Hecklerspray’s Monday Music Mango: James Horner, Caroline Herring, Morphine
Separating the sweet, juicy flesh from the stone and skin of this week’s major label releases.
Christmas is almost here. We can feel it coming by the nip in the air; we can smell it coming by the everywhere-scent of cinnamon; we can see it coming in the wide-eyed desperation of parents trying to locate an electronic toy dog which barks, poops and dry leg-humps just like the real thing. Or whatever it is the kids are after this year.
Take a moment, you shop-wearied folk, to relax and check out the upcoming music releases. Here comes your Mango!
Firstly, Avatar Soundtrack, James Horner. You do know that you’re going to go and see this, right? And that it will be slightly less awful/wonderful than you expect it to be? And that next year’s Halloween parties will be full of people painted blue and dressed in bits of raggedy rope? (Upside: you may get to see part of a hot girl’s boob. Boobies!!!)
Well, before you go and have your dreams shattered, you can listen to the music that will be telling you how to feel as the plot progresses. Perhaps making this a 4-D movie?
Probably best to avoid looking at the tracks’ titles, though, as they seem to be full of spoilers. We won’t ruin too much for you, just to say that we can’t wait for the scene which goes with Iknimaya Gets Burned To The Ground By Fire-Breathing Unicorns And All Of The Blue People Cry, And The Tears Wash The Bodypaint Off, So They Realise That They’re Actually Green Underneath Then They Start Pissing All Over Each Other To Get The Rest Of The Paint Off.
Anyway, it’s a soundtrack to a big old film, so there’s violins and horns and that. Quiet little flutes and loud, stompy drums. Major keys and minor keys. We don’t see why anyone would buy it just yet, but maybe after seeing the film you’ll want to relive it via music. This album is represented by the thought:
This film is going well. Got my kids and their friends here, they’re loving it. Oh, how sad. Ah, now they’re crying. Ooh look, they’re all actually green, really. Now what’s he… Why is… Oh God, how could they not warn us about this?
Bluing of mind…by compliant media…complete…I will…must…buy this…twice…on every format…
Secondly, Golden Apples Of The Sun, Caroline Herring. All female folk artists who perform with little other than a plaintive voice and a guitar will be compared to Joni Mitchell. And if that artist covers one of the Folk Queen’s songs then they can’t complain if they fall short.
Caroline rather foolishly decides to go with The Cactus Tree as her cover, a song whose original version is so perfectly sung and arranged that no improvement is possible. Her voice isn’t up to it. She also has a stab at reworking Cyndi Lauper’s True Colours, but again just shows a lack of vocal power and imagination.
The album is a straight forward, solidly written and performed example of the genre. It’s not going to excite anyone, but maybe you’ll like it for that as it soothes you to sleep. It’s represented by the thought:
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Thirdly, At Your Service, Morphine. Like that of Nick Drake, Morphine’s story is one of thoughtful – often gloomy – music, obsessive fans, and a career ended by an untimely death (in this case, Mark Sandman’s by heart attack in 1999).
This album is a collection of unreleased songs, b-sides and live recordings. By their definition, this kind of collection contains work which the band thought was second rate. It is, but a second-rate Morphine is still a pretty fine thing: sparse arrangements of sax, double bass, drums and vocals turn songs into twisting paeans of love, friendship, disappointment.
When they moved away from the slow stuff, Morphine could also rock convincingly: shown here by the rockabilly romp of Moons Of Jupiter. The album is represented by the thought:
What a shame, that Mark Sandman’s life and works were cut so short.
I appreciate a good bit of squealy sax now and again, take me to this album.
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