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Fraser A. Gorman
Slow Gum
Slow Gum is the debut full-length
album for Melbourne’s favourite
son, singer-songwriter Fraser
A. Gorman. And having recently
toured overseas with label mate
and friend Courtney Barnett, it
seems the rest of the world is
catching on too. Gorman’s charm
and likeability is contagious, from
his Dylanesque curly mop to his
catchy country folk musings. He is
a storyteller who paints vivid tales
of life and love with the spirited
musical accompaniment of guitars,
fiddle, harmonica, pedal steel and
drums. His sound is organic and
real; if this is just the beginning,
I can’t wait for what comes next.
Good one Fraser.
(Milk Records)
Denise Hylands
The Fratellis
Eyes Wide, Tongue Tied
Nearly a decade since the
Glasgow trio debuted their
unique take on rock/pop/garage
fun, it’s now apparent the gloves
are off and sounding BIG ain’t no
crime to The Fratellis. Of course,
that’s why on track two it’s also
okay to jump into a Tom Petty/
Springsteen stadium shuffle-
hustle. In fact, a country-twanged
vibe slips through on Desperate
Guy, making one think that
references to The Boss aren’t a
mere coincidence. Thief fires a
straight-to-the-brain anthem to
which one can imagine hundreds
pogoing in unison at festivals the
world over. It’s pop, but sharp,
calculated and smart.
(CookingVinyl) Chris Murray
MUSIC REVIEWS
uze DeMarchi Home
rock chick gets married, becomes a mum and
pends more than 15 years living overseas. Then she
plits with her husband and returns home: a Baby
nimal grows up. But there’s no place like home to
uze DeMarchi, as she sings, “Nobody has to cry to
ake it seem real.” DeMarchi is singing songs about
habitation and haven, including Sheryl Crow’s Home,
Adele’s Hometown Glory , Bastille’s Get Home, and Ryan Adams’ Come Home.
And the album – produced by Shane Nicholson – is peppered with duets:
DeMarchi and Russell Morris add some muscle to Graham Nash’s Our House,
she teams up with Tex Perkins for a take on The Box Tops’ The Letter, and she
and Dallas Frasca are obviously having a ball doing The Clash’s Safe European
Home. She also reunites with old buddies Diesel and Jimmy Barnes for a
rollicking version of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s House Is Rockin’. DeMarchi has not
made enough albums; Home comes 16 years after her solo debut, and she’s
done just four albums with Baby Animals in 25 years; but this release shows
she’s still one of our finest singers. Welcome home.
(Social Family Records) Jeff Jenkins Four of the Best from a Former Fab Four Man
John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
(1970)
An extraordinary, musically spare and emotionally
bare collection. From “Mother, you had me but
I never had you” through to “I don't believe in
Beatles, I just believe in me, Yoko and me,” this
was therapy in song. Open heart surgery on the
soul and unique in popular music.
just like
starting
over
Had he lived, John Lennon would
turn 75 on October 9. Which means –
because he had 17 years on the world
stage before his murder in 1980 – that
he's been dead twice as long as he
was alive and famous. If you take
out Lennon's solo projects during the
final years of the Beatles – largely
unlistenable and now time-locked avant-
garde work with Yoko Ono, aside from
the Live Peace in Toronto album – he
recorded seven studio albums in the
final decade of his life. All of those
albums and the posthumous Milk and
Honey have long been out of print on
vinyl, so the nine album box set Lennon
(Sometime in New York City, a double
record) of the whole lot on 180gm virgin
vinyl has been welcomed by collectors
and those who just want to hear this
music afresh. It's like a history of
rock'n'roll as the scratched-together
band (which included Eric Clapton) rip
through old rock standards, a couple of
Lennon's Beatles and post-Beatle songs,
and then Ono takes us into a pre-punk/
avant-garde future with a whole side of
screaming over rough guitar jamming
and riffery. But here are all the studio
albums from his still astonishingJohn
Lennon/Plastic Ono Bandthrough
Imagine, the wobbly double Some Time
in New York City, the somewhat uneven
Mind Games, Walls and Bridges, the
obligation covers album Rock'n'Roll, and
the final in his lifetime, Double Fantasy
(co-credited with Ono) and Milk and
Honey(also co-credited to Ono). This
month, however, the individual albums
are also being issued separately. And
because things like the agit-prop Some
Time in New York City have dated badly
(what does Rockefeller mean to anyone
today?), and the final two are musically
less interesting (aside from Ono's songs,
but she's an acquired taste), you may
want to cherry pick. Here are four of the
best (below). Graham Reid
Imagine (1971)
That Hit, but also the revealing Crippled Inside,
Jealous Guy (consider how many of his Beatles'
songs were about jealousy) and How?, the angry
Gimme Some Truth and gentle Oh My Love.
Further proof what a complex, emotionally volatile
man he was, but also memorable tunes.
Walls and Bridges (1974)
The album that included the hit Whatever Gets You
Through the Night with Elton John has aged better
than others. Steel and Glass is a rewrite of How
Do You Sleep?, with former manager Allen Klein in
the sightlines, Bless You a heartfelt ballad, and #9
Dream boasts a glorious melody. There's filler, but
the best make this worth discovering.
Rock'n'Roll (1975)
Lennon (separated from Ono, drinking heavily)
employed Phil Spector (also out of control) to
oversee some legal-obligation rock'n'roll sessions
in Los Angeles. Out of the ensuing chaos Lennon
salvaged this, which at its best (Stand By Me, Ain't
That a Shame, Slippin' and Slidin') sounds like a man
with little to prove and obviously enjoying himself.