On the Shelf 159: The Cult

In 2012, seemingly out of nowhere, The Cult's "Choice of Weapon" became one of my favorite albums of the year.

I have been a Cult fan for many years, but don't think people expected much as the band trying to reinvent themselves for the 21st Century with a trilogy of like-minded albums starting with 2007's "Born Into This". Still, I probably wouldn't have thought of looking it up if it hadn't been so trumpeted by the British press.

Hidden City is the next album in that series. The good part is that what made their last album so good is here. Ian Astbury has long had to stand in the shadows of Jim Morrison, but the truth is he has a good set of pipes. He brings his influence of blues, goth, and metal and does channel the Lizard King when he grabs the mic. The Cult's most popular moments are the simple riff driven tacks like "Fire Woman", "Rain", "Love Removal Machine", etc, but when given the chance, he has been able to explore some of his more adventurous sides.

The good news is while these qualities are there, the bad news is that City never quite makes it to the level of Weapon. I might blame Astbury who of course has his struggles with lyrics (Che Guevara and a garbage can?) but there also does not seem to be any song that nails that memorable single tag.

It's not a bad album and fans of the band should get some enjoyment out of it, but I consider it a bit of a downer in that it never reaches the potential of Weapon, which really grabbed the best of the band's styles.

"The Cult - Dark Energy- (Official Audio)" (Watch on YouTube)

Raised on Radio #41- Paul McCartney

It has been a year and a half since I last posted about this, but I have tried to post some of the songs I loved as a kid. Some are obvious (a lot of those well known 80s one hit wonders), but I tried to find a few that have been a bit lost to time (Saga, Tony Carey, Moving Pictures).

I already spent time on the Beatles. In high school, I fell in love with the Blue and Red (Greatest Hits) albums, and that led to Revolver and Rubber Soul, which I was discovering right along with Bowie and the Smiths.

I did mention that one of my favorite songs in the preteen years was the original "With a Little Help from My Friends".

I bring the Beatles up because I heard a song I hadn't heard in years and was one of my absolute favorites at the time, and now is all but forgotten.

Discriminating fans tend to say Lennon was the most creative of the bunch. While I think "Imagine" gets a bit overblown, I do think a lot of John Lennon. Specifically, he had a great run of singles. If he had waited until 1970 to record anything, he will still be deserving of the title legend.

McCartney isn't as hip, though I think it's a bit unfair. Always with great medleys looming over him like the one from Abbey Road and the two songs in one "Day of a Life", I think Macca always wanted to duplicate that. For my money (and ears), though they are so seeped in the 70s, I absolutely love Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey and Band on the Run. They are timeless songs that I never get tired of. Macca these days is generally tagged as the "Silly Love Songs"/ "Wonderful Christmas Time" guy while Lennon is the genius of "Imagine".

Well, I still haven't gotten to my point.

McCartney of the 80s is largely remembered for a string of duets that everyone knows by heart- one with Stevie Wonder "Ebony and Ivory" and two with Micheal Jackson - "That Girl is Mine" and "Say Say Say" (Cheesy as it may be "Say..." is a fantastic song).

During that time, one of his albums was called "Tug of War" and my mom had it on 8 track. It was 1982 and I was 8.

He also had a song called "Take it Away" which managed to go all the way to #10 on the US charts.

It was one of my absolute favorite songs of mine at that time.

"Paul McCartney 'Take It Away [Single Edit] (2015 Remaster)'" (Watch on YouTube)

It suffers just a bit from Macca's penchant for overproduction, but still actually holds up pretty well.

Oh, and "Spies Like Us" isn't so bad either.