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BECKY AND THE BIRDS: ONLY MUSIC MAKES ME CRY NOW

(4AD RECORDINGS; 2024)

Before I attempt to justify my opinion that this Swedish artist has made one of the absolute best albums of the year, let me provide some context. While I have been a music reviewer for a few decades now, the most magical period of doing so was roughly from 2002 to 2008. In that first decade of the new millennium, I was a co-editor of PLAYBACK STL (which had a print edition for half a dozen years), a contributing writer to fLUSH (the predecessor of ZACHARY MULE, which you are reading right now), and a contributor to an all-Scandinavian review zine called IT’S A TRAP. I became something of a Nordic obsessive, kicked off initially by my adoration for the Norwegian girl trio Ephemera and fueled by other singular artists such as Stina Nordenstam, Bol, Maria Solheim, Efterklang and too many others to mention. I developed a theory that something in the cultural DNA of the Scandinavian countries resulted in a music-making process and production aesthetic that was substantially different from what we’re used to in America. Intimate, close-mic’d vocals and emotive detail in both performance and overall arrangement were two of the stylistic traits, I felt, and album after album bore me out on that. I fell in love with the sound, and though the industry and music zines overall would take major hits in the millennium’s second decade, I would never forget the musical bliss I experienced for some wonderful years.

BECKY AND THE BIRDS (THEA GUSTAFSSON) (photo credit: OSCAR LINDQVIST)

Becky and the Birds, the artistic moniker of inventive Swedish “songbird” Thea Gustafsson, have just released their debut, ONLY MUSIC MAKES ME CRY NOW, and it is an absolute sonic tour de force. Had this album come out back in the IT’S A TRAP days, I would’ve raved about it and tried to find a few similar artists to compare it to. But here and now, in 2024, this thing strikes me as one of the most crazily original platters to come along in years. And it’s just what I needed in this post-election nightmare when nothing makes sense anymore, up is down and black is white. What we have here is an adventurous, largely electronica-based cut-and-paste surge of energetic short songs led by a creatively driven young woman who’s been honing her compositional skills and production techniques for some years, and is now ready to serve us this heaping platter of stunningly original gems to help lighten our load, as she’s clearly done for herself. A strong sense of melancholy runs through this thing, and it struck me at times as a dedicated attempt to explore the dream state, or perhaps remain IN it, during the aftermath of some kind of chaos or pain. Every song moves past quickly and is PACKED with musical details, such as the beautiful piano chord progression in “I Made My Baby Cry” (and first use of real harmonies on the disc) to the low-level pulse that precedes an actual beat in “Everything” (where you hear the word “Damn!” uttered twice and the title repeated multiple times), to the hypnotic totality of “When She Holds Me,” one of the album’s true gems, where the repeated simple guitar chords and ethereal rise of wordless vocals are truly mesmerizing. Gustafsson’s lyrics are not always genuinely clear, but I think I heard the line “The world is wishing me well” in this entrancing song, and it struck me as poignant.

BECKY AND THE BIRDS (THEA GUSTAFSSON) (uncredited photo)

I wrote down the phrase “skittering, erratic currents of electronic sound” to attempt to sum up the musical approach on this album. Loops are employed regularly but are sometimes interrupted by other loops or sounds or Gustafsson’s own vocals, which by nature of being distinctly airy, sweet and sometimes haunted-sounding, provide a memorable counterpoint to the often technology-driven arrangements here. “To Trust You” is a video available to follow lyrically on the Birds’ website… there’s some distortion here and there, but you can clearly hear Gustafsson singing “If it happened once/Why wouldn’t it happen twice?” and this is thematically one of a number of songs dealing with relationship fallout and heartache. In the track “I Look At the Choices I Made,” the weirdness of both the vocals and arrangement gave me the impression that our singer cannot actually ARTICULATE those choices in a normal “conversational” manner, so she’s letting the music convey how tough that is. And in “London Is Not the Same” (the second supercool song of the year to express a personal change because of the U.K’s biggest city, the other tune being Taylor Swift’s haunting “So Long London”), the soundscape is flat-out weird and genuinely melodic in equal measure, something I quite enjoyed. You won’t learn WHY London is different now according to Gustafsson, but no matter… everything about this track is utterly compelling. So is “Anymore,” with its five-tone sequence played at the lower end of the keyboard preceding Gustafsson’s buoyant vocal, “I Made My Baby Cry” (which hardly needs many other lyrics to drive its mournful point home), the almost normal-sounding “Elsa 4-Ever” with its uncharacteristically solitary guitar picking in the background and a clear upfront vocal, and the remarkable “Celebrity//Don’t Leave,” a song that really got to me and that I should have listened to several more times before writing this review. My lord, this is one of the most original compositions I’ve heard in a couple of years. And Gustafsson sings it with some of the most bracing, powerhouse vocals ever laid down in this modern era. In the early part of the song, some of her phrasing is vaguely reminiscent of FOLKLORE-era Taylor Swift, an impression heightened by a male vocal offering counterpoint in the song briefly. “Take some time,” Gustafsson starts to sing, with an uncertain follow-up after. We soon get almost a literal spigot of unusual musical ideas flowing, spreading, forming puddles of sound you are trying to let your ears maneuver through until it all ends, in devastating manner, with her singing “Don’t leave me like this” several times, with the final one being stark and somber. I’m not sure I have heard a minute on ANY recent album as overpowering as this; it’s right up there with Taylor’s “How much sad did you/Think I had?” on her TORTURED POETS… album.

Becky and the Birds, just wow. I am deeply grateful to Thea and her focused, self-aware musical exploration on this debut for giving me the sensation of getting IMMERSED in and haunted by a new album again; it hasn’t happened for a while. This is incredibly original music, my friends… while it has elements of electronica, old-school R&B and even Hip-Hop in a few places, I can safely say you’ve never heard anything like this before. It’s music made, I think, out of chaos and pain, with a sense that the biggest things we want to say in life… out of lost love, a sense of helplessness, a sense of extreme hurt and disbelief and more… perhaps can’t really be said completely. There are only FRAGMENTS of emotion possible, tossed-off comments, and the dream state, where deep wishes collide with nightmares and unendurable sorrows. I can’t know exactly what Thea Gustafsson has been through anymore than she can know the anguish I have felt for months, myself. But I can nod, knowingly at her declaration that “Only music can make me cry now.” And let me add that I have a feeling only THIS music will make me tear up for a while… it’s beautiful, unsettling, crazy, non-linear and deeply soothing all at the same time. Becky and the Birds have truly made one of the most distinctive albums of the year… it has helped me FIND a little something that I had lost in myself, and I am grateful.

TALKING HEADS: TALKING HEADS 77

(RHINO RECORDS/SIRE RECORDS; 2024 box set reissue)

Not many New Wave bands of the ‘70s and ‘80s have the sterling reputation and dedicated fan base of Talking Heads. There are reasons for that. The quartet – lead singer and guitarist David Byrne, ace rhythm section Chris Frantz on drums and wife Tina Weymouth on bass, and multi-instrumentalist (often keyboard player) Jerry Harrison – had uncommonly good instincts, just the right amount of quirky unpredictability in their music, and the good fortune to do their most significant collaborations with other master artists (Brian Eno and filmmaker Jonathan Demme among them). I can’t think of another band from their era whose first five albums are all brilliant, fresh and still intoxicating to listen to, and sealed their reputation by making what is likely the greatest concert film of all time (STOP MAKING SENSE, which Demme directed), a giddily thrilling piece of work that was recently reissued to universal acclaim. Many bemoan the fact that the group called it quits in the late ‘80s due to Byrne’s restlessness and desire to go it alone, but this ensured that they would never become a watered-down or compromised musical entity, and that the reverence for their eight studio albums and two superb live albums would endure. T Heads fans are DEVOTED, and only some inter-band sniping here and there about perfectly understandable differences, caused some to scratch their heads in dismay.

TALKING HEADS (JERRY HARRISON, CHRIS FRANTZ, TINA WEYMOUTH, DAVID BYRNE) (photo copyright: MICK ROCK ESTATE)

While the Heads have been anthologized a few different times, a proper box set reissue of their first album TTALKING HEADS 77 is a welcome and wondrous release. The four-disc set comes with a handsome book that features essays by each member about the early days and the circumstances behind the recording of this album, with Tina Weymouth’s lengthy piece being particularly detailed and illuminating. The original album has been remastered beautifully… the innovative arrangements on stunning songs like “New Feeling,” “Tentative Decisions,” the utterly peerless “No Compassion” (one of my personal favorite songs of their early period) and the completely original “First Week, Last Week… Carefree” sparkle with clarity and musical pizzazz. You can marvel all over again at Weymouth’s distinctive bass, the disciplined arrangements and, of course, David Byrne’s undeniable attention-getting vocals and lyrics. The guy was and remains a stunningly original creative visionary. And yes, it’s fun to imagine those early CBGB’s attendees getting to hear “Psycho Killer” in its infancy, though it sounds fa-fa-fa-fa better here.

TALKING HEADS Live at CBGB’s, 3 March 1977 (JERRY HARRISON, CHRIS FRANTZ, DAVID BYRNE, TINA WEYMOUTH) (photo credit: EBET ROBERTS/GETTY IMAGES)

But speaking of the famed Bowery venue where the Heads and other legendary artists got their start, there’s an entire disc here that captures the group’s final appearance at the club. It sounds marvelous, actually… not tinny or inferior in any way. Byrne energetically shouts out the name of most of the songs in his inimitable manner (“The name of this song is ‘Don’t Worry About the Government!’”) and yells “Thank you!” to the excited crowd afterwards. You can definitely feel the vibe of the tiny but historic locale. And the highlights are many from this performance: I particularly dug such numbers as “Take Me to the River,” the rare “A Clean Break,” “Thank You For Sending Me an Angel,” “Pulled Up” and “Stay Hungry.” The band were totally ON IT here, probably very well-rehearsed knowing this was for a radio broadcast. A third disc in this set is a welcome collection of rarities and alternate takes, including “Sugar On My Tongue,” “Love (Goes To) Building On Fire” (their first single), “I Wish You Wouldn’t Say That” and two alternate takes of “Psycho Killer” among other cool cuts. And the obligatory but still great 5.1 surround mix for Blu-Ray rounds things out.

TALKING HEADS (DAVID BYRNE, JERRY HARRISON, CHRIS FRANTZ, TINA WEYMOUTH on THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON, 13 June 2024) (photo credit: ROSALIND O’CONNOR/NBC via GETTY IMAGES)

Everything from the bright red cover and strikingly minimal green typeface, to the essays and diverse photos in the book, to the still intoxicating musicality of this powerhouse band, is memorable and more than worth your attention. As much as I played this album when it first came out, I must say that diving into this reissue was revelatory all over again, thoroughly capturing the emergence of one of the greatest and most original quartets of all time. Rumor has it there may be a box like this to come for each of their classic albums. Talking Heads are one of the few entities that deserve that kind of comprehensive approach.

JON ANDERSON AND THE BAND GEEKS: TRUE

(Frontiers Records; 2024)

The advance word came quickly with this album: It sounded like a new Yes album, and Jon Anderson’s voice was in remarkable form. Could one dare hope that both those things were true? In a word, YES! When Anderson teamed up with some enthusiastic New York musicians to make an album that would reflect his renewed songwriting enthusiasm and belief in the lush electrifying sound he helped make famous in the ‘70s, you’d be forgiven for a little skepticism. His parent group had failed to recapture the proggy glory days of classics like CLOSE TO THE EDGE and GOING FOR THE ONE in their post-Anderson projects, and Anderson himself had been mostly inconsistent in his solo releases, though all had their moments. But wow, is this thing impressive! Close your eyes and listen to a few minutes each of epics “Counties and Countries” and “Once Upon a Dream,” and I guarantee you that you’ll be happily taken back to the bygone era when Jon, Chris Squire, Steve Howe, Rick Wakeman and Alan White (or Bill Bruford, if you prefer) powered the “classic lineup” to stratospheric prog heights that may never be surpassed for their overall impact. You’ll swear that some of the guitar lines could be Howe or that the pulsing bass in “Shine On” is not an imitation, but certainly a nod to the great Chris Squire. “Take me to this world of energy,” Anderson sings in that particular song, seemingly not just aware of his unmatched legacy but knowing that his listeners long for this kind of sound again. The ten-minute “Counties and Countries” has the tried and true musical changes Yes were known for, with an ear-pleasing main melody, insistent lyrics about “the truth yet to come” and “the love yet to come,” an ethereal section that starts at about the four-minute mark and a Wakeman-reminiscent keyboard part in the final third that precedes a stirring, soft Anderson vocal piece that is absolutely lovely, and familiar in the best possible way. “You Are Everyone” (a perfect starter), “Build Me An Ocean” and “Still a Friend” are remarkably economic songs that uncharacteristically stay around the five-minute mark or less, with Anderson showing amazing good taste in the arrangements and not getting too cosmic on us. “Make It Right” is an instantly likable song that features the practically iconic combo of a sparse acoustic guitar and Anderson’s clear voice, with Anderson winking at long-time Yes fans with a lyrical reference to “where the mountains touch the sky.” We all know the kind of sonic majesty that can occur when Anderson has mountains and the sky on his mind! And do you like Jon’s romantic side? How about the song “Thank God” here, which may be his most simple and direct love song since “Yesterday and Today” way back on the first Yes album. “Thank God I’m here, thank God I’m home, thank God you’re in my life,”” Anderson sings in the most touching ode to his partner imaginable. Bet this one will turn up in some couple-centric scenarios.

JON ANDERSON AND THE BAND GEEKS (CHRIS CLARKE, RICHIE CASTELLANO, ANDY GAZIANO, JON ANDERSON, ANDY ASCOLESE, ROB KIPP) (photo credit: STEVE SCHENCK)

But for old-school Yes aficionados, if “You Are Everyone,” “Shine On” and “Counties and Countries” haven’t already reeled you in fully, the 16-plus minute “Once Upon a Dream” oughta do the trick. This is an incredibly dynamic, chugging piece of Yes-ish glory that is truly majestic, featuring intricate overlapping vocals, a band playing with ABANDON, a stunning mood shift at about the 7-1/2 minute mark that is worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as a masterpiece like “Awaken” and even featuring another keyboard solo in its final portion that you could mistake for the great Rick Wakeman. “The dream is clear/Lifting you up higher and higher,” Anderson sings in his patented outward-looking lyrical aesthetic, absolutely succeeding in taking us “higher and higher.” And the simple phrase “the angel of your story” in the heavenly musical context here, ought to induce a few shivers. It has to be said that Anderson sounds absolutely warm, wise and WONDERFUL throughout this amazing album. Hard to believe the guy is 80; he sounds half that age! Anderson’s operating at a level of inspiration that I bet he himself would say he hasn’t felt in years. The nine songs here move quickly, with nary a dud, and with just enough genuine Yes stylistic elements of old to combine organically with a newfound economy of purpose displayed by Anderson and his merry band of totally sympatico geeks. This thing absolutely delivers on all fronts, honestly. In all but name, it’s genuinely a Yes album. “See it now ascending,” Anderson sings early on in the record, and later in the epic “Counties… ” you can hear him clearly sing the lyric “I said I would deliver.” That he does, in spades. TRUE is a good name for this record: It’s true to Anderson’s singular muse, true to a legacy that has endured for over half a century, and true to the wishes of Yes fans who might’ve doubted they would ever hear Anderson gifting us with music like this again.

BIG BROTHER AND THE HOLDING COMPANY: NINE HUNDRED NIGHTS

(EAGLE VISION/EAGLE ROCK ENTERTAINMENT/MULTIPRISES/PIONEER ENTERTAINMENT (59 minutes; Unrated); 2004) A REVIEW FROM THE VAULTS

Before I get into specifics, just let me say… this is an absolutely awesome package! The main section is a very informative, nostalgic 2001 hour-long film, documenting the rise and fall of one of the seminal bands of the San Francisco psychedelic era; the extras include four complete (and obviously digitally remastered) live performances, a rare audio track (pre-Janis?) of “In the Hall of the Mountain King,” interview outtakes from the surviving members of the band and others (which add a lot of history and insight that, while not necessary to the story, are nice to hear), and a bunch of other archival oddities (photos, concert posters, etc.). Ironically, the full band name on the case is “Big Brother and the Holding Company with Janis Joplin,” an appellation that plays heavily into the history of the band. So, having (hopefully) piqued your interest, let’s get into those specifics.

BIG BROTHER AND THE HOLDING COMPANY (Sam Andrew; Peter Albin; Janis Joplin; Dave Getz; James Gurley) (uncredited photo)

The documentary includes a lot of music, a lot of archival material (including interviews), and a lot of reflections on the late ’60s emergence of Sam Andrew, Peter Albin, James Gurley, David Getz and Janis Joplin. The new interviews untangle the myth from the history, making for an intriguing look at a band and a society continually on the brink of collapse. Additional interviewees include music historian and Patti Smith Group guitarist Lenny Kaye and psychedelic gadfly and post-Joplin Big Brother singer/producer Nick Gravenites (Nick also spent time in the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and Electric Flag, among others). Much is made of the Monterey Pop Festival and its backers, and their reasons for asking Big Brother to play. Everyone knows that the festival was basically a tool to package the San Francisco scene for mass consumption, via a documentary by filmmaker DA Pennebaker. What most people didn’t know (at least I didn’t) is that the musicians in Big Brother refused to be filmed; they’d agreed to perform non-gratis at the free show (as had all of the acts), but would not give the producers and backers the chance to earn a big payday at their expense. The powers that be went to Janis after the band’s performance and got the naive vocalist to sign a release by telling her that the band went over so well (that part, at least by all indications, wasn’t a lie) that they wanted them to do another set… this one for the camera. Janis, who may not have been as naive as everyone thought, may have been thinking ahead to her future… without Big Brother and the Holding Company. Contractually obligated by Joplin’s signature, the band performed the second set for the cameras, delivering a smoldering performance that actually set the band on the road to ultimate destruction. Digitally remastered clips from the film – “Ball and Chain” and the previously unreleased “Combination of the Two” – focus on Joplin, with the other four members pictured as nothing more than background dressing. Today, the band (and historians) cite the Monterey Pop Festival as the beginning of the end. But… I’ve already said too much! I don’t want to give the whole thing away, or you won’t want to go out and pick up the excellent NINE HUNDRED NIGHTS (the name refers to the nearly two-and-a-half years that the band’s most famous configuration was together).

BIG BROTHER AND THE HOLDING COMPANY (Live at the Carousel Ballroom, San Francisco, 1968: James Gurley, Sam Andrew, Dave Getz, Janis Joplin, Peter Albin) (photo credit/copyright: Elliot Landy/landyvision.com)

I will tell you about the extras that I alluded to earlier, however. The four complete songs featured are “Down On Me,” “The Coo Coo,” “Ball and Chain,” and “Piece of My Heart.” The latter two are from the Monterey film; the first two are black and white performances from, I believe, a German television show. Each shows the incendiary qualities of the group. One of the great misconceptions about this band – often cited over the last three decades as a reason for Janis’ departure – was that they couldn’t handle things musically and their ineptitude was holding Joplin back. This film, and especially these performances, debunk that long-held theory. True, the band may never have reached the heights it attained with Janis Joplin, but Getz, Albin, Gurley and Andrew were amazing musicians and had already carved a niche for themselves as one of the premiere groups in the San Francisco area. They were signed to Mainstream Records, a small but influential label, and were getting attention beyond the Bay Area. While no one can deny the talent and charisma of the Texas whirlwind named Janis Joplin, the boys weren’t exactly hacks. They were good! Most of the other extra stuff here just kinda reiterates what we learned in the film. Some of the background info from the interview outtakes adds to the story but, accessing them is sort of a pain: You can’t just play the entire sequence, as each question to each interviewee has to be played separately. That’s annoying, but a minor problem; not one that should keep you from picking up this package. The rest of the “bonus features” include a discography, photo gallery, biographical timelines and “Psychedelic Treats.” Even without the extras, this is a great addition to anyone’s DVD and music libraries.

SWING SET: LIFE SPEEDS UP (REMASTER)

(BLACKBERRY WAY RECORDS; 2024)

Mad genius Michael Owens is at it again! He has remixed Swing Set’s 1986 debut, LIFE SPEEDS UP, and then traveled to Abbey Road Studios (yeah… THAT Abbey Road Studios!) to oversee Andy Walter’s remastering of the 10-track masterpiece. Now, for all to enjoy (and the faithful who owned the original, to reminisce over), the album is available from Blackberry Way Records in all of its “purdied-up” grandeur. And… it only took nearly 40 years!

SWING SET, circa 1985 (DAN PROZINSKI, MICK WIRTZ, RIC STUDER, DAVE NUSSBAUM, MIKE NILLES) (publicity photo)

The Twin Cities’ Swing Set – formed in 1983 – were singers/guitarists Mike Nilles and Dan Prozinski, singer/bassist Ric Studer, keyboardist Dave Nussbaum and drummer Mick Wirtz. By the time they recorded LIFE SPEEDS UP two years later, they were a well-oiled Rock ‘n’ Roll machine and upon the record’s 1986 release, the band found their way onto the Top 50 college charts. Clearly, Swing Set were a group on the rise. Unfortunately, the success was short-lived and, though they released two more albums, the quintet went their separate ways in 1993. In recent years, there has been a mini-resurgence with several tunes showing up on the soundtracks to such hit television fare as STRANGER THINGS and YOUNG SHELDON. So, to quote the cunning linguist Bugs Bunny, “What’s all the hubbub, Bub?” Well, I’ma tell ya, Mister Bunny.

The album kicks off with the atmospheric “Blackout,” a mid-tempo rocker with a memorable, jangly guitar riff, haunting piano and some of the smoothest vocal work (with leads by Nilles) this side of Motown. The track was used in the second episode of Season Two of STRANGER THINGS. On “Laying Low,” Wirtz punches up his delivery with a more forceful approach behind the kit and the guitars take on a Cure-like feel while maintaining a fresh charm that appears to be Swing Set’s signature sound. Studer continues to impress on bass and his lead vocals are equally as solid. The vocalist merry-go-round is completed on “Runaway” as Dan Prozinski takes over those duties here, which offers a rather tribal backbeat and minimalist – but quite effective – instrumentation. “Victim” is pure New Wave Power Pop, hitting on all cylinders with a throbbing bass line, a couple of nice guitar solos and an emotive Mike Nilles vocal. This is the first lyric on the album to actually connect with me. The first of two “bonus” tracks is Dan Prozinski’s “Knock Knock,” recorded in 1988 with bassist Kevin Foley (Kevin, who played in Tommy Stinson’s post -Replacements band, Bash and Pop, passed away in 2011). The song features one of the best lines I’ve ever heard: “Knock me down/I’ve seen that fist before/Knock knock/Comin’ back for more.” If you’re a fan of the show YOUNG SHELDON, “Knock Knock” may sound familiar, as it appeared on the soundtrack. “Walking In the Night” closed out the first side of the original vinyl. It’s another Nilles-authored tune, with his vocals riding along the chugging, percolating bottom end supplied by Mick Wirtz and Ric Studer. There’s an unspoken danger in the lyrics… more implied than any literal threat of violence. It seems that this Swing Set is intent to up the ante just a little more with each song.

SWING SET today (DAN PROZINSKI, MICK WIRTZ, RIC STUDER, DAVE NUSSBAUM, MIKE NILLES) (photo credit: HUTCH)

Lyrically, “Lost Track” has a lot happening. With allusions and imagery of trains and railroads, the number also evokes a kind of mental anguish over a lost love (or love lost) and, maybe even a sense of hopelessness… or determination. Like I said, Dan’s lyrics, while powerful, are so (purposefully?) open-ended that the meaning may very well be dependent upon the listener’s mood. Or… you know, to paraphrase Freud, “Sometimes a train is just a train.” “The Dance,” with its odd, waltzy feel and pace, finds Ric back on lead vocal duties. Every instrument is played in exactly the proper way that a New Wave-Power Pop waltz should be played, from the understated (yet somehow powerful) stick-work of Mick Wirtz to Studer’s minimal approach to the bass, from the twin lead guitars of Prozinski and Nilles to Dave Nussbaum’s keyboard work underpinning it all before rising to the fore with a short, beautiful piano solo toward the tune’s end. Mixed only slightly louder than the instrumentation is Ric Studer’s voice, a virtual haunting from spirits past. The chorus adds to the forelorn, wispy feel: “And you know what I Know/And you see what I see/And I know what you know about me.” Next up is “I’m On Fire,” the hardest rocking number here; given that, it doesn’t abandon Swing Set’s Pop leaning. Mike’s vocals are not over-the-top aggressive, but Wirtz’s more adventurous drumming alongside Ric’s pumping bass lends that impression. And… was that an accordian back there somewhere in the mix or just a bit of Nussbaum keyboard trickery? Either way, it definitely works well within the confines of this track. “Sincerity” is the second and final bonus cut, with Dan on lead vocals and, once more, the late Kevin Foley on bass. It’s another hard-hitting rocker that somehow puts me in mind of U2, but without that annoying Bono guy (I must say, though, that I did like the stuff he did with Cher). The final Ric Studer vocal lead is “Rain On Our Parade,” a slow-simmering piece of Pop confection. While the tune evokes the feeling of a rainy Saturday, watching TV or playing games or… whatever one does to pass the time while waiting for the rain to stop and the sun to emerge from the clouds, it definitely is not the downer that the title implies. Last and certainly not least is “So Long.” The slowly-paced double entendre works, as any good double entendre should, on a couple of levels: “I’ve waited so long for you” or “So long, gonna miss you.” A fitting end to another solid release from Blackberry Way Records.

SWING SET, 2024 Abbey Road Studios mastering session (Michael Owens, Terri Owens, Andy Walter) (publicity photo)

The newly-remastered LIFE SPEEDS UP is available from Blackberry Way Records on CD or as a download.

DYER SHOTS, EPISODE ONE

SOUL ASYLUM: SLOWLY BUT SHIRLEY (BLUE ELAN RECORDS; 2024)

So, apparently Soul Asylum has a new album out called SLOWLY BUT SHIRLEY, their first since 2020’s HURRY UP AND WAIT. I have never understood this band and I still don’t. It was a period of music that I just couldn’t get into. Here we are at the end of 2024 and I don’t hear anything new, just a rehashing of the same sound that they have had since “Runaway Train.” Production on this seems a bit mono, but that could be because of the way they perform their music… there is really no punch in the recording, just a bland production. If you are a fan of their music from back in the day, then I suppose you will like this but… for the life of me, I don’t know why you would. 1 out 5 stars! It’s too bad that the “Runaway Train” didn’t take this with it!

CARNAGE ASADA: HEAD ON A PLATTER (HISTORICAL RECORDS; 2024)

Carnage Asada, a band out of LA, has been making noise since 1994. They have a heavy Punk influence and is similar in sound to Rage Against the Machine. Lead by founding members David Jones on bass and George Murillo on “words” (Murillo doesn’t sing, it’s more spoken word) alongside guitarist Tony Fate. The new album, HEAD ON A PLATTER, comes right out of the gate punching with LA Punk fury! Fate is relentless with his guitar sound. I like the production on this album as it works well with the style of the band. A few of the songs are in Spanish which adds to the coolness of Carnage Asada. I will give this a solid 3 out of 5 stars! It’s a fun album from a fun band, so give it a listen.

RON KEEL: KEELWORLD (RFK MEDIA; 2024

KEELWORLD is a newly recorded compilation album consisting of songs from Ron Keel in the many variations of himself, from his first recordings with Steeler in the early 1980s to the present incarnation of the Ron Keel Band. At first listen, I had to remind myself that I was listening to a Ron Keel record and not a new Bon Jovi album; I never realized how much they sound alike! Once I finished the album, I thought to myself, “Well, it’s not too bad, but not great. I probably won’t listen to it again.” I’ve listened to it over four times now. There is something about it that gets into your soul. The album starts with a track called “Hollywood,” which is a really good Country-style song from that period of his career, so it’s a good start and, by the time we get to track number four, we are treated to a Ron Keel Band song called “Five O’clock Shadows,” a banger of a tune that is very infectious. From there, it keeps going with rocker tracks like Steeler’s “Give Me Guitars (Or Give Me Death).” Later in the album, we get a version of Black Sabbath’s “Children of the Grave” performed by Keel and Emerald Sabbath (one of his many side projects), consisting (on various tunes) of at least ten ex-members of Black Sabbath (go figure, huh?). I will say that Ron has quite a voice and handles the track very well. The album ends with the song “The Last Bottle on Earth,” a slow, heavily Country-influenced number. On my scale, I will give this album a solid 4 out of 5 stars. Give this one a HARD listen. I think you will be surprised… I sure was!

My name is Dave and I love music!

IN PRAISE OF EPHEMERA’S MONOLOVE, A CLASSIC NORWEGIAN POP GEM ON ITS 20TH ANNIVERSARY

KEVIN RENICK REFLECTS ON MUSICAL PERFECTION

We live in a cynical world.” That famous line was uttered by Tom Cruise’s titular character in the movie JERRY MAGUIRE, and it pops into my head sometimes. There’s a lot of distrust, unhappiness and social division out there these days, and it’s hard to find your own personal “throughline” in a world that seems to be constantly struggling, with more and more individuals feeling trapped in some way, or just plain alienated.

EPHEMERA (Ingerlise Storksen, Christine Sandtorv, Jannicke Larsen Berglund) (photo credit BENT RENE SYNNEVAG)

Only chaos/Only empty days/Only thin skin/Only tension/Only make-no-sense,” sings Ingerlise Storksen of the divinely talented Norwegian girl trio Ephemera at the beginning of their fifth album MONOLOVE. The irony behind these seemingly gloomy lyrics, which are just as apt as ever 20 years after the album first came out, is that they are sung in an absolutely GORGEOUS and riveting pop song, “Chaos,” which opens with one of the most deleriously chiming keyboard flurries I’ve ever heard on a modern pop album. Sheer sonic beauty was already a hallmark of Ephemera’s career when MONOLOVE was released in late 2004; members Christine Sandtorv, Ingerlise Storksen and Jannicke (Larsen) Berglund had established themselves as supremely gifted songwriters and rapturous three-part harmony singers through the course of four previous discs, including successful outings like BALLOONS AND CHAMPAGNE in 2001 and AIR in 2003. But their winning formula only locked into place when they teamed up with producer Yngve Leidulv Saetre for an album called SUN in 2000. I will be upfront and say that this “formula” (an inadequate word to convey the lush and organic purity of this music) soon became one of my favorite sounds in the entire musical universe. And by the time I fully absorbed the depth, variety and spine-tingling perfection of the 13 tracks on MONOLOVE (an album that had a tendency to SLAY me on long road trips in my car), it managed to become my favorite album of all time. Yes, it’s THAT good and THAT personally significant to me.

It was a really fun album to record,” Jannicke told me via email correspondence this summer (I contacted all three women to get their feedback when I was planning this piece). “I loved all the songs that the other two had written at that time and it was very giving and exciting to record them. Harmonies and arrangements came easily and our producer (Yngve) understood really well what kind of sound we wanted to express.”

Of course MANY groups might say such things about the process of making an album they are justifiably proud of, but some kind of transcendent magic had to be taking place in the studio to result in songs like “On the Surface” and “Thank You,” two exquisite Ingerlise Storksen compositions that send shivers up my spine whenever I play them. Ingerlise’s vocal approach on these songs is “blue diamond” stuff in my book… breathy, intimate and heartfelt. Add the delicate string arrangement on “Thank You,” the enthralling three-part “mm mm” harmonies and the haunting lyrics about a person in the singer’s life who helped guide her journey (“You left your footprints in the snow/A guideline for me so I will know/The day I get lost/Which way to go… ”), and you’ve got yourself a positively transcendent art song. The harmony interlude that follows that first chorus is literally one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard on any record. And it affects me the same every single time I hear it. THAT’s magic!

But one of the notable things about MONOLOVE is how all three of the band members contribute peak, spellbinding songs to the mix. Jannicke gives us two of her very finest, “City Lights” and “Paint Your Sky,” stunningly arranged soft rockers that always change my mood for the better the instant either begins. And a secret, underlying component here – something I bring up in a songwriting class I teach – I would characterize as “aesthetic vagueness.” That’s when the listener gets the imagery and overall feel a songwriter is aiming for without knowing all the specific details of what the song is truly about, so you can insert YOURSELF into it. “I can put up a show, so simple and lame/It’s far from the same/But the line is thin/Between failure and success/There’s either more or less/You’re either out or in/The line is thin… ” Plenty to relate to here, especially when Jannicke sings the lyrics in a clear, plaintive voice and is soon joined by her two cohorts on a deceptively simple chorus: “Under the city lights I fail/Under the city lights I’m pale.” I have been positively transfixed by that chorus since the first time I heard it, and I am profoundly MOVED by the sonic blend the group and their genius producer achieve here.

“‘City Lights’ is a song about the very unfair differences in our world,” Jannicke told me. “The background sounds and voices in the intro were recorded in Tokyo or Osaka when we were on tour in Japan. I like how it sets the atmosphere in the song, both quiet and chaotic at the same time. What I mean to express in the song is that no one is better or more worthy than the other. We are all equally small and unimportant in this big universe, or big and important in this small world. The point is that no one should put themselves above others. Be a fellow human being instead, if you have the chance… ”

Jannicke plays evocative keyboards on this and many other Ephemera songs; in video clips of the band’s performances, she’s almost always behind the keys, playing something distinctive and resonant. You’ll also notice, when you hear this album a few times, that just a simple percussion bit here and there or the way the bassline comes in at just the right moment, reveal an ensemble with exquisite taste and a unified sense of purpose. Everything sounds just so clear and right… The trio seem to be brimming with confidence throughout, apparently paying close attention to literally every detail of every song.

EPHEMERA, 2004 (Christine Sandtorv, Ingerlise Storksen, Jannicke Larsen Berglund) (photo credit BENT RENE SYNNEVAG)

This was a really busy time for Ephemera, with a lot of traveling abroad,” Ingerlise related. “So it was really nice to have a break from it all, and that we got to stay home for a couple of weeks recording MONOLOVE at Duper Studio. We were in a very creative and productive state, I remember – and we did a lot of live recording in the studio. Most of the songs were written on the road and in between, so many of the songs were quite fresh by the time we landed in the studio. This gave it all a new nerve and feel to the sessions. I remember it being like busy, calming and lovely, all at once.”

To read those descriptive words busy, calming and lovely all at once from one of the people who actually MADE this amazing music was enormously helpful to me, as I’ve struggled through the years to explain to the uninitiated why Ephemera are just so darn brilliant. While it’s always a subjective thing to evaluate pop music (or really ANY music) – as a songwriter myself and a guy who has been doing music journalism for nigh on 30 years now, I think I have a reasonably good idea of what constitutes “good” music. But very, very FEW things have transfixed me and soundtracked my very being the way Ephemera’s music has. And I’m certainly not alone.

EPHEMERA (Ingerlise Storksen, Jannicke Larsen Berglund, Christine Sandtorv) (uncredited photo)

Your music is what reaffirmed my belief in the possibility that people have souls,” posted one enthusiastic fan on the trio’s original web site, from which I extracted as many opinions as I could before it went defunct. He was probably responding to the same sincere vulnerability, compassion and unquestioning LOVE for the human condition that I find so compelling, and that these remarkable women inject into every song. Think of any movie scene that once gripped your emotions or any powerful moment in your life that still fills you with aching nostalgia, and that’s the sort of feeling you’ll find in almost every Ephemera composition. And MONOLOVE has more of those than usual. Christine Sandtorv, commonly the most prolific songwriter in the band, contributes six songs to the record, and they are mostly of a stylish piece, dealing with the uncertainties of relationships, the whole “trust versus love” dilemma and the simple challenge of being a vulnerable human being. Her songs feature delicate, often masterful acoustic guitar picking, tasteful string arrangements and conversational-style lyrics that anchor her songs. Even titles like “Do’s and Dont’s,” “Leave It At That,” and “Put-On-Smile” hint at the reflective approach these songs contain. That latter song contains one of MONOLOVE’s most telling verses: “I’m not in the sky/I’m not on solid ground/I cannot lie/But I know how to pretend/I’m not in the mood/Don’t feel like jumping for joy/Though I should be happier than medium okay.” Medium okay, wow! I know that condition, Christine! The primary musical element here is rather jaunty, with even Christine’s memorable vocal delivery sounding almost upbeat. But a strongly melancholy acoustic guitar arpeggio later in the song and some solemn but beautiful three-part harmony from the band nails down the real mood here for any attentive listeners.

EPHEMERA onstage (Ingerlise Storksen, Christine Sandtorv, Jannicke Larsen Berglund) (photo credit TORE SAETRE)

I think a lot was on my mind at the time, as it often is when you are on your way to becoming an adult,” Christine told me. “It was probably a rather dark time for me. I was starting to get tired of traveling a lot. I like being close to family the most. You can see it thematically on many of my songs on this album.”

Christine related how the sparse, haunting album closer “Long” was played at the funeral of her father in 2007. “It became too difficult to play it live,” she said. “Even though it wasn’t written directly for him, I felt that a lot of emotions in the song fit.”

The existential sadness and uncertainty expressed in tunes like this helps explain why MONOLOVE steadily ascended to the very top of my list of favorite albums. Every song focuses on something relatable and timeless, something your heart was aching to hear… though perhaps you didn’t know it yet. I’d lost many loved ones myself and was constantly pondering the meaning of it all, something I tended to do a lot on long car trips. And I found that there was no better music to provide the soundtrack for such contemplation than Ephemera’s. And they truly outdid themselves in that regard with MONOLOVE. You get a real sense, song after song, of self-aware fellow human beings creating ultimate musical portraits of what it means to be a tuned-in, caring person in the “cynical world” of today. Take Jannicke’s anthemic song “Paint Your Sky,” a tune that absolutely bowled me over the first time I heard it. The subtly beautiful, lilting arrangement provides a bed for Jannicke’s clear, almost matter-of-fact vocal addressing the subject of self-doubt. The spellbinding chorus soon kicks in and I have quoted it often through the years. It plays rather continually in my head: “Those you rely on/They seem to be pretending/You’re in denial/Go out and hold your banner high/Painting your own sky… ” It’s unutterably lovely, creating one of the group’s most distinctive lyrical manifestos in those last three lines.

“‘Paint Your Sky’ is a song that shows the mood I was in at that time; happy, self-confident and ready to express myself, without being shy or afraid,” said Jannicke. “I was tired of compromising (myself), which is revealed as a layer of vulnerability in the song. I love the playful bass and the deep electric guitar, and the light, insistent mandolin.” She’s right about the arrangement; it positively dazzles. The group’s harmonies are luminous, and this is sure to be one of the songs that’ll stick in your head upon a first listen to MONOLOVE. But in a stroke of conceptual and sequencing brilliance, it’s followed by an even more unforgettable song, which doesn’t seem possible at this point. “Dead Against the Plan,” oh my lord. Absolutely unbelievable how good this song is. To this very day, after countless listens, I become positively awestruck listening to this Christine and Ingerlise collaboration. I thought about pressing them on how this track came to be, then decided I wanted it to stay somewhat mysterious. Not everything needs an explanation; it’s enough to say this is a stone CLASSIC. I’m not sure I can think of a better example offhand of a giddily inventive arrangement, peerless vocals both in the lead by Ingerlise and in the group harmonies, and the truest form of aesthetic vagueness thematically in the service of a song about something that has gone wrong in an unknown relationship. “Something happened/You could surely have done without” is about all the songwriters are going to clue you into here. There are three or four SEPARATE earworms in this track, and I’m on record already as saying the recording should be taught in music classes at universities as an example of getting every single aspect of a song just about perfect. You know those music-related queries in social media where they ask you, “If you could only listen to one song for the rest of your life, what would it be?” If I wasn’t allowed to cheat and pick the entire ambient album of my choice, I would probably say “Dead Against the Plan” by Ephemera. Inside, I am laughing and crying at the same time when I hear this truly BRILLIANT piece of music making.

EPHEMERA (Christine Sandtorv, Jannicke Larsen Berglund, Ingerlise Storksen) (photo credit BENT RENE SYNNEVAG)

So at this point, I MUST take my hat off to Yngve Leidulv Saetre, the George Martin-like producer of Ephemera, who has shepherded every album of theirs since SUN at the turn of the millennium. He’s produced many other acts as well, including DumDum Boys and Kaizers Orchestra, and he was the lead singer of Barbie Bones in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. But I’m here to say that Mister Saetre helped this trio conjure absolute magic in the studio, and if I ever met him I’d give him a bottle of fine champagne or something to show my appreciation of his wizardry.

Yngve is the fourth member of Ephemera,” Ingerlise declared. “From early on, with our debut album GLUE (which he mixed and mastered), he understood what we were working on. Where we wanted to go with our music. Yngve is a very creative producer, creative in the same sense as the three of us in Ephemera. We think the same (at least most of the time), and he understands and catches the depth and the sense, as well as how he challenges us. With MONOLOVE we worked quite productive and fast, because we had such a busy schedule (in between touring). This was not an issue, because we were already on the same page, and knew where we wanted this album to go.”

The famed producer was tough for me to reach; I had tried twice before, most recently with Ephemera’s 2020 comeback album SEASONS, and wasn’t successful. But I got ahold of him this time and he spoke very highly of Ephemera, calling their previous collaborations “open, playful and inspired.” While mostly in sync with the group’s intentions, Saetre said that MONOLOVE posed a particular challenge overall. “It was in many ways a very ambitious project,” he said. “There were different ambitions from many angles, also from outside the trio. It was hard to try to unite all this into the wonderful tripod balance that to me is Ephemera.”

EPHEMERA (producer Yngve Leidulv Saetre) (photo credit CHRISTINE SANDTORV)

Certainly at this point in the trio’s career, pressure was coming from not only within as to what should happen next, but from the industry as well. The discussions must have been rather lively in the studio, but whatever tension may have occurred pushed the group to their highest creative levels yet. You don’t get a masterpiece like MONOLOVE without many, many factors coming together to influence the result. Other musicians have contributed to Ephemera albums in the past, but the sometimes more complex arrangements on their fifth full-length feature contributions from well-known Norwegian players Thomas Dahl and Julian Berntsen (for whom Ingerlise recorded a duet called “The Park 1920”), among others; both are credited on some of the lush strings that the album features, though it is difficult to read the tiny credits on the CD sleeve. My favorite credit reads “Bits and pieces of sound on just about every track,” which is how one of Yngve Saetre’s credits reads. And we also learn that “Long” was recorded live at the producer’s apartment, which helps explain the ambient birdsong and other outside sounds that effectively adorn that song, ending the album with a particularly evocative flourish. Not to mention revealing what a hands-on producer Yngve clearly was. Without making this article longer than it already is, I can only declare straight up that Yngve surely has something to do with the particularly evocative details in many of Ephemera’s catalog entries, two of my personal favorites being “Maple Tree” and “Bye.” To be able to listen to certain songs over and over and ALWAYS get lost in their beauty, takes a secret ingredient in the production, and as both Jannicke and Ingerlise pointed out earlier, Yngve simply has an intuitive understanding of what their songs are aiming for, and how a detail here and there can make them even more rapturous. I can’t know what “bits and pieces” throughout MONOLOVE were his doing, but I bet Yngve had something to do with the three-tiered descending harmonies on “Leave It At That,” or how in the next to concluding song “End,” in the lyric “I see us leaving hand in hand,” penned by Christine, the word hand is memorably repeated a few times in the last minute. And in songs that achieve actual perfection like “Thank You,” “Paint Your Sky” and “Dead Against the Plan,” the producer deserves some kind of award for sonic dazzling. I doubt that George Martin ever heard this album when he was alive, but had he done so, I bet he would have nodded and smiled.

I’m happy to hear you appreciate this album so much,” Yngve told me. “It’s always a good feeling to hear from somebody who found something of value in something one contributed to. Music has this direct connection to your feelings and you can’t argue with it. When you listen to something, you immediately recognize the way you felt when you got to know it the first time. I have it like this with a couple of other albums that were hard to make.”

I got the sense that Yngve is a modest chap, with an obviously strong work ethic. I wish I could have told him about the many, many transcendent moments on Ephemera recordings that I know he was at least partially responsible for. And to just THANK him for serving the trio so well… “Yngve always has good thoughts behind the work he does,” Christine related. “He allows us to be creative and try things out, while at the same time managing it all in a steady manner. We have never wanted to collaborate with any other producer, because we think Yngve is the best both as a producer and as a person. He understands us in a respectful way, which may have been extra important as an all-girl band.”

EPHEMERA, 2020 (Christine Sandtorv, Ingerlise Storksen, Jannicke Larsen Berglund) (photo credit: MAGNE FONN HAFSKOR)

We always put a lot of work, all our hearts and minds into the recording of an album,” said Ingerlise. “The devil and the angel are always in the details, and all three of us really love working with the minor details, the tiny twists and turns, sounds and feelings. I think we were all very happy with how MONOLOVE came out in the end.” She added that she thought it was “more mature than some of the other recordings. A more balanced album, from low and ‘heart hurt’ things to the more uptempo and feel good songs. We like it like that, some down, some up. And some songs in between. Like LIFE… ”

As a very dedicated fan of this amazing trio, I have often mused about their working process, i.e. how could they consistently come up with such beautiful music? Their ear for melody, the often subtle sonic detours in the songs, and, I must point out, the rather intoxicating precision of their singing in English… pure musical catnip for yours truly. It’s understood that most Scandinavian artists speak English rather fluently and can make music in that language as well as their own, depending on the audience. I absolutely ADORE hearing Christine, Ingerlise and Jannicke singing perfect words and well-constructed phrases in their soft, beguiling voices. There are many reasons why Ephemera’s music affects me like few other artists, and at least one ingredient is surely their natural, intimate vocal style, which is warm and comforting, eternally. I absolutely BELIEVE everything these ladies sing; there is never a false note of any kind. Listening to “Thank You,” “Do’s and Don’ts,” “Call Me Home,” “Long” or any other tune here is like having a special friend share something important and meaningful with you. Your ears perk up, constantly. The fact that the sentiments are couched in glistening, resonant pop tunes only makes the experience more potent. It’s easy to forget that human beings with their own personal issues and separate ambitions had to perhaps struggle a bit to record this stuff.

It was a challenging recording,” Christine acknowledged. “I remember a bit of frustration, with different opinions about where we should end up, together with a very strong desire to make something really good. Not too poppy and not too quirky. In retrospect, I think the album turned out really well.”

EPHEMERA, 2024 (Ingerlise Storksen, Jannicke Larsen Berglund, Christine Sandtorv) (uncredited photo)

Speaking for myself as a listener, I’m often fascinated by what the intentions were of the artists I like. It has not always been the case with “Artist X or Y” that their enthusiasm in public statements about their work correlated with my own level of appreciation. In the case of Ephemera and their sublime MONOLOVE disc, I soon came to the conclusion that I probably loved every single thing about this album more than they did! The platter contains timeless melodies, remarkably economical lyrics couched in rich, sparkling arrangements, gorgeous vocals both in leads and textured harmonies (sometimes occurring lower in the mix waiting to be discovered upon the umpteenth listen), and moments of such unforgettable emotional intimacy that I sometimes ended a listening session wanting to just say “thank you” to the universe and this band for, well, the SONG “Thank You” and all twelve other gems on this masterpiece. After any full listen to MONOLOVE, I end up feeling changed, and grateful. I hold the CD in my hands like it is a piece of jewelry or something, gazing at the cover photo of the three lovely musicians posing in a triangle-configured closeup of their heads, and leafing through the minimally adorned but classy booklet, soaking up every detail. And as an aside here, I want to say I still bemoan the devaluing of the CD and the “artistic presentation” in recent years. Yes, yes, I KNOW that downloading and streaming are the way most people listen to stuff, and people just don’t want to pay for physical “product” anymore. Phooey! To me, you simply CANNOT get the full experience of an album like this with a few digital downloads. Or, God forbid, “sampling” it on a YouTube video. I’d say the same about other artists I love like Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, Talking Heads and more. All of whom, by the way, are also featured in my “Top 10 list of all time.” A really good album/CD is a work of art, something to be savored, something to immerse yourself in.

And that is what I do with MONOLOVE, every time. I’m aware it represented the culmination of everything this Norwegian trio were striving for. They and their crack producer worked their butts off on this thing. They were all at a peak of inspiration, coming off a major burst of attention and ambition, and they gave the world this gem. But it was to be the end of an era. No more new music appeared for 15 years from Ephemera, and while 2020’s SEASONS was a welcome return for sure, and featured the genuinely surprising classic “When the Best Ones Are Gone,” which accidentally became a pandemic-era soundtrack, plenty had changed, including their own career trajectory. On a simple level, all three ladies were just involved in growing families and their regular careers. Is that anything to be sad about? But shucks, in my “dream alternative universe,” there would be a “20th anniversary reissue” of MONOLOVE the way so many bands today reissue deluxe editions of classic albums. There’d be a stunning new booklet with unseen before photos, alternate takes of album cuts and some rarities, and perhaps even a delightful live album of an Ephemera concert, all housed in a handsome, shiny box. What a great treasure that would be in my alternative universe!

EPHEMERA (Jannicke Larsen Berglund, Ingerlise Storksen, Christine Sandtorv) (photo credit: BENT RENE SYNNEVAG)

But back here in reality… I am writing these words not knowing if there will EVER be any new Ephemera music again (hope I’m wrong), knowing that most music fans have never heard of them (unfortunately there is a Swedish heavy metal band with the same name, making any casual search for “Ephemera songs” a problematic exercise), and knowing I am probably the only writer in the WORLD, at least in America, saluting the 20th anniversary of an album you can’t even GET as a physical product anymore except from sellers on Discogs (and I highly suggest you old schoolers who are intrigued by what I wrote here to get the original album that way). I’ll finish by saying I did not want to casually just share some “top 10” list in social media or elsewhere with the Ephemera entry at the top, and then have some people scratching their heads over my entry. “He’s putting this obscure group above the Beatles and Joni Mitchell? What’s up with this dude?” Well, it was a simple evolution over time, that’s all… an emotional connection deep and enduring and truly personal. Because yes, MONOLOVE, by the Norwegian trio EPHEMERA, is indeed my very favorite album of all time, I am proud to say that. And I salute it, for all it means to me, and for the potent and enduring quality of its contents. I’ll let Jannicke (Larsen) Berglund have the last word.

Music brings us all together. And I love it… ”

For more about Ephemera, here are links to their social media: https://www.facebook.com/ephemeragirls, https://www.ephemera.no/

STAR ZERO: EVERLASTING LOVE

(SELF-RELEASED SINGLE; 2024)

Star Zero is new band formed by five seasoned veterans from San Clemente, California. They have recently released several singles of what has been termed “Nu-Grunge” or “post-Grunge,” which is a not-unappealing melding of Grunge (generally exemplified by artists such as Soundgarden and Pearl Jam) and Nu-Metal (down-tuned-guitar based Metal acts such as (hed) PE, Deftones and Chevelle). The group, channeling the more melodic side of heavy music (Stone Temple Pilots and Alice In Chains immediately come to mind), features Josh Paskowitz, former vocalist for the Flys (1998’s “Got You (Where I Want You)”) alongside guitarists James O’Brien and Billy Murphy, bassist Jeff “Poppy” Poppenhagen and drummer Bernie Sanchez; they are augmented live and in the studio by keyboard player Reggie King.

“Everlasting Love” is Star Zero’s latest single. The quintet continues working with producer Cameron Webb (who has helmed projects by Linkin Park and Motorhead, among others) on a full-length album. The video, as you can see, is an artful, mind-bendingly trippy ode to the Old West; the music is stunningly melodic with gargantuan, beefy guitar and Paskowitz’ incredible vocals, evoking the memories of both Layne Staley and Chris Cornell (with a little Scott Weiland thrown in for good measure). This song, along with “You” and “King Saul,” has me excited for a full-length release! Make it so, gentlemen!

TAYLOR SWIFT: THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT

 (REPUBLIC RECORDS; 2024)

“Taylor Swift, Taylor Swift, TAYLOR SWIFT!” Say the name three times, really fast, like the Maitlands did with BEETLEJUICE in Tim Burton’s dark comic drama about hauntings, but instead of Michael Keaton’s titular character suddenly appearing to enact some supernatural nonsense, how about if Taylor appeared to solve your pesky relationship problems? Wouldn’t that be awesome? “This guy is obviously trouble,” the all-wise Swift apparition might say to you. “Get rid of him yourself by NOT responding to his text messages, or say something simple and direct like ‘Can’t trust you after last night. Think I better just tell you good bye right now.’” Or Swift could just quote from one of her many, many songs about spooked relationships, such as the motherlode you’ll find on her new album THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT. It’s fun to imagine such a thing!

TAYLOR SWIFT, Nashville Tennessee, May 07, 2023 (photo credit: JOHN SHEARER/TAS23/GETTY IMAGES for TAS Rights Management)

These days, you only have to say Taylor Swift’s name ONCE, anywhere, and the person next to you will likely voice a reaction. Everything from “Oh I LOVE her music, it’s like a personal soundtrack for me!” to “Man, I just don’t dig that kind of music, and I’m sick of hearing about her!” Taylor has become the most famous entertainer in the world and one of the most awarded of all time; she’s in rarified company, having become a self-made billionaire strictly on the basis of her art. When’s the last time THAT happened? Thing is, when any product becomes TOO successful, the army of detractors is just WAITING to speak up, to NOT participate in the kind of unprecedented enthusiasm that greeted Taylor’s sold-out ERAS tour, the boundary-breaking concert film made from the tour, or the widespread love for her most popular albums such as RED, 1989 and FOLKLORE. And she even won a record setting FOURTH “Album of the Year” Grammy at last year’s ceremony with her tenth album MIDNIGHTS. Commercially it has seemed like Taylor can do no wrong, and Swifties, as they are called, will defend her every move and musical change-up. So this has generated anti-Taylor commentary more and more in recent years, and even if it wasn’t a hateful sort of tone, some listeners have begun to sound jaded or just EXHAUSTED from all the Taylor product out there. Eleven studio albums now. Four remade albums in her notorious reissue campaign to stick it to Scooter Braun so she can own her masters again (you can read about that anywhere), with two more to come, probably. A concert film and a documentary. The ongoing ERAS tour. Alternate vinyl and CD versions of various albums with bonus cuts. Tons of magazines and books (go into any Barnes and Noble and you’ll find an entire display rack with nothing but Taylor publications). Photos appearing EVERY DAY and news updates of an ordinary human being who has to be one of the most TRACKED individuals in the world. You and I can NEVER know what it’s like to be at Taylor Swift’s level of fame. And you or I can probably NOT avoid getting into conversations about her, sometimes, with SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE. In a word, she is omnipresent.

TAYLOR SWIFT, circa 2020 (photo credit: BETH GARRABRANT)

So let me say, at this point, that I AM a fan. I have my own past with Taylor’s music that doesn’t need to be part of this story, but I’ve admired her sparkly pop craftsmanship, her often irresistible melodies, and her truly singular journey through the wilderness of pop music (and culture). I probably became a “Swiftie” when FOLKLORE appeared during the pandemic. That album grew on me quickly, and expanded Taylor’s sonic palette with indie folk stylings, third-person narratives here and there and a much more introspective and melancholy world view. I still LOVE that album and consider it Taylor’s best. It is aging really well. But we’ve had a couple more since, and now here we are in the TORTURED POETS era. This one seemed to arrive out of nowhere, long before the typical “calendar” would seem to indicate it’s time for a new Taylor release. But Taylor follows her own calendar, that’s for sure. So this thing arrived with a big splash, surprising even in-the-know Swifties by coming out, at least digitally, as a DOUBLE album – there being a batch of 15 additional songs announced as THE ANTHOLOGY the very day of release. Were fans ready for another 31 new Taylortunes?. If you read any of the grumblings that greeted the leaked early release, not ALL. Predictably, some listeners (and even a few popular reviewers) chose to vent their “Taylor exhaustion” at this point, and plenty of less than flattering opinions were voiced. This sort of thing rarely matters in the Taylor-verse.

TAYLOR SWIFT (photo credit: BETH GARRABRANT)

And quite frankly, I’m having none of it. As a musician myself and an experienced music writer, all I want to know is, does this new collection of Taylor music stir my emotions and make me think about things from a few new angles? The answer is definitely YES. It’s a more demanding album than some of her others, and there aren’t as many “bangers” (apparently that’s the hip word for an instantly grabby pop confection) as many fans would like. But TTPD is among Taylor’s most contemplative, introspective and melancholy albums. For my personal taste, that works just fine. But let’s get one thing out of the way here. Many reviews and fan commentaries have spent a LOT of space wondering which songs applied to recent Taylor beaus such as Joe Alwyn or Matty Healy from The 1975, given that Taylor clearly DOES write about her love life and LOST LOVE life, and has created a kind of intrigue about these things with her base. But I won’t be taking that kind of approach here. I’m going to discuss other things about some of the songs and how they make me feel. Who inspired them is not particularly important to me.

TAYLOR SWIFT (“Mine” video capture)

You’ve all heard “Fortnight” already; it’s a somber little dark-pop collab with Post Malone, featuring the memorable line “I love you, it’s ruining my life.” Plenty of us can relate to that more than we’d like. The title track memorably addresses the concept of the “tortured poets” Taylor’s self-analytical character and her less than profoundly inspired love interest think they are, by name dropping Dylan Thomas and Patti Smith, something that caused the latter to write Swift a note thanking her for coupling those names together. It has an air of deep sorrow and resignation, but on a personal note, I couldn’t help feeling tickled that some future music list might see me and Taylor Swift paired together because she discusses “typewriters” in the lyrics here, and one of my own best-known songs is “Goodbye Typewriter.” Hey Taylor, proud to be with you in that sure-to-come-someday reference! But anyway… the first tune to really stick with me was “Down Bad,” in which Taylor curiously compares the experience of being swept up by a compelling lover to that of being kidnapped and prodded by space aliens. A low throbbing synth tone holds our ears captive, while additional glowing keyboard sounds adorn other parts of the mix. It’s a pleasantly spacey production featuring regular Tay collaborator Jack Antonoff. Taylor harmonizes with herself throughout, a blend I greatly enjoy, and she also curses a lot in this song. In fact she curses quite a bit on this album overall. I make this point because many pundits try to speak about what a “role model” Taylor is, and how she often portrays what we think a “good girl” is supposed to be like. Does a real lady swear this much? Well, screw all that. She’s a human being and a woman and a visionary artist. No reason in the world why she can’t say “shit” and “fuck” as much as the rest of us. I first noticed Taylor’s freedom to swear on FOLKLORE and it made me grin. This uber successful artist, with all the material things a person could want and more power than any of us could DREAM of, is gonna just go with her REAL emotions, song by song. THAT helps make her more relatable, you see. Remember the lines “Do you see my face in the neighbor’s lawn?/Does she smile?/Or mouth the words ‘Fuck you forever?’” from the angry tune “Mad Woman”? Or the balls-out tune “Vigilante Shit” from her previous album, in which she sings “I don’t start shit, but I can tell you how it ends.” I guess the point here is that swearing is a pretty natural response to stress for most of us, and you don’t hear it in music lyrics that often outside the world of rap. When Taylor swears, it absolutely commands attention, as it does on the chorus “I’m down bad crying at the gym/Everything comes out teenage petulance/Fuck it if I can’t have him/I might just die, it would make no difference.” I thoroughly GET that this songwriter is putting the full emotion INTO the song. It doesn’t matter if the situation is ruling any part of her life anymore or detracting from her happiness. We’re allowed to experience the full disappointment and angst she expresses IN the composition, IN the sound. That’s when music really grips you and becomes ultimately relatable.

If “Down Bad” is a mostly effective and memorable tune, the first genuine classic here is “So Long London.” The song begins with several ethereal Taylor voices singing that title in a repeated, choir-like manner. Then the stomping beat kicks in with a simple but resonating synth pop reverberation. Whatever you call this style – synth pop noir might work – it sure grabs yours truly. As Taylor unspools lines like “I pulled him in tighter each time he was drifting away,” she achieves a perfection between sound, lyric and mood that had me marveling. The first time I shivered listening to this album was hearing her sing “How much sad did you think I had/Did you think I had in me?/Oh, the tragedy… ” Her voice is clear and upfront, the way I like it (Scandinavian singers typically mic their vocals this way, but it’s not always the case with American singers, who sometimes overdo the production). Taylor rarely overdoes the drama in her vocalizing, and that actually makes her a much more authentic and appealing vocalist than some give her credit for. I absolutely LOVE her weary sounding resignation here, as on this superb verse: “And you say I abandoned the ship/But I was going down with it/My white knuckle dying grip/Holding tight to your quiet resentment.” If you have EVER had a painful relationship or one that failed despite your best efforts, Taylor writes the ultimate soundtracks for such things, and this is absolutely one of them. And I personally relate to the notion of surrendering your attachment to a certain PLACE you liked because of the person you shared it with. In her case, London; in mine, I had a series of amazing times with a woman in Springfield, Missouri some years back, and now I can never experience the town in quite the same way. So you see, the SENTIMENT here is what is hugely relatable… apply “So Long London” to any place in YOUR romantic past, and suddenly this song gains emotional relevance. But it’s simply superb, every second of it, including when Taylor sings certain lines in double octaves, a musical choice we songwriters respond to right away when we hear it.

TAYLOR SWIFT, 81st Annual GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS (photo credit: STEVE GRANITZ/FILMMAGIC)

“But Daddy I Love Him” is a startling song lyrically, a co-write with the amazing Aaron Dessner. Taylor is fantastic at aiming the camera at herself musically, and freely being self-reflective. She started being more ruthlessly honest on her controversial REPUTATION album, when that whole Kanye insanity had taken its toll and a certain faction of her audience was turning on her. She had to shy away from the spotlight a bit, and it could be argued that the two sublime pandemic albums, FOLKLORE and EVERMORE, were an attempt to shift the focus from her own relationship doings and simply tell stories about people and their experiences, whether mirroring hers or not (sure, they did at times). When the publicity machine got cranked up to “11,” and that gigantic tour started after the release of MIDNIGHTS, Taylor had to be thinking about her level of fame and all the many, many things people were saying about her. Here is a woman, after all, who has her life (especially her LOVE life) under a microscope at all times, dissected to the nth degree. Who can withstand all that without going a bit nutty? And yet by all reports, Taylor is a completely delightful and friendly soul in person, interested in the same topics we all are, and wanting to just live her life as an energetic artist and make her mark on the world. She donates generously to charities, takes good care of her huge staff, has brought incredible economic benefits to every city she performs in, and is more than just “appreciative” of and openly demonstrative to her eternally reverent (and GIGANTIC) fan base. But the constant judgments from strangers surely has to take its toll. Hence, one of the most revealing and self-aware moments she has ever written appears in this powerful song: “I’ll tell you something right now/I’d rather burn my whole life down/Than listen to one more second of all this bitching and moaning/I’ll tell you something about my good name/It’s mine alone to disgrace/I don’t cater to all these vipers dressed in empath’s clothing/God save the most judgmental creeps/Who say they want what’s best for me… ” Just plain WOW. I had to read those lines a few times as I was writing this, marveling at how they appear in a slowly starting tune that appears to be about having to defend romantic choices all the time. Surely exhausting for the most famous woman in the world! And this recurring lyric is a genuine hoot: “Now I’m running with my dress unbuttoned/Screaming, ‘But Daddy I love him!’/I’m having his baby/No, I’m not, but you should see your faces.” A heck of a lot going on in this song, and the more you’re into Taylor, the more you’ll begin to truly appreciate what this kind of revelatory songwriting means in her career trajectory.

TAYLOR SWIFT, Sydney Australia February 23, 2024 (photo credit: DON ARNOLD/TAS24/GETTY IMAGES for TAS Rights Management)

I’m not that impressed with “Florida!!!,” a much ballyhoo’d collaboration with Florence and the Machine. It’s catchy, sure, but not really one of the album’s highlights. By the time you get to “Guilty As Sin,” you are probably becoming aware that many songs here are mid-tempo in nature, and there’s a “familiarity” setting in. That is what was probably happening with some of the early comments about this record – Taylor has found her chosen groove and is mostly going to stay with it. Production-wise, much of the sound is shaped by frequent collaborators Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner, and you can find some longtime fans grumbling that Taylor needs to work more with others. Personally, I LOVE what those guys add to her music. The trick here is, as a LISTENER, you also have to “stay with it.” These songs are multi-layered and rather sophisticated; they don’t always totally grip you on first listen. It’s worth it to give them repeated plays, and you’ll come to realize you are truly listening to an evolved artist, one of our finest songwriters, who is in an introspective mode that occurred at the same time she was outwardly experiencing the biggest successes of her career. And having to let go of TWO failed relationships while welcoming the promise of a NEW one – that being Travis Kelce, of course. It’s an awful lot, don’t you think? And these songs represent Taylor’s mindset over the past year and a half, maybe longer. They have depth and detail, and yes, they are worth your patience going through them all, if you’re a fan.

TAYLOR SWIFT (uncredited candid photo)

Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?” is another very self-aware Taylor song, more interesting lyrically than musically. But various lines from it will stay with you. “You don’t get to tell me about sad” is one of them. And this one had me pausing a bit to reflect: “I was tame, I was gentle ‘til the circus life made me mean.” Not to mention her repetition of that title, which at least a few times, she answers with “You SHOULD be.” Hey, this is a woman who got unprecedented revenge on former label boss Scooter Braun by going to the trouble and expense to RERECORD the albums she originally did for him, just so she could own the rights to her own masters. Don’t MESS with Taylor! That’s a message that has been coming through in various songs of hers since 2020, and TTPD is full of moments revealing that Taylor is pretty dang clear about who she is.

TAYLOR SWIFT (photo credit: BETH GARRABRANT)

A sparse, sinewy and rather sombre production is given to the short song “I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can),” done with Jack Antonoff. I like Taylor’s lower-register voice on this one; it sounds like it could have been on FOLKLORE or EVERMORE. It has some of that kinda vibe. So does the piano-centric “loml” (an acronym for “love of my life”), co-written by Aaron Dessner. This is a beautiful, epically sad piece that is going to make some fans cry. It’s full of regrets and the full-on confrontation of romantic failure, something a bit too easy for me to access if I let it. Lines like “I wish I could un-recall/How we almost had it all” and “Our field of dreams, engulfed in fire” are unambiguous, signature observations of love’s sad failings. “Love of my life” too often turns into “LOSS of my life,” which this song seems to point out.

TAYLOR SWIFT (uncredited publicity photo)

Taylor saves three of this album’s best songs for the final stretch; each one is a bona fide classic. “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” is the genuine “banger” on this record, a Tay gem. It seems to perhaps be about Taylor’s ability to convey an upbeat, celebratory attitude to her public while knowing that darker emotions are churning inside. She sings it with real joie de vivre, over a positively zippy keyboard run and a catchy rhythm. “I can read your mind,” she says, “‘She’s having the time of her life/There in her glittering prime/The lights refract sequined stars off her silhouette every night/I can show you lies.’” Doesn’t all of that but the last line sound like how the audience likely perceives her each night of the sold-out ERAS tour? But something else is clearly being expressed here. As the song reaches its conclusion, the most famous woman in the world sings, “You know you’re good when you can even do it/With a broken heart/You know you’re good, I’m good/Cause I’m MISERABLE!/And nobody even knows!/Try and come for my job.” Man, that last line is killer. Really, the whole song is. It’s one of Taylor’s greatest, most honest and revealing songs. An instant classic, probably. Fans will be talking about this one forever.

TAYLOR SWIFT, Nashville Tennessee, May 06, 2023 (photo credit JOHN SHEARER/TAS23/GETTY IMAGES for TAS Rights Management)

If you have read any reviews at ALL of TTPD, you’ll know that “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived” is one of the most talked-about songs here. It’s another Dessner co-write, and it begins with an audible sigh by our girl, like she KNOWS she’s about to lay down one of her most potent vocal and lyrical workouts ever. Doesn’t matter to me WHO this song is about; it’s plainly devastating, Taylor at her MOST wronged. “I would’ve died for your sins/Instead I just died inside/And you deserve prison, but you won’t get time/You’ll slide into inboxes and slip through the bars” is just one of the unforgettable verses here. While primarily a delicate and lovely piano composition, it soon builds into a dark synth-pop classic that reaches a pounding climax featuring such lines as “Were you sent by someone who wanted me dead?” and “Were you a sleeper cell spy?” I’m not sure anyone is writing better songs about betrayal and romantic deceit in the current musical environment than Taylor Swift. Songs like this simply KILL, and if you have even a HALF open mind, this one is gonna stick with you. And like millions of her regular fans, you’ll be wondering “who the fuck was that guy?” Taylor sings those very words in this classic.

TAYLOR SWIFT (“Safe and Sound” video capture)

The final “regular” song on TTPD is another major piece of Swiftian musical craftsmanship called “Clara Bow.” Utterly sublime. Over a potent four-note descending bass line, the lyrics explores the “It girl” phenomenon that has chewed up and spit out hot female stars for literally decades. The promise of fame and attention that talent scouts have lured young starlets with (the titular silent era actress being an early example), telling them how “special” they really are until the NEXT one comes along, is an undeniably oft-told story. The bridge is just a killer: “Beauty is a beast that roars/Down on all fours/Demanding ‘more’/Only when your girlish glow/Flickers just so/Do they let you know/It’s hell on earth to be heavenly… ” I felt a terrible ache inside listening to the song, pondering all the excited young women in pop culture history who were noticed and elevated to a special level of fame. But eventually abandoned. Taylor addresses this topic with searing insider wisdom, and the music is poetic and timeless enough to deepen this major tune’s four-star impact. And you want more classic Tay self-awareness? Dig the last verse, but picture some cigar-chomping Weinstein type about to address an eager new nubile actress or singer saying this: “You look like Taylor Swift/In this light/We’re loving it/You’ve got edge she never did/The future’s bright/Dazzling.” The music ends suddenly after Taylor sings that last word. The impact is profound. We’ve just heard yet another classic Swift song, and it’s NOT about an unfaithful boyfriend, or a lover who won’t commit. It’s about a potent reality for female stars in today’s entertainment industry, both aspiring and established. And how the biggest star in the world right now can take a moment to contemplate the whole phenomenon and make us feel its sadness and inescapable nature in three minutes of riveting modern music. That is part of Taylor Swift’s particular genius… enabling us to relate to things that feel HUGE and inevitable, but like we could sit and talk to her about them easily. Or to our friends. Because being a vulnerable human being MATTERS, it’s true for all of us. And couldn’t we ALL strive to do better in our relationships, and how we treat others? Taylor’s songs always have such questions lurking in the background, even if the answers sometimes prove elusive.

NOTE: In this review, I did NOT tackle the full set of songs contained in the digital ANTHOLOGY. Most of those songs are quiet and introspective, not dissimilar to Taylor’s two pandemic albums. But they deserve a close look of their own, which I may do at a later date. What I covered in this review is the material on ALL standard versions of Taylor’s THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT release.

IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING: KING CRIMSON AT 50

(DISCIPLINE GLOBAL MOBILE (86 minutes; Unrated); 2023)

In the pantheon of so-called “progressive rock” groups, you’ll always find discussion of such bands as Yes, Genesis, ELP, Pink Floyd and a few other titans of technological trailblazing and trickery. Prog rock has generally been revered and reviled in equal percentages, but that’s no big deal… EVERYTHING is nowadays. Mention King Crimson, however, and I suspect there’ll often be a pause before the expected opinion is uttered. There’s always been something DIFFERENT, something hard to pin down about this Robert Fripp-led ensemble. You can’t just say ONE thing about them. Were they the makers of that outstanding classic rock platter IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING, the one with the cover of an enlarged mouth gone wild and the immensely pleasing vocals by Greg Lake? The unpredictable sonic architects of challenging platters like RED? The laboratory where some of today’s finest musicians, such as Bill Bruford, Tony Levin (looking cool as heck in his segments) and Adrian Belew went IN and came OUT as changed players forever? The often tyrannical experiment waged by mad overseer Robert Fripp who expected DISCIPLINE (pun intended), tireless dedication and an impossible sort of perfection from anyone he deemed worthy enough to be part of his ongoing alchemical adventure? The answer: YES. To all of that. And as the amazing documentary IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING: KING CRIMSON AT 50 makes clear, there was a lot of suffering taking place to make that art over a half-century’s duration..

“I came back from making some of that music and my hair had fallen out,” said guitarist extraordinaire Adrian Belew, whom most associate with one of the most fertile and memorable phases of the band, from 1981 to 2009. “It was so stressful to be under the microscope that way.”

“It could be a very bumpy… and lumpy ride,” Bill Bruford offered about his time in the band. “Some people handle being winded, and WOUNDED, better than others.”

Guitarist/vocalist Trey Gunn, part of the band from 1994-2003, provides an even more memorable quote about the KC experience. He compared being in Crimson to having a low-grade infection. “You’re not really sick, but you don’t feel well, either.”

IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING (JAMIE MUIR) (screen shot)

Much has been written about King Crimson over the course of their volatile journey, and this documentary does a good job of trying to provide perspective on a fascinating musical story. A common element in any attempt to discuss the band is coming to terms with the uncompromising vision of guitarist/leader Fripp, who, as one of the most innovative guitarists of all time, had the right to pursue his musical goals and listen to what his ego commanded. But that was not always pleasant for the players, to say the least, and Fripp himself has often said he’s not always the nicest guy in pursuit of his musical ambition. Some contributors, such as percussionist Jamie Muir, didn’t last long; his work was mostly confined to the 1973 album LARKS’ TONGUES IN ASPIC.

“It’s a maelstrom of electricity,” he said in a clip from the film. “You’re in the middle of a storm, and you’ve got to stand in the middle of this storm and coherently play music. And a roaring, bellowing, regal animal tries to emerge out of something.”

IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING (ROBERT FRIPP AND “THE GREAT SILENCE”) (screen shot)

There are plenty of clips of performances in the doc, although maybe not as many as you might want from the early days. But it’s the honest interviews with the many fabled musicians that make the biggest impression. Some, such as drummer Bill Rieflin, are not around anymore despite a prominent presence in the movie (Rieflin died in 2020 at the age of 59). There are quite a few segments that feature Rieflin, and he’s one of the more affable commentators we see. “Urgency is one of the main characteristics of Crimson music,” he relates. We see that powerful vibe in clip after clip, and Rieflin is among those who apparently thought the relentless challenge of it all was worth it, despite the “constant pain” he was in during his last couple of years. Rieflin was quite a storied musician already, having contributed his talents to bands such as Ministry, Pigface, REM and Swans among others. He was passionate about what Crimson was doing and said he was “made for it” when asked why he stayed when it was clearly so tough. “Music can restore grace, if only for a moment, in a person’s life,” the drummer related. He could have been referring to both the players and the fans. The doc shows us numerous crowd scenes of Crimson fans, clearly enraptured, bobbing their heads or staring at the band in awe. There’s a substantial segment featuring a nun, of all people, expressing her rabid enthusiasm for the band. “It goes over most peoples’ heads,” one pundit declares. “It is quasi scientific. If you get it, you really get it. Something like magic happens. But the conditions have to be so perfect. To get there… it’s so fragile.”

IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING (ROBERT FRIPP) (screen shot)

The film does not shy away from showing how bull-headed Robert Fripp often was. He was often quick to get angry, dismissive of early incarnations of the band, and actually somewhat insulting to director Toby Amies. A long and painful moment near the end of the doc shows the director waiting eternally for Fripp to answer a reasonable question. I had to check my screen a couple of times to make sure the image hadn’t frozen… but no, it was just a long, long closeup of Fripp thinking, composing some sort of response. And one of the last scenes is a direct insult, with Fripp obviously NOT quite appreciating the inherent uncertainty of what Amies was trying to do… putting together a sprawling and ambitious doc about one of the most singular and unpredictable bands in the history of rock music. Amies makes a wise decision to feature so many players in KC’s revolving door talking about their experiences… a sense of the genuinely personal and honest comes through, from pride to abject misery at times. “I just started to hate what I was hearing,” admits Ian McDonald, a KC member only in their first incarnation. “The really dark things. I hated inflicting it on the audience.”

IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING (KING CRIMSON LIVE AT ROYAL ALBERT HALL) (photo credit: TONY LEVIN)

But as the passing of time (and the countless changes) have shown, King Crimson has a dedicated fan base, who LIKE the “dark things” and the less easily accessible elements of this wild and weird music. Fripp always has an intense look on his face in the doc, like he KNOWS that attaining musical transcendence is possible, no matter the hardships for the rest of the band (and, to be fair, HIMSELF) in trying to get there. KING CRIMSON AT 50 serves the fan base well and does a remarkably balanced job at portraying the tireless pursuit of aiming for the sonic UNKNOWN by a truly ambitious innovator and his band of (mostly) sympathetic comrades. Whatever your opinion of any phase of Crimson’s long career, this well-paced documentary is absolutely worth seeking out.


(EDITOR’S NOTE: As an aside for readers in the Saint Louis area, if you miss Crimson’s “live actions” or just want to see a really good band playing some very challenging music, there is a great tribute band called THRAK performing locally for your listening and dancing pleasure. Check out their Facebook page when you need to scratch that Crimson itch.)