City Of Sound
A Rough Guide To Gradings

As I will be writing for The Rock this year I'm bringing my grading system into line with theirs. Here is how it works.

A song is awarded points on a scale of 0 to 3, where 0 is considered to be crap, 1 average, 2 good and 3 classic. We add up the total and then divide it by the total points available - for ten songs that will be 30 (3x10), 11 songs 33, and so on. This figure is then multiplied by 100 to achieve the magical % rating.

Of course it is not an exact science and the rating is still very much a matter of opinion. Anything between 60-70% has to be considered a strong effort while you won't come across much above that very often.

100 - 91 Classic 50 - 41 Patchy
90 - 81 Essential 40 - 31 Below Average
80 - 71 Brilliant 30 - 21 Bad
70 - 61 Very Good 20 - 11 Very Bad
60 - 51 Good 10 - 00 Very Funny... NOT

February '98

Tales From The Engine Room

MARILLION AND THE POSITIVE LIGHT
TALES FROM THE ENGINE ROOM
RACKET RACKET 7
70%

"Tales From The Engine Room" features five songs from Marillion's "This Strange Engine" remixed and reconstructed by dance duo The Positive Light. It could've all been a bit dodgy but it actually works very well, The Positive Light bring something new to what were excellent songs already. "Estonia" eases you into the album by sticking fairly close to the original. There are extra keyboard parts but the vocal is intact and there's a fair amount of Steve Rothery's guitar. "The Memory Of Water" is pretty radical for such a normally slow song, imagine an upbeat Robert Miles-style dance number with Hogarth's vocal track! "This Strange Engine" builds up slowly with a steady groove and a very big bass line. A recurring melody locks the song together and works up to a big crescendo. "One Fine Day" mellows things down with something of a reggae style skank and groove. It works and isn't as bad as it might sound (it ain't Marillion gone Bob Marley!). "Face 1004" (the fourth version of "Man Of A Thousand Faces") is weird. There seems to be little to connect it to the original, the fact that there are only a couple of distorted vocal lines only makes it harder to find the links. Having said that it is still a decent bit of dance. "TFTER" won't be to everyone's taste but if you can appreciate the dance/ambient music of someone like Robert Miles or The Orb then you should give it a go. It certainly beats that pathetic attempt at ambient music on the last Yes album "Open Your Eyes".
Contact: http://www.marillion.co.uk

Collaboration

STREET TALK
COLLABORATION
USG CD: USG 1016-2
45%

Swedish four piece Street Talk have used the services of three different vocalists on "Collaboration", including the much admired Goran Edman. The results are pleasant but hardly original, good on initial plays but you do wonder how well the music will fair in a year's time. Tracks like "Walk Away From Love", "If You Say It's Over" and "Brand New Start" have all the hallmarks of classic Scandinavian AOR, bringing to mind the likes of Talk Of The Town and Easy Action. "Standing In The Rain" goes for a more west coast feel. The hook on "Could You Be The Only One" has a similar feel to Terry Brock era Strangeways. "In The Eyes Of A Woman" goes for a more rhythmic Toto style but is let down by weak vocals. This is certainly one of the better examples of pure AOR around at the moment but it's still far too generic. If Street Talk can add a bit more originality they should be worth keeping an eye on.

Look At It This Way

DROWNING NOT WAVING
LOOK AT IT THIS WAY
INDEPENDENT CD (UK 1997)
30%

Drowning Not Waving feature a couple of ex-Big Chill members, the British band who I believe won a battle of the bands type thing to get a deal with Music For Nations. I seem to remember Big Chill being pretty average British sounding AOR, DNW add a touch more adventure to those roots and end up with a much more interesting sound. At their best the pair match British AOR (ala The Promise) with a slight touch of progressive rock as exemplified on numbers like "Waiting For The Rain" and the title track. Letting the side down though are the bluesier numbers which sound out of place next to the more adventurous material and come across as just filling up space. I have to say I also have reservations about Roy McLeod's voice which does nothing for me personally. Considering the obvious financial limitations that DNW have had to work with though the production is impressive for just an 8 track recording.
Contact: http://ds.dial.pipex.com/town/road/xmk67/dnw.html
Email: a.h.bassett@sheffield.ac.uk

Red

ESPEN LIND
RED
UNIVERSAL NORWAY UND 86514 (Norway 1997)
65%

Norwegian Espen Lind has taken elements of a number of different styles and combined them to make a very likeable sound. "Messing With Me" is part 80s funk rock, and could have been used by someone like The Distance or St Paul. "Baby You're So Cool" adds something of George Michael (circa "Faith") and is quite superb; simple rocking with Prince style vocals. "When Susannah Cries" is a big ballad reminding me of Rick Price vocally, "American Love" and "Lucky For You" are other slow numbers, with cool AOR feels and elements of west coast and soul creeping in. A very classy trio. "Missing Her Then" reminded me of Green from Scritti Politti, but is not too bad. "Niki's Theme" is a simple piano/string based number, with emotional vocal from Lind. "All I Want Is An Angel" rocks things up nicely after all those slowies, "It's A Damn Shame About You" is quirkier in a St Paul kind of way. "The Buffalo Tapes" closes the album in wonderful style, a slow bluesy groove supports haunting B3 chords and an excellent vocal melody, which sends shivers down the spine. Despite the large proportion of slow songs this is still a great album with enough variation to hold the attention.

Tortured

ANNETTE DUCHARME
TORTURED
A-TTACK ATT1298 (Canada 1997)
50%

With her fourth album "Tortured" Annette Ducharme has moved her sound forward once again. The title track is a glorious slice of Garbage-like power pop, with one of the dirtiest guitar sounds you'll hear all year. Although heavier and rawer than her old material there is also room for more restrained moments. If you liked any of Annette's previous work this is well worth tracking down.

One Beautiful Wife

LIN ELDER
ONE BEAUTIFUL WIFE
BIG HIP/A&M 314 540 860-2 (Canada 1997)
45%

On her debut, "One Beautiful Wife" Lin Elder has been taken under the wing of Jann Arden who has produced a classy collection. The sound is very much in the Damhnait Doyle, Wendy Lands, Jann Arden mould. There is no attempt to rock out in an Alanis type way but the songs have enough life to hold the attention and when the guitars kick in the effect is heightened (eg "Close To God"). A good debut.

WINTER GARDEN
SUMMER'S END
WINTER GARDEN WIN-2315 (USA 1997)
50%

An interesting project from the Florida based duo Stephen and Michele Zaccone. Winter Garden deal in quite hard melodic rock with something about the guitar sound that reminds me of the Queensrÿche sound on tracks like "Wake" and "Something Real". That said this is fairly straightahead stuff rather than overtly prog/techno in style, and on "Here Again" they even add a fresher, more modern edge. They are not afraid to mellow things out with good use of acoustic guitars, as on the laid back "Leak", which goes for a more ethereal vibe. The main difference is the vocals of Michele which are very good indeed, kinda like Sandi Saraya at here sultriest. Fine musicianship from Stephen, especially his guitar work. A good debut effort.

BEAUTY AMIDST THE PAIN
BEAUTY AMIDST THE PAIN
MAGIC RAT MUSIC/MARK THOMAS HANNAH (USA 1997)
1%

A bizarre and disjointed mix of progressive rock and Andrew Lloyd Webber/Jim Steinman style cod opera. One abysmally melodramatic 14 minute piece, in vocal (overblown female alert) and instrumental version, is all you get and is more than enough, thank you very much. The worst record I have heard since the Vulgar Unicorn abortion a few years ago. They get a couple of marks for using Hieronymus Bosch paintings on the sleeve but loose one for making them so small that you can't actually see any detail. Delete!

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Peter Sims
Last update 5th February 1998
Created 1st February 1998 © Peter Sims