Listen with Jonathan: AC/DC - High Voltage (International Release)

Released 1976

Track listing

1.	"It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)"	5:01
2.	"Rock 'n' Roll Singer"	5:04
3.	"The Jack"	5:52
4.	"Live Wire"	5:50

5.	"T.N.T."	3:34
6.	"Can I Sit Next to You Girl" (A. Young, M. Young)	4:12
7.	"Little Lover"	5:37
8.	"She's Got Balls"	4:51
9.	"High Voltage"	4:03

This album is another debut album. It is actually a combination of two Australian albums, High Voltage and TNT. Most of the tracks come from the latter album. The sound that would define AC/DC is clearly evident. The bluesy, ballsy rock n roll is very much to the fore. Bon Scott's vocals and Angus Young's guitar are outstanding. The album is not perfect but it is strong enough. The opening track is a cracker and is followed up by Rock N Roll Singer and The Jack. The album then becomes something of a rollercoaster. Live Wire is not great but TNT is brilliant. Can I Sit Next To You Girl is a bit if a filler but Little Lover is a bluesy highlight. She's Got Balls is typical of a lot of AC/DC songs but the album finishes off with a classic, High Voltage.

The album features bagpipes which for a rock album is a bit of a novelty. It is well worth a listen and some wannabe stars should listen to the opening number to see what it takes to get anywhere in the music business. Many years later The Four Horsemen would match this number with Nobody Said It Was Easy and Rockin Is My Business.  Choosing a track is difficult one. I am a fan of AC/DC but not a huge one. I could pick any one of half a dozen. If you like rock music this is a good introduction.

Track recommendation: It's A Long Way To The Top

Listen with Jonathan:- ABC - The Lexicon of Love

Released 1982. Version listened to 1998 remaster.
Track listing

1. "Show Me" – 4:02
2. "Poison Arrow" – 3:24
3. "Many Happy Returns" – 3:56
4. "Tears Are Not Enough" – 3:31
5. "Valentine's Day" – 3:42
6. "The Look of Love" (Part One) – 3:26
7. "Date Stamp" – 3:51
8. "All of My Heart" – 5:12
9. "4 Ever 2 Gether" – 5:30 [co-written by Anne Dudley]
10. "The Look of Love" (Part Four) – 1:02
11. "Theme from Man Trap" – 4:19*

Frequently debut albums are tricky things. Usually one of three things happen. You are lauded as the next best thing and you then hit the tricky second album (e.g. Rage Against The Machine). Alternatively it is a flop and you disappear into oblivion or it has some success but turns out to be the best thing you ever did. Rarely do bands have hit album after hit album. ABC came in towards the end of the New Romantics and at the start of electronic music. 

The thing that sets this album apart is that it doesn't really feel like it is either. ABC hailed from Sheffield along with bands like Human League and Heaven 17. The album opens strongly and the musical quality oozes from every pore. For me, a closet bassist ( I taught myself how to play bass as an intellectual exercise once), it is the bass lines which stand out. If to this you add the vocals of Martin Fry and the orchestration of Anne Dudley you have a work of immense quality. Anne Dudley can also be seen in Bill Bailey's Remarkable Guide to the Orchestra. The four singles - Poison Arrow, Tears Are Not Enough, The Look of Love (Part One) and All of My Heart are packed with quality. For me Tears is the weakest of the bunch. That being said I once met somebody who played on the demo version which can be found on the 2004 version of the album. 

There isn't really a weak track on this album the combination of Fry, Dudley and the bassline make this an outstanding debut. My personal favourite is the Theme from Man Trap which is a reworking of Poison Arrow on piano and vocals.

Track recommendation: Theme from Man Trap

Listen with Jonathan: Out of order:- Voulez Vous and SuperTrouper by ABBA

Over the Christmas break I was round at my in laws and my mother in law had the above two albums so I thought it would be stupid to overlook this gift horse and so I listened to both albums back to back.

These are among the later albums issued by the band. Their musical style has by now been well established and gone are the experimental tracks and the forays into genres other than pop. The sound and the layering of the vocals is obvious but the fractures between the band are there lyrically.


Voulez-Vous? (1997 remastered edition)

This album is crammed full of hits records. There are no less than 6 singles present. We start with a classic opener with As Good As New and then follow up with three classics (Voulez Vous, I Have A Dream and Angel Eyes). You feel safe at this stage feeling that you know what you are going to get. Then we have a hybrid track. The King Has Lost His Crown has hints of disco, punk and rock music and is an interesting listen. Then we have the next single, Does Your Mother Know? This song is predominantly delivered by Bjorn. He should stick to writing and guitar, he is no vocalist. The album then offers up a slightly Country & Western track with If It Wasn't For The Nights. This downward slope leads to utter schmaltz in the form of Chiquitita and sheer awfulness with Lovers (Live a Little Longer). The album closes with Kisses of Fire, Summer Night City and Love Light.

After a strong start this album loses its way somewhat. Albums rarely contain all cracking tracks and so that is not a fair criticism to level here. It is an album of two halves and the second is not as strong as the first.  It is worth a listen nevertheless.

Track recommendation: Voulez-Vous?

SuperTrouper (1997 remastered edition)

This album is not nearly as strong as Voulez-Vous? I loathe and detest the title track which opens the session. I am not sure why I dislike it so much but I always have. The second track is simply a classic. The Winner Takes It All is breathtaking in terms of sound and lyrics. According to Bjorn and Agnetha it was one of the hardest songs to sing given the backdrop in their personal life. We then have On & On & ON which for me is just new romantic rubbish. ABBA were never New Romantics. Andante, Andante is actually quite good and it might have been interesting if they had left it as an instrumental. Then we have an track which appears to be about multiple personality disorder and seems to have a Jean-Michel Jarre feel to it. The next single we come across is Happy New Year. I can imagine Julie Andrews singing this. I need to make it clear that that is not a recommendation. Our Last Summer is insipid and The Piper is not much better.

Lay All Your Love On Me is another ABBA classic. The rest of the album with the exception of Gimme, Gimme, Gimme (originally released on a compilation album) is tedious.

It is not their greatest album and the band appears to be on the wane somewhat.

Track recommendation: The Winner Takes It All

I may revisit the other ABBA albums later but I feel the need to listen to something else.

Cover versions

This first post will look at cover versions which become more famous than the original. This phenomenon can be down to time. If the version of the song you first hear is not the original then you are more likely to see it as the definitive version. Over the coming months we will come across many of these songs.  Other reasons for a song becoming seen as the definitive version are:-

1. The original singer says that the new version is the definitive version (e.g Leonard Cohen on Jeff Buckley's version of Hallelujah)
2. Time. The original song is from a long time ago and was a one hit wonder long forgotten (OK that's two reasons in one)
3. The cover version is just better than the original
4. The original artist is a little known band

The first cover version is I Love Rock N Roll by Joan Jett and The Blackhearts. The original version was by British group Arrows. Having recently heard it for the first time recently it isn't actually a bad version of the song. Arrows weren't a big band as I recall. They were managed by the former manager of The Who. I don't even remember this one charting but have a listen and see what you think.

Arrows - I Love Rock and Roll

In 1981 came the version I heard first.  Joan Jett's version had some balls to it and was a hit all over the world. For most people this is the definitive version of the song. Jett had been part of the band The Runaways before leaving to form her own band. 

Joan Jett & The Blackhearts - I Love Rock and Roll

However despite this being the best version other bands couldn't leave it alone and British boyband 5ive and then the greatest crime of all Britney Spears. I will not dignify either of these versions by giving them airtime.

Heavy metal bands are particularly good at cover versions. Many of them started as cover bands. But more importantly they do something different with the song. They cover each others songs but they are particularly good when covering mainstream hits.  This time we are going to look at Die Die My Darling by Misfits. Misfits are a shock/horror American punk band. Their lead singer was Glenn Danzig who inspired Metallica and indeed Metallica have covered several of their songs. Danzig is in my opinion one of the best metal singers of the last twenty years and can be relied on to do different things.  Danzig left Misfits and formed his own band and released some of his best music.  This is a classic track by Misfits.

Misfits - Die Die My Darling

As mentioned previously Metallica have covered many Misfits tracks and this one is no exception. As with I Love Rock and Roll I hadn't actually heard the original until researching this post. However, I was at least aware of it. Metallica released their version on their covers album Garage Inc. For most bands a covers album is a sign of an impending demise. Metallica are not most bands and have been putting out covers for many years as B sides.  This is a strong addition to their cannon. Metallica add power to the aggression and horror of the original. Unlike I Love Rock And Roll I would not necessarily say that this is the definitive version but it is a very strong contender.

Metallica - Die Die My Darling

Kerrang then put out two cds, High Voltage and Higher Voltage. These featured new acts covering classics. Aiden who are possibly more from Misfits school than Metallica put out their version which also appears on the Rain In Hell EP. It is actually quite a tame version of the song but is probably as a result quite an accessible version of the track.

Aiden - Die Die my Darling

The most recent version of the song is by a band called Caliban. It is possibly the most aggressive version of the bunch. Unfortunately for me that means it misses something. I am not a fan of the vocal style of the band  but I leave it up to you to decide which is the best version.

Caliban - Die Die My Darling

More covers in the coming weeks

The listening experiment 2: ABBA - Waterloo

This is ABBAs second album. It kicks off with the title track. This song made ABBA huge as it was the one which won Eurovision.  However, unlike Ring Ring the tracks following the opener are different. Sitting In The Palmtree which follows has a reggae beat underlying it. At times the vocal style of the band is at odds with the beat but unlike with Ring Ring the contrast doesn’t great and it is an understated little number.

Next we have King Kong Song which has more of a glam rock undertone which is in keeping with the times.  This is followed by Hasta Manana. This is one of the singles from the album. It has a very Eurovision feel and I didn’t recognise the song until I heard the chorus. The song is very much of its time and has that ABBA feel to it. It is a well crafted song. My Mama Said has a rhythm which would come to be associated with disco in the following years.

Dance (While The Music Still Goes On) is another track which would only have come out of the 1970s and is another pop song. This is followed by the third of the singles which was released, Honey Honey. This is a bit of an ABBA classic. From the pop we move back to glam rock with Watch Out. The problem with this song for me is that it isn’t sure what it wants to be. One moment it is glam rock then pop. It would have been stronger if it had stuck to the glam path.

Then we have What About Livingstone. It is unclear whether this is about the town in Lothian, the Scottish explorer or if it is indeed about anything at all.  Next we have a ballad, Gonna Sing You My Love Song. It is pure ABBA but is still not particularly strong. Last we have Suzy Hang A-Round. It has a feel of something from the 1960s possibly The Mamas & The Papas.

Overall it is a much better album than Ring Ring. It didn’t do too well in the charts and only the title track made any real impact on the UK charts. That being said it is much more obvious to see where the band are starting to go. What they needed to do was define their style and decide what sort of music they wanted to do. This album shows the breadth of musical influence but is still not the finished article.

Track recommendation: Waterloo

Listening to albums 1: Ring Ring by ABBA

Well the experiment has to start somewhere and the letter A is as good a place as any. The first band in my Itunes library is ABBA. Many of my friends will be alarmed to hear this as I am something of a metalhead. However, as I have grown older and my senses of appreciation have developed I certainly understand better what made their music better than just about everybody else. It is also clear to see why ABBA became one of the few Eurovision winners to achieve very much success.

Ring Ring was the album before they became known as ABBA and the one before their Eurovision success. The first track is the title track. Unfortunately for the album goes downhill from hereon in. Ring Ring is a good track and you can see why it became a hit. Apart from Benny & Bjorn the track is co written by Neil Sedaka and on listening to it you can see where his style of writing comes through. However, the tracks from that moment on were bland and there was nothing that would lead you to the conclusion that this group would become one of the biggest on the planet and who would launch a thousand tribute acts.

The final track Rock N Roll Band is alright but no more than that. So having been disappointed by this album I returned to ABBA Gold which is their greatest hits album. My recommendation would be to stick to the Greatest Hits as you will not be disappointed by it. Ring Ring is a fairly weak album and for me I would not recommend it.

Track recommendation: Ring Ring

Listening to music and cover versions

As many of you know I like my music (or at least what I think of as music anyway). I am intrigued by cover versions and also I have lost the habit of listening to whole albums in one go. I used to do this all the time when I was younger. I remember sitting down and listening to my albums be it at my house or at a friend's house. We used to share music, make compilation tapes and recommend music to people.

I have discovered in recent years that many more people I was at school with shared my tastes in music (well some of them!!). Over the coming months I will be listening to albums and investigating cover versions.

What makes a good cover version? Are there songs you just shouldn't cover? Do some musicians do cover versions better than others? I will also be looking at covers of the music of bands and musicians to see why some are covered and some aren't.

With the listening project I will be going through my collection and also listening to 'classic' albums to see what all the fuss is about and to broaden peoples musical horizons. For the record the last album I listened to all the way through was The Weight of Your Love by Editors.

Travels with Dinno update

After literally one request I have found the time to update the blog. When last I wrote we had just visited the place where my rugby journey really started, Huddersfield RUFC.

The following week we started our Yorkshire Cup campaign against Castleford. In previous years I have come up against them with Huddersfield and they have been competent but nothing special. This match was something of a rout. By half time we were 27-0 up. The curse of the kicker had struck again. Three tries from forwards and two by the backs gave us a solid position. The second half saw three more tries but we allowed Cas to get a try on the board. Again two tries from our backs and one form the pack. Final score 42-7.

For the next two Sundays the family and I were in Culdaff in Donegal. We missed a defeat to Wath.

Next up were Grimsby. Again we were at home and as usual the food was excellent. The rugby was also excellent. This was a team I had never come up against before. The game started well with Dinno going to tries up. Then Grimsby hit three tries in return. Dinno pulled it out of  the bag with two more tries. Final score 22-15.

The next week was Yorkshire cup. Yet again we were at home. Doncaster were at this stage one of only two teams to beat us this season. This is also something of a local derby. This was a tightly fought encounter. Tries from Alan, Jake, Angus(3) and Smirnoff helped us to a 32-24 victory. However, our lack of a kicker is becoming an issue. This could have been much more comfortable if we had a strong consistent kicker.

The following week Tom was out in the middle of Sherwood Forest on his DofE. The final score was 15-15.

Last week we went to another new ground for us, Paviors. It was a beautiful ground hidden in the forest. The food and hospitality was excellent. The match started badly for Dinno and by the end of the first period we were 22-0 down. Paviors found a weakness and ruthlessly exploited it. If their kicking game had been better they might have put the game out of sight. In the second period our increasingly multinational team kicked up a gear. Tries from Smirnoff, Dick (2), Ronan and Angus along with 5 conversions saw the situation change. Despite two tries from Paviors the final score was 35-34. The difference was the kicking. Four out of our five tries were under the posts. Silky hit four from four. Paviors scored more tries but we were more efficient. It was an excellent game of rugby. The after match was marred slightly by a parent from our opposition but the president of the club was a pleasure to speak to.

Today Dinno got a lesson in rugby. The lesson was support your runners, don't give away silly penalties and learn from your mistakes. Also don't miss tackles. Selby comprehensively punished mistakes and despite two tries from Dick and Angus we were well beaten. 34-10