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White Stripes, The - Party Of Special Things To Do - 11-Nov-09 09:44 AM
Jack White pays homage to the influence that Captain Beefheart had upon his work with these three excellent covers on limited edition red & white vinyl.

"Party Of Special Things To Do" originally appeared on the critically-received DiMartino produced Beefheart album "Bluejeans & Moonbeams". Whites arrangement proves the critics wrong. Vliet, above all, was a great songwriter and co-wrote this with Winged Eel Fingerling.

Doug Moons guitar work on the original "China Pig", from the seminal "Trout Mask Replica", was lean, mean and bluesy. Whites similar style does this track more than justice.

"Ashtray Heart" was given birth on Vliets "Doc At The Radar Station". Tepper and French did some great slide-guitar work on it, with French stubbing out some interesting drum work in the layering. Jack and Meg, as a one-man-band, handle this track and the whole set brilliantly. This is a release that captures all the edginess and rawness that is prevalent in Beefhearts work. A must for collectors of The Don and the Stripes alike.

Hapshash And The Coloured Coat* - Featuring The Human Host And The Heavy Metal Kids - 10-Nov-09 12:15 AM
Impetus for this release, in the vein of freedom, peace & love, is evidenced in the first track. "H-O-P-P- Why?". An anthemic and anarchic questioning rant at the imprisonment of "UFO" club operator and "IT" editor/contributor John Hoppy Hopkins for drug-related offences. An album launched in a turbulent and eventful year that began with the "Human Be-In" at Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. A year that saw the emergence of the Abortion Act and a repeal of the Sexual Offences Act to legalize homosexuality. The Stones drug-busts and an airplay ban on "Lets Spend The Night Together". The underground movement getting it on with "Pink Floyd" at the Alley Pally with the "14-Hour Technicolour Dream". An illegal "Smoke-In" at Speakers Corner. Protestations at the Vietnam Draft. The foundation of "Release" & the Yippie "Youth International Party". Pirate radio forced to close down, Brian Epstein dying and The Times adding weight to the drug culture debate with the leader ‘Who Breaks a Butterfly on a Wheel?’

Like the music of the time, the medium of graphic art became an effective tool to voice the opinions of this youthful counter-culture. Evidenced in the Apple Shop art by "The Fool", or the work of "OZ" magazines Martin Sharp who also provided sleeve-art for "Disraeli Gears" & "Wheels Of Fire". This "Hapshash" album also made its mark in the cultural stew. Nigel Waymouth and Michael English (aka Hapshash & The Coloured Coat) quickly became a renowned duo in the world of psychedelic art in the UK, becoming leading exponents of the genre outside of Americas West-Coast/Fillmore scene. Their early designs for the "Granny Takes A Trip" outlet, their "Technicolour Dream" posters, events at Hopkins "UFO" club and alternative magazine articles set many precedents. Their original "Osiris Visions" posters and artworks are now highly collectable. Four performers who made up this albums musical group (aka "The Heavy Metal Kids") were, effectively, the nucleus of the band "Art" - who would later be known as "Spooky Tooth"; Harrison, Ridley, Kellie & Grosvenor. The remainder (aka "The Human Host") includes Granny tailor John Pearse, while others are possibly members of the ensemble gathered by Waymouth on his later solo "Western Flyer" follow-up album. Guy Stevens is present at the controls.

The album is pretty much like English & Waymouths Daubry-Weirdsly artwork. Youll need to backcomb your barnet, don your best paisley shirt and velvet pants, adjust your Indian-silk neck cravat and pink-tinged spectacles, slip the vibrant red wax onto the turntable and settle down with a tin of wacky backy as you let "Empires Of The Sun" take you to a land of tangerine dreams and friendly white rabbits.

Its certainly not a work of musical art. Rather like an antithesis of the brilliant "Sergeant Pepper" from the same year, it simply rambles along with gongs, bells & chants in a well-intentioned way, like the backing track for a party at "Middle Earth" or "The Roundhouse"- although not as catchy as "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" by Iron Butterfly. But, in my opinion and despite its flaws, this is one of the keystone albums which captures the period of the UK psychedelic movement. I would imagine a CD of it is a lot better than my original riot-scarred fuzzy-sounding novelty red vinyl. Although, as you may gather, my imagination plays tricks...

Michael Moorcock & The Deep Fix* - The New Worlds Fair - 30-Oct-09 07:50 PM
Before I moved to Notting Hill in the 70s I was already a dyed-in-the-wool Moorcock fan, self-weaned on Hawkmoon novels, multiverses, alternate planes of consciousness, the paradox of immortality and the mystic 70s stuff to which todays computer-gamers owe much.

My stamping ground around my accommodation was perhaps similar to that of Van Morrison who, on "Slim, Slow Slider", "saw you walkin down by Ladbroke Grove this morning" , the place of carnival gathering and Hawkwind happenings, down Westbourne Grove, from the IT magazine HQ & Pink Fairies area of residence, passing the defiantly-scrawled "The Tigers of Wrath are Wiser than the Horses of Instruction" graffiti writ large on the wall by the Island Records building, to Finches watering-hole off the Portobello Road.

It was in Finches that I briefly met Moorcock, then editor of New Worlds SF mag, resplendent in a kind of Bronco-Billy jacket and his usual cowboy hat. A man at ease in this taverns eternal struggle for a balance between Law and Chaos. Many of his words and lyrics were already used in collaborations with Hawkwind by the time he formulated "The Deep Fix" project, the name taken from a set of tales by his non-de-plume James Colvin- whos central character Jerry Cornelius happened to front a fictional band of the same title. There was a gestation period before this release emerged, including a co-written track by actor Sam Shepard. Moorcock would later pen material for "Blue Öyster Cult" in late 1979.

"New Worlds Fair" is not a particularly accessible album, despite Hawkwind involvement and an appearance by Snowy White and other alumni from the defunct "Third Ear Band". A rather amateurish parody, akin to a musical rendition of "Something Wicked This Way Comes", where life is like a carnival of smoke and mirrors and nothing is as it seems. Even as an avid Moorcock fan I play it but once a year and simply treasure it for sentimental reasons. However, I give most of his books five stars...

Jimi Hendrix Experience, The - Electric Ladyland - 24-Oct-09 08:03 AM
By 1968 Id seen Hendrix perform. An act that surpassed Arthur Brown for vaudeville and virtuosity. I dashed out and bought Electric Ladyland on day one. But, I still wasnt prepared. I had the other two albums, but this was music from the other side of the cosmos, played inside-out by all my blues guitar heros rolled into one. Inspired, astounding, awesome and other adjectives too numerous to mention. All Along The Watchtower is the diamond among the gems, an arrangement stamped with Hendrix style and heaped with praise by its author Dylan. Progressively comparable only, in my book, to Frank Zappa- a methodic yang to Hendrixs untamed yin. On first hearing him Zappa thought he was good, but too loud. Later, Hendrix gave FZ his burned-out strat. A surprising move for a guy who even took his guitar to the toilet to keep practicing. There was respect, although FZ showed no sentimentality and had the defunct axe rebuilt.

When Hendrix & Kramer released the Record Plant master tapes of Electric Ladyland to Reprise, a first-generation copy was also despatched to Track/Polydor in the UK. Aware that the swirling & phasing present on the recording would give concern to the metal mastering engineers, a warning was attached that the engineers should not attempt to reduce the effects and that they were intentional. Bearing in mind this was 1968 and the cosmic & spatial effects on the recording were likely in advance of anything the engineers were used to hearing. The request was duly followed by Polydors engineers, who were perhaps more in tune with this new wave of music, but ignored by those at Reprise who were probably more at home with Sinatra. First UK pressings (613008/9 and beyond) are bright and fresh, the US pressings (2RS 6307) are flat by comparison. Theres a rare 9-track UK book club taster release by Track/Polydor of this album too. Titled Electric Jimi Hendrix and pulled after 2 weeks in circulation (2856 002).

Those in possession of the album with the Karl Ferris red and yellow head image of Hendrix (originally used on the US release and officially adopted by his estate) might be interested to know it was taken during the first show at the Saville Theatre in London on 27 August 1967. The 2nd show was cancelled on news of Brian Epsteins death. He was the proprietor of the theater. Reprise had again ignored Hendrixs wishes with this cover. He had wanted to use a shot of the band with children beside the Pan statue in Central Park. Tracks art department in the UK also went against the grain with the nude ladies cover. It caused some concern in retail outlets, but didnt get as much brown bag or censorship treatment as Lennons Two Virgins a few weeks later. Early UK issues, with auto-coupled discs and the variants of the blue text or rotated inner spread, are rarities. This AD/BC disc sequence also caused some CDs to appear with the wrong track order.

Over the years remastered versions of Electric Ladyland have appeared, created from US 2nd generation or transfer tapes (the original tapes being the subject of legal wrangles & finally coming to rest with Experience Hendrix LLC). Theres been remastering and quasi-mono issues by Lee Herschberg and a remaster by Joe Glaswirt, with Dave Mitson assisting, using the Sonic Solutions NoNoise system. However, its not until Experience Hendrix made their releases on both CD and limited edition vinyl that a significant competition to the original UK pressing arrived.

Using the original studio master tapes the albums original engineer, Eddie Kramer, set about digitally remastering the album with George Marino at Sterling Sound. Kramer chose digital rather than analog to achieve greater control throughout the process. Unlike many digital transfers from analog this process lends itself well to the nature of Hendrixs tracks, with the knobs twiddled by a man who was there at the birth. The LP (MCA2-11600) could be a bit hard to come by. The CD (MCAD-11600) is an excellent buy for newcomers to Hendrix & a great addition to the collection of those who managed to still be around to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the original release. It certainly saves easing the vinyl out of the dust-cover, remembering how the phonograph works and risking a scratch or two... Rainy day?... Dream away...

David Byrne - Music For The Knee Plays - 20-Sep-09 10:04 AM
Music For The Knee Plays is a series of rhythmic brass-oriented vignettes and lyrics by David Byrne, jointing an eight-hour choreographic work, based upon Robert Wilsons concept "The Civil Wars". This work was originally intended to be performed at the LA Olympic Arts Festival but, due to the length of the work, only certain sections were performed there. The entire piece consists of fifteen central scenes within five acts and was broadly staged in its complete form at the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis, April 1984.

Wilson initiated this concept of inter-plays in 1976 in his partnership with the Philip Glass Ensemble on the operatic work "Einstein On The Beach", within which the preludes, interludes and post-ludes could be run together, thus forming a play or structured work in itself. The Byrne partnership with Wilson began after Wilson heard a tape of Byrnes score for Twyla Tharps "Catherine Wheel", whilst Byrne was already inspired by Wilsons work on both "Einstein" and the Broadway spectacle "A Letter To Queen Victoria".

The seeds of Byrnes work on "The Knee Plays" began in Tokyo with choreographer Suzushi Hanayagi and set-designer Jun Matsuno. The rhythmic backbone to the pieces began life as Kabuki-style drumming in a minimalist stage setting, akin to a Noh drama. However, with a typically inspired Byrne twist, influenced by the repetitive New-Orleans funk-beat of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, he traded Japanese drum rhythms for Dixieland brass beats. The pieces were shaped around a series of captioned drawings provided by Wilson, an example of which can be seen on the cover as "A tree is best measured when it is down".

Stripped of its third dimension of dance and synchronized movement "Music For The Knee Plays" is an album that takes on an almost hypnotic life of its own, with the repetitive patterns of Byrnes astute spoken lyrics cutting through a melodic kaleidoscope of shifting brass and bass-drum rhythms. A work that would not be out of place at an upbeat and funky New Orleans-style funeral in the orderly street bustle of Japan. The CD issue, simply titled "The Knee Plays", has some tracks from the vinyl retitled and contains eight bonus tracks together with a DVD soundtrack slideshow of photographs from the earlier performance.

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