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R PageContents: Radiohead, Rage Against the Machine, Red House Painters, Matt Redman, R.E.M., The Replacements, Damien Rice, Rodgers and Hammerstein, The Rolling Stones, Josh Rouse, Roxy Music, Run-D.M.C., Todd Rundgren, Bic RungaRadiohead have their own pageRage Against the MachineRenegades(2000)Rage Against The Machine's final studio album, Renegades consists of covers of dissident songs that influenced the group, including Bob Dylan's 'Maggie's Farm' and The Rolling Stones' 'Street Fighting Man'. While I am vaguely fond of Rage Against The Machine, and find the concept appealing, unfortunately Renegades does not work in practice. Rage Against The Machine have a distinctive but relatively homogenous sound, which largely relies on the inventiveness and virtuosity of the musicians. On Renegades the band seem too much in awe of the material they are covering to stamp their individual style upon it. Tom Morello is generally an exceptional and innovative guitarist, but he barely does anything of interest on Renegades. Generally the result is a lot of noise without much effect. A couple of songs at a time are enjoyable enough, but it is difficult to listen to the whole album in one sitting. The cover of Devo's 'Beautiful World' attempts to break up the monotony by mellowing out and having de la Roche sing instead of rap, but the results are not pleasant. A few tracks are strong; rap covers 'Microphone Fiend' and 'Renegades of Funk' have the most interesting lyrics, and are perhaps more suited to Rage Against the Machine's style than the rock covers. Renegades is an interesting concept, but I don't like hearing the results too often. 
Red House Painters has their own pageMatt Redman has his own pageR.E.M. have their own pageThe Replacements have their own pageDamien RiceO(2003)I've seen other commentators refer to O, Damien Rice's debut, as equal parts David Gray and Ryan Adams, which is hardly an inspiring description as far as I'm concerned. In fact, O has an identity all of its own; firstly, the record's arrangements are distinctive and original, based around gentle acoustic guitars and lush, vivid string parts that are central features of most songs. Apart from the occasional backing vocalist, no other instrument really registers, particularly in the first half. Secondly, Irish-born Rice has a distinct personality of his own - he's sensitive enough to be loosely categorised with Gray in the bed-sit moper brigade, but that categorisation would be a disservice to his natural warmth and eccentricity. The big string arrangements and backing vocals also give this album a tone that's sometimes as far removed from singer songwriter intimacy as possible. Rice's voice is far from technically perfect, cracking in some of the more ambitious passages, which only adds to the emotional impetus. This is Rice's debut album (although he previously fronted the Indie band Juniper, who enjoyed a hit single in Ireland), so the odd piece of sophomoric mumbling is excusable; the maudlin 'Cheers Darlin'' is definitely the record's low point. Less critically, the melody line of 'Older Chests' is strangely reminiscent of Townes Van Zandt's country standard 'Pancho and Lefty'. At its best, it's the moments of beauty that define this disc - it's not unlike the effect of Yes or other progressive rock at its most expressive - the way that the string section carries the solo melody in the solo of 'The Blower's Daughter', the way that Rice's voice quavers with emotion in the resumption of 'Cold Water', or (spoiler alert) the entrance of the operatic voice in the concluding 'Eskimo'. The poignant melody of 'Amie' and the feisty duet 'Volcano' are other highlights. This album does kind of run an extreme gamut, veering briefly into both clichéd singer songwriter territory and bombastic orchestral arrangements, so if you're turned off by either of those two extremes, Rice may not be for you, but if you catch onto his vision this record has some especially evocative moments.
 Rodgers and HammersteinThe Sound Of Music(1965)I'm not a big fan of musicals; normally the songs slow up the narrative, and My Fair Lady is one of the most detestable cultural artifacts to emerge in the twentieth century (Pygmalion was an alright book, but got squashed under the gruesomeness of 'I'm Getting Married In The Morning' et al). I make an exception for The Sound Of Music, partly because I was indoctrinated with it at an early age, but mostly because the songs are enjoyable and actually integral to the storyline. If you haven't seen the movie, the plot revolves around a nun who brings joy to a strict Austrian family by teaching the children to sing. The children run amok in old curtains, lonely goatherds frolic, while Julie Andrews turns on the saccharine (shortly before a bewildering career switch to more adult oriented material), resulting in a wholesome and enjoyable family movie. I always find it easy to empathise with; clean living mountain dwelling folk with a plethora of abbeys, who appreciate and utilise the power of music, will always attract more of my sympathy than Nazis. The story is actually true, although The Trapp Family Singers were apparently surprisingly plain in real life. There are very few rock songwriters who can successfully throw lyrics around with the gay abandon of Oscar Hammerstein II; even the Dylan of Blonde On Blonde or the Gabriel of The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway were somewhat constrained by their genres. Hammerstein can gleefully toss off brilliant lines like "She'd outpester any pest/Drive a hornet from its nest/She could throw a whirling dervish out of whirl" constantly, and the music emphasises them rather than burying them as puzzles for rock geeks. A couple of the more sentimental songs are musically disposable, 'Sixteen Going On Seventeen' is plain irritating, while 'Something Good' is surprisingly unmemorable and anticlimatic for its pivotal role in the movie, but otherwise the songwriting is impressive. It's the unabashed fun of 'Maria', 'My Favourite Things' and particularly 'The Lonely Goatherd' that give The Sound Of Music its likeable veneer, while 'Edelweiss' and 'Climb Ev'ry Mountain' provide the emotional depth. Andrews, Plummer and supporting cast are perfectly adequate vocalists; it's interesting to remember that the J. Lo/Kidman/Paltrow/singer/actor crossover isn't a recent phenomenon. It's hard to know how many stars to give this baby; I'd rather be up listening to The 'Mats or down listening to The Stones, but there's nothing like The Sound Of Music for a family singalong. My mum has the deluxe 2CD edition, although the second disc is largely dispensable, with slightly extended versions and instrumentals, and can be safely ignored.
The Rolling Stones have their own pageJosh Rouse has his own pageRoxy Music have their own pageRun-D.M.C. have their own pageTodd Rundgren has his own pageBic Runga has her own page |
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Written 2001-2009, Graham Fyfe
