8781 - CHEAP WINE - BASED ON LIES (2012) (REPOST)

CHEAP WINE
''BASED ON LIES''
2012
50:50

1 Breakaway 04:37
2 Waiting on the Door 04:40
3 Lovers' Grave 04:21
4 Give Me Tom Waits 03:44
5 The Big Blow 02:54
6 Based On Lies 05:02
7 On The Way Back Home 04:17
8 Lost Inside 03:32
9 The Vampire 06:57
10 To Face A New Day 05:30
11 The Stone 05:11


Marco Diamantini - Guitar, Vocals, Harmonica
Michele Diamantini - Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar
Alan Giannini - Drums
Alessandro "Fruscio" Grazioli - Bass Guitar

ABOUT
By Rudie Humphrey, Americana UK
It's tricky, I get that. The blurb that comes with an album, it needs to set the tone, entice, reveal and make you go, "ace! I want to the hear this". Records are personal, snap shots of a moment, a record of a time, some chums come together, do some stuff, it sounds like this, and we like it do you? I get that.
The guff that came with this was such BS, like some kind of manifesto, Mr Bragg once said "mixing pop and politics they asked me what the use is". Unless you're Woody, probably best to avoid it boys, stick to sounding like Psychedelic Furs or Blondie, you're all the better for it. You want the music to look like the artwork; same feel, this looks like a scary kid's book – not 'Where the Wild Things Are', but something that was later revealed to have some dark unpleasant code; think Lewis Carol.
So to the music: I guess that English isn't their first language, Italian is. This is no hindrance. I loved the Knopfler solo in track 2, "Waiting on the Door", very 'Sultans..', and very good.
The album opener is fantastic; loud, brash, urgent – screaming "listen to me, listen to me". That's good; calls you in. The vocal is part JJ Cale part bloke from the Levellers, with a touch of Cousteau about them. The mix is good; drums up, not buried in the back like an afterthought (and has some decent brush work).
The musicality is nice "Lovers Grave" has both a nice break down, complete with gravel vocal, plus a fadeaway vocal into full effect guitar solo, melting the two together.
I'm not a piano fan, but the Hornsby feel and honky tonk touches are just the ticket. The interplay with Michele Dimantini's guitar is class, and shows a band at the top of their game. This is a band I want to see live, I want to sing those "la-la-la-las" on "Give me Tom Waits", deep in the catacombs of an Italian club. Sweaty, wall running, stood on a beer-sticky floor.

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8780 - CHEAP WINE - STAY ALIVE!, DISC TWO (2010)

CHEAP WINE
''STAY ALIVE!, DISC TWO''
OCTOBER 25, 2010
65:45

1 Dance Over Troubles 04:24
2 Reckless 04:02
3 Time For Action 03:37
4 Snakes 06:01
5 Leave Me A Drain 05:06
6 Loom and Vanish 12:02
7 Move Along 06:04
8 City Lights 08:23
9 Freak Show 06:39
10 Jugglers And Suckers 04:19
11 Rockin' in the Free World (Neil Young) 05:04
Tracks By Marco Diamantini, Except 11

Marco Diamantini - Guitar, Vocals, Harmonica
Michele Diamantini - Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar
Alan Giannini - Drums
Alessandro "Fruscio" Grazioli - Bass Guitar

ABOUT
By Phil Edwards, Americana UK
This double album is Cheap Wine's first official live release adding to their canon of seven previous albums during their 16 or so years together.
Although they're an all Italian band, all songs are sung in English, and they sound like they've emerged from the plains of the mid West. Whilst they're a rock band in the traditional sense, with vocals, guitars, drums, bass and keyboards, they convey a sense of artistic style that makes them stand out from the plethora of artists peddling their wares.
Containing over two hours of music and 21 songs taken from their back catalogue and of which 19 were written by the main protagonists, the Diamantini brothers, this album covers a wider gamut that takes their music out of the expected rock spectrum and veers them on occasions into Americana territory. Obviously influenced by Springsteen and Neil Young, who have 'Youngstown' and 'Rocking In The Free World' covered respectively, Cheap Wine don't rest on the same old tired clichés so many other bands rely on. 'Among The Stones' introduces some dobro, which adds to what would have been otherwise a fairly routine song; the interplay with the instrument and the lead vocals brings it to life. 'Evil Ghost' rocks like its life depends on it, with some excellent searing lead guitar, after a tranquil start.
This seems to be Cheap Wine's modus operandi, starting quietly and peacefully, with a penchant for ballads, which and build into arena rockers. They give 'Youngstown' a run for its money and have managed to outrock even Springsteen.
Proving that they're not wedded to their modus operandi, 'Reckless' kicks off loud and proud, and doesn't give any quarter as it rampages through the set list. Following in quick succession, 'Time For Action' continues in the same vein, whereas 'Snakes' brings back more shade, without losing the rawk!
I'm at a loss as to why I hadn't heard of these guys until now, but I'm off to check out their back catalogue. You'd be wise to do so too.

OFFICIAL SITE

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8779 - CHEAP WINE - STAY ALIVE!, DISC ONE (2010)

CHEAP WINE
''STAY ALIVE!, DISC ONE''
OCTOBER 25, 2010
63:35

1 Just Like Animals 06:03
2 The Sea Is Down 06:20
3 Circus Of Fools 04:24
4 A Pig on a Lead 05:01
5 Murderer Song 07:01
6 Nothing Left To Say 06:04
7 Among The Stones 07:14
8 Evil Ghost 09:30
9 Youngstown 07:00
10 Shakin' The Cage 04:53
All Tracks By Marco Diamantini

Marco Diamantini - Guitar, Vocals, Harmonica
Michele Diamantini - Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar
Alan Giannini - Drums
Alessandro "Fruscio" Grazioli - Bass Guitar

ABOUT
By Phil Edwards, Americana UK
This double album is Cheap Wine's first official live release adding to their canon of seven previous albums during their 16 or so years together.
Although they're an all Italian band, all songs are sung in English, and they sound like they've emerged from the plains of the mid West. Whilst they're a rock band in the traditional sense, with vocals, guitars, drums, bass and keyboards, they convey a sense of artistic style that makes them stand out from the plethora of artists peddling their wares.
Containing over two hours of music and 21 songs taken from their back catalogue and of which 19 were written by the main protagonists, the Diamantini brothers, this album covers a wider gamut that takes their music out of the expected rock spectrum and veers them on occasions into Americana territory. Obviously influenced by Springsteen and Neil Young, who have 'Youngstown' and 'Rocking In The Free World' covered respectively, Cheap Wine don't rest on the same old tired clichés so many other bands rely on. 'Among The Stones' introduces some dobro, which adds to what would have been otherwise a fairly routine song; the interplay with the instrument and the lead vocals brings it to life. 'Evil Ghost' rocks like its life depends on it, with some excellent searing lead guitar, after a tranquil start.
This seems to be Cheap Wine's modus operandi, starting quietly and peacefully, with a penchant for ballads, which and build into arena rockers. They give 'Youngstown' a run for its money and have managed to outrock even Springsteen.
Proving that they're not wedded to their modus operandi, 'Reckless' kicks off loud and proud, and doesn't give any quarter as it rampages through the set list. Following in quick succession, 'Time For Action' continues in the same vein, whereas 'Snakes' brings back more shade, without losing the rawk!
I'm at a loss as to why I hadn't heard of these guys until now, but I'm off to check out their back catalogue. You'd be wise to do so too.

OFFICIAL SITE

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8178 - CHEAP WINE - BEGGAR TOWN (2014)

CHEAP WINE
''BEGGAR TOWN''
OCTOBER 6 2014
61:22

1 Fog On the Highway 05:23
2 Muddy Hopes 06:07
3 Beggar Town 04:46
4 Lifeboat 05:07
5 Your Time Is Right Now 05:10
6 Keep On Playing 05:23
7 Claim the Sun 05:32
8 Utrillo's Wine 03:21
9 Destination Nowhere 04:54
10 Black Man 04:20
11 I Am the Scar 04:33
12 The Fairy Has Your Wings 06:38


Album Notes
by cdbaby
"Towns crashed from the sun, dusty, slow, violent.
Over there, in the shadow of the mosques, under the high crenellated walls, there are beggars.
A lot of beggars. They are old, emaciated, their faces are burnt by the sun, they have no teeth, they often have no eyes.
They wear a robe and a turban blackened by the dirt, a piece of velvet is stretched at their feet and they’re waiting for someone to throw a few coins on it, and when some coin falls, they don’t say thanks.
Nobody know anything about their life, but everybody knows they will end up in a pauper grave.
They have no age, no possession, assuming they have ever had something - it's already too much if they have a name yet. They gave up all their moorings. They are wrecks. They are kings".
(Emmanuel Carrère – “Limonov”)

The characters of "Based On Lies" (the previous album by Cheap Wine) appeared upset from the catastrophic worsening of their living conditions, determined by the economic crisis, trapped in a world based on fiction, dominated by mass media that manipulate reality providing to the people a distorted, biased and misleading view of it. Bewildered and incredulous, amazed by something unexpected and devastating: as a refugee in a bunker that returns to the surface after a bombing, finding only rubble.
The figures of “Beggar Town” have to reckon with the rubble, with the nothingness that has remained beneath their feet, with places full of desolation and loss, and with a perspective foretelling a hard and exhausting struggle for survival. The surprise has given way to a realization that generates opposed feelings and reactions and only apparently contradictory.
Anger, cynicism, frustration, despair are the prevailing moods, but they can not rule out powerful bursts of light, moments of hope, outbursts of great inner strength, dreams of redemption, moments of tenderness. And the finding of the "disaster" never leaves room for resignation: the desire to fight, to stand up, to regain their dignity, pride, energy, represent the noble traits of the characters of this album and, in essence, embody the spirit of the whole work, which arises as exhortation not to surrender.
The color of the texts of “Beggar Town” passes through various gradations, until they reach the opposite type. From despair to earnest hope, because, in the extreme conditions, bright lights and deep shadows are alternated in a schizophrenic way.
The music of “Beggar Town” follows the same unpredictable path, crossing profoundly different, inhomogeneous and sometimes almost irreconcilable atmospheres.

The song "The Fairy Has Your Wings" is for Valeria who has always been with us and always will be, also from the immensity of heaven.

The song "Utrillo's Wine" is inspired by an incident that really happened in the second decade of the last century, featuring the French painter Maurice Utrillo (photo).
Born in Paris in 1883, son of the painter and model Suzanne Valadon and never acknowledged by his natural father, Utrillo spent his childhood being looked after by his maternal grandmother.
Even as a child he suffered from violent mood swings that often flowed into real epileptic seizures: to keep him at bay, his grandmother "cured" him with copious drinking of wine.
This led Utrillo to a natural, early drift toward alcoholism and, at the age of 18, the artist began to suffer from mental disorders caused by abuse of absinthe.
"Almost did not find the time to eat. Painting and drinking; painting to drink; painting with the bottle in his hand".
This passage from Utrillo’s biography written by Adolphe Tabarant, explains the level of alcoholism reached by the painter, in a definite period of his life.
They say that, when devoid of alcoholic beverages, Utrillo swallowed also cologne to appease his "spirits".
Maurice Utrillo was a great friend of Amedeo Modigliani, with whom he shared a great talent for painting, extreme economic poverty, a devastating alcoholism and, for a short time, even a poor lodging in the Montparnasse district of Paris.
The song "Utrillo's Wine" tells about a tragicomic episode of their coexistence.
One night, while Modigliani was sleeping, Utrillo had a terrible urge to drink and, as always, did not have a penny in his pocket. So, he stole Modigliani’s ragged clothes and bartered them for a couple of bottles of wine.
In 1916, Utrillo was hospitalized at the mental asylum of Villejuif.
The artist's paintings were valorized only after the First World War, but the succession of moments of imbalance will cause more hospitalizations and even prison in 1921.
In spite of his troubled life of alcoholism and madness, Utrillo lived up to 72 years: he died on November 5th, 1955 and was buried in the Cemetery of Saint-Vincent, in Paris.

OFFICIAL SITE

3036 - CHEAP WINE - Based On Lies (2012) (By Request)

CHEAP WINE
''BASED ON LIES''
OCTOBER 23 2012
51:19

1. Breakaway/4:40
2. Waiting On the Door/4:44
3. Lovers' Grave/4:23
4. Give Me Tom Waits/3:47
5. The Big Blow/2:57
6. Based On Lies/5:06
7. On the Way Back Home/4:19
8. Lost Inside/3:34
9. The Vampire/7:03
10. To Face a New Day/5:34
11. The Stone/5:12

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