A hippy homily for us...
FAMILY DOGG
A-side: Way Of Life
B-Side: Arizona
(Br. Music 1969)
You probably be pleased to find out that I know nothing about The Family Dogg, or indeed Steve Rowland who has his name credited first on this edition of the record. (Just some pointless trivia here - this record is normally credited to just The Family Dogg, but my copy has decided to put Steve Rowland in a place of prominence - don't know why, presumably Steve had had a hit somewhere and this re-release was aimed to cash in on that, who knows?).
I think that the picture on the sleeve tells us everything we need to know about them. A group of four "with-it" looking folks with a dog, and a suavely dressed man who likes he's desperate to get away from the rest of them. (my money's on him being Steve Rowland, it's got to be him or the dog). Interestingly of the two other men in the photo, one has definitely captured the late 60's zeitgeist by looking like Jason King (look it up if you don't know what I'm on about), and the other (the dude with the hat) looks like Captain Sensible, just 10 years too early. Anyway enough of this procrastination, you probably want to know what the record sounds like, unless you've already guessed from the picture!
Way Of Life is a gentle folksy number that you can sway along to easily. It's a bit of a list song - basically saying it takes all types and we should accept one another whoever they are, because that's life and that way we'll all get on. It's essentially a good message, but wrapped up in such twee, naive idealism, that you can't help but look at it slight askance. The song itself manages to re-engage the listener just at the point when you're about to give it up, with a sudden injection of a brassy uptempo bit in the middle, which kicks a bit of life back into the thing, before it then returns to gently sway itself to the end of the song. One further thought before flipping the record over onto the b-side; "Schoolgirls dating, daughters mating" is one of the oddest lyrics that I've ever encountered, I get what they're saying, but that phraseology is distinctly strange, and just a little bit creepy.
In the old days when I made mix tapes for myself, I would make some thematic ones. I'm pretty sure that I made on with place names in it, Arizona was not one of place-named songs that made it to that tape. There's quite a lot going on in this song, but it doesn't all gel together to make a coherent whole. It starts of as West Coast Soft Rock style, and then introduces some interesting psychedelic guitar into the mix. However this fights against the string section - the effect is awkward rather than complementary. The song seems to be going for the epic Jimmy Webb style balladeering, but not quite managing it. The tweeness of the a-side is mirrored by an undercurrent of sentimentality that runs through this song. It's pleasingly time-passing, but not something that would make me wish to pursue anything else by this group, (maybe if the dog split-off and made a solo album the I would go for that.)
Ultimately a bland, if not unpleasant experience, it probably felt relevant and deep for a few months in 1969, but time has left it behind, and it is now little more than an historical curio.
Next time we rock out on the periphery of goth...
Some studio based ambient sounds...
ART OF NOISE
A-side: Art Of Love
B-Side: Heart Of Love
(China 1990)
I first heard the Art Of Noise when they released a version of Peter Gunn with Duane Eddy (more of which in another entry), then of course they did Kiss with Tome Jones. So far so good - my impressions of them were that they were basically a bunch of composers/technicians/engineers producing dancey records with some old stars. I delved a bit more and found out that yes they were as described but without the former mega-stars they seemed much more interested in soundscapes and doing different things with noise and music. This is why I bought this record.
According the label on the record Art of Love is composed of 4 movements. I may be displaying my ignorance here - but I couldn't make out any differentiation between these movements in the record - they flow so seamlessly that it seems to be one big whole. It all starts off with a kicking dances beat with dreamy ambient sounds over the top, with occasional wordless vocals wander in and out of the sound. Inevitably there's a crashing of waves noise that appears as a motif during the record. Art of Love is one of those slightly trippy, blissed out dance records that were so popular in the early 90's. You can imagine clubs full of people doing a knee-bending, shoulder-shrugging, heading-nodding, all stood on the spot kind of a dance to this.
The b-side is called Heart of Love (can you see what they did there?), and is a remix of the a-side. Time was, I'd have gone off on a right old rant about how re-mixes were a load of old nonsense, and a waste of time, and basically a way of the uninspired and uncreative to put out another tune without having to do anything extra themselves, and at the same time making the poor record buying public shell out for the same thing multiple times over. I've grown out of that and have mellowed out of that stance - as I've come to realise that re-interpretation of something is a valid and creative act in itself and can produce things that are exciting and new out of something else entirely. If you think about it classical composers have been writing variations on a theme by someone else for centuries, or taking it out if the world of music you have Warhol's infinite variety of soup cans and Marilyn Munroes. Back to Heart of Love - who better to do a remix than a bunch of studio boffins - they do actually produce something that is a different and new interpretation of Art of Love. Initially it feels like there's more energy on this b-side, there's a repetitive refrain at the start that chugs away throughout the entire record. It seems to take ages before any rhythm kicks in - it's constantly building and building, we get more crashing waves in the background, and just when my patience is wearing thin with the repetition, we get some bongo and wailing action. This is good, but doesn't last long, because it's soon back to the same short refrain again. I had the kettle boiling in the background whilst I was listening to this - and the sounds just blended straight in.
In the end it's a record that tries to be both populist and experimental at the same time and doesn't really achieve either.
Next time some wistful hippies...
Proto- stadium rock from...
THRASHING DOVES
A-side: Lorelei
B-Side: Girl Called Houdini
(A&M 1988)
In the late 80's there were a lot of bands of a similar ilk to Thrashing Doves. Big guitar sounds with pretensions to epicness. However for every U2 or Simple Minds there were many bands who never quite made it to filling out arenas. Bands who were, in general, too poppy and mainstream for the alternative music press to champion, and yet not quite mainstream enough to find daytime radio play. These are the bands who fell through the cracks - some were great, some were awful, and some were plain mediocre. Thrashing Doves were one of these bands.
Lorelei is quite rocky in outlook - but very 80's soft rock. Filled with the obligatory synthesizer stings and yearning, almost wistful vocals. This is a requiem to unrequited love - a bit of a soft rock cliche - but it's done well in this case. There's a nice little guitar solo in the middle which I didn't expect and elevates the song somewhat. I was surprised at how much I like this - although maybe I shouldn't have been because I do have another couple of Thrashing Doves singles - so I must have thought something of them at one point. Other than that it's a bit ordinary, a not distinctive.I could easily listen to this kind of thing without complaining, on the other hand it really wouldn't register much as more than background music. The mysterious woman on the cover is both intriguing and enticing - I wouldn't go as far as to say that's why I bought this record. It may have been a contributing factor though.
A Girl called Houdini is the b-side of this single. It's starts with some feedback over a gentley strummed guitar. I'm nodding along thinking that at any moment this is going to rock out big time. It never quites get there - although it doesn't lose momentum in doing so. It is harder and rockier than Lorelei, and is probably better than the a-side. There's some very nice keyboard work, and the vocals really suit the song, especially in the chorus. I just get the feeling that it never quite delivers what it is promising.
Good enough, then, but could do better.
Next time we've got something that maybe ambient dance...
