Music for iPods

Heart Full of Soul: The Yardbirds

2007-05-06T00:41:00.000-05:00

The San Francisco Music Scene: 1960s

2007-04-01T21:09:00.000-05:00

The epicenter of the counter-revolution and great rock music of the 1960s and '70s was, of course, San Francisco. This will be the first of a series of discographies as part of my research for a book on American rock 'n roll. I’ve made personal notations for each band. The counterpoint to this discography will be one for the Boston folk/rock scene of the same era.

THE BEAU BRUMMELS
The Beau Brummels echoed both the best and worst of the British invasion bands from their home base of North Beach. Their hit song “Just a Little” went to number five on the record charts. Another hit for the Brummels was "Laugh, Laugh," a song that reminded of the Beatles and Peter & Gordon. A telegenic pop group, The Beau Brummels were popular on period teen TV dance shows like Hullabaloo and Shindig!

BIG BROTHER AND THE HOLDING COMPANY
One of the best bands to come out of San Francisco during this period, the Holding Company provided the perfect musical chemistry Janis Joplin needed to shine. After Big Brother and The Holding Company recorded an undistinguished self-titled album in 1967, they teamed up with Joplin to deliver an incendiary set at the The Monterey International Pop Music Festival, a venue that seemed to bring out the best from the bands that played there. Rave notices of the performance from the Monterey Festival helped build anticipation for the Big Brother/Joplin release in 1968 of Cheap Thrills, an album that went to number one. It remains one of the enduring albums of the period. Who can forget the recordings from Cheap Thrills of "Piece of My Heart" and "Ball and Chain," and the album even featured a cover version of the George and Ira Gershwin/Dubose Heyward song "Summertime" from Porgy and Bess.

BLUE CHEER
Many critics point to power trio Blue Cheer as the inventors of heavy metal. They were certainly louder than anything else on the radio when they released their 1968 remake of Eddie Cochran's “Summertime Blues.” In their hands the song became a teenage rock anthem of the '60s.

COUNT FIVE
The Count Five's only hit, “Psychotic Reaction,” reached number five on the pop charts. Often referred to by critics as a poor man's Yardbirds, the teenage group reportedly turned down a million dollars in bookings to stay in college to avoid the Vietnam era military draft, ending its brief run at quick hit immortality.

COUNTRY JOE AND THE FISH
What would the Bay area music scene (or Woodstock) have been without Country Joe and the Fish? Who can forget a half-million people at Woodstock chanting the ``Fish cheer”? ``Feel Like I'm Fixing to Die Rag'' was another of their classic Vietnam War era protest songs.

CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL
John Fogerty turned a bluesy swamp rock sound into a string of Top 40 hits. Credence became a staple of AM radio in the 1960s and 70s. Even today songs like “Fortunate Son” continue to be revived in a timeless context.

THE ELECTRIC FLAG
After building his reputation as a guitar genius playing with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Mike Bloomfield moved to Mill Valley and put together what he referred to as “An American Music Band.” The band was made up of music industry veterans, including Bloomfield, Harvey Brooks, Barry Goldberg and Buddy Miles. The Electric Flag made their first public appearance at the historic Monterey International Pop Music Festival and recorded most of the soundtrack music for the Jack Nicholson penned film “The Trip” before even releasing an album.

THE GRATEFUL DEAD
House band for the Bay area and, eventually, the whole counter-culture movement, the Dead started out playing for Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters parties and then took over The Fillmore as regular headliners. Jerry Garcia established new standards for rock guitar musicianship, incorporating into his repertoire influences that ranged from Chuck Berry to Bill Monroe to Wes Montgomery and other jazz icons. With a mandate to explore the widest possibilities of ensemble rock improvisation, the Dead pushed the music into places it had never been before. Or since.

JIMI HENDRIX
In the 1960s, Jimi Hendrix turned rock 'n roll upside down. He even played guitar upside down (left-handed). One of the most innovative and scintillating musicians of the twentieth century, it’s easy to forget his solo career as frontman lasted only three years, beginning with the release of Are You Experienced? in 1967. After years playing in backing bands for singers like Curtis Knight and the Isley Brothers, Hendrix was lured to England by Chas Chandler of the British band The Animals. His first album was a hit as three singles (“Hey Joe,” “Purple Haze,” and “The Wind Cries Mary”) from the album immediately hit the Top Ten music charts in the UK. In the same year Are You Experienced? broke world wide as Hendrix electrified –maybe even shocked- the crowd at the The Monterey International Pop Music Festival with a bravura performance that culminated in lighting his guitar on fire. Two more studio albums, another extraordinary live performance before a massive crowd at the Woodstock concert in 1969 and then his death in 1970 from a drug overdose ensured both his continuing legend and mystery. He left behind a large collection of studio and live recordings that would continue to be released for twenty-five years after his death.

IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY
Fronted by classically trained (and former violin soloist with the Utah Symphony) David LaFlamme and his wife, vocalist Linda LaFlamme, It’s A Beautiful Day’s self-titled debut album was a notable standout among the acid-rock, blues, heavy rock and psychedelic bands of the Bay area of the '60s. Their first album, It’s A Beautiful Day –and also later albums- exhibited both a fidelity to folk based progressive rock (with an operatic attitude) and the classical leanings of David LaFlamme, who wrote most of the songs. LaFlamme’s soaring electric violin led most of the songs and lent an exotic quality to the band, especially in performance. While It’s A Beautiful Day fit in well with the hippie scene of San Francisco –they could also rock like the rest of the bands- the band had a more refined sound influenced by classical structures that often were incorporated into the songs. From the first album, “White Bird” -primarily an acoustic guitar-electric violin based song, with a soaring duet by David and Linda LaFlamme- stood in stark contrast to the heavy metal classicism of grunge piano and violin on “Wasted Union Blues.” After three albums the band dissolved and management and legal problems soon relegated the former Fillmore headliners to rock relic status. As recently as 2005, LaFlamme was still embroiled in a legal dispute with the band's former manager over the rights to the band name.

JEFFERSON AIRPLANE
The poster children for the San Francisco psychedelic era broke on the radio charts with “White Rabbit,” a homage to an acid trip. They went on to record a number of influential albums, although with each album the band appeared to be going further and further out on the ledge of reality. Crown of Creation and the sci-fi influenced solo album by Paul Kantner (which included many members of Jefferson Airplane, CSN, the Grateful Dead and Quicksilver Messenger Service), Blows Against the Empire (about hippies who hijack a space ship), further eroded their Top 40 radio airplay. The band later morphed into several loose congregations of musicians, including Top 40 singles band The Jefferson Starship.

KINGSTON TRIO
Easily one of the most successful folk groups of the 1960s the Kingston Trio crossed over to Top 40 radio with a folk sound that combined stirring harmonies and bright acoustic guitars. They were also a clean cut and photogenic counterpoint to the hippie culture of the era and appeared widely on national TV variety shows. In their recordings and live performances, they mixed traditional folk with popular and novelty songs and achieved a success that opened the door for other folk artists to be signed by record labels.

SCOTT MCKENZIE
McKenzie joined with John Phillips to form folkie group The Journeymen. After recording three albums for Capitol Records, The Journeymen disbanded. Mckenzie and Phillips continued their partnership when McKenzie recorded a Phillips song, "San Francisco (Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair)," which shot to number one on the American and international record charts. Long considered the anthem of San Francisco's Summer of Love, and the singular song that captured the spirit and attitude of the Hippie movement, it was to be McKenzie's only number one hit. Although still occasionally performing, McKenzie retired from music and today lives in Los Angeles.

MOBY GRAPE 
By 1966 American record companies were looking for an answer to the success of the British invasion bands, particularly The Beatles. A lot of hope rested with Los Angeles bands The Byrds and Buffalo Springfield, groups that in 1965/66 quickly placed singles on the AM radio charts. Moby Grape in San Francisco followed in 1967 when they signed to Columbia Records. The crisp, catchy and radio friendly songs of The Grape contrasted with the long form, jamming improv approach of many of the early Bay area bands. The monumental collapse of the band began when in its enthusiasm for the band, Columbia simultaneously released five singles from the debut album, all of which competed with each other for radio airplay. The album release created further controversy when record executives realized that drummer Don Stevenson had extended his middle finger in a not so subtle way during the album cover shoot. The album was recalled and Stevenson’s middle finger was artfully air brushed out. Things only got worse as their choice of management turned out to be a disaster (the band missed a photo shoot for Look magazine because the manager forgot the appointment time), guitarist Skip Spence was hospitalized with mental illness (after chasing fellow band members around the studio with an axe), there were several drug busts and Bob Mosley left the band to join the Marines (he was discharged nine months later after also being diagnosed with mental illness). What is lost in this story of misfortune is the musical accomplishments of the band. With ringing, energetic guitars, great hooks, melodies and harmonies, Moby Grape created a music that was creatively their own. Signature songs like "Omaha," "Sittin' by the Window" and "Changes" still have a contemporary sound today.

VAN MORRISON
Morrison spent his time in the Bay area well. After the commercial success of Moondance (1970), Morrison and his wife, Janet Planet, moved to California from the East Coast. The move to Marin County marked the beginning of one of the most creative periods of his career. In quick succession he released the landmark albums His Band and the Street Choir, Tupelo Honey, Saint Dominic's Preview and Hard Nose the Highway. In 1973 he divorced Planet and moved back to Belfast.

MOTHER EARTH
Tracy Nelson began her folk music career at the University of Wisconsin when she was discovered by blues anthologist and music producer Sam Charters. After moving to San Francisco, Nelson formed blues-rock band Mother Earth. The band appeared as opening act at The Fillmore West for Eric Burdon, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Quicksilver Messenger Service. A few albums later Mother Earth disbanded and Nelson pursued a solo career.

QUICKSILVER MESSENGER SERVICE
A jazzy and occasionally flashy band given to extended jams and timely songs (in the 1960s Valente wrote “Let's Get Together” and songs about the unfairness of drug laws and abuse of the environment). Songs like "Fresh Air" and "Who Do You Love, Pt. 2" were staples of the new long-play FM radio format of the era. In San Francisco Quicksilver was always over-shadowed by the Grateful Dead. On some nights in live performances at the Fillmore they were better. In addition to Valente, the band featured talented musicians John Cipollina and Gary Duncan.

SONS OF CHAMPLIN
One of the underrated bands to come out of the San Francisco scene. After a dozen years vocalist Bill Champlin would quit the band and later join pop hit makers Chicago and win two Grammys for his songwriting.

SANTANA
Carlos Santana's debut in San Francisco in 1969 with the album Santana incorporated Latin music and rhythms into an energetic rock sound. Groundbreaking in virtually every way, Santana recorded originals as well as classic Latin songs such as “Oya Como Va” by Tito Puente.

BOZ SCAGGS
He defined San Francisco for more than a decade, spanning free-form FM radio of the late '60s (remember the majestic 12-minute ``Loan Me a Dime,'' featuring Duane Allman, from the self-titled first album) and blue-eyed soul-disco of the late '70s (``Lowdown,'' ``Lido Shuffle'').

SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE
Playing with an integrated band in a segregated nation, Sly Stone implored his audiences to come together and “Dance to the Music.” The seeming simplicity of their songs belies the sophistication of a sound that recycled blues, pop, jazz and rock (and helped create the path to funk). While James Brown may have been burning down the house with his Famous Flames, Sly Stone was turning on a nation with dance music.

WE FIVE
One of the first San Francisco bands to hit the Top 40, the We Five had a million selling hit record with "You Were On My Mind." Complete with jangling electric guitars and sumptuous harmonies the We Five bridged the gap between the burgeoning hard rock sound and lighter sound of more traditional folk musicians. Never able to duplicate the success of "You Were on My Mind," the We Five recorded several additional albums before disbanding.

NEIL YOUNG
His fourth solo album, Harvest, became an instant classic. This forever enigmatic member of CSNY and founder of the band Crazy Horse experimented with variations of rock music throughout the 1960s and 70s (did he invent Grunge?). Resurrecting Crazy Horse and jamming with Pearl Jam, he resurfaced in the '90s to new critical acclaim.

THE YOUNGBLOODS
The group recorded “Let’s Get Together,” the quintessential hippie anthem written by Quicksilver’s Dino Valenti, while still in New York, but moved to Marin County soon thereafter. With band leader Jesse Colin Young leaving for a solo career that never went anywhere the band recorded a few more albums and broke up.

Jefferson Airplane

Recommended iTunes Playlist

"San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)," Scott McKenzie
"The Lion Sleeps Tonight," Kingston Trio
"Where Have All the Flowers Gone," Kingston Trio
"You Were On My Mind," We Five
"The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," Joan Baez
"Get Together," The Youngbloods
"Just a Little," The Beau Brummels
"How Can I Miss You When You Won't Go Away," Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks
"The Same Old Thing," Tracy Nelson
"Killing Floor," The Electric Flag
"Are You Ready?," Pacific Gas & Electric
"So Very Hard To Go," Tower of Power
"Are You Experienced," The Jimi Hendrix Experience
"Foxey Lady," The Jimi Hendrix Experience
"Summertime Blues," Blue Cheer
"Psychotic Reaction," Count Five
"Susie Q," Credence Clearwater Revival
"Fortunate Son," Credence Clearwater Revival
"Dance To The Music," Sly & The Family Stone
"I Want To Take You Higher," Sly & The Family Stone
"Suavecito," Malo
"Hot Summer Day," It's A Beautiful Day
"White Bird," It's A Beautiful Day
"Fresh Air," Quicksilver Messenger Service
"Who Do You Love, Pt. 1," Quicksilver Messenger Service
"Piece of My Heart," Big Brother & The Holding Company
"San Francisco Bay Blues," Hot Tuna
"Casey Jones," The Grateful Dead
"Friend of The Devil," The Grateful Dead
"Truckin'," The Grateful Dead
"Omaha," Moby Grape
"Somebody to Love," Jefferson Airplane
"Revolution: Volunteers (Live)," Jefferson Airplane
"I Feel Like I'm, Fixin' To Die Rag," Country Joe & The Fish
"Evil Ways," Santana
"Oye Como Va," Santana
"Them Changes," Buddy Miles
"Hey Hey Hey (Into The Black)," Crazy Horse
"Down On Me," Janis Joplin
"Yes We Can, Can," The Pointer Sisters
"I'll Be Long Gone," Boz Scaggs
"Gangster of Love," Steve Miller Band
"Monterey," Eric Burdon & The Animals
"San Franciscan Nights," Eric Burdon & The Animals
"Domino," Van Morrison Brown
"Brown Eyed Girl," Van Morrison

Calling Leonard Cohen

2007-03-25T09:58:00.000-05:00

The Best of Leonard Cohen (CD, Sony, 1975)
I'm Your Fan: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen (CD, Atlantic/WEA, 1991)
I’m Your Man (DVD, Lionsgate, 2006)

In the early 1970s a group of poets and painters on the Southside of my hometown, Birmingham, Alabama, set up shop. The part of the city known as Southside had once been a rich and scenic part of the city, but as parts of the Southside business district fell into disrepair cheap studio space for artists was easy to find. Peyton Strickland's painting studio at Cobb Lane became a gathering point as poet Michael Swindle, painter/pianist Frank Magnuson and a whole host of other characters drifted in and out and through. One of the activities they engaged in on a periodic basis (usually on a sunny weekday morning when the beer intake by 11:00 AM had reached its zenith) was to try to call Leonard Cohen in Greece. Everyone loved his poetry and songs, were fascinated by his novels and the photographs in which he was shown in exotic locales with various beautiful women. Then there were the songs: “Bird On A Wire, “ Suzanne,” “Famous Blue Raincoat” and “Chelsea Hotel No. 2.” So drunkenly the Southside painters and writers would get on the telephone in Birmingham and try to dial up Leonard Cohen in Hydra, Greece. Of course the international operators in Greece didn’t have a clue what a group of drunken Americans were saying as they tried to call one Leonard Cohen, Canadian poet, songwriter and self-described field commander, who must have not been on the tip of the Greek tongue (or in the phone directory) of the beleaguered telephone operator.   
 

I thought of this recently as I sat in a Boston movie theater watching I’m Your Man, the film tribute to Leonard Cohen and his music and life. The film intersperses music performances of Cohen songs by guest performers (Nick Cave, Jarvis Cocker, Anna and Kate McGarrigle, Beth Orton, Martha and Rufus Wainwright, U2) with a series of interviews with Cohen and photographs and early video footage of his life growing up in Montreal.  Once home I pulled out two CDs: The Best of Leonard Cohen and I'm Your Fan, a musical tribute to Leonard Cohen. The Best of Leonard Cohen, of course, collects the hits of Leonard Cohen through 1975, although most of his hits (as defined by Top 40 radio play) were hits on the radio for others in the 1960s and 70s: specifically Judy Collins circa 1966. Cohen’s limited singing ability precluded his entry into the popular Top 40 radio charts, but he was appreciated from the beginning by singers in the know who knew him as a songwriter’s songwriter and put his songs on the radio. Too, Leonard Cohen had something then a lot of the rest of us didn’t have in the hippie 60s and shabby 70s: style. 

Dashingly handsome, his was a style demonstrated by the designer suits and ties, fashionable hats and overcoats, the exotic locales he lived in and wrote about and the series of women he kept on his arm (and wrote songs about), all of which made its way eventually into the books, songs and photographs on his book jackets and on his albums. The women –especially Suzanne- were central figures in his songs. Two songs put Leonard Cohen on everybody’s map in the 1960s: the Judy Collins versions of “Suzanne” (1966) and “Bird On A Wire” (1968). Many others followed in recording Cohen.  

Leonard Cohen had been a poet first, publishing his first volume, Let Us Compare Mythologies in 1956. By the mid 1960s he had published two more books of poetry and two novels. Like counterculture writers Edward Abbey, Richard Brautigan, Richard Farina, Jack Kerouac, and Ken Kesey, Cohen was widely read in those days. But when Dylan came shambling onto Top 40 radio, he created a respect for songs with literate lyrics, but where Dylan would throw a whole box of literary tricks into a song, as well as drop back to reference classic blues, folk and work songs of the 1920s and 30s, Cohen's songs were spare machines of economical verse and rare beauty. Upon hearing "Suzanne" for the first time, most of us sat transfixed and then played the song over and over again. To this day it is one of the most beautiful songs I know.

Suzanne takes you down to her place near the river
You can hear the boats go by
You can spend the night beside her
And you know that she's half crazy
But that's why you want to be there
And she feeds you tea and oranges
That come all the way from China
And just when you mean to tell her
That you have no love to give her
Then she gets you on her wavelength
And she lets the river answer
That you've always been her lover
And you want to travel with her
And you want to travel blind
And you know that she will trust you
For you've touched her perfect body with your mind.

And Jesus was a sailor
When he walked upon the water
And he spent a long time watching
From his lonely wooden tower
And when he knew for certain
Only drowning men could see him
He said "All men will be sailors then
Until the sea shall free them"
But he himself was broken
Long before the sky would open
Forsaken, almost human
He sank beneath your wisdom like a stone
And you want to travel with him
And you want to travel blind
And you think maybe you'll trust him
For he's touched your perfect body with his mind.

from “Suzanne,” copyright 1965 by Leonard Cohen

Over the years there have been more books and more music from Cohen and eventually I would lose a bit of my obsession with his work as I moved on to other things, but I always considered it a welcome respite to return to. I still love the earlier work and find his most compelling singing in those first albums that contained songs that could make a general weep even as he prepared his armies for war.  

While The Best of Leonard Cohen gives you the best of Cohen (up to 1975), I'm Your Fan offers wonderful treatments of his classic songs. R.E.M. presents a terrific version of "I'll Take Manhattan in typical R.E.M. style. Standout covers versions are by The Pixies (“I Can’t Forget”),  Geoffrey Oreyema (a faithful version of “Suzanne”), David McComb & Adam Peters (“Don’t Go Home With Your Hard On”), Lloyd Cole ("Chelsea Hotel”), and Dead Famous People (“True Love Leaves No Traces”). Other than the obvious songs (“Bird On A Wire,” “Chelsea Hotel,” and “Suzanne”) many of the songs here are familiar only to avid Cohen fans, and the interpretations and reinterpretations gives them new life, new colors and legacies. While I’m Your Fan is a great introduction to the beautiful legacy of Leonard Cohen, The Best of Leonard Cohen (CD, Sony, 1975) gives you the best of those early originals sung by Cohen. I’m Your Man (DVD, Lionsgate, 2006) is both a tribute and retrospective as it proves that into his 70s Leonard Cohen is still a powerful creative force.  

Photos courtesy of Leonard Cohen website.

The Remaking of Boston’s Boylston Street

2006-12-05T04:28:00.000-05:00

The city of Boston has long been the crown jewel of New England and one of the most unique and important of American cities. Its conservative reputation is well deserved as change comes slowly to the city known affectionately to New Englanders as “The Hub,” as in “hub of the universe.” That should tell you something about how Bostonians have viewed themselves for the 375 years since the city was founded on “the hill” by the Puritans.  

Boylston Street essentially begins at a park, the Back Bay Fens, and ends at another park, the Boston Common. In between is an unbroken stretch that includes a commercial district, another park at Copley Place, bars and restaurants, bookstores, important Boston cultural institutions (Berklee School of Music, the Boston Public Library, Trinity Church), the Hynes Convention center and the newly refurbished Prudential Center. Recent renovations of the Prudential Center, Lord & Taylor, the addition of Swedish retail giant H&M, and construction of the Mandarin Oriental, a five-star hotel, will be complimented by new construction on Boylston Street announced recently by both Apple Inc. and the Berklee School of Music. Boylston Street will soon take on a new chic face. 

As I mentioned before, such change comes slowly in Boston. Bostonians like the historic nature of neighborhoods where many of the buildings are a century or older. Organizations like the Back Bay Association and Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay are fiercely protective of the demolition of old buildings and addition of new buildings to the Boston cityscape. 

The world famous Berklee School of Music, founded in 1945, shares a small part of Boylston Street at its intersection with Massachusetts Avenue. With a small footprint for existing buildings and various other functions of the school scattered among other buildings in the area, the school is looking to consolidate by demolishing the existing music theatre and buildings at Boylston Street and constructing a 25 story new residential tower anchored by a new state of the art concert and performance center. With a student body of 4,000 from all over the world and 137 Grammy award winners the school is looking to build on its reputation.

The new retail store proposed by Apple at 745 Boylston Street will provide a complimentary balance to the Prudential Center across the street. Based in part on Apple’s extraordinary glass cube store in New York City, Apple has been forced to tweak and fiddle with its proposed design on Boylston Street to satisfy the community watchdog groups. The new Apple store will be a four-story glass building with a hovering Apple logo in the center upper story. With a plan to operate the store 24/7, the Apple store could become a magnet for downtown Boston students looking for help with computer problems (or a new iPod) while pulling an all-nighter for next day classes. The Apple store will replace the current tenant, a copy and print shop. Apple has designated the new store as its soon to be crown jewel in the New England area, with other stores in the area located in Salem, NH, Peabody, Chestnut Hill and Cambridge.

Underachievers Please Try Harder! Indeed

2006-11-20T05:13:00.000-05:00

Let's Get Out of This Country (Merge Records, 2006)  

Surely one of the most delightful music experiences pressed to compact disc in 2006 will be Camera Obscura’s Let's Get Out of This Country. This, their third full CD, is a pure delight and sits atop the heap of several other wonderful releases by this Glasgow, Scotland sextet, including Biggest Blues Hi-Fi (2004) and Underachievers Please Try Harder (2004).

Scotland has a notable place in the contemporary music universe in that it has produced a number of significant pop and rock bands: Aztec Camera, Bay City Rollers, Belle & Sebastian, Big Country, Blue Nile, Lloyd Cole & The Commotions, Cocteau Twins, Eurythmics, Franz Ferdinand, Jesus and Mary Chain, Nazareth, The Proclaimers, The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Simple Minds, Snow Patrol, Teenage Fanclub, Texas, and Travis, just to name a few!

Championed by the late John Peel and mentored in the studio by Stuart Murdoch (Belle & Sebastian), Camera Obscura is the lineal descendant of, well, Belle & Sebastian, the quirky band Murdoch founded in Glasgow in the 1990s while still in university. Both bands share equally clever approaches to the making and writing of contemporary pop music. But whereas Belle & Sebastian are left of center and mix intelligence and whimsy with surreal lyrics, Camera Obscura reflects a savvy feminine (not feminist) sensibility Not intended as a diminishment or "label" such a reference adds a complimentary hurrah to Camera Obscura’s adroit perspective on the world of youthful adventure and sensibility. For Camera Obscura it’s all about attitude, of having fun with the iconic romances and minor tragedies of youthful life, spiced with the classic de rigeur intellectual and emotional flirtations with existential novels -with a touch of socialist intellectual rancor- and, for good measure, a bit of French New Wave cinema (oh Jean-Paul Belmondo!). Cleverly ironic and naïve and yet also in their own way savvy, the characters in these songs share the duality of being both overachievers and cool, heroic underachievers.  

The musical catalog of Camera Obscura is charming indeed - exquisitely charming- and breezy. One can't help but smile while listening to songs like "Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken" (a response to Lloyd Cole's iconic 1984 song "Are You Ready to be Heartbroken" from his first album Rattlesnakes). Whimsy and irony are fully at play here and inform the album, song titles and subject matter: Underachievers Please Try Harder (album), "A Sister’s Social Agony," "Books Written for Girls, " "I Need All the Friends I Can Get," "Knee Deep at the National Pop League," "Suspended from Class,” or " I Don't Do Crowds." With an effortless Zelig-like flair, Camera Obscura could be at home in almost any decade of pop history since the 1950s as the band dips into a variety of musical styles: 50s doo woop girl group harmonies, 60s folksingers, the Beatles and Petula Clark of the Swinging London era, Motown, the 70s singer-songwriter period (and emergence of female singer-songwriters like Joni Mitchell and Laura Nyro), 80s dance music, and a whole host of other musical styles. You can also find lovely combinations of female and male harmonies, the inventive hooks and jangly guitars that remind of bands like Big Country or The Mighty Lemondrops, and even an echo of French yé-yé songs with a touch of accordion based bal-musette. And if you just happen to know your French pop culture from the 1970s, one or two of Camera Obscura’s songs might for a moment even remind of the sweet Jane Birkin and Sheila duet on “Ex-Fan des Sixties,” which was a hit in France in 1978.
 
The production by Swedish producer Jari Haapalainen takes Camera Obscura’s music a step further as they rock out while steering the overall musical ensemble to a radio friendly accessibility. The addition of strings at just the right moments –in concert with the wonderful vocal harmonies of Traceyanne Campbell and Carey Lander- create a unified orchestral effect that compliments, swoons, darts in and out, and is, at times, heartbreakingly beautiful (there’s no other way to say it, as kitchsy as it may sound). There’s been perhaps no more recent fun in music since the early songs of the Beatles and other British Invasion bands, the Beach Boys, the first Go-Gos songs, Cindy Lauper, Frank Zappa, Neil Finn’s various incarnations or even early Belle & Sebastian.   Please do yourself a favor and set aside your lunch money and buy this CD.  

For more on Camera Obscura:

Photographs courtesy of Camera Obscura.