FEATURE: January Sounds from TSOTC HQ

Working primarily from home means that there’s a lot of time to listen to music here at The Sound of the Crowd HQ. So for 2022, the introduction of a regular feature seemed appropriate; ‘Sounds from TSOTC HQ’ will detail what’s been on the turntable, on Spotify or in the CD player the most every month (there’s no cassette player here, so that particular format won’t be featured very often!). The aim will be to include three ‘older’ artists and one ‘newer’ artist, although this will obviously depend on the general theme of the music consumption in any particular month.

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1) Bat Out Of Hell - Meat Loaf (1977)

The first honourable mention this month goes to Meat Loaf's Bat Out Of Hell, which has featured heavily on TSOTC HQ's Spotify over the last few days. With the sad news of the singer's passing on 20th January, it felt appropriate to revisit the glorious theatricality of this album in particular - his best-selling album release and indeed one of the best-selling albums of all time.

Listening to Bat Out Of Hell knowing that Meat Loaf is no longer with us unsurprisingly adds a sense of poignancy to its expansive melodrama. The songs take on a new identity; one begins to hear the feeling and emotion in the singer's voice in a way that they couldn't have done before his passing, particularly on 'Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad', to which I'd never previously paid a great deal of heed, feeling it was overshadowed somewhat by the monstrous intensity of 'Paradise By the Dashboard Light' and the album's title track.

Of course it was Jim Steinman who wrote the songs, but listening to this album with the concentration that one often adopts when hearing the voice of a singer that they know is no longer alive, it becomes clear that Meat Loaf's contributions to this album as a singer, performer, and just all-round entertainer contribute greatly to its charm. It was his inimitable vocals and style that made the album such a phenomenon at the time of its release.

Featured Track: 'Two Out of Three Ain't Bad'

2) Computer World - Kraftwerk (1981)

This month has been a bit of a 'Kraftwerk month' for me so far, mainly because I've been working on a presentation about the band for university, which means I've spent a good deal of the last few weeks sitting in my flat surrounded by books about them and listening to tracks like 'Antenna', 'Europe Endless', 'It's More Fun To Compute' and 'Taschenrechner' over and over again.

Having recently looked at the technology the band used in the 1970s/1980s in a good deal of depth, Computer World is the Kraftwerk album that has begun to stand out to me, particularly the title track, 'Computer Love', 'Home Computer' and 'It's More Fun to Compute'. The more I listen to this album, the more I realise how incredibly forward-thinking its concept is - a prediction of man's reliance on computer technology, made a good thirty years before this started happening..

Kraftwerk had always been ahead of the curve, as evidenced on earlier albums like Autobahn (1974) and Trans-Europe Express (1977). But Computer World is an album that shows them at their insistently-innovative best, which is why when the £150-worth of remastered Kraftwerk vinyl arrives on my doorstep over the next few days, it will be the album that goes on the turntable first and which probably stays there the longest.

Featured Track: 'It's More Fun to Compute'

3) But Seriously... - Phil Collins (1989)

If you read this blog regularly you'll know that I'm a huge Phil Collins fan; I am a firm believer in the fact that he is a musical genius and one of the greatest songwriters and performers the world has ever seen.

Much of this immaculate songwriting of his can be found within his solo albums, all of which saw commercial success when they were released, but which also often came in for more than their fair share of condemnation from the music press.

But Seriously... was one of these albums; with its slightly odd thematic mix of political commentary and failed relationships, the rather extreme juxtaposition of the ballads (dominated by Collins' characteristic drum sound) and the brazen, brassy pop (dominated by The Phenix Horns) and the mere fact it was a Phil Collins album meant that critically it was doomed from the start.

But as always with a Collins release, it sold a huge amount of copies - and rightly so. 'Hang In Long Enough' and 'Something Happened on the Way to Heaven' are my personal highlights, which actually have quite a lot of emotional depth once you're hearing them for the second or third or fourth time. 'I Wish It Would Rain Down' is another favourite, with gorgeous lead guitar courtesy of Eric Clapton, and its feet kept on the ground courtesy of Pino Palladino's legendary bass sound.

Another added bonus is that my vinyl copy of But Seriously... cost me £4 from a record shop in Norwich; I would have paid a good deal more just to hear that gorgeous intro to 'I Wish It Would Rain Down', and Collins' vocal ad libs on the track, howling from the speakers of my record player.

Featured Track: 'I Wish It Would Rain Down'

4) Open Up Your Head - Sea Girls (2020)

The 'newer' artist I want to mention this month is indie pop/rock band Sea Girls, who formed in London back in 2015.

This kind of music isn't usually my cup of tea, but something about this album - particularly its lyrics - has made it one of my favourites since I first heard it in 2020. I'm not quite sure how I ended up listening to it again so much recently, but I can still play it all the way through multiple times without feeling the need to skip a track, so there must be something in it.

I think part of what makes me return to this album so often is singer Henry Camamile's voice, the rugged tone of which doesn't quite match his face. Its power lends a certain weight to the songs - most which are about the ups and downs of adult relationships - that might not be there if his voice was silky smooth.

What I love about Open Up Your Head the most, though, is its ability to comfort. Maybe it's just because I've played the songs so much, but to be honest I remember feeling the same when I first started listening to it. Camamile's voice coupled with his casual tone of singing and the raw power behind some of the songs really makes it feel like the band are 'opening up their heads' to you, showing you everything they've got. It's an album that feels deeply personal, but which will also no doubt appeal to scores of young people who feel as if they're not quite ready to deal with being a 'grown up' just yet.

My favourite track on the album changes a lot, but at the moment it's probably 'Ready For More' - primarily for the desperate catchiness of the chorus and lyrics like 'and I keep on saying yes but it's bad for my brain/and I'm numb on the outside but I still feel the pain...'.

Featured Track: 'Ready For More'