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ella guru - the first album This 8-piece band from Liverpool certainly know how to make a successful first album. The opening track, 'Noisy Insects', hooks you with the hushed opening bars that almost beg you to listen like you're gathered around a campfire in the dark telling ghost stories. such lines as "well, it could be worse, I could be muted" and "why can't I whisper?" set the tone. the instrumentation heightens from ominous whispers to shouting with "I can't! and I won't!" and comes down. the chorus reminds me of Nick Drake's 'Northern Sky'. it's beautifully constructed so you almost float along till the very end. 'They Called For Us' is the most countrifried track. the pedal steel, harmonica and banjo all blend together as John Yates starts his storytelling backed by Kate Walsh in a fast-paced style.. "The rays of the sun can be beautifully dark, it all gets lost in this park" indeed. the ending bars hint at a slight Spanish flair almost like a duel has been called. The first single 'Augustas Golden' is rather moody.. a jazzy dark corner of a club feel which transitions nicely to the upcoming second single 'Park Lake Speakers' which has a warm old time feel. the static leading into the clarinet intro really sets things up nicely before the whispered almost rap begins. "park lake speakers in your ear" reminds me of my rap phase of the past with "flava in yo' ear" by Craig Mack, but I digress. this song is full of lines worth noting, such as the seductive, "we'll play strangers in the park" which surely makes you want to sit up in the dark with someone special and the name dropping line, "it'll always pass like a song I put on All Things Must Pass by George Harrison". the harmonica really takes over near the end accompanied by the pedal steal and the intro as they repeat the chorus over and over as the static ends the track. it's almost hypnotising and a sure winner. 'On a Mountain' is one of my favourite tracks though. perhaps it has to do with the book I'm reading, Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez. it sounds like this song was meant to correspond with this book. it begins right in the chorus, "I'm playing blues to a bird on a mountain and the signals coming back cause I'm shouting." it reminded me of the scene in the book when one of the protagonists, Florentino Ariza, plays his violin and weeps under his misfortunate love's balcony. instead of a violin there's a horn. instead of a balcony there's a mountain. 'bird' is also a term that gives this song a whole new meaning since in the book a 'bird' is basically a prostitute. perhaps I am reaching out too far, but only an absolute successful song can ignite such a connection. even without it, you'll be drawn onward by his anguished tone as he wails, "you stare, you stare, I look, I swear and you're not even there... you're staring into my head." it is tinged with love in every line and quite clever how it ends with an "echo-oh-oh-oh-oooh" 'This is My Rock and Roll' you expect to be rockin', but it is quite the opposite and also quite a standout in its quietness. it's almost like an intimate gift between two people. "I have searched and searched. searched and searched for you. you have searched me too" right there at that point it's known that this is going to be special and you're staying for the ride. 'I got my Mojo Working' mostly makes me want to skip over it. it isn't that it doesn't have a clever message -- if you don't figure it out from the beginning, the cat is named Mojo and it's working ...hah! ...hah -- but it just doesn't hook me. it reminds me a bit of Yo La Tengo, but in a boring way. it's very sleepy mid-seventies almost like sitcom music with that flute. this is the only song that doesn't automatically make me happy though, so we're still good. 'Wonderful' and 'Oh God' I group as one entity. 'Wonderful' is an upbeat little number that makes you want to tap your feet and do a jig. it begins with a chirpy "won-der-ful!" then it swoops into a bird ("if a song could be a bird then this was her") with beautiful harmonies breaking into a circus horror show played organ that leads into Oh God which goes off into a brooding orchestral masterpiece cause "this bar is full." This beautiful track which features Kate Walsh more fully than all the other tracks, 'Blues is the Root', features a lovely background of baritone sax which gives it a warm feel. "recharge me, electrically, so everything glows." this song is the perfect song to accompany romance and there's nothing sad about that. "keep on writing letters to me." Changing things up a bit, Jimmy Carl Black from Mothers of Invention leads his vocals to these last three songs. they must have ties with Frank Zappa to pull this off. they're even named after a Captain Beefheart song (which I have downloaded purely for comparison... I noted one slight similarity in style -- ie; the way 'ella guru' is said at the end just as 'ella guru, goodnight' is said in the pleasant ending monologue before the hidden track)! Starting off, he enters with quite a bang bringing the noise in "two minutes flat" on 'My Favourite Punk Tune' which is quite an ender ... except it isn't the actual end. the poetic monologue 'Base is the Spine' with mumbled harmonies in the background follows it -- "so much more than a beautiful whore" certainly summarises things. it is only worth hearing once, but what spoken word bit is worth listening to on repeat? The hidden track, 'On a Beach' (another version also appears on their 3 track ep), ends things on a rather somber note. there may be a play on words here, "so clever I come inside and she.. she would bet on me soon" it is mumbled in such a way that it almost sounds like "come inside the sheets" which is a rather unfortunate mental image. I had to play it about eight times to actually realise what was really being said here. I'm not sure if that is the point or not. there are some achingly beautiful moments which are brought out quite clearly with his deep voiced traveling moan at least ("we were dancing and it was slow"). it then ends surprisingly with love being just a joke. "my time is wasted", but certainly not on this album! Score: 9.5 / 10 |