As a North American it can be weird to review the career of Paul Weller. Not only did The Jam, The Style Council and his solo career never break big, even his cult following here never had the sheer obsessiveness of say, a Morrisey or a Robert Smith. While I see Weller is one of the greatest English song-writers of all time (heady company, indeed), I've always felt part of a fairly soft-spoken minority. Now back home in England Weller is revered as "The Modfather", patron saint of every Englishmen with a ringing guitar and a sneering hook. So watching this excellent documentary on the man's career can be both bewildering and faith-affirming - enjoy!
By 1994, Wreckelss Eric (more HERE) had created another short-lived ensemble, oddly
named, the Hitsville House Band. There's no drastic change in the Wreckless one's sound on the group's lone
album, 12:00 Stereo, other than
Eric's delving deeper into American country music. Like his first
producer, Nick Lowe, Eric's work has always been inflected with steely
melodies and emotional nakedness of country song-writing. "Guitar-Shaped
Swimming Pool" (with its tip of the Stetson to Webb Pierce) and
"Friend's on the Floor" (which squashes most Nashville song-writing
beneath it's heel) represent the gut-bucket country aspect of the album.
While raw, primal rock n' country courses through the album's grooves, Eric
hasn't stopped writing pop songs like, "The Girl With the Wandering
Eye", a devastatingly melodic post-mortem on love lost.
The Hitsville House Band were, according, to the liner notes:
DENIS BAUDRILLART -- drumset and maracas
ERIC GOULDEN -- succession of crapped-out guitars and organs, vocal
FABRICE LOMBARDO -- double bass, bass guitar, Javanese toe flute
André Barreau -- extra guitars, harmony vocals
Michael Lembach -- trumpet
Christoph Linder -- tenor & baritone saxes
MRML Readers,whaddaya think of this particular phase in Eric's ever-shifting muddle!!
Much of The Dropkick Murphys (more HERE) surprising success is attributable to their focus on making giant-sized punk-folk-rock sound work both in arenas/stadiums/diamonds and movie theaters. By bringing the likes of the Bruins and Scorsese to their side, they've been able to prosper in this musician-unfriendly century. Whether you think they're simply formulaic or impressively consistent (as I do) you have to admire their survival skills.
Narduar the Human Serviette (who we've discussed at length HERE) has a new compilation out, which incudes a cranking 1:47 blast called "Bunk' from own band, The Evaporars!
MRML is a blog about the devestating effects of culture: music, politics, comics plus etc. blah blah blah. At times MRML will post fine, unpurchasable three-chord obscurica (punk, pop-punk, new wave, mod, power-pop, gospel, reggae, hardcore, rockabilly, folk, country...whatever.) - - - - - - "The otherwise unavailable files in this blog are posted for a limited time and are intended for educational, non-commercial use. These files were transcribed from what are believed to be out-of-print sources. If you are aware of any of these items being readily available from commercial sources, or if any of these files infringe upon rights that you hold, please notify us so that we can quickly remove the referenced items immediately." - - - SUPPORT THE ARTISTS - BUY MUSIC!
If you have any questions or music to donate you can contact me at musicruinedmylife (at) gmail (dot) com
Re: Re-Ups
MRML does not plan to restore all of the content lost in The Great Mediafire Gutting of 2012. Polite requests may be made in the appropriate section, regular commenters will get priority.
