Nutcracker, Jack!

The Sir Charles Mackerras/ London Symphony Orchestra version of the complete Nutcracker ballet, which was also the soundtrack for the Nutcracker film (featuring sets and costumes designed by Maurice Sendak -- and if I understand correctly, is the same design used by Pacific Northwest Ballet, and coincidentally is being retired after this season). Phew! Long enough sentence or what? Anyway, found this (yet again) in Value Village, and it's a fine version. I prefer the performance by my go-to guy lately for All Things Russian, Valery Gergiev, but his version (to fit on 1 CD) omits the repeat of "Grandfather's Dance", and that's a deal-breaker for me. It's one of my favorite parts of the score!

This double LP was the first (and best) version of the complete ballet that I heard when I was in high school. I knew the Nutcracker Suite, but had never heard the whole thing until I found it at the library. And once again, it's a Russian version, this time by the Bolshoi Theater Orchestra conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky. So it's my touchstone version that I compare with other versions. The LSO version mentioned at the beginning is good (with digital cannons!), but I'd snap up the analog-era Bolshoi version in a heartbeat if it ever got reissued (my poor cassette copy is pretty worn out.) And if you've never heard the complete score, you owe it to yourself -- it's jam-packed with great melodies and superb orchestration.

Beecham Conducts Handel and a Bit About Copyright

I'm listening to this CD as I write this, but my laptop has no idea what it is. My guess is a CD of recordings made between 1929 and 1940 hath slipped the surly bonds of copyright (and a lot of recordings from Europe have become public domain).

I first heard this on CBC, I think. The piece was "The Gods Go A-Begging", attributed to Handel, and I was totally unfamiliar with it. Turns out it's a medley of various Handel works stitched together by Beecham for a ballet performance. Due to the age of these performances, the recording quality leaves something to be desired, and this is certainly not how Handel is performed today, but it's these "flaws" that I enjoy so much. It sounds like the soundtrack to an old black & white film about kings, queens and palace intrigue.   

The photo above is from Christopher DeLaurenti's website, and it's a deconstruction of his CD "Favorite Intermissions" (due to unauthorized use of copyrighted material ?  Like maybe the graphic design that looks suspiciously like a real classical record label). Same with the CD content itself; it's the only classical "bootleg" I own. Why? Because it was recorded surreptitiously during --- you guessed it --- intermissions, as the orchestra tuned up and quickly practiced bits from the piece about to be performed (after the intermission). It's fascinating! Amongst the tuning up bits, you can hear a violinist run through part of a line from Beethoven as the trombone player practices another bit. I know it sounds like it'd be noise, but it's more like hearing fractured splinters of Beethoven, or Stravinsky, or Holst. Probably the most unique -- yet simplest CD I've heard.

Shaft! Can You Dig It?

I recently read an article about Isaac Hayes in some Brit music mag, and it of course mentioned in a big way, the soundtrack from "Shaft", which featured a 19 minute song called "Do Your Thing" -- 19 minutes!! Isaac Hayes!!! Three exclamation points!!!

Well, it's 19 minutes of stink-a-roni chika-chika wah-wah guitar. BUT...the rest of the soundtrack is really good! Our family listened to it recently on a drive, (well, that term dates me...)  and my son said "I can't believe we're actually not listening to this ironically!"

I haven't seen the movie, and I'm not likely to, based on some of the plot described in the liner notes. So I can't tell you how well the music fits the film, but Isaac Hayes managed to capture an urban vibe in an elegaic way. No, really. Even in the moments that are clearly cues for "man runs down the street", the background music rewards focused listening. The instrumentation is varied -- flutes! vibes! and there's a pronounced Burt Bacharach feel to some of the arrangements. "Blaxploitation" soundtracks get a bad rap because so much of them ARE derivative, and many use the "Theme from Shaft" as a template. But Haye's work in the full soundtrack is so much more accomplished than I certainly expected. Hey, I'm talkin' 'bout Shaft!

New Eno!

I've been listening to Brian Eno for years, so I'd pretty much figured he'd exhausted his bag of tricks; he's released so many ground-breaking and influential albums, he was bound to repeat himself. But lo and behold, here comes "High Life", the second album Eno's recorded with Underworld's Karl Hyde. This one's from April 2014, and while it's not a total departure for Eno, it's certainly different enough to be very entertaining -- and welcome. There are still jagged bits of melody that repeat over and over through a song, but many times they morph into something else by the end of the piece. Take the first song "Return": the repeated guitar phrase acts like a loop throughout the song, but by the end of its 9 minutes, it slowly has retreated to the background and sounds more like the German space guitar pieces of Manuel Gottsching. 

There are several vocals, but they don't always occupy center stage, and without a lyric sheet, well, good luck figuring out what they're supposed to be about. There is an identifiable African influence -- the second song "DBF" sounds like Conky the Robot from "Pee Wee's Playhouse" has been downloading some Fela Kuti albums. All in all, a very enjoyable release, even, dare I say it, FUN!  

Stars of the Apollo!

This could be considered a bait and switch. You might guess that these are historic live recordings from the stage of the famous Apollo Theatre, but instead, we have various (mainly unreleased) studio recordings of artists that did indeed perform at the Apollo through the years. Sounds like someone got to sift through the bottom of the barrel (and someone else discovered the italic key!)

I made a tape of my favorites from this 2 LP set from 1972 (CD version, 1993), my 45 minute 'best of', and wore that puppy out. So...eventually, I wondered, how the heck do I find this NOW. Catalog searches: zip. How could this amazing collection have gone out of print? (Oh, maybe the whole 'bait and switch' thing I mentioned earlier...)

I think this may have been the first used CD I purchased online. And I've found, that process is not too scary!

But the music: what a fantastic collection! Bessie Smith, the Mills Brothers, Cab Calloway, Earl Hines, Billie Holiday, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughan -- but the lesser known artists are just as fine. Who knew Ida Cox or Mamie Smith or Bobby Brown? Not me. And this set is a keeper. Go online and find a used copy now!

Value Village Find: Nancy Wilson & Cannonball Adderley

Looked like someone was cleaning out their Nancy Wilson collection at Value Village -- several of her albums were available.

I should probably make clear this is NOT Heart's Nancy Wilson, but I'm sure a quick glance at the album cover made that obvious. This Nancy Wilson had a career as a jazz/pop singer, though I'm afraid I'm not the least bit familiar with her. And I'm not even sure why I spent the $2.99 for this disc; somewhere in the dusty reaches of my brain, I must have recognized it from somewhere.

But praise be to the gods of first impressions, because this is a fine album. Nancy sounds a bit like Dinah Washington, with a tartness to her vocal delivery. Cannonball is great as always, and actually the bulk of the album is Cannonball and his band without Nancy Wilson. One of the delights of this album for me is the "traditional" piano style of Joe Zawinul, he of Weather Report fame. I knew his classic performance with Cannonball, the amazingly concise "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy", but to hear him here sans Weather Report-era synthesizers is a revelation. Gives me a more complete picture, I guess.

Call of the Sea Witch

Nothing Halloweeny here; instead, "Ranarop: Call of the Sea Witch" is a Finnish album by Gjallarhorn. I first heard it when it was released on Finladia Records, and I think it eventually got released stateside.

It's very much in the vein of Steeleye Span, traditional (or traditionally inspired) music ramped up a bit. Gjallarhorn throws in the occasional didgeridoo (certainly not native to Finland!) as a background drone. The woman vocalist veers into keening once in a while, giving me shivers. There's something lonely and foggy and just plain unsettling about much of the music.

There's also a faint influence of Jefferson Airplane in the harmonies (and the icy pitch reminiscent of Grace Slick.) Fairport Convention initially thought of themselves as the British version of Jefferson Airplane, and I'd wager there are many other bands similarly influenced. I don't think the Airplane have received proper credit for their sound; maybe it's because most of us only know them from their '60s singles. And then there's the Starship thing to live down...  But the way the voices of Grace Slick, Marty Balin and Paul Kantner interweaved was really groundbreaking work at the time. And it seems the echoes still resound, even in Finland.

Happy Birthday, Nonesuch Records

A bit late to blow out the candles, but recently there have been a spate of articles (yes, a spate!) about Nonesuch Records' 50th birthday. Capsule bio: Nonesuch featured new classical and electronic music, and most importantly, repackaged recordings of far-flung music from around the globe, budget-priced them in their Explorer series-- and then slowly conquered the music world. Okay, "conquered" is too strong a word, but Nonesuch managed to get this type of music into the conversation. Eventually, pop and rock musicians were sharing their stories about how they first heard the music of Vietnam or Haiti or the Bahamas -- all courtesy of Nonesuch.

 Maybe the prime example is "Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares", (or the less prosaic "Bulgarian State Radio and Television Female Vocal Choir"). Released in the mid-80s, musicians like Robert Plant and David Byrne (Talking Heads) sang its praises. Byrne even adapted one piece for Robert Wilson's opera production of "CIVILwarS" , found on the album "The Knee Plays". Wow, I'm getting all Comic Book Guy here. Gotta pull back.

The Bulgarian Choir features some very different harmonies, and I was especially struck by Volume Two -- amazing, unearthly (to our Western ears, yet actually grounded in tones from another part of the globe --)

"Bali: Music from the Morning of the World" was also a favorite of musicians, and this album featured the famous "Monkey Chant" -- which has to be heard to be believed. A variant title is "Kejak", and that sounds like what they're chanting. Imagine "Row Row Row Your Boat", but with only the word "kejak" sung faster and faster. That's a lame description but hopefully you get the idea.

Nonesuch is now probably more well known for acts like Buena Vista Social Club, and rock bands like Wilco, but Explorer is where they firs made their name. Glad to see they're still plugging along!

Why Classical Music ?

I've been cleaning up my classical CD collection lately and donating the rejects to the library book sale (doesn't seem anyone else wants them). It got me to thinking: how do people even hear classical music these days? Movies? Sometimes. Certainly not the radio; I'm always surprised when I walk into my bank and they're playing crappy AM radio -- wouldn't some classical music be more soothing? 

Here's my nomination for "where to hear classical music": FOX-TV's "The Simpsons". Seriously. I'd bet my next paycheck that there's more classical music in "The Simpsons" than any other TV show since, I don't know...maybe some classical TV show from the 1950's? Classical music isn't listed in the closing credits of "The Simpsons", but it seems every other episode I hear snippets of something classical.

 Libraries of course are good places to find classical music, but even they've been trimming the physical collections and switching to streaming services -- and it's hard to browse that way.

I've been prowling Value Village and I only just realized that I was using VV as my 'browsing collection'. I mean, the CDs are so cheap, it's worth spending the money to educate myself. For me, classical music can be divided into 2 groups: 'active' listening, and 'background sonic wallpaper'. I'm afraid I don't listen actively as much as I used to; even listening in the car, it's hard to hear the quieter passages over the road noise.

But here are a few that for me really reward some concentration.

I remember a review I read years ago where the reviewer considered Mahler and Sibelius as music he listened to in his naive youth. Well, I've left 'youth' far behind, but I still find so much new to hear in both Mahler and Sibelius. I don't have much in my collection, but the few I have are really special.

There's a lot more classical music I listen to in the background while reading or eating dinner. More on that later (the music, not the dinner!)

Paul Horn: Real Good, For Free

I'm still going through my CDs, ramping up the culling process. Why?

The CD above ("Paul Horn in India and Kashmir") is one reason. I recently wrote of flautist Paul Horn's passing -- and completely forgot that I owned this CD!

 The 2 LP reissue that I once owned  (and the subsequent CD reissue) isn't recorded to pop standards; sounds like a field recording in mono and black & white. But every summer I pull it out because it sounds languid yet focused, a recording of a real-time event in a summery haze, even though it's a Canadian musician performing with Indian musicians. This is NOT some New Age pan-cultural World Music hybrid, but authentic Indian music arranged in part by Ravi Shankar. It sounds, to my ignorant western ears, well, honest.

Paul Horn played on the Joni Mitchell track "For Free", Joni musing about her career as a very well paid performing artist and the street-corner musician she heard who "played real good for free".  On the "India" CD, we have Paul Horn, a prominent (and well paid) studio jazz musician exploring authentic non-commercial music. Commerce versus heart -- and I have so many CDs that I freakin' forget I own a particular favorite! Irony much?

My name is David, and I have a problem. (I know, I know, point taken, but that's another discussion for another time...) I'm working on it, weeding my collection down to a manageable size.  In my defense, I worked in music retail, so I was exposed to way more music than ever before, I was getting lots of music for free, and the stuff I bought I got at cost. It's just taken me a long time to understand the difference between "cost" and "value". And this understanding has been hastened by the fact that CDs are now practically worthless in the market. (It's not like I have the option of trading them in.)  Some would argue that music, hell, ART is considered worthless by most people. So if nobody's buying, what do you do -- add more layers to the landfill?

Anyway, I'm whittling down the collection. I only have so many years of listening ahead of me, might as well focus on the great stuff rather than the okay stuff. It's funny to me how the classics rise to the surface somehow -- as much as I love the Sex Pistols, I'm listening to lots more Duke Ellington and Uncle Dave Macon these days. As the Holy Modal Rounders album said, good taste is timeless. (Mind you, this was the album that featured the song "Boobs A Lot", so...)

Emmylou Harris and Linda Thompson

Yes, there is a connection between the poster woman for New Country and British folk-rock's Ice Queen. I'm sure you know it, but I'll get to that later.

I just wanted to give a shout-out to Emmylou Harris, the woman who more than anyone introduced me to REAL country music. Hell, I even bought a "Best of George Jones and Tammy Wynette" LP because of her! "Elite Hotel" was the first Emmylou album I heard back in the late '70s when I worked at Everybody's Records in Bellevue, due to an enthusiast on staff who played the Flying Burrito Brothers and Emmylou despite a staff hopped up on the Sex Pistols and the Ramones. Emmylou gave wider exposure to singer-songwriters Gram Parsons, Rodney Crowell, Townes Van Zandt, Jesse Winchester, Guy Clark and Delbert McClinton -- and introduced greenhorns like me to Dolly Parton and the Louvin Brothers.

Later I went back and picked up "Pieces of the Sky" and "Luxury Liner", and my favorite, "Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town". I taped my 'Best of Emmylou Harris" (totally different from the 'official' best-of, typical!) and drove around quite happily singing along. And then...I met Emmylou Harris (well, her guitar, anyway.)

There was a time when between real jobs, I worked as a baggage handler on a commuter airline that flew out of Sea-Tac. (I still swoon at the scent of airline diesel.) One day, Emmylou took our little puddle-jumper to Orcas Island -- and I got to load her guitar! I was busy with other bags so I never actually saw her walk out of the boarding gate, but my fellow staffers (aware of my mini-crush on the Beautiful Emmylou) teased me and said right out of the gate she spit on the tarmac.

Later my future wife and I headed to Orcas because word was Emmylou was performing a free concert at the Grange. Short version: massive downpour, doors open late, everybody on the island is there so the place is fire-code-violatingly jam-packed, we sadly peel out of the parking lot because the last ferry is about to depart. A sad instance of Concertus Interruptus.

I liked many later Emmylou Harris albums well enough ("Blue Kentucky Girl", "Roses in the Snow", "The Ballad of Sally Rose", "Wrecking Ball"), but there was a period when her warble got more warbly and the vibrato got uncomfortably unlistenable, but she righted that ship and continues to amaze to this day.

So...Linda Thompson releases her first solo album following the wrenching breakup tour/divorce from folk-rock's Johnny Appleseed (what??) Richard Thompson. Fans who want The Dirt pore over the lyrics,  and Linda doesn't disappoint. I always liked the lyrics of the title track: "More an instant with the angels than a lifetime with a saint,  All I need is one clear moment, one clear moment's all it takes".  But then you get "Only A Boy"'s "long may you rot in hell". And "Talking Like A Man" is the coldest moving-on song ever: "if you get lonely, don't head back this way"..

And there's "Telling Me Lies": "I cover my ears, I close my eyes, still hear your voice and it's telling me lies" -- and that's the song that Trio (Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt and Dolly Parton) covered and earned a Grammy nomination.

Even the liner notes of the CD reissue complain about the dated late '80s production, but if I was hearing it with virgin ears today, I think the songwriting would still impress (and even over-produced as they are, there are some very good tracks.) Linda and Richard somehow eventually reached some sort of detente, and Richard appears on later Linda albums (with various spawn included.) Maybe blood is thicker than water (or vinyl) after all. 

Later, I'll talk about "Dreams Fly Away: A History of Linda Thompson", Linda's 'best-of' from 1996. Stellar.

End-of-Summer Dub Suggestions

Yes, I know that we've still got 3 more weeks of summer, but psychologically I think most of us think of Labor Day as summer's last gasp. Which brings me to the end of another few months of a reggae-rich musical diet.

Sometimes it's worth it to listen to the experts, or in this case, enthusiasts that became experts. Blood and Fire is a reggae reissue label based in England, and their reissues are lovingly chosen and presented. I heard a track from Keith Hudson's "Pick a Dub" on one of B&F's sampler CDs, and gladly bought a copy. On the B&F website, there's a section for recommended releases, and their #1 choice was "Morwell Unlimited Meet King Tubby's Dub Me". Like the Keith Hudson release, it's early dub (1974 & 1975), and pretty basic -- no ringing telephones, doorbells, toilets flushing like I mentioned way back on the "African Dub" series. Both CD's are excellent and the perfect soundtrack to the end of summer.

You young people and your "attention deficit syndrome"!

Hah! Tonight, I'm reading the liner notes to Lee Perry's dub classic "Super Ape" while half-watching Ingmar Bergman's "Scenes from a Marriage". I haven't seen "Scenes" for years, and I'm certainly not watching it again -- I still remember scenes of gut-wrenching emotional torment as Ingmar shows a young marriage torn apart by a husband's affair -- the scene where he leaves the house while Liv Ullman tries to hold onto him screaming is just too much to revisit. I watched a bit at the end, and had forgotten how much of an self-satisfied idiot the husband is, but I did remember accurately how beautiful and radiant Liv Ulllman was (oh, and the part where she says her love life has perked up considerably since he left is priceless!)

Okay, so not much of an entry this time, but I'm working on the next one: some of my classical favorites, including Mahler, Rameau and Sibelius.  I was trying to come up with the list of my Top Five Classical Composers (shades of "High Fidelity"!), and for today, at least, I'd say: Debussy, Ravel, Mahler, Handel and Stravinsky -- but truth be told, I'm not really a list-maker anyway; just trying to amuse myself on the way to work.

I'll most likely write my draft tomorrow night -- my wife's 3/4 of the way through a bad Elizabeth Taylor bio, and on her insistence, I checked out a DVD copy of "Cleopatra". Yeah, I'm not going anywhere near THAT turkey....

Jesse Winchester RIP

This is a late post about the late Jesse Winchester, who passed away in April. Why in God's name is Elvis Costello's ugly mug adorning this post? You'll see.

Short bit of history: Jesse, born and bred in the US South, comes up for the Vietnam War draft, decides instead to de-camp to Canada, where he remains for many years, writing wistful songs about the land he left behind. Sweet, unsentimental yet heartbreaking songs. I tuck some in the back of my brain, but at first recall, all I can come up with is "Rhumba Man". Oh wait, there's "The Brand New Tennessee Waltz", and that great song that Emmylou Harris covered, "Defying Gravity", and that fine version of "Biloxi" that Ian Matthews did....well, the list goes on.

Fast forward to 2014. My dear wife and I learn of Jesse's passing, and vaguely remember his appearance on Elvis Costello's show "Spectacle", hence the gap-toothed image below.

It's a "guitar pull" (?) episode, and onstage we have EC, Jesse, Sheryl Crow and Neko Case. Heck, I barely knew about Neko when we first viewed the episode, and now we also have on the disc an earlier episode which features...the since-late Levon Helm (my wife's latest fave -- LOVES "Electric Dirt").

On the Jesse show, he performs "Sham-a-Ling-Dong-Ding", a sweet, sweet song about young love in the late '50s, the songs that expressed love in nonsense lyrics, and how the 'old folks' said they were crazy, foolish youngsters. My favorite line: "the way we danced was not a dance, but more a long embrace".  Ah, but Jesse suggests that those same old folks sang the same silly songs ("silly love songs", eh Paulie?) But here's the catch: Jesse's isn't on stage with some rookies, but his songs are so dear that the camera catches a tear rolling down Neko's cheek -- priceless. I checked other reviews on-line, and Neko's tear was a common element. Even Elvis himself says something along the lines of "You finished me off; it happened in rehearsal and it happened now".

Sweet dreams, Jesse.

Juana Molina, and no, I'd never heard of her either

 

 

Working in bookstores, I've had access to what are called "Advanced Reader's Copies" or "ARCs". These are 'raw' versions of upcoming books, usually bare bones editions without accurate page counts, lacking illustrations and author notes. The idea is that bookstore staff will read it, write a short review that might end up as an advertising blurb when the book is officially released. One such ARC that I have is "1000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die" by Tom Moon, and one of the recordings he mentions is the subject of this blog entry, "Segundo" by Juana Molina. His review was interesting enough that I went to Allmusic.com to preview some tracks, and I am so glad I did.

 

I've referred to the album as 'Bjork Lite', and it's full of electronic squiggles and programmed percussion, but there's more of an acoustic feel, and Juana's vocals are breathy Brazilian whisper rather than Bjorkian belting. Lyrically, I'm totally in the dark, because Juana is Argentinian, and the lyrics are all sung in Spanish (?) But there's a sweetness to her delivery, and a few songs features electronically derived animal noises in the background, birdcalls, metallic purring and yapping that enhance the mood in delightful ways. I'll check into more Juana Molina, but my sense is that this is one perfect little gem of an album, and that may be enough for me. More later!

Hariprasad Chaurasia, Indian Classical Flute, and yes... from Value Village!

In preparing for this post (yes, I do), I was going to say Hariprasad Chaurasia is my favorite North Indian flute player -- but after rifling through my CDs, I guess it's more accurate to say he's just about my ONLY North Indian flute player (sorry, G. S. Sachdev, almost forgot you.) I've got some of Hari's releases on the Nimbus label (they are the pinnacle, and they take advantage of the 70+ minutes available), and his classics "Call of the Valley" and "The Valley Recalls".

But I enjoy this little jewel ("Flying Beyond") from Value Village because it stays in "the zone" for the entire album. The Indian albums that record whole ragas follow the classical pattern -- a slow introduction, a lengthy development, then things kick in rhythmically and the pace picks up until the blistering finale. What's nice about the "Flying Beyond" album (and it is an album as it was back in the day, 2 sides at 20 minutes per side) is that it resides in the slow intro for the entire CD. Perfect if that's your mood, and many summer nights as we wait for the house to cool down, it's just the thing. 

RIP Paul Horn

 

 

 

 

 

Paul Horn's "Inside" album set him on his path; he left behind his jazz background and explored what was eventually termed "new age" (why yes, I did recently post on that very thing!) "Inside" explored the reverb inside the Taj Mahal, Paul Horn's flute tones bouncing off the walls. I actually preferred "Inside II", which paired Horn's flute reverb with earth/air/fire/water ("The Elements"), and included some really sweet 'flute chorales', classical works arranged for multi-tracked flutes. Paul continued with more "Inside" albums (Great Pyramid, etc.), he played for whales at the Vancouver Aquarium, and if I remember correctly, played on "For Free" on an Joni Mitchell album.

 

And the whole "reverb" thing? Modern classical performers like Pauline Oliveros and Stuart Dempster have carried on Horn's experiments, even (both) recording works in a subterranean cistern on Port Townsend's Fort Worden -- there's a 45-second delay! 

Miles (and the title that dare not speak its name -- not on this blog, mister!)

I referred to this album a few posts ago, upset that someone hearing it thought it was "weird". Sigh.

I took a few Film Appreciation classes in college (don't judge me!). During the evaluation phase, one of my professors said "This class easily understands the visual 'language' of the foreign films we'd discussed in class, while I've had to study it." Well, we'd had been exposed to that 'language' in commercials and contemporary film; one generation's cutting edge is another's common denominator.

So that was my beef with the diss 'weird' aimed at one of Miles Davis' groundbreaking (again!) albums. It's not weird, it makes perfect sense -- but only if you were steeped in music current at the time. A critic with an ear tilted back to Basie, Ellington and even Charlie Parker would find "BB" alien, as I think one reviewer termed it.

Here's my take: many people think of this as the beginning of Miles' fall from grace, when he adopted rock star trappings in sound (loud) and clothing (louder) to tap into those rock star dollars. But (again?), as one critic said, this was not pandering, it was some of the most uncompromising music of his entire career. I think he discovered "the pulse", the rhythm that supports almost all music. Rock music pushes the beat to the fore, and I think Miles heard that, thought "Let's simplify the drum patterns, and if we focus on a simple pulse, we can pile all sorts of stuff on it -- it's the support, and as long as it's strong and prominent, we can go for it."

So yes, it doesn't sound like "Stella By Starlight" or "It Never Entered My Mind", and yes, there's no melody/solo/melody format -- but it's not 'weird', just different, and if you listen without preconceived ideas, I think you'd find it intriguing, challenging -- and not at all weird. I was disappointed to read how much producer Teo Macero formed the record, sifting through the hours of tape, splicing and editing the raw material into 'compositions'. The edits are more obvious on the remastered version -- I was always blown away how, in the first few minutes of "Pharaoh's Dance", the band stops for a nano-second, then starts at the top again (twice!). Oh, editing. I intend to find a crappy un-remastered version just so I can listen without seeing/hearing the man behind the curtain pulling the levers.

One final BB anecdote (and for the record, ha! -- I hate the album title, and I refuse to type it out because as someone who loves women, I won't use the derogatory term): I was working in the newspaper office one afternoon at Skagit Valley College, editing the school newspaper, and the instructor/newspaper advisor who shared the space was in one corner listening to a student project. It somehow involved the very album I've been blogging about, and he warned the instructor "Okay, this is pretty weird!" (Oh, crap, that word again!) The teacher said "That's okay, I've heard Pharaoh Sanders!"  -post-Coltrane squonk. Student proceeds to play the title track, which starts with some low bass notes, drum splashes, spiky electric piano chords, and some Miles trumpet blasts with echo effects. Weird, I know! And that's what the student says -- and after a few more minutes, I can't take any more. "Did you listen to the whole piece? Did you not understand that 'weird' part is just the introduction? Like a trumpet fanfare as the band enters the performing arena? Then the piece proper starts, proceeds, and then the intro starts again -- 3 times!!! It's not 'weird', there's a formal structure here!!! Auuugh!" As I remember, I went back to my desk seething, and I think they quietly concluded their business.

If Music Be the Food of Love...

...then play on. 

"Then Play On" is my favorite Fleetwood Mac album, and yes, that includes the Buckingham/Nicks years.

First, thank you, Cheryl. I saw you carrying this album down the hallway one day in high school, and I knew I MUST  hear it --what better arbiter of taste than the girl you had a not-so-secret crush on? 

So I've been listening to that album for quite a few years, even got the poorly mastered CD when it came out. 

BUT -- I recently picked up the remastered edition, and it is radically different from the original American LP version I was used to. Sure, the first CD added a few extra tracks, but the remastered version is practically a different album altogether. "Then Play On" was FMac's last gasp as a blues band, so the American version focused on the blues/rock tracks. The remastered version has 18 tracks, adds Parts 1 & 2 of their biggest hit (at the time) "Oh Well", the single "The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown)" (later covered by Judas Priest!), the b-side "World in Harmony", and a couple more ballads (plus the 2 that were on the first CD version.). The ballads aren't bad, and they certainly give a rounder view of the band's music at the time. But what really threw me off was how the remastered version re-ordered the track listing. You have an album memorized, and then they do this to you! 

Actually, it's nice to hear it in a different version. Still my favorite Mac album, and it sounds even better all spiffed up.

Value Village Find: Jennifer Warnes

This is a terrible collection, but I was desperate. My wife and I love both of Jennifer Warnes' Arista albums ("Jennifer Warnes" and "Shot Through the Heart"), and this collection cherry-picks from them, and adds a few soundtrack cuts. As with most 'best-of' collections, it's usually not. Sometimes it's just sloppy programming, and as someone in the music biz once explained to me, they still want you to buy the original albums, so a 'best-of' is missing some tracks on purpose.

Oh well. On to Jennifer Warnes. As I mentioned, she's done soundtrack work, and that's how most people know her, and that's how she wins Grammys. But Jennifer Warnes is one of probably 3 singers who can make me cry, just with the sound of her voice. (The other 2 are Paul Buchanan and June Tabor, but they have the added heft of tragic lyrics.) I hear something in Jennifer's voice that really wants to communicate something to me, and even some B material chokes me up because she sounds so sincere. "I have something I need to tell you, and I really want you to hear me."  The other day, I said to my wife "Let's listen to this song ("I'm Restless") and you walk me through the vocal tricks she uses." I'm sure there's actual terms for these techniques, but I'll just do my best to describe them. She employs the 'break' in her voice for sincerity, she'll swoop up an octave, she gets breathy on some words, or sings some bolder ala Laura Nyro -- but I want to be clear, these aren't tricks, but Jennifer's been quoted saying how much she tries to convey the meaning in the lyrics, and she's a superbly gifted singer who has an embarrassing array of tools she can use.

The 2 albums I mentioned are mired in the production sound popular at the time, and a later album like "The Hunter" is mired in different production tricks of its era. But I think I noticed something different about her later vocal style (and I have nothing to base this on except my own theory). She's done great work with Leonard Cohen over the years, and I wonder if she took a cue from Leonard's vocal approach. I don't think you could ever accuse Leonard of over-emoting, so maybe Jennifer tried stripping back her own approach. It's a Zen thing, I think. Her latest album (from 2007) was produced by her without the usual record company meddling, so I plan to track it down, and see if my theory proves correct. Whatever she does, I just hope she keeps on singing.

Finding New Music Part 2

While I was thinking about this post, I read the book pictured above. "Let's Talk About Love" is the title of a Celine Dion album that writer Carl Wilson totally hates, but has sold gazillions, so he resolves to find out where the disconnect is. What is 'taste', and why do you have such terrible taste? How does something I may find totally unlistenable find such a large audience ?  It was an eye (ear) opener for me, though the discussion of the sociology of culture towards the end made my brain hurt. But it was helpful as I thought about how to recommend music.

Here's the deal: I was all prepared to offer my suggestions about where to find new music, until I realized, that's where I go -- you may have a totally different agenda. Where to go? 

Many people hear new music on TV -- commercials, soundtracks to TV shows. YouTube is good, and so is (trade secret) the library. Physically, my library's CD collection is pretty mainstream; mostly current rap/country/pop (minus the copies that were stolen),  new music by established artists that peaked years ago (the 'safe bet'), Jazz? You may have a fighting chance. Classical?   Good luck -- like western paperbacks, it's a market that is shrinking as us old farts die off.

Streaming services? So far, Hoopla is a winner. Use your library card, download complete albums, listen for a week, and deep, deep catalog. How deep? "The Return of The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of", a fantastic collection of  -- no kidding -- 78's from  the 1920's. 

Many, many years ago, I first heard Miles Davis on a record borrowed from the library. That's also how I first heard Debussy, and Thomas Tallis, and the complete "Nutcracker". I try to encourage people to take a chance; if you don't like it, just return it. No harm, no foul. And don't just stick with "current" music -- 90% of music from ANY era is junk, so don't be afraid to listen to something 'old'. I figure, we now have literally a thousand years of music available to us. There's lots of exciting things out there to hear.

Finding New Music These Days, Part One

There was a fine New York Times article by Jennifer Finney Boylan titled "When Music Was Strange" (May 10 -- Google it, the link is way too long to type here). It's about how the search to find new ("strange") music has changed from 1975 when she was a teenager. (Her experience with the Miles Davis album "Bitches Brew" ?-- I'll talk about that in a later post. It won't be pretty.)

She, like a lot of us at that age, had similar avenues then to explore new music: the radio (FM, not AM), and friends in the know ("Hey, you have to hear this!") Independent record stores? Not yet. But now we have online music services that pretend to be your personal radio, programmed, as the Firesigns once said, "with your mind in mind". Did you like that last song? Here's one that sounds just like it! As Boylan says, it's "the musical equivalent of Fox News and MSNBC" -- a closed system with your own taste "reflected endlessly back". 

A lot of the music I enjoy, I liked immediately. But many of my favorites now weren't at first; they were too angular, too many rough edges, too...wrong. It takes work to listen past the familiar, to hear with different ears. Boylan mentions learning to love the difficult music of American classical composer Charles Ives (very much worth checking out  -- again, we'll talk later). Boylan suggests that the online streaming services would block this one -- too weird! -- and what a loss that would be.

I still listen to the radio: KING, KSER, CBC (there's good music to be found there, despite their best efforts to bury it under utter crap), but with the caveat that radio now plays a track without explaining "Yeah, great song, but the rest of the album, not so much..." Friends pass along recommendations, but many times, they're just echoing some magazine's "best of", and that's pretty dicey advice. Like Boylan, my son clues me in to what he's currently listening to, and I'd guess I like maybe 15%. Hey, it's HIS music, more power to him.

But I realized quite a long time ago that "new" means "new to me" -- it's new if I've never heard it before. I've been listening to a few collections of 78's -- yes, dusty shellac recorded in the '20s -- and there's truly great stuff there, including a track by Geeshy Wiley, recently profiled in ... the Sunday New York Times magazine! 

Part Two: Okay smarty, where DO I find new tunes, and not just rewarmed versions of songs I already like?

Terence Boylan? Never Heard of Him...

Working at a record store for a number of years had many advantages, one of which was exposure to way more artists that radio could ever play.

Today's example: Terence Boylan. You've probably never heard of him, and I only did because I got a promo copy of his first album. I liked it well enough, liked his second "Suzy" even better. After 1980, he fell off my radar, but he worked on film music and made demos on his own. "Terence Boylan" was released in 1999, and it includes most of his first album, half of his second, and 3 or 4 new songs that fit right in.

Many albums in the late 70s featured a lot of the same studio musicians and guest stars, so Little Feat started sounding like the Doobie Brothers who started sounding like Steely Dan. Terence Boylan drew from the same stock characters, but his songs always were a bit more East Coast Urban rather than Southern California Cosmic Cowboy. And I enjoyed his slightly more sophisticated lyrics. One of my favorites was referring to a college girl returning from summer vacation "brown as a banged-up peach". And then there's the one that quoted T.S. Eliot -- well, this English major was smitten.

 

I've been weeding my collection more earnestly lately; as I get older, I just don't have time for third-rate music.  Terence Boylan never made it out of the singer-songwriter ghetto, but I've always enjoyed his work, and I'm still finding new things in the production and musicianship. And one song features a Chevy Chase Fender Rhodes solo!

My first real introduction to Bluegrass

Like many of us, I probably first heard bluegrass on TV: "The Ballad of Jed Clampett", the theme song from "The Beverly Hillbillies". There was some bluegrass sprinkled throughout "The Andy Griffith Show", and then later the movies "Bonnie and Clyde" and "Deliverance". Once in a while on car trips, my wife and I would pick up cheapo cassettes from K-Mart from labels like Starday, King and Gusto featuring bluegrass (and trucker tunes!) So I'd heard bluegrass, but I didn't really hear it until I found "The Bluegrass Album" featuring a bluegrass super-group of younger performers like my man Tony Rice, Bobby Hicks, J.D. Crowe and Doyle Lawson. The songs were all traditional, a mix of Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt and others, along with a gospel song tossed into the mix.

After the success of the first (1981) album, many more followed (5 volumes?) and they naturally called themselves "The Bluegrass Album Band". Listening now with ears a little more travelled, the album sounds a bit homogenized -- nobody singing through their nose or scraping away drunkenly on fiddle -- and I miss the, shall we say, piquant nature of an Uncle Dave Macon or Gid Tanner. But they all are excellent musicians, playing at the top of their game in a traditional setting, with exceptional quality production and sound. This is the album where I went from a curious explorer to a committed fan. From here, it was onto the Skaggs & Rice album and many, many more in the days to follow. Thanks, guys!

RIP, Wayne Henderson

 

 

Wayne Henderson recently passed, so I pulled out "Scratch" by the Crusaders (Wayne, the trombone player, was the ostensible leader -- I guess -- I mean, on this live album, he introduces the other band members, so that makes him the boss, right?) I'm guessing the band was pretty tight-knit (what do I know?) only because musicians who played with them are introduced as "friends". The band is the band, anyone else is...not.

I probably already blogged about this album (sorry, my research team was busy), but I just wanted to give a shout out to Wayne. This live album is (as albums were then) about 40 minutes long, they come back for an encore after the 30 minute mark -- and then the last song, lasting almost 9 minutes, spends two-thirds of the time introducing the band members. Value for your dollar? Yes, yes, yes. Stomping intro ("Scratch") written by Wayne, a funky version of "Eleanor Rigby" (no, really), "Hard Times", which sounds like the Saturday Night Live outro music, and "So Far Away", a shorter version than the studio version but features the l-o-n-g l--o--n--g held note (circular breathing?) that totally excites the audience (and that's what you want in a live album, right?)

I love the Crusaders, at least the first 4 that I own (I can't vouch for the cross-over years that followed), but those first 4 albums cemented a musical relationship for me, and for that, I thank Wayne Henderson. I love jazz trombone because of you, and that's a big debt. Scratch daddy, indeed      

New Age (Yeah, I Know...)

 

 

There was a time, dear reader, when the term "new age" hadn't been sticker-slapped over every piano solo/harp/synthesizer/flute/cello/ or any-combinations-thereof album, because it still actually referred to a fairly specific type of music, found in health food stores and little catalogs featuring incense, LPs and cassettes. Then the Windham Hill label exploded, and anyone who could noodle aimlessly on piano or guitar suddenly was releasing albums by the truckload. Any music considered soothing or soporific was labeled "new age", and even though Windham Hill honcho Will Ackerman resisted the label, too late -- it was now a Godzilla-sized marketing ploy.

I like many of Windham Hill's original artists, but a lot of the music seemed mournful and lethargic, like all the joy and spark had been drained out. The weird thing is, a lot of "real" new age music is sparkly, relaxing and joyful. Heck, a lot of Iasos' music sounds like Tinkerbell's yoga class.

Iasos also loves the l-o-n-g fadeout, and Aeoliah favors long forms too, more like organ drones or Eno's ambient pieces, but where Eno's music can be cool and contemplative, Aeoliah's is more warm and soothing. It's great music to go to sleep to, and I mean that as a compliment!

"Structures from Silence" is an early Steve Roach album, and it's basically Side One of Eno's "Discreet Music", except where Eno's piece is as much process as it is composition, "Structures" feels more random and floating, though I suspect the process is similar.

Some "artists" hit while the iron was hot, then went off to do other hack work, while some of the originals kept plowing the same row. I assumed someone like Iasos occupied his own space out of touch with the rest of the world, so I was pleasantly surprised to see his recent career overview CD reviewed in a British rock magazine. Seems that all sorts of contemporary British bands cite Iasos as an influence and an inspiration. Who would have guessed?

Some Fine New Early-ish Music CDs

Here's one of my enduring dream/fantasies: I'm walking the halls of some old building (school, church, warehouse -- whatever) and I hear the distant strains of recorder and lute. Some musicians are taking advantage of an empty building that's blessed with astounding acoustics to practice. Well, these two albums have made my dreams real.

You'd think that classical music producers would be sensitive to ambiance, but I can't tell you how many albums I hear that have just smeared the soundstage, until everything (EVERYTHING) sounds front and center, bold and in your face with no sense of the room. Music moves through physical space when it's recorded live; it moves the air. You don't get that with earbuds and you don't get that if you manipulate the sound in the studio (and a combination of the two just kills the whole experience.) But the two jewels pictured above, both from the Attaignant Consort, are exquisitely performed and impeccably recorded.

 

"Madame d'Amours" was released in 2007, and "Le Parler et le Silence" is from 2013. "Madame" is music for Renaissance flute consort (late 1400s to late 1500s), and "Le Parler" features flute consort and lute from the late 16th to the early 18th centuries. "Madame" has the old reliables, pieces you may know from John Renbourn and yes, Jethro Tull. "Le Parler" has more variety -- Morley, Gibbons, Dowland, de Visee, Hotteterre -- but seems pensive, even wistful, like the pieces were written as a slightly mournful look back to another era. I'm sure that's just my take, and most likely, not the least bit accurate. I'll spend some time reading the comprehensive liner notes and let you know!

Oh, and props to Arkivmusic.com and Fanfare Magazine (fanfaremag.com) for the best tips and recommendations for classical music.

Saint Patrick and the Banshee

My family has quite the Irish background, yet I'm not really much of a fan of Irish music. I think I have 4 Irish CDs, 3 of which I got for free because I was the music purchaser at one of my jobs. And the one I paid for ("The Lilting Banshee") was $1.99 at Value Village. Unfortunately, the copy I have is the Musical Heritage Society reissue, not the cool Saydisc original pictured here.

"The Lilting Banshee" is an instrumental collection featuring Irish pipes, harp and bodhran. Very pleasant, though the inclusion of a Howard Jones song baffles me.

There have been Irish albums in the past that I've enjoyed very much, but I never made the upgrade to CD. Maybe it's time to reconnect with the Bothy Band, the Chieftains and early Clannad. After all, you're only Irish once! 

Play It Again, Sam

 

Looks like Value Village is turning into my go-to place to find great CDs. (I'm not sure if that's a good thing or just very, very sad. I'm leaning toward the latter.)

 

Sam (Leslie) Phillips was a Contemporary Christian singer (think Amy Grant -- man, I really need to post about her music some day) who eventually turned her back on that genre -- maybe it was "the Cyndi Lauper of Christian music" tag that did it? -- and now releases albums with more of a pure pop '60s-informed style. "The Indescribable Wow' was the first foray into the new world, and it's an incredible 'debut'.  

 

 

Sam's voice is thin and reedy (imagine Stevie Nicks sped up) -- but that's not a bad thing here. So much 'pop' music is basically vocalists with limited range performing exceptional material, and that's the case here with Sam (though she does push her voice to the edge on "What You Don't Want to Hear"). Check out the musical talent on display here: producer/performer T Bone Burnett (and Mr. Sam Phillips, at least at the time), drummer Steve Jordan (Keith Richards), percussionist Alex Acuna (Weather Report, Joni Mitchell), bassist Buell Niedlinger (don't even ask..), and arranger Van Dyke Parks (The Beach Boys' "Smile"), and of course, the exceptional songs by Sam. Lyrically insightful, incredibly tuneful.

Naturally, this album pretty much went nowhere. Those of us who were aware of it at the time continue to carry a torch, and retrospectively, it has attained 'lost classic' status. I still hear new things I missed after all these years. Subtle, rich, poppy yet deep.

It's pretty much out of print now, and I got it for less than 2 bucks. Is this a great country or what?

Valentine's Day, Quiet Village and Value Village! A Late Post

Total bonus here: $1.99 at Value Village, the CD includes both the "Exotica" LP AND "Exotica II" AND my mother-in-law loves the original vinyl releases (stored in the garage that her wheelchair can't access)...so I burn a copy for her, suggest to my wife this would be a great Valentine's Day gift for her mother, and YES, I will score total bonus points!!

Okay, so her first reaction was: what the heck is this? (That might be your reaction.) But last week, she called to say how much she loved it.

If  "Exotica" means nothing to you, let me illuminate. Servicemen returning from exotic (sorry) locations brought home souvenirs of their ports of call, and musicians began to capitalize on the rosy romantic view (in hindsight) -- so they provided hokey versions of what we'd imagine tropical music to sound like. Martin Denny's band had an Hawaiian nightclub residency. One night, performing "Quiet Village" ( a Les Baxter tune) -- pseudo-Polynesian tiki music -- the club's caged birds (part of the club's interior ambiance) began chiming in. Band members provided the bird calls on subsequent performances, and a sound was born. Eventually, the band was recorded, and "Quiet Village" was the single. I have to believe their version was an in-joke; there's nothing quiet about this village. We now refer to the whole genre as "exotica". (For the full story, the liner notes are priceless, and they formed the bulk of the Les Baxter interview in "Incredibly Strange Music"  -- I reviewed those books a while back, as I'm sure you remember...)

No, this isn't really something I'd slap on the system to relax, but if you're looking for an 'ironic' soundtrack for a backyard barbeque (and you wanted the hipsters in the neighborhood to think you were cool), the CD is a lot of fun, and how many albums are just fun anymore?

Adam Steffey: Post-Alison Krauss And Kicking It

 

 

 

I heard some of this album on KSER:  "Bluegrass Express" possibly (thanks, Miss Nicolette!) or more likely, Dave Long's late, lamented "Stringband Theory". Very much enjoyed it, but Adam's name nagged at me -- how do I know that name...  Eventually the brain pan sorted it out -- Adam was in an early edition of Union Station, Alison Krauss' bluegrass band. Oh, did I mention? (Yeah, I did.) Saw Alison Krauss at the Backstage with her (mostly) original band, including Adam Steffey. Adam was, umm, built a little differently then. Our nickname for him was Mr. Big Pants.

Sorry about the 'Mr. Big Pants' handle, Adam. No, seriously -- really, really sorry (and congrats on the spiffy new look!)

So -- how's the CD? Totally fantastic, and, rare for me, a bluegrass album that gets richer each time I hear it. In my experience, bluegrass albums are pretty much 'figured out' on first or second hearings, so the re-listening experience involves enjoying the well-executed performances. Listening to "New Primitive", it seemed like Adam took a chapter from Alison (record bluegrass music with the best ambiance and studio mastery) and a tiny bit from Tony Rice (don't be afraid to expand the boundaries). Nothing too radical -- all the songs are traditional, 3 with vocals, and there's a good rotation of solos from mandolin, fiddle, banjo and guitar (with bass by then-and-current-Union Station member Barry Bales). It's  a fresh and invigorating take on a traditional style. "New Primitive" is perfectly titled and entertainingly rendered. 

Neko Case -- Better and Better

 

 

The latest Neko Case album is her best so far, sez me.  I've been a sporadic listener, loved bits of "Fox Confessor Brings the Flood" and  "Blacklist"  and "Middle Cyclone", which features the fine, fine song "This Tornado Loves You" -- but "The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight: The Harder I Fight, the More I Love You" is by far the best of the batch, more consistent, tighter, and the melodies don't wander, as I found was the case (no pun intended) in other albums.

I really would have liked a lyric sheet. I'm a reader, sue me. Neko's lyrics are hard for me to follow just by listening to them , they're complicated and she doesn't travel down familiar byways.

"Man" is the track that announces itself boldly (3 cuts in). It's by far the most in-your-face track (but what's with that insect-buzz guitar?)

Even though Neko's voice is nothing at all like Grace Slick, I still hear some connections -- maybe it's the laser-like intensity that both Grace and Neko share on certain words and phrasing? And on this album, Neko seems to be in total control of her voice, her songs, the whole package.  

Mississippi Along the Skagit

 

Just a shorter, post-card moment: my dear, dear wife isn't in the best of health, so many times, my day off is basically spent getting her out of the house for a drive. A week or so ago, sun unseasonably beaming (as it continues to be), we took off. On to Lake Cavanaugh, over a former logging road to Oso, then north to Darrington, desperately in need of a restroom (found a park -- whew!) Arrive in Darrington, which felt like a town hanging on for dear life before all that's left is a gas station - slash - mini-mart - slash - nail salon - slash - tattoo parlor. And yet there's a library AND a bookstore -- so maybe

there's still a chance for D-town to get through the tough times.

 

Darrington is surrounded by amazing mountains, but...well, here's the deal: Concrete and Rockport and Marblemount have built a 'American Alps' tourism campaign -- and it's working! Eagle viewing, wineries,  gluen-free bakeries and ghost tours -- Concrete is finding a way to capitalize on the gorgeous, inviting surroundings. Darrington, it seems, not so much. 

Anyway, we drove the Concrete-Sauk Valley Road, late afternoon sun illuminating the river and so many are-you-kidding-me-you're-right-on-the-banks-of-the-freakin'-river cabins. What music could we listen to that would accompany, even enhance, this journey? Turns out this album did just fine.

The songs are tradtional, but Mississippi John Hurt's singing is kindly and delicately subtle. It suggests slowing down, seeing the beauty in the common and the everyday. We drove on, past kids (babies in tow), walking dogs - or rather, accompaning dogs on their walks -- farms, ranches all lit up in a golden glow -- man, what a fine, fine, fine day. And we both agreed --- Mississippi John was the perfect soundtrack.

 

Thrift Store Gambling: And Sometimes You Don't Lose As Much!

Here's my problem with the thrift store thing: it always boils down to "Well, I wouldn't pay full price for this, but at two bucks, what a bargain!" Sorry, but crap is still crap, no matter how little you paid for it. And then you're saddled with more stuff that you can't quite bring yourself to get rid of...
I think of the line in a recent article in "The New Yorker" about the still-touring remnants of  the TV cable show "Mystery Science Theatre 3000". One of the participants said ruefully "I realized I'd seen 'Santa Claus Conquers the Martians' more times than 'Citizen Kane'." (They broke up soon after.) Time spent listening to stuff that's 'not so bad' equals time NOT listening to stuff that's really, really good.

So, Sopwith Camel -- worth the $1.99 ?  I figure 7 of the 10 tracks are pretty good, tho the last is only a minute or so long. Brief history: Sopwith Camel was one of the very first San Francisco hippie bands to release a single ("Hello Hello") that charted, they released an album, they broke up. 4 or 5 years later, they reform (mostly), record and release "The Miraculous Hump Returns From the Moon". Reviews are harsh.

 

So here's the deal: I have this weird idea that there's some song or album I heard as a developing teen that I've forgotten.  That, when rediscovered, will open, Alladin-like,  portals of memory that will allow me to tap into my teen brain. What were you thinking, Teen David? I wrote notes, kept lists -- what I wouldn't give for my list of the bands I saw in concert -- but boxes disappear when you move a lot. Had lunch with a high school bud a few days ago -- most of our stories didn't match at all. Is memory real, or just a story we tell ourselves?

 

I remember hearing "Coke, Suede and Waterbeds", the single from the album, on FM radio, and thinking "Wonder what that album sounds like?" And yes, when I saw it at Value Village, I thought "Ah, the portal.."

(Jeez, bud, this can't be the portal -- were you even paying attention? If you haven't even heard it before, IT CAN'T BE THE PORTAL!) 

 

Guess what? It's not bad. 'Side One' (guessing) is pretty good, and 'Side Two' has one good song (and a cool outro). I did enjoy the good stuff, though . It's no portal, but, well your portal is up to you. I'll bet this review doesn't have you smoking the online used CD sites, desperate to find  a copy, but maybe you'll hear a song sometime soon and wonder, where could this lead?