The Tiger Lillies "Lemonaki" 2021***

The Tiger Lillies' profile on discogs describes them as "Cabaret band mixing chanson, opera, Gypsy music, rock, avant-garde, embellished with black humor, burlesque, sordid and macabre stories". And while that description is rather accurate, it's also very dry. The thing about this band is that they create their own (under)world, and are able to draw you inside with their performances. Their CDs (they have released around 50 of them in 30-odd years) sound more or less similar, though they differentiate in that every album has a main theme or is tied to a specific performance e.g. Freak Show, Madame Piaf, Lulu etc. Lemonaki is another such case: this time The Tiger Lillies draw their inspiration from Rebetika, songs of the Greek underworld of the 30's. The subject matter suits them well: doomed love, poverty, addiction, the lives and passions of junkies, pickpockets, prisoners, refugees and outcasts. Some songs are direct translations, while others are given the Tiger Lillies treatment. The music does not deviate from their familiar style, which is I think the album's weak point. Nobody would expect the band to go native, but a few Greek/oriental touches would go a long way. According to the notes, all but two songs (we'll get to them later) are written by Martyn Jacques - true enough regarding the music, less so in regards with the text. My girlfriend loves rebetiko music, and she immediately recognized some of the songs from the lyrics. We had fun trying to find out which old Greek song is referenced in each title, and I'm adding links to the original ones for the readers' education/entertainment. We miss two, and are fairly certain they do not correspond to any original rebetiko: "Boneyard" is a jaunty tune about death which reminds me of Tom Waits' "Cemetery Polka", while "Hell Is Empty" ("...and the devils are all here") is a direct Shakespearean quote, which is to be expected from a band that wrote their own musical adaptation of Hamlet, but less so by semi-literate Greek opium den dwellers of the previous century. Opener "Lemonaki" recounts the story of two pickpockets who get arrested on the job and beaten by the cops. The original song is more humorist, Jacques' version is more sympathetic towards the poor wretches. This is followed by a cover of the blues standard "St. James Infirmary" with nice shuffle drums and ukulele. Lyrically it kind of fits in well with the rest of the songs, even though it represents a culture half a world away - nothing new about that: the similarities between rebetika and blues have been pointed out countless times. I'm usually more drawn to the band's relatively upbeat songs with the gypsy accordion ("Boneyard" and "Ma They Knifed Me" are the best examples here), but on this album I'm very impressed by the way they deal with the slower songs: Jacques' voice emits a deep sadness, often resorting to the operatic style of his earlier records which he had largely abandoned lately. The effect is accentuated by the mournful musical saw and sparse piano. Some highlights in this style are "Prison Cell", "Send God A Letter", "Man On The Street", and "Street Lamp" - the latter featuring a baglama solo, the only instrumental nod to original rebetika I noticed. Note to musicologists: this is the Greek baglama, which looks like a miniature bouzouki, not the Turkish one which is a sort of long necked lute. According to lore, when fascist dictator Ioannis Metaxas outlawed their music, the rebetes switched from bouzouki to baglama because they could carry this instrument concealed under their coat. The only disappointment for me is "Cloudy Sunday", the original of which is very emotive with beautiful bouzouki arpeggios, while the Tiger Lillies version features discordant vocals and accordion. The penultimate track "Ever Since You Started" ("...smoking heroin") is a music hall number starting off slowly and getting progressively louder. Listening to it, I realized that, while all the junkie songs here were originally written in the first person, Jacques always changes them to the second or third person: he refuses to inhabit the persona of a junkie, and that's coming from a guy who has no qualms singing from the point of view of a murderer, pimp, or pedophile. Is it perhaps too close to home for comfort? The CD closes with a beautiful version of evergreen ballad "Over The Rainbow" acting as lyrical balm after the hardships recounted before. The album was recorded partly live at Fuzz club in Athens, and partly in studios in London and Berlin. The Fuzz performance took place on January 25, 2020 - probably the band's last before the pandemic hit. The CD, on the other hand, was their first physical release since the pandemic kicked off. Only 500 copies were made, of which the first 40 were signed by the band. Mine is signed by them, but it's not one of the original batch, I just bought it in Berlin after their performance of One Penny Opera, and had them sign it! Like almost all Tiger Lillies releases, this is a solid album in their unique style. Their decision to try to bring the Greek underworld of the 30's to life for the English-speaking audience is bold, surprising, and partly successful. If only they hadn't composed the music on auto-pilot, and had instead colored it with some shades reminiscent of the original songs, it would have worked so much better! Still, it's certainly a worthy purchase - if you can get your hands on it, seeing as it's already sold out!

**** for St. James Infirmary, Prison Cell (Nihtose Horis Feggari), Boneyard, Send God A Letter (Gramma Tha Steilo Sto Theo), Street Lamp (To Svisto Fanari), Somewhere Over The Rainbow

*** for Lemonaki (Kato sta Lemonadika), In Piraeus (Ston Peirea Synnefiase), Midnight (Mesanihta), Hell Is Empty, Ma They Knifed Me (Mana Me Maherosane), Man On The Street (Enas Diavatis), Ever Since You Started (O Ponos Tou Prezakia) 

** for Cloudy Sunday (Synnefiasmeni Kyriaki), Jacket (To Sakaki), Junkie (A combination of O Prezakias and Eimai Prezakias)

Mike Scott "Still Burning" 1997****

This is Mike Scott's second solo album - or, more precisely, the second album released under his own name. The lead singer and songwriter of The Waterboys had put his old band's name to rest after the uncharacteristically loud and electric Dream Harder - in essence also a solo album since it was really Scott backed by some session musicians. This was followed by Bring 'Em All In (1995) which was an actual solo album, a mostly acoustic affair with Scott singing and playing almost all instruments himself. Still Burning is yet different: for all intents and purposes it could be another Waterboys album: the electric guitars of Dream Harder are present, as well as the lyricism of his Big Music period. The influences remain the same: Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Van Morrison - the classic songwriters, filtered through Scott's personal vision. On the opener "Questions", with its horns and soulful backing vocals, he creates his own brand of Celtic Soul. "My Dark Side" is an alt-rocker with an insistent guitar riff, followed by a trio of songs reminiscent of The Waterboys circa mid-80's. "Open" is slower and semi-acoustic, while "Love Anyway" and "Rare, Precious and Gone" are lusher, with uplifting strings and vocals. Scott sings with the same passion he did on "The Return of Pan", even though the lyrics dwell on the personal rather than the mystical. The second half of the album is slightly inferior to the first: although none of the songs is bad or even indifferent, you wouldn't count on them getting a lot of radio play: "Dark Man of My Dreams" and "Strawberry Man" continue Dream Harder's Hendrix obsessions, while "Sunrising" is a pleasant mid-tempo piece, and the shortest songs "Personal" and "Everlasting Arms" are closer to acoustic folk. The U.S. release adds some bonus tracks which I haven't heard; according to reviews they are not essential. "Love Anyway" and "Rare, Precious and Gone" were released as singles; for the latter they made a promo video which must be among the cheapest ever: it was filmed for £5 in a booth at an airport, while Scott and the band were waiting for their flight. Still Burning's lack of success is puzzling: it's a strong collection of songs, the musicians (who include The Who's bassist Pino Palladino and Dylan's drummer Jim Keltner) are stellar, and the instrumentation and production manages to highlight it all in the best possible manner. Possibly a combination of bad timing, lack of promotion, and the public's unfamiliarity with the singer's name. Following this album, Scott would revert to releasing his records under The Waterboys moniker: his next one A Rock in the Weary Land (2000) would feature two former Waterboys in Anthony Thistlethwaite (mandolin) and Kevin Wilkinson (drums) but they're just two backing musicians among many, rather than full band members. 20 years later, Scott continues to make beautiful music and tour the world with everchanging lineups of The Waterboys: on last count, 85 musicians had passed through their ranks. Other than the singer, the only (almost) permanent band member is fiddler Steve Wickham who has now served in the band for 27 years. I believe I have a dozen or so of Mike Scott and The Waterboys' albums. Although they are all good, I listen to some more than others. Still Burning is among the ones that return to the stereo more frequently. 

**** for My Dark Side, Open, Love Anyway, Rare Precious and Gone

***for Dark Man of My Dreams, Personal, Strawberry Man, Sunrising, Everlasting Arms

Love "Black Beauty" 1973(rec) 2012(released)****

Love's Forever Changes took its place in my all-time Top 5 AT first listen, sometime in late '88, and has remained there despite my going through various stages in musical taste. The two albums that preceded it were also early favorites that I listened regularly at the time. I realize now that I haven't heard any of them recently - for years probably, but that doesn't matter. These songs are etched in my brain. Over the years, I collected almost everything I could find by Arthur Lee and Love, but the rest only contained occasional glimpses of their genius. You'd read about long out-of-print albums like Vindicator and Real to Reel, or unreleased ones like Black Beauty, and, even though logic tells you they can't be much better than their readily available early work, you can't wait to get your hands on them and pick them apart to find the hidden treasure within. Some tracks from Black Beauty saw a bootleg release in the 90's, but it took many more years for these recordings to be officially released - a limited run of 5,000 vinyl copies, followed by a limited Deluxe CD reissue two years later. My copy is Nr. 2107. It's a beautiful issue on 180gr vinyl with a multicolored booklet (28 big format pages) containing contemporary photos and notes on the creation of the album. At the time, Lee had gone through multiple incarnations of Love, and even released a solo album (Vindicator) with little success. He nevertheless kept on soldiering, looking for the kind of bandmates who could realize his new musical vision: less folk and psychedelia, more hard rock and funk. He settled on an all-black lineup, the first such band for him - hence the, kindof on the nose, album title. The first two tracks "Young and Able (Good and Evil)" and "Midnight Sun" present us with a mixture of hard rock, blues and soul. Hendrix-like lead guitar courtesy of Melvin Whittington and passionate, unusually shouty, lead vocals serve to distinguish them from previous Arthur Lee compositions. "Can't Find It" is a nice ballad with a Southern rock feel, while "Walk Right In" (played as a medley with older Love track "Always See Your Face") is a throwback to Love's early folk-rock style. "Skid" is a pleasant soul tune, while Side B opens with a surprising calypso ditty called "Beep Beep". "Stay Away" is a dark garage rocker followed by "Lonely Pigs", an ironic country-ish ballad aimed at the LAPD. "See Myself in You" is a nice country soul number, and the album closes like it started, with a funk rocker featuring heavy fuzz guitar, called "Product of the Times". Unlike other "lost albums", the production is clean and punchy, thanks to an old friend of the band: Paul Rothchild, best known for his work with The Doors. Comprising elements of soul, folk, and hard rock, Black Beauty didn't really belong to any of those categories. This fact, along with the lack of a strong lead single, suggests to me that, even if it was released at the time, it wouldn't have succeeded in revitalizing Lee's career. We'll never know for sure, as the company which was supposed to release the album went under. As a result, the recordings were shelved for 40 years and master tapes were lost. The source used for this release was a relatively clean acetate given by Lee to future collaborator John Sterling. Semi-forgotten, it gained legendary status as interest in Lee's work started growing again during the 90's and 00's. And, while not exactly a hidden treasure, it's probably the best post-60's Love LP. It'd be interesting to see the band continue in this style and build on what they've achieved here, but -true to form- Lee enlisted yet a different Love lineup with whom he released a softer soul LP called Reel to Real. If you, like me, love Love, you'd better snatch one of the last remaining vinyls. The Deluxe CD edition on the High Moon label is also excellent, while there's a recent British CD reissue, too. Both CD releases contain the same bonus tracks: three live recordings, a song from a movie soundtrack, and an interview with Arthur Lee. 

**** for Young and Able (Good and Evil), Midnight Sun, Can't Find It, Skid, Stay Away, Product of the Times

*** for Walk Right In, See Myself in You

** for Beep Beep, Lonely Pigs