#552: MORE NOISE AGAIN!

3rd in the series ... I think....

Soft Machine -- THIRD (1970), live bonus tracks only: Out-Bloody-Rageous, Facelift, Esther's Nose Job.
Pat Metheny -- ZERO TOLERANCE FOR SILENCE (1994): Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5.
Bill Frisell and Vernon Reid -- SMASH AND SCATTERATION (1986): Landscapes in Alternate History, Size 10-1/2 Sneaks, Amarillo Barbados....
Hawkwind -- STASIS: THE UA YEARS best-of (1990): Urban Guerilla, Psychedelic Warlords, Brainbox Pollution, Seven by Seven, Paradox, Silver Machine, You'd Better Believe It, Lord of Light, The Black Corridor (live), Space is Deep (live), Earth Calling (live)....

Ummm, where 2 start? Still looking 4 more GOOD noise these days. Soft Machine's THIRD album is fairly noisy, British jazz-prog from '70 that got RAVE reviews from the critics ... but left me kinda cold when I 1st heard it years ago.
I'll admit summa the themes from the 4 full (vinyl) sides have stuck with me 4 YEARS, which is 1 definition of good music, right? But I also thot most of it was weedy-sounding under-produced noise. Former TAD's Regular Rastro thinks THIRD is possibly The Best Album Ever -- some of it he 1nce called "music of the spheres." So which is it?
4 me, keyboardist Mike Ratledge's 2 sides, "Slightly All the Time" & "Out-Bloody-Rageous," were the 2 best, with the most memorable music. When I recently stumbled over a sorta 40th-Anniversary package of the album with a bonus disc featuring 40 mins of live trax, I figured it was time 2 get THIRD back in the house, just 2 see if my ears had opened up any more over the years.....
& of course I started with the bonus trax, all of which were recorded live at the BBC's Pop Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in London in Aug 1970.
"Out-Bloody-Rageous" opens with saxist Elton Dean's memorable, bouncy, honking theme statement, then Mike Ratledge's noisy entrance on distorted organ -- very 1970 Prog. But the organ sound mellows a touch. After that there's a cool, tight ensemble sound led by Dean's breathy sax. Later there's some powerful drumming from Robert Wyatt, & some rather lyrical sax from Dean.
"Facelift" opens with a long blast of more distorted organ from Ratledge, then honks from Dean, & some heavy bass from composer Hugh Hopper. This is followed by a powerful full-band theme statement. Then Ratledge's organ takes over, with more powerful drumming from Wyatt. Then more Dean -- he is some sax player. Things develop in2 a tight, whole-band riff, driving & fairly dramatic. Dean freaks-out in the high registers near the end. I could never get thru the original version of this on THIRD, but this version is pretty good noise. Is this another band that HAD 2 B heard live?
"Esther's Nose Job" features more Xcellent sax & powerful riffing. There's a jazzy wordless vocal from Wyatt & some moody keybs from Ratledge. Then some echo-chamber sax, electronics, & yelping vocals in the middle. Then some more scurrying sax & some wildly amplified whoops -- Wyatt is freaking out somewhere in the hall. This is followed by an amplified, echoed drum solo ... Dean's sax comes back in ... there's more torrential drumming from Wyatt, then a powerful group re-statement of the theme -- which cuts off 2 quick.
These guys were forceful & powerful live, even if they were a little thin on tunes. I was gonna continue with the rest of THIRD, but it was interrupted by the arrival of....

Pat Metheny's ZERO TOLERANCE FOR SILENCE got MISERABLE reviews at Amazon.com -- fans wondering how this formerly-melodic jazz guitarist could possibly have produced such NOISE?! So, being a glutton 4 punishment, & seeking more guitar noise, I ordered it. Bsides, I've bn wanting 2 write about Metheny 4 awhile.
Pat's earlier albums have some great trax -- he always seemed 2 crank-out lotsa memorable tunes you could whistle or hum along with, gorgeous pieces like "The Search," "New Chatauqua," "Ozark," "Praise," "San Lorenzo" -- even his spacey WICHITA FALLS epic was pretty melodic, there were at least themes you could follow.
If Metheny had NE weaknesses, it was that he & his Group sometimes drifted in2 TOO LITE jazz, airy stuff that just floated in2 nothingness -- like "(Cross the) Heartland" or "Airstream" from their album AMERICAN GARAGE.
No danger of stuff floating away HERE, tho. Part 1 of ZERO TOLERANCE is 18 mins of furiously strummed, massively overdubbed guitars, torrential waterfalls of LOUD, distorted gtrs. Everything's turned up to 11. There R no tunes here. Out-of-tune gtr tones clang & ring & whine & honk, competing with each other. The few rests Metheny takes speak volumes. He keeps returning 2 a furiously strummed "theme" -- but there is no melody, no rhythm, almost no feedback. There's no real structure. The noise just goes on & on....
What possessed him? Anger? Rage? Frustration? Boredom? Was he tired of playing "pretty tunes"? He musta tore his fingers 2 shreds playing this stuff....
It's not COMPLETELY unlistenable. There R some rather nice overtones, & something LIKE a tune sneaks in around the 9:15 mark -- as if he couldn't help himself. A rhythm almost develops -- but then it disappears in a frantic blur. There is more blurred, frantic strumming -- the worst sort of industrial noise, which goes perfectly with the grainy gray CD-cover. Dozens of massed gtrs start screaming in a blurry wash -- THIS will wake you up.
There is almost NO contrast, just lotsa screaming gtr. It doesn't lead NEwhere -- there's just a slightly-louder screaming blur at the end that cuts off dead.
...This is followed by 4 MUCH shorter pieces....
Part 2 is slower, with actual dreamy attempts at ... chords. It's almost oriental-sounding, not as furious. There R more nice overtones & dischords. There's an attempt at an almost-funky TUNE ... but it Bcomes the same riff played over&over. Sorta a loud-but-dreamy finish. Not bad.
Part 3 is MORE LOUDNESS.
Part 4 features some frantic finger-picking -- the sorta jagged gtr line that Bob Fripp & King Crimson might do ... & it ends just as suddenly as something of theirs....
Part 5 has some overdubbed acoustic/flamenco gtr, which really sets things off contrast-wise. There's more frantic electric work in the background. If Pat had used this approach & added some tunes, this album mighta gone somewhere.... Not a bad finish.
NOT the gtr-meltdown album of my dreams -- there Rn't enuf tunes -- but not COMPLETELY unlistenable....

Vernon Reid attracted attn as a Hendrix-inspired gtrist with Living Color. Bill Frisell was the bad-boy jazz bassist & gtrist who went on 2 produce lotsa people & sit-in on lotsa sessions. With a title like SMASH AND SCATTERATION you'd think there'd B some noise & activity, right? Maybe it's on the part of the CD I haven't gotten 2 yet....
"Landscapes" is less noisy & more funky-disco-y than I'd Xpected, with its synthy sound & electronic drums. There's an actual attempt at a tune....
"Size 10-1/2 Sneaks" has some nice finger-picking acoustic & banjo, & a spacey down-home country feel. A sorta loping, easygoing sound....
"Amarillo Barbados" is a pleasant, spacey mix of country & Caribbean....
But nothing bites. It's all so POLITE. I have the Xact opposite of the feeling I got with ZERO TOLERANCE: These R doodles, miniatures. This stuff is pleasant, but 2 lite. Maybe later....

Hawkwind -- British heavy-space-rock from the early '70s. This is more like it. Their HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN GRILL (1974) is a pretty good heavy-prog album, with an Xcellent 2nd side that features 2 classics, the anthemic "You'd Better Believe It" & future-Motorhead Lemmy's grim "Lost Johnny."
STASIS opens with "Urban Guerilla," which is nice driving gtr&keyboard heavy-rock with a good vocal by Bob Calvert -- & the lyrics R hilarious.
"Psychedelic Warlords" led off MOUNTAIN GRILL -- I never liked it much & hadn't heard it in YEARS. But it sounds better now, & ever since hearing it again I've been chanting the 1st verse & the chorus. Lemmy's vocal makes this sound almost like Motorhead -- only with spacey keyboards added. The choruses R great 2 screech along with. The single version included here cuts off 2 fast -- the album version goes on 4 another 4 mins....
"Brainbox Pollution" sounds a bit like "You'd Better Believe It" crossed with Hawkwind's Top 3 British hit "Silver Machine" -- it's driving, with lotsa upbeat energy. The way Dave Brock's gtr mixes with the keybs & Nik Turner's sax makes 4 a wall of sound like no1 else's.
"Seven by Seven" drifts a bit -- it's not heavy or spacey enuf. But there's some OK bubbly keybs & Calvert's vocal is kinda Bowie-ish....
"Paradox" is the closer from MOUNTAIN GRILL, remixed here 2 bring 4ward the vocals & keybs. I prefer the muddy-sounding live original with its better wall of sound. The clearer vocals don't help, tho this version IS spacier -- the forceful group vocals really helped on the original version, especially toward the end....
The great thing about "Silver Machine" is that they could just as easily B singing about a Harley or a jet plane instead of a UFO. There's lotsa spacey, swirly atmosphere. It's kinda silly.
"You'd Better Believe It" is their best song, trimmed a little here 4 release as a single. Somebody cut out mosta the great instrumental midsection, tho they kept Simon House's spacey violin. Actually, this version is trimmed a little TOO tightly -- the original runs almost 6 mins, & doesn't waste NE of it....
"Lord of Light" is spacey. "The Black Corridor" has a kinda silly recitation from science fiction writer Michael Moorcock. "Space is Deep" & "Earth Calling" continue the spaciness -- the live trax allow them 2 space-out more, but the intrest level drops. Also, the wall of sound (& previous noise) was starting 2 give me a headache, so I gave up. But mosta the studio trax R pretty great....

And yet more noise again soon!