Sweet Harmony

Love and peace man!

In 1993, four years after the second summer of love, came a song made to represent those heady, blissed out, ecstasy-fuelled days. At its heart is an ethos which about as hippy trippy as anything to be found in Haight-Asbury in 1967. Swap the flowers in their hair and more down the barrel of an army rifle for a pair of baggy trousers, a yellow smiley face and all night raves. At the core of it all, is the counter-culture question: “Why can’t we all just live together?” At least that’s what Jon Marsh and the Beloved said with this song.  Had John Lennon been around, he would surely have approved. This is Imagine for the E Generation.

It’s a deceptively simple song but one which is sumptuously mellow and seductive. It gently sucks you in, wraps you up so you feel warm and snug – a comfort blanket of a song, a thick duvet in the depths of winter. You feel safe and a little loved up in its warm ambience. I guess that’s perfectly in keeping with a song that wants us to “Be as one”, “Make a better world” and “Try to make the dream”.

Sweet Harmony is a manifesto to  “Make the world / Your priority/ Try to live your life / Ecologically / Play a part / In a greater scheme /Try to live the dream / On a wider scene”. Ironically, there is very little about it which is organic. It’s a smooth blend of bleeps, swooshes and other unnatural noises which really ought to jar but don’t. In this sense it feels slightly futuristic, a little other worldly. Clever really.

I’m not generally a big fan of electronica. To these ears so much of it is, well, sterile. But this is more Vangelis than Kraftwerk, more Pet Shop Boys than Chemical Brothers or Faithless. In part this is because of low and measured vocal. As befits a love and peace vibe it never shows any hint of tension or passion. (As an aside, if there’s one song which I cannot abide and don’t understand it’s Lori Anderson’s Oh Superman – now that is sterile and measured.  Although I have perservered with it the whole way through I don’t think I generally manage to listen to more than a couple of minutes of it and certainly don’t go out of my way to listen to it.  Even though I know it’s brilliantly clever it frustrates the hell out of me. Am I the only one that feels that way?)

Any chance of sterility is countered not only by the low warmth of Jon Marsh’s melifluous vocal but by a  smart sax solo. This is in keeping with the rest of the mellow atmosphere but without going over the top it raises the temperature just enough to add a more human feel to the song. This could have been a utopian statement of principles without an anchor into the day to day, not touching one’s emotion.  But the sax adds that humanity to build on the appeal of the vocal so the song appeals to the heart as well as the head.

“Let’s come together/ Right now/ Oh yeah/ In a sweet harmony” – repeat to fade, as a mantra and an ambition to which we should all aspire. The accompanying video consisted of Jon Marsh and a phalanx of woman – all naked. At the time, the press deliberately (?) picked upon it as sexually motivated rather than a statement of human unity. That said I don’t suppose Mr Marsh minded the video shoot too much. Once again, I’m reminded of Lennon, who was not averse to a bit of public nudity as we know.

Titillation aside, Sweet Harmony has stood the test of time. The ethos behind it is of the time and echoes a summer when pop culture thought it could change the world. Maybe it did a little as attitudes changed but human nature has its other less desirable sides and in many ways the world today is in a worse state than the days of Scott McKenzie, Woodstock et al. But Sweet Harmony works both as an evocation of a social and human ideal and, for the purposes of this blog, a fine listen. There are times when there’s nothing better than wrapping up warm in its duvet.

Just want audio? Listen here: http://grooveshark.com/s/Sweet+Harmony/itiHk?src=5

Laid

James advertised the Laid album heavily – I recall seeing the album cover on a billboard with the tagline Get Laid by James. I wonder if they had any takers? It was an unusual album sleve – the band dressed in jumble sale cum Family von Trapp frocks whilst eating bananas. Witty, memorable -James were always nothing if not idiosynchratic, never quite part of the contemporary Madchester scene, always a bit clever. Sit Down, the big breakthrough single, was inspired by Doris Lessing and Patti Smith, a song about self confidence, if not mental illness – its lyrics really do bear further consideration. This is a band supposedly named after James Joyce but lost in the baggy trendiness of early 90’s Manchester.

Laid was a genuinely fresh and interesting album. It was airy and engaging – James’ best work to date. The Paris, Texas styleslide guitar of opener Out to Get You tells us that this is different and the lyrics outlining the inner torture of a distraught lover show us that this is no Happy Monday’s companion. The driving acoustic strum of Sometimes’ resurrection story and the almost trite “Sometimes, when I look deep in your eyes, I swear I can see your soul” chorus tell us this is James on form.

And the album just gets better, languid at times, giving space to the depth and complexity of the lyrics, and quietly reflective elsewhere (notably Lullaby). Love, spirituality and loss are explored: a man to man note to Jesus seeking proof in One of the Three and set against an empty background and that same Deep South style slide; Say Something seeking more communication – seemingly from a lover, but maybe it’s God in a very latter-day Mancunian George Herbert twist; Five-O’s increasingly urgent plea for personal/ spiritual growth and meaning in a physical, loving relationship; P.S. exploring the role of the spiritual man “You’re a weapon of devotion”. And throughout it’s a wonderfully stripped back sound, spare, uncluttered.

This is a band writing interesting songs, exploring big personal questions. So, Laid as a single stands out because it is at odds with the rest of the album. For the casual visit to the James catalogue, this is a song best known as a raucous feature of American Pie.

On an album exploring much that is spiritual Laid is a powerfully physical song. If its musical bedfellows are more introspective, emptier numbers then Laid is a song of great gusto and energy. But given its subject matter is simply had to be. There’s other raucous knockabout songs like Low Low Low but Laid is a bawdy belter which stands out with its energy and exuberance.

And it’s subject matter? Sex, sex, sex. Full on, no holds barred, utterly physical shagging.

The song begins acoustically with confident intent before rattling into action with the most fantastic extended drum tattoo. It lasts a whole bar – cue air drumming (I defy you to resist!). It is over this that Tim Booth yells out and makes the song’s credentials clear: “This bed is on fire with passionate love/ The neighbours complain about the noises above/But she only comes when she’s on top”. If Booth’s vocals are more cautious and subdued elsewhere they are loud and boisterous here. He’s enjoying it – why wouldn’t he? This is an equal, uninhibited sexual relationship of rip-roaring proportions.

The sex is clearly fantastic. But this is a dysfunctional relationship. “My therapist said not to see you no more/ She said you’re like a disease without any cure/ She said I’m so obsessed that I’m becoming a bore,/ oh no/ Ah, you think you’re so pretty”. And “­pretty” is the point at which Booth’s unleashes a terrific falsetto, rising and rising, relishing the moment. Underpinning it, another terrific drumming masterclass as the tattoo is repeated. But the falsetto extends completely naturally until the signature drum motif rattles in again. It’s a fantastic moment and in many other songs a climax.

The next verse gets plain weird – this really is an intense relationship. If the sex is off the scale then so are the arguments. “Caught your hand inside the till/Slammed your fingers in the drawer/ Fought with kitchen knives and skewers”. This is a couple obsessed with each other but without any barriers at all. When the anger is real it’s unrestrained and violent. There’s a sense of the energy, if not the jaded vitriol of Who Killed Virginia Woolf here. The flip side of the great bedroom activity is that any conflict will be similarly intense, probably one step away from arrest.

That lack of restraint means that all manner of sexual adventures can be explored too: “Dressed me up in women’s clothes/ Messed around with gender roles/Line my eyes and call me pretty”. Again, an unrestrained and lengthy falsetto, again the militaristic rat-a-tat-tat of the drums. There is a joy to that combination that makes this a song to be listened to time and again, always struggling to join that wonderful falsetto.

This is a couple that shock each other, try to outdo each other and extend their boundaries together. The Fatal Attraction level intensity drives them on to increasingly bizarre behaviour – there’s a romantic/sexual fantasy about the relationship which sets it spiraling outside of normal social conventions. This couple could make for the very best or the most disastrous of dinner guests – the relationship has its own compelling logic and everything else can go hang. They have discovered each other and nothing else matters. Because they have no boundaries, all bets are off.

This level of intensity must certainly be wearing. But there’s no break from it: “Moved out of the house, so you moved next door/ I locked you out, you cut a hole in the wall/ I found you sleeping next to me, I thought I was alone” – all very Glenn Close. I hope he doesn’t keep rabbits.

Although it appears from the lyrics that it’s the woman who’s the nuttiest of the two, he’s obsessed and the song ends with him asking “You’re driving me crazy, when are you coming home?” The addictive quality of this relationship keeps bringing them back together – how will it end? Will it end?

The main vocal finishes with the now familiar extended falsetto and our friend on the drums. From then on the simple, but memorable guitar strum repeats but is joined by two veritable howls as Booth’s falsetto rings out. It’s almost like he’s howling at the moon or howling with lust. Not to be outdone the song ends with a double drum tattoo like Animal on a disciplined day. It’s a fittingly full-on way to end proceedings. Short, but intense Laid packs a lot into its 2’36 running time.

The falsetto, drumming and persistent acoustic guitar make this a musical treat but there’s also a voyeuristic pleasure in looking at these lives portrayed without any brakes. The relationship at the heart of this song is compelling and unrestrained. It’s intense, frantic and scary. Wow, the sex must be something else.

Just want audio? Listen here: http://grooveshark.com/s/Laid/oguTj?src=5