A review collection of my parents’ music library:
Chevys, Camaros, and Cadillacs or Meet me at the Lost & Found – Bruce Springsteen’s “Darkness on the Edge of Town”
How can a white, salt-of-the-earth rock musician from New Jersey, obsessed with the metaphoric potential of car brands, his father’s working class heritage and the ideal of rock music as a proletariat/political genre not only have a career spanning 20 albums, but make music that still sounds good to a 20-something arts student living in…
Sing me a Song of Hope and Despair or Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here”
I don’t know how to write about Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here. I’ve been staring at my laptop for more than ten minutes, trying to find the words to describe how I feel about this record. Trying to capture when I first listened to it, how it became the most important record in a…
“I heard of a saint who had loved you” or how to reach the heart – “Songs of Leonard Cohen” by Leonard Cohen
Before passing away in 2016, Leonard Cohen had released over 20 albums and written hundreds of songs and poems, painting worlds of love, lust, and loss. A poet and a musician, but always a storyteller, Cohen’s songs capture the ears, forcing them to listen to the words he has spun in perfect patterns, allowing them…
Fun, Free, Female – Cindy Lauper’s “She’s So Unusual”
Cindy Lauper was 30 years old when she released her solo-debut album, 1983’s She’s So Unusual, a record packed to the brim with finest sparkly 80s synth pop. A youthful record that zooms in on the female experience, placing her protagonists at the centre of more than love and heartbreak: euphoria, carefreeness and reflection. Her…
Where Death is not the End but the Beginning – “Murder Ballads” by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
When you think of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, you cannot not think of gothic Americana and a sense of the gruesome and uncanny. You cannot not think of serial killer folk epics and the monstrous beauty that may hide behind the mask of everyday lovers. You cannot not think of that certain twisted…
A Magnus Opus for the new millenium – Sparks’ “Lil’ Beethoven”
Sparks, America’s most renown art rock band consisting of brothers Ron and Russell Mael, have consistently been releasing music since 1971. They have created an impressive catalogue that includes 25 studio albums and multiple compilation records. Regardless of this constant outpouring of musical material, their 2002 record, Lil’ Beethoven was perceived by my parents as…
Long Live the B-Side! Radiohead reveal their future on “My Iron Lung”
Where do the offcuts go? The songs that don’t make it onto the album, that got demoted to the B-side of the single releases in the era of vinyl pressings? This beautiful concept of the past, essentially tied to the musical medium, almost unheard of in times of streaming and youtube. But still common enough…
Like Rivers to the Ocean – Genesis play “Wind & Wuthering”
A monochrome watercolour landscape with a lonely tree in the distance. Almost faded, misty, forlorn. The opposite of inviting yet a view that somehow entrances attention. It may only be for a second. A second of interest followed by a deep feeling of loneliness and a quick desire for a view more lush and colourful.…
Songs on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown – Syd Barrett’s “The Madcap Laughs”
The name Syd Barrett, much like the name Pink Floyd, always brings with it a certain myth. A certain flair of misunderstood genius, of an artist lost to the depths and despairs of his own psyche. It is a name that conjures up stories before music, summons the image of a struggling artist before the…
Pump up the Glam (Rock) – Lou Reed’s “Transformer”
Walking along the streets at night. I’m out with friends. It’s 2013. It’s an autumn night but still warm outside. I get a notification on my phone. Lou Reed, American glam rock pioneer, had passed away. This is the first time I remember being really upset about someone famous dying. Because it was someone whose…
Getting the Band Back Together – “The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1”
Rock songs can often be categorised into specific types: the I’ve-met-the-girl-of-my-dreams-song, the classic heartbreak song, the upbeat let-me-tell-you-a-story-song, the she’s-a-nice-girl-but-will-never-notice-me-song, … the list goes on and on, usually circling around either the concept of love, lost or found or the urgent desire of telling a story; stories of unbelievable nights or stories of runaways and…
They Write Sins And Tragedies – “Sin / Pecado” by Moonspell
Portuguese metal has not really been on my radar before. When I think of Portugal, I think of pasteis de nata, of bacalhau and fado singers. I don’t think of metallic percussion, forceful guitar chords, and powerful baritone vocals. I don’t think of atheist metal lyrics, churchyard summoning soundscapes and fuzzy bass line carpets. Moonspell,…
Third Time’s the Charm – Gentle Giant exude prog rock playfulness on “Three Friends”
All good things come in three. Three, the magic number. The number of wishes a genie grants you. The number of guesses given to you for most fantastical riddles. The minimum amount of numbers you need for counting down. In some people’s opinion, the best of all numbers. Three, the magic number. Maybe it isn’t…
Slam the Doors, Turn Up the Noise – Patti Smith Broadcasts Teenage Frustration on “Radio Ethiopia”
Your parents were rebels once. They were slamming doors, screaming at their parents, turning their music up way too loud, flinging themselves onto their beds and screaming into pillows. They were young once and full of anger, full of teenage angst in the days when there was no such word as ‘teenage angst’ but the…
Recycling the 60s – Mother Earth’s “You Have Been Watching” Hasn’t Aged Well
Some music genres don’t age well. Nu metal was a thing in the mid 90s but thankfully didn’t last very long. Glam rock, although producing some magnificently catchy tracks hasn’t really been able to adapt to the 21st century. And then there is acid rock, a genre that is so loosely defined that it was…
Attwenger’s “Dog” or WTF is Austrian Dada Punk?
Punk is not dead. It’s very much alive and well. And it hasn’t always been limited to the mohawk wearing leather clad anarchists of 1970s London. It has seeped into the sounds of new wave, constructed a foundation for grunge, it has even found a questionable resurgence in nu metal. And it has spread, from…
All Aboard, Crossing Genre Borders – “QE2” by Mike Oldfield
What do ABBA and Johann Sebastian Bach have in common? They’re both amazing musicians, that’s for sure. But what you may not know is that they are also both referenced on Mike Oldfield’s 1980 album QE2. My parents own 15 Mike Oldfield records. That is quite a lot. And although he is so majorly represented…
No Longer Just a Piano Man – Billy Joel’s “The Nylon Curtain”
When I think of Billy Joel I think of grand piano riffs, witty lyrics and unmatched talent for melody. What I don’t think of is a production value that strives to match the Beatles’ A Day in the Life, a record mixed with such an attention to detail and desire for pushing musical boundaries. That…
“The Masquerade Is Over” But Al Jarreau Is Here To Stay
Sometimes you just remember the sleeve of an LP. The way it is designed feels timeless, stands out among the other hundreds of paper cases, all of them relicts of a different time. But this billboard face with its missing panels, its smile welcoming and a bit creepy at once has stayed with me although…
This Land Must Change or Land Must Burn – Midnight Oil Re-Invent the Political Rock Album with “Diesel and Dust”
A blue Peugeot 407. The seats are black if I remember correctly. I’m sitting in the backseat, on the right side because I’m the youngest. I love this car, it feels so cool, so grown-up. I believe it can go faster than any other car on the planet. It feels incredibly big, like it could…
Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover – Joe Satriani’s “The Extremist” is right up my street
In 2017, for the first time, I bought an album based solely on a review I had read without listening to it first. It was a weirdly fascinating experience, the excitement upon discovering what I’d purchased, the anticipation of experiencing the music behind the words that had inspired me, that had been able to convince…
The Beautiful Mess that is “Art of Living”
When you own 453 records, it comes as no surprise that some of them have found their way to the bottom of the stack, to a backseat on the shelves, asleep in their unplayed state. Even if you chose to listen to a different record every day of the year you wouldn’t make it through…
Present meets Past as “Worlds Collide” or The Essence of my Childhood
My dad has his stereo system set up in the living room. The living room door is usually left open. So whenever someone’s playing music, you can hear it in the entire house. Even with the door closed in my upstairs bedroom I could hear the faint droning of a bass or the pounding rhythm…
Pink Floyd can do humour? Yes, they can. And “Meddle” proves it.
My parents own 453 physical records, 156 on vinyl and 297 on CD. They span across a variety of artists, eras and genres. From classic blues to postmodern punk, from Portuguese fado to Dutch chanson. It’s an astonishing variety that speaks of my parent’s musical open-mindedness and blows my mind every time I really think…
Monsters, Gods and Vomiting Cyborgs – King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s “Murder of the Universe” is a spectacle
My parents’ taste in music has majorly influenced what I listened to growing up and how I approach music now. Their diverse catalogue of different artists and genres has made me a person unafraid of exploring the more unusual fields of what the contemporary music scene has to offer. I’m not interested in a particular…
Is there such a thing as too many musical layers? Let’s ask “Breakfast in America” by Supertramp
There once was a record on my parents shelf, featuring one of the most confusing sleeve designs to me as a child as I simply could not place its meaning in relation to the music. There once was a record that featured a blaring saxophone solo on almost every single song. There once was Supertramp’s…
I’m Drowning In A Sea Of Sound – Patti Smith’s “Easter”
Finding meaning in music can be quite distracting. Especially, when focusing on words. Sometimes, I don’t like to pay attention to the lyrics of an album. Sometimes, I am afraid that focusing on the lyrical message might change my experience of the record for the worse. Sometimes, all I want to do is judge it…
A Moment of Stillness or Why I underestimated Kofelgschroa’s “BAAZ”
Most of the music we listen to on a daily basis is a marriage of instrumentation and text, aiming to tell a story or convey a feeling through rhythms, chords and melodies. We determine genre based on what stories are told, which instruments are used, in which contexts they are played. Basically any music can…
I think, this is what you call a hit record – Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours” deserves its fame
Hit records are a strange thing. I don’t know whether it is possible to listen to them objectively. Whether we are able to completely block out any information that pre-exists in our collective cultural canon. Whether we can listen without expectation. Without the anticipation of whether this record will live up to its name. Whether…
A cosmopolitan endeavour ahead of its time – Vangelis’ journey to “China”
“Great, another clichéd Western interpretation of the Chinese music tradition!” I think to myself as I draw the record for this week’s review: Vangelis’ 1979 album China. “Now I’ll have to sit through 40 minutes of pentatonic scales, gongs, bamboo flutes and strings.” And yes, that is part of what China offers. But there is…
Why have an entire album when one song is enough? Al Stewart already says it all with ‘Year of the Cat’
Sometimes, you can grasp the entire essence of an album by just listening to one song. Sometimes, there is this that one track that outshines any other on the record. Sometimes, this one song already says it all. And how convenient, when the song in question wears the same title as the album. Al Stewart’s…
Groovin’ with Dave Grusin: The musical journey of ‘Migration’
The word ‘migration’ has gotten a slightly negative connotation in the context of politics in the last couple of years. But in the context of music, Dave Grusin is here to set the record straight as his 1989 album Migration is far from socio-political sorrow, multicultural messes and ideological irritation. Instead, what he brings to…
At the Crossroad: Santana’s ‘Caravanserai’ should leave the vocals behind
A banging lead guitar. Song titles that sound like they’ve sprung directly from Scheherazade’s One Thousand and One Nights. Mysterious blue tones framing a sinking orange sun. In case these things don’t ring a bell, you might have never listened to Santana’s 1972 album Caravanserai before. I never had. My parents own two copies of…
Wondrous Wallflower: ‘Smallcreep’s Day’ is no stroke of genius – but worth a listen!
There is such a thing as the musical wallflower. An album that has been there forever, blending in with its background on the shelf. Hidden from view. I must have skipped over Mike Rutherford’s Smallcreep’s Day for years when looking through my dad’s vinyls. I don’t remember listening to it ever before. Maybe because my…
The Great Gates of Prog Rock Perfection: Emerson, Lake & Palmer reimagine ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’
It’s 1971. Emerson, Lake & Palmer are performing Pictures at an Exhibition at Newcastle City Hall for the first time. A couple of years later my dad will buy the ELP 1979 live album, featuring that concert and will find himself listening to Mussorgsky’s melodies for the first time. Struck by the music, he will…
‘Werbung, Baby!’ or How the Finnish wrote Van Halen’s ‘Jump’
Maybe you can relate: You’ve been listening to a song for years and years and suddenly you stumble upon the information that what you thought to be the original is actually a cover version. Think of Whitney Houston’s I Will Always Love You (originally performed by Dolly Parton) or Tainted Love – you’ve probably heard the Soft Cell or Marilyn Manson…
Same same but different: Listening to ‘The Paul Simon Anthology’ then and now
It’s summer 2006. I’m sitting in the back of my Dad’s blue Peugeot 407, next to my brother as we’re driving uphill to a remote village in Northern Italy. It’ll be the farthest I’ve ever been from home. We’re here for our family holidays. And, if I remember correctly, we only have three albums in…
The Dad Anthology 