‘Boss on Broadway’ album a musical autobiography
A lifetime of music has gone into this stark presentation of some of the best music of the 20th century. While he is not Sondheim, Springsteen is quite the composer showing his ability to carry his songs (mostly) on his own in Springsteen on Broadway, available on LP or CD, by Columbia. And sure he is no Cole Porter, but he knows that his "standards" do not tell his story. So you get "Growin' Up," "My Father's House" and "The Promised Land," because this a musical autobiography. Now, you can enjoy the Tony winner telling stories and as intimate as ever.
BABE RAINBOW
Double Rainbow
[LP/CD](Flightless/30th Century Records)
Like labelmates King Gizzard, Australia's Babe Rainbow are musical explorers of the sunny past. Psychedelic, but with a little more funk, "Double Rainbow" flirts with ’60’s nostalgia and even some ’90’s shoegaze ("Supermoon" builds on so many sounds just bubbling above the surface).
The album meanders as most druggy rock does, but when Babe Rainbow find its groove, it’s less like an accident and more like a band discovering themselves.
Throwbacks of the Week
Angel Witch
[LP] (Back on Black)
A new wave of British heavy metal music is a bit like a board game. The idea is not to exclude bands on the basis of their sound as NWOBHM represents a distinct period of time (sorry, Judas Priest). Some bands belong, but choose to be excluded (Def Leppard) and still others remain the subject of consistent debate. As a movement begins, so many bands leap in and try to make an immediate impact only to then lose band members and sadly drift away. Like the woefully ignored Tygers of Pan Tang (look them up!), London's Angel Witch was right on time to be forever enshrined as a NWOBHM band but dissolved too quickly to make it around the board.
Despite its tinny sound, "Angel Witch" hints at their thundering greatness. The song "Angel Witch" sees the mixture of riffing guitars, searing leads and Queen-ish overdubbed vocals.
Their tracks are as aggressive as Iron Maiden ("Atlantis" is brutal yet makes great use of both chainmail guitar and sweeping choruses). "White Witch" tackles bluesy boogie before drifting into a lengthy bridge, and "Sorceress" even throws in some organ. "Angel Witch," as an album, dips freely in the past, with Rainbow-ish pyrotechnics ("Free Man") and lyrics that could easily skew into Prog Rock.
However, with cuts like the dark, menacing "Angel of Death," you can hear why they are always mentioned as influences by Dave Mustaine, Celtic Frost and Metallica. This album shows great promise and the future direction of Metal. However, this lineup would not last. Nor would the next one. Thankfully, their legacy has kept the fourth incarnation intact since 2008.
PFM
Manticore Studio Albums 1973-77
[CD] (Manticore)
In those heady ’70s one band ruled, Prog Rock. Despite their self-aware existence (three trucks of equipment and a one-ton drum set), Emerson, Lake and Palmer saw this branch of music as the future and signed this Italian group. PFM (Premata Forneria Marconi) produced five albums in English bursting with lush compositions that easily turned on a dime. 1973's "Photos of Ghosts" borrows lyricist Peter Sinfield from King Crimson and finds a neat halfway point between Crimson's exploratory grooves on "Starless and Bible Black" and ELP's "Trilogy." Its followup, "The World Became The World," adds a new bass player and begins their movement in a more jazzy direction. By 1975, they actually charted in both the US and the UK. However, as Prog Rock lost its favor the underrated "Chocolate Kings" trades lengthy compositions for lightning runs and Peter Gabriel-esque vocals from new addition Bernardo Lanzetti until "Jet Lag" attempts to translate their music into fusion jazz. PFM remains in play as one of Italy's most famous exports. Not bad for a band named after a bakery.
