Music Opinion Blog

Opinions and occasional rants about the state of the music scene. The views expressed are entirely my own, and do not represent those of any artists or publications with whom I may be connected.

Bad Reviews?

Posted on October 21, 2013 by Tim Hall

Most of the reviews I write on this site are strongly positive. Part of this is down to a self-imposed rule that I won’t write a negative review where I know the artist. And to tell the truth, records where my reaction is “meh” are harder to review; it’s always easier to say what you like or don’t like about a record that to expand “It’s OK but nothing special” to any length.

But does a site need a few less-than-positive reviews to put the positive ones into context?

I’m thinking of Dom Lawson’s reviews in The Guardian. Almost everything he writes is a solid four stars. I can appreciate the reasons why The Guardian’s only reviewer with a deep love and knowledge of rock and metal shouldn’t be devoting too much of a limited space to second or third rate records. There’s so much good stuff out there which no-one else on the site is likely to review fairly. But since taste is music is deeply subjective, the more you know about a reviewer’s own tastes the more you know how much you can trust their opinions. So perhaps it would be useful to know more about what Dom doesn’t like?

Back to this site. Should I try and write a few more less-than-positive reviews of albums and gigs that I wasn’t that impressed with? Or should I stick to what I actually like?

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Every time I see someone use “Punk” as a metaphor for something that has nothing to with music, I always hear the sound of a middle-aged music bore looking back at their their adolescence through rose-tinted spectacles.

Posted on October 7, 2013 by Tim Hall | Comments Off

The British music scene is made up of multiple overlapping subcultures. The largest of those subcultures is represented by the likes of Later with Jools Holland, the main stage at Glastonbury or the Mercury Music Prize. It thinks of itself as “the mainstream”, but it’s really no less an subculture as the underground prog scene. It doesn’t really represent anything but a tiny fraction of the diversity of music that real people listen to across the country.

Posted on September 11, 2013 by Tim Hall | 1 Comment

My Mercury Music Prize Predictions

Posted on September 11, 2013 by Tim Hall

My predictions for this year’s Mercury Music Prize nominations

  • Half-a-dozen similar-sounding and unchallenging “indie” acts, all signed to major labels.
  • A couple of very mainstream pop singers.
  • Token jazz and folk entries who have no chance of winning but are there to make the list look less beige than it really is
  • As usual, no rock, metal or blues.

I may be pleasantly surprised, and be completely wrong. But somehow I think it’s unlikely. I can’t imagine something like Maschine or Steven Wilson making suitable soundtracks for the middle-class dinner parties which are clearly the award’s primary target market.

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Is there too much hype in the world of prog?

Posted on September 3, 2013 by Tim Hall

Progarchy complains that there is too much hyperbole in the prog world.

So far this year we have seen a dozen of entries in the “album of the year contenders” category and, probably the same again in ‘masterpieces’ and classics. I can’t walk through some of the popular discussion groups without tripping over these pedestals.

Is it really true that the new Haken album is a masterpiece or the latest Magenta release? Both are certain to be excellent and well worth a look, for sure. But masterpieces they are not, nowhere near. By ranking them as this we do a disservice to the very music we love because we elevate it far too much and look subjective and a little obsessive, like musical equivalents of anoraks to the uninterested music world.

A forum moderator I know signs off every one of his live reviews with slightly tongue-in-cheek “That was the best gig I’ve ever been to in my life”. But more seriously, I think Progarchy have a very strong point. Even if I have to plead Guilty as Charged for using the phrase “potential album of the year”.

As any progressive rock fan ought to know, the best albums are often the ones that take time to fully appreciate. Someimes the records that make a strong first impression turn out not to last. They pushed all the right buttons to start with, but in the end they weren’t really doing anything groundbreaking. It can be very sobering as a reviewer to go back and listen to something for which you wrote a gushing five-star review, only to realise it wasn’t really that special after all.

On the other hand, there are those records you can go back to and find you’d forgotten just how good they are. Opeth’s “Damnation” and “Watershed” always do that for me.

Music is a funny thing, and your emotional reactions to it can be very subjective, very personal, and sometimes influenced by factors other than the music itself. This is even more true if you actually know the artist.

But in the small, incestuous world of prog, I don’t believe hyperbole really benefits the bands. I can think of one or two bands who keep falling frustratingly short of the greatness I believe they’re capable of. If reviewers fail to highlight those aspects of their music that need more work, we’re doing them a disservice. Even if some the bands’ more zealous supporters don’t always appreciate it at the time.

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Now Playing – September 2013 edition

Posted on September 1, 2013 by Tim Hall

Some of the records I’ve been listening to over the past couple of days. 2013 has been a great year for new music, but here I’ve revisited some old and sometimes overlooked classics.

Marillion – This Strange Engine

Their live sets in recent years have often drawn heavily from this album, but it’s the first time I’ve given the whole album a listen for a long time. One thing that struck me was how much it resembles their more recent work, despite being a decade and a half old. When it came out it was a bit a departure for them, with more emphasis on atmospherics and textures, and drew mixed reactions. But in retrospect, a lot of their current sound has its roots in this album.

Touchstone – Discordant Dreams

Touchstone’s first full-length album shows just how far they’ve progressed since they started out. I’d forgotten that Rob Cottingham sang most of the lead vocals back in the early days with Kim singing harmonies – It was only from “Wintercoast” onwards that Kim took over as the band’s main lead singer.

Yes – Drama

The announcement that Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes from pop duo The Buggles were to replace Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman made heads explode when announced all those years ago. But thirty years on this is an album that stands the test of time far better than its unfocussed and directionless precessor “Tormato”. I think it’s fair to say that without “Drama” there would have been no Yes three decades later.

Black Sabbath – Seventh Star

Tony Iommi and former Deep Purple singer Glenn Hughes made this collaboration with a bunch of session players after the ill-fated Ian Gillan-fronted Sabbath fell apart. It was never really intended as a Black Sabbath record, and lacks the doom-laden melodrama associated with the Sabbath name. But taken on its own merits it’s an excellent blues-metal hybrid, with both Iommi and Hughes on top form.

Rush – Roll the Bones

I was never that big a fan of Rush’s “Synthesiser period” and found their late 80s output a little bloodless and sterile. Their first release of the 1990s represented a back-to-basics power trio approach with Alex Lifeson’s guitar in the centre of the mix where it belonged.  All very welcome for me, even if the rather heavier following album “Counterparts” remains my favourite Rush disc of the past two decades.

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The Myth of the Tortured Artist

Posted on August 31, 2013 by Tim Hall

Good post from Serdar Yegulalp on the myth of the tortured artist.

I’ve long wrestled with, and rejected, the idea that damage or sickness is a prerequisite of good art — that the artist needs to be a screwed-up person in order for his art to be “genuine”. The most obvious problem with this formulation is how it leads us to believe the reverse: that in order to become an artist, you have to get screwed up.

I have to agree with every word of that.

One of the things that really gets my goat is the way the media, especially some sections of the rock press, glamourise self-destructive behaviour. It’s the mindset that encouraged Amy Winehouse to piss away her talent and eventually killed her. It’s why I’m still unapolagetic about ripping a Guardian music writer a new arsehole a few years back. I know too many singers and musicians of Amy Winehouse’ age, and I wouldn’t want it to happen to them.

It’s been suggested that the only reason the media gave Pete Doherty so much underserved hype was that they could see what a drug-addled trainwreck he was going to be, and wanted trot out the “tragic tale of lost genius” story yet again. But then he didn’t die, and instead went on make a string of mediocre records, leaving them with egg over their faces.

I’ve always believed self-destructive substance abuse in the music world wasn’t about “enhancing their art” but about their inability to cope with the pressures of fame. Far from enhancing their art, it’s more likely to diminish it.

What great music might Jimi Hendrix or Phil Lynott have produced if drug abuse hadn’t cut their careers short? And I can’t help feel that even those who didn’t actually die, such as Eric Clapton or Jimmy Page, might not have burned out early had it not been for drug addiction.

Posted in Music Opinion | Tagged , | 1 Comment

It’s my observation that quite a few bands who play straightforward melodic rock or classic metal with a little prog flavouring frequently describe themselves as “prog” to encourage prog fans to give them a listen. In contrast bands with a substantial amount of progressive rock in their musical DNA often play down or deny the prog tag, on the grounds that it limits their potential audience. It may be based on a limited data set, but I can see some logic in both positions.

Posted on August 24, 2013 by Tim Hall | 4 Comments

Angry Small Band

Posted on August 20, 2013 by Tim Hall

Who’s following Self Righteous Band (@angrysmallband) on Twitter? If you’re on Twitter, and either follow your favorite small bands, or are in a small band yourself, they’re a must-follow.

 

What makes this parody account so funny is how closely their twitter feed resembles that of one or two real bands. No, I’m not going to mention any names. But if you’re in a band, and you think your own Twitter feed is dangerously close to theirs, then perhaps you need to rethink your social media strategy?

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The Beginners Guide to Mostly Autumn

Posted on July 26, 2013 by Tim Hall

Heather Findlay and Olivia Sparnenn of Mostly Autumn at Gloucester Guildhall

A few days ago I polled Mostly Autumn fans asking for songs to recommend for new listeners. I’ve collated responses from here, Facebook and the Unofficial MA forum (Nobody responded on Google+) to give this list of songs.

It’s significant that your responses span the band’s entire career, with songs from eight out the band’s ten studio albums represented, including several songs from the two most recent albums. So here are thirteen selected songs, along with some of your reasons for choosing them.

Unquiet Tears

“Showcases the amazing voice of Olivia and pulls of the trick of sounding modern and contemporary but instantly Mostly Autumn”
- Ian Almond, blog comment

Storms Over Still Waters

“One of the few to include lead vocals from both Bryan and Heather as well as typically powerful guitar solo. A long track, but any new fan would need to get over that”
- Paul E, blog comment

“I think you’d have to have a heart of stone not to be moved at all by it”
- HippyDave, blog comment

Shrinking Violet

“The live version from the Leamington CD is absolutely spellbinding and contains everything that makes Mostly Autumn special”
- Paul Gunhill, blog comment

The Gap is Too Wide

“Honestly, this works. I’ve shown this song to a few people and they have really got into it immediately. Of course providing they are the kind of people who have patience to start with a 10+ minute track. It has the emotion of the best of Mostly Autumn’s material, it has that build-up and a great climax”
- Wander, blog comment

“blew me away first time I heard it (and has reduced me to tears since)”
- Ian Massey, Facebook

Fading Colours

“Has a bit of everything without being too overwhelming for a newbie”
- Sam Lewis, blog comment

Passengers

“Not too long, not too short, an older track but not too far removed from their current sound”
- David Meadows, unofficial MA forum

The Last Climb

“Shows the epic nature of the music & the inspirational emotive lyrics”
- Ian Foster, Facebook

“Always been my favourite. I’m a sucker for a slow burner! There’s something very pure about that song which for me sums up the MA sound.
- Adam Dawson, Facebook

Evergreen

“The structure and style of it just seem to sum up the band for me. Also, I have never heard them perform a bad rendition of it live. It always hits the spot. Not my personal favourite, but the most iconic I guess?”
- Ian Hodgetts, Facebook

And When the War is Over

“Powerful lyrics, amazing power in the vocals (both Livvy and Bryan) . Raw emotion and wonderful melody. Guitar just rips through the track and just builds this up into a brilliant piece of music”
- Ian Redfearn, Facebook

The Night Sky

“It’s the first song I ever heard from the band. Still outstanding”
- Rob Jarvis, Facebook

Wild Eyed Skies

“The pick of the new material – great guitar and vocals and Anne-Marie’s wonderful harmonisation which is the making of the track”
- Tom B, blog comment

For All We Shared

“There’s not one particular aspect I like as such, just the overall feel and sound of the song. I find it uplifting”
- Mike Foley, blog comment

Mother Nature

“A good one for the prog crowd, I think. It’s got a bit of everything the band do best.
- HippyDave, blog comment

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