Alter Bridge - Blackbird

 

"Blackbird" is Alter Bridge's second album which came out in July 2007.  This was long before I had ever heard of Alter Bridge. In fact I discovered them about 10 years later.  But how would they follow up their excellent debut "One day remains"?  Well one difference from the "One day remains" era to this one was that lead guitarist Mark Tremonti did most of the songwriting on that album where as on "Blackbird" it was more of a joint effort with all band members getting credits for the songwriting.  One thing I also heard was that it wasn't until starting the songwriting for this album that the rest of the band found out that lead vocalist Myles Kennedy played guitar.  And boy can he really play.

I suppose when you review an album that was released 13 years ago, you wouldn't go back to it unless it was special.  I wouldn't go, oh, do you remember that really bad album that was released in 2007 called Blackbird?  Think I need to go back to it and absolutely go to town on it and say how bad it really is. Seriously though I am reviewing this because this is a classic album that I want to talk about.  

There are so many good tracks on here.  You really feel Alter Bridge followed up their debut and are now forming a cohesive unit that just bounces off each other.   "Rise Today",  "Come to Life", "Brand New Start"  and "Before Tomorrow comes" are made for arenas/stadiums festivals. They are massive sounding sing-along all out rock songs. "Watch over you" shows that other side, that slower powerful ballad type song.  Although these songs stand out I wouldn't say there are any tracks which don't "fit".  

If I was going to criticise one thing about this album its the decision making rather than the songs.  There are 3 versions of the album.  You have the core 13 track album, you have another with 1 bonus track and then another one with 3 bonus tracks.  Bonus tracks to me must be stopped because whether you listen to it on a CD, vinyl or streaming platform it changes the album. Its not a bonus, it becomes an extra chapter. To me everyone should be one the same journey.  Luckily the version I listen to is the UK version which finishes with one bonus track which is "We don't care at all".  At the end of "One day remains" they finished on "The end is here" which you can't really top as an ending.  But they have gone for something different with "We don't care at all" as it is a more explosive end to the album which is a bit more firey than the other songs.  But hey perhaps they don't care at all that people are on different journey's :-P

Overall this is such a good album. While the ending is different for what version you listen to. One thing is for sure that on the whole it is an incredible journey to go on.

Oh hang on a minute did I forget to mention one of the tracks in particular?

Oh of course the title track "Blackbird" I suppose deserves a mention.  Why is this?  Well it just happens to be one of my favourite songs of all time right now.  For a long time my favourite song of all time was Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" and I think people view this song as Alter Bridge's "Stairway".  You can see the similarities as they are both 8 minutes long, have epic guitar solos and epic vocals.  But I think that's where the comparisons end.  Look at the structures of the songs.  "Stairway" builds more throughout and has verse on verse, rather than really having any choruses. And then has a big climatic finish.  Where as "Blackbird" is more verse chorus verse chorus bridge chorus guitar solo, chorus with the outro and the intro being the same.   The powerfulness of the choruses are their to see and really are soaring with Myles's amazing vocals.  What makes the big guitar solo unique for Alter Bridge is that it's actually in 2 halves with Myles taking the first half and Mark taking the second half.  The tone change in the solos is very clear and makes it even more epic.

I can't believe it took me so long to find this song but I'm so glad I did.  "Stairway" was put into Led Zeppelin 4 right at the end of the album as the climax.  Whereas "Blackbird" was put into the album with the same name as very much as the centrepiece.  There are amazing tracks which surround "Blackbird" on the album and are still in their live sets to this day.  But "Blackbird" is a track I don't think they would dare take out of their live sets. It is simply just too good.

Biffy Clyro - A Celebration of Endings

 "A Celebration of Endings" is the eighth studio album by Scottish rockers Biffy Clyro.  Well officially it's there 8th. But it could quite easily be argued its their ninth if you include last years quite brilliant "Balance, Not symmetry" soundtrack which was in effect is another Biffy Clyro album.  They are a band which seems to have snowballed fans over the years with every album release and have now headlined many festivals sometimes to the confusion of other bands like Nine inch Nails. They came on before them at Reading and Leeds festival one year and they claimed they didn't even know who Biffy were so were confused why they were above them in the bill.

But when you think about Biffy and how they got to this level; I really think its because they are unique and if you listen to a song by Biffy you will often instantly recognise it as being them. Whereas others in the rock genre it is not always as clear cut.  And that is what makes Biffy special.  I would say over their career that even though they are getting bigger and bigger, they haven't always hit the jackpot in terms of what I would call a winning album.  One of the reasons for this is because they have a tendency to write more complex songs which don't always come off as good songs.  Often its the simpler songs they write do come off and they are the ones that propelled them into the big time.  For example 27 and 57 in the early days and "Many of Horror".  But what differentiates them is when the complex songs do come off they are special. Look no further than the likes of "Living is a problem because everyone dies" and "Glitter and Trauma". Both technically ambitious songs but pulled off magnificently into classic songs.

But where am I going with this with "Celebration of endings".  Well it feels like they have 11 tracks here which are complex but delivered in a way which is accessible to the listener. Giving it instant appeal.  This is an absolute corker of a record which really stands out amongst their back catalogue.  One of the reasons for this is the introduction of a string section in some of the tracks and also piano in others.  They have expanded their sound and it is amazing to listen to.  They still have the fun, upbeat, jump up and down tracks.  I like "Tiny, indoor fireworks" and opener "North of no South" in particular. Especially in "North of no South" when Simon sings "Can you feel it".  Well Simon, YES WE CAN!"

I think the irony of calling this album the "Celebration of Endings" is because the last track on the album "Cop Syrup" really is a triumph in itself.  Listening to this track on first listen you really would not have guessed where it would end up.  It starts off so heavy and shouty for the first few minutes almost displaying the madness the band have been going through the last few years. Before half way though the track the strings come in for a long outro like finishing in a mountain landscape of peace and tranquillity.   Then the track kicks into gear for a final minute of pure madness.  Such an epic way to finish the album.

Overall Biffy really have done amazingly well on this record.  Replacing Iron Maiden as Download headliners may have surprised some. But listen to this along with the rest of their back catalogue and you'll find they have more than enough ammunition now to deliver the goods at these festivals.

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Tenille Townes - The Lemonade Stand

 Tenille Townes is a 26 year old singer songwriter from Alberta, Canada.  Interestingly the number of albums she has is different going by what source you look up.  Going by her own website her latest release "The Lemonade Stand" is her debut album.  On the other hand however if you look up her Wikipedia page "The Lemonade stand" is her 3rd album with "Real" made in 2011 and "Lights" in 2013.  However there is no chart position next to these albums and they are also not on Spotify.  Maybe she is classifying "The Lemonade Stand" as her debut as its her first album with a worldwide release and she is signed to a major label with this album in the form of Columbia Nashville.  One more thing to note before I get stuck into the album is that she has raised over 1.9 million dollars for Sunrise House, a shelter for homeless youths in Alberta. A very impressive feet.

I found Tenille through an add on Facebook and thought her voice was amazing. But one thing which really strikes you when you see Tenille perform is that she just seems to be having an absolute ball. She is so happy and it's infectious.  And I would say over half the album you can feel this joy and energy driven right into the recordings.  There are a lot of upbeat songs on the album; From opener "Holding out for the one", "Jersey on the Wall - I'm Just asking", "Lighthouse" and "White Horse" along with various others scattered throughout the album.  At the moment "White Horse" is probably my favourite.

She is very much a country singer and in 2019 she picked up 4 awards at the Canadian country music awards.  You wonder with country superstars such as Taylor Swift and Kacey Musgraves moving away from the genre that there is a gap in the market now for Tenille to fill and with an album like this she is certainly putting forward a good case to fill that space.

There is another aspect to the album with the slower songs on the album such as "I kept the roses" and album closer "The most beautiful things".  While they are good songs I do feel she is at her best with the up tempo songs and having fun.  But at the same time this does bring a certain balance to the album.

Overall whether this is the debut album or her third album, it is a great album to listen to and one all country music fans should really be paying attention to. I hope her older albums do see the light of day if they are any good. As it would be interesting to see how she has developed into the songwriter she is today.

Asylums - Genetic Cabaret

Asylum's follow up their 2018 sophomore release "Alien Human Emotions" with their third album "Genetic Cabaret".  They seem to have got themselves into a good album release cycle with an album released every 2 years; as their debut "Killer Brain Waves" was released in 2016.  Although the singles were great, I wasn't a massive fan of that album. But "Alien Human Emotions" grabbed me more in every way and thought it was a good step up for them.

One of the main talking points around the album seems to be who it was produced by which was Steve Albini. He has produced albums from the likes of Nirvana, Manic Street Preachers and Pj Harvey to name a few.  I realise he is a well respected name in the music industry and for a band it must be quite a coo to get a person like him produce an album for you.  But at the end of the day its the band that write the music and play the songs. So I think they are the ones that should be getting full credit for this album.  Steve of course deserves his name in the liner notes though.

Speaking of the actual CD case and liner notes this one is a bit of a strange one and may be showing where the record industry is at.  The back of the album does not give you a track list.  I remember always going into record shops and looking at the back of an album to see what tracks are on an album. Not this one.  I say maybe its a sign of the times though that people are buying the albums online now so they can see track lists there.   Also strange to have the lyrics in the liner notes with no spaces between words.  So in other words its pretty useless as trying to decipher the lyrics in this booklet while listening to the album is almost impossible.  I think having a bigger booklet for spacing out the words would have been more costly. But instead of the lyrics they could have just put in some pictures instead.

Anyway let's talk about the music.  I would say on the whole this is another step up for Asylums. There are so many tracks on the album which could be released as singles.  Although I think they made good choices with the tracks they did release as singles.  Them being "Catalogue Kids", "Platitudes", "Perfect life in a perfect world" and "Who writes tomorrows headlines".  Something they have managed to do with this album is to really keep the songs unique by sending them off in their own different directions.  On the whole they are such upbeat, bounce around indie rock fun.  Funnily enough I watched the James Bond film "Tomorrow never dies" the other night.  I don't think I'll ever be able to watch it again without having "Who writes tomorrow's headlines" stuck in my head throughout. As the film is about about a baddy who owns a media company. I won't say any more than that though as don't want to spoil it.

I will spoil more of this album though as the singles taken from this album are not the only good songs off this album showing the depth of this release.  Two of my personal favourites are back to back with "Distance between left and right" and "The Miracle Age".  The "Distance between left and right" is so much fun, just a frenzied filled track which is another where you don't know which way its going to go next.  Then there is "The Miracle Age".  Now I can't actually think of a track that Asylums have done which even comes close to this both in terms of structure and magnitude. This is massive.  It's one of those step up songs which gradually builds and builds throughout the track finishing off at a climax. It works wonderfully here and is testament to their progression as a band in terms of song writing.

The majority of this album for me is very positive but I do feel there is a weak link on the album and that is the last track "Dull days".  To me the album up until that point has such a feel good vibe to it and this track just brings the tone of that down.  I do think this will be track that people can relate to especially with lockdown at the moment but I just don't think it fits in the rest of the album.  However overall this is a very good album by Asylums and I thoroughly recommend it.  Hopefully the times will come around again when they can tour this album and give it the airing live that it deserves.