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Buyer Rating: 100.0% positive (7 ratings)

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Francisco - Music Business - 16-Dec-05 01:32 PM
Unfold this record to find a game called "Music Business". This is no matter of speech. The packaging of this record is an actual playable board-game developed by a company called "Gioca Ganso". Wheather this company actually exists or has been made up I still had no means of finding out. But that is really besides the point. If it isn't real there clearly is an intention of making it look real.

The game rules have been printed on the inner-sleeve of record 1 on thick and shinny paper (as opposed to that of record 2 which is made of plain, thin white paper with a hole in the middle). The rules are actually quite long to quote but to give an idea I'll quote the "Object of the game":

"The object of the game is to enter the world of 'music business', reaching first place in the sales charts after producing a series of records.
Starting from 'GO!', playing clockwise, each player moves his token in the direction of the arrow the number of spaces indicated by the dice.
The various spaces represent the real path to success in the 'music business'.
In order to win the game, the player must achieve the first position in sales chart.
To achieve the goal, it is necessary to sell several records, independent and / or major.
The board features spaces of change and various obstacles".

The dices are not provided and, should you wish to use the actual tokens of the game (which incidentaly are caricatures of Francisco, Marco Passarani and the lot) you will have to cut them out from the back cover.

This extensive explanation is required in order to understand the complexity of ideas one is presented with. Thus, there is a lot more here than good design and excellent music. Fine-Art language is being used here. I don't intend to extend myself even more and try to tie ends but to sum up this record is literally telling you to "cut out" from the record and "play the game". Thus in a very blasé and modest manner making music history.

Shitcluster - Beyond A Joke - 17-Nov-04 02:41 PM
This is cult material, filled with eery sounds and very playfull. It reminds me of childhood times having fun with the record player by playing tracks backwards and changing speeds.
Dark turntablism?
Elvis never sounded so evil.

John Carpenter - 02-Mar-04 04:42 PM
It's hard to talk about the musician John Carpenter without forgeting his films. He is a film maker who happens to make music for his own films, and that makes him a composer. It is important to stress that his music is never primarily thought as listening material on its own, isolated from the imagery of his films. This is specially true for his early works in pre-midi times, and those are probably Carpenter's best times as a musician. For the reissue of "Assault On Precinct 13" he states that "Assault On Precinct 13 is a truly minimalistic score. I never imagined that anyone anywhere at any time would listen to the music on its own away from the image and narrative".
That is the quality we've came to appreciate in his music. Inconclusive soudscapes that repeat themselves with small variations once in a while that take you high and bring you back down again. Over and over again with no conclusion, track after track, soundtrack after soundtrack.
"Assault On Precinct 13" quickly became a cult film, and the soundtrack a collector's item (until it got repressed last year). Thus, Carpenter became more and more aware of the potential of his soundtracks as musical pieces on their own and that has lead to the formation of the one off "pop" project The Coupe De Villes as well as several collaborations with rock and metal artists amongst others. Such are the cases of "Village Of The Damned" on which he collaborated with Dave Davis (of Kinks fame) or "Ghosts Of Mars" with guests stars such as Steve Vai and Elliot Easton. "Village Of The Damned" follows the tradition of Carpenters work as a composer and works wondefuly both on and out of the film. "Ghosts Of Mars" however, is a functional instrumental rock album (if you're into that sort of sound) but fails to work as a soundtrack. It only works to the extend that it is pure marketing and that has never been the case in Carpenter's work as a composer.

Vanity 6 - Vanity 6 - 29-Feb-04 05:33 PM
If there's one album that defines electro-funkiness then this is the one. It combines three striking forces that happened to have met at one precise moment: Vanity 6 (Brenda, Vanity and Susan - starlets wannabe) as lead singers and allegedly producers, Prince (under the alias The Starr Company) as producer and backing singer, and The Time as musicians.
It was not necessarily an accident. These people hanged out together and, at different points in time, worked together in different productions even if only as guest stars. However, this is a very relevant moment in the carreers of both Prince and The Time. As for Vanity 6, this album is their whole carreer. Vanity would go solo on Motown for a couple of records and the other two members would join Apollonia to form Apollonia 6 (also a one record act).
Prince is all over this album. Funky guitars and metalic drums, telephones ringing, girls moaning. Strangely enough this album sounds more like Prince then many of his own productions. On "Nasty Girl" Vanity sings "I don't like this groove. Try and give me something I can croon to. Catch my drift?" and the song goes into a sample of "Around The World In A Day". The album is predominantly feminine and interestingly enough many of the tracks have a similar production to those that Prince recorded under the name Camille ("If I was Your Girlfriend", "Scarlet Pussy", "The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker"...) and those of darker tone in "The Black album".
Prince's music (and persona) has always been associated with a plurality of talent and possibilities. Thus, Vanity 6 is probably one of Princes most significant productions that could have never been what is should he have chosen to sign the project himself.
Twenty two years later, this record sounds very fresh apart from the off moment, "He's So Dull", which sounds like very cheap Dolly Parton and very unlike Prince (probably Vanity 6's only production credit, my guess).
Classic tracks: "Nasty Girl", "Drive Me Wild", "If A Girl Answers (Don't Hang Up)", "Make-Up", and "Bite The Beat" (Where Felix Da Housecat ripped "What Does It Feel Like?" from).

Donna Summer - On The Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes I & II - 21-Feb-04 01:00 PM
If you thought that this was a great catch to help fill those Donna Summer/Giorgio Moroder gaps in your collection think again, this record is mixed. A soft mix, some songs are actually only cut onto the next and side D is unmixed but that's probably the most unfortunate moment of the record. So if you were looking for mixing material you're better off getting the original records.
Still, if you like mixed vinyl and/or if you're a Moroder trainspotter this is actually worth getting.

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