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December 2019 = |
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The Greek
Theatre |
Dhidalah |
Dodson & Fogg |
Caedmon |
The Green Ray |
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THE
GREEK
THEATRE - WHEN SEASONS CHANGE
(SUGARBUSH
SB064)
Sweden's
duo The Greek Theatre have graced the ears of
2019 with a truly stunning new album. The
instrumental "Twin Larks" starts things off with
swirling sounds which yield to a wonderful
acoustic guitar introduction that is accompanied
by a delicate and beautiful flute piece, setting
the stage for what is yet to come. "Laurence of
Laurel Canyon" wastes no time getting down to
business and is pure Greek Theatre with a
dizzying array of textures, reminding us that
Forever is indeed still Changing. The guitars
and keyboards mesh perfectly and you quickly
realize this is a very special record with
top-notch musicianship. The song cleverly
transitions into "The Post-Factual Jam" as we
hear the band unleash a feedback-drenched
psychedelic workout that is a most pleasant
surprise, delivering on Laurence's earlier
promise of blue cheer and purple haze. Switching
the polarity, "Old Jawbone" opens with a
gorgeous flute that is paired with the signature
acoustic guitar magic that we know and love this
beloved outfit for, all framed with a wonderful
string arrangement.
"Bible Black Mare", the album's centerpiece, is
a truly majestic offering which captures that
rare vibe that was so prominent throughout David
Crosby's solo masterpiece, "If Only I Could
Remember My Name". Time ceases to exist and the
listener is transported to an entirely different
state. This track alone practically contains an
entire album's worth of music. It is up to the
listener to mine all the riches that have been
carefully hidden between the notes. "Open
Window" proudly displays the quintessential
Greek Theatre sound. I can only assume that the
lyric "broken circle" is a clever reference to
their excellent sophomore long player. "The
Streets You Hold" features some of the loveliest
harmony vocals that you are likely to find
anywhere, along with plenty of sublime, jangling
12-string guitar that brings to mind the very
best moments of Roger McGuinn and The Byrds.
"The Cabooze" is another instrumental piece, so
cinematic that it would fit perfectly as a
soundtrack to a film - a film that I would love
to get lost in. It effortlessly fades into "A
Different Place", which evolves into a
mind-blowing guitar jam - a dream from which we
are awoken. Was it a dream?
No, ladies and gentlemen, we are not floating in
space. Rather, the haunting "Sail Away (Part
Two)" reminds us that we are still "lost at
sea", where this strange and magical journey all
began, not drifting in the firmament, rather
looking up at it, with the sun shining warmly on
our faces in the daytime, but with the "nights
getting cold" as the seasons change. They've
managed to accomplish the near-impossible. That
is to say, they've raised the already high bar
that their relatively short career has already
set. This, my friends, is a bona fide
masterpiece.
Watch for this limited release on the excellent
Sugarbush Records label.
(Kent
Whirlow)
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DHIDALAH
- THRESHOLD
(LP/Digital on Gurugurubrain
Records)
Tokyo’s heavy psych trio Dhidalah started back in
2007 and, building on recent successes, bring us
their long-awaited debut album Threshold, courtesy
of the seemingly infallible Guruguru Brain. By all
measures, it’s worth the wait. Following 2017’s
excellent No Water EP, the band expand their brand
of instrumental stoner doom to the long player.
Dhidalah are Ikuma Kawabe (guitars), Kazuhira Gotoh
(bass, vocals, synthesisers and “noise,” of which
there is plenty), and drummer Konstantin Miyazaki.
Taking their name from a centuries old mythological
being called a Daidarabotchi, whose footprints were
so enormous it was said to have created countless
lakes and ponds, Dhidalah bring the same sense of
massive scale and force to their sound. The album’s
about the evolution of the human race and the
beginning of the universe, according to Gotoh.
While it’s up to you whether you pick that up from
listening, you can’t fail to be impacted by their
massive sound.
The album literally begins with a crash of explosive
thunder, announcing Dhidalah’s unmistakable
arrival. This leads into the krautrock-influenced
“Neuer Typ.” The pounding beat is punctuated by
Ikuma Kawabe’s soaring and searing guitar work. The
three band members pack a whole lot of sound, adding
distant voices and dark atmospherics to the basic
trio of instruments.
“Adamski” is all molten sludge, with all three
pounding away mercilessly at your brain as if their
life and yours depended on it. Dhidalah lets you
catch a momentary breather while they take a
starship tootling around the cosmos, before resuming
the massive assault. These guys play for blood.
Lengthy side two opener “Jovian Sky” comes in with
some nice Mellotron, adding a little bit of color.
This is inevitably overtaken by more onslaught, with
Kawabe’s guitar playing just relentless. The
Mellotron and effects occasionally weave back in and
out, always overtaken by Dhidalah’s crushing
punch-press attack. I wondered how Miyazaki had any
arms or drumsticks left afterwards.
Finally, “A.U.M.” starts off with a snare sounding
like a high-powered rifle shot, which Miyazaki
repeats to great effect. “A.U.M.” is slightly
Sabbath-like, with Kawabe displaying some Iommi-type
techniques. After some distant vocal chants from
Gotoh and a bruising middle section, Dhidalah lift
off for a high-spirited less-heavy jam, all three
firing on all cylinders and featuring some of
Kawabe’s finest guitar work, before crashing back to
Earth for the finale.
Dhidalah forge a punishing, take-no-prisoners
approach, heavy psych without sweeteners or Miss
Manners’ etiquette. If you like some adrenaline to
pick up your day, don’t miss it.
(Mark Feingold)
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DODSON
AND FOGG – SWIM
(Released on Wisdom
Twin)
Chris Wade wraps up another prolific year
with his third release under his Dodson and Fogg
alter ego, bringing his output to nearly two
dozen releases since his eponymous 2013 debut,
about which we exclaimed, “A fine album that
will remind you of the joy of living!" As with
other recent releases, Wade plays everything,
but it’s his double-tracked guitar interplay
that once again amazes. ‘Blue Skies’ is another
thousand yard stare into cloud formations, bird
flight patterns, and solar/lunar celestial
interplay, all woven around crystalline electric
guitar solos weaving around a steady acoustic
backing.
The
western-tinged
singalong ‘Let Us Be’ is campfire fodder for the
masses, while ‘In The Moment’ is a lovely,
intimate picture of a romantic interlude with
the one you love. A musical Valentine card, if
you will, as is the dreamy ballad, ‘She Is My
World’. A jaunty ‘How Long’ has a Hot
Tuna-meets-Rockpile groove with a touch of
Bolan’s boogie for good measure, and the funky
‘Coming Down Sideways’ evinces a bluesy swagger
that Wade has been successfully exploring of
late. Tasty fingerpicking and a Booker T-styled
organ ride highlight the hard-driving instro,
‘The Lost Cyclist’ and we wrap with the epic
seven-and-a-half minute instrumental workout
‘The Garden’, a languid stroll through a forest
of tweeting birds with a pleasant reminder of
Roger Waters’ ‘Grantchester Meadows’
occasionally tickling the memory banks. There’s
also a bit of a gypsy groove provided by Wade’s
dancing mandolin (?) that sets the toes
a-tapping and the heart a-fluttering. Another
excellent entry in a distinguished discography
that continues to exceed expectations.
(Jeff Penczak)
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CAEDMON
- RARE
(Caedmon’s
Return 002)
Christian
folk
rock band reconvene for their third album in 41
years. Their debut album is a bit of a Holy
Grail; its value has risen over the ensuing
years to become one of the most sought after
albums in the acid folk genre. Self released in
1978, it showed an assured band and the surprise
is that they never made a follow up until 2010;
there is currently one of these originals online
with an eye watering price of £1500! I managed
to find a copy of a reissue a few years back on
the Acme label for a tenner and I was surprised
by how great the band sound; the songs were also
very good with fine soaring female vocals and
lashings of lead guitar.
For
this new album we have 7 recent tracks and five
tracks dating from 1975, plus a bonus of another
live track recorded in 1978.
The band comprises of Ken Patterson -
cello, keyboards, guitar and brass. James Bisset
- lead guitar. Angela Webb - vocals. Simon
Jaquet - mandolins, percussion and guitar, plus
Simon Wilson - bass and guitar. With guest
artists Caroline Brown, and Sally Jaquet,
contributing a few extra vocals. Have the
ensuing years been kind to them? Well yes is the
answer, this new album is pretty good indeed.
Opening
with a lengthy eight and a half minute gem,
based on a 7th century fantasy in the form of
‘Dream Of The Rood’. Angela took some coaxing to
participate in this new album and it's Caroline
who tkes the initial lead vocals which
reveals her slightly deeper tones, the song is
an excellent one, it’s quite proggy too, with
some terrific octave mandolin, deep cello tones
and some fluid lead guitar breaks. ‘Go’, has a
nice feel; it’s firmly in the funk/folk area,
acoustic with some nice percussion. ‘Sky Song’
is a sister song to their most popular song ‘Sea
Song’ and shows an older more reflective side to
them, in a 6/8 time signature; ostensibly about
a mother goose, it even ends with the arresting
sounds of honking geese.
‘Runaway’,
follows this with a folk rock song loosely based
on Jonah and the Whale, enlivened by Sam’s
supple bass playing. ‘Mustard Seed’ is a short
song in the renaissance style, based on the
mustard seed parable. ‘Rare’ the title track,
has a mellow spiritual vibe with Sam Wilson’s
voice caressing the ears. The mandolin, ‘cello,
keyboard, fugal horn, bass and acoustic guitars
ease us along through a folk ballad, a
story. It’s the tale of a one-off 1978 album
being duplicated, then re-released, pirated and
becoming a collectors’ ‘Grail’. It’s an
allegorical tale following a potter at the wheel
which keeps on turning. ’Peace’, is a gentle
hymnal, which has some beautiful cello lines and
a terrific guitar figure by James.
Ken
provided
me with the following background on the
unearthed 1975 tracks, which
were recorded in The Netherbow Studio, in
Edinburgh. “A digitising firm provided
us with a USB stick of these long buried tracks
at best quality and we were left with six usable
tracks with sufficient integrity for us to
re-master and put on the new record. The
selection of songs all feature lyrics from other
writers with music composed arranged by members
of the band. Five are from a studio session in
1975, when the band was just consolidating its
particular feel and sound. Only the studio
version of fans’ favourite ‘London Psalm’ is
driven by searing electric guitar. It juxtaposes
with a 13/8 time signature sawn out on distorted
‘cello and acoustic guitar”.
‘London
Psalm’, introduces these 1975 mono studio
recordings, recordings which showcase Angela’s
beautiful soaring vocals and James’s searing
lead electric guitar and make me feel all
nostalgic for an early 70’s London, the writer
of poem London Psalm has so far to date not been
traced, Sam composed the music. ‘Death Knot’ was
written by Lance Stone who is a friend of the
band, it’s firmly in the folk rock vein. ‘God Is
Love’ is a traditional hymn lashed to a folk
rock beat. ‘Born To Die’, this one sees them
firmly in Pentangle mode, invested with some
lovely harmonics and mandolin. ‘Tears May
Linger’ is an up-tempo Psalm written by Simon
Jaquet and exists nowhere else but here on these
recordings. The album ends with the live 1978
recording of ‘Now The Green Blade Riseth’ a
traditional Easter song with some lovely deep
‘cello guitar, recorder, guitar and bass, again
no other Caedmon recorded version exists. There
is also a hidden track ‘Heaven Haven', a snippet
of a Gerard Manley Hopkin verse for solo voice
and guitar.
This
is a wonderful return for the band and I hope
that they can return to the studio again fairly
soon. Available from December the 23rd and
distributed by Guerssen Records www.guerssen.com
(Andrew
Young)
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THE
GREEN RAY - FIVE POINTS OF LIGHT
www.sugarbushrecords.com
vinyl 300
copies
The Green Ray swiftly follow up 2017’s excellent
Half Sentences with another
gem, also on the same label. The band currently
comprises of Simon Whaley -
lead guitar, bottleneck, acoustic. Martin James
Gee - vocals, electric and
acoustic guitar. Mark Cullum – drums. Dave
Mackenzie - bass. Along
with backing vocalists Wayne Worrell and
Duncan Kerr on a couple of tracks plus Jeff
Gibbs and Howard Plug Davies on
bass and drums, for a couple of tracks. It was
recorded at Antform studios.
Things kick off with ‘Sangsara Shanty’, a loping
tune which is slow to
coalesce, like some workingman’s dead out take,
the acoustic guitars ring and
the drum and bass anchor the tune, it has some
fine wah wah guitar fills too,
fading out to the sound of gently lapping waves.
‘On A Sixpence’, the next song
continues in the same vein, a proper song with
some lovely snaking fluid lead
guitars. ‘Small Springs’ follows and is written
by Ken Whaley it’s expansive,
with Quicksilver flashes from the guitar, I’m
reminded of ‘What About Me’ but
without Dino’s histrionics, it’s taken at a
similar pace too, all darting lead
guitar runs and a sympathetic rhythm section
kicking things along.
Side two begins with ‘Clouds Away Tomorrow’, this
one is a little more up-tempo, a touch of
later period Byrds, there are nice harmonies,
Martin has an unforced and
relaxed style of singing which serves these
songs well, some nice twin guitar
intertwining throughout, very nice. ‘Before The
Fall’, this starts with a
little bird song, before a guitar figure appears
that sounds so familiar but I
just can’t seem to place it, the guitars really
sound fabulous on this track,
so good. It’s
an excellent song and one
of my favourites, elemental in nature. The
album’s title track ‘Five Points Of
Light’, is lent a swampy vibe, mainly due to the
bottleneck acoustic guitar,
it’s a little more acoustic too. This sets
things up nicely for final track
‘Close (To Afar)’, my favourite on the album,
what a great song, the band being
able to really stretch out, some blistering lead
guitar and a cooking rhythm
section with a great wig out at the end, fans of
Help Yourself, Man and
Quicksilver form an orderly queue.
(Andrew Young)
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