title: Intriguing 4 song EP introduces the audience to the drama.

text:
Human Drama actually had its origins with Johnny Indovina and co. in a band called The Models which was based out of New Orleans.  They moved to L.A., changed their name to Human Drama, and played some of the hot clubs including the Scream and from what I’ve heard put on a helluva show.  This helped them get signed to RCA (for all the good it did them…not!) and they put out their first official EP, the unusually titled “Hopes Prayers Dreams Heart Soul Mind Love Life Death”.  This 4 song introduction to the band contains some exciting moments and one incredible song, “The Waiting Hour”, one of the best of their career.  The gloss on the album is pure soaring rock with great guitar workings by Michael Ciravolo who just covers the album in strums, melody lines, long sustains, and crescendos.  The songs are mood-driven and vary greatly within songs.  Take “Nothing I Judge” where the song practically comes to a halt, then Indovina talks, then the guitars burst and he starts singing with passionate abandon/ yelling.  It wasn’t grunge but you’d often have a lot of distortion effects.  It wasn’t metal but at times would crash and bang and kerrang like a metal song.  There were dips and dives, but they’d almost always bite into isolated highs.  Nice flourishes of different instruments, however brief and subtle like the castanets that punctuate small moments on “I Bleed For You”, add that extra dash of flavor to every song.  Curiously, the album starts out with a cover of Neil Young’s “Old Man”.  It’s a stellar cover, exciting and powerful, and obviously close to the singer’s heart.  He can relate to the lyrics, but why would a new band begin their first release with a cover?  Why not end the EP with the cover or bury it in the middle?  I don’t know, but they do end the EP with the stunning, epic “The Waiting Hour”.  The EP set the stage and showed promise for what was to come.

Old Man ~ Most bands do covers, and most bands simply replay the song they’re covering without changing it.  Some bands reinvent the song, and try to own it.  HD is one of those bands, and they own this cover of Neil Young’s classic.  From the opening swirls of guitars to the rollicking drums HD kick the tempo up quite a bit but end up making it way more melodic than it ever was.  Indovina stresses the passionate response of youth to the dulled and weary experience of age and kicks at the connection while wrapping himself up in it so as not to let it go.  Good stuff.

Nothing I Judge ~ This little number is fascinating.  It clearly details an event from the singer/ songwriter’s life wherein he witnessed some type of march or religious protest of something and the effects this has had on him.  The structure of the song is slightly off the standard verse-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-chorus mainly in how Indovina handles a couple of the verses and bangs out the chorus in an impassioned rant at the end of the song where he claims in screams, “My actions! My actions speak…louder, Louder, they speak LOUDER than YOUR WORDS!  You’re making me…RUN from JESUS!  You’re Scaring me…away from Jesus…you’re making me run! I’m runnin’ away, I’m running from you, and from what you ARE!”  There’s a lot of power in the delivery.  I would have loved to have heard this song live.

I Bleed For You ~ This is more of a standard song.  Best thing about it perhaps are the lyrics and the vocal overdubs.  Guitar is subtle and underplayed.  Singable chorus.

The Waiting Hour ~ There are so many wonderful things about this song: the unhurried intro; frequent builds and releases; romantic, introspective lyrics; symphonic keys that punctuate and fill out the musical portion of the chorus.  This song takes you on a wounded but breathful ride; it’s a catharsis.

Good promising stuff for a band that would ultimately scrap and scrape to put out some of the finest songs and albums the world will never hear.


title: Fun set with energy to spare but not so great sound recording.

text: Michael Knott and co. spin live over 16 cuts taken from two Cornerstone shows (1991 & 1993).  He proves himself the showman, spits and snarls and makes occasional snarky comments or jokes.  The band frequently follows Knott around on tangents amid songs demonstrating that they were a fairly tight unit who were able to read and react to each other live, to be playful and not get stuck in having to do the song exactly as done on the album proper.  You certainly get a feeling for the passion and energy they play with but the sound recording isn’t that great.  The bass has way too much fuzz to it and the guitar follows the main lines but sounds hollow and distant too much of the time.  If (like me) you’ve never been able to see LSU in concert then this is worth it.  If you have and want to re-live some old memories then this will probably do the trick to.  But for non-Knottheads this is a pass.  (I do want to give special mention to the album cover of a painted Knott shredding the cover of the microphone with his voice.  Perfection that!)


title: Cheering for the encore.

text: Solo acoustic set recorded at Cornerstone in 2000 that draws mostly from Knott’s solo releases “Rocket and A Bomb” and “Strip Cycle”, some “Ford Supersonic” Aunt Bettys music, and LSU’s “Grace Shaker”.  Decent set, enjoyable, with Knott on point.  The eye-opening highlight of the set is probably “Christine On Crystal” which seems tailored to Knott’s solo acoustic strengths.  Originally found on “Ford Supersonic” in its rocked up dress this stripped down version allows it to breathe and employs all of Mr. Knott’s melodic sympathies.  It’s nice to have a live version of “Popsicle Stick”.  Good song there.  Knott has some fun singing about one of his roadhands with “Aaron’s Getting Poopy”, this release being the only place you can hear this song if my knowledge serves me.  The album closes with the spiritual psalter “Never Forsaken”.  It has surprised me at how many live recordings Knott, in his various incarnations, has put out given his small but devoted following.  This is probably one of the better ones.


title: Aunt Betty’s Ford Supersonic—the band that never was to last.

text:
Aunt Betty’s Ford/ Aunt Betty’s Ford Supersonic was the original name for the band that would ultimately debut a solo mainstream self-titled release under the name Aunt Bettys.  This is a collection of demos that sound surprisingly tight and fleshed out but never saw the light of day under a major label release.  While the eponymous mainstream release of Aunt Bettys sported some serious and raw punk inspired rock pop with songs about barstool warriors and wackos this collection, mined apparently from a variety of shopped demos, taps more of the southern California baked-in-sunshine culture and character.  It’s filled with safer sounding songs about equally broken and besmirched denizens, it rocks but not as hard nor with as much energy, and adds some sonic flavor with occasional instruments that didn’t fit the full-frontal assault that the Bettys initially laid down (listen to the Hammond organ on “Christine On Crystal” as an example).  Several of these songs found their way onto or were revamped in other Michael Knott projects.  The track listing is: 1) Getting Normal (2) Two Timin’ Jack (3) Movie Star (4) Christine On Crystal (5) Shoot Allison (6) Widget Man (7) Popsickle Stick (8) Local Supply (9) Sugar Cane (10) Rockstars On H (11) Ricky Racer (12) Motor Queen (13) Top Of the World (14) untitled live track, old song (15) Two Timin’ Jack live (16) Rock Stars On H live (17) untitled live track, completing the old song begun on track 14.  The players are: Michael Knott—lead vox, acoustic guitar; Brian Doidge—bass, bgvs; Andrew Carter—lead and other guitars, bgvs; Chuck Cummings—drums, percussion.

While overall this is a very decent release, considering the demo nature of it, it’s not a Knott release that I’ve ever been able to get really into.  Many of the songs are catchy but the ones that catch my attention the most are the sympathetic and sad toward the drug-addled plight of “Christine On Crystal”; the caustic anti-W. Bush rant “Widget Man”; the heartfelt from the imperfect daddy’s POV “Popsicle Stick”—this is the preferred version of this song that can be found on a couple of other live releases; and the dragstrip rock of “Ricky Racer” that finds Knott having fun chewing up some of the spoken-word lyrics.


title: Fantastic sadsack salvation army band debut that went nowhere.  So, no, I’m not happy now.

text:
Sounding like a blend of Smash Mouth with a dash of Sugar Ray and employing horns like The OC Supertones, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and Five Iron Frenzy but sounding more like a sadsack salvation army band than pimped out/ pumped up pure ska energy Loudflower catches and surprises quite frequently throughout their fantastic debut “Happy Now?”  The horns provided by Derrick Lee (trumpets) and Loren Haefer (trombone) are an integral part of the mix and are responsible for the unique and catchy sound.  At times they supply their own rhythm line but more often than not they play along and support the established rhythms, and at other moments they are nothing more than short punctuation marks within the songs (a period, an exclamation mark, a comma).  Lead singer and bass guitarist (playing a 12 string bass guitar at times? Never heard of such a thing) Rob Groover supplies some enjoyable melody lines just with his bass playing but his singing, warm and a little scratchy, conveys perfectly without being overbearing the limited emotional range he’s going for (often distrust and dissatisfaction and loss); there are no love songs here, and no one’s chewing bubblegum.  What surprised me, often, were nicely highlighted guitar moments from the electro-acoustic opening of the title track that supplies it with a gentle yearning to the nuanced electric picked moments late in “I Guess I Need You” that end up making that song ultimately exciting.  The guitar never overpowers any song though or even any portion of the song.  It’s nicely balanced and supports the flow but satisfyingly stands out when it’s given its moments to shine.  Credit Wally Gates for these moments.  Rounding out the band was Mason Brazelle pounding the skins and a few other guest musicians not specifically credited for their exact input or what instruments they played (likely additional horns and percussion).

Loudflower debuted on a small independent record label, Gray dot records, servicing the alternative Christian music scene.  They got about as much promotion as anyone within that scene did back in those days.  Their unique (for their niche) sound and intelligently crafted songs should have made them a success but their sound, leaning toward drearier emotional tones, was never going to draw them big crowds of fans.  Their topical lyrics too full of cynicism and questions and personal failings or distrust and criticisms (“Saviour Business” is an excellent example, an excellent song, and an appropriate and excellent criticism of many TV evangelists) also were never going to engender them to the fluff pop bubblegum crowds.  Though a Christian band you’d hardly guess as there are only subtle clues in a couple of songs, nothing overt, nothing even bordering on praise or even optimistic leanings (okay, there’s “Always Tomorrow” as an exception) or mentioning Jesus or God.  That wasn’t what they were going for and that’s fine.

Loudflower is one of my collection’s hidden gems and I always enjoy coming across it again.  I can never just give it a 1-and-done spin but have to listen to it several times before I put it away again.  I know it’s not meant for everyone (and I don’t own a single Smash Mouth, Sugar Ray, OC Supertone, Bosstone, or Frenzy CD though mind you I want to check Five Iron Frenzy out) but I’ve loved this little round spinning world from the moment it opened up my ears.  A tip of the cap to Loudflower.  You will become happy if you’ve found them.


title: Knott this mess!

text:
This is one Michael Knott release that, the less said about it, perhaps the better. NO ONE SHOULD START THEIR JOURNEY WITH KNOTT AT THIS POINT! This is a compilation album covering LSU history from “Shaded Pain” through “Cash In Chaos—World Tour”. It’s not trying to pick the most popular LSU songs as illustrative; it throws in some odd ducks, a few new cuts (which is the only real reason to get this one), some head scratching and horrendous “remixes”, and several live tracks. This mish mash seriously hurts the presentation of LSU’s work. One reviewer pointed out the craziness of Knott and that’s true, but his craziness made sense and was artful in much of his studio albums. Here it just turns everything into a huge glob of mess and makes these songs lack cohesion. The live cuts might be of interest to Knott fans but they uniformly fail to deliver the goods of the actual studio songs. The remixes sport scratchy distortion, a drowning of the original sounds, and a telephone ring that might literally drive you crazy. They are infuriating!

I’ll get to the three new cuts in a moment but before that I wanted to note that there was apparently a cassette release with four additional tracks, three untouched tracks (There’s A Time; Shaded Pain; and G.G.G.) plus one track that may have contained a sample of every LSU song. I haven’t heard it but that must have been one messy track. As for the new tracks contained (to the best of my knowledge) only on this release they are: Funky Space Cat; Baby Flies A Comet; and It Fits Inside. “Funky Space Cat” is a fun and funky song true enough to its title. “Baby Flies A Comet” is very repetitive and could have been a rejected Aunt Bettys song. “It Fits Inside” is a quiet acoustic solo guitar number, very introspective.

Unless you’re a Knotthead looking to complete your collection I’d beg you off this disc in a hurry. If you think that I’m being too unfair or harsh regarding this release that’s cool but I’d encourage you to balance your judgment against my reviews of other Knott related releases. I love the dude and most of his offerings, but most definitely Knott this mess!


title: "Wakin' up the dead...it's like a sweet, sweet perfume"  Well, maybe 5 songs smell good.

text:
The follow up to Lifesavers Underground’s fantastic debut “Shaded Pain” is a mixed bag.  Gone are the dark, synth heavy and deep brooding guitar songs and in their place steps more of a party rock vibe with a lively bass and buzzsaw guitar tones.  Knott’s multi-tracked vocals are poppish and playful with a lot of interjected odd vocal noises.  The first four songs are all very good in their own respects but the album takes a dip after that.  Many of the following songs are lively and even fun but they aren’t necessarily good.  They feel and act like filler IMO.  Now some people might say that even filler from Mr. Knott is better than 99% of the junk that’s out there but…they’d be wrong.  Filler is filler and, except for the last song on the proper release of “Wakin’ Up the Dead”, these songs (tracks 5-10) can be enjoyed but aren’t very good.  The sounds on this album were a precursor to the album to follow, the solid and even controversial “This Is the Healing”, but whereas “Wakin’ Up the Dead” plied an almost party rock atmosphere the same sounds and textures were turned dark and heavy on “This Is the Healing”.  Perhaps the reason for WUTD’s difference in its lighter tone and feel came from the fact that around the same time Knott and a couple of other band members that supported this album were working on a side rock project called Bomb Bay Babies that were breaking into the club circuit; Knott’s attention was split and I think it shows.  The BBBs were a post-punk new wave-ish band and two of the songs on WUTD are also covered (the title track being one of those but it is far better represented here than on the BBB release), though tweaked, by the Babies.  But what is more is that many of this album’s later songs have a shorter and less formed feel and fit the BBBs style over what had been labeled the LSU style.  While I really like half the songs here and don’t mind listening to the other half this has never been close to being one of my favorite Knott releases.  If the whole album had been as strong and diverse as tracks 1-4 & 11 then I’d be eating my words.

1)  The Bomb—love this song.  What’s easy to miss is that funky back bass plunk because of the buzzsaw grind of the guitars and the vocals placed far up front.  Knott pants, grunts, whoofs, and gahs adding unusual scat sounds to the song.  The song can be taken in a number of ways, from commentary on the infamous (and overused) curse word to people going crazy over the latest fads.  Fun song.
2)  Ocean Blue—gritty grinder reminding us that there are cold, dark places destined for those charlatans and abusers who lead to deceive.
3)  Touch—a pop song.  This would have fit perfectly on The Lifesavers “Kiss of Life” offering.  A nice love song the romantic one could easily croon this to their loved one, but there are hints that the romance motif is an allegory for God’s love and desire for us.
4)  House of Love—going out on a limb here I’m going to say that this is pure rock weirdness.  Out of one speaker you’ll hear Knott creak “oooooh, knockin’ on your door” repeatedly while out of the other he’ll almost rap but it’s not really rap.  It is hard to decipher.  Meanwhile you’ll have a meaty guitar line playing and then he’ll hit the chorus and sing in faux operatic voice “I’m in the house of love”.  There’s also squeals and barks and other sundry noises.  All very lively.  I can’t explain why but it works, it’s fun, and I never get tired of it.
5)  Revival Nineties—guided by the bass guitar this song, while nicely different than the previous ones, sucks a little of the energy out of the album.  If they would have upped the tempo that would have really helped.  Anyway, the song seems to be about a fake faith that is based more on the worship of emotion than on the truth.
6)  Carry Me To Cairo—back to the guitar scratching out a groove this song seems to be an allusion to faith found through displacement and suffering, a la Joseph and the Israelites’ slavery in a foreign land.
7)  Come Alive Again—a little funkiness.  Michael Sauerbrey’s bass guitar work carried a lot of this album.  This song is fun, but also a bit of filler too.
8)  Dancin’ In the Kettle—give him points for making a fun song about Shadrach, Mecshach, and Abednego dancing in the furnace.  Fun but still feels like filler.
9)  I Need You So—song does not feel well formed outside of the chorus.  Filler.
10)  Nineties Tease—fast but light party song about the vapidity of a materially and financially rich but morally bankrupt American culture.  Filler.
11)  Wakin’ Up the Dead—the proverbial best is saved for last.  Strong song with an almost hypnotic beat.  Mesmerizing rock tune with strong spiritual overtones.


title: To the dead and cold, to the spiritually soiled...Waking up the dead.

text:
The follow up to Lifesavers Underground’s fantastic debut “Shaded Pain” is a mixed bag.  Gone are the dark, synth heavy and deep brooding guitar songs and in their place steps more of a party rock vibe with a lively bass and buzzsaw guitar tones.  Knott’s multi-tracked vocals are poppish and playful with a lot of interjected odd vocal noises.  The first four songs are all very good in their own respects but the album takes a dip after that.  Many of the following songs are lively and even fun but they aren’t necessarily good.  They feel and act like filler IMO.  Now some people might say that even filler from Mr. Knott is better than 99% of the junk that’s out there but…they’d be wrong.  Filler is filler and, except for the last song on the proper release of “Wakin’ Up the Dead”, these songs (tracks 5-10) can be enjoyed but aren’t very good.  The sounds on this album were a precursor to the album to follow, the solid and even controversial “This Is the Healing”, but whereas “Wakin’ Up the Dead” plied an almost party rock atmosphere the same sounds and textures were turned dark and heavy on “This Is the Healing”.  Perhaps the reason for WUTD’s difference in its lighter tone and feel came from the fact that around the same time Knott and a couple of other band members that supported this album were working on a side rock project called Bomb Bay Babies that were breaking into the club circuit; Knott’s attention was split and I think it shows.  The BBBs were a post-punk new wave-ish band and two of the songs on WUTD are also covered (the title track being one of those but it is far better represented here than on the BBB release), though tweaked, by the Babies.  But what is more is that many of this album’s later songs have a shorter and less formed feel and fit the BBBs style over what had been labeled the LSU style.  While I really like half the songs here and don’t mind listening to the other half this has never been close to being one of my favorite Knott releases.  If the whole album had been as strong and diverse as tracks 1-4 & 11 then I’d be eating my words.

1)  The Bomb—love this song.  What’s easy to miss is that funky back bass plunk because of the buzzsaw grind of the guitars and the vocals placed far up front.  Knott pants, grunts, whoofs, and gahs adding unusual scat sounds to the song.  The song can be taken in a number of ways, from commentary on the infamous (and overused) curse word to people going crazy over the latest fads.  Fun song.
2)  Ocean Blue—gritty grinder reminding us that there are cold, dark places destined for those charlatans and abusers who lead to deceive.
3)  Touch—a pop song.  This would have fit perfectly on The Lifesavers “Kiss of Life” offering.  A nice love song the romantic one could easily croon this to their loved one, but there are hints that the romance motif is an allegory for God’s love and desire for us.
4)  House of Love—going out on a limb here I’m going to say that this is pure rock weirdness.  Out of one speaker you’ll hear Knott creak “oooooh, knockin’ on your door” repeatedly while out of the other he’ll almost rap but it’s not really rap.  It is hard to decipher.  Meanwhile you’ll have a meaty guitar line playing and then he’ll hit the chorus and sing in faux operatic voice “I’m in the house of love”.  There’s also squeals and barks and other sundry noises.  All very lively.  I can’t explain why but it works, it’s fun, and I never get tired of it.
5)  Revival Nineties—guided by the bass guitar this song, while nicely different than the previous ones, sucks a little of the energy out of the album.  If they would have upped the tempo that would have really helped.  Anyway, the song seems to be about a fake faith that is based more on the worship of emotion than on the truth.
6)  Carry Me To Cairo—back to the guitar scratching out a groove this song seems to be an allusion to faith found through displacement and suffering, a la Joseph and the Israelites’ slavery in a foreign land.
7)  Come Alive Again—a little funkiness.  Michael Sauerbrey’s bass guitar work carried a lot of this album.  This song is fun, but also a bit of filler too.
8)  Dancin’ In the Kettle—give him points for making a fun song about Shadrach, Mecshach, and Abednego dancing in the furnace.  Fun but still feels like filler.
9)  I Need You So—song does not feel well formed outside of the chorus.  Filler.
10)  Nineties Tease—fast but light party song about the vapidity of a materially and financially rich but morally bankrupt American culture.  Filler.
11)  Wakin’ Up the Dead—the proverbial best is saved for last.  Strong song with an almost hypnotic beat.  Mesmerizing rock tune with strong spiritual overtones.

WUTD saw an M8 remastered re-issue close to the turn of the century.  To help generate new sales the re-issue added several live cuts from a couple of Cornerstone concerts (one website lists tracks 12-18 coming from Cornerstone 1991 and the remaining tracks from C-stone 1993).  There’s not much to say about these live cuts.  They’re nice to have but none of them have any real feel or tie-in to WUTD other than that they’re from the same artist.

12)  “This is just my life…” (intro)—An introduction for a Cornerstone live show.
13)  Free Her—live cut.  Original version on the Lifesavers “Kiss of Life” album.  Fits incredibly well in a set dominated by “Shaded Pain” tunes.
14)  Jordan River—live cut.  Original version on LSU’s “Shaded Pain”.
15)  I’m Torn—live cut.  Original version on “Shaded Pain”.
16)  Bye Bye Color—live cut.  Interesting lyrical additions.  Knott almost sounds psychotic.  Original version on “Shaded Pain”.
17)  Die Baby Die—live cut.  Audience participation!  Original version on “Shaded Pain”.
18)  Ripped Off Record Company (chatter)—reveling in their weirdness Knott talks to the audience.
19)  Benny—live cut.  Sounds much better than the previous live cuts.  I’ve heard that these last three tracks came from a different Cornerstone show.  Original version on “Cash In Chaos—World Tour”.
20)  Hang Me High—great live cut, translates well.  Knott has some nonsense fun going off on tangents.  Original version on Michael Knott solo release “Screaming Brittle Siren”.
21)  Shaded Pain—live cut.  One of Knott’s best songs.  The recording has too much treble and reverb to it and Knott’s vocals are a little tinny.


title: Since when did keyboard rock become the “Big Music”?  Enjoyable album despite the misnomer.

text:
I’d read the reviews and it they were screaming: Simple Minds returns to their roots!  Their roots were “Life In A Day”, “Reel To Real Cacophony”, and “Empires and Dance”; all three releases relied on heavy synth use and were more concerned with art rock sounds rather than dance floor catchiness.  I found a lot of it adventurous but also hard to listen to so it concerned more than a little to hear that they were returning to their roots.  I’m glad to say that the majority of reviewers must have meant that returning to their roots meant that they returned to the layers upon layers of synth rock, something that they’ve been doing for a long time now.  This album may be more dance floor friendly as it constantly is mindful of the melodies while electronic flourishes and touches are just that—touches.  They don’t dominate or usually distract but add ambience to the songs.  If you’ve remotely liked their more recent offerings then you should be able to get behind this release just fine.  Mid ‘80s to early ‘90s SM fans will again bemoan the lack of Burchill’s guitar finding prominent and clear moments.  I hate to say it but at this point they could probably lose him and replace his guitar lines with some other synthetic electronica and not miss him much.  I don’t think that SM is ever going back to an album like “Street Fighting Years”.

So how does this new album then stack up against their more recent drops?  Pretty well, actually.  Kerr’s approach here is restraint.  If anything he undersings and hushes through stresses.  His voice is warm and pleasant, sometimes earnest (listen to “Honest Town” for a great example).  But the real star here are the melodies and diverse sounds that keyboardists/ programmers Andy Gillespie, Gavin Goldberg, and Andy Wright coax out of their systems.  One of the best cuts is their reworking of The Call’s “Let the Day Begin”.  They’ve punched this number before in a fairly straightforward and lackluster fashion but here they make it their own and it bursts with joy.  “Big Music” is a fun song and tries to stretch its hands in the air and punches through with a lot going on.  I like it but also can’t help but wince a little as I’ll always think of the big music as that which Mike Scott of the Waterboys tried to etch out in sound back in the mid-‘80s.  My one criticism is that some of the melodies are a little tired (take “Human” for example) but there are enough interesting moments and bits to the album, and enough good songs, that it’s easy to move on or focus on something better.  Other notable tracks are “Blood Diamonds” and “Broken Glass Park”.  It’s overall a solid 4 stars.

If you buy the deluxe edition (album, bonus CD, and bonus DVD) then you have some extra goodness to look forward to.  The 6 song bonus disc is IMO better than the actual album.  It’s standout moment is their excellent cover of Patti Smith’s “Dancing Barefoot” with lead vocals by Sarah Brown.  She puts on two voices and the lyrics become clearer than they’ve ever been and are so much easier to appreciate.  They also cover The Doors’ “Riders of the Storm” and reprise “Blindfolded”.  “Liaison” is a great track with more natural energy and both of the opening tracks, “Swimming Towards the Sun” and “Bittersweet”, are solid.  The bonus DVD is a disappointment.  It contains two full but uninspired videos for “Honest Town” and “Blindfolded” and clips from a couple of other videos.  The best part about it is a short segment of band interview snippets that gives one the feel that the Minds guys are still having fun at their job.  You get a small but nice album liner that gives glimpses of lyrics and song-by-song credits and also a wall poster (approx. 14”x20”) that features the wonderful ball of speakers in the clouds album cover pic.  I’d certainly encourage fans toward the deluxe edition if it doesn’t cost them more than $20.  I will buy the next Minds release but I’ll also have a hard time thinking of this as the big music.


title: Left to drift...

text:
It’s fair to say that I’m a huge Michael Knott fan.  I have most of his many (and incredibly diverse) albums, I traveled over a couple of western States to see him in concert, and I’ve decided to write detailed reviews of all of his proper releases (not comp or live albums or mixed albums).  This guy deserves no less.  His songs and artistry have been an inspiration and encouragement to me, wearing his heart and faults on his sleeve, challenging my assumptions, and declaring the beauty of his Lord and Savior often in the midst of pain and trauma and confusion.  He also does a great job of sympathizing with people in general and tells some funny, heartbreaking, and engaging stories about a variety of true characters he’s encountered but he never turns them into caricatures.  All of this is to say that I’m not blind to what works and what doesn’t, or that I love everything he puts out.  I don’t.  Case in point: “Dogfish Jones”.  No matter how many times I’ve listened to it I can’t get into it.  For me it is one of if not my least favorite Knott release.  Why?  Some possible/probable reasons are that the tempo of many of the songs and thus the overall album is simply slow, especially over the first half.  This sets an expectation and while the second half’s tempo picks up the proverbial wind is already out of the sails.  Another BIG reason is that there’s a lot of organ music spread throughout and I’ve never been a big fan of most of the Hammond organ sounds incorporated into songs.  If you like those sounds then by all means give this disc a spin, you’ll likely enjoy it.  Perhaps another reason is that this is a concept album (Dogfish Jones travels over the seas/ navigates the trials of life—is Jones a reference to Michael’s father? To himself? To both?) but it’s not the fact that it is a concept album, it’s that the concept is an allegory and not clearly conveyed.  It’s hard to care for the character without some more specifics, or a tighter story.  Lastly, there’s just so much repetition.  Knott has always been one to repeat.  It’s been part and parcel of his structure.  But on this release there is so much repetition!  It wears out welcomes to several songs.

So is there anything I like about this album?  Knott comes up with some nice melodies.  Though this is way overused of so much music it’s also nonetheless true but there’s a Beatles influence that bleeds through.  That’s something I’ve never heard on any other Knott project.  The sheer variety and amount of music, “Dogfish Jones” included, continues to awe me.  So there’s that, and a couple of songs I like okay.  But it’s not enough.  I’m sad to give this a 2.5 rating, but I must.  I always come back and listen to it every few years, hoping that I’ll like it more, but never do.  I never enjoy this listening experience.

1)  Dogfish Jones ~ Lots of repetition (lyric and melody) and a chorus that is a little like nails on a chalkboard.
2)  Storm At Sea ~ A sea shanty!!!  Sung by Michael’s father, Howard Knott.  Is it me or do all sea shanties sound Irish?
3)  Let Me Out ~ Gene Eugene supplies the boppy B3 Organ heard on this track.  One of the stronger tracks on the album.  Doesn’t go all over the map but goes different places than one would expect.
4)  Barnacle Bob ~ There are layered, harmony vocals that makes this sound unnecessarily busy shooting right out of the gate, also heavy on the drums and especially percussion.  After a minute or so it transforms into a more typical Knott tune complete with some spoken word storytelling.
5)  Down ~ Gene Eugene shows up again with the Organ grinding again.  The song, appropriate to its title, is downtuned with this being felt especially on the second half of the song.  It almost feels like two songs.  Again suffers from too much repetition.  Drags on way too long.  That Hammond B3 Organ music has never been my favorite and there’s a lot of it on this track, so…not my favorite.
6)  Greensea Island ~ The previous song ended on a downtuned note.  This song goes further.  It’s ponderous, slow tempo feels not like you’re exploring a lush green sea island but that you are stuck in the seaweed slowly moving.  Heavy use of the organ again.  Knott’s vocals are clear at least, and not multi-tracked.
7)  Hated Souls ~ Another slow moving tune with an underbed of organ music.  The guitar, thankfully, is more prominent at least and there’s a simple melodic sweep and obvious chorus.  Not a great song by any stretch but it breaks us out of the trudge of tracks 5 & 6.
8)  Tell of the Well ~ A playful song, more in Michael’s wheelhouse.  Lots of layered vocals on this, a buzzy background guitar, and a little funkiness.  Great rolling rhythms provided by the drums (thanks Mr. Chuck Cummings).
9)  Mercy Maid ~ One of the more memorable songs.  Lots of repetition.
10)  Magical Rainbow Door ~ A dancing organ, very lively, shows up and helps to give this song a Beatles-esque flavor.  Mixing metaphors “dead man’s curve” and racing are added to the seafaring allegory.  Allegedly written with his daughter.
11)  Seashell Sally ~ Organ.  Repetition.  Multiple vocal tracks/layering.  Also memorable, with a moderate tempo and again overstays its welcome.
12)  Edge ~ The most driving and guitar-centered track.  It’s a rock tune.  Not hard.  Not even heavy.  But satisfying.  Finally, after eleven tracks.  It’s also the track that boasts the most non-repetitive lyrics.
13)  Shanghai Overdrive ~ The guitar celebrates its feature…but it’s buried a little too deeply at times especially under all of the repetitious vocal melodies.
14)  The Boyos ~ Another shanty, sung in round.  You just want to take a pint and jig it over your head mindless of the slosh.  The  most  memorable  song  on  the  album.

A couple of closing comments.  One reviewer mentioned this release as ….“Christian” music that surpasses all other Christian music, and most secular music…”.  As far as the music goes that’s always a personal/preferential issue but these songs are hardly Knott’s best and I think that one has to take the criticism of repetition seriously.  As to the “Christian” label it is well known that Michael Knott is a Christian and he’s done some work, such as praise and worship offerings, and has incorporated his faith in obvious ways in a variety of his band and solo projects.  This may be true too of “Dogfish Jones” but you’d have to dig, deep, to discover it.  It’s not just not obvious, it’s that if it’s there it’s allegorical (sorry, that’s a lot of “its”).  To anyone thinking they were going to get an obviously “Christian” music CD they’d be way, way, way off.  And for anyone scared off by that label, they simply needn’t be.  This concept is more along the lines of an allegory, like Plato’s “The Cave”, though there seems to be a lot of Knott history steeped in the story.  If you’re looking at this release for a buy but haven’t heard Michael Knott’s other concept albums “Grace Shaker” and “Fluid” then I’d direct you to either of those releases.  They’re great.


title: Preparing the way for us to listen to The Listening.

text: This 6 song EP is the transition and introduction to the band, The Listening (R.I.P.).  Formerly known as The Rock and Roll Worship Circus the boys who made some bombastic and entertaining and diverse alternative and straight up rock worship songs decided to go in a more mysterious and musically dense and emotionally drenched direction.  The first two tracks (1, are we listening and 2, (untitled)), which are also found on their eponymous initial release, whet our appetite for what’s to come.  You’ll definitely want to check out their long play self-titled album.  Unfortunately the final four tracks are a bit more scattered though not bad.  Track 3 (I love the rain) is a simple but effective quiet and slow tempo acoustic track.  Track 4 (like I do) utilizes a piano lead and could easily have been a cut left off of the RRWC’s “A Beautiful Glow”.  Track 5 (the way that love is made) has a Beatles flavor to it and again sounds like a RRWC type of song.  Lastly, track 6 (dead man) carries a lot more force than the previous tracks and is certainly more dynamic and shows off more of the type of guitar and keyboard layers that The Listening will do but still sounds like an early rocker that could have come off of one of the first RRWC’s releases, especially their superior “Big Star Logistics”.  All of the songs do carry spiritual themes and “(untitled)” is a great track though lyrically obtuse.  As a whole this gap EP, while nice to have, doesn’t do enough to announce the transition of RRWC to The Listening and it would have been nice to have a couple of more tracks in the style of The Listening, especially ones that never found their way onto the LP.


title: Sampler is also an advertisement and extended interview which cuts down on listening value.

text:
As far as music samplers go this one does far more than give you a few songs from some bands signed to a little known alternative Christian label.  It's an extended advertisement not just for the label but also for the humanitarian organization Feed the Children and it's a platform for the lead singer/songwriter from Age of Faith to share an interview.  The non-music tracks (advertisements, introductions, and interviews) comprise nearly 1/3 of the disc and therein is the problem.  You might be okay listening to this once but after that it's likely a dustbin item or the CDs being connected to some rogue art piece.  Otherwise the band selection is great, interesting even, with some decent songs and decent rock variety.  So if you're mildly interested in the music on here it's as follows:

Loudflower (cool indie slacker rock with horns--not ska!)  5 stars
1) The Color of Heaven
2) I Still Want You
Age of Faith (acoustic pop CCM)  3 stars
4) Satisfy
6) The Losers Win
L.S. Underground (see: Michael Knott; LSU; Lifesavers; etc.)  4 stars
8) Baby Flies A Comet
9) She Says
Sunday Blue (sounds like a more acoustic The Miscellaneous--nice male + female harmonies)  5 stars
10) Hello
Breakfast With Amy (weird and messy art rock)  4 stars
11) Cavewoman
Urban Shakedancers (southern rock)  3 stars
12) Nervous Wreck
Room Full Of Circles (late 80s alternative rock minus keyboards)  3 stars
14) In the Spirit of Giving
Small Town Poets (jangly poppish rock)  3 stars
16) Everything I Hate
Bonedance (wannabe hardcore)  2.75 stars
17) Head
Quest For Stones (lite rock)  2.75 stars
18) Stay


title: Do Chatwood, Burrows, and Martin know where they are going with each other?  This release makes you wonder.

text:
It wasn’t until I was really focusing on reviewing this release, listening more closely to each song, that I realized that The Tea Party not only set out for the most part to make an album outside of their previous set sounds but to also try on some different sounds; in short, experiment a bit.  I haven’t been taken by TOATE and now I realize why.  Jeff Martin’s deep, manly vocals will always be the voice of The Tea Party but the music needs to seriously rock and it wouldn’t hurt to have some middle eastern or industrial vibes thrown in there too.  TOATE keeps Martin’s vocals but doesn’t lean heavily on their previous brand of hard rock.  This is an overall mid-tempo affair and, if you listen close enough, diverse affair.  The sounds in the songs are also not as deep or thick as old Tea Party tricks.  But that doesn’t mean they’re missing something; they’re not.  They’re not stripped back it’s just that there are spaces and cracks between the instruments and music that seem or feel unfilled and perhaps some of that is the lack in comparative hard rock and emotive intensities.  I was prepared for another rocking release, not for the diversity that they play with here.  I really liked Jeff Martin’s solo work, especially “The Ground Cries Out”, and was prepared to hear him branch out and try new things in his solo work; I thought it worked out pretty well for him there.  Here perhaps the problem is not that The Tea Party has tried new things but that they sound like they’ve held back and not really gone for it.  It’s not bad, but definitely not close to anything that made them great.  Here’s a short but hopefully helpful breakdown of the sounds you’ll hear:

A mid- to late-1970’s classic rock sound is plied on tracks like “The L.O.C.”, “The Black Sea”, and “Brazil”.  Speaking of the latter song, it’s very lyrically intriguing.  Is the Party getting political?  The boys from the Great White North do infuse “Cypher” with a mild middle eastern vibe.  If you’re down for some dirty blues stomping check out “The Cass Corridor” or if maybe an early ‘80’s buzzy New Wave dance floor groove is what you’re into then check out “Submission”.  “Black Roses” delivers an older school country vibe with its use of pedal steel guitar.  If you were yearning for some sounds reminiscent of more recent Tea Party work then “The 11th Hour” and even “Water’s On Fire” are your best bets.  Another Daniel Lanois track from his respected “Acadie” gets a fairly faithful covers treatment here though I think, with all due respect to The Tea Party, Lanois does his own “The Maker” better.  And finally we get the last two tracks, “The Ocean At the End” and its closing musical companion piece which is highlights a spacey little theme found in the title track.  The title track has some nice solo guitar work, slow and deliberate, but while a bit of an amalgamation of sounds still comes closest to falling into a classic rock formula.  I do want to remark on the great album cover.  It recalls other past iconic album releases and itself feels very late 1970’s stoner.  Would make a great slip cover for a vinyl release.

In summary this sounds like a band whose better days are behind them and they’re not entirely settled on where they are going future forward.  I’ll hope but not hold my breath that they have another “Edges of Twilight” or “Triptych” in them.  I can’t dream of another “Transmissions” because I don’t think they could pull that much aggressive energy out of themselves anymore.  Time does make a ruin of us all.


title: The Grape Prophet

text:
Michael Knott & co. have spun out many, many albums in a variety of rock genres.  Released back in 1992 this album was classified as "metal" in some parts but that was really stretching it.  Songs like the lead-off track "Ellis In the Orchard" and a couple of instrumental cuts (rare for a Knott release) like "Back To the Orchard" with flowing and heavy guitar lines and major chord sustains are what undoubtedly led to this label but the truth is that the bulk of the album (6 out of the 10 tracks) were varied and ranged from the Red Hot Chili Peppers influenced "A Group of Prophets Predict the Pickers' Future Without Them" (great song BTW) to the edgy hard rocking "She Said" to the playful piano plinks of "The Grape Prophet Speaks".  There's hardly been a Knott album that's seen better production values than this one.  It's slick, clean, and clear with all of the instruments blending nicely but standing strong in their particular placements.  Knott too sounds great and multi-tracked his own vocals as he has often done but, surprisingly, though the album is almost theatrically operatic, he is focused and by comparison to much of his other work is restrained.  Vocally he's really serving the individual songs and the story of this concept album.

Oh, yes.  I forgot to mention that this is a concept album, one of his first and certainly not to be his last.  I'm not sure of all of the details but it has something to do with some actual experiences that Knott went through, along with some of his friends, in a church where a movement of some sort was arising and a person was claiming to be prophesying in God's name and predicting what would be happening with some young people.  This false prophet apparently held some sway and led some people astray.  So out of this narrative Knott fictionalizes the account slightly and turns it into a story where he is (I believe) the main protagonist Ellis, an orange picker, who comes into conflict with the antagonist, The Grape Prophet, and chronicles TGPs rise and seduction of the innocents including some of his fellow pickers.  The story ends abruptly with no apparent conclusion of the conflict, just an ending denoting (by way of song title only) that he's gone back to the place from whence he came.  It's a brief album of 10 tracks and just over 36".  One wishes for more and that is what I would deem the album's only flaw.

Knott is ably abetted by a cast of usual suspects (Brian Doidge on guitars; Chuck Cummings on drums) as well as other occasional collaborators (Mike Sauerbrey on bass; founding Choir boy Steve Hindalong on percussion but most importantly supplying TGPs voice; fellow Choir artiste Dan Michaels supplying saxophone on a track; and Caryn Colbert as a backing vocalist) who all do some of their very best work on this release.  Despite all of these fine things this is another Knott album that slipped through the proverbial cracks.  The only people who seem to know about it are the hardcore fans of the Knottman.  Many general and especially newer Knott fans don't know of it and the crazily creative Knott, never one to settle, probably shot himself in the foot slightly by not putting this album out under one of his usual monikers of the time (LSU or Lifesavers); no, he decided to change the band's name up again, albeit slightly, by calling the band L.S.Underground which was just his way of fleshing out the LSU name more.  So combine this with the fact that he was known decently but in an already niche and marginalized market (Contemporary Christian Music) and rarely sold outside of Christian bookstores this album was practically dead on arrival.  Enthusiasts at the time who would have been willing to play advertise his music in those stores would have probably stopped cold and never put the CD back in when a line comes on late but clearly in the album ("big hooker on sunset boulevard...you could have been in my strip show....").  This certainly wasn't a happy album aimed at kids that repeated "Jesus" in every song but there is disturbing content laced throughout and so also wasn't aimed at the typical Christian music consumer.  So this ends up as another brilliant album by the mad musician Michael Knott, one of many brilliant albums, but another that has been destined to the dustbin of history.  And that's too bad for fans and general market adults who could find this an interesting piece of aural entertainment and might be inclined to discuss or be provoked to thought.

1) Ellis In the Orchard ~ The lead-off track is a cascading waterfall effect of sliding guitars over a slow thick bass.  It introduces us to a Col. Peckisan (sp. ?) and Ellis the orange picker who is given a note by the Col. telling of a group of pickers defecting to the grapevines.  The song is heavy and thick at points and, oddly IMO, feels like it could have been used musically at album's end.
2) Travels ~ The second track, an instrumental, perfectly fits its title and showcases Doidge's guitar craft and Sauerbrey's bass work.  The overall effect certainly does give the impression of travelling a distance and the lead and secondary guitar lines are used to good effect to off-set each other and increase the narrative tension.
3) The Fold ~ The tension is increased in "The Fold"  with fighting guitars starting off heavy and Ellis in pursuit of his pickers.  Knott's singing alternates between a slacker voice sung Jane's Addiction style and a strained, pained voice that would fit well on any contemporary metal release.  Ellis has found one of his pickers but he doesn't know her anymore; she's changed.  The song seques into an inviting female voice calling "come into the fold" but the longer this goes on the more distorted it becomes, a suggestion to the listener probably that the fold is both trance inducing and not everything it seems.  A smart song to be sure.
4) Wino of the Red Is Stained ~ With subtle percussion, an airwave guitar whoosh, and a bass bounce beat that digs into your hips this song is experientially different from its predecessors in a wild way.  We are hearing the call of the herald of the Grape Prophet, preparing the way so to speak.  "Open up your mind and we will leave reason far behind."  As any good seduction goes this bouncy song is catchy and captivates the ears.  But the song shifts into a distorted moment and ends with Ellis rejecting the deception in fast repetition of the song's title.  Very effective.
5) The Grape Prophet Speaks ~ Smack dab in the middle we have the album's shortest track and it is bright, reverbery, and generates the feeling of a self-help seminar in a large conference room.  The Choir's Steve Hindalong voices The Grape Prophet himself who speaks in enigmas and vagaries.  Knott provides the spoken word voice of the interpreter, telling us what TGP is really talking about.  "Basically what he says is that he had an encounter...he had lunch with...Jesus."  Caryn Colbert provides the female choir backtrack touting TGP.  A wholly unexpected "song", a musical piece that feels more story than pop music piece.
6) English Interpreter of English ~ "He speaks in poetry that I can bend.  He speaks in parables because Christ is so much like him...When the Grape Prophet speaks, I tell you what he says."  This is a slow rock song with some nice, underplayed musical tension and lyrically and thematically it is cheeky as all get out.  A perfect foil to the previous two songs and a nice transition back into heavier musical territory.
7) Ellis Converses With the Prophets ~ Some nice echo delay accentuates the guitar opening.  What my ears notice most about this song is how Knott constructs his verse to stress the song's esses (the "s" in the words).  The chorus omits this intention and his vocals are joined with a couple of others to produce a hoarse throat sound to the singing.  But the stressed s in the verses suggests, as our protagonist is "conversing" with his antagonists (really calling them out and exposing the undercurrents of their sexually charged deceits), that he is dealing with a den of snakes, a brood of vipers, and alternately he is sneering at them.  He's still trying to recapture his former orange picker compatriot but they are holding her in sway.
8) A Group of Prophets Predict the Picker's Future Without Them ~ While the previous song suggests with subtlety the darkness of the proceedings this song, which sounds like it lifts its lyrical melody from a Red Hot Chili Peppers tune, practically shocks us with the rank manipulation of the prophets predicting how their follower's lives would have turned out if they hadn't come and followed them.  The song is dark and addictive and culminates with sexual panting and groaning.  Musically it shuffles with a deep muffled bass and lots of syncopated percussion.
9) She Said ~ I love this song!!!  It's a fantastic, tight little rocker alternating between a slow heavy that plunges into a pounding, jamming chorus and Knott's protagonist sounds pissed.  The song is also dour because what she (the former orange picker) says is that she is giving in to TGP's seduction.  Ellis has lost his former co-laborer, friend, and companion and he's mad as hell and angry that he's seemingly helpless to do anything about it.  Not everything ends well and happy in this big old world of ours and so we go...
10) Back To the Orchard ~ The final number is another instrumental piece with a few bits of anguished shouting; it's a dynamic and exciting piece of music.  The layered guitars are dense and roil underneath a saxophone that bleats the travel tune.  The song recalls "Travels" and leaves us a little shaken, unresolved, as I'm sure Mr. Knott felt after his skirmish with the real situation.  Sometimes all we can do, the best we can do, is to go back to where we came from.


title: Not everything ends well and happy in this big old world of ours...


title: Synthesized retreads.

text: Synthesized themes to some of history's most iconic and captivating science fiction movie themes.  Without the orchestra and the real deal instruments this feels like a hollow, even airy, retread all performed by whoever G.S.O. is/are.  For all we know G.S.O. could stand for (some)Guy's Synthesizer "Orchestra" because that is exactly what the tracks sound like.  Avoid.


title: He penned "I'm A Believer"?  Well, that makes two of us!

text:
A 2002 reissue of the 2001 release.  See comments below re: the 2001 release:

At 38 songs over 2 CDs you certainly get your $$'s worth out of this purchase, and you can be sure that all of your favorite Diamond songs are here.  Unfortunately, many of these tracks are in mono (nine tracks) and several are live (ten tracks).  The recordings sound good nonetheless.  But if you are a casual Diamond fan looking for all of his best old school hits from the studio in one place recorded in stereo with no filler thrown in then you'd better keep looking.  For me, while I'd still like that, this'll do me fine.  4.5 stars.


title: Michael Knott delivers a great album of alternative rock that thematically is dark and addictive not for the timid.

text:
Out of almost all of Michael Knott's releases I can understand why "Cash In Chaos World Tour" is a relative unknown.  A story around the time of this release was that Knott and his whipped up band at the time were looking to break out of the stifling Contemporary Christian Music market of which they were a very small part in a little corner.  He wanted to break in to the larger "secular" alternative music market of the time (as he later did with the Aunt Bettys and as he had earlier tried with the Bomb Bay Babies).  His solution was to create a new band, Cash In Chaos, and put out an alternative album largely channeling the SoCal alternative rock club scene and acts like Jane's Addiction.  This album would have been "World Tour".  At least that's the story that I remember (it's not necessarily true) and I was very excited for this new prospect.  When it finally came out it kind of bore the name of the LSU moniker, kind of...it wasn't that clear, and they went away from trying to break a new band out.  Hardly anyone really knew that there was a new LSU/ Michael Knott album and hardly anyone blinked at whoever or whatever this Cash In Chaos group, or whatever they were, was.  Further, how was anyone going to promote a darkly liquid album with disturbing lyrics and a song called "Radio Satan" in a sanitized CCM market in which they were released?  So, yet again, Knott had put out another great release (I'd argue that sonically it's his greatest alternative release this side of the phenomenal "The New Sound" by Cush though this release is pure Knott) and hardly anyone was going to pick it up.

In his various iterations (solo artist, bands like Strung Gurus and Lifesavers, and collaborations like Cush and with Noah Reimer) Michael Knott has dabbled across the sound playing field.  I always thought that he is at his best when he sticks near to an alternative hard rock sound.  On "Cash In Chaos: World Tour" he drops the harder edges for most of the album and sticks with a fantastic and fascinating alternative rock sound that borrowed from the contemporary Southern California club scene at the time.  These songs are a bit slower and pay a lot of attention to the nuanced melodies that are hidden in the fractured guitars and discordant rock, the spits and the screams amongst the singing (no, this is not a screamo album).  It's got vibe and style to spare, and it is drenched in distorted guitars, and plays a little funky here and there; the bass guitar is one of the album's strongest points.  It's great stuff and deserves to be heard, but not by the timid.  Below is a track listing and some comments on the songs.

1) The Shell ~ You know that you're in for a bit of trouble when the dark strains of music come swirling out of your speakers in a leadoff track about prostitution and you are utterly captivated by the rhythm and the swirl and the builds.  Trouble!  Great track.
2) Benny ~ Another harder rocker with more of a punk vibe.  About the search for a drug to kill your time.
3) Pound of Flesh ~ With a heavy focus on a thick slab of bass "Pound of Flesh" elaborates on the theme of "The Shell" by widening its scope.  It's not just about one person engaging in an act of prostitution, it's about a systematic citywide and industry collusion to take their earnings out of both the street workers and the buyers, to keep everyone hooked and jonesing for their next fix.  It's a bit of a hypnotic song, and dizzying.
4) Confusion ~ Boasting only a repeated word in stilted fashion ("confusion") doesn't sound like the type of thing that's going to make for a good song but this is one track that offers some spunk and funk in its music mixture.
5) Red Swine ~ There's a lot of distortion, echo, and other effects on Knott's vocals throughout this album.  The lyrics for this song shimmer like light sifting through green turgid waters and I haven't been able to make them out except for the repeated chorus which clears up to "the bitter porker, the bitter swine".  The song is a tortured piece of crazy, mysterious and a bit harrowing, and utterly brilliant.
6) Radio Satan ~ Great song that perhaps places the cascading guitars too far down in the mix but the song just works.  It's the one song on the album that you might catch yourself singing out loud too in a crowded elevator...which is not what you would want to do, trust me.  The melody is pop pleasing and the beat driving especially in the follow through off of the chorus before it launches into a mix of barbed wire guitars.  Knott's vocals really shine on this song which is probably about an unscrupulous CCM industry playing the part of a white-washed tomb.
7) Yellow Sun ~ Another song that is like "Red Swine" that relies on heavy repetition.  Not nearly as interesting and the lyrics are practically incomprehensible.  The weak point of the album.
8) There's A Time ~ Knott mumbles his way through this melancholic lament that echoes the famous biblical passage in Ecclesiastes about there being a time for this and that, for everything.  The irony of this song is that this echo realizes that the time is up, it is past, it is a memory and the owner of the thoughts and the relationship that they've lost is also lost to time itself; he's done for already and doesn't even realize it.  You really need a lyric sheet for this song (not provided if I remember correctly).  The memories, like the words, are slurred.  It's a powerful and effective effect to set the mood of the song and make it memorable.
9) Spice of Life ~ And here is another song that amps up the funk, and is a quick off with a great trippy bass.  Strong on repetitive lines.
10) Everything ~ Great closing song that is like a patronage to a consuming city (Los Angeles?).  At once languishing and at the same time proclamatory.  Like on "Radio Satan" Knott sings clearly here without much affecting his voice other than the stresses he chooses to use throughout the song.  Like the addicts world which needs the support of back avenue traffic and dark alleyways, of money changing oily hands and men with dead eyes and dead souls, of a city that allows its edges and tall spirals to sparkle while being supported by the filthy underbelly, this all consuming and inclusive ode swallows its own narrator in his fading shouts and pained screams.  The guitar lines that weave throughout this song make us feel the love, the lack, the draw and the mire.  And we are tempted to believe the narrator..."you're everything!"

So a strong suit to this album is its diversity and experimentation in sound though it remains wholly cohesive in sound.  It would be at home on a dark and dirty street corner at 2 A.M. in a broken down part of Los Angeles with bars on the corner storefront windows and a wino curled up in the doorway while a drug deal is going down five feet away and a tinted window sedan drives slowly by.  It's a harrowing album about the seedy side of life, about people lost in addiction even as they are travelling into it and don't see it coming, about the subsuming of self and identity into a monstrous world that swallows the individual whole.  It's about a personal hell on earth.  And there is no redemption at the end of this album to suggest a turning of the tide; there's no savior here.  It is dark and ugly.  It would not be at home in a church...

....to think what this would have been like if it was sold in Tower Records and was one of those discs that was on the listening stations at that time!  The only real negative criticism that I can level at it is that the production thins out the sound a bit (one could always negatively criticize the thematic elements but I think that the realistic and dark spin on addiction put forth here is the whole point and why would you criticize that which doesn't deserve to be glorified and isn't being glorified?).


title: Great album.  Destined to fail.  :(

text:
First off, not just a great but a fantastic album (even if you can hear the production).  This brooding, morose but carefully crafted musical experience from a bunch of unknowns who never created a follow-up (but re-released a two disc of this album about 20 years later--it's on my to purchase list) plumbed the depths of "emo" before I think there even was "emo" music.  They took their time and produced songs that would have made The Cure proud.  Slow, sometimes tortured moments with deep resonant guitars and implacable synthesizers used to great melancholic effect sustain haunted and pensive and desirous moods.

Every song (some are just pieces of music carried to forward the emotionally wrought plot of the album) here is good but some are stellar.  I've never tired of this album and often return to it and two of the songs that I listen to repeatedly are "Drug" and "Wait".  "Drug" is a guitar drenched rocker that rises and falls with an impassioned chorus "Love!  Love is the drug!" that is stretched out into both heart-wrenching and heart-lifting pangs.  It's filled with longing, and regret, and it hits hard.  While you could easily hear the sentiments on "Drug" in a variety of other songs and through a variety of other bands I think you'll hardly ever hear a song like "Wait", not then and especially not today, in any mainstream market.  "Wait" is a heavy and knowing song, full of tension and a little torture, about keeping oneself resolutely celibate amidst the engulfing flames of sexual desire and encourages the ardent other to do the same.  This song floors me and was an important song in my teenage years not just for its subject but for those guitars...!  Filled with reverb and distortion this song could make the top 10 list of my all-time favorite songs.  Those drenched deep guitars are delicious!

There are other songs that are simply great on this release.  "Bare My Soul", "Shame Last Sunday", "Those That Kill", and especially "Grieve" are all awesome in their own respects.  Special mention goes to how Sincerely Paul closes out this release with the last three songs (the short instrumentals "Helpless" and "Close" with the long "Turnaway" being sandwiched inbetween).  This trifecta closes the album out in an unhurried and contemplative pace, giving the listener room to breathe and digest the experience they've been through.  Smart and good stuff.

But with such a great album why haven't you heard it?  And why would I tag the title "destined to fail"?  Well, first point: this was put out by a small independent label, Blonde Vinyl, pseudo-run by the infamous Michael Knott.  So a few people (very few) did hear of it but they were the very small minority who were fans of very small bands within a very small niche within the alternative Christian music scene.  These guys didn't have money to mass market and they weren't business people first and foremost anyway.  So there's that.  And then there's the band itself: Sincerely Paul.  Who were these guys?  No one knew.  And their music was not happy, peppy pop with a rock flavor.  It was slow serious, brooding, elegiac.  The music itself was already niche, playing to fans of what would become goth and darkwave.  It had an underground appeal, but how many Christian boys and girls were gravitating toward this type of sound?  100?  200?  Not many.  You get the picture.  So this band, as great as this release was, was simply destined to fall by the wayside, hardly a blip on the overall music scene.  And it's a shame because this is a great album, a great release.  These guys should have been famous.

For fans of: The Cure; Cush (circa "The New Sound"); Bauhaus; Depeche Mode; early Human Drama; Jane's Addiction.


title: Going out on a high note.

text:
This short seven song EP (featuring tracks "King Planet" "Silverlight" "Avalanche" "Lunar Wave" "Marine" "Way You Are" and "Like Rubies") is a more ambient but still dance inspired and techno-minded mix of music by musikinds Jyro Xhan & Jerome Fontamillas (formerly of Mortal fame).  They usually overdue the offerings on their regular Fold Zandura discs (why they shortened their name to Foldzan?) supplying so many songs that sound too much the same that distinct songs rarely rise to the surface.  He on "King Planet" each song has its own character breathed into it from the "face the music" electronica refrain on "Avalanche" to the dreamier aspects of album closer "Like Rubies".  Then you've got the chill vocals and backbeat echoes on "Silverlight", the punchier lead-off track "King Planet", and the buh-DE-buh-boo-bwu-bwa eerie "Marine" that segues into the female alto plus extra percussion programming of "Way You Are".  It all adds up to an easy listen and one of Fold Zanduras most effective and interesting offerings.

Too bad this turned out to be their last one.


title: You need to hear Jonathan Toledo.  You need to.

text:
The Toll were a four piece rock band that the Geffen Co., looking for the next big band who had something to say and who were willing to say it in a slightly different way, floated out to a consumer base largely set in a 3-5" radio rock format.  The Toll were marketed and felt tonally like a metal outfit although they definitely weren't in with the "hair" bands of the 1980s like Ratt and Motley Crue.  The Toll's approach to their musical musings (that fit more of a hard rock style with an undercurrent of blues) weren't about rocking the party and staying loud from start to stop but about telling jagged, ragged, and painful and nuanced stories sometimes in an almost jam style format.  Lead singer Brad Circone was certainly the heart of the band and led this particular musical march that was just as often banging-pulpit diatribe (but very much with an anti-religious view) as it was straight up hard rock.

The song that was probably most indicative of what you were getting with this band but that still would fit a radio friendly format would be "Smoke Another Cigarette".  For one thing it paid more attention to melody than most of their other songs, has a somewhat memorable refrain, and even employs saxophone to help it stand out.  It is a slow march but then none of The Toll's songs were about blistering the ears and it does contain a brief amount of spoken word up front but, importantly, it has the emotionally offsetting tone that the band so often crafted.  "Jazz Clone Clown", the album's opener, falls into a similar category but doesn't possess the poetic verse that "Smoke" managed.  The other songs of shorter (4-5") duration that all distinguished themselves in one way or another are "Soldier's Room" (use of piano), "Word of Honor" (a nicer and cleaner guitar), and "Tamara Told Me" (using what comes close to sounding like a slide guitar effect to add more of a country twang).  The last song that could be pigeoned into this category is the album closer, "Stand In Winter", a surprisingly effective and defiant bit of pathos that works really well as an album ending and encapsulation of what the listener has been through.

And what has the listener been through by album's end?  Certainly the aforementioned songs but also three epic ravaging and savage songs that veer from sung lines to free verse spoken poetry ("Jonathan Toledo", "Anna-41-Box", and "Living In The Valley Of Pain") that are sometimes hard to listen through but are incredibly compelling and (I'll say it again) epic in their format and structure (they also expose the weakness of the band as there are moments when you can simply tell that they aren't all that they could be in their musicianship).  All of these songs are interested in their social commentary from the loss of our sons and daughters to war to the cold mundanity of a loveless and emotionally abusive relationship (the harrowing "Anna-41-Box").

For my money the song that will always stand out and show the brilliance of this band is "Jonathan Toledo".  In this song the singer channels "white guilt" (but is it really guilt?) and a critique of American imperialism within it's own empire against the native peoples of this country in a song that at once feels very personal.  This song also boasts a great musical almost time unraveling intro, by far the most interesting and best bit of music on the album.  Circone war whoops, sounding like a whinnying stag, as he drives into this song and he doesn't let us let go.  And when he ventures from the poetic lines of the sung portion of the song into the free verse spoken portion of the song you know that you're listening to something special.  Here's just a little taste of the prose that you'll get in this song:

"The day began to end
I walked myself gently across the park
The elderly Indian woman
They were all lined up against the wall
I'm sure their backs felt warm
I thought to myself as I approached them
'Isn't it funny how their faces shine differently in the sun?
And I bet the reason that they have their back up against the wall
Is because they're afraid we're gonna stick another knife in 'em
And then they would really have to fall

Their blankets were simple
They were colored by different dyes
I put my hands behind me
I tried to walk confidently
And I thought, 'What right do I have to walk confidently across the lawn?'

And then they watched
Ah, their backs up against the wall
And their backs they were resting against the museum
And in the museum it said, 'Indian artifacts for sale'
HA HA HA!
By the way! We don't need to keep any artifacts around
Hey, be quiet!  We don't want the children to learn
About the real history, about the real forefathers
Let's sell all the valuables and get out of town!

And I thought to myself,
'This is a culture of shamble,
This is the culture of our hypocrisy,
This is the culture of shame!'"

Circone delivers these and the rest of the lines with piercing detail and shared emotional punctuation.  It's a tremendous song, convicting, and probably within my top 10 favorite songs of all time.  While there is other greatness on this disc this song alone for me generates 5 stars.  It's unfortunate that this band didn't follow suit on their sophomore release ("Sticks and Stones" I believe it was called), opting to play it mostly safe and sound essentially like a bar band.  They lost what it was that had made them special and then found that the bell had tolled for them; their time was up.  But this album?  This album....you just need to hear "Jonathan Toledo"....


title: We put on all the masks, then we play the game....

text:
WTH?  No reviews for this?  This is a landmark album in the Christian music market, a seminal recording from Michael Knott and his cohorts!  At a time when Christian "music" would only sing songs that had to reference Jesus in every lyric (nothing wrong with that, mind you, but they were preaching to the choir) and were all about feelings of light and goodness and happy faces Knott & co. came in and banged on the church doors and shouted about the toils, trials, and dark places that so many people really lived in and struggled with.  Songs like "Bye Bye Colour" sang darkly about depression; "Lonely Boy" about sexual addiction; the end of life, the fear of, and the defiance of death was addressed in "Our Time Has Come"; the double-dealing and emotional treachery and trickiness of life as expressed through "Shaded Pain"...there just wasn't anything else like this in the Christian market at the time and not much like this in the other markets either.  And I don't believe you'll once hear the name "Jesus" sung off of this record (although I could be wrong but it doesn't stand out) and yet LSU still points to him from amidst the darkness.  From the ashes of this and a few other groundbreakers at the time a new wave of Christian alternative artists arose and gave voice to this side of our lives and because of this we now have some fairly popular bands like Red, Skillet, Demon Hunter, and A Thousand Foot Krutch to name but a few.

But back to LSU's first album "Shaded Pain" (note: Knott had put out other albums in different incarnations prior to this rocker).  What you'll notice is that the sound of the album veers into a dark and fairly heavy though melodic atmosphere with drums up front and long lines from burning electric and electro-acoustic guitars that often get turned down a bit in the mix.  The production isn't slick but it's clean.  Though you can enjoy the music you are going to hear Knott's vocals, weary and wary, dodging and digging, strained and sprained, up front in the mix at almost all times.  At times this disc reminds me of U2's "Boy" and it parallels in a lot of (good) ways.  This is a must disc for any Michael Knott fan and you don't need to pay an arm and leg to get it; you can usually find it cheap used.

1) Jordan River ~ Great lead guitar lines on this but pay attention to the acoustic base of the song.  Rewarding and rocking.  Drums are front and center in this mix.  Knott has some fun on this one as he sings "Michael row your boat ashore".  I think that it's about the difficulty and chill that exists in and between relationships, especially romantic ones fraught with temptations.
2) Bye Bye Colour ~ Beginning with a flutter of nervous laughter and some background murmuring this song is an absolute creepy classic that deals with depression in an almost paranoid fashion.
3) Die Baby Die ~ This one dives in with a punk intensity.  The drums are muffled and the guitars gallop.  The idea of the song recalls Galatians 5:17 "For the flesh sets its desire against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh."  Someone's gotta die.
4) Lonely Boy ~ Those electro-acoustic guitars that I mentioned earlier are strongly featured in this song about the tangle of sexual addiction and emotional immaturity.
5) Our Time Has Come ~ I love the ocean swells and rises that this song engenders.  A rocker about dealing with death that is more defiant than deflated.  Knott gets a little funky and loose with his singing.
6) Tether To Tassel ~ This song has always felt a little odd and out of place to me on this album.  Knott is an insanely creative artist who has put out a lot of different types of sounds and this song feels like it would be better suited to LSU's second album, "Wakin' Up the Dead", with its thinner musical beats and more playful and varied atmosphere.  The boppy beat in TOT and poppy guitar sounds stand in stark contrast to the rest of the disc.  It's a fun song, and upbeat, and is my least favorite on the disc.
7) I'm Torn ~ Sea motifs turn up often in Knott's lyrics and we've already heard them a few times on this CD but this is the first song to make very specific and coherent use of them, likening himself to a ship on sea he's tossed and torn.  Great song!  Outside of track 10 some of his best singing on the album IMO.
8) Plague of Flies ~ This one is creative crazy.  It's distorted guitars build fast and turn into a torrential buzz that lead into Knott screaming "there's a plague of flies outside my window!"
9) More To Life ~ This trampling horse race of a song never lets up from start to finish.  The mournful dirge of "There's something more to life" is offset by Knott's anguished, wounded vocals.
10) Shaded Pain ~ Wow.  Just...wow.  This is and always will be one of Knott's standouts.  And what an important song.  Ending the album with a simple sad evocative piano line over profound and important lyrics this is just...wow.  What an absolutely fantastic song.

This last song of the LP, this title track, highlights both how and why this album was so important and heralded a turning point in the CCM of the time.  It dealt with, head on, the disturbance and difficulty of emotional fragility of the human life that we in western society at least experience.  It addresses us where we actually live, it does not put a happy face or veneer over the sadness and darkness that is inside of us, all while recognizing that there is a hope beyond us and encourages us to hold on to this hope (our relationship with God).  But this is no easy task and the road that is traveled here is dark, dangerous, and for rock fans, invigorating and potentially profound.

This is a stellar release by Knott & co.  You can hear the time of the production, perhaps, but this still stands the test of time.

Oh, and for anyone who may be wondering: LSU stands for "LifeSavers Underground".


title: U dragon U.

text:
I really rather enjoyed a little album by the band Wedding Party called "Anthems".  It is an industrial metal goth project similar in style to Savior Machine.  I understand that this album here, I-Dragon-I, is pretty much a follow up to the Weddng Party album.  I don't remember who all was in the Wedding Party band but I-Dragon-I is comprised by William Ashton Knight (the same vocalist from Wedding Party), Jamie McCavanagh (lead guitar, programming, other instruments), Sean Savacool (bass), and Libby Luckey (backing vocals).  So for those better informed than me make of this what you will.

This is not an LP but really a seven song EP.  It is a gothic slow metal industrial electronica act.  Yeah, there are heavy guitars here but they're easy to miss in the messy and scratchy production with levels set in ways that made me question the artistic choices that the band was making.  It's also different, slightly, than "Anthems" in that there is much more use of programming/ keys on this album with a wide variety of effects put on the music (including some distortion effects that detracts from the sound IMO, makes it sound messy, probably because it is applied to key programming and vocals and not guitar effects).

I'm not saying that I don't like the album.  It's okay.  I like Knight's voice quite a bit as he brings a lot of emotional feel to both his singing and vocal structuring.  Like I said, it reminds me of Savior Machine.  There's just too much of a muddled, messy sound so much so that I can't in good faith recommend this to others except as a curiosity.

Introduction ~ A slow soft lilting build with cooing female vocals that transforms into a wave of background stadium applause.
Dragonfly - Part I ~ The percussion on this song is twisted and it'll make you wonder if your speakers have earned a split.  Slow and grinding.  Background swell of synth keys is best part of song.  Too repetitive.
Angeldust ~ About PCP?  I can't tell.  But there are some tasty, deep, crunchy guitars.  One of the better songs.
ICU ~ Slow.  Depressing.
When I Fall ~ Knight reaches for it on vocals here and while he doesn't quite make it I still appreciate his efforts.  "Heaven is a place where my clipped wings will be regained.  Forever I'll hear my children laugh."  There's bubble and blubble and burping (okay, not literally) percussive and electronica background here that makes this a song that you can listen to a few times and keep hearing something newe.
Savior ~ Has the makings of a great song.  Potential for power and glory in this one.  But the processed distortion of the voice and the some of the musical elements gets in the way.  Frustrating.
Death of A Century ~ Best song on the disc.  Recalling a fallen soldier's lament.  Acoustic guitars start us out and are joined with s spacey, bendy synth wave.  It would have been better if they allowed for Knight's clean vocals but, again, they messed with them too much and made him sound like he was singing out of a zither dimension.

Overall, personally, I would give a listen to something from these guys again hoping that they were honing their craft and learning from their mistakes.  But, bottom line, they make some mistakes here and it really affects the project.  2.75 stars.


title: Human Drama's masterpiece, remastered.

text:
This album was a revelation to me, a musical turning point if you will and it will probably always remain in my top ten favorite albums and has certainly occupied the number one spot for long periods of time.  What has made this album so special to me?

There are so many things about it that they are hard to enumerate but I'll start with having discovered Human Drama through their "Feel" album.  I loved that piece of gothic rock splendor replete and awash with tortured emotions and fantastic, screaming, and pained guitar lines.  They were one of my new favorite bands and I eagerly awaited another release or any bits of news about them to come my way (this was pre-internet days and they weren't one of the most popular bands in the scene--Jane's Addiction probably took that title at the time).  In 1991 they finally released their second full-length, "The World Inside", and I gobbled it up.  I pored over it and invested in it.  I was searching for more of "Feel" but what I found instead was a lush, carefully orchestrated, passionate album that was full of restraint and picking it's moments of emotional punch carefully while weaving almost lullabye qualities into their rock.  Upon first listen the strong and sweet presence of Rita d'Albert's flute floated above and supplied many songs with tenderness and emotional sincerity, imbuing them with an almost childlike fragility.  As I listened more I could here the rock underpinnings with an electro-acoustic guitar and strong melodic bass lines.  The drums and especially percussion were used in brief blasts or for rhythym layouts instead of the previous solid hard rock melange.  And the more I listened the more I heard those wonderful strings: the violin and (whoa!) especially cello gave these songs an incredible lyrical melody that I was unfamiliar with while imbuing the songs with a far wider range of emotional palette, from subtle to deep.  It opened my eyes to how music could be so passionate and evocative and artfully done.  Of course Johnny Indovina, Jr.'s lyrics, at once poetic and sympathetic and harsh and personal, drove me into deciphering what he was talking about and asking, "Who is this man?"  [In the end I have discovered that he is a passionate, if not sad, artist who is deep in the hope of a transcendent love but is still searching for it.]  On the one hand he would pronounce "I will not take my life" in one song and then follow it with "I am fading...fading away" in the next.  So many of these songs were personal to him but many were also his way of giving voice to other people that he knew or had seen, and exploring their experiences.  And he gave them some rich voice.  And speaking of his voice he has a wonderful range that is probably richest at its baritone level and his style of singing is articulate as he enunciates his words in both the slower and quicker phrases (I know that this bugs some people but not me).  What a great vocalist.

So Indovina and co. went in a very different direction from which they had previously been headed and they gained a loyal cult following while at the same time losing the opportunity for a larger audience.  But they had created a work of sublime beauty and trembling.  And this set them on the direction that they would follow throughout the future and to the end of Human Drama.  Every song on this generous album is not at the same 5 star level but even the lesser songs contain beauty and are distinct.  If you'd care to read further below are some of my thoughts on the songs:

1) The World Inside I: Nothing Ever Changes/The Enemy/Here I Will Stay (4/5) A song in three parts, each distinctive, and all mysteriously blending together into a whole that is better than its respective parts as it turns them into something greater than they were on their own (see the individual demo versions of these songs to understand what I mean).  Transitions are easy to identify and the song really sets the tone for the album showing off its approach to strong use of melody with lullabye qualities, a steel acoustic guitar off-set against itself in levels about three notes apart, and the use of the flute fluttering in and out.  Meanwhile Johnny's voice sounds passionately positioned between defiance and uncertain submission.  The one disappointment with this introductory offer is how it will cut off prematurely if you try to play it by itself as it doesn't simply directly feed into part II but part II flows out of it.
2) The World Inside II (4/5) If part I was less rock and more folk oriented part II, with putting emotional emphasis points by way of thump-tump-tump! drum bursts, is more rock than folk.  Indovina is also joined with other band members singing on the chorus giving this song less of a personal feel that part I had and more of a pointed generalization.
3) My Skin (5) That sense of growing old in our skin while I mind recalls our youth, that elusive trickster of memory vying with time, is perfectly captured in this song.  Musically this feels like a march, which is appropriate as it fits with the theme of time passing.  The percussion is used to good effect and helps carry you along the river of mild symphony.
4) Tears (3.5/5) "Tears" has a jaunty buoyed feel to it that belies its lyrical content of mourning a lost love while still remaining hopeful that what once was might become again.  The flute again lends a soft, breezy feel to the song.
5) Look Into A Stranger's Eyes (4/5) The most straightforward rocker on the album and it's effective but still distinctive and unlike rock songs of the time with its strong use of cello and violin adding great layers of listening enjoyment to the driving thrum of this song about a person trying to find themselves by losing their identity in another romantic liaison.
6) This Tangled Web (5) U2 has so many great songs and "With Or Without You" is one of their best and most enigmatic songs.  "This Tangled Web" is probably Humand Drama's "With Or Without You" (only less enigmatic).  The treatment to Johnny's voice gives it a cold quiver, the strings convey a lush and welcoming robe of warmth and the background acoustic strum of the guitar upholds an actual elegance that is later translated into a lovely electric guitar, and the bass dances just off enough in the distance musedly.  The melodies build on to each other and the sweet tender understanding of the oft bitterness of life is gorgeously rendered and will sweep you up and away.  One of their absolute best songs bar none.
7) Winter's Life (5) One of the slowest and quietest songs on the album is one of my absolute favorite songs for its understated lyricism and the sole song on the album that carries clearly the tender and fragile seeds of hope that still sustain us.  "I'll suffer the wind/ And with each shiver remember/ Winter is not the end, only a reminder/ That a brilliant day is on the horizon/ And as each year goes by/ So builds my treasure of love".
8) Fascination & Fear (4.5/5) A compelling song and a different sound with a high-pitched bass and a high vibratory effect given to the electric guitar.  Indovina shares vocals on this song with Patrick Mata from the band Kommunity FK, as well as male and female band members on the chorus.  This helps "Fascination & Fear" stand out from the pack.  There's also a great deal of sympathy supplied to the character that inhabits this song, someone who is being drawn toward a world (the sense here is sexual) that is forbidden to them both morally and socially.  A compelling song.
9) A Million Years (4.5/5) The pleasant slow-build of this number adds to the sense of it being a hopeful love song despite the lyrics stripping the protagonist down.  Great broad lyrics that are relayed from a personal space allow us to step in and join Indovina in his sentiment of being able to wait for that one true love to come along.  At the 3:30 mark there is a beautiful musical break that helps push the transcendent feeling up and over the wall that this song builds toward.  This song had the earmarks of a potential radio hit.
10) Color Me Red (3/5) My least favorite song on this LP is by no means a poor song.  For the overall tempo of this disc this is a mid-tempo number and contains the elements of violin and a steel string acoustic guitar.  It has the misfortune of sitting between two stellar songs.
11) Father Sing (5) An enigmatic rocker with a belted, shiver-inducing chorus sung from the POV of a woman or girl who is remembering the strength and courage that her now deceased father has imbued in her.  I love to sing to this one!
12) The Sound of the Rain (4/5) This echoey, cavernous slow muse speaks of the fragility of love.
13) Voices (3.5/5) This song has a strident chorus and features a stronger lead guitar line.  It keeps in line with its repeated theme of defiance in the face of tragedy.
14) Fading Away (4.5/5) A surprisingly strong song because of the oft repeated melody and a conveyance that we sometimes live in the shadow of our parents, never attaining to what they have provided us, and emotionally withdrawing from being an adult.
15) Times Square (4.5/5) The lone cover (HD always includes a cover on their albums) is a slow, quiet, pensive take on the Marianne Faithful song and it ends the album on a haunted but satisfying note.
16) [demo] Nothing Ever Changes (2.5/5) The sound quality on all of the demos is sketchy at best.  What is of interest is that the concept of songs 16-18 were each thought of or approached as separate songs.  There are some differences in lyrics here, but not much in structure, as found in the final product.  But because of the poor sound quality I can't recommend any of these and they detract significantly from the overall product.  I won't comment further on these demo songs.
17) [demo] The Enemy (2.5/5)
18) [demo] Here I Will Stay (2.5/5)
19) [demo] This Tangled Web (2.5/5)

About the reissue: What makes this "necessary" to the fan or the first time buyer is the remastering.  On the original recording the recording process, especially a prevalent hiss across the songs, can be heard far too easily even at low volumes.  This has largely been done away with here and it sounds much cleaner.  As mentioned above the extra songs were a mistake--they detract instead of add as these rough demos are but pale shadows of what they were to become.  The second piece to this reissue is the included DVD.  It includes the videos from the formerly VHS cassette only release of "Human Drama: The World Inside Videos" as well as some live footage from a circa 1991 (? around that time anyway) World Inside concert tour at Los Angeles' The Troubador club.  The videos (coming off of an unfortunately flawed VHS copy apparently judging by some of the blips and hiccups in them) are fascinating and vary in quality.  They include the songs: This Tangled Web; Fascination and Fear; Fading Away; My Skin; Father Sing; Look Into A Stranger's Eyes.  If you've ever seen the VHS comp then you know that there were interstitials in there between the songs, clips of Johnny walking and talking about his thoughts on the songs, their meanings, and history of where they came from.  This hasn't been transferred over and that's too bad as those interstitials were very informative, interesting, and also made Johnny look like he was a bit full of himself at the time!  The live footage comprises the following songs: The World Inside I; The World Inside II; My Skin; Tears; Look Into A Stranger's Eyes; This Tangled Web; Fascination and Fear; A Million Years.  Personally, as a fan who's never seen the full band, I appreciated these videos even though they were recorded on some low-quality recorder that picked up other people's conversations at time (it wasn't professionally recorded).  It also really highlighted just how much the cello and violin and flute tremendously impact this album and these songs in particular.

You still can't go wrong if you pick up the original release but, if you are an interested customer and have a choice, why not get more for less by purchasing this one?


title: Slide on.

text:
7 worship oriented songs by the Christian alternative rock band Circleslide.  Some of these songs can be found on one of their previous releases so, if you're a fan, you're not getting as much as you would probably think that you're getting.  Mostly unremarkable.  It would be better to get their original albums if you're interested as their bent is to create alternative rock worship songs.

1) My Reward ~ originally released on "Uncommon Days"
2) God of Wonders ~ new to this recording.  Not a very compelling version of this song IMO
3) Be Thou My Vision ~ A classic hymn
4) Sometimes By Step ~ new to this recording
5) Blessed Be Your Name ~ a popular contemporary Christian praise song
6) A Mighty Fortress Fortress Is Our God ~ A classic hymn.  Best thing on the disc.  Certainly the most compelling
7) In the Light of the Morning Star ~ originally released on "Uncommon Days"

Note: I received a free copy of this recording.


title: Urban classical alternative folk rock...huh?  And it's good to boot!

text:
I have a soft spot for this album.  If I remember correctly I bought this off of some guy walking shopdoor to shopdoor selling them on the street.  Never had heard of this band before and haven't heard from them since.  I know that they were based out of Washington State, probably Seattle, and the music on this CD is what you'd call maybe urban classical alternative folk rock.  Huh???  Yep!  That's what I said!  There are reworked short classical pieces...snippets, really, amidst songs that range in almost Appalachian folk aesthetic to moderate rockers with horns providing some twists here and there.  I think that a couple of the guys trade off on vocals and one of them, when they are singing in a sideways cat strangle that I find oddly appealing, sounds a bit to me like a lead singer off of a band called "Hot Pink Turtle".

There are some fine songs on this album including the caterwauling "Hear My Prayer", the flute-infused "Ponderance" (lovely), and the melody prayer of "Eastern Sky".  Plenty more too.  I would love to hear this independent project with some great production behind it.  14 songs totaling nearly 54" of music.

The main members were Todd Gibson, Bradley Hutcheson, and a Kurt Spann with several other guest musicians.  They showed a lot of unique potential and throw in a lot of variety.  I'll always like returning to this.


title: I may be their biggest...and only...fan!

text:
I'm going to start this review that will never be seen by saying that I would rarely recommend this offering, Level Heads' "Momento Mori" CD, to friends though I like it a great deal.  Why?  Well, for a variety of reasons.  (1)  The lead singer doesn't have great range nor does he have a great voice, merely adequate, though the emotions do come through.  (2)  The music is oddly arranged.  I get the sense that the musical direction of this disc comes from a jazz background though this is clearly rock.  Still, the arrangements are unusual and sparse (the songs carry a more stripped down vibe; it would be interesting to see this album done by another band that creates a full sound) and quite honestly some of the instrumentation, especially the guitars at times, sound out of tune or are tuned strangely.

So, given these recognitions, why does this appeal to me so much?  Quite simply because of its unique offering, the sense of adventure, and due to lyrics that impressed my then 20-year-old soul.  The album starts out with a variety of voices coming in speaking in different languages before settling into an easy, mildly funky groove.  The lyrics are topical and range from current events (for the time, 1988), to loneliness, to living a life of honesty and sincerity, to fighting for your identity.  While released within the Christian market you could easily listen to this CD and miss the spiritual imports that some of these songs convey.  My favorite song is "Emancipation" which can be either a declaration of independence and defiance against that which is evil or it can be a song of general rebellion.  Surrounding this song are two other moving songs, "Live No Lie" and "More Than This".  "The Train" ends on a musical note that echoes a train clacketing down along the tracks and morphs into the actual sound before fading out; a nice touch.

Level Heads never put out another album to the best of my knowledge.  For any fans of the Christian alternative scene back then you will find guest vocals or instruments being provided by Gene Eugene and Annica Svennson and Riki Michelle (Adam Again), piano and keys by Joey Taylor (Undercover), and tenor sax by Dan Michaels (The Choir).  Michaels' sax if instantly recognizable to fans otherwise the rest of the guest appearances, including Eugene's usually easy to peg vocals, are only to be known by way of the liner notes.

I'm so happy to have this on CD (my cassette is loooong gone)!  I'm surprised it ever got tracked to CD truth to tell, and I'm glad it did.  And if somebody ever actually comes across this review and reads it I'll be shocked!