Walrus Returns... Again!

In Twelfth Place with Four Points is Declan A Walsh with Shut Your Eyes by Snow Patrol

I can't really say this is an outright bad song. There's cool things in it: that guitar motif is a neat instrumental touch that runs throughout the song, the swirling eddies of electronics that flit in and out are nice, there's an alluring sleekness and depth to the mix: there's stuff buried deep in there and painstakingly placed - like a harpsichord, I think? - sometimes barely perceptible, but, all combining for a deliberately Wintery tinge. And the drive of it is almost kind of krautrock-like, there's a hypnotic lull to it.

Almost kind of like... You see that's my main problem with it. There's good stuff in it, but I think a lot of it is auditory window-dressing, making up for a lack of really dynamic or interesting songwriting: it sounds great - but it doesn't really go anywhere. It's ultimately an interesting kind of groove, with lots of little details to embellish the texture of everything - but the whole package is flat for me and disappointingly emotionally inert.

In Tenth Place with Six Points is Leg End Reject with Unknown Legend by Neil Young

There's a bit of a demarcation line here in the category as I basically like all of the tunes from this point out and, bloody hell, there wasn't much in it between tenth and about third.

But, I probably, somewhat reluctantly, do have to give tenth to Neil.

I really like Neil Young - mainly shabby and messy Neil Young, like Tonight's The Night, or anything off Rust Never Sleeps - his pretty stuff doesn't do it quite as much for me, but I'm not deaf to how someone might adore this tune.

It's lovely, manages to be nostalgic without being naff and evokes the feeling of freedom, lots of time, and those wide open spaces. Great backing vocals too. And he's a master of those great, simple but solid as rock guitar riffs. This is a fine song, beautiful really, but I just liked another nine songs slightly more, right now, today, as I write this.

In Ninth Place with Seven Points is Irish Aris with Let's Do It A Dada by Einstürzende Neubauten

Ah, Blixa and the boys.

I would say I'm a fan of their stuff in general - you had my number there Aris - and have seen them in the flesh in all their glory, so I thought initially, I'd be placing this higher up the list, but, like Neil Young, there were just some other pieces that caught my ear a little bit more.

But, yeah, like this a lot. Definitely not as harsh and as out there as the earlier stuff - okay there is a bit of atonal noise, particularly at the start, but it's nearly family friendly by their own standards. And it's very interesting to listen to - with all the complimenting and competing layers of percussion, distorted this & that, I love that really flat and powerful kick drum sound and all the various bizarre noises, some of the sounds they find are superb: love that totally warped sounding whatever the hell it is that dominates for the last twenty seconds. I think the second half is more compelling than the first, with the bass becoming more strident and the chaos coalescing a bit.

I haven't a clue what Blixa's on about - even when he's speaking English - but does it really matter? I feel it man, I feel it.

Sorry guys, have been letting the side down a little over the last few days - just with work & RL commitments the window of time hasn't presented itself to sit down and start writing out responses to the songs - and it's going to be busy again for today and most of tomorrow: will get back on track again ASAP.

We are back tomorrow folks.

And this one is not a false alarm.

Good to be back, but, Jesus Christ, the site is becoming a real chore to post anything on, at least on mobile, with the constant hopping.

In Seventh Place with Nine Points is nachouser with F'olding Money by The Fall

A bit of an underappreciated gem this one. Suppose it was always going to fly under the radar coming from a band as idiosyncratic as The Fall, with a huge and sometimes obscure back catalogue.

Anyway this tune is a banger. In the interests of thorough research, I listened to the rockabilly original of this and it's gas how much The Fall took the DNA of the song and mutated it to no end.

You can still hear the 50's origin in the way the song moves: you can shake your rump to it, but where the original was more about the struggles of love, this one is snarling and pithy. The same lyrics in both cases, but with a totally different feeling and emphasis. In the original, when he's singing about throwing people out the window, it sounds like a funny aside - in this version, it sounds deadly serious and something the narrator does pretty much daily. Watch out outside world.

Despite that, or maybe, also, because of it - it's a fun song. I had this song on repeat a few days ago, somewhat "tired and emotional" as I shambled my way through the urban environment, in a desperate search for last minute, but, also, hopefully, thoughtful Christmas presents. That simple repeated guitar riff eventually became hypnotising and the whole vibe of the song felt painfully on point for my bedraggled state of being right there and then. Sometimes a problem with music can be a lack of identification on the part of the listener - but identifying too much, well, that, depending on circumstance, can be a problem too.

In Sixth Place with Ten Points is cdeb with Paschendale by Iron Maiden

I wrote up above earlier on about those halcyon days of my youth: the days of wallet chains, black hoodies and being called a "dirty mosher" by random people on the street. At the time I felt duty bound to instinctively like anything and defend anything that could be found in the rock & metal section of the local music shop.

But, I never got Maiden.

I liked - and still like - when my metal has a genuine touch of the devil in it. I like when it sounds evil, warped: fcked. And even though Maiden sang about the devil and the number of the beast and all that, I didn't buy it. They were the epitome of the naff, cartoonish side of metal for me, along with the likes of Judas Priest. So while they often used the iconography and some of the lyrics and subject matter of the dark - I couldn't take it seriously when they were doing it, especially with a big goofy looking zombie on all of their album covers. Give me a break...

Anyway, time has passed and, taking full note of the irony of saying this in the midst of a long-winded Walrus, I would like to think that I am not such a reactively judgmental prick these days.

And I do think when it comes to Maiden the problem probably does lie with me, as every single metal head I've ever met, whatever else about their tastes, has always had a soft spot of varying size and squishiness for The Irons. And I used to hate AC/DC for a lot of the same reasons: cartoonish, goofy, unthreatening stuff said the then all-knowing I. Until I accidentally went to see an AC/DC tribute act one night and having their most beloved hits blasted at me for over two hours caused me to have a road to Damascus realisation that they were actually genius songwriters and that I was a completely mistaken and utter fool. Blunt force trauma can do wonders sometimes.  

So, I've been secretly waiting for an equivalent moment of realisation for Maiden. Though these days I'd probably accept it more readily sitting down quietly on a chair and listening contemplatively on headphones, instead of at a thousand decibels in a hot and sweaty nightclub. So thanks, cdeb, thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to test those deeply held beliefs of my youth and with so little physical effort too.

Anyway, oh yeah... the song.

Look, I don't know if I'm fully converted, but I'm not repelled by this song. It is actually pretty good and at its best, absolutely epic. At first glance it contained a lot of the elements that would have traditionally put me off the band's stuff. Historical Battle theme: check. Forbidding length: check. Bright & clear sound, entirely devoid of grit or scuzz: check. But I could also tell, this one will take a while until the component parts of the epic make sense to me and I think this tune has a genuine grandeur to it that few could pull off so well and it's testament to the bands skill and musicianship that only a completely tone deaf eejit could deny.

It goes without saying, even though I've already said it twice and am about to say it again, that the song is long. But that's alright. Because it isn't boring. That's no small achievement and as I became more familiar with the song I had to admire how all the parts are interesting and exciting in their own way: that cool, sparse hi-hat and guitar intro, the descending guitar riff that disappears and reappears between sections, that spooky, extremely downbeat intro verse, which returns extremely vigorated a few times in the song, the genuinely soaring chorus, about three or four separate bridges, loads of duelling guitar, great melodic solos, cool varied instrumental breaks - the song is full of really good stuff and it all hangs together pretty masterfully. It's an excellent, thoroughly engaging multi-part epic.

And apart from the structure there's a lot else to marvel at. The keyboards and the strings - which I don't believe they, Maiden, use that often?, open to correction here - add a depth, a ghostly ambience to proceedings. And Bruce Dickinson's vocals are brilliant. So clear and soaring, but with the right amount of emotionality to really sell it. Love the climactic harmony vocals from 7:05 onwards. And you know what, despite all its bombast, I don't find the song to be cheesy, I actually think it's a heartfelt and sincere attempt to recount a historical event and pay tribute, now, even though, at times  the song is so inescapably epic that it can't help but unintentionally making the thought of drowning face down in muck in a trench sound like absolutely magnificent, heroically class craic altogether.            

In Fourth Place with Twelve Points is JP Liz V1 with Stay By Shakespears Sister   

I vividly recall hearing this for the first time. I remember being captivated by its distinct atmosphere, its eeriness and the sense of stakes in the opening parts: I couldn't fully grasp what the lady was singing about, but it sounded awfully important, far more life and death than what I was used to hearing on the radio anyway and the vocal melody was really memorable and she was hitting crazy high notes.. this is pretty class!

And then bang: that totally unexpected transition to that dark and sinister bridge. What the hell! That stuff was mind-blowing! I'd never heard a song do that before, just completely change like in an instant. It just became a totally different piece of music and it was scary! I'd never really heard evil or malignance evoked in a song before, but I got it: the first woman was like the light and good things, and the other woman - with the deeper voice - was all bad and wanted to get rid of all the good things: she wanted to drag people down into hell and stuff and keep them there, but somehow despite how different all the parts sounded, it all felt connected in some way. It was a kind of powerful moment to realise that songs could tell stories like that, that they could have extra dimensions and that they could paint pictures with darkness too.

So, yeah, to this day, I still entirely love that shift to that bridge. It's an incredible tune really, a stunner. Technically, the singing in the "light" parts is superb and there's something universal in those, admittedly vague, pleas to stay: something like a genuine fear of loss that we all can identify with at some level, even if the lyrical content is as, perhaps frustratingly, as all encompassing as possible. And, c'mon, the bridge is genius - and to combine the two parts of the whole together: lightning in a bottle stuff. No wonder it was a massive hit.

But, I have only put it fourth,which might seem low given how much I've just evangelised about it. I do love this tune, no doubt: It's a foundational text of musical appreciation in my memory, always: but it's not flawless. Sometimes, when I'm not entirely in the mood for it, the emotionality of it can strike me as a bit melodramatic, well, more than a bit. And, I have to say, production wise, more than most songs so far it's showing its age in some respects. 

I've listened to all of these songs a lot over the last while. That's meant listening in the car, out walking, with earbuds and also on some pretty decent headphones too. And some songs do really keep giving if you listen to them forensically, keep revealing extra details, or how excellently they were put together etc, etc and have grown on me like an untreated fungus.

I would say Stay is the opposite. It's an absolute stunner, overall, as a song, but it doesn't really get better, as such, the more you listen to it, at least not for me. And I started picking up on other things: the weird flanged effect on the main vocals, which does date the song and while I do love the bridge, some of the instrumentation on it is very basic really: the vocals carry it and are amazing, but the faux-industrial backing isn't all that convincing in its own right and the instrumental underneath the outro manages to be somehow bombastic and plodding at the same.

I know, I know. Extremely nit-picky. But this is my truth. And so while I really do love the song and will, as strange as it sounds, always feel a sense of connection to it and it can still send a shiver up of euphoria up my spine, I don't love it unconditionally.             

Happy New Year one and all, let's try to finish Category Two today.

In Third Place with Thirteen Points is Deja Bo with Killing The Blues by Robert Plant & Alison Krauss.

This song, on the other hand, is a real grower. 

On the first few listens I liked it, but it felt a bit somehow unsubstantial to me, but, as tends to happen, repeated spins led to me eventually falling for the song's charms: to the point now where I absolutely love it.

I suppose what let it fly under the radar for a while was its relaxed atmosphere, its unshowyness. Oftentimes, for me, there'll be a part in a song that I am grabbed by and that allows me a way in to start appreciating the wider piece of music: like a key to the front door that allows you entry to start exploring and getting to know somewhere.

Which makes it a bit more of a challenge when you have a subtle atmospheric song like this: where every part is designed to be part of the whole and to work in the service of evoking a feeling, an ambiance - nothing is out to stun you.

So, it took me a little while to recognise the beauty of the song's hazy radiance and to be able to tune my brain in to its frequency.

I love how nothing is over done in this song. It sounds quite lush and filled out, but there really isn't that large an array of instruments: a few guitars, bass, drums, the two vocals and that's about it.

The arrangement isn't trying to reinvent the wheel either, but the playing is as refined and as pristine as possible. The main instrumental break of the song: with the pedal steel complimenting and sparkling alongside the lead guitar, as it plays through a very languid, but still sharp sounding, guitar solo - which just follows the main vocal melody of the song - is incredible for its economy and restraint; while still packing an emotional wallop. And that one extra flourish - that final woozy mariachi variation from the lead guitar right at the end - is just enough for an extra bit of character and shade: a little bit of genius. And I love how the double bass runs through the song: so simple, so earthy, love how you can hear the acoustic twang of it the whole time.

Overall, the song makes me think of being in a cosy bar, or any room, after being out and about for a day, either working or not - and you have that good clean physically spent feeling in your body and you start staring, pleasantly empty minded, into a good old fashioned open fire that happens to be there. It's good, it's peasant, the blues of life still exist - but they've been killed for today. They've been deservedly banished.

Maybe then, it's no coincidence that I visualise the two voices as two wisps of smoke, twisting and turning towards the sky together in tandem. Man, they work so well. Once again, in a completely understated way. One of my pet hates is deliberate over-singing: Alison Kausse's vocals here are the complete opposite of that: they are so pared back, but - Jesus! - such genuine pathos, I will simply have to listen to more of her after this: just the timbre and tone of her voice alone brings a lump to my throat. And the fact that you can hear the years in Robert Plant's voice adds to the cumulative emotional heft of the song. You can still hear the vestiges of the ear-splitting cock-rocking younger man in there, but there's a fantastic lived-in, well travelled and worldly wisdom earned quality overlaying that. Amazing song.

That's twice now Deja Boo that your choice has really worked some magic.  

Sounds to me like all you have to do is listen to it a few more times!

Okay guys, down to the remaining four of the bottom and top two of Category Two:

Necro

Bogey Lowenstein

jluv

Rikand