Folkesange - Myrkur

Folkesange

Myrkur

Relapse RR7426

2020

I was driving around listening to one of my favorite DJs Pat Murphy on KXLU when I heard him play a stunning version of "House Carpenter" the Child ballad I first heard on "Joan Baez in Concert Part One" back when I was in college and which I have loved ever since.  I had never heard of the artist, Myrkur, but thanks to the internet I soon took a crash course in her music.  Myrkur is the nom de disque for a Danish woman Amalie Bruun who has had a lengthy music career that I somehow missed.  She made a pair of delightful jangle pop albums with Brian Harding under the name Ex-Cops.  I bought both of them and find them very engaging.  She also made several albums as Myrkur which are generally labeled black metal.  I have the third one, "Mareridt" which was released in 2017.  I know very little about black metal, I have only heard enough to know that it is not my jam.  To me "Mareridt" sounds goth, rather than metal which I consider a good thing.  In any case I dig the record quite a bit and the folky ballad "De Tre Piker" and the string-driven instrumental "Kætteren" clearly foreshadow this great album of mostly traditional Scandinavian music, which has become one of my favorite folk albums of all time.  It is dark and moody like "Mareridt" but it is also ethereal and graceful like dream pop.  It opens with "Ella" which is Bruun's own composition written in a folk style.  Its Danish lyrics abound in pagan imagery poetically describing the birth and development of a witchlike woman.  It is a majestic and stirring song that I find moving even when I don't understand the words.  Like most of the album it is string driven with a pulsing almost tribal drumbeat that evokes primitive music.  Bruun's evocative vocal is mesmerizing and the song absolutely slays me.  A great track.  "Fager som in Ros" is a Swedish folksong that means "Beautiful as a Rose."  It is a short and sweet tale of seduction in which the young woman takes the initiative. It sounds more like a conventional folksong with its repetitive structure bolstered by a rich string sound and more stirring percussion.  Bruun's wordless crooning at the end heightens the pagan feel of the song.  "Leaves of Yggdrasil" is Myrkur's own composition with English lyrics. It is a gorgeous piano driven song with highly romantic lyrics tinged with paganism and full of poetic imagery.  It is arguably her most successful effort at creating a modern folk song and it is one of my favorite tracks.  "Ramund" is an old Danish folk saga that dates back at least to the 17th Century.  Myrkur delivers a greatly abridged version that recounts the bloody exploits of the title character.  The song has an appropriately somber and heavy arrangement with more tribal drumming and droning strings pushing it.  "Tor i Helheim" is Myrkur's abridged adaptation of an epic poem by the 19th Century Danish poet Adam Oehlenschläger based on Norse mythology.  It recounts the encounter between the gods Thor and Loki with Hel, a witchlike woman who rules the underworld eternally punishing dead cowards.  It begins with some a cappella yelping from Bruun that evokes the otherworldly environment described by the lyrics. The music is melancholy and hypnotic, the perfect accompaniment for a dark journey.  Side one concludes with "Svea" which has no actual lyrics but rather features Myrkur wordlessly crooning.  The song is driven by the haunting strains of the viola of Stefan Brisland Ferner of the Swedish band Garmarna who introduced me to Swedish folk music many years ago.  It is easy to imagine it as the soundtrack to some Viking ritual.  Side two begins with "Harpens Kraft" which translates as "Power of the Harp."  It is another old Danish folksong about Villemand and his future bride.  She fears crossing the river with him to their wedding because the river claimed her two sisters when they tried to cross it to go to their weddings.  Myrkur has truncated the song omitting the concluding section where Villemand does indeed lose his bride to the river and discovers a troll has taken her and her sisters.  He slays the troll and wins back his bride.  "Gammelkäring" translates as "The Old Lady" and it is a short song about an old woman who makes fine wool.  It sounds almost like a silly children's song although Bruun delivers it with such seriousness that until I saw a translation of the lyrics I had no idea it was so innocuous.  "House Carpenter" is of course the old English ballad collected by Francis Child that is known by many titles including "The Daemon Lover."  There are numerous recorded versions of the song, but as I mentioned above, I know it from Joan Baez's recording and since Myrkur thanks Baez in her liner notes I assume that is how she knows it as well.  It is about the wife of a carpenter who is seduced away from her family by the ghost of her former lover who leads her to her doom.  The percussion drives the song at a brisk pace and the moaning strings enhance Bruun's superbly expressive vocal.  I love Joanie's version but darkness was never her thing and Bruun eats it for breakfast.  For me this is the definitive version of the song.  It gave me chills when I first heard it and it still does after many listens.  "Reiar" is an old Norwegian folksong that Myrkur translated into Danish.  The title character is a drunk who has no luck with the ladies but who wins a bride by giving her a silver cup.  The lyrics are humorous and a bit crude but Bruun solemnly performs them as though she were embarking on a journey to Valhalla.  "Gudernes Vilje" means "The Will of the Gods" and was written by Myrkur.  The song evokes the experience of being pregnant in vaguely pagan terms.  Bruun herself was pregnant while making the album and obviously it was something very much on her mind.  The lyrics clearly were resonating with her and she delivers the song with tremendous feeling.  It is another song that gives me chills.  The album concludes with the lovely piano driven "Vinter" which features wordless vocalizing from Bruun evoking the sensation of a winter soundscape.  It sounds more new age than folk to me but I'm not complaining.  It does give the album a delicate and enchanting finish.  I consider this album to be a flawless masterpiece.  Although it is generally not explicitly pagan and the closest it comes to witchcraft are the runes on the cover art, it does subtly evoke that culture and spirit.  Since I rarely can understand the words I am mostly responding to the sound of the vocals and the music itself which is consistently dark and melancholy, even funereal at times.  I have no interest in paganism, but the spiritual and mystical quality of Bruun's vision impresses me.  She almost makes me want to become a warlock.  Even if you have no affinity for this stuff, I think Bruun's sincerity and commitment will impress you.  She has a great passion for this style of music and she has triumphantly succeeded in breathing life and vitality into old folk songs. This music is timeless and I suspect it will still sound wonderful 100 years from now.  I enjoy folk music more than the average person, but this transcends the genre.  You needn't have any appreciation for folk music to enjoy this album.  It may very well be the most beautiful album that I own and you definitely need to have it.  Recommended to fans of Sandy Denny and Loreena McKennitt.

Sgt. Pepper Knew My Father - Various Artists

Sgt. Pepper Knew My Father

Various Artists

New Musical Express  NME PEP LP-100

1988

I picked this up several years ago largely because "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" has been the seminal album of my record collecting life.  I've worshipped it since I was a young teen.  I had my doubts about this album because I only knew about half the artists on it.  I'm a big fan of Sonic Youth and the Wedding Present and a fan of Billy Bragg, Michelle Shocked and the Fall so I figured it would at least be decent although I probably would have bought it even if it was full of covers by the likes of the Eagles, Kansas and Styx.  I feel like the original album is indestructible, it resists even the lamest of covers with its indomitable greatness.  Actually the album is better than decent and I am happy I bought it.  It was a charity record benefiting a child welfare telephone line in England which seems like a very worthy cause although I bought my copy used so my money only benefited a record store.  It sticks to the original running order with the title track delivered by the British hip hop trio the Three Wize Men.  I don't think that hip hop is a suitable style for the song, but it is certainly different as well as adventurous and sounds better than I would have predicted.  The Scottish pop group Wet Wet Wet performs "With a Little Help From My Friends" in a slick poppy style that I find even more disconcerting than the previous hip hop track, but it is done very well if you like that sort of thing.  The British soul group the Christians play "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" in a manner that retains much of the psychedelic flavor of the original and it is largely faithful to the Beatles' arrangement.  I like it but it is one of the least memorable cuts on the album.  The Wedding Present are joined by the wonderful Amelia Fletcher (of my big faves Heavenly and Talulah Gosh) for "Getting Better."  Their hyped up version of the song sounds more like the Wedding Present than the Beatles but I love it anyway.  It is my second favorite track on the album.  The Scottish duo Hue & Cry are given the task of interpreting "Fixing a Hole."  It is an interesting jazzy arrangement of the song that is far more dynamic than the original.  I'm impressed by it.  Billy Bragg is joined by his regular collaborator pianist Cara Tivey for the difficult job of covering "She's Leaving Home" which was a double A-side chart topping single in the U.K. backed with the Wet Wet Wet track (which I suspect drove most of the sales.)  Tivey's evocative piano lines carry the song and I consider them an improvement over the orchestrated arrangement of the Beatles' version.  Bragg's thick accent and heavy voice undercut the sentimentality inherent in the lyrics and I prefer this version to the Beatles's own version.  Chris Sievey's oddball alter-ego Frank Sidebottom closes out the side with "Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite."  I have to admit I don't get the Sidebottom schtick and find his whiny voice irritating.  The arrangement of the song is similar to the Beatles' one minus the psychedelic sound effects, although Sievey inserts a bit of "Twist and Shout" into the middle of the song for some reason.  I'm utterly charmed by the way the song reproduces the run-off gibberish from the Beatles' original ending of the album only to be admonished with a sneering "that's on the other side, stupid!"  Side two opens with Sonic Youth's spectacular version of "Within You Without You" which is my favorite track.  The band is faithful to the original arrangement, but supercharge it with guitar noise and tribal-style drumming.  This thrilling track is one of my all-time favorite Beatles covers and the album is worth picking up for it alone.  The British jazzers the Courtney Pine Quartet are a well-chosen choice for "When I'm Sixty-Four."  They do it as a swinging instrumental taken at a faster tempo than the original.  I find it very invigorating which is certainly not the case with the original version although it completely lacks the original's charm.  Michelle Shocked sings "Lovely Rita" as a low-key folk song which places the focus on her lovely vocal.  I find it very appealing but I do miss the psychedelic stylistics of the original.  The Australian alt-rock band the Triffids perform "Good Morning Good Morning" which sounds very 1980s with the mannered vocals and big drums people liked for some reason back then.  It sounds more like U2 than the Beatles but I like it anyway especially the rumbling bass line that drives the song.  The Three Wize Men return for the reprise version of the title track which sounds a lot like their title track version except that the vocals are heavily processed to the point of being almost indecipherable.  It is also more than twice as long as the original reprise version for no good reason that I can discern.  The Fall close out the album with my favorite song on the original album, "A Day in the Life."  The Fall stick pretty close to the original to my surprise only Mark E. Smith's distinctive voice and vocal style bare any resemblance to the Fall's typical sound.  There is yet another version of the run-out gibberish to finish the song, this time in the appropriate place.  I find the track a little disappointing yet I have to admit I'm pleased that the song is respectful of the original.  Although I would say this is actually a very good album, I feel it proves my theory that "Sgt.Pepper" is indestructible.  These tracks are all over the place, often wildly different than the original and yet the result is still coherent and compelling.  I think it validates the idea of the concept album since it can survive such a massive disparity of style and sound.  Also it is just plain fun to listen to.  It is made with love and spirit and I would recommend it to all Beatles fans with open minds and a taste for sonic adventure.

Trouble with Jackie Dee - Jackie DeShannon

Trouble with Jackie Dee

Jackie DeShannon

Teenager Records 609

1991

I bought this Danish import in a used records store that does not generally carry bootlegs and I see it is also available on Discogs which prohibits the sale of bootlegs, but I find it hard to believe that this is a legitimate release.  This is mostly a collection of DeShannon's early singles many of which were issued by Liberty Records but there is no mention of any licensing agreement with EMI who owned the label at the time.  Also the cover artwork is a straight ripoff from DeShannon's debut album "Jackie DeShannon" including the liner notes which makes no sense since none of the songs mentioned in them are on this album.  So this may be considered "legal" in Denmark but I consider it a bootleg.  Nonetheless I also consider it a very useful album and even if JDS is not collecting royalties from it, I'm still happy to have it.  The record begins with her self-composed first single for Liberty "Buddy" backed with "Strolypso Dance" from 1958 when she was still billing herself as Jackie Dee.  The rockabilly style "Buddy" is lots of fun and the album is worth purchasing for that song alone.  JDS rocks out big time with lots of passion.  The flipside is more subdued but I love the hiccupy vocal.  The single seems very influenced by Brenda Lee.  This is also true of JDS's cover of the Leiber and Stoller song "Trouble" which was the b-side of a 1959 single for P. J. Records where she was billed as Jackie Shannon.  JDS has a pronounced southern accent on the song and I find her performance very charming.  JDS leaves rockabilly behind with her own "So Warm" which was a 1960 single on Edison International.  It is a lively song but more in the vein of a girl group sound.  The self-penned "I Wanna Go Home" was the b-side and it is similar in style.  "Teach Me" by D. Abrams and B. Helms and JDS's "Lonely Girl" was a 1960 single for Liberty.  "Lonely Girl" is the better of the two and has a rhythm and blues flavor with a delightfully husky vocal from JDS.  "Teach Me" is a romantic doo-wop style ballad that JDS sings with a lot of feeling.  Side one concludes with "Back-Talk" (listed as "Back Track") which JDS recorded with Bobby Vee for the 1966 film "C'mon Let's Live a Little."  It is a rocking little number that JDS sings a lot more convincingly than Vee.  Despite its late recording date it fits in with the early 60s rock and roll vibe on the rest of side one.  Side two opens with the JDS composition "Try To Forget Him" which was recorded in 1961 but first released on JDS's 1965 album "You Won't Forget Me."  It features a big vocal from JDS that cuts through an overly fussy arrangement.  It is followed by the 1962 single "You Won't Forget Me" written by JDS and Shari Sheeley.  I consider it one of the best early songs in the JDS discography and her vocal is delivered with a lot of spirit.  JDS's cover of the Goffin-King classic "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" is taken from the 1966 album "Are You Ready For This?"  The song is taken at a faster tempo than normal and JDS has a very smooth and sweet vocal that reminds me of Diana Ross.  It is a little too slick for my taste, I prefer the earnestness of the Shirelles' hit version.  "After Last Night" was written by P. J. Proby and appeared on JDS's 1965 album "This is Jackie DeShannon."  It is pure girl group with an appealing vocal from JDS.  The Buddy Holly covers "Maybe Baby" and "Oh Boy" both appeared on "You Won't Forget Me."  I think Holly was probably an influence on JDS and her covers are respectful of his originals.  I like them both but neither adds anything interesting to the originals.  Randy Newman's "Did He Call Today, Mama?" was the b-side to the 1963 "Needles and Pins" single.  It is another girl group type song but JDS doesn't sound very engaged by it.  The album concludes with another soundtrack song, "Glory Wave" by William Dunham and Jimmy Haskell from the 1964 film "Surf Party."  It is a rocker with a gospel flavor that JDS delivers with verve.  Given that the soundtrack album is pricey and hard to find, I'm happy that the album's curator decided to add it to the collection.  This is a real hodgepodge of a collection but it does have a consistent sound since it focuses on the pop music styles of the early 1960s.  I would have preferred that it feature more of her early singles and fewer album tracks but overall I find it very satisfying.  Fans of the more sophisticated pop styles JDS employed later in the decade might find this collection a bit primitive or crude, but personally I love everything she sings.  Recommended to fans of Brenda Lee.

Have Yourself a Rockin' Little Christmas - Lucinda Williams

Have Yourself a Rockin' Little Christmas

Lucinda Williams

Highway 20 Records H20011-1

2021

This is one of a series of covers albums that Lucinda Williams recorded in 2020 during the pandemic prior to the stroke she suffered in November of that year.  Happily she seems to have recovered from that.  This was my go-to album last Christmas.  My wife thinks it is not Christmassy enough and I can see that, it is definitely more rocking and bluesy than sentimental and traditional but that suits me just fine.  Also if you think Christmas should just be about the birth of Jesus, well this is definitely not the album for you.  The album opens with Buck Owens' "Blue Christmas Lights."  Although the song still retains some of the original's country flavor, Williams' performance sounds more R&B and has some nice guitar noise.  Up next is Chuck Berry's "Run Run Rudolph" which bares little resemblance to the rock and roll original.  It opens with a guitar line that sounds like it was lifted from a James Bond soundtrack and the song itself has been slowed down and given a swampy seductive feel that I find entrancing.  It is right in Williams' wheelhouse and she crushes it.  It is my favorite track.  "Christmas Tears" was originally done by Freddie King.  Williams follows the original blues arrangement which is completely compatible with her style and her guitarist Stuart Mathis acquits himself well with the solo.  Merle Haggard's "If We Make It Through December" is one of the gloomiest Christmas songs I've ever heard.  It is about a parent who has lost their job and can't afford to give a proper Christmas to their child.  Williams keeps the country flavor and sounds even more miserable than Haggard.  It is well done, but a real downer.  The blues return with Charles Brown's R&B classic "Merry Christmas, Baby" which Williams gives a sultry and smoky treatment.  Mathis again provides a solid guitar solo that gives the song a big lift.  Williams reaches back to the 1930s with Irving Berlin's "I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm."  Technically the song isn't a Christmas song but it fits the season.  Williams gives a loose, even a bit sloppy, performance quite different from the typical crooner versions I've heard in the past.  I like it though, it reaches me better than most of the old-fashioned ones.  "Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin'" was originally done by Albert King and Williams keeps it in the same blues rock arrangement.  Her band's rocking performance and the urgency of her performance makes it one of the strongest tracks on the album.  "Christmas in New Orleans" was released by Louis Armstrong in 1955.  There is not much point in trying to copy the inimitable Armstrong so Williams abandons his recitative style and the big band jazz arrangement in favor of a rollicking yet slinky R&B performance that works just as well if not better.  "Please Come Home For Christmas" is another Charles Brown song.  It is a bluesy number that is ideal for Williams' style.  I have never heard a better version and don't you even dare mention to me the Eagles' cover of this.  "Little Red Rooster" is the Howlin' Wolf classic written by Willie Dixon.  As you probably know the original song has nothing to do with Christmas but she has inserted Christmas references into the song that fit surprisingly well.  The song is perfect for Williams and she delivers the goods.  It is one of my favorite tracks.  The Ramones' "Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight)" makes an unlikely appearance next.  It is not as rocked up as the original (which I prefer to this) but it is still a blast of high energy that she sings convincingly.  The album closes with the venerable standard "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" given a silky bluesy treatment that bares little resemblance to the famous Judy Garland version.  This is probably wise since although I adore Williams she doesn't really have the pipes to put over an emotional and sentimental performance like Garland's.  Williams' performance is arguably too laid back to do the song justice, but it does make for a mellow and appealing finish to the album.  From a strictly musical standpoint this is an outstanding Christmas album.  Williams has terrific taste and she has chosen songs that work really well for her.  On the other hand I was playing this while trimming the tree and while it gave me plenty of energy it didn't provide much seasonal atmosphere.  I don't like Christmas enough to be very bothered by this and I appreciate that I can listen to it out of season (which I have done) and it still holds up.  Recommended to atheists who would rather listen to Freddie King than Nat King Cole. 

Shapes of Things - Jeff Beck and the Yardbirds

Shapes of Things

Jeff Beck and the Yardbirds

Springboard  SBD-4039

1972

I was very sad to learn of Jeff Beck's passing.  After Hendrix he was my favorite rock guitarist and I worshipped him like a god when I was a teenager and I still consider his music to be an important part of my life.  This is hardly the record to honor him by, I think "Yardbirds" or any Yardbirds comp would be more appropriate not to mention "Truth" or "Beck-Ola" by the Jeff Beck Group or "Blow by Blow."  However this is the album I've chosen and it was also the album I reached for when I heard he died even though it is a skimpy and shoddy record by a low budget record label that was slightly above bootleg level.  Cratediggers of my generation may recall seeing bargain priced albums by Springboard in the bins.  They put out records with obscure music by famous artists of the time generally from early in their careers and of dubious legality.  I think it highly unlikely they were paying royalties on this stuff.  To some degree you were getting what you paid for, as I recall the albums didn't even have inner sleeves to protect the vinyl.  They were rip-offs, but if you were a fan of the artist, the music was often quite interesting and hard to find.  I bought a bunch of them.  The "Eric Clapton and the Yardbirds" was the first Yardbirds album I ever bought since all the Epic albums were out of print when I became interested in the band.  It is an abridged version of the show released as "Five Live Yardbirds" but it actually sounded better than that album (at least until it got remastered) and featured patter not on that album.  This was the second Yardbirds album I bought.  I picked it up in the mid-1970s shortly before Epic restored the band to its catalog with "The Yardbirds Great Hits" which is a better introduction to the group.  Nonetheless hearing this record for the first time blew my teenage mind.  Beck's guitar solos took my breath away.  Not having many records yet I was accustomed to listening to mid-1970s AOR or top 40 on the radio which I largely regarded as bland, so Beck's explosive and frenetic guitar work combined with the Yardbirds' pop smarts was a revelation to me.  Only the Beatles with their superior songwriting excited me more.  There are a mere 9 tracks on the album and Beck only appears on 8 of them since "I Ain't Got You" was recorded when Clapton was the lead guitarist in the group although I love it and consider it one of his best Yardbirds tracks so I'm not complaining.  The record begins with the band's soaring 1966 single "Shapes of Things" written by band members Keith Relf, Jim McCarty and Paul Samwell-Smith.  It widely considered to be one of the first psychedelic songs although its swelling riff, driven by feedback and power chords, could also be seen as a heavy-metal prototype.  Beck's fiery solo embraces raga and jazz while fully rocking out and ends way too soon.  It is followed by an unreleased track that is a lively instrumental version of "What Do You Want?" which appeared in a vocal version on "Yardbirds."  McCarty's crisp drumming powers the song while Beck delivers a noisy smoking hot riff that culminates in a shrieking solo.  The song is far more exciting than the release track.  Relf's humorous "New York City Blues" was the b-side of "Shapes of Things."  It is a rare foray into straight blues for Beck but he delivers the goods big time.  His solo section is very compelling and majestic.  "Someone to Love" is an unreleased track that is essentially a punchier version of "Lost Woman" from "Yardbirds" with different lyrics.  Beck's solo is curiously subdued in comparison to the release version.  "For R.S.G." is actually Bo Diddley's "Here 'Tis" which the band had previously recorded live with Clapton on "Five Live Yardbirds."  This is a studio version that the band apparently recorded for the British tv show "Ready Steady Go" hence the odd title.  Both the studio and live versions are very exciting, but I give this version the edge for Beck's dazzling guitarwork.  He works all over the fret board and the call and response solo section is longer and more elaborate than the Clapton version.  This is one of the songs that impressed me the most when I was a kid and even now it still gets my heart racing.  Mike Hugg's "Mr. You're a Better Man Than I" had appeared on the American LP "Having a Rave Up with the Yardbirds" where it was one of my favorite tracks.  It is driven by a hypnotic riff and Beck's fuzz-toned solo is among his best with the Yardbirds and I would argue that it was the best rock guitar solo that had ever been recorded at that time.  It is followed by an unreleased instrumental version of "Someone to Love."  This elongated performance gives Beck plenty of room to operate and he responds with one of the most amazing guitar solos of that era or any era for that matter.  Beck begins riffing over a thunderous rhythm track driven by Samwell-Smith's throbbing bass line and McCarty's explosive drumming.  His riffing grows in strength and then erupts into orgasmic blasts of feedback and raw guitar noise.  I would say this is the greatest moment in the illustrious history of the Yardbirds.  I remember listening to this song wearing headphones as a teen and literally trembling afterwards.  This song alone justifies this record's existence.  The aforementioned "I Ain't Got You" appeared originally as a b-side and was on the U.S. album "For Your Love."  The album ends with "I Ain't Done Wrong" which also was on "For Your Love."  This is another one of Beck's best moments with the Yardbirds.  He handles the blues section and the rave-up with equal aplomb.  His soloing is so inspiring I can't resist breaking out my air guitar to play along.  So with this album you get five legitimately released songs presumably stolen without credit from Epic/EMI four of which are essential (and easily available on legitimate releases.)  You also get four unreleased songs which are extremely interesting and I would argue that "For R.S.G" and the second version of "Someone To Love" are also essential.  They have appeared on a modern CD, Sony's comp "Blues, Backtracks and Shapes of Things" and there are a bunch of foreign versions of this LP so you don't have to buy this stupid record necessarily to get this music.  However it is pretty easy to find and I love the cover picture and had it on display in my room when I was a teen.  If you are a fan of Jeff Beck or the Yardbirds this is a must-have in some form.  Maybe because I bought it so early it has an outsized importance in my mind, but it was the album that made me a fan of Beck and the Yardbirds and listening to it now about 48 years after I bought it it still sounds fresh and vital to me.  Rest in peace Jeff Beck and thank you for being such a big part of my musical life.  Recommended to people who prefer "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago" over "For Your Love."