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Hi, you're in the Archives, May 2006 - Part 1 |
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| May
14, 2006 |
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TASTING
- TWO INDIE CARDHUS
Cardhu/Cardow
13 yo 1987/2000 (56.9%, Cadenheads)
Colour: white wine. Nose: starts
quite fresh but with lots of power,
a few notes of rubber and butter,
with something rather feinty in
the background. Develops on bold
notes of gooseberries and green
apples, always fresh butter, pear
juice… Not really top-notch
I think, with lots of mashed potatoes
and porridge. After a few minutes,
it got even more on fresh apple
juice and ginger ale, which is an
improvement here. |
| Mouth:
the attack is nervous, extremely fruity
and grainy, mixing notes of sugared
apple juice and cornflakes. Powerful
but lacking personality. Gets then
quite bitter (apple and grape seeds)
while staying quite sugarish. The
finish is long, again very sugary,
with lemon sweets and some tannins.
In short, a whisky that’s not
totally unpleasant but that hasn’t
got lots to tell us. 77 points. |
| Cardhu
25 yo 1974/1999 (56%, Signatory, Millenium
Edition, sherry butt #3612, 498 bottles)
Colour: deep amber. Nose: the sherry
is well here, obviously, but there’s
quite some sulphur and rubber as well
(rubber bands). Gets sort of dirty,
with whiffs of washing rags, cheap
bottled orange juice, vase water,
getting then quite vinous (stale old
wine). Not too pleasant on the nose,
I’d say… It gets more
and more vinous after a few minutes.
Mouth: this seems to be better, yet
quite rubbery again. Very sweet, with
bold notes of orange liqueur (Grand-Marnier
and such) and caramel. Something rather
salty, probably from the cask. Gets
then really vinous and peppery at
the same time. Old rancio, cloves…
This palate is probably much cleaner
than the nose. The finish is long
but still quite rubbery, sort of a
blend of rubber, orange marmalade
and fortified wine (Rivesaltes). In
a whole, again not one of the greatest
whiskies but it’s certainly
more enjoyable and ‘talkative’
than the Cadenhead’s. 80
points (but some friends
liked this one much better than I
did). |
MUSIC
– Recommended
listening - It's Sunday, we go classical
with the young American countertenor
Jay
Carter singing Marc-Antoine
Charpentier's elevation O
vere, O bone.mp3 beautifuly.
Please go to Jay Carter's concerts! |
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| May
13, 2006 |
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CONCERT
REVIEW by Nick Morgan
JOHN MARTYN, Shepherd’s
Bush Empire, London, May 10th 2006
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To
be honest I’ve lost count of
the number of times I’ve seen
John
Martyn. I know I first
saw him in the early 1970s at college
(I say ‘know’, because
‘remember’ is not a word
one would associate with Martyn concerts
of that era), and last saw him at
the Jazz Café in London about
five years ago, in between I can’t
quite recall (though I do know there
was one wonderful night under the
Edinburgh stars when he played at
the Castle Esplanade). Over the years
his gigs have been increasingly frustrating
occasions - always leaving me with
the sense that Martyn is someone who
almost throws his considerable talents
away in favour of ‘banter’
and buffoonery. Of course the legendary
drinking (and the rest) must have
something to do with this, but I can’t
really imagine that he can ever be
quite as drunk as he sometimes likes
to appear, given that he always makes
a pretty decent fist of playing his
guitar. And what’s more surprising
is that there always seem to be a
fair number in the audience who’ve
only come to see this nonsense - like
the sort of tasteless voyeurs who
take pleasure in watching Shane McGowan
down a bottle of vodka and then stumble
blindly around the stage (I saw it
and left). You almost wonder if performers
like these are victims of their audience
rather than victims of themselves.
You may know that Martyn recently
had his right leg amputated above
the knee, and it’s been a long
time since he lost his svelte youthful
good looks (when we got home I had
to dig out the Old Grey Whistle Test
DVDs just to check how youthful and
good looking he was back in the seventies).
To be honest he looks a bit of a mess.
He’s got a good band with him,
keyboards, bass (outstanding), drums,
clarinet and saxophone, which is just
as well. His guitar is hidden for
a lot of the night, and when he does
break out it’s for the most
part quite conventional stuff, rarely
reaching the heights of which he was
nice so capable. |
| And
if you don’t know Martyn’s
work then of course you have to listen
to Solid Air to understand what I’m
on about. But don’t get me wrong
- I also thought the relatively recent
Church with no Bell was pretty good
too - so I’m not just living
in a rosy and nostalgic past. I suppose
this must be what they call ‘after
dinner jazz’. Every song has
a long introduction, and long middle,
and a long ending, and it’s
the band doing most of the work. I
really felt that Martyn was struggling
at times with his guitar, and seemed
to have (understandable) difficulty
with his pedals, the key to his wizardry.
Of course he sang - but his increasingly
slurred, drawling growly voice has
long since become a grotesque self
parody, no more evident than in the
crooned version of ‘Never let
me go’ that he ends the set
with. And of course we get the ‘Cockney
John’ and ‘Glasgow John’
stuff in between songs - with a recurring
and tedious joke about a man who killed
his mother. To be frank it’s
almost impossible to decipher his
words and affected or not, he sounds
like the sort of drunk that you hope
never gets into your carriage on a
train. |
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It’s a disheartening affair,
and I can’t help thinking that
it’s a genius that’s simply
wasted away over the years. The audience
seemed to love it, ‘though I’m
not sure if they’re applauding
the John they’ve just seen or
the John they remember. But it’s
hard to turn your back on someone
whose work can still give so much
pleasure and inspiration. So I guess
that’s partly why we’ll
be seeing him again (under the stars
somewhere in Oxfordshire) later in
the summer. Let’s hope it’s
better, much better. - Nick Morgan
(photohraphs by Kate) |
| Thank
you Nick, but Shane McGowan drinks
vodka??? The Pogues' Shane McGowan???...
Let's get over it with my own favourite
John Martyn piece (not that he's very
famous in France): yes, Solid
air.mp3. Agreed, pure bliss...
His singing reminds me of Michel
Jonasz in a certain way, for instance
in Doucement.mp3... |
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Old
Pulteney 1989/2005 (46%, Signatory
for La Maison du Whisky, cask #12177,
50cl)
Colour: straw. Nose: a fresh and floral
start, with lots of power. Buttercups,
nectar, roses… Also notes of
strawberries, pears and quite some
caramel. Gets quite maritime (indeed),
on sea air… Goes on with fresh
butter, vanilla crème, gooseberries,
fruit liqueurs, hay and maybe a little
beer, even gin and soap. Also distant
whiffs of wood smoke. Interesting,
a malt that’s quite ‘different’.
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| Mouth:
a sweet and salty attack, almost like
cooked fruits topped with caramel
and salt. An unusual sensation. Develops
on very ripe pineapples and melons,
butterscotch, herbal teas (linden
tea), smoked tea, with a rather long
and very salty finish, slightly bitter.
Extremely close to the official 17yo,
just a tad discreeter. 85
points. |
| Old
Pulteney 15 yo 1982 (61.1%, OB, Millennium)
Colour: full gold. Nose: rather similar,
just more powerful. Probably a little
more on caramel, liquorice and praline,
though, but otherwise we’re
in the same league. With water: it
gets waxier and smokier, quite buttery.
Coal smoke, bread crust. The maritime
side gets also more obvious. Interesting
again, lots of personality Mouth (neat):
rather explosive. Extremely sweet
and caramelly but with lots of backbone
from both the alcohol and the cask,
it seems. But again, water is needed…
Extremely close to the 1989 now, it’s
almost the same whisky, with again
more liquorice and maybe just a little
more body (it got very similar to
the official 17 yo in fact). A good,
flawless malt with lots of personality
(err… didn’t I already
write that?) 86 points. |
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| May
12, 2006 |
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CONCERT
REVIEW by Nick Morgan
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND THE SEEGER
SESSIONS BAND
Hammersmith Apollo, London, May
8th 2006 |
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| It’s
what should be a quiet Monday night
in sleepy old Hammersmith town, but
the Boss is back and the place is
buzzing, ticket touts on the Underground
platforms, bellowing hucksters selling
blurred posters and soiled t-shirts,
and long lost friends meeting in barely
articulate embraces of tears. “Shit
man, I haven’t seen you here
since 1975, I mean shit man, that
gig man, he was The Boss ….”
In case you don’t know Bruce
Springsteen owes the
old Hammersmith Odeon (“I guess
they changed the name since I was
last here”) a great deal –
it was here that he burst on the British
public’s consciousness in what
has become, without exaggeration,
one of the legendary London rock and
roll nights. “This is a special
place for me. A lot of my ghosts are
here…”. You can buy the
recently released CD and see what
all the fuss was about. I might have
to, as I was more or less a Springsteen
refusnik for many years, and it’s
only probably over the last ten that
I’ve paid much attention to
his work, and his back catalogue.
But having recently seen the phrase
‘once in a lifetime chance’
take on a new significance the opportunity
to see him can’t be turned down
easily. We’re upstairs in the
18 bob seats, and as you might expect
we’re packed in like sardines
with Real Fans all around us. In fact
they’re a little European Community
of fans many of whom have travelled
a long way to be here. And paid a
lot of money (I’m told that
e-bay has been humming). At first
the incessant booing is a surprise
– then I realise it’s
a low soulful “Boooooocce”
which echoes round the auditorium
as the impatient audience wait for
the gig to start. When it does start
these guys know all the words (I do
hate people singing at gigs) and needless
to say start singing them far too
soon, encouraged by the fellow with
the guitar in the middle of the stage.
And they know the hand movements –
during ‘My city of ruins’
(a nice song from The Rising) it begins
to look like a revivalist meeting
(“with these hands I pray my
lord” goes the refrain); disciples
in supplication at the altar of the
great one. |
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| I
have to say that a seventeen piece
band is a bit of a sight these days,
almost (I said almost) worth the price
of admission. The stage is elegantly
draped with velvet curtains, chandeliers
too, I guess to recreate an old bar-room
feel. Four brass players, bass, banjo
(he was just great – keeping
the band ticking all night long),
two fiddles, keyboards and accordion,
two guitars (three if you count the
current Mrs Bruce who played too,
and, ahem, sang), drums, three vocalists
and a pedal steel guitar too. And
for all its apparent simplicity the
band have been perfectly choreographed,
taking turns at the front of the stage
– always moving around, everyone
knowing exactly who’s where.
And the middle is a big and boisterous
Bruce, obviously having the time of
his life. It’s true –
he’s a consummate showman (show-off
says The Photographer, who can’t
take the Whiskyfun camera out of her
cowboy boot for fear of being thrown
out) who works the audience to perfection
in the course of an artfully constructed
set. He fills the stage (and it’s
pretty full already) arms waving theatrically,
conducting his orchestra, making occasional
shimmies along the front of the stage
and throwing the odd rock and roll
pose. He also takes time to show us
that he’s serious Bruce too,
that he’s done his homework
about the songs (“I went and
read about this song in a book”)
and that he has strong views (angry
Bruce) on recent events in the USA,
comparing the displacement of people
from New Orleans following Hurricane
Katrina to the dustbowl migrations.
For what it’s worth, on the
basis of my wholly inadequate research,
around a million people were forced
to leave the Big Easy last September
(and I don’t think too many
have managed to go back) as opposed
to 400,000 who left Oklahoma and surrounding
areas in the mid 1930s. Who’s
surprised he’s angry? |
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The
evening is a celebration of the life
and works of Pete
Seeger, as is Springsteen’s
new album, The Seeger Sessions. Strangely
the album has only one original Seeger
composition on it, ‘though I’m
sure Pete might have played some of
the other great American traditional
tunes it features. Its release has
provoked considerable comment that
Springsteen has lurched to the left;
the concert was even reviewed on BBC’s
Radio Four because of this, and featured
on a religious programme discussing
the spiritual power of the song. But
really, ‘though I don’t
for a moment doubt Bruce’s sincerity
on the issue of New Orleans or senseless
war there isn’t a great deal
that’s revolutionary or threatening
about these songs or about the evening.
Actually I always thought that many
of Seeger’s songs (yes Serge,
we had to learn them in Primary School,
along with the wonderful ‘Shenandoah’)
were a little too nice, prim and proper
turtle necked jumper protest songs,
with a holier than thou middle class
feel, and more than a dash of crass
sentimentality (if you don’t
believe me then go and listen to ‘Where
have all the flowers gone’ –
ugh!). I’m not dissing Pete
here, or his contribution to ‘the
cause’, just suggesting that
for the most part his songs haven’t
really got the substance or joie de
vivre to stand the test of time. And
even though we don’t get much
of Pete tonight I have to say most
of the songs that we do get that make
me feel as if I’m back in that
school classroom – but this
time I’m having a great time,
with a rollicking seventeen piece
backing band rather than a tuneless
piano. How good is that?
Set list? Well almost all of the Seeger
Sessions tune (strangely he didn’t
play ‘Froggy went a courting’
which was an incongruous moment that
I was most looking forward to) –
of which highlights for me were Dan
Tucker (“Here’s a 140
year old Bob Dylan song”), Mrs
McGrath (with its strong anti-war
theme one of the few real ‘protest’
songs of the night), ‘Erie Canal’
and ‘Jacob’s ladder’
(additional lyrics by Pete Seeger).
|
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There was a fantastic version of ‘How
can a poor man stand such times and
live’ (a song originally recorded
by Blind Alfred Reed in the wake of
the Wall Street Crash, and later covered
by Ry Cooder) with a verse added by
Springsteen on Katrina and New Orleans,
and a rather strange combination of
‘Cadillac ranch’ and ‘Mystery
train’. It got pretty raucous
towards the end with ‘Open all
night’ and ‘Pay me my
money down’ (which to be frank
felt as if it went on for about ten
minutes too long), and then an encore
including ‘My City of Ruins’,
‘Buffalo Girls’ (not the
Malcolm Maclaren version) and finally
a restrained and nicely structured
version of ‘When the saints
go marching in’ – back
of course to the forgotten plight
of the Big Easy again. The band were
glorious – a gumbo of folkabillybluesoulgospelrock.
Bruce was tireless. |
|
Even so – as a non Real Fan
it did all get a bit repetitive towards
the end. But that’s probably
churlish. I’ve rarely seen a
packed theatre enjoying itself so
much – even I think surprising
the maestro with their enthusiastic
participation and response. Roll on
next time. If I can re-mortgage the
house then I’ll be there. -
Nick Morgan (photographs by Kate) |
| Thanks
a lot Nick. The Boss, Conscience,
Respect... Live! |
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Imperial
12 yo 1994/2006 (46% Whisky Galore)
Colour: white wine, almost wine. Nose:
quite violent despite the not too
high alcohol level, starting quite
spirity, with a few notes of lavender
and geranium, and then fruits like
very ripe apples an pears. Notes of
boxed pineapples. Quite close to a
new make, with also mineral notes,
gin, ginger ale… Maybe something
slightly smoky. Not too bad, even
if the whole is quite rough. Ah, yes,
also notes of fresh strawberries and
some bold cider apple juice after
a few minutes. |
| Mouth:
softer, quite sweet and rounded, with
quite some tannins. Bitter oranges,
lemon zest, getting then frankly bitter
(quite nicely) and rather oaky despite
its nose’s ‘fresh’
profile. Gets even quite peppery.
Yes, a mixture of apple juice and
pepper. The finish is rather long
but not too ‘enveloping’,
getting a little drying and even peppery,
with also quite some cocoa powder.
In short, the nose was fresh and youthful
but the palate is a little hard -
quite a nice Imperial anyway. 80
point. |
Imperial
1981/2004 (64.6%, Scotch Single Malt
Circle, cask #1218, 303 bottles)
A high strength Imperial by Bill and
Maggie Miller. Colour: deep amber.
Nose: quite explosive thanks to the
high ABV but not much more so than
the Whisky Galore, quite unexpectedly.
The sherry is very present right from
the start, with quite some rubber,
toasted bread, crystallized oranges
and marmalade. Very rich and aromatic
but you have to take care not to dip
your nose too deep into your glass
at such strength, it would burn your
nostrils. Develops on flowery notes,
probably from the wine (peonies) as
well as blackcurrant leaves, praline
crème and cappuccino. A nice
toffee as well, plus a few spicy notes
(mulled wine)… Let’s try
it with a little water now…
It gets more complex indeed, with
both something forest (fern, moss)
and something meaty/saucy (soy sauce,
balsamic vinegar, wine sauce, game)…
An excellent sherried whisky, gaining
great balance at roughly 45%. Mouth
(neat): quite spectacular but note
overpowering, curiously. Starts on
orange juice and young white Port,
quite some pepper again, spices…
Right, it gets really too strong now.
Water needed! Yes, it’s much
easier to drink now, creamy and rounded,
with lots of apricot pie, nougat,
praline, strong honey (chestnut).
A very, very good surprise with quite
some personality, even if there’s
a little rubber subsisting. The finish
is long, quite ‘invading’,
with always these rubbery notes, oak,
lactones and just good ‘sherry’…
In a nutshell: a pretty excellent,
muscular Imperial! 90 points
(it would have gained one or two more
points with a little less rubber –
and thanks, Konstantin). |
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| May
11, 2006 |
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CONCERT
REVIEW by Nick Morgan
MARC RIBOT'S CERAMIC DOG, Purcell
Rooms, South Bank Centre, London,
7th May 2006 |
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| Serge
and I have recently been having a
little spat about asparagus. You know,
that lovely gloriously green and highly
seasonal vegetable that grows mostly
in Herefordshire, Worcestershire and
Norfolkshire, which we eat by the
plateful at this time of year, lightly
boiled and with lashings of salted
butter. Serge tells me they grow it
in France too, but it’s an anaemic
slug-like colour, overcooked and eaten
with some fancy sauce from Holland
(note from the editor: more about
that in my comments below!).
I’m about as clear as to how
we’re going to resolve this
impasse as I am how to start this
review. Not only did Marc
Ribot and his band spend
most of the evening subverting the
notion of the song (apparently they’re
now called ‘pieces’),
they also subverted the notion of
concert (yes, I know they started
at 7.45 and finished about two hours
later, but that was almost as close
to form as it got), and in the process
subverted the shape of my review.
But here goes … |
| Even
if you don’t know it you’ll
be familiar with Ribot. He’s
the fantastic guitarist behind many
of Tom Wait’s best albums, particularly
those of recent years. You may, as
a consequence, have come across his
wonderful album Y Los Cubanos Postizos,
a tribute to the Cuban guitarist Arsenio
Rodriguez. Now had you bought tickets
for this gig on the basis of this
then you would have made a big mistake.
For Ribot’s day job is ace New
York free-jazz guitar maestro, a huge
admirer of Ornette Coleman and Albert
Ayler (this it had to be said, confused
me somewhat – an album as a
tribute to one of Britain’s
great philosophers? But there you
go…), and a man at the vanguard
of pushing the guitar (and associated
instruments) as far as it can go.
He’s uncomfortable with the
description ‘avant garde’
(he claims he would play dance music
all the time if he could), but it
certainly seemed like a fair way to
describe the evening (no dance music).
|
Marc Ribot |
| And
he was certainly playing to a painfully
highbrow heavy duty muso audience,
all carefully eyeing each other up
as they weighed their relative musical
expertise and knowledge in case there
was a showdown at the end of the night.
The ones that stayed that is. There
was a steady trickle of folks heading
to the door during the first half
hour or so, and I’m still convinced
that the guy who attempted to climb
onto the stage waving his arms was
trying to shut them up (the photographer
thought he was trying to conduct). |
 |
| The
band is Ceramic Dog, or as we would
say in Glasgow, Wally Dug. Ribot seems
to think this is the “ultimate
kitsch object”, but I’d
certainly be careful saying that in
Glasgow. It’s also a “free/punk/funk/experimental/psychedelic/post
electronica collective” featuring
Ribot on guitar, Shazad Ismailly
on bass, and Chess Smith
on drums and percussion. “Sonically
dense” was a description I read
somewhere. No shit! Some of it is
so dense it’s like fighting
your way through a jungle. But it’s
worth the struggle. The evening is
both exhausting and exhilarating.
It begins in fairly harmonious style,
very repetitive melodies (played I
think, not tape loops) almost in a
Bill Frisell style, with delicate
and carefully crafted percussion from
Smith and soft low bass from Ismailly.
From that we went to ‘Hatred
and filth’ (yes, this one was
introduced and had a title), which,
according to my detailed notes, was
‘like Ghost riders in the Sky
on acid – all fractured and
frenetic’. I also noted the
Black Sabbath moment (the night was
full of musical jokes of one sort
or another) and wondered if it wasn’t
all a little more conventional than
we might imagine, a thought that has
stayed with me, despite the ‘avant
garde’ tag. From what I could
gather we had ‘a piece’
about intellectuals (it sounded as
though that was what was being chanted),
a bosanova ‘Todo el mundo es
kitsch’ (with a witty Rolling
Stones joke), a spoken song ‘When
we were young and we were freaks’,
another heavy rocker ‘Erotic
auto’, peppered with snatches
of ‘Born to be wild’ and
other motoring tunes, and a ‘protest
piece’, ’99 and a half
won’t do’, during which
Ribot expressed his considerable frustration
at both George Bush and that nice
Tony Blair’s role in the Iraq
war. Ribot obviously takes these sort
of issues very seriously (have a look
at this interesting
website) but to be frank his political
interventions in terms of shouting,
half-singing, and chanting didn’t
really get much beyond a schoolboy
level of discourse – best to
let the guitar do the talking Marc. |
And
what a guitar – Ribot’s
playing is inspired – delicate,
destructive, deconstructed and deeply
imaginative. Ismailly plays bass,
keyboards, percussion (various) and
an empty water dispenser. He’s
intense, crouched over his instruments,
and yet periodically surprisingly
humorous – perhaps it’s
the bottle of J&B that he takes
occasional pulls from as the night
goes on. He shares the J&B with
drummer Smith, whose painstaking attention
to detail is totally absorbing –
even when he’s changing the
batteries in one of his gizmos –
when he lets rip he’s all elbows
and flying hands. The band are as
tight as a knot, and they’re
obviously having fun.
So after a return to the stage for
two ‘pieces’ as encore
(not really that subversive after
all) we left the hall reeling, hardly
aware that we’d been in there
for two hours, so engrossing was the
music. But I did have to ask, ‘what’s
the big idea?’. For all the
thought that had obviously gone into
the music, and the rather prosaic
chants and occasional lyrics, I’m
dammed if I could really see anything
that was really cogent leaping out
at me. |
 |
| So
I was forced to conclude that they
did it simply because they could,
which in truth was good enough for
me. - Nick Morgan (concert photographs
by Kate, asparagii by Nick and Serge) |
| Many
thanks Nick! But now that you threw
your gauntlet regarding these asparagii,
let’s make a few things clear.
Wiki tells us that you used to call
them ‘sparrow grass’ in
Great Britain, but that John Walker
(who?) stated in 1791 that "Sparrow-grass
is so general that asparagus has an
air of stiffness and pedantry."
(and did you know that if you ever
dream of asparagus, it signifies 'prosperous
surroundings and obedience from servants
and children'?) Err… Good, in
any case, it’s true that we
do like them white better than green
over here, even if white sparrow grass…
err, sorry, asparagus is more expensive,
because you need to deny the plants
light while they are being grown.
That’s a costly method, as you
have to add earth quite often, so
that the growing sparr… asparagus
never sees light. They aren’t
‘anaemic’, they are just
chlorophyll-less, which makes them
probably less bitter and subtler…
but dearer indeed. And just like with
whisky, dearer means better, doesn’t
it? The best in the world, ‘of
course’, comes from a village
north of Alsace, named Hoerdt, where
they grow a superb crossbreed of the
Argenteuil and Erfurt varieties. But
okay, let’s not start an asparagus
war just now, so, back to Ribot,
who’s a favourite of mine. I
think he’s a genuine innovator
indeed, and there aren’t that
many guitarists who managed to go
much further than Jimi Hendrix did
(except Peter Frampton - LOL). Maybe
Marc Ducret and Noel Akchote but otherwise,
Ribot is the thing indeed, in my humble
opinion. And not only because he played
a stupendous ‘Black Trombone’
on the famous tribute CD ‘Great
Jewish Music, Serge Gainsbourg’
led by John Zorn (such a good record!)…
Or because of his work with the Lounge
Lizards... Well, I could go on
for hours but that would be boring
and probably embarrassing, so let’s
have a little music instead... Like
this interesting live solo version
of C.C.
rider.mp3 (the adventurous rock
and roll side) or This.mp3
(sorry, I don't have the song's name,
but it's the easier, Latino side indeed,
with Los Cubanos) or Truth
is marching in.mp3 (the free jazz
side, from his fab 2005 CD 'Spiritual
Unity', where there are also two pieces
composed by the great Albert Ayler,
who was a philosopher in a certain
way, please read the quote on his
tribute
website.) Now, to our distinguished
readers: don't worry, we'll go back
to easier music from tomorrow on... |
| Mouth:
not too bold but not weak, sort of
strange, starting on overripe oranges
but also lots of paraffin. Notes of
cod oil (err…), cardboard, clay…
Gets then very herbal again (dried
parsley, thyme). I’m wondering
whether there isn’t quite some
peat in there. Unusual notes of green
curry, Madeira, and retsina…
That’s right, it’s quite
resinous. The finish isn’t too
long but balanced and satisfying,
on peppered strawberries… Interesting,
really interesting – I can’t
remember having had that much parsley
in a malt before. 84 points. |
| Braeval
9 yo (46%, DL Premier Label, 422 bottles,
circa 2005)
Colour: gold. Nose, fresher and more
perfumy but with again quite some
sherry. A little vinous, in fact,
with notes of cooked strawberries,
wine poached pears. A little rubbery
as well. Fruitcake, gravy… Less
‘unusual’ than the Signatory
– and also less expressive –
but rather enjoyable. Mouth: much
more classical, with a slight sourness
from the sherry. Goes on with honey
and caramel, fruitcake, cooked fruits
(strawberries, jams), getting bolder
and more coating by the minute. Nice
notes of milk chocolate and praline,
dried apricots, figs, dates, prunes…
It’s good! The finish is rather
long, nicely balanced again, fruity
and a little spicy (cinnamon). A very
good young Braes again, technically
better than the Signatory but also
less ‘different’. Same
rating: 84 points. |
|
|
| May
10, 2006 |
|
|
| TASTING
- TWO 25 yo TALISKERS |
 |
Talisker
25 yo 1952/1977 (70° proof, G&M,
Queen's Silver Jubilee)
Colour: pale gold. Nose: lots of wildness
considering both its age and its ABV.
Great hints of passion fruits (raw,
not ‘processed’ like in
many other old malts), then something
oily (linseed oil, petrol) and slightly
metallic, and then the ‘maritime
cavalry’. Oysters, seaweed…
Very complex! |
| Gets
quite resinous after a moment (pine
needles, rubber bands, camphor), with
also whiffs of dairy cream, vegetable
soup, asparagus… Very subtle.
Hints of old bottle effect (slightly
metallic here). Mouth: not too powerful
but not weak in any way. Starts on
liquorice and gentian liqueur (Suze),
ripe cider apples, marzipan and cough
sweets… A little pepper, hints
of caramel, old dry white wine (old
vin jaune)… Keeps developing
on herbal teas (camomile, lemon balm,
orange tree) as well as bitter oranges
and mastic flavoured Turkish delights.
Hints of olive oil. The finish isn’t
too long, obviously, but still satisfying,
with kind of a waxiness ala old Clynelish.
An excellent old malt, lacking just
a little oomph but after 25 years
in some casks plus 30 years in a bottle,
that’s easily excusable. 91
points (thanks, Regensburg!) |
| Talisker
25 yo (57.2%, OB, 2005)
I always liked the 20yo’s better
(than both the 2001 and 2004 versions
of the 25yo, roughly 92 points vs.
88), so let’s see whether that
will change now. Colour: gold. Nose:
punchy and powerful, with some big,
bold rubbery notes at first nosing,
that are soon to vanish, leaving place
for a blend of cooked butter, sea
water, oak sawdust and apple juice
– as well as butter croissants
(excuse my Frenchness). It gets then
more frankly maritime as well as quite
orangey and even flowery (hints of
peony and iris), and keeps then improving
for hours. Well, minutes… More
peat (rather subtle), more ‘farminess’,
quite some quince jelly and marzipan,
herbs (chervil and bay leaf)…
And always these bold buttery notes.
A punchy but domesticated Talisker.
Mouth: a little sweeter than expected
but very assertive, peaty, liquoricy
and salty. Something pleasantly sweet
and sour on top of that (white wine
sauce and also a little rubber again)
but it’s a little less complex
than on the nose just now. Salty butter
caramel… Gets quite dry after
that and expectedly very peppery but
it’s quite far from being a
‘monstrous’ Talisker.
Hints of curry, chilli sauce, thyme…
And always quite some liquorice. The
finish is long, quite enveloping,
salty and slightly caramelly…
And, of course, peppery. Well, it’s
an excellent whisky, no doubt. Maybe
a good two points above the earlier
25yo’s in my books, so let’s
say 90 points. |
MUSIC
AND WHISKY INTERVIEW
DANN
RUSSO
Boston’s
Dann Russo is leading a band called
‘The Whisky’,
which was already enough to draw
our attention. But then we listened
to his music – his EP ‘Dann
Russo’ is very good and there’s
also a ‘Live at The C Note’
CD - and found out that this ‘whisky’
is a very good one, authentic and
natural (that is to say acoustic),
powerful (that is to say full of
passion and energy) and also complex
(catchy yet intelligent, folksy
yet modern, melodic yet profound…)
That was more than enough to make
us decide to interview the talented
singer – songwriter… |
 |
Whiskyfun:
Dann, tell us a little
more about what you do, music-wise.
Dann
Russo: We are
the prophets of acoustic rock and
soul, taking our harmony-driven violin-playin
blues rock to the people in exchange
for shouting and singing like a revival
meeting. I must also say, the name
The Whisky came from a few of us sitting
around one night drinking...umm...whisky...and
we were thinking of a name. We weren't
going to be "Dann Russo and the
band" so we bounced around a
few names and it just happened to
be that the violin player, drummer,
guitar player, and I had a glass of
whisky in our hand (all different
kinds) and someone said "how
about The Whisky?" and it stuck. |
WF:
Which other musicians are you playing
with?
Dann:
The current lineup - Dann Russo
(vocals, guitar), Christian Kolarz
(violin), Brendan Russo (bass, vocals),
Frank Colagiovanni (drums), John Russo
(keyboards, vocals), Gary Ames (guitar,
vocals); former special guests include
Zak Ward (guitar), Roberto Conte (vocals,
guitar), Andrew Vanette (drums), Ian
Boyle (drums), Mark Fornatale (guitar). |
WF:
Which are your other favourite artistes?
Dann:
My personal favorites are Bruce
Springsteen, Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews,
U2, Melissa Etheridge, Counting Crows,
The Black Crowes, Bon Jovi, country
music, hip-hop, and about a million
others. |
WF:
Which are your current projects?
Dann:
Currently we're playing in and
around Boston and New York, and I
do both solo shows and band shows.
We're also working on our first full-length
album, entitled "Fortunes, Forecasts
& Lucky Charms" which should
be out in August. |
WF:
When did you start enjoying whisk(e)y?
Dann:
Whisky...mmmm...When I was teething
(yes when I was barely one year old),
my father called the pediatrician.
He asked if there was anything he
could do to stop the pain -- my parents
had not been sleeping for the last
couple of nights. The pediatrician
asked "what kind of whisky do
you have in the house" my father
replied "Johnny Walker Black"
The doctor said "good. pour two
shots -- dip your finger in one and
rub it on his gums" my father
asked "what's the rest for"
the doctor said "for you -- the
kid'll never sleep better!" and
that's a true story. Ever since then
I have had a taste. When all the other
college kids were getting wasted on
cheap beer, I used my money wisely
on Johnny Walker and Junior year was
introduced to Maker's Mark... yum... |
WF:
What’s your most memorable whisky?
Dann:
Other than the Johnny Walker story,
my most memorable was playing The
Paradise in Boston (the first place
U2 played in America). All of us were
psyched beyond belief and we all gathered
backstage for a celebratory glass
of Maker's Mark on ice and then ran
on stage and rocked out like we had
never rocked out before. |
WF:
Do you have one, or several favourite
whiskies?
Dann:
Johnny Walker Black, Maker's Mark,
Jameson (in tea), Jim Beam (it's actually
my secret ingredient in my chili),
and for special occasions, Oban. |
WF:
Are there whiskies you don’t
like?
Dann:
How can someone not like whisky? |
WF:
Music and whisky are often though
of as being male preserves. Should
girls play guitars, should girls drink
whisky?
Dann:
Girls SHOULD play guitars. Nothing
makes a girl more attractive than
knowing how to play guitar -- whether
it's lead or rhythm. In fact, some
of the best guitar players I know
are girls. And of course girls should
drink whisky. makes their kisses taste
that much better. |
WF:
I once heard an eminent whisky professional
say that he tasted whisky in colours.
Do you taste whisky in music?
Dann:
When I write music, a lot of the
time I see the song as a painting
-- what colors should be used to highlight
certain parts of the song, what it
would look like if it were on a canvas,
and I guess by extension of that I
see songs as different beverages --
some songs are wine songs, some are
beer songs, some are definitely whisky
songs. |
WF:
If your favourite whisky was a piece
of music what would it be, if it was
a musical instrument what would it
be?
Dann:
It would be either Gershwin's
Rhapsody in Blue or Guns and Roses'
Sweet Child of Mine. I know these
sound like they could not be any more
different, but they are the two most
(in my mind) perfectly arranged, taste
of everything, subtle and not, in
one song, wrapped around a memorable,
amazing "riff". If my favorite
whisky was an instrument it would
be a guitar or violin played brilliantly. |
WF:
Everyone thinks of Jack Daniels as
being the great rock and roll whisky
– why not Scotch?
Dann:
Jack Daniels is an ok rock and
roll whisky. Not my fav. Maybe there's
something about it coming from Tennessee,
like Nashville and Sun Studios where
Elvis got his start. Who knows. If
Elvis recorded in Lexington, Kentucky,
maybe Maker's Mark would be the rock
and roll whisky. The wax on the bottle
top is much cooler than just a square
bottle anyway. |
WF:
And if it was Scotch, can you think
of which brand? What would be the
Scotch equivalent of rappers drinking
Cristal?
Dann:
The Scotch Cristal would be Oban
or Johnny Walker Blue. |
|
|
| May
9, 2006 |
|
|
CONCERT
REVIEW by Nick Morgan
THE INMATES,
The Borderline, London, 6th May 2006 |
| We
really should go to the Borderline
more often. Although the décor
may be somewhat lacking (if Quentin
Tarantino ever wanted to dream up
the Mexican restaurant from hell this
would be it. Wait, hang on a minute
…) it’s a small friendly
dive with an always interesting schedule
of gigs, combining new and old British
talent with lesser known touring bands
who might find it hard to find a venue
elsewhere. It’s not full tonight,
but it’s busy, a mixed audience,
a good few of whom I clock as regular
100 Clubbers. |
 |
The
Inmates: Bill Hurley (left) and
Peter Gunn (right) |
| Having
miserably failed to find the names
of the first two bands – one
a nice young R&B outfit with a
good harmonica player, the other a
VERY LOUD thrash punk meets Black
Sabbath thing – I can assure
you that the main attraction were
veteran London rockers the
Inmates. Formed at the
tail end of punk in 1977 they remain
famous (to me at least) for their
fantastic single ‘Dirty water’
(originally recorded by the Standells)
which turned out to be a hit both
here and across the pond. I still
have my copy somewhere, but you can
find it on the Inmate’s myspace
page. The band were also very
popular in France, famously performing
a huge gig in Paris in 1987 organised
by the newspaper Liberation to celebrate
the twentieth anniversary of the release
of Sergeant Pepper – the ‘legendary’
resulting album, Meet the Beatles:
Live in Paris has recently been re-released,
as has the classic Fast Forward, which,
unless I’m much mistaken, makes
up the majority of the set. |
| There’s
nothing slick about the Inmates; their
trademark is raw sound and raw energy,
and they’ve retained this (more
or less) over thirty years. By and
large they’ve aged pretty well
too, although the cameras can’t
lie about front man Bill Hurley’s
burly beer belly and flowing grey
locks. But forget that – his
voice is remarkable, with a huge range
that he puts to good, if sometimes
theatrical, effect. The rhythm section
is tight, and lead guitarist Peter
Gunn (apparently he left the band
for a while but is now back in the
fold, as we were emotionally told
by Pete himself) is in fine rocking
shape. |
 |
| That’s
all – they were great fun, played
like demons for an hour, and then
came back to play ‘Dirty Water’
as an encore. Perfect Saturday night
whiskyfun. - Nick Morgan (photographs
by Kate) |
| Many
thanks Nick, that was a short and
sweet review indeed. And yes, the
Inmates were/are hot in France, they
have even an interesting French fans'
website. I just listened to the
good music on their myspace
page, as you suggested, and I
couldn't help thinking of an old fav,
the Flamin' Groovies. |
 |
TASTING
- THREE BLADNOCHS
|
| Bladnoch
16 yo 1980/1997 (43%, Dun Eideann,
cask #89/531/34)
Colour: straw. Nose: rather expressive,
starting on rather ‘regular’
mashy and grainy notes (mashed potatoes
etc.) but soon to get very fruity,
typically Bladnoch. Lots of tangerine
and lemon juice, tinned pineapple,
pink grapefruit (sweeter than the
yellow ones)… Also notes of
flint stones… Simple but enjoyable,
very ‘estival’. Mouth:
very sweet and not too bold, getting
frankly citrusy after a few seconds.
Sugared lemon juice, orange marmalade…
Id does grow bolder, with also quite
some praline and fresh pear, maybe
a little caramel… Again, all
that is simple and undemanding but
pleasant, especially the medium long
and fresh finish on lemon sweets…
It’s almost Summer! 83
points. |
| Bladnoch
16 yo 1988/2004 (56.4%, MacMalt, sherry,
60 bottles)
Colour: straw. Nose: starts much hotter,
and it’s not only because of
the higher alcohol. Again these mashy
notes (soaked grain, mashed potatoes,
even beer) and also a little coffee.
It gets then similarly fruity, maybe
more on green apples at first, and
then on lemon and orange juice. A
little grassier as well… Anyway,
really nice again. Mouth: powerful
but fresh, much, much grassier now,
and, should I say ‘of course’
very, very lemony. Lime juice? Something
rather perfumy in the background (lavender
sweets?) and a certain bitterness
arising after a moment... The finish
is longer than the Dun Eideann’s
but quite bitterer… Tequila?
Anyway, it’s a good one again,
no doubt. 83 points. |
| Bladnoch
21 yo 1965 (46%, Moncreiffe for Meregalli)
Colour: gold. Nose: much more complex,
and also woodier at first nosing.
Starts on vanilla and lemon fudge,
lemon caramel, crystallised quince
and develops on citrons and kumquats,
with also some bold notes of lemon
balm. Just as citrusy as its more
recent siblings but much more ‘candied’
and with a bolder oaky structure.
Notes of cigar box and incense. Great!
Mouth: sweeter and much less raw than
the youngsters, yet not extremely
complex. Lots of orange and lemon
marmalades, apricot jam, orange dunce…
And then we have the oak and all its
spices (mostly cinnamon but also quite
some pepper). Notes of tea. The finish
isn’t too long but quite orangey,
tannic and peppery (bitter oranges),
maybe a little drying… Very
enjoyable anyway - and less ‘summery’.
87 points. |
|
|
| May
8, 2006 |
|
|
 |
CONCERT
REVIEW
by Nick Morgan
DR
JOHN AND THE LOWER 911
Cabot
Hall, Canary Wharf, London, 4th
May 2006
God
damn! It’s hot, humid and
sticky. In the Big Easy it’s
28 degrees. But we’re not
in Bourbon Street, we’re in
Canary Wharf, London’s city
within a city, its monument to mendacity,
where it’s just as hot. And
as if summer has arrived at a stroke
all the City Boys and their City
Girls have spilled out onto the
walkways, lagers in hand, blindly
blocking the path of pedestrians
as they excitedly talk about the
deals and doings of the day. Inside
Cabot Hall, surely one of London’s
weirdest venues (a couple of years
ago The Photographer saw the Alabama
3 here – now how weird is
that?) the burly security guards
are bristling, arms crossed in that
most aggressive British fashion,
over their beefy chests. I imagine
they spend most of their day somewhere
underground, far beneath these towering
buildings, guarding piles of gold,
no – loads of money, no -
it must be discs of digital transactions
of re-mortgaged futures, or whatever
the latest worthless thing is that
some genius has managed to turn
into millions. Anyway, they’re
with us now, and they’re not
taking shit from no-one. |
| On
stage as support we have the pretty
(well, pretty predictable to be honest)
Catherine
Feeney, another of those American
singers with a ‘little girl
lost’ voice and a sort of vaguely
folky west coastish sort of sound.
Her songs, as she tells us, “are
all about relationships”. The
Photographer, who at the moment could
permanently eat a horse – snorts
with derision; “for god’s
sake”, she says, “why
doesn’t someone sing about sausages
instead”. An extreme view –
but I know what she means. Anyway
Catherine loves the UK so much that
she’s moved to Norfolk, and
she has a band of tractor-boys to
prove it. And she has a new album,
Hurricane Glass, on its way out in
June – so you can make your
own mind up. |
| We’re
sitting down at tables, “nightclub
style”, but it feels like we’re
at a wedding reception – one
of those when you don’t really
know who’s getting married or
why you’ve been invited. We’re
waiting to see the good Dr
John and his band, the
Lower 911, named after a district
of New Orleans, which was incidentally
one of those worst hit by last year’s
Hurricane Katrina. You may remember
that we last saw the
Doctor playing solo, and featuring
his then new album, N’Awlinz
Dis Dat or D’udda, which they
liked so much in your France Serge,
that it was given an Académie
Charles Cros 57ème Palmarès
award, which apparently is very good.
Since then he’s recorded a just
released album Mercernary, a tribute
to the works of Johnny Mercer (and
not too well received by the critics
it should be said, but you can download
a free track from Mercernary here,
and a rapidly recorded fundraiser
for various New Orleans charities,
Sippiana Hericane. The Doctor chooses
to live in New York these days, but
his band and entourage are all New
Orleaners and flood survivors, and
the Mercernary album was recorded
there. So it’s hardly any surprise
that there’s even more of a
New Orleans theme – both celebratory
and defiant - to this evening than
would normally be the case at one
of his gigs. |
 |
| The
band are as hot as the weather, in
fact hotter. Drummer Herman Ernest
III (who gives us a short master class
in New Orleans drumming techniques
later in the evening) and bassist
David Barard have played together
for about twenty years, and have a
huge list of notable collaborations
in addition to their work with the
Doctor – guitarist John
Fohl joined the band a few years
ago. But they’re tight versatile
and funky, and by way of setting out
their stall pull off a superb Meters
pastiche in the middle of ‘Iko
iko’. And they can sing like
a church choir (from New Orleans that
is, not New Cross). With them we get
a bit less of the Doctor’s hugely
complex piano playing than we did
when he was solo – but he’s
also playing a wonderfully battered
Hammond B3, so it’s swings and
roundabouts really. The Doctor walks
onto the stage, cane in hand, like
a tripped out old aged pensioner;
by his standards he’s in garrulous
form, and even treats us to some of
his (fairly restrained) ‘voodoo
dancing’; you’d be embarrassed
if it was your grandfather, but coming
from the Doctor it’s sinister,
funky and fun. |
 |
|
The set is a very mixed bag drawn
from an extensive repertoire including
Creole Moon’s ‘One 2am
too many’, ‘It don’t
mean a thing’, ‘Sweet
home New Orleans’ (from Sippinia
Hericane), ‘Iko iko’,
from Mercernary ‘Save the bones
for Henry Jones’ (“at
last a song about food”, said
The Photographer), ‘Renegade’,
‘Now that you’ve got me’,
‘Right place, wrong time’,
‘When the Saints’, and
for an encore a medley (or perhaps
I should say gumbo) of New Orleans
favourites. By that time the wedding
party had really warmed up, the front
of the stage was filled with dancing
kids (much to the bewilderment of
the Doctor) and the security guards
had largely given up, so The Photographer
went to work. And, at least for a
few minutes, you might have thought
that the free-spirit of New Orleans
had managed to permeate the thick
walls of this fortress of ill-gained
fortunes. Then the Doctor slowly tripped
off stage, the lights went up, the
security guards regained their composure
and we trooped out into the crowds
of still drinking City types, buoyed
by the warmth of the musical heart-beat
of a city that could benefit enormously
from a fraction of the obscene bonuses
these braying bankers pay themselves.
But hey, that’s the way of the
world. You could do worse than buy
the Doctor’s Sippinia Hericane,
or maybe make a donation to the New
Orleans Musicians' Clinic. - Nick
Morgan (concert photographs by Kate
The Photographer) |
| Merci
beaucoup Nick. It's true that Dr.
John is quite hot here, maybe thanks
to old Louisiana and France matters.
You know, that King Louis who was
from the Bourbon dynasty and then
good old Napoleon who sold Louisiana
to the Americans... Dusty history
indeed... But this is better, it's
the Doctor doing the famous Right
place wrong time.mp3. Vrehmohn
tress bonn, n'eh-t-il pah? |
 |
TASTING
- THREE GLEN MORAYS
|
| Glen
Moray 1992/2002 (43%, Dun Eideann,
cask #16, 500 bottles)
Colour: pale white wine. Nose: quite
powerful despite its low alcohol (well,
it’s always a hit when I tell
my non-whisky friends that 43% is
‘low’). Extremely grainy,
developing on freshly cut apples and
pears, with also nice flowery notes
of lily of the valley and lilac and
finally faint whiffs of newly cut
grass, dill and aniseed. Not much
else but the whole is enjoyable. Another
summer dram, very close to some good
new make. Mouth: a very grassy start,
with something like grilled herbs
and quite some rubber. Frankly feinty
now, grainy, with quite some apple
juice and tea but that’s all,
folks. The finish isn’t too
long, at that, spirity and a little
indefinite. The Nose was really pleasant
but the mouth doesn’t quite
deliver, lacking flavours. 78
points. |
| Glen
Moray 10 yo (70° proof, OB, late
1970’s)
Colour: white wine. Nose: much, much
fruitier than the Dun Eideann. Lots
of orange juice, apricots, fresh pineapple,
plums and strawberries... A whole
basket! It gets then a little mineral
(flinty) and also quite flowery (flowers
from the fields such as buttercups
and dandelions). Extremely fresh despite
all these years in glass – a
very nice surprise. Pure pleasure!
Mouth: yes, it’s more complex,
sweeter and rounder than the Dun Eideann,
even if less thrilling than the nose.
Lots of oranges and caramel, praline,
fudge, nougat but also something slightly
bitter. Nothing disturbing but the
whole is a little simple, developing
mostly on the ‘usual’
apple pie topped with caramel. Gets
then a little weak but the finish
is rather enjoyable, with something
liquoricy. But it’s a good old
‘mundane’ OB altogether,
and the nose was quite an experience.
84 points. |
| Glen
Moray 1960 (43%, OB, 1990’s)
Colour: full gold. Nose: rather expressive,
starting right on vanilla and oak,
not unlike some recent ‘plain
wood’ Glenmorangies, with also
quite some freshly baked bread (the
crust) and getting then very fruity
again. It’s full of youth, with
all these apricoty notes. Develops
on ripe melon, mirabelle plums, oriental
pastries (orange flower water), Turkish
delights box and gets then quite honeyed,
and finally quite resinous (wax polish,
hints of eucalyptus, pine needles),
always with a very elegant oaky structure.
Classy stuff! Mouth: maybe it lacks
a little oomph now but it’s
very creamy and oily, with both lots
of dried fruits (figs, dates, sultanas)
and again these resinous notes: cough
sweets, propolis, eucalyptus honey…
And then we have the spices (cinnamon,
cloves, white pepper) as well as Turkish
delights and quince jelly, the whole
being so nicely blended. The finish
is medium long but satisfying, mostly
on vanilla, tea, praline and honey…
Too bad it was not bottled at 45%
or more, but again, it’s complex,
classy whisky. As we say here, ‘pure
pleasure’ – and no sign
of tiredness whatsoever. 91
points. |
|
|
| May
7, 2006 |
|
|
| THE
WHISKYFUN WIDGET IS AVAILABLE! –
It keeps you posted
on what's new on Whiskyfun in real
time! It works on Windows XP with
Service Pack 1 installed or Windows
2000 with Service Pack 3 installed,
or newer, or Mac OS X 10.3 or newer.
Download
PC/Mac or
read here. |
 |
 |
TASTING
- TWO ARRANS
Arran
1996/2005 'Vintage Collection' (46%,
OB, 6000 bottles)
Colour: straw. Nose: rather fresh,
starting on freshly cut apple and
dried roses, with also a little
rubber. It gets then frankly mashy
and grainy, with quite some porridge,
mashed potatoes, cooked rice…
Quite grassy as well. Rather straightforward,
not very aromatic. Mouth: sweet
and somewhat spirity but nicely
balanced, with quite some apple
again but also cereals, cornflakes,
hints of toffee… Pineapple
juice, nougat… Enjoyable.
Medium long finish on cake and orange
liqueur… Not a monster but
it’s rather flawless, I’d
say. Easily drinkable. 79
points. |
| Arran
10 yo (46%, OB, 2006)
Colour: straw. Nose: rather cleaner
but also a tad less expressive, starting
more on vanilla, praline and fudge
but developing on more or less the
same kinds of grainy, mashy aromas.
Quite some breadcrumb, beer…
Gets then quite flowery (lily from
the valley, buttercups). Also notes
of hot praline and honey. I like it
better even if it hasn’t got
such a bold personality. Mouth: very
similar now but a little creamier,
with more dried fruits, jam, vanilla
crème, cake… Apple pie
topped with vanilla ice cream and
a little caramel. Certainly rounder
than its younger sibling, maybe more
polished. Really pleasant. 80
points. |
| MUSIC
– Recommended
listening - It's Sunday, we go classical.
We like old whiskies at Whiskyfun,
and we like old music too. So, today
we'll have an excellent 1915 recording
of Alma
Gluck singing Edward
Horsman's The
bird of the wilderness.mp3. Isn't
it beautiful? Alma Gluck is said to
have been the first artist ever to
have a million selling record in the
history of recorded music! |
 |
| |
| May
6, 2006 |
|
|
 |
Laphroaig
1988/2005 'Coilltean' (45%, Samaroli,
fino sherry Puncheon, 582 bottles)
This kind of cask is very rarely seen
at Laphroaig’s. Colour: pale
gold. Nose: very elegant and subtle
at first nosing, it’s not a
wham-bam Islayer, it seems. Starts
on some delicate notes of apple and
almond pie, mastic, smoked tea (lapsang
souchong), marzipan… The trademark
medicinal notes are well here but
kind of subdued. |
| Goes
on with clams, fresh peeled walnuts,
hints of diesel oil, paraffin, a little
cider and notes of ripe peaches in
the background… A bel esprit
Laphroaig? The fino works very well
here, no doubt. Mouth: the fino character
is now very obvious, with lots of
walnut skins, cider apples, chlorophyll,
strong tea… What we call ‘le
goût de jaune’ (a taste
of yellow – yellow wine being
close to fino sherry). Notes of breadcrumb,
spearmint, liquorice… Certainly
wilder than on the nose. Camomile
tea? Of course, all that is very smoky…
Ah, wild things! And the finish is
very persistent, very ‘yellow’…
Unusual and very special. I loved
it (did Mr. Samaroli select fino casks
specifically? We also had a fab Glen
Garioch 'fino' recently) 91
points. |
| Laphroaig
13 yo 1993/2006 (56.9%, Signatory,
cask #3472, 186 bottles)
Signatory bottled lots of Laphroaigs
1992 and 1993 recently. Colour: straw.
Nose: much closer to a typical young
Laphroaig. Certainly rougher, with
the usual soaked barley, iodine, seaweed,
ginger tonic and smoke one can often
find in most young indie Laphroaigs.
Gets very medicinal, with quite some
ether, bandages, mercurochrome…
A wild and beastly one. If you like
that, you’ll like it. Mouth:
again, classically Laphroaig, and
really flawless here. Liquorice, smoked
tea, salt (lots), all sorts of herbs…
Maybe it’s not too complex but
it’s ‘a style’.
No need to say the finish is very
long, almost impregnating and quite
salty. Now, it’s also true that
the independents have a hard time
coming up with bottlings that would
only match the stunning official 10
yo Cask Strength… Anyway, 86
points for this very good
‘alternative’. |
| PETE
McPEAT AND JACK WASHBACK |
|
MUSIC
– JAZZ - Heavily
recommended listening: innovative
minimalist power drummer Leon
Parker does All
my life.mp3 (from his 1994 CD
Above and below). An interesting
take with the drums doing almost
all the work (okay, and the sax,
and okay, the mantra-like vocals).
Raw and pretty excellent! Please
buy Leon Parker's music! |
 |
|
|
| May
5, 2006 |
|
|
| TASTING
- TWO GLENGLASSAUGHS |
 |
Glenglassaugh
12 yo (43%, OB, early 1990's)
Colour: gold. Nose: very fresh and
rather clean, starting on lots of
natural orange juice and vanilla crème.
I must say I like it a lot! Extremely
fruity, with also lots of melon, tinned
pineapples, pear juice, bananas…
Hints of cornflakes and praline, camomile
tea, lime-blossom tea… It’s
rather simple but very, very enjoyable.
|
| Mouth:
the attack is very caramelly, on cornflakes
again, with a rather thin body, alas.
A little roasted peanuts, apricot
and plum jams, earl grey tea,.. Not
much else. Yet, the finish is longer
and much bolder than the attack, leaving
a bold taste of caramel and cappuccino
and also quite some salt. Rather good,
a little old-fashioned. Something
that reminds me of some old Chivas
Regal. 78 points. |
| Glenglassaugh
38 yo 1967/2006 (59.3%, Signatory,
cask #98/635, 109 bottles)
This one should be another kind of
beast. Almost 60% at almost 40yo,
imagine! Was the cask Gore-texed?
Colour: pale gold. Nose: a little
less expressive at first nosing but
quite curiously, not overpowering.
More complex as well, taking off on
some very nice citrusy notes mixed
with something resinous and minty.
Very coherent! Lots of lemon balm,
spearmint, grapefruit and tangerine,
peaches… But other than that
it stays a little closed, let’s
add a few drops of water… Oh
yes, that works. It gets more elegant,
always very citrusy but I get some
bold notes of pu-erh tea now, humus,
wild mushrooms, fennel, maybe even
oysters (where’s Glenglassaugh
again?) Very, very nice and totally
anti-tired (eh?) at such old age.
Mouth (neat): easily drinkable at
such high strength, starting on lots
of candied lemon and orange zests,
lemon fudge, cinchona… Quite
some tannins in the background but
nothing unbearable. It does get a
little burning after a moment, though…
With water: sweeter but not really
more complex. Lots of nice citrusy
and waxy notes, lemon caramel, with
a rather long and, once again, rather
salty finish. 38yo, really!
87 points. |
|
MUSIC
– Recommended
listening: French singer Elsa
sings the superb and tender chanson
Le
bal perdu.mp3 in duo with its
creator, the great Bourvil.
Of course this has been recorded
'in studio', as Bourvil died before
Elsa was even born. (picture: Bourvil
at the right with Louis de Funès
in the hilarious movie 'Le Corniaud') |
 |
|
|
| May
4, 2006 |
|
|
| TASTING
– FIVE 1966 'HIDDEN' GLENFARCLAS
(and almost a strike) |
 |
| Nectar
of the Gods (Glenfarclas) 38 yo 1966/2004
(42.3%, Whisky Magazine Editor’s
Choice, cask #6461, 84 bottles)
Colour: gold. Nose: a beautiful (and
friendly) attack on tinned pineapples
with something waxy and even resinous
in the background (propolis, fir tree
honey). Very, very little sherry if
any. Develops on all kinds of jams
(mirabelle plums, apricots, quince
– lots – blackcurrant)
and quite some spices like the usual
nutmeg and cinnamon. The oak is well
here but blends into the whole like
in an excellent ‘traditional’
wine (if you see what I mean). It
goes on with quite some marzipan,
almond milk or orgeat and whiffs of
cellulosic varnish and dried morels.
Mouth: a very oaky attack, but again
it’s the kind of oak that’s
very enjoyable. Not a ‘vanilla
bomb’ at all. And then we have
lots of sweet fruits, from melon to
apricot and from gooseberries to plums,
all that being topped with various
spices such as the usual nutmeg and
white pepper but also a little mustard.
The finish is long, getting maybe
a little drying now (strong tea).
Anyway, an excellent, unusually unsherried
(or so it seems) Glenfarclas. 91
points. |
| Speyside
Selection N°1 (Glenfarclas) 1966/2005
(44.4%, Duncan Taylor Private Bottling,
cask #3333, 228 bottles)
Colour: straw – pale gold. Nose:
this one is very different. Rather
less exuberant but not less nice,
more mineral and even waxier, with
something that reminds me of some
light-vatting old Clynelishes. Paraffin,
car engine, turpentine… Gets
even more resinous with time (pine
needles, mastic). Lots of flowers
as well (like buttercups or daisies)
and hints of cooked vegetables (asparagus,
even morels again – yummy) Probably
a little more austere and sharper
than the Whiskymag version, but maybe
also a little more complex. Excellent.
Mouth: the differences are more or
less the same here. Less fruity and
more on herbs (verbena, coriander,
parsley) but with again lots of oak.
It’s also a little hotter than
the Whiskymag version. Goes on with
more or less the same waxy and resinous
notes than on the nose and, quite
funnily, notes of mustard just like
in its sibling. The finish is even
longer and a little sharper, mainly
on bergamot tea and pepper. Really
complex and elegant, with again no
traces of sherry. 91 points. |
| Glenfarclas
38 yo 1966/2005 (48.3%, SMWS 1.123)
Colour: gold. Nose: ho-ho, it seems
that we have kind of a blend of both
previous versions here, except that
it’s a little less aromatic.
The aforementioned notes of fruit
jams on one side and the waxy, resinous
ones on the other side. Perhaps more
vanilla as well, and again these nice
notes of flowers from the fields (buttercups
and such). Very nice but not exactly
in the same league as its brothers.
Mouth: that’s confirmed. Lots
of oak, spices, yellow fruit jams
but also a little less complexity.
The tannins are also a little more
‘sticky’ but the finish
is very enjoyable, creamy, fruity
and peppery. A very nice dram, even
if not totally top notch. Again, very
little sherry if any. 89 points. |
| Ballindalloch
(Glenfarclas) 1966/2006 (44.5%, JWWW
Old Train Line, sherry cask #5639)
Colour: coffee. Here come the sherry
monsters, it seems! Nose: fab! (I
said I won’t use the word ‘wow!’
anymore ;-)) Starts on some bold strawberry
jam mixed with chocolate (or kind
of ganache), lots of other kinds of
red fruit jams (mostly berries) and
other sorts of chocolate, orange liqueur,
praline, excellent old rancio, high-end
sherry, fresh strawberries…
really superb, more aerial and less
on rum, coffee and raisin than most
sherry monsters. Not a monster at
all, in fact. What a fabulous balance!
Mouth: really full and rounded, but
with still quite some nervousness
despite the tannins that start to
show off. Lots of toffee and coffee,
a little mint, old red wine, herbs
liqueur (Jägermeister –
oops, sorry, brands aren’t cool
either, are they?)… Something
slightly rubbery, also coffee grounds,
Turkish coffee… Maybe a little
less exciting than the nose. The finish
is long but leaves something a little
rubbery and sour on the rear part
of your tongue… But don’t
get me wrong, it’s still a superb
Glenfarclas! 91 points. |
| Old
Speyside (Glenfarclas) 1966/2006 (45.6%,
M&H Cask Selection, 270 bottles)
Colour: coffee, just a bit lighter
than the JW. Nose: ah yes, now we’re
more on the usual (but not less enjoyable)
rum, raisins, chocolate, praline,
crystallised oranges, cooked strawberries
and coffee. Very classical, very nice,
with also quite some resinous and
minty notes. It’s still quite
fresh vibrant, not as ‘aerial’
and fruity as the JW but just as good.
Perfect sherry matured whisky. Mouth:
Hmmm, yes, I like this one better
on the palate. More balanced and more
complex, with tannins just as present
but better integrated. Other than
that it’s the classical series
of toffee, coffee, rum, raisins, oranges,
praline, chocolate, strawberry jam,
old rancio, orange liqueurs etc. You
get the picture, it’s a classical
(yes) old sherry cask matured Glenfarclas.
Lots of body, lots of oomph, no signs
of tiredness. Perfect, even if not
totally stunning – but you have
to like oloroso. 92 points. |
 |
MUSIC
– JAZZ - Very
heavily recommended listening: when
a great talent like marvelous pianist
Jessica
Williams (another Whiskyfun
all-time favourite) pays tribute to
Bill Evans, it gives Bill's
beauty.mp3. And suddenly, the
world's a better place... Please buy
Jessica William's stupendous CD's
and go to her concerts! |
| PETE
McPEAT AND JACK WASHBACK |
|
|
| May
3, 2006 |
|
|
| MUSIC
AND WHISKY INTERVIEW - ALEX BATTLES |
 |
My
first encounter with Alex Battles
happened via a country song I found
on the Web, called ‘You Broke
My F*ck*ng Heart’. I liked it
a lot and frankly, it’s not
that Whiskyfun is a very rebellious
website, but how could I have resisted
the urge to interview a guy who’s
behind a band called ‘The Whisky
Rebellion’ anyway? (note: the
Whiskey Rebellion was an uprising
that happened at the very end of the
18th Century, when Appalachian settlers
fought against a federal tax on liquor
and distilled drinks). |
| In
fact, Alex Battles lives in Brooklyn
and besides performing with his aforementioned
backing band - the exact nature or
lineup of the band seem to change
with the weather, did I read somewhere
-, he’s also, according to brooklyncountry.com,
‘the twisted mastermind behind
CasHank (an open acoustic jam of Hank
and Johnny songs), Jugfest, The Johnny
Cash Birthday Bash, and The Brooklyn
Country Music Festival, and--along
with Dock Oscar of Sweet William--is
a co-organizer of The Brooklyn Winter
Hoedown and, most recently, The NYC
Opry’. Lots of whisky needed
to fuel all this, I guess… |
Whiskyfun:
Alex, tell us a little
more about what you do, music-wise.
Alex
Battles: I write
country songs for people who say they
hate country music. Then I say “Do
you like Johnny Cash?” and they
always say yes. So then hopefully,
I can get them to listen to my songs
too. |
WF:
Which other musicians are you playing
with?
Alex:
The country music scene we’ve
got here in Brooklyn is thriving,
so I’ve got a heck of a great
pool of musicians to choose from.
Recurring members of my band include
Dotty Moore on fiddle, Tommy Rhodes
on guitar, Joe Choina and Nate Landau
on bass, Gasper Bertoncelj and Jesse
Bull on drums. |
WF:
Which are your other favourite artistes?
Alex:
Ray Charles, Desmond Dekker, Hank
Williams, Johnny Cash, Tom Waits,
Toots and the Maytalls, Frank Sinatra,
Jay-Z, Louis Armstrong, Leona Naess,
The White Stripes, Tom T. Hall, Frank
Yankovic, Django Reinhardt, Jimmie
Rodgers, Al Green, Biggie, Buck Owens,
Over the Rhine, Norah Jones, James
Brown, Muddy Waters, Mason Jennings
(how many do I get?) |
WF:
As many as you want! Now, which are
your current projects?
Alex:
Right now, I’m focused on
getting the 3rd Annual Brooklyn Country
Music Festival locked and loaded.
It’s usually in July, and hopefully
it will be this year too. There’s
also the monthly CasHank Hootenanny
Jamboree, which is our open jam session
dedicated to Cash, Hank, and any other
country songs written before 1970
with four chords or fewer. In fact,
that was last night, so my replies
may be a little hung over.
I’m also working on a record
right now. It’s home recorded
and it’ll be self-released sometime
this summer or fall. |
WF:
When did you start enjoying whisk(e)y?
Are there any musical memories you
particularly associate with that moment?
Alex:
The first time I had whiskey was
in college. It was Scotch, of the
Johnny Walker variety, I believe.
I don’t remember the music I
had on then. But I can tell you that
the first song I ever wrote was about
Jim Beam, while I was drinking it.
I was sitting by myself with a pint
bottle of Beam and I was reading the
label. I noticed that it says “THIS
WHISKEY IS FOUR YEARS OLD” on
the label, so I thought that was kinda
funny. Like what if Jim Beam bourbon
really was a person (in school they
call this anthropomorphizing things,
I believe) who I knew. So I wrote
this song called “Jim Beam.”
Then I wrote a whole lot more songs,
and a good percentage of them involve
whiskey in some way. |
WF:
What’s your most memorable whisky?
Alex:
When I first moved to New York
City, my friend Jenny and I used to
go to this place called Bar &
Books. The waitresses there were real
good-looking and they had a bunch
of good whiskies I’d never heard
of, so that was pretty impressive.
I decided to try something called
“Blanton’s” and
it was like $12 for a glass of it,
which was a lot of money back then.
Heck it still is. So I decided I’d
drink that Blanton’s real slow.
When it first hit my mouth, I just
let it sit there as long as I could,
looking at the waitresses and inhaling
the whiskey fumes and wearing a suit
my mother had bought me and thinking
“Damn, I really do live in New
York City.” |
WF:
Do you have one, or several favourite
whiskies?
Alex:
For bourbon, it’s tough
to beat Jim Beam, pricewise, pound
for pound. Maker’s is also fine,
and I’ve had a bunch of single
malts that are also good. I’m
also a fan of Georgia Moon, which
is new whiskey made by the Shapiro’s
in Kentucky. That’s some fine
sipping stuff, but people call me
an ingrate for liking it. I love Talisker
when it comes to Scotch. |
WF:
Are there whiskies you don’t
like?
Alex:
Only the ones that give me bad
hangovers. Old Crow comes to mind. |
WF:
‘If the river was whisky baby,
and I was a diving duck’ is
one of the most famous and well used
whisky lyrics, from sea-shanties to
blues and rock and roll. Do you have
a favourite musical whisky reference?
Alex:
The only one that pops into mind
is one of my songs.
I wrote this song called “You
Broke My…Heart” which
has a line in it “you know I
tried to kill myself with pills and
Cutty Sark / Oh babe, you broke my…heart.”
A friend of mine asked me if I really
tried to kill myself with pills and
Cutty Sark, and I said, dead serious,
“No, it was Maker’s Mark,
but that didn’t rhyme.”
And of course, Maker’s Mark
did rhyme, but I guess Cutty Sark
is funnier. |
WF:
Ah, yes, that song! Excellent. Now,
music and whisky are often though
of as being male preserves. Should
girls play guitars, should girls drink
whisky?
Alex:
Whoever asked me this question
hasn’t been in the East Village
lately. |
WF:
Well, that’s right, I haven’t
been to New York since ages! I really
have to cross the Atlantic again soon...
Now, if your favourite whisky was
a piece of music what would it be?
Alex:
Better Get Hit In Your Soul by
Charles Mingus. |
WF:
Incredible how Mingus is popular among
rock, blues or country musicians!
Reminds me of that great Joni Mitchell
LP where he's talking between the
tracks - the name escapes me just
now. Do you also have a favourite
piece of music to drink whisky with,
or better still, desert island dram,
desert island disc?
Alex:
Tom Waits – Small Change,
Frank Sinatra – In the Wee Small
Hours. |
WF:
Everyone thinks of Jack Daniels as
being the great rock and roll whisky
– why not Scotch?
Alex:
Jack is all about the label. There
isn’t a scotch out there with
a label like that. They could put
cough syrup in a Jack Daniels bottle
and it’d still sell, just like
when they knocked down the proof on
Jack and no one noticed but whisky
fans and Modern Drunkard Magazine. |
WF:
And if it was Scotch, can you think
of which brand? What would be the
Scotch equivalent of rappers drinking
Cristal?
Alex:
When I think rock and roll drinks,
I think of stuff I can drink fast.
Maybe Dewars or Cutty, but don’t
hold me to it. I’ve never had
Cristal, but it seems like the scotch
that philistines always order when
they’re trying to impress people
is Johnny Walker Blue Label. |
WF:
By the way, why did you name your
band 'The Whisky Rebellion'?
Alex:
Because we came up with a bunch
of possible names for our band and
had our fans vote and that was the
one that won. Then the guitar player
quit because he hated the name. |
| Thank
you very much, Alex!
A few links of interest:
Alex Battles and The Whisky Rebellion's
official
website
A rough mix of Alex's new album
about whiskey here
(mp3). Comments by Alex: 'You
folks are the first to hear it so
I hope you like it ok. Eventually
there will be a fiddle break on
there, but I thought you might get
a kick out of the tune'. We
sure do! Thanks for that, Alex.
The Whisky Rebellion's myspace
page
The
Brooklyn
Country Music website (where
they are 'wearing their hats
low and lazy since the Clinton era',
they say) |
 |
TASTING
– TWO BOWMORES AND AN ACCIDENT
Bowmore
15 yo ‘Mariner’ (43%,
OB, circa 2000)
It’s not that often that I
taste 'mundane' OB’s (note
to self: you boring snob!) so let’s
use this one as a benchmark. Colour:
deep gold. Nose: err… we do
have these disturbing notes of lavender
soap and perfumed candle wax here…
Burning incense, rotten oranges…
Err… Mouth: it’s a little
better now, although ‘they’
are all well here. Lots of Schweppes
as well. This is just a flawed whisky
(it must have been the cork), no
need to go any further. Rating:
pointless (but I’ve had some
much better Bowmore Mariners before!) |
| Bowmore
15 yo 1990/2005 (55.7%, Dewar Rattray,
cask #260)
Colour: straw. Nose: we’re on
another planet. Sharp, austere, almost
discrete but very elegant, with quite
some peat, paraffin, brownies, fresh
walnuts… Notes of wax polish,
mastic, fresh almonds, smoked tea,
seawater… Very, very enjoyable
even if a little Calvinistic. Mouth:
powerful and compact, with a very
bitter start but it’s exactly
the kind of bitterness I like (on
candied lemons and marzipan etc.)
Hints of horseradish, smoked tea,
strong liquorice, ‘cooked’
coffee… Gets more and more liquoricy
with time, with something like ‘light’
pipe juice (only pipe smokers or ex-pipe
smokers will understand, the others
can thank God), fruitcake… Lots
of presence indeed. I like this kind
of whisky that’s really off
the beaten tracks. Hints of rose jam
– or gewürztraminer. The
finish is quite long, at that, on
‘smoky’ marzipan and orange
marmalade… Good, very good.
89 points. |
 |
 |
Bowmore
15 yo 1990 (58.70%, SMWS, 3.112, 144
bottles)
Colour: straw. Nose: this one is quite
different. It’s got some of
the Mariner’s offbeat notes
but also something like Alka-Seltzer
and burnt milk. Rather weird, if you
ask me. Lots of farmy notes as well
(not the cleanest ones), horse sweat…
But good news, all that settles down
after a moment, leaving some rather
nice notes of ‘clean’
farm this time (wet hay and such),
pu-erh tea, mustard, roots…
Rather interesting. |
| Mouth:
sweet, peaty and rough, with a blast
of smoke and lemon juice. Ha-ha, now
we’re talking – provided
you like your peat monster. Lots of
smoked ‘stuff’, salted
liquorice, maybe dried kelp –
please note that I never ate dried
kelp (who did?) but I imagine it would
taste like this. Goes on with cereals,
pepper, mustard and green curry…
Really big! And the finish is quite
long and very peppery, with also something
like Indian chewing-gum (you know,
that mix of seeds they give you after
your meal in most Indian restaurants,
I think they call it supari, see picture).
In short, the nose was so-so but the
palate was absolutely great. Alright,
86 points. |
|
|
| May
2, 2006 |
|
|
| MUSIC
AND WHISKY INTERVIEW - PAUL CUMMINS |
 |
It’s
no secret that we all like the blues
at Whiskyfun, so I was very happy
to be able to interview Paul Cummins,
one of my favourite guitar heroes
(there’s already been a few
entries about him on this modest
website – I loved his CD ‘Bluteus
Maximus’). Paul lives in California,
likes his Scotch and used to ride
a BMW K1… Exactly the kind
of combination that I would describe
as ‘ideal’ (seen from
here, of course…) |
| Whiskyfun:
Hi
Paul, nice picture, this one! Very
'blues', so to speak...
Paul
Cummins: Well,
it is a shot of me taken at B.B.
King’s Club in Universal City,
CA November 9th, 2005- when we (Midnight
Blues Band) opened for Mr. B.B.
King himself. I remember the moment.
It was a very special one. I was
doing a solo intro to “Sinner’s
Prayer” with all of the house
lights turned off except for the
blue ones and one red one. Lots
of mojo… |
WF:
So
Paul, tell us briefly about what you
do, music-wise.
Paul:
Well,
for the past two years, I’ve
been playing guitar in Midnight Blues
Band here in the Los Angeles area.
Formally trained since age 9 through
college, I also play woodwinds (saxophone
mostly), keyboards, and some drums.
I also write songs. I’ve had
a little luck in that regard. Sold
a couple to Sony/CBS a few years back. |
WF:
Which other musicians are you playing
with?
Paul:
I’ve been performing in
bands since 1968. I’m quite
happy with the guys I’m with
and the music we’re making;
but I’ve been fortunate enough
to have had the chance to play with
some people whose records I bought:
Jimmy Vaughan (Stevie Ray Vaughan’s
brother), Spencer Davis, Carmine Appice
among them. I also did a 6 city mini-tour
in 1997 as Chuck Berry’s sideman.
|
WF:
Which are your other favourite artistes?
Paul:
Wow. I’ll try to keep the
list short. Of those who are alive
today, I’d include B.B. King,
Bo Diddley, Sonny Landreth, Debbie
Davies, Ry Cooder, Otis Taylor, Johnny
Winter, Ronnie Earl, Tab Benoit, and
a few of the newly “arrived”
like Tommy Castro and Joe Bonamassa.
As a child of the 60’s, I really
grew up on rock; but once I learned
that many (if not most) of what I
liked were actually covers of Blues
songs written years before, my record
collection’s complexion changed
dramatically to accommodate Muddy
Waters, John Lee Hooker, Freddie King,
Albert King, Paul Butterfield, T-Bone
Walker, etc.
My biggest influences early on while
just beginning to learn guitar were
not the Blues masters though. They
were mostly Blues/Rockers like Rory
Gallagher, Peter Green, Johnny Winter,
and Kim Simmons. My acoustic guitar
hero? John Fahey. |
WF:
Which are your current projects?
Paul:
Well, we are currently right in
the middle of recording the first
CD since I joined the band. It’ll
be almost all original material; and
we’re hoping to have it finished
by fall of this year. We already have
a distribution deal; and were very
excited about getting the chance to
record our take on the blues. We’re
appearing at Southern California’s
best venues at least a couple of times
every month. We’ve shared the
stage with B.B. King, Guitar Shorty,
Rick Derringer, Rod Piazza & the
Mighty Flyers, Tommy Castro, Eric
Sardinas, Roy Rogers, Walter Trout,
Coco Montoya, Robben Ford…
Our lead vocalist Danny Brown has
been nominated for “Best Male
Vocalist” by the Los Angeles
Black Music Awards. The show’s
coming up in June; and we’ve
been asked to perform. |
WF:
When did you start
enjoying whisk(e)y? Are there any
musical memories you particularly
associate with that moment?
Paul:
Ah yes. The whiskey. My father
counselled me when I first became
“of age” to stay clear
of most alcohol; but if I were to
drink, I should make my drink of choice
Scotch- citing its more extensive
distillation as a primary reason.
It wasn’t long at all after
that I was enjoying (in moderation). |
WF:
What’s your most memorable whisky?
Paul:
That’s an easy one. For many
years, I held down a “day job”
managing a BMW dealership. One of
our regular customers who bought a
new car every year and I got to become
quite good friends. I’d always
make sure anything to do with cars
in his- or his close friends’-
life got handled quickly, smoothly,
and painlessly (many times at no cost,
and sometimes I’d take care
of a situation personally and after
hours or on a day off). He’d
always offer to reciprocate; but I
always told him it wasn’t necessary.
Once though, he insisted that I stay
at his beautiful place in the marina
at Redondo Beach while he was out
of the country on a business trip.
I was to look after the fish in his
4 salt water aquariums, keep his dog
company, and otherwise make myself
at home. That I should make full use
of anything and everything there (including
his Ferrari GTO if I felt the urge),
entertain a guest (or guests) if I
wished, was also part of his instructions.
While rummaging through a cabinet
looking for an ice caddy, I discovered
what appeared to be a bottle, gift
wrapped with a card hanging on it
bearing my name. Low and behold, under
the wrappings was a Bowmore from the
mid 60s. Incredible! I still get a
bit of the old “chicken skin”
up on my arms just thinking about
that one. |
WF:
Do you have one, or several favourite
whiskies?
Paul:
Due to the budget restraints of
an early semi-retirement, my favourites
rarely make it to my palate. My day
to day is Johnny Walker Black. Special
occasions (which I will invent if
I feel too long an interval has passed)
call for Glenmorangie. |
WF:
Are there whiskies you don’t
like?
Paul:
Well, actually yes there are more
than a few. I don’t want to
name names. Let’s just say most
are big sellers here in the States.
I’m not really a snob; but-
well, wait a second…maybe I
am… |
WF:
‘If the river
was whisky baby, and I was a diving
duck’ is one of the most famous
and well used whisky lyrics, from
sea-shanties to blues and rock and
roll. Do you have a favourite musical
whisky reference?
Paul:
…“I’d swim to
the bottom, and drink my back up”.
He he. I like that one too.
Well, as you know Serge, the blues
is overflowing with whisky references.
I’m particularly fond of a line
from Rory Gallagher’s “Too
Much Alcohol” (as ironic as
it may be) “Well, whisky’ll
make you drowsy, and gin can make
you think, the common cold could kill
ya, but a woman turned me to drink.” |
WF:
Music and whisky are often though
of as being male preserves. Should
girls play guitars, should girls drink
whisky?
Paul:
Oh, YES! Absolutely
yes on both counts. If you know of
one that does both, you promise me
you’ll send her my way. If I
am to pay alimony, I’d rather
it be to a guitar playin’, whisky
sippin’ woman. |
Thank
you very much, Paul!
A few links of interest:
The Midnight Blues Band's official
website (a new version
should be up within about a month.)
Here's
the only .mp3 available of the current
line up of the Midnight Blues Band.
Paul: It’s us jamming live
in the studio as a sound check while
the engineers were getting levels
set after we had just arrived. No
mixing, no mastering, no overdubs,
nothing but raw tracks of a tune we
were still writing: sort of a tip
of the hat to “The Originator”
Bo Diddley we call “I’ve
Got a Woman”.
Paul's
Lion Dogs |
| PS
- I just checked that there are many
pictures of Stratocasters on this
page just now. A sign? Of what? |
 |
Brora
23 yo 1982/2006 (50%, Douglas Laing
Old Malt Cask, 348 bottles)
Colour: deep gold. Nose: very fresh
and rather fruity at first nosing,
with whiffs of olive oil and flowers
from the fields. Enjoyable, no doubt,
but as far of ‘Brora’
as you can imagine – closer
to a Balvenie, in fact, or perhaps
to a fresh oak matured Glenmorangie.
Develops on apricots, vanilla crème,
fresh butter, fudge, light caramel,
light honey, plums… Not really
‘Brora’ but very nice,
I must say. |
| Mouth:
very sweet, creamy, with a most enjoyable
blend of apricot jam and soft spices.
Quite honeyed, at that, switching
then to notes of mustard and pepper,
old rum (not too dark), bananas flambéed…
The finish is long, very satisfying,
sweet and firm at the same time…
In short, it’s not ‘Brora’
(right, Brora was protean anyway)
but it’s flawless and very good.
87 points. |
| Brora
20 yo 1975/1995 (54.9%, Rare Malts)
This 20 yo 1975 has been bottled at
various strengths in 1995 and 1996.
Colour: straw. Nose: this is so much
sharper and firmer that it’s
almost violent when compared to the
OMC. Frankly peatier – although
it’s got nothing to do with
the 1972’s etc. -, more complex,
with something mineral and both maritime
and farmy. Sea air, wet hay, kelp,
‘clean’ cow stable, ‘clean’
wet dog… And then we do have
the same fruity notes (apricots, peaches
and such). Rather impressive, this
intermediate Brora! I like it a lot.
Mouth: really powerful but also very
coherent, starting on just the perfect
mix of peatiness, waxiness, fruitiness
and ‘coastality’. Extremely
compact and invading, with quite some
bee propolis, apple seeds, a little
cardamom and mustard again, white
pepper… All that on apple pie
and marzipan… Extremely assertive
and really complex at the same time,
with a long and almondy finish…
Not in the same league as the 1970-1973
but an excellent surprise. 90
points (and thanks, Tom). |
| UPDATED!
The Malt Maniacs Malt Monitor has
been updated (more than 16,000 ratings,
6,000 different malts). It's (left column). |
|
|
| May
1, 2006 |
|
|
CONCERT
REVIEW by Nick Morgan
TEDDY THOMPSON AND HIS BAND,
ULU, London, April 27th 2006 |
 |
It’s
almost a year to the day since we
were last in the gymnasium-like, and
exceptionally noisy (students must
just have so much to chatter about)
University of London Union. On that
occasion, having witnessed the much
inebriated Willie Mason, I was moved
to comment at some length on the revival
of the singer songwriter. Well music-lovers,
the news is that they’re still
hot – in fact we’ve got
an interesting trio, young and old,
at consecutive gigs in mid-May and
early June. |
| But
it’s interesting to reflect
that amongst the Masons, the Jack
Johnsons (does he really write songs
deliberately to have them used in
commercials?) and the Jamie Ts (Serge
– he’s very hot, listen
to ‘Salvador’ on his myspace
page) there are a few, as we call
them in football parlance, ‘special
ones’. I mean the sons and daughters
of the great and good, notably the
hugely-hyped and horribly-affected
Rufus Wainwright, his pretty and melodic
sister Martha (offspring, if you didn’t
know it, of Loudon Wainwright and
Kate McGarrigle), and tonight’s
pair, the rapidly up-and-coming Teddy
Thompson, and his less
well known sister Kamila,
son and daughter of Richard and Linda
Thompson. |
| And
of course, the McGarrigle sisters
collaborated with Richard and Linda,
Richard produced a few of Loudon’s
albums, Teddy has played with both
his mum and dad, Richard plays on
Teddy’s album, Kamila sings
with Teddy, and her dad, and her mum,
Martha sings with her Mum, and her
brother, and her Dad, and Teddy often
tours with her band, and her bassist
Brad Albetta co-produced Teddy’s
new album (and produced Martha’s),
Kamila sings with Rufus and Martha
for Teddy, and Teddy and Rufus dueted
together for the soundtrack of Brokeback
Mountain. Hmmm – all seems a
bit incestuous then. But the really
sickening thing is, on the basis of
what I’ve heard on disc, and
tonight’s showing, that these
well connected kids (well actually
they’re mostly in their thirties)
are nauseatingly talented, and have
more than enough by way of gifts to
make it on their own, which is what,
by and large, they seem to be doing. |
| Kamila
kicks off - and we arrive half way
through in a half-empty hall. What
with the student chat chat chat, and
her relatively poor microphone technique,
it was hard to pick up the titles
of the songs we heard, but they were
very spare and very sad. I know she
played ‘Cars’, which you
can hear on her myspace
page. Next up (yes, it’s
a big value for money night Serge)
are Sol
Seppy, or I should say Sophie
Michalitsianos and her band. Sophie
is a much-acclaimed pianist, cellist
and vocalist and sometime collaborator
of Sparklehorse,
whose recently released album, The
Bells of 1 2, has received considerable
praise from the British Press. |
 |
| Tonight’s
audience had obviously not read the
cuttings (you can find them on the
website) and had little patience for
this Husky Rescue meets David Lynch
meets Portishead ethereal sort of
stuff, nicely played though it was.
The students at the back just chatted
and chatted and chatted and chatted,
it was rather rude really, and after
about five numbers this interesting
outfit left the stage to a crescendo
of, errr, chat. Too bad – I
thought young people were brought
up rather better than this these days.
Not to say, of course, that the audience
was entirely under twenty five. Far
from it. Probably a half or more were
well over thirty, and there were enough
slapheads and greyhairs to suggest
that some at least were here in the
hope that they might catch a glimpse
of the great RT himself, who slid
onto the stage when Teddy last played
in London a few months ago (in this,
if nothing else, they were to be disappointed).
|
 |
And
I have to say that next to me (I should
mention Serge, that I’ve rarely
been so close to a stage in my life
– partly to get away from the
chatterboxes at the back, but also
because I’d left the wonderful
Whiskyfun camera at home and the Photographer’s
stand-in was only going to work up
front) were some distinctly over-aged
North American ladies (one of whom
managed to get her head in all the
pictures), who it turned out, seemed
to have Teddy on the sort of pedestal
that Serge normally reserves for his
beloved Brora – now how scary
is that?
Now I’ll cut to the point (at
last!). Teddy Thompson is the real
business. |
 |
In fact he’s almost too good.
You sort of wonder where that almost
throw away accomplishment comes from
(yeah yeah – I know –
his Mum and Dad). Having had a rocky
start with a lost album back in 2000
he sort of went to ground with family
and friends, but with the release
of an EP Blunderbuss in 2004, and
then last year’s Separate Ways,
he seems to be back with a very big
bang. He’s smart sardonic and
self-depreciating (as are many of
his songs). And if you didn’t
know better you might think he looked
like a youthful Steve Winwood (hang
on, I thought little Stevie W was
always youthful?) and sounded like
Lyle Lovett. If there’s any
obvious familial influence it’s
in the phrasing of some of his chord
sequences – made more obvious
on the album where Dad plays some
outrageously Daddish style guitar.
But tonight Steve Schiltz (normally
front man for New York band Longwave)
has the guitar in hand and he is frankly
inspired and highly original, a foil
and contrast to Thompson’s mostly
downbeat, though sometimes humorous
lyrics. Highlights are opener ‘Shine
so bright’, ‘Altered state’
and ‘No way to be’, but
it’s hard to find a weak number
in the set. Kamila helps out on a
new country inspired song, ‘Down
low’, and appears for the first
encore to sing (really beautifully,
albeit at the second attempt) the
Everly Brothers’ ‘Take
a message to Mary’. |
Otherwise
we get a mixture of old and new material,
‘Things I do’, ‘I
should get up’, ‘Turning
the gun on myself’, ‘Everybody
move it’ and ‘Separate
ways’ among them. The band is
really tight, Thompson’s voice
is strong and apart from the ecstatic
mouthings of the ladies to my left,
he shuts the audience up at a stroke,
and that was a triumph in itself.
So Serge we’re probably in the
90 point zone for this one. See for
yourself by buying the album, and
if Teddy and his band pass by your
way then please go and see him too
– he’s a performer worthy
of the price of a ticket. - Nick
Morgan (concert photographs
by Kate) |
| Well,
many thanks, Nick, but ouch, my head!
I mean, maybe it's a consequence of
some kind of grape and grain mixing
experiment we conducted last night,
but I must say your folk-rock family
Rubik's cube has been quite hard to
solve... So, for our distinguished
readers who may have had the same
kind of problem, I built this little
slightly unlikely solution. Please
just roll your mouse over the word
'here!' (bottom, right)... |
| Did
that work? Ah, you found out by yourself!
Congrats... So you deserve a little
music by Teddy Thompson: we have Thanks
a lot.mp3 (from his 2000 album
'Teddy Thompson') and Psycho.mp3
(from 'Psycho: music from and inspired
by the motion picture' recorded in
1998 by various artists including
Teddy Thompson) |
| Glenesk
32 yo 1971/2003 (49.7%, Douglas Laing
Platinum, 258 bottles)
Colour: straw. Nose: very fresh, starting
as fruity as possible, on bold notes
of apple juice. Extremely bold notes
of apple juice, in fact! All the rest
is sort of hidden behind those, and
stays so for a long time. Then we
have hints of vanilla, flowers (peonies,
buttercups), light honey, dry white
wine (Chardonnay)… |
 |
| Maybe
also a little flour, porridge…
Quite one-dimensional considering
its age, but lovers of apple juice
should like this a lot. Mouth: a sweet
attack but it’s also a little
sharp and tannic, with lots of pepper
and nutmeg. Notes of tea, ginger ale,
maybe a little vanilla… It gets
then extremely herbal (grass juice,
spinach, cooked sorrel… Gets
quite bitter, with a rather long but
almost acrid finish and lots of pepper.
This one is a bit hard for my fragile
palate ;-). I tried with a little
water but that didn’t improve
it, it got even more tea-ish (unsugared
strong tea). But the big apple juice
on the nose was impressive. 75
points. |
| Glenesk
1975/2005 (55.3%, The Cross Hill,
Jack Wieber's, 210 bottles)
Colour: pale gold. Nose: this one
starts much more spirity, with very
little fruit.. Notes of nail varnish
remover, raw French beans… A
bit hard, but then it improves, getting
quite fragrant (a little incense,
cedar wood, coconut milk), just before
it switches to… Apple juice!
Quite some lactones and tannins coming
through as well, as well as ‘chemical’
orange juice (Fanta etc.) Rather difficult,
I must say. Mouth: sweeter than the
Platinum but just as sharp and bitterish.
Lots of spices from the wood (nutmeg,
pepper, cinnamon, cloves etc.), apple
juice (here we go again)… A
certain sourness from the wood…
Not bad at all, in fact, more balanced
than the Platinum and less grassy
(although it does get a little vegetal
after a moment). A little aggressive
as well, let’s water it down
a bit… (while the nose gets
a little fresher and more flowery):
no, that doesn’t work too well,
bringing out only something quite
feinty and mashy (mostly porridge
and so on). The finish is quite long
again, probably a little sweeter and
less bitter than the Platinum. Not
a winning Glenesk either, that is.
For Glenesk collectors only? ;-) 78
points. |
Check
the index of all entries:
Whisky
Music
Nick's Concert
Reviews |
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Best
malts I had these weeks - 90+
points only - alphabetical:
Ballindalloch
(Glenfarclas) 1966/2006 (44.5%,
JWWW Old Train Line, sherry cask #5639)
Brora
20 yo 1975/1995 (54.9%, Rare Malts)
Glen
Moray 1960 (43%, OB, 1990’s)
Laphroaig
1988/2005 'Coilltean' (45%, Samaroli,
fino sherry Puncheon, 582 bottles)
Nectar
of the Gods (Glenfarclas) 38 yo 1966/2004 (42.3%,
Whisky Magazine Editor’s Choice, cask
#6461, 84 bottles)
Old
Speyside (Glenfarclas) 1966/2006 (45.6%,
M&H Cask Selection, 270 bottles)
Speyside
Selection N°1 (Glenfarclas) 1966/2005 (44.4%,
Duncan Taylor Private Bottling, cask #3333,
228 bottles)
Talisker
25 yo 1952/1977 (70°
proof, G&M, Queen's Silver Jubilee)
Talisker
25 yo (57.2%, OB, 2005)
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