Jeff Lynne's ELO - Alone In The Universe

(Words by Burra)

I'll admit this was actually my first time listening to a full ELO studio album, having only really been familiar with the singles (i.e. the greatest hits) of the ELO brand, but I've been meaning to check this lot out for a while. 

This is a really great sounding album, it sounds like I'm listening to a big, iconic classic rock record despite this being a moderately new release - it just has that kind of sound to it. I can hear an almost Beatles-sounding influence throughout the record, maybe leaning more towards a later Beatles/solo-era sound, but having known Jeff has worked with Beatles members on things in the past (producing the anthology singles, for example), I think it's a fair comparison to make here. 

A strong record though and one I can imagine has gone down very well with classic rock fans, as well as maybe picking up a few newer listeners. A personal favourite from the album for me is the track "All My Life", as well as "Alone In The Universe" and "When I Was A Boy" - a big-sounding modern classic that is well worth a listen.

Coven - Witchcraft Destroys Minds And Reaps Souls

(Words by Richard Lewis, Doomfinder General)

Coven are one of those bands that time forgot. They are pretty much entirely responsible for creating the occult rock genre (along with Black Widow) and had they been around today they would probably be huge, but since their debut came out in 1969 there was a lot of negativity around their lyrical themes. Instead, they were dropped from their record label and had their debut album taken out of circulation.

The main question with albums like this is are they actually worth listening to or are you just trying to be more elitist than the people around you? Luckily enough, the music more than holds up to the band's reputation. Powered by Jinx Dawson's excellent vocals, Coven cover all the topics that occult rock is still using today - namely witches, satan, demons, satan and witches. The opener "Black Sabbath" creeps and crawls along with a sermon-like quality, "Wicked Woman" gallops along with psychy guitar flourishes and "Pact With Lucifer" shows just how impressive a vocalist Coven have but every song on the album stands out for different reasons.

However, one thing which I think dates the album is the last track. "Satanic Mass" is a 13 minute recording of an actual satanic mass and while I can appreciate that 46 years ago people might have found it scary it just sounds cheesy listening to it today and there is no need for it to be 13 minutes long. But still, since it's just a recording and at the end of the album I don't feel it detracts from the overall quality of the album. Just skip it and enjoy one of the finest rock albums around.

Dead Meadow - Dead Meadow

Welcome to a world of fuzz.

Boasting one of the greatest (yet simplest) guitar tones that I have ever heard, Dead Meadow's turn of the century debut dreamscape of a record is a fantastic trip through a stoned, lush world of 60s and 70s influenced rock music. The opening track, "Sleepy Silver Door", is quite simply one of the greatest things ever put to tape. It's one of my favourite stoner-related tracks, with simple yet amazing riff, beastly guitar solo and epic lyrics: "Can't find a key to the sleepy silver door / I'm washed up on the shore of reality".

If you are prepared to wade through a swamp of steaming rock music, viewing life through the lens of a grainy outdoor camera that the BBC used in the 80s, I strongly recommend you some Dead Meadow. It is the perfect music for a serene low-dose trip on nature's finest psilocybin-rich fungi, to traverse forests and mountains - potentially barefoot - pondering the wonders of nature and generally just feeling really good about yourself and everything around you. 

I'll be quiet now. Spark up and love. 

Blood Ceremony - Blood Ceremony

Blood Ceremony's self-titled is one of my go-to feel good "doom metal" records (I use the term doom like that because I find that this isn't miserable enough to fall under the doom tag proper, although it does incorporate a lot of elements from that genre). As mentioned elsewhere on this website recently, my distain for the explosion in female-fronted edgy rock music continues to grow, but let's fuck all that trend-jocking shit for a minute and focus on Blood Ceremony.

Imagine mixing Black Sabbath, Jefferson Airplane and an enormously illegal quantity of opiates at a smoky blues club, and you're on the right track here. Songs about witches, covens, toads, wizards and smoking "black drugs from Saturn's bong" are abound, as is trippy flutework, masterful guitar sweepery and enough synthesizer alchemy to make Gary Numan prick up his ears. The opening song, "Master Of Confusion" is totally classic, and should be on the playlist of anyone with an inclination towards this type of stuff. The flute solo on "I'm Coming With You" is insane, and my favourite track is "Hop Toad", which is also mainly flute-driven.

I'm lucky enough to have caught these guys (and gal) live twice in the last 3 years, and I wouldn't hesitate in a heartbeat to go and watch them perform again. Stellar stuff! You can stream this on Spotify, buy it on CD or even take out a second mortgage to buy the Rise Above vinyl version, if you have a big enough hipster beard to qualify for that.

Now, onto those "black drugs"....

Blues Pills - Bliss

Boy am I glad I bought this cheeky little 10" when I did (edit: I've now traded it for a copy of Swans' Filth). Due to Blues Pills' ever-blossoming popularity this original 4-track EP is now worth a bloody fortune (for a 10"). The difference between Blues Pills and a gazillion other "revival", "retro" or (dare I say it) "occult rock" acts (that phrase makes me physically sick) is that when Blues Pills first showed up on my radar they were the only ones who seemed even remotely genuine and weren't just jocking a trend of female-fronted slightly-heavy rock bands that had songs about the devil. Because y'know, that's edgy as fuck, amirite?

I don't want to sound like a hipster but the more popular Blues Pills get the less I like them - just check out the super polished sheen on their new record. Bliss though, is a rougher, more intimate recording of true rock music bursting with passion, soul and well, songs about the devil. Bliss balances the right amounts of psychedelic without becoming self-indulgent, and balances the right amount of pop digestibility, without having the songs become too predictable or boring. 

As much as I like to laugh at people with flowers in their hair who think we're still in the sixties, this record is fucking fantastic. It makes me wanna smoke a bunch of weed and drive a convertible through the fucking desert. Play it!

Blue Oyster Cult - Cultosaurus Erectus

We've all heard "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", possibly hundreds of times in bars, pubs and on shitty "best-of" 3 disc rock music compilations. I'm pretty sure that "THE BEST Driving Album In The World, EVER no. 198234" even has it on there twice for good measure. But despite my over-exposure to their biggest hit, I had absolutely no knowledge of Blue Oyster Cult at all. Well, when I was in sixth form my teacher used to insist that Blue Oyster Cult secretly invented the heavy metal genre, but other than that, I knew nothing of them.

 

It was a random fluke then when my parents bought me this record as a present on their recent trip up to Birmingham. I don't really know why, but I guess they saw a record shop and thought of me, which is nice. Being entirely unfamiliar with the Blue Oyster I immediately threw it on the deck and gave it a spin. And you know what, it ain't half bad. I got a lot of spacey Hawkwind vibes from the cover, but the overall feel is a lot more rock and/or roll than Hawkwind. It holds that unique production sound of the early 80s, where the feeling and natural tone of most 70s records met awkwardly with the digital studio production of the future. The production is very clinical, and each instrument stands out perfectly, but at the same time it doesn't lose much of the "olde-y worlde-y" charm. It's quite the paradox!

None of the songs are anywhere near as good as the previously mentioned tune about the reaper, but the opening track "Black Blade" is a stormer, and track 3 "Divine Wind" is my second favourite. Side B is definitely weaker than side A, but "Deadline" is by far the worst song here. All in all, a nice experience but not something I'd run out and buy.

One bitchin' poster.