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.