Tag: British rock

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Albums

Best albums of 1987: #1 Depeche Mode “Music for the masses”

On June 18th, 1988, Depeche Mode played the 101st and final concert of its “Music for the masses” tour, selling over 60,000 tickets to Pasadena’s Rose Bowl stadium, an astounding feat, even for a rock band, which Depeche Mode was decidedly not. (But more on that on a bit.) The show, and tour leading up to it, was immortalized in an excellent documentary and an accompanying double live album, both titled, of course, “101”.

This live album was my real introduction to the band, a couple of years after its release. I had, of course, heard “People are people” at high school dances and “Personal Jesus” had just been released as a single and was being played all over the place. I had told my friend John I really liked the latter of these two and he made me a copy of “101”, a cassette tape that spent a lot of time in my bedroom stereo and opened my eyes and ears to a whole different world of music. It wasn’t very long at all before I was purchasing all of their albums on cassette tape and compact disc.

“Music for the masses” is Depeche Mode’s sixth album and it was made at a time when new wave and synthpop was on the wane. The title is the band being ironic about the fact that their music was unpopular and not commercial in an increasingly hair metal and rock environment. Interesting, then, that this was the album that was their most successful to date and finally broke them in the US. It was daring in that they changed producers for the first time and reduced their use of samples in exchange for more experimentation with synths, but they did not give in to pressure to pick up rock guitars or to make pop music. It is austere and dark. It is love and sex, often of the deviant kind. And interestingly, it is a road record, not just in its lyrical references, but the sound, production, and pacing makes for great night driving.

For me, “Music for the masses” is an iconic band at the top of their game (whether or not it’s their true apex is debatable). It is full of nostalgia for me and never really sounds dated, as some of their earlier material does. Have a listen to my three picks for you below and tell me if you disagree.

“Little 15”: Our first song is one that was never meant to be a single but a French label wanted to release it as such and so it became the fourth one off the album. Because it barely even made the album, it wasn’t one that appeared on “101” so I first heard it in context with the rest of the album. I liked it immediately but originally thought “little 15” was the girl. I’ve since realized that it refers to a teenaged boy in love with an older woman and there is an innocence here that is betrayed by the something sinister in the synthesized strings. The way they jump and cavort always reminded me of a mad scientist, villain type character from the Bugs Bunny cartoons, playing the harpsichord in an off kilter and crumbling castle while creaky bats flit about around him. Sounds quite the contrast with my perceived content of the song, I know, but is it, really?

“The things you said”: Heavy low-end thumping, creating a waft of negative and empty space, space filled by sad and plodding notes, sounds emulating saxophones and xylophones, and Martin Gore’s deeply disappointed and tear-soaked vocals. It’s a song for night time and candle lit bedrooms. It’s a song for teen angst, though I suppose this scenario could occur at any stage of life. One would hope these mistakes, that of ending relationships due to betrayal and the spreading of poisoned words, could only occur during the foolishness of youth. I remember singing along to this one quite a bit when I was feeling sorry for myself, you know those moments, when your own teen-aged drama feels like it’s the most important thing happening. “I get so carried away. You brought me down to earth. I thought we had something precious. Now I know what it’s worth.” Indeed, songs like this were why some of my friends called them “depressed mode” but I still love it.

“Behind the wheel”:  My third pick for you is the third single released off the album and is the most obvious of the “road songs” I referenced above. Indeed, the extended remix of the song incorporates a cover of Bobby Troup’s “Route 66”, another great driving song, and samples of cars roaring by. “My little girl, drive anywhere. Do what you want. I don’t care… tonight.” It all begins with a sort of rattling sound, presumably a hubcap that has loosed itself from a speeding car and left to skid and rest on a dusty deserted highway. Then, the song’s driving beat beams us back into the car, where the driver is determined. We don’t know where she is going or when she needs to get there, but it seems to be soon. It is really just enough for us to be in the passenger seat, letting someone else drive and enjoy the ride. It is dark, sexy, and sleek, inferring speed and a hint of danger. Great tune to dance to and obviously, for driving.

In case you missed them, here are the previous albums in this list:

10. Dead Can Dance “Within the realm of the dying sun”
9. Spaceman 3 “The perfect prescription”
8. The Jesus And Mary Chain “Darklands”
7. Jane’s Addiction “Jane’s Addiction”
6. The Sisters of Mercy “Floodland”
5. The Cure “Kiss me, kiss me, kiss me”
4. U2 “The joshua tree”
3. The Smiths “Strangeways, here we come”
2. R.E.M. “Document”

You can also check out my Best Albums page here if you’re interested in my other favourite albums lists.

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Tunes

Best tunes of 2011: #25 Lanterns on the Lake “Lungs quicken”

<< #26    |    #24 >>

Sometimes the way we classify and typify bands and sounds and try to put names to certain styles or movements really turns me off. Words like “Emo” and “Screamo“ and “Nugaze” and “Chillwave” and “Folktronica” just make me shake my head. I get it. And these terms often do aptly describe the music they are meant to represent. However, if I had heard the term “Folktronica”, for instance, in reference to Lanterns on the Lake before listening to their debut album, “Gracious tide, take me home”, I might never have picked it up.

As it stands right now, I don’t actually remember at all how I came across them. In 2011, I was listening to everything that was being released, an exercise in futile mass consumption that was initiated by a fledgling blog. I all of a sudden felt that I had to have my finger even more fully pressed down hard on the pulse of music, everything new and hip. It was futile because there’s just too much out there and I was forced to decide whether I liked something in fewer samples, one or two go arounds, rather than five or six. I was also discovering bands in bunches, which meant I wasn’t always getting the time I wanted with each album before I was on to the next. I’ve been trying to remedy this in the last couple of years, since putting that old blog to bed and starting afresh, to go back to spend more time with albums that did stick out amongst the rest and give them their due. “Gracious tide, take me home” is one of these and I’ve so been looking forward to spending more time with it to write this post.

Lanterns on the Lake are a five-piece from Newcastle-on-Tyne that has released three studio albums in total, a live album, and a handful of EPs since their formation in 2007. They recently toured in support of one of my very favourite bands, James, and by all accounts, they got on quite well. Listening to both bands, this doesn’t surprise me in the least. Like James, Lanterns on the Lake doesn’t just write music, as much as build it. Their sound is very atmospheric and big and beautiful.

“Lungs quicken”, the album opener, is a prime of example of what I speak. It’s washes of synths, a subdued electronic beat and the hint of strings. Lead vocalist Hazel Wilde lightly touches her brush to the canvas, breathy and whispery, a tinkling of keys. It makes you think that their name is perfect. Candles in paper lanterns, hundreds of them, maybe thousands, just visible in the mist out on the grey lake. And then the wind whips up, the music builds in volume and gusto, and the lanterns jostle on the waves, crashing and splashing but not going out. At five and a half minutes, “Lungs quicken” does just that, light breathing becomes breathless and just when you think you have to give up, it ends, leaving you wanting to start all over again.

For the rest of the Best tunes of 2011 list, click here.

Categories
Albums

Best albums of 1987: #3 The Smiths “Strangeways, here we come”

As I’ve mentioned elsewhere in these pages, The Smiths were ruined for me early on by my old friend and housemate John. It took me years to get over it, easing myself into them over the years, song by song. So although I had heard a number of the songs from the Manchester four-piece’s final album, “Strangeways, here we come”, I never actually listened to it from beginning to end until a few years ago, when I got it as part of the box set and I put the 180 gram slice of wax on my turntable for its first spin.

And yes, it was sweet.

By the time it was released, Andy Rourke, Mike Joyce, Johnny Marr, and Morrissey had been together as a band for only five years but had already released three prior studio albums, three compilations, and a boat load of singles. The band had already built up a cult following, the appreciation of the music press, and were just starting get the attention of the mainstream, music-buying public, scoring a couple of top ten singles in their final year. I keep using the word “final” here because the band split after the recording of “Strangeways, here we come” and before it was released. The word is that Johnny Marr took a break from the band and in ceasing communication, mistook an article claiming the band was finished as a plant to the press by Morrissey. And though they likely haven’t talked much since, the two principal songwriters have both agreed that this final album was the band’s best work together.

This, I think, is debatable and has definitely been much debated, but what can’t be argued is that it sits well amongst the influential indie pop band’s fine catalogue. So many great tunes, it was hard to pick just three for you but here they are nonetheless.

”Unhappy birthday”: This first track here was never released as a single but it’s likely the first tune from this album that I ever heard, due to its inclusion on a retro mixed tape that a friend of mine (not named John) made for me in university. I loved it then and still love it now. So much so that I included as part of my Top Five Tunes list I did for the band back in June. It’s a not-at-all-veiled hate song aimed at some unknown person. Acoustic strumming, harmonium whispers, howls, a dancing bass line, and a jaunty Morrissey, dishing jabs left and right. “And if you should die, I may feel slightly sad (But I won’t cry).” Exactly right.

”Stop me if you think you’ve heard this one before”: “And so I drank one. It became four. And when I fell on the floor, I drank more.” Who knows what this song is about, really? There are references to drinking, buddhists planning mass murders, bicycle accidents leading to various painful injuries, and denials of lying. I cannot figure it out but should I really care? As long as we stop him (oh oh oh, stop him), if we’ve heard this one before. Thankfully none of us has, so we get the big drums, the booming bass, and more of Marr’s jangling Rickenbacker. This was a song that I used to skip over when I first got a copy of “Best… I” on CD but now I can’t stop from repeating it.

”Girlfriend in a coma”: “There were times when I could have murdered her. But you know, I would hate anything to happen to her.” So here’s a perfect example of Morrissey’s lyrical wizardry. In a two minute song, he encapsulates the mixed emotions of a young person dealing with having a girlfriend in a coma, so brilliantly, in fact, that he inspired a novel of the same name by Canadian writer Douglas Coupland. The song is catchy and joyful, shotgun drums and synthesized strings and arpeggiating guitars, belying the seriousness of the situation. A fact of which Morrissey keeps reminding us. “I know, I know, it’s serious.” Seriously good.

Check back next Thursday for album #2. In the meantime, here are the previous albums in this list:

10. Dead Can Dance “Within the realm of the dying sun”
9. Spaceman 3 “The perfect prescription”
8. The Jesus And Mary Chain “Darklands”
7. Jane’s Addiction “Jane’s Addiction”
6. The Sisters of Mercy “Floodland”
5. The Cure “Kiss me, kiss me, kiss me”
4. U2 “The joshua tree”

You can also check out my Best Albums page here if you’re interested in my other favourite albums lists.