Odd Music

"Hype" is another album from Robert Calvert, and again is a concept album. I have to say, that out of the five Calvert albums I've got this is my least favorite. Again it's a concept album, and it's a clever one at that: focusing on the rise and fall of a certain new rock star Tom Mahler.

Where this album differs Freq and Test Tube Conceived is that it includes a number of other musicians including messers House, Moorcock and Nick Turner (friends and relations of Hawkwind). As with the afore mentioned albums Hype is also reasonably dark, the story being Mahler's raise to fame as a rock star that is propelled into the stratosphere as a result of his (pre-arranged?) murder.

I like this album less than the rest of my Calvert collection because to me it's simply just not as good. There are a number of very good songs on it: "Flight 105", "The Luminous Green Glow of the Dials of the Dashboard (at night)" and "Greenfly and the Rose", but overall it is slightly lacking. Perhaps it's the style of song that Calvert's attempted, they are not quite in the traditional (if there is such a thing) Calvert mold.

Don't get me wrong it's still a good album, and definitely different from most of the stuff in my collection.

"Freq Revisited" has the pleasure of being the first of my CD collection to get a quick review. Freq is one of the few solo albums put out by the late, and great, Robert Calvert. His life is one of interest and shows the fine line between greatness and madness quite well (he was a touch of a manic depressive) and died young at the age of 43.

Freq is a concept album (like all his solo stuff?) and is rather minimalist in both its production and musicianship. But because of this it's got a whole load of haunting qualities that make you (me) want to keep playing it over and over. The musical style is very Calvert-esque in that the lyrical content is incredably strong and quite dark in places. The album itself is about the "little man" and his fight against the machine, work, and future technologies. It's set with a backdrop of the 1980's miner strikes (remember them?), so is probably more effective as an album for people of a certain age. Particularly as there are interludes where Calvert's cut-and-paste talking bits from picket lines and so forth.

The songs are very strong and Calvert's slant on the future is remarkably insightful. This album's one for people who like "deep meaningful" music.

It's genre is somewhere between progressive rock and poetry.

Well I've decided that it's time for a new blog. This one's going to be about the music I keep listening to. Now a little known fact is that I do have (probably) the best musical taste in the world, so see this blog as a road to enlightenment for the masses... Okay, may be not!