Category: Music

Favourite female singers of the decade


I grew up to the music of the 1980’s, and like the millions of kids of my generation, I fell in love with the escapist pop music of that era. Madonna, Whitney Houston and Kate Bush were my favourite female solo artists of that time, who consistently pushed out hit after hit into the pop charts. But there were so many others with hit songs that continue to be signposts of that time, such as Tina Turner, Bonnie Tyler, Laura Branigan, Sheena Easton, Cyndi Lauper and Annie Lennox. As I moved away from pop in subsequent years and as popular music moved towards R&B and rap, I realize that very little of the music I was listening to was from female artists, with the exception of a few hits from Janet Jackson and Salt-N-Pepa in the 90’s and Nelly Furtado‘s first few albums in the early 2000’s. In the past 15 years, popular music has been dominated by amazingly talented female artistes like Beyoncé, Alicia Keyes, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande and Lady Gaga, and I have listened to and enjoyed many of their hit songs (impossible not to), but it’s rarely music that I actively choose or add into my playlists.

Having said that, in the past few years I’ve realized that there are a handful of female artists, particularly in the soul and jazz genres, whose music I keep coming back to often enough that they can be classified as my favourites of the past decade.

Amerie: Born to a Korean mother and African-American father, Amerie has built a career as a singer, actress and model. Two singles from her debut 2002 album All I Have first caught my attention, the lead track Why Don’t We Fall in Love and the follow up Talkin’ To Me. I really liked the groove-infused, easy-listening soul sound of these two songs, although the rest of the album is fairly generic R&B. In spite of the average reviews the album received, the working relationship between the singer and producer Rich Harrison was cemented. Soon after, Amerie released a cover of Diana Ross‘ 1980 hit I’m Coming Out (co-written by the legendary Nile Rodgers) for the Maid in Manhattan movie soundtrack. Amerie and Rich Harrison next collaborated on the album Touch, released in 2005, which had some great up-tempo percussion-driven tracks. The best example is 1 Thing, which samples the drums from the 1970 recording of Oh! Calcutta by The Meters. Other notable songs are the propulsive Talkin’ About and the title track, Touch, with a looping tabla backtrack. Her next album Because I Love It, continued in the same vein with Gotta Work carrying a catchy sample of the classic 60’s soul track, Hold On, I’m Comin‘ by Sam & Dave. The other catchy songs in this album are Hate2Loveu, Take Control (co-written by CeeLo Green and sampling a Hall & Oates song) and the synth-driven Crush. Since 2010, her recording output has slowed down, with some one-off singles and EPs, none of which have really caught my attention.

Sia: The Australian singer-songwriter has emerged as one of my favourite artists of the past 5 years. I first took notice of her music when Never Give Up played while the credits rolled on the award-winning 2016 film Lion. I then realized that the hit 2014 song Chandelier which I liked a lot, was also by her. So I checked out the album it came from, 1000 Forms of Fear, and discovered a couple of great tracks – Big Girls Cry and Elastic Heart. The album I like the most is This is Acting (2016), which includes the dance hit Cheap Thrills, as well as the searing love song One Million Bullets, the playful House of Fire and Footprints. One of my favourite Sia tracks of all time is Sunshine from her 2017 album Everyday is Christmas. While Sia’s music is up-tempo and is popular on the dance floor, the lyrics are frequently dark and full of meaning. In 2019, she teamed up with producer Diplo and rapper Labrinth, to release the album Labrinth, Sia & Diplo Present… LSD. There are lots of amazing songs on this album – Angel in Your Eyes, Genius (featuring Lil Wayne), Audio, Thunderclouds (amazing music video) and No New Friends (check out the live performance on The Ellen Show). As I listen to these songs, I realize that what I enjoy the most is Sia’s raw and emotional vocalization which reminds me quite a lot of Cyndi Lauper.

Janelle Monáe: I first came across Janelle Monáe at the end of 2016 on account of her double whammy appearances in the critically acclaimed films Moonlight and Hidden Figures. It was only when she released her third album Dirty Computer in 2018 that I started listening to her songs. I was deeply moved by the poignant lyrics on the title track (“I’m not that special, I’m broke inside“) and inspired by her resilience and fighting spirit on the track I Like That (“I’m always left of center and that’s right where I belong, I’m the random minor note you hear in major songs, And I like that…“). Other notable songs are Don’t Judge Me and Make Me Feel. As many critics have pointed out, this album is as much a powerful socio-political statement as it is a work of art. In a relatively short period of time, Monáe has become a voice for diversity, both of colour and sexuality. No wonder then, that she was chosen to open the 2020 Oscar awards as a self-aware nod to the criticism the Academy has faced for its lack of diversity. Unlike many black filmmakers and rappers whose creative work focuses on the misfortunes suffered by people of colour, Monáe stands out because her musical output over the past decade has been built around Afrofuturism, the movement that explores the confluence of African culture and state-of-the-art technology. Afrofuturism as a concept has been around since the mid-90’s but it was only with the release of Marvel’s Black Panther in 2018 that it received global exposure. Monáe’s first two albums The ArchAndroid (2010) and The Electric Lady (2013) were both based on her alter ego Cindi Mayweather, an android inspired by the female robot from Fritz Lang’s 1927 experessionist classic Metropolis. In Dirty Computer, Monáe has shed the Cindi Mayweather persona and revealed her true self (she also came out in real life at the time of the album’s release), creating a more introspective and vulnerable body of work. Of the two earlier albums, I prefer The ArchAndroid, which has such a varied sound – the two singles Tightrope (featuring Big Boi) and Cold War are both reminiscent of the Outkast‘s 2003 hit Hey Ya; at the other end of the spectrum, the opening verse of Oh, Maker sounds like it could have been sung by Doris Day or Julie Andrews; Wondaland is pure synth-pop, with operatic backing vocals; Make the Bus is a duet with one of my favourite artists, Of Montreal, and very much reflects their musical style; BaBobByeYa has a distinctive bossa nova sound. From the second album, The Electric Lady, the only tracks I’ve really liked so far are the disco-like We Were Rock and Roll and the jazzy duet Dorothy Dandridge Eyes, sung with Esperanza Spalding.

Dirty Computer, 2018 album by Janelle Monáe

Esperanza Spalding: And speaking of the celebrated jazz singer-songwriter, I had heard of her (first jazz artist to win the Grammy for Best New Artist, invited twice by President Obama to perform at the White House), but listened to her music only this year, when Earth to Heaven played on the radio and I used Soundhound to find out who it was. This led me to the album it came from, the 2016 release Emily’s D+Evolution and what a revelation it turned out be! I don’t think I’ve been so entranced by the distinctiveness of an album’s sound since Kate Bush‘s 1978 debut The Kick Inside, which in fact Emily’s D+Evolution does strongly remind me of. This is Spalding’s fifth studio release and she decided to explore a different musical style, creating an alter ego, Emily (her middle name) to release her from her past musical baggage. The album has been a major success, receiving widespread critical acclaim, and rightly so. There are many standout tracks; besides Earth to Heaven, I would recommend listening to Good Lava, Unconditional Love, Judas and the surreal Ebony and Ivy, which sounds like it should play on an episode of The Twilight Zone. I’ve recently started listening to her preceding album, Radio Music Society and am enjoying the music just as much, particularly tracks like Radio Song, the beautiful Cinnamon Tree (“We meet just once in a while but the spice in your smile is magic to me“), Black Gold (shades of Beyoncé) and the Grammy winner for Best Jazz Vocal, City of Roses.

BENEE: This artist jumped out at me from nowhere in the past few weeks, when I heard Supalonely on the radio and was hooked. The 19-year-old from Auckland, New Zealand has been steadily gaining momentum over the past year through two EPs that she released in 2019. The single Supalonely (featuring Gus Dapperton) from the 2nd EP Stella & Steve, gave her international exposure via TikTok. It’s a great song, but my favourites are all from the 1st EP Fire on Marzz, with four of its six songs currently on heavy rotation on my Spotify playlist – Soaked, the super-groovy Glitter, Afterlife and Evil Spider. BENEE has an incredibly soulful voice for someone so young, and the production on the EPs is outstanding, with it’s bass-driven groove and bright guitar sounds, a credit to producers Josh Fountain and Djeisan Suskov (both musicians themselves from the NZ indie music scene). Meanwhile, she also appeared on the latest album from Japanese-Australian musician Joji, with the outstanding, hypnotic and dark duet Afterthought. With all this, I was really looking forward to BENEE’s debut full album Hey U X, which came out on 13th November; on my first run-through, I haven’t come across any songs which have hooked me the first time, so I’ll have to give this another go.

Steve & Stella, 2019 EP by BENEE

As I’m writing this, I’ve been listening to Dua Lipa‘s Grammy-nominated album Future Nostalgia, but it’s too early to tell if she will go on to become a long-term favourite or not. And Swedish soul singer Snoh Aalegra‘s 2019 album Ugh, Those Feels Again has a few songs that I really like, but I just haven’t listened to enough of her music yet to be able to classify her as a favourite artist.

Old favourites release new music in 2020 – Part 2


Following on from Part 1, here’s the second set of new 2020 releases from singers/bands whose songs or albums I’ve previously enjoyed.

My Morning Jacket – The Waterfall II (10th Jul): Two of my favourite albums from Part 1 were from one-man-band projects Tame Impala and Of Montreal. My Morning Jacket is another one of those, built around the musical vision of Jim James. This latest release, their eighth, was created from outtakes of their 2015 effort The Waterfall. It contains a number of chilled out, easy listening tracks; very different from the high-energy, strikingly distinctive compositions that I fell in love with on their breakout albums, Z (2005) and Evil Urges (2008). In fact, I was a bit underwhelmed the first time around but after listen to the album a second time, I got into its groove; tracks like Spinning My Wheels, Feel You, Run It and The First Time are perfect for a lazy Sunday morning, with the steel guitar on Feel You absolutely magical, like driving down an empty country road with the wind in your hair. Wasted is the only song on the album that picks up the tempo, with the second half of the 6-minute song featuring some of the heavier guitar grooves that has characterized their earlier work. Overall, this is a lighter entry in their oeuvre, but enjoyable in its own way.

Kansas – The Absence of Presence (17th Jul): Although Kansas were considered to be one of the standard bearers of the 70’s prog rock movement, surprisingly all I know about their music is their 1976 mega-hit Carry On Wayward Son. But I figured I’d give their 16th studio album a shot. Founding member and vocalist Steve Walsh retired a few years ago, but two other founding members, guitarist Rich Williams and drummer Phil Ehart (both 70 years old) are still around. The album opens with the epic 8-minute title track, which contains some fantastic musical interludes, anchored by new keyboardist Tom Breslin; very reminiscent of the classic 70’s prog rock sound. And so it continued through the album – Throwing Mountains, Jets Overhead, Animals on the Roof, Never, all mixing a contemporary commercial rock sensibility with some delicious guitar licks and keyboard passages that are a throwback to a bygone rock era. This is definitely an album I’m coming back to, and will most likely lead me to explore more of the band’s back catalogue.

Alanis Morisette – Such Pretty Forks in the Road (31st Jul): It was only when I watched an interview on CNN a few months ago, that I realized it was the 25th anniversary of Alanis Morisette’s breakout (third) album, Jagged Little Pill. Naturally, much has changed in her life and her music since then and it would be unfair to expect the same angst of that earlier time. In fact, I loved the introspection and inner beauty  that shone through in her 2008 release Flavors of Entanglement. This latest release signals the continued mellowing of Alanis; it breaks no new ground musically and in fact some of the songs are rather awkwardly arranged. Other than the opening track Smiling and the upbeat Sandbox Love, there were no other tracks in this 46-minute collection that held my attention.

Deep Purple – Whoosh! (7th Aug): What a surprise it was to learn that the ageing rockers are still going strong. Their 21st studio album in 52 years was surprisingly good…yes just take a few moments to absorb those numbers. Two songs, We’re All the Same in the Dark and The Long Way Round really dial back the years to the Mark II line-up of the 80’s (Perfect Strangers and The House of Blue Light), the phase that is my personal favourite. Veteran keyboardist Don Airey previously worked with Rainbow and Ozzy Osbourne before taking over from founding member Jon Lord in 2002, and is in full flow on Nothing at All. The Power of the Moon showcases some of the eastern rhythms that the band has been so successful at incorporating into their past hits. Man Alive has some intriguing lyrics and is another fantastic song from the album. Of course, ever since Ritchie Blackmore left the group, once can’t expect those catchy guitar riffs that were such an enjoyable feature of their greatest songs, but Ian Gillan’s distinctive vocals continue to provide the anchor of nostalgia and reassurance to their music. Likewise, veteran band members Roger Glover (bass) and Ian Paice (drums) are still at the top of their game even though they are in their 70’s. Some reviewers gently poked fun at the band for producing an “over the top” album; on the contrary, I think we should be grateful that the band has the hunger, energy and creativity to continue delivering music of this calibre so late in their career. I’ve listened to the album several times now and like a good whisky, it seems to reveal new and surprising notes each time!

The Allman Betts Band – Bless Your Heart (28th Aug): This is the only band in the list that I’m listening to for the first time. But as it was formed by the sons of Gregg Allman, Dickey Betts and Berry Oakley, three of the founding members of The Allman Brothers Band, I figured it qualified as a previously known artist! And indeed, when that slide guitar kicks in on the opening track Pale Horse Rider, it was a comforting feeling that took me back to my favourite Allman Bros. tracks. But thereafter, the album was a bit of a disappointment. There is a 12-minute long instrumental, Savannah’s Dream which opens with promise and but ultimately feels a bit safe and doesn’t deliver the pyrotechnics that one would expect on a track of this length. And I think that’s a good description for the entire album. In spite of its length (71 minutes), it feels familiar and repetitive, without producing any of the pleasant surprises that one looks for in a memorable album. Magnolia Road is a welcome exception with a great section involving the slide and keyboards, and an overall sound that reminded me of The Allman Brothers’ Florida counterparts Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Sufjan Stevens – The Ascension (25th Sep): Ever since Stevens’ seminal Illinois concept album, I have been desperate to fall in love with his subsequent efforts. With the exception of Visions of Gideon, the song that he wrote for the film Call Me By Your Name, my wait continues. I think I’m unable to change my expectations and keep looking for the same virtuosity and creativity that shone through on Illinois. In spite of high scores from critics (80 on Metacritic) nothing on this release jumps out as exceptional. It’s the sort of album I could play in the background while reading a book, knowing the music will not distract me, because I’m not really listening to it.

Blitzen Trapper – Holy Smokes Future Jokes (25th Sep): The Portland, Oregon indie folk-rock band’s 10th album is a short one by today’s standards, running to just 37 minutes. The title track from their critically acclaimed 2007 album Wild Mountain Nation was on heavy rotation on my iPod once upon a time and I had listened off-and-on to their follow up album Furr from 2008. This new album contains more of their mellow easy-listening folk-rock sound (sometimes also categorized as alternative country). It’s not an album you listen to for catchy guitar hooks or virtuoso instrumental work. Instead a well-integrated package of vocals and soft guitar sounds. The best examples are Bardo’s Light, Don’t Let Me Run and the contemplative Sons and Unwed Mothers. The title track is the sort of free-flowing, easy-listening song you’d play on a long road trip, very reminiscent of Tom Petty. A couple of songs incorporate the saxophone (played by Ben Latimer), which is not an instrument one expects to hear on a folk-rock album, but it works really well.

Bon Jovi – 2020 (2nd Oct): I haven’t listened to a Bon Jovi album in full since 1992’s Keep The Faith, and the last hit single I can recall is It’s My Life from the 2000 album Crush, so I was curious to see how their sound has changed on their 15th studio album. Jon Bon Jovi sings at a lower register now, lead guitarist Richie Sambora left three albums ago and gone are the rock anthems. Instead, there are a number of quieter, more contemplative songs and these are the ones that worked for me – American Reckoning, Story of Love, Let It Rain and Unbroken.

Blue Öyster Cult – The Symbol Remains (9th Oct): This is the veteran band’s 15th studio album, appearing nearly 50 years after their self-titled debut release. Their previous album, released 19 years ago, was received poorly and appeared to be the death knell for the band, so it’s a pleasant and unexpected surprise to see new material from them, especially with some of the tracks sounding as good as the material from their peak years in the 70’s, including Buck Dharma’s distinctive vocal style. I would characterize this as generic hard rock, the sort of music you would really enjoying while sitting in a bar with a drink. The are quite a few good tracks on this hour-long album, including Box in My Head, Edge of the World, Florida Man and Secret Road (with some great guitar solos).

From this set of nine albums, my favourites are the ones by My Morning Jacket, Kansas and Deep Purple. The ones from Ozzy Osbourne, Blitzen Trapper, Bon Jovi and Blue Öyster Cult carry a couple of strong tracks each and are good enough for a casual listen from time to time. This has been a great experience and I’m now looking forward to the November and December releases.

Old favourites release new music in 2020 – Part 1


This post is the outcome of a personal project that started in late August. I was reading the review for Deep Purple’s new album on Pitchfork; as I scrolled through the sites’s easy-to-navigate Reviews page, I was surprised to see new 2020 albums from other familiar names…some that I’ve been a big fan of for years, and some that I’ve listened to only because of a catchy track heard on the radio. And what a luxury to have every one of them immediately available on Spotify, in comparison with the desperate efforts of years past to access new music. So I resolved to listen to each of these new albums in full and that’s been such a joyful experience for the past two months! Here is Part 1 of my reviews of those new 2020 albums in chronological order of release.

Of Montreal – UR FUN (17th Jan): Of Montreal is the first of several bands in this list that revolve around one individual’s creative vision and musical mastery. Kevin Barnes, the enfant terrible of angsty indie-pop has found happiness since I last listened to his music on 2008’s Skeletal Lamping. Barnes attributes all that joie de vivre to his relationship with singer Christina Schneider (who now goes by the name Locate S,1). This 40-minute ode to love is packed with several enjoyable tracks including Polyaneurism (playful vocal theatrics overlay a standard dance beat), Get God’s Attention (catchy chorus), Gypsy That Remains (with a melodious riff reminiscent of ABBA), You’ve Had Me Everywhere and Carmillas of Love. My favourite track by this band has been An Eluardian Instance from Skeletal Lamping, but there are so many tracks on this new album that are just as good.

Stone Temple Pilots – Perdida (7th Feb): Much has changed for STP since their breakout at the peak of the grunge movement in the early 90s. Two lead singers have died under tragic circumstances (founder Scott Weiland and Limp Bizkit’s Chester Bennington) and musical tastes have changed immeasurably. But the other three founding members – the DeLeo brothers (Dean on guitars and Robert on bass) and drummer Eric Kretz – persevered and hired songwriter/vocalist Jeff Gutt for a return to the recording studio with a self-titled album in 2018. Now they are back with a new release, styled like an MTV Unplugged recording. With my reference point being 1994’s Purple, I felt like I was listening to a completely different band. Once I got past that, I really enjoyed the album, which has standout tracks like Three Wishes, the amazing Perdida, the wistful I Didn’t Know The Time and She’s My Queen with a Jethro Tull-style flute interlude. With all the songs predominantly acoustic, there’s a yearning, introspective, occasionally melancholic feel to the album, that’s not out of place at all for a Sunday evening! The spare arrangements reveal melodic underlying song structures and I can well imagine some of these tracks being rearranged for a full-on rock version in the future.

Tame Impala – The Slow Rush (14th Feb): Here’s yet another one-man-band, the brainchild of Kevin Parker from Perth, Australia. I had listened to 2012’s Lonerism, enjoying it for a period of time, but eventually drifted away from their music. And so, I was pleasantly surprised when I started off on this album, their 4th studio release. Overall, there’s a shift in style from psychedelic rock to electronica. A mix of musical influences shows through…the opening track One More Year sounds like the best of Pet Shop Boys; Instant Destiny sounds like it might have been song by Mayer Hawthorne; It Might Be Time has elements of Hall & Oates and the Doobie Brothers; the first half of Posthumous Forgiveness is psychedelic enough to sound like it could belong to The Mars Volta’s Frances the Mute album. Overall, my favourite song is Is it True, which is so catchy I just can’t stop listening to it. (25th Nov update: The album has received a Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Music Album).

Huey Lewis and the News – Weather (14th Feb): The band last recorded new material 19 years ago. They started work on a 10th album in 2017, but had to abandon the effort after recording just 7 tracks because Lewis was diagnosed with hearing loss. Eventually, the band decided to release what they had, resulting in this 26 minute album. I have always loved the band’s 50’s rock sound (they were a perfect choice to appear in Back To The Future) and listening to this new release was indeed like going back in a time machine. However, the reality is that most of the songs just aren’t very catchy. The one happy exception is Remind Me Why I Love You Again, which definitely brings back the magic of their old hits.

Ozzy Osbourne – Ordinary Man (21st Feb): It’s amazing to see a rocker who started his career in the 60’s continue to churn out material half a century later. Mr. Osbourne has played it safe with his 12th album, it follows his tried and trusted sound from the past 40 years as a solo artist; in particular he’s mastered the art of composing rock ballads (like So Tired from 1983 and Mama, I’m Coming Home from 1991) and anthemic slow rock songs. There are a bunch of songs from the new album which fall into this category – All My Life, Goodbye and Ordinary Man. What is commendable are the collaborations on the album – the title track has guest vocals (and piano) from Elton John, with Slash on guitar; on It’s a Raid and Take What You Want, Ozzy shares singing duties with Post Malone, one of the more innovative artists in contemporary music; rapper Travis Scott also guests on Take What You Want; pop singer Charlie Puth plays keyboards on Straight to Hell; Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine plays guitar on Scary Little Green Men; Chad Smith, the drummer from Red Hot Chilli Peppers handles the percussion on all the tracks. Overall, not as great as his first few solo albums from the early 80’s , but not bad either.

Pearl Jam – Gigaton (27th Mar): This is Pearl Jam’s 11th studio album and my benchmark remains their debut release from 1991, Ten. The album is a mixed bag. There are songs like Never Destination which sound a lot like Pearl Jam songs from the 90’s, which I never really cared for. There is some interesting experimentation on Dance of The Clairvoyants, with electronic beats and vocals that sound like Talking Heads! But the best songs for me are when the band dials down the noise and Eddie Vedder’s vocals take centre stage; songs like Alright, Seven O’Clock, Buckle Up and Comes Then Goes and Retrograde. Overall, it’s definitely worth a listen, although I’m not fawning over it like most critics are.

Bob Dylan – Rough and Rowdy Ways (19th Jun): Perhaps the most iconic folk rock singer of all time, Bob Dylan’s 39th album (his first came out in 1962) can be described as introspective, which is not unexpected for a man approaching 80. The highlight of the album is Murder Most Foul, a reference to the JFK assassination, which manages to incorporate dozens of references to American pop culture from the years following the assassination into a 17-minute-long hypnotic, melancholic version of Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start the Fire. Another standout track is the bluesy Goodbye Jimmy Reed, an homage to the blues icon who influenced everyone from Chuck Berry to Elvis Presley to The Rolling Stones. Overall, the experience was less like listening to a rock album and more like an hour’s worth of recitations with a poet; he is still an extraordinary wordsmith.

Khruangbin – Mordechai (26th Jun): This band is my most recent discovery, having come across their music for the first time only a year ago. I loved their unique blend of Lo-fi dubstep, eastern rhythms and bassist Laura Lee’s ethereal vocals (although most tracks are predominantly instrumental). Their debut release was in 2015 and Mordechai is their third album. It’s their most consistent effort, and I enjoyed it from start to end. The opening track First Class brings back a flood of good memories from the previous albums, while the next song Time (You and I) introduces some funk and 70’s groove, followed by full-on eastern rhythms in Connaissais de Face. Father Bird Mother Bird, Pelota and So We Won’t Forget are the three signature tracks of the album…they are so good, I sometimes feel like I only want to listen to these songs for the rest of my life. Khruangbin (meaning airplane in Thai) is one of the most unique-sounding bands to have emerged in the past few years and I can’t recommend them highly enough for anyone who has enjoyed world music.

HAIM – Women in Music III (26th Jun): HAIM’s debut in 2013 was a high profile affair, with critics and listeners alike wowed by their throwback musical style, invoking memories of Fleetwood Mac. Now the three sisters Estee, Danielle and Alana have their third album out, in which they have solidified their sound while continuing to channel some much-loved musical styles. For example, I’ve Been Down definitely made me think of Sheryl Crow and Man From the Magazine could easily have been sung by Joni Mitchell. Overall, the album is really good and pulled me back for several rounds of repeat listening. In addition to the above tracks, Los Angeles and Gasoline had me hooked the first time around. I’m pretty sure this is a band I’ll be listening to for years to come.

Of these nine albums, there are five (from Of Montreal, Stone Temple Pilots, Tame Impala, Khruangbin and HAIM) that I really enjoyed and am already returning to regularly to re-listen to. Tune in for another nine albums in Part 2.

Favourite rock/metal concept albums (Part 8) – Sufjan Stevens’ Illinois


Moving on from Sabaton’s concept album about the First World War, the eighth entry in this series, takes a detour away from hard rock/metal to an album with a unique folk/soft rock sound by musical wunderkid, Sufjan Stevens. At the age of 30, this talented songwriter and multi-instrumentalist released his fifth album to universal acclaim and did enough to seal his place in the musical hall of fame. Stevens has been a proponent of the lo-fi movement, eschewing expensive studio production in favour of basic recording equipment; however, unlike many other lo-fi musicians, his songs involve lush, complex orchestrations which gives the music natural depth and layers without the use of studio trickery. Many of his songs also deal with faith and spiritual matters. Illinois is one of my all-time favourite albums across all genres of music.

Sufjan Stevens in concert, wearing his signature wings

Band: Sufjan Stevens

Albums: Sufjan Stevens Invites You To: Come On Feel the ILLINOISE, aka Illinois

Genre: Culture/history/geography

Narrative theme/concept: Stories related to people, places and incidents related to the US state of Illinois

Best songs: Come On! Feel the Illinoise!, Jacksonville, Chicago, Casimir Pulaski Day, The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts,

What makes it special: This album is a massive effort, running 74 minutes and featuring 22 tracks (although six of these are just interludes of less than a minute). There’s a fine mix of slow-paced folk music (which would not sound out of place on a Simon and Garfunkel record) and some genuinely melodious and catchy pop songs enhanced by the use of horns, strings and keyboards. In particular, the masterful interplay between horns and strings is a recurring feature of the best songs in the album.

The third song Come On! Feel the Illinoise! is the first example of this musical combination – a catchy bass riff on the piano kicks off the track, which then moves to a horn section, followed by Stevens’ soft vocals delivered over the same piano riff; the horn section returns, but this time synchronized with harmonic backing vocals; soon after, a plaintive trumpet gives company to the backing vocals…and all this happens in just the first one minute! About a third of the way in, we switch to a beautiful musical interlude with the horn section, keyboards and strings together raising the listening experience to blissful levels. I still remember playing the CD for the first time and the goosebumps I got when this song came on.

The fifth song on the album is Jacksonville, a slow tempo song in which the lyrics are beautifully interwoven with a soothing string section and punctuated with a horns section; this instrumental combo synchs with a rousing chorus-chant at the end of the song:

“Andrew Jackson, all I’m asking
Show us the wheel and give us the wine
Woohoo! woohoo!
Raise the banner, jackson hammer
Everyone goes to the capitol line
Woohoo! woohoo!“

Chicago (the song’s full name is Go! Chicago! Go! Yeah!) is perhaps the best known song in the album, having featured on the Little Miss Sunshine soundtrack. It is definitely one of my all-time favourite songs…the music is in turns, stirring and comforting.

This is followed by the simplest of tracks, Casimir Pulaski Day, with just a banjo and guitar accompaniment for the most part and a solitary trumpet from time to time; this is a song about Stevens coming to terms with a friend’s cancer, remembering their times together; plaintive and poignant.

Track no. 12, The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts marks the mid-point of the album. It has a catchy chorus:

“Only a steel man can be a lover
If he had hands to tremble all over
We celebrate our sense of each other
We have a lot to give one another”

At this point, I usually end up taking a break or returning to favourite songs in the first half, and so I’ve not listened to tracks 13-22 as often, or even when I do, the album is playing in the background and I don’t seem to pay as much attention, as the tracks start to sound similar to each other. Even so, there are enjoyable tracks which I may not be as familiar with but are fun to listen to, such as the quirky The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us!, the impossibly named They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back from the Dead!! Ahhhh! and the epic 7-minute-long The Tallest Man, the Broadest Shoulders.

Other than the obvious tracks which reference places or historical figures/events, I couldn’t figure out how many of the lyrics connected back with Illinois, and I have read many discussion boards of people trying to interpret their meaning. It doesn’t really affect my enjoyment of the songs – the melody, harmony, composition and orchestration. Overall, this is a tour de force album, the likes of which we may not see from another artist in this lifetime, but is similar in tone and intent to other one-man-band projects like Of Montreal (Kevin Barnes) and My Morning Jacket (Jim James).

Favourite rock/metal concept albums (Part 7) – Sabaton’s The Great War


It’s been two months since the last post in this series about my favourite rock and metal concept albums. All the previous albums in the series have been from the 70’s to the 90’s, but this time I’ve picked The Great War from 2019, by a group that I’ve only recently become familiar with, the Swedish heavy metal band Sabaton. They have been around for 20 years and early on in their career decided to focus their music on historical themes primarily related to war, after watching Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan. I have to admit, I’m not comfortable writing about a band that celebrates mass destruction, but I do enjoy the music and hope that stays the focus of this post rather than the purpose behind their music or the type of fan base this may attract. Their previous efforts have included 2008’s The Art of War (about Sun Tzu’s military treatise) and 2012’s Carolus Rex about the rise and fall of the Swedish Empire during the 17th/18th century. The Great War is their ninth album and I got hooked onto it after hearing The Red Baron, a song about German flying ace Baron von Richthofen.

Sabaton in 2019 (from left): Tommy Johansson (guitar), Pär Sundström (bass), Joakim Brodén (vocals), Chris Rörland (guitar), Hannes van Dahl (drums)

Band: Sabaton

Albums: The Great War (2019)

Genre: Military/war

Narrative theme/concept: Descriptions of famous battles and feats of heroism from the First Wold War

Best songs: Seven Pillars of Wisdom, 82nd All the Way, The Red Baron, Ghost in the Trenches

What makes it special: There is something strangely appealing about the no frills song-writing centered around band co-founder Joakim Brodén’s gruff speaking-style vocals punctuated by anthemic choruses and packaged within a tightly woven melodic musical structure. There isn’t a great deal of variation in the music from one song to the next, but by the same token the songs are all consistently good and are usually no more than 3-4 minutes long…no fillers or duds in this album. If you listen to the songs while reading the lyrics and accompanying notes on the Sabaton website, it becomes a sort of history lesson and brings alive the tragedy of war. One can only marvel and shudder at the conditions that these men fought under and the horrors they faced.

The best songs in the album are related to famous war heroes, each of whom have been the subjects of literary works and films over the years:

  • The song Seven Pillars of Wisdom is named after the biography of T.E. Lawrence, aka Lawrence of Arabia, and tells of his actions as the British liaison to the Arab forces fighting the Ottoman Empire during the First World War.
  • One of my favourite songs in the album, 82nd All the Way recounts the heroic efforts of Sgt. Alvin York as a member of the 82nd Infantry Division in capturing German positions against overwhelming odds during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. Sgt. York was one of the most decorated soldiers in US military history and was famously played by Gary Cooper in the 1941 biopic directed by Howard Hawks.
  • The catchiest song in the pack and the one that introduced me to this album, The Red Baron, is about Baron von Richthofen, considered the greatest flying ace of all time, credited with 80 victories and killed by ground fire at the age of 25 a few months before the end of the war.
  • A Ghost in the Trenches describes Corporal Francis Pegahmagabow’s heroism during the War, specifically the Battles of Passchendaele and Scarpe. He was an expert sniper credited with 378 kills and became the most decorated native American soldier in Canadian military history.

At nearly 5 minutes length, the longest song of the album is titled The End of the War to End All Wars. It has an epic feel, starting with a ballad-like intro, transitioning to choral backing vocals, then diving into full-blooded heavy metal riffs.

I am working my way through Sabaton’s back catalogue. Since a number of their other releases have been concept albums, I may end up writing about Sabaton again in this series.

Favourite rock/metal concept albums (Part 6) – Jethro Tull’s Thick as a Brick


After covering rock concept albums from the mid-70’s through to the early 90’s, I’ve taken a U-turn and gone back to the heyday of concept albums in the early 70’s. The Beatles, with the incredible success of their 1967 release Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, opened the floodgates and over the next few years, there were a number of high profile releases from the likes of the David Bowie, Eagles, Elton John, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Pink Floyd, The Who and Yes, all built around a single concept or narrative.

Into this mix arrived the fifth studio album from the up-and-coming British rock group Jethro Tull. Having released one album a year since their debut in 1968, they had steadily evolved their sound from blues-rock to something quite unique and folksy, built primarily around Ian Anderson’s vocal delivery style and flute playing prowess. Their 1971 release Aqualung was mistaken by some critics to be a concept album, so to set the record straight (no pun intended!), the band decided that their next effort would be a proper concept album, going to the extreme and releasing an LP with just a single 43 minute long song suite split across the two sides.

Jethro Tull in 1972 (from left to right): Barriemore Barlow (drums), John Evan (keyboards), Ian Anderson (vocals/flute), Martin Barre (guitar), Jeffrey Hammond (bass)

Band: Jethro Tull

Albums: Thick as a Brick (1972)

Genre: Stream-of-consciousness poetry, laced with humour and satire

Narrative theme/concept: The album is positioned as a musical adaptation of an epic poem co-written by band frontman Ian Anderson and a fictitious 8-year-old prodigy named Gerald Bostock. The fictional narrative of this collaboration is detailed in the fake newspaper cover which forms the sleeve of the album; many fans mistakenly believed all this to be true.

Best parts: Really Don’t Mind / See There a Son Is Born, The Poet and the Painter, Childhood Heroes all from Side A: Thick as a Brick, Part I.

What makes it special: Thick as a Brick became the first album from the band to fully embrace elements of progressive rock, characterized by extended musical passages and changes in time signature. For the 40th anniversary edition, the band provided titles to different sections of the suite, which now makes it much easier to talk about specific parts of the album. For the longest time, I had only listened to the 3 ½ minute edit of the first section of Part 1, titled Really Don’t Mind / See There a Son, as this is what had been featured as the song Thick as a Brick in compilation albums. That section in itself is brilliant, featuring Ian Anderson’s playful opening flute riff, accompanied by acoustic guitar as he delivers the immortal lyrics:

“Really don’t mind if you sit this one out
My word’s but a whisper your deafness a shout
I may make you feel but I can’t make you think
Your sperm’s in the gutter your love’s in the sink
So you ride yourselves over the fields
And you make all your animal deals
And your wise men don’t know how it feels
To be thick as a brick“

The second section titled The Poet and the Painter, starts off with a mellow sound accompanied by lyrics that carry a certain epic majesty. The second half of this section is an extended instrumental, with Martin Barre in full flow with some outstanding wailing bluesy guitar in the style that was popular at that time. Section three titled What Do You Do When the Old Man’s Gone? / From the Upper Class, has a greater role for John Evan on the keyboard, with lots of interplay with Anderson’s flute. The music here feels a bit repetitive and I usually switch to “background music mode” when this part comes on. There’s another change of pace at the start of section four titled You Curl Your Toes in Fun / Childhood Heroes / Stabs Instrumental, which kicks off with some oddly playful lyrics and then moves to the fantastic middle passage (where the orchestration of the keyboards, acoustic guitar and flute along with Anderson’s vocals is just perfect), before ending with the appropriately titled Stabs Instrumental.

I really find it difficult to get into Part 2 of the album after the exhausting (in a good way!) journey of Part 1. And unfortunately, the opening section titled See There a Man Is Born is a bit experimental and sounds quite discordant. Thereafter, the music is predominantly acoustic and keyboards for Clear White Circles and Legends and Believe in the Day, but the whole package isn’t very melodic and doesn’t really work for me. I again go into “background music mode” for Tales of Your Life, but happily Part 2 ends with a 3-minute reprise of Childhood Heroes (the piece I loved from section four of Part 1), accompanied by some wonderful orchestral arrangements and these elevating lyrics:

“So! Come on ye childhood heroes!
Won’t your rise up from the pages of your comic-books
your super-crooks
and show us all the way.
Well! Make your will and testament.
Won’t you? Join your local government.
We’ll have Superman for president
let Robin save the day.”

It is truly an incredible 44-minute musical journey and a must-have experience for any fan of Tull’s music, who may have previously only listened to the 3 minute Thick as a Brick extract from their compilation albums.

In his later years, Ian Anderson as a solo artist revisited his Gerald Bostock alter ego with two albums, Thick as a Brick 2: Whatever Happened to Gerald Bostock? (2012) and Homo Erraticus (2014), but neither of these are able to recreate the magic of the original.

Favourite rock/metal concept albums (Part 5) – Iron Maiden’s Seventh Son of a Seventh Son


After a gap of 2 months I’m back to this series covering my favourite concept albums. In Part 4, we were in the year 1992 looking at Extreme’s III Sides To Every Story. Now I’m rolling back to 1988, the same year that Queensrÿche released Operation: Mindcrime, which I covered in Part 3. A few weeks before the Queensrÿche release, British heavy metal giants Iron Maiden dropped their seventh studio album, appropriately titled Seventh Son of a Seventh Son.

Iron Maiden in 1988 (left to right): Adrian Smith (guitar/synthesizer), Dave Murray (guitar), Steve Harris (bass), Bruce Dickinson (vocals), Nicko McBrain (drums)

Band: Iron Maiden

Album: Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (1988)

Genre: Magic, Anglo-Saxon folklore

Narrative theme/concept: Songs based on the folklore that the seventh son of a seventh son has special mystical powers

Best songs: Infinite Dreams, Can I Play with Madness, The Evil That Men Do, The Clairvoyant

What makes it special: After trying out guitar synthesizers on Somewhere in Time in 1986, the band took it a step further with the use of keyboard synthesizers (played by guitarist Adrian Smith) and a more melodic approach. However, they didn’t sacrifice any of the classic winning elements of their previous albums, i.e., Bruce Dickinson’s growling vocals, Steve Harris’ galloping bass play and the twin guitar attack from Smith and Dave Murray.

The idea for the album came to bassist Harris after he read fantasy writer Orson Scott Card’s novel Seventh Son in 1987, the first of his highly successful Tales of Alvin Maker series. Unlike many other concept albums, the songs in this album are not overtly connected as part of a narrative sequence. In fact, for the longest time, I wasn’t even aware that this album was a concept album. This absence of a narrative thread is something that Bruce Dickinson admitted to as well in later years.

When I think about my favourite tracks, I realize that they all have impactful or catchy intros…Infinite Dreams starts with a 25-second bluesy and relaxed riff before switching to a faster bass-driven cadence as the vocal track kicks in; Can I Play with Madness starts with a music-free yell of the song title before the instruments kick in; The Clairvoyant features a powerful bass line intro followed by the chugging guitars that signal a sense of urgency. And as always, the music syncs so well with and enhances Bruce Dickinson’s vocal delivery.

Two of the tracks have really evocative lyrics which are also wonderfully enunciated by Bruce Dickinson, making it very easy to sing along with, for example, the verses from Infinite Dreams which are delivered at almost a speaking cadence:-

“Suffocation waking in a sweat
Scared to fall asleep again
In case the dream begins again
Someone chasing I cannot move
Standing rigid nightmare’s statue
What a dream when will it end
And will I transcend?“

And the much faster-paced chorus from Can I Play With Madness:-

“Can I play with madness? The prophet stared at his crystal ball
Can I play with madness? There’s no vision there at all
Can I play with madness? The prophet looked and he laughed at me, ha, he said
Can I play with madness? He said, “you’re blind, too blind to see”
Oh, said, “you’re too blind to see”, mmm“

Ironically, the only song I really don’t care that much for is the title track…the repetitive and rather unimaginative singing and chorus really killed the first few minutes of the song for me, to the extent that I rarely stay on for the greater variety that comes in the second half of this 9 minute epic. Ah well, you can’t have everything, I guess!

Favourite rock/metal concept albums (Part 4) – Extreme’s III Sides to Every Story


After a gap of more than a month, I’m back with the fourth installment in this series about my favourite rock and metal concept albums. After covering the works of Coheed & Cambria, Rush and Queensrÿche, here’s a relatively less famous album titled III Sides to Every Story by the hard rock band Extreme. This intelligent and accomplished album was a follow-up to their highly successful 1990 release Pornograffiti, but it arrived in late 1992 when the grunge movement was in full swing and therefore didn’t benefit from the exposure it deserved.

Extreme in 1992 (left to right): Paul Geary (drums), Nuno Bettencourt (guitars, keyboards), Gary Cherone (vocals), Pat Badger (bass)

Band: Extreme

Album: III Sides to Every Story (1992)

Narrative genre: Politics, philosophy and faith

Best songs: Warheads, Rest in Peace, Seven Sundays, Our Father, Stop the World, Everything Under the Sun (Rise ‘N Shine, Am I Ever Gonna Change and Who Cares?)

What makes it special: The album has three sections, titled “Yours”, “Mine” and “The Truth”. Each one showcases different musical styles and themes.

The first section “Yours”, is straight up rock, with some elements of rock opera in the vocal delivery of a couple of songs. It takes a satirical look at the military-industrial complex, governance and racism. The section starts off strong with the outstanding Warheads and Rest in Peace before getting to two slightly weaker tracks that are generic hard rock without being exceptional. I would classify Cupid’s Dead also as generic, but it is saved by an extended instrumental passage that kicks in at the 3 minute mark and lasts for more than 2 minutes. The last song in the section, Peacemaker Die ends with an excerpt from Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous I Have a Dream speech.

The second section “Mine” is more introspective and has a distinctively different sound. The first track Seven Sundays, opens with a languid vocal and piano passage (the keyboards are played by guitarist Nuno Bettencourt). These songs cover a wide range of topics from love to relationships to individuality to religion. I really like the lyrics and music of Our Father which is about a child longing for his father’s presence and very much unlike the songs that macho rock bands typically compose.

The third section “The Truth” is an extended prog rock suite titled Everything Under the Sun that runs for about 20 minutes. This section is really why this album is in my list. The first part of the suite, titled Rise ‘N Shine uses orchestral arrangements, acoustic guitars and harmonizing vocals to create an evocative feel. The second part Am I Ever Gonna Change switches to a stronger guitar-driven sound, but enhanced at key points with a string section; while the guitar chords sound bright and optimistic, the monologue-style lyrics are introspective and self-critical; it’s a strange combination, but somehow it works. The final 7-minute part titled Who Cares? has a rock opera sound, switching from a bombastic horns-based intro to pensive keyboard chords to an extended guitar lead, while Gary Cherone’s vocals explore themes of faith and fate.

Overall, the album has a clean sound, not dense or layered like the other songs and albums in this series. It’s a real pity that this album came out at a time when the world was going crazy over Nirvana, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam; it never received the exposure and acclaim it deserved. But the band members often cite it as their best work and I think so too.

Favourite rock/metal concept albums (Part 3) – Queensrÿche’s Operation: Mindcrime


I took a bit of a break after Part 2, as I really wasn’t in the mood to listen to music or write about it, given all that’s been going on in the past few weeks. Today, I felt like getting back to writing, so here I am to continue the series. For Part 3, I’ve picked Queensrÿche’s 1988 rock opera classic, ambitious in scope and accomplished in delivery, a favourite of critics and fans alike.

Queensrÿche in 1988 (left to right): Eddie Jackson (bass) Chris DeGarmo (guitars), Geoff Tate (vocals), Scott Rockenfield (drums) and Michael Wilton (guitars)

Band: Queensrÿche

Album: Operation: Mindcrime (1988)

Genre: Political thriller

Narrative theme/concept: Nikki, a junkie and political radical, is recruited and brainwashed by a shadowy organization to assassinate corrupt leaders. He eventually meets Sister Mary, a former prostitute turned nun, and decides he wants to lead a normal life with her. He finds out the hard way that Doctor X, the leader of the organization, will never let him go.

Best songs: Revolution Calling, Operation: Mindcrime, Suite Sister Mary, I Don’t Believe in Love, Eyes of a Stranger.

What makes it special: The story is a thinly veiled critique of the Reagan years, essentially the same America that Oliver Stone stripped bare in Wall Street six months earlier. The tone throughout is one of gritty reality and impending tragedy. The album starts off with some dialogue and an instrumental intro. The first proper song is Revolution Calling and you know you’re onto something special when Geoff Tate delivers the pre-chorus:-

“I used to trust the media
To tell me the truth, tell us the truth
But now I’ve seen the payoffs
Everywhere I look
Who do you trust when everyone’s a crook?“

It’s difficult to identify any single element that makes this album work; there are no virtuoso guitar performances or drum pyrotechnics. But in the hands of producer Peter Collins (who produced Rush’s Power Windows), it all comes together as a tightly interwoven package. Frankly, Geoff Tate’s voice is like a fifth instrument, with its power and remarkable, soaring four-octave range showcased throughout the album, especially on songs like Speak and Spreading the Disease. In the chorus of The Mission, you can feel Nikki’s anger and wretchedness leaking through Tate’s vocals:

“I’ll wait here for days longer
Till the sister comes to wash my sins away
She is the lady that can ease my sorrow
She brings the only friend
That helps me find my way“

This brings us to the 10-minute magnum opus Suite Sister Mary; Doctor X instructs Nikki to kill Sister Mary, the one person who has shown him kindness and who he cares for in return. The style here is full-on rock opera – Geoff Tate’s and guest vocalist Pamela Moore’s soaring vocals, inter-cut brilliantly with Latin choral chants – it’s impossible to listen to this song and not get goosebumps or a lump in throat, as the seeds are sown for the unraveling of Nikki and Sister Mary’s ill-fated relationship.

Soon after, Mary is found dead and Nikki is arrested for her murder. Suffering from drug withdrawal, Nikki cannot process her demise or even be entirely sure that he was not her assassin. In I Don’t Believe in Love, his sorrow turns to helpless anger, directed at Mary for ‘abandoning’ him.

Finally, placed in a mental facility, his mind unravelling, Nikki enters a semi-catatonic state unable to recognize even himself; the tragic story comes to an end in the 7-minute Eyes of a Stranger.

“And I raise my head and stare
Into the eyes of a stranger
I’ve always known that the mirror never lies
People always turn away
From the eyes of a stranger
Afraid to know what
Lies behind the stare.”

Soaring vocals. Thundering bass drums. Screeching twin lead guitars. A compelling story. The perfect concept album!

Favourite rock/metal concept albums (Part 2) – Rush’s concept suites


In part 2 of this series covering my favourite rock and metal concept albums, I’ll cover the Canadian prog rock legends Rush. Technically, Rush has released only on concept album in its entire career, which is Clockwork Angels in 2012, their last studio album…and it’s not particularly good. But they are well known for having included concept-based suites in the 7 albums they released from 1975 to 1981.

Rush in the 70s (from left to right): Geddy Lee (bass and vocals), the late Neil Peart (drums), Alex Lifeson (guitars)

Band: Rush

Album: Fly By Night (1975)

Narrative genre: Fantasy

  • Concept Suite: By-Tor and the Snow Dog (8 min, 37 sec); Favourite segment: Of the Battle (guitar instrumental)

It’s in this album that we hear the virtuoso playing and sudden time signature changes that came to be such a distinctive part of Rush’s music. This concept suite has elements of fantasy and describes a battle between By-Tor, the “knight of darkness” and Snow Dog, his nemesis. The instrumental middle section called Of the Battle, features an awesome guitar war between Geddy Lee on bass (who is credited as By-Tor in the album notes) and Alex Lifeson on guitar (credited as Snow Dog). Incidentally the characters are named after the two dogs, named Biter and Snow Dog, owned by Rush’s manager.

Album: Caress of Steel (1975)

Narrative genre: Fantasy

  • Concept Suite: The Necromancer (12 min, 34 sec); Favourite segments: Under the Shadow and Return of the Prince;
  • Concept Suite: The Fountain of Lamneth (19 min, 57 sec); Favourite segments: In the Valley, Didacts and Narpets (drum solo), Panacea and Bacchus Plateau

I really love this album, although it’s considered the least successful release of the first half of Rush’s career. Listeners found the lyrics in the two concept suites to be too obscure to follow, and of course, they were too long to play on rock radio stations. The first suite, which is on Side one of the album is heavily influenced by Tolkien’s works. The second, The Fountain of Lamneth doesn’t really make much sense from a lyrical standpoint, but I love the drum solo in Didacts and Narpets, the poignancy of Panacea (“Panacea, liquid grace, Oh let me touch your fragile face”) and the easy-going sound of Bacchus Plateau.

Album: 2112 (1976)

Narrative genre: Science fiction

  • Concept Suite: 2112 (20 min, 34 sec); Favourite segment: The Temples of Syrinx

This is the album that really made Rush famous. The entire Side one is the self-titled concept suite, a blend of science-fiction and metaphysics, influenced by the works of Ayn Rand, particularly her 1937 novel Anthem. I love the song The Temples of Syrinx, which is actually the first ever example of hard rock/heavy metal that I remember hearing in my life; the screaming vocals disturbed me and thrilled me in equal measure and I had a vision of a satan-worshipping rock band when I heard the song play on the radio in the late 70s. It was only when I listened to the full album in the late 80s that I realized it came from one of the gentlest, most well-behaved rock bands in history!

Album: A Farewell to Kings (1977)

Narrative genre: Science fiction

  • Concept Suite: Cygnus X-1 Book I: The Voyage (10 min 25 sec); Favourite segments: Prologue, 2.

Rush continued the with a science-fiction setting for the concept suite that closed its 1977 album, which featured slightly darker lyrics and themes all the way through. The Prologue with its syncopated bass intro which slowly builds up as the other instruments join in, is really cool. Then, around half way into the suite, at around 5:54, we kick into a conventional song structure in the the segment named “2”, and we hear about the voyage to Cygnus – “I set a course just east of Lyra, And northwest of Pegasus, Flew into the light of Deneb, Sailed across the Milky Way”. This is perhaps the highest pitch that Geddy Lee has ever sung at.

Album: Hemispheres (1978)

Narrative genre: Science fiction

  • Concept Suite: Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres (18 min 08 sec); Favourite segment: Prelude

The Cygnus X-1 story continued into the 1978 album Hemispheres. In Book II, the story incorporates elements of metaphysics, essentially detailing a conflict between the two halves of the brain (hence, hemispheres) and culminates in the segment called Armageddon (The Battle of Heart and Mind). I love the bass lines in the Prelude segment and overall, this is my all-time favourite Rush concept suite. I love that it’s 18 min long because every time I listen to it I just don’t want it to end.

Album: Permanent Waves (1980)

Narrative genre: Metaphysics

  • Concept Suite: Natural Science (9 min 20 sec); Favourite segments: Tide Pools, Hyperspace

This concept suite marked another shift in thematic focus, away from sci-fi to existential themes. with a commentary about man’s relationship with nature and technology. The first segment Tide Pools, starts with a slow commentary-style intro and the propels forward at the 2 min mark with the lyrics “Wheels within wheels, In a spiral array, A pattern so grand and complex; Time after time, We lose sight of the way, Our causes can’t see their effects”. The second segment Hyperspace, continues at a similar pace, then switches back and forth in pace. Musically, this feels like their most mature work up to this point of their career.

Album: Moving Pictures (1981)

Narrative genre: Realism

  • Concept Suite: The Camera Eye (10 min 58 sec); Favourite segment: New York and London

The Camera Eye is a forgotten part of an album that featured all-time classics like Tom Sawyer, Red Barchetta and Limelight; naturally it was not radio-friendly like the aforementioned songs. This is also the last of their conceptual suites in Rush’s body of work. This piece signifies yet another shift in the themes of Rush’s concept suites, having moved from fantasy to sci-fi to metaphysics to nature and now becomes somewhat introspective, reflecting on the urban rhythms of two great cities.

Wow, this post on Rush took a lot longer than I expected, but as with Coheed and Cambria in Part 1, I enjoyed listening again to all these pieces and reading about the band’s song-writing process during those magical years from 1976 to 1981.