Open To Love - Paul Bley

Advantages: Fantastic display of Jazz composition
Disadvantages: Jazz isn't for everyone

...with Paul Bley on piano with rolling snare in the background. The piano sets a slow mood for around a minute but then is blown away by a mass introduction of six other musicians. This is obviously the beginning of the reincarnation. This formula is then repeated through the song, a slow part followed by a fast part followed by a slow part again… Vassarlean is the first really slow track of the album. It makes full use of Eric Dolphy on the Bass clarinet setting the sombre mood and the slow, purposeful steps taken by Mingus on Bass. This song could feature as the soundtrack to a depressed, drunken, falling-up-the-road scene in a fifties movie. Track four, "Stormy Weather", is the longest track of the album sitting at 13min 25sec and includes a three minute long bass solo that is quite different to most bass solos. It is slow and plodding... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Emily Haines' astonishing, mesmorising voice; the backing
Disadvantages: The plainness of a few songs, towards the end especially, be bad

...fantastic. Sure, everyone loves "Anthems For A Seventeen Year Old Girl" - it's a brilliant song (why don't you know what I'm talking about? Go download it!) But aside from that and the odd song from her time as front woman of Metric, she hasn't got that much on her side in terms of quality. It's also quite a departure from her previous music, throwing out the electric guitars and replacing them with piano and hushed orchestration. As a result, "Knives Don't Have Your Back" is a haunting, ethereal album. It's dedicated to her father, the Canadian poet Paul Haines, as evidenced by the plain album cover which references his work as a songwriter with Carla Bley, on the album "Escalator Over The Hill". This isn't a depressed, angry sounding album in any way though, and it surprisingly doesn't focus on the death of her father, or death in general... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Lots of excellent songs
Disadvantages: Some not so great songs, entire cd's less than 35 minutes

...an acoustic guitar, George providing electric guitars licks here and there, and Paul adding support with his bass guitar. My favorite part of the song, though, is when it's just John and his acoustic guitar. This was one of the first Beatles songs I ever heard (I think it was actually the second), and it remains one of my favourites today. The Night Before is a Paul McCartney contribution, and it's the type of catchy pop number we've come to expect from Paul. John does some excellent electric piano work, Paul's bass guitar sounds terrific, George's guitar solo is first-rate, and Ringo's drums keep everything together. The lyrics, like every early Beatles song, are about love, with Paul wishing that his girl would treat him like she did "the night before." John and George's background vocals provide some nice harmony, and Paul gets to show off his... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful