advert in my local paper claiming that Van Morrison was coming to town - the genius songwriter who had penned the likes of Brown Eyed Girl, Moondance, and Gloria. I called my friend Sarah, we agreed to go, and I booked the tickets. He came on stage for forty minutes, played none of the above - in fact, played only one recognisable song in the whole gig (Have I Told You Lately That I Love You) - and strutted off without returning for an encore. At the time, of course, I had no idea that this was unusual practice. Only later did I realise how arrogant and selfish this had been. The highlight of the gig had, in fact, been the support act, Lonnie Donnegan. He was brilliant, and I got to meet him afterwards where he signed an album for me. I had no idea at the time how important in the whole scheme of things this man was. He put a smile on my face that night though - that's how I remember him.

So, wind the clock forward a few years. 2002 to be precise. I decided to give Van Morrison another chance - the venue: Sheffield City Hall. Yet again a horrendously selfish set of obscure, inconsiderate crap. He had his own audience looking round in bemusement. For the first half an hour he hung in the shadows playing saxophone instrumentals. Nobody was there to see that. And, yet again, he kept his hits under lock and key. The man plays what he wants, when he wants, and how he wants with no consideration for his fans. The man is a self-centered, egotistical prick who will never receive another penny of mine in the live arena. And, by the way, that's a shame.

It was essential that I got that off my chest. Nevertheless, the bigger picture is this: the man is an awesome talent. That is demonstrated in no better form than his third solo album, and subsequent Grammy Hall Of Fame inductee, Moondance. Astral Weeks, the prequel to Moondance, is often cited as Morrison's masterpiece. I have bought and returned that album three times in an attempt to see what the fuss is all about. In my opinion it doesn't touch Moondance, an absolute triumph from beginning to end. And It Stoned Me - the singer's true recollection of an afternoon in his childhood - is a heartfelt, rural epic. The title track, Moondance, is one of those timeless, undying classics, with inspired lyrics: "Well it's a marvellous night for a moondance/With the stars up above in your eyes."

Crazy Love, the album highlight, is a sensual, intimate love song that bleeds warmth. Some sort of divine inspiration is surely needed to write a song like this. Caravan is the beginning of Morrison's fascination with Gypsies - a theme that still runs through his work today. The ethereal Into The Mystic is Morrison's songwriting working within new dimensions, musically and lyrically. The same beauty filters into the happiness of Come Running, These Dreams Of You is a Dylan-esque wander through random thoughts and feelings, Brand New Day a lovely, optimistic song, and Everyone a message of hope in a time of unrest (1969 had seen civil war break out in Belfast). Throughout the record Van Morrison's vocal is impeccable, and projected from the soul. A wonder to behold. The album closes with the horn-soaked Glad Tidings, another tune infused with love and optimism.

This is a wonderful, wonderful record. The sort of record you can put on when the sun is beaming down and the world will seem such a good place to be. Also, a very soothing record in times of trouble or pain. Very much an artistic album, it deserves its place amongst the definitive records ever made. The man might be an arsehole, but his music stands up. At the end of the day, he is a musician, so the product of his labour is what really counts.

Jonny Lang Lie To Me - The Best Contemporary Blues Album Around

There are some brilliant contemporary blues musicians around at the moment continuing the traditions of the original bluesmen, of which only BB King and Buddy Guy are left. They include, most notably, the likes of Joe Bonamassa and John Meyer - and also, in my opinion, the remarkable Jonny Lang. This album, Lie To Me, is outstanding for many different reasons - none more so for the fact that it was released just one day before Lang's sixteenth birthday. All considered, this is as mature a sound as you'll ever hear; polished production, immense vocals by the boy wonder, and great guitar playing too. It's quite unbelievable to think that somebody so young could have been part of a record like this, never mind fronted it.

Jonny Lang got his break after going to watch The Bad Medicine Blues Band, whose guitarist, Ted Larson, took it upon himself to nurture the young Lang and teach him how to play. Lang was quite clearly an enigma, and within six months was fronting this very band, renamed Kid Jonny Lang & The Big Bang. A&M Records picked him up in 1996, and Lie To Me was his first big label release a year later. In over ten years of touring Jonny Lang has undertaken support spots for The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, BB King, Buddy Guy, Jeff Beck and Sting. He was also invited by Eric Clapton to feature at his Crossroads benefit concert in 2004. He is held in very high esteem amongst Rock'n'Roll royalty, and this album is a prime example why.

The album opens with the thumping, electrifying title track Lie To Me. Lang's vocal is absolutely scintillating; his guitar playing piercing, the backing vocals searing, and the 3-dimensional sound amazing. Instantly the receptors are tuned into this fresh and vibrant sound. Darker side is a fantastic mid-tempo blues, once again magnetised by Lang's passionate vocal. Good Morning Little Schoolgirl is a quirky foot-tapper, though at first rather unsettling as a lyric: "Good morning little schoolgirl/Can I come home with you?" Then you realise that Lang was just fifteen when he sang it! All is fair in love and war, so they say. Still Wonder is a cool, smoky bar blues ideal for Lang's char-grilled vocal, Matchbox a foot-tapping twelve bar blues originally written by Ike Turner, Back For A Taste Of Your Love a Clapton-esque, funky-rocker, and A Quitter Never Wins a slow and intense ballad. Hit The Ground Running is rousing, and somewhat reminiscent of a James Brown classic, Rack 'Em Up a laid back swinger, When I Come To You another stunning ballad echoing Clapton's Bad Love era, and There's Gotta Be A Change a grooving guitar work out. The record ends with the softer, thought-provoking Missing Your Love, closing a brilliant 50:15 minutes of modern day blues magic from an outstanding young artist with his best years ahead of him.

This is one of those albums that is seemingly impossible to dislike. Wherever I have put it on I've had people asking about it, enjoying it, and more often than not, enquiring where they can buy it. Whatever genre of music you lean towards, I think Lie To Me holds universal appeal. An absolute winner in any collection.

Faithful Friend

Fleet Foxes (Self-Titled), and the Acoustic, Close-Harmony Revival

What an absolute breath of fresh air! I remember reading an interview in Uncut Magazine with Paul Weller about new bands that he had his eye on, and he talked about how, when he was touring in the U.S, he came across this band, The Fleet Foxes. Several months later, when their name started to crop up all over the place, I began to take even more notice. Before I knew it, myself and all my mates had a copy and were loving every minute of it. Here was a band that was reviving a dying breed; the classic acoustic songwriting tune-smith. They look like hippies, play like hippies, and write like hippies. A brand new band stepping straight out of Woodstock. On first listen this could well have been a Crosby Stills & Nash record. The harmonies stand out as utterly exceptional. The songs are beautifully crafted. The execution, for musicians so young, is outstanding. All in all this debut record is one to savour.

The sound of this record is somewhat pastoral, and yet unequivocally enduring. To hear a record like this is so refreshing since it means the glorious close-harmony sounds of the 60's and 70's (CSN, The Eagles, America et al) are cool again. Gone are the days of Punk, Grunge or Indie as the only outlet for subversive groups of youngsters. This album was actually awarded maximum stars in no less than seven major international publications (The Guardian, The Observer, Rolling Stone Magazine, Allmusic, Entertainment Weekly, Spin, and The Times), and came in the top three albums in the following publications for Best Album of 2008: Mojo (#1), No Ripcord (#1), Under The Radar (#1), Billboard.com (#1), Pitchfork Media (#1), The Times (#1), WERS Boston (#3), Amazon.com (#3), and Q Magazine (#2). Robin Pecknold - the singer/songwriter responsible for these songs - cited the expected influences upon his work after growing up listening to his parents' music collection - The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Neil Young, Crosby Stills & Nash etc. I guess to those musos with my own inclination the record would be sold already. I assure you, it's a very safe bet.

Highlights on the album include the beautiful White Winter Hymnal, which is almost gospel in its delivery. He Doesn't Know Why is a brilliantly crafted, mid-tempo acoustic number, Your Protector is moody but atmospheric, Quiet Houses a jovial, finger-picked jaunt, and Ragged Wood an exercise in sublime close-harmony. Blue Ridge Mountains is, again, reminiscent of gospel standards infused with contemporary acoustic craftsmanship, Oliver James a gorgeous, airy ditty, and Meadowlarks an early Neil Young style, melancholy wandering. The standout track, however, is the fabulous Tiger Mountain Peasant Song, in which Pecknold's extraordinary songwriting ability is most evident: "I don't know what I have done/I'm turning myself into a demon."

I saw this remarkable band support Neil Young in London's Hyde Park last year, and they were as mesmerising live as they are on record. They are a revival band; their sound harks back, but their vision points forward. A terrific debut record - one of the finest of all time. I'm very excited to hear a follow up.