Fleet Foxes [2008] Fleet Foxes

[01] Sun It Rises
[02] White Winter Hymnal
[03] Ragged Wood
[04] Tiger Mountain Peasant Song
[05] Quiet Houses
[06] He Doesn't Know Why
[07] Heard Them Stirring
[08] Your Protector
[09] Meadowlarks
[10] Blue Ridge Mountains
[11] Oliver James



amg: Borrowing from ageless folk and classic rock (and nicking some of the best bits from prog and soft rock along the way), on their self-titled debut album Fleet Foxes don't just master the art of taking familiar influences and making them sound fresh again, they give a striking sense of who they are and what their world is like. Their song titles reference the Blue Ridge Mountains — never mind that they're actually from Seattle — but it's the ease and skill with which they mix and match British and American folk and rock from the far and not too distant past that makes the band's music so refreshing. While this mix could be contrived or indulgent, Fleet Foxes use restraint, structuring their flourishes into three- and four-minute pop songs full of chiming melodies and harmonies that sound like they've been summoned from centuries of traditional songs and are full of vivid, universal imagery: mountains, birds, family, death. Despite drawing from so many sources, there's a striking purity to Fleet Foxes' sound. Robin Pecknold's voice is warm and sweet, with just enough grit to make phrases like "premonition of my death" sound genuine, and the band's harmonies sound natural, and stunning, whether they're on their own or supported by acoustic guitars or the full, plugged-in band. "Tiger Mountain Peasant Song" and "Meadowlarks" show just how much the Foxes do with the simplest elements of their music, but Fleet Foxes' best songs marry that purity with twists that open their sound much wider. As good as the Sun Giant EP was, Fleet Foxes saved many of their best songs for this album. "White Winter Hymnal" is remarkably beautiful, building from a vocal round into glorious jangle pop with big, booming drums that lend a sense of adventure as the spine-tingling melody lightens some of the lyrics' darkness ("Michael you would fall and turn the white snow red as strawberries in summertime"). The suite-like "Ragged Wood" moves from a galloping beat to sparkling acoustic picking, then takes a trippy detour before returning to a more thoughtful version of its main theme. "Quiet Houses" and "He Doesn't Know Why"'s driving pianos show off the band's flair for drama. Dazzling songs like these are surrounded by a few songs that find the band leaning a little more heavily on its influences. "Your Protector" nods to Zeppelin's misty, mournful side, and "Blue Ridge Mountains" is the kind of earthy yet sophisticated song CSNY would have been proud to call their own. But, even when the songs aren't as brilliant as Fleet Foxes' highlights, the band still sounds alluring, as on the lush interlude "Heard Them Stirring." Throughout the album, the band sounds wise beyond its years, so it's not really that surprising that Fleet Foxes is such a satisfying, self-assured debut.
(amg 8/10)

Elbow [2008] The Seldom Seen Kid

[01] Starlings
[02] The Bones Of You
[03] Mirrorball
[04] Grounds For Divorce
[05] An Audience With The Pope
[06] Weather To Fly
[07] The Loneliness Of A Tower Crane Driver
[08] The Fix
[09] Some Riot
[10] One Day Like This
[11] Friend Of Ours



amg: In a world where even the generally mediocre likes of Snow Patrol can have honest to goodness mainstream pop success, it seems peculiar that Elbow have never broken through beyond a devoted cult following. (Admittedly, the fact that their new labels, Polygram's alt rock imprint Fiction Records in the U.K. and Geffen in the U.S., are their fourth and fifth, respectively, after stints on Island, EMI, and V2, may have a lot to do with their lack of mainstream attention.) Exploring the fruitful middle ground between early Radiohead's mopey art rock and Coldplay's radio-friendly dumbing down of the same, Elbow makes records built on a balance of things not often found together anymore: strange musical textures alongside immediately accessible pop song choruses, or unexpected left turns in song structure paired with frontman Guy Garvey's warm, piercing vocals. It's no surprise that Elbow are regularly compared to old-school prog rockers like Pink Floyd and Electric Light Orchestra: they're proof that records can be cool and commercial at the same time, an idea that's not particularly hip in this day and age. Yet a song like "Grounds for Divorce," which puts a sharp, wryly funny Garvey lyric against a clanging, Tom Waits-like arrangement and throws on one of the album's catchiest tunes for good measure, or "Some Riot," which filters a yearning, lovely melody for guitar and piano through so many layers of effects and processing that it can be hard to tell what the original instruments sounded like, isn't afraid to display its accessibility even on its most experimental numbers. At the album's best, including the spacious, atmospheric balladry of the opening "Starlings" (imagine if Sigur Rós could write a pop song as emotionally direct as Keane's "Everybody's Changing") and the potential radio breakthroughs of the soaring, semi-orchestral epic "One Day Like This" (complete with choral climax!) and the wistful "Weather to Fly," The Seldom Seen Kid is Elbow's most self-assured and enjoyable album so far. [The U.K. version added "We're Away" as a bonus track.]
(amg 8/10)

Frames [2007] The Cost

[01] Song For Someone
[02] Falling Slowly
[03] People Get Ready
[04] Rise
[05] When Your Mind's Made Up
[06] Sad Songs
[07] The Cost
[08] True
[09] The Side You Never Get To See
[10] Bad Bone



amg: If the Frames don't crack it with The Cost then there is something terribly wrong. The Irish heroes, who often get picked ahead of U2 at being the best live band at home, see this, their seventh album in a little over a decade and their third issued on the Anti label, home to Tom Waits, Nick Cave, Neko Case, Joe Henry, Danny Cohen, Marianne Faithfull, Blackalicious and Daniel Lanois, among others. The label pedigree is no accident. The Cost was recorded live in the studio in ten days. The idea was to capture some of the excitement and drama the band exude in truckloads during their live shows. With Steve Fitzmaurice and David Odlum at the helm, this is no garage rock date, but it drips with immediacy and emotion. Fronted by songwriter Glen Hansard, the quintet donned electric and acoustic guitars, simple keyboards, and drums augmented by strings and very subtle, atmospheric brass. In other words, the setting — Black Box in France — and extra musicians make this the Frames recording to beat and carries within it the possibility of pop greatness. This is indie pop developed to such a level that it has to be impossible to deny. Check the lilt and tension in "People Get Ready," (not the Curtis Mayfield song) where each individual is asked to evaluate her or his own life and prepare for something bigger than they are — namely the chance to not be denied collectively. Hansard's voice is tender and tough, soft and large, and he gets to the meat of a lyric without having to exert his sincerity, unlike another frontman of a hugely popular Irish band. The strings and guitars swell and swoop, they ebb and flow together and make the entire track nearly lift off the ground. "Rise" has all the erotic tension of a great Tindersticks tune without any of the derisive or bitter irony — not to mention Hansard's beautiful singing voice. Two tracks Hansard recorded with Czech actress, singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist Markéta Irglová, who he collaborated with on the unsung-in-the U.S. CD Swell Season (and with whom he also co-starred in the John Carney film Once) are re-recorded here: "Falling Slowly" (which may lose a bit of its erotic focus but gains in sheer accessibility), and "When Your Mind's Made Up."

The title track is a weeper, fueled by a slow distorted electric guitar, a snare and a hi hat. Hansard's spare phrasing and his way of spacing his lines apart allow the song's meaning — as classic a theme of love and loss as has been recorded in this century thus far — to come through in the silences. "Bad Bone" is the set's final cut. With a slow, whispering acoustic guitar entering just after his vocal Hansard sings: "There's a bad bone inside of me/all my trouble started there/and all the cracks are adding up to be/a little more than you can bear . . " Another guitar joins him and the tune is vaguely reminiscent of Neil Young's "Helpless," but it's drawn out quietly to bring the listener in. A violin joins the electric guitars on the refrain and Hansard sings: "When the anger that you feel/Turns to poison in your soul/And then the scars you only feel/Will start to show..." the last words come out of his mouth almost as an afterthought; the tune becomes more revelatory as the story unfolds, bringing the listener to reverie, to that moment of shame hidden in her or his life that adds that empathy and a type of hush usually reserved for the revelation of long buried secrets and disappointments. The Cost is brilliant pop music that doesn't mope in its darker moments. Hansard states his case clearly and effortlessly. The Cost reflects us with a conscience that doesn't shy away from poetry or craft, and gets it all across with the immediacy of a performance. The Frames may have a slew of albums and be Ireland's best-kept secret in the U. S., but The Cost signals their true arrival as artists of the first order, who can pull it off on a stage, and on record. This stuff is pure musical and lyrical inspiration.
(amg 9/10)

Elbow [2005] Leaders Of The Free World

[01] Station Approach
[02] Picky Bugger
[03] Forget Myself
[04] The Stops
[05] Leaders Of The Free World
[06] An Imagined Affair
[07] Mexican Standoff
[08] The Everthere
[09] My Very Best
[10] Great Expectations
[11] Puncture Repair



amg: When Doves headed to the studio for the recording of their third album, 2005's Some Cities, they returned home to Manchester. With that kind of scenic inspiration and emotional attachment, Some Cities resulted in Doves' best of their career at that moment. It is mere coincidence that their musical mates, Elbow, have done the same for their third album, Leaders of the Free World. Such a coincidence is a bit comforting in the respect that Elbow do not stray from what they have previously done. Despite being cast as a gloomy bunch on their first two albums — 2001's Asleep in the Back and 2004's Cast of Thousands — Elbow trudge on as an emotional band. Singer/songwriter Guy Garvey doesn't wallow in failed relationships as much as he enjoys being cynical and playful about the world around him. Sure, Elbow's more melodic, pensive moments such as "The Stops" and "The Everthere" are classic heartbreakers, with piano-driven melodies lush in melancholic acoustic guitars and Garvey's somber disposition. Leaders of the Free World really comes to life when Elbow give in, allowing these songs to grow into something glorious. Album opener "Station Approach" and "Forget Myself" are brilliant examples of this. "Forget Myself" metaphorically points fingers at a media-obsessed culture that is equally blasé about its own issues. Garvey throws his hands in the air, sighing to himself to "look for a plot where I can bury my broken heart." The album's title track also criticizes a very questionable political system, demanding, "I need to see the Commander in Chief and remind what was passed on to me" as a storm of electric guitars mirrors an anxious, waxing delivery by the band itself — "Passing the gun from father to feckless son, we're climbing a landslide where only the good die young." Elbow are a great band regardless of what it takes for them to find their footing. Leaders of the Free World is a bit more rock & roll than not, with guts and heart, because Elbow have finally embraced their powerful, surrounding space this time out. [The U.S. version includes a limited-edition DVD of videos for each song on Leaders of the Free World.]
(amg 8/10)

Elastica [1995] Elastica

[01] Line Up
[02] Annie
[03] Connection
[04] Car Song
[05] Smile
[06] Hold Me Now
[07] S.O.F.T.
[08] Indian Song
[09] Blue
[10] All-Nighter
[11] Waking Up
[12] 2-1
[13] See That Animal
[14] Stutter
[15] Never Here
[16] Vaseline



amg: Elastica's debut album may cop a riff here and there from Wire or the Stranglers, yet no more than Led Zeppelin did with Willie Dixon or the Beach Boys with Chuck Berry. The key is context. Elastica can make the rigid artiness of Wire into a rocking, sexy single with more hooks than anything on Pink Flag ("Connection") or rework the Stranglers' "No More Heroes" into a more universal anthem that loses none of its punkiness ("Waking Up"). But what makes Elastica such an intoxicating record is not only the way the 16 songs speed by in 40 minutes, but that they're nearly all classics. The riffs are angular like early Adam & the Ants, the melodies tease like Blondie, and the entire band is as tough as the Clash, yet they never seem anything less than contemporary. Justine Frischmann's detached sexuality adds an extra edge to her brief, spiky songs — "Stutter" roars about a boyfriend's impotence, "Car Song" makes sex in a car actually sound sexy, "Line Up" slags off groupies, and "Vaseline" speaks for itself. Even if the occasional riff sounds like an old wave group, the simple fact is that hardly any new wave band made records this consistently rocking and melodic.
(amg 9/10)

Elf [1974] Trying To Burn The Sun

[01] Black Swampy Water
[02] Prentice Wood
[03] When She Smiles
[04] Good Time Music
[05] Liberty Road
[06] Shotgun Boogie
[07] Wonderworld
[08] Streetwalker



amg: Recorded while the band was evolving slowly into the Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, Trying to Burn the Sun is the third and final release from Elf, the band that finally earned Ronnie James Dio the attention he had been seeking since the late '50s. After writing and recording a few singles for Blackmore, Dio and Elf were solidly moving in a heavier musical direction, no doubt influenced by Deep Purple and the British supergroup's lead guitarist. Standout cuts include "Wonderworld" and "Streetwalker," two cuts that were somehow placed at the tail end of the record, despite their strong melodies and musicianship. Because the Rainbow debut was released during the same year, this record was slightly overlooked, even though the band had established a small amount of momentum in Europe and Japan especially. So while only available as an import CD in the U.S., Trying to Burn the Sun is a great listen for fans of '70s rock, not just Dio/Rainbow fans.
(amg 8/10)

Fairport Convention [1969] Liege And Lief

[01] Come All Ye
[02] Reynardine
[03] Matty Groves
[04] Farewell Farewell
[05] The Deserter
[06] Medley - Lark In The Morning, Rakish Paddy, Foxhunter's Jig, Toss The Feather
[07] Tam Lin
[08] Crazy Man Michael



amg: In the decades since its original release, more than one writer has declared Fairport Convention's Liege & Lief the definitive British folk-rock album, a distinction it holds at least in part because it grants equal importance to all three parts of that formula. While Fairport had begun dipping their toes into British traditional folk with their stellar version of "A Sailor's Life" on Unhalfbricking, Liege & Lief found them diving head first into the possibilities of England's musical past, with Ashley Hutchings digging through the archives at the Cecil Sharp House in search of musical treasure, and the musicians (in particular vocalist Sandy Denny) eagerly embracing the dark mysteries of this music. (Only two of the album's eight songs were group originals, though "Crazy Man Michael" and "Come All Ye" hardly stand out from their antique counterparts.) Liege & Lief was also recorded after a tour bus crash claimed the lives of original Fairport drummer Martin Lamble and Richard Thompson's girlfriend; as the members of the group worked to shake off the tragedy (and break in new drummer Dave Mattacks and full-time fiddler Dave Swarbrick), they became a stronger and more adventurous unit, less interested in the neo-Jefferson Airplane direction of their earlier work and firmly committed to fusing time-worn folk with electric instruments while honoring both. And while Liege & Lief was the most purely folk-oriented Fairport Convention album to date, it also rocked hard in a thoroughly original and uncompromising way; the "Lark in the Morning" medley swings unrelentingly, the group's crashing dynamics wring every last ounce of drama from "Tam Lin" and "Matty Groves," and Thompson and Swarbrick's soloing is dazzling throughout. Liege & Lief introduced a large new audience to the beauty of British folk, but Fairport Convention's interpretations spoke of the present as much as the past, and the result was timeless music in the best sense of the term.
(amg 10/10)