Posts Tagged ‘ Classic Rock ’

Album of the Week 17-2024: Navarone – Coda


While I don’t want to make a habit out of reviewing live albums here, sometimes a release pops up that is notable enough to warrant it. ‘Coda’, after all, is the registration of the final concert Navarone, arguably my favorite Dutch rock band, ever played. And a mammoth set it was: 31 song spread out over two cd’s crammed to their 80-minute maximums. The video portion, which can be streamed or downloaded via an included code, even passes the three-hour mark. This is how you bid farewell to your fans as a band, especially given how well Navarone performs these songs.

Readers who have followed me for a while may have noticed that Navarone’s fifth album ‘V’ was never reviewed on this site. And there’s a reason for that. That album’s leap towards pop overproduction was quite disappointing to me. It worked for some of the ballads and the fairly fragmented ‘Stakes’, but I felt it neutered the rock band power Navarone had. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one disappointed with the album, as disagreements over the musical direction of the band were cited as the main reason for the break-up. ‘Coda’ once again proves what the Dutch rock scene is going to miss.

The setlist does a great job of covering all the bases. Each of the band’s five albums is represented more or less evenly. With releases like these, there are always songs you’d wish would have been on there – ‘On My Knees’, ‘Chrome’ and ‘Waste’, in my case – but they did as great a job as possible here. Personally, I am pleased to see nearly all songs of their sophomore album ‘Vim and Vigor’ featured. It might not be the most accessible Navarone album, but it was when the band felt like its most creatively uninhibited. My personal favorite Navarone song ‘Time’ is featured in a glorious version and ‘Indigo Blue’ remains a masterpiece.

Given that the show was recorded on January 5th of this year and there already is a final product, it is remarkable how well singer Merijn van Haren mixed the album. Every instrument is more or less exactly as present as it should be, with the guitars of Kees Lewiszong and Roman Huijbreghs being panned enough to create a fairly spacious sound, and the little left-right tricks like in ‘Black and Blue’ work very well. The master could have used a slightly boomier bottom-end, but the fact that Lewiszong’s guitar sound is fairly bottom-heavy to begin with only truly makes that noticeable when he plays a solo.

As for the music: Navarone is as good as they always were. About equal parts seventies hard rock – Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith being the closest references, though Van Haren’s mighty voice contributes to that significantly – and nineties rock, Navarone has always been great at creating a timeless rock sound that could evolve in different directions. Unpredictably epic on ‘Vim and Vigor’, fearlessly experimental on ‘Oscillation’, rocking unpretentiously on ‘Salvo’, which I kind of underestimated when it was first released… And it all works well alongside each other on this set. Van Haren appears to avoid the highest peaks of his chest voice in the beginning, but that is probably just to preserve himself for the end of the three-hour set. He sounds incredible regardless.

So there it is: the farewell album of – in my opinion – one of the greatest bands the Netherlands ever has known. To be fair, not every rock band gets to even make one fantastic album, let alone four. While it is a shame it had to end the way it did, ‘Coda’ certainly is a far better final curtain call than ‘V’. Nothing about the recording feels like a band forcing out one last hurrah. Instead, everyone gives their all. For those unfamiliar with Navarone’s work, ‘Coda’ ironically serves as a fairly good introduction to their music. The world needs more live albums this good.

Recommended tracks: ‘Time’, ‘December’, ‘Indigo Blue’, ‘Days of Yore’, ‘The Red Queen Effect’, ‘Wander’

2024
04/28
CATEGORY
Music
Reviews
TAGS










Leave a comment

Album of the Week 47-2023: The Tea Party – Splendor Solis


If there is one thing The Tea Party deserves all the respect they can get for, it would be how immensely ambitious the Canadian trio have been pretty much from the beginning. ‘Splendor Solis’ can be seen as their debut album, since the self-titled album released two years prior was more or less an ascended demo, as evidenced by no less than four songs being re-recorded for this particular album. But instead of showing promise as a young, budding band, The Tea Party goes all-out in their rock meets folk music from all over the world ambitions, with often spectacular results.

One of the most interesting things about ‘Splendor Solis’ is the interaction between acoustic and electric guitars. This has long been a trademark of frontman Jeff Martin, but ‘Splendor Solis’ might just be characterized by the most creative use of acoustic guitars in the band’s discography. Martin hardly ever goes full-on folk, save for some instrumental passages, like the gorgeous ‘Winter Solstice’. Instead, the acoustics – often twelve-strings – and the clean and overdriven guitars go hand in hand to create a large palette of atmospheres, making most of the louder sections seem much heavier than they actually are. The use of percussion by Jeff Burrows is very tasteful.

While The Tea Party’s sound was still very much in development when the material on ‘Splendor Solis’ was written, their blend of seventies hardrock, psychedelia, folk and other world music is already admirably accomplished here. Also, Martin’s rich, deep baritone isn’t quite at the level of 1995’s excellent ‘The Edges of Twilight’ yet, but he creates so many shades of vocal color here that it hardly matters. Everything from near-whispers to outbursts of anger illustrate the music and the lyrics perfectly. Admittedly, the lively, dynamic production of ‘Splendor Solis’ does a lot of good in that department as well.

All of this would have been completely meaningless if the songwriting wasn’t so great. The brooding inensity of the powerful ‘The River’ is the perfect way to open the album, ‘Save Me’ is a dark, menacing epic, while ‘Raven Skies’ and ‘The Majestic Song’ are so creative in weaving tapestries of atmospheric riffs that they have to be heard to be believed. ‘Sun Going Down’ is a country blues song dominated by Martin’s twelve-string acoustic slide guitar brought up-to-date by Burrows’ hard-hitting drumming and its wild electric finale. ‘A Certain Slant of Light’ is a lesson in dynamics, with the transitions going so smoothly you’ll hardly notice how much heavier the chorus is than the rest of the song.

‘Splendor Solis’ might not be as impressive a work as ‘The Edges of Twilight’ would be two years later, but that album could not have been made without the confident and fearless experimentation heard on its predecessor. ‘Splendor Solis’ is a highly engaging album that still manages to surprise me after all these years of listening to it. It has been put together with as little care for musical trends as possible and, as a result, has ended up sounding fresh and exciting all the way through. Highly recommended if you would like to hear a seventies-inspired rock band taking a love for world music further than usual.

P.S.: See how easy it is to write a review on The Tea Party without mentioning Led Zeppelin and The Doors? It’s almost as if they don’t sound as much like those bands as lazy reviewers would want you to believe…

Recommended tracks: ‘The River’, ‘Raven Skies’, ‘Sun Going Down’, ‘The Majestic Song’

2023
11/26
CATEGORY
Music
Reviews
TAGS








Leave a comment

Album of the Week 36-2023: Ningen Isu – Shikisokuzekū


2021’s ‘Kuraku’ was as close to a median Ningen Isu album as we ever got. Solid, but unspectacular. Fortunately, the power trio from Aomori has a way of following lesser albums up with something amazing. The lackluster ‘Burai Hōjō’ was followed by the crusing masterpiece ‘Kaidan Soshite Shi to Eros’, the eclectic, but also kind of messy ‘Ijigen Kara no Hōkō’ was followed by the spectacular ‘Shin Seinen’ and now, the follow-up to ‘Kuraku’ is the incredibly dynamic ‘Shikisokuzekū’. Ningen Isu’s characteristic seventies hardrock meets early doom metal sound is firmly in place, but ‘Shikisokuzekū’ places slightly more emphasis on the former than usual.

At times, ‘Shikisokuzekū’ feels like Ningen Isu’s early masterpiece ‘Ōgon no Yoake’ pushed through the filter of their notably heavier twenty-first century productions. It isn’t quite as heavy on the Black Sabbath worship as ‘Kuraku’, although their specter is never too far away from Ningen Isu’s riffs and Shinji Wajima’s guitar sound. There are doomy songs, but also occasional looser rock ‘n’ rollers, the folky ballad ‘Hoshizora no Michibiki’, uptempo hardrockers and galloping heavy metal riffs galore. The galloping riff in the fantastic opener ‘Saraba Sekai’ brought a smile to my face immediately.

Wajima appears to take on more lead vocals than on ‘Kuraku’ and I would say that the material in general suits his voice well. That doesn’t mean that all the highlights are sung by Wajima, however. Bassist Kenichi Suzuki wrote and sings on the brilliant ‘Namekuji Taisō’, a doomy monster of a track with an awesome ominous intro and almost tribal tom rhythms by Nobu Nakajima in its verses. The doom shuffle of ‘Kamidami no Kessem’ is prime Ningen Isu, while Suzuki’s vocal aggression elevates ‘Uchū no Hito Wanderer’. Nakajima sings on ‘Mirai Kara no Dasshutsu’ and as usual, it’s a fun, speedy hardrocker that fits his voice perfectly.

Highlighting the album for me is the epic closing track ‘Shide no Tabiji no Monogatari’. The main riff is one of my favorite riffs in Ningen Isu’s discography. It’s quite simple, but continues to give me goosebumps after repeated listens. The rest of the song is structured incredibly as well. The build-up to its fairly catchy chorus is brilliant and the crushing doom of the middle section is adorned with a fantastic guitar solo, while the intro and outro are simply monumental. Other highlights include the Sabbath meets ZZ Top swing of ‘Ikiru’ and the surprisingly uptempo ‘Uchū Dengekitai’.

‘Shikisokuzekū’ might not have the immediate impact that ‘Shin Seinen’ and ‘Kaidan Soshite Shi to Eros’ had, but make no mistake: this is Ningen Isu doing what they do best. The album sounds like they allowed themselves to have as much fun as possible within the parameters of their sound. The result is a highly dynamic album that stays entertaining throughout its 71 minutes. I do think one or two songs could have been sacrificed to maximize the material’s impact, but the fact that I don’t know which songs that would have been says enough about how good everything on ‘Shikisokukezū’ is.

Recommended tracks: ‘Shide no Tabiji no Monogatari’, ‘Saraba Sekai’, ‘Namekuji Taisō’, ‘Ikiru’

2023
09/10
CATEGORY
Music
Reviews
TAGS










Leave a comment

Album of the Week 20-2023: Arjen Lucassen’s Supersonic Revolution – Golden Age of Music


If carefully crafting massive prog rock operas is your day job, what do you do for fun? Well, if Arjen Lucassen’s new project Supersonic Revolution is anything to go by: playing rather spontaneous-sounding seventies-inspired hard rock with a bunch of relatively local friends. ‘Golden Age of Music’ is an often humorous, but always sincere tribute to Lucassen’s heroes from the seventies. And yet, with a small army of young bands imitating the big seventies rock bands, ‘Golden Age of Music’ sounds remarkably fresh and inspired in comparison. Calling the album a labor of love would simultaneously be accurate and selling it short.

Despite ‘Golden Age of Music’ being a fairly obvious tribute to classic rock, the guitar work by Timo Somers in particular sounds surprisingly contemporary. Sure, stick Joost van den Broek’s Hammond organ underneath it and you’ve got an instant seventies sound, but the music of that decade never had that much downtuned guitar. Also, the album is not married to the seventies idea from a productional viewpoint. It feels like it could have been recorded live in the sense that there is never more than one layer of each recorded instrument, but as a whole, ‘Golden Age of Music’ sounds quite modern.

Full disclosure: I have always preferred the albums on which Lucassen works with one good singer – or only a small handful, like on the brilliant Star One debut – to the big Ayreon productions. For Supersonic Revolution, this singer is John ‘JayCee’ Cuijpers, who has been fronting Praying Mantis for the last decade or so. To be brief: Cuijpers might just be the best singer Lucassen has ever worked with, which is no small feat given the other names on that list. Cuijpers’ powerful voice – with a very natural-sounding rough edge to it – is a perfect fit for Lucassen’s work, especially for this particular album.

While the songs that surfaced in the past few months may suggest that the album is full of fun stompers like ‘The Glamattack’ and ‘Burn It Down’, the more subtle moments are probably my favorite songs on the album. ‘Holy Holy Ground’ is a surprisingly understated rock ballad in which Cuijpers gets all the space he needs to excel, while ‘Odyssey’ is the most full-on progressive rock song on here and a very well-constructed one at that. I’m also really fond of the pulsating, yet extremely dynamic rhythms of ‘Golden Boy’. Closer ‘Came to Mock, Stayed to Rock’ starts out as an acoustic, bluesy thing, only to turn into the most intricate song on the album.

There is something irresistible about the unpretentious nature of ‘Golden Age of Music’. While the songs are too carefully arranged to just be slapped together as they came along, the album has a very spontaneous vibe that makes it a bit of an anomaly among Lucassen’s discography. It’s also simply really good. The songwriting is excellent and the performances might be even better, while the lyrics may ellicit a chuckle or two. Be sure to check out the covers these guys recorded as well. Their cover of my favorite ZZ Top song ‘Heard It on the X’ is what kickstarted the band, but their powerful interpretation of Earth, Wind & Fire’s ‘Fantasy’ is the true highlight of the covers.

Recommended tracks: ‘Holy Holy Ground’, ‘Odyssey’, ‘Burn It Down’, ‘Golden Boy’

2023
05/21
CATEGORY
Music
Reviews
TAGS












Leave a comment

Album of the Week 17-2022: Dana Fuchs – Borrowed Time


Dana Fuchs is not just one of my favorite singers, she is also part of a fantastic songwriting duo that stubbornly refuses to release the same type of album twice in a row with her guitarist Jon Diamond. And so, after successfully tackling southern soul on the fantastic ‘Love Lives On’ four years ago, Fuchs and her band go full southern rock on ‘Borrowed Time’. Fortunately, the rootsy foundation of the genre provides a perfect vehicle for Fuchs’ gritty alto. ‘Borrowed Time’ has a somewhat looser jam feel than Fuchs’ earlier albums, but also features some of the hardest rocking moments of her career.

Southern rock comes in several flavors. With its greasy grooves, potent rock riffs and memorable melodies, the closest comparison for ‘Borrowed Time’ would be The Black Crowes, albeit with more focused songwriting, fewer country leanings and far better vocals. The initial singles were good, but left me afraid that memorable hooks had been sacrificed in order to facilitate the band’s interaction. Fortunately, ‘Borrowed Time’ has a good balance of songwriting and musicianship. Quite an interesting balance of styles as well. Maybe the album cover carrying the name of its singer served as a reminder that ‘Borrowed Time’ should be about the songs first and foremost.

‘Double Down On Wrong’ is a banger of an opening track. Easily the best opener of 2022 thus far. After a few fairly subtle bars, the best riff of the album erupts. It’s a heavy, yet playful seventies rock riff that segues into a perfectly structured song, which is elevated to a higher level by the subdued anger in Fuchs’ amazing voice. ‘Curtain Close’ is another track that rocks surprisingly hard, though not without its traces of subtlety. Hints of southern soul remain, most notably on the cool Otis Redding-esque groove of ‘Save Me’, but since the styles share influences, it does not sound out of place in the least.

Most of the other tracks alternate between cool rockers with Stonesy grooves (‘Hard Road’, ‘Not Another Second On You’) and rootsy ballads (‘Call My Name’, ‘Lonely Lie’), which Fuchs is equally capable at. ‘Last To Know’ has a particularly pronounced rock groove that feels like Thunder’s ‘Backstreet Symphony’ squeezed through an American filter. It also has a lengthy, wild guitar solo with expert use of wah, not unlike the one closing track ‘Star’ culminates in. Another stand-out song is ‘Blue Ridge Road’, which builds from a swampy southern blues opening to a monumental, Led Zeppelin-esque climax.

‘Borrowed Time’ is another fantastic Dana Fuchs album. Ultimately, I do prefer the tighter songwriting of ‘Love Lives On’ and ‘Bliss Avenue’, but only just. The album’s highlights are among Fuchs’ best recorded material and all the other songs flow together so nicely that the album is over before you know it. The music on ‘Borrowed Time’ has a feel that suggests it would have happened regardless of whether it was recorded or not. That makes the album sound lively and inspired. No one knows what Dana Fuchs’ next step will be, but judging from everything she did in recent years, it will no doubt sound great.

Recommended tracks: ‘Double Down On Wrong’, ‘Curtain Close’, ‘Save Me’

2022
05/01
CATEGORY
Uncategorized
TAGS








Leave a comment

Album of the Week 12-2022: Dana Fuchs – Bliss Avenue


Dana Fuchs is one of my favorite singers. But to just credit her raw, emotional voice would seriously sell the songwriting courtesy of her and her musical partner Jon Diamond short. And while that combination was promising from the beginning, ‘Bliss Avenue’ was the first Dana Fuchs album on which everything just came together. It is probably the most bluesy album she ever released, but ‘Bliss Avenue’ is more than just a blues album. It is a collection of fantastic songs in the broader American roots style without expressly leaning towards one of the genres that fall under that moniker.

In the last decade and a half or so, Fuchs has had the tendency to have some sort of thematic approach to her albums. ‘Love Lives On’, the excellent 2018 follow-up to ‘Bliss Avenue’, is clearly intended to be a soul album and her upcoming album ‘Borrowed Time’, to be released next month, is said to be a southern rock album. ‘Bliss Avenue’ feels like a deliberate attempt to bring out a different side to Fuchs’ voice than was displayed on the quite rocky ‘Love To Beg’ by adding some distinctly rootsy elements to the mix. The versatility of the music certainly allows Fuchs to shine here.

What makes ‘Bliss Avenue’ so good is the amount of variation on display. Musicians going rootsy often means they’ll either add more country or more gospel to the mix. Fuchs and her band do just that, but they are more like spices added to an already tasty mix of rock, soul and blues. The title track that opens the album is undoubtedly the most traditional blues track on here, but when it is followed up by the Rolling Stones-inspired rock grooves of the fantastic ‘How Did Things Get This Way’, you simply know that you are in for a treat.

Despite not being a big fan of country music, my favorite track on the album is ‘Rodents In The Attic’, which presents a chicken-picking guitar pattern typical of the genre by Diamond, but it’s combined with a driving force in the rhythm section more reminiscent of rock music and a spine-chilling vocal performance by Fuchs. ‘Keep On Walkin” and ‘Livin’ On Sunday’ emphasize her soulful side, while ‘Handful Too Many’ has is built on a cool low-key guitar riff and some sneakily shuffling swing rhythms. The ballads tend to be the most rootsy tracks on here, with the excellent ‘Vagabond Wind’ especially finding the middle between country and southern rock effectively.

Although Dana Fuchs has the kind of voice that could sing over the busy tone of a phone and still be compelling, the albums on which the songwriting is well above average are her albums I tend to revisit most. ‘Bliss Avenue’ made an immense leap in songwriting quality that to me proved beyond any doubt that Fuchs is more than just a good voice and a production team. This upward trajectory was continued on ‘Love Lives On’, which I might enjoy even more, and I am very hopeful about ‘Borrowed Time’. Until then, ‘Bliss Avenue’ is well worth your time if you like American music.

Recommended tracks: ‘Rodents In The Attic’, ‘How Did Things Get This Way’, ‘Vagabond Wind’

2022
03/27
CATEGORY
Music
Reviews
TAGS








Leave a comment

Album of the Week 11-2022: The Black Crowes – Lions


Upon release, The Black Crowes’ sixth studio album ‘Lions’ was met with reviews that were significantly less positive than the ones its predecessors received. Being fifteen years old and not having a lot to spend, I ignored it at the time, thinking there had been an unwelcome stylistic shift. Years later, I did eventually pick it up and was surprised how good the songs were. Sure, the songwriting is not quite as tight as on some of the Crowes’ even better albums. ‘Lions’ sounds more like a live performance of the band would sound, only with new material that is better than it often gets credit for.

In a way, ‘Lions’ is the result of the freedom The Black Crowes experienced after changing record labels. It sounds less like someone was trying to squeeze another ‘Shake Your Money Maker’ out of the band and more like they were letting the album be what it wanted to be. There are pros and cons to this approach. On the one hand, the band’s strongest suit in my opinion is Rich Robinson’s songwriting, which tends to get pushed to the background a bit here. However, the grooves on ‘Lions’ are irresistible and the loose playing has an infectious amount of musical joy to it.

That does not mean there aren’t any well-written songs on ‘Lions’. In fact, the best moments on the album could be described as such. The understaded ‘Miracle To Me’ is one of my favorite ballads the band ever recorded and the americana turning into jubilant sixties soul of ‘Soul Singing’ is catchy as any single the band ever released. The filthy riff on the funky ‘Lickin” is one of the best pieces of songwriting on the album and the raucous, almost Stonesy ‘Come On’ is one of the hardest rockers The Black Crowes have released to date.

Some songs really benefit from being allowed to breathe a little more than on the likes of ‘Shake Your Money Maker’ and ‘By Your Side’ though. Any producer that would have attempted to tighten up the fantastic opening track ‘Midnight From The Inside Out’ would have killed the hazy, yet powerful atmosphere of the track. And the dark, slinky grooves of the soulful ‘Ozone Mama’ would probably have been shot down as not being “Black Crowes” enough by any producer that isn’t Don Was. It is a good thing that this has not happened, as it is one of the greatest songs on the album.

You won’t hear me say that ‘Lions’ is a perfect album. ‘Cosmic Friend’ is weighed down by its powerless chorus and the track sequencing could have been improved to not have so many americana tracks near the end. Anyone who enjoys The Black Crowes as a live band should be able to find something to enjoy on ‘Lions’ though. A bigger focus on Rich Robinson’s songwriting is definitely what I personally prefer to hear, but The Black Crowes have never again found a middle ground between that and their concerts as well as they did on ‘Lions’.

Recommended tracks: ‘Midnight From The Inside Out’, ‘Ozone Mama’, ‘Lickin”

2022
03/20
CATEGORY
Music
Reviews
TAGS












Leave a comment

Album of the Week 08-2022: Kansas – Masque


Kansas was a bit of an anomaly within the seventies rock landscape. Their first four albums – or five, if you ask anyone else than me – are when the band was at their best. Back then, they had all the unexpected twists in the songwriting that progressive rock bands had, especially in the compositions by guitarist and keyboard player Kerry Livgren, but their wide experience as a bar band in their home state that gave them their band name also made Kansas particularly good at relatively straightforward rock grooves. As a result, Kansas’ early albums both surprise and rock.

Their third album ‘Masque’, their second in 1975 – talk about being prolific – is not quite as good as its immediate predecessor ‘Leftoverture’, but that is mainly due to the latter being more consistent. ‘Masque’ has a couple of highlights that I consider some of the best songs Kansas has ever recorded. The album also sees the band expanding their sound a little, experimenting with both more complex and more accessible elements to their sound. Some of the experiments are more successful than others, but because of that, I feel like ‘Masque’ is an album Kansas needed to make in order to even be able to make ‘Leftoverture’.

Opening with ‘It Takes A Woman’s Love (To Make A Man)’ is a bit unfortunate. The song is a pleasant enough listen with a pretty good hook, but the lyrics are quite clunky and it is fairly obvious that the song was a somewhat forced attempt to deliver the hit single their label boss Don Kirshner was asking for. Ironic too, given that the far more proggy ‘Carry On Wayward Son’ actually was their breakthrough a year later and ‘Masque’ itself had a far more natural-sounding brief, accessible tune in the delightfully melodic ‘It’s You’. In addition, ‘Two Cents Worth’ has a bit of a Steely Dan-like jazz and soul vibe that I think would have worked very well on certain American radio formats at the time.

By far my favorite track on ‘Masque’ and in deed of Kansas’ entire discography is ‘Child Of Innocence’. It starts out with a cool, rhythmically unpredictable guitar harmony and develops into a powerful rocker with a downright beautiful vocal harmony in its chorus. ‘Mysteries And Mayhem’ is the hardest rocking track on here. On the more proggy end of the spectrum, there is ‘All The World’, which could have worked in a theater production were it not for its almost Tony Banks-ish extended keyboard break and the fantastic epic closer ‘The Pinnacle’, which is a dynamic journey through multiple excellent movements. ‘Icarus (Borne On Wings Of Steel)’ combines both approaches in a very pleasing manner.

‘Masque’ is in no way the greates album Kansas has ever recorded, but I feel it often gets unfairly lost in the shuffle between two highly regarded albums, one of which I actually prefer it to. At its best, ‘Masque’ shows Livgren and singer/keyboard player Steve Walsh at the peaks of their creativity. The performances are incredible as well. This line-up of Kansas was a band that could take the smart approach of progressive rock, but didn’t make it sound like they were trying to be clever. It is a good thing that they had their proficiency with rock grooves that pleases a bar crowd in the pocket, as it made them the most listenable of all seventies prog bands.

Recommended tracks: ‘Child Of Innocence’, ‘Icarus (Borne On Wings Of Steel)’, ‘The Pinnacle’

2022
02/27
CATEGORY
Music
Reviews
TAGS










Leave a comment

Album of the Week 31-2021: Ningen Isu – Kuraku


The harshest thing I can say about ‘Kuraku’, the twenty-second album by Japanese power trio Ningen Isu, is that it is another Ningen Isu album. It does not quite set the world on fire like its predecessor ‘Shin Seinen’ did, but it simply features guitarist Shinji Wajima, bassist Kenichi Suzuki and drummer Nobu Nakajima doing what they do best. This means that ‘Kuraku’ is full of seventies hardrock jamming and heavily Black Sabbath-inspired early doom metal riffs, delivered with an amount of energy and enthusiasm that many musicians half their age should envy. Nothing fancy, but highly enjoyable.

One thing that stood out to me about ‘Kuraku’ is that Wajima channels his inner Tony Iommi more strongly than ever. Sabbath was always the most audible influence in the band’s riff work, but quite a lot of the lead guitar on the album has a more distinct Iommi vibe than ever before both sonically and in terms of musical ideas. The overall guitar tone is certainly the most seventies thing about ‘Kuraku’ anyway, with Wajima sounding as if barely anything happened since that musically incredible decade. And while Ningen Isu occasionally enjoys some spirited jamming, the tight, powerful rhythm section certainly makes the music sound timeless.

Admittedly, my first impression of ‘Kuraku’ was not the greatest, as opening track ‘Toshishun’ is in my opinion the weakest track on the album. Ningen Isu is no stranger to the occasional self-plagiarizing riff, but the main riff on ‘Toshishun’ gets incredibly repetitive. It does get saved by a cool quasi-psychedelic intro and a more energetic second half, however, and the rest of the album is a lot better. That already starts with the following ‘Kamigami No Koshin’, which has a monstrous groove and quite masterful dynamics. In the final minute, there are so many cool melodic ideas that goosebumps are never far away.

Usually, my favorite Ningen Isu songs are the ones that Wajima sings, as he simply has the most pleasant voice in the band. ‘Kuraku’ might actually be the first album on which I prefer Suzuki’s more aggressive approach. The stomping ‘Uchu Kaizoku’, the rhythmically surprising ‘Ankoku O’, the short but sweet ‘Kokotsu No Toro’ and the aforementioned ‘Kamigami No Koshin’ are all excellent. Nakajima takes lead vocals on ‘Shijo No Kuchibiru’, a bit of a looser rock ‘n’ roller that fits his voice perfectly. Out of the ones Wajima sings, my favorites are probably the brooding ‘Akuma No Shohosen’, the doomy closer ‘Yoakemae’ and the playful ‘Ningen Robot’, though the stupidly catchy ‘Hashire GT’ is very enjoyable as well.

Ningen Isu has been around for nearly 35 years and the fact that they are still churning out quality albums like ‘Kuraku’ shows that the new youth the title of their last album referenced may just have a few extra years left. The band deserves praise not just for carrying on as long as they did, but also for their dedication to powerful, no-frills hardrock and heavy metal. Sounding so seventies and yet so completely unlike anything else is not an easy feat, but Ningen Isu once again pulls it off as if it is nothing on ‘Kuraku’. An upper mid-tier Ningen Isu album, but still far above average for the genre.

Recommended tracks: ‘Kamigami No Koshin’, ‘Uchu Kaizoku’, ‘Akuma No Shohosen’

2021
08/08
CATEGORY
Music
Reviews
TAGS









4 comments

Album of the Week 26-2021: Deep Purple – Come Taste The Band


Hardcore fans of Deep Purple’s Mark II line-up are quite doubtful whether or not they should even consider ‘Come Taste The Band’ a Deep Purple album. It was the first album released after the departure of Ritchie Blackmore and most of the material has been written by newcomer Tommy Bolin and relative newcomer David Coverdale. Judged by its own merits, however, ‘Come Taste The Band’ is an excellent album full of loose, inspired playing, with Coverdale and Glenn Hughes in their finest vocal shape. It certainly sounds different from ‘Machine Head’ or even ‘Burn’, but different is not necessarily worse.

A large portion of what makes ‘Come Taste The Band’ so good is the chemistry between Bolin’s rhythm guitar, Hughes’ bass and Ian Paice’s drums. Where Deep Purple’s former studio albums focused on compositions first and foremost, with most of the jamming being limited to the solo sections, all songs on ‘Come Taste The Band’ feel like they are the result of extensive jam sessions. There is more swing to the rhythms than on any Deep Purple album before or since, giving the album a slightly funky rock ‘n’ roll feel, but the guitar riffs and melodies are still highly memorable.

Those who don’t enjoy ‘Come Taste The Band’ often derisively call it the first Whitesnake album, but that seriously sells the album short. The only song I could see working for an early Whitesnake record is ‘I Need Love’, which coincidentally contains one of Coverdale’s strongest performances on the record. Everything else sounds surprisingly American. No doubt this is influenced by Bolin being the first American to ever join the band, but it also seems to have taken away Hughes’ inhibitions when it comes to bringing his fascination with soul and funk to the record. Hence the fantastic, ultra-funky ‘Gettin’ Tighter’.

For all the cool, bluesy rock ‘n’ soul grooves ‘Come Taste The Band’ has, the standout tracks are actually the ones that don’t quite fit that moniker. The haunting, melancholic ‘You Keep On Moving’ is one of my favorite tracks the band ever recorded. The voices of Hughes and Coverdale work together goosebumps-inducingly perfectly on the track and the surprising structure accounts for multiple climaxes. The notably uptempo opening track ‘Comin’ Home’ is probably the most typical Deep Purple track on here and has a nice drive, as well as a fantastic chorus. ‘This Time Around/Owed To “G”‘ starts out as a highly Stevie Wonder-inspired showcase for Hughes, but transforms into a fantastic instrumental jam with excellent lead guitar work for its second half.

Sure, there is something to be said for people not considering ‘Come Taste The Band’ a Deep Purple album. Gone are the classically inspired melodic runs and keyboardist Jon Lord largely remains in the background, but the album is chock-full of fantastic grooves and Bolin really proves that he was one of the world’s finest guitarists with his playing on this record. Sadly, he passed away at the age of only 25 a year after the album was released, by which time Deep Purple had already split up for the first time. The album may require an open mind, but it’s simply too good to dismiss. For what it’s worth, I would take it over ‘Who Do We Think We Are’ or ‘Fireball’ any day.

Recommended tracks: ‘You Keep On Moving’, ‘Comin’ Home’, ‘This Time Around/Owed To “G”‘, ‘Gettin’ Tighter’

2021
07/04
CATEGORY
Music
Reviews
TAGS












Leave a comment