Bob Dylan in Bologna, 7.11

Since the mobile phones are locked away in a small container that is uselessly dangling from our necks, the sense of expectation keeps growing. Some people are having loud conversations in Italian, some are reading their paper tickets, some are staring into half-empty beer glasses, some are doing crossword puzzles. We are all coping the way we can. It is half past eight, and Bob Dylan will be on that stage in thirty minutes or so. 

It is, in fact, very much not 'or so'. He is there at nine o'clock sharp entering the stage inauspiciously in his yellow hooded jacket that renders his face virtually invisible. The well-trodden "Watching The River Flow" opens the show, and suddenly the floodgates are open. All those years of waiting, millions of hours of listening to him and dissecting the lyrics and marvelling at the melodies, those long weeks of expecting either Trump or Putin to start the third world war, and then those unbearable last few days of demented thoughts like what if he doesn't make it (or, indeed, what if I collapse on the slippery pavement of Bologna and bash my head in a few hours before the show) - all of this is gone now, and I relax into it with a joyful heartbeat and a few tears. It is all happening, finally.

I always say that there is a certain moment during every show that hits you particularly hard. All the stars are aligned and for a minute or two you are at your most emotional and perceptive. For me, this moment comes during the second song, when Dylan rips into the lyrics of "Love Sick". There really is something about that song that feels real, and raw, both for Dylan and for the audience. He bites into those words, they roll - beautifully - from his tongue. Or else he spits them out. There is so much to that song. I can't believe, quite frankly, that he is doing "Love Sick" - even if he does it at every show. In Rome, in Paris, in Ljubljana. My face is all red and it feels like I'm running a fever.

Oddly, my mind is not wandering in the course of the concert as it does sometimes during other shows. Not even when the band does extended instrumental sections of generic blues covers - I'm focused on the hooded silhouette and try to mend those fragile vocal cords and grasp the half-heard lyrics and reimagined melodies. Or, rather, it wanders only a couple of times. First, to try to comprehend (although how could you) that this is the very same man who inspired everyone, from John Lennon to Don DeLillo. Second, to try to conflate this huge roaring arena and those small clubs in Greenwich Village where he used to perform to twenty people more than 65 years ago.

Mostly, though, I'm here to admire the band (who are tight, and very fucking loud) and the fact that "Tryin' To Get To Heaven" sounds so wonderfully upbeat these days. And "Under The Red Sky", with a fiery harmonica solo, is all of a sudden a great song. And the sentimental, surprising "Sugar Baby" is performed for the first time in more than a decade. There is no banter between the songs. No breaks. Applause seems misjudged, and misplaced.

It is not a perfect setlist. Ask a million people to make a perfect Dylan setlist, and none of them will come up with anything remotely similar to his choices. Still, he does four songs from Time Out Of Mind (which I love) and performs two songs that got onto my recent list of Dylan's ten best songs (a speechlessly beautiful "Tangled Up In Blue" and the aforementioned "Love Sick"). And besides, who even cares about our opinions?.. We are there to admire and appreciate, really, and whisper and whoop ecstatically when there is a line that we recognise. He only does it his way, of course, and his way is rather dark these days. "Tryin' To Get To Heaven". "Black Rider". "Not Dark Yet". "Soon After Midnight". And then, somewhat desperately and euphorically, we end on "I Shall Be Released" that has hundreds of frantic Italians rushing to the stage.

There is a short, and rather naive, wait for an encore. He doesn't do those. He does a brief nod and then leaves. The lights are on again. I've been waiting my whole life for this, and now it is over. 

October Round-Up

Well, The Age Of Everything is as toothless as good music gets, and that, I believe, has been the story of Johnny Marr's solo career. He is a great guitar player but his songwriting has always lacked personality. The album is fine, I guess, and Mojo and Uncut will probably give it four stars. 5/10

Shovel Dance Collective play evocative folk music which straddles the fine line between accessible and ‘difficult’. Everything In Readiness, their third album, features jigs and reels that are steeped in noise and drones with beautiful melodies coming out of them. Quite an experience. 7/10

Teenage Fanclub is one of those bands whose new albums I listen to out of sense of duty. God knows when I was last excited about their music (20 years ago? 25? I'm afraid to look). Do Not Dare To Dream sounds exactly the way you think it sounds: mellow, pleasant, overly polite power pop that doesn't even try to be great. It is too caught up in its jangly, strummy goodness. Still, it is probably better than their last couple of albums. There's some meat here, some substance, some hooks that do come through. That said, even the album's best stuff ("Be With You Tonight") would barely make it onto this band's 90s b-sides. 6/10

I haven’t been impressed by a Richard Thompson album in years, and there is hardly anything impressive about Hippies, Thugs and Heroes. Still, what an engaging collection of songs that alternates masterfully between ballads and rockers. The sombre, timeless “Make Believe You Don’t Know Me” is a new folk classic reminiscent of his best work. 7/10

While the first side of Fontaines DC's new album is cohesive and consistent, it is also mostly bland. The songs have nice atmosphere and decent melodies but they don’t really go anywhere. Which is why I actually welcome the somewhat disruptive nature of “Tongue” that tries to spice things up a little (that said, this chipmunk nonsense is never a good idea). At which point, all of a sudden, Dopamine Chamber becomes interesting. “One Man” has more bite and substance than what was on side A. “Where Is Gone?” and “You Miss Me” (just a great pop song) are clear highlights. “Japan” is a little predictable but still charming and tuneful. As for “Intimate”, it may indeed be their weakest closer ever - but only because the competition is so strong. The song is probably the closest this album comes to that proverbial catharsis. Overall I’d rate it about the same as Romance. 7/10

I have come to The Olivia Tremor Control quite late, when two of its musicians are dead and the band no longer exists. What remains is this collection of songs recorded between 1988 and 2026. The Same Place is good melodic pop music infused with 60s psychedelia and love for The Beatles. For a 27-song album, this is remarkably consistent - even if nothing here feels essential. 7/10

Quite fittingly, Michael Gira ends this latest incarnation of Swans with a 160-minute live album. Is Newly Sentient Being even more dark and gruesome than ever? Not really, and quite frankly The Seer has never really been topped. Still, this is one hell of a listen (duh). The final third of “The End Of Forgetting” is achingly beautiful. 8/10

Bizarrely, though, my favourite album of the month was released by Ed Blaney, Simon Archer and the ghost of Mark E. Smith (not that the latter would necessarily agree to its release). More about it here. 8/10

Songs of the month:

"Irish Northern Man" by The Fall*

"Make Believe You Don't Know Me" by Richard Thompson

"You Miss Me" by Fontaines DC

"Who Are We Talking To?" by Peter Gabriel

"Designed For Use" by Guided By Voices

"The End Of Forgetting" by Swans

"Jer The Rigger" by Shovel Dance Collective

"The Spinning Continuous" by The Olivia Tremor Control

"I It Am" by Susanne Sundfør

"Be With You Tonight" by Teenage Fanclub

*not The Fall

Peter Hammill in Warsaw, 27.09

"To już koniec", says an old Pole to another one minute after the somewhat disturbing encore. The man is standing there, lost and confused, his face wet with tears. "This is the end". And it was, indeed, a goodbye. Peter Hammill practically said as much. 

One hour and a half earlier, though, it was all just beginning. In his classic loose-hanging white clothes he entered the stage of Palladium Hall in Warsaw, sat at the piano and banged away at "Don't Tell Me" from Patience (1983). It is the sort of magic you have to get used to. The piano sounds beautiful, really distinct, but the melodies are rarely within your grasp. They float around, they tease, they hit you across the face and then disappear. The first set is all piano, and it is mostly his pounding solo ballads (with one Van Der Graaf Generator rarity titled "Mirror Images"). The highlight is probably "The Descent", the hard-hitting closer off From The Trees. 

He then switches to the acoustic guitar for what is the heaviest section of the concert - the strumming so powerful he has to tune up after each performance. He barely speaks, and only occasionally introduces a song ("kind of a love piece") or thanks the audience (which screams wildly when they recognise an intro). Again, this is not easy listening, and you have to come to terms with Hammill's unique and rather unsettling musical textures. Really, the most straightforward thing you are going to get all night is the crushing chorus of "Comfortable" that is as vicious and powerful an attack on organised religion as you can imagine.

Finally, we are back to the piano set that includes an excellent rendition of the crowd-pleasing "Still Life" and the disarmingly pretty ballad from the new album called "So Much Water". A world premier for the latter, no less. 

It is interesting that the set is completely different from the one he did in Kraków one night ago, and I'm a little upset that this time he didn't do "For A Rainy Day" or anything from Nadir's Big Chance (his greatest album, still), but you are not going to get any compromises from the man. He will do things the way he wants. He will not repeat a single song from last night's show. He will not do "Refugees". And for a brief encore, he will say that nobody knows what the future brings and perform a sweetly devastating a cappella version of "Again". 

Truly you can only get but a small glimpse of the great man, and I'm so happy I finally did. 

Post Script

 

I can't claim that my head is completely free from narratives but my aim has always been to see artistic creations as something that has fallen from the sky. This idea has some serious downsides, of course, for what if Adolf Hitler recorded a power pop album in his bunker and it turned out to be good? Would you be able to say that it's good? I mean, thank God the guy was a terrible painter. 

It was certainly a mistake and in bad taste to brand Post Script 'the official final Fall album'. It is not the final Fall album. Or even a Fall album. It is Ed Blaney and Simon Archer taking the vocal recordings from of Mark E. Smith and building songs around them. There is no AI involved, no trickery. Just great songs: rough, twisted, inventive, repetitive, catchy. They feel finished, too. The song titles are way too clean, of course, as is the cover, but if a nuclear war wiped out all life on our planet and an alien found this LP, the said alien would love it. The said alien would not know about any narratives. The said alien would not know that there was an actual uproar when former Fall members decided to team up and form a band called House Of All ('how dare they?!?'). 

He would absolutely love the intriguing, protean "Irish Northern Man". He would not pick up on the subtle similarities between "The Book" and "The Garden", though. And that's a shame. I found it very poignant.

 

September Round-Up

I guess I just don't hear it. Every time that I try to get into Protomartyr, they sound like a solid, competent, extremely one-dimensional post-punk band. In the past, they did occasionally do things that felt a little bit more intriguing ("Make Way") but Hotel Usona is a bit of a slog. Lots of self-belief and conviction and not enough songwriting chops. 5/10

There was a point during my first listen to the opening song on Tears In Time when I thought I’d found my album of the year. “For A Rainy Day” sounds like a classic Peter Hammill ballad. With a stark, complex melody that manages to be both elusive and impossibly beautiful. The rest of this new album is not quite as hard-hitting but it is still a late-career peak for the man. Particularly strong are the singles (the groovy “Heavy Weather” and the melodic and disarmingly beautiful “So Much Water”) and the surprisingly direct rocker “Red Flag (In The Sunset)”. But it is all good, really, once you settle into his unique, unsettling rhythm. 7/10

Sugar On Blackstone won’t win Kristin Hersh any new fans, but for my money these are her best, most nuanced songs in years. There’s a sense of beautiful tension to the album, and subtle orchestration works really well. The album opens very strongly and then teases with a couple of slow-burning, melodic highlights in the second half (“Sundial”, “Dom In Orange”). Excellent stuff, just don’t expect another Hips and Makers. 7/10

Half-Told Tales, really, is just as good as the previous two by the band. Intoxicating, catchy, utterly depressing. The only difference is that this new album is a little longer - with no less than 14 songs. That said, I don’t think there is any filler here (well, perhaps the short story “Under Offer” could qualify, but that’s it). My favourite is probably the ecstatic, protean “Dollar Park” that feels like an Arab Strap-styled suite. Lots of lyrical jewels, obviously. One of the albums of the year. 8/10

The Neil Young album that I’m most reminded of when I listen to Second Song is Harvest Moon, and that is a big compliment as that particular LP is among his very best. No dirty-ass Crazy Horse rockers here, just beautiful plaintive balladry. The two longest songs are the best (“Soon I Might Be Going” in particular is a late-career peak) but it is all very even. There’s a definite lack of variation here, and you will probably recognise some of the melodies from earlier albums, but who can resist that soulful voice?.. 7/10

I would argue that Feminine Divine by Dexys Midnight Runners had worse production but better songs. LOVE (very possibly their last album) definitely sounds good but, other than the singles, the songs themselves just don't impress. A very tasteful, warm sounding album that compromises on the edge a little. 6/10

Gilla Band used to be called Girl Band. The change was unnecessary (you can guess why they did it - bless you if you can't), but it's all in the past now. This is the second album from this Irish band released under the new name, and Pugnello is getting acclaim from all sorts of places. It is all noise, quite colourful and cathartic. If Mark E. Smith ever wanted to go into noise rock direction, the Fall might have sounded something like this. I might try to catch them on a tour early next year, this  probably makes more sense in a live setting. 6/10

Listen to Beck's new album back-to-back with Sea Change and weep... Ride Lonesome is a little better than Morning Phrase but that’s damning with faint praise. It’s a uniformly pleasant listen (oddly, Beck’s sharpest songwriting can be found in the final third of the album) but choosing between an introspective classic and “tasteful but boring” I’d probably go for the latter. Modern Guilt feels centuries away at this point. 6/10

I wish there was something interesting I could say about M83's new album I Wrote You A Letter. All I can manage, though, is that it is lush and ambient and makes for a nice background listen. 6/10 

Same with Blondshell's new album Violins (she is rather prolific). There is some sweet guitar-based indie singer-songwriting stuff going on here ("Fur Elise", for instance, is a slow-burning beaut), but the sound is a little too monotonous and the hooks a little formulaic. 6/10

Songs of the Month:

"For A Rainy Day" by Peter Hammill

"Soon I Might Be Going" by Neil Young

"Dollar Park" by Arab Strap

"Face The Wall" by Peter Gabriel

"Sundial" by Kristin Hersh

"The Music Of The Spheres" by Johnny Flynn

"You've Got The Love" by Dexys Midnight Runners

"Blister Sunrise" by M83

"Falling Through My Hands" by Beck

"Fur Else" by Blondshell

August Round-Up

It's one of the two: either I'm getting too hard to please when it comes to new music or this year has just been very poor. 

Back when I was 25 or so, I was writing reviews for Oxford Music Magazine, and one of the first pieces I ever did was on Lambchop's Mr. M. It had this odd but stylish black and white cover and the songs were slight but very haunting. Punching The Clown, Kurt Wagner's latest, is very similar but this country-tinged indie music just feels toothless and brittle. There is no real bite, just monotonous pleasantness. 5/10

Westside Cowboy is this hot new British band critics are falling in love with. The guys have good, confident sound but the songwriting is just not there yet. The opener of It Goes On rides quite beautifully on a Velvets inspired groove (think "Rock and Roll" and "What Goes On") but the rest doesn't leave much of an impression. Still, a decent debut, all things considered, and it will be interesting to see where they go from here. 6/10

I had been really looking forward to the Afghan Whigs' new album, and while Self Control is not quite as punchy as their three comeback albums (or, for that matter, Greg Dulli's underrated solo album from 2020), the quality control is still there. The album is very even with no filler and few standouts. Sort of grungy pop with an edge. 7/10

The new Jayhawks album, Sanctuary Park, felt different: the highs were high and the lows were mediocre. The opening "Keeping Our Heads Above Water" is the sort of memorable, anthemic alt-country they used to be so good at (think "Waiting For The Sun") and "Familiar Strangers" is a knockout pop tune that sounds like a cross between Crosby, Stills and Nash and late-period (but good!) Teenage Fanclub. The remaining songs are drenched in vocal harmonies and overall goodness but just don't feel too inspired to me. 6/10

Also, I keep not caring about Interpol. I will grant them the debut which showed some dreamy post-punk promise - but that was almost 25 years ago now. Outside the catchy single "See Out Loud", The Mirror Weighs A Ton is severely lacking in the songwriting department. Plus, the whole thing is way too long. 5/10

Thank God for Kiwi Jr. Blowin' Up, their latest, is yet another masterful set of tuneful, jangly indie rock. Jeremy Gaudet is a fantastic songwriter who sings in vocal hooks. Plus, Brian Murphy keeps adding these wonderful keyboard runs all over the place. They are playful, too, and not just lyrically. They do some clever tricks with time signatures on "Hard Drive, Ontario" and they provide pure power pop sugar rush on "New Jade Rabbit". An album of the year. 8/10

Thrasher by Brandon Flowers. I almost made the mistake of turning this thing off after the first two songs - thankfully, they are easily the worst songs on the album (well, add "Paradise" to that list). Straight up country with little to no imagination. When he stretches himself a little and challenges his inner Springsteen, the man comes up with near-classics like "Tiger's Blood" and "Angel". Overall not as good as Pressure Machine but it does scratch the itch. 7/10

Finally, Dinosaur Jr. are back with what many fans and critics claim to be their best album since Farm - if not their late 80s heyday. Perhaps. There Near is a really strong collection of beautifully noisy rockers and ballads filled with J Mascis's familiar slacker vocals and amazing guitar work. The album starts strongly, loses me a little in the middle and picks it up in the third act with the melodic "Walk Me Back" and Lou Barlow-sung toe-tapping "No One's Ready" that closes the album. 7/10 

Songs of the month:

"Landscape With Limousine" - Kiwi Jr.

"Familiar Strangers" - The Jayhawks

"Angel" by Brandon Flowers

"Heavy Weather" - Peter Hammill

"No Friends" - Dinosaur Jr.

"Looking For The Happy" - Peter Gabriel

"Memphis, Texas" - The Afghan Whigs

"Kick Stones (The Boys)" - Westside Cowboy

"Marianne" - Fontaines D.C.

July Round-Up

The tragic thing about the new album by The Strokes is that it could have been something else. Like, really good. Even great. Instead, Julian Casablancas decided to drag his voice through autotune, and obviously the two songs that do not feature processed vocals are the best ("Dine N'Dash" and "Going To Babble On"). The rest has potential (instrumentally, Reality Awakes is excellent) but Julian turns it into a nightmare. I would like to know the honest opinion of his band members. 

Thank God for Luke Haines. Izzy Wizzy Let's Get Bizzy is yet another reliably eccentric concept album, this time about the occultism and the magic of British children's TV in the 70s. If you think that's niche, you haven't been exposed to Luke Haines' music over the last decade and a half. It is dark and it is catchy and it has a lot of recorder and sinister folk strumming. And also, in the short and sweet "Spiritualist Church at 7.30pm Every Other Wednesday", one of his trademark classic pop tunes. 

There was a time (circa 2012) when The Menzingers meant something to me. On The Impossible Past was on constant repeat and I even caught them performing unforgettable, high-octane punk classics like "Obituaries" and "Time-Tables" in a raucous pub in Dublin. Since then, they have been patchy (Rented World) and boring (Some Of It Was True). Their new album, Everything I Ever Saw, is both of those things. It feels laboured, and very predictable. 

The cover of Charli XCX's previous album was pure kitsch, but then so is the black and white photo of Music, Fashion, Film. The album itself is filled with 2 to 3 minute songs that feel both snappy and strangely underdeveloped. It is an album of reels and threads and tiktok videos in a music form - all catchy and irresistible and also a little empty.   

The Rolling Stones have released their latest 'best since Some Girls' album. Foreign Tongues is certainly an admirable effort from a band so past their prime it is not even funny. At this point, we are way beyond their lifetime and even their afterlife. It is a revived corpse that is still, somehow, able to produce good music. Foreign Tongues is full of energy and decent grooves and hooks and memorable choruses. If it all feels a little off, then it is not their fault. It's the age. Best since Some Girls it is not, of course, but their most substantial work released this century? I might just accept that. 

Alex Cameron has lost something. After the perfect four album run (no small thing), he has released Late To Set without the saxophonist and longtime collaborator Roy Molloy. It shows. The songs feel a little more hollow this time, the playfulness is nearly gone (despite the conspicuous title "Jesus Never Had No Porno") and the humour has become a little forced. He is still very good, though, and both the ballad "Ricochet" and the groovy single "Red Hook Rain" are worthy additions to his stellar catalogue. 

At this point in time, I know exactly what to expect from Robyn Hitchcock. And I'm fine with it. There is nothing confusing about The Confuser. It is a late period Robyn Hitchcock album, full of memorable (but not that memorable) and eccentric (but not that eccentric) songs that are perfectly fine but won't get him any new fans. I'm just happy to get back in the groove for a while, and even hear that Kimberley Rew guitar which appears here from time to time. No classics, just a lovely little collection of ten new songs. 

Finally, another reliable album came from Shearwater whose new album, The New World, features an Interstellar-styled cover (which gives it a somewhat sinister edge) and nine songs of excellent slow burning folk-rock that has real tension and urgency to it. The musicianship is terrific and the beautiful melodies seep through, eventually. Laurie Anderson guests on the dreamy, hypnotic closer "You And My Dog".

Songs of the month: 

"Spiritualist Church at 7.30pm Every Other Wednesday" by Luke Haines

"One By One" by Peter Gabriel

"Photos Of The Reenactment" by Kiwi jr.

"Ricochet" by Alex Cameron

"Daydream Unbeliever" by Shearwater

"Glamour Magick" by Arab Strap

"Rough And Twisted" by The Rolling Stones

"Cocaine Walking, Booze Talking" by Richard Thompson

"Monday For Me" by Robyn Hitchcock

"Going To Babble On" by The Strokes

"You're Gonna Need A Little Music" by Yard Act