#591: Some actual NEW MUSIC!

...Well, new to me....
This week's at-work playlist runs the gamut from CD's 2 the radio & back again as I continue searching 4 music I'm not already bored with.... Someday soon I gotta do a post about current Seattle-area radio & call it "Lowest Common Denominator"....

King Crimson -- Elephant Talk, Frame by Frame, Matte Kudasai, Indiscipline, The Sheltering Sky, Discipline, Three of a Perfect Pair, Model Man, Sleepless, Man With an Open Heart, Nuages (That Which Passes, Passes Like Clouds), Larks Tongues in Aspic Part III.
Yes -- YESTERDAYS: America, Looking Around, Time and a Word, Sweet Dreams, Then, Survival, Astral Traveler, Dear Father.
Mahavishnu Orchestra -- THE LOST TRIDENT SESSIONS.
Pink -- Who Knew?
Paula Cole -- I Don't Want to Wait.
Jimi Hendrix -- The Wind Cries Mary.
Poco -- THE FORGOTTEN TRAIL (1969-74) 2-CD best-of: A Good Feelin' to Know, Here We Go Again, Crazy Eyes, Get in the Wind, And Settlin' Down, C'mon, You Better Think Twice, Hear That Music, Believe Me, etc.
The Byrds -- SWEETHEART OF THE RODEO: You Ain't Goin' Nowhere, You Don't Miss Your Water, Pretty Boy Floyd.
Jack White -- (20-song homemade-CD mix).
Orange Peel -- (1st) (1970).
Mogul Thrash -- (1st) (1971).

Where to start? KC's "Man With an Open Heart" sounds just like Todd Rundgren meets the Talking Heads. A lot of KC's more abstract stuff from their early-'80s period I can't seemta get in2, like mosta Side 2 on both THREE OF A PERFECT PAIR and BEAT -- "LTIA3" has everything you'd ever want from a Crimson instrumental Xcept 4 a big dramatic finish; it just sorta fades away....
"Frame by Frame"'s still a freakin classic tho -- especially that skittery guitar that sounds like a car slipping out of control on the ice & then crashing in2 a tree.... Have always loved practically everything about "Indiscipline," from Margaret Belew's great obsessive lyrics 2 the oppressive musical attack. But the 2nd side of DISCIPLINE still just sorta drifts away from me....
Yes's YESTERDAYS hasa great 1st side which I've bn playing 4 YEARS -- but only "Survival" jumps out at me from the 2nd 1/2.... Wonder why they didn't include great stuff like "Every Little Thing" & "No Experience Necessary" on this early-best-of? Maybe cos then there woulda bn 2 many non-group songwriting credits...? Publishing income, royalties & all that, etc?
On 1st listen, Mahavishnu's TRIDENT SESSIONS sounds pretty good -- there's a lot more delicate gtr, violin & keyboard work, more contrast, not so much loud unison riffing -- could B a keeper. Of course I wish there were MORE...
After years of having it in the house & playing bits & pieces, I finally got all the way thru Poco's 38-track FORGOTTEN TRAIL best-of. I really like all the upbeat stuff like "Good Feelin' to Know," "And Settlin' Down," "Get in the Wind," etc. + there's a LOT of pickin&grinnin'-style instrumentals (in fact, "pickin' and grinnin'" is a phrase used in the lyrics of the opener "Pickin' Up the Pieces").
When they did a ballad, Poco coulda bn almost anybody (with a coupla Xceptions like the striking "Here We Go Again" & the dramatic-but-drawn-out "Crazy Eyes"), but the good stuff is really good & the singing is always Xcellent. + there's LOTS of previously-unreleased songs (like the Xcellent "Get in the Wind" & "Believe Me"). They shoulda stayed upbeat more often, tho....
Did not get all the way thru The Byrds' SWEETHEART OF THE RODEO. Not sure what I Xpected from this, 1 of the very 1st country-rock albums -- but wasn't prepared 4 the very-stripped-down sound & lack of electric 12-string. "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" is OK & "Pretty Boy Floyd" is funny, but "You Don't Miss Your Water" is taken absolutely straight & kinda flat. & it's all REALLY TWANGY....
So, I turned 2 some CDs people have tossed at me over the years that I'm now bored & desperate enuf 2 play. Jack White's the guy from the White Stripes, who I know mainly by reputation. I was impressed by a couple of his playful but deeply twisted songs -- especially (I'm guessing) "Leave You Alone" & "Conquest" -- & there was a lurid Southern Gothic murder tale near the end of the CD that was pretty harrowing.
There was some good gtr work & the lyrics were often pretty clever. I was reminded of The Kinks at times, & maybe a little Marc Bolan in Jack's quavery vocals -- & maybe of a stripped-down Led Zeppelin or Robert Plant. I normally wouldn't have bought this stuff on my own, but not bad....
I know nothing about Orange Peel Xcept they were German, included 1 guy who was later in the jazz-rock band Passport, & put out 1 long-delayed album of organ-based heavy-prog. & it's not bad. LOTS of riffing organ & gtr-dominated free-form rock -- the 1st track's over 18 mins long -- with a declaiming (not raving) vocalist straight outta Arthur Brown. Lots of lyrics about "changing these strange things that need to be changed." & an Xtremely bloozy cover of "Tobacco Road."
The organ sound isn't 2 far from Soft Machine, or a simpler ELP or The Nice. LOTS of heavy riffing. The drummer's pretty athletic, 2. These guys can play. Not bad at all -- there's a lot going on here, it was a lot more intresting than Mahavishnu, & it kept me awake onna really slow Sun nite at work....
Mogul Thrash featured bassist John Wetton (later of King Crimson, U.K. & Asia), & guitarist James Litherland from Colosseum. Their 1 album sounds (so far) like a sorta blowzy jazz-rock band with horns. Can't hear Wetton's voice at all. & there's lots of gtr. I'll get back 2 this....
More soon....