Morphine "Yes" 1995****

It's not often that a band sounds unlike anyone else, but Morphine were certainly that: a unique trio with no guitars or keyboards, surviving purely on the strength of good songwriting, Mark Sandman's low baritone vocal and resounding 2-string bass, and Dana Colley's ever-present saxophone. The sax is an unusual instrument for alternative rock, but it's used to great effect here, either creating a steamy jazz noir atmosphere or running wild, as with the catchy opener "Honey White" and its fast repetitive riff. "Scratch" is the story of a loser sung to a mid-tempo jazz funk tune, while "Radar" is a driving funky number. Second single "Super Sex" starts way low with a reverberating bassline, but soon sees Sandman wailing like a drunken Jim Morrison reciting beat poetry. "Yes" is closer to soul, "I Had My Chance" is a slow bluesy song and "Gone For Good" a desolate country-folk ballad. "The Jury", "Free Love" and the noisy "Sharks" are closer to poetry recitations while "Whisper" is an atmospheric jazz noir. "All Your Way" sports a fetching melody and closer "Pulled Over The Car" sees Sandman narrating a story while the band falls into a soulful groove. All in all "Yes" is an original and often exciting album. As fate would have it, Morphine wouldn't survive for much longer: After 4 years, Mark Sandman would shockingly and unexpectedly collapse to his death onstage in Italy after suffering a massive heart attack at the age of 46. 

People assumed his death to be drug-related, probably because of his band's name and of the complete lack of information about his personal life. He had always been a very private, almost mysterious, person and it wasn't until 2011 and the award-winning documentary Cure for Pain The Mark Sandman Story that people learnt anything about the man. He never used any hard drugs - explanations about the cause of his death range from the combination of  heat, stress and heavy smoking to old wounds: he had been stabbed in the chest during a robbery when working as a cab driver, which might have left an undiagnosed heart defect. Apparently his standoffish character that had him portrayed as "difficult" also stemmed from past traumas: the loss of his two brothers when they were all very young had a decisive effect on Mark shutting himself off and dedicating his life to music and poetry. Thankfully though, even with the film shedding some light into the leader's personality, Morphine's music remains as dark and mysterious as it's ever been.

***** for Honey White

**** for Scratch, Radar, Whisper, All Your Way, Super Sex, I Had My Chance

*** for Yes, Sharks, Gone for Good, Pulled Over The Car

** for The Jury, Free Love

Leningrad Cowboys "Go Wild" 1988-1997 (2000 comp)***

What do The Rutles, Spinal Tap, Blues Brothers and Leningrad Cowboys have in common? They were all fictional bands created for the needs of a musical comedy film, but they subsequently took on a life of their own, making records, touring the world and massing up TV appearances. Of all those bands, the Leningrad Cowboys carried the joke the furthest: They've recorded 10 albums in the space of 30 years - still going strong, 25 years after the city of Leningrad changed its name back to Saint Petersburg. Of course they never did come from Russia - they came from its icy Western neighbor, Finland. At least both countries make great vodka and, as we all know, vodka -much like rock'n'roll- connects people, enables communication beyond linguistic and political barriers and provides inspiration. Maybe it even inspired Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki to make a movie about a ridiculous-looking bunch of inept Siberian rockers seeking in the U.S. the success that eluded them at home. As stars of his movie, he chose the members of the Finnish rock band Sleepy Sleepers, who inhabited their roles so completely they transmogrified to the band they were supposed to parody. "Go Wild" is a German compilation culled from their first 4 albums, starting with the soundtrack of Leningrad Cowboys Go America (1989). A tongue-in-cheek but definitely rocking version of "Born To Be Wild" opens the CD, while we also get some more songs from the film in diverse styles: rockabilly on "That's Alright", salsa on "Desconsolado", Tex-Mex country on "Chasing The Light" and funk on "Rocky VI (Short Film)".

From their second effort We Cum from Brooklyn (1992), we get "Sally Is Something Else", "Fat Bob Dollop" and "I'm Gonna Roll", all decent punk-rockers with ska and soul touches. There are also two songs from Mongolian Barbeque (1997), a parody of the Eurythmics' "There Must Be An Angel" and a remix of their version of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama". Too bad they didn't include the original from 1994's Happy Together album. Recorded together with The Alexandrov Red Army Choir in what proves to be a genius pairing, that album remains their finest hour. The Cowboys never slip into sheer parody, playing solid and enthusiastic garage soul versions of classic rock hits, using the world's most impressive all-male choir as mere back-up singers. This juxtaposition provides all the comedy you'll need, but above all some of the most buoyant feel-good music you're ever going to hear. In the case of the closing "Knockin' On Heaven's Door", even a genuinely emotive, almost transcendental, moment. More songs from this album include ZZTop's "Gimme All Your Lovin'", The Beach Boys' "California Girls", Motown classic "Dancing in the Street" and Wilbert Harrison's "Let's Work Together" as re-imagined by Brian Ferry. The two unlikely partners would reprise their collaboration for live CD's "Nokia Balalaika Show" and "Live In Helsinki". The latter was filmed by Aki Kaurismäki and released on DVD as "Total Balalaika Show". It really is something else, check out the clip below for a sample...

**** for Gimme All Your Lovin', California Girls, Dancing in the Street, Fat Bob Dollop, Happy Together, Let's Work Together, Knockin' On Heaven's Door

*** for Born To Be Wild, Sally Is Something Else, Desconsolado, Chasing The Light, That's Alright, I'm Gonna Roll 

** for There Must Be An Angel, Sweet Home Alabama (Stalker Mix), Rocky VI (Short Film)

Thessaloniki Record Stores

Thessaloniki is Greece's second most important city after Athens - Uh huh, now I've made enemies! I meant to say the second biggest and every bit as important as the capital, Athens. Which is why people refer to it as the co-capital, a neologism without any official basis or purpose other than to avoid irking those irritable Greek Macedonians. For those confused by the recent appearance of a sovereign country named Macedonia on the north of Greece, make no mistake: Thessaloniki is where the heart of Macedonia always beat through Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman and modern times - although the geographical entity named Macedonia resists easy national categorization: Roughly similar to the ancient (and unquestionably Greek) kingdom of Macedon, it has been inhabited by a plethora of different peoples and has been a theater of bloody struggles between Greeks, Turks, Bulgarians and Serbs. In the end it was divided between Greece, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria. Many of the inhabitants spoke a local Slavonic language idiom but had no distinct national identity. These were declared by the Yugoslav/Croatian communist leader Tito to be ethnic Macedonians, in an effort to suppress Serbian nationalism and Bulgarian influence - which led to the appearance of an independent "Macedonia" after Yugoslavia's dissolution. Thessaloniki itself fell to the Greeks 100 years ago, although at that time it wasn't predominately Greek: It sported big Jewish and Turkish contingents - the "father of modern Turkey" Kemal Ataturk was famously born there, and it was he who drove the invading Greek army out of Anatolia and signed the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey. As a result the city's Muslim population was expelled to Turkey, while in return a huge influx of Greek refugees from Anatolia settled in Thessaloniki. Chances are that most of the people you'll meet there are descended from those refugees. The large and thriving Sephardic Jewish community was tragically annihilated by the Nazis during the German occupation, turning the city into a homogeneously Greek one. Which in no way means a generic Greek city: Thessaloniki has a strong distinctive character, born of the mix of local and Anatolian customs. Visitors should enjoy its famous cuisine, coffee and eating culture, night life, and above all the relaxed pace of life. I always do when I go there, enjoying mezedes and coffe (preferrably with  a sea view), strolling around, and checking out the city's record shops. To be honest, they don't offer as much variety or as many bargains as Athens', so it wasn't until my last visit that I undertook the effort to map the record store situation for the sake of this blog. 

The place to start is Dimitriou Gounari, a wide pedestrian road joining the seafront with Camara (the Roman Galerius' Arc monument). At number 17, you'll find Zaharias - it's the smaller sibling of the Athens Monastiraki shop, packed with used CD's (€ 3,5-10) and vinyl. LP's cost €2,5-25, though most sell for €15, with some offers between €3-9. Like with the Athens shop all genres are represented, though the variety is much smaller. Right next to it, another 2nd hand store called Alternative, though this also packs all sorts of music and at similar prices (CD's €4,90-9,90 and LP's €5-20 but typically around €15). On number 21 you'll find Deja Vu Records (damn! I seem to have erased my notes by mistake - as I remember, it is small but packed with average priced 2nd hand vinyl and some CD's). On the opposite side of the road (no.12) is Pare-Dose ("Give and Take"). Ostensibly a semi-underground exchange shop for old books, magazines, dvd's, records and cd's, I didn't expect much but I was pleasantly surprised. Very tidy and with a good size and well-ordered collection of records and CD's despite not being a (strictly speaking) record shop. Probably the best of the city's 2nd hand shops in which to browse, with a friendly and helpful owner. 
Most CD's cost €7-9, a few as low as €2. LPs €4-20 but most commonly around €10. Studio 52 on number 46 is a basement shop focusing in Greek and classical music. Close to these (Filikis Eterias 33) you'll find Steel Gallery Records, which I believe is also an indie metal label. The shop has old-looking metal CD's (around €15). I didn't recognize much, but it may be a good place to find something out of print. But the real metalhead paradise is Alone Metal Store in the same neighborhood (G.Theohari 2). Virtually everything about metal, including T-shirts, CD's (used €5-10, new around €15) and LP's (new €20+ , a few used €10-20). Noise Records (Dimitri Margariti 5) is a medium sized modern indie shop that wouldn't seem out of place in London. It has a good collection of Indie, New Wave and Dance music. (New) LP's cost around €20 and CD's €8-15 (few offers for €4-7).

Lotus Records (Skra 7) is probably the biggest and best organized independent record store in the city. Here you'll mostly find Alternative, electronica and everything about Greek indie bands. Used CD's and special offers cost €3-7, the rest €6-20. Most LP's €20+, some used/offers for €5. On the small Patriarhou Ioakim street (adjustant to the big Egnatias avenue) you'll find Nephilim, a shop with metal paraphernalia and very few CD's, and Inkon, a graphic studio with original T-shirts, posters etc. The owner is a big rock fan (we got into a discussion about rock gigs, starting from my Sonic Youth T-shirt) and also sells some CD's, mostly Greek Alternative and Rock bands. On Aristotelous str (the city's most central location) you can find Thessaloniki's most historic (since '68) record shop Stereodisc. Locals seem to love it, but I didn't think much of it. It has an almost sterile interior, the albums are not well catalogued and there are no prices on them. The Ianos bookshop on the same street has a small record/CD section, while very close on 24 Tsimiski str. you can find the local Public, a chain with books/electronics/music similar to the French fnac. On the basement you'll find a big variety of CD's (normally around €15, but also many offers €7-10) and some new vinyl (€20+). Rounding up, I stumbled into another 2nd hand record store (Vinyl Mania, Mihail I. street) that looked interesting but was closed at the time. Inside I could see lots of Classic Rock and Greek records and some CD's. A couple of addresses I didn't have time to check were: Vinyl Salvation (Victoros Hugo 14, on a roof garden at the 9th floor) and Sky Walker (Karamanli Avenue 187). Maybe on another visit, if I'm not distracted by the good food and loose living rhythm... UPDATE 2019: Unfortunately I haven't been able to visit Thessaloniki again in the last 3 years, to update the record store situation. There has been a big change in the political department though. Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic Of Macedonia agreed on a name for the neighboring country: North Macedonia. Nationalists on both sides cried "treason", and populations were nonplussed rather than appeased. I guess that's the sign of a good compromise, it was never going to be possible to satisfy everyone on both sides. Kudos to the level-headed politicians on both countries who ignored the political cost and went through with it. 

Dick Gaughan "Handful Of Earth" 1981****

I first came across mention of this album in the pages of the Mojo Ultimate Music Companion, a well-researched reference book mixing classic pop and rock albums with lesser known masterpieces. I later found out that it has won many accolades, but the decisive reason for my buying it was that it contains the definitive version of "World Turned Upside Down" a folk song modelled by Leon Rosselson on traditional English ballads. I first heard the Barracudas' version and I was blown away by the revolutionary lyrics and marching-band music. Not what I expected from a band usually singing about the joys of surfing and girls with mini-skirts. I've since heard many more versions (Gaughan, Oyster Band, Billy Bragg, Chubbawamba). The song immortalises the story of The Diggers, a small band of Utopian communists from 1649. Deriving their own message from The New Testament, they proclaimed that God created all human beings as equals (even women!), therefore the distinction between masters and servants was deeply un-Christian. They did not recognise private property, as they believed that land was bestowed to all humankind collectively to grow, protect (they were also proto-environmentalists) and share its fruits equally. So they set about commonly cultivating unused wasteland, living in communes and organising common meals open to all. This example found, predictably, little favour with the English ruling classes who managed to suppress and disperse them rather easily - being staunch pacifists committed to non-violence, they did not even fight back. But their ideas lived on, partially revived by Chartists and Anarchists in the 19th century, eloquently and emotionally immortalised in this truly inspirational song: "We work, we eat together/We need no swords/We will not bow to masters/Or pay rent to the lords/We are free men/Though we are poor/You Diggers all stand up for glory/Stand up now" (complete lyric here). Read more about the diggers' history here and here or, better yet, try the ultimate book on the subject, Christopher Hill's "The World Turned Upside Down" - same title as the song!

Dick Gaughan's "Handful of Earth" isn't an album you can easily find in your local record store or listen to the radio often. Yet it's won many distinctions in its time: Melody Maker's 1981 Album Of The Year, Folk & Root magazine's Folk Album Of The Decade etc. To be honest, it's not the kind of folk album that catches my attention, either. I'm partial to the richly orchestrated medieval prog/folk of The Strawbs and Pentangle and to the soothing female voices of Sandy Denny or The Unthanks. Gaughan sings his traditional ballads in a voice soft but masculine, with a strong Scottish accent. From the albums in my collection, the closest I can think of is Martin Carthy. His main instrument is the acoustic guitar. He's a dexterous player but doesn't get carried away soloing (except maybe in the instrumental "Scojun Waltz/Randers Hopsa"). He's discretely backed for a few songs by a small band (fiddle, bass, keyboard and whistle) but it's generally just vocal and acoustic guitar. "Handful of Earth" lyrically mixes the personal with the political, though the latter has the upper hand - a reaction to the recent election of Margaret Thatcher in government. Gaughan's ideology is a mix of old-school socialism and Scottish nationalism - though I should probably say Celtic instead of Scottish since, being a Gael with roots both in The Highlands and Ireland, he makes little distinction between Irish and Scottish Celts. Case in point is "Erin-Go-Bragh" ("Ireland forever" in Gaelic) the lively Celtic folk-rocker that opens the album. It's a 19th Century ballad about a Gael immigrant worker harassed by the British police. "World Turned Upside Down' is similarly a rousing and defiant rebel song about a band of 17th century Utopian communists and "Craigie Hill" is a nostalgic song about migration. According to the singer "it is concerned solely with the reasons for the forced migration and the heartbreak of leaving. It used to be common to hold wakes for those leaving as, to those left behind, it was exactly as if they had died". "Lough Erne" (A.k.a.The Rambling Irishman) is another Irish immigration song, but a more optimistic one. "Now Westlin’ Winds" is a poem by Scottish romantic poet Robert Burns set to an acoustic folk backing and "The Snows They Melt the Soonest" a soft and emotive lovesong. "Workers’ Song" is a singalong protest song with skillful acoustic guitar work, while the album closes with two wonderful ballads: "Song for Ireland" and "Both Sides the Tweed". The latter is a Scottish independence song hailing from 1707 a few words of which were altered by Gaughan who also added a new melody and some beautiful piano backing and blues guitar licks. It has since been widely covered and taken its place as a piece of Scottish cultural heritage.

***** for World Turned Upside Down, Both Sides the Tweed

**** for Erin-Go-Bragh, Now Westlin’ Winds, The Snows They Melt the Soonest, Song for Ireland, Workers’ Song

*** for Craigie Hill, Lough Erne/First Kiss at Parting, Scojun Waltz/Randers Hopsa

One St. Stephen "One St. Stephen" 1975****

This is one of those ultra-rare psychedelic albums that became the stuff of legend because people had heard of them but very few had actually heard them. I'm talking of course of a time before file-sharing - before CD's even. 30 years after this album's original release a (semi-bootleg) CD reissue on the Radioactive label became widely available and the world got to listen what collectors paid $600-$700 for. For once, the hype was right: this is an undisputed acid rock masterpiece that deserves a place among the genre's classic albums of the 60's - with the notable exception that it was recorded in '75, way after those bands had disintegrated or moved to stadium rock (e.g. Jefferson Starship). Despite the fact that the LP cover mentions no less than 8 players, One St. Stephen was really a one-man-show: Don L. Patterson wrote the music and lyrics, was lead vocalist, played electric guitars, produced the album and designed its cover. Although he was evidently a quite talented musician, Don was primarily a visual artist and started work in these songs with the intention of including them in a film he was making with the working title The Devil's Reservation. But the music got such an enthusiastic reception that he decided to cut an album (around 1000 privately funded copies) and distribute it among friends. I believe the movie was never actually finished - probably because of the lack of funds, film was really expensive back then. The music is heavy acid rock, typical of the late-60's and strongly reminiscent of The Doors thanks to the similarities between Patterson's and Morrison's voice. Opener "November Edgar" is a perfect showcase for the album, a mid-tempo psychedelic rocker with dark lyrics inspired by Edgar Allen Poe, soft vocals and great lead guitar and synth solos. "November" sounds like Phantom's Divine Comedy, which means like a harder, darker, second rate Doors. Second rate, mind you, only in comparison to the real thing - it's an otherwise great funk rocker with jazzy licks and vocals eerily similar to Morrison's. On the fuzzed-out hard rocker "You May Be Religious", he employs a very different voice, shouting the lyrics aggressively like The Fall would do after a couple of years. He uses the same punky voice on the Hendrix/Captain Beefhart pastiche "Junkie's Lament" and "Richer You Get", while he delivers his best Morrison impersonation and intricate guitarwork in the sensual "Nightly Drift". "Old Man" is a nice folk rocker with piano and flute and "Twelfth St. Shuffle" a T Rex-style boogie. Closer "Dash In The Rocks" is proto-new wave dominated by spacey synth sounds. A consistently good and varied album, it was very well received and got Patterson a contract offer by a major label, which he refused as he didn't want to be a professional musician. Indeed he would never make another record, but with these 9 songs he's left more of a legacy than other musicians who worked in the field for decades. I guess sometimes talent and inspiration are more important than ambition and hard work...

***** for Nightly Drift

**** for November Edgar, November,You May Be Religious, Old Man, Junkie's Lament, Twelth St. Shuffle, Dash In The Rocks

*** for Richer You Get

(Ray Manzarek's) Nite City "Nite City" 1977***

Of all the great groups of the 60's the one that later had the most disappointing development were the Doors. I know what you'll say "well, there was that minor incident of the lead singer dying". Well yes, there was that. I can't deny it was a biggie. They tried to go on without him, making two underwhelming albums (reviewed here and here) before they went their separate ways. After all, who would like to listen to the Jimi Hendrix Experience without Jimi Hendrix? Or Big Brother and The Holding Company without Janis Joplin? Actually I did see Big Bro with an ersatz Joplin and they weren't half bad - for a bar band, that is. But I expected more from the former Doors. After all, Krieger did write the music to "Light My Fire" and Manzarek's organ was integral to the sound of The Doors. Which is why I kept collecting their post-Doors outings, hoping to catch a spark of the old flame. But they never seemed to be able to get the right collaborators. Krieger struck gold once -by getting Jess Roden to sing on the first Butts Band album. Manzarek sang lead himself in his solo albums. I'd like to say his voice is an acquired taste, but it's more like an unacquirable taste. He must have also seemed out of place in 70's L.A. where the dominant sound was the laid-back country rock of The Eagles and Jackson Brown. Slowly, though, the music had began to change. The punk flame brewing in the New York underground scene was transmitted to England and from there it started shaking the foundations of the music industry. Manzarek was hip to the change, don't forget he discovered and produced L.A.'s first punk rockers, X. So he had the idea to form a group which, he claimed, would explore the city's dark side. This was to be called Nite City and, initially, feature Iggy Pop on vocals. But Iggy followed his pal David Bowie to Berlin - nowhere better to explore the dark side than with Soviet soldiers watching you from their gun towers above the wall. So, instead of Iggy what do we get? Noah James. This being Hollywood, he's a kind of model/singer. At some point it seems that regular people in that city disappeared to be replaced by model/actresses, model/waitresses, model/plumbers, model/pornstars, model/lifeguards etc. So what if the singer (the one with the fur coat, on the right of the album cover) looks like Zoolander impersonating Jim Morrison? Can he sing? Well, the best I can say is that he's less annoying than Manzarek. The other members were accomplished musicians: guitarist Paul Warren had played with white soul band Rare Earth and bassist Nigel Harrison was soon to join Blondie. Apart from Manzarek's distinctive organ sound, there's little here that reminds of the Doors. It's more of a combination of AOR and New Wave akin to, say, Sniffin' The Tears or Foreigner. Any "darkness" is limited to the pretensious pseudo-poetic lyrics, another poor Morrison imitation. "Summer Eyes" starts off quite promising with an organ riff straight out of The Doors' cookbook but continues with a chorus reminiscent of Jefferson Starship. Not bad, but nothing special either. "Nite City" has a Supertramp-like piano and a Morrison-esque poetry reading at the middle. Noah's singing on this song is terrible. I can easily imagine Iggy nailing it. "Love Will Make You Mellow" sports a hard rock guitar riff and groovy keyboard. A nice rocker that should appeal to fans of Journey etc. "Angel W/ No Freedom" is a jazzy ballad a la "Riders On The Storm". It got a lot of attention for the line "heroin killed my best friend" which people took to mean Jim Morrison. Remember that, up to then, Manzarek and Danny Sugerman (writer of Morrison bio "No one here gets out alive" and co-writer of this song) were the ones circulating the rumor of Morrison disappearing rather than dying. For once, Noah's vocals live up to expectations. "Midnight Queen" is forgettable AOR and "Bitter Sky Blue" is a bluesy ballad with piano reminiscent of The Doors' "Love Street". "Caught in a Panic" is a Foreigner-like hard rocker and "In the Pyramid" an ill-judged funk instrumental. Every time I hear it I get a mental image of Disco Stu from the Simpsons. The album closes with Roadhouse Blues-like boogie "Game of Skill". It's not bad, but what do you get if you take "Roadhouse Blues" and subtract Morrison's lyrics and singing? A bar band. It's true, there are some decent songs and good musicianship here, but I'd file it under "Another Missed Opportunity". The ex-Doors story has a lot of them. I think the last one was the Doors Of The 21st Century tour. Many thought it was sacrilege but I've been to one of their concerts and enjoyed it immensly. It was the first time since 1970 that Manzarek and Krieger were playing together, in a band with a decent singer (Ian Astbury). I wish they had entered a recording studio to cut a record with that band, but it seems they were too apprehensive of the inevitable comparisons. Manzarek's recent passing has closed this chapter forever and albums like "Nite City" only hint at what he could have accomplished if he had the right company...

**** for Summer Eyes

*** for Nite City, Love Will Make You Mellow, Angel W/ No Freedom, Bitter Sky Blue, Caught in a Panic, Game of Skill

** for Midnight Queen, In the Pyramid

David Gilmour "Live In Gdansk" 2008*****

I set about writing this review after witnessing David Gilmour's concert at the courtyard of the majestic Schloss Schönbrunn in Vienna, a huge baroque palace and the erstwhile seat of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Like everyone else present, I wasn't drawn there by Gilmour's fame as a solo artist: we were all there to listen to "The Voice & Guitar of Pink Floyd" as advertised on the CD sticker here. Which doesn't leave much for Roger Waters - maybe he should advertise himself as "The Bass and Brains of Pink Floyd" just to get even. Not that he's doing badly himself. I've had the luck to catch his Athens show in '06 and Pink Floyd in '89 - now with the solo Gilmour concert, I can compare 3 different live versions of my favourite Floyd tracks like "Comfortably Numb", "Time", "...Crazy Diamond" etc. One may argue that '89 Floyd were Gilmour and co but I'll beg to differ. First of all, that'd be hugely underestimating Rick Wright, which everyone seems to do, and secondly the Floyd concert was all about the show. Stunning visual effects, unparallelled surround sound, huge flying pigs etc. Gilmour's stage show and sound equipment would be impressive for any other band, but compared to Floyd (or his former bandmate Waters) it comes up short. He was so little interested in the show that he used the same visuals (e.g. in "Time") that I remembered from the '89 Floyd concert. But the guitar - ah, the guitar!- was up front like never before. Gilmour's solo career has allowed him to get rid of the elaborate Floyd concepts, write simpler songs and focus on his guitar playing which was always impressive but often overshadowed by the huge show. His playing is now better than ever, or at least better presented than it ever was. The Vienna concert consisted of a 60/40 mix of Floyd and solo tracks. We heard most of his new album, a couple of older solo tracks, and of course Floyd songs, both classic and obscure ("Fat Old Sun" from Atom Heart Mother, "One of These Days" from Meddle, "Coming Back to Life" from A Momentary Lapse Of Reason and Division Bell's "Sorrow"). 

Live In Gdańsk is likewise divided between solo and Floyd numbers, but here we get the whole of On An Island played in its original sequence, albeit with the addition of the Baltic Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, conducted by noted Polish composer and Gilmour collaborator Zbigniew Preisner. The location is highly symbolic as the city's shipyards were famously the birthplace and bastion of Poland’s Solidarity trade union, somewhat of a Marxist paradox where the workers were inspired by Catholicism, and rebelled against a Communist (supposedly the worker's own) government, demanding workers' rights and political freedom. Gilmour's band here also includes former Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera, Floyd saxophonist Dick Parry, and -critically- Rick Wright in one of his last performances; he would be dead within a few months. It opens with a Dark Side medley (Speak to Me-Breathe-Time) before launching into the tracks from On An Island. Thanks to the intimacy of the live setting and Manzanera's second guitar the songs gain a little in punch, while they are perfectly complemented by the orchestra which enriches the sound without drowning the band out. IMO, the live versions are different but equally good to the more atmospheric studio ones, while some songs (e.g. "Castellorizon") sound much better live. "Live In Gdańsk" is, just like "On An Island", above all a guitar album for people seeking something more sophisticated than Heavy Metal's flashy guitar pyrotechnics. As such, it stands well as a whole while the individual songs are less impressive. The song "On An Island" is melodic with folky harmonies and the standout track of both the studio and live version of the album. "The Blue" and the closing "Where We Start" lull you into a state of comfortable numbness, until it's time for the passionate solo. On the atmospheric instrumentals "Red Sky at Night" and "Then I Close My Eyes" the guitar takes a back seat to the sax and orchestra, with Gilmour returning to his fiery solos with a rocking "This Heaven". "Smile" and "A Pocketful of Stones" are closer to Paul McCartney balladry, but the former is saved by its great slide guitar. "Take a Breath" is the hard rocker of this bunch, channeling the angst of classic Floyd circa Animals and The Wall. The second set is the fans' reward for politely listening to Gilmour's latest album when all they wanted was their favourite Pink Floyd hits.
It opens with a flawless "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" and makes an unexpected return to Sixties psychedelia with versions of "Astronomy Domine" and the folky "Fat Old Sun". A forgotten Floyd gem that Gilmour has dusted off and polished with a fabulous solo, making it worthy to feature in his set among classics like the following "High Hopes", undoubtedly Floyd's greatest post-Wall achievement sounding even more resplendent backed by a full orchestra. The inclusion of "Echoes" is a pleasant surprise. Gilmour and -especially- Wright shine in their recreation of the "Meddle" track and it's incredibly sad to think that this was one of the Wright's last performances. "Wish You Were Here" is one of the greatest ballads ever, while "A Great Day For Freedom" gets an orchestral score especially for the occasion by Michael Kamen, supposedly as a tribute to the Solidarity freedom fighters of so long ago. Thankfully Gilmour does not join the fools in celebrating the "End of History" and "Triumph of the Free Market". Listen carefully to the lyrics and you'll discover the irony behind the title: "On the day the wall came down/They threw the locks onto the ground/And with glasses high we raised a cry for freedom had arrived...Now life devalues day by day/As friends and neighbours turn away/And there's a change that, even with regret, cannot be undone/Now frontiers shift like desert sands/While nations wash their bloodied hands/Of loyalty, of history, in shades of grey". Does that sound like a celebration of freedom to you? Did the Solidarity workers really win as "history" wants us to believe? Only if their dream was to scatter around Germany, England or anywhere else there was demand for cheap labor. As for the trade union itself, it withered and died as its leaders surrendered hard-won workers' rights in the hope that rampant capitalism will magically bring prosperity to all. You've got to hand it to Pink Floyd, there's nothing like one of their songs to start a socio-politico-philosophical discussion. "Comfortably Numb" closes the concert in a grand manner, with one rock's most transcendental solos ever. I don't know how Gilmour does it -he should have been tired of it by now, but he always pours his soul into this solo and never sounds like he's just going through the motions. This song alone would be enough to earn "Live In Gdańsk" its 5* rating...

***** for Time, Shine on You Crazy Diamond, High Hopes, Echoes, Wish You Were Here, Comfortably Numb

**** for Breathe, Breathe (reprise), Castellorizon, On An Island, Red Sky at Night, This Heaven, Astronomy Domine, Fat old Sun, A Great Day For Freedom

*** for Speak to Me, The Blue, Then I Close My Eyes, Smile, Take a Breath, Where We Start, 

** for A Pocketful of Stones

Snowy White's Blues Agency "Blues On Me" 1989***

Snowy White is one of those musicians I knew by association, as a session musician and hired hand for the likes of Pink Floyd and Thin Lizzy. Actually he became a full-time member of the latter band, replacing Gary Moore during their lackluster 80's days, but who remembers that? He's engraved in my mind as Roger Waters' favorite pseudo-Gilmour for countless productions including "The Wall Live in Berlin". Of his solo work I knew little when I picked this album from a basket with €1 offers. It didn't contain any familiar songs and the cover certainly didn't get my hopes up. But the music therein justifies those who've always talked of him as a guitarist in the same league with Gilmour, Clapton and Knopfler.  So maybe he isn't a contender for the league title, but there aren't more than a dozen guitarists playing at that level. His commitment to the blues is admirable as well: Look, 2 out of 7 words on the cover are "Blues" - and which color did he choose for it? Why, blue of course! Unlike other blues albums of the time that were either bloated and overproduced or just too loud (e.g. the otherwise great string of albums produced by Gary Moore in the early 90's), this is a rather understated affair. White's playing is virtuosic but not bombastic, often reminding me of his friend Peter Green. Graham Bell, whom we've met in this blog as a member of Skip Bifferty, plays harmonica and sings in a style (but not voice) that reminded me of Joe Cocker - nowhere more so than in the opener "I Can't Help Myself". Probably the most commercial song here, like something you'd hear from Chris Rea of the same period. It's followed by the atmospheric blues of "Blues On Me", the instrumental "Out Of Order" and Peter Green-like "When You Broke Your Promise" (almost a rewrite of his "Need Your Love So Bad"). "I Want Your Love" has more of a New Orleans R&B feel, "Out Of My Dreams" is a soft rock ballad and "Addicted Man" reminds me of ZZTop's bluesier offerings of the 70's. "Open For Business" is an instrumental allowing Snowy to stretch out a bit, rockin' a la Rory Gallagher and "Walking The Streets" is another hard rock/blues (think Free/Whitenake) combination. The album closes with the atmospheric "Land Of Plenty", a protest song with Afro-Latin percussion and Green/Santana-like guitar licks. So maybe the compositions aren't the height of originality, but it's a very enjoyable album nevertheless, filled with Snowy's fluid and exciting guitar sounds.

**** for Blues On Me, When You Broke Your Promise, I Want Your Love, Addicted Man, Land Of Plenty

*** for I Can't Help Myself, Out Of Order, Open For Business, Walking The Streets

** for Out Of My Dreams