LOST & FOUND

Headwarmer re-affirms the classics and dusts down the buried treasure

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Alice in Chains – Dirt

'A CERTIFIED CLASSIC!'


 If you’re looking for a definition of early nineties grunge then look no further.  In 1992 just about when the likes of My Chemical Romance and Trivium were still in pampers, AIC recorded a rock album that owed more to drug abuse and post traumatic stress disorder than the teen college nightmares of the 21st century’s most literary and multi platinum talents.  Where their debut ‘Facelift’ created momentary shafts of light, this album is a beacon, a tightly honed beast full of bleak landscapes and sinister walls of sound that leave you breathless and begging for more.  If it were a movie soundtrack it would score Apocalypse Now fantastically, get the picture? It’s the stuff of nightmares and I say that purely based on its source material. We’re talking some serious issues here, politics, heroin, Vietnam, not pretty reading but musically it delivers, magnificently.  It’s written and played with such conviction that you can almost see frontman Layne Staley shaking and sweating in the corner of a dark room.  ‘Rain When I Die’, ‘God Smack’, Junkhead’ and ‘Hate to Feel’ speak for themselves. All crunching riffs and brutality, like being hit over the head with a blunt object. But then that’s probably the intention. The opening fury of ‘Them Bones’ and the title track both blend metal with melody so well that you hardly have time to think before ‘Angry Chair’, ‘Down In A Hole’ and the awesome bookend ‘Would?’ have dragged you through the mind of the habitual drug user.  The highlight is ‘Rooster’, a track dedicated by Staley to his serving father following Vietnam heroism, a personal message that highlights the sheer scale and weight of this album. It can not be ignored.  Be warned this is intense and uneasy listening but can only be described as one of the most important ‘grunge’ albums of the 20th century. With it AIC created an aural challenge, covering themselves in the grime of nightmares and delivering an album that cuts to the bone.
 



Massive Attack – Mezzanine

'A BROODING MASTERPIECE'

 If you consider their back catalogue you could safely say 3-D and his Bristolian buddies have provided us with some of the most enigmatic music of both the 20th and 21st centuries.  In doing so they have mastered a musical genre that few have dared to try and understand let alone pull off with such style. Five albums in and they’re just releasing a best of synopsis that if you haven’t succumbed to their unique blend as yet, is a fantastic rendition of one of the great British bands of our time.  Blue Lines is a classic soul LP no question, reaching it’s zenith with the dance floor classic ‘Unfinished Sympathy’.  Their second album Protection, whilst pursuing a more ambient lead, is equally as impressive.  With this their 4th opus, (if you include the remix master Mad Professor), the darkest power from Bristol delivered an album that quite literally is still above and beyond all previous works and all pretenders to their trip hop throne.  An album that sounds as amazing today as it did back in 1998, you can listen to it non stop for months and still find something new with each repeat spin.  I mean there are pieces of music here that will embed themselves in your subconscious and never come out.  You can safely say it still has no equal, an individual ‘classic’ in every sense of the word and an album you will return to for decades to come.  Seriously!  It begins with Angel, perhaps the greatest slice of trip-hop-rock ever pressed to plastic.  So much so it’s been used in multiple TV ads and major motion picture soundtracks for its dark and menacing persona.  It’s an aggressive ethereal mind movie that builds beautifully before exploding into a cacophony of drums and blistering guitar, eventually returning the listener to earth through a fabulously sinister bass line. Once you’ve recovered from that you’re seamlessly led through ten epic soundscapes each with their own signature, their own atmosphere even.  It’s not space rock, although it does reach stratospheric heights, it’s the darkest soul music you will ever experience.  The title track is underpinned by one of the most sinister and powerful bass lines you will ever hear. Like a marauding monster you can just picture the black stag beetle from the front cover artwork crawling over scorched earth and then battering its prey into submission with the incredible album closer ‘Group Four’.  It’s awe inspiring stuff.  To be hailed a classic in the true sense of the word takes some doing and is all too often an overused term for some fairly average works. This however takes some beating and I feel quite justified in penning such an accolade. Awesome!
 



The Screaming Trees – Sweet Oblivion

'A REAL HIDDEN GEM!'

From the substantial Seattle rock scene of the early 90s there were a few bands that would actually end up cutting the mustard. Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden will all be remembered as the forefathers, the leading lights. But there were many, many others who deserved much more success than they would eventually enjoy.  Greatly influential rather than greatly successful, the legendary fuzzed out sound of Mudhoney and Dinosaur Jr, perhaps even The Jesus Lizard were those who were resigned to the local garage scene rather than world stadia. Whether this was a conscious progression or not, you have to admire them for that. You could also say the magnificent Afghan Whigs failed to appeal as much to the global masses but there was one other such band that deserved so much more as a collective.  The Screaming Trees were a ‘sizeable’ four piece in every sense of the word and were fronted by one of the most ‘velvet’ rock voices of all time. Mark Lanegan’s liquor store growl was the Trees’ signature and their identity, the key that would differentiate them from the rest of the scene. It would eventually take him down the solo road and ultimately make him one of the most revered front men of the modern rock scene.  Many will hail the final album ‘Dust’ as their masterpiece, but with Sweet Oblivion the ’Trees delivered a fantastically raw, wholesome and cohesive collection of songs, an altogether more edgy and uplifting experience than anything else they had written before or after.  It’s full of dark and inviting doorways into Lanegan’s world through which if opened, the listener can really become lost.  Opener ‘Shadow of the Season’ has an ethereal quality, an earthy edge so beautifully produced that it immediately envelopes your ear drums and takes you to a warm place. The singles ‘Nearly Lost You’ and ‘Dollar Bill’ keep you there before you’re taken to a wintery rock wonderland in the form of ‘Celebrations Past’ and ‘Troubled Times’.  Even after the first listen it’s difficult to pry yourself away from this albums quality. Come spins two and three you’ll be too far gone to listen to anything else. This album has a quiet sophistication, an understated charm that makes you feel part of its nature, part of its world.  It’s a quiet masterpiece that stands alone.
 



The Beyond – Chasm

'SUPERB AND CRIMINALLY OVERLOOKED!'

The early nineties was a magical time for rock music. Some truly inspirational albums were released that were a million times more genuine, more honest and ultimately more daring than the modern formulaic teenage college “rock” that is infesting the scene at the moment. The likes of Superunknown, Dirt, The Holy Bible, Gish, Bossanova, Ritual de lo Habitual and of course Nevermind were all albums of colossal quality and influence. All albums of loss and remorse and yet all mirrored with a positivity that still has you coming back for more.  Relative unknowns The Beyond were not in the same league as the aforementioned in terms of commercial success, but this was through no fault of their own and quite honestly, is one of the most outrageous travesties of our time. They were a prickly bunch, a crew of four who pushed the boundaries of alternative rock into a whole new category. In doing so they created something quite unique. An album of angst fuelled alt-rock that is so difficult to pigeonhole in today’s adolescent emo pomp that it remains untouched and unrecognised as one of the most original albums of the 90’s.  Their debut ‘Crawl’ overflowed with invention and a creative edge that had their peers reeling and was a fabulous example of the bands potential. Heavily driven by Neil Cooper’s frantic and exemplary drumming style, it was a jazz clatter overwritten with John Whitby’s soaring staccato and blended with some razor sharp guitar work that resulted in a thrilling ride for the listener.  Chasm headed more for the mainstream in terms of song writing and production. It in no way lends any synergies whatsoever to today’s new breed but created an originality, a swagger that coupled with an electrifying live set, was unlike anything released at the time. It kicks off with Cypress Era, a wonderful rock opera that sets the pace and tone for the rest of the album. It flows beautifully through Sentimental Vultures, Onion and in particular Grey, to the closer Mother My Lover, a poignant shock and an appropriate finale to the opening bluster of Stagnant and Melt.  As a reference point, I can think of no equal. Lyrically and musically this album is so clever, so full of itself and confident that you have to sit up and take notice. It defies definition. It’s not indie and it’s not metal in the broadest sense of those terms. It’s definitely alternative so perhaps ‘art rock’ is an appropriate tag for such a special brew.  If you can track it down, listening to Chasm isn’t just an artistic duty, it’s an unparalleled pleasure. It’s musical intricacy strangely memorable. For those who don’t want to part of the crowd, but still need somewhere to belong, this just might be the best album you’ve heard in years.