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Christine Tobin (pictured above) has impeccable taste, and is a total jazz artist, from her compelling live performances, to the albums she creates. Her latest, ‘Secret Life of a Girl’, is no exception. Christine comes from Walkinstown, Dublin and has been living in London since 1987, where she has forged her collaborations. This year, she was named BBC Jazz Vocalist of the year, to coincide with this album. On her MySpace page, the genre she works in is described as Alternative/ Jazz/ Americana. Like her previous recordings, the current release is mainly originals, with some covers. It is an album of remarkable unity with no weak spots. With her covers, sometimes Bob Dylan or John Martyn, this time, Leonard Cohen’s ‘Everybody Knows’ and Rufus Wainwright’s ‘Poses’, she seems to apply tone where I, perhaps couldn’t hear it, and makes it musical. She also injects her unique attitude, leading you through the storylines of what were folk songs, turning them into jazz. In her appreciation of metre, she chooses her moment and paints in her meaning. The writing here is as usual excellent, allowing a view into experience and imagination, the abstractions of the lyrics both implied and understood. Her band are top-notch and include her long-time collaborator and life partner, guitarist Phil Robson, Liam Noble on piano, and Kate Shortt on cello. Ray Comiskey has given this release five stars. She is about to receive international recognition, and has a very impressive list of engagements to the end of year. One thing: you’ll have to buy the CD online from babel.com, as they do not have it in Tower records. Another thing: she does not appear in Dublin often enough, but if you are in London in November, she will be at The Barbican (14th), and at Ronnie Scott’s (18th). She also appears regularly at The Jazz Cafe in Soho, and The Vortex, where she is also a promoter and organiser. You can, for the moment, check her out on her MySpace website.
Metier is a jazz quintet assembled and led by Ronan Guilfoyle (electric bass) in order to perform its members’ own compositions, recently recorded and released on the CD ‘Cascade’. Supported by Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Council, I caught their live show at Airfield in September. In the Airfield surroundings, a gig is like a recital. They opened with ‘It Never Happened’, composed by Paul Williamson (trumpet), followed by Justin Carroll’s (piano) ‘Late Developer’. The front of the piano had been removed in order to get that bigger, open sound, and although the music is improvised, it sounds as if it’s been exactly rehearsed, so accomplished are the musicians involved. Michael Buckley (tenor sax) contributes a slow piece, and Sean Carpio (drums) adds his own composition, written after one of his idols. Paul Williamson must have been in love with this material as his solos on trumpet were seamless and inspired. Sean Carpio’s drumming has crystal clarity when isolated in a solo, when you can really hear it. All four pieces are composed by Ronan Guilfoyle. The writing is very strong, and there is definitely a contemporary take about this music, as you leave the concert wondering exactly what genre you have just been listening to. Airfield would be worth visiting around Christmas when they serve mulled wine and mince pies with lots of exciting events. Check www.airfield.ie for their programme of events and exhibitions. Justin Carroll is very busy with a few collectives: Togetherness, Floater and Organics. You are most likely to see any of these projects at JJ Smyth’s in Aungier Street, Dublin 2. The CD from this concert, ‘Cascade’, by Metier can be purchased on www.cdbaby.com
The Verve are back! ‘Forth’ is the fourth album by English alternative rock band The Verve and their first full set of original material since the career-defining 1997 commercial breakthrough ‘Urban Hymns’. ‘Forth’ proves that The Verve still has it, and it’s all about chemistry. The original line-up, which reunited in 2007, strikes a balance between Ashcroft’s love of wistful ballads and its original purpose: woozy, sometimes rollicking psychadelia. ‘Forth’ sounds like all eras of The Verve mashed together into one potent stew: There’s epic noise (the tellingly titled ‘Noise Epic’), hazy balladry (‘Valium Skies’), and at least one irresistible single, ‘Love Is Noise’, whose hook is a jaunty backing vocal. Sure, Ashcroft still manages to stumble when he tries to make nothing-lyrics sound weighty (‘I sit and wonder / I often wonder ‘bout the things she does’), but when he’s got the rest of The Verve to back him, even the silliest sentiments (here’s looking at you, ‘Numbness’) get lost in washes of beauty. Keep it together, Verve, keep it together!
Born in 1958 and raised in Woking, Paul Weller formed The Jam at 14, influenced by The Beatles, Amen Corner and The Small Faces. In 1976 after hearing The Who’s ‘My Generation’ and seeing The Sex Pistols play London’s Lyceum, Weller found the direction he was looking for and established the blueprint for what would be Britain’s biggest band for the next five years. From the release of their debut album ‘In The City’ through the seminal ‘Down In The Tube Station’ and ‘That’s Entertainment’ and the classic straight-in-at-number one singles ‘Going Underground’, ‘A Town Called Malice’ and ‘Beat Surrender’, The Jam were a huge critical and commercial success. Weller penned a succession of songs, brilliantly reflecting his audience’s experiences, until in 1982, convinced he’d taken the group as far as he could, he split The Jam to form The Style Council. Radically different to The Jam, The Style Council, incorporated touches of jazz, r’n’b, funk and soul, meshing with Weller’s pop instincts. A string of classic singles from ‘Long Hot Summer’, ‘You’re The Best Thing’ and ‘Shout To The Top’ to ‘Life at a Top People’s Health Farm’ were evocative anthems of 80s Britain. In 1989, heavily influenced by the dance/ house sound, The Style Council completed their fifth album, but when the work was rejected by their record company, the band split. Ironically, said record company were later to celebrate the work of The Style Council in a box set release which includes the lost final album. Following the computer programming, studio-based sound of The Style Council, Paul spent the next two years re-inventing himself. He returned to his roots, going back to the live-based, raw guitar sound and began work on his own solo album, eventually signing to Go! Discs. His self-titled album went straight into the Top Ten. In the US ‘Paul Weller’ outsold all previous work by The Jam and The Style Council. While his first solo album had firmly established Paul Weller as a potent solo artist, the second album, 1994’s ‘Wild Wood’, was to see him hailed as one of the finest British songwriters of the last three decades, being seen to many as the English equivalent of Neil Young. ‘Wild Wood’ was nominated for the 1994 Mercury Music Prize, saw him winning a Brit Award for Best Male Solo Artist and went on to sell double platinum. He was also honoured with an Ivor Novello Award for his outstanding contribution to songwriting. Fast forward to 2008 and seven studio albums and nearly three decades of phenomenal musical output later, Paul Weller is playing in the RDS on 10th November. Be sure and catch the modfather in action!
‘Spraypaint Backalley’ Usually when I write a song I write with structure. I try to write two verses and two choruses but this time I decided I wanted to do something different and that’s how ‘Spraypaint Backalley’ came about. It didnít have a chorus and was just very different to the kind of stuff I would usually do. It’s about being a youngster and all the things I saw and the experiences I had while growing up. It’s a bit like the music of Planxty– they often started off a song with just one voice or one instrument before building up to something more dramatic and that’s what I do with this song. It lasts right through to the end. I also wanted to include a favourite quote of mine from Oscar Wilde ‘We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars’. That quote really struck a chord with me and I sing it four times at the end of the song. I often do that, I hear one line or a quote and it inspires me to write something. The crowd have always been very receptive to this song and when I sing it I let the audience sing the quote at the end. When you hear thousands of people singing it back at you it gives you an amazing feeling. BIOGRAPHY ‘Dempsey’s arrow-true voice has a liquid quality… this is bold, compelling stuff’ wrote another reviewer– not bad for the young Dubliner who dreamt of making it big, influenced by his musical heroes Bob Marley and the King of Rock ‘n Roll himself Elvis Presley. Damien is also a talented sportsman and has boxed for Dublin, and practised Kung Fu and Karate. Following his formal education he became a pupil of the Ballyfermot ‘Rock School’ for two years, where he studied both musical performance and the practical demands of the music industry. The school had its own record label and students who excelled were awarded a release on the label in question– step forward Damien Dempsey, who was chosen for that honour. This subsequently led to the release of the EP, ‘The Contender’, in 1995. Damien’s first commercial single two years later, ‘Dublin Town’, soared to number. 18 in the Irish charts. His next release, the ‘Negative Vibes’ EP in 2002 saw him collaborate with Sinéad O’Connor on the title track. Their union led to an invitation to support Sinéad on her 2002–2003 Irish, UK and European tour. His second album, ‘Seize the Day’ was released May 2003 in Ireland on Clear Records via Sony and entered the charts on its first week of release at number 5. It has subsequently gone on to achieve double platinum sales. Released in May 2004 in the UK on IRL, the album was awarded CD of the Week in the ‘Sunday Times’ and received enthusiastic reviews in the national and music press. Damien scooped two awards in the 2004 Irish Meteor Awards, the only 2004 double winner. That same year Damien toured extensively, headlining his own shows as well as supporting Bob Dylan during the Irish leg of his European tour and making his debut appearances at The Fleadh and Womad. He has earned the passionate support of his peers and his connection with Morrissey saw him receive yet another impressive invitation– the chance to support him on various UK and Irish dates as well as his autumn 2004 US tour. Morrissey subsequently signed Damien to his Attack label, and ‘Seize the Day’ had its US release in October 2004. His third album, ‘Shots’, was released in both Ireland and the UK in March 2005 and on it Damien is joined by Eamonn De Barra, Clare Kenny, Justin Adams, Wayne Sheehy, Graham Henderson, Michael McGoldrick, Kieran Kiely, Caroline Dale, John McLoughlin and Brian Eno, all of whom contributed their talents to the making of what is arguably Damien’s finest album to date. In February 2006, 2007 and 2008 Damien increased his Meteor Awards by winning in The Best Irish Male category. His fourth studio album, ‘To Hell or Barbados’, released world-wide in June 2007, entered the Irish album chart at number 2. His latest album ‘The Rocky Road’ was released in August of this year. The above is taken from ‘The Singer and The Song’, published by Hodder Headline. The book is available at Easons nationwide and contains the stories of sixty Irish songwriters and their favourite songs. |
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CHRISTINE TOBIN
METIER AT AIRFIELD HOUSE
HAVE THEY LOST THEIR VERVE?
PAUL WELLER FOR THE RDS
IN PRAISE OF DANIEN DEMPSEY