Friday, January 1, 2010

Happy New Ear!

I resolve 2 give the following musical artists & their works ONE MORE CHANCE during 2010 ... unless I get 2 the used record store 1st....
Animal Collective: MERRIWEATHER POST PAVILLION.
Television Personalities: MY DARK PLACES.
John McLaughlin/Mahavishnu Orchestra -- DEVOTION, THE INNER MOUNTING FLAME, BIRDS OF FIRE, BEST OF.
Return to Forever: BEST OF.
Pat Metheny: OFFRAMP, SONG X, TRAVELS (already traded-off REJOICING, & I LIKE this guy....).
Keith Jarrett: KOLN CONCERT, GREAT MOMENTS WITH (Impulse-era best-of).
Gong: YOU (2 Dcent psychedelic jam cuts, but the rest is SILLY!).
Dixie Dregs: FREE FALL, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DREGS, UNSUNG HEROES, INDUSTRY STANDARD.
Brand X: MOROCCAN ROLL, LIVESTOCK.
Miles Davis: IN A SILENT WAY.
Mark Isham: VAPOR DRAWINGS.
Todd Rundgren's Utopia: (1st).
Focus: 3.
Jean-Michel Jarre: OXYGENE & EQUINOXE.
Leo Kottke: BALANCE (probly worth it all just 4 "Whine").
George Winston: DECEMBER.
Weather Report: I SING THE BODY ELECTRIC.
ELP: PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION & TRILOGY.
Strawbs: ANTIQUES AND CURIOS & GRAVE NEW WORLD.
Mike Oldfield: HERGEST RIDGE.
Bighorn: (1st). (Interviewed their main-songwriter/keyboardist 1nce, in his new career as a real-estate agent; he mentioned the album & I remembered Cing it back in '78 but didn't find a copy again til yrs later....)
Various Windham Hill New-Age Jazz releases....
I will also B looking 4 more music by: Soft Machine, Hatfield and the North, Brian Eno, Roxy Music, Phil Manzanera, Fairport Convention, Nick Drake, Tim Buckley, John Martyn, Be-Bop Deluxe, Amazing Blondel, Bruce Cockburn, Steve Tibbetts, The Turtles, Procol Harum, Oregon, Gentle Giant, Jade Warrior, Rare Bird, Illusion, Rick Wakeman, David Sancious, Colosseum, Incredible String Band, The Nice, Albert Hammond, Barclay James Harvest, Golden Earring, Nektar, Hawkwind, Thelonious Monk, Happy the Man, Clannad, Crack the Sky, Motorhead, Stories, Vangelis, Van der Graff Generator, Wigwam, Can, Family, Henry Cow, Matching Mole, Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, Scarlet Rivera ("Day of the Unicorn")....
...If NE of the stuff listed above works out, I'll B letting U know here. Whenever I get a little bored w/ the music I have around the house my motto always Bcomes "More Weirdness!" Only 2 find that, when I'm confronted w/ true weirdness, what it turns out I was really looking 4 was more sing-along-with-able, more hummable weirdness. Which ain't EZ 2 find. Which mayB why Caravan works 4 me while Soft Machine mostly does not, even tho they're from the same family tree....
(I go thru silly phases w/ reading 2 -- a few yrs back I sold-off or traded-in all the fiction paperbacks I had, thinking I couldn't read most fiction NEmore, my steadily Dcreasing attn-span couldn't take it, this was all stuff that I'd never read NEway & life's 2 short & blahblahblah -- & I got rid of a LOT of stuff, some of which I now wish I had back. MayB life isn't short ENUF....)
NEway, I've got big plans, big plans 4 the new yr. On the book-review front, more music-related stuff: Almost done w/ Johnathon Green's rather good DAYS IN THE LIFE, & haven't 4gotten Jesse Sublett's ROCK CRITIC MURDERS. Following soon after will B all the intresting-looking music-related stuff I can find in this sleepy little town, w/ an occasional toe dipped in2 the sea of science-fiction that's out there.
Happy New Ear! More soon....

5 comments:

rastronomicals said...

Hey Tad

A bagel and iced coffee and Tad's Back Up Plan on New Year's morning, works for me.

Spin just named Merriweather Post Pavillion their album of the year. But I listened to "My Girls" on Spin's site, and have no idea what they're talking about, doesn't grab me at all

The only music from '09 that excited me was metal from bands like Mastodon or Kylesa. Although I haven't heard The Dead Weather album, and think that probably has a decent chance of being good, considering the presence of Jack White.

Interesting Keith Jarrett album for you that I discovered in 2009: Spheres from 1976. I found out about it because a selection from it was the only non-T-Dream music in Friedkin's Sorceror. Dude traveled to some cathedral in Europe and recorded four sides of pipe organ music, with no overdubs. If that sounds good to you, then you'll like it, because for what it is, it comes through. Interesting because sometimes you'd swear you were hearing a synth, but it's always the pipe organ.

When I was younger, i was given a Crack The Sky album called Animal Notes, and it never really caught on with me, except for a tune on it called "Animal Skins," which is great if you're into bitterly sarcastic raga-rock.

drewzepmeister said...

You've got some great albums mentioned here, Tad! ELP's Pictures at an Exhibition and Trilogy are awesome! Mahavishnu Orchestra's Birds of Fire is an instrumental treat!

TAD said...

R: So I'm part of yr morning routine? I'm flattered....
I had high hopes 4 MERRIWEATHER POST PAVILLION -- I thot the idea of group vocals & a keyboard wash sounded kinda cool, I was thinking of a modernized Beach Boys or something closer 2 Fleet Foxes, I guess. I haven't totally given up, but... it's OK but kinda formless, I can't find NEwhere 2 grab ahold of. Not bad, just....
The only Keith Jarrett I've bn able 2 get in2 so far is EYES OF THE HEART, a 3-sided live album that I think is FILLED w/ tension & stress & anger -- his quartet was in the process of breaking-up. If the album just had some tunes, I'd give it 4 stars, but it crackles w/ the underlying tension. I also really like Jarrett's "Country," from a quartet album called MY SONG that I've bn trying 2 find. I'm also looking 4 BELONGING & NUDE ANTS, & gave up on IN THE LIGHT. (Shoulda noted I'm a sucker 4 a LOT of ECM jazz artists....)
Looking 4 Crack The Sky based only on their live version of "Lighten Up, McGraw," which is GREAT! They also do a loopy live version of "I Am the Walrus" -- got these back2back on a 45 -- I've never heard NEthing else by them....

Drew: On EXHIBITION, I think "The Great Gates of Kiev" is great noise, & I'm TRYING 2 get in2 "Nut Rocker" & the rest. I keep TRILOGY 4 "From the Beginning," & I wish their version of Aaron Copland's "Hoedown" was just a little better than it is, cos I LOVE Copland....
I'm having a REAL hard time w/ Mahavishnu, Xcept 4 a coupla trax: "Awakening" & "A Lotus on Irish Streams" R both OK, & I wish I could get in2 them 4 the sheer power & force -- I've tried 2 pretend they're King Crimson without tunes & that doesn't work 4 me either -- I need more tuneage than this. But I haven't given up yet.... -- TAD.

Maroussia said...

It will be great to watch Jean Michel Jarre, i have bought tickets from
http://ticketfront.com/event/Jean_Michel_Jarre-tickets looking forward to it.

TAD said...

Welcome, M. Let us know how the concert turns out.... -- TAD.