R2OK!

Cherskiy

The rousing intro to the Electric Light Orchestra’s “Ma Ma Belle” opened Bob’s show this week: I was particularly looking forward to hearing more from the live performance in the middle hour, courtesy of the Draytones, and wanted to know what else they had in reserve after their powerful debut. Read on for my reaction!
The Cosmic Rough Riders’ “Justify The Rain”, taken from their 2003 album “Too Close To See So Far”, was an almost irresistible helping of summer guitar pop, the tune and the vocals sliding along effortlessly. A Glaswegian band – Julia will therefore know much more about them than I do – they have apparently struggled to follow up the success of their 2000 release “Enjoy The Melodic Sunshine”, even more so since the departure of their former lead singer. However, based on this particular track at least, if channelling the likes of The Byrds and Teenage Fan Club is any yardstick of success, then they managed it. Bob plays this particular track at about this time every year now, heralding the arrival of summer.
Stronger guitar provided the intro to Grant Lee Philllips’ “Runaway”, the opening track of his new album “Strangelet”, recorded with the help of REM’s Peter Buck. This singer-songwriter released an imaginative take on various 80s tracks in last year’s “Nineteeneighties” album, a series of covers (including such diverse picks as New Order’s “Age Of Consent”, albeit almost unrecognisable from the original). Previous albums such as “Ladies Love Oracle” (2004) and “Virginia Creeper” showed a softer, mellower side to his output, but this track goes back to the slightly harder edge forged in “Mobilize” from 2005. Certainly worth a listen.
Apples in Stereo was a new name for me, “Energy” from “New Magnetic Wonder” being just that – an energetic if slightly rough-around-the-edges offering from a Denver-based band who released a whole clutch of albums in the late 1990s, although this is their first for five years. Classed as producing psychedelic pop, “Energy” was breathlessly simple in the extreme yet involving (I ended up singing along to the chorus before the end of the track!) and certainly warranted a second listening – the album itself has something like 25 similar tracks stuffed into it.
Last Train Home was another new name for me, “Flood” from their album “Last Good Kiss” providing a showcase for the vocal talents of Eric Brace, who leads this four – sometimes six, occasionally fourteen! - piece line-up. Harking back to good old roots music but with a distinctive modern edge to it, “Flood” showed just how melodic and entrancing some of the up and coming Americana outfits can be. Plus, any band that features a pedal steel guitarist always merits a second listening from me, plus they’ve got several albums in their back catalogue to explore….
“The Coracle”, taken from The Dials’ eponymously-titled album, is worth a mention, the latter simply warranting a mention if only for the longest track title I have seen in ages – “We’ve Seen The Two Faces Of God And Dug The Peanut (But Tell Me, What Do The Children Believe?)”. “The Coracle” itself is another throwback (shades of The Who’s “I Can See For Miles and Miles” in places) with an interesting (if slightly annoying after repeated listening) end to the track, consisting of what appears to be the tape spooling off the end of the reel.
6 Day Riot stemmed from a collaboration of Danish instrumentalist Soren Bonke and Scots singer-songwriter Tamara Schlesinger, “Reinkarnation of Take The Time” taken from “Folie A Deux” featuring all kinds of instruments ranging from ukulele to banjos (some distorted almost out of recognition) plus Tamara’s almost child-like but ultimately sweet vocals. There is evidence of her acoustic roots, but the accompaniment lifts what would have been good anyway to a higher level. This collaboration probably shouldn’t have worked as well as it does, but it certainly works, the infectious rhythms grabbing me immediately. Definitely an album to buy as soon as I can….
Bob has played tracks from the Great Lakes Swimmers’ new album “Ongiara” on a fair few occasions recently, the opening track “Your Rocky Spine” justifying the coverage he has been giving this Canadian band recently. The sparse accompaniment on this particular track only serves to highlight Tony Dekker’s excellent vocals, another example of how the Toronto scene is rapidly becoming a powerhouse for talent in the acoustic and Americana genres.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from You Am I, since I knew nothing about them, but “Secrets” from their album “Convicts” provided just enough interest for me to discover this Australian band have produced no less than thirteen albums since the mid-1990s (two of them compilations). Typical guitar-based pop, this was fairly comfortable listening without too much in the way of audible demands.
The same, however, cannot be said about Todd Snider, who eschews lyrics set in the ‘safe’ middle of the road, instead choosing political commentary and observations on contemporary social issues, wrapped up in typical Americana production values. His 2004 album “East Nashville Skyline” continued this trend, with “The Ballad Of The Kingsmen” showing his penchance for peppering his songs with spoken lyrics rather than sung, almost reminding me of Robbie Robertson. Never mind this, though, just listen to the cracking lyrics – they’re so clever, it doesn’t matter whether they’re spoken or sung!

The installation of two ‘50 foot speaker stacks’ in Bob’s studio heralded the arrival of the Draytones, an excuse (if any were needed!) for him to play “Keep Loving Me” from their newly-released EP “Forever On” for the sixth time this year! Every time I hear this track it just sounds better and better, even though I’m not known to be an out-and-out fan of sixties-based or influenced music unlike many on this forum. Gabriel Boccazzi (guitar and vocals, Luke Richardson (drums and vocals) and Chris Le Good (bass and vocals) introduced themselves and their influences – not surprisingly, The Beatles, The Kinks and The Who sprang to mind immediately. Although based in London, Gabriel hails from Buenos Aires which explained his slightly halting and accented, although perfect, English. The name ‘Draytones’ comes from Drayton Park in London, where one of the band lives. The EP “Forever On” does explore different material and sounds than the single as witnessed by “Time”, the first of their two live offerings on the show. I compared this version with the one on their Myspace site and they were almost indistinguishable – and this could have been a Beatles album track, the resemblance being almost uncanny. If the band do not achieve success on their own merits (which is pretty unlikely), then they could earn a good living as a tribute band. When the harmonies kick in, the similarities with the Beatles are striking. The second live track was “Out Of This World”, which is not listed on the EP, and was more of a jolly, upbeat affair, lending itself more to The Kinks than The Beatles. Here, the band members bounced off each other more than harmonised, but it still worked, a much more jaunty song than “Time”. Although they weren’t hugely forthcoming as conversationalists, unlike some of Bob’s previous guests, they let the music speak for itself. I suspect that Bob won’t stop playing “Keep Loving Me” just yet!

Show Of Hands provided the second-to-last track of the middle hour, “Roots” being decidedly traditional acoustic folk, albeit slightly more expansive in nature than other outfits – this duo seem to have gone for a ‘big sound’ here rather than a stripped down one favoured by many nowadays. Still, they appear to have quite a following and have received plenty of plaudits for their live performances – you can judge for yourself next weekend when they are Bob’s guests for the ‘middle hour’.
Continuing the dramatic theme were Hold Steady with their single “Stuck Between Stations”, which reminded me of ‘The Boss’ back in his “Born To Run” days, specifically some of the album tracks such as “Night”, “Backstreets” and “Jungleland”. “Stuck Behind Stations” features almost impenetrable lyrics (at least on the first listen) but the music itself is worthwhile, especially if you’re a fan of Springsteen’s earlier output.
I didn’t think it would be long before Jesse Malin featured again on Bob’s show, especially as this artist has also made it onto the daytime R2 play list at least twice in the last few weeks. “Broken Radio” is taken from his recently-released third album “Glitter In The Gutter”, another exhibition of the strong vocals that he once put to good use in his punk days with D-Generation but which now display a much mellower tone, more in keeping with the heartland-rock anthems he writes now. Incidentally, “Broken Radio” also features one Bruce Springsteen on backing vocals – can’t be bad. Bob is hoping to get Jesse to come in to play live later in the year, during his forthcoming UK tour.
‘Just a girl, her guitar and the open road’ reads the tagline on Cara Luft’s website. This Canadian artist doesn’t need much else, her voice says it all. A founding member of The Wailing Jennys, her vocals remind me of countrywoman Kathleen Edwards in “Failer” mode. “No Strength”, taken from her album “The Light Fantastic”, which was released earlier this year (her third full-length solo release) benefits from her strong yet accessible voice and some impressive backing arrangement. I suspect we will hear more from her on Bob’s show in the near future.
“This Winding Road” was an excellent debut performance by an artist who has provided backing on many projects but who is now releasing an album in her own right, Linda MacRae’s sophomore work “Carve It To The Heart” being this week’s crossover track with the Thursday show. Both the subject matter of “This Winding Road” – the track played tonight - and her vocals are unashamedly country and traditional in nature but there is almost enough edge in the backing to tip this over into alt- territory. Wherever it is pigeonholed, her music stands up for itself: there is plenty for the purists to enjoy plus enough for people who, like me, lean towards the alt- side of things.
After returning to our vehicles following the helicopter exercise last weekend, a friend disappeared into his car only to emerge waving the latest album by Julie Fowlis at me! “You’ll love this”, he remarked, not realising that I’d waxed lyrical about this North Uist-based singer here a few weeks back. Bob played “Oran Nan Raiders” from this album, called “Cuilidh” (a hiding place for valuables, not to be confused with ‘ceilidh’!) – he repeated Mark Radcliffe’s recent statement to the effect that despite them being written in another language, listening to Julie’s songs was so entrancing, it was like listening to Kate Bush. Yes, the Gaelic tongue is rather impenetrable for those unaccustomed to the far NW of Scotland, but it is a haunting beautiful language when spoken or sung, and especially when accompanied by simple backing as in “Oran Nan Raiders”. I really need to get my cousin’s daughter, who’s learning it at school, to translate the lyrics, but you don’t really need to understand what is being sung – just revel in the beauty of it all, and as I do, pretend you’re lying on a quiet, remote and unspoilt bit of machair in the Hebrides.
Eddi Reader is better known for her work with Fairground Attraction, although during the last decade or so she’s released a whole string of solo acoustic albums to great acclaim. “Peacetime” is the latest one, from which “Baron's Heir & Sadenia's Air” is taken. This striking yet beautiful tune sounds like a traditional folk song and quite possibly is, although I can’t confirm this. Whether it is or it isn’t, the sound is wonderful, entrancing and decidedly Scots – including the instrumental finale - all very pleasant listening.
“Fly Like An Eagle” was probably the first of the tracks from the Steve Miller Band that I can remember hearing, although “The Joker” and “Space Cowboy” came long before that, and I’m still fond of “Macho City” – which Annie Nightingale used to play a lot on her R1 Request Show – but I haven’t heard this on the radio for yonks. Bob played “Space Intro/Fly Like An Eagle”, the ‘do, do, do, do’ intro and the early electronica bringing it all back….’time keeps on slipping, slipping, into the future….’ Thirty years ago – but still a classic.
Finally for this week, Tommy Womack delivered a pretty good American roots tune in the shape of “If That’s All There Is To See”, from his album “There, I Said It”. Nothing startling in the delivery or the backing, but still enjoyable nonetheless.

Honourable mentions for Peter Gabriel, The Sonics and Family this week. As mentioned above, Show of Hands provide the live session next weekend.
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Author: “To the Ends of the Earth: A Snapshot of Aviation in North-Eastern Siberia, Summer 1992”
(Free to read via Kindle Unlimited)

Barkingbiker · Joined: 11 Dec 2006 Posts: 2313 Location: Lincolnshire

Hi Cherskiy, listened to the 1st hour of Bob's show last night, another rousing start to the show this week. I will catch the 2nd 2 hours thru the week, I am currently listening to Stuart Maconie's Freak Zone on 6 Music, another eclectic mix of music delights.

BB Twisted Evil

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Old Bikers Never Die, our leathers just get tighter!