LIVE THROUGH THIS by HOLE (1994, DGR)

As an album title the choice of LIVE THROUGH THIS could not have been more sickeningly prophetic.

The line is a quote from Vivien Leigh in Gone With The Wind but its use here was intended as comment on Courtney Love's transformation into a figure of public notoriety and vilification. It took a tragically sad meaning when only four days before the album was released, Courtney's husband Kurt Cobain was found dead of a self-inflicted shotgun wound. 

Like the title, many of the lyrics also have that dreadful sense of the inevitable that only comes with hindsight. Never more so than the refrain on 'Miss World'; "I've made my bed I'll lie in it / I've made my bed I'll die in it". Because of the album's angst-ridden lyrical tone here's been rumours since it's release that Cobain was responsible for much of the content. Certainly tracks like 'Doll Parts' do sound like classic Cobain but Love has proven on all three Hole albums and solo LP that's she's a brilliant songwriter in her own right. Certainly there's no way Cobain could have written a song like 'Asking For It' the background to which is horrifying. Love has gone in record to explain that it was inspired by a terrifying incident she suffered in 1991 when Hole were touring with fellow grunge band Mudhoney. Love, was crowd surfing at a Glasgow gig when the crowd started tearing off her dress and underwear, molesting her and leaving her bruised and completely naked by the time she got backstage. Similarly personal 'Plump' is about her pregnancy and the rampant criticism of her as a mother in the now infamous Vanity Fair article about her and Cobain, that led to custody battle over their child.

If you separate the drama from the music though what you are left with is a genuinely ferocious rock album full of vitriol, bite and sarcasm. 

This was this album where Love proved that she was much more than Cobain's junkie rockstar wife. Anything he could do, she could do too. The thrashed guitars and punk noise of Hole's first album 'Pretty on the Inside' are toned down in favour of a more commercial, melodic rock sound. That's not to say they lost their hard edge completely, but Love's songwriting ability and way with simple melody comes through. Just like Cobain, Love too could structure accessible pop songs and rough them up into catchy radio friendly grunge.

'Violet' makes terrifying start. Loud and thrilling guitars accompanied by Love's powerful and guttural voice, venting her spleen at her ex-boyfriend, Smashing Pumpkin's Billy Corgan. Equally aggressive is 'Plump' and 'Gutless'. 

The tracks 'Doll Parts', 'Miss World', 'Asking For It' are classic radio-friendly Hole beginning softly, pulling you in with sweet melodies before Love lets her inner punk-rock banshee run riot. 

While LIVE THROUGH THIS is not a "classic album" of Nevermind proportions its more than equals Nirvana's follow-up In Utero in terms fuzz drenched pop melodies, lyrical frankness and sheer rock power.

A lot of negative comment has been written about Love in years since LIVE THROUGH THIS came out. She's been called every name under the sun including, by conspiracy theorists, a murderer. 

Whilst the drug abuse, bad behaviour, bad parenting is something expected, even encouraged, of male rock stars Love had been continually derided. At least here on record Courtney Love proves here she's one of America's best Rock songwriters, musicians and singers, regardless of her gender.

'VIOLET'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cH_rfGBwamc

'DOLL PARTS'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RD9xK9smth4

'MISS WORLD'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS1Ckczz0LQ

NANCY & LEE by NANCY SINATRA & LEE HAZELWOOD (1968, Reprise)

Ahhh, that’s much better. After the agony of yesterday's album today's is nothing short of delightful. NANCY & LEE is an album everyone needs to own and comes with my own cast-iron guarantee that it will make your life better. Buy it tonight and make Monday more bearable.

A veritable chocolate box of eleven perfect musical treats: traditional sweeping ballads, throwaway bubblegum pop and psychedelic country, NANCY & LEE has it all.

Largely forgotten by the wider public it’s taken on a cult following with the likes of Primal Scream, Jesus & Mary Chain, Nick Cave, Mile Kane, and even Megadeth (apparently!) covering tracks.

Lee Hazelwood was best known as producer for guitarist Duane Eddy but went on to produce Nancy Sinatra’s big hit ‘These Boots Are Made for Walkin’’ in ‘66. Two years later he and Nancy released this album of pop gems. This time Hazelwood stood in front of the mic alongside lovely Nance for a series of duets.

Hazelwood has a baritone that makes Johnny Cash sound like a choirboy. His deep vocals start the album with their version of ‘You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’’. It’s so low you’ll think the speakers are going to blow!

To be fair the versions of 'You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling' and 'Jackson' don't touch those by The Righteous Brothers or Johnny & June (which actually followed Nancy & Lee's version only months later) but they are a hell of a lot of fun. Where the album really strikes a chord though are Hazelwood's own brilliant compositions.

'Summer Wine' is a swooning romance between a cowboy who's new in town (Hazelwood) and a woman who gets him drunk on wine, seduces him and she steals off into the night with his silver spurs and all his money. The Harlot! On ‘Sundown, Sundown’ Lee sings “there’s no one in this world for me / there ain’t ever gonna be” you really imagine he’s a lone ranger walking out into the Wild West wilderness. The on this orchestration this track (by the brilliantly named Billy Strange) is epic!

And then there’s the brilliant ‘Some Velvet Morning’ which was (according to the Daily Telegraph) the best duet ever recorded. It’s pure-pop psychedelia with Hazelwood singing about a mysterious siren called Phaedra who educates him in the ways of love. It alternates with Sinatra’s fairy-like vocals advising him to “look at us but do not touch”. Primal Scream covered it on their ‘Evil Heat’ album with Kate Moss providing the female vocals against a techno backdrop. Not as memorable. The Verve were also inspired by it when they named their Urban Hymns track, Velvet Morning.

‘Storybook Children’ and ‘Elusive Dreams’ are big sweeping ballads, the latter particularly mournful. It record ends the jaunty ‘I’ve Been Down So Long (It Looks Like To Me)’.

NANCY & LEE is a forgotten classic ’60 record. While not as revolutionary as your Sgt Pepper or Pet Sounds it more than holds it’s own in terms of classic songwriting. Give it a go.

'SOME VELVET MORNING'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2PbG6KQKsE

'SUNDOWN, SUNDOWN'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIPvGpFJ0v0

THE KING OF LIMBS by RADIOHEAD (2011, Self Released)

The signs for Radiohead's eighth album were good. No one knew if and when it would finally appear but the preceding album, 'In Rainbows', was a return to form and there had also been the release of the  British Legion charity single 'Harry Patch (In Memory Of)' the haunting tribute to the last of the WWI veterans.

Fans were given a week notice. THE KING OF LIMBS, named after a 1,000 year old tree in Savernake Forest, would be released on 18th February 2011 as a digital download from Radiohead's site, with a physical version to follow later. It was released without any singles but with an accompanying video for the track 'Lotus Flower'.

The album feels loose and experimental. It's mainly fragments of melodies, sampled, looped and reworked into something unusual less song-based and spontaneous sounding. 'Lotus Flower' is the most conventionally song-based track and also the most humane. Due to the amount of loops and samples much of the album sounds cold and robotic, but at least here with Thom Yorke's vocals higher in the mix, his words clearly audible for a change, and with handclap percussion there is some sense of the warmth that 'In Rainbows' had. 'Codex' is a slow piano-led ballad that that's worth checking out, it's cut from the same cloth as 'Harry Patch' and similarly haunting.

Beyond these two little here that would please a fan of more conventional Radiohead tracks. It's messy, scattershot and indulgent. The worst of the bunch is 'Give Up The Ghost' which descends into a dirge of over-layered caterwauling by Yorke. It's horrible to listen to.

If you were being kind you could say THE KING OF LIMBS is challenging and uncompromising. But if you were being honest you'd say pretentious, distant and completely unloveable. At only eight tracks on it also feels like a stopgap. It's for completists only and destined to be the Radiohead album most likely to gather dust.

Phew, glad that one's over.

PRETTY HATE MACHINE by NINE INCH NAILS (1989, Rykodisc)

Confession. I'm a NIN novice. Industrial has never been my cup of tea. After all it's music for goths, weirdoes and people who think The Matrix is real. Cyber-punks in Hollywood movies are always listening to NIN, especially if you happen to pop by for a "quick hack" or to borrow some black market bugging equipment. Its coz they're into technology you see, and they're really, really intense. 

NIN main-man Trent Reznor seems now more focused on the movies than his band. He's created the soundtracks for the last two David Fincher movies: The Social Network and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. The latter even features a hacker in a NIN t-shirt. Point proven. 

PRETTY HATE MACHINE was his debut NIN album and it's surprisingly accessible. It's dare I say it, quite poppy. Closer to Depeche Mode or a POP WILL EAT ITSELF than industrial darklords like Ministry.

It's laced with distortion effects, synths, samples, drum loops, scratches but is also much more melodic than you might imagine. Although those melodies do sound like they've been spewed up from the pits of hell. It's Goth Electro rather than Hardcore Industrial. The faster tracks you could even dance to. Though I've not tried it myself. 

The production is really excellent. Largely produced by Reznor himself but with input from the likes of uber-producer Flood (U2, New Order, Depeche Mode) and dub-producer Adrian Sherwood (remixer for PWEI, Coldcut and Primal Scream). Its deep and textured. You can hear the layers of sound really clearly. Sounds great played loud through your headphones. Though I'm not sure the lady next to me on this train agrees.

Reznor's confessional, angst-ridden lyrics delivered with menace and venom. He's not got the biggest or strongest voice but as the old saying goes it's not the size that counts, it's what you do with it. He gives a committed performance.

Standout tracks are the single and genre classic 'Head Like A Hole', the turbo-charged adrenaline-ride 'Sin' and also 'Sanctified' with its Gregorian chants, bomb explosion and samples from Midnight Express. The latter sounds a bit like Joy Division's 'Dead Souls' which incidentally, NIN covered on the excellent Crow soundtrack. The slow tracks on PRETTY HATE MACHINE are also very compelling. Check out 'Something I Can Never Have' for Reznor's sense of theatrical drama.

PRETTY HATE MACHINE is a discordant, harrowing, angst-ridden thrill-ride. And although it's probably not a word you'd associate with NIN, a 'pleasant' surprise. Give it a go.

BTW cheers to Gary for the album suggestion. Incidentally Gary doesn't think The Matrix is real. But he was a legendary Goth!

HEAD LIKE A HOLE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cV2EUUF47Ms

SIN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOoWkXEz-5E

STICKY FINGERS by THE ROLLING STONES (1971, Rolling Stones Records)

Lock up your grand-daughters because this year its the Strolling Bones' 50th birthday! God only knows what mischief these naughty pensioners will make. To celebrate here's a little blog on my favourite Stones album; STICKY FINGERS. 

What a name! What a cover! What songs! Everything about it is downright dirty. The kind of dangerous, swaggering rock n roll yer mama warned you about. The cover of the original vinyl version even unzipped. Gosh. 

It's a perfectly constructed album. Perfectly paced, well ordered with massive peaks, gentle lows every song now feels settles into it's right place.

It was the first album the Stones released on their own label, the first not to feature any Brian Jones material and the first full album for the short-lived Stone, Mick Taylor.

It's has so many great moments. 'Brown Sugar'. Nothing more to say about that one. 'Sway'' with its tearaway guitar solo. 'Wild Horses', the 2nd greatest song the Stones ever wrote. The best being 'Tumbling Dice'. Obviously.

The downright funky 'Can't You Hear Me Knocking?' a song that makes you feel like one of the three little pigs with Mick the salacious wolf at the door slapping those big sexy lips. "Yes Mick I can hear you knocking but i'm not letting you in. You scare me."

'You Gotta Move' is drunken and scary. The sound of the Stones howling at the moon. Guitar slides all over the place.

And then there's 'Bitch'. Wow. What a song. Mick's frustrated and horny like a dog on heat.  "When you call my name I salivate like Pavlov's dog / and when you lay me down, my heart starts beating like a big bass drum...." Mick yelps. Keef solos like a baddun. Charlie thumps the skins and then theirs that big brass section courtesy of Mr Bobby Keys. Yowzer!

And then we have comedown. 'I Got The Blues' is big soul ballad the kind Otis Reading would have destroyed (in a good way). It's followed by a stellar hat-trick of 'Sister Morphine', 'Dead Flowers' and the sweeping, orchestral 'Moonlight Mile'. The perfect finish.

Sex. Drugs. Death. Heartbreak. All the good stuff. STICKY FINGERS has got everything the best rock albums should. By the end you'll feel used, sullied, defiled and heartbroken. But desperate to let to let the Stones do it to you all over again.

The greatest rock n roll album recorded? I challenge you to name one better...

POWER, CORRUPTION & LIES by NEW ORDER (1983, Factory)

Awful as it sounds I don't think the CD had even made it out the case until this week. I bought it originally for 'Age of Consent' (which it turned out i already had) and it's been gathering dust since. Shameful. 

Critics bang on about how it's one of the best albums of the '80s but after the first few listens I was going to risk the wrath if New Order purists and say its not aged well. But I've persevered... 

Still reeling from the death of Ian Curtis, New Order's first album Movement still sounded like Joy Division but with added keyboards. Hardly surprising as several tracks were written before Curtis died. It's a ghostly, depressing and fragile album. POWER CORRUPTION & LIES was the turning point when New Order started to develop the own post-punk electronic dance sound. Inspired by European electro artists like Kraftwerk and Giorgio Moroder and their experiences on the New York's club scene in 1981, New Order's began to incorporate dance beats and loops into their music.

First track 'Age of Consent' picks up where Movement left off though they sound totally rejuvenated and upbeat. It's classic New Order. Principally guitar based with Peter Hooks bass leading the way with the melodies played on the high strings. It's after this that thing begin to go digital...

'We All Stand' sound like a more electronic Joy Division but without Curtis's powerful vocals there's nothing here compelling. Its just a bit dull. The production is sparse and minimal leaving Bernard Sumner's weak vocals exposed. He's no Ian Curtis, theres none of the authority needed to carry such an empty song. It seems to linger endlessly.

'5-8-6' Is the first big dance number beginning slowly before morphing into a drum loops and electro/disco track. It contains the DNA of New Orders mightiest floor-filler, Blue Monday. Also good is 'Ultraviolence' with it's menacing robotic tribal drums.

The standout track for me is the haunting 'Your Silent Face' which contains just enough of Joy Division's 'Atmosphere' but with a soft electro throb. It's similar to something you might find on the Drive soundtrack and at 6 minutes, it's still too short. Stunning.

Other than that I'm afraid there's slim pickings on this album and even after many many listens to much of it sounds too thin and tinny for me. Summers vocals sound so reedy. Sorry but it's not aged well.

Its obvious to see why it's such a revered album, it's pioneering sound combining new wave with dance must have been a shot in the arm at the time. Also given the Joy Division / New Order history there's a tendency to deify the band. POWER, CORRUPTION & LIES does have some great moments but by and large it drags on. Great Peter Saville designed sleeve though and a brilliant name for an album.

AGE OF CONSENT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WujDxr1zcZI

YOUR SILENT FACE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9LUX7WTpvE

INSIDES by JON HOPKINS (2009, Domino)

Jon Hopkins is a name you may not recognise, but you'll know his music. 

This album's transcendent 'Light Through The Veins', was adapted to open Coldplay's Viva la Vida album and creates is the foundation of their 'Life in Technicolour' single. He's also co-produced Coldplay's last two albums with Eno. But before you say "so what, Coldplay are shit" just imagine how awful they'd be without the production. Hopkins has proven twice the old adage is incorrect. It is possible to polish a poo.

Hopkins has also written the scores for The Lovey Bones, the sci-fi film Monsters and most recently collaborated with Scottish folky King Creosote for the Mercury Prize nominated album, Diamond Mine. 

Diamond Mine was a stunning album of Creosote's modern day folk songs set to Hopkins' ambient backdrops. A lovely concept album reflecting life in the coastal fishing communities on the edge of Scotland. Do check out 'John Taylors First Month Away' if you've not heard it.

So what does INSIDES sound like? Imagine Ludivico Einaudi being molested by The Aphex Twin and Skrillex. A mixture of piano-led minimalist classical and soft ambient sounds that are sporadically battered by thumbing-hard beats.

The album starts slowly with the pretty folk strings of 'The Wider Sun'. It's followed by the atmospheric 'Vessel' that begins with a simple piano motif (Hopkins being a classically trained pianist) before the beats kick in. Hard and fast. Things get even heavier with 'Insides' where Hopkins goes full-on Dubstep.

'Colour Eye' is perhaps the archetypal track on the album. It begins midpaced before pairing right down to a sparse classical ambience. It lulls you into a false sense of security. Then BLAM at 2:40 it goes absolutely beserk with an onslaught of Aphex Twin type disjointed breaks and beats. It's like Megatron just landed in Downton Abbey and started blowing the crap out of everything. Yes it's that awesome. 

After the aforementioned 'Light Through The Veins' the pace slows down with much more emphasis on electronic and ambient that recall some of Orbital's more melodic moments. There's also another couple of short haunting classical songs.  It's the calm after the storm. 

INSIDES great but largely ignored dance album which ought to appeal to those who like complex, well constructed electronic music. If you like Orbital or Aphex Twin, you should like this.

'LIGHT THROUGH VEINS'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5umlj3eyYk