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Massive Wagons – Triggered

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What does it sound like?:

I can’t think of a band more suited to a live sing a long whilst stamping your feet and the dent the lockdowns must have made in their progress. Still, it doesn’t seem to have daunted them and “Triggered” (album number 6) picks up pretty much where “House Of Noise” left off back in 2020.

The Wagons play pounding hard rock where guitar solos are secondary to a belting chorus and clever word play. There’s more than a dash of AC/DC in what they do, but there’s plenty of Slade and The Darkness in the mix too. They have more “H’s” than Line of Duty – heavy, harmonies, hooky, and humorous.

The album kicks of with “Fuck The Haters” – so it will be Mike Reid’s pick of the week for sure – a vast, anthemic endorsement of doing your own thing that for me is trying just a bit too hard. “Please Stay Calm” has the Wagons in a slightly more restrained Def Leppard frame of mind, before they hit the bullseye with “Generation Prime”, “A.S.S.H.O.L.E”, and “Triggered”.

“Generation Prime” takes a swipe at the demand for instant gratification and disposability (“I » Continue Reading.

Alter Bridge – Pawns & Kings

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What does it sound like?:

Tapping my foot to a song is usually as far as I’ll go in terms of expressing my enthusiasm. Getting up and dancing? Well, that’s confined to a highly selective playlist – “Gimme Some Lovin” by Spencer Davis, “Lady Marmalade” by Labelle, “Get Into The Groove” by Madonna. And “One Day Remains” from Alter Bridge’s debut album of the same name. If there’s not enough room to throw some shapes playing air drums has to suffice, although it’s hard to keep up, the song a glorious aural avalanche that creates the feeling of being hammered into the side of a mountain whilst simultaneously sledding down it.

Alter Bridge are a post grunge metal band that emerged from (and still occasionally re-incarnate as) Creed, having built a strong following in the US and Europe from extensive touring and recording – this is their 7th studio album. Guitarist Mark Tremonti creates towering walls of sound, and AB’s trademark mix of melody and out and out heavy riffing is still very much in evidence.

Opener “This Is War” has an epic feel, leaning further towards thrash metal than they have in the past, a sci-fi film » Continue Reading.

Blue Öyster Cult

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Venue:

Sony Hall, New York

Date: 23/09/2022

Blue Öyster Cult celebrated their 50th anniversary with 3 nights in New York, playing their first 3 albums in full (one each night) followed by a set that mixed deep cuts with their better known stuff. The final night, showcasing “Secret Treaties” sold out quickly (so quick in fact I had to sell a kidney to get a ticket from the secondary market) – the other nights selling out about a month ahead of the gigs.

The Venue – it sounds a lot grander than it actually is, located on in the basement of the Paramount Hotel. Renovated in 2013 at a reported cost of $20m, with state of the art audio but seemingly nothing left over for the seating which remain the very essence of cramped and uncomfortable (although I’m grateful that it wasn’t 3 nights of standing gigs). VIPs were seated around the edge of the hall, with the plebs cammed onto tables in the middle of the hall. Most of us ended up looking sideways at the stage, but walking around it was hard to see anywhere that didn’t have a great view.

The Band – since 2004 BÖC » Continue Reading.

Rory Gallagher – Deuce 50th Anniversary Edition

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What does it sound like?:

Few artists have had a decade as prolific as Gallagher’s was in the 1970’s. 10 albums in as many years, of which “Deuce” was his second as a solo artist. After a disappointing first album “Deuce” intended to capture the rawness and energy of his live shows although ultimately fared little better than it’s predecessor, sitting in the Top 20 for just a week. But within a year Gallagher’s reputation as one of the finest blues guitarists of all time was established with the release of “Live In Europe”.

This is the third mix of the original – a remix released in 1998 added a bonus track “Persuasion” which curiously doesn’t make it onto this box set. However the 4cd format (there’s also a 2cd version and 3LPs) adds a raft out takes, demos and perhaps most valuably two live sets taken from Bremen in 1971 and a BBC set recorded in 1972 at the Paris Theatre in London.

Gallagher would become famous for his highly charged live performances but his studio albums always contained more variety. Listening to this 50 years on it’s a remarkably raw, intense and confident, even if it » Continue Reading.

Sex Pistols – I Wanna Be Me

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Author:Dave Simpson

A quick look on Amazon suggests that as subject matter for a book, the Sex Pistols are already well served to the point of saturation. There are the autobiographies from band members (only Paul Cook has yet to cash in), the sound engineer’s story (Dave Goodman), the inside (?) scoop (Fred and Judy Vermorel), the bands legacy in it’s wider social context (Jon Savage), books devoted to single gigs, the 90 days at EMI, the US tour and so on. There’s even a colouring book and the TV series of “Lonely Boy”. But with the sort of hyperbole that Malcom McLaren would surely have approved of, we are told “this book is the definitive history of the Sex Pistols”.

Written by Dave Simpson (Guardian music critic, author of “The Fallen” and consequently according to Mark E Smith “a fucking twat”) while it might be covering familiar territory, Simpson makes the most of being so late to the party, comparing and contrasting the different accounts already on the record. There’s a somewhat inauspicious start, with the Grundy interview laid out (once again) verbatim, but thereafter a fairly pacey narrative benefits from the various perspectives and disagreements. Simpson does » Continue Reading.

These Streets

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Author:Luan Goldie

This is Goldie’s third novel and she returns to East End of London, the backdrop to her debut “Nightingale Point”, where she grew up and taught in a primary school. Written during lockdown, Goldie paints a sharp picture of post Olympic Stratford, the dust is settling on a legacy that seems to be mainly a huge Westfield shopping mall, and West Ham’s former home the Boleyn Ground flattened to be replaced by a housing estate.

Goldie specializes in believable characters that push the story along with a gentle undercurrent of humor. There aren’t any sudden plot twists or shocking revelations – indeed it was perhaps a little too easy to see how the story would end. That said, single mother Jess, anxiety ridden Ben and Jess’s oddball father Wolff are always credible, often funny and drawn with enough sympathy to keep you hoping things will turn their way.

The publicity around the book has leant on Jess’s fight to avoid homelessness (first novel “Nightingale Point” was cited for it’s parallels to the Grenfell Tower disaster) and whilst Jess’s struggle to keep a roof over her head is the thread that holds the story together, it’s really much » Continue Reading.

Ru$e

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Author:Robert Kerbeck

Kerbeck’s story mixes something fairly familiar – actor wanabee who doesn’t make the grade, with something I’d never seen written about before – making money by “rusing” major corporations; conning them into handing over details of their top performing employees and selling this data to head hunting firms. On paper, it may sound a bit niche, but after a slightly slow start, Kerbeck’s punchy, no nonsense story telling makes it a real page turner.

Kerbeck knew he didn’t want to join his father’s car dealership. He sought creativity over commerce. Despite being a natural at selling cars, he set his sights on becoming an actor. To keep a roof over his head while he waits for his big break, instead of bartending or waiting at tables, he accepts a gig working for a woman who employs a couple of actors. Their job is to ring Wall Street firms and talk them in to handing over the names, job titles and performance figures of people working in their biggest revenue generating departments. This data on so called “passive candidates” carries a premium value because it features people who aren’t already on headhunters books and their performance figures come from » Continue Reading.

The man who sold his catalouge (sort of)

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Bowie’s back catalouge fetches an alleged $250m. Somewhat less then Springsteen’s $500m deal last month. I’d be interested to understand why Bruce’s stuff was twice as valuable.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/dec/16/bruce-springsteen-sells-entire-back-catalogue-of-music-to-sony-for-500m-report

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/jan/03/david-bowie-publishing-rights-to-song-catalogue-sold-for-250m

Joe Bonamassa – Time Clocks

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What does it sound like?:

Releasing a new studio album every year poses a challenge to Bonamassa’s marketing team, challenging them to explain how this one differs from what went before, why this one is the one you need. The pitch this time is that this is Joe’s most adventurous recording to date, the songs having morphed from recording as a trio. Having played this back to back with his last two studio releases – “Royal Tea” and “Redemption” – I’m finding it hard to see the difference other than Joe seems to have been unlucky in love – surely the perfect premise for a blues album?

So intensive is Joe’s production schedule that he’s now rotating his playing squad. Off the bench comes drummer Anton Fig, whilst Steve Mackey (bass), Lachy Doley take over from Michael Rhodes and Reese Wynans on bass and organ.

A 54 second opener “Pilgrimage” invokes John Mayall before giving way to “Notches”, a pulsing mid tempo rocker co-written with Blackberry Smoke’s Charlie Starr. Bonamassa seems to be in a rueful frame of mind, singing about having travelled the world, and being double crossed. A sparse riff treads a fine line between earworm » Continue Reading.

Unrequited Infatuations

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Author:Stevie Van Zandt

It’s hard to think of another musician who has had a life quite as varied as Stevie Van Zandt. An autodidact with a low boredom threshold who seems to have barely had a day off in 50 years makes for an autobiography that amuses as much as it confuses and ultimately entertains and exhausts in equal measure. Despite the help of an editor it seems more downloaded than written – I’d be fascinated to see earlier drafts. “I need to work constantly. I simply cannot function at the normal speed of this planet. The minute I stop moving I start dying…. I do what I have to do and then try to get paid for it after the fact”.

He recounts his many re-inventions (he’s undergone more career regenerations than Dr Who) and although it’s an interesting journey, it’s a largely commercially unsuccessful one. “I became the only artist in the modern history with a touring party of 35 and absolutely no hits” but manages laugh, reflecting that at least he no-one goes home disappointed having not heard their favourite song. It’s clearly something that bugs him. Globally recognised for when contributing to the work of others » Continue Reading.

Saved

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Author:Peter and Steph Shilton

Football players abuse of alcohol has a long and unfortunate history, whether it’s Booby Moore (described by Matt Dickinson in his biography of Moore as “the world’s smartest, neatest, tidiest drunk”) or others like Jimmy Greaves and George Best whose problems were openly acknowledged. The reach of gambling addiction into the game is a more recent revelation, with ex players such as Paul Merson, Keith Gillespie and John Hartson speaking about the damage it has done to them. Although Shilton had admitted gambling problems in the past, the primary reason for writing “Saved” was to tell the story of how he finally faced into a 45 year gambling addiction and became sober.

A chance meeting in 2012 with Steph, the woman who would become Shilton’s second wife turned out to be the catalyst for his sobriety. It’s a positive story albeit told with some repetition as they each take turns, a chapter at a time, to tell their side of events. It’s the core of the first section of the book and there’s candour and humility that’s genuinely commendable. The Shilton’s are understandably passionate about wanting gambling reform, and their story is most powerful when » Continue Reading.

ATM – playing music from a laptop

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I have a desktop PC with an NVidia audio – it’s always been great for playing back MP3 or FLAC or listening to Spotify. It was connected via the line out from the PC to my hi-fi amp. However the PC is currently throwing a wobbly so I’ve pressed in to service a Dell laptop as back up (a 7275). It’s fine as a replacement in pretty much every respect other than music playback, which even to my mutton ears is flat, full of treble and with zero low end. While I figure out how (or whether) to fix the desktop, I’d like to have some reasonable sounding music.

So my question is – would a cheapish DAC make a difference? I’m absolutely not an audiophile, and loath to chuck more than £50 at the problem. Having spent a few hours online I’m none the wiser as to whether some of the cheaper DAC’s (or anything else for that matter) would help?

What d’you reckon?

Joe Bonamassa – Now Serving Royal Tea

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What does it sound like?:

Not even a global pandemic can slow down the blues answer to the Duracell bunny. Just 8 months after his last studio album “Royal Tea”, Joe releases yet another live set, somehow not called “Another Pot of Tea, Vicar?”. 9 of the 10 tracks from the “Royal Tea” studio release appear here, and other than a tactical shuffle in midfield, in the same order. Bolted on at the end are cover versions familiar to JoBo fans – “Cradle Rock”, “Walk In My Shadow”, and “A New Day Yesterday” – all of which resurfaced last year when Joe issued a re-recorded version of his debut album.

This release and the accompanying DVD are drawn from a live stream broadcast Joe made last year, before the studio album had been released, in aid of Joe’s “Fuelling Musicians” initiative. The live set was recorded at an empty Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, just round the corner from Joe’s house, which had been “filled” with 1,700 cardboard cut-outs of JB fans. Joe’s mum and dad still got front row seats.

The conundrum of recording a live album without a live audience has been tackled head on by editing in » Continue Reading.

Long Players: Writers on the Albums that Shaped Them

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Author:Tom Gatti

Everyone has “that” album don’t they. The one that defines that critical point in their life, soundtracks those transformational times. Simon Bates “Our Tune”. But longer. Here Tom Gatti (Deputy Editor of the New Statesman and a former editor of the Saturday Review section of the Times) collects together fifty articles previously published in the NS where a variety of journos / authors / poets tell us about “their” album. What could be more enticing? Top quality wordsmiths setting out what made their ears tingle. We are promised “an intoxicating mix of memoir and music writing, spanning the golden age of vinyl and the streaming era, and showing how a single LP can shape a writer’s mind.”

Across the 50 writers contributing mini essays are some names I knew and a lot I didn’t. The Word alumni are well represented via David Hepworth (“Sail Away” – Randy Newman), Mark Ellen (“The B-52’s” – B-52’s) and Kate Mossman (“The Rhythm of the Saints” – Paul Simon). There’s also Will Self, Billy Bragg, David Mitchell, Alan Johnson, Clive James, Iain Rankin, Neil Gaiman, Tracey Thorn and Neil Tennant. Plus a much longer list of writers which mostly made obvious my » Continue Reading.

The Anthology

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Author:Jimmy Page

Of all the occupations that lend itself to careful archiving, rock star isn’t an obvious contender. Particularly the life of someone who allegedly embraced wanton debauchery with as much enthusiasm as Jimmy Page. How could he possibly have found the time I hear you ask. Well, it seems somehow he did.

Back in 2014 “Jimmy Page” arrived – a sumptuous 500 page high quality photograph laden autobiography, more coffee table than book. But such is the range and depth of Jimmy’s archive, this second volume presents “the detail behind the detail”. And he’s not kidding.

Even if, like me, you’re not a Led Zep aficionado, this tome still draws you in. There’s not just all the guitars – the first Hoffer, the twin necks, the black Les Paul Custom with the Bigsby arm (and the loan agreement that he bought it on) – there’s the entire set up for the recording of “Whole Lotta Love” (guitars, tape echo and cabinets), diaries, jackets, tour carnets, studio logs, posters, trousers, contracts and page after er… page of pictures. There’s even the banjo he played on “Gallows Pole”, the guitar he used on the “Death Wish” soundtrack and handwritten notes » Continue Reading.

Joe Bonamassa – Royal Tea

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What does it sound like?:

Every year, in the last week of February, Joe spends four or five hours turning off all his amps before he goes up into the loft at Nerdville, and chooses a jigsaw. For the next 3 days, he sifts edge pieces then slowly fills in the rest of the picture. He limits himself to as few glimpses of the picture on the top of the box as possible and works in absolute silence. Exactly a week later they go back in the loft. Then, fully rested, the amps come back on and it’s back to work.

For the other 51 weeks of the year Joe writes, records and performs, ensuring that his annual delivery of a studio album, a tour, a live album and then another tour continues uninterrupted. Jigsaws don’t pay for themselves, and Joe is the hardest working man in rock n roll.

In case anyone was worried that Joe was slacking off the pace this year, fear not. He has released an updated version of “A New Day Yesterday” called “A New Day Now””, and that was on top of an instrumental album under the name The Sleep Eazys, titled » Continue Reading.

Rory Gallagher – The Best Of

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What does it sound like?:

As a cash strapped music fan who started buying albums in the mid 70’s, each purchase was thoughtfully evaluated to ensure they would provide the best head bang for my buck. Artists like Rory presented a dilemma as his solo back catalogue was already eight albums deep; the risk of picking the wrong one was too great. So I resorted to a compilation, helpfully titled “Rory Gallagher” – his name spray painted on the cover alongside a single film roll style snap. Problem solved.

Since then there have been there have been several more compilations -“Etched In Blue” in 1992, “Big Guns – The Very Best Of” in 2005, “The Essential” in 2008, and “Crest of a Wave” in 2009. So, why another now? Well, more recent releases such as “Blues” from 2019 and “Check Shirt Wizard” earlier this year seem to have sold well enough to prompt another compilation, no doubt helped by the fact that the earlier ones are now becoming hard to find.

This new “Best of” comes in a variety of shapes and sizes, with 30 tracks on the 2CD version. The track selection will look familiar to most Rory » Continue Reading.

Overpaid, Oversexed and Over There

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Author:David Hepworth

With his fifth book in as many years, its apparent that Hepworth’s mix of opinionated argument underwritten by detailed research topped up with some good natured mocking of his subjects is proving popular. This time, Hep turns sets his sights on the ebb and flow of how British musicians changed American music but in turn how the biggest market in the world changed them.

For serious fans Hepworth’s research may not be breaking any new ground but the fun comes from how he stitches it all together, and focusing on just one artist is an oversubscribed market. Yes, there’s all the stuff we’ve heard before about the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show, how Brian Jones wanted to be called Elmo, but as familiar as this might be, it’s the picture that Hepworth paints around them that makes it an engaging read.

Starting from the premise that British groups gave the US the first real “bands”, replacing all the “Bobbies” that were at the top of the US charts at the time (Vee, Rydell, Vinton, Goldsboro, Darin), he manages to knit this to how The Dave Clark Five’s (leader Dave “untroubled by modesty from an early age”) barrack » Continue Reading.

Anti-Social

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Author:Nick Pettigrew

The success of Adam Kay’s “This Is Going To Hurt” (more than a year topping most book charts, TV series etc) has had publishers eagerly looking out for a successor, and the 14 way auction for the rights to “Anti-Social” suggests they thought they had found one.

You can see why. Author Nick Pettigrew was a 15 year veteran Anti-Social Behaviour Officer, a stand-up comedian with two Edinburgh Festival shows behind him and published in the Daily Telegraphy the Daily Mash. Ker-ching.

Pettigrew tries to tread a tightrope between looking for laughs in the absurdity of his day to day case load, and the innate misery and anguish that he and so many of his clients face. Unfortunately for my money he mostly falls off. So often, it just feels he’s trying too hard to milk laughs out of something that in so many respects just isn’t funny, relying on metaphors that feel strained and a distraction.

Which is a shame, because when not crowbarring in gags, Pettigrew offers up some erudite and powerful analysis of just how miserable life for some of the most disadvantaged in the UK has become. His explanations of why drug » Continue Reading.

Massive Wagons – House of Noise

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What does it sound like?:

OK, let’s just cut to the chase. The Wagons are not likely to find much favour here at the Afterword. There won’t be any top 100 listings. They are pretty much exactly what their name suggests – a thundering blast of high energy rock, thin on pretence, relentlessly high energy.

And I find myself enjoying this release all the more as a consequence. There’s no introspective noodling, no wistful, artful coyness. Instead there’s riff after riff, a high energy celebration of life and no small amount of humour. “Pressure” pokes fun at the critics, whilst “Professional Creep” Metallicaesque thrash smuggles includes the refrain “And you look like Meryl Streep ….. you’ve got a luncheon meat physique”. Well, it made me laugh. “The Curry Song” pays homage to the nation’s favourite dishes flipping from pounding chords to hook laden choruses in way that would be familiar to fans of System Of A Down, and closing song “Matter Of Time” is the only plodding effort that misses the mark.

Wagons strike me as a band made for festivals and a foot stomping good time. How can you not love a band who called their first release » Continue Reading.

ATM – Debt collectors

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I’d welcome some advice from the collective wisdom here.

I’ve had a letter from a debt collector chasing £65 that a utility provider claims is owed to them. They were the provider to the rental property that I moved into at the start of the year, but whom I switched away from within days of moving in.

I knew I owed them for a week or so of supply, but it was evident the bill was just for supply prior to my tennancy. I tried to sort this out with them and in the end they told me – over the phone – to leave it with them. I heard no more – the letters ceased and they never sent me a bill for my week or so with them. The account I had opened with them was deleted. However it seems they’ve sold the debt on.

At the moment, they don’t have my name – they are writing to “The Owner / Occupier”. That would seem to limit their chances of chasing me, and I’m ex directory but I am on the electoral roll, so if they can be bothered to search Iassume they can make the » Continue Reading.

The Long, Long Road To Wembley

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Author:Dave Roberts

I picked this book up because a mate of mine hovered around the edges of Bromley’s first team many years ago (as a player that is. Not a stalker). I wasn’t aware that Dave Roberts had already documented his love affair with one of south London’s less finer clubs in “Bromley Boys”, which also became a film. As books go, it’s very much a read of two halves.

The premise is simple enough – starting in 1968, would the 14 year old Roberts ever see his team make it to Wembley? What would the next 50 years reveal? Well, at the risk of being a little unkind, it suggests that whilst the barrel wasn’t being scraped, it had certainly been heavily plumbed for “Bromley Boys” and “Home and Away” which charts his travels to non league grounds around the country.

Here and there it’s quite funny, and it’s always very self aware and depreciating- in fact at times too much so. The quirks of the hardcore fans, the dismal rivalries and the idiosyncrasies of non-league grounds, the mug collecting are bought to life and will raise a smile with anyone whose watched a sport away from the glamour » Continue Reading.