I believe that the world is a much better place because there is Warren Ellis in it. The man is a treasure (even if it transpired that he did not, in fact, cook those eels in 20,000 Days on Earth - what a letdown!), and this latest album with his instrumental trio Dirty Three features some of the band's best work. Love Changes Everything is such a beautiful racket. It is long-winded and psychedelic but it has moments of true catharsis, whether by way of guitar, piano or violin (duh!).
Eels Time! is all right, as far as these post-2005 Eels albums go (it's been almost 20 years since Blinking Lights, which is not very encouraging). The album title is rather good, the exclamation providing a lovely hint at self-irony. Overall, some lovely melodies scattered about the place ("We Won't See Her Like Again", "Haunted Hero"). Inessential and somewhat bloodless, but quite pleasant while it's on.
The cover of the new Linda Thompson album is so unabashedly comical that I could not believe it at first. Then I saw the title: Proxy Music. The idea is that Linda Thompson (who is suffering from spasmodic dysphonia which does not allow her to sing) invited friends and family to sing and play on a bunch of her new songs. Among them: her former husband Richard, her children Kami and Teddy, Martha and Rufus Wainwright, Richard Grant (whose brand of autotuned art pop I find completely unlistenable, but who returns here to the gorgeous vocals of Queen of Denmark and The Czars), the Unthanks, Eliza Carthy and others. A stellar cast, really, but it only works because the songs are terrific. It is a diverse and tuneful set, steeped in folk music and benefiting from multiple voices taking part in the proceedings.
I have always loved the idea of John Cale doing pop music. Sadly, the potential has not been realised to the full. Surely the man who has given us "Gideon's Bible", "Mr Wilson" and the entirety of Paris 1919 (still in my top 10 of all time) could do more than, say, his synth-pop collaboration with Brian Eno titled Wrong Way Up (an LP that managed to be both half-baked and overcooked at the same time). His new album POPtical Illusion is not all that, either. It is pop, maybe, but filtered through murky layers of artsiness, psychedelia and hip-hop. There are interesting moments, like the lush and slightly deranged beat of "Company Commander", and it is always an intriguing listen, but pop is still very much an illusion here. Still, I am happy he is on such a creative roll at the age of 82.
Regrettably, this latest album by Guided by Voices, the first this year, is one of Pollard's weakest. It is not exactly bad, he never falls lower than a certain level, but the songwriting feels sloppier and more uneven than ever. To my ears, the opening proggy mini-epic "Show Me The Castle" sounds so disjointed it basically falls apart at some point. Parts are okay (like "Dear Onion", surely a hint at the White Album), but overall Strut Of Kings sounds uninspired and... somewhat unnecessary.
Also, Fontaines DC have managed to right the ship a little with the new single "Favourite". A beautiful, dreamy indie-pop creation that rolls along like The Cure at their poppiest. Looking forward to that new album, obviously. But, again, I have to ask: what on Earth has happened to their covers?!
Songs of the month:
"Favourite" - Fontaines DC
"Love Changes Everything II" - Dirty Three
"Burial Ground" - The Decemberists
"The Solitary Traveller" - Linda Thompson
"There Will Be No River" - John Cale
"No More Apocalypse Father" - We Are Winter's Blue And Radiant Children
