U2 - The Joshua Tree (UK 1987)

An Uncle Roddus Album review

This is another of those records that I read about in Uncut magazine that was produced by Daniel Lanois. Sometimes you put a record on and it is just the right one for that moment and you just totally connect with it. This afternoon, as I was packing to go tramping tomorrow, and Mrs Roddus wasn't home, I put this on up loud on the Cyrus and was surprises buy how much I really enjoyed it even more than usual. I hadn't listened to this album for quite a while. I have most of U2's output and was a big fan initially before drifting away as they got bigger and bigger. Later I repurchased all the earlier ones I knew and also caught up with the later CDs as I was in a better position to enjoy their music. This was, apparently, the album that shot U2 into the stratosphere of fame and fortune, propelling them greatly towards being the biggest band on the planet. And deservedly so. This album kicks of with an awesome trio of fantastic songs that form part of the fabric of modern rock and which we all know so well. The fade in of the Edges treated guitar on the first track is fantastic and is the perfect intro to what is one of the greatest albums in popular music. I don't need to say much about this music, we all know it and many more qualified reviewers have said much more interesting things about it than I could, but I just have to say that I love this album more now than I ever have and I can emphatically give it 5/5.

Neil Young - Le Noise (USA 2010)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

Any Neil Young fan who has heard Neil solo on acoustic guitar will know that he has produce some awesome music this way. On this recent release(another Daniel Lanois Produced set, highlighted in the Uncut magazine article from the February 2012 issue) Neil goes a bit further, playing the entire set solo on his electric guitar with Lanois providing some other effects to flesh it out. Unmistakeably Neil, this album may not be as spell binding as some of his acoustic sets I have heard and overall the songs aren't his strongest and on casual listening  it struggles to hold my attention. On closer inspection with my headphones there are some interesting effects happening and the playing certainly draws me in in places. Some times reminds me of some of the guitar effects from the Weld album. Interestingly, the strongest track here is the acoustic "Peaceful Valley Boulevard". The recording quality is excellent. Rating 3/5

VA - Wanna Buy A Bridge (USA 1980)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

OK its rant and rave time about this ultra rare collection of UK post punk of which I was inspired to dig out of my hard drive by listening to the previous collection I reviewed. I am quite familiar with this collection, having found a vinyl copy of this many many moons ago and it becoming one of my favourite records for a time. This particular collection was only released in the USA as an introduction to Rough Trade Artists from the UK, so I'm not sure how a copy ended up here. A lot of  this stuff I was hearing on Radio U(our local student radio station) at the time and it wasn't that easy to buy it locally.

 Every song is a brilliant piece of punk, post punk or post post punk with some dub/reggae thrown in for good measure. Nothing commercial here but many  of these groups are now legendary in independent music circles. Many of the Women groups on this set stand out with awesome weirdness from the likes of Delta 5, The Slits, Kleenex, The  Raincoats and the brilliant Young Marble Giants. quite possibly one of the best compilations ever. 5+/5 

I had missed this record and was delighted to find a digital copy some time ago, but it has gone now and was never released On CD 

VA - We Ain't Housewife Material: An International Collection Of All Girl Punk, Rock & Garage

An Uncle Roddus Album review

Staying with the fast and the furious for this compilation which opens with the previous reviewed Betty Blowtorch and I thought this might be pretty much all along the lines of that band. I am pleasantly surprised to find this set a bit more diverse than that and even more so from the fact that these bands just aren't all from the USA or the UK. In fact some of the more interesting tracks are from the Japanese bands.  Several of the tracks belong to the Slits school of post  punk and other more off kilter sub-genres although My favourite is the full on pop punk of Elvis McMan and Ventra is Nine Inch Nails industrial. A surprisingly good selection none of whom I have heard of before and so I highly recommend this set, 4.5/5.

Betty Blowtorch - Are You Man Enough? (USA 2001)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

A bit off a detour from reviewing the Daniel Lanois produced albums highlighted in the last Uncut magazine with some thing completely different. Slut Rock could be a good description for this all female blend of Punk , Metal and Garage rock following in the footsteps of The Runaways, Girlschool and The Donnas. Plenty of clichés here and the singer sounds like others I have heard but there is plenty of fun to be had here rocking out to this full on music and there are plenty of good melodies to keep it enjoyable. I am enjoying this set, although I don't think it is as good as some of the other glowing reviews I have seen suggest and I will give it 3/5.

The following piece I found sums this band up well from Alex Steininger on In Music We Trust .com.

"Sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll, nobody emphasizes this lifestyle more than the gals of Betty Blowtorch, a four-piece band ready to rock, drink, and fuck. Imagine The Ramones and AC/DC, battling it out on stage. Now imagine that same scenario, put rocker women in the place of the two bands, and you have Betty Already.
Listening to Are You Man Enough? is humbling. No matter how big you think your dick is, Betty Blowtorch will laugh at its small size, belittle you, use you up, and throw you away, before moving on to the next sucker ready and willing to be taken advantage of by these rock divas.

The lack of substance is what Betty's all about. There really isn't anything here except good party rock, but unlike others who attempt the same thing, Betty is damn good at it. They'll make you hard, make your pants sticky, and make you want to get up and rock out. And isn't that what rock is all about?"

Johnny Cash - American VI: Ain't No Grave (USA 2010)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

"Ain't No Grave (Gonna Hold This Body Down)" (Claude Ely; credited as Traditional) – 2:53

Originally recorded by Bozie Sturdivant in 1941;[23] Ely's version recorded in 1953

"Redemption Day" (Sheryl Crow) – 4:22

Originally recorded by Crow for the album Sheryl Crow (1996)

"For the Good Times" (Kris Kristofferson) – 3:22

Originally recorded by Kristofferson for the album Kristofferson (1970)

"I Corinthians 15:55" (Johnny Cash) – 3:38

Based on 1 Corinthians 15:55: “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”

"Can't Help but Wonder Where I'm Bound" (Tom Paxton) – 3:26

Originally recorded by Paxton for the album Ramblin' Boy (1964)

"A Satisfied Mind" (Red Hayes, Jack Rhodes) – 2:48

Originally recorded by Porter Wagoner in 1955

"I Don't Hurt Anymore" (Don Robertson, Walter E. Rollins) – 2:45

Originally recorded by Hank Snow in 1954 and also an R&B hit for Dinah Washington the same year

"Cool Water" (Bob Nolan) – 2:53

Originally written by Nolan in 1936; most famous version by The Sons of the Pioneers in 1948

"Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream" (Ed McCurdy) – 3:14

Originally recorded by McCurdy in 1950

"Aloha Oe" (Queen Lili'uokalani) – 3:00

Originally written by Lili'uokalani in 1877; recorded by Elvis Presley in 1961 for Blue Hawaii

I just love Johnny Cash and now have all six of His American Recordings as well as the Unearthed Box Set.

Picked this up at Penny Lane along with the last CD I reviewed. You wonder what is left in the vaults of these recordings and whether they are just flogging a dead horse by releasing these last tracks that Johnny recorded in the last months of his life. I thought Vol. 5 was to be the last and he was sounding pretty frail on that release, so I wasn't in a hurry to get this(What I hope is) the last instalment in this series.

After several listens, this set, like the last, is not as strong as the earlier releases in the series, but neither is it disappointing. The subject matter of the songs is pretty melancholic and a little depressing in places but even in this frail state Johnny gives them his special treatment and I am still enjoying his awesome voice. Like the rest of the series, Johnny makes these songs his own and the recording  quality is superb as well as the musical backing.  Rating 3.5/5.

Buddy & Julie Miller - Love Snuck Up (USA 2004)

An Uncle Roddus Album review

01. You Make My Heart Beat Too Fast

02. Wallflower

03. Little Darlin'

04. You're Running Wild

05. Dirty Water

06. Draggin' the River

07. Keep Your Distance

08. In Mermory of My Heart

09. Love Snuck Up

10. Out in the Rain

11. Forever Has Come to an End

12. Quecreek

13. Take Me Back

14. It's Been a Change

I had several tracks from this husband and wife duo that I had collected over the years from several Uncut CDs and had grown to enjoy their take on country music very much. While in Penny Lane Records last weekend I was just looking to see if any more Uncut CDs had come in that I didn't have, but there weren't. I thought I would check to see if they had any Buddy Miller, not expecting any and when I asked Gary if they had any Buddy Miller, he knew exactly who I was talking about and led me directly  to this CD.

 These two compliment each other so well when they sing and I love that Male/Female vocal combination  in country music, especially when they sing with a real southern drawl like these two. Country Rock at its best with this compilation of material they had recorded from 1995 to 2002 and including the fabulous cover of Dylan's "Wallflower" which is one of the tracks that turned me on to them. Everything I have heard from Buddy Miller so far is just pure class and I really dig these tunes and rate this collection 4/5.

Peter Gabriel - So (UK 1986)

An Uncle Roddus Album review

Uncle Roddus had to make a trip into the city on Saturday to do some work related errands and other tasks and while there had the opportunity to pop into Penny Lane Records(the purchases of which I will review soon) and while picking up some supplies at the supermarket, spied the latest Uncut Magazine on the magazine rack, and it mysteriously found its way into my shopping basket(all purchases justified by the fact that due to the foul weather forecast in the mountains this Sunday, my tramping trip had been cancelled, therefore giving me some spare monies to use for other important procurements)

While relaxing today and reading through this fist issue of Uncut that I have purchased in three years, being inspired again to buy this by listening to the large back catalogue of free CDs I have from my subscription days, I started to listen to some of the albums that I have either on CD or on my hard drive that were referenced in this issue. So I made a list of albums I have related to the articles that I read and have decided that I will focus on listening to and  reviewing

that list over the next month or so. For instance this album  from Peter Gabriel was mentioned in an article about albums produced by Daniel Lanois, some more of which I have and will review soon.

So again Uncut has a big influence on what I listen to. 

Peter Gabriel comes critically recommended from my earlier Uncut reading days and I have had this album on my hard drive for quite a while and had never actually listened to it. Two hits  from this LP received considerable air play back in the day, being "Sledgehammer" and "Big Time", both being quality tracks that kinda stood out from much of the other radio dross at the time, but both of which never  really appealed to me. The same goes for the rest of this album. Although I appreciate the rest of the material on this album more than the two tracks mentioned above, with their well constructed pop/world music funky direction, I just find this not to my liking. It is well constructed and interesting music and deserves the praise it  received, but is just not my cup of tea. A Roddus rating of 2.5/5.

Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes (USA 1983)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

Classic albums from my past

The Violent Femmes may be the band I have seen most live(excepting local bands of friends or flatmates), having seen them a whopping three times in the mid 80s(Christchurch don't get a great number of concerts).

This wonderful debut of alternative folk from this acoustic trio of upright bass, guitar and drums, was a real hit amongst the group I hung out with in those early days of adulthood. We thought we were very cool knowing about this very hip band who didn't get played on the radio, and we could defiantly related to the lyrical content, with "Add it Up" being especially potent. Its funny how this album didn't do so well commercially but is considered a classic now(we knew it) and "Blister in the Sun" gets far more air play now on classic hits radio than it ever did back then. Another outstandingly unique album with its punky, country inspired folksy pop songs and still sounds great today. Roddus Rating 4.5/5 

Devo - Q. Are We Not Men? A. We Are Devo! (USA 1978)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

Classic albums from my past.

I am having much trouble trying to write this as I listen to this complete Masterpiece of post punk, new wave oddball rockin' music, as my body wants to move violently to these tunes I know so bloody well and the emotions of pure joy at hearing this stuff and finding that I still love it as much now as I did back over 30 years

 ago.  Another extremely unique collection of songs from this idiosyncratic outfit, who first came to my attention in 1980 with their third album "freedom Of Choice" and the hit "Whip It". This album I purchased off a friend of mine who knew I liked it much more than he did and it is probably the most played album I ever owned and was pretty worn by the time I was departed from it, of course I am listening to my CD copy now.

 The album starts off at a frenetic pace with the brilliant punky "Uncontrollable Urge" before hitting the stratosphere with an unbeleivable cover of the Rolling Stones "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction", fucking blows the Stones off the planet. The album weirdly rocks along brilliantly until we get shot into the stratosphere again with the utterly fantastic "Joko Homo, which is kinda the title track and starts of kinda jerky in its rhythm before settling down to blow our minds with the indescribable sounds of the finale. Side two is chocked full of   very cool music with its highlights being the two almost conventional sounding tracks in "Gut Feeling..." and "Come Back Jonee" before it gets weird again to finish the album. Quite possibly my no.2 all time favourite album and of course gets a rating of 5+/5

The Clash - Combat Rock (UK 1982)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

Classic Albums from my past

Defiantly album of the year for 1982. This one was rockin' our world and annoying our parents on many an occasion. Brought to our attention by TV and radio play of the smash hit "Rock the Casbah", this LP introduced us to other classics like "Know Your Rights", "Should I stay or Should I Go' and of course the pick of the bunch, the slow burning and unusual "Straight to Hell". The first side subtly blends reggae and funk with other elements to produce a very cool and unique musical statement. I detect a bit of a nod to Adam Ant on "Car Jamming" and I just totally love "Straight to Hell" and use it as a great track to appreciate the quality of my stereo system with, due to its sparseness and captivating rhythms. Side Two gets more funky and a bit weirder and I struggled to appreciate it as much when I was 15, but the jazzy horn overlaying the atmospherics on "Sean Flynn" are a highlight and closer listening to this side is bearing hidden fruits. A quick appreciation of this classic record and gets a rating of 4.5/5.

The Gordons - Volume Two (New Zealand 1984)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

Classic Albums from my past.

1. Quality Control (3:04)
2. Reactor (5:39)
3. Lead Room (5:27)
4. Red Line (3:36)
5. Identity (3:48)
6. Mono Flo (3:24)
7. Gone Machine (4:01)
8. Joker 9 (2:32)
9. Mengus Fugit (2:05)

It has been very frustrating that I haven't been able to get my hands on a physical copy of this album since I sold my vinyl back in 98'. More polished and better produced than their earlier album with plenty more melodies in the songs as well and without the extended noodlings of the previous album, a more concise musical statement. to some this was a sell out, but I love this album just as much as Volume One, still plenty of great guitar riffs and still a dark shading to their songs. Probably the nearest comparison would be early Killing Joke. God I wish I could blast this much louder as I write, but my headphones are broken and Mrs. Roddus is asleep. I rate this 5/5 and you can actually get a digital copy of this album Here, until someone actually has the good sense to release it on CD.

The Gordons - Volume One (New Zealand c1981)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

Classic Albums from my past.

1. Spik And Span (5:01)
2. Right On Time (8:52)
3. Coalminers Song (5:46)
4. Sometimes (4:01)
5. I Just Can't Stop (2:35)
6. Growing Up (9:37)
7. Laughing Now (4:10)
8. Future Shock (4:56)
9. Machine Song (3:27)
10.Adults And Children (2:14)

Welcome to the wonderful and frightening world of The Gordons. This is the first album from this awesome post punk, pre grunge Christchurch power trio. Apparently this album had a big influence on Sonic youth and Steve Albini, back in its day. A fucking' roller-coaster of bludgeoning guitar riffs and primitive grunge, although sounding a bit amateurish in places, this album still astounds me 30 years later. A bit too complex to be pure punk and sounding perhaps more like a primitive Tool, one of the best things to come out of my home town. This Particular release is the CD reissue with the last three tracks being from their debut 3 track EP"Future Shock". This album is still available on general release, so if you really dig guitar driven post punk, get it before it disappears again. Rating  5/5.

Blind Willie Johnson - The Complete Blind Willie Johnson (USA 1993)

An Uncle Roddus Album review

The Blues. The original acoustic blues. Blind Willie Johnson, perhaps one of the greatest proponents of early blues guitar. His music is deeply spiritual and at the same time quite haunting and his playing is just sublime. His very gruff vocals take some getting use to but the melodies he sang have survived well the test of time. Careful attention paid to his guitar picking presents many rewards and is just beautiful. After listening to the Son House track in the previous post I got to thinking about Blind Willie. So many of these ancient gospel blues are so well known, especially from the likes of Led Zeppelin, who, through their "interpretations" of several of the songs on this collection, made them household names. This set collects all 30 known recordings from this sublime singer and guitarist, recorded from 1927-1930 by Columbia records, who appropriately released this double CD on their excellent Roots & Blues series. For old recording like these the sound quality is very good, which helps for enjoying his playing. Rating 5/5

Son House - Pearline

This just came up on itunes and really captured my attention. 

Just  beautiful blues guitar, doesn't get any more Blues than this.

Joe Jackson - Jumpin' Jive (UK 1981)

An Uncle Roddus Album review

Classic Albums from my past

This album is fantastic. A group of  British musos lead by Joe Jackson doing covers of old  Jump jazz/blues from the 40s by Cab Calloway, Lewis Jordan and others. The ensemble playing is awesome, the production and sound quality is also outstanding and Joe is just perfect in his interpretation of these tracks. Quite possibly one of my all time fave jazz records. The opening track is my favourite and starts things of up-tempo and swinging but the slower songs also kick ass. I'm not sure when or how I came across this album, although i don't recall having it on vinyl, but I have had the CD for quite some time. If  you like some swinging jump jazz recorded with modern recording values, then get into this. highly recommended and rated at 5/5.

Vic Chesnutt - Ghetto Bells (USA 2005)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

Sticking with the Uncut artists from the "Sounds Of The New West" Compilation, this set from the late Chesnutt, of course, was another highly recommended by Uncut  at the time of release. Labelled Americana in a loose sort of way, this slow tempo record fits in the singer/songwriter mould well and frankly doesn't sit at all well with my ears. I just cant relate to his singing or get in any way inspired with his music. I think this must be an acquired taste of which I am reluctant to taste any more. Not really commercial and probably not going to appeal to younger music fans and stuck in the MOR, just like the last album I reviewed. Sorry to be so harsh as this is a well recorded and produced album but just not to my taste. Rating 2/5

Emmylou Harris - Red Dirt Girl (USA 2000)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

Another of the Uncut magazine artists I started reviewing recently from the "Sounds of the New West" Uncut CD. This album from Emmylou was highly recommended by Uncut at the time of release. A very contemporary  sounding MOR album. The sort of thing that any current artists of Emmylou's vintage could have put out in the last  10 years. A mix of styles here all subtly blended into a nice pop sound, although not one that  would  be played much on commercial radio. A well recorded and produced album and deserving  of some of the praise it received but it fails to move me. I find nothing here to get overtly excited about and it is not something I feel the need to give any more of my attention. I will rate it 2.5/5 not because it isn't a good record but because I don't connect with it.

Mt Aicken - Mt Blimit - Mt Cassidy Traverse 10th March 2012

Uncle Roddus Tramping Dairy: Tramp No 116

Mt Aicken - Mt Blimit - Mt Cassidy Traverse 10th March 2012

Last year I participated in an impromptu trip up Mt Aicken with the CTC, when our original destination became undesirable due to weather conditions. Earlier, while looking at the maps of the area I had contemplated the possibility of doing the loop around Aicken and Blimit and while on the climb to Aicken that day I was talking about it with one of the party, who informed me that he had actually done that particular trip and it was indeed doable. So when this trip appeared in the CTC trip calender I knew I must give it ago.

A party of four enthusiastic trampers arrived at the Punchbowl Falls car park, Arthurs Pass, just before 9am on a high overcast morning with a brisk Westerly wind cooling things down. On the track by 9am heading first to Aicken, we made fast time up, reaching point 1844 by around 11am where we had a short scrog break. Not wanting to hang around too long, as the forecast was for rain late in the day, we set off for point 1863, after which we started on the traverse between Aicken and Blimit. The going was very rocky, with a couple of areas that involved some rock climbing, but no equipment was necessary. We stopped for lunch somewhere around point 1832, sheltering from the cool wind behind a large rock. After this, the going was pretty good, with short rock scrambles here and there, as we cruised along and the wind stayed mercifully lighter. The two mountain goats of our party soon left us in their wake and we didn't catch them again until they stopped before the grade 14 rock climb just before Blimit. We then dropped down onto Punchbowl Creek basin to sidle below this rock massive, before scrambling back up onto Blimit its self, where we had a very short stay as the wind was quite brisk and the cloud had closed in. The rest of the trip involved heading along the ridge to Cassidy before dropping down the not too pleasant Cons track, which was not well marked higher up and involved a lot of steep travel on very loose rocks until the bush line. Back at the car by 5:45PM after a good trip of just under 11KM and around 1300M height gain.

A view of the ridge we will traverse taken from lower down on Aickens track.

looking towards the Waimak river.

Some nice easy rocky points to traverse.

Making progress.

Thats Blimit in the top center of the picture.

The view across to Rolleston from Aickens Track, a photo out of sequence.

Some views of the surrounding Mountains and Valleys.

A look down Punchbowl Creek from near Blimit.

looking down on Temple Basin Ski Area as we come off Blimit.

Approaching Cassidy.

Arthurs Pass from Cons track.

Looking back up Cons Track from near the bush line.

Another photo loaded out of sequence, the ridge we traveled.

Punchbowl Falls from Cons Track.

Uncle Roddus lagging behind on the uphill to Aicken.

Simple Minds - Sons and Fascination/Sister Feelings Call (UK 1981)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

Another Classic Album From My Past.

I seem to remember my first exposure to this band was on the legendary "Radio With Pictures", an alternative music video show that aired late on a Sunday evening. I think it was "Sweat In Bullet" they played and it caused some excitement amongst some of us at school the next day. Someone had even managed to tape it. "Love Song", I think, was the the song that started getting them noticed before they sky-rocketed off into the stratosphere of mega stardom with their next album. This album soon found its way into my collection and being the first issue I managed to get the bonus album, "Sister Feelings Call" with it. The album lived up to our expectations and became a favourite with me and a mate and led us to check out their earlier albums later on.

 listening to this now, I wish I had my headphones repaired to re listen to this some more, there is a lot happening here on this sometimes bombastic sounding arty electro pop. Plenty of creative use of synths  and programmed drums as well as the conventional instruments played. Quite complex music and very well executed. A very strong album and another unique record both then and now. The two monster tracks mentioned above were the more accessible and pointed the way to the next album, whereas awesome constructions like "The Earth That You Walk Upon" and the title track harked back to the experimentalism of their earlier work, although like all great forward thinking pop music experimentalists, they have made all of this album accessible. "Sister...." follows on in a similar vein but with mostly instrumental tracks and is as every bit as good as "Sons...." which pretty much makes this a double album. 

 The CD reissue I actually picked up in the United States while visiting there several years ago and unlike earlier CD re issues, has all the tracks from "Sister....", where as the back cover I posted above has two tracks missing(I was too lazy to scan my own CD cover). Another highly recommended piece of music history and rated a deserving 4.5/5.