Category Archives: Music

My iPod #508: Wings – Helen Wheels

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“Helen Wheels” was written and recorded by Paul McCartney and his post-Beatles band Wings during the sessions for the great album Band on the Run released in 1973. Being released as a single prior to the album’s release, the track was not included in the album’s final tracklisting in the UK. It was in the US though, placed between “No Words” and “Picasso’s Last Words (Drink to Me)“. Good decision by Capitol Records to ask McCartney for the change. To me, the album doesn’t seem as right without it.

The song details a journey from the Shetland Isles near Scotland down to London via Glasgow, Carlisle, Liverpool, and Birmingham. This all takes place in “Helen Wheels”, the Land Rover Paul and his lovely lady Linda once owned and the track is a dedication to the vehicle’s reliability, comfort and overall awesomeness. Set to a shuffling bluesy rhythm, McCartney sings with a Southern state inflection before unleashing his chest voice with the “HELEEEEEN” that begins each chorus. That amongst many other little parts make this one of his most enjoyable songs to listen to. Like those backing vocals which echo the last three words of each line in the final verse, or when Paul forgets to start playing the bass for a second and comes in a bit late at one point. The little guitar licks and improvised fills are satisfying too.

The song is a great rocker, and a very good one to drive to of course.

My iPod #507: Interpol – The Heinrich Maneuver

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“The Heinrich Maneuver” was the first single from Interpol’s third album Our Love to Admire, a work that was also their first to be released since moving to major record label Capitol Records. I remember really getting into the song itself when it started to circulate around the Internet in the early summer of 2007; I wasn’t the greatest fan of the band at the time, though I thoroughly enjoyed their songs via the music videos that aired on MTV2 and I was glad that their ‘comeback’ didn’t disappoint. The video for this one on the other hand… could have been a bit better.  It’s cleverly put together, though I would have liked to see the band in it.

Singer and guitarist Paul Banks gets the song off through singing its first line before being joined by a stop-starting guitar riff and drums. It isn’t long until all the members enter the frame, especially former bassist Carlos Dengler who once again executes yet another weaving and inventive bassline to keep everything together.

It is quite a dramatic track. No doubt the bigger-sounding production has something to do with that feeling, but the song’s overall atmosphere gives it that further kick. That spooky false ending, Banks’ energising vocal take (which I’m sure exhibits a range not shown on any of their previous singles), or those synthesized strings during the song’s climactic ending – those are just a few elements out of many which make “The Heinrich Manuever” one of Interpol’s most thrilling tracks in their catalogue.

My iPod #506: Enter Shikari – Hectic

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Let’s get back to business.

“Hectic” by Enter Shikari is another about the good times of the past – but this time focuses on staying round at the houses of various friends listening to music, playing Sonic and Golden Axe on a Sega Mega Drive (Genesis) and carelessly running and jumping across the rooftops in the town. Like the last song I talked about in this series, the track also wishes to go back to those days of innocence and naivety as those of today aren’t so great in comparison. “Things aren’t right” as it is sung in the bridge before the final choruses, and the dread of today has left the narrator feeling as if they are own their own and nothing will be able to change the situation.

Being the penultimate song on Common Dreads, the track provides the rush of pure excitement containing blaring keyboard blasts, vocal interchanging between singer Rou Reynolds, guitarist Rory Clelow during the singalong choruses and an overall soundscape that will have you lunging around the room in various directions. Though there is a brief but poignant moment in which bassist Chris Batten with his choirboy-ish vocals takes lead in the midst of it all, it isn’t long before the hurrying drums and guitars enter to bring the track to a thrilling end.

My iPod #505: Wilco – Heavy Metal Drummer

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Both this track and “I Am the Man Who Loves You” jumped out to me as being the radio-friendly hits from Wilco’s well-respected album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Though the album did go through a ton executive meddling that pushed back its initial release and forced it to be distributed on a completely label altogether, all of which was pleasantly documented, it could have been commercially represented by singles which I think would have been very popular. But what do I know?

“Heavy Metal Drummer” is one of the brighter, and lighter sounding tracks on the album. Faking you out with a boom-box drum beat for the first few seconds, the song suddenly bursts with a delightful piano line and brisk acoustic guitars amidst a general perky beat provided by drummer Glenn Kotche. The mix is then filled with bubbly synthesizers for the majority of the track as Jeff Tweedy recounts memories of the past from the heavy metal bands to personally playing Kiss covers whilst high.

You can’t help but feel the melancholic undertone when Tweedy sings “I miss the innocence I’ve known”. He yearns for the times when life wasn’t so hard and everything was alright. But the music’s uplifting and sometimes child-like playfulness overtakes that lingering sadness.

My iPod #504: Nirvana – Heart-Shaped Box

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So this song may or may not be about Courtney Love’s vagina. Meh. If it is, it’s still a damn good song about one. A classic that doesn’t need much discussion. You must have heard it, that’s the only reason I say this.

“Heart-Shaped Box” was the first single released from Nirvana’s third and last album In Utero in 1993. Its music video was one of the main reasons why I immediately liked the track. Although it was mildly comedic watching Kurt Cobain going insane and lunging at the camera with the widest and bluest eyes with every “HEY” and “WAIT”, it was fascinating seeing the guy that bit more close and personal in one of their music videos. I can only imagine how people felt viewing it when it came out for the first time. The Ku-Klux-Clan child, the old man on the crucifix with the Santa hat, the fake fetuses hanging of the tree branches… the singing crows……. I am not making this up. It’s too much.

As for the music… well. It is rough. That is the one word I think sums up this, and the rest of the album, very well.