The Jam – Sound Affects

Introduction

In a bit of Jam phase at the moment (as well as SmallVille), just listening to every album back to back and finding  some acoustic shows as well. After listening to all of them numerous times I’ve decided that ‘Sound Affects’ is my favorite album  The Jam brought out. However it was a very close with the likes of ‘All Mod Cons’, ‘In the city’ and ‘The Gift’ (not one of the most recognized albums but I’ve got a soft spot for it).

‘Sound Affects’ was released in late 1980 on the record label ‘Polydor’, and was produced Chris Parry who also help produce ‘All Mod cons’ and ‘In the city’. This is also Paul Weller’s favorite album of The Jam, I think this because it was different from anything The Jam had done up until then. Also Paul Weller said that it was a mixture of Michael Jackson’s ‘Off the Wall’ and ‘Revolver’ (I’m sure we can all see that from the riff in ‘Start’)

The Album features songs like ‘Start’, ‘That’s Entertainment’ and one of my personal favorites ‘Pretty Green’ (just love the bass on it)

The Album

The album starts off with that bass from ‘Pretty Green’, which I think is one of the catchiest of bass riffs I’ve heard along with ‘The Stone Roses – She Bangs the Drums’. I think what I like most about the song is the aggression, also It’s something really good to shout at the top of your voice.

Weller’s a brilliant songwriter all round, lyrics, rhythm, melody and he does all that and making it catchy, it doesn’t sound so heavy. If you look at all his solo albums, they all show signs of this look at ‘sunflower’ which featured on the album ‘Wild Wood’.

The first single off this album was ‘Start!’, and it very nearly wasn’t as Polydor wanted to release ‘Pretty Green’ first but the band got the record label to bring out ‘Start!’, and how very right they were to do this as this is easily my favorite on the album and easily one of my favorite Jam songs of all time. Yes, it rips of ‘The Beatles – Taxman’ slightly but, okay more than slightly but I don’t think that takes anything away from the song. You could rip off something from a really good song, and it might be terrible. Either way they still had the job of using it and changing it to suit their style, which they did with ease. Also the solo on ‘Start!’ is pretty good as well.

The final song that gained credibility over time was ‘That’s Entertainment’, a simple acoustic song, with simple chords however with a less simple strumming pattern. Apparently Paul wrote this when he came home pissed one night (pissed means drunk) and he wrote it in 15 minutes. Don’t know if this actually happened or not, but I’d like to think it happened this way, i’m a sucker for a story. I love how it was recorded because it’s not entirely clear feels like Paul is shouting and your struggling to hear him slightly. Lyrically I think this  is one of the best pieces he’s ever done.

 

Overall 8.5

Whether you think it’s the best album The Jam ever done or not, I think you have to agree that it is an incredible album. Let me know what you think of the album, and whether you think it deserves the top spot that I’ve given it.

CACHORRO GRANDE – VOCÊ NÃO SABE O QUE PERDEU – It’s a Brazilian Band.

A couple of weeks back I said to one of my blogger friends that I would like to review a band from where she’s from because I wouldn’t know where to start or where to look to find one.

This has been a good experience, trying to review a song and a band I know nothing about, and don’t even understand what they’re saying in the song. First thing first was to translate the lyrics. This is what I got.

Where do I go
Do not need money
Where do I go
Is happiness all the time

If you are
Will not regret
But if not
What will people say?

You do not know what you missed
You do not see what happened
You do not know what you missed
You do not see what happened

I don’t think this translation is exactly right, seems like it’s missing some ‘it’s’ and ‘are’s’ haha. I’ll be honest I couldn’t see an English band writing something like this, mainly because just seems a bit linear and doesn’t really have any substance or context, just seems like the words have been thrown together.

I enjoyed listening to the song though because it’s upbeat and fast paced, I imagine if I was at a gig and this song came on I’d be jumping around grabbing people around grabbing people around the head, I’d show a video but I can’t find it. Unfortunately I can’t really find a lot on the band, but I have been listening to them a bit more, more out of  wanting to learn more and being inquisitive, and trying to see links between this band and English bands.

Sorry it has taken so long tizz! and i’m sorry if it’s a poor review, I couldn’t find a lot on it. If you give me another band, I will try harder :).

The Beatles – Revolver

Introduction

The Beatles are a very special band who made a lot of great music, and Revolver is one of the shining examples of this. The record is considered to be one of their first ventures out into the weird and wonderful World of music. After spending so many years playing upbeat love songs with a basic structure, the band decided to take themselves into a complete different direct with this one.  Obviously listening back it’s easy to overlook all of the innovative musicality of it , but when you sit down and consider that this album was released back in 1966 you should be quick to realize that this was well ahead of its time. So what made this album so great?

The Album

This album was released 1966, yes, when England won the world cup so a good year for football as well as music. Considering they only released Rubber Soul only a year before this it’s incredible to think they managed to create this in only one year . Having taken LSD in 1965, this had an influence on their ,musical direction and songwriting, working undoubtedly in their favour. Of course LSD was not the sole reason for this album being what it is, but it’s hard to argue that it had no influence on it at all. George really came out in this album as he had three of his own songs in there, and I think he done himself justice, showcasing what he was capable of doing given the creative space as a songwriter.

So why this album over every other Beatles album? I think it’s because it’s the one that always sticks out in my mind whenever I think of The Beatles, immediately I think of Revolver. I’m a big fan of when The Beatles started to lean to the stranger side, and really experimented with their music (backward guitars etc.), but they also kept a bit of the material they had in their previous albums.

By this I mean you have songs like ‘Tomorrow never knows‘, ‘I’m only sleeping‘ and ‘Love You Too’, but as well as these you have songs with more melody, more simple but brilliant songs like ‘Cry for no-one‘ (Which I think is one of the most underrated Beatles songs) and ‘Here There and Everywhere‘. So this album is really versatile in that sense, with the type of songs that are on there.

Then you have the classic riff of ‘Taxman‘ featuring, which I think is one of the best riffs there will ever be, it’s pure genius, and the best thing about it is that it isn’t really complex. George plays it in such a way he makes a bland riff really exciting, combining that with the treble sound it really sticks. You also have the classic riff off ‘And Your Bird Can Sing‘, I can hear it in my head now, so I think I will put the video on here.

 

As well as all the brilliant music pieces in this album, the vocals on the album are incredible. I personally think John Lennon’s voice is second to none, not a brilliant singer but his voice has just got the right amount of huskyness(no huskyness is not a word) in it.

‘Yellow Submarine‘ features on the album, whenever I hear this song on it’s own, out the blue It just makes me think of infant school, I’m sure we did something with the song there and it’s scarred me for the rest  of time. But when you put that song in the mix with all of these, I accept it because it’s a sort of break from it all and you can have a nice sing along. If you get into that song Ringo’s got another lovely little number called ‘Octopus’ Garden‘, which doesn’t get as much credit as it should. However with Ringo featuring like this, you can hear that each of the guys had their hand in it.

Finally this brings me to the simple brilliant (I hate using this cliche) ‘Eleanor Rigby’. I learnt this on guitar, it is the most simple song to play, and at the same time gives you a lot of pleasure. This one of my favorite songs on the album along with ‘I’m only sleeping‘ and ‘Taxman‘.

Overall 10.o

I don’t think you can get much better than this album, it was way ahead of it’s time, you listen to it now, still sounds fresh. For all the brilliant elements in this album, the riffs, vocal, drums, everything there’s not a thing they do wrong. One critacism…there isn’t one.

LISTEN TO THE ALBUM.

Words by Alex Wise @AJWise

Oasis – Definitely Maybe – 20-04-2012 – AW

Thought I'd put this one because I thought it looked pretty cool.

Introduction

After yesterday I was going to review one of the Arctic Monkeys albums, because the song ‘electricity’ inspired me, but I didn’t have a clue which one to do so I just left it. If  you want me to review an Arctic Monkeys album, just let me know and I’ll do as soon as possible (when I get chance). So, I just grabbed an album at random and it was this one.  REMEMBER I GOT INTO THIS SORT A MUSIC A BIT LATE, I GOT INTO THIS MUSIC WHEN I WAS 16. So yeah, this was the first Oasis album that I brought (see, sounds better now you know I got into this music a bit late) I brought it on the strength of my mate saying ‘It’s fucking brilliant’, and that’s all I needed for me to buy the album.

Oasis

Oasis were the first rock/rock ‘n’ roll/britpop group that I got into, again on the strength of my mate telling me ‘they’re fucking brilliant’. I thought it was a good place to start because I think they’re probably one of the best bands that there’s ever been, I think a lot of people like to steer away from this because they’re not as complex, or they ripped off the Beatles slightly, I personally don’t mind I still think they’re a great band, that had this attitude and an image that you couldn’t help but admire.

Discovering Definitely Maybe

Listening to this album was like me watching Aston Villa winning the league, it was a joy. I think all of the songs on their just carry that attitude with it, whether it’s because of the way Liam is singing it or whether it’s the way the guitar sounds, it sounds good. Obviously you’ve got the classics on their with ‘Live forever’, ‘Supersonic’ and ‘Rock and Roll Star’ but the songs around it which are rather underrated with ‘bring it on down’, which is amazing to listen to when it’s blaring out the speaker, with the bass coming out. Also with ‘Slide Away’, I think this song really goes under the radar, when it talk to people about Oasis songs a lot of the time ‘Slide Away’ doesn’t get mentioned, and when it does get mentioned it get’s a bit of a mixed reaction, which I think is mental because I think it’s one of the best songs on there. The album ends on ‘Married with Children’, which I think shows Noel wit, because he is quite funny, watch his interviews. Learning this song was probably one of the best things I’ve ever done because it winds my girlfriend up.

Digsys Dinner

I thought this song should get it’s own paragraph because I think it’s brilliant, obviously the song isn’t serious, Noel’s a clever man, he knows what he’s writing, anything that he writes doesn’t go unnoticed he knows what he’s doing. I remember going through a phase of listening to this song because I just liked the guitar parts in it, and the chord progression. I didn’t learn the lyrics for a while, but when I did, I pissed myself. Learnt it on guitar and everything just to sing it around the house to wind my mom up.

 

Overall 8.5

An album that will probably stand the test of time, whenever people talk about britpop or Madchester this band, this album will be mentioned immediately. For a debut album, it ain’t bad.

Songs to download/get/listen too/whatever

-Live forever

-Cigarettes and Alcohol

-Slide Away

–All the rest of them.

The Smiths – ” The Queen is Dead” Record Review

Introduction

No recent shit come out, well there probably is but I’m too lazy to find and listen to it, so I thought I’d do something quite close to my heart and to a lot of peoples hearts, I know this because I think it’s one of the most loved indie albums of all time, and it should be. Just start by saying, if you haven’t listen to it, please do you’re missing out it’s beautiful,smart and funny from start to finish and really don’t think there will be anything like this ever again, so go on treat yourself.

Finding out, learning to love

I was introduced to The Smiths by a mate from college, and he said ‘They invented indie music, you’ve got to listen to these”, and it wasn’t until then I got a real understanding of what Indie music was. I remember getting home that day and starting listening to them, as soon as I listened to them I fell in love with them, the lyrics, the riffs, and how unique it was. I think it was that, they made me want more, how unique they were, the sound of the guitar the singing everything just sets them apart from every other fuckin’ band, I loved finding out about them and indulging myself into them. Every song I listened to I’d be listening out for clever witty lyrics and the classic riffs that Johnny composed. I tried to learn the riffs on guitar, way too hard gave up immediately.

Finally Listening to the Album

I think I listened to their whole back catalog in about a month, so I listened to all the songs but not the album, because I didn’t know which song belonged to which album. So in the worst way you could listen to an album, I created a playlist on youtube and listened to it that way. I regret it now, because it deserved a lot better, the only way you could listen to the album for the first in the most respectful way would be to have it playing on vinyl, with candles around the room, listening to it  on your own and devote yourself to the album for the time it’s playing, it’s the only respectful way. Having heard all the sons before, I was singing along to them, but they’re such a strong set of songs.

The Album

Morrisey is known for his lyrical genius and this just proves it really, with the witty lyrics of ‘Frankly Mr Shankly’ and ‘Vicar in a Tutu’ (that sounds funny) to the painful lyrics of ‘I know it’s over’ and the beautiful ones of ‘There is a light that never goes out’. Another thing I really like about this album is that all of them aren’t hits, by that I mean they couldn’t all be singles which works really well. You’ve got the classics which will forever stick in your mind with ‘The boy with a thorn in his side’ and ‘bigmouth strikes again’, but you have the soft padding of ‘Cemetery gates’ and ‘Never had no one ever’. It’s amazing how Morrisey’s lyrics go so well with Marr’s guitar parts, it’s as if it was meant to happen, they suit each other so well.

 

Overall

This is my favorite Smiths album, it’s a close one but this wins, purely because I love every song on here. Just on some of the other albums, they’re songs that just haven’t hit me as much as these did. I know I’ve said this throughout this post but I will say it again, it’s beautiful all the way through with really powerful songs. As I look at the back of the case now, there’s just not one song I dislike. This is definitely one I will have to get on vinyl, because CD is just not good enough.Just appreciate that The Smiths created this album, and gave it too the world

Songs

LISTEN TO ALL OF THEM!!

 

 

 

Pulp – Different Class – 12/04/2012 – AW

When I went on holiday, I grabbed some CD’s (horrible, but it’s the only thing I can play in my car, if I could play vinyl’s in my car, I’d play em’. No actually I wouldn’t too risky, don’t wanna scratch em’ better off in there separate bags all clean and in good condition). Iv’e never really given Pulp a chance, obviously I’ve heard the obvious ones like Common people, Disco 2000 and that but I’ve never listened to one of their albums. I should of listened to one by now I know, but I didn’t grow up listening to this music I only got into this sort of music in 2008-2009 time so I was miles behind so I’ve had to catch up.  Anyway, the album was in the 3 for £10 section so I thought ‘fuck it, put it in the car listen to it, if it’s good keep it, if it’s shit throw it away”. I knew it was going to be quite good because I’ve read reviews on it, so I already knew the songs I should listen to and the songs that weren’t so strong.

IN THE CAR

Got in the car, My girlfriend wanted to listen to something else, so I waited like a gentle man for my turn, however if I wasn’t driving I would of put on immediately regardless of what she wanted on. The album got put on at the tail end of the journey, the last hour, I was falling asleep at the wheel, bored out my head and then Pulp got put on, and It was like a laughing drug got injected into me.  I wasn’t laughing because it was so shit it was laughable, but the lyrics were hilarious. My girlfriend was reading her book, taking no notice of the music really and she just kept looking at me pissing myself at the lyrics. Here are some of the funniest lyrics on there:-

“i can’t help it, i was dragged up
my favourite parks are car parks
grass is something you smoke
birds are something you shag
take your year in provence 
and stick it up your ass.”

“I’d Give My Whole Life To See It, Just You, Stood There, Only In Your Underwear”

And you want to phone your mother and say “Mother, I can never come home again 
‘Cause I seem to have left an important part of my brain somewhere 
Somewhere in a field in Hampshire”.

“Rent a flat above a shop Cut your hair and get a job Smoke some fags and play some pool Pretend you never went to school”

There’s loads more, just listen to the album and you’ll find yourself laughing on your own thinking to yourself “yeah that’s funny that”.  I think it’s on of those albums that still has a lot to offer even though I’ve listened to it about 10 times, I’m still left thinking “I haven’t drained this for everything that its’ got, one more listen”, and not a lot of albums really do that. It’s different to a lot of the stuff I listen to because it’s not really heavy on guitars, and drums it’s more focused on the lyrics and being very catchy, which I really liked.

The future for me and Pulp

This is definitely going to spur on a big Pulp phase, basically me listening to the whole of Pulps back catalogue, if you have any songs you suggest I should listen to, please tell me.

Overall

Overall: 8.5

Songs to listen too

“common people”, “Disco 2000”, “sorted for E’s and Wizz”, “something changed” and “Underwear”

 

 

The Coral – Dreaming of you – 13/03/2012 – AW

The Coral

Probably shouldn’t writing this while I’m listening to Paul Weller’s new album ‘Sonik kicks’, which sounds promising so far, three tracks in ad quite good, it’s another step in the ‘Wake up the nation’ direction, which isn’t a bad thing just prefer his acoustic stuff, so there will probably a post about that album tomorrow, gimme chance to listen to it.

Anyway, I’m supposed to be bloggin about The Coral, yeah, well I chose to do write about this song because I heard it on the radio today and I thought, “shit, ain’t heard this in a while, this is fucking great”, and that’s when I decided to write about it. So, The Coral? They started in 1996, and are still doing stuff now, don’t think they’re doing a fat lot though because haven’t really heard about them for a while.

This is probably one of their most recognised songs, it featured on their debut album entitled ‘The Coral’, and only got to #15 in the charts, which I’m surprised about because it’s a catchy little song, which the public normally like and adhere to. They’ve got other great songs, buy the ‘best of The Coral’ and you’ll know what I mean, can’t be arsed to go through em’ all getting tired, feel like rubbish and still gotta do my 20 minutes on the bike (getting fit and that). I’m sure everyone has heard it somewhere, it’s one of those songs you’ve just heard of, whether it was when you was walking the dog and the man walking driving past has got it playing his car, an advert, your mate playing it, there is so many ways you could of heard it and you probably have. You only have to listen to one second of it, then you will be able to remember it.

The Coral

Arctic Monkeys – Teddy Picker

Them, just looking cool and shit.

 

I love the Arctic Monkeys new stuff, I think it’s really different, quite experimental and just genuinely brilliant. However, you can’t beat a bit of their old material, I mean not a lot of bands have a brilliant first album *cough* Libertines, but they did. Then they followed it up with an album which is equally good I believe, Favourite Worst Nightmare is probably one of the most favourite albums, and mainly because it’s got this fucking brilliant tune on, which never fails to get me to start jumping in my car, sounds like it’s impossible, but if you really try it’s achievable, not very rewarding though.

The boys, when they were young, well they're young now, but there even younger in this photo.

When I went to see them live, this is the first song they played and right they were to play it because this song could get you up for anything for instance going to the shops, walking the dog or going to funeral, you get it now, it gets you up for literally anything. One thing Alex is just a complete master at,apart from all the other million things he’s a master at is he can come up with just simple, catchy but perfect  riffs. Showed this talent on a number of occasions, I’m not going to make out a list, if you really wanna find out, have a listen. Another brilliant things Alex is good at is writing extremely clever, witty and wordy lyrics for e.g. “Despair to the point where they provoke You to tell the fucking punchline before you have told the joke”. Again, if you wanna find out listen to some of his other songs, I’ll put the songs below so you can have a bit of a gander.

Wanna know a bit of a fact they may or may not be true, make of it what you will:

The phrase “teddy picker” refers to an arcade game where a toy crane is maneuvered by a joystick to pick out a prize such as a teddy bear.

Mmmmmmmmmmmm….. Interesting.

The Beatles – Across the universe – 8th March 2011 – AW

This is easily one of my most favourite Beatles songs of all time, well it’s more John’s which makes it that much better. Obviously I can’t talk about how I felt when it came out, and what was happening at the time because I obviously wasn’t there, but I can’t write about how good the song is and what I think about it. The song appears on the album ‘Let it be’, which  was the last album The Beatles ever did together, and was probably I believe the worst album and ‘Abbey Road’ really should be considered as their final album. ‘Let it be’ came out it 1970 but was recorded before ‘Abbey Road’, and the band were unhappy with it, so they decided against releasing it, however after ‘Abbey Road’ in 1970 Phil Spector (who’s in jail at the moment, only for shooting someone the bastard) had a look at it, and tinkered with it, then they brought it out.

Before I talk about it, I just want to state that they’re a number of versions out there, personally the best version for me is the  ‘World Wildlife Fund’ version, I don’t really know why, I mean they’re all good versions but this to me just stands out. The lyrics to the song are probably the main factor that makes this song what it is, you just hear it, and it really just hit me,  (nearly said a terrible cliché), don’t know if anyone who has heard it before felt that. John said that the song was one of his favourites that he’d ever wrote, and that he particularly liked the lyrics.

The Legend.

Legend has it that John wrote the song after he kept hearing the words “flowing like a endless stream”, and after he kept hearing those words he got up, wrote the complete song on a bit of paper, then went back to bed and when he woke back up he went back downstairs, picked up the bit of paper and started playing it on to piano. Whether that is true or not, I don’t know because I obviously wasn’t there, If I was I imagine the conversation would of went something like this:-

“Alright John!”

“What the fuck you doing here”

“Watching you”

However, I’d like to believe that it was true, and that this really happened.

The lyrics contain the words “Jai guru deva om”, which I believe means “All glory to Guru Deva”, I might be wrong, I’m trusting some other fuckin’ guy on the internet, who might not have a clue (more than likely).

Overall I love the song, it really is a beautiful piece to listen to if you just wanna chill out, not really a song to listen to if you’re trying to get a load of people ‘Jumpin’. It’s also a great one to play on guitar not to hard, well I found it really easy and I’m not the best in the world. Can’t believe it took me this long for my first Beatles post…..dissapointed.

The Courteeners – That Kiss

This was the first song I heard by The Courteeners, and after I heard it, I just had to hear more of them, they’re were that addictive. It was just Liam Fray’s voice, soft and delicate but at the same time able to turn it into something aggressive.

This song is quite an old one, like one of the first ones they brought, and they didn’t put it on album they just released it as a single, which makes it that bit more special.

When you start listening to it you start to think that this is just going to be a soppy love song, with him moaning (bit like Luke Pritchard) and it is a bit, but a bit more beautiful and with a nice hook line. Then the drums kick in! BANG! Then the chorus comes in, and when you listen to that, that’s when you should understand what I said about his soft voice. The lyrics to the song are is where I think it sort of detaches itself from a cheesy pop song, because if the lyrics contained a few more cliche love song lines, then it could of easily become a cheesy pop song, but it didn’t, so it isn’t. When you look at the lyrics on a bit of paper, they don’t look like something you’d sing, a bit like the Arctic Monkeys, when you read their lyrics, they don’t look like lyrics.

I think The Courteeners as a band are quite underrated and don’t really get enough credit for what they’ve done. The first album is brilliant, once it’s in my car it’s there for a good 2-3 weeks before I take it out, also their second album is good as well, very different to their first album, but still very strong. Anyway listen to the song, comment, sorry it’s a very short post, but I’m tired.