Manraze - Lock, Stock & Barrel

Manraze got its start in 2004 when Def Leppard’s Phil Collen had some song ideas that didn’t fit that band, and contacted his former Girl bandmate Simon Laffy.  They started writing some songs together, and since Phil liked the dynamic of a three-piece, they decided to contact Sex Pistols drummer Paul Cook to round out the band.  Several years later, in 2008, they released their debut album Surreal, which was followed by album number two, PunkFunkRootsRock in 2011.  Now, with the release of the five CD box set Lock, Stock and Barrel, those two albums have been compiled along with three discs of bonus tracks consisting of live and acoustic cuts, instrumentals and rarities.  

Surreal explodes right out the gate with the angsty, fast-paced punk of “This Is,” followed by the high energy rocker “Turn It Up.”  They then switch things up on “Runnin’ Me Up,” a more laid-back rock song with a hypnotic reggae groove.  “Every Second of Every Day” is up next and is rock with a hooky pop edge that’s not so unlike Def Leppard, as is “Low,” which has come really great guitar work from Collen.  With a taut, swirling groove, “Spinning Out” finds them changing things up once again, with a dirty, almost grungy, sound.  Mixing hard rock with a reggae groove, “Can’t Find My Own Way,” is often strongly reminiscent of The Police’s “Can’t Stand Losing You,” while “Skin Crawl” is a hook heavy, hard rock cut, but with a darker, gritty groove.  The upbeat rock of “Connected To You” has a very infectious, bouncy and upbeat groove and “Halo” has a similar vibe, but with a hint of glam.  Although the high energy rock with a punk edge of “It’s Entertainment” shows some promise, it’s quite repetitive and falls short of the album’s remaining tracks.  Thankfully they turn that around quickly on the closing cut, “Shadow Man,” a dark and moody rocker that is an album highlight.  Quite an impressive release that draws on the influences of their bands, but has a sound all its own.  

The somewhat aptly titled second album PunkFunkRootsRock opens with “Over My Dead Body,” which starts off sounding like old school Alice Cooper or KISS with Collen doing his best Gene Simmons on vocals, before shifting into more of a punky, glam rocker complete with singalong choruses and handclaps.  Continuing in a more experimental direction, including Collen’s effects-laden vocals, “I C U In Everything” sticks to the darker sounding side of things, but gives it an interesting modern rock twist.  They slow things down on “All I Wanna Do,” a poppier track with a laid-back bluesy groove and a sexy, slinky shuffle, while the reggae beat of “Closer To Me” once again brings to mind The Police.  The influence of Collen’s other band can definitely be heard on several tracks including “Lie Lies All Lies”, a rawer tune with a hint of punk attitude, “Dreamland,” a fun rocker with the tighter sound of a three-piece, and “Get Action,” which is Def Leppard through and through all the way down to the title.  They slow things down again on “Edge Of The World,” a slower, dreamy track with a hint of psychedelia, and also throw in a cover of Hendrix’s “Fire,” which is a good version, but doesn’t really add anything to the song to make it stand out.  With its high-octane drive and some great guitar work from Collen, “I, Superbiker” is a raw, adrenaline fueled rocker that to me is the standout track on the album.  Unfortunately it is followed by “Bittersweet,” one of the weaker tracks here that comes across like a Foo Fighters outtake.  They close the album out with the “Dog Bite,” a really strong hard driving rock instrumental with a catchy groove that showcases the musicianship of all three.

As for the three discs of bonus tracks, they start off with one containing eleven instrumentals.  With nine of these coming from songs on the two albums and the vocal versions of the other two appearing as a bonus track on disc five, it’s doubtful that this disc is going to be anybody’s go to.  As for the final two discs, that is a completely different story.  Disc four is titled “Live & Unplugged” and kicks off with nine live cuts recorded at three different venues.  The band is tight and on fire on these tracks, often giving them a kick in the pants compared to the album versions (check out the two performances of “This Is”).  The remaining six cuts are acoustic takes that show they are just as successful going the other direction, including a great version of “Halo” that incorporates a snippet of Al Green’s “Take Me To The River” and an incredibly soulful take on “All I Wanna Do.”  The final disc is Unreleased and Unleashed and actually contains some of the most diverse tracks in the collection.  First up are a couple non-album singles, both containing some outstanding guest backing vocals from gospel singer Debbi Blackwell-Cook.  “I Surrender” is a midtempo track with a bit of a Def Leppard feel, but really set apart with her vocals, while “Take On The World” (the main song in the movie I, Superbiker II - The Showdown, about the British Superbike racing championship) is really cool high energy, foot stomping rocker mixed with a dance beat.  The other unreleased songs here are “Immaculate,” a dark, really heavy instrumental that has a movie soundtrack vibe and a bit of an industrial influence and “Original Sin,” a really strong, gritty rocker with a darker side.  The remaining tracks are a Deep Dub instrumental version of “Turn It Up,” that turns it on its head and sounds nothing like the original, a heavy dance mix version of “Halo,” a dark, electro-industrial mix of “Skin Crawl” and club dance remixes of “Low” and “Get Up.”  All of them put a nice spin on the original and are well worth a listen.  While it's quite possible that Manraze fell under the radar of alot of people, which is surprising with the musical lineage of its members, Lock, Stock & Barrel is the perfect way to correct that in one nice five CD package. 

(HNE Recordings)

Dark River Darling - Everywhere But Here

Everywhere But Here is the debut release from Dark River Darling, alter ego of Erin Royer.  It is an album full of tracks largely rooted in mountain folk and bluegrass but mixed with a variety of other styles and instrumentation, along with Royer's distinctive vocals.  In addition to the more traditional instruments, the notable use of horns (flugelhorn and trumpet) on almost every song, is a touch that really makes the album stand out. “Spirit & Ash” gets the album started and is a laid-back, haunting and mystical track with an interesting chorus with vocals that twist and turn in quite an interesting way.  The more traditional folk tune “The Ballad Of Josephine and Josephine” tells the tale of two women in love who can’t be together and end up living separate lives.  The musicianship on this one is great, with some fantastic banjo from Royer and an interesting vocal deliver that has a rushed feel to it, sounding almost like there are more words than should fit, which gives it a sense of tension.  Next up is “I’ve Been Riding With The Ghost,” written by the late Jason Molina for his project Songs:Ohio and the first of two covers here.  They do a brilliant job of conveying the sadness of his lyrics through the music and give the song a cinematic quality through a folk filter.  “Cross Country Baggage” is a wistful and dreamy folk tune with a hint of psychedelia, enhanced beautifully with the horns, and “Pomegranate Gin” is a gentle, laid-back acoustic tune with some great harmonies.  The band kicks things into high gear on “Dirty Dog Blues,” a gritty, bluesy bluegrass rocker with some stellar banjo and slide guitar from Royer and Gena Lanette, respectively.  With a galloping beat and more outstanding banjo, “Merry Maggie” sounds like a classic mountain folk song that if you didn’t know better, you would think it had been around forever.  “Sarah” is another great mountain folk track and does a great job of showcasing the band with everyone getting a chance to stretch out on instrumental passages.  They close the album with Lucinda Williams’ “Blue” and while the arrangement hearkens back to the original, instrumentally it’s rootsier with more reliance on banjo and fiddle.  Everywhere But Here is a very refreshing listen and well worth checking out.  

 (Guernsey Beat Records / Dark River Darling)

Adrian Belew - The Atlantic Years 1989 – 1992 

Adrian Belew’s early career kicked into gear when he started playing with Frank Zappa followed by working with the likes of David Bowie, Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club.  In the ensuing years he recorded the first three of his albums with King Crimson, released three solo albums and two with his band The Bears.  At this point he focused again on his solo career, resulting in three more albums, all of which were were released on Atlantic Records, and brings us to the three CD Box Set The Atlantic Years 1989 - 1992.

The first of these releases was Mr. Music Head, which was an all-digital release that found him playing all the instruments with the exception of Mike Barnett playing bass on two cuts.  The album’s opening track “Oh Daddy,” is a really fun duet with his then eleven-year-old daughter Audie that reached number five on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks.  It’s a super catchy pop tune with humorous lyrics where she asks questions about when he will be rich and famous.  Some of the other highlights include the lighthearted pop of “One Of These Days”, “Coconuts,” a percussion heavy track full of twangy guitar, the bouncy, piano-driven “Bad Days,” the experimental blues of “Bumpity Bump” and the intriguing yet gorgeous, everchanging, stripped down “1967.”  While the majority of the album shows a poppier, albeit offbeat, side to Belew, there is still plenty of experimentation on tracks like “Peaceable Kingdom,” “Hot Zoo” and “Cruelty To Animals” (this track was originally only found on the CD version).  

While he was working on the follow-up album, Young Lions, Belew joined Bowie as musical director and guitarist on his Sound+Vision tour.  That resulted in Bowie co-writing and singing lead on two of that album’s tracks, including “Pretty Pink Rose,” which hit number two on the Modern Rock Tracks chart in the US.  It’s a catchy tune with a rock edge that’s not so unlike his work around that time with Tin Machine.  The other Bowie contribution is “Gunman,” a hard driving track with a tense vocal performance and some really creative guitar work from Belew.  Other standout tracks include “Looking For A U.F.O.,” a fun little tune that sounds like ELO crossed with Motown, “Men In Helicopters,” a quirky, yet very catchy, pop tune with a strong environmental warning (another hit, reaching seventeen on the US Modern Rock chart), the laid-back, jazzy “Phone Call From The Moon” and “I Am What I Am,” somewhat of an instrumental that really showcases his guitar playing and incorporates taped excerpts of sermons from Nashvile radio evangelist Prophet Omega.  The album also contains a couple of covers with a reworked version of “Heartbeat,” a song he originally released with King Crimson, which has a similar vibe to that version, but is a little more stripped down with more of a pop feel, and a fairly faithful version of The Traveling Wilburies’ “Not Alone Anymore,” that was a tribute to Roy Orbison.  Also included on this disc are a couple of bonus tracks that were originally released on the “Pretty Pink Rose” maxi single.  “Shoe Salesman” is a nice little acoustic guitar and vocal track with some witty, pun-filled lyrics and “Neptune Pool” is a gorgeous, dream-like instrumental that sounds like it could be a movie score.  

Inner Revolution was Belew’s final album for Atlantic and often shows the influence pop music had on him and his affinity for more pop influenced hooks.  The album open with the title track, which is a more straight-on rock song with some strong pop sensibilities.  The midtempo “This Is What I Believe In,” is reflective of his work with King Crimson and really showcases his impressive guitar work.  The pop really shows itself on the next two tracks with “Standing In The Shadow,” which has an edgier side with distorted guitars and vocals and “Big Blue Sun,” a super catchy tune that, along with “Birds,” is strongly reminiscent of ELO.  Further mining the pop world, the bouncy, upbeat “I’d Rather Be Right Here” is a bit reminiscent of George Harrison’s version of “I’ve Got My Mind Set On You,” while “The War In the Gulf Between Us” sounds a bit like Squeeze.  The diversity of pop music and bands that influenced him can be heard in tracks like “I Walk Alone,” which finds him once again channeling Roy Orbison, the upbeat Beatles-esque “Everything” and “Heaven’s Bed,” with its XTC sounding quirkiness.  The album closes out with “Member Of The Tribe,” a more classic upbeat rock and roll tune that again showcases his innovative guitar work.  Although definitely not without its unique quirkiness, this era of Belew's contained some of his most accessible music and make for a really fun listen.  

(Esoteric Recordings)

Marty Wilde - Let's Rock This Place

Considered one of the pioneers of British Rock and Roll, Marty Wilde released his debut single in 1957.  In addition to his career as a singer in the ensuing years, he has also been a successful songwriter, having written songs for the likes of Status Quo, Lulu and Hot Chocolate, as well as numerous songs for his daughter Kim, including co-writing her biggest hit “Kids In America” with his son Ricky.  Now, sixty-nine years after that first single, he’s back with a new album, Let’s Rock This Place.  The album is a collaboration with Darrell Higham, who has toured with Imelda May, recorded with Chrissie Hynde and Jeff Beck, and alongside The Stray Cats’ Slim Jim Phantom, was a member of The Kat Men.  His rockabilly band Darrell Higham and the Enforcers contribute as the backing band on the album.  The tone for the album is set perfectly with the opening title track, a really fun, high energy cut of old school rock and roll with a rockabilly beat.  Originally recorded by Wilde as a b-side in 1961, he revisits “Your Loving Touch” and gives the rocker a modern day shot in the arm.  “The Boogie Was King” is a little more laid-back with a boogie woogie beat and some great piano.  Cliff Richard and the Shadows first recorded “Dynamite” back in 1959 and here Wilde keeps the rockabilly spirit of that original alive but also gives it a much fuller and meatier sound.  “How I Cried” is a variation of his song “I Cried” that was released by The Wilde Three (Wilde, his wife Joyce and Justin Hayward, later of The Moody Blues) in 1965, and is a heartfelt ballad with an emotional vocal performance and some really nice soulful guitar work.  One of the biggest surprises on the album is his cover of The Police’s “Can’t Stand Losing You”, which is a super refreshing reinterpretation of the song, turning it into a bouncy rockabilly track.  The straight-ahead British rock with a touch of country of “Back On The Road” reminds me at times of Junior Brown.  First recorded by Jim Bullington and the Continentals, and then a hit for Jimmy Edwards, "Love Bug Crawl" is a fun and bouncy rockabilly track with a hint of early Elvis.  "Just Walkin' In The Rain" was a hit single for Johnnie Ray in 1956 and here is a dreamy, slow melancholy ballad with Wilde showcasing his crooning along with some really nice harmony vocals and Higham's acoustic guitar work, while the upbeat “Lonely Weekends,” (originally a hit for Charlie Rich) adds a hint of honky tonk country flair to the mix.  The album closes with two tracks that are not only my favorites but are also completely unlike the rest.  Frankie Laine’s original version of “Remember Me (The Girl In The Wood)” had a haunting quality to it, but here it’s taken to an all-new level creating a dramatic, folk-tinged ballad that reminds me of Joe Meek’s production on the John Leyton song “Johnny Remember Me.”  The final track is “Words Fell Down,” a song he and his wife wrote that was recorded by their daughter Kim on her debut album.  It’s a really cool merging of Kim’s synth heavy new wave pop sound and rockabilly that if given a chance could be a hit.  It's so refreshing to hear the eighty-seven year old Wilde experiment with his music, so do yourself a favor and give Let's Rock This Place a listen.

(Cherry Red Records)

Bucket - Mosaic

Following an early full-length, a couple singles and then last year’s EP Muck, Dublin three-piece Bucket is back with the 4 song EP Mosaic and their own brand of industrial hardcore electronic noise rock.  While that sounds like it would be loud, noisy and abrasive, and it is, they always manage to give every song an incredible sense of melody.  Having never heard of the band before listening to the new EP, I went back through those earlier releases.  While you can hear the rumblings of what they sound like today on that first release (the details of this release are very limited and it appears it may just be the band's guitarist and vocalist Cian Dahdouh), there is more reliance on elements of garage rock and psychedelia.  As I made my way through their other releases I could hear them honing more and more into their sound, which they have really found on Mosaic.  Lyrically Dahdouh says, "All of the lyrics are interior monologues from fictional narrators dealing with extreme psychological states - paranoia, mania, trauma, obsession. I liked the idea of these different perspectives forming a bigger picture, like a mosaic. I found it interesting to think anyone around you could be having thoughts like this and you’d never know."  “56345” gets things started and is a fifty-five second wall of screeching, pummeling, mind numbing noise that will have you jumping in your seat the moment you hit play.  After opening with manic flutters of percussion, “DNB” explodes into a blistering blast of aggression and noise, then about halfway in the tempo changes into noisy screeching chaos.  After starting off with a hard-edged, pulsing electro industrial tune that comes across as suffocating, “Nonsense” shifts into more of an industrial dance beat with an extremely catchy groove.  “Nails” is sparse and slow building at first, giving it a sense of anxiety, but then becomes a wall of raw, speaker rattling noise with a groove that will have your head bobbing.  With Emmet McNamee’s mysterious bassline running underneath it, “Memento” has a hardcore drive with Korey Thomas absolutely pummeling the drums and their ever-present wall of noise.  Mosaic is an incredible new EP with a sound that is honestly hard to describe and really needs (and should) be heard to really understand what’s going on.  Really looking forward to hearing where Bucket will be going from here.  

(Bucket)

Franck Carducci - Sheeple

Franck Carducci is a multi-instrumentalist who started playing Hammond organ at five and then went on to learn guitar, bass and drums.  He joined his first band when he was fourteen and, in his twenties, he played with around twenty different bands of various styles.  Although Sheeple is his fifth studio album (including Naked, an acoustic album with Mary Reynaud) and his debut goes back fifteen years ago to 2011, for some reason he has been off my radar until now.  Thanks to this outstanding release that has all changed and I’m now not only familiar with Carducci, but it has sent me diving deeper into some of his collaborators, most notably Reynaud.  The title track opens the album and is a short organ instrumental with sheep noises (or sheeple?!?) that leads into the excellent, hard-driving AOR rocker “Self-Righteousness,” which has some great organ and guitar soloing from Anthony Honnet and William Remond, respectively.  “Sweet Cassandra” is up next and is the first of a three-part suite that is spread out through the album.  It’s a beautiful track with some folk tendencies that is largely just acoustic guitar, harmonica and vocals from Carducci and Reynaud.  The remaining parts of the suite pop up later with “Sweet Cassandra (Reprise),” a short instrumental with a mediaeval flair that has Franck accompanied by Roy Van Oost on flute, and “Sweet Cassandra (2019),” which is similar to the original, but with Franck handling everything.  At ten and a half minutes, “The Betrayal Of Blue” starts with laid-back, primarily acoustic psychedelia and then twists and turns through hard-edged rock passages that give it an element of intensity to quieter sections of psychedelic introspection.  It has a really playful tone, at times reminding me of his incredible label mate Rosalie Cunningham and even includes a brilliant theremin solo.  “The Limits of Freedom” kicks off with a blast of solo piano and then shifts into a classic AOR rocker with another blistering guitar solo.  With Carducci handling everything except drums and extra vocals, the darker and less playful “Love Or Survive” is a powerful thirteen-minute prog track that is often reminiscent of the early days of Yes.  The sheep noises are back again on “Do What You’re Told,” which is listed as a bonus track, and is a silly little, laid-back song that wraps things up with a funky blues groove and lyrics that repeat slight variations of the title. 

(Esoteric Antenna)

  

W.D. Miller - Child Of The Kindly South 

After spending his teens and early twenties playing in hardcore, death and sludge metal bands, W.D. Miller shifted to folk and country for his band Los Bastardos Magnificos.  In 2018 he released his debut solo album and has now followed that up with Child Of The Kindly South.  The album features performances from members of Horse Feathers, Magnolia Boulevard and Frigidkitty among others and showcases his stellar songwriting and well-worn vocals that at times bring to mind Blaze Foley.  The album kicks off with “Etude No. 1 in A,” a short instrumental that sounds like something you would have heard during a break on old time country radio, then moves into “Banquet of Stone,” a slow, dark track with a slight old school country waltz beat.  The pace picks up on the midtempo, rock-tinged country track “Go, Go! (or The Songwriters Lament,” about the perils of trying to write hit songs.  With Michelle Miller helping out on vocals, “Carry Your Burden” is a beautiful country ballad (again with a bit of a waltz beat) about family taking care of each other when times are tough.  “Dear John” is a melancholy cut written as a letter to the late John Prine, who was a massive songwriting influence of Miller’s, while standing out from the rest of the album, “Best Revenge” is a catchy, upbeat tune that has a fun little bounce to it.  One of the album highlights is “Fell Apart,” which has some killer, emotional vocals from Maggie Noëlle of Magnolia Boulevard and has all the makings of a classic, old school country heartbreak duet with a touch of a rock edge.  It’s also fleshed out nicely with piano from Logan Hill and some great slide guitar.  “Watch It All Burn” reminds me of Tyler Childers and is a nice ballad about the responsibilities of adulthood and reflecting back on your wild, carefree younger days.  Another high point is the haunting “Shades Are Drawn,” with Miller’s fragile vocals and a gorgeous atmospheric quality thanks to J. Tom Hnatow’s synths.  “One Hell Of A Ride” is a rocking honky tonk song that lightens things up and brings us to the reflective closer “Little Things / CODA,” which is stripped down to just Miller’s voice and acoustic guitar accompanied by J. Tom Hnatow on glockenspiel.  Child Of The Kindly South makes a welcome addition to any true country music playlist.

(Think Like A Key Music / W.D. Miller)