Daveportivo's Cultural Evaluation Facility

So who was Mr. Stephen Morrissey's favourite band during his formative years? That's right, The New York Dolls. Now, that's a pretty big endorsements, but tying The Dolls in with Morrissey actually does a disservice to their great influence and to the sheer quality of this album. The New York Dolls stands shoulder to shoulder with both Funhouse and Raw Power as the great pre-punk or protopunk pioneers. The New York Dolls unlike the Stooges weren't accomplished musicians, they often plagiarized riffs, and even the most casual of music fans will notice a striking resemblance to the Rolling Stones, but that's what made them great. They were low down, they were dirty, and most of all they were sleazy, or to put it in their own words they were "Trash". Raw, rough around the edges, uncompromising "Trash"; intentionally out of tune and out of time they embodied the everyone can be a rock star spirit of punk. Of course they were too androgynous and too glam, to truly be considered punk, but that hardly mattered, because they had the spirit and they had the tunes; "Personality Crisis", "Looking For A Kiss" and "Subway Train" were unstoppable. Simply put, if The Rocky Horror Picture Show were a band it'd be The New York Dolls, and that's the greatest compliment I can give this band, and this album.

This album could easily be subtitled: "How to ruin the perfect album by George Harrison". Now of course that's an exaggeration and All Things Must Pass is anything but ruined, it's actually a gorgeous soothing and harmonious listen, but it's undermined by a selection of random jams that conclude the album. It's hardly a detraction, because few fans ever actually listen to those final few tracks, but it does lower this album from a potential top thirty finish. It's a shame, as the bulk of All Things Must Pass is made up of gorgeous and heartfelt pop music that never fails to bring a tear to this reviewer's eye. It's hard to describe why tracks like "Run Of The Mill" and "The Art Of Dying" are so affecting; perhaps it's the marriage of Harrison's sharp tones and neat guitar work with Phil Spector's legendary wall of sound production, or maybe it's Harrison's talent for broad far reaching sentiments. It's impossible to say, but I suspect it's really the undefinable magic that accompanies the one Beatle who had an unending supply of public good will. All Things Must Pass sees Harrison addressing spirituality more directly than he ever did during his time with the Beatles, but the album never feels preachy; it feels more like a gentle reminder to consider your life, your actions and to think beyond yourself. Or as Harrision put it, and far more succinctly than I, "Beware Of Darkness". Sombre, reflective, melancholic; yet beautiful, uplifting and inspiring, forty years on and All Things Must Pass is still an inspiring and affecting listen.

Springteen delivered his breakthrough record in 1975. When Born To Run hit the stores it established him as one of his or any generations biggest stars, and the subsequent tours turned him from working man's hero into a stadium rocker of Mercury-eske proportions. Then a series of legal proceedings meant the world had to wait three years for the follow up, it may have been a momentum killer but it didn't dampen the sense of expectation. Those who kept the faith were rewarded with one of Springsteen's greatest LP's and another classic album cover. Now call me shallow, but I just knew I was going to love this album when I saw that ice cool brooding cover, but I know enough about art what about the music, right?

"Badlands" has gone down in history as one of the great album openers, with Springsteen's lyricism reaching stirring new heights "It Ain't No Sin To Be Glad Your Alive, When I Find One Face That Ain't Looking Through Me, When I Find One Place, I Want To Spit In The Face Of These Badlands", it was angry, it was desperate and it was hungrier than it had any right to be. The energy never subsides as the guitars soar and slice in the grizzly sleazy scream-a-thon "Adam Raised Cain" and across the entire album the sax and axe attack are relentlessly brilliant. Springsteen's characters continued to transition from down on their luck everymen to low down but somehow admirable scum bags, as seen on the weighty "Racing In The Street". Elsewhere the album had it's hit a miss moments, but Springsteen's determination and earnest enthusiasm turned throwaway tracks like "Promised Land" into powerful sing-a-longs and eventually into live anthems. The album was cemented as a classic by it's closing cuplet "Prove It All Night" and "Darkness On The Edge Of Town". They struck a stark contrast; a rambunctious feel good sing-a-long and a throat shredding ball of raw emotion. In retrospect it's clear that Darkness On The Edge Of Town was the welcome halfway house between Nebraska and Born To Run, combining the darker themes that were to come with the uplifting energy of what came before.

While Elton John's legacy as one of music's great showmen has never been in doubt, his skills as a songwriter and as a true artist have never really been spoken of in just reverent tones. Which is one of music great tragedies, as at his height Elton John wrote not only great singles but he also crafted one of music greatest double albums. Yes, I am talking about Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and yes, I am being deadly serious. A million albums have been compared to the White Album but Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is the closest any artist has ever come to recreating it's carefree and expansive joy. John loaded this double album with barmy tales, infectious hooks and gloriously over blown arrangements. One minute your emersed in super serious balladry, the next your thrown into a show tune, then a prog epic, then glitzy tale of camp sleaze and then out of blue your hearing about "Bennie And The Jets" or the Jamaican beaches. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is all over the place, and that's it's charm, Elton John throws himself at every genre he can think of bringing his unique band of melodrama to everything he touches. Of course it contains instantly recognizable anthems "Candle In The Wing" and "Saturday Nights Alright For Fighting", but these classics are almost cast aside by the over the top tales and frivolity of "All The Girls Love Alice", "The Ballad Of Danny Bailey" and "I've Seen That Movie Too". What makes Goodbye Yellow Brick Road remarkable is just how quickly it passes by, it's pure undistilled fun, and despite the genre hoping madness, at the end of the day Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is pure unadulterated pop at it's best.

Had Kraftwerk's career ended in 1973 they would have been revolutionary visionaries and cult heroes, but they wouldn't have been world straddling superstars they are today and they may not have been one of the most influential bands of all time. Autobahn transformed Kraftwerk's cold and mechanical style into something glorious, something groovy and something that was accessible to millions across the world. Listening to the title track now it's still awe inspiring and it's a cliche to say it, but Autobahn sounds just a fresh today as it did in 1974. While Electronica, dance, hip-hop and all kind of hybrid pop and rock spin offs have evolved from these electro-pioneers, their core sound has never aged, it's still other worldly. The pulsating rhythm is still addictive, those mangled electronic cries sound more relevant than anything industrial wizard Trent Reznor has done in the last decade, and that eerie synth sound still sounds like a science fiction vision of the future thirty six years on. Kraftwerk would go on to create better works, but Autobahn is the moment electronica arrived, audiences in Europe, the UK and the US were wowed by staggering grooves, it's shimmering lines and it's tongue in cheek sense of humour. Kids across the world had their eyes opened to new possibilities and unheard of sounds, but it's important not to forget, that first and foremost they were having fun dancing and chilling to "Kometenmelodie 2". It's one of those strange quirks of music, that we get so obsessed with holding Kraftwerk on some-kind of impenetrable pedestal of almighty deference, that we forget that they made damn good music, and damn good pop music at that. Autobahn changed history; and for too long when it's come to influence the old tale has gone "The Beatles and then everyone else", well from now on we must remember it goes; The Beatles, Then Kraftwerk and then everybody else.