Album Review: Let England Shake - PJ Harvey

*****

Sneak home and pray you'll never know/The hell where youth and laughter go - Siegfried Sassoon

Let England Shake certainly owes much to the war poets, conjuring as it does horrific tales of young men cast into the hellish nightmares of trench warfare.

However, whereas it would be all too easy for these 12 tracks to descend into cliché, in fact, and against the odds, PJ Harvey has crafted a work that not only sits as a tactful testament to the fallen but is a fitting tableau of humanity's multi-faceted struggle against self-destruction.

Throughout the album, the presence of nature is felt very strongly, the massacre and the killing inked indelibly onto the landscape, whether the stench of death "coming off the mounds of Bolton's Ridge" or the "Jagged mountains, jutting out, cracked like teeth in a rotten mouth."

On Battleship Hill, from which that last line is taken, is perhaps the most interesting track in this regard, not merely lamenting the cruel nature of man but also championing humanity's resolution (or is it begrudging war's futility?); eventually, despite the devastation, "The land returns to how it's always been."

It's also possible to draw parallels, not only with Iraq or even the current conflicts in the rest of the Middle East - "What if I take my problem to the United Nations", stolen from Eddie Cochrane on The Words That Maketh Murder - but with the global population's ongoing battle with Mother nature, whether that be climate change or other natural hazards beyond human influence.

Neither does Let England Shake deny the inherent romanticism of war, especially on All And Everyone, where the lines, "As we advancing/In the sun" ring out against a melodramatic musical backdrop that, to me, evokes images of the final scenes of British sitcom Blackadder Goes Forth.

It's evidence of Harvey's particular genius; not merely pedaling the truism that war is bad, but also empathising with man's plight and never assuming a moral high ground.

Of course, the album's other main theme is the resonance of England's chequered past. Harvey's relationship with her homeland is clearly troubled, at first appearing to romanticise the "battered books" and "fog rolling" on Last Living Rose but in the next breath clearly lamenting its "stinking alleys" and "drunken beatings".

This is revisited on the straightforwardly titled track England, the weight of a nation's failings leaving a 'bitter taste' but like 'roots from a vine', the connection with her homeland, for all its faults, is constant. "To you, England, I cling/Undaunted, never failing, love for you".

It's a tightrope that Harvey walks with Let England Shake but it's too her great credit that the subject matter is handled in such a delicate, ambivalent way as to truly replicate the complexities of war - the line between right and wrong being often blurred in extremis and our loyalties to each other and our country questioned at every turn.

He's from Barcelona

I've just finished reading Russell Brand's second book(y wook), a brilliant and, at times, touching insight into his debauched world, but one chapter, entitled 'He's From Barcelona', opens with a passage that particularly tickled my fancy.

I think it might just sum up everything that's so brilliant about him whilst at the same time displaying many of the qualities his detractors so love to seize upon...

It was the biggest media event since Princess Diana died. An event that received as much news coverage as the mysterious death of the most famous woman in the world. When it happened it was blown up like 9/11. It was on the front page of every newspaper, every day, for almost a month. Every television news broadcast opened with the story. Twenty-four hour rolling news channels rolled with the news for twenty-four hours. It was analysed, debated and contested by an entire nation. Even the country's leader, the Prime Minister, was involved when it was discussed in the Houses of Parliament. What was it? A prank phonecall. And who done it? I did.

Album Review: Hotel Shampoo - Gruff Rhys

****

Gruff Rhys is a busy man. When not fronting Super Furry Animals - nor promoting side project concept albums in tribute to bankrupt 1980's car manufacturers - he's producing short films and an art installation, the latter based on all the shampoo products he's acquired from various hotel rooms over his touring life.

So provides the inspiration for the title and artwork of Gruff's latest solo album, initially intended to be a collection of piano ballads but materialising into something much more diverse, an eclectic mix of influences from Caracus to Camarthen.

Perhaps more importantly though, the Welshman's penchant for delicate melody makes a return to prominence. Nowhere more so than on Honey All Over - a sugar-coated delicacy of a song - matched only by the exquisite Vitamin K and sublime If We Were Words (We Would Rhyme).

There's an understated charm to the album, not brash nor brazen in any way, a soulful companion with whom you feel comfortable and content, yet remaining musically vivid and harbouring a playful joie de vivre that masks its sometimes melancholy lyrics.

At all times Gruff Rhys' personality exudes forth, particularly in wonderful lines such as "tummy full of tumbleweeds" but also in the way he makes use of humour. Take this Guardian piece on how he wrote Sensations In The Dark by way of example.

By the time Space Dust #2's call and answer duet has washed over you - "You upped and left without warning/I had to work in the morning" - and Patterns of Power has imparted its piéce de rèsistance, you simply find yourself marvelling at the fact all this artistry can be traced back to a collection of hotel toilets.

Only in Gruff Rhys' hands would this turn out to make perfect common-sense.

Album Review: Computers and Blues - The Streets

****

I must admit I'm a late adopter when it comes to The Streets. Whilst Mike Skinner was making his greatest impact, back at the turn of the century, I was far too enthrall to The Strokes led, NME coined, 'New Rock Revolution' to appreciate him.

Over the following decade however, my respect for his talents has burgeoned to the point where I have finally invested in an album, financially as well as emotionally...

Computers and Blues is an impressive mix of skilled word play and dry observation, but on the face of it, Mike Skinner's earnest philosophising could be seen as bordering on the trite. "If you're going through hell, keep going" he opines unhelpfully at one point, channeling the vocals of Robert Harvey - The Music front man and omnipresent force throughout the album. Nothing to challenge Nietsche there you'd be right to think.

However, for every excruciatingly overwrought 'epiphany' - the likes of which are found again on Roof Of Your Car - there's a moment where Skinner's honest and straightforward touch really does make its mark.

A Blip On A Screen, for example, benefits from a stark and touching simplicity, describing a new father's emotion on first seeing evidence of his unborn child - "I fix and I plan/but this is just mad/I love you/You're only 100 pixels on a scan."

Puzzled By People offers further glimpses of inspiration. "You can't Google the solutions to peoples feelings" seems such an obvious remark to make but belies a hidden insight.

Of course, the appeal of Computers and Blues isn't just the underlying theme of survival in our technologically fraught world, there's the heady mix of tunes that add dynamism to Skinners peons on modern life.

We Can Never Be Friends inevitably lends itself to comparison with Dry Your Eyes and, in fairness, it doesn't fall far short; another heart wrenching tale of love lost and the strength required to accept the harsh realities of such.

At the other end of the spectrum, Trust Me is an urgent, grimy and beat laden affair. It's hard not to fall for Skinner's witty whimsy found in lines such as, "I see Alice in Wonderland/I see malice in Sunderland" which sound anything but the work of an act nearing retirement.

Alas, retirement is inevitably where this album finally rests its focus and, once closer Lock the Locks fades from the speakers, it's all too clear that the UK music scene will be much the lesser for The Streets departure.

Whatever Skinner turns to next, The Streets lasting legacy will undoubtedly be the ability to marry thoughtful word play, witty observation on modern life and mass popular appeal. No mean feat.

Album Review: Valhalla Dancehall - British Sea Power

****

Valhalla - (Norse mythology) the hall in which the souls of heros slain in battle were received by Odin

With Valhalla Dancehall, British Sea Power have succeeded in demonstrating both their virtuosity and ingenuity.

Who's In Control opens the album with a rallying call to arms, wishing protest "was sexy on a Saturday night" and proudly questioning the status quo.

Georgie Ray is inspired by a combination of George Orwell and Ray Bradbury dystopian nightmare and boasts the most joyously piercing guitar solo heard in many a moon; the song's message captured perfectly in the passage, "Before the language gets perfected to a solitary grunt/Can we still sing electric on the sun?" - Wonderful.

Stunde Null, the German language equivalent for 'hour zero' - and more specifically used to refer to the fall of the Nazi's Third Reich - clears the decks with a raucous cacophony of guitar and, whether intentional or otherwise, acts as a portent symbol of the forthcoming change in the album's approach.

From here on in, British Sea Power are determined to harness every single weapon in their armoury. Mongk-II is all woozy vocals coming on like a long, lost rock standard; Baby is a delicate slow burner with a plinky, plonk piano motif; single Living Is So Easy boasts memorable opening gambit, "Oh my God did she look cute/At the Dame Vera clay pigeon shoot", a line so distinctively British Sea Power that it only serves to underline their unique idiosyncratic genius.

As masterful as this band undoubtedly are, it's hard not to feel a little disoriented by it all - and that's before the dual epics of Cleaning Out The Rooms (another ode to starting afresh) and Once More Now have come to pass. As a result, quick fire nuggets such as the magnesium burn Thin Black Sail and the astronomical Observe The Skies seem to unjustly lose their impact.

It's a minor criticism however. Rather we should all be grateful for a band, and an album, of such range, reference and riotousness. Odin would no doubt approve.

"There's no such thing as Cameron's Big Society"

Having watched Johann Hari and others debating the Big Society on Channel 4's ever improving 10 O'Clock Live, I can't help but think, that in the battle between right and left, and indeed, right and wrong, both camps are missing some important points.

The raw concept, as described by Cameron, is fundamentally infallible. Who, in their right mind, could deny the worth of encouraging those in the local community to volunteer more frequently, to take ownership of local services and, ultimately, take more responsibility for the environment and the people around them?

Indeed, charities, associations, schools etc. rely on the free time and goodwill of those in their local community, without whom they simply wouldn't survive. Go to any school Summer Fête or witness the Salvation Army providing free hot food and entertainment on a troubled local council estate and you'll see many volunteers who are the very definition of 'Big Society'.

Those on the left who attack the actual principle risk appearing to throw their toys out of the pram for the sake of it, or worse, could be rightly accused of hypocrisy. Surely socialists are in favour of many of the ideas encapsulated by Cameron's supposed mission?

The crux of the argument against therefore, is not in the 'what' but in the 'how' and 'why'. You've also got to ask yourself should Governments be espousing such a principle as policy? Surely Cameron is stating the obvious in his plea for Britain to volunteer more? Government shouldn't be preaching to us on a solely moral level but empowering us to be able to support each other in practical ways.

I'm yet to read or hear of a successful practical example of Cameron's vision and, frankly, how would we judge whether it's down to his good leadership regardless? The new PM has been quite clever in that respect, the Big Society's success, or otherwise, is pretty hard to measure.

It's clever too in its apparent diametric opposition to Thatcher's infamous quote 'there's no such thing as society'. In terms of image, Cameron wants to distance himself from Thatcher in an attempt to re-brand his party as 'compassionate' and it could be argued that he has been successful in doing so.

Of course, when you read between the lines, it becomes clear there's not much difference at all. Tuition fees have risen, public service spending has been cut drastically, plans to restructure the NHS look to be threatening equal standard of care for all etc. etc. ad nauseum.

Conservatives would argue that the UK's current financial debt means cuts are essential and that we are, after all, 'all in this together', but it's increasingly difficult not to feel the Big Society, and the need to address the debt itself, is merely a convenient cover for Cameron's real purpose in stripping back. Indeed, there is suggestion that only increased government spending leads to increased volunteering and that the belief people will step forward willingly despite cuts is, quite simply, wrong.

When bankers, whose misdemeanors, lest we forget, have put us in this precarious position, are still able to award themselves enormous bonuses, is it any wonder we find ourselves questioning the significance of over half of Conservative party funding coming from City financiers?

Either way, we shouldn't confuse a policy with a concept - which is all Cameron's 'Big Society' appears to be. Judge the coalition on policies alone, policies which suggest Cameron's Conservatives are interested in anything but the welfare of wider society.

Save Our Libraries Day

Libraries have been all over the news recently and, inevitably, it's bad news. In these tough economic times, the Coalition Government will not be making funding available to keep many public libraries operating in the future.

There are numerous news sources covering the finer points of the cuts and what they might mean, in particularly stark detail here for example, but the below map of potential public library closures provides a quick overview of the sad scale of the threat.


View Public Library Closures in the UK in a larger map

There's wide coverage online of the inevitable and essential protests too, with author Phillip Pullman, amongst others, taking up the fight, and I particularly liked this impressive act from the residents of Stony Stratford which displays a quiet, dignified defiance.

I expect it's also the inspiration for the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP), Save Our Libraries Day, a call to the general public to unite on the 5th February and check-out as many books from their local public library as possible in protest at the Government's proposed actions.

Quite apart from David Cameron's insult to library professionals in believing they can adequately be replaced by un-paid volunteers, I agree wholeheartedly with the idea that libraries not only act as a civilising beacon in our society but also provide a focal point for the local community and most importantly, as stated in CILIP's Guidelines on Public Library Provision, provide "equality of opportunity".

***

I guess it's a particularly emotive subject for me, reflected as it is in my own personal workplace battle to salvage the Institute's library collection - a battle which still remains somewhat in the balance - and which is coming to a head over the next couple of weeks.

Although my persistent argument for maintaining the physical library in-house for Members has fallen on death ears, I still hope that the collection will be donated en masse to a suitable recipient and we'll be able to supply online access to a vast wealth of material going forwards instead.

It hasn't made a day spent clearing out unwanted stock any easier however, and I'd be lying if I didn't feel the weight of history bearing down upon me - since 1889 this learned society has had a library and I'm the man on watch when it's lost.

There's a certain poignancy therefore to the small protest I will be making by borrowing books from my local library on Saturday. Perhaps in some way it will make up for a certain helplessness I've felt at work.

Either way, I feel the need to backup the promise I made to myself when deciding to join the Labour Party at the end of last year. Rather than simply donating my few pounds a month, I'll be taking positive action in the best way I know how.....by reading books.