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Post by unomusette on Jun 27, 2015 23:51:18 GMT
Here's another of my all time favourites, played non stop when I first discovered it and still an old friend. When you're partial to screamy, loud bands as I am, this kind of music is like ear ointment, so smooth and soothing.
Sporting the kind of cover artwork which would tempt you to buy it anyway, I'm pleased to present Gerry Rafferty's classic City to City.
Sadly no longer with us, Gerry was best known for Baker Street which you'll find here as track 2. He never really enjoyed the fame part of his success and especially hated record company schmoozing which meant he had to travel to London from his home in Scotland and be parted from his family. The first half of the album draws on this to a large extent (and also the single Stuck in the Middle With You which he wrote when he was in Stealers Wheel, unfortunately not on this album). Due to the mental pressure which resulted in mood swings and not helped by his turning to the bottle, he was newly divorced and hoping for a reconciliation when this album was written and the second half reflects how much this affected him.
Like Rory Gallagher he is highly regarded by fellow musicians especially in the folk world. A recent tribute concert was screened by the BBC and still might be available somewhere on the i player.
Some of the songs do go on a bit, especially Stealing Time, so you are allowed to skip the extended bits if you like. However I did notice in the Youtube comments that some people really like those parts so it might turn out to be more fun than you think. One of the other comments was that the first track, The Ark, would be their funeral song. I'd not considered that until now but listening to the words it is quite appropriate.
On that cheery note, I hope you find some gems here or at least that your ears are soothed a bit. Ready...steady....
Track List: 00:00 The Ark 05:40 Baker Street 11:51 Right Down The Line 16:21 City To City 21:25 Stealin' Time 27:25 Mattie's Rag 30:55 Whatever's Written In Your Heart 37:34 Home And Dry 42:36 Island 47:54 Waiting For The Day 53:43 Bonus track on this version - Big Change In The Weather
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Post by Platypus on Jun 28, 2015 12:26:44 GMT
That's really easy to listen to. Like many people I guess, Baker Street is the only track I recognize (but what a track).
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Post by queenofthehours on Jun 29, 2015 16:22:49 GMT
Gerry - this should be interesting, I don't know much of his music.
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Post by Helmut83 on Jun 30, 2015 2:27:01 GMT
It came really handy because between yesterday and today I already gave it two full listens while taking care of house and kitchen duties (one was making empanadas, BSJ... remember the empanadas?). I'm forming an opinion of the songs and the album in general, but I don't want to fret in giving a review too early in the week. Hey, the CD of the Week doesn't include the poster's review anymore? Last ones didn't have it.
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Post by BSJ on Jun 30, 2015 19:45:23 GMT
Helmut83, I'm sure they turned out great too - did ya save me any?
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Post by Helmut83 on Jun 30, 2015 20:14:08 GMT
No, they were too good to save any for anyone, not even for someone I hold in such high esteem as yourself, BSJ. I ate them all.
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Post by BSJ on Jun 30, 2015 20:15:01 GMT
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Post by unomusette on Jun 30, 2015 21:53:19 GMT
I don't need any empanadas, I'm full already - of admiration for Helmut83 giving the CD two listens already I'd already written loads just introducing it so didn't want to clutter the place up any more with my thoughts. I suppose it's implied that the poster mostly loves the CD of the Week just by posting it too.
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Post by Chippa on Jun 30, 2015 22:15:48 GMT
I'll listen tonight, and give my two or three cents.
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Post by Helmut83 on Jun 30, 2015 22:21:39 GMT
You may be right, but don't refrain from doing it if you feel like it anyway.
And credit the empanadas, a broken blind and my messy room for the two listens. Seriously, in those circumstances a new CD of the Week goes very well.
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Post by unomusette on Jun 30, 2015 22:34:12 GMT
Well I'll take this as a compliment. I think.
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Post by Helmut83 on Jun 30, 2015 23:04:30 GMT
Well I'll take this as a compliment. I think. Eeehhhmmm... better wait until I give my review.
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Post by Helmut83 on Jul 1, 2015 4:13:07 GMT
- The Ark: nice, pleasant ballad, with a pretty convincing melody. It has an interesting beat and a good guitar work. The strings give it a very particular vibe that fits it very well. But why was it his choice to open the album? It probably sells the album better if you open the album with something more groovy and catchy, not with a long ballad. Well, this doesn’t go against the fact that this is a good song
- Baker Street: so this one is a hit? I didn’t know. And, to be honest, I can’t see why. I don’t find it very interesting. The sax parts sound kind of weird (that effect!), as if transmitting an indefinite atmosphere, and that atmosphere then switches completely in the voice parts. I don’t find these ones to be good either… I mean, what is this song about, where is it going, what is it intending to transmit? I didn’t get it.
- Right down the line: pretty decent song, with some funky influences and a great bassline. Some interesting cowbells call-and-response going on in the background. Nice vocal harmonies too. Maybe it lacks a more effective chorus.
- City to city: love at first sight (or at first listen)! Fantastic, exciting upbeat pop-country song. If I said “right down the line” was lacking a more effective chorus, this is the opposite case: the hook on the chorus is fantastic and gets you singing along. The melody sounds really inspired and fluent, the vocal work is great… as if all this wasn’t enough, the icing on the cake for me was that generous, wonderful, brilliant harmonica solo, honoring the instrument (I mean, playing it like it is meant to be played, not just blowing for some notes to come out). Fantastic, it will go to my songs library.
- Stealin’ time: good one too, another one of the kind “pleasant ballad”. Nice guitar work, playing in a smooth, elegant style, that makes the guitar sound like it is weeping or something. Again, good vocal harmonies and a nice, inspired characteristic hook. When you get one of those, the song leaves you something, regardless of how much you like it. Proof of that is that it gets stuck in your head.
- Mattie’s rag: this sounds like something the Kinks could have done. That part in the middle with strings, brass and vocals mixing is a bit messy. Nice slide guitar solo. OK, but not great.
- Whatever’s written in your heart: this sounds like an effort at making an anthem, something like a few Elton John has. It’s good, but in my opinion it doesn’t totally get there, mostly because the melody isn’t as memorable as an anthem song would require. I love the sound of the piano, those deep notes are beautiful and make up for other lackings of the song. When the guitar makes a solo and combines with the piano, that’s the most remarkable moment of the song. Uh, and it’s way too long.
- Home and dry: didn’t do much to me really. Is it terrible? No. Did it transmit me anything? Neither. I think if there’s an album filler on this album, it’s this.
- Island: a little, delicate, exquisite, precious gem. Calm, smooth rhythm, sounding a bit to bossa-nova, with a great percussion work. The melody is excellent, very inspired and fluent all along; calm and pleasant on the verses and then when it enters the chorus/bridge it gains intensity, giving the song the exact atmosphere it requires in each of it’s parts. The sax is as beautiful as anything I’ve ever heard a sax do. The whole song makes me want to lie in the ground, face up looking at the sky. A work of genius I’d say.
- Waiting for the day: another bit of a “meh” song which I didn’t dislike but didn’t do much for me. The only good part is when the music stops and the guy is left singing along; that’s when the melody gets better, but then on the verse it gets unconvincing again. Other than that, great guitar work, but over a song which doesn’t convince me. Not the best of the album closers.
- Big change in the weather: this one should have been the album closer instead of “Waiting for the day”, no doubt. It’s so much better! Those guitar interludes are gorgeous. The verse is pretty good, with that galloping rhythm and that accordion in the background. The bongos (are they bongos?) give it a great rhythm. Only the end was a bit too long. It’s better than at least half of the album, so I think it should have been included.
In the overall, I found this one to be a pretty solid album. It hasn’t got any song which I would say was bad, even though it featured a few irrelevant ones IMO. I think one of it’s stronger points is the variety: variety in the sound, in the instrumentation, in the genres and rhythms of the songs, in the way of singing, etc… That helps tons. Even when you don’t like a particular song, the mere fact that it sounds different than the previous ones avoids you ear getting saturated and makes it all more colorful. For example, the guy uses plenty of guitars throughout the album, but he changes the sound of them (for example, with less or more distortion) through the songs so you don’t get tired of them.
Then, the guy is clearly creative. There are a couple of pretty pointless songs, but he has achieved a few memorable melodies too, so you can see he’s the kind of guy that, when inspired, can create very good things. “City to City” and “Island” must be among the best ones I’ve discovered on the CD of the Week section, and there were a few other interesting ones too. Of course the melody is the most important thing, but it also helps that the way of playing the instruments is good in the worst of cases, and they are recorded very cleanly and neatly (he must have hired some good musicians). The harmonica in “City to City” is just masterful, I wish there were more of those harmonica players on pop, folk, rock and popular music, because usually you only find them in blues and country genres.
As for the bads, there’s a general inexplicable tendency of making the songs too long, with almost all of them around 5 minutes, some of them more. Why? If short, twice as good. Then, like I said, there are some songs which although I didn’t actively dislike, didn’t do much for me either. But all in all, bonus track included (because that song definitely adds something valuable to the package), I think this is a very good album.
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Post by jrmugz on Jul 1, 2015 9:07:23 GMT
Cool unomusette, I'm pretty familiar with four of those from the "best of" collection I have, and looking very forward to hearing the rest. Look for my thoughts in the next couple days or so!
Jim
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Post by unomusette on Jul 1, 2015 22:27:22 GMT
Thanks for the detailed and thoughtful review, Helmut83, I think you were very fair and it's great that a couple of the songs are now amongst your favourites I wonder if he began with The Ark because it's about setting out on a journey? That's the only reason I can come up with. And it's interesting that the charms of Baker Street escaped you, it's practically a national treasure over here or it certainly was when it first came out. I'm off to France tomorrow and will only be back for about a day on Monday before disappearing to Lisbon for a week. Looking forward to reading any further reviews, don't think I'm being rude if I don't reply straight away
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