It seems a little early for Doves to be releasing a Best Of compilation, although they’ve been around in various forms since the mid-90s when they had a hit as Sub Sub with the dance track Ain’t No Love (Ain’t No Use). In their indie rock incarnation as Doves they’ve released three albums plus a b-sides compilation, and the best of this is collected on The Places Between.
Although we’d much rather have seen a new Doves album than a compilation, there can be no grumbles about the quality of the material here. Starting with the triple-whammy of There Goes The Fear, Black and White Town and Snowdon, the first disc features 15 soaring tracks that are as good as anything produced by the much more appreciated Radiohead or Coldplay. Also included is cracking new single Andalucia. The second disc contains 19 album tracks, b-sides and a couple of session and demo tracks.
There’s an argument that Spotify makes best of compilations like The Place Between worthless. Why listen to it (or Pavement’s recent Quarantine The Past) rather than assembling your own playlist from tracks already in the catalogue? Certainly the existence of Lost Sides, Doves’ b-side compilation, makes The Place Between seem fairly pointless. But it does serve as an excellent reminder of how good Doves are, and makes an excellent introduction to the group for newcomers.
Anything involving former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne is usually worth investigating, and Here Lies Love is no exception. A collaboration with Norman Cook AKA Fatboy Slim, Here Lies Love is the 22-song cycle about former first lady of the Philippines Imelda Marcos your record collection has been waiting for…
The album was released to Spotify Premium users last week ahead of the official release date. (Interestingly, the pair have not previously shown a fondness for Spotify – only one of Byrne’s previous solo albums has been made available, and none of Fatboy Slim’s own albums are in the Spotify catalogue.)
So Imelda Marcos – why?! Byrne tries to explain in the introduction to the album, available with the physical format and on the website, as follows: ‘The story I am interested in is about asking what drives a powerful person – what makes them tick? How do they make and then remake themselves? I thought to myself, wouldn’t it be great if – as this piece would be principally composed of clubby dance music – one could experience it in a club setting? Could one bring a ‘story’ and a kind of theater to the disco? Was that possible? If so, wouldn’t that be amazing!’
Here Lies Love features vocal contributions from a whole raft of singers, including Florence Welch, Martha Wainwright, Cyndi Lauper, Tori Amos and Natalie Merchant. But what it doesn’t seem to feature are any shoes – the one thing that most people associate with Imelda Marcos. Apparently she also really liked New York nightclubs – who knew? But aside from the kooky premise, Here Lies Love is a fascinating record, with enough pop moments and notable cameos to warrant repeated listens.
Graceland was a landmark album for Paul Simon and for pop music in general. For a start, Simon was going through a lean period of musical success – Graceland was his first UK number 1 album in 14 years. And secondly, no mainstream pop artist had so clearly embraced African music. Graceland is loaded with African sounds and rhythms – specifically from South Africa.
Recording an album in South Africa during apartheid was deeply controversial, but the album is not particularly political, offering no support to the South African government, and providing a valuable showcase to many black South African musicians. The result is a strikingly fresh and original album, and something that few mainstream music fans had heard the like of before.
Highlights include the three singles, Graceland, Boy in the Bubble and You Can Call Me Al, which was accompanied by a popular music video featuring Chevy Chase. The remastered edition on Spotify also features three bonus tracks.
So why listen to Graceland now, 24 years after it was recorded? Because it still sounds remarkably fresh and vibrant – let’s face it, it sounds like a Vampire Weekend record, as the New Yorkers have pretty much based their entire career on this one album. Original and influential, Graceland is well worth revisiting.
It seems a little early for Doves to be releasing a Best Of compilation, although they’ve been around in various forms since the mid-90s when they had a hit as Sub Sub with the dance track Ain’t No Love (Ain’t No Use). In their indie rock incarnation as Doves they’ve released three albums plus a b-sides compilation, and the best of this is collected on The Places Between.
