Judging Albums By Their Covers

This week sees the release of the new Take That album Progress. Now, while I know nothing of the album other than the current single I am already impressed by the cover. The album sees the return of former member Robbie Williams to the group. This cover, featuring the band members parodying the scale of evolution, is poignant, clever and looks great.

This had me thinking about other album covers that I can just stare at all day. This may be hard to do on an iTunes screen but I still buy CDs so I can appreciate them. Here’s a list of some of my favourites.

The Beatles have had plenty of iconic album covers and while For Sale is a lot simpler in comparison to Revolver or Sgt Pepper’s I think its an awesome image in the true definition of the word. And as Paul McCartney has pointed out before, George’s turnip hair is a thing of beauty.

Supergrass were an essential 90s band. They kept going through the 00s but for me it was the 90s that they hit their musical heights. This album cover is a wonderful tongue-in-cheek nod after the success of their debut I Should CoCo. Also, it doesn’t hurt that there are some stonking great tunes on it too.

I have a storied history of love/hate with this band. Snow Patrol now are nothing more than elevator music but there was a time that they were a great indie band. This album is one of those times. And while the title is a bit of a ramble and indicative of a young band, the Icarus style photo is timeless.

This came out when I was relatively young (8 years old to be precise) and my older brother, who I shared a room with, had bought the album. I remember staring at it for hours, being fascinated by the design. The title Blood Sugar Sex Magik contributed to peak my interest, no doubt. It stayed with me and I grew up to buy it myself.

Pearl Jam’s No Code isn’t my favourite of their albums musically. It’s not bad but it’s definitely not my favourite. However, if we’re talking album covers that you could stare at all day, this is definitely one. This motif continues to the back and in-sleeve. It is fascinating and I spot something different every time I browse it.

I could go on all day with this and the above are certainly not a well considered Top 5 but they’re the first ones that jumped to mind. I may revisit this theme someday but for now I’ll leave it with this.
If you have any favourites yourself, please comment and include them below!

– Aaron Poole is the last savior of Sunday mornings. He is also more acurately an editor for FRED and rarely leaves the house. If you like what you read here, or more likely want to leave him some hate message, check out his blog http://aaronfever.blogspot.com

Arthur’s Day And Mic’s Heyday

251 years ago the Guinness brewing company, headed by Arthur Guinness, began it’s trade from St. James’ Gate brewery. Last year, to coincide with the 250th anniversary, the Guinness company decided to throw a big bash on the 24th of September in various cities world-wide with special live music gigs and special offers. After it became a huge success they decided to do it again this year. It’s success is due, in part, to a clever marketing campaign you can see in the video below.

This year it takes place today (yeah, I don’t know why they changed dates either) and it has resulted in much Guinness talk around the office.

Most of the talk in the office, apart from “where are you drinking tonight?”, revolves around the many advertisements Guinness have given us over the years. Some good, some bad. Everyone is aware of the “Guinness is good for you” posters you can see in pubs (or Irish bars for the American’s among us) but Guinness really shines on the small screen.

As well as the video above, some adverts of note were treated to a round of “oh yeah, that was a good one” from our informal round table. The best? I guess the answer to that will change person to person. But the most recognisable for a lot of Irish was this little ditty.

Despite it being used way back in 1994 we all knew the tune and could instantly hum it upon mention. It’s like a brain worm. It may be noted that the advert was largely copied from a short film called Joy. But that’s not really what’s important.

Another add that came up, one that I like and one which is much more recent, is this.

The song you hear in the background is by the talented Irishman Mic Christopher. Mic toured regularly in the 1990s with a band called The Mary Janes and managed to make friends with pretty much everyone of note within the Irish music scene. Damien Rice, Lisa Hannigan and especially Glen Hansard all counted him as a buddy. Glen specifically having such a bond that they would do things like busking on a busy street together:

Mic is the one with the hat…

It wasn’t until 1999 when The Mary Janes split up that Mic started to record solo material. He released an EP called Heyday that featured the titular song.
Anyway, the talk of the ad brought back the memory of the song which brought back the memory of Mic.

Mic Christopher died in 2001 aged just 32 years old. He slipped on some steps and it caused some swelling to the brain which resulted in Mic falling into a coma that he never woke up from.
To this day there are musical dedications to him from his friends. Heyday is played by Glen Hansard’s band The Frames at most gigs. Several albums and songs have a “For Mic” note on the insleeve.

Despite the fact that Arthur’s Day is just a promotional marketing tool to sell a few extra pints, I’m very glad that an integral part of the event is live music. If for nothing else than to bring something like what is in the video below into our lives. That’s something worth raising a glass to.

– Aaron Poole is not just a pretty face. Sorry, I meant to say, Aaron Poole is not a pretty face. But he is an internet whore. Not only does he edit this here website but he also makes contributions wherever possible. You can find such things by visiting his blog http://aaronfever.blogspot.com

A Night To Remember

For any band, getting back together after the loss of a key member is a huge gamble. Some, like AC/DC, emerge from the tragic loss of a lead singer to reach the utmost peaks of rock stardom. Others are not so lucky. In any case, no band is ever the same after the loss of a lead singer.

And so, when I recently saw Sublime with Rome it is needless to say that I had mixed feelings about the whole thing – which I suppose I should explain. I began my love affair with Sublime at the age of 14. I thought Eric was so insanely cool that I even learned to play the bass guitar. I’d sit for hours trying to play along. In high school, among my group of friends, Sublime was always playing in the background whenever we hung out, or partied. Around the campfire, our usual repertoire included “Boss DJ”, “Scarlet Begonias”, “Get Out!”, and of course, “40 oz To Freedom”. I named my cat Ruca in homage to a Sublime song (also an in-joke with Spanish speaking friends… but anyway). I love Sublime. In my little microcosm of the universe, their music reigns supreme.

Getting back to the concert – Sublime with Rome. On the way to the concert, I began to get very anxious. My skin was crawling, and I could not sit still. Needless to say, this was very distracting to my boyfriend, who was at that moment fighting rush hour traffic. When we arrived at the venue around 8pm, I started drinking immediately. Around 9pm, when the opening band The Dirty Heads finally went on I was feeling pretty good, but still nervous. After their set ended, I started to get really antsy. What followed was the most excruciating hour and change that I have ever, ever endured.

Now, I’ve been to this venue (the Kool Haus, Toronto, Ontario) numerous times, and have never had to wait more than 25-30 mins in between bands. For Sublime with Rome, we waited for over an hour, with nothing to do but drink and wait patiently… I suppose the wait combined with competitively priced Molson Canadian and the abundance of strange smelling-smoke was getting to some of the other concertgoers as well, and the crowd got increasingly rowdy. After dodging a few hooligans on my way back from the bathroom, I even got to be the hero for one girl! A few feet away from me, I noticed her start to sway precariously and caught her just before she hit the floor. When I saw her going down, I reached for the first thing I could – which happened to be her boobs. Then, her genius boyfriend (presumably) sees what’s going on, and instead of helping me (boobs are not a great handhold foe keeping somebody on their feet, despite cup size) he starts yelling “Clear the floor!”. Excellent.

(She was fine, by the way).

So, the wait damn near killed me, and my large breasted friend, but the show that followed was, in the words of Barney Stinson, LEGENDARY. Despite the definite aura of not-cigarette smoke that hung over the crowd within minutes of Bud, Eric and Rome mounting the stage, I felt immediately sober when they started to play (in a good way). Rome nailed every song, and it was an amazing concert. My only complaint is that they did not play “Superstar Punani”.

I can’t say enough good things about the kid (and I can refer to Rome as “the kid” as I am exactly 6 days older than he is). I also can’t imagine what it’s like for him to try and live up to Bradley’s legend. What I can imagine is a 14 year old Rome, just as enraptured by Sublime as I was, singing and playing along on his guitar. Now that kid’s on stage, singing those same songs, and it makes me happy.

Check out www.sublimewithrome.com or follow @SublimeWithRome on twitter!

– Mary Hoffman

 

 

By Antony Teofilo

Soundtrack music tells its own stories.

When I lived in London, I watched from the second row of The Royal Albert Hall as John Williams conducted the legendary scores that have defined his career: Star Wars, JFK, Indiana Jones, Superman…powerful melodies which recalled not just the films they had been in, but the times in my life that I connected with those moving pictures. I was
riveted to my seat at the grandeur of it all.

Now, imagine you’re sitting in a club in one of LA’s ‘not best’ neighborhoods,
listening to nine musicians pour their hearts out of their instruments with as much power as a full symphony orchestra. This was a performance that brought just as much, if not more, passion to the stage as John Williams did.

On Sunday night, I watched in awe as Bear McCreary, composer of the score to Battlestar Galactica, performed music from the show’s second season with his studio band for a modestly sized audience. Several times, I wondered if this fresh talent could be the vanguard of the next wave of important American composers. Comparisons can easily be drawn between Bear and John Williams, Hans Zimmer, and James Horner. He’s getting that good, bringing something new to the field of film composition.

And he’s twenty-six years old.

 

 

 

Like many wunderkind, McCreary had a little help on the way up. A fortunate connection to Elmer Bernstein lead to a mentorship that lasted a decade, with Bear first taking classes from Bernstein at USC, then becoming his assistant, learning orchestration and composition from a master of the trade whose scores included movies as diverse
as The Magnificent Seven, An American Werewolf In London, Meatballs, and The Three Amigos.

By fashioning world music in to a storytelling tool that is neither hokey nor corny, McCreary astounds with his mastery in connecting the aural to the narrative. Ask any soundtrack aficionado: A soundtrack is one thing on TV or in the theater. It’s completely different live. That’s when you find out what a composer is really made of…and McCreary’s got the right stuff, for sure, with an ensemble that packed an immense amount of musicology onto one tiny stage.

Oingo Boingo alumni and frequent Danny Elfman collaborators Steve Bartek, John Avila, and Johnny “Vatos” Hernandez took guitar, bass, and drums, respectively. M.B. Gordy pounded taiko drums and various exotic percussion instruments with aplomb. Chris Bleth played duduk and bansuri with heart-grabbing gravity (they’re the breathy reed
instruments heard often on the lead melodies of McCreary’s compositions). The passionate performance style and electric fiddle of Paul Cartwright would put most lead guitarists to shame. Vocalists Raya Yarbrough and Bt4, who also happens to be McCreary’s brother, rounded out the ensemble, recreating the lilting tones and keening
screeches heard in particularly dramatic moments. They’re a tight knit crew, listening equally to one another, all the while, paying close attention to McCreary’s direction and conducting as he leads them through each composition.

 

 

 

Start to finish, the tunes were flawlessly executed, filling the room with a unique blend of Irish, Moroccan, Middle-Eastern, and Western tunes and textures. And not only multi-national styles are employed to give the score range and wide appeal… a sizable array of digital effects and improvised instruments fill out many songs, as do some more I innovative tools and methods. Samples of dishwashers, washing machines, banging trash cans, and other organic sounds have made it onto the show. “One time, Bear had me turn on all my effects pedals at once, and then asked me to scream at the top of my lungs into the pickup,” said, electric fiddler Paul Cartwright. Bear related a tale of a producer not liking what he had come up with for a scene. The solution? He literally composed blind, going strictly on instinct, using only the time limit and his emotional connections to the scene for guidance. Originally, the show’s creators did not want any large symphonic scores, preferring to keep things, like the halls of Galactica, more claustrophobic. As the scope of the show has gotten grander, so has the score.

These days, it’s not unusual for Bear to compose and conduct a sixty-piece orchestra, as
evidenced by the Colonial theme (Track 1 on the new CD), which is a re-imagining of the original theme from the original show. It’s the only brass-heavy composition this far, not a pale imitation, but a hearty representation of the new direction McCreary’s taking the show musically.

Several generations of Galactica‘s creative staff were on hand for the full performance, including sound designer Daniel Colman. Sound designers and composers can have some of the most acrimonious relationships in the moving picture industry. A composer may feel his music is more important than sound or foley effects, and vice versa. Not so, when dealing with McCreary. Say’s Coleman, “It’s really one of the friendliest relationships I’ve ever had with a composer. You’ll work for thirty-six hours on a three minute stretch of the show, and then we’ll get together and realize either just the sound or just the score works better there. And you think to yourself, well, that’s two days of work gone. But it’s okay, because it’s what’s best.” According to Colman, both have made fairly significant cuts over time.

 

 

 

One good example is the final track on the Season 2 soundtrack, Black Market. The sprawling 5 and-a-half-minute piece was meant to follow Apollo through a labyrinthine marketplace, switching between Apollo’s progress, and the grimy music Bear thought the dastardly characters within the market would listen to. He told the audience on Sunday that only about thirty seconds of this music was actually used in the episode because it just didn’t fit in the soundscape, but they had so much fun with it, he thought the fans should get a chance to hear it. Live, this piece was truly impressive, a thick wall of ear-melting progressive rock, with heavy-thudding electric and bass and guitars so thickly layered, the sound was hitting my chest in tactile waves that visibly ruffled my shirt on the downbeats. Other high points of the night that can be heard on the soundtrack included the tender waltz “Roslin And Adama” (‘not exactly a love theme’, said Bear), “Reuniting The Fleet”, an emotionally moving march, and the ethereal “Baltar’s Dream”.

The only genuine shame of the evening was the crowd size, which accounted for only about half of those who had confirmed to attend. While it was great that the show was presented in such an intimate atmosphere, I couldn’t help think that quite a few fans that might have paid good dough for the privilege to get in. Not to worry, though.

McCreary is considering ways to bring the show to a larger venue, including ComicCon in San Diego, where Richard Hatch (the originator of the Apollo role on the first series in the ’70’s, currently playing Tom Zarek) will be making an appearance. Hatch, who showed up to emcee the event and stayed the duration of the show, had this to say about McCreary, “It’s so rare when a show gets it all right, when everything really works. Galactica has that. You just don’t find people who work so well together, and Bear’s a big part of that. Not only that, but he makes such huge beautiful scores on such a tiny budget. That’s not done well very often. He’s a great talent… watch out John Williams.”

 

 

 

Bear McCreary is honored to undertake such a monumental task, and loves working with the talent that surrounds him. Often, he gets just three days to record the score for an entire show, which makes for long, exhausting days and nights. With such a tight schedule, several shows have been finished mere hours before airtime. Because of East coast debut schedules, sometimes the tapes must be flown to New York City and
placed on the air with only minutes to spare because it’s actually quicker to fly them across the country than it is to transmit them electronically.

Through it all, Bear remains a die-hard fan of the show. What’s the best part of this dream job? He says: “I’m such a fan. The coolest part of this job is getting to see the
show every week before everyone else.”