Wildflower. Octave Lissner

An album starting with nature, birds, reminds me of our hero from Sealand, Broeder Dieleman. Octave Lissner has musically nothing to do with the enigmatic and somewhat esoteric Broeder Dieleman. Octave Lissner is as smooth as silk musically. Comparing the two artists is something like an oxymoron.

Octave Lissner is a young man from Paris, France who seems to have digested over 50 years of pop music and comes up with all the right notes that lead to instant pleasure for the ear. In nothing I would have guessed having to do with a French artist. His English is well (sung), the music is U.S. influenced. From the 'What A Fool Believes' The Doobie Brothers to Michael McDonald's 'Sweet Freedom' or Marvin Gaye soul, it all found a way to Wildflower. More modern music lovers may like Paolo Nutini as a reference and those in between should imagine Oasis' 'Don't Look Back In Anger' infused with a load of soul. Enter L.A. songwriter Patrick Joseph.

All that would be more of a disincentive to listen perhaps than a qualification to do so. I find that Octave Lissner often does the totally right thing, giving his music enough of a self to be enjoyed without having to compare the whole time. Yes, there are influences. Very obvious ones. It's of no consequence to the whole. What Lissner does with them is what makes Wildflower a pleasant experience.

What I could hold against it is that the album is ever so smooth. There is no danger in Wildflower. But then, who said music needs to be dangerous? We have enough of that around. Octave Lissner aims at a listening experience and succeeds. Like the aforementioned Patrick Joseph he manages to couple more or less straightforward songs to interesting arrangements. The many little details in the songs, like a piano or extra guitar bursting through the fabric of the song, make it so fine. Or the harmony singing in 'Waves Of Time'. A detail that lifts the song up and caresses it like the waves out on the sea.

Octave Lissner has released a fine debut mini album consisting of eight songs. The songs take the listener through a few moods and tempi. Wildflower is a fine introduction to a new French songwriter who is in nothing what I associate with French music. If someone had told me this production came out of LA I would not have given it a single thought. What a fine experience Wildflower is.

Wo.

You can listen to 'Wildflower' here:

https://octavelissner.bandcamp.com/track/wildflower

On Air. The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones are a band for 55 years in 2017. A life long career in rock music is no longer a hypothetical question. We know it can be long, last a lifetime and be very lucrative for those at the top. Did the band's latest release, 'Blue & Lonesome' give off the suggestion of a time machine with all the fine blues The Rolling Stones played on it, this release is a time machine.

20 Years after it became fashionable to do so finally The Rolling Stones releases its BBC recordings made in the mid 60s. What I hear is the nucleus of the band that grew to monstrous proportions with the climb of the decades. This is what it used to be all about: Have a great song and perform it as a five piece.

This, in part, is Brian Jones' band, the band that played rock and roll and rhythm and blues covers from the U.S. and caught that energy for the babyboomers if the U.K. about to embark on their peace and love adventure. The picture on the cover already shows the true configuration of the band. In my opinion it is no coincidence that this picture shows Mick, Keith and Charlie most in the front. Then Bill Wyman and only then Brian Jones. Almost falling of the picture, semi-faded out already.

That apart, what a joy On Air is. It lets me hear what I wasn't present at, all that passed me by. The Rolling Stones were as raucous as I would have expected them to be. Listening to these recordings it is almost imaginable how dangerous the U.K. establishment must have perceived youngsters who make music like this. The sound is dirty, gritty, Jagger sneers in his singing. He's not as good yet as he'd become, but catches the time with voice and demeanour.

It all starts with the first hit 'Come On' from 1963. A more obscure Chuck Berry song, released by the Stones and made famous forever because of it. We hear a tight band, playing a small song. There is nothing more than there was in these studios where the song were recorded. Some with audiences, some without. Giel Beelen's Speelplaats in the 60s.

This band was good. It had this fired up energy and an interaction between the individual members that made them more than a five piece band. The Stones captured the hearts and minds allowing for a basis that got them where they are now. Rock Gods. If anything On Air shows the process the band went through: from covers, to covers that were slowly reworked into Stones songs and then come their own hits. Many of the songs still are covered by bands right up to this day.

There's is one complaint and it is serious: Why just slab these songs on the record instead of showing the development of the band chronologically? That would have made sense. This isn't the nth hit compilation that needs a reshuffle. This is historical song mining. An inexcusable laps in my opinion, simply because the development the album shows goes somewhat missing.

Whether we had to wait so long, because the band waited for Alan Klein to die, who held the rights to some of these songs (and perhaps these recordings?) or there's another reason, I don't know. Let's just enjoy what we were finally, officially, given.

Wo.

Johnny Hallyday (1943 - 2017) or French pop in general. A conversation

The demise of Johnny Hallyday triggered a conversation between Gary, Mark and Wo. France is in collective mourning, while these three gentlemen are truly wondering what the fuss is all about. This led to the following conversation on almost everything but Johnny Hallyday, in which it even proved hard to spell his last name right (Halliday vs. Hallyday).

Gary, 6-12-2017

Sad news about Johnny Hallyday passing away at the age of 74….

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-4224

Wo., 6-12

I just saw it on the news, Gary. Strange to think that this man's career, who was huge in France, was over in this country before I got a notion of music beyond what my elders played.

It was years if not decades before I found that this famed rock and roll guy people always seemed to write about, was the same of that song 'Pour moi la vie va commencer'. I never connected the two.

Mark, 6-12
I don't know any of his records but you could say before The Beatles changed everything  the top teenage icons of rock'n'roll were Elvis, Cliff and Halliday but only Elvis big in all these markets.  Cliff never broke America and presumably Halliday blocked him out of the French teen market? How big was Elvis in France compared to UK? 

Largely unknown in UK, a francophonie footnote in the rock annals of rock, Johnny Halliday is precious national French property - like Alain Delon. He wasn't tempted by Hollywood and similarly Bardot who dipped her toe only from time to time (Doctor at Sea with Dirk Bogarde and Shalako with Sean Connery) and thought better of it.

"Can the French do rock'n'roll and be cool?" is an old joke on our side of the Channel. I can't name a single French rock band....just the odd curiosity like Plastic Bertrand.

I am in love with Francoise Hardy, however, and have all her records. Her late 1960s early 1970s lps like Question are excellent - and Nick Drake was besotted with her (they met once but no recordings ensued). Damon Albarn invited her to sing on a Blur track.  She hated the French production values of her early records and later recorded with Charles Blackwell at Pye Studios (La Maison ou J"ai Grandi) (with The Kinks in the studio next door). Bardot's records also had horrid production - except when she hooked up with Serge Gainsbourg. Francoise steered clear of Halliday as an uncool aging rocker:  I don't recall they ever duetted on record (she did with Alain Delon actually on a song on Parentheses releases in 2006 - now he IS the epitome of French cool!)

Wout, 6-12

Gary, if you could add your bit, it seems we have an item here.

Gary, 6-12

As a follow up to Mark’s comments, Plastic Bertrand (real name Roger Jouret) was of course a Belgian (born in Brussels in 1954... so just a few years older than me an Mark!). And although not really “my cup of tea”, was actually a reasonable drummer and loved and was inspired by the Stones. As his unique fame dwindled in 1987 he represented Luxembourg in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Amour Amour". This failed to impress the juries, however, scoring only 4 points and placing 21st out of 22 entries! 

I am sure there are many French ‘Pop’ and MOR artists that have ‘escaped me’ 😂 and to be honest I am not about to immerse myself in French ‘popular beat combos’. But as a proponent of Progressive Rock, I have bought or listened to some French Prog bands and artists over the years. Two in particular you may have heard of?

Magma: Led by classically trained drummer Christian Vander, the Paris-based Magma have been, in their way, perhaps the ultimate progressive rock group; while other artists have achieved greater commercial success and critical acclaim, Magma have typified the many ambitions and excesses of the genre that won them as many detractors as fans, even going so far as to invent their own lyrical and musical language in order to bring their unique vision to life. With 12 studio albums released since 1970, Magma is one of the greatest prog groups emerged from France and have been popular with Prog cognoscenti in the UK and USA… Live version of Epok I - Sowiloi:   https://youtu.be/wpbGNDw41eQ 

Jean-Luc Ponty: Jean-Luc Ponty isn’t only a virtuoso violinist but also one of the greatest Fusion composers who blended different genres with great success and a pioneer of the electric violin, his solo works include very different albums as the brilliant and almost symphonic Aurora or the less inspired Afro Jazz oriented Tchokola, in other words not only a prolific but also a very eclectic and talented Progressive musician. Ponty has collaborated with many great bands and artists over the years including Return to Forever, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Frank Zappa, Jon Anderson. Jean-Luc Ponty has a global reputation…. If you have not heard of him, here is his track ‘Mirage”: https://youtu.be/iS_p5sgfJb0

Ange: Formed in Belfort in 1969, Ange are one of the first progressive rock bands emerged from France. The group’s debut album, Caricatures, was released in 1972. Ange released 23 studio albums in total, and numerous live, compilation and single releases! Unheard of in the USA and the UK, they were/are quite inventive. Take a listen to Le Cimetière Des Arlequins (1973): https://youtu.be/k3RNmKfOh-I 

Thierry Zaboitzeff: Composer and multi-instrumentalist, one of the members of 'Art Zoyd’ (Pink Floyd?) from 1971 till 1997, Thierry Zaboitzeff writes nowadays for dance, theater, multimedia events and movies, as well as for his own projects and performances. In the period from 1997 until 2017, Zaboitzeff has released 17 albums which are situated somewhere amongst the genres of symphonic rock, electronic music, and acoustic music. Llibre Vermell - O Virgo Splendens:  https://youtu.be/fLJsdQEMGMM

Richard Pinhas: French guitarist Richard Pinhas led the group Heldon from 1974 to 1978, releasing seven albums with them. Pinhas’ solo work covers a lot of ground. Since 1977 he released 19 studio albums, the latest being this year’s Reverse. Little known in the UK and the USA (which is a pity!), here is a recent track that demonstrates his innovation… ‘Ruitor’: https://youtu.be/NTffJo1l7kA 

Enjoy!

Mark, 6-12

Gary's knowledge of the heavier prog side is far deeper than mine! 

On the lighter side and,  while rather niche,  I think we have to mention Alan Stivell from Brittany who made quite an impact on the UK folk fraternity (The Chieftains, Steeleye Span etc), had a run of albums in the 1970s and toured the UK but then disappeared from our view at least as the folk boom faded in the 1980s.

Do you have many French readers, Wout,  who may be rather bemused by our reflections on their musical icons?

Mark, 7-12

Just watched a short biography about Johnny Halliday on French tv. To his credit he seems to have stayed closer to his rock'n'roll roots than Cliff and was still filling stadium concerts until recently. 

As was trend for a while in the 1960s, Cliff tried his hand at foreign language versions of his singles and released a few highly collectable French e.p.s. and there were his big films like Summer Holiday (a European road film) which I presume were released in France.

I wonder if Halliday sang in English at all? He did play the Albert Hall not so long ago - a concert mainly for his UK-based French fans presumably. Francoise Hardy is an impressive multilingualist who recorded singles and entire albums in Italian, German and English.

Wo., 7-12

It seems that Halliday sang in English. The last time he performed over here was to promote an English language album it seems. It all past me by. Like my newspaper wrote, in a page big obituary no less, Halliday was the most famous popstar you never heard of. That last bit's not true, but I know only one of his songs. And do not like it. When I take "hear" literally it certainly is true.

What I did know is that he is of Belgian descent, having a Belgian father. His real name was Jean-Philippe de Smet.

French singers and bands? I am afraid there are frightfully little in my collection. I was never one for chansons for one. The song I always truly loved is 'Poupée de cire poupée de son', by France Gall, the winner of the Eurovision song contest 1965.  And there's Les Poppies with 'Non non je ne regrette rien'. True pop songs do not get much better. The scandalous Gainsbourg-Birkin singe 'J'e t'aime - moi non plus' is another long time favourite. Whatever else is going on there, the music is fantastic.

There are a few incidents along the road to 2017. Plastic Bertrand is one, a 45 I have for nearly 40 years. 'Etienne' by Guesch Patty another, like 'Ella Ella' by France Gall.

Only in the past two years I have encountered a few French albums that are noteworthy. Mainly because of the blog. I ran into Lou Doillon, daughter of Jane Birkin who has released two great albums, 'Places' and  'Lay Low'. Her step-sister Charlotte Gainsbourg, daughter of both, has just released a deliciously mysterious and sensuous record called 'Rest'. Her '5.55' album, made with Air is quite o.k., like some parts of 'Moon Safari' by Air itself.

The tiny record label Tiny Room Records here in NL has released two French acts recently. The singer-songwriter folk of Queen of the Meadow and the lo-fi album by Garciaphone, 'Dreameater'. Especially the last one I truly like. It captures many flavours, including symphonic rock, without any of the exuberant bombast that is part of that music.

Next to all that there are of course songs by Julien Clerc, Gérard Lenorman, etc. that became hits in the 70s. They're nice but not really my cup of tea. After the 70s music from France was played less is my impression or went unnoticed by me. Over the past years there were some rap songs in French, but me and rap?

My focus is mainly on the U.K., then the U.S. and in this decade certainly NL. There's a lot of good stuff happening over here that I truly like. Some by bands that most likely no one will ever hear of. I will send you a few links to my favourites to discover in a separate email.

Gary, 7-12
Yes, I had forgotten about Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin (although Birkin was a Brit living in Paris and has subsequently been awarded an MBE…. I am not sure why… "for services to simulated orgasms”? 😂). As an aside, Birkin was married to composer John Barry who produced the iconic Moog lead from the British TV series ‘The Persuaders’ theme, of which the single I still have! https://youtu.be/PIQwzWg7-1E ). Whilst surfing the late Serge Gainsbourg, I found this photo from 1981… how typically Parisian he was! 😆

Note of the editor: unfortunately due to copyright infringements we can not show the photo. Just imagine a smoking Serge Gainsbourg, looking very much himself.

Wout, 7-12

Mark, to come back to another question. Yes, there are regular views from France. How many people this involves is impossible to know.

Gary, the references you made are in some cases not even names to me. Totally obliviousness on my part I'm afraid. I'll be certain to listen at some point just to find out.

I know the name Jean-Luc Ponty, because he played with Frank Zappa somewhere in the 70s. I counted him more as jazz-rock, I think. At least that's my impression. 

Wout, 7-12

This is my blogpost of yesterday. I think you'll appreciate the reference 😊

http://wonomagazine.blogspot.nl/2017/12/rest-charlotte-gainsbourg.html

Mark, 7-12

You mention France Gall: I might one day check the other so-called "ye-ye girls" including her and Sylvie Vartan (who was married to Johnny Halliday) - but Francoise Hardy was as I understand it the most sophisticated of these as a songwriter and her records have largely stood the test of time (and as testimony of that her albums are now being re-mastered).  

If I were to recommend one song from her oeuvre to turn you on to her it would be Rêve from the album Question released in 1971:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VHS1bW-rL8  

Ingenious arrangement: you have to wait a while for the wonderfully cool deadpan spoken lyric:

tu m'émerveilles comme un rêve

qui c'est enfin réalisé et tu me fais mal comme un rêve dont il va falloir m'éveiller.

(You mesmorise me like a dream that is at last realised - and you hurt me (because) it is a dream I will have to wake from.)

Topped by an impressive solo guitar flourish at the end. Play that and tell me your spine isn't tingled: I think it is a timeless gem.

A much earlier recording J'attends plus personne features not only a hard-hitting vocal to match a very strident lyric but allegedly a certain jobbing session musician by the name of James Page. Certainly a very early example of fuzz guitar, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvRUUTY5Vs0

She was the most well-known of the French pop singers in the '60s in the UK; she featured regularly in all the English pop publications of the period, was a fashion icon - and was so photegenic - such a timeless beauty (but never rich hippy or trashy). C'est pourquoi je l'aime.

Wout, 7-12

I just listened to the whole album ('Question', ed.). Very Brazilian the music that goes on in the background. Yes, I liked this introduction. You should like the Charlotte Gainsbourg album also, is my guess.

Currently I am listening to Jacques Dutronc in the background. Her (Françoise Hardy. ed.) husband so I found. One of his songs, one of the two NL hits he's had in NL, 'Le Responsables' features in a Thalys add currently on television about two senior citizens who decide to escape the old folks' home they are in and head for Paris.

Dutronc had only one major hit over here, in 1968: 'Il est cinq heures Paris s'reveille.' Totally out of the order of his pop-garage-rock songs that seem to have been his standard in the 60s it seems. And that became the hit here. What does that tell you about this country? If I remember correctly it was the likes of 'Lazy Sunday' and 'Summertime Blues' that topped the charts at the same time, so not all bad.

Mark, 11-12
The funeral in Paris was impressive and a moving tribute to his prominent place in French culture.  I doubt there will be anything on that scale for Cliff Richard, ennobled even though he is as "Sir Cliff". The year after next it will be 60 years since he first topped the UK charts (with "Living Doll"). 55 years ago my mother took my brother and me to see "Summer Holiday" in an open air cinema in Aden in what is now war-torn and famine-stricken Yemen but at that time a British colony. How times have changed but the film is still an enjoyable watch as a European travelogue with happy and carefree youngsters, and a clutch of catchy tunes, Hank Marvin twanging away on some of them to fix it firmly in the pre-Beatles era.

Wo. 11-12
That's a beautiful, if somewhat sad, ending to our foray into French music.

Gary Hunt
Mark Carvell
Wo.

P.S. from the editor: Would anyone from France like to respond and put things in context for us? That would be a nice addition. Reach out and we will make it happen.

Hertaalt! The Kik

The Kik komt vanaf het allereerste jaar van dit blog regelmatig voorbij. Dit jaar alleen al twee keer. Eerst met de recensie van hun prima plaat 'Stad En Land' en daarna de show hier in het Patronaat. Tel daarbij de, hier niet gerecenseerde, maar toch erg leuke plaat van Simon Keats (a.k.a. Paul Zoontjes) en het is een erg mooi The Kik jaar.

Want, tot mijn grote verbazing komt er dit jaar nog een plaat uit. Nee, dat zal ik maar meteen eerlijk toegeven, het is niet de plaat waar ik op gehoopt had. Dat is een tweede Armand project, maar dan met meer en minder obscure nummers uit de Nederbeat, zoals in The Kiks eerste theatershow voorbij kwamen. Dat kwam er (nog?) niet van. In de tussentijd kijk ik dit gegeven paard niet in de bek. (Dat klopt natuurlijk niet als recensent, want dat is juist wat ik doe, maar ik hoop dat u mij begrijpt.)

Hertaalt! moet letterlijk genomen worden. The Kik hertaalt een aantal nummers uit de pophistorie. Niet alleen die uit de jaren 60 en dan vooral The Beatles, maar tot en met dit decennium. Het begint voluit knallent met dat nummer dat hier nog dagelijks in huis voorbij komt als de kids kijken naar de zoveelste re-run van 'Friends'. Er zullen weinig mensen zijn die 'Ik Sta Klaar Voor Jou' niet thuis kunnen brengen en daar geen goed gevoel bij krijgen. The Kik is hier The Rembrandts, maar dan in het Nederlands. Het spettert en knettert. Het enthousiasme is geheel getroffen, precies zoals als het hoort in dit opper positivo nummer.

Op deze manier komen veel bekende nummers voorbij. 'Rolling In The Deep' wordt 'Er Breekt Brand Uit' en 'Can't Buy Me Love' 'Rode Cent'. Bijna alle nummers klinken direct bekend in de oren en zij die dat niet doen, zijn een uiterst aangename verrassing. 'De Waarheid' is een The Kik nummer en had op ieder van hun drie eerdere platen kunnen staan, zonder op te vallen. (Ik tel 'Armand + The Kik' niet mee.)

De reden voor dit uitermate prettige tussendoortje is mij onbekend, feit is wel dat het een uiterst prettige is. De manier waarop in een aantal nummers een accordeon erbij wordt gehaald, geeft een authentiek geluid aan een bekend nummer als 'Sunny Afternoon' van The Kinks. Hiermee krijgen deze nummers een eigen iets mee, worden een goede aanvulling.

Een stiekeme favoriet als 'Winter In America' komt zelfs voorbij. Waarom ik dit nummer toen al goed vond? Het had iets Little River Band achtigs en dat had een paar geweldige, nostalgische nummers. Dat gevoel weet The Kik te vertalen naar een kersthit voor 2017. 'December' is, met alle toetsers en blazers, ook helemaal raak. Nostalgische gevoelens voor iets dat (lang) voorbij is, worden zo mooi verwoord, met een prachtige elektrische piano partij van Paul Zoontjes.

Ik denk dat ik hiermee beet heb, waarom Hertaalt! werkt. The Kik weet in alle nummers de juiste sfeer te treffen. Het is van al die markten thuis. Van echte opwinding (al kunnen de mannen alleen maar dromen van Beatlesmania gekrijs) tot fraaie nostalgie naar toen. Zelfs als het misschien een treetje te hoog gegrepen is, zoals Oasis' 'Don't Look Back In Anger', komt het toch helemaal goed. Omdat die uitdagende stoerheid uiteindelijk toch overkomt.

Een goede cover is niets mis mee en dat toont The Kik weer eens aan, al zijn dit niet helemaal covers natuurlijk. In de jaren 60 coverde iedereen dezelfde nummers tot dat het een noodzaak werd om zelf te gaan schrijven. De poel was leeg gevist. Zij die dit konden, bleven bestaan en succesvol, de rest verdween langzaam. The Kik grijpt met deze plaat terug op de pop cultuur van de vroege en midden jaren 60. Dat levert met Hertaalt! een prima plaat op, die ook nog eens als een eenheid klinkt, omdat die typische The Kik saus ruimschoots over de nummers is uitgeschonken.

Ik vermoed zo maar dat dit wel eens het begin van een aangename traditie is, al blijf ik hopen op die plaat met Nederbeat hits als 'Ik Heb Geen Zin Om Op Te Staan'.

Wo.

Je kunt hier luisteren naar 'Ik Sta Klaar Voor Jou':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCiCOWXRQF0

Who Built The Moon? Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

Wow! Listening to Who Built The Moon? for the first time, it's like being hit by a steamtrain or an avalanche. The music rolls over me in waves and waves, without time for a pause. Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds play in the highest gear possible and keep up that pace and musical artistry.

Who Built The Moon? is its third album since the breakup of the U.K. band of the 90s. The two brothers Gallagher keep up the same tempo. Liam is of course the better singer. For the rest there's no comparison possible. Noel has shown abundantly that he can do without his baby brother and is a capable singer in his own right. He will never have the outgoing style of Liam though. It makes me wonder though about what could have been. There's no use to do so. It is time to get myself more familiar with this album. I will return after some more sessions.

What keeps getting me is the abundance of energy that surges from the opening song 'Fort Knox'. As if the famous complex is sprung, robbed and blown up all within the same few minutes Noel Gallagher c.s. need to make an opening statement. The alarm bell keeps ringing to no avail. There's no rest for the wicked. 'Holy Mountain' continues in the same vein. Everything is closed up. All the energy is contained like in a black hole. There's simply no escape. All the little extra -and there are quite some to find- are like satellites orbiting the black hole, about to be sucked in.

So yes, the production is massive. A wall of sound like Phil Spector used to create over 50 years ago. Is this a bad thing? Only if the songs are shite and I am totally inclined to think they are not. Would the album have profited from a less tight production? Who knows, there no way of knowing, is there?

Noel's previous album, 'Chasing Yesterday' made it into my top 10 of favourite records of the year. (Read the review here: http://wonomagazine.blogspot.nl/2015/04/chasing-yesterday-noel-galleghers-high.html.) It is too early (so perhaps too late) to tell for this year. Yet with Who Built The Moon? Noel Gallagher proves he is relevant still and is a great songwriter and a proficient singer. Excitement is caught like it once was on Oasis records and a more modern sound is added to his songs. Dance elements are let in, making a song like 'It's A Beautiful World' sound different from all that came before.

The man responsible for all that is producer David Holmes. A man with a lot of film scores to his name and a background in electronic music. He seems to have been able to draw Noel Gallagher head and heels into the 21st century. Without losing any of his old tricks off course. Just like with brother Liam's album 'As You Were' (read the review here: http://wonomagazine.blogspot.nl/2017/12/as-you-were-liam-gallagher.html) I will let you find all the references for yourself. It's part of the fun.

Some might say some of the songs sound familiar. It is undeniable that songs have the Noel Gallagher touch. Close to 25 years after Oasis' first single release it's not strange to conclude that. But take a song like 'Black & White Sunshine'. It is signature Gallagher. And then that guitar chimes in playing all these fine notes, laid out over the swamp of sound as are a few other instruments. The sum of it all is such a pleasant song. The Interlude following it is the point of rest and reflection the album needs at that point and it provides.

The end of Who Built The Moon? leaves room for only one conclusion: Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds have released another fine album. Better than most of the Oasis albums after the first two for certain. All had their moments, some even multiple. Who Built The Moon? is excitement for the second decade of the 21st century. Starting with a big bang, ending with a fine song like 'The Men Who Built The Moon' and finally the second part of the interlude now called 'End Credits'. Yes, like film music. But hey, who was that producer again?

Wo.

You can listen to 'Holy Mountain' here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIQdUJ04iNY