Lover, You Should Have Come Over. Jeff Buckley

What is the best ballad ever?, 2. This Wednesday I claimed Jefferson Starship's 'Miracles' to be the best ballad ever made. Let me nuance it just a little.

To me there is only one contender and that is the song that moved the heart of my, now, wife. Also, the song I dared to perform solo for her on her birthday party some years ago with family and friends present and got away with it.

'Grace' is the album, released in 1994 and the only album Jeff Buckley released while alive. He was still struggling with recording his second album three and a half year after the release of 'Grace' when he tragically drowned in the Wolf River in Memphis, on the day his band arrived to start the recording, again.

'Grace'' is a legendary album by now. For me the proof that Buckley was touched by angles and then called back to heaven. To me it seems that writing songs came very hard to him. He was 27 when he recorded the ten song album. of which he (co-)wrote seven. He did make the final version of 'Hallelujah', on the side putting the spotlight on Leonard Cohen's fading career in the process.

The one time I saw Jeff Buckley play live, I simply fell in love with the man, his voice and his music. There is no other word for it. Pure musical magic was in the air that evening in Rotterdam. His album was extremely dear to me and still is, although I do not play it a lot any more.

There's one song that stands out among all the strong songs on 'Grace'. It is Lover, You Should Have Come Over. One of three written by Buckley without assistance from others. It opens with this weird harmonium sound, played by Jeff Buckley. Or better, with a hissing sound as if air is moving through the pipes and valves of the harmonium. When the band comes in led by an acoustic guitar, it is clear from the get go that something special is going to happen. The tempo seems to drag itself forward, slow like a garden snail but just as effective once it reaches your garden plants.

The electric guitar adds a few gracing notes while an organ fills the holes in between the other instruments but there's also the harmonium in there again. A big complement has to go to drummer Matt Johnson who is able to play fantastic accents in the song while seemingly slowing the song down. Meticulously recorded as well.

In the meantime Jeff Buckley's voice is slowly warming up to go all the way. You can feel that he means every word he's singing here. There's passion and desperation for the situation that caused her "to be a tear inside my soul forever".  His voice goes up and up and up, showing the reach and suppleness of his voice. (When I went to the show in, probably, 1995, I could not imagine that he could do this live, night after night. The first song seemed to prove me right and then the miracle of Jeff Buckley's voice manifested itself. There has never been a second like him since.) If ever pain for something that hadn't happened but should have was voiced beyond convincing, it is here.

What strikes me every time I play the song, like I do now, is its richness. In that it is similar to 'Miracles'. Also Lover, You Should Have Come Over has this lush arrangement where the whole team was not satisfied with the first, second and third version of the song. The extras in the arrangement attest to that. Both songs have a tremendously rich arrangement, beside having a lot to say and play at 6.52 and 6.44. No one was allowed to attempt and shorten it. The result is two epic rock ballads.

'Grace' and Jeff Buckley came out of nowhere to me. After reading the review in 'Oor', in my recollection in the winter of 1995, but I could be wrong, I knew I had to go and listen. The album touched me immediately at the deepest possible level. There was only one level left and that is where only the very, very best songs land. The ones that last a lifetime. The special ones and that is where 'Lover, You Should Have Come Over settled.

This is the end of this small series. I could have done a third on 'Love, When You Don't Want It' by then The Lightning Vishwa Orchestra, now The LVE. It already has a solo review and was lauded a few times since on the blog. Do check it out though (in the 2014 version).

Wout de Natris

No music today, because ....

 

Miracles. Jefferson Starship

What is the most beautiful ballad ever made?

This question is probably impossible to answer and may change by the day, but if I would have to choose one it is very likely that I will choose Miracles. That Marty Balin was able to write great ballads had already been proven in abundance with 'Today' and especially 'Coming Back To Me', both on Jefferson Airplane's 1967 breakthrough album 'Surrealistic Pillow'. With Miracles he may have written the best (rock) ballad ever.

Miracles is the second song on Jefferson Starship's second album, 'Red Octopus' (1975). Balin had returned to the mothership after contributing one song, 'Caroline', to the band's debut album 'Dragonfly' (1974). Jefferson Starship rose from the smoldering embers of the crashed Airplane. Marty Balin had left first. Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Cassidy had started Hot Tuna. Spencer Dryden had joined the New Riders of the Purple Sage, Paul Kantner and Grace Slick had made solo and duo albums and finally a trio album with David Freiburg, the fantastic 'Baron From Tollbooth And The Chrome Nun' (1973). In between Jefferson Airplane had released three albums, before Kantner, Slick and Freiburg started Jefferson Starship with Pete Sears, Craig Chaquico, Papa John Creach and John Barbata, who died this May, I now find.

Back to Miracles. I bought 'Red Octopus' most likely around 1980, as a best buy in an American or Canadian cardboard sleeve. It was Miracles that stood out and always has since. Right up to this day. The song is about the beauty of love and hope, of enjoying having sex and pleasure and all caught in fantastically beautiful music in which every single note is just right.

It starts with Pete Sears' bass and strings creating a mood that can only be called "zwoel", in Dutch. It translates into sultry. This song moves slowly, suggesting a warm, humid, late summer evening, with the heat barely at the pleasant side. Miracles is all about "swirling and dancing", but ever so slow. In comes an organ played by Freiburg, who created a simply beautiful intro to the song. There is a bongo or conga mixed into the whole played by guest musician Bobbye Hall. Also note the electric piano playing a contra melody, played by Sears also. Marty Balin bursts into the chorus immediately. From the start he gives his all. The only "mistake" in the song is evident after the first line. The intro organ plays its intro melody once again, but it doesn't fit the chord, a one note change fixes it later on.

In the chorus the call and response is started between singer, Balin, and singer Grace Slick solo or supported by the whole band, minus Papa John Creach, the senior of the band. Balin's soothing and tempting voice contrasts with Slick's. She's herself here and not pretending. The band though has never sounded suaver before or after. They sing as soft as silk. Slick is stealing the show though with her responses, aiding Balin onwards and onwards towards his goal and climax.

Going into the first verse, the finesse of the songs comes through more and more. Pete Sears shows his musicianship here in full glory. The way he manages to draw out the piano notes, each time with a few notes more than I would expect and each single note adding more beauty. At the final note Craig Chaquico takes over and manages to play just a few completely right notes right before the next line. The timing is impeccable creating jawdropping beauty. Both sound like drops of rain that fall into a small brook or on stones in it.

Miracles is a long song, nearly seven minutes and not one second too long. There is a single (7") version of about the half in length, which I never heard, and made it to number 3 in the States. The album made it to number 1 and is certified platinum twice. The single comes without all the references to sex of which there are plenty in the album version. Marty Balin was in love and the whole world was allowed to know. There's no half work here. "I might have to move heaven and Earth to prove it you baby", he sings. He's going for it all right. In general the singers steal the show on Miracles but do pay attention to the lead guitar. Subtle notes grace the singers.

I can write what I like here, but words are not enough to describe what I feel listening to the song. A song that easily lets tears well in my eyes when I connect the song to my own love of quite some years. We believed in miracles and received it together.

Balin manages to flesh out the lyrics in the song and his words make the song seem to change, which it does not. Until 5 minutes forty seconds when the bridge comes in and Balin manages to reach ever higher notes and the saxophone solo of Irv Cox symbolises the climax (of the song), that ends with a repeat of the chorus and slowly but surely ends.

Reading Wikipedia, Balin, who had just rejoined the band early in 1975, brought in this song he had been working on and nobody liked it. Resulting in it not going anywhere in rehearsals. (Everyone playing in a band knows how this can go.) Apparently something changed as Jefferson Starship recorded what is probably its best song, if not the best song of all the members' whole careers. Larry Cox was the band's co-producer and may justly receive the credits for the great sound of the song. So many instruments and they all have a chance to shine. Barbata's drumming supports it in modest yet present way, the bass that comes forward, Kantner's subtle acoustic guitar. All is audible once you open your ears to the song. And then the singing. This band, once it embraced the song, really went for it with this brilliant result. A love song of epic proportions if I ever heard one.

How the love Balin was inspired by ended, I have no idea of. Whether there is another woman in this world who was sung to in this impactful way, I strongly doubt. Miracles is a beautiful song in so many ways. A monument for a band of which most members in 2024 are no longer alive.

Wout de Natris

P.S. what is your favourite ballad? Let us know.

Scream From New York, NY. Been Stellar

Been Stellar has released its debut album recently. Over the past months several of its singles were found in the near weekly singles section. Listening to Scream From New York, NY, my initial thoughts are confirmed. Been Stellar took the record collection of the members' parents, dropped it on the floor, hustled it around and out come the songs on Scream From New York, NY. I can't help liking it though. The album is charged. If anything shows here, it's that the band obviously wants to play these songs and give them their everything. This is a lock, stock and barrel kind of album.

What makes me like the album more, is the diversity of the songs. Although it can all be put under alternative rock moving towards post punk here and there, the songs sound far from identical.

The start of the album is huge. Been Stellar shows it aims for stadiums. There's nothing half way of modest about 'Start Again'. The sound is huge, impresses immediately and the band is dripping rock. Musically, the song is somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Modern post punk in the way band like 'SPRINTS' play, mixed with Nirvana. Anyone loving this kind of music will find nothing not to like about 'Start Again'. In fact 'Start Again' is the kind of song any band should aspire to when releasing its first album. Wam bam thank you mam straight into your face and beyond.

What worries me, is whether this music isn't too big for the smaller venues the band will have to play in to build its fan base? How loud and huge can you go in the smaller halls of already medium-sized venues? The other option is of course that Been Stellar can skip them due to the support slots it already played for (semi-)arrived bands like Fontaines DC and Shame.

Scream From New York, NY is the kind of album that grips me immediately and doesn't let go. It has all this energy contained into it, while at the same time Been Stellar is capable of using restraint as well. Take the third song 'Pumpkin'. The band manages to make the song bare and then slowly but surely build it out. without killing the alternative ballad it is. It shows musicianship and a keen ear to make 'Pumpkin' special.

This variation is found throughout the album once we've listened to the two first and especially loud rock songs opening it. From that moment everything is possible. Been Stellar is a guitar - bass- drums band and doesn't let this basis go. Over that rock sound sings Sam Slocum with a dreamy voice. He sings in such a relaxed way that at times I get the impression he was singing with another band and the tapes somehow got mixed up. And yet it somehow totally fitted. I have to say that I love listening to his voice.

With 'Sweet' Been Stellar does a 'Helter Skelter' intro, after which the song goes off in a totally different direction. Again the difference between the loud band and Slocum catches my ear. With Skyler Knapp (guitar), Nando Dale (guitar), Laila Wayans (drums), and Nico Brunstein (bass) the band is together for seven years already. Without Covid we may have heard the debut album a few years earlier but as far as I'm concerned, this debut is perfect. Been Stellar may have been lucky as it was able to hone its chops some extra because of the horrid time that hopefully lies behind us today.

With Scream From New York, NY Been Stellar delivers a very mature and well-balanced album that simply rocks. The singles released in the past months predicted a fine album and that promise is delivered on no little. Been Stellar is a name to watch. In November they come over for a show in Paradiso.

Wout de Natris

You can listen to and order Scream From New York, NY here:

https://beenstellar.bandcamp.com/album/scream-from-new-york-ny

Hypocrite. Stephanie Lambring

Stephanie Lambring ontworstelde zich een paar jaar geleden aan het strakke keurslijf uit Nashville en laat ook op Hypocrite weer horen dat ze in meerdere genres uit de voeten kan en bulkt van het talent.

Hypocrite van de Amerikaanse singer-songwriter Stephanie Lambring is deze week zeker niet het album dat de meeste aandacht opeist, maar het album is, net als voorganger Autonomy uit 2020, van bijzonder hoge kwaliteit. Het is een album dat afwisselend flirt met Amerikaanse rootsmuziek en indierock, maar Stephanie Lambring is er in geslaagd om deze genres op bijzondere wijze aan elkaar te smeden. Hypocrite is verrassend subtiel maar ook gevarieerd ingekleurd en geeft steeds alle ruimte aan de prachtige stem van Stephanie Lambring, die niet alleen overtuigt met mooie klanken en fraaie zang, maar ook met een serie hele mooie en interessante songs.

De Amerikaanse singer-songwriter Stephanie Lambring leek op jonge leeftijd haar dromen waar te maken toen ze in Nashville een platencontract in de wacht sleepte. Het draaide helaas uit op een enorme teleurstelling, waarna ze de muziekindustrie alweer snel de rug toe keerde. In 2020 keerde Stephanie Lambring terug met het uitstekende Autonomy, waarop ze wel de muziek maakte die ze zelf wilde maken. Het leverde een prachtig album op, dat helaas niet zo heel veel aandacht kreeg, maar dat in kleine kring terecht stevig werd bewierookt.

Ook ik was aan het eind van 2020 heel enthousiast over Autonomy, dat zowel in muzikaal als in vocaal opzicht indruk maakte en dat ook nog eens was gevuld met zeer aansprekende songs. Alle reden dus om heel nieuwsgierig te zijn naar de volgende muzikale verrichtingen van Stephanie Lambring. De Amerikaanse muzikante, die inmiddels is teruggekeerd naar Nashville, heeft nu met Hypocrite haar tweede album uitgebracht.

Net als op Autonomy kiest Stephanie Lambring op Hypocrite voor haar eigen weg en heeft ze lak aan de conventies van de muziekindustrie in Nashville. Hypocrite opent opvallend met subtiele atmosferische elektronische klanken, die op het eerste gehoor ver verwijderd zijn van de Amerikaanse rootsmuziek op Autonomy. De Amerikaanse muzikante wijkt in meerdere songs op haar nieuwe album af van het standaard instrumentarium binnen de Amerikaanse rootsmuziek, maar toch vind ik Hypocrite uiteindelijk toch minimaal voor een deel een rootsalbum.

De wat atmosferisch aandoende elektronische klankentapijten op het album worden gecombineerd met of afgewisseld door rootsy snarenwerk, dat soms subtiel wordt ingezet en soms wat meer op de voorgrond treedt. Wanneer de gitaren wat steviger worden aangezet schuift Hypocrite voorzichtig op richting de indierock van het moment, maar het album bevat ook songs die juist weer zijn te typeren als Amerikaanse rootsmuziek.

Echt goed in een hokje te duwen is de muziek van Stephanie Lambring daarom niet en dat pakt wat mij betreft uitstekend uit. In genres waarin veel muziek op het moment hetzelfde klinkt, laat Stephanie Lambring wat mij betreft een duidelijk eigen geluid en aangenaam divers horen en het is een zeer aansprekend geluid.

De Amerikaanse muzikante heeft haar songs niet volgestopt met instrumenten, maar kies voor een redelijk sober ingekleurd maar avontuurlijk geluid. De ruimte die open blijft neemt Stephanie Lambring in met haar stem. De zang op Hypocrite is echt bijzonder mooi en koppelt kracht aan souplesse. Het is een combinatie die ook terugkeert in de instrumentatie, die het album steeds weer van kleur laat verschieten met de echt bijzonder mooie stem van de Amerikaanse muzikante als constante factor.

Het is een stem die uitstekend tot zijn recht komt in het subtiele instrumentarium op het album, dat echt bijzonder mooi is geproduceerd door Teddy Morgan. Zeker wanneer Stephanie Lambring wat afstand neemt van de Amerikaanse rootsmuziek kan ze zo in de voetsporen van Phoebe Bridgers treden, maar deze blijft ze op Hypocrite nooit lang volgen. Het talent van Stephanie Lambring werd in Nashville vele jaren geleden al ontdekt, maar is pas echt tot bloei gekomen toen ze haar eigen weg kon gaan.

Erwin Zijleman

Je kunt Hypocrite hier bestellen en luisteren:

https://stephanielambring.bandcamp.com/album/hypocrite