The long finger: tomorrow has finally come

[Trollheart]

I'm terrible for putting things off, or as we call it here, putting things on the long finger. When I used to buy albums back in the days of vinyl and even CDs, it was easy. You saw or wanted an album, you bought it, brought it home, played it. But once it got to digital downloads it became so easy to get albums and not listen to them, put them away for later, forget about them. Every so often I'd see them and say oh yeah, must listen to that. Tomorrow maybe. But tomorrow never came. Never the right time. I always told myself I didn't want to rush it, wanted to make sure I was in the right mood, could appreciate the album. Something I also do is to try to prolong the surprise/disappointment, holding back and sometimes going years before I listen to an album.

It's a little crazy. I see a new album I've been waiting for, pounce on it and then leave it once it's downloaded. I must have years of "new" albums by some of my favourite artists piled up by now, and who knows when I will ever get to listen to them?

Well, tomorrow has finally come, as the title says. Now I'm making a conscious effort to listen to, and review, all these albums. The last two from Marillion. The latest Pendragon offering. The most recent one Threshold put out. Two new Bon Jovis. Probably about three from Ten. That's, um, three from the band Ten, not three out of ten. And a whole lot more. And not only the artists I already know; I've also downloaded albums I liked the sound of from the samples, but got no further listening to, so I'll be looking at some of them too.

As usual, random is the way to go and that's how I'll be doing this. No idea how frequently I'll be posting, but I'll attempt to do one a week. It might sometimes be more, it might often be less, but at least it will be a start.

Up next:


So here's the list so far.
Pendragon
Love Over Fear
Marillion
F.E.A.R (Fuck Everyone And Run)
An Hour Before it's Dark
Marillion with Friends from the Orchestra
Threshold
Legend of the Shires
Dividing Lines
Ten
Gothica
Illuminati
Here Be Monsters
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Bruce Springsteen
Only the Strong Survive
Letter to You
Western Stars
Tim Bowness
Butterfly Mind
Miranda Lambert
Palomino
Jazz Sabbath
Jazz Sabbath
Iron Maiden
Senjutsu
Fish on Friday
Black Rain
Red Sand
The Sound of the Eleventh Bell
Crush the Seed
Blush
Blush
Def Leppard
Diamond Star Haloes
Steve Earle
Jerry Jeff
J.T.
Nick Cave
L.I.T.A.N.T.E.S
Seven Psalms
Ghosteen
Fish
Weltschmerz
Bon Jovi
This House is Not for Sale
2020
Millennium
The Sin
The Web
MMXVIII
The Dear Hunter
Antimai
Bonfire
Temple of Lies
Journey
Freedom
Alan Parsons
From the New World
Wilderun
Epigone
Khymera
Hold Your Ground
Imogen Heap and Dan O'Neill
Chordata Bytes I
Verbal Delirium
Conundrum
Antimatter
A Profusion of Thought
Arena
The Theory of Molecular Inheritance
Jorn
Heavy Rock Radio II: Executing the Classics
Dio
Magnum
The Serpent Rings
Iluvatar
Old House in the Sun
Funeris
The Exquisiteness of a Dreary Sight
Steve Hughes
From the River to the Sea
Invertigo
InMotion
Tygers of Pan Tang
Ritual
No-Man
Love You to Bits
Work of Art
Exhibits
Jeff Lynne's ELO
From Out of Nowhere
Flying Colours
Third Degree
Knight Area
D-Day
Bram Stoker
Bete Noire
No Reflection
Nightrider
Rock Machine

[Trollheart]

Notes: Albums I've listened to doesn't include those from which I've heard tracks on playlists; has to be the full album I've heard.

Track ratio: compares good to bad, the first figure being the good ones.

And first out of the hat is this.


Album title: Black Rain
Artist: Fish on Friday
Year: 2020
Nationality: Belgian
Genre: Crossover Prog/Prog Pop
My relationship with this artist is: We're getting to know each other but I like what I've heard so far
Why did I download this album? Because I've yet to hear a bad FoF song
Chronology: 5th of 6
Albums owned by me: 3
Albums I've listened to: 0
Expectations (if any): High
Comments: I couldn't honestly tell you where I heard of these guys, but my expectation is that it was in a search for Fish, Marillion's ex-frontman, who went solo (in the game) in 1987. The band's name sort of appeals, too, as it, so far as I know, references a sort of get-out clause for devout Catholics, who were expected not to eat meat on Good Friday, the day on which according to the Bible Jesus was betrayed and crucified. Sort of thing that can really ruin your day, which is why I always wondered why it was called Good Friday and not Bad Friday. I suppose because it's believed that this was the climax of God's plan, to quote Hannibal Hayes in The A-Team, coming together: three days later his son would rise from the dead and all would be dandy. But it always seemed odd to me. Also odd why we weren't supposed to eat meat, but that's Christianity for you. Anyway, about that: most Catholics didn't consider fish meat for some reason, and so it was allowed, so on oh wait: I've just read about it and I'm wrong. Silly me. Catholics don't do things by halves, do they?

No, it seems we were expected to abstain from meat not just on Good Friday, not just during Lent (the 40-day fast leading up to Easter) but every fucking Friday. Well, to quote Jesus's biggest enemy, I'll be damned. I think this may have been the case in our house all right - I have vague memories of being told we couldn't have meat on Friday, though I'm sure I did. Have meat, that is. Anyway, we're straying a little from the point, as I always do. That point is that, for some reason, fish was excluded from the overall category of meat, and therefore allowed, so (after quite a circuitous and certain Trollheartian route) we come to the point - or to quote Sam to Dianne in Cheers, we've arrived here after taking a connecting flight: fish was allowed to be eaten on Fridays, therefore - dah dah dah dahhh! Fish on Friday.

Well that was fun. Anyway, I've heard many FoF songs on various playlists and, like it says above, I've yet to hear a bad one, and the ones I've heard have been not just good but mostly great. Therefore, this will be the first of their albums I've listened to all the way through, so let's push play and see how we do. Nice sort of ambient opening with the sound of waves and seagull and then a lovely little piano joined by acoustic guitar as we kick off with "Life in Towns", some lovely vocal harmonies as the vocalist, one Frank von Bogaert (here's lookin' at you, kid! Sorry) sings about the differences involved in moving from the quiet rural countryside to the big city. Quite a laid-back tune to open, still with a sense of power and majesty, and some lovely soft guitarwork. There's an interesting spoken piece in the song; I don't normally like these, but they can be quite effective, and this one works well. A great start, and it runs into the longest track on the album, eight minutes and change of "Murderous Highland Highway", which seems to continue a theme of places, cities, towns and countries, slightly more uptempo but quite ambient in its way too, with what I think is a very Marillion feel, circa maybe Afraid of Sunlight and a very almost soul/gospel chorus halfway through. Actually I might compare this more to an Edison's Children album: it has that kind of ethereal, otherworldly atmosphere. I've said before that the measure of a longer track is if it doesn't seem to drag, and this is over almost before I've realised it, so points there definitely.

I'm not entirely sure if FoF ever truly rock out, as such, but the title track does up the tempo slightly, and has a real hook that could have made this a single, if any were released, which I don't know. Very engaging keyboard line from William Beckers, with added organ, and it bops along really nicely. I don't know if this is meant to be a concept album or not, but so far all the tracks have segued into each other via the medium of the sound effects of rain and thunder, and "Mad at the World" is no exception, another mid-paced and quite catchy song that has more than a hint of pop sensibility about it, while I assume "Letting Go of You" is a ballad, which it seems to be, a sort of idea of mid-seventies Supertramp and for the first time featuring a female vocal, whom I assume to be Lula Beggs, herself surely related to the bassist, Nick, though whether she's his sister, daughter, wife or what I don't know. Her voice certainly adds something to the song, which takes a bit of an upswing in the latter portions and so I guess technically perhaps not quite a ballad, but really nice anyway.

An interesting thing FoF do is that von Bogaert seldom if ever takes the vocal on his own, even though he's the main singer; there's almost always a backing vocal there, usually supplied by Nick Beggs, the aforementioned bass player, and it works really well, giving the singing a very solid, full sound that, good a singer as Frank is, really enhances the vocal performances. "Angel of Mercy" has a lot of Pendragon in it, another one I might call a ballad, though there's a great strength in it too and an ocean of emotion. Some nice flute (and you know how I hate flute) adds an extra level to the melody but doesn't swamp it. Lula's back to add her sweet voice to "We've Come Undone", spooky kind of piano or vibraphone motif running through it, and I think Frank's vocals are being processed through a vocoder for some of the song. Reading the (very few) reviews I see references being made to the Alan Parsons Project, and while I can see the similarities in ways, I sort of don't agree. This doesn't sound to me like anything APP put out, though as I write, the guitar riff at the end of "Morphine" does in fact remind me of that on "Inside Looking Out " on Parsons' Gaudi. But I think the influences here are too minimal for me to be calling this band like the APP. I just think they're their own animal.

I'd in fact call the bouncy, effervescent "We Choose to be Happy" more Deacon Blue or maybe later Prefab Sprout, possibly even a little of The Beautiful South. This is definitely not neo-prog, or really even prog in any real sense, and if I had to compare Fish on Friday to any other prog band it might be It Bites. So really, I suppose, more prog pop than prog rock, but definitely not losing anything by it. "Trapped in Heaven" is another song leaning heavily on the emotion, and features some fantastic work on the frets by Marty Townsend, who so often is pushed a little into the background on this album, as it mostly rides on keyboard, piano and organ runs and synth effects, but when he comes to the fore he shows why he's there. The album ends then on "Diamonds", with a pulsing synth and bass, ringing guitar and almost the first time I think I've heard Frank sing solo, but there's a reason for this, as Lula (who is, I've found out, Nick's daughter)  joins him in a duet and it works really well as the closing ballad for the album.

Triumph, adequate, disappointment or shrug? Triumph
Overall impression: An excellent album; really nothing bad I can say about it.
Track ratio: 11/0
Enjoyment level: 100%
Would I listen to more? Absolutely, and I will.
Rating:

[Trollheart]

Album title: The Exquisiteness of a Dreary Sight
Artist: Funeris
Year: 2019
Nationality: Argentinian
Genre: Funeral Doom Metal
My relationship with this artist is: Growing; could be getting serious!
Why did I download this album? Because I loved the other albums I've heard from them
Chronology: 8 of 11
Albums owned by me: 5
Albums I've listened to: 2
Expectations (if any): High
Comments: Doom metal is an acquired taste, Funeral Doom even more. You're talking long, epic tracks with not really what you'd call vocals, more growling which may or may not be in time with the music. But that music! Generally speaking, Funeral Doom is about as epic as you can get in Doom Metal; you have banks of keyboards, rows of guitars, sometimes the sort of instruments you'd usually only get in progressive rock. You're not going to be talking about lyrics, since, as I mention above, the vocals are generally unintelligible. Even more so here though, since the language is not English. But none of that detracts from your enjoyment if you're a fan of this. To use an overused cliche, you don't really listen to Funeral Doom, you experience it. You let it wash over you, suffocate you, drown you. Albums like this are in fact hard to review for this very reason. The music is almost an afterthought: it's the feeling you get from it, the atmosphere it creates, the overall experience. You can in fact listen to it in the background - it's not music that needs to be, or lends itself to being dissected and explained, but like the best ambient, atmospheric black metal or minimalist music, resistance is, as the Borg advise, futile.

Funeris is, in fact, a nom de musique for Alejandro Sabranksy, who literally does everything here, vocals (as such), music, programming, production. This, his eighth album, contains only four tracks. This makes it almost, in terms of tracks, the shortest of his releases, though both Nocturnes for Grim Orchestra and As the Dark Lulls go one better and feature only three. However on some of the - ahem - longer albums (the longest has seven tracks) there are some short tracks, whereas here nothing is below 12 minutes, with the longest clocking it at 14. If you think that's long, check out either of those other two, one of which features not a song below 20 minutes and the other has two of that length, with the shortest (!) being 12 minutes. In terms of overall length though, The Exquisiteness of a Dreary Sight compares well to the other albums, most of which edge the hour mark, this falling just a few minutes short.

I sometimes find the likes of Viking or even Pagan metal can crossover into Funeral Doom; both are abrasive in an epic way, often use sound effects like rain, birdsong, thunder etc and of course have very long pieces of music going through often many changes that could possibly be considered suites. In that way, of course, there's a slight relationship - if only passing - to progressive rock. One thing that Funeral Doom invariably is, you'll not be surprised to hear, is slow. I mean, it's in the description isn't it? Ever been to a rushed funeral? No; plodding, ponderous, meandering and expansive is the way it is with this genre, and if you want your music to move at more than a crawl, look elsewhere. Because of the length, generally, of the tracks, you might be tempted to think not much changes, but if you listen for them those changes are there. I used to have a real problem with "death" or "unclean" vocals till someone - think it was Janszoon - advised me to think of them as just another instrument in the music, and in this way the vocals in Funeral Doom work quite well, though Funeris here do make an attempt to create coherent vocals at times. However as they're in I guess Portuguese or Spanish (which is Argentina?) it doesn't really make any difference to me whether I can make them out or not.

You could definitely characterise this music as the sort of thing you might hear, or which might accompany footage of someone walking through a strange forest on some distant planet, dark purple thunderclouds frowning down from a dull burnt-orange sky as the trees reach up like skeletal fingers beseeching some alien god, trying to rend the sky with their spiny branches, while mocking laughter seems to echo above you as you endeavour fruitlessly to find your way out of the wood. Dark shapes thrown into massive relief on high walls, a moon partially shrouded by clouds, crumbling ancient castles and deep, yawning pits that suddenly appear under your feet are all hallmarks of this music. It's dark, it's disturbing, it's unnerving, and it has its own terrible, majestic grandeur. For the duration of the album you just fall into the music and get hopelessly lost in it; directionless, lost, afraid and stumbling through the dark, you hear your own heart beat in your ears as you grab each tree for support, your strength failing you, sweat running in rivers down your back, afraid to go on, afraid to turn back, always aware of a dark, formless, nameless something waiting for you in the distance, and something even worse and more horrible stalking you from behind.

The slow, impossibly slow drumbeats pound like the gargantuan footfalls of some immense and very definitely evil beast, the sharp guitar chords crashing in mocking emulation of your headlong dash through the dark forest, keyboards growling and humming a death song, and every so often a ragged, animalistic voice roars out at you, but you can't tell if it's in front of, behind or all around you. Or all three. Maybe you're surrounded, and these malignant beings are just playing with you, pretending to let you find a pathway out of this evil wood, allowing you to believe you can escape, when they already know they have trapped and ensnared your soul, and it is theirs. You're going nowhere, because there is nowhere to go.

And yet, possessed by some insane glimmer of slowly-fading hope, a desperation to extricate yourself from this nightmare, a fervent prayer to a god you do not believe in, and who, if he exists, certainly does not believe in you, a refuge you know you will be denied, you go on...

Triumph, adequate, disappointment or shrug? Triumph
Track ratio: 4/0
Enjoyment level: 100%
Overall impression: What I'd expect. If you love Funeral Doom, this guy does it better than most. If you don't, there's nothing I can do for you.
Would I listen to more? Yes and I will
Rating:

No video available, but have this sampler from another of his albums: they're all fairly similar.

[Trollheart]

Album title: Palomino
Artist: Miranda Lambert
Year: 2022
Nationality: American
Genre: Country
My relationship with this artist is: Second date, without her sisters
Why did I download this album? Because I really liked her first album (well, the first I heard)
Chronology: 9 of 10
Albums owned by me: 9
Albums I've listened to: 1
Expectations (if any): Cautiously high
Comments: Kind of a stripped-down opener in "Actin' Up", very minimalist for a country song, till the percussion and guitars kick in, but when it goes back to the verses it's very barebones and sparse. Perhaps not the greatest opener, but I guess it does set down a marker, to show you that this girl ain't no pop diva. She's a hard-nosed, hard-drinkin' country girl, and you had better not stand in her way. Or something. "Scenes" has a fuller sound, more uptempo and with a lot of raunch in it, some decent guitar, then things slow down for "In His Arms", which I suppose you would have to regard as the first ballad, even though it's not quite one. I like the echoing guitars on this one. Still waiting to be really impressed though. These songs are adequate, but I couldn't call any of them great. "Geraldene" has more of the honky-tonk about it and gets things moving again, namechecking Dolly's classic hit in a cheeky tip of her cowgirl hit to the country legend. Feel this has a lot of early Eagles in it too.

Nice sort of breezy tune in "Tourist", driven along by some fine pedal steel and some moaning organ, then the B-52s turn up to help Miranda on "Music City Queen" featuring some really excellent piano runs, Fred Schneider's trademark spoken vocals, possibly the best track so far, though unfortunately - and surprisingly, to me - that's really not saying too much. This album has yet to catch fire; it's barely smouldering at the moment. Perhaps "Strange" will provide that spark it's been missing? Nope: still waiting, and the rockabilly sound of "Wandering Spirit" sets my teeth on edge till I realise it's a cover of a Jagger song, so I can't blame her for that. Still, this is not going very well so far, is it? Okay, it rocks up fairly soon, but I still don't like it. Boo. Have to admit, I thought "I'll Be Lovin' You" was going to be a ballad, but it's a kind of blues romp with a distinct Texas swing to it, which is a lot better than I thought it would be. Are we finally hitting an upswing here?

Well, maybe. Again, I got it wrong, but who would expect a song entitled "That's What Makes the Jukebox Play" to be a soft crooning ballad? And it is. A soft crooning ballad, that is. Let's hope the album can keep up this climb in quality - oh dear. "Country Money" is just terrible. Look, I know she's probably making some point about the commercialisation of country music, but it just sounds like something any teenage pop diva would write, or at least sing. Hopefully that was just an aberration, and "If I Was a Cowboy" does its best to re-establish the quality, and mostly succeeds. This was a single apparently and did very well on the country charts, strangely enough though got much higher in the Canadian ones. Go figure. "Waxahachie" would be my second favourite track on the album, more like the Lambert I've heard before, full of energy and a real commercial, airplay-friendly feel, even if the title might throw some DJs north of the Mason/Dixon Line. "Pursuit of Happiness" has some fiddle and organ and trips along nicely, a pleasant little tune, and the album ends on the soft and relaxing little "Carousel", though it's a bit of a damp squib to end the album.


Triumph, adequate, disappointment or shrug? I was going to say disappointment, but it rallied well halfway through, so I'll go with adequate.
Track ratio: 9/6
Enjoyment level: 75%
Overall impression: Not as good at all as I had expected, though it recovered well towards the second half, if you will, from "I'll Be Lovin' You" on.
Would I listen to more? Ah yeah I sure will.
Rating: