R2OK!

Cherskiy

A cracking start to tonight’s show courtesy of The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army”, taken from their ‘British’ album “Elephant”. ”Jolly good, cup of tea?” I’m not a particular fan of this duo but I do like that track.
Hot on the heels of last week’s Cosmic Rough Riders, Bob opened with a slice of summer guitar pop via Teenage Fan Club’s “Sparky’s Dream”. Included on their 1995 “Grand Prix” album, this track shows another side to what has often been regarded as a twee Scottish pop band only capable of churning out samey pap year after year. With a definite nod to “Pictures of Lily” by The Who, this particular single proved that TFC could lift themselves out of pop mediocrity when they tried a little harder, and begs the question why they weren’t more successful.
Modest Mouse have also been around for a bit, but Bob played “Fire It Up” from their fifth and latest release, entitled “We Were Dead Before The Ship Sank”. The album features guitar courtesy of Johnny Marr, late of The Smiths, Modest Mouse’s latest recruit – a response apparently to an ad the band placed looking for ‘someone who sounded a bit like Johnny Marr’! This American indie lo-fi band has never inspired me up until now: this is however probably one of their more accessible tracks to date, catchy enough and possibly indicative of the fact that they’ve mellowed in the past couple of years, so the rest of the album (which incidentally was runner up in this week’s contest for the daftest title) may be worth acquiring. My only criticism is that the track is a bit too long and nearly outstays its welcome.
Anais Mitchell was supposed to provide the live session a few weeks ago but had to cancel at virtually the last minute. “Your Fonder Heart” from her forthcoming second album “The Brightness” (which is released at the end of this month) shows what we missed out on. I wasn’t moved enough to buy her debut effort “Hymns For The Exiled” as I couldn’t get past her childlike vocals, although there was some evidence here in this track to make me think that they could, in time, grow on me. I shall wait until she appears in session on Bob’s show in the summer and then no doubt review her work again.
I do like Rosie Thomas’s voice, however, although it is a million miles removed from the neurotic pizza delivery girl that she plays in her alter-ego as a stand-up comedienne. As a musician, though, she excels in writing and performing simple acoustic songs – viz “Wedding Day”, taken from her 2002 album “When We Were Small”. The material on the album is decidedly nostalgic in flavour although her voice and delivery is not childlike nor twee – she almost reminds me of Maia Sharp with her simple yet clever and effective lyrics.
Before last weekend I hadn’t heard of Hold Steady before, and if you cast your mind back to last week’s review you’ll remember that I was struck by the similarity they had to Bruce Springsteen’s earlier recordings. Well, Bob played “Stuck Between Stations” again tonight, and the opening was just uncanny! The track could easily feature as the ninth on “Born To Run” and it wouldn’t be noticed as someone else’s. In addition, it’s a reasonably good piece of work on its own.
Why have I missed out on Midlake before? This was the question I asked myself after hearing “Roscoe”: I tried to work out who they reminded me of but eventually gave up and simply let the mellow vocals of Tim Smith (no, not that one!) and the smooth guitar work wash over me. Not quite folk, not quite pop, this is the opening track of the band’s second album “The Trials Of Van Occupanther” (which obviously won the daftest title of the week award), which was released last year. Bob described the album as a sleeper and he was right.

The live session was provided this week courtesy of Show Of Hands, Bob playing “Roots” by way of an introduction last weekend (and again later on). Barkingbiker was raving about them earlier, and he was right to do so. Traditional acoustic folk music is their forte, although theirs is a more expansive sound than offered by many bands, the usual stripped down fare being espoused in favour of bigger things. They have received much acclaim for their live performances, so when Steve Knightley and Phil Beer were introduced in the studio, I was expecting a lot. “Country Life” was first up, a breakthrough song for the band some years ago. It was immediately evident that the energy displayed in “Roots” ran throughout the rest of their material. Traditional folk it may have been, but Steve and Phil performed it so well and so enthusiastically that it was difficult not to get swept along when listening. Afterwards, they discussed with Bob the rise of the acoustic movement in the UK, with so many younger exponents coming into the spotlight, plus the fact that folk, like other genres, is constantly re-inventing itself, just as ‘old-time’ music is doing with the help of younger musicians in the States. The second live song was “Undertow”, a contemporary piece about a young Devon couple’s hopes for a better life elsewhere, echoing similar pieces written years ago about couples wanting a better life in the New World. The band believes that the regional musical identity is improving nowadays, it being possible to celebrate English roots using music, in the same way that the Scots and the Irish have done for years. The duo has contributed no less than fourteen albums to this goal, “Witness” being the latest, no mean feat. Their Albert Hall concerts must have been an experience – they described starting off the night acoustically, *walking* through the aisles in the audience as they played! “Are We Alright?” completed the live set, their traditional opening and closing song, complete with fiddle and spoof ‘thanks to’ messages! Bob played “Roots” as closure to the middle hour, the band playing the track in live before the recorded single kicked in – now how many times have you heard that happen?

Nothing really needs to be said about “Hotel California” by The Eagles – apart from it’s brilliant!
Matthew Ryan is another new name for me, Bob playing “Misundercould” taken from the album “From A Late Night High Rise”, his sixth in as many years. Blue-collar American guitar music in the style covered by Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, etc., his lyrics speak of life and politics in the heartland, his voice seemingly augmented by years of smoking, the gruff vocals lending themselves to the subject matter. Not bad, though.
Another new band was next, Glasgow-based The Twilight Sad’s “Cold Days From The Birdhouse” being taken from their forthcoming release “Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters”. Apparently they play experimental folk, but I’m not entirely sure what they were trying to achieve here: to me it was just pure noise and very little in the way of arrangement or style.
k d lang’s contribution to the “A Tribute To Joni Mitchell” album has already been mentioned elsewhere by Barkingbiker, this faithful rendition of “Help Me” proving just what a talent this Canadian artist still is, plus how good Joni’s original image-rich lyrics were.
“The Bootlegger’s Daughter” was a real discovery a few months back, this being Rachel Harrington’s debut album that will be released at the beginning of May. Bob has featured tracks from this on a couple of occasions already this year but could not resist playing “Walk To You” tonight, more confirmation (if any were needed) that she has a wonderful voice, the simple yet effective country/folk/bluegrass inspired backing and arrangements bringing the story told by her lyrics to the fore.
“F*cked-up folk” was how Weed Patch front-man Neil Weiss described his band’s 2003 debut album, “Maybe The Brakes Will Fail”. Bob played “Let Go Of The Wheel” from this album tonight, which featured their trademark laidback vocals and crashing guitar links. Probably not to everyone’s tastes, but there is a glimmer of hope here – perhaps the band’s latest album, “Some Kinda Happy” is a more refined effort with less of the impromptu stuff that spoilt otherwise good material.

Honorary mentions for “Pictures of Lily” by The Who and "Goodnight Sweetheart, Goodnight" by The Spaniels tonight, plus Bob got a text from The Storys, who recorded one of the jingles he uses in his show – pity he doesn’t feature any of their tracks, though.

Next week's show features a live session by Marillion, who Bob has featured a few times in the past few weeks.
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Barkingbiker · Joined: 11 Dec 2006 Posts: 2313 Location: Lincolnshire

Hi Cherskiy, great show last night, really enjoyed Show of Hands, they were brilliant. As I said before KD Lang's rendition of Save Me was excellent, as is her own song of the same title, the opening track from the incredable Igenue album. I then went to bed and see that I now missed another of one of my favourite singer song writers, John Prine. I just love Angel from Montgomery, I have it by Willie Nelson and also a live duet by Bonnie Raitt & John Prine,but do not have the John Prine album that it came from last night. He has guested on Bob's Thursday show, but not sure about the Saturday show, John Prine has written some terrific songs, some with a real sense of humour, like"Lets Talk Dirty in Hawaiian" & conservation songs like "Paradise". Look out for a band called the Bogtrotters, excellent acoustic band, 4 guitars, banjo, drums and the stunning Eimear Bradley on fiddle.

BB Twisted Evil

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