I Talk To The Wind: Prog Blog and Reviews

Not much of a surprise re Awake because I had recommended it to him after his Images & Words review (though I don't know if he had already heard it).    This is the one where they put their best foot forward...Moore recedes into the background a bit and is thereby actually more effective, giving a powerful sense of atmosphere to the music.  Voices is my favourite Petrucci solo spot.  LaBrie turns in his best performance with the band to date,which...is still not necessarily saying a lot; sometimes he gets tiresome to listen to after a while even on this album.

Great review on Awake. In spite of disagreeing with you in every other review you have made of that band, this one I actually agree on almost everything.

Edited by CCVP - March 31 2010 at 21:49

TGM: Orb wrote: ^ Thanks Caio, though I'm sure we'll have to agree to disagree a lot on certain other albums by that particular outfit

Sure Rob, we can always agree to disagree in this case, wile disagreeing in agreeing in other cases were an agreement cannot be reached even though we disagree  .

Bloody Tourists, 10cc, 1978



Decent album by one of my favourite outlets of quality rock and oddball art-pop. Minus Godley and Creme, 10cc’s grasp of parody becomes rather less consistent... the remaining Stewart and Gouldman partnership, while remaining rather fine songwriters and occasionally amusing lyricists with a penchant for melody, great voices and solid performances, seems not to tantalisingly straddle the fine line between sincerity and parody but rather stumbles over it and back all too frequently. Musically, this album’s both catchy and well-written BUT there are a disconcerting number of songs on this record that are not bad but non-highlights and where 10cc had most thrived was on coming up with songs that are both inescapably catchy and somewhat off the wall. But at least they start with one of them;

Dreadlock Holiday is one of 10cc’s finest and best-received hits. Unless you do have some deep-seated moral objection to white men doing reggae, 10cc’s merge of the genre’s aesthetics with a sharp sense of parody (hence the thin organ tone) and a number of gorgeous pop hooks (listen to that marimba roll...) in a decidedly unusual format should be a somewhat uncontested highlight. While that basically puts the rest of the album to shame in terms of catchiness, quality and originality, the more-or-less narrative Anonymous Alcoholic with its neat funk middle comes close-ish.

Across the rest of the album, the more rock, fast-paced numbers seem to more or less fade once they’re over. Shock On The Tube is a bit of a lyrical rehash of I’m Mandy (Fly Me); neat guitar line, runaway piano and the great harmonies. Last Night is a rather tamer riff-driven piece which, while memorable in bursts, doesn’t really go very far.

The odd stuff comes in two parts: Old Mister Time has a sort of Gentle Giant vibe on the opening with dark choppy piano chords and the occasional odd effect. Lyrics decidedly thin and the character play isn’t quite there. Great moments everywhere, with some remarkable Beach Boys-y Harmonies, but not a fully functioning whole.

The more progressive-sounding Tokyo is piled up with synths and guitar effects. Lead vocals fine as ever, harmonies better than ever. Lyrics haven’t been great on the album, but with the slowed pace of this one, it’s rather galling. Instrumental section a highlight.

Of the calmer pieces, slightly-too-comfortable ballad You And I is very pretty. Reds In My Bed borders on sluggish; the band is far too capable to mess anything up obviously but given that the only bit from the song that really stands out for me is the vocal harmonies, I think there’s something decidedly beneath 10cc’s regular standard in the writing. Take These Chains is marginally more noticeable. Lifeline’s acoustic section is extremely pretty, making the ironic reggae alternation a little more entertaining. Some vocal melodies not miles beneath the Beatles’ best work.

Rounded off with From Rochdale to Ocho Rias. A fun song. Indefensibly so, but still fun. Perhaps one of the album’s better ones... vocal melodies fantastic, parodic bursts entertaining, energy kept throughout, guitar solo excellent. Strange that the album’s most openly ironic piece seems both more sincere and effortlessly deep (‘you spend half your life in transit, but that’s just the way God plans it/toothbrush and some fresh pyjamas, that’s all you need’) than the extended story pieces.

10cc’s earlier albums, aside from being some of the first music I really got into, continue to make me listen and make me smile... this doesn’t really do that, but it’s nice to listen to and has some of the best vocal harmonies and melodies they’ve written. Pick Bloody Tourists up if you’re already into the band or want to see their more regular and subdued side more closely, if you’re not, head over to such classics as Sheet Music, The Original Soundtrack and How Dare You for some of the finest and most disarmingly original art-pop known to man.

Rating: Three Stars, 10/15

Favourite Track: Dreadlock Holiday

---

Should review the afore-mentioned pinnacles of Crossover sooner or later... wanted to write some more averagey-low ratings first though.


Edited by TGM: Orb - April 03 2010 at 18:47

Perdition City, Ulver



A revelation about the potential of trip-hop; the mood of each piece is pretty much always hit (though I have to admit the snarling gangster soundtrack thing may be welcome relief from the rather absorbing coldness of the rest of the album but it’s also so stereotypical and tacky that it sort of collapses under its own weight). If every piece were quite as good as the opening Lost In Moments, which perfectly contrasts a chilly background with the bursts of warm saxophone, loose paraphrasing of Kerouac, very defined vocals, and the human vibrancy of the wonderful escapist conclusion. If this is still available on PA as a sample, give it a listen. I suppose having too obvious a favourite is a bad idea for a mood album if that favourite is very self-sufficient.

Thereafter, most of the album remains very consistent and, more importantly, consistently very good. Take the following Porn Piece: half minimalist-driven dark mood music with a cello, leading up into a very warm and haunting song which a savage groove interrupts followed by a return of the main idea. Very well-structured and internally logical. Hallways of Always is, I suppose, where your appreciation of the music’s content over its aesthetic is most tested; I think it’s wonderful. Tomorrow Never Knows might well represent some of the album’s best musical fusion, with the contrast of a slightly industrial and very modern music with some shimmering film-score-type backgrounds – however, I’m not quite as convinced about this one as the album so far, it sounds a bit thin on ideas whenever the ‘leads’ drop out, though the concluding catharsis is absolutely wonderful.

The Future Sound of Music is initially more driven by the depth and range of sounds that augment it than the rather dry piano chords that hold the piece down. From the choral/piano contrast around three minutes in, the whole piece is absolutely essential modern progressive music. I suppose you could have made the first section a bit more self-sufficient without ruining the (utterly brilliant) contrast with the following half. We Are The Dead is the most uncomfortable thing on the album, I guess, unsettling the listener with its rich, crisp vocal delivery, dark and resonant lyrics and most of all the unsettled background contrasting with a repeated ghostly choral sound. Dead City Centres contains the lapse in taste referred to above, and while it largely represents an excellent development from the former track, I can never decide whether the jazz interlude/Chicago Gangster parody works out very well. It is well executed and is a musically solid choice, but conceptually it rather disturbs the immersion.

Catalept is another classical/trip-hop fusion though this one has a definite forwards trajectory. The washes of anarchic noise are a very neat effect indeed. The closing Nowhere/Catastrophe merges the album’s trip-hop/minimalism with a genuine song, and a very decent one at that. Anyway, the conclusion is wonderfully bleak. One non-musical quibble: 1) ‘Trickster G’... maybe it’s no sillier than, say, ‘Furry Lewis’ or ‘Slash’ or ‘Sting’ but I think those names are ridiculous too.

In short, Perdition City is a superb result for a ‘let’s get a random album from a random genre I know nothing about’ moment. It doesn’t get a perfect score because I feel there are some cracks in the overall construction and a couple of parts that feel a little lazier than the album’s best cuts. A very original and powerful album, which is exceptionally well-constructed and which perhaps might change your views on the validity of certain strains of music as it did mine. Needless to say, you should get it.

Rating: Four Stars, 12/15 (or maybe a 13)
Favourite Track: Lost In Moments, though any of the first three would do.

Tormato



Rare album to actually lend credit to the ‘I just couldn’t make myself listen to it more than once to make this rushed knee-jerk reaction review’ standpoint. The name itself is, or should be, a combination of torment and the ancient Sanskrit word for festering yet shiny dung. Obviously the band would be much too technically gifted to produce an utterly meritless turd if it weren’t for the combination of terrible production and serious lapses in taste on the part of every band member.

Wakeman is here shinier and generally less pleasing than an arse-pimple. Squire has somehow acquired an utterly vapid, gutless tone, White’s bag of tricks are a cheap and transparent plastic covering thrown over the stained furniture of the album’s rhythms, Howe is more or less unremarkable and his trademark tones are draped over directionless parts. Anderson’s chant-y and rather unmemorable melodies are here slammed into a number of songs with no real focal points, which robs most of his power. While Yes have hardly been the example par excellence for hard-hitting lyrics which are simultaneously accessible and guttural, Anderson’s lyrics have never been so insufferably dumb or lazy as Tormato’s and nor are the vocal arrangements very special.

The ultimate failure of Tormato doesn’t come down to any failure by any particular member, but to the fact that everyone (except White, who’s trying as hard as possible not to impress us) is trying to show off simultaneously with no particular concern for the actual songs. And the production and tone choices mean that all these separate half-arsed attempts to impress us fall flat in an overly busy mess.
Future Times/Rejoice is an upbeat little number with a bit of vaguely countrified drumming and hideously messy and shiny production. The synth choices are hardly great, and Wakeman somehow manages to make even the organ sound wimpy. On the plus side, you can look forward to the Future Times when Tormato will have stopped.

Don’t Kill The Whale. ‘Our last heaven-beast’ is sadly betrayed by Jon’s moodless and thoughtless writing. Much as it’s become the figurehead for the album’s criticism because modest commercial success from short songs isn’t OK, I genuinely think it represents the album’s best musically. Fairly punchy, hilarious harmonies and a sort of balance within the piece that’s not really around anywhere else here. Also, whatever you think of the song, Anderson singing ‘dig it dig it’ could’ve made music hall.

Madrigal comes from another world where Yes aren’t the world’s most tasteless band in 1978. Harpsichord, lush classical guitar and Anderson’s vocals fit together very well. If ‘Celestial travelers have always been here with us’, they’re probably now leaving early with a mumbled excuse and downcast eyes pretending not to know mystic J.

Release, Release – the instrumental noodling will probably be considered a highlight, and for moments it’s not that bad – the transition at about 4 minutes in is pretty cool, the opening is solid, Squire has some funky bass near the end. Howe doesn’t really pull off rock and roll, and added cheering doesn’t lighten a bland drum solo or make it feel live.

Arriving UFO. Wakeman’s uncharacteristic bit of organ echo fiddling lightens this unmemorable bit of trite Anderson writing. On the plus side, hilarious and the aforementioned organ. On the minus, the chorus melodies and a lot of the writing is banal.

Circus Of Heaven – the inclusion of a child’s voice deflating Anderson’s maddening list of adjectives was slightly funny, but the song is otherwise pretty unredeemed. Anyway, using irony does not a good song make.

Onward: a bit of supple vibrato doesn’t disguise a very boring melody and a general lack of instrumental writing. The keyboards (presumably Wakeman) are admittedly a fairly uncanny imitation of a dire over-orchestration.

On The Silent Wings Of Freedom is not a lost classic, nor is it really progressive rock of the calibre we expect from Yes. The awfully thin (as much the fault of the production as anything) rhythm section focussed opening is redeemed only by a couple of Howe’s more liquid solos though neither of these seem to actually be aiming anywhere.

The problem with the whole is that there’s nothing remarkable, surprising or (thank god) particularly memorable about Tormato. The problem with the individual parts is that they are, basically, Yes parodying itself.

Save the somewhat redeemed Don’t Kill the Whale and Madrigal, an awful, awful album that the die-hard Yes fan will buy anyway. Recommended for anyone working on an incentive program to stop online piracy. Another positive thing about Guantanamo Bay’s closure is that this album no longer has a place in the civilised world.

Rating: One Star. But not a very shiny star. 4/15
Favourite Track: Madrigal or Don’t Kill The Whale

---

For the record, I've listened to this quite a few times now and I still find it blissfully hard to remember most of it. That perhaps explains why some of my song descriptions are very light. Love Beach represents a far superior pop record to that one. As does 90125, actually. Something like Genesis (s/t) blows it out of the water.

Anyway, ech. Next up, some rare live Caravan, I think.


Edited by TGM: Orb - June 28 2010 at 17:19

< ="-" ="text/; =utf-8">< name="ProgId" ="Word.">< name="Generator" ="Microsoft Word 12">< name="Originator" ="Microsoft Word 12">

90125 - Yes, 1982

Maybe

After the unfortunate bowel movement that was Tormato, I approached this with some reservations about Yes’ more openly pop career. 90125 has some equally distasteful eructations but . Squire is rather subordinated, Anderson sounds nothing like he has before (i.e. on occasion, he emotes ;)). Interesting how much of the aesthetic appears to be artlessly modelled on the hugely commercially successful Asia. I suppose that many of the things that ruin this album for me are the same things that wreck Asia for a lot of this site’s members but really, the difference is that Asia’s first album has memorable songs with noticeable personalities. This album has three, maybe four songs a dedicated Yes fan should hear plus a quick instrumental.

Owner Of A Lonely Heart... the harmonies are lush, I like the various soloish bits, which represent a genuine combination of imaginative writing and pop sensibilities. The whole song is good, has personality and is memorable.

Hold On isn’t quite hard rock. The vocal harmony that forms the lead vocal is just not really very compatible with the rest of the (very bland) song and Rabin’s guitar tone is unforgivably cheap. We can do without any of the five minutes of this.

It Can Happen... the chorus and indeed most of the song is dreadful, bawling stuff and Squire’s cool bass flourish is the only feature we might want salvaged into a rather better six minute song.

Changes... and wow. After two dreadful pieces that only by virtue of their intelligible but still bad lyrical content and production couldn’t be on Tormato, we have one of the greatest songs Yes have ever offered up and a pinnacle of early 80s attempts to make synthetic pop more complex and progressive rock more emotive. The lush, dense progressive, tuned-percussion-heavy intro and outro are neither of them hugely relevant to the glorious, direct song they surround but still fits with it superbly. The singing is fantastic, the harmonies again sound like something that only Yes could do and the song is simply so much more imaginative and punchy than anything off the album yet.

Cinema will maybe hold more attractions for those who feel instrumentals for their own sake are still events. I personally have as little affection for this moodless though technically impressive and dense piece as I have for YYZ. Short instrumentals do best with a mood, dammit.

Leave It... outrageous, outrageous vocal harmonies completely with a bass voice that sounds like a strange merger of 10cc, Gentle Giant and the Drama Line-Up. So utterly out of character for this album that the vaguely shiny disco chorus seems merely hilarious and the rest inane genius in a thankfully relatively compact format.

Our Song... the fairly quick if not hugely imaginative rhythm section is done a disservice by the horribly omnipresent tacky keyboard choices from Kaye.

City Of Love has comedy value in excess of the various bad songs here; Jon Anderson trying to sing in a streetwise manner contrasted with stereotypical AOR harmonies (‘no woman don’t cry! No woman don’t... cry!’). Has to be heard for that reason alone. Musically tolerable.

Hearts is a bit more carefully constructed than the remaining songs, with decent development on existing themes, cryptic lyrics put over some very nice harmonies. More of the Trevor Rabin show. A bit too much repetition. Not a bad song, just loses focus a little.

One song elevates this album to the lofty heights of two stars. If you can listen to Changes and still believe that an 80s aesthetic and pop format is incompatible with superb creative music, you are quite beyond help. Owner Of A Lonely Heart, Cinema, It Can Happen and the comedy value of City Of Love further rescue this from the bin and/or toilet I’ll keep Tormato. If you’re a Yes fan, you need look no further than 1978 to do worse than this.

Rating: Two Stars, 7/15, maybe.
Favourite Track: Changes

---

Generous rating but I like Changes too much.

Never have I disagreed more in my life with anybody than in your SFaM review, but oh well thats just me.

DT-PT wrote: Never have I disagreed more in my life with anybody than in your SFaM review, but oh well thats just me.

In a world with (the immensely wonderful) Brass Eye, Conservapedia and The Daily Mail, I think that deserves a medal

Anyway, it's obviously not just you (nearer the time, I got a PM from someone who by their own admission hadn't read my review and still managed to disagree utterly and completely and categorically with it)... I'm more interested, to be honest, in getting one or two people to hear some of the more interesting Hammill albums or Maneige than knocking albums like Scenes or Tormato, fun though that is.

TGM: Orb wrote:   Any way you cut it, it's a great album - if I've time I'll try to edit it up a little tomorrow.

Edited by Ronnie Pilgrim - July 11 2010 at 14:09