#561: EVEN MORE NOISE AGAIN!

4th in the series. I think....

Miles Davis/Bill Laswell -- PANTHALASSA (1998): In a Silent Way/Shhh/Peaceful/It's About That Time, Black Satin/What If?/Agharta Prelude Dub, Rated X/Billy Preston, He Loved Him Madly.
Hawkwind -- EPOCHECLIPSE best-of (1999): Silver Machine, Master of the Universe, Urban Guerilla, Sonic Attack, Psychedelic Warlords (single edit), Assault and Battery (Part 1), Motorhead, Back on the Streets, Quark Strangeness and Charm, 25 Years (12" remix)....
Egg -- THE CIVIL SURFACE (1974): Germ Patrol, Wind Quartet 1, Enneagram, Prelude, Wring Out the Ground Loosely Now....

PANTHALASSA is a collection/remix of Miles trax from the albums IN A SILENT WAY, ON THE CORNER and GET UP WITH IT -- the latter 2 got pretty "mixed" reviews as they say, but I've wanted 2 Xplore more of Miles's noisy jazz-rock, so....
The SILENT WAY suite/condensation (the original album only has these 4 trax) opens with some electronic murk, then John McLaughlin's gorgeous raindrop-guitar-tones. Miles' soothing trumpet follows, 3 mins in. It's still beautiful, & wisely Laswell doesn't mess with it much. Is this the best jazz-rock piece Miles ever did? There's some Xtra gtr doodling at the end, with the gtr, trumpet & keys sounding like they're suspended in space.
Then in2 the more straightahead trumpet&keyboard jazz of "Shhh." Miles's piercing tone goes nice with some nice bouncy keys from Joe Zawinul & Keith Jarrett. There's solid drumming & cymbal work from Tony Williams. This is a nice lite groove, spacey but pleasant, not murky. Some nice sax from Wayne Shorter & bouncy bass from Dave Holland. The groove gets bouncier ... & then the "Silent Way" theme returns at the end. A nice 15-min remix of an album that was sometimes a little 2 "drifty." Good waking-up music.
"Black Satin" opens with some Indian percussion, then gets loud & funky, with some piercing, electronicized squiggly trumpet. This is followed by some obnoxious trebly gtr, with lotsa feedback -- then gtr, trumpet & keys all squalling. The gtr gets pretty spacey, but the drummer is ON IT, he is WORKIN. (Is it Williams? Jack DeJohnette? Al Foster? There's a list of 2-dozen players on the backcover, but no credits 4 who plays on what.) The piece ends with just spacey gtr & keybs.
"Rated X" is hotter & faster, mostly keys & drums. It COOKS, but it doesn't really GO anywhere. Maybe they're waiting 4 Miles 2 come in? ... This is a feverish groove, but it's BACK-UP -- there's no lead instrument. Nobody's taking over.
Miles finally shows up on "Billy Preston," which Preston doesn't play on. (Think Miles 1nce did a piece entitled "John McLaughlin," 2....) There's lotsa wah-wah'd trumpet, lotsa percussion -- it's funky, but it's funky wah-wah mood music.
Rock critic Lester Bangs 1nce called "He Loved Him Madly" 1 of the most depressing pieces of music of the '70s. & it DOES sound like a funeral. It was at least partly supposed 2 B a tribute 2 the late Duke Ellington. The suprise is it's also PRETTY, with nice laid-back gtr, some pretty flute from Dave Liebman, spacey atmosphere & good bass. Miles enters 5-1/2 mins in, soft & mournful. There's some hushed, ominous, brooding keys & gtr -- this section is dramatic & powerful; Miles's electronicized trumpet sounds lost & in pain. This sounds MODERN, like it coulda bn cut last week. Lotsa Xcellent bass & gtr & drums (Al Foster?). It doesn't go NEwhere much in 13-1/2 mins (the original recording was over 30 mins), but it's VERY intresting....
Overall, worth it all 4 "Silent Way" & "Madly"....

The best stuff I've heard by British heavy-space legends Hawkwind -- & I haven't heard all that much -- would make a really good best-of. But nobody's gotten it right yet, & they've had at least 4 chances at it. (& there's all that lauded stuff out there I haven't heard yet: "Magnu," "The Demented Man," "Kerb Crawler," "Hassan I Sahba," "Psi Power"....) EPOCHECLIPSE features a couple more winners I hadn't heard B4, but there's good stuff that should B here & is missing. (See the review of their STASIS best-of below....)
Anyway. "Master of the Universe" has some pretty good keybs & sax in the middle. "Urban Guerilla" is Bcoming a fave rave of mine -- nice gtr by Dave Brock, an Xcellent vocal by Bob Calvert, & hilarious lyrics you CAN'T take seriously: "So let's not talk about love and flowers and things that don't EXPLODE...." Possibly their greatest hit.
"Sonic Attack" is a hilarious recitation by Calvert, written by science-fiction writer Mike Moorcock. Am I the only person who thinks this stuff is FUNNY? (Do not panic. Think only of yourself....) Calvert made a pretty great front-man....
"Psychedelic Warlords" has the previously-mentioned great verses & choruses, + some nice Nik Turner sax in the middle, but the single edit cuts off 2 quick....
"Assault and Battery" opens with some NICE pastoral keys & nice Nik Turner flute, + some strong Brock gtr. But the choruses R kinda dull....
"Motorhead" sounds a LITTLE like Lemmy's future band, but with added Xcellent violin from Simon House, + more good sax. & Lemmy's vocal should B mixed LOUDER!
"Quark Strangeness and Charm" is bouncy & punchy -- almost sounds like Roxy Music. The lyrics R pretty silly. "25 Years" almost sounds like New Wave! With great late-'70s keybs!
I might get back 2 more of this later....

I grabbed Egg's CIVIL SURFACE cheap, mainly 4 the odd keyboard sounds that top Egg Dave Stewart added to National Health & Hatfield and the North. Needless 2 say, Egg sounds a lot like those bands -- especially when the famous Northettes add wordless vocals....
"Germ Patrol" opens with lite keybs straight outta the Hatfields, + heavy drums from Clive Brooks. It develops in2 a rather nice march after 7 mins of noodling. Then abruptly fades out....
"Wind Quartet 1" really is a 2-1/2-min woodwind quartet piece written by bassist/French-hornist Mont Campbell -- & it's very nice, tho very diffrent from mosta the rest of the album....
"Enneagram" goes back 2 the Hatfield/Health sound. Nice, noodly, washy, pleasant keyboard-based mood music you can drift off 2. There R occasional driving sections of some force, then the circusy, bubbling organ parts take back over....
"Prelude" really sounds like the Hatfields, thanks 2 wordless vocals by the Northettes (Amanda Parsons, Barbara Gaskin, Ann Rosenthal). Deep, brooding, ominous keyboard tones close it.
"Wring Out the Ground" opens with some forceful singing from Mont Campbell, followed by a stately, grand main theme on keybs. Then Stewart's hyperactive keybs take over. At the end, Campbell overdubs himself multiple times 4 stronger vocals -- if he were a little more relaxed vocally, this'd probly B an even stronger 8 mins....
Might get back 2 this. Hatfield's & the Health's albums had 2 grow on me, 2....

More noise coming in the future. Possibly some actual music, 2.
Also made a big discovery at work Sat nite -- our store CD player actually works, & sounds better than the cassette player. So I spent the evening playing old Motown hits, Florence + the Machine's "Shake it Out" & others, & mosta the Hawkwind trax listed above.
We R about 2 get in2 a whole new realm of weirdness....
More soon....