Grand Halls 41

FLATBACKER – “Senso” ’85 (Invitation, Jap) – If you’ve heard the mid-period Japanese Loudness CD’s like “Engine” & “Ghetto Machine,” you’ve heard “The Voice.” Find this baby and hear where he came from! “The Voice” is that of Masaki Yamada, easily one of the greatest metal vocalists of all-time. Like a twisted cross between early Klaus Meine and Udo Dirkschneider in his glory days, this guy combines power and emotion in one awesome package. FLATBACKER was Masaki’s band (before his tenure in Loudness and even before his American debut in E-Z-O, who were also quite good) and there was quite a wallop to them, even besides the man’s killer pipes. From the Motorhead-ish “Hard Blow” (sounds either great or painful, depending!) to the grueling “Banishment” to the Sortilege-like “Camouflage,” these Easterners kicked it. The overall sound is very much that of early ‘80’s Euro-metal and, for that reason alone it’s a winner in my book. On CD from Japan, this should be on the want-list of anyone into bands like H-Bomb, “Restless”-era Accept and yes, early Loudness. FLATBACKER’s 2nd effort, “Esa” is available also and equally kick-ass, so buy, buy, buy! Smoke This Senso

Watch Your Mailbox

Well, as we spoke about below, 2009 is now in the rearview mirror and we've completed yet another edition of Rays Top 10 Albums and, most importantly, the Reader's Top 10 Albums of the year. As you'll remember, all of you who were so kind as to send in your Top 10's along with your mailing addresses will soon be receiving from me a special "gift" in the mail. This is to thank you all for your participation and interest as well as to spread the word of The Realm and, more importantly to get some exposure for music that may not otherwise receive it. Bear with me for a short time while I get these together and then keep an eye on the old mailbox for your's soon!

OSIBISA FORWARD EVER! The Interview...

You know what is tremendous fun to me? Having my wife walk in and say, “You know, The Rock came into my work today and asked me out to lunch. But I told him I was married and that my husband is a lot better looking than him anyway. And by the way, I brought us home Ruth’s Chris steaks for dinner and, instead of getting my nails done after work I stopped by Traders and dug through all the bins to find you this copy of BTO’s ‘Street Action’ on CD.” That’s tremendous fun, right there, when that happens. But you know what else is? It’s when I realize I’m into a whole lot of different really good music and can reach into a bunch of different genres to get my jollies. Such is the fun I had when I found out the new OSIBISA album “Osee Yee” is as good as their old stuff. I was turned on, originally, to African music in general & OSIBISA in particular by my old buddy Andre’, and when he told me the latest one was more than a nod to the past, I was there. Brother let me tell you, he was right. The songs all have that insistent rhythmical structure that just makes you wanna jump out of your seat and git-down and the musicianship is right up there with the best, just like Santana did in back in “the day.” It was after grooving heavily on this, one of my favourite albums of 2009, that I decided to contact sax wizard Teddy Osei and get his take on the band, their past, present and future. Teddy proved to be a man of direct words and spirit, so let’s see how it went.

RAY - I’m going to play dumb here. Because, when it comes to the history of OSIBISA, I guess I really am! Am I correct that you’re originally from Africa and then moved to England? Could you give me a little background on yourself as well as how it all led to the formation of the band. Also, what is the origin of the name OSIBISA?

TEDDY – I’m originally from Ghana / West Africa. And so is Sol Amarfio (drums) and Mac Tontoh (trumpet). I was born in Kumasi (the garden city of Ghana). My interest in music started at an early age in school. In my late teens, I formed a highlife band (Comets). Comets recorded several highlife music hits from 1959 to 1962. Then I went to London, UK. I started working on fusion music with Sol and Mac, mixing highlife, jazz, rock, R&B and we were joined by 3 Caribbean musicians: Spartacus R., Wendell Richardson and Robert Bailey and then added Lasisi Amao (from Nigeria). The origin of the name OSIBISA is from Akan rhythm and a song, a tribe in Ghana… OSIBISABA.

RAY - I was turned on to the first 2 OSIBISA albums by a friend of mine and loved not only the songs but also the Santana-esque feel to some of it. Were Carlos & company an influence on you? Maybe you were an influence on them? Who are some of your influences from the past and who do you think is doing interesting music these days?

TEDDY – It’s really magical that SANTANA (US) and OSIBISA (UK) took the world music by storm at the same time. A lot of influences from jazz and rock musos plus the highlife greats.

RAY - For whatever reason, probably just my own stupidity (!) I lost track of OSIBISA for quite a long time. So, when I saw “Osee Yee” in the store earlier this year, it was like meeting an old friend I hadn’t seen in years. When I heard the disc, it sounded right in step with those first few albums. How do you see the progression of OSIBISA over the years? Do you feel that “Osee Yee” is a return to an older style, as some have called it?

TEDDY – “Osee Yee” is a continuation of the OSIBISOUNDS and more into world music as it’s originators.

RAY - Of it’s 14 tracks, 11 are originals. What can you tell us about the 3 that aren’t? (The 2 traditional pieces you arranged and the George Harrison cover, “My Sweet Lord.”) What made you choose those? What do you think an artist should bring to someone else’s song to make doing their own version worthwhile?

TEDDY – The traditional pieces are arranged as musical styles from Ghana. I have always loved the song “My Sweet Lord,” by George Harrison. As far as a cover goes, an artist should bring his own feel to someone’s music, to make a difference.

RAY - The songwriting credits on the originals show participation by many different people in the band besides yourself. How does it work? Is everyone free to contribute and then you pull all the ideas, including your own, together?

TEDDY – Everyone is free to contribute to the song writing. Then, it is all put together.

RAY - On of the things I love about OSIBISA is that while there is a wide variety of music, from laid back & melodic to extremely high-energy, there is such an overwhelmingly positive feeling all round. Do you feel that’s important in music? Why?

TEDDY – You really have to feel positive and love the music you are doing. That’s the best way your listener will enjoy the music.

RAY - Pick 3 of the originals from “Osee Yee” and tell us something about their lyrical themes. That is, if you don’t mind. I have met some songwriters who don’t like to explain their lyrics.

TEDDY – “Life Time.” You see, time waits for no one. “Osee Yee.” This is the Akan Dialect. It is the jubilation of a successful encounter. “Ayioko.” Well-done, the power and energy of the music to make you think of The Motherland.

RAY - I understand you guys have played with a lot of artists like Stevie Wonder and The Stones, to name a few. Who stood out as making the most unique impression musically?

TEDDY – Musically, I would say Stevie Wonder. He is an all-round music-man. He jammed with OSIBISA playing drums at a London college gig in 1970 and on keyboards at FESTAC in Lagos in 1977.

RAY - What kind of touring has OSIBISA done recently, in support of “Osee Yee?” Any chance of you guys ever getting to the Baltimore Maryland area? Is there a lot of opportunity for you guys to play in Africa?

TEDDY – In support of “The Best Of” and “Osee Yee,” OSIBISA did a tour of India in late 2009. This year we will start with a launch party of the 2 albums on February 27, 2010 at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London and follow-up festivals in Germany. OSIBISA would like to have a show in Baltimore because the last time was in the ‘70’s. There are lots of opportunities for the band to play in Africa. African countries we’ve played in are: Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Gabon, South Africa, Senegal, Liberia and more.

RAY - Have you been able to make a living with OSIBISA or do you do other things to supplement your income as well?

TEDDY – My source of income is OSIBISA… live performances, performing, song writing and music publishing (Osibisounds Ltd.)

RAY - Big halls and crowds or small, intimate venue? What do you prefer as a performer and why?

TEDDY – For performances, I actually don’t have a preference, big halls or small…just to make the people happy.

RAY - What’s next for OSIBISA? Any new recordings on the agenda?

TEDDY – Let’s see how this new one goes. And see what the good Lord brings. OSIBISA FORWARD EVER.


I really love hearing the kind of focused, driven vision a guy like Teddy has for his music and his band that’s been treading the boards and working the studio for this long, having rubbed shoulders with people like Stevie W & The Stones and who is a contemporary of Carlos Santana. Believe me, you need to do yourself a favour and if you’ve never heard OSIBISA, go out tomorrow and buy the new album “Osee Yee,” the new “Best Of” and while you’re at it, the re-issued first 2 albums. Chances are, you’ll fall in love with a whole new genre of music. That’s tremendous fun!


http://www.osibisa.co.uk/

Thanks For The Reader's Poll Response!

Well, as you can see, below are my choices for the Top 10 albums of 2009 and below them are the results of the lists you guys & gals sent in. Once again, as with each year, we've gained new readers and a bigger response to the poll. It's really encouraging to see and it's the kind of thing that makes me want to continue this. Of course, one thing I would definitely like to see more of, as we begin moving through the early months of a new year, is more commentary and interaction during the year. Agree with a review? Disagree? Use the "comment" feature after every entry. Have a hot tip on a band / artist you think would benefit from being reviewed on Raysrealm? Let me know. Anything and everything is fair game. Use the "followers" section at the top right to become a follower of Raysrealm. Tell more people about the site and encourage them to read and get involved. Here's hoping that 2010 will be another year of excellent music, shows and conversation. Let's RAWK!!!

Ray's Top 10 of 2009 Revealed!

1. COLOSSUS – “Drunk On Blood” – A little over a year and a half ago, North Carolina’s COLOSSUS came flying out of Chapel Hill with a debut album that rocketed to #4 on the Raysrealm Top 10 of 2008. There were songs that hinted at the best of Mercyful Fate and Maiden. The vocals called to mind “Stained Class.” The lyrics spoke of a world of gnashing teeth, blood-ridden demons &…well, yes, “Ghost Fuckers.” And then, there were those guitars. 3 of them. They rode in together like the Dalton gang, sporting swaggering riffs, dizzying Lizzy-like harmonies and solos that are dreamed of where names like Downing, Tipton, Smith & Murray may even fear to tread. Then, this year, COLOSSUS went ahead and recorded 5 songs that even snowed that shit under. And they put it out on vinyl, yet. Case closed.

2. THE GRAVIATORS – “The Graviators” – Holy shit, this album kicks ass! Really, that’s my reaction every time I hear this relatively late entry that bulled it’s way up my 2009 list. See, THE GRAVIATORS have 3 things going for them: 1) While heavy as a rhino’s ballsack, they still throw a chockblock of melody into every song. 2) They plant surprises in just the right spots, from the Sir Lord Baltimore-style coda of “Keep ‘Em Coming” to the “Dreams Of Milk & Honey” style solo at the end of 9-minute epic “Planet Gone.” 3) They have an awesome, killer maniac guitarist who rips like a total axe God. This album is everything Sabbath’s “Devil You Know” piece of shit wasn’t.

3. THE MISHAPS – “The Mishaps” – How about treating yourselves to a combination of The Hellacopters and Blue Oyster Cult? Crazy, you say? Not so much, when all you’ve gotta do is throw in this little disc from my hometown’s (that’s Baltimore to you, honcho!) very own THE MISHAPS. Part of the gig of the year (them paired with Colossus at The Golden West Café in July), this band comes on with a hard rawkin’ sense of melody, not to mention a clever sense of humor and the panache to package this as a LP/CD combo. What a deal!

4. MORGLBL – “Jazz For The Deaf” – A recommendation from my bowling buddy Rick & Roll (The Rickter Scale show on Delicious Agony Radio), I was told their guitarist worshipped Dimebag & Coltrane in equal parts. Having to see / hear this for myself, I trundled out to see this trio at Orion Studios earlier in the year and after picking my jaw back up off the floor, I proceeded to buy not only this one but their entire back catalog. Oh yeah, I got a t-shirt too so either I’m a sucker or they’re really good. Hint: I only suck female parts and there’s no girls in this band.

5. CORY CASE – “Waiting On A Remedy” – When I used to sit up in that stifling bedroom on those long August afternoons and plunk out sour chords and reedy solos on my 4-pick-up (yes, 4!!!) Lafayette Electronics guitar, I was trying to be Leslie West. Or Mark Farner. Or Tony Iommi. Point is, I wasn’t about emulating the subtle crowd. Louder was better. Accept when I’d have a go at a couple of Jim Croce’s gems like “I’ve Got A Name” or “Time In A Bottle.” See, even for a true-blue rawker like me, there was something fresh and brutally honest about the late Mr. Croce’s soul-bearing laments. Such a shame that he was taken so young, and his loss left a gaping hole in the singer-songwriter camp that never was filled. Until now. CORY CASE has a wonderful gift and I’ve played this album enough times to know that.

6. OSIBISA – “Osee Yee” – I remember one day when I was a kid riding my bike back Dale Avenue and I passed a guy carrying a copy of the Carlos Santana / Buddy Miles “Live” album that had just come out. I remember how bad-assed-looking the cover was and thinking Santana looked like a long-haired version of my favourite ball player, Frank Robinson. I also wondered if anybody else had ever taken music from their own culture and made it groove like a bitch the way Carlos did. A few trips to the record store later and Africa’s OSIBISA had answered my question. Now it’s nearly 40 years later and they’ve released their best album since 1971. Frank Robinson hit 28 home runs that year.

7. RIPPER – “The Dead Have Rizen” – Having blithely walked past RIPPER’s “And The Dead Shall Rise” LP in 1986 with all the streetwise savvy of a rock, Ray actually finally got his act together one day. Suffice it to say, this miraculous happening wasn’t greeted by God mixing up the red matter and ending it all in shock, but he did settle for sending the Realmsman a few more brain cells on down. He rested and Ray, lo and behold recognized the long-awaited 2nd RIPPER album as the metal-banging motherfucker that it is and wrote a suitably kick-ass review about it that appears early on in 2009’s entries. And, all was good.

8. THE CHURCH – “Untitled # 23” – If I were a good liar I’d say, “Yeah man, I’m a big CHURCH fan, man, got all the unreleased stuff, a couple box sets…hey how ‘bout that show from Brisbane ’95 that’s been circulating, eh?” But the problem is I learned not to lie in my sophomore year of high school. That was when I failed 3 subjects, forged my parents signatures on the report card and…got caught within a week. So, I’ll come clean. I didn’t know diddlysquat about THE CHURCH until Bowling Rick asked me to go see ‘em live earlier this year. After being mesmerized by (for me, live performer of the year) Steve Kilbey, I immediately bought this and played it 10,000 times. If Wishbone Ash, Radiohead and David Gilmour had a baby, it might grow up like this.

9. ANVIL CHORUS – “The Killing Sun” – Back in the heyday of San Francisco’s thrash metal scene, clubs like The Old Waldorf and The Mabuhay Gardens were the stomping grounds of young whippersnappers like Metallica & Exodus. These guys discovered that if you combined the aggression of attacking the low e-string on your guitar like a rabid mongoose with the catchiness found in UFO & Diamond Head, you had the DNA of an exciting new genre. Funny thing was, ANVIL CHORUS was trodding the same boards but with a much different tactic… super-melodic, progressively structured songs, well-crooned vocals and guitar and keyboard work that would give Rush reason to question themselves. Sad fact of the matter was, the band never got anywhere and left the legacy of a couple massive demo tapes as their epitaph. Well, justice is sometimes served and in 2009, this slumbering giant awoke and recorded those songs again, this time in the form of an album that’s a blinder from start to finish.

10. ADMIRAL OF BLACK – “The Hand Of Chaos” – Thanks to the good people over at Peacedogman.com, this one bites the Top 10 hard at the last minute and just won’t let go. One of those rare near-perfect balances between hard rock & metal, Chicago’s ADMIRAL OF BLACK also finds a beautiful balance between in-your-face Panteraggressions and haunting pensive moments that would have Pearl Jam running jealous. You may also want to get the hell out of Dodge if you have any aversion to bad-assed guitar playing, because the solos here are nothing short of brutal. Check out the way their axe man let’s it rip so deftly over the rhythm changes, something the old guys used to do. Beards, long hair & Flying V’s rule!

RAYSREALM Readers' Poll For 2009 Revealed!

1. ASTRA – “The Weirding” – This year, you guys dipped into the NWOPR (New Wave Of Prog Rock?) to select the debut from California band ASTRA as 2009’s top pick. What we have here are a bunch of young guys who are not afraid to take the word “Prog” to it’s extremes: long and involved song structures plus extended soloing and organic interwoven musicianship. It’s all fused together by a warm, analog-style production that brings about visions of 1971 without sounding dated, dusty or irrelevant. While a million guys take the Drek Theater route to Chop City, ASTRA prove there’s more to being progressive than winning the notes-per-second sweepstakes. Surprisingly heavy guitars are the icing on the cake of a release that surely hit my Top 20. Nice choice, people!

2. SIENA ROOT – “Different Realities”

3. COUNT RAVEN – “Mammon’s War”

4. ELECTRIC MARY – “Down To The Bone”

5. GOV’T MULE – “By A Thread”

6. BLACK BONZO – “Guillotine Drama”

7. ANVIL CHORUS – “The Killing Sun”

8. ARGUS – “Argus”

9. SLOUGH FEG – “Ape Uprising”

10. LITMUS – “Aurora”

Grand Halls 40

ALBERTA CROSS – “The Thief & The Heartbreaker” CD ’07 (Geffen, US) – Having recently acquired the new, 2nd CD from New York band ALBERTA CROSS it might seem the most apt thing for me to get reviewing that one post haste. But you know what? Doing the most apt thing has never been a prerequisite here at The Realm and so I’ve decided to take a different tack. Let’s rewind then to two year’s prior and 2007’s EP, “The Thief & The Heartbreaker.” It sees the band composed of: Petter Ericson Stakee – vocals, guitar, Rhodes, piano & percussion; Terry Wolfers – bass, vocals, piano & percussion; John Alexander Ericson – organ, Rhodes & vocals; Sebastian Sternberg – drums. “The Thief & The Heartbreaker” takes wing on the insistent rhythm of it’s title song. An ethereal, respectful homage to Neil Young, it burns like “Down By The River” meets The Church. “Lucy Rider” is an echo-y alt.-rocker that could’ve been at home in Athens GA back in the ‘80’s and, in being so has an easy familiarity while still sounding fresh enough to be new for 20 some years down the line. The up-tempo “Hard Breaks” comes next and jaunts along on a sprightly Fogerty-style guitar figure. The spring-in-it’s-step feel comes as a nice dichotomy with the melancholy lyrical overtone of heartbreak / hard break. But as nice an opening trio as this record sports, it’s the final 4 numbers that really see ALBERTA CROSS elevate themselves into something unique. Petter Stakee’s vocals are just glorious in “Low Man.” There’s still the face of Neil smiling over the proceedings but it’s raised here to near-choral elegance. The acoustic chords strummed with measured control offer a sturdy base for the eloquent vox and the sweet Strat fills that bathe the ears. “I’ve Known For So Long” is another plaintive lament with a simply gorgeous chorus. Here’s a melody that could be sung anywhere from a cathedral to a corner bar and be equally at home. The CD is brought to a close by the double shot of “Old Man Chicago” and “The Devil’s All You Ever Had,” the latter’s 6-plus minutes a nearly orchestrated sounding piece belying the number of those in the band. With the follow-up to this disc, ALBERTA CROSS has added a few band members…and upped the ante even further. You’ll read about that one on this site soon enough but in the meantime, start here. Alberta Clipper


http://www.albertacross.net/