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
Idlewild
The Remote Part
(Parlophone, 2002)
Scrappy Scottish rockers go anthemic on roots-digging apogee.
"Scottish friction, Scottish fiction" recites Caledonia's poet laureate Edwin Morgan, as if he couldn't hear the wall of guitars that raged behind him. But whether he could or couldn't, Morgan closes and summarises Idlewild's finest hour in four simple words. Released in 2002, the Edinburgh quintet's fourth album is torn between its folk roots and post-punk routes, between the traditional narratives of the band's homeland and the modern pressures it bears. The distorted adrenaline rush of A Modern Way Of Letting Go jars with the soft confessional of Live In A Hiding Place, but in a way that exaggerates both. The former is a remnant of their chaotic past - all broken amps, shouty vocals and riotous shows - while the latter is a modern folk song that flows so naturally it could have been around for centuries.
The band met at a student party in Auld Reekie in 1995, drawn together by their love of R.E.M., Sonic Youth and Pavement. By 2002, however, they were finding inspiration closer to home, retreating to the Scottish Highlands to write the tracks. But the Big Country patriotism is offset by a sense of unease. The opening track, You Held The World In Your Arms, asks "When you're secure, do you feel much safer? / When days never change and it's three years later," and the album's admixture of fear of change and its acceptance is crystallised on its elegant, emotional closer, Remote Part/Scottish Fiction. During its climax neither singer Roddy Woomble nor guest Edwin Morgan raise their voices. They don't need to: the chills that hit you last long after the final piano chord is smashed out.
Jonny Garrett
Posted by Ross_Bennett at 6:00 AM GMT 12/05/2010
Further Listening
Roddy Woomble – My Secret Is My Silence (Pure Records, 2006)
R.E.M. – Murmur (I.R.S. , 1983)
Aztec Camera – High Land, Hard Rain (Sire Records, 1983)
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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Awesome band, awesome album. I like 100 Broken Windows better though :p
Posted by AcidCasual at 6:47 PM GMT 12/05/2010 Report Abuse
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