STACK #146 Dec 2016

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MUSIC REVIEWS

Body/Head No Waves Master musicians Kim Gordon and Bill Nace create songs together as Body/Head. It's a neat two-part name that says a lot about the elegant simplicity and powerful complexity of their approach. Until now, Coming Apart was their only record, a conversation of improvised sounds and structures. No Waves is a natural extension of that album. Saved to tape in 2014 during Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, the high fidelity live recordings are presented less as songs, or tracks, and more as a single moment captured. Guitars and vocals are layered, processed, built. Melodies and rhythms appear, are submerged in abrasive waves of noise, and surface once more in different forms. It's a captivating flow of ideas that carries you from beginning to end, and back again. (Remote Control) SimonWinkler

Gillian Welch Boots No.1: The Official Revival Bootleg Back in 1996 Gillian Welch released her debut album, Revival . To celebrate its 20 year anniversary, Welch and music-making partner Dave Rawlings have curated an official bootleg, featuring songs they recorded from the making of the album. This is a meaty double CD offering eight previously unreleased songs, 21 outtakes, alternative versions and demos. If you’ve missed the magic of these outstandingly talented folks, start here, and you’ll soon want to catch the whole journey of music that has been a major influence on alt- country, old time and Americana music since. Songs that have stood the test of time and will continue to be timeless. (Acony/Redeye) Denise Hylands

Brian Cadd & The Bootleg Family Band Bulletproof Molly Meldrum once introduced Brian Cadd to Elton John: “Brian is probably to Australia what you are to England.” But Cadd is perhaps more our version of Leon Russell, an underappreciated musical great. “I’m just an ordinary guy,” Cadd sings in the title track of his first album in 11 years.

But there’s no doubt he’s a legend. He’s written classics such as A Little Ray Of Sunshine , Don’t You Know It’s Magic , Elevator Driver , Ginger Man , Woman You’re Breaking Me and Marshall’s Portable Music Machine (and auditioned for the David St. Hubbins’ role in Spinal Tap). Here, Cadd reclaims some songs originally recorded by other artists, including Love Is Like A Rolling Stone (The Pointer Sisters), I Still Can’t Believe It’s True (Joe Cocker) and Yesterday Dreams (Bonnie Tyler), and uncovers some new gems, including the beautifully boisterous Long Time ’Till The First Time . Just as Sharkmouth breathed new life into the career of his good buddy Russell Morris, Bulletproof shows there’s a lot of life left in Brian Cadd. In fact, I don’t think he’s made a better album; these songs have a spirit that can’t be denied. Not bad for a bloke who’s just turned 70. Bulletproof , indeed. (Caddman/MGM) Jeff Jenkins

Ronnie Earl & the Broadcasters Maxwell Street

Tommy Emmanuel Christmas Memories

Various A Life In The Sun

John Farnham and Olivia Newton-John Friends For Christmas It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, though Australia doesn’t have a great tradition of Christmas albums. But our two arguably most-loved artists have teamed up this year, to tackle tunes such as Santa Claus Is Coming To Town , Silent Night and The Little Drummer Boy . Many of the songs are absurd in an Australian setting – Let It Snow! , Winter Wonderland , Baby It’s Cold Outside and White Christmas – but Farnham and ONJ are in fine voice, having fun and injecting just the right amount of seasonal spirit. Of course, an album is for life, not just for Christmas, and this collection will expire on Boxing Day... until next year, that is. (Sony) Jeff Jenkins

Five years after his first collection of seasonal songs, Aussie guitar great Tommy Emmanuel gets in the spirit again with his take on classics such as Jingle Bells , White Christmas and Winter Wonderland . And he comes up with three new Christmas tunes: Christmas Time , Let’s Make A Christmas Memory and Christmas Memories . Emmanuel’s Maton acoustic is augmented by Annie Sellick’s vocals (she even manages to rhyme “Emmanuel” with “jingle bell”), while another guitar virtuoso, John Knowles, also pops up. Playful and poignant, Christmas Memories will work for kids of all ages as they wait for Santa to arrive on Christmas Eve. (Sony) Jeff Jenkins

Surf’s up! This 49-track compilation gathers songs from the soundtracks of 15 Aussie surfing films from the ’60s and ’70s, from 1965’s Surfing Roundabout to 1977’s Highway One , showcasing bands such as Tamam Shud, The Sunsets, Tully and six previously unreleased tracks from Python Lee Jackson. A highlight is Billy Green’s rollicking Bells Beach Stomp , with Mike Brady on vocals, sounding like a cross between Billy Thorpe and Doug Parkinson. Hippy and trippy, these are essential tracks for readers of Tracks . “I can’t remember when I ever felt so good,” Hans Poulsen sings in Getting Back To Nothing . Catch this wave. (Festival/Warner) Jeff Jenkins

Legendary guitarist Ronnie Earl pays tribute to his friend and former Broadcaster, pianist David Maxwell who died earlier this year, with this soulful blues/R&B album – a well-balanced mix of blues-inflected instrumentals and vocal tracks that feature the band's regular singer Diane Blue. The instrumental tracks – particularly the slow blues, showcasing the softer side of Earl's guitar playing – fit comfortably with Blue's convincing vocals on Eddy Arnold's You Don't Know Me and Gladys Knight's (I've Got To Use My) Imagination. Earl's unspoken love for his friend is palpable on Blues For David Maxwell . (Only Blues) Billy Pinnell

DECEMBER 2016

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