Review: The Sound - From the Lion's Mouth

 

The Sound were one of the early pioneers of post-punk and Coldwave.  Essentially a vehicle for Adrian Borland, they were signed to Korova Records in 1979, a minor label that was part of Warner Brothers.  Their debut album, Jeopardy, received good reviews but The Sound were never destined to break into the mainstream.  Four more albums followed - each slightly different than the other – but always sharing a hard-edged guitar, atmospheric synth and biting lyrics.

By the time The Sound broke up in 1987, Adrian Borland was suffering from depression.  At that time the lyrics were becoming even darker and the music more schizophrenic.  The frustrations of his musical career could have easily contributed to his mental condition.  After a few solo albums, Adrian sadly committed suicide in 1999 by throwing himself in front of an express train at Wimbledon Station.

From the Lion’s Mouth is their second album that was released in 1981.  It has a similar sound to early Echo and the Bunnymen and The Chameleons.  Echo eventually swerved into pop music and the Chameleons into driving guitar, but The Sound was more chilling and cerebral.  All of their five albums – Jeopardy, From the Lion’s Mouth, All Fall Down, Heads & Hearts and Thunder Up - though hard to get, are worth the price of admission.  

Review: John Phillips - The Wolf King of L.A.

 

When it comes to musicians, I certainly pick the tragic cases.  John Phillips was the leader of the famous The Mamas & The Papas.  After the breakup of that group, John went solo.  He only made a few albums (and film soundtracks) while spiraling into a world of drug use, failed marriages and medical problems.  After his death of a heart attack, Phillips was even accused of incest by his daughter Mackenzie.  I won’t delve into that allegation but will instead concentrate on his finest musical moment – John, The Wolf King of L.A.

His first solo album was released in 1970.  Featuring the talents of the legendary Wrecking Crew, the best studio musicians in the business, the album has a country-tinged flavor that never misses a note.  John’s voice, though not the strongest, is smooth and pleasant.  The backup vocalists, The Blossoms, manage to cover any John’s vocal weakness.  Personally, I find his voice perfect for the material.

The lyrics have a dark edge to them – the words of a man suffering from the burdens of the world.  But behind the melancholy lyrics, this album is a catchy slow-burner.  It would have been a perfect The Mamas and the Papas album, besting anything they ever made before.  Go ahead and check it out.

Gas Prices - a Vicious Circle?

Note: I rarely comment on economic or political stories.  With that in mind, I'll keep the firebrand in me at bay.

See this AP story for more background information:

Consumer spending is important because it accounts for 70 percent of economic activity. The spike in gas prices has forced many consumers to cut back on discretionary purchases, such as furniture and vacations, which help boost growth.

Before the "Big Recession of 2008", gas prices were spiking upward, causing me to sell my old Caprice and Mercury Mountaineer.  In the world of $3 gasoline, I was spending way to much money on keeping these V8 beasts fueled.  But with the financial shock, oil demand dropped like a rock, pushing gas prices down.  During this brief spell, I got to enjoy a 5.7L LT1 Buick Roadmaster even though I knew this gasoline respite would be temporary.

As the economy sluggishly improved earlier this year, gas prices once again started to rise.   Oil is not only energy to produce, it is also plastic material and fertilizer.  Increased demand in goods will also increase transportation needs which in turns ramps up the need for diesel for trucking and trains.  This increase is also passed along to food and material prices.  When our personal fuel prices go too high, we stop spending our hard-earned dollars on goods since that money is instead spent on energy.  However, when we reduce our non-energy spending, gas prices will drop with decreased consumer demand, once again allowing us to have more free money to spend.

Without cheap energy, the economy may be stuck in a sort of "Energy Vicious Circle," never allowing consumer demand to gain traction until something breaks the cycle.  What will that take?  That's a topic for another day.

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The Slow Death of the Music Industry

 For background, check out this article from Business Insider.

Highlights:

The music industry is down 64% from its peak.

The music industry is actually down 45% from where it was in 1973.

The CD peak was only 13% better than the vinyl peak, not over 250% better as the Bain chart implies.

10 years ago the average American spent almost 3 times as much on recorded music products as they do today.

26 years ago they spent almost twice as much as they do today.

The reasons for this decline in music sales are wide and varied.  I'll first touch on a few obvious ones before I get to the main point - the rise of video (VHS, Cable and DVD), the rise of computers and the Internet, and the rise of gaming platforms (Playstation, XBox) are all battling for consumer attention.  The decline of musical quality is another issue that I examined HERE.

Another reason that is often overlooked is the medium itself.  Back when I was a teenage, my friends and I used to swap cassette tapes.  In our spare time we would make mix tapes or record our favorite albums for each other.  This was a great way to get new music while saving a few dollars that could be better spent on other pursuits.  But even in those days, the copied music was deemed inferior to the original source.  And it was - cassettes often broke and even the best players showed just how bad the cassette format was.

The digital revolution changed all of that.  The CD was released to popular acclaim in the 1980s, but no consumer had the technology to actually copy them bit-by-bit.  We still relied on the primitive cassette to do that.  When Mindisc first came out, I leaped at the chance to buy into this second wave of digital recording (the first being the unsuccessful DAT format) because it was a great way to record my collection of rare 7" records.  But the rise of the computer brought the inexpensive CD-R to the masses, allowing CDs to finally be perfectly copied.

After that, the MP3 came to the fore.  File sharing (between P2P and friends) allowed the illegal distribution of music to an extent unimaginable in the past.  This sudden easy access to music is certainly part of the steep decline in music sales.  What consumer would buy an album or song when they could easily get it for free from someone else?

On a side note, the MP3 also seems to coarsen the appreciation of music.  It makes the listener more "hits" orientated, ignoring the other songs on the album.  This has a side-effect of declining the number of album sales since the modern listener prefers to just buy or share the "best" (or most popular) songs.

By coming out with the CD format, the music industry inadvertently created a path that is now leading to their own demise. They are struggling to stem the tide by the use of lawsuits and finally allowing legal downloads, but it may already be too late.  Perhaps they would have better off staying with the cassette and LP!

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Review: Nick Lowe - Pure Pop for Now People (Jesus of Cool)

Starting with Brinsley Schwarz in 1969, Nick Lowe played a pivotal role in the 1970s pub rock and New Wave movement.  Not only did he make dozens of albums in his (still continuing) career, but he has also produced the likes of Graham Parker and Elvis Costello.  Lowe’s most famous song, (What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding, is a classic that was popularized by Costello in the U.S. edition of Armed Forces.

Lowe obviously goes for the hook and his strength as a songwriter came together for his 1978 solo debut Pure Pop for Now People (known as Jesus of Cool outside the U.S.).   This is pop music that crackles with unbounded energy and enthusiasm.  The lyrics have plenty of tongue-in-check humor too – for example, check out the catchy ode to the Bay City Rollers in the track Rollers Show.  The musicianship is also tight with members of Rockpile adding their talent to the production.  The most well-known track is So It Goes, but the other (few) ballads and 3-chord rockers are equally infectious. 

 If you haven’t checked out Nick Lowe yet, go ahead and give him a try.  For further listening, Labour of Lust, Nick the Knife and The Abominable Showman are also worth your time. 

Snake Corps - Flesh on Flesh

From the ashes of Sad Lovers & Giants, Snake Corps was the brainchild of Tristan Garel-Funk and Nigel Pollard.  With the exit of Pollard, Marc Lewis was then recruited to do vocals.  Though infused with atmospheric and brooding Cold Wave, Snake Corp ended up having a harder-edged post-punk sound than others in the genre.

Flesh on Flesh was their first album which was released in 1985 on the now-defunct Midnight Music label.  After this album, keyboards were added along with a more rock-orientated sound.  Five years later saw the release of their next album Smother Earth.  A third album was slated to be released titled The 3rd Cup, but Snake Corps soon found themselves without a label since Midnight Music went into receivership.  This last album was eventually released in 1993 as a CD-only title on the Ophidian label.

Though popular in continental Europe, Snake Corps never found much of an audience in their home U.K. or in the United States.  That's a shame because Snake Corps is one of those rare groups that is remarkably consistent. The songs as a whole are catchy and wonderfully rhythmic with soaring, swirling guitars.  For starters, I would get the best-of compilation titled Spice which is available as a CD only release.  The LPs are harder (and expensive) to track down, but are worth the effort.

Review: Ronnie Lane - Anymore for Anymore

Let’s raise a glass in the memory of poor old Plonk.  Ronnie Lane was a founding member of the Small Faces – famous for the vocalist Steve Marriott – and the Faces – famous for the vocalist Rod Stewart.  Lane eventually left the Faces to go solo.  Instead of the rockers and dirty-booze ballads of before, Lane started concentrating on a mix of Folk, Country and Rock with his group called Slim Chance.  It was a new vision of gypsies, wanderers and life on the farm.  This odd departure worked, earning Ronnie two top 40 hits in Britain with the release of his 1974 album Anymore for Anymore.

After this success, Ronnie went on to start “The Passing Show” – a tour of the UK that featured tents, a ringmaster, carnival barkers and dancing girls.  He lived a life on the road until the tour dissolved from lack of money and problems with the various motor vehicles.  In 1977, Ronnie was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a disease that also affected his mother.  He eventually moved to Austin, Texas in 1984 where he started up a new Slim Chance.  He played until 1992 before moving to Colorado.  In 1997, Lane succumbed to pneumonia.

In my house, Plonk's music is much loved.  He had a life that was too short, but that still left a treasure of music behind.