CDs August 2001

The White Stripes: White Blood Cells. Nearly bought their previous album, but couldn't find it easily in France at the time. Then this got a very good review, so I thought I'd try them this time. First the hype: this is one of the.....two bands that's been most over-hyped in Britain lately, not only getting rave reviews in music magazines, but also in.....The Sun, The Mirror, etc. But put that aside, what is it about ? Very raw blues/rock'n roll from brother/sister (or, as has also been reported, ex-husband and wife) from Detroit. It's just amazing what you can do with a single guitar, a drumkit and a voice. They only dress in red and white, the artwork is only red and white, it can't get any more simple than that. Brilliant and refreshing in its own way. Not modern in any way, but a very good and energetic rock record, raw as fuck.

Rialto : Night on Earth. Sorry but this is just crap. I paid too much money for that, I sort of expected good things from that (NME slagged them off as usual, Q gave them a good review) given the last mini-LP, but no. First there are 2 or 3 songs from that mini-LP, hardly reworked; then anyway you realise that they really only have one song that they just twist about to give different titles to. Only the last track sounds a bit different, though not especially good. So yeah, out of all the things they have released during the years you can probably compile half a decent LP...  

Four Tet : Pause. Nice, very nice electronica. File alongside Manitoba&co., and maybe Bent, but more pleasant to listen to, more soulful, really enjoyable.

Catatonia : Paper, Scissors, Stone. Their comeback after Cerys Matthews well documented fall down the Met Bar and celebrity trap-doors. They've been let down by the critics on that one too, no big anthems, this will not be celebrated as a classic, but is probably a much needed clear-out transitional album. Quite delicate, the sound of a band trying to recover from a very bad fame-hangover. Not bad at all, but this may either be a new start.......or a goodbye album. More cathartic than catatonic.(later: as it happened, they indeed split up shortly after).

Tricky : Blowback. The Trickster back to making listenable music ? Erm, more him making a very crap record, like. It starts OK, with the firsts ong boasting a new Martina Toppley-Bird soundalike (though not particulary better than his former co-vocalist); the second starts with a characteristic Tricky circa Pre-Millenium Tension sound, but then the first guest vocalist kicks in and it all goes pear-shaped from there on.Yes it is 'listenable', in the sense that you'll hear it all over the crap radios. I thought it'd be OK, but it's frankly no patch on his first two albums, or even on the bizarre 'Juxtapose'. Cindy Lauperg uests on a song that starts very fine but then goes absolutely nowhere(10 seconds of it and you've heard the whole song), and the worst is probably one of the songs where the Red Hot Chilli Peppers collaborate. Nothing against them, but John Frusciante sings just like Phil Collins, yeah, there's a Tricky song that sounds like Genesis or Phil Collins in its chorus. And that, frankly, should be judged by a tribunal in The Hague. Big disappointment then.

Simian : Chemistry is What we Are. To be honest, among the more expected other buys, I didn't have much time to listen to it enough. Sounds like nice psychedelic music to smoke (sorry, listen to) in a field, some very nice songs, really cool for a few summer days outdoors while doing nothing just listening to music.

Mercury Rev : All is Dream. The title says it all. Eerie sounds, angelic voices, wonderful Harmony. I'd heard a lot about their previous Deserter's Song album but I never knew what they sounded like. Now I know, like a dreamier Sparklehorse, something to listen to under a starry summer sky. If you hate this world, just forget it, go isolate yourself somewhere on your own, put this on and start dreaming. Heaven starts here.

New Order : Get Ready. Mmm. Now that's a tricky one to review. One of my favourite bands of all times. Back. For their first album in 8 years. And ? It's not a stormer ! Reviews all over the UK are hailing their come-back, etc. But you have to be honest. This doesn't add anything new to their history. Yeah, there is the triumphant new single that's got all the ingredients of 'classic' New Order as you imagine them (but 8 years without an album, people are bound to have drifted away from what N.O really were...) : lyrics that don't make much sense, simple rhythmic guitar chords and that trademark Hooky bass sound. Sounds great. I love them. Always will. BUT. People say it's a new direction with more guitars and less synths ?  People say : these four only work the magic when they're put together ? Well, maybe it's time to remember all the New Order spin-offs. To be honest, I don't think there's anything there that hasn't been heard inJ oy Division (remember ? That's where they came from; some drum patterns and even a riff here and there recall that), Electronic (Bernard Sumner with Johnny Marr, actually some of the material here does sound extremely like their last album, so much for the 'new guitarry sound') or Monaco (PeterHook+some other guy, full of that sound, actually probably more full of it that anything by New Order prior to this very album). Only The Other Two (Gillian Gilbert and Stephen Morris) do not seem to have much in common with that, possibly because Gillian is on maternity leave, or because these two were always the quiet couple there...... So basically, it' sNew Order taking the ingredients from all the bands they've been in during these 8 years. It's just that it's got the name 'New Order' on it, so it dictates the reviews. Overall I guess it's just one of those bands (like The Cure ? in a way) that can put up an album anytime they want, but cannot really add anything to their grand oeuvre. The song featuring Billy Corgan could easily have been done without him (he seems to be trying to sound like Bernard instead of sounding like he's the singer from the Smashing Pumpkins), and the song featuring Boby Gillespie and Andrew Innes (from Primal Scream) is particularly bad, very inferior to anything from the last Primal Scream album, or anything that New Order have ever released. Indeed, I think that after track 5 you can just stop listening, it's not worth it. The semi-acoustic last track sounds like every last track on any...Electronic album. A way to end an album with a not-particularly-inspired quiet moment. Yeah overall, it's an OK album, it starts quite brilliantly, but wears off at half-time and never recovers. Not any better (or put it simply, not as good, cos these were fine, and weren't pretending to be New Order, even if people hearing that sound (again !) thought 'oh it's New Order', or 'oh it's Hooky pretending he's still playing with New Order) than the last Electronic or Monaco albums. In itself, it's quite good, simply not there with their best work. See you in 10 years time. Oh yeah, I nearly forgot : the best thing about that album is that it may give me the chance to see them live at last. Now THAT would be great !!! (later: I think I've been hard on them, this album's got 7 great tracks out of 12....the live gig really let me down though...)

The Strokes : Is this It. The other most over-hyped band, endorsed by anyone 'in' in the UK now. And ? Yeah, it's quite good. Short enough (35min) to not bore you, energetic enough to make you want to move a bit. If The Jam and The Clash soundtracked 'Billy Elliot' (great film by the way !), you could easily imagine that soundtracking an American version. Flawless ? Quite possibly. More instruments, just a bit less raw than the White Stripes, yeah it's very good, and if you haven't been in touch with the Velvet Underground before, you can just start now : this is the new New York sound. New ? Fresh approach, but nothing that's not really been visited before, and that's why I don't know if they will last. For 2001 though, I'm quite sure it will be voted album of the year by many music magazines. 

Björk : Vespertine. MY album of the year. Possibly. Whereas The White Stripes and The Strokes hark back to a basic rock'n roll attitude, Björk keeps moving forward. Is this the sound of 2001 ? I don't know. The way things go now, it's just the sound of another planet (2-step garage is probably the sound of 2001). Quiet, beautiful, full of weird noises and THAT voice with its unique accent and intonations. I'm just halfway through my second listen, but I think it's enough to say that this is just great. And definitely an album to listen to in the comfort and your home, not in your car (it just came to my mind this morning while listening to it in the car...). I think she herself said it was like her 'domestic' album after the more extroverted 'Homogenic' that conjured up pictures of  the great outdoors. But no, maybe it's just me imagining stuff as I'm being told. But fuck, this is magic and beautiful.

 

I think it's enough........see you next month with, probably, releasesfrom Embrace, Spiritualized,...