Mertric - Twilight Galaxy

Wednesday July 10, 2019, Metric played the Coke-A-Cola stage at the Calgary Stampede. Someone warned me that this was happening, but I did not listen. I nearly missed it. Luckily for me my best friend, the same one I have mentioned numerous times recently on this blog, gave me a text out of the blue inquiring if I would join him on this adventure. We had seen Metric live once before at the Stampede Corral back in 2012, so we have been listening to Metric for a long time. Exactly how long my friend brought up numerous times before and after the show. We have been listening to Metric since 2002, seventeen years. Man, I still think of Metric as a new band. The passage of time is unrelenting, what I once thought of as new is now a classic.

So, we went and saw Metric. It was a great show. It was the sort of show where I was reminded just how many songs by Metric I like. They opened with “Dead Disco” and closed the show with their new track “Now or Never Now.” Other notable songs they performed include “Help I’m Alive,” “Gimme Sympathy,” “Breathing Underwater,” “Black Sheep,” “Gold Guns Girls” and a truly great performance of “Dress to Supress.” The fact I felt the need to list so many songs that Metric played should inform the reader of two facts, I really like a great many Metric songs, and I also really enjoyed this show.

Like all music performances, before the show I had a few songs in mind that I was hoping to hear, and one of the lesser famous songs of Metric’s I wanted to hear, but figured I would not, was “Twilight Galaxy.” The second song they played was “Twilight Galaxy.” Good times.

“Twilight Galaxy” appears on Metric’s fourth studio album Fantasy, released 2009. Fantasy is a powerhouse album by Metric. Easily their best album. Four of Metric’s biggest hit songs are present on Fantasy, “Gimme Sympathy,” “Help I’m Alive,” “Gold Funs Girls” and “Stadium Love,” three of which I got to hear at the Coke-A-Cola stage. The other songs on Fantasy while less well known, are range from good to great; there are treasures on Fantasy throughout, and to me, most importantly, the fourth track “Twilight Galaxy.”

It is possible that “Twilight Galaxy” is my favorite Metric song. This is one of those laid back and mellow songs that works perfectly as a background song to introspection, or meditation. There is a real nice cosmic feel to the whole thing, the dancing symphonics from the keyboard echo into deep space and assist us on our journey.

Studying the lyrics of “Twilight Galaxy” the story is no where near as cosmic as one might expect. I think the song is about acceptance.

The first verse:

“Did they tell you, you should grow up,
When you wanted to dream.
Did they warn you, better shape up,
If you want to succeed.
I don't know about you, who are they talking to?
They aren't talking to me.”

A common spirit of rock and roll is rejecting the status quo, and this opening verse ties into that. Maintaining a healthy youthfulness is important to free spirits. Resisting the social pressures to confirm and live an ordinary life can be fearful proposition.

The second verse I like a lot more:

“Did I ask you for attention,
When affection is what I need.
Thinking sorrow is perfection,
I'd wallow 'til you told me.
There's no glitter in the gutter,
There's no twilight galaxy.”

The struggle is real, and we can et addicted to sadness if we are not careful. Artistic expression is frequently drowned in sadness and wallowing in our self loathing is not as glamorous as we sometimes perceive it to be. There is no glitter in the gutter.

We have a half verse before the outro, which I believe sums up “Twilight Galaxy’s” message:

“I’m alright now,
Come on baby,
I’ve seen all the demons that you’ve got,
I'll pick you up and take you where you want.”

Facing our own demons can be challenge enough but accepting others for theirs can be equally challenging. Wrapped up is sorrowful creative thinking can surely be draining, sometimes our loved ones can help pick us up our of a funk.

But this raises a question, what is the “Twilight Galaxy?”

Giving my less than perfect knowledge of Metric’s songs, I have noticed a trend of dreaming big is regards to music and the dark side of such an endeavour being explored just as much as the great goodness of such a thing. “Twilight Galaxy” is present on the fourth Metric studio album, by which plenty of time had passed for Metric to become success and thus familiar with the reality of being a soft rock star. I think the “Twilight Galaxy” is the unrealistic expectations of artist, specifically, musicians, what they hope to experience and how they will live once their songs end up on the radio or after they create a strong following. There are no stories that are identical, and no two musical groups with identical experience or personalities to respond to this events, whatever was dreamed up was just that. There is no “Twilight Galaxy” and by 2009 a matured Metric knew that.

I return to my initial simple explanation of “Twilight Galaxy;” this is a song of acceptance. Accepting yourself for who you are, and what your life has become, and acceptance of those around you who discourage you sometimes.

But mostly, I just find the mellow sounds of “Twilight Galaxy” super relaxing.

Until next month keep on rocking in the free world.

- King of Braves

Vampire Weekend - This Life

I know very little about Vampire Weekend.

The name has been spoken before my presence many times. I know they are a popular band of some kind. They won some awards of some sort, I think. I know I have heard them before, but whatever their songs are, I cannot remember them, and I cannot name them. That has now changed.

I do not shy away from recommendations. People tell me to watch a movie, I typically go and watch it. People tell me to read a book, I write it down in my notebook, and eventually I get around to reading it. Youtube auto-plays a song I have never heard before, I let it ride. What have I got to lose?

My thoughts narrated: “Vampire Weekend ‘This Life,’ okay, let’s do it Youtube.”

That is how it happened. Not very exciting I suppose.

This year Vampire Weekend released their fourth studio album “Father of the Bride.” I believe I have heard the entire thing on Youtube multiple times now. Interestingly I have heard only a scant few songs of theirs outside of this album, but I am sure I will get to them eventually.

It should be easy to deduce that I am very fond of this album of random discovery. Some comment, that I believe I read once, in the comment section of the lyric video, said, “big summer is the sound of this album.” Well said. Songs like “This Life” is popping with upbeat summertime joy. Very sunshine feelgood, almost Hawaiian style. Not quite prototype music, but a sort of sound we hear rarely, and is always welcomed, and always fun.

For many months I bopped my head back and forth to the lyric video for “This Life” at work. This is the video with the microscopic life forms. On May twentieth Vampire Weekend release the official music video. I like it a lot. I would have been content with the microscopic life forms video. The mellow song that warmed my disposition and cooled my head, was joy enough and I would not think to ask for more; but a little more is what we got. 

The Official Music Video:

The official music video opens with a man with a very long beard introducing himself as Wade, where he tells us two things; he lives in the desert, and he is a people person. From here the video follows the exploits of Wade as he works as a hired driver taking people around Palm Springs in his mom’s car. This all leads to a final scene where everyone he drove for, meets together at a dinner along with Vampire Weekend front man Ezra Michael Koenig. Koenig occupies the end seat of the long table playing guitar and singing while everyone else including Wade eat and converse.

I have been Koenig in this music video moment in real life. No one is paying any attention, but I decided to play the guitar and sing all by myself while everyone else went about their business at a house party. Not a good a person to be really, but I have been there, and I appreciated Koenig portraying this sort of human being moment in this video.

The music video ends with Wade saying this. “I’m kind of a loner, but I’m also sort of a people person. I won’t lie.” Then he tears up, and it is very heart warming.

I do not know who Wade is the real world, or why Vampire Weekend decided to make him the focus of their music video for “This Life.” I do not even know if Wade is a real person, he could a fictional character created portrayed by an actor for the music video. Either way, I like him, I think he is a charming fellow.

In the catalogue of songs, I listen to there is a lot of sad music. I enjoy the bitter sweetness of a broken love song, but counterweight to that, I really appreciate a tune for the good times, and that is very much what we have gotten out of Vampire Weekend’s newest album and the song “This Life.”

For a while now I have heard murmurs about this band Vampire Weekend and how good they are supposed to be, and at least I have started listening and thus far, I am really enjoying what I am hearing.

- King of Braves

The Jack Union - The Stand

I was born and raised in High River, Alberta, Canada. High River is a small-town south of Calgary. I cannot recall the specific statistics, but I believe the town has more than tripled in population and size since my birth in 1983. Since no one has ever heard of High River outside of those from Southern Alberta, I just tell everyone I am from Calgary. This year, I will have spent half my life in High River and the other half in Calgary.

Calgary has managed to produce some successfully musicians over the years, perhaps most notably Tegan and Sara, but rural Southern Alberta has had little to advertise to the world. However, at one point in time, it felt like we nearly had something going in the band The Jack Union.

Hailing from Vulcan originally, The Jack Union formed in the late nineties and found a strong amount of local success. Their 2001 album “A Fine Madness” got plenty of radio play across the prairies, and after winning some sort of song or band contest with local Calgary classic rock station CJAY-92, they found their music strongly supported on that radio station and in the surrounding communities.

Perhaps my memory of The Jack Union makes them out to be more significant then they really were because they were from my part of the world, many of my friends were listening to them, and the local radio station played them. They had made it right? Only insofar that they were a big fish in the little fishbowl.

I had completely forgotten about The Jack Union, until one day in the used record store in Inglewood, “Recordland,” when I happened across a used CD of their album “A Fine Madness.” Boy did that bring back memories. Naturally I played it a few times recalling when the song “I Am” used to get played on CJAY-92 and grooving to “Surf the Freedom” while one of my friends drove us around town. This made me wonder, whatever happened to The Jack Union?

Consulting the all-human-knowledge-in-one-place-device (Google), I looked up to find what I could about The Jack Union. Their facebook page has one post back in 2013 that simply informs us who the band members are. There are a few sites dedicated to documenting Canadian rock with brief synopsis of their short-lived existence. Lastly, I actually found what appears to be their official website with the latest updates being their 2003 tour dates which there were only two, Drumheller and Brooks.

What I did not know was that they had an EP released in 2004. They must have broken up and gone their separate ways that year, because I could find nothing about them after that.

And that’s it. That sums of their time as Alberta rock champions. This site gave me the best information: http://www.canadianbands.com/Jack%20Union.html

There is not much to say, so I will talk about my favorite song of theirs “The Stand.”

“The Stand” is the first track on their only album “A Fine Madness.” The tale being told is not a complicated one, it is a story of unrequited love, where the rejected party swallows his pride and walks away.

What makes “The Stand” unique is the independent strength and potential delusion of the narrative rejected lover. Despite being hurt and heart broken, the unrequited lover accepts his baby’s choice and is leaving, saying “you want it, you got it.” However, the touch of angst cannot be ignored, as the singer lays bare the opinion that the two of them being together is, at least from his point of view, how they objectively should have spent their lives.

I really like the line:

“And the lies and the cries,
And you just don’t realize,
What you had inside of me.
My baby never going be my baby,
Never going be.”

As a hopeless romantic myself, this line really resonates.

However, the next line:

“One day you'll realize. I'm the man for you,
There's no disguising.
To late to reconcile. you've said your piece,
And now I'm leaving.”

When I was seventeen, or sixteen, or however old I was when I first heard “The Stand” I felt like I could relate to both verses. Like any boy that age, I had a crush on a cute girl, and it become pretty clear pretty quickly she was never going be my baby, and at the time it sure felt like that we made a good match and that maybe one day she would regret her choice. However, after many years of multiple babies never being my baby, and none of them seeming to regret that choice, this line now comes across to me like a bitter man trying to save face whilst being rejected.

Nonetheless, I think something even more interesting is accomplished in The Jack Union’s “The Stand” consequently. Two powerful states of mind are being presented simultaneously. Undying love from a strong man who is willing to walk away as per his baby’s request, after all if you love something you must let it go. Also, the resentment of a broken heart unable to retain civility. It is nigh impossible to love someone who makes your relationship unreconcilable without holding animosity for that person, even if you do continue to be in love with them.

Emotions are complicated.

You can understand why The Jack Union’s “The Stand” is a song I keep going back to. It has great sound, but also great emotional depth. Also, for me, and other Southern Albertan’s of my generation, this band was a flash in the pan, that was ours, and that is rare. Whatever happened to the men of The Jack Union I do not know, but I wish them well. They gave us one very solid album, that I hope time does not forget them and their short but quality work.

- King of Braves

Frightened Rabbit - Swim Until You Can't See Land

Earlier this year I was in Glasgow. I had been told by the father of a good friend of mine, who is from Glasgow, that when my best friend and I went the United Kingdom, we needed to go to Glasgow. He was obviously biased, what with being born and raised there, but I asked him anyway, “what make’s Glasgow great?” To which he quickly replied, “the people.”

He was right. I mean, I have never seen more black eyes in my life, but everyone was extraordinarily friendly. More than once someone really wanted to help me out by offering me free cocaine, which sounds bad, but they were so very nice about it.

Amongst some of the people we met, two were particularly great, we meet them at a metal and rock themed bar called Rufus T Firefly. For those that do not know, Rufus T Firefly is an antagonist from a Groucho Marx film, I did not know that, but my best friend, trivia king that he is, he knew, and he let me know.

We were sitting at the bar when we started chatting up the man and woman sitting next to us. Like all Scots in Glasgow they were friendly, sociable, and very likable. Benefit of having met them in metal and rock bar, they naturally had amazing taste in music.

At one point, the gentlemen and I were using the two urinals at the same time and we talked about Scottish rock music. I mentioned my deep fondness of Scottish indie rock band Frightened Rabbit, to which he informed me that the front main and principle song writer Scott Hutchison had killed himself recently. This was dreadful news for me. However, I was on vacation so I could not let this dreadful news ruin my night. He and I returned to find our two friends rocking out hard, very hard, to Rage Against the Machines “Fuck you, I won’t do What you Tell Me.” It was quite the sight.

As you should easily surmise, we had a very good time in Glasgow.

I wrote about Frightened Rabbit, and their song “Keep Yourself Warm” way back in 2009: https://colinkellymusicinreview.blogspot.com/2011/03/august-2009-frightened-rabbit-keep.html

At the vest least, by 2011, “Keep Yourself Warm” was probably no more than my tenth favorite Frightened Rabbit song. They possess a deep well of great songs.

For years, I have thought about revisiting Frightened Rabbit, and why not, no one I knew listened to them. For I all knew I convinced zero people to listen to them when I wrote about them. Someone should say something, and I just happen to be someone. One of the reasons I never got around to writing a second review was that I was suffering from the tyranny of choice, Frightened Rabbit had so many songs I had grown to love that picking one to focus on proved highly difficult.

Giving the nature of Scott Hutchison’s death I think I will talk about “Swim Until You Can’t See Land.”

When I had a life that contained a resemblance of free time, I dappled in playing the guitar, I definitely mentioned it before on this blog, and “Swim Until You Can’t See Land” was one of the tracks I attempted to learn to play. I ran into difficulty for the same reason while I failed to learned to play many (any) Led Zeppelin songs, the tuning was set to something other than the classic EADGBE, and I am just not comfortable enough changing the tuning of my guitar Sara, since I am not sophisticated enough to necessarily be able to tune it back correctly. I learned to jam away but nothing sounded right, and that was because they used something I have since forgotten for their tuning.

The opening flair rhythm guitar is sweet and carries through “Swim Until You Can’t See Land.” It is lovely, no wonder I was so drawn to wanting to learn to play it myself.

Those moments, while presumably irrelevant to the general public, bestow upon me a greater personal attachment to this song. By touching those strings and bringing forth those sounds, I felt and heard the music in a way that made me directly connected to it. I should play guitar more, probably the most therapeutic thing I have ever done.

Being an inadequate guitar player, but a competent singer, I often focus on lyrics and “Swim Until You Can’t See Land” has some great lyrics. The song is about a man, potentially Scott Hutchison himself, walking to the coastline and braving the waves going further and further out.

The two verses I would like to focus on are thus:

“Dip a toe in the ocean, oh how it hardens and it numbs,
The rest of me is a version of man built to collapse and crumb.
And if I hadn't come now to the coast to disappear,
I may have died in a landslide of rocks and hopes and fears.”

And;

“Up to my knees now. Do I wade? Do I dive?
The sea has seen my like before, though, it's my first and perhaps last time.
Let's call me a Baptist, call this a drowning of the past,
She is there on the shoreline throwing stones at my back.”

I have always taken this song and the swimming away from the land as a metaphor of therapy. The past throwing stones at the narrator was simply looking to move beyond whatever had happened to cause such harm. The land was no longer a home or a place he wished to live so he would swim, until the land was nothing more than a distant memory. A baptism, or a rebirth, I believed he was singing about starting over, and how fearful doing such a thing can be.

Then we get one last bridge of lyrics that I appreciate the most:

“And the water is taller than me,
And the land is a marker line,
All I have is a body adrift in water, salt and sky.”

Our narrative swimmer has gone too far to go back and the continued terror of the endeavour sinks in to it’s fullest, the water, the future is now greater, or taller, then the man and there is no going back. All he is now is a man floating in the ocean. Maybe because my skin is thick and my heart is as hard as iron, but I never felt a dark forbiddance in this line. The takeaway for me that was simple that the unknown future was highly intimidating.

I took great joy from this song as an inspiring song about letting go of the past and marching forward into the future with courage despite the fear.

My perspective on “Swim Until You Can’t See Land” has shifted a little after learning about Hutchison’s suicide. Scott Hutchison’s body was found at Port Edgar, and presuming I am understanding things correctly, I believe he was found in the water. This song is might be an early suicide note. Letting go of past and embracing the dark waves is not moving on, but perhaps giving up, and now this song is equally sad as it is beautiful. From what I know, it sounds like Scott Hutchison might have played out the narration of the song “Swim Until You Can’t See Land” in his final moments.

It is well known that Scott wrote about suicide before presumably committing it, in the form of the song “Floating in the Forth.” I suspect anyone else writing about this will point to that song as a key note regarding this tragic outcome, but I am less familiar with that track, and giving the circumstance of his end, I doubt I am the only one who now looks as “Swim Until You Can’t See Land” differently now.

I am reminded of hide of X Japan’s death. X Japan guitarist, Hideto Matsumoto (aka hide), the Pink Spider, wrote songs about killing himself and then, eventually he did. I wrote about that back in 2015:

https://colinkellymusicinreview.blogspot.com/2015/11/x-japan-forever-love.html

I have two comments on that post, which is a lot for me, both disagreeing with my assessment. The police later confirm that hide had accidently killed himself while performing some neck exercising, and while I really want to believe them and learn that I am mistaken, I am not convinced. I think the Japanese police are trying to warm our broken hearts. The evidence in his music pushed everything to only one terrible conclusion and hide lived and died by it.

Back to Scott Hutchison, he sang about killing himself, and then eventually he did. I do not know what we can say, or believe, to warm our broken hearts now, and I fear maybe Scott thought, or felt, he needed to finish his self-fulfilling prophecy and ensure his life ended in the same manner he wrote about.

It is very interesting and upsetting to think about, but I have never shied away from such subject matter. I take comfort in knowing that while he lived Scott gave us so many great songs and I hope he squeezed as much joy and happiness out of his existence while it lasted. I hope his final swim was as poetically beautiful as his song “Swim Until You Can’t See Land,” and I hope he somehow died in peace.

Until next month, keep on rocking in the free world.

- King of Braves

Queen - Brighton Rock

Queen is a band I grew up with. What I mean by that is, even before I began spinning my dad’s records or listening intensely to the classic rock radio station, I knew who Queen were. I grew up in Canada, and I do not know if this is common elsewhere, or in other sports, but we play a lot of “We Will Rock You” and “We are the Champions” during, and at the end of, hockey games. Thus, before I started spinning Queen records, I heard Queen songs by chance and direct recommendation. It was such that I first heard “Brighton Rock.”

“Brighton Rock” is a complicated song, and I was unsure how to feel about it when I first heard it. There is a lot to take in, and it is the sort of song where it takes multiple listens to fully appreciate. While I puzzled over my feelings regarding the matter, my best friend, who recommended the song to me in the first place, was very keen about it. Multiple times he explained to me the technical mastery of the song, and the superhuman range of Freddie’s voice. Like any fine piece of music, the more I listened to “Brighton Rock” the more I appreciated its layered complexity. My friend was completely correct, it is a great song.

That is what “Brighton Rock” meant to me; a great classic rock song, made unique by its dramatic shifts and flamboyant nature. I knew Brighton was some place in England, but I did not know much about it. The primary thing I knew about the existence of Brighton was the Queen song.

Years go by, and the same friend, my best friend, and I went and saw “Baby Driver.” For those who do not know “Baby Driver” is an excellent film where music is used as a fundamental narrative device as well as being married to all the action for dramatic effect. The main character’s favorite song is “Brighton Rock.” There is a great scene where the title character is having a nice moment with a hired gun played by Jon Hamm where they bond over “Brighton Rock;” this sets up the later case scene where “Brighton Rock” plays and, wow, what an action scene. It is the general consensus that “Baby Driver” despite possibly being the weakest script of any Edgar Wright film, that it is also his greatest work of directing to date; and I agree.

So now, “Brighton Rock” possessed some additional flair in my mind.

Earlier this year, the same friend, my best friend, and I went to Europe with the focus being on the United Kingdom. By now we had been best friends for twenty-nine years, so we have had a long time to share adventures together, but this was the first time we had ever travelled together. The city of Brighton was not on my radar as somewhere we were going to visit, but after a recommendation from a very nice Brazilian lady, my friend was eager to have a day trip to Brighton, and why not? We have a Britrail pass with unlimited use for fifteen days. So, we went to Brighton.

As soon as we arrived in Brighton I began thinking of Queen, and “Baby Driver” for obvious reasons. I was also thinking about the Clash, but that was just random. There was a lot of charm for us to appreciate walking down the main road to the beach and this certainly seemed like a fine place to spend some time; so, we did.

We saw the beach and went to the carnival on the dock, where we saw the Helter Skelter slide that Paul McCartney sang about. The song “Helter Skelter” is about this said slide and not a race war, fuck you Charles Manson. We had some overpriced calamari on the beach. Took some photos and started heading back. My friend felt like a beer and he liked the look of this one bar, so we went inside. Having spent far more money than I would have liked on beer in London over the past two days I was trying my best to be sober. I failed. I failed because everyone we spoke to become our friend. The Greek bartender was incredibly charming. The other patrons were friendly and upbeat. But one man really stood out, an older gentleman who correctly identified us as Canadian and proceed to talk to us about all things rock and roll, and also travel. Right around the time we thought maybe we should head back to London, this same gentlemen very politely asked us if we would not mind having a beer with him at a another pub with an old fashion jute box, which sounded like a good idea, so we went.

Our new friend might be described as a travelling rock and beer sage. We talked at length about rock and roll, and beer, and the best pubs, and the best places to visit in the UK and the rest of Europe, but we also talked about life and we got very philosophical at times. From there we made friends with a biker from Cornith, and father and daughter combination from Wales. The bartender started giving us free coins to keep the music going, because he liked our taste in music, which is funny because that old fashioned jute box only had great songs on it. What a great bar, what a great time. Lastly, we made friends with a Polish punk rock anarchist who invited us to a live music show across town, so we had to go to that. Our new friend, the sage, gave us the kindest words of goodbye and I had to insist we leave him only after a hug, what a great guy.

We marched our way drunkenly across Brighton to this live rock show and got even drunker and made more friends. It was a good live show, I was sure to compliment the young man playing guitar on his skills, made friends with him too.

Then we stumbled back to the train station. We feel asleep on the train and nearly missed our stop, it was two-thirty in the morning when we arrived Victoria station in London, I woke up just in time, and I will not lie, that shook me up a little bit, but hey whatever, it was worth it.

I think it was the best time of our entire trip. One of best nights of my entire life.

Of all the places we visited only a few places left me really wanting to come back and see more, and Brighton is on the top of that list.

I used to listen to “Brighton Rock” and simply enjoy that song for what is was, a devilishly complex and fantastically powerful classic rock song, but whole new dimensions have been bestowed upon me now. Brighton is no longer some place in England I do not know anything about, now I know that Brighton is home to great live music, wonderful people, and the location of greatest pub crawl of my life. Thanks to my old friend for joining me on all of these events, and thanks be to the new friends we made in Brighton, especially the rock and beer sage, for making the best night of our European adventure. Lastly thanks to classic rock band Queen, just for being god damn great.

Sometimes, life is good.

- King of Braves

Ozzy Osbourne - No More Tears

I have seen Ozzy Osbourne live three times; once with Black Sabbath, once with Gus G., and once with Zakk Wylde. Additionally, I have seen Zakk Wylde live five times; three times with Black Label Society, once as a solo act, and once with Ozzy Osbourne. Both men have done some great work with other artists, but the first time I ever saw either of them live was together; and that meant something significant to me. Also, when I was a young man and discovering Ozzy Osbournce’s music for the first time, I was listening to albums like “Ozzmosis” and “No More Tears,” both of which feature Zakk Wylde, and that meant a lot to me as well.

I have always held “No More Tears” and “Ozzmosis” as two of Osbourne’s greatest albums. These two albums entered my life at a perfect time, young and rebellious Colin Kelly took in every word, and cord and thought these are the masterpieces of Ozzy and Zakk’s work together.

Recently I heard that Ozzy and Zakk are back together, which is great news for me, maybe I will get to see them perform live together again. Also, maybe this review is a little more topical because of this.

Like most people my age, I discovered Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne’s solo music at the same time. When I was getting my first copy of Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid” I was also picking up of Ozzy Osbourne’s “No More Tears.” Those were the first two albums with Ozzy on vocals that I ever owned.

Ozzy has had the privilege of working with several amazing guitarists, but I think I have made my favoritism towards Wylde rather clear, and when it comes to the solo era of Ozzy’s career, it is Wylde’s albums and songs that I tend to appreciate uppermost. Obviously, the works of Rhodes and Lee are fantastic, and I have nothing but the highest praise for both of those two men, but Zakk is my main man so that is where my bias rests.

So here is a challenging question; what is Ozzy Osbourne’s greatest solo song?

When tackling a such a question, it makes sense to think about things like the guitarists, and how best do we answer that subjective question with our own subjective tastes? Well, I like Wylde, and my subjective tastes push me towards “No More Tears.” That is one approach that one can take, and so I shall take it.

“No More Tears” the song was one of the very first solo Ozzy songs I ever heard, and I remember being so impressed that I concluded right there and then that this must be Ozzy’s best song. I held that belief for a long time, and now pressing my thoughts on the matter, I discover that my opinion has not altered much over the expanse of time that has passed.

There are many angles from which to argue the finality that “No More Tears” as the single greatest Ozzy song. As I earlier embellished, the mere involvement of Zakk Wylde, is a supportive reasoning for the greatness of “No More Tears.” However, that is a stance to take only if someone’s loyalty to Wylde is as true as my own. There are other reasons to conclude the case of “No More Tears” championship status.

At seven minutes and twenty-three seconds “No More Tears” is the longest on the album. The opening bass rift is iconic, it hits rapidly little a hard series of fast peaks and valleys. Equally memorable is the keyboard adding the accompaniment. Best of all the opening lead guitar intro. The guitar on the whole album is fantastic, presumably that is super obvious, I spent half of this review talking about how great Zakk is. Zakk’s involvement on this album cannot be understated. Obviously, his guitar work, good god, what a man, what a legend, I am not wise enough in the ways of electric guitar to say much of anything informative about how great Zakk Wylde is on “No More Tears,” however his contributions go far beyond that.

Ozzy Osbourne was, and probably still is, a massive alcoholic; so is Zakk Wylde. Osbourne more or less lost entire years of his life being blackout drunk, which is impressive, but terrifying. Whilst creating the album “No More Tears” Ozzy was attempting to clean himself up and go sober and this greatly affected his confidence. Seeing the world through the lens of reality was a frightful experience for Ozzy after being so long intoxicated. Luckily for Ozzy, Zakk Wylde took control of the situation and cowrote nearly the entire album with him. To the best of my knowledge this is the first time Zakk took on song writing on such a grand scale, and he hit a home run. This may have been the moment where Zakk ascending from badass guitar hero to rock god.

Ozzy has always been fortunate in that he has had the privilege and advantage of working with other great musicians to help him create his music, so much so, many harsher music critics discredit him as a song writer, which is going too far the in the other direction. Nonetheless it is true that from Black Sabbath working with Toni and Geezer, to his solo career working with the likes of Rhodes and Lee, Ozzy has made great allies and friends along the way. In this story Wylde is the friend and ally that made the difference, and a huge difference at that.

Back to “No More Tears” the album and the song are very dark. The song is about a serial killer targeting female victims in the red-light district. The line “No More Tears” signifies the death of the murderer’s victims, as in, they stop crying when they are dead. So yes, very dark. We should not be surprised though, this is coming to us from the same two men who wrote songs like “Suicide Solution” and “Suicide Messiah;” and now that I think about those two songs might make a good two part music review.

The album and song “No More Tears” was a huge success, though the song “Mama I’m Coming Home” was the breakout song of the album, the title track is the song I love the most from Ozzy’s entire repertoire. Taking some negative and making it a positive has been how I have navigated my entire life, and I feel like Ozzy has done the same. He took all his pain and suffering from his alcoholism and elsewhere and he put it into a very dark album, and that album, and all it’s negativity trapped within created an enormous event of positivity. Ozzy fans had more great music to enjoy. Zakk Wylde became a great song writer. Ozzy Osbourne found some success at being happy and functional while sober, and by doing so renewed his confidence and comfort level with by himself. A song about a man murdering woman is about as unsettling a topic as could be discussed, yet a amazing piece of art has come from it, and an unquantifiable amount of joy surrounds it. For all reasons, my vote for best Ozzy Osbourne song goes to “No More Tears.”

That is just me thought.

Until next month keep on rocking in the free world.

- King of Braves

Avantasia - Ghost in the Moon

For the first time in twelve years I have failed to write consistent content on this music blog. Work is killing me, so that did not help, but the main reason I needed a hiatus is that I spent twenty-six days in Europe. Why does this matter? Because I ended the trip with a return to Hamburg Germany, where I saw my favorite active group Avantasia.

Six years ago I went to Germany expressly to see Avantasia in Berlin and Hamburg, and those two nights are still the best nights of my entire life, so whilst planning another to Europe I naturally decided to try my best to re-visit Avantasia, in Hamburg; and this time I brought a friend.

I bookended our trip with two good ideas, we start the trip in London for my friend birthday, and we end the trip in Hamburg for Avantasia. It was good idea, but it came with some complications. This plan has us in Amsterdam the day before the concert and getting to Hamburg by train from Amsterdam was a lot harder than I remembered. Most of the scheduled trains were sold out and my credit card was not working online for some reason. We ended up leaving two hours later than I would have liked and it cost more than I anticipated, and we had three transfers along the way which made the trip an hour longer then it would have been otherwise. Then there was nearly an hour delay because of some technical problems with the train. Lastly construction was blocking our way to the hostel. By the time we checked into our room and dropped off our bags, I was feeling like the world was conspiring against me seeing this show, but I am determined man, and this was Avantansia, and I was not going to miss this.

We hop the underground train and get to the concert hall just in time to slam a beer and find a place to stand. Garbed in my Canadian flag I stood at the ready telling my friend a story he had heard me tell dozens of times, the story of Tobias Sammet and the creation of Avantasia. Then the lights hit, and the band emerged, and out walked the man of the hour Tobias, and opening the show with what I think is my favorite song from the newest album, “Ghost in the Moon.”

“Ghost in the moon light.”

That opening line came through loud and clear and a great joy filled me. I had done it; I had returned to Hamburg and Avantasia.

Anyway, enough about me, my adventures are less important than the music being discuss.

Earlier this year Avantasia released their eighth studio album “Moonglow.” As we have seen before Tobias has left his story open for interpretation. Some spectre is questioning their own existence or something? I have not figured it out yet, but I suspect Tobias would be supportive of any theory I concoct. I could surely google theories and piece together a cleaver theory, but I have not done that, so let us continue.

Now that we are at the eighth studio album of super group Avantasia, we can safely say who the primary line up now consists of. From the beginning there was always the core four singers, Michael Kiske, Jorn Lande, Bob Cately, and Tobias Sammet himself. Ever since “The Mystery of Time” album Ronnie Atkins and Eric Martin have established themselves as main stays. The only wild care left that needs to be discussed is Geoff Tate, who performed with Avantasia on this most recent tour, and he was awesome, like super awesome live, so he is a welcome inclusion if he wishes to remain. That makes seven, like Seven Angels; the judgement of heaven; fire will burn us away.

With that lineup in mind, it makes sense that every album going forward would have one song being performed by one of the primary singers along with Tobias. Another novelty that has held fast throughout all eight albums is a “solo” performance by Tobias.

“Lost in Space,” and “Mystery of a Blood Red Rose” both proved to be some of the biggest hit songs from Avantasia, and they are songs feature only one singer, the man, Sammet.

I love every singer in Avantasia, a lot. The only one I do not admire with the full weight of my being is maybe Eric Martin. In many ways Martin is the odd man out, coming more from a pop rock background while everyone else is a hard rock, progressive rock, or metal in origin and style; but the man so happy to be there, and he is doing a really good job. Furthermore, I met Eric Martin six years ago in Hamburg and he was a great guy. I feel like we are friends, even though I doubt he remembers me. So yeah, back to the point, I love every singer.

Where was I going before my Eric Martin tangent? Oh right, I love all the singers, but I do hold a special place in my heart for Sammet’s lone performances. He is the man that made it all happen. He is the greatest song writer active today. I love it when he gets a chance to shine on this own creation, and I love songs like “Lost in Space,” “Mystery of a Blood Red Rose,” and most recently “Ghost in the Moon.”

The first single off of “Moonglow” was “The Raven Child,” which was an eleven minute fifteen second epic featuring Jorn Lande and Blind Guardian’s Hansi Kursch, so that was amazing and is a major reason I love Avantasia so much. Who releases an eleven-minute epic as their first single? The guest singer is Kursch from Blind Guardian, I do not know what more I could have asked for because I am getting more than I ever would have thought to ask for.

The second single is the title track “Moonglow,” this song was much more radio friendly and features Candice Night. It was great, nice music video, great song, I have always loved Candice. Good stuff.

I think the third single was “Starlight,” great song featuring Ronnie. Another great song.

Anyway, “Ghost in the Moon,” the opening track, where only Tobias sings, and it is almost ten minutes in length. Exactly what I needed from this album and exactly what I wanted to hear in Hamburg.

“Ghost in the Moon” is two songs really. The first part of the song, (the first song) is really very energetic and upbeat, but the lyrics, and there are lots of lyrics, tell a tale of the dark side of fame, or at least I think that is what is going on. The metaphor for a moth drawn to flame is in full effect in “Ghost in the Moon,” with the light of the sun replace flame and the Ghost replacing the moth. There is pressures and forces at play pushing the artist, the ghost, towards the light, but the encouragement is not all selfless motivations or kindly and wishful. The powers that be want the Ghost in the moonglow to exists for selfish and shallow reasons, shattering our dreams into something other than originally conceived.

It is also possible I am projecting some of the ideas from the Scarecrow trilogy onto “Moonglow” and “Ghost in the Moon.” I mean… we are chasing the ghost in “Ghost in the Moon” that implies that it is a different entity (or figment) from the narrator.

The second part of the song (the second song) begins after a noticeable silence right around the seven minute twenty second mark. The song reopens with an even more aggressive but controlled measure, and the lyrics take on a different, more aware, perspective. Those dreams of standing in the light, they become something else, or maybe we finally see them for what they always were;

“Megalo-maniacal dreams.”

I wonder if there is a deliberate connection between that line and the cover of Michael Sembello’s “Maniac” featuring Eric Martin?

It is a little thing, but I really like how Tobias deliveries that simple line;

“Megalo-maniac dreams.”

If I am right and “Ghost in the Moon” is at least in part a metaphor about fame, and how stepping into the light is empowering and exciting, but also hazardous and sometimes deeply compromising, then I think “megalo-maniac” is not a bad description for such dreams. Ego can, and has, fueled many celebrities and artists ambitions. Corporate compromises have poisoned and destroyed lots of artistic music and the happiest of many would be poet musicians. Take all of that and warp it in a mystical metaphor and you have an appropriate concept for an Avantasia album. Maybe that is what “Moonglow” the album is about. I suspect I am at least partially correct in thinking that is what “Ghost in the Moon” is about.

Long post short, life is good, Avantasia is the best. Get listening North America, I cannot get them to come here by myself.

- King of Braves