The plan today was to talk about Miles Kane, former (UK) Rascal and Last Shadow Puppet, and his new release "Colour Of The Trap," which British mags across the board have gone gaga over. I listened to it over the weekend and thought, "This time they are right."
Kane's got that Oasis-y, retro-y, Arctic Monkeys-y, and Beatle-y thing happening in spades. There's even one ballad, "My Fantasy" that could be a lost Marc Bolan track. Let's just say, I've really been digging Miles Kane, someone Mojo says is "fast becoming one of Britain's landmark composers."
So as I started prepping today's post, I put the record on again, trying to find the one track or two that may tickle the fancies of you readers. What sounded bright and exciting on Saturday, suddenly sounded like third-rate glam.
What happened?
I'm not sure I can explain. For a day, "Colour Of The Trap" had potential to end up on my 2011 Top Ten list. By the third pass, it seems so thin and derivative.
Give a listen to two tracks, one of which is the aforementioned T. Rex rip, and the other, a not-so-secret nod to John Lennon. Is there something here or is the British press just being loony?
20 comments:
I believe your first impression of this dude is quite accurate...pretty darn good....and I generally don't like anyone "new"(you know THAT already)..would it suffer the fall-off for me as it did for you, on second listen?...possibly....I'll probably never find this out...your comparisons are accurate, though frankly, fairly obvious..My Fantasy seems to play out better....over-all better than the Gallaghers...honestly can't stand them or their clattery crap..
One more note...your quote re: Mojo's glowing assessment of Kane's writing abilities...maybe so, but I'm about half-way through a Harry Nilsson doc. on Netflix...loved this man as a kid(Coconut, Jump into the Fire,radio hits, et. al.),but I never appreciated his writing and vocal talent until viewing this documentary...my long, long point is...it's impossible to be fair to anyone after hearing Nilsson's earlier pre-over-partying work...a blog on Harry would be great and well-deserved...just a thought...
Loved that Harry doc!
Here are two blogs on Harry---
http://burnwoodtonite.blogspot.com/2010/05/when-sally-met-harry-weekend-mix.html
http://burnwoodtonite.blogspot.com/2010/05/he-sang-his-balls-off-for-you-baby.html
Ahhh...2 Harry pieces...forgive me, I wasn't privvy a year ago...thanks...uhhmm....privvy?
I hear nothing special
I recently stumbled on this blog devoted to Nilsson...
http://fortheloveofharry.blogspot.com/
The Miles Kane cuts sounded as advertised. Yeah, maybe a little derivative? Funny how sometimes something that sounds amazing on first listen pales after a few more and eventually grows tiresome. That's happened to me with countless things I bought after hearing on the radio or in a record store, back when there WERE record stores.
Bruce H.
yup, the second one resembles a john lennon outtake. I don't mind homages per se though, so I'd just say it is what it is, not unpleasant, not original, not great, but certainly listenable. Hell, he could have decided to rip off Andrew Gold or Rupert Holmes, and then where would we be?
@Jeff,
The second one IS "Cold Turkey."
What Sal said about "Cold Turkey."
That said, I wouldn't walk out of the bar if the two got played on the jukebox.
That's about as much enthusiasm as I can muster for either of them, however.
Sal,
Can you clarify how the praise "could be a lost Marc Bolan track" becomes the slam "derivative." (Or is that transition your dilemma?) Do you know where the lines are (for you) separating influence, copying, inspration, etc... or is it just a gut reaction?
Good question, Ken.
There's a song by World Party, "When You Come Back To Me" that he purposely modeled after Bowie's "Young Americans." I think it could stand on its own as a brilliant pop tune, but it's hard to deny how clever it is, you know, like, The Rutles.
I guess the first pass of Miles Kane caught my ears because I am a Bolan fan. By the third pass, I realized what was missing. Just not good enough.
In all honesty, I may be the wrong person to be commenting on these two songs, given that I'm still trying to figure out why the hell anybody ever gave a flying fuck about Oasis.
@Simels, re: Oasis
5 good songs. That's it.
Similar to the Rutles, did you ever hear the soundtrack to the faux biography "Walk Hard"? Great parody/recreations of the different eras of Dewey Cox's career... rockabilly, troubadour, psychedelia, outlaw country, etc. I thought it was really funny..
Not a bad movie either.
He's also a dead ringer for a young Keith Moon!
(At least in that photo...)
I don't think a particularly special musical act has come out of the UK in over 30 years. (The Pretenders being the most recent.) This is about the time the UK musicians stopped listening to America and began to listen to themselves. Even the decent stuff is never fresh sounding.
I do like the female soul singers of the last decade (Amy Winehouse, Duffy & Adele), but even they never make a leap into being really unique or soul grabbing. (Pun intended)
I tried but couldn't get all the way through both tracks by Miles Kane. Not bad, just boring.
It just doesn't happen over there anymore. Even Scott Muni would agree.
ROTP(lumber)
Those two tracks don't do a lot for me -- not bad, but not astonishing. I'd have to hear more. I've been leery of British hype since Gomez won the Mercury prize way back when. Not that they were all that bad either -- just not great.
Still, hats off the Brits for having such a continually vibrant, interesting pop scene -- I really took that to heart in the 90s when the whole country was going full gun. I'd rather they keep coming up with relatively good pop music as they have for decades, even if they hype it too hard sometimes. If this guy has anything real going on, he'll be around three albums from now.
I have to agree with you about the whole British pop thing. Oasis...5 great tracks, maybe 10 but that is it. Some of the solo Paul Weller stuff was quite good (Wildwood) not much else. This is more of the same to me. Not bad, just not great.
One act that the British press loves that I agree about is The Frames. Some really fine music in my opinion.
You know, OldRockr--I do love the first three Weller solo records. Then, there was some crap. But "Illumination," if you had already given up by then, is fantastic. And his last "22 Dreams" and "Wake Up The Nation," dare I say it...rival his best work with The Jam.
There, I've said it.
pretttttty good!
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