Tag Archives: album

Music Calendar, Nick Cave

Today: Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds released “Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus” in 2004, 9 years ago

abattoir-blues--the-lyre-of-orpheus

I’ve always had an obligation to creation, above all.
~Nick Cave

People think I’m a miserable sod but it’s only because I get asked such bloody miserable questions.
~Nick Cave

Everything’s dissolving, babe, according to plan
The sky is on fire, the dead are heaped across the land
I went to bed last night and my
moral code got jammed
I woke up this morning with a Frappucino in my hand
~Nick Cave (Abattoir Blues)

Get ready for Love:

From Wikipedia:

Released 20 September 2004
Recorded March–April 2004 at Studio Ferber in Paris, France
Genre Alternative rock
Length 82:30
Label Mute
Producer Nick Launay

Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus is the thirteenth studio album by the Australian alternative rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, released on 20 September 2004 on Mute Records. It is a double album with a total of seventeen songs—nine on Abattoir Bluesand eight on The Lyre of Orpheus.

nick-cave-the-bad-seeds

The album was produced by Nick Launay at Studio Ferber in Paris in March–April 2004 and Nick Cave used The Bad Seeds line up of Mick Harvey, Thomas Wydler, Martyn Casey, Conway Savage, Jim Sclavunos, Warren Ellis, and James Johnston. It was the first album by the group for which Blixa Bargeld did not perform – English guitarist and organist Johnston, of the group Gallon Drunk, replaced Bargeld. Cave decided to split drumming duties for the two parts, with Sclavunos on Abattoir Blues and Wydler on The Lyre of Orpheus. According to Launay, the whole album was completed in twelve days.

The album’s release was supported by the Abattoir Blues Tour, which travelled through Europe from 2 November to 5 December. In January 2007 a double live album and DVD was issued as The Abattoir Blues Tour. Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus’s last track, “O Children”, was featured in the 2010 film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and the song is referenced as an achievement in Lego Harry Potter: Years 5-7. In March 2005, to complement the success of the double album, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds released B-Sides & Rarities, a three-disc, 56-track collection of B-sides, rarities, and tracks that had appeared on film soundtracks.

Nick_Cave

From allmusic.com – Thom Jurek:

When Blixa Bargeld left Nick Cave’s Bad Seeds, who would have predicted his departure would result in one of the finest offerings in the band’s catalog? Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus is a double CD or, rather, two completely different albums packaged in one very handsome box with a stylish lyric booklet and subtly colored pastel sleeves. They were recorded in a total of 16 days by producer Nick Launay (Kate Bush, Midnight Oil, Girls Against Boys, Silverchair, INXS, Virgin Prunes, et al.). Abattoir Blues, the first disc in the set (packaged in pink, of course), is a rock & roll record. Yeah, the same guy who released the Boatman’s Call, No More Shall We Part, and Nocturama albums has turned in a pathos-drenched, volume-cranked rocker, full of crunch, punishment — and taste. Drummer Jim Sclavunos’ aggressive, propulsive kit work is the bedrock of this set. It and Mick Harvey’s storm-squall guitar playing shake things loose on “Get Ready for Love,” which opens the album. As Cave goes right for God in the refrain — “get ready for love” — in the maelstrom, a gospel choir roaring “praise Him” responds. His tense, ambivalent obsession with theology is pervasive; he mocks the Western perception of God in the heavens yet seeks the mystery of His nature. … read more @ allmusic

Personnel:

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
  • Nick Cave – vocals, piano, production, mixing
  • Mick Harvey – guitar, production, mixing
  • Warren Ellis – violin, mandolin, bouzouki, flute, production, mixing
  • Martyn P. Casey – bass, production
  • Conway Savage – piano, production
  • James Johnston – organ
  • Jim Sclavunos – drums, percussion, production on Abbattoir Blues
  • Thomas Wydler – drums, percussion, production on The Lyre of Orpheus
Technical personnel
  • Nick Launay – producer, engineer, mixing
  • Lars Fox – digital audio editor
  • Ian Cooper – mastering

–

….. Bargeld’s departure seems to have shaken Cave and his cohorts in the best way imaginable. The Bad Seeds sounded reined in on Nocturama, a waste of perhaps the most distinctive backing band in rock. Here, they sound energised and unfettered. There is a surfeit of breathtaking moments: Hiding All Away’s finale, where they shift from queasy funk to full-on hellfire-and-brimstone mode; the angular repetitions of The Lyre of Orpheus; the opening of Windswept, with Cave singing “through the windswept coastal trees, where the dead come rising from the sea”, over a frantic, rolling backing of hammering piano and pattering drums, whose the cumulative effect is enough to give you motion sickness…. Abattoir Blues is packed with standard apocalyptic Cave imagery, but he sounds most horrified about a visit to Starbucks: “The sky is on fire, the dead are heaped across the land,” he moans. “I woke up this morning with a Frappucino in my hand.”

You can’t really imagine anyone else in rock writing lyrics like that, but then, you really can’t imagine anyone else making an album like this. Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus is an entirely unique return to form.
~Alexis Petridis (The Guardian)

 

Nature Boy:

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Blues, Great albums, Music Calendar

Today: Eric Clapton released From The Cradle in 1994

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Eric_Clapton-From_The_Cradle-Frontal

From the Cradle is a blues cover album by Eric Clapton. It is also his 12th studio album. Released on 13 September 1994, the album was Eric Clapton’s long-awaited follow-up to his massively successful live album, Unplugged. The liner notes states, “This is a live recording with no overdubs or edits except for dobro overdub on ‘How Long Blues’ and drum overdub on ‘Motherless Child’.”

Although he’d long been associated with the blues, From the Cradle was Clapton’s first attempt at an all-blues album.

When I listen to the album, I am transported to a small blues club where a group of fantastic players give us  their best, fantastic musicianship. I saw Martin Scorsese’s documentary, Nothing but the blues before I heard the album. I started to seek out the songs from the film, and found From the cradle. It is one of my favorite Clapton  albums.

Nothing but the blues:Eric Clapton discusses who has influenced him throughout his career, with clips of performances by Howlin’ Wolf, Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters, B.B. King, etc. Filmed by director Martin Scorsese, this documentary was broadcast once on PBS stations, but never officially released for reasons which remain unclear. A planned release on home video was slated for early summer 1995, and Warner/Reprise produced a limited number of advance copies to be used for promotion. (it is on YouTube in 10 parts)

Eric Clapton – Five Long Years (Eddie Boyd) from Nothing but the blues(doc/live):

“It takes the assurance of a titan like Eric Clapton to muster the humility that inspires From the Cradle. The guitarist’s tribute to the gods who formed him (Muddy Waters, Freddie King, Otis Rush among them), the disc sacrifices flash to sheer blazing force. “Groaning the Blues,” “Five Long Years” — this is the bone and sinew of blues.”
– Paul Evans (Rolling Stone Magazine)

Eric Clapton – Motherless Child:

From the cradle on Spotify:

– Hallgeir

Great albums, Music Calendar, Ryan Adams

Today: Ryan Adams released “Heartbreaker” in 2000 – 13 years ago

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ryan adams heartbreaker

“On Heartbreaker, I had to sing those songs. I drank the way I did those songs. I ate the way I did those songs. I communicated the way I did those songs”
~Ryan Adams – Spin Dec 2003

“I don’t know if Heartbreaker was influential as a record so much as the idea of it. There weren’t a lot of people out there doing that kind of thing. That’s all. But it was a terrible price to pay because I’ve never lived it down. I don’t regard that record as great art. I’m not even sure I put the right songs on the record. There are a lot of tracks that didn’t make it which with hindsight should have been on there.”
~Ryan Adams – Uncut Jan 2004

Come Pick Me Up @ KCRW:

Come pick me up
Take me out
Fuck me up
Steal my records
Screw all my friends
They’re all full of shit
With a smile on your face
And then do it again
I wish you would

From Wikipedia:

Released September 5, 2000
Recorded Woodland Studios, Nashville,Tennessee
Genre Alternative country, country
Length 51:57
Label Bloodshot
Producer Ethan Johns

Heartbreaker is the debut studio album by alternative country musician Ryan Adams, released September 5, 2000 on Bloodshot Records. The album was recorded over fourteen days at Woodland Studios in Nashville, Tennessee. It was nominated for the 2001 Shortlist Music Prize. The album is said to be inspired by Adams’ break-up with music-industry publicist Amy Lombardi.

According to Adams, the album’s title originates from a poster of Mariah Carey: “My manager called and said, ‘You have 15 seconds to name this record,’ “My eyes focused on this poster of Mariah wearing a T-shirt that said HEARTBREAKER. I just shouted, ‘Heartbreaker!'”

ryan adams

Critical reception:

The album was considered to be a fresh start for Ryan Adams after the demise of his previous band Whiskeytown.

  • Allmusic’s Mark Derning wrote that the album “is loose, open, and heartfelt in a way Whiskeytown’s admittedly fine albums never were, and makes as strong a case for Adams’ gifts as anything his band ever released”, concluding that “the strength of the material and the performances suggest Adams is finally gaining some much-needed maturity, and his music is all the better for it.” 
  • A.V. Club’s Keith Phipps wrote: “Adams has recorded an intimate, largely quiet record that indisputably establishes his identity as an independent singer-songwriter”. 
  • Pitchfork Media’s Steven Byrd called it “an album of astonishing musical proficiency, complete honesty and severe beauty.”
  • Rolling Stone’s Anthony Decurtis was less enthusiastic, stating that “Adams’ songs too often fail to rise above their plain-spoken details to take on the symbolic power he yearns for”.

 

From pitchfork’s review (Steven Byrd):

…. Heartbreaker is the soundtrack to the last ten minutes of any relationship you’ve ever watched crumble before your eyes. It’s music for the ruined romantic in all of us. Usually, that little romantic simply sits quietly, tearfully watching everything disappear without so much as a single complaint. But on Heartbreaker, Ryan Adams has not only convinced that voice to speak, he’s taught it to sing. The result is an album of astonishing musical proficiency, complete honesty and severe beauty.
Read more over @ pitchfork 

Track listing:

1. “(Argument with David Rawlings Concerning Morrissey)” (An argument regarding the Morrissey track “Suedehead”.)
2. “To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High)” Ryan Adams and David Rawlings
3. “My Winding Wheel”
4. “AMY”
5. “Oh My Sweet Carolina”
6. “Bartering Lines” Ryan Adams and Van Alston
7. “Call Me On Your Way Back Home”
8. “Damn, Sam (I Love a Woman That Rains)”
9. “Come Pick Me Up” Ryan Adams and Van Alston
10. “To Be the One”
11. “Why Do They Leave?”
12. “Shakedown on 9th Street”
13. “Don’t Ask for the Water”
14. “In My Time of Need”
15. “Sweet Lil Gal (23rd/1st)”

Musicians

  • Ryan Adams – vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, harmonica, piano, banjo
  • Ethan Johns – drums, bass, glockenspiel, B-3, Chamberlain, vibes
  • David Rawlings – backing vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, banjo, tambourine
  • Gillian Welch – backing vocals, acoustic guitar, electric bass, banjo, “voice of Lucy”
  • Pat Sansone – piano (5, 9, 11), Chamberlain and organ (6), backing vocals (2)
  • Emmylou Harris – backing vocals (5)
  • Kim Richey – backing vocals (9)
  • Allison Pierce – backing vocals (11)

—

Uncut Magazine (UK) listed Heartbreaker as no.9 on their “Top 150 Albums of the Decade List”

–

Oh My Sweet Carolina:

I went down to Houston
And I stopped in San Antone
I passed up the station for the bus
I was trying to find me something
But I wasn’t sure just what
Man I ended up with pockets full of dust
So I went on to Cleveland and I ended up insane
I bought a borrowed suit and learned to dance
I was spending money like the way it likes to rain
Man I ended up with pockets full of cane

Album of the day – Heartbreaker (2000):

Other September-05:

  • Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara (5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991) was a British musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and lyricist of the rock band Queen. As a performer, he was known for his flamboyant stage persona and powerful vocals over a four-octave range. As a songwriter, Mercury composed many hits for Queen, including “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “Killer Queen”, “Somebody to Love”, “Don’t Stop Me Now”, “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” and “We Are the Champions”. In addition to his work with Queen, he led a solo career, and also occasionally served as a producer and guest musician (piano or vocals) for other artists. He died of bronchopneumonia brought on by AIDS on 24 November 1991, only one day after publicly acknowledging he had the disease.
  • Loudon Snowden Wainwright III (born September 5, 1946) is a Grammy Award-winning American songwriter, folk singer, humorist, and actor. He is the father of musicians Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright and Lucy Wainwright Roche, brother of Sloan Wainwright, and the former husband of the late folk singer Kate McGarrigle.

  • Joshua Daniel White (February 11, 1914 – September 5, 1969), better known as Josh White, was an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor, and civil rights activist. He also recorded under the names “Pinewood Tom” and “Tippy Barton” in the 1930s.

-Egil

Music Calendar, The Who

Today: The Who released It’s Hard in 1982

the-who-its-hard-1997

It’s Hard is the tenth studio album by English rock band The Who. It is the last Who album to feature bassist John Entwistle and drummer Kenney Jones, as well as the last to be released on Warner Bros. Records in the US. It was their last album until 2006’s Endless Wire. It was released in 1982 on Polydor in the UK, peaking at #11,] and on Warner Bros. in the US where it peaked at #8 on the Billboard Pop Albums charts. It got mixed reviews on its release, but I find it interesting. It’s a bit different, but I love Townshend’s playfulness and willingness to seek new challenges.

The Rolling Stone Magazine’s Parke Puterbaugh gave the album a rave review and said it was their best album since Who’s Next:

“The key to the album is “I’ve Known No War,” a song that could become an anthem to our generation much the way “Won’t Get Fooled Again” did a decade ago.

…

The entire album is vibrant with the palpable energy of rekindled bonds and rediscovered group values.

…

It’s a long road the Who have traveled from the bristling, bare-knuckled fury of their early days to the present. They rank among a handful of vanguard rock musicians who show signs of pushing through the age barrier and creating a viable adult vocabulary for rock, one that faces up to the moral responsibilities of middle age and allows them to use their craft to effectively shape consciousness. It must seem especially ironic to Townshend that this is true of the band that sang “hope I die before I get old” back in 1965, but there you go: always the group that delivers the unexpected. “

Eminence Front (Live, official video):

Athena (Live at Shea Stadium, 1982):

It’s Hard on Spotify:

– Hallgeir

Great albums, Music Calendar, Southern rock

Today: Lynyrd Skynyrd released Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd 40 years ago

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lynyrd_skynyrd_pronounced_leh_nerd_skin_nerd_remastered_2001_retail_cd-front

(Pronounced ‘lĕh-‘nérd ‘skin-‘nérd) is the debut album from Lynyrd Skynyrd, released in 1973. The album features several of the band’s most well-known songs, including “Gimme Three Steps”, “Simple Man”, “Tuesday’s Gone” and “Free Bird”, the latter of which launched the band to national stardom.

Bassist Leon Wilkeson left the band during the album’s early recording sessions only playing on two tracks. Strawberry Alarm Clock guitarist Ed King was asked to fill in for Wilkeson on bass during the remaining sessions, as Wilkeson already wrote many of the bass parts. This left Skynyrd with only six official members at the time of the album’s release. Not long after, King remained with the band, and was made a member, so that they could replicate the triple-guitar lead during live performances. Wilkeson returned to the band when it was time to take the photo for the album cover and embark on the tour for the album. It was certified gold on December 18, 1974, platinum and 2x platinum on July 21 1987 by the RIAA.

Rolling Stone Magazine named it the 39 best debut album of all time:

From the git-go, these shaggy folks from deepest Jacksonville, Florida played hard, lived harder and shot from the hip, all three guitars blazing in music that blew past the Mason-Dixon line to become America’s next top boogie-rock. Discovered and produced by from essential mid-Sixties Dylan sideman Al Kooper, Skynyrd offered taut rockers including “Poison Whiskey” and the perpetual lighter (well, now iPhone) waving anthem “Freebird.” Perhaps the ultimate Southern rock band and this record aged shockingly well; just ask the Drive-By Truckers.

Here’s Lynyrd Skynyrd in their prime, a full set from BBC’s Old Grey Whistle Test:

“Skynyrd was nothing but rockers, and they were Southern rockers to the bone. This didn’t just mean that they were rednecks, but that they brought it all together — the blues, country, garage rock, Southern poetry” – Stephen Thomas Erlewine (allmusic)

Let’s include another great set. Here’s  Lynyrd Skynyrd at 1976 Knebworth Fair Festival, England:

And the Album from Spotify:

 

What a great album, what a great band!

– Hallgeir

Sources: Allmusic, Wikipedia, Rolling Stone Magazine