Train - Alive at Last

I’m going to be completely honest with you. Almost every ‘live’ album I’ve ever bought I have eventually considered a complete waste of my money. The problem is I’m a sucker for CDs. It was for these reasons that after I handed over my $20 for Trains ‘Australian Tour Edition’ of ‘Save Me San Francisco’ (an album I already owned) which included the live CD ‘Alive At Last’ (something I didn’t own) I almost instantly regretted it. This may explain why I didn’t take the CD out of its packaging for something like 3 months. Last night I decided the 14 days I had to return my purchase was probably up and whether I liked it or not, I was now the (not so) proud owner of another (unnecessary) live album. So I removed the plastic and uploaded the songs onto iTunes, dreading the moment where I had to admit to myself that I’d yet again wasted my precious money. Everyone makes mistakes, don’t they?

Here comes the surprising part, so get ready folks. ‘Alive At Last’... It’s good! As in really good! This isn’t supposed to happen!!!!! Live albums are supposed to be composed of the songs we all love being massacred by their writers who need to spend hours in recording studios in order to hit the right notes; and therefore can’t sing live to save themselves. Either that or the studio recordings are so good that adding crowds of screaming fans in the background and the occasional off note makes the whole album sound like poor quality recordings that never sound quite right (sorry John Mayer). But instead of a cringe worthy waste of money, ‘Alive At Last’ made me wish I was back at the Forum Theatre watching Train live again. The mix is almost perfect (with the exception of a few sentences Pat says in the instrumental where all you can hear is the faint echo of his voice and a few screaming fans) and Pat hits every note without any trouble whatsoever. He even gets a bit of audience participation going on, thus clearly differentiating the live songs from their studio predecessors.

This is probably the part where I should list my favourite songs on the album, but I’m not sure I have any. The stand outs for me were probably the same songs that stood out on their studio albums – Save the Day, Calling All Angles, When I Look To The Sky and All American Girl – but that’s probably because they’re generally just great songs. For those who are Train fans, don’t worry, Drops of Jupiter is also on the album. I don’t think they’ll ever be able to escape that song... not that I really mind.

So get excited people! I have had my faith restored in live albums. Well, maybe not all live albums...

Ryan Meeking and the Few - Live

As the opening band for Train’s recent Australian tour, I hadn’t heard of Ryan Meeking and the Few before I arrived at the Forum Theatre and discovered the cleverly placed cards for a free song on top of the hairdryers in the women’s toilets. Even then, until they came on stage I really had no idea of what sort of music to expect and it was only when they made their enterance that I realised that the energetic pop-rock music produced by the band was actually very good. At one point I even made a comment to a friend who was with me that Ryan Meeking was possibly the Aussie version of Ron Pope (YouTube him, that’s definitely a complement)!

There were probably only a few in the crowd who knew enough of the words to their songs to sing along (one of which I suspect was either a mum or an aunt), but nonetheless, everyone was definitely enjoying the music. Maybe it would have been good if they covered a classic so everyone could belt out the words with them, rather than being left to stand awkwardly attempting to move to the music.

On a completely random note, the drummer, Corey Gaal was insanely enthusiastic and very entertaining to watch. He was bouncing around like there was no tomorrow and even though he was slightly hidden towards the back of the stage, his presence was definitely notable. I suppose I can’t really talk about all this and ignore the lead singer. Ryan Meeking definitely has a strong and almost haunting voice and is an all around musician playing both the guitar and keys whilst entertaining the crowd pretty well. He gets two thumbs up!

On a slightly less positive note, their EP lacks the energy and vibrancy of their live performance. It probably doesn’t help that live performances are always so much more exciting and so much louder than a CD and that I saw the band live first, but one of the things I loved about the music was its energy. Then I bought the CD and it turns out they have more of a Jason Mraz meets 3 Doors Down style with a bit more soul rather than a Matchbox Twenty vibe, which slightly disappointed me. Not because Jason Mraz and 3 Doors Down aren’t amazing musicians, but they lack that extra element of BAM!!! that I love so much.

Nonetheless, I would go and see Ryan Meeking and the Few if given the opportunity again. Their live performance is great and if you’re looking to see what they sound like, their EP doesn’t do them justice (though it does provide a good idea of just how talented they are as musicians). Maybe try YouTube for live performances instead.

Michael Paynter - Love the Fall

For those who have never heard the music of Michael Paynter before, may I say please take this opportunity to go and listen to his music. Right now... I don’t even mind if you stop reading this. Go!

I’ve been a fan of Michael for a year or two now, ever since I saw his music video for ‘Closer’ on Video Hits one morning. Now I don’t usually sit down to watch music videos, so I was probably flicking between channels. Fortunately though, at this particular moment in time, I decided Channel 10 was my best option for entertainment, and somehow his voice managed to capture my attention enough for me to run around the room to find a pen and scrap of paper (which was more difficult than you would think) to write this guy’s name down. And boy, am I glad I did! His unique voice has an amazingly strong vocal range, all with an Aussie accent (even better) combined with his amazing lyrics make for great listening.

Anyway, I was planning on talking more about his most recent EP – Love the Fall than my discovery Michael’s music. I just bought it and I was so excited I had to write about it straight away, so here goes...

This EP definitely follows a similar pop-rock vibe (sorry, I watched ‘The Castle’ recently, so “vibe” has been added to my vocab again) to his previous music, so anyone who likes his songs such as ‘Closer’ and ‘A Victim Song’ will love this too. However, Michael’s also managed to evolve his music to another level with more variation – the previous slight lack of variation in his songs was my only possible criticism. In particular he’s taken a step or two away from the guitar and even the drums, and moved towards the piano, especially in ‘Novocaine’ and ‘Lay My Armour Down’, something that I think works very well.

All in all, the combination of catchy melodies and clever lyrics makes Michael’s music worth a listen. I’ve also found the strong beat and uplifting sound of ‘Love the Fall’ particularly motivating when it comes to convincing oneself to go for a run or get on that exercise bike... It may or may not fit rather well into a cliché movie scene involving motivational music and a life changing decision that leads to the main character running along an almost deserted road in the rain... not that I’ve tried it or anything.

Anyway, I think I’ve pretty much finished this essay for tonight so in conclusion, Mr. Paynter (though I know you’ll never read this, but I’m sending vibes out anyway), you’re new EP is great, something I’m sure my friends won’t be too pleased about as I’ll probably be talking about it non-stop for weeks, but that’s okay with me :) For anyone else who’s reading this, firstly THANK-YOU! Secondly, if you didn’t at the beginning, go and have a listen to Michael Paynter’s music, including his new EP ‘Love the Fall’. You won’t regret it.

Welcome to my blog!

Hi! How are you (whoever it is that you are, if in fact you are anyone)? Fantastic I hope... I feel this is probably an appropriate opportunity to outline what my intention for this thing is, however that’s pretty much impossible as I myself have almost much no idea, except for the fact that I’m probably going to write about/review music of various types. In other words CDs – both newly released and not so newly released (a.k.a. old) – and any live performances I get the chance to go to. I might even write a review of a random busker on the street if I feel like it. Who knows!

However, I would like to say this much. I love music, but I am not a particularly talented musician in the grand scheme of things. I can play a few chords on the piano and guitar, and I have been known to write and sing a few songs in my time, however, my level of musical theory knowledge is similar to my level of knowledge on the importance of that really small bone that we have somewhere in our ear. And I don’t even know what it’s called... So don’t expect a whole lot of fancy descriptions of the music I look at (or I suppose ‘listen to’ would be a more appropriate choice of words) and understand that everything I write will probably in rather pathetically simple terms if you yourself are a musical person.

Anyway, I think I’ve got most of the boring stuff out the way now. Bring on the music!!!