New album: Fall Remixes
Artist: All India Radio
Label: Inevitable Records
Rating: 5 stars out of 5
Since 2000, chilltronica outfit All India Radio has produced several albums of sprawling, cinematic music that sometimes pops up on TV shows such as “CSI” or “One Tree Hill.” Largely an instrumental concern, All India Radio’s only album to feature vocals was the 2008 album “Fall.”
All India Radio mainstay Martin Kennedy has retooled the “Fall” album, resulting in the 2014 release “Fall Remixes.” This new version contains the original album along with reconstructed versions of each track in a fantastic gatefold cover. The new presentation also features the alluring vocals of original “Fall” siren Leona Gray.
Since the original version of “Fall” was a borderline masterpiece in its own right, Kennedy’s decision to revisit the album was risky. But, nothing ventured nothing gained, and thankfully the results validated the revamp. Falling somewhere between the soothing side of Pink Floyd and Brian Eno’s modern works, “Fall Remixes” is more than mere ambient music. The music and vocals envelope the listener like a favorite jacket that you’d wear every day if you could.
All though the digital revolution has almost killed it, the album format is alive an well on “Fall Remixes.” Opening track “Far Away” drifts in like mist on the beach, making you feel as if you’re listening to a movie – albeit without any pesky visuals to divert your attention from the music. Gray’s closely-miked, effect-free vocals on “Morning Drops” and “Fall” are so sweetly soulful even the most ardent Motorhead fan would be intrigued by the beauty of her voice. One would be forgiven for thinking Adele was in on these sessions.
Musically, Kennedy’s gift for creating interesting melodies and chord progressions is as strong as ever on “Chameleon” and “The End Or Near.” Even if the vocals were removed, the songs on “Fall Remixes” would hold your interest, but the combination of Kennedy’s music and Gray’s voice is just as stunning as Kennedy’s celebrated work with Church vocalist Steve Kilbey. Listening to music of this caliber will no doubt cause otherwise sane people to take a baseball bat to their radios.
“Fall Remixes” is an engaging, original collaboration that will hopefully be given the sequel treatment sometime soon.
For more information on All India Radio, visit www.allindiaradio.com.au.
Classic album: Slang - Deluxe Edition
Artist: Def Leppard
Label: Bludgeon Riffola
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
When Def Leppard originally released “Slang” in 1996, the space they’d been occupying near the top of the mainstream rock heap was now crowded with scuzzy looking dudes wearing flannel shirts.
Although the grunge crowd had it in for anybody who didn’t dress like they were pumping gas, it was unfair to lump Def Leppard in with the likes of Poison and Warrant. Leppard were unabashed in their pursuit of commercial success, but they did at least bother to create their own identity and a fair number of hook-filled songs along the way.
Sensing the sea change going on in mainstream rock at the time, Def Leppard stripped away the Phil Spector-on-steroids sound of longtime producer Mutt Lange for “Slang.” Along with a new sonic approach, drummer Rick Allen switched back to acoustic drums after a decade-long dalliance with an electric kit. Although still a rock band, for “Slang” Def Leppard also loosened up their stomping rhythms by pulling funk and R&B beats into the mix.
The 2014 deluxe edition of “Slang” contains the original album plus another album’s worth of demos and unreleased tracks. As for the original album, groove-heavy rock tracks such as “Turn To Dust,” “Slang” and “Work It Out” were just as worthy of airplay as anything Collective Soul or Sponge were churning out at the time. In fact, the lack of studio sheen on “Slang” has allowed the album to age better than almost any album in the Leppard cannon.
For fans of Def Leppard’s heavier side, “Deliver Me” and “Gift Of Flesh” deliver the goods. If anything, the band’s decision to play together in a room instead of layering their tracks individually makes the songs on “Slang” the liveliest of their career. There is a hint of Who-ish drum/guitar/bass interplay on these tracks that is (thankfully) miles away from Mutt Lange’s successful but by now worn out approach.
Hardcore fans embraced the album, but radio programmers that had previously crammed their playlists with tracks from “Pyromania” and “Hysteria” were at the time only interested in bands that sounded like Nirvana. With this new deluxe edition, fans get to hear one of the biggest bands in the world struggle to find a new identity, all the while creating one of the greatest albums of their career.
Jon Dawson’s album reviews appear every week in The Free Press. Contact Jon at 252-559-1092 or jon.dawson@kinston.com. Purchase Jon’s book “Counterfeit Sauerkraut & The Weekend Teeth” at the Free Press office or jondawson.com.