Album Review: The Ukuleles by The Ukuleles.

For a while now i've been thinking of writing some reviews of albums by local bands and musicians. Local to the Hastings area that is.

I used to write periodic reviews for my local newspaper and therefore sent this one into them recently. But, because they apparently don't have room for local album reviews, it has not been printed. I can't say i understand that reasoning, but there you go.
There is a chance that come October this situation may change, we'll see.

Meanwhile, here is that first review.
I intend to do some more. Especially if i get the source material and also if the local paper find room to print them.

The Ukuleles by The Ukuleles.

Just recently it seems to me that you can’t turn on the tv, or the radio without someone talking about ukuleles and how they are back in fashion.
Part of that media interest has been centered around this new album by The Ukuleles. I’ve seen this duo on two tv shows over the past few weeks alone.

But, did you know that The Ukuleles include local man Logan Wilson, who plays in the Hastings area on a regular basis and who has released two solo albums over recent years? Both of which were released on a local record label and both of which i’ve had the pleasure of playing on local radio.

Neither of Logan’s solo albums, "Geography" (2006) and “This Luxurious Life”  (2010) feature a ukulele. But, they have included the mandolin and bazouki, which does suggest that Logan has an affinity with lesser used musical instruments.

The Ukuleles are Logan Wilson and Martha Paton.
The story goes that they met at a music festival in Brighton, where Martha was playing a ukulele. This sparked something in Logan and The Ukuleles were born.

This eponymous album, released on the DMG label, contains 16 tracks, all bar one of which is a cover version. The exception being “Sky”, a track originally on Logan’s “Geography” album, albeit a slightly different version.

On first listen, it was these cover versions that grabbed my attention. Because the vast majority of the songs are fairly recent chart hits, such as “Price Tag”, “Rolling In The Deep” and “Forget You”, my initial thought was, who is this album actually aimed at?
My reasoning being that these performances are really just straight forward cover versions, but with added ukuleles. After the tv appearances that i’d seen of The Ukuleles, i was expecting different arrangements of these very well known songs. Maybe more stripped down versions to accentuate the use of the ukulele?

For that reason, my two favourite tracks from the album are “Sky”, which is a pretty laid back song anyway and “Over The Rainbow”, which is a stripped down version with a very understated arrangement.

Having said all of that, the album is definitely a “grower”.
It is well produced, Logan and Martha obviously work very well together and the vocals are strong from both of them. Logan also plays most of the instruments on the album including drums and keyboards, apart from the obvious ukulele.

The album is also very easy on the ear and made the perfect accompaniment to a recent long car journey. It even had me singing along to songs that i’m not really that keen on. Just think yourselves lucky that you weren’t there to witness that!

And, if you buy the album itself, rather that downloading it, the cover art features diagrams of how to play four different chords on a ukulele.
So, if listening to this album makes you want to join the current surge in ukulele playing, it will also give you a head start on the opposition.

The Ukuleles website: The Ukuleles

Amazon UK: The Ukuleles You can listen to snippets of the album tracks there.

Happy listening.

AudioBoo - Ronnie Montrose RIP

RIP Ronnie Montrose 1947-2012.

Here's a link to a video of that OGWT performance from way back in 1974:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7wCesCHm4U

I forgot to mention that Ronnie played in the Edgar Winter Group before forming Montrose. He played on such tracks as Frankenstein  and Free Ride.

A Shared Listening Experience.

I am currently reading the autobiography of Andy Kershaw, "No Off Switch". For those who might not know of him, Andy is a UK radio DJ, presenter and journalist.

Over the past few years i have have read several autobiographies of other radio DJ's and musicians, all of whom seem to have been born within a few years of myself. It was a golden age obviously.

Apart from all of these books taking me back to a long gone past, they all have something else in common.
They have all reminded me of the way in which i listened to music back in the 1970's. Especially the early and middle years of that decade.

Back then, a lot of my music listening was done in the company of other people, usually my close friends. Something very different from the way in which we tend to listen to music today.

Andy Kershaw talks of riding around in a friends car, which had a stereo cassette player and blasting out his friends favourite guitar player, Rory Gallagher and his album "Live In Europe". An old favourite of mine as well as it happens.
He then talks about being at his friends house, with others and listening to artists such as Pink Floyd and their "Meddle" album. It was in this way that Andy Kershaw was introduced to those artists.

My own experience is very similar, although a car didn't come into the equation until a few years later. And when it did it was an 8 track cartridge player, instead of a cassette. Anyone remember 8 track cartridge players?
What i can remember though is the album that my friend used to play, or that i asked to hear all the time on his cars cartridge player. It was Humble Pie's "Thunderbox". Funny how these things stick in your mind isn't it?

A good friend of mine back then had an older brother, with an extensive album collection and a few of us used to go back to their house after school. We would then trawl through that collection, seeing band names on the spines of the album sleeves that we'd only ever read about in music papers, pick out a few and play them.
In that way i was introduced to bands and albums that i may not have heard otherwise.

The one that sticks in my mind from that time is the Rolling Stones album "Goats Head Soup" and especially the track "Star Star". That was probably the first time that i ever heard the word "fuck" on a record and back then it was so shocking that we just couldn't resist multiple plays and sing-a-longs.

My next door neighbour at the time, who was the same age as me, always seemed to be getting new albums regularly. I can remember him compiling 'wanted' lists for his birthday and for Christmas. Consequently, i spent many hours at his house and many more listening through the dividing wall between our houses.
As before, there is one album that instantly comes to mind when i think of that time and one that i asked to hear just about every time i visited that house. It is Roxy Music's "For Your Pleasure, both for the music and for the gatefold sleeve.

All of these examples remind me of the shared listening experiences that i had in my youth. But, the thing that sums it all up for me is when a group of my friends would get together to listen to music and the album of choice would be, Pink Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon".
For people of my age group that is, probably, the one album that many of us can remember listening to with our friends. I have heard that particular shared listening experience relayed on radio programs and many conversations.

I have spent many hours laying on the floor, in darkness, or in candlelight, listening to "Dark Side Of The Moon". I can remember that sometimes being a strangely, spooky experience too. When the album faded out we'd all voice our own interpretations as to what on earth the album was all about. Helped by nothing stronger than tea and cigarettes. More interesting stimulants came later.

Although music is a very personal thing, that shared listening experience made the music all the more powerful and memorable.

In these days of iPods, mp3's, iTunes and in-ear headphones that shared listening experience has gone, or is fading fast.
When was the last time, outside of a club or disco, that you listened to music in the company of friends? And when i say "listened to music", i mean without any other distractions and in a private place.
And for that matter, when was the last time that you listened to a complete album all the way through?

How times change.

Don't get me wrong i'm all for new technology. I love the fact that i can carry my entire music collection around with me, listen to any track at the touch of a button and do so in the privacy of my own headphones.
But, i wouldn't have missed those days of a shared listening experience for the world.

Those poor kids of today just don't know what they're missing do they?

AudioBoo - 3rd Album Syndrome.

3rd albums & other thoughts.

Abbey Road

Here i was sitting down to write a blog post all about the record company EMI trying to sell the famous Abbey Road Studios in London. When i happened upon this item on the BBC News website.

All i can say to that is - Phew!

When i first saw the news reports the other day, suggesting that the studios were up for sale, i was horrfied. As i suspect many other music lovers were.
We have lost so many heritage sites over the years, in the UK & this would have been one site too far. I'm not just referring to sites of musical interest either. We have lost many historical sites, from all ages of history. Sites, that once they have gone, can never be brought back.

I can still remember going to Liverpool, in the late 1970's & finding out that the original site of The Cavern Club was now a car park! As Joni Mitchell sang in her song "Big Yellow Taxi", "You don't know what you've got 'till it's gone"
How true & prophetic those words have come to be.

When you realise the vast musical history & all of the great musicians, from across the years, that have passed through the doors of Abbey Road Studios. It really makes you think what we might have lost, had those studios been sold.

Although Abbey Road Studios are most famous for the recordings of The Beatles & were immortalised by the Abbey Road album. Abbey Road Studios have played host to many great musicians, including Sir Edward Elgar, Pink Floyd & Radiohead, amongst many, many others.

Because of The Beatles & also because of THAT album cover, the studios themselves have become a tourist attraction. Who could not resist walking across what is probably the most famous zebra crossing in the world?

Personally, i have never visited Abbey Road & have never walked across that crossing.
At least i now may well get the chance to do so.

Postscript:
The UK Government has now announced that Abbey Road Studios are going to be given "Listed Building" status. Which is great news.
More details here: BBC News
It seems that people are now starting to realise the importance of this piece of British musical heritage.

Every Picture Tells A Story, Don't It?

This morning i happened to listen to a radio programme, on Radio 4, all about the cover art for Led Zeppelin's 1973 album, "Houses Of The Holy"
 Cover Story - Houses Of The Holy.

Anyone who has ever seen the cover of that album, especially the original vinyl version, will probably remember it & if not, here is a reminder:

Pretty distinctive isn't it?

The programme was about one of the young children, who featured on the album cover. Despite there being several images on the cover, there were actually only two children. A brother & sister.

I must admit, i always thought, as did my wife, that the children on the cover were actually Robert Plant's. The singer with Led Zeppelin.
That is obviously not the case. The two children concerned were in fact models, who were used to appearing in adverts.

Well, the premise for the programme was that the boy in the photo, Stefan Gates, was somehow disturbed by that image. He saw it as almost apocalyptic, with the naked children climbing over the rocks, towards a strange orange sky.

Throughout the programme, both my wife & i kept looking at each other with an increasing sense of incredulity. It was very obvious, to us at least, that Stefan was making far too much of his "fears".
He was concerned about the child nudity, the disturbing vision that the cover art suggested & a feeling that he & his sister had been somehow exploited to produce the image.

He interviewed his mother, sister, the photographer & a respected Rock Music critic. All of whom seemed to think that he was making far too much of this. His sister even said as much.
The programme concluded with Stefan making a strange kind of pilgramage back to the Giants Causeway, in Ireland, where the famous photograph was taken.
Whilst there, it turned out that he had never actually heard the "Houses Of The Holy" album! WTF?

So, what's the point of this blog you ask?
Well, two points actually.

The first being that this, to my wife & i at least, was just an excuse to make a radio programme & possibly get some kind of attention from it. After all, i had never heard of Stefan Gates before today & i consider myself to be a big Led Zeppelin fan.
If he was really that disturbed about this whole episode, why did he have to go on national radio & make a big song & dance about it all? And make himself look a bit of an idiot in the process.
I have many ideas for possible radio programmes. Maybe i should submit them to the BBC?

My other point is that this is yet another case of somebody making a mountain out of a molehill.
Stefan spent the whole programme, reading far too much into what the real meaning of the album cover was & therefore worrying about it
Even the original photographer told him that it didn't really mean anyting. In common with many more album covers & especially those made by the "Hipgnosis" group, who actually designed this cover.
Hipgnosis are also famous for designing many Pink Floyd album covers.
Maybe Stefan can tell me what they're all about? I've been trying for nearly 30 years & haven't figured it out yet!

Art is so often misunderstood & so much, that often isn't really there, is read into it.
Apart from being misleading, that could also end up being dangerous.

Well, that's it, rant over.

There's just time for me to tell you that "Houses Of The Holy" is actually one of my favourite Led Zeppelin albums &, in my humble opinion, a very much under-rated album too.
OK, so it does have a couple of their worst songs on there. But, the rest are all crackers.

Guess what i'm listening to whilst writing this?
Yep.....