The detritus around the stereo indicates the following may have been played recently...
Oh, and like Fitter i've been on a bit of a 70's trip ( no change there then ! )
Kickin' off with a bit of jazz-fusion...
NARADA MICHAEL WALDEN - Garden Of Lovelight - One of my guiltiest pleasures, despite the cheesily earnest lyrics devoted to the most part to Sri Chimnoy there's some fine playing to be heard on this. Shame that the likes of Narada / Michael Henderson / Reggie Lucas achieved their greatest success with their disco, soul-lite, pop production work in the 80's. Not that i begrudge them their success, it's just that they'd have made rather a kickass trio IMO.
LENNY WHITE - Streamline - Great to hear Struttin' and 12 Bars From Mars again. Guess i like my fusion with the emphasis on the rock.
MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA - Birds Of Fire - Stellar stuff, no dodgy lyrics either !
MILES DAVIS - Agharta - See comment above.
Enough of the muso flash, let's move onto a self styled non-musician. So in preparation for Fridays Enofest on BBC4 this lot got a play...
DAVID BOWIE - Low - Despite the odd moment through the 'soul years' that i really liked ( the tracks Fame / Station To Station / Stay, all spring to mind ) that period really wasn't my bag, both then and now. Low / Heroes / Lodger are another matter entirely although it took me a little while to succumb to Low's charms as a spotty teenager, Ultimately though it became one of my favourites of his and one of those rare records that opened my eyes to new musical pastures, and for that I'll be forever grateful.
ENO - Another Green World - And yet another that helped change my perception of music.
FRIPP & ENO - Evening Star - See comment above.
TALKING HEADS - Fear Of Music - Remain In Light gets the plaudits for its innovative fusion of styles and its almighty grooves ( and rightly so ) but for me personally, the more song based stuff on here is every bit its equal.
BYRNE & ENO - My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts - The daddy of future music !
BUDD & ENO - Plateaux of Mirror - Bloomin' gorgeous.
Still stuck in the 70's...
TODD RUNDGREN - A Wizard / A True Star - Think he was touched by genius during the period between Something Anything and Todd with AWATS at the pinnacle. Side 1 of which would be a contender for the greatest psychedelic music ever thread in my book. Foolishly i didn't get a ticket for the upcoming performance of this so looking forward to hearing any reports from those lucky enough to attend.
HERE & NOW BAND - Rivington Pike 1 and 2 - Some great improvised spacerock to be found here despite the sonic limitations of the original cassette tape source material (it's still a remarkably good salvage job, mind). It's difficult for me to be objective about this as they were such an important part of my teenage years. Any newcomers to Gong or Hillage should probably check 'em out though.
GONG - You - 'Nuff said already !
And onwards into the 80's...
CABARET VOLTAIRE - 2 x45 - Thanks to Jim Tones for the prompt on this, really enjoyed hearing this again, especially Protection which kinda put me in mind of Klaus Dinger jamming with Nik Turner when i played it yesterday.
GARY CLAIL'S TACKHEAD SOUND SYSTEM - Tackhead Tape Time - If you only get one record by Clail or Tackhead then get this, it's fuckin' immense !
BARRINGTON LEVI - Under Mi Sensi 12" - Biddley- biddley-woah-a-woah. Don't like much reggae beyond about 1980 but i do rate this.
LEE SCRATCH PERRY - Time Boom X De Devil - Once again, see above.
ALAN VEGA - Saturn Strip - Many thanks to the Indoor Miner for this. Feel like a complete nob for letting this pass me by back in the day as Vega's such an original talent. Must have thought things would go downhill after Suicide split, i guess.
Get a move on Bubbs, into the 90's ( but only just ) ...
SPACEMEN 3 - Recurring - Don't care that this is essentially two solo mini LP's, it's still a fab disc. Jason's side just getting the, er, nod over Sonic's.
AFRICAN HEADCHARGE - Songs Of Praise - Uplifting stuff, almost transcendent at times. Probably the latest reggae record i own ( 1990 ) but have heard they've got a new one out in a similar vein so must check that out.
SPIRITUALIZED ELECTRIC MAINLINE - Pure Phase + Associated EP's - The warm, fucked up, fuzzy mix on this ( two seperate mono mixes ? ) suits the lyrical and musical content perfectly. I can't think of another track that captures a certain kinda drug experience better than Let It Flow either.
Finally, the Noughties...
M83 - Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts
FOURTET - Pause
BOREDOMS - Vision Creation Newsun
AN ASSORTMENT OF WIRE - Compiled by that lovely Indoor Miner fella to fill a few holes in my collection. The Late Junction radio session with Colin Newman and Tortoise is a belter considering they only had a day in the studio to get it together.
MGMT - Orracular Spectacular - Modern pop music doesn't get any better.
Oh, and a couple of comps on Finders Keepers too, namely - A CELESTIAL MASS and THE BYG DEAL.
Happy listening Heads,
Mark x
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