The Wesleys - The Wesleys

Following their 2022 EP, Outside Voices, Montreal’s The Wesleys are back with this impressive, eponymous full-length debut.  Their bio mentions influences like Teenage Fanclub, The Pixies, The Replacements and The Clean, and you can definitely hear elements of these somewhat diverse bands as you make your way through the nine songs.  “Make It My Way” kicks the album off with synths and a tight, post punk tinged intro, followed by heavier surf rock flavored guitars, not unlike The Pixies, meshed with jangly guitar pop.  “A Lot To Lose” is a mesmerizing, dreamy, folk-tinged pop track that definitely brings to mind a bit of that aforementioned influence from The Clean.  Next up are “I’ve Been Waiting”, a catchy power pop track with a ragged, garage rock vibe, and the two minute “Fucked Up”, a noisier post punk track.  “25” is a faster paced tune with hooks galore, as is “You Better Believe It”, which opens with a hypnotic guitar and bass intro.  A strong contender for album highlight, “Radio Circus” is more of a melancholy slacker rock track, and lead single “Great Big Smile” is a dreamy, jangly guitar driven track with some nice synth touches.  Closing the album is the taut, angular guitar driven “Death By The Bite”.  In addition to writing everything the album was also recorded and mixed by the band, largely in their home studios, and sounds great.  

(Little Village Records / The Wesleys - Facebook)

Dinosaur Jr - The Black Session - Live In Paris 1993 

For anyone unfamiliar, Black Sessions are live music performances recorded in front of an audience and broadcast on the C’est Lenoir show on the French radio station France Inter.  Initially recorded on March 2, 1993, this session from Dinosaur Jr has been remastered from the original tapes and released on coloured vinyl.  The session took place a little less than a month after the album Where You Been was released and featured original members, singer and guitarist J Mascis and drummer Murph, along with new bassist Mike Johnson.  While they only performed nine songs, they did a great job of covering all their releases to that point and also dug a little deeper at times instead of just sticking to their more popular songs.  The set opened with “Quest”, which starts like a slow dirge and has a noisy Neil Young vibe with a little Sonic Youth thrown in.  Their cover of The Cure’s “Just Like Heaven” is next and is an absolute kller track.  They give the song a great, ragged punk kick, while still maintaining all the hooks of the original.  After a long instrumental opening “Lung” kicks in with a manic pace and has a tenseness to it that almost takes your breath away, perfectly matching the lyrics.  “Freak Scene”, the super infectious single from Bug is up next and again Mascis lets loose with his guitar solo.  Side one closes out with the more melancholy “Get Me”.  The guitar on this track is a little mellower, but still plenty noisy, and really allows him to stretch out a little.  Sticking with the most recent album for another track, side B opens with the slow, somewhat pummeling sounds of “Drawerings” and another great solo from Mascis (hard to not sound redundant talking about his guitar solos when he kills it song after song). “Keep The Glove”, a bonus track from the album Bug, is actually a little more on the pop side of things and is about as bouncy and catchy as they come, but Mascis still absolutely lets loose at the end.  With Murph’s straight-ahead pounding leading the way, “Budge” is punk done the Dinosaur Jr way.  Closing out the nine-song set is “Thumb”, a gorgeous seven plus minute track that comes across like a ragged version of shoegaze with an extended guitar solo that is incredible.  The remastering on the album is outstanding and it’s easy to see why this has been a fan favorite for over thirty years.  (As the owner of a miniature horse I also have to give them bonus points for that great album cover).  

(Cherry Red Records)

Cock Sparrer - Hand On Heart

Cock Sparrer got their start in 1972 and are considered to be one of the pioneers of early punk and Oi!.  The band was founded by vocalist Colin McFaull, guitarist Mick Beaufoy, bassist Steve "Burge" Burgess and drummer Steve Bruce, and while they have broken up twice in the ensuing fifty-two years, since 1992 the four of them, along with rhythm guitarist Daryl Smith, have stuck together, doing the occasional tour and releasing the occasional album.  Now, with the release of Hand On Heart, they are back with their eighth and final (at least that’s what they are saying) album.  When you’ve been doing what they have been doing as long as they have, you tend to stick to what the fans want, and while there are a few exceptions to the rule where they expand their sound a little, that’s exactly what they do here.  Tracks like “With My Hand On My Heart”, “Rags To Riches”, “Nowhere To Be Found” and “Here We Stand” are great examples of their classic high energy, straight-ahead, anthemic punk with gang vocals, singalong choruses and plenty of hooks.  As mentioned before there are also a few cuts where they switch things up.  The most notable of these is “My Forgotten Dream”, which is more of a melancholy tune that’s a really nice change of pace.  It features a string arrangement from Simon Dobson, who has worked with the likes of Bring Me The Horizon and Architects, and is principal conductor and arranger with the London based Parallax Orchestra.  Although it's more of a singalong punk track, “Mind Your Own Business” is another one that veers in a slightly different direction with a bit of a boogie beat and a taut, buzzing guitar line running through it that gives it a really interesting sound.  With production handled by James Bragg and guitarist Daryl Smith the album sounds great and as the band says, “for once, more of the budget went into the studio than down the pub!”  Hopefully this really isn't the swan song for Cock Sparrer, but if it is they have definitely gone out with a winner.  

(Captain Oi! / Pirates Press Records)

  

 White City Graves - Canary's Dead

Canary’s Dead is the latest EP from Seattle’s White City Graves.  While I couldn’t find a lot of current information on the band, they have been around since 2010, although there have been several member changes, and prior to this they have released two full-length albums, an EP and a split EP with Terror Inc.  As for the four songs here they are largely thick muscular rock with elements of punk and metal that remind me a little of Tad (another Seattle band of yore), although I would say they are a little less aggressive and a little more melodic.  That is not to say they aren’t heavy, they rely a lot on that thick bass sound and meaty guitars and they don’t lack in aggression (check out “Personal Hell”).  They also manage to keep things fresh and diverse, but still always sound like White City Graves.  One song that really exemplifies that is “Burn It All Down”, an extremely catchy track that stands apart from the rest and will most likely have you bopping your head with its groove metal element.     

(White City Graves)

 

 

Alan Hull - Singing A Song In The Morning Light – The Legendary Demo Tapes 1967-1970

Before becoming one of the founding members and primary songwriters for the band Lindisfarne (originally Brethren), Alan Hull was in the band The Chosen Few.  During his time in that band he met David Wood, who wanted to get involved in the local music scene.  He started hanging out with the band, taking pictures, helping roadie and even providing financial assistance.  Hull wrote the songs for their two 1965 singles for Pye Records but left the band the following year after having a falling out with their producer.  While the rest of the band recruited a new singer and evolved into the psychedelic band Skip Bifferty, Hull had gotten married and got a job at the local mental hospital St Nicholas, so he would have a steady income.  Not only did he continue to write songs while working there, but his experiences at work greatly influenced his writing and he wrote even more than before.  At this same time, Wood decided to build a recording studio and was slowly piecing together what would become Impulse Sound.  Although they had lost touch after he left The Chosen Few, the two of them had a chance reunion and Alan started going to the studio to cut some lo-fi demos.  Many of these songs ended up becoming the main source for Lindisfarne albums in their early years and with very few of them seeing the light of day over the years on compilations or as bonus tracks, they have become the holy grail for fans.  Now with Singing A Song In The Morning Light – The Legendary Demo Tapes 1967-1970, Grapefruit has released four discs containing ninety of these demos, seventy-seven of which were previously unreleased.  

Lindisfarne got their start as The Downtown Faction in 1968 and then changed their name to Brethren, before changing it one last time when Hull joined the band.  After signing to Charisma Records in 1970 they released Nicely Out Of Tune, the first of three albums in three years, all of which hit the top ten in the UK, including the number one Fog On The Tyne.  The early demos of classic Lindisfarne tracks from that debut album, like “Winter Song”, “Lady Eleanor” (one of two tracks here, along with “We Can Swing Together”, recorded with Brethren), “Clear White - Part 2” and “Scarecrow Song” can be found here.  Demos of a couple more of his contributions to the next two releases are here as well, including the title track of Dingly Dell.  He also went back to these demos for later releases like “The River” and “You Put The Laff On Me”, which were reworked for Happy Daze, along with “Justanothersadsong” and “Somewhere Out There” on solo albums Pipedream and Phantoms, respectively.  In addition to the aforementioned cuts recorded with Brethren, there are a couple of tracks here, “Schizoid Revolution” and “This We Shall Explore”, that he recorded with Skip Bifferty backing him.  Amazingly, these songs are just the tip of the iceberg, and as you make your way through the four discs there are so many great cuts it’s a shame so many never realized their full potential.  Of course, not everything here is a gem and alongside fully formed songs there are others that are rough and more of a skeletal work in progress.  There are also missed notes and vocals that are at times a bit off key, but they still make for a fascinating listen.  It should also be noted that since these are demos, they of course sound like demos, but the sound quality is actually quite good, especially considering they were recorded over fifty years ago.  Rounded out by an extremely informative booklet, whether you are a long-time fan or new to Lindisfarne and Hull, this is a highly recommended box set. 

(Grapefruit)

Kevin Ayers - Joy Of A Toy (Remastered Vinyl Edition)

After getting his start with Robert Wyatt, Hugh Hopper and future members of Caravan in the band Wilde Flowers, Kevin Ayers left the band, and along with Wyatt and Hopper formed Soft Machine.  Following the release of their debut album and an extensive tour of the United States, Ayers left the band and went to Ibiza to recuperate.  While there he ended up doing a lot of songwriting which led to his first solo album, 1969's Joy of a Toy.  Now, thanks to Esoteric Records, the album has been remastered from the original master tapes, cut at Abbey Road Studios, and released in a gatefold sleeve that fully restores the original artwork.  “Joy Of A Toy Continued” kicks things off and is a fun, chipper, la la la singalong, enhanced with trombone, kazoo, piccolo and more, that sounds like something you would hear as the opening theme to a children’s TV show.  It definitely makes for a very interesting way to introduce a solo career.  “Town Feeling” is a gorgeously arranged, baroque track with a stellar performance from Ayers showcasing his deep, almost lazy, bass vocals accompanied by cello and oboe.  With a strong Beatles vibe, “The Clarietta Rag” is an upbeat, bouncy psychedelic pop tune with some mellotron and trombone accompaniment along with a short fuzz guitar solo in the middle.  “Girl on a Swing” is another gorgeously arranged track that’s very mellow and hypnotic, but still has a lot going on with vibrating guitar, delicate piano and mellotron.  Featuring the Soft Machine lineup, “Song For Insane Times” closes out side one and is a bit different than the rest of the album.  It’s a laid-back jazzy pop tune that really let’s everyone shine with plenty of soloing, especially the jazzier dumming and organ, plus a fuzzed out guitar solo at the end.  Opening side two is “Stop This Train (Again Doing It)”, a six plus minute track that’s kinda simple sounding, but disjointed and intense.  The rhythm is driven by a simple drum beat, piano and organ, mimicking the rhythm of a train and repeating until the end when the tape speeds up to a fast paced finish, while the lyrics are about a bizarre train trip going nowhere.  “Eleanor’s Cake (Which Ate Her)” is a nice, slower acoustic ballad that’s more on the folk side with a bit of a medieval touch.  With the brilliant use of the oboe, “The Lady Rachel” is dark and haunting.  It starts with a trilling organ and strummed guitar then adds a drumbeat to accompany his darker vocals, which during the chorus have a disturbing, slightly distorted sound.  The song closes with a dark, noisy instrumental section.  Based on a traditional Malaysian folk song, the avant garde “Oleh Oleh Bandu Bandong” is by far the strangest cut on the album.  It has a plodding rhythm and odd time signatures with squeaking and squawking blips and beeps, piano that is discordant at times and key banging at others, screeching violin strings and Joe Meek like space sounds.  As if that isn’t strange enough, there are no vocals with the exception of the chorus, which is credited to Jean and Mary, who were supposedly two members of The Ladybirds singing group from the Benny Hill show.  Closing the album out is “All This Crazy Gift of Time”, a nice, Dylan-like track with Ayers deep, warm vocals accompanied by strummed guitar and harmonica.  The remastering here sounds great, making this a great addition to your vinyl collection.  

(Esoteric Recordings)

The End Machine - The Quantum Phase

Initially comprised of three-fourths of the classic Dokken lineup with guitarist George Lynch, bassist Jeff Pilson and drummer Mick Brown who were then joined by vocalist Robert Mason, The End Machine hit the scene with their eponymous debut in 2018.  When Brown decided to put down his sticks and step away from music, the drum seat was filled by his younger brother Steve who played on their 2021 release Phase2.  The Quantum Phase, their latest release, finds the band once again with a new member with Girish Pradhan (Girish And The Chronicles, Joel Hoekstra's 13) taking over on lead vocals.  While Mason is a great vocalist and those first two albums were outstanding, Pradham's vocals are more in the vein of Ray Gillen, which adds a whole new element to their sound.  “Black Hole Extinction”, the opening track, kicks things off with a super heavy galloping riff and a spoken vocal that leads into a tune that is heavy, with Pradhan’s powerhouse vocals and hard driving percussion, but still has a strong melodic side.  Another heavier rocker is up next with the single “Silent Winter”, which also has some great harmony vocals.  “Killer Of The Night” is a little more on the melodic side and is the first of several tracks reminiscent of early Dokken with a Lynch solo that will definitely take you back.  Other tracks with that early Dokken sound include “Hunted”, a midtempo tune where it’s especially evident in the chorus and Lynch’s guitar licks, and the slower “Burning Man”.  “Hell or Highwater” starts off with more driving guitar and a wail from Pradham and never lets up, followed by “Stand Up”, a straight-ahead rocker that brings to mind Tesla.  The bluesier groove of “Shattered Glass Heart”, change things up a bit and sounds a lot like Badlands and really showcases Pradham’s vocals.  As to be expected, every song here has a Lynch guitar solo that never fails to impress, and while they almost always sound like a George Lynch solo should, “Time” is an interesting solid midtempo rocker where the guitars instead have a very strong Eddie Van Halen sound. After a heavy, kind of sludgy opening, “Stranger In The Mirror’ shifts into a very eighties midtempo track that is a little generic and my least favorite song here.  Thankfully get right back on track with the muscular, high energy “Into The Blazing Sun”, a shorter, straight to the point cut that closes the album perfectly.  

(Frontiers Music)

The Tornados - Love & Fury : The Holloway Road Sessions 1962-1966

The Tornados got their start when Joe Meek needed a second in-house band to help with the large amount of work that The Outlaws were handling for him.  One of the first musicians to audition was Heinz (check out his Tea Chest Tapes box set - Heinz: The White Tornado – The Holloway Road Sessions 1963-1966).  He initially was almost made a member of The Outlaws, but when he auditioned, Chas Hodges, one of the band’s members, felt his bass playing wasn’t good enough, so Meek built The Tornados around him.  From 1962 to 1966, The Tornados (in numerous incarnations) were mainstays at Meek's studio at 304 Holloway Rd.  They were also Billy Fury's permanent backing band for live performances and in 1962 were the first British group to top the billboard charts (a year before The Beatles) with the song "Telstar".  It should also be noted that over the course of those years there were many membership changes and at the end there were no original members in the band.  Also, while they started as an instrumental band, in 1963 they started adding vocals in order to compete with the Mersey Sound.  They are the focus of Love & Fury: The Holloway Road Sessions 1962-1966, which contains 131 track on five CD’s with 119 being previously unreleased, and is the latest in Cherry Red’s outstanding series of Joe Meek’s Tea Chest Tapes releases.

Through a variety of alternate and original speed versions, backing tracks and pre-overdubs, disc one covers the Telstar album, which combined their first three UK EP's for the US market, disc two covers the follow-up Away From It All and the third and fourth discs cover sessions recorded for their various singles.  As with the prior Tea Chest Tapes releases, they are fascinating glimpses into Meek’s genius and the bits and pieces that would eventually come together to create the final songs.  He often sped up the recordings and to me a lot of the more interesting tracks are the ones released here at their original speed, which honestly usually sound a lot better and more natural.  There are also interesting and offbeat tracks like the sound effects tape for “Telstar”, which actually evolved from the sessions for Joe Meek and the Blue Men’s I Hear A New World album, and a sped up, pre-sound effects version of “Telstar”.   A few others include the session for the intro speech to “Life On Venus” as well as a recording of the special effects used as the intro for that song.  

That brings us to disc number five, titled Demos, Unreleased and Curios, an outstanding collection of various odds and ends.  Kicking things off are nine demos and writing sessions that show the earliest days of six different Tornados songs.  Most of these contain Meek on vocals and if you are familiar with any of the previous Tea Chest Tapes releases you will definitely recognize his off key singing.  A couple of tracks that are especially notable are demos of “Telstar”, one with him caterwauling the non-lyrics over the backing track for Geoff Goddard’s “Try Once More” and another recorded over Mike Berry’s “Every Little Kiss”.   His frequent collaborator Dave Adams assisted on a few of these tracks, and he also plays a great version of “Indian Brave” on organ, that comes across more like a sea shanty.  Since the band was Billy Fury’s backing band, they had rehearsals at Meek’s studio and next up are four tracks recorded at one of these rehearsals.  The band and Fury sound fantastic together here, especially when they tear through “Go Go Go” (Move On Down The Line)”.  Originally released on the soundtrack to the movie Just For Fun, the twinkling, somewhat spacey sounds of the hypnotic “All The Stars In The Sky” is here at its original speed.  The remaining tracks are various takes of twelve songs that were never official releases, although many showed up on compilations or bootlegs.  One major highlight is a crystal clear take on “Lullaby Of The Stars”, an infectious instrumental that has been bootlegged over the years, but always in deliberately slurred versions.  There are also takes of the more Mersey Beat sounding "Alright Alright", "Hurtin' Inside", "Fortune Teller" and "You Can Make It If You Try" that came from a recently discovered tape box and are quite different than the bootleg versions already out there.  The grandiose “Lawrence Of Arabia” is an epic sounding track that was recorded in 1966 and is one of the few Tea Chest Tapes tracks recorded in stereo (some think it was recorded somewhere besides Meek’s 304 Holloway Road studio).  It was supposed to be a double A-side single along with “No More You And Me”, a stunning, prog-tinged hard rocker that was a complete shift in direction for the band, made more notable by fuzzbox drenched overdubs provided by Ritchie Blackmore.  It would be interesting to see where this single would have taken the band, but unfortunately it was never released due to Meek’s death.  Closing things out are a couple takes on the newly discovered “You Always Did What You Wanted”, a more mature sounding track highlighted with some gorgeous piano runs.  Rounded out with a CD booklet with very comprehensive notes from The Joe Meek's Society's Craig Newton and previously unseen photos, this is another winner from the Tea Chest Tapes series.  

(Cherry Red Records)