The LVE. The LVE

The LVE has featured on this blog twice with an individual song. Uncommon for this blog as we usually review whole albums or shows. Listening to just one song gives an opportunity to really pay attention to what is on offer, without a need to keep an eye on the whole product and everything surrounding it. That way I could get under the skin of the then still called Lighting Vishwa Experience's single 'Love When You Don't Want It'. One of the best songs released this decade.

This qualification sets a bar raised so high that I almost did not want to open the link sent to me by The LVE's singer and songwriter Gerrit Van Dyck. I was truly in fear of being very disappointed. Let me start by saying that I'm not. The LVE totally lived up to my expectations. Better, exceeded them. In several of its songs they capture extremely pleasant moods in a very successful way. The LVE has this laidbackness as if the whole world and all that comes with living in modern lives was locked out and had no way of getting in and influence the recording process in any way. If anything that is the greatest feat of this album.

It opens in a strange way. For about a minute I thought I opened the wrong link or something. Nothing what I had expected to hear presented itself. Is this the same band? Is this an unknown side I hadn't heard yet? Yes, that certainly, but after this intro called 'Hello' the album continues with the already known 'Milky Sea' and all my anxieties were put to rest. What unfolds from that moment on can only be captured in words like inner rest, tranquillity and above all: beauty.

Where to start? Let's start with the interaction of the voices of Gerrit Van Dyck and Sara Raes. They are truly complimentary as both manage to sound relaxed, nearly lazy, while both capturing the right emotion, every single time. Van Dyck is not afraid to hand over the leadspot when the moment calls for it. Around him he has found band members who all play in other bands, as is a true Belgian tradition of the past 20 years. Together they make Van Dyck's originally solo, lo-fi home recording efforts a true band one.

There is a major downside to The LVE though. Each time I put the album on it is over before I know it and I have to put it on again. The upside is that I put it on again straight away. I want to hear that little guitar line in 'Little Sunny' again, the parts sung together, the opening line that reminds me of "Here Comes The Sun'. Coincidence? My guess is no. (Also listen to 'Water Blue' although that one is totally obvious.)

The new single 'Closer' is another small miracle of the mood The LVE can create around a song. This is a song that in the end is rather fleshed out. More and more keyboards are added, giving it an 80s flavour. The song starts extremely small with an intricate guitar line and a lot of electronic things going on in the rhythm and keyboards in a modest way. As such the build up is well done. 'Closer' holds elements of dEUS in it, mostly in the rhythm and the way of singing. Then a beautiful guitar solo comes by before the keyboards take over and the song becomes bigger. Was 'Instant Street' an influence here?, it could well be.

Sara and Gerrit go at it together in 'Hi On Love'. One of those songs that can best be listened to with eyes closed, headphone on and I let myself be swept away by the modesty and beauty of the song. There's almost nothing going on it seems, while it says it all. The voices really get into my head and play around there in their lazy Sunday afternoon kind of way. While the instruments follow in the same relaxed fashion. The same goes for 'Monami'. The song just floats. Like the most pleasant daydream in a life where all's good.

There can be only one peak that is the highest in a mountain range. That remains 'Love When You Don't Want It'. I have said all that there is to say last year, but stand by my words. No one I played the song for was not moved. In short it ought to be a number one record. Who has the contacts with DWDD and the likes? Who contacts Giel Beelen's team? Get to work!

The LVE has come up with a beautiful album, containing all that I wished for. Taking into account, that all this beauty was created on the side of very busy lives, my admiration only grows. You have a fan, The LVE, but you already knew that.

Wo.

You can listen to 'Closer' here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hc7Xx0McZCY

of buy The LVE at

Rest And Be Thankful. Linden

Linden is het alter-ego van de Schotse singer-songwriter Joe McAlinden, die een enkeling mogelijk zal kennen van Schotse cultbands als The Boy Hairdressers, The Groovy Little Numbers, The BMX Bandits en Superstar.
 
Hoewel ik de Schotse popmuziek over het algemeen een warm hart toedraag, ken ik deze bands persoonlijk niet, ook al had The Groovy Little Numbers met Teenage Fanclub voormannen Norman Blake en Gerard Love twee van mijn muzikale helden in de gelederen.
 
Ook de eerste soloplaat van Joe McAlinden heb ik drie jaar geleden niet opgepikt, maar zijn tweede plaat onder de naam Linden is me gelukkig niet ontgaan. Op Rest And Be Thankful maakt Linden muziek die de zon overvloedig laat schijnen en bovendien de Schotse popmuziek weer eens nadrukkelijk op de kaart zet.
 
Rest And Be Thankful herinnert aan de hoogtijdagen van Teenage Fanclub, maar ook invloeden van The Beatles en The Beach Boys en invloeden uit de eigenzinnige Schotse gitaarpop van de jaren 90 hebben hun sporen nagelaten op Rest And Be Thankful. Tenslotte doet de muziek van Linden wel wat denken aan de prachtplaat van de supergroep van Norman Blake en Joe Pernice, The New Mendicants; een plaat die twee jaar geleden helaas schandalig weinig aandacht kreeg.
 
Ook voor de productie van zijn tweede soloplaat deed Linden weer een beroep op de gelukkig weer grotendeels herstelde Edwyn Collins en Sebastian Lewsley, maar het opnameproces verliep dit keer anders. Rest And Be Thankful werd samen met de band van Linden opgenomen in een Schots vissersdorp. De band zorgt voor een wat energieker geluid, terwijl de locatie heeft gezorgd voor een lekker ontspannen sfeer.
 
Linden heeft zoals gezegd een plaat vol zonnestralen gemaakt, maar zoals zo vaak bij Schotse bands krijgen ook de donkere wolken een kans, waardoor de muziek van Linden afwijkt van die van de Californische soortgenoten.
 
Op Rest And Be Thankful domineert de frisse gitaarpop zoals Teenage Fanclub die ooit maakte. Het is gitaarpop vol aanstekelijke gitaarlijnen, bijzonder aangename zang en zo nu en dan fraaie harmonieën. Het geluid van Linden wordt vervolgens incidenteel verrijkt met fraai klinkende strijkers, een lekker op de voorgrond tredende piano en mooi ingetogen spelende blazers. Met name wanneer blazers worden ingezet raakt de tweede plaat van Linden nadrukkelijk aan de Northern Soul uit de jaren 70 en dat klinkt nog altijd bijzonder aangenaam; net als de gitaarpop die de rest van de plaat domineert.

Rest And Be Thankful van Linden duurt maar net een half uur, maar het is een half uur genieten van heerlijk melodieuze muziek met inhoud, die het uitstekend doet bij de aangename zonnestralen van de laatste weken. Een bescheiden parel in het enorme aanbod van het moment.

Erwin Zijleman

Je kunt hier luisteren naar 'Rest And Be Thankful':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKzG0ZchQ1Y

Of kopen op Bol.Com

1+. The Beatles

Come Christmas, come The Beatles. Each year the former band knows to add another little something from their past to their catalog. This year a re-issue of '1', the 27 number one hits the band scored in the U.K. and the U.S. The + are two dvds full of promotional videos the band recorded accompanying the hits from 1965 onwards, as it simply couldn't be all around the world at the same time. Somehow I couldn't resist and bought the three discs in an attractive package containing a nice booklet explaining it all, including all the facts and figures of the songs on the discs.

To my surprise 'Love Me Do' had been a number one for one week right after the explosion of hits in the U.S., just like 'The Long And Winding Road' was number one in the U.S. All the other songs are to be expected, although there are some b-sides recorded as a number one hit. Just think of it; 27 number one hits excluding all that great hits that did not rise to that position. In comparison, The Beatles scored 16 number one hits in the Netherlands from 2-1-1965 until the winter/spring of 1970. This band was a hitmachine without comparison.

Listening to the 27 songs, I'm baffled about how great the songs still are. The legacy of this band is simply huge. The quality is so extremely high. A quality I take for granted, simply because I have listened to these songs for as long I can remember. During the intro of 'Ticket To Ride', which is the leader music of each dvd's menu, I saw myself sitting in my aunt's bedroom, with her small gramophone playing this song and in my mind 'Yes It Is' followed directly. I was probably half listening, half doing something else. It was a near physical experience, sent through place and time to my first exposure to this music. In other words these songs are with me my whole life. Getting to know more through the 'Red' and the 'Blue' albums as a teenager, was another life-expanding experience. The music of The Beatles is so normal to me that I forget to play it. The songs are so a part of me, there's no need. And still I bought the large cd box several years ago. And now 1+.

Watching the first dvd two things stand out immediately. The first is that the sound is stunning. 'Ticket To Ride' just sort of explodes from the speakers. That's when I knew something special was going on here. I'm not sure whether I ever heard The Beatles so clear before and in what is a perfect studio mix. The ridiculously left and right panning of the sounds is gone and that makes the songs so much better. The second thing is confrontational: They are so young! When I first heard them they were adults, so much older than I was and now I'm 30 years older than they were then. Caught forever in their prime.

Moving further on into the disc a third thing presents itself and that is what made up this band and made it so big in the end, beyond the screaming girls and into the consciousness of everyone since the sixties: the variety of their music. The Beatles took on so many different styles, songs, rhythms and above all sounds. They opened up a box of tools in the studio and in their songwriting that still astounds. Even in a very early song like 'Please, Please Me', on disc 2, you can hear how good they are. Extra chords all over the place and fantastic harmonies. The joy of singing is everywhere and the interest in combination with creativity to go beyond the musically obvious, just jump out at you. Imagine that this was only The Beatles'  second single.

How many bands nowadays go through a rollercoaster like The Beatles have and come up with what these four lads came up with in a span of seven years? Some are lucky enough to produce two albums in the same period. From that horrible (and yet beautiful) song 'Yesterday' all the way to the invention of riff driven rock songs like 'Day Tripper' and 'Paperback Writer' all within under 12 months, All in between relentless touring and recording, these great songs were written. That ridiculous song 'Yellow Submarine' that also sounds so well here. The enigmatic 'Lady Madonna'. The absolutely fabulous 'Hey Jude'. My first own bought single, the first song I knew about that was a number one hit, the song that still sends chills along my spine, the song I'll love forever, the song that brought tears to my eyes when I saw Paul play live for the first time three years back, one of the best songs ever. The surprise is how good I thought 'Day Tripper' was, which I never truly liked, but above all how good 'Hey Buldog' is, a song I hadn't heard for years. It truly kicked me about.

The fun thing is that I had not seen most of these clips before. The tv footage, yes, not the videos The Beatles experimented with from the mid 60s onwards. I'm not the You Tube watcher. I rather listen to music than watch it. With these exceptions like this evening. having fun with the music of my early youth. The music that still sounds so relevant in combination with the clips.

If these clips show anything it is the interaction between the four, the imminent humor that always seems to surround The Beatles and how they were able to make something from hardly anything. On top of that it holds this fantastic music which is right up there with the greatest music ever.

Finally, the two last singles from the 'Anthology' box are also here. 'Free As a Bird' and 'Real Love'. Although I still think the songs are more ELO, The Travelling Willburys or even Tom Petty then The Beatles in sound and production, for the first time I enjoyed them for what they are. Decent songs that John Lennon would have recorded some time on, had he lived.

And finally, finally. Seeing the band perform 'Revolution', in that great biting rock version and on the roof in London, I again wonder what would have happened if they had decided to take a year long holiday from each other, come back to the studio and just like The Rolling Stones had gone back to touring. We would have had another decade with stunning music. I am just so sure that. On the other hand, we see a band in its prime here. They've obtained what Bob Dylan imagined just a few years after The Beatles called it a day: they are forever young.

This DVD box is worth every cent and the cd with the 27 hits, which I did not buy in the 00s, is contained here also. The Beatles may not be a band for 45+ years as we speak, the releases since the mid 90s starting with the 'Anthology' have all added to the experience in one way or another. Some I watched, listened to, others not, 1+ is one of those releases that is a must have for every The Beatles fan.

Wo.

You can watch the trailer here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-dJAC2tybE

or buy the box at Bol.com

Flood. The Migrant

Flood is one of those album that was lying somewhere underneath a stack of records. I had listened to it. It didn't make an impression at all. Something Midlake like and I have enough Midlake's in my life: the real one. I have to admit that it is because I had to really clean up the house that Flood came up again and as I couldn't remember ever listening to it, that I put it on again. Lo and behold, it led to a review within a two weeks.

During my second listen session I was thinking even Radiohead has a band trying to show that it is influenced by Oxford's finest. So that noticed two main influences in one album, but what I also noticed is that The Migrant's songs certainly had merit by themselves. So I listened on and quite rightly so.

The Migrant is Danish musician Bjarke Bendtsen, born in Jutland, but now living in Copenhagen. Bendtsen was turned on to music after hearing Nirvana. There is nothing here that especially reminds me of that event. The same goes that he would never have gone to live in the U.S. without Neil Young and Bob Dylan living and working there. What I can relate to is that he has lived in Austin, Texas, fairly close to the already mentioned Midlake. Although Bendtsen has released several albums before Flood, this is the first I have ever heard by him. So there is nothing to compare and I can listen with a fresh ear. He recorded Flood with musicians from Copenhagen. That's all I can say unfortunately.

From the moment I went deeper into Flood, these precious little stones presented themselves. Those little shiny things that after I dusted them off, proved to be real gems. Opening song 'Climbers' is just such a song. It starts as a singer-songwriter song with a voice like the previous singer of Midlake. When I really started to listen all these intricate little melodies presented themselves. In just such a way as Admiral Freebee does his tricks when he is at his best. Layers of guitars all have small parts, little notes, while the drummer plays this soft marching rhythm. To get that I had to pay true attention to what The Migrant offered. Once I did that I went beyond the superficial likenesses to others without looking back.

Another feature that endeared me to The Migrant's music is the interplay between the acoustic guitar, which seems to be his first instrument, with the electric guitars around it. Although this is not exactly an unusual combination in pop music, the way it is done here caught my ear again and again. So many of them can be discovered. The eerie sounds in the background of the title song, makes 'Flood' so more atmospheric. It already is a moody song or better one with cold emotions and then this sound reminding me of a cold wind in the desert at night creeps up on me the whole time.

Radiohead comes by a lot also. The Radiohead the world doesn't get a lot off any more, being the one of (before) 'O.K. Computer'. 'Street Fade Out' and 'Kharma Police' come to mind regularly listening to songs like 'Belly Of A Man', 'Water' or 'Haunted'. I have started to appreciate what The Migrant offers instead of trying to sing along to another song. All these songs have a quality and inner beauty of their own. Enough said.

Finally The Migrant does an Elbow as well. 'Tiger' has this musical intermezzo that comes close to the one in 'The Take Of And Landing Of Everything'. It's not that good, but comes close. When it all ends with a fabulous, small song like 'Row Row' I know that Flood and I am good. Bjarke Bendtsen stands his own as well with just, it may be, a ukulele, before a few other small things come in. The melody is great and the singing takes the right tone to the song. What a way to end an album.

By the way, I hated standing on my hands under water. It always ran into my nose. So the cover photo is not one of my favourites.

Wo.

You can listen to Flood on The Migrant's Bandcamp page:

https://themigrant.bandcamp.com/album/flood

or buy on Bol.Com

.NoWordsNeedeD, 26-11-2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wu1ale38CE

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