For Week Ending:
27 May 2023

Danzig - Danzig (1988)

[Metal]

From the moment 'Twist Of Cain' starts to play my head starts to bob, and there is nothing on this album that stops it. Debut albums are an interesting beast. Bands aren't burdened with expectation of fans and record companies, and therefore they can just be whatever they want to be, and have fun along the way. Sure, Glenn Danzig already had the legacy of the Misfits and Samhain behind him (although they weren't really 'legendary' yet), but this was still like a whole new start for him - and it shows. The music isn't particularly up tempo, and it certainly isn't technical, but it moves along with a swagger that most bands would never ever get close to. Every word that drips from Glenn's mouth feels like it is sung with a mischievous smile, and on tracks like 'She Rides' and 'Am I Demon' he really opens up, and let's not forget to mention the greatest track in the Danzig repertoire - 'Mother'. I think the thing that constantly draws me back is that on the surface it all feels a bit. tongue in cheek, and yet you still feel some underlying menace. I bit like discovering your kind old next door neighbour is possibly a genocidal war criminal in hiding.

Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms (1985)

[Rock]

Indulge with me for a moment. Growing up in country S.A. in the 80's we had the privilege of two American journalists exposing to us the greater world at the time. Warner Wolf on sports and Casey Kasem on music. Casey's Top 40 was broadcast on the local AM channel on Saturday afternoons, where myself and the family would have the show loud on the radio in the backyard. I started to listen in 1985 when this guitar sound in Money For Nothing was simply mesmerising at the time. I bought the tape without knowing much more about them. As it turns out this single, which rewarded them with millions, is not the pick of the album. Don't expect this to be a rock album based on this single. It is very much a contemporary recording which you need to heavily invest in the lyrics sung. I think most would have heard Walk Of Life and So Far Away, however the songwriting maturity of the last half of the record is outstanding, including the last track Brothers In Arms, having a very poignant subject behind it.