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| Track list: 1. Song For Irena - Mike Heron & John Burnside 2. Steam Comes Off Our House - De Rosa & Michel Faber 3. A Calvinist Narrowly Avoids Pleasure - James Yorkston & Bill Duncan 4. Dreamcatcher - Foxface & Rody Gorman 5. A Sentimental Song - Lord Cut-Glass & Alasdair Gray 6. The Sixth Stone - Aidan Moffat & Ian Rankin 7. Girl - Norman Blake & John Burnside 8. The Good Years - Karine Polwart & Edwin Morgan 9. The War On Love Song - Sons and Daughters & A. L. Kennedy 10. The Leaving - Alasdair Roberts & Robin Robertson 11. Message In A Bottle - Strike the Colours & Rody Gorman 12. If You Love Me You'd Destroy Me - Aereogramme & Hal Duncan 13. The Rebel On His Own Tonight - Malcolm Middleton & Alan Bissett 14. Half An Apple - Trashcan Sinatras & Ali Smith 15. The Fire - Vashti Bunyan & Rodge Glass 16. Where And When - King Creosote & Laura Hird 17. Jesus On The Cross - Emma Pollock & Louise Welsh 18. The Weight Of Years - Idlewild & Edwin Morgan Running time: 69 minutes Released: 2007 |
A collaboration between Scottish musicians and authors, this is a quirky little compilation that involves a number of artists that I am very fond of. I have other music by most of the groups and individual musicians featured, and whole albums by more than half of them, some of whom - like Foxface, James Yorkston, King Creosote, Malcolm Middleton and Strike the Colours - are enduring favourites. The authors are much more opaque to me, the only one I recognise being Ian Rankin, who I have never read, but I have had time for in his TV appearances and because he wrote the liner notes for KC Rules OK.
I have never really listened to these songs much, though I can hear a couple of them in my head as I read the titles. This is a long haul at just shy of 70 minutes so I am settled in with a mute TV and the dregs of a bottle of wine for company. Wikipedia has this listed as a fully collaborative exercise and calls the songs poems. Apparently they were given in the liner text but I bought this digitally so I don't have that to refer to. It does not start too promisingly, the piano on Song for Irena sounding too stark, and the voice really not doing anything for me. There is better to come though as this is one of those where I have nothing else by either of the two involved. Not so the next five tracks.
De Rosa were briefly a favourite. I loved Prevention a lot. Now their effort plays I recognise it from past listens. It is line with much of their library - alternating sparse instrumentation with richer, louder choruses and a straining voice that communicates a sense of pain to me even if the lyrics do not explicitly support that. I quite like this tune until a crescendo of rattles that irritates me and takes me out of the mood. I love the title the write gave to the poem put to music by James Yorkston, it tickles my cynicism about organised religion. However the song itself is not a patch on the favourites of mine from amongst JY's own tunes and I find myself glad as it ends. We get a dramatic change of tempo and tone with Foxface's contribution, speeding things up nicely. Foxface are one of those bands that I wish had made more (widely accessible) music. I have one album that I love to death - This Is What Makes Us - and this tune evokes that strongly. Not always the most musical, with some of the vocalisation quite punchy and discordant, even overbearing in places, they put heart into the recording and it shines through.
The snooker's tied at the half way break, apparently. Mute talking heads momentarily distract my eye as Lord Cut Glass winds up, slowing things down again. I do not think he really has the singing chops for this style of piece - slow, orchestral, almost non-existent behind the vocal. The tune when the song finishes though? Very nice. I am not taken with the Moffat/Rankin track which follows. I find Moffat's work post his split with Malcolm Middleton inconsistent - like some, loathe some. This falls into the loathe category from a performance standpoint. My sense of the next track is turned from "oh, this is alright" to "ah, right, no" when I Google Norman Blake and get Teenage Fanclub. I have never got on with them as a group and silly though it is finding that out affects my ability to enjoy this song. It is funny how little biases like that can completely change our perceptions of things. We like to consider ourselves rational in our likes, dislikes and decisions, but something that I was enjoying just became something I was at best lukewarm to not because it changed but because I found something out - and not something horrific, offensive, criminal etc. which could reasonably be expected to change perspective.
Humans are strange creatures.
I am not a fan of Karine Polwart - though she does combine well with other musicians on Side Show by The Burns Unit. The song here is more typical of my experience of her - a voice that is not quite interesting enough to make up for not being perfect and dull arrangement. Add some off-kilter harmony here and it is a sure fire miss. We are getting to half way, and so far it is a mixed bag. Sons and Daughters disappointed me when I bought This Gift, but I kept their contribution to a Domino Records sampler, and I like the form of their effort here. It has a nice rhythm driving it and the vocal has an edge of desperation or urgency (hard to tell which) that works with the beat to enthral. Snooker is underway again; it makes for a good silent companion to this - enough to draw my eye up occasionally but nothing that demands concentration or attention. I should feel much better than I do; today was a good day - boardgames in the morning then clearing boardgames off shelves so I can create the space for new shelves to slot in when they arrive on Wednesday. Yet I feel a little restless, unfulfilled, and Alasdair Roberts is not helping with that. Probably fairer to blame the wine. Knowing the musician is definitely affecting my appreciation. The intro to Message in a Bottle (not a cover of that other one) sets me in goosebumps even though it is actually quite plain. Why? Because it is a Strike the Colours song I did not know I had; I love Jenny Reeve's voice a lot and the material recorded under this name holds a place in my heart. A quick search suggests there may be another album on the way; yay! It is hard to describe why this fills me with quite so much joy but I can perhaps sum up by saying she does what I would consider "perfect pop" - slightly twee, heartfelt, not over-produced or mass market.
I recognise If You Love Me You'd Destroy Me when it plays, and it seems I have loved the track on LastFM, but never actually investigated Aereogramme any further. They are now 7-8 years defunct but I do indeed like this track and if it is reflective of their wider catalogue then it probably is worth going back to take a look. Middleton's song is odd - lyrically it feels like it could be one of his own, musically it is slightly removed from what I am used to of his solo work. This is backwards to how the collaboration thing worked here. Never mind... the spoken section in the middle catches me by surprise (it should not, Arab Strap and all). Interesting, but would never be a favourite. Snooker has swung towards the guy that was down early. More Arrested Development after this I think - I am into season 3 and the ridiculousness of Wee Britain and Charlize Theron playing a woman with a child's IQ. Near the end of the re-watch then. What next? A change of tone to Black Mirror, I think! The digression arises from a song by a group I do not know barely making any kind of impression at all until the oddly misplaced Hawaiian guitar shows up, and not in a "so stupid its cool" way like with Laika and the Cosmonauts. Various Artist posts are great for random name dropping since there is no tag to go with them. Frank Sinatra! Cher! Springsteen! Ben Folds! Three of the previous 4 do not feature in my library.
Nor will some of these artists once I am done with this play through. I should really have been deleting as I go to better remember but I have not got around to it, preferring to make stupid comments in text no-one will read. I think the wine has gone to my head. Surprised at the lack of typos then.
Ah, Where and When. This really is a King Creosote song in structure and tone, it would not be out of place on one of his earlier studio albums. This guy... his voice just slays me dead - a mix of perfection and pain. Broken and beautiful, and with a knack for the catchy hook, what really draws me to him (not evidenced here) are his lyrics - particularly on KC Rules OK - and raw emotion. The song seems to go very quickly here, and before I have finished writing about KC, Emma Pollock has shuffled in to replace him. This was one of the songs I could hear prior to the listen. Pollock has a couple of songs I really like, and a load that I do not. This one walks the line between the two. The surprise package here for me is the Idlewild track. I think when they were fêted I did not realise how folksy they were and they slid by without me ever paying any attention. I do not feel inclined to look up any more but I like the gentle, traditional-sounding roll here. It is also the end of the disc, which comes as a bit of a surprise. The snooker is still going and the wine has barely gone down (I drink slowly these days). Now I just have to work back through and take out the chaff.
De Rosa were briefly a favourite. I loved Prevention a lot. Now their effort plays I recognise it from past listens. It is line with much of their library - alternating sparse instrumentation with richer, louder choruses and a straining voice that communicates a sense of pain to me even if the lyrics do not explicitly support that. I quite like this tune until a crescendo of rattles that irritates me and takes me out of the mood. I love the title the write gave to the poem put to music by James Yorkston, it tickles my cynicism about organised religion. However the song itself is not a patch on the favourites of mine from amongst JY's own tunes and I find myself glad as it ends. We get a dramatic change of tempo and tone with Foxface's contribution, speeding things up nicely. Foxface are one of those bands that I wish had made more (widely accessible) music. I have one album that I love to death - This Is What Makes Us - and this tune evokes that strongly. Not always the most musical, with some of the vocalisation quite punchy and discordant, even overbearing in places, they put heart into the recording and it shines through.
The snooker's tied at the half way break, apparently. Mute talking heads momentarily distract my eye as Lord Cut Glass winds up, slowing things down again. I do not think he really has the singing chops for this style of piece - slow, orchestral, almost non-existent behind the vocal. The tune when the song finishes though? Very nice. I am not taken with the Moffat/Rankin track which follows. I find Moffat's work post his split with Malcolm Middleton inconsistent - like some, loathe some. This falls into the loathe category from a performance standpoint. My sense of the next track is turned from "oh, this is alright" to "ah, right, no" when I Google Norman Blake and get Teenage Fanclub. I have never got on with them as a group and silly though it is finding that out affects my ability to enjoy this song. It is funny how little biases like that can completely change our perceptions of things. We like to consider ourselves rational in our likes, dislikes and decisions, but something that I was enjoying just became something I was at best lukewarm to not because it changed but because I found something out - and not something horrific, offensive, criminal etc. which could reasonably be expected to change perspective.
Humans are strange creatures.
I am not a fan of Karine Polwart - though she does combine well with other musicians on Side Show by The Burns Unit. The song here is more typical of my experience of her - a voice that is not quite interesting enough to make up for not being perfect and dull arrangement. Add some off-kilter harmony here and it is a sure fire miss. We are getting to half way, and so far it is a mixed bag. Sons and Daughters disappointed me when I bought This Gift, but I kept their contribution to a Domino Records sampler, and I like the form of their effort here. It has a nice rhythm driving it and the vocal has an edge of desperation or urgency (hard to tell which) that works with the beat to enthral. Snooker is underway again; it makes for a good silent companion to this - enough to draw my eye up occasionally but nothing that demands concentration or attention. I should feel much better than I do; today was a good day - boardgames in the morning then clearing boardgames off shelves so I can create the space for new shelves to slot in when they arrive on Wednesday. Yet I feel a little restless, unfulfilled, and Alasdair Roberts is not helping with that. Probably fairer to blame the wine. Knowing the musician is definitely affecting my appreciation. The intro to Message in a Bottle (not a cover of that other one) sets me in goosebumps even though it is actually quite plain. Why? Because it is a Strike the Colours song I did not know I had; I love Jenny Reeve's voice a lot and the material recorded under this name holds a place in my heart. A quick search suggests there may be another album on the way; yay! It is hard to describe why this fills me with quite so much joy but I can perhaps sum up by saying she does what I would consider "perfect pop" - slightly twee, heartfelt, not over-produced or mass market.
I recognise If You Love Me You'd Destroy Me when it plays, and it seems I have loved the track on LastFM, but never actually investigated Aereogramme any further. They are now 7-8 years defunct but I do indeed like this track and if it is reflective of their wider catalogue then it probably is worth going back to take a look. Middleton's song is odd - lyrically it feels like it could be one of his own, musically it is slightly removed from what I am used to of his solo work. This is backwards to how the collaboration thing worked here. Never mind... the spoken section in the middle catches me by surprise (it should not, Arab Strap and all). Interesting, but would never be a favourite. Snooker has swung towards the guy that was down early. More Arrested Development after this I think - I am into season 3 and the ridiculousness of Wee Britain and Charlize Theron playing a woman with a child's IQ. Near the end of the re-watch then. What next? A change of tone to Black Mirror, I think! The digression arises from a song by a group I do not know barely making any kind of impression at all until the oddly misplaced Hawaiian guitar shows up, and not in a "so stupid its cool" way like with Laika and the Cosmonauts. Various Artist posts are great for random name dropping since there is no tag to go with them. Frank Sinatra! Cher! Springsteen! Ben Folds! Three of the previous 4 do not feature in my library.
Nor will some of these artists once I am done with this play through. I should really have been deleting as I go to better remember but I have not got around to it, preferring to make stupid comments in text no-one will read. I think the wine has gone to my head. Surprised at the lack of typos then.
Ah, Where and When. This really is a King Creosote song in structure and tone, it would not be out of place on one of his earlier studio albums. This guy... his voice just slays me dead - a mix of perfection and pain. Broken and beautiful, and with a knack for the catchy hook, what really draws me to him (not evidenced here) are his lyrics - particularly on KC Rules OK - and raw emotion. The song seems to go very quickly here, and before I have finished writing about KC, Emma Pollock has shuffled in to replace him. This was one of the songs I could hear prior to the listen. Pollock has a couple of songs I really like, and a load that I do not. This one walks the line between the two. The surprise package here for me is the Idlewild track. I think when they were fêted I did not realise how folksy they were and they slid by without me ever paying any attention. I do not feel inclined to look up any more but I like the gentle, traditional-sounding roll here. It is also the end of the disc, which comes as a bit of a surprise. The snooker is still going and the wine has barely gone down (I drink slowly these days). Now I just have to work back through and take out the chaff.
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