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
Malcolm Middleton
Into The Woods
(Chemikal Underground, 2005)
Ex-Arab Strap guitarist's deceptively jaunty second album: Pacific Ocean Blue set in Falkirk.
"You're gonna break my heart I know it / And when you do, I'm gonna run to the country and plug my ears / I'd rather have you than sing these shit songs..."
It's no basis for a relationship of course but the opening lines of Malcolm Middleton's second solo LP demonstrate the brutal honesty and pessimism that typifies his solo recordings. From 2002's bleak 5:14 Fluoxytine Seagull Alcohol John Nicotine Arab Strap's mordant guitarist was emerging as a skilled pop songwriter, one whose darkest thoughts now came with sparkly melodies and ready-to-whistle arrangements. (A contradiction that fooled me into attempting to play two of these songs on a BBC digital radio breakfast show - What can I say? It never occurred to me that you can't say "shite" on the DAB, even in a foreign language...)
With its AA Milne-like artwork and miserable bear motif, Into The Woods is a most lovable kind of solipsism, one self-aware enough to maintain a droll humour throughout the boozy fatalism of songs like Devastation ("I'll make it up to you with a million steak McCoys") and the unexpected keyboard-driven euphoria of Loneliness Shines, the album's first single (once sufficiently cleaned up). Into The Woods' appeal does not lie solely in its incongruity, however; the songs are consistently brilliant, whether framed with brittle acoustic guitar (Monday Night Nothing) or thumping, toe-tapping electronics (A Happy Medium). In a just world you'd be able to play them all on BBC radio.
Jenny Bulley
Posted by Ross_Bennett at 6:00 AM GMT 27/07/2009
Further Listening
The Delgados – The Great Eastern (Chemikal Underground, 2000)
Malcolm Middleton – A Brighter Beat (Full Time Hobby, 2007)
Randy Newman – Bad Love (Dreamworks, 1999)
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Earl Brutus - Larky
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12:04 PM GMT 08/06/2011
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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
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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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