Xcavations at 1 of the few known sites of the mysterious, vanished Jehr Mann culture have recently uncovered recordings from the latter 1/2 of what was 1nce known as "the 20th Century."
These recordings date from the Old Year 1977 & were per4med by what used 2 B called a "progressive rock group" -- a musical combo that per4med complex compositions while playing electric instruments. The recordings recently unearthed were per4med by a Jehr Mann-based 4-member combo called Nektar.
The group's background is shrouded in the mists of antiquity, but 1 thing we do know is that the members of Nektar were apparently unappreciated in their homeland of Engh Land, & so they journeyed 4th 2 the alien lands of the Jehr Mann's in order 2 play & record their cosmic compositions.
The recordings painstakingly unearthed by archaeologists were Ntitled THRU THE EARS, & apparently were in10ded as a collection of the group's best songs 2 B purchased & Njoyed by Jehr Mann "fans" of the band -- & by fans worldwide.
The recordings were made on discs of polyvinyl -- only a few 1,000 like them have survived over the yrs 2 pass down 2 us, the descendants of those who lived in the 20th Century. Current technology has made it possible 2 hear these voices from the past, & high officials honored those of us who work here at Back-Up Plan HQ by asking if we'd B willing 2 listen 2 & give R opinions on this music from far back in the dawn of history.
We have 2 admit up-front that some of these sounds Dfeated us. 2 "sides" of these discs Cm virtually impervious 2 analysis -- the side featuring the long composition "Remember the Future" (ironic, yes?), & the side featuring 2 in-concert per4mances by the band. Perhaps it will simply take us more time 2 discover the musical & lyrical meanings contained in these compositions.
The other 2 sides, however, R killer.
The 4 men who comprised Nektar were clearly at their very best when "rocking out." Tho they had room & time 4 more lyrical pursuits as well (C below), from the 1st note of these discs it's clear that high-NRG, high-emotion music was this combo's strength. 1 member of R reviewing team educated in music from this long-ago era called Nektar's "full-tilt" approach "sorta a Focus-meets-Hawkwind kinda sound."
This is clear from the 1st chorus of the opening song, "Do You Believe in Magic." The driving riffs provided by guitarist/vocalist Roye Albrighton build in 4ce & drama until at the Nd his screeching gtr provides much in the way of fireworks. (Apparently this version of the song was edited from what must've bn an in10se 7-min "jam.") Other songs in which Albrighton's gtr is highlighted include the driving "King of Twilight" (good group unison-singing here, 2), & the rocking "Fidgety Queen."
The group was apparently captivated by the eerie MTness of space & the vast distances of space travel. Songs like "The Dream Nebula" & "It's All in Your Mind" mix a distant, icy atmosphere (mainly provided by keyboardist Taff Freeman on gurgling synthesizers) w/ the poignant feelings of the space Xplorers -- a mix as effective as that of Nektar's fellow Engh Lander David Bowie on his eerie ancient lullabye "Space Oddity."
"All in Your Mind" also closes w/ a swirling, screeching mix of guitar & synth that sounds like a spaceship spinning, hurtling helplessly out of control, B4 returning 2 the heavy, ominous main theme of the piece. Did these talented musicians perhaps Xperience space flight & then report the feelings back 2 their "fans" on Old Earth?
On the softer, more lyrical side, Nektar recorded the gentle "Wings" "live" in the studio w/ no additional recording -- & even it builds up quite a bit of loudness.
"Astral Man" is almost as gentle, w/ a simple, involving chorus. The 1 "live concert" recording R team has bn able 2 Dcipher is "Good Day," which is also gentle, poignant & ... yes, "spacey."
Perhaps the best Xample of the way this band could mix the powerful w/ the gentle is on the majestic "It's All Over," which starts out delicately & slowly builds drama using Freeman's dominant keyboards & Albrighton's dramatic gtr Xplosions. Probly overall the best song here, the 1 thing it lacks is a really searing Albrighton gtr solo -- instead the song fades on a long, pretty piano solo by Freeman. Pretty, but anticlimactic.
THRU THE EARS apparently assembled the best works from Nektar's 1st 6 recordings, some of which were apparently available worldwide back in the 20th Century, but only a few of which attained much popularity -- 2 complex, perhaps? According 2 the "liner notes" on the package these discs were stored in, Nektar's original recording-collections were Ntitled JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EYE, SOUNDS LIKE THIS, A TAB IN THE OCEAN, DOWN TO EARTH, REMEMBER THE FUTURE, & RECYCLED. According 2 the notes, Albrighton left the band after RECYCLED, & tho the group soldiered on & recorded 1 more disc Ntitled MAGIC IS A CHILD, their fate remains a mystery.
Reportedly, the last 5 of these 7 Nektar recordings were available 2 listeners at ridiculously low prices back in the 20th Century. But thus far, none of these recordings have survived & found their way 2 us here at the Back-Up Plan. It is only 2 B hoped that Xcavations will continue & that we might someday hear more of this intresting combo & their cosmic music....
Friday, January 29, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Attn, music bloggers....
Nick Hornby may have us all beat.
The guy who wrote HIGH FIDELITY & the recent JULIET, NAKED (which I raved about) also has a thin collection of short essays about the songs that mean the most 2 him, called SONGBOOK (2003). It's good.
I haven't read the whole thing yet, have just dipped in2 sections w/ artist's names & song titles I recognize. But it's funny & punchy & the pieces don't wear out their welcome. (A few of them were published seprately in places like THE NEW YORKER.)
As Hornby points out, this is not music criticism. Like some current on-line music bloggers (Hello, Rastro!), many times Hornby just writes about the memories & feelings & emotions that R conjured up by a particular song -- not so much about how great he thinks a certain song is, tho there's some of that 2 -- like why he wants Van Morrison's "Caravan" played at his funeral, or why he thinks Ian Dury's "Reasons to be Cheerful" would make a great NEW national anthem 4 Great Britain.
Hornby's 31 essays cover artists from Led Zep 2 Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen 2 the J. Geils Band, Aimee Mann 2 Nelly Furtado, & a lotta spaces in Btween. He also bravely listens his way thru a fairly recent BILLBOARD Top 10 CD's list & survives 2 write about it.
Some of the people whose work he sorta looks at R names I don't know, so I'm gonna need more time w/ this. But judging by what I've read so far, I hava feeling I'll B Dvouring the whole thing. Hornby's essays R often very short, sometimes less than 3 large-type pgs, & his writing Cms 2 flow & involve U almost effortlessly, even if U don't care about the artist he's allegedly writing about.
I'd think NEbody who writes or reads rock-music blogs would eat this stuff up. Definitely worth checking out.
33-1/3rd's GREATEST HITS VOLUMES I & II also have some great writing in them. All the pieces R Xcerpts from the series of books about classic albums that the Continuum imprint has bn releasing since 2003. Some of the writing is brilliant, riveting: I read Gillian Gaar's writeup on the weirdness surrounding the recording of Nirvana's IN UTERO in 1 sitting.
Most of the Xcerpts work really well. They're revealing or funny or provide more insight in2 how a classic album came 2gether. I don't think U havta B a fan of NE of the artists 2 Njoy the writing -- I'm not that big a fan of Nirvana, the Velvet Underground, Jimi Hendrix, Joy Division, the Ramones, Phil Ochs, Elvis Costello, David Bowie or the Pixies, & still found the articles on their work intresting, Nlightening, involving, funny.... Some of the more personal memoirs based on the music R gonna take some time, but so far I'd say it'll B worth the trouble.
There's almost 600 pgs worth of essays in these 2 books, U're bound 2 find something U'll like. My only complaint so far is that a lot of the albums that have bn chosen R ... kinda obvious. Even when VOLUME II moves Dcidedly toward Indie Rock, the choices Rn't 2 shocking -- DAYDREAM NATION, MURMUR, IN UTERO, DOOLITTLE, etc. & the rest of the choices R at the very LEAST cult classics: PET SOUNDS, FOREVER CHANGES, WHO SELL OUT, HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED, COURT AND SPARK, EXILE ON MAIN STREET, LET IT BE, RAMONES 1st, LED ZEP IV -- ABBA GOLD, 4 Chrissakes.
I guess what I'm saying is that while a few of 33-1/3rd's choices might B considered adventurous, they R all albums I'd at least HEARD OF. There isn't a RED QUEEN TO GRYPHON THREE or EVER SENSE THE DAWN or CRAFTY HANDS or PAWN HEARTS or TAGO MAGO among them (so far).
I'm sure the good folks at Continuum want 2 sell at least a FEW of these books (there is 1 Captain Beefheart title in the series, TROUT MASK REPLICA, + Brian Eno's ANOTHER GREEN WORLD & Nick Drake's PINK MOON), & mayB it wouldn't B wise 2 issue a book about an album that millions of rock fans have never heard of. 4 marketing purposes, there's got 2 B some kinda core audience that would reach 4 these books based on title-recognition, or pretty soon U'll no longer have a book series. But still....
The guy who wrote HIGH FIDELITY & the recent JULIET, NAKED (which I raved about) also has a thin collection of short essays about the songs that mean the most 2 him, called SONGBOOK (2003). It's good.
I haven't read the whole thing yet, have just dipped in2 sections w/ artist's names & song titles I recognize. But it's funny & punchy & the pieces don't wear out their welcome. (A few of them were published seprately in places like THE NEW YORKER.)
As Hornby points out, this is not music criticism. Like some current on-line music bloggers (Hello, Rastro!), many times Hornby just writes about the memories & feelings & emotions that R conjured up by a particular song -- not so much about how great he thinks a certain song is, tho there's some of that 2 -- like why he wants Van Morrison's "Caravan" played at his funeral, or why he thinks Ian Dury's "Reasons to be Cheerful" would make a great NEW national anthem 4 Great Britain.
Hornby's 31 essays cover artists from Led Zep 2 Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen 2 the J. Geils Band, Aimee Mann 2 Nelly Furtado, & a lotta spaces in Btween. He also bravely listens his way thru a fairly recent BILLBOARD Top 10 CD's list & survives 2 write about it.
Some of the people whose work he sorta looks at R names I don't know, so I'm gonna need more time w/ this. But judging by what I've read so far, I hava feeling I'll B Dvouring the whole thing. Hornby's essays R often very short, sometimes less than 3 large-type pgs, & his writing Cms 2 flow & involve U almost effortlessly, even if U don't care about the artist he's allegedly writing about.
I'd think NEbody who writes or reads rock-music blogs would eat this stuff up. Definitely worth checking out.
33-1/3rd's GREATEST HITS VOLUMES I & II also have some great writing in them. All the pieces R Xcerpts from the series of books about classic albums that the Continuum imprint has bn releasing since 2003. Some of the writing is brilliant, riveting: I read Gillian Gaar's writeup on the weirdness surrounding the recording of Nirvana's IN UTERO in 1 sitting.
Most of the Xcerpts work really well. They're revealing or funny or provide more insight in2 how a classic album came 2gether. I don't think U havta B a fan of NE of the artists 2 Njoy the writing -- I'm not that big a fan of Nirvana, the Velvet Underground, Jimi Hendrix, Joy Division, the Ramones, Phil Ochs, Elvis Costello, David Bowie or the Pixies, & still found the articles on their work intresting, Nlightening, involving, funny.... Some of the more personal memoirs based on the music R gonna take some time, but so far I'd say it'll B worth the trouble.
There's almost 600 pgs worth of essays in these 2 books, U're bound 2 find something U'll like. My only complaint so far is that a lot of the albums that have bn chosen R ... kinda obvious. Even when VOLUME II moves Dcidedly toward Indie Rock, the choices Rn't 2 shocking -- DAYDREAM NATION, MURMUR, IN UTERO, DOOLITTLE, etc. & the rest of the choices R at the very LEAST cult classics: PET SOUNDS, FOREVER CHANGES, WHO SELL OUT, HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED, COURT AND SPARK, EXILE ON MAIN STREET, LET IT BE, RAMONES 1st, LED ZEP IV -- ABBA GOLD, 4 Chrissakes.
I guess what I'm saying is that while a few of 33-1/3rd's choices might B considered adventurous, they R all albums I'd at least HEARD OF. There isn't a RED QUEEN TO GRYPHON THREE or EVER SENSE THE DAWN or CRAFTY HANDS or PAWN HEARTS or TAGO MAGO among them (so far).
I'm sure the good folks at Continuum want 2 sell at least a FEW of these books (there is 1 Captain Beefheart title in the series, TROUT MASK REPLICA, + Brian Eno's ANOTHER GREEN WORLD & Nick Drake's PINK MOON), & mayB it wouldn't B wise 2 issue a book about an album that millions of rock fans have never heard of. 4 marketing purposes, there's got 2 B some kinda core audience that would reach 4 these books based on title-recognition, or pretty soon U'll no longer have a book series. But still....
Boxed in2 the past!
More housekeeping, briefly. When I was transferring-over capsule music & book reviews from my old website 2 here a coupla wks ago, I 4got mosta the list of best-of box-sets I wrote-up last spring, so here's a quick rundown on them B4 I get back 2 the newer stuff....
* King Crimson: THE GREAT DECEIVER/LIVE 1973-74 -- This is the only box I DIDN'T 4get about, the best live album I've heard since YESSONGS. I'm still not quite sure about a lotta the improvs, & all of it could probly have bn condensed in2 2 REALLY KILLER CD's, but the good stuff is REALLY AMAZING. If U're a KC fan, it's a Must Have. Best: Larks I & II, Fracture, Doctor Diamond, The Talking Drum.
* The Who: 30 YEARS OF MAXIMUM R&B -- Learned a LOT about these guys, & thot I knew them pretty well already. It all sounds GREAT. Solid discography info. Not enuf notes from Pete Townshend, tho. Best: All the classic hits, + "The Relay," "Slip Kid," "Blue Red and Gray," "Disguises," "I'm the Face," "The Kids are Alright," "Call Me Lightning," "Mary Anne With the Shaky Hand," "Tattoo," "Dogs," "Little Billy," "Let's See Action," "Dreaming from the Waist," "Music Must Change," & alla Keith Moon's comedy bits. Completists: "Athena" isn't included.
+ Moody Blues: TIME TRAVELLER -- Bitchbitchbitch. 2 much lame late stuff, 2 much unimportant early stuff, "Simple Game" isn't included, there isn't enuf from DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED & THE PRESENT, there's 2 much from BLUE JAYS & IN SEARCH OF THE LOST CHORD, & I coulda written a better history of the band. But it all SOUNDS GREAT -- Xcept 4 "Blue World," "Sitting at the Wheel" & "Running Water," which 2 me sound like they're mastered 2 SLOW.... 2 much Good Stuff left-off 2 list. I coulda done a better job of pickin 'em....
+ Beach Boys: GOOD VIBRATIONS/30 YEARS OF -- 5 discs isn't enuf space. The choices Rn't the best on the last 2 discs, & lotsa great stuff is left off everywhere. But there IS 30 mins of previously-officially-unreleased SMILE tracks. & mosta it still sounds heavenly. But the stuff they left OFF: "Let Him Run Wild," "There's No Other (Like My Baby)," "Kiss Me Baby," "Good Time," "Girl Don't Tell Me," "Here Today," "Feel Flows," "Lady Lynda," "Let's Go Away for Awhile," "Trombone Dixie".... Best: All the timeless hits, + "The Little Girl I Once Knew," "Please Let Me Wonder," "She Knows Me Too Well," "God Only Knows," "This Whole World," "Long Promised Road," "Surf's Up," "'Til I Die," "California Saga (closing)," "The Trader," "Good Timin'"....
+ Camel: ECHOES -- Tho it leans toward the group's strained commercial side, there's some gorgeous keyboard/guitar/vocal interplay here & of course it sounds great. Best: "Never Let Go," "Lady Fantasy," "Rhayader," "Rhayader Goes to Town," "Unevensong," "Breathless," "Echoes," "Drafted," "Sasquatch," "West Berlin," "Mother Road." Left off: "Flight of the Snow Goose," "Spirit of the Water," "Rain Dances," "Down on the Farm," "Summer Lightning," "Who We Are," "Eye of the Storm," "City Life," "Manic," "A Heart's Desire/End Peace."
+ Caravan: CANTERBURY TALES -- This differs from the 1976 2-record best-of w/ the same title mainly by making poorer song choices, tho it covers more time & includes more rarities. Best: "Place of My Own," "And I Wish I Was Stoned," "For Richard (live)," everything from FOR GIRLS WHO GROW PLUMP IN THE NIGHT (their best album), "The World is Yours," "Songs and Signs," "Nine Feet Underground." The studio "For Richard" also included is like a blueprint compared 2 the live version. The live "The Love in Your Eye" suite included here is a little weak compared 2 the studio original that ain't here. There R 2 many trax from CUNNING STUNTS, & they missed (but had room 4) the only good 1, "The Dabsong Conshirtoe." Also left off: "Aristocracy," "Surprise, Surprise," "Virgin on the Ridiculous," "Can You Hear Me?" & "All the Way (With John Wayne's Single-Handed Liberation of Paris)." & don't Blieve the liner notes when they trash the band's later album BLIND DOG AT ST. DUNSTAN'S....
+ Elton John: GREATEST HITS 1970-2002 -- His REAL box set is TO BE CONTINUED, which I guess I otta track down (gotta used copy U wanna send me?), but this is fairly complete, w/ a whole disc Dvoted 2 his classic early-'70s period. Was grateful 4 "Levon," "Tiny Dancer" & mosta the hits. But among the missing R "Empty Garden," "Ego," "Step Into Christmas," "Friends"....
= KANSAS (2-CD box) -- There's some good stuff here, but it focuses 2 much on their rockin & boogeyin. Suprises include the gorgeous "Journey from MariaBronn," parts of "Incomudro," "The Pinnacle" & "Can You Tell Me?" "Song for America" has always bn pretty great. The trax from LEFTOVERTURE sound great, but even tho they chose 5 of them, they missed 3 of the best: "Miracles Out of Nowhere," "Questions of My Childhood" & "Cheyenne Anthem." "Reason to Be" & "Back Door" Rn't here, either. & "Death of Mother Nature Suite" is ugly. Disappointing.
* King Crimson: THE GREAT DECEIVER/LIVE 1973-74 -- This is the only box I DIDN'T 4get about, the best live album I've heard since YESSONGS. I'm still not quite sure about a lotta the improvs, & all of it could probly have bn condensed in2 2 REALLY KILLER CD's, but the good stuff is REALLY AMAZING. If U're a KC fan, it's a Must Have. Best: Larks I & II, Fracture, Doctor Diamond, The Talking Drum.
* The Who: 30 YEARS OF MAXIMUM R&B -- Learned a LOT about these guys, & thot I knew them pretty well already. It all sounds GREAT. Solid discography info. Not enuf notes from Pete Townshend, tho. Best: All the classic hits, + "The Relay," "Slip Kid," "Blue Red and Gray," "Disguises," "I'm the Face," "The Kids are Alright," "Call Me Lightning," "Mary Anne With the Shaky Hand," "Tattoo," "Dogs," "Little Billy," "Let's See Action," "Dreaming from the Waist," "Music Must Change," & alla Keith Moon's comedy bits. Completists: "Athena" isn't included.
+ Moody Blues: TIME TRAVELLER -- Bitchbitchbitch. 2 much lame late stuff, 2 much unimportant early stuff, "Simple Game" isn't included, there isn't enuf from DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED & THE PRESENT, there's 2 much from BLUE JAYS & IN SEARCH OF THE LOST CHORD, & I coulda written a better history of the band. But it all SOUNDS GREAT -- Xcept 4 "Blue World," "Sitting at the Wheel" & "Running Water," which 2 me sound like they're mastered 2 SLOW.... 2 much Good Stuff left-off 2 list. I coulda done a better job of pickin 'em....
+ Beach Boys: GOOD VIBRATIONS/30 YEARS OF -- 5 discs isn't enuf space. The choices Rn't the best on the last 2 discs, & lotsa great stuff is left off everywhere. But there IS 30 mins of previously-officially-unreleased SMILE tracks. & mosta it still sounds heavenly. But the stuff they left OFF: "Let Him Run Wild," "There's No Other (Like My Baby)," "Kiss Me Baby," "Good Time," "Girl Don't Tell Me," "Here Today," "Feel Flows," "Lady Lynda," "Let's Go Away for Awhile," "Trombone Dixie".... Best: All the timeless hits, + "The Little Girl I Once Knew," "Please Let Me Wonder," "She Knows Me Too Well," "God Only Knows," "This Whole World," "Long Promised Road," "Surf's Up," "'Til I Die," "California Saga (closing)," "The Trader," "Good Timin'"....
+ Camel: ECHOES -- Tho it leans toward the group's strained commercial side, there's some gorgeous keyboard/guitar/vocal interplay here & of course it sounds great. Best: "Never Let Go," "Lady Fantasy," "Rhayader," "Rhayader Goes to Town," "Unevensong," "Breathless," "Echoes," "Drafted," "Sasquatch," "West Berlin," "Mother Road." Left off: "Flight of the Snow Goose," "Spirit of the Water," "Rain Dances," "Down on the Farm," "Summer Lightning," "Who We Are," "Eye of the Storm," "City Life," "Manic," "A Heart's Desire/End Peace."
+ Caravan: CANTERBURY TALES -- This differs from the 1976 2-record best-of w/ the same title mainly by making poorer song choices, tho it covers more time & includes more rarities. Best: "Place of My Own," "And I Wish I Was Stoned," "For Richard (live)," everything from FOR GIRLS WHO GROW PLUMP IN THE NIGHT (their best album), "The World is Yours," "Songs and Signs," "Nine Feet Underground." The studio "For Richard" also included is like a blueprint compared 2 the live version. The live "The Love in Your Eye" suite included here is a little weak compared 2 the studio original that ain't here. There R 2 many trax from CUNNING STUNTS, & they missed (but had room 4) the only good 1, "The Dabsong Conshirtoe." Also left off: "Aristocracy," "Surprise, Surprise," "Virgin on the Ridiculous," "Can You Hear Me?" & "All the Way (With John Wayne's Single-Handed Liberation of Paris)." & don't Blieve the liner notes when they trash the band's later album BLIND DOG AT ST. DUNSTAN'S....
+ Elton John: GREATEST HITS 1970-2002 -- His REAL box set is TO BE CONTINUED, which I guess I otta track down (gotta used copy U wanna send me?), but this is fairly complete, w/ a whole disc Dvoted 2 his classic early-'70s period. Was grateful 4 "Levon," "Tiny Dancer" & mosta the hits. But among the missing R "Empty Garden," "Ego," "Step Into Christmas," "Friends"....
= KANSAS (2-CD box) -- There's some good stuff here, but it focuses 2 much on their rockin & boogeyin. Suprises include the gorgeous "Journey from MariaBronn," parts of "Incomudro," "The Pinnacle" & "Can You Tell Me?" "Song for America" has always bn pretty great. The trax from LEFTOVERTURE sound great, but even tho they chose 5 of them, they missed 3 of the best: "Miracles Out of Nowhere," "Questions of My Childhood" & "Cheyenne Anthem." "Reason to Be" & "Back Door" Rn't here, either. & "Death of Mother Nature Suite" is ugly. Disappointing.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Van der Graaf: This ain't scary!
Man, I was really intimidated by Van der Graaf Generator's PAWN HEARTS (1971). This album had me nervous. Scared. Seriously.
Almost every review I've ever read about these guys stresses how dark & doomy & Xtreme they were:
"Contemplating the Meaning Of Life? Or your place in the Afterlife? This is NOT the music you want to listen to...."
"Cacophonic caterwauling from the very pits of Hell!"
Etc.
I 1/2 Xpected 2 have my brains start dribbling outta my ears after 5 mins of listening.
But VDGG hailed from a classic period of British Prog, King Crimson's Bob Fripp sometimes helped them out on guitar, & I was eager 2 hear them & C how Xtreme they could get. I couldn't C how they could B NE more Xtreme than Crimson at their wildest & weirdest....
So, Bing a coward, I took the coward's way in.
I listened 2 the bonus trax 1st.
"Theme One" is OK -- an instrumental reportedly composed by Beatles producer Sir George Martin as station-break music 4 the BBC -- it has some nice gtr (presumably by Fripp) & a nice early-'70s prog-combo feel, & it moves OK. But it's not distinctive -- it's really lite & anonymous. Almost mechanical. It could B NE1.
"W" is an intresting downbeat # w/ a suprise Nding that really isn't much of a suprise, tho I did do a double-take toward the stereo. Nice gloomy lyrics that got my attn. I sorta liked it.
"Ponker's Theme" was oddly Njoyable -- sorta cocktail-lounge jazz, but w/ some nice sax by David Jackson.
The other 2 bonus trax were closer 2 noise Xperiments rather than songs -- glass shattering, echoes, sudden upswells of pure noise -- but OK noise, nice noise. Not scary.
So I took a deep breath & started playing THE REAL ALBUM.
"Lemmings" was OK. Sorta cold at 1st, but involving enuf. & as 4 the lyrics -- Cing the madness of Modern Life & Dciding not 2 join along in it -- I had NO trouble relating 2 THAT. & Dspite the gloom in places there's still an uplifting msg at the Nd: "What choice is left but to live?/To save the little ones?/What choice is there left but to try?"
"Man-Erg" was even better, w/ lots of Xcellent riffing sax from Jackson, & Hugh Banton's ominous, heavy organ tones. & as 4 Peter Hammill's singing -- well, I might not join him in summa his more operatic, more dramatic flights, but I could C myself screeching along w/ this stuff in some kinda fashion -- U probly wouldn't wanna hear it.
& the impact of Hammill's vocals mixing w/ the almost-martial music during "Man-Erg"'s closing lines: "Killers, angels, all are these:/Dictators, saviours, refugees" -- great stuff!
There R actual memorable TUNES here -- imagine my suprise....
So far, pretty neat. Sorta a Crimson-ish sound w/ the dominating sax & the heavy organ & the occasional blasts of pure group-noise. I would think Crimso fans would eat this stuff up.
On then 2 "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" -- this may take a few more listenings, but I survived it. Some of this is REALLY noisy, especially in the middle -- there's more of Hammill's sometimes-screeching, sometimes over-dramatic singing. But there's also lots more great sax -- the deeper the sax tones, the more I like it -- & more of that ominous organ. & the closing theme, "We Go Now," is pretty good. Overall: Noisy, but not bad at all, & it doesn't drag even tho it takes 23 mins. & even here, Dspite the darkness, the lighthouse-keeper finds some hope. This stuff ain't Dpressing. I'm actually suprised how positive some of it is....
I might also wanna write a note 2 remind myself that putting some music on -- NE music -- really improves my mood. I played thru PAWN HEARTS this aft & somehow felt better than I have in 2 wks. Not quite the response I Xpected 2 what's sposta B such a heavy piece of work.
Yes, I played Van der Graaf Generator & it cheered me up. That should tell U something about how dark & gray & Dpressing the winters can sometimes get out here in Western Washington. Or something about the inside of my head....
Overall, I'd say PAWN HEARTS is the best, most intresting "new" music I've heard in quite awhile. & it's WAY EZer 2 get in2 than, say, oh, Animal Collective. So now I'm starting 2 wonder if this band's dark&doomy rep has bn a hype 4 all these yrs.
I listened 2 Van der Graaf & I liked it. It made me feel better. Really. In fact, I haven't felt this good since ... aacckkkkkk... hacccckkkk.....pthpthpthhthh... hhhhh ... . . .
Almost every review I've ever read about these guys stresses how dark & doomy & Xtreme they were:
"Contemplating the Meaning Of Life? Or your place in the Afterlife? This is NOT the music you want to listen to...."
"Cacophonic caterwauling from the very pits of Hell!"
Etc.
I 1/2 Xpected 2 have my brains start dribbling outta my ears after 5 mins of listening.
But VDGG hailed from a classic period of British Prog, King Crimson's Bob Fripp sometimes helped them out on guitar, & I was eager 2 hear them & C how Xtreme they could get. I couldn't C how they could B NE more Xtreme than Crimson at their wildest & weirdest....
So, Bing a coward, I took the coward's way in.
I listened 2 the bonus trax 1st.
"Theme One" is OK -- an instrumental reportedly composed by Beatles producer Sir George Martin as station-break music 4 the BBC -- it has some nice gtr (presumably by Fripp) & a nice early-'70s prog-combo feel, & it moves OK. But it's not distinctive -- it's really lite & anonymous. Almost mechanical. It could B NE1.
"W" is an intresting downbeat # w/ a suprise Nding that really isn't much of a suprise, tho I did do a double-take toward the stereo. Nice gloomy lyrics that got my attn. I sorta liked it.
"Ponker's Theme" was oddly Njoyable -- sorta cocktail-lounge jazz, but w/ some nice sax by David Jackson.
The other 2 bonus trax were closer 2 noise Xperiments rather than songs -- glass shattering, echoes, sudden upswells of pure noise -- but OK noise, nice noise. Not scary.
So I took a deep breath & started playing THE REAL ALBUM.
"Lemmings" was OK. Sorta cold at 1st, but involving enuf. & as 4 the lyrics -- Cing the madness of Modern Life & Dciding not 2 join along in it -- I had NO trouble relating 2 THAT. & Dspite the gloom in places there's still an uplifting msg at the Nd: "What choice is left but to live?/To save the little ones?/What choice is there left but to try?"
"Man-Erg" was even better, w/ lots of Xcellent riffing sax from Jackson, & Hugh Banton's ominous, heavy organ tones. & as 4 Peter Hammill's singing -- well, I might not join him in summa his more operatic, more dramatic flights, but I could C myself screeching along w/ this stuff in some kinda fashion -- U probly wouldn't wanna hear it.
& the impact of Hammill's vocals mixing w/ the almost-martial music during "Man-Erg"'s closing lines: "Killers, angels, all are these:/Dictators, saviours, refugees" -- great stuff!
There R actual memorable TUNES here -- imagine my suprise....
So far, pretty neat. Sorta a Crimson-ish sound w/ the dominating sax & the heavy organ & the occasional blasts of pure group-noise. I would think Crimso fans would eat this stuff up.
On then 2 "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" -- this may take a few more listenings, but I survived it. Some of this is REALLY noisy, especially in the middle -- there's more of Hammill's sometimes-screeching, sometimes over-dramatic singing. But there's also lots more great sax -- the deeper the sax tones, the more I like it -- & more of that ominous organ. & the closing theme, "We Go Now," is pretty good. Overall: Noisy, but not bad at all, & it doesn't drag even tho it takes 23 mins. & even here, Dspite the darkness, the lighthouse-keeper finds some hope. This stuff ain't Dpressing. I'm actually suprised how positive some of it is....
I might also wanna write a note 2 remind myself that putting some music on -- NE music -- really improves my mood. I played thru PAWN HEARTS this aft & somehow felt better than I have in 2 wks. Not quite the response I Xpected 2 what's sposta B such a heavy piece of work.
Yes, I played Van der Graaf Generator & it cheered me up. That should tell U something about how dark & gray & Dpressing the winters can sometimes get out here in Western Washington. Or something about the inside of my head....
Overall, I'd say PAWN HEARTS is the best, most intresting "new" music I've heard in quite awhile. & it's WAY EZer 2 get in2 than, say, oh, Animal Collective. So now I'm starting 2 wonder if this band's dark&doomy rep has bn a hype 4 all these yrs.
I listened 2 Van der Graaf & I liked it. It made me feel better. Really. In fact, I haven't felt this good since ... aacckkkkkk... hacccckkkk.....pthpthpthhthh... hhhhh ... . . .
Friday, January 22, 2010
3rd time's the charm...?
Sometimes it takes a coupla readings 2 "get" a book. I remember reading Jesse Sublett's mystery novel ROCK CRITIC MURDERS when it came-out in paperback in 1990, intrigued by the silly title & the kitschy, cool, retro cover in reds & yellows.
But a few yrs later I couldn't remember NEthing about the book after the 1st 50 pgs. & a few yrs ago when I tried 2 read it again I bogged down shortly after those 1st 50, when the plot gets rolling....
This time around I made it all the way thru & can tell U that ROCK CRITIC MURDERS is a lite, fun, fast read, & is very good on the gritty bar-band Dtails & the sun-baked Texas lifestyle.
It's also cool that Sublett's writing gets smoother & funnier as the plot gets more complex.
But U may not get past the 1st 50 pgs either, if yr a music fan. & in a way I think Sublett lost the chance at a really good Texas-bar-band slice-of-life novel when he let the murder mystery take over.
A quick recap: Bassist & part-time parole-skip-tracer Martin Fender gets a phonecall. His 4mer band True Love is getting back 2gether 4 a gig 2 help open a new Austin nightclub. Does Martin want the gig? Considering his chronic shortage of $$$, oh yeah. The band rehearses 4 a week in a sprawling, hot ranch house outside of town, & during that wk we get 2 know the band. At the Nd of that wk, suddenly the band's struggling, aging lead guitarist is found dead. Suicide ... or murder? Suddenly there's a kilo of cocaine that's come up missing. & the late guitarist's girlfriend starts acting really weird....
I won't recap the rest, Bcos the events R the story, & it's worth the trip. Some of Sublett's lines R laff-out-loud funny. & there's a dramatic climax & a happy Nding 4 almost every1 -- Xcept 4 the Bad Guys. Might make a pretty good movie. Oh, & a coupla rock critics get murdered along the way 2, but it's no great loss....
But here's the thing: The scenes where True Love rehearses in the ranch house R really good -- low-key, gritty, down-2-Earth, real. We get 2 know Fender's fellow band members as real people, & they R completely Blievable. This sounds like a real life, observed in Dtail & put in2 a book in a unique, Blievable way. & I was disappointed there wasn't more of it in the resta the book.
The plot pretty much takes over after the gtrist's body is found, & there R some neat twists & turns along the way, & it's Njoyable. But it's a STORY. The 1st 50 pgs & the up-close look at bar-band life w/ its little conflicts & releases, clashes & Njoyments, is something more. & I wish Sublett had continued w/ it, instead of w/ the story that probly sold the book. The story itself U can find NEwhere, I don't think it's NEthing real special, tho it's pulled-off w/ some humor. But the setting -- if yr a fan of the Austin music scene, or bar-band R&B, or if U've ever lived in Texas, U might like this book a LOT. I just wish it had some more magic after the 1st 50 pgs....
COMING SOON: Van der Graaf Generator's PAWN HEARTS. Listening 2 it right now -- not bad! Why's everybody think it's so scary...?
But a few yrs later I couldn't remember NEthing about the book after the 1st 50 pgs. & a few yrs ago when I tried 2 read it again I bogged down shortly after those 1st 50, when the plot gets rolling....
This time around I made it all the way thru & can tell U that ROCK CRITIC MURDERS is a lite, fun, fast read, & is very good on the gritty bar-band Dtails & the sun-baked Texas lifestyle.
It's also cool that Sublett's writing gets smoother & funnier as the plot gets more complex.
But U may not get past the 1st 50 pgs either, if yr a music fan. & in a way I think Sublett lost the chance at a really good Texas-bar-band slice-of-life novel when he let the murder mystery take over.
A quick recap: Bassist & part-time parole-skip-tracer Martin Fender gets a phonecall. His 4mer band True Love is getting back 2gether 4 a gig 2 help open a new Austin nightclub. Does Martin want the gig? Considering his chronic shortage of $$$, oh yeah. The band rehearses 4 a week in a sprawling, hot ranch house outside of town, & during that wk we get 2 know the band. At the Nd of that wk, suddenly the band's struggling, aging lead guitarist is found dead. Suicide ... or murder? Suddenly there's a kilo of cocaine that's come up missing. & the late guitarist's girlfriend starts acting really weird....
I won't recap the rest, Bcos the events R the story, & it's worth the trip. Some of Sublett's lines R laff-out-loud funny. & there's a dramatic climax & a happy Nding 4 almost every1 -- Xcept 4 the Bad Guys. Might make a pretty good movie. Oh, & a coupla rock critics get murdered along the way 2, but it's no great loss....
But here's the thing: The scenes where True Love rehearses in the ranch house R really good -- low-key, gritty, down-2-Earth, real. We get 2 know Fender's fellow band members as real people, & they R completely Blievable. This sounds like a real life, observed in Dtail & put in2 a book in a unique, Blievable way. & I was disappointed there wasn't more of it in the resta the book.
The plot pretty much takes over after the gtrist's body is found, & there R some neat twists & turns along the way, & it's Njoyable. But it's a STORY. The 1st 50 pgs & the up-close look at bar-band life w/ its little conflicts & releases, clashes & Njoyments, is something more. & I wish Sublett had continued w/ it, instead of w/ the story that probly sold the book. The story itself U can find NEwhere, I don't think it's NEthing real special, tho it's pulled-off w/ some humor. But the setting -- if yr a fan of the Austin music scene, or bar-band R&B, or if U've ever lived in Texas, U might like this book a LOT. I just wish it had some more magic after the 1st 50 pgs....
COMING SOON: Van der Graaf Generator's PAWN HEARTS. Listening 2 it right now -- not bad! Why's everybody think it's so scary...?
Thursday, January 21, 2010
No more Visions?
Back when I was a teenager & knew I wanted 2 B SOME kind of writer when I grew up, science-fiction writer Harlan Ellison was 1 of my heroes.
He was fearless. He Cmd Ndlessly Nrgetic & productive. & he wrote some of the wildest, most adventurous, most involving, most outrageous SF short-stories of the late '60s & early '70s, & in2 the '80s -- "The Deathbird," "Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes," "'Repent, Harlequin!,' Said the Ticktockman," "A Boy and His Dog," "From A to Z in the Chocolate Alphabet," "Eidolons," "With Virgil Oddum at the East Pole," pick yr faverite....
In his TV criticism & commentary of the time (most collected in the brilliant THE GLASS TEAT & THE OTHER GLASS TEAT, & later stuff in the slightly-mellower WATCHING), Harlan Cmd 2 have his hand on the pulse of the times. It was a turbulent period, but the diffrences Btween Right & Wrong Cmd a lot simpler then, & Harlan Cmd 2 make the right choice every time. & the things he got gloriously, righteously angry about Cmd WORTH getting angry about, every time.
He also thot a LOT of himself & his talent. But if U really R that brilliant, is self-confidence a flaw?
The Ghods were apparently waiting 4 Harlan 2 mess up. & in the mid-'70s Harlan apparently messed-up Big Time.
Starting in the mid-'60s, Harlan edited a series of massive original SF short-story anthologies under the banner title DANGEROUS VISIONS. The 1st book, in 1967, along w/ the effects of the British New Wave, helped lead SF in2 a more realistic outlook, where it Bgan 2 Xplore more deeply the clash Btween normal people & advances in technology & society. SF Bgan 2 focus more on real people & real problems, perhaps Bgan 2 move its focus more toward the present or near-future problems rather than the distant future.
Some SF fans & writers applauded this. Some thot it was gonna lead 2 the Nd of SF. The change in approach & the Xperimental way summa the stories were written drove some folks up the wall. 4 awhile in the '60s, SF had its own sorta "generation gap."
Harlan kept the ball rolling. A 2nd, even bigger book, AGAIN DANGEROUS VISIONS, appeared in 1972. Not all the stories in the 2 volumes were brilliant or trail-blazing efforts, Ghod knows. Some were pointless Xperiments, some were 1st-stories that showed a little promise, some were pieces by writers (J.G. Ballard, John Brunner, Thomas M. Disch, Roger Zelazny, Theodore Sturgeon) who were doing revolutionary things elsewhere, or had already done mosta their best work.
But the series was very popular, & sevral of the stories in the books won SF awards: Philip Jose Farmer's outrageous "Riders of the Purple Wage," Samuel R. Delany's "Aye, and Gomorrah...," Joanna Russ's "When it Changed," Ursula K. LeGuin's "The Word for World is Forest" (which some SF folks think is echoed in James Cameron's recent blockbuster SF movie AVATAR).
Harlan kept going. He announced in the intro 2 AGAIN that the final volume in the series, THE LAST DANGEROUS VISIONS, was projected 4 publication sometime in '73. The book was supposed 2 B even bigger than AGAIN. LAST didn't appear as scheduled, & Dspite announcements every few yrs since, the book has never appeared....
LAST is now about 27 yrs overdue. It's sorta Bcome SF's equivalent 2 the Beach Boys' SMILE album. The project has changed publishers at least 3 times. At last report, the book was planned as a massive 3-volume set, 2 B packaged in a box, w/ possibly as many as 150 stories included. The book was estimated at possibly 3/4's of a million words, a short-story collection longer than WAR AND PEACE.... Needless 2 say, its never officially bn scheduled 4 publication.
Christopher Priest's THE LAST DEADLOSS VISIONS is a 35-pg pamphlet/fanzine (which later Bcame a short book, THE BOOK ON THE EDGE OF FOREVER) that Xamines what happened 2 LAST, why it never appeared, why Ellison won't give it up, & what has happened over the yrs 2 the 100 or so writers who contributed stories 2 the book.
Perhaps the most painful part of the mess is that possibly up 2 1/3rd of the writers who were sposta appear in the book have DIED while waiting 4 it 2 B published. Among them R: Octavia Butler, Avram Davidson, Frank Herbert, Mack Reynolds, Clifford D. Simak, Richard Wilson, Alfred Bester, Leigh Brackett & Edmond Hamilton, Ward Moore, Edgar Pangborn, Algis Budrys, Tom Reamy, & Manley Wade Wellman. (Cordwainer Smith died in 1966, Anthony Boucher in 1968 -- including stories by them was sposta B a coup, of sorts....)
(There R a few other writers whose status I'm unsure about; Priest's writeup was all over the Internet a decade ago, when I 1st read it -- at that time he included a list of LAST contributors who'd died, which added a certain poignancy 2 the whole thing -- but Priest admitted then that he'd also lost track of the deaths....)
The other writers have mostly bn hanging on since, some of them were apparently paid as little as 2 cents per word 4 their stories (well below the field's avg payment), some of them paid as long ago as 1969 4 a book that's never bn completed. Ellison's productivity went way down around the mid-'80s or so -- he has reportedly suffered from depression & writer's block 4 yrs. 1 commenter in DEADLOSS claims that 1 of the reasons the book has never bn finished is Bcos Ellison wasn't physically able 2 write the wordy, vivid, funny/outrageous author-introductions that have helped make the books & Ellison famous.
Over the yrs various writers have pulled their stories from the book, reportedly 1 sure way 2 make Ellison furious. John Varley's "The Bellman" (published a few yrs back & subsequently reprinted in a coupla Best-SF-of-the-Year collections) & Michael Bishop's "Dog's Lives" R among the stories that have bn pulled from the book & published elsewhere. Cordwainer Smith's widow sold his story "Himself in Anarchon" elsewhere & Ellison threatened 2 sue, but it was settled out-of-court.
Priest suggests Ellison should either publish the huge book or let the massive project go. It matters little at this late date, & the book is YEARS past the point where it woulda had its greatest impact. Ellison apparently wanted a book that would blow all other possible competitors completely away -- a book 2 outdo all others -- & the project got away from him.
I think there's another option -- how about a SERIES of reasonably-sized books including all the stories that were scheduled 4 the project? That should B enuf short-story collections 4 the next dozen yrs or so.... Ellison could get the project done in bite-sized pieces, something more EZily manageable -- & he could have fun w/ the titles. Like all those old SF original-anthology series' in the '70s, he could call them LAST 1, LAST 2, LAST 3, etc. He's used assistant-editorial help B4 on the project, according 2 Priest. It Cms sad that we may C none of this massive project until after Harlan has joined the list of his deceased contributors....
Priest's Xpose was all over the Internet a decade ago, which is when I 1st read it. Since then, Priest has asked that the Internet version B dropped -- tho whether that's Bcos he felt his little book had done its work or 2 shield people from what he thot might B Ellison's overreaction is unknown. Priest himself has gone on 2 considerable success, writing sevral more novels & winning a coupla awards, tho 4 awhile he thot he'd written himself outta the SF field.
Since then, DEADLOSS has Bcome a rather Xpensive limited-edition book, & is still available in a slightly-more-reasonably-priced pamphlet edition w/ updates -- my copy goes up thru 1988. Ellison's fans tend 2 hate this book, thinking Priest is taking unfair shots at their hero. Contributors 2 LAST Cmd shocked in2 action by it, judging by the comments Priest received. It's a pretty intresting story if yr an SF fan. & it's (still) not over yet....
He was fearless. He Cmd Ndlessly Nrgetic & productive. & he wrote some of the wildest, most adventurous, most involving, most outrageous SF short-stories of the late '60s & early '70s, & in2 the '80s -- "The Deathbird," "Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes," "'Repent, Harlequin!,' Said the Ticktockman," "A Boy and His Dog," "From A to Z in the Chocolate Alphabet," "Eidolons," "With Virgil Oddum at the East Pole," pick yr faverite....
In his TV criticism & commentary of the time (most collected in the brilliant THE GLASS TEAT & THE OTHER GLASS TEAT, & later stuff in the slightly-mellower WATCHING), Harlan Cmd 2 have his hand on the pulse of the times. It was a turbulent period, but the diffrences Btween Right & Wrong Cmd a lot simpler then, & Harlan Cmd 2 make the right choice every time. & the things he got gloriously, righteously angry about Cmd WORTH getting angry about, every time.
He also thot a LOT of himself & his talent. But if U really R that brilliant, is self-confidence a flaw?
The Ghods were apparently waiting 4 Harlan 2 mess up. & in the mid-'70s Harlan apparently messed-up Big Time.
Starting in the mid-'60s, Harlan edited a series of massive original SF short-story anthologies under the banner title DANGEROUS VISIONS. The 1st book, in 1967, along w/ the effects of the British New Wave, helped lead SF in2 a more realistic outlook, where it Bgan 2 Xplore more deeply the clash Btween normal people & advances in technology & society. SF Bgan 2 focus more on real people & real problems, perhaps Bgan 2 move its focus more toward the present or near-future problems rather than the distant future.
Some SF fans & writers applauded this. Some thot it was gonna lead 2 the Nd of SF. The change in approach & the Xperimental way summa the stories were written drove some folks up the wall. 4 awhile in the '60s, SF had its own sorta "generation gap."
Harlan kept the ball rolling. A 2nd, even bigger book, AGAIN DANGEROUS VISIONS, appeared in 1972. Not all the stories in the 2 volumes were brilliant or trail-blazing efforts, Ghod knows. Some were pointless Xperiments, some were 1st-stories that showed a little promise, some were pieces by writers (J.G. Ballard, John Brunner, Thomas M. Disch, Roger Zelazny, Theodore Sturgeon) who were doing revolutionary things elsewhere, or had already done mosta their best work.
But the series was very popular, & sevral of the stories in the books won SF awards: Philip Jose Farmer's outrageous "Riders of the Purple Wage," Samuel R. Delany's "Aye, and Gomorrah...," Joanna Russ's "When it Changed," Ursula K. LeGuin's "The Word for World is Forest" (which some SF folks think is echoed in James Cameron's recent blockbuster SF movie AVATAR).
Harlan kept going. He announced in the intro 2 AGAIN that the final volume in the series, THE LAST DANGEROUS VISIONS, was projected 4 publication sometime in '73. The book was supposed 2 B even bigger than AGAIN. LAST didn't appear as scheduled, & Dspite announcements every few yrs since, the book has never appeared....
LAST is now about 27 yrs overdue. It's sorta Bcome SF's equivalent 2 the Beach Boys' SMILE album. The project has changed publishers at least 3 times. At last report, the book was planned as a massive 3-volume set, 2 B packaged in a box, w/ possibly as many as 150 stories included. The book was estimated at possibly 3/4's of a million words, a short-story collection longer than WAR AND PEACE.... Needless 2 say, its never officially bn scheduled 4 publication.
Christopher Priest's THE LAST DEADLOSS VISIONS is a 35-pg pamphlet/fanzine (which later Bcame a short book, THE BOOK ON THE EDGE OF FOREVER) that Xamines what happened 2 LAST, why it never appeared, why Ellison won't give it up, & what has happened over the yrs 2 the 100 or so writers who contributed stories 2 the book.
Perhaps the most painful part of the mess is that possibly up 2 1/3rd of the writers who were sposta appear in the book have DIED while waiting 4 it 2 B published. Among them R: Octavia Butler, Avram Davidson, Frank Herbert, Mack Reynolds, Clifford D. Simak, Richard Wilson, Alfred Bester, Leigh Brackett & Edmond Hamilton, Ward Moore, Edgar Pangborn, Algis Budrys, Tom Reamy, & Manley Wade Wellman. (Cordwainer Smith died in 1966, Anthony Boucher in 1968 -- including stories by them was sposta B a coup, of sorts....)
(There R a few other writers whose status I'm unsure about; Priest's writeup was all over the Internet a decade ago, when I 1st read it -- at that time he included a list of LAST contributors who'd died, which added a certain poignancy 2 the whole thing -- but Priest admitted then that he'd also lost track of the deaths....)
The other writers have mostly bn hanging on since, some of them were apparently paid as little as 2 cents per word 4 their stories (well below the field's avg payment), some of them paid as long ago as 1969 4 a book that's never bn completed. Ellison's productivity went way down around the mid-'80s or so -- he has reportedly suffered from depression & writer's block 4 yrs. 1 commenter in DEADLOSS claims that 1 of the reasons the book has never bn finished is Bcos Ellison wasn't physically able 2 write the wordy, vivid, funny/outrageous author-introductions that have helped make the books & Ellison famous.
Over the yrs various writers have pulled their stories from the book, reportedly 1 sure way 2 make Ellison furious. John Varley's "The Bellman" (published a few yrs back & subsequently reprinted in a coupla Best-SF-of-the-Year collections) & Michael Bishop's "Dog's Lives" R among the stories that have bn pulled from the book & published elsewhere. Cordwainer Smith's widow sold his story "Himself in Anarchon" elsewhere & Ellison threatened 2 sue, but it was settled out-of-court.
Priest suggests Ellison should either publish the huge book or let the massive project go. It matters little at this late date, & the book is YEARS past the point where it woulda had its greatest impact. Ellison apparently wanted a book that would blow all other possible competitors completely away -- a book 2 outdo all others -- & the project got away from him.
I think there's another option -- how about a SERIES of reasonably-sized books including all the stories that were scheduled 4 the project? That should B enuf short-story collections 4 the next dozen yrs or so.... Ellison could get the project done in bite-sized pieces, something more EZily manageable -- & he could have fun w/ the titles. Like all those old SF original-anthology series' in the '70s, he could call them LAST 1, LAST 2, LAST 3, etc. He's used assistant-editorial help B4 on the project, according 2 Priest. It Cms sad that we may C none of this massive project until after Harlan has joined the list of his deceased contributors....
Priest's Xpose was all over the Internet a decade ago, which is when I 1st read it. Since then, Priest has asked that the Internet version B dropped -- tho whether that's Bcos he felt his little book had done its work or 2 shield people from what he thot might B Ellison's overreaction is unknown. Priest himself has gone on 2 considerable success, writing sevral more novels & winning a coupla awards, tho 4 awhile he thot he'd written himself outta the SF field.
Since then, DEADLOSS has Bcome a rather Xpensive limited-edition book, & is still available in a slightly-more-reasonably-priced pamphlet edition w/ updates -- my copy goes up thru 1988. Ellison's fans tend 2 hate this book, thinking Priest is taking unfair shots at their hero. Contributors 2 LAST Cmd shocked in2 action by it, judging by the comments Priest received. It's a pretty intresting story if yr an SF fan. & it's (still) not over yet....
Monday, January 18, 2010
A place to belong
Nick Reding's METHLAND (2009) is 3/4's of a brilliant book on methamphetamine abuse & the psychological & economic 4ces that drive people 2 it.
But the Nding is disappointing, mainly Bcos there's no solid evidence 2 indicate the problem is solved, or that meth use won't continue, or that the societal 4ces at work won't continue 2 push people in2 it. At the Nd, every1 in the book just Cms 2 B holding their breath & hoping 4 the best. & mayB that sounds just like Real Life, but....
Reding focuses his book on how meth almost Dstroyed the tiny rural town of Oelwein, Iowa -- a town located Btween Chicago & Minneapolis w/ a long agricultural history -- a town that couldn't adjust when growing corporatization in the food-processing industry changed the area's economy in the '90s, leading 2 the loss of good-paying jobs -- & then 2 the loss of MOST ag-based jobs.
Reding blames the rise of meth on precisely this change in the economy, accelerated by the effects of NAFTA, & by the effect of illegal immigrants Bing willing 2 take over tough ag-related jobs (such as meat-packing) 4 considerably less $$$.
The combination of these market 4ces collapsed the rural economy thruout the Midwest & Intermountain West -- Reding's point is that Oelwein could B almost NE small town, NEwhere.
With no jobs, no income, no tax revenue, small towns started falling apart -- & meanwhile small-town residents started "cooking" homemade batches of meth in their basements, bathrooms & kitchen sinks. Sometimes these "Beavis & Butthead-operated" meth labs blew up. & even if they didn't, there were health problems, toxic-waste problems, theft, robbery, sometimes murder -- & also the "tweakers" 4 society 2 deal w/ -- but also a vastly increased income 4 the "batchers" & traffickers.
1 meth-head is quoted early in the book as saying "Meth makes people feel good. What else is there for people to feel good about?" In lite of the lack of jobs & the unlikelihood that NE economic 4ces R going 2 change NEtime in the future, these words reverberate thruout the rest of the book.
Dspite the grim, negative picture portrayed by much of the book, Reding finds reasons 4 hope. He finds good people 2 follow, both meth addicts, traffickers, & folks fighting 2 get the meth epidemic under control. He has a great deal of compassion 4 all these people, even the addicts & traffickers. & he shows that mayB the tweakers & traffickers & those who fight against the impact of meth Rn't so diffrent after all.
Reding spends most of his time following the Mayor of Oelwein, the town's assistant prosecutor, the police chief, & a town doctor w/ a drinking problem. The doc's alcohol problem gets him in2 some major trouble, but he recovers, like at least 1 of the meth addicts in the book.
Reding mostly avoids some of the more lurid aspects of meth addiction. At no point does NE1 in this book torch-up & smoke meth, an image I'd have thot would've bn difficult 2 resist. Hell, if it'd bn me, I woulda led the book off w/ it.
Nor does Reding offer NE deep analysis of what meth addiction is LIKE, Byond the brief mention that addicts Cm 2 feel the high is "100 times better than sex," & a brief Dscription of the down-side "tweaking" that probly every1 is familiar w/ by now. There is some Xamination of tweakers' bizaare Bhavior, & some mercifully brief mentions of how badly meth addicts Cm 2 treat their children.
But Reding doesn't back away from some Dtails that will have U shaking yr head or shuddering in horror within the 1st 30 pgs -- especially 1 story about a home-batcher who melted-off his nose, fingers, & much of his skin while trying 2 cook meth, & Nded up blowing-up his mother's house.
In lite of the grim Dtails, it's tough 2 buy that trying 2 attract new businesses & new jobs, upgrading the town's downtown core, & ensuring more funding 4 counseling & support 4 meth addicts & their families is going 2 B enuf 2 "save" towns like Oelwein -- & there R 100's of them across the US. Mosta these improvements just Cm kinda cosmetic.
But while the folks Reding talks 2 R justifiably proud of these accomplishments, at the Nd of the book they R all holding their breath & hoping 4 the best, as if they don't know what else 2 do. As if the little bit they've accomplished is all NE1 CAN do. Some of it hasta B done by the addicts & victims of meth themselves.
In a way it's 2 bad this book was written B4 the current economic crisis, cos I doubt that meth use could have gone DOWN over the past coupla yrs.
There's more going on in this book than just a societal fight against a dangerous, plentiful, popular drug. Early on it's clear that Reding is searching 4 a way of life that appears 2 B almost lost -- the Midwestern rural roots his parents were born & raised in, & that he was also born in & has bn away from 4 2 long. & when he returns 2 his distant past he finds a meth-dominated wasteland in its place.
This is an Xcellent, involving, vivid book, even if I think the Nding is unresolved. The fact that it IS unresolved perhaps shows how close 2 2day's reality Reding got, & how good a reporter he is.
If U're 1 of those folks who think small country towns have none of the problems of big cities, U're wrong -- & a quick read thru METHLAND will bring U up 2 speed. I lived in small rural towns 4 more than 10 yrs & saw just as much murder, drug abuse, rape, incest, poverty, drunkenness, petty crime & corruption as in NE big city. & mayB its always bn this way -- it's just in a small town U might not hear about it as quickly.
There is much 2 learn in METHLAND. Did U know methamphetamine was used legally 4 almost a century as a stimulant & a weight-loss aid? That it was given 2 infantry soldiers in war & 2 those who worked in strenuous physical jobs such as meat-packing & other ag-related fields? I didn't.
I learned Oelwein, Iowa, could B NEwhere. MayB it's yr town right now. Hardly a wk goes by that I don't C some1 hopped-up on SOMETHING come twitching & raving in2 my store. It's not the book's fault, but I kept Cing Worland, Wyo., & Raymond, Wash., all the way thru it....
HELL'S CARTOGRAPHERS (1975) is a collection of autobiographical essays by 6 famous science-fiction writers of the 1950s, '60s & '70s, & it's ... kinda dull. I had hoped 4 more, considering the writers involved. But it's actually pretty dry. If yr much of an SF fan, U may know mosta this stuff already.
Robert Silverberg rather mechanically & thinly recounts his yrs as an SF writer up 2 1975 -- if U've already read his rather moving intro 2 his WORLDS OF WONDER antho back in the mid-'80s, U probly don't needta read this. Which is 2 bad, Bcos it's repeated & Xpanded-on in his recent autobiog, OTHER SPACES, OTHER TIMES. Hopefully there'll B some better stuff somewhere in there....
Alfred Bester livens-up the package as best he can, but I'd already read an Xpanded version of this essay in his best-of short-story collection STARLIGHT. Damon Knight repeats very little of the material he used in his bio on THE FUTURIANS -- instead, here he offers a rather moving account of Growing Up Odd in Hood River, Ore., in the 1930s.
If U've read Frederik Pohl's rather good '70s autobiog THE WAY THE FUTURE WAS, U probly don't need 2 read his piece here, "Ragged Claws," which Cms good-natured (as always w/ Pohl) but thin.
(Back in 1975, this book may have Cmd like a bonanza of SF info. But 2 much has bn written since then. SF fans who Njoy this book might find an even better value in Charles Platt's series of DREAM MAKERS interview-books w/ SF authors. Platt interviewed in-depth all the writers included here & scores more Bsides....)
The book's 2 editors have the best stuff: World-traveler Harry Harrison writes a 4ceful, muscular memoir, active, vivid & funny. (I don't remember ever reading NE Harrison B4, I might havta look in2 him.)
& Brian W. Aldiss, w/ his English middle-class background, comes from a very diffrent place than the other 5 contributors. Tho the good-natured, almost breezy atmosphere of his piece recalls the feel of his SF histories BILLION YEAR SPREE & TRILLION YEAR SPREE, even here I wished 4 more. He sez at 1 point that his early-'60s award-winning story-series HOTHOUSE "was written under miserable conditions" -- but he never sez what those conditions were, he never attempts 2 Xplain or Dscribe them.
After the early deaths of his parents, Aldiss sez that until he married his 2nd wife & had his own family, SF fandom was the only place he ever felt like he belonged.
As odd as it Cms, mayB these 2 books have something in common: They're both about doing the best U can & working toward a place where U feel comfortable, where U can belong....
But the Nding is disappointing, mainly Bcos there's no solid evidence 2 indicate the problem is solved, or that meth use won't continue, or that the societal 4ces at work won't continue 2 push people in2 it. At the Nd, every1 in the book just Cms 2 B holding their breath & hoping 4 the best. & mayB that sounds just like Real Life, but....
Reding focuses his book on how meth almost Dstroyed the tiny rural town of Oelwein, Iowa -- a town located Btween Chicago & Minneapolis w/ a long agricultural history -- a town that couldn't adjust when growing corporatization in the food-processing industry changed the area's economy in the '90s, leading 2 the loss of good-paying jobs -- & then 2 the loss of MOST ag-based jobs.
Reding blames the rise of meth on precisely this change in the economy, accelerated by the effects of NAFTA, & by the effect of illegal immigrants Bing willing 2 take over tough ag-related jobs (such as meat-packing) 4 considerably less $$$.
The combination of these market 4ces collapsed the rural economy thruout the Midwest & Intermountain West -- Reding's point is that Oelwein could B almost NE small town, NEwhere.
With no jobs, no income, no tax revenue, small towns started falling apart -- & meanwhile small-town residents started "cooking" homemade batches of meth in their basements, bathrooms & kitchen sinks. Sometimes these "Beavis & Butthead-operated" meth labs blew up. & even if they didn't, there were health problems, toxic-waste problems, theft, robbery, sometimes murder -- & also the "tweakers" 4 society 2 deal w/ -- but also a vastly increased income 4 the "batchers" & traffickers.
1 meth-head is quoted early in the book as saying "Meth makes people feel good. What else is there for people to feel good about?" In lite of the lack of jobs & the unlikelihood that NE economic 4ces R going 2 change NEtime in the future, these words reverberate thruout the rest of the book.
Dspite the grim, negative picture portrayed by much of the book, Reding finds reasons 4 hope. He finds good people 2 follow, both meth addicts, traffickers, & folks fighting 2 get the meth epidemic under control. He has a great deal of compassion 4 all these people, even the addicts & traffickers. & he shows that mayB the tweakers & traffickers & those who fight against the impact of meth Rn't so diffrent after all.
Reding spends most of his time following the Mayor of Oelwein, the town's assistant prosecutor, the police chief, & a town doctor w/ a drinking problem. The doc's alcohol problem gets him in2 some major trouble, but he recovers, like at least 1 of the meth addicts in the book.
Reding mostly avoids some of the more lurid aspects of meth addiction. At no point does NE1 in this book torch-up & smoke meth, an image I'd have thot would've bn difficult 2 resist. Hell, if it'd bn me, I woulda led the book off w/ it.
Nor does Reding offer NE deep analysis of what meth addiction is LIKE, Byond the brief mention that addicts Cm 2 feel the high is "100 times better than sex," & a brief Dscription of the down-side "tweaking" that probly every1 is familiar w/ by now. There is some Xamination of tweakers' bizaare Bhavior, & some mercifully brief mentions of how badly meth addicts Cm 2 treat their children.
But Reding doesn't back away from some Dtails that will have U shaking yr head or shuddering in horror within the 1st 30 pgs -- especially 1 story about a home-batcher who melted-off his nose, fingers, & much of his skin while trying 2 cook meth, & Nded up blowing-up his mother's house.
In lite of the grim Dtails, it's tough 2 buy that trying 2 attract new businesses & new jobs, upgrading the town's downtown core, & ensuring more funding 4 counseling & support 4 meth addicts & their families is going 2 B enuf 2 "save" towns like Oelwein -- & there R 100's of them across the US. Mosta these improvements just Cm kinda cosmetic.
But while the folks Reding talks 2 R justifiably proud of these accomplishments, at the Nd of the book they R all holding their breath & hoping 4 the best, as if they don't know what else 2 do. As if the little bit they've accomplished is all NE1 CAN do. Some of it hasta B done by the addicts & victims of meth themselves.
In a way it's 2 bad this book was written B4 the current economic crisis, cos I doubt that meth use could have gone DOWN over the past coupla yrs.
There's more going on in this book than just a societal fight against a dangerous, plentiful, popular drug. Early on it's clear that Reding is searching 4 a way of life that appears 2 B almost lost -- the Midwestern rural roots his parents were born & raised in, & that he was also born in & has bn away from 4 2 long. & when he returns 2 his distant past he finds a meth-dominated wasteland in its place.
This is an Xcellent, involving, vivid book, even if I think the Nding is unresolved. The fact that it IS unresolved perhaps shows how close 2 2day's reality Reding got, & how good a reporter he is.
If U're 1 of those folks who think small country towns have none of the problems of big cities, U're wrong -- & a quick read thru METHLAND will bring U up 2 speed. I lived in small rural towns 4 more than 10 yrs & saw just as much murder, drug abuse, rape, incest, poverty, drunkenness, petty crime & corruption as in NE big city. & mayB its always bn this way -- it's just in a small town U might not hear about it as quickly.
There is much 2 learn in METHLAND. Did U know methamphetamine was used legally 4 almost a century as a stimulant & a weight-loss aid? That it was given 2 infantry soldiers in war & 2 those who worked in strenuous physical jobs such as meat-packing & other ag-related fields? I didn't.
I learned Oelwein, Iowa, could B NEwhere. MayB it's yr town right now. Hardly a wk goes by that I don't C some1 hopped-up on SOMETHING come twitching & raving in2 my store. It's not the book's fault, but I kept Cing Worland, Wyo., & Raymond, Wash., all the way thru it....
HELL'S CARTOGRAPHERS (1975) is a collection of autobiographical essays by 6 famous science-fiction writers of the 1950s, '60s & '70s, & it's ... kinda dull. I had hoped 4 more, considering the writers involved. But it's actually pretty dry. If yr much of an SF fan, U may know mosta this stuff already.
Robert Silverberg rather mechanically & thinly recounts his yrs as an SF writer up 2 1975 -- if U've already read his rather moving intro 2 his WORLDS OF WONDER antho back in the mid-'80s, U probly don't needta read this. Which is 2 bad, Bcos it's repeated & Xpanded-on in his recent autobiog, OTHER SPACES, OTHER TIMES. Hopefully there'll B some better stuff somewhere in there....
Alfred Bester livens-up the package as best he can, but I'd already read an Xpanded version of this essay in his best-of short-story collection STARLIGHT. Damon Knight repeats very little of the material he used in his bio on THE FUTURIANS -- instead, here he offers a rather moving account of Growing Up Odd in Hood River, Ore., in the 1930s.
If U've read Frederik Pohl's rather good '70s autobiog THE WAY THE FUTURE WAS, U probly don't need 2 read his piece here, "Ragged Claws," which Cms good-natured (as always w/ Pohl) but thin.
(Back in 1975, this book may have Cmd like a bonanza of SF info. But 2 much has bn written since then. SF fans who Njoy this book might find an even better value in Charles Platt's series of DREAM MAKERS interview-books w/ SF authors. Platt interviewed in-depth all the writers included here & scores more Bsides....)
The book's 2 editors have the best stuff: World-traveler Harry Harrison writes a 4ceful, muscular memoir, active, vivid & funny. (I don't remember ever reading NE Harrison B4, I might havta look in2 him.)
& Brian W. Aldiss, w/ his English middle-class background, comes from a very diffrent place than the other 5 contributors. Tho the good-natured, almost breezy atmosphere of his piece recalls the feel of his SF histories BILLION YEAR SPREE & TRILLION YEAR SPREE, even here I wished 4 more. He sez at 1 point that his early-'60s award-winning story-series HOTHOUSE "was written under miserable conditions" -- but he never sez what those conditions were, he never attempts 2 Xplain or Dscribe them.
After the early deaths of his parents, Aldiss sez that until he married his 2nd wife & had his own family, SF fandom was the only place he ever felt like he belonged.
As odd as it Cms, mayB these 2 books have something in common: They're both about doing the best U can & working toward a place where U feel comfortable, where U can belong....
Friday, January 15, 2010
Sorry, music lovers....
...but I've bn reading a LOT lately. But the books got kinda boring recently, so I actually PUT SOME MUSIC ON a coupla nites back -- a few instrumental albums & a coupla hrs of Classic Rock Radio 2 C if things have changed NE since the last time I listened (which was last summer).
There were a coupla mild suprises on the radio. Probly the most "typical" local Album Rock station is KZOK-FM outta Seattle, "The Classic Rock Station," & don't get me wrong -- they're pretty good at what they do. & when vetran DJ Gary Crow hosts his Retro Lunchbox (or whatever it's called), he can throw some REAL suprises at U -- stuff U haven't heard since 1971.
But the suprises during the 2 hrs I listened recently were fairly minor -- Ted Nugent's "Stranglehold," Led Zeppelin's "Houses of the Holy" & "The Lemon Song" (didn't recognize it at 1st), the Hollies' 1972 #2 hit "Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress" Bing mis-identified as having bn done by Creedence Clearwater Revival (really? which album is THAT on?), etc.
It was nice 2 hear the "long" version of Heart's "Dreamboat Annie" -- hadn't heard that in awhile -- tho I admit I was disappointed when it DIDN'T fade in2 "Crazy on You," 1 of my all-time faves....
About their other choices I have little comment ("Aqualung" AGAIN? "Feeling like a dead duck...."), tho I appreciated the clear sound & the lack of commercials....
Album-wise, was suprised 2 learn how I've bn sorta downgrading the 2nd side of Group 87's (1st) album 4 all these yrs -- U should all still try 2 find a copy, but I was suprised how strong the 2nd side was. I hadn't played it in awhile, & "The Bedouin" was still as hypnotic & pretty as I remember, & "One Night Away From Day" still just as brilliant & uplifting & anthemic.
It was the other stuff that sorta suprised me. I knew it was good, but.... "Moving Sidewalks" especially takes short, repeating theme phrases & slowly fills them w/ more & more drama until they about leap outta the speakers at U. "While the City Sleeps" & "Hall of Glass" R a little more subtle, but still really hypnotic & pretty -- NE fans of jazz-rock/New Age/rock instrumentals should track this album DOWN. Great guitar, keyboards, drumming & sax, & a smooth, gorgeous group sound. Guitarist Peter Maunu could really wail when he was in the mood. The 1st side's a killer, 2....
Others: Alan Parsons' INSTRUMENTAL WORKS is still predictable but pretty; especially good is the marvelous "Gold Bug." "Genesis Ch. 1, V. 32" is pretty cool 2. & "I Robot." (Why wasn't "Lucifer" included on this album?)
The 1st side of Camel's THE SNOW GOOSE is still nearly perfect, tho I think Side 2 fades after "Flight of the Snow Goose." NUDE is still gorgeous.
Played thru the 1st side of It's a Beautiful Day's (1st) album 4 the 1st time in a yr & 1/2 -- I had 2 turn down the obnoxious "Wasted Union Blues," but the rest sounded just as pretty & solid as I remember....
I actually have some new music in the house, Van der Graaf Generator's PAWN HEARTS, but I'm waiting 4 Xactly the right time 2 try it out. I understand that it's sposta B dark, intense, doomy, Xtreme, etc., so I'm sorta waiting 4 the weather 2 clear up a bit. I don't need NE reasons 2 get Dpressed on these rainy, overcast days like we've bn having lately, when I already feel like I never really wake up. I've always prided myself on having Just The Right Music 2 clear the house of unwanted guests -- but my roommates LIVE HERE, & they think I'm weird enuf already. But I promise U a full report ASAP.
ALSO: I'm currently slowly making my way thru 33-1/3RD'S GREATEST HITS, a collection of summa the best stuff from their series of books on classic rock albums. There's some good stuff here -- like why Dusty Springfield sang none of her vocals on DUSTY IN MEMPHIS in Memphis.... Bhind-the-scenes stuff on the Kinks' VILLAGE GREEN PRESERVATION SOCIETY, a nice write-up on PET SOUNDS, a gripping write-up on Joy Division's UNKNOWN PLEASURES (I've never heard them, but this article makes me want 2 track the album down), comparing Love's FOREVER CHANGES 2 something like a prophetic utterance from the Bible, nice Dtails on Pink Floyd's PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN, summa the weirdness surrounding Hendrix's ELECTRIC LADYLAND, & pieces on SIGN 'O' THE TIMES, THE VELVET UNDERGROUND AND NICO, AQUALUNG, LED ZEPPELIN IV, EXILE ON MAIN STREET, RAMONES, etc....
Only 2 don't Cm quite up 2 snuff so far -- a thin write-up on ABBA GOLD, & a recording recap of the Beatles' LET IT BE that doesn't Cm 2 have much that's new. But I need more time w/ this....
MORE SOON!
There were a coupla mild suprises on the radio. Probly the most "typical" local Album Rock station is KZOK-FM outta Seattle, "The Classic Rock Station," & don't get me wrong -- they're pretty good at what they do. & when vetran DJ Gary Crow hosts his Retro Lunchbox (or whatever it's called), he can throw some REAL suprises at U -- stuff U haven't heard since 1971.
But the suprises during the 2 hrs I listened recently were fairly minor -- Ted Nugent's "Stranglehold," Led Zeppelin's "Houses of the Holy" & "The Lemon Song" (didn't recognize it at 1st), the Hollies' 1972 #2 hit "Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress" Bing mis-identified as having bn done by Creedence Clearwater Revival (really? which album is THAT on?), etc.
It was nice 2 hear the "long" version of Heart's "Dreamboat Annie" -- hadn't heard that in awhile -- tho I admit I was disappointed when it DIDN'T fade in2 "Crazy on You," 1 of my all-time faves....
About their other choices I have little comment ("Aqualung" AGAIN? "Feeling like a dead duck...."), tho I appreciated the clear sound & the lack of commercials....
Album-wise, was suprised 2 learn how I've bn sorta downgrading the 2nd side of Group 87's (1st) album 4 all these yrs -- U should all still try 2 find a copy, but I was suprised how strong the 2nd side was. I hadn't played it in awhile, & "The Bedouin" was still as hypnotic & pretty as I remember, & "One Night Away From Day" still just as brilliant & uplifting & anthemic.
It was the other stuff that sorta suprised me. I knew it was good, but.... "Moving Sidewalks" especially takes short, repeating theme phrases & slowly fills them w/ more & more drama until they about leap outta the speakers at U. "While the City Sleeps" & "Hall of Glass" R a little more subtle, but still really hypnotic & pretty -- NE fans of jazz-rock/New Age/rock instrumentals should track this album DOWN. Great guitar, keyboards, drumming & sax, & a smooth, gorgeous group sound. Guitarist Peter Maunu could really wail when he was in the mood. The 1st side's a killer, 2....
Others: Alan Parsons' INSTRUMENTAL WORKS is still predictable but pretty; especially good is the marvelous "Gold Bug." "Genesis Ch. 1, V. 32" is pretty cool 2. & "I Robot." (Why wasn't "Lucifer" included on this album?)
The 1st side of Camel's THE SNOW GOOSE is still nearly perfect, tho I think Side 2 fades after "Flight of the Snow Goose." NUDE is still gorgeous.
Played thru the 1st side of It's a Beautiful Day's (1st) album 4 the 1st time in a yr & 1/2 -- I had 2 turn down the obnoxious "Wasted Union Blues," but the rest sounded just as pretty & solid as I remember....
I actually have some new music in the house, Van der Graaf Generator's PAWN HEARTS, but I'm waiting 4 Xactly the right time 2 try it out. I understand that it's sposta B dark, intense, doomy, Xtreme, etc., so I'm sorta waiting 4 the weather 2 clear up a bit. I don't need NE reasons 2 get Dpressed on these rainy, overcast days like we've bn having lately, when I already feel like I never really wake up. I've always prided myself on having Just The Right Music 2 clear the house of unwanted guests -- but my roommates LIVE HERE, & they think I'm weird enuf already. But I promise U a full report ASAP.
ALSO: I'm currently slowly making my way thru 33-1/3RD'S GREATEST HITS, a collection of summa the best stuff from their series of books on classic rock albums. There's some good stuff here -- like why Dusty Springfield sang none of her vocals on DUSTY IN MEMPHIS in Memphis.... Bhind-the-scenes stuff on the Kinks' VILLAGE GREEN PRESERVATION SOCIETY, a nice write-up on PET SOUNDS, a gripping write-up on Joy Division's UNKNOWN PLEASURES (I've never heard them, but this article makes me want 2 track the album down), comparing Love's FOREVER CHANGES 2 something like a prophetic utterance from the Bible, nice Dtails on Pink Floyd's PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN, summa the weirdness surrounding Hendrix's ELECTRIC LADYLAND, & pieces on SIGN 'O' THE TIMES, THE VELVET UNDERGROUND AND NICO, AQUALUNG, LED ZEPPELIN IV, EXILE ON MAIN STREET, RAMONES, etc....
Only 2 don't Cm quite up 2 snuff so far -- a thin write-up on ABBA GOLD, & a recording recap of the Beatles' LET IT BE that doesn't Cm 2 have much that's new. But I need more time w/ this....
MORE SOON!
Monday, January 11, 2010
1nce more in2 the past! (books)
Mainly 4 housekeeping purposes, here's that list of books I reviewed at my old website B4 it died. Hopefully the capsule raves & dismissals listed here will at least make U laff a little bit. It's amazing how many of these books R music-related. Most of the rest R science-fiction or horror or other off-the-wall stuff....
After I get thru this, I promise 2 find something new 2 write about. Working my way backwards, then....
+ Roger Zelazny: CREATURES OF LIGHT AND DARKNESS -- The Egyptian pantheon of gods fights it out in an Epic Battle Btween Good & Evil 4 The Fate Of The Universe. Slow start & weak Nding, but in-Btween it's vivid, involving, hilarious, poetic.
+ K.W. Jeter: MANTIS -- Creepy horror novel, Xtremely vivid, involving & well-written. If SF writer Barry N. Malzberg had ever written horror, it mighta come out something like this; the book's dedicated 2 him.
- John Blake: ALL YOU NEEDED WAS LOVE: THE BEATLES AFTER THE BEATLES -- Attempts 2 Xamine the Beatles' solo careers after their breakup. Thin, sad, Dpressing.
* Roger Zelazny: THE DOORS Of HIS FACE THE LAMPS OF HIS MOUTH AND OTHER STORIES, +THE LAST DEFENDER OF CAMELOT, +LORD OF LIGHT, +THIS IMMORTAL, +ISLE OF THE DEAD -- DOORS is the best single-author SF collection ever, including amazing pieces like the title story, "The Man Who Loved the Faioli," "This Moment of the Storm," "This Mortal Mountain," "Lucifer." CAMELOT is a slightly-less-brilliant collection but includes classics like "For a Breath I Tarry" & "The Engine at Heartspring's Center." The other 3 R novels, all inventive & worth reading, if not perfect -- but WAY better than RZ's Ndless series of AMBER novels....
- Steven Gaines: HEROES AND VILLAINS -- The Dcline & collapse of the Beach Boys. All the dirt is here, & Gaines piles it on. Dpressing.
* Harlan Ellison: THE GLASS TEAT & THE OTHER GLASS TEAT -- TV criticism from the late '60s & early '70s. So brilliant & angry it glows in the dark. Could scar U 4 life. But U won't mind....
* Tim Cahill -- A WOLVERINE IS EATING MY LEG, *JAGUARS RIPPED MY FLESH, *PECKED TO DEATH BY DUCKS, +ROAD FEVER, +HOLD THE ENLIGHTENMENT, +PASS THE BUTTERWORMS, *BURIED DREAMS -- 1st 3 R collections of hilarious essays, usually about "adventure travel" -- walking across Death Valley, cave-Xploring in Georgia, mountain climbing, scuba diving, diving w/ poisonous sea snakes, jumping out of perfectly good airplanes, etc. ROAD FEVER is about trying 2 set a world-record drive from the south end of South America 2 Point Barrow, Alaska -- occasionally funny, tho the preparations take longer than the drive. HOLD & PASS R Cahill mellowing w/ age, still funny, but mayB not as punchy. BURIED DREAMS is about Chicago serial-killer John Wayne Gacy, & the last 1/4 of the book really WILL scar U 4 life....
* John McPhee -- ASSEMBLING CALIFORNIA, *RISING FROM THE PLAINS, *BASIN AND RANGE, *THE CURVE OF BINDING ENERGY, *COMING INTO THE COUNTRY, *THE JOHN MCPHEE READER, +ENCOUNTERS WITH THE ARCHDRUID, +TABLE OF CONTENTS, +GIVING GOOD WEIGHT, +THE CONTROL OF NATURE, =IN SUSPECT TERRAIN -- My choice 4 the greatest non-fiction writer of the past century. Everything McPhee writes is vivid, involving & often funny. ASSEMBLING, RISING & BASIN R all about the history & geology of the American West -- the series won him the National Book Award. ENERGY is about securing nuclear weapons & reactors -- the Nd is eerily prophetic about R new century. COUNTRY is all about Alaska; it's huge. The last 1/2 is a long series of vivid character sketches of the state's people, but my fave part is the middle, which follows a search 4 a new site 4 the state's capitol. ARCHDRUID is a series of debates w/ Sierra Club founder David Brower -- best is the last, in which Brower & Bureau of Reclamation director Floyd Dominy take a raft trip 2gether thru the Grand Canyon, arguing all the way. READER, CONTENTS & WEIGHT R all collections of often-outstanding shorter pieces; READER Xcerpts Xcellent sections from McPhee's 1st dozen books. NATURE is about repairing dikes along the Mississippi. TERRAIN is about the geology of New Jersey, probly best if U live there.
* Hunter S. Thompson: FEAR AND LOATHING ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL '72, *THE GREAT SHARK HUNT, +FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS, +HELL'S ANGELS, +SONGS OF THE DOOMED, =THE CURSE OF LONO, =GENERATION OF SWINE -- The greatest political writer of the '60s & '70s. Hilarious, vivid, involving, outrageous. CAMPAIGN TRAIL covers the Nixon/McGovern campaigns, always hilariously & at times almost unbelievably. SHARK HUNT is an amazingly good best-of, not very-well organized. LAS VEGAS is famous, the opening few pgs R brilliant. HELL'S ANGELS is vivid, but I wished it had bn wilder, like Thompson's later work. Thompson lost his gift at the Nd of '77; DOOMED has a few good things, the rest R dull.
* Dave Marsh: THE HEART OF ROCK AND SOUL: THE 1,001 GREATEST SINGLES OF ALL TIME -- Marvelous, hilarious, moving essays on some of the greatest rock & R&B songs ever, w/ tons U've probly never heard B4....
+ Tim Riley: TELL ME WHY -- Xamines the Beatles' recordings in depth -- good & in4mative, but a bit dry. Ian MacDonald's REVOLUTION IN THE HEAD covers the same ground in more depth & more inventively.
+ Edward Lee: COVEN -- Over-the-top horror novel, almost like a comic book. When Lee uncovers yet another new outrage U'll B shocked, laff, shake yr head, wonder if he means it, if he's joking, if he's serious....
= Isaac Asimov: THE GODS THEMSELVES -- Brilliant, wild middle section, 1 of the most inventive things Asimov ever did. But the rest is dull. It's a scandal that Robert Silverberg's brilliant DYING INSIDE lost both SF's Hugo & Nebula Awards 2 this....
- Arthur C. Clarke: RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA -- The dullest. Spacemen Xplore an alien probe that briefly passes thru the solar system. Nothing's ever Xplained & the characters R cardboard cutouts. Go read Clarke's 2001 or CHILDHOOD'S END instead.
* ROLLING STONE RECORD REVIEW VOLUME II -- Classic writing on classic albums, all from the early '70s pgs of ROLLING STONE: Arthur Schmidt & Stephen Holden on the Beach Boys, John Mendelssohn on the Kinks & the Move, Lester Bangs on all kinds of stuff....
* Paul Tingen: MILES BEYOND -- WAY better than the series of late-'60s/early-'70s Miles Davis jazz-rock albums it Xamines in amazing depth & Dtail....
= Frederic Dannen: HIT MEN -- THIS is record-industry corruption?
* Robert Christgau: CHRISTGAU'S RECORD GUIDE: THE '70s, *THE '80s, +THE 90s -- I didn't like his know-it-all, smart-ass Attitude at 1st -- he hated everything I loved! But 1nce I learned 2 roll w/ it I Dcided Uncle Bob can B very knowledgeable & can B a good guide even if yr tastes directly clash w/ his. I'm still not completely sure about his '90s book....
* Dave Marsh & John Swenson: ROLLING STONE RECORD GUIDE -- 4 awhile my fave book ever 2 argue w/ & throw across the room. But there's also some very good info here. I don't trust the later editions....
+ Mick Fleetwood: FLEETWOOD -- Just about everything U'd ever want 2 know about the Big Mac, written by their drummer. Solid, Dtailed, vivid, involving, funny. It could even have gone on longer. But in these cases I always want 2 know MORE....
* Nicholas Schaffner: SAUCERFUL OF SECRETS -- 2nd-best rock band bio ever, about Pink Floyd. Way better, more involving & more Dtailed than even Nick Mason's memoir on the band.
+ Dan Kennedy: ROCK ON -- Kennedy worked at Atlantic Records 4 a few months in the '00s, during which he botched sevral projects & couldn't keep himself from getting fired. Funny in places, but U & I would never have messed-up such an opportunity....
* David Leaf: THE BEACH BOYS AND THE CALIFORNIA MYTH -- Best band-bio ever, lots of solid info & Dtails on the Boys' career, Brian Wilson's personal demons, the PET SOUNDS & SMILE periods, & much more. Outdated a bit now, but still a near-perfect job.
+ David Hajdu: POSITIVELY 4TH STREET -- Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Mimi Farina & Richard Farina, & how their lives & careers intertwined in the early '60s. Involving.
+ Jeff Tamarkin: GOT A REVOLUTION! -- Solid bio on Jefferson Airplane & Starship, great Dtails & lotsa quotes, long Dscriptions of the recording of each album along the way, tho of course I wish it had bn longer. But the discography is just a list of album titles....
= Clinton Heylin: BOOTLEG! -- Disappointing history of unauthorized recordings. Good technical & legal Dtails & interviews w/ key figures Bhind the scenes, but there is very little discussion of the actual music made available thru bootlegs or the significance of it....
+ Stan Cornyn & Paul Scanlon: EXPLODING! -- History of Warner Bros Records, written by the man who created hilarious off-the-wall print ads 4 Randy Newman & Van Dyke Parks in the '60s. Cornyn's amusing writing carries the 1st 1/2 of the book; the 2nd 1/2 is just a blur -- 2 much happens, which may have bn the point....
+ J.G. Ballard: VERMILLION SANDS -- Marvelous, magical SF short stories about an artist's colony at the edge of a sand sea -- very unlike the rest of the late author's often-grim work. Best R the beautiful "Cloud Sculptors of Coral-D" & "Venus Smiles," in which Ballard revealed 4 perhaps the only time ever that he actually hadda sense of humor....
* Richard DiLello: THE LONGEST COCKTAIL PARTY -- Hilarious history of the Beatles' Apple Records, written by the company's "house hippie." DiLello was there 4 "Hey Jude," the WHITE ALBUM, John & Yoko's weirdnesses, the Paul Is Dead rumors, & when it all fell apart. Vividly, at times daringly written, lotsa priceless moments.
* Roger Dean: VIEWS -- Gorgeous album-cover artwork from the '60s & '70s, including Dean's trademark work 4 Yes & many others.
* Hipgnosis: WALK AWAY RENE -- More gorgeous album cover art, mainly photos from albums by Pink Floyd & many others. The text by photog Storm Thorgerson not only Xplains how the photos were shot, it includes priceless, hilarious stories about how all the parts came 2gether....
* George R.R. Martin: DYING OF THE LIGHT -- Best SF novel ever. Vivid, moving, intense, gorgeous. A classic "space opera."
= Kim Stanley Robinson: THE MEMORY OF WHITENESS -- SF meets future music, but the sometimes-good writing gets tangled-up in a disappointing cloak&dagger plot.
+ Thomas Mallon: A BOOK OF ONE'S OWN -- About diaries & journals & the people who write them, w/ Xcerpts from some of the greatest & most revealing Xamples ever, from Anne Frank 2 Richard Nixon 2 people I guarantee U've never heard of....
* Algis Budrys: BENCHMARKS -- Nearly 40-yr-old SF criticism from the best SF critic ever. He tackles many of the field's classics, gives insights on how they came 2 B written, & gets across what it feels like 2 create this wondrous stuff....
- Frank Herbert: GOD-EMPEROR OF DUNE -- In the running w/ Clarke's RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA 4 worst major SF novel ever....
= George R.R. Martin: THE ARMAGEDDON RAG, +WINDHAVEN, +A SONG FOR LYA AND OTHER STORIES, +SONGS OF STARS AND SHADOWS, +SANDKINGS, +TUF VOYAGING -- RAG is a weak rock&roll novel, buried by a lame cloak&dagger plot, only 5 pgs of real magic in the whole book. The 1st 2/3rds of WINDHAVEN -- about a society of "fliers" who carry letters & news Btween the island residents of a watery world -- R so great it doesn't matter that I can't remember the Nd. The others R collections of George's early-'70s work, when he was 1 of SF's best writers. Greats: "A Song for Lya," "With Morning Comes Mistfall," "This Tower of Ashes," "The Lonely Songs of Laren Dorr," "Night Shift," "The Stone City," "In the House of the Worm," "Sandkings," "Nightflyers," "The Plague Star"....
* Gael Baudino: GOSSAMER AXE -- 2nd-best rock novel ever. A Harper from the land of Faerie forms an all-women heavy-metal band 2 blast a hole Btween the worlds & rescue her 1 true love from The Other Side. Brilliant, involving, moving, there's a happy Nding 4 every1, & the rock band Dtails R perfect.
* Lewis Shiner: GLIMPSES -- The greatest rock novel ever. Shiner's hero can create unheard music by rock superstars just by thinking about it. & in an effort 2 create lost greats like the Beach Boys' SMILE, the Doors' CELEBRATION OF THE LIZARD, Hendrix's FIRST RAYS OF THE NEW RISING SUN, he meets these larger-than-life heroes -- all while dealing w/ his own Life Issues: crumbling marriage, father's death, mother growing older, love, mortality, etc. Vivid & moving, & Shiner gets all the musical Dtails Xactly right.
= Terry Southern, Richard Branson, etc.: VIRGIN: A HISTORY OF VIRGIN RECORDS -- Disappointingly thin photo-book history of the British label which started out brave & daring & uncommercial, then later went super-commercial w/ Paula Abdul & the Rolling Stones. I'd love 2 know more about their off-the-wall earlier yrs....
* Lester Bangs: PSYCHOTIC REACTIONS AND CARBURETOR DUNG, *MAINLINES, BLOOD FEASTS AND BAD TASTE -- 2 Xcellent collections of Bangs' wild & wide-ranging rock criticism from the '70s. Both books include many classic pieces, the 2nd has 2 articles on Miles Davis that NE jazz or jazz-rock fan should read (including Paul Tingen, see above).
* Jack Ketchum: SHE WAKES, *THE GIRL NEXT DOOR, *OFF SEASON, *HIDE AND SEEK, +JOYRIDE, +THE LOST, -LADIES' NIGHT -- Often-superb horror novels; brutal, gutsy, direct -- Ketchum wastes no time. HIDE AND SEEK & SHE WAKES R probly best; GIRL NEXT DOOR isn't quite as harrowing as its rep. The others R at least solid, Xcept 4 LADIES' NIGHT, which is 2 far over the top.
+ Tim Sandlin: JIMI HENDRIX TURNS 80 -- Residents take over a senior citizens' home in a revolution straight outta the '60s. Hilarious, compassionate, moving.
+ Phil Patton: DREAMLAND -- Off-the-wall "travel guide" 2 the area around Nevada's notorious Area 51 test range, home of the Stealth bomber & fighter & lots of UFOs. Lots of sketches of area characters & Xploration of the history & folklore.
+ David Darlington: AREA 51 -- Much of the same material covered from a slightly more sober viewpoint, w/ a bit more emphasis on the high-tech. Combine these last 2 books 2gether & U've probly got the best book possible on the subject.
+ Ian McDonald: DESOLATION ROAD -- 1st 1/2 of this history of an imaginary village on Mars is vivid, inventive, involving & funny. 2nd 1/2 gets strangled by Killer Plot.
* ALL MUSIC GUIDE TO ROCK -- MayB not everything U'd ever wanna know, but a lotta good info, & some of the writing is really amazing, especially on acts like T. Rex, Mott the Hoople, Caravan, Camel....
* Jon Savage: ENGLAND'S DREAMING -- The rise of the Sex Pistols & Punk Rock in a vivid & Xhaustive history. Some of Savage's writing is frighteningly good, as in his Dpiction of the Pistols' last concert in San Francisco, & the decline & death of Sid Vicious. There R also many vivid character sketches of Punk notables (Poly Styrene, Siouxsie Sioux, others). U don't havta B a Punk fan 2 love it....
+ Neal Stephenson: SNOW CRASH -- Pretty good smart-ass SF, vivid & funny, w/ everything U'd ever want Xcept a good Nding....
- Jerry Lucky: THE PROGRESSIVE ROCK FILES -- The worst rock book ever, filled w/ typographical errors & opinions treated as facts. Most valuble is the last 1/2, in which Lucky lists some 1,500 prog acts, many of whom I'd never heard-of B4. But even that list is riddled w/ mistakes, & he leaves a lot of artists OUT....
+ John Peel & Sheila Ravenscroft: MARGRAVE OF THE MARSHES -- Peel attempts 2 recap his long history as BBC DJ & champion of new music ... & the story is lovingly completed by his wife after his death. Funny, w/ lotsa great stories, I wish it had bn longer. Ravenscroft's part of the book is actually better, more Dtailed & more revealing than Peel's -- she was far enuf from the subject & the happenings around him 2 Dscribe it all....
* Kathe Koja: SKIN, *THE CIPHER, *BAD BRAINS, +STRANGE ANGELS, +KINK, +EXTREMITIES, *THE BLUE MIRROR, +STRAYDOG, =BUDDHA BOY -- Koja was the greatest horror novelist of the '90s & SKIN is the best horror novel ever; about performance art, body alteration, creativity & much more, when Koja's characters hurt, so will U. THE CIPHER is equally brilliant, claustrophobic & creepy, tho the Nding's weak. BAD BRAINS is 9/10th's of a great novel; another weak Nding. KINK & STRANGE ANGELS R transitional -- both have very good things in them. EXTREMITIES is an at-times brilliant collection of stories. The last 3 R young-adult novels: BLUE MIRROR is the best since SKIN. STRAYDOG intensely Dscribes the relationship Btween a teen girl & the collie she adopts from the pound. BUDDHA BOY also deals w/ misfits; tho not a complete success, Koja's vivid, abrupt writing will paint a clear picture 4 U. I look 4ward eagerly 2 Koja's next horror novel....
* Ian MacDonald: REVOLUTION IN THE HEAD -- A wondrous look at the Beatles' recordings. Amazing Dtails, stunning insights, vivid writing. The ultimate Beatles book.
* Robert Draper: ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE: THE UNCENSORED HISTORY -- Vivid, Dtailed story of how Jann Wenner's mag went from a counterculture touchstone 2 a gossip sheet 4 his friends. LOTS of talent squandered along the way, & Draper misses nothing. Brilliant but Dpressing, sounds just like every newspaper I ever worked 4....
* Dominic Priore: LOOK! LISTEN! VIBRATE! SMILE! -- Scrapbook about the Beach Boys' lost SMILE album, coulda used an editor, but there's some Xcellent stuff here, especially Jules Siegel's brilliant 1968 magazine piece "Goodbye Surfing, Hello God!"
+ Roddy Doyle: THE COMMITMENTS -- Fast-paced & funny novel about a group that forms "to save Ireland thru R&B." Nds just as it's Getting Really Good, but worth reading -- & 4 Ghod's sake, C the movie!
+ Damien Broderick: TRANSMITTERS -- Real Life & SF meet & clash. Not a complete success, a little dry, but an intresting Xperiment....
After I get thru this, I promise 2 find something new 2 write about. Working my way backwards, then....
+ Roger Zelazny: CREATURES OF LIGHT AND DARKNESS -- The Egyptian pantheon of gods fights it out in an Epic Battle Btween Good & Evil 4 The Fate Of The Universe. Slow start & weak Nding, but in-Btween it's vivid, involving, hilarious, poetic.
+ K.W. Jeter: MANTIS -- Creepy horror novel, Xtremely vivid, involving & well-written. If SF writer Barry N. Malzberg had ever written horror, it mighta come out something like this; the book's dedicated 2 him.
- John Blake: ALL YOU NEEDED WAS LOVE: THE BEATLES AFTER THE BEATLES -- Attempts 2 Xamine the Beatles' solo careers after their breakup. Thin, sad, Dpressing.
* Roger Zelazny: THE DOORS Of HIS FACE THE LAMPS OF HIS MOUTH AND OTHER STORIES, +THE LAST DEFENDER OF CAMELOT, +LORD OF LIGHT, +THIS IMMORTAL, +ISLE OF THE DEAD -- DOORS is the best single-author SF collection ever, including amazing pieces like the title story, "The Man Who Loved the Faioli," "This Moment of the Storm," "This Mortal Mountain," "Lucifer." CAMELOT is a slightly-less-brilliant collection but includes classics like "For a Breath I Tarry" & "The Engine at Heartspring's Center." The other 3 R novels, all inventive & worth reading, if not perfect -- but WAY better than RZ's Ndless series of AMBER novels....
- Steven Gaines: HEROES AND VILLAINS -- The Dcline & collapse of the Beach Boys. All the dirt is here, & Gaines piles it on. Dpressing.
* Harlan Ellison: THE GLASS TEAT & THE OTHER GLASS TEAT -- TV criticism from the late '60s & early '70s. So brilliant & angry it glows in the dark. Could scar U 4 life. But U won't mind....
* Tim Cahill -- A WOLVERINE IS EATING MY LEG, *JAGUARS RIPPED MY FLESH, *PECKED TO DEATH BY DUCKS, +ROAD FEVER, +HOLD THE ENLIGHTENMENT, +PASS THE BUTTERWORMS, *BURIED DREAMS -- 1st 3 R collections of hilarious essays, usually about "adventure travel" -- walking across Death Valley, cave-Xploring in Georgia, mountain climbing, scuba diving, diving w/ poisonous sea snakes, jumping out of perfectly good airplanes, etc. ROAD FEVER is about trying 2 set a world-record drive from the south end of South America 2 Point Barrow, Alaska -- occasionally funny, tho the preparations take longer than the drive. HOLD & PASS R Cahill mellowing w/ age, still funny, but mayB not as punchy. BURIED DREAMS is about Chicago serial-killer John Wayne Gacy, & the last 1/4 of the book really WILL scar U 4 life....
* John McPhee -- ASSEMBLING CALIFORNIA, *RISING FROM THE PLAINS, *BASIN AND RANGE, *THE CURVE OF BINDING ENERGY, *COMING INTO THE COUNTRY, *THE JOHN MCPHEE READER, +ENCOUNTERS WITH THE ARCHDRUID, +TABLE OF CONTENTS, +GIVING GOOD WEIGHT, +THE CONTROL OF NATURE, =IN SUSPECT TERRAIN -- My choice 4 the greatest non-fiction writer of the past century. Everything McPhee writes is vivid, involving & often funny. ASSEMBLING, RISING & BASIN R all about the history & geology of the American West -- the series won him the National Book Award. ENERGY is about securing nuclear weapons & reactors -- the Nd is eerily prophetic about R new century. COUNTRY is all about Alaska; it's huge. The last 1/2 is a long series of vivid character sketches of the state's people, but my fave part is the middle, which follows a search 4 a new site 4 the state's capitol. ARCHDRUID is a series of debates w/ Sierra Club founder David Brower -- best is the last, in which Brower & Bureau of Reclamation director Floyd Dominy take a raft trip 2gether thru the Grand Canyon, arguing all the way. READER, CONTENTS & WEIGHT R all collections of often-outstanding shorter pieces; READER Xcerpts Xcellent sections from McPhee's 1st dozen books. NATURE is about repairing dikes along the Mississippi. TERRAIN is about the geology of New Jersey, probly best if U live there.
* Hunter S. Thompson: FEAR AND LOATHING ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL '72, *THE GREAT SHARK HUNT, +FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS, +HELL'S ANGELS, +SONGS OF THE DOOMED, =THE CURSE OF LONO, =GENERATION OF SWINE -- The greatest political writer of the '60s & '70s. Hilarious, vivid, involving, outrageous. CAMPAIGN TRAIL covers the Nixon/McGovern campaigns, always hilariously & at times almost unbelievably. SHARK HUNT is an amazingly good best-of, not very-well organized. LAS VEGAS is famous, the opening few pgs R brilliant. HELL'S ANGELS is vivid, but I wished it had bn wilder, like Thompson's later work. Thompson lost his gift at the Nd of '77; DOOMED has a few good things, the rest R dull.
* Dave Marsh: THE HEART OF ROCK AND SOUL: THE 1,001 GREATEST SINGLES OF ALL TIME -- Marvelous, hilarious, moving essays on some of the greatest rock & R&B songs ever, w/ tons U've probly never heard B4....
+ Tim Riley: TELL ME WHY -- Xamines the Beatles' recordings in depth -- good & in4mative, but a bit dry. Ian MacDonald's REVOLUTION IN THE HEAD covers the same ground in more depth & more inventively.
+ Edward Lee: COVEN -- Over-the-top horror novel, almost like a comic book. When Lee uncovers yet another new outrage U'll B shocked, laff, shake yr head, wonder if he means it, if he's joking, if he's serious....
= Isaac Asimov: THE GODS THEMSELVES -- Brilliant, wild middle section, 1 of the most inventive things Asimov ever did. But the rest is dull. It's a scandal that Robert Silverberg's brilliant DYING INSIDE lost both SF's Hugo & Nebula Awards 2 this....
- Arthur C. Clarke: RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA -- The dullest. Spacemen Xplore an alien probe that briefly passes thru the solar system. Nothing's ever Xplained & the characters R cardboard cutouts. Go read Clarke's 2001 or CHILDHOOD'S END instead.
* ROLLING STONE RECORD REVIEW VOLUME II -- Classic writing on classic albums, all from the early '70s pgs of ROLLING STONE: Arthur Schmidt & Stephen Holden on the Beach Boys, John Mendelssohn on the Kinks & the Move, Lester Bangs on all kinds of stuff....
* Paul Tingen: MILES BEYOND -- WAY better than the series of late-'60s/early-'70s Miles Davis jazz-rock albums it Xamines in amazing depth & Dtail....
= Frederic Dannen: HIT MEN -- THIS is record-industry corruption?
* Robert Christgau: CHRISTGAU'S RECORD GUIDE: THE '70s, *THE '80s, +THE 90s -- I didn't like his know-it-all, smart-ass Attitude at 1st -- he hated everything I loved! But 1nce I learned 2 roll w/ it I Dcided Uncle Bob can B very knowledgeable & can B a good guide even if yr tastes directly clash w/ his. I'm still not completely sure about his '90s book....
* Dave Marsh & John Swenson: ROLLING STONE RECORD GUIDE -- 4 awhile my fave book ever 2 argue w/ & throw across the room. But there's also some very good info here. I don't trust the later editions....
+ Mick Fleetwood: FLEETWOOD -- Just about everything U'd ever want 2 know about the Big Mac, written by their drummer. Solid, Dtailed, vivid, involving, funny. It could even have gone on longer. But in these cases I always want 2 know MORE....
* Nicholas Schaffner: SAUCERFUL OF SECRETS -- 2nd-best rock band bio ever, about Pink Floyd. Way better, more involving & more Dtailed than even Nick Mason's memoir on the band.
+ Dan Kennedy: ROCK ON -- Kennedy worked at Atlantic Records 4 a few months in the '00s, during which he botched sevral projects & couldn't keep himself from getting fired. Funny in places, but U & I would never have messed-up such an opportunity....
* David Leaf: THE BEACH BOYS AND THE CALIFORNIA MYTH -- Best band-bio ever, lots of solid info & Dtails on the Boys' career, Brian Wilson's personal demons, the PET SOUNDS & SMILE periods, & much more. Outdated a bit now, but still a near-perfect job.
+ David Hajdu: POSITIVELY 4TH STREET -- Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Mimi Farina & Richard Farina, & how their lives & careers intertwined in the early '60s. Involving.
+ Jeff Tamarkin: GOT A REVOLUTION! -- Solid bio on Jefferson Airplane & Starship, great Dtails & lotsa quotes, long Dscriptions of the recording of each album along the way, tho of course I wish it had bn longer. But the discography is just a list of album titles....
= Clinton Heylin: BOOTLEG! -- Disappointing history of unauthorized recordings. Good technical & legal Dtails & interviews w/ key figures Bhind the scenes, but there is very little discussion of the actual music made available thru bootlegs or the significance of it....
+ Stan Cornyn & Paul Scanlon: EXPLODING! -- History of Warner Bros Records, written by the man who created hilarious off-the-wall print ads 4 Randy Newman & Van Dyke Parks in the '60s. Cornyn's amusing writing carries the 1st 1/2 of the book; the 2nd 1/2 is just a blur -- 2 much happens, which may have bn the point....
+ J.G. Ballard: VERMILLION SANDS -- Marvelous, magical SF short stories about an artist's colony at the edge of a sand sea -- very unlike the rest of the late author's often-grim work. Best R the beautiful "Cloud Sculptors of Coral-D" & "Venus Smiles," in which Ballard revealed 4 perhaps the only time ever that he actually hadda sense of humor....
* Richard DiLello: THE LONGEST COCKTAIL PARTY -- Hilarious history of the Beatles' Apple Records, written by the company's "house hippie." DiLello was there 4 "Hey Jude," the WHITE ALBUM, John & Yoko's weirdnesses, the Paul Is Dead rumors, & when it all fell apart. Vividly, at times daringly written, lotsa priceless moments.
* Roger Dean: VIEWS -- Gorgeous album-cover artwork from the '60s & '70s, including Dean's trademark work 4 Yes & many others.
* Hipgnosis: WALK AWAY RENE -- More gorgeous album cover art, mainly photos from albums by Pink Floyd & many others. The text by photog Storm Thorgerson not only Xplains how the photos were shot, it includes priceless, hilarious stories about how all the parts came 2gether....
* George R.R. Martin: DYING OF THE LIGHT -- Best SF novel ever. Vivid, moving, intense, gorgeous. A classic "space opera."
= Kim Stanley Robinson: THE MEMORY OF WHITENESS -- SF meets future music, but the sometimes-good writing gets tangled-up in a disappointing cloak&dagger plot.
+ Thomas Mallon: A BOOK OF ONE'S OWN -- About diaries & journals & the people who write them, w/ Xcerpts from some of the greatest & most revealing Xamples ever, from Anne Frank 2 Richard Nixon 2 people I guarantee U've never heard of....
* Algis Budrys: BENCHMARKS -- Nearly 40-yr-old SF criticism from the best SF critic ever. He tackles many of the field's classics, gives insights on how they came 2 B written, & gets across what it feels like 2 create this wondrous stuff....
- Frank Herbert: GOD-EMPEROR OF DUNE -- In the running w/ Clarke's RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA 4 worst major SF novel ever....
= George R.R. Martin: THE ARMAGEDDON RAG, +WINDHAVEN, +A SONG FOR LYA AND OTHER STORIES, +SONGS OF STARS AND SHADOWS, +SANDKINGS, +TUF VOYAGING -- RAG is a weak rock&roll novel, buried by a lame cloak&dagger plot, only 5 pgs of real magic in the whole book. The 1st 2/3rds of WINDHAVEN -- about a society of "fliers" who carry letters & news Btween the island residents of a watery world -- R so great it doesn't matter that I can't remember the Nd. The others R collections of George's early-'70s work, when he was 1 of SF's best writers. Greats: "A Song for Lya," "With Morning Comes Mistfall," "This Tower of Ashes," "The Lonely Songs of Laren Dorr," "Night Shift," "The Stone City," "In the House of the Worm," "Sandkings," "Nightflyers," "The Plague Star"....
* Gael Baudino: GOSSAMER AXE -- 2nd-best rock novel ever. A Harper from the land of Faerie forms an all-women heavy-metal band 2 blast a hole Btween the worlds & rescue her 1 true love from The Other Side. Brilliant, involving, moving, there's a happy Nding 4 every1, & the rock band Dtails R perfect.
* Lewis Shiner: GLIMPSES -- The greatest rock novel ever. Shiner's hero can create unheard music by rock superstars just by thinking about it. & in an effort 2 create lost greats like the Beach Boys' SMILE, the Doors' CELEBRATION OF THE LIZARD, Hendrix's FIRST RAYS OF THE NEW RISING SUN, he meets these larger-than-life heroes -- all while dealing w/ his own Life Issues: crumbling marriage, father's death, mother growing older, love, mortality, etc. Vivid & moving, & Shiner gets all the musical Dtails Xactly right.
= Terry Southern, Richard Branson, etc.: VIRGIN: A HISTORY OF VIRGIN RECORDS -- Disappointingly thin photo-book history of the British label which started out brave & daring & uncommercial, then later went super-commercial w/ Paula Abdul & the Rolling Stones. I'd love 2 know more about their off-the-wall earlier yrs....
* Lester Bangs: PSYCHOTIC REACTIONS AND CARBURETOR DUNG, *MAINLINES, BLOOD FEASTS AND BAD TASTE -- 2 Xcellent collections of Bangs' wild & wide-ranging rock criticism from the '70s. Both books include many classic pieces, the 2nd has 2 articles on Miles Davis that NE jazz or jazz-rock fan should read (including Paul Tingen, see above).
* Jack Ketchum: SHE WAKES, *THE GIRL NEXT DOOR, *OFF SEASON, *HIDE AND SEEK, +JOYRIDE, +THE LOST, -LADIES' NIGHT -- Often-superb horror novels; brutal, gutsy, direct -- Ketchum wastes no time. HIDE AND SEEK & SHE WAKES R probly best; GIRL NEXT DOOR isn't quite as harrowing as its rep. The others R at least solid, Xcept 4 LADIES' NIGHT, which is 2 far over the top.
+ Tim Sandlin: JIMI HENDRIX TURNS 80 -- Residents take over a senior citizens' home in a revolution straight outta the '60s. Hilarious, compassionate, moving.
+ Phil Patton: DREAMLAND -- Off-the-wall "travel guide" 2 the area around Nevada's notorious Area 51 test range, home of the Stealth bomber & fighter & lots of UFOs. Lots of sketches of area characters & Xploration of the history & folklore.
+ David Darlington: AREA 51 -- Much of the same material covered from a slightly more sober viewpoint, w/ a bit more emphasis on the high-tech. Combine these last 2 books 2gether & U've probly got the best book possible on the subject.
+ Ian McDonald: DESOLATION ROAD -- 1st 1/2 of this history of an imaginary village on Mars is vivid, inventive, involving & funny. 2nd 1/2 gets strangled by Killer Plot.
* ALL MUSIC GUIDE TO ROCK -- MayB not everything U'd ever wanna know, but a lotta good info, & some of the writing is really amazing, especially on acts like T. Rex, Mott the Hoople, Caravan, Camel....
* Jon Savage: ENGLAND'S DREAMING -- The rise of the Sex Pistols & Punk Rock in a vivid & Xhaustive history. Some of Savage's writing is frighteningly good, as in his Dpiction of the Pistols' last concert in San Francisco, & the decline & death of Sid Vicious. There R also many vivid character sketches of Punk notables (Poly Styrene, Siouxsie Sioux, others). U don't havta B a Punk fan 2 love it....
+ Neal Stephenson: SNOW CRASH -- Pretty good smart-ass SF, vivid & funny, w/ everything U'd ever want Xcept a good Nding....
- Jerry Lucky: THE PROGRESSIVE ROCK FILES -- The worst rock book ever, filled w/ typographical errors & opinions treated as facts. Most valuble is the last 1/2, in which Lucky lists some 1,500 prog acts, many of whom I'd never heard-of B4. But even that list is riddled w/ mistakes, & he leaves a lot of artists OUT....
+ John Peel & Sheila Ravenscroft: MARGRAVE OF THE MARSHES -- Peel attempts 2 recap his long history as BBC DJ & champion of new music ... & the story is lovingly completed by his wife after his death. Funny, w/ lotsa great stories, I wish it had bn longer. Ravenscroft's part of the book is actually better, more Dtailed & more revealing than Peel's -- she was far enuf from the subject & the happenings around him 2 Dscribe it all....
* Kathe Koja: SKIN, *THE CIPHER, *BAD BRAINS, +STRANGE ANGELS, +KINK, +EXTREMITIES, *THE BLUE MIRROR, +STRAYDOG, =BUDDHA BOY -- Koja was the greatest horror novelist of the '90s & SKIN is the best horror novel ever; about performance art, body alteration, creativity & much more, when Koja's characters hurt, so will U. THE CIPHER is equally brilliant, claustrophobic & creepy, tho the Nding's weak. BAD BRAINS is 9/10th's of a great novel; another weak Nding. KINK & STRANGE ANGELS R transitional -- both have very good things in them. EXTREMITIES is an at-times brilliant collection of stories. The last 3 R young-adult novels: BLUE MIRROR is the best since SKIN. STRAYDOG intensely Dscribes the relationship Btween a teen girl & the collie she adopts from the pound. BUDDHA BOY also deals w/ misfits; tho not a complete success, Koja's vivid, abrupt writing will paint a clear picture 4 U. I look 4ward eagerly 2 Koja's next horror novel....
* Ian MacDonald: REVOLUTION IN THE HEAD -- A wondrous look at the Beatles' recordings. Amazing Dtails, stunning insights, vivid writing. The ultimate Beatles book.
* Robert Draper: ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE: THE UNCENSORED HISTORY -- Vivid, Dtailed story of how Jann Wenner's mag went from a counterculture touchstone 2 a gossip sheet 4 his friends. LOTS of talent squandered along the way, & Draper misses nothing. Brilliant but Dpressing, sounds just like every newspaper I ever worked 4....
* Dominic Priore: LOOK! LISTEN! VIBRATE! SMILE! -- Scrapbook about the Beach Boys' lost SMILE album, coulda used an editor, but there's some Xcellent stuff here, especially Jules Siegel's brilliant 1968 magazine piece "Goodbye Surfing, Hello God!"
+ Roddy Doyle: THE COMMITMENTS -- Fast-paced & funny novel about a group that forms "to save Ireland thru R&B." Nds just as it's Getting Really Good, but worth reading -- & 4 Ghod's sake, C the movie!
+ Damien Broderick: TRANSMITTERS -- Real Life & SF meet & clash. Not a complete success, a little dry, but an intresting Xperiment....
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Forward into the past! (music)
My old website has died, apparently w/o hope of recovery, so as of right now I Have No Past. Which on 1 hand is a drag, & on the other hand gives me a cheap Xcuse 2 recycle all that old stuff as new capsule reviews here.
& since this blog has bn a little musically-challenged lately, here's the music I reviewed during my 1st 8 mo's on-line, which some of U may not have Cn B4. These capsule reviews will B almost all new stuff, which is more fun 4 me than just doing a laundry-list/recap. & U know how I love 2 make lists.... (I'll get 2 the books I reviewed eventually....)
This may take awhile tho, so bear w/ me....
Some of those old reviews I'll miss, like the fictional review of SMILE & its made-up impact on the world, & the words on Nick Drake, Kate Bush, Fairport Convention, Gryphon, Providence, the reviews I did in memory of my Mom, the rant about Michael Jackson & CNN, the series of Great Lost Singles reviews (there's a list of them all elsewhere on this blog, so at least U can find out what they WERE), those long writeups on '70s radio, science fiction & my Record Store Daze -- but this ain't Great Art 4 The Ages NEway, & it's not like I can't regurgitate some version of it all if pressed. (Bsides, some of the off-the-wall attempts at humor R better-off lost in Internet Purgatory somewhere. ... I can't hear NEbody laffing out there. Is this thing switched on?)
So, another look back in2 the past, just 4 fun. Working my way backward, then....
* Bread: BEST OF's -- Timeless nostalgia from the early 1970's. Lotta the hits R pretty great, & summa the album trax R stunning, especially "Been Too Long on the Road."
+ Badfinger: THE VERY BEST OF & other best-of's -- Mosta the hits R pretty great, especially "Baby Blue," "No Matter What" & "Day After Day." But a lotta the rest is kinda 4gettable, Xcept 4 the brilliant, driving "In the Meantime/Some Other Time," "Meanwhile Back at the Ranch/Should I Smoke?," "The Name of the Game," "Apple of My Eye."
* Raspberries: GREATEST -- Mosta the hits really were GREAT, & the album trax reveal a whole diffrent side of the band (like the silly "Come Around and See Me"). I'm a sucker 4 "Overnight Sensation," "Let's Pretend," "Tonight," "Ecstacy." Great drumming & group vocals. They shoulda bn bigger.
+ Lobo: INTRODUCING -- Timeless rural nostalgia from '71. 1st album I ever bought.
+ Mary-Chapin Carpenter: COME ON, COME ON -- Some great stuff here, tho the moodier trax drag. Brilliant: "Passionate Kisses," "The Hard Way," title song.
+ Lindsey Buckingham & Stevie Nicks: BUCKINGHAM/NICKS -- From '73, B4 joining Fleetwood Mac. 1st side's great, especially the gorgeous, mournful "Without a Leg to Stand On," "Crying in the Night," & a better version of "Crystal" than the Mac did. All I remember from the 2nd side is the rousing "Don't Let Me Down Again."
+ Spirit: 12 DREAMS OF DR. SARDONICUS & +BEST OF -- Did they invent American art-rock? SARDONICUS has some great stuff, especially at the start & Nd; "Nature's Way" is a freakin classic. BEST OF includes the GREAT "I Got a Line on You," about 1/2 of SARDONICUS, the sorta weary Nd-of-the-Summer-of-Love # "Aren't You Glad?" & some other stuff that didn't grab me much.
*Bangles: DIFFERENT LIGHT, +ALL OVER THE PLACE, =EVERYTHING, +GREATEST -- I love female harmonies, I'm a big Go-Go's fan 2. DIFFERENT LIGHT is 1 of the best pop albums ever, tho it's not perfect -- but the 2nd side nearly is, especially "Let it Go," "September Gurls," "Angels Don't Fall in Love," "Following," "Not Like You." Tested repeatedly during LOTS of road trips. ALL OVER has more Attitude, & my fave Bangs song ever, "Dover Beach." The 2nd side's pretty gutsy, 2. EVERYTHING has 4 good songs, including the gorgeous "I'll Set You Free." GREATEST has mosta these titles + the GREAT "Everything I Wanted."
* George Winston: AUTUMN -- The only New Age album U'll ever need. Gorgeous solo piano.
+ Roxy Music: STREET LIFE/20 GREAT HITS, +GREATEST HITS, +FLESH AND BLOOD, +AVALON -- I love their later, mellower stuff, especially "Over You," "Same Old Scene," "Dance Away," "Oh Yeah (On the Radio)." But I needta educate myself more on their early outrage....
+ Joan Armatrading: ME MYSELF I, +TRACK RECORD, etc. -- The deep-voiced woman w/ the sensitive songs. There's some great stuff on all her albums. I especially love "When I Get it Right," "Persona Grata," "Temptation." & "I Need You" will rip you up....
* Steve Tibbetts: YR -- Jazz, Rock, New Age? Doesn't matter. Steve's melodic, flowing compositions & gorgeous guitar will make U a Bliever. & "Ur" will melt yr speakers....
* Alan Parsons Project: INSTRUMENTAL WORKS -- Predictable but gorgeous instrumentals from Parsons' 1st 1/2dozen albums. My fave is "The Gold Bug," but it's all pretty & hypnotic.
* Shoes: PRESENT TENSE -- Mostly gorgeous, breathy New Wave lovesongs. Best: "Too Late," "In My Arms Again," "Now and Then," "Every Girl."
* Split Enz: WAIATA, *HISTORY NEVER REPEATS/BEST OF -- Great songs, great silliness.
= Steely Dan: GAUCHO -- Most of it's lazy & lame Byond Blief, but the title track is a gorgeous lost classic, & "Third World Man" is pretty odd....
* Suzanne Vega: (1st) -- Pristine '80s folk w/ a crystal-clear production. I love almost all of it Xcept 4 that long fable about the princess & the soldier.... & the best stuff is amazing: "Cracking," "Undertow," "Knight Moves," "Small Blue Thing," "Some Journey," "Marlene on the Wall"....
+ Bruce Cockburn: DANCING IN THE DRAGON'S JAWS, +RESUME best-of -- DANCING has 2 brilliant trax, "Incandescent Blue" & "Badlands Flashback," & the rest is very pleasant. RESUME is intresting, especially 4 "Silver Wheels" & "Dance With the Devil."
* Partridge Family: ALBUM, =UP TO DATE, *SOUND MAGAZINE -- Why R U laffing? Everybody's gotta start somewhere, & I'm STILL a sucker 4 great group vocals, which these folks had. ALBUM is amazingly consistent 4 lite pop, DATE is a bit of a letdown but still has some great stuff, & SOUND MAG is their best album ever, a real step 4ward in punchiness, w/ 2 knockouts: "I'm on My Way Back Home" & "Love is All That I Ever Needed." Course if U can't take Keith's ego....
+ Rare Earth: ONE WORLD -- Some great songs, & pretty smooth. "If I Die" & "Underneath God's Light" R 4got10 classics, & the rest ain't bad....
* Go-Go's: TALK SHOW -- 1 of the other greatest pop albums ever. Punchy, great gtr, great drumming, & the vocals! They got no respect, but 1/2 of this shoulda bn on their best-of, especially "You Thought," "Forget That Day," "Capture the Light," "I'm With You." Also road-tested over MANY miles....
* Bare Naked Ladies: STUNT, +THEIR GREATEST HITS -- STUNT is amazingly good, solid, w/ great, often funny songs, sometimes-amazing gtr & other great instrumentation. Best: "Its All Been Done," "Light Up My Room," "I'll Be That Girl," the hilarious "Alcohol," "In the Car," "Who Needs Sleep?," "Never is Enough," "Some Fantastic." GREATEST I keep mainly 4 the live "What A Good Boy," which is an AMAZING per4mance. Also great: "Get in Line," "It's Only Me," Bruce Cockburn's "Lovers in a Dangerous Time," "Brian Wilson," "If I Had a Million Dollars."
= Coldplay: VIVA LA VIDA -- Summa this is actually starting 2 grow on me....
* Jordin Sparks: (1st) -- "Now You Tell Me," "Tattoo" & "Worth the Wait" R all brilliant, & the rest is at least solid & professional. & she can REALLY sing....
+ Tracey Ullman: YOU BROKE MY HEART IN 17 PLACES -- Great fun, & some of it's just great, period: "They Don't Know," "Breakaway," "I'm Always Touched By Your Presence, Dear," "I Close My Eyes and Count to Ten." She coulda had a whole 'nother career....
+ Nik Kershaw: HUMAN RACING -- Him 2. He coulda bn Stevie Wonder's ghost-singer -- amazing impersonation on "Faces." But the amazing high point is the silly "Gone to Pieces," where (among other things) The Chipmunks make their 1st appearance inna recording studio since about 1964 -- & they sound great!
+ Pete Townshend: ALL THE BEST COWBOYS HAVE CHINESE EYES, *EMPTY GLASS, +PSYCHODERELICT -- CHINESE EYES needed more songs as good as "Slit Skirts," "North Country Girl," "Uniforms," "Somebody Saved Me," "Face Dances Part 2." GLASS is a classic, but good as "Rough Boys" is, I've always loved the softer but still passionate stuff: the marvelous "A Little is Enough," "And I Moved," "Jools and Jim," "Cat's in the Cupboard." & "Gonna Get Ya" is a screamer.... PSYCHO has 1 GREAT song, "Now and Then." The rest is an intresting Xperiment....
* ELO: TIME -- Raising filler 2 a fine art. "Twilight" is great & "The Way Life's Meant to Be" is almost perfect. Summa the rest is so silly U may wanna fling the disc across the room: "Yours Truly, 2095," "Here is the News"....
* Clannad: MACALLA -- Dark, w/o enuf variation in moods, but some great moody tunes nevertheless. Best: "Journey's End," "The Wild Cry," "Indoor," "Blackstairs," "Caislean Oir."
* Renaissance: LIVE AT CARNEGIE HALL -- They could B stuffy in the studio, but here they relax a little & the orchestra sweeps them along. Best: "Can You Understand?," "Running Hard" & the GORGEOUS 1st 3 mins of "Ashes are Burning."
+ Blue Oyster Cult: AGENTS OF FORTUNE -- 1/2 great stuff, 1/2 real crap. Best: "Don't Fear the Reaper," "ETI," "Morning Final," "Debbie Denise."
* Police: REGGATTA DE BLANC -- The Rodney Dangerfields of New Wave, lotsa great comedy, especially on "Does Everyone Stare" & "On Any Other Day."
* Dire Straits: MAKIN MOVIES, +LOVE OVER GOLD, +LOCAL HERO SOUNDTRACK -- MOVIES is their most cinematic work, U'll C the videos in yr head on great songs like "Romeo and Juliet," "Hand in Hand," "Expresso Love," "Tunnel of Love." GOLD keeps the cinemagic 4 1 amazing track, the gorgeous 15-min "Telegraph Road." Title song's also pretty, & "Industrial Disease" is a dry-run 4 "Money for Nothing." HERO is pleasant soundtrack music w/ 2 great bits: the anthemic "Going Home" theme at the Nd, & Gerry Rafferty's vocals on the laid-back "That's the Way it Always Starts."
+ Philip Glass: KOYAANISQATSI -- Eerie, icy, mechanical, nightmarish, robot music w/ disembodied wailing voices. But parts of it R pretty....
+ Todd Rundgren: SOMETHING/ANYTHING?, +ADVENTURES IN UTOPIA, +VERY BEST OF -- All great pop. & why wasn't "Couldn't I Just Tell You?" a hit? Or "You Make Me Crazy"? Or "The Very Last Time"? Or "Saving Grace"? Or....
+ Keane: HOPES AND FEARS, -UNDER THE IRON SEA -- HOPES has 4 great songs; the lost classic is "Bend and Break." IRON SEA is the worst art-rock album I've heard in the last decade.
+ The Jam: SETTING SONS -- Angry, bitter, Dspairing New Wave concept album -- which still has lotsa songs U can sing along with! Best: "Private Hell," "Thick as Thieves," "Little Boy Soldiers," "Strange Town," "Eton Rifles," & the recorder hook on "Wasteland." + the WORST version of "Heat Wave" that U'll never wanna hear again....
+ Modern English: AFTER THE SNOW -- The great "I Melt With You" shoulda bn a bigger hit, now it's never gonna die, U can hear it in candy commercials. Whole 2nd side's high-quality, especially "Carry Me Down" & "Tables Turning." 1st side Dscends in2 arty quiet, but it's still intresting....
* Fairport Convention: FAIRPORT CHRONICLES best-of -- Best British folk-rock band ever. Great songs, amazing passionate singing by Sandy Denny, Richard Thompson, Ian Matthews. Best: "Come All Ye," "Listen, Listen," "I'll Keep it With Mine," "The Way I Feel," "Tale in Hard Time."
* Gentle Giant: PRETENSIOUS best-of, +FREE HAND, +THREE FRIENDS -- PRETENSIOUS has some of their very best stuff off their 1st 6 albums, it's full of gems like "Advent of Panurge," "Schooldays," "Raconteur, Troubadour," "Pentegruel's Nativity," "Knots," "Edge of Twilight," "Cogs in Cogs." FREE HAND's worth it all 4 the gorgeous "His Last Voyage" & "Time to Kill." "Talybont" sounds like Gryphon.... THREE FRIENDS has the hushed "Schooldays" & the guys actually rocking on "Peel the Paint."
* Caravan: FOR GIRLS WHO GROW PLUMP IN THE NIGHT, +CANTERBURY TALES (2-record best-of) -- GIRLS is 1 of the best prog albums ever, tho not perfect -- the great stuff is so good I 4give the coupla dead spots. The driving "Memory Lain/Hugh/Headloss" & "Be All Right," the charming "The Dog, the Dog" & "Surprise, Surprise," & the cinematic suite "A Hunting We Shall Go...." -- these guys were at their absolute best here. & Dave Sinclair is a 4got10 '70s master of keyboards.... TALES has mosta their best stuff & adds a gorgeous live take of "Virgin on the Ridiculous." (The 2-CD best-of under the same name has more early stuff & shuffles the resta the best, not a better package, but diffrent & Xpanded.)
* U.K.: (1st), =DANGER MONEY -- 1st album's a screamer, hardly a bad track on it, best R "Time to Kill," "Mental Medication" & the "In the Dead of Night" suite. DANGER is a big letdown, 2 Dcent tracks: "Rendezvous 6:02" & "Nothing to Lose." The last of these sounds like a dry-run 4 Asia....
+ Buffalo Springfield: RETROSPECTIVE best-of -- They shoulda had more hits, like "Bluebird," "Mr. Soul," "On the Way Home," "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing," "Rock and Roll Woman." & then there's Neil Young's kaleidoscopic "Broken Arrow"....
* Beach Boys: PET SOUNDS -- What can I say? Bn listening 2 it since I was 16 yrs old...
* Amazing Blondel: FANTASIA LINDUM, +ENGLAND -- British Folk concept albums, gorgeous vocals & tunes.
+ Kevin Ayers: ODD DITTIES -- Mostly failed singles & outtakes, Cn by some critics as his best album ever. Un4gettable: the silly "Connie on a Rubber Band," "Soon, Soon, Soon," "Lady Rachel." Guests include Soft Machine, Mike Oldfield, David Bedford, most of Caravan....
* Justin Hayward & John Lodge: BLUE JAYS -- Best stuff rivals the Moodies: "When You Wake Up," "Saved By the Music," "This Morning," "Remember Me, My Friend," "Maybe," "My Brother," "You," "Who Are You Now?"
+ Jefferson Starship: FREEDOM AT POINT ZERO -- I've always loved Paul Kantner's science-fiction chorales. Best: Title track, "Fading Lady Light," "Lightning Rose," "Just the Same," "Awakening," "Things to Come."
* Grace Slick: DREAMS -- Prog. Great gtr, orchestra, & the wailin lead singer herself. Best: "Full Moon Man," "Let it Go," "Garden of Man," "Face to the Wind," "El Diablo."
* Dan Fogelberg: THE INNOCENT AGE, *PHOENIX -- INNOCENT turns in2 soundtrack muzak by the Nd but there's some great stuff along the way, especially the gorgeous "Nexus" & "The Reach," "Stolen Moments," "In the Passage," "The Lion's Share," "Times Like These," "Same Old Lang Syne," title song -- I even like the mushy "Hard to Say." PHOENIX has some great stuff 2: title track, "Along the Road," "Wishing on the Moon," "Heart Hotels"....
+ Hawkwind: HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN GRILL -- Heavy metal space rock? Best is the great "You'd Better Believe It," but Lemmy & Mick Farren's "Lost Johnny" is killer, & some of the others R pretty cool. Intresting snyth-wash breaks Btween songs....
* Yes: YESSONGS -- So great U can drop at least 1 side & never miss it (the side w/ "Roundabout," "Your Move" & Wakeman's solo themes). "Close to the Edge" is so cosmic, "Starship Trooper" so stunning, "And You and I" so pretty, & "Siberian Khatru" has got some great chaotic stuff goin on....
+ Pat Metheny & Lyle Mays: AS FALLS WICHITA, SO FALLS WICHITA FALLS -- Title track is 22 fairly gorgeous mins of synth-wash & crystalline gtr, w/ a climax in which aliens touch down in their UFOs on a children's playground... or something. Only "Ozark" on Side 2 comes close 2 Bing as good....
+ Manfred Mann's Earth Band: CHANCE -- Intresting almost-robotic sounds, & "Stranded" is a lost art-rock classic. Manfred's version of Springsteen's "For You" is almost bombastic enuf 2 B ELP, & "Heart on the Street" is no slouch either....
* Kate Bush: THE KICK INSIDE, +LIONHEART, +NEVER FOR EVER, +THE WHOLE STORY best-of -- U'll get useta her voice quicker than U think. Whole 1st side of KICK is GREAT, especially "Saxophone Song," "Kite," "Strange Phenomena" & "Man With the Child in His Eyes." The other 2 have great trax here & there: LIONHEART's worth it just 4 "Wow." NEVER has the gorgeous "Delius," the outrageous "Violin," & a little revenge # called "The Wedding List." WHOLE STORY includes sevral of these, + the marvelous "Cloudbusting" & the sensual "Running Up That Hill." The 2-CD best-of THIS WOMAN'S WORK includes otherwise-unavailable greats like the stark "Empty Bullring," the beautiful "December Will Be Magic Again," & the heart-wrenching title song.
* Sally Oldfield: WATER BEARER -- Beautiful LORD OF THE RINGS-flavored prog.
* Nick Drake: BRYTER LAYTER -- Gorgeous. Almost every track's perfect. Great lyrics, guitar, vocals, & the backup is summa British Folk's best. Standouts: "Northern Sky," "Hazey Jane II," "At the Chime of a City Clock," "Fly," "Sunday."
= Soft Machine: THIRD -- "Slightly All the Time" & "Out-Bloody-Rageous" R pretty hypnotic, but I could never get past the 5 mins of feedback noise that opens "Facelift," & I thot "Moon in June" was just silly. The primitive, muddy production lets them down, tho it never stopped me w/ early Caravan....
= Hatfield & the North: (1st) -- Funny & busy-busy. Talented, but coulda used more tunes....
* Sky: SKY2, +SKY3 -- British all-instrumental prog band, kinda conservative. 2 is another double where U could throw 1/2 of it away & not miss it -- but the good stuff is REALLY good: "Vivaldi," "Watching the Aeroplanes," "Scipio," "Toccata," "Fifo," "Adagio," "Scherzo." Their relentless 4/4 robotics may bug U tho. 3 mellows w/ the loss of keyboardist/composer Francis Monkman -- nothing on it's as good as 2. Closest is drummer Tristan Fry's rather good "Connecting Rooms" & bassist Herbie Flowers' slowly-building "Meheeco."
* Beach Boys: SMILE -- Best prog album ever.
+ Brian Wilson: SMILE -- Brian's voice is shot, but the songs we haven't heard B4 R pretty great, especially "On a Holiday" & "In Blue Hawaii."
+ The Move: MESSAGE FROM THE COUNTRY -- The heavily-produced stuff (title track, "Do Ya," "Tonite") is pretty great, the rockabilly stuff is at least funny, & 1/3rd of it's 4gettable.
* Glass Moon: (1st) -- Xcellent Genesis-soundalike band from Fla. Turn Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill" in2 a shoulda-bn-hit. Whole 2nd side's pretty strong. But the lost classic is "Sundays and Mondays," w/ a thunderstorm-like gtr solo by Jamie Glaser.
+ Camel: THE SINGLE FACTOR, +BREATHLESS -- SINGLE has a gold-plated 2nd side w/ overlooked greats like "Sasquatch," the angry "Manic," & the gorgeous "Heart's Desire/End Peace." BREATHLESS is just solid lite Ntertainment w/ the gorgeous title track, the soaring "Echoes," & a sorta British answer 2 Joe Walsh's "Life's Been Good" in bassist/vocalist Richard Sinclair's "Down on the Farm."
+ Barclay James Harvest: GONE TO EARTH -- 3 great songs: The crashingly dramatic "Hymn," the gentle "Spirit on the Water," & "Poor Man's Moody Blues."
* Moody Blues: THE PRESENT -- Their best, most consistent album ever.
+ Be-Bop Deluxe: SUNBURST FINISH -- Bowie meets heavy gtr! Worth it all 4 the brilliant "Sleep That Burns." Whole 1st side's pretty strong.
* Group 87: (1st) -- 1 of the 2 best all-instrumental prog albums ever. I want the gorgeous, anthemic, life-affirming "One Night Away From Day" played at my funeral. Most of the rest is only a step down from that peak of brilliance....
* Happy the Man: CRAFTY HANDS -- Gorgeous Genesis-like instrumental melodies + rockin blowouts like "Wind-Up Doll Day Wind" & "Service With a Smile".....
* Fleet Foxes: (1st) -- Love "Blue Ridge Mountains," but think summa the lyrics elsewhere R kinda silly. Love the way it flows 2gether like prog albums of old....
+ Wigwam: NUCLEAR NIGHTCLUB -- Lite & folky in places, more streamlined & rockin on "Do Or Die," a little comedy on "Simple Human Kindness" & "Freddy Are You Ready?" & then there's the driving "Bless Your Lucky Stars," the ultimate vocoder song....
+ Rollers: ELEVATOR -- Growing-up on-stage, painfully. The former Bay City Rollers do themselves proud on the gorgeous Beatles-ish "Hello and Welcome Home," the nostalgic "I Was Eleven," the intense "Stoned Houses #2," & "Washington's Birthday."
+ Judie Tzuke: STAY WITH ME 'TIL DAWN -- Could almost B prog. Great songwriting, intense & sweeping musical backing -- whole 1st side's great. Best: Title song, "These Are the Laws," "Welcome to the Cruise," "For You," "Sukarita."
* King Crimson: THE GREAT DECEIVER/LIVE 1973-74, +THE POWER TO BELIEVE, *YOUNG PERSON'S GUIDE best-of, +COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING, +DISCIPLINE -- GREAT DECEIVER is the best live album I've heard since YESSONGS. POWER is impressive & super-efficient, but Xcept 4 "Level Five" & the hilarious "Happy With What You Have to Be Happy With," I couldn't find much that really grabbed me. GUIDE is summa Crimson's best from their 1st 6 yrs, shows their wide range, but doesn't include "21st Century Schizoid Man," "Great Deceiver," "Fracture".... COURT is 1/2 great, 1/2 crap; "Schizoid" will blow yr ears open, but the other 2 good songs sound like a heavy Moody Blues. DISCIPLINE starts intense & heavy, "Frame By Frame" is 1 of KC's best ever, "Indiscipline" & "Elephant Talk" Rn't far Bhind, but the 2nd 1/2 just drifts off....
* Providence: EVER SENSE THE DAWN -- Best Moodies-style album ever. Great singing, songwriting, strings. Lost classics: "Fantasy Fugue," "If We Were Wise," "Neptune's Door."
* Gryphon: RED QUEEN TO GRYPHON THREE, *TREASON -- RED QUEEN is the best instrumental rock album ever; "Lament" will change yr life. TREASON is a sorta kinder, gentler Jethro Tull album; "Spring Song" shoulda made these guys prog-rock stars.
= National Health: (1st), =OF QUEUES AND CURES -- 1 great song on each: The cosmic 15-min "Tenemos Roads" on the 1st, the hilarious 11-min "Binoculars" on the 2nd.
+ Incredible String Band: THE HANGMAN'S BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER -- Silly, spooky, even Deeply Serious. "Witch'es Hat" is my fave, but all of it's unique. 1nce U stop laffing, U'll B impressed w/ the structure, lyrics, instrumentation. These guys were in their own world, but they knew what they were doin....
= Caravan: CUNNING STUNTS, +BLIND DOG AT ST. DUNSTAN'S -- STUNTS is disappointing, only the side-long "Dabsong Conshirtoe" is up 2 their 4mer standards. The follow-up BLIND DOG is more like it, & closes w/ 2 gorgeous Caravan Classics, "Can You Hear Me?" & "All the Way With John Wayne's Single-Handed Liberation of Paris" -- 1 of the prettiest lovesongs U'll ever hear.
* Fleetwood Mac: TUSK -- Great atmosphere. My fave album ever 4 doing household chores. This isn't a putdown. Varied moods & sounds, & some of it'll just float U away. Best: The lost classic "I Know I'm Not Wrong," "Sisters of the Moon," "Brown Eyes," "Never Make Me Cry," "Never Forget," "Angel," "Beautiful Child," "Storms," "That's All for Everyone," "Walk a Thin Line," title song....
* Illusion: OUT OF THE MIST -- Best Renaissance-style album ever. Great songs, lotsa drama, Xcellent gtr & keybs, solid songwriting, & beautiful lead vocals by Jane Relf. Best: "Everywhere You Go," "Candles are Burning," "Roads to Freedom," "Face of Yesterday."
+ Keith Jarrett: EYES OF THE HEART -- Listen 2 the sound of Jarrett's quartet breaking up. Filled with anger, frustration & stress -- which adds a lot 2 the music, I think. If there were more actual tunes I'da given it a *.
+ David Sancious and Tone: TRANSFORMATION (THE SPEED OF LOVE) -- Sancious was sorta the Hendrix of the synthesizer, & both the side-long title track & the much-shorter "Play and Display of the Heart" R marvelous -- beautiful themes 2 go w/ the outrageous variations.
= Strawbs: JUST A COLLECTION OF ANTIQUES AND CURIOS -- Worth it just 4 the angry "Where is This Dream of Your Youth?," which includes some of Rick Wakeman's best playing ever.
= Gong: YOU, +SHAMAL -- YOU has 2 Dcent psychedelic jam tracks, "Master Builder" & "A Sprinkling of Clouds." The rest I'm still trying 2 figure out, but it's REAL silly. SHAMAL is from the later, slightly-more-structured jazz-rock band, & parts of it R pretty good, especially "Wingful of Eyes," the rest of the 1st side, & the title-track closer.
= Rare Bird: EPIC FOREST -- 2 Xcellent songs, the haunting 9-min title track & the driving "Birdman." The rest is almost completely 4gettable.
* Al Stewart: MODERN TIMES -- His best, most consistent album ever. 2nd 1/2 is brilliant: the rolling & silly "Apple Cider Reconstitution," the dramatic "Dark and Rolling Sea," & the great lyrics & solid gtr of the title track. 1st 1/2's lighter but still Quality Al. Alan Parsons' 1st production job 4 Al, followed by YEAR OF THE CAT....
* Stories: ABOUT US -- Great lost British pop-rock album, programmed sideways. Best: Lost classics "Please, Please" & "Love is in Motion," "Words," "What Comes After," "Darling," "Circles."
* Hollies: ROMANY -- Kinda arty, but lotsa great harmonies & strong if off-the-wall songs. Best: "Magic Woman Touch," title song, "Touch," "Words Don't Come Easy," the almost-rockin "Slow Down," "Won't We Feel Good," "Down River," "Blue in the Morning." Alan Parsons co-engineered.
& since this blog has bn a little musically-challenged lately, here's the music I reviewed during my 1st 8 mo's on-line, which some of U may not have Cn B4. These capsule reviews will B almost all new stuff, which is more fun 4 me than just doing a laundry-list/recap. & U know how I love 2 make lists.... (I'll get 2 the books I reviewed eventually....)
This may take awhile tho, so bear w/ me....
Some of those old reviews I'll miss, like the fictional review of SMILE & its made-up impact on the world, & the words on Nick Drake, Kate Bush, Fairport Convention, Gryphon, Providence, the reviews I did in memory of my Mom, the rant about Michael Jackson & CNN, the series of Great Lost Singles reviews (there's a list of them all elsewhere on this blog, so at least U can find out what they WERE), those long writeups on '70s radio, science fiction & my Record Store Daze -- but this ain't Great Art 4 The Ages NEway, & it's not like I can't regurgitate some version of it all if pressed. (Bsides, some of the off-the-wall attempts at humor R better-off lost in Internet Purgatory somewhere. ... I can't hear NEbody laffing out there. Is this thing switched on?)
So, another look back in2 the past, just 4 fun. Working my way backward, then....
* Bread: BEST OF's -- Timeless nostalgia from the early 1970's. Lotta the hits R pretty great, & summa the album trax R stunning, especially "Been Too Long on the Road."
+ Badfinger: THE VERY BEST OF & other best-of's -- Mosta the hits R pretty great, especially "Baby Blue," "No Matter What" & "Day After Day." But a lotta the rest is kinda 4gettable, Xcept 4 the brilliant, driving "In the Meantime/Some Other Time," "Meanwhile Back at the Ranch/Should I Smoke?," "The Name of the Game," "Apple of My Eye."
* Raspberries: GREATEST -- Mosta the hits really were GREAT, & the album trax reveal a whole diffrent side of the band (like the silly "Come Around and See Me"). I'm a sucker 4 "Overnight Sensation," "Let's Pretend," "Tonight," "Ecstacy." Great drumming & group vocals. They shoulda bn bigger.
+ Lobo: INTRODUCING -- Timeless rural nostalgia from '71. 1st album I ever bought.
+ Mary-Chapin Carpenter: COME ON, COME ON -- Some great stuff here, tho the moodier trax drag. Brilliant: "Passionate Kisses," "The Hard Way," title song.
+ Lindsey Buckingham & Stevie Nicks: BUCKINGHAM/NICKS -- From '73, B4 joining Fleetwood Mac. 1st side's great, especially the gorgeous, mournful "Without a Leg to Stand On," "Crying in the Night," & a better version of "Crystal" than the Mac did. All I remember from the 2nd side is the rousing "Don't Let Me Down Again."
+ Spirit: 12 DREAMS OF DR. SARDONICUS & +BEST OF -- Did they invent American art-rock? SARDONICUS has some great stuff, especially at the start & Nd; "Nature's Way" is a freakin classic. BEST OF includes the GREAT "I Got a Line on You," about 1/2 of SARDONICUS, the sorta weary Nd-of-the-Summer-of-Love # "Aren't You Glad?" & some other stuff that didn't grab me much.
*Bangles: DIFFERENT LIGHT, +ALL OVER THE PLACE, =EVERYTHING, +GREATEST -- I love female harmonies, I'm a big Go-Go's fan 2. DIFFERENT LIGHT is 1 of the best pop albums ever, tho it's not perfect -- but the 2nd side nearly is, especially "Let it Go," "September Gurls," "Angels Don't Fall in Love," "Following," "Not Like You." Tested repeatedly during LOTS of road trips. ALL OVER has more Attitude, & my fave Bangs song ever, "Dover Beach." The 2nd side's pretty gutsy, 2. EVERYTHING has 4 good songs, including the gorgeous "I'll Set You Free." GREATEST has mosta these titles + the GREAT "Everything I Wanted."
* George Winston: AUTUMN -- The only New Age album U'll ever need. Gorgeous solo piano.
+ Roxy Music: STREET LIFE/20 GREAT HITS, +GREATEST HITS, +FLESH AND BLOOD, +AVALON -- I love their later, mellower stuff, especially "Over You," "Same Old Scene," "Dance Away," "Oh Yeah (On the Radio)." But I needta educate myself more on their early outrage....
+ Joan Armatrading: ME MYSELF I, +TRACK RECORD, etc. -- The deep-voiced woman w/ the sensitive songs. There's some great stuff on all her albums. I especially love "When I Get it Right," "Persona Grata," "Temptation." & "I Need You" will rip you up....
* Steve Tibbetts: YR -- Jazz, Rock, New Age? Doesn't matter. Steve's melodic, flowing compositions & gorgeous guitar will make U a Bliever. & "Ur" will melt yr speakers....
* Alan Parsons Project: INSTRUMENTAL WORKS -- Predictable but gorgeous instrumentals from Parsons' 1st 1/2dozen albums. My fave is "The Gold Bug," but it's all pretty & hypnotic.
* Shoes: PRESENT TENSE -- Mostly gorgeous, breathy New Wave lovesongs. Best: "Too Late," "In My Arms Again," "Now and Then," "Every Girl."
* Split Enz: WAIATA, *HISTORY NEVER REPEATS/BEST OF -- Great songs, great silliness.
= Steely Dan: GAUCHO -- Most of it's lazy & lame Byond Blief, but the title track is a gorgeous lost classic, & "Third World Man" is pretty odd....
* Suzanne Vega: (1st) -- Pristine '80s folk w/ a crystal-clear production. I love almost all of it Xcept 4 that long fable about the princess & the soldier.... & the best stuff is amazing: "Cracking," "Undertow," "Knight Moves," "Small Blue Thing," "Some Journey," "Marlene on the Wall"....
+ Bruce Cockburn: DANCING IN THE DRAGON'S JAWS, +RESUME best-of -- DANCING has 2 brilliant trax, "Incandescent Blue" & "Badlands Flashback," & the rest is very pleasant. RESUME is intresting, especially 4 "Silver Wheels" & "Dance With the Devil."
* Partridge Family: ALBUM, =UP TO DATE, *SOUND MAGAZINE -- Why R U laffing? Everybody's gotta start somewhere, & I'm STILL a sucker 4 great group vocals, which these folks had. ALBUM is amazingly consistent 4 lite pop, DATE is a bit of a letdown but still has some great stuff, & SOUND MAG is their best album ever, a real step 4ward in punchiness, w/ 2 knockouts: "I'm on My Way Back Home" & "Love is All That I Ever Needed." Course if U can't take Keith's ego....
+ Rare Earth: ONE WORLD -- Some great songs, & pretty smooth. "If I Die" & "Underneath God's Light" R 4got10 classics, & the rest ain't bad....
* Go-Go's: TALK SHOW -- 1 of the other greatest pop albums ever. Punchy, great gtr, great drumming, & the vocals! They got no respect, but 1/2 of this shoulda bn on their best-of, especially "You Thought," "Forget That Day," "Capture the Light," "I'm With You." Also road-tested over MANY miles....
* Bare Naked Ladies: STUNT, +THEIR GREATEST HITS -- STUNT is amazingly good, solid, w/ great, often funny songs, sometimes-amazing gtr & other great instrumentation. Best: "Its All Been Done," "Light Up My Room," "I'll Be That Girl," the hilarious "Alcohol," "In the Car," "Who Needs Sleep?," "Never is Enough," "Some Fantastic." GREATEST I keep mainly 4 the live "What A Good Boy," which is an AMAZING per4mance. Also great: "Get in Line," "It's Only Me," Bruce Cockburn's "Lovers in a Dangerous Time," "Brian Wilson," "If I Had a Million Dollars."
= Coldplay: VIVA LA VIDA -- Summa this is actually starting 2 grow on me....
* Jordin Sparks: (1st) -- "Now You Tell Me," "Tattoo" & "Worth the Wait" R all brilliant, & the rest is at least solid & professional. & she can REALLY sing....
+ Tracey Ullman: YOU BROKE MY HEART IN 17 PLACES -- Great fun, & some of it's just great, period: "They Don't Know," "Breakaway," "I'm Always Touched By Your Presence, Dear," "I Close My Eyes and Count to Ten." She coulda had a whole 'nother career....
+ Nik Kershaw: HUMAN RACING -- Him 2. He coulda bn Stevie Wonder's ghost-singer -- amazing impersonation on "Faces." But the amazing high point is the silly "Gone to Pieces," where (among other things) The Chipmunks make their 1st appearance inna recording studio since about 1964 -- & they sound great!
+ Pete Townshend: ALL THE BEST COWBOYS HAVE CHINESE EYES, *EMPTY GLASS, +PSYCHODERELICT -- CHINESE EYES needed more songs as good as "Slit Skirts," "North Country Girl," "Uniforms," "Somebody Saved Me," "Face Dances Part 2." GLASS is a classic, but good as "Rough Boys" is, I've always loved the softer but still passionate stuff: the marvelous "A Little is Enough," "And I Moved," "Jools and Jim," "Cat's in the Cupboard." & "Gonna Get Ya" is a screamer.... PSYCHO has 1 GREAT song, "Now and Then." The rest is an intresting Xperiment....
* ELO: TIME -- Raising filler 2 a fine art. "Twilight" is great & "The Way Life's Meant to Be" is almost perfect. Summa the rest is so silly U may wanna fling the disc across the room: "Yours Truly, 2095," "Here is the News"....
* Clannad: MACALLA -- Dark, w/o enuf variation in moods, but some great moody tunes nevertheless. Best: "Journey's End," "The Wild Cry," "Indoor," "Blackstairs," "Caislean Oir."
* Renaissance: LIVE AT CARNEGIE HALL -- They could B stuffy in the studio, but here they relax a little & the orchestra sweeps them along. Best: "Can You Understand?," "Running Hard" & the GORGEOUS 1st 3 mins of "Ashes are Burning."
+ Blue Oyster Cult: AGENTS OF FORTUNE -- 1/2 great stuff, 1/2 real crap. Best: "Don't Fear the Reaper," "ETI," "Morning Final," "Debbie Denise."
* Police: REGGATTA DE BLANC -- The Rodney Dangerfields of New Wave, lotsa great comedy, especially on "Does Everyone Stare" & "On Any Other Day."
* Dire Straits: MAKIN MOVIES, +LOVE OVER GOLD, +LOCAL HERO SOUNDTRACK -- MOVIES is their most cinematic work, U'll C the videos in yr head on great songs like "Romeo and Juliet," "Hand in Hand," "Expresso Love," "Tunnel of Love." GOLD keeps the cinemagic 4 1 amazing track, the gorgeous 15-min "Telegraph Road." Title song's also pretty, & "Industrial Disease" is a dry-run 4 "Money for Nothing." HERO is pleasant soundtrack music w/ 2 great bits: the anthemic "Going Home" theme at the Nd, & Gerry Rafferty's vocals on the laid-back "That's the Way it Always Starts."
+ Philip Glass: KOYAANISQATSI -- Eerie, icy, mechanical, nightmarish, robot music w/ disembodied wailing voices. But parts of it R pretty....
+ Todd Rundgren: SOMETHING/ANYTHING?, +ADVENTURES IN UTOPIA, +VERY BEST OF -- All great pop. & why wasn't "Couldn't I Just Tell You?" a hit? Or "You Make Me Crazy"? Or "The Very Last Time"? Or "Saving Grace"? Or....
+ Keane: HOPES AND FEARS, -UNDER THE IRON SEA -- HOPES has 4 great songs; the lost classic is "Bend and Break." IRON SEA is the worst art-rock album I've heard in the last decade.
+ The Jam: SETTING SONS -- Angry, bitter, Dspairing New Wave concept album -- which still has lotsa songs U can sing along with! Best: "Private Hell," "Thick as Thieves," "Little Boy Soldiers," "Strange Town," "Eton Rifles," & the recorder hook on "Wasteland." + the WORST version of "Heat Wave" that U'll never wanna hear again....
+ Modern English: AFTER THE SNOW -- The great "I Melt With You" shoulda bn a bigger hit, now it's never gonna die, U can hear it in candy commercials. Whole 2nd side's high-quality, especially "Carry Me Down" & "Tables Turning." 1st side Dscends in2 arty quiet, but it's still intresting....
* Fairport Convention: FAIRPORT CHRONICLES best-of -- Best British folk-rock band ever. Great songs, amazing passionate singing by Sandy Denny, Richard Thompson, Ian Matthews. Best: "Come All Ye," "Listen, Listen," "I'll Keep it With Mine," "The Way I Feel," "Tale in Hard Time."
* Gentle Giant: PRETENSIOUS best-of, +FREE HAND, +THREE FRIENDS -- PRETENSIOUS has some of their very best stuff off their 1st 6 albums, it's full of gems like "Advent of Panurge," "Schooldays," "Raconteur, Troubadour," "Pentegruel's Nativity," "Knots," "Edge of Twilight," "Cogs in Cogs." FREE HAND's worth it all 4 the gorgeous "His Last Voyage" & "Time to Kill." "Talybont" sounds like Gryphon.... THREE FRIENDS has the hushed "Schooldays" & the guys actually rocking on "Peel the Paint."
* Caravan: FOR GIRLS WHO GROW PLUMP IN THE NIGHT, +CANTERBURY TALES (2-record best-of) -- GIRLS is 1 of the best prog albums ever, tho not perfect -- the great stuff is so good I 4give the coupla dead spots. The driving "Memory Lain/Hugh/Headloss" & "Be All Right," the charming "The Dog, the Dog" & "Surprise, Surprise," & the cinematic suite "A Hunting We Shall Go...." -- these guys were at their absolute best here. & Dave Sinclair is a 4got10 '70s master of keyboards.... TALES has mosta their best stuff & adds a gorgeous live take of "Virgin on the Ridiculous." (The 2-CD best-of under the same name has more early stuff & shuffles the resta the best, not a better package, but diffrent & Xpanded.)
* U.K.: (1st), =DANGER MONEY -- 1st album's a screamer, hardly a bad track on it, best R "Time to Kill," "Mental Medication" & the "In the Dead of Night" suite. DANGER is a big letdown, 2 Dcent tracks: "Rendezvous 6:02" & "Nothing to Lose." The last of these sounds like a dry-run 4 Asia....
+ Buffalo Springfield: RETROSPECTIVE best-of -- They shoulda had more hits, like "Bluebird," "Mr. Soul," "On the Way Home," "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing," "Rock and Roll Woman." & then there's Neil Young's kaleidoscopic "Broken Arrow"....
* Beach Boys: PET SOUNDS -- What can I say? Bn listening 2 it since I was 16 yrs old...
* Amazing Blondel: FANTASIA LINDUM, +ENGLAND -- British Folk concept albums, gorgeous vocals & tunes.
+ Kevin Ayers: ODD DITTIES -- Mostly failed singles & outtakes, Cn by some critics as his best album ever. Un4gettable: the silly "Connie on a Rubber Band," "Soon, Soon, Soon," "Lady Rachel." Guests include Soft Machine, Mike Oldfield, David Bedford, most of Caravan....
* Justin Hayward & John Lodge: BLUE JAYS -- Best stuff rivals the Moodies: "When You Wake Up," "Saved By the Music," "This Morning," "Remember Me, My Friend," "Maybe," "My Brother," "You," "Who Are You Now?"
+ Jefferson Starship: FREEDOM AT POINT ZERO -- I've always loved Paul Kantner's science-fiction chorales. Best: Title track, "Fading Lady Light," "Lightning Rose," "Just the Same," "Awakening," "Things to Come."
* Grace Slick: DREAMS -- Prog. Great gtr, orchestra, & the wailin lead singer herself. Best: "Full Moon Man," "Let it Go," "Garden of Man," "Face to the Wind," "El Diablo."
* Dan Fogelberg: THE INNOCENT AGE, *PHOENIX -- INNOCENT turns in2 soundtrack muzak by the Nd but there's some great stuff along the way, especially the gorgeous "Nexus" & "The Reach," "Stolen Moments," "In the Passage," "The Lion's Share," "Times Like These," "Same Old Lang Syne," title song -- I even like the mushy "Hard to Say." PHOENIX has some great stuff 2: title track, "Along the Road," "Wishing on the Moon," "Heart Hotels"....
+ Hawkwind: HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN GRILL -- Heavy metal space rock? Best is the great "You'd Better Believe It," but Lemmy & Mick Farren's "Lost Johnny" is killer, & some of the others R pretty cool. Intresting snyth-wash breaks Btween songs....
* Yes: YESSONGS -- So great U can drop at least 1 side & never miss it (the side w/ "Roundabout," "Your Move" & Wakeman's solo themes). "Close to the Edge" is so cosmic, "Starship Trooper" so stunning, "And You and I" so pretty, & "Siberian Khatru" has got some great chaotic stuff goin on....
+ Pat Metheny & Lyle Mays: AS FALLS WICHITA, SO FALLS WICHITA FALLS -- Title track is 22 fairly gorgeous mins of synth-wash & crystalline gtr, w/ a climax in which aliens touch down in their UFOs on a children's playground... or something. Only "Ozark" on Side 2 comes close 2 Bing as good....
+ Manfred Mann's Earth Band: CHANCE -- Intresting almost-robotic sounds, & "Stranded" is a lost art-rock classic. Manfred's version of Springsteen's "For You" is almost bombastic enuf 2 B ELP, & "Heart on the Street" is no slouch either....
* Kate Bush: THE KICK INSIDE, +LIONHEART, +NEVER FOR EVER, +THE WHOLE STORY best-of -- U'll get useta her voice quicker than U think. Whole 1st side of KICK is GREAT, especially "Saxophone Song," "Kite," "Strange Phenomena" & "Man With the Child in His Eyes." The other 2 have great trax here & there: LIONHEART's worth it just 4 "Wow." NEVER has the gorgeous "Delius," the outrageous "Violin," & a little revenge # called "The Wedding List." WHOLE STORY includes sevral of these, + the marvelous "Cloudbusting" & the sensual "Running Up That Hill." The 2-CD best-of THIS WOMAN'S WORK includes otherwise-unavailable greats like the stark "Empty Bullring," the beautiful "December Will Be Magic Again," & the heart-wrenching title song.
* Sally Oldfield: WATER BEARER -- Beautiful LORD OF THE RINGS-flavored prog.
* Nick Drake: BRYTER LAYTER -- Gorgeous. Almost every track's perfect. Great lyrics, guitar, vocals, & the backup is summa British Folk's best. Standouts: "Northern Sky," "Hazey Jane II," "At the Chime of a City Clock," "Fly," "Sunday."
= Soft Machine: THIRD -- "Slightly All the Time" & "Out-Bloody-Rageous" R pretty hypnotic, but I could never get past the 5 mins of feedback noise that opens "Facelift," & I thot "Moon in June" was just silly. The primitive, muddy production lets them down, tho it never stopped me w/ early Caravan....
= Hatfield & the North: (1st) -- Funny & busy-busy. Talented, but coulda used more tunes....
* Sky: SKY2, +SKY3 -- British all-instrumental prog band, kinda conservative. 2 is another double where U could throw 1/2 of it away & not miss it -- but the good stuff is REALLY good: "Vivaldi," "Watching the Aeroplanes," "Scipio," "Toccata," "Fifo," "Adagio," "Scherzo." Their relentless 4/4 robotics may bug U tho. 3 mellows w/ the loss of keyboardist/composer Francis Monkman -- nothing on it's as good as 2. Closest is drummer Tristan Fry's rather good "Connecting Rooms" & bassist Herbie Flowers' slowly-building "Meheeco."
* Beach Boys: SMILE -- Best prog album ever.
+ Brian Wilson: SMILE -- Brian's voice is shot, but the songs we haven't heard B4 R pretty great, especially "On a Holiday" & "In Blue Hawaii."
+ The Move: MESSAGE FROM THE COUNTRY -- The heavily-produced stuff (title track, "Do Ya," "Tonite") is pretty great, the rockabilly stuff is at least funny, & 1/3rd of it's 4gettable.
* Glass Moon: (1st) -- Xcellent Genesis-soundalike band from Fla. Turn Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill" in2 a shoulda-bn-hit. Whole 2nd side's pretty strong. But the lost classic is "Sundays and Mondays," w/ a thunderstorm-like gtr solo by Jamie Glaser.
+ Camel: THE SINGLE FACTOR, +BREATHLESS -- SINGLE has a gold-plated 2nd side w/ overlooked greats like "Sasquatch," the angry "Manic," & the gorgeous "Heart's Desire/End Peace." BREATHLESS is just solid lite Ntertainment w/ the gorgeous title track, the soaring "Echoes," & a sorta British answer 2 Joe Walsh's "Life's Been Good" in bassist/vocalist Richard Sinclair's "Down on the Farm."
+ Barclay James Harvest: GONE TO EARTH -- 3 great songs: The crashingly dramatic "Hymn," the gentle "Spirit on the Water," & "Poor Man's Moody Blues."
* Moody Blues: THE PRESENT -- Their best, most consistent album ever.
+ Be-Bop Deluxe: SUNBURST FINISH -- Bowie meets heavy gtr! Worth it all 4 the brilliant "Sleep That Burns." Whole 1st side's pretty strong.
* Group 87: (1st) -- 1 of the 2 best all-instrumental prog albums ever. I want the gorgeous, anthemic, life-affirming "One Night Away From Day" played at my funeral. Most of the rest is only a step down from that peak of brilliance....
* Happy the Man: CRAFTY HANDS -- Gorgeous Genesis-like instrumental melodies + rockin blowouts like "Wind-Up Doll Day Wind" & "Service With a Smile".....
* Fleet Foxes: (1st) -- Love "Blue Ridge Mountains," but think summa the lyrics elsewhere R kinda silly. Love the way it flows 2gether like prog albums of old....
+ Wigwam: NUCLEAR NIGHTCLUB -- Lite & folky in places, more streamlined & rockin on "Do Or Die," a little comedy on "Simple Human Kindness" & "Freddy Are You Ready?" & then there's the driving "Bless Your Lucky Stars," the ultimate vocoder song....
+ Rollers: ELEVATOR -- Growing-up on-stage, painfully. The former Bay City Rollers do themselves proud on the gorgeous Beatles-ish "Hello and Welcome Home," the nostalgic "I Was Eleven," the intense "Stoned Houses #2," & "Washington's Birthday."
+ Judie Tzuke: STAY WITH ME 'TIL DAWN -- Could almost B prog. Great songwriting, intense & sweeping musical backing -- whole 1st side's great. Best: Title song, "These Are the Laws," "Welcome to the Cruise," "For You," "Sukarita."
* King Crimson: THE GREAT DECEIVER/LIVE 1973-74, +THE POWER TO BELIEVE, *YOUNG PERSON'S GUIDE best-of, +COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING, +DISCIPLINE -- GREAT DECEIVER is the best live album I've heard since YESSONGS. POWER is impressive & super-efficient, but Xcept 4 "Level Five" & the hilarious "Happy With What You Have to Be Happy With," I couldn't find much that really grabbed me. GUIDE is summa Crimson's best from their 1st 6 yrs, shows their wide range, but doesn't include "21st Century Schizoid Man," "Great Deceiver," "Fracture".... COURT is 1/2 great, 1/2 crap; "Schizoid" will blow yr ears open, but the other 2 good songs sound like a heavy Moody Blues. DISCIPLINE starts intense & heavy, "Frame By Frame" is 1 of KC's best ever, "Indiscipline" & "Elephant Talk" Rn't far Bhind, but the 2nd 1/2 just drifts off....
* Providence: EVER SENSE THE DAWN -- Best Moodies-style album ever. Great singing, songwriting, strings. Lost classics: "Fantasy Fugue," "If We Were Wise," "Neptune's Door."
* Gryphon: RED QUEEN TO GRYPHON THREE, *TREASON -- RED QUEEN is the best instrumental rock album ever; "Lament" will change yr life. TREASON is a sorta kinder, gentler Jethro Tull album; "Spring Song" shoulda made these guys prog-rock stars.
= National Health: (1st), =OF QUEUES AND CURES -- 1 great song on each: The cosmic 15-min "Tenemos Roads" on the 1st, the hilarious 11-min "Binoculars" on the 2nd.
+ Incredible String Band: THE HANGMAN'S BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER -- Silly, spooky, even Deeply Serious. "Witch'es Hat" is my fave, but all of it's unique. 1nce U stop laffing, U'll B impressed w/ the structure, lyrics, instrumentation. These guys were in their own world, but they knew what they were doin....
= Caravan: CUNNING STUNTS, +BLIND DOG AT ST. DUNSTAN'S -- STUNTS is disappointing, only the side-long "Dabsong Conshirtoe" is up 2 their 4mer standards. The follow-up BLIND DOG is more like it, & closes w/ 2 gorgeous Caravan Classics, "Can You Hear Me?" & "All the Way With John Wayne's Single-Handed Liberation of Paris" -- 1 of the prettiest lovesongs U'll ever hear.
* Fleetwood Mac: TUSK -- Great atmosphere. My fave album ever 4 doing household chores. This isn't a putdown. Varied moods & sounds, & some of it'll just float U away. Best: The lost classic "I Know I'm Not Wrong," "Sisters of the Moon," "Brown Eyes," "Never Make Me Cry," "Never Forget," "Angel," "Beautiful Child," "Storms," "That's All for Everyone," "Walk a Thin Line," title song....
* Illusion: OUT OF THE MIST -- Best Renaissance-style album ever. Great songs, lotsa drama, Xcellent gtr & keybs, solid songwriting, & beautiful lead vocals by Jane Relf. Best: "Everywhere You Go," "Candles are Burning," "Roads to Freedom," "Face of Yesterday."
+ Keith Jarrett: EYES OF THE HEART -- Listen 2 the sound of Jarrett's quartet breaking up. Filled with anger, frustration & stress -- which adds a lot 2 the music, I think. If there were more actual tunes I'da given it a *.
+ David Sancious and Tone: TRANSFORMATION (THE SPEED OF LOVE) -- Sancious was sorta the Hendrix of the synthesizer, & both the side-long title track & the much-shorter "Play and Display of the Heart" R marvelous -- beautiful themes 2 go w/ the outrageous variations.
= Strawbs: JUST A COLLECTION OF ANTIQUES AND CURIOS -- Worth it just 4 the angry "Where is This Dream of Your Youth?," which includes some of Rick Wakeman's best playing ever.
= Gong: YOU, +SHAMAL -- YOU has 2 Dcent psychedelic jam tracks, "Master Builder" & "A Sprinkling of Clouds." The rest I'm still trying 2 figure out, but it's REAL silly. SHAMAL is from the later, slightly-more-structured jazz-rock band, & parts of it R pretty good, especially "Wingful of Eyes," the rest of the 1st side, & the title-track closer.
= Rare Bird: EPIC FOREST -- 2 Xcellent songs, the haunting 9-min title track & the driving "Birdman." The rest is almost completely 4gettable.
* Al Stewart: MODERN TIMES -- His best, most consistent album ever. 2nd 1/2 is brilliant: the rolling & silly "Apple Cider Reconstitution," the dramatic "Dark and Rolling Sea," & the great lyrics & solid gtr of the title track. 1st 1/2's lighter but still Quality Al. Alan Parsons' 1st production job 4 Al, followed by YEAR OF THE CAT....
* Stories: ABOUT US -- Great lost British pop-rock album, programmed sideways. Best: Lost classics "Please, Please" & "Love is in Motion," "Words," "What Comes After," "Darling," "Circles."
* Hollies: ROMANY -- Kinda arty, but lotsa great harmonies & strong if off-the-wall songs. Best: "Magic Woman Touch," title song, "Touch," "Words Don't Come Easy," the almost-rockin "Slow Down," "Won't We Feel Good," "Down River," "Blue in the Morning." Alan Parsons co-engineered.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Thin but good-hearted Prog history
4 now, Paul Stump's THE MUSIC'S ALL THAT MATTERS: A HISTORY OF PROGRESSIVE ROCK (1997) is the best book on Prog Rock I've read -- at least til I finish writing MINE! (20 yrs in the writing, so far.... Don't hold yr breath....)
The book is a touch thin in terms of the # of acts it covers, it has a definite U.K.-only bias (which Stump admits up front), & there is a lot of time spent on artists that I think R only of side-intrest 2 Prog fans (Mike Oldfield, Anthony Phillips).
BUT: Stump has his facts straight, his heart Cms 2 B in The Right Place, he actually NJOYS a lot of this stuff, & he's definitely not snooty or stuck-up.
He's also not Dfensive. In the only other Prog Rock history I've bn able 2 get my hands on -- Jerry Lucky's hideous THE PROGRESSIVE ROCK FILES -- Lucky spends WAY 2 much time trying 2 Dfend Prog from mainstream-rock critics & other attackers, trying 2 protect Prog from the many bricks thrown at it over the yrs.
Stump saves time by just assuming up-front that most rock critics CAN'T HEAR. His approach is much closer 2 my own: This is neat, diffrent, beautiful, involving, sometimes gripping, & sometimes it even Rocks -- U should check it out.
HOWEVER: There R ALL KINDS of acts Stump leaves out of his book 4 reasons unknown, & it's cer10ly not Bcos of his "definition" of prog. I thot Lucky's definition was pretty narrow -- Stump's is pretty wide-open, he just tends 2 ignore artists who he apparently doesn't like or who he thinks R 2 "mainstream."
W/ Stump's obvious English bias admitted up-front, U will look in vain 4 NE mention of American prog-rockers in this book -- there Rn't NE. No Kansas, Happy the Man, Dixie Dregs, Todd Rundgren's Utopia, Spirit, Synergy, early Journey, Grace Slick's DREAMS, Love, Steve Tibbetts, Glass Moon, Group 87, Providence, NE1.
Some European acts R briefly mentioned -- there's a little space given 2 Magma. But no Can. Tangerine Dream is mentioned, but no Kraftwerk, Nektar, Amon Duul II, Faust, Neu!, SFF, Cluster, Grobschnitt -- there is no discussion of Krautrock.
Stump is pretty strong on core Prog-rockers & the Canterbury school (not all of whom he likes) -- but even in the core list of Prog acts there R some omissions that bother me. Stump dismisses the Moody Blues & Caravan more than 1nce (after admitting that DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED is an obvious signpost 4 the unofficial "birth" of Prog), Camel is ignored, Barclay James Harvest R treated like hacks (I can almost agree w/ this at times), & Gryphon R dropped just as they got Really Good. Others R mentioned in a quick paragraph or 2 & never heard-of again (Gentle Giant, Gong).
There's a long list of at-least-borderline-Prog acts Stump leaves out -- Roxy Music, Be-Bop Deluxe, The Strawbs, Renaissance, Illusion, Alan Parsons Project, Al Stewart, Clannad, Enya (2 close 2 New Age?), ELO (especially TIME & their early stuff), Supertramp, Saga (Canadian, but Rush gets a brief mention), Argent, Sally Oldfield, Vangelis, FM (Canadian), Wigwam (Finland), Kevin Ayers, Amazing Blondel, Jade Warrior, Rare Bird, Manfred Mann's Earth Band, 801, Phil Manzanera, McDonald & Giles, PFM (Italian), Loreena McKennitt (2 close 2 New Age?), Jon & Vangelis, Jean-Michel Jarre/Space Art (French), Jukka Tolonen (Finland), Pekka Pohjola (Finland), Popol Vuh, Pierre Moerlen's Gong (2 close 2 Jazz?), England, Fruup, Druid, Fireballet, Starcastle.... (I'm sure there R bunches more, I'm doing this list from my collection & memory....)
Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush R briefly discussed, then Bush gets dropped Bcos she's apparently "2 mainstream" -- if she wasn't a progger, then what was she?
(Intrestingly, Stump's book after this 1 was on Roxy Music, & tho some of it was very good & very Dtailed, his snotty tone kept me from doing more than just skimming most of it.)
Stump is very good on the obvious core Proggers: Pink Floyd, Genesis, Yes, ELP, King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Soft Machine (I coulda used more on these guys, but there's quite a bit). He's also pretty solid on 2nd-line Canterbury acts: Hatfield & the North, National Health, Matching Mole, Egg, Robert Wyatt's solo career, etc.
There is rather 2 much info on Mike Oldfield, long past the point where NE1 would care -- tho the in-depth look at his early yrs is intresting. There's 2 much on Anthony Phillips' solo career. There's 2 much on The Enid, who R virtually unknown outside of Britain. There isn't enuf on Hawkwind, of whom Stump quotes some1 else saying they "weren't really Space Rock" (not Heavy Metal, either....). There's about the right amount of space on Van der Graaf Generator -- I gotta track down summa their stuff.
I assume from his attitude that Stump just dropped-out the folks whose music he didn't like. The book still Nds-up 356 pgs long, + there's a bibliography & a (severely) selective discography that doesn't even fill 4 pgs -- he coulda gone a lot further, but mayB he chose not 2 4 "taste" reasons, assuming everything else is unworthy of yr attn. But I don't buy that....
Stump is open 2 both the wonder & gorgeousness as well as the silliness & pretension of Prog, & finds Good Stuff in all of it. Rick Wakeman's overly-inflated solo career & Deep Purple's early fling w/ a symphony orchestra R targets 4 some humor -- he's also open 2 ELP's rowdier, sillier side. & tho there's almost 2 much about Yes (& Genesis, & I'm never quite sure if he actually LIKES them or not), Stump oddly picks Jon Anderson's solo album OLIAS OF SUNHILLOW as possibly the most complex prog album ever recorded. Stump may also B 1 of the few Prog fans who really hates Pink Floyd's THE WALL.
This all may come down 2 who yr faves R -- Stump has his own faves as I do mine. I was hoping 4 more, but I'm not disappointed really, & I cer10ly wouldn't mind Cing an update of this book. But I think it's unfair 2 dismiss an artist's Ntire life's work as worthless, as Stump Cms 2 B doing here w/ Caravan, Camel, Moody Blues, BJH, & possibly others.
Couple minor complaints about the book itself: Tho this is a pretty fast, EZ read, it isn't perfectly proofread: Many of Stump's sentences Cm 2 go on 2 long (I'm 1 2 talk?!) or some punctuation has bn dropped. Sometimes I had 2 go back 2 or 3x 2 try 2 piece-together what he was trying 2 get across. Lucky's PROGRESSIVE ROCK FILES was self-composed & virtually self-published & perhaps coulda bn 4given its 9 MILLION typographical errors (tho somebody who can read English shoulda proofread it), but this sloppiness is pretty hard 2 Blieve coming from an English publisher (Quartet) that has also published memoirs by Lillian Hellman, among others.
Stump does at least Cm 2 have all of his facts down correctly, as far as I can tell.
Oh, & a new theory: Stump blames "the death of Prog" not mainly on bad, cynical, weak, commercialized music or record-company pressure 2 sell more -- he blames it mainly on Britain's vicious tax laws that started in the late-'70s, 4cing many of the highest earners in rock in2 tax exile, & tightening the $$$flow 4 those lower down the chain.
So, not as complete as I'd hoped, but not disappointing, & very strong in areas where I'd hoped 2 learn more. I'm let down by the lack of U.S. acts not discussed, & bummed that there's no space 4 summa my faves, but I'd still look at an update. & I'll B looking 4 more of Stump's work in this area.
I might even keep it.
The book is a touch thin in terms of the # of acts it covers, it has a definite U.K.-only bias (which Stump admits up front), & there is a lot of time spent on artists that I think R only of side-intrest 2 Prog fans (Mike Oldfield, Anthony Phillips).
BUT: Stump has his facts straight, his heart Cms 2 B in The Right Place, he actually NJOYS a lot of this stuff, & he's definitely not snooty or stuck-up.
He's also not Dfensive. In the only other Prog Rock history I've bn able 2 get my hands on -- Jerry Lucky's hideous THE PROGRESSIVE ROCK FILES -- Lucky spends WAY 2 much time trying 2 Dfend Prog from mainstream-rock critics & other attackers, trying 2 protect Prog from the many bricks thrown at it over the yrs.
Stump saves time by just assuming up-front that most rock critics CAN'T HEAR. His approach is much closer 2 my own: This is neat, diffrent, beautiful, involving, sometimes gripping, & sometimes it even Rocks -- U should check it out.
HOWEVER: There R ALL KINDS of acts Stump leaves out of his book 4 reasons unknown, & it's cer10ly not Bcos of his "definition" of prog. I thot Lucky's definition was pretty narrow -- Stump's is pretty wide-open, he just tends 2 ignore artists who he apparently doesn't like or who he thinks R 2 "mainstream."
W/ Stump's obvious English bias admitted up-front, U will look in vain 4 NE mention of American prog-rockers in this book -- there Rn't NE. No Kansas, Happy the Man, Dixie Dregs, Todd Rundgren's Utopia, Spirit, Synergy, early Journey, Grace Slick's DREAMS, Love, Steve Tibbetts, Glass Moon, Group 87, Providence, NE1.
Some European acts R briefly mentioned -- there's a little space given 2 Magma. But no Can. Tangerine Dream is mentioned, but no Kraftwerk, Nektar, Amon Duul II, Faust, Neu!, SFF, Cluster, Grobschnitt -- there is no discussion of Krautrock.
Stump is pretty strong on core Prog-rockers & the Canterbury school (not all of whom he likes) -- but even in the core list of Prog acts there R some omissions that bother me. Stump dismisses the Moody Blues & Caravan more than 1nce (after admitting that DAYS OF FUTURE PASSED is an obvious signpost 4 the unofficial "birth" of Prog), Camel is ignored, Barclay James Harvest R treated like hacks (I can almost agree w/ this at times), & Gryphon R dropped just as they got Really Good. Others R mentioned in a quick paragraph or 2 & never heard-of again (Gentle Giant, Gong).
There's a long list of at-least-borderline-Prog acts Stump leaves out -- Roxy Music, Be-Bop Deluxe, The Strawbs, Renaissance, Illusion, Alan Parsons Project, Al Stewart, Clannad, Enya (2 close 2 New Age?), ELO (especially TIME & their early stuff), Supertramp, Saga (Canadian, but Rush gets a brief mention), Argent, Sally Oldfield, Vangelis, FM (Canadian), Wigwam (Finland), Kevin Ayers, Amazing Blondel, Jade Warrior, Rare Bird, Manfred Mann's Earth Band, 801, Phil Manzanera, McDonald & Giles, PFM (Italian), Loreena McKennitt (2 close 2 New Age?), Jon & Vangelis, Jean-Michel Jarre/Space Art (French), Jukka Tolonen (Finland), Pekka Pohjola (Finland), Popol Vuh, Pierre Moerlen's Gong (2 close 2 Jazz?), England, Fruup, Druid, Fireballet, Starcastle.... (I'm sure there R bunches more, I'm doing this list from my collection & memory....)
Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush R briefly discussed, then Bush gets dropped Bcos she's apparently "2 mainstream" -- if she wasn't a progger, then what was she?
(Intrestingly, Stump's book after this 1 was on Roxy Music, & tho some of it was very good & very Dtailed, his snotty tone kept me from doing more than just skimming most of it.)
Stump is very good on the obvious core Proggers: Pink Floyd, Genesis, Yes, ELP, King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Soft Machine (I coulda used more on these guys, but there's quite a bit). He's also pretty solid on 2nd-line Canterbury acts: Hatfield & the North, National Health, Matching Mole, Egg, Robert Wyatt's solo career, etc.
There is rather 2 much info on Mike Oldfield, long past the point where NE1 would care -- tho the in-depth look at his early yrs is intresting. There's 2 much on Anthony Phillips' solo career. There's 2 much on The Enid, who R virtually unknown outside of Britain. There isn't enuf on Hawkwind, of whom Stump quotes some1 else saying they "weren't really Space Rock" (not Heavy Metal, either....). There's about the right amount of space on Van der Graaf Generator -- I gotta track down summa their stuff.
I assume from his attitude that Stump just dropped-out the folks whose music he didn't like. The book still Nds-up 356 pgs long, + there's a bibliography & a (severely) selective discography that doesn't even fill 4 pgs -- he coulda gone a lot further, but mayB he chose not 2 4 "taste" reasons, assuming everything else is unworthy of yr attn. But I don't buy that....
Stump is open 2 both the wonder & gorgeousness as well as the silliness & pretension of Prog, & finds Good Stuff in all of it. Rick Wakeman's overly-inflated solo career & Deep Purple's early fling w/ a symphony orchestra R targets 4 some humor -- he's also open 2 ELP's rowdier, sillier side. & tho there's almost 2 much about Yes (& Genesis, & I'm never quite sure if he actually LIKES them or not), Stump oddly picks Jon Anderson's solo album OLIAS OF SUNHILLOW as possibly the most complex prog album ever recorded. Stump may also B 1 of the few Prog fans who really hates Pink Floyd's THE WALL.
This all may come down 2 who yr faves R -- Stump has his own faves as I do mine. I was hoping 4 more, but I'm not disappointed really, & I cer10ly wouldn't mind Cing an update of this book. But I think it's unfair 2 dismiss an artist's Ntire life's work as worthless, as Stump Cms 2 B doing here w/ Caravan, Camel, Moody Blues, BJH, & possibly others.
Couple minor complaints about the book itself: Tho this is a pretty fast, EZ read, it isn't perfectly proofread: Many of Stump's sentences Cm 2 go on 2 long (I'm 1 2 talk?!) or some punctuation has bn dropped. Sometimes I had 2 go back 2 or 3x 2 try 2 piece-together what he was trying 2 get across. Lucky's PROGRESSIVE ROCK FILES was self-composed & virtually self-published & perhaps coulda bn 4given its 9 MILLION typographical errors (tho somebody who can read English shoulda proofread it), but this sloppiness is pretty hard 2 Blieve coming from an English publisher (Quartet) that has also published memoirs by Lillian Hellman, among others.
Stump does at least Cm 2 have all of his facts down correctly, as far as I can tell.
Oh, & a new theory: Stump blames "the death of Prog" not mainly on bad, cynical, weak, commercialized music or record-company pressure 2 sell more -- he blames it mainly on Britain's vicious tax laws that started in the late-'70s, 4cing many of the highest earners in rock in2 tax exile, & tightening the $$$flow 4 those lower down the chain.
So, not as complete as I'd hoped, but not disappointing, & very strong in areas where I'd hoped 2 learn more. I'm let down by the lack of U.S. acts not discussed, & bummed that there's no space 4 summa my faves, but I'd still look at an update. & I'll B looking 4 more of Stump's work in this area.
I might even keep it.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
"Some kind of Golden Age"
If there's 1 really good, vivid, single book that gets across some of the feeling of what it was like 2 live thru most of the tumultuous events of the 1960s, I haven't found it yet.
Johnathon Green's huge "oral history," DAYS IN THE LIFE: VOICES FROM THE ENGLISH UNDERGROUND 1961-1971 (1988), has some good stuff in it, some funny stories -- but the book is either 2 long or not long enuf at 440 pgs, or Green interviewed the wrong people. 4 while I'm sure that many of these folks have memories that still burn brightly inside their heads, not that many of them can get their memries across in ways that make 4 gripping reading.
There R a few who definitely can: Musician/rock-critic/novelist Mick Farren, scenemakers Steve Sparks, Peter Shertser & Felix Dennis, record-producer Joe Boyd, Beatles' press-officer Derek Taylor, photographer/designer Gene Mahon, journalist Miles, photographer Keith Morris, & a coupla others make their memries come alive & make each new quote worth looking 4ward 2.
But many of the 101 folks interviewed 4 this book Cm kinda unemotional, kinda flat, or they fill-in lotsa background Dtail but they don't bring much else 2 it. There is some perspective & insight, but.... Paul McCartney was interviewed 4 this book, but from his comments he coulda bn NE1. Paul's always wanted 2 come-across as just-plain-folks since about 1970, but.... If U'r not a real Britfan or closet Anglophile, this book may not B worth tracking down. I AM, but I still had trouble finishing it.
Some of the dryness, I think, is Bcos Green has his interviewees tell the Ntire story of England's hippie/underground/psychedelic movement. Green chose not 2 preface the book w/ NE short history of the English counterculture, nor even a timeline of events. If U're British, this is probly fine -- this book was published in the U.K. 4 a U.K. audience, & I think it would B pointless (& almost insulting) 4 an American book trying 2 cover the same period 2 remind me up-front about summa the important things that happened in the U.S. during that decade.
But the result is that the 1st 50+ pgs of the book R very slow going, as summa the interviewees try 2 remember what they felt the 1st "underground-related" event was -- & U often get 6 2 12 diffrent eyewitness accounts of a given event. Sometimes this is justified, as in the long Dscriptions of the 24-Hour Technicolor Dream "happening" that was probly the real public birth of the English underground -- at least musically speaking (Pink Floyd & Soft Machine both per4med at the event).
I didn't learn a whole lot that I thot was new from this book, & the stuff that was new I didn't think was all that important. My faverite sections were about the music -- the early days of Pink Floyd, Soft Machine, T. Rex, the Deviants & the Pink Fairies (in fact, the long, involved stories of these last 2 acts R summa the best stories in the book, possibly Bcos sevral members of the bands were interviewed). But after these, the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix & Eric Clapton, there is very little other music mentioned in the book.
After that, the best stories R about the underground press -- IT & OZ & INK & Friendz & Time Out & others, how they hadta dodge creditors & try 2 stay ahead of the authorities -- who took the editors & publishers of OZ 2 trial on obscenity charges & won, driving the paper outta bizness.
Many of the interviewees provide info that supports a lotta these stories. & some of the stories R laff-out-loud funny, especially those narrated by hustlers like Steve Sparks, Peter Shertser & Felix Dennis. Mick Farren also provides a great deal of vivid reminiscence.
Toward the Nd of the book, summa the interviewees Bgin letting on that it wasn't all free love, great dope & good times back then. Some of them did not have a good time (underground scene-organizer John Hopkins, 4 1). Some of them weren't happy then & were less happy when they were interviewed. Some of them R bitter, & some of their grudges go back 25 yrs. They don't all LIKE each other, & Green often places enemies' quotes right next 2 each other 4 greater contrast.
It sounds almost like whining 4 me 2 complain about a book that kept me reading 4 the last 2 or 3 wks, kept me laffing & turning the pgs. I'm complaining that it's not vivid & solid enuf, as if the book should B thrusting day-glo photos up in2 my face when I'm trying 2 read.
It frustrates me a little that a single author can provide a more vivid capsule-look at what the '60s were like (in books like Nicholas Schaffner's SAUCERFUL OF SECRETS, Richard DiLello's LONGEST COCKTAIL PARTY, David Hajdu's POSITIVELY 4TH STREET, Jeff Tamarkin's GOT A REVOLUTION!, or NE of Hunter S. Thompson's work up thru 1977) than 101 interviewees who lived thru it & had their memries transcribed in2 440 pgs. But mayB that's the drawback of the "oral history" approach. U get some good info & some funny stories, but....
Near the Nd of DAYS IN THE LIFE, 1 of Green's interviewees calls the English '60s "some kind of Golden Age." & U can almost C it, if not quite feel it. I just wish more of it came across in this book....
Johnathon Green's huge "oral history," DAYS IN THE LIFE: VOICES FROM THE ENGLISH UNDERGROUND 1961-1971 (1988), has some good stuff in it, some funny stories -- but the book is either 2 long or not long enuf at 440 pgs, or Green interviewed the wrong people. 4 while I'm sure that many of these folks have memories that still burn brightly inside their heads, not that many of them can get their memries across in ways that make 4 gripping reading.
There R a few who definitely can: Musician/rock-critic/novelist Mick Farren, scenemakers Steve Sparks, Peter Shertser & Felix Dennis, record-producer Joe Boyd, Beatles' press-officer Derek Taylor, photographer/designer Gene Mahon, journalist Miles, photographer Keith Morris, & a coupla others make their memries come alive & make each new quote worth looking 4ward 2.
But many of the 101 folks interviewed 4 this book Cm kinda unemotional, kinda flat, or they fill-in lotsa background Dtail but they don't bring much else 2 it. There is some perspective & insight, but.... Paul McCartney was interviewed 4 this book, but from his comments he coulda bn NE1. Paul's always wanted 2 come-across as just-plain-folks since about 1970, but.... If U'r not a real Britfan or closet Anglophile, this book may not B worth tracking down. I AM, but I still had trouble finishing it.
Some of the dryness, I think, is Bcos Green has his interviewees tell the Ntire story of England's hippie/underground/psychedelic movement. Green chose not 2 preface the book w/ NE short history of the English counterculture, nor even a timeline of events. If U're British, this is probly fine -- this book was published in the U.K. 4 a U.K. audience, & I think it would B pointless (& almost insulting) 4 an American book trying 2 cover the same period 2 remind me up-front about summa the important things that happened in the U.S. during that decade.
But the result is that the 1st 50+ pgs of the book R very slow going, as summa the interviewees try 2 remember what they felt the 1st "underground-related" event was -- & U often get 6 2 12 diffrent eyewitness accounts of a given event. Sometimes this is justified, as in the long Dscriptions of the 24-Hour Technicolor Dream "happening" that was probly the real public birth of the English underground -- at least musically speaking (Pink Floyd & Soft Machine both per4med at the event).
I didn't learn a whole lot that I thot was new from this book, & the stuff that was new I didn't think was all that important. My faverite sections were about the music -- the early days of Pink Floyd, Soft Machine, T. Rex, the Deviants & the Pink Fairies (in fact, the long, involved stories of these last 2 acts R summa the best stories in the book, possibly Bcos sevral members of the bands were interviewed). But after these, the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix & Eric Clapton, there is very little other music mentioned in the book.
After that, the best stories R about the underground press -- IT & OZ & INK & Friendz & Time Out & others, how they hadta dodge creditors & try 2 stay ahead of the authorities -- who took the editors & publishers of OZ 2 trial on obscenity charges & won, driving the paper outta bizness.
Many of the interviewees provide info that supports a lotta these stories. & some of the stories R laff-out-loud funny, especially those narrated by hustlers like Steve Sparks, Peter Shertser & Felix Dennis. Mick Farren also provides a great deal of vivid reminiscence.
Toward the Nd of the book, summa the interviewees Bgin letting on that it wasn't all free love, great dope & good times back then. Some of them did not have a good time (underground scene-organizer John Hopkins, 4 1). Some of them weren't happy then & were less happy when they were interviewed. Some of them R bitter, & some of their grudges go back 25 yrs. They don't all LIKE each other, & Green often places enemies' quotes right next 2 each other 4 greater contrast.
It sounds almost like whining 4 me 2 complain about a book that kept me reading 4 the last 2 or 3 wks, kept me laffing & turning the pgs. I'm complaining that it's not vivid & solid enuf, as if the book should B thrusting day-glo photos up in2 my face when I'm trying 2 read.
It frustrates me a little that a single author can provide a more vivid capsule-look at what the '60s were like (in books like Nicholas Schaffner's SAUCERFUL OF SECRETS, Richard DiLello's LONGEST COCKTAIL PARTY, David Hajdu's POSITIVELY 4TH STREET, Jeff Tamarkin's GOT A REVOLUTION!, or NE of Hunter S. Thompson's work up thru 1977) than 101 interviewees who lived thru it & had their memries transcribed in2 440 pgs. But mayB that's the drawback of the "oral history" approach. U get some good info & some funny stories, but....
Near the Nd of DAYS IN THE LIFE, 1 of Green's interviewees calls the English '60s "some kind of Golden Age." & U can almost C it, if not quite feel it. I just wish more of it came across in this book....
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