Under The Influence

Well, of course Molly Ringwald was going to sing "Don't You (Forget About Me)" (featured here) on her 2013 singing debut Except Sometimes -- it provides the hook to draw the curious into the fold, to bring in listeners who may otherwise have never paid attention to another album of an actor singing standards. And, in most regards, Except Sometimes is indeed another album of actors singing standards, distinguished by a more-adventurous-than-usual selection of songs (Ringwald has good taste and an aversion to shopworn warhorses) and a nicely intimate vibe, suggesting a comfortable, brightly lit nightclub where smoking was prohibited long, long ago.

If Ringwald wasn't well-known, odds are Except Sometimes would never have shown up on a major label, but that's no reason to hate it: it's too cheerful and slight to inspire hate.

Love, love, love, love, love... oh please make it stop. Listening to this with the boat healed over beating through the waves at 10kts and me in the galley trying to bake bread, bad idea.

The whole thing felt a bit amateurish to me. The lyrics were really the killer though - too much ecstasy makes you think you can heal the world tih love. Any lyric that wasn't about love seemed to be thrown in for the sake of creating a rhyme - despite how non-sensical the sentence became.

Obviously Love Generation is going to stand as a classic summer anthem. Just wish I hadn't heard it in the context of the rest of the album. Had it not been for the dough all over my hands I would have torn my headphones off.

Feel in love with one of her songs, When I See Love, on the boat; it was the only one I had with me at the time. As I recall it was a random download from a site much like this one. Illegal, I guess but hell, I would never have purchased her album otherwise, no?

Anyway, I was blown away. RnB is a style of music that gets little attention from me. I get so sick of the thousands of songs/artists singing about love, pretending they've got soul when I can clearly hear that the music has none. This couldn't be more different. And this album wasn't even even meant to be released!

This album was meant to be a demo for music folks that blossomed into a full work. She's just completed her next effort, PleasureVille, which I can't wait to hear (it's not on sale yet but the samples on her myspace profile are sounding great). In the meantime I can make do with the current album. Some of the tracks, like Silent Symphony, are very jazzy while others have a great hip-hop twist to them - check out All My Mistakes.

If your clicking finger is reaching to purchase the new Jill Scott anytime soon, stop and think first - By Day, By Night is actually the album you want to hear. Trust me this girl's going to be huge.

At first I thought this was going to be kind of cheesy but I think that's just the vibe I often get from latin beats (like Señor Coconut). I left it for far too long before finishing listening to the whole thing. It's actually really good (it makes me smile) - and would surely have been exceptionally original at the time of it's release. I mean hell, it is a covers album after all, I'm bound to find something I like in there. At the moment it's closing track, Brazil, that's really doing it for me.

I never really knew much about Enoch Light but apparently I really have a lot to thank him for. Not only was he a pioneer of stereo effects (in a time when most recordings were still done in mono) but he also created the gatefold album sleeve. The gatefold album sleeve! One word, legend.

It only takes a moment to understand the motivation behind what's going on here - it's a revolt against racism in America. It's done in a very uplifting way, you know, so it's positive sounding.

For the most part it's a gospel record. You get lots of great handclappy gospel rhythms which as you well know always goes down well with me. Though actually, there's some sort of weird synchronisation going on in one of the songs, I can't remember which. The claps on the left and right channels are just far enough out of line to be a tad off-putting.

The first half is upbeat then it gets more acapella based during the 2nd half. I really love the major->minor key changes in the harmonies - in Freedom Is a Constant Struggle it's used to great effect. Check out We'll Never Turn Back for that matter.

Interestingly there's a cover of Come By Here (more commonly known as Kumbaya) on here (ah, this has the crazy handclaps in it). I had never looked into the history of the song before. Seems there's a bit of debate about who actually wrote it. Turns out that a cheeky white reverend may well have stolen it and claimed it as his own. Sums up the tone of the album really, eh?

I was lucky enough to get to enjoy the Sunday Afternoon At Dingwalls reunion last year. If I hadn't gone along to that gig I wouldn't have given this album a chance (due entirely to my own ignorance). Whenever I've seen Giles DJ in recent years I've always found it a bit... safe. Just a bunch tracks based around latin beats - see what I mean about ignorant?

The only reason I went along was that a mate of mine (Adrian) insisted that it would be great history lesson. How right he was.

The atmosphere was absolutely incredible. All the old regulars had dusted off their dancing shoes so they could slide around the dancefloor with their slick jazz moves. The music itself was fantastic. See, I had no idea that this event spawned the acid jazz movement - though it's all so obvious now. These were the people that resisted the draw of popular dance music, choosing instead to evolve jazz.

The album is a great little sampler of what the party was like. The songs are all fun and very danceable. If nothing else you get to enjoy a bit of that history lesson.

I'm liking this more and more with every listen. At its core it's a big noisy jazz album, at times hectic like only a jazz lover could enjoy (check out the last 90 seconds of String Ray and the Beginning of Time, Pt. 1 for a demonstration). Annoyingly the EM version has 2 second gaps at the end of the songs which really ruins the effects of the transitions during the 4 part and 5 part tracks, ho-hum.

Every song exploits a different great off-kilter rhythm for its foundation. The orchestration is colourful, and the performance tight. Some of the melodies feel almost Eastern influenced (which currently finds favour with me).

According to their website:

We Are All From Somewhere Else is comprised of 3 distinct sections, and corresponds to a story involving an exploding star, cosmic transformation, a sting ray, the travels of the sting ray, intelligent conversations with electric eels, the destructive power of humans, the death and ascension of sting ray, the transformation of sting ray ghost to flying bird, and the transformation of bird to phoenix to rocket to flying burning matter to a new-born star.

I almost see what they're talking about - make of that what you will.

Ma Fleur is a beautiful album to be sure, but don't buy it with the expectation that you'll be hearing more of The Cinematic Orchestra you used to know and love. Gone are the hyped up jazz rhythms, sweet softly spoken melodies seem to have held a coup during The Cinematic Orchestra's absence.

It's all very ambient and mellow. In fact, there a only a few tracks that actually have a beat at all. As The Stars Fall is probably the most traditionally Cinematic song on the album, though Breathe - which features Fontella Bass familiar to us from Everyday's All That You Give - isn't too far behind and it's an exceptionally lovely piece of music too.

I can't fault the album really, other than to say it's not like anything they've done before - like that was ever a bad thing.

Don't quote me on this but I have a feeling these cats are on Ninja Tune. It's unfair to do but one can draw a number of comparisons with Cinematic Orchestra (I know, I'm sorry). Having listened to the new Cinematic Orchestra a bit more I think it's probably lucky that Loka have turned up on the scene to take over.

All instrumental, very jazz infused. Big sound. Big textures. Very pretty. The two part Tabernacle is probably the song that most stands out for me.