LOW by DAVID BOWIE (1977, RCA)

Starting a review of Low is almost impossible. How do you even begin to describe this album.

It's strange, extreme, futurist, fragmentary, morbid, painful, exciting, bleak, perverse, experimental, avant-garde, pretentious, fascinating and completely thrilling. A record that creates it's own complete universe. Cold, austere, mechanical. It's musical science fiction. Many would argue that Bowie's best albums were the classic rock of Hunky Dory or glam of Ziggy Stardust, but for me it's always been Low.

Let's start with it's cover. A striking image of Bowie the alien, a still from the 1976 film The Man Who Fell To Earth. Directed by Nic Roeg (Don't Look Now) the surreal film stars Bowie as an extra-terrestrial who visits earth on a mission to bring water back to his own home, a planet that is suffering a terrible drought. Pale-skinned, with strawberry-blonde locks swept back over his ear, a high military collar and a steely emotionless look in his eye Bowie looks distinctly androgynous and Aryan. It's interesting to note that in a recent interview for Prometheus, Michael Fassbender mentioned that his performance as the android David, was based on Bowie's performance in Man Who Fell To Earth (and also Peter O'Toole as T.E. Lawrence). That chilling, mechanical coldness is something that fans of Low will be familiar with.

The cover was also a deliberate but pun on the phrase "low profile" something that at the time Bowie was attempting to keep as he was attempting to kick his notorious coke habit for the first time.

Low apparently contains remnants of the aborted soundtrack that Bowie had wanted for The Man Who Fell To Earth. He'd taken his score to Roeg who had decided that it was not suitable and preferred a more organic soundtrack. It's also the first of three collaborations with ex-Roxy Music keyboardist and early ambient pioneer, Brian Eno. It was followed by "Heroes" (1977) and Lodger (1979).

The album was largely recorded in Hansa Studios in West Berlin. The legendary studios where U2's Achtung Baby and Iggy Pop's The Idiot were also recorded. The experience of living in pre-reunification Berlin is writ large across every track of Low. Musically it's heavily influenced by early electronica like Kraftwerk and the Krautrock pioneers such as Neu. But you can hear the environment: grey concrete of the post-war city, the cold surrounding Eastern Bloc landscape.

Low's 'A-side' contains seven tracks. They're barely songs though, more "fragments" as one critic wrote at the time of it's release. None of them are over three and a half minutes. It is bookended by instrumentals. Starting with the heavily synthesized 'Speed of Life' and ending with 'A New Career in a New Town'. They are without a doubt the most upbeat and positive tunes on the album, 'A New Career...' especially seems hopeful and optimistic. The title reflecting Bowie's fresh start away from USA and Western Europe.

The first "song" is 'Breaking Glass'; an angular, mechanical funk, punctuated electronic blasts and bleeps. It's not even two minutes long. Allegedly the line "don't look at the carpet, I've drawn something awful on it" refers to Bowie's practice at the time of drawing The Tree Of Life on the floor. At the time he was obsessed with the Kabbala and satanist Aleister Crowley. 

'Sound and Vision' was the lead single. Following the success of the soulful Young Americans album the track was a huge flop in the US but in the UK it reached number 3 following it's use on BBC trailers at the time. The lyrics "pale blinds drawn all day, nothing to do, nothing to say" refer to Bowie's isolation and cocaine-feulled paranoia during the time in the preceding years where he'd taken the persona of 'The Thin White Duke' and was reportedly subsisting on only "red peppers, cocaine and milk". Healthy! 

The lyrics to 'Always Crashing the Same Car' express frustration at making the same mistakes over and over and are said to reflect Bowie's own feelings towards his drug dependency. Following it, and similarly personal is 'Be My Wife' which is the last conventional song on the album. It's said to be a last ditch plea to wife Angie Bowie in the hope of saving his marriage.

The tracks that follow on the 'B-side' are largely instrumental but do contain vocal parts. The first 'Warzawa' is cold, chilling and evokes the desolation of the Warsaw at the time of Bowie's visit there several years earlier. Heavily electronic and minimalist the middle section of the piece is based on a classical Polish folk song. Incidentally trivia fans, Joy Division's original name was Warsaw in honour to this track.

'Art Decade' is the next track. It's meandering, depressing and melancholy. Eno's synths sounding as if they're crying. The next track 'Weeping Wall' is a electronic reworking of 'Scarborough Fair' and has been described by Bowie as intending to evoke the misery of the Berlin Wall. It's the only track on Low where he plays all the instruments.

The album ends with 'Subterraneans'. Bowie again influenced by the sad emotions of his surroundings, he stated that it represented the misery of the cold war to Berlin's residents, to the people "who got caught in East Berlin after the separation - hence the faint jazz saxophones representing the memory of what it was". Musically it contains elements of Elgar's Nimrod from the Enigma Variation's. It contains his most obscure album lyrics, they appear to make absolutely no sense at all. At the time Bowie was "intolerably bored" with conventional narrative based lyrics and was impressed by the "cut up" technique employed by Dadaist poets and William S. Burrows.

As single piece of work Low is massively influential. You can track it through countless bands since it was released. Listen to Low and then listen to any track by Joy Division, Gary Numan, Bauhaus, NIN, Suede, Interpol, Editors... I could go on, but I've done that enough already.

So, as I said, Low is cold, morbid and bleak. It's fragmentary, experimental, avant-garde, and utterly pretentious. It is also exciting, unusual and challenging. It's the sound of a true musical visionary, pushing back musical boundaries and defying the conventions of what was expected of him. It's not an easy listen. But it is, even 35 years since it was released, an utterly thrilling one.

HAPPY SOUP by BAXTER DURY (2011, Regal)

“My Dad was bold, I’m whispery and more hidden”

That’s Baxter Dury, son of Ian Dury, describing himself in an interview a few years back. Listening to this, his third album, he could also be talking about the music.

There’s a strong bond between Baxter’s sound and that of his Dad. His lazy almost amateur vocal style is very similar but without any of the anger and bile. Just melancholy. The observational lyrics. Spoken-word versus. All very much like his dad. He’s got that dour wit that only an Englishman can have, or maybe just a jaded Londoner.

The music tight and often tender, with sparse arrangements. Minimal bass, guitar, drums and 1960's Casiotone keyboards. Very little effects and minimal production. It’s honest and low-fi but never harsh. Its got a warm analogue fug to it. It’s cozy.

The counterbalance of Baxter’s vocals with singer Madeline Hart's pure but worn-out backing vocals make an uneasy listen but somehow they work. Like a dysfunctional relationship.

There is an underlying sadness which permeates most of the album, both musically and lyrically. An album of opportunities missed, relationships lost, moments passed. If Dury Senior’s ‘New Boots & Panties!!’ was the drunken booze-fuelled night out, then Dury’s Junior’s ‘Happy Soup’ is definitely the morning after. The headache. The hangover. The bleary eyed realisations of “what have I done?”. Yes, you really did say that to her. You really did ruin everything. And you really can’t take it back now.

It’s a downbeat pop record. A bit miserable and unsure of itself. Shy, vulnerable, awkward, stupid. It’s also sweet and quietly beautiful all the same. It's impossible not to love.

NEW BOOTS AND PANTIES!! by IAN DURY (1977, Stiff)

There will never be another Ian Dury. A unique mixture of Arthur Askey, Johnny Rotten and Derek & Clive. He was a true one-off that only Great Britain could have spawned with its proud history of vaudeville, civil-disobedience and potty language.

The album title refers to Dury's habits of buying only buying second hand clothes. The titular garments were the only one’s he insisted on buying new. The album cover shows him stood outside a lingerie shop on Vauxhall Bridge Road, just around the corner from Victoria Station. He’s accompanied by his son Baxter, who incidentally, is going to be tomorrows Album of the Day subject.

As opening lines go ...Panties has got a smutty classic. “I come awake with a gift for women kind / You’re still asleep but the gift don't seem to mind / Sliding down your body / touching your behind".

Direct, rude, silly and and funny Dury’s lyrics are a mixture working class observational wit, word play, poetry and character sketches. They've left a huge imprint of British pop. Listen to the words of ‘Billericay Dickie’, ‘Plaistow Patricia’ or ‘Clever Trevor’ and they could be characters from a Madness album or any Blur’s Britpop output (Modern Life, Parklife, Great Escape). Damon Albarn owes a great debt to Dury's lyricism but unlike Blur they never feel snide or voyeuristic.

My favourites moments have to be "Had a love affair with Nina. In the back of my Cortina. A seasoned-up hyena could not have been obscener” (‘Billericay Dickie’) and “You look so self possessed / I wont disturb your rest / It's lovely while your sleeping / but wide awake is best" ('Wake Up and Make Love With Me').

New Boots and Panties is a mixture of Pub-Rock, Punk, Funk, Jazz, New Wave and English Music Hall, all expertly executed against Dury's gutter mouth poetry. Exuberant and knockabout its the perfect accompaniment to eight pints of larger and a sweaty top-off / moobs-out mosh session, especially the shouty anthem par-excellance ‘Blockheads’.

The two standout tracks for me are the classic ‘Sweet Gene Vincent’ and the tune with possibly the greatest bass line in rock history 'Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll'... Bow bow bow ba ba ba boooow... How that song was never a hit is incredible yet it’s tune we all know, and contains the phrase that Dury (allegedly) coined, now a staple of the English language.

If you’re thinking about sampling Dury before you buy, there’s a great place to do it. In a corner of beautiful Richmond Park in a spot favoured by Dury, Poet’s Corner, there’s a solar powered wooden bench where you can plug in your headphones listen to eight of his songs free. That’s if it’s not been vandalised.

EVANS THE DEATH by EVANS THE DEATH (2012, Fortuna Pop)

Our national football teams may be crap but one thing we Brits are world-beaters at is fey indie pop. The Smiths were the first and the greatest but many have followed, taking their template of jangling guitars and theatrical vocals and adding their own twist.

London's Evans the Death have added in a dash of grunge. The guitars still jangle but there’s a dirty fuzz that coats these polished indie tunes like a layer of dust. They’ve added a little more crunch to the guitars and a dirty sludge to the bass but the influences are unmistakable and they’ve created a new and unique hybrid. They are the bastard child of The Smiths and Dinosaur Jr.

It's on the harder tracks such as opener 'Bo Diddley' are where the skuzzy Dinosaur Jr. influence is most keenly heard. Elsewhere such as on the more melodic Telling Lies there are catchy melodic hook that would have done Brit poppers like Sleeper or Echobelly proud.

Dan Moss's barbed lyrics are delivered with verve by singer Katherine Whitaker whose echoey female vocals are just the right side of kooky. There's a touch of Florence Welch about her delivery but this being a 'band' not a 'one woman goth stage-play' all screechy theatrics are kept well under wraps and the vocals fit perfectly within overall sound. In particular on 'Letter of Complaint' where her vocals are given more room to breath and are quite beautiful.

On first listen Evans The Death seemed quite unremarkable but being a very short album (it’s only 31 minutes long and only two songs come in over 3mins) it would be rude not to listen to on loop. It’s with repeated listens that Evans the Death charm really begins to take hold. Their pop sensibilities and sweet guitar hooks really fizz and become quite addictive, especially the faster tracks like the aforementioned 'Telling Lies', 'Threads' and 'I’m So Unclean'.

Also special note has to go to the brilliantly titled ‘A Small Child Punched Me in the Face’ with it’s witty lyrics about “this generation being one generation too many.” Brilliant, smart and fun. Evans the Death are an exciting discovery.

WRECKING BALL by BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN (2012, Columbia)

Big, brash and bombastic, Bruce is back on top form. After a run of enjoyable but ultimately forgettable albums The Boss returns pissed off and with his sleeves rolled-up and spoiling for a fight. 

Springsteen's best songs and albums have always focussed on the existence of the blue-collar American man. Whether singing nostalgic visions of boys racing their Chevy's out in the streets, consoling that lost generation young men who returned from Vietnam without friends or prospects, or remembering the brave men who went into the fire on 9/11 never to return, Bruce always has a keen ability to speak truthfully and touchingly about the lives of the average Joe.

Wrecking Ball is Bruce's 17th studio album and his most passionate since 2002's post-9/11 album The Rising. 

Opening with thunderous drums 'We Take Care of Our Own' could not be more of statement of intent. Angry at the financial downturn that left the working man unemployed but fat cats wealthy, Bruce surveys the wasteland of his cities "from the shotgun shack to the superdome", and proclaims that when "the calvary stayed home" the American people rose to the occasion and take care of there own. It's a powerful opener to a confrontational album.

It's followed swiftly by 'Easy Money' and 'Shackled and Drawn', both mid-paced folk rock songs that could have appeared on his excellent album of protest song cover versions, The Seeger Sessions. 

Tracks like 'Death to My Hometown', 'This Depression', 'Rocky Ground' explore similar themes of anger and disgust at the greed of Wall Street. On 'Death to My Hometown he explicitly holds the bankers to account; "They destroyed our families factories and they took our homes / The left our bodies on the planks, the vultures picked out bones".

It all sounds very bleak but it's really not. Wrecking Ball has many euphoric, uplifting moments and mixes the best of Springsteen's anthemic stadium rock with American and Celtic folk, gospel, soul and the classic protest song. The album ends with a triple whammy of 'Land of Hope and Dreams', 'We Are Alive' and 'American Land'. It's a thrilling, intoxicating and life-afirming climax.

For me the standout track is the emotional 'Jack of All Trades'. It's a slow ballad and the albums best track. A beautifully constructed torch song for the resilience of the menfolk who'll do anything it takes to keep their families afloat despite overwhelming odds. It's a sad lament but has the hope of blue skies and a better future. It also has perhaps the most direct lyrics of the album which come at the end of the song and stand in stark contrast to the tenderness of the track: "If I had me a gun I'd shoot the bastards on sight / I'm a jack of all trades, honey we'll be alright"

39 years since Bruce's debut album and for an artist to release an record that is this relevant and commercially successful is an astounding achievement. It debuted at No1 in 16 countries.

By the age of 62 most artists will have burnt out, if not creatively, then certainly commercially. To put Bruce into perspective, in the U.S. only The Beatles and Jay-Z have had more number 1 albums.

Amongst those 17 studio albums there are at least five genuine five star perfect rock albums: Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town, Born in the USA, The Rising and now Wrecking Ball.

Good work Boss.

STAR by BELLY (1993, 4AD)

One from the archives today. Star was the debut album by Belly. Formed in 1991 by Tanya Donnelly, ex of Throwing Muses and The Breeders. The band name was chosen because it was "both pretty and ugly", a sentiment that informs much of this their first album. It’s a mixture of spooky pop songs with disturbing lyrics about witches and decapitated dolls, delivered with disarming little-girl sweetness by Donnelly.

Belly seem to be on to those early 90s bands that have been largely forgotten about. At the time easily and inappropriately lumped together as part of a scene with the confrontational female fronted indie/grunge act like Hole, L7 and Babes In Toyland. Belly were an altogether softer and easier proposition. Less aggressive or abrasive than their counterparts Belly sound much closer to early REM or even The Pixies at their most accessible, think tunes like ‘Gigantic’ or ‘Where is my Mind’. The comparisons are inevitable when you consider that the album is produced by Pixies producer Gil Norton and Donnelly featured on the first Breeders album, Pod, with former Pixies bassist Kim Deal.

Star is the kind of indie pop that was killed off by Britpop; smart, jangly, kooky American college rock with sweet pop hooks and at times slightly spaced-out. A little like a disturbed Bangles. Belly were a band very much the preserve of their UK label, 4AD, the home of the aforementioned Pixies, Muses, as well as strangely beautiful acts like The Cocteau Twins, Galaxy 500 and Ultra Vivid Scene.

The big tracks were singles 'Gepetto' and the singalong indie hit 'Feed The Tree' which reached the heady heights of number 40 in the UK singles chart. Also worth checking out are 'Dusted' and 'Angel both harder and more frantic than the bigger singles. All four tracks and resolutely old school indie pop and though hardly works of a classic band still hold a nostalgic charm that makes you yearn for the good ol’ days of 90’s schmindie. 

The two singles are the most upbeat songs on the album. Many of the other tracks have a swoon-some melancholic edge, in particular the 'Don't You Have Someone To Die For' and ‘Untogether’. Despite Donnelly’s high-pitched breathy vocals, much of the album has a slower, more distressed sound.

Their second album, King, had a heavier edge but lost the charm that made Star a hit and had helped it shift over a million copies worldwide. By the time the follow up was released in 1995 the world had moved on. Belly disbanded in 1996 but they left behind a sweet and strange little album of childish nightmares and fairy-tales gone wrong that is definitely worth rediscovering, if only for an hour or so of nostalgia.

 

SLAVE AMBIENT by THE WAR ON DRUGS (2011, Secret Canadian)

Imagine Dylan, Petty or Springsteen covered by My Bloody Valentine and your kind of there with The War on Drugs.

The second album by the Philadelphia based four piece is Americana through and through but drenched in the woozy reverb and fuzz you'd expect from early '90s Brit shoegazing bands like MBV, Ride or Spacemen 3.

Main man Adam Granduciel is blatant about his influences. Vocally he oscillates between a lazy Dylan-esque drawl complete with Bob's unusual inflections (especially on 'Brothers'). Elsewhere on 'I Was There' he sounds like a younger mournful Bruce, bruised and tired, as on the Nebraska album.

At their more upbeat moments the music is propulsive stuff. 'Your Love is Calling My Name' flies along with verve, a mixture of psychedelic lyrics, lolloping drums and gently picked guitar melodies. It segues beautifully into instrumental track 'The Animator', a soft wash of swooning white noise and synthesised echoes reminiscent of the Vangelis score for Blade Runner. It would make a great accompaniment to Roy's melancholy soliloquy to Deckard moments before he dies... "attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion... c-beams glitter in the dark... All those moments will be lost in time."  

Single 'Baby Missiles' is the most anthemic and Springsteen-like of all the tracks, sounding vaguely like one of the uptempo tracks from the Born In The USA album maybe 'Downbound Train' or 'Dancing in the Dark'. It also has a debt to Arcade Fire tracks like 'No Cars Go' and 'Keep the Car Running', themselves indebted to Bruce.

It truly is an album to enjoy in a full sitting. Each song bleeds seamlessly into the next through a dopey narcotic haze of white noise and reverb. There are points where you forget where you are, which track you're up to. It's part of it's blissful beauty.

As well as a truly great band name, The War On Drugs have huge potential. They more than hold their own musically alongside their similarly ambitious post-rock contemporaries like Arcade Fire and The National. Slave Ambient also had great reviews last year and featured on many end of year lists. Time will tell whether this becomes revered as great American psychedelic art-rock album like those of their competitors. I personally don't feel it will. Hugely enjoyable as it is, it's influences are worn just a little too brazenly. 

That said I'm really looking forward to what they do next...

WELCOME TO MALI by AMADOU & MARIAM (2008, Because Music)

Sorry. I should probably come clean from the outset of this review that I know almost nothing about "World Music". I know Peter Gabriel's rather keen (his Big Blue Ball album is excellent) but beyond that my experience comes down to the odd track that traditional rock folks like Springsteen and Eddie Vedder occasionally serve up with singers who's names I just can't recall.  I have tried to watch the Buena Vista Social Club documentary. Twice. I've fallen asleep both times.  I'm also guessing that owning Paul Simon's 'Gracelands' doesn't make me sound any more credible either? No, I thought not.

I'm not revelling in this ignorance. I'd like to be able to 'get it' but I think the problem for me is, and this might sound really obvious, a cultural one.

As the majority of the other songs are in languages other than English I simply just can't understand what is being said so I can't connect emotionally. I also think that us Brits (well certainly this one) also feel a little uncomfortable with excessive use of inclusive language 'brothers', 'sisters', 'unite', 'Africa'. I just feel a little embarrassed. Whilst I fully appreciate the importance of their message to Malian and African culture, I just feel like a bit of a tourist. 

I've read a lot about how the live performances of this Malian duo are exuberant and incredibly positive experiences. The music on this album absolutely reflects that. The musicianship is really incredible, the guitar playing and percussion in particular. The polished production makes it feel very commercial so if I was ever really going to 'get it', this should be the album.

There are moments when you can see that that music is really merging with wider global sounds which should make it easier for me. The first two tracks have been produced by Damon Alban who adds and electronic synthesised feel. The first, 'Sabali', could easily have appeared on the last Gorillaz album. Damon's quickly left behind and we enter more organic Afro-beat sound fused with quite commercial sounding pop, reggae and rock. But I'm afraid it's not sticking.

I've listened to the album three times today and the first time I was pretty blown away. Maybe it was because for a brief moment in this miserable British June, the sun was shining and being in the garden with Amadou and Mariam as a soundtrack, it really felt like the Summer had arrived! But now the sun has disappeared behind the rain clouds and this record's now feeling more like a novelty. The exact opposite of that Rat Pack Christmas album that comes out every December. 

Over 15 tracks it becomes just too repetitive and I must admit that even on third listen there's been several times when I hadn't realised one song ended and another has started. Sorry I feel bad. I should love this. You're supposed to. But alas as much as I find a lot here to admire, I just don't find anything to love. 

They've got wicked shades though. 

Oh. What do you mean they're blind? 

Sorry. 

Again.

 

DUSTY IN MEMPHIS by DUSTY SPRINGFIELD (1969, Atlantic)

Being a Friday morning an the prospect of no work for two days looms ahead, surely I should be listening to Walking in Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves....

But it's been sleepy start to the day so it's got to be Dusty In Memphis...

Recorded in 1969 it's was the first time Dusty had recorded an entire album of R&B and the first time that she had worked with outside producers having self-produced her previous solo output. Newly signed to Atlantic Records Britain's brightest pop sensation was looking for credibility hence the location of the recordings, Memphis. The home of Elvis, Roy Orbison, BB King, Sam & Dave and of course, classic R&B label, Stax. 

Notoriously perfectionist, producer Jerry Wexler said that for Springfield "to say yes to one song was seen as a lifetime commitment." apparently all the original vocal recordings which were made in the titular Memphis, were re-recorded in New York. (Not sure 'Dusty In New York' has the same ring about it).

With the talent involved with the album it's hardly surprising it's so highly revered. Dusty's backing singers were The Sweet Inspirations, who at the time on of the most in demand vocal groups. Founded by 'Cissy' Houston (mother of Whitney and aunt to Dionne Warwick) they sung backing for Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, Elvis, The Bee Gees and even Van Morrison (that's them you can hear on 'Brown Eyed Girl'). She was backed by local musicians The Memphis Cats led by Reggie Young in guitar (that's him on Elvis's Suspicious Minds).  Heading up the production was Jerry Wexler. The man that coined the phrase 'Rhythm and Blues' and responsible for signing the greatest acts of the last century: Aretha Franklin, Led Zep, Bob Dylan and, oh, Dire Straits. 

History lesson over. 

Opening with the sleepy 'Just A Little Lovin' in which our little saucepot Dusty breathily intones "just a little lovin, early in the morning, beats a cup of coffee for starting off the day...". Doesn't it just. It's a dreamy, seductive start.

So Much Love continues the theme. Dusty has much to give the right fella if only she could find someone who understands her. Perhaps the son of a preacher man can help?

What a track. Smooth and super cool. You only need to hear a snatch of that that classic little guitar lick to recognise what's coming. Used brilliantly by Tarantino in Pulp Fiction and sampled cheekily by Cypress Hill for 'Hits from the Bong', Inhale.... Exhale...

Her heartbreak on 'Just One Smile' is palpable. You feel you want pick her up off the floor, give her a hug and tell her she'll be okay. But within two minutes she gets to her own feet, composes herself and unfurls her vocals and soars once again.  

However the standout track for me is the sweeping 'Breakfast In Bed'. Graceful and inviting before hitting majestic highs. When she sings " And no one has to know" it sends shivers up my spine every time. And then it breaks into those slinky horns. Awesome.

And there's more to follow, 'The Windmills of Your Mind', 'In the Land of Make Believe', 'I Can't Make It Alone'... Classic songs covered many times, but these versions have never been topped.

Forty years later another British songstress has had huge success with a classic, authentic soul album of love and heartbreak. Adele's 21 owes a massive dept to Dusty in Memphis. Whilst it's dropped the rich production of ...Memphis in favour of a raw, honest sound, the look and soul-baring is all Ms Springfield.

Dusty was right to be perfectionist. A lifetime later, the songs and production hold up beautifully. Tender. Playful. Seductive. At only 33 minutes long, with 11 songs, it's petite and perfectly formed.

ELEPHANT by THE WHITE STRIPES (2003, XL Recordings)

Distant classic or just another Jack White LP. To be fair there's been a lot since Elephant. Seven to my count. Two more Stripes. Two Dead Weathers. Two Raconteurs (the second criminally ignored) and now Blunderbuss his first solo album.  Plus there’s all that of tinkering he's done for the likes of Loretta Lynn, Electric Six as well as running is own label blah blah blah. A veritable garage blues renaissance man and busy boy.

I like the White Stripes. The whole visual package is as important as the music. Sartorial cool should be as vital to any band as the music. It’s hard to get right. You need only look at Coldplay as to how horribly wrong these fashioned ‘looks’ can go, lurching from Post-Modern French Revolutionaries to day-glo cyber punk sportswear. Naff. But Jack and Meg proved there's nothing wrong with a well chosen, tight colour palette. Pick your look well and can last you for 6 albums and 12 years.

It help Jack can play guitar like a wizard and looked like a total dude. If I’m honest I’m not really sure what Meg other than bat away at her drums like a drowning child trying to keep afloat. But that was all part of their low-fi sonic charm and that whole wife/sister was kind of curious for a while too.

But the music backed up the facade. Scuzzy garage blues with flashes of punk and grunge. It's not original of course. Jack White had blatantly stolen the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion songbook, given it a good ol’ polish and dressed it all up in snazzier togs.

But to be fair to White, Jon Spencer could never craft such classic tunes. For as well as the crunchy garage blues and Stooges punk thrashes, Jack White also has a well of seemingly throw-away inane pop songs that are infuriatingly catchy (‘My Doorbell’ anyone). He also has this amazing ability to dash off ditties so simple that you'd think they were old standard you should have been singing since nursery school, think ‘Little Ghost’, ‘Hotel Yorba’ and Elephant's very own ‘It's True That We Love One Another’.

So Back to Elephant. Sure we hear Seven Nation Army on XFM a fair bit but what else is on it. The other singles were ‘Hardest Button to Button’ (great video by Michel Gondry) their inspired cover of Bacharach & David's ‘I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself’ and (according to Wiki) ‘There’s No Room for you Here’

It’s an absolute belter with some utterly thrilling moments. Imagine Howling Wolf channeling Iggy & the Stooges and Bleach-era Nirvana. Sloppy, scuzzy, dirty blues. Opening with Seven Nation Army suggests the menace and danger to come. That throbbing bass indicating the forthcoming horrors almost like John Williams opening them to Jaws. And then the manic attack of Black Math. Without a doubt my favourite track. Exhilarating. The Bacharach cover is just downright sleazy. The song made memorable our soulful Dusty sullied by a strip-joint bar-band. And then we get to the 12 bar blues of ‘Ball and Biscuit’, a nasty pissed off slurry drunk of a song which staggers on for a delirious 7 minutes. Before we lurch into ‘Little Acorns’ (the most Bleach like track for my money), the  dizzying ‘The Air Near My Fingers’ and the cheeky little ditty ‘...We Love One Another’ in which Jack duets with Meg and Holly Golightly.

As alt blues rock punk albums by band who dress in two-tone. It’s really rather good. And I think, their best moment.

Oh and some other little bits of triv for you... The shape created between Meg and Jack is an elephants head. The album’s is apparently a concept album about the “death of the american sweetheart” (not getting this yet). And Elephant, just like every Stripes album, includes one track with the word Little in the title, ‘Little Acorns’. And all in all, it’s sweet as a nut. 

EUROPE by ALLO DARLIN' (2012, Fortuna POP!)

Right, first off this is a truly SHOCKING name for a band. It's awful and whoever came up with it should be utterly and thoroughly ashamed of themselves. 

The album cover is also bland. The combination of the two is so mediocre that I very nearly didn't bother picking this up at all. And in fact even though I did several weeks back under the recommendation of Rough Trade (their Album of the month no less!), it's been sat on my shelf gathering dust since. Until today.

Well guess just how silly do i feel for judging this by it's cover.

This i the perfect album for a cheery, sunny day like today. 10 breezy jangle pop melodies and sweet feminine vocals. Very C86. Bit Belle & Sebastian but less contrived. Like a picnic, fresh lemondade and bunting it's delightful and gosh-darned lovely. In fact I now feel really mean for being rude about their name and artwork. Like i've just kicked a cute kitten. 

A prettily perfect album to start my little blog off with. Have a feeling it's going to be one of this years summer albums.

I'm going to listen to it again, right now.