Iggy & The Stooges "Metallic K.O." 1973-74(recorded) 1976(released)*****

I may be on my long-awaited, hard-won holiday in Greece, but I'm not about to neglect my blogging duties. I've still got a few posts in my drafts folder, and I'll be publishing them from my hotel room in Chora. Which, of course, could be anywhere as this is the name of the main town in any given Greek island. The typical Chora is built on a steep hill overlooking the harbour. The high position and tangled narrow streets are always the same as to better defend it from the Barbary corsairs who plagued the Mediterranean coasts for centuries: Especially during the 16th and 17th century, many Aegean islands were almost depopulated and their inhabitants sold at the slave markets of North Africa and the Ottoman empire. Compared to these guys, the pirates of the Caribbean were as harmless as the Disney version we know from the movies. But the tables have turned and foreign invaders (called tourists instead of pirates) now provide the islanders with their livelihood. The particular Chora I'm writing from is in the island of Ios, next to the world famous Santorini. I've long wanted to visit it, having heard much about its wonderful sandy beaches. But I kept postponing it, because of Ios' fame as a party island. Now don't get me wrong, I like partying - just not along with hordes of drunk kids, especially English ones. I don't know if they're all complete morons or if they only act as morons when they reach a certain mass and state of drunkenness, but any place with young Brit tourists is to be avoided at all costs. They flood Amsterdam too, but thankfully all they do is smoke weed in the coffeeshops and giggle like idiots in front of the women displayed at the windows of the Red Light District, while the rest of the city is yours to enjoy. Anyway, since it's the first time my summer vacation begins so late I thought I'd try Ios this year, expecting that the kids and students have let off the necessary steam early in their school holidays. And it's true that around this time you get a more diversified and relaxed crowd. There are couples and families next to the party kids - many Italians but also French, English, Scandinavian and a few Greeks. The emphasis is more on relaxing and enjoying the sea and sun than getting loudly drunk with cheap but awful booze. Or maybe it just seemed to me that way because I returned to the hotel before 2 A.M. Either way, it suits me fine. When I do want something loud, rude and completely out of control, I can play some Iggy Pop - the man who raised debauchery and wild behaviour to an art form. 

"Metallic KO" is the aural document of Iggy & The Stooges' last ever performance from 1974. Although it predates punk, it's considered by many to be the ultimate live punk record, thanks to its energy and animosity between the band and audience. Iggy Pop keeps insulting the biker element in the crowd, who respond by throwing things at him. He introduces songs with cries of "One! two! fuck you pricks!", gets pelted with beer bottles and replies with lines like "you freaks can throw me any goddamn thing in the world and your girlfriends will still love me, you jealous cocksuckers!" and "you nearly killed me but you missed again!". Talking about deja vu - how can I forget the incorrigible Iggy at the Rock Of Gods festival at Piraeus in '96? He got hit with a bottle on the head and just got on with the show, rocking even harder and shouting "You can't kill Iggy, motherfuckers! I'm immortal!". One of the wildest shows I've ever witnessed, just another day at the office for Iggy. Not to mention my first Iggy concert at Leoforos in '91: outside the stadium the police were clashing with punks, tear gas was getting blown inside by the wind, and some fans had set the plastic seats on fire to the immense delight of Iggy who screamed "Wow! I love fires!" and gave another impossibly intense performance. I was slamming myself against the crowd in the mosh pit, while security hosed us down with water, a most welcome gesture on a hot Greek summer night. Back to Detroit and The Stooges' last show of the 70's, it reportedly ended with Iggy charging the bikers in the audience head on, and getting beaten black and blue - I doubt he felt any pain though, as he was a heavy heroin user at the time.

Iggy Pop live at Piraeus, 1996

As for the music, it's the familiar Stooges hi-energy proto-punk, featuring razor-sharp riffs by James Williamson, primitive banging by the Asheton brothers rhythm section, and a clanging piano courtesy of Scott Thurston. The songs are often elongated as Iggy improvises new, rude and sexually explicit lyrics. The performance is noted for its energy rather than precision playing and the recording quality is far below professionally recorded live albums - more like a half-decent bootleg. It was recorded on tape and released in '76 by Williamson, with Iggy's consent. Despite (or because of) its raw sound, it immediately became a holy grail for a generation of young punks, and even outsold The Stooges' official major label releases. Later reissues (such as this) are embellished with a second album consisting of a recording of a different concert 3 months earlier. It's a similarly energetic performance, and the recording quality is at least as bad as disc one. The songs on both discs consist of material from The Stooges' Raw Power LP (garage dynamites "Raw Power" and "Search and Destroy" and the slow and Doors-y "Gimme Danger"), a wild and rude cover of "Louie Louie" and a bunch of previously unreleased songs: "Heavy Liquid" is a garage rocker based loosely on Gary U.S. Bond's R&B hit "New Orleans" and "I Got Nothin'" is one of his catchiest tunes alternating loud and melodic passages and featuring a great solo by Williamson. "Rich Bitch" and "Cock in My Pocket" are loud, irreverent, loose and hilariously rude. "Head On" is so loose it hardly qualifies as a song, and the 2nd disc closes with bluesy jam (complete with harmonica) "Open Up and Bleed". As a live album, this would be worth 3* or 4*, but this isn't a record you can judge on its musical merit alone. One has to see it as a historic document of rock'n'roll's most out-there group in its wildest and most controversial - and as such, it's priceless!

***** for Gimme Danger (disc 1), Louie Louie, 

**** for I Got Nothin', Cock In My Pocket, Raw Power, Gimme Danger (disc 2), Search And Destroy, Heavy Liquid (disc 2), Open Up And Bleed

*** for Heavy Liquid (disc 1), Rich Bitch

** for Head On

The Cramps "Big Beat From Badsville" 1997***

By no means my favorite Cramps album, but I couldn't resist posting it once I saw the Bad Girl video clip: Absurd, dirty and fetishistic - if that's what Lux and Ivy cooked up for MTV, I wonder what their home movies look like? Well, there's different kinds of people and different kinds of love in this world, but with this couple you know it's true love: After 25 years of living together, not many can honestly sing to their partner as lustfully as Lux does "I love your ass/ for bad or worse/I love your nasty way you curse/When you sit down, it's wild how you sit/Grind your heel in the ground, the groovy way you spit/Ooh, you look good, ooh, you smell good/Ooh, you taste good, like a bad girl should". But here is a rare case in show-biz: a couple that remained inseparable for 37 years, from meeting in college (in the Arts and Shamanism class) to Lux's death in 2009. They never got married or had any children - I guess you could say The Cramps were their lovechild, and they gave everything they had to the band, living the rock'n'roll lifestyle to the max: world tours, crazy unhinged performances, sex, drugs and rock'n'roll. They originated the whole psychobilly music scene, by deriving their inspiration from horror movies, vintage porn, exotica, obscure 50's rockabilly and 60's surf and garage and filtering it all through punk's DIY aesthetic. Poison Ivy is probably the most underrated guitarist ever, delivering her inexhaustible stock of surf/rockabilly licks with silent cool while Lux wailed, gurgled, screamed and sang like a madman in the throes of an epileptic crisis. 

By the 90's their sound hadn't changed much from the days of psychobilly landmarks Songs The Lord Taught Us and Psychedelic Jungle, despite exchanging the 2nd guitarist for a full-time bassist. But inspiration didn't come knocking as often as before. Live they were as wild as ever, a force of nature actually as I've described before, but their albums contained more and more filler. "Big Beat From Badsville" was their 7th (and penultimate) full length LP, written and produced exclusively by Lux and Ivy. It's distributed by the indie punk label Epitaph, which may explain why it sounds a bit rawer than its predecessors. It opens with "Cramp Stomp", a song bearing all marks of the band: jungle beat, wild guitar and deranged vocals. "God Monster" is a messy psychedelic horror piece, "It Thing Hard-On" is raging garage punk and "Like a Bad Girl Should" a rhythmic rocker with a dirty riff, nasty lyrics and lusty vocals. Mid-tempo boogie "Sheena's in a Goth Gang" and "Queen of Pain" introduce us to a couple of memorable female characters whom no sane man would want to meet. "Monkey With Your Tail" revisits their favorite jungle theme while "Devil Behind That Bush" and "Super Goo" take their cue from 50's R&B. "Burn She-Devil, Burn" and "Haulass Hyena" are sped-up rockabilly and "Badass Bug" and "Wet Nightmare" are wigged-out surfin bird-style psychopunk. The latter introduces a novelty in the guise of an out-of-control theremin sounding like a malfunctioning UFO driven by an intoxicated alien. In the end, despite being a simple re-hash of The Cramps' familiar formula, "Big Beat From Badsville" is still great fun and puts all other psychobilly acts in their shade. Lux's death deprived us of an one-off rock'n'roll original - we're not about to see his position as psycho-sleazy king of trash rock'n'roll challenged any time soon...

***** for Like a Bad Girl Should

**** for Cramp Stomp, Queen of Pain

*** for It Thing Hard-On, Sheena's in a Goth Gang, Hypno Sex Ray, Monkey With Your Tail, Devil Behind That Bush, Burn She-Devil Burn, Wet Nightmare

** for God Monster, Super Goo, Badass Bug, Haulass Hyena

Zounds "The Curse Of Zounds & Singles" 1980-83(rec.) 1995(comp)*****

This is the vinyl version of the album I just reviewed, the only differnce being the absence of "Alone" which hadn't been recorded yet. In 1995, Greek indie label Lazy Dog from Thessaloniki re-released this rare 1982 anarcho-punk classic as a double LP, to the delight of myself and the numerous Greek Zounds fans. It's a really nice version with good quality vinyl, lyric sheets and informative liner notes by someone signing as Dr. Rock 4, Anarchist, Rockologist, Anarchist Rockologist. The artwork is well printed and looks great on the gatefold LP format. As for the musical content, it's just amazing: you can read my detailed presentation here.

ALBUM Side A: Fear, Did He Jump / My Mommy's Gone, Little Bit More, This Land

Side B: New Band, Dirty Squaters, Loads Of Noise, Target / Mr. Disney / War

SINGLES Side C: War / Subvert, Can't Cheat Karma, Demystification, Great White Hunter, Dancing

Side D True Love, More Trouble, Knife, Biafra, Not Me, Fear, Wolves

Zounds "The Curse Of Zounds Discography 1980-2001" 2011(comp)*****

"The Curse of Zounds" is my favorite anarcho-punk album ever, and I like all anarcho-punk bands. I never bought into the Sid Vicious version of anarchy: (self) destruction as fashion, anger without reason, that kind of thing. No, bands like Crass (and their protégés Zounds) just picked their targets and shot them down one by one: militarism, patriarchy, consumerism, capitalism, mass culture, pop idols, politicians etc. What set Zounds apart was that they avoided the rigid approach of similar bands, by combining noise with melody, anger with melancholia, the political with the personal. A couple of their songs were club classics in Exarchia bars of the late 80's: garage rocker "True Love" and Joy Division-like  "Demystification", challenging established notions of love and life. Zounds' LP and EP's (released between 1980-83) were already rare when I discovered them, but there were always 2nd or 3rd generation cassettes of their stuff going around. Thankfully a Greek indie label (Lazy Dog from Thessaloniki) re-released the album and singles in the 90's in the form of a double LP, which I bought and love. Which didn't stop me from buying this CD version when I spied it last year at the Rough Trade record shop in London. It's an update of "The Curse Of Zounds + Singles" CD, adding the 2001 track "Alone" - a melodic garage punk track every bit as good as what the band did at its prime, released as the B-side of a single with a reworked version of "This Land" on the front. The compilation opens with their 1980 debut EP "Can't Cheat Karma/War/Subvert". The first two songs are excellent but typical punk rock, while "Subvert" is unique, from its acoustic intro to the galloping bass driving the song throughout, and the short psychedelic guitar solo. "Great White Hunter", which reminds me of The Adverts, gives way to the tracks from the original Curse... album. It's darker stuff, from "Fear" to the slow and agonizing teenage suicide story "Did He Jump" played as a meddley with punk rocker "My Mummy's Gone". "Little Bit More" is a fast garage rocker with a catchy chorus and "Target" is straight punk, while the rest of the album tracks are somewhat slower and more experimental, touching on subjects ranging from the music industry ("New Band"), nuclear weapons ("Target/Mr Disney") and -hillariously- the punk squatting scene from the perspective of a neighbour who is disgusted by it ("Dirty Squatters").

Good as the album was, the singles appended here are the true gems: the mid-tempo "Dancing" is psychedelic new wave on a par with Pornography-era Cure, "True Love" and "More Trouble Coming Everyday" are melodic 60's garage. The desperate "Knife", augmented with synths and trumpet, sheds punk orthodoxy for a new wave sound reminiscent of The Sound, while "Biafra" is straight Clash-like punk rock. "Not Me" is just as anthemic, while the CD adds live recordings of "Fear" and Crass-like punk "Wolves". The aforementioned new track "Alone" rounds up one of the best punk albums ever. Easily in my all-time punk Top 5. My version includes a booklet with all the lyrics - and this is one case where you really have to pay attention to the lyrics. You can find them all here, but the booklet is not the only reason to buy this CD instead of downloading it: first of all, proceeds don't go to a big record label, but small indie Active Distribution ("Active" is written with a circled A Ⓐ, just to let you know where they stand). Then, the songs are remastered for the first time, by singer/bassist Steve Lake himself who seems to be involved with the label somehow. Above all, the fantastic artwork (though that's a reason to opt for the vinyl LP instead). Ingeniously, you have to turn the album to discover that the firemen of the cover aren't trying to put out the flames which seem to be engulfing the House of Parliament - they're actually dousing it with petrol. A sight to warm the heart of Greek anarchists, whose favourite slogan is: "Na kaei, na kaei to mpourdelo i Vouli (Burn, burn the parliament whorehouse)". If I haven't convinced you to buy it yet, there's a link in the comments - if Steve Lake is true to his ideology, I don't think he'll mind you downloading his music...

***** for Subvert, Demystification, Dancing, True Love, More Trouble Coming Everyday, Knife

**** for War, Can't Cheat Karma, Great White Hunter, Fear, Did He Jump Or Was He Pushed/My Mummy's Gone, Little Bit More, New Band, Dirty Squatters, Biafra, Not Me, Alone

*** for This Land, Loads Of Noise, Target, Mr Disney, Fear (Live), Wolves (Live)

Steve Earle "Guitar Town" 1986****

I look at this album and can't recognize the cover star. I've grown accustomed to thinking of Steve Earle as that grey-bearded elder statesman who keeps infuriating the world of country music with his leftist political views. The young hopeful posing for this cover 30 years ago seems like a different person. "Guitar Town" was a very successful debut, receiving great reviews, rising to No.1 of the Country and Western charts and getting two Grammy nominations. He was touted as a possible successor to the great country outlaws like Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash, though he was really closer to singer-songwriters like Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark - with some added rock'n'roll swagger. Opener "Guitar Town" is a classic tale of life on the road with twanging sixties guitar, while "Goodbye's All We've Got Left" (another country top 10) and "Someday" are some of the songs that invited comparisons to Bruce Springsteen, musically bridging country and rock but, more crucially, displaying a thoughtful songwriting that set Earle apart from the average Nashville singer. Sure enough, there's also some classic country like the honky tonk "Hillbilly Highway", "Think It Over" and "Down the Road" as well as sentimental (but thankfully not corny) ballads like "My Old Friend the Blues"and "Little Rock 'n' Roller". Unsurprisingly though, it's the rockers that win me over, like "Fearless Heart" (The Boss meets Tom Petty? something like that) and Southern rocker "Good Ol' Boy (Gettin' Tough)" with its typical Earle protagonist: a hard luck trucker facing defeat with bruised dignity. The reissue of the album adds one track: a live cover of "State Trooper" from Springsteen's Nebraska (1982), further highlighting the similarities between the two artists - although, to be fair, one may argue that that particular Springsteen album is haunted by the spirit of Johnny Cash, which brings us full circle to Nashville and outlaw country. In any case, Earle wasn't destined to join the country & western pantheon. Despite equally good follow-up "Copperhead Road", his star would soon flicker and wane under the influence of drugs and alcohol. From his battle with them he would emerge a wiser man and more mature songwriter, but the swagger and glamor of his youth would be left behind. But who needs another country star anyway? He's made (and keeps making) great records, surely that's all one can ask for...

**** for Guitar Town, Goodbye's All We've Got Left, Hillbilly Highway, Good Ol' Boy (Gettin' Tough), Someday

*** for My Old Friend the Blues, Think It Over, Fearless Heart, Little Rock 'n' Roller, State Trooper

** for Down the Road

Brussels Record Shops

This post has been sitting in my drafts folder for quite some time. In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks at Zaventem Airport and the Maalbeek metro station I felt I couldn't write anything about Brussels without addressing those issues, which I didn't really feel like doing. I did it last year after the Paris attacks, and once was enough. But wounds heal and life resumes its familiar rhythm and I found myself rewriting this long-abandoned piece. I used to live in Brussels for the better time of 2015 and a couple of months in 2016, but I've also been a frequent visitor to the city for years and I got well acquainted with its record stores. An absence of 6 months may mean my info isn't exactly fresh, but I doubt too much has changed already. I've often heard visiting musicians praise the city's record shops during their concerts, so I guess they should know. But not everyone seeks the same: I, for once, don't have a vinyl fixation and don't care about which format my music is - as long as it's not MP3, that is. Most of the albums in my collection are (original, of course) CD's and, embarrassing as it is, most of my purchases while living in Brussels were made in the big electronic chain stores in Rue Neuve, so I'm starting there. Fnac is located at the City 2 department store and offers listening stations and a wide variety, especially in world music and francophone artists. Right next to it, at the other big department store Galeria Inno, Media Markt likewise offers listening stations and variety, but also (crucially) unbeatable prices. Mere months after their circulation, mainstream (mostly) CD's can be bought for under €10...

UDPATE 2022: I've since switched back to vinyl, mostly. In my latest trek around the Brussels record shops I didn't stop there at all. Instead I headed straight to a real record shop, Caroline Music. A veritable Brussels institution, much like the hot waffles (gauffres for the French-speakers) whose sweet smell fills the downtown. What you won't find -and, thankfully, smell- in Brussels is Brussels sprouts. I don't even know why they're called that. No-one serves them in the city and you'll rarely find a few at the local green grocer. Now, back to Caroline Music which I remember from my first visits to Brussels, 13 or so years ago. It was in the center but hidden in one of the passages. Back then, it sported a huge variety (mostly CD's) but the prices were a bit on the high side. It has since moved to the more central Boulevard Anspach 101, right opposite to Brussels' temple of live music L'Ancienne Belgique. A much better location especially now that Anspach has been turned into a pedestrian street. There is also a bigger emphasis on vinyl and more bargains to be found: New CD's cost €9-18 but there are alo a lot of used ones for €5-8. New LP's cost more than €20 but you can also get some good used ones for €9-20. Further down on Anspach 165 you can find Juke Box, a vinyl-only shop that seems to be perennially closed. UPDATE 2022: This time I caught it open. It has an excellent vinyl collection, incl. classic rock, garage/psychedelia, alternative etc. There are a few offers, but the good stuff costs mostly €20-35.

Anspach gives way to Maurice Lemmonier, and there at no. 55 is your best bet for music bargains in  Brussels: Pêle-Mêle is ostensibly an antique bookshop but it sells a lot of CD's for €2,5 or 5. It'll take some searching, but you're sure to find a good cd, possibly even a rare one, for a great price. There's some vinyl (used €2,5-10 and new €7,5-25), though not much of interest. For that, you may want to try the Collector at the Rue de la Bourse. UPDATE 2022: The Collector's owner is retired, and the shop duly closed down. It was just one of those little shops that are an extension of their owner, and couldn't function with someone else. The other record shop in the lively Bourse area (great bars and restaurants all around) is Doctor Vinyl. A disappointing shop for me, because of its small variety (literally a few dozen records) and focus on electronic/dance music, which I am not interested in. Back to the tourist trail, just pass by the outrageously popular statue of a pissing boy Manneken Pis that has inexplicably become one of the most recognizable symbols of Brussels, and head for the next corner and Arlequin. Adorned with graffitis of rock legends on the front wall, it certainly is one of the city's best-looking record stores as well as a great source for 2nd hand vinyl and CD's. Nice to browse about, all kinds of CD's (mostly €8-12) but especially good at post punk/new wave. Also an excellent selection of classic rock/ prog/ jazz/ French music (LP's, mostly €8-20). On Rue de Grands Carmes, also straight from the Manneken Pis but to the opposite direction, is probably the best record shop for collectors, Veals & Geeks. Now, there must be an interesting story behind the name, but I don't know it.

Here you'll find a lot of interesting and rare records. Most pop/rock CD's cost €5-10, while the more collectible ones go for €18. Similarly, LP's usually cost €10-30, but depending on collectability the price can rise way higher. UPDATE 2024: Lately the shop has adopted a ridiculous "no mobiles" code. I know that once we used to shop without checking online for info, but now I buy lots more records because of the internet; if a record/group title I come across seems interesting/familiar, I can check the reviews and maybe listen to a small sample online, then may decide to buy it. I guess they want to stop you from checking the prices on competitive online shops, but that's just bad customer service. On the corner of Rue de Grands Armes and Rue de Midi, you'll find Evasions, a two-story antique bookshop that also carries CD's and a few LP's. You might find an a CD you were searching for as low as €4-5. Nearby, on Steenstraat 37 there's Elektrocution. It's orientated towards the harder end of the music spectrum - mostly, but not exclusively, Metal, Punk and Goth. For the most part second hand stuff, CD's cost € 2-10 (mostly €5) and LP's €10-15 (some offers €3). On the whole, Rue de Midi is full of antique shops, including record shops. For example, 72 Records on Rue de Midi 72, which only sells vinyl. Great selection of garage and psychedelia, as well as jazz, rock and punk from the 70's and 80's. Most albums around €10-20, but some below €8 or above €20, depending on collectability. On the other side at no.67, Hors-Serie is another store that merges books and music - and, of course, BD (Bande dessiné - comics) which are taken very seriously in Belgium and officially considered to constitute the ninth art. A really big variation of used CD's (€5-10) and some LP's (€10-20), it's worth spending some time here as careful searching may yield interesting finds, if not rare treasures. UPDATE 2022:A new record shop at Rue du Midi 129 is called The Collector, just like the now defunct shop in Bourse, but appears to have nothing to do with it. Here you'll find soundtracks, French music, rock, and country LP's, usually for €15-25 - as well as DVD's and other 2nd hand items. 

UPDATE 2022:This time a made a detour to visit a cluster of record shops on or near Rue Haute. My first stop was Sono Ventura (Rue Haute 153). I didn't stay long because it mostly has electronic music (also disco and afro-beat). Most LP's cost €10-30. A nice feature is that there are 3 vinyl listening stations.  A few meters further (Rue Saint-Ghislain 55) one can find Balades Sonores. 4 rooms of vinyl, including rock/indie, world music from Brazil to Africa to Japan, jazz etc. Some offers starting from €5, mostly €20+ for new LPs. Crevette Records (Rue Blaes 146) focuses on dance music (electronic, funk, world music, LPs €20+), while Tropicall Records (Rue Haute 235) caters for wider tastes: classic rock, garage/psychedelia/prog, jazz and funk, French and Belgian records etc. Used LP's €15+, new LPs €25+, CD's mostly €5-10. Also, this area is full of antique shops, many of which also sell vinyl. The last record shop I visited this time was called Le Gymnase. It's not in the same neighborhood with the ones I've mentioned above - rather, it's at Kolenmarkt 57, close to Ancienne Belgique. A shop that also sells beer and wine, it has adopted a different approach to pricing: all LP's cost €5, all CDs €2, and all DVDs €5. Another new shop is Kozmic Music (Rue des Pierres 35). Some interesting stuff (€12-35), a few random offers and CDs. The drawback here is that the records aren't well ordered at all. Lastly, there's a shop in the nice Sainte Catherine area, which I've never visited but gets good reviews:⁩ ⁦Seymoure Kassel Records⁩⁦ (Rue de Flandre 93) isn't cheap, but it's supposedly the place for rare vinyl.

That's it for now. I hope that visitors to Brussels will remember there's more to the city except EU institutions, chocolate, and the baroque facades on Grand Place, and think of it also as a city of culture and music, as well as home of good vinyl.

Mary Margaret O' Hara "Miss America" 1988*****

One of those albums that critics rave about while the public ignores, "Miss America" was largely recorded in 1984 and shelved until 1988. Even then, it was released with minimal promotion and left to fall out of print for years. The procedure was so traumatic for Canadian songstress Mary Margaret O'Hara that she never made another record - unless you count the soundtrack of insignificant Canadian romantic comedy Apartment Hunting. The reasons for the album's commercial failure aren't evident to my ears: Sure, it's not easy listening but neither are, say, Kate Bush or Tori Amos - and they have hits! O' Hara's style might be described as folk pop, with a hint of jazz. Her voice is a crystal-clear soprano with a tendency of flying away into vocal acrobatics. On some occasions she reminds me of Patsy Cline ("To Cry About", "Dear Darling" and "Help Me Lift You Up") or Billie Holiday ("Keeping You In Mind", "You Will Be Loved Again") but, despite the obvious country and jazz influences, this is original and diverse music. On "The Year In Song" her performance is intense, almost demented, while the band settles in an almost Zeppelin-ish groove. "Body's In Trouble" reminds me of confessional Marianne Faithful circa Broken English - despite their voices being as different as it gets. "A New Day" is poppier and absolutely radiant, like Van Morrison in one of his good days. "When You Know Why You're Happy" is another sunny song, while "My Friends Have" is the rocking-est of the bunch and "Not Be Alright" has some nice percussion that reminds me of Peter Gabriel's experiments with world music. Challenging but absolutely beautiful music, all around. Tell me if I'm exaggerating, but I'm convinced it's the work of a genious. That she never recorded a follow-up is infinately frustrating and disappointing. Time and time again, albums overlooked at their time are being labeled hidden treasures, to be revered by a few collectors and fellow artists (This Mortal Coil paid their respects by covering "Help Me Lift You Up"). Well, here you have it - the archetypal hidden treasure album!

***** for The Year In Song, Body's In Trouble, A New Day, My Friends Have

**** for Help Me Lift You Up, Keeping You In Mind, Not Be Alright, You Will Be Loved Again

*** for To Cry About, Dear Darling, When You Know Why You're Happy

Rodrigo Leão "Cinema" 2004****

If I knew that Rodrigo Leão was a founding member of Madredeus I'd be better prepared for what I listened when I slipped this in the CD player of a used records shop in Lisbon. The name of Portishead's Beth Gibbons on the cover sticker had me thinking this'd be some kind of Portuguese trip-hop, but opener "Cinema" welcomed me with soft keyboards and lyrical strings that did indeed seem to belong to an arthouse movie rather than a pop CD. Follower "Rosa" continues in the same mood, with dreamy vocals by Brazilian singer Rosa Passos giving it a bossanova flavour. "Lonely Carousel" is a smoky, sensual tango with Gibbons on vocals, "Jeux D'amour" is a soft ballad and "La Fête" a sweet waltz, both sung in French by the Belgo-Portuguese Helena Noguerra. The album justifies its title by containing many instrumentals that sound as if they've escaped from the soundtrack of Amelie or some other equally stylish European film. Of those, "A Comédia de Deus" and "A Estrada" are lively quasi-tangos with strings and accordeon, "Memórias" and "Uma História Simples"' strings will make you feel warm and fuzzy, while "A Cidade Queimada", "O Último Adeu" and "António" (featuring Ryuichi Sakamoto on piano) are stark and melancholic piano pieces. The Gift's Sónia Tavares takes the lead vocal for the Portishead-like "Deep Blue", jazzy torch song "Happiness" and Americana-waltz "L'Inspecteur" (think Calexico in French). This is an album I can listen to countless times back-to-back. It's not pop, classical, jazz or folk, just beautiful introspective music - perfect for relaxation and daydreaming. I feel stingy for only giving it 4* but I'm convinced it's an objectively fair rating.

***** for Lonely Carousel, Jeux D'amour

**** for Cinema, Rosa, A Comédia de Deus, Memórias, Deep Blue, Happiness, La Fête, A Estrada, L'Inspecteur, António

*** for A Cidade Queimada, Uma História Simples, O Último Adeus