Music Blog

All the music-related posts gathered together in one place.

Panic Room, Bilston Robin 2, 19th June 2011

Posted on June 21, 2011 by Tim Hall

I love Bilston Robin 2 as a venue. With excellent sound and lighting, a decent-sized stage, and a hotel right next door it doesn’t have the reputation as one of the nation’s best rock clubs for nothing. And they always draw a sizeable crowd; just about every band I’ve seen there plays to more people that at equivalent venues elsewhere, even on a Sunday night. And tonight was a very good crowd indeed.

Support was David R Black, the alternative rock power-trio I’d seen supporting in Manchester earlier in the year. I enjoyed their set a lot more than the first time round, helped by the vastly superior sound of a proper rock venue rather than a toilet of a nightclub. While I still find their mix of metal and indie is a bit generic, they were both tight and energetic, and made a good warm-up for the headliners.

I’ve seen some great gigs by Panic Room, especially in the past twelve months, but this performance took things to another level, even for them. They played with an incredible power and intensity, but without sacrificing subtlety or finesse. If this is prog-rock, then it’s with the emphasis very much on the word rock. The whole band gave strong performances; Paul Davies was on particularly good form on lead guitar with some shredding solos and melodic fills, Jon Edwards’ keys added swathes of colour, and Yatim Halimi and Gavin Griffiths are possibly the best rhythm section in any band at this level. Not that there was any hint of self-indulgence; despite all being virtuoso musicians they never spoil the songs by unnecessary overplaying.

Finally Anne-Marie Helder gave the performance of her life, and showed just why she was voted best female vocalist by readers of Classic Rock Presents Prog. This was one of those gigs with feedback between the energy and enthusiasm on stage and in the audience; this is what live music is all about, an experience you can’t repeat by sitting at home and listening to a CD.

Setwise the band took aim at the future by opening with the powerful twin-guitar “Song for Tomorrow”, an as-yet unrecorded song premiered back in February. After that, the bulk of their 100-minute set came from their second album “Satellite”, including a very entertaining rendition of the slightly bonkers “I Am A Cat”. A second new song, “Promises” came over very powerfully indeed, and one unexpected surprise was a great full band version of “Exodus”, a song from Anne-Marie’s solo EP “The Contact”. Very little from their debut “Visionary Position”, though I hope some of those songs are merely being rested rather than retired altogether. With the band going into the studio to record a new album in November this may be the last outing for the set they’ve been playing for the last couple of years.  The strength of the new material certainly augers well for the future.

Since the first time I saw Panic Room in Lydney back in 2008 I’ve watched this band get better and better as a live act. I’ve always thought their energetic mix of prog, hard rock, folk, jazz and pop has the potential to cross over to wider audiences beyond the prog ghetto, and on the basis of performance like this one, they deserve to be playing on far bigger stages.

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Blood Ceremony – Living with the Ancients

Posted on June 15, 2011 by Tim Hall

Canadian four-piece Blood Ceremony have been making a bit of a stir recently, as much for the theatrical nature of their shows as for their records. But as this disk shows, the actual music more than stands up on it’s own.

It’s all quite heady stuff. It’s got doom-laden guitar riffs, bewitching female vocals, folk-inflenced flute, and swirling Hammond organ. The result is a sound like a cross between Black Sabbath fronted by Angela Gordon, and a dark twisted version of Uriah Heep.

There’s a very strong 1971 feel of the whole thing, albeit with slightly cleaner production. Guitarist Sean Kennedy is clearly a disciple of Tony Iommi, and one or two of his solos could have come straight off “Black Sabbath Vol 4″. The rhythm section also has the same slightly jazzy groove of early Sabbath. But vocalist, flautist and organist Alia O’Brien turns them into far, far more than a Black Sabbath tribute act. If her haunting lead vocals aren’t enough, her flute and especially her sinister-sounding organ end up defining the band’s sound. Her keyboard work reminds me a lot of Ken Hensley.

With Song titles like “The Great God Pan” (not a cover of The Waterboys’ song) “The Coven Tree”, “The Witches Dance” and “Daughter of the Sun” as a paean to the 1970s horror movies from which they take their name,  the end result comes over as the soundtrack for the best film that the Hammer House of Horror never made.

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Halo Blind/Heather Findlay, Kennedy’s Basement York, 8th June 2011

Posted on June 12, 2011 by Tim Hall

A round trip of well over four hundred miles seems a long way go for a midweek gig that’s a fiver on the door, but when it’s Halo Blind supported by Heather Findlay, it’s worth making the journey. The headliners were playing a low-key warm-up for their appearance two days later at the prestigious Isle of Wight Festival, and the late addition of Heather to the bill gave fans an added incentive to turn out.

Halo Blind, put together by Chris Johnson, were originally called Parade. They had to change their name to avoid confusion with the reportedly awful but much-hyped girl band who stole their name. As Parade they’ve always been a great live band. And as for Heather, after more than a year since that emotional night in Leamington, it’s been far too long since I last saw her perform. It’s not the first time she’s played live since leaving Mostly Autumn, but it was the first of her low-key acoustic gigs I’ve been able to get to.

The basement bar at Kennedy’s was tiny; the capacity can’t have been much more than a hundred or so. It was one of those gigs where I recognised probably three-quarters of the audience by sight, if not by name. I’ve always loved this sort of gig.

It was great to see Heather back on stage again. Even though this was “only” an acoustic gig, she’s lost none of that magic, and was on fine form vocally. Without the backing of a full band there’s nowhere to hide, and the whole thing depends on the strength of the vocalist and the quality of the songs. Not that there were really any doubts in this case.

Her set was a mix of new material from her debut EP “The Phoenix Suite” and a few older Mostly Autumn and Odin Dragonfly songs. The songs from The Phoenix Suite came over very well live, and didn’t seem to lose anything when pared down to acoustic duo format. If anything, they came over more strongly, and  I was more aware of the absence of the flute in the Odin Dragonfly songs than the lack of an electric rhythm section in the new songs. Some of this was down to Chris Johnson’s talent as a rhythm guitarist; even on a battered acoustic his playing has a lot of power, particularly evident on songs like “Red Dust”.

Interestingly both Mostly Autumn songs were Chris Johnson compositions from “Heart Full of Sky” rather than Heather’s own. “Gaze”, a song I’d never heard performed live before, was beautiful, and I loved the way Heather sang the clarinet line on “Blue Light”.

Headliners Halo Blind are difficult to categorise musically; Chris Johnson has played in indie, prog and even country & western bands over the years, and elements of all of these have found their way to the band’s music. Tonight was their first gig under the new name, as well as marking the debut of their new bassist, ex-Seahorse Stuart Fletcher.

Their set was a run-through of the setlist for the festival, drawn entirely from “The Fabric“. Short but sweet, and they simply rocked. The technical problems when the keyboard went wibbly couldn’t take the edge off things. Stuart Fletcher and the powerhouse drumming of Gavin Griffiths make for an impressive rhythm section, Chris Farrell plays some ferocious lead guitar, and Chris Johnson and Anne-Marie Helder’s voices combine to produce some sublime harmonies. At the time of writing this I haven’t heard how well they went down at the Isle of Wight Festival, but on the strength of a performance like this, they deserved to go down a storm.

Only complaint about the whole evening that it was all over too quickly – I’d have loved both bands to have played all night.

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Mostly Autumn at Bury

Posted on June 5, 2011 by Tim Hall

Mostly Autumn’s annual visit to Bury Met last month was the first time I’ve ever travelled to a gig by kettle. Bury Met used to be a local gig for me, but now I’ve moved down south. Because all the affordable hotels in Bury were full, I ended up staying in the delightfully-named town of Ramsbottom, reached by means of the East Lancashire Railway. May well be the first time I’ve used a preserved railway as a means of getting from A to B rather than just for the ride.

It does feel like I’ve I’m living the blog tagline here – especially when The Trackside Inn at Bury serves an excellent selection of real ales, including one brewed by The Phoenix Brewery.

I won’t write an in-depth review since I wrote one for Salisbury in April.  But I will say the gig itself was another superb performance. The band are really on form on this tour, and Bury Met always has a great audience. Not for nothing did the band record this gig for a planned live album.  Olivia Sparnenn is now far more confident as the band’s frontwoman, and everyone else was on great form too, aided by a really good mix.

As well as the sound, I’ve got to compliment the lighting engineer too. Often when photographing gigs I find some band members, especially Iain Jennings, get hidden in shadows at the side of the stage. This time it was possible to get good photos of everyone. even the drummer. I’ve put a lot more photos on my post-Fotopic photo site – http://kalyr.smugmug.com

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#WayInMusic

Posted on June 4, 2011 by Tim Hall

Those of you who follow me on Twitter may have noticed the #WayInMusic tag, listing what I’ve been listening to on my mp3 player during the commute. Sometimes it’s a few songs on random shuffle, sometimes it’s half an album, and occasionally it’s a handful of selected tracks.

Twitter’s 140 characters don’t give me space to say much about the songs, but here’s Friday’s playlist.

  • Pineapple Thief – And So Say All Of You. I love the album “Tightly Unwound”. It’s a perfect example of the more streamlined modern progressive rock, hugely melodic with tremendous instrumental depth despite the lack of any conventional solos. All of it is good, but this song in particular is a standout.
  • Phideaux – Orangutang. I don’t really know much about this band. I picked up the album “313″ from a stall at the Cambridge Rock Festival on the strength of this song, which I’d heard on last.fm.  I’d describe it as “Prog Lite” – a real 70s vibe, but made up of short and relatively simple but strongly melodic songs.
  • Heather Findlay – Seven. While this isn’t the most instant song from the former Mostly Autumn singer’s five-track EP, after repeated listens this slow-burning number has become my favourite song from the record.
  • Lamb – Gorecki. This is the only song of theirs I actually know, so I have no idea if it’s typical of their music. An obscure Kevin Baconesque connection is that a cousin of mine is their lead singer’s child’s piano teacher.
  • Thea Gilmore – The List. Discovered this artist via mFlow, from where I downloaded her album “Harpo’s Ghost”. Some real depth and bite to this song.

And, as an added bonus, these three on the way home!

  • Therion – 2012. This band are completely bonkers, in the best possible way. “Choral Metal” is the best description I can come up with, but that really doesn’t do justice to the wide range of other influences. There’s a particularly jaw-dropping choir-backed guitar solo on this song.
  • Uriah Heep – Been Away Too Long. Most of the other songs have been relatively recent, but this one is an oldie from the 70s, from the John Lawton’s tenure in the band as lead singer. They were taking a rather Americanised soft-rock approach at this stage in their career – this song reminds me a bit of Kansas.
  • Opeth – Harlequin Forest. I love Opeth. What gets me about them is the way they combine passages of delicate beauty with brutal heaviness, often in the same song. I remember them playing this live on the Progressive Nation tour – a stunningly beautiful performance. The twin-guitar harmony section towards the middle of the song always gives me goosebumps.

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Journey – Eclipse

Posted on May 31, 2011 by Tim Hall

If they’ve heard more than one song, the general public only know Journey for their radio-friendly power ballads. But rock fans have always been aware of the other side of the band; the classy hard-rock outfit capable of filling quite major venues with their high energy live shows. In their eighties heyday there was sometimes a tension between these two aspects of their music. Interviews suggested the record company constantly demanding more ballads while at least some of the band wanted to rock out rather more. With less commercial pressure nowadays to be radio-friendly, this, like many of their recent albums, shows more of the hard rock Journey rather than the commercial power-ballad Journey.

After regrouping a few years back they’re now on their third singer since Steve Perry’s retirement. Following from Steve Augeri, forced out with vocal problems trying to reach Perry’s high notes, and Jeff Scott Soto, who never quite sounded right, comes Arnel Pineda. On his second studio album with the band he still sounds close enough to Steve Perry to make it sound like Journey, but on this disk he has enough of an identity of his own to be more than a mere clone.

From the opening guitar barrage of “City of Hope”, it’s clear that the songs on this disk are written more for live performance rather than for daytime radio airplay.  The following “Edge of the Moment” is in a similar vein, the sort of genre-defining hard-edged highly melodic AOR that Journey have made their own. There’s room for plenty of Neil Schon’s shredding jazz-metal guitar with songs typically stretching for five or six minutes, but they don’t neglect the stadium-friendly big choruses either. Other highlights are the Zeppelinesque “Chain of Love”, and “Human Feel” with the African-style drums and Hammond backed riff. The last three tracks are pure gold;  the epic power-ballad in “To Whom It May Concern”, the quintessential Journey pop-rock of “Someone” and finally the monstrous instrumental “Venus”.

The album’s by no means without it’s flaws. Jonathan Cain’s keys take too much of a back seat at times, and the album could have done with a bit more light and shade. And like too many albums it’s just a little overlong, and could have done with losing some filler towards the middle of the album. The mediocre “She’s a Mystery” in particular really shouldn’t have made the cut.

This album might leave some Glee or X-Factor fans disappointed, but reality TV viewers aren’t exactly Journey’s core audience. The is really an album for fans of melodic hard rock. While it doesn’t quite reach the standard of 80s classics like “Escape” and especially “Frontiers”, this album shows Journey are still as much a force to be reckoned in the studio as they are live, with a quarter of a century after their commercial peak. 

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Uriah Heep – Into the Wild

Posted on May 9, 2011 by Tim Hall

Uriah Heep have never had the recognition they deserve in their home country. In continental Europe just about every metal band with a keyboard player seems to cite them as a major influence. But in Britain they’re a cult band, all-too-often thought of as 70s also-rans, best known for being one of the principal inspirations for “This is Spinal Tap”.

They have undergone something of a renaissance in recent years. After the constantly changing lineups of the 70s and 80s, leaving just guitarist Mick Box and bassist Trevor Bolder from their 70s glory days, they’ve enjoyed many years of stability, with vocalist Bernie Shaw and keyboard player Phil Lanzon members of the band for well over than half their four-decade career. Studio releases have been infrequent, but the sheer quality of albums like 1995′s “Sea of Light” and especially 2008′s excellent “Wake the Sleeper” showed a band who weren’t ready to turn into their own tribute band like so many of their contemporaries.

And now, forty-one years after their debut, they’ve gone and delivered one of the best albums of their career.

From the opener “Nail on the Head”, onwards this is a very much a hard rock album with a classic 70s vibe. It’s got the combination of searing guitar and Hammond organ that defines the quintessential Uriah Heep sound. But just as on “Wake the Sleeper”, ‘new’ drummer Russell Gilbrook has upped the energy level considerably, resulting in a very hard-rocking Heep indeed.

While there is a definite echo of “Lady in Black” in Trevor Bolder’s “Lost”, the nearest thing to a ballad on the album. there’s not much of their acoustic side on display, and very little trace of the Americanised AOR that characterised a lot of their 80s output. There is, however, noticeably more of Phil Lanzon’s keys used as a lead instrument. I don’t think I’ve heard this much Hammond organ on a Heep album since the days of Ken Hensley. The album closer, the epic “Kiss of Freedom” ends with a magnificent solo, each crescendo more extravagant than the last; nothing less than a “Comfortably Numb” of the Hammond B3.

Few bands can come up with an album this good in the fifth decade of their career, and even fewer come up with albums that rock this hard. But Uriah Heep are one of those bands.

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Chantel McGregor – Like No Other

Posted on May 1, 2011 by Tim Hall

I first saw the young blues guitarist Chantel McGregor at the Cambridge Rock Festival last summer, when she appeared low on the bill fronting a blues-rock power-trio, and simply blew everyone in the crowd away.

Her long-awaited debut album is not quite what I expected. While her talent as a virtuoso guitarist ought to be clear to anyone who’s seen her live, this album shows just as great a talent as a singer-songwriter. It’s hugely varied record; with nine original numbers and three covers, she doesn’t just do blues, but also does hard rock, delicate acoustic work, and some quite catchy pop-rock with choruses that get stuck in your head after a few listens.

The production is quite stripped down, giving her voice and guitar a lot of space. with subtle and sparing use of Hammond organ and cello to add additional instrumental colour. Some of her vocals remind me of Heather Findlay, with a similar natural warmth, beauty and earthiness. There’s certainly an Odin Dragonfly vibe with the acoustic numbers. The guitar playing, as expected, is fantastic too; enough spectacular pyrotechnics to satisfy any fan of great lead guitar, but like all truly great musicians, she also knows exactly when to rein it in and keep things simple.

Of the original numbers, the rocky “Free Falling” really deserves to be a hit single, and I love the angry “Caught Out”, a song for which I can definitely identify with the lyrics. The instrumental “Cat Song” is great fun too with slide guitar imitating the meowing of a cat. Another standout for me is “Screams Everlasting” which starts at as at atmospheric acoustic number and ends with a magnificent slow-burning electric solo. Two of the three covers are vehicles for extended guitar workouts, with the version of Robin Trower’s “Daydream” clocking in at not far short of fourteen minutes. But the third is a stunningly beautiful acoustic interpretation of Fleetwood Mac’s “Rhiannon”.

This is an album which ought to have something for everyone who appreciates great music played by a real musician. It’s about as far from Simon Cowell’s karaoke factory is it’s possible to get.

It’s available direct from Chantelmcgregor.com.

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Heather on Tour – The Phoenix Rises

Posted on April 26, 2011 by Tim Hall

With the retail release of The Phoenix Suite upon us, Heather Findlay has been busy setting up some tour dates to promote it.

A couple of festival dates with the full band (Heather, Chris Johnson, Dave Kilminster, Steve Vantsis and Alex Cromarty) had been announced earlier, the first being the Cambridge Rock Festival on Friday 5th August, followed by The Galtres Festival in Yorkshire on the 28th of the month. Long before that there’s an acoustic date at the Lincoln beer festival on 28th May, as a duo with Chris Johnson.

In October, Heather will be the special guest for Touchstone on their album launch tour, again performing an acoustic set accompanied by Chris Johnson. This certainly came as something as a surprise. Touchstone, as readers of this blog are aware, are a tremendous live act, very much a prog-rock band, albeit with the emphasis on “rock”. This promises to be a great tour.

Four dates are confirmed.

13 Oct 2011 – Mr Kips, Poole
14 Oct 2011 – The Borderline, London
15 Oct 2011 – Riverside, Newcastle
16 Oct 2011 – The Robin 2, Bilston

Heather then follows this with her own headlining tour with the full band, with three five gigs announced so far.

17 Nov 2011 – The Brook, Southampton
18 Nov 2011 – Fibbers, York
19 Nov 2011 – Classic Grand, Glasgow
26 Nov 2011 – The Borderline, London
27 Nov 2011 – The Robin 2, Bilston

I’m very much looking forward to these; it’s been far too long since we’ve seen Heather on stage, and she’s always an exciting and dynamic performer. I’m sure the five songs from The Phoenix Suite are going to come over very well live. With the EP only 25 minutes in length it will be very interested to see what else she’ll play to make up a headline-length set. More new material which will appear on future EPs? A few reworked Mostly Autumn and Odin Dragonfly favourites? Some interesting and eclectic covers? Extended Dave Kilminster guitar wig-outs? Or perhaps all of the above?

I’m sure it’s going to be well worth the wait.

Updated 14/5/11 with additional tour dates

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Heather Findlay – The Phoenix Suite

Posted on April 16, 2011 by Tim Hall

Shortly after leaving Mostly Autumn a year ago to embark upon a solo career, Heather Findlay stated that her musical ideas were coming out in too many different directions for it all to sit comfortably together as a coherent album. So instead, she outlined plans to release a series of EPs, each with a very different feel, quite possibly featuring different backing musicians as well.

The Phoenix Suite, produced by former Mostly Autumn colleague Chris Johnson, it the first of these. It features Roger Waters’ guitarist Dave Kilminster, bassist Steve Vantsis and drummer Alex Cromarty as well as Chris himself on guitar. A blog from Heather stated it would be “Bohemian, vibey and rocky”. While there’s been quite a bit of discussion, occasionally quite heated, regarding Heather’s relationship with progressive rock, her songwriting for Mostly Autumn has always been the straightforward rock numbers and heartfelt ballads rather than the big symphonic epics.

The five songs that make up the suite are very varied indeed. The EP opens with the grunge-flavoured hard rocker “Red Dust, sounding absolutely nothing like anything she’s ever done before. Then the brooding title track follows rather more familiar territory, with more than an echo of “Unoriginal Sin” from “Glass Shadows”. “Cellophane”, on the other hand is a spiky pop-rock number. The EP closes with the slow-burning “Seven” and the almost but not quite epic “Mona Lisa”. Much of the EP displays the highly melodic songwriting style that ought to be recognisable to anyone familiar both with her own songs for Mostly Autumn and her work with Odin Dragonfly. The lyrics are intriguing, laden with metaphor, and significantly darker than before.

Sonically it’s very different from what many existing fans may have expected. There’s a sparse, dry sound and very stripped-down arrangements, and while there are other influences there’s a strong alternative rock feel. No keyboards; in a few places there are guitar effects where piano chords or synth fills might have been the more obvious choice. One disappointment for me is there’s very little of Dave Kilminster’s lead guitar to act as a foil for Heather’s vocals; there are a couple of brief indie-style bursts, but at no point does he really cut loose.

The closest comparison I can think of would be with singer-songwriter Thea Gilmore, and there are moments that remind me of quirky 90s rockers Ordinary Psycho, or Polish goth-rockers Closterkeller. There’s also a hint not only of Panic Room but also of Anne-Marie Helder’s EP “The Contact”. There are certainly one or two places where Heather’s vocals sound like a lot those of her former band-mate.

The arrangements come over as a deliberate intent of sounding distinctly different from her previous bands. On songs like “Red Dust” or “Cellophane” this approach works very well, but in other places it does feel as if the songs would have benefited from a little more instrumental depth, especially given the capabilities of musicians working on the project.

It’s certainly a brave move away from the sort of sound she’s traditionally been associated with. Time will tell whether or not Heather has succeeded with the difficult balancing act of broadening her appeal to mainstream audiences while keeping her existing fans on board. I can imagine a few dyed in the wool classic rock fans struggling to love this record, even while they respect her desire to do her own thing. On the other hand, she could well pick up new followers among alt-rock and indie fans who might never have been prepared to give her earlier work a listen.

But for me, no amount of misgivings about the production or arrangements can overshadow the quality of the actual songs. I’m very much looking forward to hearing the whole thing performed live when she plays festival dates with the full band in the summer. This is still a record that deserves to be appreciated for what it is rather than condemned for what it isn’t. And with Heather suggesting the next EP may be electronic and experimental, I think she’s going to be taking us on an interesting and challenging musical journey over the coming months.

The EP is now on general retail release, but it’s still also available direct from the artist here.

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