Nocturama
Nick Cave
Nocturama: An artificial environment that inverses the cycle of night and day. It is this artificial environment that Saint Nick immerses himself, his Bad Seeds and all his beloved flock in for his latest studio offering. It's a combination of Boatman's Call (without as much heartache), Murder Ballads (without as much blood) and Henry's Dream (without as much chanting). It was recorded during last year's Australian tour, in a window of only 10 days.

Nocturama is an album that shows all the beauty that Nick Cave can aspire to in his song writing, from the dark gloomy world that he obviously resides in. There are stories of dead men in beds who used to be good and cars with the blues, Nick hasn't lost any of that tongue in cheek that only a mad genius could write. The Bad Seeds are of course snarling, spitting, coughing and as caressing as ever and again Warren Ellis is invited on board to frolic with the big guys. Former Saint, Chris Bailey also drops by the studio to add a drunken snarl to the track, Bring It On. Album number 10 (12 including live albums and best of sets) is another masterpiece from a gifted artist locked in a dark world. One full of dark murderous and sinister characters but also one touched with sheer beauty and feelings of magical fairytales and beautiful princesses. If you’re a fan and have come this far, no point stopping now.
Soul Simon
www.nick-cave.com



The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward
Robert Ford:  Movie Soundtrack
Nick Cave & Warren Ellis
This is one of the most emotionally satisfying soundtrack albums ever released and easily one of the year’s best musical projects. It’s a film score soundtrack, not a random collection of songs from someone’s back catalogue. There are also no lyrics or vocals to wade through to get to the emotional core. And what a core it is.

First, you have the sophisticated and dark melodies complements of one Nicholas Cave; these are contrasted by the earthy musings of Warren Ellis, known to many as the violinist of the instrumental group, The Dirty Three. Together these two divergent styles create a sound that has both an airy light and a deep dark depth. 

Having already worked together on a previous soundtrack album for the Australian film, The Proposition, Ellis and Cave know how to compose songs that compliment each other’s skill sets and the tracks here run the gambit of those extremes to exquisite results  

I’ve only had this album for a few days now and the number of plays are already in the double digits, it’s that good. See the movie if you must but definitely don’t miss the chance to listen to one of the year’s most arresting musical statements.
Rob Hudson



Sneak Preview
Chick Flick
Brisbane, for an isolated city of around one million people, has produced an amazing amount of quality rock music, including The Saints, The Go Betweens, and Regurgitator. On any week, you can choose from the best punk rock has to offer (Gazoonga Attack, Escape From Toytown, etc), dirty rock (The Aampirellas, The Tremors, etc), polished rock (Powderfinger, Lovejoy, etc), edgy country rock (Love, Hope and Charity), retro synth rock (Ctrl Alt Del), and countless other genres ( with bands like Van Lustbader, Gentle Ben, and Nightstick), or maybe ex-Brisbanites, like Tex Perkins, returning home for a gig. There is even hair music, and the best exponents of that eighties, glam rock style are Chick Flick. Those bands in the
eighties might have been good, and they tried their best to look like women, but Chick Flick are the real thing, because they are women.

Chick Flick are four grrls in PVC, with hair teased high, rocking the pants, and skirts off anybody encountering them. This band is all about the rock,
with an emphasis on fun and style. In the world of glam rock, Chick Flick reign supreme. They are responsible for more riffs, posing and hair tossing
than even Status Quo, KISS, or Spinal Tap were capable of. They're trashy and they're sexy and now they're on CD.

The EP contains five tracks of delightful indulgence and the video for Nasty Girl, the chorus of which is repeatedly stuck in my head. The thrill of a band live is hard to catch on a recording, and this band is great live, but this disc does well in capturing the energy and attitude. Chick Flick are the kind of girls my mother warned me about, and they remind me why I love rock 'n' roll.
fabulous sebastian
www.chickflick.com.au



Hunting Whales
The Checks
Rock music and technology have always gone hand in hand and no more so than now in the present. From the first person (most often considered musical pioneer Les Paul) who dropped microphone bits and pieces into an acoustic guitar to the white coats behind Protools, science has given rock music a good kick up the backside from time to time. Unfortunately this embracing of technology has also resulted in a lot of generic rock music, more zeros and ones than blood, sweat and tears. 

Bands like five-piece Kiwi clan; The Checks have blown those techno weenies into the weeds with their new album, Hunting Whales. This rough and tumble slab of rock music isn’t grandiose or gratuitous, it’s just five lads strapping on the axes and laying down the tracks.

It’s no stretch to imagine this music blasting out of a smoke filled and dingy nightclub, followed at the end of the gig by an army of sweaty and spent revellers spilling unto the streets to carry the party further into the night.  

This old is the new mantra comes close to being necessary and amidst all of the overblown and overproduced dreck that clogs the ears these days’ sounds raw, urgent and essential. It’s only rock and roll but I like it!
Rob Hudson
www.myspace.com/thechecks



London Calling 25th Anniversary Edition
The Clash
The list of truly classic rock albums is a small one. Sometimes only the test of time can put these things into perspective as works that are in high rotation one year become absent the next. London Calling by The Clash has modern day relevance beyond question and sounds better in today’s format insistent market than it did over two decades ago. The width and scope of the nineteen original songs (eighteen listed and one unlisted) is still remarkable. This was a record created by one of the world’s greatest bands operating at the height of their ability.

Listening to a lot of punk music from that time twenty-five years ago is like listening to your neighbor’s garage band, it sounds like most of the fun is in the creation not the end results. There were things to rally against back then; Thatcherism, bad hair bands and corporate control were just a few targets and the amount of vitriol-laced music produced in answer was fantastic. The only problem with listening to a lot of that stuff today is you realize most of the bands then just couldn’t play very well. The Clash turned that around by being a band with a message and being able to actually play. These talents led to the creation of the era’s most potent document.

There are great songs everywhere, the title track with its Caribbean bird calls and backwards guitar, the horn groove of Jimmy Jazz, the sensitive serenade of Spanish Bombs, Monty’s toast during a bar room brawl in The Right Profile, the sublime Lost In The Supermarket, the status quo stabbing Clampdown and Death Or Glory with its famous quote about organized religion. There is passion and intelligence in all the grooves here.

This 25th Anniversary set rounds the original nineteen tracks with a second audio disc of previously unreleased rehearsal sessions and a DVD featuring a documentary on the making of the album, video clips and home video footage. It also includes a cool reprint of the original album insert artwork and a 36-page booklet filled with facts and photos.

As a script to the times, London Calling is outstanding, it is also so much more than that. This is where art meets passion and intelligence creates a focus so sharp it’s pinpoint years later but more than anything else this is joyous music that you can’t help but dance to.
Joe RIP
Rob Hudson
official site



A Rush Of Blood To The Head
Coldplay
Contrary to the ridiculous media swing in the UK press (the hero to zero syndrome), the new Coldplay album is indeed something to look forward to. The emotive falsetto, soaring harmonies and sure studio craft are all intact and the band side steps the biggest problem that faces a band with a huge hit on their resume. The band's lifestyle (one that has led the British press to label them Oldplay) is what keeps the ideas in their songs real. No band ever gets better when they become hugely popular (except maybe the Beatles) because as their lives leave a normal existence behind, the topics in their songs begin to reflect a lifestyle that few of us can imagine, much less relate to.

The universal nature of the tracks on A Rush Of Blood To The Head show a band still in touch with the human condition and unafraid to write about aspirations big and small. While the consistency of the songwriting gives the album long-term playability. The new work is not exactly Parachutes part II; it's more a progression of an approach that still yields magic.
Rob Hudson
www.coldplay.com



Ballads (Deluxe Edition)
John Coltrane
In the late sixties John Coltrane was recording some of the most challenging music of his career, albums like Expression, Sun Ship and Stellar Regions were taking listeners to new places and not all the jazz fans of the day were able to appreciate or understand those places. To many, this left Coltrane with a legacy that highlighted his sonic explorations and overt spirituality while down playing some of the other aspects of his craft. This does JC a great disservice because beneath it all is a player that cut his teeth playing standards. Those songs, well know during their time, were really only given life by the force of the performer. And not just with raw intensity but with beautiful phrasing and a lyrical tone.

Ballads, first released in 1962 provided a chance to hear Coltrane return to his roots and it remains one of his most sublime works. His playing is so soulful and uncomplicated; it is in direct contrast to a lot of people's perceptions of the man. It's not just by chance that this album is one of the two or three works I recommend first to people that want to take a crack at listening to Coltrane's music.

Fast forward to a new millennium and you get a new and improved version of this classic album. Ballads (Deluxe Edition) is now two discs long and features the original eight songs flushed out with unreleased tracks and previously unissued versions of songs that Coltrane was working on at that time. You get five different versions of Greensleeves, eight different versions of It's Easy To Remember, an additional version of All Or Nothing and new songs, Nancy (with the Laughing Face) and They Say It's Wonderful. The producers have sensibly put all but two of these tracks on the second disc so the first disc plays like a slightly expanded version of the original.

Ballads deserves a place in every music collection, jazz fan or not and will provide a perfect soundtrack to endeavours of the heart, mind and soul.
Rob Hudson
www.johncoltrane.com


A Love Supreme (Deluxe Edition)
John Coltrane

Jazz music as a popular art form suffers from the perception by many of being an elitist endeavour. This intellectual veneer is reinforced by most jazz album's inclusion of a long analytical analysis of the music contained within. Maybe this need to define the message is due in part to the instrumental nature of most jazz records. This is unfortunate because this reinforcement of an intellectual approach does the form a great disservice. At its best, jazz is a highly emotional mix of passion and invention.

A Love Supreme by John Coltrane is a work that has had more words written about it and more analysis forced upon it than just about any other jazz album in history. This is an important work, one of the most important in the genre but not because of its ability to inspire words. It's due to the record's amazing ability to inspire an emotional response. The way to approach this work is to put it on, turn down the lights and just absorbs the notes and the feelings behind those notes.

First released in 1965 and just over 33 minutes long, this new deluxe edition flushes out the story with a second disc of bonus material. This includes the first non-bootleg release of a live version of the entire suite recorded at the Antibes Jazz Festival in July of 65 and out-takes from the original studio recording session.

Words really don't do justice to A Love Supreme, it is so much more than just notes, technique and emotion. There is only one way to experience music this powerful, listen to it!
Rob Hudson
www.johncoltrane.com



Can’tneverdidnothin’
Nikka Costa
This album should come mandatory with every large domestic device. Because when you put this on, turn it up, the immediate reaction is to get up and dance. So as long as you’re up you might as well get a little work done. This is a record that demands a response from its listeners. Its charms are immediate and effective.

Can’tneverdidnothin’ is filled with supersonic soul and in a world awash with soul wannabes, this is the real deal. Growing up in a musical household and brushing up against some of the soul and funk greats has coloured her music and she uses this fertile background to create a rich tapestry filled with energy and finesse.

Being a fan of true soul music, there is always the tendency to bypass the pale imitators of today and return to the original titans. Why listen to Marvin, Stevie or Aretha lite when you can still spin the masters? Well, Nikka has the pipes and interpretive skills to create music as vivid as the past masters and who really wants to live entirely in the past?

Energetic and vibrant, this album is modern day soul worthy of being included alongside works by the giants of the past.
Rob Hudson
www.nikkacosta.com


Can’tneverdidnothin’
Nikka Costa
This album should come mandatory with every large domestic device. Because when you put this on, turn it up, the immediate reaction is to get up and dance. So as long as you’re up you might as well get a little work done. This is a record that demands a response from its listeners. Its charms are immediate and effective.

Can’tneverdidnothin’ is filled with supersonic soul and in a world awash with soul wannabes, this is the real deal. Growing up in a musical household and brushing up against some of the soul and funk greats has coloured her music and she uses this fertile background to create a rich tapestry filled with energy and finesse.

Being a fan of true soul music, there is always the tendency to bypass the pale imitators of today and return to the original titans. Why listen to Marvin, Stevie or Aretha lite when you can still spin the masters? Well, Nikka has the pipes and interpretive skills to create music as vivid as the past masters and who really wants to live entirely in the past?

Energetic and vibrant, this album is modern day soul worthy of being included alongside works by the giants of the past.
Rob Hudson
www.nikkacosta.com



Time on Earth
Crowded House
Eleven years and two solo albums since the now legendary Farewell To The World concert on the steps of the Sydney Opera House, Neil Finn returns to the Crowded House fold with Time On Earth. On first listen the album seems disappointing, having the slightness of the Neil Finn solo album from which this project arose. Initially, it is difficult to hear the trademark Finnish hooks which belie the album's pervasive sombre tone, particularly after the relative bombast of the Crowdies' ‘final’ album, Together Alone, but the hooks are there and though the barbs may be so very small (almost indistinguishably so) they are nevertheless many.

Much to the chagrin of the late Paul Hester, the Crowdies' music has often been described by a plethora of Beatles-inspired adjectives and this release will be no different, for much like Lennon and McCartney, Finn's music continues to evolve and mature with ever more complex yet subtle melodies. Gone is the infectious pop which typified Crowded House's debut album, replaced with sombre melancholy; songs written from within a deceased drummer's shadow.

This is a fan's album and its slow burn is unlikely to win over a new audience being almost bereft of 'single' material. The bland first release, Don't Stop Now, is a testament to this fact, but there's a quality here that reaches far beyond the singles chart.

Being a slow burner, history will inevitably be the final judge of this work and it is likely that the verdict will be overwhelmingly positive.
Stuart Jamieson
www.crowdedhouseofficial.com