The CLUAS Archive: 1998 - 2011

Entries for 'Rev Jules'

07

If you want to have a go yourself, log onto diy.despair.com.


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05

Two years in the making, surf magazines such as Surfing, Surfer, Fins, Carve, Wavelength, Surfer's Path and PitPilot all agree that Sea Fever is the definitive movie on Irish Surfing. Here is the trailer...

 


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30

Motley Crue are one of those bands who, if they were a surfer would be aerial pioneer Christian Fletcher. Sound Waves likes Christian Fletcher (pictured right), he is an antidote to all the beads, beards and ganja smoking Bali regulars. Christo is, in short a bad MoFo.

As a result, Sound Waves also loved 'The Dirt' and when we heard the boys in Crue (who look like they were separated at birth from Christo) were going to, in effect, transform it into a concept album of sorts, well, we were stoked to say the least. The title is to be decided and the release is slated for June. Happy days.

 


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30
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29

Imagine if Podge & Rodge or Dustin were funny. Not just vulgar but funny too. Well, Fur TV manages to not only be far more vulgar than either the Ballydung brothers or that wizened bird but gosh darn funny too. Here is Fat Ed's guide to metal...

 


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23

A review of the album 'Moment of Forever' by Willie Nelson

 

Willie Nelson Moment of Forever

Review Snapshot:
The last wise man of country music delivers the goods yet again.

The Cluas Verdict? 8 out of 10

Full Review:
Johnny is gone; Waylon is gone, only Willie is left. It’s hard to conceive now, given his superstardom, but Willie Nelson spent 15 years in Nashville trying in vain to get a hit record before throwing in his hat and returning to Texas where he finally started to create music that was not only true to his own creative vision but also connected with the album buying public.

According to Robert Oermann and Douglas Green, part of Willie’s early difficulty was that his offbeat, eccentric, jazz influenced phrasing was at cross purposes with then dominant Nashville sound pioneered by Chet Atkins. The flipside of this however is that, as a result, Willie Nelson has never been solely a country music artist but rather an American music artist and his renegade tendencies have kept him vital long after many of his living peers are either retired or are touring the nostalgia circuit.

 

Here he is again with a new album and for me the key interest in listening is to focus on the new songs that Willie, who penned classics like ‘Crazy’ and ‘Night Life’, has written for this album. There are three; ‘Over You Again’ (co-written with Micah & Lucas Nelson), ‘Always Now’, and the sardonic ‘You Don’t Think I’m Funny Anymore’. All of them are models of the songwriter’s craft with Buddy Cannon and Kenny Chesney’s sensitive production switching between the epic, panoramic sound used on ‘Over You Again’ to the intimate, spontaneous live room feel of ‘You Don’t Think…’

 

Willie has also included covers of Randy Newman’s ‘Louisiana’, a song that is fast becoming a modern American standard following the tragedy of New Orleans, and ‘Gotta Serve Somebody’. There is little to say about them other than they are great songs sung by one of the great voices in American popular music.

 

If you love the art of Willie Nelson, as I do, then this is one for the collection. At a time when young musicians want to make music that sounds like it came from the past; see Amy Winehouse, its nice to hear a veteran musician who is, shall we say, back to the future. Willie Nelson is still on the road, and the world is a better place for it.

Rev Jules

 To buy a new or (very reasonably priced) 2nd hand copy of this album on Amazon just click here.


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20

Some protest movements are just too dumb to be real...but they are. Take, for example, the Legalise Cannabis Movement. A case of 'Dude, where's my banner?' methinks.


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20

10 things I hate about cycling in Dublin

Undulating cycle paths built to accommodate the spotless 4WDs of the homeowners situated along the route. It’s an off road vehicle for Chrissakes!

Pedestrian crossings every 500 metres that pedestrians never use because they are too busy jaywalking across the road and right into your path.

Drivers who think that the correct position of the passenger side of their car is flush with the kerb.

Van drivers (see S.3)

Pedestrians who walk along cycle paths. Do the dumb fuckers not see the big symbols of the cyclist painted on the ground in front of them?

Recumbent cycles; they were banned by the UCI in the 1930s. They should also be banned from Irish thoroughfares and the people who ride them made to learn how to cycle properly.

Cyclists that lag behind you on the road then pull in front of you at traffic lights, obstructing your way as you take off after the lights turn green

Single speed racers. No, I don’t think you are some form of elite cycling purist. I think you are a twat who objects to progress, particularly when these retro-rothars can cost more than a bike with gears and brakes. Why not go the whole hog and re-fit the bloody thing with solid rubber wheels?

Anyone who rides a mountain bike in an urban area or brings the damn thing into the countryside on the back of a 4WD just so they can cycle it around for a couple of hours. What part of ‘Mountain Bike’ do you not understand?

50 something commuting cyclists who think they are competing in the Tour De France, down to the replica team wear. Just because they sell it, does not mean you have to wear it.


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13

To be honest, although I am a big fan of both Johnny Cash and Ray Charles I was not that hot on their respective biopics 'Walk The Line' and 'Ray'. After seeing them, one after the other, I got the two of them mixed up so similar were they in terms of the base storyline; dirt poor Sourthern boy, guilt ridden over the death of his brother and struggling under the influence of hard ass domineering parents, leaves home to make his way in the music business. So 'Dewey Cox' was, to the say the least, fresh air, skewering the po-faced storytelling and pretensions of those target films in much the same way that MAD magazine would send up big hit movies within its pages. Having said that, any movie which features Lyle Lovett and Jackson Browne doing what they do best, gets my vote. Here is a personal favourite moment from 'Dewey' in which the too sweet by half lovey dovey performance of a certain country music duo is lampooned to great effect.

 


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12

Artist: P.I.L

Title: 'Album'

Released: 1985

Note: Although the single 'Rise' put Johnny Lydon and co back in the charts and onto Top of the Pops, 'Album' worked as a cohesive whole and was selected by none other than the South Bank Show as a highlight in their 1985 end of year review.

Best Track: 'Ease'

 

Artist: Robie Robertson

Title: 'Robbie Robertson

Released: 1987

Note:  Daniel Lanois, U2 and Peter Gabriel all collaborated on this album which completes a trio of classic 80s albums that include Joshua Tree and SO.

Best Track: 'Fallen Angel'

 

Artist: Kate Bush

Title: 'Hounds of Love'

Released: 1985

Note: Possibly the greatest concept album of them all and certainly the sexiest sounding. 'Cloudbusting', 'Running Up That Hill' and the title track are all classics but our favourites are 'Under Ice' and 'Jig of Life'.

Best Track: 'Cloud Busting'

 

Artist: The Cult

Title:  Love

Released: 1985

Note: The guitar lick for 'She Sells Sanctuary' is possibly the greatest of them. Dark, gothic and containing probably the silliest lyrics ever heard on a classic album

Best Track: 'Rain'

 

Artist: The Sisters of Mercy

Title: Floodland

Released: 1987

Note: This record actually contains the silliest lyrics ever heard on a classic album and represents the zenith of Jim Steinman's producing career. If a mountain could write music, it would sound like this.

Best Track: 'Dominion / Mother Russia'

 

Artist: Simple Minds

Title: Once Upon A Time

Released: 1985

Note: The black, white and gold cover art and the stadium wide sound production were obvious influences on the Joshua Tree which was released two years later but, for my money, this is more fun. Over the top lyrics were married to epic soundscapes which, combined with a fantastic Croke Park gig that climaxed with a lightening storm make this one of my all time favourites.

Best Track: 'Alive and Kicking'

 

 


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Nuggets from our archive

2000 - 'Rock Criticism: Getting it Right', written by Mark Godfrey. A thought provoking reflection on the art of rock criticism.