Log #75 — Pat Metheny Goes Offramp and Genesis are Reborn With Possibly Their Best Yet
This week we continue our female vocalist focus with albums by Carole King, Marianne Faithfull, Caitlin Canty and Larkin Poe. Pat Metheny swings by with his 1980s jazz fusion group and we finally complete the Genesis mark 1.5 trilogy with possibly their best album of all.
1. Larkin Poe — Fall
2. Carole King — Tapestry
3. Marianne Faithfull — A Stranger On Earth
4. Caitlin Canty — Reckless Skyline
5. Pat Metheny Group — Offramp
6. Genesis — A Trick of The Tail
Carole King really owes her entry this week to a BBC4 documentary on Carly Simon’s No Secrets album. I haven’t got No Secrets (yet) but it reminded me of Tapestry — whether that’s the image, the time, the music, or the James Taylor associations I’m not sure.
Tapestry is another album (like Rumours) I only acquired recently, and, also like Rumours, it contains many songs I was already familiar with — I Feel The Earth Move and You’ve Got a Friend of course.
To read about the fascinating LA Laurel Canyon music scene (and the bed hopping, most of it by Joni Mitchell) of that time I recommend Barney Hoskyn’s excellent Hotel California book. [Ed. Can we say that? The bit about Joni Mitchell? Yes it’s ok, if we get sued for defamation then this blog is actually reaching an audience, and it’s only what Barney said anyway.]
I read that the Larkin Poe sisters, actually Rebecca and Megan Lovell (there was once a third, Jessica), are distant descendants of Edgar Allan Poe (an author who wrote brilliant literature with plots). I’ve seen Larkin Poe live a couple of times — first time was in a small pub in Lewes and they were on the country/americana side (and I came away with this mini-album, signed). The second time they were on a much larger stage at a festival and seemed much more rock but did seem to have lost a bit of soul.
The Marianne Faithful is a Greatest Hits album. Her classic album as far as I know is Broken English and this selection includes only two tracks from that album. What I remember about that album is the already ravaged voice (it was only 1979) and the Ballad of Lucy Jordan with this vivid call to action:
At the age of thirty-seven she realised
she’d never ride through Paris in a sports car
with the warm wind in her hair
… a line I remember my mother in law singing.
The Pat Metheny Group’s Offramp album is very nice easy listening modern instrumental electronic guitar led latin jazz fusion. It’s from the ECM stable and of it’s time (1982) — very keenly produced with that synth/processed guitar as used by Al Di Meola (Log #6) but somehow keeps the right side of Kenny G type supermarket aisle fodder. Metheny’s fluid jazz lines remind me of Jerry Garcia.
I’ve completed the Genesis Mark 1.5 three album catalogue with a purchase of Trick of the Tail. I have to say on only the first or second listening I can tell this is going to be pushing for my favourite Genesis album of all (currently The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway). It’s got it all and frankly I’m amazed to be hearing me say that after I first pondered the merits (or otherwise) of post Gabriel Genesis back in log #67. I was clearly making unfounded assumptions without researching the facts. Sorry readers.
The mix is tremendous (I don’t know if this is the result of the remaster — this is the 1994 edition) — clear, sharp and powerful. The bass is really deep, the guitar thick, and Collin’s vocals are a revelation. Apparently it was his rendition of Squonk that convinced the rest of the band he could step out from behind the drum kit and into Gabriel’s mighty shoes. I wonder what Gabriel must have made of this record when he first heard it. Do you think he was delighted for them, or was there a feeling of regret?
The whole concept of The Lamb was darker, longer, and it was a real uphill battle to finish. That’s why A Trick of the Tail was easier to make. It was lighter, Phil was singing, and we had a whole new scenario with a breath of fresh air.
Tony Banks
Unlike some of the earlier albums there are no instrumental fillers where a member of this group of egos are granted a solo piece which ill fits the whole concept. For example Hackett’s poor Bach imitation Horizons from Foxtrot, [Ed. Can you say that a bit quieter?] This is perhaps unfair on Hackett, probably the most modest member of the band. As the late joining guitarist it seems that his playing was generally so sidelined by the overwhelming keyboards of the dominant Tony Banks that he was merely and reluctantly granted the odd instrumental instead.
I was getting tired of bringing ideas into the group, which I felt they weren’t going to do.
Steve Hackett
Furthermore Banks has been at pains to recall that it was himself who wrote and played the guitar introduction to Supper’s Ready suggesting further that Hackett’s input was not that crucial (that series of Genesis album reissue interviews on youtube is so revealing). Fans would disagree and many argue the Genesis sound suffered more after the departure of Hackett than it did even with Gabriel.
This sort of behaviour represented the worse excesses of prog rock when it became more important to demonstrate the technical skill of each musician rather than create great music itself. It’s almost as if the musicians have to demonstrate that although they are playing rock and pop music they are very serious musicians and were actually originally classically trained. The trouble is the real classical musicians see (or hear) through this. Yes were also most guilty of this where many of their albums have a solo Steve Howe or Rick Wakeman piece shoehorned in amongst the prog epics. More kudos to Robert Fripp (a guitarist to whom Hackett is sometimes compared) — a classical guitarist originally who said that hearing one chord of Jimi Hendrix meant more to him than the entire classical repertoire. He also says Wimborne in Dorset is the centre of the universe.
Anyway, pleasingly it’s no such issue on A Trick of the Tail where a balance and equilibrium between the individual musicians and the overall music is achieved throughout the album.
Finally who is Caitlin Canty? No idea but she’s got a nice Americana band and holds a decent tune and this record has a nice live band feel. Also described by Rolling Stone as “thoughtfully constructed alt-folk with just the right amount of twang”. She’s moved to Nashville. You get the picture. And here’s a picture of her sitting on the stairs in her new house.
Originally published at http://6albumsunday.blogspot.com.
