Huh. That was interesting.




When a reviewer receives material from an unsigned band, it's a good idea not to let expectations rise too high. There's usually a reason that the band is unsigned, and it has little to do with not yet being discovered. 




That's why I approached an album by a Toronto group calling itself Clockwise with a bit of trepidation. I wasn't anticipating much. 




But this one surprised me, so much so that I can say, "Where have these guys been?"




The album is tightly played, beautifully produced, and has some cracking songs on it. As a matter of fact, the whole album is consistently nice. 




That's not to say it's for all tastes, but you'll find that it's for most. The best comparison I can give is : Imagine a Canadian Teenage Fanclub, only, y'know, not so wimpy. Taking the sort of classic rock tropes that have been trotted out by various and sundry in recent years (Kings Of Leon, I'm looking at you), Clockwise has an honest, gritty sound that has been polished to a sheen.




Opener "Opposites Attract" sets the tone for the rest of the record : lovingly harmonized vocals, liquid guitar, and a rhythm section that paces it all wonderfully. 




Mind you, there's not a ton of variety here; when I say the opener sets the tone, that's exactly what I mean. Guitar, bass, drums, and melodious vocals dominate each song, to the exclusion of anything else. You won't hear a keyboard here, or even very much additional percussion. 




But none of that matters, because the limited palette is applied to songs that use it to its fullest. There's not a bad tune here. 




That said, allow me to point out some highlights : 




"Surrender" starts with electrified acoustic guitar, and quickly gives way to wah-wah and a pounding rhythm. This song even quotes a song with the same title by Cheap Trick, with which there are some stylistic similarities. 




"Boomtown" is a rock 'n' roll paean to modern living : "Say hello to your neighbors who live three feet away". Again, the vocals, reminiscent of the best of 1980s rock, turn the song to a bit more than rock, and closer to pop. 




"Upside Down" is the longest track on the album, and it deserves the space. An anthemic tune that's done with a sneer, it's a bit slower and meaner than the other songs. 




"Water On the Moon" is a bit silly on purpose, but features a driving guitar rhythm. 




It should be pointed out that there's little innovation here, but that's not important. What Clockwise does, it does very well, and sometimes that's the relevant part of music. 




It's a pleasant surprise to receive material that's this good. If you love classic rock, power pop, or have fond memories of new wave, you'll like this. 




I give Clockwise's "Faders On Stun" an 8 on the England Swings scale of 1-10.

 
Scottish singer KT Tunstall came out of nowhere a few years to conquer an audience that lay somewhere between middle-indie and middle-age. "Suddenly I See" managed to pop up in movies ("The Devil Wears Prada"), commercials, and anywhere else it could be fitted in. "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" was performed on American Idol before anyone was aware of the song. 


Since she wasn't seventeen years old at the time, her fans became those thirtysomething folks that wanted something that rocked a little, but not to the point that they would dislocate anything. 


Her second album passed without much notice and comment, and it was probably with that in mind that KT approached her third disc. Decamping to Berlin and recording the album in the same studio where Bowie did "Heroes", and U2 did "Achtung Baby", KT did the new "Tiger Suit". 


It's darn good, too.


There are a couple of flashes of absolute brilliance here, and a set of songs that generally are above average in composition, execution, and production. Let's talk about the really good ones first : 


"Difficulty" stands out not only because it's the longest song on the record, but because it's the best. A buzzy, fuzzy indie guitar anchors a gorgeous vocal, and the song has a hooked chorus ("You change every day...") with creative backing vocals. As a matter of fact, it's the backing vocals that make most of the record as good as it is. More about that shortly. 


First single "(Still a) Weirdo" has funky percussion, a whistling synth, and another transcendent vocal, and another chorus that draws the listener in quickly. The song sounds intimate, as if KT is leaning into your ear half whispering. Beautiful. 


The rest of the album is pitched somewhere between Sheryl Crow and Cheryl Cole, but has a gutsy and smart feel that's better than either of KT's peers. The vocals remain consistently nice; the songwriting quality for the most part remains strong with occasional dips. 


As I said above, nearly every song has great backing vocals, done - as far as I can tell - by Ms. Tunstall herself. Opener "Uummanaq Song" has some staccato "Yeah-ay, Yeah-ay-ah"s that remind me a bit of Nelly Furtado. "Fade Like a Shadow" has an echoing meow. "Golden Frames", a bluesy track, brings in a male voice (is that her pal Seasick Steve?). 


A couple of minor missteps are evident as well, but they're not huge distractions. What, for instance, does KT have against Margaret Trudeau? The song "Madame Trudeaux" seems aimed at her, and features some rather cutting lyrics. The tune itself is not bad, but one has to wonder what the motivation was. "Come On, Get In" is pleasant enough, but it seems like a conscious effort to write another "Black Horse". 


Final track "The Entertainer" is an anthemic ballad, atmospheric but not particularly memorable. 


KT herself has described her new album as "Eddie Cochran meets Leftfield", and while that doesn't quite tick all the boxes, it's a start. "Tiger Suit" is vital, clean, and nicely done. 


I give the album an 8 on the England Swings scale of 1-10.
 

Here we present the playlist from last night's show. It's an opportune time to mention that:
1). We love listeners. 
2). We take requests. 
3). We love listeners who give us requests. 
4). We play songs and demos by unsigned bands, especially if they're British.
5). It's a really good show. Each week we play a carefully selected bunch of tunes, designed to represent the best new and old music from the UK. 
6). We debut a lot of tunes in America, I think. See the playlist below to get an idea. I've annotated it.

Dinosaur Pile-Up - Mona Lisa (DEBUT - new single)
Fujiya & Miyagi - Sixteen Shades Of Black and Blue (DEBUT - new single)

Billy Idol - Cradle Of Love (ancient song (1990) that fit in the set)
Big Deal - Locked Up (DEBUT - East London band currently unsigned)

British Sea Power - Zeus (Zeus EP) (DEBUT)
Kylie Minogue - Get Outta My Way (Aphrodite) (currently catching a lot of UK buzz)

Tears For Fears - Sowing the Seeds Of Love (request)
Procol Harum - Salad Days (Are Here Again) (Procol Harum) (piece of history!)

The Fab Four Freakout :

Beatles - Gimme Some Truth (Let It Be sessions) (I always start the Beatles set off with something unusual)
Beatles - Glass Onion (The Beatles)
Beatles - Strawberry Fields Forever (Magical Mystery Tour)

KT Tunstall - (Still a) Weirdo (Tiger Suit) (DEBUT - new single)

Badly Drawn Boy - Too Many Miracles (It's What I'm Thinking Pt. 1) (DEBUT - new single)

Elizabeth McQueen & the Firebrands - Almost Blue (from an album of cover versions of British pub rock -thanks to Glenn Dale of Radio Trop Rock for the loan!)
Chad & Jeremy - Summer Song (Summer is truly over . . . our tribute)

Lloyd Cole - Double Happiness (Broken Record) (DEBUT)

Planxty - The Little Drummer (Cold Blow & the Rainy Night) (an attempt to inject some trad. folk into the show. I'm hoping to play this sort os music more often)
Raymond Froggatt - Callow La Vita (original version of song remade by the Dave Clark Five as "Red Balloon")

...and this week's top 5 songs in the UK (the BBC ends its chart show at 2:00 p.m. American Eastern Time. We have these songs on the air by 6:00 p.m. Yeah, we're good!)

5). Taio Cruz - Dynamite (-3)
4). Adele - Make You Feel My Love (new)
3). Labrinth - Let the Sunshine (new)
2). Bruno Mars - Just the Way You Are (-1)
1). Tinie Tempah - Written In the Stars (new)

TOP 5 ANALYSIS and REVIEW

The British top 5 continues to morph into something new with each passing week. During the summer, it was all rap 'n' grime tunes. More recently, club bangers have filled the top of the chart. This week? It's all what urban stations in the USA call "slow jams", with the exception of the Taio Cruz song. 

Depending on your preferences, you may or may not like this latest iteration of British pop music. Of course, there's not a week that goes by that I don't read comments in some forum along the lines of "This week's chart suuucks, dude. When're they gonna put some real music in there?"

But the fascination of we British chart watchers is the impermanent nature of the thing; that's what makes it fun. And this year has been . . . fun.

Taio Cruz dips back to number 5 this week with "Dynamite", while in the same week RISING to number 5 in America. It already peaked in the USA at number 2 back at the end of August, but it just won't go away. 

Even though it's been in the British top 5 for 6 weeks now, the song has only slightly worn out its appeal. Whereas the ridiculousness of the lyrics (which have managed to transmute into all sorts of other parodies on Facebook - "Saying Ay-o, where's my mayo?")makes the song a bit silly, the inevitability of the tune continues to prop it up. 

Also, there's a certain honestly about the song, considering it was written and produced by Taio Cruz himself. That's not something you can say about 93 per cent of the current crop of songs. So we've gotta like Taio for fashioning his success the old-fashioned way.

I give "Dynamite" an 8 on the England Swings scale of 1-10.

I feel some vindication at the number four song on the charts. I don't often repeat songs on my radio show, but I'll bet I've played "Make You Feel My Love" 6 or 7 times in the past two years. I've always loved the tune. Written by Bob Dylan, with particularly poignant lyrics, Adele just sings the @#$! out of it. Accompanied by tasteful strings and a melancholy piano, I challenge you to listen to the song twice and not have it bouncing around your brain indefinitely. Nice to see it get the recognition it deserves, even if it took a dozen X Factor performances for people to pick up on it. Now it should conquer the States, right?

Adele gets a 9.

Another new entry at number three, as producer Labrinth breaks away from the mixing board and does a song that goes into that "slow jams" category mentioned above. The synths trickle through, the production (especially the handclaps and "whop-whop-whop part around the middle) is gorgeous. This is the sort of song that Simon Cowell needs to be forced to listen to before he puts out another grandiose, overblown ballad by an X Factor winner. Subtle. Effective. 

I give Labrinth an 8 for this song. 

Bruno Mars' "Just the Way You Are" is a grower, and sounds better with subsequent listenings. It's dropped from number 1 to number 2 this week in the UK, but has maintained supremacy in the USA at the top of the charts. 

And you know, it's actually the bass that makes the song. It's not flashy, but it holds the composition together with panache. Bruno's voice is buttery and classic. Again, subtlety wins the day, and that marks the cleverest songs of the moment. Bruno fits into that disposition. I give this song an 8 this week as well.

It's a shame Tinie Tempah is so British, because he's got the talent to break out big time. That said, the new number one song "Written In the Stars", much like "Pass Out" and "Frisky", is smart stuff. There are little touches in all of Tinie's tunes that make them stand above the pack. Changes in voice filtering, a deep, deep (almost dubstep) bass, and even the addition of the cliched rap "Oh!"s work here. It's easy to say that "Pass Out" was the best song by Tinie so far, and perhaps it was, but there's still some tasty stuff going on here. I'm looking forward to hearing the entire album.

I'm giving "Written In the Stars" an 8 as well this week. 

Huh. I think this is highest overall rating I've given to a top 5 list in a long while. I guess the charts don't suuuck this week.

Dude.

A couple of album reviews coming in the next few days . . . 


 
On the England Swings show today, we continue to bring you the best, brightest, newest, and coolest music from the United Kingdom. There are some people you've heard of (Billy Idol, Procol Harum, Kylie Minogue), as well as some that perhaps you haven't heard of (Dinosaur Pile-Up, British Sea Power, Badly Drawn Boy). Plus lots more! 

And we'll have our usual features today : 

The Fab Four Freakout : Beatles tunes, including rarities!
UK Music News : stories from the music world in the UK
Top 5 Countdown : the best-selling songs in the UK right now - with a new number one!

You can find us at 6:00 p.m. USA Eastern Time :

In Northern Virginia : Cox and Verizon digital cable channels 37 and 837
In Reston, Virginia : Comcast channel 27
Anywhere else in the world : http://www.fcac.org/webr

Tune in today - you'll be glad you did!