Daily Blog 3/28 - Concert Review: Andrew Roachford/The Beat

Hey Everyone,

Sorry I haven't been posting for a long while. My life's been having several emotional ups and downs lately so I've preoccupied. I won't go into much detail, but basically these current events in my life have distracted me from even listening to music, or at least the new music I bought recently. Most days I just watched youtube videos and re-watched Avatar: The Last Airbender, one of my favorite animated shows ever. I was struggling to even force myself to listen to music because I tend to lean on music that is more emotional, depressing or melancholy, which was exactly how I was feeling. But I knew I should listen to music that's more upbeat and positive, and I did, even though it didn't help like I wanted it to. These days I've just been reflecting on myself with good advice from my sister. Luckily, I'm getting back on track.


I went to two concerts this weekend and have started working on my 2000 word essay due next Monday. On Friday night I went to see Andrew Roachford, a UK R&B/Rock artist from the late 80s and early nineties. He first became widely known for his band Roachford and their big 1989 Top 40 hit "Cuddly Toy", as well as other UK hits "Only To Be With You" and "The Way I Feel". These days, when he's not performing as a solo artist, he performs as second vocalist/keyboardist for Mike + The Mechanics, the side project of Mike Rutherford of Genesis. Andrew Roachford was promoting his new album Encore, a collection of reinterpretations of classic songs that influenced him, such as "Family Affair" by Sly & The Family Stone, "Ain't No Sunshine" by Bill Withers, and "Under The Bridge" by Red Hot Chili Peppers. The show was fantastic. Roachford had a great band, including his brother Steven on guitar. Roachford was singing and playing keys, and he sounded phenomenal. The performance was full of energy and he really knew how to show great appreciation and love for his audience. After the show he did a meet and greet and signed CDs. He was very nice and gracious. Really cool dude.

Saturday night I went to see 2-Tone British Ska band The Beat, or The English Beat as they are known in the US. The current incarnation of the band in the US consists of sole original singer/guitarist Dave Wakeling. The UK incarnation consists of second vocalist/toaster Ranking Roger. Just a little background, I grew up listening to The Beat. My dad was a fan of them in the 80s, so I grew up with songs like "Mirror In The Bathroom", "Best Friend", "Twist And Crawl", etc. I had seen Dave Wakeling's English Beat 3 times, but had never seen Ranking Roger's Beat. Least to say, this was a dream come true. It was at the London International Ska Festival. There were some other pretty good bands as well, both young and old. My favorite that I saw was a ska/punk band called Sonic Boom Six. I actually recommend them. Why? Because their intro song was the theme song for the Sonic CD video game aka "Sonic Boom". 'Nuff said. The Beat were the headliners and gave a hell of a performance. Roger's son Ranking Junior was the second vocalist and toaster, he is indeed his father's son. They played some new songs, great classics from the first two Beat albums, and a cover of the Clash's "Rock The Basbah". Nothing from Special Beat Service, mostly because the band didn't have a keyboardist at this show, so they couldn't perform songs like "Save It For Later", "Sole Salvation" and "I Confess". Nonetheless, the performance was a lot of fun and like Roachford, Ranking Roger gave lots of love to his audience, and the audience returned the favor by shouting and dancing their asses off, myself included. After the show I went around the back and met Roger. I told him I was from California and basically told him how special it was for me to see his version of The Beat. I got a picture him and told him what an honor it was to meet him. He was kind, gracious and cool to talk with. This was definitely a special experience I'll never forget.

I'm currently working on my 2,000 word essay on the benefits of learning music by ear. I won't go into too much detail about what I'm writing exactly, but I am thinking about posting my essay after I submit next week. I'm about halfway through and just have to read more research material and it'll be done by Wednesday to send to my teacher to go over with in a tutorial on Friday. I'm feeling pretty good about it.

On a sidenote, I saw Zootopia, or as it's known in the UK Zootropolis, and it's a fantastic film. I'll be honest and say that after the two concerts this weekend and watching the film today, it got me completely out of the slump I had been in last week. It's one of those that in its own unique way makes you a better person for watching it, such as reading a good novel or listening to an insightful record. The movie is insightful and makes you think, in a good and productive way, and ironically you leave the film wondering, questioning, in a good and productive way. I won't give away what it's about, you can look that up yourself, but go see it. I will at least say that as an American, it is extremely relevant.

That's all for now. I'll try to write more often this week. Have a Happy Easter!!

Bad Album Review: Summer In Paradise by The Beach Boys

This is the first in a series on this blog where I review notoriously bad albums. I've been wanting to do this for a long time, particularly review this album. In these reviews my mission to address my opinions on how bad the album is, which ultimately begs the question, "Is it THAT bad?". Well, let's find out.



If you go back and read my very first blog post, you will see that I love the music of the Beach Boys. How much do I love them? Well, long story short, The Beach Boys are my favorite band of all time. I love their entire catalog, even the bad stuff, or at least some of it. With that said, we look at the most infamously bad album in the Beach Boys catalog Summer In Paradise.

Released in 1992, this is the only Beach Boys album that featured absolutely no input from the band's main songwriter Brian Wilson. One half of the album contains re-hashed out Beach Boys hits and rip offs, new gems, and very cheesy and primitive production. In short, it's a Mike Love album, but really anything is better than Looking Back With Love. Apparently, they had recorded this album using a very early beta version of Pro Tools, which explains the drum machines, cheesy sounding keyboards and synthesizers, and extremely un-dynamic recording flow. Do these qualities make the album unlistenable? Well, yes, but not on every song; just the bad ones...

The first track is a cover of Sly & The Family Stone's "Hot Fun In the Summertime". This cover is just kind of awkward. I get that the song is about summer, but still, it doesn't seem to fit with the Beach Boys, let alone the production of the recording that sounds more outdated that the original, and the original was released more than 20 years before. You can call this one a hot mess, and not in a good way. The second track is a re-recording of the very first Beach Boys song "Surfin'". Again, why did they feel they needed to update this song? This track is not just bad because of the updated, yet again outdated, production, but it's just utterly pointless.

"Summer of Love" has Mike Love rapping. Automatically bad. The drums are especially horrendous and the harmonies rip off other Beach Boys songs like "I Get Around" and "Do It Again". This track would've at least been passable if it weren't for Mike Love's rapped verses. It's just lazy. This song overall is just lazy. Next...

"Island Fever"..."Kokomo" rip off. 'Nuff said.

"Still Surfin'" is pretty much the middle ground for grotesque and passable. It's not the worse song, and the harmonies are decent, aside from a "Getcha Back" background vocal sample. The production is not totally unbearable. But, there's nothing special going on her. The lyrics are bland and Mike Love's vocals are bland. So, yeah, other than that, don't have much of an opinion on this.

Say what you want about Bruce Johnston, but I like his songs, and this one is no exception. Honestly, when I hear "Slow Summer Dancin' (One Summer Night)", I imagine that I'm on the beach somewhere in Malibu or San Diego, when the starts are out on a warm summer night with someone special. The production, as twinkly sounding as it is, reminds me of the sound of the ocean, particularly the reverb drums and keyboards. The best part of this song though is Al Jardine's vocal in the chorus. The modulation with the saxophone might be really cheesy, but whatever. Call me corny, but this song has just the right amount of cheesiness for my taste. 

The next song is also a good highlight. I know that some people get sick of Beach Boys songs about transcendental meditation or the Maharishi Yogi (i.e. TM Song and Transcendental Meditation), but this song has a good balance between Mike Love's meditation gushing verses and Al Jardine's infectious chorus. I don't know why I like this song. I just do. So deal with it!

"Remember (Walking In The Sand)" is definitely a better cover than 'Hot Fun', mostly because despite the production, it fits better with the Beach Boys. Carl Wilson also delivers a great vocal effort on here. Not a highlight, but not the worst cover either.

"Lahaina Aloha" is another one of my favorites on this album. Carl Wilson's chorus is just divine, and the production is almost bearable here, with perhaps the exception of the snare drum. I think you could argue that this is the best track on the album, although for my buck "Strange Things Happen" is my favorite. But still, this is a very good highlight.

The cover of the Drifters "Under The Boardwalk" is perhaps Mike Love's best vocal on the album. What can you say? He sings a good ballad. He sounds the best when relaxed and subtle. This is probably the best cover on the album. The overall vibe is good, good harmonies, smooth and relaxed. Perfect for smooth jazz radio, if you're a fan of that anyway.

We've now come to the title track "Summer In Paradise", essentially a rehash of everything the Beach Boys have ever done, mostly lyrically, referencing many past Beach Boys hits. But actually, if you can get past all of that, it's a decent song. Strangely enough, it sounds like the only song where a real drummer is actually playing. This is the only song from this album the band has performed live very occasionally. And yes, although there are other better songs, this is probably the only song from the album the band could get away with performing. Unfortunately, there is one more track on this album, and it's a doozy.

John Stamos covers "Forever". People either love this or hate it. I think most true Beach Boys hate this, mostly because you got somebody bastardizing arguably the best Dennis Wilson composition ever. And in the TV show, he does it in more than one way. Stamos adds nothing to the spirit of the song, and it's only point was to serve as a plot point for the TV show. Talk about a near miss.

An that's my review. So let's ask ourselves again. Is Summer In Paradise THAT bad? Well, I don't think so. Yes, it is still a bad album, but in my opinion there are some very good moments in this album, specifically "Slow Summer Dancin'", "Strange Things Happen", "Lahaina Aloha" and "Under The Boardwalk". "Summer In Paradise" isn't the most terrible song either. But yes, everything else is trash. This was the only Beach Boys album that didn't chart, and it's been out of print for years, and is the only Beach Boys album other than Still Cruisin' that for all intensive purposes was completely swept under the rug. Nonetheless, I think it's worth checking out the highlights I mentioned. I enjoy the song whenever I listen to them, and surprisingly never getting tired of listening. Weird, I guess.

I hope you enjoyed this review, and stay tuned for the next blog post.

Jason Isbell and John Moreland Concert Review

22 January 2016 at the O2 Kentish Town

The concert was originally booked at the O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire, but due to renovations the gig was moved to the O2 Kentish Town, which was a larger venue apparently. I had only recently discovered Jason Isbell while listening to all the best albums that came out in 2015. His 2015 album was entitled Something More Than Free. I immediately fell in love with his songs and his songwriting. His story is quite interesting. Born and raised in Athens, Georgia, he was formerly a member of Southern rock jam band the Drive-By Truckers. He played on three of their albums and contributed some songs to their records. In 2007, he was fired from the band due to his ongoing alcohol addiction, and he then divorced his wife and Drive-By Truckers bassist Shonna Tucker. Soon afterwards he made a couple of studio albums that really did get him anyway. Then he reconnected with an old musician friend Amanda Shires, a singer-songwriter and violinist, who motivated him to go to rehab and get sober. A while after that he released the album Southeastern, which received critical acclaim and performed well on the charts. Something More Than Free reached #7 on the Billboard 200 and topped the rock charts, the folk charts, and country music charts.


The show began with the opening act, a singer-songwriter from Tulsa, Oklahoma named John Moreland. Coincidentally, I saw John Moreland almost a year ago open up for Jim Lauderdale in Chicago. John was a big guy, big beard, glasses, trucker cap, he looked like he was from the Southeast. But once he closed his eyes and started plucking his Martin acoustic guitar and opened his both, your jaw dropped. This man had a beautiful voice, very reminiscent of Springsteen, except John's a better singer. John Moreland poured his heart out with every word he sang. His songs were full of pain, heartbreak, memory and beauty. Two songs that especially stuck out to me were "You Don't Care Enough For Me To Cry" and "Break My Heart Sweetly". Other highlights include "Nobody Give A Damn About Songs Anymore", "3:59", "Cherokee" and "Gospel". I was mesmerized by this artist's presence. He did not speak in between songs; just played one song write after the other. His performance last about 45 minutes, but I won't have minded if it went on another hour. I immediately bought his albums they were selling at the merchandise table, signed.

Next was the main event: Jason Isbell and his band the Unit 400. He kicked the show off strong with "Palmetto Rose" and "Stockholm", going straight in the title track "Something More Than Free". Jason was in fine form and the band was totally in the zone. Next were a couple of older tunes, the Drive-By Truckers tune "Decoration Day" and the Unit 400 number "Alabama Pines" (a fan favourite). Then he played my favorite Jason Isbell composition "Traveling Alone", a story about living your life without anyone to share your experiences and feelings with. Least to say there are times where I can relate to this situation. The show was filled with great songs, great rockers, and great energy on stage. Another personal highlight was when he performed my favorite track from Something More Than Free "24 Frames", which describes the memories the narrator reminisces about, full of both nostalgia and deep emotional pain.

But by far the best highlight was Jason Isbell alone on stage with his acoustic guitar singing "Cover Me Up". The song, straight and simple, was about Jason's relationship with Amanda Shires and her motivating him to get sober. This single performance was one of triumph, inspiration, and glory. He had arrived, and we were in his presence to witness it. "Children of Children" is considered the best song Jason has ever written, and he performed at the end of his set before the encore. Some other great jams included the Drive-By Truckers number "Never Gonna Change" and the final number of the night "Codine". 

Jason Isbell's set last nearly 2 hours. His band was absolutely phenomenal and Jason's voice and guitar playing shined throughout the venue. The whole audience was in complete attention. To put that more into perspective, I only saw one person with their phone out recording songs and taking pictures, and he was standing right next to me. I took some pictures as well, but the audience overall respectful and attentive. Even Jason acknowledged how the front house security was bringing cups of tap water to concert goers near the front: "They don't do nothin' like that in the states". Jason was very engaging with the audience. He had a fine sense of humor and was very appreciative. On stage he was full of confidence, charisma, and warmth. The upshot of this experience is, it was a PERFECT concert.

P.S.

Please check out Jason Isbell's albums Southeastern and Something More Than Free as well as John Moreland's albums In The Throes and High On Tulsa Heat

Snarky Puppy - Family Dinner Vol. 2 Review

Tonight I attended the London screening of Snarky Puppy's Family Dinner Volume Two live album at Prince Charles Theatre.

Sitting in the audience were Snarky Puppy bandleader and bassist Michael Leagues as well as Snarky Puppy keyboardist Bill Laurence, a native of England.

This project included collaborations from many parts of the world including Mali, Peru, Brazil, Sweden, UK and USA. This project also involved many guest singers and instrumentalists collaborating together on different songs spanning from all different world styles and genres:

Vocalists:
Susana Baca (Peru)
David Crosby (USA)
Laura Mvula (UK)
Salif Keïta (Mali)
Becca Stevens (USA)
Jacob Collier (UK)
Knower (USA)
Chris Turner (USA)

Instrumentalists:

Jeff Coffin (USA)
Charlie Hunter (USA)
Väsen (Sweden)
Carlos Malta (Brazil)
Bernardo Aguiar (Brazil)

The album was recorded in New Orleans, LA in February 2015. From seeing the line-up and the preview trailer for the album, I knew it was going to be fucking huge. And it was just that and more...I don't want to give to much away, seeing as the album was not been released yet and I would not want to spoil it for those who have not experienced it; so, I will give a few of my favorite highlights.Note: Each song was written by their respective featured vocalist.

"Molino Molero" featuring Susana Baca & Charlie Hunter

This performance was a fabulous blend of Afro-Peruvian music and neo-soul fusion. To put it simply, and literally, Susana Baca meets Snarky Puppy. We see Baca giving a spectacular performance as she dances to the rhythms of South America while Charlie Hunter plays some very tasteful guitar lines in the spaces of time of the music. This was a truly unique and special collaboration.

"Soro (Afriki)" featuring Salif Keïta, Carlos Malta, & Bernardo Aguiar

In the film, it was mentioned that Salif Keita was set to travel to New Orleans to sing with the band, but unfortunately fell ill and could not make the trip. What the band eventually decided to do was to record the song they were going to perform with Salif, which they did, and the bandleader Michael League traveled with his videographer all the way to Mali, mind you one of the poorest countries in the world as well as the most musically enriched, to record Salif Keita and his three background vocalists. They sang on the track and were filmed for the DVD. On one hand, you can tell that the instrumentation and the vocals were recorded at completely different times and completely different locations. At the same time, it's a very surreal experience, and an interesting perspective of the coming together of different music cultures: USA, Mali, and Brazil. All these elements complimented each other perfectly and Salif's vocals ooze with the spirit of Africa.

"Don't You Know" featuring Jacob Collier & Big Ed Lee

In the past few years, 21 year old jazz prodigy Jacob Collier has garnered a reputation as an incredible virtuoso jazz pianist, vocalist, arranger and producer. He has created many youtube videos of himself performing original arrangements of popular pop, R&B, and jazz songs. Nearly a year ago he was discovered by legendary bandleader and producer Quincy Jones and signed Jacob Collier to his record label to create an album that would take about 2 years to record. Jacob has been developing a one man band live show that would highlight both his skills as a pianist and vocalist. In the meantime, we can be thankful that at least we have this incredible collaboration with Snarky Puppy. One of Jacob Collier's musical trademarks is the use of a microphone hooked up to a keyboard so that he could also play the harmonies of the vocal while he sings. With his baritone voice, he communicates a very unique jazzy vocal sound, for better lack of words; a sound that lets you know it is Jacob Collier you are listening to. And this song is incredible. Many great peaks and valleys, up-beat percussion hits, and an incredibly musical piano solo from Collier. And you can see the expressions on the faces of fellow Snarky Puppy keyboardists Cory Henry, Shaun Martin, Bill Laurence and Justin Stanton as they just watch in awe of Jacob's incredible talent and skill.

"Somebody Home" featuring David Crosby

Now this was a collaboration I did not see coming. First of all, David Crosby comes from a very different musical background than Snarky Puppy in the sense of music style and period of success. He came from the generation of hippies, passing the peace pipe, sex, drugs, and rock and roll, not that there's anything wrong with that. I was not skeptical if this would work or not. I was simply curious how it would. But after seeing the preview trailer, I understood, and I knew it would be great. Crosby has such an immense love and deep understanding of music and what it means to people in the grand scheme of things. He is consistently amazed about how music can life people's spirits even in the grimmest circumstances, and how music fits into the big picture of what humans like to call 'life'. He also has an immense love and appreciation for Snarky Puppy and all they have done not just for him, for all the guest musicians and vocalists on the roster, and the band's dedication to the cause of creating music for the love of creating music. "Somebody Home" is a brand new song Crosby wrote, and it is truly one of the most beautiful and articulate compositions he's ever written or sang. It's simple, profound, harmonically interesting, and heartfelt. And Snarky Puppy did the greatest job giving space and serving the song tastefully both sonically and musically. 

If you want to experience music in its most beautiful and purest form without any boundaries or interference from purists or elitists, this is the record that represents everything that is beautiful and magical about music. Music is a language everybody in the world can speak. Every human being understands that music makes us feel good; whether happy, angry or sad, music is a unique force that allows us to communicate our emotions to each other in a pure and non-judgmental fashion. Every single musician that played on this record shared love with each other through the music. It simply does not get any better than that.

This album will officially be released on Friday February 12, 2016, two days before Valentine's Day. I urge you to go out and buy the album or pre-order it from the band's website snarkypuppy.com. This is truly some of the best music you will ever experience, and this music deserves to be shared with music lovers everywhere.

Epilogue:

After the screening, Michael League and Bill Laurence gave a Q&A with the audience, and the two things I was most excited to hear was that 1. Michael Leagues was producing David Crosby's new solo album, set to be released in October, and it would be released on Snarky Puppy's fully independent record label GroundUp Music, and 2. Michael League was also producing Salif Keïta upcoming record; so, we have these projects to look forward to in 2016 as well as Snarky Puppy's new studio album being released in July.

1989 by Taylor Swift

Album Review

In our modern age of pop music, blandness is inevitable. The made-for-radio production can at times oversaturate the music, leaving listeners with something repetitive to remember, but nothing musically interesting, which is fine for some. Some people enjoy that kind of commercial music. With Taylor Swift’s 1989 it’s more interesting than that.

Working with pop production and songwriting masterminds Max Martin and Jason Shellback, this could have easily become a bland product. You have this country pop singer/songwriter mega star making her transition into more commercial territory without crossing over genres. Max Martin has co-written and produced countless pop hits; however, these days, his output can tend to do one of two things: remove the true authenticity of the artist, or suck the life out of what is otherwise a good or great song.

Max Martin has sucked the life out of Adele’s “Send My Lover (To Your New Lover)”, and has nearly destroyed any artist authenticity that resided in Tori Kelly. Now, maybe you’re thinking, I’m reading into this too much. My answer is, perhaps, but this is simply one of the ways I listen to and analyze pop music.

Anyways, the real question is, has Taylor Swift succumbed to ‘Sell Out’ Martin? And my answer is: well no. Not really. Granted, yes the songs sound very radio poppy, but it seems that Taylor Swift approached this in a way where it is intentionally ironic but serious at the same time. The album as a whole is, dare I say it, a great pop album. But what is it that makes this a true Taylor Swift album and not a Max Martin/Jason Shellback product? And the answer is simply one word:

PERSONALITY

Amidst all the synth pads and effects, you still hear Taylor Swift. She may not be Adele or Beyonce, but she makes you smile, laugh, and cry with the voice she has. You can hear that she is having the time of her life. She sings with joy, sass and energy. ENERGY! That’s another key word: Energy. Blandness can sometimes derive from a voice that shows very little or no commitment to the performance. Here, Swift is committed 120%.

In comparison, the problem with Tori Kelly’s Unbreakable Smile was the Max Martin production had watered down the music to a soggy newspaper, and the lyrics for the most part were so self-important it distracted me from getting any real three-dimensional personality from the performer. To be fair though, in my opinion, there are two or 3 very good songs, but those are the tracks where it’s Tori Kelly just playing acoustic guitar and singing, a near bare bones performance, with very little production, like on her previous EPs. And for the record, my favorite song on that record is “I Was Made For Loving You” with Ed Sheeran. Maybe I’ll do a full review on that record in another blog post. Anyways, back to 1989

I would like to list my favorite stand-out tracks:

Style
All You Had To Do Was Stay
Shake It Off
Bad Blood
How You Get The Girl
This Love
Clean (with Imogen Heap)

The lyrics are also good, very well-thought out, for the most part. Again, I reiterate, the performances are strong, enthusiastic, and the production is not too terribly distracting. I would definitely vouch for this album as a contender for Album of the Year at the Grammys; but, Kendrick Lamar still comes out on top. But that’s an aside. Bottom line-up, I like this album, I was surprised I liked it. Check it out. Maybe you’ll get something out of it too.

Cheers!