This is a long haul electronic journey from Takehisa Kosugi (RIP, Subarashī sakkyokka) The music speaks for itself, I can't begin to put it into English. I find it fascinating and magical.
Well...the video has lots of kissing, so it must be make-out music? Appropriate stuff for New Years Eve, right? Have fun!
I hope everyone had a nice year. Thank you for tuning in, I appreciate it.
Happy 2019! I hope we will end homelessness, be peaceful in the world, and send the orange idiot to a place where the clothes match his hair. Bye!
With his arms upstretched, okay...can you get her? Do you see her? Shoot. Hang on...
I imagine that these are the words of a crew that eventually rescue Pandora, who had fallen down a well. She thanks everyone by opening her box, and all evil pours out into the world. Why did she do it? Godspeed You! Black Emperor only knows.
Mladic is War of the Worlds music. It is a slow-building, intensely burning, slice of sonic mayhem. Initially, bass and violins and tape loops join together for a bedrock layer. Guitar comes in, along with droning tones, points of high-pitched slide guitars, various modulated sounds. It is a spellbinding ascension.
A first plateau is achieved around 4:00. Shakers and vibrations. Low hums. Is an army approaching?The volume builds again, and by 5:30 I think we should take cover. Whoa, this is some terrifying music. At 6:40, a lone guitar soldier bashes down the door and sweeps the room. We are only 1/3 of the way through the recording.
Drums are in our face at 7:00, at 7:23 they have set up a command post. Rockets red glare, thunder and lightning. It's an all-out assault on our eardrums!
8:50 is the moment of truth. Fight or flight...(I fled to the safety of my blanket on the sofa minutes ago). A fire-breathing dragon howls down upon us, burning everything in sight. Make it stop!
New tactics and weaponry are brought in after 11:00. The drums continue relentlessly. The tempo downshifts at 12:41, we are 2/3 of the way through.
Make way for the Black Emperor. You are defeated. Everyone bows down at 14:21. We surrender.
14:49! Holy ---! Buildings are pounded into dust. We stand by and await our destiny, there is no end in sight. Finally, at 18:45 we receive the first orders from the conquering worms. "You will be allowed to set up a market, where you may sell your wares, such as pots and tin cups." Thank you, oh glorious rulers!
Broken Home starts up like something Lalo Schifrin might have created for a Dirty Harry soundtrack - electric piano, guitar, cymbals, saxophone, the grit and grime of an urban landscape slowly coming into focus. But this isn't a movie, it's a reality that Eddie Palmieri witnessed, and he turned his thoughts about it into a powerful social statement called Harlem River Drive. You can read more about it here. And here.
Jimmy Norman on lead vocals at 1:53 (Wow, he sang a few tunes with Jimi Hendrix in 1966, and met a young Bob Marley in 1968). The song documents the inner city experience, the unspeakable conditions that children and parents suffer through - a crib was just a playground for a rat, the pushers ran the sidewalks, the feelings of confusion and helplessness: Where do we go from here? When do we leave? Or do we stay?
The music provides a gloomy backdrop, sprinkling notes like grey rain on broken shards of glass, hitting the walls of dead end alleys, shadows and sirens, cracked playgrounds.
The narration ends at 6:30 but the life never ends. The music gives us an additional four minutes of reflection, coming down a bit but still getting the point across. It wants us to feel uneasy, visualize the loneliness, and the hardship. Count your blessings.
Wow, I really like this. The dog is barking, people are enjoying the afternoon, but it's about time to get ready for the evening. I love the sparkling tones and low hum.
This one is great as well. Nice production, cool beat. Better to light one candle than to curse the darkness. In the light...everybody needs the light. Excellent vocals.
Short and catchy, drum machine, electronic sounds. According to the writers, this is "the single of the album. Its a about a bunch of losers who lost the government of Argentina by his stupidity."
One final dip in the cosmic ocean of early 70s German music. After the abstract concepts of Faust and the Autobahn journey with Neu!, it's back to straightforward space rock with Amon Düül II.
Hawknose Harlequin is the final track on the Carnival in Babylon album. It begins with low end bass thumps. Guitars, flute, violin, and drums slowly awaken as we sit by a fireside and listen to the storyteller:
I heard about A place they call Blind Square In the middle Of prophesied land Surrounded by A wall of mirrors Two hundred feet high And transparent...............
The storyteller finishes at 3:30 and vanishes. We begin to feel strange. We look around and at 3:57 find ourselves in a cold, dark room. Where are we? An electric guitar starts soloing at 4:27, which sends us wandering about, looking for an exit.
At after what feels like forever, at 6:50 the music fades out and the walls suddenly vanish into nothing. A new musical passage gently reveals itself and we discover ourselves out a on a grassy plain, warm air carrying us up and away among the puffy clouds. I love this glorious final section, a musical reincarnation.
A jackhammer sends rocks scattering all about and the poor tuba player from yesterday's marching band is struggling to get back in formation. Neu! puts up a sign: WARNUNG: Du solltest besser zurückgehen, wenn du weißt, was gut für dich ist (WARNING: you had best go back if you know what's good for you). The band turn around wisely and head off down the road.
The electric tone that starts up at 0:17 is a shamisen. It was heavily processed to give it that whooshing phaser sound. Welcome to Negativland. The construction project has ended and the road is now open to traffic. At 0:40, a motorik drum and bass vehicle cruises across a Tron-like system of opposite colors, racing along curves that twist and flange through other dimensions.
The journey is nice and smooth for now, the vehicle leans into the contours of the road, the fabric of space and time moving it along effortlessly. There are a few bumps around 3:20, obviously a section of the highway that is need of improvement.
The vehicle stops at a roadside store for refueling. The attendant fills the tank with a special mix and at 4:20 the vehicle has suddenly doubled its speed. Wow, look at that S car go! It flies down the road, making excellent time.
Uh-oh, I guess the fuel burns fast, for at 4:55 the car has to pull over again. Might as well fill it with regular this time. Back on the road at 5:17, takin it easy. Things are smooth as silk after 6:20, humming along gently, passing over hills and into valleys.
Whoa, at 8:00 the little vehicle is suddenly barreling down a very steep slope, heading for some sort of finish line, looks like it's about to lose control, but it manages to hang on and reach the end of Negativland.
Dave O - "Well this is a question my mom always asked me. Damn it, I just never liked cooked carrots, especially when they had that damn brown sugar on it. I said Look Mom I don't want these damn stinking carrots!"
Like my friend Dave, I also have never cultivated a taste for cooked carrots. I like raw carrots. I do not like carrot cake. Cake is a dessert, no vegetables should be allowed near it. I sincerely hope there's no such thing as broccoli cake.
Why Don't You Eat Carrots is the first track on Faust's incredible first album. It starts up like a radio with major transmission issues. It's a blizzard of static. Listen closely and you will hear bits of Satisfaction and All You Need Is Love crackle across the power lines and off into the ether. After 1:00, a voice can be heard yelling and then someone begins to play the piano. At 1:30 we are suddenly whisked off to a marching band rehearsal. What time is the big game, folks?
Wrong question. At 2:30 we are surrounded by ghostly authority figures with quivering wrong way voices that say we must show the marching band some respect or leave the gymnasium. OK, we promise. They give us another chance and at 2:55 the marching band resumes playing. "Lovely band," we say.
They play along until 4:10, when a lone trumpet suddenly breaks loose and begins to taunt us. It's joined by a distorted guitar and drums, playing an insane melody. As they play, we are bombarded with screeching, belching, gurgling, howling electronic effects.
We cower against the wall, wondering what nightmare is taking place. All is revealed to us at 4:51:
Slow goes the goose You see me shoes on your mirror mind Quick goes the trick I ask your sick sailing sailors blind I travel into the tongue Ready to drop ding dong is handsome top
Oh, yes, that all makes sense. Thank you. How long are you going to subject us to your crazy music and terrifying hound of the baskervilles noises?
Some laughs at 7:30. I get it now, one big joke on Dave and I because we don't eat carrots, is that it? Well, thanks a lot, Faust. A man and woman speak to each other. "I think these young men are ready to eat carrots now, right fellas?"
Sure, we say. "Liars!!" The craziness is back at 7:58. But it's struggling to maintain its form. The piano comes back in briefly, and some sort of ocean liner waits offshore. It all finally comes to an end, and we are left wondering what just happened...and still not eating carrots.
This song is from a collection by Arborglyph Records, so I'm not entirely sure if the artist is Sotra or if they are from LA. No matter. I like the echo vocals, the simple guitar. High plains, lonesome prairie.
Sweden produced some excellent psychedelic rock during the 60s. Some of the noteworthy groups: Parson Sound, International Harvester, and Baby Grandmothers.
Somebody Keeps Calling My Name is basically a very long guitar solo. It is intense and hypnotic, before you realize what's going on it has taken over the whole room. Nothing but a jam.
I don't know what you will make of this one. The music of the great Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki is quite frightening. I recommend having the lights on while this plays, unless you're feeling brave.
I first heard a collection of his music in the mid-90s. There are lots of discordant strings piled on top of each other, coming around the corner, suddenly in your face.
De Nature Sonoris (on the nature of sound) No. 2, gets particularly scary around the 4:00 mark, when dinner bells appear and there is a sudden ominous bellowing of low bass or cello. The violins stack up in great twisted masses, scraping and clawing like tortured animals. At 6:10, the strings drop out and we hear the pounding of a lone timpani. This is just a warning to prepare for the arrival of wild elephant horns at 6:19.
Want more Krzysztof? I recommend Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima and Capriccio for Violin and Orchestra. They can be found on the EMI Classics collection Matrix 5.
My freshman college roommate had the excellent Little Feat live album, Waiting for Columbus. I listened to it a lot, it was a fun album with great energy. Dixie Chicken was one of their signature tunes, and it was my favorite track on the album.
I love it mostly for a particular moment: at 4:43, following a piano solo from Bill Payne and some dixieland horns from Tower of Power, drummer Richard Hayward kicks the song back into the main groove with a thunderous drum fill. The first time I heard it I had to rewind the tape so I could hear it again and again. After the quiet musical interlude, the return of the drums is really powerful.
The lyrics are fun, the chorus is memorable, and Lowell George had that smooth southern drawl, but I was all about the ensemble playing. After some rambling intro playing, Hayward puts the song in motion and Payne plays those high piano notes. The song is really a great showcase for Payne's bluesy barroom piano, but everyone else gets their licks in as well. After 6:30 or so, there is some excellent guitar from Paul Barrere.
Interesting rock instrumental, heavy chord-laden sound like something from the 90s. Raw distortion. pounding drums, cymbals. tempo up in the middle, machine gun drums. Reminds me of Opeth.
Fleetwood Mac's Oh Well has two parts. The first part lasts until 2:20. It rocks and has the catchy riff and the weird lyrics:
I can't help about the shape I'm in I can't sing, I ain't pretty and my legs are thin But don't ask me what I think of you I might not give the answer that you want me to
If you ever hear this first part on classic rock radio, it's usually a live version with annoying Lindsey Buckingham on lead vocals instead of the original with Peter Green. I get so tired of the Buckingham/Nicks 70s Fleetwood Mac. All that Go Your Own Way/"thunder only happens when it's raining" commercial stuff gets played ad nauseam.
I must have been around 13 or 14 when I first heard the second part, and it was an unusual experience. I'm almost certain I was riding around in the family car, running errands with my mom. I may have recognized the first part, but I had no idea what the second part was. I thought it was a different song.
What was this mysteriously long and arduous second part? Who were these king's minstrels from the middle ages? It builds up over time. There's a flute, acoustic guitar, some low end electric guitar. Piano, cello?, and drums eventually come in. It's all very dramatic. Music for elves and dragons. You can go grab a bite, take a walk, come back and it's probably still playing.
The intro of The Grain Kings is like a futuristic cop show theme composed by Faust. Electronic drums and synth form an alien pact, horns squonk, stardust chimes combine with feedback squeals. It reminds me slightly of the intro to Station to Station.
The spell is immediately broken at 1:30 and the actual song begins in earnest:
We will sow the seeds together We shall feed the fertile ground
There is a quite a lot of activity on the farm. The rhythm is a great tractor plowing the fields, preparing the soil for planting. Barn doors creak open and slam shut, various cows and chickens roam about, buildings are repaired, supplies are restocked. The Legendary Pink Dots are rallying the troops: Let's go people! When you're all done you can have some Country Time Lemonade!
The video is something else entirely. Grain kings of the cosmos.
I moved to Portland, OR, in 1994, the perfect time to experience the blossoming of Taylor Thomas Taylor Courtney Cox's fab new band, the Dandy Warhols. They became such darlings of the scene, and not without some merit. I thought they were good. I remember when my friend Dave came to visit from IL and we seemed to randomly come across them playing a show under the Hawthorne or Morrison Bridge, can't remember which it was. They played Dick, which was my favorite track from their album. The other songs were definitely in the Velvet Underground area. I listened to that first album a lot, but I've never listened to their others. I could care less about them, really. I've watched the documentary Dig! a couple times, and I much prefer Brian Jonestown Massacre.
In 1995 or so, there was a Portland music festival called North By Northwest, which I think was absorbed by Willamette Week and became Music Fest NW. In any event, the Dandy Warhols were playing the festival, and one of my friend's bands was as well. There was a pre-fest function for the bands, and my friend's wife was passing out little cards to promote his band's appearance. As the story goes, she handed a card to this guy who turned out to be the other guitarist in the band:
Friend's wife: Hi, my husband's band is playing at this place, they're really good, I hope you can get a chance to see them!
Warhols guitarist (we give him this faux British accent in the story): Ah cahn't see yaw 'usband's bahnd. Ah'm already in a bahnd. The Dahndy Wawhols.
I always get a good chuckle out of that story. Well, I like this song, Dick. It is slow and languid, with lots of gurgling guitar and bowowowow effects, and a nice chord change into the 'chorus': I'm a dick, waiting to be kicked. It's basically a more psychedelic version of Bread's If.
The other day we had a UK group's 1987 cover of a 1967 Texas group's song. Today we feature a Texas group's 1967 song that was later covered in 1991 by a UK group. Both Texas groups were influences on both UK groups. More on this in a moment.
The lyrics are required reading, but you can also just let them slip inside this house and then decide. They were written by Tommy Hall, the electric jug player. I suppose that since he wrote some of the most psychedelic lyrics of all time, he can play that damn electric jug as much as he wants. I know it's a big part of the group's sound, but sometimes I'm like, enough already with that jug! youknowwha'msayin? Man, but this is such a great song. Why? Because it features the always brilliant, hypnotic, and intense bordering on frightening voice of Roky Erickson. I love when he goes for the high notes and barely makes it. Like going for one more pull up.
The guitar is therapeutic listening. Focus on it when you need a break from the vocals and electric jug. There is a brief solo near the middle, and a fantastic moment at 6:12, which I wish would have developed into a solo.
Primal Scream covered Slip Inside This House on their 1991 masterpiece, Screamadelica. However, I much prefer the original to their dance rock dipped in psychedelic paraphernalia. As for Red Krayola's Transparent Radiation, I would rather listen to Spacemen 3's version. Looking at my preferred choices, I can see that both have a minimal droning aspect to them that I enjoy more than the wilder music of the other two. The guitars on each both stick to a couple of dominant chords that allow the vocals to stand out more.
Red Krayola and 13th Floor Elevators recorded for the Texas label, International Artists, and were from Houston and Austin respectively.
Chains and bones rattle about. the music eventually swells into a guitar bass drums concoction of delay and backwards loops. i like this kind of stuff. layers. no map. choose your own adventure.
2) Rhombus No. 1 - The Van Allen Belt (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
A gentler experiment than the Gentle Men, but still out there. doo wop vocals accompanied by random music. It tells a story, but it's your story.
Like Velvet Underground Live 1969 crossed with some kind of British group, perhaps Ride or Charlatans UK or Inspiral Carpets? It's a pretty cool tune. I like the guitar tone. I would go to Porto, Portugal, to see these guys...and sightsee.
The original version of Transparent Radiation is a clanging garage rock tune, recorded in 1967 by Red Krayola. In the hands of Spacemen 3, it soars to majestic heights; listening to it is like walking among redwoods or the tall columns of a cathedral. It is heavenly.
They kept the vocal melody, timbre, and dreamy lyrics, but minimized the instrumentation - guitar and violin with applied reverb and delay effects. They slowed the tempo and created a droning aspect by sticking to a basic E - F# pattern, adding a B in the chorus for ornamental flourishes. Lay back and let it flow over you.
This one takes a bit of time to get going. Simply titled 7:42, my mp3 player insists the track is actually 7:43 in length. Cluster. The two guy industrial analog wrecking crew from Berlin. This is akin to Guru Guru's UFO, a factory setting with sparking anvils, the sounds of welding, smelting machinery. I'm so glad I was able to see them when they came to Portland in 1995 I think it was? Moebius and Roedelius both signed my program.
Despite its massive Canadian province implication, Manitoba is only one person: Dan Snaith. He actually had to stop using the name Manitoba after legal action was threatened; not by Canada, but by Handsome Dick Manitoba of 70s band the Dictators. How come Handsome Dick gets rights? I mean, The Dictators were great, but why would there be an issue here? $$$ and fame? meh.
Anyhow, Dan changed the name to Caribou, figuring there was no one out there named Handsome Dick Caribou.
(ETSTRIHB, which is an anagram for BIRTHEST, which I'm going to decide is a word meaning someone who has been born the most times, and btw when I typed "anagram" in google because I had a brain burp about it, google asked me if I meant to type "nag a ram". Now, does this mean google has a sense of humor? Yes! It's their little joke on anagram! I figured it was.)
... is the name of the song, go out on the left and you'll never go wrong. Wait, I think that's from Sesame Street. Let's get back on track, man! OK, from the first second it certainly sounds like she has already turned round and a party is in full swing. Whistles and horns and squiggly little favors are making the rounds. The first lyrics are at 0:31:
Spinning round you weigh me down Gravel hands of green and brown (tiny guy squeaky voice joins in on brown)
This part reminds me a lot of Julian Cope, in particular his songs Crazy Farm Animal and Hey High Class Butcher. The keyboards are right from those tunes.
Those lyrics are repeated a few times, then at 2:40...OK, again I feel like Dan Snaith has to be a fan of Julian Cope...the stampeding drums here were used by Julian in "Poet Is Priest..." (a song I considered for the blog but dang, something held me back). I hope he likes Julian Cope's music...I feel like he must.
Rheinita is an instrumental by La Düsseldorf, released as a single in 1979, from their 1978 album, Viva. It consists of heavenly fantasy synthesizers that sweep you up on a transcendent melody. Smooth sailing along the autobahn.
I first heard it on a mix tape a friend made for me in 1995. It opens with 42 seconds of humming and quiet voices before launching into the main part.
Rock N Roll-oll-oll-oll, etc, yayee yeah! This song grabs your throat from the start, and pummels you with rock n roll. Gary Holton on lead vocals, what a frickin cool voice. This is a glam rock destroyer. My favorite lyric, at 0:49:
The very next morning at the music store my mind went overboard-de-doh-de-doh-de-doh...
The song is all about this kid who watches a band on TV and completely loses it, becoming a glam rockin fool the next day. Think of Christian Bale in Velvet Goldmine: "That is me! That's me!"
The song goes into a mellow middle section that reminds me somewhat of Billy Thorpe's Children of the Sun and Never Been Any Reason by Head East. But it is soon back into the basic rock swagger. Love it. Mickey Waller, aka Mickey Finn, on guitar.
Heavy Metal Kids were from England. They took their name from a gang of street kids in William Burroughs's Nova Express.
From the classic 1971 album, The low spark of high heeled boys, here is Traffic with the final track on the album, Rainmaker. I pretty much love every track on the album, but this one always seems to resonate the most.
Much attention is placed on the brilliance of Steve Winwood, and rightly so, he's such a great guitarist in addition to being a fantastic keyboardist. However, I often find myself drawn to the tragic and amazing Chris Wood. His opening flute is so melancholic, so heavy with the threat of rain, and his sax over the final three and a half minute groove is wondrous to behold. He just always seems to hit the right notes.
How organic this music is, flowing like dark clouds across the horizon. I don't think much effort needs to be placed on persuading this Rainmaker character to appear and make all my crops grown tall. How could the Rainmaker not hear this music and dump a few inches on the ground?
Perhaps that final section is the celebration at the arrival of the guest of honor.
For the life of me, I cannot recall how I heard about this song. It reminds me of something by Stereolab, Jenny Ondioline maybe? Some Can in there as well. Canvas. It's called Cansas Kansas by a group called Charles Brown Superstar. I don't anything about them, but I like this song. It keeps to the main road, without veering too much off onto the shoulder. Nice distorted guitars, girl singsong vocals... about someone wasted in the sun with a blue bonnet on. All very stream of consciousness. Not sure what it has to do with Kansas. Maybe they had been listening to Kansas before they recorded the tune.
He Would Have Laughed is all about the repetitive opening pattern and little synth tiptoes dancing about. I am not too familiar with Deerhunter, wouldn't be surprised if they are labeled 'indie' artists by the music marketers of the world. The guy's vocals have that cold reverb indie affectation. Not to say I don't like the song, I think it's pretty cool. I love the lyric I can't breathe with you lookin at me. Makes me think of how I have a hard time in public restrooms if people are waiting. I can't pee with you standing there impatiently.
Lots of sound layers spread over the bread like an indie rock sandwich with a smooth little 10CC vocal butter. I love the post-4:42 slowdown. Guitars play some cool progressions. Lyrics all esoteric:
I lived on a farm I never lived on a farm
The song was apparently dedicated to a musician named Jay Reatard. I am unfamiliar with him, but someone made a documentary.
blues. stripped down. slide guitar. growly voice kinda like tom waits/beefheart. pounding drum.
2) Earl - Funk Shway & The Dojo Birds (New Jersey)
oh yeah, rubberband man bass. bootsy, baby. smooth horns, sly & the family stone moments. groovy guitar. funk! can't stop tha funk! sly & the family stone moments. rappin middle. dig the guitar flange solo.
Nina Simone was a force of nature. She had a voice that could fill you with joy, ("I'm Going Back Home"), back you into an uncomfortable corner ("Four Women"), and, with a song like Wild Is The Wind, send passion surging through your heart.
Her delicate piano greets us like leaves falling from a tree. However, in the punctuated low notes that follow, I get the feeling that they are not separating from their branches naturally; rather, they are being yanked away, as though nature is playing a sad game of he loves me he loves me not.
Nina comes in at 0:30:
Love me, love me, love me, say you do
Let me fly away with you
For my love is like the wind
And wild is the wind
The wind blows: leaves, dust, dead voices, love. Even the notes of the piano are tossed about. Nina sings with a magical steadiness that keeps it all together even as chaos surrounds us. Listen to her at 4:15, she sends her voice skyward and then comes back down to earth, and we are at her mercy. Incredible.
I was mesmerized the first time I heard Sonny Sharrock's album Ask The Ages. His distorted guitar chords and near feedback solos were nothing I had heard before. Joined by legends Pharoah Sanders on sax and Elvin Jones on drums, the album is a big ball of free jazz that is both cohesive and adventurous.
Once Upon A Time is the final track on the album. It begins with a minute of drums, before a faint bass line comes in, followed soon after at 1:13 by the shocking arrival of Sonny's scraped guitar chords. Jones continues to bang away freely, while Sanders echoes the chords as distant guitar notes are heard in the background.
At 2:17, Sonny plays a catchy pattern of distorted notes that appear throughout the rest of the piece, with slight variations. Everyone else continues to do their thing, painting a beautifully hypnotic landscape that still has me transfixed to this day.
Wow I love this song so much. It almost made my 366 favorites of all time (see 2016 rev pancakes entrees for those). The 0:38 intro begs multiple rewinds, start again start again. It's a surf punk moment for the ages.
Things Your Mother Never Told You threads the needle between punk and new wave. It is an intense psychological trip through some of the messed up aspects of life that you had to find out for yourself. Relationships, drugs, love, marriage, loneliness, cruelty...no one is really prepared to deal with this stuff.
The verses start up with a bang, then move into slower sections of picked guitar and plunky bass. They are followed by couplet bridges that lead into the jackhammer guitar riff and sneering vocals of the chorus.
Following the third chorus, the music runs a coda through the intro before dissolving into a nightmare that ends with a guitar making a feedback noise that sounds like "mom".
Wayne (now Jayne) County was rock's first openly transgender singer. She was an influence on Bowie, Patti Smith, and Lou Reed, among others. She moved from New York to England in 1977 and formed Wayne County and the Electric Chairs.
Ready your senses, bow to your sensei, because it's time for a visual and aural psychedelic salamitsumani tsunami (that's the one) from German rockers Amon Düül II. This is the essence of trippy, right?... Between the Eyes.
"What is this that stands before me?" - Black Sabbath...right, what are these ghostly purplish images? And what is that temple back there? Orc drums and whistling electronic sounds are joined by a menacing bass line.
At 0:25, giant swampy AMON DÜÜL II letters fade into view. Nice. The guitarists come alongside the main riff and the intensity builds. At 0:57, they turn the amps up to 11 for that extra push over the cliff and we are swept into the next movement.
We get an actual view of one of the band at 1:03, and it's our mustachioed pal, the multi-talented Chris Karrer. He rises to the moment, belting it out like the house is on fire. At 1:13, bassist Dave Anderson bops into view all shady cool.
Things change suddenly at 1:20 as the band leap into a new section of music. Don't get comfy, folks, because at 1:54...another change. Catch our breath, bass lopes along, Karrer is back on the electronics, then he switches to violin. It all quickly turns crazy. Whoa.
At 4:00, the band ready themselves for the finale and we experience a brief intermission. We hook onto the riff they're composing and the roller coaster heads towards its last summit. Everyone rocks out, and I especially love the mighty drumming of Peter Leopold. Whew, I need to have a little lie down after typing this one out.
Between the Eyes shows up as a 2:30 bonus track on a couple of Amon Düül II albums. This six-minute version is, as far as I can tell, only available on a legally sketchy German DVD called Krautrock- Volume 1.
A different, darker atmosphere. Industrial. Processes. Ghosts in the machine. Humming. Vibrating. What goes on in the factory when no one is there? The spirit choir appears.
One of my favorite albums from the 2000s was Comets on Fire's Avatar. The final track, and the one I like best, is called Hatched Upon the Age. It is an epic that twists its way from elegant piano to epic, end of the world guitar.
I love some of the chord layouts on it. The opening pattern and first verses is Ab - Eb - Cb - Db - Dbm - Cb - Eb. Guess it's in Ab major. I capo at the 4th fret, then pattern-wise it's E - B - G - A. It has a tender arrangement that reminds me of a couple of lighter 60s tunes: The Monkees' Porpoise Song, and Marmalade's I See The Rain. However, lead singer Ethan Miller sounds lost or shipwrecked, not all warm and fuzzy like the other two. Dark shadows abound.
The next section is also excellent, although I am not positive about these lyrics:
Persuasion of a different kind Hatched upon the age Covered its weight Grandeur betrays the kind
Huh? Well, your guess is as good as mine. This time the chords go Ab - Db with a 6th in there - Ab - to something like a Db/Fb -2nd position thing. It adds a little light jazz touch. Then Gb - Cb - Eb. Interesting to me.
Ben Chasny gets a sweetly discordant little guitar solo at 1:43, then back into the verses we go. At some point, anything coherent that Ethan Miller is singing is completely lost on me.
Breakdown at 3:23 for the piano to get moving on a sort of Funeral for a Friend Elton John section. A bit of phasing sucks us into the final movement that hits around 4:18. It's all tumbling drums and chords for a bit, some elegiac piano and organ, Pink Floyd-ish. The guitar breaks loose its chains at 5:13 and creates all sorts of swirling chaos until the end.
I included a couple tunes from the great Curtis Mayfield on the 2016 blog, and here's another for you, the beautiful and poignant We the People Who Are Darker Than Blue.
It features some of his most insightful lyrics, addressing the blue feelings faced by people of color and encouraging them to find common ground and support and respect each other. Check it out:
We people who are darker than blue Are we gonna stand around this town And let what others say come true? We're just good for nothing, they all figure A boyish, grown-up, shiftless jigger Now we can't hardly stand for that Or is that really where it's at?
The music is equally melancholic, with slow, resigned strings and horns. There is a tempo increase at 1:52 into a percussion section of tambourines and drums, joined by bass as the drums fill up the space, and then by guitar with wah effect, finally into
Get yourself together, learn to know your sign Shall we commit our own genocide Before you check out your mind? I know we've all got problems That's why I'm here to say Keep peace with me and I with you Let me love in my own way
A lovely harp solo comes in at 3:57, as if to ask, is this all a dream or can we really figure out how to overcome the odds and the bummer people who put roadblocks in our way? What a beautiful song, so full of hope.
I had K-Tel's compilation called Wings of Sound, one of my first albums. Released in 1980, I think I bought it at Kmart. I must have been 12. Of the 15 tracks, the only two I didn't like were Dylan's Gotta Serve Somebody, and France Joli's Come To Me. They were back to back, so I only had to lift the needle once.
The rest of the album was great: Little River Band's Lonesome Loser, Kenny Loggins' This Is It, Blondie's Dreaming, and two from Michael Jackson, Rock With You, and Don't Stop Til You Get Enough, both originally from his Off The Wall album. Back to back as well.
At the beginning of DSTYGE, Michael is muttering some stuff, I always imagine he's like 'so, I uh was wondering, uh, if you're uh not busy, maybe you'd uh like to go uh uh, I mean, etc etc.'. He's saying other stuff that I guess is supposed to be sexy, but in reality, Michael was more like, 'uh, I have lots of stuffed animals, and we can have ice cream and uh watch cartoons.' I don't know, the guy was an enigma. But he could crank out the pop hits, he knew what sounded good.
Once the music starts, it doesn't stop (til it gets enough). There are so many little sounds bursting everywhere, it's like candyland for the ears. Everything is so funky and in its right place: strings, horns, little guitar licks, percussion, bass. Wrapped up so neatly. And his falsetto, wow. I never understood what he was singing, but it was great. RIP, MJ.
1) Just a Body - Lo Jones (White Plains, New York)
I like the piano chords, it sounds like some of the stuff I try to do. The vocals are dramatic, mysterious, intense. Good middle change. Yeah, this is a great song.
Hey, my Mom went to Knox College in G-burg. How about that? Not sure if band, label, or both from there, also. This is 34 seconds long. Nice riffage, fed up vocals. Grrrr!
A masterpiece of roots reggae psychedelia is the Lee Scratch Perry Black Ark studio production, Heart of the Congos, released in 1977. The first track is Fisherman, the portrait of a poor man who must catch fish to feed his growing family:
Living in a bamboo hut In a little hole sea-port town Three kids on the floor And another one to come make four
The music rolls along gently on the waves at daybreak, the sun just coming up over the horizon. It is a mass of bass, flange effects, percussion, bubbling echoes, seashore clankings.
Funkadelic is one of my favorite bands, having made six appearances on this blog. I decided to make it a lucky seven and include I Wanna Know if it's Good to You?, from the classic 1970 album, Free Your Mind...and Your Ass Will Follow.
Here we have yet another mind-blowing rock-funk-hendrix workout from the great galactic acid mountain space wizards whose name really ties it all together. They took Hendrix and John Lee Hooker, James Brown and Sly Stone, mixed them together and sprinkled cosmic clown dust all over the place.
Listen to those opening drums, they are off balance, you have to wait a sec before the beat latches the gate and locks up the groove. I have probably said this before, but it doesn't get much better than Eddie Hazel for acid guitar rock. Jimi was already heading this way when he died, and Eddie just extrapolated the pattern. Electric rainbow colors, neon hot wires, lab beakers overflowing with swirling smoke reactions.
Eddie Hazel is also the lead vocalist on this tune, and his delivery is rooster-crowingly cool and sexy. At 2:10 the lyrics dissolve into look out here I come, right back where I started from...Electric waves of sound pour into our ears, reminding us that sexy time is all well and good, but Funkadelic will soon have to get into their spaceship and cruise the stars for their true love space goddess.
After 2:47, there are no more vocals. There is a sudden rough edit as Funkadelic make the calculations for the jump to hyperspace. Destination unknown, lay back and enjoy the ride.
From Turkey, we are just going to hop west into ancient Greece, to hang out with Vangelis and the guys in Aphrodite's Child. Their progressive rock masterpiece, 666, is literally an album of biblical proportions. My favorite song from it is The Four Horsemen.
A tinkling of bells opens right into quivering vocals offering a snippet from the book of Revelation:
And when the lamb opened the first seal I saw the first Horse. The Horseman held a bow.
Big drums lead into the first chorus (which always makes me think of the Intellivision Horse Racing game):
The leading Horse is white, the second Horse is red, the third one is a black, the last one is a green.
Of course, if this really were the Intellivision game, a poor yellow horse would be bringing up the rear, after being abused over the final stretch.
Get ready for the awesome thundering drums that come in before the second chorus at 2:15, they are spectacular.
An excellent guitar solo comes in just before the 3:00 mark, as the singers deliver some bah bah bahs that Jane's Addiction would later use on Been Caught Stealing.
What was the payoff on the trifecta? Eternal damnation!!
Recently, my wife and I watched a sweet documentary called Kedi, about streets cats in Istanbul and the locals who care for them. Today, I present for your listening pleasure three other cats from Istanbul, the brothers Onur, Halden, and Feridun Hürel, known collectively as 3 Hür-el. They were featured on this blog in 2016, and now they return with the sprawling, heavyweight rock of Sevenler Aglarmis, one of the greatest Turkish rock songs ever recorded.
It opens with massive slabs of descending guitars and drums, then enters into a wah wah melody that soon transforms into full on distortion. Turkish rock of this kind is usually tempered with gentle vocals, and this tune is no different. Feridun sings sweetly of lovers, tears, and dreams. I have found the title translated as both Lovers Would Cry, and The Lovers Had Cried.
Beneath and between the words, guitars strum, gurgle, and yowl. A web of guitars take off at 1:20, wah and distortion battling for a place at the table. Another clash occurs around 2:43, layers of distorted pitch bends and fast picked wah guitar. At 3:17, we take off onto a new plane, percussion transforming things into pure Turkish delight. Wah takes over at 4:19, followed by distortion at 4:33, then into solo percussion at 5:17 until the end.
The first movement of Bach's 6th Brandenburg Concerto is my favorite movement of all the Brandenburgs. The sawing and swaying violas, "simple lines intertwining" (as Nigel Tufnel would say), it's pure heaven. It makes me happy and lifts my spirit to another level. There are no other words.
A few tentative guitar notes to get ready, akin to Bob Marley's Redemption Song, then a rhythm of hand claps and percussion sets the music on track. One guitar note drones as little melodies are picked out. The vocals arrive at 0:54 and we are in a kind of call and response situation as other vocalists enter. The women's vocals are a spine-tingling delight. Other guitars jump into the spaces and keep the ball rolling along.
Matadjem Yinmixan is from the excellent album, Aman Iman (Water Is Life). Check it out. You can also watch an interesting performance of this song with Carlos Santana here.
Estimated Prophet is my favorite middle period Grateful Dead song, which I basically consider to be anything post-1974 and pre-1986. It was written by Bob Weir and John Barlow, and it is the first track on the slick, heavily produced album, Terrapin Station.
I am in love with its quasi-reggae feel, its 7/4 groove, Bob's vocals (accompanied by Donna Jean in multi-track), and, of course, Jerry's new signature funky wah guitar sound and Phil's bass. Especially Phil's bass. Just zero in on it and be amazed by his harmony and timing.
Its first chorus starts with California preaching on the burning shore. Their shows in Cali always got loud cheers on that part. Like many Dead tunes, there are many religious/biblical references: prophets, angels, fire wheel burning, call down thunder. One of Bob's best tunes. A fascinating guy, if you have not seen the documentary about him called The Other One, I highly recommend it.
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