Green On Red - Scapegoats

 

I had totally forgotten I owned this album. The sticker on the cover shows I paid £8.15 in Our Price, which probably would have been their store in Hounslow.

I knew next to nothing about the band apart from they were from the US, but the song "Little Things In Life" was getting some airplay on the night-time radio stations I used to listen to from time to time, and as I liked that song, I went out and bought the album. I quickly thought that was a big mistake as I disliked everything else on LP so it was probably only played a couple of times.

Whilst Green On Red do have a page on Wikipedia with some history of the band, unlike 4 earlier albums from them, this album doesn't have a page of it own. Fortunately, one person has put the full LP on YouTube, with 531 views but no comments, so I will be able to listen to it !

I have seen Green On Red's style of music described as Americana, but I have no idea what that means.....

The album opens with "A Guy Like Me" and with a lush organ intro its is shockingly good. It made me think of Brinsley Schwarz and I was wondering how on earth I couldn't remember it and not like it !

The mellow "Little Things In Life" is next and still sounds great. I love the great percussion and the whimsical keyboard refrain over the simple acoustic guitar. Despite the sparse production, it is quite perky

"Two Lovers ( Waitin' To Die )" mainly features harmonica and electronic keyboards. It's quite a pleasant song to listen to despite the subject matter.

"Gold In The Graveyard" is a more rockier number, but its fairly ordinary and there is no memorable hook. The guitar playing is decent though.

Side One closes with the very slow "Hector's Out". The rising chorus hints at something from The Eagles "Desperado" period.

The pleasant toe-tapping Country & Western "Shed A Tear ( For The Lonesome )" opens Side Two but it goes downhill after that.

"Blowfly" is a plodding rocker in which the horns play the main riff and "Sun Goes Down" is very slow blues/country-rock number. It reminded me a little of Nick Cave's "Where The Wild Roses Grow" but without Kylie, it's obviously nowhere near as good !

"When The Rooster Crows" is a slow blues boogie which sounds like dozens of songs I can't name !

The album closes with the tender "Baby Loves Her Gun" with harmonica in background but the vocal is strained at times. It's not a bad song.

In conclusion "Scapegoats" is a lot better than I had initially considered. I'd now say there were two very good songs, four in the dull category with the rest being OK.

YouTube Link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZTte9UnADQ&t=1716s

Track Listing :

Side One :

1. A Guy Like Me
2. Little Things In Life
3. Two Lovers ( Waitin' To Die )
4. Gold In The Graveyard
5. Hector's Out

Side Two :

1. Shed A Tear ( For The Lonesome )
2. Blowfly
3. Sun Goes Down
4. Where The Rooster Crows
5. Baby Loves Her Gun

Released 1991
UK Chart Position :-

Singles :

Little Things In Life ( - 1991 )

David Gilmour - David Gilmour

 

As I had every Pink Floyd album released up to that point, I obviously went out and bought David Gilmour's solo album when it came out in 1978. I was disappointed and at the time thought there was only one decent track on it.

"There's No Way Out Of Here" was the only track I could remember, and I only recently discovered this was a cover version, having been first released by Unicorn in 1976, for whom Gilmour had produced three albums.

The album opens with "Mihalis" which turns out to be an instrumental with nice guitar chord progressions. It could easily have fitted into Floyd's "Animals" LP and was surprisingly very good.

"There's No Way Out Of Here" remains a good song and has a strong hook. The organ, pedal steel guitar and the unexpected girly backing vocals all impressively add to it.

"Cry From The Street"  is a fairly forgettable blues song but has an OK guitar solo for outro, sounding like the guitar from the song "Run From Hell" from "The Wall".

"So Far Away" is a nice piano ballad and the playing reminded me of early Elton John. It has similar chord progressions to "Comfortably Numb", a pretty guitar solo break and the backing vocals hint at those on "Us And Them".

Side Two starts with "Short And Sweet" which was co-written with English folk-singer Roy Harper, who sung "Have A Cigar" on the "Wish You Were Here" album. It has a promising guitar intro and bass riff but the song is desperately dull.

"Raise My Rent" is a slow instrumental with the guitar part similar to the middle section of "Dogs" from Animals and some nice organ low in the mix. However, it is nearly 6 minutes long but should have been about half the time.

The blues flavoured "No Way" is another 6 minutes track with Gilmour's unmistakable, distinctive guitar sound, but is another song that didn't live long in the memory.

"Deafinitely" is a self-indulgent blues style instrumental with one of the guitar breaks being very similar to the end of "Sheep" from Animal.

"I Can't Breathe Any More" has a very slow verse but cranks up for the instrumental break. It all seemed very formulaic and I could help think "what is the point ?"

In summary, the album was not as bad as I remembered, and I would now say there were three good tracks on it and some other half-decent moments. In some ways it feels more like a demo of material to be submitted for a Pink Floyd album, which would then be improved or combined with other material. In hindsight, it is noticeable that very few of the previous Pink Floyd songs were solo contributions from Gilmour, and all the outstanding numbers where he has credit involved collaborations with Roger Waters or Richard Wright. Lyric writing doesn't seem to be his strong point, and it is perhaps instructive that by far and away the best song here was written by someone else.

Although we were not to know at the time, it was a good indication of what the Pink Floyd albums after Roger Waters would sound like, and I don't have any of them !

Track Listing :

Side One :

1. Mihalis
2. There's No Way Out Of Here
3. Cry From The Street
4. So Far Away

Side Two :

1. Short And Sweet
2. Raise My Rent
3. No Way
4. Deafinitely
5. I Can't Breathe Any More

Released 1978
UK Chart Position : 17

Singles :

There's No Way Out Of Here ( - 1978 )

 

A Flock Of Seagulls - A Flock Of Seagulls

The first A Flock Of Seagulls record I bought was the single "Wishing" which I thought was terrific. It wasn't included on their album, but I bought anyway, having previously heard "I Ran", which had been a huge hit in the US thanks to MTV latching onto it. It was a shame they didn't follow it up with "I Raq" !

A Flock Of Seagulls were often considered to the a synth band, probably due to the memorable synth refrain on "Wishing" but for the most part it's the guitar playing of Paul Reynolds that dominates their sound.

They are now mostly remembered for the silly haircuts, dodgy fashion and an example of all things naff in the early 1980s, but the quality of their songs and musicianship is frequently overlooked. Instead, they should be remembered for giving the world uptempo new wave/synth pop songs, with catchy tunes, great guitar, propulsive bass and swirling synths.

My memory of this album is that the best songs were the first 4, and looking now at Side Two I can remember "Telecommunications" and that "D.N.A" was an instrumental but I couldn't quite recall how it went. The rest were a blank though.

 "Modern Love Is Automatic" starts with chilly wind effects, like something from early Hawkwind or when Captain Kirk and his crew get stuck on an icy, alien planet. Once the drums come in the song launches into some great guitar with a sing-a-long chant. It's a great song and it's surprising it failed to chart in the UK.

"Messages" has a similar urgent beat to "Modern Love Is Automatic" but reminds me more of Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark. It has a good bass line and another sing-along chant.

The intro of " I Ran" made me think of Hawkwind's "Quark, Strangeness and Charm" LP before morphing into mainstream new wave.  There are two tremendous guitar solos.

"Space Age Love Song" is my favourite track on the album. A beautiful, dreamy song and the title should give a picture of how it sounds. "I saw your eyes and you made me smile, for a little while I was falling in love".

After the strong start to the album, it starts to go downhill a little. The bass on "You Can Run" reminds me of Duran Duran's "Careless Memories" but unfortunately the song isn't as good and it's a little dull.

Side Two opens with "Telecommunications". On a first listen you would think it was OMD, especially the vocal, but the song has a strong choppy guitar riff rather than OMD's synths. It's a decent track.

"Standing In The Doorway" starts with a long plodding instrumental, but an explosion leads to a change of pace and the vocal comes in after 2 minutes, and then covers similar ground to "I Ran". For some reason I kept thinking of Devo when it was playing. It's not bad.

"Don't Ask Me" is pleasant enough with the trademark guitar and bass to drive the track, although it's fairly unmemorable but "D.N.A" is a banger of an instrumental, with the recurring guitar line sounding like something that would keep being played between the rounds of a radio or TV quiz programme !

Excluded from the version released in the US, "Tokyo" is a slower tempo, fairly light-weight but innocuous pop song. 

The album closing number "Man Made" is very different to anything else on the album, being very slow, and nearly six minutes long. It is probably best filed under the category "experimental". Personally, I found it to be a bit boring, and my least favourite track on the album but it is listenable.

In conclusion, "A Flock Of Seagulls" is a good album with some outstanding songs and a great instrumental, and whilst it doesn't manage to maintain these levels consistently over the 11 tracks, there isn't a bad song here, and the band's reputation needs to be revised.

Track Listing :

Side One :

1. Modern Love Is Automatic
2. Messages
3. I Ran ( So Far Away )
4. Space Age Love Song
5. You Can Run

Side Two :

1. Telecommunications
2. Standing In The  Doorway
3. Don't Ask Me
4. D.N.A
5. Tokyo
6. Man Made

Released 1982
UK Chart Position :32

Singles :

Telecommunications ( - 1981 )
Modern Love Is Automatic ( - 1982 )
I Ran ( So Far Away ) ( No 43 - 1982 )
Space Age Love ( No 34 - 1982 )

 

 

Vincent Christ - Truant

 

 Not a lockdown LP but a modern release recommended to me by a colleague. The days of vinyl, tape or CDs are seemingly a thing of the past and new releases in the modern world are via Spotify, Instagram and YouTube. Or so this old dinosaur is reliably informed !

Although released in 2022 the roots of the music are 1980's post-punk and goth-rock, with strong hints of bands such as The Cure, The Mission, New Order and even The Damned. I like it !

The first release "No More Freedom" opens the album. There is a strong driving bass riff and Banshees wailing guitar. I didn't like it when I first heard it but it grew on me after a few plays and perseverance.

In contrast the follow-up "Killjoy" is, in my opinion, the best song on the album. Again the bass is to the fore, but there is a strong melody and a catchy, killer chorus. A tentative Sax solo comes in towards the end. Musically, it reminds me a little of Joy Division/early New Order and the vocal is a cross between The Damned's Dave Vanian and Rick Astley !

There is more bass and crisp drumming to admire in the hypnotic "Under The Rose" and again some Sax in the fade out.

After some dramatic guitar in the opening section "Another Teardrop" concentrates on the pulsating bass riff and a sparse production. I love the backing vocals on this track.

The intro of "Heart On A Chain" reminds me of "Is Vic There" by Department S, with a hint of The Ruts "Babylon's Burning".  There is also a funky Sax solo.

"The Gift Of Tears" is another great song and could easily be on The Mission's "God's Own Medicine" LP. It has a great sudden finish.

The tempo slows a tad with "Green Eyes Insane" with a toe-tapping drum, bass and Sax intro. It's very nice !

"When I Was Wrong" repeats the formula of "No More Freedom" with funky bass, psychedelic guitar and a shouty vocal. Its the weakest track on the album though.

"Only The Brave" has a dominant driving bass line similar to those on The Cure's "Faith" LP. The guitar comes in at the chorus and a there is a fantastic Sax cameo before the mature bass riff ending. It's a super track and another song that reminds me of The Mission.

The bass, drum and guitar on "Black Yellow Red" are reminiscent of The Cure's Pornography album, which is my least favourite album of theirs, so consequently I am not particularly fond of this this song. The "Please don't touch me there" lyric made me think of The Tubes' song with that title even though they sound very different !

The final track "Little Machine" has urgent bass, a buzz-saw guitar, and X-Ray Spex style sax but it's a bit of a filler.

Overall, "Truant" has seven outstanding songs on it, one that I eventually got to like, and three OK songs. For a debut release that it a very good return, and I strongly recommend this album to anyone into 1980s new wave, post-punk or goth music. 

YouTube link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neuZL6FQUrk&t=89s

Track Listing :

1. No More Freedom
2. Killjoy
3. Under The Rose
4. Another Teardrop
5. Heart On A Chain
6. The Gift Of Tears
7. Green Eyes Insane
8. When I Was Wrong
9. Only The Brave
10. Black Yellow Red
11. Little Machine

Released : 2022

Fleetwood Mac - Tango In The Night

 

Following the release of "Tusk" in 1979, Fleetwood Mac released only one album, "Mirage" in 1982, until Tango In The Night came out in 1987. I had not purchased Mirage and only bought Tango In The Night after the fifth single had been released.

Consequently I was already familiar with most of the better tracks on the LP, and at the time I didn't think most of the rest the album tracks to be that interesting. I didn't play the album that often after the first couple of weeks after buying it. Looking at the track listing now there were four songs I couldn't recall.

Side One opens with the first single "Big Love". Whilst being an OK song, I never liked the fake orgasmic vocals, which are apparently all Lindsey Buckingham rather than him and Stevie Nicks.

Next up is "Seven Wonders" co-written by Nicks with Sandy Stewart, who had worked together on Nicks' solo albums, and this is one of my favourite songs on the album. I was surprised to learn it only got as high as 56 in the UK Charts.

Christine McVie's "Everywhere" was a global hit and has since been used in bank and mobile phone adverts in the UK.

"Caroline" is one of the songs I didn't remember. It has a weird drum intro and the "Carra-liinne" chant has a hint of native American to it. It's quite a nice song

"Tango In The Night" is another track I didn't remember and it is actually fairly awful. It seems to be Buckingham's attempt to be the "Tusk" of the album, but fails miserably.

The side closes with "Mystified", a cute, but insubstantial song, jointly written by McVie and Buckingham.

Side Two starts with "Little Lies", another McVie song that was a huge hit. It has great backing vocals in chorus from Nicks and Buckingham.

Buckingham's "Family Man" was the last of five singles from the album, a smooth song with a disco feel, and a flamenco style guitar break.

"Welcome To The Room....Sara" is about Nicks' trying to kick her cocaine habit after checking in to the clinic as Sara. It's not great and when "The First Cut Is The Deepest" is sung, I wished it was the PP Arnold/Rod Stewart song !

The rock flavoured "Isn't It Midnight" is an album filler but has a good guitar solo reminiscent of The Cure in their "Hot, Hot, Hot !" phase, whilst "When I See You Again" is a simple song with plucked guitar but the "What's a matter baby ?" refrain is a bit annoying after a while. The vocal by Nicks isn't the best either.

The album closes with "You And I, Part II", a lively, happy toe-tapper of a song with pleasant keyboards and perhaps because it wasn't a single, is my favourite track on the LP. I'm not sure what happened to Part 1, I think it may have been a B-Side ?

Overall, Tango In The Night is a patchy album. The huge hit singles helped reaffirm Fleetwood Mac's status as global headliners, but it has nowhere near the consistency of "Rumours" or "Tusk". That said it isn't a bad album.

I have probably heard "Little Lies" and "Everywhere" too often so that now I switch channels when they are played on the Virgin Anthems radio station. If these songs were not so ubiquitous I would probably appreciate them a lot more. Apart from "Seven Wonders", the contributions from Stevie Nicks are inconsequential at best.

 

Track Listing :

Side One :

1. Big Love
2. Seven Wonders
3. Everywhere
4. Caroline
5. Tango In The Night
6. Mystified

Side Two :

1. Little Lies
2. Family Man
3. Welcome To The Room....Sara
4. Isn't It Midnight
5. When I See You Again
6. You And I, Part II

Released 1987
UK Chart Position : 1

Singles :

Big Love ( No 9 - 1987 )
Seven Wonders ( No 56 - 1987 )
Little Lies ( No 5 - 1987 )
Everywhere ( No 4 - 1987 )
Family Man ( No 56 - 1987 )

 

Fleetwood Mac - Tusk

 

Tusk was the long awaited follow-up to Fleetwood Mac's globally successful Rumours album and was around 18 months in the making. It was reportedly the most expensive album ever to have been made at the time and was deemed by many critics to be a failure, despite reaching number 1 in the UK, and number 4 in the US.

Sales were certainly paltry in comparison to Rumours and reasons put forward for this ranged from the cost of a double album, the LP being played on radio stations prior to it release in the US leading to wide-scale taping, to the musical content not being "Rumours 2".

Guitarist Lindsey Buckingham was determined the album was not going to be Rumours 2. He had apparently been listening a lot to Talking Heads and want the next album to be relevant in the post-punk/new wave world. 

Buckingham was the dominant force on "Tusk" with nine of the 20 songs, whereas Christine McVie contributed 6 and Stevie Nicks wrote 5. He was also in charge of the production, apparently with a "my way or the highway" stance.

Reviewers comments included "art-house", "self indulgent", "experimental", "post-punk" & "sparse" although these generally were directed at Buckingham's contributions. McVie's songs were her usual consistent, lightweight but great tunes, and Nicks' varied from soulful ballads/lullabies to her trademark witchy personna. 

Another comment was that it was more like collection of three separate solo artists put together for a compilation album. It might have been interesting had the tracks been ordered by composer eg a side each for Nicks and McVie and two for Buckingham, like Pink Floyd's "Ummagumma", or adoption of a Rod Stewart fast side/slow side approach.

Personally, I thought "Tusk" was a tremendous LP and I could still remember every song on the track-list. Indeed, it is some achievement in that I didn't think there was one bad song out of the 20, but I could understand why some people struggled with the vastly different styles covered over the 70+ minutes of music.

Choosing the title track as the first single from the album certainly sent out a clear message that the group were going in a completely different direction from the previous two albums from the new incarnation of the band since Buckingham and Nicks joined, and "Tusk" is one of the highlights. However, there are many candidates for the accolade of best song on the album, and "Storms" would probably get my vote if forced into a decision.

"Over & Over" is a superb opener to Side One. Slow, dreamy and with a gorgeous vocal from Christine McVie, it sets a slightly false impression of what is to follow, and might lead the unsuspecting listener to think it was a continuation from where Rumours left off.

However, any such notion would be quickly dispelled by "The Ledge", all fuzz box guitar, shouted vocal, a bouncy, almost compelling danceable rhythms and an indication of Buckingham's desire to be David Byrne. It was the first of three tracks on Tusk recorded featuring just Lindsey, and apparently even the Stevie Nicks sounding backing vocals were Buckingham's voice going through some alteration device.

McVie's "Think About Me" is similar to her "Don't Stop from Rumours. "I don't hold you down, but maybe that's why you are around".

"Save Me A Place" is slow, strange number with simple chords but it works. Again it is just Buckingham.

Side One closes with "Sara", the first song from Stevie Nicks. Over 6 minutes long, the bass and drums drive the rhythm, and together with dreamy backing vocals and hypnotic vocals, build to the crescendo ending. If asked to describe a typical Nicks song it probably would be this.

"What Makes You Think You're The One" begins Side Two. With heavy drums and piano, it is quintessentially the sound of the Buckingham songs on the album.

"Storms" follows and is a beautiful song, like "Dreams" but, in my opinion much better. For most parts it is just a slow plucked electric guitar and Nicks' voice, and I love the backing vocals towards the end of the song. Buckingham always seemed to be able to add an important structure to Nicks' songs.

The slow "That's All For Everyone" was allegedly inspired by the legendary unreleased Beach Boys' LP "Smile", which Buckingham reportedly gained access to.

"Not That Funny" is another fuzz guitar and heavy drum song although it has a nice keyboard break before again the side ends with another Stevie Nicks song. "Sisters Of The Moon" has a strong bass line intro and great guitar, and is a standard Nicks overblown drama, similar to "Gold Dust Woman".

A Nicks song starts Side Three. "Angel" starts more like a McVie composition with a "You Make Loving Fun" toe tapper keyboard rift before leading into more familiar territory. To add to the collection of misheard lyrics I'd always thought Stevie was singing about John Denver and a 4 hit song but was disappointed to learn the lyric was actually "like a charmed hour and a haunting song"

Buckingham's "That's Enough For Me" is more Zydeco and "Cotton-eye Joe" rather than Talking Heads/new wave, but doesn't suffer in any way because of it.

McVie's mournful "Brown Eyes" has superb backing harmonies and strong drumming, but perhaps is more notable for ex-Fleetwood Mac founder Peter Green being credited for the guitar on the outro.

"Never Make Me Cry" is the album's "Songbird", and the side finishes with "I Know I'm Not Wrong", with more fuzz box guitar and heavy drumming. It has a great melody and a fab instrumental synth break.

Side Four starts with "Honey Hi", another lightweight, dreamy McVie song, with more lovely harmonies and a nice guitar outro.

Nicks' "Beautiful Child" is another great song, with a slow tempo and some lovely piano. "Your eyes say yes, but you don't say yes".

"Walk A Thin Line" has a slow tempo and plodding drums, but is saved by its strong harmonies.

The title track comes as track 4 on side 4 and bizarrely features the USC Trojan Marching Band recorded in the LA Dodgers Stadium, tribal drums, a strong bass riff, jagged guitars and Red Indian style vocals. Remarkably, it is much better than that description sounds, and became the highest charting song for Fleetwood Mac in the UK in the Buckingham/Nicks era, and remained so until "Everywhere" was released in 1987.

"Never Forget" ends the album, a slight McVie song to book-end the rest of the material. It has a great vocal and is another one of my favourites on the album. "Stars must be my friend to shine tonight"

As already stated, "Tusk" remains a truly great LP, without a bad song out of twenty. It stands the test of time, and to this listener has aged much better than Rumours.

Track Listing :

Side One :

1. Over & Over
2. The Ledge
3. Think About Me
4. Save A Place
5. Sara

Side Two :

1. What Makes You Think You're The One
2. Storms
3. That's All For Everyone
4. Not That Funny
5. Sisters Of The Moon

Side Three :

1. Angel
2. That's Enough For Me
3. Brown Eyes
4. Never Make Me Cry
5. I Know I'm Not Wrong

Side Four :

1. Honey Hi
2. Beautiful Child
3. Walk A Thin Line
4. Tusk
5. Never Forget

 

Released 1979
UK Chart Position : 1

Singles :

Tusk ( No 6 - 1979 )
Sara ( No 37 - 1979 )
Think About Me ( - 1980 )