April 2015 Capsule

Reading – The Burning Blue by James Holland

The Burning Blue is party a love story and partly a frighteningly real account of Royal Air Force fighter pilots during World War Two, and particularly during the desperate months where the German Luftwaffe were pressing hard against British targets.

Holland’s narrative actually begins a few years after the Battle of Britain, and finds the main character, Joss Lambert, a fighter pilot with the RAF, injured in a Cairo hospital after sustaining a nasty wound supporting British infantry in the fight against Rommel’s Afrika Corps. The story switches back and forth from Cairo to during and before the Battle of Britain.

Joss is something of a loner. His mother lives in London after divorcing her second husband, and Joss’ father is also dead. Furthermore, he’s burdened by a secret that is becoming increasingly difficult to carry about: his father was not only German, but also a German deserter from the First World War.

Joss has long been friends with Guy Liddell, whose family owns the idyllic Alvesdon farm, which has become a sanctuary for Joss. Guy is amongst a very select few who know the truth about Joss’s father. Guy’s twin sister and his parents are closer to family than Joss’s own. His relationship with his mother is a difficult one.

War is brewing, and it seems inevitable that the Germans will once again need to be stopped. Joss and Guy leave for university, but that experience is soon put on hold due to the outbreak of war, and when Guy returns to run the farm after the unexpected death of his father, Joss heads in a different direction: he joins the RAF and trains to become a fighter pilot as the British army reels from one disaster after another. The aerial dogfight scenes are excellent.

During visits back to Alvesdon, Joss falls in love with Stella, Guy’s sister, and it isn’t long before the feeling is mutual. That lengthens the divide between Joss and Guy and leads to conflict. Holland handles this well explaining some of Guy’s guilt over working his father’s farm whilst his friends are fighting and dying.

Just when you think that the final chapters are leading to a disappointing conclusion, there’s a stunning revelation…and then the book just ends. You don’t find out what happened to Joss or Stella, and Guy’s backstory leads nicely into the Jack Tanner books. It was kind of a letdown to reach the end and find it wasn't really the end. Here’s hoping the open-ended finish means a sequel!

Listening – Into The Wild Life by Halestorm

Halestorm’s third studio album, Into the Wild Life iis the much-anticipated follow up to the band’s hit The Strange Case Of… [which featured the Grammy Award-winning single ‘Love Bites (And So Do I)’] and despite fears that, because Halestorm had moved to Nashville and toured with Eric Church last year, the new release would be a country album, the familiar Halestorm sound is there.

Lzzy Hale has to be one of the best vocalists in rock music today, and her signature voice is the undisputed driving force behind what is a really terrific album, full of the same chunky riffs, heavy drums, searing solos and soon-to-be rock anthems that Halestorm fans new and old have come to expect. Rumours of their demise or shift to country music have been greatly exaggerated.

Mixed in with the heavy rock anthems – for example ‘Mayhem’ and ‘Apocalyptic’ (the first and second singles released) are both tracks that grab you by the scruff of the neck and don’t let go – are more introspective songs, like ‘Dear Daughter’, ‘The Reckoning’ and ‘What Sober Couldn’t Say’ and Hale’s voice is adept in both situations.

Vocally, there’s little that Lzzy Hale can’t do. Actually, ‘Mayhem’ but be Hale’s personal anthem. ‘Apologetic’ might be another, come to think of it. She does things her way, and doesn’t seem to care what outsiders think. No wonder she got on so well with Eric Church!

My personal favourite, after a few listens, is ‘I Like It Heavy’ an ode to some of the great heavy rock bands and songs of the past, and to the band’s love of rock. It’s kinda like something KISS might’ve done back in the day, just with upgraded vocals. The riff-friendly song name-checks Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, amongst others and Hale likens going to a giant rock show to worshiping at a church, and that’s exactly how I feel! Lzzy Hale’s vocal performance is as good on this song as on any other.

I’ll be honest, there isn’t a bad song on this album, although some could have done with a little less production from Jay Joyce – some rough edges are good, from time to time – and, ultimately, that’s what sees this album fall short of a perfect ten. Take it from me: Halestorm is the future of arena rock.

Watching – Deadline Gallipoli

Yes, I know, it was very much a case of Gallipoli overload in the weeks and months leading up to the centenary of the Anzac landings on the Turkish coast, and ratings for Channel Nine’s Gallipoli miniseries weren’t great, but what I loved about Deadline Gallipoli was the new slant it put on old events.

Focusing on four men – Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett, Charles Bean, Keith Murdoch and Phillip Schuler – who were reporters or photographers rather than soldiers and their time spent covering the campaign, each in their own fashion, Deadline Gallipoli sheds more light than ever before on the machinations of Murdoch, ostensibly on the peninsula as an unofficial spy for the Australian government, and the charismatic Ashmead-Bartlett, who combine to bring about the end of the Gallipoli campaign by placing great political pressure on the likes of General Sir Ian Hamilton. In many ways, this was the beginning of the media holding military commanders accountable for their actions.

Directed by Sam Worthington (who also players Schuler), the show is obviously a labour of love. The script benefitted from Foxtel’s ability to attach a big budget to such an important program. It shows, particularly in the scenes on the battlefield. This is a lavish production, telling an important story.

Yes, some of it is the same as what we’ve seen in previous shows about the fateful campaign, but it’s interesting nonetheless – especially Schuler, the most unknown of the group. Newcomer Joel Jackson impresses as Charles Bean as does Charles Dance as Sir Ian Hamilton. The great shame is that it didn’t draw huge numbers on Foxtel and didn’t get a look-in on free-to-air, either. This show deserved better.