for a start, then, or up front if you prefer, it shall be entirely possible for me, or anyone, to discuss this record at (considerable) length without ever mentioning or referencing a single note of music album. i have no doubt that someone, or a few, have indeed done this already, look you see. so, then, let me try and discuss this most recent addition to my collection, The Alchemist's Euphoria off of Kasabian, with at least one or two references to the actual music.
to the technical side of it all, then. as far as i am aware this is the seventh (7th) album off of Kasabian, coming after a gap of some 5 (five) years from the last, of which one can read here. at last, then, or if you prefer finally, we have an answer. everything of the last album suggested (or indicated) that all future albums would simply be called For Crying Out Loud with the year of release in brackets at the end. last one was For Crying Out Loud (2017) and this one is indeed called The Alchemist's Euphoria rather than For Crying Out Loud (2022). taking (just) north of half a decade to answer this bit of a mystery was unexpected. but then so was the "hiatus" or delay.
no, of course this isn't the first time in five years we have heard off of the much beloved serge, or sergio, or whatever name you are comfortable calling him. in between the previous Kasabian record and this one we had The SLP (here), way back in 2019. and that record is possibly (perhaps) the best guide to what you will hear here, if for some reason you've not heard the album yet.
elephant in the room time? sure, and with this certainly unlikely to be the only reference to Spinal Tap here, this is of course the first Kasabian record to feature a whole new direction. a strong argument exists that replacing any member of a band is "difficult", but vocalist is very difficult. certainly it has happened, with the single biggest example of success being Genesis. well, AC/DC too, but that change wasn't really a member being fired or leaving to do something else. and Fleetwood Mac but that was a radical mid-70s overhaul beyond singer. other instances requires defining just what you mean by success. acts to have "pulled it off", and in some instances gone on for a longer time than with the original singer (either temporarily or permanent), include Marillion, The Stranglers, Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. none, i would argue, had as much success or as high a profile as they did with the original singer, but absolutely retained a devout following. the absolute, undisputed, textbook example of how not to do this is of course Van Halen, who tried to replace the very much irreplaceable David Lee Roth with.....Sammy Hagar. it's like they went out to hire the worst person they could, not caring what it did not fans or their career, just to spite the great one who left.
and so Kasabian have a new singer. well, every now and then singer being full tilt always on singer, with serge (sergio) taking entire responsibility for it. no, i am not going to go into the well documented circumstances of the departure (demise, perhaps) of the original singer with the band. it is safe to say, however, that it was in circumstances which could have very much derailed or even ended the band, if not the musicians who are entirely blameless. yet the band survives, possibly from a mix of outright love for serge, an understanding that one individual acted alone and not the band, and let's be honest the band name is just too cool to be disintegrated by one horrible person.
in commenting on this record i note a lot of people have been saying what i have been saying for some time. and yes, i believe if you search Kasabian on this blog you will see this is to. the loss of the original vocalist is absolutely no loss at all. his dull, flat voice was not suited for rock, and was pretty much, for all their headlining festivals and sell out tours, the one thing holding them back from true, superior rock greatness. surviving without him is no big ask in general, but many of us did wonder would it work with serge stepping up and being the actual frontman, an not just the tacit main lure for us fans anyhow.
up above, in the image (of non greater good and glory of Commodore 64 mode) is what one gets inside the package for the tape (disc). well, when you ordered it off of their official online thing, at the least. and yes, that is a lot of packaging. is having something included signed by the band still a selling point, i wonder? sure, it's a nice thing to have, and i have similar from other artists (it's actually a struggle to buy anything direct from Manics what they have not signed), but it always feels "strange" when you have not, say, met them and got them to sign it. yes, indeed, the massive fold out lyric sheet (poster of album cover on other side) is in an illegible font and written vertically, so pretty much a waste of time. further or also yes, the playing surface side of the tape (disc) is all black. or "none more black", to attract a certain level of comparison.
perhaps the single most important thing for keeping Kasabian going, and this is a stark, true responsibility of all musicians, is to make sure that Billy Bragg is absolutely not proven right. even if it is by accident. over the years, and i have not read it for a while so don't know if it is true no more, the announcement of a new Kasabian record meant Billy Bragg turning up in NME, deriding them and proclaiming them to be "just Spinal Tap". in this he has forever missed the point that rock can, and should, be a lot of fun, and never ceases to expose how bitter and jealous he is of the success of others, no matter how many "right on" causes he has joined over the years. so, that The Alchemist's Euphoria was released, and i believe (i don't check this either much no more) made it to number one on the album chart, means the record has done what it needed without even playing it.
how, on paragraph nine (see i told you), is the actual record? well, not bad. as no musician, and just a simple music fan who knows what he (they?) like the sound of without knowing the terms, i can't go on about technical stuff. mostly, then, it's a quality sound. for comparison for the sake of description, it's kind of closer to SLP than any previous Kasabian album, and not just on the basis of vocals. one could offer up the term "psychedelic prog" as a reference, if that helps. but it probably does not.
whereas chunks of this album are, if by default and design, quite "hope you enjoy our new direction", it is not really that the album is full tilt Jazz Odyssey. i think it would be perfectly fair to describe The SLP as being serge getting most of that out of his system. certainly this record contains, as mentioned earlier, elements of that (ostensible) solo venture, but it's rather more like he took the finest of the more interesting, experimental and perhaps esoteric moments, melding them into something that sounds a bit like what one would expect off of a record with Kasabian written on it.
stand out, outstanding or highlight tracks? difficult to say, really, with the tracklisting as well as the lyrics being being presented in an awkward, incoherent font. my understanding is that no less that four of the songs here were released ("dropped") as singles, but i can't really recall hearing any of them on the wireless prior to the record eventually turning up. hang on, yes, i think one of the tunes (a sort of slow one) got played off of the band at the end of the women's european football championship. which prompted all sorts of questions of how suitable it was having an all male band play the finale, and of course one recently involved by association in a particularly unpleasant court case.
most, if not all, of the record all flows as one, really. is that what it is meant to do? can't find too much online about this, but so far as i am aware it's not an outright concept album or rock opera. up to now i have played the album six (i think) times, possibly more. at one stage i played it once again straight away after it finished. so far i really, really can't work out what i "think" of it. certainly i don't hate dislike it, or any other negative. not quite sure how much i "like" it.
perhaps that's precisely the key or trick here. a true, genuine case of being a challenging album. it clearly and decidedly has a "hook" for the audience, or market (if you prefer), but it's one not immediately or overtly obvious. just something in the sound of the songs latches on to a receptive audience. mostly, i think, whilst clearly "liking" what i was hearing, i was distracted by thinking if serge was going to cut it as the permanent vocalist, and things like that.
oh, the title of this post. well, as much as i love(d) being able to go to HMV on day of release, or close enough, the way life has taken me since means i am not so free to do so as i once was. ordered it off of the web thing, i did, and it didn't turn up. a replacement copy landed about a week after it was released, and, well, here we are.
right, that's about that. not the greatest Kasabian album, but probably not the weakest. unsure which one would be that, in truth. very unlikely this will be crowned "album of the year" by the time this year is done, just three (3) or so months from now, too. but, all the same, a worthwhile and ultimately very welcome record, all things considered, to have in the collection.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment