High hopes for "High Hopes"

This is my second LP review on this blog and in fact it is my second Bruce Springsteen LP review. My first was for "Wrecking Ball" nearly 2 years ago. Between then and now, there has been a world tour with two legs in Europe both of each I attended with 3 gigs each. During the Australian leg last year, we learned that Bruce went into a studio with Tom Morello and recorded some tracks. And suddenly, this year, there's a new Australian leg (and a South Africa one, taking place right now) plus a new album. But is it really new? The first info circulating on the internet before its release suggested it was probably "Tracks 2" because it was rumoured that it featured outtakes from "The Rising". As it turned out it did feature outtakes. And also last year's Australian recordings with Morello. And studio versions of songs previously officially available on live versions only. And 2 producers: Brendan O'Brien who had produced "The Rising", "Devils + Dust", "Magic" and "Working On A Dream" and Ron Aniello who had produced "Wrecking Ball". And it featured contributions from Danny Federici and Clarence Clemons. So, not really a "new" album...

First of all, let's examine the "studio versions of songs previously officially available on live versions only" bit, It seems that lately, Bruce has undertaken the task to commit these songs to studio versions. So, two years ago, on "Wrecking Ball" we had studio versions of "Wrecking Ball", "Land Of Hope And Dreams" and "American Land" (the latter only on the "deluxe" version). On "High Hopes" we get "American Skin (41 Shots)" originally from "Live In New York City" and "Dream Baby Dream" which was regurarly performed on his solo "Devils + Dust" tour and had been released on a limited edition 10" single. It was a cover of a Suicide song, and since the aforementioned 10" also featured the original version, I can tell you that in my humble opinion, Bruce's version is far superior and he really has made this song his own.

The "Dream Baby Dream" 10 inch single

 Apart from these two songs we something really peculiar: "The Ghost Of Tom Joad" which is "a studio version of a song previously officially available on a STUDIO version only". What's going on here? The story behind it is this. Bruce has released this song in 1995 on his "Ghost Of Tom Joad" album. The album, as the title track is pretty much an acoustic affair. Tom Morello's band, Rage Against The Machine, covered this song. And when Bruce and Tom happen to be together on stage (something which seems to happen quite often these days) they usually play that song together. But the things is, Tom adds, not only lead vocals but an amazing guitar solo, that makes the song (again in my own humble opinion) more powerful and far superior to the original "acoustic" version. That's why, I think, it's really important to have this different version on a studio album (It had previously been available in a live version on the b-side of the live 10" Wrecking Ball single).

The "Wrecking Ball" 10 inch live single featuring "The Ghost Of Tom Joad" with Tom Morello

The title track "High Hopes" may also fall in the category described above. This is also a cover version (originally by The Havalinas if I'm not mistaken) but it has also been available as a studio version. The catch is that it was featured on a very rare release, a CD EP called "Blood Brothers" which was given away with initial copies of the VHS tape with the same name. (It might also had been featured as one of the b-sides on one of the "Secret Garden" CD singles. Here, we have a new version, with Morello on guitar and Ron Aniello studio effects, but personally I prefer the first Bruce version. It was played last year's Australian leg of the tour, apparently at Morello's request, so maybe that's why they decided to get into the studio and record it.

Another cover version that was performed on the Australian leg of last year's tour is "Just Like Fire Would" (a cover of a song by Australian band The Saints) and it also finds its way into the album, presumably also recorded in an Australian studio last year. It is my favourite song on the album (after "Dream Baby Dream" of course).

So what about the other songs? First of all, "Harry's Place". I don't know how to describe that. I don't know what that beat reminds me of. A friend suggested that it sounds like Foreigner and it seems to me that if it was a bit faster you could expect the saxophone part of "Urgent" to come up. A saxophone part does come up, but thankfully it sounds nothing like "Urgent". "Down In The Hole" doesn't do much for me, not a bad one, but I expect much more from Bruce. "Heaven's Wall" has that "raise your hands" chant that sticks to your mind, but the rest of it is easily forgettable to my ears. I had many doubts about "Frankie Fell In Love" at first, but with every listen it grows on me, to the point that at this moment is one of my favourite songs on the album. As is "This Is Your Sword", the difference being that I immediately liked this at first listen, maybe because it reminds me a bit of "The Seeger Sessions". "Hunter Of Invisible Game" is another slow song but much better than "Down In The Hole". It seems to be growing on me, but I still haven't made up my mind about it. Probably needs a few more listens.

Finally "The Wall". This is the favourite song on the album for most Bruce fans, but not for me. It is supposed to be one of those longs that tells a story, in the unique way Bruce has of telling them. I'll keep on listening to it, paying closer attention to the lyrics.

So, I still don't know how to judge this album. Some fans claim that "Working On A Dream" was a bad album, but the thing is, I found at least some good things to say for every track of that album. But maybe I shouldn't think of "High Hopes" so much as an album, but more as a collection. A don't take my word for it. You favourite tracks may be the ones which I don't like, and the ones you hate may be those ones which I praise. And the truth is I'd like to think of myself as a fan, not a critic.

Back in 2014

Photo by Petra

We are currently experiencing some technical difficulties so there haven't been many posts lately.
We will be back in 2014 with  more. Until then...
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Marietta Fafouti

In recent years there has been a surge of Greek artists singing in English, whether they play rock, pop or dance music, with varying degrees of success. One of these is Marietta Fafouti which would probably be classified in the pop category although she is supported by a full band. Her steady, day job at an ad agency allows her to pursuit her interest in music without being worried about her income. (Plus she uses her talent at work by composing jingles). She is quite successful in Greece although I had never seen her perform before. I had the chance to do that this summer after being invited by a friend. It was a series of different gigs that were organized by the Athens Concert Hall (Megaron) in its garden with a low admission price.

Even this concert had one thing in common with the Bruce Springsteen one I attended earlier in the summer: They both played "Twist & Shout"!

Get ready to Ejekt with Peter Hook and the Pet Shop Boys

My previous experience with Ejekt Festival was not a good one. This was back in 2007 and one the bill were Madness, The Beastie Boys and Underworld (in that order, with Underworld headlining). I went to see mainly Madness and the Beatie Boys were an added extra for me. I didn't much care for Underworld, not having ventured past "Born Slippy" (that "lager, lager" thing from "Trainspotting"). So, I had to get there early. And so I did, and enjoyed the full set from Madness

Then it was time for The Beasties, who played quite a few of the instrumentals from their new - at the time - album "The Mix-Up"

At some point, during their set a huge black smoke column was noticed, coming from the back of the venue. What we learnt afterwards was that some people invaded the venue throwing petrol bombs setting on fire several cars in the parking lot in the process. The Beastie Boys had to leave the stage mid-set (thankfully they had been playing for quite some time), Madness managed to hide in their dressing room, while a member of Underworld was injured by a brick thrown at him.

And to top that off, while I was returning home the tram I was riding in collided with a passing car. Nobody was injured.

I did not claim compensation for my ticket (it was not given anyway) because I had seen what I wanted: Madness and The Beastie Boys...
...Fast forward to 2013 and I was ready for my second Ejekt. This was unexpected, but the Pet Shop Boys were announced as headliners. I had last seen them back in 1991 at Birmingham NEC (where "Performance" was filmed). Happy Mondays were also announced and that was an added bonus.

Other names were also announced, but the day before the festival the cancellations started. Happy Mondays cancelled (but Peter Hook & The Light who replaced them playing Joy Division and New Order tracks were a nice reward). A few hours later Palma Violets cancelled and were replaced by The Wedding Singers.
The Wedding Singers are a Greek band that do exactly what it says on the tin. They play 80's and 90's well known pop hits and they are the perfect band to hire to perform on someone's wedding. In fact they could have come straight out of The wedding Singer movie with Adam Sandler.

Next up were Bittersweet, another Greek band

And then it was the turn of The Jamming Funkers, the band with the best stage presence of all the Greek bands, featuring dancers on stage, both male and female, a horn section and a powerful vocal performance from their lead singer.

And then it was the turn of The Viper vikings, the last (and the most electronic) of the Greek acts.

They provided a good transition to the international acts starting with the equally electronic James Blake. My personal opinion though is that they would "segue" better with Peter Hook & The Light who also did an electronic set, but they also play synth-pop like The Viper Vikings. You see, I thought that James Blake (and here comes another "personal opinion") is one of those artists that sound better on record than they do on stage. However several people in the crowd had come especially to see him, he is quite popular in Greece, so we have to respect that... (I remember a girl standing beside me watching him with such dedication it was ubelievable. So a big RESPECT goes out to her)

Setlist:

01. Air & Lack Thereof
02. I Never Learnt to Share

03. Life Round Here

04. To the Last

05. CMYK

06. I Am Sold

07. Lindisfarne I

08. Lindisfarne II

09. Limit to Your Love (Feist cover)

10. Voyeur

11. The Wilhelm Scream

12. Retrograde

And then it was time for the first of my favourites. Hooky from New Order (and Joy Division) with his band Peter Hook & The Light playing New Order (and Joy Division) songs. Now I am not going to lie, I thoroughly enjoyed his one hour set, but he did receive a lot of criticism from other people, mainly that his voice is not that strong and that he should hire a lead singer. However, I must admit that I prefer him singing, mainly because that enhances the illusion that I am watching a part of New Order (and Joy Division)

Red Bull were one of the sponsors of the festival and they had placed a fridge full of cans of their drink on stage. However it was locked and Peter could not grab one for refreshment towards the end of his set. OK, we understand it was up there for advertising purposes but in this case "advertising" probably meant that we, the fans, would see it and then head on to the bar to buy one.

Setlist:

01. Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division cover)

02. Ceremony (New Order cover)

03. Everything's Gone Green (New Order cover)

04. Bizarre Love Triangle (New Order cover)

05. Your Silent Face (New Order cover)

06. 5 8 6 (New Order cover)

07. Fine Time (New Order cover)

08. True Faith (New Order cover)

09. Temptation (New Order cover)

10. Blue Monday (New Order cover)

While the stage was being prepared for The Pet Shop Boys, Faith SFX appeared as a warm up act, a rapper and human beatbox

Finally, it was time for what most of us had come there for: The Pet Shop Boys

After a long(ish) wait they started off with Axis behind the stage cover which was eventually removed to reveal them in all their glory

They even re-enacted a scene from their musical "Closer To Heaven"

This gig was part of their "Electric Tour" to promote their album of the same name which was a suprising return to form with upbeat and dance tunes and which was, I think, not officially released yet at the time of the gig. A very good article (in Greek) about that (featuring several of my photos he he) can be found here: http://provatos.blogspot.gr/2013/07/blog-post_17.html (If you decide to read that using Google Translate, please ignore its title. It does get lost in translation. Really. TRUST ME). 9 months before that, another album had been released, "Elysium", which was considered rather boring by the fans and was probably a contractual obligation. They did promote the older album as well (and despite the criticism, "Memory Of The Future" is an exceptional song)

And so the hits kept coming (with an exceptional laser show during "I'm Not Scared").

And just two weeks after seeing Bruce Springsteen in Paris, I got to hear another Bruce Springsteen song!

Even a b-side was played ("I Get Excited (You Get Excited Too)"). And so it was all over, but not before they came back with an encore of "West End Girls" and "Vocal".
The sound was, well, not bad, but it definitely could have been better (Too much bass during Peter Hook's set and at the beginning of The Pets). It was rather a small crowd (well, smaller than expected). The Pets previous appearance in Athens at an indoor venue in November 2009 was sold out. The usual Ejekt crowd was expecting some other act than The Pet Shop Boys ("They're too old", "ancient history", "my mother is a fan" were some of the comments), but still those who were there enjoyed it to the fullest. As for me, it was my second Pets gig. The first one was 22 years ago at the Birmingham NEC where the "Performance" video was shot...

Setlist:

01. Axis

02. One More Chance / A Face Like That

03. Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)

04. Memory of the Future ('New Single Mix' version)

05. Fugitive

06. Integral

..... Sample of "The Rite of Spring" (Igor Stravinsky piece)

07. I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing

08. Suburbia

09. I'm Not Scared

10. Last to Die (Bruce Springsteen cover)

11. Somewhere (Leonard Bernstein cover)

12. Leaving

13. Thursday

14. Love Etc.

15. I Get Excited (You Get Excited Too) 

16. Rent

17. Miracles

18. It's a Sin

19. Domino Dancing

20. Go West (Village People cover)

21. Always on My Mind (Elvis Presley cover)

Encore:

22. West End Girls

23. Vocal

Lana Del Rey with Echo & The Bunnymen @ Rockwave Festival

By now, Rockwave Festival is the longest running festival in Greece. It started in the 90's and it's still going on every summer. However, the last time I attended was back in 1999 when Patti Smith and Garbage were playing on the same day. What I still remember though is what happened after the concert. Next to the place were the festival was taking place was a night club. A young couple, after leaving the festival thought it was a good idea to go to the club for a drink. However the Greek bouncers didn't think that "rockers" were worthy enough to be allowed inside. They didn't think that "rock concert people" were worthy to mix with their own crowd, the "club going trendy people" (the life-style mentality that was going strong in Greece in the 90's fuelled by the respective magazines). The guy complained,  a fight started with the bouncers and they beat him up so bad he ended up in hospital. Word got around to the people who were leaving the gig, they started throwing things (among them, chairs) at the bouncers, and the bouncers were throwing them back. And then the police intervened and started throwing tear-gas. You get the picture.

Anyway, nothing like that can happen at Terra Vibe, it's far away from the nearest night club, in fact it's so far away from everything, it's difficult to get there as I have mentioned before.

The main reason I wanted to see Lana Del Rey was that we don't often have pop concerts in Greece. And especially from artists being at the peak of their popularity. And when we do have them they sometimes turn out to be disasters. Like the Fly Beeeyond festival in 2007 with very poor attendance for Avril Lavigne and Pink's non-appearance. Having said that, it's important for the organizers to determine beforehand what the target audience for such a concert is. In the case of Lana Del Rey, it's teenage girls. And for teenage girls, it's not easy to go to Terra Vibe. Most of them don't drive. And if they do, they usually don't have a car. So they have to ask mum and dad to get them there, to a place 40km outside Athens. Plus, it's not a good idea to mix this audience with the target audience for Suicidal Tendencies and Iced Earth even if these two were scheduled to play on a different stage. Thankfully it was peaceful and all went well.

When I arrived, Suicidal Tendencies were playing on the Vibe stage. I am not a fan, but I really enjoyed them.

Next, on the Terra Stage, it was the other reason I decided to go on that day. My beloved Echo & The Bunnymen, who I had already seen in Hyde Park at the 2009 Hard Rock Calling Festival.

I had a Golden Circle ticket (which us Greeks with our megalomania like to call V.I.P.), but there just weren't enough people in there. 

Most of them (and still not enough) were outside it, prompting Ian McCullough to declare that "You are all V.I.P.'s to us". Still, it was a great set featuring of course "The Killing Moon"

Next, on the Vibe Stage it was time for Iced Earth. Now, I listen to a few thrash metal bands (even Slayer), however, these were not to my taste. Just my personal opinion though. The crowd enjoyed them.

And then after a short walk around the grounds of Terra Vibe, it was back to the Terra Stage for Lana Del Rey

Now, I wasn't expecting any miracles, she has only released one (and a half) album, but it was good enough, even though there were some problems with the sound (Mainly her voice wasn't high enough in the mix).

She sang most of her songs, the lyrics of which her audience (the aforementioned teenage girls) knew by heart. Still it was an enjoyable night. And if it was held at a venue in the city of Athens it would have probably attracted a bigger audience.