My Favourite Albums of 2011 (Part 2)

OK, back to it. Those that missed the first half can check it out here. Now onto my top 5...

#5: "The Bomb Shelter Sessions" by Vintage Trouble

What a find these guys were! I first came across them on "Later... Live" when Hugh Laurie was performing (he even introduced them). They did a blistering rendition of "Blues Hand Me Down" which had me buzzing about them right away - such bombast, such energy. I kept my eyes and ears open eager to hear more.

I didn't have to wait long. While their album wasn't officially released in the UK 'til July, I found their album on Spotify literally the week after they were on Jools' show, and I was chuffed to hear the rest of the album was just as brilliant: straight up, good old fashioned Rhythm and Blues, and a breath of fresh air. Other highlights for me were "Nancy Lee" and "Total Strangers".

In a good year for soul music (Aloe Blacc and Raphael Saadiq made some great albums, and Michael Kiwanuka emerged as a promising talent for next year) these guys were the cream of the crop.

#4:"Anna Calvi"by Anna Calvi

Another of my favourite artists to emerge this year, this woman is pretty much the complete package. Her image is mesmerising: dressing virtually exclusively in red and black with vibrant red lipstick and guitar in hand, she turned a few heads on the red carpet at the Mercury's to say the least. I listened to her talk through her album track by track on 6Music, and her songwriting philosophy really struck a chord with me.

She spoke of her admiration for Bowie and in particular "Sound and Vision" where he doesn't include a vocal for a long period of time, making the audience anticipating his voice - a trick she'd use on the album by opening with the instrumental "Rider To The Sea".

Calvi also draws inspiration from classical music, and crafted the songs on the album so that the music matched the feelings and scenarios she describes in her lyrics: the build of adrenaline in "Desire", the escapism of "Suzanne & I", the haunting atmosphere of "Blackout".
This album was definitely a slow burner, but boy did it burn brightly once I "got it". I wish more people could make albums that create a sense of atmosphere like this one.

#3:"Build A Rocket Boys!" by Elbow

To steal Guy Garvey's go-to phrase he always uses on his radio show, "I love this next record! I love it I love it I love it!" The band had the unenviable task of writing a follow up to "The Seldom Seen Kid", their breakthrough success that made them a household name. But instead of over-reacting with some "look at what we can do" 180 turn that some bands can be guilty of (*cough* R.E.M. *cough*) the band stuck to their principles and to writing what they know.

Many in the band had moved back to the areas where they grew up, which had a major influence on this album. Title track of sorts "Lippy Kids" is the perfect example ("Nobody knew me at home anymore"), an ode to wasted youth and a call to arms for ne'er-do-well'ers to better themselves ("Do they know those days are golden? Build a rocket boys!").

The theme of self-reflection and returning to your roots runs throughout the album: "Neat Little Rows" was inspired by, of all things, Guy's education in a Catholic school ("don't point fingers, fingers are for pointing at the sky"), "Jesus Is A Rochdale Girl" is about living on his own for the first time when he decided to become a musician ("Nothing to be proud of, and nothing to regret. All of that to make as yet"), and "Open Arms" is all about home coming.

Strangely this seems counter-balanced by a theme of coping with grief: opener "The Birds", about a man reminiscing over an old flame, "The Night Will Always Win" (surprisingly my Mum's favourite track) and confessional "The River" being prime examples.

The most overriding feeling you get from the album though is a sense of gratitude, which is most blatant on final track "Dear Friends". An open thank you letter from the band, Garvey's earnest lyrics really shine here. Two lines really strike a chord with me on this song: "the truth never frays a good yarn" and "you are the stars I navigate home by", the latter in particular is such a touching way of looking at those that mean the most to you, I took it to mean "the thought of you brings me home".
This album is a triumph.

#2: "Wasting Light" by Foo Fighters

This album is an absolute BEAST (sorry Ksi). I often wondered if the Foos had another pure rock 'n' roll classic left in them after all their attempts at a more expansive sound on their previous two albums. Imagine my relief to hear the opener "Bridge Burning" for the first time: meaty, progressive riffs building up to Dave Grohl's rallying cry of "THESE ARE MY FAMOUS LAST WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORDS!!!". I knew instantly this was the record the band have always had in them.

The driving force behind this album is great musicianship, top notch production and riffs, riffs, riffs, great big huge riffs. "White Limo"'s riff is so great I don't even care that Grohl's voice is unintelligible on the song.

Of course there are also trademark huge Foo Fighters chorus' littered everywhere: take the unorthodox "Rope", "Back & Forth", and "These Days". The latter I find very relatable, having been told "ah you'll be fine" on numerous occasion when things have gone wrong.

My favourite track is album closer "Walk", it has all the hallmarks of a classic Foos song. In keeping with the rest of the album the guitar riffs are great. The build is fantastic, and the chorus anthemic.

In my view, this album is the crown jewel of the Foos already incredible career, their best, most consistent album and an instant classic.

#1: "Bon Iver" by Bon Iver

So here it is, my favourite album this year. I'm sure it's topped a lot of critics end of year lists too, so I'm probably going to look like a stereotypical indie kid by saying it's my favourite album, but the fact is it was hard to find anything else in 2011 that topped this.

I'm sure many of you have heard the story behind Justin Vernon's first record "For Emma, Forever Ago": I mean the guy has a huge break-up and retreats to the woods, becoming a recluse and records probably the best break-up record ever. I wish everyone was that productive when they're heartbroken. 

This is the follow up. It's notable that most of the song titles are names of places, indicating that Vernon is escaping the reclusion that drove his previous record.

"Bon Iver" also has a very contrasting sound to it's predecessor. "For Emma..." was a largely acoustic affair, the driving force of which was Vernon's unique voice. Whereas with this record, there's vastly more instrumentation, which takes up the heart of the record. Opener "Perth" is a perfect example: from the guitars in the opening to the horns and blistering drums that come alive as the song reaches it's climax. 

"Towers" is another good illustration of how escaping the cabin has helped rather than hindered the album. The electric guitar is most prominent in this song and gives it a lovely sound: it would have been acoustic on "For Emma...". This elevates an already catchy song (thanks to the "woah-oh-oh-oah"'s of the vocal) to a memorable one.

"Perth" then seamlessly morphs into "Minnesota, WI", which reveals the other part of this albums arsenal: synth. While it can be a touch overdone ("Beth/Rest" at times sounds like that part of 1984 nobody should really speak about ever again), for the most part it really adds to the feel of the record, and results in some unique sounds, like the banjo/korg mix in the aforementioned "Minnesota". "Calgary", for instance, is one song where the synths really are a central part to the build of the song, and helps it become a high point of the album.

The biggest highlight though is "Holocene". I defy you to fine a more tender, beautifully crafted song from this year, because I certainly can't: wonderfully simple guitar play and subtle drums, Vernon's voice at it's borderline unintelligible best and a chorus that helps highlight his oft-forgotten way with words ("and at once I was not magnificent... I could see for mile, miles, miles").

Hopefully this record gets talked about for years to come just like his debut, because it is magnificent.

And with that, I bid you adieu, and wish you all the best for 2012.

My Favourite Albums of 2011 (Part 1)

So with the year nearly over I figured it'd be an opportunity to talk about the albums I've enjoyed most this year. I'm listing my 10 favourite (note: favourite, I don't think these are necessarily the best 10 albums of the year, just the ones I've enjoyed the most) albums over two posts.

First though, some honourable mentions - either albums I liked but didn't listen to enough to get a judge of how much I liked them, or albums I know are great but didn't enjoy as much as the others:
"Let England Shake" by PJ Harvey (1st half great protest record, 2nd half stereotypical chin-stroking PJ record)
"Smother" by Wild Beasts (who'd have thought such exotic music could come from Kendal?)
"Ghosts on the Canvas" by Glen Campbell (I'm a sucker for a great voice in their twilight years).
"Good Things"  by Aloe Blacc (good year for soul music, this features probably the year's best single in "I Need A Dollar")

OK, now my 10 favourites

#10: "Last Night On Earth" by Noah & the Whale

 
In stark contrast to their previous album (a very sombre break-up record), "Last Night On Earth" is packed full of optimistic, nostalgic sing-a-longs. Lead single "L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N." proved to be a big hit, and typified the style of the album. There's echoes of "Born To Run" era Springsteen here, and certainly I hear a lot of Bruce's voice in the narrative and vocal style that Charlie Fink uses on this album.That's a big reason why I enjoyed this album, but the sheer optimism of songs like "Tonight's The Kind Of Night" was also what grabbed me the most.

#9: "Suck It And See" by Arctic Monkeys

Arctic Monkeys really fell out of favour with me a few years ago when they released "Humbug". That album was just so dull, I felt they'd lost what made them unique recording in the U.S. with Josh Homme of all people, to try and become Queens of the Stone Age knock-offs. What were they thinking?

I wasn't very interested in this album initially because of it, and to be honest when I first heard lead single "Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair" (not knowing it was the monkeys at first) I thought "Christ, Metallica have gone soft these days haven't they?". But the album started to get good press, so when their label Domino uploaded the album to their Soundcloud page I gave it a listen and was very impressed. To my surprise I found an album full of great, lively, jangly guitar riffs and some nice basslines that were lively, colourful and (more importantly) incredibly catchy. "The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala" and "She's Thunderstorms" are great examples of which.

Alex Turner's lyrics are also great, if you can accept the band no-longer write songs about some wanker who lives down 't road that talks bollocks in 't pub etc. Having said that some lines are still very idiosyncratically British ("You're rarer than a can of Dandelion & Burdoch"). I mean it's hardly the highs of "Whatever People Say I Am...", but there's plenty of unique witticisms here that raised a smile, some of my favourites being "That's not a skirt girl, that's a saw-off shotgun" ("Suck It And See") and "She looks as if she's blowing a kiss at me, and suddenly the sky is a scissor" ("That's Where You're Wrong").
Not the genre, generation defining classic of their debut, but a return to form nonetheless.

#8: "Collapse Into Now" by R.E.M.

I should have seen it coming that this would be their last record: their reluctance to tour it, the sleeve with Michael Stipe waving goodbye, hell the entirety of "All The Best". The hints were there in plain sight.

Still, this was a nice goodbye. It saw the band attempt to mix the sharp, concise nature of previous effort "Accelerate" with the resonance and tenderness of "Automatic For The People".

Most of the highlights are when the band attempt the latter - "Me, Marlon Brando, Marlon Brando And I" is very sweet and minimalist, "Uberlin" has echoes of "Drive" with it's acoustic guitar hooks and Stipe's vocal, while "It Happened Today" features perhaps the highlight of the whole album with it's closing, lyricless singalong that's as joyous as anything the band have ever done. That's not to say the band fail when attempting the former though, "Alligator_Aviator_Autopilot_Antimatter" is catchy and addictive with a great riff, while the Byrds-esque "That Someone Is You" is delightful.

I mentioned in earlier posts how I felt the band were justified to walk away on their own terms, and I still feel the same. This album was a good point to call it quits, and a very good high note to finish things on.

#7: "The English Riviera" by Metronomy

This album came from nowhere for me really. I'd never really payed much attention to Metronomy before and just saw them as the band that did sub-standard remixes of indie hits. But the combination of their Mercury nomination and a fair bit of airplay on 6Music perked my ears up and brought me to give this a listen. What a great listen it is too!

This album feels wonderfully retro, yet somehow still very progressive and fresh - you know you're onto something special when you get that feeling. There's no better example of this than "The Look" - it's opening synths sound like Daft Punk playing about on Blackpool promenade by the sea, with the closing minute and a half being a wonderful freak-out that either makes you feel like you're floating in space somewhere or listening to some 80's TV show's theme tune while on some form of hallucinogens.

The other highlight for me is "Everything Goes My Way" which on the other end of the scale is a nice, simple, catchy singalong. This was a very happy find for me.

#6: "A Creature I Don't Know" by Laura Marling

Another great album from the first lady of the folk revival. Marling seemed to really find her voice on last years effort "I Speak Because I Can", and this album finds her continuing to grow and once again show maturity and deftness of song-writing beyond her years. I wish she'd lose that American-tinge to her voice at times, but that doesn't stop me enjoying great songs like "The Muse".

What's most enjoyable about this album, though, are the songs where Marling cuts loose a bit more. The more sprawling efforts like "Sophia", "The Beast" and "All My Rage" are songs I never would have imagined her capable of writing when she first came on the scene, all quaint, disciplined and defeatist. It's really a joy to hear her try things that one wouldn't have thought here style as such.

Well, that wraps up this half of the blog. I'll be back with my five favourites before the year is out.

IT'S BOSS TIME!

Long time no blog. Good reason though, been kept very busy with research, reports and outreach work - the joys of being a masters student!
Still, it's nearly Christmas so I'll finally have a proper break from work.

So, apart from being hard at work with maths, what's been new with me? Well I've been snapping up tickets to see two of my favourite artists ever (or in my Dad's words "more American crap") next summer - Pearl Jam and Bruce Springsteen - much to my wallet's chagrin I'm sure.
I'll get to Pearl Jam later, mostly because I'm still miffed that standing tickets sold out in the presales. They've apparently put another date on, but that's no consolation seeing as I've already bought my seated ticket. To think this was the same band that actually made a stand against Ticketmaster's monopoly in the mid 90s.

Anyway, Bruce. So I'm a very late-comer to his music. I first got into him last November, when he released "The Promise", a huge collection of material recorded in the late 70s during the "Darkness on the Edge of Town" sessions that didn't make the cut. I was mesmerised by this album as soon as I heard it and couldn't fathom how he had the discipline to not use the material on the Darkness on the Edge of Town album. There was such a range of material on there. But then I saw the documentary on the making of the album and understood the vision he wanted for the album. Plus it reminds me of Christmas, because of the production on songs like "Someday (We'll Be Together)" and "The Little Things (My Baby Does)", and also because of an excellent little gig he did in a New Jersey carousel to promote the album that featured a great cover of "Blue Christmas".

Consequently this got me into "Darkness on the Edge of Town" which could possibly be considered one of the greatest albums of all time. Released in 1978, it was arguably his most career defining record, coming off the breakthrough success he had with "Born To Run", it not only proved that Bruce wasn't just a "flash in the pan", it also showed he had the song-writing steel to transcend mainstream success and write a genre defining record that would last the test of time.

Gone (for the most part) was the sprawling, free form style of "Born To Run" and in it's place was a disciplined, uncompromising power. While "Born To Run" was about escapism and the follies of youth ("We gotta get out while we're young"), "Darkness" was about standing your ground to face what life throws at you and giving everything you have in return ("Tonight I'll be on that hill, 'cause I can't stop. I'll be on that hill with everything I got."). Or as Springsteen himself put it "Tough music for folks in tough circumstances".

In Lehmann's terms then, it's an album about growing up and facing your responsibilities, and having come across it at a time when I felt like I had a lot of growing up to do, it's an album that's very dear to my heart.

This was a very unconventional rock album: while there are some great guitar riffs such as those on "Adam Raised a Cain" and "Candy's Room", the majority of the record is driven my Roy Bittan's piano, Danny Federici's organ and of course the saxophone of Clarence Clemons (see "Badlands", "The Promised Land" and "Prove It All Night").

The undoubted highlight though is "Racing in the Street". Bruce had already established himself as a songwriter with a unique knack for narrative with songs like "Mary Queen of Arkansas", "Incident on 57th Street" and "Thunder Road", but "Racing in the Street" is, for me, Springsteen's masterpiece.
There were many versions of this song floating around when Bruce was making "Darkness", and he faced a dilemma over which version to include (an excellent alternative version is on "The Promise"). That was until producer Jon Landau chimed in with "I like the one with the girl", to which guitarist (and Bruce's best friend) Stevie Van Zandt agreed "Yeah, I like the one with the girl too." So that was what he went with. It was a decision that paid off, and the best song he's ever written. The final verse in particular, is a complete triumph of narrative and emotion:

"I met her on the strip three years ago,
In a Camaro with this dude from L.A.
I blew that Camaro off my back and drove that little girl away.
But now there's wrinkles around my baby's eyes,
And she cries herself to sleep at night.
When I come home the house is dark,
She sighs "Baby, did you make it all right?"
She sits on the porch of her daddy's house,
But all her pretty dreams are torn.
She stares off alone into the night,
With the eyes of one who hates for just being born.
For all the shut down strangers and hot rod angels
Rumbling through this promised land.
Tonight my baby and me we're gonna ride to the sea,
And wash these sins off our hands

Tonight tonight the highway's bright
Out of our way mister you best keep.
'Cause summer's here and the time is right
For goin' racin' in the street."

I've got all my limbs crossed he plays that song in Manchester, I know he doesn't play it too often.
I'll also be interested to see how the band cope without Clarence, who in another matter close to my heart sadly passed away earlier this year from a severe stroke. It's no coincidence that Bruce is leaning on the Big man's back on that iconic sleeve of "Born To Run": Clarence's sax was such an integral part of the E Street Band, and made Bruce's music stand out in the crowd.

I'm still incredibly excited though. Bruce's music's been such a huge part of my life this past year I just couldn't turn down the chance to see him live.

Anyway, I'm sure I'll ramble again soon!

31 years ain't bad going is it? Thank you R.E.M.

Well the internet has been a-buzz following R.E.M.'s announcement this past Wednesday that they are retiring the band. I'm just going to be another voice in a sea of thank yous and praise, I know, but I had to say something on the matter.

I'm relatively philosophical on the matter. Their best years are behind them and they get relatively little commercial and critical attention these days. They don't have anything more to prove and bowing out now means they can retire with dignity, before another sub-par (but not without merit) effort like "Around The Sun" creeps out.
As per usual lead singer Michael Stipe put it best. "A wise man once said 'the skill in attending a party is knowing when it's time to leave.' We built something extraordinary together. We did this thing. And now we're going to walk away from it"

For me they're the best American act of the past thirty years, and the fathers (dare I say grandfathers?) of modern US alternative rock full stop. Many acts are indebted to them not just musically but personally - Radiohead's Thom Yorke was the recipient of some sage advice from Stipe about dealing with the limelight, while other like Pearl Jam (Eddie Vedder was himself one of those college kids in 80s America that would sit and obsessively listen to R.E.M.'s records to figure out what Stipe was saying in the songs) followed their lead with regard to humanitarianism and political activism.

I only really seriously got into the band at the start of 2008. I heard they were due to make a comeback album, so I got myself two of their best of's: "In Time", a compilation of stuff from the Warner years, and "And I Feel Fine...", which collected tracks from their earlier work when signed to IRS. These are both excellent starting points for newcomers, although with the band having come to the end of their record deal with Warner, they're now compiling a new career retrospective (which will hopefully span both the IRS and Warner eras, otherwise it will be pointless).
The band have been a constant part of my life ever since. I now own all 15 of their studio albums plus IRS-era rarities anthology "Dead Letter Office".  I think the reason I hadn't got into the band a lot sooner was that I thought their biggest songs - "Everybody Hurts", "Losing My Religion", "The Great Beyond" etc - had become a big enough part of my subconsciousness that I didn't need to download/get CDs of their music. Boy I was wrong. I'd barely even scratched the surface.

For me, if I had to pick their five most seminal albums they'd be:

"Murmur"(1983)

Their debut LP, it was named Album of the Year in Rolling Stone magazine in a year where it had the likes of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" and U2's "War" to compete with. They invented the term "all killer and no filler" for albums like this. Peter Buck's Byrdsesque guitar riffs and Michael Stipe's distinct vocal style gave the band a certain mystique that made them utterly compelling. Check out "Radio Free Europe", "Shaking Through" and "Pilgrimage".

"Reckoning"(1984) 

Second album, built on the strengths of the first, so shares the same appeal. The choruses are probably bigger here though. Among it's highlights are "Pretty Persuasion", "Little America" and "So. Central Rain"

"Lifes Rich Pagaent"(1986) 

A common misconception about the band was that they lost their aura and weren't as good when you could tell what Michael Stipe was singing. That's a blatant lie, and this album proves it. Everything here is as clear as a whistle. Stipe's lyrics are out in the open for everyone to hear: whereas before the way he sang things was more important, here the words he's singing begin to take precedence (see "Cuyahoga"). Other highlights include "I Believe" and the sublime "Fall On Me"

"Automatic For The People"(1992) 

Their most resonant record for sure, full of tender moments and wistful singalongs. If you have ears you've most likely heard "Man On The Moon" and "Everybody Hurts" at some point, so instead listen closely to "Nightswimming", live favourite "Drive" and "Find The River" which is for me their best ballad and gets criminally overlooked because of "Everybody Hurts".

"New Adventures In Hi-Fi"(1996)

The last record they'd make as a truly world-class band on the top of their game. While I don't subscribe to the theory that "everything after Bill Berry quit was shit" (drummer Berry left the band in 1997), the band had a lot of adjusting to do after Bill left and it affected their output. Still, this was a great high-point for Bill to bow out on. A huge, sprawling record, incorporating many unconventional instruments. Check out and "New Test Leper", "Bittersweet Me" and "Electrolite".

But you know what? Even if you stuck to just those five albums, there's LOADS you'd still miss out on.
"Country Feedback", the entire "Chronic Town" EP (including my absolute favourite "rarity" of theirs, "Gardening At Night"), "It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)", "Maps And Legends"... the list goes on.

I'd also thoroughly recommend live album (of sorts)  "Live At The Olympia".

So if you don't really know much of the band's material, there's a lot of stuff to get your teeth into there.

Anyway, thank you for everything R.E.M. it's been a blast.

The Man In Black (Not Will Smith or Tommy-Lee Jones)

So when I went online today (12th September) I found out that it's eight years to the day that Johnny Cash died (well, as of writing, it's getting late). Which made me think "what a great excuse to mention how much I love his music."

The stand out time of his career for me was definitely his time working with Rick Rubin at American Recordings. As I'm writing this I'm listening to "Unearthed", a compilation of outtakes and unused material from his time there, which you can listen to here. All of which is pure gold, and encapsulates everything that was great about his stint at American: brilliant songs (either material Rubin requested from other writers specifically for Cash, classic country songs that endure the test of time, or re-interpretations of songs Johnny had recorded previously) made with all the best musicians and sang with gusto, maturity and passion by Cash. My favourites include versions of "If I Give My Soul", "Heart Of Gold" (with John Frusciante
on guitar) and "Redemption Song" (the latter featuring none other than Joe Strummer!).

I'm sure lots of you are aware of his infamous version of Nine Inch Nails' Hurt. That song is taken from "American IV: The Man Comes Around", and it could well be the album most people know him for. The songs he recorded for that album were perhaps the most populist and familiar to people - amongst them were versions of Dame Vera Lynn's "We'll Meet Again", Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus" and The Beatles' "In My Life". This was the first album of his I came across, and is probably one of my favourite album's ever. It wasn't long before I looked into the other albums in the series.

A bit of background: in the early 90s, Cash's career seemed on it's last legs. He left Mercury Records in 1991, after a four year stint that left him so unhappy, he took to sabotaging his own reputation with stuff like this so that his contract wouldn't be renewed. But come 1994, Rick Rubin, who at the time was most known for co-founding Def Jam records and producing for the Beastie Boys and Red Hot Chilli Peppers, was offering Cash a deal on his newly founded American Recordings label. While he was a little concerned that Rubin would have him work with his artists for the sake of giving him a new edge or air of cool, Rick actually had other ideas that actually tied in with Johnny's.

Cash had often times flirted with the idea of an album of "midnight sessions": a set of songs he'd perform by himself, his guitar his only accompaniment, that would thus give his music a very intimate feel - as if he were singing to you in your living room. It turned out Rubin had the same sort of idea for Johnny as well.
Thus came the first album of a very fruitful relationship: "American Recordings". Some might find it a bit of a slow burner, but the intimate nature of the production really comes through, giving the songs a great sense of clarity. Highlights include "Delia's Gone", "Bird On A Wire" (originally by Lenard Cohen) and this version of Loudon Wainwright's "The Man Who Couldn't Cry".

The album was a critical and commercial success, and the Rubin-Cash partnership would continue to flourish.
Next came "Unchained" in 1996, and it's one of my favourite albums in the series. The intimate environment of the first album was gone and in it's place a rambunctious Cash sang balls to the wall aggressive country classics and popular alternative songs of the time like Beck's "Rowboat" and Soundgarden's "Rusty Cage". Backed by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and also featuring members of the Chilli Peppers and Fleetwood Mac, it was probably the last time we'd see The Man In Black in full swing, before his health issues began to get the better of him. There were still gentler moments, like "Memories Are Made Of This", but hearing Cash rip through the likes of "Mean Eyed Cat", "Country Boy" (both songs he wrote in his days at Sun Records) and the incredible "I've Been Everywhere" (listen to that, then take in to account he was knocking on 64 at the time. Amazing right?) is truly remarkable.

But such vigour would soon desert Johnny. While touring "Unchained",  Cash fell ill. In 1997 he was diagnosed with Shy-Drager syndrome and in 1998 he caught pneumonia.
This would not deter him, however. The year 2000 saw the release of "American III: Solitary Man". This album was perhaps the turning point of the "American" series, where the albums were no longer Cash merely singing songs he admired and could make his own. The music took a new tone of quiet defiance in the face of death. You could see a thematic change in the songs on the records, perhaps most obvious in this instance in versions of Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down", Nick Cave's "The Mercy Seat" and Cash's own "I'm Leaving Now".

This would really culminate in Johnny writing what I consider the best song he's ever written, the title track of "American IV", "The Man Comes Around". "American IV" would be released in 2002. Commercially it was the most successful of the series at that point, being the first album of Johnny's to go gold - that wasn't a compilation - in thirty years.

The success of the album would, however, soon be followed by tragedy. On May 15th 2003, his wife June Carter Cash, the love of his life, lost her own battle with ill health and passed away. Before she passed, she told Johnny to keep on working. Despite his continuing poor health and being wheelchair-bound, Johnny heeded the word of his wife, and continued to record with Rubin.

While he would not live to see it, two more albums would be released resulting from the work he did in the final months of his life: "American V: A Hundred Highways", released 2006, and 2010's "American VI: Ain't No Grave". The latter is a bit thin on the ground as far as material goes, but still has gems like "For The Good Times" (originally by Kris Kristofferson) and the title track, which is goosebump-inducing and was the subject of an incredibly dedicated fan project.

But the former is simply sublime, definitely another one of my favourite albums ever and one I've constantly found solace in. Simply put it is the most heartbreaking record I've ever heard. It also helped me appreciate gospel music and how empowering it could be.

Once again it sees Johnny dealing with the fact that his time on Earth would be short lived. The opener, "Help Me" sees Johnny "with a humble heart on bended knee" begging the Lord for one last lease on life. The track that immediately follows, "God's Gonna Cut You Down", appears to indicate the answer he'd expected. Closing track "I'm Free From The Chain Gang Now" feels less about the song's actual subject (an innocent man wrongly sent to jail finally having done his time) and more about Johnny being relieved of the burden of living when it was too hard to bear.
But the album also finds him attempting to handle the grief of losing his beloved wife June. While at times he seems philosophical ("Love's Been Good To Me") and in the comfort that they'll be together again soon ("Four Strong Winds"), more often than not he sounds completely devastated. The most obvious example is "Rose Of My Heart": to be frank, the man sounds close to tears singing it, and when caught in the right moment it might bring you to tears too. Hearing him on that song, it's hard to imagine this is the same man that sang of shooting men in Reno just to watch them die.

But the song on this album that cuts through me the most is easily "If You Could Read My Mind", originally a hit for Gordon Lightfoot. Johnny is obviously extremely frail when singing this but I find this actually helps this song to resonate even more with me. Quite often in my life I'll feel regretful over mistakes I've made and get anxious about whether I've done any lasting damage and if I'll ever get back to the way things used to be. I find this song very therapeutic when dealing with those times. Every time I hear those opening chords I get chills.

I feel incredibly lucky to have had Johnny's music, especially from this part of his career, in my life, and his legacy will last long after his death.

JOHNNY CASH 1932-2003

Starter For Ten

Good God I'm blogging. After three years of having this account I'm blogging. I don't know what's got into me. Busy week coming up too, moving in to the new flat, reports and seminars to write etc.

So this isn't the only bit of teh internetz I've been reacquainting myself with. I've wound up checking out Skype again, as it might be the most practical way to keep in touch with absent friends. I'm still not impressed.
I remember when I sent contact requests to lots of people when I first synced my Facebook to it and didn't get that many people sharing their details with me. I think I get why now: I got my friend to request my details the other day and when I logged in to my account, I couldn't for the life of me find where I "accept" him. Luckily I seem to have accepted him automatically, lord knows how.
I'm not a technophobe or anything, but why can't it be as simple as Facebook friend requests?

Anyway, other thoughts from my head today are:

• Over the weekend I made Yorkshire pudding for Yorkshire people, and they liked it. This makes me happy.
• Doing some Googling for my research internship, I discovered someone had made a Facebook fan page for transverse isotropy. I find that incredibly sad.
• Whilst on the subject of Maths, I've greatly been enjoying Alex In Numberland by Alex Bellos on my commute to work. I'd recommend it even to non-mathematicians, lots of ace stuff about puzzles and maths place in society etc.

Right, I think that's all for now. Maybe I'll write something really constructive eventually, like how I love _insert band name here_ or something.

Cheerio