Frank Sinatra - In The Wee Small Hours

So I learnt a few things today. One, Sinatra actually has one of the best singing voices around. It sounds really good. REALLY good. It’s practically a finely tuned instrument in itself. The second is that ‘pop’ music hasn’t really changed that much since inception. These are pleasant songs, but he was given some really boring material. On first listen I could pretty much tell when the word ‘love’ would come up by the end of the record. It’s just kind of unsurprising. For all the shit someone like Justin Beiber gets, the material he’s given is probably about the same standard as this stuff is, except he can get away with being naive because he’s not a fourty year old man like Frank was when this was recorded.

I guess I’m not really used to this sort of music. I’m assuming it’s probably pretty common but the band is pretty badly recorded, and while I like plenty of artists who perform specifically so as to use their voice as an instrument (Paul McCartney is one, as is Ella Fitzgerald but then again scat is basically vocal bebop) but the feel to the album is kind of monotonous and naivety isn’t charming when it’s because you’re going senile.

Sunn O))) & Boris - Altar

Review# 90 Doom lords Sunn O))) team up with Japanese experimentalists Boris - awesome time! Altar is an album dedicated to sound, a concept that both bands are well known for playing with. Opening track Etna is a fantastic piece of Doom laden music that plays on droning sounds with overly distorted bass, this track could easily be over laid on a film with a high suspense angle. Sinking Belle (Blue Sheep) is one of the most amazingly sad songs I know, the pace and the atmosphere off set by the piano and the semi androgynous vocals really come together well and bring across a lot of emotion. Akuma No Kuma is a really sci-fi sounding doomy track, the vocals on this seem to be mostly vocal sounds that have been shot full of reverb and then run through a series of pitch bending exercises - this ultimately renders any song void an brings the vocal line down to mix nicely with the rest of the instruments and is probably one of my favourite tracks. Fried Eagle Mind is a weird trip of a song, and has strange airy/creepy/sighing vocals repeating throughout and building up to a climax full of static before plunging into the final track. The last track is Blood Swamp - it is the final 15min opus to end on. It is a slow build, this is where Sunn O)))'s love of taking one note and droning on it for a good few minutes really becomes apparent, while in the depths of the track the bass is droning and picking up volume and coming to the fore the guitars are picking out precise and perfectly chosen notes. Around 5min in you find things have morphed slightly and a soaring guitar has come into play, while it still tends to one or two notes it has taken the lead and is building up the intensity until everything has built up to the climax... Of stopping suddenly.

Having a look at the credits and there are a few instruments on this album that I don't know what the are like a "moog" - so if I have said that something is something but it is in fact a moog or a space guitar or something then I am sorry.

I would also like to track down the Japanese release with Sinking Belle (Black Sheep) and Sinking Belle (White Sheep).

Over all this album is brilliant, if you want something to shut out the rest of the world this will do it!

Sinking Belle (Blue Sheep): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmdGcTQ6pkY

Akuma No Kuma: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu0HQ755dpw

Sunn O))) and Boris – Altar

Nothing about this is specifically excellent, in fact very little about it is specific in any way at all but the impact it has is very focussed and primal. I’m finding it hard to describe it because the words don’t quite do it justice. I really liked it though, I didn’t really like the vocal tracks on the album very much but the dark instrumental sections are incredibly well crafted. Production is pretty good. I’m sure it’s probably brickwalled to death but in a way it kind of suits the project. Not something I could listen to all the time, but I like the atmosphere it has.

Rob Zombie – Hellbilly Deluxe

Review# 89 Hellbilly Deluxe has some of the best party tracks ever. For the most part listening to this album is like a party in your ears no matter where you are... Although remember that you may be on the train or walking down the street where you are likely to vet some odd looks if you are loudly singing along to Dragula or Spookshow Baby! Heavily horror influenced and full of Industrial Rock stomp the album is fun and hooky and full of those great sing-along tracks like Living Dead Girl, Dragula, Superbeast and Meet The Creeper. There are some odd tracks on here, I have always found Pervasion a hard to take track being sandwiched in between Living Dead Girl and Demonoid Phenomenon - I don't not like the track, I reminds me of a lite Mortiis track, but it is such an abrupt change of pace between two high energy tracks that I just find it off putting and so tend to skip it more often than not. Over all this is a great fun album packed full of solid tracks and some of the best party tunes around.

Dragula: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqQuihD0hoI

Spookshow Baby: Baby: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXre0oW59Us

Superbeast: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHBtpqbOKXk

Living Dead Girl: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvsMPOfblfg

Megadeth – Rust In Peace

Review# 88

Rust In Peace is a great album, I don't really listen to it nearly enough to be honest but since Guitar Hero 2 I have loved Hangar 18. I love Dave's voice on this record - suitably spite and sneer laden and full of attitude. Granted that is his usual singing voice but I just like it best on Rust. The riffs are great too and add a lot of layers to the tracks. Thematically the songs are mostly about war, nuclear fallout, religion and area 51. This is a great album for drinking beers and standing around playing air guitar!

Hangar 18: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tzWc3Xl4B0

The Beatles - Please Please Me

The first Beatles album is kind of tough to judge objectively in any context. Obviously it’s a long way to be before they reach the peaks of Sgt. Peppers or the White Album but there’s definitely a good energy going on and it’s a fun album to listen to. Ask Me Why was always kind of a drag, but any album with I Saw Her Standing There, Please Please Me and Twist and Shout in there is a good time had by all. I kind of prefer the stereo version of the title track because the vocal flub kind of improves the whole ‘live in the studio’ atmosphere going on.

Bob Dylan and the Band - Planet Waves

Generally considered a second tier album by an artist with a higher than average volume of top tier albums, Planet Waves was released after the experimental Self Portrait was released in an effort to sabotage his own career and destroy the myth of ‘Bob Dylan’. After he was back in full swing with New Morning his career was again threatened by Columbia Records after they issued the dismal Dylan album comprised of rough outtakes from the Self Portrait and New Morning sessions after Dylan changed his recording contract to Asylum Records.

Given the uneven temperament of not only his recording career but also his marriage (signs of difficulty are foreshadowed in Wedding Song and Dirge). The music is also really well played. Talking performance alone this is probably the best Dylan album in existence. Music is also really good. Most Dylan albums take me a while to warm to but this one I like pretty much straight away. Top tracks are Going, Going Gone, Hazel, Dirge and Wedding Song.