Album Night.

07/04/2020

Benjamin Booker - The Corner Hotel, Melbourne (2018)

Part 1:
It was clear for all to see that Benjamin Booker is an artist that puts everyone ounce of feeling, every muscle within his body into his music and his performances. He embodies the spirit of his home New Orleans, where is music is very much a part of what you do and who you are. He opened his set with a reworked version of Have You Seen My Son and the crowd was in the palm of his hand from there.

Part 2:
After four or five tracks he whipped off his 1963 Epiphone Olympic, and exploded as if the six strings were weighing him down. The next few songs he grooved, he bounced, he wailed and serenaded the crowd at another level. Hello Benjamin!

Included in this phase of the set was title track from his new album Witness. Bordering on a slow jam, and bordering on gospel it's a great example of his roots in soul, blues and rock.

Part 3:
The guitar is back to close the set and the crowd is now buzzing... they've had 50 mins of smooth blues, and frenetic garage rock and are now starting to realise the sets coming to a close and they better make the most of the next few tracks.

Booker's energy is going through the roof, and his infectious smile gives the indication performing these songs feels really good.
Violent Shiver is that one song that everyone finds their voice for. Clocking in at 2 mins 45, it feels a lot quicker as the lick at the start sets the pace.

Wicked Waters and Old Friends were highlights. Right On You and Motivation only gave me more motivation to immerse yourself in both of his albums.

Knowing the words wasn't important, enjoying yourself was. This was the kind of gig you went to because you really like the artist, and you walk away loving them.

@ Corner Hotel

21/11/2018

Person 1: "Foo Fighters for the fourth time? They must be good?"

Person 2: "Yeh. They're pretty good."

06/11/2018

Yes, please.

18/10/2018

If Oasis, Arctic Monkeys and The Strokes were playing... my word.

17/10/2018

Who else is excited about Bohemian Rhapsody hitting cinemas soon?

The story of Montreal. Here is why you can watch it now in such spectacular quality. http://www.brianmay.com/brian/brianssb/brianssboct07b.html Saul Swimmer ...

02/10/2018

Pink Floyd - The Wall (1979)

I'm in Beijing, and I've just visited the Great Wall of China. So how could I not review this classic from Pink Floyd.

The Wall is ahead of it's time. Made in 1979, it borrows a variety of different sounds and weaves them seamlessly into the record, something that many other bands would not be doing until many years later. Just as the wall, built mainly during the Ming Dynasty, still has architects marvelling.

It's long. The Wall clocks in at just over an hour twenty minutes. And although this doesn't quite amount to the 21,000km of its mate, these 26 tracks are just as impressive.

It's winding and undulating. Peaks and troughs between the tracks flow just like the wall does over the mountainside. Goodbye Blue Sky is in stark contrast next to the moody Empty Spaces in both vocals and instrumentation.

It just keeps going. There is no rest for the wicked, and just like a hike along the wall you don't really have much time for a rest between tracks. Each one follows the last with dilligence, making it difficult to place exactly where you're up to.

Happiest Days of Our Lives has a short dose of bass and rat a tat drums before building up towards Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2. Which is a big reason why we're all here. Part 2, features the Children's Choir, which is now synonymous with the track. Genius. It also features some of the guitar highlights of the album with both riffs and solos, along with One Of My Turns.

Other highlights include Hey You and Comfortably Numb (brilliant title).

The Wall is a diverse album, but it delivers an outstanding time capsule of prog rock in the late 70s.

Like most, I've given Dad's copy of Dark Side of The Moon a few spins. But I'd never really given them the service they deserve. These few listens however have given me a new appreciation for the band.

So, which is the greatest of the walls?

Well, I'm going to sit on the wall on this one, because they're both pretty great.

@ Great Wall Of China, Unesco World Heritage

16/08/2018

All of the feels.

Best seat in the house.

06/08/2018

Joanna would drive quickly into the city... to buy the new album from Vampire Weekend.

Vampire Weekend have confirmed that the bands' as-yet-untitled forthcoming studio album is finished and in the process of mastering.

30/07/2018

Albert Hammond Jr - Corner Hotel, Melbourne (2018)

I just wanted be one of The Strokes... he is.

You could argue that Albert Hammond Jr is the most influencial guitarist of the past 20 years... I will.

He was the driving force behind the sound that changed the course of rock music for the better, in the form of the pounding rhythm guitar on the game-changing debut from The Strokes in 2001.

However, the fact he's built a very impressive discography in his own right, should never be far removed from conversation when discussing AHJ.

I've given his latest album a thrashing over the past week, and the songs from 2018's Francis Trouble did not disappoint.

Stand out track DVSL harks back to NYC underground. Far Away Truths is a singalong. Set to Attack sounds like a Lennon and McCartney classic. The riff on Tea for Two is filling but saves room for the cherry on top, the chorus as well. Screamer was heaving.

These songs translated to the stage with ease, and the backing of his very, very talented band more than helped. Even if I was secretly hoping he'd spend more time crunching out chord progressions on his iconic, white on white, Fender Strat.

He threw in older tracks In Transit, Caught By My Shadow (banger) and Side B**b.

He played with passion, he's deadly cool and he got up to more than a bit of mischief. The crowd hung on his every move and he dabbled in some very noice banter.

He absolutely shreds. He absolutely commands the stage. He is absolutely and unashamedly a true rock star. He was wearing a gold suit for crying out loud.

I was a fan of the icon. Now I'm a fan of the man.


Corner Hotel

25/07/2018

That’s it. I’m done.

19/07/2018

Why keep teasing us?

Liam Gallagher has written on Twitter that he forgives his brother Noel Gallagher and wants Oasis to reform