GF music review club

[Carvalho Diablo]

Okay, Boss' latest AOW is Electric Ladyland by Jimi Hendrix.

 

Excuse the Youtube shenanigans here please fellas, but it was a twat to get hold of. Spotify links are spot on though.

 

 

The GF Music Club Youtube channel

[Carvalho Diablo]

Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland

 

[Carvalho Diablo]

Spotify link : The GF Music Club channel

 

 

[TheHowieLama]

Have you ever been -- (have you ever been)...

[Carvalho Diablo]

Thanks again to @Boss for what should be another cracking album for us to listen to (and hopefully) review. Personally I've really enjoyed the recent run of old school classic albums and the latest AOW should continue this.

 

Speaking of old school, our next reviewer, due up around 8th of May, is that old dog @TheHowieLama , but until then comrades, happy fucking listening.

 

 

[TheHowieLama]

STRAIGHT AHEAD!!

[Lee909]

Am i the only one that thinks the album is a bit of a mess?

Watched a few documentaries on the making of it and plenty of people around the studio at the time have said it was a mess in the studio and just chaos with the hangers on and friends just taking over the studio. Seems more of a experiment and caught in the middle of evolving into what he wanted to play and what managers and labels wanted from him. 

 

Some moments of genius on the album but i dont think its anywhere near as good as Are You Experienced

 

Saying all that i would give it 10/10 just for the last two tracks alone

[TheHowieLama]

I would agree to an extent -- the disparity in sound, texture and treatment of songs sometimes makes a few feel unfinished.

 

In the way that Scott 4 represented the pinnacle of first wave of studio sounds this record is the beginnings of the second wave. TONS of tape delay/flanging throughout and stereo panning up the ying.

 

Rather than slog through the entire record - which includes pillars like Crosstown Traffic, Voodoo Chile and Watchtower

as well as crap like Little Miss Strange and sonic anomalies like the quality of recording disparity between Long Hot Summer Night into Come On, I will point to a couple of tracks.

 

Both (Have you Ever Been) To Electric Ladyland and 1983 (A Merman I Should turn to Be) for me are massive in the Hendrix canon and both are very much of this particular time in his career. He had been incorporating the Curtis Mayfield guitar influences for a few years but on these tracks there is a synthesis of that, and starting to branch out into some of those same influences vocally all mixed through the latest and greatest gadgets.

By a bunch of folks who were highly talented and probably tripping.

Got to go 9/10 

[Lee909]

Yeah I think a mess might be the wrong way to put it on reflection. There is obvious genius mixed in. Just feels like a seriously polished studio session of ideas that don't combine as a album. But as you said I doubt there was a level head in the studio

[Carvalho Diablo]

@TheHowieLama can you hold off posting your next AOW for another week mate, give the rest of us a bit extra time to  get our reviews in. 

 

Cheers mate. 

[Guest]

I'm gonna post my Walker 4 and Ladyland reviews this weekend... 

[Guest]

Halfway through the Walker 4 album and two tracks into Electric Ladyland. Couldn't be any different but enjoying both so far. Cannot believe I have never heard a full album by either of these. Review up as soon as finished these two.

[Carvalho Diablo]

Sorry lads but I have just been chocka busy for the past few weeks and still got another funeral to attend and I'm due in for surgery myself on the 14th of next month.

 

Hope to have my Jimi review up on Wednesday.

 

@TheHowieLama fire away with your own AOW any time you're ready mate and I'll try and shot the linkage up asap. Thanks for your patience too.

[ZonkoVille77]

Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland

 

When I listened to this a few weeks ago I realised that I had never actually listened to this album in it's entirety. I would have sworn blind to man, woman or child that I did. So it was refreshing from that perspective. However, I struggled with this one to be honest, hence my tardiness in supplying a review. I mean it's obviously very good in places but there's times I find myself switching off and it's way too bloated in my opinion. The track arrangement is way off and the album doesn't flow well at all. I do enjoy the mix of styles here though - rock, soul, blues etc. Good stuff. Even during the "lower quality" tracks like Little Miss Strange and Long Hot Summer Night you can still hear the brilliance of the musicians playing. Pure genius at play.

 

The production is good but the constant panning left/right gets annoying. I suppose when you've a new toy at your disposal you'd want to show it off. Nonetheless, a very good album by a brilliant artist and brilliant band.

 

Highlights:

Crosstown Traffic

Come On (let the good times roll)

Gypsy Eyes

Voodoo Child (slight return)

 

8/10 Biscuits

 

 

[TheHowieLama]

On 18/05/2019 at 10:30, Carvalho Diablo said:

 

@TheHowieLama fire away with your own AOW any time you're ready mate and I'll try and shot the linkage up asap. Thanks for your patience too.

Going to wait until after a certain non musical event before this pal

[Guest]

3 hours ago, TheHowieLama said:

Going to wait until after a certain non musical event before this pal

How long will it take you have that shit?

[Babb'sBurstNad]

It's raining, there's no football on, so what better time to get back to the GF Music Review Club.

 

Scott Walker - Scott 4

 

Never really listened to much Scott walker solo stuff, except in passing, so it's nice to delve in properly; quiet day, headphones on, cup of tea, press play. 

 

Seventh Seal - The title piques my interest straight away, as it obviously references Ingmar Bergman's film, but I assumed it'd be an oblique nod to it. Instead, it's full on precis / commentary, like a riffing B-side someone's done on acid after seeing the film in a double bill with one of the Dollars Trilogy. The trumpets and choral chanting are great touches; part film score, part song.

 

On Your Own Again - This is what I associate with Walker, downbeat lyrical poeticism, "granite grey as morning, heroes died in subways left behind". At 1:44 it's a mere melancholic interlude.

 

The World's Strongest Man - Not the prescient foretelling of the Channel 5 steroidal freakshow I'd hoped for. Similar in tone to the previous track, but with more rising vocals and an upbeat mood.

 

Angels of Ashes - Now that's a Walker title. I like the acoustic guitar, but there's a growing similarity in his delivery that's starting to nag at me, the rhythm isn't as diverse from track to track, like a poet always using the same iamb structure. I always associate this era - and the iconic figures like Walker - with a freer approach. 

 

Boy Child - With the original vinyl release in mind, this is a great way to end Side A. Once again, I'm put in mind of a soundtrack, and there's also the sense that this track has influenced some artist I like, but the tracks aren't quite coming to mind. It swirls about, very ethereal and emotive. The two tracks that bookend this side are the highlights for me thus far.

 

Hero of the War - Upbeat rhythm, and singing rather than breathing into the mic, a sound opener to wake you back up. The tempo belies the lyrical content, "Show his gun to all the children in the street, it's too bad he can't shake hands or move his feet". Now that's dark. I like it.

 

The Old Man's Back Again (Dedicated to the Neo-Stalinist Regime - I feel like that title is begging me to do some research on it. I was going to hit pause, but the bass guitar grabs me like a beartrap, and I'm ensnared. The choral chanting's back in places, and the lyrics are probably the most free from and obtuse, despite the illusion of a linear story. The bass just makes this track and elevates it above the sum of its parts. I can even forgive the fade out scat singing.

 

Duchess - A proper old school low key ballad. Very heartfelt, and has that much more impact coming after the funk of the previous track. 

 

Get Behind Me - The opening guitar reminds me of behind Blue Eyes by The Who, though that was released a year or two later. Speaking of which, and forgive me the detour, but whichever tech wankmuffin at Google decided that the top result for Behind Blue Eyes should be a Limp Bizkit version deserves to be fed into a woodchipper like Buscemi in Fargo (spoiler). Anyway, I was worried this might be a bit one note, but at forty seconds in it kicks into gear. The variation on the second side of the album is excellent.

 

Rhymes of Goodbye - Once again, I sense that I know songs this has influenced, but I can't put my finger on them. On first listen I found the lyrics are a bit too obviously pained and grandiose, like an Iron Maiden track (I like Iron Maiden, but you get my point), but with repeated listens they soften and sit with the closing sentiment. 

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

It took me a while to properly get into this one, as I think I was expecting an early era Walker Brothers type sound, which in hindsight was perhaps a touch foolish. The nagging sense that the lyrics were separate from the music was never far from my mind though, and it took me a while to feel like they gelled.

 

The high points were excellent, there's not a bad track, but an added joy came after the music ended, delving a bit deeper to find out who'd been influenced by Walker. Unsurprisingly many of my favourite artists (like Radiohead) were, and that makes the album less of an island on its own to my ears. At its best, it does that thing that only music can do, whisk you away from where you are, and leave you imagining another time and place, despite everything your other senses are telling you. Good stuff. 8/10

 

Standout tracks - Seventh Seal, Boy Child, The Old Man's Back Again.

[Carvalho Diablo]

Great review, made me laugh out loud too (which fucking hurts atm too btw)

 

Any time you're ready  @TheHowieLama . I could do with something to cheer me  up mate.

[TheHowieLama]

1 hour ago, Carvalho Diablo said:

 

Any time you're ready  @TheHowieLama . I could do with something to cheer me  up mate.

[Carvalho Diablo]

Thanks @TheHowieLama for our new AOW, Mr Misunderstood by Eric Church.

 

Never heard of the guy but here's the usual linkage:

 

 

[Carvalho Diablo]

The GF Music Club Youtube channel

 

Spotify link : The GF Music Club channel

 

 

[Carvalho Diablo]

Next person to pick in the club's rotation is me, in a few weeks time.

 

Cheers everybody and thanks again Howie.

[Mook]

On 08/05/2019 at 01:47, Lee909 said:

Am i the only one that thinks the album is a bit of a mess?

Watched a few documentaries on the making of it and plenty of people around the studio at the time have said it was a mess in the studio and just chaos with the hangers on and friends just taking over the studio. Seems more of a experiment and caught in the middle of evolving into what he wanted to play and what managers and labels wanted from him. 

 

Some moments of genius on the album but i dont think its anywhere near as good as Are You Experienced

 

Saying all that i would give it 10/10 just for the last two tracks alone

I think it's light years ahead of AYE, it's still light years ahead of a lot of rock music that's been made since.

 

Lose the Noel Redding track & it's Hendrix's masterpiece in my opinion, by some distance.

 

I actually prefer Axis to AYE.

[ZonkoVille77]

I've tried 5 times now but I just can't listen to Eric Church. Absolutely not my thing so it would be grossly unfair for me to rate/review it.

[The-Sir]

 

My bands latest single - released this week! Apologies if this is the wrong thread to be posting in, was taking ages to find a more suitable one so I got bored and gave up.