Rod Stewart - Every Picture Tells A Story
Rod the Mod finds his solo footing, headed for stardom, with the Faces in his wake.
6:00 AM GMT 22/06/2011
Features Disc of the day
Bon Iver
For Emma, Forever Ago
(4AD, 2008)
Wintry landmark from one man band Justin Vernon.
For the Holiday fortnight, every Disc Of The Day will be a “winter warmer”, revelling in sonic/existential chill or offering fireside comfort.
This album’s solitary, snowy genesis is well known now (Wisconsin winter: man retreats to an isolated cabin to lick the wounds of both romantic and band breakdown; shot gun; venison stew; basic recording equipment; songs emerge; the indie nation has a new weird hero. Keep up at the back!). What’s still remarkably is the emotional response the album has prompted since it came out in March. Seeing him (or rather ‘them’ - Bon Iver live shows now boast Justin Vernon plus three) play live recently I was struck by what a varied, well-adjusted crowd he drew. Families and smart thirtysomething couples sat alongside the indie fans and lone wolves you’d expect to turn out for Vernon’s rustic contemporaries like Will Oldham or Smog. For Emma, Forever Ago has touched hearts that Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billie albums might fill with fear, by placing plain truths (about relationships, endings, new beginnings) in an enigmatic setting, sung in Vernon’s blood-warm falsetto, either vulnerable with just guitar or multi-tracked to a choral flourish. Lovelorn songwriters are nothing new of course and Vernon isn’t trying to break new ground musically, either, but this is an undeniably special album. Despite its slightly queasy title, it’s far from romantic. It’s a man working through emotional turmoil, mumbling through a break-up beard about “Lapping lakes like leary loons” (Flume) and gradually working through his grievances (“All your love is wasted? / Then who the hell was I?” asks Skinny Love). Until finally the pain is processed, the snows thaw and Vernon emerges into the light with Re: Stacks, the closing number. “This is not the sound of a new man or crispy realization / It’s the sound of the unlocking and the lift away / Your love will be safe with me.” Never mind cognitive behavioural therapy, perhaps we all just need to retreat to the woods sometimes.
Jenny Bulley
Posted by Danny_Eccleston at 6:00 AM GMT 23/12/2008
Further Listening
Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy - I See A Darkness (Palace, 1999)
Wilco – Being There (Reprise, 1996)
Peter Broderick – Home (Bella Union, 2008)
Previous Disc of the day
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Earl Brutus - Larky
Last salvo of Ginsters Pasty-Warholism from Britpop ramraiders.
12:04 PM GMT 08/06/2011
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Loudon Wainwright - T-Shirt
An overlooked small wonder from an unpredictable career.
6:00 AM GMT 03/06/2011
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Landscape - From The Tea-rooms Of Mars… To The Hell-holes Of Uranus
Dry computer club Futurists, upon hitting implausible chart paydirt.
6:00 AM GMT 17/05/2011
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Causa Sui - Summer Sessions Vol 1-3
Epic Danish jams, for when the neighbours get you down.
6:00 AM GMT 12/05/2011
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