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Soundtracks to Our Lives Weekending 4th June 2011
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IanB
IanB
6761 posts

Edited Jun 05, 2011, 17:13
Re: Soundtracks to Our Lives Weekending 4th June 2011
Jun 05, 2011, 09:16
A Scarcity of Miracles - A King Crimson ProjeKct
As Fripp notes this is the first KC line up with a majority of Brits for a long long time and you can certainly hear that. Less hyper technical, more about the songs than the cleverness applied to the arrangement of those songs and Mel Collins brings a lot of warmth that blows in from 1972. Overall it's like a very good Porcupine Tree album (Harrison's drumming obviously bridges the two bands) but with more memorable everything. The tunes stick in a way that they rarely do with Steve Wilson's stuff and I think this is Tony Levin's best record in quite a while. Some of it has such a strong pop sensibility that it sounds alarmingly / enjoyably like somewhere between Ulver's more commercial offerings and the second a-Ha album but Fripp fits right in. Which would be no suprise to fans of "Exposure" and the associated Hall and Gabriel solo records. It is also mercifully short at 43 minutes. It does what it does and leaves you fresh not worn down. When it comes to studio albums enough with the 75 minute cds and multi disc "Tales of Sandanista Oceans". If you are going to take that much time you'd better make good use of it. Which takes us to ...

Spirit of 76, Son Of Spirit & Future Games - Spirit
I love California's Mercury period and would reach for these way before the 60s stuff. Sure it's messy and a little sprawling but it's timeless music, playful messy and endlessly ambitious. Real visionaries don't have to talk about how far sighted they are they just do the work. Also bravo the 70s for allowing people the latitude to take these kinds of chances with the same resources as those artists that were were aiming for the lowest common denominator. We wont see that again.

Seed - Nick Harper
Saw him at the Green Note last weekend and he was, as always, jaw- dropping. In a venue as cosy as that it's like having him play in your front room. So good was he that he made the supercharged "Double Life" album sound like an under played warm-up. I had also forgotten what a great record "Seed" is and that it is far more than the sum of his gene inheritence. 15 years on I still think of him as the coming man though easy to forget that he was 30 before he released an album of his own. This is one of those records for the Unsung lists of 2021.

Watertown - Sinatra
This was Frank's 1969 D.I.V.O.R.C.E concept album with lyrics by Jake "Dazed & Confused" Holmes. So grim-faced it makes "Lush Life" sound like "The Birdy Song" it could be subtitled "Songs For Broken Down Lovers". Easy listening soundtrack to suburban desperation. A big favourite of my Mum's when I was still too young to have learned about the 35 minute album experience. This is what probably set me up for "Relayer" and "Blood on the Tracks".

Dangerous Music (2010 Remaster) - Robin George
Grindstone - Shining
The great thing about being given records (thanks Moonie) is that you often end up with music that you would never have picked out for yourself. Both these fit that category. Some bands create their own music world and you take it or leave it. If Blackjazz was a shock to the system then Grindstone is even more so. Nothing quite like listening to an artist that isn't wasting time paying homage to anyone else and they may be shoving Ulver aside as my favourite Norwegians. Loving it. As for the Robin George it's another time machine album back to the days when Heart and Poison were fighting over the Elnett. Robin George is apparently the Rupert Hines of hair metal. Credits for days but always the briedsmaid rather than the main focus. If you have any love for that era when mainstream metal reached for the keyboards in a big way then this is a record worth hearing especially as at this point the guitars are still winning.

Roger Waters - Desert Island Discs BBCR4
I like this show under Kirsty Young and I liked Waters appearance on it. He gets a bad press but who could live without the Floyd's best moments before he bailed? And who couldn't live without the post "Final Cut" Floyd? Interesing that both he and Debbie Harry went for the same slice of Mahler in their selections. Even when detatched from the Visconti visuals there is something in that music that is all about the bitter-sweetness of mid-life. Which brings me back to .....

Director's Cut - Kate Bush
Still loving this. Said all I had to say about it last week. Hasn't paled in any way shape or form.
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