Post by ChrisB on Dec 1, 2018 0:03:07 GMT
Ian McNabb – 'Head Like a Rock' (1994)
This album was Ian McNabb's second solo album, was recorded in Los Angeles and nominated for the 1994 Mercury Music Prize. It reached number 29 on the UK album chart.
McNabb was the founder, singer, guitarist, songwriter and sometimes producer of The Icicle Works, a band who were active in the 1980s. They released five albums with limited success and had a top twenty UK hit with 'Love Is a Wonderful Colour in 1983 and a US top 40 hit in 1984, the single 'Birds Fly (Whisper to a Scream)'.
Legend tells that at the end of the sessions for his first solo album, the mastering engineer teased him about how different the mellower songs they had been working on had been to those from his more rock orientated past. At that, McNabb went to his home studio and recorded the first track here, 'Fire Inside My Soul', which is a big old slab of always-on-the-edge-of-feedback guitar rock. He took the track to the owner of his label, who suggested the next album should be recorded in California. McNabb wasn't too keen on this but joked that since the music he was making sounded a bit like Neil Young and Crazy Horse, he would go to the States if he could play with Crazy Horse. And so it was to be! This album has four tracks featuring the rhythm section of what Neil Young calls "the best bar band on the planet". Those tracks with drummer Ralph Molina and bassist Billy Talbot are the first three here - 'Fire Inside My Soul', 'You Must Be Prepared to Dream' 'Child Inside a Father' and the final one, 'May You Always'.
'Fire Inside My Soul' is a winner. It's a passionate, uplifting autobiographical song about leaving the past behind and lays out the blueprint for the rest of the album. The overall feel of the first two tracks is of a great jam session with a superb rhythm section and solid guitar.
My favourite track is the second, 'You Must Be Prepared To Dream', which is massive sounding, crunchy and recorded live with Crazy Horse. As with most of the tracks, the lyrics are uplifting and life affirming and you can tell that the bloke who sings them really means what he says.
It's not all crunchy rock though - far from it, in fact, with a couple of tracks featuring a church choir, but there is always McNabb's voice pushed up to the front of the mix, to emphasise the words of the songs. Generally speaking, I really like his lyrics but he has a tendency to occasionally make me cringe just a tiny bit! There's a great couplet, though, where he rhymes "Sausalito" with "Flying Burrito" and, as a fan of Frank Zappa, I admire that sort of bravery!
The tempo on drops with 'Child Inside a Father' and 'Still Got the Fever' but there is still a great feeling of power and simmering energy.
'Potency' sticks with the quieter feel and then things pick up a bit with 'Go Into The Light' which is kind of propulsive and fun.
With 'As A Life Goes By', we get a (National?) steel guitar and some harmonica and another reflective, mellow track.
'Sad Strange Solitary Catholic Mystic' majors of atmospherics and is perhaps the weakest track but it is a superb mood setter for 'This Time IS Forever' followed by the final effort with Crazy Horse and the album's closing track. 'May You Always' sounds to me like a bit of a rewrite of Dylan's 'Forever Young' and, nowadays, I can't hear one without thinking of the other. The lyrics are the main focus, with the band behaving a lot more subtly than previously in order to emphasise that. It is a quiet but powerful and thoughtful ending to a great album.
The version of the album which is available on Spotify was re-mastered in 2012 by Ian McNabb and is coupled with a bonus disc of the B-sides that came with the singles but for today, we are going to focus on the original ten track album.
Spotify
YouTube
I couldn't find the full album as a single entity on YouTube but here's a playlist of all the tracks. At least one of them is a live performance, so not necessarily completely faithful to the original.
www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL94gOvpr5yt1s-lLc-Fz93AilYSuBdAb4
Suggested further listening:
If you prefer the quieter moments on 'Head Like a Rock', you might find the first solo album, 'Truth and Beauty is to your liking. I like it but, for my taste, the next stop would be his third effort 'Merseybeast', especially if you can find a copy of the original release which came with an second disc called 'North West Coast' that featured six live tracks recorded with Crazy Horse. There are monstrous versions of Icicle Works tracks 'Understanding Jane', 'Evangeline', 'What She Did To My Mind' and 'When It All Comes Down'. There is also a version of Crazy Horse's 'I Don't Want To Talk About It' (as covered and made famous by Rod Stewart) and a cracking 'Pushing Too Hard' (classic by The Seeds).
This album was Ian McNabb's second solo album, was recorded in Los Angeles and nominated for the 1994 Mercury Music Prize. It reached number 29 on the UK album chart.
McNabb was the founder, singer, guitarist, songwriter and sometimes producer of The Icicle Works, a band who were active in the 1980s. They released five albums with limited success and had a top twenty UK hit with 'Love Is a Wonderful Colour in 1983 and a US top 40 hit in 1984, the single 'Birds Fly (Whisper to a Scream)'.
Legend tells that at the end of the sessions for his first solo album, the mastering engineer teased him about how different the mellower songs they had been working on had been to those from his more rock orientated past. At that, McNabb went to his home studio and recorded the first track here, 'Fire Inside My Soul', which is a big old slab of always-on-the-edge-of-feedback guitar rock. He took the track to the owner of his label, who suggested the next album should be recorded in California. McNabb wasn't too keen on this but joked that since the music he was making sounded a bit like Neil Young and Crazy Horse, he would go to the States if he could play with Crazy Horse. And so it was to be! This album has four tracks featuring the rhythm section of what Neil Young calls "the best bar band on the planet". Those tracks with drummer Ralph Molina and bassist Billy Talbot are the first three here - 'Fire Inside My Soul', 'You Must Be Prepared to Dream' 'Child Inside a Father' and the final one, 'May You Always'.
'Fire Inside My Soul' is a winner. It's a passionate, uplifting autobiographical song about leaving the past behind and lays out the blueprint for the rest of the album. The overall feel of the first two tracks is of a great jam session with a superb rhythm section and solid guitar.
My favourite track is the second, 'You Must Be Prepared To Dream', which is massive sounding, crunchy and recorded live with Crazy Horse. As with most of the tracks, the lyrics are uplifting and life affirming and you can tell that the bloke who sings them really means what he says.
It's not all crunchy rock though - far from it, in fact, with a couple of tracks featuring a church choir, but there is always McNabb's voice pushed up to the front of the mix, to emphasise the words of the songs. Generally speaking, I really like his lyrics but he has a tendency to occasionally make me cringe just a tiny bit! There's a great couplet, though, where he rhymes "Sausalito" with "Flying Burrito" and, as a fan of Frank Zappa, I admire that sort of bravery!
The tempo on drops with 'Child Inside a Father' and 'Still Got the Fever' but there is still a great feeling of power and simmering energy.
'Potency' sticks with the quieter feel and then things pick up a bit with 'Go Into The Light' which is kind of propulsive and fun.
With 'As A Life Goes By', we get a (National?) steel guitar and some harmonica and another reflective, mellow track.
'Sad Strange Solitary Catholic Mystic' majors of atmospherics and is perhaps the weakest track but it is a superb mood setter for 'This Time IS Forever' followed by the final effort with Crazy Horse and the album's closing track. 'May You Always' sounds to me like a bit of a rewrite of Dylan's 'Forever Young' and, nowadays, I can't hear one without thinking of the other. The lyrics are the main focus, with the band behaving a lot more subtly than previously in order to emphasise that. It is a quiet but powerful and thoughtful ending to a great album.
The version of the album which is available on Spotify was re-mastered in 2012 by Ian McNabb and is coupled with a bonus disc of the B-sides that came with the singles but for today, we are going to focus on the original ten track album.
Spotify
YouTube
I couldn't find the full album as a single entity on YouTube but here's a playlist of all the tracks. At least one of them is a live performance, so not necessarily completely faithful to the original.
www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL94gOvpr5yt1s-lLc-Fz93AilYSuBdAb4
Suggested further listening:
If you prefer the quieter moments on 'Head Like a Rock', you might find the first solo album, 'Truth and Beauty is to your liking. I like it but, for my taste, the next stop would be his third effort 'Merseybeast', especially if you can find a copy of the original release which came with an second disc called 'North West Coast' that featured six live tracks recorded with Crazy Horse. There are monstrous versions of Icicle Works tracks 'Understanding Jane', 'Evangeline', 'What She Did To My Mind' and 'When It All Comes Down'. There is also a version of Crazy Horse's 'I Don't Want To Talk About It' (as covered and made famous by Rod Stewart) and a cracking 'Pushing Too Hard' (classic by The Seeds).
