Birth of the Cool - Miles Davis

Track list:

1. Move
2. Jeru
3. Moon Dreams
4. Venus De Milo
5. Budo
6. Deception
7. Godchild
8. Boplicity
9. Rocker
10. Israel
11. Rouge
12. Darn That Dream

Running time: 36 minutes
Released: 1957

You know, I had no idea this was a compilation record until I came to write this intro and found out in the course of confirming the release year. Anyhow, this is the first of three consecutive listens devoted to Miles Davis (the two discs of Bitches Brew follow). Unlike the piano, which I think I love because I played as a child, I don't know why I like trumpets so much but when played well they can add interest and depth to many different genres.

As this starts, however, I suspect that this will not be my favourite Davis album. Move has a frenetic feel to it at first, and whilst it settles down a bit it is still miles away from the laid back brilliance of Kind of Blue, which was my entry to Miles Davis' work. There is a pleasing little melody to Jeru, which has a more settled approach than the track before. This is recorded jazz, played for record. No unnecessary solo rotation here - and a cleaner presentation because of it. The tracks are all snappy and short, in total 12 of them clock in at less than 40 minutes which means there is no time for those annoyances.

I am into Moon Dreams already, and this is my favourite to date. Slower, considered and melodic, also a little melancholic. Its like the late night, after-bar walk home in a 40s movie. Its a nice little change of pace and better for the fact it is reverse immediately on the next track, left to stand. There is a nice simplicity to this, piano, bass and drums just laying a platform for the horns to wander. The faster the track, the more it veers towards a caricature of jazz. Horns all over the place, less structure than a tent after a storm and all that. For all that jazz is mocked for being all over the place, it is generally better when there is more to it than improvisations and grandstanding. The slower pieces have more definite composition and this helps them shine.

I will say, though, that I would rather not be sat listening to this now. Nothing against the music, simply more that it not the genre I would chose on a sunny Sunday afternoon / early evening. It also doesn't soundtrack the silent rugby match I have half an eye on well, however it was next on the list and - though short - completing it is another step towards getting back to the frequency of posting that I would like to. I feel severely under-qualified to comment on the merits of the music I am hearing here. I would not put money on my ability to tell one style of jazz from another, and for all that this supposedly represents the birth of "cool jazz" I have little frame of reference to distinguish it from the bebop it succeeded. 

Occasionally the clarity of Davis' trumpet kicks up a notch, a brighter, cleaner sound every now and again. These moments catapult me out of a lethargy with a piercing jolt before I adjust to the swing and sound of the current track again and a foggy mind reasserts itself.  Mostly I am enjoying this, but there are odd moments that I find myself thinking that a particular elaboration was not needed, or a given trill is out of place. However I cannot get excited about the disc and its contents, as can probably be told from the general tone of the post. After the opening I have hardly spoken about specifics, and now as we approach the end I look up and find how little I have put down in the time. Yes, the album runs short, but it is a sign that my mind has lacked clarity of purpose - a bit like some of the faster, freer lines carried by the brass.

 

Darn that Dream ends us, and it surprises me by being a song. I have no idea who is singing (I can't imagine it is Davis), but their voice is interesting - not great, not bad either. Carrying the tune in a strange half-and-half way. The backing is slow, staid and frankly uninteresting. There is a trumpet melody leading it, but it is so-so and does not sparkle. The song also appears to have little to it, and an infuriatingly long last syllable brings it to a close on a sour note. The rest of the disc was fine - better when it was slower, but reasonable at all times. Now it has finished it is farcically silent here and I feel like I just woke up. Darn that dream indeed.

Birds of Fire - Mahavishnu Orchestra

Track list:

1. Birds Of Fire
2. Miles Beyond
3. Celestial Terrestrial Commuters
4. Sapphire Bullets Of Pure Love
5. Thousand Island Park
6. Hope
7. One Word
8. Sanctuary
9. Open Country Joy
10. Resolution

Running time: 40 minutes
Released: 1972

Random Jazz time. This came in the same big box of jazz classics that yielded albums by Weather Report and Clifford Brown that I have already listened to. I know sod all about it other than it falls into fusion. Could be good, could be terrible... only one way to find out.

This is a mixture of some very long and other very short tracks, some may drag whilst there is a blink and you miss it to others. An odd combination, but that pretty much sums fusion up, eh? The first track combines a gong or cymbal clashes with a prog-like guitar lead and loop, but quickly devolves down to a complete mess - none of the constituent parts being bad per se, but it is clear that they should not have been combined together. Just when I thought it could not add more elements, strings of some sort appear briefly, before vanishing. Too much is the simple summary, and I find myself distinctly not caring.

So, not the strongest start. It's Saturday, late afternoon. I should have dragged myself out gardening today but the energy and the will to tackle overgrown grass, unsupported rose stems and too many weeds to count is not there yet. Hopefully tomorrow - since it is supposed to stay dry. Miles Beyond takes a bit of time to come to life, but is immediately more promising than my first exposure (apparently I had never listened to any of these tracks before; per LastFM I had no scrobbles of Mahavishnu Orchestra prior to this post). This tune is more melodic, and the elements all seem to actually relate to each other this time, which is a plus point! There's a bit of a bum note with a drum solo, leading into guitar solos though, and what had been a nice build up culminates instead in a worthless hodge-podge of sound.

That seems to be this orchestra's (hah!) modus operandi. Too much sensory overload, not funky enough to be funk and not crafted well enough for me to appreciate it as jazz. It is all in stark contrast to The Cinematic Orchestra, whose contemporary jazz (well, I guess its mostly noughties jazz now, right?) is carefully considered.  As I type that, two quick tunes have disappeared, and Thousand Island Park is playing; this is better - a Latin guitar inspired number it manages to stay well away from the OTT-ness of the material that preceded it. Not exactly a diamond in the rough, but a small value coin, at least.

Hope is fleeting, though. By that I mean the track is less than two minutes. At this point I don't really have any hope that the second half of the disc (in terms of tunes, not time - still most of that left) will be better. One Word is the true centrepiece of this album, comprising 25% of its length. It starts well enough and despite my scepticism I feel that if the excesses of earlier tracks are kept in check there could be a good tune here. However I really don't feel it is likely and we'll have to get well past the half way point before I begin to believe in any positive signs. That said, there's a really nice bass on this, a snappy rhythm. A solid platform to build from, and at 4 minutes in the track has matured alright. The weird modulated sounds that then pick up what passes as a tune are, alas, harbingers of less interesting bits and pieces from earlier, though in credit there is the fact that here there is generally only one in action at a time.

Drum solos. Have I said how much I dislike them? I can only think of one that I credit in any sense on record - in Limp, by Fiona Apple (which will appear here in, oh... 10 years or so at current pace!). I can see them being effective in a live performance, but for home listening they generally signify lifeless stretches of the recording. I suspect they only even exist as a thing because of the ridiculous "every sucker needs a solo" thing that jazz carried for so long. Again, in a live music environment, where individuals needed to show their skills to ensure work it made some sense, but it just doesn't by the time you are talking about established bands playing together regularly and selling records. Anyhow, the epic long piece has ended, and the feared over-stimulation never arrived, and despite the grumpy tone of this paragraph I think it is probably the best thing on the playlist so far. Better too than what follows immediately in its wake. There is more sense of time and space about Sanctuary - suitable for the title, but the track is lifeless along with it, sterile and boring, and seeming to last forever though what came before was twice its length.

The last couple of tracks then. Open Country Joy certainly conveys the open and joy parts of the title well enough, but I struggle to see the country, despite the employment of a fiddle. The first phase dies out and then we get a groovy guitar picking up proceedings. It falls very flat for me until that line dies, replaced by the fiddle and a high pitched tinkly keyboard picking up the joyful sense again. A real pity - take out the ham-fisted attempt at being something else in the centre of this tune and I would like it a lot more, but as it is... no thanks. The final number is also promising to start... a thrumming, dangerous feel to the tempo with the repeated bass and beats combining to set a nice stage. The track grows nicely too - they saved the best for last. Best by quite some margin - even though the pieces repeat they never grow old. The end of the track introduces a little light, which probably wasn't needed, but its a small slip up in what was otherwise a great and unexpected close. Overall, I found this poor, but a handful of enjoyable tracks rescue it from being a complete waste.

The Bird of Music - Au Revoir Simone

Track list:

1. The Lucky One
2. Sad Song
3. Fallen Snow
4. I Couldn't Sleep
5. A Violent Yet Flammable World
6. Don't See The Sorrow
7. Dark Halls
8. Night Majestic
9. Stars
10. Lark
11. The Way To There

Running time: 44 minutes
Released: 2007

This disc was, I think, bought on the back of a festival performance that I missed rather than one I saw. I believe that Au Revoir Simone were playing as I arrived to one event years ago and what I heard less than clearly whilst pitching up was interesting enough for me to buy two discs when I got home. Although I haven't listened to them much since, one of their tracks appeared on a shuffle whilst I was working from home last week and I both recognised and enjoyed it, so I am hoping that is a positive sign!

I am cream crackered, up to my eyeballs in sleeplessness and submerged in work. This evening, for the first time in a while, I got away early enough to actually cook when I got home. With nothing else planned, it means I am suitably relaxed for this listen, even if tired out and lost for words. This disc starts with a very soft, slow number, simple repeated refrains and a halo of electronic warmth. There's something disarmingly charming about it. I was expecting something a bit more urgent, busy even - and the track does grow a bit more depth whilst never reaching the fast beeping rhythms that I expected. Sad Song starts with a higher pace though.

Midway through track 1 I had to pause to take, then make a phone call. This is now going to be a later finish than I expected. Oh well. There is a pleasant cadence to Sad Song, vital and pulsing. That pulse is the primary constituent of the track, the vocal subdued and the melodies secondary. Its an interesting construction, more-so because it works. The sound is slightly flat, muted but enjoyable, but becomes more twee on Fallen Snow where it seems to plod in comparison. Some vocal harmony creeping in though, and that is nice. As in the image, three young women form the band, mostly keyboards and programming but at least two of them are vocalists along with anything else. I'm too tired (and a little tipsy) to identify if the third voice is present. Twee though it may be the song picks up as it goes, a little more added.

It then goes all detached, distant, morose even. "I Couldn't Sleep" is something I have had to say an awful lot over the years - most recently about last night (one reason I'm so tired now). Here its a pretty subdued number, enjoyable but not as engaging as the richer, deeper tunes.

This disc is full of simple-sounding rhythms and loops, it is the layering that is in place around them that gives the music its appeal. I think I may have damaged a toe a couple of nights back, dropped a mug on it (breaking the mug) whilst faffing about in a barely awake state having got back from work late with a load still to do. I didn't feel it at all yesterday, despite trekking to London for work, but this morning it was sore and I can feel it again now, a nagging discomfort - no more. Pissed off at the misfortune, but not really surprised. My mind has wandered to that because the tune in my ears is slow, soft and gentle - pleasant without being arresting. Actually I find this sort of soporific, which is probably what I need, although 21.30 is a bit too early to want to fall asleep. Still have my work email open for another 30 minutes too, until the close of the US day; what has become of me? I used to be really good at switching off when I got home, and now I don't feel that I can afford to; not a welcome change.

I should write more about the music, shouldn't I (should is a dirty word people, I learned that in CBT). Good job that Dark Halls has injected some much needed life. I like the slow tracks in their atmospheric build, but yeah... they do run the risk of tuning out. Here though, there is just a really nice pairing of fast rhythm and simply melodic keyboard patterns behind a rising, falling vocal. It feels very mid 2000s (appropriate really) for reasons I can't explain well; redolent of that era of television perhaps? Do like though. Same for Night Majestic, although this harks back further, and remembers to me the glories of 8-bit soundtracks for nostalgia-dripping videogames. Take away the vocal and it could easily soundtrack a level of some crappy platformer or other, or rhythm shooter or... yeah, you get the picture. Its a nice injection of pace, external amusement and so forth.

Aw, geeky love songs. Somehow charming and pathetic at the same time, very... particular. I am really enjoying this listen. The general tone is all so bright and breezy, fun and better for listening to in a block. In a shuffle these tunes might lose some of their appeal, their simplicity overwhelmed by deeper or more complex tracks either side. Listening to the album in one go allows me as listener to adjust to the form of their music and appreciate a consistency of atmosphere and tone. I suspect that a good half of these tracks would be skipped without thought in a mix that brought in my entire range, but here I find myself enjoying every track. The vocals are all delivered as if they are secondary to the music, seeming to come from further away, behind a curtain almost in comparison. It works to space my mind out further - detaching me from my situation on my couch, muted non-contest of a rugby world cup match on the TV. It also makes it hard to choose which thread to follow - voice or music. With Lark, it is clearly the voice - whilst still distant, the support for the vocal is much more open, meaning the song is what captures the imagination. This sets the tune apart from the other tracks on the disc, as predominantly I have found myself getting lost in the programming.

Oh, huh. Guess it wasn't Lark, but the last track. I missed the changeover somewhere and only work that out as everything falls silent (my tapping at a the keyboard of my laptop aside). All in all, a pleasant little interlude of an album. Never something that I will listen to end on end or particularly often, but a pretty and distracting little number that is well worth the three-quarter hour given over to it.

Biophilia - Björk

Track list:

1. Moon
2. Thunderbolt
3. Crystalline
4. Cosmogony
5. Dark Matter
6. Hollow
7. Virus
8. Sacrifice
9. Mutual Core
10. Solstice

Running time: 49 minutes
Released: 2011

I cannot think what prompted me to pick this up. It is the only Björk album I own and listening to it will add 50% more plays of her music than I have accumulated in 8 and a half years on LastFM. I may be prejudging, but I would expect them to be the last scrobbles, too. I hope to be pleasantly surprised; to be wrong.

Plucked strings open us up, a reasonably nice tune if repetitive after a while. It's nice and soft, but the way Björk's voice is added to the mix fails to excite me. Rather than lifting the piece, it sounds to me as if it is at odds with the simple and soft backing. Almost too much emotion if you will. The structure of the piece leaves much to be desired and I find myself wishing for it to end at it makes half-way. The sparseness of the music is nice, but not nice enough to last the almost 6-minute length and the mismatch with the singing persists throughout. Not an auspicious start. Thunderbolt is more promising. Here the voice is less affected, less out of place. The support is still very light but there is a more atmospheric crucible formed by the electronic beeps and beats and this plays better with our singer's distinctive tones. I am still not sold on the track, but at least I think this one works at what it is trying to achieve. Moon felt like a failed experiment in comparison.

I must have figured and factored in the eccentricities of the performer into the decision to purchase this; a decision I still cannot quite fathom. I have never hated Björk in the way she was ridiculed after It's Oh So Quiet; there has always been a degree of interest in the compositions used to support such a distinctive vocal but almost an academic one, not an aesthetic one. I guess I must have been swayed by reviews of this release near the time and must have seen something about the composition to get me to come up with the cash. I am at a loss for what that might have been though, as now I am here listening there is very little that... huh. Breaking out into drum'n'bass eh? That is a twist I didn't see coming, although the majority of Crystalline's construction does, in retrospect, hint at the combustible end to the track. I don't like it, but it is interesting - and I was about to say interest was absent.

We leave the club sounds behind and go more sad movie soundtrack next. This song I like, at least initially. The track dies half way through though, which is disappointing. It revives a bit but never recaptures my interest enough to save it. One thing to mention is that this is an album of long songs - none are particularly overlong, but with 10 tracks the average length is around 5 minutes. Only one is less than 4 in length (I am glad that is Dark Matter as 3:22 feels too long for this... thing) and this does mean that it feels like a very drawn out experience. Not really what I needed on a wet afternoon.

Hollow is, well... well named I guess. The track feels very hollow, not much to it. I find myself resenting the fact I bought this disc not because I don't like it, but because tracks like this make me wonder what we are being charged for in the first instance. As I contemplate what I had just typed, the track grows some, but the growth doesn't last long and actually ends up in contraction. This is actively unpleasant - not just uninteresting or boring, no... its actually dissonant for me. Virus improves things somewhat, a nice little tinkling melody. It is not without flaws though as the vocal occasionally tips over into unpleasantness. At this rate it could be two complete deletions in a row. Where the tune is nice, the vocal lets down and vice versa. There are nice little moments, vignettes hidden within these pieces that interest, inspire and amuse but overall the impression of each and every track is one of "I don't want to hear that again." Not entirely unexpected but a disappointment and a shame all the same. Whatever it was that prompted me to pick up Biophilia should clearly not be placed in charge of purchasing decisions in future; I can't blame this on the follies of youth and changing taste so something else went awry here.

The disc ends as it began, plucked strings and a vocal that does not necessarily play best with them. The strings would be nice, but feel a little medieval and incomplete. A deliberate artefact no doubt, but one that confirms that non of these tracks are worth my time and all are heading for the recycle bin. Now, if only I could reclaim the last hour...

Big Willie Style - Will Smith

Track list:

1. Intro
2. Y'All Know
3. Gettin' Jiggy Wit It
4. Candy
5. Chasing Forever
6. Keith B - Real I (Interlude)
7. Don't Say Nothin'
8. Miami
9. Yes Yes Y'All
10. I Loved You
11. Keith B - Real II (Interlude)
12. It's All Good
13. Just The Two Of Us
14. Keith B - Real III (Interlude)
15. Big Willie Style
16. Men In Black
17. Just Cruisin'

Running time: 58 minutes
Released: 1997

Oh man, this will be a comedy interlude. I am so not the person I was in 1997 when I bought this and I would be surprised if I can stand the 58 minutes of cheesy commercial rap contained on this offering. My excuse for owning this? Uh... I rather liked Fresh Prince of Bel Air as a teenager, and I thought Men In Black was cool. I guess.

It starts with an Intro - a self-aggrandizing piece of propaganda about how good the album is/will be crossed with crappy comedy skit. Unbelievable in its ballsiness, but so, so bad. And it goes on for two minutes. Then we're into a proper track. Though it was released in 1997, Y'All Know sounds to me more like late 80s material. I guess that's one thing Will Smith has going for him - a more family friendly image, less bad language and problematic content. Pity the beats are rather dull and the lyrics uninspired, then, because some good clean hip hop would not necessarily be an automatic cut. This is.

Looking down the track list I'm surprised how many of these tracks I can bring something to mind for. Gettin' Jiggy Wit It was, I think, a single so falls into that category. Fast and bright, I don't have a problem with the background loops and samples here but... no I cannot listen to this with a straight face and yet it is not amusing enough to warrant a smile. The "backing vocals" are awful and sound like someone asked their children to stand in for actual musicians. Worryingly this might be the high point of the disc. That's not a nice thought.

Oh dear. Lyrics that say "I don't mean to objectify" but then go immediately on to do exactly that. It's very knowing, but arguably that makes it worse than not realising its a bad thing in the first place. Here it comes across as knowing objectification is wrong but thinking that it should be OK. I am somewhat surprised that this reared its head here - I was expecting some sort of sexism to appear as it is endemic but not conscious references to it as well. A couple of bad tracks then another interlude - awful, unfunny. Ugh.

Hah! The intro to Don't Say Nothin' says "My thing is you can't say nothing nice don't say nothing" - the bewildering quadruple negative aside, if I stuck to the spirit of the line then this post wouldn't exist. The track itself is eye-rollingly dull, hook, beat and lyrics alike; Will Smith's music was always a commercial enterprise and at this point in his career that is more evident. The main effect of this is that it has not aged well, and again I find it amusing that stylistically it fits more with my impressions of 80s music than the late 90s - bad synths, cheese and the image of really bad Hawaiian shirts and luridly coloured cocktails; Miami.

OK that's a better hook. I can't imagine it will be used well (i.e. enough variation to keep it fresh) but the initial hit in Yes Yes Y'all I actually rather like. Pity that it just loops with basically no change over the whole track. The sheer constancy of the vocal is interesting, there is no break, very little pause. It would perhaps be impressive if performed live because outside of the chorus Smith barely has space to breathe but the main effect here is to blur all the words into one. This track could have been decent had there been any musical variation at all but I didn't expect any so I can't say hopes were dashed.

I get that much of hip hop is built on patterns and that paying attention to the beats and cycles may be "doing it wrong" but I have the feeling that this is particularly bland in the musical sense. All the variation within a track is coming from vocal, nothing from rhythm or the samples/instrumentation employed. Its interminable. There is difference between tracks, so its not like the album is one long loop, but the static nature of the songs themselves reinforces the impression that it is all about Will, just in case we were in any doubt.

Really? Sampling Good Times? OK. Way to make your track instantly forgettable amidst the myriad of others that have though. Thing is, you get the impression Smith didn't care how this would be received. By this point he was a mega movie star already, indulging himself or fulfilling contractual obligations? Who cares.

Just the Two of Us is at least a more positive song - this one has a bit more longevity because of its subject matter but it is just so bland musically and I can only imagine, 20 years on, the kid involved grown up and cringing whenever it is heard. It precedes the last crappy intro and then we're into the run in with the title track, intentional innuendo and all (in case you thought it wasn't, the over-sexualised utterances at the start and end of the track dispel the doubt). Just dull. Then we hit the soundtrack song that roped young-me in. There is still something pleasurable about the pure synth cheese of the hook but I suspect that is just nostalgia and now it is me cringing. I used to genuinely think this was good?! I bought the single which will appear in a later post. And then get deleted, just like the entirety of this album.

Big Sleeping House - Microdisney

Track list:

1. Horse Overboard
2. Loftholdingswood
3. Singer's Hampstead Home
4. She Only Gave In To Her Anger
5. Gale Force Wind
6. I Can't Say No
7. Angels
8. Mrs Simpson
9. Armadillo Man
10. And He Descended Into Hell
11. Rack
12. Big Sleeping House
13. Back To The Old Town
14. Send Herman Home
15. Town To Town
16. Begging Bowl

Running time: 62 minutes
Released: 1995

Ah Microdisney. I got into them through the retrospective double album Daunt Square to Elsewhere after loving Cathal Coughlan's contribution to the special edition of When the Haar Rolls In, where he covered James Yorkston's song Tender to the Blues, and his solo work. Black River Falls is a real favourite.

I loved Daunt Square so went looking for more, only to find most of it out of print (a couple of albums have been re-released since). So although many of these tracks I already had, I was pleased to find this best of which, nevertheless, offered me tracks I did not otherwise have access to.

This version of Horse Overboard is tonally different from the Daunt Square version and - having heard the other first, I prefer that to this. The song is a typical example of the somewhat off-the-wall lyricism of Microdisney. There are stories in there, there is feeling, but it is all dressed up in somewhat absurdist imagery. I find this rendition of the song too slow. The tun is all there, and OK so its in a slightly different style, but its the lower pace (or at least the feeling of it) that makes me not appreciate the song so much.

Loftholdingswood has a similarly modified tone to the music to the other two versions I have (Daunt Square and The Peel Sessions). Again the effect is to make it feel like the tempo is lower behind the lyrics and the top notch delivery of them. That said, I think this is pretty much my #1 Microdisney song, the chorus resonates with me in both literal and acerbic interpretations, I find it clever. Meanwhile the composition behind it is pleasingly simple but staggeringly effective. Simple loops, melodic though. It all hangs together nicely. This is not my preferred version of the tune though. We then dip into invective and the glorious disdain that is Singer's Hampstead Home. OK, so it's not exactly big or clever to write songs to launch into other people in your industry as this tirade, reportedly aimed at Boy George, does but the song itself is gloriously poppy whilst thriving on the back of Coughlan's animated vocal. The man can really sing. It is the way he manages to be so tuneful but still convey anger and other negative or destructive emotion that keeps me captivated.

I am less fond of Microdisney's slower numbers. In my epoch-dismissive way I think it shows up the limitations of 80s tone and pop composition. The (I reckon) synth drums and slightly tinny pop sounds are much better employed at higher pace and with a bit more going on. Gale Force Wind starts as I finish that sentence, and is a good example. This tune is so 80s it is amazing. 80s in tone, 80s in composition, 80s in how much it rails against the age - capitalism, AIDS etc. Its like the decade in microcosm. If I had to pick one song to sum up the world during the first 10 years of my life, admittedly as someone who generally dislikes the 80s music he is familiar with, this would be it. The moment I actually realised what this tune spoke to lyrically I was completely re-sold on Microdisney all over again.

We then get a novelty track, where Coughlan is replaced by a (to me unidentified) female singer who sensually spins out a number that is so cheesy it has to be a complete piss take on the part of the band. This interpretation actually makes it amusing and enjoyable, and based on the other output of the band there is no way I can take it at face value. That is followed by Angels, a song I haven't listened to much as I think I only have it on this compilation; it feels like a little bit of a nothing song in the context of the tunes around it. Not bad, but not stellar like Mrs Simpson which follows on its tail. This track is another real favourite, despite my earlier assertion that I do not like the slower tracks as much. This gets away with it because it is not as full of pop sounds, and is more a fully composed and arranged number, the strings that support the main themes are superb at framing the lyrics, delivered as ever with excellence. I think I also bring more to this track because of the construction of the album on Daunt Square, where it culminates a run of four favourite tracks.

Ah, Armadillo Man. This song makes me smile in its caricature of an American anti-communist, gun-nut. It is all too cheery for a song about the absurdity of the Cold War, and Microdisney have form for that... Town to Town (coming later) is cheery even in the face of Armageddon, or nuclear winter anyway.

Despite finding slower songs weaker, in general, I can't bring myself to divest of tracks like She Only Gave In To Her Anger or And He Descended Into Hell, or indeed Angels. I am also finding myself reticent to make the decision to cull the tracks that I have other, preferred versions of. I suspect this is because I actually want to maintain as much of a representative picture of Microdisney as I can because I wasn't there at the time they were producing this material, but 2 decades on from that they became real favourites in a way that endures.

Rack is stunningly good, again full of question, anger and incredulity at the powers that be. Angry demonstration is not something I think is generally successful, but channeling that vitriol through the medium of music is powerful when you have a voice as good as Cathal Coughlan's to spit those lines out. Again it is a nicely arranged piece with an integral string theme that picks up the all too catchy structure of the bass and turns the song as a whole into something transcendent. At least for me. The title track is a sad song really, but there is nothing sad about its construction. Another example of being upbeat about things that really we should not necessarily be upbeat about. These tracks later on this disc don't have the odd differences from the versions that I first heard that were present on the opening couple. Listening to this rendition I can't identify any obvious variation from the recording on Daunt Square to Elsewhere that I first heard. This makes Rack and Big Sleeping House candidates for cutting in a way that Loftholdingswood clearly is not. I don't think I will though; I like weighting the old RNG of shuffle a bit in favour of tunes I really dig.

Two more tracks that I believe I have only on this disc now, and both are catchy in different ways.  Back to the Old Town is punchy rhythmically in a way that is uncharacteristic of the group. The vocal is very consistent, but the structure of the song is a nice change up. In contrast, Send Herman Home is very much the epitome of Microdisney, bright pop sounds layered underneath a song with a message; that it opens and bridges with what I can only assume is a send up of the late Reverend Ian Paisley (the less said about that man, the better) leaves me in little doubt that this is another "sound friendly, hide the meaning" song. I might be way off base, and there's nothing quite like half-arsedly interpreting something 30 years after its creation to make you look a fool!

There's Town to Town; so relentlessly nice in tune and tone yet so amazingly bleak when you listen to the words. It is an astonishing contrast - instinctively you might think it would be a mess but there is real craft in the pairing and the dissonance you expect it to cause just never arises. At least it doesn't for me. Ooh, there's a real feeling in the mouth organ that opens Begging Bowl; that's a really nice touch, the fading, unclean edge to the sound that is missing from other versions of the tune. It soon becomes an irrelevance to the rest of the track - the sound does not make another appearance - but it puts me in a good mood to enjoy what I normally consider to be one of the weaker tracks that I still listen to a lot.

Overall I am not sorry I picked up this compilation for what amounts to three tracks I really like and four that are not as strong as the material I had already. That said, whilst I would happily recommend Microdisney to anyone, I would also counsel picking up Daunt Square to Elsewhere over this if you want a snapshot of their career.

Big Calm - Morcheeba

Track list:

1. The Sea
2. Shoulder Holster
3. Part Of The Process
4. Blindfold
5. Let Me See
6. Bullet Proof
7. Over and Over
8. Friction
9. Diggin' A Watery Grave
10. Fear & Love
11. Big Calm

Running time: 46 minutes
Released: 1998

Now this takes me back to university. Pretty sure I got into this album through my flatmate in my second year. I cannot really imagine it holding up well as a rule, but I suspect the stand out tracks are still the stand outs now, and that I will easily slip back into chill mode for some of them.

It stats strongly. The opening refrains of The Sea immediately throw me back 15 years. A sort of quiet swell to begin with, before the pattern that will dominate the track enters the picture. I am relatively certain that it was this song that convinced me to pick up my own copy of the album, though later I would come to like Blindfold more. Listening to it now, my god the lyrics are awful, I always knew they were bad but blimey. Thankfully they are by far the lesser part of the whole, the sonic bubble created, gently pulsing with the beat progression is a warm and comfortable space - though in all honesty it speaks more to a cosy room on a dark evening than it does to the seaside. The lead-out is too long, I realise; not a flaw I recall.

I can pull something to mind, tune-wise, for all of the names in the caption but they are foggy memories. I haven't listened to this in a decade I reckon. Shoulder Holster is a darker sound, though the lightness of the vocal is at odds with the incessant beats, as too is the sitar or whatever jangly strings that are used to create what little passes for a melody. This tune is quite bad really, whilst not being unpleasant. The repetitive nature of the rhythm is a turn off though. Whilst as the track goes by, we get more variation over the beat pattern, the percussion itself is simply looped over and over and it does my head in. I could be mistaken, but I think repetitive loops are a big feature on this disc and if that gets to me too much I could be cutting a lot, nostalgia or not.

Part of the Process opens by relying on a looped hook, it backs pretty much all of the verse but melts away (or rather is replaced) during the chorus. In its defense, there's a nice twee country vibe to the tune and the beat is catchy. It feels like pure unadulterated cheese through the lens of history and much more musical exposure now though. That's OK. There is room in my life for cheese now and again, but am I just getting attached to the memory of what was, by and large, three good years in Bristol? I was back there a couple of weeks ago, meeting up with old university friends. We're all mid 30s now and wondering where life has gone to a degree. Kicked it old school that day though, regressing to our teenage selves and consoles and games of the time.

Blindfold is groovier, a bit darker and more reminiscent in tone of Morcheeba's first album Who Can You Trust which I recall preferring to this when I picked it up. The string sample is essential, the rhythm is well suited, it leaves space - a sense of emptiness that the vocals float through, and the guitar adds a necessary edge from time to time, a snap and antidote to what could otherwise allow you to tune out. It devolves into wordlessness as it closes, and there is often a touch of laziness about that approach in my mind, but more than anything else in these first four tracks it holds up to the memory, and is still something I can enjoy.

The album definitely has a sense of contrast going for it. The top end - vocal and melodies both - is often very airy, whilst the lower registers and percussion are anything but. It keeps things interestingly open and means that whilst a lot of the shine has gone along with my youth since this album was released, it doesn't feel like a rehash of the same tired old themes. Bullet Proof is a funky instrumental, harking back to the 70s in some senses. As soon as it starts I remember it well, though not before. I really rather like the core loops here, and find that in this instance it is more the variation - particularly the scratching and sampled vocal - that lets it down. That said, the track absolutely needs some pattern breakers but it could have done with better. The loops though - both top end and rhythm - are mesmeric, producing a structure that has me subconsciously nodding along before I realise I am doing it and force myself to stop. Can't prevent the slight sway in time though.

Over and Over changes up the dominant tone. This is left to strings and an acoustic guitar loop to create the playground for the singer. I am not a fan, I think it ditches the bits that Morcheeba are best at, the big loopy rhythmic soundscapes. Yes, the rhythms aren't always massively interesting, but the layering of other sounds often makes up for this. I want to like Friction for bringing those loops back, but frankly the whole track just falls flat for me, something not quite right about the muted horns, a little too canned. I do have fond memories of the last couple of tracks though so once we're past what is practically an interlude the wind down might be better. Or as a 30 something I might just find it trite.

Fear and Love turns out to be schmaltzier than I remember, but the tune is crafted pretty well, and I find it has a dream-like quality to it that means I can forgive the mass-market chill-out repeat-driven blahness of the lyric. The closer, the title track though? I love the swirling sounds in this - another classic loopy roll. The rapping over it I could quite happily leave, but the musical themes are incredibly good and stand up to my recollection of them really well. I wouldn't want a whole album of it, but as a single track the waves, the layering comes together in a way I find very pleasing indeed and its 6 minute length rolls by in no time.

Overall? A nice easy start to life after John Lee Hooker then. A couple of duff tracks to get rid of but mostly a pleasing enough return to a simpler time. In no way would I claim that this band were masters, but they got pretty good at doing one thing rather well.

Big Box of John Lee Hooker (Disc 6) - John Lee Hooker

Track list:

1. Who's Been Jiving You
2. Prison Bound
3. Little Wheel
4. Goin' Mad Blues
5. Mean Old Train
6. Baby Lee
7. Howlin' Wolf
8. Me and My Woman
9. Miss Rosie Mae
10. Canal Street Blues
11. You Can Lead Me Baby
12. Miss Eloise
13. She Left Me By Myself
14. Run On
15. Don't Go Baby
16. Crying All Night
17. Miss Sadie Mae
18. Mad Man Blues
19. Burnin' Hell
20. Talkin' Boogie
21. Grievin' Blues
22. Please Have Mercy
23. Twister Blues
24. Give Me Your Phone Number

Running time: 70 minutes
Released: 2013

So we reach the last, and longest, of the discs in the Big Box anthology of late Blues legend John Lee Hooker. I have it in my sights.

An odd thing to be choosing to start this at quarter past 9 on a Monday evening, but whilst I worked late-ish today and didn't have the energy to cook (takeout to the rescue, as I failed to get shopping on the way home too) I am actually rather relaxed. The relatively high pace of our opening number is a good thing and makes me immediately feel positive about starting this exercise. I am sure doubts will follow but for now we are good.

Prison Bound starts as if it is going to just be guitar, before a very off-tone piano is crammed into action. This produces a really striking sound. Either it is all the recording equipment leaving a lot to be desired, or the tuning is bloody awful. However its off in a really quirky way. Thinking about it, it could have been a particular characteristic of pianos of a certain origin and era; I have only ever heard this kind of shonky tune carried on pianos in westerns or similar golden age films. Whatever the cause, I celebrate it, because the track is enjoyable as a result.

Little Wheel sees Hooker's voice taking on some depth and (I would guess) age. The recording sounds more recent too, better sound quality, more depth of support. I would guess at 70s or 80s for this cut, where the earlier provenance of many tunes was obvious. I don't have a practiced ear for these things but the cleanliness of the recording stood out a mile. It means (I think for the first time) I am keeping 3 in a row from one of these discs. It's been the strongest opening so far, and I wonder if it can keep that up. Hiding away all the best stuff on disc 6 of six? For shame. I recognise a couple of the song titles here as repeats from the prior discs but I don't expect to remember the tunes themselves when I get to them just through the sheer volume of John Lee Hooker songs I have listened to in the past few weeks, throwing a serious curveball at my LastFM artist tracking for the next 3 months!

Its not a serious complaint, but is does jokingly illustrate that this is a rather sharp divergence from my normal and varied diet of different musical foods. After the strong start, the next two tunes do nothing for me and I feel my eyes drooping. Was this a mistake? Nah, what else would I be doing at this time eh... getting frustrated by something, I'm sure. Just occasionally, when I know that no-one I know is around, living on my own gets to be a burden. Of course, were I not alone here I wouldn't have got away with giving in to my lethargy on the way home so... chalk up the wins, and overlook the loss! Baby Lee has a nice little roll to it, a very simple rhythmic hook but it's melodic rather than percussive and even though it repeats a lot it is light and sparse enough to just about pass the interest test for the first two minutes. The third minute though... no, it is just grating on me too much by now with the novelty worn off and nothing of interest structured around it to give the track any craft. Such a shame when something like that feels fresh up front but goes stale so fast through lack of any help. Alas the tribute to Howlin' Wolf also fails to deliver anything noteworthy, and so from three in the bank, we have 4 in the bin. It threatens five as the opening to the 8th track is low key and my fears are realised as this devolves to formulaic patterns that I am long tired of now. To be fair there is a little more playing around the central theme here than there has been in discs past but the whole presentation of the track fails to excite me.

The first (to my immediate knowledge) of the repeats now raises its head... or maybe not. I assumed that Miss Rosie May was a repeat of Rosie Mae from disc 5 but the slight change of title leaves that open to uncertainty. What I can say for sure is that it fails my interest test this time, even as I kept its cousin... for my own sanity that sways me against them being the same song. Canal Street Blues must be, though - that's not a title that gets replicated by accident, right? I am pretty sure I rather liked the other version though, and this falls flat, hard.

Finally a little more life. Its a simple little number but You Can Leave Me strikes a good note immediately, and only improves as an economically used piano joins in, soft and quiet over the structure. The vocal here, too, is key. Whilst the music is patterned to a fault the variety comes from the stresses and strains in the singing and those light touches that almost sound faint enough to have been captured from the studio next door. It all adds up to a nice little song, and one to break a long run of binned tracks. I am approaching half way through and my feel is that this disc generally is later recordings than the others. Maybe that's why it was organised this way, I don't know, but there are (I think) more electrified numbers, more bite to the guitar as a result. It doesn't always make for better tunes, alas. I thought it was going to be a write-off when it started, but She Left Me By Myself actually catches me sweet as the body of the track comes in and the sense of joy from playing is carried through the recording. The song isn't fantastic, and the playing probably not his best, but there is energy in this tune and a sense of fun that is often missing. That's not a massive surprise, it is the Blues after all, but with it injected here the tone is improved and that improvement carries straight through to Run On. This is another electrified track with a clear recording and decent backing. Energy and pace are once again slightly lifted and there are moments here and there where Hooker's voice sounds almost as good as Terry Callier used to.

Huh, a classic track. That snuck up on me. Mind you, as played here it has none of the snap of the properly classic renditions and Don't Go Baby is going out the digital door into the trash. The playing is almost not there, the majority of the track is carried over just by what sounds like stomping. Its all very disappointing as with a bit more life the song can fly. It's almost as if the disc is mocking my assertion that these are later recordings with a couple of these that surface now. I feel my foot tapping along to Crying All Night even as my head is thinking nothing of it. Its an odd dichotomy but I think at this point I am going to go with my head; the foot could be a side-effect of sitting cross-legged on a squashy sofa and typing on a coffee table.

Regardless of what happens with the rest of this disc, I have probably just about saved enough of the tracks from across the Big Box of John Lee Hooker to have justified the purchase. I am less enamoured of the whole working day (or near enough) I have effectively spent ploughing through it but I do think that my library will be better for it, and I feel a little more enlightened than I was before I started, having exposed myself to a large corpus of work that had essentially been boiled down to one song that does not appear on this collection in my mind. I suppose the a small annoyance is that the Big Box followed so close on the heels of The Best of Friends thus concentrating my exposure to Hooker further than the collection alone would manage. I would be astonished if the back-to-back nature of these listens hasn't coloured my impressions of the music some - the vitriol I spewed at one aspect in particular would probably have been much reduced if I hadn't been exposed so often in such a short time. Incidentally whilst it has reared its head on this disc, it is conspicuously absent for the most part so I have had to find other reasons to justify my dumping songs from my hard drive. It's not hard to find a justification that stands up, mind; flimsy is fine.

Into the last 5 tracks now and is it wrong that I have a palpable sense of excitement about the prospect of listening to something else? I haven't looked ahead since this marathon started, and I'm sure the capricious nature of the universe means I have a couple of old stinkers just around the corner to sour the thought but... no. No negativity please. That no negativity rule has kept my fingers still over the last few tracks as the Big Box comes to a conclusion with a quiet slide off stage rather than a bang. It would be too much to expect a crescendo over 6 hour-plus long albums though so I'll forgive the curators that.

All that remains to do is say farewell to John Lee. He goes out asking for our phone number - demanding really. Alas the demand, like much that came before it, is not one I feel any obligation to entertain. There is no doubt that the man was very, very good at what he did, but there is also o doubt that most of it was simply not up my street.

Big Box of John Lee Hooker (Disc 5) - John Lee Hooker

Track list:

1. Stomp Boogie
2. My Daddy Was a Jockey
3. Helpless Blues
4. Streets Is Filled With Women
5. Time Is Marching
6. Hobo Blues
7. Wednesday Evening
8. We Gonna Make Everything Alright
9. The Moon Above
10. Rosie Mae
11. I Love to Boogie
12. Rock N Roll
13. Canal Street Blues
14. Wandering Blues
15. The Story of a Married Woman
16. Weeping Willow
17. I Don't Be Welcome Here
18. Goin' to California
19. Miss Lorraine
20. Tennessee Blues
21. Moon Is Rising
22. Nobody Talk to Me

Running time: 65 minutes
Released: 2013

Back to the box to draw out more John Lee Hooker tracks. After finding the time and desire to write an interlude earlier I feel even guiltier for not managing this sooner.

Truth is, my weeks have been hellish of late, so finding time when my mind is in the right place to write up anything (I am now 2 weeks behind with the Albion write-ups) has been a challenge and finding the space to listen to something I am not 100% keen on for an hour was beyond me. Here I am though, and there is Hooker stomping his feet over and over to the point where it must be reallly achey! The Stomp Boogie is kinda nice for the stomping and a very different approach to the guitar than evidenced on previous discs in the Big Box. With the strings freed from percussive duty, and honestly that is my biggest problem with that one form of hook I keep railing against without ever adequately describing, the guitar line can sing and provide interest. Interesting rather than structural. A stomp forward, so to speak.

The same freedom is available on My Daddy Was a Jockey and though less immediately appealing the track comes together alright and these two back to back make it the most interesting start to one of these discs. I know that cannot last - either I'll get bored with the repetition of the freedom or old patterns that I decry will re-emerge, and whilst Helpless Blues does not annoy, neither does it intrigue. This disc's first casualty.

It is a Sunday evening here and on the one hand I have an itch to be playing games online with friends as half-arranged. On the other, I have only just started to feel properly human. Pity about going back to work tomorrow, but at least there's no US working tomorrow - a situation that should make my day quieter, left alone to get on with my own deal - and I have a lot on my plate to handle. The best thing I can say about the fourth track on this disc is that it maintains a difference between tracks, alas like the song that preceded it there is no interest in its chords. The same is not true for Time is Marching though - this has a really classic structure, a nice supporting sound and crackly enchantment, mouth organ and all. It slips into the form of the Blues to which I am instinctively drawn rather than, as much of this collection has been, relying on an interpretation of the term that is actively uninteresting. Hell, lets be fair. The patterns here aren't interesting; they are familiar, warm and innate, but brilliantly performed and so I can overlook the repetition.

Ah, Hobo Blues is the first track that comes close to using that hook. So, really I should try to describe what I mean. One, the guitar forms percussion rather than melody. Two, it often (but not here) is accompanied by a barely sung "yeah" drawn out beyond pleasantries. Three the hook relies on the same note hammered over and over, normally four times or so, then a different note to end and a pause. Four, it is repeated over and over with perhaps some minor embellishments to differentiate but often no change of tone or feel. It's really difficult to construe just what the form is and why it irks me so and to be honest by now I am as sick of typing it as any poor person reading these pages is of reading it. So I am going to resolve not to mention it further unless it really is pertinent.

Huh. We Gonna Make Everything Alright starts more like an impromptu jam. Its an awful recording but feels like they were just pissing about a little. That feeling drops a little when Hooker starts singing but the poor clarity of sound and the unengaged air of the playing makes it a no-go for me and the same goes for the track that follows. An uncharacteristically strong start, then has been followed up by more of the same old sounds, not quite interesting enough to be kept. The distant qualities to Hooker's singing give me a sorta "One More Kiss" feel (from Blade Runner) which is nice, but at the present time puts me to sleep more than it enchants me.

More comfort blues follows, before the recording artefacts rear their head again and give I Love to Boogie a wonderful muted undertone. It is a pity that there isn't a bit more going on in the track itself because this is one of those cases where old recordings really do have more character than the uber-clean and perfect sounds we get these days. Don't get me wrong, most of the time I would take the cleaner sound every time but it is nice to have examples of both approaches and it does add character.

Oh now, that is a different sound, dirtier, sexier blues around Canal Street apparently. It's a slower number and the snatched sounds from the guitar give it a sense of impropriety that makes it much more accessible than a couple of tracks that I have basically just ignored, and then the Wandering Blues introduces a whispering style of lyricism that is a nice switch up but alas the song is plagued and not something I can bear. A real pity that, because I love the hushed tones used for the vocal and find myself wishing the style had been applied a little more over the course of the box set. That said, I have definitely remarked before that I was taken aback by the vocal range of the man, having really only been familiar with one approach from the work that I knew, so it's not like he was static vocally.

The next couple of songs are both kinda alright, but not quite good. Pleasant, enjoyable, but not stand out enough to keep. This frustrates me as each of them has something to recommend it and neither are dismissed for old sins but somehow they never quite grab me. It makes me feel, though, that were the stars to align and all my favourite characteristics of John Lee Hooker tracks ended up in the same song it would be mighty fine. Alas, not to be I suspect. There is, however a bright point; I Don't Be Welcome Here has a great groove to it, a grungy guitar and an atmosphere that holds it together stupendously. It ends a tad disappointingly but otherwise I love it.

More comfort blues follows, but this time despite the band I am not really feeling it as it all just feels a little too distant and not something I want to be any closer to. A bit like California in real terms, then. Into the final stretch of the penultimate disc. This time next week I may be shot of John Lee Hooker on these pages, a few tracks (likely repeats of things I have already heard) contributed to compilations aside. I won't lie, I am looking forward to hearing something a bit more different and varied and ideally presented in more bite-size bundles. Much as these discs have flown by when I actually engage with them, packed as they are with short songs, the 60 minute plus for the listen alone is a mental barrier. 45 minutes is just so much easier to find somehow!

Tennessee sounds fun. Whilst staid, this track has a light touch to it, a positivity not often associated with the Blues, that makes it nice and digestible. The last two tracks don't offer that though, and form a run-of-the-mill lead out and I am relieved when the final chord falls silent. I have observed my duty, not let it fall below 1 a week, and pushed through almost to the close of the big box. Just one more marathon left to manage somehow before the future brightens, at least in a musical sense.

Interlude: Life is Strange

Whilst not quite a first in talking about things outside of music, this post goes further than when I spoke about playlisting for the RPG I'm running. Incidentally the playlist doesn't make it to sessions anymore as I can't be arsed heaving the laptop over, or pissing about with an MP3 player that probably won't be compatible with the outputs at my friend's house (no Apple for me).

I suppose technically, since I own the game, the Life is Strange soundtrack is part of my library. Since a licensed soundtrack is not available to purchase it is not included in the digital library that I am actually progressing through, only within the game itself, which I am playing on PS4. There is a YouTube playlist which I am listening to whilst writing this piece. Whilst I will chat a little bit about the use of music in the game (generally excellent), this post is an interlude more because I feel a need to write about the game proper and I don't want to revive a long-dead blog to do it. I have mentioned Life is Strange a few times in passing during recent posts, as a competing demand on my time, as something that I have been enjoying and thinking about in the wider sphere of my life. The goal with this project has never been to focus, laser-like, on the music and nothing else. It is, rather, a stream of consciousness merely directed by the music and where the primary purpose is to get me listening to things I have overlooked and trim out material I would not want to listen to again. Stepping away from that to talk about a videogame is a bit of a departure and, suffice to say, not one I was expecting to make. However for better or worse this is now my platform.

For those that don't know, Life is Strange is an episodic game (to date 4 of 5 are out, and I have just completed the 4th) from Dontnod Entertainment and published by Square Enix. It is an interactive story-slash-adventure game set in the Pacific northwest and focusing around events in one hick town and, particularly, the "prestigious" school institution there. Quotes, because it doesn't really feel like the school is, or should be, so rated. The game is mostly notable for a few things:

1. It does Telltale better than Telltale
2. It has a female protagonist and a majority of the major cast are female
3. Time travel and other magical weirdness, including nods to several genre properties to have trodden similar ground before.

There is a lot more to it than that, but it is the intersection of points 1 and 3 that really makes the game tick, whilst point 2 gives it a distinct flavour to many adventure games. The time travel, or rewind, mechanic means that you can explore different paths for your choices before deciding on which one to go with. These choices are also generally more weighty, with no clear cut right/wrong outcomes, and have more impact on what is to come than in Telltale games, too - or at least, that has been my experience. Judging from the breakdown of choices at the end of each episode I am probably not alone in that view. It also means that there isn't a timer on the decision points the way that Telltale tend to do. There are some time-based events, but the magical time travel girl uses her power to rewind to solve those puzzles and it's not a question of "didn't choose in time, so we'll pick for you".

Before I verge into spoiler territory and talk about the content of the game I want to tenuously justify this post with the music discussion. Put simply, Life is Strange uses music fantastically well. Rather than going down the route of hiring composers to generate them bespoke music, the majority of the LiS soundtrack is compiled from tunes put out by artists or groups you may well have heard of (e.g. Alt-J, Mogwai, José González; the Alt-J track being one of the few that I kept from the disappointing An Awesome Wave), integrated in much the same way that you find licensed music used in TV. Not to do videogame composition down (I bloody love the Bastion soundtrack after all), but this feels like a step forward in two ways. First, to secure the licenses in the first instance by having a product that labels and artists are happy to associate themselves with. In other words the continued movement of gaming towards mainstream entertainment and everything that means - including a more diverse audience. Secondly the seamless integration with the content alongside original scoring, like in film.

All of this builds a really strong sense of place and atmosphere. Some of the nicest moments in the game are found where Max, our protagonist, can simply sit somewhere in her environment and muse upon the events. You can even have her sit down with her guitar and noodle out one or two of the tracks herself. The pieces chosen are often quite soothing despite the game itself not necessarily following suit. In text this presents like dissonance, in context the musical support provides the relief and mental break that you can imagine our protagonist needing to deal with the week that she is having. Also, whilst often soothing, they are not placid tracks, a distinction which is important to the generation of that atmosphere. The Mogwai track Kids Will Be Skeletons is my go-to example there; the title implies something darker than the light and airy guitar melodies actually deliver but there is a murkiness in the bass and percussive structure that provides a tension in the track which stops it just rocking you to relaxation. Or at least in my case. The song is used for the lead up to a particularly sad/shocking moment, a cliffhanger to end an episode. It just works so well and implies that the studio really put some effort in to identify exactly what they wanted to do and how to do it. This is something that always impresses me; as someone who listens to a fair bit of music (I have actually had a chance this week, albeit shuffles whilst working from home more than dedicated listens for this blog!) from across several spheres my mind boggles as to how perfect tracks are identified to accompany visuals. Its something that usually impresses me about BBC documentaries as much as anything else.

Worryingly, this may turn out to be the single longest post here and it's technically off topic. Still, on to the game itself. Here be spoilers, perhaps.

Given this post, it will surprise no-one to find out I love Life is Strange. As a whole it is the best thing I have played in a very long time, despite ostensibly covering US teen/college drama, which I loathe. I think I enjoy Telltale's Tales from the Borderlands more because the humour is fantastically on the button, but I don't think it is a better game. Not by a long chalk.

Episode 1 was a so-so introduction. You get to learn about Max's power and deal with teen wangst and slice of life drama as it starts, but it escalates pretty quickly into saving the life of Max's estranged BFF from her early teens, Chloe. Chloe is a real love her or hate her character, I suspect. I fall squarely on the second side of that, finding her willful stupidity hard to relate to and harder to like. Max I found almost as hard to like to begin with but she grew on me with later episodes, becoming a bit more assertive and less self-pitying. The episode as a whole is pretty much all setup - people, places and the events you will investigate as the plot thickens. I was enticed enough, but not wholly sold.

Episode 2 changed that completely. Whilst navigating around Chloe's epicentre of drama and crazy, which is driven by one of the main plot threads, the disappearance of her friend Rachel that you are investigating, you are also dealing with the deep depression of one of Max's college friends, brought on by bullying and, it turns out later, much, much worse. Kate Marsh is by far the most sympathetic character in the game, and set up to be so really well. The "Jesus waits" type is often the butt of the jokes in college-set media and Kate is positioned in that role. However the game starts with Max as an outsider of sorts too, meaning Kate is by far her most relate-able classmate which sucks the player in. The inevitable progression of the bullying is really powerful over the two episodes and it had me standing up for Kate at every turn, seeing where it was going.  There's a moment in the episode where Chloe rants at Max if you choose to take a call from Kate instead of being all about her (Chloe and Max having fully reconciled not speaking for 5 years during ep. 1) which is, above every other stupid or crappy thing Chloe does, the moment that defines her character for me. I took the call in my playthrough, of course, and didn't even consider rewinding to see the other path.

That right there? An example of how good the game is. It gives you all the tools to fully explore every decision you could make, but then is written in such a way as to produce strong emotional "fuck yous!" to the idea of doing so in places.

The episode progresses and has, thus far, the stand-out ending. No matter what Max does to be good to Kate over two episodes, the rest of the cast outweigh that with their dickishness and Kate, having been the victim of being drugged, has some out of character actions filmed and exposed. She's suicidal and there is an incredibly powerful scene where you - sans rewind having blown your limit to stop time and reach Kate - have to talk her down from the rooftop before she jumps. It can, apparently, go both ways. I got the better result here and would have been pretty emotionally devastated if I had not managed to, more praise for the writing.

See the thing is: the main cast is used really well. This may be an adventure game, but all the most important choices relate directly to other characters or conversations, not objects or investigations. The focus is on navigating the social maze more than the puzzle of what happened to Rachel or what is going on. At least early, anyway. Yes - there are more puzzle-like sections, and these are my least favourite pieces of the game. In episode 4 you are pulling together clues and it's just dull gameplay... its a fair bit of a letdown after the conversational choices earlier. The majority female cast is well realised and most of the time talking to people is fun and interesting. You can, it seems, change a lot of lives in a few conversations. Which, obviously, is OTT for real life, but adds weight to the interactions in the game and focusing on this is a really neat change in tack from most games.

Kate is not the only character who can live or die in different story paths; apparently there's a thread where one of the less savory characters (and note, none of the main cast are nearly as two-dimensional in the good/bad person sense as they first appear) can die as a result of Chloe's actions (which are guided by you as Max with her rewind or "don't do that it sucks!" power). These characters aren't central to the primary plot strand then, but thus far I have seen enough to suggest that, unlike my experience with Telltale games, the paths are truly divergent with several different end states. The main plot might conclude similarly every time (or not, but I would guess it does) but the surrounding details feel substantially more weighty.

Anyhow, after the excellence of episode 2, the third installment was just about able to keep pace. Its crowning moment was Max learning a new use for her power, rewinding to when she and Chloe were kids and saving Chloe's dad from the traffic accident that killed him, predictably establishing a completely different timeline. Whilst there is some weirdness about original timeline Max suddenly then "waking up" in the present day of an alternate timeline with only memories from the original sequence of events, this was a completely unexpected shift in the game. It is made poignant in the extreme by finding out, at the end of the episode, how the change played out for Chloe. The game gets really good at emotional gut punches, and holds that over twice for the start of episode 4. I almost had to put down the controller and walk away when the (now paraplegic and getting worse) Chloe asks Max to overdose her with morphine, despite the fallback of a rewind power. I almost had to do it again when, knowing she has to go back to her own timeline you have to sit through Max experiencing the scene where Chloe sees her dad for the last time once more.

Hell, the writing in this game is so good, that reading a synopsis of certain scenes is enough to produce a strong emotional response. 

Episode 4 ratchets up the tension and the creepiness of what is going on. Real human ugliness, not just magical oddity. This move was not unexpected - after all, someone driven to suicide by having been drugged and abducted, and a young woman missing both point to some very nasty goings on. My problem with the game comes right as the final cliffhanger where that darkness is now applied directly to your protagonist in a way that strongly suggests a very limited way to avoid it. The final cutscene has an antagonist spike Max with a needle and her fall down woozy. This is followed by shots of the scene where you found out just how dark things were earlier in the episode. I hope its just appearances because, well... torture horror is not my thing, y'know. Whilst I am fairly certain Max gets out of it somehow, I'd rather not have to go through it first.

Anyhow - I have written far too much in this piece already, and I still need to find time today to listen to more John Lee Hooker to not stall the library run through too far, so I'll draw it to a close there and simply suggest people do themselves a favour and look up episode 1 on whichever platform they prefer, then plough on with the others if taken by it.