ALBUM
ROSALIE CUNNIGHAM
TO SHOOT ANOTHER DAY
Cherry Red
There used to be a time when bands and solo musicians didn’t play safe. In 1968 for example, The Beatles released their ‘White Album’ which alongside the Fab Fours’ radio friendly songs, had Country, Heavy Rock and experimental tracks. Also that year, The Turtles released an album called The Turtles Present The Battle Of The Bands, on which each track was supposedly by a different band with a different style. In the seventies and eighties, Queen, Kate Bush and Elvis Costello refused to be pigeonholed and of course, David Bowie was the master of them all, changing genres and his image as the world of fashion tried to keep up.
There’s nothing wrong with playing safe of course but if you do like albums that offer a whole new world of music, To Shoot Another Day, is the record for you. There are no boundaries here, only a constant to deliver great songs in Rosalie’s unique style and the lady herself has surpassed her previous releases in every way. Intriguing, captivating and engrossing, there isn’t a bad song on the album and just as you think you are getting a grip on it, Rosalie throws something else into the mix. Tempo changes, crescendos, songs that start somewhere and end up somewhere else and melodies that dip into and out of chord patterns like no other. Her vocals haunt you, taking you places you’ve never been before: many times, chillingly beautiful.
Not only has Rosalie’s songwriting taken a big step forward, so too have her recording techniques. Using her new home studio has given Rosalie and her partner, Rosco, the opportunity to experiment more, to take time to create sounds and this has, coupled with this batch of songs, has led to her best release to date. The production is something to behold in itself with clear separation on the instruments and a mix that jumps out of your hi-fi, demanding that you listen. It’s not over-produced either. Each sound adds something to the piece and although Limiters and Compressors were probably used, the music sounds neither limited nor compressed.
This album is non-disposable. Each song is inspired, both musically and lyrically. Together, they make an album that is greater than the sum of the parts but each song is also a small triumph. If you could imagine seeing new colour for the first time or tasting something like never before, that’s the kind of aural delight your ears have on the first listening. Rosalie may well have painted her first masterpiece and for what it’s worth, I haven’t been this enchanted by an album since Peter Gabriel’s debut in 1977.
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Track List
To Shoot Another Day
Timothy Martin's Conditioning School
Heavy Pencil
Good To Be Damned
In The Shade Of The Shadows
The Smut Peddler
Denim Eyes
Spook Racket
Stepped Out Of Time
The Premiere
Bonus tracks
Return Of The Ellington
Home
ALBUM
THE CRYSTAL TEARDROP
...IS FORMING
Rise Above Records
The 1960s, was the greatest decade of Popular (Pop) music. That statement is highly debateable of course but what is not debateable is that it did see the biggest shift in styles – genre’s if you like. On both sides of the Atlantic, in less than half the decade, Pop morphed to Rock via great songwriters, innovative producers and advances in recording technology; sound effects as well. 1967 was the Summer of Love. Remembered musically now for its greatest hits - The Beatles’ All You Need Is Love, Scott McKenzie’s San Francisco, Procol Harem’s Whiter Shade Of Pale, etc – there really was so much more going on and The Crystal Teardrop, have captured the very essence of that era.
Recorded on a sixteen-track tape machine at Mike Oldfield’s Tilehouse Studios, the band and producer, Liam Watson, went right back to basics, using old school techniques to capture sounds and effects to make the album as authentic as possible – and it works beautifully. There are swirling Hammonds, Leslie cabinet vocals, stomping beats, jangling guitars and wandering bass lines, all mixed together into a marvellous ‘Something’s happening’ aural experience. Twelve catchy, haunting tunes of pure psychedelic Pop that evoke memories of days you never experienced.
You’ll spot the influences. That said, they are influences and not pastiches or copying what has gone before. The dreaminess of the last couple of years of the 60s immediately comes to mind from the opening track which has a bewitching vocal line that floats over the top of tom-filled drum pattern; it’s coupled with the instrumental part having a stomping drum beat, a clever arrangement that pops you in and out of reality. Elsewhere, 1965/66 are evoked with the trippy Borrowed Time whilst Turn You Down is a more straight-forward rocker from those two years. It should be noted that all of these songs who have their roots in those four short years of incredible change in Popular music, do not feel like a cherry-picked patchwork. The album, as a whole, is fluid and it’s a massive credit to the band and producer who have unified all the elements into a coherent, very enjoyable record that stands on its own merit.
Fashions and trends come and go in the music business and the good ones come around again every once in a while. The late sixties and early seventies are long overdue for a resurgence – maybe because they were so good the first time around – and The Crystal Teardrop are set to front it. At the risk of being too clichéd, this is a fab-groovy record that deserves your attention. Take a trip down Memory Lane with them, without being there in the first place.
Track List
Colours Changing
Through With You
Borrowed Time
The Rain Parade
Two Hearts
For One More Day
Into The Unknown
Last Chance
Turn You Down
Stealing Suggestions
Nine Times Nine
…Is Forming