Skip to content
Liam Carey reviews
V o l u m e # 1 7 2 4 S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 3
ME, I DISCONNECT FROM YOU
Given the lack of creativity displayed on his former bandmate’s long overdue Tour De France Soundtracks, the debut solo offering from ex-Kraftwerk boffin Karl Bartos should be more than welcomed by fans of the pioneering synth wizards. Communication, released through Sony last week with very little fanfare, at least resembles a Kraftwerk album. Everything, from the minimalistic artwork to the songtitles and the vocodered slices of melodic techno pop themselves, has their distinctive imprint. Whereas his estranged comrades singularly failed to muster a solitary new tune on Tour De France Soundtracks, Bartos has them to spare.
Opening salvo The Camera is utterly contemporary yet simultaneously familiar, a modern take on the classic 70s Kraftwerk template, albeit without the visionary genius that once set them so far apart from their peers. All that Communication really lacks to be considered a bona fide Kraftwerk album is the group’s name on its sleeve.
MORE PLEASE THANK YOU
Ladies and Gentlemen, the prodigal rockstar returns. Yes, the mouthy and misunderstood Kevin Rowland is back. Nearly 20 years after Don’t Stand Me Down‘s hostile reception effectively pulled the curtain down on the band’s brief but memorable reign as one of the most noteworthy acts of their era, Rowland has made peace with the demons from his past and assembled a slimmed-down “Dexy’s” for a comeback tour.
Furthermore, a proper retrospective (as opposed to the irredeemably naff TV-advertised 1991 Very Best Of) is released this week. Let’s Make This Precious reaffirms the widely held view that DMR, and Rowland especially, were responsible for some of the most invigorating and evocative music of the early 1980s.
The recent re-evaluation of Don’t Stand Me Down, aided by its 1997 and 2002 re-issues, has seen Rowland’s reputation as a wayward genius enhanced, paving the way for this timely homecoming. Best of all, however, are the brace of new recordings on Let’s Make It Precious which stand as testament to his renewed focus and belief in himself. One of these tracks, Manhood, is earmarked for single release in October.
HEADING NORTH
Few artists have been as prolific over the past 25 years as Elvis Costello, and true to form The Man has returned with another new studio album just 18 months after When I Was Cruel. Never one to pander to the expectations of others (be they critics or his slowly-dwindling fanbase), Costello continues to please himself on North, out as a standard single CD as well as the now almost-obligatory CD-plus-bonus-DVD edition. Through a combination of personal upheavals and a desire to explore the flipside of When I Was Cruel‘s acidic tendencies, North is anything but Costello on autopilot; lush arrangements grace some of the most emotionally direct and romantic compositions of his career.
One-eyed hacks have already lambasted the album for a perceived absence of bite, and criticised Costello himself for somehow betraying his muse, as if they should decide the kind of records he ought to be making. At a time when so many iconic acts are content to simply regurgitate their trademark sound, or at best find fresh ways to serve up the same old shtick, surely Elvis Costello’s continued quest to explore a variety of styles is something to applaud rather than chastise.
GONE WITH THE WIND
On Monday 8th September, maverick singer-songwriter Warren Zevon shrugged off this mortal coil, having been diagnosed with inoperable cancer last year. He very nearly stuck around long enough to see the release of his intended posthumous album The Wind. Purveyor of the very blackest humour through a catalogue of wilfully skewed records from his debut in 1969 right through to last year’s acclaimed My Ride’s Here, Zevon never compromised his acerbic take on the human condition, however beguiling the musical accompaniment to his lyrics sometimes were.
Best known on both sides of the Atlantic for his 1978 US hit Werewolves Of London, despite the single never reaching the charts in this country, Zevon quietly ensured a reputation for his gift for intelligent and often raw songwriting, an ability to poke a spiked skewer into the American Dream mythology unrivalled by anyone of his generation except perhaps Randy Newman. The Wind, taking into account the bleak circumstances under which it was written and performed, is unsurprisingly frank in its gallows humour, but impending mortality added an extra dimension to the album’s more personal material. For once, the barriers are lowered, the barbs are cast aside, and what emerges is unquestionably, uncomfortably, from the heart.
FUTURE SOUNDS
The best music on the horizon:
- BLONDIE – THE CURSE OF BLONDIE: Strangely-titled follow up to 1999’s No Exit. Trailed by the single Good Boys, which attempts to recapture the electrodisco heyday of Heart Of Glass. Well, sort of. Maria proved a surprise UK #1 more than four years ago, but the absence of another decent hit from No Exit rather scuppered that comeback so it might be prudent to lower any expectations this time around. An almost unrecognisably garish Deborah Harry in the somewhat odd video for Good Boys might not help matters.
- BILLY BRAGG – MUST I PAINT YOU A PICTURE?… THE ESSENTIAL BILLY BRAGG: Sir William Bloke, Barking’s most famous son (apart from Trevor Brooking, maybe) gets the full-on retrospective treatment. And, it has to be said, not before time. It’s been 20 years – twenty years! – since the days of Life’s A Riot and those other Cooking Vinyl budget-priced double albums that brought the defiantly Socialist and fiercely intelligent singer-songwriter to our attention.
But there’s a lot more to Bragg than socio-political tirades and sparsely-accompanied arrangements, as the tracklisting for this superb 2CD set confirms. New England to Take Down The Union Jack, with 38 other gems inbetween. Plenty of laughter, tears and romance. Plus, this not being merely a singles collection, there’s room for the epic Cindy Of A 1000 Lives. Hurrah.
Page Content copyright © Liam Carey, 2003.
Email Liam Carey
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.