The Wendy James Band – Queen High Straight

OK, I’m gonna start with a disclaimer. Like many my age – specifically, many blokes my age – Wendy James always had a certain… quality beyond her musical talents that drew us in. If Transvision Vamp were appearing on Top Of The Pops, we’d be happy to suffer the bland cheese of Peter Powell or even La Edmonds, because we knew that soon we’d have the combined ear- and eye-candy that was the latest single from Wendy and the band. Anyone listing artists that typified their era had to include TVV in their coverage of the late 80s.

Fast forward… can it really be thirty years? Sadly for all of us, yes it is, and Wendy is back with a new album. And it’s a brilliant one.

Wendy has emerged from the troubled period post-Vamp, where numerous ventures didn’t quite live up to hopes. But it’s clear that the (I know – cliché time) journey has been worthwhile, because what we have now is a singer that knows herself, knows her voice, and certainly knows what her audience wants.

I had the absolute pleasure of meeting Wendy and the band last year at The Roundhouse in London when she was supporting my good friends The Psychedelic Furs, and (after being mistaken for one of her VIPs!) chatted to her a few times before and after the gig. And it’s an absolute truth that Wendy, like so many of the artists on that quasi-retro scene, loves the thrill of performing just as much now as when she first started.

So what’s the new album like? I can sum it up in the following words.

Firstly, it’s diverse. Twenty tracks with so many different feels. The title track is smooth and sophisticated, and then you’re immediately into Perilous Beauty, a far darker and raw track, almost the mirror image of it’s predecessor. And as you move through the songs, you get these style clashes, as when you move from the sixties sound of Little Melvin through the Truffaut café scene of Marlene Et Fleur to the driving force of Chicken Street. From the acoustic harmonies of Testimonial, to the brashness of The Impression of Normalcy.

Second, it’s so memorable. So many of the tracks have those essential trigger lines that stick in the brain to the point where you suddenly find yourself thinking of them hours or days later.

Next – it’s highly professional. Not that I’m suggesting anything else was expected, but the combination of Nick Cave drummer James Sclavunos, guitarist James Sewards, bassist Harry Bohay, Alex Ward and Terry Edwards on horns, and accordionist Louis Vause comes together to deliver a full, tight sound.

And lastly – and this is possibly the best compliment I think I could give Wendy or any vocalist – there are a few tracks on the album when I honestly pictured the late and very great Kirsty McColl. To bring a sound that evokes her memory is an achievement indeed.

So where does this leave us? Well, it leaves me very happy to be listening, keen to get this virus thing behind us so I can get to another gig, and you clicking here to order your copy: https://thewendyjames.com/store/

Queen High Straight running order:

1. Queen High Straight (4.31)
2. Perilous Beauty (4.08)
3. Free Man Walk (3.39)
4. Stomp Down, Snuck Up (4.14)
5. Little Melvin (4.52)6. Marlene et Fleur (4.00)
7. A Heart Breaking Liar’s Promise (5.11)
8. Here Comes The Beautiful One (3.45)
9. Chicken Street (4.13)
10. Testimonial (4.18)11. Bar Room Brawl & Benzedrine Blues (4.07)
12. Ratfucking (2.35)
13. She Likes To Be (Underneath Somebody) (3.21)
14. Bliss Hotel (4.00)
15. Freak In (3.05)16. The Impression Of Normalcy (3.36)
17. I’ll Be Here When The Morning Comes (4.15)
18. Cancel It… I’ll See Him On Monday (3.37)
19. Sugar Boy (4.00)
20. Kill Some Time Blues (4.18)

The Psychedelic Furs – Don’t Believe

Yes, it’s happened. The thing we hoped for but dared not dream.

The Psychedelic Furs – one of the most eclectic and iconic bands of the 1980s, are not only back touring – something they have been wowing audiences with since reforming in 2000 – but are back writing…

Today, I’ve had the absolute pleasure to listen to their first new track since 1991. Twenty nine years. And I have to say: it’s a banging tune.

Don’t Believe is the first release from the forthcoming album Made of Rain, which hits our ears in May. Written by brothers Richard and Tim Butler, guitarist Rich Good and drummer Paul Garisto, it’s a typically driving song of melancholy and, well, not quite getting and keeping everything you should. When I close my eyes, it paints a picture of a Film Noir world, with our protagonist working his ass off for fifteen bucks plus expenses a day, inhabiting a nation of deceivers, raindrops, let-downs and mistrust.

All of this is crafted into a technically gifted mix of soaring guitars, solid bass riffs, catchy sax and keyboard fills, enticingly attractive rhythms, narrated by Richard’s unmistakenly unique vocals.

We’ve been waiting for a long time for some new material from the Psychedelic Furs. As I said above – twenty nine years. ..

Listening to Don’t Believe – it feels worth the wait.

Stream the track on Spotify.

The album is available for pre-order here.

Rachael Webster – Find a Place EP

Cool new music alert!

The newly released EP from Sheffield songstress Rachael Webster hit my inbox this week, and it’s well worth making it hit yours as well.

There’s something I need to get on paper (well, on screen) before I start talking about Rachael and her music. I get sent a lot of music and music links, by a lot of different people, and when you look at what’s been sent, you get to know the outcome before you even listen to the music. 

I’ve listened to some awful music, generic, bland offerings, which sadly abound because making music seems so easy for people these days.

I wanted to say that, so that when I start talking about Rachael, and specifically the music on Find a Place, you realise what I mean and where I’m coming from. 

Find a Place is nothing like the reams of music submissions I’ve dismissed above. You know the amount of hard work and application that’s been poured into this EP. It’s well produced, rhythmic, thoughtful, and pitched at the right tone and style for the lyrics. Rachael has a voice of quality and feeling, and she’s writing songs that showcase her voice excellently. 

So the songs…

There’s a really good blend of tempo and feel. I love a good driving rock song, so my favorite is probably Whisky and Cream. In Too Deep is beautifully atmospheric, and the other tracks on the EP (Coming Home, The One, and Lost In My Head) deliver a strong lyrical punch alongside some lovely acoustic melodies and layers.

At the end of all that, the Sound Impression verdict? 

This is where I really ought to develop some kind of rating system. Four and a half porcupines? Sounds like I need to work on that, but whatever measure – we like. And so will you, so go seek out Rachael on Facebook, and go listen to her music!

Find a Place is released on ComRock Records.

Luna Rosa – Fear, Filth, Dirt & Death

The new single from Luna Rosa is being marketed directly to help the victims of the Grenfell Tower disaster, and all money generated from sales and merchandise will go towards the funds. So please buy it, or donate directly to the cause, as the victims need all the help they can get.

That’s all I’m gonna say about the charity and fundraising for now, because this is, after all, a music review site and not one of your high street chuggers moved online.

So – the track.

Luna Rosa spring forth from Corby, the town that won the naming rights for the world’s favorite trouser press. However, whilst the most popular unused hotel appliance sits quietly in the corner of the room and serves for nothing but an additional space to hang a jacket, you’ll never be able to say the same about Luna Rosa. Since forming in 2015, they have played at festivals, sell-out shows, and headline slots, sharing stage space with many of music’s big names with their high-energy, high intensity sound.

Fear, Filth, Dirt & Death is a driving, pulsating track, in complete contrast to the Simon Cowell-inspired version of Bridge Over Troubled Water. It’s clearly politically driven, with the theme basically being ‘the rich and powerful don’t care’, complete with references to the NHS, financial corruption, and of course, the terrible events in West London in June 2017.

That’s why it’s not an easy song to review for me.

The song itself has some great hooks and melodies, is well played and well produced, and would generally sit well alongside most others in the Alt-Rock-Punk scene.

For me, however, the last thing I imagine that the victims of the fire need is more anarchy in their lives. The tragedy was preventable, and yes, the inquiry will identify those culpable and then justice will – at some level – prevail. But linking it to perceived or even actual assaults on the NHS is disingenuous. This was,to me, not a failing of national government – irrespective of which party was in power at the time any local decisions were made that contributed to the tragedy – and the two things are, to me at least, very different.

Anyway – time to sum up: Fear, Filth, Dirt & Death is a good song, worth listening to, and for the purpose of helping the victims at Grenfell or just for a big protest sound blasting your eardrums, well worth investing in. I just wish that it had been released apart from the disaster, because the two don’t sit well together in my mind.

For more info on the band and release info for the track, please see their Facebook page.

Kevin Hewick – Driven By Love, Driven By Hate

Driven By Love, Driven By Hate is the latest album from Kevin Hewick on Botheration Records.

Kevin’s one of those musicians you really think you should know well. Hailing from Leicester, he’s been playing music for five decades, and in 1979 became the first ever acoustic artist signed to Factory Records, the label that brought us such esteemed acts as Joy Division, New Order, Happy Mondays and a brief liaison with OMD and James.

Over the years he’s been associated with many different acts and labels, and has supported everyone from The Fall and Joy Division to Showaddywaddy, Fairport Convention and Lene Lovich. It’s fair to say his influences are varied and widespread.

Kevin brings this background and his personal battles and demons into his music, and they are very apparent on Driven By Love, Driven By Hate.

The seventeen-track album takes you on – yes, I know – a journey, through distinct landscapes and emotions. You start by walking away from all the crap that weighs you down and holds you, a task that seems impossible to complete. You get dragged back into the morass of the world, with political lies and commercial necessities clashing and knocking you around. You realise that the escape is a myth, and that by confronting the demons and finding your own way, you become (as Kevin puts it) “the uneasy rider of the easy riding dream”. Then you arrive, at a place of child-like simplicity where the seemingly important becomes trivial, and the apparently meaningless becomes central.

Kevin’s vocals and melodies come through with clarity and strength, and his choice of supporting musicians bring every song to your ears as the next step on your trek. End to end, in order, is definitely the right way to listen to the album, but there are some stand-out tracks for me that condense the story into a little drabble.

Memory Coma evokes mellow hopelessness with longing for something more. Season 3 addresses the reality and the need to hang on to hope, and Jackson Pollock Pebbledash is altogether more upbeat, and positive, promising a potential future in the sun.

Kevin is a real storyteller, novelist, lyricist and – having had the pleasure of meeting him recently – a very cool bloke. If you want a soundtrack to your summer that challenges and enriches, you could do worse than popping over to his BANDCAMP site and buying the album.

Track listing:

1. A Robe, a Razor and a Bowl
2. Country Mile
3. Life is Too Kind
4. Driven by Love, Driven by Hate
5. Memory Coma
6. Watch and Learn
7. My Friends the Rats
8. The Inheritors
9. Imaginary Victory
10. Season 3
11. Shattered Soul
12. Arizona Highways
13. Uneasy Rider
14. Jackson Pollock Pebbledash
15. Radcot Lawns
16. Glen Parva Dogwalker
17. Tinks

Flower Children -Wasted Space

This single release comes from Caffe Collective, based in London and promising “to integrate their audiences with the creative approach towards art, coffee and entertainment, and expand the horizons of artists working together”

I wish I knew what that actually meant, because I feel it would help me to understand exactly what’s going on in this song.

Call me an old traditionalist, but I just don’t get it. Maybe I’ve not smoked the right stuff, or I’ve not listened to this whilst seventeen espresso shots course through my system at 3:30am on a Friday night.

The band describe themselves as a ‘funk / prog rock band’ but in truth I’m really struggling to find any elements of these genres. What I hear – and what I see from the video – is something I can most closely liken to a finger painting by my kids when they were back in nursery. There’s a picture in there somewhere, that’s for sure. Only it’s not at all obvious what you’re experiencing. So you say the nice things, like “Oh, it’s an elephant?” but only because they are your kids. You pin up the picture, but very soon afterwards it gets replaced / mislaid, and that’s it.

Sadly, I’m driven to say that – for me at least – this is the closest that Wasted Space gets to art, and that at a mere two minutes long, it thankfully lasts about the same time as a toddler’s daubs. And as it’s not from my offspring, I’m struggling to find anything more positive to say.

I have no doubt that there’s an audience out there. Emin, Hirst, and others find appreciative crowds for what I and many others simply find baffling and strange. So it is with Wasted Space. I’m afraid the biggest emotional response I can offer is a scratch of the head and maybe a faint raising of the eyebrows.

Feel free to take a look yourselves HERE, and I apologise to the band whose efforts I’ve not been positive about, but as I tell everyone: I’m not here to write you a glowing advert unless – in my view – it’s deserved.

 

 

 

 

Future Theory: Fool’s Dream EP

Back after a too-long hiatus, I’ve been listening to the Fool’s Dream EP from Lincoln-based alt-rockers Future Theory, a band who have attracted attention from Q Magazine and BBC Introducing.

The EP has five tracks, and I think it’s fair to say that the band have made a conscious effort to showcase as wide a range of styles as possible.

Let’s start with the title track. Fool’s Dream has an acoustic, heavily ambient feel, with their cited influences (reverb, delay, experiences, and each other) driving the melody so strongly, I’d fully expect someone to be credited as playing the pedals. There’s a depth of feeling and emotion here that really warrants me listening to this live in a smoky club rather than in my office, watching the traffic go by outside the window.

Listen Closely is completely different, laying Max’s lazy vocals over a far cleaner musical backline. It has a more psychedelic feel to it than Fool’s Dream, and Chris’ guitar riffs hold up a mirror to the vocals and contrasts nicely with the more jaunty main rhythms.

Eye Of The Storm drives more frenetically, with a more solid rock feel, whilst Horses takes us in a more intimate direction, drawing you into a steadier, more measured story where the message takes priority over the delivery. That might sound like a strange thing to say, but think about it: when you listen to a song, and you associate with the song and the lyrics, it’s so very different to when you remember a song more by its tune or signature riffs and less by what the lyrics actually said. Horses is delivered in a way that focuses the attention onto the words, and there’s nothing that distracts you, so well do the instruments and vocals mesh.

The EP is rounded off by Horses/Koncide, which kinda let the EP down a little for me. It’s almost the opposite of Horses, with an ambience and techno-beat that simply pushes the envelope too far. I get the feeling that this one was an experiment that felt good after a few beers, but personally I don’t see that it adds anything to the EP or the band’s signalled direction.

Overall? There’s a lot of good stuff here. My top two would probably be Horses and Listen Closely. I’ll revisit and listen to more, and if the boys ever venture south, I’d be interested in going along, because they leave the impression of a band that really delivers in a live setting. If I ever do come along though, don’t be surprised to see me head for the bar when the techno stuff begins….

Future Theory are: Rhythm guitar and vocals- Max Sander; Lead guitar- Chris Moore; Bass guitar- Jake Scarbro; Drums- Rohan Parrett

For more info on the band and to get in touch, their facebook page is http://www.facebook.com/FutureTheory/ 

Fools Dream EP is on Spotify at http://spoti.fi/2fgPzsY