I think I’ve come to understand one of the main reasons why I love Sons And Fascination/Sister Feelings Call so much. Firstly, musically, it just progresses so beautifully. There is that undercurrent connective theme of travel, linked by the musical stamps of Derek Forbes’s fabulous bass lines, Mick MacNeil’s synth riffs and melodies and those glorious hooks and loops of Charlie’s guitar. Last, by no means least, Brian McGee’s parting drum work. All of that is finally brought wonderfully together by what is the final instrument of the combination of Jim Kerr’s lyrics and vocal nuances.
I cannot reiterate enough how much I am in love with Jim’s voice at this time. There is just something about the way he intonates words and how rather than a normal vocal effect, a normal singing style he adopts, it’s more protracted and nuanced than that. In reality, I’m sure he had little clue what he was actually doing with his voice. I mean, as deliberate as it may have been for him to use his voice in the way he was, it was more about how he was trying to make the words sound than anything, which is in itself the thing I actually love.
I listened to some music on Saturday night. Just headphones on and close listening. I don’t do it that much these days but having just a few days before talked about the duel anniversaries of the release of The Jean Genie and the formation of Simple Minds, I found myself wanting to listen to Bowie’s Aladdin Sane album. For the first time probably ever, I started thinking about the similarities in vocal style of how Bowie is singing stuff on Aladdin Sane to how Jim sings on Sons/Sister. Bowie uses a lot of drawn out protraction of words on tracks on Aladdin Sane – the title track a case in point with the line of “whooooooo will love a aladdin saaaaane?”. Also Time, with its deep breaths and its last verse that ends with “but all I have to give is guilt for dreaming” being another example. Finally, and one of my most favourite Bowie songs – certainly the most sensual, Lady Grinning Soul has examples of the style in it. So much of all that goes on in Aladdin Sane is enhanced and accentuated by Mike Garson’s incredible piano playing. Also, can we just take a moment to reflect on the incredible bass playing of Trevor Bolder on this album – esp. on the title track.
At the end of the Aladdin Sane listening experience, I had the strong desire to listen to some tracks from Sons And Fascination. I went straight for Boys From Brazil as I was using my over-ear headphones and those Sennheisers make the listening experience of Boys From Brazil ssooooo much more electrifying. The drums are GLORIOUS through those headphones, but also and especially for the latter twin vocal parts of…can we call it a chorus? The lines of “What can you say about anything lost now? What can you say about stolen things too? Anything’s stolen. Something is lost now. What can you say, and how fast can things move?” The way Jim delivers those lines and how they sound coming in through those headphones – I get goosebumps. It makes me just…I can’t accurately describe what it does to me. The tone of his voice, the way the words are intonated, how he delivers them just….and the effect of the words themselves. The intent of the song, its message and meaning. I find it spectacular!
Playing a single track off SAF is like taking a single Pringle out of a tin – it just CAN’T be done! So I listened to Love Song too – but I chose to listen to the 1992 Gregg Jackman remixed version instead because there is something about it I love – as simple as Jim saying “and love song” and some other kind of sounds that are percussive cracks or something. I dunno. It really isn’t very far removed from the album version to be honest.
I then went back to the album to listen to the title track and finally skipped along to listen to Careful In Career. And here is where I am in full, melting “Listen to his voice! OMG! He just does not sing like this any more. Beautiful! It’s just beautiful!” I find Careful In Career the most pronounced example of what Jim is doing with his voice at that time. Just listen to how drawn out the words are. And I fucking ADORE the way he says “ecstasy” – like “ek staaar seeee.” I adore the song. There is something foreboding and almost dystopian about it.
As it ended and I was thinking about how much I love Jim’s voice back then and whether I could find any remnants of the things I love about what he’s doing with his voice from then in the present day. I came to the conclusion that this is why my immediate dislike for Planet Zero flipped completely after a couple more listens. It’s not to any strong degree like it was in 1981 but it has some of those vocal nuances at play which I think is what helped. The way he delivers “I saw a/the whole world on fire” (either ‘a’ or ‘the’ depending on where in the song it is sung) and “all those other mysteries” at the end.
There’s also a little bit of it going on with the chorus of First You Jump. Just a little. By and large though, he sings in a fairly traditional vocal style now and has done for quite some time. Pretty much from the time of Once Upon A Time onwards.
Back to Planet Zero, I can hear musical similarities too, most notably in relation to the foreboding and dystopian theme of the song. I have grown a real strong love for Planet Zero which still amazes me because I had an almost instant aversion to it on first listen, as opposed to every other track on Direction Of The Heart.
Have I still listened to the album since the end of October? Nope! That Banquet Records “signing” has really had a polarising effect on me. The plan on Saturday was, in truth, to listen to Aladdin Sane and then play DOTH and…that obviously didn’t happen. I moved on to SAF instead. I wanted to hear Jim singing in that style that I love.
I hope my inability to play DOTH changes. I do love Planet Zero, for one. And this is why I have chosen it here again. I know I only shared it two weeks prior for MMM, but now it shares status with Careful In Career as this week’s highlight. I’m aware that Careful In Career has also been a MMM regular of late. Sorry! What can I say? Wax lyrical about what you love…
Happy Minds Music Monday!
