Joni Mitchell- Travelogue

Travelogue

This is probably not a drug related music CD, when comparing to other posts like Floyds, Saucer full or Secrets or Skip Spence Oar. But when mellowed out on pot/wine or anytime your mellow, try this one out.


Travelogue is a 2002 follow-up to "Both Sides Now," released in 2000, and which pioneered Joni's work with a 70-piece symphony orchestra. Unlike the former album, which mostly reworked jazz songs from 1930s and 1940s (but also included a scintillating reworking of the song "Both Sides Now") this CD explores her own work from the 1970s through 1990s. Aside from the 70-piece orchestra, Joni is backed by jazz legends such as Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Kenny Wheeler, drummer Brian Blade, bassist Chuck Berghofer, and organist Billy Preston. Several things are notable about these arrangements: most of them are much slower than the originals, many of been transposed down, some by as much as a fourth or a fifth, and the guitar is entirely absent while the jazz elements of the songs have been enhanced. For the most part this works very well, as Mitchell's now-Smokey voice seems much more comfortable in the lower range than where she used to sing in her early career.

I'm a long time fan who's heard all her recordings. This is the greatest album she's made as of 2013. These are mostly acoustic renditions of previously released songs featuring fantastic orchestral accompaniments. It's not a rockin' record - the tempos are often slow. It's not a good introduction the Joni's work - the tunes and lyrics are harder to assimilate than the original versions. But this album has huge rewards for those who already know the songs and give it their full attention. Her voice is smoky and mature. She phrases so beautifully here. This is a deeply soulful album that can take you away, take you out of yourself, so to speak, if you're open to it. It's the Joni album most suitable for grownups.

Frank Zappa- Lumpy Money Project

Frak Zappa - Lumpy Money Project

 

 

 

Now this is the sort of posthumous release Zappa fans crave. What MOFO did for Freak Out!, Lumpy Money does for Lumpy Gravy and We're Only In It For The Money, two of the most important albums in the Zappa canon. Herein you'll find three CDs of alternate mixes and historical artifacts surrounding the creation of these albums. The material includes much that is obscure, as well as much that is well-known but presented in an unfamiliar guise.

 

Disk 1 starts off with a 22-minute composition built mostly from the recorded orchestral sessions for Lumpy Gravy. You will recognize the music from the eventual 31-minute Verve release, but it is organized quite differently. This is apparently what the Capitol release was supposed to sound like before the record company kerfuffle over Zappa's contractual exclusivity delayed matters by a year, allowing FZ time to extend and rework the material into what we now know as Lumpy Gravy. The Capitol version was briefly available on 8-track cartridge, and then kicked around for years in bootlegs run from a stolen acetate test pressing. Here it's presented in mono, having been salvaged from a much better-sounding single-channel reference tape (apparently, neither a multi-track master nor a stereo mix tape has survived). It lacks sung lyrics, and has only a modest amount of spoken material, and most of that seems to come from rehearsal chatter, and not the piano-reverberated directed dialogue that Zappa inserted extensively into the released version (and 25 years later, into his swan song Civilization Phaze III). This may be the most interesting part of the set, a very distinct "primordial" version of what become Lumpy Gravy. If you've listened to Lumpy Gravy proper many times, and have grown tired of the spoken dialog but not the music, then you might really enjoy having this.

 

Of all Zappa's albums, WOIIFTM may be the one that presents the most textual issues. The original 1967 mix, released on LP the next year, had a thumpy and distorted bass register, and when Zappa reissued the album on CD in 1986, he substituted a 1984 remix that infamously featured new rhythm section tracks laid down by Chad Wackerman and Scott Thunes, replacing the original tracks from Jimmy Carl Black, Billy Mundi and Roy Estrada. After Zappa's death, fan interest led to the original 1967 mix's reappearance on CD, first by Rykodisk in 1995, then Phantom in 2008. This album restores the 1984 remix, and also offers an obscure 1968 mono mix. This latter version closely matches the 1967 stereo release, though with some slightly different instrumental balances and (obviously) none of the latter's trademark spatial exploits. Even the dialog snippets that were censored in 1967 (e.g., "...the Velvet Underground which is as s**tty a group as Frank Zappa's group" in Concentration Mood) are censored in this mono mix, though they're restored in the 1984 remix.

 

Sandwiched between the two WOIIFTM mixes is a version of Lumpy Gravy that Zappa created in 1984. Like the 1984 WOIIFTM remix, there are added/replaced drum and electric bass tracks. It also introduces singing into the first section, (sounds to me like Ike Willis, FZ and perhaps another singer) with Thing-Fish like lyrics like "Yo mammy, who's yo mammy, who's you daddy? Holy mackle. Whole round Moses..." going along with the original electric guitar tune. I don't get this, honestly, and in the end Zappa never released this version, which appears here for the first time. It does improve on the original mix with respect to stereo clarity in several sections, and once you get past the shock of the opening song, it's a very rewarding listen.

 

With the four alternate album versions out of the way, we move to Disk 3, which starts with a 25-minute track that seems to comprises the material that Zappa wrote out for the instrumental musicians in the 1967 recording sessions that seeded Lumpy Gravy. The music definitely sounds to me as though it was composed to be source material for an eventual collage, rather than as a standalone composition, but aside from being identified as "an FZ construction" that existed as a stereo mix on ¼-inch tape, it's not clear just how this was assembled. Much of the important instrumental music from Lumpy Gravy is here: including the extended section in septuple time that Zappa often subsequently performed, with lyrics, as Oh No (c.f. Weasels Ripped My Flesh). There is also music that anticipates the "big band" style of Grand Wazoo and the 1988 tour band. The remainder of the album is similar to Disk 2 of MOFO, consisting of outtakes, building tape excerpts, interview excerpts, and audio "home movies" such a brief Zappa experiment with electronic feedback followed by a conversation with his wife where surprise is expressed that the loud sound didn't scare the baby.

 

About the only misgiving I have about Lumpy Money is the price. As I write this, it's an expensive "luxury" item, whether you purchase it here or from the ZFT's Barfko-Swill store. At current prices it will only appeal to Zappa aficionados, or those with lumpy wallets. But if you can get it at a reasonable price, you won't be disappointed at the gems within it. 

Kraftwerk-Tone Float

Tone Float

 

Organization's Tone Float doesn't sound like Kraftwerk, but it does sound like late 60s/early 70s Krautrock. Ralf and Florian made a big stylistic leap between Tone Float and the Kraftwerk 1 and 2 albums with the more free form Tone Float leading into more groove oriented percussion and riffs in the first two Kraftwerk albums. Organization's basic sound is similar to the first Tangerine Dream album Electronic Meditations, Saucerful of Secrets, Kluster, Limbus 4's Mandala, Stockhausen, and late 60s era Steve Reich. If you're into trippy chaotic experimental music, you'll probably enjoy this. Tone Float didn't make Julian Cope's Krautrock Sampler Top 50, but it does get listed in The Crack in the Cosmic Egg's Top 100 Krautrock Albums. The sound quality is acceptable: it's a pretty good quality vinyl transfer with some low level surface noise and distortion. If you want to hear the music you'll be grateful someone went through the effort to put out this cd. 

Doobie Brothers- Primo Cuts

Primo Cuts

 

Doobie's Choice is a great idea that I wish more band's would follow. Instead of the standard hits compilation, the band selects their favorite songs and twenty of them appear on the disk. Almost all the songs were never released as singles and the few that were like "Another Park, Another Saturday" and "Little Darling" barely squeaked into the Top 40 and are hardly hits. Most the songs come from the early days of the band and not the late 70's configuration that has a strong Michael McDonald influence. The band also takes some songs that are from recent reunions like the album's opener, "Divided Highway" from their Brotherhood album. Some strong tracks include "Sweet Maxine", "Chinatown", "South City Midnight Lady" and "Toulouse Street". The band does get a bit obscure with some tracks like "Cotton Mouth", "Nothin' But A Heartache" and "don't Stop Watchin' The Wheels", but the overall approach is superb.



Between Interval- Secret Observatory

Secret Observatory

This masterpiece of a spacemusic 'soundtrack' is a truly wonderful experience, not to be missed by any space music fan. It is a highly addictive CD full of mystery & passageways leading into many diffrent aspects of space.

All four songs on this disc floats into eatch other like the whole disc was made as a one-piece composition. And it is very rewarding what you will hear. The 4 compositions on this disc ranges with everything from deep, eerie & dark space music to the more brighter side of space.

The journey starts very dark and slow, but things get brighter and eventually everything expands, and space will open up for you & your ears. And before you know it you are trapped far away out there into a world unknown, somewhere in cosmos.

The best composition on this incredible release is "Forested Veins" as it has all the elements that a really good space tune should have, and it expands in such a way that makes me wonder if I really am in space or if I'm still aware of the real world around me.

I would recommed this album by all means to all fellow space travellers who enjoy the works of Michael Stearns. It is definetely a must-have CD if you are serious about taking a trip to the outer limits of life!



Brian Eno - Evening Star

Evening Star

"Evening Star" is a profoundly different record than "No Pussyfooting"; mostly gentle, more familiar, more naïve and approachable and still valuable for "An Index Of Metals" (oi! why cap the preposition?). The four loopy pieces that comprised the original side one offer an exemplary demonstration of Eno's early adherence to his ideals of dilettantism, here elevated and made exceptional by Fripp's virtuosic taste, timing and play.
But the importance and crux of Evening Star remains the less pretty, more profound half-hour that is occupied by "An Index Of Metals". The piece demonstrates a singular, uncanny and successful hybridization of the usually locked timbral stillness of looped constructs with a genuinely compelling and suite-like structure - let's say "deliberate" instead of purely "self-deterministic" - built upon recognizable themes and restatement. It also manages to immediately and happily dilute the meaning of "ambient" by playing into foregrounds and backgrounds, inviting active listening. This degree of working-out has not been heard on Fripp and Eno pieces before or since, and one suspects that "Index" in particular belongs much more to Fripp than to Eno. Pun or not, "Index" is now indexed to allow direct access to its 6 distinct "movements", a level of functionality that's nice, but not necessary since the piece is best heard as a whole. Broken up, it takes on an air of disappointment not unlike the experience of listening to those edited versions of "Starless" that keep turning up on King Crimson compilations. It's a coherent piece of music people, listen to it!



Kluster-Zwei Osteri

Zwei-Osterei (Two Easter Egg) -Kluster

Personally, this is my favorite album by Kluster. Although I prefer the later material done by Moebius and Roedelius as CLuster, as well as solo Conrad Schnitzler, this CD still has its appeal. The three musicians, with the help of producer Conny Plank, make improvised industrial soundscapes, which only occasionally can be described as "music." That's not to say it's bad, however - the amazing thing is that despite its chaotic structure, this CD is still very listenable. This time the lyrics are read by a man, instead of by a woman like they were on the first CD. The lyrics are in German, and consist of religious stuff. For whatever reason, a church financed the making of this album, feeling that it would be an ideal way to reach potential converts for Christianity! However, I don't know much German, so the lyrics don't really distract from the music. Instead, it just adds to this CD's "weirdness." This is very avant-garde, out-there stuff. The feel is very dark, very drone-y, very noisy. Considering that this was made in 1970, it was also very revolutionary. I think the musicians involved went on to make some better work, but this album is definitely worth checking out.

 

 

 

Marilyn Manson-Smells like children

Smells Like Children

 

Every single Album from Marilyn Manson has been extremely good in my opinion, and i add this one to the list. This Remix EP is a mixed bag, with half of the EP being filler, and the rest killer. Its about 8-8 of each. This EP has a very creepy feel to it, and definitely sounds like something that is best listened to while doped up. I would compare this remix cd to that of Trent Reznor's Fixed. Both are distorted masterpieces and i recommend fans of reznor and manson to pick each of these titles up.

ZZtop -Tejas

Tejas

This is Good beer drinking music for Wild Friday Nights, Rowdy Drunks Crouds and alot of alcohol.


Tejas, released originally on vinyl in 1976 or 77 is ZZTop's best album. It is the one that established them as musicians and not just three guys trying to blow up amps... although their simultaneous detonation of "Backdoor Love Affair" on the live size of Fandango is among my top 2 or 3 openings in all of rock and roll. Tejas was a brilliant, dry, gritty album with some great hits - "It's Only Love" (does anyone besides me get flashbacks to "Brown Sugar" listening to this?), "Driving While Blind"... one of the best singalongs ever "She's a Heartbreaker", and the tight chording on "Pan Am Highway Blues". Unfortunately, Bill Ham remixed the first six ZZ Top albums for CD before anyone caught on that great things don't need to be re-invented. The CD version of Tejas is the worst CD re-mix ever, out of over 600 in my collection. It basically sounds as if the whole album has been recut with a drum machine (a bad one too) and fed through an echo box. It's nothing but an insult. At the time, one of the audio magazines reviewed it (after I already bought it) and declared it the worst CD remix of the year. Nice to see no one was listening. I suppose the other ZZTop six-pack remixes are just as bad, but Tejas was my favorite album so it stands out.



King Crimson-Larks Tongue in Aspect

Larks Tongue in Aspect

 

This is the absolute peak of King Crimson. In 1972 King Crimson (the Peter Sinfield era) completely dissintegrated after a disasterous tour that produced the subpar live album Earthbound. Many believed this to be the end of King Crimson. However this was not the case a year later Larks Tongues in Aspic was released to the world and what an album it is. Completely departing from Crimsons former somber symphonic style, Lark's is an avant garde masterpiece that is absolutely drenched in darkness as well as beauty. Kicking off with the blueprint to every extended instrumental King Crimson has done since is LTIA part 1. This song show Fripps new found approach to songwriting, slowly building tension that ends with an explosive climax. The entire song is a roller coaster of sounds ranging from David Cross's beautiful(and more than a little sinister) violin soloes to Fripps Sabbathesque guitar passages, this song is more than a little strange. Even stranger is the fact that the song is followed up by a short ballad(Book Of Saturdays) that is the complete musical oppisite of the opening song. Exiles follows and is the second best song off the album. This song like the last song is a wonderful ballad driven by violin, mellotron, and Fripps acoustic guitar. John Wetton does a great job with the vocals. Easy Money is a fantastic rocker loaded with distortion and a great solo from Fripp. The Talking Drum is pretty much just an extended intro for the final song on the album but its a great build up. The closing song is LTIA part 2 which in my humble opinion is King Crimsons best instrumental. Alternating between heavy distorted passages and an absolutely awe inspiring interlude, this song is the reason i bought the album.

 

The musicianship on this album is top notch with all the players being virtuoso's at their instruments you would not expect the playing to be as tight as it is as tight as it is but in fact for an album that was part improvised this is some of the tightest group interplay I have ever heard. Wetton also does a great job at singing in the very few spots on this album that have vocals. Overall this is one of the greatest albums ever made and deserves to be in any serious music collection. This album is the very definition of Progressive.

Can -Tago Mago

Tago Mago

Can's 1971 release, "Tago Mago," is nothing less than a watershed moment in the world of early progressive rock. Surrounding the emergence of Can was a highly sophisticated rock evolution. With the likes of King Crimson pushing performance boundaries into substantially more complex territory and Pink Floyd exploring the outer realms of space, it would be logically difficult to emerge as something truly unique during the rise of progressive rock in the early seventies. Ironically, Can made originality look effortless. With complexity rapidly becoming the focus of rock, Can pushed against the grain, delving into a far more primal brand of avant-garde modern minimalism, with magnificent success. "Tago Mago" is truly years ahead of its time.

"Tago Mago" was originally released as a two disc LP, therefore clocking in at around 70 minutes rather than 45 minute standard LP time. The contrast between each disk is exceedingly stark, showing two distinct sides of this anomalous entity. The first half of this disk ("Paperhouse"- "Halleluhwah") is very "jammy." The songs are largely made up of repetitive percussive cycles and various bits of improvisation. While the songs largely pulse forward at a non-transitive rhythm, there is much more going on than would seem possible within each track. "Paperhouse" starts off relatively slow, and eventually loops into an expansive jam session, containing some delightful guitar work from Michael Karoli. "Paperhouse" ends with an intense let-out of energy that Jaki Liebezeit has masterfully brewing through his increasingly aggressive percussive cycles. "Mushroomhead" then begins. This is the shortest and most instantly accessible song on the album, consisting of what seems to be an electronic drum beat and Damo Suzuki's disconnected murmuring; a song, to these ears, reminiscent of today's Radiohead. "Oh Yeah" begins an explosion sound bite and what sounds like Suzuki's vocals being played backwards. "Oh Yeah" eventually evolves into a jam with an almost "folky" feel to it. "Halleluhwah" begins like something right off of Miles Davis' electric-jazz-fusion apex, "Live-Evil." A funk beat dominates the entire song, that expands into an amazing variety of atmospheres and colorful, textural explorations in its' 18 minute entirety. The song seems to slowly succumb to insanity as it progresses, but never quite loses its' steam. After "Halleluhwah," Tago Mago completely loses touch with reality, delving into some seriously avant-garde territory, previously explored by the likes of modern composers Stockhausen and Varse, which serves as a perfect contrast to the minimalist nature of the first half of the album. Can continue to delve in a perpetual nightmare of psychedelic hysteria until the album closes.

Everything in "Tago Mago" is sharp, angular and uneasily tense, while somehow able to slowly expand into the listeners inner conscious. The performance is delightfully tight, in its own choppy manner, even as "Tago Mago" moves into obscure and highly illogical territory. You can never really guess where "Tago Mago" will take you, even after multiple listens. There is almost a conscious equilibrium throughout this albums entirety, matching every moment of melodic bliss with haphazardly primitive intensity. Such a staggering amount of cohesive variety has never been as accurately put to mainstream music than in this krautrock classic.

Though "Tago Mago" is unquestionably a landmark statement in rock music, it is certainly not for the average listener. This album is a "grower" in every sense of the word. Even amongst fans of prog-rock, you would be hard pressed to find a listener who can honestly say that they enjoyed "Tago Mago" upon first listen. Everything about this album is sharp, intense, and unsetting, even in its' most accessible moments, revealing almost none of its' dark secrets without intense patience from the listener. If I were pressed to find a single adjective to most accurately describe "Tago Mago," it would undoubtedly be "subtle." "Tago Mago" demands unwavering attention, vivid imagination, and tolerance for the quintessential avant-garde. There is, undoubtedly, nothing more painful to the average listener than the constant barrage of violent percussion cycles that "Tago Mago" offers, or the a-melodic, audio-hallucinations featured throughout the last half of the disk. Of course, when "Tago Mago" finds its way to the appreciative ears of the music fanatic, it eventually becomes a permanent favorite.

Akin to any truly innovative musical composition, even the most thorough of descriptions fall despairingly short of personifying the actual experience. I can only appeal to the adventurous listener's curiosity by resulting in using the utterly cliché, but never more appropriate statement: "You have to hear it to believe it."

Jethro Tull- Thick as a brick

Thick as a brick

This to me is Jethro Tull's finest work. A total masterpiece in the greatest sense of the word. I'm not even sure I can write a decent review for this album without sounding like an idiot. But I'll try anyway.
It's a concept album about a young boy named Gerald Bostock (fake character), who writes a poem for a contest, but it is deemed offensive, and the boy gets disqualified. The lyrics are VERY complicated and understated, and to make a long story short, at least in my opinion, is based on the young boy's cynical outlook on life. But, you needn't worry about any of that, since the concept was mainly a big joke (or parody/spoof) by Ian Anderson & Company, and most importantly, the music is *so* overwhelmingly powerful and seductive, you won't care all that much about the lyrical meanings anyway.
The music on here drowns in it's own sophistication, refinement and high-class; the musicianship and it's high-class is something that shouldn't be taken too lightly, and should be the envy of many a musician and a listener. It starts off with acoustic guitar, followed by the flute, then Ian's vocals. The piece takes off from there. From there you will find tremendous melody, some hard rock, folk, jazz, and classical influences combined with many different shifts in tempo and time, and the band pulls no punches, as musical ideas keep flowing and flowing into each other like one huge piece, until the climactic end. It's divided into two halves. To be quite honest, the whole thing sounds like one gigantic classical piece, only with rock added. Also, I arguably think the second half is the stronger of the two, as the grandiose first half gets turned up a notch or two to a full blown english renaissance drama.
I can't say much more because I feel I'm at a lost for words. This is *indefinitely* one of my favorites in all of rock music, and music, period. If you REALLY like musical music, classical, jazz, folk or prog-rock in general, I think this is VERY ESSENTIAL and I highly recommend it to music lovers. It's *that* good.

 



George Harrison-Wonderwall

Wonderwall

A lot of things can be said about the very existence of this LP. In truth as some 60's anoraks know this album was Composed, Written and Arranges by a certain Mr. George Harrison, who

debuted with this album on Apple Records in 1968. The album was recorded partly in London and partly in E.M.I Mumbai in a studio without proper sound proofing. Knowing that Apple and it's

avant Garde subdivision Zapple was perhaps the first Indie Label of the time, way before other labels like Sub Pop and the like. You should know already that the aim of releasing this album

was never to meant to make it a show stopper or a chart topper. No `singles' as far as I know of were released from these sessions, although it is generally know for having Clapton

contributing a `striking" guitar part and Tork contributing banjo, you might ask is the album worth listening to as more than a 60's curiosity? My firm answer is this is not a album only to

LISTEN to all the way and in it's complete form it is an artist delicate and complete vision it is something you must EXPERIENCE, for it is both of it's time and way beyond it's time.

Taken the understanding that this is Harrison's first album and first self production. It is eclectic in the same way as delicately handled sophisticatedly edited musical numbers with a true

organic and actually spiritual core, come of somewhat like a diamond in the rough here, He knew he wasn't Phil Spector, but his vision for Wonderwall was beyond that sort of stuff. The main

stress is not pop - it is art and a sophisticated if somewhat delicate presentation of Indian folk music, in it's most organic form. This is not a far out one off project, George Harrison

was dead serious and so into it, physically as well as spiritually. If you expect Mr Fantasy era Traffic(I know `Paper Sun' is on your mind right now. Head era Monkees ( No `Can You Dig it'

here or Satanic Majesties era Stones(no it's nothing like `Gomper'), Wonderwall is way beyond that, it's even if you even could call it Psychedelic.

 

It is not about jumping the band wagon of using eastern `spices' here and there - as there are no gimmicks - this is not Tremeloes l'ive at cabaret 1969' . Even if vary speed effects and

tape looping is present on `Wonderwall' it is most sophisticated and never the main point of the presentation.

 

Actual review

 

All of the above are but elements to create a wholesome picture and so tracks like "Dream scene", `Crying' or `Love Scene' and the like thusly remain self explanatory. In stressing this

point I must proclaim that it is not `Clapton's guitar' or `Torks banjo' that makes this album so fascinating, the players could be anybody, what is really the strong point in `Wonderwall'

lies in how delicately and focused the production and arranging has been made, it is most sophisticated for a late 60's debut album at that. People might frown upon the inconsistent use of

Indian folk I western pop and maybe they are right to write of songs like "This bird has flown"
or `love you to' along with other 60's records mention above as being a little more than mere gimmicks for people who have grown tired of working in the studio. However this may be partly

true, Wonderwall is not at all about that, and it's not about being an obscure album by an `ex beatle' This is all about Harrison bloming as a visionary artist and producer, as noted above

both spiritually and physically, with no boss or star struck colleges telling him what to do and what not to do, Here Geoge Harrison is 100% in charge.

 

So you want to experience Wonderwall?

 

Know you must that it is a record that in all it's delicacy takes you places, it works out somewhat shy in manner from the opening microbes, but develops in time through many a sophisticated

and telling arrangements, although mostly a subdued affair, there are part time ventures into Charleston(Drilling a Home and C&W( Cowboy Museum) this should not me misunderstood as far out or directionless. It is all a part of the Producers plan, the Album culminates in the mournful and subdued title track ` Wonderwall' before it rounds of with the ethereal `Singing Om' it's

all well and calculated as it was always meant to end of this way. With singing Om, so recognise that the performer, composer, arranger as producer fearlessly expresses his spiritual

commitment in the most candid and modest of terms, in realising this you may not be as surprised to find he showed full commitment into producing music and hymns for the Radha Krsna Temple

in London, not long after this.

 

In between all this the artist has worked to fulfil the ambition of building bridges between the east and the west and filtered through his own vision.

 

Thusly `Wonderall' is a masterpiece in the very true sense of the world and there are few albums as intimate as this one. If you want to experience it, you may very well get the digital re-

master. Problem is however that if you want to sense the delicate nature of Wonderwall in full bloom finding the original vinyl is the best path, how long this may take, because with the cd

other than being self-explanatory digital (I know from experience) it is easy that you will make the mistake of singling out `best bits'. Or that you start skipping back and forth between

certain segments or upload some of them to itunes, just to give a glimpse of this stuff to your acquaintances, this may always hinder you from experiencing Wonderwall in it' essence from

side one to side two, which would be unfortunate.

 

The Final say

 

If you must see a Beatles connection please relate it only to the fact it was initially released on apple, in reality this has nothing to do with Beatle-mania or `the Quiet Beatle' it is

nothing other than a showcase of a mature and visionary artist making his full-length debut on the said label, his merits are all on Wonderwall, so it is easier for you to access it, if you

take the fact he was an ex-Beatle out of the picture. `Wonderwall' is in every sense of the word , Harrisons masterpiece, and it remains as such after all these years, while `Sgt Pepper' was

sold on Ebay all these years ago after the initial fascination met it's demise. 

Pete Namlook- Shades of Orion 2

Shades of Orion 2

This cd really blew my mind (into deep space). I have heard a lot of Space and Ambient music, but Shades of Orion 2 is definetely among the top 5 of my own all time greatest Space cds. If you close your eyes, the music will lift you into the deepest reaches of Space, and what a place to be! The music is varied enough to maintain your concentration throuout the over 1 hour long composition. If someone had told me this before I bought the cd, I would have said : "No way". In my opinion, Shades of Orion 2 is right up there with the the best of Jonn Serrie, Oophoi/Tau Cetis "Celestial Geometries" or maybe Fripp/Enos "The Equatorial Stars", just to name a few. If you are new to Ambient, I would say that this is one great place to start. So listen to this cd, and be engulfed in cosmic bliss.   It's as if Namlook and Inoue performed this music from a distant planet in some far away galaxy. Shades of Orion 2 is simply some of the most cosmic, atmospheric music I have ever heard.

 



Led Zeppelin- Houses of the holy

Houses of the Holy

 

With this 1973 album Led Zeppelin continues to cause trouble by offering an album cover by Hipgnosis with naked blonde children climbing a bunch of rocks without any reference to the title or even the name of the band. The group figured everybody would know about "Houses of the Holy" and insisted on finding new ways of tweaking their noses at the music business beyond producing songs that were way too long for AM Top 40 airplay. There were those of us who were just happy that there was an official name to Led Zep's fifth album after the previous one was known variously as "Led Zeppelin IV," "Runes" and "ZOSO." "House of the Holy" is very similar to that album in that once again there are no length blues tracks as you would find on their first three albums, although we do have John Paul Jones playing with his synthesizer on "No Quarter," which became his signature song.
What we do have are more examples of Led Zep's version of rock 'n' roll where the bass lines and Bonzo's drumming come up big with "The Ocean" (I like the odd little a cappella section) and "Dancing Days," as well as the folk influence on the acoustic beginning to "Over the Hills and Far Away." We even have one of the better examples of Led Zep being cute with "D'yer Mak'er" ("Me wife is going on vacation." "Jamica?" "No, she's going of her own free will...") and the group's first attempt to try to duplicate the success of "Stairway to Heaven" with the lush synthetic strings of "The Rain Song." Actually, I think the opening track, "The Song Remains the Same" is a better effort along those lines, covering much more ground both musically and vocally. You always get the feeling that Jimmy Page is always looking for the perfect song to not only start off an album but to open a concert, which probably makes it ironic that the song they apparently used most often was "Rock and Roll," the second track from their fourth album. Overall, "Houses of the Holy" is probably the best of the second level Led Zeppelin albums



Electric Light Orchestra- No Answer

No Answer

No Answer shouldn't expect a straight-ahead pop album in the manner of ELO's later releases. No Answer is further unique among their releases because ELO was then still a joint project of Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood. They split after collaborating on this album, with Lynne taking the reins afterward. Neither partner dominates this first record; each puts a distinctive stamp upon it. Wood provides much of the unusual sound of the album by personally playing everything from cello to oboe to guitar. Lynne's instrumental range was less but he contributed several of the album's more notable compositions.
First, let's talk about the unique sound: Lynne and Wood have said that their original intention was to take the next step beyond the Beatles' "I am the Walrus," and nowhere is this more evident than with this album. If you've ever listened to the Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour" album you'll recognize the unique ambience of songs like I am the Walrus, Blue Jay Way, and parts of Strawberry Fields Forever - all heavily infused with an unsentimental, rough cello sound, which in combination with pop guitars and unusual drumming created a strange, surreal, haunting effect.
That somber, unsettling sound is all over this record. A cut like "Queen of the Hours," for example, is quite easy to imagine on "Magical Mystery Tour," as is "10538 Overture." But No Answer has a less polished sound, more of a two-kids-fooling-around-in-the-basement feel to it, far afield from George Martin's (or Jeff Lynne's later) slick production. And much of this, of course, derives from the fact that Lynne and Wood were playing so many of the instruments themselves.
There are nine songs altogether on the record, five by Lynne and four by Wood. And though they're all pretty pleasant to listen to (Wood's ridiculous "The Battle of Marston Moor" notwithstanding), I feel clear distinctions between Lynne's output and Wood's. Wood's pieces, the latter of which are so obviously derivative of other musicians' work. "Look at Me Now" recalls "Eleanor Rigby" right on down to the little details -- including the minor key, the staccato quarter-note string accompaniment, the "Aah" beginning each chorus, and even the hanging melodic sixth in the verse melody. But that song is downright original in comparison with "Jumpin' Biz," which is so obviously a re-working of "Classical Gas" that one can't help but wonder about the legal implications of the similarities. Several people I've played it for actually thought it was "Classical Gas" until halfway through the piece. Wood's pieces are superficially enjoyable but such obvious derivation detracts from the listening pleasure.
Lynne's contributions are wonderful, though. He wrote five of the songs on this LP, and each is quite good. Three of them - 10538 Overture, Mr. Radio, and Queen of the Hours - are, in my view, terrific. The only real downside to his songs is that neither his singing nor the recording is as advanced as they would be on later ELO LPs. On "Nellie Takes Her Bow," for example - though quite a good song - his voice is really buzzy and distorted on the final verses. It's never been clear to me whether this is an intentional effect.
I absolutely love "Mr. Radio," with its surreal, backwards string passages, AM-static effects, and its evocation of 1920s jazz. But I probably listen to 1038 Overture and Queen of the Hours even more.
The original album's packaging also contributes to its intriguing atmosphere. Each song is illustrated by a black and white photo in old-time style, only accentuating the weird, haunted ambience of each piece.
All in all, I find myself more fascinated by this album than nearly any other ELO output, including my very favorite records among them. It's just a fascinating, surreal ride, experiencing those churning, sawing cellos, the raw production, and Jeff Lynne's stirring, infectious melodies. Highly recommended both for and despite its many idiosyncracies.



Pink Floyd-Saucerful of Secrets

Saucerful of Secrets

 

Released in 1968, Pink Floyd's second album, "A Saucerful of Secrets," shows the band in a transitional period. Singer/songwriter/guitarist Syd Barrett was ousted from the band due to his LSD use & erratic behavior (though the Floyd still allow him a final appearance at the album's end). Taking Syd's place was singer/guitarist David Gilmour, while bassist Roger Waters picked up the bulk of the songwriting duties, along with a pair of contributions from keyboardist Richard Wright. Some have criticized "Saucerful" as being a mixed bag, but I say that's total nonsense, because I've always loved this album. Roger Waters branches out as a songwriter very well with his trio of trippy psychedelic rock songs, "Let There Be More Light," "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun," and the very amusing "Corporal Clegg" (representing the first of Waters' various war-themed songs, though this particular tune is done with humor, including a solo on kazoo). Richard Wright delivers a fine pair of atmospheric songs, "Remember A Day" and "See-Saw." But the big centerpiece of the album is the 11-minute title track, an avant-garde, three-part instrumental in which the Floyd give the listener the aural equivalent of a war. The first part is the tension build-up, the middle section is the war (with drummer Nick Mason's tribal percussion loop, Gilmour running his guitar up and down a microphone stand, Waters repeatedly smashing a gong, and Wright pounding his piano senseless), and the final part is the release, the calm after the battle. It's an amazing piece, one of Pink Floyd's best, and it points in the musical direction that the Floyd would take on future releases.But it is Syd Barrett who gets the final, haunting word on "Saucerful" with his Pink Floyd swansong, "Jugband Blues," recorded just before his exit from the band, and which the Floyd rightfully saved for release on "Saucerful Of Secrets." The song---featuring some very twisted lyrics and a cameo by a Salvation Army band---may indeed represent Barrett's tragic fall into dementia, but he still sings it with tremendous feeling, and no diehard Floyd fan will ever forget Barrett's final, jarring line, "And what exactly is a joke?". "A Saucerful Of Secrets" is a terrific Pink Floyd album.



Yes-Fragile

Fragile

This is a good Cocaine/Amphetemine Album.

 

This 1972 album showed Yes starting to move even further into the realm of progressive rock and features the classic lineup of Chris Squire (Rickenbacker bass, vocals); Rick Wakeman (Synthesizers, mellotron, Hammond organ, piano); Steve Howe (acoustic and electric guitars, vocals); Bill Bruford (drums; percussion); and Jon Anderson (lead vocals; guitar). I think it goes without saying that this lineup would produce some of the finest material released by Yes and was comprised of virtuosos. Certainly, all of this is very much present on Fragile, which I personally consider a showcase of staggering instrumental skill that is very warm and inviting somehow.

 

Because of contractual problems largely stemming from Rick Wakeman, Fragile consists of three band compositions and several smaller solo pieces. The three band compositions are excellent and include the alternately ripping and melodramatic Heart of the Sunrise (their response to 21st Century Schizoid Man (King Crimson, 1969); South Side of the Sky (about a failed mission to Antarctica I think); and the classic piece Roundabout. The solo pieces vary in quality and include the excellent Long Distance Runaround/The Fish (Jon wrote Long Distance Runaround, while The Fish is a Squire tour de force on the electric bass with percussion by Bill); Rick Wakeman's Cans and Brahms (extracts from Brahms's 4th Symphony in E Minor Third Movement performed on an arsenal of synthesizers) (Rick did not like Cans and Brahms at all); Steve Howe's excellent acoustic solo piece Mood for a Day; Bill Bruford's painfully short and unfinished sounding instrumental piece Five Percent for Nothing (a slam on the band manager apparently); and finally, Jon Anderson's We Have Heaven. As a bassist and avid worshipper of Squire, The Fish is hands down my favorite, although I generally like all of the solo pieces.

 

Overall, the music on Fragile is simply amazing and has all of the emotional punch (some might say melodrama) of tracks like Survival (1969); and Starship Trooper (1971), yet with the instrumental sophistication that would mark all of the 1970s work. Some very melodramatic moments can be heard on Heart of Sunrise, which is an absolutely super 10'34"; and South Side of the Sky is certainly not without drama. However, what really got me when I first listened to this album over 25 years ago (and to this very day) is the playing - these guys were in a class by themselves when it came to sheer virtuosity. Although the playing can get overwhelming at times, it is nicely leavened by softer, acoustic passages (on guitar and piano) and Jon Anderson's high pitched vocals. Along with some unbelievable vocal harmonies, this makes for one amazing listening experience.

 

With respect to the cover art (the first with Roger Dean), I feel that the painting of the tiny and "fragile" world on the front cover is very warm and intimate despite the planet being surrounded by the cold vacuum of outer space. Of course, on the back cover this peaceful world is depicted as breaking up - a very different scene from the front cover. The neat thing is that the breaking up of the planet was reiterated on the live Yessongs album. As I recall, I used to stare at the "large" cover art on the Fragile LP and it was very much a part of the listening experience. Then again, the cover art was very important for me on all of the Yes albums (even Drama (1980)) and is something I feel compelled to mention when I review any of their works.

 

The remastering on this album is incredible and (sort of) takes me back to the vinyl days. The booklet is excellent and features the original album artwork; a ton of liner notes; and photos of the band. Although the liner notes are pretty much old hat for the typical Yes freak (such as myself), they should prove informative to lots of folks. The excellent bonus track America was a very nice addition that was originally recorded for the 1972 Atlantic sampler LP "Age of Atlantic". Although I did not own this LP, I did own the compilation album "Yesterdays", which also featured America. The other bonus track includes an early rough mix of Roundabout that really does not add much.



Jefferson Airplane- Surrealistic Pillow

Surrealistic Pillow

"Surrealistic Pillow" is a great work of art. The Jefferson Airplane was one of those many San Francisco groups that emerged during the era of the Summer of Love during the late 1960's. The album contained two Top 10 hits, "Somebody To Love" reaching #5, and "White Rabbit" reaching #8 on the Billboard Hot Singles chart. The album reached #3 on the Billboard Albums chart. Jerry Garcia from another San Francisco band, the Greatful Dead once said during the making of the album, "This is surrealistic as a pillow". Although he was never present during Jefferson Airplane's recording sessions, that was how the album got its title. Grace Slick, Marty Balin and Paul Kantner share vocals on various different songs on the album. Once you hear the tracks it has a great sound that will take you to the times of the West Coast sounds of that era, regardless if you were around those times or not. Other tracks like "She Has Funny Cars", and "Today" are well worth listening to. "Surrealistic Pillow" captures the psychedelic era of 1967 and still sounding great today.



Tangerine Dream - Zeit

Zeit

My impression of Zeit is that the band members of Tangerine Dream were aiming to try and out-do the dark, nightmarish psychedelic period of Pink Floyd (such as what we experienced from albums like A Saucerful of Secrets, Meddle and even the studio portion of Ummagumma for that matter). I think it actually works. This is some EXTREMELY moving stuff.

Unlike Pink Floyd however, there's no actual songwriting to speak of. Just waves upon waves and layers upon layers of incredibly spooky soundtrack/ambient sounds that will definitely take your mind through a variety of the creepiest settings and places in the entire universe. Seriously, this stuff is so whacked out that your imagination won't stop at just planet Earth. This journey takes us to Neptune and beyond!

Interesting side note- the more you hear this stuff, the more it absorbs into your mind. The ambient sounds actually manage to come together to create lengthy masterpieces. I can't explain HOW it works, but it does. Give it a chance. Definitely the kind of album you need to hear several times in order to fully and properly digest.

My favorite song by FAR is the opener titled "Birth of Liquid Plejades". The first 7 minutes sounds like nothing but the DARKEST violin (or cello) solo in the history of mankind. It sounds like it's just repeatedly playing one or two ominous notes over and over, totally reminiscent of the soundtrack from the relatively popular film There Will Be Blood. After that portion of the song is over, these organs come into the picture and they're noticeably creepy as well. The synths are remarkably melodic, if I recall. That carries us through most of the song.

Let me describe "Birth of Liquid Plejades" even more. The cellos actually remind me of this forest area that takes about 10 minutes to walk there from my house. This area is right when the Amish fields stop and the woods appear. It's pretty darn creepy, especially 20 minutes after the sun sets on a calm October night. The woods sort of go around in a circle, and when the conditions are right I feel like I'm being haunted by something. I've also seen some strange things back there such as weird bugs and animals I couldn't recognize coming out of the woods and looking at me. I've also had pets buried back there. This song makes me think about that particular area and really elevates the feeling of creepiness.

Now after those 7 minutes of cellos conclude, the song seems to take another ghostly turn- this time making me think about ghost ships that have disappeared into the fog and were never seen again. This section of the song really captures the feeling of mystery concerning the ships and even includes these occasional ghostly hawls to really elevate the atmosphere. These ghostly sounds always appear at JUST the right time. I love it. The song then finishes up with some organs to make it seem like everything we've just experienced is related to heaven in some way. Just a wonderful song overall and one that's totally unlike anything else.

"Nebulous Dawn" is mostly made up of, again, distinctly creepy nightmare world settings using some of the most frightening ambient sounds in existence (or rather, the most frightening ambient sounds technologically available at the time). Alright, these tricks were probably used in several horror or science fiction films back in the day, but nobody ever released an entire albums worth of similar effects, have they? If they have, it surely wasn't 70 minutes long and probably wasn't NEARLY as terrifying as the ambient tricks presented here.

This is where Tangerine Dream deserves credit for Zeit- it's a daring experiment, and I say "daring" because there was a good chance this kind of stuff would have been immediately rejected by the general public back in the day had Tangerine Dream been as popular as Pink Floyd, and you know, perhaps it was rejected in some areas of the world. I don't believe Tangerine Dream was popular enough for any rejection to be taken into consideration though (at least, not in America in the early 70's).

Anyway "Nebulous Dawn" feels like what would happen if bright lights were to shine through my bedroom window one night, and I was then forced to walk outside across a wheat field, through some thick weeds and eventually to these caves where aliens were planning to abduct me. Incredibly atmospheric.

The weak point is probably "Origin of Supernatural Probabilities". By "weak" I of course mean "Extremely cool but the worst song here". The ambience is pretty good but there's a few moments when the atmosphere does nothing remotely interesting. However when it *is* interesting (such as the first half with the clever use of ghostly shrills and other effects involving these tricks that continuously fade in and out when you pay extremely close attention to the piece- it's effectively breathtaking to say the least) you will be blown away completely. Some of the ambient sounds remind me of a laboratory of sorts where viral experiments take place, and where bodies are stored or frozen for future studies. Even a zombie setting wouldn't be out of the question. Awesome.

Oh, and the title song. PLEASE, listen to the first few minutes and tell me THAT doesn't remind you of an atmospheric world in a Metroid game ("Metroid" is a video game series in case you aren't familiar with the name). The rest of the song has quietly performed ominous waves of unusual ambient sounds with a dangerously thick and intense atmosphere. I admire it quite a bit.

Zeit may just be the craziest, creepiest, oddest, strangest, darkest soundtrack I've ever heard. That is, if you were to call it a soundtrack. It probably doesn't qualify as such, but it sure *sounds* like one.

Frank Zappa- Freak Out

Freak out

Freak Out is somewhat of an oddity, now and at the time it was released. It was the first album released on two vinyl LPs, unheard-of at the time, and it didn't make much musical sense nor much of a dent in the musical scene at the time. Some of the featured instruments on the album is the kazoo and xylophone. The kazoo was featured on some of the jug bands at the time, such as the Lovin Spoonful, but this is probably the ONLY rock album to feature a xylophone. If the album seems out there now, you can imagine how it appeared in 1966 when it was released. It is, however, a mature finely construct musical work.
It's a very eclectic album, containing renditions in do-wop, pop, blues rock and musique concrete, but is also the first concept album, but it is an eclectic album that works. It is easier to appreciate this distinction on the vinyl release rather on the CD feature.
It is the first politically conscious album. It had its share of pop songs, but many songs are tinged with political angst and foreboding. The title of one song, "Who Are the Brain Police?" is a dead giveaway.
Political statements can be read into other songs such as "Anywhere the Wind Blows" and "Trouble Every Day." "Trouble Every Day" reportedly was written by Zappa after watching the Watts Riots on television. "Trouble Every Day" received a lot of FM airplay in the day, due not only to its blues progressions, but on account of his statement, controversial then and now, " I'm not black, but there's a whole lots a times I wish I could say I'm not white." This line played very well in the 60s.
"It Can't Happen Here" is another interesting song with political undertones. Zappa took the title from a novel written by Upton Sinclair of the same name. The theme of the novel was the take-over of fascist interests in the United States. The song echos the same concern. Zappa deconstructs that most American of musical art forms, the barbershop quartet, by camping up the musical counterparts and singing, "it Can't Happen Here," as if it was Zappa's way of saying, "Yes, it CAN happen here."
Zappa not only criticized the political establishment and society, but shared criticisms of other pop songs. "Help, I'm a Rock," is a satire of the then-recently released "I am a Rock," from Simon and Garfunkle. The near complete lack of musical structure in the song or anything resembling "singing" is a satire on the smooth measured melodies of the S & G song.
The insanity level of the album increases as the album progresses. By the time of the last "song," "The Return of the Son of Monster Magnet," all bets were off. Urban legend has it that producer Tom Wilson and most of the Mothers -- but not Zappa -- were under the influence of LSD while recording this particular song. Whether or not this is true, this is truly plausible when one listens to this song. It is the "freak out," referenced to in the title.
This album gets better with passing time. The songs more urgent and its overall structure and what Zappa was hoping to achieve more apparent. In many ways, this album was Zappa's musical statement of what he wanted to achieve in his musical goals. It is his definitive work. It is definitely worth a listen. 

Moby Grape-Moby Grape

Moby Grape

So much has been written about Moby Grape (we'd be talking REAMS if it were all on paper, but these days we're more likely talking mega-megabytes, I guess) that it's next to impossible to come up with anything close to an original insight on this legendary group. So allow me a personal reflection, if you would. I was a mere slip of 15 year old when this record was released and a budding music freak, scarfing up everything I could get my hands on that got even a remotely favorable review in CRAWDADDY or HIT PARADER (ROLLING STONE was just getting off the ground in '67, of course, and had yet to make an appearance in my hometown).

Back in those days, HIT PARADER, under the editorial leadership of a guy named Jim Delahant, was actually a pretty cool magazine and a great source of info about all the San Francisco bands--and they raved about Moby Grape and about MOBY GRAPE (the album). Not only that, they printed the lyrics of all five simultaneously released singles in their song lyrics section--as though they actually were HITS (which, of course, they famously were not). So for this boy, the first album was a must-have, but really only one of many from that Summer of Love and the autumn that followed. (Others included, of course, THE DOORS, STRANGE DAYS, SURREALISTIC PILLOW, FREAK OUT, YOUNGER THAN YESTERDAY and, of course, the Meisterstueck SERGEANT PEPPER.)

I loved the record from the get-go, but my fevered 15 year old brain (come to think of it, I was actually still 14 when I picked this one up) I felt it wasn't all that experimental or innovative. From everything I'd been reading about the music coming out of San Francisco, this seemed more like straight-ahead rock'n'roll than truly freaky stuff. Oh, sure, you got a little distortion at the opening of "Omaha" and some of the lyrics were fashionably obscure in that Dylanesque way that everybody and his brother and sister were emulating at the time. But where were the 15 minute jams? (We'd have to wait til the sophomore effort for those.) These songs were not just tight: they were punchy and SHORT. ' Course in hindsight, that's hardly a bad thing at all.

Sometime around the mid-fall of that year, in fact, I realized that despite all the groovy experimentalism of the Beatles. the Doors and Zappa, say, THIS was the record I was playing most frequently. That was a bit of an eye-opener (or EAR opener). Maybe I wasn't quite the budding avant-gardista I imagined myself to be. All I knew was that this was GREAT stuff.

We all know about the bad luck and troubles that ensued. It seemed that the group named for the punchline of a typically 60s absurd joke went through a ton of, uh, stuff that wasn't at all funny. Something wound up harpooning Moby Grape, and it was likely not JUST the bad management and marketing. The group's history seems to be one perfect storm of troubles and misfires.

I started this review by suggesting that everything that there was to say about the this beleaguered group's history had already been said. But actually, one hypothesis that hasn't been explored sufficiently--as far as I know--would be the claim that the group's very unity, their tightness, professionalism and their emphasis on polished instrumentation may have actually worked against them. The three guitar sound, the strong shared vocals actually made it impossible to speak of a dominant figure or STAR within the band's ranks. We tend to forget how star-struck a generation we really were, but the big guns of the era really were the bands that featured a VERY prominent individual (or two or three, in the case of the Beatles). Moby Grape could not boast a Lennon, a Morrison, a Jagger, Joplin or a Slick. In some ways, they were even more "communal" than the Dead (whose central figure even then was Jerry Garcia, who could boast of maybe a kind of anti-charisma).

Moby Grape could boast of top notch vocalists (really! give 'em a listen) and great guitar work, but the glam-quotient was lacking. Does't count that one of the band members was the son of a movie star. And even though two members would eventually be diagnosed with schizophrenia (and what are the odds of THAT,even among hippie freaks), Moby Grape's MUSIC was not OUT THERE in the most outre sense of the term. Nowadays that scarcely seems like a weakness. This album has aged better than 90% of the product of that era. Musicianship matters.

I guess my timing was off in one way. I seemed to have missed out on the re-mastered, expanded Sundazed version that briefly saw the light of day a few years ago, and while that seems to be available in downloadable form still, and for those for whom that's an option, I'd say, go for it. This version, on Mr. Katz's imprint, is also too pricey (and reportedly no revenues from its sale are actually going to the surviving band members). I can see why some die-hard fans recommend NOT buying this particular version of this historic album. There are authorized "best of" collections out there, the sales of which will benefit group members. Still this record exerts its own special appeal--and it goes beyond mere nostalgia. Moby Grape's first album was near perfect AS AN ALBUM, near perfect from start to finish.



They Might be Giants - Apollo 18

Apollo 18

This CD is awesome to say the least; it's meant to be played on "shuffle" due to the fact that there are twenty songs titled "Fingertips" and they're all less than a minute long. If you were to play the CD on standard like I did the first time I listened to it, then you'd notice that once you reach these songs and they start playing back to back, your mind will explode due to the insanity!!! Therefore, when you play them on shuffle, these songs get mixed into the album's full-length song set list. This creates an album that it unique every time you listen to it. My top favorites from the album are "My Evil Twin", "I Palindrome I (the opening lyrics remind me about how my childhood was like...)", "Mammal", "The Guitar" and the last Fingertips song (because of it's sound which resembles drifting through space). To sum everything up, this album is a real treat and I have yet to grow tired of listening to it; oh! And I forgot to mention, this album is very upbeat which means that if you're ever in that mood of which we all call "depression", then listening to this should (in theory) bring you out of it... the depression... 

The Moody Blues -Time traveler

Time traveler

Almost 5 hours worth of trippy moody blues music for the all day buzz. Although I can say I have not listened to this box set from D1 to D5 (Bonus) back to back, I have listened to all discs several times individually, Disk 3 is my favorite.

 

This sprawling 71-track, 4-disc set is all the Moody Blues most fans will ever need. First released in 1994, the first two-and-a-half discs focus on the Moodies classic period (1967-1972) with the lineup of Justin Hayward, John Lodge, Mike Pinder, Ray Thomas and Graeme Edge. During that time they released seven albums:

DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED (disc-1, tracks 4-5)

IN SEARCH OF THE LOST CHORD (disc-1, tracks 6-11)

ON THE THRESHOLD OF A DREAM (disc-1, tracks 12-20)

TO OUR CHILDREN'S CHILDREN'S CHILDREN (disc-2, tracks 1-9)

A QUESTION OF BALANCE (disc-2, tracks 10-15)

EVERY GOOD BOY DESERVES FAVOUR (disc-2, tracks 16-20)

SEVENTH SOJOURN (disc-3, tracks 1-6)

It's no surprise that this box set leans heavier on these seven albums as they form the foundation of this band that has continued to sporadically record even ten years after this set was first issued. [Their most recent recording is 2003's holiday album DECEMBER.] The rest of disc-3 and disc-4 cherry pick highlights from the band's next twenty years culminating with three tracks from their then latest album, 1991's KEYS OF THE KINGDOM. There are also a few tracks from Hayward and Lodge's Bluejays project (disc-3, tracks 7-12) and two Hayward singles, "Blue Guitar" and "Forever Autumn," the latter from JEFF WAYNE'S THE WAR OF THE WORLDS.

There are few bonus or rare tracks. Disc-1 starts with two non-album singles, "Fly Me High" and "Love and Beauty," both released in 1967 and failed to dent the UK charts. [Missing is their 1966 UK single "Boulevard De La Madelaine."] "Cities" is the non-album B-side of "Nights in White Satin." The only other bonus track is "Highway," an outtake from the KEYS OF THE KINGDOM sessions that closes disc-4. [Note: The original pressings of this box set had a fifth disc which included a new recording "This Is the Moment" and eight songs recorded live at Red Rocks with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra in 1992.]

This box fills a nice niche for fans who want more than a greatest hits package, but don't have the deep pockets to purchase all of their studio albums. While there are those that would argue that their albums need to be heard in their entirety, this is a very satisfying look at the first twenty-five years of an amazing band. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Roger Waters-Pros and Cons of Hitchiking

The Pros and Cons of Hitchiking

I expect that everyone who's listened to this album, or is a fan of Roger Waters, is at least somewhat familiar with the music of Pink Floyd. Therefore, most of them compare "Pros and Cons" to Waters masterworks like "Final Cut" and "The Wall." I won't. I'm just going to write this for the music lover who's been directed to this page by a "best of" list of friend's recommendation.

Most importantly, "Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking" is a concept album in the ultimate sense. This means that it is not actually twelve different tracks that go together -- it means that the entire album is really one long track, telling one story. It includes a multitude of sound effects and imbedded dialogue to enhance the narrative. Many musical chords are used repeatedly in various parts of the album to reinforce the cohesiveness. It is virtually impossible to appreciate "Pros and Cons" without sitting down and listening to it all the way through at least a dozen times. Like all of Roger Waters' work, he requires his listener to put as much thought into the album as he did. Minor problems do crop up. For instance, it's a godsend that the lyrics are included with the album, as well as the dialogue, because some of it is quite difficult to understand with no outside reference. Then there's the usual problem with Waters work: if you don't pay full attention, you WILL NOT "GET IT." I can't put it any more clearly. Waters demands your full participation. Also, some portions of the music don't run quite as deep as the lyrics. This makes the album as a whole seem shallower than it really is.... And sometimes, if you're not in a patient mood, some parts seems to drag on.
This may be due to Roger not having the safety net of collaborators during the composition process. (This was his first solo album, after all. So he's allowed to be a little shaky.) The execution of the music is flawless, though! Mr. Waters is an accomplished bassist. The Legendary Eric Clapton is lead guitarist (and if you don't know Floyd, I have to assume that you must know at least SOMETHING by Clapton...) Michael Kamen plays the piano and conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra. So despite showing signs of lacking in musical composition, the performance of the material gives it an operatic quality. Roger Waters himself gives a go-for-broke vocal performance that quickens the strain of the protagonist's conflict. I think the main reason that this album is a bit obscure (except among true Floyd and Waters fans) is that there really are no tracks that could be marketed as radio singles. As I've mentioned before, the entire album is the only track on the disc. But for posterity's sake, I'll say that there are a few cuts that might have made excellent singles. "Sexual Revolution," "Every Stranger's Eyes," and the title track may have made it... But stripped of the album's context, they do in fact lose some of their power. What really kills me is that I can't think of a single other artist to whom I can compare this album. It has a quite different sound from classic Pink Floyd, and Roger Waters' later work is even a little more audience-accessible than "Pros and Cons." I'd say that it could possibly be just summed up as a "country rock opera." I do think that you would not enjoy this album quite as much unless you first go back and investigate some of Pink Floyd's earlier work. "The Wall" and "Final Cut" are absolute essentials in Roger Waters ouevre, and listening to them would help considerably in appreciating this. If you like those, then you'll probably appreciate this album a bit more. Definitely don't make this your first Roger Waters purchase. "Amused to Death" is a much more polished work. If you want a good overview of his work, try his "In the Flesh" live album. Then move on to "Pros and Cons."

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Captain Beefheart-Clear Spot / Spotlight Kid

Clear Spot / Spotlight Kid

The Spotlight Kid/Clear Spot captures EVERYTHING great about this guy. Not a single weakpoint anywhere.

 

I'll say this- even though the best material here doesn't quite excite me on the same level as the best stuff from Trout Mask Replica, I'd say these two albums combined to make one SUPER disc is actually *more* consistent and entertaining to me personally than Trout Mask Replica the entire way through. But nothing here reaches the high points of say, "When Big Joan Sets Up".

Let's face it- while groundbreaking, TMR isn't exactly the easiest music in the world to get into.

I believe Spotlight Kid/Clear Spot is an easier listen, if only ever so slightly (or maybe I've finally gotten used to the Captain's style and went into this album expecting more of the same, and if you happen to be in the same boat as me -hearing TMR before this one- perhaps you'll find the music fairly easy to get into yourself).

 

The Spotlight Kid captures Captain Beefheart in his insanely creative and brave career period, when he was dabbing in wild experiments and not afraid to hold *anything* back. The guitar riffs, the harmonica that occasionally comes out of nowhere giving the music a southern blues feel, the lyrics that are constantly out of place, and yet, all these things come together and fit in perfectly despite the initial impression that nothing works.

 

His lyrics are written in a way where anyone can get into them, but don't expect them to be anything approaching normal either. He constantly finds ways to throw tricky words into his music, perhaps doing so deliberately as a way to be different from your ordinary normal way most musicians write lyrics.

 

THIS is a fantastic album, and THIS is why I love the good Captain as much as I do. Once you get into this style, you'll learn to appreciate what he's doing and gradually adjust to his HIGHLY unusual and completely unique way of putting a song together.

 

Clear Spot shows signs of Captain Beefheart attempting to write more accessible music, though only on a couple occasions. For the most part the music is quite twisted and strange in the same way as Spotlight Kid and even Trout Mask Replica. Just ignore "Too Much Time" and you'll be alright. While a decent song, it sounds VERY out of place if you ask me.

Brian Eno- On Land

On Land- Ambient 4

Imagine sitting on a beachside deck some warm evening smoking a joint with a microphone capturing all the noise of the environment: waves washing up, crickets chirping, gulls singing, the neighbors' barbecue maybe becoming audible when their talking gets loud enough. Maybe some kid is driving down the next block with his stereo rattling the pavement. Maybe somebody's dog is barking far enough away that if you weren't listening closely you wouldn't even notice it. On Land is an exploration of this kind of idea in sound, but intended to re-create places far away or only imagined. Sound strange? In the world of Brian Eno I'd expect nothing less.

 

Basically it's an album exploring the idea of music or sound that gives a feeling of a certain place. It also perfectly accomplishes his objective with ambient music, which is that it should be "as ignorable as it is interesting." Turn it up and it can bring all kinds of alien landscapes to life in your mind; turn it down and it colors the room subliminally, barely noticeably. Where the previous three in the Ambient series were subdued and trancelike through repetition, this one is evolving all the time and never repeats itself.

 

And with that, On Land is probably the hardest of all Eno discs to describe. It would be one thing if it was simply made with treated notes or tape loops, as with Discreet Music or the previous Ambient albums. It would be one thing if he was using minimal melodies meant to be ignored. On Land is all and none of those. It uses musical elements but isn't music; it's minimalist but not simple or repetitive. It's pure atmosphere. Forms don't exist. If you're wondering what moods you may find here, just look at the titles. "Tal Coat" is somehow electronic-sounding but purely organic. "Shadow" is a vague lurking moment of doubt. "A Clearing" is a four-minute synth haze radiating pure tranquility. It's not all soothing, but if it's left at a low audible level the dark moments won't really be disturbing.

 

Comparing this disc to any other ambient music is always an apples/oranges prospect, but I think the difference makes this the most pure and timeless Eno album out there. At the very least it sounds like nothing else I've ever heard, except maybe the sounds of nature itself

Black Sabbath - Dehumanizer

Dehumanizer

One of the coolest Album Covers ever!, A great heavy metal album for Beer drinking

 

 

 

I remember when this Black Sabbath come back album came out in 1992 or so. Ronnie James Dio was back at the helm and a very cool music video for "T.V. Crimes" (with a junky, obsolete television playing nothing but Sabbath is constantly being stolen) was playing on MTV's Headbanger's Ball. I liked the single, but only later did I purchase Dehumanizer. I was stunned at how solid this album is. It is right up there with Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules. In fact, I like it better than Mob Rules. The first track "Computer God" just rocks! The vocals are awesome (as they usually are for Dio, but especially on this track). "T.V. Crimes" is a fast-paced rocker. "After all (The Dead)" and "Letters from Earth" are dark and haunting. "Sins of the Father" is a track I think Ozzy would have sounded great on as it sounds like his style. "Too Late" is one of my favorites. It is a very powerful song, quiet at the beginning and then launches into a blistering metal track with killer lyrics: "It's too late too late for tears, too late and no one hears you, welcome to forever, it's too late." "Time Machine" is the most mainstream of the tracks with two versions on this album (one from Wayne's World which I cannot tell apart from the original). The anthem here, though, is "I." It is amazing musically and lyrically: "I am virgin, I'm a whore, Giving nothing the taker the maker of war, I'll smash your face in, but with a smile." There is nothing weak on this album. It rocks from beginning to end. If you are missing this album in your Black Sabbath/Dio collection, Buy It! You will not be disappointed